#my blackstar design never changes much

[drowsystarlight]

I like the idea of Death the Kid having a walk-in closet full of pristine branded clothes (honestly a Special kind bc he values style and comfort). He’s rich and lives in a Mansion with multiple rooms. Suits are his casual attire and he’s just that type of person. He never needed a material thing that he couldn’t just get. He can buy that shit. If a dress shirt ceases being symmetrical? Ditch it. Buy a new one. His customized blazer got damaged? Replace it. Easy. No son of Death would wear anything less than perfect.

Meanwhile, Blackstar is the type to keep the same five pairs of clothes until they’re literally breaking down at each seam.

Tsubaki even has to beg him to buy new stuff, or gift it to him on birthdays (even those ones get worn down for years, too). He grew up under Sid’s care and i bet he never had the luxurious life Kid had. Maybe Sid bought him clothes out of his own salary as a teacher and Blackstar knew that, so he treasures the clothes he gets. Assassin clothes, hand wraps, tank tops, sleep attire, old hand-me-downs get cut up and recycled into bandages or wraps for training, etc. Maybe he knows how to sew because he wanted to keep wearing a specific star-filled tank top Sid got him for his 13th birthday, so he asked Nygus to teach him. He wasn’t good at it at first but hey, practice eventually makes perfect. When he goes to missions and fights, he repairs the damage in his clothes. He’ll keep wearing the same shit until it gives up on him and even then, he really doesn’t want to let it go. Shoes are his worst nightmare because all his running wears it down fast.

It’s easy to write him off as a slob. Blackstar wore nothing formal; he looked like shit when he tried, too, slobbering for food when he attended the Academy’s founding anniversary. The boy didn’t know class, or finesse, or elegance. Everything he did screamed fucking reckless and immature. Obnoxious. It showed in his clothes, tattered as they are—because why else would it be so worn down if he was a careful man?

Being friends doesn’t exactly erase the impression, but it opens a bridge to ask. When Kid finally asks Blackstar why he circles through the same two tank tops whenever the group hung out outside the school, he’d say he liked the star designs. It suits me, he’d brag, and Kid is just jealous of his great clothing sense. Typical. But Maka eventually, secretly, tells Kid it’s just a special top because he’s had it since the both of them were twelve (everyone knows Blackstar would rather eat dirt than admit to being attached to things). Sentimental and Blackstar didn’t feel like they belong in the same sentence, but that thought felt odd now that he knew. Especially after he sees him discreetly check the stitches after an intense basketball match.

Death the Kid would notice every new stitch on Blackstar’s uniform after a mission since then. From afar, you don’t see it because it’s hidden well, but up close (maybe when they’re sparring, or sitting next to each other, or that day when Blackstar carried him through Excalibur’s wretched cave—though he foolishly shrugged that off). He can see it if he paid attention long enough, if Blackstar doesn’t move around too much for a moment. Stitches on top of old fixes, or the odd bits of his tank top turning out to be patches he couldn’t really hide. When he points it out again, they’re alone together and Blackstar happily shows it off (“I’m the best at everything, including sewing! Marvel at my craft!”). Kid admits ti thinking he’s a slob, and then the man would proceed to poke and prod at him for his branded stuff. There’s a reason why everyone saw him as a spoiled brat, after all; on the walk home that day, he ponders if he really is. (Liz and Patty say yes.)

Maybe it only really hits Kid, how much he’s really changed, when he lends Blackstar some pajamas after a gnarly night fighting against kishin eggs. Blackstar refused until he shoved the soft, flawless cotton in the man’s hands—told him to shut up and What, so the great Blackstar can’t handle wearing neat pajamas? He’s only ever seen him in tank tops but the sleeves didn’t seem to be the source of Blackstar’s discomfort. Having a spontaneous sleepover with the others, having Patty cause chaos in the name of fun—their antics eventually result into a rip of threads that only Blackstar seemed to be startled by. He apologizes as he returns it the next day, early in the morning, as neatly folded and packed in a paperbag as he could. Maybe Tsubaki did the folding. Blackstar is shit at folding clothes or wearing stuff that weren’t creased to hell and back.

But by then, even if there’s a stitch on only one sleeve, Kid keeps it. Seeing it makes him smile. The damage was repaired with a star-shaped stitch—(how did he even do that?), but he doesn’t wear it yet. He tells himself it would drive him insane, knowing something is off, but he hangs it with his other clothes. He didn’t need to replace it this time; Blackstar fixed it, and it wasn’t ruined. It’s better.

#soul eater #blackstar #death the kid #deathstar #kidstar #idk #also has the others but i am lazy #neeks writes #….???? #this was a random idea that got out of hand #LOL #leave it to me to be carried away #beep dee doo

[rewirenova]

Warrior Cats design headcannons 2: The Empire Strikes Back

My last design headcannons post got super popular, so to thank you guys here's another round of headcannons

Ravenpaw is a decendant of Ravenwing, who he was named after for looking so much like him.

Yellowfang almost always has at least a few stray sticks and leaves caught in her fur. Sagewhisker, Runningpaw/nose, Spottedleaf, and finally Cinderpaw/pelt would try to help her get them out, but to no avail.

Speaking of Yellowfang's fur, it's really big and fluffy which makes her look like an absolute unit. In reality though, she's 75% fur and is a twig underneath it all. (The same goes for her son Brokenstar)

It was somewhat of a conspiracy in Thunderclan for a while that Rosetail and Redtail were related in some way, due to how similar they look - not to mention their names.

Dovewing's eyes are are a blueish - turquoise color that look different depending on the angle. Her clanmates are always arguing about what color they really are because haha funny fandom memes.

Also, the three's eyes change when using their powers: Dovewing's turn gold, Lionblaze's turn red, and Jayfeather's turn a dark blueish - purple.

For some unknown reason, having one forepaw be a different color than the others (usually white) runs in Jake's family. Jake, Scourge, Sqirrelflight, and Alderheart all have a white forepaw, while Flamepaw has a dark red one.

Medicine cats always have leaves, feathers, flowers, etc as accessories (usually kept tucked behind an ear) to symbolize their deeper connection to nature. For example: Ravenwing, Goosefeather, Hawkheart, Kestrelflight, and Jayfeather all wear feathers of the birds they were named after.

Though she had long stopped training to become a med cat, Hollyleaf still wears the holly leaves Leafpool had given her as a memento. Even when she found out the truth of her parentage, she could never bring herself to part ways with her mother and mentor's gift.

Cloudtail inherited some of his mom's and grandma's brown and his grandpa's orange, which are on the tips of his ears and tail. Basically, he looks like a toasted marshmallow :)

Blackstar has vitiligo and was born completely black, hence the prefix. When he became leader, the black started to spread out on his body more.

In a similar vein, Yellowfang was born with a (fictional) rare condition where her fur started as light yellow, but later became dark gray.

Every (official) clan leader has a star marking somewhere on their body. Bluestar, Blackstar, Pinestar, and Rowanstar all had their mark slowly fade away as they lost faith in Starclan or stepped down as leader, respectively. Blackstar and Bluestar both got theirs back when their faith was restored.

Instead of a star marking, Bloodclan leaders have the skull of a small animal attached to the front of their collar; Scourge's was a bird skull, while Claw and Fury had a rat skull.

Warriorclan's leader Monkeystar just wears a star shaped leaf on her forehead.

Dark Forest spirits become more decayed and monterous the longer they are trapped. Antpelt had only been there a few weeks at the most, so he looks the same save for the black sclera and bleeding death wounds. Maggottail, however, is one of the oldest DF cats, and as a result looks like a demonic zombie.

Starclan cats look like mystical beings when appearing to the living, with star - shaped pupils, constellations along their body, and wisp like fur. Only other spirits can perceive Starclan cats in their normal forms.

#warriors #warrior cats #design headcannons #scourge #Ravenpaw #Ravenwing #Goosefather #Kestrelflight #Jayfeather #Dovewing #Lionblaze #Redtail #Rosetail #Yellowfang #Brokenstar #Maggottail #Antpelt #The Dark Forest #Starclan #Leafpool #Hollyleaf #Monkeystar

[thistleclaws-hatred]

Ashfur’s Revenge - Novella - Chapter One

Next Chapter

This novella is inspired by @dark-rose-designs ’s post. The timeline is a little bit changed, not too much to notice, but it is different. Consider this an AU if you will, but I tried to make it as close to the canon books as possible (with a few changes to fill in some gaps). The biggest time difference is that I made Brambleclaw deputy in like Starlight/Twilight instead of Sunset.

If anyone wants notes on my version of these characters, please feel free to ask.

Ashfur’s paws dragged. He barely had the energy to move, let alone follow after the rest of his clan. Where even was his clan? He lifted his head, trying to find any member of his clan within the mass of cats before him. His heart lurched. Brambleclaw and Squirrelpaw walked side-by-side, the two of them leading the group alongside Crowfeather and Tawnypelt.

He stuttered in his steps. Tawnypelt’s beautiful tortoiseshell coat shimmering in the pale sunlight, Crowfeather’s long legs keeping stride with Brambleclaw’s broad shoulders who's happy gaze was fixed on Squirrelpaw. Squirrelpaw, who’s dark ginger pelt shone with a StarClan like presence. Ashfur felt sick. He wanted nothing more than to ask to walk with the group, but knew that he would not be welcomed. The four of them had formed a bond far stronger than anything he could ever hope to imagine.

The clans froze, the prophecy cats looking out over a ridge. Ashfur felt a wave of relief, maybe they were finally home. The four cats raced down into their new territory. Ashfur padded forward, standing next to Cloudtail, who looked equally as tired. “We’re finally home.” 

Cloudtail grunted in agreement, his pelt ruffled and legs swaying as they awaited the command to follow the four cats. Squirrelpaw leaped up onto a tree stump, beckoning the other cats with her tail.

In a collective group, all four clans streamed down the ridge, collecting below the four. Firestar made his way to the front of the pack, leaping up next to Squirrelpaw and silencing the four clans with the flick of his tail. Ashfur looked up, gazing longingly at Squirrelpaw who was none the wiser to his look.

“It is with great pleasure that I can announce that we have found our new home! I would like to welcome each clan to the lake with a ceremony long overdue,” the ginger leader turned to look at his daughter.

He’s going to make her into a warrior! Ashfur felt a glow of pride grow in his chest. She’s wanted this for ages.

“Squirrelpaw, it is time,” Firestar addressed, holding his head higher. Squirrelpaw’s pelt fluffed out with excitement. “I Firestar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn. Squirrelpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?”

“I do,” Her voice was as steady as ever, eyes bright and determined.

“Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Squirrelpaw, from this moment you will be known as Squirrelflight. StarClan honors your courage and determination, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan.”

Everyone began to cheer her name, Ashfur trying his best to be the loudest out of everyone. This was more than just a warrior ceremony, this was the first time StarClan was being addressed at their new territories. Ashfur looked over, seeing even warriors of ShadowClan looking pleased with Squirrelflight’s ceremony. 

Blackstar dipped his head to Squirrelflight and then addressed everyone, telling them that they would settle here by the lake for the night and in the morning everyone would go out to find their respective territories.

Ashfur turned to face everyone, trying to pick Squirrelflight out of the mass of cats. He pushed his way, making his way over to her, “Congratulations Squirrelflight!”

Squirrelflight smiled at him, her bright green eyes brimming with happiness, “Thank you Ashfur. I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time.”

Ashfur playfully shoved her with a shoulder, resting his tail gently on her flank, “No one deserves it more than you,” he purred.

From the crowd came Brambleclaw, his amber eyes gleaming. The moment Squirrelflight saw him he moved away from Ashfur to go towards him. The two warriors nuzzled their heads against one another, their tails intertwining. Ashfur felt his heart break. A sudden pain piercing his chest and spreading throughout his body. He couldn’t deny the happiness in her eyes. He made her happy. What does he have that I don’t?

Ashfur let his tail hit the ground with an audible thump. He stalked away from the couple, noticing Leafpaw looking at him with forgiveness. Ashfur made no move to go over to the medicine cat. He let himself be swept into the mass of cats settling down to sleep and layer down next to two cats smelling of RiverClan. Ashfur sighed and wrapped his tail over his eyes.

          A few days had passed. The sun rose and fell and Ashfur felt no better. ThunderClan had found a new camp, borders had been set, but Ashfur could not bring himself to participate in building the clan.

Firestar emerged from his den that was nestled nicely below the new highrock. His ginger pelt looked freshly groomed and shone just like fire in the sunlight. Ashfur couldn’t look at his leader as he called out for a clan meeting. Firestar had the same green eyes as Squirrelflight.

Speaking of... Ashfur saw her walk out of the makeshift warriors’ den and make her way over to Brambleclaw. The pair sat next to each other, pelts brushing. Ashfur dug his claws into the dirt, trying his best not to glare at them.

Firestar looked upset as he looked down on his clan, his gaze flickering over to Leafpool as the medicine cat stepped out of his den. “ThunderClan!” Firestar began, “I do not say these words lightly, but I think it is time to accept the passing of Graystripe.”

Graystripe...dead? Ashfur flicked his ear. A murmur of grief passed through ThunderClan.

“It is time to pick a new deputy. ThunderClan needs someone to help guide it. I say these words before the spirits of our ancestors, and Graystripe's spirit, wherever it may be, may hear and approve my choice. Brambleclaw will be the new deputy of ThunderClan,” Firestar’s voice shook, but he looked as determined and sure as ever as he named Brambleclaw.

Brambleclaw! Ashfur felt another wave of nausea crash over him. He blocked out all of the clan’s protests until a realization hit him, “Why should he be deputy if he hasn’t had an apprentice!” He yowled, standing to his paws.

Even Brambleclaw noted his own lack of an apprentice. Firestar flicked his tail to silence his clan, “I am aware of this. Once Daisy’s kits are of age Brambleclaw will mentor Berrykit. Leafpaw has had a sign, and it is in my best interest, and ThunderClan’s best interest to make Brambleclaw our new deputy.”

“How do we know Leafpool isn’t lying? Isn’t it odd that Squirrelflight is Brambleclaw’s mate, and Squirrelflight is Leafpool’s sister? It’s very convenient that she had a sign about Brambleclaw just now, isn’t it?” Ashfur called out, the fur on his spine bristling. Squirrelflight looked at him with betrayal. Ashfur tried to not let it get to him.

“Say that to my face, foxdung!” Squirrelflight bared her teeth and Ashfur felt a chill run through his body. Would he really have to fight the cat he loved?

Brambleclaw ran forward and grabbed Squirrelflight by her scruff, dragging her back. He whispered something to her and Ashfur felt bile rise up in his throat.

“Leafpool is a wise and honest cat. For what purpose would she have to lie?” Brackenfur retorted, glaring at Ashfur.

“My decision is final. I know that Brambleclaw is young, but he has an experience that few cats have had. He is brave and loyal and I know that he will prove himself to be a wonderful deputy,” Firestar dismissed his clan and any other notions that Brambleclaw shouldn’t be deputy.

Ashfur shot a final look of hatred at Brambleclaw before slinking away into the warriors’ den.

         Brambleclaw was organizing hunting patrols. Ashfur sat off, clawing absentmindedly at the dirt. His pelt had grown dull and shaggy in the past two weeks, his ribs starting to show through the clumps of fur. “Ashfur! Will you lead a hunting patrol?” the deputy called to him.

Ashfur looked up in surprise, but Brambleclaw held his gaze evenly. Ashfur nodded and called to his apprentice, Birchpaw, and Thornclaw. The three toms left through the gorse tunnel, with Ashfur shooting another seething look towards Brambleclaw.  

Ashfur sent Birchpaw to hunt with Thornclaw, saying that he wanted to hunt alone. He walked off, thankful that Thornclaw was always happy to help with Birchpaw. Ashfur sat by himself near the base of a tree, ignoring every sign of prey that surrounded him.

What did I do to lose her? I don’t understand why she chose him over me! I would’ve given her the world. Brambleclaw is the son of a murderer! Ashfur winced at his own thoughts. Brambleclaw wasn’t his father and everyone knew that. Ashfur could clearly see that Brambleclaw had proven himself to be a loyal ThunderClan member long ago.

He thought back to his apprentice days. Playing with Tawnypaw and Bramblepaw outside the old apprentices’ den. Tawnypaw’s beautiful eyes looking at him with a sense of equality. Tawnypaw never looked at me like fresh-kill. The gray warrior sighed, maybe he still had some feelings for the ShadowClan warrior. But now his heart belonged to Squirrelflight. Not Tawnypelt and not Brambleclaw — even if he couldn’t deny what once was.

“The clan will notice if I don’t bring back any prey,” Ashfur muttered to himself, heaving to his paws. He flexed his claws into the soil and tasted the air.

His technique was sloppy though. With only two mice to count for his hunting efforts, he would have to come up with a good excuse, this forest was full of prey. Even his own apprentice had done better than him. “Very good Birchpaw,” Ashfur praised. His apprentice purred around his thick squirrel.

“You okay Ashfur? Usually you’re an amazing hunter,” Thornclaw looked him over with concern.

“Just not used to these woods yet. Give me another moon and I’ll be bringing back enough prey for the whole clan,” Ashfur joked, fluffing up his pelt to hopefully remove Thornclaw’s gaze from him.

Thornclaw nodded, his eyes still holding a question, but the golden tom said nothing else. Thank StarClan. Ashfur thought. He picked up his catch and beckoned for the other two to follow him back to camp.

#ashfur #ashfur's revenge #chapter one #squirrelflight #thunderclan #brambleclaw #warriors #warrior cats #warriors novella #ashfur's revenge - chapter one #my writing #riverclan #shadowclan #tawnypelt #the new prophecy #firestar #windclan #hawkfrost

[bandcampsnoop]

10/5/20.

Finally...a band I to which I often refer, buick, has reissued their only release in all of its glory.  Originally released in 1992, this band was certainly a product of it’s time, but ahead as well.  Yes, there are obvious (as the band concedes) nods to Sonic Youth.  But there is so much more here.  This was recorded well before the “formation of Mogwai, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Explosions in the Sky”.   To me, this sounds as vital today as it was back in the early 1990s.  In fact,  Scott’s mentioned that his “favorite reference to possible influence[s] came from Thin White Rope's Guy Kyser when he stated after one of our shows, "You sound like Dick Dale with his brains knocked out." This is made all the more funny since I didn't know who Dick Dale was at the time.”

buick was Scott Lawrimore (guitar) and Jeff Clark (drums).  While a drum-guitar duo isn’t weird today (Japandroids or No Age come to mind), in 1992 there wasn’t a band like them (maybe Spinanes...but not really).

Generally speaking, the band wasn’t entirely happy with the original mix - both felt it missed their quiet/loud arrangements.  So, Scott enlisted John McEntire (Tortoise, The Sea and Cake) to remix.

But, only a guitar, and drums?  How do you get this much out of two instruments.  I asked Scott Lawrimore to comment:

How did you get the sound you did (on guitar)?Most cuts only have one guitar —like in our live performances—recorded in one take on two tracks. One mic was on a Fender Twin Reverb (made in the same year I was, 1970) in a large gym-sized room, and one mic was simultaneously capturing a 4x12 speaker cabinet in a small tiled bathroom. The bass and mids were turned waaaaay up, and the treble ratcheted down on the Twin to counter the jagged, jangling highs produced by the humbucker pickups on the Rickenbackers I used for most songs. Since we were just guitar and drums, all songs use open tunings and those bass-heavy amplifier settings to flesh out a ringing wall of sound behind the main guitar phrasing. I'm sure the tunings have official musical nomenclature, but I discovered them on my own through trial and error.  As a self-taught, unconventional guitarist, open tunings helped me to 'find my sound' while also cutting me slack for not being anywhere near a virtuoso. There were four different guitars used for the album: a 1990 solid-body Rickenbacker 610 (for Lucy Conrad, Excellent Liar); a 1980 hollow-body Rickenbacker 330 (for Homage to Lucien Freud, Badhead, The Moon is Not a Yellow Sow, and Immortality); a 1970 Fender Jaguar (for Phrenology, and Brown Blackstars); and my first guitar, a sweet $100 pawn shop Les Paul copy (for Graves). The hollow-body Ric was my preferred guitar because it produced the most controllable 'voiced' feedback (a ridiculous amount, actually). Typically this would not be sought after, or embraced, but everytime you hear feedback on the album, it's intentional and coming from that 330. I always loved showing up to gigs with that guitar and the audience assuming we were going to whip out some Byrds or R.E.M. jangle, and then SCREEEEEEEEEECH!!!!—that first ear-piercing feedback driving half the audience out of the room...

Did Jeff just get to create his own sound?  

Origin Story:[Scene opens on the crunchy, tabouli-stained Coffee House of UC Davis just before the summer break of 1990; Scott is behind a cash register wearing a t-shirt he recently spray-painted with the word "Hectic" under a smelly thrift store suit jacket three sizes too big; Jeff approaches wearing an On-The-Waterfront-leather-jacket over a 10,000 Maniacs t-shirt, his grease-slick-black hair partially hidden by a Stanford baseball cap.] Jeff [apropos of nothing in particular]: Wanna start a band? Scott [thrown off by 10,000 Maniacs shirt]: What do you play?J [confidently]: Nothing yet, but I'm going to teach myself to play the drums this summer.S [skeptically and expecting to maybe never see Jeff again]: Ok. Let's try to get together when you get back... Not-such-a-spoiler Alert: Jeff taught himself to play the drums that summer. Apparently he holed himself up in an unused bedroom of a house he was taking care of in southern California and tried to play along with the first two Throwing Muses albums that he had on constant repeat. Funny in hindsight that that is the band he chose considering what we ended up sounding like, but if you listen carefully to their songs like Call Me or Juno, you hear a lot of what was to become Jeff's rumbling tom work and syncopated fill sensibilities. In terms of whether I had a hand in Jeff's sound for our songs, the short answer is "no." When we played together for the first time, I had figured out all the parts for precisely one song—we called it First Song for a long time before naming it Homage to Lucien Freud for the original CD. For the opening chord progression, and just to get us started, I asked Jeff if he could play the drums of Sonic Youth's Tunic (Song for Karen) from the Goo album that had been released that summer. Of course he could. Perfectly. We played that six-chord progression three or four times through like we had been playing together forever when someone banged on the door yelling for us to "turn it fucking down." That was the abrupt end of our first session, but set the tone for everything that was to come... The fact that Homage to Lucien Freud now begins with Jeff's rumbling toms and bears little resemblance to Tunic is a testament to how all of our songs tended to evolve collaboratively. I would have a number of 'parts' or quiet/loud 'moments' or remedial-math-rock 'transitions' that I would play for Jeff and then he would figure out all the drum details for those sections. I had an ear and desire for song dynamics, but it was Jeff that perfectly filled and requited them. Learning those transitions and moments was key, but many songs had sections that we never played the same way twice—the call-and-response section starting at the 1:38 mark of Graves, for example, or the harmonics-to-mayhem-chord section starting at 1:54 mark of Badhead. When we played live, I would simply indicate to Jeff that a change was coming and he would be there with something amazing.

Scott Lawrimore is currently in London, UK (and has had a full career in art/curating/teaching), and Jeff Clark is in Ypsilanti, Michigan (and has had a full career as a graphic designer).  This album was originally released on Lather Records (Sacramento, CA).  The reissue is self-released.

#buick #Scott Lawrimore #Jeff Clark #Lather Records #Sacramento #California #London #UK #Sonic Youth #Mogwai #Explosions in the Sky #Godspeed You Black Emperor #Japandroids #No Age #John McEntire #Tortoise #The Sea and Cake #Spinanes #R.E.M. #The Byrds #Rickenbacker #Dick Dale #Guy Kyser #Thin White Rope #Ypsilianti #Michigan

[petchricor-creates]

Self Discovery Ch. 1: Questions

Kid had never really asked his father where he’d come from. He knew he was a fragment of his soul, but that still begged the question, where had the body come from? It was the day before his fifteenth birthday that he decided it was about time he knew the answer to that question.

warnings: drowning

links to other places to find me and this story

Kid had never really asked his father where he’d come from. Well, he’d asked once when he was much younger and had gotten the answer that he was made from a fragment of his soul. But that still begged the question, where had the body come from? Death was a god, certainly, but he didn’t have the ability to create organic beings in any way, so where had he gotten a body to put the fragment into?

It was the day before his fifteenth birthday that he decided it was about time he knew the answer to that question.

“Heyya, Kid!” Death greeted him with a happy bounce. Although he wore a mask and Kid had never seen his face, he’d never had any trouble understanding how he was feeling or reading what little expression his mask gave. 

“Dad, I have a question,” Kid said, taking a seat in the golden chair Death often provided for him. Death didn’t respond other than to tilt his head slightly, waiting patiently for the question as always. “I know I was made from a fragment of your soul, but where did you get the body to put the soul in? You’ve always said I’m half human, after all.”

Death was silent a moment before sighing, sagging slightly. He clearly knew this day was coming. “I’ll tell you, but the answer may not please you. It may even send you down a rabbit hole.”

Kid scowled, nodded. “I’m prepared for that. Now please, tell me.”

“Very well. You were a given to me as a gift, from Life.” Kid’s eyebrows went up. “Fifteen years ago, Life showed up in this very room holding you as an infant. She had taken a piece of my soul and put it into a stillborn baby.”

“So I was stolen?” Kid tried not to sound upset but it didn’t work. Death put his hands up in defense.

“I don’t know the details of where your body came from, she didn’t tell me. She merely told me that you were a human body with a fragment of my soul and gave you to me without further explanation. Life is fickle like that.” Kid looked down at his feet, shifting one of them so that they sat at a symmetrical angle.

Did this mean he had a mother? Was his soul entirely reaper at all? He had so many questions that he could tell his father had no answers to. He took a deep breath and raised his head. “Where can I find Life?” 

Death sighed and shook his head. “I do not know. Life rarely comes to the human realm, I haven’t seen her since that day. I’m sorry Kid, but I have no other answers for you.” Kid wanted to fight that, something deep within him wanted to throw a fit, but he refrained. It was clear his father was genuinely sorry and had nothing else to offer him. Getting angry wasn’t going to help anyone.

“I understand, thank you.” Kid stood. “I have a lot to think about.” He rounded the chair and headed towards the exit.

