Something Jesus/Magdalene? ❤️

"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine." Song of Solomon 1:2.

The first time she kisses him, she only has padding her coin purse and filling her belly in mind. He's just a mark, a prospective client, a wide-eyed man from Galilee with softly curling black hair and a strong nose and a full mouth that God must have crafted for kissing, and so she leans down to press her lips to his as she does her dance to the tambourine.

He stiffens and then softens beneath her touch, his lips parting, his tongue darting out to taste the tang of carmine and sweat on her lips. She is shocked by the tenderness of his touch. She is not used to being handled like she is valuable, like she is worth more than her bedding price, and she freezes when his hand comes up to thread through her hair. The band plays on, but she doesn't move as he kisses her, kisses her like this is their wedding day, like she is precious and rare.

For a moment, she glimpses eternity.

Later, when he tells her he is an itinerant teacher, she laughs at him. What sort of occupation is that for a man? She asks, offering him a plate of olives and labneh.

I am a fisher, he says, covering her hand with his own, and a carpenter, and an orator, when the mood strikes. I am about my Father's business, most days.

And the other days? She asks.

He smiles at her, his dark eyes twinkling. She can see the expanse of the night sky in those eyes.

On the other days, I am merely a man.

A lonely man? She asks, thinking of her bed in the inn upstairs, of the way she wants to show him with her body how much his kindness has meant to her. She does not even care that his feet are unwashed, that his hair is tangled. She wants him, more than she's wanted any man in recent memory, wants him in a way so ferocious that it frightens her. She wants him the way starving men want bread, the way religious men ache to be in the presence of the holy.

Perhaps, she thinks, he is the holy.

A man who surrounds himself with devotees and yet seeks true companionship, he says, as though they are the only two people in the room. A man who wishes he could be cared for the way he cares for others, sometimes.

Mary can barely breathe. She feels like she's teetering on the precipice of the rest of the her life, like this strange preacher is the key to her future.

This is what she was made for, she decides. This is the deliverance she has been seeking.

Mary kisses him on the corner of his mouth. He tastes like manual labor and sea salt and something darker, sweeter, hidden, She could spend her entire life trying to riddle out that secret, and never get bored.

Then let us begin this communion of care, she says, letting down her hair. She's always been vain about her hair, but she's happy to surrender it to his service. She kneels at his side and retrieves a bowl of water, dipping the dark tendrils before dragging them across his cracked, abused feet. Mary kneels for no man, not even when they pay her for the privledge, but this feels natural, easy. Right.

He watches her with a strange gleam in his eyes, then bends down and presses a kiss to her forehead. The place where he's kissed her tingles, as though there's power in the touch.

I think I have been waiting my entire life to meet you, he says.

Check out my other Jesus/Magdalene ficlet here!

Savage Garden - Affirmation (I Believe) [lyrics]

Timeline

A timeline of every time a Spacelander has visited Flatland! Starting with...

Flatland's Year 0!

My friend @frau-line had the idea of a messiah and an apostle that fell in love and lived in Spaceland together. I also saw an idea for a god myth that included a picture of a sphere with a line orbiting around it and thought that that was a banger design for a god(s). Though I cant for the life of me find it now... its a small fandom I'll see it eventually.

With that out of the way, heres these two nameless but lovely ladies. I think at this point Flatland would be in like, caveman times or something, but the line is a fast learner and quickly absorbed all information that the sphere gave her.

As for Spacelands society, theyre far ahead of Flatland, but still not nearly as technologically advanced as they are in the film. Maybe like aztec times...?

Theyve just found Flatland and know exactly nothing about it. They sent the sphere to go check it out, and when she came back a month later they had a Flatlander with them.

They study the line and Flatland and they find out... something... that makes it so they set a concrete rule to only ever visit once every thousand years to impart knowledge upon the primitive Flatlanders.

I have no idea why they decide to do this every 1000 years. Perhaps the line dies shortly after her ascension to Spaceland (due to gravitational forces) and the sphere is heartbroken and bitter and shes like "Flatland is extremely fragile we must only interact with it rarely or we will FUCK UP and KILL things"

Year 1000

frau-line fuels this scenario and the next as well. Her ideas are some of the most interesting and compelling I've seen so its hard not to steal :P

The messiah of the Year 1000 wasnt exactly thrilled to do this job, but the first official visit was something highly anticipated and that he was specifically taught to do, so he studied hard and practiced well. He thought it easy and simple until, well...

Unfortunately, the year 1000 apostle must have been at least a little unhinged before enlightenment, so this messiahs mission went wildly off the rails. As soon as he finished his geometry homework, he started a massive country-wide riot, and martyred himself before anyone could ask what he was rioting for.

As for his shape I think he was either a hexagon or an octagon i cant remember im so sorry frau line 😖😖😖

Any fucking ways the messiah is like

And he has some like. Idk not trauma, but he is a little fucked up by it and thinks he should have taken it more seriously or whatever. Who cares though

Year 2000

Saturnius and Areia. Thanking frau-line every day for creating these guys, their plot is so captivating and I have a huge soft spot for Ariea specifically.

Saturnius is a noble sphere prince that takes his job deathly seriously, and Areia is a low class line determined to spread the gospel no matter the cost. The cost ends up being a holy war that is far more destructive than the year 1000 apostle could have even imagined...

Nothing I could say about them could live up to Suovetaurilia, so please give it a read!

Year 3000

You know who these guys are.

Year 4000

Finally, my home grown boys!

Xerxes is very lacking in the self confidence department and is trying to be the best most effective messiah to date to prove himself. His hopes are shattered when he happens to pick Claude, an average pentagon working an average 9-5 job, who doesn't give a singular shit about the third dimension at all. Xerxes doesn't give up easily, and secretly interacts with Claude even after the millennial visit in order to convince Claude to become an apostle. Unfortunately, it turns out Claude is just as stubborn.

...And thats all I have! This is all just my personal headcanon, so I'd really love to hear what you all think the timeline looks like!!

