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ameonds-dragonn · 2 years

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Hotd modern au

I got inspired by @sansaorgana she made me fall in love with this au 🥰

For warning, this was something quick I made on my phone so probably ain’t great. But enjoy 💚

We’ve agreed that the Targaryens are rich as fuck, i think it’s old money like the Kennedy’s. Visryes is a huge lawyer and Daemon gives me Wall Street investors or CEO vibes. And Alicent is stay at home mommy that loves her kids. Nrya is Sahm as well but she modeled some I think, not runway model thou.

Aegon is a pothead/frat boy obviously, he only parties at college. Not caring if he graduates or not, Vis probably pays the uni a shit ton of money. Every once in awhile he puts an effort for classes :) He dresses like a frat boy and a stoner had a baby. Slides 99.8% of the time, hoodies that have his frat house name Or university name on it. He owns one part of jeans and slacks(they stay at home 99%). Smells like cigarette smoke, small vanilla notes and whiskey. Knows he can get away with failing school, getting pulled over, screwing girls. He knows Alicent loves him bc he’s her first baby. He’s not dumb as people think he is. He loves his mama too but kinda takes advantage of it.

Aemond is a Harvard baby through and through! Most likely an English major, but he also gives me medical school vibes(personally for me). He puts school first, he knows not everyone can get into Harvard so he appreciates that he did. Ameond is the campus mysterious heartthrob. Girls and gays love him! He’s 6’5, blonde with shoulder length hair, wears leather and black clothing w/sliver rings. Little whore! Also he has his scar on his eye. Obviously dragons aren’t real for us. So Aemond and Luke didn’t fight each other over Vhgar. I’m thinking he lost it on accident, maybe Vis took him and Aegon knife throwing or one of the neighbors kids and him were playing with sticks or something. Personally the scar is what made fall in love with him. It’s him no matter what au it is. It shaped him to who he is as a person. He’s a huge mama’s boy! He don’t hide it either, he loves Alicent.

When he comes home from school for the summer and Christmas, he brings gifts for her and Heleana. Stuff he saw while he was out one Saturday, little trinkets, shoes, books. Anything that reminded him of his mom and sister. Also does this for his S/O, he’s just a sweet emo boy!

Heleana still loves her bugs and other creepy crawlers! We stan Helena the bug queen in this house 💚 she’s the quiet girl that is always reading a book, drawing in her sketch pad. Has earbuds in, but will take them out if anyone talks to her. Loves old English literature and plays. She loves NYC and broadway, she gives me NYU vibes. Definitely lives in NYC but goes upstate a lot bc of nature. Also I think she would be a witch or at least into paganism. Aemond is close to Salem, MA so he goes and gets her stuff from the shops. He has 6 tarot decks that he plans on taking home along with crystals and books he got for her. TSA workers hate Aemond bc he goes over the weight limit with his suitcases.

Alicent, my favorite mom! Okay so, Alicent was Vis’ sugar baby when she was 20ish. Went to school with Nrya and ended marrying her dad. But I don’t think they hate each other in this AU, probably not each other’s fans. I think Nrya and Harwin are together, probably met on a photo shoot set. Harwin was definitely a model or an actor in his day. Anyways! Alicent got pregnant with Aegon before the wedding, you could see her bump in her dress. Vis works 24:7 so Alicent got very close with Aegon as a baby. Aegon looks after her always has! She was very involved with school when the kids were little. PTA mom, sports mom, art/theater mom, she always supports her kids and their activities. Calls them each everyday to see what’s new, are you sick?, how’s the money looking? She used to feel insecure about being a young mom, but now she’s 43 and her kids are in college. She has so much free time now! Definitely the hot mom, also the cool mom(mean girls hey!). Alicent was meant to be a mother, she truly loves her kids and wants the best for them. She don’t give me toxic mother in law vibes

Nrya is the first child of Vis, so he is crazy over her. He’s still in Nrya’s lane, but he talks to the other kids moreish. Nrya became a model her junior year of college. Has been covers of vogue, vanity fair, a bunch of wedding mags. It’s how she met her husband, Harwin. They fell in love and had Jace, Luke, Joff, the twins. Definitely a boy mom but she loves being a mom.

#modern hotd au #aemond targaryen #aegon targaryen #helena targaryen #alicent hightower

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sweetmoonstorm · 11 months

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GUIDELINES!!!

Ehem hello. So. I have come to make another post on request updates, as by the title. Yes I take requests. Stuff I will do :

Matchmaking(you send me bio of either yourself or an oc, and I pair them with a canon character from somewhere)

One shot

Headcanons

More new, I'll do letters from characters, though they may be short.

And as for categories ; Light/Moderate Angst(I don't do death that hits me HARD-), Fluff, Romance, Violence, etc. I'll let u know if something violates my rules.

More below.

My rules w headcanons and one shots.

DNI if you are a or support pedophilia, hebephilia, zoophilia, incest, are uncomfortable w/ yandere themes, bigot/s, homophobes, anything along those lines.

Also, please don't interact if ur one of those Vivziepop fans who will get mad at others for talking about her stories and stuff a certain way. I've heard a lot about her, and it isn't really that good. While I'm not gonna really talk ab her as I don't have enough info to confirm or deny if she's a bad person, I am uncomfortable trying to dig into the situation and unwilling to say much on her due to what I've seen her fans do. (This doesn't apply to ALL of her fans. Just the ones that will hatebomb an artist or creator for saying they don't like her stuff. Let a person hate and like stuff, will you??)

Yes I am comfy with NSFW I am 18, but, I dont write it.

*I've decided to do canon x canon, but will more likely get reader x canon done quicker-

Yes I will do yandere, keep in mind I do not however condone yandere behaviors irl to the point where it gets abusive. There's a line between fantasy and real life, and I only write yanderes for my and your own fantasies. If an irl s/o shows certain behaviors to the point it gets abusive/horribly yandere like, please seek help.

polyamory is doable.

Now, onto the matchmaking part. Do keep in mind that matchmaking will take longer than one shots and headcanons.

Here is a template.

Name *

Love Language *

Personality *

Sexuality/Gender Preferences? *

Aesthetic *

Appearance(optional) *

Fandom of Choice *

Anything sought out in general? *

Likes *

Hates *

Any particular characters in general?(ex. Someone fom the LMK brotherhood? Someone from the dekusquad?) *

Thats about it in general, only thing left is what fandoms I'll do for these thingies and how many requests I'll take at a time!!

So, for general requests(matchmaking, hcs, oneshots), I'll take 5 at a time, and close ask box once limit has been reached.

For rps, those r unlimited, but pls state who u are for them. If you use ur acc to ask there's no prob there, but if you plan to to as an anon, please ask to be on an anon list that'll make things manageable.(Ex."Can I be dragon anon?" "I'd like to be headphones anon please.") Oh and also state what fandom and character you're going for, unless poly?? 🤔

And note; I'm not exactly always the most motivated, so please just know that I will be working on your request, I'll just be doing it a bit slowly at times.

Now for fandoms!!

More focused on :

LMK(Lego Monkey Kid)

The amazing digital circus

Others that I'll also do :

Cookie run kingdom

Lego Dreamzzz

And maybe another fandom if I know enough abt it.

Also, note that I will never do a romantic thing with children. Platonic stuff is allowed. Asking characters things is also allowed .

Anon List -

'Lovely' Anon

💌Anon

🫧 Anon

Buh-bye~

🥀🌑

(Most recent update was 2/23/24)

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mythicamagic · 4 years

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#29 i have a fetish this week, i guess lol.

29: a kiss on the inside of the wrist.

Wind whipped her hair back to thrash in the breeze, and Kagome tightened her coat around her. One of Miroku and Sango's twins inched a little too close to the edge, and the miko quickly snatched her up before she could fall.

"Careful," she smiled, tapping the cute munchkin's nose.

Hachi was generously giving them a lift to the former Demon Slayer's Village where Kohaku awaited them. It was thankfully faster than travelling on foot. Kagome couldn't help but stare wistfully at the passing scenery, mind cast adrift.

"Don't worry, Lady Kagome!" Miroku called from up front, "we're making good time."

"Hm?"

"You looked a little bored," he chuckled.

Kagome blushed and noticed Sango staring. "N-no! I was just wondering if the village would be alright without us," she lied, feeling terrible that her priorities were so missed up that she wasn't worried about them.

"Inuyasha is there to protect everyone, try to relax. This is meant to be a break," Sango smiled.

Nodding, she returned it, playing with their twin's feet and causing her to giggle.

After a few moments of being left alone to her thoughts however, Kagome naturally fell back into her musings. She began recalling that night. That fateful rainy night Sesshoumaru had extended an offer to her that would change the nature of their relationship forever.

----

Rain poured hard, pelting her shoulders like icy needles. Kagome shuddered miserably, arms curled tight around herself as she hurried towards a tree. Ducking down against the bark gave her mild relief, feeling only small droplets reach her from the position. She sighed heavily, breath fanning out visible.

In retrospect, navigating by night from the Bone Eater's Well towards the village hadn't been a wise decision without a torch. ‘I'd been in too much of a hurry to leave.’

Mindling soaked dark strands back from her damp forehead, Kagome blinked and squinted into the darkness. Something was flying through the rain filled skies. Faint green flames could be seen like flickering stars. They drew closer, a black square shape becoming visible.

Kagome wasn't sure what to make of it. The structure resembled an ancient Japanese court carriage, the shutters thick black lacquer to ensure privacy, lanterns hanging from the roof. Flowers patterned its side, carved into the wood in intricate, sprawling patterns and shining gold.

Instead of being pulled by a man or horse though, it was a demon drawn carriage. Small kappa-like demons ensured the carriage glided through the air smoothly. Kagome shivered. She could taste youki the air it seeped so thick and strong. Familiar...

The carriage hovered, lowering itself to muddy, rainsoaked ground. From the back, wooden blinds were turned and snapped up sharply, letting a thick haze of pipe smoke escape like a dusty exhale from a dragon.

Sesshoumaru gazed at her from within the carriage, endowed with more grandeur and finery than she'd ever seen him wear before. Usually his outfit comprised of refined beauty mixed with practicality and strength. Without battle armour, he looked softer. Lilac silks were patterned with his house crest. Earrings glittered upon pointed ears. An ornate pipe was held between deft fingers, and he took a drag, observing her with watchful curiosity.

"Are you going to stand there all night, miko?"

Kagome gaped and glanced around, wondering if Kaede had appeared or Kikyo had risen from the dead a fourth time. Surely he wasn't talking to her?

But sure enough, that flat, unimpressed gaze was mistakable. Kagome swallowed and hurried out from the shelter of the trees. Climbing up into the back entrance of the carriage, she found the space limited and swathed in furs. Cosy, but alarmingly close to Sesshoumaru. Their knees were almost touching as she sat opposite him. The blinds were snapped down over the exit before she could protest, her body swaying forward from momentum as the carriage ascended once more. Kagome quickly righted herself before she could land atop his lap.

Sesshoumaru observed her with mild amusement, tilting a regal chin up. "Is there a reason I find you by yourself?"

Kagome bristled and hugged her arms "I don't need Inuyasha to mind me like a child. I can do things on my own," she grumbled.

"Mn, so I have observed. You have often been alone lately, miko."

Her teeth ground, shivering violently. She jumped upon feeling plumes of lavish fur wrap around her shoulders. It practically drowned her in warmth. "T-thanks."

Busying himself with another languid drag, looking decadent yet exuding opulence, Sesshoumaru hummed. He seemed to be waiting for her to continue, so Kagome sighed and reluctantly elaborated.

"We broke up a few months ago. Things are still a little strained between us, is all. Why do you care?"

"I do not, this one is merely making conversation."

She frowned, gesturing to him. "Your turn. How come I find you cruising around Japan in this era's equivalent of a Porsche?"

"What is a Porsche?"

"It's a car."

"What is a-"

"We're getting off the subject," Kagome giggled, catching herself. Had she ever giggled around him before?

Sesshoumaru didn't seem to mind, now pouring himself some saké, "I am returning from a gathering of influential demons."

"Ohhh now I get it," her eyes danced. "You're drunk because of a party, that's why you're so amiable tonight. Makes sense."

Golden eyes immediately turned flat. They were relaxed and not as sharp as per the norm but awareness kept his pupils focused. "This is not my true form. I have not nearly consumed enough to become inebriated."

Kagome glanced him over, frowning when he offered her a cup of the clear liquid- ultimately shrugging and accepting it. Taking a tentative sip, she choked and coughed, blinking rapidly. "That tastes vile," the words came out as a squeak.

He sniffed primly, giving a haughty look and eyeing the cup. "...You are entirely correct. This is not good saké. Perhaps Lord Onozuka was attempting to poison me."

She nodded seriously. "My Grandpa's stuff is better- though at 18, it's technically illegal for me to have tried it. Don't tell anyone," a grin was working its way onto her mouth.

"Would not dream of it," his lips curved, honeyed gaze smiling. "Perhaps you are not as pure and innocent as first assumed, miko."

She abruptly lost her playful mood, glancing away with thin lips. Silence engulfed them, filling up with large consuming bursts of miserable scent as her emotions rolled turbulently. "...Surely...you can tell I'm not 'pure' anymore," Kagome mumbled. "Are you making fun of me?"

Sesshoumaru stared at her levelly, nostrils flaring. Winter lashes lowered slightly. "I could scent that you were no longer a virgin, but that has little to do with the purity of your soul, miko."

She sighed heavily, taking a sip of the alcohol and wincing. "It was wrong of me- n-not the sex part. I don't believe sex before marriage 'taints' someone or anything like that. It's just...I did it with someone I shouldn't have. My boyfriend..."

He arched a brow. "Is that not the term of a human male in a relationship?"

"Y-yeah, I'm not making sense, I know. Asahi was a rebound, we only dated a short time. That's the problem. I totally used him- and I feel terrible for it."