“Kid.” 

He stopped and looked over his shoulder. “Yes, dad?”

“I love you.”

Kid smiled. “I love you too, dad.” He waved and continued on his way out. He watched his feet as he walked, hands in his pockets. He knew the hallways of the academy pretty well by now so he knew where he was going without looking. It was after school hours so no one was here, so that made the possibility of running into someone slim. 

There had to be some way of contacting Life, right? Most Gods had some kind of ritual or temple or something where you could summon them. Some were long lost, certainly, but there had at least been something at some point in time. His best bet was to check out the library first. Maybe there was something there that could help him. 

He changed his course from the exit to the library. Surely, there was something that could help him there. This method hadn’t failed him yet. Well, that was a lie, it had failed him a few times but more often than not it was successful. 

“Oh hey, Kid, what’re you doing here?” Kid looked up from his feet as he entered the library, spotting Maka headed his way with a handful of books. “I figured you’d be home by now.”

“I have some research I have to do,” he told her with a shrug. “What are those for?”

“Oh! Just some light reading for the weekend.” He raised a brow, eying the stack of books she was carrying. Light? She smiled awkwardly at his questioning stare.

“Well, we all have our obsessions,” he said with a teasing smile. Her eyes narrowed as she blushed in embarrassment.

“I’m not obsessed!” she shrieked. He waved her off with a fond smile, stepping out of her way.

“Of course, of course. Well, I’ll let you get to your “light” reading.” The air quotes did nothing to calm her anger.

“Oh shut up!” She huffed and stormed out of the library as Kid waved at her, heading over to the counter.

“Ah, Death the Kid, hello! What can I help you find today?” He didn’t even have to show his student ID anymore, the librarian knew him from his constant research projects.

“I’m looking for anything and everything you have on the goddess Life.” The librarian simply nodded and went to look. Kid couldn’t help but snort a little at how used to this the man was now. It didn’t take long for him to come back with a piece of paper. “Thank you.” Kid smiled at him and went to walk away but stopped once he got a look at the list. He turned back to the librarian, confused. The librarian shrugged with a sigh. “Sorry, but that’s all I could find.” Kid scowled and looked back at the single book listed. Not promising.

“Thank you, I appreciate it.” Kid continued on his way to find the book. It didn’t take him long, as the librarian was very good about organizing the books exactly. He grabbed the large, ornate book from the shelf and chose a table to sit at.

Gods and Goddess. A reference guide

Kid sighed heavily. If this was the only book they had on Life, he had a feeling his luck was going to run out very quickly. He opened the book and took a look at the table of contents, which listed various gods and goddesses. He knew most of them but there were a few he’d never heard of. 

“Aha! Page 364.” He flipped through the book until he found the desired page. The word Life was at the top of the page in pretty cursive letters. He took a moment to revel in the symmetrical gold and black design. “Oh, how beautiful.” He ran his fingers over it, delighting in the odd texture against his fingers.

He shook his head to clear it and started to read.

The book was of no help. All it told him was how little they know about Life, how no one had seen her in a very long time and that they had yet to find if there was any way to summon her at all. There were some ancient texts that suggested there once was but they were all very vague and gave no clear instructions, if instructions at all.

He growled in frustration and slammed the book shut. “Damn it.” He replaced the book and threw out the paper. He bid the librarian goodnight before leaving.

He had so many questions that he so desperately wanted answers to but how was he ever going to find them? The only person who had ever spoken to Life that was still around was his father. Well, as far as he was aware anyway. He could rightfully assume perhaps someone like Excalibur had met her once upon a time, given how old he was, but who knew if he had and if he had met her getting the actual answers out of him would be like trying to do Liz’s eyebrows.

“Oh hey, Kid, you’re home late.” 

“Hm?” Kid looked up from his feet, realizing that he had somehow walked all the way home without noticing. And he was wet. Had it been raining? “Oh geez, you’re soaked. Patty, bring a towel, will ya!?” “Okay, sis!”

“Hey, are you okay? You look really out of it.” Liz frowned and looked him over.

“My father answered my question and I now have more questions than answers,” he told her. Patty bounded over with a full sized towel. “Thank you, Patty.” He took the towel and started to dry himself off while also sliding out of his shoes.

“The question about your human body? What did he say?” Liz helped remove his jacket and dress shirt. Kid felt no awkwardness, he was completely comfortable with his partners. They’d lived together for years, they knew each other inside and out.

“Apparently, I was given to him by Life, as a gift. He said she stole a fragment of his soul and put it into a stillborn’s body.” Both girls froze, mouths wide open in shock. “Yeah, that was my response too.”

“So, wait, does this mean you have a mom?” Patty asked, all excited as she bounced on her heels.

“I don’t know, though it’s possible.” Kid shrugged and headed towards his room for some dry clothes. “I tried to look up if there was a known way to contact Life, so I could ask her myself, but found nothing.”

“Oh geez, I’m sorry, Kid,” Liz said as she followed him. He sighed as he walked into his room. 

“It’s alright. I’ll try something tomorrow, but right now I think I just need some food and sleep.”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll warm something up for you.” Liz closed the door and Kid listened to her receding footsteps for a moment. Once they faded into silence he let out another sigh and started changing into pajamas. 

He decided to wear his black ones with little white skulls on them. They were the softest and had been a gift from his father, so they were his favorite ones. He only wore them for special occasions, such as movie and game nights, or that time Soul and Blackstar had slept over. Tonight wasn’t really an occasion, his birthday was tomorrow after all, but he felt his disappointment and anxiety were a good enough reason to break the rule, just this once.

He slipped his slippers on and headed for the kitchen, where he could smell the leftovers Liz had reheated for him. He smiled faintly. He really couldn’t have asked for better partners. Sure, there had been a rough few months when they’d first moved in but now they worked together so perfectly and it was wonderful. Kid loved his weapons, truly he did.

He poked his head into the kitchen, spying the leftovers sitting at the small kitchen table with a glass of milk on one side and one of water on the other. He smiled and sat down, eating his food in silence. The warm food and comfortable pajamas did make him feel a bit better. 

Once he was finished he rinsed his dishes and put them in the sink. He poked his head into the dining room, where Patty was coloring and singing to herself. 

“Good night, Patty. Don’t stay up too late,” he called out to her. She grinned at him.

“I won’t! G’night, Kid!” He smiled back at her and headed down the hall. Liz’s door was open a crack and he could hear soft music playing. He knocked lightly on the door before poking his head inside.

“You headed to bed?” Liz asked as she finished pulling on her pajama shorts. Kid nodded.

“Yeah, I’m going to need sleep if I’m going to continue my search tomorrow.” 

“Alright. You know where I am if you need anything. G’night, Kid.”

“Good night, Liz.” Kid closed the door to the exact spot it had been earlier before heading back to his room. He shut off the light and slid out of his slippers. He stretched as he walked over to his bed, falling straight into the middle of it. He let out a sigh as he crawled under the covers and stared at the moon through his window until his eyes drooped closed and he fell asleep.

A𝝮

Kid felt cold water against his back, seeping into his clothes. He scowled and opened his eyes, faced with an endless black void. Startled, he sat up and looked around, seeing nothing but blackness all around him. The only thing there was him and the pool of water below him.

“Hello?” he called out as he got to his feet. The only answer was his echo. He started to panic a little. “Hello!?” Still no answer. “Liz? Patty? Anybody!” He listened to his echo go on and on until it faded into nothing and just the faint sound of trickling water was left.

The panic welled up in Kid’s throat and he started to run. He knew it couldn’t solve anything but the base instinct to move was too strong to resist. He called out a few more times with the same amount of luck. He screamed as his foot slipped on the water and he went tumbling forward.

Instead of hitting ground, however, he fell straight through the surface and into the pitch black waters below. He held his breath and tried desperately to swim back to the surface but no matter how much he swam he couldn’t reach it. He was running out of breath.

His body convulsed and he sucked in water. His lungs were on fire and his head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. His body was twitching uncontrollably as he tried to make himself swim through the pain but to no avail. 

“Wake up.”

A𝝮

Kid’s eyes snapped open as he awoke with a scream, throwing himself up in bed. His body was so covered in sweat that for a moment he feared the dream was real but reality set in and he realized it couldn’t be. 

“Kid!?” Patty kicked the door open, wielding Liz and looking ready to kill someone on the spot. “What happened? Why’d you scream!?” Kid sighed and wiped the sweat from his face.

“Nothing, it’s nothing, just a bad dream, that’s all.” Patty scowled and Liz lept from her hands.

“Are you okay, Kid? You don’t look so good,” Liz said, going over and pressing a hand to his forehead. “Well, you don’t feel warm or anything. Do you feel alright?”

“I feel fine.” Kid threw off the covers and stood up. “Like I said, it was just a nightmare.” The pair didn’t look so sure but clearly didn’t want to press him.

“Well, okay then. Breakfast is waiting, whenever you’re ready.” Kid watched them leave. Once the door was shut he let out a sigh and fell back onto the bed, rubbing his eyes. How had something so bizarre seemed so real? Even now that he was thinking clearly, he could still remember the sensation of falling into the water and drowning very clearly.

“It wasn’t real,” he told himself. Saying it out loud didn’t seem to help much. He did his best to push the dream out of his mind as he got dressed. He decided to focus back on the matter of finding Life and getting answers. Maybe he could check other libraries? Though it was unlikely that any library would have a book that the DWMA didn’t at least have a copy of, especially when it came to things such as a Goddess. 

Maybe Maka had read something? Did Ragnorak know? He was pretty old after all. Kid rubbed his face and took a deep breath. He had zero leads and it was killing him. He buttoned the last button and headed to the kitchen.

“Happy birthday!” Kid yelped and jumped a little as he entered the kitchen, staring down at the pancakes being presented to him by Patty. There were sprinkles in them and a rainbow candle stuck exactly in the middle of the top one. Warmth welled up in his chest as he smiled.

“You scared me,” he said with mock offense. Patty giggled, bouncing a little.

“Wooorth iiit!” she said with a grin. “Blow out the candle! Blow out the candle!” Kid shook his head in amusement and blew it out, snickering when she cheered. Liz removed the candle and threw it out as Patty handed him the plate.

“Thank you, girls,” he said it softly, getting him two concerned looks. He smiled at them. “I think I needed the pick me up after yesterday. The dream didn’t help either.” They nodded in understanding and headed to the table to eat their own breakfast.

“Oh hey, Soul called and invited us to a basketball game, you wanna come with?” Liz said, sipping her water. Kid considered that a moment as he sat at the table with his pancakes.

“I think I will, yeah.” He took a sip of milk. “I’m sorry I scared you this morning.”

“It’s okay, Kid. Not like you wanted to have a nightmare!” Patty smiled at him and he smiled softly back. He started to eat his pancakes in silence, trying to calm his racing thoughts that refused to stop. He just wanted answers, that’s all. Why were they so hard to find?

Hopefully a game of basketball would help clear his head.

A𝝮

It was a free for all and Black Star was winning by a few points, with Soul fast on his heels. Everyone had to buy a candy bar for whoever got to ten points first and they both wanted it bad. Kid wasn’t hardly playing, he was pretty sure he didn’t even have a single point. His mind was still racing, trying to solve his problem but to no avail. He didn’t think anyone noticed, though.

“THREE POINTS!” Black Star screeched. “That’s eleven points! I win! WHOO WHOO!” Black Star threw his arms in the air and ran in a circle around everyone, chanting his name eagerly. “I get six free candy bars! Hell yeah!”

“Yeah yeah yeah, rub it in why dontchya,” Soul grumbled, holding the ball against his hip.

“Kid, are you alright?” Tsubaki asked quietly. Even though it was barely above a whisper it managed to get everyone’s attention, even Black Star ’s. So now, everyone was looking at him. “You weren’t hardly playing the game at all.” Kid looked at them all.

He was sure he could trust them. Well, maybe not Black Star, he was a bit of a blabbermouth after all. Then again, what harm could this secret even do? If he did blabber about it, all anyone would know was that he was a fragment of his father’s soul, which most people already knew or assumed, and that he was a gift from Life.

He sighed and sat down on the concrete. “I asked my father yesterday where I came from. All I’ve ever known is that I was made from a fragment of his own soul, but he always said that I was half human, so it didn’t really add up. He told me that I was a gift from Life, that she took a fragment of his soul and put it into a stillborn baby.”

“What, the fuck,” Soul said quietly. He sat down beside Kid. “Dude, that’s crazy. Does that mean you have a mom?”

“Maybe? I’m not sure about that one myself, honestly. I tried to see if I could find a way to contact Life, ask her myself, but I found nothing.”

“I donno if that’s such a good idea, Kid,” Maka said as she sat down, taking the ball from Soul and placing it in her lap to lean on. “I mean, what’re you gonna do once you find Life, anyway? What if she tells you about the birth mother and father or whatever? What then?” She glared at Soul as he grabbed her backpack and rummaged through it, exclaiming in victory once he found a granola bar.

“I have more questions than just the birth parents of the body Life used.” 

“What kind of questions?” Soul asked through a mouthful of granola bar.

“My soul, for starters. It’s blue, my father’s soul is yellow, so I’m concerned.”

“You could just have Stein take a look,” Maka pointed out. Kid looked down at his feet. She wasn’t wrong but he felt the need to ask Life herself.

“There’s nothing wrong about wanting to find the birth parents, y’know,” Tsubaki said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Even if that was the only reason, that would be okay.”

“But that’s not fair!” Black Star shouted, stomping his foot. Everyone looked at him like he’d grown a second head. “Kid can’t have three parents when the rest of us don’t have any!”

“Hey! I have my parents,” Maka snapped. Black Star waved her off.

“Yeah but your mom isn’t around and your dad is crazy.” Maka grumbled in reply, clearly not wanting to agree with Black Star, even though he wasn’t really wrong. Kid sighed and put his chin in his hand.

“I just want to know. I don’t like not knowing things.” Everyone nodded and hummed their agreement and understanding, clearly recalling how he acted when he hadn’t known what his father and the academy were up to. He had been ready to fight his father, for crying out loud.

“I wish we could help you, but I really have no ideas,” Maka said with a frown. “Sorry, Kid.”

“It’s alright, I appreciate you all listening to my woes.” Kid stood up, everyone following suit. “See you all tomorrow, at the party?”

“As if we’d miss your birthday and a Halloween party all in one,” Soul said with a grin. Kid smiled. He’d never really had enough friends to have a real party before. He was admittedly pretty excited about it. “You guys better now forget my candy bars!” Black Star called as him and Tsubaki headed home. The others all grumbled their agreement and bid farewell as they parted ways.

“This Life stuff is really bothering you, huh?” Liz said as they walked home, Patty singing in the background as she lagged behind. Kid shrugged.

“I’ll admit, it is getting to me. But, maybe Maka is right, maybe it’s not such a good idea.” Liz just nodded, clearly not knowing what else she could possibly say. Kid didn’t blame her, it’s not like she had something useful to add, after all.

Once home Kid decided to just go straight to bed. He was emotionally drained and not really hungry after the late lunch Maka had brought for them. He changed into his usual pajamas this time, plain black with a skull that rested over his heart. 

He curled up under the blankets and stared out the window. He felt so frustrated. There had to be an answer, right? There had to be some way to get in contact with Life and find the answers but it felt like no matter what he did he wasn’t going to find it and it was starting to piss him off a little. 

He took a deep breath. It had only been two days, he couldn’t start getting upset already. Besides, he had a birthday party tomorrow, he shouldn’t spoil it by getting all worked up. He closed his eyes and turned over, nuzzling his face into his blankets as he fell asleep.

A𝝮

There was a sharp sound, like the ringing of a bell, that awoke Kid. He was staring up at the dark void again. He scowled and sat up, looking down at the water that rippled at his movement. This again? He’d never had a recurring dream before. He’d also never been aware he was dreaming, at least not to his knowledge.

“Hello?” No answer, though he wasn’t surprised this time. He scowled and looked around, even though he already knew there was nothing to see. What was this place?

Kid shrieked as something grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him under the water. He struggled to swim upwards but whatever it was had a good grip on him. An arm wrapped around him, claws digging into his chest as he was pulled down. The hand on the back of his shirt let go and grabbed his face, shoving down hard. A foot came up and pushed down on his chest, like he was being used as leverage.

The force of the blow made him gasp, making water flow into his lungs. Fuck, not again! He grabbed onto the person’s leg, trying to see through the water and his drowning haze. He got a glimpse of red and bright, white light. They kicked him in the face, his grip too loose to fight the pull into the depths of the water.

#soul eater #death the kid #fanfiction #soul eater fanfiction #my writing #multichapter #chapter one

[underthewellie]

Some more TsuStar

~Dancer~

Part 1

*I am not ashamed people! I just re-read the manga for the thousandth time so like, my ships are fresh again. Anyways, as usual, takes place after end of manga. One-Shot, cuz I can*

—————————————————————

It was just a simple party, in honor of Kid’s new status as Shinigami. Well, he always was one but it’s definitely for sure now. It was supposed to be a small get together in DWMA, just the same friends from Stein’s old class but all of a sudden, word spread, and it became this massive festival. Maka seemed a little bothered by the fact but once they stepped inside the familiar checkered-floored room, covered in brilliant lights—giving it a dark yet mystical glow—no one could complain. They were all swayed by the music and by the nostalgia, and, particularly two people were very ‘swayed’ by the food.

She finally got BlackStar fitted into a good suit and it took all night just to make sure he didn’t go off and ruin it. It seems to work well for him, not that he notices, but plenty of girls were swooning after him. It was truly a good fit and it revealed the strength in his body, perfected and grown over the past year. Girls really seemed to like the “warrior” type of man, passionate and a bit oblivious. She’s sure once they saw him engulfing an entire plate, Patty at his side, they would no longer think the same of him. Tsubaki knows the truth though. That’s her partner.

The man singing, a stranger with a curled mustache and a purple suit, waves his arms in the air, everyone turns to look at him. The music pauses and breathlessly, he yells, although rather excitedly, “Weapons and Meisters, get together and dance with your partners!!”

Everyone laughed at first. But soon, when the singer seemed on the verge of tears, the idea wasn’t so uncustomary. Shrugging, in his usual nonchalant way, Soul suggested Maka dance with him. When she pouted and refused, lightly, he gave her that same smirk and said, “Of course, cuz you got two left feet.”

Her defiant and stubborn personality was easily manipulated. All of a sudden, meisters and weapons were dancing together. Tsubaki, a bit lost on what to do, decided to simply watch, with a happy smile. Beside her, three forms whisked by. They paused, turning towards her.

“Tsubaki, you aren’t dancing?” Liz wore a similar suit to her sibling while Kid still adorned the cloak left by his father, however the mask was elsewhere. Patty is already swaying to the music, in her giggly, unique way. It’s nice to see everyone so happy and peaceful. Her smile widens.

Kid chuckles, “With a partner like BlackStar, I doubt he’s much of an elegant dancer. He’s still scarfing down food over there.”

They all share a soft glance behind Tsubaki. At the table she awaits by, BlackStar is monstrously consuming what is left on the designated platters. He seems happy enough. Besides, with all the training he does, it’s no wonder he has such an appetite. That’s why Tsubaki is always sure to cook him the best meals.

Their partnership has become comfortable since the fight on the moon. She’ll still scold him for sneaking into places she bathes but even then, she isn’t unused to him seeing her breasts, or even her naked body. He’s seen it all and she’ll only scold him on principle but really, she doesn’t have as much an issue with it anymore. Maybe she’s too comfortable, being that they aren’t dating but...she puts that thought out of her mind. What can she do about it?

Liz sighs, “Tsubaki, you should dance with one cute guy tonight. You look so pretty! Besides, with BlackStar eating the whole buffet, you’ll have time to be with someone else.”

She doesn’t really want to be with someone else, the whole idea unsettles her. Still, she smiles kindly, “No, it’s alright. Besides,” she leans forward, her hand moving through her hair a bit nervously, “BlackStar likes to dance but he isn’t much of a ballroom dancer—“

“Hey! I can dance as well as the next guy!”

She squeaks as he appears at her side, his face a filthy mess. Kid grows pale with the sight and Tsubaki quickly takes the napkin she folded earlier into his shirt and wipes his face. He pays the action no mind but Liz and Patty laugh.

“BlackStar, we’ve never seen you actually waltz once in your life. Tsubaki would probably be leading you the entire way!”

That gets a rise out of her meister. He stands tall, his chest puffing, “What! I can dance better than everyone out there! Watch me! Tsubaki, lets go!”

She flinches and almost believes that she should turn into her weapon form. She’s so used to him simply calling her name and that being enough communication between them. She always knows what he needs of her and she always performs to the best of her ability.

She’s dragged to the dance floor and she can see him clenching his jaw. She tries to be soothing but when it comes to boasting and showing everyone he’s the best, BlackStar doesn’t back down.

He stops in the middle of the floor, where everyone is already swaying comfortable with their partners. He glances around, stubbornly, and lifts his hands, even a bit awkwardly towards her. He doesn’t meet her gaze for a moment, scanning everyone else still. Tsubaki chuckles and it makes him look up at her, a bit embarrassed.

“Here, let me help you,” she guides his hands towards the appropriate places on her body. He doesn’t seem very taken aback but it’s true, he’s never danced like this before. But he’s far too stubborn to admit that. She’s unaccustomed to dancing with him like this at all, much less when he feels older and mature. As mature as this goof ball can get though. His fight with Mifune definitely changed him. Granting her brother’s wish, was a big step in her admiration and love for him. Love him, of course she does, he’s her partner and more importantly, now he’s apart of her family.

“This is stupid, if I can’t do this then it isn’t even worthy of being a skill I should have,” he grumbles it, in his usual annoyance. She tilts her head, smiling.

“Don’t get upset. It’s really easy. Let me show you.”

His cheeks tinge pink for a moment as he allows her this one bit of dominance. Of all things BlackStar is, he definitely isn’t dumb. At least, not when it comes to learning physical things. He’s always been a fast learner and she expects him to take up the steps to the dance rather quickly. To her surprise, he doesn’t.

He stumbles uncomfortably and she can see the strain he’s putting in, the effort in his burning gaze as he tries to elegantly move. She laughs and that makes him even more frustrated.

“Enough! Let me lead!”

She blinks and she squeaks as his grip on her tightens. Maybe she has to remind him that she’s a person and not a weapon at the moment, but, seeing him try so hard, she can’t help but allow him to simply be himself. He’s definitely stronger. Even she would swoon after him if she didnt know so much about it him. He once called her the stars in the dark sky and she teased him, admitting she believed he was both the stars and dark sky combined. He takes compliments boisterously but in that moment, of him being pensive and mature, he seemed flustered by her words.

She laughs at the memory now and hearing that, he scoffs, pulling her close to him, “Come on Tsubaki,”

She tries to follow his footsteps but he’s doing it all wrong, he isn’t even going to the beat anymore. At one point, he tries to spin her and fails miserably, resulting in her stumbling against him and his shoe stepping down on her toe.

“Ow!” She cries, leaning away from him. She can see the flush of color rising in his face. She shakes her head, sliding her feet back from him, “You know BlackStar, we don’t have to dance at all. Let’s just wait until the song is over.”

He pauses, his eyes flickering between hers and she can’t really distinguish, in the soft warmth of the lights around the room, how he feels. He extends his hand, jutting it harshly forward between them, “No, so you can go dance with some other guy? No way. I can do this, I’m the best!”

She sighs under her breath. He really can’t let things go. And what was that about some other guy. Maybe the food got to his head. She isn’t one to deny him though, so she gingerly places her hand in his. He tugs her unceremoniously forward, and she staggers into his arms. One slides in against her waist, the other towards her shoulder. At least he’s grown a bit taller so his face is no longer right at her breasts. That would be embarrassing because her dress is revealing a bit much of her assets. Not that she can help it. Or really wants to.

He tries again to move to the music, mumbling each movement beneath his breath, counting them out. He does well for the first part and then when they turn, she can tell he’s gotten all jumbled. His eyebrows furrow and he makes the mistake of looking down at their feet.

“Oh, look up, BlackStar,”

It makes his head whip upwards and that disorients him. He steps on her foot again and she cringes, this time, her eyes even watering. Why does he put so much force into stepping down? Maybe that’s why he’s been struggling? This time though, her toes really ache and she has to peel back from him. She shakes her head and looks around the heads of all their friends, searching for a seat, “I think I need to sit BlackStar.”

He shakes his head, adamantly, “Wait, Tsubaki, the song isn’t finished yet! I have to show everyone—“

She frowns, lifting her foot in the air but her shoes won’t allow her to wiggle her toes, “Sorry BlackStar but my feet hurt.” She turns away from him and she feels terrible for doing so. She isn’t one to ever deny him from getting his way or proving himself. This time though, she isn’t in weapon form and he stepped down on her toes so hard, she fears he could have bruised them. She really does like to dance but she can manage to refuse him for just one night.

She takes a seat and pops her heel off, frowning down at her toes. Just a bit red and sore but nothing serious. She leans back against the table, sighing in relief.

—————————————————————

He crosses his arms in annoyance.

‘What does Tsubaki know. I can dance.’

He thinks, his fingers squeezing his biceps. After being refused from his partner, he can’t help but feel a bit frustrated that he hadn’t been able to master the goddamn dance, nor prove to his friends that he was better than everyone else at it. In the back of his mind, the inkling of doubt that is attempting to get inside is immediately squashed.

‘If I just had more time,’

Then again, he had stepped rather hard on her foot. He shakes his head. No. He would have gotten it in a few more minutes if she stayed.

Maka situates herself beside him, leaning against the wall he’s against as well. She frowns, more so pouts, “Gosh, Tsubaki dances so elegantly. Her and Soul look so good together.”

BlackStar’s eyebrows furrow. He immediately looks up, scanning the dancers for his partner. He finds the shadow weapon swaying slowly and comfortably with Soul. They do look pretty elegant and correct. Tsubaki is still taller though, but Soul hasn’t stepped on her toes once throughout the dance.

Maka’s frown deepens, “Dancing is so dumb anyways.”

