#which--since we don't know when the PODCAST was even recorded

[eroticsturn]

Tough guy - M.S

Warnings : NSFW, prasing kink, use of mommy, sub matt, and idk what else.

don't like, don't read. i'm not your parent

Matt's been putting on this tough guy persona for a while. Typically being disrespectful to his brothers and insulting them in the tiktoks, car videos, and podcasts. Chris and Nick are starting to become frustrated since they're trying to get things done without any interruptions. He even gets to the point where he starts to act rudely toward you, which left you confused because you didn't think he would really just snap at you.

"y/n please do something about it" Chris complains because he is tired of Matt's attitude. "It's so fucking annoying. He acts like we are against him." "It's really frustrating," Nick exclaims, looking distressed and irritated as he works to edit the video they recently recorded. You can't help but wonder if he simply needs to release some tension.

You head to his room and say, "Yeah, I'll go check on him and see if he needs anything." As soon as you gently tap on his door, he says, "Come in." He's playing Fortnite with his back to you as you slowly open the door.

"what do you want?" He turns to face you with an annoyed expression on his face. You approach the back of his chair and gently caress his shoulders with your hands. He feels your bare hands slide down his chest, and he tenses. He catches his breath, but attempts to play the game to take his mind off it.

You step around his chair and pull it back. To get enough room to move between him and his desk, he glances up at you. He returns his focus to his game, rolling his piercing blue eyes.

Sitting back against his desk, you saw how his fingers moved fast along the controller, or how his face scrunches when he loses, and you thought to yourself, he won't be pulling off this tough act for long. You're essentially eye fucking him at his point since all these naughty thoughts are racing through your mind.

As he notices your intense gaze, he asks, "What the fuck do you want? are you just gonna stand there and look, or will you get the fuck out?" He becomes angry that you're just staring at him and not saying anything.

You caress his chest and stare at him innocently, saying, "You know, matty, you shouldn't be so uptight and take your frustration out on me. I haven't caused you any harm." As you put your hands on his waistband, he begins to blush and his breathing becomes heavy.

You put your palm directly above his dick and watch as he tries to remain calm. His eyes are yearning as he stares up at you, and a bulge appears beneath your touch. You begin to palpate him to see his reaction.

His brows furrow as he looks at you, whining. You're still palming him, he's slowly starting to let go of his controller. "Y/n" cries, "hm?" you ask, still gently palming him. testing the limits of you toying with him. He turns to face you and begs, "Please, m-mommy." “T-touch me," he exclaims.

"Well, Matty, I'm not sure. You've continued to portray a tough guy attitude. Maybe I should just leave you all hot and bothered," you say as you take your hand off of his throbbing erection. "No! Mommy, please, please. I'll be a good boy. I promise!" He practically begs for you to touch his bulge, and he start grabbing your wrist in an attempt to get your hand back on it.

You stare into his eyes and say, "Be a good boy and take your pants off then." He gets up right away and takes off his sweats. "But keep those on" you say as he begins to remove his boxers. He gives a short, muffled "okay," then returns to his gaming chair.

You stare at his desperate form and feel the gap between your legs getting wet. As you begin to kiss his neck, you slide onto his lap. He's moaning and attempting to ease the pressure of his erection. He makes an attempt to feel something by pressing your hips down on top of him.

When you eventually press against his bulge, he lets out a satisfied grunt right away. "Y/n, please do something" He throws back his head and cries, "I need you so badly." you keep sucking and licking his neck.

You can see how desperate he is for it. Even though you enjoy watching him plead and cry, you eventually give in to his requests.

You reach down to grab his boxers and pull them down with your hands. You've been teasing him for a while now, so his dick pops out and smacks his lower belly, his tip oozing with precum and extremely red. He closes his eyes and waits for you to do something. You see his head fall back into his chair and his mouth curve into an o shape, you softly stroke your fingers upward. He tries not to roll his eyes back while he pants.

"Please go faster," he begs, and you comply by moving more quickly.

You keep going at this quick speed until you feel his cock twitch and his hips buckle. His eyes roll back and he begins to whimper more loudly. He cries, "p-please, let me cum," since he is at his breaking point. You stop your actions before he has an opportunity to cum.

He sighs and turns to face you, "Wh-Why did you stop?" He is panting excessively "What happened to the tuff guy act? Huh Matty? you ask, meeting his gaze directly.

He continues to try to hold himself back, his eyes tightly closed. In all honesty, all you wanted to do was take him right there and then, but you also wanted to tease him a little more before giving in to his demands.

"I've been a good boy, mommy." He begins to cry as a result of you edging him. He has had enough of the agony. He's incredibly eager to cum. "Go have a seat on the bed." You begin to get up and head for the bed, saying, "be a good boy and I'll let you cum." He leaps out of his chair and heads straight for the bed.

He is seated with his back resting on his bed's headboard. Just before he begins to beg you once more. You returning to your task, you stroke as quickly as you can. "Yes, yes mommy. I'm your good boy right?" Tears well up in his eyes. Wiping his tears, you reply, "Yes, my love, you're doing so good for me." "I have to cum! Let me cum, please. Please let me, mommy," he cries, his head thrown back on the board.

"Come on, baby, let it go. I'm right here." You kiss him on the cheek encouraging him to release."Oh my fuck. Shit, shit, shit," he utters as releasing his sperm. He lets go all over his lower abdomen and lies there with a fucked out expression. You slowly stroke his dick a couple of times to ensure that everything comes out. He moans feeling overstimulated.

Worn-out, he murmurs, "I didn't get to give you any pleasure." "It's alright, matty, maybe next time," you reply, kissing his forehead. "Hm, all right. Can you lay with me?" He mumbles and reaches for your waist. You give in and lie down with him, he drifts off right away.

- A

#reading #ao3 #sturniolo smut #my writing #sturniolo triplets #matt sturniolo #chris sturniolo #nick sturniolo #smut #lovers #my man <3 #jk #or am i

[notafraidofredyellowandblue]

so I've heard in the past that some members of the band have hinted at not being 100% straight and richard has given hints at wanting to know what it's like to be a woman, could you please give me some sources to those since I've looked everywhere and can't really find them? thank you, if not, it's totally understandable

Another really really old ask, not because i didn't want to, but because i wanted to findas much info as possible 🌺 sorry anon for taking so long..

Well, the most recent 'hint' was Flake's podcast with topic 'gay/lesbian' where he mentioned that the topic came up one evening when the band were chatting and it turned out they all had their experiences 🥰

Rammstein is imo a band who has always been very 'inclusive' in any sexual preferences, and especially in Till's lyrics you can tell he is very interested in anything out there (not that that makes him 'not straight' (to be honest, i think he is, by some other quotes in interviews 😊) but i wouldn't be surprised if he tried some stuff somewhere in life).

Richard did an 2010 interview in Canada (don't have a link to the original, just this transcript) where he was quoted (about 'Mann gegen Mann')

"Actually, Till showed the lyrics to our Gay community, to our friends, just to make sure, because if you talk about something that you not really are, it's always kind of hard. Sometimes you cross the line, you don't think about it, but it could be offensive. If you do something because it's your experience, it's fine, but if you write something and you're not actually a part of it, I think you should make sure that everything you want to say is right. So he gave the lyrics to some friends, and they were very approving."

Which sort of confirms that they don't see themselves as gay so much. Also in interviews where they were asked 'are you gay', they usually end up with 'no'... interestingly, i don't think i've seen an interview where an interviewer explicitely asked 'are you bisexual' 🌺 (by the way, i would be really surprised if Richard hadn't some experience with a guy when he was younger, i vaguely remember he alluded to such in a really old interview, but i don't have a link).

--

Richard indeed has expressed ideas about his feminine side several times, in the interbiew above he says for instance

"If you talk to me right now, I'm a big believer in getting myself in balance between the female and the male side. I have a female side too, obviously."

And very striking was in several interviews ca 2021 after he did the cover 'Always on my mind' with Till for the Emigrate album 'The Persistence of Memory' and then made it a duet, stating:

"I mean, obviously, Till has also this very characteristic voice. And then it was pretty fast. He recorded one day. And then I was listening to it, and I felt a little bit that his performance was a little bit too male-oriented. So I felt I need a little female touch to it. So that’s why my personality came in. And I think it’s a good combination"

So he felt a female touch was needed, and added his own voice to Till's track 🥰

And ofcourse in 2023 he shared on his ig

"I've always wondered what it's like to be a woman"

Now ofcourse this could just be a Kruspe-caption 😊 but with the 'DT' video in mind and his role in it, it makes one wonder doesn't it... where is that making of when we need it 🌺😊

---

From the others i don't have quotes at hand...sorry...but maybe someone else has and is willing to share 🌺

#rammstein lgbtq matters #rammstein and the feminine side #quotes #till lindemann #richard kruspe #rammstein #flake lorenz

[littlekingbergara]

gonna be honest, the whole ned thing doesn’t surprise me considering old buzzfeed employees have said some stuff about how ned was a manager when he worked there and tried recruiting ppl for their company and created a bad work environment (idk if that’s true) and also the whole nft thing but this-

anyway stream debrief on the watcher channel today and stan the tri guys

the nft thing is sooo like. your friends are constantly saying how harmful and stupid nfts are and you still decide you need a little video of a football game?? also he said in an instagram comment that he recorded an apology/statement on the trypod but i've watched every podcast since then and there was no apology or even mention of it lmao. plus that's his least popular platform so if he wanted people to see it (which i don't doubt he didn't since a lot of people still didn't know so i'm sure he would've wanted to keep it that way) he would've said something on the same platforms he bragged about his nft on.

i'm obviously not the first one to say that building his whole brand around loving his wife while simultaneously being a cheater and not a very good one is definitely a choice. by doing that he also kind of backed ariel into this corner of Famous White Guy's Wife (no matter how much he tried to brand himself as Ariel's Husband) and made it almost impossible for her to speak up about any problems within their marriage because that's then hurting the company. she's talked about problems with him a few times on you can sit with us that seem to just get brushed over because despite him not helping with housework and the majority of raising the kids still falling on ariel, they continue to frame their marriage as a perfect partnership because they love each other.

another thing that gets me is like... we know he's not Stupid. he was a chemist, he was a manager at buzzfeed, he did a lot of the managerial/administrative work for starting 2nd try, he's familiar with running a business and the importance of accountability and transparency so it follows that every "mistake" he's made has been deliberate.

anyways! stream ghost files: debrief! check your parasocial relationships! take care of yourself!

