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neocatharsis · 3 years

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NCT 127 Reveal The Hobbies & Obsessions They Can’t Give Up In Their Down Time

In Elite Daily’s series Rent-Free, celebrities unpack the one thought, memory, or unforgettable pop culture moment that'll always live in their head. In this piece, NCT 127 reveals the interests and hobbies even die-hard fans will be surprised to learn about.

In the past year, most musical acts had to cancel their highly-anticipated tours due to the coronavirus pandemic, and NCT 127 was no exception. That’s why its members — Johnny, Haechan, Mark, Taeyong, Jaehyun, Yuta, Taeil, Jungwoo, and Doyoung — have taken every opportunity to get closer to their fans with new music. After dropping their second Japanese EP, Loveholic, in February, the group returned on June 4 with “Save,” their latest single all about making unforgettable memories. Up next? An entirely new era. On July 7 (the group’s fifth anniversary), they announced their next album is coming in September. In celebration of all the exciting things ahead, NCT 127 opened up about how they wind down after a hard day’s work.

NCT 127 tells Elite Daily these past five years as a group have been worthwhile, and it’s all thanks to their fans, called NCTzens, who have supported them throughout their journey. “[We have so many] memories from practicing together pre-debut to our actual debut stage, and also all those times we spent working on our music and performance to meet our fans at our first concert and first world tour as well,” the group collectively says. “Each and every moment we spend on our music is for our fans, and we are working hard to better show ourselves in various different ways, so we hope you’re all excited!”

Fans have impacted the group so much that they’ve become the muse behind NCT 127’s biggest tracks. “The inspiration [behind ‘Save’] comes from wanting to save our precious memories with each other and with our fans,” the group says. And NCT 127 hasn’t let go of a single one. While they haven’t been able to perform in front of a live audience since early 2020, they held their online Beyond The Origin concert in May. They add, “It was new getting to meet fans from every part of the world at the same time.”

While the guys have their hands full recording their next project, they’re making sure to get some much-deserved R&R whenever they can. Below, NCT 127 reveal the interests that have been living in their minds rent-free.

Johnny

Johnny is a major fan of horror movies. “I love how they keep you on the edge of your seat the whole time you’re watching,” he says. His favorite scary movie of all time is Shutter, which is about a couple who accidentally run over a woman and then see her ghost in photographs they develop. “Even though I watched it when I was young, I still remember the movie, and it’s one I think about often. I’ve seen the movie multiple times since I first saw it in high school, and I recall being scared of red-lit rooms for quite some time afterward,” he says.

His most recent watch was The Conjuring franchise. He adds, “After I saw the movies, I looked up some articles about the behind stories. They were pretty interesting!”

Taeil

Taeil keeps music on his mind even after a full day of rehearsals. “Audio speakers really amplify music so you can hear the intricate details of the track, and there’s also that sense of excitement from when you hear a sound you like!” Taeil says, explaining his love for audio. “I like the speaker brand Focal. There’s still a lot I don’t know about speakers, but I find the brand very attractive since you can experience a flat sound that’s similar to what the songwriter intended to create.”

Taeil says the group’s sound has changed a lot since their debut in 2016. He says, “With time, our team color is definitely becoming more distinct and defined. I think the sound we have now is a very captivating one with strong hip-hop and R&B colors.”

Taeyong

The group’s leader enjoys connecting with others, but especially with NCTzens. “[Our relationship] is a very precious and one that I’m truly grateful for. Not only do we enjoy the same things, but we also try to improve and show that to each other. All of this is very special and meaningful to me,” he says. “It’s nice to learn of each other’s culture, and by singing in different languages, it makes me feel as if I’ve grown closer to our fans from those countries.”

Yuta

Yuta loves exercising because it’s very rewarding, and although he doesn’t have a specific fitness routine, he prefers working out at a gym rather than at home. “I like how exercising makes me feel stronger and helps me to build up my strength... which is very helpful when practicing group dances that require attention to body angles,” he says. “We had a short preparation period [to learn ‘Save’], but I was able to learn the choreography quickly and had a fun time preparing.”

Doyoung

Ever since he was cast as Axel von Fergen in the Korean adaptation of Marie Antoinette, which is based on the 2006 musical of the same name that originally premiered in Japan, Doyoung has found a newfound appreciation for theatre. “I find it very precious how you can share emotions through singing and acting,” he says. “It’s been very meaningful preparing for my musical debut, and it’s really all thanks to the amazing seniors and producers! The process in itself has been a very fun one, and I have been preparing with a heart of gratitude.”

Doyoung is set to make his musical debut on July 13 when the production opens at the Charlotte Theater in Seoul.

Jaehyun

Jaehyun says he “fell in love” with tennis in April because it helps relieve stress. “I’ve always enjoyed trying out new sports like basketball, bowling, and boxing whenever I had the chance. But I actually started tennis because my father recommended it,” he says. “I know this is the case for all sports, but tennis isn’t something you can master after a few tries. It requires persistence, and I started to enjoy it even more as I saw myself gradually improving.”

Jaehyun’s favorite tennis player is Jannik Sinner, a 19-year-old Italian athlete who competed in the 2020 French Open as the youngest quarterfinalist in the men’s singles event. He says, “I’d really like to go see a tournament.”

Mark

Lately, Mark is interested in taking better care of his hair. “It’s really important to me because I change my hair color a lot, and because I want my hair and scalp to be healthy,” he says. While he’s experimented with just about every color in the rainbow, there’s one he always loves going back to. He adds, “I think I liked my blue hair the most. It is my favorite color, after all, and I believe my fans liked it as much as I did. I was glad to be able to film the ‘Save’ music video during my blue-haired period. It fit well with all the scenes and the aesthetics!”

Jungwoo

Similar to Yuta, Jungwoo has also had exercising on his mind. “My life has become more lively since I started exercising. More so than exercising to improve my physique, I exercise in order to have a healthier, richer life. Also, it makes me proud knowing I’m spending my day more productively,” he says. “The first thing I do after I wake up is to start off the day with simple stretches that improve body balance... Stretching helps to warm up the body, which reduces the risk of injury, and can also boost your mood! I think this is why when I dance, I’m able to express those movements in more detail.”

Haechan

Haechan is now experimenting with all things fragrance. “I started using perfume since scents can give a sense of self-satisfaction and because I wanted to smell good all the time!” he says, adding he doesn’t have a favorite perfume. “The scent that suits me well, that I personally like, and that will suit me is always different!” However, there’s one scent that will always remind him of a certain memory with NCT 127. “This might sound funny, but I’d have to say the smell of sweat in our practice rooms,” Haechan says, adding it’s “satisfying” because it makes him feel like they worked hard after a long day. As for what draws fans to NCT 127, Haechan credits their “sincere music and performances.”

#nct #nct 127 #Taeil #Johnny #Taeyong #Yuta #Doyoung #Jaehyun #Jungwoo #Mark #Haechan

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unanuvola · 3 years

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Come sarò io e come sarai tu (con qualche giorno in più)

Pairing: Damiano David x reader; Ethan Torchio x reader

Characters: Damiano David, Ethan Torchio, Victoria De Angelis, Thomas Raggi

Genre: Romance

Warning(s): Swearing

Summary: What if after fifteen years the past you really want to forget comes back to you at work? What would you do?

Note: thanks to my friend @tezz1n for the translation <3

⁂~⁂~⁂

PROLOGUE

June 2005

It was terribly hot for the beginning of June and I was in the middle of a chaos of people. It was as if most of the Manzoni High School students had the same brilliant idea as me and were trying to grab something to eat before the Måneskin concert. My patience reached its limit when I was surrounded by armpits’ smell. God, why are guys so afraid of washing themselves?

"Excuse me... Please…" I said while trying to break free from sweaty and sticky people.

"Let her pass that her fiancé is going to perform! She can’t wait to throw her bra on stage!"

I heard them clearly because, after all, they weren’t trying to hide themselves and I didn’t even need to look who was talking, ‘cause I knew them all too well. Mariani and Russo from fourth grade, two losers with little desire to study and a big desire to be a pain in the ass. They started a little while ago, but I was trying not to care too much, in a little bit more than a month the final exams would have been over and I would have not seen those bastards ever again.

"You know what? His boyfriend? In my opinion he fucks with all of them, also the lass from International!"

While they were still laughing, I reached my table. I took a plate and a handful of cheese fries and asked for a cup of Fanta. I thanked and turned around, fries in one hand and a fully filled cup in the other. I’ve not even had the time to take a step when someone on my right pushed me and my orange flew on Russo’s white shirt.

"Holy shit!"

My gaze went from the orange stain growing on the fabric to the livid face of Russo and a laugh broke free. The more he looked at me with hate, the more I could not stop laughing.

"The fuck are you laughing at, dickhead? Look at what you’ve done! Where do you think to go? Come back here, bitch!"

But I was already slipping in between the crowd with my medium finger well high so that the two losers could clearly see it.

I sat in front of the stage that the end-of-the-year festival committee had placed in the middle of the school yard, and took my phone from my crossbody bag. Two missed calls from mom. I rang her ‘cause obviously I had no credit and, after some minutes, the phone started to buzz.

"Ehy momy! Something happened?"

"No, just wanted to know if you’ll be home for lunch."

"Don’t know… it depends on what they guys are going to do after the concert," I said nibbling my lips, "but this evening I’m home for sure. I’d like to speak with you about something."

"Ok, honey! See you at dinner. Please, on time. Have a good concert and say hi to Ethan!"

"Ok! Bye, bye, bye!" and I hung up.

So, this evening I would have said to my parents that I’d have liked to sign up for university here in Rome and to not come back to Turin. Was I ready? Absolutely not, but that was not the time to worry myself for sure. I would have thought about it later.

The other students from the Manzoni were starting to crowd and I had to stand up. I was about to put the phone in my bag when it buzzed. A message.

From: Damiano

Without thinking twice I gave him a ring and then I started staring at that little heart mindlessly. Shit, I’m screwed - I thought while placing the mobile in my bag and taking my oh-so-precious digital camera, a birthday gift from my parents.

I liked Damiano, well, I liked him a lot and, inexplicably, he liked me too. I wasn’t able to understand how such a miracle was even possible, but it was and the best thing to do was to live it every single day.

The principal took the stage and, after the usual recommendations (“No pogo, no throwing things on stage and no inappropriate behaviours."), he introduced the band.

"And now a big round of applause to Måneskin!" he exclaimed, gesturing for my friends to get on stage, "Have fun everyone!"

The firsts to get on stage were Thomas and Victoria, already carrying their guitar and bass over their shoulders. Then it was the turn of Ethan. His eyes were frantically moving over the crowd until they set on me. He smiled at me before sitting behind his drums. At least, it was the turn of Damiano. He went past me and winked, I could not do or say a single thing such was my bewitchment. The long hair over his shoulders, the shirt opened that allowed a glimpse at his abs. The same abs I was caressing only some evenings ago.

"Hey-yo this is Måneskin! The first song is for you, Malibù." Damiano said at the microphone and the unmistakable notes of Luna by Verdena started to fly in the sky.

Yes, Malibù is me. No, Malibù is not my name. It’s the nickname Damiano gave me one of the first times we’ve met. And in that moment, he was dedicating me one of my favorite songs. Saying I was in cloud nine was not enough. I sang every line, at the top of my lungs, and only when they started singing the other songs I decided to take some picture. I tried my best, but I was almost sure that all the pictures would end up being blurred because the guys were moving worse than snakes. What kind of official photographer would I be if I couldn’t even take a picture in focus?

At the end of the concert - too early for my taste - I ran in the classroom that had been set as backstage. I wanted to congratulate the guys and, even more, I want to jump on Damiano, saying to him that he’d been oh-so-good and then kiss him for the rest of my life.