Violent shame twined with regret, tears pricking her eyes. She gripped the porcelain cup so hard it trembled in her hold. "Inuyasha moved on so quickly from our relationship. I-I thought there was something wrong with me, so I forced myself to date someone else. I'm lonely, sure, but that's no excuse. I wish I'd never done it- I should've just stayed far away from any relationship until I knew for sure I wasn't going to use the guy-"

Sesshoumaru's fingers wrapped around her hand, cutting her off mid-tirade. Her breath stalled, quelled by his calm gaze.

He huffed softly, claws lightly skimming sensitive skin. "First of all, foolish woman; did this Asahi boy seem dissatisfied or upset about being 'used?'"

"N-no...but he didn't get the full story."

"You do not owe him an explanation," Sesshoumaru rumbled, something tinging his voice. "He could not tell you were miserable, and knows nothing of your life here- furthermore would not understand. I see no reason to punish yourself thus for experiencing a moment of pleasure after months of distress."

She'd never heard him be so chatty before. Nonetheless, Kagome remained unconvinced, staring at her shoes miserably and attempting to lift the alcohol towards her lips- Sesshoumaru's grip preventing her.

Ever so slowly, in a way that turned her stomach inside out and sent a rush of heat shooting straight down to her core- Sesshoumaru lifted her occupied hand, brushing soft lips over the inside of her wrist.

"In light of this new information," he said quietly. "I feel something should be done to drastically alter your mindset on indulgence."

"W-what-" Kagome squeaked, swallowing and closing her eyes. When they slid open, the miko raised her chin, intrigue blooming like a fresh flower bud in her forget-me-not eyes. "What did you have in mind?" she breathed.

"I have a proposition for you."

#sesskag #effinsusie #Sesshoumaru x Kagome

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gumnut-logic · 4 years

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Fanfic Asks 5

This one is for @louthestarspeaker who asked for D U X, @misssquidtracy who asked for H M O and @janetm74 who asked for W. Thank you for your kind questions ::hugs you all so much::

-o-o-o-

D. Do you prefer gen or romance?

If you asked me this two years ago, I would have said gen. Now…I see value in both. There is something just nice about having a couple who know each other so well that they can just fall into each other’s arms at the end of the day.

But I’ve always been a fan of bromance, two guys who will do anything for each other whether they are related or not. I’m a child of eighties TV and grew up on those kinds of relationships. Kirk and Spock are a prime example (yeah, I know they are from the 60s, but I didn’t exist then and the most of the movies came out in the eighties) .

Which leads onto the question of slash. I do read slash, but not so much in this fandom beyond a little Virgil/Brains. My heart truly lives in the friendship or family department. Even my ship could be considered monogamous happily ever after. This is not because I have any objections to one night stands or flings or whatever anyone enjoys, more of a case of I enjoy it (and Virgil’s character calls for it).

I’m a long term fanfic reader and have stumbled across a lot in my time in fandom. I just choose to read what I like and let everyone have their fun their way. I like a little whump, comfort and loyal and devoted friends. I guess I love the idea that people can stick together through anything.

As for writing, I like a challenge and will step outside my comfort zone time to time just to see if I can do it. However, you will always find a brother hanging around when Virg gets injured :D

U. Do you prefer AUs or canon compliant fics?

I’m pretty open to all sorts of things…except for character breaking. If the character isn’t in character then it is no longer the character.

::chews nails worrying if I’ve broken Virgil’s character beyond redemption::

If it is well-written and hooks me, I’ll read pretty much anything (within my limits).

Writing…AUs require a lot of world building. My AUs tend to be branches off canon that diverge away, taking the built world with them. Things like coffee-shop AUs are a bit beyond my interest level (especially since I don’t drink coffee).

Marks & Wings is my first completely AU fic series. I did have to do some world building, but they are basically the Tracy bros with wings (except for Gordo, he is considerably different). To be honest, I use that universe as a place to write when I’m completely stuffed. The writing is more sensory than my other fics and I can just get arty farty and play with words.

But, as always, whatever I feel like at the time is what gets written.

X. What fandom have you written the most fics for?

That would be Thunderbirds fandom. According to Ao3, I’m at 132 Thunderbirds fics with 750,000 words. Reactions plus a few other fics/chapters are yet to be posted.

That is over twice my combined other fandoms, heading toward three times. In two years.

You guys have just inspired me so much. Look what you’ve done! ::hugs you all like crazy::

H. What is the longest fic you’ve written?

Written in 2003, The Asgard Sequence at 80,000 words (I thought it was shorter at 75,000 ::frowns at FF.net::) was my third Stargate SG-1 fanfic. Full of cliffhangers, it basically whumps Jack O’Neill within an inch of his life while exploring the Asgard people. Lots of plot written by the seat of my pants and nowhere at the quality I’m achieving today, but it remains my most popular fic on FF.net and I still get the occasional comment even 17 years after it was published. It was a landmark fic for me.

The question is…is there enough plotline left in the Kermadec Fic to overtake it? I don’t know. Possibly not, but we’ll see. I do have the tendency to ramble nowadays :D

M. How do you come up with titles?

Write fic first and work out what to call it when at least partly written. I usually look for something short that sums up what the fic is about combined with an inkling of interest that might help draw the reader in. Sometimes I structure the fic (if I’m planning it) in a certain way that leads to the title.

Here are some working titles versus the final titles just for a little fun (the file names are all that remains – first name first, final name second):

Scott and Jeff – Suits

Riguadagnare – Il Mago

Virg and Gordo – A Good Day

The Visitor – Sky Candy

One of the brothers being ticklish – His Part

Marry Me – The Proposal

Hold Still – Lucky Shot

Gentle Showers – Gentle Rain

The Glacier – Access Denied

Tired Virgil – Tick Tock

Tropical rain is warm – Warm Rain

Veggie’s shower fic – To Hurt Us

Just a few from my computer. I still have several that don’t have titles at all.

O. Is there any fandom you’ve been into that you haven’t written fic for? Why not?

Definitely. I’ve read:

Farscape

Avengers

How to Train Your Dragon

Arrow

Stargate Atlantis (did start a fic, haven’t finished it – also roleplayed a bit as Rodney McKay)

Sherlock

All the Next Gen Star Trek series (did dabble a little, but never finished anything, my heart lies in TOS)

There are probably more that I can’t think of at the moment. With the exception of Farscape and the Trek series, all of the above were read in the last ten years. They were simply relief from motherhood really. I love fanfic in general, hardly read anything else nowadays, but I wasn’t in the right place to write during my forays into the above fandoms. I was also very focussed on my professional art business.

TAG hit me at a point where I was struggling, in desperate need and I went down like a ton of bricks.

W. Have you ever written anything that you are embarrassed by today?

Considering the thirty years since I started, sure, there are some fics that are a bit crappy. Heh, I still write crappy stuff from time to time ::eyes Reactions and kicks it with a toe::

But embarrassed? I may have been when I was younger. Especially outside of fandom. But now…I’m a perfectionist who has come to terms (mostly) that my stuff is never going to be perfect. All my stuff has had its purpose and is a step up the learning curve – that goes for everything.

Having said that, I do find myself hesitating to mention the one or two slash fics I have written in the past in other fandoms.

Mentioning that I wrote for Knight Rider gets the oddest looks. I wrote two slash fics in that fandom, but they are close to what I write here in content and plotlines.

I have also written a few explicit scenes in this fandom (of varying quality ::rolls eyes:: ).

Mentioning fanfic outside of fandom has its challenges and when it comes to the above mentions, these are likely not the ones I’d highlight to my workmates (though they all know I write fanfic). I had to stop myself from posting a link to Gentle Rain on Facebook a while back because while I’m happy with its novelish length and content, it does have that one scene…

So, yeah, maybe a little wary of what other people might think of things content-wise. Writing-wise, I’m fairly confident, except when I get the wibblies ::eyes floppy Virg and John…just John…no other Tracy gives me as much strife as Johnny::

-o-o-o-

Thank you to all the wonderful peeps who asked me all these questions. I hope I haven’t bored you silly with my answers (or scared you off with the last one ::chews nails:: ).

I also hope I haven’t missed anyone. Poke me if I have and I will apologise profusely and answer asap.

::eyes word count on questions:: Well, I’ve written 3,500 words about myself ::gulp::

And it is heading toward 1.30am with work tomorrow.

Nutty

(saluting off)

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds fanfiction #thunderbirds #writing #meme #fanfiction

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askthemythics · 3 years

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“The Incident-“ A Story by Yuki P. and Drákon D.

Warning from Yuki and Drák: this is a long explanation. Long story short, ask blog is open!

Yuki: Hey again, buddies! Kooks gave us the go signal to open up the ask box and officially begin this blog for real! But...let us finally tell you about the incident.

(Yuki, being nervous and all, turns to Drákon.)

Drákon: You know I don’t like to talk much. Come on, just get it over with.

Yuki: Ahh, okay, pal. So the story of our blog...a couple months ago, me and Drák really wanted everyone in the Land especially Cerbrous to know that we were truly worthy mythics. And then, IDEA AROSE!

Drákon (while blushing): T-The idea was mine...I am a knowledgable one of mythical creatures in general. I knew that there was that one website where ask blogs are made...someone at work reminded me of it.

Yuki: And there it is! We’re an ask blog dedicated to teaching mythics around our Purth about other mythics not in their area. Well,, most people just asked about us anyway...nice people...also, we even grabbed our close friends, Punk and Pegarush, and they helped us, too!! And of course our biggest fan, Kooks, agreed to be the blog’s artist.

Drákon: Did Kooks supply a picture of them, though? I-I don’t think audience can picture them in their minds right. They’re not just a random unicorn and pegasus.

Yuki: Umm, no, she didn’t. Well, Kooks is celebrating Cobbsfest, hope she has funnnn. Okay, what’s next on the recap...it’s the incident, of course it is. So CERBROUS DID A THING THE END!!

Drákon: Yuki, you’re not- fine, I’ll take over. One time, we made the biggest mistake of our lives...w-we opened the blog out to Cerbrous’ fiery paws.

Yuki: They saw how “successful” our blog’s getting, so they wanted to be part OUR success. Even though, the blog’s just about making others happy.

Drákon: And fame, heh. This fame-obsessed dragon actually let them in blog. But as a limited-time kinda thing. Do ask blogs still do that?

Yuki: Surprisingly to us, Cerbrous actually got some fame around here...maybe even more than me and Drák OURSELVES! When time was up for them, we were so ready to kick ‘em out.

Drákon: Shouldn’t have done that. Cer, Bro, and Us...you know, dog heads, cursed us out, ate our snacks, anddddd removed our internet privileges forever. Minor things.

Yuki: And Kooks went through...things and didn’t want to draw for the blog anymore...bUT HEY-HEY, Drákky, let’s tell everyone about the blog now!!

Drákon: Gonna ignore all that. We love optimistic Yuki.

Yuki: Hehe. Anyway, Cerbrous, for some reason, became nice and gave us another chance. We think it’s ‘cause they wanted to see us bomb it again. But the blog today? Well, it’s just us and Kooks now, and since Cerbrous broke our old computer, we have THIS one-of-a-kind baby now! It just appeared at our doorstep one day.

Drákon: Uhhh- ummm-

Yuki: We seriously can’t wait!! LET’S DO THIS!!

(Yuki wags her tail in upmost anticipation.)

Drákon: Might as well make our final moments fun...

#not an ask #updates from yolk and drak #ask blog #mythical creatures #mythics #supernatural #wolf #dragon #my art #artists on tumblr

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lonelypond · 4 years

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All I See

Love Live, NicoMaki, 1.5K, 1/1

Summary: Nishikino Maki has music to compose, but thoughts of Yazawa Nico keep distracting her.

All I See

Maki found herself humming instead of actually putting her fingers to the piano or her pencil to the score sheets scattered to her left. Cole Porter, a brassy jazzy Pat Suzuki style version of ‘From This Moment On.” But not the Nishikino Maki original Christmas jazz arrangements that she’d scheduled this block of time for. Her next album. Well, technically, her debut album. Nico had been bugging her to release more than singles and videos on her YouTube channel. So rather than thinking of it as a way to break back into the ‘biz’ as Nico so often referred to it, Maki was telling herself she was recording an album for Nico to listen to on the road, as she travelled to her annual charity concerts.

But that wasn’t working. No form of motivation was working. Maki tossed her head back, resisting the urge to stamp her foot and huff. She really needed a haircut. Too bad Nico was missing this. Maki closed her eyes, recalling the stars glinting deep in those lustrous gem eyes as she tucked strands of hair behind her ear, chuckling at her own silliness. Then the wave of .... W A N T hit and Maki grabbed her phone from where she’d left it out of sight.

M: NIIIIICCCCOOOOOO....

Nico’s reply was instant. And not encouraging.

N: <(｀^´)> Hey, Rude and Restless, Nico said I was busy until 11 p.m.

Maki glanced at the time. 9:21. Oops. Not a happy Nico. Maki put her phone down, tapped a few piano keys, hummed “She gets too hungry for dinner at 8,” then swivelling on the bench, she shook her bangs down in front of her eyes, reached behind her for her phone and took a selfie.

M: I need some advice on a haircut.

N: Because 9:26 is prime hairdresser availability?

M: (~_^)b

N: Sleep on it (๑ゝڡ◕๑)

Maki pouted and snapped another selfie.

N: (_　_|||) Nico really is busy. Don’t you have a symphony to write or something?

M: Suite ●︿●

N: Yeah, the Nishikino Nutcracker ⁷₍⁽՚ᵕ՝⁾₎₇

N: So, put your hands on that other keyboard, it’s probably right behind you (╭☞•̀o•́)╭☞ Maki snickered.

M: I’d rather put my ha…

As she was typing, Nico’s next text interrupted.

