#$4.94

[mtg-cards-hourly]

Fishliver Oil

Then the maiden bade him cast off his robes and cover his body with fishliver oil, that he might safely follow her into the sea.

Artist: Anson Maddocks TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[eternatuslesbian]

hi im mihai and i need some help paying to get my driver's side window fixed so i can get my vehicle registration renewed! my window is going to cost anywhere between $100-$200 dollars and the vehicle registration is going to cost $74 dollars so my goal for that is $274! anything helps <3

$4.94/$274

[kahluacoco]

Making Mychael's Horns

My mom likes to celebrate Halloween with a family dinner in costumes. This year I decided to have a Mushroom Oasis inspired outfit. I found a peach mushroom sweater very similar to Mychael's in day three, and his gloves, but I knew what I really wanted to try was to wear his horns! I haven't done a craft project in a while, and I haven't done any cosplay before. This is documenting the process and has some accompanying pictures.

Before the essay starts, (I wrote a lot!) here's the finished product! It was lightweight and fun to make!

Here are the materials I used. Since I made this across multiple days I took some pictures for fun. I didn't expect to make this into a blog post but here we are! Sharing this out in case you want to try and make this. The products I noted here are not to advertise anything, I just tried to find the cheapest materials I could use. I also noted the prices.

Total Cost was ~$22 USD but that includes extra material for other projects. I bought all this at Walmart.

Materials

Acrylic Red Paint (Apple Barrel Matte Flag Red) $0.58

Acrylic Yellow Paint (Apple Barrel Matte Bright Yellow) $0.58

Acrylic White Paint (Apple Barrel Matte Snow White) $0.58

Acrylic Blue Paint (Apple Barrel Matte Too Blue) $0.58

Mod Podge Matte-Mat-Mate $4.94 for 8 fl oz

Foam Brush (optional for blending) ($1.48 for 4)

Some paint brushes (a few sizes for basecoating and details - $2.98 for 3 brushes)

Pencil

Thin wood dowel $0.42 around 1/8 diameter maybe?

1 Foam Block (Medium/Small - Used as a base to hold the horns upright while working/drying) - $1.97 for 2

Blue artificial flower pick $0.50 (I got one on sale at Walmart that had some purple, white and blue flowers with green leaves. Feel welcome to grab a couple picks just in case)

2 Craft Foam Rectangular Blocks (FloraCraft Foam - I used DryFM green blocks that aren’t as porous. They’re usually used for keeping water for flowers. I got rectangles that were a bit larger than 5 in H x 3 in L x 2 in W. $1.07 for each block.)

Soft Fabric Headband (I used Goody Fabric Covered Headbands in neutral colors. You can get one similar to your haircolor $4.48 for 3)

Hot Glue Gun (I owned one already)

Dinner Knife

Gloves and Face Mask

Scissors

Here are the steps. I added in a lot of notes for gotchas/oopsies that I ran into.

Instructions

Carving the horns

With the large foam rectangular blocks, draw out the shape of the horns on the two widest sides gently with a pencil. This will help guide carving.

With the serrated knife cut gently along the areas around the lines to form the rough shape of the horns.

Don’t cut directly along the line. Cut out from the rectangle a rough polygon shape to start that is a bit bigger then the drawn lines. Then slowly start carving closer like carving a fruit and curving the knife. You can cut larger shavings for the rough shape, but try to cut smaller shavings as you get closer to your drawn lines so that you can get more detailed easily. The less you cut, the easier it is to fix. If you cut more, then you aren’t able to add foam back. Take your time cutting. See drawing on process.

Since the foam is soft, you can optionally cut the rough shape and use your fingers to smooth the edges and curves of the horns

Once you’ve completed one horn, you can work on the other. As you carve, compare the two horns and try to make them similar in width, height and length.

Recommendations/Notes

Line your work area with a bag for easier cleanup.

I recommend wearing a face mask and gloves so you don’t breath in the fine dry foam as you’re working with it. It’ll get messy if you cut fast. It’ll cling to your hands and maybe clothes.

Be careful with the knife, I ended up using a small serrated dinner carving knife

Treat the foam gently, it can be easily squished if you grip it too strongly

If you want to buy an extra block to practice carving a 3d shape, it might be helpful

No worries if the two horns aren’t exactly the same. Imagine that a horn is like a thumbprint, no two are alike :)

After all the carving, the horns were roughly 5 in H x 3 in L x 2 in D. Feel welcome to make them smaller or larger.