The classroom door was half-closed. Instead of opening it, I peek through the crack and what I saw turned my blood into ice. Without even noticing, I started crying. I covered my mouth with my hands to lessen the sobs, but it was too late. Victoria, her lips still on Damiano’s, opened her eyes and saw me.

I started running, fast. My eyes were burning terribly and my brain couldn’t react to what I’ve just seen.

I have not had the time to leave the school when I felt someone grabbing my arm. Even if my sight was blurred by the tears, I turned and saw Ethan.

"What happened?" he asked me. His voice sounded so far away, like a distant murmur, "Would you tell me what happened?". His usual composure was gone. I squirmed and ran away without looking back.

I exit the school building not knowing that that was the last time I would have seen Damiano.

#damiano david x you #ethan torchio x you #damiano david x reader #ethan torchio x reader #damiano david #ethan torchio #victoria de angelis #thomas raggi #maneskin fanfiction #maneskin #måneskin fanfiction #måneskin #come sarò io e come sarai tu #my writing #csi&cst

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coreastories · 3 years

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Corea News: The Queen Expectant and Radiant

APRIL 14, 2021

We are counting down the days to the queen’s due date. We haven’t seen her around much.

Her last public appearance was on White Day, in March, when she and the king attended the UAAC Baseball season pre-opening friendly match

We weren’t given permission to publish those photos, and many of them have been taken down because of the kerfuffle over the queen’s watch. See our report here.

It seems Corea is much more conservative about protecting their queen than we thought.

The palace website’s static banner is still up, saying the queen and the baby are both well, and that Their Majesties are thankful for everyone’s concern and well-wishes.

No word about where the queen is currently residing. We do know they’ve left Pyeongchang. And we also know that there’s a tradition that the heir is born in Gwangyeongjeon.

VIP 7, the royal wing recently reopened (and unexpectedly used in November during the queen’s accident) in CorGen, is now completed and sealed, should Her Majesty choose to have her delivery there

It’s also another tradition that media photos are now cropped.

While lucky Corean citizens and I (I live here with a working visa, so I count myself lucky) have seen the royal baby belly on television, international people who are also in love with these royals would see nothing. Nada. Zilch.

The queen would only appear in print and online in cropped photos.

Something about protecting the baby from evil eyes.

And if you want to test the terrifying efficiency of the Royal Public Affairs Office, be my guest. We’ve had reports that disallowed photos of the queen disappear in less than ten seconds.

Corea is one of the most modern and advanced in its technology and tolerance, but it does still have these charming quirks, and we respect them!

The king is currently away. Along with the king and queen of Bhutan, the sultan of Brunei, and the agong of Malaysia, these royal heads of Asia are going to the United Kingdom to pay their respects to the queen of the United Kingdom on the passing of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.

The funeral will be held on April 17. See our report on the expected royal guests here.

Because we miss her so much, here’s a recap of all our Queen Sightings.

Read on AO3.

Who could forget this? Corea was stunned at the queen showing more leg than she had ever done. Her Majesty was spotted arriving at Cheongwadae for the Prime Minister’s private party last winter.

It’s testimony to the queen’s popularity that she got zero criticism. If she did, no one was brazen or bold enough to make it public.

Royal watchers (and ahjummas, elite and non-elite), say this is still perfectly within the unspoken royal proprieties and the fingertip rule applied to schoolgirls (the fingertip rule: your hemline shouldn’t be shorter than your fingertips).

The queen also only went to a private gathering among friends, which the king also attended. The press had been allowed to take photographs but it was not a public event.

Her Majesty in the Winter Palace. Released by the Royal Public Affairs Office in January.

This is the last, full-sized media photo we have before the palace quietly but efficiently released the request for the queen’s photos to be cropped.

Also in January, a close up of the Queen’s perfect skin, also released by the Royal Public Affairs Office. Location unspecified.

February 5: Her Majesty’s televised message for the Annual Children’s Ball in Busan, for the first time held as an actual ball for kids, bouncy castle and all!

February 25: Several lucky students in schools around Busan were lucky enough to have been visited by Her Majesty before or during their commencement exercises.

March 1: The queen attended a panel for Zero Discrimination Day at the Royal Hall of Justice, the first panel of its kind pioneered by the Attorney-General, Gong Ae-ra.

March 1: That evening, when Their Majesties attended a concert for Zero Discrimination Day

April 4: Their Majesties in their joint Easter message, both of them just looking so beautiful. Is it any wonder they’re the world’s most favorite royals?

We hope the king comes home soon! This author understands social obligations, but Pyeha, with all due respect-- well, I’m sure you’re already impatient to be home and I don’t need to nag. Far be it from me!

Let me know what you think! A lot of little details here meant as companion to Winter Palace 2. And the rest of what comes next :)

And yes, it's backdated. I'd blame my job but I also love my job but yeah, I blame it.

Credits to the Kahi photo (with watermark) from Kim Go Eun Philippines @/kimgoeunphofc on Twitter and IG

#CoreaNews #CoreaFiction #the king: eternal monarch #the king eternal monarch #tkem fanfiction

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redsunsetxiii · 3 years

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**Please do not repost without credit** [TRANS] 2021.04.28 SONE NOTE LIVE vol 31 with Taeyeon

Staff: The plan this time is photoshoots in various situations! This is a first for SONE JAPAN, so how was it?

Taeyeon: It was really fun! I wanted to show even more different looks.

Staff: Your beloved dog, Zero, was looking on during the photoshoot! Do you often bring Zero to work?

Taeyeon: Recently I always bring Zero. We’re together during CM shoots and Korean variety program recordings♡

Staff: The photoshoot went smoothly, but what do you usually think about during the shoot?

Taeyeon: I think about, “I wonder if it will look good if I posed like this~” and “I wonder what kind of pose I should make for a good picture~” (laughs).

Staff: You shot in several different situations and moods. Do you have a favorite scene that you want SONE JAPAN to see? Please share why as well.

Taeyeon: I’d like them to look at my natural sides rather than the situations for this SONE NOTE LIVE.

Staff: How did you spend your time while waiting for the scene switchovers and camera settings changes?

Taeyeon: I would zone out or check the time to see if the photoshoot was on schedule!

Staff: If there is another chance for a photoshoot for SONE NOTE LIVE, what scenes and situations would you like to try out?

Taeyeon: I want to try taking selfies while looking at the monitor (laughs).

Staff: If you were to have a photoshoot with the members, what kind of situation would you like to shoot? Please share why as well.

Taeyeon: I want to try taking pictures with a carefree concept! It’s most enjoyable to take pictures freely in a natural environment, and I feel like a natural feeling can be captured in photographs.

Staff: In ‘SMTOWN LIVE “Culture Humanity’” on New Year’s day, you performed “What Do I Call You”, which you released last year in December. How was it?

Taeyeon: I believe that SONE and those who are not SONE were able to hear my singing voice. I was happy to perform after such a long time, but it was in the middle of winter and I was very cold… (laughs).

Staff: Last year in September SNSD had their 10th anniversary in Japan. Looking back at these 10 years, please share any memorable events or episodes and the reasons why.

Taeyeon: At any rate, I want to see the other members (laughs). During tours, I can recall even now how I would always have each area’s specialty with everyone. Also, I’d do my own makeup during concerts, even though we had makeup staff (laughs).

Staff: Is there anything that you think has changed for you during these 10 years, and is there anything that hasn’t changed?

Taeyeon: What’s changed is that 10 years ago I would usually perform onstage with a group, but recently I’m usually performing solo. What hasn’t changed would probably be how I get nervous before performances and my Japanese ability…

Staff: If you could go back anytime in the past 10 years, how many years ago would you go back? Please share the reason as well.

Taeyeon: The first tour. I had my most exciting moments and also my most nervous performances♡

Staff: Is there anything that the Taeyeon now would like to say to the Taeyeon of 10 years ago?

Taeyeon: There, there! You’re doing well~~!!

Staff: Do you have any goals or anything new that you want to try out? Please share why as well.

Taeyeon: I would like to be an artist who has more control over herself.

Staff: Finally a message for SONE JAPAN, please!

Taeyeon: I know that you’re always waiting for me, so I’m not going to ask you to “please wait for me”. Please look forward to my upcoming performances, as well as the various content by SNSD members♡

Translation by RedSunsetXIII source: SONE JAPAN website **Please do not repost without credit**

#snsd #snsd trans #sone note live #sone japan #taeyeon #snsd taeyeon

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lukehemmingsgallery · 2 years

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THE FEELING OF FALLING UPWARDS // ONE NIGHT ONLY

#credit to my favorite concert photographer!#credit to #evacaptures #she's so good!#eva ruiten #the feeling of falling in love #ono #one night only #5sos #5sos hq #5sos5 #5 seconds of summer #luke #luke hq #luke hemmings #luke hemmings hq

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kisskissbanggang · 4 years

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Exposure

[15Min Read/3.8K Words - Idol AU - Jungwoo x Paparazzi Female Reader - NSFW/Smut - Voyeurism, Exhibitionism, Public Sex, Fellatio, Light Degradation, Dom/Sub Elements]

Masterlist | Feedback

Your braids felt too tight. They probably were, but you had rushed to get out to this fanmeet when you caught wind of it. Your boss understood your strengths, and you weren’t about to let that down. Once you were able to get your shots, you wouldn't even think about the dumb braids anymore.

It all started when an exec tried to say you looked too young to be successful as a photographer. No one would take you seriously looking like a high schooler, apparently, and it ruined you for days until you passed by a group of fans waiting for their favorite actor to make an appearance at the mall. These girls got so close and they could get into events that press weren’t allowed into. Even though you had openly applied for a sketchy tabloid job, you knew you needed credits to get ahead, and now you wanted to prove yourself. You had ran home, dug out your high school sweatshirt, pulled your hair into some pigtails, and were able to give the same exec who turned you down some great candid shots.

So this is what you did now. You perfectly fit in with the gaggles of fansites that would crowd these events, and no one gave you any second glances. You carried your press badge hidden behind a photo card on a lanyard attached to your camera, swapping out photocards for whatever group you were chasing. Today was NCT 127, so the photocard attached to your camera was of Kim Doyoung who, according to your boss, was in talks for some new ventures and could use some new publicity.

You had chased the group for three days now but every time you attempted a good shot of him, Kim Jungwoo kept getting in the way. They were always shopping together or eating together or doing nothing at home together and you couldn’t get any good shots of this idol alone and the whole chase was driving you crazy. This fire in you blazed when you took this new batch of photos into editing and you noticed. Jungwoo recognized you. More and more in these shots, Jungwoo had caught you in the background of his day, and today he even smiled at you.

Your boss wasn’t pleased when you said you needed even more time to get some more shots, but nonetheless you still used the company’s money to get yourself on a train for the group’s next concert. This time, in addition to your girlish appearance, you had your equipment stashed in a backpack that you carried with you. You skipped the long line, though, and headed straight to the loading gate in the back of the venue. Press would never be allowed back here, but nonetheless you still walked up to security and did your best to look nervously excited.

“Oppa,” you modestly smiled at the young guard, really only looking a few years older than you, “you know, it's my birthday, and I saved up money from my part-time job for this concert for months to come here. I really would love to make it even more special.” The man shifted uncomfortably, clearly conflicted about throwing out a young woman just wanting to have a special day until you whipped out a small wad of cash to tuck into the pocket of his trousers. He bit his lip and slipped you a wristband before he ultimately stepped out of the way to let you in, pointing you towards the green room where you and the other groupies could wait.

