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spinningbuster98 · 7 months

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youtube

And we're back! Yes this is indeed Samus' second adventure involving the Metroids. Absolutely. There was positively nothing in between.

So Metroid II is a bit weird to me, not the game itself as much as the fandom's reception of it

Back when I joined in 2012 I...never saw anyone talk about this game, and when they did it was usually with a big "Eh, it's the black sheep (after Other M)"

So it was particularily jarring to me when this game suddenly saw lots of fans come up and present it as some sort of misunderstood masterpiece in later years, like some sort of secretly genius jem of a game that pushed the limits of the gameboy! This was mostly around the time AM2R dropped and especially after Samus Returns, when people would prop up the original game in order to shit on the remake for all the things Samus Returns did wrong.

Not gonna lie I use to resent this game: I used to think it was fucking boring and dull as hell, so seeing people praise it to high heavens just to shit on SR (as flawed as that game also is), and the subsequent clusterfuck that the Metroid fandom was between 2016/17 and 2021, kinda soured me on the game

But looking at this game in an unbiased way (or at least as much as possible)....this game isn't that bad, not as much as I thought (though it definitely is an acquired taste) nor as much as people used to say

...but it's far from great

But let's start with the positives: this game controls comparatively better than Metroid 1.

It's...still not great because Samus still feels clunky and too floaty, but now she can crouch and shoot and also shoot downwards while falling, which helps a lot

The sprite work is also a FUCK ton better than Metroid 1, with stuff being a hell of a lot more detailed, especially Samus.

Granted it's....got its issues (and I'll get into them more next time) but I'll give credit where it's due

Enemy placement is also far better, with enemies being placed far more reasonably except when you're dealing with the screen crunch and not as incessantly spammed as before. They also tend to do much less damage

The game introduces the series' trademark save points which sure beat Metroid 1's password system or even the Famicom version's save system which still spawned you at an area's start and with minimal health

Of course the game still doesn't have a map (in 1991 this was already pushing it) but given the game's more linear nature it's less egregious...but not completely so because most areas still look samey partly due to the gameboy's monochromatic color pattern and also because, despite the game's better overall spritework, most locations still look really samey, either being generic caves, generic Metroid nests (except the Omega's, that one is pretty cool) and generic building ruins that all look pretty much the same as far as architecture goes

And then we have the music

Yyyyyyeah uhhhhhh

The game certainly has some good tunes, the title theme is delightfully creepy and minimalistic, but with a really nice hopeful part. I like the main caverns theme, the credits theme and especially the Metroids' nest theme

Unfortunately you'll be spending a big chunk of the game listening to beeps and boops that wanna pass off as an atmospheric, minimalist ost

Now look: it....sorta works. When you're going through dark spooky caves and only have these atmospheric...weird sounds to keep you company it can absolutely give you a sense of loneliness and creepiness.....but the game overplays its hand with it way too much

These tracks play every time you visit one of the game's main areas and when you're outside of their buildings, meaning this is pretty much gonna be all that you'll hear of this game's OST for about half of your playtime.

I often see people claim that this game pushes the gameboy's limits and yeah in some ways it does, but in this case I'd say it plays against its limitations rather than within them: the gameboy's simple sound font can't easily create minimalist atmospheric tracks without them sounding way too basic or outright boring, or at least the composer wasn't able to, yet the game doesn't seem aware of this and just spams these tracks throughout most of the game, tracks that barely sound any different from each other and just end up blending in.

I think they jumped the gun way too early with this. There is merit in creating tracks that are incredibly simple and un-melodic but that can still give you the creeps. Just compare this to this

As it is Metroid II's soundtrack, at least most of it, makes the game just sound boring and uninteresting which....well isn't helped by the monochromatic pallette and some gameplay aspects though that's for next time

#metroid #metroid ii #return of samus #my gameplay #Youtube

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blessedhypocrite · 2 months

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Random Album Review Week 5: True North - Bad Religion (2013)

BAD RELIGION BABY!!! I love this band, and this album, and I'm so glad it got selected this week. This album is probably one of the most nostalgic albums for me, so I'm super excited to review it!

Next Weeks Album: Nickelback - All The Right Reasons (2005)

(intended date: February 11th)

Tracklist:

True North

Past Is Dead

Robin Hood in Reverse

Land of Endless Greed

Fuck You

Dharma and the Bomb

Hello Cruel World

Vanity

In Their Hearts is Right

Crisis Time

Dept. of False Hope

Nothing to Dismay

Popular Consensus

My Head Is Full of Ghosts

The Island

Changing Tide

Favorite Track(s): Dept. of False Hope, Robin Hood in Reverse, Fuck You (I love this album too much to pick one favorite, sorry )

Favorite Lyric: "Sometimes it makes no sense at all / The easiest thing to do / Is say fuck you!"

Rating: 10/10

Click read more for the full review!

True North: A modern day album by a punk band who was most popular in the late 80's/early 90's, how good can it be? Turns out, its fucking incredible.

I am a huge fan of this album, and Bad Religion is probably my favorite punk band. I'll start by saying that this album is hugely nostalgic for me. This album was the only thing my dad played in 2013 honestly. I was 10 in 2013, and just beginning to discover what music I liked, and this album was one of my childhood favorites. I was also listening to a lot of The Offspring, and was really into MLP PMVs so, yeah. I think you can understand why this album was so influential to young me.

A lot of this album's songs have very personal connections, which I can't really explain. "Robin Hood In Reverse" especially, I can't explain why but that song reminds me so so much of my mom and dad's relationship. The song isn't even a love song. I don't even know. "Dept. Of False Hope" reminds me a lot of my dad, and his struggles in life. Also, even tho I was a kid listening to this album, my dad would still play me the song "Fuck You", which is probably the song that taught me the meaning of that word. Pretty awesome honestly.

There's a lot of things I love about this album, one is the lyricism. I fucking LOOOOVE Bad Religion's lyricism. I am a bit of a nerd, especially when it comes to things like sociology and stuff, and man, Greg Graffin is too. He has a PHD, has written books about society, and makes punk music. I love him, and the lyrics he brings to the table because of his background. As I've mentioned before in other posts in this series, I love analyzing lyrics, and this album's lyrics are some of the best to analyze.

I also just love the sound of this album. Its pretty refined, and some would say "samey", but I just love it. The guitars are loud and distorted and PUNK. The bass is actually surprisingly clear which I love, especially in the song "Dharma and the Bomb". Greg's voice is also awesome. As with any singer who's making their 16th studio album like 30 years after your first came out, Greg's voice is not the same as it once was. But I really like how his voice has aged, and the vocals on this album are really incredible nonetheless.

#weekly album review #bad religion #true north #oh my goodness this has been sitting in my drafts since sunday #i SWEAR i posted it but. i think i just saved it again. sigh.

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batmanisagatewaydrug · 2 years

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top 10 albums of 2021 [revised]

I published my first top 10 list too hastily, without nearly enough pedantic overanalyzing of my deepest, darkest feelings about music that came out this year. in order to crack this top 10 I need a pretty uniformly excellent album, one that maintains consistent vibes from top to bottom - not just a handful of songs that I really liked. this ranking more properly takes the full-body experience into account.

unlike my top 10 songs of 2021 and favorite books of 2021, which were friendly and imperfectly alphabetized free for alls, these are ABOSLUTELY ranked in order of favoritism and I want you to know that I have STRESSED over this order.

10. Live At Electric Lady - Bleachers

I'm actually surprising myself by including this; I was actually considering just cutting this list to nine albums when I remembered Jack Antonoff casually dropped this little darling in November. listen, I like Jack Antonoff, but I'm also very tired of him producing samey sounding songs for himself and every pop woman in the industry over and over. the actual new Bleachers album that dropped this year, Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night, was perfectly competent but utterly forgettable; I listened to it once and then never again because I've heard other Bleachers albums and that's basically the same as hearing Take the Sadness Out. HOWEVER. I am a sucker for a good live album, and this a good live album that makes for real easy listening. thanks, Jack.

9. Stand For Myself - Yola

truly every day I thank god and the sweet baby jesus that I got over the "no rap no country" part of my life, the musical equivalent of finding out that vegetables are good, actually, and your parents just didn't know how to cook. Yola's packing a gorgeously rich and expressive voice that I jut want to put on loop for hours so I can Feel Things.

8. DEACON - serpentwithfeet

DEACON has slipped in JUST IN TIME to make this list, and the only thing I regret is not loving it sooner. the vibes are immaculate all the way through, a soulful celebration of serpentwithfeet's love of men and love and loving men. you'd have to be heartless not to groove with this.

7. lately I feel EVERYTHING - WILLOW

as soon as Willow dropped the first single for this album I knew we were in for an EXPERIENCE. a punky and eclectic departure from Willow's previous psychedelic earth mommy music - and packed with some truly surprising and well-played guests - lately I feel EVERYTHING somehow got more rewarding with every listen. Willow has made some extremely promising moves with her music in the past couple years, and I for one am delighted to see what comes next.

6. Hot Winter - Jo Rodriguez

my most unexpected love of the year, a bandcamp darling from an artist with a whopping 27 monthly listeners on spotify. it was one of many albums recommended to me by a dear friend who listens almost exclusively to unlistenable bands who only play gigs in grocery store parking lots at 3 in the morning while dressed as pirates, and I was shocked by how much I actually dug it.

5. A Southern Gothic - Adia Victoria

this album is absolutely everything the name implies and then some, folksy and yearning and a little bit witchy and deeply, deeply in love with the South. from the very first note I knew it was going to be good, and I wasn't ever disappointed. my favorite album of the year for gray skies and cozy days.

4. star-crossed - Kacey Musgraves

Miss Musgraves I'm deeply sorry for whatever happened that led to you getting divorced - or I'm happy for you? I don't know anything about your personal life and I'm not going to learn, because I don't want to and it's none of my business. but I do really appreciate you spinning the experience into this flawless country pop album, which I like more and more each time I listen.

3. Ruin - The Amazing Devil

an unexpected release that won my heart at once. I've loved everything The Amazing Devil have ever put out, probably because their music sounds like the soundtrack to a version of my life where I find a portal and run away to fight monsters with a sword. and now they also have a song to perfectly capture the feeling of sitting at home in quarantine for a year trying to figure out the fuck you're meant to be doing with your life - thanks, Drinking Song for the Socially Anxious!

2. Sometimes I Might Be Introvert - Little Simz

if you want a full album experience (which I do, always) you're not going to be able to get much better than Little Simz. her album GREY Area topped my 2019 list, and reader? Sometimes I Might Be Introvert is MILES better than GREY Area. listening to this album feels like taking a stroll through an impeccably curated gallery, every second of the experience calibrated for maximum artistry without ever feeling overbearing or contrived. Little Simz was also in Venom 2, if that sweetens the pot for anybody.

1. MONTERO - Lil Nas X.

yeah, Montero wasn't going to budge an inch when I redid this list. it managed to live up to an impossible amount of hype and then some, cementing Lil Nas X as more than just a style icon or a top tier shitposter. he's also an extremely gifted, driven, and ambitious musician who serves as his own muse, crafting his image and experience to tremendous effect. he's a genius he's the moment he's the future etc etc. long may he reign.

#batmanisagatewaydrug's funky jams

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silverthetheorist · 3 years

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The end of L’manburg was disappointing (and why rollercoasters and fun)

I really wanted to like this war. I really did. And I did like many things (Which I will go through don't worry) but... Look, the event was not bad by any means. But this is the first big event that I can say was mediocre at worst and good at best. A solid 6/10 maybe (All other story arcs and events are from a 8/10 to 10/10), specially after the marvelous festival from yesterday. So let’s see first the things that worked:

- FUNDY AND NICKY POPPED OFF. Them destroying the provisions before the start was great because it did not only made sense for their (Very tired of being sidelined and very tired of L’manberg’s bullshit) but it also had plot repercussion. In a story, for an action to be significant it has to have two things going for it: An emotional repercussion and a plot repercussion. This had both: Two og L’manburgian giving up on their nation and causing the L’maburg forces to be under-and I can’t stress this enough- very under prepared. In Eret’s case it is a lot harder to justify because her arc was never very consistent as I have said before.

-The villains were very smart and intimidating. First the chose to attack L’manberg the day after the festival giving them little to no time to prepare. Second, they attacked earlier and devised a plan to cause the most destruction possible. Dream and Techno are many times smarter than many movie villains.

-Tommy exposed Techno for the hypocrite and selfish pig he is. Good for him.

-Anything Ranboo does is gold of course. But, I think joining Phil is a bit of an iffy decision. For someone who doesn’t choose sides he surely chose the one that caused the most destruction and pain for all of his other friends. He is probably one of the most exciting people to watch in the future

-Tubbo jumping in front of Techno’s blast to protect Tommy (I do not want Tubbo to die because he is probs my favorite but that would have been a cool canon death). Tommy asking about Tubbo every 5 seconds. Both apologizing to each other and reuniting finally. Tubbo looking at everything he had built being destroyed, completely speechless. Tommy and Tubbo meeting Dream in the obsidian thing over L’manber. It had a weird final boss feel to it. I wish something had happened between the three there. Maybe a short fight or something. It was still cool.

So, yeah. There is a lot to like about the event. Now I have three main problems with this event:

My first problem is that it all felt a bit... pointless. This reminded me a lot of the movie Captain America: Civil War. It was a great movie, but it did not have almost any consequences. In today’s event L’MANBURG WAS DESTROYED FOR GOOD THIS TIME and... it doesn’t feel like anything has changed at all. Tommy is still on about the disks even after everything he’s been through. Quackity is still... honestly I never know what is going on with him. Techno and Phil are still assholes and have all the power along with Dream. The badlands still haven’t done a thing (A shame). You can say that Wilbur is going to be revived, and yes that is pretty big, but he has been alive before (I actually love that he is being resurrected surprisingly, I’ll talk about it later). You can also say that L’manburg is gone now but... was it really there ever since Tommy was exiled considering everyone basically left?

It feels like we could have skipped everything after Wilbur blew L’manberg and everything would be the same. Like everything in between did not matter. Think of it, is there any major differences (Besides minor character changes) between the end of the Manberg vs Pogtopia war and now? Probably not many. This goes back to what I said in my first post: History is repeating itself a little to much. Another exile, another festival, another execution, another time L’manburg is destroyed. At least there is not going to be another election anytime soon.

I think Tommy’s line to Techno that “You are repeating history but worse” is very ironic. The idea that history repeat itself is tempting and, when done efficiently can be amazing, but this was not the case. I cannot blame theme though, a “history repeats itself” story is very hard to write without feeling like you are repeating yourself. But they were so close. The Schlatt/Wilbur and Tommy/Tubbo parallels are a great example of it because it had the two things that a “History Repeats itself” plot needs: A new emotional background (The Tubbo/Tommy friendship breaking) and a final change (When both decide not to become like their predecessor). That’s right. You can argue that this war had a different emotional background but the end result was the seem. This type of stories are only satisfying if we see the change at the end, imagine how great it would have been if they managed to resolve their differences and truly unite against Dream and stop L’manburg from blowing up.