Strengthening the horns

Gently clean away with your gloved hands as much of the foam dust as you can from the exterior of the horns.

Cut up the wood dowel into a couple of small pieces. This will be used to prop up the horns so they’re upright and allow them to dry. Gently poke through the bottom of the horns with the dowel, and poke the dowel through the base foam block.

Pour some mod podge into a reusable cup and with a medium/large brush coat the first layer on both horns. Paint all over the horns including the bottom.

Wait for it to dry and continue to coat the horns with additional layers until it isn’t porous anymore

Recommendations/Notes

Since the foam is porous and soft, some mod podge or similar material will help fill in the holes and strengthen it

Even though the exterior is strengthened and prepped for painting, the foam can still be squished if too much pressure is on it (squeezing it strongly, hitting it with something, etc). I chose this foam since it was lightweight and would be easier to wear, but that is the main downside.

You can use a blow dryer on low heat to help speed up drying. I think I waited at least 15-20+ minutes in between layers. I would go about and do some other stuff around the house and come back to it.

I coated the horns with about 2-3 layers of mod podge.

Painting the horns

To cover up the green foam, paint a base coat with the darkest red of the horns. You’ll need about 2-3 layers of base coat to cover all the horns in red. Let the horns dry a bit in between coats.

After the base coats are fully dry, prepare the three horn colors to make the gradient. Paint the darker red at the top, the orange around the middle, and the soft yellow near the base and bottom. Feel welcome to blend with a brush or even some gloved fingers! Let the horns dry a bit and apply additional coats as need until you get the desired result.

Once the gradient on the horns is fully dry, make the spots color and plan out where your spots will be before painting them on. Have fun with it! You can try to match the spot positions in the character reference sheet or make your own. You’ll probably need to let it dry a bit and paint a few coats until they are a nice solid color.

For steps 1-2, you can use the blow dryer until fully dry or let this dry overnight. I waited overnight until the next day in between each step.

If you have a spray on mod podge or other sealer, feel free to spray the horns to lock in and protect the paint colors! I didn’t get a chance to do this. This would be the last step.

Recommendations/Notes

Refer to Mychael’s character reference sheet as a color guide. His horns are a gradient of three colors with a fourth lighter color for spots.

You may want to practice mixing colors a bit to get the hang of it before creating larger quantities. For the quantities I made about 1/4 cup or so? I don’t know the exact proportions I used since I eyeballed it to the best of my ability. Here is a rough approximation:

The darker red at the top is like a vermillion. I used mostly red, with a few touches of blue (no more then 10%), a few touches of yellow (no more then 10%).

The orange was a mix of maybe 60% red and 40% yellow.

The softer yellow for the base was yellow with some white and a bit of peach (no more then 15/20% for the white/peach colors).

The spots were made with some of the soft yellow and extra white

The red paint I purchased was the strongest color, so keep that in mind when creating the oranges and yellows. The paint I used is a bit thin so I had to paint multiple coats.

I ended up painting a base coat with the darkest red color a few times to cover up all the green foam.

I mixed each of these in different reusable cups.

You’ll want to paint the gradient all at once to blend it.

You can use a blow dryer on low heat to help speed up drying. I think I waiting at least 15-20+ minutes in between layers when applying multiple coats. Then I waited overnight to let it fully dry.

Creating the headband

Choose a fabric headband that’s closest to your haircolor (or Mychael’s if you’re wearing a wig!)

Mark faintly with a pencil where the horns will be on the headband. I placed the horns a little less then 2 inches apart from the center of the headband. Feel free to adjust to your liking.

With the glue gun, add some glue to the base of the horn and hold down firmly. Be careful for any excess glue that may spill. I added in extra glue and made sure it was pressed firmly on the hairband to secure it.

Repeat with the second horn a few inches away from the other one. Dry it with a blow dryer on the low cool setting if needed

Optional for the flowers

Carefully remove all the fabric flowers from their stems on the flower pick. Remove the plastic base and leave the stamens. Use the scissors to cut some of the back stem if needed.

Apply some glue to the back of the flowers and carefully attach them to the headband around the base of the horns. Feel free to mix around the colors and leaves as you’d like.