#i dont super know how i feel about the rest of them given the old reddit post that's going around but stream debrief #im not upset btw im massively entertained #im not really in the try guys fandom i just watch their videos #local80sghost #💌 #try guys

[omegalomania]

highlights from the podcast that came out with that new rolling stone article about joe's book today, because i see some people out there are Worried(tm) and i listened to this whole thing and it was actually very lovely cause the article took the worst pull quotes lmao

joe's lit manager was like "you should write a book" and joe was like "oh i don't think i can write a book" and then his lit manager said "yeah you probably can't." to which joe went "YES I CAN." we love a man motivated by spite big mood joe

joe was very adamant that he wasn't publishing this book to dish dirt on his bandmates because he likes them and they're his friends. he didn't set out to sell secret fucked up stories about them or anything. this is not a tell-all, he likes his friends.

he talks about how his insecurities and imposter syndrome lead him to forget and downplay his contributions to the music in general: "it took talking to patrick to remember what i had contributed to this song or that song."

joe was diagnosed with bipolar type 2 and had no idea until his psychiatrist mentioned it to him

he talks about growing up with my chem and feeling a sense of camaraderie there since they exploded into the mainstream at the same time

he talks a bit about his back surgeries and the like and says that during more recent tours he's been able to move around a lot more. he thinks that fans think it might still look boring but for him it was huge because it's more than he's been able to!

re: new music, "i don't know if it's an album, we're just working on songs. [...] we're never not working on music."

"i'm proud of the majority of what we've done, even if i objected to some of it at the time and kicked and screamed through it, i'm still proud because we've continued to look forward rather than go back and say 'let's just make cork tree again'"

"if you haven't been hate-mongered, i recommend it. it makes you feel nice on the inside." joe??

"and then we got the emo moniker and i wear it as a badge of honor at this point" thank you joe for being the only member of fall out boy to say this ldfjlkdjfdfd

when mania was first conceptualized, patrick rented a studio in burbank for a month-long session and he and joe worked on a lot of stuff there together. a lot of the ideas got scrapped unfortunately.

"you have no idea the amount of unreleased music this band has. albums' worth of unreleased music. [...] at least 60-80 ideas i'd record on my own and that's LESS than patrick does. far less."

he talks about how it'd be fun to do a box set with old unreleased stuff but also says they have no idea where a lot of that stuff went. stuff that goes back to cork tree era that is probably "sitting on a hard drive somewhere"

"there is no album right now. there is nothing being made right now. we're just doing what we're usually doing, which is writing."

someone on the fob subreddit with an advance copy of his book says, "but in his book he explicitly says that the band (Patrick/Pete I’m assuming) has been very receptive to him having more input. He mentioned also this new album being delayed because he recently had back surgery and needed to just rest for a few weeks. He called up Patrick and they immediately postponed working on more music because they value Joe’s ideas."

"i don't see an end. i think as long as we still want to do it. [...] as long as we're continuing to make music that we like and we have fun playing the shows, we'll keep doing it. [...] if there's good music to tour on and we enjoy being around each other, we'll keep doing it. [...] we're so lucky, i don't think we're doing it for the money anymore. so what's the point anymore? the point has to be for good music and good times."

#fall out boy #joe trohman #*making poasts #i heartily encourage listening to the podcast all the way through because it really is very lovely #joe's a lovely speaker and i've always said it #this article picked like. the most brutal pull quotes ldkfjldkjfldkjfd #also DESPERATELY curious about what patrick and joe did in burbank for that month session. wtf guys.

[xplrvibes]

I’m kind of annoyed I know I shouldn’t but SnC could have traveled this month in Asia , Europe or whatever destinations they’re going too , we could also had some content video but instead they decide to stay in vegas for K and M ://… unless SnC are waiting until April for Coachella which I’m not surprised but still meh….😕

Alright, let it be known for the record that I do not condone leaking xplrclub information at will.

But I think some things need to be set straight, here.

Not everything snc have been doing as far as their travel is concerned is about the girls.

Colby has had two health scares arise since January; both of which required a lot of testing and doctor's appointments. One occurred in January; the other occurred days before they left for Australia and was only just resolved within this last week.

He is ok - still cancer free and was not diagnosed with anything serious. But he had to deal with quite a bit as it pertains to his health recently - as anyone who battled cancer has to do.

He is also in the process of switching his oncologist to one in LA, and will be back there in a few weeks to meet with them and begin his quarterly scans and testing with them. So, when they pop up in LA in two weeks and everyone gets all pissed off because, "All they do is hang out with those girls," PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THIS MAN HAS OTHER SHIT GOING ON. His life isn't just fucking and ignoring the internet and his youtube career so he can act like some hedonistic fucking frat bro like some of you seem to think. There is other, way more important shit at play here.

Also, for anyone wondering - the main reason they went to LA after Australia, besides meetings with their teams and filming the podcasts they appeared on, was to meet with a real estate agent so they could buy more property. AGAIN, Colby's oncologist team is now based in LA. He will need to be back and forth for his health quite a bit. So, buying a property so they don't always have to rent air bnb's every time they need to be in town for either medical, business or personal reasons is really probably a smart move.

I need everyone to remember that they do not have a huge team behind them. They have an editing team of THREE (one of the three being Colby), they have ONE producer, and them. That's really it. They have a management team for high business matters, but even then, snc are heavily involved in that. There are not enough hours in the day for them to smash content out the way everyone seems to want them to do, unless they give up all control of their editing and business to focus solely on filming the content - and the last time they tried that route was 25x25, which is not something I'd call a rousing success.

And even if they are taking some time off to hang out with their girlfriends - are they supposed to be working 24/7? Is anyone on this planet supposed to be working 24/7? No. Everyone deserves some down time. Even filthy rich youtubers.

They cannot do it all. And expecting them to give up their personal lives to give everyone more content when they not only deserve personal lives, but also have way more important shit going on in their lives, is just unfair to them.

#asks

[kosher-martian]

Help with Chavurah

My local Jewish community is older, very very Reform (like 1920s Reform; services with little or no Hebrew), and increasingly insular. Conversion students and younger congregants are getting turned off by the decisions of our leadership team. We youngsters feel like we are unwelcome and unwanted. Decisions which impact the entire congregation are being made - some in direct violation of our bylaws - with little or no consultation by the congregation.

Our wonderful rabbi, embattled since they started the job, is out. I hope they find a congregation that can appreciate their talents. Services just aren't the same. Our Rabbi brought a spiritual richness into our lives that the older congregants just aren't interested in. We've gone back to services entirely in English, homilies with empty platitudes, and a spiritual hollowness that is driving down already record-low attendance.

One of the conversion students put it best: "It feels like they know the congregation is in bad shape and instead of trusting the younger generations to fix it, they've decided to take it with them to the grave."

I've tried and failed to get anyone in leadership to listen. I've explained time and time again that their decisions are pushing young people away. They keep saying I'll understand their decisions "when I'm older". Time is not on anyone's side. I doubt there will even be a synagogue in my town in 10 years. Despite having a local population of close to 1000 Jews, we have no one attending under 20 years old, only four people under 35 years old (myself included), and maybe two or three folks younger than 60 years old. The remainder of the congregation (and everyone in positions of leadership) is rapidly approaching their 70s and 80s.

I've talked to our conversion students and several youngsters regardless of whether they attend or don't. The feedback has been pretty consistent: There's a desire for something more "traditional", more "authentic", and "more Jewish" than what the synagogue offers. No one's asking for Orthodox services, they just want more Hebrew. They want to discuss Torah and Judaism on a deeper level. They'd like to discuss Jewish history and philosophy. In short, they actually want to learn.

I feel a responsibility for the folks who want something more. They have spiritual needs that aren't being met. Me and a few other congregants are looking to start a study group or something to fill the spiritual void. It's clear that our synagogue is not ours any longer (if it ever was to begin with). I've never done anything like this before and I'm not sure where to start. There's a bit of learned helplessness among those of us looking for change, so for now I'm planning to do a lot of the heavy lifting myself. Has anyone gone through something similar? Are there resources available out there for situations like these? I'm looking for learning materials / educational resources. A repository of good parsha discussions around which I can build lesson plans? Some sort of Idiot's Guide to Building a Jewish Community from Scratch ?? Any recommendations for books, magazines, podcasts… anything you've got! I have some books, documentaries, and YouTube channels for Jewish history. I'm more concerned about my shortcomings in philosophy and Torah interpretation.

Anything recommendations, tips, tricks, and/or advice to help get our chavurah off the ground is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

#judaism #jumblr #jewish #chavurah #havurah #torah #torah study

[black-arcana]

HALESTORM's LZZY HALE: 'We're Finishing Up Writing A New Album'

In an interview with the "Everblack" podcast conducted at the Brisbane date of this month's Knotfest Australia, HALESTORM frontwoman Lzzy Hale spoke about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's follow-up to 2022's "Back From The Dead" album. She said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We're finishing up writing a new album. And we're gonna get back in April to finish it up. We'll be there in a few weeks, and, yeah, we'll see what happens. And then we'll be back here [in Australia] before you know it with some new music."

Asked what the new HALESTORM album will be called, Lzzy said: "Oh, we don't know that yet. As is tradition in HALESTORM, we always have the best ideas right when we start, and then we totally trash it, and it's, like, very last minute, 'What are we calling the record?' Last minute, that's what we do. So, yeah, we don't know. We're gonna let it tell us what it is. It's not up to us; it's the music."

Earlier in the month, HALESTORM guitarist Joe Hottinger told Monica Strut of Knotfest Australia about the songwriting process for the band's next LP: "Our goal as a band is may the best song win. So riffs are great and all, but at the day, it comes down to the song. Is it a good song or not? And not only is it, like, good, but it's gotta be great. We have, like, stupid standards. And so really anything goes. If it's a riff and it starts there, a riff and a melody, cool. Lzzy writes constantly, so she's always got songs that we're putting together.

"We haven't been in a studio since — I mean, recording for a record — since September," he revealed. "We've been busy. We've been traveling a bit. But we've been writing since then. And while we were at the last one, we just kind of rolled in and wrote a song in the morning and recorded it that night, and it was kind of everything fresh. We started out a few riffs, but, really, the idea was more about being in that moment. I was talking with Lzzy about it while we were in there, and it was, like 'Yeah, it's kind of like we came into the studio with nothing but 20 years of being a band together.' [Laughs] So, we know how to play — we're all players, we can play, we can write. So, like, 'It's a good idea. Cool. Yeah, let's do that. All right, let's record it. Here we go.' And I don't even remember what I played. I haven't listened to those songs in a while. And I vaguely remember any of them because it gets so intense. I think we did, like, 13 of them. Day after day after day after day after day, to the point where you're just, like, 'I don't know anything anymore.'"

Joe also talked about HALESTORM's writing and recording approach with producer Dave Cobb after making three records with Nick Raskulinecz.

