#only quality posts here today folks | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

delirious-donna · 1 month

Text

The Surprise [Higuruma Hiromi]

an: it’s 2am and here I am posting this smut-filled fic because I can’t sleep and I can’t stop thinking about this man. p.s. requests are open for Higuruma specifically so drop me an ask if you wanna give me some ideas for everyone’s favourite lawyer!

pairing: Higuruma Hiromi x female reader

warnings: lingerie, pussy drunk Hiromi (it’s canon don’t fight me), multiple orgasms, unprotected sex (wrap it folks) and other goodies

Masterlist

“Will that be everything for you today?” The cheery assistant asked offering a genuine smile whilst they rang through your purchases and packed them carefully into a neat little box.

Your stomach fluttered with the thought of what might transpire this coming weekend, a long-planned weekend that couldn’t arrive quick enough. The delicate tissue paper wrapped around the items inside the box before the assistant closed it over, tied a ribbon securely and placed it in a paper bag.

“Yes, that’s it. Thank you for your help earlier, I appreciate it!”

With a bounce in your step and a sizeable dent in your bank balance, you exited the boutique store to daydream about your husband’s reaction to your little splurge. Neither of you were accustomed to dropping large sums of money so randomly, both believing that an air of caution and frugality would see you through any potential storms on the horizon, but you had walked past this store so many times and finally been tempted into their den of sinful delights.

Inclusive-sized mannequins displayed a range of differently styled lingerie, from demure bridal wear to raunchy strips of leather and wide mesh that would leave very little to the imagination. At first, you were convinced it would only be window shopping, however, when you spied an elegant-looking black bodysuit that seemed like it would hold all your bits in without compromising the sex appeal element, it was game over.

Once you were interested, the friendly young assistant swooped in and soon you were trying it on in the fancy dressing room. The lighting was complimenting rather than garishly fluorescent, and the lull of soft, sensual music added to the overall experience, one you were rather enjoying. The strapless bodysuit hugged your curves and accentuated your décolletage nicely. Clearly, it was designed by scientists to support your breasts without cumbersome straps, and you silently praised their ingenuity. Paired with crotchless fishnet tights that you could secure beneath the suit—a suggestion from your enthusiastic little helper—you knew that Hiromi would likely lose his mind and you couldn’t wait.

Your poor, overworked and perpetually exhausted husband had been burning the candle at both ends for the past nearly four months, neck deep in a case that if he were to win would be a monumental victory in his career. In support, you packed him off every morning with a full lunch consisting of his favourite foods, mostly to encourage him to actually eat instead of consuming mug after mug of rancid instant coffee. In your evenings, you helped him go over witness testimonies, read over his arguments for clarity, and did everything you could to lighten his load around the house. It wouldn’t be a permanent arrangement, you both knew that, and to say he appreciated your support was an understatement.

That’s why when he told you that it was all drawing to a conclusion and that he was cautiously optimistic it would end in his favour, you revelled in that knowledge. Whether it did come to fruition or not, his weekend would be free, and he promised to spend some real quality time with you without the cloud of looming work. There was nothing more he could do, no more past cases he could study and the thought of basking in his undivided attention warmed your heart and soul.

With two days remaining before your scheduled weekend plans to do absolutely nothing but relax and unwind in each other’s presence, you again peeked at the box you’d tucked into your side of the wardrobe, away from prying eyes. Maybe it was a bout of nerves, a moment of body consciousness, that made you pull your surprise out to examine the contents. Whatever it was, you worried your bottom lip once the intimate outfit was laid out on the bedspread.

“What was I thinking… this is too much,” you quietly scolded yourself.

Flopping beside the expensive scraps of fabric, you brushed a palm down your face and reminded yourself that you looked fucking divine in the changing room of the boutique, so why would it be any different now? More so, you knew deep in your heart that Hiromi adored you and thought you were a goddess, one he claimed he didn’t deserve.

A few moments later, you stood in front of the mirrored wardrobe to scrutinise your reflection. Your eyes narrowed as you tugged the sweetheart cups into place and felt the soft squish of your breast jiggle inside. Turning to the side, a hand ran the length of your torso with a grin unfurling at the tight hug of the sheer-panelled fabric. Damn, your backside looked real good from this angle. But maybe the fishnets were too much, you mused, turning this way and that.

You ran your fingers through your hair, wondering if you should try to style it, maybe give it some more volume and texture. It was at that moment, whilst making kissy faces at your reflection with your hands scrunching handfuls of your hair and up on your tippy toes to extend the length of your legs, that the bedroom door opened, and you froze like a deer in headlights.

Higuruma Hiromi was on cloud nine. Not only had he won a career-defining case against all the odds, but the judge had also taken less time to deliberate than anyone expected they would. After a hearty swig of celebratory champagne drank from crappy paper cups with his partner and their secretaries, he was on the first train home to truly celebrate with the only person that mattered—you.

What he didn’t expect to find when he entered the house as stealthily as he could manage was the vision of you standing in the middle of the bedroom looking like one of the pin-up models from the magazines he would hide under his mattress as a young man.

Like a slightly tipsy house cat, he tiptoed his way through the rooms, listening for signs of you and driving straight towards the bedroom to surprise you with his unannounced return. The door bounced open on its hinges and he stood, shell-shocked for a moment before it turned to white-hot appreciation.

You looked beautiful, stunning, breathtaking even. There weren’t enough colourful adjectives for how he felt about you at any given time, but right now, modelling a black bodysuit that hugged both your butt and your breasts, he was entirely dumbstruck. Hiromi didn’t know where to look, or whether you’d rather he look away given your strangled yelp of surprise at his sudden appearance. You made no effort to cover yourself or shove him out the door, no, you both faced one another as if neither of you knew what to do or say.

His eyes continued to betray him, slowly caressing the length of your figure and finding new things to appreciate; the sweetheart cups, the gauzy panels that allowed him glimpses of your skin beneath, and not to mention the fishnet tights. He hadn’t seen you wear anything like those since your dating years, and he had forgotten how much he missed them, or how many he had ruined by ripping through the gusset in his haste.

“What are you doing home?” You glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table and back to your husband, heat filling your face but something else followed on the tails of your embarrassment, something more pleasant.

Hiromi ran this thumb over his mouth, gaze pointedly fixed on your chest, and you cleared your throat with emphasis until he finally met your eye and the arch of your eyebrow. Already his neck looked red, like a rash had spread from below the collar of his shirt and travelled towards his jaw. If you could describe a person as having hearts for eyes, it would be one Higuruma Hiromi and you adored him for his open adoration.

“We… I won,” he managed weakly, smiling as if coming out of a daze and you blinked for a moment while processing the words.

“You won?”

He chuckled. “I won.”

A wealth of emotions passed over your face until you ended with ecstatic pride, tears near pricking your eyes as you launched yourself into his arms and peppered his cheeks and nose with enough kisses to make him blush more furiously. His hands settled on your hips, his touch more hesitant than you would expect given the circumstances and you pulled back to give him a questioning look.

“What’s wrong? I thought you’d be more excited than this.”

“Darling…” he started, skimming his fingertips up and down your sides before rounding to your full backside and squeezing as he spoke. “What’s this?”

In your joy, you had forgotten that Hiromi had walked in on you wearing the lingerie that was meant to be for this weekend and meant to be a surprise. You guessed it still had been, although not the one you planned. “Oh, just a little something to show my hardworking man that I love and adore him. Nothing much.”

“Nothing much…” he repeated in a disbelieving whisper. A finger ran the length of your spine, from the top of your backside to near the base of your skull, dragging it slowly and watching you shudder beneath his deliberate touch. Your shoulder blades shifted, pushing your chest out further and into his, which earned you a groan of appreciation.

