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violeteyedhero · 1 year

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Glass Onion and the Mona Lisa

(Major Glass Onion spoilers obviously)

I saw a post yesterday that showed the Mona Lisa next to the final shot of Helen sitting on the beach, posed the exact same way, with that same unreadable smile. I think in that moment everything kind of clicked for me, and I think I understand now how it was used as a motif. I poured things out on twitter and I'm gonna do it here too.

So the Mona Lisa is introduced about thirty minutes into the movie, before anything has technically happened. We are shown that Miles purchased it, had it put in his living room (full of volatile hydrogen gas), behind a glass door, and that he can override the glass just to see her face. He looks at it with some awe, but to do something so arrogant and dangerous is not something that you do when you just admire the art...it's a power move. It's a rich man flaunting a priceless artwork and saying, look at me, I don't give a flying fuck about the consequences.

Then, he talks about how he saw it when he was six, and how he longs to be immortalised like the painting. Smash cut to Andi.

Now, I have only a rough recollection of Da Vinci's story, but something that I do recall is this--we still don't know who was the true subject of the Mona Lisa. There were at least two women who it could have been (as well as Da Vinci's male student/lover and Da Vinci himself). There's even still a fair bit of debate as to whether he painted it at all. The truth has long been obfuscated. Only the physical painting by Da Vinci matters to people. The subject is irrelevant.

Not long after this scene, we discover that 'Andi' is not in fact Cassandra, but Helen, employing the rich bitch voice that the sisters created as kids. An elegant, unreadable woman with an ever-changing mood and smile, and an air of absolute mystery. Her character is framed, in the first half at least, as the real-life Mona Lisa.

As the story goes on, you can see how important this parallel becomes. Miles constantly reiterates how he wants to be mentioned in the same breath as the Mona Lisa. In the same way, he wants to be mentioned in the same breath as Andi Brand. He tries to be like her, cheat her, steal from her, surpass her, and take her life from her. He uses the image and money that he gets from being her partner, and uses it to steal her ideas and kill her. He obfuscates her role in the company's founding, takes it for himself.

Andi as a person is dead, but the world doesn't know that yet. For now, Miles gets to keep her image and everything she's built for himself. Not for admiration, but for power. The world just sees her as the subject of his work. Secondary, and irrelevant.

Enter Helen, who steps into her sister's role and uses her image to get to the truth. The others don't know who she is, but Miles should. It's glaringly obvious, but he never thinks to look beyond the glass between them and see who she truly is or why she's there. And he doesn't let go of his need to show off how powerful he is.

Because like the Mona Lisa, the envelope is in plain sight. The last piece of Andi's work is hidden within the Glass Onion, just behind his fake napkin--the one he took credit for.

Miles loses, in the end, because he's so deeply arrogant and idiotic. He plays dirty to get what he wants, and can't help but mount his prizes on the wall. But Helen understands that, at the end of the day, she is a third grade teacher from Alabama, and a black woman against an absurdly wealthy white man. He will not face consequences for this. He won't even be arrested for Andi's murder.

So what does she do? She literally destroys the glass. She annihilates the illusion of his brilliance. She destroys the layers of the onion, shows the rot in its core--his persona, his wonder fuel--and then, she destroys the Mona Lisa. Because it is a painting, something that he chose to put in danger. And the world will see if it is gone.

She brings down the glass barrier, but he destroyed the painting the moment he set foot in Andi's house. And maybe this way, even if he isn't remembered as the murderer of Andi Brand, he will always be remembered as the destroyer of the Mona Lisa. It's a small sort of justice, but it's the only thing that Miles will answer to.

The dust settles, Helen goes to the beach. She ends the story sitting as the Mona Lisa did, her arms crossed, expression unreadable. There's no illusion anymore, no glass between us and the subject. We can look into her eyes. It's a moment where the subject of the art reclaims the narrative, not unlike OJ's ending shot in Nope. The painting may now be gone, but the Brand sisters have been immortalised in a way. Andi is gone, but Helen is alive and true.