Recommendations/Notes

Be careful with the glue gun. If you add too much glue onto the horn, you may burn your fingers when pressing it down onto the headband.

The flowers hide the base of the horns where it’s glued. This is optional if you prefer the horns as they are. I did this since my glue gun work was a bit messy and I thought it would dress up the headband and help blend the horns to my hair. I didn’t wear a wig.

I used 5 blue flower, 3 white flowers, 3 purple flowers, 6 leaves and 5 little fuzzy blue and yellow stems I used some leaves on the sides of the horns and the back. I glued the leaves first, and then some additional flowers on them. I tried to position the flowers at slight angles around the base of the horns in the back and front of the headband.

Here's how they look once they're ready! If you do end up making these, please share! It was so much fun dressing up, maybe next time I can try to go green and make a tail.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Reference archived on our website

Covid is an intersectional issue.

Abstract

Substantial racial/ethnic and gender disparities in COVID-19 mortality have been previously documented. However, few studies have investigated the impact of individual socioeconomic position (SEP) on these disparities.

Objectives: To determine the joint effects of SEP, race/ethnicity, and gender on the burden of COVID-19 mortality. A secondary objective was to determine whether differences in opportunities for remote work were correlated with COVID-19 death rates for sociodemographic groups.

Design: Annual mortality study which used a special government tabulation of 2020 COVID-19-related deaths stratified by decedents’ SEP (measured by educational attainment), gender, and race/ethnicity. Setting: United States in 2020. Participants: COVID-19 decedents aged 25 to 64 years old (n = 69,001). Exposures: Socioeconomic position (low, intermediate, and high), race/ethnicity (Hispanic, Black, Asian, Indigenous, multiracial, and non-Hispanic white), and gender (women and men). Detailed census data on occupations held by adults in 2020 in each of the 36 sociodemographic groups studied were used to quantify the possibility of remote work for each group.

Main Outcomes and Measures: Age-adjusted COVID-19 death rates for 36 sociodemographic groups. Disparities were quantified by relative risks and 95% confidence intervals. High-SEP adults were the (low-risk) referent group for all relative risk calculations. Results: A higher proportion of Hispanics, Blacks, and Indigenous people were in a low SEP in 2020, compared with whites. COVID-19 mortality was five times higher for low vs. high-SEP adults (72.2 vs. 14.6 deaths per 100,000, RR = 4.94, 95% CI 4.82–5.05). The joint detriments of low SEP, Hispanic ethnicity, and male gender resulted in a COVID-19 death rate which was over 27 times higher (178.0 vs. 6.5 deaths/100,000, RR = 27.4, 95% CI 25.9–28.9) for low-SEP Hispanic men vs. high-SEP white women. In regression modeling, percent of the labor force in never remote jobs explained 72% of the variance in COVID-19 death rates.

Conclusions and Relevance: SARS-CoV-2 infection control efforts should prioritize low-SEP adults (i.e., the working class), particularly the majority with “never remote” jobs characterized by inflexible and unsafe working conditions (i.e., blue collar, service, and retail sales workers).

[gritsandbrits]

My review of Bratz Kylie

I had no interest in buying her the first couple of months she was out because I'm not a Kylie fan, but after seeing her on Amazon for 4.94 i decided to get her. She's a good quality, no wonky eyes or loose limbs, and there's no mold or marks on her either.

Her hair is a mixed bag for me, the ends are caked in grease while the top part is soft.

Here's what her outfit looks like in the front and back.

Her dress is made out of this thin pleather. I think it could be the same fabric used for Alwayz Jade. There are no tears and i like the design.

The shoes are giving Skullector.

She came with a lip shaped purse in the same color as the accents on her shoes. It has a thin slit so you could put something inside it, and flexible while the straps are made of harder plastic.

She has a similar if not exact same skin tone as Repro Yasmin. Which is perfect because i need a tan doll to make a surprise character - no spoilers!

Later tonight im going to wash that gunk out her hair and restyle it. Overall, she's pretty much a good steal for 4 dollars because i am not about to spend 29.99 on a doll of a celeb i don't like and who doesn't come with a 2nd outfit, unless you buy a completely separate doll.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

More than 100 tenants in a Thorncliffe Park apartment complex have stopped paying rent to protest proposed above-guideline increases of almost 10 per cent over the last two years, according to a tenant advocacy group.

