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whatiwillsay · 3 years

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Why do you think toe is real? Do you have a podcast ep about it (if so which one)?

we’ve talked about joe extensively on the bonus pod and i talked a bit about him on the the episode “shawn’s back”

i also went into my thoughts on the matter here

but i’m happy to expand more this morning (though this space isn’t really supposed to be for the boys i’m in the mood to discuss so here we go) because when i first started this blog all gaylors said joe was fake as hell so i just regurgitated the party line until i did my own research and for that i’m sorry, i should have been more educated from the getgo but there’s a learning curve to running an ethical (relatively) gaylor blog

1. i have a mutual with a backup singer that’s been with taylor since the red era. according to the backup singer Taylor and joe are really sweet and affectionate with one another. he’s always around. they act like a normal couple. i do trust my friend entirely but i suppose it’s possible the backup singer is lying or taylor and joe are just really dedicated to their act but this tea is something i take into consideration.

2. their timeline adds up when you consider music that can properly be ascribed to joe - yes they meet at the met gala and then Taylor goes with tom but taylor says they played cat and mouse for a month or two or three and also “i thought you were leading me on”. i think tom was a contract that taylor had to get over with and she wasn’t expecting to meet joe. i think it’s entirely possible that she’s bi with a preference for women but joe was a rare and soft approachable theatre boi and she was surprised to fall for him but she did.

3. toe seems sus a bit because taylor tried to pass karlie songs off as being about joe but to me and others it seems clear that reputation has two muses - the messy chaotic sex muse, and the calm and chill london lover. once you do a bit of parsing you can see that the muse of dress (aside from the bridge), don’t blame me, so it goes..., and this is what you came for is about this heightened hookup situation, while songs like ciwyw and delicate and new years day are about a more chill and domestic situation.

4. when taylor said went to London in 2016 she really was in London, like they get spotted out organically by fans, they said she was with him at new years in 2016 and then photos of them together at new years surface, she’s with him all the time like ofc it’s possible they’re platonic bestie beards but i would just wonder who the London lover muse is that she’s writing about with songs like lover, peace, invisible string, lss, willow, etc etc. karlie and taylor are definitely not together so who is this peaceful, chill, and loving muse she’s writing about if not joe? if he’s covering for a mystery woman i would have no clue as to who that might be.

5. taylor’s first instinct with joe was literally to closet with him. they get together in September of 2016 and she hides him until June. i think it’s because as a queer person, taylor’s instinct was to hide her genuine relationship, even if she doesn’t need to. she treats joe like she treated dianna - no selfies, no posting to sm about one another, being very private and low key, not really referencing each other in public.

6. yes, taylor trots joe out for promo a bit - dark jeans and your nikes tease, yes that’s 100% obvious and obnoxious. but she and karlie mutually promoted one another too. like all the time. they promoted victoria’s secret together, karlie’s whole foods kookies, taylor’s music, karlie’s youtube channel, they called the paps on themselves plenty and karlie was a big part of taylor’s girl squad 1989 single image. i do not understand how on earth people see joe with taylor once every 17 months and scream PR PR PR but look at the height of kaylor from 2014-2016 where they were very obviously leveraging one another for press and say omg true love 😍you can leverage real connections for pr and taylor has done that with everyone from karlie to joe to katy perry.

7. most bi people do end up with people of the opposite gender, it’s a statistic reality. if taylor is anything other than a kinsey six you’d kind of almost expect her to end up with a man 🤷‍♀️

8. taylor’s writing music with him which makes me think they have a very real and genuine connection

i’m probably missing some stuff here and i’ll always remain open to joe being the world’s best beard covering for some mystery woman but at this point i just believe she’s really with joe given all the data i just laid out.

#that's my man x 13 #of interest #Anonymous

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mystic-kitten-writer · 4 years

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Spill the tea of how you and your man met 👀?

Oof- a solid six years ago, and there was some tea/drama involved...? It’s a weird story 😂

So, my Fiance is older than me by about two years because of the way our birthdays fall (atm he’s 25, and I’m 23). I was in my last year of high school, and he was finishing up college for an Electrical program (before he went to uni for English).

My Fiance and I share a mutual friend, and she always used to visit me and my friend during the day (we used to eat and play cards because we’re cool like that lol). During one of those said visits, she brought along, my now, Fiance.

I can’t emphasize this enough, the moment our eyes locked, we just knew.

I’m not going to lie, I’m a major flirt and tease - I can’t help it but let me tell you. My Fiance was not only able to handle my flirty advances, but he was also able to dish it, so you know your girl was interested.

We were literally flirting over the fact that I bought fries, and the ketchup packets I had were expired, and the fact that we bonded over expired ketchup was a mood.

We actually met on February 9th, 2014 (yes I know the date and he does to) and we were both smitten.

I was a bold ass bitch that day, and we held hands, I hugged him, he walked me to my class, and he called me that night, and we talked till 5 am (in fact, we talked every single night for the next three years before we moved in together. There were only two times during those three years were we never got to talk on the phone, but we sent each other goodnight texts).

Three days after we met, he asked me out and the rest is history.

I actually remember telling my sister that week I’m going to marry him and she laughed (at the time she was getting married) and said, and I quote, “Love at first sight doesn’t exist.” (whelp, she be damned).

Now the tea that comes with the story happens during those three days and after. Like I said before, it was my friend and me, plus my older friend who’d visit with my Fiance. But there was this other girl who used to sit with us.

Now, I didn’t particularly like her (we’ll call her...Rose) because she was very...out there? Rose used to always act like she was so experienced in dating and sex and stuff and it came off as super fake. But because none of her friends shared the same break as her, we invited her to hang out with us so she wasn’t alone.

What I didn’t know (only my older friends knew) was that Rose met my Fiance a month before I did. She met him once, tried to flirt, and my Fiance being nice, politely pushed her advances away, hoping she’d get the hint. Rose didn’t, and finally, he broke down and told her, ‘listen, I’m not looking for a relationship, I’m sorry.’

So as you can imagine to Rose’s surprise when we got together a month after he said he didn’t want a relationship.

Not once during the those three days when my Fiance and I were flirting did she tell me she was interested, in fact, she told me to go for it and stuff!

So after we started dating Rose started talking so much shit behind my back and saying how I’m a homewrecker and stuff and I swear- I tried very hard to channel my inner Aang and hold off from anger and stuff.

Truth be told, if I knew she liked him, I would’ve never gone for it - or I would’ve asked her first before I went with my Fiance. But she never told me, even my older friend who accidentally paired us together had no clue that Rose liked him because after he rejected her, she said, “I can find someone better.”

And till this day she’s still super salty about it.

Rose even dated a guy with the same name as my Fiance, same physical traits and background weeks after we first started dating. And she’d ‘accidentally’ text him really sexual things and apologize afterwards with the excuse of ‘I keep getting your numbers confused with my boyfriends because you share the same name.’ It was one of the few times my Fiance genuinely snapped and told Rose to delete his number off her phone because he doesn’t feel comfortable with her behaviour.

When Rose found out we got engaged she went on this whole rant on twitter and Instagram about how I ‘stole her man.’

Moral of the story, there’s a reason why I talk to no one from my high school anymore because they are crazy af.

#ask me anything #anon answered #about me #some tea has been spilled

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withnive · 3 years

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210730 니브(NIve)_namastehallyu Interview

EXCLUSIVE: Looking Through The ‘Broken Kaleidoscope’ of NIve

"It’s a pretty vulnerable expression of me – I almost feel naked letting 'Broken Kaleidoscope' go out to the world, but it’s very precious and personal to me." - NIve

Jisoo Park, also known as NIve, is a Korean-American singer-songwriter, and a renowned producer and composer.

NIve first appeared as Brian Park in the 2014 South Korean television talent show series, Superstar K 6 where he ended up in the Top 9. He was invited to attend the show as a contestant after his cover of John Legend’s All of Me went viral. NIve released his first single Getaway, featuring indie singer-songwriter JMSN, on November 9, 2018 and his official Korean debut song, Like a Fool, featuring Sam Kim, was released on April 2, 2020, which received great response in the domestic market. He also featured Heize on his track, 2Easy where the fans got to listen to two wonderful singers with exceptional vocals in one song.

