critiquitaire ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ to the people who look at the stars and wish, and to the stars who listen - and the dreams that are answered. " ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀(i) 09/03/25 ⋆˚࿔ “frozen, eloquent, deep, red, scarred.” by @icebunny11 (bi-fi). 705 words. ˚⋆
in this piece, i felt a kind of anticipation and also a sense of intrigue - it made me wonder what the world was about. to me, this entire piece screamed high fantasy hunter vibes that felt a little like game of thrones. it has the sort of aura that feels like it would be tailored towards an adult audience due to having a brutal and bloody plot, but also a compelling, riveting and somewhat complex magical system.

i suppose it may be due to the setting in this excerpt, but what i'm seeing in my head is this boy who hails from a tribe of viking warriors (which is admittedly rather questionable as his name is xavi, which should be giving me latinoamerican vibes but is not), and was set out on a quest to prove himself worthy of upholding some sort of mantle. taking the lives of each frostbear, in a way, awards him with some sort of merit. perhaps a social status of sorts, allowing him to rise up the ranks in the group he hails from?

but at the same time it's also pretty evident xavi is not happy with his place in the world, hence why it seems as though he is running away in this blurb. the twist at the end adds some confusion to this theory, though, and almost suggests he is an adult who had to take the responsible decision of not going in for the money yet. i'm honestly not very sure with this one; i am getting somewhat mixed signals here.

well it certainly is very interesting lol. as an avid fantasy reader this is the kind of epic high fantasy that i would totally read. i mean, slaughtering bears? snow and the north, and what seems like norse mythology?! yes YES I WOULD READ THIS THANK YOU VERY MUCH. this is TOTALLY my cup of tea (actually can i preorder a copy). it has a brilliant hook and the main characters' movements and actions are just about questionable and out-of-the-ordinary enough to be something i would read on about.

i would just recommend making things a bit clearer. dropping names you wouldn't see in daily life like “vinshllah” (which made me think of “inshallah”, a slang term used commonly in britain) and “droquet” definitely adds to the feelings of fantasy, but the following seemingly random capitalisations of “Callous” “Desolate Region” and the chunky almost-portmanteau of “shadow blanket” reads a little too tryhard wannabe fantasy. love the “they” pronouns and the unorthodox narration style, adds so much intrigue and power to this piece :3

daily X ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ paying the penance (for depriving oneself of sleep). ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪

You've probably heard the phrase “A picture paints a thousand words”. But since we're writers, we can also do the opposite. While you hopefully won't be writing one thousand words today, pick a random picture and write however many words describing it and telling its story. However, there's a twist! Did you sleep enough during cabin wars yesterday? Well, the amount of hours you slept for indicates how much you need to write. To complete this daily, write 1200 - (hours slept x 100) words, the least amount of words you can write being 100. Completing this daily will earn you 400 points and an additional 100 points for sharing proof.

The more you slept, the less words you write >:D


⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀one ⋆˚࿔ eight hours healthy, eight hours unproductive. ˚⋆
1200 - (8 x 100) = 400 words.

just one quick little ramble about melfest… i will get to eurovision soon. i didn't always hear every and each single song that was in the process as i only tuned in for the final but that was such a gorgeous final. sweden is such a beautiful country :3

my personal favorites were:
(1) KAJ - bara bada bastu
(2) greczula - believe me
(3) mans zelmerlow - revolution
(4) meira omar - hush hush
(5) dolly style - yihaa!

but let me ramble from start until the end. i have the music playing in the background and it is genuinely the greatest feeling right now even though my attention span is completely and totally flying out of the window. currently playing is voice of the silent by john lundvik which is surprisingly such a beautiful song and quite powerfully delivered. however john has apparently been a previous contender for sweden on eurovision which puts me off slightly (not too much, though, because i really want sweden to do well at eurovision). it's actually making me feel stuff which is really nice. but there have been word flying around that he would not enter again as he had expected to place far higher which is a little bit disappointing.. he wasn't as high in the odds in the first place so that does feel a little disappointing for such a misconception. it's powerful and quite like ear candy which is very nice, and it's the kind of stuff that would be making the rounds in my pop playlist.

now playing is dolly style's yihaa! it's pronounced ji-haa which is quite interesting and looks a little like a typed out Korean word if it was romanticised. It’s very upbeat and fun, and honestly quite addictive (though not as much as the one and only bara bada bastu). i have on multiple occasions caught myself out singing I'LL TAKE A HORSE ON A RODEO or something along those lines. it's colorful and super fun and uplifting, though not as much as my beloved bara bada bastu which doesn't even make sense grammatically (haha). the girls' synchronity is so, so good, perhaps second only to remember monday's beautiful harmonies, and it's clear they've worked very hard for a long, long time to finally get to the melodifestivalen final. i mean, they sent their first entry in 10 years ago, coincidentally the year mans zelmerlow won with heroes, with hello hi and molly and polly and dolly or something along those lines. not sure what the fourth name would be, really.