Plant, have you read Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror? She nails it. Read this part and think of Meghan Markle. This is everything!

The two biggest families in politics and culture today—the Trumps and the Kardashians—have risen to the top of the food chain because of their keen understanding of how little substance is required to package the self as an endlessly monetizable asset. In fact, substance may actually be anathema to the game. And with that, the applause roars, the iPhone cameras start snapping, and the keynote speaker at the women’s empowerment conference comes onstage.

Sophia Amouroso’s brand of “Girlboss Feminism,” and Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In brought in an era of CEO capitalism as a type of feminism.] #GIRLBOSS is an extended exercise in motivational personal branding … [the memoir implies that] becoming successful is a feminist project. The basic idea here is that, for women, photogenic personal confidence is the key to unlocking the riches of the world. The Girlboss Rallies [pay to attend conferences] are supposed to work the same way: you pay to network, to photograph yourself against millennial-pink and neon backdrops, to take the first step toward becoming the sort of person who would be invited to speak onstage. This is meant to scan as a deeply feminist endeavor, and it generally does, at least to its participants, who have been bombarded for many years with the spurious, embarrassing, and limitlessly seductive sales pitch that feminism means, first and foremost, the public demonstration of getting yours.

A politics built around getting and spending money is sexier than a politics built around politics. And so, at a time of unprecedented freedom and power for women, at a time when we were more poised than ever to understand our lives politically, we got, instead of expanded reproductive protections and equal pay and federally mandated family leave and subsidized childcare and a higher minimum wage, the sort of self-congratulatory empowerment feminism that corporations can get behind, the kind that comes with merchandise—mugs that said “Male Tears,” T-shirts that said “Feminist as Fuck.” (In 2017, Dior sold a “We Should All Be Feminists” shirt for $710.) We got conferences, endless conferences—a Forbes women’s conference, a Tina Brown women’s conference, a Cosmopolitan Fun Fearless Females conference. We got Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global, which aims to end the “stress and burnout epidemic” through selling corporate webinars and a $65 velvet-lined charging station that helps you keep your smartphone away from your bed. We got the full-on charlatan Miki Agrawal, who was regularly given media tongue-baths on the subject of Thinx, her line of period panties, until it was revealed that Agrawal, who proudly called herself a “She-E-O,” was abusive to her employees and didn’t know much or care about feminism at all. We got, instead of the structural supports and safety nets that would actually make women feel better on a systematic basis, a bottomless cornucopia of privatized nonsolutions: face serums, infrared saunas, wellness gurus like Gwyneth Paltrow, who famously suggested putting stone eggs in one’s vagina, or Amanda Chantal Bacon, whose company Moon Juice sells 1.5-ounce jars of “Brain Dust” for $38. On the wings of market-friendly feminism, the idea that personal advancement is a subversive form of political progress has been accepted as gospel. The trickiest thing about this idea is that it is incomplete and insufficient without being entirely wrong. The feminist scammer rarely sets out to scam anyone, and would argue, certainly, that she does belong in this category. She just wants to be successful, to gain the agency that men claim so easily, to have the sort of life she wants. She should be able to have that, shouldn’t she? The problem is that a feminism that prioritizes the individual will always, at its core, be at odds with a feminism that prioritizes the collective. The problem is that it is so easy today for a woman to seize upon an ideology she believes in and then exploit it, or deploy it in a way that actually runs counter to that ideology. That is in fact exactly what today’s ecosystem of success encourages a woman to do.

Heading out, but posting this so I don’t lose it.

I’m having my New Age Hermann Hesse Siddhartha moment but when you stop worrying every day of your life and realize that the world is plentiful, God will provide, the human body is a temporary vessel, and that death is actually just Moksha it’s such a liberating feeling. I feel more freed from my sheeple sunken place conformist millennial materialist iPhone mentality after reading Rene Guenon and the biblical gospels and travelling to new places but I still have a long way to go as we all do.

Our western culture teaches that all roads lead to God and that you just have to be good or sincere. And many Christians are beginning to think this way. (In doing research for my coauthored book Ready to Return, America’s Research Group found that 65% of millennials who regularly attend churches in the USA think good people get to heaven.) Why? For the same reason so many Christians compromise with God’s clear words in Genesis. It’s not that the Bible isn’t clear on the issue of salvation. It is, just as it is clear on the details of creation in Genesis, the six literal days of creation, Adam made from dust, death after sin, global Flood, etc. Here are some salvation verses:

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6) For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 2:5)

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

Scripture is abundantly clear: salvation is found in Christ alone. To deny that truth is to deny the authority of God’s Word. No longer is God’s Word the authority in many places—we are. And the thoughts of our culture, or our own thoughts, become our standard, rather than God and his Word.

Biblical authority is what I’ve been speaking on for decades now. No matter what the issue, God’s Word must be our authority. And that’s what the AiG ministry is all about—proclaiming biblical authority and the saving gospel. Whenever we allow sinful man to be the authority over God and his Word, compromise follows. – Ken Ham

Hi! I was going thru my likes and a while ago saw you recommended a GG video essay, have we out grown gg, I was wondering if you have any more video recs or think pieces? Thanks!

Anon...I feel like I was born to answer this ask.

Okay, so, I'm going to divide this up...

Fashion Analysis:

Couldn't not recommend for the millionth time @sudsnewsletter's incredible Gossip Girl columns

Video Essays:

Have We Grown Out of Gossip Girl?