“I wouldn’t call this nothing much. You look like a wet dream come to life.”

He walked you backwards, the scent of champagne hot on his breath and your stomach curled into a mass of twisted anticipation—heavy in the depths of your belly. Your thighs crashed into the edge of the bed and Hiromi used your moment of imbalance to shove you atop, quickly shucking out of his jacket and crawling over you.

“Hiromi,” you squeaked between peals of laughter. The man in question only hummed in response, his hooded eyes heavy with nothing that spoke of fatigue. The whisky colour of his eyes appeared blown almost completely black by the dilation of his pupils, and he licked over his lips in what looked like anticipation of a hearty meal.

That meal was you…

Any protest you might have offered died in your throat when he claimed your mouth like a man possessed. His tongue curled over your teeth, pushing the memory of champagne into the space he dominated and greedily swallowing your answering moan. His forearms bracketed your head, keeping you caged and unable to run from him, not that you had any desire to, not when you could feel the press of his cock thickening against your lower half.

Loosening the knot of his tie with one finger, you took the moment to grab fistfuls of the shirt at his back, tugging the tails out of his trousers and sliding your palms beneath the starched surface to scratch along his spine. Hiromi shuddered, the disconnect of your lips an audible pop that left a web of saliva between you, only breaking with a quick swipe of your pink tongue.

“I don’t even have my make-up or hair done, you beast!” The half-hearted protest fell on deaf ears, or so you thought when his mouth moved to your neck and down to your collarbone, sucking little blooming lovebites on his journey. When he reached the abundant swell of your breasts, he glanced up whilst his tongue pathed across the top of your left breast, dipping into the valley between and then resuming the path over the right.

“You think I need face paint or styled hair to love you more? Fuck, sweetheart… I nearly came in my briefs the minute I opened the door.” The length of his aquiline nose nudged between your breasts, nuzzling the soft mounds like a cat warming by the fire. Carding your fingers through his hair, you wriggled beneath him and let out a breathy sigh, the weight and conviction of his love settling over you in perfect comfort. There would be no more argument from you, and Hiromi won for the second time that day.

With methodical slowness he kissed his way down your body, stopping to lave the sheer panels at either side of your abdomen and forcing you to arch from the warm sensation of his eager tongue. You’d barely managed to get his shirt off his shoulders before he was exploring you like this was his first time with your body. The white button-up hung down his back, sleeves caught by his elbows, and he made no move to strip it off much to your annoyance.

He stopped abruptly when he reached your pelvic mound, chin resting there whilst his fingers trailed the arch of your foot, up the inside of your calf and tickled behind your knee. “Stop that, mister!” You scolded with laughter threatening to bubble out.

“Spread ‘em and I will,” he challenged with a smirk.

The space between your freshly parted thighs became his home, an arm wound around your hip pawing at the fat of your thigh and the line where it met your arse, eliciting shivers that rippled over your skin like a calm lake disturbed by a skimming stone. He fingered the two snaps that kept the bodysuit in place, stroking firmly over your clothed cunt and pushing the barrier deeper until it started to feel sticky from your arousal. Looking all too smug, he freed the snaps with a grunt of satisfaction, sure that his next step would be to rip through the gusset of your raunchy fishnets so he could taste you. That moment never came.

You felt the vibration shudder through your husband, his head falling forward to obscure what you could see of his face, and you rocked your hips back and forth in invitation. The cool air of the room contrasted by the hot fan of his breath on your slit made you clench around a disappointing nothing, frowning at his sudden pause.

For a long moment, there was only silence. When he looked up, his expression nearly stole your breath. Thick black eyebrows pinched together, visible strain around his drooped eyes and a throaty whine made your pussy flutter with need. This was the Hiromi that only came out to play every now and again. The one who would wring you like a wet dish towel for just one more orgasm, one more mouthful of your hot nectar.

“Crotchless, really?” he murmured, dragging a finger across your puffy folds where the thin membrane of the tights should have resided and you nearly jolted upwards to the ceiling, having forgotten that little fact in the heat of the moment.

Cupping his cheek in your palm, you gave a cheeky wink. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about all the pairs of tights you’ve ruined over the years. These were just a… precaution.” Hiromi groaned, thrusting his face into your pussy without warning. The flat of his tongue ran the length of you, making you perfectly slippery in mere seconds, only for the tip of the wet muscle to fuck into your entrance immediately.

“Oh, fuck… Hiro!”

You yanked great tufts of his hair to no avail; he was lost to eating you out like a man starved. The prominent slope of his nose slid back and forth across your bundle of nerves, and it lit up your insides like the continuous explosion of miniature firecrackers.

Whining from his sudden onslaught, you tried to run by easing up the bed, but your attempts were shot down in flames by sharp insistent tugs of your hips. Hiromi was enthusiastic at the best of times when it came to going down on you, but it was nothing compared to right now. The wet squelching sucks of his lips and tongue flooded the bedroom, only being accompanied by your decadent moans and panting breaths as you tried not to lose your sanity entirely.

Hiromi was lost in you; the scent of your favourite body wash, the taste of your arousal when it trickled from your core mixed with the slight salt of your skin, the plush silk of your thighs beneath his prodding fingertips and the unrestrained noises that caressed his ears.

He almost missed your orgasm so clouded was his mind in the quest to turn you into a puddle of liquid goo for only his consumption. The wave of it crested through the length of your body, vibrating every limb and twitching each nerve ending. Your spine arched from the unmade sheets, the hand coiled tight in Hiromi’s hair spasming and tugging without even meaning to and that’s when he noticed. Without missing a beat, he wrapped his lips around your pulsing clit and sucked it deeper into his mouth.

Stars winked into your vision at being thrust from one orgasm directly into another so violently. Your pussy fluttered ceaselessly, a craving deep in your gut to be filled at all costs, yet right now all you could do was hold on for dear life whilst you bucked and rutted against your husband’s face, wetting it thoroughly. He nosed at your quaking thigh, sharp incisors nipping your yielding flesh until you yelped and tried to close your legs without success.

You became aware of movement, the absence of shoulders beneath your thighs and you blinked to find a desperate predator stripping off his clothes whilst prowling back and forth at the foot of the bed. Hiromi grasped his cock, tugging it down to the base to spread the leaked precum that continued to dribble from his cockhead. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think he had already cum, but he was always the excitable type who would leak and leak until you did something about it, usually opting to take him down your throat until he convulsed and spilt everything he had to offer.

Your hand trailed lower down your body, fingers playing in the spit-soaked mess he’d left behind in his hurry to stand and strip. Hiromi whined; head cocked to the side as he watched you play idly with your puffy lips flooded with the surge of blood and circling your pert little pearl. He fucked his fist harder, the other hand rolling his heavy balls until his stomach sucked in and your nostrils flared in warning.

“C’mere mister lawyer, I don’t want you wasting your orgasm when it could be filling me nicely.”

How quickly the tables could turn. One minute he was the predator, pawing and demanding, taking what he wanted without question, and the next he was the prey. Trapped on his back with cheeks a ruddy hue and eyes that begged for clemency. Your much small hand encased his dick, twisting your palm on each upward stroke while you straddled him and rocked yourself against the balls he’d just been palming.

His hands shook with restraint as they reached for your breasts, filling his broad palms and massaging them until you dipped low to claim his lips. You could taste yourself on his tongue, in his mouth and the sensation empowered you, fucking his throbbing cock through your folds until he twitched and whimpered some more.

“Please… fuck. Need to be inside. Might not last. God, you’re so fucking sexy. Don’t deserve you.” Hiromi babbled every syllable, sounding drunk when there was little to no alcohol left in his system.