#god I love this movie #glass onion #mona lisa #Janelle monae my queen #rian you genius #also if anyone wants to bitch about him burning the mona lisa #it's not real #also like half of da Vinci's works were burned so he'd probably have a laugh over something like this

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groovytimes · 5 months

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This year had been a mostly chill one until September. The highlight of my year is that I got a gig as a music writer/reviewer for an online magazine, which is still quite wonderful. These albums have been my soundtrack for the year, in which I also became a huge Steely Dan fan (thanks to a recruiter who has a history in the music biz. Thank you!), and fell back in love with Paramore (it's like we are growing up together...). I have some other releases I need to give my time to (Mitski, and Hozier. No need to yell at me, I know!) but these records were the ones that I really loved:

This is Why - Paramore

Red Moon in Venus - Kali Uchis

the record - boygenius

the rest - boygenius

The Age of Pleasure - Janelle Monáe

PARANOÏA, ANGELS, TRUE LOVE - Christine and The Queens

My Soft Machine - Arlo Parks

Mid Air - Romy

Laugh Track - The National

Can't Buy A Thrill - Steely Dan (basically all their 70s albums)

There were other releases that I would have loved but didn't due to the artists' behavior (mainly Doja Cat and The Kills. I listened to both when they dropped, and, while there are a few songs I really like, I found it easy to put them aside). But, so it goes. This year is sadly ending on a downcast note for me, but I do look forward to new music in the new year.

#Personal #music #end of the year list #Paramore #Kali Uchis #boygenius #Janelle Monae #Christine and The Queens #Arlo Parks #Romy #The National #Steely Dan #Lucy Dacus #Julien Baker #Phoebe Bridgers #my picks

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k00lkat2001 · 4 months

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salina estitties is and will always be the lipsync assassin of s15. the way she embodies every song is just amazing

#salina estitties #drag race #rupaul's drag race #mother #queen #drag queen #night thoughts #her janelle monae lipsync is one of my fav lipsyncs ever

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sarcasticsouthernbookworm · 1 year

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Janelle Monae is a fucking force to be reckoned with

#I mean I knew this already but #2nd watch of glass onion #glass onion #janelle monae #queen #she is my queen

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annamariedarkholmes · 2 years

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x-men casting i deserve, 1/?: JANELLE MONAE as ALISON BLAIRE / DAZZLER

#janelle monae #dazzler #alison blaire #xmen #marvel #marvel comics #marveledit #xmenedit #comicedit #marvel women #*edits #x #pls i would die #plus if she got to put out a record as dazzler?????#ali my passive aggressive queen 😭

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frankenbolt · 1 year

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i just love janelle monae so very much and I always have and always will.

#i'm having some feelings #janelle monae #my queen

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planetariumx · 1 year

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finally watched glass onion and my review is: 10/10 queen shit 😌

janelle monae once again reminding me why i will forever be in love w her

#glass onion #truly so iconic #we love to see a queen winning #glass onion spoilers #kinda #janelle monae #my forever love #i still rewatch dirty computer regularly for her <3 #and tessa thompson #planetariumx posts

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puttingthepotinhoneypot · 11 months

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I wish gay people were real.

#/j #gay #Janelle Monae QUEEN #let them say queer #im queer #and trans #i wore a binder today #little boy core #suck my balls #thank you

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fandom · 1 year

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Musical Acts

Week Ending May 15th, 2023

Käärijä

Taylor Swift -1

My Chemical Romance +4

Lana Del Rey +2

Stray Kids

Harry Styles +3

BTS -4

Joker Out

Loreen

Louis Tomlinson

Beyonce

æspa +11

ATEEZ +1

SEVENTEEN -2

Ghost

Death Grips

Marilyn Manson

Let 3

Lord Of The Lost

Janelle Monae -9

ENHYPEN -5

BLΛƆKPIИK +3

Måneskin

Hatari

Lovejoy

Le Sserafim -18

Tomorrow X Together +6

EXO

Greta Van Fleet -11

NCT 127 -4

NCT Dream -7

Fall Out Boy

SHINee +2

TWICE -3

Queen -14

Tokio Hotel

Kai

The 1975

Phoebe Bridgers -22

The Beatles

The number in italics indicates how many spots a name moved up or down from the previous week. Bolded names weren’t on the list last week.

