Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy, but sometimes you're not feeling the cheer.
Or maybe you just love sad music and want to get in the holiday spirit. Whatever your reason for listening to melancholy music, there are plenty of devastating Christmas songs to help you cozy up with a cup of spiked cider and the blues. From indie gems to old classics, are our favorites.
1. McCarthy Trenching — Christmas Song
This song (which was later covered by Phoebe Bridgers) is simply devastating.
Taylor stabs you right in the heart with this saccharine song about missing an ex-lover.
Taylor Swift - Christmases When You Were Mine (Lyrics)www.youtube.com
8. Joni Mitchell — River
Joni Mitchell's mournful reinterpretation of "Jingle Bells" is seasonal depression distilled into sound, and it's four minutes and nine seconds of glittering, devastating brilliance.
10. The Everly Brothers — Christmas Eve Can Kill You
Wait, it can?
EVERLY BROTHERS - Christmas Eve Can Kill You (1971)www.youtube.com
11. 7 O'Clock News/Silent Night — Simon and Garfunkel
This song is just "Silent Night" placed over a recording of the news, but as we all know, the news can be hard to listen to—and hearing it played against the soft sounds of Christmas makes the reports of violence and injustice even more difficult to tune out than usual.
Though it has no words, it's almost universally agreed that this song just sounds sad. That's actually because the human brain is literally wired to hear the blues in minor chords, and this song has plenty of them.
20. LCD Soundsystem — Christmas Will Break Your Heart
So apparently if Christmas Eve doesn't kill me, then Christmas Day will break my heart, even though last Christmas, I gave you my heart but the very next day you gave it away. This year, to save me from tears, maybe I just won't celebrate Christmas... or maybe I'll start listening to happy music instead.
LCD Soundsystem - Christmas Will Break Your Heart videowww.youtube.com
So there you have it — the twenty saddest Christmas songs we know of. However, despite these songs, we hope you have a very merry holiday.
What do cuffed jeans, bob haircuts, septum piercings, the song "Sweater Weather" by the Neighborhood, and Shakespeare have in common? They're all tenets of bisexual culture.
Yes, you read that right: William Shakespeare, inarguably the greatest English-language writer of all time, has been inducted into bisexual culture—a celebration of things that are generally thought to be affiliated with, in one way or another, people who are bisexual. Speculation surrounding Shakespeare's sexuality is nothing new, but recent evidence proves that the English playwright was almost definitely not straight.
Leading Shakespeare scholars Sir Stanley Wells and Dr. Paul Edmondson were the editors behind All the Sonnets of Shakespeare, a forthcoming collection of 182 of the Bard's sonnets. What sets this collection apart from countless other publications is that, in addition to including those that were originally written as part of Shakespeare's plays, all of them are arranged in order of when they were composed. No collection of Shakespeare sonnets has done this before, providing new opportunities for insight into his personal life.
Yes, people have suspected that Shakespeare wasn't straight for a long time—and not just because of that little hoop earring he's wearing in his famous Chandos portrait. Shakespeare's sonnets were first published in 1609 (though it's still unclear whether or not he had permitted their distribution). Over 100 are love poems to someone referred to as "Fair Lord" or "Fair Youth," which is widely assumed to be the same person as "Mr W.H.," to whom the sonnets are dedicated.
There's pretty clear evidence that Shakespeare was still attracted to women, however. At age 18, he married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children. Three years later, he ended up leaving his family and moving to London, but there's sufficient evidence to suggest he probably continued to have affairs with women.
The proof that Shakespeare liked women? "Upon a time when Burbage played Richard the Third there was a citizen grew so far in liking with him, that before she went from the play she appointed him to come that night unto her by the name of Richard the Third," a lawyer named John Manningham wrote in his diary, with Burbage being one of Shakespeare's most popular actors. "Shakespeare, overhearing their conclusion, went before, was entertained and at his game ere Burbage came. Then, message being brought that Richard the Third was at the door, Shakespeare caused return to be made that William the Conqueror was before Richard the Third." Apparently, Shakespeare had game.