That is my second problem. I am not against the idea of L’manburg ending for good. But it happened at a very random part of the story. L’manburg, the place that started it all perished because a pig felt betrayed by a friend and Dream was being his usual self. Compare this to the last time it blew up: A fallen hero destroying what he built because he wouldn’t let anyone else have it. It just doesn’t compare. And honestly, we are mostly sad that it is gone because of the first war, the election and the manberg vs pogtopia arcs. If the end goal of three months of storytelling is to destroy L’manburg, why did they spend three months showing how shitty it has become and how everyone left? This last point sections nicely to my last problem

My third and final problem is that it all seems a little samey. Now listen to me on this one. Do you know why the Deadpool movies are so effective at making you laugh? Because it mixes dramatic moments with comedy very well, each dramatic moment elevates the next joke and vice versa. It is also why Tommy’s lore streams are so good, when you juxtapose both drama and comedy it works very well. Like a rollercoaster, the fun comes from all the ups and downs. But can you truly say there were any up moments since the manberg vs pogtopia war. Not really, maybe some but nowhere new as good as the up moments in previous arcs and nowhere near as present. That is why this past three months feel very samey. It has been just constant dread and sadness with very few good moments storywise. Compare this to before when Wilbur was the main writer: Eret betrayed everyone and Dream blew up some of L’manberg, but they won the war and got their independence. Pog 2020 lost the election but Techno joined them and most people were secretly helping from the shadows. They got back L’manburg from Schlatt but Wilbur and Techno betrayed them. See how it has a great mixtures of ups and downs? Today’s event would have benefited from at least one ray of sunshine at the end, maybe a new piece of information returns, or Tommy and Tubbo have a final talk and resolver everything, or something nice for a change. (Wilbur being resurrected does not count, he traumatised everyone, I would not say that is a very happy thing, more of a mixed bag)

But I don’t want come off as too negative. But now I am being cautious of the storyline. I think the next couple of stream are going to be key. There is still hope that some of these problems will be addressed. Even if they are not, the story will have suffered it’s first big dud (Which is a testament to how good and capable everyone is of telling a great story).

PS: English not my first language. You know the drill. I am once again not sending hate to anyone ever. There is nothing wrong with criticizing what you love, I think it is kind of necessary in a weird way.

PS2: I also have hope because I believe that Wilbur is coming back as a writer. On a stream (When he saw Matpat’s theory) he said the was “not currently writing the story” which I found as very suspicious wording. That and Alivebur returning I think makes a pretty compelling case for his return as a writer, I don’t see him as the type of guy that would just return so that someone else would write his character. On another note I hope the current writer don’t feel pressured to follow Matpat’s theory just because he is a big youtuber. While not a bad theory by all means (As soon as Ghostbur said he wanted to be alive my first thought was Quackity and Schlatt) but I would prefer it if they were not manipulated by outside sources to make the story a certain way.

PS3: I have other things I would like to cover. Mainly, I have three ideas for future essays: an analysis of the medium the smp storyline is being made and why it is harmful to it’s story (Specifically it’s eventual ending), a study of how Ranboo’s philosophy causes more harm than good and a “What if” essay of how many road the smp could have taken with it’s story after the manberg vs pogtopia war. I will probably do all three of them eventually but if anyone wants a specific one I can do it no problem. Also, if anyone wants to interact or give their opinions or criticize my ideas you are more than welcome to. I have no friends who are into mcyt and I love the back and forward of different opinions and ideas.

#tommyinnit #tubbo #ranboo #quackity #wilbur soot #wilbur #dream smp #dream #fundy #nicky #nihachu #philza #techno #technoblade #mcyt #eret #ghostbur #l'manberg #l'manburg #SapNap

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thetenthdimension · 2 years

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Mixtape Tips (I Live in the Past)

Why even bother with CD mixtapes these days when you have spotify? Well, you have total freedom to do what you like with them. You can make edits, insert skits and quotes, remix, anything you like. Also, Neil Young can take his music off Spotify, but it’s much more difficult for him to take your CDs away from you. I also go on holiday a lot to rural areas with no phone signal, so some physical media which isn’t taking up storage space on my phone is always a plus. I use CDburnerXP to make my discs.

Opening Sting

I always like to begin with something that gives the tape a bit of personality. If it’s a parody or comment on something people recognise, then all the better, as it helps them connect with it. It also makes it clear off the bat you’ve put some effort in.

Big intro

Always start with a big, thesis song. Then, abig second song or slight twist second song. Take it down slightly, if appropriate, for the third.

People’s attention span is 15-20 minutes

I try and keep in mind that most people will get bored after 15-20 minutes of the same thing. So therefore, I organise each part of the tape into batches of 3-5 songs, each of which have their own little structure to them, with rises and falls. That way, you avoid anything getting too samey.

Make sure no small cutaways are shorter than ten seconds

I always like putting audio snippets from films, TV shows, live shows, anything in there. However, my hard work tends to fall by the wayside a little if people aren’t paying attention. Try and keep that in mind when you’re being clever.

Balancing known Vs unknown

People like songs they’ve heard before, and won’t have too much patience for that record you pulled out the basement. But if you’re just putting in the same old stuff they’ve already heard you’ll get bored and they’ll think you’re basic. Strike a balance. I try and make sure every 3-4 songs, there’s a surefire hit.

Three minutes is a really long time for a joke song

It might be funny in your heard to put Baby by Justin Bieber into your heavy metal tape, and it is for the first 30 seconds. Then people realise they have to listen to the whole thing and glaze over, and you start to regret it. Just put a 30 second clip in there if you must, it makes the point just as well.

If you have a cover don't make it one that'll make people want to listen to the original

People have instant access to music. If you put something in there that makes people think “oh, I really want to listen to SONG B now”, then they just can. Scum.

Look up similar playlists online and see if you've missed anything

Do your research.

Check for radio edits/live versions

A lot of the time, a radio edit is just as good but shorter, which allows time for other stuff. But be wary of cutting down people’s favourites, and slicing Pink Floyd songs into pieces. Also, sometimes an epic song becomes more epic live.

Check intros/outs to make sure you have good transitions

3 piece ender

I always like to do the ends of my tapes in a set of three. I feel it gives it a sense of a climactic set piece.

Twist/joke or obvious song ending

Usually I’ll go for the big, obvious song to end on, a crowd pleaser that lets everyone know that this is the end, and hopefully they’ll feel they’ve had their fill. Also, a twist at the end can be good.

The first one I’m going to be covering in detail is my most recent, it’s called “Drag Hype Mix”. I’m not sure who else is going to be on Tumblr in 2022 reading about how to make CDs.

Don we now our gay apparal: This is a mashup of Pentatonix’s “Deck The Halls”. It starts with the buildup as though it would go into the first proper line, but then it just has the lyric “don we now our gay apparal”. Big buildup to a joke.

Cheap Thrills: Following on from the opening sting, a song about prettying up and going out.

I’m Beautiful: A Bette Midler deep cut, live version. I’m going obscure early, because it starts with such a big and obvious song.

Pimenta: A song by a brazilian, in Portuguese. For a friend.

You Got The Love: The original version. The synths fit better into the mix and the FatM version is on another mix.

Let the Music Play: This is a disco song called “let the music play”, but in the final chorus, I mixed in RuPaul shouting “let the music play!” in keeping with the theme.

212: In an interview, Azalea said she specifically makes music for gay people, and this is her biggest song. I could have included the clip but the nuances would just get lost in the room. It also slaps, meaning it works well after the Ru shouting buildup, which comes at the end of that song.

Attention to Me: After a RuPaul song, and a song screaming about how much this girl wants her pussy ate, it was time to bring it down.

Born to Be Alive: Didn’t want it down for too long.

Big Iron Synthwave: This is a synthwave cover of Big Iron I found. I could have included the original, but I’m trying to keep the energy going a bit, and it helps it mesh into everything a bit. Big Iron is on here because the trans folk love Fallout: New Vegas, so it needs to be on here.

Chain Gang: This is a real obscure one. It’s a doowop song about being part of a chain gang and goes “that’s the sound of the men/working on the chain gang”. Big Iron set the scene for it.

Coming Round the Mountain: This comes from a TV show, and has Daniel Radcliffe essentially performing a drag version of this country classic. After the obscure one, you need something recognisable. We’re still in the country/old timey section of the tape. So much glamboyant music is supposed to sound flashy and new that I wanted some hint of the olden days just to segment things.

March of the Black Queen: Again, we’re breaking things up, but bringing it back slowly. This one is here for the classic rock lovers after all that other stuff.

Mamma Mia: Crowd pleaser. Originally, between this and MotBQ I had a cabaret song called Das Lila Lied, which was a performance of the first LGBT song, dating back to Germany in the 1920s. Berlin/Germany is so notoriously within the gay scene I wanted something german, and I found this. But it just didn’t fit and I couldn’t pretend it did. I stuck it after MotBQ so it kinda meshed, then I stuck in a crowd pleaser afterwards to sugar the pill too. But Mamma Mia and MotBQ work back to back, both are 70s.

Jaja Ding Dong: Mamma Mia was the first proper Eurovision song, so we follow it with a Eurovision homage. I couldn’t fit this one on my Eurovision mix but I wanted it in my CD case.

Black Magic: ALL THE GIRLS ON THE BLOCK KNOCKING AT MY DOOR is a good, shouty opener to bring us back to reality and the next section of the tape.

Straight Up: Notorious drag race lip sync, I added in some audio from the lip sync itself into the song to live up to the Drag Hype name.

Bang Bang (my baby shot me down) - Scarlet Envy: I spent forever in 2019 going through tonnes and tonnes of covers of this song, knowing in my heart there was a hyperbolic gay cover of it. There was. Ramping up the drag aspect.

Girados: Big song in South America. Obscure but instant. I like to have a curveball near the end just to stop things being too predictable.

Montero: We’re about to go into the final stretch, so it’s important to try and get the room on side a bit before going into two obscure but fitting songs.

Bimbo Doll: It’s this psychotic, absurdly graphic spiritual successor to Barbie Girl by Aqua. I was originally gonna have Barbie Girl here but I had it on another tape, then I found this.

Hi, I'm Tila! Life's full of glitter/Giving up my ego raises my libido/My bag is Gucci/To match my perfect coochie/Glamour is my hobby/F*ck my pornstar body

The character aspect of this is also in keeping with the tape’s purpose. By this time, everyone would be drunk as hell and get into this.

Goth Girl: I was doing a yin/yang thing here. I really wondered whether to have pink or black in front. In the end, I figured Bimbo into Just Wanna was too similar so the finale wouldn’t quite pack the punch, but also, I figured it just made sense this way round in my gut.

Girls just wanna have fun: Big, crowd pleasing ender.

The second is “Barn Dance, Pardner”. I made this specifically for me and my friends, but it was a request of one specific friend who loves this type of music. I shall contrast the previous one in many, many ways.

Thank God I’m a Country Boy: It starts with a good opener thesis. John Denver shouts/sings to the crowd

Well life on the farm is kinda laid back/Ain't much an old country boy like me can't hack/It's early to rise, early in the sack/I thank God I'm a country boy

It’s both an opening song AND an opening sting.

Galway Girl: This is a Steve Earle song, really popular before Ed Sheeran kicked it out of all search results forever. My friends all like this song. However, the issue is that anyone who hasn’t heard this song would end up with an itching for the Ed version.

In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company: Taking it a little slower and stripped back for the third track, but with a good, whistling, finger clicking tune to it.

Head Over Boots: First obscure song. Pretty instant.

Day of My Return: but coming out of the obscurity pretty quick for a song me and my friends love. Prominent fiddle

Riverdance: an instrumental that builds and builds to a great climax. I tend to avoid instrumentals where possible, but this is a pretty famous one, and it’s very good. It’s also great fiddle music, which a barn dance playlist needs. Also, it meshes nicely with DomR.

Footloose (Blake Shelton): a good cover that fits the theme. After the instrumental, you need a crowd pleaser. This is a recognisable song and also a stormer.

Chicken Fried: Friend loves this song. It’s also a massive one, with 100m youtube plays.

Devil’s Dance Floor: God I regret putting this pile of garbage in here. It was big on youtube and it has electric guitars, so I thought everyone else might like it, and it would act as a climax to the buildup since riverdance. Instead, it was a miserable failure.

Yellow Rose of Texas: stripped back, simple Elvis song. This was one I wanted in there because I love this song to pieces, and it works.

Hills of Donegal: down and back up, to a fast paced song my friends like.

Dust in a Baggie: after the friend crowd pleaser, this fast paced but obscure song fits neatly in. It also features a refrain about “twenty long years for some dust in a baggie” that makes it easy to latch onto.

Cotton Fields: stripped back simple song, a bit like YRoT. Another song I love to pieces.

I wanna be in the Cavalry: another stripped back song, but this has a marching band playing a snare to give it a bit more of a kick.

Ring of Fire: after Dust/Cotton/Cavalry all being obscure, a crowd pleaser, but in a similar musical vein. Easy to have some low key songs in a row when they lead up to a crowd pleaser. I also like to dip in and out of the low key ones, then have a properly low key section later on.

Down at the Twist and Shout: a request by the friend, and a stormer after the low key songs.

Achy Breaky Heart: I don’t care, it’s amazing, and Billy Ray is amazing. Another stormer after DatTaS.

Country Girl shake it for me: a sleazy, upbeat, obscure song, to counteract the dumbass, upbeat, popular song everyone just hated.

Islands in the Stream: taking it down for the final three.

Take Me Home: still taking it down, but with a great singalong. Could have ended it here.

Wagon Wheel: this is the proper ending, a song me and my friends all adore to pieces. I’ve ended it with low key songs, but ones which are proper singalong anthems. Two of them in a row really kick ass for a spectacular end.

Key and Peele - Country Music: A joke twist ending after all that soppy stuff. It’s also a sort of Easter Egg to the friend who requested it, who first showed me that sketch, and loves country music.

This next one is Theatre Darliing. I did four of these, called Theatre Darling, Theatre Darliing, Theatre Darliiing, and Theatre Darlivng. The idea being that these are all songs that could be in a musical, and have a singalong/dance feel to them.

Song of the Lonely Mountain: This is a cover by a youtuber named Peter Hollens. I love the atmosphere of the Neil Finn version at the end of the first hobbit film, but I Finn does it far too high and soft. After tonnes of searching, I found this guy who does it more like Thoren does in the film. It resonates with my friend group somewhat because we all like it and have sung it together, and also, it’s a striking intro. It also starts with a masculine song, which as we see as we go on, I was trying to balance the masculine/feminine songs a lot here.