You took your time navigating the back hallways of the venue, looking bright-eyed and lost and waiting to sneak out your smaller camera for locations like this. You clipped your press badge onto the strap as you slowly made your way through the backstage area, checking around green rooms and craft services before you came to the makeup rooms. It seemed fruitless, seeing these hallways were much emptier than those you just checked, but you needed to be sure. You slowly made your way down this corridor, taking the time to peek into every open door from the hallway, listening for voices and footsteps all the while, until a hint of motion caught your eye.

Without making any brash movements in the quiet hall, all you were able to make out was the sinful visual of a figure leaned back over a vanity in an otherwise silent and empty dressing room, a hand stroking their exposed length in their near-privacy. You didn't gasp, you didn't blush, you just felt yourself watch, almost shamelessly enjoying this little private show before the figure pleasuring themselves against the vanity straightened up, their pace on their cock quickening. Jungwoo turned and looked right at you, and now you did gasp, caught as you were, spying on him as he jerked himself. He didn't stop, either. He just watched you watching him, never letting go of himself or slowing. If anything, he became more earnest in his ministrations, holding eye contact as long as you could handle until you were suddenly very aware of yourself. Quickly, you dashed back down the hall, writing this venture off as a wash and trying to find Doyoung somewhere else.

In order to try and shake off the very different and very unprecedented incident that occurred backstage, you took the first vanilla opportunity your boss softballed out to the staff: a simple press event, a small demo and cocktail party for a trending fashion designer. Thankfully, even Doyoung was invited. You could probably get some good shots and have an easy night all things considered. You picked out a simple dress and jacket, something that wouldn’t make you stand out too much, and clipped your press badge onto a plain black lanyard to actually wear around your neck. Wearing your hair down was an active treat, not having to look forward to sore roots later in the night.

The party was pretty boring, but boring was what you needed. You were thoroughly set on edge after the other day, and you couldn't place why. You’d seen Kim Jungwoo in a few magazines and occasionally on TV when his group was doing variety, and more than a few times when out doing bigger industry events, but he’d never struck you as the devilish type. However, something about the way he confidently, almost defiantly held your gaze practically stupefied you, even days later. Finally, you caught sight of Doyoung, laughing and having a glass of wine with other tall, beautiful people. You grabbed a few shots before covering the rest of the party, but something caught your eye when you clicked through your digital display to review. Jungwoo. He’d brought Jungwoo with him.

“It’s a school night,” came a soft laugh over your shoulder, ��shouldn’t you be home studying?”

You turned, rapidly growing sheepish as you were faced with Kim Jungwoo standing over you. “I’m sorry?” You apologized as you did your best to look like you didn’t understand.

“I was wondering when I'd see you again,” Jungwoo smirked, his soft eyes holding a mischievous sparkle in them. “How did you get in here?”

“I think you have me mistaken for someone else,” you smiled cordially.

“No,” Jungwoo insisted playfully, “I think you look like Doyoung-hyung’s new fansite I've caught poking around.”

“Fansite?” You shook your head gravely. “I'm sorry, sir, but I'm Press.” You held up your badge on your lanyard, jolting as Jungwoo brazenly reached forward to grab it. He flipped it around to expose Doyoung’s photocard. You must've forgotten to take it out amidst all your distraction.

“Did you enjoy your private show the other day?” Jungwoo chuckled, even stepping closer to talk low in the crowded party. “You could've joined me. I could've given you something worth shooting.” Jungwoo’s smile was genuine, soft and playful and innocent, but his eyes were hungry enough to make you plenty content with your coverage for the night and hurriedly excuse yourself from him and the party.

You should have guessed, then, that your boss wouldn’t be pleased to hear that you’d left early. None of your shots of Doyoung had been “provoking” enough for some affiliates, and now you were perched in the bushes outside of the group’s apartment in a last-ditch effort to catch something exposing, something titillating. You had waited all night, watching people come and go and you finally caught some action in an upstairs bedroom. The focus in your camera quietly clicked along after you zoomed in to get a better look. You clicked up your exposure length as you watched with endless satisfaction, catching Doyoung finally get out of bed to work out. He slipped his shirt off over his head, and you got to work, snapping shots of Doyoung’s measly workout routine before he retreated to go take a shower. You sighed, getting ready to pack up when a presence behind you made you gasp.

“You'll never graduate if you're always sneaking out,” Jungwoo smiled in the dark.

“What're you doing?” You asked accusingly.

“Me? I'm just going for a walk. You want to come with me?” You sought after a cheeky remark before Jungwoo pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of you with the flash on, making you see spots. “See? I can take pictures, too. And I can show this to management and tell them all about the paparazzi posing as an adorable schoolgirl outside. How about that walk?”

You bounced your knee a little, shifting your weight from one foot to the other before you nodded.

Jungwoo offered you his arm and you curiously linked yours through, watching as he immediately softened and acted like this was just a fun night between two friends taking a walk in the nearby park, except you were still dressed in all black with your camera around your neck.

“I did a little snooping of my own,” Jungwoo mentioned, “after I saw your badge the other night. You take really good photos. You don't need to be doing this gonzo work.”

“I'm good at it,” you shrugged, “and I need the credits in my resume.”

“Well how many more do you need?” He asked you. Jungwoo’s tone caught your attention -- he was sincere. He was honestly interested in why you were okay doing this.

“I'll move on when I'm ready to move on--”

“You sure this isn't just easy?”

“Are you implying my work is degrading?”

“I'm saying your work is sleazy and gross,” Jungwoo huffed at you, “and I'd be a lot more attracted to you than I already am if you did work closer to your caliber.”

You paused, aghast. “Why aren't you more attracted to me as I am?”

“Because I've watched you follow us around for a week now, you didn't seem to have any problem watching me touch myself the other day, and I've never seen you without a camera.”

“If you're so disgusted by me, then why did keep going when I caught you?” You were challenging him now, squaring up against him as you passed a bench in the empty park, lit only by the moon through the clouds. You dropped your camera into your bag and set it on the bench before folding your arms spitefully.

“I was having fun,” Jungwoo grinned, “I thought we were having fun.”

“Are you sure? Maybe you’re the actual sleaze.” You smiled, cocky and triumphant before Jungwoo shattered you with a laugh.

“And you didn’t catch me. I saw you skulking around backstage. I thought you’d like to come join me.” Jungwoo reached forward now, pulling your hand from your folded arms and clasping it to draw you close. Something felt a little electric as you found yourself being compliant. “I like this secret spy get-up on you, but I think I prefer the innocent look.” You watched, dumbfounded as Jungwoo’s hand cupped your face before he suddenly grabbed your chin.

“Were you thinking of me looking innocent when you were jerking off?” You laughed nervously, eyes darting to make sure you actually were alone.

“Of course I was,” Jungwoo nodded soberly, “it’s only been getting worse since I first noticed you stalking us. I want to pull on your pigtails and see you in that school sweater again.”

“I can go home and get it,” you sarcastically offered, looking for an opportunity to get out and keep this encounter from getting messy.

“And let you leave?” He shook his head. “Not when I have you right here and all to myself.” Jungwoo’s arms circled your waist and pulled you close.

“What do you want?” You defiantly stammered. “Money? You want the photos I'm going to submit?”

“No,” Jungwoo smirked as he leaned his head in closer to yours, his lips barely hazing over yours, “I just want you to be good.”

“What?” You asked, barely a whisper, wanting to ask a million questions but nonetheless accepting when Jungwoo closed the gap between his lips and yours. He still held you close, nearly resembling two lovers in the park except you knew better, you knew what Jungwoo was chasing. You just had to decide to give it to him. You had to decide if you were okay feeling good when Jungwoo called you sleazy, if you enjoyed how he exposed you and made you feel vulnerable.

“Touch me,” he ordered softly, despite his hands finally relinquishing you. He understood the choice he gave you in letting go: obey, or run and take a chance that he would rat you out. You could clearly see the proud smile spread across Jungwoo's face in the dark as you tentatively reached forward, pressing your hand to his chest and letting it drift down his lean figure, only hesitating when you neared the waistband of his jeans. “Are you afraid?” He asked, almost soothingly.

“No,” you murmured, “just excited.”

Jungwoo’s hand closed around yours now, halting you. “Tell me why, first.”

“I'm curious about you,” you breathed, your hushed intrigue doing more than enough to let Jungwoo almost push your hand the rest of the way down to the button and zip of his jeans.

“Good,” he praised sweetly, his chest rising and falling hard as you got your hand in his jeans and around his member. “Now admit you've been thinking about me.”

“Yes,” you exhaled, practically trembling from excitement as Jungwoo turned you in his arms, pressing his length in your hand against the curve of your ass. “Ever since I saw it I've been thinking about…”

“Say it, cutie,” Jungwoo chuckled behind you, his lips trailing over the expanse of your neck.

“I've been thinking about your cock,” you admitted, and his member throbbed under your fingers as Jungwoo groaned. His own fingertips traveled around to your belly, dipping below your waistband to your quickly dampening heat. Your pussy accepted his probing fingers so easily it almost felt like a betrayal.

“And did you do anything about it?” He asked curiously.

“Not yet,” you shook your head.

“Awh, poor baby,” Jungwoo laughed, “too busy following us around? You've only had time to think about this?” He snickered at your pathetic nod as he ground his hips against your massaging grip. “You know, beautiful, you look just as filthy as I thought you would be like this.”

You earnestly nodded in agreement -- you did look filthy like this, knees squeezed tightly together with Jungwoo’s hand in your dark jeans and yours wrapped around his cock behind your back.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Jungwoo smiled, “do you like that? Do you like being filthy?” He smirked at your renewed nod as his fingers massaged your wet pussy. “Then you're definitely my filthy girl. How about slutty? Are you my slutty girl?”

You swallowed hard at Jungwoo's teasing and deliciously embarrassing words. Were you a slutty girl? Maybe you could be, just for tonight. You didn't even realize you were nodding again and again before Jungwoo spanked your ass with a laugh. “Then I should give my slutty girl what she's begging for.”

Jungwoo’s hands pressed down on your shoulder blades, pushing you down to bend over the park bench as he swiftly yanked down your jeans and panties. Then he paused.

“Put me inside you,” Jungwoo encouraged. You swallowed down a nervous gulp as you massaged his length in your hands a couple more times. You prodded the head of his cock against your entrance, quietly moaning and whimpering under your breath as you worked him inside you. “Oh, princess,” Jungwoo cooed, “my perfect, slutty princess. Now work your pussy for me.”

You nodded, overwhelmed by your own desire and compulsion to please Jungwoo. Fucking him was like nothing you’d ever experienced, where this was almost fun, like it was a game, and you had a chance to win. You pressed your hands to the cold park bench and worked your hips back, thrusting your pussy down around Jungwoo’s thick cock before he spanked you again.

“You're good at that,” he teased, “maybe we should make this a regular thing, where you can show me everything you can do.”

“Well, what about tonight?” You asked, finally piping up.

“Tonight,” Jungwoo began thoughtfully, “now that we've warmed up, you just have to take it.”

Before you could question any further, Jungwoo pulled out, his absence within you immediately felt. He turned you both, seating himself on the park bench and hauling you down perpendicularly on lap, hooking an arm under your leg to easily hoist you up and seat you on his cock. His lips searched for yours in the dark before he eagerly bounced you on his length, his hips bucking and rolling hard up against yours.

“You like it, right?” He asked so sweetly, his big smile at your exhausted nod making your heart throb. “How should I finish?”

“After I do, for starters,” you giggled, and his laugh combined with yours proved that this was just fun and games when all was said and done, that Jungwoo had no intent of turning you in despite any reservations he may have had about your job. His fingers cradled your chin as he kissed you, before they traveled down between your breasts, taking a moment to tease your nipples through your shirt before dipping down between your legs and continuing to rub your soaked clit again.