His fingertips dipped inside the cups of your bodysuit, tweaking at your nipples and you indulged his silent request by allowing him to fold the cups down and let the spill of your tits fill his face. With renewed vigour and enthusiasm, he mouthed at you and ran his tongue in circles around your nipples one at a time.

You keened at the familiar sensation, swept away by a current of pure indulgence when he moved to suckle you. It was the perfect moment to strike, with Hiromi distracted in flicking his tongue over and over, round and round your swollen bud, you guided him to notch at your entrance and slowly sank onto his needy dick. He grunted; his grip tightening on your waist, but he refused to come up for air, continuing to nudge his nose into your breast, lips pulling the nipple taut until he finally released with a gasp.

“Fuck, I love you. I love you more than I can express.”

Hiromi worshipped you with his gaze, eyes full of devotion and unbridled passion whilst you rode him steadily. The sticky pap pap pap of your pelvis meeting his was the soundtrack to your lovemaking, because beneath the sexy lingerie and the ideas you had planned for the weekend, that’s what this was and always would be. You knew he didn’t need the extra faff to love you with his whole heart. You knew that he was aroused by you simply walking through the kitchen in a pair of his boxers.

You knew he loved you for you.

His dappled cheeks darkened further, the furrow of his brow telling of how he was trying to stave off his release, but you wanted him as undone as you had been, and you would not be denied. Leaning forward, your palms found purchase on his shoulders, breasts bouncing freely in time with your hips, and you squeezed around his shaft until the vein in his temple popped and he let out a guttural groan.

Hiromi grabbed around your middle, flipping you up and over so that he could thrust himself into overstimulation without hindrance. Pressing your thighs to your chest, you heard the telltale rip and knew that another pair of tights had fallen victim to Higuruma Hiromi despite your best efforts to keep them safe. His swollen cock pumped thick spurts of his milky cum against your cervix, filling you to the brim yet continuing to sloppily thrust in and out.

“-cum again… gotta—fuckkk. You’re so tight,” he bit through the words, fighting the steady burn of overstimulation to see you orgasm for the third time and you were close. A glob of spit landed against your clit, thick fingers shaking from exertion rubbing the frothy mess into you with insistent motions. He was a man possessed, falling apart for him was as easy as drawing breath and he caught you on your free fall.

You chanted his name in some semblance of a prayer, thrashing and clawing at anything you could reach until you milked him again and he lost the ability to hold himself up. Hiromi fell atop you, his face pressed into the juncture between your neck and shoulder, hot shuddering moans stifled by his mouth on your neck while he weakly tried to bear some of his weight onto an arm.

“Stop squirming, you’re not that heavy, Hiro,” you teased with a light slap against his back.

Once you could both speak without sounding winded, you combed your fingers through his sweat-dampened hair, moving the strands that stuck to his forehead away until you could trace his eyebrows, his jaw, and the bridge of his nose. “Y’know… you ripped my tights—again.”

Hiromi chuckled, rubbing his cheek against your chest. “I did, and I’d do it again. Maybe give them a miss if we do this again, hm?”

“You liked the surprise then?”

“I already told you that I did, not that I needed it. All I ever need is you.”

It was your turn to chuckle, booping the tip of his nose. “Maybe when I show you the receipt, you’ll change your tune.”

“… sweetheart. How much did it cost? Don’t roll away, missy! Answer my question. Hey. Hey! You have to answer the lawyer when they ask a question.”

#delirious writes #higuruma hiromi #higuruma x reader #higuruma smut #jjk higuruma #hiromi x reader #hiromi smut #higuruma hiromi x reader #higuruma hiromi smut #jjk smut #jjk x reader

849 notes · View notes

solarpunkani · 11 months

Text

hi would like to make this clear that this is gonna be an unhinged rant about my college classes.

For context, one of my classes is a semester-long group project (hell) and I pitched the idea of solar powered community fridges to my group and we rolled with it. Here's a post i made on it previously. We don't have to make the fridges themselves, basically just talk about the problem our concept addresses (food insecurity in this case) and how we think this concept would work and how, in a hypothetical reality where we made it real, we would test to see if it worked.

Anyways we had to post the rough draft of our presentations so people in other groups could see what we were doing and comment on them with their thoughts and all. Yknow. Classic 'college class discussion board have to reply to at least one project with quality feedback' stuff. And

Man.

I am so frustrated.

Highlights:

My group keeps insisting that we should have an app for the solar fridges. I don't know why they think app design needs to fit into community fridges but they put it into the draft posted to the forum.

In this case they proposed the app would be kinda like Instacart? Where people who want to donate to the fridges but don't have groceries on them and don't feel like going to get groceries can put in money and then people will then go buy the groceries to put in the fridge. Or use the funds to help with fridge maintenance. And the fridges would have 'QR codes, links, etc. to connect community members for the common cause of helping tackle food insecurity in the community.'

Lots of the comments were pretty good! People liked the idea. There were some concerns about insulation and keeping things cool with low energy cost (the program is online but the college itself is in Georgia USA so many people are in Georgia) but yknow.

But the frustrating part to me I guess is that a lot of people seem convinced that people would use the fridges 'unfairly' and that we'd need to find a way to restrict how much food people can take out or how many times they can use it or something. Which frankly in my opinion defeats the purpose of it being a community fridge. Here are some examples of things people have said so far (comments are due tomorrow evening but I'm mad now so I'm venting now):

One student said "How will you know if the pantry is being utilized fairly?" and "How will the app work? In a dream world, this might be a way to help with tracking and accountability. (Just a thought…) Maybe folks would need to sign up on the app, they get a code… and the fridge acts as a sort of vending machine to deliver what they need. This would give you data to measure success. :)"

Which. I just. This feels completely antithetical to the purpose of a community fridge??? Or a community anything???? Little free pantries and little free libraries don't operate on a 'you get a code to access it once' vending machine basis?? We even mentioned community farm stalls/community pantries in the draft write up! And showed examples!

Another student said "Great thoughts. I am concerned about one person taking all the food for themselves. It might be a great idea to have them in an enclosed area with access control through the app that would log and lock out people who are overusing the resource. Perhaps a barcode could be added to Apple Wallet to track each individual's arrival? Possibly having a mechanized lock and opening mechanism that would only allow each fridge to be open for a specific time before automatically closing and locking? Each scan would only allow access once each 24-48 hour period, preventing "password sharing.""

I cannot emphasize enough that this is the comment that has brought me here today because with all due respect what the flying fuck do you think is the point of a community fridge! I'm already prickly about the idea of limiting access to the fridge itself to only people with cellphones, but to this degree?! Like maybe its because I'm the one who came up with the concept and I care about terms like 'mutual aid' and 'community building' and 'judgement free accessibility to food' but have these people not heard of the concept of helping people?!?! With no strings attached?!? If someone takes all the contents of a community fridge or pantry--which, seriously, how likely is that--they're probably hungry and need it! The concept of putting community resources behind a lock and limiting accessibility is just repulsive to me???

Like someone else commented with this excellent point--"As several have addressed above, I am also wondering how would you monitor use? If you use the simplicity of the honor system, it could easily be taken advantage of. However, I feel like if you were to create some sort of access code, how is it to say that they people needing the use of the fridge will have access to the necessary technology to get the code? It's a tricky situation to think about." For the purposes of this hypothetical assignment where we'd need to track how many people are using the fridges? Yeah I guess we'd need to be able to track how many people use it and when. But in reality??? In real life reality where people are living and struggling and hungry??? I just don't really give a shit!! Helping five people is better than helping none, and locking access behind technology everyone pretends is universal but really isn't is not the way to help!