"We had a few ideas going in, but we told [Dave] we didn't really… We'd been touring constantly and we didn't get together and put together anything solid," Hottinger said. "And he was, like, 'Great. Even better.' And that was exciting, 'cause we've never really done that before for a record, like just sit in a room and knock out a song a day — just go, go, go. And it was really intense. And I think it's great. And that was just round one, the first volley of songs. We'll see if any of 'em even make it. But we've got just a boatload more songs now. We haven't even gotten together and riffed them all out yet or wrapped our heads around them. We just have these demos. We're, like, 'All right.' Lzzy's writing right now. We love doing that. She'll go and write with friends or other people that she respects, which I think is great, 'cause she gets to bounce ideas off of somebody else, somebody that… Every song is like a puzzle, and she gets to put it together with somebody else who's better at different parts of the puzzle than maybe one of us. And then we grab a hold of it and make it a HALESTORM song."

In a separate interview with Niclas Müller-Hansen of RockSverige, Joe stated about HALESTORM's decision to work with Cobb this time around: "We've been a fan of Dave for a long time. He does like everything from country stuff like Chris Stapleton and Jason Isbell to EUROPE and GRETA VAN FLEET, RIVAL SONS and AIRBOURNE. He's a rocker at heart and we needed to switch it up. It's our last record on Atlantic. Luckily, he wanted to work with us."

Lzzy added: "We were seeking him out for a while and the people at our label and everybody was, like, 'No. He's too busy. He's not gonna wanna work with you.' And we were, like, 'Well, just ask him. Just reach out to him. We can take the rejection because we've been doing it our entire life.' It's, like, why be all sensitive now? They went ahead, like, 'Hey, Cobb, there's this band HALESTORM…' and he went, 'Oh my God, I love HALESTORM! What are they doing?' and they told him, 'Well, they're thinking about doing a record…' and he said, 'I wanna do a record with HALESTORM.' He had a whole plan apparently."

Joe continued: "And it's not, like, 'Fuck Nick,' because he's one of our best friends. We talked to him and he went, 'Fuck, yeah. Switch it up.' We made a bunch of records. It's not like we'll never not record again."

Regarding HALESTORM's overall approach to writing and recording with Cobb, Joe said: "We dive in, but it's just like trial by fire and you see what works. 'Oh, somebody's getting a little pissed.' [Laughs] It's fun and spicy, but it's nothing bad. Everyone is good people and we all have the same goal to make some good music.

Lzzy added: "We definitely dive in, like, 'Okay, who's got a riff? Who's got a line? Let's go.'"

Joe continued: "And I love him because he doesn't make demos, so we just start recording. 'Let's put the drums down.' And we're flying by the seat of our pants."

Lzzy said: "He literally wanted us to come in without a plan, which we're not used to. Usually, with every single release, it's, like, 'So, what do you wanna do? What's the vision? What's the idea?' Usually you start out with a vision and then the music tells you what do to half way through.

Joe stated: I was, like, 'Well, let me just work out this guitar part before we get there.' And he was, like, 'Why worry about that? You'll get it.' And it was, like, 'Oh yeah, we've got a new thing now. Time to learn again.'"

This past December, Lzzy told Jorge Botas of Portugal's Metal Global that she and her HALESTORM bandmates "went in with nothing" for their session with Cobb. "We had no songs, no ideas. We had some riffs and choruses, but it wasn't like we came in with these demos. And, to be honest, Dave Cobb didn't want that at all. We walked in and we were almost apologetic, like, 'I'm sorry, but we've been really busy, and I just have bits and pieces of things I think are special.' He was, like, 'Good. I don't want any demos. No plan, no nothing.' So were, like, 'What do you mean, no plan?' And it was amazing."

She continued: "We woke up every single day, we [worked] from 11 a.m. to 11 p. m. on average, every single day. [We'd] wake up, and I'm, like, at my desk and I'm figuring out lyrics from yesterday's demo, and then, 'Okay, but you know what? Scratch that. We're gonna work on a new song right now, and we'll go back to that.' So we were working on, like, four different things at once. We finished, what, like 12 songs in three weeks. So that's the magic of it all, was that we rediscovered how we as a band individually, uniquely operate and we thrive in that chaos."

Lzzy added: "As soon as you start thinking, like, 'Okay, this is the concept, these are the songs, this is what we go in, this is what we do,' it just becomes like an office job and there's no room to create, whereas this is totally not like that. You go in and you're, like, 'Wow. Anything is possible and anything could happen.' And then, as you are writing it and finishing it, you are recording it for real."

Added Joe: "It was cool. We didn't go in with anything but the shirt on our back, except that the shirt is, like, 20 years of being a band."

Continued Lzzy: "Obviously, you go in there with experience. We could have never done that 20 years ago."

Asked by Botas if the songs that were written in that chaotic environment ended up being heavier somehow because of the way they were put together, Joe said: "Yeah, a lot of them got like really weirdly heavy in a cool way. I don't know. It's not necessarily the record. That's what we did in those few weeks. And they're not all keepers, but they're great and they're good fun, and it's a reflection of where we were musically at that time."

Added Lzzy: "Yeah, and I think that comes from, even if it got darker or more intimate, especially I guess, on my end, and lyric-wise… It's a weird balancing act between, 'Okay, I'm comfortable with all of you guys enough to spill my guts because you've seen me at my worst, you've seen me at my best,' so having that experience with people that you trust, it bleeds itself into the music 'cause you're not holding anything back. But at the same time, I didn't have time to overthink either. It's, like, 'Okay, hey, by the way, we're getting a surprise visit from you're a&R guy, and we still have six songs to sing.' And I'm, like, 'Oh my god.' So I finished six songs within a weekend. And so there's a beauty in taking the too much thinking out of it too. So therefore, the song has no choice but to just be what it is, whatever it is at the moment."

In October, HALESTORM bassist Josh Smith revealed to Metal Global that the band was working with Cobb.

"We went down to [Dave's] place and all lived together for three weeks, which is — we live together on tour all the time, yeah, but to be in a creative space, it was incredible," Josh said. "And the music that came out is undeniably HALESTORM. There's going to be a lot of fan favorites."

Describing HALESTORM's recording process with Cobb, Josh said: "What we're doing and how he wants to work, how he's capturing us is what we do on stage. For instance, we're not using a click track; there's no time keep. It's us doing it, and so there's a lot of movement to the music… It's so human."

He continued: "I think naturally when you're even talking, just from building tension to releasing it and how that happens, and sometimes from a verse maybe is building and the tempo feels like it's building, and then the chorus — well, at least on stage — naturally probably bumps up a few BPM [beats per minute] or slows down, depending. And even our transitions or Arejay's [Hale, HALESTORM drummer] fills will push or pull. It's very human."

When Botas noted that it's "always fun to work with new people and create new ideas when someone has a different view from the one you normally have," Smith said: "Yeah, for sure. I mean, that's what you hope for in working [with] a producer. It's this person you really have to vibe with that fits into this, in this case our little world. And that chemistry between a band is so unique to every group. And so for someone to fit in, that's a special trait to have. [It's] essentially [bringing in] a fifth member of the band that can extract the uniqueness of that band. It's big shoes to fill for a producer. And thankfully we've been lucky with it, with [previous HALESTORM producers] Nick and Jay [Joyce], and Howard [Benson] was great. But, yeah, starting with someone new and also someone who has had a very different approach from the previous one, it's really exciting. And he really is bringing out the best of us. So, yeah, it's really exciting to find someone who is so good at their craft… And he just wants to catch what everyone is excited about — lightning in a bottle. And we've been doing that. And we've caught a lot. I can't wait to go back. It's really fun. I can't wait to get back to writing new music."

Cobb has shared in nine Grammy wins, including four for "Best Americana Album" and three for "Best Country Album". He's also been named "Producer Of The Year" by the Country Music Awards, the Americana Music Association (twice) and the Music Row Awards, and has been a Grammy nominee in the category.

Also in October, Hale told TotalRock's "Hobo On The Radio" show about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's follow-up to 2022's "Back From The Dead" album: "We're always working on new music, but we've actually kind of started to buckle down and really kind of write with a purpose as to whatever we wanna kind of put out in the world next. It's kind of an exciting time because I feel like even since the last record, even beyond 'Back From The Dead', I feel like we're kind of shedding our skin in a way that's kind of beautiful where we all kind of feel like different people than who we were when we were writing the last record. So it's time for whatever that next chapter is. So it's very exciting."

She continued: "I've been writing in a lot of subjects that I haven't necessarily touched on before and been kind of exploring those things. And I've become even more of a serial eavesdropper. I will be sitting at a pub or something and I will kind of zone out, and it's amazing the conversations you hear other people talking about. And so sometimes those leech their way into the songs."

Lzzy and her brother Arejay (drums) formed HALESTORM in 1998 while in middle school. Hottinger joined the group in 2003, followed by Smith in 2004.

Last May, HALESTORM teamed up with country singer Ashley McBryde for a reimagined version of the band's song "Terrible Things", which was originally featured on "Back From The Dead".

In December 2022, HALESTORM released a deluxe edition of "Back From The Dead". "Back From The Dead: Deluxe Edition" includes seven previously unreleased B-sides, including "Mine", a 1980s-inspired rocker. "Back From The Dead: Deluxe Edition" is available digitally, on CD, and cassette tape, marking the first time that the album has been offered in those physical formats.

#lzzy hale #halestorm #interview #Youtube

[monstrousproductions]

hi! hope you're having a good week. i absolutely love your podcast, it's one of my all time favourites of all time :) feel free to disregard this question, but are you comfortable disclosing, however vaguely, how much money the podcast made you? if it made you money at all, i have no idea about the costs involved in running a podcast. but yeah i love our presenter so much, i already know i'm going to miss new monstrous agonies drop day once it's over!

Thank you so much, I hope you're having a lovely week as well! And thanks for your kind words about the podcast - don't tell anyone but it's one of my all-time favourite too 😉

Your question got away from me a little, so my apologies if this is way more detail than you were looking for! But I think in audio drama in particular, and in creative industries in general, we really don't talk about money enough! If any other creators want to chime in, I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences!

The cost of running a podcast like MA is very low in terms of actual cash. Aside from the first lot of equipment I bought - a mic, an audio interface, a mic stand and some cables, all coming in at about £180 total - any money I've spent has been on nice-to-haves rather than absolutely necessary outlays, like upgrading my mic set-up and building a little IKEA-hack recording booth over the summer, or paying for a domain name and email.

All this to say, my costs are a little higher than they need to be because I'm bougie 💅😌 If you're wondering what the hard, necessary costs of running a show like MA would be without those choices, it's really very low once you've got a semi-decent mic and built your recording booth blanket fort.

