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shesnake · 10 months

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Spider-Verse Artists Say Working on the Sequel Was ‘Death by a Thousand Paper Cuts’

Why don’t more animated movies look this good? According to people who worked on the sequel, Across the Spider-Verse, it’s because the working conditions required to produce such artistry are not sustainable.

Multiple Across the Spider-Verse crew members — ranging from artists to production executives who have worked anywhere from five to a dozen years in the animation business — describe the process of making the the $150 million Sony project as uniquely arduous, involving a relentless kind of revisionism that compelled approximately 100 artists to flee the movie before its completion.

While frequent major overhauls are standard operating procedure in animation (Pixar films can take between four and seven years to plot, animate, and render), those changes typically occur early on during development and storyboarding stages. But these Spider-Verse 2 crew members say they were asked to make alterations to already-approved animated sequences that created a backlog of work across multiple late-stage departments. Across the Spider-Verse was meant to debut in theaters in April of 2022, before it was postponed to October of that year and then June 2023 owing to what Entertainment Weekly reported as “pandemic-related delays.” However, the four crew members say animators who were hired in the spring of 2021 sat idle for anywhere from three to six months that year while Phil Lord tinkered with the movie in the layout stage, when the first 3-D representation of storyboards are created.

As a result, these individuals say, they were pushed to work more than 11 hours a day, seven days a week, for more than a year to make up for time lost and were forced back to the drawing board as many as five times to revise work during the final rendering stage.

"For animated movies, the majority of the trial-and-error process happens during writing and storyboarding. Not with fully completed animation. Phil’s mentality was, This change makes for a better movie, so why aren’t we doing it? It’s obviously been very expensive having to redo the same shot several times over and have every department touch it so many times. The changes in the writing would go through storyboarding. Then it gets to layout, then animation, then final layout, which is adjusting cameras and placements of things in the environment. Then there’s cloth and hair effects, which have to repeatedly be redone anytime there’s an animation change. The effects department also passes over the characters with ink lines and does all the crazy stuff like explosions, smoke, and water. And they work closely with lighting and compositing on all the color and visual treatments in this movie. Every pass is plugged into editing. Smaller changes tend to start with animation, and big story changes can involve more departments like visual development, modeling, rigging, and texture painting. These are a lot of artists affected by one change. Imagine an endless stream of them."

"Over 100 people left the project because they couldn’t take it anymore. But a lot stayed on just so they could make sure their work survived until the end — because if it gets changed, it’s no longer yours. I know people who were on the project for over a year who left, and now they have little to show for it because everything was changed. They went through the hell of the production and then got none of their work coming out the other side."

#across the spider verse #spider man: across the spider verse #spiderverse #spiderman #marvel #atsv #phil lord #film #animation #vfx #post production #read the whole thing pls!

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f1version · 7 months

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26 BIRTHDAY KISSES ★ CL16

pairing: charles leclerc x gf!reader ( she/her )

summary: 26th birthday, 26 pictures of you and Charles kissing. A kiss for each year.

notes: i’m back from my birthday trip!! i wrote this birthday special in like 30 minutes and it’s still charles’ birthday in a couple of places so… i’m not exactly late! enjoy <3

26 KISSES: A GALLERY

By your beautiful girlfriend, in collaboration with a lot of people but mainly Joris and ourselves.

1. DRUNK DANCING: A month after we got together, we were at Arthur’s 18th birthday. We got drunk, singing and dancing to the worst playlist in existence (Lorenzo’s) and, somehow, Arthur got to capture this moment I barely even remember.

Taken by Arthur Leclerc, 2018

2. AUGUST 2019: Summer break, so sweet so loving. You made me promise that if you jumped off first, I would jump too. It took me fifteen minutes to follow after you. Also your kisses were incredibly salty.

Taken by Joris Trouche, 2019

3. THE MONZA INCIDENT: I had red lipstick the night you won in Monza, you told me it looked pretty, I asked you to kiss me, you did. Fast forward 8 minutes it was all smudged over your lips, you were 10 minutes late to the post-race conference, and Sylvia almost banned me that night. (I’m still kind of banned from your driver’s room)

Taken by Charles Leclerc, 2019

4. UNDER THE COVERS: 2020, what a crazy year. This one was taken the day we decided to finish moving in together. You were so excited, wanted everything to be perfect. Today I can say it is.

Taken by Me, 2020

5. WORDS: We were spending Christmas by ourselves, we face-timed our families, had dinner and watched movies. You gifted me three beautiful words I, of course, said back… and we also got a puppy!

Taken by Charles’ phone timer, 2020

6. OCEAN BREZEE: Just a small escapade to take a breath. You were so cuddly that day, Joris was so done with you (he still took the pic though)

Taken by Joris Trouche, 2021

7. CUTE OR HOT: I just wanted a cute morning selfie but, because of you, we ended up in a…promising mood. It was intense that’s all I have to say!

Taken by Me, 2021

8. KISS KISS KISS: 24th birthday, 24 kisses. This kind of became a tradition, let me know if you still want them this year!

Taken by Me, 2021

9. DRUNK AF: How did we got so drunk? Ask Pierre, he was the one hosting. Either way we got another amazing photo of us drunk-kissing!!!

Taken by Pierre Gasly, 2021

10. UNDER THE SEA: I’m just going to say that you and your ‘photo ideas 📸’ folder are attached by the hip. I personally love this one (even if it took half an hour to take)

Taken by Joris Trouche, 2021

11. NEW YORK: Thought you could scape this one? Never! Arthur and I didn’t spend a week listening to your complaining for nothing, babe. You must admit that this kiss was magical, everything was so pretty that day. And then it started snowing!

Taken by Arthur Leclerc, 2021

12. EXPOSED: Remember how our amazing soft launch got ruined by our trip to Ibiza? Well, here it is, the image we couldn’t stop laughing at when it came out, we really thought we were sneaky.

Taken by unknown, 2022

13. HARD LAUNCH: A week later we were kissing on live TV. It’s one of my favorite memories, I couldn’t stop smiling.

Taken by F1 TV, 2022

14. BACK KISSES: Just a picture of the morning after I learned that you can convince anyone, even the CEO of Ferrari, to allow you to leave sponsor events early. I really don’t know if you knew those kisses were there, but I woke up to this, took a picture and then left you with them until we took a shower.

Taken by Me, 2022

15. SPONSORED BY AIRMAX: That time your team forgot to book us a flight and you had to ask Lando to ask Daniel to ask Max if we could go back to Monaco with them. I’ve never seen Max talk so much, Daniel laugh so loud or Lando taking so many pictures. He even asked to take one of us, here it is:

Taken by Lando Norris, 2022

16. SIXTEEN: I bet you thought this one would have something to do with racing. Number 16. Sorry to disappoint but it’s our beautiful puppy…Sixteen! I’m not gonna lie, I still hate you for persuading me into that name. Anyways if you kiss the dog you kiss the mom!!

Taken by Me, 2022

17. 25 KISSES: Again, tell me if you want those 26 kisses this year. Look at us last year!

Taken by Me, 2022

18. NEW YEAR, SAME LOVE: Sometimes the world feels unreal when I’m with you, this was one of those days. I felt in another reality, the world slowed down, it was just you and me. I remember thinking “I fell in love with the right person” and then you kissed me.

Taken by Joris Trouche, 2022

19. BLACK SUIT: Remember when your fans thanked me for your “new” outfits? They repeated it was the girlfriend effect, you couldn’t stop talking about how stylish you are with or without me!

Taken by Me, 2023

20. PHOTOSHOOT: You got Joris to take these shots just because you wanted a new wallpaper. I thought it was silly, until one day all of them were hanging around our home. You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Charlie.

Taken by Joris Trouche, 2023

21. FIVE STAR CHEFS: Not much to say, just sorry for being so distracting and thank you for the amazing (stolen from Ferrari) dinner babe!

Taken by Charles’ phone timer, 2023

22. RED LIGHTS: This year’s addition to our drunk-kissing collection. I remember you drowning shots with Carlos and Pierre, asking me to dance with you, absolutely failing at that, and then kissing me. After that there’s blurry ferrari red, giggles and a hot bath.

Taken by Andrea Ferrari, 2023

23. LAZY IN BED: Wonderful lazy days by the ocean, that’s how we spent the summer break. That morning in particular you didn’t want to get up, basically gluing me to bed. We got up at 1pm.

Taken by Me, 2023

24. JUST ONE QUESTION: Can I drive the purosangue now? Please please please

Taken by Me, 2023

20. LOVER: This day I woke up thinking about those dreams we talk about all the time, you even remembered me a couple of them throughout the day. Charlie, I do want to do this for the rest of our lives, never forget it <3

Taken by Arthur Leclerc, 2023

26. TWENTY-SIX: We are just 26 but I hope our story keeps on writing itself. I love you, these have been the happiest 6 years of my life. Happy birthday bébé ❤️

Taken by Joris Trouche, 2023

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margareth-lv · 4 months

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🪄👗 The magical qualities of the dresses by Claire Fraser 👗🪄

First of all, thanks for the inspiration (and for the season 3 photos) @samcait-love! All the credit goes to you! In today's post, I used the photos you uploaded in your yesterday's reblog of my post.

