#but i'd end up writing a thesis lmao

[milksockets]

why scan?

scanning is something i've done for probably about 12 years now (i'm ancient, for this site), with varying degrees of regularity, intensity, etc. it has ratcheted up since the dawn of 2023, though, which begs the question: why? why put so much time into what could not-wrongly be considered a passive activity, hunched over a piece of clunky machinery with the express purpose of preserving others' creations? the answers are several, and fascinating (not really).

i am a [sober] drug addict. anything i pursue, consume, create--more often than not--ends up taking on addictive qualities. i'll eat the same specific food item for a month, then never want to see, let alone taste it, again. i'll listen to one song on repeat for days until i'd rather hear nails on a chalkboard than have it shuffle on and assault my ears. one of the reasons that my scanning has increased in volume recently is that i acquired library cards to the 3 nyc library systems: nypl, brooklyn, and queens. as soon as i was able to, i pillaged + plundered those fine centers of learning, leaving any given library with as many hefty scan-worthy books as i could [barely] carry. here, finally, was a *free* way of obtaining more + more + more visual media to consume.

2023 saw me get my first legal, full-time job. as such, my adjusting to that hellish reality resulted in a steep decline in my own personal creative output. collaging, writing, and rapping all fell to the wayside as i slowly acclimated to a life of work that almost everyone else my age has known for over a decade is generally unbearable + detrimental to the maintenance of outside pursuits. in times of famine within my own artistic harvest, scanning, archiving, and sharing others' work is a means of feeling as though i am still contributing to the global oeuvre.

there’s an element of losing my mental self in a series of physical motions that becomes almost automatic after some time. “zoning out” is not something endemic to my daily life; if anything, i’m almost always too zoned in. relief is necessary.  especially considering the shitshow this past year has been in terms of my personal life.

i am a product of capitalism’s cultivating a craving for constant consumption. 

it seems that visual content is only going to continue to get more + more uninspired. has everything been done? did social media ruin it all? in any case, i feel a need to document the past. to a degree, it’s my version of doomsday prepping. (god forbid books go extinct altogether.) 

i have always gravitated towards solitary activities. this topic could be a thesis in its own right.

i thrive on external validation. this reliance is something i’ve improved upon over the past several years, but it hasn’t been altogether extinguished. even though the materials i scan are not of my own creation, i nevertheless feel a vague pride in showcasing them. occasional appreciation thereof satisfies this fixation on others’ attention, albeit in a diluted form. 

i am fortunate to live in a city bursting to the gills with cultural institutions. i am also lucky enough to have some disposable income that can be directed toward fulfilling my ravenous desire for visual media. 

((i keep getting messages about the specifics of my scanner + "process":

i have a cheap ass hp envy 6055e and i just use the software it comes with.

there's nothing special or fancy happening here, and i could definitely invest in a better and/or a large format scanner, etc. but i really just don't care enough and it's not like i'm getting paid for this lmao))

#words

[slaytanic]

Hey, so um, I'm reappearing. Again.

It's been almost a year and it's N7 Day, so I'm pretty excited today. I missed being here and now I couldn't find a better day to come back.

Just to clarify, leaving Tumblr wasn't out of the blue for me. I'm not going to find nicer words, because I was hurt and I'm still pissed. Somebody stole my art, my sketches, my ideas. Literally, they did the same things as me (but some time after I posted it) and I know it wasn't accidental, because they are following me, so I'm sure they've seen it. I don't want to shame anyone here, people can always get the inspo from you, and it's flattering, but not when it's clearly sketched over something you did. My heart was breaking and I'm not really trying to be the drama queen here, because it's not what Tumblr is for, and for my own good, I decided to leave this app for a while. I don't know if I'd be sharing anything that I was/ I'm/ I'll be working on because of that, but that person sees my post and maybe rethink things, because I know they draw over other people's art, so I wasn't the only one :))

Buuut, let's do a quick update on my personal life, because I wasn't crying for the whole year because of situation above lmao. I finished my university, I think I was away for 2 exam session and I literally had the hardest exam I've ever taken but I've passed and no more exams and lectures for me! I just need to write and defend my thesis and boom, another degree is mine hehe. I've been traveling and moving around last year, so I ended up in Warsaw eventually and I was working in CDPR. Yeah, so my name's in the Cyberpunk's ending credits and I'm still too overwhelmed with joy to play the game and see for myself my own name there (thanks to my colleague, who sent me the screenshot of my name there haha).

TLDR: I'm happy and I'm good.

I know a year is a long time and I'm so excited to find out what y'all have been up to!!

And happy N7 Day y'all!! 🖤

#slaytanic speaks #offtopic #im not just gonna post like nothing happened lmao #so just a quick life update hehe

[alovelyburn]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 🤍

I am the absolute least prolific writer of all time, so five is a massive chunk of my output in the past 15 years, lmao. And everything before that is like in the dust bin of history. BUT OKAY LET'S DO IT.

The Painted Stage: I think this is my most popular one? It's probably my favorite premise among all my various things. I also have very fond memories of staying up until like 10am on Valentine's Day trying to finish this one on time. What happens when you turn Berserk into more of a Devilman fanfic than it already is. [Berserk, Griffith/Guts]

When the Feast Is Over: I had a hard time deciding between this and Sail the Ocean Round, which is kind of a sister fic to this the way Painted Stage is a sister fic to When Night Comes Down. Dio AU from hell. [JJBA, Dio/Jonathan]

Before the World Falls Down: Until very recently this was the longest thing I'd ever written. Trivia. Anyway, this was my one and only Buffy fanfic and a bit of a thesis statement on what I loved about the series. It's OOOLD and it was completely random even when I wrote it since I've never actually been in the Buffy fandom. Romance and the Apocalypse. [BtVS/AtS, Buffy/Angel/End of Days]

Recoil & Grace: I'm not a big modern AU Berserk person, so I have no idea where this came from. I'll always be proud of myself for this one, though, because it was very technically challenging to pull off. It was also one of the rare times I've written substantial Griffith POV sections, and he's my favorite character to write, so. Regrets, Romance, and Reincarnation. [Berserk, Griffith/Guts]

When Night Comes Down: Is it recency bias? Is it because it ate 6 months of my life and messed up my fandom routine so badly I still haven't recovered and I desperately want to believe it was worth it? Maybe. It's still the one I'd write a sequel to if I wanted to write a sequel and felt like dealing with NeoGriffith discourse. Monster love story. [Berserk, Griffith/Guts]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ASKING. That was fun, ahah.