N: Don’t go there, pretty girl.

Maki backspaced, continued typing, and hit send.

M: But you’re so inspirational (๑♡⌓♡๑)

N: Nico is B U S Y ! ! ! Don’t be so Nico Nico Needy (눈_눈)

Maki humphed and threw herself back across the chaise, sighing too dramatically to have no audience, her fingers picking at the jacquard fabric until she got bored with the texture and raised her hands to pick out invisible chords above her head. After not even a minute of that, punctuating with a frustrated groan, Maki had both hands tearing through her hair, fingers tested by knots. Why was Nico soooooo stubborn. How could she resist this?

Maki chuckled at herself again, hand dropping to her thigh, fingers tracing a line there, starting to play a tune, not the new one she needed to be working on, but a mash of familiar melodies, jazz, idol, classical, everything in her head now, all the dots that connected her to the incandescent gravity of a tiny tiny tower of brilliant treasures, a dragon’s hoard of love, charisma, kindness, beauty, and charm. She could hear Nico’s voice in her head, shrilly teasing her with “Nico Nico Needy.” Maki had lost the memory of when that first happened, her need for Nico, how many years ago, moods ago, tears ago, tours ago, I love you’s ago, kisses ago. Some of the darker, lonelier nights, Maki thought she should care more about how easily she always got tanglelost in thoughts of Nico, tactile memories as slippery and silky as the sable strands of strawberry scented softness that would caress her face when Nico leaned in, eyes bright and sparking, perfectly pursed lips pretending disinterest but about to bite. Maki could feel her hand drifting again, across her thigh, her heart thudding a raw melody that longed for the harmony of another voice, but then, with an effort that took all of her current willpower, Maki forced herself to sit up, to glance to the piano, to hope that it would be more of a pull than...but after only managing a few hummed bars of ‘Satin Doll’ and one brief touch of a single finger on a cold key, Maki let herself fall back again, to get tanglelost in mental pictures of Nico, the looping echo of Nico’s voice, almost a whisper at Maki’s ear, promising...

“Nico can hear you think, you know.” The music room doors banged open and Maki jumped with a yelp, half sprawling to the floor as her wife fumed in the doorway, too cute in a tank top and short shorts. “Why are you so much WORSE when Nico is at home than when Nico is on tour?”

“I’m not.” Maki snapped, blood pounding in her head and reddening her face. Nico had almost walked in on…

“Maki?” Nico did sound concerned. Maki didn’t want that. She didn’t need to be coddled.

Maki sat up, drawing up her knees, “You startled me.”

Nico slid onto the piano bench, eyebrows lowered, carefully manicured hand petting the seat next to her, “Come sit next to Nico and meet our mutual friend, Ms. Steinway, who can help you stay on the Nice List and compose your genius Christmas compilation album while Nico FINISHES HER FALL WARDROBE SORTING.”

Refusing to look directly at Nico, Maki shook her head, barely raising it from her knees. She was never going to be able to focus now. She could almost taste the sweat drop slowly, tantalizingly sliding from Nico’s hairline down her cheek. New season meant new, kicky shoes so Nico had probably been lifting boxes to clear out her summer sandals and other styles not essential for Autumn. Maki found her eyes following the curve of Nico’s tricep…

A finger snap, “Okay, Disheveled and Distracted, up.” Nico grabbed Maki’s forearms and yanked the redhead forward, forcing her off the chaise, “If you’re going to be like this, Nico is going to put you to work.”

“Huh? But you said your closet is off limits.”

“Nico’s closet is off limits. But I was about to take some boxes to the attic. So Nico will let her biggest fan do it instead.”

“NIIIIICCCCOOOOOO....

Nico raised an eyebrow at her pouty, spoiled, beautifully silly wife. This is where the conversation had started. Maki straightened up, and for extra emphasis stretched her arms over her head. She hadn’t bothered to pay any attention to how well her red, black and purple plaid shirt was buttoned and Nico noticed how the misaligned buttons exposed curves at both the top and hem. Maki blinked at Nico, eyes somehow sparkling, smugly coy half smile aggravatingly mischievous. Nico, through an effort of willpower only possible for someone determined enough to be the Number One Idol in the Universe, managed to keep a grin off her face, staring back into those dreamfuel eyes with stern purpose. Maki never wilted, which was all of the fun. Her perfectly proud jaw tightened, her precisely plush eyebrows quirked, and her peerlessly plum pink lips collided in a bemused smirk as an idea slipped out, shaded with sultry undertones.

“You can’t afford my hourly rate.”

Nico shrugged, that was a line of teasing she was going to choose to ignore, but then before Maki could blink, Nico had pounced and was tucking loose strands of hair tenderly behind Maki’s ear, letting a gentle, teasing caress linger. “And after, you’ll need to clean up. Nico knows the attic is dusty.”

Nico saw Maki’s eyes widen as she started guessing the direction of Nico’s thought and Nico allowed herself to smile as Maki’s tongue licked out, revealing the eagerness that always ended these jousts.

“I hate dust in my hair.” Maki blew unruly curls out of her eyes.

Nico quick ruffled Maki’s tousles; she really did need a haircut, “Nico knows.” A tug brought Maki down into a slooooooow kiss, “Let me help with that.”

“Okay.” Maki was all in, completely blanking on how the conversation had started, when Nico had gotten so close, or what time of day it was. Then Nico dropped both hands to Maki’s waist, spun her to face the music room’s sliding doors, and pushed gently. “But first, Nico’s summer shoes travel to their new home.”

“Niiiicoooo…”

“Will make it worth your while.”

Maki had pivoted and Nico was suddenly right up against a wall of stubborn redhead, impossible to ignore curves at exactly the wrong height for Nico to think about anything other than how quickly they responded to fingertip pressure. Nico’s hands started to reach out as a growling purr that could pull Nico across continents, let alone up a flight of stairs delivered a challenge, “You’d better.”

And Maki dashed through the door with a playful wink.

Boxes could get upstairs tomorrow, Nico decided. Now, it was time to catch a diamond.

A/N: Gift for Ao3′s AaronMizuno aka @masterycomic on Twitter, who wanted Nico and Maki in a happy relationship. Because we all need more happy relationship fluff this time of year. Enjoy!

#NicoMaki #Nishikino Maki #Yazawa Nico #fluff fluff fluff #WinterGiftExchange

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strawberryybird · 5 years

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So whats your favorite thing about each of your fe3h favs? Anything you could just go on a long rant about for any of them? or interactions between them that you wish had happened or wanted to happen.

Waking up in the morning and going through all of the drunk blogging and “-thank-u-for-weathering-my-deep-need-to-be-liked-and-given-attention-off-main-I-guess” if this isn’t a whole mood on its own I don’t know what is. Anyways it sounds like you had fun and it was definetly fun reading everything. I hope you are feeling okay the day after everything. And to tack on a random question which fe3h character would you want to get drunk with if it was just the two of you?

Hi Hello!! thank u for enjoying my drunk blogging !!! and for the asks!!! (and the lovely comments on my fics actually hi there ur wonderful!!!) i’m currently cursing the damage i’ve done to my sleep schedule and suffering under my (truly deserved) hangover lmao ;p apologies u don’t get drunk me, only uncaffeinated hangover me, but we talk to the same degree and make the same spelling errors lol

ah yes.. im a fountain of moods (all of u still with me here are saints hhhh)

ok content time:

the second one first: i absolutely want to get drunk with ferdinand von aegir. the man’s a hop, skip and a vodka shot away from a mess. i love him. he’d be full of conversation and would buy the rounds every time as a true nobleman should !! he’d probably be really good at instigating drinking games but horrible at playing them.. i love party gay ferdie von aegir.

i’m going to LIMIT the faves i list because truly i love them all very much but i have to at least pretend i have some restraint and i don’t want to make this even More of a wall of text it’s going to become . SO

edit: ok i started writing this at like. half ten pm. when the fuck did it become monday.

edit edit: Disclaimer time: these are my conclusions and my conclusions alone. I’m not saying I’m objectively right or correct. I’m very much approaching this from an English Lit-ish point of view because that’s just how I look at a lot of media. I’m not asserting my opinions or conclusions as the only viable to interpret this media, and if anything I say offends you then I am sorry, it was not my intention but I acknowledge that I have hurt you. This is not the exhaustive list of my thoughts on the whole thing, there’s a lot more depth and detail I didn’t go in to.

My favourite thing about Edelgard is the Everything, but notably I really love her proud nature and how in VW it quite directly gets her *spoilered*, and in CF it’s integral to her success (bc it’s her own rigidity within herself that keeps her standing i think) and I Like Tragic Characters (and it’s very elinor dashwood). because it’s one of the qualities that can throw her character into a villainous light & it’s really interesting !! but at the same time.. it’s not quite ‘pride’ purely, and it’s kinda the wrong word. it’s some mixture of determined/stubbon, anger, self-reliance, and that really hard veneer of personality u develop when you’re around people who aren’t healthy for you to be around, and the very very critical need to be right about the choices you made because the weight of the consequences would kinda ruin you if you weren’t. (the dean winchester effect huh) and wrap that up together with a big scoop of ‘i believe my way is right’ (’and my way Has to be right’) and then u get a lot of what i LOVE about Edelgard’s character

My favourite thing about Dorothea is really how she was the character that Hated the war. genuinely the contrast between white clouds dorothea & timeskip dorothea Breaks My Heart EVery Time I See Her !!!!! that and Spoilers!!! (her last words in AM unrecruited is edelgards name and i literally had to stop and cry about it for five minutes.) she’s one of the characters that post-war doesn’t have a Massive political stake in the war - like there’s her anger towards the current class system (another reason i bloody love her PLEASE give me angry feminine characters) but i think it’s her bonds with edie (or byleth&whoever if recruited) that keep her actually fighting in the war & it’s kinda different and i like that (actually i think she parallels/sends up/contrasts really really nicely with mercedes in that way)

my favourite thing about Marianne is just everything. how she finds worth within herself if you play VW (and the very very harrowing hc that she didn’t if you don’t), how she’s full of a quiet rage for the crest system but you eek it out of her as you play the game. how she’s still loved by the deers despite her appalling mental health (fight me on that canon) and the game essentially has her ‘save’ herself by finding worth and life within herself. i love her so much ok. (i also love her because she committed identity theft.. she and i share a name with the second dashwood sister oho (but i don’t use that name on the internet hhh) (also because my favourite shakespeare play is king lear (no really it is), my birthday is in red wolf moon too, i used to have very long hair i wore in a plait most days for school, little 11 and 17 year old me acted Exactly like white clouds marianne did & genuinely i love marianne von edmund to pieces but God it hurts to see her in game sometimes bc her journey mirrors a lot of mine & i love this character. so much.) WOW that was a lot. am i sure im not still drunk

so claude is not only one of my favourite characters in the whole damn game, but also shares the name of one of my favourite painters so i simply have to love him ;p however i can’t give a proper opinion on him yet because i haven’t finished playing deers yet :( but !! i love how (as is with all the lords) he has a veneer of personality to him, but in contrast to Edie where it’s quite seemless with her actual personality, Claude’s veneer of personality seems very opaque and plastered on. i may or may not just be wildly imagining things but he’s a very different personality in his lower supports with Lysithea than he is in his B support with Marianne, for instance. like, i love characters that are obviously a lot more socially intelligent than i could ever be, and claude is *chef kiss* BEAUTIFUL ON EVERY LEVEL.

i’d wax lyrical about Ingrid too but honestly there’s many better people out there with the good ingrid content than i could do. shortly, i love the New Take on the pegasus knight archetype she brings, and i really like her perspective on femininity !!! she’s such a good character & she brings so much to the game and to the pegasus knight character too!!!!! she’s such a bright personality and altho i wish so many of her supports weren’t centred around make-up (hhh dorogrid fans i pray for you), i think she’s really going to pave the way for whoever’s next in that character slot. (like, you can’t tell me she’s not an offshoot of Phila from awakening lmao)

no ok i’m adding in Hubert because i love this vampire man. i really really love the devoted servant archetype and we all know i love edelgard’s tragedy. and i love hubert. so much. the way he enables edelgard in pretty much everything is just so so interesting to think about, and i love his intensity about it. he’s like the ever present reminder that edelgard’s will kinda has to work otherwise the potential consequences of her being wrong are personified in hubert imo. it’s only touched on in VW in his letter but like. god i wish we got more but it’s a wonderful starting block. i love his comic relief as well, he’s such a fun character to have !!!! and also i have so many hubert fics in my bookmarks that just Get him. i love hubert. oh i love hubert.

i’m going to cut myself off there because . that’s just a LOT.

as for characters i would sell a limb to have them talk to each other, honestly it’s Edelgard/Marianne. (and only 51% because of all the projection i have going on with those two ok don’t at me i k n o w). that support chain would be too powerful and honestly i wish they had one becuauese it would have gone so Hard about what Edelgard was doing and what Marianne thought about it, and how they connected over it & they probably would have had their supports set over cups of tea or smth .. it would have been amazing.