Why Chuck and Blair Deserve Each Other (this is not what you think)

Think Pieces:

Obviously have to start with the Constance Grady piece that's practically gospel for this little fandom corner: How Gossip Girl became TV’s coldest teen soap

As well as How Gossip Girl broke the fantasy of being the world’s most special girl

Brett Kavanaugh, Chuck Bass, and How "Gossip Girl" Portrayed Sexual Violence Within the World of Prep School Privilege

Gossip Girl and Framing Affluence

Blog Posts:

This Trio: Books on TV: Gossip Girl and The Talented Ivy Dickens, Sticks and Stones: Abuse and Gossip Girl, and Books on TV: Gossip Girl and The Beautiful and Damned (AKA Really Long Thoughts on Serena's Arc)

The Tragedy of Blair Waldorf, Part 1 & Part 2

Actual Essays:

The Mike and Tracy Redux (comparing Gossip Girl & The Philadelphia Story)

And I haven't read these two but Ivy recced them a while back and I trust them: A sociolinguistic analysis of gossip among female characters in Gossip Girl season 1 and Ambivalent aspirationalism in millennial postfeminist culture on Gossip Girl

I’m Trustless and I’m a Mormon

Hello. I’m DivineFR1, and I’m a Mormon. The bottom line is this: I no longer trust the Mormon Church. I either leave activity in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or I get excommunicated. If I were more public with my career duties, spiritual belief systems, and activism, I would eventually face the same fate in the Church as Margaret Toscano, D. Michael Quinn, Natasha Helfer Parker, John Dehlin, Sam Young, and Peter Bleakley, just to name a few. This is the story of my trust crisis and current faith transition from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I still like to believe I have a firm faith and foundation in the doctrines of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is kind of weird to say when I have made a major decision to not participate in the LDS Church and to not return to activity. Ultimately, I will always have “Mormon” in my identity due to my rich family heritage and personal experiences. I had every intention of remaining active for my entire life. My testimony and faith in the Restored Gospel were so strong, that they really gave me stability when none was available from other sources. I served a mission faithfully and diligently. I married in the Temple. I respected and honored my covenants. My covenants were the pillar of my faith to maintain activity. As I write this letter, I am heartbroken, tenderhearted, frustrated, and devastated. Yet, I also feel a great sense of gratitude and joy. I just hope I can convey a sense of understanding while sharing my story.

Over the last 5 years, so many of my experiences in and about the Church have led to this remarkable decision and outcome. In fact, it seems that it is an “inevitable” decision (as so many others who have made their own faith transition have put it). Contrary to what many believe, it was my personal study, commitment, and pondering of the doctrine and scripture of the Restored Gospel that led me out. It was official Church sources that led me out of activity. It is to the point that I cannot stay if I have any faith or intention of keeping any semblance of spiritual progress or health.

If someone were to tell me that I would leave the Church even two years ago, I would not have believed it was even possible. I was strong and active. Yet, I had my concerns but trusted in my faith, in my covenants, and in my Gospel Study practices enough to remain “faithful.” I was a person that so many other members leaned on for strength in their own struggles of activity. There seems to always be a “but.” I had experiences within my activity in the Church that were directly against what I know and trusted to be doctrine and essential principles of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. These were contrary actions and experiences that the leadership of the Church themselves engaged in.

When my spouse and I entered our marriage and our first family ward after being in a Young Single Adult Ward, we experienced some difficulties that could not be swept away as a leader’s “imperfections”. My mantra had always been, “The people in the Church aren’t perfect, but the Church is perfect.” Jesus Christ is the head of the Church after all, right? We seemed to be targets of ecclesiastical abuse, along with other Millennial couples and marginalized families. My Spouse and I continued to experience or witness ecclesiastical abuse from our Bishop in this Ward, even through the COVID-19 pandemic. The actions we directly experienced, heard about, and even witnessed led to us considering whether the Leadership of the Church was even practicing doctrinal counsel as laid out in the New Testament, Book of Mormon, and especially the Doctrine and Covenants.

I, along with several other members of our Ward, individually shared our troubling experiences and concerns with the Stake President. The takeaway from these meetings was that the Stake President expressed compassion and concern for our experiences. He listened and told me that he would follow up in his capacity. Yet the actions from that Bishop continued, and even escalated in serious and illegal ways over time.

My Spouse and I raised our hands to oppose the sustaining of this Bishopric in the last Ward Conference we attended (February 2022). In that meeting, I implored the Stake President to keep the targeted members in that Ward safe. I told him in this meeting and one previously that there was a family who seemed to be taking much of the brunt of this Bishop’s abuse. They especially needed to be kept safe. The Stake President stated that he would continue to do what he was doing: minister to this family, and to this Bishop. Not even two months after this meeting, I found out from this dear friend that she and her son were endangered by this Bishop- to the point of this Bishop engaging in illegal actions as a practice of his ecclesiastical authority over this family. The Bishop engaged in actions contrary to the counsel laid out in the Church doctrine, and he could not be stopped until it was too late. I don’t blame the Stake President for this. He likely had his counsel from the General Authority Area Presidency. I now no longer trust that the General Leadership system of the Church can and will protect its members against ecclesiastical abuse that Priesthood leaders can and do engage in. Where is the application of leading Gospel principles when dealing with very apparent unrighteous dominion from local Church leaders (that was repeatedly reported from several members over years)? [i]

When I began to open myself up to asking questions of the systemic leadership practices of the Church, I allowed myself to delve deeper into other questions. More questions and concerns arose in late 2020 due to the disconnect of the Church’s revenue/wealth and how much members were paying into the Church. These concerns generally came to a head when we were “voluntold” to clean the church building- in the middle of a major worldwide pandemic. I had an infant. I work with a population that is particularly vulnerable to death from COVID-19 and other communicable diseases. I did not, and would not, help clean these Church buildings anymore. It is not worth the health of my family, or the people I serve in a professional capacity. I know the Church can afford to employ insured custodial agencies to clean all of their church buildings in the USA (and in the world). Hey, it’s a 100-billion-dollar corporation! Why in the world, if the Church claims to take care of their members and be concerned about their health, require and ask for them to clean the buildings?? To risk their own health and family to clean a community building??? When the Ensign Peak funds were initially leaked, I trusted the response and claims the Church put forth. Elder Causé stated in the Church’s official video response to the Ensign Peak leak a few years ago that this was essentially a savings fund for when a “rainy day” hit.[ii] Wouldn’t a pandemic be considered enough of a “rainy day” for them to use their so-called “savings” from Ensign Peak? If a global pandemic is not enough, then what is?

