Did a lil experiment where I turned all the main LN villains into Corporation blackhats

Todays rip: 11/04/2024

I will Never be a Redneck

Season 7 Featured on: SiIvaGunner's Highest Quality Rips: Volume Sapphire

Ripped by Madinstance

Requested by Corb and uwustepanne! (Discord, Request Form) (@uwustepanne)

"I'm just kidding, this isn't a blue balls rip. However, you're going to wish it was. I warned you."

Can you IMAGINE being 601billionlazer and getting this rip for Secret SiIva 5?? You hear the silly blue balls and go oh, haha what fun, what a great little bit Madinstance, you always outdo yourself so its fun to see you've taken a funny step back here - only for the truth to be revealed and all hell to break loose? You hear the backing change and think, I swear I recognize that, there's no way he actually did it - the banjo comes in with a gleefully sinister pluck and reaffirms your suspicions. Madinstance fucking did it. The first proper rip uploaded as part of Season 7 introduced the year with a fucking bomb. I will Never be a Redneck.

And look, I've covered some One-Winged Angel rips on here already, One Winged PSYcho - V​.​S. Sepsyrop and Hen'yoku no Piraman - the latter even being made by Madinstance as well - but I feel like it needs to be stressed how thoroughly deranged this rip in particular is. We ALL know Cotton-Eye Joe, if not the original American country song then ABSOLUTELY the world-famous 1994 Eurodance version - one that, funny enough, was recorded by a Swedish band. Indeeds, its oddly befitting: A culture clash between my homeland, and the nation where a majority of SiIvaGunner's own audience and contributors live - the result is that ALL of us knew well what Cotton-Eye Joe was, a piece of our childhoods for some, or at least for me. Yet its prevalence on SiIvaGunner had been comparatively tame in comparison to that popularity, only appearing in some modest mashups and melodyswaps in Season 1 - seven whole years before Madinstance deployed the nuclear option. Realizing that this overplayed icon of a song even had the ability to be remixed in such a fashion positively blew my mind - I won't sugarcoat it, I will Never be a Redneck completely floored me.

And like, in some ways its to be expected, right? Madinstance is incredible, he continues to show up on here with rips like Initial Deluxe (I've Just Raced on this Course Before) and Fell From a High Place (Reprise) for a reason - his prowess for these large-scale projects feels like it shouldn't even be humanly possible. I remarked back in Hen'yoku no Piraman just how much the recent trend of One Winged Angel rips impresses me, how each one feels as if the ripper is truly showcasing their worth whilst dedicating it all to the glory of a single meme. That still stands, yes, but to apply it to a song that otherwise had near-no prevalence on SiIvaGunner, no standard set for how remixing it ought to go: To have my FIRST ever time hearing Cotton-Eye Joe pitch shifted be in this absolute behemoth feels downright criminal. And its even crazier how it WORKS the whole way through.

The amount of touches present to make this feel as cohesive as it does is staggering. The chorus' titular line of "Cotton-Eye Joe" replaces the use of "Sephiroth!" in the base track perfectly, the original song's violin instrumental breaks between the chorus and verses are pitch shifted into the ominous tone of One Winged Angel's equivalent instrumental breaks, the banjo going off the shits in the longer break from the main melody midway through the track...really, its incredible how much of the original track's excitement and danceable fun suddenly sound so ominous, with changes so deliberate, substantial yet conservative enough to not lose the Cotton-Eye Joe feel - this ALWAYS sounds like the right amount of both tracks in balance. I love how the song's chanting "Hey-hey-hey-heyys" suddenly sound akin to One Winged Angel's latin choir song, how the vocals of the chorus repeat in a somewhat staggered, haunting way near the rip's end - like Beautiful Dreamer or My Dr. Eggman Can't Be This Evil!, its remarkable just how drastic the change of tone becomes through rips like this.

Most of all though, it is that gradual realization of what you're listening to that has made I will Never be a Redneck such a classic for me - NOBODY could've anticipated it based on the channel's past history, and nobody would've expected THIS would be the way that Season 7 would officially "start". Yet its the kind of rip you can send to anyone - both songs are immediately recognizable, and the effort put in to making the two work in tandem is unmistakably impressive. uwustepanne, who wrote in to request this be covered, included a short anecdote with her write-in, about how this rip showing up in her YouTube feed was what made her realize the channel hadn't ended with Season 6's finale, that I will Never be a Redneck in a way represents everything she loves about the channel, the impact its had on her. And yeah - isn't it crazy how a rip as cracked as this one, still wound up facing incredibly stiff competition for rip of the Season?? 2023 was one of SiIvaGunner's greatest-ever years, and seeing a rip like I will Never be a Redneck uploaded at its very start felt almost like they'd set the bar far too high for the rest of the team. Yet somehow, someway, everyone else was up to the challenge and continued making absolutely incredible rips throughout the entire year. Madinstance continues to raise the bar of quality on the channel at almost every turn, and having him do it at the Season's very start - with a rip as out-of-this-world as I will Never be a Redneck to boot - remains as an absolute power move.

Thinking about what a genuinely clever mashup of Supergirl, Flashpoint's Superman, and Powergirl(and just a splash of Earth-11 Superwoman) The Flash movie had, and what a tragedy it is that it was wasted on The Flash movie... Because it was such a great excuse for a potential Powergirl origin when her classic story is such a pain in the ass to ever explain or address.

And the natural borrowing of elements from Crisis in Infinite Earth to bolster the weak points of the Flashpoint plot, and the reversal of the Supergirl death bit with baby Kal honestly makes for such a good excuse for why this potential multiverse refugee would be so different from her hypothetical Supergirl counterpart.

Not that there's necessarily any lack of excuses for there to be a rage fueled Supergirl...

But it also reminded me of that time Justice League Unlimited introduced the "original" character, Galatea, who was clearly just Power girl in design but with what was basically Superboy's origin story swapped in for Earth-2 Supergirl's. But honestly? A pretty solid alternative to Power Girl's usual m.o. a better explanation than Atlantis in any case.

I can't help but feel like it was someone's idea of a joke when doing Young Justice to then make Match, the evil double of Superboy, also wear a white bodysuit with a hole in the chest as a weird full circle of references... Like, haha give Conner the titty window. But that's a little bit of a reach to say too confidently. (Unrelated to the rest of this but man I forgot what a good touch it was to have Match laser the S into his chest in the mirror to get the bizarro Ƨ.)

Does make me want some kind of a Power Boy though... But being non native to the primary Earth she's kind of exempt from any fun multiverse shenanigans. (Man.. was she even in the whole Dark Knight Death Metal thing? The dark multiverse might've been our only good shoot at seeing any fun Power Girl alts, even if they've have just been edgy batclonea..)

Speaking of multiverse shenanigans, now that Dark Crisis technically reinstated the dead Earth's back into continuity, can she actually just, like, go home? There was that Infinite Frontiers thing where Director Bones was deporting multiverse people that I didn't really keep up with past maybe one or two issues... Plus that whole multiverse Justice League with not-Obama and Capt.Carrot... also where the hell is Helena Wayne these days?