“Yeah, it is!” He agrees. If it was a fight, he’d beat everyone in the room, no contest. He doesn’t need to learn some ballroom dancing, no way. Tsubaki can go and dance with twenty other guys and he’d be completely fine standing here. Or eating. Yeah, he should just go eat. Actually, he should be training right now.

His arms tighten across his chest, a bubble of anger making him sink. Maka sighs, “I just can’t get good at this dancing stuff.”

Seeing his partner dance so well with another person doesn’t sit well with him. So he couldn’t do the dance and now she went off to dance with Soul? Come on Tsubaki!

They do make a good pair.

....When it comes to dancing!

Tsubaki is his weapon, and Soul isn’t even a meister. He doubts if he was, that he could even handle such an awesome weapon like Tsubaki. BlackStar scoffs under his breath, thinking about the image of Soul being a meister and attempting to wield Tsubaki. And failing.

He scoffs to himself. He could dance if he wanted. Some ballroom dancing isn’t even cool enough for a big guy like him.

Maka sighs, “Tsubaki’s gotten so pretty...”

BlackStar allows himself a bit of pride. Of course Tsubaki gets compliments, she’s his weapon and the best, suited for the man who will surpass god. His smile widens and he pays close attention as the song comes to a winding stop. The band bows and Tsubaki pulls away from Soul. They had been talking the entire time through the dance, clearly comfortable as friends. Tsubaki applauds the band, along with the rest of the people on the dance floor, with a soft, angelic smile.

Yeah, Tsubaki’s always been really nice. Really understanding. Soul shoves his hands into his pockets, glancing up at the shadow weapon. He says something and it makes her blush a bit, her hand moving to cover her mouth in, what BlackStar already knows, is her flustered chuckle.

He pushes off from the wall, striding towards Tsubaki, “Hey, Tsubaki, lets go.”

She blinks at him, a bit startled by his sudden approach, “Already?”

Soul glances around the room, searching for Maka who he hasn’t noticed still stands against the wall, “The party is basically over, the band is getting ready to go.”

Tsubaki’s shoulders sink, “I was having fun dancing. Thanks so much Soul,”

From behind BlackStar, Maka approaches, her gaze a bit shy. She and Soul make their way towards Kid, perhaps as final goodbyes. BlackStar lifts his chin up in the air, “So, got a new dancing partner?”

Tsubaki shakes her head, in that calm way of hers. She’s gotten annoyed with him before but never angry, so he’s so used to that happy little smile of hers, “Just for a bit. But I’m right back here with you.”

BlackStar clears his throat, “Good.”

Maybe he doesn’t appreciate her enough but for some reason, he expects her to already know that he admires her constant presence near him. He crosses his arms, eyeing her. They start walking towards Kid, joining the group.

Liz notices them, and she takes a light jog towards Tsubaki. Uninterested, BlackStar continues walking towards the rest of his friends, but he catches Liz saying, a bit enthusiastically, “Oh, hey I just heard someone cute say he liked you. I told him to ask you out on a date!”

BlackStar freezes, his head swiveling towards the two tall girls.

WHAT THE HELL—

End of Part 1

(Don’t worry guys, I promise we’ll get romantic on the second part.)

#tsubaki x blackstar #blackstar x tsubaki #TsuStar #soul eater #tsubaki x blackstar fanfiction #black star x tsubaki fanfiction

[transhumanitynet]

★ Black Hole Sun: Leadership within Social Futurism

★ Black Hole Sun: Leadership within Social Futurism

The following is an adapted and expanded version of my introduction to “Social Futurism and the Zero State” (AKA ‘The Black Book’), exclusive to Transhumanity.net: I am a fervent proponent of Social Futurism. I coined that term to reflect a reality I see in the world, where accelerating technological innovation meets a positive societal vision, specifically in the desire to promote Positive Social Change Through Technology. This book – Social Futurism and the Zero State (AKA “The Black Book”) – offers key insights into my view on how to approach such a mission, and various related matters.

There are many ways a person could promote a Social Futurist future, and mine is to support and develop two related organizations: The Social Futurist Party (SFP), and the Zero State (ZS). The SFP is a new, international political network focussed on developing links between Social Futurist organizations for the purposes of Positive Social Change Through Technology. ZS is a community and movement which works toward the same ends via different – complementary – means, through the medium of the arts, social events, informal networking, and Alternate Reality Gaming. Both organizations have a strong Transhumanist and Singularitarian tone.

I would like to very briefly describe my approach to leadership and activity in these two organizations, to set the tone, going forward. The first part below concerns the nature of leadership in both organizations, while the second part focuses on my own application of that approach within ZS, specifically. Leadership within Social Futurism Different people have different ideas of what leadership is, and how it works best. Those ideas can be further complicated by the motivating power of money: In a world where most organizations are based on motivating people with money, required to stay alive or at least healthy in a Capitalist world, motivation and organizational coherence can be hard to sustain when you’re not offering money, when your goal is not simply material profit in the most base sense. Perhaps the greatest motivational difficulty stems from that dangerous gift we call the internet: The internet is a place where everyone has an opinion that comes at no real cost, and where they are obliged to do nothing real. That attitude is a death-knell for activist and membership organizations, which need people who are willing to do something to back up their opinions.

So how do we move forward? How can we approach leadership for activists in this climate? The answer is to work in small, consistent, networked groups, and to lead by example. Find a small group of people you ‘click’ with, work out what concerns and passions you share as a group, and then work on a project together. Simple as that. Keep your group connected with others, encourage overlap, and the network will grow by word of mouth. Don’t tell other people what they should or shouldn’t do, what they can or cannot do, unless their actions run counter to the explicit principles shared by the entire network. Instead, focus on doing what you can. If you can work effectively alone and want to, then good for you, but most people work best in a small team. Different teams favour different leadership styles. Find one that works for you. The only way to fail is to be inactive, because then you are letting yourself down, letting your team down, letting the entire network down, and yes, even letting the world down. If everyone does their part within a small team, and the teams hang together in an organic, self-modifying network, then the emergent effects have the potential to be world-changing as successful ideas and technologies ripple across the network, time and again.

Black Hole Sun: My Sphere of Responsibility within ZS

As I’ve noted extensively elsewhere, the Zero State (ZS) trades in metafiction, which is to say that although its goals and consequences are perfectly real, some of its members choose to treat its core narratives as a kind of game (specifically an ‘Alternate Reality Game’ or ARG), which encourages engagement combined with a certain suspension of disbelief which helps get things done. In line with that approach, regardless of whether they all view ZS as a game, our core members all have assigned roles that collectively underpin our “Mythos”, or narrative. There are all sorts of weird and wonderful role names within ZS, names of occupations, animals, mythological creatures and so on, each giving some hint as to its function. My own role is “The Teacher”, because my role or function is to activate the other roles, to teach, and to ‘wake people up’. My role has a particular relationship with our central symbolism of a ‘Blackstar’, which represents a Technological Singularity and ultra-rapid, ultra-radical techno-societal change. In that role, I have two broad functions. The first is to communicate key ideas to our membership, so that we may work our way forward with a common understanding. The second is to interact directly with the network via my own small group of contacts in as efficient a manner as possible, through the medium of small gatherings we call “Sessions”. My point here is that a leader leads by example, by doing what must be done, and in doing so offering an example which others can follow. The most effective leader should very rarely have to tell someone else what to do. The best leaders are the exact opposite of much internet culture, where people all want to express their personal opinions while taking no personal responsibility for action. Social Futurist leaders must be ready to take the initiative, to take action in ways that demonstrate their views. Our network is designed to naturally coordinate and amplify such efforts, so by leading yourself and your small group, then you will inspire and assist not only that group, but the groups it is connected to, and the groups they are connected to in turn. The Blackstar (★) symbol for the idea of a revolutionizing Technological Singularity, used within both ZS and the SFP, is an allusion to a Black Hole, or Gravitational Singularity. It is merely a point of focus in and of itself, the culmination of a natural process, but it inevitably transforms everything within its reach. Leadership within Social Futurism, be it within a political party or gaming community or any other organization, is a matter of embodying that Blackstar ideal. To be a Social Futurist leader is to be minimal, while transforming and energizing everything within your reach. Each of us is thus a Blackstar, and together we impart that very nature to Social Futurism itself.

Additional note: A warning from the past The current incarnation of the Zero State (ZS) is a kind of renaissance or ‘second wave’, sometimes styled ‘ZS2.0’. The original ZS was initially conceived at a conference in 12010, then officially formed with the publication of our Principles on 1st May 12011. That original organization already contained the seed of everything that we are now, but we did not yet have the term “Social Futurism” (which I coined to summarize our ideas a little later), and the idea that ZS might be interpreted as an Alternate Reality Game existed only in the back of our thoughts, discussed by a small minority of our members. Although ZS never ceased to exist altogether, there was definitely a fallow period from perhaps 12014-12016, in which most formal activity ceased, with various ZS projects developing lives of their own and our chat groups filling up with people who wanted to talk but do nothing, and who didn’t even understand the nature of the group they had joined. This period coincided with my establishment of the Transhumanist Party in the UK (and elsewhere across Europe; my direct participation in that organization ending as a result of both personal commitments and my disappointment at a disturbingly mediocre, bureaucratic, “don’t rock the boat” attitude in Transhumanist Party groups which struck me as ill-fitting for any Transhumanist organization). One might naturally wonder why ‘ZS1.0’ stalled (I hesitate to use the word ‘failed’, as its failure was not, and was never likely to be permanent), aside from the Transhumanist Party side-track. Some have said that they didn’t like the apparent proliferation of ‘secret’ or private ZS sub-groups, but I am strongly of the opinion that this is a misunderstanding of what was really happening at the time. I would like to take this opportunity to set the record straight. Firstly, there were never any “secret” ZS groups. What there was, was a combination of groups who wanted to get on with their projects without being distracted by unhelpful, opinionated “passengers”, and other ZSers whose interest in cryptocurrencies and other cryptographic technologies led them to migrate their discussions to obscure platforms such as RetroShare rather than mainstream websites like Facebook. There was naturally some overlap between these two groups, the first of whom developed a kind of motto in the phrase “No Passengers!” (meaning that all members must contribute in some way), and the second which found it hard to attract and keep participants because of frequent, irritating software glitches and internecine spats fuelled by a minority of ZSers who cared more about Libertarianism than ZS itself (my own resultant and rather stern view on such matters can be read here). The biggest problem by far, however, was the one I already described at the beginning of this article, with the majority of ZS1.0 members wanting to loudly express opinions, and tear down the views and work of others, without actually doing anything concrete to help themselves. This pervasive, corrosive attitude manifested in a range of ways, from rants about Anarcho-Capitalism to bemoaning an imagined lack of transparency from the project groups who really just wanted to get on with their own thing. In short, I eventually came to the conclusion that although decentralized direct-democratic networks are very important (as our Principles explicitly stress), democratic opinion on the individual level cannot be allowed to simply shout down (and shut down) the minority of members ready and willing to do the work which keeps the entire endeavour alive. In summary, my experience with that earlier incarnation of the Zero State led directly to the model of Social Futurist leadership articulated above. Every Social Futurist is a Blackstar, who should work toward concrete ends, in small groups, in accord with our shared and unifying Principles. Your opinions only matter insofar as you can demonstrate some kind of concrete value to your group, and thus to the network, and Social Futurists should take a dim view of those who spend all their time criticizing the efforts of others while doing nothing themselves to help move things forward. In that way we will all survive and thrive, together, as a single great Social Futurist network.

★ Black Hole Sun: Leadership within Social Futurism was originally published on transhumanity.net

#Alternate Reality Game #ARG #Black Book #Blackstar #crypto #Democracy #Gaming #Leadership #Libertarianism #Metafiction #Principles #SFP #Singularity #Social Futurism #transhumanism #Transparency #Zero State #zs #crosspost #transhuman #transhumanitynet #transhumanist #thetranshumanity

[sourwolfstories]

sourwolfstories ultimate coffee shop fic rec list

50+ sterek coffee shop fics in no particular order

ADHDecaf by pleaseletmetouchyourbutt

Stiles is 25 and runs his own coffee shop. Derek doesn't know this. Derek, a mechanic, thinks that Stiles is 17 and jail-bait.

Misunderstandings ensue.

Cinnamon by blackstar

When Derek starts working in the "Full moon" coffee shop across from the BH police department, he starts talking to Stiles - the loud and bright, always-smiling sheriff's son, who keeps coming in again and again, adding cinnamon to everything he consumes. Pining ensues.

Beginnings by ericaismeg

“I think," Stiles says, looking up at Derek with amusement flickering in his eyes, "that this is the part where one of us says, 'This is the start to a beautiful friendship', don't you?" "I don't," Derek says, masking all emotions. He gives Stiles his best blank, boredom expression. "I don't think this is the beginning of anything." "I'm hurt," Stiles says with a gasp. He puts his hand dramatically on his chest. Stiles grabs Derek's coffee and holds it out for him. "Have it your way, Mr. Hale. I'll just be your barista, who has your order memorized and ready to go every day at 3pm."

*** Derek's a professor who comes into the coffee shop where Stiles and Erica works. Stiles and Scott have a spare room that Isaac moves into. Erica's a supportive friend. It's all about new beginnings.

Not Exactly My Cup Of Coffee by officerstilinskihale

Stiles buried his face in his hands and resisted the urge to scream.

The angry sex he wasn't having with Derek would be so good.

Caution, contents may be hot by WeirdV

Derek has been working at the coffee shop since his parents left it to him in their will. Laura wasn’t much for taking over the business, but she spends a lot of time there, helping out with stock and supplies. Stiles is a regular, for almost three months, when he suddenly starts going to the coffee shop across the street. He’s not the first costumer to switch loyalties, but it stings Derek just a little bit more.

Stiles Stilinki always wanted to go into law enforcement, but he’s not patient enough to climb the ladder to detective, and his methods aren’t always – let’s say on the right side of the law. So he does what he deems a perfect solution for someone without the correct social skills or patience to make promotion, he becomes a Private Investigator. When he gets a job to investigate a shady employee at the coffee shop across the street from his regular place, he suddenly finds himself missing a decent cup of coffee. He’s been going to the new place for almost a week now, and they still don’t know his order, his regular barista had it down the next day. and – of course – it is interfering with the case he’s personally involved with, his mother’s murder.

Awesome & Awesomer by whyamIalwaysLoislane

Derek and Laura meet up and have a coffee. In Stiles And Scott's cafe. Fluff and cuteness ensues.

All Stirred Up by jsea, marguerite_26

Derek's first duty as a new deputy is the early morning coffee run to The Leaky Carafe, and it's not long before he discovers that the quirky barista has a knack for making the perfect drink. Every time. Even before you order.

But is it intuition, luck or magic that has all Stiles' customers leaving happy?

Now You’re Too Sweet by agent_izhyper

In which Stiles is thoroughly confused and awkwardly misinterprets the situation, and has fallen in love with Derek's heavenly baked goods before he even knew (let alone fell for) Derek Hale. Also, first meetings are a mess and the universe hates him, but nothing new there, right?

The Customer Ain’t Always Right by trilliath

Today's the day. He's gonna do it. He's actually going to (as Cora says) "speak words like a normal human and talk" to (as Cora has designated him) Cute Coffee Boy. - Or he would, if it weren't for this asshole cutting in line.

“Name for the Order?” by katnisskirk

AU. Stiles is a barista and Derek is a customer who regularly comes in while talking on the phone so Stiles repeatedly (intentionally) mishears his name.

Breathing Fire by jordanparissh

“Stiles. Are we gonna keep this up? And our relationships?” “Yes? Yeah. I guess.” “This is so wrong.”

or the one where Derek and Stiles both have girlfriends, but decide to cheat on them with each other anyways

The Right Motivation by bleep0bleep

Stiles had walked in to Derek’s life one rainy day, dripping wet all over his floor and stared openly at Derek pulling out a fresh batch of lava cakes, and said to Derek, “Please just put it in my mouth.”

Simple Math by lizzstomania

"It's just math, Derek. It's me and you; it’s not rocket science and it's not Shakespeare. It's basic arithmetic and you, for some ungodly reason, never bothered to learn to add."

They Call Me Stuart (That’s Not My Name) by KuriKuri

“I’ll have a, uh, medium mocha,” Stiles finally says, squinting up at the drink menu on the back wall.

“Name?” Douche-y blond guy asks, picking up a disposable paper cup.

“Stiles,” Stiles replies, grimacing as he watches the guy scribble down ‘Stuart’ on the side of the cup. Whatever. It’s not worth the trouble of trying to get him to change it.

even a bad cup of coffee (is better than no coffee at all) by vlieger

AU where Derek and Laura stay in New York and open a coffee shop after the fire, and Stiles meets them when he moves there for college.

only fools rush in by decideophobia

Is it an imaginary date?

No. I met him in a coffee shop.

When?

This morning. It was love on first sight.

Just Coffee by MaddieStilinski

‘What?’ he asks as he reaches the counter. Scott just raises his eyebrows.

‘Nothing dude. Just admiring your tactics.’

‘What tactics?’ Derek asks, rolling his eyes. ‘I’m getting him coffee.’

Scott shrugs, starting up the machine. ‘Say what you want Derek, but in my experience it never is ‘just coffee.’’

A Series of Surprisingly Fortunate Events by Trench_coats_and_denim_jeans 

Stiles may or may not be perpetually single, so Papa Stilinski decides to set him up with a girl from his hometown. A girl Stiles doesn't want to date, so he takes a book out of the movies and lies about having a relationship. Who is the unwilling victim? His best friend's boss at the coffee shop, Derek Hale. The man who seems to have a personal grudge against him.

It goes about as well as one could expect.

Kaleidoscope by Vendelin

Stiles spends a year before college working at the all-night coffee shop in town. It's nice and quiet, until one dark and brooding Derek starts coming in every morning, ordering coffee so strong that it should not be fit for human consumption. Ever. Stiles tries not to be affected by the mystery guy, but it's not like anything else happens around here, so really, what did you expect? And when he's already in too deep, he realises he might even be in way over his head...

Midnight Wolf vs Abominable Snowman! by KuriKuri

Derek almost makes the mistake of saying, It’s not fanart, but he manages to catch himself, biting his tongue. This stranger, who’s already identified himself as at least a casual fan of Midnight Wolf, doesn’t need to know that he actually is the artist and author, not just another fan.

He Takes His Coffee Black by orphan_account

On the cusp of actual, responsible adulthood with no ambitions to his name, Derek Hale (soon to be Derek Hale, Master of Physical Therapy) is faced with the dishearteningly underwhelming notion of his future. For his final winter break, Derek returns home to his family's coffee shop where he spends the dry winter days filling aggravating orders for equally aggravating people and burning his hands with scalding milk.

It's the last place on earth he expects to find a kindred spirit, but some twitchy kid named Stiles-- with his simple order of one black coffee and a wry little grin-- turns out to be just that.

Duet by BulletBlaze

Lydia is going to kill him if he's even a second later than he already is.

Or, how Stiles' extreme lack of money, time, and grace somehow lands him a date with his favorite author's brother.

That’ll Be $4.20 (But You Can Have My Love For Free) by stilinski_wolf

Stiles is the barista at the coffee shop Derek frequents, and after they start talking via messages on Derek's coffee cups, Stiles gets the courage to tell Derek he likes him, and Derek asks him out.

Stiles' Christmas that year just got a whole lot better.

i want a sip of what you’re sippin’ on (are you picking up what I’m putting down) by jadore_hale

“Stiles!” Scott grabbed him and pulled him off to the side. “We’ve talked about this. You are the worst at flirting!”

Stiles barely registered what Scott was saying. He couldn’t take his eyes of Derek. The man was ridiculous. His eyes. His perfect stubble. His big muscular arms that Stiles was dying to have wrapped around him. Why was Derek even working at a coffee shop when he had all this modeling potential?

“Excuse him,” he said to Derek on Scott’s behalf. “He’s a little embarrassed. He wants to know if he can get your number. That way he’ll know where to get a hold of me tomorrow morning.”

Stiles hitting on the new barista with his mad macking skills yo.

To Catch ‘Em All by Sithisis

Stiles is the only person in the coffee shop at 10 PM at night, waiting for his drink order. He is also playing Pokemon Go and wondering where in the world is Eevee when the door opens, shuts, and in strides a man who looks a few years older than him. Stiles thinks he’s a model or something before he catches himself staring, looks up into the man’s eyes, and notices that they are a brilliant gold.

Stiles’ breath hitches.

Eevee isn't the only thing he wants to catch.

Pedal to the Floor by phillipa_gordon

Stiles' brain grinds to a halt.

His driver is definitely not middle aged. His bus driver is hot. Like, really hot. Like burning.

He also looks a bit like a serial killer at the moment, what with his impressive eyebrows being drawn into a scowl, but still. Actually, that expression kind of doesn’t look as terrible on him as it should. He’s got cheekbones and stubble and eyes and Stiles is in love. Totally in love. This guy is gorgeous and Stiles could go swimming in those incredible eyes. He opens his mouth, determined to be smooth, but instead what comes out is:

‘I’m not usually this wet.’

OR

The public transport AU in which Stiles pines, Laura meddles and Derek has no idea what his eyebrows are doing

My Favorite Asshole by CRAmber

AKA the coffeeshop AU nobody asked for.

Once in a Blue Moon by dobrien 

A Coffee Shop AU in which Stiles owns a coffee shop, Derek owns a gym, and Stiles just so happens to be the neighbour living below Derek that wakes him up every morning at the ass crack of dawn.

I’d Be A Fool To Let You Go by bistiles_bilinski

The guy, Stiles, had frozen in his tracks and glanced up at him through his eyelashes with a blush and bashful smile. “Me?” he’d asked. “The guy who spilled a cup of coffee on you and then proceeded to trip over your foot and crush your muffin? You want to take that guy out?"

Second Chances by rootbeer

"A lot of times the ‘markings’ were common, simple things you said to strangers all the time. 'Excuse me'; 'thank you'; 'hello'. Some got extremely romantic things like 'it’s you isn’t it? I’ve been waiting for you' or 'Wow you’re really pretty'. And they were always the first words their soulmate would ever say to them.

Of course, having 'You are the fucking worst kind of person in the world' tattooed down your side, didn’t bode well. How fucked up was Stiles Stilinski that even his fucking Soulmate hated him? High School had been a special kind of hell when all the kids learned what his tattoo said—despite his best efforts to keep it a secret."

Brutus by planiforidjit

After a failed engagement and losing his job, Stiles does what any twenty-seven year old would do: he buys a puppy and moves back in with his dad.

And then stupid Derek had to be there, owning a bookstore and having a kid and looking probably hotter than he used to.

Little Kid Crush by KuriKuri

“What’s your name?” Derek asks, wiping the last of the tears off the kid’s face with his sleeve.

“’tiles,” the kid mumbles, and Derek frowns, wondering if he heard correctly.

“Tiles?” Derek repeats.

“Stiles,” the kid repeats, pouting at Derek slightly, defiant even though his eyes are still puffy and red and his cheeks tear-stained.

White Chocolate Cheesecake by Loslote

Stiles shivered when he felt a rush of cold air. He turned around to see a tall, broad, extremely muscled man in a black leather jacket step in amid a flurry of snowflakes. The man’s stubble and dark hair framed piercing hazel eyes. He held his hands in his pockets, and he glared out from beneath thick, furrowed eyebrows. His eyes landed on Stiles and pierced right through him as though Stiles were the only thing standing in between this man and his coffee, and Stiles gulped and...yep. Knocked over his coffee.

“Can I…Can I help you?” Stiles asked, dropping his textbook on the counter and dabbing at the coffee stains on his flannel.

“Sixteen ounce white chocolate cheesecake mocha,” the man said after glancing at the menu board. His voice was higher than Stiles had expected, and softer. He smiled, and as his eyebrows lifted, Stiles could have sworn he heard a choir of angels burst into song. “Hold the whip, please.”

The One With the Bearded Bespectacled Guy by mikkimouse

Based on this prompt: “There’s only one plug in this entire coffee shop and you’re sitting right in front of it and you’re not even using it, and my laptop is about to die in the middle of this online exam I’m taking, so whatever I don’t care how intimidatingly attractive you are I’m sitting down at your table to plug my shit in.”

Hallowed Grounds by damnfancyscotch

Everything in Beacon Hills is the same when Stiles comes home from college.

Well, except for the fact that he's a published author now, Scott is halfway across the world with a travelling circus, Erica's epilepsy has been cured, her boss offers him a job too, and there's this weird black dog that seems to be following him around just to judge him.

Oh, and the murders, of course.

But other than that stuff... totally the same old BH.

Perk Up by Scruffy_Wolf

"You really like like him, don't you?"

Stiles wrinkles his nose, "God, what are you, twelve? I don't like like him. We sleep together sometimes and I studied on his couch for a few hours once. That's it."

"You should tell him you have feelings for him," Scott continues, blatantly ignoring what Stiles is saying. "It'll probably solve a whole lot of problems. Then you can just sleep together and hang out while not sleeping together without it being awkward. Also, I won't have to listen to months of your moping."

(Or: Stiles is a grad student who spends far too much money on coffee at Derek's shop. They also fuck occasionally.)

I Hope By the Morning by andnowforyaya

From the bathroom came sounds of the guy brushing his teeth. Stiles rubbed the fifty dollar bill between his fingers and felt cheap. "Dude, I'm not taking your money."

The guy spat and turned the faucet on. "Take the money. You said you lived in Queens last night? Who the hell lives in Queens."

The fifty seemed gritty in his fingers, but he put it in the back pocket of his ridiculously tight jeans, anyway. That was, like, a five-hour shift at the coffee shop where he worked, Common Grounds, with tips. "And don't call me 'dude,'" the guy continued, turning off the faucet. "I'm not your college bro. It's Derek."

so he’s got a few flaws by Watermelon Wolves (Phnx)

In short, everything was terrible.

Coffee Shop Stalkers by phoneboxmug

Derek has a secret crush on Stiles, Stiles has a secret crush on Derek. Derek forgets his wallet at the coffee shop they stalk each other at and Stiles is desperate to use this as an excuse to finally get the ball rolling. Laura and Lydia are cupids. Derek and Stiles have filthy minds.