after this is greczula's believe me. the artist's name is actually kristofer greczula, and it's hungarian, and the greczula is pronounced more along the lines of grek-DAGSDIJFDSAJF-zuu-lah. i gotta admit bro is actually kinda hot (omg vale has a crush??) and a brilliant singer and stage performer. it's just so so freaking brilliant, though believe me definitely takes time to grow on you. you need to listen to it again and give your head and ears time to process and remember the music. it sounds a little stereotypical basic bland pop at first, but the BELIEEVEVEVEVEEEEEEE MEEEEEEEEEE!!!! is really stuck in so easily. and it's so soulful and the fact it starts from a PIANO!! in the SKY!! then the broder literally jumps on top of the piano and starts singing and dances the awkwardly neurodivergent way that i think i would. yeahhh it's brilliant.


REDO REDO BECAUSE I READ IT WRONG.
image used will be the reaction image with KAJ after bara bada bastu won.

once upon a time, there were these three artists. musicians, they were. they called themself a humorgruppen, or a comedic trope of performers who aimed to make their audience laugh until tears formed in their eyes. they hailed from a small, lesser-known suburb in ostrobothnia, finland, where all or almost all of their citizens were native finns who spoke swedish as a second language. they were better known amongst those two countries as fennoswedes, or finns who spoke svenska (sweden) but instead speaking a dialect of it, not the native version found in mainland sverige.

they were often popular and well-known in their region, with many native finns attending their concerts, parodies and events. they were fairly well-known for a single called jao nao e ja jao yolo ja nao (it is admittedly quite the mouthful, and one that sounds rather portuguese, no less), as well as two parodies that they did: one for luciano pavarotti's famous - or rather infamous - version of nessun dorma, and for the eurovision 2023 runner-up kaarija's cha cha cha, instead about shooing away irritating mosquitoes. they missed such an opportunity there to name it schas schas schas (something like that, i don't know the exact phrase, i don't speak finnish).

they were KAJ - kevin, axel and jakob - a trio with a hope to spread their works and gain a larger audience. so they hesitantly submitted an entry to the highly competitive swedish song competition melodifestivalen, and got accepted though their piece was ranked in at the bottom of the odds. that was okay, though, as all they aimed was to share their music with a wider and more global audience. but when the world first heard bara bada bastu, it exploded brilliantly into a shower of fireworks.

people from all across the world listened, laughed and jived with it. from the shores of chiang mai, thailand, to the modernistic suburbs of pennsylvania in the united states, people loved the piece and the sauna brothers! what soon came to follow was a dramatic rollercoaster of ups and downs for two weeks after they placed in second after everyone who had expected to win - a returning winner and dominant musical power, mans zelmerlow. they collaborated with their fellow competitors in many humorous skits and dance routines, and even paid the finnish embassy in stockholm a visit. safe to say it was a brilliant, magical time.

when the day of the final came, KAJ and their song bara bada bastu was placed in last for the running order, whilst also being a crowd favorite. turning the entire arena into a sauna, they blew up stockholm and lived happily ever after. this snapshot captures the moment where they realised they had won, as it was evident the main trio was not the best at using their mathematical skills. jakob, the member furthest to the right, even got told by the songwriter behind him that they had placed in second, so began cheering wildly for mans. but when they all started cheering, the songwriting team exploding in joy first, before nudging kevin and axel to realise. jakob was just left sitting there, still neutral, still stunned.

daily XV ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ crown the witch. ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪

Is that the sound of fanfare? For today’s daily, give your character a throne and a palace, since it’s been decreed that they will rule for one day! For 250 words and 100 points, write about whatever their majesty sees fit: royal edicts, national holidays, or even silly laws! You can earn an extra 50 points for sharing.


⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀one ⋆˚࿔ CROWN THAT WITCH!! ˚⋆
Please now make way for an official statement from our newly-crowned witch (cough cough)… I mean Queen. King. I don't think even they know what gender they are.

(…)

Åhå, Earth! Welcome. What a funny world. So… you are ask me to make edicts, right? I'm better at execution than creating them, but it's worth a try…
So, first, I would make the society a meritocracy. Why is that so? Because too often those of us fortunate enough to be born to higher-ranking parents will have an upper hand in the world, and just by far a larger advantage to succeed in life. These parents, naturally, will try to give their children every advantage they can, especially by using their funds and connections to offer their children promotions, specialised mentorship and tutoring. While they do have a right to do so, of course, as they have rightfully earned their funds to support their children with that. But intellect, while it may be bred, it is equally as often born.

