shoebox dreams

I'm Liv and I like to write things. I run a GW2 sideblog over at saladsexual so don't get confused if I stalk you between the two.

[a-silly-poll-side-blog-yay]

You just teleported to the last movie you watched! how is it going?

good

bad

great

awful

FUCK YOU I'M IN THE BACKROOMS NOW

dead

results

Voting ended onJul 10

[thesunnahthebetter]

[guerrillatech]

[aflo]

posting this on twitter will get you put into witness protection

[truestoriesaboutme]

The magic of childhood is that you were constantly encountering new things. The best way to feel that way again is to fill your life with new experiences.

[terminallyonlinecat-deactivated]

The magic of childhood is that you were constantly encountering new things. The best way to feel that way again is to fill your life with new experiences.

[wizardarchetypes]

Learn to identify bugs 🫵

[warmfigure]

i am massively overdue for a very very good week where not a single bad thing happens and everything is easy

[unlettered-heathen]

reblog to give prev a very good week where not a single bad thing happens and everything is easy

[edenfenixblogs]

Once again, I can't stop thinking about Eminem.

Every once in a while I'll be reminded about how revolutionary Eminem is and was. It genuinely shocks me that people STILL are so obsessed with the text of his lyrics that they can't understand the context or purpose.

Anyway, I have a lot of feelings about rap music. Also, Em is the GOAT.

[edenfenixblogs]

What’s your favorite Eminem song and your fave bar?

Mine:

Fave song = “White America,” no contest.

Fave bar (funny) = “You’re watching a mass occur like you’re watching a church gathering, lookin’ boy” (LOL get wrecked, MGK) from “Rap God”

Fave bar (skill based) = “All I hear is: lyrics, lyrics, constant controversy /Sponsors workin' 'round the clock to try to stop my concerts early/surely hip-hop was never a problem in Harlem, only in Boston/After it bothered the fathers of daughters startin' to blossom” from “White America”

Fave bar (how did his mouth do that??????)= “Well, I'm back, da-na-na-na, na-na-na-na-na-na/Fix your bent antenna, tune it in, and then I'm gonna/Enter in and up under your skin like a splinter” from “Without Me” (but seriously. I’ve been listening to Em since I was in middle school and I cannot get my mouth to do that. People talk a lot about his fast rapping, which is definitely impressive in terms of breath control and annunciation and diction. But this line is under appreciated for its difficulty).

PS: does anyone else remember the one week they played “Without Me” during a commercial break on either Nickelodeon or Disney Channel back in the day before they realized half the lyrics and visuals were absolutely not appropriate for that age demographic? LOL. That was a wild and fun time.

[edenfenixblogs]

IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING I STILL HAVEN'T STOPPED THINKING ABOUT EMINEM.

Also Rap Devil is the weakest diss track of all time and MGK got bodied.

IF ANYONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT EMINEM IT IS VERY MUCH ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT TODAY

[edenfenixblogs]

@dogboyo

LETS TALK ABOUT THIS

Em’s newest album, The Death of Slim Shady, directly (and brilliantly) kind of does this!!!!

The structure of the album follows a story where Marshall has a dream that Slim Shady re-emerges through a portal from 2002 in response to current events and starts shooting his mouth off.

The album addresses the idea that the current state of the world exists to trigger anger and is prime material for Shady’s unique brand of shock rap while also wrestling with the fact that Marshall is older and has more life experience and perspective now. Additionally, Marshall exists not only in a place of privilege that Shady specifically never had, but even one that Eminem never had. (If you’re not familiar with the specifics of the personas of Slim Shady, Eminem, and Marshall Mathers and this sounds like nonsense to you sorry lemme know and I’ll break it down). Slim exists permanently before the fame of it all. He’s raw and angry and irreverent and has nothing to lose. He’s poor and struggling. But Em had the fame and money alongside that quite recent trauma. But now Marshall has been in a position of wealth and power for so long. That, combined with the inevitable maturity of age, means that it would just fundamentally hit different if Em were to start shooting his mouth off like he did back in his Shady days.

It’s one thing to tell the First Lady of the United States to suck your dick when you’re a kid from the trailer park who was failed by the system and his own parents and lives in permanent fight or flight. It’s another to say the same thing when you’re a middle aged man with decades of accumulated wealth and accolades and a gaggle of children you’ve raised looking to you.