Heaven is a place on earth: this could have been the opener, with it’s explosive start. This is why it’s in the second position, those who haven’t been immediately won over will see this as the real opener.

Diamonds and Rust: After two big epic songs, taking it down.

Bend and Snap: from the legally blonde musical. There had to be some musical representation. It also serves as a counterpoint to the masc opener.

The Longest Time: This is actually a mashup, including the bit in How I Met Your Mother where multiple Ted and Barneys sing it together, into the main song. This is taking it down a bit after B&S. Starting it with a sitcom moment also leads it on nicely from the musical number.

Lady of the Night: An obscure song that’s got a great 80s metal cheese to it.

Mean Green Mother from Outspace: From Little Shop of Horrors. Staying stupid and fun.

Wish I Had An Angel: More intense and serious now. We’ve moved onto the next bit.

It’s My Life: Carrying on serious and intense

Ziggy Stardust: Still serious, less intense.

All That Jazz: After Bowie, we had a lead into a full out glam cabaret number

Rumour Has It: A more modern cabaret-style number

Take me to Church: The culmination of the serious part of the mix

Living Next Door to Alice: Not a massive change of tempo, but it is a dumb glam song that people swear loudly to when they sing it. Taking away the seriousness a bit, but not too much, considering what’s coming up.

Somewhere over the Rainbow: Tempo even lower. Back to serious after a bit of relief. I feel this gives it a bit more punch.

Drumming song: Florence gives this some gravitas and majesty, after the stripped down uke song.

Seven Seas of Rhye: FaTM allows us back to the big soundscapes of glam

Babooshka: building on the previous

The Sound of Silence: A big, dramatic ender

Gimme Gimme Gimme: I love Brian David Gilbert. Each of the Theatre Darling tapes end with BDG covering ABBA, since he is the greatest Theatre Darling. This is the twist ender.

Here is No Butch Zone! I include the timecodes on this one because they’re relevant to the story. (Note - I’m updating this in December 2023. The original post is from July 2022. I have posted nothing in the meantime and this is far from my first update. This appears to me my passion project). This mixtape is my “soft girl” mixtape.

Cardigan - Taylor Swift: It’s not the first song on Folklore, but it was the first single from that album cycle, so to me, it feels like the first song. It’s also a big song to start it off. I’m expecting this playlist to be chosen mostly by queer people so obviously they’d love this. It also starts with some clacking noises into a piano, which adds a bit of mysterious buildup.

All Shook Up - Avila: This is a cover of a popular song, done in the soft girl style. This should win you people over.

October Passed Me By - Girl in Red: During my research, GIR was a popular “soft girl” band, so I wanted this near the top. Also, did I mention the queer people thing? Blush - Wolf Alice: One of the softest songs on here. However, it’s also more synthy towards the end. So that helped me select the next song.

The Trip - Still Corners: Eagle-eyed nerds will notice this song is shorter than the original. I felt this song was too long, and the last 90 seconds-ish has no soft girls in it. So I cut it down, fading it out towards the end. Since this song fades anyway, this wasn’t a massive deal. However, I kept in the bit where most of the instruments cut out, and some of the soaring synth lines, because if you’re a fan of the song, you would notice if they were gone.

Dancing in the Dark - Lucy Dacus: This is a faster and more energetic song, which is good to follow The Trip. Also, another cover, to allow the straights to follow along and not get too bored.

Cool About It - Boygenius: I debated putting two Lucy Dacus projects together, but I decided that it was probably fine since they’re very different songs, and it will allows nerds to feel smart when they announce loudly that Lucy Dacus was in Boygenius, even though everyone already knows. It also brings it down a bit after DitD.

Linger - The Cranberries: It’s been a while since a big song was done in the original style. We’re also building up a bit here.

Indigo - Kississipi: This is there because I love this song to pieces, and to allow a bit of boys-are-pretty representation in there as well, considering the amount of gay. I put this before the big indie song, because it’s also an indie song.

There is a Light that Never Goes Out - Dum Dum Girls: This is the obvious midpoint song, to me. It’s there to stick a big stirring of the pot in the middle to stop everything getting boring. It’s energetic and cool. It also continues the theme of cute girl covers of boy songs.

Elastic Heart - Sia: It’s a big song, but it’s also functionally there because it continues the stirring of the pot. I figured of her big songs, this was the most soft girl.

Home to Newfoundland - Evelyn Jess: So many of the songs I wanted in here were country songs. This serves as a crash down to Earth, and it’s also got a bit of tempo to it so it doesn’t feel like too much of a dramatic switch in tone and pace.

Take These Chains from my Heart - Roseanne Cash: Continuing the cover theme. This is also REALLY slow and gentle, so bringing it down another notch.

Dogsong - The Be Good Tanyas: The BGTs were one of the reasons behind making this playlist. God, I love them so much. An extremely soft and quiet song.

Gold - Trixie Mattel: A great country song by a biological woman that picks up the pace a little again.

Love You For a Long Time - Maggie Rogers: We’re still in the country zone. Still picking it up. It’s also less minimalist, so we’re adding layers.

Light Enough to Travel - The Be Good Tanyas: Here to increase the pace again.

Meet in the Middle - Daisy Chute: Ending my beloved country portion with an obscure favourite of mine. It’s bringing the tempo down, but it’s got a fair amount of instrumentation, which will be important as we go on.

The Kraken - Katie Dey: Almost as obscure unless you’re a total dweeb who loves video game essayists or victorian poetry. But extremely slow and gentle, but with loads of vocal processing. It’s also short, and a kinda cool song.

Mo Ghra Thu - Jessica Brett: Still obscure, soz. But extremely slow and pretty. Tonnes of reverb on the voice.

Hotline Bling - Billie Eilish: Aaaaand a really popular song. This is the ending to the covers theme. A girl covering a “rap” song on a ukelele. I was considering ending on this, but then I realised the better ender would be the song below.

My Immortal (Band Version) - Evanescence: It starts slow and solo, then builds up to a full rock band. Then it ends with a few bars of just Amy on her own. A great ender, taking the theme so far, running with it, but giving it some dramatic bite towards the end.

Some others: Gay Dungeon Synth Take II

Rainbow Boogie Explosion

And the one I made specifically for myself

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lemonietrinket · 4 years

Text

How Day6 would react to your fears of being in a relationship for the first time

an: so sorry that it’s late :(( i feel like they are too samey but i tried :(((

all members below the cut

~~~

Sungjin

would want to earnestly reassure you that the same thing would never happen with you and him

words aren’t really his strongest suite however

he understands your perspective though

like a lot

relationships are very important to him, and he’s only ever in them for the long run

he wouldn’t be able to cope with all of that happening in a relationship of his, so he’s always very careful when it comes to starting one

telling him of your worries would likely prompt this out of him (he won’t really mention it otherwise)

and so at first, he would pull away from you a bit, to offer you space

nodding to what you say and then say nothing more really that “i understand” during the original conversation

and then a couple of days later, once he’s gotten his thoughts and feelings together, he’d come back and carefully try his best to explain how he feels the two of you are both on the same page

hearing that you share the fear doesn’t automatically mean everything will go perfectly between you in the future, but it does mean neither of you are alone

it offers comfort knowing that you have more in common than you perhaps originally thought, as well as that you don’t have to face that on your own

overall, he gets you

will take a bit of time before helping you, but that’s because he has to get his own thoughts together

if you mean the world to him though which you truly will do, then he’ll help you no matter what

Jae

once you open up about your feelings, he would go quiet

would gently assure you that he would never do what the other guy did to you

and that the two of you would never turn out like your parents

he would try to softly lighten the mood by prodding a small joke at himself as proof as to why

“you think i could ever hide that much? i spill every secret anyone ever tells me to you. well and dowoon but that’s called ‘strengthening the family bond’, you know?”

otherwise he wouldn’t know what else to do

if your confession really took a toll on you, he would want to hold you

but he also is very worried that doing so would hurt you more

he just wants you to be happy

and so he’ll probably settle for holding your hands, giving them a reassuring squeeze whenever the moment called for it

he’d take things as slow as you needed them to, and would check if you’re alright with pretty much anything he can think of on the top of his head that you might struggle with

and he’s not perfect with it, it’s been a while since his first relationship and i think his relationship nerves won’t kick in until much later

when the probability of you two being like Properly Official becomes certainty and the reality hits him

but i think he’ll admit that once he’s made a mistake or two

because overall he’s a conscientious person

and so, i think he’d handle it well, and try his best to help you get over your fears

Younghyun

ill be honest, i think he might actually be a little bit hurt that you would think that he would do the same thing as the other guy

he knows he’d never do that, and though he can get quite passionate in the moment, he’d never let it ever get that far

he was sure you were the one for him too, so those moments would surely be really rare

he would never mention this though

and it’s just as well as he would realise how wrong he was after a couple of minutes and hearing the full truth as to why

because it would occur to him that it wasn’t something aimed at him, but rather something rational that you had developed to keep you safe

he’d instantly feel guilty

and i think he’s confident enough to straight up ask you what you think is best that the two of you do

if you want to enter the relationship then he’ll double check what you’re ok

if you want to continue as you are, he will follow your wishes 100%

and if you don’t really know, then he’ll promise to take it slow, and that you can test tags and labels whenever you like

he is a dynamic guy so that means he’s more in the moment with things

but this is why the main thing he focuses on is making it extra clear that you can tell him to stop at any time, he won’t take it personally

he’d learn from his mistake pretty damn quick

trust in mr kang my loves, i’m sure he’ll do a good job

Wonpil

now this bub is tactile

so when he hears what you went through his immediate reaction will be to offer you comfort

and that does come in physical form with him i’m sorry

so it’s quite likely you’ll end up with an arm around you at least

if you tell him to please give you space then he will immediately do as you request

and will wait ‘til you give him the ok again

even though he wishes to do more for you and make all the past pain go away, and not being able to hug you makes him feel like he’s not doing enough, he will not say a word about it

he’s not dumb and after finding out it makes you feel worse he would curb his affection until he knew it was clear

your fears are more important than his mild discomfort

and he’s also a very good listener, so he will take in what you say

he will remember details, and will know what to be careful of in the future (he just struggles with keep his hugs to himself you get me?)

he will really want to be in a relationship with you, and taking things slowly is not a qualm with him, but rather a thing he enjoys

the two of you have all the time in the world after all

and though he doesn’t entirely get it himself, he would try to empathise as much as possible to help you through

overall, a babe who will be able to handle whatever you need him to do, but may struggle with toning down the physical comfort

Dowoon

he is a sweet young bub

and as much as he probably has every person he’s ever met at his feet i know i am i don’t think he’s had a lot of experience

either way he’d be so afraid to overstep your boundaries he wouldn’t know really what to do

he would wait to see what you preferred and let you take the lead without blatantly asking

and oddly, despite his fears, he’s pretty good at working out what you want

king of small gestures that mean a lot

he wouldn’t take your worries personally, he gets holding back as he’s done it a lot over the years

he would rather prove via actions that he won’t turn out the same way

as words don’t always work

and so he would pay as much attention as he possibly can to the things that upset you about your previous relationship and what stressed you out about your parents

and so he’d do things like

make sure to let you know in advance if he would find it tough to message like he usually does that day

and only make plans that he’s certain he can keep

he’s already a quieter person but he would be careful to not raise his voice at his video games

in conclusion, he’s a very conscientious, sweet person and will be

~~~

Masterlist

#day6 #day6 fluff #day6 angst #day6 x reader #day6 x reader fluff #day6 x reader angst #day6 reactions #day6 angst reactions #day6 scenarios #day6 fluff scenarios #day6 angst scenarios

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official-michael-afton · 4 years

Photo

Made a tier list of FNaF media!!! Not counting the activity book or the security survival log because those don’t really add anything, they’re just neat activities or summaries of game info

I explained the choices under the cut, equal parts personal bias and objective opinion, so if you think differently then hey, good on ya!

Going down to up XD

The Silver Eyes Graphic Novel: Do I even need to explain this one? Rushed art with countless mistakes, horrid coloring, samey designs, the important scenes come off as bland and even goofy instead of impactful. It’s clear Pinky wasn’t used to drawing humans, the colorist had no idea what they were doing, and no one on the team made a graphic novel before. It’s laughable how bad this was XD

The Fourth Closet: Does anyone really know what happened at the end? I... really don’t like what they did with Charlie in this one. I don’t like how William was able to get out of his Springtrap- it was SUPPOSED to trap him, and yet he just... is out of it... I think the whole thing with Baby being like this hot clown girl instead of what she is in Sister Location is very... ... it exists... Tbh I respect the bold direction it took, but I honestly felt it was too much of a stretch and just didn’t work.

FNaF AR, Special Delivery: Not bad! The character models and voice acting is where the game shines most. Other than that, there isn’t really much substantial to the game other than some lore with Vanny/Ness and Luis. The gameplay can get frustrating sometimes(I cant collect remnant, read my mail, or even work on my own animatronics without DING DONG SOMEONES HERE every 5 seconds), and all you do is spin in a circle until you get glitchy, look away if they get glitchy, or zap them when they run at you. Some people probably love this game and good on them for that, but I find myself not touching it for weeks at a time.

Freddy In Space 2: GREAT game for charity, great art, great music! ... That’s all it has going for it, though. It was clear that this was a quickly made game designed to be beaten in one sitting, and it did exactly what it needed to do! Other than being amazing how it was for charity, the game doesn’t have that much going for it(except introducing Lolzhax aka BEST ROBO), so overall not bad but also did almost nothing outside of being for the Charity Livestream XD

Fazbear Frights, Into The Pit: Again, not bad! A nice collection of short stories, almost like goofy campfire horror you’d tell to kids... like goosebumps! I felt each story was REALLY lacking in some areas, but I liked the general idea they were going for. That being said, they’re moreso neat scary stories with the name FNaF attached than anything else(except maybe the first of the three). It hints that they have an overarching plot that will be covered in future books, but as of right now, I feel no one’s missing out by not reading them.

FNaF 3: A satisfying end to the original trilogy story! Purple Guy gets justice, everything gets tied together with a neat bow, and the first arc in the series comes to an end. Also Springtrap, aka my favorite. This game is riddled with neat 8-bit minigames and bits of lore, but the gameplay itself is where I find it not as good as the S A and B tiers. The new setup with the system reboots are def really interesting, but other than that, each night is just... the same thing but harder. Most other games introduce different characters on different difficulties per night, but since Springtrap is the only deadly one, it’s just... him more aggressive each night and systems failing more often. Makes the gameplay pretty repetitive and frustrating after Night 3 or so.

FNaF 4: The beginning of what I like to call the Afton saga(4, SL, FFPS, UCN)! This is when the lore began to get REALLY good... and also really confusing. Props for it taking such a bold direction by taking place in a child’s bedroom instead of in an office with cameras, its a neat change of pace! That being said, the gameplay can get frustrating and there’s a high learning curve for needing to listen to each sound the anmatronics make. Also lore wise... there really isn’t much! Just mainly focuses on what happened to this poor kid. Also the box still being a loose end... yeah.