NIve introduces himself as a singer, a songwriter, and a producer. He recalls how he chose his stage name and shares, “One day, I was trying to figure out a word or even a sound that represented me, and a sound similar to “Nive” popped up in my head. I looked up a bunch of words that felt similar, but nothing else felt quite right. I discovered that NIve means “being cool without having to say cool,” and I really related to that meaning on a personal level because I don’t think “cool” always has to mean what we think it does. Cool is whatever you want it to be, and I think we’re all the coolest when we’re being ourselves.” NIve as an artist is a singer-songwriter but he also goes by the name Jisoo Park of 153/Joombas when he produces or composes songs. With two different alias, we were curious if there were any differences when it comes to how he work or musicality, NIve shares that at the end of the day, they’re both him but the difference is the approach.

I write my own story as an artist, but I help to write another artist’s story as a songwriter. That completely changes the mindset and the style of music I write for myself versus for another artist. – NIve

As a producer, NIve has worked with many popular K-POP artists like EXO’s Chen, BTS, Jeong Se-Woon, Paul Kim, SF9, NCT U, and Super Junior. As a singer, Nlve is back with his debut EP, ‘Broken Kaleidoscope.’ Ahead of his debut album, NIve had earlier pre-released a single, ‘Escape.’

Befitting of the various hats that he wears, NIve wrote, composed, arranged, and produced the single, ‘Escape’, where he expresses his desire to escape and run away from an unrelenting reality. It is something which he hasn’t done before and hence, it did surprise his fans in a positive way. The pre-release single brings an element of hybrid pop rock song and we get to hear the driving guitars and bass lines which is accompanied by percussive elements and his vocals that bring a sense of uniqueness as well as a fun element to the song.

With ‘Escape’, NIve challenged himself in a way that it was nothing like the tracks that he had put out till date. The talented artist explains how ‘Escape’ was born as he shares, “I was going through a rough time and felt pretty hopeless for a little bit. Then one day I finally sat down and figured that the only way for me to get over this was to write music that expressed these thoughts in the most honest way possible. ‘Escape’ was one of the songs that expressed my feelings of restlessness and wanting to run away from overwhelming emotions. I didn’t exactly think “I’m going to write a pop-rock” style song, but as I kept writing the song, it just felt right”.

If ‘Escape’ surprised his fans, Nlve is now back with his debut EP ‘Broken Kaleidoscope’ which brings out more versatility. The album may have released few days back but fans are already familiar with some form of ‘Broken Kaleidoscope’ after all, the artist has shown his fans a peek of his life through his Instagram stories where he has penned down many things to “himself” and it has not only been an escape for him but has also been a source of comfort and strength to his fans. Perhaps that’s why it is not a surprise that his album has been named the way it is, Nlve however adds on, “The EP consists of five songs and each song takes on a different color, sound, and emotion, which is why I named the album “Broken Kaleidoscope”! It’s a pretty vulnerable expression of me – I almost feel naked letting this album go out to the world, but it’s very precious and personal to me.”

With ‘I’m Alive’, NIve sings, “Through the gray sky, even if the thorns fall, I’m gonna keep myself alive.” This maybe a new genre for him but the sound, the music, the symbolism, the visuals, the analogies in the MV has proved why this is one of his best works and what he meant, when he said that he felt vulnerable putting it out to the world.

NIve had shared in the past that his famous track ‘Who I am’, which is also the first song that he produced, is the projection of his life lessons and struggles. When talking about it, he added that to be where he is right now, he had to overcome all the self-doubt that had built-up over time, “All the things that made me question who I was as a person – those were the things I had to erase before I could move forward.”

As a Producer, NIve has been credited for co-producing, co-writing, and co-composing for the biggest names in the industry and have come up with tracks which has done well not only domestically but also internationally. He had also participated in the song ‘Blue and Grey’ sung by BTS, EXO Chen’s ‘Beautiful Goodbye’ and also composed ‘My Everything’ sung by NCT U for their album, NCT RESONANCE Pt. 2 – The 2nd Album. Although NIve loves all the songs that he has written with and for other artists, he shares that ‘Beautiful Goodbye’ by EXO’s Chen is one of the songs that he holds very close to his heart and among all the songs that he has released as part of his own discography, the artist says that if he had to recommend one song to someone who is just getting to know him, he would recommend ‘Tired’ as the first song!

NIve has achieved a lot in his journey but when he looks back at where he began, Nlve shares that although he vaguely remembers it, the first song that he ever produced was probably over 14 years ago. He however confesses that he can’t remember what exactly it sounded like, but the one thing he remembers is that he was inspired by an Australian singer named Delta Goodrem at that time.

Apart from creating music for different Korean artists and for himself, NIve has also recently produced a ballad OST, for the webtoon, ‘The Girl Downstairs’. Speaking about the collaboration, Nlve shares that, the other team reached out for a ballad, and they fortunately picked the one he wrote! He also adds that he haven’t really gotten into any web toons outside of the ones that he has written songs for but he would love to recommend a webtoon when he finds one that he really loves and hence, to look out for it.

If numbers are what decides popularity, NIve also has numbers to prove why he is one of the most celebrated artists. After all, when Spotify released their #2020artistwrapped last year, his songs were streamed in 92 countries and one of the top countries was India. NIve shares his reaction on it as he says, “It was honestly a huge surprise for me. I’m so glad my music was able to resonate with so many people in India. It’s a dream come true for me to receive so much love from people who come from such different places and backgrounds around the world.”

After we heard Nlves thoughts, as cliché as it might sound, we were curious to know if he had watched any Indian Movie or if there is an Indian singer whose work he admires. Nlve stated, “Although I am not too familiar with any Indian movies yet, but I’d love to get recommendations! I love watching films. I actually got to interact with Armaan Malik before. He had covered “Beautiful Goodbye” and posted it on his Instagram one day and my fans who know that I wrote the song ended up tagging me in it. I watched the video and he sang it so well, so I sent him a DM right away.” (After we heard this, we immediately began to channel a future collaboration between the two artist.)

Nlve further shared that the song he is currently listening is, To Let a Good Thing Die by Bruno Major and sent a message to his Indian fans and international fans and ended it with a promise.

“Thank you so much to everyone who has shown me love in India and everywhere else in the world! I’m so grateful for you all. You all motivate me to keep going and stay creative. I promise to always do my best to bring my best art to you. I can’t wait to meet you all in person soon.”

For Nlve, his ideal day is a Saturday and like many of us, the first thing he grabs when he leaves the house is his phone. He seems like any normal person but unlike some of us, NIve is happy with where he is and what he has done, and has no room to wish for things, as he shares that the song that he wishes he produced or sang is his next single. Although, he shares that the first song that he ever wrote will stay in his archive forever, he has shown some parts of his world through his music and recently, with ‘Broken Kaleidoscope’.

Nlve is not just a singer-songwriter/producer/composer, he is an artist in the truest sense. When we asked him to describe himself in one word, he replied, “Sentimental.” Perhaps that is one of the reason why we get to see his bare expressions and writings and this is why listeners can connect with his song. For Nlve, Music is Life and for his fans, his music definitely helps them get by it.

When we asked NIve what is the first thing that comes to his mind when he hears the word, ‘India’, he replied, “Vast and colorful” and that’s how we see his music as well – ‘Vast with different colors and elements – with a song for every mood.’

#nive #jisoo park #interview #broken kaleidoscope #1st mini album #article #singer #songwriter #composer #producer #musician #kpop #hybrid pop #global pop #music #multi instrumentalist #multitalented #solo #artist

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donqhox-blog · 6 years

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GOT7

⠀⠀⠀

GOT7 (갓세븐) is a 7-membered boygroup under JYP Entertainment. They debuted with the EP “Got It?” in January 2014.

Fandom: iGOT7.

Sub-groups: JJ Project.

Music video(s): Girls Girls Girls, A, Stop Stop It, Around The World, Just Right, If You Do, Confession Song, Love Train, Laugh Laugh Laugh, Fly, Hard Carry, No Jam, Sick, Prove It, Boom x3, Hey Yah, Never Ever, You Are, Sign, Paradise, To Me, Moon U, My Swagger, Turn Up, Look, Meet Me, THE New Era.

Social media: YouTube/YouTube/YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Website, vLive.

MARK — 마크

Birth name: Mark Yien Tuan.

Taiwanese name: Tuan Yien — 段宜恩.

Korean name: Dong Yieun — 동의은.

Birth date: September 4, 1993.

Birth place: Los Angeles, California, United States.

Nationality: American.

Descent: Taiwanese.

Blood type: A.

Height: 175 cm — 5′9″.

Weight: 59 kg — 130 lbs.

Sibling(s): Two older sisters — Tammy Chung & Grace Tuan, one younger brother — Joey Tuan.