I dunno where this rant was going...

If you haven't already answered it (I can't find your FAQ >A< My tumblr literacy is GONE!) it's been on my mind since I first saw your username. Is it Pseudo or Pseudonym? What is the story behind it too?

Thank you for asking! ISTG my tumblr has been under construction for so long that I keep forgetting I actually have to construct it. Let this be the first thing I link to for my FAQs because it comes up often.

I went through many name changes over the years as a fan of things, but the time came when I could no longer be contained by the label Enjoyer and finally evolved into my ultimate form; Creator.

I started playing god back in the grand old times of February 2023 (this blog was created around March 2023 in the midst of me writing my first story so I could make press-releases about it because having-fun-is-an-all-ages-activity). This was before I thought I could even make art; I was purely a writer and not a very good one at th I was pretty decent at it.

There are a few things going on with my username. Pseudonym (fictitious name), and Nymphomania (excessive sexual desire), and together Pseudonymphomania is fictitious excessive sexual desire (because I write smut haha). I'm on the asexual spectrum and the process of writing enables me and others to experience it theoretically (you can even say Fictitiously).

In terms of what kind of fan I am, I veer on the silly side of things. I am a purveyor of comedy and I often make literary or meme references or a mashup of the two. On the flip-side, I'm also an essayist and fan-academic. A Pseudonym is something that is used in the writerly world and especially in the fan space, so why shouldn't I be a little silly and call-back to it?

The real question is, what the fuck I decided to use as my icons back then:

Since I wasn't a digital artist until after I finished my first story, I used Canva and free assets to create my first one. I had a kind of bland beige background with four different coloured hands reaching toward a strawberry ice cream cone. The ice cream is phallic imagery, especially with the pink head making it look like a peen. I used a serif font (evokes an image of classic literature) for the username. And it was a visual travesty.

I soon refined my taste and I made a second pfp with an all-white background to imitate the pages of a book. For clarity, I used a sans-serif font for the username this time and curved it into a circle, added two hands grasping it like looking into a crystal ball (the process of writing). The ice cream is dripping/melting [.............] and there's a little heart (universal visual for love) at the tip of it, acting as a sprinkle (representing "Prn with Feelings", an AO3 tag)

The thought process behind this kind of nonsense is what you can expect from me for literally everything. I've since stopped using cryptic symbolism and just use my own art, but that doesn't mean I stopped being ridiculous.

If you've seen me in the other places I hang around and wonder why it's not Pseudonymphomania everywhere even though I sign all my works as that...

PseudonymFanfic (Reddit): Created April 2023. Character Limits for username. At the time, I was only a writer. I couldn't change it after.

PseudonymDicks (Twitter): Created March 2023. Character Limits for username. Used to be called PseudonymFanfic like my Reddit and hosted all my works, including SFW and NSFW) until I was shadowbanned for containing too much flavor and never taken off it. This became NSFW only and my name changed to Dicks to reflect that. PseudonymDicks is also what I'll be using for my NSFW patreon when I get that set up, unless there's a restriction on that kind of naming that will force me to be PseudonymDix or something, oh my lords. Please no.

PseudonymWorks (Twitter): Created January 2024. SFW and Suggestive works only. The second twitter exists because a tree falling in a forest should be heard by someone who wants to harvest the firewood. PseudonymWorks is also what I'll be using for Etsy, Kofi, Patreon, etc. when I get those set up.

I continue to be Pseudonymphomania on here, AO3 and Bluesky and wherever else I am not limited by how long my name is that everyone knows who I am but nobody knows how to spell my name. (The mirth this gives me feels delightful)

"How are you so prolific?" Obsession. Some things become a catalyst for improvement that you will never see coming. How could I predict liking DiaLuci so much that it would spawn a million works from my abused hands when I originally started playing Obey Me for a whim and a lark?

Fandom is an island in Hell and I am determined to enjoy it.

I hope you enjoyed reading my personal lore. Thank you for being here. :)

Writer Asks

Thank you so much for tagging me @yletylyf @demonscantgothere @theriverwild @thrillofhope and @coraleethroughthelookingglass! Feeling the love! (and finally finding the time to do this haha :P)

How many works do you have on AO3? 17!

What's your total AO3 words count? 225,854 (the most I've ever written in a year in my LIFE)

What fandoms do you write for? The Rings of Power. But starting to dabble in general Tolkienverse/Legendarium.

What are your top five fics by kudos? - Your Blood, Your Power - Made the Pieces Part of Me - I Felt It Too - The Blacksmith - Barred

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Always (unless in a rare couple cases when I've had some odd or negative ones.) I think engaging with the readers is super important, and I love when I comment on other author's fics and they respond to me, so I happily do the same!

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Hmmm that's a tough question. Probably my first piece 'I Felt It Too', even though I write a kiss into the infamous log scene, it still doesn't end happily for Haladriel. Feels!

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I'd say maybe 'Shake Like the Bough of a Willow Tree' because it's a version of Haladriel's first time together and it ends with them just being happy and in love.

Do you get hate on fics? So far I've been lucky to only receive two hateful comments (they weren't really hateful just misunderstood and harsh) on one of my fics. Basically they disagreed with something I made the 'reader' do in The Blacksmith and felt inclined to let me know. Was an interesting experience.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Oh yes I write smut haha. I mostly write het smut but have written a little f/f and m/m stuff as well. The Blacksmith even has a m/f/f threesome in it! I don't mind writing darker stuff either, so you'll typically find blood, biting, and choking kinks in my smut too.

Do you write crossovers? If so, what's the craziest one you've written? I don't yet write crossovers but I may dabble down the line. Never say never! My latest fic 'And Horror And Madness Walked' is sorta a crossover/mashup between TROP and The Silm, so that's as close as I've gotten.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge, nope.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope but totally open to it if someone ever wants to!

Have you ever co-written a fic before? No I haven't, but if I ever did, I know exactly who I'd do it with - my partner in crime @pursuitseternal ❤️

What's your all time favourite ship? Definitely Haladriel/Saurondriel. No ship has EVER compelled me to write so much.

What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? I have a Galadriel x Female Reader fic called 'Ensnared' I started a few months back that got put to the side when 'Your Blood, Your Power' took off. I would love to go back to it, mostly because I had a lot of fun writing the Gal x Fem Reader pairing in 'The Blacksmith', but I don't know when I will if ever. Hopefully one day.

What are your writing strengths? Twists! haha. I love a good twist and have been told I'm quite good at writing them. I also write poetry so any chance I get to write more poetic sounding prose I absolutely love.

What are your writing weaknesses? Sometimes I think my vocab needs expanding. Thesaurus.com is my best friend haha. I have a habit of reusing words I think. Also planning my fics. I need to get better at planning my fics. Somehow lol.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? The only instance I believe of me ever doing so was using some elvish in 'The Blacksmith'. That was fun. I love the creativity of using different languages in your story, it really helps with the immersion.