Not So Much Coffee and Books as it is Hot Chocolate and Erotica by knaval  

Alternative title: The Pen Is

AU in which Stiles is an erotica novelist, and Derek is the sexy fireman he daydreams about. He sees Derek daily at the coffee shop, writing out his fantasies about Derek, basically Derek is his muse. All goes well until Derek starts talking to him and trying to read his books. Little does Stiles know, Derek is already a fan of his books.

Wolf’s Brew by Seth_Lecter

Derek is pining after his pretty barista. And boy, is he glad his sisters aren't there right now...

Coffee Storm by splendid_splendont

‘we got caught by this awful storm and now we’re waiting for it to calm under the roof of a café, want to go inside and have a coffee in the meantime?’ au

Electric Heart by stilesxlydiaxderek

Based On The Prompt "You're sitting in front of the only plug in this entire coffee shop and not using it. I don't care how attractive you are, I'm sitting at your table because I need that plug"

Whatever Our Souls Are Made Of by Lissadiane

It's a cold, snowy night and Stiles is halfway through his shift at the campus coffee shop when a tall, dark and handsome stranger walks in, one who seems unaware that he's being haunted by a wolf.

In which Stiles Stilinski sees the ghosts of animals with unfinished business, and Derek Hale is unaware that his dearly departed sister left a few things unfinished.

Don’t You Wanna Be My Sky? by WhoNatural

Stiles got ratted out by the Realm Guard for sneaking off with Scott a total of seven times before his dad buckled, promising sabbatical once Stiles reached Faehood, and enough Earth culture in the meantime to have him talking like a born-and-bred Californian teenager.

He just didn’t have the tan.

(Or, in which Stiles is a Frost Fae sent to the Earth Realm on the Fae version of Rumspringa and immediately falls head-first into a Coffee Shop AU)

Draw Me a Little More by BekkaChaos

Sterek AU: Artist!Stiles and Shy!Derek meet in a coffee-house when their waiter, Barista!Isaac, points out to Derek that Stiles has been staring at him.

Just My Type by thedevilyousay

Laura and her brother are not so patiently waiting in line at the coffee shop one morning when a cute stranger grabs her hand by mistake.

or

The one where Stiles doesn't pay attention and Laura gets to witness her brother and his new dumb boyfriend's love at first sight.

I Hope By the Morning by andnowforyaya

From the bathroom came sounds of the guy brushing his teeth. Stiles rubbed the fifty dollar bill between his fingers and felt cheap. "Dude, I'm not taking your money."

The guy spat and turned the faucet on. "Take the money. You said you lived in Queens last night? Who the hell lives in Queens."

The fifty seemed gritty in his fingers, but he put it in the back pocket of his ridiculously tight jeans, anyway. That was, like, a five-hour shift at the coffee shop where he worked, Common Grounds, with tips. "And don't call me 'dude,'" the guy continued, turning off the faucet. "I'm not your college bro. It's Derek."

Give Me Back My Bones (maybe then we’ll talk) by kariye

Derek meets Stiles on a Wednesday. He comes in for his usual cup of coffee and somehow walks out with hot chocolate, cinnamon on the top, and no idea what just happened there.

it’s been like years since it’s been clear by sirona

It's six-thirty in the morning, but there are warm lights behind the floor-to-ceiling, de-boarded windows, and the 'For Sale' sign on the door has disappeared along with Stiles' memory of where he'd been headed just moments before. The coffee shop is, apparently, open for business once more.

Mistletoe Never Lies by CarolineLahey

Derek Hale loves his family, he really does. He just wishes they weren't so determined to set him up. When he finally blurts out that he has a boyfriend, and quickly gives his mother the name of the barista at his local coffee shop as his "boyfriend", he figures that buys him a little peace. He probably should have been paying attention to the part of the conversation where he agreed to bring Stiles home for Christmas to meet the family.

Voldemort and Jean Valjean (Walk into a Coffee Shop) by PsychicPineapple

So sue him, Stiles had a stupid habit of giving out goofy names at coffee joints.

**

‘Name?’ He stood with his sharpie at the ready.

‘Voldemort,’ Stiles answered without missing a beat.

You Had Me At Latte Batman by Hatteress (goddammitstacey)

The one where Derek’s a barista who accidentally woos Stiles with latte art.

#sterek #sterek fic rec #sterek fanfic #sterek fanfiction #coffee shop au #fic rec list

[tobystevensonycarudy]

Different Methods of working as a designer

Waterfall - 

The Waterfall method is thinking of and carrying out the process in more of a straight order starting with feasibility then carrying out the other stages such as plan, design, build, test, production, support.

Advantages - 

Any Potential issue that is carried out in the piece would be noticed early on in the stage through research. The development process is also likely to be better documented since requirements and design documents are more heavily focused on. As this process is also linear people would often find it easier to understand and in turn, would make this method be more likely used in a team.

Disadvantages - 

An issue with this process could be that once one idea has been fully carried out from the plan to the final production and presentation it’s very committing and risky as it could turn out that this is a piece that the client doesn't like and therefore the process would have to be carried out again from the start which would waste time and money.

Agile - 

Using this method often includes short feedback loops where designs can be changed multiple times with no set piece leaving many options available with the ease of being able to change a design. The process involves creating multiple pieces that are not as thought out but are diverse and therefore having the option for one of them being what the client likes.

 Advantages - 

Working designs can be delivered at a quicker and consistent pace along with relationships between the client and the designer being stronger. As well this method gives the option for continuous improvement throughout any stage of the process.

Disadvantages -

The process is often more difficult to understand whether it be to the client or other people if the design is carried out in a team. Some aspects of the design or other ideas in general can be neglected which would be a waste of time. If the Agile method is carried out poorly this can cause inefficiencies in larger organisations.

Different idea development techniques -

Crazy eights - 

Crazy eights is a thought process that involves thinking of eight different ideas in eight minutes with each idea lasting one minute then having to be moved on, of that one minute generally 40 seconds is spent coming up with an idea then the remaining 20 seconds would be used as reflection time on the idea. Often these ideas involve quick sketches and or written thoughts. The task also tends to get more difficult when going through each stage as the obvious ideas tend to be already used up.

Advantages - 

Some advantages include this method being very quick and easy to carry out as well as some ideas being created that would have never been thought of if this process hadn’t been carried out as it may have been more limiting.

Disadvantages - 

The ideas are never really developed that well and thought of so a lot of potential ideas could involve problems, and since all of the problems are not well thought of this could lead to all of the possible ideas not being able to work which would overall just be a waste of time.

Reverse Brainstorming -

Reverse Brainstorming is a method of problem-solving by first doing the opposite of the objective to the extreme for example to make people healthier one extreme opposite could be to ban all fruit and vegetables, once thought of a few opposites just flip it again so, in this case, it would be to promote fruit and vegetables.

Advantages -

Thinking of ideas that would have never been thought of before. Easier to come up with ideas in the first place because finding problems is easier than finding solutions.

Disadvantages -

A lot of the problems that are reversed could end up just being impractical which would just waste time.

Brain dumping -

This Brain dumping method of idea generation is basically just sketching and writing out different ideas quickly without thinking about it much.

Advantages -

Doing this could lead to a lot of potential ideas to work on as well as not taking much time to do.

Disadvantage -

Braindumping could cause the person to go off topic without realising causing a waste of time.

Plussing -

Plussing is thinking of a really simple idea then adding one thing to it each time. This method could work particularly well in logo design as it could help keep its simplicity and allow the designer to experiment in easy to understand stages which could be shown to a client.

Advantages -

Plussing works better with more visual people as it would allow them to get a more thorough understanding of how something will turn out and allow them to be more specific with their idea since they’re just adding one feature at a time.

Disadvantage -

Plussing could take a while if the person is thinking of multiple ideas as this technique can be quite slow.

Mood boarding -

This method is the taking of other references such as images and text then compiling them all together into a collage.

Advantage -

This method doesn’t require much for actually coming up with ideas and allows the person to just pick out aspects from other people that they think would best fit their creative objective.

Disadvantage -

Doing this Moodboard method could cause copying to take place instead of taking inspiration which could be illegal.

Action verbing -

This is done by listing and researching different action verbs that may or may not be related to the design then applying them to the idea. An example of this could be by using the verb “grow” some aspects of the design could be enlarged to create a whole different look.

Advantages -

Doing this allows the designer to become quite creative depending on the types of verbs they would like to use. This could also give more character to the idea and therefore making it standout.

Disadvantages -

Some verbs used could be very hard to incorporate and might not work that well with the idea.

My own crazy eights idea about a shoe company -

Developing my favourite crazy eights idea by listing action verbs then applying them.

I ended up coming up with two athletic mascots for the shoe company with their own personalities, so as a conclusion for my first time using the crazy eights method I would say that this turned out successfully with in my opinion a strong final idea.

Researching designer - 

The modern designer I have chosen to do my case study on goes by the name Jonathan Barnbrook who is a British graphic designer born in Luton 1966. His most famous work would probably be an album cover for David Bowie called “pronounced Blackstar”. Before knowing David Bowie and Damien Hurst, he was best known for his type design where he designed Exocet which became the most pirated font on the web shortly after it’s release in 1991.

The way Jonathon Barnbrook usually comes up with certain typefaces is by rough sketches in his notebook the ideas are also not very exact as they are just from ideas or concepts he’s had. After the ideas had been drawn Jonathon would replicate these drawings digitally and try to get the right essence by adjusting them each time, this process is “painful” and by the hundredth time, the design could just look “ok” with it just building from there.

Jonathon Barnbrook also considers the context of what the typeface is going to be used for and tends to focus more on the emotions related to certain times or ideologies over historical accuracy.

I decided to research a second person. The person chosen is a VFX artist as I think the final piece could end up relating more to visual effects with motion instead of a still graphic design image.

VFX artist -

Joe Letteri is my chosen VFX artist to be researching on, I chose Letteri as he is one of the most famous and well-known VFX artists and supervisors as well as him being one of the most successful.

Letteri was born in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, United States in 1957 and has been in the industry from 1989 to the present day. During this time he has won four Academy Awards, four BAFTA awards and four VES awards. He is also the current Director Weta Digital of which he joined in 2001. He has received several awards and nominations as a visual effects supervisor in some works like War for the Planet of the Apes and Avatar.

How he develops his ideas -

Letteri doesn’t tend to draw or paint his ideas that much but would focus more on the digital side of things using computers to develop and achieve the specific look he wants. He likes to “Understand how and why something happens, moves or works in the real world” and that he wants to “stretch the techniques and the technology” so he can apply this to pursuit realism.

He uses many different types of technical techniques with different software such as “ Imagemotion “ from Sony, “ Imocap“ from ILM, “ Face Robot” from Softimage and “Contour” from Mova. Effects would be constantly overlapped and removed whilst “looking at the strengths and weaknesses so you can tune which technique/s you use in the situation”. He would also intentionally look for problems and try and use the correct technique to solve the issue.

Imocap software -

Contour software -

Sources -

Waterfall - https://airbrake.io/blog/sdlc/waterfall-model

Agile - https://luis-goncalves.com/what-is-agile-methodology/

Crazy eights - https://blog.thiga.com.au/ux-design/run-crazy-8

Jonathan Barnbrook - http://www.barnbrook.net/about/jonathan-barnbrook/

 Jonathan developing David Bowie album cover - https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/jonathan-barnbrook-david-bowie-blackstar

Joe Letteri - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Letteri

Letteri developing ideas - https://www.ibc.org/production/craft-leaders-joe-letteri-visual-effects-supervisor/3001.article

Letteri techniques and software - https://www.awn.com/vfxworld/joe-letteri-talks-digital-acting-and-3d-environments

[heather1815]

20 Warrior cats questions

I wasn’t tagged, but i really wanted to do this challenge.

1. How did you get into Warriors?

When i was, maybe around 12 or 13, i was browsing through youtube when i stumble upon the SSS warrior cat animated series. From there i watched other animated projects related to warriors, i had no idea what was going, then i did a little research and discovered the series. And just a year later, i finally got my hands on Into the wild.

2. Favorite Arc?

Well, i haven’t read Omen of the stars yet, neither Dawn of the Clans (But i want to read it soooo badly!) nor Vision of shadows. Which leaves the first three series to choose from. I’m going to go with The prophecies begin, just because how well it is written. Maybe it’s because it’s the first series, but even today the story still holds up. I was so excited to start reading Power of three, but was kind of disappointed by the amount of filler it was put in. And i was really interested in the New prophecy arc at first but after they reached the lake, it kind of dragged from there. So the first series it is.

3. Favorite Book? (excluding mangas, super editions, novellas)

Oh that’s a tough question!

I think it will be a tie between “The darkest hour” and “Long shadows”. The darkest hour was the epic conclusion to the first series, and everything before was building up to this big moment, and it was just so cool to see the four Clans uniting to stand against BloodClan. Though the only nitpick that i have is that it’s kind of lame that the big bad is killed off so easy just so we can get a new “surprise” villain. But Scourge is cool, and i like him. (Yeah, i know he’s overrated, but i still like him as a villain)

“Long shadows” in my opinion was the first true warriors book that i have read since the end of the first series. Don’t get me wrong, not to say everything else was bad before this book, it just didn’t keep my interest from beginning to end. Some conflict stuff happened here and there, but that’s it. So much stuff happens in “Long shadows” and none of it was filler. I remember every single detail that happened in that book. And of course, there is the great fire scene near the end and the cliffhanger ending.

4. Favorite Super Edition, Novella, or Manga?

Okay, i’m going to cheat a little here and pick one for each.

For favorite super edition, my personal favorite is Tallstar’s revenge. I love the way WindClan is portrayed in this book. Tallstar’s point of view is very interesting, especially when you notice the change when he comes back. His relationship with Jake, of course. I haven’t read all of them, i’m currently reading Firestar’s quest and it’s good so far. If i had to rate the super editions i read from my favorite to my least favorite, the order would be: Tallstar’s revenge, Crookedstar’s promise, Firestar’s quest (Again, i’m still reading it, but so far from what i have seen this is where i would rate it. May change the further i progress in the story) Yellowfang’s secret, and finally Bluestar’s prophecy.

My favorite novella is “Mapleshade’s vengeance”. I love how dark it is. How it shows the darker side of warriors, the way Mapleshade went from a loving queen to this tormented, sick and twisted cat with a thirst to kill everyone who wronged her. But the interesting thing for me, is that she isn’t doing this for herself. (For the most part) But for her kits.

And for the manga, well... the only manga i read was “The rise of Scourge”. So i guess this is my favorite! XD

5. Favorite Clan?

ShadowClan. As much as i love the development and culture of WindClan from Tallstar’s revenge, ShadowClan is the one that catches my interest the most. I don’t remember now from where i read it, but when i saw this: “It was often said when the Clans were in the forest, that the cold north wind of the mountains chilled the ShadowClan warriors' hearts.” I thought this was so cool. ShadowClan is often judged to be the “slytherin” of the series. The obvious bad guys/bullies, and i think they deserve more. I haven’t read VoS, but from what i have heard, they are once again in the tyranny of some rogue. Can’t they catch a break for once? I wish this Clan was represented better.

6. Favorite Character?

Only one? Can i mention several? This is warriors after all. There are lots of characters! Fuck it, i’m doing it anyway.

Hollyleaf, love her character arc and i ship her with Fallen Leaves. Jayfeather, his grumpiness is really appealing (Unlike some other cats that i know *Cough cough* Bluestar *Cough cough*) his point of view is very interesting and i was always looking forward to read his parts in the books. Brambleclaw, and i do say “Claw” rather than “Star” because i don’t know how he is as a leader. I liked his struggle to set himself apart from his father, and his relationship with Squirrelflight. Cinderpelt, she deserved better. Yellowfang, grumpy grandmother with sharp tongue (Too bad her character is ruined and tainted further on into the series) Crookedstar, he suffers and goes through so much and yet he still becomes such a great leader. Brokenstar, no i don’t like him in the way that i understand what he went through and his motives are justified. I like him for how cool of a villain he was. (I like villains okay?) He killed kits by training them too hard, he killed his father, he banished his own mother, and ruled over ShadowClan with threats. He was so diabolically evil, how can you not love it? Whitestorm, he was very cool as this wise and respectable warrior. Um... i think that’s it.

7. Least Favorite Character?

Raggedstar, Crowfeather, Rainflower, Leopardstar, and Onestar.

I hate everything about Raggedstar. His character, his relationship with Yellowfang, his actions. He’s so whiny, and really despicable. I don’t care if you have daddy issues or not, you don’t manipulate the one you love just because she decided to become something else.

Crowfeather had so much potential, and i originally liked him in the new prophecies series. But then he became cold and uncaring, and i guess you could make the argument that’s what the Erins were going for after his failed relationship with Leafpool. But he should have been more honorable! Actually be loyal to WindClan because he is loyal, and not because he has to. Taking Nightcloud as a mate just to prove his loyalty is such a mean move, because he essentially used her. And then when the truth comes out about the three, he completely shifts the blame solely to Leafpool, and gets away scotch free! He better get a good redemption in Omen of the stars or else... i’m going to get angry.

Rainflower, Terrible, terrible mother. I hate her so much.

Leopardstar, not much to say in this one. I just don’t think she’s a very good leader, nor did she do much of anything to deserve her position. And she got on my nerves.

Onestar, what’s there to say about this douche cat that hasn’t already been said? He was great as Onewhisker, then he got his nine lives, and i guess one of his gifts was the gift of being an ass because after he became leader his character decided to change and become a complete jerk for no reason. So much for keeping the peace between ThunderClan and WindClan, am i right Tallstar?

8. Most Aesthetically Pleasing Cat?

This is going to be kind of a strange one: Ivypool, even though i don’t know much about her i really like her design. I like tabbies.

9. Favorite Leader?

I like Blackstar. He’s grumpy most of the time, and yeah, he makes some bad decisions. But hey, so does all of the other leaders. I personally would not mind to see a super edition about him. He used to be the deputy for both Brokenstar and Tigerstar, and when the position passed onto him, he stepped up and became a honorable leader. I would like to see this change more closely.

10. Favorite Villain?

As much as i like Brokenstar, i have to go with Mapleshade. She’s the queen of the Dark forest basically. I think she’s still around, if i’m not wrong? But the way she has solely devoted herself to revenge, to even manipulate a kit into basically selling his soul to her at the cost of his loved ones lives, is pretty messed up. Also, can i say that we should have more she-cat villains in the series? We need more she-cat villains in these series. I am so tired of big scarred tabbies going around being evil and stuff. 

11. Favorite Medicine Cat?

Jayfeather. He’s a good medicine cat who’s not afraid to call out on StarClan’s bullshit when he has to. And he always does what is needed of him to fulfill the prophecy.

12. Overrated Character?

Bluestar. At this point, you are probably thinking i hate her guts, aren’t you? I don’t hate Bluestar, i don’t think i even dislike her. But the fandom treats her as if she is the greatest thing ever. If anyone so much as utters that they dislike her they are immediately showered with a storm of hate. How dare anyone dislike Bluestar? She’s fine guys, but she isn’t all that. Calm down. You can love her, of course you can, but we can dislike her too you know.

13. Underrated Character?

Dustpelt. I like his background development. He hated Firestar at first, and i guess he had a thing for Sandstorm. But then he met Ferncloud and discovered a softer side to him, and became a really loyal and devoted warrior.

14. Favorite Minor Character?

Longtail. He started off as a generic bully character, but he got development and managed to redeem himself in the end. Too bad he was put in the elders den. By a rabbit, of all things! (Which btw, why did the Erins send him off to the elders den for? I never got that) Also for honorable mentions goes to both Brackenfur and Runningwind.

15. Favorite Pairing?

I have so many! Fire x Sand - Good development, Squirrel x Bramble - i love me so love/hate relationships, Holly x Fallen -  They helped each other out and have a cute relationship, Willow x Crooked - They are adorable, and of course Tall x Jake - So precious.

16. Least Favorite Pairing?

Crow x Night - He used her, end of story (In fact, might as well put all Crowfeather pairings in here, their all terrible) Spider x Daisy - This was completely out of nowhere, and he was never there for her or their kits. Spotted x Fire - Forced.

17. Favorite Friendship?

Brambleclaw and Stormfur, they were very good buddies during their journey to see Midnight, and i’m glad they kept the friendship even long after.

18. Favorite Moment?

Bluestar’s death. I swear i don’t hate her guys! I just really liked this moment, and thought it was a good conclusion to her character. Her reunion with her kits is very emotional.

19. Most Tragic Death?

It’s a tie between Stonefur and Cinderpelt’s death. Stonefur kept fighting til his last breath in what he believed was right. In front of an audience no less! Cinderpelt, despite everything she went through, was not afraid to lose her life to defend Sorreltail and her kits.

20. Favorite Battle / Fight Scene?

The climax to “Eclipse”. Kind of out of nowhere, especially with the great battle against BloodClan in “The darkest hour”. But this battle is so suspenseful. It’s not kept in the point of view of one single character throughout the whole thing, it keeps switching between Lion, Jay, and Holly as different events keep on happening. It’s Wind and River teaming up to drive out Thunder, leaving them no choice but to team up with Shadow. The four Clans fighting against each other, only to be stopped by the sun being blocked out. It’s a great scene, and i get the chills every time i re-read it.

#warrior cats #warriors 20 questions tag

[adoxographa]

on grieving

Music and weather are inextricably entwined for me. It comes with the way I listen to music, I think--album at a time, on repeat for months, until every note is indelibly imprinted on my memory. A single chord is enough to take me back to a certain place and time and season. and David Bowie's final album, Blackstar, was no exception--I thought.

See, it was released in January. I didn't listen to it fully until the day after it came out, which turned out to be the second to last warm day of winter. (It was a weird winter that year.) Two days after it was released, David Bowie passed away, and I didn't find out until early early early in the morning three days later--which happened to be the first real snow of winter. After his death, Blackstar took on new meaning, became the symbol of an illness no one knew anything about, and I listened to it with a newfound feverish intensity over the next few weeks--though never quite as madly as that first day--the first real snow, the first real cold, like the world was blanketing itself in a bleak attempt at comfort. And for a while, that became Blackstar. Snowy, blinding white, numbness creeping into the extremities. The black bare limbs of trees stretching exhaustedly against the grey Ohio sky. A world slowly slipping away.

And then, as time passed, the album didn't lose any of its eerie, hypnotic charm, and I stuck with it. Slowly, it became spring, damp and fresh, the first stirrings of life amidst infertile landscapes, the breeze carrying the faint scents of faraway lands. It became the promise of rebirth, of life past death, of change and renewal and reinvention.

Spring became summer. Blackstar stayed in my rotation of albums, and by now it had carved well-worn paths into my memories, and still it became summer. That strange winter gave way to a strange summer, and blackstar was the dog days of it. Sweltering and endless. A lone car along a winding stretch of road. During those long, aching summer months, Blackstar felt truly sick. It felt the way a bloated, dying sun looks as it stretches over an arid, barren landscape, torn apart by impending apocalypse and past dystopia. (Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair.)

And even still, it changed to become fall, to become a melancholy, grey landscape, a city rain-shiny and fog-shrouded and full of people who won't meet your eye. It became the feel of a freezing gust of wind through too thin of a coat, became the damp, musty smell of leaves on the ground. it became death (--or maybe it always was).

And at that point, I got a little frustrated. Of course this album couldn't be confined to a single season, that would be too simple. Of course it had to spill beyond its allotted space and take up an entire year, fill it with its strange, echoing, mournful sounds.

Now, it's winter again, a year and a day since it was released, a year to the day since it first traced itself against my thoughts. Now, today, outside is cold, snowy, anxious. But if I close my eyes, I can imagine spring, summer, fall, and every note of this album will fit wherever I can imagine it.

See, David Bowie long ago surpassed the idea of making albums with just a single flavor. Everything he made has undertones and undertones and doesn't find its niche so much as it creates one for itself, pushing everything else aside and molding your memory patterns into its own image.

But with Blackstar...even that isn't quite right. I'm not here to analyze it, not really, not on anything more than a personal level; everything that can be said about it has been said in some form or another by now--except for its subjective, personal interpretations. And this is mine: Blackstar is everything that's been said about it, and it's also none of it, because it is a void. No, not a void--a mirror. We see in it what we want to, put in the meaning that we get out, conform it to our own expectations. we can try to divine underlying meaning, attempt to see what it Really Means, but the artist is dead--in more ways than one--and he left us a mirror. He left us a goodbye, a way for us to come to terms not only with his morality but our own, and his way of doing that was to show us the simultaneous futility and significance of everything we do. There are no true meanings, and no connotations are set in stone, and your perceptions of a thing say more about you than the thing itself, and that’s beautiful. It empowers us to be both consumer and creator in one. Blackstar is a lonely experience because it is clearly not designed to be anything but. It is not meant for live performances, not meant for rooms full of people--it's meant for you, and you alone, to find whatever meaning you can and create the rest. It's a farewell, but a private one, a personal one--truly fitting for the man we all saw a piece of ourselves in.

So, I spent a year learning this--that Blackstar isn't a particular season, or time, or place--it’s not a feeling or an idea--it's neither spring, summer, autumn, or winter--it's your bedroom, late at night, a still, stolen moment, pulsing through your speakers. It's the corners of public places, pushing away the rest of the world through the barrier of your headphones. It's a morning commute, a day-long roadtrip, a bus ride. It’s melodies stuck in your head, words you sing softly to yourself, rhythms you tap out with your heels. It's a dirge, and a paean, funeral and celebration all in one, mournful and triumphant. It's a goodbye, in the end.

And, like the man himself--rather, the faces the man wore to face the world--it's whatever you need it to be.

#david bowie #blackstar

[goatpaste]

WC design/headcannon/ect masterlist- Part B

another chunk of all the headcanos/AU’s/design notes/warrior names for kits and leaders never given a canon one/ect for all the wario cats!

this one is for all the B named cats!

info under the cut

Badgerfang

badgerfang i think a lot of us have a big ol soft spot for, but ought i really care him and his family i think it needs more than jusT the badgerfang death like for real

one of the biggest reasons i wanna learn to animate is because i wanna make a badgerfang and flintfang amv! it would be sdkg more about flintfang because i think he’s a neat character who has a lot of potential for development 

like mAN you ever stop and think about not only was flintfang sad over badgerfangs death because it was sad, bUT also because badgerfang was his sisters kit AND to the thought of blackstar is flintfangs brother. flintfang had to deal with playing a hand in badgerfangs death then watch his brother loyally follow brokenstar, then tigerstar 🥺

Baypaw

baypaw was the first of his lil chunk of family i design, i didnt have a sorrelstripe design made yet so i ultimately decided to base his design on his grandpa Lionblaze. smaller fluffy lionblaze.

