#but today I didn’t bring my iPod to play my store music and I am dying

[lionfanged]

anyone else go into a slow rage after listening to one too many christmas songs or has retail broken me

#I haven’t listened to a Christmas song (at least more than one if I can avoid it) #in the three years I’ve spent away from retail #but today I didn’t bring my iPod to play my store music and I am dying #the radio is only playing Christmas music and I am full of violence #help me

[styles-is-the-name]

Just Before You Go - Part One

this is my first shot at a harry-y/n fic, and it will be multiple parts. Harry is a single father of two that hasn’t even looked at another woman in years. For the first time in five years, he finally feels like he’s returning to himself all because he met someone unexpectedly at a grocery store. Even though his kids are determined to help him find love again, will it be possible? (There eventually will be smut, but will mostly be fluff.)

TW: suicide, self harm, and others will occur

Word Count: 1,735

“Dad, Darcy won’t get out of the bathroom! I still need to brush my teeth.”

Harry groans. Raising a nine and six year old on his own was not easy. But he was doing it because he loves his kids. After Caroline had taken her own life four years ago, he vowed to never let his kids feel alone or unloved. Although he and Caroline were going through a divorce, he still cared for her.

She was the mother of his kids after all! And she was his first love. They were high school sweethearts. He proposed at their high school graduation party and they were married shy of a year later. He was head over heels for her and it devastated him when he found out that she was cheating.

“Darcy, let Carter brush his teeth!” He smirks slightly hearing her groan.

“Fine!” She walks into the kitchen sulking.

“What’s wrong, pumpkin?” He sits down in front of her sipping on his coffee. Black and steaming - just the way he liked it.

Caroline always loved cream and sugar in her coffee.

“I don’t want to go to school, daddy.” Harry frowns seeing the tears well in her eyes.

“Hey hey hey. Baby, talk to me. What’s going on? It’s a new school year!” She nods sniffling and looks down at her hands.

“I just...can I stay home today?”

“Is this your mental health day?” She looks up at him smiling lightly and nods. “Alright, pumpkin. But we have to talk, okay? You remember the rules.

“To get a mental health day, we have to have lunch and talk. Even if I don’t completely tell you what’s wrong, I have to tell you how I’m feeling.”

“Exactly. Now go change into something comfy. After I drop Carter off at school, we’re going grocery shopping then by the studio. I have a client coming in today.”

“Can I bring my iPod to play my music?”

“Of course. Go on!”

“Thanks daddy.” She giggles quietly kissing his cheek and runs up to her room.

Harry realizes that not every parent is so relaxed with their kids missing school, but he believes that academics come second. Mental health is the first thing that matters no matter what the situation is. He will be damned before he repeats his past mistakes. He’s not losing his kids like he lost Caroline.

A few minutes later the three of them are buckling up in the car. Harry turns on the kids’ favorite playlist that they created on his phone while looking back at them. Sometimes he wonders how he got so incredibly lucky to have two amazing kids. He truly doesn’t deserve them.

“Daddy, is Darcy taking her day?”

“She is, Bubba. But we’ll be here to pick you up after school and we’ll go get ice cream and talk about your day.”

“Can I get my purple monster?”

“Well of course! It’s not really ice cream without the purple monster now is it?!” He snickers while his two children giggle in the back.

He pulls up to the school and parks the car. He and his two kids get out and they both grab at his hands. They always hold hands while walking in a parking lot. It’s the safe thing to do. Harry walks Carter to his classroom squeezing his hand when he senses his nervousness.

“Go have fun, Bubba.”

“Daddy?”

“Yeah, Bubba?”

“I-I’m scared.” Harry smiles lightly kneeling in front of him. He’s always loved how honest his kids are with him.

“I know, Carter. I know. But today will be a great day. It’s only what you make it to be! Go in there and find someone to color with. And learn something today too! If you do, you get another sticker.” Carter gasps.

“Then I’ll only need one more sticker to get the prize on top of the fridge!” Harry smiles and nods. “Yes! In your face, Darcy!” Darcy sticks her tongue out at him making Harry shake his head sighing.

“Alright, alright. That’s enough. Now give daddy a hug and go have an amazing day.” Carter hugs Harry’s legs then runs into his classroom.

Harry stands outside the door for a few minutes watching anxiously. His nerves are calmed when he sees a young girl walk over to Carter and the two begin drawing together. His heart warms at the sight.

Darcy intertwines her fingers with his and pulls him out to the car. He gives her a look telling her that she can sit in the front seat, but only if she doesn’t tell Carter. He would throw a fit if he found out his sister got to sit next to their father. It wouldn’t be pretty.

“Daddy, when we’re at the store, can we get more cherries? Oh, and watermelon!”

“Of course, pumpkin. But remember we don’t have much time. My client is supposed to be at the shop in an hour and a half.” She nods buckling her seat belt.

Harry manages to snag a parking spot towards the front of the grocery store which never happens. He always ends up having to park far out. He lets Darcy go and look at all the flowers as well as toys telling her she can get one thing while he does all the grocery shopping.

Harry goes to the produce section crossing things off of his list. He needs lemons, limes, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, watermelon, and cherries. He grabs the lemons and limes first then makes his way over to the lettuce and cucumbers. He isn’t sure why there are so many people in the store right now, but it’s aggravating him.

There’s never this many people in here. Everywhere you turn, you almost bump into someone. It sucks, but he has to keep his cool for his daughter’s sake. He manages to make his way over to the watermelon and cherries. All he needs now are the tomatoes for taco Tuesday tomorrow.

Taco Tuesday is the kids’ favorite meal. Even if they’re on vacation, they always have taco Tuesday. It’s a family tradition. He reaches for the perfect, plump looking tomato when his hand brushes a woman’s.

“S-sorry!” You say nervously. You look up to Harry quickly and feel like you can’t breathe. You have never seen someone so beautiful before. He smiles lightly at you and hands you the tomato.

“It’s alright, love.” And he’s British too?! Sounds like the perfect man. You sneakily look down at his hand and see that there’s no ring. How is this man not taken? Or maybe he is - he's just not married. Whatever the reason, you’re kinda glad. “Are you new around here?”

“Oh! Yeah I am. I’m from New York.”

“Interesting. What’s a New Yorker like yourself doing here in North Carolina?” You feel herself beginning to smile. You couldn’t help it. You’ve never met a man so attractive yet interested in what you have to say.

“I got a job transfer actually.”

“Yeah? What do you do?”

“I’m a struggling teacher. I taught kindergarten back in New York, but I moved here for a high school English position. I found out a few days ago that my acceptance was wrong. They meant to accept someone else named Y/N.”

“I’m sure you’re an amazing teacher. I know that you will figure something out.”

“Thank you. And what do you do?”

“I have my own tattoo shop.”

“That’s so cool! My mom has her own tattoo shop up in New York.”

“Really? Wow! I’ve never heard of a female tattoo artist if I’m being honest.”

“I know. She started out as an artist, but then found her way into tattoos. She’s been doing it for twenty-seven years.”

“That’s incredible! My shop has only been open for a few years, but I love i-“

“Daddy! I wanna get this coloring book!” Darcy runs over with a JoJo Siwa coloring book.

Y/N’s heart aches hearing her call him daddy. So he is taken. That’s just lovely.

“Okay, pumpkin. Put it in the basket.” He looks up to you smiling nervously. “I’m Harry by the way.”

“I-I’m Y/N.”

“Wow. Beautiful name for a beautiful girl.” He smiles at you making you feel lightheaded again.

“I’m Darcy!” She sticks her hand up smiling widely. You lean down giggling and shake her hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Darcy.”

“Are you going to be my new mummy?” You feel your eyes bugging out of your head while Harry chokes on his own air. I mean how do you even respond to that?! But wait! She said new mummy. So maybe that means he isn’t taken?

“Darcy! You don’t just go around asking people that!” She sighs looking up to him.

“I just want you to be happy, daddy.” You smile lightly hearing just how much she cares for her father and kneel in front of her holding both of her hands.

“Your daddy and I just met and he’s a wonderful man! But I won’t be your new mommy. No one could replace your mommy! I never met her, but I know she’s an amazing person.” Darcy’s eyes fill with tears.

“If she was an amazing person, she wouldn’t have hurt daddy and killed herself!” Darcy runs to the women’s bathroom leaving Harry there in tears.

“I’m so so sorry, Y/N.” You smile lightly feeling your heart break for this man you just met.

“It’s okay. Do you mind if I try to talk to her a bit?” He hesitates looking around you. Maybe having a woman talk to Darcy would help.

“She didn’t want to go to school today. I don’t know why, but she was crying at the kitchen table this morning.” You nod squeezing his hand.

“Go get the rest of your groceries and check out. I’ll take her to Starbucks and we’ll sit down. Take your time because I have a feeling this might take a while.”

“Thank you...I don’t know what to say or do. I mean we just met and you’re already going through so much trouble for me.”

“Everyone has their past, Harry. Not everything is all rainbows and unicorns. I understand that more than anyone.” You smile at him and he nods nervously.

Well...let’s see if your psychology major will be of any use.

#harry styles #justbeforeyougo #love #fanfic #onedirection #smut #fluff #hopeless romantic #Just Before You Go #solo harry #liam payne #louis tomlinson #zayn malik #niall horan #one shot #hs1 #hs promo #harry styles fanfic

[purplesurveys]

634

What's the song that makes you want to dance? I grew up from the 2000s to part of the 2010s, so I think I’d dance along to almost any dance bop that got put out during that period. Right now, the first songs that came to mind were Gaga’s Poker Face and Walk the Moon’s Shut Up and Dance. Have you ever called yourself a gangsta? I probably stupidly did when I was a kid. It was a popular term, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I used it to refer to myself. Do you use push pins or tape to keep things on your wall? I just use tape. I don’t have bulletin boards that have the brown material that would let me use push pins. How old do people guess you are? I reguarly get guesses between 17-20. So pretty close, and I also get to feel good because they think I’m younger than I actually am hahaha. Does it annoy you if they guess too high? I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a >21 guess.