Shady could say whatever he wanted because he basically couldn’t punch down. He was the bottom of the social and economic ladder and he knew it—poor, under educated, unwelcome in his community, unwelcome in his profession, addicted to pills and booze and a heartbeat away from death at all times.

Marshall is father and grandfather. He’s a multi platinum artist. He’s a mentor. He’s an icon. He’s respected and wealthy and safe. He’s been through recovery and therapy and learned how his words and actions can affect others. He’s faced consequences. He can punch down now, and it will actually matter. It will actually hurt people.

The album addresses the idea that, while the world is even more fucked up than it was during the Shady years, Marshall himself is less fucked up. Ultimately, Shady lives inside him and the urge to fuck shit up and break things and give into the rage will always been there. However, as much as he wants to scream about it, Marshall can’t make that same impact through Shady anymore. It won’t hit the same. But he also can’t sit it out.

He has to merge Marshall and Em and Slim into one. And he has to leave the unregulated rage that was Shady’s greatest weapon to the next generation of young rappers who still have a right to that kind of emotion. The best Em can do now is to at least suggest a guide to the rage.

When Dre was coming up with his crew at NWA, the rage belonged to them. Dre made it big and gave that rage over to the likes of Em and Fifty Cent. The time has come for Em to do the same.

The hard part will be deciding where Em has to guide the convo and where he has to let it go wherever youth culture is gonna take it.

[dogboyo]

Holy shit I didn’t know about this thats awesome!! Im not SUPER up to date on Eminem but I have huge respect for him as an artist and the impact he had on culture (at least the Eminem lore I’m up to date on, which ends in like, 2010 lol).

My only concern is, do people even receive the message? Like, Im sure theres lots of people who do, and artists who make the music obviously create it with that intent. But with the rise in anti-intellectualism and seeing discussion and analysis of arts as a waste (plus the lowering reading comprehension…) are there enough listeners that will actually analyse what the music means and… you know, actually follow through? It feels like recently when someone puts out an album, not a lot of people actually care about what the artist is trying to say or show and more people just listen to it passively.

Music had meaning because people understood what was being said and why. Eminem’s cultural impact was so huge because his lyrics and music encapsulated all of the things people were feeling and seeing at the time. But if people don’t even engage with it then nothing can happen, because only a small percentage of listeners are actually comprehending it.

[edenfenixblogs]

The interesting thing about Em (or one of the many interesting things) is that he continues to be a powerhouse. He is well aware that in some ways he isn’t as big as he once was. In 2002 he was the biggest recording artist in the world. He certainly isn’t anymore. On the other hand, if you talk shit about him or (god help your soul) about his kids, he can still destroy an entire career with a diss track he writes in under an hour. Most who step at him can’t even get an album released anymore. MGK is one of the few who was able to salvage a career in music at all, but after picking a fight with Em and claiming Em was too old and irrelevant, Em hit him with a diss track so incisive that MGK had to fully leave the rap game. Em’s been inducted into the rock hall of fame. Hes performed at the Super Bowl. Everyone on earth knows who he is.

So, he still has the cultural power of BEING Em. The issue is young rappers and hip hop fans who don’t know their history thinking he is just some white guy who did old school rap.

There’s a wave of young people who are just discovering him in earnest for the first time. So, they’re engaging. It’s taking some time though, because they’re starting from ground zero.

The amount of times I’ve seen people react to “White America” and have their jaws on the floor is innumerable. But then they’ll say some shit like “Who’s Miss Cheney and Tipper Gore?” Or “Was he really in trouble with Congress?” And it’s like oh…wow…we really gotta start from zero, huh. They’ll get there. They just gotta go on their own learning journey about him.

But something fun about the journey youth culture is currently going on with him is that through both his older and contemporary work, he’s winning them over the same way he did from Day 1 on the scene: undeniable skill, raw honesty, and a deep understanding of the culture.

It’s always been most important for Em fans to connect with him first and then learn his story and impact. It’s still happening that way.