(but i’d rather have nothing than an awakening-level-content support where they talk about eating fucking bear meat instead of talking about how they grew to trust each other with and their ability to save the fate of the world HUH AWAKENING. (i’m salty about fredrobin forever)

also hilda/dorothea supports . we were robbed. they’re best friends and you can’t actually tell me otherwise. they run the disaster bi chat of garreg mach. honestly i just would Love a support chain for them that starts with them talking about self care routines and something really small like accessories or perfume and it goes into how self-esteem and how dorothea has to find the same worth in herself as hilda so easily can. (hilda’s the queen of self esteem she’s a babe) and in CF they could have dialogue and then we cry about it. and in SS they talk about how they both chose their place with Byleth and not at edie/claude’s side like i’m just free balling here it could be Anything and i’d love it.

also big shocker .. dorothea/marianne supports . they both hate themselves in their profile CAN THEY PLEASE CHAT.

also i accidentally fell in love with the claude/edelgard ship and i desperately need them to interact on the same level that edie and dimitri get to because.. aren’t there supposed to be three main characters huh intsys .. and like i get what the game goes for with two of the lords embroiled in a personal war against each other at the heart and the third actually finding something close to the truth because he’s not involved in age old grudge matches but at the same time That’s one of the things that really really falls flat for me in the game. dimitri’s villain is edie, edie’s villain is big dragon wife, claude’s villain is the lack of communication that everyone in fodlan suffers from apparently. lack of communication and lies. ymmv with what im saying rn but i would have preferred if all three lords had strong personal ties to each other and in Each Route it was brought up. or just snip dimitri’s dialogue out of CF because i have beef with how that WHOLE moment went down on so many accounts hhhh honestly it makes me angerey to think about lol

.. back on topic- can the lords pls talk to each other because it would be SO interesting in white clouds and i like seeing how their personality presentations clash

also . can i marry manuela yet. my crops are dying here.

.. im so sorry about this but it’s midnight and i’m too tired to edit so. have this. thank you so much for the questions!!!! very kind (and brave) of you to ask me!!!!! i had a lot of fun writing all of this & as always if anything you didn’t quite /get/ i’m happy to re-explain myself!! :)

#ask #OH HELL THIS IS A POST HUH #fe meta #i mean it's not its just me having opinions rather loudly on ur dash #also that paragraph about edelgard is pretty much what i keep in mind to write her for my rtau fic #this is LONG im SO SORRY but NOT SORRY AT ALL #ur an actual angel if u sat thru this all #anyway. thank u so much for the ask that's so kind of u and i sent this mess back out into the world #my apologies oml #ok it's gone midnight im hitting post before i chaneg my mind #kalinary

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traveling-couch-potato · 5 years

Text

Korea Day 3

Since we bought a pass to see all 5 palaces, this Seoul trip is more or less dedicated to visiting all 5. Today planned on finishing up two more with our first stop being the Jongnyeo Shrine. We headed to over, wandering through the “Jewelry Road” of Jongro District which is more like a side street with small shops. Unfortunately, the shrine is very strict about their tour times and you’re only able to enter with a tour group so we had some time to kill. We explored an underground shopping center nearby but most of the stores were still closed but it led us to the Gwangjang Market (West Gate). We weren’t quite hungry yet since we ate breakfast at our hotel so we decided to tunnel through the market and head toward Cheonggyecheon Stream where there was a lovely stream-side walkway with benches, some foliage, and lots of pigeons.

It’s a Friday and the area was still fairly peaceful and quiet. Perfect for a morning stroll.

I loved the large stones that allow you to walk across the stream.

After walking around the stream for a while we finally worked up a bit of an appetite so we headed back to the Gwangjang Market through the South Gate to the main food area of the market.

There’s tons of booths preparing food right in front of you but my friend took me to one of the actual physical stores of one of the booths called Soon Hee Bintae Tteok, one of the most popular stands/restaurants in the area. We got their most popular items: fried mung bean pancakes & pork pancakes along with a bottle of Makgeolli, a Korean rice wine.

Even though I was stuffed I always need something sweet to seal a meal so we picked up some Yakgwa from another booth. This is essentially a deep fried Korean wheat confectionary treat. I don’t know why but these were so addictive, especially with an Americano.

It was finally time for the English Tour of Jongnyeo Shrine to begin so we headed back over. The shrine is a sacred religious ground so they are very cautious with tourists. You can’t walk on the central stone path because that is used by spirits. The place was almost eerily quiet for a tourist spot.

Quiet pond near the front of the shrine. Unlike other ponds there’s no fish or lotus plants. The center piece is an incense tree which was meant to help summon the spirits.

Jeongjeon, main hall of the shrine. It houses the ancestral tablets of the most important kings and queens.

After the shrine tour, we headed across the street to Makercity Sewoon where there was a small fair being held. The inside portion of the main market is a bit run down but the roof offered some great views.

Nice view of the surrounding area and the Cheonggyecheon stream again.

The Sewoon Electronic Museum was more like a small room with a collection of old technology but it was really interesting to peruse through even though none of the signs were in English.

Once we finished we did a mini walk through of the Jongno District (which my friend describes as the Wall Street-esque area of Seoul), starting at Cheonggye Plaza. We walked along the Avenue of Youth Street where we browsed some shops, street stands, and of course I bought some food.

One end of the “Avenue of Youth”, a line of vendors and shops.

There was lots of street food available but when I saw a “peanut butter, cream, ham, egg sandwich” I just couldn’t resist trying it. It tasted like two sandwiches being eaten at once cause I couldn’t wait...not bad but not great either.

From here we headed toward Gwanghwamun Station where we made a stop to Kyobo Bookstore’s flagship store. There’s even a small stage outside where events and performances can be held.

Our next stop was Sejongno Road’s Gwanghwamun Plaza where there is a large statue of the admiral Soon Shin Lee.

Soon Shin Lee Statue

The base of the statue is a “turtle” boat, one of the battle boats that Soon Shin Lee commanded.

As we continued walking down the plaza, we were greated with dozens of booths that were part of a big health fair to promote nutrition education. On the other side of the plaza was a large statue of Sejong Te (Big) wang (King). There is even a museum underground which had an excellent recreation of the story of King Sejong. It has a very Korean-drama type filming style and it was incredibly interesting to watch.

Sejong the Great, one of the most revered rulers of Korea most well known for his contributions to the sciences as well as the invention of the Korean alphabet system of Hangul which allowed the lower class to learn to read.

Once we were done with the museum we headed to our last palace of the day, Geyongbokgung Palace.

First site when you enter through the Gwanghwamun Gate.

Geunjeongjeon Hall, the main throne room of the palace. 2 dragons are on the ceiling overhead.

Gyeonghoeru Pavilion, once used as an entertainment area for foreign guests.

The tour ended at the pavilion but the guide informed us if we continued down the path we would reach an exit that would allow us a decent view of the Blue House where the President of Korea resides.

Tons of guards and barricades but a pretty decent view of the Blue House in the distance.

We headed back out toward the main gate so we could head toward dinner. We were famished but I couldn’t resist doing a bit of browsing on Insadong Culture Road, a popular street for shops, galleries, and more. This included a quick stop through at the Ssamzigil Shopping Center where I got to try one of my friend’s favorite old-timey Korean confectionary snacks “yeot”

Beautiful tree-lined streets full of shops and art galleries.

A traditional Korean snack known as Yeot. It’s a very sweet almost tough taffy like candy.

The candy tided me over until we got to dinner. We went through the tunnel with a popular music store and onto a more run-down looking side street. The smell of pork filled the air. My friend informed me this street is a bit sketchy and we definitely saw our share of illegal gambling and drunk pedestrians but we got to our destination at Yoojinshikdang. The line was out the door but there wasn’t a single foreigner in the area (except me of course). For our meal my friend and I fulfilled a longtime dream of mine to try Pyongyang Naengmyeon.

I’m a huge fan of mul naengmyeon and bibim naengmyeon but I’ve always wanted to try the North Korean style Pyongyang Naengmyeon. The noodles are slightly less chewy but still quite hefty with a bit of a musky smell and the broth is bland but with a meaty undertone.

Since I have limited time in Seoul I did want to see the Gangnam District but my friend was exhausted and not much of a partier so we mainly walked around the area and of course if I’m walking that means I’m getting second dinner. Gangnam is a younger, hipper district and more known for their modern fusion type fare. I decided on a spot called Queen’s Black which I heard about online. They’re known for their black food items (supposedly colored by squid ink).

All looks unfortunately, very meh taste but it’s eye catching for sure. They even give you black gloves to eat it with.

I also wanted to check out the Itewon area which is known as a foreigner district and another younger person area. Once again, my friend wasn’t too interested in that type of atmosphere so she asked for some friends to show me around. We met up with two new people at Casa Corona, a fairly new bar in the area with a nice view of the area.

We didn’t end up drinking but the view was nice and the crowd was fairly calm and casual despite how nicely dressed most of them were.

The new people in our group said the bar was boring so we walked away from the area to find dinner (or dinner #3 in my case...) We decided to split a giant plate of Soy Sauce based Jjimddak w/ mozzarella cheese and a side of cheese fondue at Jangmi Jjimdak.

Really wanted to try jjimdak so even though I was so full I wanted to explode, I just had to give it a try.

By now it’s obvious my hunger is insatiable so even though I was on dinner #3, I still needed something sweet to finish off the night. I was having a great discussion with my new friends so we walked down to Coco Bruni, a cafe known for their chocolate, and grabbed some dessert. I had limited room so I went with the hot chocolate sampler.

The Tanzanian single origin hot chocolate was really interesting. Slightly acidic in a way that almost neutralizes the milk base so it tastes very light compared to the other hot chocolates.

This is where we ended our day of food, walking, food, food, and more food. I was so full and tired and ready to turn in for the night.

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artswaps · 6 years

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What do you think Keith’s favorite little things in life are?

oooh this was really fun to answer but once again I went off on a super long tangent, OOPS SORRY HAHA. Also not proofread so… be warned lmao. Under the cut:

- Nature!!! Keith is a nature boy and loves quiet, natural places. He probably feels really content in a natural settings, the kinda environments that have a stillness to them. Not silence- he hates silence- but quiet; birdsong and crickets and the wind, the sounds of wildlife etc. etc.

He likes sunsets and sunrises, likes the sound of rain and storms (even if being stuck indoors when there’s things to be done can be pretty frustrating), likes watching birds and other animals he finds doing their own thing. He can probably identify a lot of different bird species, might even have at least a vague idea about what their different calls sound like.

But there’s also the more adventurous and boyish side to Keith that would really love exploring those kinds of natural places. Hiking for sure, but also maybe stuff that’s a bit more daring, too. He has a healthy respect for nature, and has decent survival skills, so maybe he’d be a bit of a thrill seeker.

dsfjk sorry for getting a bit sidetracked but here’s a story: I had a couple of friends come down to visit me last week, and at the end of the day while we were heading home, we took a detour to look at Hopkins Falls, a waterfall close to my town.

I looked at a dry part of the cliff face that had a lot of rocky parts jutting out and said as a passing remark to my friend Matt something like, “hey, wouldn’t it be badass if someone could just straight up and climbed that wall?”

APPARENTLY he took that as a challenge because the next thing I know he was giving me a fuckING heart attack and climbed a cliff face about 5 times his height in like, 20 seconds flat. Then, realised that he couldn’t get back to the lookout path from where he was and had to climb back down, and the whole time I couldn’t help but be horribly aware of the VERY UNSAFE ROCKS AND POTENTIALLY DEEP WATER below him.

Yeah. That’s Keith. He’d scale a cliff with no safety gear just because he KNOWS he can pull it off, and he’s curious about what’s at the top, okay?

So yeah, Keith likes nature and he likes birds and he likes exploring!!

- He also seems to genuinely like training? There’s been a couple moments in canon where we’ve seen him training by himself in his downtime. Having a task set out in front of him that he can work through to reach a goal is just how Keith likes to operate; I imagine he finds a lot of satisfaction in learning new moves and knife tricks, and at being able to pull off the things he’s been practicing in battle.

Burning physical energy like that probably helps him think clearly too, so maybe he also uses training as a way to help clear his head. Keith’s very action-driven, doesn’t like staying idle for too long or sitting still when he could be doing something, so training and practicing with his Blade are good outlets for that.

- Movies!! I imagine that Keith loves goofy action movies, especially the classics. I’ve noticed that it’s a pretty popular headcanon that Keith is a bit oblivious when it comes to pop-culture, and I also personally like the idea that he just… doesn’t really keep up-to-date with more recent stuff if it doesn’t interest him. Lance might make an Avengers reference or something and Keith’s just “??? don’t get it, don’t care”.

But he’s surprisingly knowledgeable about the old classics like….. idfk, Die Hard for example (I myself am very ignorant about action movies and a lot of pop-culture in general LOL)

OH, and old Sci-Fi. He doesn’t like, watch it religiously or w/ever and has only caught a few scattered episodes, but he’s seen some classic Who before and was pretty into it. When he gets back to Earth he wants to hunt the old series down and watch it from the start. He thinks the dated effects are charming and after his time in space, the old Doctors remind him a LITTLE bit of Coran, haha.

I don’t see him being much of a Disney fan at first, because he hears about all these animated films about princesses and true love and just kinda says “pass”. He just wouldn’t be interested? But uuh there was a hc that came up when @ravensimaginaryfriends and I were talking abt Kallurance stuff a while ago where Lance introduces Keith and Allura to Disney and they end up having a whole bunch of Disney marathons and it was a VERY good convo.

Keith becomes surprisingly fond of Disney movies! Not so much the older Princess-y ones but even those he doesn’t hate. They’re simple and not showboat-y and can be kinda fun to watch with friends. But he loves the friendship/family-oriented ones like Lilo and Stitch and Fox and the Hound (because let’s be real those are the BEST ones anyway).

I also have a hc that Keith is a big fan of Miyazaki. His favourite Ghibli film is Howl’s Moving Castle, because that’s my favourite and I’m always right. (NO lmao he probably likes, uuuh… idk Mononoke, bc it has more badass fighting and cool nature-y vibes. Or Spirited away, because the dragon is cool.)

Other lil things:

- Reading!! He has to be in the right mindset for it, and he doesn’t really have time for it at all up in space, but back on Earth Keith really enjoyed reading. Even if was just perusing through old books on constellations or hoverbike magazines or whatever. He finds it relaxing, when there’s nothing else he’s pressed to be doing.