#music #05/15/2023 #käärijä

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palettepainter · 3 months

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*taps mic* Are there any songs you strongly connect with ur OCs with/songs your OCs love listening to?

Any fandom! :3c

Since I've been focusing a lot on Muppet OC's let's do some songs for them!

Liv: Stupid with Love and It Roars from Mean Girls Broadway soundtrack, Family Madrigal from Encanto, Numb Little Bug by Em Beihold

Zephyr: Burning Love by Elvis Presley, Dear Future Husband by Meghan Trainor, What is Love by Janelle Monae, Our Last Summer and Dancing Queen by Abba

Penny: Better when I'm Dancing and NO by Meghan Trainor, Money Money Money by Abba, Pretty Hurts by Beyonce, Fame by Irene Cara

Laser: Tra La La from the Banana Splits Movie, Spider-Punks score . from Across the Spider-Verse, One More Time by Daft Punk, Welcome to My House by Flo Rida

Raph: I wanna party from the movie Rio, Overture from the movie Vivo, I Love my Life by Justice Crew, Life Could be A Dream by Sh-boom, Candy by Robbie Williams

#Muppets #The Muppets #Muppet OC's #Zoot cousins #Liv #Zephyr #Zee #Penny #Laser #Raph #Raphael #songs #Hired Sparky

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synergysilhouette · 4 months

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"Wish" rewrite: Setting the Scene (NOT the prologue)

Welp, I'm finally doing a lengthier rewrite of "Wish." For those new to my account, I must stress that you do not--repeat: DO NOT--need to read my shorter two rewrites of the film as well as song rewrites in order to understand this story. (BTW, the above art is by Sanjaycreates on Twitter.) NOTE: THis is all subject to change before I get the prologue and stuff going!

The Setting

The Kingdom of Nelke is a fantasy kingdom with German influences (but with racial demographics that you'd see in the Americas), but by no means should it be taken as something historically accurate, or even 100% culturally accurate. I kind of wanted something akin to "Baldur's Gate 3" where you see a mix of modern and historical garb--actually, it'd be pretty akin to many high fantasy RPGs, in my opinion, as well as the fashion for 2015's "Cinderella," if you will. I always loved the mix of modern and medieval aesthetics when used correctly. The royal family's crest is be a swan, in reference to "Swan Lake" and ruled by the favorable Queen Lina and overseen by her right-hand advisor, the sorcerer Eiko.

The Characters

(Note: I'm not an artist, so I'll simply use pics of characters who fit the overall vibe I'm going for, either in fashion, personality, or design.)

Talia--For those who don't know, a variant of "Sleeping Beauty" sees the main character named Talia, which is fitting since "Wish" was visually inspired by it. She's a young woman in her early 20s, wears an orange dress, and while she is kind at heart, she is rather hot-headed, and not always in an endearing way. Right now I'm considering making her half-Egyptian, half-African in reference to the lead couple in Disney's play "Aida." She has been a sorcerer's apprentice ever since she discovered she had magical powers, but talent isn't everything. She's become a bit shy around crowds, concerned with bringing out their ire of making them overly dependent on her. She occasionally leads her friends--nicknamed "The Dreamers"--when making decisions. (Art by Jonuelsketch and Disney.)

Vocally, I imagine her to have a deep, theatrical voice, something booming and powerful. She loves to sing in order to de-stress, though this doesn't always become a song; sometimes she just sings a line or a few sentences to herself like a lot of people do at random moments in time. If I was an artist, one person who would inspire her design would be Janelle Monae.

Aion--Taken from Aiionwatha, an alternate name for Hiawatha, a Native American figure who Disney made a short about and once tried to adapt into a feature film. He doesn't talk very often, and frequently tries to put on a brave face, despite his severe depression over losing one of his older brothers to magic when he was a child. He's the heart of the group, and often tries to diffuse conflict, as they stress him out. While he has great concern for Talia as a sorcerer's apprentice, he supports her, though Talia misunderstands his feelings and wants her to fail, since his own brother couldn't succeed at using magic. His main color is usually a flurry of colors, making him look like stained glass (which influences Talia's fashion at times).