Position: Rap, dance, visual.

Social media: Instagram, Twitter.

Training period: About 4 years.

Language(s): English, Korean, Japanese.

Education: Arcadia High School.

Favorite artist(s): Chris Brown, Drake, A$AP Rocky, Tyga.

Ideal type: A woman who makes him want to stay with her.

Drama appearances: “Dream Knight” (2015).

Lived in Brazil and Paraguay for a couple of years.

JB — 제이비

Birth name: Im Jaebum — 임재범.

Also known as: Def.

Birth date: January 5, 1994.

Birth place: Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea.

Nationality: South Korean.

Blood type: A.

Height: 179 cm — 5′10″.

Weight: 66 kg — 145 lbs.

Sibling(s): None.

Position: Leader, vocal, dance, center.

Social media: Instagram, SoundCloud.

Training period: About 5 years before debuting in GOT7, about 3 years before debuting in JJ Project.

Language(s): Korean, Japanese.

Education: Geonguk University, majoring in Film.

Favorite artists: Michael Jackson, India Arie, Javier.

Drama appearances: “Dream High 2″ (2012), “When A Man Falls In Love” (2013), “Dream Knight” (2015).

Collaborations: Bad Habit (with Jomalone), Sin (with Jomalone), Channel (with jeebanoff & Jomalone), New Dreaming (with Park Seojoon), Together (with Jiyeon), U&I (with fellow bandmember Jackson), Just Because (with Baek Ayeon), Hush (with Primary), Celebrate (with Jomalone & Yonko).

Soundtrack appearances: New Dreaming (with Park Seojoon), Together (with Jiyeon), Forever Love, U&I (with fellow bandmember Jackson), Rainy.

Ideal type: A cute girl who catches his attention.

JACKSON — 잭슨

Birth name: Wang Jiaer / Wang Kayee.

English name: Jackson Wang.

Birth date: March 28, 1994.

Birth place: Hong Kong, China.

Nationality: Chinese.

Blood type: O.

Height: 174 cm — 5′8″.

Weight: 63 kg — 139 lbs.

Sibling(s): One older brother.

Position: Rap, dance, vocal.

Social media: Instagram.

Training period: About 3 years.

Language(s): Chinese, English, Korean, Japanese.

Education: American International School.

Favorite artists: Dr. Dre, 50cent, Lloyd Banks.

Ideal type: Doesn’t have one, as long as they find themselves suitable with one another it’s good.

Collaborations: Mood (with Meng Jia), Bruce Lee (with Al Rocco), Frozen In Time (with Sunmi), Lucky Rain (with Tia Ray), Can’t Breathe (with Eddie Supa & Stan Sono), Fresh Sunday Theme Song (with He Jiong), Please (with He Jiong & the Go Fridge cast), U&I (with fellow bandmember JB).

Soundtrack appearances: Fresh Sunday Theme Song (with He Jiong), Please (with He Jiong & the Go Fridge cast), Go Fridge Season 3 Theme Song, Novoland: The Castle In The Sky, U&I (with fellow bandmember JB).

Drama appearances: “Dream Knight” (2015), “Producers” (2015, cameo).

CF appearances: Pizza Hut China, Pepsi China, Vivo Blue, Fendi China.

Awards: 8th SBS Entertainment Awards; Best Male Rookie Award - Variety, 16th Top Chinese Music Awards; The Most Loved Entertaining Couple (with He Jiong), Tencent Video Star Awards; Annual Variety Star Award, Weekly Idol Awards; Perfect Match (with J.Y. Park), 2016 Sina Weibo Night Awards; Popular Artist Of The Year, 2016 Weibo Star Award (Hong Kong); Popularity Award, Asian Music Gala; MTV Special Award, 14th Esquire Man At His Best Awards; Fashion Music Man Of The Year, NetEase Attitude Awards; Most Attitude Hip Hop Singer/Composer Of The Year, 2018 QiYi Scream Night; Song Of The Year, Tencent Video Star Awards; Breakthrough Singer Of The Year, Global Chinese Golden Chart Awards; The Most Popular Newcomer Of The Year.

Was a member of the Fencing National Team in Hong Kong.

Appeared on television show “Roommate” season 2.

Former member of a parody group called “Big Byung”.

Is the rap mentor on Chinese survival show “Idol Producer”.

Used to be the MC of Inkigayo, Go Fridge and Fresh Sunday.

JINYOUNG — 진영

Birth name: Park Jinyoung — 박진영.

Former stagename(s): Jr., Junior.

Birth date: September 22, 1994.

Birth place: Jinhae-gu, Changwon, Gyeongsang Province, South Korea.

Nationality: South Korean.

Blood type: O.

Height: 178 cm — 5′10″.

Weight: 63 kg — 139 lbs.

Sibling(s): Two older sisters.

Position: Vocal, dance, rap.

Social media: Instagram.

Training period: About 5 years before debuting with GOT7, about 3 years before debuting with JJ Project.

Language(s): Korean, Japanese.

Education: Kyunggi High School.

Favorite artists: Justin Timberlake.

Ideal type: A cute girl.

Soundtrack appearances: We Are The B (with Kang Sora, Jeong Jinwoon & Kim Jisoo).

Collaborations: We Are The B (with Kang Sora, Jeong Jinwoon & Kim Jisoo).

Drama appearances: “Dream High 2″ (2012), “When A Man Falls In Love” (2013), “Dream Knight” (2015), “This Is My Love” (2015), “Legend Of The Blue Sea” (2016), “Magic School” (2017).

Movie appearances: “A Stray Goat” (2017).

Was an MC for M! Countdown and Inkigayo.

YOUNGJAE — 영재

Birth name: Choi Youngjae — 최영재.

Also known as: Ars.

Birth date: September 17, 1996.

Birth place: Mokpo, Jeolla Province, South Korea.

Nationality: South Korean.

Blood type: B.

Height: 178 cm — 5′10″.

Weight: 64 kg — 141 lbs.

Sibling(s): One older brother, one older sister.

Position: Vocal.

Social media: Instagram, Twitter, SoundCloud.

Training period: About 1 year.

Language(s): Korean, Japanese.

Education: Seoul Korea Arts High School.

Favorite arists: Ellior Yamin, Javier.

Instrument(s): Piano.

Ideal type: A woman who is he naturally attached to.

Drama appearances: “Dream Knight” (2015).

BAMBAM — 뱀뱀

Birth name: Kunpimook Bhuwakul — กันต์พิมุกต์ ภูวกุล.

Birth date: May 2, 1997.

Birth place: Bangkok, Thailand.

Nationality: Thai.

Blood type: B.

Height: 178 cm — 5′10″.

Weight: 60 kg — 132 lbs.

Sibling(s): Two older brothers — Beer & Bank, one younger sister — Baby.

Position: Rap, dance.

Social media: Instagram, Twitter.

Training period: About 4 years.

Language(s): Thai, Korean, English, Japanese.

Favorite artists: G-Dragon.

Ideal type: A woman who is pretty when she smiles.

Drama appearances: “Dream Knight” (2015), “Don’t Dare To Dream” (2016, cameo).

Movie appearances: “Fairy Tale Killer” (2012).

His father passed away when he was very young.

Won the 1st place in a “Rain Cover Dance” competition in Thailand in 2007, also won 2nd place in the “LG Entertainer” competition in Thailand.

Has his own clothing line called “Double B”.

MC’ed for M! Countdown, Idol Battle Likes and K-Rush.

YUGYEOM — 유겸

Birth name: Kim Yugyeom — 김유겸.

Birth date: November 17, 1997.

Birth place: Seoul, South Korea.

Nationality: South Korean.

Blood type: A.

Height: 182 cm — 5′11″.

Weight: 64 kg — 141 lbs.

Sibling(s): One older brother.

Position: Dance, vocal, rap.

Social media: Instagram, Twitter, SoundCloud.

Training period: About 3 years.

Language(s): Korean, Japanese.

Ideal type: A girl with a wacky personality.

Favorite artists: Chris Brown.

Instrument(s): Piano.

Drama appearances: “Dream Knight” (2015).

Was raised in Saudi Arabia, later in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea.

Competed on dance show “Hit The Stage” and won 1st place (episode 10).

