#like people said the exact same stuff about the music these people consider ~good~ and its like. who even cares

[spacelazarwolf]

“trans men have male privilege!!!!!!!!!!”

let’s take a look.

here’s some examples of male privilege from an article i found:

“you’re not said to be going against your gender’s “natural instinct” or your role in society by not having children.”

trans men are barred from gender affirming care, often on the basis that people think we should be having babies. also there are many groups of people who can get pregnant who deal with the opposite, who are encouraged not to have children or even forcibly sterilized.

“the media, popular sex advice, and normative definitions of sex focus primarily on your pleasure, especially if you’re cisgender.”

i have literally never once seen trans men mentioned in the media in regards to sex advice or positivity, and the fact the author tagged on that “especially if you’re cisgender” shows me they have never in their life spoken to a trans man.

“school sex ed, religious values, and other pervasive sources of sexual norms don’t treat your gender as more dirty, impure, and undesirable for losing your virginity.”

except they do, because most of us grew up assumed to be or forced to be girls, so we heard and internalized all this along with the cis girls, with the added element of “being trans is morally wrong and dirty and disgusting.”

“most pornography is made with your gender in mind (and it creates some pretty damaging ideas about women and other genders).”

there is very, very, very little pornography made with trans men in mind, and the stuff that is is made for chasers.

“you can be open about enjoying sex without people feeling automatically entitled to have sex with you.”

we actually can’t, because of our “lifestyle of degeneracy” and even the most woke cis people wring their hands when it comes to the question of sex with trans men. not to mention the constant harassment we receive from cis people who insist that they’re not transphobic while making it very clear that they think trans men’s bodies are disgusting and they would never in a million years sleep with us.

“you can make changes to your appearance like a haircut or dye without assumptions that you’re doing it for men.”

every change a trans man makes is put under a microscope. we are assumed to be doing it to “pass”, aka..... doing it for men, and other cis people.

“products like viagra exist with the aim of helping cisgender men maintain their sex lives as they get older, and social norms congratulate you for doing so. there is far less support for women to continue being sexual beings as they age.”

i guess you just forgot trans men exist with this one.

“you can be expressive about your sexuality in conversation, art, music, and more, without people accusing you of ‘using your body to get by’.”

nope. our art is suppressed, and when it’s not, it is under an intense amount of scrutiny, with people often saying that the only reason it’s successful is because we’re trans, not because it’s good art. and god forbid the art is about being trans.

“you can participate in kink, BDSM, and other alternative sexual practices without being judged as a “slut” or facing assumptions that you’re not in control of your own sexual choices.”

did we forget about the fact that people call trans people sexual deviants? or that there are people on this website who stalk and sexually harass trans men for their private sex lives?

“you’re less likely to be the target of street harassment. the majority of women have experienced street harassment in their lives, and most of the men who do are queer or gender non-conforming.”

so we’re just admitting that we consider white cishet men to be the owners of manhood? 

“you can turn down a date without worrying about being verbally attacked, physically assaulted, or even killed.”

nope, most of us face the exact same bullshit, but with an added element of transphobia.

“you’re less likely to experience intimate partner violence.”

false again. we experience incredibly high rates of intimate partner violence, again with an added element of transphobia and exacerbated by the fact we are economically disenfranchised, leading to higher likelihoods of financial abuse.

“you’re less likely to be raped, especially if you never go to prison.”

trans men actually have higher rates of rape than any other demographic.

“you’re less likely to be homeless as a result of intimate partner violence. Half of all homeless women and children in the US are fleeing intimate partner violence.”

trans men are more likely to be homeless than cis women, and are more likely to be turned away from domestic violence shelters because of their appearance and gender.

“you can enjoy partying without people blaming your “lifestyle” if you’re sexually assaulted.”

do i really have to explain why saying trans men won’t be blamed for our “lifestyle” is incorrect?

“doctors are more likely to take you seriously when you tell them your symptoms.”

trans men face higher rates of medical neglect and healthcare avoidance because of that medical neglect than cis women because we face both medical misogyny and medical transphobia.

“while medical research often ignores women and other genders, you get the benefits like research focusing on the heart attack symptoms you’re more likely to experience.”

again, just forgetting trans men exist.

“you’re less likely to have your physical illness symptoms attributed to psychological factors. For instance, when men and women with identical symptoms mention stress, doctors are more likely to overlook a woman’s symptoms of heart disease.”

incorrect, we often face the same medical neglect as cis women, with, again, an added element of transphobia. for example, doctors will often completely disregard our actual issues and just blame it on the testosterone if we are on hrt to the point we literally have a specific name for it: trans broken arm syndrome. 

“you can show your nipples in public, and are less likely to be harassed overall for showing some skin – even when women in public are using breasts for breastfeeding, they can be subject to harassment.”

do i really have to explain why trans men, whether they’ve had top surgery or not, can’t safely be shirtless in public?

“you can easily enjoy sports with athletes of your gender, as men’s sports get more airtime and promotion than women’s sports.”

there are very, very few athletes who are trans men, and it’s difficult for trans men to join men’s sports in the first place because cis men will often become violent if the trans man is better at the sport than they are.

“you can use the internet without being harassed.”

HAH.

“your gender is more represented in film, with women making up 12% of protagonists, 29% of major characters, and 30% of speaking characters in the top 100 grossing films.”

i can count on hand the number of trans men i’ve seen on the big screen.

“you don’t have politicians primarily of another gender making laws to control your gender’s bodies.”

again, HAH.

“there are more lawmakers of your gender determining the rules we all have to live by. for instance, women make up not even 20% of congress.”

according to a study done by an associate at harvard, during the year the study was done, there were 36 transgender people running for government positions. only 6 of them were trans men.

“you can have strong political opinions without people calling you a “feminazi” or judging you for being “opinionated.”

trans men get crucified on social media and in real life day in and day out for simply saying we have a right to exist.

“as a parent, you get more professional opportunities – avoiding the “motherhood penalty” that hurts women’s careers if they have children.”

don’t even know where to start with the cisnormativity. anyway trans men can be birth parents and face a shit ton of discrimination for it.

“you have a lower risk of living in poverty. 1 in 7 women and 4 in 10 single-mother families are poor, with the poverty rate for native american, black, and latina women at almost double the rate for white women.”

trans men have a higher risk of poverty than cis women, especially if they are not white or are disabled.

“you can put little time into your appearance without a negative impact on your work life, like having people believe you’re unprofessional or not put together.”

trans men have to agonize over tiny details about our appearance in order to gain a tiny amount of respect from cis people. this includes in the workplace.

“you can spend less on products to maintain your “professional” appearance. women are expected to spend more on clothing, accessories, and beauty products, even when they’re earning less.”

trans men have to spend thousands of dollars on surgeries and hrt, new clothing, makeup, other things to help us pass. if we don’t do that, or don’t want to do that, then we are subject to an immense amount of scrutiny.

“if you’re never promoted, it’s not because of your gender.”

lmao.

“you’re not expected to put in unpaid emotional labor, like maintaining office harmony, in addition to your work duties. people don’t believe that your gender is just more suited to this often unrecognized and uncompensated work.”

trans people are often expected to put in an incredible amount of emotional labor in the workplace, especially if they are out, and even then our workplaces aren’t always safe. it’s why we have higher rates of unemployment than cis people.

“you aren’t raised to believe your gender is inherently more delicate or weak with phrases like “you throw like a girl.”

more cisnormativity.

“as you’re growing up, you have more positive role models of your gender to choose from in media, history books, fiction, and more.”

cisnormativity 2.0. i didn’t even know trans men existed until i was well into adulthood.

“If you’re religious, you can find a place of worship that doesn’t treat your gender as inferior. for instance, feminist christian churches exist, but in many areas, the only options for worship are churches that follow patriarchal traditions.”

not only is this christonormative, but also ignores the fact that most if not all religious spaces are either not welcoming or actively hostile to trans people, including trans men.

also, most of these examples don’t take into account intersectionality but that’s not surprising.

in conclusion:

begging y’all to use a single fucking brain cell.

#trans #transgender #trans man #trans men #transmasc #trans masc #trans masculine #transphobia #cisnormativity #transandrophobia

[doomsdaydicecascader]

What would you say was the thing that really shifted your opinion on postcanon stuff? I remember reading your long form posts about it and finding them pretty eloquent and interesting given the information I had (and I admit they did nudge me to me to end up not reading the epilogues along with the sheer length and my own squeamishness, though of course you also gave them their due when you felt it was fair)

if i'm being real, it's primarily interaction with other homestuck fans - my social media spaces tend to be pretty heavily curated, i basically only follow people i trust to be intelligent, since like. there is a level of comfort and complacency with social media? i don't like following new people, i don't like unfollowing old people. so i just dont branch out that much.

but i joined the mspfa discord in........ may of last year? while i really enjoy playing the role of like, i compared myself to solaire of astora once. guy who is there to help. i enjoy doing that, there is fun in that. i have spent many hours over the past months explaining homestuck plot points in ways that basically only i would and it is largely, pearls before swine, because the fact is that people dont want to understand post-canon, they don't want to like, pick at it critically, to understand why the decisions were made, they want to hate post-canon. and this is a very critical difference between me not liking post-canon and the majority of people hating post-canon.

and there is something to be said about experiencing homestuck as it is perceived by other people, to really solidify what i liked about homestuck post-canon, because there was stuff i liked to begin with. and seeing people who hate it without good reason frustrate me! genuinely, if you had to see the same "i heard jade has a dog penis" discussions every 2 weeks from some sprout who showed up only to be mad, you would start to defend it too.

like, i actually delayed that second blog post at the time because hatred for the team was flaring up again, for whatever reason, i don't even remember. but i remember putting it off because i didn't want to contribute to people who were blindly angry about homestuck^2

there are reasons to not like post-canon, lord knows there are plenty. i actually stand by basically everything i said about it not actually working and the times where it goes too far. in the second blog post, not the first one. but like, there is a total and all-encompassing difference in what the conversation is, "yeah, the meat and candy thing doesnt really work and dirks graphic suicide is ill-considered at best" doesnt matter at all when the level people are operating on is "say a plot point as a joke, make people mad, have fun circlejerking over how bad it is"

part of it is also that in the process of writing my own comic, it kind of comes with the territory to be less precious about the characters. like, team slime, my home discord server, watches movies every saturday. for a while, our theme was musicals, and eventually, we watched hamilton. and i realized that lin manuel miranda writes alexander hamilton in the exact way i am always afraid i am writing jane and vriska, like. just. truly relentlessly protective of them. and so being less precious about these characters means recognizing the flaws therein, not being afraid to write them just being kind of disasters. i still am pretty precious about them, but its a work in progress. you gotta get your hands dirty with them, and that puts it in context of respecting when others do the same

like, there are still a lot of really glaring flaws in post-canon, dont get me wrong, but theyre not insurmountable, and it helps to have spaces like burning down the house for me to express directly like. what i wanted out of homestuck. post-canon is not what i want it to be, but when has homestuck ever given anyone what they wanted without any complications whatsoever

and i think it is genuinely capable of being extremely good - this recent update (yiffy overlooking the rosemary drama) is extremely choice! i genuinely love how everyone involved is characterized, the panels are flashy, it puts to bed really stupid shit, like. its unbelievably fucking good how the problem kanaya has isnt "rose had another kid with jade in secret, our marriage is in shambles" but "jane knows about this kid", like. the absence of infidelity conflict is refreshing and says so much about everyone involved. and i have been thinking nonstop about how rose and jades daughters takes after caliborn of all characters. like. "you hope they eat each other alive" with the perspective of like, a caliborn grin is such an INSANE direction to take yiffy! holy shit! its awesome!!!!!!!!

[being-of-rain]

My thoughts on The Church on Ruby Road! I literally can't write one of these without it being much longer than I expect. You think I'd simply expect it by now. But apparently I just had a lot of thoughts to put down about this one!

I really liked it! Going by friends' reactions, I think I liked it more than most of them. Maybe that's because I was expecting the more straightforward fantasy than usual from Doctor Who after hearing about it from RTD. I hope they dive into that more in the upcoming series, and make it explicit that it's because of the edge-of-the-universe-superstition stuff. That's such a fun direction for the show to go in.