- Keith is a carnivore and he loves meat lol. He isn’t a picky eater (living in the desert like he was, and up in space with limited resources like he is now, he can’t really afford to be a picky anything.) But uuuh if you gave him the choice he’d choose a steak over a plate of veggies any day. He loves gravy on everything. Also, would probably kill for some greasy take-away food? It’s a very simple pleasure but he loves Maccas. (if he ever went to McDonalds during his time living alone then he’d buy like, 3 Happy Meals for himself, because he can be a big eater and 1 isn’t enough for him but uuh sometimes the toys are cool LOL)

- He likes classic rock music, and classic pop, as well as some occasional bluesy or jazzy stuff. He didn’t really own a phone or Ipod or whatever, and would just listen to the radio back in his shack, but he’d always have it tuned to the same station that played the classics. Eagles, The Moody Blues, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, etc etc. Doesn’t really have a favourite artist, just really likes the energy of music, and enjoys anything with a good beat or solid melody. Has a secret love for the Bee Gees.

#voltron #keith kogane #vld keith #vld #keith (voltron)#post #keith #asks #anon #hc #words #this is okay to rb!!!#honestly just assume all my posts are unless i say otherwise lol #woops i really gotta go work on other stuff now #i'll reply to the other asks tonight if i get time!! <3

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weekendwarriorblog · 4 years

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The Weekend Warrior 9/4/20 – TENET! MULAN! I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS (but now that I’ve seen Tenet and Mulan, I’m better)… and More!

It’s Labor Day weekend… it is, isn’t it? I can’t even remember what day of the week it is anymore, and it looks like movie theaters across the country are generally all reopened except for a few specific areas. While theaters seem to be playing a variety of old and new movies – and Chadwick Boseman’s breakout 42, in which he plays Jackie Robinson, will be shown in 300 AMC theaters starting Thursday -- it still feels like we’re not quite where we should be. That said, only three states remain fully closed as far as movie theaters go: New York (eff you, Cuomo!), North Carolina and New Mexico. California is slowly rolling out movie theaters reopening in certain sections but not in L.A. or San Francisco just yet. Honestly, I’m having a rough week, and I’ll be surprised if I even get through half the movies that I have seen and planned to review, let alone everything else I have to do.

Finally! The movie that’s looking to be one of the most controversial movies of the summer, if not the year, comes to the United States. Of course, I’m talking about Christopher Nolan’s TENET (Warner Bros.), his tribute to James Bond movies with John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman) playing a super-spy (of sorts) who teams with Robert Pattinson to perform intricate heists on a mission to find out who has discovered bullets that travel backwards through time and brought them back into our time. Also starring Elizabeth Debicki and Kenneth Branagh, the movie has received mixed to positive reviews with about 76% on Rotten Tomatoes. You can read my full review right here and a second technical review here.

Right now, it looks like Tenet is going to be playing in roughly 3,000 theaters over Labor Day weekend with only a few states fully closed including my own (New York), as well as North Carolina and New Mexico. A few other states like New Jersey and Maryland are reopening but it may be too late to get Tenet in there. California has a few areas open but not Los Angeles or San Francisco.

Although I’m hesitant at making any predictions right now or doing a full-blown analysis – there so many unknowns in a pandemic -- I think a four-day opening of somewhere between $25 and 28 million should be possible even with limited seating in most theaters that have reopened. I think people are ready to go back to theaters despite the negative narrative created by certain irresponsible film critics who seem to care more about their own personal health than that of the industry that has allowed them to pay rent and live large for years.

Another movie that I’ve been looking forward to and actually my most anticipated movie of the year is Disney’s live action remake of their animated classic, MULAN, this one directed by one of my favorite filmmakers, Niki Caro of Whale Rider fame. I cannot tell you how excited I was to finally see this movie after being invited to a press screen back in March, and then have it systematically cancelled as everything else started shutting down. Fortunately, I got a screener and while not my favorite way to watch a movie, I absolutely LOVED IT!

It stars Yifei Liu as the title character, made famous in the 1998 Disney animated movie, and it follows a similar story of a teen girl who steals her father’s sword and armor and pretends to be a man to join the Imperial Army under secrecy. There are definitely major changes in Caro’s version, most notably the lack of songs and no sign of Mushu, the adorable dragon voiced by Eddie Murphy. This is also not meant for small children, because it’s PG-13 not because it has anything terrible like someone waving genitals or swearing but because some of the action does get intense without much blood or anything terrible. I mean, this is definitely a SOFT PG-13, if that’s even a thing.

The movie is gorgeous and in the vein of movies I love like Zhang Yimou’s Hero and Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and it’s even exec. produced by Bill Kong, who produced many of those films. The point is that I love these kinds of movies, plus I’ve long been a fan of Caro’s, and everything just comes together beautifully from the performance by Yifei Liu to the fantastic characters around her, including ones played by Jet Li and Donnie Yen (reuniting from Hero!), as well as an amazing witch played by the indelible Ms. Gong Li, who is also terrific. Sure, there’s a few issues with the dialogue, but this is not a kiddie movie, as much as it’s something on par with the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and I just love all of the decision Caro and her all-Asian cast make in telling this story in a new way. I particularly liked how the film followed Chinese traditions and dealt with things like “chi,” but as with the animated film, the stuff in the army

On top of the amazing martial arts fights, there are also some terrific battle scene that would do Braveheart proud, and it’s all pulled together by Harry Gregson-Williams’ score, which may be one of my favorite pieces of music this year. Definitely a score I’ll be buying since it brings so much excitement and emotion to every scene, but that’s just as much a credit to Ms. Caro and her fantastic cast, who in a couple scenes, particularly between Liu and Li, had me tearing up almost as much as every single time I’ve watched Caro’s debut, Whale Rider.

I’m sure that fans of the animated movie (which I only saw for the first time earlier this year) will have different expectations, but you can’t fault Disney for being a little bit concerned and undeservedly dumping it to the Disney+ streaming service (which you can watch it at a premium of $29.95) rather than giving it the theatrical release it truly deserved. Honestly, if for some strange reason, Disney decides to play it in a bunch of theaters once they’re fully open, I would not hesitate to watch this again in what I consider a much-better environment for a movie which is likely to end up in my top 10 for year. It’s probably my favorite straight-up Disney movie (not including Pixar or Marvel) since maybe Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella, although I kind of enjoyed Mary Poppins Returns, too.

I also have a crafts review of Mulan over at Below the Line, so check that out!

While I’ve generally been mixed on Charlie Kaufman’s movies that he directed himself, I couldn’t NOT watch I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS, his new movie on Netflix, starring Jessie Buckley and Jesse Plemons as a young couple going to visit his parents, played by Toni Collette and David Thewlis. At first, it looks like they’ll get stuck in a snowstorm, but then they get there and then they leave and once again get stuck in a snowtorm. No, this isn’t Centigrade 2, but actually something far FAR worse, to the point where I’m not even sure where to begin.

It starts with Buckley’s “Young woman” – yes, Kaufman doesn’t even bother giving her a name – being picked up by her boyfriend Jake (Plemons) before the long ride through the snow to his parent’s house. The whole time, we hear her inner thoughts about wanting to break up with Jake for one or reason or another, her thoughts always been interrupted by Jake making a statement that seems out of the blue. When they get to his parents’ farm in the middle of nowhere, things start to get weird, and I don’t want to go into too many details because if you read my review and decide to sit through it anyway, then it’s your own fault.

Apparently, this was loosely based on a book of the same name by Iain Reid, but it was adapted by the guy who wrote Adaptation, so Kaufman pretty much just went off and did his own thing based on Reid’s general premise. What I find particularly weird is that some of the early reviews talked about this movie as if it was a horror movie, but I just don’t see that at all. It’s just a really dry and weird comedy that doesn’t really take off. While parts of it remind me of the comics work of Daniel Clowes (Ghost World), who I genuinely love, other parts just get so weird, and at times, it reminded me of David Lynch’s Eraserhead or M. Night Shyamalan’s The Visit, but only because there are so many WTF moments that you wonder what the actors must have thought while they were doing what Kaufman told them to do. Again, I’m not going to ruin the experience of being thoroughly confounded by some of the weirder moments but after Buckley and Plemons leave the farmhouse, they’re back driving through the snow and having far more intelligent conversations about such mundane topics. At one point, I thought, “This movie must be over soon, right?” and I checked, and there were 43 more minutes to go. That’s when I went from angry to outright ballistic, because I knew that there were so many other things I could be doing than listening to all the talking, talking, talking… They eventually arrive at an abandoned school and go there for shelter, and I was like, “Oh, good, now we get to the horror stuff.” Nope.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things is the perfect movie for the scant few that raved about Darren Aronofsky’s mother!, or those who consider Holy Rollers a masterpiece of the highest order. Awful, aggravating and almost unwatchable at times, I’d only recommend Kaufman’s movie to people as a practical joke. Nah, I’m not that mean. It’ll be on Netflix tomorrow. Good luck with it.

Filmmaker and Rooney* frontman Robert Schwartzman directs his third feature, the comedy THE “ARGUMENT” (Gravitas Ventures), which takes the simple idea of a cocktail party and turns it into a riotous and sometimes strange comedy of errors, of sorts.

Dan Fogler and Emma Bell play couple Jack and Lisa, he a writer, her an actress, who have been together for some time, and Jack is ready to pop the question. After the final of a stageplay Lisa is co-starring in, Jack throws a cocktail party at which he’s gonna propose. He invites over his agent Danny Pudi from Community) and his wife Sarah (Maggie Q) but Lisa has invited her amorous co-star Paul (Tyler James Williams from Everybody Hates Chris all grown up!), who brought his own bubbly girlfriend Trina (Cleopatra Coleman). As Trina starts drinking, thing just get worse and worse, and it inevitably turns into a full- on fight between Jack and Lisa aka the “argument” of the title. Jack is convinced that if they have a do-over on the night, they can prove who is right.

Oh, yeah. That couldn’t possibly work, right? Well, I’m not going to spoil it, but the one do-over turns into several, which turns into Jack trying to script the perfect cocktail party with the six of them … or rather five after Maggie Q’s character quits in a hilarious huff where she does impressions of the other five. (I’ve always found Maggie to be hilarious from talking to her years ago, and it’s great that her comic skills are finally being used, along with her beauty.) Eventually, Jack brings in actors to play each of them and perform the script he’s written so they can all sit back and figure out where things went wrong. Honestly, The “Argument” is more like the Charlie Kaufman movies I liked (such as Adaptation), and the movie has a vibe a lot like the play God of Carnage, which Roman Polanski adapted into a movie that nobody saw and few gave a fair shake. Also reminded me of Ike Barinholtz’s The Oath, which I quite enjoyed. The main leads are great, but I gotta give additional kudos to Maggie and Cleopatra Coleman, who gives a surprisingly layered performance as possibly the first ditzy African-American not-blonde “blonde” in movie history?

Although Schwartzman didn’t write this movie – it’s written by Zac Sanford who made The Chumscrubber -- he does a great job using his talented cast to throw many surprises at the viewer, and I was laughing quite hardily as the movie went on, because I really enjoyed the characters portrayed not just by the main six but also the actors playing the actors. Yeah, I know it might get confusing but at least this doesn’t have time travel, so if you want a fun and unexpectedly clever dark comedy, do check out The “Argument” which will be in theaters and On Demand, and apparently, you can even order it bundled with WINE?!?!? (*And you can also check out Rooney on Spotify!)

Another really nice surprise this week was Jeff Barnaby’s apocalyptic horror film BLOOD QUANTUM (Shudder/RLJEFilms), which was released on VOD, Digital HD, DVD and Blu-Ray earlier this week but is also on the awesome horror streamer, Shudder, I guess right now? It involves a community of indigenous people in the reserve Red Crow who face the undead when an infection hits the village through a bunch of animals who come back to life and then infect the humans. The movie starts on the first night of this plague and then cuts forward six months when the people of Red Crow have shut themselves off from the rest of the world with the hopes of keeping those still alive uninfected from the hordes of “Zeds” outside their gates.

I’m a little bummed I didn’t have press notes for this movie because there are so many great characters and performances, but it was hard to keep track of them without a scorecard. It does star Michael Greyeyes from Fear the Walking Dead, as well as Forrest Godluck (The Revenant), Kiowa Gordon and Elle-Máijá Tailfeatures, but other than Greeneyes, who plays the sherriff trying to keep his family safe, I could barely keep track of the characters or figure out who played them, and that’s a shame.

I generally liked the recent Train to Busan: Peninsula but Blood Quantum works just as little bit better, mainly from the interaction of the characters in a world full of sex and drugs and gore galore where you never who is gonna get killed but for the most part, they’re likely to go in a way that involves blood that pours like a waterfall. You add to the quick pace of Barnaby’s direction the amazing score that almost sounds like Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and you have a movie that makes you realize that Barnaby has made a film that perfectly captures the spirit and feel of John Carpenter’s best work.

I actually watched John Leguizamo’s feature film directorial debut CRITICAL THINKING (Vertical Entertainment), way back in March, literally my very last press screening before movie theaters shut down, little realizing that it would be the last press screening for six months! It’s written by Dito Montiel, who I’ve generally been mixed on, and it’s based on a true story from 1998 where a Miami teacher, played by Leguizamo, tries to save a group of Latino and Black teenagers from the inevitable drugs and crime that kids from the underserved ghetto usually get into by teaching them chess and getting them all the way to the National Chess Championship. I didn’t get to rewatch it to write any sort of intelligent review, but as you can imagine, it has a Mr. Holland’s Opus or Dead Poet’s Society feel, but mixed with the little-seen Disney movie, Queen of Katwe, which I generally enjoyed much more. I do think Leguizamo did a pretty decent job with his first feature as a director and maybe if the crazy early days of COVID weren’t distracting me so much, maybe I would have enjoyed it more. This is a movie that I need to rewatch with a better head on my shoulders.