As for how much money it's made me, accounting for those expenses which off the top of my head I'd round up to about £1000, then MA has made me approximately £3000 since November 2020 - obviously with fewer people on the Patreon etc at the start, and more now. I'm sitting at about £250 a month from Patreon right now, which is absoutely incredible to me, and makes up a decent chunk of my actual living expenses. Thank you, everyone who pledges! 💖

However, the main thing I think people forget when they're thinking about money and podcasting is that old adage, time is money. I'm a freelancer and I work from home, so I can be very flexible about when I do MA work and when I do paid work. But the time I spend in the booth recording, or editing episodes, or even on social media (hello!) is all time that I'm not spending on actual billable hours.

Personally, that works out fine for me. I'm outrageously, stupendously lucky in terms of my financial stability, and am in a position where I can say, yeah, I'll work part-time for money and spend the other hours in the week making a podcast, knowing that the vast, vast majority of my audience isn't going to be able to/want to support me financially. (For context, MA is sitting at around 350,000 total downloads right now. If everyone gave me £1 every time they listened to an episode..... 😅)

Also, MA is a relatively time-cheap show to make. I spend about a day writing, and then the actual recording, editing and posting might take another 6hrs total? So two "lost" paid working days a week, basically.

But like... have a wee think about how bare bones MA is. Up to 50% of each episode could be written by submitters, and the rest is very formulaic and easily repeatable. It's a single voice production, with a couple of scraps of music and no sound design whatsoever, if I can help it! And the episodes themselves are only 15 minutes long, cutting all your recording and editing times right the way down.

So, let's say you're a podcaster who doesn't have the freedom and flexibility that I do with regards to your day job, and you don't have the comfy cushion of savings to cover upfront costs, and you don't live somewhere with a low a cost of living as Belfast, and you want to make a show that isn't so (intentionally!) stripped back and minimal... 😬

People like to say that podcasting has a really low barrier for entry and that's true to an extent - "all you need is a mic". But I think we do everyone a disservice if we don't look seriously and honestly about the financial costs involved - including time spent on unpaid work!

All this to say, I am so enormously grateful to everyone who is able to support MA financially, whether that's with the occasional fiver on ko-fi or a regular pledge on Patreon. It really does all add up, and it makes a real, genuine difference to my daily life. £250 a month is more than I hoped to make, and I'm really thankful for everyone who has contributed.

And if you do have an extra couple of quid burning a hole in your pocket, do consider supporting the creators you love 💖🥰

#monstrous askbox #necessary disclaimer that i KNOW not everyone can support creators in this way! #supporting them by sharing your love of their art is really really important and helps a lot #monstrous agonies #podcasting #audio drama #toss a coin to your podcaster etc etc

[seeksstaronmewni]

What happened to Korean animation???

I can not stress this enough, but what is it with the Korean animation on most Burbank-made cartoons produced after 2015 looking so… slow and stiff???

There're LOTS more on 2s animation timing... and less inbetweening, while characters, props and effects are not as loosely drawn as they used to be before 2016.

Look at this example below of what a modern cartoon looks like when animated in Korea:

Bernard Williams ain't selling the acting well now; is he?

That episode of Craig of the Creek, "Creature Feature", was made in 2020; it was animated by Rough Draft Korea Co., Ltd. — an animation studio founded by Gregg Vanzo as a cheaper means for quality animation on none other than The Ren & Stimpy Show (Don't believe me? Thad Komorowski will tell you).

He's moving too slow. This shot is all on 2s. His arms move stiffly, and his head bobs up and down just a little bit. It doesn't sell the specific emotions he's expressing as richly as they could... compared to something like classic Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon shows of the past. The overseas animators should listen to the audio track, the recorded dialogue. That's what they did on on Ren & Stimpy!

Now let's go back 10 years before Rough Draft animated that episode of Craig of the Creek... to the Sym-Bionic Titan episode "The Phantom Ninja":

LOOK HOW LOOSE AND SMOOTH THIS LITTLE BIT OF ANIMATION IS!

This level of Korean animation quality was normal for TV cartoons back in the 2010s.

This one shot has a healthy balance of on 2s animation and on 1s animation.

It's just Ilana Lunis and Octus doing a bit of a... I don't know... a shrug... giving Lance a certain look. Not even talking in this shot, nor is it an action sequence, and this little bit of acting looks far better than Craig of the Creek ever animated in general.

Rough Draft also animates on Spongebob and they're struggling but usually excelling on the animation quality overseas.

This applies to cartoons made and aired before 2016 where post-2105 episode/content are the same quality as most post-2015 cartoons shows these days that're animated in Korea; examples are Uncle Grandpa, Samurai Jack Season 5, The Venture Bros. Season 6 onward, We Bare Bears Season 2 onward, and even later Disney TVA shows as Amphibia Season 3 and Hailey's On It!, though mostly it involves Warner Bros. Discovery-owned properties (Turner ones namely).

May be that Korean animators just need a break. The Phillippines can deliver better animation (a bit roughly but still better than Korea for the most part)! Perhaps the Korean overseas facilities need more money... more direction... more communication (as if we could actually afford that with today's gas prices?)

Why not animate domestically here in America? In Burbank? What about rigging (puppetry in 2 dimensions)?

The future of quality TV/non-theatrical 2D animation may be in the hands of Canada's and Ireland's finest riggers. Mercury Filmworks, Boulder Media, Lighthouse Studios, Snipple Animation, and Jam Filled Entertainment can deliver better animation through rigging than Korea can do for most hand-drawn shows!

That is unless it's the Spongebob Squarepants franchise of course... that and Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? and... pretty much anything animated by Yearim or Yeson (most of which are adult cartoon sitcoms with rather restricted animation so as not to distract from their comedic wordplay, since those shows are more script-driven anyway).

I asked some people about the current condition of Korean animation to see what they think about that. Maxwell Atoms had a good bit to say...

The What's in My Head? podcast interview with Randy Myers largely benefited from a question I suggested about the animation quality differences classic Powerpuff Girls and 2016-2019 PPG episodes.

Ariel Vracin-Harrell tweeted that overseas animators often follow the storyboards "religiously", and tiny little micro-poses in storyboards can result in the animation looking "laggy and odd". (Perhaps those Korean animators view the storyboard animatics as key animation?)

Lauren Faust says that you shouldn't animate you storyboards.

I'll expand more on this post later.

Tweet thread version here.

#korean animation #traditional animation #2d animation #hand-drawn animation #rough draft korea #rough draft studios #digital emation #emation #saerom animation #korea #animation #cartoon #cartoons

[liskantope]

Since I have a continuing history of keeping up with IDW-ish podcasters on YouTube (Glenn Loury, Coleman Hughes, etc.) who occasionally do episodes on trans issues as well as a spotty history of clicking on videos with clips of Jordan Peterson, the algorithm recommends a lot of videos on "transgenderism" and "the trans debate" and so on to me. A noticeable and (to my thinking) really concerning aspect of the whole set of issues is how reliably anyone who expresses interest in debating or even critically discussing trans issues is, um, on one general side of them, and how little debating or critical discussion there seems to be available. I avoid clicking on videos with titles involving "transgenderism" or "transgender ideology" or "the trans debate" and other tribal buzzwords for a bunch of reasons, but I decided to make an exception the other day when I saw a video entitled "DEBATE: does transgender ideology threaten liberal values?" (a terribly-phrased question, like most debate questions are) because it appeared to be... an actual debate! With people on both sides showing up! (Though apparently not among the audience, which by the sound of it was entirely on the anti-trans side.)

So of course, as I should have fully expected, this debate only supported my conviction that the rhetoric of nearly everyone on all sides of this is just terrible. The only nuanced and halfway decent debater here was Peter Tatchell (on the trans rights side), and some of even his arguments were used to catch him in a bind later on (more on that later). The debate as a whole was generally a bit of a -- I can only use the term shitshow here -- with debaters (mainly Freda) interrupting each other, the (seemingly entirely anti-trans) audience heckling the trans-rights debaters, and the somewhat awkward and ineffectual moderator mostly failing to keep everyone in order. Well, what better could I have expected?

Marc Glendening (on the anti-trans-rights side) had less to say than everyone else and was basically just a robot trying to churn out dry legal summaries of the situation and spouting claims about free speech rights being taken away that I find extremely dubious as phrased by him (I don't know too much about what's going on in the UK, but if we took Marc's depictions of the situation at face value, they do not jibe with his teammate Helen's completely lack of inhibition in misgendering Freda in a video-recorded debate!).

Helen Joyce was the only person involved that I was familiar with from before, since many months ago I watched an episode of Coleman Hughes' podcast where he interviewed her, thought she had some reasonable points and liked her overall rational manner of arguing, but lost any sense of her credibility because of her completely unbending and extreme absolutism. YouTube had been recommending me videos with her ever since (I really hate how stubborn the algorithm is), and I had refused up until now to click on anything involving her again. In this debate I saw the same extremist tendencies and genuine TERFiness (up until fairly recently my exposure to TERF ideology was mostly indirect as something people on Tumblr criticized and I was beginning to wonder how much of it was actually out there in force and what it really looks like -- it seems to have plenty of force in the UK and Joyce is probably one of the gentler examples I suppose!) and also saw a rational and dignified approach which I admire but unfortunately didn't lead to actually good arguments. There is plenty of room for rebuttal to Helen's arguments from my perspective, and of course almost none of that material was ever rebutted by the other side, which again doesn't surprise me given how little (in my experience of watching/reading criticisms of, say, JKR's arguments) people on the trans rights side seem to actually directly address certain types of opposing arguments. I can't decide which bothers me more: Helen's repeated comments about how the rest of the debaters went through male puberty and therefore their male voices enabled them to talk over her (easily refuted, mainly in the case of the trans women sitting on the other side, and meanwhile neither of the men ever interrupted or talked over her, but nobody addressed this, and it places Helen across my personal "too borderline-misandristic for me to feel comfortable hanging around her" line), or her claim that those men who do insist on trespassing women-only spaces have proved that they are among the dangerous ones because they don't care about women's boundaries (a very dangerous mentality, and displaying exquisite lack of theory of mind, and again nobody tried to rebut it).

