Iāve been in such a creative slump lately⦠but he always makes art fun again

Love Begins

izzy's playlists!
Sweet Seals For You, Always

Origami Around
šŖ¼

if i look back, i am lost
Peter Solarz
wallacepolsom

ā

ē„ę„ / Permanent Vacation
Stranger Things
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
I'd rather be in outer space šø

shark vs the universe
Misplaced Lens Cap
$LAYYYTER
No title available
we're not kids anymore.
Aqua Utopiaļ½ęµ·ć®åŗć§čØę¶ćē“”ć
taylor price

seen from Italy

seen from Türkiye
seen from United States

seen from Malaysia

seen from Malaysia

seen from United States

seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom

seen from Brunei

seen from United States

seen from Malaysia
seen from Brazil
seen from United States

seen from United Kingdom
seen from United Kingdom

seen from Croatia
seen from United States

seen from Italy

seen from United Kingdom

seen from United States
@silsnake
Iāve been in such a creative slump lately⦠but he always makes art fun again
Silcoās Song of the Week #21
Better living through Chemistry - Queens of the Stone Age
Hey guys, it's been quite a while since Silcoās Song of the Week aired, but I'm happy to announce that I'm back with analyzing this old man in my way again: Through music. My latest artwork was showing Silco using Shimmer for the first time, capturing the exact moment he understands that if he wants to live long enough to reach his dream, suffering will become part of his everyday existence.
While I was drawing that, I was listening to Queens of the Stone Ageās Rated R (big favorite) and āBetter Living Through Chemistryā is easily one of my favorite tracks. And of course it absolutely screams Silco and Shimmer.
āThe blue pill opens your eyes, is there a better way?ā
Whether you read the āblue pillā as blissful ignorance or artificial enlightenment, both interpretations land perfectly in Zaun. Piltover takes the blue pill choosing not to see whatās happening beneath them. Piltover just doesn't ālook away", they choose not to see the full consequences while still benefiting from them. Shimmer flows upward as much as it poisons downward, so corruption runs both ways.
Zaun, on the other hand, doesnāt have that luxury. For them, Shimmer is desperation, a way to feel strong, to matter, even if itās only for a moment. An even if it costs them everything: mind and body breaking down, people turning into something barely human. death.
A new religionās prescribed to those without the faith
But that ānew religionā line hits even harder. Because in Zaun, Shimmer isnāt just a drug itās a belief. Itās survival. Itās power and salvation. For people who have nothing else, it becomes everything. Shimmer becomes exactly that: a religion for the forgotten. Not because they believe in it, but because they have nothing else to believe in and Silco understands this better than anyone, weaponizing it for power while fully aware of the price it demands.
He doesnāt just distribute Shimmer. He builds a nation on it.
āA hero holding a knife, and blood is not enough Is it too late to go back? Is it too late to go?ā
Silco already crossed that line. So much blood was spilled, but it was never enough to change the system or to free Zaun. And thatās exactly the point where he shifts and where he stops believing that sacrifice alone will ever be enough.
So he starts thinking beyond revolution and into control. Because if the world wonāt change for you, then you force it to and somewhere along the way, it stops being about whatās right or wrong. It becomes about whatās necessary and ultimately about surviving long enough to actually see that vision through, even if it means reshaping yourself into something unrecognizable.
āThereās no one here And people everywhere Youāre on your ownā
Silco is surrounded by people: Followers, chem-barons, Sevika, Jinx. But loyalty in Zaun is conditional. Silco built a following, yes, but it was always fragile and tied to the cause, never to him as a person. Sevika didnāt choose Silco, she chose Zaun. The second he wouldāve failed that vision, she wouldāve replaced him without hesitation.
Like waking up in a world where everyone else is still asleep, Silco believes his vision is the only real one, the only path to Zaunās freedom. And that kind of clarity isolates you.
Thatās his reality: Power held together by necessity, not trust. In the end, he dies alone. No revolution rising in his name, no city mourning him. Just a man reduced to a villain, his dream carried forward by others who wonāt even acknowledge what it cost him.
āLetās see if Iām hearing this right, you suggest I should take A never-ending supply to carry out the deadā
Silcoās entire existence becomes dependent on Shimmer, not just physically, but politically as well and there is no version of his plan that works without it. It's the foundation: The thing that keeps him alive, that gives Zaun the strength it was always denied.
āYour idols burn in the fire, the mob comes crawlinā out Iām reclaiming my mind, destroying everyoneā
To Silco, destruction is liberation. From Piltover and from the version of himself he calls weak. Heās willing to burn everything. In S02 E08 he admits: āI thought I could break free by eliminating those I deemed my jailors.ā Bnd that kind of freedom costs everything.
This is Silco at his core. Reclaiming his mind from his past. From Piltoverās control. From the version of himself that he calls weak. And in doing so heās willing to destroy everything. Because to him, that destruction is liberation.
"Better Living Through Chemistry" is about what people turn to when faith fails them and what they build in the absence of hope. For Silco, Shimmer is the price of survival, of power and of a dream that demands everything. And once paid, thereās no such thing as going back.