I know we should be coming up to baypaw getting their warrior name soon

i think a name like Baysong or Baygale

Beech Tail

the only thing i have  to say is dgjksh when i designed the ‘beech’ prefix designs it was late and i totally went ‘beech... the beach’ and noT beech the tree sdjkgh. so i designed beech tail like that of a penguin sdjkgh

Beechfur

beechfur , riverclan warrior under mistystar’s leadership

i imagine beechfur is be EXTREMely accident prone, from the first instant of getting sick and healed by leafpool all the way up till the end. He is in and out of the medicine cats den constantly. and through this formed a big ol crush on the pretty medicine cat apprentice Willowshine who has had to full on decline his feelings. he is not the only one who has had this treatment, many a riverclan cats have found themself charmed by willowshine

Beechpaw

Beechpaw, a apprentice of ancient skyclan who were forced to leave the forest territory.  i imagine beechpaw was of the few cats who did everything he could to keep the others in good spirit while they tried to find their home, which often came to the annoyance of all his distraught clanmates. he never stopped doing all he could to put a smile on their face until he died.

he was the last apprentice cloudstar named a warrior and only lived a few moons after becoming one.

warrior names i like for him are like Beechshed or Beechshine

Beenose

slight update to my beenose design because i want her to fit my newer darktail group clown aesthetic 

another design note is her and her siblings all are themed after a diff color of the rainbow, beenose is yellow. their mom snowbird has a pale rainbow pattern and each other her kits is a diff color of the rainbow

Beetlewhisker

Beetlewhisker is another one of my quiet favorites i have, and it is because of the error of him being alive for SO many books after he died.

like !!! bitch had a HUGE major death and went on to live for a long time aND be listed as a cats mentor (which i think that has been changed now)

i love the idea of in a way beetlewhisker WAS with the clans that long after his death. that due to his death was in a way locked in the dark forest, his soul stuck there. but because of the ways of the dark forest cat’s he was chased out, and unable to enter starclan having died in the dark forest, now cursed to live in limbo.

He walks to the grounds of riverclan watching over his clanmates while they rest hoping that no one else is to be preyed upon by the dark forest like he was ever again. 

theres ghost stories of riverclan cats seeing the shape of a cat shining brightly when hit by moonlight. a peaceful spirit of the past who protects them.

and in design 100% his design was made to look like that of a smeleton bones lol

Bellaleaf

the erin team will have to pry bellaleaf and firestar being siblings from my cold dead hands!!

you can’t say they look basically exactly alike and their not related i wont take it sdjkg. i DIE for the idea oh whore jake managing to have so many kids that get into the clans. like the over saturation of jake dna through the clans ruining them absolutely kills me sdjkg

i also imagine ravenpaw having like deja vu of firestar when he looks at bella, cats who knew firestar look at her and can’t help feel she reminds them of someone. 

Berryheart

another one of the designfor snowbirds kits, berryheart is the red themed sibling.

she also got a slight design change to be more clowny to fit her time in darktail’s group

Berrynose

i just love berrynose, i think hes very terrible and i love him a lot

i think the books are cowards and i think berrystar woulda been the fUNniest outcome oR like

imagine the powermove if berrynose lived and squirrelflight fucking made berrynose her deputy likE

also berrynose is a lil gay brat, he has a thick country accent and everyone find him weirdly charming. many hate him but cant help but find him alluring. 

he actually is a very good warrior, he stays on top of his task and brings in the prey. his biggest problem is his ego and his need to get in others faces all the time

i love when he’s paired with lionblaze because their stupid rivarly is so good i really wish it was more plot important and lasted longer i LIVE for best friend rivals lion and berry

buT i also love him with jayfeather for the simple dynamic of the one cat who would probably hate him more than anyone else but oops he’s in love to

or him and breezepelt because they could be lil shitheads togeather

Birchface

the biggest thing i can say about birchface is 100% birchface watched over mapleshade’s kits, doesnt let appledusk or his own family hurt them. He treats them like his own.

in AU’s where birchface lives i defiantly can see him having a HUGE crush on mapleshade and being much like thrushpelt was to bluefur. being as a surrogate dad for her kits and keeping the secret.

in my main AU with mapleshade dieing and getting a redemption its mostly the same except they become a sweet happy family together in starclan.

he’s a big goofy dad type and his father had hoped he would become leader one day, but worried that he was too lax with the code and not as driven to fight as others and began to think he would have to rely on frecklewish instead. then they both died and he ended up turning to his youngest son pinefur

Blade

this is just a one time ghost cat buT  i like the design i made for her.

im all here for dark forest cats having this black oozing mark from where they died, starclan gets being covered in stardust and maybe having from pretty plats or glow or other representative stuff on their death. but ghost cats are loUD with their mark of death. its a nagging weight they carry around based on their inability to move on to their respective afterlives. For blade its giant bright red tire marks that slowly circle around her body.

Blazefire

just a lil boy

i imagine he kinda constantly has crushes on cats from other clans which while some might tell him to hush when he shares his thoughts on the pretty cat from riverclan he gets some loving teasing from dovewing and antfur

Blazefire is also miss nearly all of his tail

Blizzardstar and Blizzardwing

not much here but to say 100% i designed blizzardwing in mind of being that of a grandson or great grandson to blizzardstar

Blossomfall

shrug idk a lot to say about her beyond, i know she’s a asshole character but i remember liking her, i think she’s mean but its kinda fun in a way

i think i also just have this soft spot for millies kits because their millie’s

also i just like my blossomfall design i think she’s v fun

Blossomkit

another shadowclan kit who died under brokenstar’s ruling.

i think as sad as it is, i can imagine blossomkit to be badgerfang’s sister, just another sad thing to think about for fernshade’s litter. the potential idea of all her kit’s dying because of brokenstar

a warrior name for her that would been cute woulda been like Blossomglaze or blossomsprout

Bluebellkit

bluebellkit sure disappeared from the books. she’s one of those kits that like, she already had a mouth full of a name and i wish i coulda seen what they woulda named her as a warrior

but she’s another one of snowbird’s rainbow themed kids, her ofc being the blue one.

i think a cute warrior name for her could been Bluebellwhistle or bluebellfoot

Blouder

i lobe boulder i think he is very under appreciated!! 

i think it be very fun to get a novella or something in this POV,,

he’s just hangin out back there yknow,,,

Bouncefire

(bit of an art change from here as i took a break between these two and switched programs)

idk a lot about actual bouncefire, i think the only books with any real characterization in it was ones i havent read

buT id really like to imagine growing up he saw his mentor patchfoot as a father figure and was ultimately the reason patchfoot and his mom got together. and bouncefire being absolutely ecstatic about it. thinking patchfoot is the coolest guy

bouncefire gets along good with his half siblings

gay cat and wanna be emo but just is kinda angy

Brackenfur

my biggest brackenfur AU is my medicat brackenfur which i have info of here

https://goatpaste.tumblr.com/post/631020627780911104/au-where-insteed-of-fireheart-picking-up

and

https://goatpaste.tumblr.com/post/632972589046890496/mmm-writing-out-like-big-plot-point-changes-in-my

the other thing vaguely mention in these but would probably be more prominent in his og story

but brackenfur is quietly the biggest mess in the family. Being on pare with confidence and energy as cinderpelt when they were young, after her accident somethin changed for him. he loved his sister but is a big distant. but its hardly noticeable between the two as they worked very separate jobs in the clan

then his other sister, brightpaw has her accident and brackenfur begins to question something

but when he his the last to leave in the thunderclan group to their new home he stops and looks back at his mother frostfur who is old and frail look, though she wasnt young the damage of the forest hit her hard. 

this when brackenfur decides starclan has it out for his family, especially the mollies. they were cursed he was sure.

moons later he is expecting his kits with sorreltail, letting his mind rest on the idea, the crazy notion that some greater force wanted the she-cats in his family dead. 

then the day his kits arrive cinderpelt dies to the badgers. he pushes down these feelings down again it was the time. But he couldn��t help but think that, if leafpool was there, if starclan had given them a sign of the badgers, anything. maybe cinderpelt might have lived. but he pushes it back down and tells himself it was a warriors death

and then his daughter, cinderpaw is struck by the tree and the stirring in his mind grows stronger. why has starclan done this to his family

then honeyfern gets bit by the snake. how could starclan be so cruel, their always so young.

then his sweet sorreltail fought strongly for her two young daughters future

and on his own, forced to watch seedpaw drown and lilypaw be haunted by what happened.

the women in brackenfurs family is cursed and he bears the burden of relizing it, of living and watching each of them suffer until the end

to the ones that lived and are happy still, with no burdens in their lives he watches happily making sure NOTHING bad comes their way. he would fight starclan themselves to make sure his family is safe and happy

Breezepelt

in design Breezepelt has a p average length tail. which for him is a huge disappointment. His father crowfeather has a long slender windclan tail, a trait that is held to high standards in his family. a trait passed all the way down from windstar herself who had the longest and most beautifully windy tail. 

Breezepelt has a angry spot about this because he feels lacking and especially disconnected to his father. BUT double this with jayfeather having only half windclan blood has a tail even longer than crowfeathers 

i also would NOT put breezepelt with heathertail, i dont see any reason for it. like first off this bitch gay, id love for him to have a boyfriend and it think it should be berrynose because one, their both terrible i think it be funny and i also think its funny to ship berrynose with lionblaze or jayfeather so im like, whats another brother (to be clear not shipped all together, this is separately) and two, the idea heathertail and poppyfrost lesbian could exist

then the big BIg thing is, i would take breezepelts character and gut what happened in crowfeathers trial out of both him and crowfeather

i talk about it a bit here, but i think ill re talk about it in full when i get to crowfeather https://goatpaste.tumblr.com/post/190544981670/breezepelt

Briarlight

miss briarlight i love you!!

very sweetgirl

i based her design off sakuras and bleed heart doves. idk what possessed me but when i went to design her i knEW she was gonna be pink she needed to be she deserved it

briarlight buff as shit in her forlegs she loves trying to rope leafpool and jayfeather into lil strength contest she always wins (sometimes she will let leafpool win on days she needs it) 

her and jayfeather are wlw/mlm best friends. jayfeather calls her pidge which started as a mean nickname that she simply loved and embraced fully

also in my AU with medicat lionblaze i can very much see briarlight and lionblaze being very sweet friends. like big strong lionblaze who is actually docile and compassionate about his work and briarlight loud and rooting him on

Brick

swear to god until i got back into warrior cats this year i had always thought brick was a lady and her and bone were suppous to be scourges like adoptive bad parents jkdg

anyways im still with that, she/her agender brick who adopts their terrible son scourge and is in a monogamous partnership with bone’s. strictly business defiantly not married, they just have a son together. 

Brindlewing

idk a ton about her, but from her wiki it dsjkgh doesnt look like theirs  alot

but i’d like to imagine she’s a very anxious girl and struggles in crowds especially around cat she doesn't know. she feels more comfortable when one of her sisters is with her or her grandmother nightcloud. Nightcloud has always been a source of self confidence for her and they love each very much.

Brindlewing also inherited crowfeather’s family long tail that skipped breezepelt. Brindlewing holds the tail in her mouth as a means of helping her anxiety.

Bristlefrost

a biG design overhaul for my bristlefrost design, i really didnt like the old design i made her. wanted her to be a lil darker colored and in general have a cuter design

i gave her diff color eyes to mark her double agent status one eye green like her fathers and the other sharing the same blue i use for ashfur’s eye color

i kept her with the one white paw which i give to any descendent of jake, just because canonically she is ivy and ferns kid.

but in my rewrite their not togeather. Fernsong was a kittypet or a loner who had lost their mate and home and was found by ivypool caring for his three kittens alone. this is more fernsong headcanon, but bristlefrost is there

bristle and all the kits love ivypool they look up to her big time and all wished she was their mentor when they became apprentices. 

bristlefrost often confides in her father when feeling guilty or unsure of herself and he is always there for her

Bristlekit

half brother to tallstar

i imagine woolytail’s family seems to have a high mortality rate with their kids with only one maybe two usually making it to adulthood. bristlekit would die before becoming an apprentice and spent time in starclan with finchkit and later rabbitkit waiting for wrenflight and tallstar.

if bristlekit made it to being a warrior id like to think he was named Bristlefeather or Bristlefoot

Brook where small fish swim

teeny update to my brook design to give her small white fish dots matching her brothers spots

her general design is mean to be loosely based on a mountain lion. 

she got strong powerful mountain climbing body

i also wish her romance was better developed and wasnt like based in a lot of white savior romance plots given to native and native coded characters

in general the tribe really shoulda just been written better

Brownpaw

brownpaw, brother to littlecloud killed mosspaw as a kit on accident and was apprenticed for it by brokenstar

i imagine him and his brother wetfoot killing mosspaw effect them both deeply. for wetfoot it shook him to the core and made his doubt his own claws

for brownpaw it set him down the path of destruction. brokenstar rewarding him for what happened with mosspaw was the biggest enabler

brownpaw would go on to be a blood thirsty apprentice who would throw his young life away under brokenstars order of attack.

had he been made a warrior i think brokenstar woulda named him Brownmoss claiming he had earned the name when he took it from mosspaw.

Bug

design for bug because i think the book she was in didnt exist when i originally started drawing every warrior cat

love her!

bumblestripe

bumblestripe’s character makes me sad

im SUCH a millie stan and for one of her kids to be disabled then treated like garbage to the end of her life and written super ablest and then her other two kids are total shit heads? makes me sad

i wish at lEAST millie and graystripe had a second little, maybe just one total sweetheart

and its been forever since i read the books. but i remember bumblestripe being a real nobody characters just very generic personality until romance plot for dovewing came into play. and now he super sucks!

i wish he coulda just been a good character who loved dovewing, is sad and kinda jealous of her feelings for tigerheart but in the end respects her decisions and even admires her courage to follow her heart even if it led her over the borders.

Buster/Rippletail

slight buster redesign to fit more in the circus clown look from when he was in the kin

also design note, he’s got an orange themed design to go along with his rainbow themed siblings

Buzzardkit

windclan kit who showed up once in the sight crying and being comforted by a queen

mm i think some good warrior names for them woulda been like

buzzardface, Buzzardshriek or buzzardwhistle

#warrior cats #wc headcanons #badgerfang #baypaw #beech tail #beechfur #beechpaw #beenose #beetlewhisker #bellaleaf #berryheart #birchface #blade #blazefire #blizzardstar #blizzardwing #blossomfall #blossomkit #bluebellkit #boulder #bouncefire #brackenfur #breezepelt #briarlight #brick #brindlewing #bristlefrost #bristlekit #brook where small fish swim #brownpaw

[alexbandfan]

Donate Life Hollywood - 2010

Young Guns Music interviews Alex Band

A dream has become true. After so long waiting and wishing for it Young Guns Music has been able to interview Alex Band, former The Calling frontman. We talked about his new album, future plans and fans love. Don´t miss it! Young Guns Music : Alex, thank you very much for accepting to be interviewed by us. It’s been a long time since you decided to start your solo project. So many years working on it and at the same time being unable to set it off... For an artist and mainly for one as you’re, starting in the music world so long ago, it must be quite difficult to get it on with it. How have you kept on fighting all this time? What has helped you to go on?

Alex Band : It has definitely been a crazy struggle to get to where I am at now. Giving up was never an option for me. Yes, there were days when it seemed like I was never going to get to where I needed to be, but I stayed focused and knew I could make it happen eventually. Knowing I was making the album I believed in helped me to not give up.

Is this album exactly what you have dreamt with all this time?

Absolutely! This is the album I fought so hard to be able to make. I poured my heart and soul into each song and I am so proud of the outcome. I was even able to add a few new songs just this year right before the album was released. Which was your first feeling when "Tonight" was officially released? Did you expect so great acceptance among your followers?

I always felt this was the song I wanted to release as my first single and I am really happy I stuck with it. When I first started my promo tour in the US to promote the song I actually heard "Tonight" on the radio that same day and it didn't feel real. I worked so hard and for so long to get to this point that I almost don't believe it's happening. The reaction to the song has been amazing, in Europe it was the theme song for all the World Cup adds!

For an artist it must be incredible to see that your work is not released during years but they are still there waiting for it. How much have fans helped you to get there? What’s the importance of Alex Band’s fans in your life?

My fans are the reason I never stopped making music, no matter how long it took me to release it. They all waited and supported me while I worked on this record and finally released it. I give so much to my fans to show them how much they mean to me. It's really neat now to be out playing shows and see so many fans from the past showing up again! It's a good feeling to say the least to know my fans still care and are excited about my solo album, even after 5 years of waiting.

You seem to have quite a huge fan base in countries such as Japan or Brazil. For an American artist, did you ever expect your music to reach so far?

I can't say that I expected the majority of the success I had and I am beyond grateful for it. To have fans all over the world is a dream come true. My music has reached people in almost every corner of the world and I hope it continues to.

How would you describe your new album? What Alex Band’s fans should expect about what they were used to get from you and what new fans should like about it?

I'd say my album is more anthemic and mature than my albums as The Calling. This album takes you on a journey through my struggles, finding love, and loosing it. It is relatable on every level and really takes listeners into my world.

Love seems to be the main subject in your music. Love moves the world? How important is love in your life?

Love is what life is all about. It isn't always easy, but it is the reason we are living. We can all relate to love and loss and I wanted people to feel that in my music. I truly believe love is the meaning of life.

Which are the songs from this album that represent more Alex Band´s spirit? Which is your favourite one?

I can't pick a specific song that represents me in particular. I wrote all the songs on the album and they all are from personal experiences and feelings. The entire album is my spirit being told through my songs. Right now, my favorite song on the album is one I added last minute called "Will Not Back Down." I think it's a beautiful sexy addition to the album and playing it live is a blast!

Are you anxious to show your album live to the world? Are you planning any world your?

Having lived with this album for the past 5 years, I am more than ready to share it with the world. It's been way too long and I can't wait to keep spreading it everywhere. There are no world tour plans yet, but that is a goal for the future. I think it will all happen in stages.

Will we be able to see you live in Europe and in Spain?

I hope so, that's the plan! I currently have a sold out tour next month in Germany/Switzerland/Austria…and I know I will be going to the rest of Europe and of course Spain as well in the near future.

Which are your more remarkable memories in music? Who would you like to thank for being there all the way up here?

There are so many amazing memories in my career so far. I think one of my favorite still was winning best new artist at the MTV Awards. I was up agains Avril Lavigne and Shakira and many more huge artists…I never thought I would EVER win. But it was voted on by fans, and my fans are crazy supportive! They somehow voted more than anyone else and I won the award! I was sooooo surprised to be called up to the stage and accept it, I had no idea what to say! I think the person I would thank for my career so far over anyone else is my Father. He always supported my music and was behind me 100% through it all from the very beginning when I was taken out of school at 15 and got my first record deal.

All these years you’ve performed some side projects. We were for example able to watch you in CSI. How was the experience? Would you like to repeat in a near future?

CSI NY was a blast to be a part of. I hadn't really done too much acting on that level before and I really enjoyed it. Even did my own stunts;) I would definitely do more acting in the future, once I am back home and working on the next album.

Besides your music there’s a fact about Alex Band that not many people know and we really believe it’s quite remarkable. You started working with Donate Life and then you started your own Alex Band Donate Life. How would you describe the project for those who do not know anything about it?

Donate Life is the main charity I support and believe in, I even have it tattooed on my arm. It is a charity that raises awareness for organ donation which not many people know about or understand. So many lives can be saved through organ donations, it's about giving life to others once we are gone. Honestly, it is as simple as signing up online at donatelife.net to be an organ donor.

How did you get involved in the project? Why do you think in the US it’s so difficult to promote donations? Because in Europe it’s more usual for patients to see it as part of the process while in the US it’s still some kind of taboo.

I got involved when someone very close to me needed a liver transplant and was on a waiting list. I realized from my personal experience with it how much of a demand there is and how many people are waiting to receive organs, some of which never get what they need. I just think there is a major lack of knowledge when it comes to organ donation and people aren't going to support or sign up for something they don't understand...which is what Donate Life is working at changing. The people waiting for organs far outnumbers the amount of actual donors there are in America right now. Something like 90% of Americans say they support donation, but only 30% know the essential steps to take to be a donor. Hopefully, that continues to change.

What kind of activities do you perform along the year to promote donation?

I host my own concert every year called Alex Band's Donate Life Rocks, where all proceeds go to Donate Life. I'm pretty much a walking billboard with the tattoo on my arm and talk about the charity at any possible moment. The bracelet line I just created actually donates a portion of proceeds to Donate Life as well which is really awesome!

You’ve also got involved in Blackstar bracelet, how was the experience of mixing music and fashion? Did you expect so much success?

Designing a line of bracelets to coincide with my music was a lot of fun. It is something that has never been done before and I think the success of them is awesome. I knew that people would love it due to the fact that there is so much content that comes with each bracelet, not just the song download...and that it is a tangible object you can wear everyday.

Taking a look back to the past, you started your music career very young and you got a top hit experience just in the beginning. How do you remember The Calling experience? Was it difficult to digest that your first album becomes a top charter?

It might seem that I had a hit and success very quickly, but it was actually a long process. I was signed at 15 and the record label pretty much forgot about me and wouldn't let me make an album until I was 19. And then it finally came out when I was 20. So there was 5 years there that I worked very very hard writing hundreds of songs and playing many shows in Los Angeles and just waiting and waiting. Once the album finally was released, it took 10 months to make "Wherever You Will Go" a hit at radio in the US. I toured all over the US for those 10 months in a little van and went to every radio station, hundreds of them. It all finally paid off.

What has "Wherever You Will Go" meant in your life?

That song means everything to me. It was the song that introduced me to the world. It's the song still today that every single person knows me by…I can sing the first two lines of the chorus and anybody I meet says "Oh yes of course! I love that song!" The song today still is played millions of times all around the world and has become one of the biggest songs in history. Billlboard magazine named it the number one song at radio in the US for the last decade. This is a huge achievement and I am very proud.

"Wherever You Will Go" has been chosen as one of best songs ever. How was it composed? How did you got inspiration for it?

I wrote that song when I was only 16 years old! I don't remember the moment I wrote it because it was so long ago! I do remember it was very fast to write and complete, maybe only a few hours. Some of the best songs I write come very quick and easily.

Which has been the most incredible memory with a fan? Which has been your favourite moment in a stage?

There have been so many great memories with fans! One time a fan gave me a scroll that was very large, like the size of a big dog. It was one mile long all rolled up! She had worked over one year on it, writing "I love Alex Band" over and over millions of times! Crazy! I still have this scroll in my garage with all my other fan gifts. I keep every fan gift I am given in air tight sealed boxes so they will last forever. My favorite moment on stage was probably playing Party In The Park in London England many years ago. I actually played this festival two years in a row. The audience is over 150,000 people! So amazing! To see that many people sing my songs along with me was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

Would you like to say some words for all your fans who are reading this interview, specially your Spanish fans?

To all my Spanish fans, I miss you very much and I am so excited to come back to Spain and perform for you all and meet you all! It has been WAY too long! Thank you for continuing to support me after all these years…it means so much to me. All the love…

Thank you very much Alex, we wish you the best.

Thank you very much for all the good questions and for your well wishes! I hope to see you soon! All the love...

Source here

#alexnews2010 #alex band #the calling #model #singer #donate life

[boylebreakdown]

My Favorite 25 Albums of 2016

Apologies for posting this in 2017. I listened to and enjoyed quite a bit more new music in 2016 than I usually do. Whenever I tried to make a top 10 based on my typical format, there were too many albums that it felt wrong to leave out. Anyways, here goes...

25. Jagged Jaw - Tonight Is

Jagged Jaw is the solo project of Bobby Lord, who engineered Terriers’ upcoming 2017 LP (I swear on my life it will be released in 2017!). Although his debut Tonight Is is definitely an album made by a friend, it’s objectively a solid project. He dropped it midyear out of nowhere with little to no fanfare, but the hours put into it and its attention to detail are obvious. Each synthy power-pop gem on this album has a unique arrangement that fits the song nearly perfectly. There are so many tasteful, varied production touches throughout that I’m amazed someone I know made this album. Check it out!

24. Woods - City Sun Eater in the River of Light

City Sun Eater is a really quality collection of pyschy folk rock songs. It ventures between well executed singer-songwriter pop craft and the jam-like tendencies that a psychedelic rock band would have. I’ve never really been much of a Woods fan before this album, but I really enjoyed this one. You can sense a maturity and well-calculated approach here that a band making their 9th studio album should exhibit.

23. American Football - LP2

I definitely curbed my enthusiasm leading up to this album’s release. Anyone looking to compare it to its classic predecessor is sure to be disappointed. These dudes are nearly 20 years older than their college selves who recorded it. It would be insincere to try capturing the lightning in a bottle that the original LP/EPs did. I’ve often felt that LP2 sounds a lot like an Owen record with American Football members as the backing band, and I think framing it as such and not as a true followup is the right line of thinking. When viewed as a standalone, I find plenty to enjoy -- the guitar interplay and drumming are still very clever and off-kilter; there are plenty of good hooks, whether on guitar, horns, or the new additions of vibes; what’s lacking in effective minimalism of their previous work is often made up for in lush, full arrangements. Avoid the purism and just enjoy a good album.

22. Deerhoof - The Magic

This album is a bit a let down after how focused La Isla Bonita was. Deerhoof are one of the most unique bands in music, who are always tweaking their sound. What made La Isla Bonita great was its settling into a comfortable melting pot of all their signature sounds. The Magic is definitely an album created along the same lines, but doesn’t have the same precision and focus. There are definitely songs that tap into Deerhoof at their best here -- the playful and calculatedly manic “The Devil and His Anarchic Surrealist Retinue”, the synth dream pop meets bass/drums slog of “Criminals of the Dream”, the unabashed punk pop of “Plastic Thrills” -- but there is undoubtably some filler in between. I wish this album was higher on my list, but any Deerhoof project at this point will end up being something I’d recommend.