Tyler Norwood’s doc ROBIN’S WISH (Vertical) takes a look at the last years of comedian and actor Robin Williams, who died from suicide in August 2014 at the age of 63. To everyone who knew him, from close acquaintances to fans, it was a mystery why Williams would take his own life with things going so well in his marriage to Susan Schneider. After his death, the autopsy showed that he was afflicted by undiagnosed diffuse Lewy body dementia, and apparently, that was enough to do his head in to the point where suicide seemed like the only solution.

This is a very different than the equally good Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind, because it does focus so much on Williams’ last years and his relationship with Schneider, who plays a much bigger role in this movie with in-depth and intimate moments. It also does a good job talking to Williams’ neighbors in Marin County, who laud the comedian’s commitment to entertaining those in the community. It also interviews Shawn Levy from the Night at the Museum movies, who talks about how Williams wouldn’t let anyone around him know what was going on, maybe because he didn’t really know himself.

Williams’ death was tragic but even moreso when you realize what he must have been going through, and the only thing else I will say is that the notably teary documentary Dear Zachary may finally have some competition as the most tear-inducing real-life film you ever watch. Even so, it’s wonderful and does as great job shining a light on how hard something like dementia hits people when they least expect it. (Also, the score and cinematography for the film are fabulous at provoking those sorrowful emotions even more.)

Arthur Jones’ doc FEELS GOOD MAN is available right now On Demand via the Fantasia Film Festival and will be available via other film festivals, like Oxford Film Festival, starting Friday. (It will also be in theaters, including Oxford’s drive-in!) The movie follows the journey of comics artist Matt Furie, who drew a comic called “Boys Club” that featured a strange frog character named Pepe, who I never heard of, but apparently, the odd underground comic character went from being a popular meme to becoming a symbol of the alt-right. It sounds pretty crazy, but it is an absolutely crazy story as Furie sees his lovable and peaceful slacker character get out from under his control as right wing kooks like Alex Jones from InfoWars gloms onto him.

At first, I wasn’t sure if I’d find this as interesting as the HBO doc, Beware the Slenderman (which I also happened to see at Fantasia a few years ago), but the way that Jones tells Furie and Pepe’s story is really quite compelling, especially as he (and we) watch the craziness surrounding his character unfold, and Pepe becomes less and less like something he wanted to be associated with. (Furie and his wife spent thousands of their own money-making Pepe T-shirts and merch only to have to destroy it all once Furie gets pegged as the creator of a hate image. I mean, holy shit, this thing gets ugly!)

Apparently, Feels Good Man won an “Emerging Filmmaker” Jury Award at Sundance, and it’s well-deserved. I’d recommend the movie to anyone who likes comics or politics and doesn’t mind when the two things collide.

There are a few other movies that I want to write about that I didn’t have time to watch despite having screeners and who knows, maybe I can watch them over this longer weekend if things aren’t too crazy screener-wise. (I lost quite a bit of time with my trip to Connecticut to see Tenet, unfortunately.)

First, there’s Julius Berg’s THE OWNERS (RLJEFilms), which stars Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones and Sylvester McCoy aka Doctor Who #6 (I think?). It’s about a group of friends who want to break into an empty house in which there’s a safe full of money, but when the elderly couple (including McCoy) return home early, they turn the tables in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Yeah, it does sound like it could be fun, and it’ll be in select theaters, On Demand and digital this Friday.

Also out on Digital, as well as DVD, Blu-Ray this week is the anime CHILDREN OF THE SEA (Shout! Factory/GKids) from director Ayumu Watanabe and STUDIO4ºC who made Mind Game and Tekkonkinkreet. It’s about a young girl named Ruka whose father works at an aquarium where she comes across two mysterious boys who were raised by dugongs (a type of sea cow) so they’re very familiar and acclimated to water, to the point where they have to be in or near it at all times, kind of like Aquaman. I did watch a little bit of this, and I do have to say that it looks gorgeous, definitely more photo-realistic than the work of Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. I’m sure I’ll get around to watch the rest of it because I do enjoy well-made anime -- Weathering With You and Ride Your Wave are likely to be in my year-end Top 25, for instance – so hopefully, fans of anime and fantsy will check it out.

On Amazon Prime this Friday is Eric Merola’s doc THE ANDORRA HUSTLE, which look at the country of Andorra, located between France and Spain in the Pyrenees mountains, holding a population of 80,000 people who find themselves at the center of one of the most convoluted robberies in history in 2015 when a the private bank Banca Privada d’Andorra was shut down by the government to destroy the Catalonian Independence Movement, leaving dozens of innocent civilians facing jail time for laundering money after losing their life savings.

A couple prominent science fiction series premiere this weekend, including the Ridley Scott-produced Raised by Wolves on HBO Max and Away, starring Hillary Swank on Netflix. Someday, I hope to have

There’s a lot of other stuff that I didn’t have to watch or even think about it, so yeah, this is a little bit of a “lite edition” of the Weekend Warrior, so I apologize. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do better next week.

By the way, if you read this week’s column and have bothered to read this far down, feel free to drop me some thoughts at Edward dot Douglas at Gmail dot Com or drop me a note or tweet on Twitter. I love hearing from readers … honest!

#TheWeekendWarrior #Tenet #ChristopherNolan #Mulan #TheArgument #BloodQuantum #Movies #Reviews #DriveIns #VOD #Streaming

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thelegendofclarke · 7 years

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I was reading your excellent writeup on Sansa's soft power. I was reminded of another instance where Sansa convinces Joff to not run over a woman w/ dead baby;instead to show her mercy&charity (Tyrion POV) There's also contrast b/w how Cersei's&Sansa's response. Cersei's advice provokes. Sansa shows noteworthy exercise of soft powers&maneuvering and influencing through her wits&words throughout the series

Hey Anon, thank you so much! I am really glad you enjoyed it :)

I have a lot of issues with how GRRM writes, treats, and represents females in his stories. But one of the things that I find myself being really fascinated by is the sheer variety of types of women he writes and how dynamic their characters and personalities are.

Like I talked about in my last answer a little bit, I think its easy to view the hard vs. soft power dichotomy as very gendered, with men employing the former and women the latter. It’s even easier to see these stereotypes in a setting like Westeros, which is a patriarchy and therefore inherently an extremely and prescriptively gendered society. And in many ways, the series DOES play into the implied male and female constructs of hard and soft power techniques. But in some subtle and really interesting ways, GRRM kind of flipped that on its head with female characters who have no trouble making threats and using coercion, intimidation, or force (for e.g. Cersei, Dany, ect.); and with male characters who are completely at ease manipulating and co-opting others, and relying on intellectual tactics as opposed to physical force (for e.g. Petyr Baelish, Varys, Tyrion, ect.).

The scene that you brought up is a really intriguing and enlightening one . You’re definitely right about the difference between how Sansa and Cersei react to the situation; its a really striking outsider perspective of the stark contrast between their characters.

They crossed Fishmonger’s Square and rode along Muddy Way before turning onto the narrow, curving Hook to begin their climb up Aegon’s High Hill. A few voices raised a cry of “Joffrey! All hail, all hail!” as the young king rode by, but for every man who picked up the shout, a hundred kept their silence. The Lannisters moved through a sea of ragged men and hungry women, breasting a tide of sullen eyes. Just ahead of him, Cersei was laughing at something Lancel had said, though he suspected her merriment was feigned. She could not be oblivious to the unrest around them, but his sister always believed in putting on the brave show.Halfway along the route, a wailing woman forced her way between two watchmen and ran out into the street in front of the king and his companions, holding the corpse of her dead baby above her head. It was blue and swollen, grotesque, but the real horror was the mother’s eyes. Joffrey looked for a moment as if he meant to ride her down, but Sansa Stark leaned over and said something to him. The king fumbled in his purse, and flung the woman a silver stag. The coin bounced off the child and rolled away, under the legs of the gold cloaks and into the crowd, where a dozen men began to fight for it. The mother never once blinked. Her skinny arms were trembling from the dead weight of her son.“Leave her, Your Grace,” Cersei called out to the king, “she’s beyond our help, poor thing.”The mother heard her. Somehow the queen’s voice cut through the woman’s ravaged wits. Her slack face twisted in loathing. “Whore!” she shrieked. “Kingslayer’s whore! Brotherfucker!” Her dead child dropped from her arms like a sack of flour as she pointed at Cersei. “Brotherfucker brotherfucker brotherfucker.”Tyrion never saw who threw the dung. He only heard Sansa’s gasp and Joffrey’s bellowed curse, and when he turned his head, the king was wiping brown filth from his cheek. There was more caked in his golden hair and spattered over Sansa’s legs.

—ACoK, Chapt. 41, Tyrion IX

The part I highlighted is also one that I have always found interesting… It’s true that Tyrion is Cersei’s brother and therefore likely knows her better than most; but regardless, it’s even clear to other people that Cersei is putting on a display. It’s a display where Cersei is saying “We are in control here. We are in charge. We have the power. The unrest around us doesn’t matter.” I don’t know if Cersei’s reaction was necessarily intended or designed to provoke, but it was definitely reflective of her perception of the situation at hand. She doesn’t think she needs to watch what she says around these people because in her mind they have no power here. That’s one of the things about Cersei, she has such faith in (hard) power that she views it as essentially indestructible; and in a way, she views herself as indestructible in turn.

I think it can be really tempting to view “hard power” as power exercised by traditional means and through overt acts. For example, with the use of physical force, violence, bribery, ect. But the distinction isn’t that cut and dry. You can really see that in ASoIaF where power manifests itself both as tangible (money, military force, ect.) and coercive means, and in contrast more conceptually as the ability to inspire and attract others in non-violent ways (through manipulation, collusion, intellect, ect.).

Soft power is all about making (or letting) other people think/know that THEY have the power. Its the ability to influence others with out threats, its getting others to want the same outcome you want, its planting the little seed of an idea in their mind and then telling them ~what a brilliant idea~ it is when they come to the conclusion on their own, its co-opting people instead of coercing them. Hard power is all about telling (or showing) other people that YOU have the power. Hard power strategies include a wide range of measures geared toward coercing or threatening others into compliance.

Cersei is pretty clearly a fan of hard power and hard power displays; and she’s not illusive or inconspicuous about it. It’s like she tells Sansa, “[t]he only way to keep your people loyal is to make certain they fear you more than they do the enemy” (ACoK). And I know that this is a show example, but that “Power is Power” scene between Cersei and Peter Baelish was such a classic hard power demonstration. Yes, Cersei is obviously capable of using manipulation and machinations to get her way. But her instincts usually seem to be more toward outright expression and exhibitions of power and intimidation.

I think one of the clearest examples of Cersei’s gravitation towards and preference for hard power is how she basically weaponizes the Faith of the Seven and restores the Faith Militant/Warrior’s Sons in A Feast for Crows. Yes they technically serve the will of the High Septon, but the High Septon was directly aligned with Cersei. She hopes that this new religious army will help her fight enemies like Stannis Baratheon, the northmen, and potentially the Tyrells whom she is highly suspicious of. The Faith Militant is clearly a military power: they are armed forces, they use violence and strength to enforce the law of the Seven and to punish those who they deemed to have broken it. They also created their own tribunals where the they utilize the practices of the Inquisition: imprisonment, isolation, threats, torture and public confession. Cersei sees this as the best strategy, she sees this as the most effective means by which she can achieve her desired ends.

Do you hear that, Lord Stannis? Cersei could not help but smile. Even her lord father could have done no better. At a stroke, she had rid King’s Landing of the plague of sparrows, secured Tommen’s blessing, and lessened the crown’s debt by close to a million dragons. Her heart was soar-ing as she allowed the High Septon to escort her back to the Hall of Lamps.

Lady Merryweather shared the queen’s delight, though she had never heard of the Warrior’s Sons or the Poor Fellows. “They date from before Aegon’s Conquest,” Cersei explained to her. “The Warrior’s Sons were an order of knights who gave up their lands and gold and swore their swords to His High Holiness. The Poor Fellows … they were humbler, though far more numerous. Begging brothers of a sort, though they carried axes instead of bowls. They wandered the roads, escorting travelers from sept to sept and town to town. Their badge was the seven-pointed star, red on white, so the smallfolk named them Stars. The Warrior’s Sons wore rainbow cloaks and inlaid silver armor over hair shirts, and bore star-shaped crystals in the pommels of their longswords. They were the Swords. Holy men, ascetics, fanatics, sorcerers, dragonslayers, demonhunters … there were many tales about them. But all agree that they were implacable in their hatred for all enemies of the Holy Faith.”

Lady Merryweather understood at once. “Enemies such as Lord Stannis and his red sorceress, perhaps?”

“Why, yes, as it happens,” said Cersei, giggling like a girl. “Shall we broach a flagon of hippocras and drink to the fervor of the Warrior’s Sons on our way home?”

“To the fervor of the Warrior’s Sons and the brilliance of the Queen Regent. To Cersei, the First of Her Name!”

—AFfC, Chapt. 28, Cersei VI

Obviously it doesn’t work out ~exactly~ how Cersei had planned… But that’s another important thing about both hard and soft power: they both have their fault lines and limitations. Neither is an infallible or unbreakable institution.

#thank you anon!#asoiaf for ts #got for ts #cersei lannister #sansa stark #the faith militant #hard power #power dynamics #asoiaf #affc #acok #alys answers #anonymous #soft power #alys meta

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belardtheworld · 5 years

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I entered Bhutan with intentional zero expectations and research done about the country – except that it is landlocked (It being surrounded by Tibet in the North, India in the South and East, and Nepal in the west). As the only country I know that puts a restriction on tourists coming and going, it has earned its mysterious reputation. And this trip is all about uncovering its layers to learn about what Bhutan really was all about.

Rich in natural beauty, exotic plants and animals, and most notably for its crazy wisdom, many come here to be enlightened and achieve happiness. Most Bhutan visitors are drawn to either its culture, way of life, happiness index or religion.

