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killing-all-joy · 3 years

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The World Is Ugly

I went “screw it” and decided to hop on the songfic train because this idea has been in my head for a looooong time. Finally finished it! This is a bit of a style divergence but I think it turned out nice so I hope you like it!

Pairing: Prinxiety

Word count: 7,127

Warnings: anxiety, mentions of murder

Virgil chewed on his thumbnail, staring at his phone in thought. He knew he had to tell Roman somehow, he just didn't know how. He had never been good at expressing intimate emotions.

Normally, Virgil would be incredibly anxious about telling his crush he liked him or he would ignore the feelings altogether, but this was different. Roman was different.

Why? Many reasons.

Virgil had known Roman for many years. They met in college and hated each other. However, they were friends with some of the same people and were forced to be around each other. They both had refused to sacrifice their friendships in the name of hating someone.

Over time, they stopped hating each other. Roman apologized for the names and the insults and Virgil apologized for his insults and cynicism towards Roman's creations.

Virgil eventually fell in love with Roman. When he realized it, it was like someone had yanked back a curtain over his feelings, but looking back, he found that the falling-in-love part was slow and gradual.

Now, it haunted his every waking minute.

Roman wasn't just like every other crush. Virgil had been in love with Roman for three years at this point and the feelings didn't seem to be fading in any sense. Roman had been Virgil's light and love for three years and Virgil had yet to find something about him that made him disappointed.

Patton was nice. Kind, sweet, enthusiastic; he was Virgil's best friend. But he could also be overwhelming, overbearing, strict, and too parental. Virgil loved Patton an incredible amount, but Virgil was sometimes too fragile to be fully comfortable in his presence.

Logan was smart. He was reliable, logical, honest, and gave very good advice. He was grounding, down-to-earth, and highly intelligent. However, Logan's wonderful qualities came with a side dish of coldness, occasional detachment and insensitivity, and bluntness. While this was often fine and sometimes even refreshing, it could sometimes be hard to deal with when Virgil wasn’t prepared for it. Logan and Virgil's friendship was very close and healthy, but Virgil couldn’t often deal with him for an extended period of time when Virgil wasn’t at his best.

But Roman...

Roman was perfect.

Yes, he could be arrogant and insensitive and harsh, but none of this deterred Virgil from extended interactions with him. To him, it just completed the puzzle that was Roman.

Roman was always perfect to Virgil. No part of his personality made Virgil not want to be around him. Virgil never had to twist the image of his princely friend to make him his ideal partner in his mind. No part of Roman's personality ever made Virgil wish he wasn't in his presence. At least, not after they became friends. His "flaws" just made him a better person in Virgil's eyes.

Virgil was mean. He was sarcastic, rude, blunt, pretty dumb, and constantly anxious. He was dark and brooding and incredibly pessimistic.

Virgil was a mess.

So, he obviously wasn't telling Roman because he thought the flawless man would like him back. But if it wasn't that, what was the point?

Because there were too many sleepless nights.

Too many evenings spent drying each other's tears.

Roman was sensitive, insecure; too sensitive of the opinions of others, too dependent on their approval. He wore his heart on his sleeve, and not everyone was wary of this, causing Roman frequent pain. Virgil had spent many evenings either on his or Roman's bed, hands on his talented friend's face as his thumbs cleaned away an endless stream of tears caused by events and people that would never be worth a second of Roman's time.

Virgil was almost certain he had more shirts that had been stained by Roman's snot and wasted saltwater than he had shirts that never had been cried on.

These nights, they made Virgil want to scoop up the princelike actor and hold him closer than the boundaries of their friendship would ever permit them to and whisper sweet nothings in his ear that would mainly just remind him of how loved he was. How loved he was by Virgil.

Virgil also wanted to apologize.

A week before, he, a singer-songwriter, returned from a particularly angering meeting with his manager. Roman tried to help him and cheer him up, but instead Virgil pushed him away by saying harsh things he didn't mean.

Of course, their friendship was too important to be on hold for a whole week, so Virgil had apologized the following day, but the musician could still tell that Roman was confused and not fully over it. He was no longer angry, but the pain hadn't left completely.

But Virgil couldn't explain his anger without also explaining that he was in love with him.

Roman had just been too nice, looking too pretty, and with brown irises that somehow seemed more entrancing than normal on that night. Virgil had wanted nothing more than to drown in the stage actor's arms. Roman had suggested ice cream, a movie (at home or at the cinema), or pizza if he hadn't already had dinner. Virgil had looked at his outstretched arms with want and longing. But he knew he couldn't play, tempt, or tease his heart like so and had declined rudely, faking irritation and anger. However, now he was faced with regret.

Virgil couldn't be fully honest with Roman if he didn't tell him about his feelings for him. It had been three years, but this dance could go on no longer. It made sense that if Virgil couldn't get over the theatric man in three years, he should face rejection in the eyes so that the romantic feelings would pass quicker. He should have told him long ago, but this was a good opportunity.

Yes, it was possible for him to wait for Roman's hurt and confusion to go away, but Virgil didn't want Roman to take any more actions (like not seeking Virgil's comfort when he required it, which had happened the night before this one) that would hurt him. It wasn't like telling Roman was a new concept for Virgil to mull over. A part of him had known for a long while now that telling Roman would eventually make getting over him easier. However, the possibility of Roman being disgusted and ending their friendship wasn't low. That was the driving force of Virgil’s hesitancy to enlighten Roman of the romantic inclinations he had for him. Virgil valued Roman's friendship, and would choose his platonic presence over his absence at any second.

But he couldn't lie any longer.

Roman had gone to Patton instead of Virgil last night when he learned that his ex-boyfriend (who ended their relationship five months before) had been cheating when they were together. Roman didn't still have romantic feelings for his former flame, but knowing that he cheated hurt him. He was lied to, betrayed; there was no way to tell if his ex ever loved him. That hurts even if there's no longer romance there.

Of course, Virgil learned this from a concerned Patton and not the actor himself.

All three involved in this event were troubled. Patton, for his friends' happiness (since Virgil and Roman made each other happy), Roman because he was confused and hurt, and Virgil, who wished Roman was comfortable with him again.

Virgil figured he only had one thing to do. Confess, and end the confusion.

Confess, and possibly end their friendship forever.

Virgil wished there was another way out.

But Roman was confused, hurt, and in a bad place. Virgil had tried everything in an effort to get over Roman, but nothing worked in the slightest. The singer knew it was past time that he confess.

So he stared at Roman's contact, the handsome face of his profile picture staring back. Roman was simply 'Roman' in Virgil's phone; he didn't put any cute nicknames in case Roman saw.

He brainstormed as hard as he could for a way to tell Roman he loved him romantically.

He didn't want to be too straightforward. Saying a blunt "I am romantically in love with you" was too scary to type out and send. And, he also had a shred of decency to not say something so important through text.

What did Virgil know best? Music.

He pulled up Spotify.

He went to his music, thinking through all the love songs he'd written about and for Roman (Roman didn't know of course). Virgil had his thumb over a particularly emotional and descriptive song, but paused.

If Virgil just sent him his song, Roman would think that he wanted an opinion on it, or that Virgil was reminiscing on works past. If Virgil sent a caption saying "this was about you", then the moment would be ruined, the text would feel too real and to-the-point, and he would be undermining his efforts to not say something monumental through text. No, he had to choose a song that would leave no room for confusion and no need for clarification.

What did Roman associate Virgil with, musically?

Emo music. Panic! At The Disco. Fall Out Boy.

My Chemical Romance.

Virgil would call the last his native tongue if he were able. It felt like such, each song seeming like it came from home or somewhere similar. It made sense for Virgil to communicate with something so dear to his heart. His friends were well acquainted with his love for the band. All his close friends, at one time or another, had been interrupted by Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge when they wanted to talk to Virgil. It told them he wasn't doing too well and needed time away from people and worldly responsibilities.

Which song, was the question.

MCR didn't have too many love songs; at least, they had a much lower percentage than many other bands. Also, a lot of those songs that you thought might be romantic could easily be interpreted differently. This made it a bit difficult for Virgil to find a song by them that encompassed his emotions, announced a repeat of his apology, and was clearly romantic.

He ran through the romantic MCR songs on speed-run in his head, paying close attention to the lyrics. His mind stopped when his brain fluttered to Conventional Weapons; more specifically, The World Is Ugly. He ran through the lyrics in his head, the tone, how clear the romance was.

He couldn't help but think no song described what he was feeling more.

The love, the apologeticness, the hatred of the world. Virgil knew how evil and ugly the world was. Is. But Roman...Roman was a star, shining in complete darkness without pause. Even when day came to hide the star's light and the two weren't in the other's presence, Virgil knew he was still there. Roman’s light wasn't like the sun which could blind or burn you, but like the stars in the sky that were bright, in a place far away, and at heights Virgil could only dream of reaching.

The lyrics made it clear that Virgil was using this song to communicate something—that something being love.

His finger shakily tapped his phone, pressing the share button and clicking on Roman's contact. He bit his lip, every brain cell except the one controlling his present actions screaming at him to reconsider, to protect their friendship and his heart. But this time, he ignored his anxiety.

He pressed send.

That was it. The text was sent. All he could do now was wait or regret.

A drop of blood slid down his chin from the lip he was biting too hard.

Roman opened his text messages reflexively. Virgil had a special text tone and Roman was conditioned to get excited when he heard it. He was almost always happy when Virgil sought out his company. Virgil's communication in any form was something he saw as a treat.

Virgil's feelings were no longer a secret.

---

Now, this was where the 'almost' came in. His argument with Virgil the week before made him anxious about what the text held. Was it a confession of hatred? Worse?

The app loaded to show a link to Spotify. He raised an eyebrow, plugging in his earbuds and shifting his position on his bed. He clicked the link and put in the earbuds as the song loaded and started.

Roman, an acquaintance of the emo for over five years at this point, and a friend for four of those years, knew his fair share of MCR. No, he did not know every song they ever created, but he knew a lot. This seemed to be one of the many he'd never heard. It was titled 'The World Is Ugly', a title he found unfamiliar and unsurprising for Virgil's music taste.

It wasn't nearly as intense as the ones that prompted him to lack interest in the band. He could hear the lyrics clearly.

As he started listening to the song that was sent without a caption, he realized that Virgil must have meant this as a way to communicate something. He decided to pay close attention to the lyrics for this reason alone.

The first verse seemed to have reassuring and protective elements, and a theme of unity between two people.

The chorus came, and he couldn't help but be taken aback by "but you're beautiful to me". At first, he thought it must be something Virgil didn't mean to convey, a lyric that didn't quite fit with everything else he was trying to tell Roman.

But the second chorus came after the second verse and Roman concluded that the song was a love song. It couldn't be anything else. To Roman, "but I wanted you to know” gave off the idea that if there was anything the singer wanted the audience to know, it was the next sentence (which included the line he was so confused about earlier). His mind almost came to the conclusion Virgil was trying to tell Roman that exact sentence...when he finally noticed that the chorus contained an apology.

Virgil already apologized.

Roman considered this, but a voice in his head told him that Roman hadn't accepted his apology—and acted like he hadn't.

Patton must have told him about last night.

He almost cursed Patton in his head, but concluded that Patton was worried because Roman often went to Virgil for the kind of thing he had gone to Patton for. Patton was concerned and probably wanted to make sure the two of them were okay.

By the end of the song, Roman knew what Virgil was trying to tell him. It threw him into a trance. He knew why Virgil sent this to him, and why he was so off-putting that night.

Virgil was in love with him.

Or so it seemed.

To be honest, Roman didn't want to believe it. Virgil being in love with him changed his whole world view.

To Roman, Virgil was the moon. Roman could always reach Virgil if he so chose, but he wasn't always present in person. He shone brightly to Roman, so bright. Not a light that made Roman shy away from and curse at, but a welcomed, beautiful light that made everything better when it was the dead of night and nothing else made sense. Virgil, for all of their friendship, was so close. He was who he was closest with. But, despite this, he was just out of reach. He couldn't hold him, touch him, speak to him in all the ways he wanted to. There was a boundary between them that made it so all that Roman wanted with Virgil was more than all that he got. He had gotten used to that. The moment he realized he wanted Virgil closer than he would ever be able to have him, he knew it would never be able to happen. Virgil didn't feel the same way.

Or, he thought that, at least.

But now, Virgil was telling him through My Chemical Romance that he did, in fact, feel the same. That he didn't mean to hurt him and he was so terribly sorry. That to Virgil, Roman was the only beauty in the ugliness of the world.

How long had Virgil felt this way? He’d had many boyfriends in the time they'd known each other. Many times where Virgil saw a man and couldn't help but be gay.

Then again, so had Roman.

Roman, despite having feelings for Virgil for a long time, dated. He'd had a few boyfriends throughout the time they'd been friends, all of them mainly in an effort to get over Virgil and because Roman thought they were cute. Maybe Virgil had done the same. Or, he could have been confused.

But the song didn't sound confused.

