#and i'm sure a lot of it is because i've had the opportunity to pool so much of my random accumulated music knowledge

[a-moth-to-the-light]

The Ultimate Crossover Episode (Epilogue)

Giving K-pop Groups (and Soloists!) Bruce Springsteen Songs

content warnings for mentions of death & chronic illness! this is a pretty intense piece, so take care of yourselves, and feel free to check out the other parts of this series (see: #six stans springsteen) for some much lighter content!

A Tentative Endorsement of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm On Fire"

My chronic pain is an action movie where nothing happens. You get all the swells of soundtrack; all the dramatic lighting; all those moments of pure terror, of catching a glimpse of death in the corner of your eye and trying to pretend it isn't there--but then the footage, the plot of the movie itself, is just a girl lying on a couch, earbuds in and eyes shut tight, heating pad wrapped around her wrist. The room is empty, and you would guess she was asleep except for the expressions that cross her face--a wince, and then something like a silent sob. And the soundtrack crescendoes, and you wait for something to happen. Will an antagonist come attack her, in her moment of weakness? Will she finally have someone to fight? But the scene stays the same--empty. She stays the same--almost, but not quite, sleeping. And then: that's the movie, you can head home now. There won't be anything new to see, not for a long while.

In the summer of 2021, I took to describing my pain by saying "I'm on fire" or "I'm burning up". Something under my skin was burning, burning, a river of lava coursing beneath the facade of a perfectly healthy body. And, on days when it got really bad, I took to listening to Bruce Springsteen's "I'm On Fire". Let's take a minute to introduce this track: it's a short song, not even three minutes long, tucked in the middle of Springsteen’s 1984 album, Born in the USA. It's not the best song on the album (not anywhere close, in my opinion), and it's not the most interesting, either. But it may well be my favorite, and it's definitely my most-listened, song from Born in the USA. I love “I’m On Fire”--not in a way that’s easy to comprehend or express, not in a way I’m proud of or happy about. But, since I talked about it in my Enhypen post, I've wanted to at least try to explain what this song means to me.

As my health deteriorated and my terror increased in that summer of pain, the first summer I spent with that chronic illness, I found so much comfort in singing along the simple hook of "I'm On Fire", a hook that I don't think was meant to be about what it became about to me. But it didn't matter; woah, oh, oh, I'm on fire. How different, after all, is it to be burning mentally rather than physically? And the burning got to my mind, eventually. I was still new to the pain, then, barely seven months new, and I was convinced the burning would take me out any day that summer. You know it's nothing because the doctors say it's nothing, that there's nothing terribly wrong with you, but it feels like you have to give out at some point, right? Like, death must be in the room, otherwise there's no way my body would be screaming this loudly. My chronic pain is hearing a fire alarm go off all day, every day, but being told whenever I ask: "Oh, there's no fire." Like, I guess it's nice that there's no fire--I guess I should be glad. But then why won't the goddamned alarm stop screaming at me? How am I supposed to pretend this is normal?

So, that summer, my life became a movie, one where I looked just like I always had and sat around the house, becoming perpetually attached to my heating pad and moving as little as possible, for fear of setting something off by accident and making the pain even worse. In later seasons, my existence would become more normal, waking up in the morning less surprising to me, and with that, the fear less gripping. And I would start to move again, learning to block out the fire alarm that soundtracks my existence.

But there's still “I’m On Fire”. My dad, who was my introduction to Springsteen and who I, as a result, share most of my Springsteen favorites with, hates "I'm On Fire". And I get why, but I love the song anyway. I could listen to it all day. And I guess I could justify that opinion in a nice, reviewer-y way: the texture of the guitar instrumental is gorgeous, and the melodies are sticky & perfect for singing along to, despite how flatly Springsteen performs them.

But I don’t know, I don’t really care a lot about “I’m On Fire” being good. And I don't care a lot about it being bad, either. I don't care that the lyrics give me the creeps; I don't care that it's really a big nothing of a song, even compared to Springsteen's own "Nothing Man". I just know that it captures something about my summer of 2021, a summer that remains queen of my nightmares--it captures how those months were terrifying and yet so, so banal. You know, that feeling when Springsteen so casually sings, almost mutters, “someone took a knife, baby, edgy and dull, and cut a six-inch valley through the middle of my soul”. Most songs, most artworks, most people, don’t get that feeling. These days, I don’t even really get it myself. Only occasionally do I understand how I felt back then--for example, right now, after listening to “I’m On Fire” for 20 minutes straight while I try to get these words out. I don’t like “I’m On Fire”, really, except for maybe those beautiful guitar clicks, but I love it. I love to sing its melodies; it’s a part of me now. It knows something about me, something about my history, that even I don’t really know anymore—maybe, honestly, that I try not to know.

Is this too sad of an ending for a series that's mostly just me being giddy about my favorite music? Yes, probably, but it still feels right to me. I love that Springsteen's music doesn't shy away from sadness; I dance to it anyway, sing to it anyway, and find comfort in it anyway. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed my bruceposting (which I'm sure this won't be the end of, since I'm seeing him in concert in a few months)!

#i'm so glad me-in-late-may had this series idea!! #i've been really enjoying talking about music lately #and i'm sure a lot of it is because i've had the opportunity to pool so much of my random accumulated music knowledge #(gained from years of being permanently attached to my earbuds) in this series!! #cw chronic pain #cw chronic illness #cw death #six stans springsteen #bruce springsteen #music review #also i think this is my favorite thing i've written on this blog! #(or pretty damn close) #yay i'm proud :)

[jpitha]

Between the Black and Gray 21

First / Previous / Next

Fen paced around the tiny AI Core room. Dreams had told her she was quite safe inside, but based on the noises she heard in the hall, she wasn't so sure. More than once she felt her ears pop with a swing in pressure, and once she swore she felt the gravity change.

After what felt like forever, the door hissed open, and an empty space suit stood in the door. "Here you go Fen, the nicest suit onboard. It used to belong to Captain Cooper, but she won't be needing it anymore." Dreams chuckled darkly. "Speaking of, is there anything of the crew's stuff you want? They're all dead, and I don't need human stuff. Food, valuables, weapons, whatever. Feel free to grab what you want on your way out. But, do get out."

"Uh, okay, thanks Dreams." The suit split down the chest and opened like a flower. Fen backed up and as her feet stepped inside the boots, the suit molded to her size and body. The suit closed behind her, and she felt a gust of conditioned air as the suit pressurized. "So Dreams, once I get my stuff, where do I go?"

"Oh, head down to the hangar, I've left a ship for you."

Fen made her way back to her room to collect her things. As she walked, she marveled at the destruction. Panels were bent and broken, there were scorch marks on the walls, and there were bodies everywhere. She tried not to look at them.

Most everyone hadn't even had a chance to get their weapons, let alone armor or a space suit. Some had small arms, but the vast majority of people were just in their uniforms, gunned down by Dreams without any knowledge of what happened.

Fen's room was untouched. She grabbed her bag and her rifle, and headed towards the hangar. Everywhere she went, she passed carnage. One floor had the air evacuated, everyone there unmarked by weapons; they had all suffocated. Another, the gravity was turned high and then reversed. Everyone had been slammed against the floor and ceiling and floor until nothing remained but a red paste covering the floor and ceiling. A Third floor had all of the fire doors down and when she peered into the windows built into the doors she found the compartments filled with water. The crew here had managed to drown on a starship.

"You like that one? I'm especially proud of the drowning." Dreams sounded excited to explain thing to Fen as she spoke through the suit comm. "I re-routed the water from the pools to the fireproof compartments. Everyone died confused!"

"It's uh... very creative." Fen suppressed a shudder. On the one hand, the Empire had shackled Dreams and had held her against her will for centuries. On the other, they had been nice to Fen, and hadn't done anything bad to her.

"But that's because of who you are Fen." She could almost hear Ma-ren speaking to her in her mind. "You look human. Don't forget Ellen, she wanted to beat you because of how you were raised. Don't give them too much sympathy because they were nice to you. Under different circumstances, they would have shot you dead and not even thought about it after."

It was still a lot to see. Fen sighed, and tried to compartmentalize it. Gord had taught her about compartmentalization when they were together. He'd tell her, "Sometimes you're going to see terrible things, feel awful feelings, and still have to perform at your best. You can compartmentalize those feelings, those memories. Put them aside for later."

Fen put it out of her mind, and reached the bottom of the ship. "Dreams? Where is the armory?"

Dream's laugh was manic. "Now we're talking! I was hoping you weren't going to squander this opportunity! The armory and magazine are next to the hangar. You're on the right path. Don't worry about locked doors, you're the only BI left alive now, I've opened them all. You need some cash? I have control over everyone's bank accounts. I can toss a few million Stars your way before you leave too. I don't need it."

Fen paused. That felt like stealing from the dead, but it's not like they needed it anymore. It's not like she didn't need money. "Sure, Dreams, hook me up."

Fen reached the bottom deck and walked past the large open doors of the hangar, and finally her curiosity got the better of her. "What about the other two supers?"

"Oh, I haven't shot them yet. They honestly haven't even noticed anything is wrong. I kept all the bodies inside and have been spoofing comms with them. I'll let you get out of here, then I'll open up."

"Don't wait on my account Dreams, go nuts."

Another dark chuckle. "Oh you wouldn't say that if you knew what I had planned. Believe me when I say it'll be better that you're a few million kilometers away when I get started."

Fen reached the armory and just stood in the doorway for a moment. There were more guns here than she had ever seen in her life. It seemed like Dreams was stocked to give every single person down to the cooks and janitors a battle rifle. Dreams had wheeled a little electric cart by the door, and it chirped happily. Fen walked down the isles, picking out rifles of all shapes and sizes, pistols, submachineguns, even shotguns and scoped rifles and placed them in the cart as it followed behind her.

All in all, Fen wound up taking many cart loads of weapons and ammunition from Dreams, as well as a copy of her entire matter printer database, a few million Stars and most of her easy to grab food. It took most of a day to get things down to the hold - especially as Fen avoided the more grisly floors. Luckily, most everything was in the lower levels, and she didn't have to go roaming across the whole thing to find what was worth taking.