I mostly have good things to say. Ncuti Gatwa was an instant fit for the Doctor, I can't wait to watch a whole series of him. His outfits were fantastic, especially that very first shot of him with his hat. And his deduction and reassurance scene with the policeman reminds us that the character has a powerful magic even without the goblins and skyships. Oh and the Doctor loving the name Lulubelle, what an adorable moment.

The goblins and skyships themselves felt very Peter Pan to me, and I love the urban fantasy feel it gave the episode. I also simply adore the fairytale logic, narrative magic that the Doctor was talking about. "The language of luck" and "coincidence is what makes the baby tasty" and "vocabulary of rope" and "if you have lots of accidents, it stitches you in. It weaves you into the day." I eat that stuff up, urban fantasy at its best in my opinion. Creeping into our world around the edges. And of course Doctor Who had to have a line suggesting that all coincidences might be because of goblins, I love it. The unexpected goblin music number felt very appropriately pantomime, and led to yet another moment that made me fell in love with this Doctor; him continuing the song rather than stopping it. Again, adorable.

As for Ruby Sunday, she's fun to watch and well acted, and I don't have anything bad to say about her, but she does feel a little generic-companion to me at the moment. Sometimes companions take a while before they go from 'like' to 'love' for me, but they usually make it eventually, it just takes one really great episode or plot. I do love her family though, they're so much fun, please can we have the Doctor spending more time with them. It's so cute to see a foster family depicted so positively and wholesomely.

Which leads us to the hardest-hitting part of the episode, when Ruby's taken and the timeline is rewritten, and GOD it's bleak. It's another look at that classic RTD cynicism that's just under the surface, but it works soooo well here, god damn. The way a lot of minimal changes made the setting go from "queens of the sky" to "stuck with my old mum up here in the attic" was so Powerful. The performances of Michelle Greenidge as a depressed Carla and Ncuti Gatwa as a raw and heartbroken Doctor was just. Chef's kiss. This time it's sci-fi at it's best; something impossible happening and then the story really digging its claws into the emotional impact it has on people.

The Doctor really showing his emotions is something I love and want to see a lot more of. I assume that's the main change to the character after Tennant Doctor's mental health retirement, which is a relief after Thirteen's years of brooding and hiding negative emotions from friends. So I don't mind Gatwa's Doctor having issues and brooding moments, because obviously you can't permanently fix all your problems forever anyway, especially not in his life. But all that said, specifically his line "I've got no one" really stood out to me as being strange considering the previous episode seemingly solving that in the short term. I know Gatwa's Doctor might potentially be a long way past that now, but surely it robs the retirement ending of its entire point if we immediately skip past not only the healing, but the getting-worse-again-about-the-exact-same-issue as well.

Speaking of Thirteen, it was nice to see RTD once again bring back the Timeless Child from Chibnall's era and give it a bit more depth. Chibnall definitely acknowledged the Timeless Child's emotional impact on the Doctor, and she had an arc surrounding that. But if I had to describe that arc I'd call it rather one-note and uninteresting; going from 'desperate to know more about adoption' to 'accepting it without question' without really any character beats in-between. Seeing how Gatwa's Doctor was dealing with it, how he related to other adoption stories and thought about himself, adds more dimensions to that, and I hope we get more glimpses of it.

When it comes to Ruby Sunday's adoption, I like that there's something of a plot bait-and-switch with the Doctor staring at (presumably) Ruby's mother in the cold open, then the Doctor being more concerned with saving Ruby later in the episode, and deciding not to follow the mother. If the series spends more focus on that plot, I hope it's mostly Ruby making a similar choice to the Doctor, because I'm an absolute sucker for 'it's not biology that makes a family.' I mean, basically my favourite Doctor Who story is Izzy Sinclair's from the DWM comic, and it was basically this. Izzy's story might've even been a direct influence on Ruby's, since we know that RTD was a DWM reader at the time and loved it too, enough to send a letter in praising the final Izzy comic! Anyway, I should probably try not to compare the two arcs too much, because I have my favourite and I'm biased 😂

How does this Thoughts Post feel even longer than usual!? I guess new Doctor, new companion, and new story arcs might do that. So time for random points!

-After checking, the clock on the eponymous church is absolutely the same one on the Christmas Town tower from The Time of the Doctor. I hope I'm not the only one who immediately noticed that aha. -I've seen people diss the narration at the very start, and I get disliking purposeless narration, but I think this one serves a purpose well. It adds even more of a fairytale vibe to a very fairytale scenario in a very fairytale episode. -Random nitpick: one thing I'd change about the episode is how much stress the camera and music give to some comedy minor characters, specifically the lady with the pram, Mrs Flood in her first scene, and the other neighbour. Focusing on them so much felt like it dampened their little jokes a bit. -Random highlight: I love when the Doctor says random throwaway stuff like they always do, but side characters actually pick it up and start trying to pick meaning out of it. So it made me happy when Ruby came back to the Houdini namedrop at the end of the episode. -The international version of the episode had a random Disney Plus ad before the final few lines (rather than that being a mid-credits scene like in the UK) and god I hated it. Praying that doesn't happen again. -I know RTD has said there'll be more about the "mysterious" Mrs Flood in future, but to me she genuinely just felt like a minor character with a christmas fourth-wall break. I really don't care about getting more of her, so if there is then I hope it's more interesting. -The murder of the Goblin King sure was more violent than usual for Doctor Who, and it can bother me a little bit when TV shows start letting things like that go by without comment, but I don't really mind it this time. The goblins vanished like the mythical creatures they were, the Doctor was cool as hell jumping off the church tower to bring them down, and this time the classic RTD Emotional Manipulation was working on me perfectly. -It's hilarious that they're keeping up the 'mavity' thing, I wonder when they'll actually do something with that.

Final thoughts! The Church on Ruby Road was a fantastic start to The Gatwa Era. It had a simple plot and villains, which worked wonderfully with the delightful characters, magical aesthetic, and powerful emotional beats it landed. It definitely felt more like a first episode than a christmas special, which is to it's credit, but with the singular downside that it has me impatient for more episodes!

If you made it all the way to the end, then Happy New Year! I hope you (and Dr Who) have a wonderful 2024 😘

#my thoughts #woof my thoughts always look a lot longer written down than in my head aha #but it's nice to feel like I have things to say about something yknow. I can put some opinions into words. #and I left a little present at the end for anyone who gets that far <3 #doctor who #ruby #fourteen #I may have to start tagging him fifteen soon to avoid confusion tbh

[starfanatic]

Crafting the most controversial ranking of the olympians (including Hestia and Hades)

DISCLAIMER: THIS POST WAS INSPIRED BY @wanderingmind867

APOLLO: He's just fucking AWESOME???!!! What can I say? He's such a easy to like god when you don't let the stupid retellings poison you. He's the god of writing and music (both topics that I love) and just SO much more. I can't even grasp how much the greeks fucking loved this guy and so do I. In a more fanon-y way, in my head he's the best possible protagonist out of all the olympians for a story. There's so much nuance with him, and I just love psychoanalyzing him. I also think his relationships with other gods and every mortals is so INVESTING and intense if you think about it in the right way. Also I love blondes. Blondes are hot.

ARES: The more people hate him, the more I defend him. He gets so much undeserved bullshit, he should've been the Hades of our modern generation, he deserves it way more imo. He's a great father, a great lover, and he dances! DANCES! He's probably the god with the most misinformation besides maybe Hades. Ares kind of gives me the underdog affect? Yes he's this big huge god, but he loses FAR too much to be considered the "bully" like the myths advertise. And I get that it's supposed to be a message "brain over brawn" but quite frankly I could care less. Ares is treated bad by his parents, he just deserves so much more I love this guy. I love paralleling him with other gods too like Athena or Apollo or Zeus. He's just so fun to write.

APHRODITE: I feel the exact same way for her as I feel for Ares. I used to hate her SO MUCH, until I realized how misled I was. APHRODITE IS FUN. The only thing is that I'd defend her wrongs because I don't give a shit. "Aphrodite was petty" IDC!!!! I hate how authors (Rick.) write her. She's SO much more then what she's reduced too. She's SO powerful. I think the only reason she's not equal to Ares because I don't know a lot of her myths. She's serving cunt ALWAYS.

POSEIDON: Poseidon being so high is probably a disservice to society. BUT HES SO COOL AND SO POWERFUL????!!! Yes he does shitty stuff I'm not gonna pretend he doesn't, but seeing him in stories is just so entertaining. I typically like reading fanfics with him during the titanomachy or just fanfics where he's being a great uncle (so... super not accurate but it's entertaining). Ngl I giggled when he asked Apollo to fight him during the trojan war and Apollo said "nah im good". Poseidon is a BEAST in the fight with cool ass powers and a BEAST in bed (um.. when it's consentual... fuck I hate greek mythology sometimes). STORMBRINGER (i hope that's Poseidon and not Zeus???) GOD OF THE SEAS

HERMES: Hermes is kind of low, but NOT BECAUSE I DONT LOVE HIM. I tend to like gods who are a bit... violent if it wasn't obvious by the top 4? And even though I know Hermes can be violent I never see him BE violent. He just seems too perfect for me? Name one flaw he has that the other gods don't also have. HOWEVER he's so fun to read about, I don't like Percy Jackson but when I saw Hermes in the tv show I jumped out of my seat. I really like him with Apollo though, it brings a level of complexity that I LOVE.

zeus... I can explain. OKAY SO, I LOVE COMPLEX CHARACTER RIGHT AND GUESS WHO IS A VERY NUANCED GOD IN MYTHOLOGY??? ZEUS! I specifically like him from the titanomachy, because I like to think he was just... different when he was younger. Kind of like one of the typical heroes until the power he has changes him over time. I wish someone wrote a retelling because I'd love to see Zeus and Rhea or Zeus and Cronos interactions during the war. Disclaimer, I'm aware he does shitty shit but so does everyone on this list besides like Hestia and...that's it.

DIONYSUS: His low ranking is more to do with the lack of knowledge but also I'm not too interested in the domains he involves himself with. Never went to a party, never did drugs, never drunk alcohol, etc. HOWEVER I love when Dionysus is completely unhinged. God of MADNESS GUYS!!! ITS IMPORTANT! I love the myths where he's genuinely just being scary as fuck, I love how powerful but underestimated he is.

HERA: She deserves better. If I was her I'd do worse, but like... not to innocent children and women. That's all.

ATHENA: I don't find her that interesting. She just kind of reminds me of that one girl in the class who reminds the teacher they have homework. I am aware that I AM biased though, my top 4 gods consisted of 2 gods that are at odds with her. I just don't like how biased the myths were in her favor, it kind of makes her boring. If Ares or Athena lost equally I wouldn't mind her, but she wins every single time. Even when she loses, Zeus doesn't care and let's her get away with it anyway. Athena, for me, absolutely requires other gods to add complexity to her character.

DEMETER: I like her out of spite because I don't like Hades x Persephone shippers from modern retellings. In particular I don't like the Hades x Persephone shippers that hate on Demeter as if they know anything about her. She's only low because I like a lot of other gods better and I just feel like I'd never be able to write anything with her as a main character because I've never "psychoanalyzed" her like I did the other gods.

HESTIA: *shrug* I don't know her that well, and she doesn't seem to really have any myths to jump off from. The lack of myths and personality puts her low on the list. Though I do love how sweet she is.

HEPHAESTUS: ...he bores me. He doesn't offer anything to me whatsoever. I don't necessarily feel bad for him for the Aphrodite situation either, and I hate when a lot of people who like Hephaestus ignore VERY IMPORTANT details on the myths to serve their purpose. The majority of it is just plain boredom, but I hate how everyone villainized Aphrodite and Ares.

HADES: ...sigh. He's a bit of a unfair one. I'm not someone who can seperate the god from the people who like the god. A lot of Hades fans tend to just piss me off based off the most obvious misinformation in the entire world. I HATE how they try to hate on the other Olympians as if Hades is somehow better then him? He has no myths that doesn't make him better, we just don't have a lot of him. I don't find him necessarily interesting, and I desperately wish for the retellings for him to end. It's not really fair because it's less the god and more the "fans" but whatever it is what it is.

#hestia #hades #hephaestus #apollo #hermes #dionysus #zeus #hera #demeter #athena #aphrodite #ares #Poseidon #greek mythology #greek gods

[moth-fuzz]

12, 20, and 30 for the music ask!

I have no idea why I didn't get a little notification for this one. Better late than never!