Use any styling products in your hair? Nope, I just use good ol’ shampoo and conditioner. What is your favorite energy drink? I don’t take energy drinks. They smell scarily sweet and I don’t know what it can do to my body. Have you ever snuck out of your house? If I ever did, it was in the daytime and not done in a rebellious way at all. I remember when my younger school bus mates Yanna and Lex surprise-visited me at home for my 18th birthday, then they invited me to go out and walk to their houses so I did. That’s probably been the most sneaking out I’ve ever done. Describe your clock in the bedroom: I don’t have a clock in my bedroom because I’m already okay with my phone and laptop’s clocks. Do you chew on your cuticles (the skin under your nail)? I’ve never done that. I didn’t even know that was possible. Do you feel like you found your place in the world? I’m only 21, I’m still on my way there. I’m fitting in okay, though. What is your dream job? I have several. Astronaut, surgeon, veterinarian, and lawyer are the more notable ones. At one point I also wanted to be a psychologist, then I realized how much it would ask of me mentally, so I had to put that ~dream away. When did you last go to the bathroom? Around 15 minutes ago when I woke up from my nap. Where does the 'magic happen' in your house? I don’t know what this means, but based on context clues I’m going to assume this is referring to sex – and it’s a little disgusting to answer the question of where my family members have sex in the house :/ Do you have pens that don't work, but you still keep them? I have a G-Tec that I haven’t thrown away even though it’s so close to running out of ink. I keep planning on buying refills for it, but I always either am too far from a bookstore, or I entirely forget about needing refills when I’m already in or near a bookstore. What do you use your lotion for? Primarily, it’s for when my arms or legs are feeling dry. Sometimes, if there’s no perfume lying around, I’d put lotion on my face as well to mask the smell that comes along with drinking. Do you own some sort of MP3 player? No. I had a fake MP5 (but it was a cool fake product because it was able to store music, photos, and videos, and had a collection of vintage Nintendo games). Being fake, it didn’t have the best lifespan so shortly after my parents got me an iPod Nano, and I guess that counts as an MP3 player? If so, do you ever leave the house without it? If not, do you want one? We weren’t allowed to bring gadgets to school, so it was a while before I felt brave enough to sneak my Nano into the school bus and proceed to hide it all day while in school. When I got used to it, I brought it everyday. Is love a labor to you? It can sometimes feel a bit of a chore especially if we’re both being stubborn. If love was a labor, would you join a union? Ohhhhh...you mean THAT kind of labor...what the hell dude? Who are your friends? I have lots of them, but one thing that’s for sure is that my friends are either ones I’ve kept since high school, or friends I met during college. What do you consider a friend? I should be comfortable with them and our senses of humor must meet at least on a few points. It doesn’t have to be completely the same, but it would help if we had one or two things to laugh over together. Have you ever had your nails painted black? Yeah, as a teenager. I had each nail painted half-black and half-pink, because that was AJ Lee’s style back in like 2013 and it. was. huuuuuuuuge. I got a few stares in public and I do realize now how silly it must have been and looked like, but I was genuinely happy with how it turned out and comfortable enough to have worn that style of nail polish in public, which says a lot. Is your room messy? I didn’t make the bed earlier so yep, I’d say it’s messy.  What would you do if you were mugged on the street? Scream as loud as I can to attract attention. Have you ever done a Mad Libs? No.  Does a persons dominant hand actually affect the age they'll die? I doubt it. When is the last time you skinned your knee? More than a decade ago. This would happen to me almost everyday because I was a clumsy kid and would trip every single time I was allowed to play outside. Do you own a flashlight? Yeah, it doubles as a taser. Is there something in your bedroom you wouldn't want your grandma to see? There’s nothing too explicit, but there are some memorabilia pertaining to my relationship, and I don’t know yet if I’d want her to know about that. Have you ever heard someone label you? If you mean eavesdropping, then no. When is the last time you read "Green Eggs and Ham"? I don’t think I’ve ever even read it, or had it read to me. If it happened, I’m guessing it was also more than a decade ago. Define communist: Everybody does the same tasks, everybody gets the same necessities. At least that’s the gist I’ve gotten after four years of being in UP. Define republican: I’m not American and this isn’t a term used in Asia. But I do know I like this side much less than the Democrats. Would you rather see the opposite sex naked or dressed in a slammin outfit? Uh, dressed I guess. Is today your unbirthday? Sure. The most annoying thing about being human: The fact that I never asked to be here, lmfao. How many fans do you have in your house? Six. When is your next dentist appointment? I’m not sure, but my dentist told me I have to go back in a few weeks because he has to put fillings on the spot where I had my tooth extraction. Something important to you: My dog. If you had to choose a color to describe how you felt what would it be? Gray.

#survey #surveys

[skelenyxx]

1 - Just Five Guys ~ The Wild Ones Rebellion

"This Record Is For The Outcast, Following Our Stories Of Love, Life, And Never Giving In.  We Are The Black Veil Brides." ~ The Outcast (A Call To Arms)

.•*•.•*•.•*•.

I slammed the brakes on my car, practically flying through the window in the process. "Damn j-walkers!" I muttered to myself.

As though the kid heard me, he turned and flipped me off. I rolled my eyes. Kids these days have no respect towards anyone. Not like he was much of a kid though; he looked like he was probably a Freshman or a Sophomore, but with me being 19, I refer to a lot of other high schoolers as kids.

Once the kid was out of the way, I pulled into the parking lot beside the school. I reached into the glove box and pulled out my school parking pass. I definitely did not want not get towed.

I grabbed my bags and exited the car in a huff. As I walked through the doors to the high school, I noticed a lot of people gathered around the bulletin board. I pushed my way through the crowd, earning a lot of glares. When I had gotten to the front, I saw what had called all of the attention. There was a plain white piece of paper pinned to the board reading,

ASSEMBLY FIRST PERIOD

At start of school, report to gym

No wonder everyone was gathered around it. We never had assemblies. Ever. And a surprise one to boot? It was probably just some sort of lecture or group coming to talk to us about not doing drugs and stuff. Ugh, I hated those.

I pushed my way out of the crowd and sat on a bench nearby. I pulled my laptop out of my bag and pressed the power button, watching the Windows logo light up the screen, and opened up my e-mail to find, to my dismay, no new e-mails.

"I'm never going to get this project done!" I mumbled to myself. I had two weeks to get my experiment for my Senior Project done and no one was answering my requests. My experiment was based on bullying. My thought was that if I could get even the most rebellious celebrities to be accepted by the students at my school, than it wouldn't be that hard for them to accept their rebellious fellow students, which, according to my thesis, would lead to a decline in the school's bullying problem. Two months ago, I'd sent out an e-mail to every celebrity I could think of, ranging from P!INK to Ke$ha to Marylyn Manson, even Miley Cyrus. Within the first few weeks after I sent out my proposition, I'd received responses from a few artists and they loved the idea... only they could participate due to their touring schedules. After that, I was certain I'd get responses from others, but nothing came. At this point, I was debating completely redoing my project, even though I only had two weeks left. It didn't look like anyone else was going to reply.

I snapped my laptop closed in frustration, placing it back in my bag and looking around at my fellow students. All of them tried to fit in, afraid to stand out in a judgmental crowd. I had been the same way, but in my freshman year, I had gotten sick of trying to fit in. I stopped doing my hair like everyone else, stopped wearing what everyone else wanted me to wear, and just started being myself.

In the long run, my attitude didn't make me too many friends, but the few I did make were better than anyone else at the school. We weren't super close by any means, but at least I had people to hang around with who at least accepted me for me.

There was only one friend that I was super close with: my best friend, Alee. We had met at random in a class and just got along really well. She was more popular than I was, as well as being older than me by a year, and she always stuck up for me against the random popular kids in my class that would decide to start shit with me. Now, however, she was in college, so I was on my own in that aspect.

I put in my ear buds and started listening to my music. Of course, Ritual by Black Veil Brides came on. My iPod always knew what to play at the right time.

I began singing to the song quietly.

Praying for what your heat brings

Thoughts of escape and bloodshot eyes

You're barely sleeping, no longer dreaming

Now what you do to feel alive

Rise up and celebrate your life

We're not alone in our Ritual

Sing for what you feel inside

Become one with our Ritual

Ritual always made me smile.

Before the song could go any further, the bell rang, signally that I should start heading to first period, or in this case, the assembly. As I walked down the hallways, I saw an old poster with President Johnson on it. Everyone loved him as a President. He had united most of the world under one banner, ours, the United States. Talk about world domination. He had done so much good. He was a big up stander against bullying, which was amazing since we had really needed laws in place against bullying, which he had enforced. Although too many people still got away with it, it was at least something. No one even though twice about it when the law was removed prohibiting presidents from serving more than two terms. He had served five so far, but everyone loved him. He was doing so much good for the U.S., for the world.

I walked through the double doors leading into the gym, taking a deep breath as I sat down a few rows back from the from front. I could nearly feel the tension in the air as everyone whispered, wondering what we would be hearing about today.

"Welcome students!" Principal Gulbranson exclaimed, pulling me from my day dreaming. "We have a wonderful surprise in store for you today!"

Students were heard grunting throughout the gym. Normally, these "wonderful surprises" weren't so wonderful. Like the time when we had gone on a fieldtrip to a presidential debate. That was only a class thing, but it had been so boring since we already knew who was going to dominate the debate.  Obviously, President Johnson.

He continued, unfazed by the response. "As you may know, one of our Seniors has been working on a project to get celebrities to attend our school to see how well the student body accepts them." My heart began to hammer. Was he talking about me?  He had to be, after all, I was the only student that I was aware of who was doing such a project.  Why wasn't I informed of... whatever was going on?  A collective murmur rose up through the stands.

"Katrina Stampson, could you come up here and join me, please?" He continued. He was talking to me. I rose from my seat and began to walk down the steps to the gym floor which was our stage. I swear people could hear my heart beating. It was so quiet. Was he expecting me to have a celebrity who would join us? I had no one. No one had answered my e-mail.

"Katrina, who so far has answered your request?" He handed me the mic so I could reply.

"Well, I, uh, got a reply from P!NK and Miley Cyrus, but they weren't able to come..." I trailed off looking down at my feet..

Mr. Gulbranson took the mic and asked "And no on else has answered you. Not even a hint?" I shook my head in response. People had perked up at the mention of P!NK and Miley Cyrus, but the disappointment was easy to see, now that they knew I had no one.

"What if I were to tell you that someone did reply." I stared at him, eyes wide with disbelief.  "A particular band decided to answer your request, but they decided to go through the school so they could keep it a surprise." He went on with a smile. More whispers around the students. Everyone was trying to guess who it might be, as was I.

He continued on talking, "Now, your request stated that you were looking for 'more rebellious' celebrities, am I right?" I nodded. Where the hell was this going?  At the word rebellious, the whispers had gotten louder. People were craning their neck, looking around the gym and trying to see who this band was.

"Do you have any idea who it might be, Katrina?" He asked. I shook my head again. I was too shocked to speak. My mind was reeling, trying to find every possible band that this could be. Unfortunately, it was hard to narrow it down. I had sent my request to a lot of bands.

