eurovision should cut both russia and israel this year and just let kyle gordon and miss biljana electronica make an entry

me working out the age of Adda in TW3 (looks like 23/24??) because if so….uhhhhh Ciri and Adda?????

The Story Behind The Song: Arctic Monkeys’ early ambitions on ‘A Certain Romance’

Lucy Harbron – Far Out Magazine | January 17, 2024

It was 2006. Mortgages were crashing, and businesses were going bust. Tony Blair was on his last legs in office as the longest-serving prime minister since Margaret Thatcher, and the hangover of ‘Cool Brittania’ was beginning to set in with an unexpected ferocity. Things were bleak when a young Alex Turner sang, “There ain’t no romance around there” through the public’s speakers. Arctic Monkeys were about to write themselves into musical history as the voice of a new generation.

The final song on their debut album, there has always been something special about ‘A Certain Romance’. In 2022, after the release of their seventh album, The Car, Turner seemed to find himself reflecting back on that 2006 track. To the musician, that early cut holds a clue to everything that was to come as he said the piece “showed that we did actually have these ambitions beyond what we once thought we were capable of”.

Coming in at over the five-minute mark, ‘A Certain Romance’ almost feels like the Arctic Monkeys’ version of a rock opera, summarising all the themes, feelings and energy that came before it on their seminal album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. It has the cheekiness of ‘Fake Tales Of San Francisco’ and the catchy instrumentals of hits like ‘Dancing Shoes’ or ‘I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor’. Utilising the northern charm of ‘Mardy Bum’, it stands as a final, neatly summarising point on the social commentary found in their early tracks like ‘From The Ritz To The Rubble’ or ��Riot Van’. Really, it could be argued that ‘A Certain Romance’ is the ultimate example of Arctic Monkeys’ original sound, perfectly encapsulating all the things that made the world listen up and pay attention.

It’s like they seemed to know that, too, always allowing the song a special place. In fact, it was really the band’s opening remark. Years before the offer of a debut album came around, the group were a well-oiled machine with their own local hits. They had the northern live music scene in their hands as their homemade demo CD was passed around like everyone’s worst-kept secret. Beneath the Boardwalk features eight out of the 13 songs that would be on Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, albeit in a slightly different, lower-quality version. But the opening number, ‘A Certain Romance’, sounds just the same.

It’s all there, from the rolling opening drums to that final guitar solo. Recorded and produced in a rented studio at only age 17, the existence of ‘A Certain Romance’, one of the band’s most explorative and energetic numbers, in this form this early in their career feels like a diamond sitting in a mine. It proves that they were always onto something special.

They never needed any help. In fact, their producer, Jim Abbiss, noted that they even seemed nervous about the help. “I think they were probably a bit weary, like ‘who’s this guy? And is he gonna make our sound this or that.’”

They didn’t want anything to change too much, as the group already had the songs figured out. Turner certainly did, as the track’s meandering narrative about hometown lads, fights, and local boredom is already there. Talking on a podcast, original member Andy Nicholson revealed the story behind the song. “We had a practice room with a pool table in, and we had a party in there, and we invited another band who were friends of ours, and we all had some drinks,” he said. “Then something happened, someone throws a pool cue, someone throws a pool ball, and everyone ends up fighting,” he added, explaining the lyrics, “there’s boys in bands / And kids who like to scrap with pool cues in their hands.”

But the magic of Arctic Monkeys lies in their nuance. What begins as a snooty analysis of his local landscape is a genuinely affectionate take. “Well, over there, there’s friends of mine / What can I say? I’ve known ’em for a long long time / And, yeah, they might overstep the line / But you just cannot get angry in the same way,” Turner sings, looking around at his bandmates and lifelong friends. ‘A Certain Romance’ is not only a time capsule for the group’s beginnings but is an ode to all the people who were there with them. It’s an ode to the hometown that made them and all its various characters.

But as the last guitar solo roars to life, there is an unspoken statement that they’re going to be bigger than what they came from. “I remember when we were recording ‘A Certain Romance’ and having a conversation with the producer about the final guitar solo,” Turner told NME, recalling the moment these songs were reworked for their debut. But they wouldn’t let anyone mess with ‘A Certain Romance’, knowing exactly what they were doing and trying to say with that one. In the 2003 demo version, all the feeling is already there, and Turner wouldn’t risk it.

“There’s something that happens at the end of that track where we break some rules in a single moment,” he continued. What happens at the end of the piece feels even more special, considering how the album was recorded. “These are the songs we wanna do, and I think this is the order we wanna do them in,” Alex Turner told their producer, recounting the conversation in 2007 to RadioX, “And he goes, ‘alright, we’ll try to record them in that order as well.’” As the final song, that last guitar solo is the last thing recorded for the album, standing as a cathartic outlet and a chance for the band to prove themselves.