*** *** ***

Who among us hasn't dreamed of a magical dress? A piece of clothing that has magical properties, like the cloak of invisibility in the Harry Potter books. Or a dress that grows (or shrinks) by itself, depending on how your body looks (and feels) on any given day. I'd give a lot for clothes like that, seriously.

*** *** ***

Claire Fraser has not only magically travelled back in time to meet her 'dashing Highlander', she also has such a magical wardrobe (although she doesn't brag about it!). I think the comparison of the pictures says more than words can ever say. Season 3 vs. season 4.

👀 👀 👀

*** *** ***

But miracles don't only happen on film sets.

So, the crème de la crème of my post today. My favourite Outlander fan guide: Lose weight (in Photoshop) in a month (and then 'gain' it back).

I give you Caitríona Balfe for the British Independent Film Awards on 5 December 2021 (on the left). And on the right, a photo shoot for the article "Caitríona Balfe's Celtic Conquest, From Outlander to Belfast" published in Vanity Fair on 6 January 2022.

*** *** *** On the left Vanity Fair on 6 January 2022 and on the right The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on 12 January 2022.

🤰🏻

*** *** ***

Finally, on the right, a group photo during the Focus Features Belfast screening at the West Hollywood EDITION, Los Angeles, CA, USA on January 28, 2022.

Side note: of course, I am aware that the photo shoot for the article published in Vanity Fair in early January 2022 must have taken place much earlier. Nevertheless, Caitríona underwent a mysterious physical transformation in late 2021/early 2022 during the infamous 'Belfast' promotion.

But we're not going to ask the question why. Because that would be bodyshaming a new postpartum mother. In my opinion, it was another pregnancy. But of course I don't know anything and I'm deluded.

💁🏻‍♀️

[January 17, 2024]

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pspkisser · 7 months

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⚙️ This laptop was saved from obsolescence! [10 mins of read]

Hello!! i am making this post here to raise awareness for PC and laptop upgrades, and how it should motivate you to do that same thing to preserve yours for longer or to give it the power you need! this will feature my history with mine, as well as the steps i took to be able to make him breathe life better! this is the story of his journey, and how it went to this current day.

his name is samuel, he is an asus fx570u and i bought him back in september of 2018 after i turned 13! he was brand new during that time and priced at 800 euros, offering only 6 gb of memory and an HDD as his specs. however he does have an 8th gen core i5 as his cpu and a geforce 1050 ti for his gpu. for something marketed as a gaming pc, it's pretty low and it wouldn't allow him to run fast enough, especially for highly demanding software and causing some compatibility issues. it wasn't severe, but as i was stuck with an hdd, that meant operating systems would run pretty slow on it, also leading to long software loading times. this is made worse by the fact that its bundled system, windows 10, isn't designed to work efficiently on hdd in the first place, but at least that means i have my hands on a windows key to be able to use some windows exclusive programs..

i mainly used him to be able to use advanced video editing software and customize the games i have on it for my own taste, because back then i loved making youtube videos and it was a passion i've had for years until i've partially retired from it. i rarely bought games on it and instead opted for free-to-plays, and overall had a good time with him.

unfortunately within only 3 months, his HDD broke down and i sent him to technicians for them to replace it with another one. it was a minor accident i've had but it formatted all my data, even though it didn't matter much since i uploaded most of it to the internet. i just had to be gentle with him by trying to not moving him around too much to stop that issue from persisting... but it was still low-end in terms of system performance. i finally used him for 1 year straight before moving on to a tower pc, feeling tired about his slowness and believing i couldn't do much about it.

i used that other (unnamed) pc for almost a year, starting from 2020! they seemed to work better since it had windows 7, but embarrassingly enough that version itself stopped receiving official security updates months before i started using it, even though i was careful while accessing the internet with it. its performances were also low, but didn't really matter much since i didn't take so much advantage from the power of samuel. suddenly, i had the foolish idea of installing windows 8.1 on the latter to try to deal with the performance issues on 10, but it led to even more compatibility issues since the drivers i used were meant to be for 10 only. only by early 2021, i got win10 back on him and started using him again to get more power again.

so the low-end performance persisted for very long. back then i never knew how to upgrade pcs, so i was only used to replacing devices with others which wasn't cost-efficient. after realizing i used windows for well over 10 years, i had the idea of switching to a mac and as a result, for xmas 2021 i got myself a cute yellow silicon imac, who goes by the name of sarah! but switching to macos posed new serious challenges, such as getting used to the lack of windows compatibility and the missing features that i was used to for a long time. most of the creativity i did with her was drawings with firealpaca and krita, and cgi with blender, which wasn't really much. still, she is pretty glossy and also powerful for many of the tasks i'm performing with her. originally i also intended to sell samuel, but that never happened (i low regret that decision so much i swear).

in late 2022, samuel's performance apparently had had a big hit... he now takes approximately 20 seconds to open any program and it seemed to me like something was wrong with him. at that time i also gained interest in linux since it's a libre OS capable of much more flexibility, essentially allowing it to revive old PCs. i finally decided to get linux mint to work on him via a dual boot with win11 (what was i thinking when i "upgraded" him from 10?). the performance seemed a little better from then, but programs still took very long to open. for that reason, he had often been collecting dust as he finally became unusable.

finally we've reached 2023. this is the year i decided to take on tearing down devices to learn how to examine problems inside of them. after checking samuel's performance again, i noticed that his HDD was having extremely low writing and reading speeds compared to my tower, which made me feel disappointed. but that's when i finally decided i could be able to replace his hard disk with an ssd, a new generation which is more durable, faster, quieter and energy-efficient...

but i still had a good wait until it was possible. suddenly with my money, i found an ssd which only costed €30, and it made me happy that this would be a quick way of healing up samuel! so i rushed to get it, and finally opened him to prepare everything... unfortunately, his keyboard has to be lifted up in the process, and there are flex cables connected between it and the motherboard. but taking out the hard disk thankfully only requires a few steps; removing some screws, then inserting the SSD inside of it. after that i quickly put linux mint back into him. SO SPLENDID...

for only the price of a high budget indie game, now he can open programs very fast, close to how fast sarah can do, and just about any task works perfectly well on him with way less bugs! thanks to that fast upgrade he's become viable for daily drives again, even though i don't have other desks suitable for pcs which makes me less motivated to use him. really wish id be able to since the architecture he has (x64) means he has a lot more software he's able to handle natively...

but then, i hadn't upgraded his ram. i said before that he only had 6 gb of it, and that meant he could only work with a few programs before becoming bloated. and as i like doing power tasks on him, that obviously causes problems. so one day, i went to a pc part store out of curiosity, and became shocked when i found small ram carts that could be compatible with my laptop. after some talk with the seller, i bought 2 ddr4 carts each containing 8 gb and clocked at 2666 mhz, more than double of what i used to have. after that it was time to take on a challenge to be able to insert them myself.

when the seller asked me if i needed assistance to have the carts inserted into my laptop, i giggled internally because of my past stories with learning how to open devices and trying to troubleshoot or modify them internally. i obviously declined it which saved me money, but also meant i had to do it all myself. after an hour of painful manipulations which required me to take out the entire motherboard from samuel, while that next step was also difficult i was finally able to insert the carts into it, before placing all his components back into place. and after such a long time of waiting...

i've finally done it!

Samuel is feeling very well right now!! despite his cpu and gpu dating from over 5 years, now he can do even more tasks at a time, while also being able to read them faster, a massive improvement compared to when it was stuck with an hdd and only 6 gb of ram. i'm guessing those low specs were for the purpose of saving manufacturing costs, but until you'd find use for the components that you'd remove, they'd end up becoming waste. and with a free os like linux mint, it adds up to an even more optimized experience than windows 10, which comes with so many unwanted stuff and can't be customized very well.

have you had a similar story to mine? did that pose you challenges? i took over 40 minutes to write this entire piece of text, but it should at least be very well detailed! on the best case scenario i hope it would inspire others to do some research on upgrading PCs to preserve their lives and especially save costs. Thank you for reading the entirety of it, don't hesitate reblogging it if you think it would interest your own audience! peace for all of you 💙

#pc #laptop #computer #computers #pc upgrade #objectum #gaming pc #linux #linux mint

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armoricaroyalty · 3 months

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𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐄'𝐒 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 / ❛ boy crazy ❜ part two (@nexility-sims)

When Zofia walked into a room, everyone noticed. It might have been the enormity of her hair or the constant noise of her rings and bracelets or else the overwhelmingly sweet scent of her favorite body mist, but she was captivating in every sense of the word. Hannah had been jealous of her, once upon a time. It would have been impossible to grow up with her without any jealousy: next to Zofia, everyone became shabby and dull. Ranks didn't matter at all, no title or royal honor could ever compete with that kind of natural charisma. Hannah loved her, but there had been days when she'd hated her, too. Now, though, she was only grateful. When Zofia walked in, nobody noticed the rest of them slipping out.

read part one here

author's note: @nexility-sims and I have been working on the zofia/rui romance since....early 2022? some time in 2021? since #rufia has completely dominated 2/3 of our joint brain power for years, it seemed fitting to finally let them out of our DM's to celebrate Love Day Valentine's Day. Happy V-Day, everyone!