No, Virgil likely knew very well that he was head over heels for Roman. He had sent a single song with no caption or warning beforehand. It was clear that this was something that had been coming for a long time. Virgil was likely guilty about the fight and decided to enlighten Roman of his feelings for him.

Virgil loved him. Him.

Roman couldn't help but be surprised.

If Virgil liked anyone in their friend group, he'd think it would be Patton. He and Virgil were extremely close; best friends, if you will. (Roman was occasionally jealous of this because his closest friend was Virgil, but that was a topic for another time.) Patton was kind and sweet and cute and talented. He was a fantastic person who complimented Virgil in beautiful ways.

Virgil was also one to respect a great mind. Logan seemed more likely a love interest than Roman in the actor's eyes. Smart, interesting, logical, good with Virgil's panic attacks. The two of them would make sense. But it wasn't Logan. Or Patton.

It was Roman.

If he weren’t so emotionally drained and tired, he would squeal. Virgil was in love with him. Roman, the dramatic stage actor, the man who acted almost too much like a real-life prince.

Virgil was in love with him.

How would he respond?

Roman's eyes widened and he looked back at his phone, screen now dark. He unlocked his phone and stared at his conversation with Virgil. The text had been marked as read so Virgil must have known he'd seen it. He had to figure out how to reply.

Did Virgil want something to happen between them?

Roman didn't know.

Virgil sent the message as a text and didn’t include a caption. That could have been a way to say "I'm in love with you but I don't want anything to happen", since he wasn’t actually including anything that spoke of a desire to be with Roman romantically. However, it could just be that Virgil was an extremely anxious person and didn’t think he would be able to admit his feelings during an in-person interaction. If Virgil had been harboring feelings for an extended period, then it could be hard for him to say something directly to Roman after such a long time of keeping his feelings hidden.

A part of Roman figured that Virgil wasn't thinking ahead of this moment.

Virgil, as previously described, was anxious. He didn't seem like the type to expect or have intentions for their relationship after an admission like this. Virgil was the type of person to admit to romantic feelings and then spend every second following worrying over ruined friendships, offending someone, being mocked, getting insulted, and/or his feelings not being returned.

So, Roman concluded that Virgil wasn't conveying his intentions in this text. All he was saying was that he had feelings for him. Nothing more, nothing less.

'Nothing more'. 'Nothing more'?

Roman couldn't imagine what 'more' could possibly mean.

Virgil was in love with him.

'Love'. Something that seems so simple and sweet when you first hear it described as a young child, but something that grows to be meaningful, confusing, and complicated as you start to get older. And this love...this love was life-changing.

This was a love that had been burning for who knows how long, but that could have changed anything and everything had it been revealed sooner.

How many occasions were there where could Roman have said everything on his mind and Virgil would accept it, welcoming all his feelings? How many people did Roman date to get over Virgil that he didn't have to? How many nights in front of Virgil's door did he spend considering telling Virgil everything he felt before deciding against doing so were there? How many sleepless nights spent dreaming about what it would be like to be with him romantically did he entertain? All those things he might not have experienced at the extent he did if he'd gathered and exercised the courage Virgil currently seemed to possess...

Virgil watched as the text was marked as read. No response.

He supposed it was time for some courage of his own.

---

Virgil couldn't say with honesty that he expected anything different.

Roman was this marvelous, talented actor and Virgil was so not his type...

They were friends, though, and that mattered to Virgil. Their friendship meant the world and more to him. Maybe Virgil couldn't have his heart, hand, or lips—but he felt like he was the luckiest of people to be able to say Roman held him in positive regards. Their friendship was...

...their friendship.

Something Virgil was realizing with wide eyes and a sweater-pawed hand over his open mouth was ruined.

Sure, he considered this happening earlier, but he couldn't say he fully comprehended what it meant.

Roman, the light of his life...

...gone.

Or, at least, out of his life.

Sure, it was a friendship built on the ruins of malice, originally fueled not by each other but by mutual friends, and sustained by lies and obscurances of the truth committed by Virgil in an attempt to hide his true feelings. But it was still friendship. A friendship that meant more than anything else he had. A friendship he wasn’t sure he could deal with losing.

And he’d thrown it all away in one fell swoop. No more watching Roman’s plays at the theater, no more Disney marathons to fill the days off, no more meals of Roman’s signature chicken risotto made for his or one of their friend’s birthdays. The special comfort (whether it be after a series of panic attacks or a few angering minor inconveniences), the unique understanding Roman held and the techniques he used to make Virgil feel better during those terrifyingly vulnerable nights they shared was something that Virgil treasured beyond all else but still couldn’t fully comprehend the sacrality of. Those such nights would never again come to fruition.

Virgil wanted to yell. He wanted to scream, cry, throw the empty mug sitting three feet away on his nightstand at the wall. He didn’t, though, and he knew why. He didn’t...couldn’t regret sending Roman the text. Virgil knew he had to get over him, and that he had lied for too long. Roman deserved to know, no matter the consequences. Virgil loved Roman with all his heart, so it overwhelmed him with guilt to know he lied for such a long time. Virgil had been cruel to Roman that night the week before and he deserved to know why, even if it hurt their friendship. Maybe if he didn’t send the text things would eventually return to how they were and their relationship would continue as it always had with limited emotional complications, but Virgil would have to live day-in and day-out knowing that he was keeping information from Roman that after all these years of omitting information, his friend deserved to know.

Because there were so many nights of intimacy: of sobbing into the other’s chest with the lights out, or hands of varying temperatures drying tears, or screaming about a failed romantic relationship or the tragedy of infidelity in the aforementioned—ones that were too sacred to bring up during the day, too fragile that the moments would be shattered if they were approached with the attitude the two carried during a day of normalcy. Those nights meant more to Virgil than he let on. But the days after, he couldn’t help but feel guilty—like he’d taken something he didn’t pay for. He felt romantically for someone who didn’t return the feelings, and still allowing those moments of closeness to come to be felt like he was engaging in manipulation. He couldn’t help but entertain the nagging voice in the back of his mind that was convinced he was somehow violating Roman.

At least, with things the way they were now, Virgil would no longer have to deal with the guilt.

That didn't deter his ruthless anxiety, though. His thoughts were screaming about how everything with Roman was ruined, that all his other friends would leave him too, that Virgil would be miserable forever because he had lost the light in his life who was sometimes his sole reason for going. His hands were sweating and shaking violently. His phone almost fell from his hands at the instability. It was only fair for Roman to know, but gosh, did it hurt.

He steadied the phone in his hands and stared at the screen. His conversation with Roman was on his screen, staring back at him almost teasingly, torturously. It was like the phone or the app itself knew that this would be the last time he’d look at this texting conversation as someone who was still a friend of Roman. Soon, Roman would finally reply, and sever all ties. While Virgil was usually thankful he was someone who thought of all possible outcomes to a situation so that it was rare that an event caught him by surprise, in this situation, it only made it worse. He was sure it would probably be like suffering through heartbreak twice. The prediction beforehand, and then the real thing sometime later. He was experiencing the first right now, and the second had yet to come.

He knew that Heartbreak Number Two would feel worse.

Sure, he was feeling horrible presently, but he knew that the prediction wouldn’t be like the rejection. This heartbreak started with courage, then denial, then a realization that started to make Virgil’s hands shake and his heart beat uncontrollably. However, this was also a waiting game. When would he get rejected?

If Roman did end up waiting for a long time before delivering his rejection to Virgil, the pain would stretch out over a long time. If he waited for an extremely long time, the pain would slowly start to dull into a passive dread, with occasional spikes of anxiety. If Roman told him soon, Virgil would have less time to prepare for the rejection, so the pain would be much worse in the moment. Ultimately, the first was the worst. Extended emotional pain was not something Virgil needed, to say the least.

The text could come at any time, when it would send was not up to him. Virgil's fate and feelings were now in Roman's hands.

All Virgil wanted to do at this point was put his phone away, drench his face in ice water, and sleep for a thousand years. Neither of those things seemed to be possible, however, since Virgil could rarely seem to sleep for longer than seven hours and he currently couldn’t bring himself to put his phone down. His hands refused to let go of the instrument of his demise.

There were two warring thoughts of ‘is losing Roman really worth losing the ache in your heart?’ and ‘he deserves to know the truth’ circling in his mind. He tried to attach himself to the second thought in hopes of rationalizing losing the greatest person in his life. It was hard, though. What would Virgil do after this? Would he leave the friendship group? Or would things just be an awkward form of normal?

He was startled out of his thoughts by a quiet but concerning sound. When Virgil replayed the sound in his mind, it sounded like the clicking of a lock. The door to Virgil’s bedroom was ajar, so the door getting locked or unlocked was obviously the door to his apartment. Virgil distinctly remembered locking his front door.

Someone was breaking in.

Only four people had the keys to Virgil’s house. Virgil himself, for obvious reasons. Patton, Virgil’s best friend. That was a no-brainer; Patton and Virgil had keys to the other’s apartment because they often hung out in each other’s apartments without any warning or planning beforehand. Roman, after many instances of banging on the door at eleven at night because he had a terrible day and needed comfort but was also waking the neighbors with his loud knocking. Finally, Logan—the most recent person to receive a key (about six months back) after a harrowing experience of Virgil needing Logan’s specific comfort during a panic attack and Logan being unable to enter the apartment. Right now, it was late. Very, very late. Patton and Logan would be asleep. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t go to Virgil. He knew this. It wouldn’t be—could it be Roman?

No, no. Roman was too mad or disgusted or annoyed with him to seek his company at this late hour. Someone must have been breaking in.

The door opened. Virgil heard it; the loud creak he made sure to keep in the door’s design so he’d always be privy to an unplanned entry into his apartment. However, he soon realized he wouldn’t need that auditory warning of someone else’s presence.

He heard the footsteps.

They were fast, loud, and terrifying. What kind of burglar walks that quickly and obviously? A terrible one. Or, one confident in their ability to overpower whatever opposing forces they may meet in the home of their victim.

Virgil wanted to run to his closet and grab his broom. Truly, he did. But he was frozen in fear on his bed, phone tight in his hands, knuckles white, and eyes unblinking. He couldn’t move.

Virgil’s door was ajar. Opened enough for any unwelcome visitor to see that there was someone inside. If it was a robbery, the intruder could easily be armed and dangerous. Would Virgil die tonight?

The footsteps were approaching his room. Quickly, and without going anywhere else in the apartment. Virgil was suddenly worried that the intruder wasn’t a robber or a burglar, and instead, someone out to get him instead of his possessions. Virgil wasn’t sure if the change in his assessment of the situation scared him as much as it should have. The rapid change in train of thought from ‘Roman’ to ‘intruder’ wasn’t allowing the subsequent panic accompanying both of those thoughts to do much catching up.

The door to his room slammed open. Virgil was thrown back an inch from the force the intruder had placed on the door. This person was not concerned about noise. Virgil’s door was already ajar, why would they…

Virgil’s thoughts stopped when his eyes focused on the person now in his bedroom. His phone slipped from his fingers and onto the bed, not that Virgil cared to divert any attention to it.

Roman.

Not normal Roman, either. His eyes were wide, his hair was mussed, he was out of breath, and he was still holding the keys to Virgil’s apartment (which were on the same keyring as his car and house keys). Virgil, for all that he knew about his good friend, could not decipher the look on Roman’s face. It seemed a bit stressed, but not in a bad way. He had been running his hands through his hair, so a lot was obviously on his mind. Virgil almost wanted to say he was shocked, but it wasn’t quite like that. Almost like...he had been shocked a few minutes back and was coming to terms with what shocked him...which made sense. Virgil had told him he loved him. That must have been shocking. The lack of any other emotions like disgust or anger was what confused Virgil.

Virgil couldn’t help but be shocked too. What was Roman doing here? Virgil had confessed. Now it was time for him to hate Virgil for his feelings and ban him from the friend group.

Wait…

The keys were still in Roman’s hand. Maybe...maybe Roman was here to return Virgil’s keys. Maybe he was here to sever all ties with him. Return Virgil’s keys, take the keys to his apartment from Virgil, tell him their friendship was over…

Roman could be here to yell at him. Virgil had kept this from him for too long. Roman might have been here to scream that he deserved to know earlier. He’d be in the right, too, since Virgil agreed. One final scolding of his actions before Roman was out of his life forever.

But did those assumptions match the look on Roman’s face? Severing ties with someone you hate should have no lingering shock, and yelling should show more obvious negative emotions than Roman was currently displaying. Roman should look disgusted, irate, and probably betrayed as well. While Roman was a fantastic actor who could pull off hiding such things, Virgil didn’t think he’d try to hide emotions like that in the present situation.

Virgil was shocked too. He thought Roman would at least let some time pass before ending all pleasant connections with Virgil. He thought he’d take time to think and mull over what Virgil’s confession meant.

He hadn’t. This terrified Virgil. Had he come to a conclusion of hatred that quickly? Was Virgil that in the wrong? Virgil was mortified...what did that mean for Roman’s next actions?