The Twisted Ones: I enjoyed this one! It had a very interesting direction that kinda kept me guessing on what was going on, and this is when Scott really started nailing in the foreshadowing for the reveal in TFC. The Twisted animatronics are SO cool, and the introduction of those little alteration chips provided new context to games like 4 and SL! That being said, I don’t remember it being... that memorable? I also didn’t like how Charlie’s and John’s relationship was... so awkward... It was neat, but honestly nothing to really go crazy over, in my opinion.

The Silver Eyes: Honestly, I adored this book when I read it back in 2016, before Sister Location happened. At the time I wasn’t trying to connect it to any lore, so it was really great just to see a sort of retelling of the FNaF story. A lot of people complained about how long it was... I might agree if I reread it but tbh it never bothered me before. It was delightfully creepy, yet had a simple plot and wasn’t NEARLY as out there as TTO and TFC. Especially TFC. I felt this book didnt need 2 sequels and would’ve been just fine on its own, but whatcha gonna do. Carlton is forever my fav, and it’s the first time we really learn about Henry AND it was the first time we got a name for our Purple Guy: William Afton!

Sister Location: I like this one for just how bold of a game it was. I’m also including SL’s Custom Night wrapped into this package. Jam packed with lore, our first (main) game with VOICE ACTING, and honestly the humor has no right being as good as it is. I love how this not only expanded on the crying child from 4′s story, but also gives us so much Elizabeth and Michael content. The gameplay has a lot of unbalanced features and feels a little too over the place at times, but I appreciate where it was going with it!

FNaF World: ... This one is pure personal bias. A lot of people don’t like it. I adore it. Honestly I love the cute overworld, I love beating up enemies as my favorite animatronics, I love the horror, nihilism, and lore shoved into this game alongside SO MUCH humor. Update 2 was nothing short of an absolute delight and... wait, no!!! FNaF World had our first voice acting!!! So many endings and nods to other games Scott’s made, a cool scene with Desk Man/Henry and Baby, just... muah. Good content. Also Scott 57 <3

Ultimate Custom Night: Name a better way to end the Afton Saga, I’ll wait. It’s so obvious how much time, thought, and care went into this one. I love how the game rewards you with funny cutscenes the higher scores you get, and I just! So much voice acting! I love how each preset- no, each character has their own moves so every time you do a certain mode, you need to learn to manage them all and get a good strategy. I like how it’s way more strategy and skill than the RNG that many previous games had. Also, Scott!!! You managed to put this into the LORE by making it William’s hell, MUAH, couldnt have done it better!!!

FNaF 2: This one might have bias for being the peak of the fandom, but it was one of the greatest times to be in that fandom. Freaking out over the trailers, theories galore, prequel vs sequel, and just... so good. 1 didn’t have much plot, 2 DID. 2 had more mechanics and strategy to it than 1, and gave us over twice as many characters! We finally got a “face” to our killer, Mr. Purple Man, and how could I ever complain about more Phone Guy~? This one also introduced the 8-bit minigames, which became a HUGE staple for the series! Perfect expansion of the first!

Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator: The PERFECT blend of old and new gameplay. The salvage scenes are intense, the nights had a great balancing mechanic of juggling doing tasks while also avoiding animatronics, multiple endings, and a neat tycoon segment to give the player a breather... but with LORE!!! Midnight Motorist is easily one of the best tracks in the series. Also has a GREAT canonical ending, when(with paired with UCN), ties the plots of 1-6 SO nicely with a neat bow.

FNaF 1: Okay. From a personal and gameplay standpoint, I was going to put this much lower. Like B or C. That being said... this has to go in S. Yes, it has the least lore and arguably the worst gameplay(too much RNG for 4/20 mode), but this was the game. I can’t even exaggerate when I say just how much FNaF changed not only the gaming community, but especially the horror and indie communities. So many names got big from this: Markiplier, Dawko, Game Theory, The Living Tombstone, DA Games, SCOTT HIMSELF, just to name a few!!! And to think, this was originally going to be Scott’s last game! FNaF changed gaming HISTORY, and I think that alone makes this title deserving of S.

FNaF VR, Help Wanted: Okay, personal bias time, but I truly think VR deserves this S. Seeing Glitchtrap for the first time incited a panic in me that I hadn’t felt since FNaF 1 and 2. You get FNaF 1-4 in one, all in VR, WONDERFUL character models that you can WATCH MOVE!!! SO many minigames and fun challenges to play, so many neat knickknacks to collect, the Halloween update is FANTASTIC. The introduction of some great characters, such as: Glitchtrap, Vanny, Tape Girl, Dreadbear, Grim Foxy, etc!!! There’s also just- something so nice about being able to see every office and the pizzeria in 3D spaces where you can look around! Just from a gameplay and environment standpoint, this was an AMAZING addition and deserves the S.

... Thanks for listening to me ramble XD If you disagree... then good for you! I won’t fight anyone on this, I’m aware that this is a lot of personal bias. But if you made it this far... thanks for hearing me ramble!!!!

#fnaf #infodump #fnaf tier list #five nights at freddy's

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etraytin · 4 years

Text

Quarantine, Days 174-175

September 1-2

My computer is even more kaput than usual, which is why I didn't post last night and also why I am using my son's laptop to post with tonight. He has not only this very nice laptop we got him for Christmas, but the school has also issued him a Chromebook for virtual learning, making him about 1000% more technologically up to date than I am. He has magnanimously declared that he wants me to get a new laptop very soon so we can play Minecraft together and have a house, since he has been living in various abandoned houses since he joined his multiplayer server. I said it sounded suspiciously like he wanted me to play Minecraft with him so he could live in my house, same as real life. He thought that was pretty funny.

I was bummed I couldn't post last night because something very nice happened to me yesterday. I was down to literally my last two tablespoons of kitten formula, when the mail carrier arrived and dropped off a new can of formula, sent by somebody from Tumblr who read my post the other night and sent me one from my fostering wishlist. It was literally just in the nick of time, and it made my day. Made Audiva's day too, since she is still deeply stubbornly refusing to try wet food on a plate, and made the other kittens day too because they will eat wet food but still love to get a hit from the bottle. I got another can of formula today as well, and it was amazing! It is so nice to not have to stress out about whether the kitten is going to learn to eat before I run out of food it will eat already. So thank you so, so, so much to the kind people who sent those to me!

Not a lot else happened yesterday, I spent a large portion of the day doing laundry, trying to catch up on the massive pile that accumulated in the hallway. Our laundry area is just a little closet in the side of the living room, so it sometimes happens that if we get too many clean clothes and do not fold them, the pile tips over and falls on the floor. Or the kiddo digs through the pile in such a way that it winds up all over the floor. In any case, it's on the floor, stuff gets stepped on, it's hard to know what is clean or dirty. The problem is exacerbated during kitten times, when I am too tired to deal with things, or when one of us is away and the other one is carrying the household. It was pretty bad this time, so I just called a do-over, washed everything, and folded it as soon as it came out of the dryer. I also went through and put a bunch of stuff in the donations bag so we have a slightly more manageable number of clothes as well.

The kiddo had a day of ups and downs, he won back and lost his electronics privileges in a matter of hours because he cannot stay off the multiplayer server, so that's not super great. To keep him busy, I gave him my last big moving box, which I finally unpacked a mere two years after our move (it had some clothes in it I'd completely forgot I owned! Many of which are now being donated!) He spent a fair amount of the day in the box, cutting out windows and listening to his new clock radio. It's a bummer when he loses his electronics because he hates it, but it's nice to see him stretching his brain and finding alternative things to do as well. I got creative with boxes too; I finally pulled out my Dremel and assembled the nebulizer box I've been collecting pieces for. Now it is fully ready for next time I need to give a sick kitten or cat inhalant medicine! We had several of these at my rescue back in Florida, and they are great.

I made us sushi for supper and we watched several episodes of The Good Place together before bed. For a quiet day, I guess we actually got a lot done.

Today was a little busier, I did more laundry, fed the kittens more, tried to organize a little more. MIL is doing better and my husband hopes to come home this weekend, so I have a deadline for all my self-imposed goals now! We also spent the evening trapping cats because a friend of mine has a sick kitten and couldn't go out tonight. So the kiddo and I got fast food for dinner and ate it while traveling down to our first trapping site, which was in an affluent neighborhood full of big samey houses with fenced backyards. When I'm driving the truck I feel more self-conscious about going into neighborhoods like this than into bad neighborhoods, where nobody wrinkles up their nose at a noisy old truck. But the truck survived another night, good job, truck! We caught one cat at that site, then went to the fish market to try and fill our quota. There are lots of cats at the fish market, but we only managed to catch one more that was not tagged. We left at the right time, though,because it started to rain really hard just ten minutes or so after we got home.

Tomorrow the kiddo gets his electronics back, with the caveat that all electronics must be used in the living room or master bedroom, not in his own room or the kitten room until further notice. We'll see how that works out. I'm also going to have a very unpleasant afternoon at the dentist getting a crown put on, so wish me luck there. Two hour appointment is never something you want to hear from the dentist's receptionist. I will probably be in a very unpleasant mood by tomorrow night, so I will try to enjoy tonight's good mood while it lasts.

#quarantine #nebulizer #foster kittens #tnr

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imuybemovoko · 3 years

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I die inside while dissecting Jesus music, part 3

Yep. Doing this shit again. It might take me a hot minute to write this one up, but I’ll get it done sooner or later.

This one gets a bit more fucky than usual, so here’s a few (US) suicide hotline numbers and a rather serious trigger warning. If you’re going to have a hard time with religious trauma, weird indirect forms of suicidality, and that kind of thing, go read something more wholesome. Practice self care better than I do. For the love of all you hold holy, my thoughts are less important than your well-being. Do not read this if it’ll hurt you to do so.

National suicide prevention lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 Trevor Project lifeline: 1-866-488-7386 The Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741-741 Trans Lifeline: 1-877-565-8860

I’ve looked through my playlist trying to find a song that I don’t remember as being repetitive as fuck. There are artists out there who don’t make their shit sad and modular for church camps and I was at least somewhat into their stuff. There are also older hymns. The playlist is mostly full of that weird shitty contemporary Christian music, but somewhere nestled in between stacks of almost painfully similar songs from Hillsong (they’re not all samey, but they get pretty repetitive) is Audrey Assad’s Even Unto Death.

At first glance, listening back, it seems to have some of the same formatting elements as the shitty modern-styled songs I’ve gotten tired of, but it gives me a very different vibe for a few reasons. First, Assad’s general body of work as I can find it on Youtube (and is also stored in my playlist) is largely older hymns, and that’s her general style. This song is, as far as I can tell, an original work, but its instrumental and melodic style is heavily influenced by the vibe that older hymns give off. Second, the bridge is more varied and interesting than that of Even So Come or Gracefully Broken. The song does, in the final bridge and in the choruses, engage in some repetition, but at a level that I find far closer to what’s typical in secular music. Third, the melody reminds me somewhat of old hymns in a way I don’t know exactly how to describe. I just imagine it with piano and SATB choir. Most modern Christian music just doesn’t land like that. But for the trauma, I’d say analyzing this song might end up being a breath of fresh air.

But for the trauma...

Anyway. Here are the lyrics, and here is the video again.

The song is formatted in a way that’s nearly typical of a pop song. You have a verse (in this case composed of “Jesus”, two lines of bullshit, “Jesus” again, and two more lines of bullshit), a three line chorus repeated twice, a second verse (same format), the chorus again but this time with a more personal form of address on the second time through, the bridge (which Genius divides into four distinct sections) with some repetitions of the final lines, the chorus again, and an outro that’s basically just some repetitions of lines in the chorus and then “Jesus” and the first line of bullshit from the first verse, twice.

So let’s get into this.

First verse:

Jesus The very thought of You It fills my heart with love Jesus You burn like wildfire And I am overcome

Alright. These lines are (clearly) addressed towards Jesus. (Speaking to him directly is a thing people do.) The song has a bit of a mix of a romantic bent and something a... little bit weirder, and both are starting to become visible in this first verse. The first couplet is like... straightforward. The singer is very in love with Jesus and even thinking of him makes her feel things. She’s not quite doing a John Donne here, I don’t think, but this is a pretty strong thing and this is part of why I say there’s a romantic bent to this. The second stanza contains that “fire” imagery that’s often associated with the Christian god, most often the Holy Spirit, that serves the purpose of showing how believers’ whole beings should be consumed by God. Then she says “I am overcome”. This reads to me like one of those “this makes me feel things to a degree I don’t know what to do with” kind of things, but there’s an element of what I’ll describe as a conquest narrative here. ...Again, not quite doing a John Donne, but not not doing it either.

Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend; That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.

Next comes the chorus, and I think it bears mention now rather than somewhere strange like I’d normally do it because this verse flows right into it.

Lover of my soul Even unto death With my every breath I will love You

It plays through this twice.

Gives me the same kind of vibe as Job 13:15 here. “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.” The difference here is Assad’s song mentions love, which I guess goes beyond trust. So it’s even a bit crazier, and the “with my every breath” thing is the absolute kicker. This means she’s wanting to do literally everything, literally everything, in a way that expresses her love for Jesus. Extreme sentiments like this aren’t uncommon in song, sure, but given that we’re discussing Christianity...

it’s not just hyperbole, they actually think this way and it’s very fucking toxic.

Also the chorus is the main reason I say this has a romantic bent. “Lover of my soul” is a fucking juicy lyric.

Jesus You are my only hope And You, my prize shall be Jesus You are my glory now And in eternity

I think this second verse is mostly straightforward too. Literally just “Jesus is the entire source of my hope and I see him as a prize for whatever I’m doing” and “Jesus is my glory now and forever”. Glory here refers to like... honor and magnificence. In Christian parlance it refers to the condition that believers will be in after the world is overthrown by Jesus and me and all my fellow non-believing sexual deviants get hyucked straight into the eternal fire. It’s just like... shorthand for being “cleansed of sin” or whatever and living with God for eternity. I don’t know what circles Assad is active in; she might have a different take on this than I’m inclined to, but honestly given my understanding of this concept that’s primarily fueled by Protestant views and especially Evangelicalism, I’m inclined to read this as an empty threat.

Oof.

Onto the bridge.

I notice now that the bridge has essentially two main sections. Genius says four; that’s a weird choice to me because each section they label is not doing a separate thing, but the two I see, based more on the repetition of the last two lines of each stanza and the similarity of the sentiment in the first half of each, very much are.The first chunk of it goes like this:

In my darkest hour In humiliation I will wait for You I am not forsaken

The idea here is that even in the darkest hour of their life or humiliating moments, the singer is trusting in God to get them through it and like... idk, remedy their humiliation or make it worthwhile somehow? This serves as a reminder that God hasn’t left even if it looks like he might’ve.