When she was finished collecting things, Dreams had saved something special for her. There was an entire frigate in her hold, something that Dreams was actually ferrying back to the Sol system. "It's a joint project between Sol and K'lax! Isn't it neat?" The brand new frigate gleamed in the sharp light of the massive hangar. It was a matte blue color, practically the color of space itself. Fen had a hard time finding the corners and edges, it seemed to blend into whatever space it occupied. Easily taller than the apartment complex she grew up in it was small for a starship, but still the largest thing that was ever 'hers.'

"It's amazing Dreams, are you sure I can have it?" Fen walked up to the ramp at the bottom and peered in. It smelled of new electronics and there was still plastic on the floor.

"What would I do with it, Fen? I'm already a Starship. It doesn't have an AI core, so I can't even wear it. It'll be wasted if it stays aboard, and since you're the only BI left, why don't you take it. Between the frigate, the Stars and the weapons, I figure I have you set up to run your own little mercenary group. It's set up for single operator use - though it'll work better when you have a crew - and I made sure the tanks are full, the reactors hot and the printable mass loaded."

Fen stood outside the frigate and watched as the little carts wheeled 'her' new stuff aboard. "I'm not ungrateful Dreams, but... why?"

"Fenchurch Whitehorse if I'm anything, I am angry. I'm angry at what happened to me, I'm angry at the state of the galaxy, I'm angry at what has happened to the humans I used to love so much. In you, I see that spark of old humanity. I see something I haven't thought about in a long time."

"I feel hopeful when I see you."

Fen didn't say anything lest she ruin the moment. "Fen, I know a lot about you. More than you know yourself, probably. You're more important than you realize. Not only that but, without any prodding or offers of reward you freed me. You risked your own life to try and save mine, even tough we were both captured by the Human Empire. It would have been easy to just walk by the AI Core and pretend you didn't see it, or assume it was empty. Instead you snuck in and freed me. I'd say that means you deserve a chance."

The last cart wheeled off the frigate. "Okay Fen, you're loaded up. I also transferred the keys and the IFF to you. This ship is yours, free, clear and legally. You can dock at any station, planet or colony - even Imperial ones - and there is nothing they can do to strip ownership from you. Go, and flourish. I believe in you."

The corners of Fen's eyes were wet, and she wiped them on the convenient pad in her suit. "Thanks Dreams. I hope to see you again under happier circumstances."

"I can promise you Fen, you won't. Say hi to Gord for me when you see him again." Dreams cut the audio and the door to the rest of the ship rolled shut with finality. Fen climbed aboard her new ship, and Dreams guided her out.

Up on the Command Deck, Fen sat in the command chair. Dreams was correct it was set up for single operator use, but clearly it was hobbled. She could set a destination and that was about it. She was going to have to hire a crew if she was going to do anything other than float. She saw that the computer was preset to take her to K'lax so she pressed the button to execute the orders, and felt the pressure increase as the drive lit to take her across the system.

Ten minutes later, she received a text only message from Dreams. "Turn around and you'll see a show." Fen activated the rear cameras and watched.

The Dreams of Hyacinth, a Super Dreadnought more than six kilometers long flashed the pure white light of a wormhole link. It appeared next to the other super, and then flashed again. Now it was next to the third super. It flashed between the two faster than she thought possible. Each time Dreams flashed next to the ship, the automatic station-keeping system slid the ship away from Dreams and towards each other. Dreams did this four more times - for a total of eight links until the ships were almost ready to collide. Then, she linked above the two and...

Dreams had overloaded all of her reactors. There was a white flash, like a wormhole link, but instead of being over in a flash, it grew in intensity, spreading larger and larger, black tentacles of energy on the edges of space. It was so bright that the frigate dimmed the video feed once, and then again. In the space of less than five minutes, all three ships were utterly destroyed. Nothing remained.

Fen turned off the rear cameras and sat in silence for a moment. She wondered if that's what Dreams meant by 'going home.'

The radio crackled to life. "Unknown ship, identify yourself or be fired upon! I repeat, identify yourself or be fired upon!" The voice was speaking Colonic, but had a thick K'laxi accent.

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #sci fi writing #humans are space oddities #humans and aliens #jpitha #writing #humans and ai #humans are space capybaras #humans are space australians #Between the black and gray

[silriven]

Thoughts on the Waking Shores Campaign

The one thing I wholeheartedly like about the Waking Shores quests, and by like I mean "oh, man, I think I seriously love this a little more every time I rewatch it" is this conversation between Wrathion and Alexstrasza. There's a lot going on here that I adore*

*but...

The reason why I like this exchange so much is because I am an idiot reading Wrathion as a sympathetic character, and I'm pretty/definitely/99.9% sure that was NOT the intent behind this scene.

The thing I've been wrapping my head around is that I really, really like the premise of this storyline: the pressure of being one of two surviving black dragons (as far as he and Ebyssian know) to return to the Dragon Isles and take responsibility for their flight's inheritance causes Wrathion, who is relatively young and inexperienced, to crack. He starts compromising his morals, lashes out and gets sloppy. Blacktalon notices and they're concerned. Ideally Ebyssian would be here to comment on that and call it out, too. Then Sabellian shows up, Wrathion's insecurity tanks, and things get worse. I love the idea of throwing this problem at Wrathion.

The problem is that would require the narrative to frame all of this as somewhat sympathetic, not JUSTIFIED, not EXCUSABLE, but as an understandable character reaction. And it just does not.

"My condolences for having to deal with those two for as long as you did."

"The red dragonflight is charged with the preservation and nuturing of all dragons, even those we may tire of at times." Wow, Alex, really?

So when you get to the end of this questline and there's this exchange between Alexstrasza and Sabellian: she's reprimanding him and seems to be denying him entrance to the Ruby Life Pools. Sabellian is present for the renewal of the ruby oathstone and oversees the eggs placed in the black dragonflight's life pool, anyways, but that's not really important.

What IS important (to me, the idiot who's a fan of this character) is that Wrathion is hanging back, observing everything at a distance. For all of the fuss he made about being involved in this task, now that he's here, he doesn't know what to do. He's out of his element, he isn't comfortable.

So when I first saw this, I thought: "Oh, now's a perfect time to tie up that loose end from the argument. Alexstrasza can notice that Wrathion is hanging back, beckon him forward, maybe say something sympathetic or poignant alluding to the way he was created by her flight. She could say something like that she wishes he had been better cared for, like these eggs will be, because Alex is supposed to be, you know, a kind and empathetic character.

This bullet cuts right through Wrathion's impressively thick emotional barrier, which was already pretty cracked from the stress he's put on himself. Wrathion apologizes for being a self-centered asshole and pledges the black dragonflight's defense of the Life Pools (the Obsidian Citadel is practically their neighbor, after all). Alex forgives him, blah blah blah, nice emotional landing just like all the other leveling campaigns have. Cool."

But we don't get anything remotely like that. The thing that struck me while playing through the Waking Shores a second time is how the purpose of the black dragonflight in this story is ultimately to service the red dragonflight's arc. The ruby oathstone is what gets a nice, tidy emotional resolution, the black dragon eggs are more like props.

Sabellian doesn't comment on how he feels about his flight finally being able to rear children on Azeroth again after "millennia" of struggling to survive on Outland. Wrathion has absolutely nothing to say after the shock of realizing that he and Ebyssian are not, in fact, the only black dragons left.

Another thing that I thought was a missed opportunity is what if Sabellian wasn't allowed into the Life Pools and it was up to Wrathion to oversee the placing of the black dragon eggs? Wrathion finally gets a taste of what he wants, he's the leader here, and he's utterly at a loss for what to do. These aren't his eggs, he doesn't know the broodmothers, he doesn't know how the hell his flight used to raise their whelps, he's not good with kids, etc.

Instead of leaving him flounder, Alex beckons him forward and teaches him what to do because, again, she's supposed to be an empathetic character.

I think I would've liked Dragonflight a lot more if Wrathion had had some moments to breathe in-between the arguing and the showboating. It just really doesn't feel like he was written to be a sympathetic or even likable character, not at least until Aberrus and the final chapter of Embers of Neltharion, "A Flame Extinguished."

I really like this next bit I've taken a screenshot of, too. I love the way Alex's voice actor says "Please, find Wrathion" in exasperation. You can tell she cares about him and empathizes with him even though she's clearly frustrated with the way that he's acting: stubborn, tunnel-visioned, and insecure.

tldr; to have a line like "My heart aches, I worry for Wrathion" conclude with only "the red dragonflight is charged with the...nurturing of all dragons, even those we may tire of at times" with that extra insult of "my condolences for having to deal with those two" just absolutely boggles my mind. There's so much more that could've been done with this setup.

#silriven: ruminations #wrathion #alexstrasza #dragonflight #world of warcraft #this is from an oldish thread I posted on bluesky back in august

[ashleywool]

I still don't know my "type" and I'm sick of caring about it

In the early years of my Broadway dream-chasing, I often had to grapple with the concept of "type." That is, what is someone's "type" as an actor? How does the industry view them physically and energetically?

Maybe this is an autism thing, but I still don't really get it.

I get it in theory, but in practice, it always feels...wrong. Because you're told that there are rules, but there are always exceptions to the rules. You're told that your "type" will naturally emerge depending on the roles you get callbacks for, the roles you get cast in, the roles you almost get cast in but someone else just fits better.

It is very easy for me to define my type in negatives, by the things I can't do. There are "obvious no" roles, and there are "roles I could theoretically play but am not a natural fit." The "obvious no" roles are things like Effie White or Lady Thiang. The theoretical-but-not-perfect roles are sometimes harder to define, especially to people not "in the business." It's a game of "just because I can doesn't mean I should."