Freda Wallace is... a complete mess, and I think an embarrassment to her cause. She spoke a lot (while delusionally muttering that Helen wouldn't stop talking), and very little of what she had to say comprised actual argumentation but was more of a semi-incoherent jumble of points that often ended in punchlines that seemed to be deliberately phrased into ridiculous and bizarre statements perhaps crafted to be provocative and eliciting scorn from the audience. She frequently interrupted all three of the debaters generally with childish and semi-irrelevant ad hominems, even eventually visibly pissing off her own teammate Peter. Freda appears to be exactly the caricature of aggressive, loud, attention-seeking, obnoxious, shameless, hedonistic, fetishistic trans woman that J. K. Rowling types seem to imagine among trans activists. ("So, when I fuck men, with my female penis, in fetish clubs, it is my choice. It doesn't matter what you think. And those men support Sex Matters, because in public they will, but in private, they'll fuck me [ending in a smug grin]" is... I guess technically a way that someone can talk during a recorded public debate, but maybe shouldn't be recommended? I didn't notice until I read the comments later how a minute or two after that, her teammate Peter repeated tries to get her to stop interrupting, then gently grabs her arm as she lifts her glass of wine again saying, "No more drink.") If the trans-rights organization involved wanted to strengthen transphobia and transmisogyny in particular, they probably could not have chosen a better trans woman to put on their team. There's something to discuss here (although if I tried to develop where I speculatively want to go with this, I might quickly get myself into hot water) about how difficult it seems to be to get a member of the trans community to participate in an event like this, and how it requires the very thickest-skinned type of personality which unfortunately in this case also coincides with the most loud and shameless. (This is a very under-developed and perhaps sloppily-phrased point that I probably shouldn't be leaving in this post!)

As I said earlier, Peter Tatchell, along with many of his arguments, I actually liked; he seems like a pretty cool guy all around. He did get backed into a corner at one point through an audience member's question: he had repeatedly made the argument that excluding male-bodied people from women's shelters because men are more likely to be violent was choosing to treat an entire group based on a generalization and that he was against this on principle (compare to refusing to allow immigration from certain groups because some tiny minority of them is more likely to be dangerous, etc.), and he was asked whether he wasn't generalizing in the exact same way by being in favor of excluding cis men ("all men, as you identify who's a man") from women's spaces. At first Peter seems to misunderstand that the questioner is talking about cis men and be trying to duck the question, but eventually he is backed into acknowledging the question and taking the stance that "people who present as men" should be excluded from women's bathrooms but trans women shouldn't -- a position that sounds quite blatantly transphobic in more than one way by the lights of much of trans activism! Also, Peter's stern coldness in stopping Freda from interrupting him with disagreement during his point about transness showing in people's brains says all we really need to know about his opinion of his own teammate, and I do kind of feel bad for him for having been paired with her, which I imagine was not his choice.

I looked briefly through the comments section to see if there was any discussion of why the video (annoyingly) cuts off abruptly before the end of the event (which wound up mentioned only once that I could see). Never have I seen a sea of comments so 100% skewed in favor of one side of an issue and in one direction: how amazing Helen Joyce is (and with a heap of derogatory and sometimes extremely transmisogynistic comments about Freda Wallace -- they go further than Joyce did by naming her Fred, a few do call her Freda and use feminine pronouns, but in at least one instance someone's use of "her" was "corrected" in a one-word response by another commenter!). It makes me wonder what happens to create a section of hundreds of comments that are literally 100% on one side -- is there a sort of tipping point when one side becomes a strong enough majority that everyone on the other side is just afraid to comment, or gets downvoted to invisibility by the rating system? Either way, this debate strikes me as weak enough on the pro-trans side that trans right activists probably wouldn't want to advertise it on YouTube.

Anyway, very very discouraging for anyone who would like our public discourse on this set of issues to stop being more of a complete mess than the public discourse on pretty much every other contentious social issue has been.

#trans issues #terfs #helen joyce #freda wallace #immigration #trans women are women and freda is a woman #but sorry the validity of “female penis” is going too far for me #and is deliberately provocative like most of freda's language

[wrestlingisfake]

Dax Harwood's podcast seems to have set off more discourse about the CM Punk/AEW situation, so what the hell, I'll weigh in.

I would like to find an angle on this where Punk is at least partially in the right, and someday everybody can work together again. But it's been almost four months since the fight and I have yet to see a coherent pro-Punk narrative. The closest I've seen is the insinuation that "the dirtsheets" are in the tank for the Elite, which is like saying "fake news" and thinking that settles anything. Everything we know about the September 4 fight comes from "the dirtsheets" or people who take them at face value. To dismiss all of that amounts to denying that the fight actually occurred in the first place.

By all accounts, the Elite brought AEW's chief legal officer, Megha Parekh, with them to Punk's locker room. I don't think they'd do that if they were planning to kick in the door or get in a fight. By all accounts MJF was also present when the fight started. So both Parekh and MJF would have been questioned in the independent investigation. I realize it's tempting to imagine some nebulous group of "Punk's enemies" or "Elite sycophants" engaging in a cover-up or smear campaign. But that falls apart once you specifically consider that both Parekh and MJF would have to lie--on the record--to make it work. I don't think either of them is stupid enough to do that over something so petty.

So the simplest explanation is that the fight really happened, that Punk struck first, and a good chunk of the locker room is wary of working with him. After that, it no longer matters if Punk was right about Colt Cabana or Hangman Page, or anything he said in the scrum. It doesn't even matter that I like Punk and wish he could come back like nothing happened. All that matters is whether Punk can repair his relationship with the wrestlers. That's on him, whether it's fair or not.

It's becoming more and more fashionable for pundits and insiders to express hope that Punk and the Elite can put their differences aside to make a lot of money together. I wouldn't be opposed to it. But it took 12 years to get from the Montreal Screwjob to Bret vs. Vince at Wrestlemania, and it wasn't worth the wait. Just because you can fantasy book it in your head doesn't mean anyone can get it off the ground.

#aew #cm punk

[a3day]

A3DAY Extended Commentary: KAI "Rover" (2023)

DISCLAIMER - An Album a Day is my exploration into the Korean music scene. This blog, just like my podcast, will cover mainstream, indie and some underground artists within the scene and provide both factual and opinionated commentary. The biggest benefit to sharing my thoughts this way is that it will hopefully expose you to more great music and exploration of your own.

When assuming membership in one of South Korea's most well-recognized idol groups, I'm willing to believe that creating solo work is not only a deeply desired opportunity, but a rites of passage. Clearly, it's allowed Kim Jong-in a.k.a. Kai to break away from the mold (or "colors," as K-pop often refers to the energy, styling, and expectations) of SM Entertainment's EXO with two mini-albums.

With this third outing, "Rover," sounds unexpected. There's some familiar deliveries, but you damn near can't put your finger on which EXO album clued you in that he could do what he's going to do on this project. You can't even fully place it on the same shelf as "Peaches," his second mini-album birthed 16 months before this one. If his debut mini-album was sexy-sexy-dance-dance-smooth, then the second was tongue-in-cheek-sweet-sweet-vibes... and this one is grown-grown-borderline-AOMG/H1GHR Music.

You can't just jump around like that, Kaihonetta... don't do me us like this... it's dangerous. (And yes, that is pronounced Kai-ho-netta.)

SM used far better words than I have to express the variety of this album, stating,

KAI has presented different concepts for each solo album released so far, such as 'Mmmh' with a restrained sexiness and 'Peaches' with a sweet vibe, proving that he is a 'world-class performer' who will never let you down. Expectations are rising for the unique music and performance that he will show through this album.

Let's get into the breakdown of what we're hearing, feeling *clears throat* and sensing on "Rover," track by track.

Rover - Bulgarian pop done Kai's way

You've read that right: this song is a reinterpretation of Bulgarian pop star Dara's song, released on Virginia Records. SM embraces covers and the fact that Kai's production team stayed true to the original music and arrangement is a win.

At bare minimum, the chorus is catchy enough to get a little body movement from its listeners. In my case, I keep mixing parts of it in my head with another track on the album, which we'll get to soon enough.

EDIT: Since writing this on album release day, I've come across several conversations on Twitter about this song and how Kai "copied it." We know there are instances of blatant plagiarism in South Korean pop entertainment but this is not the case here. Permission was sought, granted and publicly acknowledged.

It takes so little to search the Internet for reputable reporting and notations about major and indie label work. This was a perfect opportunity to use those keyboarding skills to find the truth.

While I understand that not everyone is engrossed in music to the point of wanting to know who's who and what's doing what, these arguments against Kai's reinterpretation are ignorant. Checks and cheques have cleared.

Listen to my reaction to this song below

Black Mirror - "Boomerang~~ boomerang~~" A song produced with the sounds of its time for mid-trap music, the track wins because it's not overwhelming the auditory experience. Kai plays with pitch and tone throughout the entire track as he speaks about watching someone with provocative angles and enticing interactions. It's easy enough to ignore the music in favor of his delivery. He sounds comfortable yet arrogant and it works. It works very well, indeed.

Slidin' - This man is talking about adult extra-curricular activities

The mood is set as soon as the song comes on. It's a mellow tempo that encourages the body to loosen up and one's head to bob to the beat. Thus, I thought the title was about sliding into one's DMs. It seemed right and my ass was wrong. Kai said, "Slidin'/Strip it down, take it off/Slidin'/You can leave it all to me/Come wrap me up, closely."

It's easy to get lost in the melodic experience but if you take the time to familiarize yourself with the lyrics in the language of your choosing, then you'll find this song to be a solid statement of adulthood without giving too much away.

Bomba - Reggaeton and redundancy

I must preface this by saying that I'm a member of a reggaeton household. I can't escape it when I hop in the car nor can I run from it when my partner is lounging around the house. It takes very little effort to identify its typical instruments; and it's not that I don't enjoy it, but that I am burned out on it.

Now that my truth has been revealed, this song would not work any other way. "Bomba" is on trend, gives a few words in Spanish to make it feel authentic, and has ear worm capacity that syncs with "Rover" (unintentionally?) well.

Say You Love Me - The hip-hop soul track that fits multiple vocals

Let's look at this first from the artistic styling before my fangirl antics surface. The team behind this track must hide behind the mild description given by SM for the song to avoid pearl-clutching behaviors. The label gives us this:

''Say You Love Me'' is a hip-hop R&B song, which directly expresses the wish to have love confirmed in precise words.

Call it a nice way of saying what one with certain life experiences could pick up on: this song isn't playing around with words but seeking physical confirmation. This isn't uniquely Kai's, per se, not in the way we think of "Confession," for example. This track could have found a home with the deliveries of GOT7's Yugyeom and/or Jay B, Bluewoods, or even Dean if he felt like coming back. Any male artist willing to ride the lyrical cadence could have done it, but it's nice to have Kai challenge himself in this way.

Where's the fangirl antics, you say? I scream, you scream, we're all screaming, "Kai, PLEASE." PLEASE! What the hell do you mean, asking me to wake up and feel the mood and "just feel when I move"?!? HUH?!?! BLANKET THREATS, SIR. You're throwing around blanketed threats!