My “aha moment” of the Church refusing to employ insured custodial agencies, especially during a pandemic, led me to further investigate their use of wealth that I could no longer dismiss or ignore. LDS scriptures clearly state that the sole dependence on wealth is sinful and against the teachings of Christ and His Gospel.[iii] [iv] [v] Yet, the Church is engaging in actions and practices to protect their wealth with no consideration of the poor, underprivileged, needy, or marginalized. The Quorum of the Apostles earn a 6-figure allowance for their “service.” [vi] This is on top of their already accumulated wealth from their jobs before their apostolic callings, retirement funds from said affluent careers, and other investments. At least one of the Quorum of the Twelve is already valued at almost one billion US dollars of personal wealth before being called as an Apostle (I.e., Gary Stevenson). [vii] The church recently increased their monthly price for young missionaries to serve a mission (from $400 to $500/month). [viii] This is at a time when every community in the world is experiencing added financial stress and turmoil. A time when there should not be added burden from the “true church of God” to participate in missionary service. A former prophet stated that there would be a time that the Church could afford to operate without any tithing donations, and that the Church would stop asking members to donate tithes. [ix] Yet, we have a current apostle who stated that the Church doesn’t need tithing donations anymore, but members are still expected to pay (even members who earn less than $5/day for their full-time work). [x] [xi] So, a prophet’s powerful prophecy seems to be fulfilled, but ignored by his successors in Church leadership. I cannot trust an organization that repeatedly contradicts former prominent leaders. I cannot continue to trust an organization that accumulates wealth in a way the LDS church does, and does not use it to do good in the world. The church could be earning more than an estimated $13 billion annually from membership donations across the world. [xii] In 2020, the Church used less than even $30,000,000 of reported monetary spending to aid communities and people and need during the start of the pandemic worldwide. [xiii] A fraction of one single percent of their income and wealth is going towards the actual welfare of who they call the Children of God- people of the world.

Speaking of the welfare of the children of God, the events of August 2022 sealed my fate to my exit and transition from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. [xiv] It was the Church’s official responses that led me out, not any other sources (besides my own actions concerning the matter). Any leaders in an organization that would sincerely try to act in good conscience and be active in protecting the vulnerable would do the opposite of what the Church has reported. [xv] A “Perfect” church led by imperfect people would be very appalled at the violent abuse reported that occurred in a span of almost a decade. They would be doing all they could to ensure the safety and protection of that (and other) family’s children. Instead, the leaders admitted they knew about the report to the Church’s Help Line. But, all they said they did to help protect those kids was they encouraged the parents -- THE ABUSERS -- to get the kids into therapy so the psychologists would report the abuse. Talk about shirking responsibility in protecting children and the vulnerable. The admission lies in the face of how the abuse cycle works. Repeated studies and evidence show that abusers will isolate their victims. They rarely, if ever, place their victims in a situation where the victims would be helped to escape the abuse, such as mental health therapies. [xvi] How disingenuous the official response is against how to effectively protect people against violent (or any) abuse. The Church had so much power and resources to stop the abuse in its tracks. Yet, they allowed it to continue for over SEVEN YEARS because of some sort of “repentance process” for the abusers??? Sure, they didn’t “break any laws.” However, how does this response show that the Church leadership follows the counsel in the scriptures of acting on a good cause? Of not being compelled to do good in all things? [xvii] [xviii]

I am employed on professional work teams to ensure that abuse from others against a vulnerable population is prevented and reported when it does occur. How can I continue to participate in an organization that says that abuse is abhorrent and unacceptable, but engages in actions that fosters and allows long-term abuse? How can I continue to participate in a religious organization that says one thing about honesty and goodness, but does the opposite? I am angry, heartbroken, and devastated. I spent my entire memory of life in this church, thinking, searching, and believing that this Church (my Church) was one of the greatest sources for good. That it is active in helping bring the marginalized out of marginalization. That this church aims to help protect against and prevent abuse of all kinds. That the Church uses the money donated by its members to be a force of great relief for those in dire need across the world. That it uses the great talents and input from others to make a better world. It is clear to me now it truly does none of those things effectively.

I do not sustain or support the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the Quorums of the 70s. I do not trust them to have interest in my or others’ full well-being. I am by nature an intellectual with a spiritual side, thanks in large part to my upbringing in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is because of that spiritual intellectualism that I started to consider and delve deeper into “Church-approved” sources than ever before in the last year. The deeper I got, the farther I ran away from my trust in the General Leaders of the Church. The farther I went, the farther I knew I could not and do not trust the Church or its leadership systems. I cannot walk the line of my God-given talents to support the needy while maintaining active membership in the Church. I will not. I cannot walk the line of advocacy for the vulnerable and marginalized while maintaining active membership in the Church. I will not. I cannot remain active in this Church. I will not continue my life as an active Mormon, because I am ultimately trustless and Mormon.

Endnotes:

[i] Doctrine and Covenants 121:36-37, 41-42. “The rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness. That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man. … No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile.”

[ii] https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/church-of-jesus-christ-finances

[iii] Matthew 19:16-24 (KJV). And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wild enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

[iv] 1 Timothy 6:10 (KJV). For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

[v] Jacob 2:18-19. 18 But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God. And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to ado good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.

[vi] https://faq.churchofjesuschrist.org/do-general-authorities-get-paid

[vii] https://www.hjnews.com/news/local/debut-stock-offering-by-logan-based-ifit-could-make-latter-day-saint-apostle-almost-a/article_98990e5c-9afa-5dff-bbfb-3460db886744.html

[viii] https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/church/news/first-presidency-announces-increase-in-monthly-missionary-contribution?lang=eng

[ix] Joseph F. Smith, April 5th, 1907, General Conference Address, Page 7. “Furthermore, I want to say to you, we may not be able to reach it right away, but we expect to see the day when we will not have to ask you for one dollar of donation for any purpose, except that which you volunteer to give of your own accord, because we will have tithes sufficient in the storehouse of the Lord to pay everything that is needful for the advancement of the kingdom of God. I want to live to see that day, if the Lord will spare my life. It does not make any difference, though, so far as that is concerned, whether I live or not. That is the true policy, the true purpose of the Lord in the management of the affairs of His Church.”