Lucy--A reference to the protagonist in Walt Disney Pictures' adaptation of "The Chronicles of Narnia" with Walden media. She's of Arab descent and dresses in purples to reference Princess Jasmine. A fast-thinker, she always tries to think up solutions quickly and ahead of time, making her Aion's best friend when it comes to crisis aversion. The daughter of a diplomat and a smooth talker, she has confidence to spare and while she can be self-centered at times, she's first and foremost a great friend. For health reasons, she is often accompanied by a (stylish) cane, sometimes a wheelchair if things are severe.

Wolfgang--Not a Disney reference, but simply a German name. He has a lot going on with his life, largely due to being a political pawn all his life. While he has those he cares for, he isn't good at expressing it and consistently tries to control everything around him. It's been remarked that in another world, he and Talia could've been siblings, but not in this lifetime. He doesn't have many (real) friends, but his years of emotional abuse have led him to crave attention, even if it's not in the best possible way. Perhaps that's why he's often dressed in green; he has a bit of envy to spare.

Queen Lina-- A reference to "Thumbelina." The greatest person you will ever meet, or at least that's how the slogan goes. She's beautiful, intelligent, and often takes to disguises in order to check on her citizens. She's quite dramatic when you get to know her, but more in a theatrical way that pulls you in, not an annoying way. Her husband, bless his heart, likes to stay out of the limelight often, so he lets her be the face of the kingdom, and it suits her vanity just fine. Her clothing is colorful and ALWAYS memorable. Of course, she has an edge to her, something she doesn't want to let the citizens know about. As someone with a couple chips on her shoulder, Talia can relate--but are they in the same boat?

I imagine a soprano-type voice for her, but she has an affinity to rap when she's frustrated.

Princess Elsie--An occasionally clever, but altogether lazy princess. She enjoys her royal status and letting people fawn over her. Due to her commitment to being completely selfish, the people of Nelke assume this is an affront to a more caring future ruler (which Lina continually tries to support). When she's bored, she's been shown to be quite hilarious and astute, though you can be sure she won't let herself be bored for long. She's beautiful, but in a way slightly askew to mainstream society.

A good singer, albeit not the strongest; good enough for a movie, but not to sell albums.

Eiko--The queen's right-hand man and flatteringly referred to as her fairy godfather. A man who's past is shrouded in mystery (ironically clad in purples and greens), he vowed his fealty to the queen when he found her to be a worthy ruler. As of late, however, he has been looking for an apprentice to take over his place. As magic by birth is extremely rare and magic by education is difficult without a trained tutor (which there are few of in the kingdom), he has had difficulty finding one--until he comes upon Talia. While she is highly skilled, she doesn't always think things through, making her a mixed public figure before she's even come to prominence. When he isn't conducting official business for the crown, he is quite relaxed--and an excellent singer.

He used to be a more powerful singer, but he prefers a much softer sound now due to age.

Anselm--My Kingdom Hearts friends get this. The mysterious being in the west wing of the castle. It's said that his (their?) magic eclipses even Eiko's. But how Anselm came to be there--or what secrets lurk inside their mind--are anyone's guess. When Talia encounters him, they are a wise and mesmerizing figure, as she's able to see a sea of stars in his eyes. When he ventures beyond the wing and into the world below, he's shown to be playful and caring, always seeming to have one's best wishes at heart. Their magical form is a cascade of silvers, blues, and white, while as a human, they often wear "feminine" colors (bright/light colors, including pinks and purples) with flower motifs when in his human form, his favorite being a bleeding heart. His favorite room in the castle consists of a giant koi pond that frequently calms his soul. However, despite his outgoing nature, he can be quite shy when he develops a crush on someone, most recently Talia. Despite her attempts to look the other way, Talia reciprocates his feelings, and she finds that he may be hiding a mystery of his own, as she sees a sea of stars whenever she gazes into his eyes for a long time.

Probably the best singer, a tenor with heart and power.

Lemme know if you have any questions! IDK when I'll release the prologue, but it shouldn't be too long. Originally I was gonna include the storybook intro in this, but I've decided it's better to just put it in the prologue since I'm still figuring out my words. I may or may not write songs for this; I imagine it's a musical, but IDK if I'm gonna be happy with the songs I write.