Sinner - A powerful close to a literal phase in an entertainer's life

We've heard Kai use music before to (allegedly) process feelings of heartbreak and loss as a member of EXO but this felt like it was seeking retribution and forgiveness with his fans. After all, we know that sooner than later, his time to serve his country through military service is coming. Could his pleas for punishment with an immediate re-embrace be thoughts about the inevitable next thing? Regardless if this interpretation is true or not, the song rests on a simplified beat and contemplative piano. The baseline and kick drum could deliver more, as it feels a bit apprehensive soulfully, but it doesn't diminish the message.

MY OFFICIAL RANKING

K-pop fans, on a scale of 1 to 5 where 5′s essential listening and 1′s not worth mentioning, the A3Day ranking for Kai's third album is 4. He's provided three albums that have captured the colors of three periods in his life and this one feels like a man on the cusp of new experiences away from the limelight. I enjoyed it and look forward to what's next to come.

#a3day blog #a3day extended commentary #exo kai #kai rover #music commentary #kpop imagines #kpop moodboard

[d-lissa]

Liveblogging TMA - Season 3 - MAG 118-120

"Just because you don’t understand doesn’t mean it’s a lie."

SEASON THREE FINALE

In three parts this time !

Have I mentionned just how much I hate this podcast ? Because I do. Just. Fuck this story. Can't stop pulling at my heartstrings.

At least, this time around I saw most of that coming, so it didn't panick me as much as the last two finales but WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN JONATHAN DREAMS OF THE STATEMENTS HE RECEIVED EXCUSE ME-

I just. We just can't let this man not be traumatized for five minutes, can we ? No wonder the man can't fucking sleep if he always dream of the people he received the statements of dying miserably every night. Is that what the people who gave the statements dream of too ? Or, since everyone mentions feeling better, did he, like, eat the fears they talked about ?

You know what ? I don't know how much The Institute pays its workers, but the man ain't paid enough for this bullshit.

Here's to hoping Peter will propose that therapy thing to him as well whenever he wakes up, if he isn't in on probably sacrificing Jon to the Eye for the Watcher's Crown, that is.

At this point, you know the deal.

THE MASQUERADE :

"Sorry, Elias. I can’t hear you. There’s – a door in the way."

Pfft. I have to say, I was confused for a bit, but I found that beginning extremely funny.

And so we start with Martin burning statements. Probably to make sure that Elias is occupied and can't go magically snooping around. Of course, we know it ends badly for Martin, but man was that moment cathartic. Martin should act up more often, actually.

Meanwhile, at the wax museum, Jon is a worried mess and the canddle work is sloppy. Man, the Stranger could've tried harder at least.

"When you were, um, kidnapped, did you leave a tape recorder here?"

And of course, a tape recorder appeared out of fucking nowhere. I am not even surprised at this point. Might as well, you know ? Thank you The Web, for giving us listeners an opportunity to see this mess happen in real time.

"Oh, so that’s it, isn’t it. Martin’s just acting out. I mean, Daisy’s a “rabid dog,” and Melanie’s a potential killer, Tim’s a – a rogue element, but Martin, oh Martin’s just acting out. He’ll have a cry, and a lie down, and feel much better."

Oof.

I mean, to be fair, his actions does look like more of a temper tantrum than anything else. Like, I know it's a plot and all, but also, compared to our previous resident arsonist, I can't say that Martin is being very intimidating here.

Which is fair, it's not the point, but it's not like he's lying here either, is he ? He wants to be taken seriously. I kind of feel bad for him.

And of course, the entire mom backstory only worsened that feeling. I will not quote it, because I am hurt enough as is, but Jesus fucking Christ, it explains so much about Martin's behaviour and how he interacts with others.

Sorry Martin, I know you love your mother very much, but man what a bitch.

Back at the unknowing, the wax work isn't actually wax work, and Jon is ... Strangely appreciative of the setting ?

"Yes. I suppose it is."

Like, what do you mean, you suppose it is "holy", Jon ? I mean, I guess seeing something so uncomprehensible for the first time would be quite an experience, and to be fair, I myself am quite curious about, but "holy" ?

Terrific, horrific, nauseating. Jon, I feel like you're being too admirative here. It is profane, and something that should scare you. Though, I suppose it does ?

It scares him and he finds it beautiful anyway, or maybe even because of how terrible it is ? Jon, you're still trying to sell the fact that you have some common sense left, don't go full tortured artist on the things that are actively out to get you.

My God, his head must be such a traumatized mess.

Guess he really makes a good Archivist. Always seeking knowledge and reveling in it, despite ... Everything surrounding it. God knows that outside the context, I too would be mesmerized by it all. It sounds like a fucking trip.

"And I guess you don’t need skin to sing. To join the choir."

God, this is messed up, I love it so much. The imagery in this podcast is out of this world.

Speaking of messed up, more Elias scheming his way into being number one hated character of all time and being quite succesful at it.

But before that, a well earned rant from Martin. God, nobody can catch a fucking break in this story.

"Well, I hope you’ve got something better than that pathetic dig at my feelings for Jon."

I really love how the story is so overt about this, about how Martin very much has feelings for Jon and that they very much are romantic. I wonder how they've come to pass.

Still, I'd hardly say that the way Jon treats Martin is that bad. It's not perfect, obviously, and Jon is kind of a bitch, especially in the first season, but he was also overworked taking over a job he had no qualifications in with a member of his staff that had even less qualifications.

And he was hardly needlessly cruel, just cutting with his words, but still willing to help out how he could when Martin needed help.

I just don't think me and the people in this story have the same definition of "treating someone very badly", not going to lie.

But gosh, the sobs did hurt me.

"Tim, contrary to what you think, I did not bring you here to indulge your death wish."

Except that Tim very much came to do just that. The man wanted to go out swinging, with a bang.

At least he got his wish.

But Jon must feel so hurt seeing someone he cares about so ready to give away his life like that.

STRANGER AND STRANGER :

Man, this entire episode is a fucking trip.

In the most litteral of senses.

"Of course you don’t. You can’t. Not anymore."

Jon is confused and lost and doesn't remember anything ever. The way this is all told through an audio format is so amazing, I am genuinely impressed. I feel like if this had an actual visual support, it'd be less impactful than having to use my imagination to feel how things must be like there.

Love how Nikola is passing herself as Tim and how Jon feels better thinking that he's with his friend, even if he is so confused by everything. Nikola doesn't have mind reading abilities, does she ?

Did Jon talk to her about him when he was being kidnapped ? Talked about the people close to him in some delirious moments of fear or pain ? About Sasha and how he can't remember her because of Nikola's ilk ?

"No, you’re not. Because nothing is anything. Leave."

I also love how everyone has a different way of dealing with the situation. Jon is trying to understand, and to do what he is supposed to do, even if he can't remember what it was, because that's just who he is. He always needs to understand. And he is trying to trust his friends, to trust Tim, because he said he would trust the people around him.

Meanwhile, Daisy is focusing on herself, not believing anything and not trying to understand, just pushing everything away until there is nothing but rage and violence. She can't think, she can't differenciate things, but she doesn't need to, she just needs to listen to herself and the blood guiding her. And she loses herself to it.

"I said get away!"

Tim is just as distrustful as Daisy, just as angry, but he doesn't have the blood, he is just bitter and angry and he cannot trust. He is scared and confused, and so he isolates himself because others only always hurt.

And finally, Basira is just as confused. Like Jon, she wants to understand things, but she is trying to rationalize everything because she is less emotional and attached than he is. She can think but can't understand, but she doesn't need to understand because there's no stakes for her here. She came to help, but can't remember that, so the best way is to listen to herself and not listen to anything else, because she is right and the world is wrong. All she needs to do is get away.

Of course, Jon never would've done that, because he needs to stay and understand and help.

"Don’t be obtuse, Jon. I’m here because you failed."

Oof. Man, Nikola is good at making people doubt themselves.

Anyway, after the "I'm your friend" angle stopped working, Nikola starts gaslighting Jon through Gertrude and Leitner, two people he respects very little but who's disappointment would sting like hell.

And Nikola just knows where to hit, it's impressive.

And Jon listens, Jon feels like everything she is saying is the truth, and he is so sorry about it, oh my fucking god. He just wants to make everything better, but he doesn't know how, and he isn't allowed to think for himself, forced to be overwhelmed by the situation, not understanding anything until he is reminded of what he is.

"I see you."

The Archivist.

"Shame you don’t know your own coffin. But you will."

Daisy, half feral, killed Hope, and for that she is stuck into the coffin. Wherever that leads her, I don't think she's dead, but she will suffer. For a long, long time.

And meanwhile, Basira managed to logic her way out of the Unknowing. Impressive, even if it makes me wonder what she was supposed to achieve here. Did Daisy become like that because Basira wasn't here for her ? Basira is her partner, the one grounding her, so it makes sense that if Daisy loses her, then she loses herself.

It is good that Basira managed to get away, but she didn't do anything to help the situation, did she ? I can't imagine she will feel good about herself once she realize that she's left everyone behind.

"I see the sad clown, bitter and hateful. I see him finding his way into the circus where nobody knew him. I see him torn apart, becoming the mask, remade by a cruel ringmaster. Sometimes a doll, sometimes a mannequin, always hiding in somebody else’s skin. Somebody else’s name."

That little speech was kind of cathartic, even if what it means for Jon is kind of gruesome. But I also am so tired of monsters condescending the hell out of him.

"Jon. I don’t know if you can hear me, but if you can… then I don’t forgive you. But thank you for this."

... I mean, really, Jon didn't do anything warranting the need for Tim's forgiveness, outside of maybe the stalking. But I don't think that's what was on Tim's mind when he said this. Sounds more like even in the end, he blames Jon for everything that happened, as if Jon himself wasn't just as much a victim.

But.

I get it.

No matter how much it hurts me to think about.

"I know."

And so, on a joke that doesn't stick its landing, the bitter existence of Timothy Stoker comes to an end in a blaze of glory, taking with him the Circus, avenging his brother.

Oh, and also Jon, who definitely got killed by the blast for this one.

... Except that it is, unfortunately for Jon, not the case.

EYE CONTACT :

Honnestly, I considered just writing "What the fuck" repeatedly for this entire episode because what the actual HELL-

But, I figure this'd be taking the easy way out.

"Statement of Elias Bouchard, regarding the dreams of Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, currently unresponsive. Details pulled directly from subject."

Ok, but seriously, WHAT is Elias ? How does he have the powers to take the statements from others ? Like, he is worshipping The Eye as well, obviously, but I thought this power over statements and such would be the Archivist's, you know ? It just sounds like those powers would be more useful to them rather than Elias who isn't an Archivist.

But he still has all the powers of one ! And more, even. Will Jon get on his level one day then ? But how did Elias manage to get all these powers when Jon got them all through BEING The Archivist ?