Transcript under the cut.

CHEF | Aren't long nails against dress code, anyway? SERVER | [laughs] Girl, I don't give a fuuu— SERVER | You wanna know who else is wearing acrylics tonight? CHEF | [bored] I dunno, who? SERVER | Oh, nobody, just the Princess Zofia. CHEF | [gasps] CHEF | Shut. Up. You actually talked to her? What was she like? SERVER | She's fucking gorgeous. Like, obviously, but up close, she's even more beautiful. CHEF | Yeah, yeah, but what was she like? SERVER | Okay, so I didn't actually talk to her because she was all over her new boyfriend. They were like, so into each other. It was so sweet. CHEF | Really? I heard it's just a PR relationship so people will think she's over Sigis. SERVER | No way! They're obviously crazy abut each other. You can't fake— UNIDENTIFIED MAN | [offscreen] EVERYBODY OUT! HUGO | What, do I gotta say it again? All of you, clear out! HANNAH | [sighs] Please excuse us. HANNAH | My cousin and I need somewhere to speak privately. Will you please excuse us for a moment? CHEF | ??? SERVER | [shrugs] HUGO | ...anyway, did you see it? HANNAH | See what? HUGO | That stupid little hair flip. He did it a million times. HANNAH | He's growing it out for her. HUGO | Really? Hard to believe, he's so fucking vain. HANNAH | She told me she asked him to grow it long. [deep, beleaguered sigh] She thinks it's sexy. HUGO | What, are you for real? HANNAH | Oh yeah. She's always had a thing for guys with long hair. HUGO | ...huh. HANNAH | Anyway...what's your take? Personally, I don't see what she sees in him. HUGO | [snorts] He's better than Marshall. HANNAH | That's the world's lowest bar. Subterranean, in fact. HUGO | So what are we going to do? HANNAH | He's not a dog, we can't just run him off. HUGO | Well, you can't, but maybe if I— PIDGE | [offscreen] HEY! What are you two talking about? PIDGE | ...and why are you hanging out in the kitchen? ARTHUR | ....hi. HUGO | [icily] Farrier. HANNAH | It's late, Pidge. What are you still doing up? PIDGE | Uh, excuse you. Mama said I can stay until midnight. ARTHUR | ...you two aren't talking about Rui and Zofie, are you? HUGO | ... HANNAH | ...no. PIDGE | You two are such LIARS! PIDGE | Both of you are judgy control freaks! I thought he was really nice. HUGO | He could barely string a sentence together. ARTHUR | I mean...Armorican is his third or fourth language, isn't it? HUGO | Whatever! He gives me the creeps. HANNAH | Well, she says she's in love. HUGO | [scoffs] In love? They've known each other for six months. PIDGE | So? What if it was love at first sight? HANNAH | [exasperated] Pidge— HUGO | Just ignore her, she's fourteen. PIDGE | For your information, I'm fifteen. And I'll be sixteen in May, sooo— HUGO | Yeah, a baby— ARTHUR | Can I remind everyone that Zofia is twenty-two? She's an adult, she can make her own choices, and this is none of our business. HUGO | You're right, Farrier. It's none of your business. HANNAH | [offscreen] Hugo, enough. PIDGE | [mouthing] Rude. HANNAH | Arthur, what was your read? ARTHUR | I don't know, and I don't want to form a judgment until I've actually gotten to know him. He seems...fine? On par with the other guys she's dated. HANNAH | [sighs] "On par with all her other boyfriends" is the entire problem. HANNAH | I just don't want her to get hurt again. This happens every time, you know? She falls hard and fast and then the guy turns out to be a scum-sucking lowlife. PIDGE | [laughs] Hellooooo, what about Van? He was— HANNAH | Probably thw worst of all of them. Trust me, Pigeon. He's...he's no good. HUGO | [jokingly] You see, baby bird? That's why you're not allowed to date until you're thirty and why Hannah's gonna join a convent— PIDGE | No way, that's not fair. HANNAH | [tiredly] Hugo, shut up. No one asked. PIDGE | Yeah, Hugo. No one asked. ARTHUR | Look, I think we should at least give the guy a chance. HANNAH | [sighs] I guess we owe her that much. PIDGE | Guys, I actually talked to him, and trust me: he is like, sooo nice. HUGO | ... HUGO | I bet I could take him. PIDGE | Hey! Hannah, did you hear what he just said—

#armorica story #behind the scenes #character: hugo st. fleur #character: hannah st. fleur #character: margaret st. fleur #character: arthur farrier #holiday special

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starrysharks · 8 months

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ive sent like 20 asks to you atp but i really love ur art soooo so so so much like ur like my biggest inspiration fr like seriously i could blab all day abt how much i love your art and your arts almost singlehandedly motivated me to start working on shape language more bc i think thats like the key part of your art (to me at least) and youre like the true embodiment of "same face syndrome fears me" but like fr because all your ocs are so distinct and unique

do you have any tips on creating unique silhouettes / just general character design tips?? also id love to hear abt how your use of shapes and shape language evolved over time if ur fine sharing that!!

ok this is literally the sweetest ask ever like first off thank you so much ;_; i'm glad i was able 2 inspire you!!!

for me if you look at my old art there's little to no focus on shape language cuz i wanted to express a 'pointy' animeish style. examples are from 2020, 2021 respectively

as you can see i did NOT flip my canvas and my art was samey as hell,,, but in 2021 i started going for softer colors and shapes rather than points and spikes and brighter shapes. but, if you were to look through all of my art from either era, you'd see it's identical cuz i didn't care for shape language. this went on for quite a while :,)

then i discovered worlds end club in late 2021 and everything changed !!! i watched playthroughs cuz i didn't have a means to play at the time, and decided on making my artstyle a blend of cartoony and animeish - which ended up in choosing more expensive silhouettes and faces in turn

honestly i'm too tired to actually chronicle my artstyle change so i'll just skip to late 2022 in this timeline, sorry 😭

so by now has my artstyle evolved into aomwthing super cool n expressive ? no actually i think my art got worse in late 2022

as you can see, my colors got super washed out and i didn't really take risks, i guess? but i was finally starting to come into my own in terms of artstyle and was finally acknowledging shape language a little bit.

very early 2023 is the same, so let's skip to the one thing that changed my artstyle - the big 8 lineups

suddenly everybody was like 'wow your shapes are so good!!!' this was because i had tried to challenge myself with character design in these drawings. so i tried to emphasise interesting shapes more - using a technique where i'd just take an interesting shape or line that corresponded with a character's personality and repeating it as much as i could across the design.

like this deep cut art, where i tried to 'dial up'their already exaggerated shapes and design aspects (such as making frye's pants sag more or changing up shiv's hair. big man is perfect and needs no changes)

but this journey is still not over because a few months ago i rewatched all of panty and stocking and watched clone high for the first time, and both of these shows emphasise shapes a LOT in their designs, and i picked those up. here's art from a few months ago - in short, i tried to find the 'focal point' of the design, something that set it apart from other designs with similar body types or clothing, and built around that, if it makes sense? here's some art that i think expresses that well

comparing the new quintet art to the old one, i think you can also see that i started to try and use different body shapes and shapes in general (such as clyde having a more triangular build ig) . and tumblr doesn't let me add more pictures so this is where the overview ends !

my advice is - watch and rewatch anything that might inspire you, because it has the ability to push you in the right direction. for technical tips, id say -

draw different body types and age ranges (often times same face syndrome is born from only drawing the same age range, usually 15-20 for most sufferers)

play around with style - do you want a more western inspired style or something more akin to modern anime ? maybe something entirely different! try drawing in different styles that you like and see which ones stick

research fashion if only a little bit - it can help understand visually pleasing silhouettes (such as the famous big jacket or big pants silhouettes)

speaking of big jacket or big pants, contrast is key !!! top or bottom heavy designs are an easy way to express personality and an expressive silhouette ig

ummm thaz it ithink. once again thank you for your kind words and remember to take advice from multiple artists im just one guy!! i hope anything in here helped or was at least interesting to read

#ask zeno #zeno's art #long post #old art

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heavyhitterheaux · 2 years

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I Thought I Was Never Going to See You Again

First Lady of Private Garden Fic

AN: This takes place before First Lady’s debut album was released in October 2020. Keep in mind her and Neelam did not become close until 2021 and they did not reveal that were married until 2022.

Synopsis: After promising to meet Jack at a certain time and you don't show up, he immediately panics once he finds out why.

Pairing: Husband!Jack Harlow x Wife!Reader

Requested by: one of my beautiful anons 🥰

Warnings: mention of car accident

"You sure you'll be okay going out by yourself?" Your husband asked you, looking a little worried as you were getting dressed.