#ariel writes about berserk #ask #ofdemonsandangels

[pearlywritings]

hii margo!! saw you in dash and thought i'd drop by! any holidays plan this end of the year? i hope things aren't too busy on your side with work/school/any obligations you have, and you'll get to relax even just for a bit!! stay hydrated and take care!

My dear Mei, hi! Happy to see you here <3

Honestly, no specific holiday plans. Except for finally resting. The only two things I am sure of is that I am gonna hang out a lot with my bestie who returns from another city (she attends college there) and we are gonna hang out a lot cause we ought to celebrate our passing birthdays (mine in November and hers in December). And I am also going to meet up with my group of friends (from the times of my high school) to celebrate the New Year and exchange gifts as in Secret Santa! I've already started shopping for my girl and have been having fun!

Sadly when it comes to work and studies - it's a mess. I am seriously considering taking an academic leave (a year when you do not study and can concentrate on dealing with all the assignments you didn't have time to fulfill). Due to the nature of my work, which keeps me very busy and tired, the only thing I want when I return home is to sleep and not write my Master's thesis. And we have a form of control on the progress of this shit, and I will definitely not pass it this term. And as for work - I've finished the draft of January's exams' schedule on Friday. And I still need to make one for extramural courses and then in January start working on a second term's one.

This is literally a never-ending cycle sigh

But I am trying to stay positive! So, hopefully, everything will play out well in the end.

Oh, almost forgot! I also bought a lot of dragon-themed brooches to gift my dean's office collegues and collegues from my previous place of work - Chinese studies department. Cause I am a dragon by the year of birth, so the next year is my year hehe. Though it appears I am an improper dragon - I'd rather give gifts than hoard them lmao.

#✨asks #pearlsonal

[protect-daniel-james]

ao3 wrapped: 3, 5, 15, 17, 18, 30!

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

I have to say The stands of Villa Park. It opened a whole new territory for me. I'm shocked I never thought of this concept (ha ha) earlier. I'm shocked I didn't think of this when writing my academic thesis - because I was writing exactly about this, the connection between a club and a stadium and its city. That's probably why I also feel so strongly about these Enfermo del fútbol series.

And, honestly, I just writing these stories about Unai, because....it would explain so much of his behavior, but also make him truly special. And, without getting too personal, I think writing about Unai like this, and reading a little bit on conceptum/objectum sexuality, sort of also worked for me personally as a way of...realizing that sexuality and being sexual is nobody else's business and you can do whatever you like/want to try? Like, it's your body and your fantasy and your imagination, and if you want to fuck whatever you'd like...go for it? Unai staying behind at the stadium, dropping to his knees and kissing the random seat does not hurt anyone, and it makes him happy. So why not? Better than Jamie Jamie cousin Jamie doing A Bad Thing....and needing to control another person. Unai's relationships with clubs, football, stadiums, trophies is definitely healthier and more equal lmao. I just love that. I love how it's like a completely different level of fanfiction?

And yeah, I'm also shocked and happy that other people read these Unai fics! Because I know they are weird, I'm well aware of that. But I hope they are also somewhat wholesome?

5. What work of yours got more feedback than expected?

I was always surprised at the amount of kudos and comments for the Grizione fics - because there's very few works for them in English (although they have so much material and seem to be quite a popular and reasonable ship!) so I just always assumed maybe people weren't into them. On the contrary, maybe me being one of the few who write for them in English makes it easier to harvest the kudos and hits and comments, he he. Honestly, I stopped looking at hits and kudos the moment I started writing obscure ships - I know that the number of hits and kudos does not guarantee a quality fic. And I'd much rather write an obscure fic about something I'm really into than force myself to write Messi/Neymar or something similar that I just don't find interesting at all.

And the three Scamacca/Paquetá fics! It was a very random pair - and it will never come back again lmao but it was fun. I always got such angry vibes from Gianluca - and Paquetá with his dances was the perfect foil. Funnily enough, I started the year with writing a bit of piss kink with them....and look where we are now. So yeah, I was shocked anyone was reading that.

15. What WIP are you taking into the next year with you?

I hope to finish the two WIPs that are halfway done and fully thought out - Ange/Poch and Unai in Russia. Hopefully before Christmas. And maybe work on the 3rd chapter of Fate up against your will so that could also be done by the end of the year?

I have so many ideas that I haven't even started working on, so I suppose they will happen either in late December or next year:

Unai staying at Villa Park after the match against Legia, worried that the stadium was hurt - wanting to feel what the stadium feels, wanting to be there, feel as one. Unai self-meditating himself into a state of feeling like one with the stadium (get ready for the concept of mental orgasm).

Jamie-centered/POV fic. Jamie remembering Dad doing things....saying things...showing him things....Jamie thinking of Franko. A LOT.

Daddy Abramovich/Sheva on the boat, with Sheva's wife as well. A lot of grooming, although *nothing* happens, really. Nothing at all.

Daddy Abramovich/Franko on the boat. Nothing happens, really. Nothing at all.

Todd Boehly/Graham Potter. Once I figure out how.

Eddie/Jason origin story. Or maybe more like... JT origin story. Why is he like he is, why is he so loyal, so desperate, so devoted, so willing -

the Mikel/Unai academic!AU! - I'd rather keep it as a one-shot because I can't handle more multi-chaptered fics haha

and probably many more that I haven't even put down on paper as ideas ...

17. Your favorite character to write this year?

I think this has to be a tie between Franko and Unai! One Sad Round Man and one Greasy Basque Vampire. I love them both, albeit a bit differently.

Franko is such a sad character, a product of his parents, influenced by all the shitty things that Dad did and said in his childhood - and I'm surprised more people didn't build on this well-known fact that his Dad was toxic. It provides such a good background to the character - the repression, the need to be like Dad, to please others, to be complacent - it sets up the whole tragic story beautifully. Honestly, I might know the most about Franko out of all footballers now because of the extensive research that's been going on since early summer. And I don't even like him.

Unai, Unai, my sweet anxious Basque vampire - I truly fell in love with him this year. Here I have the advantage of being almost the only person who writes fics about him - so there's not much to work with/dispute. And all the other reasons are mentioned in the response to no. 3.