"Before I bring them out, they want you all to know something." All eyes were on him. "For this 'experiment' to work, you have to treat them like they're just normal students here. They're not celebrities. They're not in a famous rock band. They're normal. They are just five guys." My head was spinning. Five guys, a rock band. Oh shit, I was way in over my head here.

That's when Black Veil Brides entered the gym.

#bvb #black veil brides #bvb fanfic #bvb fanfiction #black veil brides fanfic #black veil brides fanfiction #my writing #fanfic #fanfiction #andy biersack #andy black #jake pitts #jinxx #cc #ashley purdy #the prophet #the mystic #the mourner #the deviant #the destroyer #the wild ones #wild ones #F.E.A.R. #wretched and divine #wild ones rebellion

[hubdress4]

Is The Ipod Smashing Music?

Associated with The Ipod devices Just a week ago, I used to be headed up to a concert regarding two several hours away from home. We all sort of consider these concerts to become miniature road trips. In the past, we might pop in a good cd, crank it up for a little bit, and then all of us hop into a discussion about chicks, state policies, potatoes, and so forth The music remaining played form of took some back seats until we all ran out from things to look at. Well, the following trip was a little different. The was no a single brought any cds. Instead two of the group fascinated Ipods which will played through the radio with an FM modulator. Before, we'd change through cd and dvd case following cd circumstance looking for that you certain disc, but once we had determined that one disc we were dedicated to it. On long outings, it was unique to take some cd out without jamming all the way through it. Well, enter the age of the Ipod. The Ipod has been doing to popular music what cable television has done to television. You now have the magical curse called "choice". Of course , all choice will is result in indecision. I am just not sure in cases where watching another individual flip through 200 dish channels in the news drives you crazy, even so it certainly does indeed me. For https://ost.jpoplibs.us/ , My spouse and i watched a couple do nothing nevertheless flip through song soon after song. It had been VERY rare if we made it throughout one minute of a song. Actually I doubt if we meant it was through an entire song at all. While it does indeed seem great being able to bring 41 times of constant popular music in your pocket, Making it very say that the regular Ipod buyer may be missing out. There was anything to hearing an entire disc on a trip that helped establish the great photos. We all include those 5 various or so records that many of us never be bored with that we could always hear all the way through. How would you know what a great record was when you had do not had to tune in to it all the best way through? Convinced, sometimes it seamed like a curse having to listen through a crappy song, although cds watched over that pretty easily. You may hit the "skip" switch. The real disaster is there seriously wasn't much music hearing going on. The idea seams a device made to make it much easier to listen to additional music provides a drastic downside. If persons do bit more than reverse through tune after music with their Ipod, then the Ipod device is taking away from householder's musical encounter. Yet, people still make an effort to buy bigger and bigger Ipods. I recall thinking that 10GB of Tunes was a huge amount from music. Today 60GB versions are very prevalent. I didn't want to imagine who also really calls for 41 regular days of beats without duplicating a single melody. If you change the Ipod devices off to get sleeping, that you are sitting found at right at 60 days of beats without reproducing a single track. Where Are typically Of These Music Coming From? So how are people filling up their whole Ipods? Are they buying sounds at $1 per music from Itunes? I've became a gut feeling that the majority of of them are in no way. Assuming a single minute CD uses you MB as well as average songs is four minutes often, it would charge $15, 500 to fill up a 60GB Ipod. Ouch! I how to start too many people that have spent $15, 000 with purchasing music. I DON'T KNOW ANYONE WHO HAS SPENT $15, 000 ON BEATS!!

It seams pretty apparent that should the average university kid are paying $1 per music, they would likely wouldn't require an Ipod device much larger as opposed to 1 or perhaps 2GB. Absolutely yes, I'm aware that you can retail store other info on an Ipod touch, but When i don't know so many people who decide to haul about RAW video recording data individual Ipods. Who Is Getting Paid? The labels however seam to become afloat regardless if they are signing a smaller quantity of artists. They certainly don't joints to be as excited about their profits because they may have been ten years ago. It can no secret the fact that if the music labels aren't becoming paid, the artists surely aren't getting paid possibly. Music Is Expendable! I remember just a little over 10 years before. My family was low upon cash. I decided that I sought a rare Élysée import termed Outcesticide 3. The cd cost $30 and had being ordered coming from Japan. Choice that the sole way to buy the disc was to not each break at classes for a month. (I is too youthful to get a job). So , Used to do without a mealtime each day for an entire few weeks so that I possibly could save $1 per day and order my Nirvana importance. You could envision how I felt the day the cd finally came in. I put put me through personal for an entire month to get that cd. I used to be at an uncle's house recently. My relative was on his computer. The guy decided this individual wanted to hear some unusual Nirvana music. He made available his favorite peer to see download application and typed in Nirvana or perhaps whatever. During about 5 minutes, he had pretty much the entire compact disc that I previously had starved to get a month pertaining to. While it is certainly exciting the fact that technology exists that makes it faster to down load a songs than it is to take the compact disc out of it could case and place it inside player, that seams this somehow the actual music worth less into the individual. Any time a listener should sacrifice meant for an lp, the cd is a little whole lot more memorable. Come on, man I can keep in mind the exact working day I purchased many of my favorite cds. For instance , I remember remaining 16 and purchasing Goo Dolls, "A Boy Called Goo". All of us and my best buddy ended up being driving 90 mph on the way home similar to a bunch of immature idiots. It had been that we got passed my mom without knowing it. While i got home, I had been doomed. (That one don't end on a happy note). Uhh, good luck having virtually any stories about how exactly fast you downloaded an mp3. Have fun even keeping in mind the day you downloaded specific mp3. Who is earning with the Mp3 player? Is the beats listener being successful? They now have a portable beats machine which can hold only two million zillion songs. Naturally , the mp3 music player costs about 3 times to the extent that a portable compact disc player would 10 years previously. With the luxury of having countless musical selections, some people fork out a lot more time flipping through melodies than these used to. Ipods can hold a significant amount of data, but this just contributes to people blindly downloading every song beneath the planet. Really cool to be able to hear an important song, although having a no cost library of each and every song below the sun can make music expendable. Of course , products and artists don't joints to be being successful.

#website

[lobandwidth]

Ten Years On

When you’re young you think it’ll last forever, all the moments that seem new, exciting and powerful also seem like they are limitless. How many times can you hear a song and know that it basically was written for you because it’s so perfect and it fits so well? How often will you stand in line for a gig or pressed against the barrier and breathe in the smell of a sticky, dark venue, and feel completely alive and completely happy? A hundred times at least, I thought, but probably more. But as you get older the colours fade, not everything feels as vital and strong. You no longer feel the urge to write the lyrics to your favourite songs on the front of your notebook so everyone knows how much it means to you It doesn’t seem to matter so much whether everyone knows that great band that’s getting popular you had already heard and loved last year.

It’s generally a good thing I think. If I had to live my life now feeling everything as much as I did when I was a teenager I’d be, well, still a teenager. I’m in my mid 20s now, so that wouldn’t really work, and I have the life I’d always assumed passively would come to me, without any realisation of how hard work it was to get here. I find joy in calm and order and knowing that the bus will get me to work on time. I don’t regret that, I had long enough living my life at 100 miles an hour to know that it can’t be sustained, and that there’s much to be grateful for in knowing how you’ll feed yourself next month and also where you’re going to be in six months time.

And there’s always music.

In just a few seconds of the opening bars of a song, I can slip back into that world, teleport myself to being 15 and believing whole heartedly that not getting tickets to a gig would be the literal end of the world and I would never get over it. I don’t want to live there anymore, but I will never take for granted the power that music has to let me visit. We store parts of ourselves in the songs that we love, never realising at the time that we are doing so until we turn to look back.

I’m going to see We Were Promised Jetpacks on Saturday because their album These Four Walls is turning ten years old. To understand why this is such a big deal, let me tell you about when I was a 15 year old living in a rural village in the West Country.

I wasn’t cool, I wasn’t totally nerdy either, I just kind of got by but I had this best friend. They were definitely cool, and they told me about all the best bands. I learned everything I thought there was to know about music from them, and also a lot of other important things about life. We went to gigs together and shared the excitement of getting to wear band t shirts to school in our final years. They got me into listening to a lot of Scottish indie bands, and it made me start thinking that Scotland must be pretty much the coolest place in the world to be. One of those bands, was We Were Promised Jetpacks. I can see myself sat in the back of my parent’s car listening to Quiet Little Voices through my headphones on my iPod nano, letting it fill me with the exhilaration and joy that it still brings me today. These Four Walls is the album that captured that blend of energy, joy, excitement and anxiety that defined by teenage years. I used to curl up in bed and listen to Conductor to lull myself to sleep, letting the melodies take away my pains and fears. It felt like a place to go, somewhere I could be to feel all the massive things you feel when your body runs almost solely on hormones and snack bars.

Music got me where I am today, sat on the sofa of my little rented Glasgow home. I came to Scotland, because of the music. When the time came to find a place to move after uni, all I could think about was how many times I’d sat and listened to Glasgow/Scottish bands, the way they made me feel. It had to be a place I would fit and love. Because of Frightened Rabbit and Dananananaykroyd and Copy Haho and We Were Promised Jetpacks and probably many others I don’t remember now. So I came here, and I didn’t leave. Four years later, I am proud of the life I’ve built myself. I maybe never got the career in radio that I thought I wanted, but I came back to music writing after a long period of absence and rediscovered the joy it gives me. I get to combine my love of archives and sound in my day job, which feels like the perfect blend of everything I ever wanted to be. I’m still not in my own killer Glasgow band, but I am working on it. And I have found a way to make peace with my past self, to celebrate the confusion and wonder of growing up, how it feels like it will last forever until one day you realise you’re an adult that pays council tax and finds it hard to get off the sofa to go to the same gigs you made your parents drive you to because it was the only way to go. I’ve found a way to understand myself better, to be complete and whole and proud of who I am – and it’s all there in These Four Walls. I can put my headphones on and be back there, standing face to face with myself and my life, the memories I poured into the music without even realising I was doing it. I have put part of myself into these sounds, and it is a gift to be able to relive it. Sometimes it gets a bit much, we all have bands or songs we can’t listen to because of how powerful the memories are – but what a wondrous thing that is. I might have deleted the embarrassing facebook photos or tumblr posts, tried to forget some of the harder parts of growing up, but I still have access to that world just by clicking play.

#bye bye lobandwidth #we were promised jetpacks #glasgow

[imamotherfuckingstar-lord]

Home Series, Part Five

Pairings: Peter Quill x Reader, Steve x Reader

Warnings: mild language, angst

A/N: This was only suppose to be a very long one shot. No beta this time. Song for this part: Here Comes Your Man by the Pixies

Summary: Your best friend in the whole galaxy is coming to visit to help out with Thanos. When he arrives, Steve finds himself jealous of the close relationship Peter and you have. Will this stop the man from telling you how he feels? Will old feelings be brought up once Peter arrives? Does first love truly fade?    