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death-byathousand-cuts · 6 years

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look what she made me do (more like look what i did for her)

recently there was a contest held in spain where the prize was getting to go to nyc to @taylorswift‘s fan event next weekend and i, obviously, being the taylor swift fan that i am, entered the competition. it consisted of tweeting a picture accompanied by some text demonstrating “how much you love taylor” and i was like,,, okay i’m gonna go all the way with this, props and all. guess that wasn’t original enough.

however, because i did put two whole days of crafting and painting and making tshirts and buying stuff, i’d like to try to get taylor to see this? which sounds crazy difficult bcs i don’t even know how tumblr works properly but hey!! worth a try. so here’s the translated text and pictures i took for the contest + some pics showing how i made all the props.

the first song i ever heard by taylor was love story back in 2009 and although i didn’t want to admit it to myself at the time, i was immediately in love. i listened to it all the time. however it wasn’t until that summer that i really got into her music. it was thanks to my best friend at the time who made me watch the you belong with me music video and i was Amazed and spent the rest of the night listening to more of her songs and wondering to myself why i hadn’t looked her up sooner. this is why the first picture i chose to recreate was a scene from the you belong with me music video, because it’s still to this day very special to me since it’s the song that got me into listening to more of her music.

(i know it looks like i’m 15 i’m actually 21 i Promise)

i remember that christmas my parents got me fearless and the self-titled album and i asked for the platinum album later because it had 5 extra new songs and i Needed to listen to them, obviously. later on, i got my hands on a fearless tour dvd but it was from the us and i could only play it on my laptop rip europe (still no regrets i love that dvd to Death i cry every time)

2010 came along and i was already Really Excited about it. summer 2010 brought mine along with it and i remember mtv became a public channel in spain then and they had a few months where they were just testing it or sth and they just played music videos on repeat and for a while mine was one of them and i got so excited every time i saw it bcs my baby was on tv!!! i knew that music video by heart. that is why i decided to recreate the mine music video, it reminds me of a great, happier and more wholesome time in my life and it has a very special place in my heart.

(i hate my face why am i doing this)

i remember when it was close to the speak now release date and i asked my dad to go to my closest city’s music shop to order my copy of the album (they were always late anyway). then on a friday my dad picked me up from high school and brought me to my city to pick up the album before lunch. i remember so vividly when i opened the album and i got so excited about reading the prologue and learning what speak now or forever hold your peace meant (i’m obviously not a native speaker of english but i’ve always been fascinated by language and i’m currently about to finish my english degree). that same afternoon i put it in the car and i fell in love with every song. to this day it’s still my favourite album.

in 2011 she came to Madrid on tour so i asked my parents to Please take me even though i live in barcelona. they couldn’t come with me and i was still a minor so there was no way for me to see her. i still remember that march 19th, crying my eyes out because i couldn’t be there. i hated the fact i couldn’t be there even more when i got the tour dvd and it became my favourite concert without having been there.

It was 2012 when she made a liveshow announcing the next album being called Red and the release date and she played some songs for us and it was So Nice. i have to confess I was a bit scared bcs the sound was a bit different from speak now, especially wanegbt and ikywt but no!!! my girl doesn’t disappoint and the album was a masterpiece and i loved it. as always i ordered it in my city’s music store and luckily for me i was studying in the same city this time so during our twenty minute recess a friend and i went to the store every day for a week to check if they already had the album (talk about doing exercise). i was so hyped when i finally got it!!! i couldn’t choose just one favourite moment from this era so i just recreated a promotional picture for RED.

she did another tour with RED which didn’t include spain so seeing her was again not an option since i was still a minor and my parents didn’t want to travel so far for a concert. i was so sad and i promised myself next time i’d do whatever it took to see her live. the good thing about this tour was me discovering ed sheeran who is now my favourite male artist (thanks taylor ily)

in 2014 i started my first year of university, i chose to study english studies because i was good at english in school (that’s probably thanks to taylor in a way, i learned a lot from her songs). i moved close to barcelona for uni and started living with other students near campus. that Big Change in my life was accompanied with 1989 coming out and this was the first time i could actually have the album the same day it came out!!! i made my roommate come with me to barcelona to get it and she didn’t really get why it was so important to get the album the same day it came out but she still didn’t judge me and i’m so thankful for that. (thanks bea ily)

after the album came out she did her taylurking and even though i hate taking pictures of me especially if you can see my face, (which is why this whole thing is a Big Deal for me, putting pictures of myself out there is not easy), i tried to take pictures with the album and the pictures that came along with it and see if i was lucky enough to get her to see my face. fortunately, i got pictures 1-13 and i decided to take a picture with the 13th polaroid as a wink to her bcs it’s her favourite number. it was around 7pm when i gave up and soon i got a notification of her liking my picture on Instagram and I was like,,, screaming and crying already bcs What The Fuck did taylor alison swift see my face and still like the picture??? I was Dead. then she tweeted it and i just lost it. that meant a Lot to me. that’s why for 1989 i’ve recreated the 13th polaroid included in the album.

taylor has been with me throughout my teens, during high school and all of university and i’m still here. i got so many memories of her throughout the years: listening to fifteen every year when the school year starts. doing a power point presentation on her even though it was supposed to be about my hobbies bcs listening to her music was practically the only thing i did lmao. listening to enchanted every time i meet an internet friend (some of whom i’ve met because of taylor, others have started listening to her after me insisting to give her a chance for Ages). listening to tied together with a smile when i feel down. reading twilight while listening to our song and the fallen series while listening to haunted. i remember listening to mary’s song (oh my my) for the first time and thinking it was the Purest, Most Beautiful song in the world. dance and sing in the shower with fearless and you belong with me. screaming the lyrics to the other side of the door and tell me why and should’ve said no. listening to breathe every time i have a fall out with someone. tweeting the last kiss lyrics every july 9th at 1:58. drawing a 13 on my hand constantly. listening to ours and falling in love with it, starting to listen to it in the mornings to start the day in a good mood. doing a heart with my hands whenever i go to concerts because that’s what i saw you do on tours (on dvds, sadly). i could go on and on.

i’m still here supporting, forever and always, and Ready for the new album and the new era that’s starting now. since we don’t have much material from this era yet, i’ve decided to recreate the gravestone in the look what you made me do music video and i put some snakes around it (a new symbol for this era) and the albums and dvds i own to symbolize the death of the old taylors as seen in the video.

it took me So Much Effort and Time to recreate all the pictures (buy the things i needed, make the ybwm tshirt myself with markers, make and paint the snakes, make the polaroid, the gravestone, and find places that more or less resembled the places where the original pictures were taken). i know i’m not a model and it’s not an exact recreation bcs there wasn’t much time to enter the contest but i hope all the details are appreciated and taken into account.

here are some pictures of me making the ybwm

here are some pictures of me making the tshirt taylor wears in the polaroid 13 (i didn’t have it so my sister drew me some birds and i put them on a tshirt I had and i wore a long sleeved white sweater underneath) and the making of the polaroid

here are some pictures of the snakes and the gravestone

after all this effort and time i still couldn’t get to win the contest and meet you in nyc next weekend @taylorswift but i hope you’ll see this and know how much i love you bcs i’m telling you i wouldn’t craft that much for anyone else lmao i usually suck at this. i truly tried my best this time and i’m devastated that even though i tried so hard my hard work didn’t pay off but i hope you come on tour to europe and i get to see you this time around, i’m already saving for the rep tour.

love love love

monica

(@taylorsplatt13 and @hopefulhowell on twitter)

@taylornation @tree-paine pls help me?

#taylor swift #reputation #1989 #red #speak now #fearless #you belong with me #mine #look what you made me do #taylurking #how do you even tag #pls help me make taylor see this

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sonicawareness · 5 years

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The Best Albums of 2018

This is a list of the 20 best records to come out in 2018, with “essential songs” from each album. This Best Of list was created after listening to more than 2000 new records, spanning quite a few genres and styles.

Nothing beats actually listening, though, so don’t just read! Follow and listen to a curated Spotify playlist containing all of these songs!

https://open.spotify.com/user/acax1985/playlist/7jmZc5avWiCd7y9MiXPeTh?si=wtsj8sKDTvas9lKy8cdXwA

And now the list!

20 – 11) Ten Honorable Mentions – Listed Alphabetically with an “Essential Song”

Alison Wonderland – Awake (“Happy Place”)

BROCKHAMPTON – iridescence (“NEW ORLEANS”)

Bun B – Return of the Trill (“Myself”)

Dashboard Confessional – Crooked Shadows (“Just What to Say”)

Eminem – Kamikaze (“The Ringer”)

Panic! at the Disco – Pray for the Wicked (“(Fuck A) Silver Lining”)

Punchline – LION (“Friend from the Future”)

Saves the Day – 9 (“Side by Side”)

Thrice – Palms (“Only Us”)

Vince Staples – FM! (“FUN!”)