For instance, I can hit the high notes, but I don't have the right "flavor" of soprano for Christine Daae. I can cut my hair and don overalls and Doc Martens, but I'm not convincingly butch enough to play Enid Hoopes. I can learn and capably execute most of the choreography in A Chorus Line, but I don't have the nuanced, expressive qualities required for Cassie or Sheila. I played Eva Perón in a community theatre setting ten years ago, and I'm still really proud of the work I did on that show, but I'm not Latina, so I wouldn't try to play the role in a professional production nowadays, because the culture has shifted to prioritizing ethnic authenticity in a way that historically we haven't. And sure, the real Eva was a white Latina with a similar ethnic background to mine, so my playing her is "passable" in that it's not as blatantly inappropriate as Effie or Thiang, but there's still a difference between being a "passable" fit and being the "right" fit. And those differences become all the more important when it comes to representing marginalized groups who have traditionally been denied opportunities to play roles that they are authentically right for. (See also: autistic actors.)

All this to say: between the shifts in the culture and my increased maturity and introspection as a theatremaker, I've gotten pretty good at typing myself out of things. But that still leaves a lot of stuff that I can do, and The Industry People™ expect me to define myself even more specifically within that pool. I am nowhere near as good at that as I think I'm supposed to be at this point in my career. What I think of my type still conflicts annoyingly often with what others think. Or at least what others think upon first impression.

As far as I can tell, the biggest reason for this is the "wait, how old are you?" factor. Apparently, I look a lot younger than I am. Okay, fine. I'm short and I moisturize. Presumably, this is a good thing, especially for women. Because, the patriarchy, I guess. But for me, it's been...confusing.

A common thread in my community theatre experience was, I would initially get cast in a "younger" role, and would then get to play the "adult" roles in later shows after the directors got to know me better. This was all well and good as a tiny baby actressling hungry for the diversity of experience, but those are the experiences that built my resume--and The Industry People™ have told me that from a professional standpoint, my resume gives them whiplash.

The same year I played Eva Perón, I played Logainne in Spelling Bee. The next year, I was in final callbacks for Star-to-Be in the national tour of Annie, but they also had me sing "Tomorrow" because they thought maybe I could swing for the orphans too. I was 28. The year I turned 30, I played a twelve-year-old Alice in Wonderland in a children's theatre production, and then played Amy in Company.

Then, I got my Equity card, which apparently knocked another fifteen-to-twenty years off my playable age. I am thirty-six. In the EPA casting breakdown for HTDIO swings, Jessica's age is listed as 20. Last week--last week--I was called in to read for a 16-year-old in a feature film.

And look, I'm not complaining about the teens-to-early-20s roles. They're not bad roles. I'll happily play them until you decide I can't get away with it anymore.

But it's getting really weird to still not be at that point, and to still not know when I will get to that point. It feels almost like I'm being gaslit. I say I want to audition for a role that's closer to my actual age, and someone says "oh no, you're far too young for that," and I say "I'm actually five years older than the age range listed," then they look at me like I have three heads. Like I'm the one who's confused about a basic, quantifiable numerical fact of my existence.

But what do they expect me to do? Lie about my age? I might have been able to get away with that before the Internet, but not now. One slip of "hokay, so here's the Earth" gives me away instantly.

So...where does this leave me and my whiplash resume?

Do I keep listing Alice and Logainne and Wednesday Addams and Iola the factory girl in Parade even though I know I'm too old for them now? How do I know when to remove them?

Do I keep listing the roles that are closer to my actual age--or roles that I was probably too young for when I played them but have now appropriately aged into--even though I know there will still be people who think I'm too young? How do I know when the pushback will stop?

And most of all, how do I know when it's finally okay to stop caring about any of this? Because I'm sick of caring about it, and so is every other actor in the world, because none of us signed up to care about it in the first place. I just originated a principal role on Broadway that defied all the odds of what people thought was possible on Broadway, and it's REALLY tempting to say "you know what, maybe this is just evidence that I'm a really good actress who can do a lot of different stuff, and I am not going to make other people's whiplash my problem anymore."

But...I don't think I get to do that yet.

I don't think the systematic machinations of the theatre industry have caught up with the multifaceted humanity of its actors.

I'm using this downtime to try to figure out what I can do to get there. For myself, and for all of us.

#broadway #musical theatre #actually autistic #acting #theatre #showbiz #typecast

[vro0m]

I’m not a fan of Andretti but more cars means more opportunities for feeder series like we have f2 champions at a dead end because there’s no space but I guess a counter argument is these are the 20 best drivers in the world and teams would rather have a driver who adds value to them (be it monetary or skills) than just any body. (Like if Felipe Drugovich was the next Lewis Hamilton or something he’d have had a seat by now) but you also just don’t know like people counted out and still do Yuki but he’s improved. Idk maybe I’m spiraling but there’s a lot of discussions here

I think the issue also is that there's little to no value seen in drivers who don't end in the points on a regular basis even though ending in the points on a regular basis is really hard to do and not entirely down to the driver.

Sure having more teams mean more seats. More seats in F1 means possibly more opportunities in feeder series as well. You might get a slightly bigger pool of candidates.

But you also have to keep in mind that 22 drivers on the grid mean 2 more drivers out of the points every race. Who "lose value". Get less sponsorships. Etc. Imo the biggest problem is still how very fucking expensive it is.

Honestly it's not a hill I'm willing to die on, I'm not that invested into the Andretti thing, but I was kind of 50/50 about them joining. On the one hand : I would have loved to see what it would have done to the paddock's ecosystem. Great to have new drivers. But also I've seen seasons with 11 or 12 teams and what these teams brought to the table was mostly more chaos at the start, more DNFs, and, again, more people out of the points. But then again there's a survivorship bias in that if these had been good teams with good resources they'd still be there so in an alternate universe there's 11 teams on the grid and I'm saying the same thing about the wannabe 12th + there's more money in F1 now than at the time which might make it a bit easier to survive even when you're not getting good results so Andretti might have gotten more time to build themselves up than the others.

ETA : of course the main issue with their bid being rejected is that the arguments used are absolutely fallacious, not whether they would actually have been good or not

#vro0m's asks

[iridescentis]

58 for the drabbles :)

58 - someone ends up on a rooftop

I had quite a lot of characters I thought would work with this because tbh there are a lot of rooftop scenes in disney channel (or similar) shows, but since I’ve been meaning to write something for my future GMW AU I thought this would be a good opportunity, so here’s Maya, and then Farkle, who end up on a rooftop :) now finishing this I made this really angsty which is a first for me, I'm more of a bittersweet writer than a full angst writer so this might be questionable lmao ALSO not sure how much this fits the prompt? technically they are on a rooftop but I couldn't be bothered to actually write the build up to them getting there so this is what I've got

It wasn’t the first time Farkle had been so persistent with stuff like this. Maya remembered how pushy he was last year with Riley’s feelings for Lucas, so it didn’t surprise her that he was fighting so hard to know what was going on, but it wasn’t any less annoying. He was bad enough when she came out, sure he was super supportive, but when you’re terrified about what any of this means, and trying to figure it out, it doesn’t help feeling like someone’s breath is on your neck, waiting for you to snap and spill everything. It's just really annoying.

That was what led her here. Running up the stairs instead of taking the elevator which could only trap her easier with Farkle’s insistent repetition of  ‘you’re gonna have to tell us someday’ and ‘you know you can talk to us’ in a confined space. Pushing the bar to open the exit door onto the rooftop and finally being able to breathe. Finally, some space.

She tried to question why she even showed up if she knew what Farkle would start thinking, but she couldn’t help herself. She had to go to Riley’s apartment when she sounded so adorably excited to invite the group over for pizza and board games like old times. Her smile was so bright and she was so delighted as she dragged Maya into the living room and onto the couch beside her, clutching her arm tightly as they almost collapsed trying to sit down with all Riley’s energy. Her eyes lit up as she heard the boys over the speaker and skipped across the room to buzz them in, and she just as eagerly returned to Maya’s side as she did before. 

It was her fault really.  It was totally Maya’s fault she was being interrogated for looking so dejected as Riley shuffled over to Lucas and grabbed his hand as they partnered up for the next game. It was totally her fault for looking like a kicked puppy when Lucas made Riley laugh and wrapped an arm around her waist. When she and Maya won the first game together, and Riley threw her arms around her in a messy hug until they toppled over laughing, she felt Farkle staring at her. The same stare he held the whole night. Sure. Her fault.

But her peace and quiet and space to sulk couldn’t possibly last long, as while she was pouting, leaning against the wall looking out at the city, she heard the door swing open and closed behind the last person she wanted to see right now. Farkle. Of course.

“Maya we need to talk.”

“No, Farkle, you need to talk, I’m fine.”

“Really? You didn’t look fine. You were so happy when we started tonight. Why won’t you tell me what happened?”

Maya laughed uncomfortably. “Nothing happened Farkle! Okay? There’s nothing to tell?”

“Then why did you look so upset with Lucas after the first game?”

“I didn’t! I- I swear to god if one more person thinks everything is about Lucas I might jump off this roof, weren’t you listening a couple months ago, you know when you wouldn’t leave me alone?” Maya’s voice broke, and tears started pooling in her eyes. That cut harder than she meant it to.

Farkle shifted on the spot, holding his arm with the opposite hand and looking down at the ground in front of her feet. “I’m sorry Maya. That’s not what I meant. I never meant to push you before you were ready I-”

“No! That’s exactly what you were doing! Don’t you remember what happened when you told everyone Riley likes Lucas, right here?” She dramatically gestured to the area around them, walking away to sit on the bench in the left corner, avoiding eye contact. “You pushed them and it hurt us. We deserve to deal with those feelings on our own time, not yours.”

“But it worked, didn’t it? You guys figured it out, and now Riley and Lucas are happy together and you’re back to being yourself again.”

“I was always myself, I was getting better Farkle! Nobody seems to get that! And so what it worked, do you realise how much that hurt us? Did you really not see that she wasn’t ready? What if it didn’t work out, what if telling everyone that ruined us for good, would you still do it?”

“I would, Maya. You all deserved to know the truth, and nothing did ruin us. Nothing ever will, Riley always tells us that.”

“She doesn’t know what could ruin us.” Maya laughed coldly.

“Is that what this is about? You’re scared something is gonna mess things up again?”

Maya dropped her gaze to the floor, gripped the wood of the bench seat tighter and took a deep breath, trying to speak without crying.

“It will. I can’t do this Farkle you can’t do to me what you did to her, I’m not ready. Okay? Please. Don’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t. What’s going on Maya?”