He was due to be in the studio in the next two hours while you just simply wanted to have a day for yourself and get some me time before your album was released. You literally only had another two months to go and you were taking advantage of your days off while you still could. You and Jack were planning a huge Halloween party and you still had many things on your list to get and 2fo would be helping you to finish getting everything together.

You were going to get your nails done, get a pedicure, and then meet up with 2fo to get whatever you all still needed for the party.

"I'll be fine, smush. I go out by myself all the time." You said while slipping on your white crop top along with your tan cargo pants.

"Not lately, you haven't. You’re starting to get recognized more than before since your album is about to come out. I just…"

"I won't be too long and besides I'm meeting up with 2fo later on anyway and when I’m finished I'm coming to the studio to be with you."

Jack still looked unsure, but he knew that you probably weren't going to change your mind and the last thing he wanted to do was start an argument.

The two of you hardly ever had arguments or disagreements and he wanted for it to stay that way.

You two had learned to compromise early on in your marriage and only wanted the best for each other.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" You curiously asked while sliding on your retro Jordans that Urban had gotten you for your birthday the year before. You could probably count on one hand how many times you had worn them.

"Babe, the paps have started following you a lot more lately and we're in L.A. They're everywhere. You remember what happened the other day?!"

"I promise to take extra precautions and to be safe. And besides I was with Saweetie, they were probably focusing on her more than me anyway." You said while reaching up to kiss him. He eagerly kissed you back before finally giving in.

"Fine, but no detours. Go straight there and come straight to the studio."

"Okay, dad." You replied while rolling your eyes and poking his cheek.

"Y/N, baby I'm serious. You know I want you safe and truth be told I want you to be within my sight at all times. More people are starting to recognize the both of us and the last thing I want is something happening to my girl."

"I know smush, but you worry too much. You’re not about to have any more hair when you turn 30. I promise to let you know when I get there."

“With you as my wife, I can definitely see that happening. All you tend to do is terrorize me.”

“I’m going to ignore that, but gimme kisses! I love you.”

“I love you too and make sure your phone isn’t on silent today!”

“Sorry, my bad! I didn’t realize that I had turned it down.”

The other day, Jack just about had a panic attack when you didn’t answer your phone and he had been calling you for over an hour.

You didn’t realize you had actually put your phone on silent.

“Mmm hmm, so you say.” Jack replied while bringing you in for another hug and kissing your temple.

“I didn’t know!”

You- I'm safe and sound smush 💕

Jack- Okay. Be safe. I love you.

You- Love you more big head 😘

Jack- I'll show you a big head 🙄

You- You so nasty!!

Jack- I know you not talkin 😒

You- I am. I'll let you know when I meet up with 2fo

Jack- I can't wait to have you screaming later.

You- Bye Jackman

Jack had been in the studio for about three hours and was now wondering where you were. There were a few songs he wanted your help with and he couldn’t help but to get a little nervous.

You should have been here at least an hour ago.

And now the panic was beginning to set in.

He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he had a gut feeling that something was wrong because the two of you always checked in on each other no matter what.

He checked his phone to see that there weren't any missed calls or texts from you and for some strange reason he couldn’t see your location.

Even Urban was asking for his other best friend and was wondering where you were so that let Jack know that you hadn’t called or sent a text to him either.

Liked by jackandy/naremyparents, urbanandjack24, jackharlowsource, allthingsy/n, thegardenstillprivate, and 2,294,985 others.

He went to Instagram to see if you had posted something when he instead saw something else that was the last thing he expected.

theshaderoom: we have breaking news coming out of L.A. Y/N Y/L/N who is known as the First Lady of Private Garden and Jack Harlow’s longtime girlfriend has been in a serious car accident resulting from her trying to flee from paparazzi this afternoon. Her condition is unknown at this time and it is believed that she was in the car by herself.

Jack lost it right then and there.

He read it over and over again to make sure he was seeing it correctly and his eyes immediately began to water.

Her condition is unknown at this time

The pictures of your newly purchased range rover made him even more nervous because it didn’t look like anyone should have been able to walk away from that.

But, he couldn’t think like that.

My wife is fine

He had to say it over and over again in his head to convince himself of the truth, he couldn’t think negatively and needed to stay strong for you.

He immediately hopped up and was frantically looking around for his keys when Urban was trying to figure out what was going on with his best friend noticing his change in demeanor.

“Jack, what the… where are you going? What’s wrong?”

“Just, come on.”

Urban, still confused, followed Jack out into the parking lot all to have him shove his phone towards him and his jaw instantly dropped looking at the instagram post.

He then immediately started trying to call you but it was going straight to voicemail. He muttered a quiet ‘fuck’ under his breath before looking back over at Jack who was in the driver’s seat trying not to lose his shit.

Just then Jack got a call on his phone from 2fo.

“Please tell me she’s okay, I cannot deal with this right now.” Jack almost whispered, feeling defeated.

“They aren’t letting us back there and they aren’t telling us anything. We told them that you’re her boyfriend however, they aren’t about to let you back to see her either unless you uhh…. come clean about the status of your relationship since technically you’re the next of kin and her parents and everyone else is back in Kentucky and in Atlanta.”

“What hospital did they take her to?”

“She’s at Cedars-Sinai and the only reason why I’m here before everyone else is we were going to meet up to get some shit for the halloween party and I saw the shit happen. I wad literally a few cars behind her."

“I have Urb with me, we’re coming.”

“I knew it. I fucking knew it.”

“Knew what?!”

“That I shouldn’t have let her go out today by herself. I had a bad feeling about it this morning and now look.”

Urban quickly pulled up the directions to the hospital and he just knew Jack was about to get a speeding ticket on the way there how he was dodging the L.A. traffic. Even though it was rush hour, that would not stop him from getting to his wife.

2fo has sent Urban a text saying how everyone was there waiting for them and even the last person that he would have expected,

Neelam.

It was no secret that the two of you didn't get along in the past because of her opinions about you.

However, Jack quickly shut that down when he found out, and Neelam had actually been trying to get to know you better, but you just weren't budging.

She showed her true colors and that's all you needed to let you know to stay away from her.

She had really hurt your feelings when all you were trying to do was be a good wife and support your husband in order to make his dream a reality. Nothing was going to get in your way in making sure that your husband was successful.

Once Jack and Urban made their way into the emergency room, they saw All of PG, Neelam, Brandi, and Saweetie who had actually been in L.A. shooting one of her videos.

She immediately left the set when she heard about her best friend possibly being hurt. She had tried to call you as well, but of course got no answer.

Jack made his way to the front desk to ask about you and they still weren't budging and letting him see you.

He knew how your anxiety was and the fact that you had probably already had several panic attacks and he was nowhere near you to help you through it.

He didn't want to reveal that the two of you were married in order to be able to see you, but he was getting desperate at this point.

"Look, the rest of her family isn't here as in they’re across the country and I'm her emergency contact anyway. I need to get back there to see her."

"But.. "

"My wife is back there and I know she is scared shitless so can you please let me back?"

"I thought they said…"

"There are only a handful of people that know we're married and I'd like to keep it that way." Jack said while whispering and eyeing her at the same time.

"Okay, she's in room 24. You can go in two at a time."

"Thank you."

It was agreed upon that Jack would go in first by himself and then everyone else would be able to see you.

Once Jack finally reached you, you were simply laying on the stretcher in the room with your eyes closed and the lights off silently crying.

"Baby girl?" Jack said and your eyes immediately opened to follow the sound of his voice.

"Babe!"

Jack immediately came over to embrace you and you immediately started to cry harder.

"What even happened?" Jack asked as he was rubbing your back attempting to soothe you.

"When I left, I noticed a few of them at our apartment complex. I dodged them but when I was on the phone with 2fo, I thought someone was following me and I tried to get away from them and I…. I don't know… I just…. then I remember someone hitting me and me losing control of the car and crashing into the guardrail. I should have listened to you and not gone out by myself."

"No, stop. It's not your fault people are assholes. You should be able to go out and not worry about people harassing you."

"I messed up my new car!"

"Baby! That is the last thing I'm worried about. All that matters is that my wife is safe and that she's alive. We can get it fixed."

"I just have a concussion so that's why the lights are off. My head hit the steering wheel and the force from me moving forward at such a fast rate has my upper body sore.”

“Babe, when I saw the picture of the car…”

“I know, it’s bad. Like really bad.”

“Just… you aren’t allowed to go anywhere by yourself ever again.”

“But!”

“But nothing! We aren’t doing this again and if I can be with you, it’s going to give me some peace of mind knowing that you aren’t by yourself.” Jack said while trying to wipe away your tears.

“Baby, you have got to stop crying because it’s only going to cause you to get a headache and you already have a concussion.”

“I’m trying. I just got so scared and my first thought was that I was never going to see you again.” You confessed while hugging him tighter and Jack immediately tried to stop himself from shedding tears.

You meant the absolute world to him and vice versa.