First fandom you wrote for? It was never published of course, but when I was in early high school I wrote (and never finished) two Harry Potter reader insert fics. What I would give to read them back now hahaha. Bless 14 year old me.

Favourite fic you've ever written? Oh boy this is tough... it has to be The Blacksmith. Only because I'm so proud of what I achieved with that story. The longest thing I've ever written (102k) and complete with twists and turns that I cannot even believe I conceived and wrote. Plus the response I got from those that read it was so damn nice and I still think about some of the reactions I got on it. And I literally have made friends for life because I wrote and posted that story. It changed EVERYTHING for me. I'm so proud of it and so thankful it exists. Tagging (apologies if you've already done it): @pursuitseternal @heronamedhawks @gil-galadhwen @scriberated @youwearfinethingswellwriter @somebirdortheother @ichabodjane @klynnvakarian @90shaladriel @hazelmaines @myrsinemezzo @nenyabusiness @tmwillson3 @jhalya @hikarielizabethbloom

9 people you would like to get to know better

tagged by @hxhhasmysoul thank you!

3 ships:

KilluGon (HxH) -

It's The Ship of All TIme, they fit together like puzzle pieces... copedence central (affectionate) as munen said.

EndHawks (BNHA) -

Actually my instinct after watching BNHA was to ship EndHawks, bc they ARE the bratty western-inspired blonde younger guy x button-downed repressed trad japanese dark-haired older guy trope from BL manga + their issues are tailor made for each other, they fit together like puzzle pieces (derrogatory). I think this could be one of those ships where it looks extremely messed up from the outside - and it IS messed up - but it works for the people involved. BUT most people don't write it correctly, for instance in my ideal Endhawks fic the rest of the todoroki family would HATE the relationship because they would think (correctly) that Endeavor is evading taking responsibility for being a terrible father by choosing to be in a relationship with someone who has a terrible father kink. And most people either don't write Hawks as messed up enough or they write him as messed up in a generic gay slut way, and not his specific variety of messed up.

BakuDeku (BNHA) -

So because the Endhawks fic is mostly not what I'm looking for, I just kinda gravitated to BakuDeku which has tons of awesome fic, plus I'm just not as choosy about the characterization and accept all kinds of AUs that have barely any connection to canon. Haha. (I like the genderswap fic for them actually). BakuDeku is fun because they're shounen rivals who aren't purely rivals, even from the beginning of the manga Bakugou is a lot more involved than the rival character usually is (knows Deku's secret & helps with the training plan etc). It fixes a lot of the things that generally annoy me about rival plots in shounen manga... I also like the growth narrative for Bakugou and Deku's versatility as a POV character.

I'm not currently shipping anything else... maybe Cloud/Tifa/Aeris, in any combination of two or three, was the last thing I shipped but didn't really talk about on tumblr. Oh! And the main characters from the Kdrama It's Okay to Not Be Okay, Ko Moon-Young and Moon Gang-tae.

First ship: Ranma/Akane from Ranma 1/2!!! Classic ship, probably the first really big juggernaut anime ship on the internet. It's all about the genderbending with this one... I used to really like the fanfiction where they're together because Akane is a attracted to women and Ranma is sometimes a woman.

Last Song: Me and RJ are doing a version of Death Cab for Cutie's I'll Follow You Into the the Dark to sing the baby to sleep at night, so probably that? I made up a new harmony for it that I'm kinda proud of. One of these days we'll record it and I'll put it up here.

Last Movie: It was the Barbie movie, yeah. (No I haven't seen Oppenheimer.)

Currently Reading: "A Secret Princess" by Margarat Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz. It's like a fanfic mashup of The Secret Garden, which I've never read, and A Little Princess, which I've read a bunch of times and love, with a mysterious new original character added to the mix. A fanfic remix of a book I've already read is about the level of literature I can handle at the moment.

Currently Consuming Watching: I'm into this house renovation show on Roku called Old House New Home, because it's set in England and they actually talk about the history of the area and why the houses were built the way they were... there's a lot of historically listed beautiful homes... and not every renovation looks exactly the same following the exact same trends, although a lot of them are similar (combine the kitchen and dining room, raise the ceiling, add windows and glass doors and skylights - all things that look beautiful and increase the feeling of light and space, but make the house less energy efficient).

Me and RJ are also watching The Marvelous Ms. Maisel - the heavy(ish) show - and the One Piece live action - the lighter(ish) show - when we have time. Recommend both of those.

Currently Craving: Sleep

Tag 9 people (if you feel like it :D): @fury-brand @rosemochi @nautilusopus @tofucasserole @spectroscopes @fireolin @storybookprincess @autumnxsunflower @recents @applepi00

Synthwave Sunday #22

This week I want to highlight a whole album, UNICORN by GUNSHIP:

First off, the mashup of references to different cyberpunk/sci-fi media is front and center in this album's marketing. (It was released just a few days ago, on September 29th). Gunship definitely wasn't shy about making allusions to cyberpunk in their previous albums, and they really leaned into it in this new one. I think it's fun.

Seeing the album art, I immediately thought, "that has to be a Blade Runner reference, right?" It seems like my suspicions were correct, if the album's announcement trailer is anything to go on:

(The origami unicorn from the ending of the movie, for reference:)

There's a ton of other little references to other sci-fi media throughout the album, too. One of the song titles is a WH40K reference, and I caught a reference to Portal in one of the songs as well. There's probably more than I noticed on an initial listen, they're like little easter eggs. Maybe it's a little campy, yeah, but I think it's fun.

I'm having trouble picking my favorite song off the album, so I'll talk about a few.

If you pay attention to the posts I make about music, you probably know I like Carpenter Brut. I was pretty excited to see that they collaborated with Gunship in this album. The song they collaborated on, DooM Dance, is a direct reference to DOOM, of course. Fitting for Carpenter Brut.

Another favorite artist of mine, HEALTH, collaborated with Gunship as well, in the song Blood for the Blood God:

I wasn't expecting a song featuring HEALTH to be so dancey, but I think it works really well. This whole album as a whole is much dancier and upbeat than Gunship's previous albums, in my opinion. Their second album, Dark All Day, is much more gloomy in comparison, for example.

I also noticed that the album contains a sequel to a song from their very first album Gunship, Tech Noir:

The song is somber and slow, evoking visions of fleeing from a city on fire. The sequel, Tech Noir 2, is much more hopeful in comparison:

Tech Noir 2 urges the listener to persevere, and to rebuild something new from the ashes.

"My son, the gift of survival is yours. Please, may you never submit. There will be more."

Overall, I was blown away by this album. It's been a while since I found an album that made me this excited. I think I'll be listening to it for a while. It's a fun, catchy, energetic love letter to the cyberpunk genre. Hopefully I've my scattered ramblings have convinced you to give it a listen, haha.

I'll post another favorite song of mine soon!