Part 1  Part 2 Part 3   Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10    Part 11  Part 12 Epilogue

“I’ll take a large pizza with the works please. Two beers too,” you handed Josie the cash and your I.D.

“No Grant today? Got a new fella?” Josie eyed Peter, who was sitting the corner booth. You laughed, because you thought it was kinda cute that Steve insisted on using his middle name as an alias.

“He’s an old friend visiting,” you smiled and took the two beers over to Peter.

“God good,” he hummed out softly as his lips tasted the cold drink. “They don't have beer like this up there.”

“Another reason to stay down here,” you teased.

“On the top of the list, right next to you,” Peter’s words came out smoother than the finest whiskey Tony had in his liquor cabinet. Your face scrunched up and a loud burst of laughter left your throat. Across from you, the man’s face lit up. He couldn't take his eyes off the radiate beauty coming from you and the decision he had made earlier, while he was alone, weighed on him.

The pizza arrived and Peter’s eyes widen in pure joy, his mouth gaped opened in shock.

“You gonna eat or just keep staring?”

He pulled away a slice for himself and groaned in pleasure as he took a bite.The cheese melted in his mouth. “I love you.”

“Love you too, Petey.”

“No, not you! This, this beautiful slice of heaven.”

Laughing without offense, you took a slice for yourself and the two of you ate, filling in the time between bites with catching up and old memories. And it was for the brief moment, tucked away into the corner of your favorite pizza joint, time had stood still.

“I'm stuff,” you whined bumping into Peter’s shoulders as the two of you walked out into the city’s sidewalk.

Peter stretched and looked up to the high-rise buildings, “So where to next?”

“It’s a surprise,” you grabbed his arm and started pulling him in the right direction. He caught up and threw an arm around your shoulder.

“Hey, remember that one time you surprise me in my bed?”

“Jesus, Peter. You can never lay off, huh?” You looked up at him with a stern look, that quickly faded into a smile.

“What? Cappy’s not around, I can talk about all the amazing sex we had.”

“Stop bringing Steve into everything,” you muttered.

Your mind flew to Steve and the moment the two of you had shared earlier, but Peter asked which way to go. So you pointed to the left of you and the two of you turned at the corner, passing by a hot dog street vendor. Peter halted in his tracks and looked at you.

“We literally just ate,” your eyes glared at the handsome man, until he gave you the look. The one that always got him whatever he wanted, groaning you pulled out a 5 dollar bill and handed it over. Peter leaned forward and kissed you on the forehead before strolling over to get himself a hot dog.

You stood off to the side, watching Peter grinning at whatever the vendor was telling him. He nodded away as the man prepared a hot dog for him, looking over to you for a quick  moment to send you a smile. Your own faded as he turned his attention back to the vendor, Peter was going to leave tonight. He was going to go back home and sure he’ll be back in a few weeks, but there was no guarantee that everyone would come out of the fight with Thanos unharmed and alive. You eyed Peter’s smile, the way he laughed as he was handed the hot dog. The way his hair curled at the nape of his neck or the simple fact that wherever Peter went, everything shined brighter around him. He was an infectious laugh that you never wanted to stop hearing, he was the first person you ever loved.

“Wanna try this? It’s freaking delicious,” Peter walked up to you, holding out the hot dog.

“I’m good,” you sighed softly, walking away from the stand.

“What’s wrong? You tired?”

“Something like that,” you motioned for him to follow you.

“Take this,” he shoved the hot dog toward you. “We’re piggy back riding this bitch.”

Laughing you don’t object when he kneeled slightly and waved you to get on. You get on his back, his hands move under your thighs. “Just feed me the hot dog while we walk, now where to?”

Two blocks later, Peter walked into Z’s Record Store. His eyes widen as he let you down gently, Free’s ‘All Right Now’ played in the background. You smirked as Peter bobbed his head to the song, he moved between the aisles. He wasn’t sure where to start, so you gently shoved him to the back of the shop.

“I don’t think I have enough time to explain the concept of an iPod, so we’ll stick to the classics,” you teased the man and nodded to a small bookcase in the corner. “Can’t go wrong with a good cassette tape, am I right?”

Peter groaned in disbelief and rushed over to the stacks of tapes, “I love you.”

“Talking to the cassettes?” you mused moving to his side.

He gave you a small smirk  and shook his head, “Nope.”

The two of you rummaged through the collection of tapes for a good hour, Peter yelled excitedly whenever he found one he really liked. In the end, you bought him at least a dozen tapes, including The Jackson 5, Sweet, David Bowie and 10cc.

“Now you’ll have more music to play on the Milano,” you nudged Peter.

His smile disappeared and he looked down at the bag of cassette tapes. But before you could ask him what’s wrong, your cell started to ring.

It was Steve.

A smile crept on your face and you held up a finger to Peter, who rolled his eyes.

“Hey, Steve.”

“Hey, Y/N. So we’re going to be heading to Berry’s in a few. Want us to send a car?”

“No, we’ll catch a cab. Be there in like 15.”

“Can’t wait,” Steve’s voice was soft and sincere, your cheeks flushed as you said goodbye.

Peter eyed you curiously, “So what did Cappy say?”

“Drinks with the others, let’s get a cab.”

The handsome man watched as you hailed a taxi, his hands juggled the bag and  the sound of the tapes being shuffled hit his ears sharply.

Was he making the right choice?

A yellow cab pulled up to the curb and you called out his name. Quickly, Peter smiled and got into the car after you.

“There’s the cute little space couple,” Tony smirked as Peter and you approached the large table in the back of the bar, where everyone was seated. Your eyes flickered to Steve, who smiled up at you.

“Ready for some rounds?” Sam asked waving over the waitress. There were only two seats opened, one next to Sam and the other next to Steve. Bucky caught your attention and motioned for you to take a seat next to Steve, so you complied. Sam held up a fist to Peter, the two men grinned and fist pumped. “I can tell you’re a man who can drink, so come on man, let’s drink.”

Peter shot you a goofy smile and started talking beers with Sam, you smiled down at your lap, elated to see Peter fitting in well with your friends.

“Again, that color is good on you,” Steve leaned into your side and smirked.

Your head shot up and nearly took the man’s head off, he pulled back in time and laughed. Your hand went to his arm and you apologized, not bothering to hold back a giggled snort. “It’s a good thing you have good reflexives, otherwise that pretty nose of yours would be red.”

“I’ve been known to take a punch or two,” Steve’s blue eyes beamed at you and your whole body warmed.  “So you had a good day?”

“Yeah, Josie asked about you. I told you she has the hots for you. Why do you think we always get free drinks?”

Steve smiled and lowered his voice so only you could hear.  “She’s nice, but I only have eyes for one girl.”

It was nearly impossible to contain the smile from your face, but luckily the waitress came to your rescue, with the first round of beers and shots. Everyone cheered as Tony toasted to, “Kicking Thanos’s sorry ass!”

After the first few beers, Tony had walked away with Clint to play darts. Bucky was talking to Nat on the far end of the table and Peter and Sam wandered over to the bar to ordered some hot wings and more shots. Leaving Steve and you alone. The two of you sat closely next to each other, talking quietly.

“I mean, come on Steve. You can’t tell me The Return of the Jedi isn’t the best Star Wars movie,” you playfully go to smack him on the arm, but he caught your hand before impact.

The two of you stilled when he didn’t let go immediately.

His eyes never moved from yours, shrugging his shoulders lightly, he gave you a bashful smile. “Empire was so good though!”

“Everyone says that! But come on, the Ewoks are amazing,” you retorted with a chuckle, doing your best to ignore the way his hand cradled yours. The way his thumb caressed your skin, because maybe it was the alcohol or the low lighting in the bar. Or the fact that it was Steve. Whatever the reason was, it felt normal. No, natural to be holding Steve’s hand.

“No way!” Sam’s loud voice jerked Steve and you away from each other, his hand loosened away from yours, but settled on your thigh. The two of you looked up just in time to see Sam throwing an arm around Peter’s shoulder, the men were obviously hammered. “Everyone gathering around,” Sam called everyone back to the table.

Tony and Clint appeared at Steve’s side, Nat and Bucky looked up from their own conversation.

Sam patted Peter on the back and grinned at everyone, “We got ourselves a new Avenger, my friends.”

You eyes shot up to Peter, but you could feel Steve’s eyes on you. “What’s Sam talking about, Peter?”

The man beamed and pulled Sam into his side, his eyes met yours with a loving gaze. Because he had made the decision the night before, that he’d hop on the Milano and go back home with his friends. But everything changed at the pizza joint, when you were laughing across from him. He finally saw what he had been missing all these years. 

You.

“I’m staying here, becoming an Avenger. I wanna be with you, you little shit.”

You felt Steve’s hand move from your lap and retreat back to his side, your heart pounded a mile a minute as everyone congratulated Peter, who rushed over to you. He pulled you from the chair and swung you in an embrace, before putting you down and pulling you into his chest. “I want to try, I want to do us.”

Your mouth smiled softly, but your eyes landed over Peter’s shoulder, to where Steve sat. His eyes were soft and his mouth formed a little grin. He shrugged lightly and stood up, walking over to Peter and you.

You pulled from Peter and watched Steve hold out his hand, “Welcome to the team, Quill.”

They shook hands and Peter beamed, “Thanks, Captain.”