But, again, Roman didn’t look angry. He had to be, Virgil knew it, but it wasn’t obvious on his features. So, that assumption couldn’t be taken as reality.

Virgil sat in awe at his current situation. Roman was here, probably to yell or scold him, but was silent so far. None of the conclusions Virgil had come to seemed to so far seemed to have enough evidential basis to be taken as truth. So, Virgil pressed pause on the speculation and let the only expression of his thoughts and emotions be surprise.

The love of his life was in his bedroom. For what? Virgil was uncertain.

They stared into each other’s eyes. Both were full of shock, just different kinds of it. Virgil was surprised Roman was in his room—not exactly a positive kind of surprise either. Roman’s shock, while clearly something that was at its climax minutes back, was still showing on his features. A type of shock that, unlike Virgil’s, was indecipherable when it came to whether it was a good shock or a bad shock.

Virgil didn’t know how long they were still and staring. It could have been fifteen seconds; it also could have been fifteen minutes. While it was probably around two minutes, time passed differently when Virgil’s green and purple eyes were locked with Roman’s brown eyes.

Virgil knew he wasn’t just showing surprise. There was no way the fear wasn’t seeping into his expression as well. He didn’t try to stop it because he knew that if he did try, he would fail. Virgil wished he knew what Roman was thinking—wished he knew whether he should be scared or not. Roman didn’t look scared, not like Virgil did. Maybe Roman hadn’t noticed. Virgil was able to tell with bitter realization that he was more scared now than when he thought there was someone in his house trying to kill him. Sure, he’d been relieved at first, but that didn’t last for more than a second. Whatever Roman was here to do seemed worse than anything a malicious stranger could potentially have in mind.

Roman finally moved. He took a step and a half towards the bed, towards Virgil.

Virgil flinched back, right arm darting behind him and holding him up in a position that made it easy for him to leap off the bed. Roman stopped his approach.

Virgil didn’t mean to flinch, but he was too deep in his surprise and fear to do anything else. When he noticed his own movement, he was overwhelmed with regret. He wanted to get this interaction over with. Creating drama by showing his current fear of Roman wasn’t going to help with that.

Roman suddenly showed emotion other than shock on his face. His eyes started to burn with sympathy and guilt, something that confused Virgil to no end. If anything, Roman should have become angrier. Why was he showing guilt at someone he should be hating?

Roman dropped his keys. The clinking that sounded as they fell on the hardwood floor didn’t elicit any reaction from either of them. They continued to keep eye contact.

After a moment free of any movement, Roman started to approach Virgil again, this time slower and much more careful, like one approaches a terrified animal in the forest. Roman was clearly a bit hurt by Virgil’s flinching, but his present focus seemed to be on the fear that Virgil would do it again—or worse, run away. His steps were slow and quiet. His posture was a bit crouched, probably as an effort to seem less threatening.

Virgil’s teeth clenched. He didn’t want to flinch again since Roman hadn’t actually done anything to imply that he would hurt Virgil, and also because flinching would only complicate things further. Nonetheless, Virgil was scared of what Roman was preparing to do. While Virgil rarely addressed it, he’d always found Roman to be scarier than the average person. He was tall, fairly muscular, and had a temper that could do some damage when Roman wanted it to. His strength was scary and his words were scarier; he reminded Virgil of Janus in that he was good at knowing precisely what to say to bring someone emotional agony. Any preparation for being hurt by Roman was useless; he knew Virgil better than Virgil would like to admit, making it that much easier for Roman to hurt him.

Roman’s left hand reached towards him. Virgil would have flinched if his hand was in a position to strike. It wasn’t, though—it was mirroring the scared animal in the forest analogy; the extended arm was almost serving as a gesture of peace, a white flag. Virgil thought that Roman was offering Virgil his hand to take and he intended to move away, but he didn’t need to. Instead, Roman’s hand gently rested on his upper right side. His eyes looked like he was asking for permission, if his touch was okay, but Virgil could not respond. His eyes stayed on him with surprise and fear.

This touch was too gentle to be malicious. That fact was clear to Virgil, so he couldn’t jump off the bed and escape without feeling guilty. Virgil didn’t necessarily want the touch either; he didn’t dislike Roman’s hand being there, but it felt wrong, like it shouldn’t be happening. And with all the common sense Virgil had, it shouldn’t. Virgil didn’t expect Roman to touch him, even after he unexpectedly broke in. But if he did, Virgil wouldn’t expect the touch to be anything but hostile. Virgil almost hoped his confusion showed in his eyes.

Roman’s right hand reached out as well. Faster than the left had, but still moving at a careful pace. This arm went around Virgil’s waist. Then, Roman started to almost pick him up and lead him to the edge of the bed. Virgil was simultaneously terrified and embarrassed at being carried, so before Roman could properly pick him up, Virgil moved himself to the edge of the bed.

Roman’s lips twisted into what looked like one of Roman’s subtle but encouraging smiles, which again bewildered Virgil. The arm around his waist retreated and rested just above Virgil’s hip. Roman guided Virgil to his feet.

Roman clearly wanted Virgil at the same level as him—standing up. Out of context, that made sense. Virgil had shown fear of Roman, so if Roman didn’t want Virgil to feel inferior at the moment, leaving him sitting wasn’t exactly a good idea. What perplexed Virgil was that in this situation, it made sense for Roman to keep a high ground and a dominating stance. He must’ve been (he had to be) mad at Virgil. Even though that conclusion was growing less and less probable through Roman’s every action, it was the only thought keeping Virgil sane.

Roman’s left hand moved from Virgil’s side to rest on his cheek. Virgil froze, thinking he was about to be hit for a split second but was again proven wrong. Roman’s thumb brushed under Virgil’s eye—Virgil would say it was loving but that was preposterous. Virgil wanted to close his eyes, to bask in the feeling of being touched like this (no one was ever this sweet and gentle with him in a manner that would be considered romantic out of context), but he was too preoccupied and scared and surprised and confused and-

“Virgil,” said Roman. It was quiet, tender, and held more love than Virgil believed to be possible. “Virgil, mi luna.”

Virgil had no idea what that meant. He didn’t think he wanted to know.

“I love you too.”

Virgil inhaled sharply. Not too loud (he didn’t want to ruin the delicacy of the moment), but it was still audible.

Roman loved him too. Roman returned his feelings.

That didn’t make sense. Not in the slightest. Roman had shown no interest; Virgil was positive there was no reciprocation of his feelings…

But that didn’t matter now. He had to reply.

He saw Roman start to move in closer, slowly, allowing Virgil time to object. Virgil didn’t, letting the gravitational pull of Roman’s lips allow Virgil to reciprocate Roman’s intentions to kiss.

“May I kiss you, moonlight?” Roman murmured.

“Yes,” whispered Virgil, voice practically silent.

Roman’s lips met his—first, a gentle and unsure brush of lips, but then a firmer and more intent kiss. It was gentle, caring, but most of all, it was full of love.

He smiled against Roman’s lips. Roman smiled too and kissed him deeper.