Some have argued that the only times Shakespeare explicitly mentioned sexuality in his sonnets were in instances directed towards women, but he romantically alluded to men multiple times. This can be seen in Sonnet 18 ("Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate"), in which he uses he/him pronouns later on. Sonnet 20 indicates male-male attraction, too: "A man in hue, all hues in his controlling / Which steals men's eyes and women's souls amazeth."
With All the Sonnets of Shakespeare, Wells and Edmonson are hoping to solve the mystery of Shakespeare's sexuality. "The language of sexuality in some of the sonnets, which are definitely addressed to a male subject, leaves us in no doubt that Shakespeare was bisexual," Edmonson told The Telegraph. "Some of these sonnets are addressed to a female and others to a male. To reclaim the term 'bisexual' seems to be quite an original thing to be doing."
Wells also notes that Sonnets 40-42 and 133-134 read as "two bisexual mini-sequences," depicting an apparent love triangle between Shakespeare and two romantic interests—one male and one female. Sounds like a classic case of a bisexual love triangle, if you ask us.
So congratulations, bisexuals. In addition to Lili Reinhart, Halsey, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Rosa Diaz, you now officially have Shakespeare himself in your club. At least, it's as official as it'll ever be.
America's trust in television was broken long before NBC's The Masked Singer held up a mirror to our low standards for "expert judges" and our underlying fear of Teletubbies.
For the past two months, one of the top-rated shows on prime time has featured twelve has-been celebrities dressed as inbred Looney Toons. The singing competition is based on the Korean reality TV show with the same concept. Now that we know The Masked Singer will assault us with a second season next year, let's brace ourselves–the worst is yet to come.
Other hit Korean TV shows spotlight celebrities' moldy leftovers and strained parent-child relationships for the amusement of the masses. We're betting it's only a matter of time before one of these bizarre series debuts in the States.
Ever want to see inside your favorite celebrity's refrigerator? Why would you? That's weird. Each episode of Please Take Care of My Refrigerator features eight of the country's best chefs and invites them into the guest star's kitchen, having them compete to create edible dishes using only the ingredients and old leftovers in the celebrity's refrigerators. They have 15 minutes. The celebrity then judges each dish and selects a winner. There is no apparent reward for winning, except for the chance to feed BTS' best boy, Jungkook.
For a US adaptation, we predict the E! network would milk this reality show for all its worth. Hosted by: Gordon Ramsay.
[ENG] Please Take Care of my Fridge BTS Cut_3rd Dish (Hot Braised Short Ribs)youtu.be
Riffing off the common assumption that celebrities must be terrible parents, each episode features five celebrity fathers traveling or camping with their children. Sometimes they try to "cook" and other times they pull their hair out. We predict CBS would be the first to adopt this on account of its eagerness to exploit any celebrity for prime-time ratings (yes, we're talking about The World's Best).
[ENG SUB] Dad!Where are you going?-Hoo's 9th b-day party 후9살생일축하 20141221youtu.be
Six A-list actors are deprived of their phones, television, and the Internet as they live in a dorm for one week. But rather than being a simple Big Brother setup, each episode features a challenge imposing new restrictions, like not creating any trash or living on minimum wage. For a US version, we see this show on ABC. With moralizing shows like The Good Doctor and Grey's Anatomy but reality TV trash like The Bachelor, ABC would jump on the chance to teach celebrities about social issues like climate change while benefiting from their potential moral failures. Hosted by: Miley Cyrus
The Human Condition | 인간의 조건: Living on a Shoestring Budget – The First Episode (2014.12.03)youtu.be
It's another show banking on male celebrities being incapable of caring for their children. This time, celebrity fathers are left alone with their kids for 48 hours without any help from wives, family members, or the legion of celebrity nannies who keep Hollywood afloat. American actors like Steven Yeun have also guest-starred as "Uncles" left to take care of other's children on their own. NBC, America's publicist for family values, would love this shit.
[The Return of Superman] Steven Yeun's special way to feed a babyyoutu.be
It's worse than it sounds. This music competition features aspiring female rappers competing against each other American Idol-style. Hosted by any mildly successful rapper, the show features challenges like diss battles and filming a one-take music video for an original song they've written and arranged themselves while on the show. Considering Fox's love of reality shows that sound wrong, the network probably has its eye on adapting this bad boy already. Hosted by: Iggy Azalea.