Genius does a bit of a fucky-wucky here in the second section. They replace “though” with “oh”. I’m not sure how they could’ve messed this up, the video they link is literally the same lyric video that I linked, produced by Assad’s literal official artist channel, and the video shows this section the way I do below.

Though I lose my life Though my breath be taken I will wait for You I am not forsaken

This second chunk is more of the same “even if this destroys me I’ll trust you God”. Job 13:15 again, basically. Again, not hyperbole, they actually aspire to this. It’s not healthy at all. This first half of the bridge is basically just “haha I’m devoted to this relationship to the point of self-betrayal and inaction.”

Oof.

Second half:

One thing I desire To see You in Your beauty You are my delight Yeah, You are my glory

So this third section is basically just inserting verse 2 into the bridge in slightly different words, but the role it plays here, juxtaposed so much more directly with the extreme, self-betraying devotion expressed in the first half of the bridge, is more as a declaration that Jesus is the only thing that truly matters to the singer. Like the entire vibe here is “this life doesn’t even matter to me, yeet this body and idgaf, just let me go see Jesus.” I think I mentioned in a previous post, I think another one of these depression-spiking jesus song dissections, that this kind of mindset leads to what I’ll describe as a soft form of suicidality in which someone desires death by way of yelling at people for Jesus in places where that’s dangerous to do. If the singer’s only real desire is to see Jesus, then they’re very much at risk for this. Which prompts the question...

Is Audrey Assad okay?

You my sacrifice Oh, Your love is all consuming You are my delight Yeah, You are my glory Yeah, oh You are my glory God, yeah You are my glory Yeah

So aside from the “sacrifice” line here, which I’ll get to, this whole thing is more of the same. All-consuming love, Jesus is her delight, blah blah. The sacrifice thing refers to the crucifixion and to the framework Christianity posits by which blood needs to be spilled so that God can decide not to fucking yeet someone into an unending fire hole and that Jesus came to be the final perfect sacrifice so that no one needs to stab a goat or whatever the fuck again.

After this there’s the chorus and the outro that’s basically just the end of the chorus and then the first two lines repeated a bit, you know, just as this last little reminder that dying is ok if it’s for Jesus.

Which I guess is the overarching message of this song too. Dying is fun if it’s for Jesus, kids! Also let’s definitely not do a John Donne!

I feel like I reference that poem a lot. But it goddamn fits. Like terrifyingly well. I think the reason I latched onto that poem so hard when I learned about it in my literature survey course last fall is because, minus the borderline sexual nature of Donne’s thoughts here, it maps onto my own experience very goddamn hard. I went far enough into Assad’s self-betraying devotion to God for a while there that I fantasized about dying for Jesus in a country where that’s likely. Suicide by martyrdom, if you will.

On that note, here are the hotlines again.

National suicide prevention lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 Trevor Project lifeline: 1-866-488-7386 The Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741-741 Trans Lifeline: 1-877-565-8860

If you read this far, I guess thanks for being interested in my thoughts, and I really hope this didn’t trigger anything too serious.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I should probably go talk to my therapist about this.

#exchristian #religious trauma #christian music

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greenlightmusicreviews2 · 4 years

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The Revenge of GLMR!!! | Reasons, Review & Analysis

Because opinions are like voices, we all have a different kind, so just clean out all of your ears, these are my views • atcq "award tour"

There’s a lot different ideas that run through my head when I’m listening to music, and - although it’s been a while - especially when I try to review music. Obviously, there’s going to be bias because I have certain sounds and textures and concepts that I like more than others, but there are three that I expand on down below: effort, competence, and experimentation.

Of course that’s not to discount other aspects like... production value, mixing style, lyricism, songwriting, composition, style and a lot of other aspects to what makes a song work or an album flow - egads! - album sequencing!!!

I really like music, and at the bottom of that, I really want to like music. I’ve spent a lot of time writing my own music and sitting next to friends as they mix and produce the music I write, and so it’s exciting, new and different to sit on the other side and seriously think about the music that I get to listen to. I want to take more time with this endeavor and put in the work to maintain this thing. Maybe that means starting with familiar stuff and getting a feel with how I think about music with artists or albums I know. At the end of the day, I’m a guy on the net with a blog, but I hope you sweet, beautiful people find something worthwhile, interesting, funny and hopefully insightful from this thing. Maybe you can get something cringeworthy out of it. We may never know, but hopefully, we may.

In the words of Josh Homme:

If you've got the time and you've got the space you've got to make something of it. We might balls the whole thing up but you've got to try!

Effort

One of the things I put a premium on is effort: did’ja at least try to make a good song or record? Because if you didn’t, then fuck you.

In my teenage years I listened to a lot of alt-metal, post-grunge, hard rock and generally loud guitar music, so understand that I speak with some authority when it comes to that genre of music. Seether, Hinder, Nickelback, Godsmack, Papa Roach, Saving Abel, Three Days Grace - even bands that were influenced from the original crop: Daughtry, Theory of a Deadman, Popevil - and even bands that were just a little outside of generic rockers, bands like Foo Fighters, Audioslave, the sort of acts that were pretty well-respected but still made similar music but of a little better quality than their imitators. So I’m a bit of an expert when it comes to the post-grunge sound, that sound a generation or so removed from the Seattle heavyweights they hold in such high regard. My favorites of the bunch were: Foo Fighters, Nickelback, Seether, Puddle of Mudd, throw in some Everclear and that’s a good sampling of bands that I really liked at that time. These are bands that sounded like they put in a good amount of effort in the records that they made.

I hear distant scoffs, but only because it’s fallen out of fashion to dislike Nickelback, but hear me out: if you think Nickelback was generic and derivative, then you weren’t given the chance to hear Nickelback-lite.

Nickelback is a band whose blueprint was always more CCR, ZZ Top and Metallica than anything else, and their albums, save for maybe Curb typically reflected this.

They combined these three somewhat disparate influences with the sonic template that the Big Four of Grunge popularized and made some incredibly catchy and well executed music.

Hoobastank, on the other hand, you could tell sort of wanted to imitate Incubus, but recognized the immediacy of a band like NIckelback. Their music was similar, though never venturing further than Drop-D tunings, but their songwriting was sub-par. There was never, I sensed, the effort that truly made certain bands stand out. The lyrics especially, where they offered fairly banal observations and pleas for help:

Show me what it's for Make me understand it I've been crawling in the dark Looking for the answer Is there something more Than what I've been handed? I've been crawling in the dark Looking for the answer

- “Crawling in The Dark” by Hoobastank (2001)

The sound is part and parcel of what rock bands in the mid-2000s were aiming for in order to receive radio play: dull production value, samey chord progressions, vaguely introspective lyrics and leads that sound like U2 outtakes. Was there any effort, any character, any color, any life to your production, music or lyrics? Unfortunately, once executives and the ilk come in, well, that’s where a lot of “corporate rock” gets its reputation from.

Competence

Competence is one of those things where all it’s asking is, did’ja do it well? Does it sound awkward or cringey, or is it well-executed and hits the mark?

An example that comes to mind is Foo Fighters’ 2014 album Sonic Highways. After 2011′s Wasting Light, which was a watershed moment for the band, they began to really lean into their own legacy. Grohl and Co. became a standard-bearer for rock music at this time, and to an extent still do. What came after was a pretty bloated concept record about the musical history of the United States in 8 different cities tied together with an HBO documentary. While the documentary was actually decently made though not perfect, the record suffered from the band overextending themselves. They recorded the album in 8 different cities while interviewing famous musicians with deep roots in those cities, and then Grohl would go and write lyrics based on what he had learned in those interviews, weaving in little things they said here and there in order to form a coherent narrative for the song.

It didn’t quite work. The music is decent for the most part, but Grohl was just not able to make it compelling enough. Dave’s insistence on the record not straying too far from the band’s original sound didnt’ make sense when the entire concept was based on a city-by-city celebration of American-made music. The finished product was colored by Vig’s by-the-numbers production and Grohl’s own hesitation about making it too different.

There are musical projects that are well-performed and well-produced (i.e. competent in a couple different dimensions), but the overarching concept can be marred by the artist’s own musical limitations.

Danny Worsnop has had a successful stint with Asking Alexandria. His foray into country music with The Long Road Home is pretty good. Kid Cudi, the rapper whose Man On The Moon records were well-done pop-cum-rap albums, didn’t quite hit the mark with 2012′s WZRD and much less with 2015′s Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven, both attempts to make rock(?) records.

An artist’s own musical limitations can hinder musical projects, even if other aspects of the music are otherwise done decently well.

There’s a dimension where a record can be “competent” in what it does and score a 5/10 or higher. There’s also a dimension where a record can be “competent” in what it does and score a 4/10 or lower. It’s tied to the effort made, and of course, goes by an artist-by-artist basis. Same thing with...

Experimentation

Not every song or album has to be a genre-bending, mind-expanding, sound-expanding trip through another universe, but artists that make an attempt to go beyond their comfort zone or beyond an established boundary get credit for doing so.

This is, again, kind of by an artist-by-artist basis. You can’t have multiple Beatles, for example, who rewrite the music playbook or whatever. But when an artist tries to go even a little out of their comfort zone, it’s appreciated. Take an artist like Ian Thornley. An extraordinarily talented guitarist and songwriter, his band Big Wreck recorded In Loving Memory Of... in 1997 and, although it took its blueprint directly from Led Zeppelin III, did some pretty interesting things sonically and early on demonstrated some great potential in developing their sound. Their follow-up was a bloated piece of work that unfortunately fell into the trope of “let’s go thicker on the guitars and have overblown ballads” that most rock bands in the 2000s fell into. After their break-up, Ian continued this trend with the plodding generic music of Thornley.

A band that actually threads this needle pretty well is Queens of the Stone Age. Josh Homme creates each record with its own unique identity, doing so competently, with effort, and not sounding (at least not all the time) like a phoned in attempt to sit on his haunchy laurels. Era Vulgaris, a personal favorite of mine, was this dirty, sleazy, almost evil sounding record while its follow-up ...Like Clockwork plumbed the depths of Homme’s struggle with depression and created gorgeous sonic landscapes on songs like “The Vampyre of Time and Memory” and “I Appear Missing.”

I like a little experimentation whether with production, music or lyrics. It’s not going to kill a record if they don’t really experiment, but the artist gets points for at least trying.

Final Thoughts, Concerns & Whatever Else

These three things are what immediately came to mind when I thought about what goes through my head when thinking about music. It’s not super technical, and probably comes from my own background as a musician without a background in theory and who pieces music together mostly through feeling and intuition. But there’s a bunch of other things that I know should look out, and want to look out for. Things like production value, lyricism, composition and style. The way I listen to music hopefully will change for the better, and looking back to previous reviews, I can do a hell of a lot better, and plan to. I actually hope to find better and more unique and interesting ways to describe how I hear certain sounds and even improve on listening out for certain, subtle aspects of production jobs.

Welcome back to Green Light Music Reviews! Sub-par music reviews for a healthy colon! Enjoy!!

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eurosong · 5 years

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Undo my ESC - 2019, SF1

Hello there, folks, and welcome to the first part of Undo my ESC, where I take a look at the field this year and, for each country, make a feasible change – as small as, for example, minor tinkerings with the staging, or as big as a different song completely winning a national final. It’s all light-hearted and just my opinion, of course. Allons-y... Cyprus: We start off completely in the deep end. I loathe “Fuego”, and this repackaged Fue2.0 is no better and is indeed perhaps worse to me given that I hate desperate attempts to catch lightning in the same jar. I also find Tamta a very unsympathetic character. I don’t know what I’d do to improve this, other than replace the internal selection with a national final with some songs actually in Greek and with local character. Montenegro: Things do not improve... but at least the solution is easier! Montenegro had a decent national final in which literally any other song would have been a better choice. I particularly liked “Nevinost”, and so did the unfortunately out-voted expert jury, so would be tempted to give D mol’s ticket to Tel Aviv to its artist, Ivana Popović, instead. I do find D mol to be sweet kids though, so the other part of me would be sad to rob them of their time in the limelight and would instead have taken the 90s throwback and bizarre random background sound elements out of their song, replaced the score with one that emphasised the traditional musical elements, and kept the lyrics in Montenegrin.

Finland: Three strikes and I am almost out. I really struggle with the new UMK format – I understand the logic behind it, just as I did when it was a thing in the UK in the early 90s, but I think it only really works if an artist has a wide-ranging repertoire. If not, then you end up with 3 samey songs that only appeal to people who like the music styles that artist makes. I’m not an EDM fan and I would have taken the relative flop of Saara Aalto last year as indication to return to a multi-artist UMK. Plenty of artists from previous years who could be worth a spot in one such.

Poland: I was disappointed by the disappearance of Poland’s national final, but I can’t say I was too surprised after a few underperforming years. I have to commend the Polish broadcasters for going for something popular within their own country, without being overly preöccupied as to how it would play outwith their borders. Pali się is one of those entries that I don’t like much but which I respect. My changes would be to remove the pointless English intro and outro, which, if one were not paying attention, one might not notice actually being in English. I’d also try to make the song a little less linear, as the song feels mostly confined to one pace.

Slovenia: Finally, we come to a country where I can change next to nothing. Many people I know were disappointed that “Kaos” was not elected as the Slovenes’ song. Whilst I found it an earworm, I really didn’t like her haughty, “I’m only in EMA to promote my new disc” attitude – and I really preferred the delectable, contemplative and intimate “Sebi.” It’s pure elegance in simplicity, and I wouldn’t need to change a thing.

Czechia: I appreciate the Czechs’ creätive way of bypassing the expenses of a traditional national final – whilst still giving fans a choice – by holding their selection online. Really cute this year was the way they tried to equalise differences in funding by making the candidates’ official video be a low-budget affair filmed in their flats. I liked quite a few songs of their selection, with the eventual winner, “Friend of a friend”, middle of my rankings. I would, of course, opt for my #1 of the NF to win instead, the delightful slice of “Bohemiana del Rey” style that was “True Colours.”

Hungary: Hungary’s A Dal has the cachet to attract a number of returning artists, so it was not surprising that, eventually, it would be won by someone who’d triumphed before – and I’m delighted it was Joci Papái, one of the biggest revelations of the Hungarian NFs for me. Yet, as is often the case with folk coming back to take a second bite of the cherry, the sophomore effort comes short of the first – “Az én apám” is lovely, touching, but lacks the bite and edge that “Origo” had. I might have JP come second and hopefully return for a second victory in 2020/1 with something a bit stronger, and send in his place the soaring but melancholic “Madár, repülj”.

Belarus: Life is too short to do some things, and whilst I try to listen to pretty much every national final song, one of the things life is too short for is intensively following the Belarusian national finals with their hundred-odd auditions. I saw a few, though, and they were a rum lot. Musically, Aura’s touching “Čaravala” was probably the best of those I heard – but was also strangely won over by the unpretentious, fun ode to tubers that was “Potato, aka Buľba” and depending on my mood, I might give it the nod either.