18. The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year?

Probably the Redknapps, especially Harry in the recent fic! I can't figure out what is his *problem*, what is his reasoning, what is his motivation - - - With Jamie, I wasn't initially sure what is he actually like, but I think now we figured out ha ha. But Harry...idk. Also, the fact that he's this old, old-school, English, probably very inappropriate guy...I don't want to make him a caricature, but also I want the sleaziness (but also the charm! that's why people love him!) to shine through.

Also, Mikel in Txoria txori. I still need to...get more into his motivations and reasonings. I don't want him to just observe Unai, I want him to also show his personality.

I'd say writing any "new" character is a challenge because I'd hate to make everyone the same. I want every single character to have their own characteristics, to be different from others, to behave and speak differently, to do different things - I don't want my Ashley Barnes to be interchangable with Sheva or Scamacca lol.

30. Biggest surprise while writing this year?

That there will always be people who will read the most twisted and fucked up and weird stories that I can come up with (and I'm so happy with that!). This year was very liberating - I just wrote whatever I wanted, honestly, and seeing that still a few people read and liked it was so nice! I write a lot of self-indulgent fics but obviosuly a feedback is always welcomed!

[lichfucker]

Twenty questions for fic writers

tagged by @bisexualshakespeare !! ty archer 🫀

guess I'll tag @jaynovz @asterofthevoid and @grasslandgirl

this is gonna get long so I am just putting it under a readmore from the jump lmao

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

ten if you include music. eight if you don't

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

103,601

3. What fandoms do you write for?

black sails, community, the fetch phillips archives, and ted lasso. I used to have a cr fic too but I orphaned it bc uhh fuck that noise. on my old account in high school I wrote for community, homestuck, dangan ronpa, and hp :/ but we don't talk abt that account lmao

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Sanguine - Ted Lasso, Trent/Ted, M - my vampire!trent au! g-d I still adore this fic in my bones. not surprised at all that it's my most popular by a wide margin; this is the biggest fandom I've written for, and I wrote it at the peak of the show's popularity. I'd like to believe it's worth the hype lmao

Five Girls Annie Almost Kissed and One She Did - Community, Annie/Annie Kim, T - canon-compliant lesbian!annie thesis. an exploration of annie's romantic life from adolescence through season three with a LOT of autobiographical projection lmao. I looked back at my own life and thought, "yeah, that happened to annie too" dflsdf this fic will always be precious to me

Crawl 'Til Dawn - Community, Annie/Britta, M - oh, look, another vampire au! well. this one came first. this is the oldest fic on my account-- I wrote the first seven chapters in the fall of 2016, posted them in early 2017, and then stalled out finishing it until fall of 2021. it's the fic that got me back into writing. the five-year gap is palpable, I think. I'd write it very differently now than I did then. there's something really charming in that, I think

Ner Tamid - Black Sails, Silver/Muldoon implied but it's mostly gen, M - I'm at the jewish!silver character study. I'm at the doldrums cannibalism fic. I'm at the combination jewish!silver character study doldrums cannibalism fic. I had An Episode the night before my mom's birthday, went into A State, and wrote this in one ten-hour sitting. I think it is perfect. wouldn't change a single word

Through His Stomach - Black Sails, FlintHam and SilverFlint and SilverFlintHam in a weird proxy way, E - my magnum fucking opus. dark fairytale hag au. we are two weeks out from this fic's first birthday. at this rate it'll be another four years before I finish it. I learned how to write smut for this fic. the pride I have in this fic is obscene. this is the quintessence of me

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

yes! I do! I respond to every single comment! because I like getting comments and I appreciate the people who take the time to leave comments and I want to show them my appreciation by thanking them for their comments! and also because I can't shut up and I will take any excuse to talk about my own work! if you mention one thing offhandedly in a comment I am replying with an entire paragraph about that thing

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

ooh, this is a tricky one. the obvious answer is Cold, Dark, Depraved, but that one's SO angsty all the way through that the ending is rather... cold and dispassionate by comparison. the other answer is Ner Tamid but I suppose that depends on your definition of angst. there's an air of resoluteness to the ending; it isn't particularly fraught, it's just horrific

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

hmm. Sanguine, Five Girls, and Crawl 'Til Dawn all end with a getting-together (well, in CTD it happens a bit before the ending, but still). Five Girls has the element of self-acceptance and the confidence to live the rest of your life open and free and unburdened, but Crawl 'Til Dawn has the element of murdering your evil ex and then riding off into the sunset. guess it depends on which makes you happier lmao

8. Do you get hate on fics?

no? I write niche enough stuff that nobody's gonna read it if they're not into it

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

as of this year I do! I've been writing fic for over half my life at this point and I was so certain for so long that I would never be comfortable writing smut. and then I came to a scene in hagfic that I knew would hit so much harder if the characters were having sex. so I resigned myself to my fate and I fought through the embarrassment and now look at me. I'm a certified pervert

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

no and I don't like reading them, either

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that I know of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

one of the homestuck fics I wrote in high school got translated into russian but, again, we don't talk about that account

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

nope

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

how the fuck am I supposed to answer this. how can I possibly choose. obviously the answer is jeff/britta but how do you expect me to pick

15. What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I am still holding onto the belief that someday I will write To Cross Running Water, my sprawling black sails canon retelling where everything is the same except flint is a vampire. I refuse to let myself think I will die not having written it.

the actual answer is Say It Out Loud, my other trent/ted vampire au where ted is the vampire this time. I started writing it at the same time I started Sanguine-- literally the exact same moment. I had two word documents open in split screen. then I went all-in on Sanguine for a month (still insane to me that I finished it in a month) and I swore Say It Out Loud was gonna be shorter and faster and sillier, but then. I moved so slowly. and it got bigger and bigger. I got 30k into it-- thirty thousand words into it-- before season three came out. then s3 aired and it was so bad it killed all my enthusiasm for the show, and I really do not know if I'll ever bring myself to finish the fic now. I think it would have ended up being another 15k or so. I'd like to hold out hope that I'll go back to it but the hope diminishes every day

16. What are your writing strengths?

MOOD. mood. tone and mood. florid description. the rhythmic flow of the language-- cadence and meter are so ingrained in my mind; if it SOUNDS wrong, it IS wrong. I have a strong command of language and I can set a lush and vivid scene. and I need to do very little editing. it just springs out from my brain fully-formed like athena from the skull of zeus

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

plot. concision. speed

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

it's neat when other people do it but I don't know any other languages and I'm not gonna embarrass myself by relying on google translate or w/e