Virgil couldn’t say he wasn’t still baffled by everything going on in the present. That wasn’t to say he wasn’t happy about the way things turned out.

~~~ ☪ ~~~

“Earth is ugly,” said the stars to the moon. “It does not deserve your light.”

“Maybe so,” replied the moon. “But have you considered that you are too far away to see its beauty?”

Taglist: @somehow-i-got-an-account @justanotherhumanstuff @neo-neo-neo @fander-fic-recs

I know that little bit at the end is a bit extra and unnecessary, but I thought it up one time and it has some ‘deeper’ meaning I liked as well as relation to the metaphors in the story. I deeply considered not posting this one because of how different it is to the usual and the minimal dialogue, but I sent it to a beta who loved it! I’ve been stirring in the idea of Virgil confessing with this song for probably 6+ months and only decided to start writing it in October. It might be bad but I hope you enjoyed! I’ve been working on this on and off for months so I really hope it’s good.

#prinxiety #sanders sides fanfiction #virgil sanders #roman sanders #ts fanfic #tell me if there's any more warnings I forgot to include!#or if you see a typo lol call me out on it #romantic prinxiety #fic #murder mention tw #songfic #kill writes

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omfgtrump · 3 years

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“What a long, Strange Trip It’s Been”

The Don’s banishment to Mar-a-Lago and on Twitter has created a welcomed silence. Yes, he is going to do everything he can to stay relevant and make as much noise as possible. His battle with Mitch McConnell for the soul of the Republican Party will ramp up. Let me stop there. How can two people without souls fight over the soul of anything?

What I am trying to say here, is that this is the time for me to hit the exit ramp. This will the last piece of OMFG.

Is that a wince I hear? A collective sigh? A Thank God, as finally, the guy has found a way to separate from demon Don?

To my readers, I implore you: Please don’t do anything drastic, as I don’t want to have to carry another burden.

For many, The Don’s loss of the election and banishment has been sort of an exorcism. (if you at some point you spewed green bile, don’t worry, as it was a natural biological process that helped cleanse you of all the poison you absorbed).

As you can tell from my writings, I have had my own obsession with The Don. During these past 4 years, he has inhabited my daily life like an aching tooth. I watched way too much news. I raved and ranted. I used the phrases “Is this outrageous, or what?” and “Can you believe this shit” as often as “Hey, how are you?”.

My co-workers saw me coming and walked the other way. My wife told me if I didn’t shut up about The Don she would leave me. (Well, that’s not exactly true, but I’m sure it crossed her mind!)

Thank God for this blog. I don’t know how I would have survived without it.

As the Grateful Dead sing in ‘Truckin’: What a long, strange trip it’s been.

youtube

Two impeachments, a Russia investigation, an insurrection-yes, an insurrection cause by the “Big Lie” that the election was stolen and that Joe Biden was not a legitimate president, “shit hole” countries, “good people on both sides,” separation of children from their families, a Muslim ban, attacks on the LGBT community, violations of the Emoluments Clause, endless lies, levels of corruption unseen in the history of the presidency, embracing of White Supremacists, deregulating of environmental policy, fake news, the press as the enemy, the promulgation of conspiracy theories- the emergence of QAnon, dismantling of government agencies, using the Department of Justice for his own means, a level of sociopathy and malignant narcissism never seen in the White House and a wannabe demagogue who did everything he could to dismantle our democracy. Did I leave anything out?

His handling and politicizing of the pandemic, which has caused an unfathomable 500,000 deaths to date, was the result of a genocide of neglect that has caused inconceivable suffering. In a fair and just world, he should be prosecuted for his heinous inaction and promotion of false narratives and complicity in the unnecessary death of tens of thousands.

Witnessing the competence and transparency of the Biden administration has created hope in me. A world in which the pandemic is under control, the economy rebounds, issues of social justice are faced head on and policy that reflects the need to genuinely address inequality and institutional racism seems possible. A humane plan and path to citizenship for Dreamers and other immigrants seems more reachable.

Climate change, the defining and existential issue of our time and the world’s future, is finally front and center.

How we confront the increasing polarization and rise of domestic terrorism is a daunting challenge. How we ensure voting rights are protected in the face of egregious attempts to thwart them is a battle over whether we remain a country that is represented “by the people and for the people.”

So much work needs to be done. We can not rest. We must resist the temptation toward complacency. We need truth, honesty and kindness to be our guiding forces.

It feels so strange to be writing these last words. During the 4 years of this blog, I wrote 244 pieces and people from over 100 countries visited it. (Even from Russia and China!) I so much appreciate the time you spent reading. I hope I was able to make you laugh (or cry) about the absurdities of what we all endured and lived through. I hope my perspective created new insights and ways of thinking about The Don and his psychology.

Some may be wondering what I look like so I will pull up the curtain and reveal myself.

Others may be wondering what new project awaits me. Frankly, who the hell knows, but writers must write, so I’ll wait for it to reveal itself.

I want to give a special shout out to the unsung superstar of the blog, Jinnifer Douglass, who was responsible for the design and creating all the amazing photos. She is a wizard. There was nothing I asked her to concoct that she could not create. When I would receive her email stating “All set,” I would click on the site and break out into a smile or outright laughter, marveling at the photos. And for those of you who skipped the writing and just reveled in the photos I forgive you. As they say, sometimes a picture is worth a 1,000 words.

Also, thanks for your comments and acknowledgements along the way. Anyone out there that wants to write me a goodbye note (a love letter?) I welcome it. Be well and fight the power.

Thanks for joining me on this crazy journey as “What a strange trip it’s been.”

And one more thing: The Supreme Court voted 9-0 to allow his taxes to be released. So Don, maybe they’ll take some of the tax money you owe to build a wall on the golf course and turn it into a prison!

And now for one of my favorite photos:

Note from Jinnifer: It has been an insane past 4 years. Working on this project with Jerry was equal parts horrifying and hilarious; every week it was something new (and then some). Putting together these pieces of Photoshop satire brought me an absurd kind of joy. I am sad that this blog has come to its end, but I am glad that the mechanism which portended it was our very own democratic process at work. Jerry usually wrote roughly about 1 article a week, and each article had around 4 custom pieces in it- meaning I have created over 800 works of factual farce in our time working together. Some days it feels like we just started this blog yesterday, and other times it feels like 20 years ago. Truly a bittersweet undertaking, but one I am proud to have been able to contribute to. I know Jerry’s next creative venture, whatever it may be, will be pointed and, no doubt, funny to boot. Here are some of my favorite photos, 1 for each year of his, well, whatever you want to call it!

2017

2018

2019

2020

At the time we started this project, web developing was my main profession, but in the years that have since passed I have decided to focus more on my (decidedly more serious, haha) photography work. If you’re interested in checking it out, I’d be grateful if you’d stop by http://www.jinyc-photo.com

from WordPress https://ift.tt/3suXy67 via IFTTT

#IFTTT #WordPress #trump #politics #potus #capital hill #washington dc #white house #america #usa

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alltheangstmygifttoyou · 4 years

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Section Fifteen

A/N: This is kinda of a prequel kind of thing to Learn To Be, it takes place before the main story. This is part one and it’s from the perspective from Jason Quinn. If I need to tag anything else please let me know, I want everybody to be safe!

Word Count: 1,586

Tw: domestic abuse, child abuse, violence, cursing, unhealthy relationship

Most parents waited with bated breath for the teal envelope with the black seal that’s contents would pave out their child’s future to arrive, but Jason Quinn wasn’t one of them. He held no doubt that both of his children would get into section one, the section for only the most powerful children, the section for the people destined for greatness, the section he had been in himself. After all, half of them came from him. He had been preparing his daughter Jester for her placement test since she hit the age of seven. Within those three years she had gained complete control over her rather limited power and was able to give off the impression that it was much more than it was. While Jason hadn’t been preparing his son Jesse his wife, Heather, had. Despite her weak parenting approach Jesse’s emotional manipulation had managed to develop rather powerfully. Everything was going according to plan, he had no need to worry about those two.

That’s why he let his wife open the letters first, she had been far more anxious than he had. She wouldn’t stop gushing to Jason while they ate dinner how much she missed her little boy. Heather had even gone out and bought a frame for Jesse’s letter to go in once it arrived. Jason refused to do any sort of dramatics like that for Jester, getting into section one was an expectation, not something to celebrate. Anything less was simply unacceptable. He sat on his and Heather’s shared king sized bed watching the television mounted on the wall while his wife fumbled with the letter opener. The television's sound was off at Heather’s request so she could have an easier time pretending that he was listening. In reality they both were fully aware he was reading the captions, he always wanted to be up to date on everything that was happening.

“Oh Jason he got in! I knew he could do it, and my frame is the perfect size. Should I keep the envelope?” Heather squealed and rambled on to Jason’s annoyance, but he didn’t tell her to stop. Her excitement was good for their image when they were out in public, if he snapped at her now her bubbly joy would feel less real later. If both of their happiness seemed fake it would be glaringly obvious, and they would be no better than the Taski’s. “Do you want to open Jester’s yourself?” She asked, holding her daughter’s envelope with two fingers, letting it dangle in the air. Her midday sky blue eyes looking for space on the wall, no doubt trying to plan where she wanted the framed letter to go.

“No, you go ahead darling, I know you’re far more excited than me,” he answered, although when it came to Jester they were both aware of Heather’s distaste. The blonde had never cared much for her daughter, hence why Jason was the main disciplinary for Jester. His wife didn’t protest though, instead she finally put her pretty lips together and tore open the envelope. The television switched to an ad for a restaurant that seemed to serve plenty of spaghetti. Jason considered taking Heather there to snap her out of the mood she was sure to fall into after she hung the letter up. It would help distract her from the empty home.

“Jason…” Heather whispered, she must have taken a step back because he could no longer see her in his peripheral. All of this pointed to Jester failing, an annoying setback but not something to difficult to work from. Heather was always overreacting.

“Out with it, how bad did she do? Section two, three?” He kept his voice soft but firm, he didn’t need Heather hiding away from him over nothing.

“No, none of those,” he waited for her to finish but she just trailed off again. He sighed through his nose and counted backwards from five in his head. Despite trying to keep him from being angry she always managed to push his buttons.

“Well, what is it then? Four, five?” The commercials were still playing, now an ad for a jewelry store.

“Fifteen,” the shakily whispered word consumed all other sound in the room. Jason sat statue still for a moment, trying to decide whether or not he had actually heard correctly before turning off the television and turning to look at his wife. She had tucked her skinny ass into the corner of the room partially blocked by their polished dark brown wood dresser. Jesse’s neatly cut open envelope and letter rested on top of said dresser while Jester’s ripped apart envelope had been discarded onto the floor right next to the plastic black trash bin. Jester’s letter however was clutched in both of his wife’s hands blocking her large chest from him. Something that annoyed him further since he knew she had been wearing a lacy low cut ruby red tank top that would have given him such a lovely view.

“Let me see that,” he didn’t yell, there was no reason to yet. Perhaps it had been a misprint, or Heather had read it wrong. She eyed him before pulling herself away from the ash gray walls and with a shaky slender hand gave him the letter. He took his time reading the letter, it was clear most of it was standard in every letter. The first two paragraphs were about how happy the school was to be taking care of your child and a description on what they would be learning. The third paragraph was where things seemed more personal. It began:

‘We regret to inform you that your child did not take part in the placement test, as only children whose powers are extremely dangerous refuse the placement test your child has now been placed in section fifteen. With time in this section we guarantee your child will no longer be a threat to themselves or others-’

Jason didn’t need to read any further, in fact he couldn’t as his clenched fists had pulled the paper apart. Heather was back whimpering in the corner and part of him wanted to slap her so she would just be silent for once but if he hit her she would just get louder, she always did. Jason couldn’t just do nothing however, his shaking fists and roaring thoughts wouldn’t allow it.

With the speed and grace of a fox on the prowl he stood up off the bed and grabbed the framed picture of the four family members together. He stared at his daughter’s smiling face, she was only nine in the photo but it’d be too easy to mistake her for a teen. She wore makeup that made her features look sharp, dark green lipstick, and purple eye shadow to match the family crests colors. He threw the picture at the wall close to his wife and watched as it left a small hole in the wall. Heather squeaked at the thump as her eyes followed the now cracked glass. She reached down to pick it up but he stomped over and crushed it under his black clad foot, almost catching her hand in the process.

“Jason!” She screeched, partially out of fear but he could also hear her exasperation. “That was my favorite photo…”

“ Who gives a damn? Just buy a new one- but cut that traitorous bitch out!” He snapped back finally giving his wife his full attention.

“Traitorous? What are you talking about?” She asked, he never understood how someone so stupid got through medical school.

“Did you even read the letter? Don’t answer because we both know you didn’t.” he cut her off as she opened her mouth to defend herself no doubt. “Jester didn’t take the damn placement test, she played the ‘my powers are too dangerous card.’” What he couldn’t figure out was why?

“Perhaps she got cold feet?” Heather suggested. Her usual disgust when talking about the girl missing, replacing it was a high pitched whine that made everyone of her words feel like their own question.

“Perhaps her stupid fucking mother got involved and screamed at her one to many times for using her power on Jesse like I had told her to!” Jason shouted in her face as his fist came crashing down like a hammer to a nail on her cheek. Her head hit the wall and she curled up on the soft maroon carpet sobbing. At least she could do that quietly. Jason doubted that Jester was too scared to take the test, she knew what would happen if she disappointed him. When she came home-