(This song is included in the Eye of Zaun Radio playlist. Stick around for more Silco song references)
Silcoās Song of the Week #13
The Pot by TOOL
Gods, this one hits like a punch straight to the gut. The Pot is sharp, sarcastic, furious and so perfectly Silco-coded. TOOL's songs are discipline disguised as chaos. Control hidden beneath distortion which is exactly how Silco operates.
My friend @silsnake has published an amazing analysis about how much prog rock fits to Silco's character (read HERE). Itās music built like a strategy: Complex, meticulous, refusing to give easy satisfaction. It makes you earn the release. Silco would appreciate that. Heās not impulsive: heās deliberate, precise, the kind of man who sees five steps ahead while everyone else reacts to the first. Progressive rock isnāt about rebellion. Itās about mastery. And mastery is Silcoās entire identity.
So why TOOL?
TOOL are architects of tension. Every song feels like a moral labyrinth ā heavy, complex, philosophical. Silco would find comfort in that. In the structure, in the chaos that still makes sense. Heād admire TOOLās brutal honesty. Their lyrics donāt flinch. They call out the corruption of religion, government, power ā and thatās Silcoās entire creed. A man whoās lost faith in everything except his own vision.
So let's dive further into the song:
The Pot is a song about hypocrisy. About those who judge others while drowning in their own filth.
And isnāt that the tragedy of Silco? He despised Piltoverās hypocrisy but built his empire on his own. Preaching freedom while enforcing control. Condemning lies while weaving them into every deal.
āWho are you to wave your finger?ā
Right from the start, The Pot calls out hypocrisy and thatās exactly where Silcoās mind would lock in. The line āWho are you to wave your finger?ā could easily be aimed at the topsiders of Piltover.
They point fingers at Zaun for its crime, addiction, and chaos all while building their pristine empire on Zaunite labor and blood. They outlaw shimmer but depend on the power it provides. They condemn what they created.
Silco would smirk at that hypocrisy. Because who are they to wave their fingers? He knows corruption when he sees it. He embodies it, but at least he owns it and uses it to reach his goals.
āEye hole deep in muddy watersā
Piltover swims in its own moral filth, eyes deep in the muddy waters of exploitation. They claim purity, but their foundations are rotten. They call Zaun dirty, while their own hands drip with shimmer profits and discarded lives.
āRob the grave to snow the cradleā
Thatās Piltover in one sentence. They rob the grave of the dead and the forgotten to keep their cradle pure. To keep their world stable and clean. They burn the evidence and pretend innocence.
And thatās exactly what Silco rose against. He saw the system for what it was a beautiful illusion built on oppression.
āYou mustāve been so high.ā
That line, repeats like a taunt, could almost be shimmer itself talking back. Piltover looks down on Zaunās addicts, but whoās really addicted here? The shimmer user seeking escape or the topsider obsessed with control and purity?
Silco understands addiction better than most. He weaponized it, yes, but he also lived it. His whole life was one long high, and every fall cost him a piece of his soul.
If Silco ever allowed himself a moment alone this is what would play. Not for pleasure, but for clarity. TOOL is uncomfortable, dense, unrelenting. The kind of music that forces you to confront what you are.
Heād sit in the dark, the bassline humming like a heartbeat, eyes fixed on the river outside his window. Thinking of Piltoverās towers reflected in the water.
Because thatās the truth of The Pot: every judgment, every illusion of righteousness, eventually comes back around. The river always reflects whatās above it.
And in Zaun, reflections have a way of looking you right in the eye.
(This song is included in the Eye of Zaun Radio playlist. Stick around for more Silco song references)
Silcoās Song of the Week #12
Reckoner by Radiohead
Since I am one of the lucky fellows who managed to snatch Radiohead tickets, I had to drag them into one of Silcoās song analyses. But honestly, the thought has haunted me for a while. Every time I listen to In Rainbows, I canāt help but picture Silco.
Not only do I think heād play the album endlessly on a crackling gramophone in his office, but another gut-wrenching thought hits me every time: Silco probably never saw a rainbow in his life. Born in Zaunās shadows, he lived and died under smoke and shimmer. Rainbows? Those belonged to Piltover skies.
So why Radiohead?
If thereās any band Silco would gravitate toward, itās Radiohead. Their music carries that mix of melancholy and depth, experimental yet intimate. Theyāre existentialists at heart, always reaching into the wounds of being human.
That balance between fragility and innovation, their refusal to stick to one sound, their ability to make pain feel transcendent - all that mirrors Silco perfectly. He too is a man built on contradictions: broken but commanding, scarred but visionary.
In Rainbows is arguably Radioheadās most intimate record. Itās emotional, poetic, and heavy with reflections on love, death, and the inevitability of separation. The title itself, In Rainbows, is about obsession: thinking beyond where you are, chasing something just out of reach.
Thatās Silco to the core. Obsessed with Zaunās freedom, with reshaping the Undercity into something more than Piltoverās dumping ground. The bitter truth? He never got to live in the world he was trying to build. Just like rainbows, it always shimmered just out of reach.