19. First fandom you wrote for?

hp unfortunately 😔

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

hagfic. Through His Stomach. it's not even a question. like. are you joking. it's hagfic. except for when it's Ner Tamid

#I gotta rewatch community and write some weird stilted toxic jb smut 😔😔 #there's a bit of jb in ctd but that doesn't count. I haven't written true jb in a decade #bluh bluh #thanks archer #through his stomach tag #sanguine tag #say it out loud tag #cdd tag

[derridoid]

Very interested in your thesis 👀

ALRIGHT. putting this under the cut because it's A Lot and i don't wanna clog up your dash. but i'll go ahead and pop in the link to my thesis here! tl;dr - 80 pages of scholarly research that answers the question "why do people use tumblr?"

so, because i'm a grown up with a considerable presence on the web, i'll share some potentially personal info. i don't have any concerns about being doxxed or anything like that lmao this is tumblr dot com.

i completed my masters degree about a year ago at bowling green state university. bgsu is one of the few institutions in this area of the country that has programs for cultural studies, so it was a great fit for me.

my thesis's goal was to use qualitative, humanistic research methods to understand the broad culture of tumblr - that is to say, i wanted to study people and their experiences on the site. basically, my thesis advisor and i sat down and asked, "what the fuck is up with tumblr?" and developed a research methodology to answer this question. my methods were inductive, meaning that i went in and gathered data, took a look at my notes, and generated a conclusion that answered the question.

i did it within the realm of "constructivist grounded theory," which is a specific way to apply inductive reasoning to humanistic research. it focuses on how experiences construct meaning and value; people don't inherently give sites like tumblr value, they use it in a way that creates that for them. the basic steps of the research method are as follows: go over your literature to get an idea for what you're up to, collect your data (in my case, interview users of tumblr), "code" your data (go over the transcripts word by word and look for similarities/draw conclusions), go back into the field and interview MORE people, and then draw a conclusion that answers your question (which is usually "what is up with this thing").

i'm really proud of my thesis and the "theory of tumblr" i came up with (which i'll put in a blockquote at the end of this answer), but there are some things i'd change in the future if i go on to do a phd. i would have liked to go back out into the field to interview more people - i didn't have time for this since i only had two semesters to write my thesis lmao. i also would have liked to get a broader sample size. i was deep into bandom hell, so a lot of my research participants were in that subculture as well. they were all also personal acquaintances and friends - it would have been nice to interview perfect strangers! i guess my theory of tumblr is more "theory of a handful of people in my bubble who are part of a very specific subculture and all have very similar demographic/social backgrounds"

if anyone wants to build off this research, i recommend setting a survey out into the wild on tumblr and THEN doing interviews. give it a nice mix of multiple choice/slider questions as well as some short answer questions. look for overarching themes and similarities in all those responses! and maybe make one of your survey questions "can we reach out to you with further questions?" so you can do interviews that are more in depth. interview a few people at a time, see what they say, and then go out and interview more people and see if they say the same thing. don't be afraid to update your research question or change what themes you focus on. if your findings are different than what you expect, that means you're onto something cutting edge!

also - i TOTALLY recommend doing interview via zoom like i did. if you have a premium subscription, it'll generate a transcript for you in real time, so you don't have to sit down, listen to the audio, and transcribe it chunk by chunk. makes coding WAY easier.

as promised: my academic "theory of tumblr":

Tumblr is a microblogging social media platform that has been turned by users into an emergent space for community development, cultural creation, and identity affirmation. The aspects of the site that prove significant to its construction and userbase include but are not limited to the userbase’s focus on social engagement through shared interests and worldviews, the uniqueness of the site’s design, the prioritization of marginalized and diverse people, and the performance and refinement of user identities. These nuances of Tumblr have made it continuously relevant to users, even when considering both positive and negative personal experiences on the platform, as it helps provide a sense of connectivity and authenticity in an increasingly virtual world.

#frankie.txt #i love infodumping abt my thesis #i'm no longer in academia but i still take pride in it #mayhaps i will start a video essay channel where i do research like this...

[cant-icle]

📓

I love TV's Zonnia so much that for Nano last year I thought I'd try writing my own region and variants via randomizer. not nearly as loose (because I cheated and had a general region irl already in mind) but also not nearly as tight (because i'm not a person who can weave little intricacies like TV does on purpose lmao).

it'd be like, vignettes of each pokemon/pokemon line via the musings of a college postgrad working on their thesis, though they'll be damned if they know what their thesis is actually supposed to be about. mostly i wanted snapshots of my region (which spoiler alert would be heavily based on new england, and right next to unova)

the legendary at the end is nicknamed "william the night moose" in my files. my favorite fakemon right now is a tadpole covered in very very fine fur that collects static electricity and evolves into a frog that likes to jump up really high and discharge all its electricity into that fur to make it look like a firework (:

#i keep all my wips in here (pats my brain attic) and then i die

[clonehub]

Lbr, racist misogynists would read any show of emotion by a black woman as "angry", regardless of how Reva actually behaved. I've seen fans blame Disney for casting her as a character who embodies that harmful stereotype. But I'm not comfortable with the implications that Moses and Deborah Chow would willingly participate in that. As you said, they both highly educated, successful, award winning WOC; that's definitely not something either would do. What you share your thoughts?

youre right about racists misreading everything reva does regardless. i think that, since Chow has been a p succesful writer/director (?) up to this point, it's likely that one or both of them is aware that Black women are stereotyped as being more aggressive than we actually are.

reva's also ambitious (a trait I like in a female character regardless), which would be viewed as aggression and anger. reva's inquisitor status means she's gotta have hatred and anger in her. not automatically a bad thing--but her being played by a Black woman plays into this pattern of Disney putting their "rep" on the side of the FO/Empire and keeping the heroes largely white(washed) or alien. education doesn't always prevent someone from writing something harmful, though, so I'd hesitate to say that their accolades preclude bigotry of any kind. do I think either of them is doing it on purpose? Nope! Maybe another day, I'll get into why a Black actor might play characters that end up playing into common stereotypes. Maybe.

But, and I can't remember who said this but I just reblogged it--we have to remember that the empire is/was a metaphor for white supremacist fascism, as enacted for white people by white people. I saw some annoying post floating around that made the argument that because there were people of color who were N/zis in WWII (they conflated the entire Japanese state with individual willingness of the people to support N/zi germany's vile white supremacy, which is something else entirely) it "makes sense" that Reva (and trilla, and basically every background character in the FO in the ST) are people of color. it's "more accurate" that way.