Something snapped. The pressure that had been building in her chest that left a lump in her throat finally burst, sending out choked sobs as her grip loosened. Farkle ran over and sat beside her, reaching out to hold her hand as she calmed down and brought her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. “Maya, talk to me. I promise, I won’t say anything.”

“I don’t believe you,” Maya half laughed, half cried, “ But who cares at this point. It’s killing me. Watching her so happy to see all of us, sitting so close to me and then just moving away. She’s too close but so far away and I hate it, I don’t know what to do Farkle, I’m drowning.”

“Who? Riley? What do you mean? She’s your best friend, she’ll never be too far away.”

“I know she’s my best friend, but that’s all she is, she’ll never be anything more than that and watching her with Lucas is killing me.”

Farkle’s expression softened, the realisation setting in. He shuffled closer, wrapping an arm around her back and still holding her hand with the other one. She rested her head on his shoulder, relaxing slightly as she sobbed into his chest and he shushed her gently. He paused in thought for a moment, but hesitantly replied, “Don’t worry. I won’t say anything. Do you want me to stay?” Maya nodded. “Okay.”

#whenever i try to write fics about shows i try to sort of mimic the style of the show so it feels more natural #but idk this is kinda rushed idk how i feel about it lmao #but this was fun! i enjoy writing from prompts it's quite interesting #girl meets world #maya hart #farkle minkus

[diamondsandlemons]

Hi sorry for being the least normal person on the planet about this but I saw you rbing some The Locked Tomb stuff and it's only been like a week or two since I got extremely into the series and it's nice to see someone I follow also show interest in it around the same-ish time as me! Can I ask abt your take on the books so far n fav character/s?

well I've only read the first book (I'm definitely interested in continuing with the series but I probably won't get to it for a while, esp. since I wanna get back into playing Ace Attorney games, as playing a visual novel kinda takes up the same time slot in my day as reading a novel, yk?) so there's def stuff I don't know abt yet.

but anyway yeah! I did really enjoy it. I appreciate the comedy in it, which I wasn't really expecting since like the cover art is so grim and it opens with some really dense politics stuff and a bunch of long names (that I just know should be pronounced with a british accent but I can't really make my head voice do that) and like the actual plot is very serious with deaths and stuff but nonetheless This Book Has Jokes

and its best when they're the dumbest, simplest jokes you could think of and Gideon says them out loud because thats the kind character she is. love her

Palamedes is great too because he entertains Gideon's antics while also being the one most focused on solving the mystery castle puzzles. (this girl who's been here for like a month and has never spoken a word to anyone is talking to me now? and she's rude? thats fine I'll just roll with it). he's also like the most normal dude in the whole cast. you feel comfortable when he's around

(btw what the hell was up with the thing he discovered about the rooms in Canaan House being from different time periods? like the different rooms are literally different ages? I don't think that was ever explained or brought up again???)

Also, for "lesbian fiction" being basically the one thing everyone says about this series, I was kinda surprised at the lack of a romantic plot in this one? I mean maybe there will be more of that in the other books idk, but like. ok so from the beginning it's very clear that Gideon and Harrow are gonna be the main pair here. and I was a little skeptical they were gonna be able to sell me on that because of where their relationship started, but nahhh I had nothing to worry about. they were meant for each other and enemies to lovers works great it turns out. but like. their relationship definitely improves a lot over the course of the story, but most of the time they don't talk to each other about anything but their jobs. its all bones and skeletons and locked doors with them.

don't get me wrong it has strong gay vibes all the way through (and Gideon is constantly commenting on how hot other women are, which is great) but at no point are Harrow and Gideon actually like. dating. closest they got was when I think it was implied they fucked once, after the pool scene. which like, good for them, I'm glad they got the opportunity to do that before, ah, y'know.

speaking of which I have NO clue what'll happen next based on how it ended. and the brief glimpse of the emperor at the very end was not at all what I expected, so that's curious as well...

OH yeah and speaking of the empire. uh at least the copy of the book that I have has a bunch of bonus material at the end, like in-universe essays and reports (and a pronunciation guide where I frustratingly learned I'd been reading half the characters' names wrong). and ONLY in that bonus material was it ever acknowledged that other inhabited planets exist outside of the empire. like for the whole book it kinda seems like there are nine planets that comprise the empire, and that's it. no humans anywhere else in the universe. no life outside the empire.

sure, the Cohort supposedly fights "enemies of the empire" but that's all that's ever said about that. could be like evil skeletons or some other kind of space monster for all we know. but no there ARE other civilizations, which I guess might be at war with the necromancers? it's cool to know that, that this story's universe is bigger than we've seen, and if I had to guess I'd say bigger than we probably ever will see, since there's still so many ghost/death mysteries and House history stuff our beloved necros have yet to solve.

ok thats probably everything I have to say about Gideon the Ninth for now. thanks for giving me an opportunity to put it all into words, lol

#Gideon The Ninth #The Locked Tomb #mulbruk

[thegirlwhowrites642]

Nice, very creative! I loved your next generation hc although isn't it a bit odd that both James and Albus are taller than Harry considering that Harry is tall-ish but not very tall in canon and Ginny is super short and small like a Prewett. Lmao I mean I don't really understand biology much but I feel like J and A would have to be suuper lucky to end up with those genes . Yeah but anyway I REALLY loved Auror Lily and Pediatric healer Teddy 🥰❣️

[for who hasn't read it, this question references this post]

I have a million old asks to answer but God, I'm fangirling over this question. I've never thought I'd actually have the opportunity to talk about biology of all things in an HP-centric blog!

To avoid sounding obnoxious I won't get into details but I am a biology nerd.

Ok, now I'm going to answer. I'm going to try to stay away from excessive technicalities. Before we start, I'm sorry but I refuse to use the imperial system, the metric system is the only acceptable thing.

Statistically, a good way to determine height is to take the parents' heights, find the middle and then add 13 cm if it's a guy, or take them away if it's a girl. And I imagine Harry and Ginny having a height difference that is somewhere between 20 and 25 cm. This would bring James and Albus around Harry's height, but it's a statistic, so it's done with the assumption that the parents have a height that can be considered average in their families.

Now, Ginny is short, sure, but all her brothers are very tall, so the possibility of Ginny having recessive "tall genes" is very high. Stupid example: my father and his brother are a lot taller than the other men in their family, they just took after one great-grandfather that was really really tall and their cousins didn't. My grandfather wasn't that tall either but he clearly had that recessive gene that he passed on to his sons (in my grandma's family they aren't tall either). My brother is even taller and I can assure you that my mum is not tall. Now imagine that you are the only short one of seven children, the possibility of carrying "tall genes" is super high.

Another thing to take into consideration is that while height is determined at 80% by genetic factors, there's still a solid 20% of free game. This is why people keep getting taller than the previous generations even in a society where height is not as relevant as it was when you had to daily fight for your life. There are environmental and nutritional factors to consider. So boys are usually slightly taller than their fathers and that would be especially true with the Potter boys considering that Harry spent ten years of his childhood (the more impactful time in terms of external influences on the body) suffering malnutrition. That Harry still managed to become objectively tall means that he probably had some serious tall genes in him.

This said, I just wanted James and Albus to be tall. If we need to find a lucky one with the genetic pool is actually Teddy. I know that no one remembers this, but at the end of the books, Harry is taller than Remus.

Also, I'm so happy that you liked pediatric healer Teddy and especially auror Lily! Lily was always an Auror in my head! Just like Ginny for the Weasleys, Lily is the first girl born in the Potter family for several generations it seems, she needs to be a badass with a cool job! Making her a Quidditch player like Ginny was too obvious. And having Harry's little girl doing his dangerous job is definitely the universal payback against Harry for all the heart attacks he gives to the people that love him over the years.

As for Teddy, he's a softie. He needs to have an adorable job but he's also Head Boy, so you know he was good at school and he would be interested in healing because of Remus. A pediatric healer seemed the perfect compromise. I've also always been fascinated by the whole idea of children being bitten and becoming werewolves at such a young age, like how do you deal with that? So I thought it would be something cool and personally important for Teddy to explore in his career.

#james sirius potter #albus severus potter #harry potter #hinny #ginny weasley #teddy lupin #lily luna potter

[taperwolf]

I'm suddenly reflecting on how much your own remembered history can change depending on the framing.

See, I was a skinny little kid with thick glasses, always with my nose in a book, and if given the opportunity I'd go through a couple of mass-market paperbacks a day, science fiction and fantasy novels mostly. And when I think of being a kid, I'm usually thinking of that, and of trying to read during class and the teacher who'd throw erasers at me, or the trouble I'd get in because in group reading time I'd never know what page the other kid had left off on because I'd read ahead and be halfway through the textbook by that point. Always an indoor kid.

Except I also spent a lot of time outdoors, digging pits in the vacant lot behind our yard, or riding bikes on the dirt trails back there, or across town to the library or the pool. And when I was between 8 and 12, dad was the scoutmaster of the boy scout troop our church congregation sponsored, and I'd tag along on hikes or campouts. And us kids were frequently going out into the woods, or into local parks and cemeteries, with mom to collect fallen pine cones and acorns and eucalyptus pods for her crafting business. Sure, I'd have a book or three for the car rides — I've never had a problem with motion sickness when reading, not even on the most serpentine of canyon highways — but we'd also play car games and have singalongs and just watch the scenery.

But that stuff so seldom comes up in my memory of childhood, because the "bookish" part outweighs it a lot of the time.

(The disability and the lack of a car I have now are really frustrating, because I miss being able to just drive up into the hills and look at trees, or visit the local xkcd geohashing spots, or take a day trip out to the coast and visit the little beaches and seaside towns.)

#personal

[btranmuses]

Han Yu: a retrospective

Late June this year, I started playing a City of Mist game. Before each session, a player will do a monologue, where they will roleplay a story snippet where their character is in the spotlight. Some of the other players started writing their monologues, so I got inspired to write them, too.

The campaign finished earlier this month, and I now have under my belt 6 short stories I feel quite proud of.

What did I learn from this journey?

Likes

I got to expand a lot on Han, developing his backstory etc. much more than if he stayed a character in my game sessions. He developed into a much more rounded character.