Tags:   @maxinemauricio @its-bri19  @liloscreativeadventures  @insanityismysanity12345 @universal-glitch @netflixa @demondeansdomme @wintersdoll @tiggere5 @spinsterlocity @happiness-is-sebstan @bluebird214 @meatballevan @timemngmtoptimisationproblems @casifer-is-king @buckys-other-punk @buckypietroandsteveimagines @ballerinafairyprincess @castiels-ass-butt-1967 @givelifeabitchslap @the-craziestone @i-want-to-fuck-that-dorito-man @annice12 @marveldcmistress @hotcrazycatlady  @supperawesomeperson @hownottodie101 @sugar-daddy-warren @littlemissbaby @matteson-crazed @visions-of-autonomy @emilypkuzu @brewsthespirit-blog

Forever tags:  @my-amazing-nerdyness @naih-reedus @maciiiofficial @casownsmyass @adorable-assbutt @jade-taillia @fangirlextraordinaire @indominusregina @feelmyroarrrr @my-rainbow-wonderland @myhopeisinfinite @girl-next-door-writes@policeofficerdean@dontbeamenacetotheforce @melonberri @theothergirl2212@superisatomboyuniverse@xloudwhocares @crownie-sr @castieltrash1 @dracsgirl  @hannahsakorax3  @moonlight53 @makemyownwonderland @dreamwhisper87 @rayleyanns

#Home Series #Peter Quill x Reader #Steve Rogers x Reader #Star-Lord x Reader #Captain America x Reader #Star-lord #Captain America #Steve Rogers #Peter Quill #Marvel #The Avengers #Guardians of the Galaxy #mcu

[michaelreaderreblog]

Sons gonna rise

Story by Supernaturallyhockey

HighSchool!AU

AN: This is the first part and second part will be added in a couple of days. And right now Im working on my stuff, so that should be up sometime this evening. Im very fortunate enough to be posting these fic

****************************************************************

Word Count: 2,271

****************************************************************

Your name: submit What is this? // <![CDATA[ document.getElementById("submit").addEventListener('click', myHandler); function myHandler() { var v = document.body.innerHTML; var input = document.getElementById("inputTxt").value; v = v.replace(/\by\/n\b|\(y\/n\)/ig, input); document.body.innerHTML = v; } // ]]>

"Hey Michael get up!! Mom and dad are waiting down stairs for breakfast" Lucifer knocks on my door to wake me up.

I don't want to get out of bed, I would rather stay in bed all day but have no other choice or else Lucifer will come back again. Lucifer is home from College for the weekend

"Castiel, are you up?" I knock on my younger brothers door.

"Yeah come on in, what's up Michael?" Castiel asks me as I walk into his bedroom and lay flat on his bed.

"Could you go down stairs and tell mom and dad I'm not feeling well." I look up to the ceiling not facing him.

"Michael what's wrong" Castiel asks me while sitting at the foot of the bed that's when Gabriel comes into the room lands on top of me and rolls over to my left side.

That kid is getting heavier by the day if you ask me.

"Big bro here is suffering his first heart break and can't get the images of Anna Milton and Dean Winchester doing the ugly last night" Gabriel says while I lay there glaring at him but that doesn't help to make Gabriel shut up.

"Oh Michael I am so sorry, Anna was really" Gabriel cuts off Castiel

"A whore and a bitch yeah I know." Usually I would cut off Gabriel for talking bad about Anna but didn't have it in me.

"I wasn't going to say that, I was going to say she is tedious and vile. Michael I don't know why your so broken up about her, think about it more of a favour" Castiel advises me while I lay there but he is right, I just thought something real was there.

"Ladies come on mom and dad are still waiting" Lucifer says but I'm not going to bother with a retort.

"Fine, lets go Gabriel. Ill bring something for you after I finish with breakfast" Castiel closes the door, he always had a good heart.

I lay there in my own pity but I'm allowed one day to myself and I don't see why not it would be today since its only Saturday, no football practice till Monday.

Fuck Monday, the day I have football practice with Winchester. Fuck it I’ll just go, no point in hiding. In a few weeks I will be graduating and go on to college. I didn't know how long I was laying on my brothers bed until he came into the room.

"Here mom said to give you this bagel and OJ" he says while setting them both on his night stand.

I sit up to take the juice to take a sip. When the cool liquid hits my throat and quenches my thirst.

"Thanks, and thanks for covering for me to. I just want a day for myself" I look to Castiel and he looks at me while he tilts his head sideways which I think he looks like a 4 year old trying to understand what I'm telling him.

"Have a day to yourself, you mean by hiding in my room from mom and dad good job with that" I couldn't help but laugh at the idea and he has a bright smile on his face.

I spend the entire morning having a conversation with my brother, this is what I needed to hang out with him. I rarely do but he is good company.

"Hey you want to join y/n and I while we go to the record store?" Castiel asks me to come along with him and his best friend since day care and who happens to be Deans younger sister.

I wouldnt mind spending the day with her since I have taken a liking to her and cant help feelings.

"Um yeah I don't see why not I mean I haven't gone out to get some new music lately" I accept his offer and I get off from his bed to take a shower.

"Good I’ll send her an IM to let her know" He tells me while I walk out his room to come into mine to have my toiletries ready.

CJS25: hey I thought I would let you know I invited my brother Michael to come along with us to the record store. Hope that is ok

TheNrmlWinchester: Michael? Hhmm weird. I don't mind the more the merrier :D

CJS25: yeah I know but Smaug practically ruined him so I just want to do something for him since he is my brother after all. Wouldn't you do the same for yours?

TheNrmlWinchester: ohh yeah I heard about that. Walkers party right? Well don't worry I'm totally kicking his ass right now, Dean not Sam. Sam is a harmless nerd.

CJS25: right like your not any nerdier haha

TheNrmlWinchester: hey Im the way cooler nerd than Sam. Anyways I got to get ready and ill text you when I'm done. Later Clarence :p

CJS25: oh god! Yeah see you later snow flake :)

While you log out of your instant message account you wonder why Cas has called you snow flake, you would need to ask him that later. As of right now you needed to let Dean know that he is a dick, douche, asshat and what Cas always says assbutt for sleeping with Anna and Michael walking in on them and basically ruining him and Lisa poor girl doesnt know what she is in for. Stupid Dean you mutter to yourself as you walk out of the room.

*********************************

"Y/N!!!! Hurry up I need the bathroom." Dean pounds on the door almost knocking it out of its hinges.

"SHUT UP!! GO PUKE OUTSIDE!!" You yell back to Dean and hear him mutter something as he rushes down the stairs and your sitting there taking your time getting out of the shower.

“I think I'm done torturing him for the day” You mutter to yourself as you walk out of the bathroom and met on the other side is your dad.

Oh boy you were in for it now but you see a smile slowly forming

"That's my girl teaching your brother a lesson for staying out late” Dad says to you and he sounds proud for it.

"Of course. As the youngest it's my job daddy" you smile to your dad to peck him on the cheek to get to your room to finish up.

"Ok, now time to text Cassie" you mutter to yourself as you pick up your phone, slide the screen, put in Cas' number

"hey I'm ready. Meet up at our usual spot?" After you sent the text you walk out of your room to head down stairs to wait for text back from Cas.

You reach the kitchen to find Sam putting the dishes away and Dean washing the pots.

"What's up turd face and turd nugget" you tease your brothers when you enter the kitchen.

"Niblette" Sam retorts back.

"Where you off to?" Dean asks from the sink.

"I'm going to hang out with Cas and Michael today" your phone goes off after telling your brothers who you will be hanging with.

Cas: actually Michael is going to drive and we will be there in a few minutes to pick you up. Ill let you know when we are outside.

You: ok sounds good. By the way Dean looks skittish after I told him and Sam I will be hanging out with Michael to :) I'm still kicking ass by the way.

Cas: Haha. Maybe you can finally tell my brother about your feelings than :)

You: maybe you can finally ask Meg out :)

Cas: I hate you

You: I know I love you to

After you sent your text you had a smile on your face telling Cas off after he mentioned your feelings for Michael but it was only a crush it wasn't like you stood a chance with him.

Michael is a senior and will be going off to college soon. You were a sophomore in high school along with Cas, while your brother Sam is a junior and Dean a senior.

"Michael?" Both of your brothers say in unison.

“As in Michael Sinclair?” Sam asks as he puts the pot in its rightful place

"Yeah what's wrong with that?" You ask back to your brothers while glaring at them

"Nothing, I'm just surprised ok." Sam says holding up his hands in surrender.

You look to Dean but cut him off before he says anything.

"Dean I don't care what your going to say. You did what you did and that's done just dont tell me you are dating Anna" you say to Dean while he has a surprised look on his face.

"No, not dating her, it was a drunken mistake. I feel bad ok and I just feel bad ok. I mean I don't even know how to tell Lisa" Dean says in defeat.

"Well you figure that out on your own and I don't like what you did to Lisa plus I really like her, just grow a damn pair and tell her before she finds out from someone else. You know how school is, one thing happens and spreads like wild fire" you tell Dean almost yelling at him.

"Fuck, yeah yeah ok" Dean says in defeat and takes his phone out to call Lisa to hang out or something. Your phone goes off

Cas: we are outside

You: ok coming out

You tell Sam to let your parents know who you will be hanging out with and he nods.

You grab your house key by the door and head outside to Cas and Michael. You get into the back seat.

"Hey Cas, Michael" you say while closing the door and buckling your seat belt.

"Hello y/n" Michael says looking in the mirror

"Hey y/n" Cas says turning his head and you smile at the both of them.

"Y/n give me your iPod, I would rather listen to yours than mine or Michaels" Cas says while he reaches out for you to hand over your iPod, you reach into your shoulder bag to grab it and give it to Cas.

"Hey my music isn't that bad" Michael says looking offended over to Cas, you sit in the back seat giggling.

"Cas what's wrong with your music?" You ask Cas

"I don't have mine, forgot it on the table on the way out" Cas says while turning on the blue tooth and plays Modern Man by The Arcade Fire.

"Plus you always have the better music, why do you think I give you my iPod to add music" Cas says turning to look at you.

"Again what's wrong with my music? And y/n what kind of music do you have on your play list anyways?" Michael asks Cas again and looking to you about your play list.

"Your music contains rap music that shouldn't be called music at all plus when did you even start listening to rap music anyways? You had better taste before you started dating Anna. Oh my god she got you into it didn't she?" Cas talks about his taste of music while Michael has a smile on his face but fades at the mention of Anna.

"Yeah some of it and the rest just were catchy afterwards. So where are we going first?" Michael looks to Cas and to you.

"Let's go to Cain's Cafe first" you say from the back seat as you lean forward to make sure Michael or Cas heard you.

"Uh I don't know, what if" you cut off Michael before he can even finish his sentence

"Don't worry about it, I'm pretty sure everyone else is still sleeping trying to recover from last night" You tell Michael reassuring him or try to put his mind at ease.

"Y/n is right Michael plus I really want a caramel iced cappuccino especially from Cain's cafe" Cas agrees with you while you have a smile on your face.

"Yeah ok, how come you two weren't at the party last night?" Michael asks out of nowhere looking between us as he parks in front of the cafe.

"I would rather hang out somewhere else far away from my brother. Thank you very much" they both laugh at your comment.

You and Cas were at Ash's party and you bumped into Lisa and Rachel and hung out with them all night while Cas was flirting with Meg all night. It's been forever he has had a crush on her and you always wondered why he never asked her out but you hope it would be soon.

"We were at Ash's party last night, Andy pulled out his stash and almost got everyone high with the brownies he made. Y/n didn't you have a brownie?" Cas asks as we get out of the car to walk inside.