Picking up where he left off, and now doing all the work, it was incredibly easy to feel your orgasm coming on. Despite every tiny dissenting voice in your head telling you that this was too public, too obscene, Jungwoo held you close, almost cradling you as he fucked you through your hushed orgasm sending sparks along your nervous system. He slowed his hips under where you were seated side-saddle, kissing your face as you calmed down.

“My gorgeous, filthy princess,” Jungwoo praised as he pressed his lips to your temple, “cumming all over my cock out here.”

“What about you now?” You asked, still panting as you caught your breath.

“What about me?”

“Don't you want to cum?” You asked curiously.

“Sure I do,” he nodded, “and I'm sure I will. I'm just having fun doing this with you.”

“Then maybe,” you teased as you returned the kiss to his forehead, “I can come up with an idea myself.”

“Oh?” Jungwoo smiled, watching with piqued interest as you fought your shaky legs to stand back up, sliding your panties and jeans off over your shoes and dropping them beside him. You were already this exposed, you figured. The cool night air tickled your half-bared body and only reminded you how public this was, but it only encouraged you more. Making sure you had steady footing, you climbed back onto Jungwoo’s lap, now squatting over his length with your feet planted on either side of his hips as you steadily slid him back inside you.

“I'm thinking I'm not the only filthy one if you like this so much,” you smirked playfully, enjoying his low groans from your tight walls massaging his length as you worked a good rhythm on him.

“I’m thinking you're right,” he chuckled, moaning and whimpering as you varied your pace, occasionally stopping altogether or even grinding your pussy down hard on his cock before you suddenly pulled off. Jungwoo whined with a desperate laugh as he bucked into the air, trying to get back into you. “No no, you don’t get to do that, I love it,” he begged.

“Say it again,” you demanded, riding him hard for a moment and doing it all over again, pulling your soaked pussy back off of him.

“Please please please,” he whimpered as he fucked into the air, “bring it back, you're working me up too fast to be a tease like this.”

“Are you sure?” You asked sweetly before you repeated the routine once again.

“Yes!” Jungwoo gritted through his teeth as he gripped onto the park bench. “Please, princess, make me cum.”

“Whatever you want,” you smiled, pressing a kiss to his forehead once more before climbing off his lap altogether. Jungwoo almost sputtered, not understanding until you sank to a squat in front of him and took his cock deep between your lips, your tongue massaging his length as you hungrily sucked on him.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Jungwoo panted, “it’s not as good as your pussy but it’s so, so good, baby.”

You pulled off his cock with an audible pop, your hand picking up where you left off and jerking his length.

“Well, maybe next time you can bring a condom next time you ambush me.”

“If it’s going to be like this, I'll do whatever you want,” Jungwoo laughed exhaustedly as he tried not to thrust into your mouth when you sucked him back between your lips. His fingers stroked into your hair, keeping his wavering touches gentle until he gripped at his thigh, seemingly warning you of his impending orgasm.

Your suspicions were confirmed a moment later as Jungwoo let his head loll back with the force of his orgasm, his cum spilling into your throat and down your chin for you to hungrily drink down. Jungwoo melted into the bench, catching his breath as you stood back up, stretching your legs and quickly pulling your panties and jeans back on.

It was odd, thinking of something to say as Jungwoo finally came back to life and gently stowed his cock back into his pants. You liked him, and you wanted more, but neither of you were hardly in any position to be trying to make this a real thing. At least, not a committed thing.

“So, I guess we should never do this again,” Jungwoo sighed with a disheartened grin. You thought hard about this, about him.

“I'm not sure,” you settled on. “You can ask me at the SM company dinner next week I'll be covering.” You softly cupped Jungwoo’s humbly triumphant face as you grabbed your bag before shouldering it and leaving in the quiet night.

#cznnet #neowritingsnet #nct 127 #kim jungwoo #jungwoo x reader #jungwoo x you #nct fanfic #nct imagines #nct scenarios

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maywoodrpg · 4 years

Photo

WELCOME TO MAYWOOD’S ANNUAL BOXES FOR CHARITY!

This event is put on every year by Camila Kapoor to raise money for the various charities and hopefully push some people out of their shells. Each person will be paired up with one of the mystery boxes below. Now I’m sure you all are wondering how this will work.

You will read over the boxes if you are a bidder, then place your bid below in the comments. YOU MUST BID ON 3 BOXES. From there you will wait until Wednesday when boxes are announced and go on your date.

EXAMPLE: Alex bids on box 1, 10, and 12 <--- this would be in the comments.

If you have any QUESTIONS PLEASE ASK!

The outside of the box is covered in black and white photographs from Maywood back in the 1800s. Inside the box there is a box of twizzlers because it is their favorite candy. Next to that there’s a picnic blanket, apple pie, a bottle of wine with two disposable glasses and a piece of lasagne to be shared, all on top of white linnen. Lastly there’s a disposable camera to be used whenever they want.

The outside of the box is covered in black background, with green binary computer code printed on top. On the inside, it’s lined in black velvet. The contents include: a single key, it looks like a regular car key, but it turns out to belong to a boat. Two premium steaks. Two bottles of wine; one white, and one a sweet red. A triple chocolate cherry coke cake for desert. A captain’s hat, and a securely wrapped candle that’s labeled ‘Ocean Water’.

Box consists of an unused cardboard box that was part of a gift from Christmas — 6x6 with a big rope tied into a messy bow. Beside the rope bow, he stuck on a Christmas bow, yes the red velvety kind. Inside, it has a six pack of beer ( freshly bought the day of ), a red and white frisbee, and a keychain of a longboard as a small reminder of the date. They purposefully packed these things into an unusually large box as to originally throw off the participants.

The box is covered in green fabric, silver ribbon encircling the rim of the box to help keep the fabric in place. Inside there are two wine glasses and a bottle of the Fortier wine circa 1991, a great vintage. Take out meals from a local Italian restaurant are inside wrapped up to keep warm as well as breadsticks. For dessert there’s a box of different colored macarons. A toy horse is nestled against the wine.

The outside of the box is a colorful array of glitter and marker, clearly decorated by a child. A good deal of space inside is taken up by a soccer ball and a jersey shirt. Next to it is a container of handmade Nacatamales, two beers, and a couple pieces of chocolate cake that’s been iced in an adorably messy way.

The box is a simple one, wrapped in solid light blue wrapping paper. Inside contains a boxed set collection of the Golden Girls, a handwritten invitation to Sweet Tooth Candy Shop, a picnic blanket, a copy of the Velvetten Rabbit, and an new, unused notebook. Situated on top of all of this is an envelop addressed to “my date.” The envelop contains a letter handwritten by them which thanks the bidder for choosing them and invites them to spend a relaxing day with them in the location of their choice, where they can chat, write a bit, eat some sweets, and just generally enjoy hanging out together.

The brown box was covered with a world map depicting where each major war had been fought. Inside the lining was fabric with the mayflower compact printed on it. A small copy of the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King is in the box along with a bottle of red wine and two wine glasses. There’s an envelope sealed with a wax stamp that reads “free history classes” on it. Also inside is a little box with twine tied around it with a note attached that says “inside is your first clue."

The brown box has a dusty rose ribbon tied around the base of it along with cute glittery flowers covering the outside of the box. The inside is lined with a jewel tone blue fabric. There’s a blanket settled at the bottom with a bottle of red wine and two wine glasses set inside. Twinkle lights are spread throughout the box and little seashells are set around the wine glasses. Assorted sushi and chocolate covered strawberries are also inside along with a little hand written card that says “Meet me at the beach.”

The outside of the box is simple yet classic. Wrapped in silver and gold wrapping paper. Opening the box uncovers the sides and the bottom of the box are covered with a nice lace pattern. Within the box, there are two old fashioned glasses of cola, hamburger with all the fixings and two cartons of ice cream geared toward each other’s favorite flavor for dessert. Other items contained in the box include a movie and a fake movie ticket.

The outside of the box has a different image on each side. The first is a red rose growing out of what looks like a hill. The second is a cream colour with small yellow circles and stars. The third is a fox on a grassy field. The fourth is white, with three circles shaded to look like holes, with “what is essential is invisible to the eye” written in cursive. The top is sky blue, with what looks like a yellow scarf blowing in the wind. Inside the box, is a bottle of wine with two wine glasses, fresh bread, spreadable cheese, and homemade chocolate croissants. Underneath everything is a copy of the children’s book, The Little Prince.

On the inside of the box, it’s filled with a few layers of tissue paper rotating between the colors of blue and green. Placed on top of the paper is a picnic blanket. Placed on the blanket are two silver metal coffee mugs, a variety sushi platter and a scrumptious serving of fresh strawberry shortcake for dessert. Other items found in the box is a blow up beach volleyball and a small music speaker to listen to to some tunes.

On the outside of the box is a mod podged sealed collage of a variety of photos — playbill covers, concerts stills, printed off art images, etc with a white bow superglued to the top. The sides on the inside have a continuation of the collage but on the bottom lays a black velvet cushion, just big enough to fill the bottom of the box. On top lays a ticket that is plain white with gold lining with the words “MCC Theater Presents” spread across the top. It’s taped to a menu detailing several dishes, and drink options. Beneath that is red flyer for a band performance at Lucky’s, and a hand made ‘credit card’ with ‘tab on me’ sprawled where a name would typically be.

The outside of the box has been cushioned, covered with a blush pink satiny material. Little matching tulle buttons adorn the top. Meticulous; time was taken on the top of this box. Inside the box is the same satin fabric, no cushioning. Inside is a bottle of Rose, chocolate-covered strawberries, brie and crackers, figs covered in a balsamic sauce, prosciutto, salami, marinated olives. Inside also lies a white picnic blanket and a candleholder with two long candles. It’s about the romance.

THE FOLLOWING BIDDERS ARE:

@zahraammun

@lucieoconnor

@jadexramirez

@daphnee-a

@mrantonydaniels

@nikhailkohli

@nataliaflcres

@avatorres

@alexandrademir

@elenakapoor

@corinnaburke

@edgarfortiers

@diegoxalvarez & @riskylindy (who will host but can also bid if they choose)

#maywoodevent1 #maywoodevent

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rinnnyxr · 3 years

Text

I have: hazel eyes, dirty blonde hair, freckles, a muscular body, huge feet, dark eyelashes.

Things that make me feel better: rain, good food, sad music, being alone, watching a movie, sleeping, taking a hot bath.

I[’ve] play[ed]/done: horseback riding, baseball, tennis, golf, soccer, gymnastics, ballet/jazz/tap dancing.

I love to eat: yogurt, raspberries, cinnamon raisin bagels, oatmeal, brown rice, tomatoes, peas, grilled cheese.

I like to read: the newspaper, Seventeen, TIME, fantasy, realistic fiction, young adult novels, comics.

I like to wear: tank tops, athletic shorts, Vans, skinny jeans, cardigans, fuzzy socks, hoodies.

I[’d] like to study: earth science, astronomy, human anatomy, marine biology, neurology, chemistry, forensics.

In my room, I have: an overhead fan, two lamps, a garbage can, a bulletin board, a night table, a dream catcher, a lantern.

I have been to: Canada, New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, California, Hawaii.

I have had: IBS, celiac disease, lactose intolerance, strep throat.

Animals I’ve owned as pets: fish, bunny, cat, dog, hamster.

I’m afraid of: death, losing loved ones, serial killers, the dark, flying in airplanes, gaining weight.

My favorite bands are: Yellowcard, The Beatles, Muse, Dashboard Confessional, Jack’s Mannequin, Jimmy Eat World.

In my spare time, I enjoy: taking photographs, making things in Photoshop, solving crossword puzzles, spending time with my family and friends, Tumblring, painting with watercolors.