10) The Knocks – New York Narcotic

New York Narcotic is a fantastic collection of hip-hop infused indie pop songs featuring performances from the likes of Foster the People, Big Boi, and Sofi Tukker, among others. The album’s highlights often come from bringing in outside talent, but the funky duo known as The Knocks stand tall on their own, too.

Essential songs: “Ride or Die”, “Brazilian Soul”, “Shades”

9) CHVRCHES – Love is Dead / Out of My Head

The third full-length CHVRCHES record is unquestionably driven by the unique vocal prowess of frontwoman Lauren Mayberry whose enormous choruses soar over the trio’s signature electronic compositions. While Loves is Dead is instrumentally sound, its Mayberry’s hooks and cadences that transform these songs from “good” to “great” at every turn.

Essential songs: “Out of My Head”, “Graffiti”, “Get Out”

8) Elohim – Elohim

Elohim is a delicate, entrancing world of electronic sounds and haunting vocals. Unexpected, quirky earworms frequently emerge throughout its 43-minute runtime, revealing themselves at surprising moments that are otherwise surrounded by walls of atmospheric noise and rhythm.

Essential songs: “Half Love”, “Hallucinating”, “Fuck Your Money”

7) Ballyhoo! – Detonate

For a good time, look no further than the energetic Detonate. Fusing the most pleasing blend of punk and reggae in recent memory, the Maryland natives successfully follow-up one of the best albums of 2017 (girls.) with a slight stylistic shift to get heavier than ever while retaining their playful charm. Detonate is an essential summer soundtrack.

Essential songs: “I Don’t Wanna Go”, “Maryland Summer”, “Riddled with Bullets”

6) Turnstile – Time & Space

Like temporal time and secular space, the second full-length album from Turnstile both is and is not. Overwrought with contradiction, the 25-minute album is both pure chaos and elegant beauty, perhaps exemplified by the airy “Bomb” interlude that quickly makes way for the foreboding “I Don’t Wanna Be Blind”. Stylistically grounded in hardcore punk, Time & Space is both simple and complex, an album that will either alienate or appease.

Essential songs: “Generator”, “I Don’t Wanna Be Blind”, “Big Smile”

5) Underoath – Erase Me

Erase Me is the best heavy record of 2018, a menacing, cohesive assault that wastes no time kicking things into gear with the appropriately titled lead-off, “It Has to Start Somewhere”. Imbued with the signature synthesizer-laced sound that Underoath helped pioneer more than a decade ago, the Florida sextet delivers wave after wave of a punishing metalcore / post-hardcore hybrid songs that live and breathe through dark, atmospheric tension.

Essential songs: “It Has to Start Somewhere”, “On My Teeth”, “ihateit”

4) Kero Kero Bonito – Time ‘n’ Place / TOTEP

The third full-length record from England’s Kero Kero Bonito refashions an idiosyncratic sound that the trio invented in 2014 (Intro Bonito) and perfected in 2016 (Bonito Generation), introducing fuzzy rock instrumentation into their quirky pop blend. Album highlight “Only Acting” epitomizes this reinvention, perfectly balancing the KKB’s uncanny ability to craft, re-craft, and deconstruct genres at will.

Essential songs: “Only Acting”, “If I’d Known”, “The One True Path”

3) Sofi Tukker – Treehouse

“I don’t give a fuck about they!” exclaims Sophie Hawley-Weld on the aptly titled lead-off, “Fuck They”, before Tucker Halpern’s pounding, jungle-driven rhythms take over and introduce the insatiable energy fueling Treehouse. Frequently channeling their worldly experiences and backgrounds, several songs feature extended Portuguese verses and choruses (often adapted from Brazilian literature), and the energetic “Energia” is entirely in Portuguese. Regardless of its lingual delivery, most of Treehouse consists of immediately danceable, instantly enjoyable songs that make for the perfect soundtrack to a bright, summer day.

Essential songs: “Fuck They”, “Energia”, “Batshit”

2) Poppy – Am I a Girl?

The sophomore effort from Poppy continues to expand the horizons of her indescribably bizarre and eccentric musical landscape. Genres – and perhaps genders (“Am I a Girl”?) and likely lifeforms (“Time Is Up”, “Hard Feelings”) – bend to their limits and frequently break, snapping to unveil the next inexplicable moment on Am I a Girl?. Throughout its 39-minute runtime, the only constants are truly masterful production and Poppy’s sugar-coated voice. Despite being exceptionally catchy, Am I a Girl? is not an immediately digestible album, and it may take more than a few listens to fall under its inevitable spell. When it finally clicks, however, there’s an entire world of introspective lyrics and all-too-important criticisms of humanity to explore.

Essential songs: “Play Destroy”, “X”, “Girls in Bikinis”

1) Logic – Bobby Tarantino II / YSIV

The best album of 2018 comes from Sir Robert Bryson Hall II, professionally known and credited as Logic, but performed as a mixtape by his alter-ego “Bobby Tarantino”. This follow-up to 2017’s Everybody (and more directly, 2016’s Bobby Tarantino) is masterfully crafted and packed with more than 40 minutes of the best hip-hop beats to drop in 2018. Logic annihilates each song with braggadocious bar after braggadocious bar, creating a hype-filled world of positive energy. As expressed by Rick Sanchez during the album’s introductory track, “Grandpa’s Spaceship”, this is a mixtape of “ATL style club rap” for when you are “in the mood to turn shit up”.

Essential songs: “Everyday”, “Overnight”, “Contra”

SonicAwareness.net Best Albums of 2018

Top 10 Albums

Logic – Bobby Tarantino II / YSIV

Poppy – Am I a Girl?

Sofi Tukker – Treehouse

Kero Kero Bonito – Time ‘n’ Place / TOTEP

Underoath – Erase Me

Turnstile – Time & Space

Ballyhoo! – Detonate

Elohim – Elohim

CHVRCHES – Love is Dead / Out of My Head

The Knocks – New York Narcotic

10 Honorable Mentions

Alison Wonderland – Awake

BROCKHAMPTON – iridescence

Bun B – Return of the Trill

Dashboard Confessional – Crooked Shadows

Eminem – Kamikaze

Panic! at the Disco – Pray for the Wicked

Punchline – LION

Saves the Day – 9

Thrice – Palms

Vince Staples – FM!

#2018 #best albums of 2018 #best albums #best albums of the year #albums of the year #albums of 2018 #album of the year

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sandigirl-blog1 · 7 years

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‘Girl of the Month’: Courtney George

This month, we sat down with Courtney George - dedicated yogi, Reiki I certified healer, and Sandi’s newest #girlcrush. Originally from Massachusetts (and our hometown!), Courtney has been local to San Diego for about 2 years now. Driven by an innate desire to teach, share, and create, she lives a busy, adventurous lifestyle searching for new ways to expand her awareness and better the world. She is on a beautiful journey to create the life she wants for herself. Courtney embodies the very essence of a ‘Sandi Girl’, and we’re very proud to call her our friend.

Why did you decide to make the move from Massachusetts to San Diego?

I graduated from college in December 2014, then continued living in Amherst, MA for 6 more months to save up some money. My original plan for my funds was to do my 200 hour yoga teacher training in Costa Rica, and go from there. However, that same year in May, my best friend, Emma, graduated college as well. We were going through some big changes in our lives and decided to just send it to San Diego. We made the decision - and about 6 weeks later we picked up our whole lives and drove 3,000 miles across country, with no jobs, no housing, and no plans. It was quite liberating!

What do you love most about living in SD?

The lifestyle is an absolute dream come true. I love being able to bike everywhere (to work, the grocery store, yoga, the beach, etc.), endless yoga studio options, the community, the variety of delicious food options, and that there is always something to do/somewhere to explore.

What is currently on your iTunes playlist?

My Spotify is broken into different types of yoga playlists (Lyft, Sculpt, Vinyasa, Yin, etc.) so it’s honestly a whole mixture of juicy goodness. It ranges from Rap/Hip Hop, Heavy Dub/Trap, Trance-y Electronic..to Wah! and even some chanting. It really depends what I feel like flowing / biking to; every day is different. I am heavily influenced by music, it can completely alter my mood.

How long have you practiced yoga? Why do you practice, and what are your future plans for your practice?