12:A song from your preteen years

As a preteen before I got into way heavier stuff I was obsessed with dragonforce, they were the fastest most energetic music I had ever heard in my life at that point. I even learned a number of songs best I could on guitar, mainly the rhythm parts. I've considered buying a Herman Li (guy on the left in the thumbnail) signature guitar since they're getting cheap now.

20:A song that has many meanings to you

I gotta admit I'm having a hard time with this one, because I'm pretty intense about getting the meanings behind songs, getting into the writers' heads, having that moment of shared experience.

That said, I think Radiohead songs are good for that because they often have layers and layers of meaning, and you can get out of it what you put into it. The more you dig the more you get.

This is one of my favorite songs off of one of my favorite albums, so I've listened to it and thought about it a lot. You go to genius dot com or youtube comments or whatever and people talk about it like it's a depressing nihilistic song, and maybe it's just the buddhist in me, but I feel like it's a pretty comforting case of existentialism. Yeah, all the earthly distractions don't matter, we can't take them with us in the next life, so you find the freedom to focus on what really matters. For the guy in this song, it's after death, but fortunately for me, I'm not dead yet.

Bonus!

Exact same thing happens on this song:

People think that the narrator in this song is all depressed and wants to end it all or whatever, but like, I get the opposite sensation when listening to the song. Yeah this sucks. Yeah corporate life sucks. Yeah the government sucks. Let's dream of something better, a better life, no alarms and no surprises. Idk, I find it inspiring and cathartic.

30:A song that reminds you of yourself

I think this is tied with a few other songs for the big title of My Favorite Song. Art is inevitable. No matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, whether I'm actively trying to Create or whether I'm just trying to Live, even if I can't get it all to come together in the end, music still trickles out of me like sweat and pools at my feet.

#blogging

[shytastemakerthing]

hii!! U seem so cool- but anyway,, could i get a twisted wonderland match up? My grammar kinda sucks and my auto corrects off so😭

I would like for it to be more romantic, if thats ok! Also pls dont match me up with any of the 1st years since i would honestly just adopt them in twst😭

Sooo im an enfp 7w6, scorpio, green flag.. Yeahhh

But other than that,, (about to write a whole essay abt my personality) what abt my personality?

Soo im honestly kindaa uhm,, goldfish-like; i have a crap memory. and whenever in a serious situation, one where you need to stay on guard, i instantly calm down after someone cracks a joke and forget abt the whole situation.. So bcuz of that i get called "the goldfish of (gc name)" 🥲

But im really motherly and caring! I always take care of my loved ones like a nurse, so pretty much- im my friends personal nurse AND doctor (as someone who startes studying abt medical stuff when i was like 10,, young, ik) i also take care of stray animals whenever i get the chance. feeding them, taking care of their wounds, whatever! Im a good balance of childish and mature, though i fall more on the childish side! I honestly give out 'sad, wet cat' vibes at first, since i mostly spend time alone, sulking abt being alone, reading in the library alone.. but im the total opposite! Honestly kinda weird but in a good way? Super kind, and generous, and sympathetic, i always consider other peoples feelings first ofc! Honestly kind of a people pleaser🥲 softhearted person with anger issues huhu.. Also keyword 'with anger issues' because i can and will beat someone up who did one simple thing to make me mad, even if theyre like 6'2 IDGAF FIGHT ME IM 5'10 ITS NOT MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE🙄🙄 veryvery energetic or the opposite, depends. havent slept for like 2 weeks straight😇

Now I'll just say the exact words my friends said when i asked them what they thought of me-

"funny, cute, and she lavs astronomy ahhajaja" "ure the friend whos effortlessly funny but gay /j but srsly youre the friend whos funny but super girlboss whenever there are fights and uses emojis every sentence they send" "the fish i ate for dinner" "cute nmn, and fun too, but annoying sometimes😒" "youre literally just like your father but as a girl,, stubborn, charming, ignorant, brave.. And you even have the same facial feaures." "Soft girl vibes" "VOODOO DOLL SELLER IKAW"

And for my hobbies.. I have a lot tbh LEMME JUST-

Astronomy; stargazing.. IT GIVES ME SO MUCH PEACE OMG

Exploring; going to abandoned and apparently 'haunted' places brings me so much joy somehow

Dancing; practicing ballet but my friends drag me to learn the choreo of a kpop song😭

Singing; opera😻

Sports; BADMINTON, BASKETBALL, SOCCER, VOLLEYBALSLSMSJKAHSKXVJSDJ LOBVE THIS

Gaming; tbh i rarely do it anymore😭

Collecting; plushies, seashells, etc..

Art; SCULPTING, DIGITAL, TRADITIONAL, MUSIC, ETC. I CAN DO IT ALL OMGG

Thats all i think😔 I dont wanna waste ur time so thank you huhuu BYEE HAVE A GREAT YEAR MWAMWA

-lav hoshii

Hello and thank you for your request! Honestly I had a lot of fun reading over this and I believe I have just the guy for you so here we go!

I match you with.......

Floyd Leech

🦐 You two bounce off of each other so freaking much that it is insane. At this point, you're the most interesting person in his life and he isn't planning on letting you go ANY time soon and that's a fact.

🦐 Floyd is someone who butts heads with a lot of people, and I mean, a LOT of people. He's not one to shy away from a fight, even in those ones where he is clearly out numbered. It's more fun for him. But what he really loves is how you patch him up after each and every one. Sure, you badger him about all of these fights, but it's only because you care about him, and as you place a kiss to each wrap and bandaid, he can only hopelessly grin at you...... he is smitten.

🦐 Your memory isn't the best, and while Floyd seems like the aloof type, he is actually very smart, very perceptive, and has an excellent memory. He will remember anything you can't and it greatly comes in handy when needed.

🦐 Being with Floyd, also means you will be seeing a lot of Jade. Sorry, they're a two for one package deal (Azul's words). And while his twin was highly skeptical of you at first (when is he not skeptical of someone?), just seeing you with Floyd, and all the shenanigans you both get up too and how you always take care of him, you're basically family now at this point.

🦐 He is in the basketball club! Which is perfect for you! You love basketball and you two have player 1v1 quite a lot. Just be careful, because he can and WILL get competitive. Also, if you wear his jersey to his games, he has this derpy smile the entire time and will be showing off just for you. He turns into an absolute beast on the court. You're now the good luck charm of the NRC basketball team and Ace and Jamil always make sure you're there.

🦐 He finds out early on in the relationship about your habit of collecting sea shells. Now, because of him that collection has expanded a great amount. Look, you're dating a merman, he can and will be going under the water to gather the best and biggest shells thay he can find for your ccollection. But your personal favorite is a little cream colored chipped clam shell. He brought that one back after finding it randomly on a walk and it is now the most cherished one in the collection.

🦐 The way your mood fluctuates matches how his does, and while it annoyed him at first (like, is this how Jade and Azul feel when his does that?), he was able to quickly find out what can set you off or change your mood and is able to quickly adjust accordingly. Though he will admit that you look pretty hot when you get angry and tackle someone twice your size.

🦐 He would absolutely love to go exploring with you. It can be boring, it can be dangerous, so much could happen that you just don't know and that's what makes it exciting! If you ever get bored of looking at the supposedly haunted houses, he'll happily supply a breathing potion and he can show you some really cool shipwrecks!

🦐 Overall, a relationship with the reckless eel with legs is nothing short of an adventure. You know you'll never be bored, he loves how considerate you are with him and how you take care of him. And Azul and Jade are beyond thankful that you can actually get him to focus on his work, only if you're there, though 😅

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #twst #matchups #twst imagines #disney twisted wonderland #romantic #twisted wonderland floyd #floyd leech x reader #floyd leech #twst floyd #floyd x reader #jade leech #azul ashengrotto

[hello-nichya-here]

Was Meg White a good drummer?

*sighs eternally* Yes, she was. She was the perfect drummer for The White Stripes, and I can't believe some dumbasses still try to argue otherwise in 2023

Ya know what? Let me rant about Meg White now that you gave me the chance, because this woman:

1 - Was the reason the band started in the first place. Jack said many times that jamming with her ONCE was enough to let him know that they had something special (musically speaking) and it just HAD to become a band instead of just being a one-off thing, or just something they did for fun. And let's not forget, she is reason the reason behind the NAME of the fucking band.

2 - Was an active participant in creating the songs all the Stripes fans, including the ungrateful bastards that shit-talk her for no damn reason, absolutely love. Yes, Jack made the lyrics, but he usually wrote them while playing the piano. The final versions we all know came to be when he AND MEG would "cover" them together, to turn it into THEIR music. Jack also trusted her input so much that they would rework on any song she said she didn't like or didn't feel quite finished yet.

3 - Usually had a very "simplistic" childlike way of playing the drums. That made perfect sense for a band with a guy like Jack, whose deal is "restraint forces you to be creative" and "the best ideas are the ones you have when you think like a kid." Her drumming was a feature, not a bug. "We Will Rock You" is a ridiculously simple song, yet people still treat it as the classic it is, and give Queen a ton of respect for it. But Meg does exactly what she was supposed to, in that exact same vein, and suddenly "The White Stripes deserved a better drummer" (funny how we never see Jack get called a shit writer despite trying to keep lyrics extremelly simple, huh?)

4 - Had to perform without a setlist because once again Jack just has to be different. She had to immediately recognize any song he was playing (and he had plenty to choose from), remember how to play it, AND adapt to Jack's constant improves - which often included stuff like interrupting a song, playing part of another one for a minute, then go back to the first one. All while suffering from severe anxiety and performing in front of HUGE audiences - some of which, as we know, were dying for her to make any mistake, no matter how small, so they could go "See? I told you she sucks!"

5 - Could often go fucking nuts on the drums when necessary, to help Jack build momentum, and then just suddenly stop or go back to normal whenever he gave her a cue - and again, he liked to improvise, so she had to be ready for EVERYTHING.

6 - Had soooooo much chemistry with Jack on stage that it became a show in it of itself. Let's face it, rock is often as much about the "image" as it is about the music (and this band sure knows it considering their thing of only wearing red, black and white to stand out and be memorable), and by God, I cannot think of The White Stripes without picturing all the times I watched a video of some performance of theirs and thought "Jesus Christ, get a room."

7 - Was a joy to watch when she was just on stage, not giving a fuck, and having fun while playing the drums. I don't care what people say, to me she had as much stage presence as the guy that took her last name.

Bonus: Wrote "Little People." I know, I know, that song is not one of the big ones, but I think it's dope and this is my post. Jack could have easily just sing the lyrics while not touching his guitar, because that song is all about Meg creating the rhythm and the melody with her drums (like she did in "Little Room", another treasure). It's simple, catchy, and an underrated gem.

Bonus 2: She sang "In The Cold, Cold Night." I know, nothing to do with drumming, but that song is in my top 10 AND was frequently played in the show long after it's release. She managed to secure a little moment by herself in the spotlight despite not really being a professional singer, and that just shows, once again, that she could deal with ANYTHING her band-mate threw at her.

Meg wasn't just a drummer that was allowed to tag along to the Jack White show because they were married/siblings, like some people love to pretend. She was his partner and a core aspect of what made the band so great. There's a reason why when she retired from her music career, Jack didn't just get someone to new and continue using the band name. He KNEW it wouldn't be the same, he knew Meg was as irreplaceable as him. If either of the two is missing, then it's just not The White Stripes.

It doesn't matter how much some trolls try to pretend Meg was useless or even holding Jack back. The simple fact that they praise Jack's work on their dyscography proves they are wrong, because they're weren't two people coming up with stuff separately and then stitching it together. Jack's riffs, intros, solos, outros, and the instrumental chrous like the one in "Seven Nation Army" were only able to exist because he and Meg were playing off of each other, exchanging notes, trying new stuff, keeping up with each other, working and creating music together.

If you like The White Stripes, you have to thank BOTH of them for it. It's that simple, and I don't know why people are still struggling to understand that.