Apart from these basic impressions I had about Bhutan, I chose to let Bhutan hit me with its rawness by being physically on its soil, to see if it really lives up to its revered reputation and distinct identity.

With an open-mind, I put Bhutan to the test in the next 7 days, crossing Paro, Thimpu and Punakha.

Here’s what I’ve gathered about this Land of the Thunder Dragon (which might be helpful for you to note if you decide to visit Bhutan one day, or be convinced to!).

What to prepare and expect before visiting Bhutan

Flying to Bhutan

Flights going into and out of Paro airport is quite a sight. Rarely (or never) will you be in a plane that just about fits between high mountain barriers into a landing strip made from a valley. That’s how close you get to the mountains while in the air!

HOT TIP: For the best views of the Himalayan mountain range, request for seats on the left when flying to Bhutan and seats on the right when flying from Bhutan.

Weather

Due to its geographical nature – the whole country being on a high altitude of about 2000m above sea level – these are some of the (sometimes drastic) weather conditions to prepare yourself for. It is worth noting that I visited Bhutan in mid-February.

Dry

I have never experienced a climate so dry in all my travels around the world. I thought New Zealand’s air was dry, I thought Finland’s Nuuksio National Park in autumn was dry, but they pale in comparison to the dryness I experienced in Bhutan. It was so dry that my nose was painful even to touch – it was cracking all around.

I highly advise bringing proper moisturiser for your face and body, and a lip balm to protect your lips!

Icy ❄️

Even when it’s not winter season, icy road conditions can happen anytime at higher altitudes. When that happens, the whole road will be closed off to prevent accidents. This might mean the journeys from one town to another might be stalled, for there sometimes is only one pass that takes you across. For that reason, we weren’t able to visit Chele La Pass when we were there, which, at 3,988 m, is the highest road pass in Bhutan.

You’d think that they are well-equipped with snow tyres aye? But no. Because the import/ export business is limited to what India can offer, they live with cars that aren’t equipped with snow tyres. And they’ve been surviving well so far without them ever since motor vehicles became commonplace in Bhutan!

Windy

A Buddhist school atop a hill in Bhutan

The terrain is interspersed by undulating hills and mountains. You’ll find yourself on a monastery on a hilltop one day and a national museum with a viewpoint the next. The winds from above can be strong (and cold if it’s in the winter), so have a scarf readily accessible for as and when the wind hits you. When it hits, it hits hard.

Sunny ☀️

Again, because of how much higher we are to the sun, the effects of the sun are felt much more here. You’ll see that most of the local Bhutanese are unsurprisingly dark-skinned, courtesy of the harmful sun rays. Slap on sunscreen whenever you head out.

Road conditions

I know we’d be travelling long distances by car, but I never expected the roads to be so winding. It was so much so that many tourists reported getting car sick during the long rides. My poor friend didn’t have an appetite for almost the whole trip because of the amount of driving required almost daily.

Please, please bring some motion sickness pills before you come if you’re prone to car sickness.

Food

Keep your expectations low.

When it comes to food that is, forewarned our guide. When Singaporeans visit Bhutan, he knows we come with some level of expectations about food, and with good reason, since Singapore has such a diverse food culture.

As a religious country, killing in Bhutan is a crime – even of animals. All of their meat are imported from neighbouring countries, and since most of the locals are vegetarian, the demand for meat isn’t high. As such, I found the vegetable dishes to be tastier than the meat dishes.

They swear by spice. No meal in Bhutan is complete without spicy food, and they don’t spare with the spiciness! If you aren’t a fan of spicy food, it might come as a relief for you to know that most of the tourist-prepared food are usually less or not spicy.

No Alcohol Tuesday, also known to the locals as Dry Tuesday. It is a day where no alcohol are sold in shops.

Fast food? Thank gosh not. There are absolutely no fast food chains in Bhutan (yet). Even hotel chains are not omnipresent around the larger cities, though some chains like Taj Hotels and Six Senses have already established their hotels there.

Operating hours

With the exception of food stalls, most shops close at 4pm during winter, and by 5pm for the rest of the year.

Shopping

Shopping is limited. The only items you’d normally spend on are alcoholic drinks, food, books, handmade products (fashion accessories, purses, bags) and souvenirs (postcards, art pieces). I will soon share a post on what to get from Bhutan that are truly unique to the country.

You might worry less about figuring how much local currency to change knowing that you can easily change your foreign currency in town. Simply inform your tour guide whenever you need to change and he can bring you to the nearest bank, which is pretty accessible across all the towns.

While you can change your currency at the airport, I suggest you have a feel of what the general costs of things are and what you want to buy first by walking around town on the first few days. Most of the tours you go on would usually already have your accommodation, food and transport covered, so unless you’re buying additional items or services, you don’t need to spend on much.

These are the currencies you can change from to the local currency: USD GBP EURO JPY CHF HKD AUD SGD DKK NOK SEK

The currency rates fluctuate and change on a daily basis.

Sanitation

Locals at the Punakha Tshechu festival

Public toilet conditions aren’t the most well-kept, especially when you have large festivals going on. I would just advise you to bring your own tissue and sanitisers. Enough said.

Personalise your tour

Don’t stick to the same tour as everyone else! Even if you don’t know about the sights in Bhutan, there are a few things you can request from your tour to spice it up!

How to personalise your Bhutan tour:

Loan a traditional costume from your tour to have a taste of what it’s like to don one

Wouldn’t pass up wearing a kira!

A homestay option where you get to stay with a local family and experience true local hospitality (or if you’ve had enough of all the buffet food that they serve to all tourists – I did!)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

If a homestay is too much for you, you can opt to have a dinner with the locals at their home

Converting your day hike to Tiger’s Nest into a 2D1N glamping experience

Riding a horse halfway up Tiger’s Nest

Taking a hot stone bath – The stone bath is traditionally taken in a wooden trough. One end of the trough has a separate section where stones heated by a fireplace are placed. The water is heated by these stones and release their healing materials. Soaking in a stone bath is said to give instant relief from aches and pains. The Bhutanese swear by the healing properties of hot stone baths. You can find them scattered all over the country, close to springs whose waters are rich in minerals.

Wooden trough which becomes filled with water

Heated stones to heat up the stone bath

There you have it! Usually people go in naked.

Other things to note

Stray dogs galore! Again, going by their “no killing” rule, stray dogs are left to populate. It almost feels like they’ve overtaken the human population in Bhutan. You’ll find them in the cities, in front of shops, crossing roads, by the temples and monasteries, even atop a hill and hanging around in the middle of long highways (god knows why).

It is mandatory for the traditional costumes (kira for women and gho for men) to be worn on all formal occasions – to school, work (even if it means tour guiding), temples and festivals. It surprises me how much more common I see traditional costumes in my day to day visits than I thought I would!

What to bring to Bhutan

With all these in mind, I’ve come up with a quick essential list of things to bring for Bhutan

Camera – you want to capture all of this mystifying country! I use this Olympus.

Go Pro – what’s a road trip without filming the road sights? I use this.

Thick socks for temple visits – as you normally have to go barefoot to enter temples and the flooring is sometimes cold

Additional printed copies of visa – your guide would usually have copies of it, but in case they don’t, you’ll need these copies at main attractions to be exempt from paying the entrance fees.

Face moisturizer

Body moisturizer

Lip balm

Sunglasses

Sunscreen

Scarf

Motion sickness pills

Tissue paper

Sanitiser

Money – I recommend USD200 for souvenir-shopping and tipping, and this is coming from someone who doesn’t usually shop overseas!

Special thanks to DrukAsia for this Bhutan experience! All opinions remain my own.

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How To Prepare For Bhutan – Things To Know Before Going I entered Bhutan with intentional zero expectations and research done about the country - except that it is landlocked (It being surrounded by Tibet in the North, India in the South and East, and Nepal in the west).

#Paro #Punakha #Thimpu

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fortunatelybeautifulmilksha-blog · 6 years

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Overlord (Season One)

Oh, look!

Another wish-fulfillment, power fantasy, Isekai anime about a guy getting trapped in an MMO

and being a complete badass that no one can defeat.

NEVER SEEN THIS ONE BEFORE.

This is going to be so much fun [Sarcasm]….

Okay yeah, no that was far better than I expected.

Well done!

Well done…

Overlord is an anime that’s been around for a number of years now but I ended up avoiding

it largely because Isekai anime have increasingly become boring to me over the last little while

and there are only so many power fantasies that I can take.

We all wish that we could live in a fantasy world.

Our world sucks, I get it, but variety is the spice of life and this genre is one that

gotten saturated by the same kind of shit hella quick.

So do you want to know how to get me interested in a “From another world” anime?

BE BOLD!

Be bold, even if it fails.

Bringing the fantasy to the real world? O-Ki.

Fantasy world but with a magical smartphone?

Not O-ki.

Teaching fantasy denizens the glory of otaku culture?

O-ki!

Sword Art Online!

Not O-ki!

I know I’m just beating a dead horse with jumper cables by mentioning SAO, but it really

is the most well-known example from the genre that’ll help me get my point across.

I'm not gonna mention it again, anyway, SO!

OVERLORD!

It is the story that makes your protagonist a villain.

In Overlord, our main character Momonga is getting the last few hours of entertainment

that he can out of his favorite MMO before it apparently goes offline...

FOREVER.....

He looks after his spoils of a long-fought career.

Last minute upkeep on the guild hall for memory’s sake.

Screwing around with your friend’s custom built NPC because hey the servers are closing

down anyways, who's there to get mad?

Only problem being that the server didn’t stop, or maybe it did, but that becomes quickly

neither here nor there.

At the moment of shutdown, instead of being logged out our protagonist finds himself living

in the body of his Lich avatar, sitting on his throne, surrounded by... suddenly very active

and emoting former NPCs.

What follows is the traditional Isekai story.

Character finds the limits of what used to be the game but is now “real life”, he

uses his overpowered abilities to show the world how awesome he is, etc, etc.

Overlord’s twist in the genre however is that our protagonist is playing a character

who is, traditionally, a villain.

Lich’s are evil, he has demons and aberrations under his employ, all of whom despise and

loathe the smelly humans.

But this Lich is technically a regular Japanese citizen thrust into a fantasy world.

So how evil does that make him really?

Over the course of the series, I’d say that he’s less evil and more so just trying not

be bored while doing his best to discover the limits of his circumstances.

He doesn’t know why he lives in this world now, nor what about it is similar to the game

he remembers.

He doesn’t know if anyone else got transported with him, what their thoughts and motivations

on the subject will be.

But he does know that he is thus far the most badass evil overlord in the land and no one’s

power seems to come close to his own.

Which begs the inevitable question that I doubt will be directly asked: Even if he figured

out how to get home, will he want to?

Probably not...

Because that in essence, is why this genre has been so popular.

Everyone to some extent has dreams at some point in their life about living in another

world, a better world, and stories about characters getting to do just that are engrossing because of it.

But Overlord rides a fine line between a fantasy that you could follow along with and be interested

in, despite it not being about you,

and masturbatory fanfiction about what the author wishes their

life is like.

Mechanically, Momonga is all-powerful, but the way he lives acts as guidelines that keep

him in check.

Could he start a harem at his home base between all the female minions and demons currently

living there?

Sure, he is a great and powerful overlord!

But he doesn’t.

It doesn’t fit the character he is trying to portray.

Which is important.

He’s playing a villain, a traditional fantasy villain at that.

You can’t imagine Sauron, Dark Lord of All, starting a harem out in Mordor.

Just because he can.

It’s not...

IT'S NOT DONE.

So being able to stick to his character is what makes him intriguing.

Audiences love a good bad guy.

But at the same time, he was originally human, a closeted nerd, and some of those

tendencies end up surfacing from time to time. That's what makes him relatable.

He’s not necessarily good at interacting with people, and even less so when they are

ones who used to be his unmoving emotionless NPC characters.

So at first he struggles with how he should interact with them.

But eventually he starts to form bonds with those he spends time with, and if you try

to take those bonds away from him his wrath will be swift and without mercy.

But I’m not saying he’s perfect. That's what I like about him.

The subject of the power he wields is still a tenuous one.

He still has yet to face any enemy that even came close in power level to match him, and

hasn’t had any real challenge in that regard.

The closest yet wasn’t even all that close because with the “masterful planning”

and strategy that he has – because power fantasy protagonist – he had the fight on

lockdown from the get go!

But there’s a new season in town, which is odd considering how long it’s been since

the first season wrapped up.

With any luck in this new season Momonga will finally have a good proper challenge,

one where he could and does lose.

That’s the next scenario I want to see.

But we’ll get to that.

Another nice thing that Overlord as a series does that has a leg up on other enjoyable

shows in its genre (like say Log Horizon or King’s Avatar), is that they never spend

a lot of time trying to explain the minute details of this MMO world our villain finds

himself in.

It’s just kind of assumed you know.

But at the same time there’s just enough remnants remaining to make it believable that

this was at one point a playable MMO world and not just some fantasy world look-alike.

Just enough to flesh out the world, but not so much that it feels like it needs to educate

its audience.

Which is its own kind of refreshing.

But there’s a slight disappointment with the show.

The Animation.

Now having said that I need to be perfectly clear, the animation in Overlord is not bad.

Hell, by most standards it’s actually really good.

So why would I call it a disappointment though?

Because this is a Madhouse show.

Madhouse for me has a history of extremely stylized and fluid animation, and for years

they’ve been one of my favourite studios to produce anime for television.

They still are, to be clear, but while watching Overlord I had to remind myself that they

produced this, because it didn’t feel like a work they had anything to do with.

Oh hey, it’s the cousin to the Deen/Stay Night dragon!

What the hell are you doing here?

So it's just unfortunate that to me Madhouse is not what it used to be,

but times change, and studios have dropped far lower than this.

But back to Overlord.