I’ve been practicing yoga for about 5 years now. I took a semester off from college when I was 20 years old and moved back to Massachusetts from North Carolina. It was during my time home that I really felt the mind, body, and spiritual benefits from yoga. Gillian Gorman, owner of Radiance Yoga (Pittsfield, MA), is an inspirational teacher who really shined the light for me. Ever since then, I have incorporated yoga into my daily life, its magical.

I practice to silence my mind. I’m a very type A person so my mind is always running and thinking about a thousand things at once. Yoga allows me to address my mind state, and begin to quiet it. It’s a profound mind-body experience; it’s truly empowering. Yoga is more than being flexible. It essentially helps to strengthen qualities you want, like calmness or acceptance, and weaken ones you don’t, like judgment or criticism. You really become aware of the qualities and thoughts that you are feeding, and then, with that awareness, you begin to question “do I want to feed this or not?” We practice yoga to cultivate awareness, like awareness is a muscle, because it is.

My future plans for yoga is to do my 300 hour teacher training in India. I want to learn the truest roots of real Yoga.

What is your favorite healthy snack?

Sugar Snap Peas & Garlic Hummus / Bitchin’ Sauce (whichever ones in my fridge), a Beaming Bite from Beaming Organic Superfood Cafe, or a Perfect Bar.

Can you tell us a little about Reiki and its healing benefits?

Ah, the power of Reiki, it’s hard to put into words but I’ll try! Reiki is the higher self’s connection to the universal energy that breathes life into all living things; it is encoded into our genetic make-up. Reiki is holistic; it works on the body, mind, and spirit by stimulating a person’s own natural healing abilities. When a child, for instance, falls and hurts their knee, instinctively they place their hand on the sore spot and the pain is relieved as they unconsciously work with this energy to heal themselves. Likewise, a parent will kiss their child’s hurt or injured limb and place their hand on top. Unknowingly, both the parent and the child are working unconsciously with this healing energy. The parent sending and channeling the energy, the child receiving and drawing the energy. Does that make sense? I could go on forever about it. It is something I highly recommend everyone to experience and ideally get attuned. A full Reiki treatment reopens the chakras and re-balances the flow of the universal life force around the body.

Who have some of your biggest influencers been in regards to your Yoga & Reiki path since living in San Diego?

Definitely my sister, Alisha Hawrylyszyn Frank, Christina Chambers, Desiree Crossman and Hailey Young (my 200 hr teachers). Everyone from my 200 hr and Sculpt TT honestly. Such an incredible group of people I’ve been blessed to practice, teach, and learn with. My best friend, Paige Demerer, Whit Helena, and all of Buddhi Yoga, Reach Yoga and CorePower Yoga’s teachers and community.

What is your morning ritual?

I’ve been working on waking up early. I had a yoga teacher/workout enthusiast tell me, “no one is a morning person, you just have to fucking get up”. I know it sounds simple, but most mornings I wake up and question whether I want to sleep just a little bit longer. It can be a battle. I don’t give in, I make myself get up, stretch, drink water, and listen to “Unbroken” - it’s a motivational speech video that can be found on YouTube. Then I’m off to a yoga class, whether it be an ass kicking sculpt class or a vinyasa slow flow (or both).

What are the three main philosophies you live by?

1. Life’s about finding a balance.

Whenever you label yourself as something or another, it restricts you a whole lot. I focus on what ignites my being. Sometimes that’s green juices, tea, a good book and then going to bed early. And other times, it could be eating tacos, drinking tequila, and staying up all night partying with friends. It’s your life, do whatever makes YOU happy.

2. We are far more powerful than we believe.

Physically, Mentally, Emotionally, and Spiritually - and I think we all need to recognize that in order to grow.

3. Trust your intuition.

As Steve Jobs said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever - because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path and that will make all the difference.”

What are you currently reading?

Tools of Titan by Timothy Ferris and Journey into Power by Baron Baptiste (again).

What is the greatest piece of advice you have received and by whom did you receive it?

Bryan Kest held a workshop at Buddhi Yoga a few weeks ago, he was laying down all sorts of advice. A few quotes that stood out to me would be..

“You have to discover yourself every fucking day, because you change every fucking second.”

“There’s people out there who aren’t going to fit what you want them to do. You judging them is only poisoning yourself.”

“Whatever you are attached to will be taken away from you, the more attached you are, the more you suffer.”

“People bring their shit to yoga and turn yoga into shit.” To elaborate more, Kest was saying how countless amount of people show up to yoga and bring all their baggage with them onto the mat and throughout the practice. That is literally the opposite of yoga. The point of yoga is to stop the movement of your mind. The only thing one should focus on is their breath.

What do you have booked for future travels?

So far, I’m going to enjoy a nice little vacation in Cabo, Mexico soon. Hitting up Tahoe for spring skiing and then I’ll be heading back home to MA for the summer. I booked a one-way ticket to Bangkok in October with my girl, Ali Birnbaum. From there, we are going to backpack SE Asia, Australia and New Zealand. We have a ton of spots and goals we want to conquer, but we’re definitely going with the flow for most of it. It’s going to be an unreal trip that I’m incredibly grateful I get to experience. I’m really looking forward to it!

Follow Court’s moves and future travels on Instagram! @courtneylgeorge

XOXO

#girlofthemonth #interview #reiki #yoga #sandiego #travel

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amazing-freakin-grace · 7 years

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Creation

I am supposed to be doing actual work right now but I want to take a hot minute to talk about my revelation of the week and what it means for me as someone who seeks creative outlet.

I have a reputation of producing ridiculous volumes of very poor writing and that is something that has been very consistent throughout my life. My two favorite genres are historical fiction and magical realism; when I was a teenager, these two often tended to collide in the form of bizarre coming-of-age tales normally set in rural Europe. This is a story about one of those, I guess. I was probably somewhere between the ages of thirteen and sixteen during the time that I wrote this one, but it was a ‘young adult’ sort of novel about some high school and college students in a rural area of Belgium who are childishly obsessed with the resistance against the Nazis in the latter bit of World War II. They have a really naïve view of what resistance is and what it means to go against fascist rule...which is ultimately their downfall. One of the most important, if not the most important, scenes in that entire story is about halfway through. These kids are camping in an abandoned apartment over a bakery that has been gutted by the German army and they end up spending the night there. They’ve lit a fire and fallen asleep with it going in the hearth; one of the kids wakes up in the middle of the night and the fire is dying but it’s not out all of the way and he’s looking at his friends, who are all still dead asleep. He’s studying the way that they’re sprawled across overstuffed couches and folded up into corners and curling up on the seats of chairs like bizarre cats; he’s studying their features and comparing them to the men and women that they hold up as heroes—and he’s realizing that while the heart is there, the maturity and the sense and the strength is not. They’re all just stupid kids and they are going to get hurt. He resolves to say something to them in the morning before they sit down to plan how they’re going to blow up the nearby Nazi supply route. He doesn’t get that far. He falls back asleep. In the morning, he doesn’t remember waking in the night. He doesn’t remember that he should tell his friends that they need to stop. They don’t stop. Things go southward quickly for everyone. I first conceived of that scene, like, almost ten years ago. It’s probably the most important part of the entire story, so you would think that in ten years I would have the ability to get it done. I haven’t. The scene’s been done over and over again, but it’s never satisfactory. I am unable to figure out how to cram the enormity of the emotions in that scene into just a page or two--in every version, something is missing in either the tone or the setting or the features of the protagonist’s heroes (or his friends). I can try endlessly but with the lesser degree of talent that I have, there is little to no chance that I can make everyone see what I see or feel what I feel. That scene with the kids in the attic apartment in the middle of the night--it’s stuck inside of me and it can’t come out through any channel that I am able to communicate through. For all intents and purposes, it’s basically lost and will die with me. Now, let’s shift gears and talk about what I have discovered in the last week or two. The other day I was at work and I was on the telephone being chewed out by a client that I do not particularly care for. He’s very neurotic and temperamental...exceedingly difficult to get off of the damn telephone. While I was trying to rid myself of him, I was doodling because I have found that the easiest way to keep his mood from souring is to just not engage with him. I have a really active universe living inside of my head since early 2014 or so; it’s what I can only describe as an alternate history timeline of what may have happened to Thoroughbred horse racing if American Pharoah had not won the Triple Crown. It has an enormous cast of characters who are affected by a variety of social issues in east-central Kentucky: heroin, immigration, money laundering, animal rights (or lack thereof), Thoroughbred aftercare, petty theft, government corruption...I would like to think that it’s kind of like The Wire, but with fast ponies. One of the main three characters is this Irish immigrant in her early twenties and she isn’t a character that I particularly like, since she is really happy and chatty, but her story line is one of my favorites because I am a sucker for ‘growing into yourself’ plots. I’ve never drawn anyone from this universe before and I’m probably not about to start doing it regularly since I can’t actually draw that well, but as I was on the phone with this jack wagon I somehow managed to sketch out this Irish girl in a couple of minutes and it was one of the most bizarre experiences of my creative life. I’ve drawn characters from other stories and horses and landscapes before but this--this girl went from being something that I would probably end up taking to my grave to suddenly being right there in front me...looking exactly how I always thought that she would look. She is not lost to history. She is not going to die with me. She is not impossible to articulate. She’s right in that notebook, in my bedroom, and you can look at her and you can see how she braids her hair and how she smiles and how big her eyes are. You can tell that she is a happy person. You can tell how old she is and how she visibly expresses emotions and wears her soul on her sleeve. You can look at her exactly how I look at her--how I want you to look at her. Art is a ridiculously powerful medium and I wish that I was better at it--and I wish that it wasn’t dying out as a thing that people spend their money and their time on. It communicates tone, expression, feeling, and appearance in a way that people with limited ability sometimes struggle to via text. It’s a tool that anyone can use and it’s almost free.