And of course one of my groupmates is already commenting on all these posts like 'oh! I really like the idea of restricting access to a code! :)' even when someone said 'hey my family struggled with food insecurity when I was a kid and I think this would be helpful but not if you could only access it with an app some of the most vulnerable citizens wouldn't be able to access it I wouldn't have been able to access it' my groupmate was still like 'oh but that wouldn't be a problem today now would it? :) Maybe we should make a way to get a code without downloading the app :)' like maybe there shouldn't be an access code in the first place?!?!

Like am I crazy or like. What the fuck. Again I am here so I don't blow up on a bunch of masters students in a discussion post but like UGH

"you gotta be able to gague if the people who're using it are the people who actually need it" food insecurity can look so many different ways for so many different reasons and you can't always judge by appearances and income levels who is struggling to feed themselves or their families!! There are people who have nice jobs who are struggling because they're caring for sick family members or kids or dealing with student loans or ANYTHING! There are people with nice clothes who are trying to decide between buying groceries and paying rent! There are people living in their cars or couch surfing looking for jobs who also happen to own an XBox or a Laptop!!! "Sorry you can't access the community fridge because you don't look poor and needy enough to me. but if you do, good news--you can only use it once every 48 hours so make it last!" Bullshit utter bullshit.

I talk to people in my life about things like community fridges and little free pantries and mutual aid and the like and people are always like 'ok but theres gotta be strings attatched' BUT ACTUALLY NO THERE DON'T GOTTA!!! Maybe we could change how we view our fellow human beings and stop assuming that everyone around you are greedy little demons looking to ruin everything good and that you are the only holy and righteous saint on the streets who understands the concept of 'community resources' and 'sharing' maybe??? It's like that post about community fruit trees where people are like 'oh but what if people steal all the fruit' like HELLO? how do you STEAL a PUBLICALLY ACCESSIBLE RESOURCE

I'm tired of this goddamn class I'm tired of this goddamn group project if anyone actually has the ability to make a solar powered community fridge you have to promise to keep it accessible and not put it behind locks and QR codes and limited access and facial tracking BS promise me promise me promise me

#out of queue #community fridge #i am going to go INSANE this class is driving me INSANE have yall not HEARD OF ACCESSIBILITY #AND COMMUNITY RESOURCES????#ani rambles #solarpunkani is solarpunkangy

628 notes · View notes

depressedraisin · 1 year

Text

okay so i don't really have a point to make over here but i've been thinking about this a lot lately so here we go: ever notice how alex tends to use a lot of dance-related words as metaphors for sex but almost always undercuts the image of elegance/beauty that might evoke using interesting juxtapositions and wordplay??

in piledriver waltz (submarine ep, 2010; also reprised for suck it and see, 2011) he writes "i heard the piledriver waltz// it woke me up this morning". now 'piledriver waltz' here refers to someone having sex (atleast the contributors at genius think so and so do i). turner uses the word waltz- an intimate ballroom dance between two partners- but adds piledriver- which is, as wikipedia tells me, "a professional wrestling driver move in which the wrestler grabs their opponent, turns them upside-down, and drops into a sitting or kneeling position, driving the opponent head-first into the mat". so you see, the refined, elegant, romantic connotations of waltz is contrasted with the image of rough ruthlessness that piledriver brings.

(ALSO also did you notice? a wrestling reference? all the way back in 2010 👀 now idk if it's a regular vocab words or specific to wrestling-lingo only back in uk, but my studied-english-as-first-language-in-school-but-not-native speaker ass did have to google what the hell that means)

another such oxymoron-esque treatment of metaphors for sex we see in everything you've come to expect (everything you've come to expect, 2016). the line, one of my absolute favourite things turner and kane have ever written, goes "dirtbag ballet by the bins down the alley // as i walk through the chalet of the shadow of death". 'dirtbag ballet' again refers to sex here, this time the illicit kind, the kind that takes place in shadowy corners and dingy alleys. 'ballet' is another term that we will immediately associate with elegance and graceful moves but the use of 'dirt bag' by it's side brings a sense of crassness, almost vulgar quality to it. that term immediately paints a very stark picture of wild clandestine passion that illicit affairs carries probably. the song talks about that a lot.

(PS: an applause for the impeccable internal rhyme in those lines tho. *chef's kiss*)

the last example that stands out to me is from four stars out of five (tranquility base hotel and casino, 2018) where the line goes "hokey cokey with the opposite sex." (someone mentioned it around here today and that's what sparked this post. EDIT: it's @homoirrealis https://www.tumblr.com/lalaballa1977/717488374837084160?source=share) now there's no clever oxymoron-metaphor situation here, but the choice of that specific dance to talk about sex (straight sex, as the songwriter so kindly points out) is very interesting to me. hokey cokey as we know is a campfire dance that originated with brit folk dances and tunes. it's so funny because whenever i hear that line it immediately takes me back to kindergarten and a bunch of us kids standing in a circle, singing the rhyme and learning the dance. therefore in my mind atleast, hokey cokey evokes images of practiced, monotonous movements of hand and feet, no fluidity, no elegance. also the communal aspect of it. what if we read it as something you are made to participate in because you are a part in a group, because a number of pairs of eyes are on you. a question worth pondering perhaps.

and all this referring to sex?

also the song goes on to entice you to escape to this swanky hotel-casino-taqueria up on the moon and get far, far away from shit that you have done and regret and want to forget. then why is this hokey cokey with the opposite sex also one of those things the narrator might want to forget?

Hmmmmm questions worth pondering, innit?

#im overthinking YET AGAIN #lyric theory.#suck it and see #submarine ep #everything you've come to expect #tranquility base hotel and casino #arctic monkeys #the last shadow puppets #alex turner

205 notes · View notes

emilylorange · 3 months

Text

Hey folks! You may recall I asked what people would be interested in if I did the Patreon dance, and the most frequently requested thing was WIPs. I've set up a single $3 tier with access to everything, with the intent of updating twice a month with process, including thoughts and decision making.

https://www.patreon.com/emilylorange

Today's update were some of the character illustrations I just finished for Daylight Publications (and have permission to share!) - but I have also been sneaky and there are posts from February showing work on a commission starting from the planning phase, and a timelapse of my Harengon in higher quality than I post publicly.

I realize that things are tight for everyone, and it is 100% okay if you cannot subscribe. You don't have to explain yourself, or feel bad. I understand, and there are many, many other things that money can buy. This is just an avenue available if you wish to support my art and have the means, without having to purchase a full commission.

I will continue my regular posting here. I also promise not to be too pushy with these posts and only post reminders at the beginning of the month.

#patreon #shut up emily

24 notes · View notes

aneggofmystery · 10 days

Text

The Monkie Kid Style Shift

(from the perspective of a fictive. i promise that's important)

To start, for those who are unaware of my existence bc you only know mills or just dont know us at all, hi! I'm Cicada, he/she pronouns, and I'm a Tang fictive. I wanted to give my opinion on all the shit that happened today, because I believe I and other fictives have unique experiences regarding source media changes :3

(the rest of the post will be under the cut, scroll away if you'd like to avoid spoilers from the trailer) (and, quick side note, NO MATTER WHAT I SAY HERE, PLEASE DO NOT HARASS ANYONE. CHRIST I CANT BELIEVE I HAVE TO SAY THIS, BUT PLEASE DO NOT HARASS REAL PEOPLE OVER THESE LEGOS. K? K.)

Okay, so we all know that Flying Bark's animation has always been an integral part to the spirit of Monkie Kid as a show, and is the main reason why a lot of people love it. As a semi source-connected fictive, seeing that style is like literally seeing me and my family in photographs.

like, y'all have no idea the emotional damage this shot specifically does to me whenever i see it.

and while, yes, there is a possibility that WildBrain can simply just be learning the style (hell, even FlyingBark had to kinda learn their own style in the early days), it's an extremely drastic change and, thus, is bound to cause collateral damage.