#asks #meg white #the white stripes #in defense of meg white #meg white deserved better #put some respect on meg's name

[thatone-churro]

still thinking about how i was told to “consider something more practical” for an occupation at my high school’s reality day.

to put that in context: reality day is a thing my high school does for seniors where they are given a certain amount of money based on the career they plan to pursue (given from the counselors likely from the first google search result) and are given various expenses and random events to determine if you would basically survive or not.

of course, i intend to be an author, so i chose that.

cue an agonizing 30 minutes of trying to figure out how to survive on an absurdly low amount of money (even for the job itself) and ultimately finishing with like $13 dollars a month to spend for myself. without life insurance. or a car. or my own house with no roommates. or college. or literally any non-necessity expense.

i was doing this with a friend of mine, who plans to become a tattoo artist, was having the exact same struggles with the exact same choices as me (but she knew they were lowballing her SEVERELY because obviously she’s done her own research).

and the advice from the counselors and teachers who were there to help? the both of us were told to “consider going into a more practical profession.”

and i know i’m probably lingering on it far more than i need to be, and i’m definitely taking it more personally than i should be, but something about that response irks me.

i mean, i’ve been getting stuff like that ever since i decided that’s what i wanted to do. i’ve been told that i should reconsider, that i should try going into the medical field instead (yes, they got that specific once), that i had better be damn good if i expect to earn a living, that i should think about doing something else and write as a hobby.

obviously, that’s not gonna stop me (i won’t be going into my personal motives right now, because that’s an essay on its own), but god is it daunting sometimes.

and honestly, i don’t know what the point of this post is because everything i have to say about this has already been said in every other essay post about the subject. y’know, the ones that go on about how creative occupations are incredibly important, yet go unnoticed, but would be dearly missed if and only if they vanished (because they’re right, you know).

maybe i’m looking to make the same point. maybe i’m wishing the adults in my life (as well as my peers!) were the slightest bit more supportive. maybe i’m looking for others to relate to, idk.

TL;DR - creative occupations are just as important as “practical” ones. deterring people (kids, especially) from pursuing them, ESPECIALLY if it’s their passion, in favor of something with a bit more money in their pocket afterwards is definitely NOT a good thing to do. if you do, you don’t have a right to complain about the shitty music or books or movies you’re left with while you bash the job of making them in the first place.

#the only good thing from that day is the inside joke we got about me getting a speeding ticket. when i only rode the bus. #the implications of that were funnier than the $300 dent that and the other random event left me with. #grace being kinda serious for once #text post #personal #okay to rb

[thisaintascenereviews]

Royal Coda - To Only A Few At First “Swancore” is one of the weirdest “styles” of music I’ve ever heard, but I understand its appeal to an extent. What am I referring to? Well, Swancore steams from guitarist Will Swan, whom you may know as the guitarist of post-hardcore band Dance Gavin Dance, but Swan has branched out his “cinematic universe” with other bands, including the band I’m going to be talking about today (as he joined the band a few years ago), as well as starting a record label for a lot of these bands (Blue Swan Records to be exact). The issue I have with this kind of music is that it all sounds the same, hence the name “Swancore.” A lot of bands under this label sound exactly a lot, including wonky guitar riffs, a post-hardcore meets progressive-rock, dual screaming and clean vocals (especially vocals with a pop / R&B inflection, similar to Tilian Pearson, Kurt Travis, and the like), and nonsensical lyrics that don’t have any rhyme or reason. There are tons of bands that follow this formula, and while a lot of them are talented, it’s just that they all sound alike. People really seem to love these bands, though, especially Dance Gavin Dance. I just reviewed their new album, Jackpot Juicer, and I have mixed feelings on it, but it’s a decent album overall. I enjoyed parts of it, but it was way too long for its own good, and showed the band running out of ideas (although they’ve been doing that for the last few years, honestly). Coincidentally, another band on the Swancore roster, Royal Coda, was slated to release their third album the same week that I ended up reviewing Jackpot Juicer, so I was rather intrigued by it. I’m a fan of Royal Coda, first and foremost, and out of the “Swancore” bands, they’re one of the better ones. Fronted by former Dance Gavin Dance and A Lot Like Birds vocalist, Kurt Travis is at the helm of these guys, including Sergio Medina, and Will Swan himself, but they made their debut in 2018 with a self-titled record that I thought was pretty good, but not great. It was a very generic post-hardcore record, and it was cool, but nothing I couldn’t get from these other bands. I went back and listened to their second album, 2019′s Compassion, and liked that one a lot more, because I hadn’t heard it yet. It was a very good album, and it had more of a funk / R&B-inspired sound, which would make sense, considering that Kurt Travis was in the band Eternity Forever with the guitarist of Strawberry Girls, and they had a funky sound that I really liked. They broke up after a single EP, unfortunately, but this is almost the spiritual successor to that band. Their third album, To Only A Few At First, seems to continue this idea of having a post-hardcore meets funk sound. To put it simply, this is a really good album, but I haven’t been going back to it that much. I did mention in my review of Jackpot Juicer that this album is better than that one, and I agree with that still. This record is a lot shorter, only 38 minutes, and it’s a lot more cohesive in its tone and sound. That’s kind of the problem, though; this album is kind of one note, and it’s extremely catchy or memorable in terms of individual songs. Everything about this album is pretty good, though; Travis’ vocals are great, definitely some of the best that I’ve heard from him ever, and the guitarwork is great, too, including some really solid grooves. I love how the album is pretty short, like I said, but it does blend together a little bit. If anything, it shows Swancore’s issues that a lot of these bands tend to have, but it’s also one of the better albums I’ve heard recently. It’s a solid little post-hardcore with funk and progressive tones, so it’s a lot of fun to listen to. I just haven’t gone back to it as much as I’ve wanted to, unfortunately, but it’s worth hearing if you’re a fan of Kurt Travis, Will Swan, or any of that stuff. People tend to go nuts over anything Will Swan does, and like I said in the beginning, I kind of understand it, but when everything sounds the same, I don’t really get it, so I don’t know, folks. If you’re a diehard fan of any of these guys, or these bands, you’re going to enjoy this. Hell, you probably already do, and I’m sure you’ve been listening to it for the last week since it’s been out, but I wouldn’t say this is one of my top ten favorites of the year. I really enjoyed it, but it’s nothing necessarily special, either. I like the funkier tones that it has throughout it, but the album’s never catchy enough to keep me engaged throughout its shorter runtime. It’s groovy, but there’s not enough catchy melodies or hooks to really hit a home run for me. All in all, though, there’s enough to enjoy, especially if you’re not familiar with Royal Coda or the Swancore sound. This is a great introduction to this band, and it’s easily their best, so hopefully they keep going and they throw some catchier and more accessible hooks in their sound next time around.

#royal coda #compassion #will swan #sergio medina #kurt travis #dance gavin dance #jackpot juicer #post-hardcore #swancore #to only a few at first #blue swan records #rise records

[sizzlingpatrolfox]

I don’t want to be negative but I’m kinda disappointed that the new album is just a collection of their old songs. My excitement level dropped significantly lol. I listen to their old songs all the time and i love them and i want them to make something similar but not the exact songs!we need something new, something refreshing. I was so ready and excited for a new era and new songs but now I feel meh 😑 i just hope my excitement builds up again somehow.

You can be negative with me no problem 🤝

Is it even a matter of negativity tho??? I said a while ago I don't usually have any expectations for their releases except that they look like the company actually invested in them. Even with no expectations boy what a way to kill any excitement about a comeback. There's no logic to it from an *artistic* standpoint; they haven't put out more than two songs in two years. They used to do two albums per year. The only people I've seen genuinely excited about this are *some* of the 2020 armys, which of course, it's pretty much their first comeback 😭😭 and even then other new fans aren't happy about it.

It's a money grab album. No way to sugar coat it. The music is music we already know. If the rumours are true there will be a couple of demos and that's about it. The only probably exciting thing about it could be the additional content that they'll release for the comeback. Which is why half of the fandom are here for anyways, for the Bangtan bombs and the videos and all the ot7 content curated for them. Bighit has consistently used nostalgia as a clutch for every release and even performances, that's why every year there are theories about BTS doing something like hyyh again; because bighit has hinted at it every year and it was never true. This time they took it seriously and are apparently re-releasing hyyh I guess 😳

It also made me think about how armys (I guess they are mostly "older" armys) always wanted to have hiphop BTS back, and they don't say this anymore, probably because they've moved on, but they would say that they wanted the old BTS back, we want to listen to the old BTS, stuff like that. And some super suuuuuper edgy sassy af armys were like "the songs are still there, if you want to, you can go and listen to them". Now some of those same people are like "this is actually the epitome of brilliant marketing people who never listened to the old songs and for some reason can't go on YouTube or Spotify, now have an album to buy so they can finally listen to those songs that have been on the internet since 2013!!!" What a relief, where would army be without this new album. Compilations have always been made to sell only, and that's it. And for the record, when people say they want the old BTS, they mean that they want good music.

It also made me think back to the live they did for BE re-release on February 2021, that Jimin was like "I said we should include at least one new song :/ " and he was right to probably feeling embarrassed about it. It's literally a scam to sell the same product as something brand new. At least they put 3 new songs in this one 🤪

Back in 2020 I thought mots7 and the things they said at the end of the year award shows were kind of pointing to it being the last album and tour, and now I think it probably was. The compilation would've been released at the end of the year as a way to tie it all up nicely. That made sense, at least to me. Ironically, they got a second chance, they got a couple more years to keep making music and being BTS. Not everything was bad, of course, I loved dynamite. I think 2020 was really good musically wise, because dynamite is a nice song and the performances were good. After dynamite, nothing of artistic value happened. I don't even hate butter or PTD, but it's not music that I consider to be good and that I willingly listen to.

Bottom line is, I don't think a compilation/anthology album is bad. It's bad to release it after two years of no music and when nobody knows if there will be more music after this year, because it's likely that at least Jin will have to enlist come December.

No money or time or efforts or even feelings went to producing, composing or writing new songs, it's a safe and lazy decision. In the case they're all enlisting together (I personally don't think they will but in the case), to me it feels like a sour end. The last time they actually put out an album was 2020. It's just sad to me, I don't think I'm disappointed because the bar was already on the floor after 2021, but it's just sad, I guess I could say I am bitter about it.

This person is a clown. BTS are not releasing anything; HYBE is releasing and all they want is the sales 😭 armys actually hate kpop groups and then hide that behind their army identity; that's all I'm going to say.

Other things I agree with:

[glasshalftrue]

as both an artist and a programmer (though not one working in machine learning so i won't claim anything close to expertise), the anti-ai takes i see from artists are really frustrating to me. the two most common criticisms i see about it are that it's 1. stealing 2. not art regarding the first point, it's clear that most artists don't understand the general technology behind it at all. they constantly claim that it does stuff like just collage different parts of images together, when that's very much not what it's doing! the process that neural nets use is incredibly complex and it's much more about pattern matching than storing and replicating exact sets of pixels. i definitely don't like it when ai artists specifically target an artist who voices their discomfort with having their art being used that way, if only because it's simply mean and rude, but unfortunately, i can't say that i'd consider it plagiarism. and for the people who want stronger copyright laws to protect artists' rights: believe me, it will not at all be helpful to "the little guy" like you think it will. regarding the second point, it seems like there's a couple things going on. one part of the critique seems to come from the quality of the art itself, which is an obviously losing battle. remember a year ago, when people were making fun of how bad ai was at generating hands? they seem to have pretty much solved that now, and whatever little nitpick you might be able to point out next, it's almost certain they'll eventually figure out that one too. i see a lot of tips floating around about how to tell if a piece of art is ai-generated, and while the tips usually do work well, the fact that the people need to use these increasingly specialized perceptive skills makes it pretty clear that it's becoming more and more indistinguishable. i've seen plenty of cases at this point of real artists having their work being accused of being ai-generated, which to me seems like the logical conclusion of people's assumptions that they can always tell when something is real or not, and i think it's only going to get worse and worse. the other part of the critique is about the artist's intent, an appeal to some illusory idea of "the soul", which seem like transparently bad arguments to me, and are clearly motivated from an emotional-driven place. because it seems so obvious to me that prompters do, in fact, have an intent when they're generating ai art, some sort of vision of what they want to create. it doesn't matter that their idea is vaguely defined rather than fully-formed in their head; plenty of existing art forms involve a creation process that is similarly stochastic, from Jackson Pollock-style drip paintings to experimental generative digital music. hell, even when i draw i often don't know exactly what i want to the end product to look like and figure it out as i go along! now, the incredibly low-barrier to entry and the general motivations and sensibilities of a lot of typical ai art enthusiasts mean that, in practice, a lot of (maybe most) ai art is indeed dumb garbage. but just like how the reality that most mainstream superhero movies these days are boring and soulless doesn't mean that the superhero genre is inherently without merit, the existence of bad ai art isn't good evidence of the medium itself being creatively bankrupt.

ultimately, i do agree and sympathize with a lot of artists' concerns and criticisms about ai art and what its possible effects on the world will be. like i said, in practice a lot of ai art really is soulless trash, but the ease of creation means that i can very easily see a world where most of the art we see today in our everyday lives is replaced with bland, insipid ai generated shit that is just good enough for the general public, and i really don't want to live in that world. and for that same reason, it'll also likely have a very bad impact on the art industry and people's abilities to do art as a career, and while the disruption of industries due to technological innovation is a tale as old as time, the potentially rapid pace of this disruption will certainly lead to a lot of suffering along the way. i just wish that artists had a better idea of what they're actually fighting against.