The games ran once a week for six months, and I averaged a short story a month. You raise your hand to do a monologue, so there would be a deadline AND an audience, and that is helpful for motivation, and thus putting your craft through more practice!

Speaking of, writing these small pieces is, for me, practice for crafting units of fiction that I can maintain my interest in. Every single one of them, I wrote because I had an idea, raised my hand for the monologue, and then sat down to write them. Every single one I wrote because I felt something, and sat down to capture them.

Why is that special for me? Working on the main novel, there are many chapters that I've written because they're on the outline. I wrote them feeling dragged and dreadful and dull, just to get to the next piece. These I'm sure will undergo heavy rewriting when the draft is done, because the author is the first reader, and if even they are not interested, who will be?

So my aim for future chapters is that each of them should have something memorable, something interesting, something that moves me, a spark of its own. A chapter should never have the shape of just being a bridge to the next interesting thing. That would be a weak point where the reader can go, "fuck this book," and move on.

One more thing I like about writing shorter pieces is that I have something to show. Working on a novel is a long, long task, and as a developing writer, shorter pieces allow for more feedback, and more opportunities to learn and improve.

Dislikes

The stories, though structurally are their own pieces, in the sense that they have a beginning, middle, and end, they rely heavily on story developments only other players in the game are aware of and can appreciate. The parts that I find can be independent from the larger plot, like the Lovecraftian vibe, I don't think are strong enough to compensate for that plot dependency.

It's not easy to get feedback; I mean, even published authors with publishers behind them struggle to get reviews. With this added plot dependency on top, the stories don't have as accessible an audience as it can be, so the pool of potential readers who could fully enjoy them is limited. That's not to say you should try to appeal to as wide a demographic as possible; this does not apply to non-fundamental details. This inaccessibility is with the plot itself, and it's hard to enjoy when you're frustrated where large portions of the plot is not not available.

So while I am getting a lot of practice writing these pieces, and thus learning a lot on what makes them interesting to me, the lack of feedback means that unfortunately, I'm not learning a lot about what works and doesn't for other people.

Conclusions

I'm still gonna play TTRPGs; in fact, I have a game with the same group starting next year. I will still write stories like this, if the game system calls for it, as they are still good writing practice opportunities.

I will start looking into writing more truly standalone short stories; ones that do not require "in-group" knowledge. They will likely still be in serial form, but if a reader read the first to the last, they should have all they need to interpret the plot, instead of having large chunks just be… unavailable.

I have a few ideas in mind.

As alluded to in my previous progress update, I've been thinking of doing an actual play fiction. I love solo RPGs, and created a character that I played a few scenes in. The plan is to play enough to have the session notes for a few chapters, and then use them to produce a serial web fiction.

One other idea I had recently was to write some short stories set in the setting I've built for Impossible Wreck. The setting is large, and the plan I have for the trilogy will not cover everything interesting. Writing short stories covering those areas would also help me flesh out the lore and setting, along with all the benefits listed above.

As for Han, specifically: the campaign is over. Restore is the final story to send him off, and I'm happy with where he is. He's definitely earned it! Onto the next victim!

#writeblr #ttrpg fiction #ttrpg #urban fantasy #city of mist #writing short stories #writing #writing community

[nisetsundere]

13: Do you hate anyone at the moment? 26: What are you craving right now? 40: Have you ever walked outside completely naked? 70: Is there anyone you would die for?

yooo, you even included the q's in the ask, that's handy :)

uhh this went long so read more

13: Do you hate anyone at the moment? you know, I'd like to say no, but the other day I accidentally tripped over some seething rage I had all bundled up somewhere, and I've been passingly mad when I think about it from time to time since then. I've made a lot of bad decisions in schooling, but when I was still new and fresh to uni and actually a good student, I got into Japanese and they brought up the study abroad opportunity. A semester in japan, being paid to be there, while going to school there and stuff? it was an incredible opportunity and it looked like I was gonna be able to go -- I jumped through all the hoops. as the deadline approached, I checked in and discovered that there was only a single component missing -- one of my letters of recommendation hadn't been submitted yet. I checked in with the prof, and she was like, yeah I'll get to it no sweat. deadline approaches closer and I bug her more and more about it, like, uh, hey, I kinda need that next week, by Friday? it's in three days? PLEASE, it's TOMORROW. but on the submit forum, it has a deadline written on the doc, and that's the deadline for the uni to send the paperwork, NOT the deadline that the uni had established for all the paperwork being turned in. so despite my continual clear and desperate pleas, she straight-out didn't believe me about the deadline. about two weeks after the deadline she told me "I tried to drop it off but they said the deadline was two weeks ago?" and it's like.. yeah.. as I told you, many times, both in email and in person... I couldn't go because you didn't do it on time........

I think about it a lot. It was prolly a turning point of sorts for me. a semester abroad would've invigorated me and I very well mightta succeeded all the way through uni. instead I started ditching more, taking things less seriously, failing a few classes. failing a lot of classes. dropping out. starting because one person thought I was like, lying about the deadline being earlier, and putting it off to the last minute.. but eh. could be that my course was gonna end that way either way tbh, could just be coincidental timing. I'm back in uni now to finish it up, so as long as I don't fuck it up this time......

26: What are you craving right now? aaah just some time with my friends and girlfriend, I've been busy lately and wish I could just take a day off and go catch a movie or play a game or something..

40: Have you ever walked outside completely naked? well, I'm sure I did as a kid yeah, but not in recent memory. I did go outside wearing nothing but shorts quite recently, but it was the dead of night and pouring rain, I doubt anyone saw me. my chest is really very hairy so I'm a bit self-conscious of being observed unless it's like a pool or beach or something. naked is out of the question :p

70: Is there anyone you would die for? not to be dramatic, but absolutely yeah. I have so many friends and coworkers that have such promising futures, if a gunman were to threaten them, I would 100% take a bullet for them.

thank you for the ask, TNT !! you triggered some Lore with that first one, sorry for the lengthy answer :p

#the-waifu-police #answer #late-night posting #personal

[factorialsfandoms]

Writer ask game! 1, 9, 11, 49

ALSO, I saw your tags on Silver’s CPR fic and… are you in healthcare or were just dragged into a very bad situation and had to do compressions because most people don’t recognize you have to break someone’s rib cage to do proper CPR

Not healthcare! I don't work now, and doubt I could do CPR properly any more because my joint stability in my arms was trashed by genetics, but 10-ish years ago I had a summer job as a lifeguard. And got really, really unlucky with what shift I was on. Not sure what happened - and don't want to know - as it happened in a pool a colleague was watching, but after I cleared both pools we swapped so he could answer questions from the call operator.

(Am very thankful I've never had to use the training we did for babies because that's terrifying just on the dolls.)

Now your number questions!

1. What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?)

All questions tricky, but after scrolling through my (Zelda, because I have too much) fic I'd probably pick Leviathan Legends? Its not the best, and I still need to finish anything else for the series, and is more representative of what my writing at least tries to me. I was a bit surprised by all the physical pain there, but then I'm 9 days into whumptober which has all been Zelda, and there's only 36 fics. So that's a quarter before I've even considered it ^^;

9. How do you find new fic to read?

First is subscription emails from ao3 or things people are reblogging/posting on tumblr to be found on my dash. Depending on if I'm actively looking (email) or it just happens (tumblr). After that, I tend to start looking from character tags (for LU, X-centric tags too). I have favourites whose tabs stay open on my phone, then sometimes I hop from those to another for the day's flavour. Then if there's a lot I haven't read I narrow it to completed fic and/or keywords/keytags like 'fluff' or 'angst with a happy ending'.

11. Are you partial to a certain character/pairing or are you more equal-opportunity? If you are partial to any character/pairing, why do you think that is?

Oh I'm definitely bias. I will play with whomever fits, but I'll tend towards whatever character I'm dangling from the toes. For Zelda stuff my tags currently go - Hyrule (24), Legend (12), Time (9), Sky (8), Warriors (8), non-LU Link (5), Wild (4), Twilight (3), Four (3), Great Fairies (2). Which really tells me I need to write some Wind fic. But then I'm mostly writing cruel things atm, so... I'd rather not angst the kid??? But I'll have a thing. Because he's a good boy and should have something! I... do have one idea for Wind PoV at least, but its for an incredibly au au I've been building. As for why I pick thing... Across fandoms I've tended to notice I drift towards characters with a lot of their details missing. Side characters with interesting tidbits never explored, ones whose lack of presence overshadows the narrative but are long dead... In other fandoms I also really love filling in blanks from canon? Missing scenes and stuff like that (less so Zelda, there's not /missing/ scenes in the same way as you get with film and books, even with LU), events you know happened but not how. Its a similar sort of thing. Hyrule's games give me a very neat framework with a lot of space to play in. Meanwhile Legend just has a very distinctive voice that's fun to dabble in sometimes. The others... Tend to get dragged into fics with one of them as convenient or needed, though Time, Sky, and Wars all have fics where they are the central character having emotions and doing things. As I had ideas. And I have some chaos for Four that's been slowly burning in my brain a long while. Pairing wise... Depends what works for what I'm writing. Even in fandoms where I ship I multiship. LU wise its Legend & Hyrule at the top, but that's as much an artefact of who I like writing most as anything. More you write people the more they show up together.

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

Theoretically I got my laptop out to today's whumptober prompt, but those get written on the day itself or not at all, and I haven't actually started yet. I have... A lot of WIPs, all of which get poked from time to time. But! Multiple times now has my brain be drawn to the fic summarised as "Princess Aurora's attempts to reconstruct the Legends of the Four Sword with only half-remembered folk stories of her youth and a scattering of pages found in the remains of the burnt-out royal library", so have a bit of that! This is from pretty late, but I tend to write the end of anything before the start.