Carlos Rodriguez, costumes, and body image

This last episode set me off on an investigation into Carlos’ costumes and general demeanor this season, namely the 3 shirts bit and his entire exchange with Miss Jenn about his costume. I think if they’re not setting up Carlos to have a body image arc in this season, it’s gonna be a major player next season, cause if this is just a one off thing they’re mentioning once or twice and never expanding upon (namely: getting Carlos help), I will never forgive Tim. So, let's take a look about all of the things the narrative might have been telling us about Carlos' relationship with his body this season.

also yes, i'm probably reading into this way more than was intended. leave me be

first: his outfit in 3x01.

disregarding his body language, which is also all sorts of concerning (hugging his bag close to his chest could be related to this but it's probably also just being generally uncomfortable in a new place esp with the fact that Crash just send shards of glass flying in his direction seconds before), it's interesting that he decided to wear a jacket and long pants on the first day of summer camp. Like, it's late June-early July, and he's the only character that's wearing an outfit like this.

and as for the rest of the season? while everyone else is wearing a variety of summer clothes, he is consistently in baggy/large shirts and long pants, even to sing "Fabulous" at the pool. His color war outfit in 3x06 is the first time we even see him wearing shorts all summer.

moving on, this sequence in the What Time Is It/Start The Party mashup:

where he films the others dancing but never gets in front of the camera himself. Yes, Carlos is the social media guy, but even in Something In The Air he was able to get on camera and sing. We know he has stage fright and is more comfortable behind the camera, and this is just another example of that in addition to being a fun little "yeah carlos is the SM guy haha" moment.

then, there's the matter of the cast list debacle.

from the looks of it, Carlos only really scratches out his own name, and we don't get to see what he changes it to. but given his reaction and everything else later on down the line, chances are he changed his role to Kristoff or Hans.

Most of the other boys on this show are conventionally attractive, physically fit dudes, namely EJ, Ricky, and Seb, who also happen to be some of Carlos' best friends and his boyfriend. Add Jet in the mix, who got cast as Hans, which is kind of the perfect role for Carlos, and you can see why he might be thinking there's something else that made Val want to cast him as Olaf instead- this is now the second semester in a row that he's been sidelined in favor of one of the other boys for a human male lead, lest we forget that he's one of the three guys who sang for Gaston at BATB auditions, along with Ricky and EJ. I don't care that it was probably for the bit, he auditioned for Gaston and it's canon.

so then we actually see him in the Olaf costume for the first time. and he looks...

...less than pleased. to be fair, this is when he's doing his part as the instigator and knows full well he's going to start causing a ruckus, so I'm less inclined to actually believe this is totally telling about how he feels about the costume in general, but there's gotta be some truth behind it- if i were forced to wear a costume that looked like that and be described as having "a big round belly and a big bouncy butt" i wouldn't be happy either. like, they could've just gotten the man a puppet, but they didn't and there might be a reason!!

and then we come to 3x06, where they actually start making it look like this was intentional.

Carlos is not Ricky or EJ, who'd probably be fine being shirtless on camera. Meanwhile, Carlos can't even be shirtless in front of his bunkmates, and is for some reason wearing THREE shirts to bed, again, in the middle of the summer.

then, he makes this comment to Miss Jenn:

and when she asks if he wants her to get him a quick change booth, he replies:

and when Miss Jenn says someday he'll learn to love his own body, this is his immediate reaction:

He seems to be realizing this for the first time. Like it's not just normal for him to think this way about how he looks. Carlos grew up in the dance world. Look at guys who are principals at the world's biggest ballet companies and it's obvious what's expected of a male dancer, and Carlos probably knows that.

So now I wanted to look into some of the stuff from other seasons, and all I gotta say is: TW for disordered eating from this point forward.

My first instinct was to go back to the Thanksgiving episode where Carlos says this:

"My family usually has three protein courses and is asleep by six." which is...concerning, to say the least.

I was curious if any other comments like this are made, and I learned a few things I really didn't want to! for example:

in 2x02, while all the kids are scattered eating lunch, Carlos is very clearly set up at a table with Gina, Ricky, and Big Red eating school lunches, and two sack lunches that Ashlyn and Seb are eating out of. I painstakingly counted all of the bag lunches and school trays compared to the students, and Carlos straight up doesn't have any food in this scene. And looking into everything else, I have to wonder if it was intentional on the prop people's part.

I looked at a few other scenes to see if this was a trend, for example in 2x01 he makes himself a plate of food at the NYE party and then it completely disappears, but tbh I think that's more a continuity error than anything else XD

So, all this to say: while I don't think this was something they've been intentional in the first two seasons, it's clear in s3 that they were intending to do something with Carlos that never really came to fruition vis-a-vis body dysmorphia and the like. Unless they give us something really big in the last two episodes, I'll be really disappointed if they don't go anywhere with this, cause now that they've explicitly stated that Carlos is having some sort of issue in 3x06, I expect them to take that seriously and not just drop it as Tim is so keen to do. They don't have to magically resolve all of Carlos' body issues before the end of the season, but at least don't have it fade away into nonexistence so that we can have some other bullshit be his issue in s4.

Do with this information what you will. I just went down a rabbit hole today, and if you read all of this, uhhhh. thanks i guess? go watch crazy ex girlfriend?

Congrats, Liz, on 500 followers! It has been so wonderful to get to know you and your writing over this little bit of time. I love AUs and you knock them out of the park every time 😊 You’re a wonderful writer and great friend and I love how supportive you are of anyone that you follow and/or follows you. I look forward to your next milestone celebration! (I’m sure at the rate you’re going, it’ll be soon lol)

As for my sleepover ask: I would love to see a royalty!AU with Jake. I know you’ve mentioned a Bridgerton!AU in the past, but I mean more fairytale type royalty (I’ve never actually seen Bridgerton, so maybe I’m completely off, haha). I love the idea of Prince Jake and Princess (Y/N). Maybe an enemies to lovers (Swan Princess?) or one non-royal (like Cinderella?). Idk, but the idea of Jake as a prince makes me swoon 🥰

Anyway, I hope you have a great time celebrating this weekend! Wishing you the best!

Thank you Nicole!!! It's been so fun getting to know you!! And you're so sweet 🥺 I can't imagine I'll hit another milestone too horribly soon, but one can dream!!

And I've been wanting to write a Prince fic for Jake for a while now, but I need the PERFECT story for it. I considered the Swan Princess, but I was going wildly back and forth between Jake and Bob for that, and then Bradley just seemed like the perfect middle ground for that one.

Cinderella could be cute, but I think I'd like to do that one with Bob.

Now, @desert-fern, being the genius that she is, made a moodboard where Jake is Flynn Rider, and I have NOT been able to get the concept out of my head. I think it was a perfect mashup, and I want to write for it so bad, but I'm sure Fern has plans for that already, and I for one CANNOT wait.

But I shall keep thinking, and if anyone else has an idea on what kind of prince Jake should be, feel free to let me know!!

Writing Questions Tag Game:

Thanks for tagging me @residentdormouse ♥

What is your absolute all-time favorite idea you’ve ever had?