#ai art #ai art discourse #the discourse

[aangu]

Do Musical NFTs Have Any Scope?

The NFT domain has been expanding slowly yet steadily and it is only about time we become incredibly dependent on its existence. However, considering that these NFTs are now venturing into the realm of music where no note is the same. Is that being said there is a lot that has to be considered when venturing into the musical NFT domain? NFT marketplaces for gaming collectibles and other sports-related stuff have already become quite popular globally but what is the scene when it comes to audio related ones?

More on musical NFTs

NFTs can be captured in any form, be it visual, a piece of written content, or a video and obviously pictures. NFTs are the most versatile in their own way. The reason that one would convert their music as an NFT would be solely to make it an exclusive element. This can also be done to musical songs like ones that are done by megastars and so on. This helps as the creator of the song can only have sole ownership and not everyone can copy and replicate it.  With all that being said NFTs are a massive boon because not only do they make them exclusive, but they also prevent unnecessary copyright issues.

Conclusion

So to summarise the above content, it is basically the use of NFTs in a domain where artists have started to recently flourish. This domain is basically a secluded space where one doesn't only need skill but also the talent and a good voice that is worth making exclusive.  NFTs in the musical space is a tricky thing as some of the voice notes or the recordings may seem the same but not be the exact same. This in turn can create issues or complications where people might not acknowledge their value.

[brunetteboyfriend]

Howdy, Kringle here!

I really kind of thought I’d replied to this, isn’t that funny? But then I thought about it more and realized, wait. No. Sorry! Sometimes if I read things and don’t reply right away, I’ll have composed something in my head and the memory of thinking about what I would say becomes a memory of having said it.

Oh it’s cool you checked out Belle and Sebastian! They were just sort of around in the indie air when I was super into music as a teen/young adult, you know, back in the day. My favorite records are If You’re Feeling Sinister, Fold Your Hands Child, and Dear Catastrophe Waitress. I feel the band is a bit TOO democratic sometimes, in that I like the songs not written by Stuart less, so it makes them uneven sometimes! I do think lots of people consider them too “twee,” but I enjoy it. Hmm. Picking single songs is so hard! I was into them back when you listened to a whole CD, you know? But hmm. I cry at “Piazza New York Catcher.” “Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying” is a good one. “Seeing Other People.” “Stay Loose” Is a bit of a turn for them but it’s so good. OH! “Fought in a War.” Yeah. Ok I will stop now–dammit now I’m gonna listen to all of it again ha.

Honestly, re: Paul and WIngs, I don’t think people actually know which is which. I mean yeah, I think “Wild Life” and “Red Rose Speedway” aren’t great, but everything after that through Back to the Egg, I enjoy! 

A cozy family Christmas is just fine! I’m heading out tomorrow very early to visit the family (I live quite far from the rest of ‘em) and there’s going to be a little juggling since both my brothers have families now and haven’t quite adjusted to the reality of, you know, not necessarily being able to do all the same things anymore! But it’ll be nice to see everyone.

We do watch a lot of films–It’s a Wonderful Life is a fave, of course (again, people think it’s cheery? But it’s dark AF). I tend to prefer the older holiday songs, the Bing Crosby type stuff, or carols. Christmas is largely about nostalgia for me, I guess! Do you have any Christmas favorites? Movies, songs, foods?

hello, Kringle! i hope you’re doing well and that you’re having a lovely week so far!

haha, no worries! i forget to respond to people constantly, so you don’t need to fret about that. ‘tis quite alright, dear chum!

falling even deeper down the belle and sebastian pipeline, i can definitely see why ‘dear catastrophe waitress’ is one of your favorites by them! songs like ‘stay loose’ and ‘roy walker’ are more upbeat in comparison to ‘fold your hands’, and a bit reminiscent of ‘ram’ in some parts. ‘seeing other people’ sounds like a song you’d hear in a coming-of-age film during a scene in which the protagonist undergoes an extensive amount of introspection after a raucous event occurs in the story. ‘get me away from here, i’m dying’ is a well paced, earthy song and i like it! it’s actually wild to think that DCW was released when i was practically a baby! also, if people consider them to be a bit too “twee”, that’s their prerogative. but music should incorporate sweetness and sentimentality, not everything has to be serious!

i must say, i actually like red rose speedway (i mainly like the art that’s included inside the album lol). but it’s one of those albums where i’d really have to be in the mood to listen to in its entirety, y’know? as for wild life, it’s okay. it’s one of his more, and i hate to say this, “forgettable” projects, but it’s not terrible. it’s a record that you can put on as background music during a long car ride through the rural countryside.

it’s funny that you mention ‘it’s a wonderful life’ because there’s an episode of the fairly odd parents that parodies this exact film. which is totally bizarre that a children’s show would reference that because isn’t the movie about a depressed guy who gets rescued by his guardian angel and is basically told, “i’m gonna show you real quick what the world would’ve looked like if you never existed. oh, merry christmas, by the way!”?

i hope you have a lot of fun when you visit your family this year! and yes, children can be quite a handful, haha. surely, your brothers will get the hang of it eventually. although, parenting may be a blessing, i’m assuming it can get rather strenuous at times, as well. my older brother already has two children of his own and he’s still in his mid 20’s! he’s a great father, and i can only hope he and the girls can relax on christmas!

during this time of year, i love watching those stop-motion animated, christmas themed rankin bass films. ones like ‘santa claus is coming to town’, ‘the year without a santa claus’, ‘jack frost’, and of course, ‘rudolph…’ my family and i used to watch those together on abc family all the time when i was younger. as for songs, i’m not particularly into christmas music, but i will say i don’t mind hearing ‘wonderful christmastime’ every now and then (i was on the verge of blacklisting that song from my brain last year at my old job because it would constantly play over the speaker lmaoo) ‘happy christmas (war is over)’ by john is a good tune as well.

speaking of john, we’ve engaged in a lot of paul-related banter so far. so i’d like to ask you ; what is your opinion of his music? how would you evaluate his character as a musician (and if you’d like, as a person as well)?

#srs22 #ask

[findstenicht]

nothing makes me feel older than listening to songs that were popular in like the early 2010s and seeing so many people in the comments go "i miss the old days! kids nowadays will never understand!! music these days just isnt as good!!" like sir, youre talking about pitbull

#nina.txt #like i get the nostalgia and whatever but. #god just stop being so pretentious askdjaisjla #like people said the exact same stuff about the music these people consider ~good~ and its like. who even cares #who cares whether youre vibing to sinatra or the kinks or queen or rihanna or ariana grande or [insert currently cool band bc idk any] #cant we all just enjoy some funky tunes?

[sometipsygnostalgic]

This is the post I was working on that I accidentally sent privately before I’d finished it, LOL. Thanks @imorahtarm107 for sending it back after what must have been a confusing request. 

CONT: Rebecca Sugar  has spoken before about how much they dislike the statement by press that Bubbline only became “canon” in the finale, because Sugar and Muto were working on that pairing all the way back in s3, those characters have been canonically queer the whole time. It’s not some novelty thing that was canonized at the very end just because everyone else was doing it, or that the characters were only queer and dating if they got to kiss on the mouth! 

So yeah, I was a bit salty abouta  few things. I mostly thought that season 10 had been underwhelming compared to the spectacular seasons 7 to 9. Honestly, I still stand by that opinion because those seasons were really good. 

I felt that there were some other things missing from s10, but some of those got followed up either in the finale or in Obsidian, albeit less in depth than I’d have liked (primarily the fallout to Elements on the side of the Elementals themselves - I thought this was only appropriate considering what happened in Jellybeans Have Power. Are they not terrified of themselves? What are the long term consequences of that takeover, if any? It seems much bigger than the stuff with the Lich that barely anyone knew about.)  

HOW MY THOUGHTS HAVE CHANGED

Well, honestly? Just hearing more from the crew about the problems they faced on CN, not just the AT crew but also Rebecca Sugar with SU, it clears SO much up. 

Kent Osborne said to Ghostshrimp in a podcast that, even though they knew the show was ending, the team had no idea how many episodes they had left! Unlike the earlier seasons where CN just made block orders of 52 eps, it seems like from s6 onwards, things were far less stable. CN no longer ordered consistent season lengths. I’m not sure if they instead ordered blocks of eps, or if they gave the crew a flexible budget to work from, like Legend of Korra had. 

From my observations and theories, the reason seasons 7 to 9 have so many miniseries is possibly because Adam Muto was using those as a way to appeal to what CN wanted out of Adventure Time, and therefore, to prolong the lifespan of the show. It worked really well as both standalone miniseries and as episodes of the show. Olivia Olsen commented that there were many times they thought they were on the last season but it turned out they weren’t.  Adam Muto pitched the first eps of Distant Lands originally as miniseries to “extend” season 10. He was probably hoping he would be successful! 

Unfortunately, this time he was not successful, and Kent Osborne said that the crew were taken off guard by Come Along With Me being their last ep. When they started work on it, they thought it was a special in the middle of what could be a longer season. Kent even believed they would’ve had another 26 eps left. Adam had to beg for an extra couple of months so they could figure out how they could turn what would have been a gumbald special (whatever that would have entailed) into a finale for the entire show! 

Watching Come Along With Me with the knowledge that the crew were taken so off guard changes entirely what I think of it, because what originally seemed like lazy rush jobs - Simon turning back but not having any time as himself, the ep havingt so much going on, the conflict between Bonnie and Gumbald being a bit empty - now feels like the best possible outcome!! How on earth did they make Come Along With Me as good as it was?? They gave so many characters good moments, they had the whole thematic resolution to the land of Ooo and the themes of the world going in circles but nothing staying the exact same, they paid respects to Finn’s growth, and had the outro as the finale song while showing life goes on! 

Now that I’ve had so long to process exactly what happened in the ep, I greatly appreciate so many scenes that I previously overlooked or dismissed. The intro sections by Steve and Tom are brilliant at building up tension, which is part of why the second section feels so jarring. However, the dream sequence is so funny, with interesting imagery that it’s still nice to pick apart. Jake gets to be a good brother, Finn gets to battle Fern, and you have that chilling swapperoo epiphany with Gumbald and PB. The scene where they’re all on the beach is so cathartic. 

Then the second half of the special is just intense start to finish - everyone working together at the culmination of their character arcs, to take down GOLB! Until the power of a little robot’s song turns out to be the best tool of holding it back, and Betty performs the ultimate sacrifice for her mistakes with a smile on her face. So good.  The ending scenes with Finn and the treehouse, Shermy and Beth, the music hole, those are a thematic conclusion to the show. 

So, yeah, it did a great job. To an extent it’s better enjoyed if you pick it apart than if you watch it all at once, since it’s unfortunately not as hard-hitting as a lot of the single 11-minute eps of Adventure Time, including the previous season finale Three Buckets. However it absolutely does its job.

As for Bubbline, well...  Adam was trying to get the show extended, and if anyone looks at the twitter comment I currently have as my pinned post, then you’ll understand that there’s no way PB and Marcy could have kissed or made their relationship undeniably explicit unless it was the very end of the show :/ 

Adam said himself that he didn’t see it as much his fight to battle the decisions of execs as Rebecca did. And while that hurts, it makes sense - he was the owner of someone else’s show that is a smorgas board of a large number of people’s ideas, whereas Rebecca was the owner of their own show and felt that if they weren’t able to express themself in their own show, Sugar was willing to completely take down SU. And that actually happened - Steven Universe got cancelled immediately!!! Adam was not prepared to do that with AT, especally when CN were already talking about cancelling it. 