The fact that was your first thought made him feel some type of way.

He couldn’t imagine being in this life without you and never wanted for that to ever happen.

Just then there was a knock at the door, and Neelam poked her head in to see the two of you embracing and Jack waved for her to come in.

You looked up to see that it was her and was immediately confused as to why she was here.

“Um, hey Y/N, I just wanted to check on you. Something came up so I have to go but I wanted to see you and make sure you were okay first.”

You simply peeked out from your comfortable spot on Jack’s chest and simply eyed her not saying anything.

Jack simply pinched you in order to respond and to tell you to be nice.

He knew you were still holding grudges against people who you went to elementary school with in Atlanta.

“Thanks.” You muttered before turning back towards Jack.

“I also got this.”

You looked back up to see her handing you a stuffed animal which just so happened to be a pig.

Which just so happened to be your favorite animal.

“I overheard you talking to Quiiso the other day and you mentioned how you loved pigs and couldn’t wait to get one someday so I saw this in the gift shop and thought of you.”

You took the pig from her to examine it and you had to admit it was really cute.

You had no idea that she had been paying attention to that conversation between you and Quiiso.

Just because she got you a little gift, still didn’t mean she earned herself a spot on your good side.

She had to do a lot more in order to get there.

“Thank you, I appreciate this and I’ll be okay.”

“Good, I’ll check on you two later.”

Without another word, Neelam left, leaving the two of you alone again.

“That was nice of her, baby.” Jack piped up, but you instantly rolled your eyes.

“It was, still don’t like her.”

“She’s trying, cut her some slack.”

“Hmph.” You responded as you rolled your eyes once more, but cuddled your new animal closer to your chest.

Jack looked down at his phone to see multiple missed calls from both of your parents.

He knew he had to answer them because they would be on the first flight out here if he didn’t.

He sent them a quick text letting them know that you were okay and that he was at the hospital with you.

“Baby?” You asked, trying to get Jack’s attention and stroking his curly hair.

“Yes, mamas?”

“I’m hungry and I’m horny and you need to fix both of those issues.”

“Babe… can’t you wait until we get home?! And no! Only thing you’re doing is resting.”

“I have a vibrator.”

“And I will hide it.”

“You don’t even know where it is.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Jackmannnnnnn!”

“No. Final answer.”

“But your wife just survived a near death experience. The least you can do is give her what she wants.”

“Why are you talking about yourself in third person?”

“Stop changing the subject.”

Just then there was another knock on the door and Urban stuck his head in.

“Yall have clothes on right? I just never know anymore.”

“I’m trying not to, but your best friend isn’t giving in!”

“Y/N!”

“Yeah, she’s feeling better if she’s asking for your dick.”

“What can I say? It’s the best medicine out there.”

Taglist:

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#jack harlow #jack harlow x reader #jack harlow x black reader #jack harlow fic #jack harlow fanfic #jack harlow fluff #jack harlow angst #jack harlow x you

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httpknjoon · 1 year

Text

year-end affair | ksj

plot | Everyone heard nothing from you when Jin's birthday came. Only for you to reveal something during your appearance on The Tonight Show a month later.

words | 1625

genres | humor/crack, fluff, actors!au

pairing | actor!jin x famous!reader

note | usernames used in the fic are all fictional. this was set in December 2021 and January 2022. This is an early birthday post for Jin's birthday! enjoy reading! feel free to send questions for yn and jin :))

main masterlist | drabble series

It was the beginning of December 2021. Just a few days early from Jin’s birthday. Your fans were already posting on social media about the special event. Some would have some charity event in their favorite actor’s honor. Some are already ready to publish online contents, which includes everyone changing their display picture as one of Jin’s meme pictures. But what really everyone is waiting for is a birthday greeting from someone…

@/y/nbestgxrl : and if y/n posts another bts shenanigans with jin…

@/loverjin : everyone’s waiting for y/n to post something today like its an annual bday tradition 😭

replying to @/loverjin

-@/blueskies : it IS a tradition

But then, the fourth of December came. The fans posted millions of their greetings to Jin for the whole twenty-four hours. A commemorative hashtag was on top of the trend list until the next day, #HappyBirthdayJin.

@/12seokjin04 : we still have four hours left

replying to @/12seokjin04

-@/connie37291037284 : four hours for what?

– @/lovefoolforynjin : y/n still haven’t posted anything 😩

@/YNJINUpdates: @/YNOFFICIAL honey is your wifi broken again

Everyone waited. But you remained quiet on social media. Your last social media post was a picture of Franchescat in a sushi costume, which your cat obviously hates. But you shared a couple of Instagram stories after that. The latest was in the last week of November. So they expected that you are not fully on a social media break. You don’t have any known public appearance too.

A few days later, you didn’t attend the premiere of Don’t Look Up, a movie you lead in. But your account simply retweeted a Netflix tweet about the release of the movie. Your fans were curious if there was an issue going on between you and Jin as you didn’t post anything for the so-called tradition. It didn’t help that the gossip news outlets milked the sudden coldness of your and Jin’s social media accounts.

“Please welcome, the star of the two films, From The Other Side and Don’t Look Up, Y/N!”

The Roots played a snippet of Mayer Hawthorne’s The Walk as Jimmy Fallon introduced you. You entered through a big, blue curtain, gracefully dancing to the rhythm. The studio audience cheered and clapped as you stun them with your black Atelier Versace dress and matching thigh-high boots. You and Jimmy danced around, with him twirling you around before you sat on the spruce blue sofa.

“Hi, guys!” you greeted everyone as you shifted on your seat, and everyone cheered in response.

Jimmy clapped, “It’s so nice to see you. You look fantastic!”

“Oh, thank you.” you smiled.

This is your fourth time guesting on The Tonight Show and Jimmy always made sure to make you comfortable. Unlike the other late-night host you went to before. He was genuine and even dropped by the green room before the show, to have a quick chat with you.

“Thank you for coming to the show again! Congratulations on your two recent films!” he exclaimed. “Don’t Look Up is still one of the most-watched films on Netflix today even after weeks of release! I watched it and it was so hilarious. Adam Mckay, who was one of my good friends and colleague from SNL, wrote and directed the film. How was it working with an amazing cast?”

“Oh my god. It was a dream come true. I almost died when I saw Meryl Streep entering the set. She is one of the actresses I look up to. Then, Ariana, who is a very amazing person–”

“Yeah, she’s the best.” Jimmy agreed.

“We would go to each other’s trailers every time. She is so fun to be with! We would pull childish pranks on Jonah or Timmy.”

“Speaking of Timothee Chalamet, isn’t this like your third film with him?”

You nodded, “That’s right! We’re getting tired of seeing each other on set at this point.”

Everyone laughed, including Jimmy. “But you two have great chemistry together! Lady Bird was amazing and so are your versions of Amy and Laurie from Greta Gerwig’s Little Women.”

“Thank you, Jimmy.”

Other than Jin, Timothee is the actor you often collaborate with. He is a great guy and very nice to work with. Hailey told you before that your fandom with Jin and with Timothee would sometimes have bantered on the internet. Especially when the other gets content and the other doesn’t.

“And now, you have another movie coming up.” he moved to another topic. “And you were one of the producers!”

You smiled, “Yes. It’s From The Other Side, written and directed by Emerald Fennell. I worked with her in Promising Young Woman. So, I already said yes to doing it when she tap me in for the lead role. It feels so great to work with her again.”

“You told me backstage that it’s a suspense film, right?”

“Yes! It will be a thriller movie mixed with a bit of comedy. It centers around the commonly overlooked issues and efforts women had to go through to attain equal respect and recognition as the other sex.” you explained.

“That sounds great! I saw the trailer for this and I have to say, the visual aesthetic for it is really eye-catching.” Jimmy noted.

You nodded, “I know! Everyone really worked hard in doing this film.”

“And it’s coming out this weekend! It must have been a great head start of the year for you.” he said.

“It is. It is.” you beamed.

It was only the first month of 2022 and you cannot deny how happy you are to have another movie out now. You’ve been working consistently for the last decade and you don’t think you’ll be stopping anytime soon.

“By the way, I heard you welcomed the new year on the other side of the world?” Jimmy punned and he highlighted those words with his tone.

You gasped and giggled cheekily, pointing a finger at him, “That was good! I like that! And yes. I did. I and my close friends flew to South Korea. It’s my first time celebrating the New Year ahead of everyone here and out of the country.”

Just by the mention of the country, the audience cheered again. You didn’t even mention who these friends were. But they seemed pretty aware since everyone knows a certain person, who’s close to you and had connections from South Korea.

“Yeah? How was it?”

“It was amazing! We really got to see and enjoy the culture there since my friend basically became our tour guide. We stayed there for like a couple of weeks and he made our stay in this traditional Airbnb. It was winter and I remembered I was almost frozen when I forgot to turn on the heater.” you told him, making everyone laugh.