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neshatriumphs · 1 year

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Dark Skin Directory

I did one of these for my sideblog BlackFemmeCharacterDependency (BFCD) and... While it’ll take longer on this end to do because there are more prominent figures here than on that one, I thought it would be good to also have one for my main...

EDIT: Okay, so the one that I did for BFCD does not work, so I am posting this one to see if it works, and if not, they’ll both be WIPS until I have the time to repair them

For the purposes of this list and on this page, whenever I say “dark skinned,” I mean a traditional brown crayon or darker. I grew up around Black people, so the words “dark skinned” do not mean the same thing to me as it do to nonblacks.

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Queen Quet | Quiana Welch | Quinta Brunson | Quvenzhane Wallis

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Wakeema Hollis | Whitney Houston | Whoopi Goldberg | Wunmi Mosaku

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Xosha Roquemore

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#to add to darkskin directory

Aliet Sarah

Tricia Akello

Sokhna Niane

Rashida Renée

Javonna Charde’

Ajak Deng

Edun Bola

Pretty Tye

Herieth Noela

#NeshaTriumphs Dark Skin Directory #4th #December #2022 #December 4th 2022 #Dark Skin Directory

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alexis-royce · 4 months

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Youuuuuu got it @windienine ! Updating an old post since the formatting broke on it:

Like any good OC gremlin, I have playlists for all my favs. The one I’ll put before the cut, though, is Kinesis’ theme song, written by Andrew Huang. He legit wrote it for Evil Plan. It’s both about my OC and it has a slick guitar theme that is just….EVERYTHING. It is the best character theme I have and I adore it.

Here’s a pile (though not even close to all) of character songs under the cut:

Evil Plan

Kinesis: Upside down - Barenaked Ladies, Defeat You- Smash Mouth, half the Dr. Horrible Soundtrack because of course, Evil Genius - Pat Benatar, Bank Job- BNL. A reader also once sent me “Sexy Supervillain” by Fanatical, and I laughed so hard I nearly fell out of my chair.

Alice: Science Vs Romance, Rilo Kiley , Do It - Spice Girls.

William: Vanishing, BNL.

Lemon and Lime - Sunday Morning - Maroon 5

Sire

Anna & Susan - Odds Are - BNL

(Cannot for the life of me find the rest of those playlists. I’m sure there were a ton. Anyway I know a fuckton of weird old musicals, it’s mostly them.)

morphE - Mage: The Awakening Campaign

Campaign Theme: Dark Blue - Jack’s Mannequin

Ammi: Esperandote - Rika Muranaka & Vanesa Quiroz

Sanguine (The First One) - Mister Blue Sky in G Major

Amical: Golden and Green - The Builders and the Butchers, Hurricane - Panic!, Killer Queen - Queen

Billy Thatcher: Every fucking song from Chess, The Musical, by Tim Rice and the boys from Abba

Hendrik Rakove: Hurt So Good - John Mellencamp, Lovefool - Spencer Day’s Cover, Love Me Dead - Ludo, Grace Kelly - BYU A cappella cover, Talk about You - MIKA, It’s All Been Done - BNL, The Show Must Not Go On - Harvey Danger, Circus- Drew Gasparini and Lindsay Mandez.

Talaiporia- Choke - I DON'T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME

Andrew Cross: Camisado- Panic!

Closing Shop - (The weird experimental meta campaign that literally ate itself)

Steam Rising - Murder By Death, Devil’s Calling - Florence and the Machine, Talkin at the Texaco - James McMurtry, Keepin’ It Real - Barenak BLOW BY KESHA BLOW BY KESHA GET MY SONG RIGHT GET IT RIGHT, Sometimes the Line Walks You - Murder By Death

Exit Signs- Slashers/mixed nWoD Campaign

Season One theme: What if I’m Wrong - Damien Rice

Season Two Theme: I Wanna Get Better - Bleachers

Cyril: Disaster - Drew Weston, A Little Irony - Tom Milsom.