[x] David A Bednar. National Press Club conference, May 26, 2022. Live feed 51:22. “The Church doesn’t need their money, but those people need the blessings that come from obeying God’s commandments.” (Emphasis added)

[xi] https://www.paylab.com/top-salaries/rankings/top-20-countries-lowest-salary?lang=en

[xii] Since the LDS Church is not public about their finances worldwide, I had to make some rough estimations as follows:

Roughly 6.8 Mil LDS members in US.

Average wage index in US: $60,575. (https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/AWI.html)

Estimate average tithe donors: 30% of church members

30% x 6.8mil = 2.04mil tithe donors

10% x $60,575 = $6,575 tithing donation for each average US wage.

2.04mil x $6,575 = $13,413,000,000

Estimated Tithing income from US based on average wage index: $13,413,000,000

United Kingdom tithing income from 2021: $34,408,000. (Based on government-mandated financial reports)

Australia donation income from 2021: Estimated $35mil (Based on government-mandated financial reports)

Canada donation income from 2020: Estimated $179mil (Based on government-mandated financial reports)

[xiii] https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/latter-day-saint-charities-boosts-global-efforts-2020

[xiv] https://apnews.com/article/Mormon-church-sexual-abuse-investigation-e0e39cf9aa4fbe0d8c1442033b894660

https://apnews.com/article/Mormon-church-sexual-abuse-takeaways-f01fba7521ddddffa89622668b54ac10

[xv] https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/church-offers-statement-help-line-abuse

https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/church-provides-further-details-about-arizona-abuse-case

[xvi] https://www.kgfamilylaw.com/the-role-of-isolation-in-domestic-violence

[xvii] Alma 32:16. “Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble…”

[xviii] LDS Doctrine and Covenants 58:26. “For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.”

Christianity in today's world

With social media being at the forefront of today's world, and everyone being on social media and sharing all of their opinions, whether those opinions are popular or not, sharing their religious views, whether thats Christianity or any other religion as there lots of other religions, I'm here to speak on Christianity in today's world and my view on how it's portrayed in social media. I've been around on social media since the days of myspace, yup I'm a millennial, figures right? Anyway the internet being in everyones hand is both a good and bad thing, I can grab my phone, post a bible verse of the day on any platform, and go back to either scrolling aimlessly and filling my friends or family's inboxes with videos of cute babies doing silly things, or puppies,or kittens, or videos from other christians. We forget that we have the ability to have the bible right in our hand 24/7 whether its a physical bible or an app, or a book you bought on apple book store or google play book store, we have the ability to fully live in God's word, and some of scroll online, or we're out there commenting and not acting Christ like at all, not acting how Christians should behave according to God's word, now this isnt a Christianity call out post, I'm merely speaking on what I've seen. Christianity is one of, if not the most hated group of people on this planet, we're persecuted, mocked, ridiculed, daily, not that we didn't get told this was going to happen, I definitely see lots of people taking it personally, I've even fallen in and taken it personally a couple times.

Being a christian has its challenges in the world, it's definitely something to note, that we as Christians have prayed for so many people, whether that's out of love or not, I can't speak for everyone, but for myself it's definitely out of love. One of the ways Christians have been divided in today's world is when it comes to politics, I've seen Christians call other Christians fake, solely because they didn't want speak politically, but as children of God we're not meant to be divided in any way, we're meant to help each other, lift each other up, pray for others, be one body.

With Christians being on the most popular platforms a lot of us try to post wholesome content, bible verse of the day videos, offer prayer and just be loving, people sometimes seem to forget we're people too and we stumble, we mess up, we make mistakes, BUT we're forgiven we're covered, redeemed, made new, made free. And that's amazing, we have experienced a love so big, so deep, so much more than our human brains can even fathom, that's why we talk the way we do, and preach the gospel, I've seen so many times people talking about how we're forcing our religion down their throats, when that's far from it for most people, I want deny there are definitely people who can be more abrasive than others, and we know church hurt is a very real thing, and again I can only speak for myself when I say this, I'm sorry those people did or said things that were wrong, I don't agree or support their opinion, I do however hope you don't hold onto the way they made you feel that you rise above and show everyone just how amazing you are, and never forget you're fearfully and wonderfully made, you're loved, and those people shouldn't be holding you back from experincing the greatest love you can ever have. You're wonderful, and as Christians in todays world we just keep trying to preach the gospel and walk in love, and show you just how loved you are, and I hope you feel that love every day.

The Tim Pool daily show has become utter garbage. Just media drama and a bunch of hard right wing takes. It used to be much more news and much less commentary. I think he should retire the daily show, find a new host for IRL and go really hard in to documentary filming. He’s spent like three days talking about that commie faggot Hasan Piker.

Michael Moore and Al Gore have had an incredible amount of influence with my generation. Even fake bullshit they made up in their movies is believed as holy gospel by a bunch of millennials. I used to listen to 1 or 2 daily segments and then the IRL podcast at night, but it’s just getting really stupid.

Hello ma'am, hope your evening is going great :) I read your post-mil rant and didn't understand a word of it 😂 perhaps my brain is just soup after work, but what is post-mil? What does that mean? Post-millennial kingdom, yes, but what is it that's meant to be happening after?

Hello ma’am, it is! Just froze my hands off procuring milk! I am not yet toughened up to the rapidly cooling weather 😂

Oho, some term definitions, excellent. Okay! To start!

There are three main Protestant beliefs about “end times”. This is what the word eschatology is referring to—it means “the study of last things”.

The reference to “the millennium” is a bit misleading, because each of these versions has less to do with the nature of the “thousand year reign” spoken of in Revelation, and more to do with the nature of Christ’s reign now—and when, if, and how that reign will change.