Jimmy pulled out one of the few pictures you let the producers have since you haven’t really posted about it online. It was you wearing layers of clothes to warm up yourself in the chilly weather of the East Asian country. You were wearing a cap, a pastel pink scarf (that almost covers half of your face, baby blue mittens, and crazy layers of clothes. You were unrecognizable. Someone would have to stare you in the eye to recognize you.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“You look so cute! What is the most memorable thing that happened during your stay there?” Jimmy asked.

You let out a sigh as you think of it, “Probably when we visited my friend’s family and we were wearing hanbok, which is their traditional clothes. Then, they gave us a lot of gifts. I feel like a child all over again.”

“Well… is there any chance we know this friend of yours?” Jimmy tried to ask with a teasing tone.

You laughed before acting coy, “Maybe you do, maybe you don’t.” Jimmy acted disappointed and everyone laughed including you. You consoled him, “Nice try though, Jimmy.”

“I know.” he was looking down, still in his act. Until The Roots played a snippet of another song again. Jimmy looked up to the camera, “Y/N, everybody. We’ll be right back!”

Twitter’s top trends for that night were all connected to that interview. Y/N, SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA, JIN, CLOSE FRIEND, WHAT, FAMILY. The best word that would describe is probably mindblown. Especially when you finally posted pictures and clips from your New Year’s celebration in Seoul an hour after your late-night show appearance.

‘Nice to be back after a month-long break :)’ your caption says.

Most of the pictures and videos were captured candidly. And one of them includes a clip where you were seen throwing snowballs at someone and an easily recognizable laugh can be heard in the background.

@/gratefulstar : what the fuck???? y/n was with jin the whole time

@/jinandyncats : we’re on the endgame, guys. she already met his extended family 💘💘

@/PopCrave : Jin and Y/N photographed together in a ski resort back in South Korea, taken last December 28, 2021.

It was a blurry set of pictures and the two actors are hard to recognize due to their thick clothes. But the height difference and the same clothes you were wearing in the picture Jimmy showed on the show confirmed that it was you and Jin. Jin was holding you by the waist while you were leaning your head on his shoulder.

replying to @/PopCrave

-@/thankunecks : OMG THEY ARE SO CUTE

–@/winnerswift : the height difference 😭😭 the hand on her waist😭😭

—@/ynbxstactxrss : they look so tiny with their clothes esp y/n 😭💞

@/francheskatparents: does anyone wants to be my close friend? one who will fly me to the other side of the planet to meet their family? 🤔

replying to @/francheskatparents

-@/thatsjinzero: and celebrate new year’s with them 🤔🤔

taglist rules

THE A-LISTERS TAGLIST

@seolaquotes @jub-jub @yoontaethings @kissme-ornot @dayyy-siii @sleepy-daydreams @veronawrites @cuteipat @ratherbefangirling @babystarcandy-gcf @akirawhore @alpacaparkaseok @rjsmochii @prlan @lovesickbangtan @zealouslightcookiebasketball @rapmonie2047 @btsiguess-kpop @angelarin @walkinganxiety0 @bloopkook @stopeatread @yoooonie @amara-mars @firesighgirl @zwiehe

PERMANENT TAGLIST

@dunixxd @cixrosie @moonchild1 @jksjx @embrace-themagic @buttvi @starbtslove @missseoulite @vanntaesworld @barbiekatz @pixybear

#actor!jin #bts jin #jin fluff #jin x reader #jin fic #jin au #seokjin x reader #seokjin fanfiction #seokjin fluff #bts fluff #bts x reader #bts imagine #bts crack #bts series #bts au #bts fanfic #bts drabble #the a listers ksj

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yangsgirlfriend69 · 1 year

Text

I made it onto the Indie Bestseller list by posting on TikTok. Don’t do what I did.

IDK how to use tumblr but here are some thoughts

Maybe I should wait to write this, to have a little distance from publishing my book. When I see authors who are at the same place I am — a week and a day out from publication — their captions often sing the praises of their publishers. They’ll mention how grateful they are that all their hard work paid off, that the years of writing and editing and blood, sweat, tears, or whatever other bodily fluids they put into their manuscript were worth it for the moment the book came out.

For me, it wasn’t.

The writing process for How to Excavate a Heart was liberating. I came up with the idea while driving to a Long Island Panera (where all good ideas are formed), and started outlining it while eating their dubiously-sourced mac-and-cheese.

I then proceeded to, as I texted verbatim to at least three close friends, “fart out the novel.” I wrote it in about six weeks while on a train trip visiting family and friends, and I cherished every moment of the process.

That was in late 2019/early 2020, and it was the last time my feelings about the book were purely positive.

How to Excavate a Heart (HTEAH) sold in the late summer of 2020, to be published in Fall 2022. I was more focused on my debut novel, Almost Flying, that was slated to come out in the summer of 2021. Which it did, though if you didn’t know it existed you certainly wouldn’t be alone. It earned a Stonewall Honor from the American Library Association, and I think the week that happened it crested to a new high of 20 copies nation-wide or something depressing like that.

Needless to say, I was frustrated by what I saw as lack of support from my publisher, and was determined to not let the same fate befall HTEAH. I was already fairly active on TikTok after originating the Laura Dern Sitting Challenge (my one true claim to fame), but I had heard that TikTok was generally not a fruitful platform for authors, or that, even if authors were popular, it didn’t translate to book sales.

So of course my first thought was, “Why don’t I push this boulder uphill and see what happens?”

So I posted my first TikTok about HTEAH in February of 2022. It flopped in an expected way, but I continued to post about it consistently, and, over time, amassed a small following. The HTEAH hashtag grew (almost all the videos on it were are still are my own), and I was thrilled that people were hearing about my book.

At the time of writing this, the hashtag has over two million views, and I can directly trace over 1,000 individual sales/preorders of my book to TikTok and TikTok alone.

Here’s the price I paid: My girlfriend has watched my mental health slowly deteriorate over this time. She’s seen me quit writing to focus on promoting this book, for the small chance that, I don’t know, someone might care. And now some people do! Hooray.

I spent nine months promoting a book to get it to the sales that it might’ve gotten if my publisher had supported it. Or maybe not — I have no way of knowing. All I know is that if I hadn’t posted about the book on TikTok, you wouldn’t be reading this. It wouldn’t have gotten on the Indie Bestseller list. It wouldn’t have made the Indie Next list. It wouldn’t be a book box pick.

And I wouldn’t be so burnt out I can barely get up from the couch. I wouldn’t be depressed from staring at my phone all day.

Maybe if I hadn’t done all this, I’d be able to write again, to turn in work on time. To live each day without the fear that I’m not doing enough because if I don’t post a TikTok my book will sell horribly like my last one and then that’s it, I’ll be a failed author before my 25th birthday.

What a healthy mindset, huh?

So sure, if you post consistently on TikTok for nine months before your book comes out, enough people will buy your book that you might make it onto a list. But please, I beg of you, don’t. If your publisher doesn’t support you enough to give you marketing, don’t do it yourself. You cannot be an entire team. You cannot be your own publicist.

I am one person. And now I’m done.

Anyway, you can buy my book at excavateyourheart.com and you cannot find me on social media anymore (except maybe tumblr apparently). Stream Loneliest Time by CRJ.

#sorry everyone

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heejinkwan · 3 months

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★ ⠀⠀ ! ⠀⠀ ASTELLA is a fictional idol soloist managed by Starship Entertainment. Before becoming a soloist she was the main vocalist of the girl group Promise, who later changed their name to Paradise. The group debuted as a six-member group originally in 2017, but when Heejin left in 2021 they continued activities as a five member group. It was unknown as to why she left, her old company said it was due to creative differences, but Heejin’s side of the story said something completely different. She officially sued her ex-manager for emotional distress in January of 2022, a few months after her departure from the group. She claimed that her manager mistreated not only her but two other members! She ended up winning and her ex manager was fired but it was too late, the damage was already done.

★ ⠀⠀ ! ⠀⠀ Astella would make her SOLO DEBUT in late 2021/early 2022 with a highly anticipated pre-release single called Sugarcoat. She debuted in an entirely different company, Starship Entertainment. Home to groups like Ive, Wjsn, and Sistar!

★ ⠀⠀ ! ⠀⠀ At first she was very hesitant in coming back into the idol scene, she was content with not being in the spotlight for a while, but this was her dream! She trained years for it, giving up half of her teenage years and she was not going to give it up easily. She plans to release her 2nd mini album around April/May of 2024, so stay tuned!