The good news is he didn’t give up on having PB and Marcy’s relationship be at least fairly clear, especially s7 onwards. I don’t know what happened behind the scenes, but it’s likely a number of the crew members taken on at that time found it important to press for Bubbline, and Adam decidedly agreed. If someone other than him had taken over as showrunner, or even if Pen stayed in charge (he supported it but didn’t want to be wrapped in controversy), I wonder if they’d have never interacted after What Was Missing :/ 

So yeah, with that in mind, as annoying as Marcy and Hunson still is, I can forgive the crew for doing a finale kiss. Rather, I can really thank Hanna K for pressing for one - she knows how important it was to at least confirm what people had expected, without a retroactive tumblr post ala Korrasami. 

#adventure time #atimers #bubbline #come along with me

[axoxtxhxh]

First Date with the Vets - Miche

Big shoutout to @chaotic-nick for making this lovely banner for me!

Overall Summary: I had this idea to do a first date with the vets and what it would be like. I am including Erwin, Levi, Miche, and Hange in this list. Each date will be different, but all of them will be set in modern au.

Check out Erwin’s story here, Levi’s story here, and Hange’s story here

Pairing: Miche x Fem!Reader

Content: Nearly all fluff

Word Count: ~ 8,000

Summary: You sign up for a cooking class with your friend only to have her ditch you, but things look up when a handsome stranger volunteers to be your partner.

This was fair. This was totally fair and you deserved every second of this embarrassment for what you did to your best friend, Fen. No matter though. You stood there, thankfully in the back, of your first couples cooking class, but you were missing the couple part. You let out a huff of air and leaned over the counter. You definitely deserved this.

“Alright class!” The instructor walked in. An older blonde woman, swung her arms excitedly while she walked to the center of the room. “Everyone ready to cook?”

Everyone in the room chanted ‘yeah!’ in unison and you looked around, wondering if you’d walked into a cult meeting. How did they all know to say that? More importantly, why didn’t you? Even more importantly, Fen wouldn’t have signed you up for a cult, would she? You at least knew you didn’t deserve that.

You looked around at the other couples in the class and sighed. What a terrible reminder that you were single. It’s fine though, it’s fine. This would be quick, possibly fun, and then you could go home and eat ice cream while you catch up on your favorite show. It wouldn’t be so bad.  You’ve had to sit through a lot worse. This was one cooking class.

“Today, we’re making…” The instructor paused as if she was waiting for a drumroll to start. And honestly, you were surprised the enthusiastic couples didn’t make one for her. “Vietnamese Spring Rolls!”

She opened up the little laminated pamphlet she had in front of her so everyone could see a picture. Everyone clapped while they ‘ooh’ed and ‘ahh’ed at the picture. You brought your hand to your head, second-hand embarrassment flooding your system. You needed to stop. This could be fun, but your bad attitude wasn’t going to help. You tried to focus on enjoying yourself and stood up straight, focusing again on the instructor.

“We’re going to get to eat things like—" she crouched down as if she was hunting and you tried so hard to hold a neutral face and remain interested “—shrimp, bell peppers, and even rice vermicelli!”

You started clapping, anticipating the excited students moves and wanting to join in. Except this time, for some reason, no one clapped and everyone looked at you. You wanted to die. You shrunk back into yourself and tried not to look around the room, hoping that maybe people would forget you existed. There was a man in the corner that caught your attention. He gave you a thumbs up and smiled, but you quickly looked away, needing to be invisible. Yep, this is what you deserved.

The instructor continued reading from her pamphlet, telling the whole class about the amazing spring rolls and things to remember when we’re cooking. You tried your best to concentrate, but you could tell you were starting to lose focus and daydream.

She talked about the red bell pepper and the difference between a male pepper and female pepper and you started worrying that everything in this class was going to relate to being a couple. Even the freaking pepper had a partner. You shook your head, looking back at the instructor and watched her take a bite of one of the peppers, squealing at the delicious flavor.

The problem wasn’t because you couldn’t find your perfect partner, you just didn’t want to settle. So many people settled these days, you didn’t want to be one of them. You were happy the way things were with you. Besides, if you were in a relationship, he could be one of those guys that liked doing things like this and then you’d have to join cult cooking classes regularly.

You broke from your daydream, shaking your head and focusing back on the instructor. Yeah, you just weren’t settling. You looked around the room at the other couples again, everyone’s arm around each other, squeezing each other’s shoulders in fondness. The guy in the corner who gave you the thumbs up caught your eye again. He was crossing his arms and looking at you and smiling. Not like a friendly smile, but a smile where he caught you doing something that you didn’t want anyone to see and it creeped you out and worried you. You looked back to the instructor, a little more anxious about his eyes on you.

“Alright couples! Now that you know what to do, let’s get started!” The instructor jogged up to her little kitchen in the front and started setting her things up, turning on music and expecting everyone to follow.

“Hi.” A deep, raspy voice spoke from behind you and you jumped, turning around. It was thumbs up guy.

“H—hi.” He was taller than he looked from across the room. Much taller. He was also much better looking. Like, dreamboat, hunky, drop-dead gorgeous, good-looking. He had those really light blue eyes that had you struggling to look directly into them.

“I uh… I noticed you don’t have a partner.” His hand moved a piece of his dirty blonde hair behind his ears, a piece that didn’t fit into the small bun he had in the back, then rubbed the back of his head. “I’m also partner-free. Maybe we can work together?”

“What happened to your partner?” You were unpacking the ingredients from the bag on your counter as you looked up at him.

“I came without one.” He smiled shyly.

“You came to a couple class without a partner?” You questioned, pausing your unpacking to focus on him.

“Didn’t you do the same thing?” He teased. You opened your mouth to defend yourself, but realized it didn’t even matter. He was right. You were also partner-less in a couple class.

“I guess you’re right.” You laughed. “Okay, partners it is.”

“Great!” He quickly moved backwards to grab his stuff from his table and you resumed checking your inventory. “I’m Miche, by the way.”

You looked up and he was back, holding his hand out for you. You took it.

“Y/N.”

He moved back to his table and you watched him grab his black leather jacket and a backpack. Of course he would be wearing a black leather jacket. He had this whole rocker look going on that you definitely didn’t hate, but it was a bit predictable. He set his stuff down with yours and rolled up the sleeves of his sweatshirt to wash his hands.

You watched him pump soap onto his hands and lather them up. He had pretty nice hands. They looked strong. Most of him looked strong though, but there was something about his hands that seemed really strong. You were starting to get lost in watching the soap lather up and roll away, the white bubbles disappearing as they slipped over the thick veins in his hands. You had no idea what his job was, but if you had to guess, it was something with his hands. Thick fingers, protruding veins, calloused palms when you shook his hand, definitely construction.

“So what made you come here partner-less, Y/N?” His question woke you from your daydream and you looked at him as he dried those strong hands.

“You first.”

“Me?” He turned around and leaned against the ledge of the counter, crossing his arms. “It was sort of an accident.”

“How so?”

“Well I try to take one of these classes a couple times a month. Not the couple one,” he corrected with a laugh, “but the regular one.”

A regular attendant of the cult cooking classes. Of course.

“Why do you take them so often?” You pulled out the knives and the cutting boards.

“Single guy, living alone. I got sick of eating garbage every night.” He bent down to help you pull out the tools you needed. “I’m actually pretty good with breads, but that class was full. That’s why I’m here.”

“A breads class would have been fun.” You spoke, but your mind was still stuck on the ‘single guy’ part.

“It’s tons of fun. There’s one open in a couple weeks, you should join it with me.” He smiled and you realized that even his smile was beautiful. It’s weird that from across the room he looked a bit creepy, but now he was nothing but charming. “Your turn.”

You both unloaded your armful of utensils and bowls from your arms and you considered how much of the real story you wanted to share with him. Did you really need a guy this good-looking, with this much potential so far, judging you?

“I kind of pissed off my best friend and she tricked me into coming here so she could ditch me.” Not really a lie, but certainly not the full truth.

“That’s some friend.”

“No, she is honestly a great friend. She really is.” You sighed. It wasn’t fair to give him a bad impression. You shrugged your shoulders and paused for a second. “I deserved it.”

“Oh, I can’t wait to hear this.” He organized everything on the counter so there was a cutting board and knife in front of each of you. Bowls were set behind the cutting boards and he moved the pan over to the stove.

“I don’t even know you. Why would I tell you my problems?” You crossed your arms and smiled at him, secretly enjoying the fact that he seemed quite interested.

“I am the exact person to tell. I will automatically be on your side.” You thought about what he said, a scrutinizing look on your face. “I’m not wrong.”

“You’re not.”

“Alright, let’s hear it then.” He mirrored your crossed arms.

“Okay, but let’s start making the sauce before we fall behind.”

You started reading the list and handed Miche the ingredients. Both of you measured them out and Miche mixed it all together.

“So, my friend, Fen—”

“Already don’t like her.”

“Hey!” You quickly looked at him and he laughed.

“I’m kidding. I’m kidding.” He laughed, whisking the sauce in the small bowl and shaking his head.

You heard him mumbling something to himself, but couldn’t quite make out what it was. You could have sworn he said ‘so fucking cute’ but that didn’t make sense to you. Unless he was talking to the sauce. Even that didn’t make sense. You looked away quickly, biting your lip and moving some vegetables around the table awkwardly.

“You definitely have your friend’s back.” Miche continued, stopping his whisking to look at you. “So far, you seem like a great friend to me.”

You took a deep breath, hoping he couldn’t feel the heat coming from your face when you turned back to look at him.

“Well, you haven’t heard the worst part.” You continued. “Fen invited me to a work party. She sort of has this thing with her coworkers.”

“What kind of thing?”

“She hates them all.”

“Nice.” He laughed again. You’ve never giggled before. At least not that typical girly giggle that women do in movies when they’re flirting, but man did he make you want to giggle when he laughed. You held back and stuck with biting your lip.

“So I may have promised her I would go with her to make it a little easier, but last minute I got tickets to this concert.” You were doing your best to focus on your fingers lightly pulling on the stem of the bell pepper and not on the beautiful man standing next to you whose eyes you could feel looking at you.

“Oh.”

“So, I maybe… kind of…” The pepper was in your hands now, shifting from one hand to the other as you spoke. “… texted her right before the party and told her that I couldn’t go.”

You looked up at him slowly, his eyes were on you, slightly narrowed and he looked back to the bowl of sauce he had been whisking.

“Damn, you are a bad friend.” He shook his head.

“You said you would be on my side!” Your mouth dropped open and he threw his head back laughing as you stared at him and jokingly pushed him away from you.

“I’m sorry, I’m only kidding.” He put his hands up, still laughing. “Everyone’s done something like that before.”

“Yeah, well, she isn’t talking to me now.” You turned back to the vegetables on the table.

“I’m sure she will if you give her time.” He bumped his hip into yours and set the bowl on the counter in between where you both were standing and your eyes were drawn to his bracelet.

“I appreciate that.” You nodded, looking back up at him. “Oh! You know who is talking to me?”

“Who’s that?”

“The year 2004. It wants its leather cuff back.” You pointed to his wrist.

“Ah, very nice.” He laughed and looked down at his bracelets. “Well see, these are glued on.”

“Oh, are they?” He rotated his arms so you could see both sides of the cuffs.

“Yeah, I was pretty badass when I was younger.” He joked, taking a step closer to you.

“Mhm.” You laughed lightly, words were becoming more difficult to think of as he got closer, the heat from his body reaching yours without even needing to touch you.

“So yeah, they can’t come off now.” He smiled and you slowly looked up to him. “Permanent fixture.”

He wasn’t standing over you, but he was definitely leaning over you and you could feel the pressure of his size. You sucked in a quick breath of air, unable to think of anything other than just how close he was to you as he moved his hands to rest on either side of you, lowering himself so his face was level with yours.

“Cute.” Your bottom lip slipped in between your teeth. At this rate your lip would be bleeding by the end of the class.

His smile grew and in this position it would have honestly been incredibly uncomfortable if it weren’t for the genuine comfort you felt constantly rolling off of him. You sucked in another breath and smiled at him. He was about to take a step closer until the instructor’s voice caught the attention of both of you and you turned to look at her.

“I see some of you out there getting closer!” She walked the length of her table, and went back to chopping. “This is what cooking is about! Being close to your partner, really tasting the food. It’s a sensual experience. You need to feel the cooking with your partner!”