21. Wilco - Schmilco

Though it was born out of sessions for Star Wars, which I view as the best summation of new era Wilco, Schmilco is definitely a unique direction for the band to take. In stripping down their sound and putting more of a focus on Jeff Tweedy’s songwriting, which is almost unparalleled in the genre, I found a lot to like. As has been defined since Sky Blue Sky, Wilco doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel to make a quality album. But going simplistic and showcasing their singer-songwriter chops makes for an unexpectedly great addition to their catalogue. A band that practically can do no wrong in my mind.

20. David Bowie - Blackstar

As much as anyone could want to view this album as a work separated from his 2016 death, it is impossible. Lyrics often touching on pertinent topics to a dying man perfectly contextualizes their weight in light of David Bowie’s death a mere 2 days after the release of Blackstar. This alone made the album an important one to any fan. The music, helmed by exploratory jazz players Bowie recruited after seeing them play at an NYC bar in 2014, is his most relevant sounding of his 2000s work. It reinforces his chameleon persona and penchant for surprises. Everything here makes for one of the grandest exits in history for a legendary musician. R.I.P.

19. case/lang/veirs - S/T

case/lang/veirs is a truly shared project between Neko Case, K.D. Lang, and Laura Veirs. Although none of the three fall far from the tree of adult alternative/indie rock, this album is still an organic blend of the three members’ specific styles. Each of the three is known for their high level songwriting and signature voices, and their collective experience in their careers makes for a really interesting work of collaboration. Most notably, K.D. Lang’s smokey alto sounds great over textures that are typically more in Neko Case or Laura Veir’s mature indie rock stylings  (“Honey and Smoke” being the best example). Although I was brought to this project as a fan of Neko Case’s solo work, this album will have me diving deeper into the other two members’ individual catalogs.

18. Porches - Pool

This album may have been a little overhyped, but there’s no denying the existence of some very well executed pop moments here. Songs like “Be Apart”, “Car”, and “Mood” are some of the catchiest songs I heard all of 2016. While achieving this, Pool captures a very satisfying blend between dancey, electronic texture and guitar based introspective dream pop. At the front of it all is Aaron Maine, who’s unique voice and solid songwriting chops set this album apart from its sometimes lackluster contemporaries. 

17. Wye Oak - Tween

Another solid LP from Wye Oak, who in my opinion are one of the better indie rock/pop bands out there right now. This album consists of outtakes spanning the Civilian and Shriek sessions, which is significant considering how different those albums are in style. There is definitely a melding of Wye Oak’s signature anthemic singer-songwriter guitar/drums approach and their experimental foray into bass driven electronic pop. What is impressive is how cohesive they make the album sound in spite of this. Although this album doesn’t quite live up to their previous two efforts (as a collection of outtakes, I’d be surprised if it did), it would have been a shame not to give this solid set of songs a release. 

16. Kendrick Lamar - untitled unmastered

There’s a great photo on the internet that parallels Kendrick’s chronological discography to Radiohead’s -- Overly Dedicated/Pablo Honey put both artists on the map, but lacked the critical acclaim; Section.80/The Bends spoke to amazing potential; Good Kid/OK Computer serve as respective breakouts and potential all-time classics; To Pimp a Butterfly/Kid A offer a huge style shift but a similarly huge impact. It’s almost uncanny then that untitled/unmastered, a collection of sketches and B-sides from the TPABF sessions, has yet another Radiohead album parallel in Amnesiac, the companion LP to Kid A. But this album needs to be viewed as such: a great document for fans of Kendrick’s work, but not a proper follow up to what was my favorite album of 2015. The most fleshed out songs on this album (e.g. “untitled 03” of Colbert Report fame, “untitled 06”, and “untitled 08”) were some of the best songs of 2016 and give me the same excitement that many songs from TPABF did. But as to be expected on a B-sides album, there are too many average/inconsistent/incomplete songs to make this album deserve a top 10 designation. Considering no one was expecting this album in 2016, I can’t complain much about that!

15. Bon Iver - 22, A Million 

Though the big public takeaway on this album is Bon Iver’s jump toward extreme experimentation and fracturing of structure, I don’t completely buy it. To me, this is actually the logical progression from Bon Iver’s 2011 S/T release. The expansiveness of the project is still in tact, but 22, A Million simply utilizes a few more tricks. Most notable of these is the digital compression to the point of distortion and cutting out in songs like “22 (OVER S∞∞N)” or the end of “29 #Strafford APTS”. Autotune and vocoder are utilized to add a powerful and icy texture to Vernon’s voice, which is a centerpiece on this album (he uses a Prismizer vocoder this time around, which became a whole new instrument for Bon Iver live performances). At this point, Bon Iver has a established an effective and unmistakable style. Just because I believe 22, A Million doesn’t signal a seismic change, it doesn’t diminish how solid I believe this album is.

14. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool

How crazy is it that Radiohead, a band that has been making albums for over 20 years, is still writing music of critical relevance and of importance to listeners? Though I’ve only been an attentive music listener since late middle school, every Radiohead album release since then has been a significant event for me. I vividly remember the nervous anticipation I felt downloading In Rainbows off their website; hearing “Bloom” in a record store before I had heard King of Limbs in full. This year, it was cueing up the “Daydreaming” music video for the first time, making sure it had my undivided attention, and then feeling that same awe once I’d finished watching. This album is by no means a step forward for the band, and some have lamented that it is more boring than their recent works. However, there’s no arguing how detailed and labored-over it sounds, just like their music always has. Because that hasn’t changed, it was a grower for me. After nearly a year of listening to it, I feel like it serves as a high quality conglomeration of their styles and sounds, from electronic to organic. 

13. KAYTRANADA - 99.9%

This is my favorite “producer” album since Disclosure’s Settle. 99.9% is a fun and complex blend of different production styles Kaytranada is capable of. One minute its jazz fusion with “WEIGHT OFF” ft. Bad Bad Not Good; other times its pop crossover with “TOGETHER” or “BULLETS” ft. Little Dragon; next its complex, sampled-based house with “TRACK UNO” or “LITE  SPOTS”; whatever it is, its always flowing seamlessly as an album and executed at a high level. The features also mix things up: you get budding stars like Anderson .Paak and Vic Mensa, but also R&B/Hip Hop vets like Craig David and Phonte of Little Brother, too. It’s one of the more exciting debut LPs of the year and serves as a great showcase of Kaytranada’s production talents.

12. A Tribe Called Quest - We Got it from Here...Thank You 4 Ur Service

One thing I love about this album is how evident it is that Q-Tip and crew have been continuing to be influenced by music released from 2000 on. While many comeback albums released 10+ years after a band’s previous release struggle to find a comfortable niche in the current musical landscape, We got it from here... infuses classic Tribe jazz samples and beat work with hip hop sounds and features that are not just applicable in 2016, but fresh. It also doesn’t hurt that many of today’s biggest rappers (Kendrick Lamar and Anderson .Paak, most significantly) exhibit heavy Tribe influence in their own sound, making a final Tribe release all that more appropriate. Working in verses from Phife Dog, who died earlier in 2016, including one in on his tribute song “The Donald”, makes the album feel especially poignant.  

11. Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book

If you live in Chicago as a music fan, whatever you think of his music, its nearly impossible not to admire Chance the Rapper. It seems that no other artist today is as dedicated to his/her own vision -- unwilling to compromise to a record label, unwilling to stop blatant displays of hometown pride regardless of his growing universal appeal, and unwilling to stop making quirky, joyous, and infectious hip hop music. Coloring Book is the highest example yet of Chance’s no holds barred approach. It is eloquent in its introspection and illumination of Chance’s struggles, whether they be personal (“Same Drugs”, “Smoke Break”) or grander in scope like fighting the Chicago violence epidemic (“Summer Friends”). However, the consensus descriptor of Coloring Book is “gospel album” for a reason. Through its various religious references (“Blessings”, “How Great”) and uplifting, hope-for-a-brighter-day messaging, Coloring Book has a uniquely spiritual vibe that even non-religious people can feel good about. Though there are some indulgent songs I could do without (the aimless “Mixtape” and contrived Bieber featured “Juke Jam”), this project is his most ambitious and fully realized to date. 

10. The Hotelier - Goodness

Although there are a few exceptions, I struggle with bands that fall into the category of current day “midwestern emo” revival (inspired by bands like American Football, Sunny Day Real Estate, Promise Ring, etc). The music too often borders on insincere in its melodrama and its instrumentals that flex dexterity just to prove it can be done. The Hotelier moves away from the sound of the revival and centers more towards consensus indie rock on Goodness. However, keeping their best qualities in the midst of this shift is what made me surprisingly love this album. Beyond the solid writing and performances from the band and singer Christian Holden, there are little touches that make this album special -- the suspension of all instruments but drums until the second chorus in “Goodness, Pt. 2”, the lengthy build section in “Sun”, etc.). The Hotelier have always been discussed as an upper echelon band in their scene, and Goodness surely has cemented their place there.

9. The Avalanches - Wildflower

The Avalanches do not disappoint on their first album since 2000’s Since I Left You. As expected, Wildflower is another vast, impressive sample collage. This time around though, the pool they choose from lends to a more psychedelic, mind-altering experience, reaching beyond their previous hip-hop leanings. The main sample in “Colours” is a great microcosm of the success of the direction they take on Wildflower -- an old children’s song plays in reverse, drums are added, and something immediately anthemic is created. Their ear for picking the right sounds to make something from seemingly nothing is what makes this album special.

8. Angel Olsen - My Woman

Although I’ve been a fan of her previous work, this is my favorite Angel Olsen album to date. The jump to greatly vary her timbral palette on My Woman makes the album almost play out like a double LP from a classic rock band -- think Sandinista by The Clash or Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin. At one moment its recalling classic pop structure and tones of the late 50s/early 60s (“Never Be Mine”); next, it’s purposefully meditative or repetitious, building to something exciting and cathartic (“Sister”, “Woman”); at times, it’s even right at home in a more modern and electronic texture (“Intern”). And that only covers about half of the directions it takes! The ambitiousness of this album in relation to her previous work is obvious, but it stays grounded in touchstones of Angel Olsen’s musical identity. Her songwriting has often ventured between classic singer-songwriter simplicity and more emotional stream-of-conscious looseness. And, like always, her voice drives it all, demanding your full attention at its most airy and delicate or in its chilling howls. 

7. Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial

This band drew me in for some of the same reasons Cloud Nothings initially did: really solid pop songwriting in a rock/punk styling, shining without any added production gloss. Because Cloud Nothings’ jump from lo-fi to hi-fi on Attack on Memory made it easier to hear the quality of their music, I can’t help but compare that album to Teens of Denial and the similar success it’s afforded Car Seat Headrest. Though there is less pure angular bliss here than on Attack on Memory, Teens of Denial offers some of the best lyrics of its genre, ones that get better upon every opportunity to unpack them. There’s also something very endearing about the emotional croon of Will Toledo’s voice, whether its lazily talk-singing a la Stephen Malkmus or at the peak of its screaming powers. 

6. Anderson .Paak - Malibu

2016 was the year of Anderson .Paak. Spurred into the spotlight by his significant contributions to Dr. Dre’s 2015 comeback, Compton, the stage was set for Malibu to be the breakout album it was. On one hand, its an album that is immediately accessible and has strong mainstream appeal. It evokes joy that only music designed specifically for having a good time could. On the other hand, it is an ambitious, critically-acclaimed masterwork, blending modern elements of hip-hop and electronic music with funk and soul effortlessly. It was a consensus favorite for many of my music listening friends this year, and I think its delicate balance between immediacy and expansiveness was the reason. As successful as this album and Anderson .Paak’s 2016 was, I believe it’s only a signal for bigger things to come.

5. Pinegrove - Cardinal

Cardinal has all of the solid elements of a great rock album. It has lyrics that catch your attention: it uses impressive wordplay and conjures vivid imagery, while keeping it genuine and deeply relatable (especially to someone also in his mid-20’s). Additionally, the music provides a unique take on various niches of rock: it pulls from alt-country, midwestern emo, and indie rock, but it isn’t beholden to any of the above. It’s very catchy while being ambitious enough in structure to keep it attention grabbing. Evan Stephens Hall has a voice that can accurately evoke the emotional highs and lows that the band and the music intend to. Add it all up, and such a solid set of elements on a debut album predicts very exciting things for Pinegrove going forward.

4. Solange - A Seat at the Table

There’s a wealth of production from different spheres of music on this album. R&B master producer Raphael Saadiq and Dave Longstreth of Dirty Projectors serve as the main co-producers, just two of a whole host of eclectic contributors (Solange is also listed as a producer and writer on each track). It all makes for a vintage R&B/new wave/indie pop blend that feels uniquely its own. Additional to this, A Seat at the Table is very 2016 appropriate in its lyrics and messaging. Throughout the album, Solange speaks from a focused black female perspective on today’s society, eloquently communicating the struggles she faces (“Don’t Touch My Hair”, “Weary”) while showing introspection and confusion in how to cope (“Cranes in the Sky”, “Where Do We Go”). Much like Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, it’s an album beautifully constructed of emotive, far reaching, and thought provoking musings on today’s everyday issues. 

3. Andy Shauf - The Party

The Party offers production that is uniquely warm and intimate. It’s inviting in its vulnerability and sparseness, but enveloping in its tastefulness of arrangement and dynamics. Andy Shauf treats this album as a singer-songwriter experiment, choosing to focus in on the storytelling of one terrible party from the perspectives of multiple guests. Everyone can relate to a bummer party experience they’ve had, but the fact that he can embody this concept for an entire album without being pretentious is amazing.  I already really loved this album before I saw Andy Shauf live last year, but the show brought my appreciation of him as an artist to a whole new level. For an album so dependent on orchestral instrumentation and the execution of the quietest dynamics, his four piece band captured the same vibes pretty effortlessly. It was one of the better shows I’ve seen in a long while -- one that brought back fond memories of my awe-filled first year or two of experiencing live music.

2. Frank Ocean - Blonde

I’ve always felt that Frank Ocean had a unique ability to use sparseness and simplicity, whether it be in language or musical arrangement, and make it feel purposeful and profound. Channel Orange touched on this talent a few times (“Bad Religion”, “Forrest Gump”), but it mostly was a showcase of Frank Ocean’s amazing songwriting abilities (often in the form of experimental but accessible hip hop/R&B leaning pop). On Blonde, Frank Ocean not only features this minimalism in his instrumentals, but dives much deeper in song construction as well. It is often very stream of conscious -- multiple songs have only one or two instruments at one time and no drums, setting the stage for him to meander through chorusless structures and extended meditative sections. This shift made for an initial disappointment for many fans of his previous work (including me). However, given time to digest Blonde, it doesn’t come off as contrived at all. Blonde is an excellent example of an artist experimentation, one that pushes Frank Ocean’s songwriting talents into more challenging, but often more rewarding, territory. 

1. Cymbals Eat Guitars - Pretty Years

It’s no secret to anyone who knows me that Cymbals Eat Guitars are my favorite band. I’ve long believed that it has less to do with objective arguments of what makes bands typically great and has more to do with things they do well that really hit on what enjoy most in music. At the core of this is Joe D’Agostino’s songwriting style, lyrically and harmonically. Because that is an element that truly doesn’t go away no matter what happens to their evolving sound, I’ve always been deeply moved by their music. This album is definitely their least ambitious from an album construction standpoint, but it also is very tasteful and diverse. There is a lot of purposeful homages to classic rock (“Wish” recalls Bowie, the claustrophobia of “Close” calls to mind elements of krautrock, “Well” definitely has some Springsteen vibes), but they always balance out to something that is uniquely Cymbals (mostly thanks to the familiarity of Brian Hamilton’s keyboard work or Joe’s voice). As bands who rise to fame from the Pitchfork hype train don’t typically stay around forever, I’ve been expecting for this band to fall off at some point or another. However, this album is just as solid as it comes and gives me a lot of confidence in Cymbals staying power. The boys have done it again!

[whenthatchermeetsbowie-blog]

Background

Timeline

1947 David Robert Hayward-Jones was born. 1953 Familie moved to ‘Bromley’. 1959 David received his first saxophone for Christmas. 1962 First band ‘The Konrads’. Beaten on his eye that creates color difference in his eye. 1966 Changed his name to David Bowie. 1967 First album: David Bowie. 1969 Album ‘Space Oddity’ inspired by the movie ‘A Space Odyssey’. He met Angie Barnett. 1970 3th album ‘The Man Who Sold The World’. David Bowie takes an androgyne look. 1971 Album ‘Hunky Dory’. Married Angie, son Zowie was born. 1972 Rock/alien alter ego ‘Ziggy Stardust’ was born. Explained he’s bisexual in magazine Melody Maker'. Album ‘The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars’. 1973 David Bowie stops with Ziggy Stardust. Album ‘Aladdinsane’ & ‘Pin Ups’. 1974 Album ‘Diamond Dogs’. 1975 Glamrock alter ego has gone, new way to soul and R&B. Album ‘Young Americans’. 1976 Film ‘The Man Who Fell To Earth (David Bowie leads). Saturn award for best actor. New Identity/alter ego ‘Thin White Duke’. Album ‘Station to station’. 1977 Collaboration with John Lennon. Album ‘Heroe’s’. 1979 Album ‘Lodger’. 1980 Album ‘Scary Monsters And Super Creeps’. David Bowie and Angie divorced. 1983 David Bowie reached the ‘mainstream’ public. Top hits: Modern love & China girl. Post-Disco album ‘Let’s Dance’. 1984 Album ‘Tonight’. Hit ‘Blue Jean’, David Bowie is known for his combinations in music/film/theater. Film ‘Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence’. 1986 Film ‘Absolute Beginners’. Film ‘Labyrinth’. 1987 Album ‘Never Let Me Down’. 1989 Album & collaboration ‘Tin Machine’. 1990 Sound and vision tour. 1992 Married model/man Abdulmajid. 1993 Album ‘Black Tie White Noise’. 1995 Album ‘Outside’. 1997 David Bowie turned 50. Album ‘Earthling’. David Bowie gets a star on the ‘Walk Of Fame’. 1999 Album ‘Hours’. 2000 Birth of his daughter Alexandra 2003 Top albums ‘Reality’ & ‘Heathen’. 2013 Song ‘Stars Are Out Tonight’. Onverwacht album ‘The Next Day’. 2014 Wint Brit award for ‘best male’. 2016 Album ‘Blackstar’. On 10 January died.

Source: stylebook research Marileen Bouman

General information

Born in Brixton (London) on januari 8 in 1947. His family moved to Bromley when he was six years old. He is an English musician, artist and actor. He changed his name to David Bowie in 1966 because he didn't want people to compare him with Davy Jones from the band 'The Monkies'. When David was in the mand 'The King-Bees' he named himself David Jones.

In 1972 he broke through for the first time with the album 'The rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from Mars'. He created an alter ego named Ziggy Stardust. A androgynous, colorful and unusual appearance. Ziggy Stardust was the beginning of the glam-rock scene.

When Ziggy Stardust stopped Bowie created a new alterego as countermovement. Thin White Duke; skinny, smooth, stylish and more casual. This look went along with the album 'Station to Station' in 1976.

David Bowie is famous for continue changing his style. He also adds several disciplines such as music, fashion, theater and film toghether which always creates something unique. He can analyse trends and dictate them. This has resulted in many top albums, movies, art and theaterplays. He was a big influence in the 70s till now, even after his dead.

Relationships

After different short relationships David met Angie (Angela Barnett) in 1969. They had an open relationship. After a year they got married and in 1971 they had a son named Zowie. Later he changed his name to Jones. The marriage was still 'open' and had a lot of ups and downs. Angie was very depressed and once tried to commit suicide. This let to a divorce in 1980 and David got the custody of Zowie. David had after Angie different short relationships. He met a model in 1990 (Iman Abdulmajid) who he married two years later. In august 2000 they had a daughter named Alexandria.

Family

David Bowie was the son of John and Peggy. His father died in 1969 days after he won the award for best produced record for 'When i live my dream'. David his breakthroguh still had to come but his parents were really proud of him.

David had a half-brother; Terry Burns. They were really close. Terry joined the army in 1956. When he came back he inspired David with different kinds of music and let David see the life outside Bromley (jazz and r&b). At the age of 29 Terry had symptomps of the disease schizophrenia, a disease very common in the family. He was admitted to an institution and tried to commit suicide several times. He succeeded in januari 1985. David was broken about it and later on he wrote a song about it; 'Jump they sey'.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-20944291

PERSONALITY

For the personality research we looked at the different characters he has made through the years. After that we will make a conclusion of his personality also in mind that he changes himself all the time.  

Man Who Sold The World

Much of The Man Who Sold the World had a distinct heavy metal edge that distinguishes it from Bowie's other releases, and has been compared to contemporary acts such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Source: http://ziggy.mybluemix.net/static/personality.html?persona=Man%20Who%20Sold%20The%20World

Lyrics song ‘Man Who Sold The World’.

We passed upon the stair, we spoke of was and when Although I wasn't there, he said I was his friend Which came as some surprise I spoke into his eyes I thought you died alone, a long long time ago Oh no, not me I never lost control You're face to face With The Man Who Sold The World I laughed and shook his hand, and made my way back home I searched for form and land, for years and years I roamed I gazed a gazely stare at all the millions here We must have died alone, a long long time ago Who knows? not me We never lost control You're face to face With the Man who Sold the World

Source: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/davidbowie/themanwhosoldtheworld.html

It was his third album "The Man Who Sold The World" that characterised a wholly different sound for him. The heavy rock sound was a marked departure from his folksy overtones and saw him promote the album extensively. It was during these promotions that Bowie’s androgynous appearance was first capitalised upon. The original British cover saw Bowie in a dress, one that he often sported during promotional interviews. His androgynous avatar was hugely popularised and Bowie went on to tease his fans about his perceived bisexuality. Reams have been written back in the day of his sexual preferences, quotes that he himself has later debunked. I never could quite get my head around why he’d do that but it set the notion that if anyone could promote androgyny with such sass, it had to be Bowie. Source: http://www.firstpost.com/bollywood/remembering-remembering-david-bowie-the-man-who-sold-the-world-the-finest-saddest-strangest-and-most-beautiful-freak-show-itll-ever-see-bowie-a-man-whose-music-was-as-metaphorically-schizophrenic-2578976.html

The third studio album by Bowie (in England only in 1971 appeared to meet an alternative hoes, Taking full use is made of the androgynous appearance of the singer - see above) is regarded as an early example of glam rock. The Man Who Sold The World was a Pretty dark plate, which alone was evident in the lyrics. So All The Madmen treats a theme that's coming back more often in his songs: insanity. Bowie GAF later than ook toe HE THAT song was written more than are tragic half-brother Terry Burns, die suffered from schizophrenia and himself 25 years later in life deprived door himself door to let a train run over. Source: http://classicrockmag.nl/classicrockfacts/45-jaar-tmwstw/

1971: Bowie's Three Musketeers Phase

David Bowie is noted for being one of the most sexually open and promiscuous stars ever on-stage. Bowie sampled everyone: his managers, assistants, groupies, other musicians, stars, models, you name it. He and his first wife Angie Bowie had an open relationship and a penchant for throwing orgies at their house on Oakley Street in London that still shocks the neighborhood decades later. Source: http://allday.com/post/909-the-many-faces-of-david-bowie/

The world stood still when David Bowie died on January 10th. Bowie is considered a musical genius, especially since he reinvented himself time and again. He switched regularly by genre, by immersing themselves in it thoroughly and give a complete twist. Creative as he was, he stretched himself in every new musical period a totally new alter ego. Include name, clothing, way of talking and moving. Anyone else would be of acute schizophrenic, but David Bowie was a way to express how versatile he was. Are anything but mainstream characters fell in and worked very refreshing among all the other artists. The best known is probably Ziggy Stardust from the early 70s, a man / alien with bright red hair. Thereafter, among others followed the androgynous Aladdin Sane, the timeless dandy The Thin Duke and Bowie in tight suit "Lets dance" a megahit sang in the eighties. All of these transformations had a large influence. On the fashion world and on society. Were his alter egos and are inspiring for major designers. Miu Miu, Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Dior, Paul Smith; all of them came in the last few years with a collection that was inspired by one of his characters. He has his androgynous characters as early as the seventies opened doors for transgenders. Without David Bowie no Caitlyn Jenner, we want to say. Source: Viva 26 January 2016

Androgen (no gender)

Long flowing locks, high cheekbones and soft lines; These were the elements that David Bowie his androgynous look was complete for the release of his third album, The Man Who Sold The World. For the British album cover he put on a dress, which he later did wear during interviews and in public. It earned him mixed reactions. His early glam rock and gender-bending style during his Hunky Dory album (think bell-bottom jeans and fur) underlying his alter ego Ziggy Stardust in 1972.

Source: https://fashionunited.nl/nieuws/mensen/david-bowie-de-dood-van-een-mode-icoon/2016011125349

Conclusion: This period relates to his album ‘Man Who Sold The World’. With every new music album he switched style, name, way of talking and moving. He creates a new personality with every new album. Long hair, high cheekbones and soft lines, these were elements for his androgynous look for this album.

What do people think about him? It was new, something they didn’t seen before. What inspired him? Miu Miu, Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Dior and Paul Smith.

What are the characteristics of this personality? Long hair, high cheekbones and soft lines.

Ziggy Stardust (1972)

The most famous and complete concept that David Bowie created. With this look he was one of the founders of the glam-rock scene. The album is a story about an alien (Ziggy) who in human form the message of hope brings. Ziggy stands for the definition rockstar, sexual promiscuous and wildly on drugs but with a message of peace and love.

'They were different, they were weird' – someone talking about David Bowie and his band.

The idea for the 'look' came from an fascination and an interest in music and theater. The songs came from Bowie's brain, obsessed with space, Japanese culture and fame. He wasn't shy to talk about his inspiration.

'I'm a collector and I collect personalities and ideas'. – David Bowie

He wanted to change the music industry because he thought it was boring.

It took months to develop each members image. People really thought Bowie and his band came from Mars. It was fantasy.