I love speaking about my husbands, for example, and the FlyingBark style luckily gives me a great outlet to do so (pignapped lives in my mind rent free).

However, and I can't speak for any other fictives, but the art style shift is kind of like if you watched your family get replaced by aliens or robots right in front of you and couldn't do anything about it. Stiff, doesn't really have a lot of character. I've seen people theorize that they're gonna be animating on rigs instead of handrawn, which matches up. That means, however, that we can't achieve awesome shots such as. every lbd scene ever.

I know plenty of Singlet but neurodivergent people who are also distressed about this, there's familiarity. Especially in my fellow autistic folk, that feels natural, good, and we wouldn't give it up for the world.

(We mod in one of the biggest Monkie Kid discord servers and, dear gods, the fucking backlash. we're all going through it.)

I'm kind of worried that this was pushed, not only because of the ATLA movie, but also because everyone on the staff team was worried because the fandom was antsy.

Can't speak for anyone else, but all the "save me s5" jokes I made were just light hearted, and I'd much rather have quality over quantity. Personally, i'd be willing to wait years for the next monkie kid season if it meant that we could still have it animated by FlyingBark.

Now, of course, this isn't what we're getting, and we'll have to accept that, I just think it should also be valid for fans to be reasonable skeptical at the quality, no matter if it's still the same writers and VAs. It's a huge change, and all I ask is that you're patient with me.

WildBrain is an amazing studio, but I'm not sure they can adjust to the shift in style. Of course, someone's bound to be dissatisfied with it, including myself, and I ask that y'all are patient with people like that. Don't say shit like "if you're a real fan, you wouldn't care about the art style change." That's not nice.

sorry if this isn't coherent in the slightest, I have been crying for a while for the reasoning i mentioned about feeling like I've lost a part of myself. This is terrifying for me, and i ask that you please be kind to others like me <3

anyways, follow if you wanna hear me yap ab BreakfastShipping

#dissociative identity disorder #rich's rambles #lego monkie kid #lmk season 5 #fictive #lmk season 5 spoilers

9 notes · View notes

liarboo · 1 year

Text

Hey all, breaking my bit of NO NO PERSONAL INFO HERE rule to say I work at a goth and esoterica store, and when I showed my (older) boss Tumblr, she got really interested in posting on here! I just created the account today, and if you're interested in the following things, please consider following! (And taking a look at the online store ;))

Supporting small businesses (there's 2 bosses and just me running shop)

Goth fashion (they like to call their curated style "executive goth", but it's great for casual goth assholes like me, too)

Goth fashion with plus size options (not all our brands are plus size friendly, unfortunately, but we try to find folks that fit our style and quality qualifications that offer at least 2x. One of our more popular brands go up to 6x! I go up to 2x personally and it's one of the reasons I started shopping there 4 years ago when they first opened. Even some of our brands that only go up to L we try to get in jersey or other stretchy material so it can fit higher sizes. Always feel free to ask us questions about fit.)

Goth fashion that won't break your bank (we have some options that are more spendy, but some that aren't as well)

Small artists works, like prints, stickers, graphic tees, etc

Tarot! We have so many great decks.

Witchcraft! One of the bosses is a practicing chaos magician, and she tries to be as mindful as possible about ritual items we carry, some she even makes herself. (For example, we don't carry bullshit things like white sage since it's not our cultural right to use it, etc.)

Occult shit

Affordable, pleather harnesses

Because you like me and you want me to keep working at the best place i've ever worked, and i've worked retail and web development

Thanks, pals

#i also do the graphic design work for em

91 notes · View notes

pureblisswrites · 10 months

Text

A guide to falling for a traitor 101

"He's watching us, isn't he?" You ask not making the mistake of making eye contact with the camera that's at the corner of the room.

"So what?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Can you switch it off?"

Pairing: Yang Jeongin x afab!reader (implied past Bang Chan x Reader)

Word count: 1.9k

Genre: Crime, mafia au, eventual romance

Warnings: general 'mafia' stuff, knives, (this has remnants of my wattpad phase in quite a few parts but we all need some cringe sometimes so it's fine... i guess. But I honestly cannot re-read and edit this one more time so I'm just posting now since someone asked so nicely)

Synopsis: You finally got to know who the mysterious traitor was in Bang Chan's gang. Now you just have to find out why he was one in the first place.

Bang Chan was a lot of things. But the one thing he wasn't was a liar. Specially not to his own allies. So when he said that his rival gang was treading his territories in the monthly alliance meeting, you believed him. Unlike most of the other leaders who still needed 'evidence' to do something about it. But honestly they were too scared to actually have a direct rivalry with Chan's rival gang. Again, unlike you but not for the reason most might think of.

You didn't have undying loyalty towards Chan or his gang or anyone to be honest. Call it shallow or whatever but you just couldn't give a single fuck about majority of the members of your gang with only one or two exceptions. Maybe you were a bad leader in the sense that you couldn't even remember the name of your own bodyguard. But you were a damn good leader in the sense that you'll always win. No matter what. You didn't have any 'rival' gangs because you knew there was something or rather, someone, like in this case of use. In your opinion, qualities like loyalty, trust, blah blah were all overrated. You'd rather have someone skilled than trustworthy which was exactly why you needed Chan and his other major members but specifically, one of them.

"I agree with Mr. Bang." You say quietly while looking at the other gang leaders who sat the huge table in Chan's mansion.

"But Ms-" One of the leaders started before you rudely cut him off because he had been getting on your nerves since the moment you entered the room. You were extremely observant, kind of came with the job. So you had noticed him looking at your chest more times than necessary. Specifically the ruby jewel necklace, (that you had stolen from him but who cared) that sat just atop your cleavage that was just slightly visible in the simple black dress you opted for. It had a slightly deep neckline and a slit near the thigh. Where a knife garter could be seen. Yeah you liked to look good in meetings and what about it?

"If that's all we have for today, can we leave?" You questioned while only looking at Chan, giving him the perfect moment to kick these assholes out.

"Yeah of course. Changbin, please escort these distinguished folks out." He said, politness dripping off his voice. Most would think he was respecting them by sending Changbin to show them out. Thing is, he was doing so, so that no on could look at anything longer than necessary or try to go here and there in the mansion to find things they weren't supposed to. Something you would be doing today. When everyone except you and Chan had left, you finally got up from you seat to walk towards him.

"You're still here? Ms-" you cut him off, something you couldn't do in a room full of people but now it was just you two.

"Cut the bullshit Chan." You rolled your eyes at him, again something you couldn't do while everyone else was present.

"Ugh fine. What do you want? I've got work to do." He finally said in his casual voice that was not as cold and distant yet held a politness to it. "And you've got to stop staying here until everyone else has gone or else they'll get the wrong idea."

"What wrong idea are you talking about, Chan? And would they really be wrong to think about something that has already happened?" You say while tracing the silver chain he was wearing around his neck.

"Oh my God it was one time alright? And we were drunk. Can you stop bringing it up? Get over it." He replied while holding your wrist to stop you from doing what you were doing.

"Oh please, there wasn't even anything to get over Bang. You know I don't do other leaders."

"Anymore. Since that one clan guy remember? The one who was the leader of a Yakuza and tried to make you sign a marriage agreement when you were drunk, to take your place." He almost laughed while recalling the incident.

"Can we not talk about that fucking asshole?" You gritted your teeth at him for bringing up past that you'd rather forget.

"Ooh someone's bitter." He teased with a grin.

"Fuck you." You rolled your eyes at him again.

"Are you really here to discuss your past failed relationships or to flirt with me though? I reckon you've got better things to do. So what do you want?" He finally got to the point.