"Castiel you go inside while I have a talk with y/n" Michael cuts you off before you could even answer Cas's question and he nods than heads inside to seat himself at a table to wait for us to come inside.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" You turn to look at Michael

"I just want to thank you for allowing me to hang out with you and Castiel. I hope we have days like these from now on well if you don't mind" You were shocked to hear Michael say this but couldn't agree to all of it because you wanted to know how Cas would feel if his brother would hang out with us from now on.

#highschool!au #supernatural!au #michael x anna #dean x anna #michael #dean winchester #dean x lisa #anna milton #lisa braeden #sam winchester #castiel #lucifer #gabriel #michael x reader #supernatural #supernatural!michael #supernatural!michael x reader #supernatural fic #spn fic #ash #gordon walker #meg masters

[weekendwarriorblog]

30 Minute Experiment: Memory #30ME

Okay, let’s do this.  I’m sorry to keep mentioning #TimsTwitterListeningParties (okay, only my second mention, granted), but they’ve become an almost essential daily routine to help me get through this pandemic, as I spend two hours each evening listening to some great albums from the ‘80s and ‘90s (and some newer ones). Some I’ve heard and/or love but others are from bands I’ve either heard of or have known about but never really got into for one reason or another. But this isn’t a 30 Experiment about music... (sorry, Ted!) :)

No, this is going to be 30 minutes of me writing about memory and memories, and I’m not talking about the song from Cats, which was actually my favorite moment of that much-maligned movie from last year. (I’m still convinced JHud will win her second Oscar playing Aretha later this year.)

Although I’m not going to just start writing about music, as much as I love chatting about it, this is more about memory, and how listening to records that I never have listened to in full or heard before have been jogging up memories that have lain dormant for a long time.

I am someone who is forever fascinated by the human brain and how it works, something you’d know if you read my ramble about dreams around this same time last week. But even more interesting to me is how the brain’s memory banks works because it’s something that just doesn’t seem to have been explored to the extent in which I’m interested. The reason why memory has interested me so much was because of a movie I saw at the Oxford Film Festival four years ago. It was called Embers, directed by Claire Carée ,and while it was available to watch on Netflix for two years, it’s now only available to rent or buy on Amazon. 

The movie is about a virus that hits the globe that basically erases everyone’s memory from the day before, so you can go to sleep next to your wife or husband, you wake up and you have no idea who they are. It’s an interesting premise that Carée explores through a variety of individuals and situations, and it’s definitely world-building sci-fi but not in the way that requires tons of CGI. It’s a small and tender movie with great performances.

As I said, I first saw it at the Oxford Film Festival, and it was really interesting to hear Carée talk about how she researched the movie and the human brain and learned about conditions that affect the brain in a similar way as the virus. (Think of someone like the Guy Pearce character in Christopher Nolan’s Memento, an absolutely fantastic movie that I really should rewatch soon.)  Anyway, I listened Carée talk about the brain and memory at Oxford and then again when the movie played at the Brooklyn Film Festival, and what she said about memory has been something that’s been on my brain (so to speak) ever since.

It’s really interesting how memory works in terms of what we remember, how we remember things and when. We can think about some things that happened to us and even stew about them for years, but then there are other things, even some happy moments, that might pop into our head randomly. I’m not just talking about dreams, which seem to have their own way of messing with our minds, but just when you’re doing or watching something and you suddenly remember someone or something from your past that you hadn’t thought about in many years.

I’ll freely admit that I do not have a good memory even when it comes to things I’m supposed to do on any given day, and it’s why I’ve created so may methods of reminding myself to do things like these daily writing experiments. There’s a known cliché that the older you get, the harder it is for your brain to remember things, that memory is the first thing to go, etc, but I’m not sure that’s really the case. I remember listening to my father at length about his memories of his life going all the way back to his first 17 years living in Germany before Kristallnacht. He was probably in his 70s by then, yet his memory of events was so distinct and descriptive that it made you feel like you were actually there. There are many elderly people in their 70s and 80s and even 90s who can produce memories and share them when asked, so clearly the memory isn’t the first thing to go. If anything those memories are what the brains of older people are holding onto, and while I’m not quite THAT old yet, I do find that I’m remembering things from my past, particularly high school and my early days of NYC that I had pretty much forgotten about.  (To be fair, I did imbibe in quite a few recreational drugs post-high school, which I’m sure didn’t help.)

I want to go back to the listening parties I mentioned at the beginning of today’s writing experiment because it was really interesting to me how albums I had never heard before were bringing back so many memories. One of the album’s was Pulp’s Different Class from 1995 and the other was Suede’s Dog Man Star from 1994. Mind you, when I first moved to NYC in 1987, I was an enormous Anglophile, and I was spending most of my money on import records from England, buying the weekly trades like NME, Melody Maker and Sounds, keeping track of every new and hot band for many years. At one point I was even buying double copies of the magazines since I started collecting clippings of these bands... interviews, concert reviews, etc... and I still have a lot of these sitting in my storage space in the Bronx.

What was weird is that I never got into Suede or Pulp even though they were two of the hottest and biggest bands in England in those years, and I was trying to figure out why that might be. I realized and remembered then that in 1994 or 1995, I was busy working in the studio most of the time and then not making that much money otherwise, and I probably stopped buying so many import records and also stopped buying those magazines and doing the clippings that I was doing so much in the early ‘90s. Maybe it was because I was getting used to having less space but I think I also started collecting comic books around that time and that also took up time and space.  

I’m not sure why but it suddenly dawned on me why I started getting less into new music around that time, and I also realized that I probably started getting back into music around 1999 or 2000 when I was playing in a band and touring and probably got my first iPod on which I started to load my vast CD collection.

It’s just interesting to me to try to remember why at one point in my life, I just wasn’t listening to as much music as I’m suddenly listening to now, and again, that’s part of the wonder that is the human brain that it decides what you have access to at any given time. If you asked me right now to tell you some stories from high school, I couldn’t even BEGIN to tell you about it, and yet, I remember certain things if I REALLY put my entire brain into finding those memories. 

The fact that the human brain can do all the things required of our bodies and jobs and still store all those memories somewhere is endlessly fascinating to me but especially that listening to those two albums I mentioned suddenly made me think of a period in time that is now 25 years ago that I really don’t think about that much anymore. It’s also interesting to note (for those who read my recap/reboot piece yesterday) that this was also the period where I was working in the studio and making music, essentially my goal and dream and reason for moving to NYC in the first place. Again, I’m not quite sure I have the skill set or talent to go back into music-making, but it seems to all tie together.

Most of us seem to have a lot more free time now to think about things ... if my daily rambling doesn’t make it obvious ... but it’s strange and funny how few of us spend any time on a normal daily basis thinking about our past and memories we cherish when there’s so much in the here and now we have to think about. There’s so much about our own future and the future of those around us and of the planet that constantly takes up our brain power, which is necessary since so many of us are just struggling to survive and get through this that we can only think about what the future might bring.

Maybe the secret to all of this is in our own past, remembering what we did right, what we did wrong, what worked, what didn’t, when we were happy, when we weren’t -- I seem to remember in 1994 or 1995 having a mini-breakdown leading up to my 30th birthday, for instance, which may be another reason why I was too distracted to get into Pulp or Suede at the time --  and really trying to learn from our own past to insure that our future can be better and happier. 

I don’t now. As I said a few days ago, I’m not a scientist, but I’m also not a psychiatrist or a trained therapist. I just know how I’ve been getting through this awful time myself and sharing my daily thoughts on the subject in hopes that it might offer some self-enlightenment.

And with that... my time is up.

#30ME #30MinuteExperiment #Memory

[amandakaiserwrites]