Bowie was going trough a spiritual awakening but was acting it out through the medium of Ziggy. People didn't want to interview Bowie but Ziggy. He was an actor.

'He created a monster and had to kill it, he couldn't be Ziggy Stardust for the rest of his life' – someone talking about Bowie killing Ziggy.

What are the characteristics of his personality? Androgyne – Weird – Open – Imaginative

What inspired him? Fascination and interest in music and theatre, obsessed with space, Japanese culture and fame.

What do people think about him? A weird rockstar

What is his vision here? Be weird, the music industry is boring.

Aladdin sane

Rest in peace, Ziggy Stardust – long live Aladdin Sane. Just a year after seducing the world with the saga of Ziggy, Bowie killed him off to invent a new glam character – a much darker one, with a new hairstyle and a lightning bolt painted over his face. "There was a point in '73 where I knew it was all over," Bowie said. "I didn't want to be trapped in this Ziggy character all my life. And I guess what I was doing on Aladdin Sane, I was trying to move into the next area – but using a rather pale imitation of Ziggy as a secondary device. In my mind, it was Ziggy Goes to Washington: Ziggy under the influence of America.”

Aladdin Sane is a harder, nastier, gaudier album than Ziggy Stardust, written on the road and immersed in the decadence and sleaze of American culture. Each song on the LP is listed with the place that supposedly inspired it: "Watch That Man" in New York, "Drive-In Saturday" in Seattle and Phoenix, "Cracked Actor" in L.A., "Lady Grinning Soul" back in London. But everywhere he goes, he sees cheap sex and cheaper drugs. Now that he'd hustled his way into the American limelight, he wasn't sure he liked it.

Aladdin Sane is the sixth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released by RCA Records on 13 April 1973. The follow-up to his breakthrough The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, it was the first album he wrote and released from a position of stardom.

What inspired him? After his Ziggy Stardust character he inspired himself to invent a new darker glam character. He was also inspired by the dirty American culture

What are the characteristics of this personality? Gloomy, Uncertain

BRON 1:  http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/how-america-inspired-david-bowie-to-kill-ziggy-stardust-with-aladdin-sane-20160413

BRON 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aladdin_Sane

Thin White Duke

Wiki https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_White_Duke

The Thin White Duke was David Bowie's persona and character, primarily identified with his album Station to Station and mentioned by name in the title track, although Bowie had begun to adopt the 'Duke' persona during the preceding Young Americans tour and promotion. The persona's look and character are somewhat based on Thomas Jerome Newton, the titular humanoid alien played by Bowie in the 1976 film The Man Who Fell to Earth.

At first glance, the Thin White Duke appeared more "normal" than Bowie's previously flamboyant glam incarnations. Wearing a simple and impeccably stylish, cabaret-style wardrobe consisting of a white shirt, black trousers, and a waistcoat, the Duke was a hollow man who sang songs of romance with an agonised intensity while feeling nothing, "ice masquerading as fire".[1] The persona has been described as "a mad aristocrat",[2]”an amoral zombie",[3] and "an emotionless Aryan superman". Bowie himself described the character as "A very Aryan, fascist type; a would-be romantic with absolutely no emotion at all but who spouted a lot of neo-romance."

The Thin White Duke was a controversial figure. While being interviewed in the persona in 1975 and 1976, Bowie made statements about Adolf Hitler and fascism that some interpreted as being positive or even pro-fascist. The controversy deepened in May 1976 when, while acknowledging a group of fans outside of London Victoria station, he was photographed making what some alleged to be a Nazi salute. Bowie denied this, saying that he was simply waving and the photographer captured his image mid-wave. As early as 1976, Bowie began disavowing his allegedly pro-Fascist comments and said that he was misunderstood. In an interview that year in the Daily Express, he explained that while performing in his various characters, "I'm Pierrot. I'm Everyman. What I'm doing is theatre, and only theatre... What you see on stage isn't sinister. It's pure clown. I'm using myself as a canvas and trying to paint the truth of our time on it. The white face, the baggy pants - they're Pierrot, the eternal clown putting over the great sadness."In 1977 (after retiring the persona), Bowie stated that "I have made my two or three glib, theatrical observations on English society and the only thing I can now counter with is to state that I am NOT a Fascist".

In later years, Bowie called the period from late 1974 until early 1977 which culminated in his Thin White Duke persona "the darkest days of my life" due to his "astronomical" cocaine usage. He blamed his erratic behaviour and fascination with Nazi and occult symbols during that time on his precarious drug-addled mental state, and he claimed that he did not even remember recording Station to Station in 1976."I was out of my mind, totally crazed."As his drug habit ate away at his physical and mental health, Bowie attempted to reduce his cocaine intake and phase out the Thin White Duke persona, whom he had come to see as "a nasty character indeed", and later, "an ogre". He left Los Angeles and settled in West Berlin in late 1976. He would live there for almost two years, moving on from the Thin White Duke era both musically and personally with his "Berlin Trilogy" albums (Low, "Heroes", and Lodger) in collaboration with Brian Eno and Tony Visconti. >

Book: David Bowie Style

> Chapter 4: Diamond Dog to Thin White Duke

If Ziggy was about the blaze of a new star and Aladdin Sane his fall from the heights, the Thin White Duke represented the emptied shell of the man left in the aftermath.

Still this was a period where he became very famous hanging with people like John Lennon and Elizabeth Taylor.

The Duke was a man struggling to experience his own emotions, existing in an amoral zone of numbed feeling. Once more, the boundary between the artist and his creation became unstable, with Bowie's drug consumption and minimal food intake a recipe likely to send any individual into fraught mental state. His Restricted diet also meant that Bowie appeared skeletal – spectral almost – with translucent skin stretched over razor-sharp cheekbones and deep-set eyes.

Like a torch singer lit by a dying candle, the Duke was, in Bowie's own words very 'Berlin-esque', conjuring up elements of the underground nightclubs that had existed in the city during the 20s and 30s. Like Berlin at that time, the Duke was a character on the edge of catastrophe. Bowie's dark aesthetic during this incarnation reflected both that previous era and the 70s, when economic stagnation in the west was rife and civil unrest seemed to be inevitable. The colorful blaze of Ziggy's rise was now brought fully back to earth and the Thin White Duke embodied the dark trauma of a burnt-out star.

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What do people think about him?

David Bowie was very populair and tried to make it in America. With friends like John Lennon and interesting music he became very populair. But because he made pro-fascist statements linked with persons like Hitler people became very critical on him. Later he explained that he was mentally ill and this was actually the worst time of his life because of drug problems. This period was a very dark period in his life and this character is kind of the translation of this. The opposite of the colorful Ziggy Stardust. “Thin White Duke embodied the dark trauma of a bunt-out star”.

What inspired him?

Thomas Jerome Newton, a character that he played in the movie: The man who fell to earth. This movie was also an inspiration for him because he always had a link with the unknown and alien things.

He also was using a lot of drugs and later even claimed that he did not know anything of the recordings anymore.

What was his vision here?

I don't think he really had a vision in this period of his life. He made different statements that people called 'Fascistic' but he said later that he is not and that he was using so much drugs that he didn't think clearly. But because it was a very dark period I am sure he had dark thoughts about life but there are no facts about that.

What are the characteristics of this personality?

Fascist/ Controversial/ Numbed emotions/ Emotionless/ Unstable/ Empty/ Lonely/ Depressed

Top 3: Emotionless/ Depressed/ Unstable

Berlin Bowie moved to Switzerland in 1976, purchasing a chalet in the hills to the north of Lake Geneva. In the new environment, his cocaine use decreased and he found time for other pursuits outside his musical career. He devoted more time to his painting, and produced a number of post-modernist pieces. When on tour, he took to sketching in a notebook, and photographing scenes for later reference. Visiting galleries in Geneva and the Brücke Museum in Berlin, Bowie became, in the words of biographer Christopher Sandford, "a prolific producer and collector of contemporary art. Not only did he become a well-known patron of expressionist art: locked in Clos des Mésanges he began an intensive self-improvement course in classical music and literature, and started work on an autobiography.” 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bowie#1976.E2.80.931979:_Berlin_era

When Bowie moved from Los Angeles to Berlin in late 1976, he’d been on the edge of physical and mental collapse. At first, he fell back on old habits, cruising around the divided city with flatmate Iggy Pop, drinking KöPi at Joe’s Beer House, stumbling into gutters and transvestite bars, clubbing at the Dschungel and the Unlimited. One night, Iggy sat in the passenger seat as Bowie rammed their dealer’s car again and again, for five crazed minutes. He then drove around their hotel’s underground car park, pushing 70mph, screaming above the screech of the tyres that he wanted to end it all by driving into a concrete wall. Until his car ran out of fuel and the two friends collapsed in hysterics. He realised his goal was not simply to find a new way of making music, but rather to reinvent – or to come back to – himself. He no longer needed to adopt characters to sing his songs. He found the courage to throw away the props, costumes and stage sets. By the summer of 1977, Bowie was on a creative high. With producer Tony Visconti and friend Brian Eno, he began to make a new album. Over long sessions in the studio, he ate almost nothing, sailing home to Hauptstraße with Eno at dawn, breaking a raw egg into his mouth, and sleeping a few hours before returning to the studio. Source: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/13/david-bowie-berlin-years-heroes-just-a-gigolo

Interview with David Bowie about his time in Berlin.

Many reasons have been suggested for moving to Berlin: the local art and music scene, to escape superstardom, for spiritual and physical detox - plus the creative stimulation of being in an isolated, edgy, divided city. Are these theories accurate? Can you remember why the city appealed?

db: Life in LA had left me with an overwhelming sense of foreboding. I had approached the brink of drug induced calamity one too many times and it was essential to take some kind of positive action. For many years Berlin had appealed to me as a sort of sanctuary like situation. It was one of the few cities where I could move around in virtual anonymity. I was going broke; it was cheap to live. For some reason, Berliners just didn't care. Well, not about an English rock singer anyway.

Since my teenage years I had obsessed on the angst ridden, emotional work of the expressionists, both artists and film makers, and Berlin had been their spiritual home. This was the nub of Die Brucke movement, Max Rheinhardt, Brecht and where Metropolis and Caligari had originated. It was an art form that mirrored life not by event but by mood. This was where I felt my work was going. My attention had been swung back to Europe with the release of Kraftwerk's Autobahn in 1974. The preponderance of electronic instruments convinced me that this was an area that I had to investigate a little further.

Source: http://www.bowiewonderworld.com/features/dbuncut.html

David Bowie: The Berlin Briefings is a collection of resurfaced interviews, featuring guest appearances from friends, producers, and his then-roommate, Iggy Pop. Bowie talks candidly about living with Pop in Berlin in the late ’70s, and what ended up being an incredibly refreshing, productive era for both of them. Their time in Germany was a mental and creative vacation, the chance for them to get away from a heavy drug scene and the weight of being famous in America. This is when Bowie created what is referred to as his “Berlin Trilogy”: Low (1977), “Heroes” (1977), and Lodger (1979). Meanwhile, Pop churned out two iconic albums of his own in 1977: Lust for Life and The Idiot.  “I knew I had to get to an environment that was totally different to Los Angeles, so I thought of the most arduous city that I could think of,” Bowie said in his 1977 interview with the CBC. “And it was West Berlin.” Source: http://www.spin.com/2016/06/daily-deal-rare-collection-of-interviews-with-david-bowie-and-iggy-pop/

Conclusion: In Berlin David Bowie learned a lot about himself. He moved to Berlin because of different reasons but the main reason was to kick off from drugs (cocaine). He said Berlin was a creative vacation, the change for him to get away from a heavy drug scene and the weight of being famous in America. He realised his goal was not simply to find a new way of making music, but rather to reinvent himself. He no longer needed to adopt characters to sing his songs. He lived in Berlin for 3 years and beside music he started painting.Wa

Pierrot (1980)

Also known as the Blue Clown (cover of the Scary Monsters album). David wanted to be the most beautiful clown of the circus.

'I'm Pierrot, I'm everyman, what I'm doing is theatre, it's pure clown. I'm using myself as a canvas and trying to paint the truth of our time'. – David Bowie.

Bowie studied theatre and mime and played a role in a theatre production Pierrot in Turquise. He turned into Pierrot in his music video Ashes to Ashes.

The song is about his past with drugs. In the song he says that if you want to accomplish something you have to say away from drugs. The struggle with his past, dark side, lonely and lost.

What are the characteristics of his personality?

Realistic – strong

What inspired him?

His past with druguse, things his mother once said to him.

What do people think about him?

Fairytalelike

What is his vision here?

Be realistic, tell the truth, no more hiding.

Modern Love

"Modern Love" is a song written and recorded by David Bowie. It was the opening track to his fifteenth studio album Let's Dance. It was issued as the third single from the album in 1983.

Bowie claimed the song was inspired by Little Richard, and it maintains the album's theme of a struggle between God and man. The line "Get me to the church on time" from the lyrics is the title of the same-named tune from My Fair Lady. By the time "Modern Love" was issued and edited as a single, Bowie's Serious Moonlight Tour was underway. The single reached No. 2 in the UK, and No. 14 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

As a video, “Modern Love” is as straightforward as it gets, especially compared to the others Bowie did that year, “China Girl” and “Let’s Dance.” That could be because Yukich, even though he was Capitol/EMI’s in-house director at the time, was still a newcomer to directing music videos, but it more likely reflects the sudden success of “Modern Love.”

It has less to do with the video and more to do with the song: As art-damaged as Bowie liked to be, he could sling straight-forward rave-ups with the best of ’em, and “Modern Love” is basically one long hook, which perhaps obscures the anxiety about faith—in both the almighty and relationships—at the song’s core. Few pop songs can pull off sing-alongs to the lyrics “God and man, no religion.”

What inspired him?

The song was inspired by Little Richard and the head theme of the whole album was the struggle between God and man.

What are the characteristics of this personality?

Enchanting,

BRON 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Love_(song)

BRON 2: http://www.avclub.com/article/modern-love-david-bowie-mixed-modern-timeless-230645

Earthling (1992)

Is the name of the album strongly affected by electronic music and inspired by the industrial- drum and bass culture of the 90s. Intensity of agression. The album was an attempt to producte some really dynamic aggressive soundings. A texture diary of the earlier years.

'balance, mental, with the way I live and my downfall' – David Bowie

Embrace his outsider-status. The music matters the most.

The real Bowie came forward in the 90s

What are the characteristics of his personality?

Calm – Creative – Spiritual

What inspired him?

The electronic music and drum and bass culture of the 90s

What do people think about him?

Reborn, the real Bowie is coming foward.

What is his vision here?

Music matters the most. BRON ziggy stardust http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/star-man-the-story-of-bowies-ziggy-stardust-763290

BRON ziggy stardust https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Ziggy_Stardust_and_the_Spiders_from_Mars

BRON pierrot http://dangerousminds.net/comments/pierrot_in_turquoise_david_bowies_little-known_first_theatrical_appearance_

BRON pierrot http://culturedarm.com/pierrot/

Lazarus

Lazarus is a character and single of David Bowie's last album 'Blackstar'. In the clip of the single you can see him with a mask in a hospital bed. The single opens with the lyrics: 'Look up here, I am in heaven'. A lot of discussion started when he died, did he organize the album around his death? The answer is probably yes.

Research

Wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarus_(David_Bowie_song)

"Lazarus" is a song by English rock musician David Bowie. It was released on 17 December 2015 as a digital download, making it the second single from his twenty-fifth studio album, Blackstar (2016), as well as Bowie's last single released before his death on 10 January 2016. The single received its world premiere on BBC Radio 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq on the day of its release as a single. In addition to its release on Blackstar, the track is used in Bowie's off-Broadway musical of the same name. The official music video, directed by Johan Renck, was released on 7 January 2016, three days before Bowie's death.

The video was directed by Johan Renck (who also directed the music video for Bowie's previous single, "Blackstar") in November 2015; during the week of shooting, doctors reportedly informed Bowie the cancer was terminal and that they were ending treatment. The filming location was a studio in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The video is shown in a 1:1 aspect ratio and prominently features Bowie, appearing with a bandage and buttons sewn over his eyes as in the "Blackstar" video, lying on a deathbed.

Telegraph UK

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/03/16/david-bowies-last-release-lazarus-was-parting-gift-for-fans-in-c/

“David Bowie's final record was a carefully-orchestrated farewell to his fans, his producer has confirmed.”

“Tony Visconti, the producer who worked with Bowie to complete his final album, has released a statement saying it was deliberately created and timed as a "parting gift" for his fans.”

"His death was no different from his life - a work of Art.”

Wiki 2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_David_Bowie

Bowie's final album, Blackstar—styled as ★ on the cover—was heavily analysed following his death, and numerous supposed clues about Bowie's fate were discussed. The album's second single "Lazarus" includes the lyrics "Look up here, I'm in heaven/I've got scars that can't be seen", which appeared in numerous news publications after his death. The album's title was also believed to have symbolised death; it is the name given to a cancerous lesion, as well as the term for the transitional state between a collapsed star and a singularity. It is also reminiscent of the name of a little-known song about death by one of Bowie's musical idols, Elvis Presley, which features the lyrics "When a man sees his flaming star, he knows his time has come". A tumblr account which seemingly included images replicated in the yet-to-be-released video for "Lazarus" was speculated to have been created by Bowie, and these images—Bowie retreating into a wooden cupboard, and writing with a skull on his desk—seemed to many to symbolise Bowie's imminent death.

Other lyrics were also scrutinised; the track "Dollar Days", for example, featured the line, "Don't believe for just one second I'm forgetting you/I'm trying to/I'm dying to". The title and refrain of the album's final track, "I Can’t Give Everything Away", was believed by some commentators to refer to Bowie keeping his imminent fate private whilst hinting at it throughout the album, while its use of the harmonica solo from "A New Career In A New Town"—an instrumental track on Bowie’s 1977 album Low which refers to his move to Berlin—was considered a reference to Bowie beginning another new phase of his life. The track "Girl Loves Me", another example, features the line, "Where the fuck did Monday go?", which some listeners believe eerily predicted the death of Bowie on Sunday, therefore missing Monday.

Lyrics Lazarus

Look up here, I'm in heaven

I've got scars that can't be seen

I've got drama, can't be stolen

Everybody knows me now

Look up here, man, I'm in danger

I've got nothing left to lose

I'm so high it makes my brain whirl

Dropped my cell phone down below

Ain't that just like me?

By the time I got to New York

I was living like a king

There I'd used up all my money

I was looking for your ass

This way or no way

You know, I'll be free

Just like that bluebird

Now, ain't that just like me?

Oh, I'll be free

Just like that bluebird

Oh, I'll be free

Ain't that just like me?

> The lyrics shows a lot of this last period of his life. He is talking about his death, what he accomplished and a dark time in his life. He also makes clear that this was his way of ending his life, with a last album, he is free!

Billboard

http://www.billboard.com/articles/review/6836029/david-bowie-blackstar-album-review

Blackstar is its own strange, perverse thing, the ­latest move in a boundlessly ­unpredictable career. Bowie turns 69 on its release date, Jan. 8, yet he remains as ­committed to novelty as ­anyone in pop. He also remains a ­powerful and effective singer, ­displaying the full range of his tricks on Blackstar -- ­whispering, ­warbling, ­shrieking and ­dropping into his most romantic baritone-Bowie croon to deliver lyrics like "I want eagles in my ­daydreams and diamonds in my eyes." That line is one of the more ­hopeful on a ­discomfiting record, an album that keeps you riveted even when -- ­especially when -- it creeps you out

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What do people think about him?

After this album and his death Bowie became a real legend. People had a lot of respect for his way of handling his death and said that he was a real artist that kept singing and working until the end. He also became more famous then he already was, who didn't know him yet know him now because social media exploded after he died. He has so many skills. Singing/ acting etc., he uses it all to express himself.

What inspired him?

Because this was the last period of his life I think he was mainly inspired by death, everything he did and was always inspired of, like space and the alien. I think he also wanted to make a last statement, that he is a blackstar, scared but in peace.

What was his vision here?

I think that his vision also links with death. He has peace with it and believes he is in heaven.

What are the characteristics of this personality?

Peacefull/ Satisfied/ Strong

> Important is that he really wanted to show that he was a star. He made a statement with his death, he surprised everyone, again.

Conclusion personality

What we particularly noticed that he actually is a kind of all-rounder, which changed constantly. Adjusts how he feels at certain moments, which were created different characters. Who are seen as characters but David Bowie sees itself as part of what he is. He pushes the boundaries, he is always looking for innovation. He has known a lot of emotion swings during his characters.

VALUES + BELIEVE

Quotes Bowie:

“I don’t know where I’m going but I promise it won’t be boring”

“I always had the repulsive need to be something more than human”

Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zri74q3HDDY

David Bowie: “I was just always looking for expending.. I didn't really know what, but experience new things”.

“Being characterized is like being trapped for me .. Nothing in this world is a real reality, it's not something you can hold on to”.

Values:

Individualistic

Innovative

Experimental

MUSIC

What genre is David Bowies music?

While many late rock stars are rightly saluted for their influence and impact, Bowie

occupies a higher historical tier entirely. He's not just an influential rocker. He's not merely one of the most influential rockers. Among rock stars, Bowie influenced more musical genres than anyone else, living or dead. He is, in that respect, the most influential rock star.

Let's run through this. Obviously, no one is going to question how essential he was to glam rock. While The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars and Aladdin Sane ensured his long-term career and infamy, glam rock as a genre owes him just as much. If Bowie hadn't gone glam, history would remember it as a goofy, cute curiosity -- a sub-genre full of wacky fashion and frothy pop songs, but producing no serious content (apart from one or two T. Rex albums, depending on your taste). Most glam rockers are remembered as that -- glam rockers. Bowie, however, produced two albums squarely within the style while simultaneously transcending it. The aforementioned titles aren't simply glam classics -- they're rock classics. They're singer-songwriter classics. They are, simply put, works of art.

In the industrial rock realm, Bowie's impact can't be underplayed: It's impossible to imagine Trent Reznor or Marilyn Manson having substantial careers without Bowie paving the way for them. And when grunge replaced pop-metal as the go-to genre for rebellious teenagers, Bowie was once again a touchstone.

Bowie's various personas have had an impossible-to-overstate influence on teenage minds since the early '70s -- and he will probably continue to inspire personal artistry and nonconformity until long after all of us are dead. Even the idea that one person can have multiple personas and creative identities --- and still remain authentic with all of them -- is something Bowie pioneered. So in that way, Bowie truly is and will remain a peerless rock star -- someone whose music, style and outlook impacted the world in ways no one else did.

Most important genres:

- Glam rock

- Art rock

-        Pop rock

Most important features:

-        Musical cameleon

-        Big influence on multiple genres

When did Bowies music became iconic?

Bowies first attempt at being a solo artist failed miserably. A big amount of singles, including his debut album, became a flop. However, with the single Space Oddity he broke through. This song about walking in space was right in time, since in the same year (1969) mankind set foot on the moon for the first time.

After that Bowie made the alter ego Ziggi Stardust, in which he played with an androgynous appearance. He looked like an alien that could have been either man or woman. He and Marc Bolan were the inventors of Glam Rock.

Is his work a representation of the zeitgeist?

When more and more artist got a look like he did, Bowie decided to let his persona die. He moved to the VS to record a soule number (Young Americans). Bowie has always been a true musical cameleon. He never kept only one music genre and went on with the time spirit. He also did a lot of collaborations with different artist which already were famous or became famous because of him. Rather than as a musician, it’s in Bowie wholly embodying the idea that creativity is an art that must be done with an unwavering devotion to an ultra-aware introspection, and that your spiritual essence is the canvas upon which your best work deserves to be shown is what makes him impressive. Even further, I’d venture to say that this is what allows him to stand as one of the most dominant and zeitgeist controlling creative masters across all mediums of art, ever.

What were his inspirations? Terry Burns, his half-brother, introduced him to modern jazz, his enthusiasm for players like Charles Mingus and John Coltrane led his mother to give him a plastic alto saxophone in 1961; he was soon receiving lessons from a local musician. If you look at the early songs from Bowie's hands, you will see "Song for Bob Dylan" from Hunky Dory (this song is a play on words – Dylan wrote a song to his source of inspiration: "Song for Woody Guthrie"!). Also note the reference to John Lennon in "Life On Mars" from the same album. Later, on the Young Americans album, Bowie duetted with Lennon on "Fame".

David Bowie also liked Bruce Springsteen's work  – and this dates back to before Springsteen became a superstar. He covered "Growin' Up" and "It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City" – both songs are from Springsteen's debut album Greetings From Asbury Park. See the article Bowie meets Springsteen for the story of how the two singers eventually met. Roy Bittan from the E Street Band ended up playng piano on several of Bowie's albums.

David Bowie was also openly inspired by Iggy & The Stooges and by The Velvet Underground. Not surprisingly, David Bowie and Iggy Pop became friends – and Bowie produced Lou Reed's Transformer.

CONCLUSIE

- Most important genres:

-   Glam rock

-   Art rock

-      Pop rock

-  Musical cameleon

-  Big influence on multiple (rock and pop) genres

- He smartly combined the lyrics of his songs with social events (For example the song Space Oddity. First men on the moon in that same year).

-  He was one of the most dominant and zeitgeist controlling creative masters across all mediums of art(music), ever. - Inspired by people more than materials

- All of his albums tell a different story(concepts, new identity) - Experimental - Lyrics were personal

Art

David Bowie had studied art and started collecting paintings very early on. Art was the only thing he ever wanted to own. He had to wait till the mid 90’s to get recognition for his own paintings. This because of his fear for failure and thus postponing the public outing of his paintings. 1. What art movement dit David Bowie belong to?

Neo-Expressionism

from 1970

subjects in an almost raw and brutish manner

with the aim to shock people

highly textural

expressive brushwork

intense colors

strong emotions

eclecticism

large canvases

autobiographical elements

political statements

subcultures (graffiti, ethnic art) as an influence

truth > beauty

2. What are the subjects of his paintings?

(self) portraits

scenes from everyday life

personal experiences from traveling

his style:

expressive

emotional

raw

dark

experimental

3. Is his work a representation of the zeitgeist?

The 70’s and 80’s were dominated by artistic forms derived from postmodernism. These movements could be described as an ironic and playful treatment of a fragmented subject, the breakdown of high and low culture hierarchies, the undermining of concepts of authenticity and originality, and an emphasis on image and spectacle. In the eyes of neo-expressionist painters, such as David Bowie, these art forms were very superficial. David Bowie went against postmodernism and created stories through expressive art in which he portrayed his personal feelings and thoughts.