#art #personal #text

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afoolsingenuity · 7 years

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Bite Sized Books // Three Romances I’ve Enjoyed Lately

It’s been a while since I wrote up a collection of reviews and I’ve read a handful of romances lately that I want to talk about. apart from a bit of romance they really have nothing in common but that’s ok. I mean, who doesn’t love a good romance? One was a brilliant historical romance which I sort of wasn’t in the mood for it. One was a sports romance which kept making me think of X-Men. And one was a contemporary romance I went in wary and came out loving.

Silk is for Seduction (the Dressmakers #1) – Loretta Chase

Published: 17th January 2014 Source: Library Genre: Historical Romance My Rating:

From the Design Book of Marcelline Noirot: The allure of the perfect gown should be twofold: ladies would die to wear it . . .and gentlemen would kill to remove it!

Brilliant and ambitious dressmaker Marcelline Noirot is London's rising star. And who better to benefit from her talent than the worst-dressed lady in the ton, the Duke of Clevedon's intended bride? Winning the future duchess's patronage means prestige and fortune for Marcelline and her sisters. To get to the lady, though, Marcelline must win over Clevedon, whose standards are as high as his morals are . . . not.

The prize seems well worth the risk—but this time Marcelline's met her match. Clevedon can design a seduction as irresistible as her dresses; and what begins as a flicker of desire between two of the most passionately stubborn charmers in London soon ignites into a delicious inferno . . .and a blazing scandal.

And now both their futures hang by an exquisite thread of silk . . .

This book wasn't what I fancied reading when I started it. I had just finished another book which overwhelmed me with its stunning writing and I was lost but I fancied romance, I just don't think it was a romance of the historical variety I fancied. The writing in this book and the spark between Clevedon and Marcelline was amazing. And once they had returned to England and still Clevedon found himself drawn to Marcelline, that was the point I became truly invested. Especially as glimpses of his past came up and the way he was with Lucie, Marcelline's daughter, well my heart just melted.

This was a little different to the other historical romance I've read so far (I am still not well read in this genre) as Marcelline is a working woman. She was a dressmaker and so she gained access to the elite in society as she clothed them but was never a part of their world either. She is the greatest modiste in the world and she has excellent taste. She has not yet been recognised by many in society for her skill (people don't like trying new things) but her quest to woo the Duke of Clevedon, to entice him to bring his future Duchess to shop with her is her first step on being recognised by all. The only problem is she is more interested in Clevedon that she should be and he has fallen in lust with her.

The sparks flying between the two were amazing and as they spent more time together I found my interest picking up in the book. They were obviously meant to be but you could tell there was more to both than they were letting on. The twists and turns of their relationship were great but as I said, it was Clevedon with Lucie which did it for me, he was adorable and she was amazing. She deserves her own book she had me in stitches.

I wasn't totally swept away in the romance. I was not in the right mood for this but it was so very enjoyable and I'm glad I picked up a copy.

Irresistible You (Chicago Rebels #1) – Kate Meader

Published: 14th August 2017

Source: Bought

Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Sports Romance

My Rating:

Hot in Chicago series author Kate Meader returns with her all new, scorching Chicago Rebels hockey series, featuring her signature “steamy sex scenes, colorful characters, and riveting dialogue” (Romantic Times). Three estranged sisters inherit their late father’s failing hockey franchise and are forced to confront a man’s world, their family’s demons, and the battle-hardened ice warriors skating into their hearts. Harper Chase has just become the most powerful woman in the NHL after the death of her father Clifford Chase, maverick owner of the Chicago Rebels. But the team is a hot mess—underfunded, overweight, and close to tapping out of the league. Hell-bent on turning the luckless franchise around, Harper won’t let anything stand in her way. Not her gender, not her sisters, and especially not a veteran player with an attitude problem and a smoldering gaze designed to melt her ice-compacted defenses. Veteran center Remy “Jinx” DuPre is on the downside of a career that’s seen him win big sponsorships, fans’ hearts, and more than a few notches on his stick. Only one goal has eluded him: the Stanley Cup. Sure, he’s been labeled as the unluckiest guy in the league, but with his recent streak of good play, he knows this is his year. So why the hell is he being shunted off to a failing hockey franchise run by a ball-buster in heels? And is she seriously expecting him to lead her band of misfit losers to a coveted spot in the playoffs? He’d have a better chance of leading Harper on a merry skate to his bed…

First of all, Remy DuPre? He gave me full on Remy Lebeau vibes you don't even know. All I could think was X men and I felt bad about that as it did take me out of the story at first. Come on, he's name is Remy and he's a Cajun from New Orleans, who could blame me? About 20% in I was pretty solidly invested, though.

I wasn't Harper's biggest fan when I began reading. It wasn't that she was a driven woman who was focused on a single path, it was the fact she was focused and had blinders on. She was so closed off she was unwilling to rely on anyone else. Meader did an excellent job of explaining the independent streak Meader had going and Harper did grow on me but I still wanted her to reach her final realisations for sooner. It was a good kind of frustration, at least. And I had huge respect for what she did when she had been continually beaten down by a father who did not respect her brilliance and accept his own flaws.

As for Remy, everyone loves a passionate man, especially when he is a sexy hockey player who respects women and isn't afraid to talk about his feelings. And he's a musician as well? Don't mind me, I'm just swooning here.

The chemistry between Harper and Remy? Well, hot damn this book is on fire in that department. I loved them together, they were so good together and you could see sparks before they even had a proper conversation. I loved seeing them getting together and they were brilliant.

I also loved the family feels with the sisters together. I have high hopes for more family time with Harper, Violet and Isobel. Those girls will be hilarious together, I can see it now. Also, the DuPre family feels were good, too. Got to love a big family and Remy was so adorable with his nieces.

East In Paradise (Journey to the Heart #2) – Tif Marcelo

Published: 4th September 2017 Source: Netgalley Genre: Contemporary, Romance My Rating:

When an entrepreneur and an Army reservist end up in their own reality show fauxmance, they have to decide whether their love exists just for the cameras...or if it’s for real in this warmhearted romance, perfect for foodies and wine lovers!

Bryn Aquino, the former manager of a Filipino restaurant, knows the value of hard work. With a shiny new MBA in tow and an investor, she’s ready to start her own business: a culinary retreat where visitors can relax, cook, and enjoy life’s simple pleasures. Dubbed Paraiso Retreats, she leases the childhood home of army reservist Mitchell Dunford—who returned from Afghanistan to revive his family’s vineyard—but finds herself in a bind when her investor pulls out of the business.

When the retreat catches an internet live stream producer’s eye through social media channels, Bryn is offered the opportunity of a lifetime—to document her journey in exchange for a hefty paycheck. Excited, Bryn happily agrees to the arrangement...only to find out that she’s going to have to fake an onscreen romance with her indifferent landlord in order to keep her audience interested.

As Mitchell and Bryn put on a show for the cameras, they find their romance isn’t hard to fake. They’ve got more in common under their bluster, banter, and doubts. As their relationship heats up and the cameras keep rolling, the line between show and reality blurs. And when the pressures of family, business, and the audience stack against them, will their romance survive internet stardom? Or was it just for show?