“Oh, she thinks she’s so clever…” He mumbled to himself as he realized his initial thought had been right. She was rebelling, and there would be no physical consequence until the holidays. Jester believed that she could do whatever she wanted while she was away at school. He would just have to show her how wrong she was. Her being in section fifteen threw a wrench in his plans, but he could work with it. After all, he knew Jester could get the job done, he just needed to teach her another lesson. Perhaps it was time to create a new national holiday…

“Clean yourself up honey, there’s a new restaurant I think you’ll like,” he spoke with a wide smile while giving her a hand up. Yes, he knew that he could make all of this work out, perhaps even better than before.

#learn to be #tw domestic abuse #TW child abuse #tw cursing #tw violence #tw unhealthy relationship

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movietvtechgeeks · 6 years

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Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/supernatural-various-sundry-villains-kill-darlings/

'Supernatural' Various & Sundry Villains: Kill Your Darlings

Okay, I’m going to be upfront, I was ready to be super underwhelmed by last week’s Supernatural episode “Various & Sundry Villains.” All of the promotion focused on the love spell, and frankly, we’ve been there, done that. In fact, I’m shocked that showrunner Andrew Dabb let this pitch go to script given that he wrote the controversial episode “Season 7 Time for a Wedding”, an episode that I can honestly say has only one truly redeeming quality: Leslie Odom, Jr. was in it. While this was arguably derivative of that episode, giving this the go ahead was risky on Dabb’s part. It paid off for writer, Steve Yockey, because this love spell outing was much better than the last. In the opening of this episode we meet the Plum sisters, and I hate to say this, but despite watching this episode three times I don’t actually remember their first names and I could barely tell them apart anyway, so we’ll just call the one Dean “falls in love with” Harley Quinn and the other one we’ll call… Harley Quinn’s little sister? Yeah, sure, why not? Between the cutesy valley girl verbiage and the bloody sledgehammer, I’m sure we were supposed to get an Arkham Asylum vibe off these two. At least, I really hope that was the intention. I’ll be honest, I was not impressed with these characters and I’m not sure if it was off writing, off casting, or off directing, but they felt really forced. From their overly stereotypical Millenial way of speaking to their overtly blatant mirroring of Sam and Dean (yes, we get it, one is younger and brainy, they other is older and protective, they’re obsessed with their dead mom and it could go badly, was that a hammer they were using or an anvil?) the Plum sisters, unlike their Winchester counterparts, came off as grating. Maybe they were supposed to? Again, I hope so. I will say that as a horror buff I enjoyed the return of Rowena’s mad dog spell and the demise of the Plum sisters at each other’s hands. I saw a lot of people say it was too much, too gratuitous, too gory. And perhaps it was, but given the movies I regularly watch and enjoy, well, I embraced it. While I will say I’m glad the love spell portion of the episode was short-lived, it’s always fun to see Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki show off their comedy elbow chops; Ackles with the perfectly timed glibness he brings to Dean Winchester and Padalecki’s Sam Winchester, ever the earnest Abbott to Ackles’ Costello, was subtle, stoic faced gold. Ackles and Padalecki got to play off each other magnificently in this episode; from Dean walking in practically floating on a love cloud, to Sam trying desperately to remind Dean they’ve been down this weird love spell road before, to Ackles’ delivery of “‘cause she’s got a sister”, to their tussle in front of the Impala (though, dang, these boys horseplay hard given the butt dent Sam left on the hood after Dean rushed him) the two actors smoothly show how well they work together no matter the material. But the star of this episode was Rowena. Her entrance was stellar, and she stole every scene. Ruth Connell is delightful in this role and for the most part (we’ll get to that later) I was glad to see her back because I was sorry to lose her last season, especially in such a cheap, off-screen way. I’m hard-pressed to fall for new characters, but Rowena is one that I really enjoy. Connell was able to give us comedy and tragedy in this episode, going from snark to desperation fluidly. I also have to give Steve Yockey heaps of credit for having Rowena not only ask about Crowley but allowing her to have an outburst about his death. Hearing her say that she’d rather have him alive than to have died a hero hit really close to home given that the lack of Mark Sheppard as Crowley has been quite the gaping hole this season. Take a note from Yockey, other writers, because I’m still waiting for Castiel to ask about Meg… Speaking of Castiel, he and Lucifer were locked up. Now they aren’t. And like, they had a whole big penis to penis measurement contest and Castiel for some reason tried to hurt Lucifer by telling him that Jack doesn’t even look like him, which… um, Lucifer is in the image of a seasons dead vessel so, of course, he doesn’t look like him. And also, when did you get to know so much about Jack, Castiel? I think maybe the writer accidentally gave Misha Collins some of Sam’s lines to say. If I sound like I was less than moved by any of these scenes, it’s because I wasn’t. The scenes weren’t objectively bad or anything, and not only has Mark Pellegrino has found his footing as Lucifer again, but he and Collins play extremely well off each other. Unfortunately, their scenes simply didn’t mesh well with the “A” plot and the dichotomy crashed the episode’s momentum. Although, I did enjoy both characters reminding each other what untrustworthy, hypocritical screw-ups both have been. Again, I appreciate it when Supernatural is self-aware like that because fallibility gives depth and interest. Now, you didn’t think I was going to review this episode and not talk about Sam and Rowena sharing their trauma, did you? Because that was a scene that many Supernatural fans have waited years for. In season 11, Sam was forced to not only work with Lucifer, but he had to allow Lucifer into his home, into his room, and wasn’t allowed to voice any grievances about it and while Padalecki did a phenomenal job adding little twitches and moments of tight body language and subtle distance, it was all too obvious that the writers were wary of taking Sam’s trauma seriously because at the time Lucifer was possessing Castiel’s body and the “Cassifer" version of Lucifer was played mostly as a joke throughout that entire arc, nothing but a bratty teenager throwing a tantrum, while Sam Winchester, the boy who had every reason to rip into both Lucifer and God, just stood on the sidelines silently like he was totally fine. But he wasn’t, he hasn’t been, and watching Sam and Rowena both delve into the trauma and abuse they experienced at Lucifer’s hand was fantastically written and acted. Yockey was able to give the characters just enough for them to convey, through their tone, inflections, and facial expressions how much they were, no are, broken by the Devil himself. Having them both admit to seeing Lucifer’s real face, while giving no descriptive details was brilliant. Both Padalecki and Connell were able to communicate to the audience how horrific it was for their characters without any unnecessary detail. Such a great “show, don’t tell” moment; it’s so much more frightening for the viewer to fill in the blanks. And Sam explaining that it isn’t that he’s okay, it’s that he never gets the chance to fully deal with his trauma because the world is always falling apart was both heartbreaking and much needed, not only for Sam to say it but for the audience to hear it. At the end of this episode we got to see the other side of the Ackles/Padalecki chemistry, their ability to rip your heart out, when Sam and Dean have a frank discussion back at the bunker about what to do going forward. Dean knowing that Sam gave Rowena the spell she wanted and instead of yelling and belittling him, he’s simply honest and direct with him and doesn’t question Sam when he says that if Rowena played him again, he’ll personally kill her. It was also good to hear Sam be open with Dean about how defeated he feels, about how he tried to mask that with conviction and hope, but that he can’t fake it til he makes it anymore. And while Dean’s words of encouragement and confidence may seemingly ring hollow to Sam, it’s not because Sam doesn’t have faith in Dean, it’s that right now he can’t see where Dean is coming from. Dean knows, because characters have told him for years, how important he and Sam are, how they keep this world spinning, but Sam has never heard it directly, not from God, not from Amara, not from Death, not from Billie. Those declarations have only been uttered to Dean and then conveyed by Dean to Sam, so Dean knows that they’ll figure out a way, that it’s basically destiny and Sam has no choice but to take Dean’s word for it. I could go on and on about the isolation of Sam Winchester, but that’s an article for a different day. [caption id="attachment_53290" align="aligncenter" width="696"] Photo: Home of the Nutty[/caption] Overall, this was a mytharc episode done well, slightly overstuffed as most mytharc episodes are, but coherent and well paced with a fantastic blend of horror, levity, and angst. That said, the last thing I want to touch on for this episode is something that was absolutely no fault of the writer, Steve Yockey, but I think is an increasing problem on Supernatural; the element of surprise is gone, as are the stakes. Supernatural was once known as a show where rocks fell, and everyone died. It was also a show where Jim Beaver once hid his reprisal of Bobby Singer by trying to convince fandom that he was in Vancouver shooting an abominable snowman movie so that his return to the show wasn’t spoiled Fast forward just a few years and the cast, crew, and network PR are spoiling character reveals weeks, even months in advance. Instead of being shocked by Rowena’s return we all went into this episode waiting for her appearance, and while we saw Castiel stab Lucifer with an angel blade; saw the red light go out of Lucifer’s eyes; it’s all for naught. Lucifer is the focus of the promo that aired right after the episode, and the synopsis for the next episode lays out exactly what he’ll be up to. Even last season finale, no one believed Castiel was actually permanently dead. Hell, it took Mark Sheppard declaring that he refuses to ever reprise his role for fans to believe Crowley was truly dead. No stakes means no emotional payoff. No secrecy means no shock and awe. Take a page from some of the greats, Supernatural, including yourself: what’s dead should stay dead, so kill your darlings and if you must bring them back, stop telegraphing their returns. Check out this week's Supernatural Devil's Bargain trailer above.

Movie TV Tech Geeks News

#Featured #Jared Padalecki #Jensen Ackles #Mark Pellegrino #Misha Collins #Ruth Connell #Supernatural

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kiritonarukami · 4 years

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Studios: TMS Entertainment

Source: Manga

Genres: Comedy, Romance, School, Shounen

Synopsis: “Dumped by his girlfriend, emotionally shattered college student Kazuya Kinoshita attempts to appease the void in his heart through a rental girlfriend from a mobile app. At first, Chizuru Mizuhara seems to be the perfect girl with everything he could possibly ask for: great looks and a cute, caring personality. Upon seeing mixed opinions on her profile after their first date, and still tormented by his previous relationship, Kazuya believes that Chizuru is just playing around with the hearts of men and leaves her a negative rating. Angry at her client’s disrespect towards her, Chizuru reveals her true nature: sassy and temperamental, the complete opposite of Kazuya’s first impression. At that very moment, Kazuya receives news of his grandmother’s collapse and is forced to bring Chizuru along with him to the hospital. Although it turns out to be nothing serious, his grandmother is ecstatic that Kazuya has finally found a serious girlfriend, which had always been her wish. Unable to tell her the truth, Kazuya and Chizuru are forced into a fake relationship—acting as if they are truly lovers.”

-Myanimelist

First Impression:

Just seeing the PV alone, I knew that Kanojo, Okarishimasu will be my favorite show of the season and now I can finally see it! Let’s get into it!

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Well…that’s one way to start a show! The abrupt timing of the breakup so early in the show sets the tone for Kazuya’s character and the awkwardness, with a tad bit of lightheartedness, that is to come from the rest of the episode.

Ichinose, Chizuru

SHE’S HERE!!! I’m really interested in Chizuru’s character and how exactly her and Kazuya get roped into faking their relationship!

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The ambiance and aesthetic of the show is very well done, I love everything from the colors to the cinematics. It really brings those fluffy feeling that comes with dating for the first time, as long as you ignore the fact that Kazuya just dropped $400 for a couple hours of bliss LOL.

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Is it bad that I laughed out loud at this scene? As a college graduate, I totally understand the financial struggle and couldn’t help but find enjoyment in someone actually spending money this way while in school LOL!

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YOU CAN SAY THAT AGAIN KAZUYA. And to avoid spoilers of the fun parts of the show, I’ll go ahead and end my screenshots here. Though I’m so curious about how the other girls come into play! So far it looks like Kazuya will more or less stray away from the being the edgy main character and I’m hoping that it stays that way! Wouldn’t want another Natsuki Subaru (Re:Zero) on our hands…

Recommendation:

YES

If you loved stories like Nisekoi, Gotoubun no Hanayome, or OreSuki then you’ll also like this one! From a glance through the first episode, Kazuya does seem very edgy but I hope that he improves throughout the show! Also a quick reminder on this wonderful voice cast for the show:

Amamiya Sora (voice of Ichinose Chizuru)

Aqua (Konosuba)

Miia (Monster Musume)

Elizabeth Liones (Nanatsu no Taizai)

Kirishima Touka (Tokyo Ghoul)

Yuuki Aoi (voice of Nanami Mami)

Hanabatake Yoshiko (Aho Girl)

Hinazuki Kayo (Boku dake Machi ga Inai)

Asui Tsuyu (Boku no Hero Academia)

Kotatsu Tamaki (Enen no Shouboutai)

Touyama Nao (voice of Sarashina Ruka)

Kirisaki Chitoge (Nisekoi)

Aoki Clair (Gleipnir)

Shima Rin (Yuru Camp)

Kujou Karen (Hello!! Kiniro Mosaic)

Takahashi Rie (voice of Sakurasawa Sumi)

Megumin (Konosuba)

Emilia (Re:Zero)

Naoki Miki (Gakkou Gurashi)

Kyrielight Mash (Fate/Grand Order)

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Post two of the day! Kanojo, Okarishimasu is going to be my favorite show of the season! Check out my thoughts! ) Studios: TMS Entertainment Source: Manga Genres: Comedy, Romance, School, Shounen Synopsis: “Dumped by his girlfriend, emotionally shattered college student Kazuya Kinoshita attempts to appease the void in his heart through a rental girlfriend from a mobile app.

#Kanojo Okarishimasu #Kanokari #kiritosfirstimpressions #Rent-a-Girlfriend #Summer 2020 #彼女、お借りします

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weflossindaily · 7 years

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Supreme skaters Javier Nunez and Tyshawn Lyons, model Paloma Elsesser, Jen Brill, skater Tyshawn Jones, Chloë Sevigny, skaters Sean Pablo Murphy and Mark Gonzales, all wearing a mix of Supreme and their own clothing.

James Jebbia, the man who, in 1994, founded and to this day runs the SoHo-based company that has been making clothing and skateboards and a lot of other things that the people who love it absolutely have to have, doesn’t think of Supreme the way most people in fashion might—as a brand that started out in a small store on Lafayette Street and has since inched its way to legendary global status. He thinks of Supreme more as a space. When Jebbia was a teenager in Crawley, West Sussex, in the eighties, working at a Duracell factory, listening to T. Rex and Bowie on breaks and spending his spare cash on trips to London to buy clothes, it was always in a certain elusive kind of store—one that became the model for Supreme.