The rent strike, which started just over a month ago, is the second in Toronto spurred on by above-guideline rent increases (AGIs) that CBC Toronto has reported on within the last week. 

Residents of a three-building apartment complex on Thorncliffe Park Drive were given notice of rent increases beginning on May 1, varying from 4.94 per cent to 5.5 per cent, according to copies of 2022 and 2023 notices shared with CBC Toronto by the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations (FMTA). Last year, the proposed increase was 4.2 per cent.

Full article

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[automotiveshopping]

10pcs Red Extra Soft Car Wash ... Price 4.94$ CLICK TO BUY

[statementlou]

RALLY THE TROOPS WE STILL CAN GET LOUIS TO #1 ON WIKIFEET

THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN (well. a person, but maybe that's enough?!??) My fellow louies, when have we ever settled for less then going ALL THE WAY to show our man that we are the BEST FANS in the WORLD??? 5 STARS BY AFHF IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK? Louis' wikifeet page rating has been stalled at 4.94 stars, SO CLOSE, but WITH YOUR HELP we can ride those feet all the way to the top!!! Those toes deserve better and we can DELIVER, show you care and tell a friend to VOTE GAYNKLES! (just rate him 5 stars, it takes like 2 ratings to bump him up a whole point, we're SO CLOSE!!)

terms and conditions include that you have to make a wikifeet account and possibly discover something about yourself you didn't want to know while viewing endless pictures of Louis' shapely seductive hooves

[shsl-box-split]

Leftovers!!

These pieces of merch are all left over from previous box splits!

If you are interested in buying any of them, please shoot me a message! All leftovers are first come, first serve!

Prices do go down the longer an item is in the leftovers post, but best offers are always welcome! You must pay for shipping!

Trading is also available and highly encouraged! Here is a list of characters I would trade for normally, but any characters are welcome to be offered!

DEALS!!

All prices are negotiable to an extent! Send your best offers to the mod.

Buy two or more items, get 10% entire order!

Buy 3 or more items, get free shipping! (Only available for inside the US)

Make your own bundle! Must be five items or more, will be given 20% off and free shipping in the US (international buyers will receive 5 USD off shipping).

Birthday sale! For the month of July, any Ryoma, Sayaka, Akane, Yasuhiro, and Korekiyo merchandise available is an extra 20% off!

Secret sale! Every day, a random selection of lucky people who are on an active split will receive a 24 hour sale! To participate, just be part of a split and wait and see if you are selected to be part of the sale. Please know that being part of an active split does not guarantee you will get selected in a timely manner, and you will still need to cover the costs of any characters you claim if a split fills.

Mod’s Garage Sale

Link to Stained Glass items

Deals cannot be combined together.

Please ask for the multiple purchase discounts, they are not automatically applied

*Any items italicized will not go down in price, nor can be negotiated down, due to more than 4 being left over from the initial split or reaching minimum allowed.