A few things first:

👉 Each of these belief systems hold to the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ will return in glory to judge the whole earth and establish His kingdom here, at a point in real history that we have not been told

👉 none of these beliefs are considered heretical or heterodox by the Church

👉 Christians should not ruin the bond of peace or the joy of good fellowship over these issues; they are not within the closed fist of orthodox Christianity (meaning it is not necessary to believe any one of them to be saved, unlike the deity of Christ and belief in His death and resurrection, those sorts of top-tier things)

👉 However, each of these have practical implications for the daily life of the Christian and the Church, and so we should continue to discuss them and sharpen one another as we are able!

They are:

⭐️ Amillennialism — the belief that the nature of Christ’s reign is a spiritual reality but will not become a physical reality until after His return.

⭐️ Premillennialism or dispensationalism — this is the most commonly held belief in American evangelicalism. If you grew up in a standard Baptist, charismatic, or nondenominational church, it’s likely this was the view of Revelation, etc. you were taught from the pulpit. Books like Left Behind are rooted in this belief, that the world will grow increasingly dark and the people in it increasingly hostile to the Gospel, and that at a certain time (usually predicted to be imminent, or likely to happen very soon), Jesus will return and rapture His church. Theologies of tribulation, Armageddon, apocalypse, and similar things often accompany this tradition.

⭐️ Postmillennialism (that’s me!) — the belief that Christ was victorious in His death and resurrection not only for the salvation of individual souls, but for the salvation of the whole world by the preaching of the Gospel. This version of things teaches that Christ is now Lord not only of Heaven and the spiritual realities of the Kingdom of God, but of the material earth and universe themselves. Postmillennialism teaches that when Jesus said to go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, He intended for us to succeed.

Postmillennialism does not teach that there will be a golden age of Christianity that we must bring about by our own efforts in order for the Lord to be able to return—this is a perversion of the doctrine sometimes seen in certain hyper-charismatic movements known as dominion theology, or “the seven-mountain mandate”, that Christians must establish prominence in all corners of the culture in order to “conquer” it for Christ.

Postmillennialism simply is the belief that when Jesus rose, the sun rose with Him, and will never ever go down again.

As Lewis said,

“Christianity is the story of how the rightful King has landed—you might say landed in disguise—and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.”

And how do we perform this sabotage? By proclaiming the good news to all the nations (the people who live in them!), and then baptizing them, and teaching them to obey everything Christ has commanded, until the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.

Something romantic/angsty about Jesus and Magdalene non au (don't know if you still writing stuff like this but a girl can dream)?

Peter and the rest may wash his feet, but Mary maintains his hair. She kneels behind him and combs nimble fingers through the thick, dark waves, working out every knot. She jokes with him, telling him that Egyptian wigmakers would pay a hefty fee for his locks, or she shares bits of gossip from washer woman and courtesans in the town square, or she keeps silent, attending to her work as though it is a vigil.

This is their private time together, more intimate than any kiss, more sacred than any sermon. The others know not to disturb the nightly ritual.

He sits perfectly still for her, his brow occasionally creasing when she hits a particularly tough snarl. His hands stay busy mending the fishing nets that help the disciples earn their livelihood as itinerant devotees of a preacher from Galilee.

They are not of this world, his little flock, but men must still eat.

Mary unwraps the tiny alabaster jar from the length of Chinese silk gifted to her from one of her old patrons, and she delicately unscrews the lid. Pouring perfumed oil into the palms of her hands, she massages the scent of cedar and labdanum and sandalwood into his scalp. It's an extravagance, Judas says, a waste of communal funds, but Mary knows who she is handmaiden to.

Kings must have their crowns, after all.

Afterwards, she always presses her lips both his temples, sealing her handiwork with a kiss of protection. Then he reclines on her breast and he tells her of such wonders. Parables and visions, and whispered wisdom that he instructs her not to share with the rest, not yet.

Your time will come, nightingale, he tells her. But until then, sit a while more with me.

Look At These Heartbreaking Photos Of 9 Needy Millennials You Can Sponsor Today

SPONSORED·Oct 18, 2023 · BabylonBee.com

Brought to you by: Compassion International

All across the world, there are millennials sitting in their parents' basement, hoping and praying that someone will come along to sponsor their lifestyle. Look at these heart-wrenching pictures of nine millennials that you could begin sponsoring TODAY:

Judith

Judith suffers from Zero Tesla syndrome, where she lives life without owning a Tesla. Be the change for Judith.

2. Timmons

Timmons Bumgartner needs money to buy the Golden Elf Deity armor for his avatar in the Legend Quest mobile game and he already used his money for Pop-Tarts. We must not look away.

3. Spencer

Spencer bought a Range Rover and now is struggling to afford his daily $8 oat-milk caramel latte. Don't close your heart to this child of God.

4. Ruthe

Ruthe can't buy tickets to FurryCon ‘23 because she spent her savings on a furry dragon wolf costume with genuine faux lupine pelt. Please open your heart.

5. Dave

Dave has tiny chicken legs and desperately needs calf implants so he can keep skipping leg day. Help Dave.

6. Bartholomew

No one is buying Bartholomew's Legend of Zelda fan fiction and now he's struggling to import the proper food for the 17 iguanas he adopted. Will you be the one to help Bartholomew?

7. Nick

Nick has worn giant holes in his jeans and now spends all day sitting by the Subway holding a flower. Poor Nick!

8. Margot

Margot was kicked out of a commune for being too much of a hippie, and now is selling her hair as industrial strength rope. Can you step in the gap for Margot?

9. Gabe

Gabe only needs $1.2 million to pay off the college debt from his sociology/philosophy double major. The situation couldn't be more dire for this precious child.

NOT SATIRE: When you sponsor a child with Compassion International, you help equip a child in extreme poverty with the skills and opportunities they need to succeed. A sponsored child receives opportunities and services that most of the world's poorest children never see. Your help can provide clean water, medical checkups, healthy food, education assistance, and key life skills training.