Urgh.

"The Archivist does not know where he is, and in many ways that is correct, for to say that he was anywhere would be an error. He has no conception of his body, lying on that gray hospital bed, perplexing the doctors. Heart unbeating, lungs unmoving, but mind and nerves alive and firing wildly: everything but brain-dead."

God, this is fucked up. This is so fucked up, what the heeeeell.

I will not quote the dream sequence, because just thinking about it makes me ill and sorry for Jon, he's just. Stuck there. Repeating over and over again the doom of everyone that has ever confided in him. And they see him too, and they judge him, and they think him responsible, which he IS because they wouldn't even have those dreams for every remaining nights of their life and I am SAD about it, ok ?

What happens when the victims are awake ? Does Jon just not dream ? Please tell me he isn't constantly being mentally tortured with the death and suffering of other people without being able to move a finger and forced to relish in their fear and constatntly watched. I thought giving statements was supposed to feel GOOD. Why are they like this ?

Fuck.

Anyway, the people he sees in his dreams. In order, we have :

Lionel Elliot, statement giver of "Anatomy Class"

Tessa Winters, statement giver of "Binary"

This would be the place of Daisy's statement from "Hard Shoulder", were she not stuck in the coffin. (Also, the fact that he hopes to see her, it hurts me, he just wants to be reassured that the psycho murder cop is ok, I can't.)

Karolina Gorka, statement giver of "Underground". I guess sje isn't dead as I first assumed, as there are no dreams from the statements of now dead people. Honnestly, I wonder what Jon thought when Sasha's statement disappeared. Did it not and just changed to show Not-Sasha instead ? And I wonder what happened to Helen's when she was trapped in the Soiral corridors but before becoming The Distortion.

After, it should be either Helen Richardon's statement from "The New Door", or Michael Shelley's/The Distortion's statement from "Another Twist". Jon is affraid to know what is behind the door, and I have to say, so am I. It is fitting that The Distortion is the thing we understand the least here, considering what it is, the confusion it creates. I wonder if it has anything to do with how The Distorion itself works. What would happen if the door were to be opened ?

Jordan Kennedy, statement giver of "Pest Control".

At first, I thought it was Jude Perry, as this was the only person we've heard of setting herself on fire, statement giver of "Twice As Bright". I had wondered what the avatars thinks of Jon giving them those nightmares and watching them. However, after actually paying attention, I found my answer and avatars can apparently avoid having those dreams ? Which is nice ? Does this mean that even if Mike Crew were alive, he'd be able to hide his dream ? But then, who's statement is it ? Obviously, the figure burning and filled with holes is Jane Prentiss, but from what statement is she from ? Not her own, obviously. I don't think she gave a statement while her worms were eating Jon and Tim, and written statements don't COUNT. So is it from Jordan's statement, despite him barely mentionning her compared to the landlord guy that was probably of The Lightless Flame ? I am just confused on this one. Also, where the fuck is Martin's statement ? He's not dead, obviously, and the only others that can avoifd the dreams are avatars apparently, right ?

Trevor Herbert and Julia Montauk, statement givers of "Nightfall". Since those dreams are here, then I guess they weren't avatars of the hunt, and simply influenced/markes by it, like Daisy is, which is not enough to avoid the Eye. Do the written statements really not count ? I'd assume not, otherwise Jon would've even worse things to see and watch, but then the line "He recognizes that look from the other hunter, whose dreams he has watched for so long." kind of implies the opposite. Also, why are THEIR nightmare not their cruel and painful death, but rather them hunting for Jon himself ? Is that their "bad end", rather than death ? Does Becoming count as worse than the end ?

Naomi Herne, statement giver of "Alone". Which, considering that this is "the oldest of the dreams", then that means that written statements definitely don't count ! Then I guess earlier was just an allusion to Daisy, he recognize their look from her, who's nightmare he did use to suffer.

Georgina Barker, statement giver of "Dead Woman Walking". Guess her lack of fear keeps her from actually feeling affected by the dream, even if she still has it ?

Ok, I am guessing that the statements from "Human Remains" didn't count, though it would've been pretty funny if Jon just found Elias in his nightmares. It would've been fitting.

Jurgen Leitner is dead, and so can't haunt Jon's dreams, and same thing for Gerry Keay and Mike Crew.

As for Melanie, Martin and Basira's, I just remembered that anyone affiliated to the Institute is free from those dreams ! Stupid memory, I legit totally forgot about that one, despite Basira and Daisy mentionning it before. Which explains why the ones from "Human Remains" can't count, because all the subjects were of the Institue, except for Not-Sasha.

I wonder how many of those does Elias have.

"The Ceaseless Watcher of all that is, and all that was; the voracious, infinite hunger the tears at his soul, invoking him to discover, to observe, to experience all, and everything, and forever."

At this point, you could've just titled the episode "The Ominous Episode" and it would've done the job, honnestly. Jesus fucking Christ. Why FOREVER anyway ? Surely it can get new puppets ! Leave Jon aloooooone, damn it !

(I mean, I am actually kind of freaking out about the relationship between an avatar and their Fear, and the "love" they have for one another, but that morbidity is also battling against my hard earned instincts of wanting Jon to be ALRIGHT AND HAPPY, DAMN IT !)

Anyway, heartbraking statement over, I am getting a little treat in hearing Elias get beat up for a bit, which is nice.

You will not be missed, you beautiful bastard.

I know that he's going to come back later, because he literally has dirt on every one of the people who will guard him, and that he'll probably have a very cosy stay in prison all things considered up until he decides he just don't feel like playing along anymore as he has done, but a nice little break from him.

Maybe being away will stop him from ruining Jon's life ?

That'd be nice.

"You didn’t tell her. Worried she might create too much of a scene? I understand. I just hope she… doesn’t hold it against you."

I uh ... Wouldn't hold my breath for that. Especially considering that objectively, killing Elias would be for the best, even if it doomed everyone at the institute to die a painful death.

Not that Melanie has been very considering of other factors that aren't immediate satisfaction at watching that bastard suffocate with his neck in her hands. Which is fair, but also, she really should do something about that. Tunnel vision is understandable, but do try to think of others outside yourself, please.

All of that being said ?

Good on Martin, honnestly. He did something, outsmarted the mastermind, kept his cool and managed to trick him. He's probably feeling absolutely awful about Jon's situation, and Tim's too, even with their strained relationship by the end, but I guess a win is a win.

Even if it probably feels hollow when compared to all the losses.

He did good. He should have some rest.

"To be honest with you, Martin, I didn’t expect to be taking over the place so soon, or in quite such a state of disarray. But I’ll do my best to keep the place afloat."

... Though it doesn't look like Peter will let that happen.

We just never can have nice things, can we ?

But hey, this time around there will be less murders ! And also ... Therapy ? Damn that's nice, definitely need that here. For literally everyone.

"I think we’re going to great things, Martin. Great. Things."

... You don't say.

Oh, it is going to be a fucking mess next season, huh ?

OVERALL :

Amazing season, definitely my favourite so far, it was SO good. I am HERE for the character driven story and the overarching plot, as you may have noticed through all of my ramblings.

I can't wait to see what's next to come !

You know, other than pain and misery and wretchedness and torment and grief and heartache and sorrow and-

Well. You get the idea, right ?

Is it too much to ask for Jon to be ok ? I just don't want him in pain, that's all. Maybe that now that Elias is in jail it could happen ?

... Yes, I am in denial, shush. I am emulating my inner Jon, ok ?

I feel like I have made the point all throughout the season, so I don't really have anything to clear up at the end, do I ? Or maybe I do but just can't think of one.

That being said, I do want to think of what kind of avatars the cast would be !

Honnestly, for Jon, I legitimately can't accept anything other than The Eye. The guys isn't a good enough liar or interested into manipulating others or anything of the sort to belong to The Web, he's just a curious little guy ! He wants to know stuff, ALL the stuff, all the time and frankly ? I relate man. That being said, considering just how many times he has been the victim of another fear already, and I am assuming that they feed more strongly on the people they've marked, I like to think that he is also feeding them a little, from time to time. And that they'd like him, maybe ? I mean, as much as they can "like" anything, I guess. A little snack !

Martin, I say, got big The Web vibes, in the pathetic sad little guy kind of way. This guy could probably stage an entire murder and let proofs that it was him all over the place and he'd still manage to cute his way out of it. That being said, I don't want him filled with spiders, thank you very much, so if not The Web, then The Lonely ! That guy just cannot be the priority of anyone ever, can he ? RIP.

Tim would absolutely despise having anything to do with The Stranger, obviously, and would probably have a really fun burning them to the ground. Honnestly, while I know he isn't exactly horny for the fire and the pain and stuff, I do think he'd make an interesting avatar of The Desolation. If not, then senseless rage aiming to destroy everything around him also suits, so at least a Slaughter one.

Sasha was really curious too, though I do feel like it was in a different way than Jon, and she was a researcher. I think she'd have made an adequate servant of The Eye ? But I just don't know enough about her to give more thought to it, and what we got is very basic. Honnestly, if I had only season 1 Tim or Martin I would've said they were good for The Eye too, even though in retrospect they very much weren't, just because of their job ! And Sasha wasn't really exactly here just for the knowledge. Headcanon time, I think The End would've worked ? She was pragmatic and (very much) not scared of death, considering her ... Everything, she seems to be the kind to look it dead in the eyes as it comes to take her.

Melanie, considering her whole anger and murderous urges of the season, I'd say an avatar of The Slaughter. Maybe even Desolation ? But, no, she's not in the business of destroying lives, and dance on the ashes, more blind rage and anger with no filter. If not The Slaughter, then maybe The Stranger ? She sometimes speaks as if she can't recognize herself anymore, as if she was a stranger in her own skin. I think it fits, somewhat ? Or that could also be The Flesh, now that I think about it.

Basira, honnestly, The Spiral. Just. Straight up. Just how crazy do you gotta be to make sense of what doesn't have any ? She wouldn't fall victim to it, as she is always so sure of herself and her decisions, a total rock in the midst of chaos, being the one to know and leave others to their doubts. Plus, I think she'd be able to make someone doubt themselves, to be honnest. So, either The Spiral or The Web. She's got a controlling streak, I feel.

Daisy, well, obviously it's The Hunt. She has already been affected by it the entire time we've known her, there's nothing to her character that isn't tailored for The Hunt. That being said, this is the boring answer, and considering how she is, I'd say she'd make good work serving The Lonely. No violence there, obviously, only that insidious knowledge that you are alone and always will be and that, maybe, it'd be better for you. For everyone else. Were she to suddenly gain awareness of who she is, I think she'd feel pretty lonely in general. i think she already does somewhat, considering just how much she and Basira clings to each other.