(no its not. people of color can be white supremacists but the ones pulling the strings and making the plans and building the ideology were and are overwhelmingly white--and notice how star wars will never at any point take the metaphor far enough to examine that level and type of self hatred in a character. not that I want them to)

The other side of the coin is the resistance to having Black characters as protagonists. We had Finn, they dropped Finn, JB left, and now Disney LFL is pushing more PoC into the Empire despite, again, the Empire itself being visually representative of white white supremacists, not Every White Supremacist Ever. We had Rose, they dropped Rose, and now we have more PoC in the Empire and FO. We had Poe--

(that post also conflated the people shitting on Finn for daring to be a Black man in space with the people who are complaining now about how Disney still refuses to deliver on a Black character who's a hero, which.....lmao)

The balance is totally off. Star Wars as an overall story would work best if the Empire remained white supremacist in appearance and the heroes were more mixed, as both aliens and with human diversity. It's a better overarching story that way because it matches what we are literally living through right now. It certainly makes more sense than "a (conveniently) racially diverse fascist government is hurting and oppressing millions, especially these select special white people". I've totally deviated from what you were saying anon I'm sorry kssadfahdlka here's my thesis:

Reva's position as a Black fascist will do less damage if she ends up leaving the fascism, and her character arc has her become a good guy. I really can't see the pattern of Black people/poc in fantasy!racism government breaking if they don't do that or something similar. I speculated on Twitter what Reva's path might be, and this was partly because I want a Black character who is central to the story and a good guy. We don't have that. We. Do not. Have. That.

My fingers are crossed, anon. My position on these kinds of things is never to assume that the creators specifically had a goal to perpetuate racism, but seeing as its happened anyways, I address it.

#ask #racism tw #ask to tag #long post #my speculation is keeping my hope alive #this isnt to say villains can never be PoC #but in this iteration of star wars why are they only PoC?

[gayvampcentral]

Can you tell me about your thesis!!!! It sounds wonderful and as a fellow horror academic I'd love to read it :)

oh hey wow yeah I'll try telling you abt it a bit! Let me preface this by saying Unfortunately I can't let you read it bc when I wrote it I ended up deciding to write it in german so I only have the asbtract in english Somewhere rip but! Basically I wrote my thesis within 2 weeks including most research so it isn't all that good but it was about trying to identify common design features in iconic non-human but humanoid horror antagonists (the focus on design is due to my bachelor's degree Officially being in 3D art/animation) and the scope was waaay off and the examples I picked were bad picks for comparing them but I Did base those picks on this (link) (which i think is a great base for lots of other possible topics) as well as pretty much arbitrary parameters I personally additionally chose.

I ended up using Frankenstein's Monster (1931 version), Dracula (1931 version as well), Regan from The Exorcist, Freddy Kruger (first movie only) and last and definitely least, the bastard that ruined literally all my data by being DISTINCTLY less humanoid than the others, the titular Alien (1979). I wanna stress tho that i purposefully picked my parameters to be able to include the alien because i love Alien but that was just a stupid decision on my part it turned out.

The most interesting thing I ended up noticing was that a lot of them just Do Not Have Eyebrows (excluding dracula who obviously as a monster has a very different purpose because he acts as a seducer which is different from what Frankenstein's Monster/Regan/etc are entirely because again I didn't pick good examples at all) which I attribute to the overall trend of them in general having features that could be read as ill or injured in one way or another. And for this Interestingly the alien also sorta follows that pattern in that its design features protruding bones which we also commonly associate with illness. But yeah that all falls into the very much known about issue of conflating illness/disability/"ugliness" in the broadest sense (I don't personally want to call any of their features categorically ugly, I mean ugliness in the sense of what society as a whole treats as beautiful vs not beautiful) with being bad/evil. Anyway I know where I fucked up with my thesis and if I could do it over I'd stick to a better defined category of villain and probably a specific subgenre of horror as mixing it the way I did turned out to be not great unfortunately.. Or at least I'd like to compile archetypes before crosscomparing types/subgenres because Obviously most iconic designs will also have features that make them stand out and thus not entirely representative of their archetype and blah blah blah But fortunately I'm gonna get to write more on horror for uni in the next few years so I can fix my mistakes at some point. sorry this isn't super eloquent or interesting lmao I didn't expect to be asked about this (though genuinely thank you so much for being interested! i just really did Not expect it!) and I had a long-ish uni day today All that being said though, I'd love to hear what you've been doing in the field of horror academics?

#I hope this is okay to publish lol i never get asks and idk the etiquette

[ink-stained-clouds]

Hi, it's thesis anon! First off, congratulations on your graduation!!! I'm so excited for you, do you have any plans yet on what you want to do next (no pressure to answer at all!!!)?

I decided to take a leave for the rest of the semester, so I'll have time to do my thesis. Do you have any tips for the whole thesis process -- from researching the whole thing, to doing the framework, etc.? I'm starting from the beginning, with just the topic that I have so I have a very long way to go. I'm very anxious about it because I won't have any advisor supervising me (for now, because I'm doing this before the start of the semester) and I won't really know if I'm going the right way plus I am not very confident I'll figure it out. Any tips for this self-doubting thesis anon? All tips are appreciated.

Thanks!

first of all, lmao, sorry about ^ it is definitely not June 1st

Anyways, thank you!! I'll be starting my PhD in the fall, I'm very excited

I'm so glad your thesis stuff is working out!! I absolutely have tips, I'm gonna write down everything I can think of right now but I'll reblog and add to this if I think of anything else!