I regularly: exercise, go on Tumblr, take surveys, shower, watch TV, eat dinner with my family.

My favorite TV shows include: Saturday Night Live, Seinfeld, The Simpsons, The Regular Show, iCarly.

I know someone who: has diabetes, has celiac disease, had/has cancer, has arthritis, is deaf, has muscular dystrophy.

I wouldn’t mind being: an actor, a photographer, a film director, a digital media artist, an interior decorator, a detective, an architect, a lawyer.

Taurus online shopping addiction keeps it real will not change anyone’s opinion specific music taste my way or the highway the softest sheets comfort tv shows loyal to a fault expert planner taking your sweet time never wearing pants sensual spends lots of money ^but still saves lots of money standing your ground king of self-care ordering food for delivery candle collection loves aesthetics prone to laziness probably has a succulent garden possessive small group of close friends procrastinator 11/24

Virgo expert at giving advice secret wild side overthinker addicted to coffee worries about things people said 3 years ago bookworm identifies with Hermione Granger has a cultivated aesthetic own worst critic plant parent has at least one artistic hobby won’t ask for help responsible always helping friends DIY queen meddling in people’s lives corrects people’s grammar all A’s in school being on time is still considered late has been called an old soul has the best comebacks imposter syndrome cat person very clever 11/24

Capricorn sarcasm always wanting to win gets straight to the point responsible “I’m not a pessimist, I’m a realist” silent treatment hard working sees through bullshit teacher’s pet emotionally unavailable super smart plan for world domination needs low maintenance friends old soul extremely witty jokes always busy trustworthy can’t tell when people are flirting would do anything to help people you love google calendar figures out how to split the restaurant bill likes to be alone great advice giver heart of gold 15/24

Out of the earth signs, you’re more of a Capricorn

AIR: I have small hands • I love the night sky • I watch small animals and birds when I pass them by • I drink herbal tea • I wake to see dawn • The smell of dust is comforting • I’m valued for being wise • I prefer books to music • I meditate • I find joy in learning new truths from the world around me

FIRE: I don’t have straight hair • I like to wear ripped jeans and overalls • I play an organized sport • I love dogs • I am not afraid of adventure • I love to talk to strangers • I always try new foods • I enjoy road trips • Summer is my favorite season • My radio is always playing

WATER: I wear bracelets on my wrists • I love the bustle of the city • I have more than one set of piercings • I read poetry • I love the sound of a thunderstorm • I want to travel the world • I sleep past midnight most days • I love dimly lit diners and fluorescent signs • I re-watch kids’ shows out of nostalgia • I see emotions in colors and words

EARTH: I wear glasses • I enjoy doing the laundry • I am a vegetarian or vegan • I have an excellent sense of time • My humor is very cheerful • I am a valued advisor to my friends • I believe in true love • I love the chill of mountain air • I’m always listening to music • I am highly trusted by the people in my life

AETHER: I go without makeup in my daily life • I make my own artwork • I keep on track of my tasks and time • I always know true north • I see beauty in everything • I can always smell flowers • I smile at everyone I pass by • I always fear history repeating itself • I have recovered from a mental disorder • I can love unconditionally

Results: ruled by the air element

FOODIE You’re not picky You’ll try anything once You like different types of cuisine Your favorite restaurant is not American food You shop at high-end grocery stores You have exceptional cooking skills You’ve been to a five-star restaurant You watch the Food Network #: 2

FASHIONISTA You care about Fashion Week You have a favorite designer You frequent department stores You have a credit card from a retail store You can sew You want to be a fashion designer Project Runway is your favorite reality show You only wear high-quality fabric #: 1

BOOKWORM You have more than one bookshelf Your favorite book was written before the ‘80s You’ve worked in a bookstore or library You’ve read more books than you count You enjoyed the required reading in school You hate most film adaptations You quote books a lot Your favorite author is Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, George Orwell, Thoreau or Shakespeare #: 2

MOVIE BUFF You always watch the Oscars You have a favorite director You know screen-writers Your favorite actor/actress is not someone you’re attracted to You quote movies all the time You go to the movie theater at least ten times a year You’ve seen more than 5 movies from the '60s and earlier You read movie reviews #: 1

ART LOVER You can paint, draw or sculpt well You have a favorite artist You enjoy going to art museums You took art in school You love photography You can name more than 3 art movements You have at least one piece of original art You enjoy different mediums of art #: 4

MUSIC LOVER Your favorite genre is a subgenre Your favorite musician is not currently played on Top 40 stations You’ve been to more than 20 concerts You enjoy local music shows You can play an instrument or sing well You can read music You love to do karaoke You have a favorite composer #: 3

TECH-SAVVY You own more than one computer You have built your own computer You’re constantly upgrading your own tech You always have the latest in technology You can fix anything technical You’re always on your phone or computer You buy the absolute fastest and best internet connection You have a degree in something computer related #: 1

STAR-GAZER You believe in astrology You have done your own star charts You immediately learn your closest friends star signs You know a lot about astronomy You base your potential romantic partners on their sign You always read your horoscope You wish on stars You have used tarot cards #: 0

DEEP THINKER You love poetry You have read many philosophy books You can name more than four philosophers You learn a lot about religions You journal daily, but not about your daily life You like to have deep conversations with people You meditate You do not find materialistic things interesting #: 2

BIBLE THUMPER You go to church regularly You pray every night Jesus is your Lord and Savior You believe things happen because of God’s plans You get upset when people use the Lord’s name in vain You know more than four religious songs You own rosary beads You’re of a Christian-based faith #: 0

GREEN THUMB You have your own garden You have a lot of house plants You grow your own fruits and vegetables You love taking care of your yard You’re annoyed when your neighbors don’t take care of theirs You work as a florist or in a nursery You give plants as gifts You love the smell of soil #: 1

GAMER You own more than one gaming console You own an up-to-date gaming console You play video games almost every day You play PC games You’re subscribed to WoW or a game like WoW You subscribe to Game Informer You still own a classic gaming console You work at GameStop #: 2

GYM RAT You go to the gym almost every day You drink protein shakes You can lift more 150 lbs Being fit is very important to you You have less than 10% body fat You take vitamins every day You own workout equipment You wear a fit-bit #: 1

NEAT FREAK You enjoy cleaning You hate when things are messy or unorganized You own an expensive vacuum You make your own cleaner You have certain “cleaning clothes” You make people use coasters You have a favorite chore You own a surplus of different cleaners #: 1

PARTY FREAK You love going to wild parties You drink a lot You have a favorite bar You’ve done a party drug (coke, MDMA, ecstasy, shrooms, acid, etc) You’ve been to a music festival (Coachella, etc) You go clubbing a lot You’ve been to a rave You have a lot of glow-sticks #: 3

SPORTS FAN You have at least two favorite teams You go to games often You’ve owned season tickets to a certain team You played sports in high school You own a jersey for your favorite team You have a favorite athlete Your home town is home to one or more pro-sports team You bet on major sporting events #: 2

You are (name everything you have 6 or more on): art lover

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noodlekugel · 5 years

Text

The King Premiere in NYC - October 1, 2019

Last week, I went to the NY Premiere of The King at the SVA Theatre. Tumblr has eaten this post at least 3 times, so I apologize for the delay.

All pictures above are mine - please do not re-post without credit.

Below is a summary of my experience, and a brief review of the film.

Where to begin? First off, I was fortunate enough to get tickets to The King just as Timothée crashed Gofobo. The few days leading up to the premiere, I was riddled with anxiety - I was torn between waiting at the red carpet, or waiting in line for the screening, since neither was a guarantee. The film was going to be on Netflix within the next month so I’d get a chance to see it fairly soon, but we didn’t have that much information about whether the cast would be talking at the screenings themselves. Fortunately, the venue made my mind up for me - they set up one line, and only allowed ticket holders at the barricades for the red carpet.

I arrived earlier for this than I’d care to admit (the time was PM, but not that much after noon...), and was about 20th in line, which became 40th after the folks ahead of me let their plus ones join them. We were told there was room for about 40-50 people at the red carpet, but the people running the screening promised those around me that we’d make the cut.

So, the waiting began. I made some friends in line, some people I’d met before through Tumblr, Instagram and Facebook, and some new friends. Everyone around me spent the next six hours bonding over our shared love of all things Timothée and Call Me By Your Name (because of course that’s how we all truly discovered him, even if we’d seen him in other projects before). I also met a few people who had commented on my fics in the past, and I outed myself to them, which is still feels like a weird thing for me to do.

Around 6PM, they started letting us line up at the red carpet. Thankfully, they handed us physical tickets for the film, which included seat assignments (!!!), which relieved so much of the stress that most of us were feeling about finding seats inside once we left the red carpet. My seats had a pretty terrible view of the screen, but they were free, so beggars can’t be choosy.

We got lucky, and @all-things-all-the-time and I got space on the barricade, close to the entrance of the theater. Much to our surprise, Timothée’s parents, Nicole and Marc, stood on the red carpet directly in front of us for about an hour. This is where I will now proclaim my fandom of Marc Chalamet (more on this later). He seemed so warm and talked with us for a little while. The folks from Netflix, or whomever were hosting the screening, gave out t-shirts (see my pictures above), which was a pleasant surprise.

Lily was the first to walk the red carpet. She spent some time down on our end, and we had a conversation with her about her dress, during which she was endlessly worried about creasing it. Notice in one of my pictures above, the back is slightly creased, but... we’re all human. I’m sure everything I wear is always creased, so I am not judging her at all for worrying about that... After she finished walking the red carpet, she spent time standing with Timothée’s parents, and chatted with Marc in French until her two friends arrived. When Pauline got to the red carpet, she gave Lily a warm hug (Lily’s back was to us, so I don’t know what her reaction was), and then attacked her parents with hugs and kisses. We heard her say multiple times how handsome both her father and brother looked. Also, she was wearing an awesome scarf with skulls on it, and wore sneakers to the red carpet, a move I can 100% get behind.

Eventually, Timothée made it to the red carpet, to screams comparable only to Beatlemania. Honestly, I felt verklempt, having watched his meteoric rise over the past two years. This was his first hometown premiere since Call Me By Your Name at the New York Film Festival. We asked his parents how they felt, and Marc said it was surreal. He entered on the opposite end from where we were standing, and he was surrounded by guards, media doing interviews, and photographers, so it took at least a half hour until he got to our end, with two jaunts outside of the red carpet, one across the street and one down the block to where other crowds had gathered.

In my many years of going to concerts and theater and events with celebrities, I’ve never seen a celebrity spend more time with fans or act more gracious and humble than Timothée did. I think this is why I’ve stuck around the fandom for so long - he just seems so genuinely happy to take the time with every fan, of which there were hundreds. Unfortunately, when he made it to our end, he was being whisked off inside of the premiere, so he could only sign things quickly and take selfies without making much conversation. I did get a selfie (I’m not going to post it here, but I’ll share my pictures privately if you message me), but wasn’t able to get my copy of Call Me By Your Name signed, which I had gotten signed by Andre Aciman earlier in the year.

He promised he’d come back, but was pulled away and never allowed back outside, which was not his fault. When March realized that Timothée hadn’t signed @all-things-all-the-time ‘s fantastic embroidery hoop, he asked her if she had a pen, and chased him down so he could sign it for her. When he came back outside a minute later, in his adorable French accent, Marc apologized that Teeeee-mo-tay had stolen her pen. She can tell her own story better, but it ended with Marc giving her a hug.

So, once the red carpet was over, we were told to go inside of the theater. David quickly introduced the movie, pointed at the cast in the audience (Timmy did a dance move that I am too old to actually know but I think is called hit the woah?), and then they started the screening. He quickly left the theater to head to the Quad Cinema screenings a bit downtown.