“We focused on the [emotional] effect of the instrumentals over the words,” Turner reflected on the track, concluding, “and I feel like we’ve been trying to do that again and again since then.”

+

drew a little something and COLORED IT ?!!??? (uneheard of)

spoilers for mudd's arc (around episodes 60+)

i love doodling this goober and gumbo but i need a gumbo design 💔💔

ANYWAYS ABOUT THIS SCENE

i thought it was really funny how mudd's reaction to hearing his brother relay him the news abt his dad was just "oh." but at the same time i understand

because like. if my brother told me a family member was sickly in front of my friends i wpuldnt know how to react either

BART COMFORTING HIM and syaing its ok to feel upset and mudd replies "uh, yeah, im sure" and moves on

headcanon both mudd and kyborg struggle with showing sadness (kyborg feels like he has a reputation to uphold and he doesnt want to seem vulnerable while mudd is just not used to those emotions and it makes him feel awkward and unsure how to express them, esp around friends)

but bart and gum gum are the opposite, they're both more free in showing their lows (bart and gum gum are better with communication if something upsets them, they're generally more affectionate than the rest of the party, etc) since bart believes its ok to feel what you feel and he raised gum gum with that mindset

conclusion bart and gum gum are helping kyborg and mudd loosen up and this is canon to me acrualtl

for better or for worse i think i’ll be putting singe the tales au on indefinite hiatus

i wanna write other stufffffff since i’ve realized how much more i could expand on dyf

BEST RESPONSE EVER 🎊🎉🎉🎉🎊🎉🎊🎊🎊🎉🎉🎊🎉🎉🎉🎊🎊🎊

gonna do a load of laundry and watch a sweeney 🥾 and i think that’s a fine way to spend a christmas, don’t you?

Anyway haha. Me when eating imagery am i right? Right? Right? Right-

remember when i said over a year ago that vegapunk's arc would start revealing even more of sanji's power and potential and how hard that was worrying me? yeah

i love the catnip boingle

When Black Mask exacts a revenge plan years in the making, Bruce's only focus is getting his kids out alive. But when one of them is shot, he finds himself launched back into a vicious cycle.

One he used to selfishly run from.

----

His mouth tasted like mud.

Grit crunched between his teeth and coated his tongue. His limbs felt heavy, as if coated in cement. Cautiously, Bruce opened his dry eyes. Blurred shapes slowly came into focus until at last he could see the bare earth he was tasting and the dim outline of trees.

Where was he? There weren't many trees or pavement free areas in the city. Which was where he was supposed to be. The boys couldn’t agree on dinner so they went out to a food truck park smack dab in the middle of Gotham. Dick and Jason were walking ahead as they discussed some long text thread on Dick’s phone leaving Bruce to play referee as Tim and Damian glowered and sniped at each other. It’d been a long week. Everyone was understandably worn down. But they were together and even with the arguments, Bruce felt whole. All of them in one place felt right in a way he couldn't explain.

Now nothing made sense. 

His shoulders burned as if straining for too long. There was an uncomfortable tingling sensation spreading through his hands and up his forearms. Ambient nature sounds filled the air instead of horns and muffled club beats. All of this was pointing towards something being very wrong. He needed to pull himself together and figure out where the boys were. He needed to–

Rough hands grabbed him. The world turned sharply on its axis, his head swimming and stomach churning with it.

“Wakey wakey,” Someone sang. The words echoed and whined in Bruce’s skull like microphone feedback. Cords bit into his biceps and wrists when he flexed, keeping them immobilized behind his back. They must be the source of his shoulder pain. Pebbles stabbed into his knees. “How nice of you to finally join us, Mister Wayne.”

“Dad,” A familiar voice gasped. They sounded almost relieved.

Jason? Bruce squinted against blaring headlights to see all four of his boys kneeling in a line on his left, facing someone to his right. Their hands were tied at the wrist behind them and all of them bore signs of a struggle.

Continue reading...

the scene in yakuza 5 where shinada and milky dance on the roof talking about how they should run away and start over in a new town with new jobs and new lives, only for milky to abruptly stop and let shinada go when she gets called back downstairs to work, while shinada is sent stumbling by suddenly being let go until he too comes to a stop, burns a hole in my brain

Kaeya once jokingly referred to Bennett as 'Bennett Guildson' in lightly scolding him over endangering himself, and Bennett most Definitely considered making that his actual name on his official Adventurer's Guild paperwork, send post-

Why does everyone keep bothering me/ trying to talk to me when I'm reading fanfic or headcanons like PLEASE leave me alone and let me read my little silly smutty fics 😔

the bear tag is so full and busy. really feel like i did my job for season one and now i can just rest and reblog.