My biggest tip is to give yourself the benefit of the doubt. You're going to become the expert in this, your supervisor, unless by some very strange coincidence, will not have even close to the depth and breadth of knowledge on your topic as you will. You're so much more capable than you think you are

As for researching, keep your notetaking and organization consistent. I'd highly recommend something like Zotero which I did not use for my thesis and regret immensely. But whatever you choose, consistency will really help when you're writing and need to find information you know you have but don't know exactly where. Having to search eight different word docs with 75% the same info as the last word doc you looked at is exhausting, ask me how I know 😅

Start broad with your literature review and narrow in on your topic as you outline/write. The best advice my advisor gave me was that the literature review should literally lead you to the research question. I think of it as like an upside down triangle, at the top you have the foundational theoretical literature/methods, then you get more and more specific until you come to your research question at the point of the triangle. Not sure if that makes sense, I can give you pictures of outlining I've done if it'll help

When I started reading for my literature review I kept a doc which I read all the abstracts and noted articles I wanted to read in full, personally that worked pretty well for me

Going off of that, when you read full papers, do your citations at the same time. At the top of the page or however you keep notes, write out the full citation for that paper so that you have it when you do your bibliography, also keep page numbers for any quotes you find, even if it feels tedious. If you think to yourself "I can always find it later" that is the devil talking, do not listen

Take! Breaks! This applies to every stage of any project but especially theses. You need days where you do something else, you need to read things that aren't for your thesis, you need to give yourself time to decompress. Forgive me but I can't remember your exact topic, mine was personally very heavy (I was reading a lot of hate speech online) so if yours is emotionally exhausting, find a way to come down from all of that, give your brain a break

If you find yourself getting stuck consider you need to switch up your environment. I found that when I got to the last week of edits I literally could not work in my apartment, ended up going to a cafe almost every day. Bad for the wallet good for the thesis. I really should've thanked them in my acknowledgments

I found I was most productive working in blocks of like 3 or 4 hours so I would set aside roughly that amount of time with nothing on either side (so I didn't feel pressure to finish working so I could go to a meeting or hang out with friends). Personally, dedicating a few hours of good quality focus and work has always been more effective for me than trying to spend all day on something. The work will expand to fill the time you allot yourself

If you're doing qualitative research, just a heads up, you will feel like an imposter. I remember telling a grad student I'm friends with, when I was analyzing my data, that I completely believe in the strength and validity of qualitative research but that everyone else was doing it right and I was doing it wrong. That's just not true, I promise. No advice, really, just a warning lol

I remember you saying you don't have to defend but I found it very helpful to kinda just,,,, talk to myself about my work. It helped me fill in gaps and put analyses into words when they were only existing vaguely in my head. You don't have to talk to yourself, either, you can always rope a friend into listening. Pets also work too but they ask terrible questions. Mine just wanted treats which was beyond the scope of my project

Oh also, if any scary smart people (e.g., professors) are asking you questions like "are you doing xyz?" or "did you look at [something you definitely did not look at]" just say it's beyond the scope of your project, another pro tip from my advisor

I know I already said it but remind yourself that you are the expert on this. Do it periodically, even when you aren't doubting yourself

Also remind yourself why you chose your topic, why you enjoy it, why it interests you. I was afraid I would lose sight of this, and sometimes I did, but I always found a reminder that this was the thing for me and it really made a difference

Oh, and if you're doing qualitative research which I think you said you were, bear in mind that it tends to change. This was something my advisor warned me about several times and from very early on but it really is true. Let it change, don't feel bound to something that isn't working or doesn't make sense with what you have data-wise

Find what helps you work. For me, personally, periodic snack breaks, a fun little beverage, filming time lapses of me working when I can't focus, Lizzo's music (not kidding, I know every word to every song now), also lo-fi, getting out of my apartment to work (god bless public libraries 🫡), pomodoros (25-5 and also 45-15)

As your think of things, write them down. Little bits and pieces of analysis can often become useful later on. If inspiration strikes, go ahead and ride it

That said, be ready to part with things you right. You don't have to delete them, copy and paste them into another document but learn to let them go

Ask some friends ahead of time if they'll be able to get their eyes on drafts. I could not have written my thesis if it weren't for my friends who read countless drafts, I literally owe them my degree

When I was coding my data, I had trouble staying focused on what I was looking for. I wrote the key patterns on a sticky note and stuck it to my laptop, it was weirdly useful

Keep your to do lists achievable and specific. Sometimes that looks like "edit analysis section paragraphs 1-7" sometimes it looks like "20 minutes of work on methodology section" but don't let it look like "do some editing" or "finish literature review"

Remind yourself that you can do this (again because eventually it sticks). Remind yourself that you have done things that have scared you before and things that you thought wouldn't work out and they did. Remind yourself that that's how life usually works

Learn to deal with imperfection. If you try to make any one section or paragraph 'right' before you move onto the next you won't get far

You should also prepare to get comfy with people seeing your bad writing. In the past, even when professors asked us for our free writes or rough drafts, I would edit mine to near grammatical perfection before sending them in. This is not possible with a thesis and you have to face that fear (if you somehow do not have this fear, congrats but you scare me). I somehow got very comfortable with my advisor reading some very bad and weird shit, I got to the point where I wasn't even deleting the word little notes I left myself before I sent them off to her and she never minded once

Use your resources!! If you're having trouble starting your research and finding literature, book an appointment with a librarian at your school. You almost definitely have a subject librarian for your area, they can help you navigate research databases and find keywords to use in searches, they are literal gods and are a criminally under utilized resource in research

Everything looks rough in the beginning. There are going to be times where you look at everything you have and the idea of it being one, cohesive paper is literally laughable. I don't think there's any way around this, I think it's just part of trusting the process. Eventually you will have a thesis, it will fall short of your expectations, you will be able to list all the things you wish you did differently or had the time to include. But a good thesis is a done thesis and you will finish

I hope at least some of these help, thesis anon! I am very excited to hear about your thesis journey, please keep me updated. I was literally just wondering how you were doing when you sent this ask in lol

I also look forward to hearing your tips when you finish your thesis because I will be doing another one in the next two years and I'm already nervous

Good luck!!! - Inky

#ask #anon #answered #thesis anon

[laufire]

🔥 severance!

It was, without a doubt, my favourite show from 2022.

I liked it so much more than I expected to do. I must admit that, given certain similarities in their premise, I feared I'd end up constantly comparing it to Dollhouse (a tv show I could easily write a thesis about). But I didn't, for the most part*. It stood on its own. If I started making comparisons or drawing parallels -which would be easy to do, first because again, they do share similarities, and second of all because my brain works identifying patterns LOL-, it would come from a place of sincere appreciation for both shows, and an avid enthusiasm for narrative analysis.

There is, however, something I did NOT like, and that I'm wary about going forward: the possibility of anything romantic between Helly and Mark LMAO*. I don't care for it, I don't want the show to go there, and at least at this point, I don't see how it's necessary, let alone beneficial, for the story itself. I suppose it's not unthinkable that the show might change my mind, make it into something I can see working with the rest... but as of this moment, it's my one (1) issue with the show.