“The cool, cool shop,” says Jebbia, who is 54 and dressed in jeans and a plain dark-blue T-shirt, label-free and low-key, with closely cropped hair and deep blue eyes. “The shop that carries the cool stuff that everybody was wearing—no big brands or anything.”

His office a few blocks west of the Supreme store is adorned with a skateboard designed by Raymond Pettibon; some drawings by Jebbia’s kids, age 8 and 10; and a larger-than-life-size portrait of James Brown—whom Jebbia, crucially, sees as not just the hardest-working man in showbiz but as a guy who never played down to his audience. Jebbia is, likewise, ever-mindful of his customer, who is generally aged eighteen to 25 and wants simply to buy cool stuff—and who will pay for it, assuming it’s worth it.

Of course, what began as a generally male-focused enterprise has, with more and more frequency, been co-opted by women—mirroring both the rise of girl skaters and youth culture’s impressively genderless approach to dressing and living. (The recent surfeit of off-duty models posting Instagrams of themselves lounging, living, and partying in Supreme has only added fuel to the fire.)

“My thing has always been that the clothing we make is kind of like music,” Jebbia says. “There are always critics that don’t understand that young people can be into Bob Dylan but also into the Wu-Tang Clan and Coltrane and Social Distortion. Young people—and skaters—are very, very open-minded . . . to music, to art, to many things, and that allowed us to make things with an open mind.”

Recently the fashion world has been waking up to Supreme. In the past decade, the company has opened stores in Tokyo, London, and Paris, while the passionate devotion of their customers has brought it into the conversation with both teenagers at skateboard parks and the front rows of high fashion—with Paris in particular swooning over Supreme’s collaboration this fall with Louis Vuitton. Jebbia loved working with Kim Jones, Vuitton’s menswear designer, to make skateboard trunks and backpacks, bandannas and gloves, shirts and jackets. The feeling was mutual.

“When you see the lines for Supreme in New York or London,” says Jones, “you see so many different types of people, and they are people you can relate to—they understand high-low, they’re smart, they’re intelligent, and they’re humorous. They know what they want, and they are very loyal—and a customer who is loyal is a real aspiration for anybody with a brand.”

The Vuitton collaboration was also, for many in fashion, their first glimpse into the secretive world of Supreme, which has become a kind of shorthand for authenticity, immediacy, speed, and deftness in its way of doing business. More than just selling sweats and tees and hats, the brand brings out a new collection two times a year, like any fashion company—generally, an online look-book, followed by a few pieces dropped every Thursday, each item available both online and in the stores. A Supreme drop, for those who haven’t experienced it, is an event. “We can have a leather jacket for $1,500, and if it’s a good value, young people will understand that,” Jebbia says. “But we also want to have the feeling that this won’t be here in a month. When I grew up, I think everybody felt that way. It’s like, If I love this, it may not be here, so I should buy it.”

If Jebbia was anxious to get press when he started, now he worries about overexposure. Supreme keeps advertising to a minimum and works with people like Sage Elsesser, the pro skater, who models for its look-book. Elsesser is the kind of person marketers think of as an influential outsider but whom customers see as just a cool skater. “Supreme is family-oriented, and that matters most to me,” says Elsesser. Supremeheads understand the nuances of marketing nonsense; their nose, both for corporations pretending to be human and for brands trying to throw themselves at potential customers, is highly refined, a reason Supreme uses social media primarily as an exhibit space. “We’re not trying to overconnect ourselves,” Jebbia says. “We’re just trying to show people things that we do—no different from what a magazine did 20 years ago.” (They published six issues of their own magazine before developing their website around 2006.)

Founder James Jebbia at the Supreme office in SoHo. Photographed by Anton Corbijn, Vogue, September 2017

Nothing about Supreme was planned in advance, its success a coincidence of place, time, and hard work. By the time he was nineteen, Jebbia had left England and was a sales assistant at a SoHo store called Parachute. From there, he worked a table at the nearby flea market, then founded a store, Union, on Spring Street that sold British goods and streetwear. Union did well enough until it began to sell clothing designed by Shawn Stüssy, the skateboarder and surfer, at which point it did great. Next, Jebbia helped run a shop with Stüssy until Stüssy decided to retire. “Now what the hell am I going to do?” he recalls asking himself.

“I always really liked what was coming out of the skate world,” Jebbia says. “It was less commercial—it had more edge and more fuck-you type stuff.” So he decided to open his own skate shop on Lafayette Street. Lafayette was then a relatively quiet strip of antiques stores, a firehouse, and a machinist, but also a Keith Haring shop—a downtown art-scene connection that, in hindsight, was key. Jebbia built a spare space (the very notions of spare and clean soon becoming Supreme trademarks), then brought in good skateboards, cranked the music, and played videos constantly—wildly disparate things like Muhammad Ali fight videos and Taxi Driver—to draw onlookers.

The kids he employed, often skateboarders themselves, were cool, opinionated—and, yes, often scowling at the uncool—but allowed outsiders a view into their clique. The very first employees were extras in Larry Clark’s film Kids, written by Harmony Korine, who lived in the neighborhood and recalls Supreme as less of a store, more of a hang—though within a year, designers from uptown as well as Europe and Japan were paying attention. “They were easy adapters to a kind of dissonance, where you have several things at different points on the cultural spectrum that are all connected by a kind of aesthetic or vibe,” says Korine. Supreme started a magazine featuring the faces of the young downtown scene—Chloë Sevigny, Ryan McGinley, Mark Gonzales—a mix of models, artists, skaters. “James tapped into a secret sauce,” Korine continues, “and they’ve kept strong because youth propels the culture, and they are always on the side of the youth. You can’t fake that.”

Initially, Supreme made only a few T-shirts. Then their customers arrived wearing Carhartt matched with Vuitton, Gucci with Levi’s. Soon Supreme tried a cotton hoodie, realizing that if it was simply made a little better than what was out there, skaters would be willing to pay a little more for it. According to Jebbia, this sort of thinking isn’t unique to skate culture. “Gucci is saying, ‘Hey—just because you’re young doesn’t mean you won’t love this $800 sweatshirt,’” he says. Jebbia can’t say enough about designers who respect young buyers rather than simply use them to attract press. The genius of Alessandro Michele, Gucci’s creative director, as he sees it, is that he doesn’t just show young people wearing pieces on the runway; he hopes they’ll actually wear them as they go about their lives. “He’s creating exciting products for right now—today,” Jebbia says.

The hoodies worked, as did the fitted caps they tried next. Collaborations came early on, with artists making work for skateboard decks, as well as for T-shirts and other clothing. The painter Lucien Smith credits Supreme’s intimacy. “A lot of people don’t understand that this is a supersmall group of people who are just working on that original idea—that it is a skate shop,” he says.

The list of artists who have worked with Supreme over the last two decades could fill a gallery space: Christopher Wool, Jeff Koons, Mark Flood, Nate Lowman, John Baldessari, Damien Hirst—even Neil Young. But the collaboration that changed everything was the line of tees, shoes, and shirts produced with Comme des Garçons, in 2012. “I think that opened a lot of doors, a lot of eyes,” Jebbia says. “I have never met anyone with such a strong, single-minded vision who has always stayed close to his sense of values,” says Adrian Joffe, president of Comme des Garçons and Rei Kawakubo’s husband. “That’s why our collaboration was so meaningful—and why the growth of Supreme has in a way mirrored our own.”

Spend some time with Jebbia and you get to know his own favorite brands, which include well-known names like Patagonia along with a few you are not likely to have heard of, like Antihero, a skateboard company. “They’re very below the radar,” he says, “but they are very pure in what they do—I hold them in as much esteem as I do Chanel or Vuitton.”

I think a lot of brands reach a point where they say, We kind of have a formula—we’ve got it made,” he says. “Our formula is there’s no formula.” He mentions his wife, Bianca, who grew up in Elmhurst, Queens, in a Chilean family and raises their children at their apartment in Lower Manhattan. “She’ll shop at Prada, she’ll shop at Chanel—and then she’ll shop at Uniqlo and she’ll wear something from Supreme,” Jebbia says. “And it’s not ‘Look at me dumbing this stuff down.’ She’s just wearing what she likes, and I think that people are more like that now.”

On one recent morning in his office, Jebbia stepped up from his desk and went out for coffee, passing through the studio from which the new Supreme motorized street bike was about to drop, the latest in the seemingly infinite collaborations—this one with Coleman. The space is big and open and white-walled and has the feeling of a workshop. The office staff—an industrious, no-frills team of about 40—is dressed elegantly but practically as they prepare to release their new Comme des Garçons Nike Air Force 1s, the long lines on Lafayette Street still a day or two from forming.

Out on the street, he offered a tour through his own history. “Parachute was there,” he says, “and Comme des Garçons had a store there. . . .” He pointed up. “I love that Alex Katz lives up there,” he says. “People can talk shit about the neighborhood, but I really think it’s one of the most vibrant places in the world.”

Jebbia doesn’t have a title. “My wife keeps saying I should just call myself founder, but I don’t know,” he says. “ ‘Just tell em I run a skate shop’ is how I usually put it. But I guess I kind of direct things.” He likes to stay out of categories, to be free of market demands. Growth, for instance, is something he is focused on, but at the Supreme pace: slow, but quick enough to satisfy customer demand. “We don’t want people to think we are a tricky, hard-to-get brand,” he says. “We can only do so many things,” he says. “The hat factory we use can only make so many hats.” Jebbia is also wary of anything that will raise his overhead or put his ability to take risks at risk. “We’re making stuff we’re proud of,” he says, “not doing stuff to stay alive. I don’t think enough people take risks, and when you do, people respond—in music, in art, in fashion.”

As we walk, Jebbia is greeted by people from the neighborhood, and when at last we sit he seems to almost relax for a minute talking about his weekends—which are, he stresses, decidedly unglamorous. “The kids have a lot of homework,” he says, “and I actually like not having any plans.” As with his stores, he likes to keep life clean and simple—dinner with his wife and kids, and maybe a weekend visit to MoMA. “I don’t have this lavish lifestyle,” he says, “so I don’t have this massive overhead.”

And with that, he’s back to being wary. “I’ve seen brands get comfortable,” he says, “but I’ve never felt comfortable. I’ve always felt every season could be our last.”

In this story:

Sittings Editor: Sara Moonves. Hair: Tamara McNaughton; Makeup: Romy Soleimani. Production: Patrick Van Maanen for Moxie Productions.

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Source:

vogue

Supreme, From Cult Skate Shop to Fashion Superpower

Supreme, From Cult Skate Shop to Fashion Superpower James Jebbia, the man who, in 1994, founded and to this day runs the SoHo-based company that has been making clothing and skateboards and a lot of other things that the people who love it absolutely have to have, doesn’t think of Supreme the way most people in fashion might—as a brand that started out in a small store on Lafayette Street and has since inched its way to legendary global status.

#Supreme

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youremyonlyhope · 7 years

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The Lie of the Land

The description of the episode really concerns me.

Umm... Ummmmmm...... UMMMMMMMMM........ UMMMMMMMMM...... THESE MONKS ALL BEING INSERTED INTO HISTORY IS ALL JUST NOPE. “THE TIME THE MONKS DEFEATED THE DALEKS. THE CYBERMEN. THE WEEPING ANGELS.” UM WHAT. AND THE DOCTOR IS DOING LIKE PROPAGANDA OR SOMETHING FOR THE MONKS. WHAT IN THE WORLD IS HAPPENING. WE HAVE A LEGIT DYSTOPIA HERE. THERE ARE CAMPS. SOME PEOPLE REMEMBER THE PROPER HISTORY. THIS IS HORRIBLE. THIS WENT FROM 0-100 REAL QUICK. AND THE MUSIC PLAYING REMINDS ME OF TEN’S SONG FROM END OF TIME. I CAN’T REMEMBER WHICH SONG THOUGH. IT’S REMINDING ME OF EITHER “VALE DECEM” OR “THIS IS GALLIFREY”. I CAN’T THINK RIGHT NOW. ALL I CAN DO IS RECOGNIZE IT, I CAN’T HANDLE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT IT IS. WHY ALL THE STATUES. YOU MONKS GUYS REALLY LOVE BEING WORSHIPPED DON’T YOU? YOU GOT PROBLEMS. SO MANY PROBLEMS. THAT EVIL CREEPY GRIN FROM THE DOCTOR.

EVERYTHING IS NOPE.

Calling it now, a lot of this episode will be in caps. Awww it’s her mom. Everything’s so dull and grey.... MAGPIE ELECTRICAL. NOW THAT’S A REAL THROWBACK. YES. Nardole! I had noticed the painting in the first house, but now there’s the same one in Bill’s apartment. This is like Big Brother with the TV’s watching you or cameras or whatever it was that watched you. I can’t remember. I read that book like 8 years ago. Oh my god. Yeah. Comics. Some literature/ALL literature wouldn’t have the monks in it. “History was saying ‘hey look I have some examples of Fascism here.’” THE DOCTOR HAS A REAL POINT THERE. Doctor please tell me you aren’t actually really for this though. Oh god her face when he revealed their code to the guards. No. I got distracted counting stitches on the skirt I’m currently crocheting, and Bill started shooting the Doctor. So THAT’S A NEW ONE. THAT’S NEW. I DON’T THINK A COMPANION HAS EVER SHOT THE DOCTOR BEFORE. AT LEAST NOT IN MY MEMORY. Ok Twelve. Pull a Ten and put all your regeneration energy somewhere. “AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH good girl!” DOCTOR YOU JUST DON’T DO STUFF LIKE THAT. NO. BAD DOCTOR. “Everyone exchanged their ammo for blanks.” Well that explains the lack of blood. I thought it was just because it’s a family show and showing blood would be bad and showing the blood of the Doctor would be even worse and showing the blood of the Doctor while he’s getting shot at by his companion would have been completely devastating. “Oh... my... god I am going to beat the sh-” “She keeps hitting me!” Oh my god that was funny. Umm... Almost as smart as the Doctor... the Master? You’re gonna go get Missy? Really?

Bill: “We could have snuck back in but... the Doctor being the Doctor...” Doctor [Laughing Maniacally]