Serbia: Beovizija had a great lineüp yet again, and there were a number of songs I would have been happy to have gotten the win, including the eventual winner, but also those of Saška Janks, Extra Nena and Ivana Vladović. The latter’s beautiful “Moja bol”, with strings to die for, was my favourite on the night, but in retrospect, I’m not sure I’d replace the equally stunning “Kruna.” I’d be tempted to send it in its acoustic version though, where Nevena’s lovely voice stands out even better.

Belgium: Ô, Belgium. I adored “City Lights”, and so my expectations were really high. This is nice enough, but a bit beige, and doesn’t quite deliver, especially the way the enjoyably tense verses lead to an anticlimactically limp chorus. I’d change that with something that actually feels like a pay off to the verses and the Walloons would have a better shot of shining again.

Georgia: I have to say that, once again, I find myself being one of the few people I know who has some love for Georgia. Whilst it wasn’t truly my cup of tea, I appreciated and enjoyed Iriao’s song last year on some level, and the same is true of Oto’s – he has a powerful voice and it’s a strong, if rather unsettling song. I think, though, that I prefer the darkly ethereal Sevdisperi zgva, which sounds like what I imagine would result if Björk were tasked to write a Bond tune.

Australia: After a few years of rumours, Oz finally jumped on the national final train, and, credit where it is due, it was one of the most intriguing national finals of the year. It was as if SBS had decided to atone for its aggressively MOR pop picks of previous years by actually showcasing some musical diversity. Unlike a lot of folk, I don’t dislike “Zero gravity” – it has a meaningful lyrical background and some quirky charm. But there’s no question about whether I would replace it and with what. I still get chills every time I listen to “2000 and Whatever” – the sheer, irrepressible burst of positive energy and the power of its “kulila miranyi” still give me goosebumps. Damn straight one of the best song of the entire year.

Iceland: Given the amount of hype Hatari have received – and how fans flooded videos of its competitors with comments about how they shouldn’t “fuck up” by picking them instead – I may be one of the very few who would change the result there. Yet, I almost definitely would, even though I typically like lesser-heard genres at Eurovision and like the heavier, industrial musical style. And yet, I find this quite trying. It seems like a very knowing, art school student pastiche and I’m not here for their “above the contest” feel or the BDSM gimmickry. I’d be tempted to replace this with the low-key but lovely “Hvað ef ég get ekki elskað”, or to at least pare back the OTT disdainful irony.

Estonia: It feels almost like another era when I was a firm exponent of the idea of Eesti being Beesti. Three years of immense disappointments will quench that type of fire. Whilst leaving behind the stunning Spirit Animal in 2017 and opting for a generic poperatic vocal exercise in 2018 were excruciating, this might be the biggest let down yet – a land of so many talented musicians having to rely on an Avicii pastiche sang with no small difficulty by a reedy-voiced Swede. I found Eesti Laul very slim pickings this year, and found the other two frontrunners to be rather bland too – even the delightful Sandra Nurmsalu came with a tune that, whilst pleasant, sounded less nomadic epic and more toilet tissue commercial backing track. I would have gone for Kadiah’s delicate “Believe” as my pick instead.

Portugal: FdC was once again one of the best national finals, and the one for whose result I was perhaps most anxious. There were a few songs I really liked, like “Pugna”, “Mais brilhante...” and “Inércia”, but when the dust settled, there was only one song I wanted to see winning – “Telemóveis,” of course, which I was delighted to see prevail. I have some real worries about the bizarre staging distracting from the message and emotional power of the song, though. There’s so much going on, and it might be enough to push people from being entranced to being weirded out. I’d get rid of the spoons, sort out the clothes and try to make things impressive without being so extra.

Greece: I actually really like Greece this year, even if I’m still pissed off at what they did to “Don’t forget the sun” in their dubiously axed national final last year. Her voice is beautiful, the music is uplifting and anthemic, the æsthetic is curious and a bit culty, but at least memorable. The one thing I don’t like? The lyrics, which sound like a bunch of motivational Instagram quote clichés loosely knitted together. Sing something actually meaningful, preferably in Greek.

San Marino: Lord, I’m not going to start because if I do, I shan’t stop. All I’ll say is that San Marino’s “troll nation” status is wearing thin for me. Unbelievably, hundreds of talented people came out in numbers last year willing to represent them, and yet they went with a song written supposedly in 5 minutes but probably in half that. I’d have invited Sara de Blue back instead to make up for the bizarre fiasco that was last year’s 1in360. And the automatic qualifiers:

France: If France’s national delegation aren’t rethinking their voting system after this year, then they ought to be. It’s the opposite of Sweden, where the juries really have the power and the televote is scattered – all you need is a frenzied following to overturn a low jury placement. I liked a great number of Destination Eurovision’s selection this year. I would have taken pretty much ány single one of them over the snivelling, bombastic, self-aggrandising drivel that is Roi. With regards to what to send in its place, I’m torn between the powerful “Là haut”; the adorably, quintessentially French “Allez leur dire”; or the energetic, indefatigable earworm that was “On cherche encore”.

Israel: Boy howdy, Israel sure want to do their level best to avoid fluking a 1979 and winning on home ground, eh? I heard there were many big names who sent songs in, though I’m unsure if any of them would have helped to make the stormy Kobi seem more sympathetic. I think I would have opted to let Ketreyah perform for the hosts instead.

Spain: After a great national final last year, I was really disappointed with the subpar quality of the so-called eurotemazos which were anything but. Miki’s song was the best of a bad lot and at least he didn’t have the hideously negative attitude some of the other people, who seemed surprised and aghast that the winner of a contest related to Eurovision could end up performing there. I’d try to give Miki a song that matched his energy with at least a bit more lyrical depth.

Join me in some days when I evaluate what I would change with SF2!

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minijenn · 5 years

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Kingdom Hearts 3: Final Thoughts

Ok well not really final thoughts cause I’m sure I’ll be internally screaming over this game for the rest of time, but I figured I’d leave my thoughts about the game in a more... coherent manner than what my screaming during the liveblogging conveyed. And so, here we go with me basically talking about everything I liked, loved, and maybe wasn’t so ok with (cause the game wasn’t perfect lol) and yeah there will be spoilers aplenty so I’ll tuck it away under the cut cause I have a feelin this is gonna get long. So... here we go:

First I’ll start off wit the easy stuff, the presentation. By GOD is this game fucking beautiful to look out. All of the graphics are so crisp and clean and everything just BURSTS with color. Never before have the Disney worlds felt so alive in a KH game and now they’re JAMMED back with detail. I first noticed this while wandering around Galaxy Toys in the Toy Box and I gasped at just how many little minute details there were to be found, from price tags for toys, to sticky notes on bulletin boards, and so on. Every single place you visit in this game looks like its actually been lived in as opposed to just being another set piece. They were all so much fun to explore and I’ll go into detail about each Disney world at least later on. As for everything else, so much effort was put into just about EVERYTHING! From the ways environments are lit (Corona especially had some nice lighting effects, as did San Fransokyo), from enemy designs, to characters expressions oh god the expressions. KH games in the past tended to rely on stock expressions in some scenes because hey, its easy when ya don’t need to put your whole foot forward, I get it. But here? There are no stock facial expressions, everyone, everyone emotes in such vivid and realistic ways so that you can just see how characters are feeling/what they’re thinking just through their body language and expressions alone (Sora especially aslkdjasld I’ll go on about my son in a bit tho). In terms of other visual stuff, I LOVED how flashy this game could get in terms of attacks (Attraction Flow especially oh my god), some say it might have gone over the top, but to me, it just made me so excited to use everything I had in my arsenal just to see how things looked!

Next the music oh GOD the MUSIC. From the moment this game’s version of Dearly Beloved started playing I knew I was in for a DAMN pleasant listening experience. But what I loved even more was how this game went above and beyond with is score. Yeah ya have your basic level and battle background themes (my personal favs among those include Arendelle’s and Corona’s themes), but then most cutscenes are scored with individual little musical cues, almost like scenes right out of a movie instead of just the same theme playing on repeat in the background! That honestly added such a neat little touch to the game that I instantly noticed and loved IMMEDIATELY (this game also improved Sora’s theme SO much and used it a lot and I fucking LOVED that) and other returning songs were great too (Mysterious Tower’s theme is spectacular now, and even though they didn’t really change Hundred Acre Woods’ theme, they added more orchestration to it to make it sound even prettier!) And of course, don’t even get me started on Face My Fears and Don’t Think Twice, both of those are such AMAZING songs, probably my fav Utada songs out of the entire series (Don’t Think Twice especially lol)

Next up, gameplay. So I kinda suck at KH games but honestly? I didn’t really have THAT hard of a time with this one. I played it in normal mode (cause I aint about to punish myself with proud mode alskdjalksdja) and I only started dying towards the end of the game and even then I didn’t die that much. But don’t get me wrong, the game isn’t stupidly easy either. The enemies will fuck you up if you’re not careful. I always made sure to reserve my magic to use cure like... fucking constantly because better safe than sorry! As for attacks, I favored using formchanges a lot because I always felt way more powerful with them (I beat the game using the BH6 keyblade imo that’s a good one) and Attraction Flow was also really useful and fun to use! Summons I... didn’t really use that much lol (same old story as other KH games) and team attacks I did use pretty much whenever they were offered to me (the ones with Disney companions were always a lot of fun!). Outside of battle, exploring in this game is SO much fun! Even aside from all the stuff to look at, there’s a lot to find! From ingredients (oh god the game wouldn’t fucking let me forget about ingredients), to hidden Mickeys (laskdjalskdjsad fuckin hell could never find any when the game outright told me there was one in front of me I’m stupid as hell), to the usual chests and whatnot, searching around was always a fun time (unless it was for fucking crabs, but we’ll get to that). Plus can I just say that I adore how smooth it is to control Sora in this game? Like seriously the boy actually runs at a decent pace for a change, his jump doesn’t feel like he’s wearing goddamn cement shoes, and the fucking tricks he can pull off with the whole running up walls and shit? fantastically fun to do. Special gameplay elements in the game were also usually always welcome, but I’ll get to those for each individual world when I go through em.

But before I do that, I’ll briefly speak on all the extra stuff this game offers for you to do because by god is it packed with content. I didn’t really explore a ton of what it had to offer cause I wanted to beat the main story as quickly as I could, but what I did explore of it was a lot of fun! Cooking with Remy is adorable and even though I didn’t really use any of the dishes I cooked up I still had fun finding ingredients and doiing the little minigames for each dish. Hundred Acre Woods minigames were all kinda samey but tbh it was a fun game nonetheless. I only played one of the Classic Kingdom games but tbh next time I visit the game, I really do wanna try more of them, they’re super cute. The camera function was a delight askdjskd such a cute touch to add, taking selfies with Disney characters is my new favorite thing oh my god and... ugh guess I’ll talk about the Gummi ship here too... I never liked it in 1 or 2 but god they really fucked it up here imo. I know some might disagree with me on this, but by god this game could not get me to care about customizing my own ship. I pretty much kept with the basic ship the whole game, avoided every single enemy I could and mostly just bit the bullet so I could get to new worlds as quickly as possible. And most of the time I didn’t really mind it, UNTIL THE LAST GUMMI MISSION. The way the camera controls and the vertical and horizontal controls fuck each other up is so fucking stupid and trying to navigate that damn ship through tight and tiny corridors only for the camera to have a piss fit every time I so much as skiff by a wall made me so fucking mad why did they do this the rest of the game the missions are in wide open space plains so why force me into a bunch of tight corridors at the very last minute laskdjsldsd oh my god it was terrible

ANYWAY moving on to much more fun stuff to talk about, how about them Disney worlds, huh? Might as well talk about my thoughts on each one of them, since they all offered such unique experiences that came together SO damn nicely:

Olympus was, in my opinion, an excellent way to kick off the game. You get plenty of room to explore and see exactly what’s new in terms of gameplay and the game gives you chances to learn those moves and practice them in a nice, controlled environment. The world itself is lush and lovely and quite varied, with Thebes as an entire city environment to explore, the mountain to climb up and avoid Titans on (excellent first real bosses in the game btw I was so hype throughout that entire fight) and the beautiful environment of Olympus itself to slide and glide through). I was also pleasantly surprised in just how much the world set up for the rest of the game, kicking off Sora’s whole arc of having to get stronger throughout the game (more on that later), showing what Pete and Maleficent are up to (again more on that later), showing us that the Organization is still kickin and a threat, and basically getting us hype for everything else that’s to come! I’ll give Olympus an 8/10 I’d say if I had to score it lol

Next up in terms of full worlds to explore is the Toy Box and DAMN this world was impressive. They really did a GREAT job making you feel like a toy exploring a much larger world around you. Most of this level did take place at Galaxy Toys but I really don’t see that as a restriction since the place is MASSIVE and so much fun to navigate and pick out all those little details I mentioned above. Controlling the robots in this level as a BLAST in every way possible, and I do love all the little nods and references they make back to Toy Story itself in this world. Buzz and Woody were great to have along for the ride and I really appreciated how they were actually involved in the plot points of the world (like seriously, Woody fuckin telling Young Xehanort off will forever be one of my favorite KH moments oh my god). Imo this one was for sure one of my favorites, 9/10

After that, we have Corona and I was really excited about this world and I do think they did a great job with it. The environments are lush and absolutely beautiful (as is, again, the level’s music), and there are so many fun little moments in this level (having a splash fight with Rapunzel was PURE as was the entire dancing minigame imo adorable and so much fun). Its just... idk, for some reason i feel like I wasn’t as... engaged in this world as I was with some of the others? Its more or less just the story of Tangled imo, but Sora, Donald, and Goofy are just sorta... there. Hell, there are points where the trio just up and disappears from the Tangled plot and don’t even come into play until much later on which is sorta... why? I get that ya have a lot to convey in a short amount of time, but damn if Tangled wasn’t the perfect world for a KH game and it just felt like the story of it was... not as great as it should have been? Idk maybe I just wanted more bonding between the trio and the Tangled characters, and what we got was fine but I still wanted... more . So yeah, this one gets a 6/10 from me.

Next up I went to Monstropolis and this one was also a pretty great time. Exploring the factory is a lot of fun and though it is kind of standard in terms of gameplay, everything else here is really great. The humor in this level is especially sublime and I love how the trinity trio plays off Mike, Sully, and Boo imo its pure as can be. And once again we have the Disney characters taking active engagement in the plot of the world (seriously Sully just yeeting Vanitas through several doors like he’s the lil piece of goth trash that he is is right up there with that scene of Woody and YX) So yeah not a ton to say about it, but I liked it a lot. 7/10.