interview: pepper rabbit

Following the release of their sophomore LP, Red Velvet Snow Ball, L.A.-based duo Pepper Rabbit hopped on a bus for a sweeping tour of North America without stopping for air. The tour, fronted by Montreal-based group Braids and followed up by experimental indie pop duo Painted Palms, began in June spanning coast-to-coast and will finish up mid-October. Comprised of frontman Xander Singh and drummer Luc Laurent, Pepper Rabbit’s attitude towards the music industry seems to be “go, go, go,” but the psyche pop pair’s sonic vibe is anything but. Soft, lushly painted soundscapes and twinkling synths are the defining sound of Pepper Rabbit — peppered, if you will, with the eclectic sounds of the xylophone, trumpet, ukulele and more (their recent album used a total of eleven different instruments). Painted Palms set the dreamy tone for the night at Chicago’s Empty Bottle. The duo blew the crowd away with their surfer-pop dusted with looping synths and echoing envelopes of noise. Pepper Rabbit, joined by their touring bassist Jonathan, took the stage next and warmed up the chilly Tuesday night with a good sample of Red Velvet Snow Ball (they played about ¾ of the album, including the single “Rose Mary Stretch”). Pepper Rabbit’s set was kicked off by the haunting song “Allison,” dedicated to a mystery girl, with gorgeous layers and an eerie carnival feel, and ended with “Murder Room,” a sweeping ballad off their most recent release. The duo even catered to the audience’s request and played the popular track “Older Brother” off Beauregard, their debut album of 2010. Luckily we got a few moments with Xander Singh of Pepper Rabbit to discuss the band’s North American tour, experimenting with instruments, and dirty socks. Amanda Kaiser: Have you ever been to Chicago before? Do you have a favorite spot? Xander Singh: Yep, I’ve been in Chicago I think four times. I really love Schubas. It’s a great venue to play at. I’ve been here mostly for business, unfortunately, so I don’t really leave the music venue, it’s just back onto the bus once it’s over. AK: Everyone at UR Chicago loved the story of how you guys bought instruments and learned to play them watching YouTube clips for your newest album. You’ve definitely left behind the stripped-down sound of your first album Beauregard in place of eleven instruments including the synths and even a ukulele. What inspired you to add these new instruments to the mix? XS: Well, I’ve always been interested in how an instrument sounds more than I’ve been interested in how to play them really well. I never really sit in my bedroom and practice guitar for an hour or so. I’m more, you know, scrounge around Craigslist or different stores wherever I am and try to find a new sound I haven’t heard before and then try to do something with it. So that’s why I tend to gather a variety of different instruments. I’m far more interested in the sound of something than, you know, how well I can actually play it. AK: How does this incorporation of more instruments affect your live set? XS: Well, it’s kind of the same as the first record where there were a lot of different instruments and we couldn’t take everything out on the road, so we rearranged a few songs and played them a little bit differently. Sometimes we played a trumpet melody on a keyboard or something like that. And we’ve kind of done the same thing arranging the new sound for the live show. We’re also using a few more samples and sometimes leaving a few parts out here and there and adding a different part [trails off as his voice is drowned out by a fire siren…] AK: So, you were saying you’ve been using different instruments in the live songs? XS: Yeah, mostly because, like I said, I’m not very technically proficient at most of the stuff I play [Author’s note: he plays about ten instruments though. Cut him a break!]. For instance, when I’m in the studio recording I can allow myself four hours to just nail a simple trumpet part, but I can’t do that live. Onstage I’d have to hit it every time. We actually brought the trumpet out when we first started playing and never played any of the parts right, and I did the same with the clarinet and messed up a lot so we eventually said, “You know this trumpet line, maybe we can all just sing it,” or, you know, play the clarinet melody on a keyboard or something to make it a little bit more risk-free. AK: You two seem to jibe together pretty well onstage. How does your relationship play out during the writing and recording process? XS: Well, normally I’ll kind of just wake up one day and be like, “Okay, today’s the day I’m going to write a new piece of music.” I have a home studio, so I’ll just go downstairs and mess around on different things until I get a structure of a song, and Luc will come downstairs and write the drum parts. Then we’ll listen to it a bunch and edit a few things together, then go back and finish it up. But the live show is definitely very different. I play most of the bass parts on the newest record but our touring member, Jonathan, is an incredible bassist, so he pretty much rewrites all of the bass parts off the record for the live show and makes them a lot better. The live show is a very, very collaborative effort, so to speak. AK: You’ve been on tour most of the year preceding the release of your newest album Red Velvet Snow Ball. How’s that been? XS: Very tiring. Very, very tiring. AK: Understandably so. So, what are five tour essentials you make sure to pack in your suitcase? XS: Definitely a fresh batch of stand-up comedy on the iPod. AK: Cool. What are you watching now? XS: I’m anxiously awaiting Patton Oswalt’s new stand-up CD. He’s my favorite comic. When you’re on the road you’re in the van so much constantly listening to music, and you end up listening to the same albums over and over again. It can just get kind of tiring being around music all the time, so listening to a podcast, radio show or stand-up album is definitely a nice change of pace. But the stand-up albums become a little bit less funny each time you listen to them, so it’s always important to have fresh ones. [Laughs] So, that’s one of the essentials.Of course you have a few good books for when your iPod, iPhone or laptop dies; you have to go primitive and read a book. AK: That’s always rough. XS: [continues] Water is an essential thing. I find we spend a lot of money on water because we go to a gas station and it’s kind of routine to buy a bottle of water, but when you go into, like, five gas stations a day those bottles of water get expensive. So, lately we’ve been trying to bring our own water bottles and fill them up where we can. Your own pillow is a very nice thing to keep some kind of consistency with your sleeping arrangement. That’s a good one. Also a bunch of socks and underwear, because most guys can wear the same shirt a few days in a row and be fine, but there’s nothing worse than wearing the same pair of socks twice in a row. It’s just an awful feeling! I probably have more pairs of socks than shirts with me on this tour. You can see how wrinkly this thing is [gestures to his not-that-wrinkled button-down shirt]. Well, it was far more wrinkly a little bit ago. I just pulled it out of my suitcase. [Author’s note: And that’s five items! Nailed it!] AK: So, last night I started following you guys on Twitter. What’s your favorite Twitter account? Anyone that entertains you? XS: Well, I’m very entertained by one of my friend’s Twitters, but I don’t think it’d be really interesting if you didn’t know them. It’s a good way to keep up with what your friends back home are doing. Even with as much downtime as we have on the road, whenever you have downtime you’re usually asleep, so it’s really hard to keep in touch with people back home. A lot of times, too, you’ve just been around a huge crowd and you don’t want to talk to anybody and then, you know, two weeks go by and your mom sends you a text like, “Hey, just want to check and see if you’re still alive.” So, it’s great that you can hit up your Twitter feed and see what your friends are up to. I’m also a big Apple and Mac nerd, so I keep in touch with the Apple rumors. AK: What’s that? I’m a Dell person so I wouldn’t know. XS: It’s a Twitter account that keeps track of all the rumors of new products and stuff, so that’s always interesting. But that’s a completely nerdy thing that you probably don’t even need to print. [Author’s note: Sorry, Xander.] AK: Speaking of Twitter, last night I read that – [Xander starts laughing] You know what I’m gonna say? XS: After a few too many beers. [Laughs] Yeah. AK: The girl you wrote the song “Allison” about on Red Velvet Snow Ball is engaged, right? XS: Oh, I’ve gotta keep that story close to my chest for fear of embarrassment. And if I actually ever meet her one day. AK: So, you don’t know her. Celebrity crush maybe? XS: Kinda. It’s all in the lyrics if you listen closely. But for the sake of my own dignity I’d rather keep that under wraps a little bit. But I will say I did have a few too many beers last night and got really bummed out when I found out she had gotten engaged. AK: Sorry about that. So, what’s up next for you guys after you finish up your tour at the end of October? XS: Lots of rest. Luc is working on a few things with another band, and I’m going to be working on a few things as well. You never know what the future holds, so it’s always a bit unpredictable. We’ll see what happens, I guess. [Laughs] You’ll know when I know. AK: Sounds good, I’ll peep your Twitter then. Thanks so much for talking with UR Chicago and best of luck on the rest of your tour!

by Amanda Kaiser

#urchicago #interview #pepperrabbit

[forgottensoul-posts]

03/26/19

Life is a strange thing. You’re born into a family you didn’t even know existed and are chosen a name you didn’t know was a word. In fact, you don’t know any words. You’re the most innocent yet most lost person as soon as you’re born. You didn’t choose life, or did you? Did you make the decision to be born before you ever were, but you forgot? Is reincarnation a real thing? Does God, or a god, really exist? Something must have created us, otherwise, this life would be pointless. Every breath you take would have no meaning. Life does have meaning though. Life is about adventure and relationships and success and enjoying the little things. If this is the case, why is it so hard? Do we as humans make it hard, or is it hard? We create technology and advanced machinery to help make mundane tasks easier, but does it make it easier? Life seemed so simple before the technology existed. Sure, is it fun playing video games to appease your boredom, and isn’t is so much easier to throw leftovers or frozen food in the microwave instead of hunting it and cooking it? These things seem great, but can you imagine the excitement a man must have had to bring dinner home to his family? The joy in a woman’s day because of her garden finally growing? The happiness of a child to play pretend with sticks and rocks? Why did life have to become so complex with things that are supposed to make life easier? When did working hard become a thing of the past? Why does the amount of schooling or the number of likes on a picture define someone’s worth or intelligence? Humans have become so simple. I don’t want to live in a world with simple people. I want to be a part of a community where pieces of paper or a website defines the person. I want to know people. Their hobbies, their favorite color, what book their mother read them when they were a child. There are so many components to a person it is difficult to hear them all. 

I am realizing this is starting to not make any sense. I go from one thing to another, but I guess that shows how many paths my train of thought takes. Do you ever wonder where memories are stored? How does a brain store so much information with no physical evidence to show it is there? Life is a crazy thing. When people die (this is morbid but stay with me), do their memories fade with their physical state, or are they still stuck with their soul? If reincarnation was a thing, why don’t all the memories go with you? What if you reincarnate to an animal? Does the animal have memories of human life but is stuck in a foreign body? Would this explain why some animals act almost human-like? I haven’t watched or read about the beliefs in reincarnation to have a solid opinion. My whole life I have grown up in a Christian household. If I tried looking into anything else, it was a sin and I needed to have a sit down to explain why I was wrong for being curious. I was saved in April 2008, but when 2011 hit and I found emo music and flippy hair, man can I tell you my world was rocked. I was always curious. I finally have my own personal iPod and could look up whatever. It is funny how we grow into the people we do. I wonder if I would still be a God-fearing child if I wasn’t exposed to the internet or any other music besides country and Christian music. Music really changed who I was as a person. It was almost freeing. I connected to such dark music I had never even heard before. Mama by My Chemical Romance was my first personal song I heard and fell in love with. That band will always hold a special place in my heart. Also, the more I type the more I realize I really have completely lost a theme here, but as stated before, this is an e-journal. For my thoughts. I could honestly go on another tangent about my relationship but I won’t. Maybe I’ll write another entery for today. We shall see. Until then, I will leave it here.

-K.

#ejournal #life #feelings #rant #journal #opinions

[jimjohn0000-blog]

Aced for iTunes: how sound designers change music for the iPod age In spite of the fact that the lossy pressure utilized for iTunes Plus can bring about scarcely perceptible.

In an age when Apple has turned into the top music retailer without offering a solitary physical plate, sound architects are progressively making uncommonly aced renditions of melodies and collections intended to neutralize the sound corruption brought about by pressure. In spite of the fact that audiophiles regularly laugh at paying for compacted sound, favoring vinyl or top of the line computerized arrangements, for example, DVD-An, acing designers are doing their best to make advanced bosses that can go through Apple's iTunes calculations with negligible sonic defilement.

To highlight work done to enhance the sound of packed music records, Apple as of late propelled an "Aced for iTunes" segment on the iTunes Store. It now likewise gives an arrangement of proposals to specialists to take after when get ready ace documents for accommodation to the iTunes Store. To fit the bill for the "Aced for iTunes" name, Apple says that documents ought to be submitted in the most elevated determination organize conceivable, and remastered substance ought to sound essentially superior to the first.

How does this function? Ars talked with Masterdisk Chief Engineer Andy VanDette, who as of late finished a venture remastering the heft of Rush's back list. As a major aspect of the procedure, VanDette made unique variants of every tune particularly to upload to the iTunes Store. He depicted the frequently protracted, experimentation procedure of attempting to make iTunes tracks sound as close as conceivable to cleaned CD remasters.

The condition of packed sound

All music acquired from iTunes is packed utilizing a "lossy" pressure calculation called Advanced Audio Coding (AAC). Lossy pressure calculations hurl out a portion of the data contained in a computerized document in return for little record sizes. Positions like AAC (and MP3) attempt to be astute about what data is hurled out keeping in mind the end goal to keep up devotion with the first, uncompressed document. They do as such by taking out frequencies and music most drastically averse to be recognized by the normal audience.

(The JPEG picture design endeavors to do a similar thing with photographs, killing subtle elements and hues that aren't probably going to be seen by the normal watcher. This is the reason JPEGs can at times look blocky if spared at a high pressure rate.)

Various music industry illuminating presences, including Jimmy Iovine (head of Interscope-Geffen-A&M), Dr. Dre, and most as of late Neil Young, have lamented the reality most music now plays once more from a compacted record, bringing about a "debasement" of the sound a craftsman initially attempted to make.

"We live in the computerized age, and shockingly it's debasing our music, not enhancing it," Young said in January amid the D: Dive Into Media gathering.