Galo and Kray Buddy Collection Rubber Strap: 6 USD (og. 12 USD) Akane Owari Underwear Stand: 6.17 4.94 USD (og. 12 USD) Akane Owari Sanrio Badge: 6.26 5.01 USD (og. 11 USD) Teruteru Hanamura Candy Stand: 9.46 USD (og. 15 USD) Akane Owari Candy Stand: 9.46 7.57 USD (og. 15 USD)   Hiyoko Saionji Stained Glass Stand: 7.57 USD (og. 12 USD) Akane Owari Candy Badge: 7.20 5.76 USD (og. 10 USD)   Akane Owari Sanrio Key Chain: 10.48 8.38 USD  (og. 15 USD) Celestia Ludenberg DRS Badge: 7.35 USD (og. 10 USD) Ryoma Hoshi DRS Badge: 7.35 5.88 USD (og. 10 USD) Hiyoko and Tenko DRS Stands: 14.71 USD each (og. 20 USD) Ryoma Hoshi DRS Stand: 14.71 11.77 USD (og. 20 USD) Ryoma Hoshi DRS Video Call Stand: 11.02 8.82 USD (og. 15 USD) Teruteru Hanamura DRS Video Call Stand: 12.49 USD (og. 17 USD) Kirumi Tojo DRS Video Call Stand: 14.71 USD (og. 20 USD) Notice: All DRS Video Call Stands fronts and back are mix and matchable. All prices are listed for the front character. Please pick a back character when buying a front. Byakuya Twogami Candy Badge: 7.74 USD (og. 10 USD) Yasuhiro Hagakure Rectangle Badge: 9.78 7.82 USD (og. 12 USD) Akane Owari Sanrio Stand: 11.40 9.12 USD (og. 14 USD) Nekomaru, Twogami, and Teruteru Swimsuit Badges: 8.15 USD each (og. 10 USD) Akane Owari Swimsuit Badge: 8.15 6.52 USD (og. 10 USD) SDR2 Swimsuit Stands: 12.22 USD each (og. 15 USD) Makoto, Byakuya, Toko, and Celestia DRS Acrylic Coasters: 14 USD each Sayaka Maizono DRS Acrylic Coaster: 14 11.20 USD Rantaro and Kirumi DRS Acrylic Coasters: 12 USD each (og. 14 USD) Celestia Ludenberg Chibi Prom Badges: 8.15 USD (og. 10 USD) Yasuhiro Hagakure Chibi Prom Badges: 8.15 6.52 USD(og. 10 USD) Teruteru and Nekomaru Chibi Prom Stands: 12.22 USD each (og. 15 USD) Mondo Owada Sanrio Stand: 12.86 USD (og. 15 USD) Danganronpa Candy Badges: 8.58USD (og. 10 USD) Angie Yonaga Sanrio Badge: 8.58 USD (og. 10 USD) Tsumugi Shirogane Cafe 2 Stands: 12.86 USD (og. 15 USD) Junko Enoshima 1-2 Cafe Stand: 11.14 USD each (og. 13 USD) Mahiru and Twogami Chibi Prom Stands: 12.86 USD each (og. 15 USD) Tsumugi Shirogane Mini Chara Halloween Badge: 8.58 USD (og. 10 USD) Tsumugi Shirogane Mini Chara Halloween Stand: 12.86 USD (og. 15 USD) Ryoma Hoshi Mini Chara Halloween Stand: 12.86 10.29 USD (og. 15 USD) Tsumugi Shirogane Retro Key Chain: 12.01 USD (og. 14 USD) SDR2 Side Step Badges: 7.71 USD each (og. 9 USD) Yasuhiro Hagakure Prom Event Film Strip Stand: 12.86 10.29 USD (og. 15 USD) Makoto and Hifumi DRS Badges: 9.03 USD each (og. 10 USD) Danganronpa Chokonto! Key Chains: 10.45 USD each (og. 11 USD) Nekomaru, Twogami, Teruteru and Mahiru Chokonto! Key Chains: 10.45 USD each (og. 11 USD) Akane Owari Chokonto! Key Chains: 10.45 8.36 USD (og. 11 USD) NDRV3 Chibi Prom Stands: 15 USD each Korekiyo and Ryoma Chibi Prom Stands 15 12 USD each DR3 Pixel Stands: 13 USD each

[kayays-game-journal]

okay quick thing that might be better as a video but f it

so steam summer fest is coming up and an indie dev team i follow does a lil video every time. the edits have gotten to a point where the whole ass video has Ship of Theseus itself to the point where without digging you wouldn’t be able to determine how/when the edits for the price started.

if you wanna know each edit, its been:

$9.99 (Original), $7.49 (an edit i did), $4.94, $3.45, a $7.49 version with a fake out in it, and finally $1.49 (the newest version)

anyways, buy antonball deluxe. its $1.49 and its a steal if you want an arcade game based off of old school nintendo stuff and breakout.

a/n: video is a bit loud, have fun!

[sourceempoweredltd]

MotoTec X1 70cc 4-Stroke Gas Dirt Bike

>>>GRAB YOURS NOW<<<

Motor: 110cc 4-Stroke Single Cylinder Air Cooled

Factory Model# K1

Displacement: 107 ml

Max Power: 6.7 HP @ 8000 RPM

Max Torque: 4.94 ft-lb @ 5500 RPM

Compression: 9.1:1

Transmission: Automatic Single Gear

Engine Oil: SAE 10w/40

Engine Start: Electric Start (12v/4ah battery)

Carburetor: PZ22 Jingke

Drive Train: #420 Chain (14T, 39T Sprockets)

Fuel Tank: 2.2 Liter

Introducing the MotoTec X1 70cc 4-Stroke Gas Dirt Bike, designed for those seeking an adrenaline-fueled off-road experience.