Of all the places in the world the royal couple could vacation for the first time as "man and wife," Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and his blushing bride, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex are headed north to Alberta, Canada to do what couples do on their Honeymoon. Their wedding may have been spectacular, but when it comes to celeb honeymoons, theirs will be less-than-star-worthy, not to say the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge doesn't seem lovely.
The royals could have traveled to an exotic locale, jetted away on a remote island, or taken a worldwide excursion to nearly any place on Earth, but the unconventional duo decided Alberta would be just their cup of (English breakfast) tea. The lodge which is "surrounded by nature and abundant wildlife" must be just what these famous newlyweds needed to escape the post-wedding craze that has been all-consuming since they married before millions.
Don't get it wrong…Harry and Meg won't be pitching a tent or munching on fire-roasted wieners and s'mores, they'll be living it up in a 6,000-square-foot cabin known as "The Royal Retreat." How fitting. Six bedrooms, six bathrooms, a dining room, verandas, and the whole nine yards will do just fine, although not much could beat out kickin' it at the castle.
And the couple won't be the first set of royals to stay at the Canadian lodge. As per Yahoo Lifestyle, "King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (Harry's great-grandparents) stayed there in 1939, and the current queen and Prince Philip enjoyed the Canadian wilderness in 2005." Tradition is a staple of royal life, making their choice to honeymoon at this lavish lodge a no-brainer, as surprising as the selection may sound.
The Canadian landscape in this region is impeccable, so sightseeing and such will be worth the trip. Not to mention the outdoor adventures the active couple can embark on during their stay. The lodge's site boasts plenty of horseback riding, hiking, canoeing, kayaking, mountain biking, golfing, and more. But something tells us Meghan will be more than content with sitting back at the lodge's spa, rated #1 in all of Alberta. Must be nice to marry into royalty.
May the newlyweds have a honeymoon to remember while visiting our neighbors up north. Oh, Canada, indeed!
Melissa A. Kay is a New York-based writer, editor, and content strategist. Follow her work on Popdust as well as sites including TopDust, Chase Bank, P&G, Understood.org, The Richest, GearBrain, The Journiest, Bella, TrueSelf, AMC Daycare, and more.
Kingdom Hearts is a classic. It's admittedly a little too hokey at times, and definitely confusing, and through it all they've still managed to create some of the most memorable characters in gaming. Whether they be heroic protagonists, intricately woven anti-heroes, or bad-to-the-bone antagonists - they've always managed to be both compelling and fun. So, in light of the recent news and the ever approaching release (hopefully!), I have created this list of some of the best characters ever created for this game.
I know, I know, there are a lot of really good characters that have appeared. But, most of them were already established as good characters way before they were dropped into the Kingdom Hearts canon. So, unfortunately characters like Maleficent, Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey will not be appearing on this list. But hey, this is a bi-weekly column, so who's to say there won't be another list up in the future?
10. Terra (Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep)
Oh Terra, you flawed character, you. Terra is one of the three protagonists of the prequel game, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, set ten years before the original KH game. And honestly, he would have made it higher on this list - but his story seemed just too familiar. Much like Riku, Terra struggles throughout the entire game with his draw to the darkness. And also, much like Riku, he is eventually consumed by it and his body is stolen by the game's main protagonist.
Terra is a great character, and it's interesting to see the rivalry between he and Aqua - and the brother-like relationship he has with Ventus. Not to mention, that unlike Riku, he is still stuck under the control of his evil Master. And we don't really know how he's doing or where he is.
So, despite the predictability of this story, Terra still manages to make this list for being a tragically flawed character.
9. Ansem, Seeker of Darkness (Kingdom Hearts)
You can't beat the original. Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, is one of the many people in this game who take on the moniker of Ansem. In the original game, this dastardly villain is the ring leader behind everything - and one of the driving forces of darkness that is consuming worlds. However, we find out later that the Seeker of Darkness is not Ansem - but his heartless. Which is crazy, because Heartless are not supposed to be this intelligent.
In fact, he's the only Heartless that is this intelligent, as far as I know.