You noticed Miche removing his hands from resting on the counter and turning to stand next to you, starting to chop the bell pepper to follow the instructor. You moved over to your cutting board to do the same.

“No one here should be feeding themselves!” The instructor started moving around again, lifting her arms in a gesture to show she wanted more. “All of the ingredients are fresh and juicy and delicious! Let your partner taste it from you!”

You were about to start laughing, turning back to the red onion you were chopping when you felt Miche staring again. Ignoring it was your first thought, but when he shifted his position, leaning his back against the cutting board, you couldn’t help but look up.

He was holding a small sliver of bell pepper in his hand and holding it up to you.

“I—uh… we don’t have to do that.” You spoke, flustered, looking back at your cutting board.

“Come on.” “We’re not even a couple, we don’t have to follow what she says. It’s more for the other people here.” You gestured with your knife to the other couples feeding each other.

“Something tells me even if we were a couple, you would still argue against this.” He put his hand on yours and you stopped chopping, your eyes moving to his. “You don’t get chances like this often. Live a little.”

You weren’t sure what he meant by ‘chances like this’ but whatever he meant by it, he was right. It was easy to forget that a lot of the time, especially for you. You had a tendency to take things too seriously and when you were uncomfortable, which was quite often, you passed up ‘chances like this’, chances to have fun, chances to try something new, chances to get fed by a cute guy you just met. It was strange that Miche had already figured that out that about you.

He moved the bell pepper towards you and back away in a little dance of temptation and it made you laugh. You sighed, resisting the urge to roll your eyes and you opened your mouth.

“Wait, do you want to try it with the sauce?” He asked as he pulled the vegetable away from you.

“Might as well.” You shrugged. He scooped a small amount of the peanut sauce onto the pepper and cupped his hand under it as he lifted it to your mouth. He had a weird look on his face as he watched you chew. You couldn’t tell if he wanted you to like the sauce or wanted you to like the fact that he fed you. “It’s good.”

You’ve had peanut sauce before, but this one tasted different. It wasn’t bad, but it certainly wasn’t something you wanted to be sticking plain bell peppers in. You had to admit though, the instructor was right, the bell pepper really was juicy and getting it fed to you was pretty nice too.

“My turn.” He smiled and nudged your cutting board closer to you to feed him. You looked at him confused.

“You want me to feed you an onion?”

“With sauce, please.” He opened his mouth, lowering himself down a little. It made no sense to you but you weren’t really going to judge him. You picked up a slice of onion and scooped some sauce, slowly carrying it to his mouth.

You watched as his face started out happy and then switched to confused as he chewed more. From there it moved to almost disgust and you saw his nostrils flare as he finally swallowed.

“That’s not right.” He coughed, drinking a sip of water.

“You ate it with an onion, Miche.” You laughed.

“I think it’s the sauce.” He scooped a tiny bit on his finger and tasted it, his face immediately puckering.

“It wasn’t that bad.” You leaned forward to smell it.

“No, it’s definitely the sauce. Here, try it.” He scooped some sauce on his finger and brought it to your mouth. You were about to taste it, but stopped, looking at the sauce on his finger and then to his face. As the smile grew on your face, his smile grew as well.

“You really thought I would fall for this?” Shaking your head, you turned back to your cutting board and he laughed.

“I was hoping you wouldn’t realize what I was doing until after my finger was in your mouth.” He laughed again, licking the sauce off his finger. “The sauce is actually pretty good.”

“So what is it that you do?” You asked him, not looking up from your onion.

“I’m a drummer.” He finished washing his hands and leaned against the counter next to you.

“I mean, like your job.”

“I’m a drummer.” He laughed and you looked up, staring at him.

“Oh, you’re serious? I’m sorry. I thought you were being funny because the leather cuff thing.” You hoped your face wasn’t radiating as much heat as you felt like it was and that he couldn’t feel it.

“I like to think I’m funnier than that.” He laughed, crossing his arms. You could feel him looking at you again. “I get it though. Not a lot of people see it as a real job.”

“No, no, I—” You saw him smiling at you. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. Ugh, I’m sorry.”

You set the knife down and closed your eyes. Perfect. You’ve insulted him. Sometimes you wondered why you bothered opening your mouth at all, stumbling over your words, saying things that come out rude. You’ve barely known him for twenty minutes and you’ve already offended him.

“I’m just teasing you.” He tapped your foot lightly with his. “You should come to a show. My band is playing in town tonight.”

“I should. It’s the least I can do.” The moment you said it, you knew how it sounded and you tried to correct yourself.

“The least you can do?” His eyes widened and he laughed. “Don’t do me any favors.”

“No, I know how that sounded. It’s not—I don’t pity—it’s not out of pity… oh my gosh.” You covered your face with your hands and faced the counter. Miche was cracking up next to you.

“I’m not offended, Y/N.” He tapped your shoulder. “Stop hiding.”

“It’s like I have a permanent foot in my mouth. I’m sorry.”

“Damn, you’re fun to tease.” He smiled and you stood up straight, taking a deep breath trying to pull yourself together a bit. You watched him lean over the counter and rest on his elbows, looking back at you. “What is it you do?”

“It’s not as interesting as being a drummer.” You leaned over the counter with him. “I’m a children’s book author.”

“Oh wow, not what I was expecting. How long have you been doing that?”

“Wait, what were you expecting?”

“Nothing, honestly. I just don’t meet a lot of authors.” You gave him a look with narrowed eyes. It was only fair that he offend you at that point. It wouldn’t be the first time that someone looked at your face and wondered how someone who looked so cold could write children’s books, but most people judged you too soon anyway. “Really, I wasn’t expecting anything. So how long have you been an author?”

“It’s basically been my only job. I wrote my first book when I was seventeen.” You shrugged. “So that’s, what?”

You did the math in your head. Math has never been something you’ve been good at. Miche was watching you try to add the small numbers in your head and laughed.

“You need help getting there?” He teased.

“Shut up.” You laughed. Math was hard. “Seventeen. Seventeen years.”

“I think you’re a little off.”

“Am I? Thirty-four minus seventeen is seventeen, right?”

“You’re thirty-four?” He stood up straight, his eyes wide. “I thought you were like twenty-five.”

“Sorry to disappoint you.” You smiled, knowing that’s not what he meant, but also wanting to enjoy being the teaser for once.

“No, not a disappointment at all.” He smiled and rubbed the back of his head. “Y—you… you look great.”

“Thank you.” That smile really did a number on you because you sat there staring at him until at some point you realized that twenty minutes had gone by and you both really hadn’t done anything as far as cooking. “We should probably keep cooking.”

You both went back to your cutting boards and continued working. Miche finished slicing the bell peppers and you noticed that he was staring at you quite a bit more than before. Not just that, but he was also moving closer to you. It’s not that you were complaining at all. Honestly, you were very okay with it, you were just wondering what the change was. You finished your onion, moving to boil the water for the rice vermicelli and starting on the cabbage.

Miche reached around you for the carrot, his chest pressed against your back, he set his hand on your upper arm and you looked up at him. His blue eyes sparkling so close to yours. You blinked slowly and looked down at his lips. He had the most perfect lips, full and soft and the most kissable shade of red. He was smirking and it made the corners of your lips turn up until you let out a silent exhale as you watched him lick his lips.

You felt like a kid. Like when kids see the ice cream truck and their face lights up and they start licking their lips and salivating, anticipating what that ice cream is going to taste like. That’s how you felt when you looked at Miche. A drooling child.

Each time you caught yourself staring like an idiot, you told yourself not to do it again, to keep your focus. But when he was brushing past you, touching your arms lightly, smiling at you, laughing with his big laugh, it was so hard not to look like a drooling child.

“Alright class!” The instructor’s voice broke you out of your thoughts. “We’re coming up to the last ten minutes. I see some of you falling behind, but that’s okay! You want to start thinking about plating your food soon!”

“What the heck?” You looked to Miche with your eyes wide. “We barely have anything done. We haven’t even cooked the shrimp!”

“We still have ten minutes.” He reminded you.

“To plate!” You moved to the shrimp. “You take over the chopping, I will cook the shrimp.”

How in the world did forty-five minutes pass already? You knew you were having fun, but you both literally have only cut a bell pepper and an onion. Thankfully you had started boiling water for the stuff that took longer to cook. You dumped the shrimp in the pan and looked over to Miche eating the only vegetables you had cut.

“Stop eating it and plate it.” He jumped at your voice and you honestly wanted to laugh, but you were freaking out about how you were going to finish everything. He moved closer to you.

“Don’t worry so much.” He stood behind you and rested his hands on your shoulders. His hands were moving slightly as if he couldn’t decide if he wanted to give you a massage or not. “Do you want me to do that?”

He moved to take the spoon from you, but you shook your head. You were feeling the pressure of the time and you had a feeling he could tell. The big red clock in the front of the room that showed nine minutes wasn’t helping. It’s not like you wanted to ruin the fun, you were having fun before, but now… you just weren’t.

“Here, eat this.” He brought a bell pepper with peanut sauce on it to your mouth.

“Miche, I just want to get this done. We’re already—”

“We’re already what? This is a class we paid for, we can do whatever we want.” He watched your eyes move to the clock and back to him and he smiled. “You’re really bothered by that, aren’t you?”

“I just don’t want to be late.” You sighed. He lifted the bell pepper up again.

“You’ll feel better after you eat this.”

“I doubt that.” He pretended to frown at you and it made you smile. “I will eat it, but then you need to julienne the carrots.”

“Whatever you say.” He put the pepper in your mouth.

You chewed as you turned back to the stove and added the rice vermicelli to the boiling water, looking back over to how Miche was doing. He put the bell peppers on the plate with the onions and was cutting the carrots into cubes. Large, uneven cubes.

“Julienne, Miche, julienne!” You complained. Miche dropped the knife on the cutting board.

“Who the fuck is Julienne?” He whispered turning to you. You stared at him. He had a serious look in his eyes. He genuinely had no idea what you were talking about and it was so wholesome that it took everything you had not to squeeze him. This giant man was so adorable, it was killing you.

You put your hand on his shoulder and started laughing. Once you started, you couldn’t stop. Your shoulders were shaking and you put your face into your elbow, trying to muffle the sound.

“Did I say something?” He watched you, but all it did was make you laugh even harder. You moved to pull your hand from his shoulder to cover your face and he grabbed it, holding onto it and smiling at you. You weren’t sure if maybe you had just given up on making anything correctly or you finally realized it didn’t matter, but seeing Miche smiling as you nearly peed your pants from laughing seemed way more important to you in that moment than anything else.

You got yourself to stop laughing and didn’t even bother looking at the clock. Your eyes were watering from laughing so hard and you wiped them, still giggling when you thought about how ridiculously cute this guy was. He was still smiling and finally dropped your hand only to hold your cheeks, using his thumbs to wipe whatever tears you missed.

It was strange to you how oddly comfortable you were in that moment. You hated when people touched you, especially people you barely knew and meeting Miche less than an hour before definitely put him in that category. But standing there with him holding your cheeks didn’t feel uncomfortable at all. You hesitantly set your hands on his ribs, unsure if he was okay with your touch. It was a weird place to hold, but it felt like a natural placement until he moved closer to you and they slipped around his back and you let out a quiet gasp. It had been a while since you had been this close to a man and you were actually kind of enjoying it.

“How is everyone feeling?” The instructor’s voice pulled you back into the kitchen and you blinked, moving to turn your head, but Miche held your face. His smile widened the tiniest bit before he squeezed your cheeks lightly, squishing your face forward and he let go, laughing to himself. You narrowed your eyes at him, but couldn’t help but smile when you saw him laughing.

As you turned to the instructor, having missed most of what she said, you realized that the moment you and Miche just had seemed to give him permission to be closer to you because he was completely pressed up against your back, hands on either side of you as they rested on the counter. If there was a way to describe the feeling of being pleasantly caged in, you would use it to describe how you felt. Maybe cozy was a good way to describe it.

“It’s finally time to eat what you and your partner created so grab those plates and let’s get to the dining area!” The instructor danced her way to the dining area and you and Miche looked down at your plates and laughed, carrying what you could to the dining area.

The dining area was just a small room with a lot of windows, a wall of plants and ten or so bistro tables. It sort of seemed like a large greenhouse and was cute in a small café sort of way. The sunlight coming through the windows also added a great feeling.