As for the film, I’ll try to give a spoiler-free review since it’s not out for the public to see yet. Honestly, this wasn’t my favorite movie. Each piece of the film was fine, but this kind of movie is just not my cup of tea. I don’t generally like war movies, and I don’t love historical dramas about monarchies battling for their land and their people. Timothée had a very strong and nuanced performance. He carried the emotional weight of the film on his shoulders, and ably showed Hal/Henry in all forms, from immature and defiant prince to powerful and resolute king. Lily has maybe five minutes of screen time, at the end of the movie. I really like Thomasin McKenzie, and she has a few scenes at the beginning of the film as his younger sister.

The stunt work and the battle sequences were well-choreographed and fun to watch, but I did feel like the movie could have been a half hour shorter. I think Robert Pattinson was my favorite part of the movie besides Timothée - his accent was over-the-top and the performance was flamboyant, but it worked for me. Each scene he was in garnered the biggest reactions from my audience, aside from the applause at the end when Timmy’s name came across the screen.

Overall, I didn’t dislike the film, but it’s not my favorite of the Timmy canon. If you’re a Timothée fan or a fan of historical epics, I recommend seeing it on a big screen, but otherwise, watch it on Netflix (but... definitely see it somehow). I did, however, have a wonderful time at the premiere, and can’t wait for the next film and the next event!

#Timothee Chalamet #timothée chamalet #timmy #the king #the king netflix

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cosplayinamerica · 4 years

Photo

Cupid Hawks from Boku No Hero Academia // Cosplayer : @elaine.rose.cosplay // Photo : @kaiokenkosplay

The night before the convention, I bought a heart-shaped backpack and made Valentine’s Day cards to give out to my friends. I also made a few extra to give out to anyone who approached me during the day. I tried to give each Valentine a theme based on the recipient’s cosplay, so there ended up being a lot of corny rhymes and puns on my cards! However, it was exceptionally fun watching people’s faces light up when I gave them their valentine. My husband also cosplayed as Gran Torino from the same franchise, so it was a pleasure to get to cosplay together as a couple on Valentine’s Day! Credit for this idea goes to my husband! When I found out that Anime Milwaukee would start on Valentine’s Day this year, I knew I had to take advantage of the holiday and come up with a cute Cupid cosplay. However, when I was trying on the wings, my husband remarked that I looked a lot like Hawks from Boku No Hero Academia. My mind was blown, and I knew I had to make that cosplay combo happen! So I very quickly bought the few things I needed to create the look and threw it together just in time!

Credit for this idea goes to my husband! When I found out that Anime Milwaukee would start on Valentine’s Day this year, I knew I had to take advantage of the holiday and come up with a cute Cupid cosplay. However, when I was trying on the wings, my husband remarked that I looked a lot like Hawks from Boku No Hero Academia. My mind was blown, and I knew I had to make that cosplay combo happen! So I very quickly bought the few things I needed to create the look and threw it together just in time!

The cosplay consists of the toga, red wings, boots, shield goggles, and a wig. The boots I already owned, and the rest of the materials were purchased through Amazon. The wings are from the retailer FashionWings, in case anyone wants to order for their own Hawks cosplay! Once I got the materials, I spent a long, anxious night styling the wig using Got2B hairspray. I’d never styled a wig like that before, so I was so nervous that I would make a mistake, but thankfully I’m very proud of how it turned out! As a final touch, I purchased some glittery hearts from Target to add some holiday-themed accents to the completed cosplay.

Cosplay has affected me in so many positive ways. I’ve been cosplaying for five years now, and it continues to push the boundaries of my creativity. I learn something new with each new project, and transforming into a character gives me a huge boost of confidence. Another gift cosplay has given me is the joy of connecting with so many like-minded creatives in the community. It’s so much fun to be able to meet fellow fans, collaborate with other cosplayers, and work with photographers to create something amazing that transforms you completely. Most of all, however, I love being able to share this hobby with my husband, who is my best friend, photographer, and builder many of our armored cosplays. I’m so grateful for all he does to ensure that we both have successful, amazing costumes, and I wouldn’t be half the cosplayer I am now without his expertise and support! I treasure being able to spend long hours together bringing our newest ideas to fruition. It’s an experience that brings us closer together, and for that I am forever grateful.

Anime Milwaukee is Wisconsin’s largest anime convention right in our backyard. It’s a nice convention to attend because it’s not too small, but not obscenely large either. The Wisconsin Center is a great venue because it’s spacious, but not super spread out. You can wander from one end of the convention floor to another within ten minutes, and even if you split up from your friends for a short while, it’s not difficult to reconnect again just by walking around. Additionally, the whole place is filled with windows, which means that there’s tons of great light flowing in–which is an advantage to any cosplayer looking to take photos. Another great aspect is the entertainment! There’s something for everyone: cosplay combat chess, the masquerade And cosplay contest, a charity ball, a burlesque show, concerts, and a rave. This year they also had a blood drive on Saturday to benefit the Blood Center of Wisconsin, which I thought was wonderful. Finally, one of my favorite parts of the convention is the amazing vendor hall and artist alley. This year I purchased some cute stickers and pins from local artists and gave them out to my students when I returned to work!

#Hawks #Hawks cosplay #MHA #BNHA #MHA cosplay #BNHA cosplay #cosplay #amke

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niksixx · 5 years

Text

Baby Shower

Requested: By @theamazingathenajones

Pairing: The Dirt Boys x Reader

Description: Could you do a HC where the reader works with the guys and they surprise her with a baby shower one day at work? I thought about this and I thought this would be adorable and they would all be so excited.

*Picture is NOT mine. Found on Google. Credit to the owner.*

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I’m so fucking soft!!!!!

Okay so you’d probably be either a makeup artist or a photographer working for Crüe.

And they all would have hit on you at some point or another.

And then they stopped when you told them you were married (Well, except Tommy. He’d try to convince you to marry him instead.)

But let me tell you, when they found out you were pregnant? They all started smiling and spewing baby names out for you to choose from.

“My child will not be named Thomasina, Tommy.”

“Maybe she’ll have blonde hair like her uncle Vince.”

“Or bright eyes like uncle Nikki who will 100% be her favorite uncle.”

It was Mick’s idea to put together a little baby shower for you backstage before one of their concerts.

Poor Tommy had bought all pink decorations a week before the party and had to return them after he found out you were having a boy.

Nikki and Vince would buy so many damn presents for the little boy; Onesies, books, stuffed animals.

And all four boys would probably start playing with some of the gifts too.

“This baby blanket is so soft.” Tommy said, rubbing it against his cheeks.

“I didn’t know which teddy bear to get so I bought six.” Vince said, holding all six bears in his arms.

Mick put himself in charge of decorating the backstage area but you know for a fact none of the boys could stay away.

“Nikki that sign is fucking crooked.”

“Tommy, you need to blow up more than three balloons.”

“Oh my God, did Vince pick up the cake?”

You were so surprised when you saw the band and the crew members backstage you started crying.

Mick would lead you to a decorated chair and start handing you the various presents scattered around the room.

They had managed to get every single item that you’d put on your baby registry.

“Do you know how odd it felt buying a breast pump?” Nikki asked. “What even is that?”

“Look, Y/N, I bought you and the little guy matching hospital gowns!” Mick said excitedly.

Vince and Tommy came up with a few games for everyone to play.

The dessert table was filled with cake and cupcakes and cake pops and brownies, everything sweet a pregnant lady would die for.

By the end of the party you were overwhelmed with presents and love, and you couldn’t thank the boys enough for making your baby shower one to remember.

#motley crue #the dirt headcannons #the dirt headcannon #the dirt actors #the dirt concepts #the dirt movie #the dirt boys #the dirt imagines #the dirt #nikki sixx #douglas booth #vince neil #daniel webber #mick mars #iwan rheon #tommy lee #mgk

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blackkudos · 4 years

Text

Nina Simone

Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone, was an American singer, songwriter, musician, arranger, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned a broad range of musical styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.

The sixth of eight children born to a poor family in Tryon, North Carolina, Simone initially aspired to be a concert pianist. With the help of a few supporters in her hometown, she enrolled in the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. She then applied for a scholarship to study at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she was denied admission despite a well-received audition, which she attributed to racial discrimination. In 2003, just days before her death, the Institute awarded her an honorary degree.

To make a living, Simone started playing piano at a nightclub in Atlantic City. She changed her name to "Nina Simone" to disguise herself from family members, having chosen to play "the devil's music" or so-called "cocktail piano". She was told in the nightclub that she would have to sing to her own accompaniment, which effectively launched her career as a jazz vocalist. She went on to record more than 40 albums between 1958 and 1974, making her debut with Little Girl Blue. She had a hit single in the United States in 1958 with "I Loves You, Porgy". Her musical style fused gospel and pop with classical music, in particular Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in her contralto voice.

Biography

1933–1954: Early life

Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on February 21, 1933, in Tryon, North Carolina. The sixth of eight children in a poor family, she began playing piano at the age of three or four; the first song she learned was "God Be With You, Till We Meet Again". Demonstrating a talent with the instrument, she performed at her local church. Her concert debut, a classical recital, was given when she was 12. Simone later said that during this performance, her parents, who had taken seats in the front row, were forced to move to the back of the hall to make way for white people. She said that she refused to play until her parents were moved back to the front, and that the incident contributed to her later involvement in the civil rights movement. Simone's mother, Mary Kate Waymon (née Irvin, November 20, 1901 – April 30, 2001), was a Methodist minister and a housemaid. Her father, Rev. John Devan Waymon (June 24, 1898 – October 23, 1972), was a handyman who at one time owned a dry-cleaning business, but also suffered bouts of ill health. Simone's music teacher helped establish a special fund to pay for her education. Subsequently, a local fund was set up to assist her continued education. With the help of this scholarship money, she was able to attend Allen High School for Girls in Asheville, North Carolina.

After her graduation, Simone spent the summer of 1950 at the Juilliard School as a student of Carl Friedberg, preparing for an audition at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Her application, however, was denied. Only 3 of 72 applicants were accepted that year, but as her family had relocated to Philadelphia in the expectation of her entry to Curtis, the blow to her aspirations was particularly heavy. For the rest of her life, she suspected that her application had been denied because of racial prejudice. Discouraged, she took private piano lessons with Vladimir Sokoloff, a professor at Curtis, but never could re-apply due to the fact that at the time the Curtis institute did not accept students over 21. She took a job as a photographer's assistant, but also found work as an accompanist at Arlene Smith's vocal studio and taught piano from her home in Philadelphia.

1954–1959: Early success

In order to fund her private lessons, Simone performed at the Midtown Bar & Grill on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey, whose owner insisted that she sing as well as play the piano, which increased her income to $90 a week. In 1954, she adopted the stage name "Nina Simone". "Nina", derived from niña, was a nickname given to her by a boyfriend named Chico, and "Simone" was taken from the French actress Simone Signoret, whom she had seen in the 1952 movie Casque d'Or. Knowing her mother would not approve of playing the "Devil's Music", she used her new stage name to remain undetected. Simone's mixture of jazz, blues, and classical music in her performances at the bar earned her a small but loyal fan base.

In 1958, she befriended and married Don Ross, a beatnik who worked as a fairground barker, but quickly regretted their marriage. Playing in small clubs in the same year, she recorded George Gershwin's "I Loves You, Porgy" (from Porgy and Bess), which she learned from a Billie Holiday album and performed as a favor to a friend. It became her only Billboard top 20 success in the United States, and her debut album Little Girl Blue followed in February 1959 on Bethlehem Records. Simone lost more than $1 million in royalties (notably for the 1980s re-release of her version of the jazz standard "My Baby Just Cares for Me") and never benefited financially from the album's sales because she had sold her rights outright for $3,000.