PS: There’s also a wave of middle aged and older adults on both sides of the color line revisiting Em’s work. In white suburban families I’ve seen a lot of parents willing to listen to their kids explain the importance of Em and grant him legitimacy due to his tenure on the scene (problematic in a whole host of ways, but progress I guess?????). In non-white context, I’ve witnessed a lot of middle aged and older folks who have long considered themselves purists who resent Em’s perceived intrusion into primarily non-white space re-evaluate. There was a controversy a bit ago where Snoop trolled Em by saying Em “wasn’t in his top 5” and that Snoop could “live without his music” that then prompted 50 to go and say that Em is inarguably the greatest of all time and that if this bums you out, then you gotta step up your game, basically. (I’m leaving out a LOT but Em and Snoop are all good. Snoop was just trolling because they’re both from the battle rap scene.).

But anyway, a lot of OG hip hop fans were like “I’ve never considered Em to be in my top 5, but to be fair, I’ve never listened to him for real.” And then they listened and (basically) all realized 50 was right.

So yes. The message is being received. It’s just facing expected demographical barriers.

PPS: Your degree sounds dope AF

[chongoblog]

Visit Original Link

Enjoy

[s-h-a-s-e]

[astertale-melody]

Everything used (op's list):

[chongoblog]

All of this and also “Enemy” by Imagine Dragons

[were--ralph]

they slayed

[lilu-the-almighty]

Prev’s tags significantly added to my experience of this video

[jewishsora]

"Anthy being fought over like a piece of meat was really fun and good until the show revealed how it was trying to talk about such abuse and CRITICIZE the systems that objectify and victimize women! that's just YIKES!"

[jewishsora]

hello? can anyone hear me? it's so dark.

[gallusrostromegalus]

I may be turning into my Grandfather.

You know, the one who brought home an inordinate number of animals over the course of my mom's childhood.

Longtime followers might have noticed it's been quiet here lately and that's because I've added several dozen animals to my household. Our beloved Ginger cat Mochi passed away in March from a kidney infection and it was. Emotionally devastating. Since there was a cat-shaped hole in my home, I talked with with several rescue agencies, and drove to Texas on Easter Weekend to collect my beautiful daughter Selene:

Selene is three apples tall, weighs less than a gallon of milk, and sits comfortably at the top of the animal dominance hierarchy. Selene's hobbies are Rodent Destruction Simulator (toys), Reptile Pursuit Simulator (String on a flypole), and wedging herself into crevices. The dogs instinctively fear her, but lately Herschel the Corgi has started to be brave about playing string with her, and she makes a point of greeting Charlie the Yes when he comes in from the yard.

Since Selene is a very energetic baby with a healthy appetite for recreational violence, we did have a bit of a problem with her deciding that the humans were he favorite toys and playing with us a little too hard. On the recommendation of our vet, we got her a Playmate:

Helios (actually answers to Sunny) is approximately 5years old, and has the Size, Sweetness and Intellectual Fortitude of a Honeybaked Ham. He has the proportions of Johnny Bravo and none of his executives are functioning. Sunny's Hobbies are watching TV (His favorite movie is Fantasia 1940, specifically the Toccata and Fugue In D Minor), getting in the way of D&D, and demanding we all go to bed at 9PM.

He's about 5, but had a rough start- his former owners surrendered him when they moved, didn't do a good job box-training him, and declawed his front paws. He is extremely spoiled now, but does have to live with an inexplicably heavily armed teenager who wants to play Violence with him.

Neither of these cats Meows. Selene beeps and trills like some sort of adorable futuristic robot and Sunny very quietly honks and quacks like a very polite goose. I also decided to manifest a dream I've had since I was about 7:

If you've never kept fish before some notes:

Fishkeeping is a TERRIBLE introduction to pet ownership, but a GREAT introduction if you want to learn Ecology, Chemistry, Zoology, Structural Engineering, Botany, Interior Design and Economics all at once

Which perhaps sounds daunting but if you also need something that is intellectually engaging, forces you to learn time management and budgeting skills, and will alleviate your depression by giving you a project that rewards you with actual, literal growth, I cannot recommend a better hobby against The Current Miasma