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♀ ꒱ ˎˊ˗ ୭̥⋆*｡ ❪ basics ❫

STAGE NAME ﹕astella ( 아스텔라 )

BIRTH NAME ﹕kwan heejin (관희진)

ENGLISH NAME ﹕astella

BIRTHDAY ﹕april 20, 2001

ZODIAC SIGN ﹕taurus

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♀ ꒱ ˎˊ˗ ୭̥⋆*｡ ❪ physical ❫

FACE ﹕minjeong kim of aespa

NATIONALITY ﹕south korean

ETHNICITY ﹕korean

HEIGHT ﹕165cm / 5’5”

WEIGHT ﹕41kg (90.4lbs)

BLOOD TYPE ﹕a

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♀ ꒱ ˎˊ˗ ୭̥⋆*｡ ❪ career ❫

OCCUPATION ﹕idol

COMPANY ﹕bubble entertainment ( 2016—2021 ) , starship entertainment ( 2021–present )

GROUP ﹕paradise (formerly promise) ( 2017–2021 )

REPRESENTATIVE COLOR ﹕pink

REPRESENTATIVE EMOJI ﹕🦌

INSTAGRAM ﹕astella

꒰ ♀ ꒱ ˎˊ˗ ୭̥⋆*｡ ❪ history ❫

Born on april 20th, 2001 in busan, south korea, Heejin Kwan is the child of the married couple Sooyoung and Minjun Kwan. heejin’s parents are working working class parents, her mother is a retired teacher and her father is an surgeon. she has one older brother by the name of Haneul, growing up they had an amazing relationship, they still do to this day!

Heejin has always loved music, she was a big fan of Girls Generation and BTS, the first ever album she got was a gift for her birthday was “I got a Boy” which she still has! She’s shown it her fans once on live and talked about how she got it. In 2016, she was scouted by a fairly new talent agency called “Bubble Entertainment” of course she was skeptical, but music was her thing, thats was she loved so she agreed to being a trainee, for her to only be a trainee for half a year, she improved all the time and debuted in Promise as the main vocalist.

She remained active with the group for 4 years, leaving unexpectedly in 2021, it shocked kpop stans all across the world because it was just out of nowhere. But, she did end up coming back in 2021, but as a soloist this time.

( header creds )

#◟ ⋆ ◟ ⋆ 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐗 𝐈𝐒 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃 › heejin kwan !#◟ ⋆ 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐗 𝐈𝐒 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃 › development !#fictional idol oc #fictional idol community #fake kpop idol #fake kpop group #fake kpop oc #fake kpop girl group #fake kpop addition #fake kpop gg #fake kpop soloist #fake kpop member #fake kpop company #fictional idol group #fictional kpop oc #fictional kpop idol #fictional kpop community #kpop oc

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anim-ttrpgs · 4 months

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A.N.I.M. Adventure Art: The Seedtown Party

Meet the Seedtown Party. This is a cast of investigator PCs from one of the earliest test runs for Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, back in late 2021. It didn’t even have any sort of combat system when this campaign started, that was written hastily somewhere in the middle of the campaign, somewhere around February 2022.

This campaign is maybe the longest we’ve ever done with Eureka, lasting 6 months with a session nearly every week, and it was amazing.

Four investigators find themselves one way or another in a small town in the mountains of Arkansas, coming together by chance due to shared interest in a series of seemingly related missing persons cases.

It pains me greatly that I cannot remember exactly what was said, but the way that this group of characters came together and agree to work with each other to locate these missing persons in the first session was the single most natural and organic way I’ve ever seen a TTRPG party form.

Eunica, an actual professional private investigator from the big city, here on a personal mission, as one of the missing people is her own nephew.

Joseph, an extremely friendly local bartender who has been manning his brother’s establishment since his brother’s death more than ten years ago.

Sarah, a moviestar who sought to disappear from the spotlight and run away to a quieter life, only to find that some of the missing persons posters feature *her* face, and did before she even arrived.

And finally Alice (pronounced in the French way, sounds more like “Elise”), a cheerful and energetic young Cajun-French biker claiming to be a friend of one of the missing people. She was definitely the youngest of the party, appearing to be in her early twenties, with the next youngest investigator being Eunica in her late thirties. Alice had the rest of the party in love with her sweetness, energy, and optimistic attitude, as well as many weird but endearing quirks like how sarcasm and jokes always flew right over her head, her insistance that her food never have any spices whatsoever, and the fact she wore the same part of sunglasses day and night. In fact, they never actually even saw her sleep, she was always awake when they went to bed and always awake in the morning when they woke up. Alice was “the baby of the group”, and all of the older investigators went out of their way to protect her and curb her bold and reckless actions, despite her insistence that they didn’t need to.

Art by @theblackwarden

This art has been posted here with permission as part of A.N.I.M.’s Adventure Art initiative in our TTRPG book club.

All of these characters are PCs from Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy by A.N.I.M.

If you’d like to join the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club, you can find the discord invite on our website.

If your art fits he parameters outlined on this post, and you’d like it featured here, tag us or post it in the book club’s Adventure Art channel on discord.

If you’d like to support us and get a prerelease copy of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, check out our Patreon! Our Kickstarter is planned for launch in April 2024!

This group of investigators followed what clues they could through local urban legends, organized crime, police corruption, and finally occult ritual among the state’s wealthy elite in a remote manor in the mountains, ending in a high-stakes shootout as the gang attempted to flee the premises after disrupting a plot that could’ve brought the world as we know it to its knees, and then a confrontation with the source of the aforementioned urban legends. For the most part, the investigators got out unscathed, except for Alice, who caught three bullets during the shootout, way more than enough to kill an investigator, or most any character, in Eureka. She also did most of the killing in this shootout.

Alice near flat-out refused medical attention, instead sneaking away as soon as the others’ backs were turned, leaving a farewell message at the bar before getting on her bike, and riding away. There was no way to track her or find out where she went, who she was, or if she was even still alive. They never even learned her last name.

Not only was this a test run of Eureka in general, but also the origin of its unique approach to supernatural characters, wherein not even other players sitting around the table know which members of the party are supernatural or not. With exceptions that I’ll get to in a moment, none of the IRL people playing this game except the Game Master knew that there would be any supernatural element to this mystery, let alone within the very investigative party itself. Nearly all of the players were relative strangers to each other before the group was brought together for session 0, not knowing each others’ interests or original characters, so there was little chance of guessing anything was amiss before the session even began.

Eunica shocked everyone about a two-thirds into the investigation, after the involvement of occult ritual started to become apparent, by revealing that she was no ordinary private detective, but really one of a more magical variety, capable of more than a little magic herself, and the person you’d go to if you needed someone to, say, hunt and slay a vampire. This took some time to process for everyone and Alice had what seemed like a hundred rapid-fire questions about the truth or the supernatural.

Alice, on the other hand, didn’t shock anyone, no one suspected a thing. No one, not PCs nor Players, ever guessed that sweet “Alice”, “the baby of the group”, was actually the oldest of them all, an 800-year-old vampire named Yvette Preux. The other players didn’t find this out until a month after the campaign ended. In between regular sessions, secret one-on-one sessions between GM and player were being run while the rest of the party slept, wherein “Alice” did some investigating, and other things like drinking blood, on her own during the night, the findings from which she would sprinkle in casually during discussions of the case the next morning, subtly enough that no one ever asked where she got this information or why she was so sure of it. On a few occasions she even did a lot more than investigating during these nights, like when a crime boss, who had told the investigators that he would have them disappeared if he saw them in town again, mysteriously turned up dead the next day, never seeing any of them again. What a lucky coincidence for everyone else.

Alice actually clocked Eunica as some kind of vampire hunter or the like right away, on the very first day they met, which didn’t really concern her at all. If so-called vampire hunters were any good at their “job”, she wouldn’t be around to laugh about it, would she?

Really, in hindsight, she could hardly have been more obviously a vampire—the sunglasses at all hours; avoidance of garlic, onions, and any other spices on food; hoe she never seemed to sleep; how she always seemed to have something in front of her mouth when she talked; her avoidance of mirrors; taking risks like she was invincible; and always running ahead every time the party was about to enter a private domicile so that she could directly ask to come inside. She even at one point when the party needed to disguise themselves as occultists, revealed that she just *already had* a fine hooded cloak with black on the outside and bright red on the inside in her luggage. That was all pretty weird, but it turns out, when nobody tells you to look for vampires, they actually become extremely hard to stop! This isn’t even a massive failing on Eunica’s part, if it weren’t near impossible to identify them, vampires wouldn’t be considered just a silly superstition in the modern age.

In truth, “Alice” reveled in just being herself right under a wannabe vampire-hunter’s nose, feigning shock when Eunica revealed this, and going out of her way to ask as many questions as she could about real vampires and what they’re like.

This is the ultimate Eureka experience, what starts as a mundane investigation spiraling into sprawling madness, and if what the people you thought you knew could reveal about themselves will shock you to your core, imagine what they keep to themselves. They might not even be playing by the same rules as you, it’s always who you least expect.

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tomorrowxtogether · 19 hours

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The 10 best Tomorrow X Together songs

Ahead of the boyband’s 2024 ‘Act: Promise’ world tour, NME picks the best cuts from their enchanting back catalogue

There’s always been something magical about Tomorrow X Together, even before they started adding elements of enchantment to their music in late-2019. Over their first five years together, the Big Hit Music boyband have been consistently spellbinding in their approach to sharing their experiences of youth, whether weaving colourful creations in their early days or dialling up the angst as they screeched into young adulthood.