I have captions on, and that caption was perfection. “Wait a sec, why have you got a woman locked in a vault? Because even I think that’s weird and I’ve been attacked by a puddle.” That’s hilarious. I knew the statues were important! Still think they’re all super vain for making them in their image They’re playing what sounds like “This Is Gallifrey” and I’m having feels. What will Doctor Who do when Murray Gold dies? His music is so iconic for New Who. Will Doctor Who still be going then... This brain wave stuff reminds me of season 3 when everyone used the Master’s network against him. Yes Doctor please stop racism. Please and thank you. “You’re gonna plug your brain into it?” “I know. Doesn’t stand a chance.” Ok honestly, this guy should have just grabbed the headset of one of the dead bodies once he noticed his was broken. Come on. I get that you shouldn’t do stuff to dead bodies, but like... he knows the danger of him not hearing the recording constantly. I guess he just fell back into the monks’ brainwashing before he could think to take someone else’s. “Fake news central” Hmm... I know Doctor Who filmed long before Agent Orange became president... but hmm... good timing... Bill should touch him for support or something. Since it’s her memories that link everything. Annnnd everything’s red. Does Bill have a theme yet? I haven’t noticed one. Is this it? The music playing during their “last conversation.” Oh because it’s a fake memory of her mom, a fantasy. OK. The entire world is getting the image of a beautiful black woman with an afro smiling and hold out her hand and it’s making everyone’s memories go back to normal. YES. “Humanity’s doomed to never learn from its mistakes.” Yep. Oh he lets Missy out of the cage thingy sometimes? Missy, are you actually feeling regret? Oh my god. Yes girl. Feel the regret. Feel it. Let it make you better.

OK. Well that was a good 3 parter. I’m glad it all worked out. But like... that dystopia in the first few minutes of this episode... just nope. I couldn’t handle it. Even just 10 minutes of it.

Also, I just listened to This Is Gallifrey and Vale Decem to make sure that those were the songs I had heard during the episode and let me tell you... Murray Gold... is an actual genius. Because I want to cry all over again. It doesn’t help that I’m listening to the versions of the songs in this video and it’s just playing all the Doctor’s regenerations and I got a lot of feels. Especially since Blind Wave has been watching Doctor Who and they have only 2 episodes of Nine left and I’m having Nine feels since I know in 2 weeks I’ll have to watch them go through the heartbreak of losing Nine. Also the fact that John Hurt died this year really isn’t helping at all. Oh my god when Vale Decem just builds with the final chorus of the song just... GENIUS. JOHN WILLIAMS LEVEL OF MUSICAL GENIUS. MURRAY GOLD YOU GENIUS.

#hope watches doctor who #ignore me if you want

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fixedxpoint-archive · 7 years

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all of the body and mind questions!!

💄 - HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT MAKEUP, WOULD YOU/DO YOU WEAR IT?

There actually wasn’t much makeup when he was a child. In his little colony there were ways to create simple makeup colors using the plant or sea life for pigments ( like how Egyptians made paints using bone and plants ). When Jack was little he hated the idea of makeup because it was, in his mind, “too feminine”. Now he sees that anyone can wear it without worrying that it’s gendered more for females and maybe he’ll wear it if a certain little one asks.

♀ - HOW FEMININE ARE YOU?

Just enough feminine. It’s not in a very traditional way but it’s in subtle ways. How he holds himself around strangers is very much a manly man but with people he care for is more “mother hen” like. Jack cares very deeply and it translates to him being overprotective and always badgering his loved ones to take better care of themselves. He also really does love more traditionally feminine clothing in the comfort of his own home because damn do tight trousers and a button up get annoying after awhile. So cue baggy jumpers and flowing lounge pants when he’s alone while pampering himself.

♂ - HOW MASCULINE ARE YOU?

You’d be surprised how much of it is just a front for people. He is rather masculine but he puts up a front for people. A lot of the “let me save the world by myself because I’m the only one who can” is him trying to overcompensate for his masculinity but it’s really only 30% that fake.

💓 - WHAT’S YOU SEX GENDER?

He’s a transgender male individual

💎 - WHAT’S YOUR SEXUALITY?

He’s still in the questioning stages of being either Asexual or Demisexual.

🎈 - WHAT’S YOUR GENDER?

Uh….go check the heart one. ( i don’t understand why these are both her because sex is literally gender but less rude and strictly binary )

🔑 - DO YOU KIN WITH ANYONE/ANYTHING?

No he does not.

❤️ - ARE YOU CURRENTLY IN LOVE? IF SO, WHO ARE YOU IN LOVE WITH?

This is very verse dependent. ( i have too many verses whooooooooops ) And really it’s hard for him to come out and say “yes, this is my person and i love them very much”. In his experiences when he comes to the realization that he’s in love with someone they have either left him or have passed on. So it takes him an extra long time to really come to terms with his love. He does love a lot of people though and he hopes they all know.

💕 - HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT OF A GENDER CHANGE?

Jack’s actually had a few surgeries. A double mastectomy and bottom surgery although he does still have his original reproductive organs because he didn’t have the money/he wasn’t sure he wanted to get them removed.

🏵 - WHERE ARE THE SENSITIVE SPOTS ON YOUR BODY?

They’re weeeeeeeeird spots. His tailbone is sensitive. The weirdest one is his clavicle ( shoulder blade ) along with the glabella ( the part between your eyebrows ). There are normal ones like his neck and his belly but yeah, he’s a weird boy.

🍓 - WHERE IS IT OKAY FOR YOUR FRIENDS TO TOUCH?

He really doesn’t like a lot of touching because those friendly nice touches have been turned around on Jack and used to hurt him. He’s actually been stabbed and killed by a man who he had loved and thought would love him in return for his immortality. You have to be a very trusted friend for Jack to let anyone near him and even then it’s very little allowed contact. Shoulders are all that’s really allowed but certain people can hold his hand or touch his arms but there’s basically nothing else allowed.

🍒 - WHERE IS IT OKAY FOR LOVERS TO TOUCH?

It’s still a very hesitant thing with Jack but there’s a bit more lenience to touch. Saying that, so long as the touches are well above the belt 99% of the time he’ll allow it.

🍄 - WHERE IS IT OKAY FOR STRANGERS TO TOUCH?

Absolutely nowhere. Jack will very likely kick the shit out of some stranger who touches him. ( not really but it gives him anxiety )

🌸 - HOW MUCH FLATTERY CAN YOU TAKE BEFORE CATCHING A CRUSH?

He can fall very hard for someone depending on how deep of a connection they have. If there’s similar interests and their personalities mesh well with one another, Jack can catch a crush in as little as a few weeks or as long as several years.

🌈 - WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY?

There are so many things that make him happy. His loved ones, how far he’s come in life, who he is as a person now, and just everything in general makes him happy.

🌪 - DO YOU HAVE DEPRESSING THOUGHTS? IF SO WHAT ARE THE SCARIEST?

He hasn’t actually had a depressing thought in some time now. Though his scariest is actually pretty scary. It was when the whole realization of him being unable to die happened and he made an entire list of things to try so he could kill himself.

💅 - HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT NAIL POLISH, WOULD YOU/DO YOU WEAR IT?

He think it beautiful on other people but he’s not too sure how it’d look on him. Though that doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be a point in time Jack would refuse it but he isn’t so sure when the day would happen.

👒 - DON’T BE SHY, WHAT’S YOUR PERSONAL STYLE?

Jack is very much 50s chic. Anything that’s a button up, form fitted trousers, and old work boots and he’s happy. But he also loves baggy tops and graphic tees ( those are very rare ) and warm jackets that have fuzzies inside them. He more dresses for the 50s.

🦉 - WHAT’S YOUR SECRET MIRROR CT WHEN NO ONE ELSE IS LOOKING? DO YOU MAKE FACES? DO YOU DANCE? DO YOU CHECK YOURSELF IN THE MIRROR?

Jack actually hates looking in the mirror. No thanks to body image issues and an intense amount of self-hate he keeps away from them. If he does happen to be near a mirror he does a quick little check and that’s it.

🐦 - WHAT DO/WOULD YOU POST ON YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA?

He’d probably have an Instagram to post different photos from his life with silly or sappy captions. And maybe a tumblr where he geeks out about the 50s, space, and all things on the LGBTQ community.

🍭 - DESCRIBE YOUR PERFECT PARTNER. HEAD TO TOE. FLAW TO FEATURE.

Jack would be happy with anyone so long as they were a good person. It doesn’t matter how they look, their gender, their background or even what they wear. As long as they love him and know that there’s not going to be much going on in the bedroom department he’ll take on anyone. But if there had to b a description he loves a person with a great personality as well as a good sense of humor. And maybe just a little bit smaller than him so he can have their legs wrapped around his waist while he carries them around.

🍩 - HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOURSELF?

Jack’s in a better state of mind now than he was years and years ago. As of right now he is semi-okay with himself. There are things that he’s done that he wishes he could do over, make them never happen or something because he hurt a lot of people. But now he’s doing better since he knows that the things he’s done since then may not make up for the past but it’s a step in the right direction.

LET’S LEARN ALL ABOUT JACK | @twatisms

#;inquiries answered #twatisms #*this was reeeeeeeally hard #*but fun!!

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lifefoodwill · 5 years

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To answer the many questions I am receiving about Dorian, I decided to take a short break from finishing the very exciting Part 3 article on the G7 victories and go through the hurricane updates provided by the Maestro.

What if I told you that solving a riddle made of 5 tweets posted on September 4 2019 would give you everything you need to know about Hurricane Dorian?

Would you believe me if I told you that these 5 tweets can provide enough material to write an entire book about geoengineering and the current war opposing Trump to the Satanic Cabal? Here is the riddle.PNG

In this article, I told you the meaning of Dorian and its relation to Q ANON and to the multidimensional war we are engaged in. In these images link1PNG – link2PNG taken from this article, I told you that the geoengineering war had begun. Based on this information, many of you have certainly read between the lines and identified Dorian’s real purpose. The fact that DORIAN is sharing the value of 61 with Q ANON is an indication that it is a weapon in the hands of the White Hats.

Let’s solve the riddle and we will clearly see what Dorian was designed for and what it has accomplished. As usual, we’ll go through the pieces of the puzzle first and will assemble them at the end.

Ready?

We start by pulling tweet 2 and watch the Maestro’s update on Dorian: tweet. We put tweet 1 and 2 side by side, pull their Q drops and this operation provides the first clue: Img1PNG

Knowing we are in autist zone, to start solving, we need to go back in time. Watch: video.YouTube What do we do next? Yes, we calculate the time difference between the day the Maestro talked about the storm and the day he updated us about it: Img2PNG

Then, we notice Ivanka tweeted from Colombia at 1:27 PM. We analyze the delta with her father’s retweet timestamp, find confirmations and the puzzle starts to come together: Img3PNG

Next, we should identify the logical link between the NHC retweet and the Oval Office update: Img4PNG

Peruvian Coffee for those with visual skills and who saw the NHC image looked like a golf club hitting a ball or a turntable cartridge on a vinyl record! These visuals are confirmed by the Maestro’s speech! He warned you: “where are the autists?” Here is the solution: Img5PNG

We now have the sub puzzle: music-charts-grazed. Can you solve? The key was to know some Hip Hop and remember the word “grazed” was used by the media to describe how Suge Knight survived Tupac’s murder: Img6PNG

As you can see, with multiple confirmations, the Maestro is clearly pointing at Rap Music and Hip Hop.

In case you have doubts, let’s read the drop pulled by the original WH tweet timestamp 12:26 PM. Look at these spectacular confirmations: Img7PNG

Are you enjoying the beauty of this? From the Maestro’s tweet, we went from FLOOD to HURRICANES through the Q board staying in the context of Hip Hop!

Now that we are certain of the relevance of Hip Hop in the riddle, we go through our music collection and try to find matches with the 5 tweets of the riddle. Here is the first confirmed match and it connects Arrested Development to Ivanka’s tweet 4: Img8PNG

Next? We happily follow the Maestro advising us not to stop the music and we play the hit song of the album: video.YouTube

Did you catch the message? They wanted to go the “nigga route disrespecting my Black Queen”. Does this ring a bell? Did you notice PEOPLE EVERYDAY=174=EYE OF THE STORM? Here is the solution: Img9PNG

Now why did the Maestro pull a group called “Arrested Development”? To solve this, you needed to take a closer look at Ivanka’s picture in tweet 5 and notice the symbolism connected to the Q board. Then, you needed to identify the message hidden behind the WGDP acronym and see how the song title and artist name confirmed the acronym. Read very carefully: Img10PNG

Now you understand why the Maestro said at the end of his update: “Mostly WIND. And we’re going to have a REPORT on that.” WIND=50=DPGW and REPORT connects to PORT.

If you also notice that WGDP=50=EVER and look around, you’ll access the Clinton Foundation variation of the Dubai Port model through the Witch’s Secret Service code name EVERGREEN. Read very carefully: Img11PNG

Now that you know about the Witch, her love for green, Evergreen, what it’s all about and its connection to the Clinton Foundation, you are equipped to discover the Satanic Blood Road along our East Coast that they’ll never tell you about in geography class: Img12PNG

Let’s stay in the gulf area and solve the golf component of the riddle and why the Maestro said after mentioning Florida: “it was going toward the Gulf”: Img13PNG

As you can see, we have another strong confirmation on RAP music but there’s a new item coming from golf and it’s PAR. Can you solve this? Take a minute and try to find how PAR relates to the Maestro’s war against the Cabal and where it gets you to.

Peruvian Coffee for those who remembered how Skull and Bones had a Greenpeace paraglider fly over Trump’s property in Turnberry, Scotland to deliver the WELL BELOW PAR message accompanied with the death of Secret Service Agent Remagen! videoYouTube. I decoded this tragic event in detail in this article. If we notice the Skull and Bones message was sent 419 days before the Maestro’s update on Dorian, we access amazing information. Read very carefully: Img14PNG

Did you solve the name of the strawberry farm Ivanka visited being El Salero? I told you in this article that the day the Antichrist sees Christ, he will melt like salt in water…

I pray I am allowed to meet very soon my Brothers and Sisters who understand these things…

For now let’s continue gathering the pieces of the puzzle.

We have Illuminati, PAR=35=RAP and the Blood Road. If you notice 35 is also the value for CHINA and that it’s the current location of the Cabal’s tent, Tweets 3 and 4 pull an unexpected guest from Puerto Rico: Img15PNG

Now you know why Fat Joe and other similar operators have been so vocal about hurricane relief efforts: it’s the Clinton foundation Haiti play. They want to be part of the controlled chaos to make their money and move ALL THE WAY UP the food chain. Watch, he told you right here: videoYouTube

You thought I pulled this Fat Joe video randomly? No no no. Frames 2:41 and 3:20 are connected to the riddle’s tweets in a strong and spectacular way: Img16PNG

Next? We analyze the video further and discover it’s a crash course on the history of the Blood and Drug Road, how it operates, who provides, who distributes, how Flynn was targeted very early on for knowing and how operators aspire to climb the ladders of this bloody, invisible and parallel society: Img17PNG

Let’s end where we’ve started. The Maestro begun by saying this: “We thought we’d give you an update on the hurricane. We got lucky in Florida -very, very lucky indeed”. Can you solve?

Do you like Daft Punk? Here is their biggest hit, it’s called Get Lucky: video.YouTube

Do you like Tupac? Let’s listen to his song entitled Pain: video.YouTube