Reckoner is the perfect Silco song because it captures the paradox of his life: power built on fragility, devotion ending in loss. Itās not a song of conquest, but of reckoning ā with what you canāt keep, what slips through your fingers, what you leave behind.
āYou canāt take it with you.ā
Silco was born in nothing, and he died in nothing. But in between, he reshaped the world. His reckoning isnāt gold or empire, itās the ripples he left, the daughter who carries him, the city forever changed by his existence.
āBecause we separate like ripples on a blank shore.ā
Piltover and Zaun. The river dividing them, yet binding them. Silco lived as the embodiment of that paradox: separate, yet inseparable. Good and evil blurred. Just ripples, crashing into one another on the same shore.
Reckoner isnāt just a song about separation, itās about transcendence, about dissolving the self into something greater. Silco, in his twisted way, always sought that: not for himself, but for Zaun.
Writing this while listening to In Rainbows hit me harder than I expected. Radiohead has that way of slipping under your skin, and with Silco in mind it was almost unbearable. Reckoner especially feels like the moment where everything cracks open. The weight, the surrender, the acceptance that nothing lasts, and yet everything leaves a mark.
Silco was never about glory or permanence. He was about devotion, about shaping something that would outlive him, even if he couldnāt carry it with him. Reckoner isn't a song about triumph, but of surrender. He knew he couldnāt take anything with himāno crown, no city, no legacy untouched.
Maybe thatās the cruelest part: the man who never saw a rainbow carried an entire world āin rainbowsā within him.
(This song is included in the Eye of Zaun Radio playlist. Stick around for more Silco song references)
Silco and Progressive Rock
I know that itās widely accepted that Silco listens to classical music (and he probably does), but I am BEGGING people to consider him actually being a huge PROG ROCK fan. Look at him and tell me he doesnāt put on Pink Floyd when heās absolutely sure nobodyās close enough to hear.
Again, while I agree with the idea of him listening to classical music, I donāt emphasize it as much, and I try to focus on progressive rock specifically for several reasons
First of all, I think that in his youth heād be more into punk/post-punk, goth, and maybe even some metal (nothing too heavy, though, as I donāt think that was ever his thing). I wonāt go into too much detail about his possible ties to these genres, but the connection comes naturally, keeping in mind his earlier days of being a revolutionary and fighting against oppression (themes that are very prevalent in these particular genres).
Additionally, I think it would make even more sense for him to listen to progressive rock, as the shift would feel a bit āsmootherā ā as if he couldnāt fully let go. Silco completely abandoning his previous tastes in favor of only listening to classical music not only makes no sense in terms of the evolution of his musical tastes, but also doesnāt fit his character. He is a man who has a hard time letting things go, clinging to his past, so naturally, the same sentiment would extend to things like music.
Just think about it. Progressive rock thrives on intricate structures, shifting time signatures, long builds, and elaborate compositions. Silco operates the same way. His strategies arenāt impulsive: theyāre deliberate and multi-layered. He doesnāt just push with brute force (clearly thatās not his style) ā he builds a movement, orchestrates the shifts from the shadows, and bends it to his will. The genre mirrors his need for precision and mastery.
Progressive rock is all about patience and payoff, but fortunately, Silco is a long-game thinker. He waits, schemes, sacrifices. Prog rock often delays gratification (yes, you can insert an edging joke here). That parallels how Silco builds his empire: carefully, with moments of explosive release.
Seriously, some songs take minutes to resolve, weaving through tension before arriving at something transcendent. Most people canāt handle that. They see how long the song is and immediately turn it off if they donāt āsense the themeā within the first minute or two. They donāt (or maybe simply canāt) wait for the final reward. But Silco? Silco is all about the end result. A few extra minutes wonāt faze him, heās spent long enough working in the shadows to learn patience. Heās willing to see it through, to the very last note.
Most importantly, heād only listen to prog rock when he knows heās alone. This isnāt just some idea connected to sentimentality, or him trying to enjoy his favorite song in peace. When it comes to Silco, itās, once again, all about survival.
Classical music is expected of him: safe. But songs with lyrics heād connect to? That would let others peek into his mind. Words carry meaning that would be easier to pick up, and thatās dangerous ā he knows it. Something as simple as song lyrics can become a weapon in the hands of those who seek to understand and dissect him. He would never risk it, and heād keep that side of himself hidden.
Imagine this: every single time, without fail, he gets to the middle part of Echoes by Pink Floyd, where the music shifts (around 11 or 12 minutes in, I think) as the guitar starts mimicking seagulls, and suddenly heās back in the water, being drowned again. Heād sit there, frozen, until the vocals come back in.
Naturally, he canāt have anyone see him like that ā canāt let people find the cracks he so desperately tries to hide.