1959–1964: Becoming popular

After the success of Little Girl Blue, Simone signed a contract with Colpix Records and recorded a multitude of studio and live albums. Colpix relinquished all creative control to her, including the choice of material that would be recorded, in exchange for her signing the contract with them. After the release of her live album Nina Simone at Town Hall, Simone became a favorite performer in Greenwich Village. By this time, Simone performed pop music only to make money to continue her classical music studies, and was indifferent about having a recording contract. She kept this attitude toward the record industry for most of her career.

Simone married a New York police detective, Andrew Stroud, in 1961. He later became her manager and the father of her daughter Lisa, but he abused Simone psychologically and physically.

1964–1974: Civil Rights era

In 1964, Simone changed record distributors from Colpix, an American company, to the Dutch Philips Records, which meant a change in the content of her recordings. She had always included songs in her repertoire that drew on her African-American heritage, such as "Brown Baby" by Oscar Brown and "Zungo" by Michael Olatunji on her album Nina at the Village Gate in 1962. On her debut album for Philips, Nina Simone in Concert (1964), for the first time she addressed racial inequality in the United States in the song "Mississippi Goddam". This was her response to the June 12, 1963, murder of Medgar Evers and the September 15, 1963, bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama that killed four young black girls and partially blinded a fifth. She said that the song was "like throwing ten bullets back at them", becoming one of many other protest songs written by Simone. The song was released as a single, and it was boycotted in some southern states. Promotional copies were smashed by a Carolina radio station and returned to Philips. She later recalled how "Mississippi Goddam" was her "first civil rights song" and that the song came to her "in a rush of fury, hatred and determination". The song challenged the belief that race relations could change gradually and called for more immediate developments: "me and my people are just about due". It was a key moment in her political radicalization. "Old Jim Crow", on the same album, addressed the Jim Crow laws. After "Mississippi Goddam", a civil rights message was the norm in Simone's recordings and became part of her concerts. As her political activism rose, the rate of release of her music slowed.

Simone performed and spoke at civil rights meetings, such as at the Selma to Montgomery marches. Like Malcolm X, her neighbor in Mount Vernon, New York, she supported black nationalism and advocated violent revolution rather than Martin Luther King's non-violent approach. She hoped that African Americans could use armed combat to form a separate state, though she wrote in her autobiography that she and her family regarded all races as equal.

In 1967, Simone moved from Philips to RCA Victor. She sang "Backlash Blues" written by her friend, Harlem Renaissance leader Langston Hughes, on her first RCA album, Nina Simone Sings the Blues (1967). On Silk & Soul (1967), she recorded Billy Taylor's "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" and "Turning Point". The album 'Nuff Said! (1968) contained live recordings from the Westbury Music Fair of April 7, 1968, three days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. She dedicated the performance to him and sang "Why? (The King of Love Is Dead)", a song written by her bass player, Gene Taylor. In 1969, she performed at the Harlem Cultural Festival in Harlem's Mount Morris Park.

Simone and Weldon Irvine turned the unfinished play To Be Young, Gifted and Black by Lorraine Hansberry into a civil rights song of the same name. She credited her friend Hansberry with cultivating her social and political consciousness. She performed the song live on the album Black Gold (1970). A studio recording was released as a single, and renditions of the song have been recorded by Aretha Franklin (on her 1972 album Young, Gifted and Black) and Donny Hathaway. When reflecting on this period, she wrote in her autobiography, "I felt more alive then than I feel now because I was needed, and I could sing something to help my people".

1974–1993: Later life

In an interview for Jet magazine, Simone stated that her controversial song "Mississippi Goddam" harmed her career. She claimed that the music industry punished her by boycotting her records. Hurt and disappointed, Simone left the US in September 1970, flying to Barbados and expecting Stroud to communicate with her when she had to perform again. However, Stroud interpreted Simone's sudden disappearance, and the fact that she had left behind her wedding ring, as an indication of her desire for a divorce. As her manager, Stroud was in charge of Simone's income.

When Simone returned to the United States, she learned that a warrant had been issued for her arrest for unpaid taxes (unpaid as a protest against her country's involvement with the Vietnam War), and returned to Barbados to evade the authorities and prosecution. Simone stayed in Barbados for quite some time, and had a lengthy affair with the Prime Minister, Errol Barrow. A close friend, singer Miriam Makeba, then persuaded her to go to Liberia. When Simone relocated, she abandoned her daughter Lisa in Mount Vernon. Lisa eventually reunited with Simone in Liberia, but, according to Lisa, her mother was physically and mentally abusive. The abuse was so unbearable that Lisa became suicidal and she moved back to New York to live with her father Andrew Stroud.Simone recorded her last album for RCA, It Is Finished, in 1974, and did not make another record until 1978, when she was persuaded to go into the recording studio by CTI Records owner Creed Taylor. The result was the album Baltimore, which, while not a commercial success, was fairly well-received critically and marked a quiet artistic renaissance in Simone's recording output. Her choice of material retained its eclecticism, ranging from spiritual songs to Hall & Oates' "Rich Girl". Four years later, Simone recorded Fodder on My Wings on a French label.

During the 1980s, Simone performed regularly at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London, where she recorded the album Live at Ronnie Scott's in 1984. Although her early on-stage style could be somewhat haughty and aloof, in later years, Simone particularly seemed to enjoy engaging with her audiences sometimes, by recounting humorous anecdotes related to her career and music and by soliciting requests. In 1987, the original 1958 recording of "My Baby Just Cares for Me" was used in a commercial for Chanel No. 5 perfume in Britain. This led to a re-release of the recording, which stormed to number 4 on the UK's NME singles chart, giving her a brief surge in popularity in the UK.

Later, Simone moved to Europe, first living in Nyon, Switzerland, and in 1988 moved to Nijmegen and later Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Simone published her autobiography, I Put a Spell on You, in 1992. She continued to tour through the 1990s, but rarely traveled without an entourage. During the last decade of her life, Simone had sold more than one million records, making her a global catalog best-seller.

1993–2003: Final years, illness and death

In 1993, she settled near Aix-en-Provence in Southern France. In the same year, her final album, A Single Woman, was released. She variously contended that she married or had a love affair with a Tunisian around this time, but that their relationship ended because, "His family didn't want him to move to France, and France didn't want him because he's a North African." During a 1998 performance in Newark, she announced, "If you're going to come see me again, you've got to come to France, because I am not coming back." She suffered from breast cancer for several years before she died in her sleep at her home in Carry-le-Rouet, Bouches-du-Rhône, on April 21, 2003. Her funeral service was attended by singers Miriam Makeba and Patti LaBelle, poet Sonia Sanchez, actors Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, and hundreds of others. Simone's ashes were scattered in several African countries. She is survived by her daughter, Lisa Celeste Stroud, an actress and singer, who took the stage name Simone, and who has appeared on Broadway in Aida.

Activism

Influence

Simone's consciousness on the racial and social discourse was prompted by her friendship with black playwright, Lorraine Hansberry. The influence of Hansberry planted the seed for the provocative social commentary that became an expectation in Simone's repertoire. One of Nina's more hopeful activism anthems, "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" was written with collaborator Weldon Irvine in the years following the playwright's passing, acquiring the title of one of Hansberry's unpublished plays.

Beyond the civil rights movement

Simone's social commentary was not limited to the civil rights movement; the song "Four Women" exposed the eurocentric appearance standards imposed on black women in America, as it explored the internalized dilemma of beauty that is experienced between four black women with skin tones ranging from light to dark. She explains in her autobiography I Put a Spell on You (p. 117) that the purpose of the song was to inspire black women to define beauty and identity for themselves without the influence of societal impositions.

Artistry

Simone standards

Throughout her career, Simone assembled a collection of songs that would later become standards in her repertoire. Some were songs that she wrote herself, while others were new arrangements of other standards, and others had been written especially for the singer. Her first hit song in America was her rendition of George Gershwin's "I Loves You, Porgy" (1958). It peaked at number 18 on the Billboard magazine Hot 100 chart.

During that same period Simone recorded "My Baby Just Cares for Me", which would become her biggest success years later, in 1987, after it was featured in a 1986 Chanel No. 5 perfume commercial. A music video was also created by Aardman Studios. Well-known songs from her Philips albums include "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" on Broadway-Blues-Ballads (1964), "I Put a Spell on You", "Ne me quitte pas" (a rendition of a Jacques Brel song) and "Feeling Good" on I Put a Spell On You (1965), "Lilac Wine" and "Wild Is the Wind" on Wild is the Wind (1966).

"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" and her takes on "Feeling Good" and "Sinnerman" (Pastel Blues, 1965) have remained popular in cover versions (most notably a version of the former song by The Animals), sample usage, and their use on soundtracks for various movies, television series, and video games. "Sinnerman" has been featured in the films The Crimson Pirate (1952), The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), High Crimes (2002), Cellular (2004), Déjà Vu (2006), Miami Vice (2006), Golden Door (2006), Inland Empire (2006), and Harriet (2019), as well as in TV series such as Homicide: Life on the Street (1998, "Sins of the Father"), Nash Bridges (2000, "Jackpot"), Scrubs (2001, "My Own Personal Jesus"), Boomtown (2003, "The Big Picture"), Person of Interest (2011, "Witness"), Shameless (2011, "Kidnap and Ransom"), Love/Hate (2011, "Episode 1"), Sherlock (2012, "The Reichenbach Fall"), The Blacklist (2013, "The Freelancer"), Vinyl (2016, "The Racket"), Lucifer (2017, "Favorite Son"), and The Umbrella Academy (2019, "Extra Ordinary"), and sampled by artists such as Talib Kweli (2003, "Get By"), Timbaland (2007, "Oh Timbaland"), and Flying Lotus (2012, "Until the Quiet Comes"). The song "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" was sampled by Devo Springsteen on "Misunderstood" from Common's 2007 album Finding Forever, and by little-known producers Rodnae and Mousa for the song "Don't Get It" on Lil Wayne's 2008 album Tha Carter III. "See-Line Woman" was sampled by Kanye West for "Bad News" on his album 808s & Heartbreak. The 1965 rendition of "Strange Fruit", originally recorded by Billie Holiday, was sampled by Kanye West for "Blood on the Leaves" on his album Yeezus.

Simone's years at RCA-Victor spawned a number of singles and album tracks that were popular, particularly in Europe. In 1968, it was "Ain't Got No, I Got Life", a medley from the musical Hair from the album 'Nuff Said! (1968) that became a surprise hit for Simone, reaching number 4 on the UK Singles Chart and introducing her to a younger audience. In 2006, it returned to the UK Top 30 in a remixed version by Groovefinder.

The following single, a rendition of the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody", also reached the UK Top 10 in 1969. "The House of the Rising Sun" was featured on Nina Simone Sings the Blues in 1967, but Simone had recorded the song in 1961 and it was featured on Nina at the Village Gate (1962).

Performance style

Simone's bearing and stage presence earned her the title "the High Priestess of Soul". She was a piano player, singer and performer, "separately, and simultaneously." As a composer and arranger, Simone moved from gospel to blues, jazz, and folk, and to numbers with European classical styling. Besides using Bach-style counterpoint, she called upon the particular virtuosity of the 19th-century Romantic piano repertoire—Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and others. Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis spoke highly of Simone, deeply impressed by her ability to play three-part counterpoint (her two hands on the piano and her voice each playing a separate but complimentary melody line). Onstage, she incorporated monologues and dialogues with the audience into the program, and often used silence as a musical element. Throughout most of her life and recording career she was accompanied by percussionist Leopoldo Fleming and guitarist and musical director Al Schackman. She was known to pay close attention to the design and acoustics of each venue, custom tailoring performances to each location.