Um, so the two favourite ideas of mine are not things I can link you to because the first one, which is a faerie story about (among other characters) the fae prince of Winter, is a story I'm writing (I guess it's on hiatus) with my irl bff and it's not finished or available to the public. I don't know how much I should share tbh, but I love all the characters and the world we've built so much.

The other is just my special daydream OC character whose story I will never actually write because it's a mashup of various fandom lores and very complicated and while fun to daydream doesn't sound fun to write. She's a priestess who gets murdered on the altar of her world's gods by her bff and they revive her to kill him (he was a priest who took the power of the gods and then proceeded to basically demolish the world around him). She does so, but is essentially left alone in her world and becomes a guardian of sorts. Her role is to link herself to one person (anchor) in every one of the worlds/dimensions/realities that the collection of souls her gods watch over reincarnate into. She can call on power from the other realities to protect them from outside threats (basically, if the gods were creator beings, there are destroyer beings who want to devour the souls/realities). She ends up being kind of a tragic character though, since she's stuck between a bunch of "lives" so to speak and beholden to different people in different worlds but never able to settle down and be done. She keeps getting revived by the gods when she dies (with all her memories, instead of reincarnating), and she struggles with grief. Why is this my favourite idea? IDK but I keep thinking about it.

Is there a question you’ve been asked in the past that really stands out to you and you still think about sometimes?

Well one time someone on anon complained that I wrote a self-indulgent mary sue oc into my fanfic and asked "who asked for [that]". To which I replied that I did. Because, you know, I write shit for myself first. As a fun hobby. I'm in no way saying that I write anything great, and if you think my writing is cringe, like, okay, you're right? Die mad about it, I guess? Get a life? Idk. I'm just having fun playing pretend with these fictional worlds.

What is your favorite part of being a writer?

Re-reading finished things because I write the type of stories I like to read, so it's really satisfying to get to reread them later. Close second is when someone else likes what I've written, that's pretty cool. ♥

What parts could you take or leave?

The agony of the time between posting something online and that first bit of feedback on it. Now that I actually have people looking at my stuff there's a little bit of like "well I hope at least one person does end up reading and enjoying this" and like... if not then it feels like why bother posting it online? (Honestly I started posting my BWOC fic in 2013 just so my irl bff could read it. I started posting my newer fics on tumblr in 2021 just so I'd move on and finish the missing parts of the story I had been writing... which hasn't worked, in case anyone wondered haha.)

What is your greatest motivation to write/create?

I am constantly coming up with stories in my head. There's something about writing them down and crafting them into something I can read again later that lets me put them down, if that makes sense. Like a brain dump. I don't need to remember just how that scene went or why that was happening in this plot, because it's written down now. I can revisit it later if I like. Or never.

Second-biggest motivation is when I'm writing a fic with someone else in mind, like a request or gift, or for an event, or just something I know that one person in particular will like. In the hopes I contribute something good to their day. (Even if it's smut.)

What do you wish you knew when you were first starting out writing?

I've honestly been writing since I was a child, so I wish I could tell you. XD

What I would say to someone new to writing is this: You get better at every skill by doing it. So, if you want to write, you're better off writing a ton of stories, badly at first and reworking, refining, revising, etc. than to wait until you're "good enough" to write the story you want to write. You can always write a version two or twenty-five, months or years later. Done is better than perfect, and shitty-first-drafts are better than forgotten ideas.

What is your favorite story you’ve written TO COMPLETION? Link it if you’d like and can!

Probably Homecoming, a smut-fic for Bofur in the Durin's Garage AU. Mostly because I haven't written most of my stories to completion, but also I love that fic.

What is your favorite out-of-the-box quote?

"If anyone can do it, so can you."

Which of your characters would you say has the most controversial mindset? Why do you say so and how do you personally feel about their ideals?

In one of my original fiction stories, one of the characters is an emperor who is basically taking over the world bit by bit, and has zero remorse about it. He believes that nobody can love him (for good reason unrelated to his status/warring) and has decided not to love anyone or anything either. At one point, frustrated with how passive his stolen fiancee is, he orders his brother to strangle her to death in front of him and then gets mad at her when she doesn't fight back (he orders the brother to stop, it was just like... a test?). He's very aggressive and believes that everyone only looks out for themselves, etc. so he does the same. (So her passivity sort of challenges him in a way. It's complicated.) It think it's a very toxic but easy-to-fall into worldview when someone thinks that the world is cruel to them, to decide to be cruel back. That's probably the most controversial mindset of my OCs, but that's sort of the point. Obviously I think he's wrong, and eventually things happen to change him.

If you, when you first started writing, met you now, what would younger you think?

She'd probably be confused why we stopped doing forum-RPing and be completely amazed that a single stranger anywhere in the world had read and enjoyed something we wrote all on our own. Honestly I think little me would think I was pretty cool and living the dream. Maybe I should remind myself that more often.

I really value the community in fandom spaces, which I think is why fanfiction is so appealing. We all get to play with the same dolls in different ways and go "ah yes, that's a cool way you played" and learn from each other and grow, and it's all around a shared love of stories. Storytelling is how humans make sense of the world, and community is what makes life feel like it has meaning to me. So this is a pretty cool place to be.

No pressure tags: @laurfilijames @i-did-not-mean-to @i-am-still-bb @silvermoon-scrolls @sotwk @middleearthpixie @sketch-and-write-lover @enchantzz @lordoftherazzles and OPEN TAG to anyone who wants to do it. :)

Tell me about sophia :)

ahhh thank u for this i was waiting to get on my pc to answer but i was... taking my time lmao

(i was playing around with picrews last night haha;;;;)

Sophia!!!! is an ex-idol-turned-almost-shut-in. She loved dancing and singing as a kid, so her mom pulled some strings and helped her become an idol when she was like ten in Kalos.

And her mom became her manager.

And then Sophia proceeded to not have a life for ten years. So when she was twenty she said fuck it and ran away to her maternal grandparent's in Hoenn (the daycare couple on route 117!!). She spends about three years helping out there, and gets an eevee that evolves into a smartass sylveon named Menphina because I'm obsessed with ffxiv.

I don't want to say she's emotionally stunted but she's sick of people's shit and maybe a little depressed from having her whole childhood used as a means to make money for her family lmao.

The fic I'll write one day involves her going on a journey to find herself thanks to some of her friends from Kalos that's a mashup of RSE/ORAS game lore with some extra tidbits, and obviously, I ship her with Steven Stone. But basically she realizes she misses singing and performing, and finds battling pretty fun even if she's not that great at it.

She's also a complete dumbass and when Steven comes to pick up some beldum from the daycare she has no idea who he is. She thinks he's just some rich brat with too much time on his hands. And tries very hard to not think he's attractive.

And then she realizes he's the champion and is all "oh shiiiiiit i fucked uppppp" by being an ass to him lmfao.

anyway she's my daughter and i want to inflict so much pain and growth onto her character lmao thank you for asking!!!