I had my doubts with this one. I'd seen Nick saying she wasn't Bryn's biggest fan because she was mean so I went in with a couple of reservations. At first, I agreed, Bryn was mean and quick to judge when she didn't know everything. She wasn't willing to let folks close to her and needed control. And then Mitch looked like he was going to grow closer to Bryn with this livestream and not mention his ulterior motives and when he cared for her. I should've known there was no need to be worried. Did North To You teach me nothing? Marcelo knows what she's doing.

Mitch and Bryn were very different and they didn't get off to the best start. He did spill his coffee all down her and then he ended up being her landlord. There were sparks from the start, though. No one is that bothered by someone and doesn't have an interest in them.

Mitch was the easier character to like. He was a war veteran and suffering from insomnia and PTSD. He had things mostly under control and he was working to make his family's vineyard a success once more. He was a genuinely nice guy and he was so easy to fall in love. Bryn was not. She was harsh in North To You but in this, her determined personality shone through. She was focused and independent and that did make me like her but, like Mitch, I had to get past those walls she built to see what she was really like. Once she released a bit and got to know Mitch that was one I really started to like her.

There were several ups and downs in this book. I really enjoyed it, though. I also loved that it was a fake relationship book, except that it wasn't a fake relationship. They were taking a fake relationship and that was a good twist on a common (and far-fetched) trope.

And there you have it, three romances which I enjoyed (even if I wasn’t in the mood for one). Have you read any of these, what did you think? And what’s the best romance you’ve read lately?

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tinymixtapes · 7 years

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Music Review: Chief Keef - Two Zero One Seven

Chief Keef Two Zero One Seven [Self-Released; 2017] Rating: 3/5 “A Nietzchean ‘aphorism’ is not a mere fragment, a morsel of thought: it is a proposition which only makes sense in relation to the state of forces that it expresses, and which changes sense, which must change sense, according to the new forces which it is ‘capable’ (has the power) of attracting.” – Gilles Deleuze, Nietzsche and Philosophy “Y’all got questions/ I can’t answer.” – Chief Keef, “Fix That” To still be a devoted Chief Keef listener in 2017 is to be an ecologist. That is, it is to search for meaning within something that has zero interest in you and the meaning you seek. Said meaning emanates as a force rather than as a story: I’m still here, inscrutably thriving. This audience-facing ambivalence is precisely what allows Keef’s work to slice through the over-narrated and perception-managed ether of the present moment. Sosa’s early work in part made possible the realization of hip-hop’s contemporary dominance, yet his response to this insider status has been to become an insider-as-outsider, disavowing industry-oriented success in favor of attenuating every aspect of his work to an intuited vibe, expressed through the cultivation of a self-contained aesthetic universe. “Sosa what’s your goals? I don’t really know.” This blunted disposition has pervaded every aspect of Sosa’s work throughout the last three or so years: distribution method, vocal delivery, production, visual brand. The cartoonish, darkly humorous visual contributions of artists like Bill Da Butcher and Casimir Spaulding have spurred Keef’s vision to evolve beyond early Glory Boyz Entertainment and 300 imagery to the more disturbed GloGang look, which fashions a profane iconography from the various symbols and characters in the Sosa universe. Marred by the loss of two GBE associates over the past few years – one a cousin and another a best friend and day-one – this religious symbology has taken on a eulogistic quality. “The life I’m livin’ rough/ I’m tryin’ not to cuss.” Keef’s musical output has followed a similar fall from grace, concurrent with a liberation. Following the ascendant jolt of 2012’s hit-heavy Finally Rich (Interscope), Keef has refused to follow all industry-prescribed guidelines for role-playing, brand-building, and hype-cycle timing. His unilateral aversion to compromised vision has lost him a major label contract and countless opportunities to cash in, but it has resulted in something far rarer and more valuable: an artist capable of both developing an aesthetic in 360 degrees with total independence and circumventing the aesthetic conformity of whatever cultural moment he occupies. Leaked tracks and scrapped mixtapes with botched mastering set an intention approaching process art. Lyrical non-sequiturs and abusive autotune experimentation engender a poetics unto itself that calibrates the listener to its own internal symbolic structure rather and rebukes a priori modalities of listening. To be a Chief Keef listener is to learn a style of understanding and to see a new world in the process. It is also a refusal of quotidian values, a hovering between life and death. “When I look in the mirror/ Sometimes I see a demon.” This suspended mode of production has produced works clumsy, “unlistenable,” and downright ignored, but it has also yielded some of the most singular art of the decade. Most of my favorite Chief Keef tracks, the Xan-cauterized, terminally zoned-out fare circa 2014, are loosies that I don’t know if he even intended to release. Back From The Dead 2 and Sorry 4 The Weight are both self-contained masterworks in their own right despite reaching a limited audience. The sprawling, self-taught anti-production of the former approached a bizarre 21st-century gothic, uncompromisingly severe in its bleak treatment of FL Studio cellos and cavernous white spaces between bars, over which Keef perfected the snarling mid-career delivery most popularly witnessed on surprise 2014 sleeper hit “Faneto.” “I remember when the big homies used to shit on me.” By comparison, Two Zero One Seven is nowhere near as austere or single minded in vision, relatively soft-spoken in delivery even when channeling anger or pomp. Half self-produced, while the other half falls to Lex Luger (whose currency in 2017 is inscribed by absence, his continued influence looming larger than his actual presence on the scene), the tape’s unhinged, unmastered atmosphere congeals via Sosa’s opaque, deadpan eulogies to ascent, struggle, loss, and empty celebration. While he claims to be charged up, the deflated quality of his voice and repeated impenetrably dark lyrical twists betray that he is drained, morose, and disaffected, even during the relatively melodic and bouncy numbers. “You can put me in detox/ Don’t think I’m staying sober/ Jump in front of this metro train and get ran over.” Keef-produced standout “Knock It Off,” intractably insular in mood and awash with narcotic vocal affect, relates to outsiders by a bleak, suspicious, and embittered proximity: “I just po’d up four threes/ You’re running out of lean/ I’m tryna be on Forbes/ I’m running out of dreams.” Drug abuse has been a theme from the beginning with Keef, and Two Zero One Seven is no exception. Lean and dope permeate the record not as transcendent pinnacles or perceptive agents, but as a cauterizing agent, taken in and become lifeblood itself. There is a sense of protracted death, an eerie finality, hanging over the proceedings: “I’m sipping lean/ Till it put me to sleep/ Counting all this money killed the thief in me.” Keef’s dayglo burlesques are in full force, though, and the tape is nothing if not consistent with the Sosa universe. “Swear I be feelin’ like Bankroll.” This universe, borne from irreverent humor as much as it is from loss and struggle, takes shape through a strange mix of non-sequitur, pun, and aphorism. Tadoe is the sole inner-circle associate, his verses even more world-averse than Sosa’s; with the exception of an inexplicable mid-album duet with newish GloGang addiction Kash, all others are banished. Keef’s productions here are not the elephantine grotesques of Back From The Dead 2; they bounce with Zaytovian baroques reminiscent of ChopsquadDJ’s contributions on Sorry 4 The Weight or else plod and pummel in the style of the aforementioned Luger. Sometimes he is nimble, nesting meters within meters as on “Reefah;” elsewhere he is moribund and drawling, more drained than ever, snarl siphoned away from recurrent tides of loss and anaesthesia. He is altogether uninterested in sex and human connection, chemicals and capital in their stead. The tape’s unmastered thinness gives way during its second half to a withered state of immateriality, concluding in the minute-and-a-half-long Leekeleek-produced “Anything Gets You Paid,” whose melancholy sparkle recalls Almighty So’s “Baby What’s Wrong With You” in a classic example of how Keef’s compositional arrogance pays off. No chorus, uncompromised flow-switching cultivating a vibe of tectonic flux, avowed anti-romanticism betraying romantic preoccupation, all cultivating in a beat drop yielding an emotionless payoff suspended within a frieze of simulated, ironic half-bitter sentimentality: I’m leavin’ girl, you awful to me Don’t want me to see my shawty That’s that shit my mama taught me For all the shit my mama bought me I owe her a million times forty A fittingly recursive and inscrutable dissolution to the record, it is impossible to tell whether Keef says “a million times forty” or “a million times for it,” his words swallowed by a premature final downbeat. Here we arrive, suspended again within the potentially infinite wait for (the alleged) release of Sosa’s long-awaited, nearly mythical Thot Breaker project this Valentine’s Day, which might contain hits or indigestible experimentation, revelations or throwaways. Or we might never hear it at all. http://j.mp/2iIczlK

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