You thought I pulled these 2 songs randomly? No no no. Add the value of the 2 titles, what do you get? Yes: PAIN, GET LUCKY = 144 = WELL BELOW PAR and here is the decode with the successful test on my Daft Punk jukebox pick: Img18PNG

Before the riddle closed with tweet 5 at 2:47 PM, the Maestro provided an update at 2:17 PM. We know it’s a real time update because it’s connected to Q1417 where we read ‘Updated’. We add this video to the ones released within the riddle time frame, add up their respective lengths and Bingo! Barry Soetero comes out of his hiding place: Img19PNG

With HUSSEIN joining the riddle through this update, we are equipped to solve the current feud about Alabama. Let’s first enjoy it: video.YouTube

As a response, the Maestro pinned a video vindicating him and showing CNN repeating ALABAMA 9 times: tweet

Did you solve the link between Obama and Alabama? Since OBAMA=32 and ALABAMA=31, Dorian hitting Alabama symbolizes the diminution or progressive destruction of Obama, the Satanic Cabal’s most valuable pawn on the chessboard.

Why 9? Are you familiar with the flood of the river Lo in Ancient China, magic squares and the Lo Shu grid? Here is a summary: Img20PNG

We can now use the Lo Shu grid with its geomancy feature and decode the Maestro’s tweet about Alabama, the Fake News lying about it and why he responded: “I don’t know” to the Fake News: Img21PNG

We have gathered all the pieces of this amazing puzzle. We can now assemble them. Here is the final decoded message: Img22PNG – Img23PNG

Q571 FEAR the STORM. NOBODY PLAYING THE GAME GETS A FREE PASS. NOBODY. Q

#gallery-0-5 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 25%; } #gallery-0-5 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Dorian: All the Way Up and the Alabama Mystery Solved. To answer the many questions I am receiving about Dorian, I decided to take a short break from finishing the very exciting Part 3 article on the G7 victories and go through the hurricane updates provided by the Maestro.

#dorian #Dorian: All the Way Up and the Alabama Mystery Solved #sb2 #serial brain #serialbrain2 #serialbran

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unifiedsocialblog · 5 years

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How Does the YouTube Algorithm Work? A Guide to Getting More Views

Looking to increase your YouTube video views? Step one: find out what’s new with the YouTube algorithm.

More than 70 percent of time spent on YouTube is spent watching what the algorithm recommends, according to the company’s CPO, Neal Mohan. And the algorithm is very effective at knowing what people want: Mohan also says the average mobile viewing session lasts 60 minutes.

It turns out that just as the YouTube algorithm guides viewers’ behavior, it also has a big effect on the people making those videos. What your video is about, how long it is, when you post, what keywords you put into your metadata, and what action your call-to-action calls for can affect not just your video, but your whole YouTube marketing strategy’s success.

Here, we’ve compiled the latest information on what’s going on behind the curtain at YouTube, so that your video can claim its rightful place among the 400 hours of video uploaded every minute.

Bonus: Download a free guide that reveals the exact steps one entrepreneur took to gain more than 23,000,000 views on YouTube with no budget and no expensive gear.

A brief history of the YouTube algorithm

Before 2012: view count

Up until 2012 (back when users were only watching 4 billion hours of YouTube per month, instead of 1 billion per day) YouTube ranked videos based on one metric: view count.

While this tactic was supposed to reward great videos, and place the most popular ones in front of audience eyeballs, instead it created a clickbait problem. If a video’s title is misleading, people might click play, but they’ll also stop watching pretty fast. This strategy was bad for quality, which was bad for advertisers, which was bad for the platform.

2012-2016: view duration and session time

YouTube re-jigged the algorithm to favor view duration (a.k.a. watch time), and time spent on the platform overall (a.k.a. session time). This caused a new wave of annoying tactics: like taking an unnecessary amount of time to deliver on a video’s promise. (Although, to be fair, YouTube has always told people that snakey optimization practices don’t guarantee anything, and to just focus on making good videos.)

Simultaneously, rewarding videos that retained viewers for longer amounts of time (some content creators interpret this as “longer videos,” though that’s not necessarily the case) meant that creators had to reduce the time they spent making each video. They couldn’t afford to make frequent, high-quality, labour-intensive videos that were also long. (This is why it’s no surprise that five of YouTube’s top ten stars in 2018 made their name by recording themselves playing video games.)

2016: machine learning

Then, in 2016, YouTube released a whitepaper that described the role of deep neural networks and machine learning in its recommendation system.

And all was made clear:

Source: Deep Neural Networks for YouTube Recommendations, 2016

Just kidding. While we learned a lot, the algorithm is still very, very secret.

And it’s not perfect. YouTube has suffered some criticism over the past two years. Tech theorists have called its algorithm a “misinformation engine” and “the great radicalizer” due to its tendency to show conspiracy theories, fake news, and increasingly disturbing content to users. According to some research, the YouTube algorithm is on par with Facebook’s and Twitter’s in creating the filter bubbles that swayed the 2016 U.S. election.

As a result, YouTube continues to make changes, including hiring more human moderators, removing videos flagged by watchdog journalists, and de-monetizing offending channels.

2017: quality

In 2017, YouTube purportedly improved the quality of the news videos popping up, in order to reduce “inflammatory religious or supremacist” content.

2018: monetization

And in early 2018, YouTube’s (unpopular) monetization policy change reduced the number of content creators the platform had to actively monitor. But just a few months later CNN reported it had found 300 major brands—including Adidas, Cisco, Hilton and Amazon—running ads on channels promoting white supremacy, Nazis, pedophilia, and other fringe content. Brands weren’t safe even if they’d checked the “brand-safe” box while buying ad space.

2019: banning “borderline content”

At the beginning of 2019, YouTube announced that its algorithm will no longer recommend “borderline content” that could harm or seriously misinform viewers.

It remains to be seen how effective those changes will be at soothing advertisers, but let’s look at what we know about how the algorithm works today.

How does the YouTube algorithm work?

YouTube tells us that ”the goals of YouTube’s search and discovery system are twofold: to help viewers find the videos they want to watch, and to maximize long-term viewer engagement and satisfaction.”

The algorithm affects the six different places your video can surface on YouTube:

In search results

In the recommended streams

On the YouTube homepage

In trending streams

In channel subscriptions

In notifications

The algorithm filters recommendations

Based on the whitepaper from 2016 that we mentioned earlier, we know that YouTube’s algorithm—or AI, if you prefer—tracks viewers’ perceived satisfaction to create an addictive, personalized stream of recommendations.

Essentially, one neural network filters videos to see if they are good candidates for the viewer’s “next up” selection (based on the user’s history, and what similar users have watched.)

Meanwhile, a second neural network ranks videos by assigning them a score. This is based on factors which are not revealed, entirely: although a video’s newness and a channel’s frequency of uploads are both mentioned.

The idea is not to identify “good” videos, but to match viewers with videos that they want to watch. The end goal is that they spend as much time as possible on the platform (and therefore see as many ads as possible.)

In 2018, Pew Research concluded that YouTube viewers are directed to progressively longer and more popular videos as they spend time on the platform.

The algorithm ranks search results

Meanwhile, search results on YouTube are based on two primary factors (and many mysterious others):

how well your video’s metadata (title, description, keywords) fits the user’s query how much your video has engaged users already (likes, comments, watch time)

However, “search results are not a list of the most-viewed videos for a given query,” YouTube insists (emphasis ours).

How YouTube determines the algorithm

According to YouTube, the following user behaviors are part of what guides the algorithm’s choices:

what people watch or don’t watch (a.k.a. impressions vs plays)

how much time people spend watching your video (watch time, or retention)

how quickly a video’s popularity snowballs, or doesn’t (view velocity, rate of growth)

how new a video is (new videos may get extra attention in order to give them a chance to snowball)

how often a channel uploads new video

how much time people spend on the platform (session time)

likes, dislikes, shares (engagement)

‘not interested’ feedback (ouch)

All that said, remember the algorithm is complicated, constantly changing, and in many ways unknowable. (Especially to those of us who don’t work at Google.)

But while there are no guarantees beyond (say it with me) making valuable, entertaining content, here are some tied-and-true best practices that can set your channel up for success.

13 tips to improve organic reach on YouTube

1. Use accurate keywords in your video title to optimize for search

This goes for all of your metadata: the video description, captions, and tags. (Hint: this doesn’t mean typing in a jumbled word salad: your human audience needs to be able to read these, too.)

2. Make the most of your description

Keep the first few lines intriguing and accurate, while paying attention to relevant keywords. YouTube encourages longer, “robust” descriptions, though everything past the first few lines will be invisible to viewers unless they click “Show More.”

3. Work backwards from your search traffic sources to adjust your keywords

Use your channel’s Search Report to find out what search terms people are already using to find you. Make sure that you’re using the same terms in your video titles, descriptions and keywords. (As long as they’re accurate: enticing people to click will only hurt your ranking if they stop watching after a few seconds.)

4. Work backwards from your search traffic sources to create new videos

If people are finding you through a keyword that you aren’t addressing in your videos, consider whether that’s an angle you can take on next, in order to fill that niche.

5. Transcribe your video

Sound-off viewing is very common, especially on mobile, so keep those viewers watching by including subtitles. While auto-generated captions are available in some languages, if you upload your own closed captions or subtitles for your video, the file will also be indexed for search and may improve your search ranking.

6. Translate your video

Your potential audience includes people who don’t speak the same language you do. YouTube encourages creators to widen their audiences by including translations of video titles, descriptions and subtitles wherever possible. Translations are indexed by search, as well.

7. Create custom thumbnails

Besides your title, the image you select to represent your video makes the biggest difference to someone looking for a video to watch. Consider that ninety percent of top-performing videos on YouTube use a custom thumbnail rather than an auto-generated one. Don’t let it be an afterthought.

8. Convince your viewers they should watch the whole video

Ideally, your video is so naturally valuable and compelling (yes, I am referring to the Kyrgyz conductor baby) that people will watch all the way through. However, if you’re experiencing drop-off, experiment with tactics to add value to the end of your video. Alternately, try placing cards at predicted drop-off points to direct viewers to your other videos.

9. And don’t trail off at the end

Use cards, watermarks, and endscreens to direct viewers’ next moves. These are all clickable links that appear in your video. Use them to point viewers to your channel and your next video.

10. Convince your viewers to subscribe to your channel

Your subscriber count is more than just a vanity metric: more subscribers means more organic reach for your videos. Time your request for when they love you most: after a big laugh, surprise or twist. If subscribers opt in to notifications even better: they’ll get pinged every time you post a new video. Check out this list of awesome YouTube channels to inspire you.

11. Make series, not one-offs

By making a series of videos that naturally lead into each other, you encourage viewers to keep watching. You can also group relevant videos into playlists that will auto-play one after the other, reducing the likelihood that a user will skip to another creator. (Or, worse, stop watching altogether: remember that a user’s total YouTube session time counts towards your channel’s watch time.)

12. Promote off-platform

Cross-promote your YouTube videos on your blog, on your social media accounts, in your email marketing, in your email signature—anywhere you’re communicating with people. For more info on this, check out our complete list of ways to promote your YouTube channel.

13. Watch your analytics

Pay attention to what is doing well, and why. This is where you can look at viewer drop-off, subscriber behavior, and peak times for posting. You can also identify which videos need updating or replacing. Here’s our complete guide to YouTube analytics.

Easily schedule and share YouTube videos across all social networks from the Hootsuite dashboard. Our secure platform lets you analyze performance, manage multiple YouTube accounts at once, moderate comments, and more. Try it free today.

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marybromley · 5 years

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Brian Minter: UK garden design guru Charlotte Rowe brings her expertise to Vancouver

Charlotte Rowe: The Design is in the Detail

Presented by The Garden Design Group

When: Feb. 1, 7 p.m.

Where: H.R. MacMillan Space Centre

Tickets and info: $25, at eventbrite.ca

We are fortunate in B.C. to have many talented landscape architects and garden designers, and often we have the opportunity to enjoy presentations given by renowned designers from other countries.

One such occasion is the upcoming public lecture by Charlotte Rowe, one of the United Kingdom’s top designers. A gold medal winner at the famous Chelsea Garden Exposition, Rowe has created well over 300 garden designs for both country estates and smaller properties. Her topic for this event is highly relevant in today’s reality of smaller space gardens.

When space is limited, getting the art form just right for Rowe’s clients requires a great deal of attention to details and some creative genius. From the hardscape to the plants and landscape materials, there’s a lot to coordinate. Rowe likes to add magic with the addition of lighting and the use of water.

This London courtyard, where garden lighting is a key element, is built on three levels and incorporates a fireplace, day beds, breakfast bar and even a hot shower.

Recently, I talked to Rowe in her London studio to learn more about her approach to design.

One of the surprising things about Rowe is her late entry into the world of garden design. Her early passion and training was in public relations and marketing. For 20 years she pursued this career, including being director of communications for the Mayor of London and later working for the Greater London Authority. After being in such very public roles, she wanted to move forward in a new direction.

Even more unusual, Rowe was not a gardener — and still isn’t — but she started to develop an interest in architecture and the elements of design. In her late 40s, she made an abrupt change in her life and went back to college, earning a postgraduate diploma in Residential Garden Design.

Having been very good at her profession and then suddenly making this change was, in her words, “very risky”. Anyone moving out of their comfort zone often experiences significant challenges and rewards. Today, Rowe’s reputation in the design field speaks volumes in this regard.