WIP WORD SEARCH GAME

tagged by @aiyexayen! who prompted the words:

tear | soft | red | under | hold

alright let’s see what i can dig up in my wips... my own arbitrary rules are that i can only do one word per fic and starting with most recently worked on wip first and then working my way back until i find something

tear showed up in “batfam lan au” (cql/mdzs au, and this is NOT recent lol apparently i don’t use tear at all haha)

"Hey, Jingyi! Come say hi!" A-Yuan calls, and then flinches when [lwj] gives him a look from the other end of the couch. Jingyi comes tearing in, though, skidding to a stop behind A-Yuan.

"Hi Wei-qianbei!" Jingyi says enthusiastically. "A-Yuan and I found a bird nest today! I think he took a picture, you should get him to show you."

Xian-gege is laughing. "Yes, I heard! This must be an extremely exciting bird's nest, for both of you to tell me about it so quickly. Jingyi, I hope you know it's your responsibility to make sure A-Yuan gets into trouble."

soft showed up in “jc+lwj political marriage” (cql au)

"Let your husband speak for himself," she sneers. "Or is he just another person that you'll have to take the blame for?"

It's not like Jiang Cheng expected this visit to go well, but Jiang Cheng had hoped that Wei Wuxian's absence would soften his mother's scorn. It didn't work.

Lan Wangji is as still as Jiang Cheng has ever seen him, back even straighter than usual and the only movement Jiang Cheng can detect is his hand, gripping Bichen so hard it almost seems like it will snap.

red showed up in “vex/zahra lovm” (legend of vox machina)

“Have you been worrying about me all this time?” Zahra sounds curious and a little indulgent.

Vex sits down. “No. I’d forgotten, except occasionally when I caught a glimpse of red horns or found myself eyeing up a pretty stranger across a bar.” Or… other times, but she isn’t going to admit that quite yet.

under showed up in “cass omegaverse au” (batfam, this was WEIRDLY hard to find?? lots of understands and undercovers and almost no actual unders)

“Neither are you,” Steph snaps back. “She’s an adult, she can make her own choices. Cass, I have something I need your help with. It’s, uh,” Steph lowers her gaze, tries to sound embarrassed. “A personal thing? I kind of need your help specifically.” It’s far from the first time that Steph has pulled this move, and it’s almost true this time. Cass still hasn’t dealt with her heat well, but Steph will be damned if she lets her punish herself for it under the guise of “training”. As if Cass, of all people, needs more training fighting.

hold showed up in “han ying genders” (tyk/shl mashup)

The thing was, Han Ying knew that he was nursing an embarrassing amount of feelings for Zhou Zishu. He knew that, he had known that for quite some time now.

As much as he hated to think about it, it was probably obvious to others. Almost certainly obvious to Zhou Zishu, who, as befitted his role, was uncannily good at sniffing out exactly the secrets no one wished him to know. It was a recurring debate among newer Tian Chuang members: whether it was cruel or kind of him to clearly hold on to such information but not reveal it unless it became relevant. Han Ying thought it was neither. It was a tool.

this was very fun!!! i’ll tag @minnarr and @fractured-ice if you would like to play (i would also tag antique-forvalaka and rainsfalling except tumblr won’t let me, which is fair if you have done that on purpose but does regularly confuse me lol), and also anybody else who sees this and wants to play! your words are (including variants):

moment | see | blue | friend | until

roland and chesed or roland and malkuth

I can try both! Roland Chesed = B! I like that pairing they are so fun! Roland Malkuth = B! I have seen almost nothing of this pairing but I think they could be sweet!

rolsed is very cute and so is... chesland? I have never seen anyone refer to this with anything other than Rolsed for a name mash name actually (i don't know how many people still use them to mean first name pursuing/top 2nd name bottom/feelings recipient i guess? oh well ahdkfjgha) I think they have a lot of fun range and I like that in pairings. They get a lot of good meat in convos because Chesed gets to talk about Roland's Feelings and Roland gets to react in actual gameplay convos so we have a lot of like established interaction for the pairing about cool stuff to think about! I don't want to spoil the topic of convos since they are later into the game but I enjoyed them a lot! I can go over it a bit more past the read more~ Rolkuth? Would that be their mashup name? I see so little content for them but I think they have a fun dynamic. I personally like seeing them as friends but I could totally see them in a romantic pairing sort of way! They have some nice interaction and there's not a lot of more serious meat in their discussions since the majority of them are in the early game. I still think they feel nice in my mind though because they are just mainly positive and both of them seem to enjoy spending time / talking with the other - and I like when pairings just like spending time with each other personally! There's a bit of Roland helping Malk with some breathing and panic and some lessons going back and forth but whenever Malkuth tries to talk to Roland (similar to other early floors) he puts up a polite wall in the convo. And I think that's where their dynamics could get a little deeper or move into different feeling themes if you wanted to think down that route! I love that dynamic potential haha

As usual for my answeres here comes the spoiler zone!!

Rolsod was me and my BF's pairing we were talking about a lot during our playthrough and we had a good time thinking over it! Chesed is very personable and does the best job of trying to reach out to Roland and make him feel better that I can remember. Geb tries to reach him and get him to be more truthful (both to fill in the player and also for Roland to be truthful to himself iirc) and Tiph I unfortunately have forgotten a lot of her + Roland's interactions. I remember learning more about Tiph and what she's been up to and some fun character bits from the group librarian section but my mind is totally blank on her convos with roland for some reason?? I should replay ruina!

I remember feeling like a lot of people were understandably trying to get him to cut his bullshit and chesed was too but he was doing it in a like softer seeming way. He was answering his questions as best as he could and offered his own experiences and thoughts as answers and explanations and I don't remember a lot of other people doing that for Roland.

Roland is a pretty lost feeling character - he kind of loses control when things go badly for him and he spirals and we don't know how the few people that reached out to him tried to help him or stop him. I think its possible Chesed is one of the only people that has been talking with him so openly and offering a normal conversation about how he feels and such. And that is a great dynamic for some good emo shit to write / draw lots of fun dynamics in there! There's also a good potential for softness between them - reading all those interactions as like Chesed wanting the world to be kinder to Roland and himself and such. And those are also some great emo reads in another flavor - like they just could be written so many ways it can be so much fun! We could also get the super bitter routes with how much of Roland's interactions are truthful vs trying to get information / get him out of his hair and such. They can be messy and they can be fluffy that's that fun dynamic potential I love!!

I personally like the potential for that crunchy reading where Chesed's wish for atonement come up and get confusing in his intentions. They have a lot of pretty dark angles with guilt or confusion about the legitimacy of feelings for their partner vs feelings for anyone to avoid loneliness. There's that emo shit I eat that shit up! But I also really like their soft sides too! They have that range haha

Also all the art + fic that already exists for this pairing makes it nice to get into! You don't Have to do like 90% of the legwork yourself or gush into the void like some other pairings if you don't like doing that! Sometimes its nice to kick back and just binge read into a good pairing its nice!

Rolkuth(?) is also pretty cute but I have seen very little content for them outside of a few fanarts I've seen! I feel like I've mainly seen them in the dynamic that is their early convos and it's not super clear how Roland is really feeling at that time.