I am not kidding about the Interior Design and Structural Engineering. 1 gallon of water weighs about 10lbs so the smallest acceptable tanks weigh at least 50lbs when full, usually more, and more than say, an Ikea Bookshelf can reliably bear. The GOOD tanks start at 200lbs and need to be placed where they can be filled and drained for water changes, near an outlet for lights/filtering/heat/air pump, and on a floor that can handle the weight of both the tank and the stand

Prices and product quality control being what they are, you might need to build your own stand so add Carpentry to that list too

Fishkeeping can be ...expensive

It can be a lot less expensive if you casually mention you're interested in the hobby, because half a dozen fishkeepers will pop out of the woodwork and start offering you their old tanks and equipment as well as excess plants and livestock, but this will also make you Beholden To Your Local Fishkeeping Community

which is not necessarily Bad

...but it may mean needing to rapidly set up an emergency tank for a Surprise Betta your friend who does hazardous building cleanup found in the back of an abandoned trap house, for instance

If you do not already have one, you will develop a deep and profound hatred for the pet industry and how they will outright lie to people about fish, especially bettas.

You will also become very emotionally attached to Shrimp

Come join me it's fun I promise :)

Ok this post is already a mile long so read the Alt text for descriptions of my Tank Denizens:

Relatedly, the best place to put a fish tank is the bathroom because the sink is RIGHT THERE for water changes, it's got the water-resistant flooring and outlets, and you're garunteed to be in there a few times a day so you will be checking on the tank.

Also, Premium Ringside Seating! I'm a goddamn Genius.

So this is what I've been doing since March and if you enjoyed this post and want to hear future Creature Adventures or for me to do a Tank Setup Guide, you can support me on Ko-fi or Patreon.

[damnhotpocket]

Gema.piano on instagram

Why are all music teachers like this 😭😭😭

[communeist]

THEY ARE

[crematedequally]

when i was 8 i had a very intimidating russian woman as a music teacher- she was both my opera instructor and piano teacher. about a month into piano, she sat me down and said to my mother and i "this child- very beautiful voice, good for singing. i will not allow this child to continue piano. god did not want this child to play an instrument. he told me this in dreams. that is all."

my mom had it written down on a slip so we could remember the exact words because it was so funny. i HATED playing piano and i was definitely not good at it (i did end up having a good 5 years of opera training and ended up being a pretty accomplished choir singer though) and the idea of god sending my incredibly severe and serious russian piano teacher a dream begging her to stop teaching me piano was probably the funniest way it could have gone.

[mossbawn]

people on here are always saying “we NEED a story where the art of storytelling is abandoned” like ugh literary devices are soo annoying like that wouldn’t happen in real life that only happened to further the story (why is there story in my story) why would orpheus turn around when he was explicitly told not to why would icarus fly so close to the sun romeo&juliet catcher in the rye why are they so earnest why pour your heart and soul into anything why bother why cant all art be quippy logical monotony like my marvel movies there’s a void in my heart bc i refused to fill it and the curtains were blue

[mossbawn]

“i hate poetry its so pretentious” but then you reblog a quote or a throwaway line and say “why does this go so hard” you are desperate for poetry you are starved for it and u dont even realise you’re hungry

[onedirectionforever]

“you support gay rights so you must be gay”

i support animal rights do i look like a fucking alpaca to you

[onedirectionforever]

turns out i am gay

[monsieurenjlolras]

holy shit how’d this alpaca learn how to type

[mywitchcultblr]

Diversity win! The alpaca is gay!

[adreamthatsworthkeeping]

[thebirdkiwi]

he was a llama

[fritextramole]

a llama?! he’s supposed to be dead!

[bob-artist]

Bittern at the grocery store

[sparkly-heretic]

A very elegant crime.

(edit: my partner just pointed out that maybe the bittern is going to pay, and that's a good point)

[bob-artist]

Don't worry, his disguise was flawless and he got away with his snack :)

[unstablebill]

I've been scream laughing at this for several days

[marlynnofmany]

Science!

[psychotic-gerard]

knew this woman who used to be a gay man and when he was a gay man he liked ‘ironically’ referring to himself as she/her and so when he came out as a woman he decided the next logical step was to also switch his pronouns to he/him.

[skarnish]

[tammog]

[i-am-a-fish]

I hope you get your favorite food this week and your favorite drink and your favorite 2k dollars

[beardedmrbean]