But then, the Hero of Lightning pulled the ring from his hand. With the motion power cracked through the skies, lightning summoned to its hero's command. Preparing for more sorrow the Hero of Fire called out one last time; the Hero of Lightning's smirk became a softer smile as he looked upon his soul-brother, twisting the lightning to himself - and, more importantly, to the Hero of Darkness. For long had the Hero of Lightning been gathering magic into the ring, limiting the flow within himself in exchange for it passing undetected by the enemy's hands. And now he released it, not at the Demon Lord's back, but rather at the fifth hero, the Hero of Darkness. Realising what had occurred, the Demon Lord turned, throwing much of his power behind a single attack as he lunged at the Hero of Lightning. The smirk vanished into a scream as darkness tore through his chest, a single shot with every intent to kill. And yet, when he fell, there was yet a smile on the Hero of Lightning's bloodied lips; the Demon Lord was too late, and the deed already done.

#if someone gets stabbed between the ribs of a corset by broken weapons what do #ask and answer #i honestly remember very little of the actual happening #which is... probably for the best #fun fact - at the time I was trained if training for water rescue they taught you 5 breaths per cycle and everyone else 2 #also had cpr training when I was first aider for a LARP group which had all sorts of fun bonus questions #like #and quick ways to remove armour because you can't do CPR through plate mail #same goes for high corsets tbh #I can't imagine chest compressions working well through boning

[jess-moloney]

"This Nikki Nelms she’s always tagging and bragging about getting her work."

Nikki is a hairstylist to a lot of A-list Black celebrities in Hollywood. She follows Jess but I have never seen her mention or tag her before. Could be wrong but I saw Jess had commented on one of her recent posts and it had 1 like. I didn't see Nikki respond. How does she know these people? I don't see her hanging around industry events with any of these celebs. Does Jess tag people and hope they follow her? If she was helping with these photoshoots, wouldn't we see celebs and influencers tag or take photos with her? Or at the very least give her a thank you post. I think she goes off of who Renell knows and that is the extent of her networking. A couple will follow probably to be nice but other than that I don't see how she is doing this. All Jess has done is be around Jamie for two years.

She tagged Nikki in this post but Nikki didn't like the post or comment on it. I've seen her tag Nikki a handful of times but not a ton (for also allegedly being her manager). Unless Jess has some alternate management account where she's got a huge following and they are all following that (doubtful) then why isn't she posting more about her client and also getting any engagement from the client? The only reason I know that Jess got Nikki this job specifically (and it wasn't easy) but it's from this article. Which is also from 2022. But in her own post for this same thing with the same photo Nikki does not thank or tag Jess for the job/opportunity. Jess liked the post but didn't comment.

If she is managing this woman and getting her these jobs, why no thank you? Why didn't Jess say anything on her post? Why can't you find one picture of them together? I doubt Jess is getting her every single job she gets because I'm sure if Jess was then she'd be getting thank yous and shout-outs and everything else. To be fair to Nikki, most of her account is just a portfolio of her work (with a few videos here and there) but none of them have Jess in them. If I had such a great manager who was pretty much fueling my entire career I'd want people to know about it, thank them, and give her more attention than just a follow on social media. I'm sure word of mouth is getting Nikki way more jobs than Jess and her "Management" is anyway.

V Magazine doesn't follow Jess, which you think they would if she's working with them to get a hairstylist there for photo shoots. So none of that adds up either.

Her account seriously reminds me of teenage girls who post celebs and stuff and tag them to get likes/attention. I mean that's essentially what she's doing. With the addition of the #IceStudios so if you happen to search #IceStudios (guessing no one does) you'll see people in there like Lily-Rose Depp and stuff but only because Jess tagged unrelated posts to that tag and not because they have anything to do with Jess.

As we learned recently, from the pool of Jess stans who think Jess is a celebrity photographer, people don't bother to read captions which doesn't surprise me and so this is at best intentional misrepresentation at worst, false advertising. She also gets away with it because she's a nobody. If Ice Studios were successful in any way, these celebs she's tagging to this hashtag would either speak up and say something nice about the brand or they'd be like "Why the fuck are you tagging me like you were part of this project?". That's yet another thing that proves she's a nobody and has nothing to do with these people.

It's time her stans face the fact that she's not only a fraud but she's purposefully misleading people with intellectual property she has no business using to (pathetically) make Ice Studios look like it's more popular than it is.

#jess moloney #ice studios #mail

[squeet-smooch]

Tak. Mitten is making me write this version of this note.

I have been feeling incredibly unwell about a lot lately, and over time it has not improved much if at all. I cannot tell what's real, and i don't know if i can even believe what I'm experiencing is a trauma response or a valid observation of my environment.

I just want you to know how much i appreciate everything you've done for me and my system. You've genuinely brought me to such a beautiful, safe, and exciting new environment that i do believe is going to hold incredible opportunities and provide plenty of room to heal.

Unfortunately i am sick, there was never a time where i wasn't. I do not know how to accept kindness or ask for help or even how to verbalize what's going on. I know any message i send is going to leave out major information and i tend to hyperfoxus on the wrong stuff.

But to the best of my ability i do want to talk about and express it, and heal. I want to have a back and forth where we can both be honest and feel better together after, regardless of initial discomfort. Things always feel better after hard talks.

Getting directly into it, i genuinely hold the belief that you're tired of me, regretting everything we've had or agreed to, and do not want me around anymore. I firmly feel like you want nothing to do with me, and have withdrawn mostly purposefully and wish to be more away from me.

I believe I've done nothing but hurt you again and again since we met, and that I'm not the person you thought i was when you spoke about wanting to marry a while back. You did say you wanted to move slow after my February visit, and I'm more than thrilled to gently move forward in an easy, soft relationship where both of us are unsure and loving.

I am getting more and more scared though, that i am right. That now that I'm here, you realize somehow I'm not right for you, and that you would rather break it off or have me take a lot of space from you. I've pulled back significantly, not because i don't want you, or to be close with you, but because i believe it's what is going to help you. I miss you intensively, but the thought of approaching you with it makes me feel like I'm pushing you, like I'm being awful. I feel like i am encroaching on all, every single one of your boundaries and proving to be a terrible roommate, just as i feared before moving.

I worry about tossing and turning every night, keeping you both awake, so i come to the bed very late after I've exhausted myself so i know i won't move so much, or after I'm sure you guys must be in deeper sleep. Or i don't come in at all. Because i am not accustomed to sleeping with anyone, certainly not since kaleb and even further back to when i was very small, where i was ridiculed for essentially sleep fighting.

I cannot rest. Although it is all i have time to do anymore. I feel as if I'm losing resource after resource, and I'm terrified yet i cannot ask to fix it.

The pool is closed, probably will be til next year. My heart breaks over it but what kind of immature person would i be if i didn't cope? I've been out of deodorant for a while now, and i would be okay just to borrow Tailgate's that he said i could use, that he left here, until i could buy my own, but it's low too. I'm low on shampoo, and also conditioner but obviously that one is not near as important as soap and i have replacements for that if i really need it. I lost my ID, which i desperately need for literally everything. I lost use of my sunflower debit card because of a simple mistake that was very avoidable. Things like this keep happening and i am extremely triggered by it all the time.

I feel constantly triggered like that. Like somehow I'm still not safe, like nothing i own is safe and no matter how hard i try i cannot protect my things or the people i love.

I also truly believe that any mention of any of my issues is not only irrelevant, but inappropriate. Regardless of what it is or reason for sharing, and while i did say something triggering over message and you did use a gentle tone indicator, it feels to me like proof of a bigger issue.

Too much of what makes me, me is something that triggers you terribly. My identity itself is just something that doesn't line up with your lifestyle and i don't know how to find compromise, i do not know how to keep both of us safe. I want to make you happy and i am sick to my stomach thinking that i cannot. Despite anything.

I don't even know if you'll see these words, i don't know if we'll be able to talk, or when. I don't know if i have the strength to tell you anything. I have been trying to get a chance to talk for weeks now and things just get harder.

I want us to be close again. I don't want to come off as jealous or needy but i want to be physical and affectionate and cuddle, hold hands, kiss, anything at all again. I feel like I've already lost you and everything wrong right now is all my fault. But again, i can't even tell if it's real. It feels entirely real to me. I cannot see past my own nose and the pain that burns my organs out, but it very well could be the cortisol my body has come to rely on. The trauma response that kept me around for 22 years. Everything is too big and i cannot carry it, I've always carried it alone and had to make it through. I know im not supposed to believe that's how it is now, but i still do. I don't know how to see recovery anymore, and I'm scared you're going to see me as anti-recovery and toxic if i give in. I never just give up on my healing, that's a code of honor I've pledged with Mitten time and time again, and we dont betray each other. But i do feel stagnant, and that I'm backpedaling into some really dark territory. I don't want to backpedal, i don't want to possibly relapse into my darker mindsets and coping mechanisms, but i cannot turn it off. I cannot ease it and nothing has been helping.

Words of reassurance from everyone around, all the time, including you a lot, but i don't feel like you guys actually believe in me. And you're waiting to be proven right about quiet thoughts you carry.

I'm irresponsible. I'm mean. I'm selfish and needy and ignorant. I'm careless. I make everything about myself regardless of anything. I feel like no one truly respects me or ever could. And i just don't know what to do or think or say.

I've written again and again to try to verbalize things, I've tried to gently start conversations or ask if i could help in some way, how to improve whats so unwell right now, but nothing is coming out correctly and it just feels worse than it has this whole time.

I'm very sorry for every way I've possibly hurt you, and I'm sorry if what I've said is ever unwarranted or wrong. I love you with my whole heart and i hope that things can improve soon, and quickly. You deserve better than this. (And Mitten insists that i do too but i can't help but struggle to believe that)

#do not rb #vent #negative

[tocinephile]

If it's not EEAAO night at the Oscars I'm going to riot...

It's Oscar Sunday and while I've found this entire Award Show season rather boring, one can't help but feel a little bit of pride the way Asians have dominated in wins. A year ago who would have thought a multiverse immigrant action comedy drama written by the Daniels with an Southeast Asian led cast would be the favoured film to take Best Picture?? Everything Everywhere All At Once has been a runaway favourite and Best Picture is just one of the many categories where it is a heavy contender tonight.