It's up in the air how honest he's being so you could write it a bunch of different ways - but I have a pretty charitable view of Roland and I think he does respond legitimately in many ways early on when he's not directly trying to get information. He's probably embellishing and acting softer / more approachably (don't we all in the office haaa haaaa) but I think his actions are around things he would normally do. Like the little breath a bit Malkuth scene when she is getting really high energy in a almost manic or anxious way - I personally think that was an honest reaction since it wasn't necessary to get more info.

I think that like anchoring dynamic he could have when she is too overloaded or stressed is a pretty classic dynamic for pairings! I like it with them because he doesn't seem like he's trying to be condescending and he listens to her thoughts and asks her about them in the same scene and such. I could see that is pretty decent anchoring for a relationship - if he didn't constantly cut of talking about himself all the time in the early game. And that's where the potential for emo interaction comes in! We don't get a lot of interaction for them in the later game which leaves a lot of interesting things to write / draw / think about. How does Malkuth react to Roland's reveals - how does she feel about his actions? They have more dynamics potential than I've seen people draw art for them in - but I also see so little of the pairing around that it feels weird to say are maily shown in one way.

I personally like to think about how Malkuth would handle Roland's heavy backstory - but I also like to think about them in a lighter weight context where they just kind of have chat time that makes them both feel good. There's not a whole lot of interactions in Ruina that leave everyone involved just feeling nice - so it is kind of a novelty and I want good things for both of them!! I can think up a number of crunchy bad feeling dynamics but personally I just want them to continue to meet and have a good time! :,)

Hi! How are you? Oh where in CA generally? I was here too cuz I live here haha. That's so nice..I'm glad it was sunny for you but it's been pretty cold and rainyish too. It always makes me feel ugh so I'm looking forward to spring next month. I don't have a least favorite really..they are just some im meh about but I guess I'm thinking of I Almost Do and Question I guess. I like the Story of us and Breathe and So it Goes but they're just never my favorites I guess and don't stand out in the album. What about you? Illicit Affairs is 10 and it's just kinda there to me along with the way I loved you but I love Marys song so idk. Maybe it's not that much of a pattern really. For 14, I don't care for you need to calm down Betty or Closure compared to others. I'm kinda nervous for this one and the title, since the comments from her Time interview bothered me a little. I hope it's more metaphorical than anything and has more of a Bonnie and Clyde vibe like we said! I'm just curious how the album will be and how it will sound.

Haha yes I am pretty excited for them all. I have played both Beyonce songs a lot and 16 carriages is a really good song. I will add your recs to my list along with Last Dinner Party, but am not as familiar with the other two. For twenty one pilots, they are supposed to release new music next week. I was hoping it would be the 21st since they did that last time but I guess not. However the easter egg stuff started and they have billboards with the new logo on it! Which is exciting and not what I expected. The new colors are reddish orange and yellow which is kinda part of lore. There's a cool theory about the album being called something like Inferno and also something about trials and evidence based on clues so far which could be like TPD. I am very excited to see if it will actually match up with Taylor again lol and the music and genre. I would be interested to see if you like their music when you can listen to it. Let me know if you want recs but I guess just start with Vessel or Blurryface if you want cuz I feel like I've done my best to explain their vibes lol and I will let you know how the new song is of course. Besides that, I will probably be playing all of Ariana and Bleachers music to prepare for their new albums.

Did you end up seeing the Wicked trailer yet? I did not watch it again since so I guess my excitement isn't really there yet and I mostly agree with you. I think the book is pretty different but it could be cool. It's pretty long so I will have to start it soon haha. I have not been reading that much lately but I really hope that can change by next month. I listened to some audios and videos of Aaron Tveit as Sweeney and think he is pretty good and better than I thought he was going to be. So that was something at least and made me happy. Also the connections category today! I must have done it last night right at midnight and thought it was yesterday's I guess. My sister and I knew it right away..I was kinda surprised it was the green category though and they tried to trick you with hard knocks lol.

A fun fact about me is that I used to confuse A Place in this World and the Outside all the time and did not know which one was which for the longest time, so they are definitely a pair to me and idk which one I like more. My favorites are Marys Song, Teardrops Our Song and Invisible so I'm most excited for those, but also replaying it a lot and being more familiar with ones I don't know as much or hear all the time. I think we will have to wait another year at this point though.. I was wrong about the ones I guessed and I don't think she played rep or Lover either. I keep guessing the Way I loved you and Glitch, so I'll stick with that..since those are two she hasn't performed yet. Begin Again and I think he knows which have similar thematic vibes, and change and starlight or a perfectly good heart. Lol idk if she will play those though. She's also adding some mashups to the mix which is really fun and makes it hard to guess. Wow that question is hard but off the top of my head, and not taking off too much from one era or anything, I think I would cut The Archer, We are Never, Tis the Damn Season, Bad Blood, and Midnight Rain. What about you? These are ones that seem least necessary to me I guess and I am excited to watch the movie again next month! That's a good point about why she wouldn't add a new set for the tour too, cuz the movie is already out. So she announced a new bonus track, so it makes me think the bonus tracks will be similar to Folklore and Evermore that had two bonus tracks and might be a different ending. The manuscript makes me think of the Lakes in a way and has a poets vibe to it and this one, the Bolter makes me think of its time to go, just based on title, mixed with the Archer. I have no idea if that's right but one is my favorite and the other is one of my least favorites lol. What do you think? I'm pretty sure the new lyrics means it goes with that song which is interesting but I'm not sure about the love you it's ruining my life one. I can't believe it's two months away only. I hope it's okay that I still talk to you about Taylor since I've seen some of your posts lately, which is fair and I do agree with some of it so I get it but also Taylor just makes me happy sometimes. I've felt weird and guilty talking to you about it like nothing is wrong since it seems to bother you more. Like you said, she has been a part of my life for a long time but I understand if you don't want me to talk about her anymore either. I'm sorry I didn't reply sooner and if I don't reply again it's because I will be stressed but hopefully not after this week. 🩷 Have a happy Wednesday!

hi!! i'm okay! looking forward to the weekend — it should be a good one! but also just looking forward to some down time; i feel like i've just been running around all week. how are you?

i was actually thinking about making a little bat signal 🩷 anon post yesterday, because apple music replay is out for the month of january, and look at who made it into my top artists?

i flew into san jose! my aunt lives about 45 minutes away from san jose :) it was a very quick visit! i'm really excited for spring too, even though that's when prime allergy season is for me — although the allergy shots i've been getting should help with that (in theory). do you have a favorite season? mine is 50-50 between spring and summer!

you don't need to feel guilty about talking to me about taylor, you're always welcome to talk to me about whatever you want — if i don't want to talk about something i'll tell you, i promise! 🤍 i have no interest in doing a public autopsy on her personal life (especially with "blaming joe" or whatever people seem to be doing, or talking about travis kelce at length) but aside from that i'm happy to keep chatting about her music — which is what we've been doing, so all good!! <33

i'm super curious now, what your least favorite taylor songs are. if you have any that jump to mind! and i don't mean songs that you skip because they're sad or whatever, but ones that you really just ... do not like! or wait, you know what would be fun? if you sent me your absolute favorite + least favorite from each album and i had to guess which one was what.