The child you sponsor will be part of a local church-based program where Christian adults offer love, guidance, personal attention, guided recreation, and safety. And most importantly, sponsoring a child gives you and that child an opportunity to see the truth of the Gospel in action. For only $43 a month, you can begin sponsoring a child today and provide help to a child in need.

tbh i agree with you on the boyfriends webcomic comment. i don't support it anymore since the creator has been proven to be a pos but i never understood the criticism of the webcomic itself, especially not those saying it's sexualizing gay men. IT'S DRAWN BY A DUDE ATTRACTED TO OTHER MEN, HOW IS THAT SEXUALIZING SHIT. i felt more insulted watching the Beauty and the Beast remake than reading this!!! just say slice of life comics aren't your thing instead of saying "i don't like it, therefore it's bad representation" (sorry for the sudden rant lol)

I’m ngl I have never read the comic and I know nothing about the author other than his identity so don’t take my word as gospel, but all the criticism I’ve seen on it comes from young queers who think cringe = bad and evil.

It would be one thing to shit on the comic because the creator is an asshole, but to shit on it because you’re unhappy with the trans/gay/poly representation (when the creature is all of those things) is embarrassing, and it sets a precedent for future queer creators who get discouraged out of fear of their work being viewed as “bad” because teenagers on tiktok have outgrown their Steven Universe phase and think they’re better than all those cringe, millennial, autistic queers who came before them.

How the Gospel Responds to the Lies of the Global Youth Culture

Millions of Millennials and Gen Zs in Europe and around the world will not step foot into a church. Despite an epidemic of loneliness and sexual brokenness, this is a generation that does not look to the Church for answers, but believes it to be irrelevant to their lives. Many are apathetic, cynical, and even hostile to the Gospel. This is not just a trend or statistics; these are our brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, friends, and co-workers. As followers of Jesus, it’s clear that we need to respond... but how? In this Master Class, we want to spark a discussion on how to start missional, evangelistic, and discipleship movements in secularised cities, sent from the local church.

DIGICORE LOVE

[Tyler, The Creator voice] RANDOM DISCLAIMER:

Unlike some of my Twitter mutuals I have a very spotty knowledge of the past few years of SoundCloud rap, the history of the term “digicore”, and so on, so don't take any of this as gospel; this is just me shining a light, through the lens of my own personal experience, onto something that means a lot to me. And that "something" is daft post-trap indietronica for gay zoomers. What can I say - I'm a silly goose!

Hey, remember chillwave? Wait wait wait, please don’t close the tab my jaded millennial friends, I promise this post isn’t actually about that! Even this bit is more about the other stuff that was floating around at the same time: the weird experimental pop of the late ‘00s/early ‘10s that, like chillwave, often involved retro tech and a haunting sense of atmosphere but didn’t fully commit to summery vibes. Cloud rap pioneers like Clams Casino, conceptual chinstrokers like Oneohtrix Point Never a.k.a. Daniel Lopatin from Ford & Lopatin (a.k.a. Games)... and soulful white boys who settled in a previously undiscovered spot somewhere between Jodeci and Arthur Russell: How To Dress Well, Autre Ne Veut, and d’Eon.

I didn't listen to d’Eon much at the time, but in early 2022 I checked out his latest LP Rhododendron on a whim and, while the more experimental material wasn't really my cup of tea, I instantly fell in love with the title track - and then it started to drive me (very slightly) insane.

I loved it because it felt both like something from another world and like something I’d known all my life, like a song from a Dreamcast JRPG I’d never played... which drove me insane because I never even owned a fuckin' Dreamcast, and when I actually look back at the relevant music of that era it's never quite the same. I don’t mean to be dismissive of video game soundtracks, many of them are wonderful—this gorgeously wonky indie-tinged track from the Evergrace 2 soundtrack somehow predicted Gold Panda’s whole style, and this Main Attrakionz classic is built around a sample from Chrono Cross—but...

Thankfully I’m not trying to permanently solve the countless strange problems of nostalgia today - I’ll probably circle back to the topic a few times in future posts, and anyway I hear that many very serious academics are already hard at work sorting these things out. But stumbling around online for interviews about his inspirations, ready to grab d’Eon by the lapels and yell “WHO ARE YOUR GUYS?”, I found one where, just as his music perfectly resonated with my gay loser heart, he casually but thoroughly summed up the exact thoughts that my idiot brain had never managed to fully put into words.

In short: there are two hyperpops.

But you have that kind of music [Charli XCX], which is like pop with futuristic or kooky sound design, and then you also had SoundCloud rap that had gone in a similar direction but came from a totally different sort of lineage. You had some people who were like, post-Lil Peep who were making what got called rap music but they were really just singing. And the production got more and more sugary and more and more hi-fi and complex, and you had artists like my friend blackwinterwells who went on an unbelievable creative streak in 2020, putting out hundreds of songs with various people. Each one of them is this hugely complex, melodic, major key music all done with really modern synths and really hi-fi production techniques. It was rappers, but they’re really just like, singing emo. And so it was like emo, electronic Soundcloud rap, and that got lumped in with hyperpop, it got put on hyperpop playlists. So, there were two types of hyperpop in my opinion: there was pop music, and then there was basically rap music that was unrecognizable as rap music. And so this Soundcloud rap strain of hyperpop was what I was really into last summer.

“Sugary”, “emo”, “rap music that was unrecognisable as rap music” - yes! Yes! For the past few years I’d been drifting from the stately but puckish beauty of SOPHIE’s “BIPP” to the dirtbag buffet of the first 100 gecs album and then even further afield, to a really, really obnoxious song called “Kiss My Own Dick” that I just couldn't stop listening to. Sometimes I'd have to take a second or two to figure out whether something should go in my "hyperpop" playlist or my "emo-rap" playlist, which now seemed to contain a lot of songs that weren't exactly emo-rap - at least, not in the same way that Lil Peep or Wicca Phase Springs Eternal were.

Loose but convenient binaries were forming in my head: UK vs US, shininess vs scrappiness, impersonal vs personal, pop vs rap - and, most conveniently of all, “hyperpop” vs “digicore”.