"I want to meet that pharmacist kid you've got." You stated the reason you actually stayed here for.

"You do know that Jeongin is like a few months younger than you right?" Now it was his turn to roll his eyes.

"And?" You asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Why do you want to meet him anyways?" He questioned.

"Because my pharmacist died. And I need an arsenic trioxide injection."

"Wait how did he die?" He asked.

"Heart attack."

"Oh the irony. Alright. Just leave that knife here." He gestured towards the garter on your thigh.

"Chill. I'm not here to murder someone."

"Safety precautions." He shrugged.

"Fine." You say while taking out the knife from the garter. "But do you really think this is the only knife I've got?"

"No. I know both of your heels have knives in them too. And that pin you're wearing in your hair. And-"

"Okay, okay. I get it. You're the all knowing, all mighty Chris. Whatever. Do I have to take all of this off too?"

"No it's fine. I just liked the one you had in your garter. It's mine now right?" He twisted the knife between his fingers swiftly.

"As if I've got a choice. But just so you know, that knife is the last thing my mother left before dying."

"Oh I didn't know that I'm s-"

"I'm kidding. As if I could ever care about whatever that woman left. Now I'll get going to meet your kid." You start to walk away from his office.

"Wait 'til Changbin gets back." He called out.

"Jeez I'm not going anywhere else. I know you've got camera footages in your office. And I know your mansion enough by now to find that kid." You looked back at him.

"Fine then. Just take the lift by the way.”

"You... installed a lift in your house?" You asked incredulously.

"I didn't okay! It was Jisung's idea. Said he couldn't climb stairs everyday after sitting in a chair for hours. That it was affecting his hacking skills or whatever."

"You've got weird members dude." You say before taking off to meet the person you came to meet.

You take the ridiculously expensive lift (like seriously did it need to be silver plated? Fucking show offs) to go down to the basement where you know the kid genius' lab resides. You open the door that looks like it could belong to a bunker tank. And then you finally see him. The one who've been waiting to see for a few months now since you got that piece of information.

Yang Jeongin. Science prodigy. Passed high school at age 11 and graduated at 14. Could be seen in newspapers and tv shows in those 3 years freuqently. Winning international intellectual debates against some of the greatest scientists arguably. And then, missing. One day at 16. Out of nowhere. Police carried out the investigation for 5 years until they had to drop it due to lack of evidence and progress. How he got into this fucked up underground world from a world of glory and fame that awaited him up there, no one knows. He was a genius. Someone you didn't see often in the field of work you're in.

You see him working with test tubes and vials containing chemicals of different colours. The room itself is pretty dark with the only source of light being a small bulb that hangs above his head. You can even see some chemicals glowing. He's wearing transparent safety googles, a pair of expensive industrial ear muffs and of course, his signature lab coat. He looks concentrated on the task which was apparently mixing chemicals here and there. He suddenly stops before mixing two chemicals he had been working on since you came here and puts the tubes in the holder. Removing his muffs and ruffling his hair that had gotten messy due to them. And then you finally here his voice.

"Arsenic trioxide, 10ml to your right." He says in a voice that's much colder than even Chan's and gestures towards your right with his eyes. You look to your right and see a tiny vial with an injection on a pink vinyl player of all things.

"Right. Thanks." You reply taking both of the things and putting them in your dress pockets. When you don't leave and just stare at him expectantly he raises his eyebrows in a silent 'what'.

"Can you get out now? I've got work to do." So alike Chan yet so different.

"And you think I don't? I'm literally a-" he cuts you off, quite rudely at that.

"Do I look like I give a fuck, sweetheart?” He tilts his head as if he's asking you an actual question. “I'll say it one more time, get out. I've got work to do.” he says with that innocent smile.

"Go on then. I'm not stopping you."

"I would gladly do so if that didn't mean making you go deaf. You think I'm wearing these for style?" He gestures towards the muffs.

Ok so he wasn't one for small talk. You'll just have to get to the point then. You walk towards him until you're just an inch away from him. He doesn't even flinch or backs up. So unlike all the other men you've met. With an exception of Chan of course but that's not surprising considering Chan is an exception to everything in this world you live in. You whisper to him. "He's watching us, isn't he?" You ask not making the mistake of making eye contact with the camera that's at the corner of the room.

"So what?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Can you switch it off?"

"Why?" He questions again now furrowing his brows.

"Will you just do as I say?"

"Yeah because I know you so well right." He rolls his eyes, not budging at all.

"What do you think I'm gonna do if you turn it off? Kill you?"

"As if you've even got the guts to do that." He scoffs.

"Yeah exactly. So what's the problem? Why can't you just do as I say for once?

"For once? What do you mean?"

"Forget it. I know you're a traitor." You whisper.

His eyes widen significantly and that's the first time today you've seen any emotion on his face other than indifference.

"Wha- but how-" he stutters while trying to find the right words. Finally listening to you and switching the camera off.

47 notes · View notes

adarkrainbow · 9 days

Text

Lost media quest: H&G Epic Tales (part 1)

Some times ago I stumbled upon the trailer for an animated storybook adapting "Hansel and Gretel". I even made a quick post about it and then moved on my way. However, what I was not expecting was that my casual search would end up throwing me into a whole "lost media" investigation...

So I present to you the first report of my search for the lost media "Hansel and Gretel - Epic Tales".

"Hansel and Gretel - Epic Tales" is the English title of an interactive, animated storybook originally created by a Dutch team - hence why it exists also under the Dutch name "Hans en Grietje - Epic Tales".

Its trailer (posted around 2012/2013) is still around the Internet - on both Youtube and Vimeo, in English. It showcases you all the effort put into the product as well as the quality of it all - because when you think "Interactive storybook" you think "Just some still pictures you flip over while a voice narrates in the background". But here, not at all: you have entire animated tableaux allowing for a true point-and-click kind of game, intercut with entire animated segments and sequences - making this interactive storybook quite close to a full cartoon or simplified video-game.

In fact, I am not the only one to say this: numerous reviews pointed out this application could be considered a full cartoon in itself. And if some comparisons are left a bit generic "A cartoon feeling", "It could be a Saturday morning cartoon" I have seen one review even going as far as to compare this traditional 2D animation to a Disney movie!

youtube

I especially love the art style here which is reminiscent of classic, old fairytale cartoons - and I will come back to this element later because I do believe the game has easter-eggs or nods to classics of the fairytale animation.

Not only that, but as the trailer indicates, this game was supposed to be the first of an entire line of animated, interactive storybooks, the "Epic Tales" line, each reinventing fairytales, all narrated by the same storytelling character you see in the trailer, Silvertongue the (elf? dwarf?) who beats up gnomes to bring books to life... To have such a big project coming from Dutch folks isn't so surprising given the strong Dutch love for fairytales (it is the land of the Efteling park, after all).

In fact, the Epic Tales line had not only its own website (that you can see in a different promo for the app, here) but also a Facebook page and a Twitter account to promote the release of the game.

The game was released on iOs format and distributed by Apple. You could get it on your iPad or iPhone by just buying it on the App Store or iTunes store. And it was met with very, very positive reviews. Everybody agreed on saying this game was awesome, the dub very good, the interactions fun, the music delightful - in a word, absolutely perfect. Here is a handful of positive reviews I could find in English ; coupled with another handful of articles in Dutch this time. Mind you, some people do complain about the story being a tad bit too "light" for their taste - as in everybody agrees it is a visual treat with splendid visuals and a goofy tone perfect for kids, but some do complain about a lack of "darkness" (one review even regretted the "psycho-drama" of the original story, absent from this light-hearted story). I personally think there's enough dark Hansel and Gretel retellings out there to allow us a nice light-hearted, goofy, innocent version, but oh well, that's just my opinion... I'll return to these changes in a later post.