After Monstropolis, I went to Arendelle and by god this world was way more than I was expecting it to be. Seriously I LOVED how the plot of Frozen worked so naturally into this level, this was honestly much better than how Corona did it if you ask me. We actually got to see moments of connection between Sora and characters like Elsa and Anna and so on and it was great. Plus oh my god that Let It Go sequence was INCREDIBLE the animation on that was simply STUNNING! As for gameplay, I gotta say it was another fun one. The ice labyrinth was sorta meh, but exploring the mountain was a great time (and led to a lot of fun snark between the Trinity Trio imo) and the snowy environments here were just beautiful. Sledding down the mountain was a blast, and having Marshmallow to help out as a brief companion was unexpected but adorable. So yeah this was another one of my absolute favs. 9/10.

After Arendelle though... things... fuckin tanked. The Caribbean was the goddamn worst part of this game for me, and not just because I haven’t seen the movies and therefore can’t really get a ton of enjoyment out of the characters and the story. Even beside that this world was just damn tedious. I thought the whole ship thing was gonna be fun at first, but then it just turned into an absolute shitshow, with enemy ships unfairly disappearing and reappearing and then completely blasting your ass (btw the ship is fuckin slow as hell so its hard to navigate (and yes I get that its a big pirate ship, but I don’t fucking care this was supposed to be fun so why isn’t it fun???) And don’t even get me started on that whole collecting white crabs bullshit imo that was just about pretty fucking pointless tbh so yeah suffice to say I didn’t have a fun time with this one. It had nice music tho I’ll give it that. And the swimming controls weren’t that bad so yeah. That’s about all the nice things I can say bout it. 3/10.

But GOD did the game ever make up for it when I got to San Fransokyo. I already really love Big Hero 6, so getting to explore the world of it was just GREAT. The fight on the bridge was a great introduction and exploring the city was AMAZING. Everything felt so HUGE and there was SO much to see (so many buildings to run up!!!). Plus the boss battle against Evil Baymax or whatever was the SHIT in this level, seriously it was so much fun. And hey, it had a really solid original story to it too! I love how the game went out of its way to give each member of Big Hero 6 so much of their original personality from the movie, and it allowed them all a chance to interact with Sora, Donald, and Goofy to really make it seem like unique and engaging bonds were being formed. This world honestly had me so invested and I loved it so much, I’d say its probably my favorite of the entire game. 10/10.

And yeah so those are all the Disney worlds. Gonna not really talk about the last two worlds cause they’re more story heavy than gameplay heavy and speaking of which... guess its about that time.

First of all, I gotta say that one of my favorite things about this game was its dialogue. Most of the VAs did a pretty damn solid job but the main characters especially so had a lot of emotion put into them. This game has so many fun little chatty moments, and the writing here is probably the most natural its ever been in a KH game. There’s so many fun little moments of sassy banter (between Sora, Donald, and Goofy in particular, seriously I could listen to those three yap at each other all goddamn day its excellent). SO much personality leaks through every character in just about every word they say and I really appreciate it and the effort put into it all!

Now with that out of the way, the story oh god the story. So I should probably say that, for a preexisting KH fan like myself, this is the KH game that was actually the easiest to understand what’s going on in? Crazy, I know, but this game actually explains most of the off the wall things that happen in it in a way that anyone could readily understand, and personally I really think that benefits it. I think the plot only really derailed itself for me like... once (the whole explanation behind Repliku jfc what a mess). But there were still a few things that the game didn’t explain that I’ll again, talk about later. As for the story itself...

One of the things i REALLY Loved about it was the character arc Sora had in this game. Riding off of DDD, the game really does set him up as the defeated underdog at the start of it and he feels bad about that and as a result you feel bad and wanna help this sad lil twink bb son get stronger!!! He just wants to help people but he can’t because he doesn’t have the power of waking but the great thing is he forces himself past that handicap and helps them anyway just by being himself and that’s beautiful. I already loved my precious sunshine son already, but this game made me absolutely adore him like seriously, he’s skyrocketed to one of my favorite characters in any fictional medium as a result of this game. He’s such a silly dork who is clearly having fun in all these Disney worlds as he’s off makin new friends, but its clear there’s a certain... anxiety lingering behind all of that. The kid as a lot of pressure on his shoulders and eventually it breaks him and that fucking scene broke me. But in the end, he still fuckin rises above it and kicks ass and then he fuckin disappears but that’s another point to bring up later on cause oh my god but basically the gist is, Sora is my absolute precious son boyo and I would gladly die for him oh my god

Donald and Goofy are also a TON of fun to watch in this game. I may crack jokes about Donald bitching at Sora a lot but you can tell he does it out of a true place of caring. Tbh there were a few Trinity Trio moments in this game that honest to god choked me up a bit, especially near the end. Mickey is sorta downplayed in this game, which is sorta whatever, but I did appreciate Riku in this game a lot (the brief spots where i got a chance to play as him were great). Kairi was... under fucking utilized again and I can’t deny that’s disappointing, and honestly same goes for Axel, though he DID have his moments, especially towards the end. And imo It was a delight to get all the other returning KH kids. Reuniting Aqua, Terra, and Ventus was beautiful, as was the reunion between Roxas, Xion, and Axel. Kinda wish we had gotten more Namine, but I’m glad she got her happy ending all the same. I also appreciate the Twilight Trio in this game, that one scene were they annoy the shit out of Ansem was the best. As for the baddies, same old same old though the game did sorta make them more interesting here and there. Xehanort’s “redemption” is sorta whatever to me, I kinda didn’t really care about what happened to him as much as I did my kids all coming together and being happy together and for the most part that’s what i got so I can’t say I didn’t walk away (mostly) happy as a result. I really fuckin do think the game could have done more with a handful of its bad guys, like they could have maybe implied more about the whole Xigbar=Luxu thing, and imo god did poor Vanitas get the short end of the stick I was expecting so much more on that front and I was sorely disappointed. But for the most part, I liked how this really was a huge KH reunion of heroes and villains alike. In that sense, it felt like one big tribute to the series’ entire history and for that, I love it.

So I guess that means the only thing I can talk about now is the ending. Oh god that ending. Fuckin thing kept me up all night long last night and had me stressed as fuck this morning while I was at work but honestly? I think I’m over it now. Yeah it is certainly a cliffhanger (especially now that we have that secret movie which raises so many more questions but at the very least it does establish that Sora isn’t dead so I can appreciate that). And hey, it implies that more Kingdom Hearts games are to come, so I can’t really be mad about that since I’m pretty much absolute KH trash at this point. But yeah, that ending got me shook and tbh I think that’s what it was supposed to to, be incredibly bittersweet and all and imo it completely succeeded in that regard.

Anyway before I go, just a few more points of disappointment I suppose that I haven’t touched on. Pete and Maleficent might as well not have even fucking been in the game for as few times as they appeared imo and the game also sorta just dropped the whole thing with Demyx and Vexen in a similar manner, as well as the whole thing about Larxene, Marluxia, Luxord, and Demyx “unlocking their inner keyblade heritage” or whatever imo game fuckin had too much KHX baiting if you ask me (that one scene where you use a bunch of KHX keyblades to murder a fuckton of heartless was really cool tho). Tbh I feel like the game had several moments of intrigue that it kinda more or less dropped the ball on, like for instance three examples in particular include that bit in Corona where Marluxia straight up knocks Sora the hell out and yeah that’s all he does, imo why even fucking bother with that when the kid just wakes up like nothing’s happened to seconds later? (to get the Trinity Trio out of the plot of Tangled, that’s what jfc), similar thing in Arendelle during the scene where Elsa freezes Anna’s heart, Sora for some reason gasps in pain and clenches his own heart at that exact same moment and the game never fucking bothers to explain why and that’s frustrating. Same thing goes for why Sora disappeared from the cover of Pooh’s book (lol guess that was fuckin foreshadowing the ending) the game offers a non explaination for it that is just... really not that conclusive so why even bother making a big deal out of it in the first place if you’re just gonna drop it? Plus there were a lot of other... smaller moments that I thought the game was gonna do so much more with but didn’t; the moment when Ven and Roxas see each other for the first time and realize they look basically the same but at no point do we actually see them exchange dialogue; Terra and Riku actually having a fucking conversation imo; same thing with any real interaction between Xion and Kairi; or how about the game not actually fucking explaining how the organization brought Xion back at all like wasn’t she a part of Sora how the hell did you do that game you have to EXPLAIN

Sigh... but anyway, even despite those frustrations, i still absolutely adored my time with KH3. Yeah like I said it wasn’t perfect, but by god was it worth the wait. The game was pure, sheer, fun and its story got me so damn emotional that I actually CRIED at several points of it even though KH has never made me legit cry before. And really? If this stupid as hell game can make this brittle old heart do that, then you know its a good one.

TLDR: Kingdom Hearts 3 is hella good, it made me cry like a little bitch, kinda fuckin dropped the ball on some points but whatever, and kept me up all goddamn night in existential dread over my precious son’s ambiguous fate. Imo fuckin 10/10 right there I love it and can’t wait to pick it up and play it again

#there's still so much more i could say but i just cant collect myself to say it all #kh3 saved my life ya'll it was so fucking great #so fucking worth the wait #goddamn #jen plays #kingdom hearts 3 #kh3 spoilers #kingdom hearts 3 spoilers #kingdom hearts #long post

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itsbenedict · 6 years

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No Driver’s License: Session 34

No Driver’s License is a Madoka Magica game I’m running for five players, using a homebrew of Yaruki Zero’s Magical Burst system. It follows five magical girls as they deal with an upheaval in the world’s magic system caused by some strange new three-eyed Incubators. They have to figure out what’s going on, who to trust, and how to put a stop to the cycle of despair.

I post session logs and omakes weekly sporadically, both as a reference for the players and for anyone who wants to follow along with the party’s misadventures.

[adventure log- read from the beginning]

[session 33 - omake 33.1]

So! Last time on No Driver’s License, the team got Sakura back and did a little talking before venturing out into the sun. Honoka Midarezaki has witched, and... well, that’s nearly a victory- they have to actually beat the witch, first. Looking like it’s final boss time!

So, one big question, before they set out, is... is Emiko going to be an ally here?

It’s more or less established that they won’t be attacking each other, for now- they’ve got a common goal in getting Kimiko un-witched, so until the witch is actually defeated, and her soul seed is in question, they’ll be on the same side.

Fumi-chan is here, by the way, which is never something you want.

Apparently, they were all mostly involved in the old-school magical girl scene as civilians- they had friends in the game, hunting grief seeds and trying to kill each other and get each other to witch. Kyubey was there, playing them against each other. The surviving cannibal team here are the first of that scene to contract under Tama-chan’s new system.

Fumi-chan tries to shut down that conversation, assisted by two things. Thing 1:

Thing 2: the room is suddenly lit up by a blinding pink light that blasts a hole in the wall.

(Oh, also- since Sakura witched and revived, that means she’s leveled up. Her single final ability, an upgrade of either the armor or the taffy, is...

This is, uh... well, it’s as creepy as she makes it, and how creepy she makes it is...

Very. Very, is how much. Anyway, the giant explosion:)

So, the pink laser doesn’t do all that much damage, since they were protected by the mansion, but it still stings- and Yukari is familiar with that light.

It’s Honoka- except like, some kind of shriveled sun-baked undead monster thing. It talks- and it talks shit, but in kind of an uncreative way. It declares itself to be Honoka Midarezaki, and that she’s going to kill them all. It also isn’t super responsive to... anything that contradicts its narrative of being stronger than the party.

They just unload a handful of totally normal attacks on her, and her head gets blasted off. It seems like it was just a familiar, not the witch. So that’s some damage done, right?

The party concludes that this is basically a zombie apocalypse scenario, and they bust out their Antimatter Wands to form a defensive perimeter- after all, these things are pretty weak individually, maybe they can win by attrition. (Emiko has questions about where they got those wands, and where they got the Dis Astranagants, and what the deal is with the Devil- but those questions are going to have to wait.)

So... well, thing is, they notice the shriveled Honokas aren’t really swarming them at all. They seem to be gathering in the shade of the statues dotting the landscape, actually- and the team rolls some Real to try and figure out what they’re doing.

Worried that this might turn into a giant mech battle, Sakura has a proposal:

After some discussion, in which Ibara claims that giant robots are lame and everyone else absolutely loses their shit at her, not the least Emiko... they conclude they need to deal with these statues before taking on the sun directly.

Thankfully, they’ve got some options for beating the heat outside. The team’s got loads of armor options thanks to Sakura and their artifacts, and enough healing to make up the difference. Going outside is going to be unpleasant, but not especially dangerous if they stay on top of armor and healing. Sakura additionally does some on-the-fly artificing to produce a couple candy umbrellas to block the light.

Hang on, though- it seems they’re forgetting something.

Nope, can’t see her. She was crying in the corner, but is now missing. They all roll Real to see if they spotted her in the chaos of the familiar attack- Seina and Yukari barely pass, noting that she indeed got up and started moving somewhere during the attack, but the others completely fail, and no one rolled high enough to know exactly where she went.

They immediately check the upstairs of the stone mansion, and... well, find her right away, cowering in a different corner, because that’s where she went. Good guessing!

She doesn’t seem to be responding, and seems distraught about something- and then Seina uses her telepathy-sight and notices that Fumi-chan is having a private telepathic conversation with her. She doesn’t roll high enough to listen in, though, so they need to do some sorcery to try and get Fumi to stop. They attempt to create a magical jam radio to break the telepathy, and... uh, both rolls are crits.

Ibara eventually resorts to just smashing the damn thing on the spot, freeing everyone from the horrible noise, but wasting the effort.

...Until it isn’t, because Emiko took off without the rest of the party and took Fumi-chan with her, out of range. Whoops. Sakura offers Nobody one of her sun-blocking umbrellas, since they kind of have to get going quick if they don’t want Emiko to beat them to the witch.

They don’t really have time to resolve this to their satisfaction, though- and shortly, they’re off.

They get to the statue- it’s one of some masked magical girl with a needle and surrounded by satellite dishes- and take out a few Honoka shrivels at the base. Ibara delivers a Shear Force attack to one of the statue’s legs, in hopes of cracking it and knocking the whole thing over. It’s moderately successful, and it’ll only take one more big hit to do the job.

They eventually learn where Emiko is, because Seelenfaust drops from the sky and breaks off one of the statue’s hands- apparently Emiko was fighting inside the statue, and just now decided to call in reinforcements.

Yukari’s approach... is to not fight the Honokas outside at all. She can just teleport- and teleport she does, straight into the center of the statue.

What happens is... well, the needle vanishes, and the room gets smaller. And so do all the Honokas. And so does the statue. And- okay, yeah, basically the whole team is twice as big now, and their power and damage reduction have been doubled.

Ibara’s able to take the statue down entirely, and the remaining Honokas get mopped up. Meanwhile... it seems like a lot of the other statues have doubled in size, too, though some are still small. And- they see a few of the un-hugened ones get hugened as they watch. Huh?