*this is the one thing where my brain couldn't help but compare the show unfavourably to Dollhouse lmao. The question "which of your brainwashed love stories involving Dichen Lachman (as Sierra or as Ms. Casey) was both more moving and a better thing for the narrative?" was right there, and the answer, right now, and probably in the future, will be "yeah, Dollhouse wins this one" xDD

Send Me a 🔥+ a Topic, and I’ll Tell You My Honest Opinion About It

#talking to the void #my thoughts #replies #westcountrygothic #severance thoughts #severance #thank you!

[forevercloudnine]

You said you held back a lot on your rogue gallery comic recs, if you’re comfortable with it I would love to see the rest of the comics you enjoy pertaining to the Gotham rogues!

LMAO okay well for the record, I'll reiterate that this separate list is the rogues gallery comics I would wholeheartedly recommend with zero caveats. I'll add three more to this list, but I would recommend these issues as a taste test for them:

Detective Comics feat. Scarecrow #23.3, "City of Fear"

Detective Comics #566, "Know Your Foes"

And Batman (2016) #49, "Best Man Pt. 2"

If you liked City of Fear:

This issue is set in the ruins of a Batman-less Gotham, where Scarecrow is going around trying to convince the other villains to join him on a plan that really only he is excited about. It's the set-up for Forever Evil: Arkham War, a series where Scarecrow and the Arkhamites battle Bane for control over Gotham, with Penguin as a neutral intermediary who plays both sides. It references a lot of previous and current continuity, but back when I first read it I had zero context and honestly enjoyed it more for the inexplicability. (The city's turned into a post-apocalyptic wasteland? There's freeze dried assassins being stored in the sewers? Whatever. Sure. Gotham is just like that sometimes.) The storyline ends in Forever Evil Aftermath: Batman vs. Bane. If you want to know what Poison Ivy was up to behind the scenes, read Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion #3. Mr. Freeze, Clayface, Zsasz, and Black Mask all have cameos in Rogues Rebellion #4.

If you liked Know Your Foes:

#566 one leads into a larger plot, but that plot is actually not the one I'm recommending here! The main appeal of this comic (other than the ever iconic cover) is that I find it fun to compare the rogues gallery of the 80's to the gallery now, and one of the best stories for that is the giant sized anniversary story "All My Enemies Against Me!" in Detective Comics #526. Neither of these issues have much going on plot wise, which is why I can't recommend either of them as highly as "Where Were You the Night Batman Died?", but they're a fun look at what Batman thinks of his villains and what they think of each other. Also, #526 ends with Talia and Selina literally riding off into the sunset together, which is always fun. I should probably also clarify that both of these issues feature original flavor Jason Todd, back when he was an orphaned circus acrobat with naturally ginger hair (he decided to dye it when first dressed up as Robin). Yes his only friend is a clown, yes the irony is retrospectively hilarious.

If you liked Best Man Pt. 2:

Tom King's writing is kind of like cilantro, in that some people love it and want it on everything (me) and some people are inherently repulsed by it (apparently most of Tumblr). This issue is mostly just Joker and Catwoman gossiping about Batman and the rest of his villains, and it's pretty much just a thesis statement for how Tom King views Batman's rogues gallery. If you liked his sense of humor and his meta-heavy approach to the obsession Gotham villains have with Batman, I'd heavily recommend "The War of Jokes and Riddles" (Batman #25-32), the Batman/Catwoman series, and probably his just-started Batman: Killing Time (based on the previews-- I haven't read it yet).

#rogues gallery #comic recs #oh and i guess on this one i can more specifically add #scarecrow #jonathan crane #bane #joker #catwoman #selina kyle #since the first and last storylines highlight individual characters a little more #i love these stories but they are not objectively good or universally enjoyable #so it seemed fair to put a shorter taste test in front of them in order to gauge your interest before trying a longer storyline

[the-moon-and-sea]

Trying something new bc im bored. Please imagine all the parenthesis are footnotes.

I have decided I'm going to watch the new Ghibli movie when it comes out. I saw ads for it in Japan (just posters on the movie theater wall at the mall, they intentionally didn't advertise the movie At All before releasing it there) and it was more intriguing than some of the other movies coming out (looking at you, ghibli look-alike about a chair??? who okayed that premise) but the timing wasn't right, plus I'd have to watch it all in actual Japanese and while I could do that for something simple like Way of the Househusband (great movie btw but I didn't know enough lore apparently) I figured I'd want to follow this one a bit better. Plus, my boy Yonezu Kenshi contributed to the soundtrack, so I have to watch it to support.

This movie is the first in a while (I'm not googling to see if this is correct) with the old duo of Hayao Miyazaki and Joe Hisaishi, and while there have been....other movies in the last 10 or so years....miss little witch etc was never very compelling for me. But based on the barely-over-a-minute trailer...I'm ready. We've got the creepy soundtrack, the same solid style, but somehow a level up in the animation?! some random old ladies, cute spirits, it's got it all. What it also has, very importantly, is a war reference. We all know Miyazaki remains heavily influenced by his nostalgia of wartime Japan (and aren't all of us (Please Read/Watch In This Corner Of The World)) so it's not surprising to see some bombings here. Some fire there. I'll bet you $5 there will be a plane in there somewhere. Mans loves his planes.

Anyway add onto that the ~mystical elements~ weebs like to love about Japan (please read Orientalism by Edward Said also) and I'm sure this will sell well. And I'm also sure, I'm probably gonna love it lmao

I was reading the official description on GKids which I guess is the site of the producer and distributer in America, and they mention Yonezu, my boy, right under Miyazaki. Joe isn't there. Poor guy. Anyway they say about Yonezu: "After posting a series of Vocaloid tracks under the moniker Hachi, Kenshi Yonezu distinguished himself from the crowd with remarkable results." This is. a severe understatement. I think I might end up writing my thesis on Vocaloid and the impact it STILL has on children today in America and Japan (my kids always played popular songs during lunch/cleaning and during sports, basically anytime the broadcast club had control; some of the kids in the art club literally only drew Ms Miku fanart) and amongst that Huge Library of Music (I won't call it a genre bc thats not what it is), Hachi was like. Top 10 if not Top 5 if not Top 3 most popular. If you listened to vocaloid at all before 2016 you know Matryoshka. That's Hachi. He was a wonder to all of us middle schoolers. More recently, he came out with Sand Planet, about the way time has changed Vocaloid and the people who enjoy and produce it. It was also really cool.