Simone was perceived as a sometimes difficult or unpredictable performer, occasionally hectoring the audience if she felt they were disrespectful. Schackman would try to calm Simone during these episodes, performing solo until she calmed offstage and returned to finish the engagement. Her early experiences as a classical pianist had conditioned Simone to expect quiet attentive audiences, and her anger tended to flare up at nightclubs, lounges or other locations where patrons were less attentive. Schackman described her live appearances as hit or miss, either reaching heights of hypnotic brilliance or on the other hand mechanically playing a few songs and then abruptly ending concerts early.

Critical reputation

Simone is regarded as one of the most influential recording artists of the 20th century. According to Rickey Vincent, she was a pioneering musician whose career was characterized by "fits of outrage and improvisational genius". Pointing to her composition of "Mississippi Goddam", Vincent said Simone broke the mold, having the courage as "an established black musical entertainer to break from the norms of the industry and produce direct social commentary in her music during the early 1960s".

In naming Simone the 29th-greatest singer of all time, Rolling Stone wrote that "her honey-coated, slightly adenoidal cry was one of the most affecting voices of the civil rights movement", while making note of her ability to "belt barroom blues, croon cabaret and explore jazz — sometimes all on a single record." In the opinion of AllMusic's Mark Deming, she was "one of the most gifted vocalists of her generation, and also one of the most eclectic". Creed Taylor, who annotated the liner notes for Simone's 1978 Baltimore album, said the singer possessed a "magnificent intensity" that "turns everything—even the most simple, mundane phrase or lyric—into a radiant, poetic message". Jim Fusilli, music critic for The Wall Street Journal, writes that Simone's music is still relevant today: "it didn't adhere to ephemeral trends, it isn't a relic of a bygone era; her vocal delivery and technical skills as a pianist still dazzle; and her emotional performances have a visceral impact.

"She is loved or feared, adored or disliked", Maya Angelou wrote in 1970, "but few who have met her music or glimpsed her soul react with moderation". Robert Christgau, reviewing her album Baltimore, wrote that her "penchant for the mundane renders her intensity as bogus as her mannered melismas and pronunciation (move over, Inspector Clouseau) and the rote flatting of her vocal improvisations." Regarding her piano playing, he dismissed Simone as a "middlebrow keyboard tickler ... whose histrionic rolls insert unconvincing emotion into a song". He later attributed his generally negative appraisal to Simone's consistent seriousness of manner, depressive tendencies, and classical background.

Mental health

Known for her temper and frequent outbursts, in 1985, Simone fired a gun at a record company executive, whom she accused of stealing royalties. Simone said she "tried to kill him" but "missed". Simone was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the late 1980s. In 1995 while living in France, she shot and wounded her neighbor's son with an air gun after the boy's laughter disturbed her concentration; she was sentenced to eight months in jail, which was suspended pending a psychiatric evaluation and treatment.

According to a biographer, Simone took medication for a condition from the mid-1960s onward, although this was supposedly only known to a small group of intimates. After her death the medication was confirmed as the anti-psychotic Trilafon, which Simone's friends and caretakers sometimes surreptitiously mixed into her food when she refused to follow her treatment plan. This fact was kept out of public view for many years, until 2004 when a biography, Break Down and Let It All Out written by Sylvia Hampton and David Nathan, was published posthumously. Singer-songwriter Janis Ian, a one-time friend of Simone's, related in her own autobiography, Society's Child: My Autobiography, two instances to illustrate Simone's volatility: one incident in which she forced a shoe store cashier at gunpoint to take back a pair of sandals she'd already worn; and another in which Simone demanded a royalty payment from Ian herself as an exchange for having recorded one of Ian's songs, and then ripped a pay telephone out of its wall when she was refused.

Awards and recognition

Simone was the recipient of a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2000 for her interpretation of "I Loves You, Porgy." On Human Kindness Day 1974 in Washington, D.C., more than 10,000 people paid tribute to Simone.Simone received two honorary degrees in music and humanities, from Amherst College and Malcolm X College. She preferred to be called "Dr. Nina Simone" after these honors were bestowed upon her. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.

Two days before her death, Simone learned she would be awarded an honorary degree by the Curtis Institute of Music, the music school that had refused to admit her as a student at the beginning of her career.

Simone has received four career Grammy Award nominations, two during her lifetime and two posthumously. In 1968, she received her first nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for the track "(You'll) Go to Hell" from her thirteenth album Silk & Soul (1967). The award went to "Respect" by Aretha Franklin.

Simone garnered a second nomination in the category in 1971, for her Black Gold album, when she again lost to Franklin for "Don't Play That Song (You Lied)". Ironically, Franklin would again win for her cover of Simone's Young, Gifted and Black two years later in the same category which Simone's Black Gold album was nominated and features Simone's original version of "Young, Gifted and Black". In 2016, Simone posthumously received a nomination for Best Music Film for the Netflix documentary, What Happened, Miss Simone? and in 2018 she received a nomination for Best Rap Song as a songwriter for Jay Z's "The Story of O.J." from his 4:44 album which contained a sample of "Four Women" by Simone.

In 2018, Simone was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by fellow R&B artist Mary J. Blige.

In 2019, "Mississippi Goddam" was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Legacy and influence

Music

Musicians who have cited Simone as important for their own musical upbringing include Elton John (who named one of his pianos after her), Madonna, Aretha Franklin, Beyoncé, Adele, David Bowie, Boy George, Emeli Sandé, Antony and the Johnsons, Dianne Reeves, Sade, Janis Joplin, Nick Cave, Van Morrison, Christina Aguilera, Elkie Brooks, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Kanye West, Lena Horne, Bono, John Legend, Elizabeth Fraser, Cat Stevens, Anna Calvi, Cat Power, Lykke Li, Peter Gabriel, Justin Hayward, Maynard James Keenan, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Mary J. Blige, Fantasia Barrino, Michael Gira, Angela McCluskey, Lauryn Hill, Patrice Babatunde, Alicia Keys, Alex Turner, Lana Del Rey, Hozier, Matt Bellamy, Ian MacKaye, Kerry Brothers, Jr., Krucial, Amanda Palmer, Steve Adey and Jeff Buckley. John Lennon cited Simone's version of "I Put a Spell on You" as a source of inspiration for the Beatles' song "Michelle". American singer Meshell Ndegeocello released her own tribute album Pour une Âme Souveraine: A Dedication to Nina Simone in 2012. In late 2019, American rapper Wale released an album titled Wow... That's Crazy, containing a track called “Love Me Nina/Semiautomatic” which contains audio clips from Simone. The clips outline the message of the song, as Simone was an active activist in her lifetime.

Simone's music has been featured in soundtracks of various motion pictures and video games, including but not limited to, La Femme Nikita (1990), Point of No Return (1993), Shallow Grave (1994), The Big Lebowski (1998), Any Given Sunday (1999), The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), Disappearing Acts (2000), Six Feet Under (2001), The Dancer Upstairs (2002), Before Sunset (2004), Cellular (2004), Inland Empire (2006), Miami Vice (2006), Sex and the City (2008), The World Unseen (2008), Revolutionary Road (2008), Home (2008), Watchmen (2009), The Saboteur (2009), Repo Men (2010), and Beyond the Lights (2014). Frequently her music is used in remixes, commercials, and TV series including "Feeling Good", which featured prominently in the Season Four Promo of Six Feet Under (2004). Simone's "Take Care of Business" is the closing theme of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015), Simone's cover of Janis Ian's "Stars" is played during the final moments of the season 3 finale of BoJack Horseman (2016), and "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" were included in the film Acrimony (2018).

Film

The documentary Nina Simone: La légende (The Legend) was made in the 1990s by French filmmakers and based on her autobiography I Put a Spell on You. It features live footage from different periods of her career, interviews with family, various interviews with Simone then living in the Netherlands, and while on a trip to her birthplace. A portion of footage from The Legend was taken from an earlier 26-minute biographical documentary by Peter Rodis, released in 1969 and entitled simply, Nina. Her filmed 1976 performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival is available on video courtesy of Eagle Rock Entertainment and is screened annually in New York City at an event called "The Rise and Fall of Nina Simone: Montreux, 1976" which is curated by Tom Blunt.

Footage of Simone singing "Mississippi Goddam" for 40,000 marchers at the end of the Selma to Montgomery marches can be seen in the 1970 documentary King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis and the 2015 Liz Garbus documentary, What Happened, Miss Simone?

Plans for a Simone biographical film were released at the end of 2005, to be based on Simone's autobiography I Put a Spell on You (1992) and to focus on her relationship in later life with her assistant, Clifton Henderson, who died in 2006; Simone's daughter, Simone Kelly, has since refuted the existence of a romantic relationship between Simone and Henderson on account of his homosexuality. Cynthia Mort, screenwriter of Will & Grace and Roseanne, has written the screenplay and directed the 2016 film, Nina, which controversially stars Zoe Saldana in the title role.

In 2015, two documentary features about Simone's life and music were released. The first, directed by Liz Garbus, What Happened, Miss Simone? was produced in cooperation with Simone's estate and her daughter, who also served as the film's executive producer. The film was produced as a counterpoint to the unauthorized Cynthia Mort film, and featured previously unreleased archival footage. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2015 and was distributed by Netflix on June 26, 2015. It was nominated on January 14, 2016, for a 2016 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

The Amazing Nina Simone is an independent film written and directed by documentary filmmaker Jeff L. Lieberman and was released in more than 100 cinemas in 2015. The director initially consulted with Simone's daughter before going the independent route and instead worked closely with Simone's siblings, predominantly Sam Waymon. The film debuted in cinemas in October 2015, and has since played more than 100 theatres in 10 countries.

Drama

She is the subject of Nina: A Story About Me and Nina Simone, a one-woman show first performed in 2016 at the Unity Theatre, Liverpool — a "deeply personal and often searing show inspired by the singer and activist Nina Simone" — and which in July 2017 ran at the Young Vic, before being scheduled to move to Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre.

Books

As well as her 1992 autobiography I Put a Spell on You (1992), written with Stephen Cleary, Simone has been the subject of several books. They include Nina Simone: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood (2002) by Richard Williams; Nina Simone: Break Down and Let It All Out (2004) by Sylvia Hampton and David Nathan; Princess Noire (2010) by Nadine Cohodas; Nina Simone (2004) by Kerry Acker; Nina Simone, Black is the Color (2005) by Andy Stroud; and What Happened, Miss Simone? (2016) by Alan Light.

Simone also inspired a book of poetry, me and Nina by Monica Hand.

Honors

In 2002, the city of Nijmegen, Netherlands, named a street after her, as "Nina Simone Street": she had lived in Nijmegen between 1988 and 1990. On August 29, 2005, the city of Nijmegen, the De Vereeniging concert hall, and more than 50 artists (among whom were Frank Boeijen, Rood Adeo, and Fay Claassen) honored Simone with the tribute concert Greetings from Nijmegen.

Simone was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009.

In 2010, a statue in her honor was erected on Trade Street in her native Tryon, North Carolina.

The promotion from the French Institute of Political Studies of Lille (Sciences Po Lille), due to obtain their master's degree in 2021, named themselves in her honor. The decision was made that this promotion was henceforth to be known as 'la promotion Nina Simone' after a vote in 2017.

Simone was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.

The Proms paid a homage to Nina Simone in 2019, a prom titled Mississippi Goddamn is performed by The Metropole Orkest at Royal Albert Hall led by Jules Buckley. Ledisi, Lisa Fischer and Jazz Trio, LaSharVu provided vocals for the prom.

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