These online articles are notably quite precious for bringing additional screenshots of this now unfortunately lost media...

Lost yes: for if you check the App stores and iTunes pages today, it seems Apple has removed the game from their offer. And given Apple was the only distributor... it seems you cannot get it anywhere else.

The Epic Tales website (epictales.com) has been brought down - though you can still find it back thanks to Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, which did preserve several versions of it. The Facebook page for Epic Tales is still here too, though inactive since the app's release. As for the Twitter account... it seems that after a few years of inactivy it was briefly taken over by a little girl who posted goofy pictures of her on it... Was it the account-owner's daughter, niece or little sister? I don't know but it seems clearly that this account is a dead-end too.

Now, outside of the trailer, official accounts and online reviews, the last remaining official bits of this animated project (because there is one un-official element I will go to later) are the Anikey Studios videos. Anikey Studio is one of the two big teams that worked on the "Hansel and Gretel - Epic Tales" project, alongside Cloud Castle Interactive, and while the Epic Tales line seems dead and gone, Anikey is still working a lot, regularly creating and publishing animated shorts. They have a Facebook, a LinkedIn, an Instagram - but more interestingly a Vimeo account on which they regularly post videos (itself doubled by a Youtube channel). And they post yearly Demoreels collecting bits and extracts from their animation projects. Including "Hansel and Gretel - Epic Tales".

Now, unfortunately they only use the scenes from the trailer of the interactive storybook, so nothing new - but still it worth checking out. The extracts most prominently appear within their Demoreels of the years 2016 and 2012 (I am using the Vimeo version, not the Youtube ones).

And so far, at first glance, this is it. If we do just a superficial search, it is a good-looking app that got removed by Apple ; a big hopeful project with a lot of effort put into it that everybody forgot about or did not notice ; a whole line of fairytale animations that got cancelled right after its first instalment. A first instalment seemingly disappeared into the limbo of "lost media"... But for me, it was only the start of the investigation - because if you know me, you'll know I can get incredibly frustrated when I see something cool I just happened to miss ; and as an enjoyer of both traditional hand-drawn animation and fairytale adaptations, this app seemed so wonderful...

As such, I am currently undergoing a sort of investigation to collect everything I can find and save about this animated storybook. Given I am not an expert "lost media hunter", I might find nothing at all - but at least it will be a fun ride playing the investigator for once! Plus something within the occult forces of the world seem to constantly condemn my blog to focus on "Hansel and Gretel"... I don't know why but every time it gets brought back to me one way or another. So who am I to oppose the mysterious flow of nature?

If any of you ever heard of this app before - if maybe you downloaded it some time ago, if you know someone who played it, or maybe if you still have it somewhere in your Apple product, please do contact me! Even the slightest memory can be of incredible use for such an investigation. Myself I am going to perform a breakdown of all the information I could find, and the following posts of this series are going to try to "reconstruct" what the app was about, and how the story unfold in this version - because here's the thing, it isn't just a regular, straightforward Hansel and Gretel retelling. They actually added and changed several elements in it... But that will be for another post.

Oh yes, I almost forgot. The application is somehow listed within the catalogues of several Dutch libraries. I don't really know much about how these libraries work, but if somehow there is a Dutch person who sees this post, could you eventually bring me some help? It would be very appreciated!

#lost media #hansel and gretel #hansel and gretel epic tales #epic tales #traditional animation #fairytale cartoon #hand-drawn animation #app #fairytale video game #dutch things #hans en grietje #hans en grietje epic tales #fairytale adaptations #light fairytale #cute #anikey studios

2 notes · View notes

7grandmel · 3 months

Text

Todays rip: 06/03/2024

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and the days of high quality rips?

Season 7 Featured on: Rips of Christmas Present

Ripped by berg8793

youtube

Requested by itsyeeted! (Discord)

Funny thing - I was supposed to have posted this far closer to new years, but then somehow convinced myself that I'd...already posted it? Just marked it as done in the spreadsheet and everything. Bizarre. Well, its never too late to celebrate the new year, is it? Especially not with a rip as sincere, wholesome, downright pleasant as Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and the days of high quality rips? - This is the kind of rip to remain on the laid-back playlist all year long.

I'm sure a lot of people were a bit puzzled to see a game like Tetris on CDi even *get* rips, let alone any form of non-ironic memes. I mean, its the Philips CDi, it's the meme console with Hotel Mario and the bad Zelda games! But this is another case of what I brought up back in Viva La Robocop, another case of one of SiIva's most fascinating phenomena: when otherwise wholly obscure games are kept in discussion through the surprising quality of their music. With only some exceptions (such as the games composed by the Follin brothers) that discussion seldom becomes widespread, usually staying contained to enthusiasts of VGM: such as the very people behind the SiIvaGunner channel itself! And while many of these soundtracks are kept relevant by chiptune artists, with examples like the aforementioned one, Never Gonna Give Up Mahjong and Beautiful! ~ Curveball of Sean Kingston - Tetris on CDi is, as the name of the console suggests, full-on CD quality, with a sound so stunning beautiful and atmospheric for a game series otherwise so content in reusing and remixing the typical Tetris theme. In the words of Jack Yarwood - "Before 'Tetris Effect,' There Was the Vaporwave Bliss of Tetris on the CD-i".

The wonderous atmosphere of this otherwise entirely obscure release of Tetris has kept its heart beating ever so faintly in the 32 years since its release, and Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and the days of high quality rips? feels just as much like a love letter to this game's vibes as it does a soothing celebration of the new year's beginning. Level 6's soothing tune is used as the backing instrumental to an original cover of the Scottish folk song Auld Lang Syne, one typically sung to inaugurate the beginning of the new year. And it's one that I, despite being from all the way over in Sweden, swear I must've heard in a film or show at some point - its lyrics and melody felt immediately comforting and familiar as soon as I started listening to the rip. Part of that comfort is of course the vocals, berg8793's vocal performance is positively soothing, but it may also be from how the vocal performance is implemented into the rip. It's given a layer of compression to it that matches the quality of early CD games, and indeed the quality of the CDi games' soundtracks themselves, a comfy faint noise and static stitching the two pieces of the rip together as a seamless whole. berg8793 has previously mostly been featured on here in rips that appeared as if they were borderline painful to make, such as Banjostruck and Kirby Joins the Circus!, so it was a delightful surprise to see him having made a rip like this. Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and the days of high quality rips? not only feels like a welcome break in energy from the guy's typical output, but also shows me that he's got a genuine talent for singing - one I hope he finds use of in rips to come!

There's little else to say - Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and the days of high quality rips?, much like Wham! Into Dreams, feels like a cover from the heart, a cover made with the intent of pure celebration, to band us faithful viewers together for the new year in the comments section. Amidst all the shitposts and insane-scale collaborations, it's...nice, to have rips like these to return to for the quieter moments in life.