Dea ‘Exit’ DeLus: When I Grow Up - Tim Minchin, Break Your Heart - BNL, If I Had a Heart - Fever Ray, Crystalline - Bjork, Still - Ben Folds, Come Into My Head - Kimbra, Dinner at Eight - Rufus Wainwright, What You Know - Two Door Cinema Club, Big Dark Love - Murder By Death, Bitter and Sick - One Two,

DRT: Bitter Rivals - Sleigh Bells, Passcode - BNL.

Swing: Boogie Feet - Kesha.

Deirdre Whitman: Welcome to the Ball - Rufus Wainwright.

NonPlatonic Forms

I’m Gonna Win- Rob Cantor Boomerang - Lucy Schwartz, Hate that you know me so well- Bleachers, Jericho - Rufus Wainwright, Guster - Center of Attention, Toe to Toe - BNL, Give It Back to You - BNL, Limits -BNL (I apologize for nothing I love Silverball), Blood - ANIMA!, and of COURSE- Dead Inside by Patricia Taxxon!

- Other characters -

Channery Keene

Artificial Heart - JoCo, Erase Me - Ben Folds Five, Desperate Measures - Marianas Trench, Haunted - Maya Kern, Cake - Melanie Martinez, Bulletproof- La Roux, Cassandra - Area 11, Stolen - Greentree, Guster - Simple Machine, Make Me Feel - Janelle Monae, Could I Leave You - (specifically Donna Murphy at the Sondheim’s 80th concert).

Chrome and Prism

Kiss with a Fist - Florence and the Machine, Langhorns - Spybeat, Dancing’s Not a Crime - Panic!, Thanks I Hate It - Simple Creatures, Sweet Talk - Saint Motel, This Is Love - Air Traffic Controller, Nothing Without You- Vienna Teng

Harold Ludicael

Consequence Free - Great Big Sea, Sea of No Cares- Great Big Sea, Don’t Threaten me with a Good Time - Panic!, Dust and Ashes from Great Comet, I Need to Know from Jekyll and Hyde; Boy Decide - Murder by Death, Spring Break 1899 - Murder By Death, My Type - Saint Motel.

#ocs #character songs #I think I also have a playlist for Gray Jacket but I can’t find it #I apologize in advance for no Academic songs yet #haven’t been listening to enough new music lately #But I used to burn CDs for my tabletop groups #I made cover art and liner notes with art for the tracklists too #And I also spliced songs together on occasion #the Keepin’ It Real track in Closing Shop started glitching in the middle #before turning into Kesha’s Blow #It was a way to both characterize the villain AND have them pull off a 4th wall break #The fact that I don’t do webcomics or twice a week tabletop sessions anymore is #like I took the weights off #if anyone wonders how I make so much stuff #it’s because is was forced in a terrible crucible #XD

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grubbygrrrl · 7 months

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remember in january 2019 when supposedly straight dan howell posted his top albums of 2018 and it was, like, SOPHIE and rosalía and christine and the queens and janelle monae. like oh my god the closet was glass.

#this has DEFINED my music taste btw #like truly what a beautiful deed he did by getting me into sophie at the ripe age of barely 15 #and i am SO deadass

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joodiecomer · 2 years

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meet me at midnight 🌒 aka my midnight dance party playlist we lie awake in love and in fear, in turmoil and in tears. we stare at walls and drink until they speak back. [ft. want me baby queen, claws charli xcx, getaway car taylor swift, gloom djo, jet black anderson .paak, barely on my mind the regrettes, naked in manhattan chappell roan, delicate taylor swift, crazy classic life janelle monae, happiness (dance floor edit) the 1975, heads will roll yeah yeah yeahs, i want your video djo, this hell rina sawayama, one night griff and more] LISTEN HERE

#spotify playlist #autumn playlist #night aesthetic #winter playlist #concept playlist #aesthetic playlist #city aesthetic #love aesthetic #taylor swift #djo #charli xcx #the 1975 #rich aesthetic #the regrettes #rina sawayama #griff

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transastarion · 2 months

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What songs have been stuck in your head lately?

queen bitch by david bowie

hallelujah, i’m a bum! (this is an old iww folk song, but specifically the version sung by utah phillips)

screwed by janelle monae

relight my fire by dan hartman

hey saturday night by the coup

#god i could talk music all day

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