You and Miche set your plates on an open table and sat down. He immediately slid his chair a bit closer to you and you both turned to the instructor, listening to her long-winded way of saying ‘enjoy the food’ and finally turned back to each other.

“At least we know the sauce will be good.” You dipped your rice paper in the hot water and pulled it out before it got soft, trying to put whatever vegetables you could in it, laughing as you sifted through the chunks of carrots. You rolled it up and dipped it in the sauce, watching Miche make his.

His rice paper was still hard and he folded it over instead of rolling it. The paper got too soft too quickly and he couldn’t get it off the plate. You sat there and smiled, trying not to laugh as you chewed your food. As his spring roll fell apart when he lifted it, you finally had enough.

“It’s not a taco, Miche. Here, let me do it.” You took a fresh rice paper and dipped it in the water, added the vegetables and rolled it up. You dipped it in the sauce, holding it up for him and he opened his mouth. “You need me to feed you?”

“I’m sure it will taste better this way.” He smiled, resting his hand on yours to steady the roll before taking a bite and sitting back, chewing. You didn’t want to sit and watch him eat, but you couldn’t get yourself to look away. The way his jaw worked and flexed as he chewed, the way his eyes closed as he tasted the food, the way he let out a small groan to tell you how good it was, the way he gave a little thumbs up, you didn’t want to miss any of it. “So good.”

“It would probably be better with carrots.” You teased.

“Let me make you one,” he said excitedly.

You weren’t really sure you wanted that. You saw his first attempt and you really didn’t want to be eating crunchy rice paper with chunks of carrots and onions. You eyed him as he started, he was definitely watching you make the last roll for him because this time his roll wasn’t that bad. You opened your mouth and took a bite, watching as Miche put what was left in his mouth.

“What do I have to do to get you to come to my show tonight?” He asked as he wiped his mouth.

“You still want me to come?” He smiled and nodded.

“Definitely.”

“Well class, it’s been a fun hour, but the next class will be coming in soon so it’s time to clean up!” The instructor spoke about how great everyone did and how we can sign up for her other classes at the front desk. No one was required to clean and you watched as everyone stood up to leave.

“Before we leave—” Miche put his hand on yours and you looked at him. He opened his mouth but nothing was coming out, he just sort of stared at you, trying to find words. “Do you… Um, maybe, do you want to get ice cream or something? I know a good place. It’s really close.”

He was asking you out. He was definitely asking you out. He even looked nervous and it was twisting your insides into the tightest knot you’ve ever felt. The excitement and shock sent a flush of heat to your cheeks. There was no way you could play it cool, even if you tried. Your heart was beating so hard against your chest in the best way and you opened your mouth to respond, but he kept going.

“It doesn’t have to be ice cream, if you don’t like it.” He added quickly, laughing to himself as his hand went to rub the back of his head and his cheeks tinted pink. “I just kind of want to spend more time with you.”

“I love ice cream.” You smiled, biting your lip. Fen might actually kill you for coming out of this experience with a date. Especially a date as amazing as Miche. He let out a sigh and smiled, standing up and taking your hand.

“Should we go?”

He was right about the ice cream place being close. It was more of a cart and only a couple blocks away from the cooking class. You weren’t actually sure if this was considered a date, but this ice cream cart location was certainly a perfect date spot. It was right next to a park with a cute path for strolling.

“What can I get you?” He pulled out his wallet.

“I can pay, you don’t have to pay for me.” You dug around your purse.

“I invited you. Don’t worry about it.” You stared at him. You hated when people paid for you. It felt weird and you felt like then you owed them something and you weren’t really sure where this was going for you to be able to pay him back. Miche saw your hesitation and smiled. “How about I buy you ice cream and you can pay me back by coming to my show.”

“Still trying to get me to go, huh?”

“I will keep trying anything to get to see you again.” He laughed. “I’ll even let you buy me a drink. Deal?”

“Deal.” The smile that grew on his face made your heart dance around in your chest. You got your ice cream and walked together along the park path. Whether it was a date or not, it was a really nice afternoon that you weren’t expecting to have had based on where you were a couple hours before.

“So you’re trying to become a vet?” You asked him. You were both sitting on a bench you found halfway through the park’s path as you finished your last couple bites of ice cream.

“Not really actively yet.” He laughed. “I’ve taken a couple classes and I love animals so I think I might do it.”

“It would definitely suit you.” You nodded licking your ice cream.

“You think so?” There was that smile again. He always looked so grateful and happy. You found it so comforting, but also confusing because you looked the exact opposite and couldn’t understand why he kept calling you cute. “If my apartment allowed pets, I would probably have a bunch of dogs by now. I guess it’s good that they don’t.”

“So how long have you been a drummer?” You ate the last bite of your cone. “As a career, I mean.”

“Not long. Maybe five years.” He shrugged.

“What were you doing before that?”

“I don’t know that I want to talk about that yet.” He laughed nervously.

“That bad?”

“Not bad. I just didn’t really like myself very much then. I didn’t… I wasn’t very happy.” He shifted in his seat and you worried that you made him uncomfortable, but he was still smiling so it must not be that bad. “Not all of us found our dream job at seventeen.”

“I wouldn’t call it my dream job.” You laughed. He was smiling, but his face dropped, looking almost worried. He started leaning closer to you which made you lean back away from him. Was he trying to kiss you? If he was trying to kiss you, he picked the most random time to do it. Not to mention, he had a look on his face that didn’t seem like he even wanted it. He held your chin and touched your hair and you looked at him. He wasn’t even looking at you, but you still waited for him to lean in more. Instead, he sat back on the bench.

“Sorry, there was a bug in your hair.” He flicked it away.

“Oh.” You looked down, internally laughing at yourself. “I thought you were going to kiss me.”

You quickly looked up in front of you, not meaning to say that out loud to him. You opened your mouth and a nervous noise came out. Miche started laughing and you looked at him.

“Don’t worry.” He tapped your shoulder. “I won’t kiss you without asking.”

“Oh.” There was definitely disappointment in your voice and you were hoping maybe he couldn’t hear it even though you thought it was painfully obvious.

“Would you let me though?” He asked.

“What?” You looked back at him.

“Kiss you?” That little smirk sat on his lips and distracted you from his question to the point that you had to look away.

“I think I would.” You nod slowly.

“Why did you lean away then?”

“It’s a reflex, I guess.” You explained and he smiled, his hand going to his facial hair and rubbing.

“So… then can I?”

“Can you what?” You looked back at him and felt stupid for looking back and forth between him and the ground. It was dumb for you to feel nervous when he clearly looked nervous himself. His hand was on the back of his head where he was rubbing, a slightly unsure smile on his face.

“Can I kiss you?” He laughed. It was amazing how good you were at making things so incredibly awkward. You were about to grab him and kiss him yourself just to end this conversation because you were sure it was only a matter of time before you said something really dumb. Like maybe ‘it’s the least you could do’.

You nodded your head, hoping that was enough for him to understand. He lifted up from the bench, leaning towards you, his face approaching yours quickly as his hand reached for your cheek. He was really going to do it then? You felt yourself leaning away again and tried to stop, but you couldn’t. His eyes closed as he got close enough to you and you panicked a little.

“Wait, wait.” You put your hand on his mouth and he opened his eyes. “I give you permission to kiss me, but not like this. Sorry. I don’t know why it’s awkward when I know it’s coming.”

“You want me to surprise you?” His eyes went wide with shock. He didn’t move back from how close he was to you, instead stayed right in front of your face and chuckled.

“It’s not like I want to be scared.” You laughed, shifting a little in your spot. “I just feel like I need to wait for the right moment to enjoy it or it’s awkward.”

“Why is it awkward?” He leaned back, his hand resting on your shoulder.

“I don’t know. I just… I don’t know.” You sighed. “I’m sorry. I guess I ruined this. I just…I take things too seriously.”

“Oh, I definitely figured that out.” He laughed, closing his eyes and laying his head back. “And stop worrying, you didn’t ruin anything.”

“Should we try again?” You sat forward and looked at him. You’ve only known Miche for an afternoon and he was already realizing one of your worst traits.

“So you can just go through the motions? No.” He smiled. “Kissing is fun. You don’t need to wait for any right moment to do it. You just take control and make it yourself.”

“I don’t know that I—"

“I’ll tell you what.” He sat up and looked at you. “I’m going to get you to make the special moment that you need all on your own and you are going to kiss me.”

“You—”

“No arguing. I’m starting now.” He laid his head back on the bench and closed his eyes and you stared at him confused as to how him doing the exact same thing he was doing was going to make you kiss him.

You waited, looking at him for a good couple minutes, but he didn’t move. You looked around the park, thinking maybe inspiration would come from the ducks in the pond across from you. You were honestly trying. Moments didn’t just come out of nowhere though. You looked back to Miche and he was still in the same spot and you really thought that he might have fallen asleep.

You sighed, setting your back to the bench again and Miche’s hand made its way around your back and pulled you against him. There was a moment where you tried to look up at him, but his hand was resting on your head and he guided you to lay your head on his chest. You tried to keep your breathing steady, but you did feel a little strange cuddled up to him like this. It wasn’t until he moved his hand to your waist that you felt like you could breathe.

You took a deep breath, trying to relax yourself into his body. It still didn’t feel like a moment, but it was definitely something worth enjoying for a little. You took another deep breath, bringing your hand to rest on his chest, just under your chin and closed your eyes. You probably could have fallen asleep. Between the slight breeze in the park, the warmth of Miche’s chest under your cheek, the slight scent of his cologne or deodorant or possibly really nice body odor, the continual rise and fall of his chest, the sounds of the ducks dipping into the pond water and the faint thud of Miche’s heartbeat under your ear, you could sleep. You focused on the rhythmic beat of his heart, slow and steady. The calm, even, unchanging drumming against your cheek.

You slid yourself a little closer, trying to position yourself to better hear it and you heard it change, shifting slightly. You stopped your movements, focusing on hearing the change. It was easier to hear in this position and you could not only hear the change, but you could feel it. His heart was beating faster, harder against his chest. You smiled and slid your hand across his stomach to lower your ear. He inhaled sharply and you felt his pulse race again. You brought your hand back over his chest and his hand lightly rubbed your waist.

Your entire body was tingling and you could only think that maybe his was too. Your heart was racing as you heard the speed of his heart beat. This was fun. This was more than fun. This was amazing. You were in total control. You were completely focused and in complete control of this moment. This moment was yours and it was going to be as special as you wanted it to be, as special as you made it.

You were at your limit, an unexpected pull forcing you to lift your head, look up at Miche, and smile. He finally lifted his head to look at you and when he saw your face, he smiled back. It’s as if you were a different person. Any other time, you would feel the need to wait an arbitrarily appropriate amount of time before you could kiss someone. But this time was different. There was no waiting, your hand moved to his cheek, your thumb rubbing his cheekbone softly before you hurriedly lifted yourself to reach his lips.

The moment your lips met, his free hand moved to the back of your head and he helped pull you closer to him. He had this weird way of holding you tightly, but at the same time so gently. He sat up a little more as his lips moved against yours. It surprised you that you were the first one to slip your tongue out and sweep it across his top lip. Miche sighed into you, opening his mouth, and quickly pulling you into his lap, his tongue quickly making its way into your mouth. He lifted you until you were straddling his legs and kept his hand on the back of your head to keep you close to him.

The reminder that you were sitting on a park bench in public flew across your mind and quickly disappeared as Miche’s hands moved up your back, bringing your chest to rest against his. The warmth of his cheek under your hand and the way he kept sitting up to get closer to you was making it increasingly more difficult to keep the kiss a suitable rating for any eyes that might be watching you. Your body was growing hotter and Miche’s tiny sighs into your mouth weren’t helping. A particularly loud sigh, bordering on a moan, finally had you put your hand on his shoulder and lean back.

Miche’s eyes were still closed when you opened your eyes to look at him and he licked his lips. If there was a limit to how handsome he could look, you were sure that was it. His eyes were fluttering lightly as he held them closed, his cheeks were pink and his lips were sitting in a small smirk, wet and still that perfect shade of red.

“Hm...” You smiled and his hands lowered to your hips as he opened his eyes. “You’re a much better kisser than I thought you’d be.”

“I’ll try not to take offense to that.” He smiled and leaned back into you, pressing his lips against yours again.

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