#todays siivagunner #season 7 #siivagunner #siiva #berg8793 #tetris #cdi #philips cdi #tetris cdi #Jim Andron #90s music #ps1 #vaporwave #ps1 aesthetic #Auld Lang Syne #Youtube #Bandcamp #new year 2024 #happy new year

4 notes · View notes

fatalfangirl · 2 years

Text

It's Friday! I'm traveling today and am distracting myself from flying anxiety with fics. Forever thankful for the quality of writing in this fandom. Here are some recent favs:

His Mercy, Mine - NSFW - by @facewithoutheart

What a damn roller coaster. I went into this only having read some of the snippets posted on tumblr - didn't read the tags, didn't skim - zero spoilers. And that's how I think this fic should be consumed if you want maximum gasps. The split timeline storytelling is really effective, as are the descriptions/language used for the gladiatorial AU. I loved it. The only other thing I'll say is don't skip the second chapter :) I'm also currently reading the author's latest WIP: This Will All Go Down In Flames and would rec that too. The Austin based fic is full of feels, music, and local beer. AND a goat.

wasabi - NSFW - by xivz

Roommates snowbaz stuck in quarantine and featuring cam boy Simon! What is not to love! Baz's thirst is so good in this. Wonderfully demented. Perfect amount of lust, which is to say an overflowing bucket of it. The author also recorded a podfic for wasabi and holy hell 🥵 the narration was so hot. It made me pause mid folding laundry with a flush. Had to fan myself. Definitely worth both a read and a listen!

network connectivity problems - SFW - by BasicBathsheba

This one came as a rec from @you-remind-me-of-the-babe and @whatevertheweather after I confessed having only read one Ban fic before. And wow. I loved it. Textfic gold. GOLD I tell you! Simon texts a number thinking he might be IT and help his computer woes, but in reality it's Baz, Simon's uni nemesis, former roommate, and ruthlessly good footballer. The fic is charming and funny and goes where you hope it does with a few little surprises in between. Strong rec for a late night read. (I'm also currently obsessed with Local Hero, which I'm half through, and cannot believe I didn't read these fics sooner, but happy I have them now.)

The Boy and the Summoned - NSFW - by @takitalks, art by @ic3-que3n

I am a sucker for demon Simon. It is one of my favorite versions of Simon (next to dragon) and this fic hits the damn spot. Very cool AU with a canon divergence that has Natasha surviving the Watford attacks, but as a price - and how she dealt with the fallout of that event is a mystery that seems connected to a ring (and a demon) Baz finds on Pitch grounds years later. I love the vibe of this fic, the sort of gothic creepiness of the Pitch estate and the menacing dark fog that surrounds Simon. Excited to see where the mystery takes us!

in the Dust of Dragons - NSFW - by @martsonmars, art by @nick-eyre

This fic is so well written. It's fantasy done exceptionally and makes me feel nostalgic for my childhood of curling up with a books and escaping to fantastical lands. The lore and storytelling is pulling cleverly from canon and has us following Baz on a solo journey (thus far) carrying the weight of his trauma and a heart that is still soft at its core. There is dragon Simon and magic and a Penny that will not take shit from anyone. And we're only 2 chapters in. This is going to be good folks. Dive in and enjoy the ride with me.

#fic rec #thank you writers for all that you do #and artists too!

24 notes · View notes

reallca-blog · 1 year

Text

Mission Statement and First Post for Unwrapping the Wonka Bar Vol. 1 - Where is Charlie’s Town Located? Part 1

The beloved 2005 film, Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, turns 18 years old this July, and with such a long history the film has amassed a massive fan following over the years. In fact, the film is so old that many of the fans who watched the film as kids are now parents themselves and will be showing the film to their kids in just a few years, if not right now. And even more existentially frightening for all you Late Millennials and Gen Zers reading this post is the fact that the five lucky kids cast as the Golden Ticket winners are, as of the moment of publication, 29 and 30 years old. I will give you some time to come to terms with this realization for it is a hard pill to swallow for many.

But when it comes to such a storied legacy, it only makes sense that fans of this film might have many questions about the story rattling around in their minds, but with such a long time between when the film first premiered to the present, have no one to offer up a thoughtful response. Well, if this sounds like you, it is my pleasure to announce today, February 1st, the same day in which Charlie Bucket and the rest of the Golden Ticket winners set foot inside Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, the first installment of a new series which asks the questions Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fans have asked for over a decade and a half and offers up a response backed with unbelievably detailed amounts of analysis that no children’s movie should ever lead to; Unwrapping the Wonka Bar. To all who come across this post, we here at Real-LCA-blog hope to provide an entertaining, inviting, interactive and sometimes overly obsessive experience for all Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fans and we hope you join us and enjoy the ride! Perhaps we’ll change how you view our beloved film or perhaps you’ll entirely disagree with our assessment, either way we’d love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to respond to our posts and leave your thoughts in the comments. And so, without further ado, I present to you all, the first installment in our series:

Where is Charlie’s Town Located? Part 1

One of the biggest questions fans of Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory have been wrestling with since 2005 has been where in the world does Charlie live? Where is Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory located? Every other location in the film is literally spelled out for the audience, with a subtitle of the location accompanied with a sound effect of the text being digitally generated showing up whenever we are introduced to a location not Charlie’s town or the final location of Dr. Wilbur Wonka’s home. Now, to obsessive movie detail fans, this might seem like a glaring plot hole the creators left unanswered, but if you do what obsessive movie detail fans do best and overanalyze every piece of media related to the film in question, you will uncover that this was by design.

According to the behind-the-scenes extra Designer Chocolate, included on the physical media release of the film, the Director, Tim Burton says of the location of Charlie’s town:

“It’s descriptive, but then it still allows you to interpret it. I always thought that that was quite interesting and that was something that we’d try to retain. We just sort of set it in its own city and not really describe where it really is.”

And on top of not giving the audience a real-world location of Charlie’s town, Burton then goes on to imply that the film takes place in a fictional country, stating:

“It has both an American sensibility and a British sensibility. It’s interesting cause you don’t really know where it takes place, and that gives it it’s kind of fable-like quality.”

Well, there you have it folks, the short and easy answer to this question seems to be that Charlie’s town is set in a fictional location that fans could not one-day travel to in the real world.

But, let’s be honest now, where’s the fun in saying that? What kind of inaugural Unwrapping the Wonka Bar post would this be if the answer was revealed in less than 500 words? That sets a terrible precedent and it does not accurately represent what this series is about. We here at Real-LCA-blog take too much pride in our obsessive breakdown and analysis of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to leave you wonderful readers feeling so unfulfilled. But what else is there to say, the director himself told us that Charlie’s town is not supposed to be a real place…but is that accurate?

Well, yes, Burton told us the town is completely made-up, “fable-like” were his exact words. Yet, if you extend that action, analyzing his exact words some more, a glimmer of hope for a much more interesting answer begins to manifest. When he spoke about translating what the original book has to say about Charlie’s town, Tim Burton said it was “something that we’d try to retain,” with the key word being “try.” “Try” means that there is implied success or there is implied failure, and fortunately for us, I am here to make the case that there is a chance that Tim Burton and the rest of the crew who worked on this film we love so much failed to capture a neutral setting for Charlie’s town. Additionally, if we stay on the overanalyzing Burton’s own words train for a while longer, we see in his follow up statement that he says Charlie’s town was “set it in its own city” while not describing “where it really is.” Does this mean that there is an actual location in mind, but said location is being occulted in order to tell the story in a certain manner? Who knows? Was his statement a slip of the tongue? Perhaps. A poor choice of words that does not accurately capture the message he hopes to convey? Perhaps as well. Is this overanalyzation of a couple of words uttered by a man famous for his social awkwardness, and thus can oftentimes words his responses to things in a less than clear fashion? You betcha! But hey, if you’ve read this far, then there’s a good chance you think there’s something to my theory that Charlie’s town does have a real-world location. Yet, before we can uncover where Charlie’s town is located, we have to dispense with the theory of the case that Tim Burton presents as key to understanding the nature of where Charlie’s town is located, and that is the notion that the town “has both an American sensibility and a British sensibility.”

That’s it for Part 1, click here for Part 2 where we examine Roald Dahl’s work and how it can deliver insight into the making of the 2005 film.

#unwrapping the wonka bar #charlie and the chocolate factory #charlie and the chocolate factory 2005 #unwrappingthewonkabar #charlieandthechocolatefactory #catcf #catcf 2005

7 notes · View notes