Youthful and his accomplices are endeavoring to make uncompressed, higher-end sound organizations a typical standard over the business. Music all through the most recent decade is ordinarily recorded utilizing 24-bit tests at 96kHz, and advances in registering power and hard circle space have as of late made considerably higher quality, 24-bit 192kHz computerized recording conceivable.

In any case, even the standard CD design arrives in a much lower determination—only 16-bit 44.1kHz. Contrasted with 24-bit 192kHz computerized sound, a completed CD just has around 15 percent of the data caught amid the recording procedure. Packing the tunes on a CD assist into 256kbps AAC "iTunes Plus" organization chops the information down to only one-fifth of the span of CD sound, or as meager as three percent of the first 192kHz recordings.

"We're working with [Apple] and other advanced administrations—download administrations—to change to 24-bit," Iovine said. Youthful likewise confessed to working with Apple to make 24-bit sound standard over its cell phones, however he proposed that no advance has occurred since Steve Jobs—known for his affection for great shake—passed on last October.

As a sound architect, VanDette is "cheerful" equipment and capacity abilities will one day make uncompressed, 24-bit sound a down to earth standard. For example, advanced music benefit HDtracks as of now offers an index of 24-bit sound documents at different testing rates up to 192kHz. However, such audiophile quality is just useful to those with costly stereo hardware fit for imitating the unpretentious subtleties caught in these higher-quality records.

"I am urged to see a developing list at HDtracks, however having the capacity to have your whole collection gathering in your pocket is cool, as well," VanDette told Ars. For whatever length of time that iPhones and iPods are the most well-known playback gear, and the iTunes Store the top hotspot for music, packed sound documents are, for all intents and purposes, setting down deep roots for a long time to come.

In the event that you can't beat them, join them

Need a daunting struggle? Have a go at pushing the main part of buyers to grasp specialty audiophile configurations and move up to able gear. Rather, sound specialists have taken to acing variants of tunes and collections particularly for the iTunes Store.

A comparable acing procedure is now done to get ready collections for other physical arrangements. As beforehand noted, recording is normally done in a computerized 24-bit 96kHz arrangement. In any case, sound discharged in CD arrangement is 16-bit 44.1kHz quality, requiring a transformation from the first source. Engineers modify evening out, levels, pressure, clamor channels, and different parameters to pack as a great part of the source material into those cutoff points.

(Coming back to our prior photograph relationship, the procedure is like changing over a 14-bit RAW document from a DSLR into a standard 8-bit TIFF.)

Recording should likewise be possible at different piece profundities and testing rates. Here and there it's as yet done utilizing vintage simple rigging (see late Grammy victors, The Foo Fighters). Collections are still discharged on simple vinyl arrange, and at times are made accessible in top of the line advanced organizations, for example, Super Audio CD (SACD) or DVD-Audio (DVD-A). An acing architect will take whatever source material is given—simple or advanced—and improve it for each discharge design, considering each organization's one of a kind qualities and cutoff points.

VanDette clarified how acing shifts relying upon the age of the first recordings and in addition the last yield design. Many ace recordings for Rush collections are from vinyl's prime, he said. "In those days we would attempt and cover up however much top end as could reasonably be expected, realizing that the end clients' styli would be poo."

"Most audience members today swear they cherish the base end on vinyl, yet I recollect in the prime of vinyl, it was about top end," VanDette told Ars. "'On the off chance that we could just have a reasonable top end without each one of those pops and snaps' we thought," he stated, taking note of the inclination of low-end phonographs to present undesirable commotion. "In those days, base was the foe. It made the scores [in the vinyl] too wide, and constrained us to turn down the general level of the circle."

The requirements of vinyl aren't a worry when acing for a CD, so it's conceivable to lift general levels and additionally low frequencies without destroying whatever is left of the blend. "While remastering the exemplary Rush collections, I included as much LF as I could, simply mindful not to cloud the great "ping" on Neil's catch, tangle Geddy's voice, or cover Alex's guitar," he said.

"These are some finely adjusted blends, even after 35 years," VanDette said. "I needed to ensure the audience still heard the great collection come through, without it being too noisy, boomy, or current sounding."Mastered for iTunes

iTunes Plus tracks accessible from the iTunes Store utilize a similar 16-bit 44.1kHz quality as CDs, so a similar ace documents made for CD creation are commonly used to produce the packed records transferred to iTunes. In any case, the pressure procedure can wipe out or contort certain sounds that, while most audience members may not see intentionally, can debase the listening background.

"Acing for iTunes was an alternate test," VanDette told Ars. "You can't get around it—when you discard 80 percent of the information, the sound changes. It was my mission to make the AAC documents sound as near the CD as would be prudent; I didn't need them to be any more uproarious, advertised, or boomy sounding than the CD."

Since iTunes tracks are commonly played back on firmly normal earbuds or PC speakers, there is an inclination for a few makers to lift bass frequencies to compensate for the tinny sound. In any case, VanDette stated, doing as such is not by any stretch of the imagination the appropriate response. For a certain something, there's no certification that playback will dependably occur on less than impressive hardware. "There are presently frameworks to slip you iPod into that have good bass reaction, and PC speakers that have a subwoofer," he said. "I aced a collection for a super maker who was determined to including LF for earbuds and portable PCs. The outcome was a collection that you can't tune in to in a car."Jason Ward at Chicago Mastering Service concurred it's a terrible thought to attempt and make aces for particular listening situations. "Most present day hits nowadays are sounding pretty exhausting and not as much as perfect on any framework to my ears," Ward told Ars. "In spite of the fact that that most likely says a great deal more in regards to what is considered to sound great than the aptitudes of the applicable designers."

"I simply attempt to make things sound in the same class as practical for as wide a scope of conceivable playback situations as would be prudent," Ward said. "The main genuine catastrophe is settle on choices which would punish audience members with great playback frameworks by settling on choices to purportedly upgrade delight on mediocre playback frameworks."

Making iTunes-particular bosses for Rush's collections required a more nuanced approach than simply boosting the bass. "The sensitive blend adjusts of a Rush collection directed that I could just "push" the base, not by any means help it," VanDette clarified. "For iTunes acing I concentrated on compensating for the misfortunes made by the iTunes AAC calculation. For the most part, I heard changes in level, base, top, punch, and imaging."

[djrelentless]

“When Did Youth Become More Important Than Experience?”

·

July 21, 2009

·

In my profession as a DJ, I have noticed a disturbing trend over the years. It seems that everything is being marketed to the youth. Today's music, today's club scene....all are marketed to look like everyone is in the mid 20's with perfect bodies and perfect skin. We have artist as young as 14 singing about subject matters that only adults shouldknow. And thanks to technology, we have kids with laptops and the internet at their finger tips calling themselves DJ's. Programs that practically mixed the songs for them (if they bother to learn how to mix at all) and people being paid to be human iPods. There's no talent in that. I started in radio with my uncle back in 1980. I learned about programing before I learned how to mix. I learned the history of music in the clubs and on the radio and how the two could meet and shouldn't meet. But now with the way music is marketed, you are being programed to like certain songs. The hits that are all over MTV and the radio were picked out for you. You had no real choice in the matter. It used to be that DJ's made songs into hits. Now, everyone is playing "follow the leader". If Junior or Peter plays it, then it is a must for your set. Do you even know where the samples for some of your songs come from? Most don't. And looking around the NY nightlife, I can see my signature all over some staple places. Did you know that I was the first and only African-American DJ to spin at The Monster? I'll probably be the last. Did you know that the reason View Bar has video is because when it was the Break, the owner didn't like me taking a job at Baracuda, so he offered to put video monitors in the Break (which later changed in the View) if I would leave Baracuda. The sound system and format at the Hangar started with me and DJ Smokey back in the 90's. And I am the reason TJ the DJ has a spot in the scene. I talked the owners into turning Xes into a video bar, but after getting all the knowledge they needed out of me, I was replaced by a younger and inexperienced version. The cool and open format that is at Posh was my doing. When I went there, they were only playing 80's music, because the owner didn't want any Hip Hop played in his establishment. But when he saw the reaction of the younger customers, he changed his tune. Too bad I was replaced by a bartender who had no DJ experience, but is now a hot commodity at the Ritz. And now you are being programed on who is the best DJ and hot spots through advertising dollars. When I arrived in New York in the early 90's, HX and Next were new magazines. So, you had to travel around the city to figure out what party was right for you. I miss the legendary DJ's like Troy Parrish (Sugar Babies) and Tennessee. They made you feel it and know that you were having a good time. Junior Vasquez wasn't the top remixer for Madonna and Cher then. He was just the man who turned Sound Factory out. And Danny Tenaglia would serve up some tracks that you would spend 2 weeks looking for in the record stores. This doesn't happen anymore. The kids go where the rags tell 'em to go. No discovery and no adventures. And the other disturbing truth is that there is a double standard in the DJ world of New York. There is a racial divide. If a black DJ plays Hip Hop in certain establishments, he is told he is bringing in the wrong crowd. After he is fired or "let go", a white DJ can come into the same establishment and play the same thing and even worse (hardcore thugged out Hip Hop) and is praised for being innovative. Why is that? Of course there are some black DJ's who are doing just fine in this Pop Gay Scene of Next and now the defunct HX. But where does someone who has helped shape the scene find a job now in this age of the laptop DJ? I probably have been spinning longer than some of these kids have been on this earth. And for my colleagues who were on the scene back in the 90's most have disappeared or moved away. September 11th, 2001 forced our club and bar scenes to scale back on pay. Which I believe led to the type of DJ's we have in all your hot spots today. And the sad thing is that the youth who is coming out today think that this is the best that we have to offer. these will be their "good old day". Only because they don't know anything else. For them, hearing a DJ letting a song end and pushing play on the next one is normal. This would get you boo-ed out of the booth years ago. And because some DJ's are making this the new standard, everyone thinks they can be a DJ now. It's really embarrassing to have to tell my friends from Europe that these are our top DJ's on the scene or that the scene in L.A. has DJ's that mix. In the Urban Gay scene, I still have a strong following. Mainly because there are no restrictions on what I can play. However, I am restricted by the urban crowd because of their tastes in music. Introducing them to other styles can be hard. So, I am stuck. Stuck catering to a limited scene and unable to express myself to a bigger audience. I dream of playing for a room where I have total freedom to combine all my knowledge. Where I can mix Lady GaGa with Funkadelic with a splash of Shirley Bassey leading into a hot tribal mix of Marilyn Manson. How can it be done? With programing. A long lost art form that used to make or break a DJ. Now that skill is not required. So, I ask....when did youth become more important than experience?