Overlord is an example of a series that attempts to invert some of the tropes that made its

genre a hit, trying to give its own spin on a genre that we are slowly getting more and

more tired of as time passes.

Like I'm already kind of spent on it, I know some people aren't, but I totally am.

This is a power fantasy of a guy would could very well be extremely similar demographically

to the audience that the show is trying to cater to, but not overly so and has enough

limits on both his power and personality to stop him from being obnoxious.

His supporting cast may be filled with cliché tried and true tropes, but the method in which

they are integrated into the story makes them far more endearing than they would be otherwise.

Because of course otaku overlords would create a squadron of battle-ready maids to protect

their guild hall.

Wouldn’t you?

Overall I’d like to present Overlord with the recommendation to Buy It.

Although I would have been far more disappointed in this show had I watched it when it aired,

as the first season leaves the story kind of in a lurch, and there��s nothing more

at the end than a massive tease at what could be upcoming in it's future.

This prevented me from recommending it any higher. Even with the second season currently airing.

For the longest time – knowing Madhouse’s track record with sequels – it was unlikely

to ever get a second season…until it happened.

Which is surprising.

A nice surprise, but still surprising.

Far too often we see shows, Madhouse shows in particular, getting released as nothing

more than glorified advertisements for their source material that we as North American

fans can’t partake in because most times said source material isn’t available to

us over here.

It’s a sad and depressing reality that I wish wasn’t the case.

BUT SPEAKING OF ADVERTISEMENTS FOR SOURCE MATERIALS:

Our friends over at Bookwalker

are having a sale on the Overlord manga and light novels to help promote the show’s

second season.

From now until February 12th 2018, buying any Overlord manga from their website will

enter you to win either a Nendroid set of some of the show’s characters or one of

five Shikishi Boards signed by Overlord’s Mangaka.

You can also use the coupon code “grarkada” to get 600 JPY off any ebook in their store.

Though this coupon will only be applicable to new accounts.

And of course the series itself is available to watch over on Crunchyroll, with a dub of

season one as well as a simuldub of season two available from Funimation.

If you’ve watched Overlord and are looking for something else of similar quality, the

aforementioned Log Horizon will fulfil most of your trapped-in-an-MMO needs.

There’s also a show from late last year, Recovery of an MMO Junkie, which offers a

humorous take on MMO gamers specifically, although they are not trapped in the fantasy

world itself.

Unless you consider spending hours on end in front of a monitor playing an MMO, to be

being trapped in it.

Either way, there will be links down in the description so that you can check those two

out as well, should they be to your liking.

As always, a very special thank you to my patrons who make these videos possible and

support my work.

You guys are fantastic and I can’t thank you enough.

But specifically I’d like to thank Patrons: Siri Yamiko, Viktor Ekmark, Joshua Garcia,

and Calhoonboy for being specifically awesome.

And until next time ladies, gentlemen, and others: Stay Frosty.

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bowiebwe-blog · 6 years

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Bowie’s Favorite Albums Of 2017 Big List! (#20-5)

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20. Paramore - After Laughter

Nah guys, this is still definitely Paramore. And that’s a very good thing. I *loved* their 2013 self-titled album, and though this album doesn’t hit me at quite that level, it’s in the same ballpark(ish). They got groovier and yeah, a but pop-ier, but their heart is still definitely there. And it’s one of the most thematically cohesive albums of the year. You wanna know who I think one of their low-key influences is this time around though? Their good buddies/label mates Twenty One Pilots. I’m not so sure they would have dared take the route they did with the lyrical themes of this album without Twenty One Pilots paving the way into the mainstream first, even if Haley needed to say it. But now that it’s been said, I hope their next album goes into what comes after; hope, and all that good stuff.

*Hard Times, Forgiveness

—-

19. Liam Gallagher - As You Were

Straight up, I wasn’t expecting Liam to show up and make an album this good. I dunno how much help he had in making it happen, but here it is, it happened. This album rivals late Oasis and even his brother’s excellent post-Oasis projects. The grit here is real, and Liam backs up his incredibly large ego with some great songs. Easily one of the best rock albums of the year. Now let’s please have an Oasis reunion sometime soon as you were LG x

*Wall Of Glass, I’ve All I Need, Chinatown

——

18. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds - Who Built The Moon?

Noel Gallagher is one of the very best British songwriters of all-time. I don’t ever flinch or stutter when I say that. He knows how to make a song full of heart be catchy while still pushing the boundaries of what songwriting can be, and all without overcomplication. It’s a fascinating thing to behold. Oasis was built on his back, and they were rightfully massive. And now he’s back with his wee Flyin’ Birds and making another great album. He once again shows he’s not afraid to reach out and find new avenues of songwriting, and somehow he seems to always find the sweet spot. It’s definitely once again a change of sound, and it almost makes me believe he changes it either to challenge himself or because he’s bored. Whatever the case, this is a great album with more great songwriting from an incredible artist.

*Dead In The Water, It’s A Beautiful World

—–

17. Eminem - Revival

I recently found out that Eminem used 69,000 pieces of paper during the writing of this album, so it’s no wonder to me how he came to be what I easily consider to be the greatest rapper of all-time. His golden days as off-the-wall Slim Shady might be in the past, but his undeniable passion and flow are still strong here. Eminem knows how to deliver, and pretty much everyone who knows rap knows it. He’s the greatest. And as a side note, “Arose” might easily be one of the most powerful Eminem songs ever. It’s like being the dying man fighting for his life and his mourning family at the same time, and it’s amazing to see Eminem be able to still deliver on that. Anyway, Eminem once again brought out greatness in this album. Fantastic.

*Arose, River, In Your Head

—

16. PVRIS - All We Know Of Heaven, All We Need Of Hell

I listened to both of PVRIS’ albums for the first time on the same walk, and let me tell ya, I was instantly converted into being a fan. Their songs and albums are high-quality modern rock albums with a very open feel to them. And the vocals! My goodness. They go from ice water to like having a hot Twilight vampire sink their teeth into your neck like butter. Not much changed tonally between this album and their debut, but like Royal Blood, if it ain’t broke, you don’t always need to fix it. Especially with rock. So many rock bands get so caught up in trying to become relevant electronically that they lose where they came from in the first place. PVRIS is a force to be reckoned with, even if they don’t ever get incredible commercial success (it’s just the world we live in). Great album.

*Heaven, What’s Wrong, NOLA 1

—

15. Logic - Everybody

Peace, love, and positivity! We should have all listened to Logic sooner. I decided once he released this album to listen to all of his previous albums before listening to even a single song off his new release, and folks, he’s the real deal. His flow is amazing, his beats are creative, and he’s genuine. This album definitely backs all that up. He’s one creative mother goose, and his art is full of those good vibes we love in music. He also gets more honest and personal than ever here with mental health issues (not just in “1-800…”), so it’s somewhat of an important album even just on that note.

*Hallelujah, 1-800-273-8255

—–

14. Ed Sheeran - ÷

This album was one of my most-anticipated of the year, and it largely lived up to the high expectations, but not completely. There are some songs I loved, some songs I really liked, and some songs I honestly could’ve done without on here. But here’s the thing… Ed Sheeran’s an amazing songwriter. These songs are all good. Like, even though “Shape Of You” might be one of my least favorite on the album because of that trendy finger harp bounce rythm thing I can’t stand, if you listen in the background you’ll hear very ‘Ed Sheeran-y" guitar-percussion sounds that make the song fascinating to listen to. So sometimes it seems like these songs are too polished for the radio, but it still has a lot of heart and fantastic songwriting. I don’t like it quite as much as I loved 'X’, but I still really liked this album. Mr. Sheeran is constant quality and I’m sure he’ll be a superpower for years to come.

*Happier, How Would You Feel (Paean), What Do I Know?, Perfect

——

13. Imagine Dragons - Evolve

Do you hear that? …that’s the sound of Dan Reynolds waking up. If their sophmore album was a necessarily dark album dealing with the regrets and sorrows of stardom, Imagine Dragons came around with their third album to make a bright, flying album that revolves around what comes after the dark times. It definitely feels alive and fresh, using a new coat of digital paint to make the color pop. It’s pretty close to exactly what the doctor ordered for them. And their songwriting keeps getting better (I love the flow of the last verse of “Whatever It Takes”). Imagine Dragons shows they’re not afraid to be around for the long run with this release, and it’s a joy to listen to.

*I Don’t Know Why, Walking The Wire, The Mouth Of The River

—-

12. Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - The Nashville Sound

I love, love, love, love Jason Isbell. His songwriting to me is one form of the amazing eiptome of the human experience. Does that make sense? (…Eh, who cares.) So real. Bare. Honest. I love it. He’s back with his band this time around after a couple of solo albums that I still adore, and although this one might not be *quite* up to the level of those two for me, this is still a really, really good album. As far as folk/alt-country artists go, this guy’s a monster. Definitely worth a listen.

*Last Of My Kind, Hope The High Road, If We Were Vampires

—

11. London Grammer - Truth Is A Beautiful Thing

I remember listening to this one for the first time vividly. I was walking down a dark neighborhood street at probably 12:30 AM when “Big Picture” came on. It was like as the song progressed and the music picked up the stars started to pop out, the mountains’ dark outlines became clear, and by the time the song hit its peak I felt alive and deep in the night. The album held onto that feeling. If that makes sense. It was a great walk that night. London Grammer took seemingly forever to realease this album, to the point where I honestly stopped caring for it to come out after loving their debut album, but it blew me away when it came out. It took everything great about their first album and improved it. Subtle. Calming. Aching. Enveloping. It’s easy to dive into when the time is right. Beautiful, beautiful album.

*Big Picture, Truth Is A Beautiful Thing

—-

10. Taylor Swift - Reputation

Were you ready for it? Once T-Swift drops a new album, there’s no getting away from hearing it. And the reason for that? She makes *dang* good pop albums, even since the days when she was still “country.” She knows her craft very well (image-wise as well as musically) and has definitely deserved her wild success. I still consider “1989” to be one of the best pop albums ever (or at least in the past two decades or so), so this one had high expectations coming into it. Well, I’d say it was a success. I mean, I could do another essay on this album. No, it’s not at the level of her last album, but she once again made a solid case for her being the current queen of pop. She dives further into production trends here, but does them better than really anyone else. Her lyrics are honest and sharper than ever, but she still has those fun moments of just being Taylor Swift in there too. So beyond all the mania building up to and during the release of this album, it’s a great album by one of today’s biggest superstars.

*Delicate, End Game, Dancing With Our Hands Tied

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9. Aaron Watson - Vaquero

This album *feels* like Texas, and I love it. I hadn’t even heard of Aaron Watson until a few weeks ago, but I was already blown away and honestly kind of emotional by the very first chorus of the very first track (“Texas Lullaby”). It’s like I was *there*. Back down South. Big calm fields, even bigger blue skies. I don’t think there are any big radio hits on this album, but the songs are so. dang. good. Ugh! This guy is genuine and obviously has a soul full of that sweet country music. Every country music fan out there should know this album.

*Texas Lullaby, Take You Home Tonight, Run Wild Horses, Amen Amigo

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8. Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.

I need to watch out here, because I could easily write an essay on this album. In my opinion, Kendrick is crazy-far ahead of everyone else in the rap world concerning beats and overall production. Kendrick always pushes the limit of what a rap song can be, finding new ways of making something innovative the new hit. I’d even say he’s already the best rap artist ever in terms of making brilliant albums, and not just making them a great collection of songs. He’s always brilliant and innovative, but never at the expense of losing mass popularity and creating disconnect between he and the average listener. Along with the brilliant songs by themseleves that make up this album, the concept and vision of the album itself as a whole is brilliant (if you don’t know, look into playing the track order in reverse). I dunno, he just constantly amazes me. Every time. Kendrick’s working his way up to legend status.

*FEEL., LOVE., GOD.

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7. Ryan Adams - Prisoner

Chances are you probably don’t know who Ryan Adams is. That’s okay. You’re not alone. It’s an epidemic. I first heard him a few years ago when he released his beautiful cover album of Taylor Swift’s 1989, and I pretty close to instantly fell in love with his music. He has a lot of heart, and he can write a heck of a song. Seems like he’s sure fighting a lot of heartache and heartbreak in this album and is learning how to move on from loss, and he tells it beautifully. I’d definitely recommend you give this one a chance.

*Doomsday, Shiver And Shake

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6. John Mayer - The Search For Everything

John Mayer is one of my absolute favorite songwritiers/artists. It just seems like he gets *it*. His songs seep passion and integrity, along with emotion and an abundance of amazing musicianship. He knows amazing skills and all that, but he understands heart, and that’s the core of his music. This album also seems like it has an extra dose of direct honesty in it as compared to his previous works. There are colors of hope, understanding, doubt, love, loneliness, and all else that paint what it means to be human in this album, and they’re bright and genuine here. It’s also cool to see him mix his almost-americana-ish influences of the past few years with the smooth coolness of his Continuum days. Another great one by one of the greatest songwriters/musicians of our generation.

*Emoji Of A Wave, You’re Gonna Live Forever In Me, Never On The Day You Leave

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5. Bleachers - Gone Now

I love this album. Straight up. One of the biggest surprises of the year, and I couldn’t be happier about it. You might not think you know Jack Antanoff (a.k.a. Bleachers), but if you’ve ever listened to any recent Taylor Swift or Lorde tracks, you do. His work as a producer is well-known (like I said, big ol’ T-Swift and Lorde tracks among others), but this is his own project from his own mouth, and it is one of my favorite albums of the year. He gets modern and experimental without sacrificing any heart from the songs, and also makes classic callbacks comparable to bands such as The Beatles (“Goodmorning”), while still managing to give them have a beautiful shiny modern polish. There’s a hidden reason T-Swift and Lorde have done so well lately. This album will tell you all about it.

*Goodmorning, I Miss Those Days, Let’s Get Married

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