which comments from her time article bothered you? it's been a while since i read it so you might have to jog my memory a little! i am also quite worried about this album :/ i just ... don't really know what to expect, and i think people will be even more invasive and weird about taylor swift, which i'm very much dreading haha. she's been seeping into every work conversation i have which is also kind of annoying but that's fine.

do we think she'll announce another variant/bonus track in sydney? one of my best friends is on her way to sydney right now for the concert and i'm so so excited for her! i helped her get her tickets (she lives in australia) and i'm going to try to wake up at 3 am for her surprise songs 😭 if i didn't have work tomorrow i'd try to pull an all nighter and watch the entire concert but alas...

bleachers is coming to seattle for a music festival after all! so now i'm trying to decide if i want to get tickets for that or save my money. ugh. so many things! i just bought concert tickets yesterday and if all goes well i'm buying other concert tickets today haha. maybe we'll see how much i like the new album before i decide!

i justttt watched the wicked trailer and i ... am not particularly charmed or enthused by it. but the wicked tour is coming to seattle this fall, so i'm going to try to see it at least once! i think i'm actually going to do a 5 (?) show subscription for paramount — back to the future (my friend wants to see that one), wicked, mamma mia (my mom wants to see it), and then probably six and &juliet — might take my "little sister" to one of those! i saw some clips of aaron in sweeney but i'm not super familiar with sweeney so i didn't pass too much judgment! but the connections category was SO fun! i got it right away! i haven't been playing connections/wordle as much lately but randomly opened it yesterday and it felt like fate haha. might try to see company when it's here this summer too!!!

if i had to guess ... i think "i love you it's ruining my life" is in but daddy, i love him and "you don't get to tell me about sad" is in i can do it with a broken heart but i have no idea! curious to see what surprise songs are tonight, and if she'll do another mashup! my best friend really wants change on the guitar, so that's what i'm manifesting!

(part 8 of a blog following a wife’s adventure trying to convince her husband he’s a swiftie. follow my page for more!)

POST 8 - Celebrity Drama Rabbit Hole

Hi there! Today I am solo traveling on a quick trip to the East coast. I always feel like I should do something artsy like writing when I’m in an airport. Usually I end up just buying expensive snacks and rewatching Gilmore Girls. But there is something particularly dreamy about airports.

So, here’s a post to channel some creativity and keep my wallet from suffering. :)

One thing my hubby always falls for is celebrity drama. Hahaha I have a story. I hope by this point you have a general understanding for how this guy feels about modern pop music. So, normally I go to skip Justin Bieber when he comes on (except when I really don’t care what Dave thinks and I listen to what I want, which is most of the time haha) because he will probably make fun of it/him. Sometimes, the jokes are warranted – like when we listen to that rumble of a monologue at the end of “Purpose” (do you know the one?!) – but other times the jokes just hurt. Lol. Alright, this is so off topic, moving on with the story. So, SELENA GOMEZ comes on. “Lose You To Love Me.” A solid hit from a few years back. I casually mention that the fan theory is that this song is about Justin and he gets all intrigued – “they dated?”

“Ohhh yes they dated. And then stopped dating, then on again and off again. It’s a whole thing.” I build up some suspense. Then I hit him with a banger that I think slaps even harder than Selena’s original song. I YouTube what I feel like is the greatest mashup ever put together. “Sorry x Lose You to Love Me.” (A version is linked to the post so give it a listen).

I play the song and explain how they so perfectly fit together because it’s like they are actually singing to one another and it's magical and majestical and so riddled with emotion it’s crazy.

Dave loves it. I’m shook. But it’s not just the songs he likes. He starts asking questions about their dating history that I don’t even know. We start googling on this drive the whole timeline and different news articles and by the time we get home we have tracked every get-together and break-up and even whispers of rumors of them being seen together from like the start of 2009 to 2018. Then, I throw in the drama caused by Hailey Bieber and Dave eats it up. I have shoved him so far down this rabbit hole that I can’t even get him to come out. At home I start choppin stuff for lunch and he’s at the table finding Youtubers to explain to him how every move Hailey Bieber makes on social media is some kind of dis on Selena and how the Jenners are in on it. Apparently there’s some dance video and makeup tutorial video and… and soon I am asking him to give it a break! Like, woah, now I just wanna eat lunch in peace!! Hahaha. So, there’s one of Dave’s deep dark secrets that I just spilled on the internet, oops! but it gives such good insight into who he is.

Huge plus that you Swifties have probably already thought of. Selena and Taylor are like BFFs for life and I definitely told Dave that because it needs to be crystal clear who is on the “good” side of this drama. I’ll admit though I’m a little afraid to ever bring up JB x Selener again..

I’m thinking the next drama I should introduce to Dave should be the Taylor Swift x Jake Gyllenhaal drama as we’re listening to All Too Well (Ten Minute Version). Show him the music video too?? Or maybe to keep more current just throw Harry Styles in there. Ohhh yes. Endless potential.

*taps fingers together smiling cynically*

Haha no I’m the same way!! For years I almost exclusively only listened to Taylor’s music 💀 over the pandemic though I was able to open up a little bit more and listen to other artists!! I like 80’s - early 00’s music a lot too, not so much country though but shania twain I do know a little bit of! I really got into Halsey when IICHLIWP was released though (Ugh the Taylor x halsey collab would be insaneeee) and I also got into phoebe around October of last year!!! I cannot recommend her enough honestly, I think you would really like her music! Besides them I only really listen to artists like billy Joel, billy idol, Gracie abrams (another amazing song writer!!!) Elton John, and queen, and jewel. I haven’t heard of Hailey whitters but I just added her newest album and want to give it listen! Will get back to you when I do! :)

Honestly I feel like I’m the only person that hasn’t heard the abcdefu song 😂 i remember a lot of people talking about it though lol, but yes I’m very excited for the openers! Specifically Gracie and phoebe. I am fortunate enough to be going to the eras tour! I wasn’t able to get tickets myself but thankfully someone else was able to for me. I’m sorry you can’t go 😣 have you ever seen Taylor live before? I don’t like concerts too much so I don’t really go to them, but I decided to go to this so I’m kinda nervous for it. I’m excited to hear more from Taylor about the details about the tour though! - 🎅🏻

so happy you’re going to the eras tour!! you’ll have a blast! it’s a great concert to go to if you’ve never seen her because you’ll get bits of every era! afterwards you’ll have to tell me ALL about it. i went to the fearless and reputation tours, and they were two of the best nights ever. fearless is my favorite album so i’m so happy i got to hear those songs live. reputation was really special because my mom and i went together. she’s a huge taylor fan too. the best day is our song <3 what songs are you most looking forward to hearing on tour? i’m so curious how she’s going to narrow down the track list with so many songs to pick from. i think we’ll get some really fun mashups.