AND THE YOU FIND OUT THAT THIS ISN'T EVEN ANSEM'S HEARTLESS! Ansem never got turned into a Heartless. No, no. This is the Heartless of Xehanort, one of Ansem's lab assistants. It's an interesting web, and the web only makes Ansen, Seeker of Darkness, more compelling as each game gets released.
8. Xion (Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days)
Xion is probably a surprising entry on this list. She is a one-off character who only appeared in a handheld, midquel about Roxas' time with the evil (or misunderstood) Organization XIII. She appears as a fourteenth member, and a surprise keyblade wielder, making her the second Nobody to have the ability. She works alongside Roxas, and forms a strong relationship with both him and his best friend, Axel.
Alas, close to the end of the game, you find out that she was manufactured as a near-replica of Roxas, in case both Sora and Roxas are unable to collect hearts for the Organization. In the end, she decides to sacrifice herself by fighting Roxas and dying to give Sora back his memories. As depicted in the scene above, she dies in Roxas' arms, as he forgets their time together.
It's one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the game's history, and one of the deaths of one of the more interesting characters in the game's canon. I still cry when I watch it.
7. Roxas (Kingdom Hearts II, 358/2 Days)
ROXAS! I love Roxas - he's a wonderfully broody foil to main protagonist, Sora's, chipper attitude. He is the Nobody of Sora that was created when Sora became a heartless in the original game. He is also one of the only Nobodies to have the power to wield the keyblad, and bears a striking resemblance to Ventus (a protag from Birth by Sleep). His story is a sad one, and we are treated to the last week of his life at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts II.
What makes Roxas so compelling is his quest to exist. He is constantly searching for his purpose and why he exists, and when he finds out, he decides to take his destiny into his own hands. He fights against the organization, and even when his memories are taken from him, he continues to fight for his life.
Until the end, when he realizes that he must reunite with Sora.
His story is one of the most tragic in the series and it needs to be on this list.
6. Axel/Lea (Kingdom Hearts series)
Axel ranks higher than Roxas, because he's a Nobody who cares so much. He first appears as an antagonist in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and later as a unlikely ally in Kingdom Hearts II and 3D. What defines him most is his relationship with Sora's Nobody, Roxas. His entire quest is driven by his need to find and protect his best friend - and in the end he sacrifices himself to do that very thing.
Only, he isn't dead. After his Nobody and his Heartless (who we never see) are killed - he forms again into his original self, Lea. We find out that most of the Nobodies have returned to normal, and with that, Lea goes again to search for his friend. And actually ends up saving the day and becoming a Keyblade wielder?
Axel's transformation from a villain to a hero, and his later reclamation of his original self is one of the most satisfying storylines in the series. And I can't wait to see what they do with the character in Kingdom Hearts III!
5. Kairi (Kingdom Hearts series)
Kairi's story is also one that improved as the games moved forward. She started out as nothing more than a love interest and damsel in distress for Sora to save - and has now become a more fully fleshed out character. In the first game, Kairi is one of the Sora and Riku's best friends. She is also the object of both of their affections - and later in the game, you find out that Kairi is a Princess of Heart (one of the seven of the purest hearts in existence), and that she was once princess of Hollow Bastion.
Her background is expanded more in Birth by Sleep, when you see her interact with Aqua. You also find out that Aqua bequeathed the ability to wield a keyblade to her, and forged a special bond with her.
My favorite part of about Kairi though, as to be in Kingdom Hearts II. When she regains her memories of Sora back, she decides to take matters into her own hands, and jumps through a dark portal, which eventually leads her to Twilight Town. It's a lovely moment, and a signal the Kairi is not going to take things sitting down anymore.
Plus, SHE CAN WIELD A KEYBLADE TOO! And I hope she is one of the seven lights that will fight the final battle with Xehanort.
4. Xehanort (Kingdom Hearts series)
And here is the guy that started it all. Xehanort is the mastermind behind Kingdom Hearts' entire convoluted storyline. He first appears as a keyblade Master in Birth by Sleep - as the master of the mysterious and evil, Vanitus. He is shown to be at one with the darkness, and we later find out that he seeks to summon the powerful x-Blade, to ignite a Keyblade War, which would allow him to shape the world in his image.