4. What were his inspirations?

David Bowie was a collector of art. He mostly collected paintings from expressionist and surrealist painters such as Frank Auerbach, David Bomberg, Francis Bacon, Francis Picabia, Erich Heckel and Damien Hirst. These painters were also the inspirations for his own work. Their paintings were emotional, subjective and showed dark emotions such as fear and anger.

album covers:

Many of Bowie’s album covers were inspired by different artists such as Erich Heckel and Gilbert & George. The latter being an artist duo creating brightly colored and bold conceptual art.

Conclusion:

Art as an emotional outlet

Not afraid to show emotion and political engagement

Lets himself be carried away by emotion

Has a dark side

Very open minded (especially about inspiration from other artists)

Strong, expressive creativity

Chooses authenticity and truth over perfection and shallowness

Contrast: insecure (inside) - daring (outside)

Sources:

http://www.vogue.com/13458171/homes-david-bowie-art-collection-sothebys-auction/

http://www.theartstory.org/definition-postmodernism.htm

http://bigthink.com/laurie-vazquez/what-made-david-bowie-so-creative-his-obsession-with-art

http://www.kunstkennis.nl/kunstgeschiedenis/moderne%20kunst/neo-expressionisme.htm

http://kunstvannu.blogspot.nl/p/neo-expressionisme.html

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-37845306

https://www.yahoo.com/news/david-bowie-striking-legacy-painter-003551444/photo-ancestor-ii-1995-1998-1452561082366.html

https://sl4artglobal.wordpress.com/2014/07/08/bowie-in-berlin-between-expressionism-and-nightlife/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5X5G3tWTJzk9fQbp1x65zXY/pop-art-why-david-bowie-loved-these-five-paintings

Film & Theater

In welk filmgenre speelde David Bowie en wat zijn hier de kenmerken van?

Voor welke filmgenres produceerde hij zelf?

Wat zijn de onderwerpen van zijn films? (als acteur en filmmaker)

Sluit zijn werk aan op de zeitgeist of gaat hij hier juist tegenin?

Wat zijn zijn inspiraties? Bowies love for acting started at a very young age. In the years between his first few singles and the fame that came with Space Oddity, Bowie studied dance and mime under Lindsay Kemp.

THEATER

The Elephant Man

The acting debut on the American stage of rock singer David Bowie was greeted by a standing ovation in Denver when the singer, noted for his flamboyant musical style, took on the role of physically misshapen John Merrick, the human monster with a liking for culture.

Bowie claims his interest for this performance was based on the outrageous and distorted elements that his character was based on. (Could have something to do with the schizophrenia in his family.)

FILMS

Along the way, he only had a handful of leading roles; most of the time, he was part of the supporting cast or had a cameo. Sometimes he even played himself, putting a twist on his public image. A David Bowie appearance might not have always guaranteed critical acclaim, but – as you’ll see in our comprehensive look back – it was usually a sign that the work would be creative and imaginative.

Labyrinth (1986) Musical, Adventure, Fantasy

Where everything seems possible and nothing is what it seems.

Bowie playing an evil goblin king as an oddly maternal, glam rocker. We don’t imagine the part required much real acting, but it surely showed us a goofier, more playful side of Bowie.

The man who fell of the earth (1976) Sci-Fi, Drama

You have to believe it to see it.

Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth finds the man who was, only a few years earlier, Ziggy Stardust playing an alien who has come to Earth to find water to his drought-stricken home. At the height of his mid-’70s drug excess, Bowie appears pale, painfully thin, and often nervous — making him the perfect extraterrestrial.

The Hunger (1983) Horror

Nothing Human Loves Forever

Growing old and dying have always been preoccupations for Bowie, and we imagine that’s what makes his turn as a rapidly aging vampire so memorable.

Bowie always excelled at playing the magic freak: the world-weary, otherworldly outsider who is both adored and condemned for his destabilizing mojo. And because Bowie's insuperable Bowie-ness glitters too brightly for him to vanish into any one part, a close look at his film and theater roles is a case study in the merits of stunt casting.

He chose his roles so selectively and with such idiosyncratic, yet strangely consistent taste, that almost incidentally to the main narrative of his extraordinary life, he amassed an enviable onscreen filmography.

VIDEOCLIPS

A year before MTV went on the air, Bowie released the video Ashes to Ashes. (1980) Which Bowie directed together with David Mallet. It cost £250,000 to produce, making it the most expensive music video ever made at the time.

Ashes to Ashes

The music video for "Ashes to Ashes" features Bowie dressed as Pierrot in a variety of bizarre situations. Steve Strange of the New Wave band, Visage, cameos. Bowie has said the shot of himself and other characters marching towards the camera in front of a bulldozer symbolizes "oncoming violence." During this scene, the characters behind Bowie are not bowing, but simply trying to pull their gowns away from the bulldozer so they don't get stuck! This, and many other images in the video suggest that Bowie may be trying to bury the various personas he developed.

The clip was shot during the New Romantics Culture. The fantasy & Escapism of the clip suit to this period of time.

David used his alter ego’s during his performances as an actor as well as the other way around.

SPIRIT OF THE TIME

New Romantics Culture New Romanticism can be seen as a reaction to punk,[3] and was heavily influenced by former glam rock stars of the 1970s such as David Bowie and Roxy Music.[4] In terms of style it rejected the austerity and anti-fashion stance of punk.[5] Both sexes often dressed in counter-sexual or androgynous clothing and wore cosmetics such as eyeliner and lipstick, partly derived from earlier punk fashions.[6] This "gender bending" was particularly evident in figures such as Boy George of Culture Club and Marilyn (Peter Robinson).[3]

 INSPIRATION

Since he has had such a long and varied career, David Bowie is very much an artist influenced by his peers. As Hans Hyttel points out he wrote songs about Bob Dylan and John Lennon (also Andy Warhol) and you can see the influence of them in his music and art. He also hung around with Lou Reed and Iggy Pop for a time and they three had great influence on each other. He also collaborates a lot with Brian Eno and you could say Eno crafted much of the sound that we identify as "Bowie" as he produced many of Bowie's most famous albums.

The later phases of his career he delved heavily into German synth and electro pop, even re-recording a few of his songs in German and releasing whole albums of very German inspired music.

As to what inspired him initially to produce music. well his wiki article states "Terry Burns, his half-brother, introduced him to modern jazz, his enthusiasm for players like Charles Mingus and John Coltrane led his mother to give him a plastic alto saxophone in 1961; he was soon receiving lessons from a local musician." - (Read more: David Bowie)

CONCLUSIONS

·      Bowie studied dance and mime under Lindsay Kemp.

·      Acting debut: The Elephant Man

·      Handful of leading roles; most of the time, he was part of the supporting cast or had a cameo.

Labyrinth (Fantasy)

The man who fell of the earth (Sci-Fi)

The hunger (Surreal Horror)

·      Bowie always excelled at playing the magic freak: the world-weary, otherworldly outsider who is both adored and condemned for his destabilizing mojo

·      The music video Ashes to Ashes. (1980) It cost £250,000 to produce, making it the most expensive music video ever made at the time.

·      The clip was shot during the New Romantics Culture. The fantasy & Escapism of the clip suit to this period of time.

·      New Romantics: In terms of style it rejected the austerity and anti-fashion stance of punk.[5] Both sexes often dressed in counter-sexual or androgynous clothing and wore cosmetics such as eyeliner and lipstick, partly derived from earlier punk fashions

·      Inspirations: He was inspired by Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Andy Warhol which influence you can recognize in his music and art.

During a later phase of his career he was inspired by German synth and electro pop.

His half-brother Terry Burns and musicians Charles Mingus and John Coltrane introduced him to modern-jazz music when he was younger.

Sources:

https://www.quora.com/Who-inspired-David-Bowie

http://soul-psychics.com/blog/the-spirit-of-david-bowie/

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000309/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm http://www.davidbowie.com/bio

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/6836438/david-bowie-music-videos-best

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/6836438/david-bowie-music-videos-best http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/readers-poll-the-10-best-david-bowie-music-videos-20160120 http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/dvdextras/2010/10/cracked_actor.html

http://www.indiewire.com/2016/01/the-8-essential-movie-performances-of-david-bowie-91853/

http://www.bowiegoldenyears.com/1979.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/david-bowie-11-surprising-facts-about-the-king-of-glam-rock/

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2017/01/09/twin_peaks_will_return_on_may_21_with_a_two_hour_premiere.html

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/movies/david-bowie-movies-that-define-his-film-career

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085701/?ref_=nm_knf_i3

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115632/?ref_=nm_knf_i2

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074851/?ref_=nm_knf_i4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPithDmHrd0

Other

CAREER SWITCH

In 1998 David told the New York Times that by creating visual art it him helped to create better music. He said that if he had a creative obstacle in the music that he was working on, it would often revert to painting or drawing it out. In the painting or in the drawing arised a structure of the music what he was working on and this would produce a breakthrough.

SUPPORTED CHARITIES

In 1984 David participated in the English charity band Band Aid. The band was aimed to raise money to fight the famine in Ethiopia. Together with other famous English singers they recorded the song Do They Know It’s Christmas. It was a number one hit in multiple countries and raised a lot of money.

In 1985 Bob Geldof (co-founder of the band) organized the charity concert Live Aid. It was a 16 hour during concert and there were contemporaneous performances in various countries such as the US, the UK and The Hague. David Bowie performed in the Wembley Stadium in London. The event was broadcasted live in many countries and became one of the world’s biggest media spectacles ever watched. It was so successful that 245,4 million dollars was raised that evening also for the famine in Ethiopia.

David has also supported a lot of charities. The charities support the causes of abuse, AIDS & HIV, At-Risk/Disadvantaged Youths, children, disaster relief, economic/business support, education, family/parent support, health, human rights, hunger, miscellaneous, peace, poverty, weapons reduction, women rights.

The charities that he supported were:

21st Century Leaders

Every Mother Counts

Food Bank For New York City

Keep A Child Alive

Mines Advisory Group

Save The Children

The Lunchbox Fund

War Child

Whatever It Takes

WhyHunger

Witness

Sources

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bowie

http://bigthink.com/laurie-vazquez/what-made-david-bowie-so-creative-his-obsession-with-art

http://liveaid.free.fr

https://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/david-bowie#charities

CONCLUSION

David cares for the world and the people living on it. By creating visual art it him helped to create better music

He blurred gender lines with ultra-glam, over-the-top androgynous looks in his “Ziggy Stardust” days and later adopted a sharp, buttoned-up persona that was anything but stuffy. The ‘80s were filled with vibrant coloured suits, printed overcoats, and flashy accessories. And let’s not forget his ever-changing hair. One word: magical. Even with the release of his most recent album “Blackstar,” just four days ago, the legend was still serving style supremacy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/david-bowie-fashion-icon-photos_us_5693c3d6e4b0a2b6fb70ce1b

Why Did You Call The Exhibition David Bowie Is?

“The title is both a statement and an unfinished sentence, and poses the question David Bowie is – what? Our approach was to leave that question open, and to highlight the fact that there is no single answer.”

https://www.mrporter.com/daily/why-mr-david-bowie-is-still-a-cultural-icon/1107

Bowie’s sartorial legacy has inspired generations of designers, from tailoring don Giorgio Armani to Belgium’s more avant garde Dries Van Noten. For his spring/summer collection this year Jean Paul Gaultier sent Bowie lookalikes down the runway, telling reporters he found the V&A show “absolutely incredible… You see how clever he is in all his projects, and how he connected to art.”

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20131004-ch-ch-anges-bowies-many-looks

‘’ I’m a collector, I collect personalities and ideas.’’ - Bowie

‘’A tiger that is captured is wilder than a tiger in the wild.’’ - Bowie?

The inimitable, genre-defying musician produced a staggering 26 studio albums in his lifetime, resulting in scores of hits across half a century — from 1969’s “Space Oddity” to 1973’s “Life On Mars” to 1974’s “Rebel Rebel” to 1975’s “Fame” to 1977’s “Heroes” to 1983’s “Let’s Dance” to 1987’s “Dancing In The Street” with Mick Jagger — all the way up to 2016’s Blackstar, his latest studio album, which was released just a few days ago on January 8.

http://popcrush.com/david-bowie-dead-obit/?trackback=tsmclip

#research

[justfollowmyhansel]

Bowie Museum Pt. 2 — May 17th through May 19th, 2018

When I was initially planning my spring vacations, it was largely around a monthly cycle of Bowie Exhibit and Mattachine experiences. Since the Exhibit was scheduled to run from early March to the middle of July and since I had been enamored of Bowie the majority of my life, this was an expense I was more than willing to take on. In fact, now that David was no longer alive, this would be the closest I would be able to get to seeing him perform live — a pale comparison, I was certain to actually being in the same venue as the man….

But…as with the last travel experience, plans change. They have to. Either by a change in financial status, a change in emotional status, or a change of larger plans. For me, larger plans meant going to Australia to see John. By this time, four of the five dates had been announced and the tickets released for purchase. The first and second being the absolute bookends for the trip with Adelaide and Brisbane. Naturally I had tickets to all of them, but I knew that when push came to shove, I’d have to pick whichever grouping of dates gave me the most concentrated amount of shows for the least amount of time. I didn’t think that I had been with my current job long enough to justify taking that much time off — even with the explicit reassurance that I knew perfectly well that I would be taking a significant part of that time as unpaid. Even if I had been with that job long enough to justify taking what would amount to five weeks, I wasn’t sure that I would want to.

So plane tickets were booked and budgets adjusted around the understanding that my first show would be on July 6th in Sydney and I would have what more or less amounted to a show a week for three weeks (even if they weren’t quite spaced like that.)

In lieu of the extra couple of weeks in Australia, when it was announced that Mason and Mimi would be bringing back their Taboo staging, I jumped at the chance to go again. I confirmed the tickets were available and then a couple of days later booked the plane ticket. The first time the show had sold out, but only within a couple of days of the actual date. I had felt confident that it wouldn’t sell out that quickly this time and that I could secure a good rate for the plane tickets before purchasing the show tickets. When I went to book them though, something had come up. The original link that had been posted for the tickets routed to a dead end that wouldn’t allow the tickets to be finalized and the website for both the venue and the production company had been all but scrubbed of the existence of a second show.

I thought about cancelling the trip, refunding the money, and having more money to play with when I got back to Australia. But instead, Risa and I planned a trip that would be an extended stay at David Bowie Is where we would take a full afternoon at the show, bringing both Advil and water into the exhibit and then later take in a live talk with one of David’s most prominent designers. The one that had designed the first outfit you saw when walking in. And the second day, instead of being spent seeing Mason would be spent taking an informal tour of Hedwig history, one where we would visit the now-remodeled Jane Hotel, the Belasco, the West Village that featured so prominently in JCM’s videos, but not Mattachine now that the ticket had been booked for the week before the Thursday we were expecting it to be.

This time going up to New York, I came into the Philadelphia airport and witnessed a much longer drive up to Brooklyn. The flight in had free wifi for the majority — a pleasant surprise given that a child on the plane was having what sounded like the worst experience of its young life. Instead of screaming baby, I was able to listen to nonstop David Bowie music. Just the thing to set the mood for the afternoon.

Risa and I took great pains to stress that we were capable of walking to the museum ourselves. The last time, we had been a little…escorted and given that we were both adults within the very safe confines of a museum, we were safe in the assertion that we got this. The only thing to call that into question was my nice new, still weeping thumb scar — a product of my being relatively careless with a craft knife while shaping a custom Funko Pop doll.

After we convinced her parents, we went upstairs to the exhibit. This time having untimed tickets, we were able to go in whenever we pleased. I checked the time on my phone and deemed it far enough away from the start of a fifteen minute block to go in. We received our headphones, but this time paid significantly less attention to them. Being the Bowie enthusiast of the pair of us, I gave Risa a mini-tour, filling in some of the information left off of the exhibit cards, disputing information that rang false (which given that the exhibit was put together from Bowie’s archives, but not his fact checkers was necessary at times), and tying things back not only to Hedwig and John, but to other cultural touchstones that Risa might have known.

Without the urging of her parents to take less time exploring the minutiae, we spent more time examining the video footage and getting close to the items we wanted to see. And since we had already been there before, we were able to be more confident that we were seeing every section of the show as opposed to passing over rooms due to crowd movement.

We left after inching our way through the exhibit, we made our way out to the gift shop. I took the chance to ask what the difference was between the hardbound and softbound versions of the catalogue other than the obvious one was hardbound and the other wasn’t. It took two different exhibit workers to get an answer but apparently in terms of content, they were the same. I had a list of memorabilia that I had purchased the last time and a list of things I had wanted to buy the first time, but they had run out. Originally, I had placed a $300+ order through the website, but it had been cancelled after a few days due to a high volume of sales.

After the last time, the lady in charge of upstairs merchandising recognized me. I wasn’t sure if it was the fussiness of asking over a $1.50 button or the amount that I had spent. This time, she helped me find a record that I had rethought my position on buying and telling me the price of a t-shirt that was significantly higher than the other ones the exhibit had on offer. After some difficulty getting checked out, we exited.

Immediately getting into the more traditional museum fair, it felt like the building’s fever had broken. We sat down in the relative coolness. Risa texted her parents that we were out and I texted my mom. Her parents wanted to know what we were going to do for lunch as they were going to come and get us if we were going someone. The last time we had eaten in Brooklyn, it took us close to forty minutes to find a restaurant that wasn’t crowded and even then, it wasn’t one that I had an easy time finding something to eat at. My position was that Risa and I could find one on our own. And we did, agreeing that Popeye’s sounded nice as we passed a gentleman eating a box of chicken in the downstairs café.

Her parents thought it was too far to walk compared to the time we had to be back for the talk. Regardless of whether it was or not, after significant back and forth over what to do it became too late to leave the museum for food at all, let alone to leave and come back for dessert like had been my plan.

A few more moments of quibbling over whether or not we’d want to actually at the overpriced café, the overpriced café with items specifically designed to go along with this exhibit, we just stood up and decided it would be then or never. Good timing because if we had waited any longer, we would have missed out on that night’s talk for sure.

In the café, we ordered a Blackstar cake — a dark chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and an orange glaze with little dark chocolate cookies spelling out David’s name in the Blackstar font — and a Thin White Duke drink for me that comprised a coconut rum, vodka, lime juice, and a cherry. We were both thrilled with the food selection and the well-timed service of our very nice waiter.

Just on time, or perhaps a touch late, we went down to the auditorium where the talk was being held. Kansai Yamamoto, the designer we were seeing, had more than a few antidotes memorized in English that he told at the start of the talk with impeccable timing. He was less interested in answering the host’s questions and more interested in delivering interesting stories tangentially related or on topics that he wanted the audience to know about. He told us about his design history outside of working with David, what his inspirations were, how proud he was of his daughter…. He talked about his first impressions of David and the ones he held later as they worked together on more projects. He talked about hosting David when both of their children were small and showed a photo of Duncan with his own daughter.

After the part that he had preprepared, he turned the English talking over to his translator, a very attractive and funny man in his own right to whom he had been introduced to only that morning. While he was able to understand the majority of the English around him, he explained that his brain wasn’t fast enough to translate the sentences he wanted to say, which was why he used the translator. Kansai also admitted that he was answering the questions in ways that interested him over more straight forward answers.

At the end of the speech, Risa and I chose to wander around the museum looking for things of interest. They were having a Bowie ball of sorts with dozens and dozens of people dressed up. We walked past where they were setting up and when we ran into him, personally thanked the translator for what he added to the talk.

Walking around, we looked at exhibits centering around Egypt, again with less than impressive captions and saw the tiniest mummy figure, a miniature dildo, and some of the pages of the Book of the Dead. That was the sort of thing that if I knew more about Egyptology, I would have been highly interested in studying at length.

We meandered our way downstairs, checking out the final part of the museum that had caught our eyes — the exhibit on Korea. That one again the captions were lacking, but added context that in terms of how anthropologists looked at Korea, they have only recently started to have their own cultural relevancy with the majority of their history being under the reign of China, Japan, or other Asian forces that had invaded them over the years.

We went downstairs and caught up with Risa’s parents. While we were seeing Kansai Yamamoto’s talk, they saw the free talk downstairs talking about David’s influence in fashion. Both had sounded appealing. The last thing we bought at the exhibit was a grapefruit margarita that Risa bought for me before we headed back to her car. The majority of our things were already in the car from earlier, which made a very easy post-event depositing into the car.

On the way back, we got McDonald’s and once we were back at Risa’s house further discussed David and the museum, this time with added youtube links for songs and photos that hadn’t been exhibited when we went to go see. Another few hours and we didn’t even make it out of the 70s in terms of content.

The next day, we chose to sleep in late. I hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before the flight and was up more or less for 24 hours before I was able to get into bed. Plus after the lack of agency we had at the museum, I wasn’t exactly thrilled to take a New York tour that very much would have to be guided by her parents.

Instead, we chose to go to Risa’s favourite Asian market. Knowing my fondness for the Asian grocers near me, Risa was eager to show off the shopping plaza that she and her anime group often went to. I agreed and late in the afternoon, we left for Mitsuwa.

Once we arrived, we got lunch and I found one of the things I had been missing most from Japan — coffee jelly. The coffee jelly in Japan was cut up into cubes and placed into a nice milky base as if the cubes were acting like ice cubes in a drink. The one here was a denser selection of jelly with soft serve ice cream swirled on top.

Among the other food I purchased was three additional drinks I’d never had before with the idea that three was reasonably the limit I could get through before going home, a bag of gummy lychee candies because I’d wanted to try them for awhile, and a box of my other favourite Japanese food, raisin sands.

We looked at the makeup, cookware, booze, and other sections of the store, sometimes with me explaining what a product was or could be used for and other times with Risa pointing out that she had seen something before or that it was something she had tried at the anime mart. We found no end to things that would have to be tried later either for a lack of immediate funds or, more often, a lack of time in which to do it.

We stepped outside of the food market portion of Mitsuwa and back into the food court. Risa insisted that I try a fish shaped waffle with red bean paste called taiyaki. I was surprised at how well the flavours went together.

The next place we went was the bookstore. At the very back of the store was a separate paper and stationary store set up not unlike how Borders used to have their stationary, but with greater detail and actual variety of items and not just casings. I could have bought the entire tiny store with its brightly coloured papers, meticulously lined notepads, rainbow of ink selections in gel and ballpoint and all manner of cute. I limited myself to a floral plastic folder for papers, a small lined notebook to make my attempts at learning Japanese and Korean seem more authentic—and so that my letters didn’t dwarf the page, and a small corn shaped eraser for my mother since it reminded me of the Dekalb corn signs that she’s so fond of.

In the outer bookstore, there was less of interest. It was a beautiful store, but given that whatever I bought I would have to carry on my back back to Kansas and the high prices in a real bookstore as opposed to my usual used bookstores, there were automatically less appealing options. I did find two books on Yuri!!! On Ice, one of which I bought to make up for the lack of show merch I was able to find when I was in Japan.

Last was the general items store. Again, Risa and I spent a long time looking over times like sushi themed socks and cute luggage that might have made travelling easier had I not already had my obnoxiously unique purple hearted luggage. We stayed until the store was ready to close, apologizing that we hadn’t realized that it would be closing so soon and I picked up another button for my coat jacket — a pink Hello Kitty produced by a drink company I was familiar with. It soon found a spot next to the Bowie pin and the clay Hedwig pin that I had bought off of Etsy.

We went back to Risa’s, me eating on some of the food I had acquired at the Asian market and carefully trying to balance starting a new drink so that I could have a different new one at Rocky Horror and the last in the morning before my flight.

For evening plans, Risa’s mom had suggested either a live performance of Cabaret, which neither Risa nor I was super enthused about or a shadow cast version of Rocky Horror. We opted for the Rocky Horror experience.

In between goings on, I created a new punk/glam makeup look, applied a fake tattoo to my stomach, and changed into the blue Origin of Love shirt I had brought with me. I figured why not combine my two favourite musicals?

We drove out slightly past midnight to a dead looking strip mall movie theatre. Risa’s mom dropped us off and said to text her when the film was over knowing from past experience that the show started at eleven, but the actual film could start anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half later than that.

We bought our tickets and another pin for my jacket and Risa and I went to sit down. We picked the back row, naturally.

The show started and they had an “impromptu dance party” that lasted a few seconds, a Rocky Horror baptism where they placed rice on the new baby of two former shadow cast members, and a few quick announcements before having their virgin activity and starting the show. The shadow casters and the audience weren’t exactly the stuff of legend that I’d been hearing about for over a decade in regards to Rocky fandom. The cast didn’t know their lines and the audience seemed to be going through the motions of “this is what we do on Friday night.”

So I decided it was a sing along. And I decided that whichever songs I wanted to get up and dance to, I would. I shouted a few new things or things I’d read in my Rocky Horror books to liven up our experience with the showing. For the most part, it didn’t interfere with the other movie goers since we were seated so far back and the things people did observe were met well. We left very happy and I felt like I had mentally reclaimed a film that had been tarnished by a bad experience with an ex and the atrocity that was Fox’s attempt at a remake.

We went back to Risa’s house again for a few hours before we all had to leave for the early morning flight back to KC. Given how much trouble we had had getting me back the first time, we left extra early to make sure I actually got on the damned plane the first time around. Naturally, I was almost through security as soon as I got there.

For airport food, I chose a coffee and some Popeye’s fries and during my layover, I grabbed a bagel and lox. From the moment I got off the plane in Kansas City, I would have to be up and awake until at least one in the morning due to volunteering to take the late-late shift to avoid missing any work. It took until I got back to Kansas City since the airport one was only serving breakfast, but I finally got the Popeye’s I had wanted for three days.

#bowie museum pt. 2 #New new New New New New New New NEW New York #travel diary #travel diary new york #new york day 1 #new york trip 2 #new york trip 2 day 1