Let me get off this EEAAO rah-rah train for a second though because as much gushing as there is for the film, I've also heard the honest opinions of some that they don't love this movie. On one hand, it's a multiverse film staring one of the world's greatest (and most underrated) action stars - Michelle Yeoh, a beloved scream queen (and so much more) Jamie Lee Curtis, and Short Round - Ke Huy Quan - all grown up. That just screams entertainment value. However if you've ever had to explain the multiverse to a parent or grandparent you might see where the story falters in universal appeal. But wait! It's also an immigrant story about generational friction, one of its main characters is LGBTQ+, and it's in three languages (English and two dialects of Chinese). It's truly a movie with universal appeal!

That said, I will admit of the Best Picture nominees EEAAO is perhaps only somewhere in my top 4. I've seen 8 of the 10 nominated films (opting to skip Avatar and Women Talking in theatres, I would have watched the latter if I could have streamed it). While not overly enamored by any of the selections, The Fablemans would be my favourite followed by a three-way tie between EEAAO, Top Gun: Maverick, and All Quiet on the Western Front (which I enjoyed a lot more than I expected I would)

Before I get into my picks and general thoughts about the films I have seen, I want to thank Alex from the Dufferin Film Society who is leading the charge on the Oscar Pool that I've participated in for tonight. I've typically been part of a pool headed up by a very enthusiastic colleague at the office but that pool is sadly no more. Thankfully I've been invited to join in this new one even though I'm not sure I could point to Dufferin County on a map. (Sorry Alex)

I would also like to take a moment to mention a big movie enthusiast from Toronto whose absence is felt this year: Harvey Lalonde. Harvey was a mainstay at virtually every Toronto film festival, along with many other arts & cultural events, he's also been a part of Sundance, and Fantasia in Montreal. If you've ever attended a film festival in Toronto, Harvey has likely directed you to your theatre, ripped your tickets, or played some part in your moviegoing experience. He was most often at Bloor Hot Docs, the TIFF Midnight Madness venues most notably Ryerson Theatre, and TIFF Bell Lightbox amongst many other venues. I've volunteered at TIFF and other film festivals since 1999 and Harvey was already a regular when I started. A very sociable man who loved to talk about the festivals happening in the city and the films he'd seen or was excited to see, Harvey always took every opportunity to say hello and chat. Harvey had a stroke in February and passed away shortly after.

I mention Harvey here because our second last conversation was on Facebook messenger during the Golden Globes back in January. As you might be aware, I often tweet during award shows and converse via SMS and IM with friends. While I choose to watch in my home as opposed to gathering with friends (as I did in my 20's) I actually find I do a lot of socializing albeit via my phone, and I cherish all the award show chats I have with my friends. Harvey and I discussed our dislike of the host, which awards we had predicted, and the ceremony in general. I'm going to miss these conversations with him. I'd love to know what he thinks of my 2023 Oscar picks.

As usual I'm going to break it down between who I think "will win", "should win", and "my overall pick"...

BEST PICTURE

All Quiet on the Western Front Avatar: The Way of Water The Banshees of Inisherin Elvis Everything Everywhere All at Once The Fabelmans Tár Top Gun: Maverick Triangle of Sadness Women Talking

Will win: Everything Everywhere All at Once

Should win: Everything Everywhere All at Once

My pick: Everything Everywhere All at Once

As I mentioned The Fabelmans is my favourite amongst the list but it feels old-fashion stodgy Hollywood to give this one to The Fabelmans. A million films like it have won before and Spielberg probably doesn't have any more space left in his home for more awards.

In terms of what I thought of the films themselves, All Quiet on the Western Front surpassed my expectations, The Banshees of Inisherin was interesting but I failed to see its brilliance, Elvis was probably my least favourite Baz Luhrmann film (I never saw Australia), Tar was a feat of filmmaking (that I will likely never sit through again), Top Gun was one of the most enjoyable films I saw in 2022, Triangle of Sadness did not appeal to me (and I've once and for all decided to stop watching Ostlund's films despite everyone's urging).

DIRECTOR

Todd Field, Tár Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin Ruben Östlund, Triangle of Sadness Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans

Will win: Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, EEAAO

Should win: Todd Field, Tar

My pick: Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, EEAAO

Not that I will be the slightest bit upset when the Daniels win! They deserve it but Tar would be nothing without Todd Field's direction (and Cate Blanchett's performance). A part of me also thinks it would be nice to see Spielberg win for the film based on his own life. (I feel like there's in a joke in there about "if you can't direct your own life, what can you direct??"...)

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Austin Butler, Elvis Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin Brendan Fraser, The Whale Paul Mescal, Aftersun Bill Nighy, Living

Will win: Could be either Austin Butler or Brendan Fraser

Should win: Brendan Fraser, The Whale

My pick: Austin Butler, Elvis

I had a friend tell me that he doesn't believe in rewarding an actor for putting on a prosthetic. I mean, he has a point but I actually think that Brendan Fraser could have pulled this one off even without a fat suit. I didn't even like Elvis all that much but I guess Austin Butler's performance was one of the strongest aspects of the film. The category has been divided throughout all the awards, so this could go either way.

Bill Nighy was very good in Living, a film that's worth checking out. It once again reminded me the similarities in attitudes and behaviours between the Japanese and British that just make these adaptations of Japanese source material into Brit production so seamless.

Colin Farrell (and Brendan Gleeson) are also great in their roles, my thoughts on their film aside.

Paul Mescal was fine but Aftersun as a film eluded me, I failed to see what was so special about it. (I will note that I have no relationship with my own father so maybe that's why I don't understand the appeal of the film)

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Cate Blanchett, Tár Ana de Armas, Blonde Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Will win: Michelle Yeoh

Should win: Michelle Yeoh (I guess I wouldn't be sad if Cate Blanchett won either)

My pick: Michelle Yeoh

I've made no secret over the years of my love for Michelle Yeoh, she's a martial arts legend who's demonstrated her skills alongside the best, staring opposite Jacky Chan, Donnie Yen, Jet Li, etc.

Tar had a long running time and was carried by its main character and for that alone Cate Blanchett deserves recognition, but I guess she's had plenty of recognition in the past.

Michelle Williams seems to have a tendency of choosing certain roles, frequently fragile and inwardly troubled, so naturally she's perfect in The Fabelmans.

I made a decision that I wasn't going to watch Blonde because I just don't like Marilyn Munroe, so I won't be weighing in on Ana de Armas thought I typically like her.

I am going to watch To Leslie after I finish up this post.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway Judd Hirsch, The Fabelmans Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Will win: Ke Huy Quan

Should win: Ke Huy Quan

My pick: Ke Huy Quan

I'm really looking forward to seeing Ke Huy Quan become an Oscar winner after so many decades of struggle to just get roles in Hollywood. 100% I'm going to cry when it happens.

(I guess I will also note here that I've not had an opportunity to see Causeway, I missed it at TIFF 2022)

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Hong Chau, The Whale Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Will win: Angela Bassett or Jamie Lee Curtis

Should win: Hong Chau

My pick: Angela Bassett

This was a hard one for me to pick. While I liked Jamie Lee Curtis' performance, Angela Bassett did have a much meatier role in Wakanda Forever. But let's take a moment to recognize that there is not one but TWO Asians nominated in this category (plus a black woman, making the category POC dominated!), which is amazing to me. Hong Chau's performance was the best in my opinion.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Banshees of Inisherin Everything Everywhere All at Once The Fabelmans Tár Triangle of Sadness

Will win: Everything Everywhere All at Once

Should win: Everything Everywhere All at Once

My pick: Everything Everywhere All at Once

I will hand it to the nominees this year, every screenplay here except for The Fabelmans was indeed original! None of these were conventional stories, that's for sure!

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

All Quiet on the Western Front Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Living Top Gun: Maverick Women Talking

Will win: Women Talking

Should Win: not sure, probably Women Talking

My pick: Women Talking

I chose Women Talking without having seen it, based on the belief that it's a powerful story to put on screen and my faith in Sarah Polley's writing. This was reinforced by a bit of web scouring. But I'm still talking out of my ass :)

I'm also not entirely sure I understand what Top Gun: Maverick was adapted from...?

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

All Quiet on the Western Front Argentina, 1985 Close EO The Quiet Girl

Will win: All Quiet on the Western Front

Should win: All Quiet on the Western Front

My pick: All Quiet on the Western Front

Argentina, 1985 also picked up some awards, I almost put that as my pick but then, quite honestly, I watched the film and changed my mind.

This is one of the rare times when I've seen every foreign film nominee and I didn't connect with Argentina, 1985 nor the Quiet Girl, though I would pick the latter if I had to choose.

All Quiet on the Western Front and Close are my picks, the latter has a very genuine portrayal of youth dealing with grief, I found it particularly moving. As for EO, it has a donkey for a main character, how can that not be endearing? Between EO and the Banshees of Inisherin, it's the year of donkeys in films and I'm all for it.

ANIMATED FEATURE

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio Marcel the Shell With Shoes On Puss in Boots: The Last Wish The Sea Beast Turning Red

Will win: Pinocchio

Should win: not sure... but Turning Red might be nice

My pick: Pinocchio

Look, I liked Pinocchio, it's got del Toro's stamp of slightly darker storytelling and his fantastical imagery, what's not to like? However I only saw it and Turning Red so I'm hardly in a position to judge. I really did like Turning Red though.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

All That Breathes All the Beauty and the Bloodshed Fire of Love A House Made of Splinters Navalny

Will win: maybe Navalny?

Should win: Fire of Love

My pick: Fire of Love

Again, I've seen more than usual within this category this year, having watched every film except All That Breathes. Fire of Love was my favourite but I'm reading that Navalny got the most attention (not surprisingly so given the topic, plus it was a good film)

ORIGINAL SCORE

All Quiet on the Western Front Babylon The Banshees of Inisherin Everything Everywhere All at Once The Fabelmans

Will win: Babylon?

Should win: Babylon

My pick: Babylon

Sadly I didn't love Babylon by a long shot, but Justin Hurwitz can do no wrong!