Georgie is marked by The End, of course, but that's not something she'd end up serving, is it ? Real talk here, I feel like she'd be pretty suited for The Vast. Of course, she's not affraid of heights or anything, since she can't feel fear at all, and actually that would definitely keep her from even being an avatar, but that's not the point. Just, that feeling of insignificance, of powerlessness, that no matter what you do, you can't ever matter, you can't ever change anything, I think that this is something she might be able to relate to, considering her past eperiences. And honnestly, I feel like she is the type of person who would make you confront that feeling heads on, whether you wanted it or not.

Elias is obviously serving The Eye, and I don't see him ever even consider any of the others, but if he had to, then The Spiral would fit, I think. You just know that this gaslighting king looooves drive others crazy for his own entertainment. That would also be the results I would give to Jonah Magnus, to be honnest.

Gertrude was, obviously, never really Beholding material considering her everything. However, she was a seasoned arsonist with no scrupules to making others suffer, so The Desolation it is ! Not even because of Agnes, she'd just have got it on her own. If not that, then The Hunt, maybe ?

The Admiral would, obviously, serve The End, I mean, it's a CAT. Of course it is planning your doom while hiding behind a harmless exterior. But it wouldn't chase you, nooooo, it'd just act cute and you'd just follow it towards your end. Fool.

Hm. Did I miss anyone important ? I feel like I missed some important people. Boo.

Oh well, if I did, just tell me, I'll add them ! It was fun to do !

The quote of the post will be :

"There is nowhere in this universe that it would not blot out the sky."

End Liveblogging.

#tma #the magnus archive #liveblogging #liveblog-tma

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Another Chortle headline roundup, and this one is... look, maybe the arts have had a good go, and don't need to happen anymore. Maybe we can all take a step back and ask ourselves how many bits of written or spoken word the world actually needs. (This does not apply to the new Garth Marenghi book, Matthew Holness should feel free to do his thing into eternity, if he likes).

I did enjoy this, further down the page, though:

Because it says:

American talk-show hosts including John Oliver and Stephen Colbert have launched a podcast to support Hollywood’s striking writers. The broadcast rivals, who have been off air for four months, joined forces for the Spotify series to raise money for their crew. Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers are also involved in the project, named  Strike Force Five.  

So, is that a correct estimation they've made of British audiences, assuming they've definitely heard of John Oliver and Stephen Colbert, but the other three can be afterthoughts that you may or may not have heard of? Congratulations, John! You're finally famous in Britain! If you'd only you'd managed that 15 years ago, maybe you wouldn't have had to leave.

I haven't listened to any of this podcast yet. I have downloaded both episodes so far, with the thought that maybe I'll skim them at some point. I have to balance my desire to hear John Oliver talk with my lack of desire to hear those other four guys talk. Not that I hate any of them or anything, I'm just not at all interested in them and I don't really want to listen to a whole hour of four guys I don't care about and John Oliver. (with Colbert as a bit of an exception, I did love The Colbert Report as a teenager and watched it every night for years, but I haven't followed or wanted to follow anything he's done since). I have even less of a need to listen to the episodes because of the great recaps @lastweeksshirttonight has been doing. Those recaps are all I really want from this podcast - a summary of what happened in general, with a significant focus on John Oliver's contributions. So I probably don't have to listen to any of them myself now, I can just read that.

I have to say, looking at those five names in a row - I know they're all self-aware about this, and pointing it out is nothing new, and people talk about it all the time, but still, putting them all together as Strike Force Five really drives home how much late night TV in America is run by five straight white men, two of whom look like the same person and also have the same name. They couldn't have invited, like, Trevor Noah or Samantha Bee? Yes I realize both of them stopped doing the late-night job in 2022 and therefore don't have shows that are currently on strike, but still, recent enough, and going with a bit of tokenism might have been slightly better than just having the five as they are in this case. (I also realize that a whole lot of my favourite comedy things involve groups of straight white men, but in my defense, those are mostly from the 00s, and we're theoretically supposed to have more diversity in 2023, right?)

Also, it's been a while now but I don't think I've mentioned in a post yet that the brief, beautiful, never-actually-really-realistic-but-it-looked-slightly-possible-for-a-moment-there dream of John Oliver on Taskmaster is dead. He's announced new shows that conflict with the recording dates. He said he was doing those shows to make more money to keep paying his writers while they strike, which of course is the main reason for his whole stand-up tour, and is also the stated reason for this podcast. Which I guess is a good thing for me to remember, when I was making my post about how he's doing stand-up even though he doesn't need the money because he likes having work to do so maybe he'll do Taskmaster for the same reason. I suppose I could have taken a slightly broader view and remembered things like the large numbers of show staff who are not John Oliver rich and who need support, and doing stand-up in the US will do a lot more to solve that problem than flying to England to do Taskmaster, so, okay, fine, I guess John Oliver's making reasonable choices here. I guess if I try to be less myopic, I can remember that people's livelihoods are more important than having John Oliver on Taskmaster.

Anyway. The point is, get it together Chrotle.

God, does the world ever not fucking need any of those things.

[ginza-division]

Eiji's Thoughts on Okinawa Division

Ace Douglas

"The son of the U.S. president? Here?! ...Wow, this is... definitely shocking. Especially considering that I had to ban this young man's father from PROFILE. I didn't want to do it, but some of the comments he made were very insensitive towards certain ethnic groups and were deemed insulting by the site's A.I., who had warned him numerous times to mind what he was posting or responding to. His son seems to be better at following the rules. Honestly, his PROFILE page is one of the most followed on the site. I don't know if it's cause he is the son of the president, or something else, but he is very popular. Perhaps I should invite him and his friends over for dinner."

Evelyn Rose

"Ah, I know of her, as well. She, along with... Miss Takahashi, are in the top 10 of the people with the most followers on PROFILE. From what I gather, the majority of her followers are American with a few Japanese in the mix. In contrast, Miss Takahashi's followers are mostly Japanese. Despite America having a much larger landmass and population than Japan, more people use PROFILE here than in America. Of course, that's not really much of a surprise considering PROFILE was started here. I've been trying to popularize it more in other countries, and it's been working, but I know it can be better. Perhaps I should make another trip to another country. Perhaps, maybe..."

"...Ah, sorry. I was rambling. Anyway, as stated, both women have approximately the same number of followers, which is surprising. I've heard about their rivalry against each other. I'm just glad they're keeping it offline. The last thing I need is people debating over which woman is the hottest. The last time we had a battle like that on PROFILE, people were suing us left and right, accusing us of not being diligent enough to stop it." Eiji sighs, shaking his head.

Rashaad Young

"Ah, Rashaad. A good man, and an even better bartender, if I do say so myself. Not discounting other bartenders out there, but they should take a lesson in how to run a bar from this guy. I mean, he's not Japanese, but his bar is one of the most popular bars out there, not the least because he calls the place 'neutral territory'. I've gone there numerous times, not only for a drink, but also to meet with several company owners to either negotiate a deal, or to "mend relationships", so to speak."

"Besides that, Rashaad's got a pretty decent PROFILE. Did you know the guy, once or twice a month, does this little recording podcast where he shows everyone how to make some recipes for drinks and Puerto Rican food? I tell you, I'm a bit surprised his page doesn't have more followers cause of that! I have a reminder saved each time he makes a video!"

Liberty Guild

"When Otome-sama announced that an American team was joining the D.R.B., I, like everyone else, was not only shocked, but also a little skeptical. What reason could an American team have to participate in a rap tournament? I mean, not discounting the fact that they were foreigners, but American rap differs a lot from Japanese rap. But hey, they managed to silence all their critics when they had their first battle. I'll admit, I was expecting them to lose, but when they pulled out a surprise victory, I was shocked!"

"They haven't had any battles since then, but I'm definitely keeping a close eye on them. I have their entire battle against Kyoto Division up on PROFILE, and it seems like I get 100,000 watches a day from it!"

#hypnosis mic #hypnosis microphone #hypmic #hypmic oc #hypnosis mic oc #last judgment #eiji noguchi #ginza division #okinawa division #liberty guild #ace douglas #evelyn rose #rashaad young

[pbandjesse]

I'm sitting outside on the fire escape. I didn't leave the house today. But it was a lot productive time still. Even if it was mostly just computer productive. Mostly.

I slept alright. Not great. I scratched myself really bad on my leg and it burns when I touch it so that's super fun. James covered me up more before they left for work and I slept until 930.

When I got ho I would try my best to be productive. I got dressed and felt very cute in my outfit. I felt a little frustrated with my hair but it's just because it's a weird length right now. All I want it to wear it up but I'm convinced that's breaking it. It's been so fragile since I took chemotherapy in January. But I'm really trying to take good care of it so it can be healthy again.

I would poke around the apartment for a little bit I really wanted to get my last lesson plan done today. I also absolutely did not want to do that. I was feeling a bit stuck. I would force myself to get on the computer around 10 and I would work until 1 with only short breaks. And I did it! I finished my last lesson plan! There are still a couple reference photos I want to add to the document but the writing is complete. And I'm thrilled. I had some research issues but I am really proud of the work and I hope that creating the training documents goes as easily.

Once I finished as much as I could (when James got home we would do a little editing), I would go and finally get all the almost done bears and finish sewing those up. And since the lighting was nice I took some bears outside to photograph for my website. I. Hoping to have the online shop back up next Friday. So I got some pictures. And then jumped into the website itself.

Which still has issues. I made a flyer and I can't get it to not be blurry when I place it on the site!! I don't know why!! I will try a few more things but I am frustrated with this because I worked hard on the flyer.

I still felt accomplished though. And it was a nice afternoon. I watched some videos. I had a snack. I knit for a little while. I played with sweetp a little. And I waited for James to come home.

I was feeling pretty tired. When James got back they made spaghetti but it came out uncooked the first time so they had to try again and we're pretty frustrated but they also say with me so I could show them all the work I did today. And they told me about their day. And it was just really nice. Even if eating uncooked pasta was unpleasant.

James also showed me some very nice texts my dad sent him that he had meant to send to me. He really liked the blanket and he sent a picture of it on his bed and it looked really good. I'm really happy about that. My color choices were correct!

James has been recording their podcast for a while now. And I'm sitting out in the fire escape. I cleaned the fish tanks. And I'm sitting with sweetp. I like hearing all the cicadas and the street lights just came on. I am feeling good.

Tomorrow it is supposed to rain all day. Maybe I'll go for a drive. James doesn't have to be in until lunch because it's extended hours so they will be at the museum late. So maybe I'll drive them to work and I'll go to the thrift store. We will see how the day unfolds.

I hope you all have a good night tonight. Until next time