The team splits up a bit to handle more statues, since the Honokas didn’t offer much resistance and they figure they can cover more ground that way. Seina and Ibara head for one, Emiko and Makoto go for another, and Yukari and Sakura take a third.

When Seina and Ibara arrive at their destination, they find a plaque by the statue’s feet.

(Mayushi is a character from Zero’s old megucas adventure, so I defer to him there:)

Sakura finishes the job by, uh, making her brain come out of her head and engulf it and crush it to pieces.

So- after these statue missions, their strength and DR multiplier is 16x.

That thing where she can home in on her goddess, and also has Fly as a basic talent? Yeah, she can just fly herself to the moon, is the thing.

Nobody also has magical flying- and both of them have specific advantages for following particular people, so getting here wasn’t too hard for them.

So- with that, we break for the week- next time, we fast-forward over some samey statue dungeon-crawling, and get on with the actual witch fight!

#no driver's license

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bakagamieru · 7 years

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Hey gami, I was wondering if you were gonna share your thoughts/ give a review for flicker? What did you think? :)

I love it! I took Friday off partly in order to listen to it when it came out instead of having to wait until I came home from work.

The album is actually growing on me more and more as I listen to it even though I thought it was great from the start anyway.

Uhhhh, I kind of went a little overboard once I started typing my thoughts...

Sound

It’s definitely got a pretty coherent tone to it which some people will say is too boring and some people will say makes the songs sound too samey, but it’s nice to immerse yourself in a mood and you can do that with Niall’s album. It’s all very gentle, very heartfelt, and very sincere. I bet it would be easy to fall asleep to this album with how soothing it is.

I think Niall’s vocals are the best they’ve ever been on the album. Like I always thought, more acoustic-leaning songs help highlight his voice with it’s more talk-y quality and rasp. Niall’s always had a bit of an oddball voice because he’s got these clear, pure high tones and yet he can also have a rasp on both the high and the low end. The gentle acoustic sound of the album helps all of those things shine. Niall is pretty bread and butter (in a good way that makes it easy to connect to his voice) until he suddenly puts in one of those trills or intentional breaks and then you’re left there with your mouth hanging open.

It’s a bit weird having heard all the songs live and then having to get used to the studio versions, but I think the studio versions are awesome for the most part. I do think the different notes in On the Loose are kind of odd and maybe should have been re-recorded, but that’s mostly the only gripe I have.

Lyric Themes

To be honest, the lyrics of Niall’s album shock me a little. We’ve only ever heard his solo songs up until now be about one night stands and hook-ups. That would be apart from DFWYB which isn’t about romance in the first place. Anyway, it feels weird that Niall is kind of known for writing those hook-up songs and then he comes out of nowhere with an album that’s all dedicated love, anxious longing, and wistful remembrance.

To be fair, there were hints of it here and there, especially in the lyrics of Temporary Fix. Something that carried over from Temporary Fix is that Niall seems to have a recurring theme of putting himself in a more submissive or supporting role in a relationship than most men do.

There are several songs that specifically mention the girl making the first move:

Temporary Fix- “you were looking at me first”

Slow Hands- " ‘We should take this back to my place’ That's what she said right to my face”

Seeing Blind- “now you’re talking to me first”

Then there are several songs that are specifically about wanting his partner to open up and wanting to listen to his partner’s problems:

Fire Away- “you can go ahead and unload it cause you know it’ll be ok, fire away”

Since We’re Alone- “tell me what you’re running from”

Mirrors (sort of, it’s not about his partner, but it is about inner struggles getting seen) “she looks into her mirror, wishing someone could hear her, so loud”

There are also several songs that are kind of entreating his partner to hold on to him, whether the relationship is still going or not (it kinds of puts the power in their hands rather than his own):

Too Much to Ask- “tell me there are things that you regret”

You and Me- “time has never been on our side, so would you wait for me?

The Tide- “don't let the tide come and wash us away, don't let the tide come and take me”

Flicker- “still a flicker of hope that you first gave to me that I wanna keep, please don't leave”

Warmth

I’m glad that there’s an inherent respect for his partners in Niall’s songs. Zayn’s music has that too and it just makes it so much easier to listen to. I don’t know how much either of them know about feminism or relationship discourse, but I would suspect Niall isn’t very versed on it considering he tends to make comments that show the unconsciously ingrained and unintentionally harmful brand of sexism.

Anyway, my point is that there’s a sort of gentleness and warmth inherent in both Zayn and Niall’s lyrics that has to come from their nature because I don’t think it’s from any particular enlightenment through discourse. It’s nice that it’s from their nature, though, because you can tell that they’re truly decent people.

That’s not to say that Harry, Louis, and Liam aren’t the same, but I don’t know that the types of songs they’ve written have reflected it in the way I’m talking about for Zayn and Niall. This is because I think all of the songs about love and sex that are based on real experience that have come from these 3 are about men, but I think some of Zayn and Niall’s songs are legitimately about women.

I do hear that gentleness in the songs Louis has written that are about (most likely) Harry or about non-romantic things, and I hear that gentleness in the songs Harry has written (most likely) about Louis. I don’t think any of Liam’s songs so far have sounded like they were based on his genuine experience, so I can’t judge that one.

Yes, he and Louis wrote a lot together, but based on the lyrics released in Liam’s solo songs vs. Louis’ solo songs so far, I think it’s fair to say that Louis is far more interested in lyrics and it’s likely that a lot of the lyrics in their collabs came from Louis. At first I didn’t want to say that because it’s true that Liam doesn’t get enough credit for those collabs, but I honestly think the evidence at this point supports Louis being the lyric guy while Liam is the melody guy.

Aggh, I’m having trouble explaining myself succinctly here, but I’m not trying to get too much into the politics of assigning sexuality to people we don’t know or open a can of worms about who wrote what on Liam and Louis’ collabs.

It’s just me trying to explain a feeling I get from their lyrics when Zayn and Niall talk about sex and/or women.

Specific Songs

The only pure, happy love song in terms of the story of the song would be Seeing Blind. The lyrics of that are interesting to me because he says that he’s heard the person speak a million times already before they even talk to each other for the first time. That would indicate to me that whoever he’s talking about is someone who shows up in media somehow because otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to hear them if he hadn’t met them yet.

The one song I would say feels really odd and out of place to me is On My Own. I like it well enough, but that and Slow Hands are the only 2 songs on the album that go back to that “single Niall” aesthetic from before the album.

I also don’t really get the lyrics of On My Own because he talks about turning down someone who’s interested (presumably for a short fling), but then he’s also talking about “kissing all the women”. So are you up for a one night stand or not Niall? I haven’t figured out that one yet other than that it’s basically just an ode to bars. I’m not saying there has to be anything deep behind it, but I like to figure out a meaning for songs that’s consistent across the lyrics and I’m having trouble doing that for On My Own.

Of course I somehow didn’t end up mentioning my favorite song in all of that. Paper Houses just gets me. I think it’s kind of in league with Too Much to Ask and This Town in that it can be read as the other straight-up break-up song on the album. However, it’s vague enough that it could apply to any sort of relationship or collective and I like that. I think his voice is probably in its best element on that song too.

I would say Fire Away is probably my 2nd favorite for similar reasons, but The Tide is right on its heels even though it’s solidly about romance.

See, that’s the thing. I usually don’t like songs that are about romance because I think it’s way overdone. About 95% of songs you hear on the radio are about romance and there are so many other parts of the human experience that deserve to get attention instead. However, I think having not heard Niall write about committed relationships before helps in making this album feel fresh despite that. I also think a large chunk of it is down to Niall pouring his heart and his real feelings into the album. It comes across as genuine.

Summary

I really love Niall’s album. It’s something that creeps up on you quietly and sits on you unassumingly. It’s a great representation of his entire career so far.

I personally would say Niall has had the most successful career at this point despite it being the least flashy. I’m basing that on the combination of the industry buzz, positive reviews, general audience reaction, consistency of charting, longevity of songs, streaming, and sales. All the others tend to have a corner of the market locked down, but I think Niall’s the only one who’s doing well across all the metrics. The only thing he’s a little low on is his hits on his music videos, but to be fair he only has the 1 that’s a real music video.

It’s just kind of mind-boggling to think about because Niall always does things like this. He doesn’t ever stand center-stage, and yet somehow he manages to steal everyone’s hearts under the radar.

To be fair to the others, it has to be said Niall hasn’t really experienced the sabotage they have either. Poor Zayn and Louis are getting maliciously neglected while Liam is sunk in a shithole of bearding and official narrative. Harry, while his official narrative isn’t the nicest for fans, generally benefits him when it comes to the industry and the general public. He could have more promo though.

#one direction #Niall Horan #solo niall #flicker album #review #bakagamieru #Anonymous

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gamerszone2019-blog · 5 years

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Decay of Logos Review

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/decay-of-logos-review/

Decay of Logos Review

There’s an old Wile E. Coyote cartoon where he gets in a racecar to chase after the Road Runner, and as he’s speeding along the car begins to fall apart piece by piece until he’s left holding nothing but a busted steering wheel. That’s what it feels like to play Decay of Logos, an open-world action-adventure RPG that strongly invokes The Legend of Zelda but is missing the crucial pieces that make the genre so beloved.

Drawing inspiration from Dark Souls as well, Decay of Logos places emphasis on challenge and exploration, though it rarely sticks the landing. Across its roughly 10-hour campaign you’ll travel through haunted battlefields, crumbling castles, and mysterious woods – all while fighting the same handful of generic enemy types over and over again in one of the most infuriatingly repetitive and buggy games I’ve seen in a long time. Whether it’s the choppy framerate, equipment that disappears from your inventory, the world not loading in time for you to step foot on it, or the whole thing crashing entirely, you’re only ever a short time away from something that will hinder or completely shatter your enjoyment of a game that otherwise has a lot of potential.

You play a bland, white-haired silent protagonist named Ada, who looks like an off-brand version of The Legend of Zelda’s Link. Accompanied by your equally silent companion, a white elk of unknown origin, you’ll set out on a cliché and low-stakes quest for revenge after your village is burned to the ground. Despite the generic plot, the worldbuilding in Decay of Logos is expertly done, making heavy use of environmental storytelling that gives you a taste of a dystopian fantasy setting and asks you to fill in the gaps. The colorful, Breath of the Wild-esque art style shows off some pretty stellar areas that beg to be explored, though doing so almost invariably ends in touring samey dungeons, filled with repetitive monsters and puzzles that you quickly become all too familiar with.

The Breath of the Wild-esque art style shows off some pretty stellar areas that beg to be explored, though doing so almost invariably ends in touring samey dungeons filled with repetitive monsters.

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At the best of times, Decay of Logos simply runs poorly: The framerate bounces up and down wildly and makes gameplay choppy during combat encounters that require precise timing, and some nasty screen tearing can make the world look like a piece of abstract art. But where Decay of Logos really suffers is in the frustrating, intermittent critical glitches and bugs that completely halt progress. Traveling across long stretches of the open world without resting usually results in the framerate going from bad to nearly unplayable. Oftentimes areas of the world took too long to load in under my feet, resulting in me falling through the map and dying due to no fault of my own. Sometimes dying or resting to restore my health had the side effect of causing all my potions or one of my weapons to disappear without explanation.

These kinds of glitches were so commonplace during my playthrough that I had to come up with workarounds, like not pausing for more than a minute or two to avoid an inevitable crash that always seemed to follow. In another particularly maddening instance, I began to recognize that an extreme drop in framerate was a warning sign that the floor was moments away from disappearing – in moments like this I would race to a save point to avoid losing progress, often only to fall through the floor and die mere seconds from salvation.

And unfortunately, even when everything technically works, many of Decay of Logos’ design troubles rear their heads. The RPG systems that govern the world and its characters are vague and aggravating. For example, your character’s level, which greatly impacts how powerful you are and your ability to compete with enemies in certain parts of the world, can be found in the menu, but there’s no information on how much XP you have, how to get more, or how much you need to the next level up. This is particularly annoying because most enemies in the world arbitrarily become much stronger once you accomplish certain milestones, like killing a major boss, which leads to some really frustrating encounters.

Even when everything technically works, many of Decay of Logos’ design troubles rear their heads.

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At one point I powered through an army of the undead and killed one of the major bosses without so much as a scratch on me, only to be killed by those same low-level minions on my way back to base, because the act of slaying the boss had leveled up every enemy in the world. This means that every time you beat a chapter, you go from powerful badass to near-useless dreg and have to grind until you level up a few times and become strong again, relative to the rest of the characters in the world. It’s a routine that’s far more irritating than it is fun, and made me feel cheated out of my hard-won progress at precisely the moments where I should have felt most accomplished.

Combat in Decay of Logos is also deeply flawed in that it pits you against the same handful of enemy types for hours on end. Each area has just one or two unique types of enemies that appear in large numbers, and in most cases they can’t be realistically dealt with in groups greater than two or three at a time. So victory becomes a matter of drawing the attention of a few enemies at once, killing them, and repeating. And because the leveling system often artificially makes enemies much stronger than you, combat can drag on for long stretches of time as you whittle down the health meter of an enemy that you might have been able to kill in a few seconds just a short time ago. The dynamic here is even worse when it comes to the world’s optional bosses, all of which are carbon copies of one another, and have predictable movesets and obnoxiously large health bars that make for tiresome encounters.

Last week, after publishing our original review of Decay of Logos, the publisher informed us that they had mistakenly provided us with an Xbox One copy that was two months out of date. We retracted the review to make sure we fairly represented the developers’ work and began again on PlayStation 4, using a new code provided by the publisher. But after playing through the entire game a second time, the experience was only marginally improved in stability and bugs. We are told further patches are on the way, including one on launch day, but it’s unclear what issues will specifically be addressed.

Of all the design issues I have with Decay of Logos, though, the elk is what enrages me the most. As you play, you’re frequently reminded about the importance of the bond between Ada and her elk companion, especially the need to cooperate in order to overcome obstacles. But that promise is never delivered on, chiefly because the elk is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine and has the AI of a refrigerator magnet. For starters, one of the main uses of the elk is the ability to ride it to get from place to place, but doing so is frustrating and inefficient. Not only can you run faster than the elk, but directing it is treated more as a suggestion than an order, and the beast mostly wanders around aimlessly and gets caught on everything in its path.

But the worst instances involving the elk are when you’re asked to solve a puzzle in tandem with it. Simply put, this dumb thing just doesn’t follow orders. You have the ability to call it by blowing a whistle, but most times it doesn’t show up or gets caught on something on the way to you and has to be manually guided out. In one instance, I spent several minutes trying to find the elk, only to find it undulating bizarrely on the side of a cliff, and I had to jump off said cliff to restore its sanity. In another example, I spent over an hour trying to guide it out of a spiral staircase that it’d gotten itself lodged under. They say if you listen closely, you can still hear my screams of rage to this very day.

Source : IGN

#Game News #Game Reviews

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