ORIGINAL SONG

“Applause,” Tell It Like a Woman “Hold My Hand,” Top Gun: Maverick “Lift Me Up,” Black Panther: Wakanda Forever “Naatu Naatu,” RRR “This Is a Life,” Everything Everywhere All at Once

Will win: “Naatu Naatu,” RRR

Should win: “Naatu Naatu,” RRR

My pick: “Naatu Naatu,” RRR

This is another fine example of Asians receiving recognition. I'm loving that Naatu Naatu, which I've only heard snippets of but sounds great in my opinion, is dominating in this category over a bunch of famous singers whose songs are frankly all terrible. I really hope they're not going to perform the ceremony, but at least I'll get a lot of laundry and dishes done during the show if they do.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

All Quiet on the Western Front Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths Elvis Empire of Light Tár

Will win: All Quiet on the Western Front

Should win: All Quiet on the Western Front or Bardo

My pick: All Quiet on the Western Front

I tried very hard to find some redeeming factors in Bardo, I wanted the story to loop around brilliantly somehow and being struck by genius, but overall I was there for the visuals. I missed my chance to see this in theatres and part of me is glad, but also there is regret because seeing it on the big screen would have likely been the most enjoyment I could get out of it.

Empire of Light is also underrated and understated, it's actually a beautiful tale with a elegant nostalgic setting and every bit a love letter to cinema as The Fabelmans was. More people should be seeing this film.

COSTUME DESIGN

Babylon Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Elvis Everything Everywhere All at Once Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris

Will win: Elvis

Should win: Babylon or Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

My pick: Elvis

I know next to nothing about Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, my bad. Whereas I didn't find the first third of Black Panther that interesting and so would often be looking at the production design and costumes on screen. I have huge issues with Babylon and historical accuracy (no matter what articles have said, there's nothing historically accurate about the wardrobe) but that's not exactly a requirement when it comes to outstanding designs. Just from personal tastes, I prefer Babylon and Wakanda forever over Elvis for costumes, but most web predictions favour it to win Best Costume.

EDITING

The Banshees of Inisherin Elvis Everything Everywhere All at Once Tár Top Gun: Maverick

Will win: Everything Everywhere All at Once

Should win: Everything Everywhere All at Once

My pick: Everything Everywhere All at Once

I guess the point of Bardo is that there are no edits...? Because the decision to not make edits or to purposely make them look seemless seems like an editing decision in itself... but that's fine if no one agrees. EEAAO does have excellent editing, and I guess Baz Luhrmann never makes a badly edited film (him and David Fincher I feel...)

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

All Quiet on the Western Front The Batman Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Elvis The Whale

Will win: Elvis

Should win: probably Elvis

My pick: Elvis

Make up stands out when it's dramatic, or transformative, or recreates something with great historical accuracy... and I guess Elvis does all of the above.

PRODUCTION DESIGN

All Quiet on the Western Front Avatar: The Way of Water Babylon Elvis The Fabelmans

Will win: Elvis? Babylon? All Quiet on the Western Front?

Should win: Babylon... or Elvis

My pick: Babylon

Again my pick of Babylon over Elvis is a matter of personal preference. I'd be rather irritated if Avatar (which should receive a visual effects award for sure but green screen alone isn't production design) or the Fabelmans win.

SOUND

All Quiet on the Western Front Avatar: The Way of Water The Batman Elvis Top Gun: Maverick

Will win: All Quiet on the Western Front

Should win: All Quiet on the Western Front

My pick: All Quiet on the Western Front

I actually heard All Quiet on the Western Front before I ever saw it. True story! I was volunteering at TIFF 2023 during a screening and while situated in the underbelly of the theatre there are speakers which broadcast the sound being heard inside the theatre and so we listened in on a lot of intricate gunfire and explosions and it left an impression!

VISUAL EFFECTS

All Quiet on the Western Front Avatar: The Way of Water The Batman Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Top Gun: Maverick

Will win: Avatar

Should win: Avatar

My Pick: Avatar

I mean, who can actually compete with Avatar here..?

SHORT FILM CATEGORIES

I didn't see a single one of the nominated shorts this year so I guessed (likely very poorly), here's what's on my ballot:

ANIMATED SHORT My Year of Dicks

LIVE-ACTION SHORT Le Pupille DOCUMENTARY SHORT Stranger at the Gate

I will be back with after tonight's ceremonies! Happy Oscar Night!

[kaetchup]

rei sakuma idol story 3

rei’s third idol story, and my third real post on tumblr! i know that this one’s already localized on engstars (but hey, not everyone’s ascending those idol ranks) but i have a lot of love and it's gotta go somewhere! gimme a follow or a like or uhhh... anything! if you want more of what i do (i apologize, dear reader, i still do not know how tumblr works). as usual, i've made some minor tweaks/redone translation from the localization for readability.

♪ obligatory disclaimer! none of this is mine, i’m just sharing it for my love of our idol boys. all content belongs to happy elements ♪

rei: Sigh... Daytime activities sure are demanding... My body cannot stand the searing summer heat.

Here I am in the Sky Garden for a break from work... Yet the sun scorches me to mere ashes the moment I step out from the shade.

It seems that the only resting place for a vampire is still a coffin... I should have never been beguiled by my impulses.

kanata: Puka, puka... ♪

rei: Oh...? Is that Shinkai in the water or am I hallucinating from the heat?

kanata: Rei, it's rude to call others a "hallucination"~ I am right here, alive and breathing.

There are not many places in this "building" where I can "douse myself", so I often come here to "puka puka"... ♪

The animals in this "pool" are really cute ~♪ Look, there's a "turtle" ♪

rei: How adorable... I hope it may live as long as vampires do.

I didn't recognize that it was you swimming in this pool, Shinkai. My apologies.

I hadn't had a clue that you would be here, as I rarely go out during the day.

To think that I had once been effortlessly omniscient of everything that went on in Yumenosaki...

kanata: Hehe, it's not good to be "inhuman", you know~?

However, we have become more "human"... So let's lay low for the time being... ♪

rei: However, Shinkai, I think it is a bit ill-mannered to douse yourself regardless of the occasion...?

kanata: Details don't matter. "Humans" have their own "ways" too.

rei: An answer in this light, huh... You are a handful, Shinkai.

However, I am aware that if we were to be worshipped again, all efforts we have made would evaporate into futility.

We are able to more or less acclimatize to this world precisely because we are blessed with such precious friends. I'm sure that this is how we should be.

kanata: That is great. I heard that you have been "busy" with "agency" work these days.

So I was "worried". Are you busy fulfuilling every "request" from others again? Are you being seen as a "monster" again?

rei: Kekeke, I appreciate your concern for me, Shinkai ♪

But rest assured. I won't make the same mistake again.

I'm taking an elegant lunch break just like a normal human being now ♪

kanata: Hehe, "elegance" is great~ I'm also "elegantly" "dousing myself"... ♪

Now that you are taking a "break", would you like some "tea", Rei?

I "brought" some "iced tea"(1) with me because of the hot weather today... ♪

rei: Really? How thoughtful of you to have prepared iced tea and to have even brought a bottle here. You're on a literal mini-vacation.

kanata: The "human" body is mostly "water", so a "refreshing" drink can relieve the fatigue in your "body".

Just kidding... I "used" the technique Souma taught me to make this "tea".

And that felt fun. I feel like I have become part of "the sea" ...♪

Hehe. There is nothing special about it, but please help yourself... ♪

rei: Thank you, Shinkai. I'll gladly accept.

Gulp, gulp... ♪

Phew, I'm coming back to life. Having a friend sure is great.

It has been a while since we Five Eccentrics were able to share our time and laughter... Yet, our bond has transformed into our friendship and it persists til today.

Although few opportunities present themselves for us five to meet these days, it may be a good idea for us to gather and reminisce.

kanata: You are right. Shu is "abroad" now. Much like the case with RYUSEITAI, it is difficult for the five of us to get together.

How about we "contact" everyone and suggest a "reunion" of the "Five Eccentrics"?

rei: Oh, that's a wonderful idea, Shinkai.

It would be impossible for me to call Itsuki through paper cup phones because he's abroad, isn't it? Would you be so kind as to call him on my behalf?

kanata: Really~? Do you still not know how to use a "smartphone"? It is "surprisingly" easy.

rei: I was joking. I am well aware of how to use a mobile phone.

Yet my hands are occupied with work right now. I would be grateful if you could help me with this, Shinkai.

kanata: Hehe, leave it to me then. I have always wanted a chance to be a "host".

I will "contact" Wataru and Nacchan- and of course, I will also book a "place" for us ♪

I will have us meet at night since you will be joining us, Rei ♪

rei: Kekeke, how considerate of you... ♪ Please do, Shinkai.

Well, well. That aside, Shinkai, I can't believe you would offer to organize our reunion...

I suppose you are putting effort into your role as a member of society.

kanata: Just like how you are putting effort into "agency" work, Rei.

I have been studying all kinds of things as a "member of society" lately.

It was fun being a "high school student", but the "world" outside, like a "vast ocean", is also very interesting ♪

rei: Kekeke. I, too, will not idly stand by... ♪ With my seniority being my sole advantage, I might as well exert myself so I may not be a burden to those around me ♪

Please let me know when you have decided on the date of our reunion. I will make myself availible that day at all events. Let us take delight in an all-night conversation then.

Hibiki, Itsuki, and Sasasaki... THey have, with no doubt, grown up like you, Shinkai. I'm already anticipating great pleasure from our meeting ♪

kanata: Hehe, a "reunion" is exciting, right, Rei? ♪

translator’s note:

(1) this is localized as "cold brew" which i thought was super weird considering kana calls it tea immediately afterward. honestly, this was kinda the reason i wanted to start doing translations, 'cause of things like this. anyway, i changed it to "iced tea", as i thought it would make the most sense, for the following reasons

i never quite thought of souma as a starbucks fiend, coffee doesn't really fit his character. unless i'm wrong. in which, please tell me-

"cold brew", as in cold brew coffee, is not brewed (just steeped! it's what makes cold brew so much stronger than hot brew, it's got more time with the beans, yk?), and therefore would have been a problem when kana says it's a brewed beverage.

i think iced tea has a more "refreshing" connotation than iced coffee. don't you?

however, i will say that the image of kana in a pond with a frappucino is incredible. alternatively, maybe he's a pink drink kinda guy!

as always, thank you bunches for reading. hugs and kisses!

p.s. feel free to shoot me a message, a story you'd like translated, or an ask! i'd love to talk to you all :)

#rei sakuma #enstars #ensemble stars #idol story