Along with their penchant for genre-hopping, it all makes for a vibrant back catalogue that doesn’t always follow the expected path. TXT will always keep you guessing and never stay in one spot for too long. Ahead of their upcoming 2024 ‘Act: Promise’ world tour, which kicks off next month in Seoul, NME looks back on their enchanting catalogue.

Honourable mentions

‘Blue Spring’ (2023) ‘MOA Diary (Dubaddu Wari Wari)’ (2021) ‘Puma’ (2020) ‘Wishlist’ (2020) ‘LO$ER=LO♡ER’ (2021)

10. ‘Ghosting’ (2020)

youtube

The opening track of 2020’s ‘minisode 1: Blue Hour’ glistens in its gloominess. Through clouds of shoegaze-y guitars, the five-piece tell stories of friends who’ve become like spectres and the isolation that comes with growing apart from those you love. It’s a beautiful piece of songwriting that highlights TXT’s knack for taking trending lingo and using it to share their tales of youth.

9. ‘New Rules’ (2019)

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Since their beginning, Tomorrow X Together have served as guides and companions through life and that’s no different on ‘New Rules’. The funky hip-hop track details rebellious phases sparked by the frustrations of life, piled on by social media, teachers and class. If you’re looking for a way to break free from it all, this addictive cut will help you.

8. ‘Can’t You See Me?’ (2020)

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Even without watching the flame-filled music video for ‘Can’t You See Me?’, you can feel the scorching emotions that course through the song. Rather than showcasing them in the big rock anthemics that would come later in TXT’s journey, it’s the more seemingly subdued moments that sizzle here. “With resentment, my heart is heavy / ‘Cause you don’t understand me,” Beomgyu and Hueningkai murmur in the second verse, every ounce of that weight pouring through their words.

7. ‘Good Boy Gone Bad’ (2022)

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On the lead track from 2022’s ‘minisode 2: Thursday’s Child’, TXT fully embrace the moment when it feels like you’ve hit an emotional rock bottom. Instead of wallowing in the misery, they make it their new super power – there’ll be no more “pathetic days” left on the calendar when you rise up with hearts “gone dead”. Set to searing rock, it’s become one of the most electrifying moments in the group’s concerts, not least Yeonjun’s bridge that ends in the laughter of someone truly cold-hearted and the declaration: “I like being bad.”

6. ‘Crown’ (2019)

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The song that started it all. Tomorrow X Together’s debut single ushered in a boyband who sounded refreshingly bright but, beneath the bubbling synths, were dealing with the complicated growing pains of adolescence. Years on from its release, it still feels like a perfect snapshot of the dichotomy of youth – at once energetic, curious, self-doubting and concerned.

5. ‘Tinnitus (Wanna Be a Rock)’ (2023)

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The boyband dabble in Afro-pop on this standout from ‘The Name Chapter: Temptation’. Despite its slinky rhythms that are practically a call to groove onto the dancefloor, lyrically it finds the group wanting to sink into a stillness caused by a crisis of confidence. “Rockstar minus the star / Just a rock, OK?” Taehyun sighs, preparing to descend.

4. ‘0X1=LOVESONG (You Know I Love You)’ (2021)

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The moment TXT leaned all the way into the raw, serrated sensitivities of emo. With the help of featured singer Seori, ‘0X1=LOVESONG’ wears its feelings on its sleeve so viscerally it’s hard not to get swept up in its storm of emotion. Although the five-piece’s storyline would later disavow the need for connection, here it was still an essential, the group crying out for a loved one to “take my hand” and save them from being swallowed up by life.

3. ‘I’ll See You There Tomorrow’ (2024)

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The concept of fate emerges on this sunkissed house jam, the beats forming a linking pattern between TXT and the person they believe is “meant to be”. ‘I’ll See You There Tomorrow’ is fresh and breezy, while its post-chorus refrain of “there’ll be no more sorrow, I’ll see you there tomorrow” could serve as a slogan for the comfort that spills out of the group’s catalogue.

2. ‘9 and Three Quarters (Run Away)’ (2019)

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The title track of ‘The Dream Chapter: Magic’ more than lives up to the sorcery in the album’s title. Sprinkled with sparkling melodies that form the aural equivalent of the magic dust that accompanies wands casting spells in movies, the song captured the heart of much of TXT’s early storyline. It’s an ode to friendship and the feeling of finding people to run alongside you as you buckle up for the rollercoaster of life.

1. ‘Eternally’ (2020)

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Tomorrow X Together have never been ones to shy away from trying something new, and that spirit quietly fuels ‘Eternally’, the stand-out track from ‘The Dream Chapter: Eternity’. What starts out as a gentle lullaby pleading soon morphs into something darker and prowling. The beat switch is tellingly signalled by a rapid-fire gunshot and the verse that follows feels like a villain origin story. That the group are able to pull off the revolving door of switch-ups on this track with such elegance is nothing short of impressively exhilarating.

#txt #tomorrow x together #240430 #article #nme magazine #soobin #yeonjun #beomgyu #taehyun #hueningkai #Youtube

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virtues-end · 4 months

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Not gonna lie, I didn't think this IF was still being worked on, so now I'm hype to hear it is! Words being written, to be maybe consumed one day!

On other news, I think tumblr had been hiding your posts from me because I hadn't seen any posts/reblogs from here in months until now

Yeah, I've been plucking away at it in some shape or form since 2020 but there was a big gap between updates (early 2021 to late 2022). The game has undergone some pretty big rewrites as well in the meantime.

I've been trying to stick to a more consistent update schedule this year but, you know, *gestures to the world*.

#asks #welcome back though!#not sure why my posts haven't been showing up...#🤔

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backup-baby-backup · 11 months

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Very preliminary and speculatory writing of Midnights timeline

Disclaimer: All the exact dates are based on tracking Taylor's private jets, which is a controversial activity (to say the least). Those are sourced from @youareinlovees' detailed masterposts.

Aaron Dessner confirmed that High Infidelity and Would've, Could've, Should've were written and recorded during Grammys week in March 2021. Since Taylor was in LA between March 7th and March 15th only, we can safely assume that those songs were written within that period.

The Great War and Hits Different were probably written before Jack Antonoff became the main co-writer of Midnights, because (according to Dessner in the podcast above) that signified a change in concept, but they probably also weren't written in March 2021 since Dessner mentioned them separately.

According to Taylor, most Taylor/Antonoff co-writes were written in New York, when JA and Jack's fiance were filming in Panama. This means they were written between November 22nd, when Taylor flew back from Panama to New York, and December 16th, when Taylor flew to Panama.

According to Rolling Stone, Lavender Haze and Glitch came out of a session where Jack Antonoff, Sounwave, Sam Dew and Zoe Kravitz worked on Zoe's debut album. This was before Jack started working on Midnights (so before November 2021), but also Jack only sent those tracks (demos?) a few months later, which might put the date around late 2021/early 2022.

Also in the same article, Karma was a "last-minute Hail Mary"-- wouldn't be surprised if it was the last song to be written on the album.

Sweet Nothing mentions a trip to Ireland "last July", i.e. July 2021, which probably implies the song was written in 2022. Additionally, on 19 April 2022, JA did an interview where he mentioned he didn't intend to write any more songs under a pseudonym, which either means 1. he signed an NDA or 2. he had already written Sweet Nothing at this point. For wishful thinking purposes I will assume the latter.

Snow On The Beach, which was co-written with Lana Del Rey, was finished by 4 April 2022, as on that day Lana posted this photo on her Instagram, a colourized version of which was later included in this Instagram post.

Now on to the solo writes: Vigilante Shit is a mystery. It mentions Scooter Braun's ex-wife so that puts it after July 2021, but that's it. Maybe she saw the news of Scooter getting a divorce and cackled manically? (also I don't think the FBI line points to anything concrete-- more of a revenge fantasy than anything IMO)

Bigger Than The Whole Sky is also a mystery, but if you believe that it's about Claire Winter then that would place it after March 2022.

You're Losing Me... um... I really don't know? I think there is a possibility it was written along with most of Midnights in that Nov-Dec 2021 session, especially since JA was in a different country then, but it also could have literally been written last month and we would be none the wiser. Here I'm going to give Taylor the benefit of the doubt. Also Hits Different is a breakup anthem but we don't talk about that...

Midnights was most likely finished by May at the latest, when she quoted a lyric from Labyrinth in her NYU speech and may or may not have teased the name of the album in this Instagram post.

To conclude:

7-15 March 2021: High Infidelity, Would've, Could've, Should've

March-November 2021: The Great War, Hits Different, Vigilante Shit

22 Nov-16 Dec 2021: Maroon, Anti-Hero, You're On Your Own, Kid, Midnight Rain, Question...?, Bejeweled, Labyrinth, Mastermind, Paris, Dear Reader, You're Losing Me

Late 2021-Early 2022: Lavender Haze, Glitch

2022 (before May): Bigger Than The Whole Sky, Snow On The Beach, Sweet Nothing, Karma

Feel free to comment if you think I've missed something important or got something wrong, though I might not respond immediately (busy week coming up).

#taylor swift #midnights #writing of midnights

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