I learned about his Real Name career a bit after it had happened. I stumbled on Mad Head Love one day on my youtube rabbit holes, and it slapped, and I was like oh it's that guy. But then I lost track, forgot his name, and generally wished him well from afar. And then ! I refound him! And have loved him ever since (not really some of his recent stuff is weird but - actually hang on lemme actually write this)

Recently, and I mean in the last oh 3 or so years, he's done what a lot of popular Japanese artists do - make anime music. Some of it's okay, some of it is Absolutely His Thing, and some of it is like every other anime op ever and not very impressive. Spinning Globe (the song in this movie) is Pretty Good I think. I listened to it while crying on the plane on the way back to America. The lyrics are simple and easy to understand, it's got his plodding beat and an easy background. I could probably transcribe the piano part in 15 minutes. "The day I heard a voice patting me on the back, telling me to go ahead" is like. well it was really relevant to my personal time in Japan and a lot of the issues I've been facing so maybe I'm biased!

Yonezu is so popular that he literally wrote a song for the Tokyo Olympics. He represents Japan. He has been a top singer in Japan for 10 years. This started with his landslide take over of Vocaloid music. Even my students who didn't know literally any celebrity knew him. And I know this is the English website so they probably don't expect anyone to know who he is, and don't care about the understatement, but listen. Yonezu if you're out there and you want anyone to write you PR in English. I've got u.

The Japanese title is 君たちはどう生きるか. It's based on a book of the same name from 2016. I'd literally translate that title as "How do you live" with the 'you' being plural, like 'you all'. I don't know anything about it. It's apparently semi-autobiographical. But they've chosen to translate the title as "The Boy and the Heron," the choice of which could be a thesis in itself. But I wish it had come out just a little sooner, because one of my favorite games to play with my kids was getting them to guess titles to ghibli movies in English and they would've lost their minds over this one.

#if you are not reading this bc its too long #good. #i think i should start a blog and just Say Things bc i have a lot to say all the time #not me writing a blog using the blogging platform for blogging #anyway i dont know where this went but enjoy #alissa likes to talk

[outsassing-nero]

I need help. I need to revise my thesis / bachelor's paper, I have around 3 months to do it all -- from research design to results, etc. I've somehow made it up in my head that I can't do it and that it's not enough time/ impossible for me to do and figure it out. I'm having a hard time getting myself back to work on it. Thoughts? Tips? I need a pep talk. I know I need to do this but I've lost motivation and have not built up the discipline yet. What can I do? Send help and good thoughts please. This is due the first week of July, and I have nothing (not exaggerating). Thanks so much!!!!!

hi! first of all - don't panic (too much lol). while you don't have ages to finish your thesis, you do have a few months which is definitely enough! just do your best to stay on track and not procrastinate too much during the actual writing phase! here are some of the tips that worked for me:

check your university's requirements regarding the length of the thesis or preferred citation style. you can keep your paper short and sweet while focusing on the actual arguments and sources (a good thesis doesn't have to be 200 pages long lmao)

i'd try to write the introduction and conclusions at the very end, so that you're sure you don't go on any off topic segways etc.

try to plan your research and writing time on a weekly basis (if you're interested, i'll make another post about how i do it!). in this way you can focus on particular arguments or hypothesis while reading papers on the same topics. i usually go through the library catalogue/google scholar to download/read articles first - then i group them by topic and prioritize certain field on different days :)

write the footnotes after you're done with the main text. I usually mark the sentence in green which is just a reminder i'll have to write a bit more about it in the footnotes later on!

give yourself good two weeks for edits and revisions. I tend to revise just one section a day to avoid getting confused!

keeping in mind you have about 3 months to do everything, i'd do it like that: 1 week: literature research; 2 weeks for reading and writing on each chapter/section, 2 weeks for intro/conclusion, 2 weeks: revision and edits!

lmk if you have any more questions :)

#alicja says #studyblr

[protect-daniel-james]

wait let me send that as an ask lol. spotify: 8, 18, 26 ;)

Hehe thank you!

8. Hertzainak - Eh Txo!

This was pretty much my introduction to Basque rock from the 1980s-1990s. And it's a song I often listen to when writing Txoria txori, hence why it's so high up. I just picture the Txoria txori Unai listening to this while driving his car lmao. I just like the vibe of the album overall, the sort of gritty, not-glam 1980s, plus some of their lyrics slightly touch upon the social climate of the era with songs like Pakean Utzi Arte or Si vis pacem, parabelum. Basically, the whole album is a background soundtrack of Txoria txori, the lore that never even comes up (like, the music and songs predate whatever is happening in Txoria txori fic, but I'd say it's the influence and environment that formed both Unai and Mikel in that fic).

18. Aitch - 1989

I'll be honest this is not my usual style of music at all, but for some reason, I just fell in love with Aitch's music, probably because of the Manchester connection, probably because it just sounds ... idk, real? The lyrics, the references... Also I guess I can identify with him more than with black rappers, or rappers from the US lmao. Also, and I think you'll appreciate this, the musical undertone/sample is obviously taken from Stone Roses' Fools Gold. I listened to Aitch's songs a lot last year when I visited Manchester, and some songs - like this one, or Rain, or Learning curve stuck with me. (also, the stuff he sings about or shows in his videos, I take that as the British lad culture which is very...inspirational).

26. Beti Mugan - Oihuak

It's ridiculous of much Beti Mugan actually appears in my Spotify wrapped since I only discovered them in late August/September I think? But yeah, Beti Mugan ended up being my no. 1. artist, which is just funny, since the only reason I even know about them is the Unai Emery's brother connection. (but to be honest I know that this year, I really didn't have The One artist that I would listen to religiously, and I spent most of the spring writing my thesis and listening to whatever shitty random mixes that I found + lots of old-timey Czech pop songs, so I think that all is reflected in the Spotify wrapped as well).

Anyway, Oihuak! Yay! A dark song - a song about trauma? If it was in English, I'd say it's perfect for Lampardverse, since it's basically about ... wounds / intracranial wounds / those that can't be closed. That's the start of the lyrics. I mean, wow. Then the song slowly escalates towards the chorus.

A headcanon of Txoria txori is that Unai writes edgy poems that are actually Beti Mugan songs. It's his secret and he keeps it well, only time will tell if Mikel learns about it ;) But yeah, Oihuak was for me one of the first memorable songs I heard from Beti Mugan, and I remembered it exactly for that desperate, urgent refrain.

#spotify wrapped #spotify ask