There are so many exceptions to the rule here that these don't even really function as provisional guidelines - there is UK digicore (there’s a lad called Kurtains who lives in Carmarthenshire. WELSH digicore!) and US hyperpop, and “impersonal vs personal” is a near-impossible distinction at the best of times, let alone when the supposedly “personal” side will happily sing/rap about anything from blatantly fictional street-rap clichés to horse theft and the “impersonal” one includes songs as moving as SOPHIE’s “Immaterial”. And yet…

“Immaterial” is one of my favourite songs of all time, no question, but I’ve seen people point out that SOPHIE was always far more interested in art as a tool for formal expression rather than personal confession, and that several of her most beloved songs were heavily co-written by her excellent collaborator Cecile Believe. Even “It’s Okay To Cry”, a song very clearly inspired by the trans experience, is written at a slight remove, in the second-person.

To be clear, I don’t think it’s as simple as “SOPHIE didn’t care about lyrics”. Songs like “BIPP” and "JUST LIKE WE NEVER SAID GOODBYE" are so painstakingly word-perfect that they remind me of arch-formalists like her beloved Pet Shop Boys, or Stephin Merritt, or even the poet Thom Gunn, who once wrote about being far more moved by a Renaissance sculptor’s work-for-hire than by the melodramatic angst of his Creative Writing students, its generic execution of religious themes and marble perfection allowing it to serve as an empty vessel for his own thoughts and feelings. (Ngl, it is very striking that all of these people are gay.)

But sometimes I don't want marble perfection. Sometimes, it turns out, I want to hear "Kiss My Own Dick". Or maybe something that sounds like "Kiss My Own Dick", but isn't about snowball kisses. (Yeah he's not literally kissing his own dick. He's speaking figuratively. It's kind of like poetry in that way.)

I don’t want to cite the first wave of punk as the obvious precedent to any raw, widespread outburst of grassroots creativity like some NME hack, but I do feel the need to say that I’m not going to cite it, so Idk, maybe that cliché is kinda inescapable. There's something thrilling about young freaks in their bedrooms making music so deeply personal (not even necessarily in the sense of their lyrics being confessional so much as the specificity and intensity of their musical vision) but with such towering ambition, with their imaginations, Google-enabled curiosity and pirated music software opening up whole new worlds and allowing for magpie-like pilfering and a breadth of musical knowledge that simply wouldn’t have been possible a few decades ago, especially without an obscenely huge budget. (Shout-out to Randy Newman and Van Dyke Parks for shaking their record companies down for as much debut-album money as they possibly could then spending it all on extra cellists for shockingly uncommercial songs about, like, a guy in 19th century Oklahoma falling over. It's a miracle they're still in the music industry 50 years later and not in shallow graves.)

Maybe the giddy irreverence of the best digicore is like punk, but the fascination with sprawling soundscapes and heavy ~vibes~, especially in Jane Remover’s Frailty, imo the best album that's emerged from this… genre?... loose collection of online music scenes?... is more like... prog? But also like neither of these things, because it mostly sounds like emo... but with shoegaze’s warmth and weight, and an unusual emphasis on synths (no offence to emo Moog-havers like the Get Up Kids and Motion City Soundtrack). Oh, and there’s a bit that sounds exactly like a Nintendo 3DS soundtrack.

Where was I?

AN INCOMPLETE LIST OF HYPERPOP/DIGICORE INFLUENCES

emo (the genre as a whole has some interesting similarities with “fifth-wave emo”/”post-emo” but I am not getting into all of that today lmao)

‘10s trap (which was itself influenced by early Three 6 Mafia, who cannot possibly have imagined how influential they would become decades later)

house (Charli XCX directly sampling “Show Me Love” by Robin S on her middling 2022 album was gilding the lily, or, more accurately, making the lily a bit shit. It’s one of the greatest songs of all time, either pay indirect homage to it—“BIPP” did this very well, imo—or leave it alone!)

UK garage (the wild thing about this one: before PinkPantheress properly took off in the States I think the main influence was “Frail State of Mind” by the 1975 (sampled in saoirse dream's "upset", for instance)

’10s EDM (Porter Robinson looms especially large but Skrillex is up there too)

all sorts of dance music, really - Jersey club, Aphex Twin style acid house etc. etc. - but the one that stands out the most to me is “breakcore” (it’s drum and bass, but like… more)

“teen”/”disposable”/”novelty” chart hits

‘90s indie

cloud rap (I dismissed Yung Lean as a novelty at the time but now it’s 2023 and Bladee and Ecco2k are the ones still bearing the cloud rap torch. My apologies to Sweden, good luck with the Eurovision)

video game soundtracks (it’s nice that the “cringe” influence of chiptune is often embraced very casually, these kids love their dang Undertales)

nightcore (nightcore barely exists as a genre but the squeaky vocals and euphoric trance instrumentals of hyperpop/digicore have retroactively validated it as one. People aren’t just influenced by Cascada - they’re influenced by a low-quality YouTube upload of “Everytime We Touch” sped up by 33%. Probably accompanied by a picture of an anime girl.)

J-pop

third-wave ska (okay this one might just be 100 gecs - I really respect them continually leaning into this instead of just doing it as a one-off novelty)

And so on and so on - and then there's the countless possible combinations of these genres, not to mention the ever-present potential to warp them into something new, like the Can of Bliss song that's so manic that it almost reminds me of Chris Morris's song for ravers tripping on the fictional brain-slowing substance "Cake"... it would be impossible for one lone autist to do anything with this embarassment of riches, except perhaps to present a very biased and selective account of the stuff that she thinks is worth recommending to friends and strangers on the Internet...

[SOPHIE - BIPP voice]

SO.

COMING THIS SUMMER (maybe)

An infrequent series of posts about My Five Favourite Songs (As Of Right Now)

A quick glance at “proto-hyperpop” - is it real? is it good? is it the Buggles?

An apologia for my obsession with something called “Dariacore”

A rolling Spotify playlist for the songs I mention on here, if anyone's interested in that. I chose YouTube to optimal clickability but let me know if any of the links are broken :3 (<- that's how I type now. It's a kewl hyperpop thing, you wouldn't get it XD)