He is a powerful foe, which is proven by his longevity. You find out that every major antagonist from Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, to Xemnas, to the lab assistant of Ansem, Xehanort were all forms of his. He has done this, by putting his heart into those whom he deems a worthy vessel.
It's crazy, and it doesn't always make sense, but I'll be damned if Xehanort isn't a damn good bad guy. He even looks super evil, you know what I mean?
3. Sora (Kingdom Hearts series)
I know, he's the main protagonist of the whole series, so he should be at the top - but honestly there isn't a lot to Sora. We first see him in Kingdom Hearts, he is the unlikely chosen wielder of the keyblade. He dreams of seeing other worlds and getting of his small island - and boy does he ever. Eventually, we find out that he has the power to protect the world - and that's what he sets out to do! Of course, he also plans on finding his friends, Riku and Kairi.
Sora is defined by his heroic nature and his goofy exterior. He is relentlessly optimistic, and is shown to bring out the best in people. His heart is so strong, in fact, that it can call out to other people and help protect their hearts. And he's also an incredibly powerful keyblade wielder, who has managed to fight off the entire Organization XIII and a slew of very powerful heartless.
But, he's not a complicated character. He just loves everybody and wants to help, and that's what he does. Sure, he wants to save his friends, but he never does it at the expense of other people. He is a friend to everyone and loyal to those who he deems worthy of his friendship. And that's about it.
And I mean, let's be honest, they made him really dumb in KH: 3D right? Is that just me? I don't think it's just me.
2. Riku (Kingdom Hearts series)
Riku gets the number two spot for being a flawed character, who comes into the hero role a little bit late in the game. Originally, he was one of the chosen to wield the Keyblade - but it quickly did the old switheroo when Riku opened his heart to darkness and got consumed. This set Riku on a path that had him betraying his friends and getting possessed by an evil Heartless man.
But, our man Riku didn't let that keep him down. And after being locked behind the Door to Darkness at the end of the first game - worked for a year to atone for his sins and help his friends from the shadows. He ends up becoming one of the strongest wielders of his age, and a valuable ally and friend to Sora and the ever on the run, King Mickey.
What makes Riku so great is that we see his story so clearly, and see him feel both guilt and regret for his actions. He works tirelessly to make up for it, and does his best to keep the darkness in his heart in check. And in the end, he actually ends up saving Sora - and making sure that the Organization's plans are thwarted.
His arc is sad, but unlike Terra's, it has a positive resolution and will hopefully receive a powerful conclusion at the end of Kingdom Hearts III.
1. Aqua (Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep)
So, hear me out, Aqua is the best character in the series for a lot of reasons. She first appears in Birth by Sleep, as one of the three main protagonists and the only one of the three to be considered a Keyblade Master. After Terra leaves to figure things out with Master Xehanort - Aqua keeps trying to find him and also protect Ventus. Her story is a sad one, and it's constantly defined by sacrifice.
During the game, we see Aqua constantly fighting every bad guy under the sun to help her friends. After her climactic final battle with Xehanort and Vanitus - Aqua saves her friend and in the end, after Xehanort consumes Terra - she fights him and wins. But, before that, Aqua puts Ventus in a locked room - and creates Castle Oblivion to keep him locked away.
Afterwards, Aqua ends up saving Terra (and also Xehanort) by pushing herself into the World of Darkness, where she still resides. In the most recent extended demo of Kingdom Hearts III, released on Kingdom Hearts 2.8, we see Aqua constantly throughout the World of Darkness.
It's upsetting, and heartbreaking, but it's also a story of triumph. Aqua constantly struggles against herself and the world around her - but she never loses hope. And I know that she's going to come back with a vengeance, and it's going to be amazing.
So, there you have it! My list of some of my favorite original Kingdom Hearts characters! Did you not see your favorite character on this list? Did you disagree with me? Do you have a character you want to add? Tell me all about in the comments below!
Shann Smith is a lover of video games and has played games since he could hold a controller. He is a freelance writer, playwright, screenwriter, and also writes the Video Gay-Mer column on Popdust! If you have any games you'd like him to unpack, hit him up!
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