Is it untrue that if you offered these opportunities and fundings to children with a higher intellect, skill and talent, they could utilise them far better and excel for the betterment of society? Just because children who are blessed to have these abilities are born to a lower caste does not mean that they should have access to less opportunities that such. The children too need to earn their rightful way into society; they should not be allowed to ride on the product of their parents' hard work, sweat and success.

From now on, all children will have to repeatedly go through standardised testing in all areas of intellect; not just academically. Children who score higher in charisma, rhetoric, determination, intellect and ruthlessness, amongst other categories, will be sent to different levels of learning based on their abilities to flourish, adapted to the individual, to prevent highly-skilled children running too far ahead and losing all motivation. There will of course be opportunity to rise and fall, so if you as an individual have the motivation and drive to push past your social caste, you can rise, and will be rightfully afforded all the benefits and support of those above.

To ensure this is all measured without any judgement or bias, there will still be a governmental leader, but no elections to choose who that is - instead, this will be decided by a program advised by Artificial Intelligence to choose the most logical, skilled and worthy choice to lead. All will be designated their required necessities to survive including personal housing, but if you would like any more material benefits, you as a citizen of this nation will have to work to earn currency to buy them. Pay is distributed by the deemed quality of your work, and how much you have fulfilled its requirements.

All citizens of this nation is encouraged to be humble and modest, and never flaunt your wealth. Instead, the currency in which you can express your talent and skill is that exactly - how good you are at these.

word wars ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ the supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting." ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀(i) sat. 15/03/25 ⋆˚࿔ 354 words in 5 minutes. 70 wpm. “do you… really want to touch that?” (unknown status; 25 pts worth). @ahmadimuslimforever (mythology). ˚⋆
ellie watches me anxiously. “do you really want to touch that?” she murmurs, her brows furrowed in concentration and evident concern for my future self's wellbeing. of course, this truly did feel a little bit like a real life repeat of that one scene from diary of a wimpy kid that i had read when i was like, eight years old, where greg gets the other boy to touch the cheese.

but this time, instead of a cheese, it is a slice of cucumber. and we all know what cucumber looks like when aging, no?
the edges of the cucumber had slightly begun to fray into the cafeteria floor, with the sides now loosing its strong verdant green coloring and lining, as well as its insides slowly seeming to loose water and melt into the pebbly and usually pretty gross floor. we all know what a cafeteria floor usually looks like, too, especially considering all the young and irresponsible kids who vomit and spit and drop food all over it.

ellie seemed to have resigned herself to accepting that i would, as a matter of fact, eat the cucumber.
so i lean over my seat on the bench, carefully slide my finger under and cup the cucumber in my hands. it feels slightly moist and squishy, so a little disgusting overall.
i pinch it in between my nails, trying my best to ensure that my fingertips do not come into contact with it, then plop it onto the surface of my usually clean plate. i'm not a messy eater by any means - i am almost meticulous in my eating - but i do enjoy spreading and mixing many sauces and different, quaint dishes together.

i quickly shove the cucumber into a pile of tomatoes and pull out a spoon. i then use the spoon to squash the tomato juice into the cucumber, much to ellie's disgust, and so i shoot her a quick, fleeting smile that is almost flirtatious… if you knew that i was a lesbian, of course. and she didn't.

then i pull out the large tub of mayonnaise from the nearby tray


⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀(ii) sat. 15/03/25 ⋆˚࿔ 318 words in 4 minutes. 79 wpm. “the future of the world rests in your hands now.” (unknown status; X pts worth). @surfdudewave (adventure). ˚⋆
so… you died, huh? nice job. well, this is the first in so, so many times where i can finally tell you that… you're done.

you're looking at me blankly, as though you don't understand. oh, right, yes, you somewhat do… but you also don't, not really. it's somewhere deep down down down there in the endless chasm that is the banks of your memory. it's quite a beautiful thing, the human brain, and i must admit that i am quite proud of my creation.

you have spent the last eternity living out each and every single life in the world. every single one that your feeble human brain could ever conceive of, has ever conceived of, and has ever known. and i have been here throughout this entire process at your side to watch it all out, and help you along the way, as you completed one little pebble, or lilypad, or stepping-stone in this almost endless river. you have lived each and every single life.

i sense that now you are going to question just what it is that i mean by that. well… what i mean to say that you are everyone, and you have always been each and every single person you have ever thought of or known. you are mussolini… you are hitler, and you are also the millions that he kiIIed. you are christopher columbus, and you are mae jemison, and you are cynthia erivo. you are every single person that has ever existed, and every plant, and every animal, and everything that was ever beyond human imagination. you have been a peasant girl from ancient china, you have been an insect leaping across leaves in the amazon rainforest, and you have been the little microbes that have long infested the far-off planet of pluto.

so… i would now like to kindly inform you that the world is now in your hands.