Equipped with a powerful 110cc 4-Stroke Single Cylinder Air Cooled motor, this bike delivers impressive performance and responsiveness. The factory model K1 ensures reliability and durability in every ride.

With a displacement of 107 ml, the MotoTec X1 boasts a maximum power of 6.7 HP at 8000 RPM, allowing you to conquer any terrain with ease. Its maximum torque of 4.94 ft-lb at 5500 RPM ensures excellent acceleration and control.

Featuring a compression ratio of 9.1:1, this dirt bike offers optimal combustion efficiency for enhanced power delivery. The automatic single gear transmission simplifies operation, making it suitable for riders of all skill levels.

The engine oil recommended is SAE 10w/40, ensuring smooth performance and longevity. Thanks to the electric start powered by a reliable 12v/4ah battery, you can effortlessly ignite the engine and get ready for action.

The PZ22 Jingke carburetor guarantees efficient fuel delivery for optimum performance while the drive train consists of a sturdy 420 chain with carefully matched sprockets (14T front and39T rear) for exceptional traction on various terrains.

With a generous fuel tank capacity of 2.2 liters, you can enjoy longer rides without worrying about refueling frequently.

Experience unparalleled excitement on the MotoTec X1 - where power meets durability and adventure awaits!

>>>GRAB YOURS NOW<<<

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

Today on Curse Words, some lore.

[thesinglesjukebox]

KIM PETRAS - "BRRR"

With Leah's help, we turn our attention to Kim Petras.

[4.94]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: When she's not being a trailblazer for the world's worst song (can you imagine the hypothetical TSJ blurbs for "Unholy"?), or receiving ire for Feed the Beast (which I secretly adore for how plodding and simple its pop vision is), it turns out Kim Petras remembers how to write a fun hook. "Brrrr" is camp embodied, far from transgressive, but delightful in its queer, whirring onomatopoeia. [7]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: I lived in queer co-ops from 2018 to 2020 so I've spent a non-negligible amount of time trying to appreciate Kim Petras. In that time -- and in the years following -- I've gotten precisely nothing out of this endeavor. The arc of Kim Petras's career is unintelligible to me, a grand chronicle in a language I can't read. If anything, her journey from "fake pop star my friends swear by" to "maybe real pop star that my friends don't talk about" is one of attenuation -- whatever star-like qualities could be discerned in her strongest early appearances ("I Don't Want It At All", the SOPHIE one, the Charli XCX one) is absent entirely on "Brrr" -- even the campy thrill of "Coconuts" and her vampy turn on "Unholy" is hard to discern here. The Kim Petras of "Brrr" is a rictus grin of forced slay, a joyless demonstration of force of will wrapping in third-generation Yeezus pop-industrial beats. [2]

Hannah Jocelyn: Alright, who gave Rami Yacoub the SOPHIE sample pack from Splice? Forget hyperpop; this is hypopop, devoid of any sort of invention or interesting production that once defined the genre. This is what CRASH sounds like to people that hate CRASH; this is what 10,000 Gecs sounds like to people who hate that record. Petras has no distinctive identity here; I don't even hear a woo-ahh; she even says "you don't know me all too well" and I agree. [3]

Oliver Maier: Don't have any idea what "if you think you're so cold, brr" is supposed to mean and producers ILYA and Rami evidently got overexcited with the SOPHIE sample pack. Improbably, it mostly gels. Kim Petras is probably evil but her performance here is seismic. [7]

Will Adams: I'll give her this: I can't remember the last time a pop song's central hook landed with such a tremendous thud as "IF YOU THINK YOU'RE SO COLD. BURRRRRR." [3]

Brad Shoup: That hook -- ouch. It would kill in the writers' room of an industry drama. The pre-chorus -- where she retreats for a second just to explode -- breaks up the squelch just fine. This looms more than it bangs, which feels right for a song I thought said if you like it baby, haunt a lobby. [4]

Nortey Dowuona: The bass drum in this is novel in that nothing is actually done upon closer inspection. There's a lot done with the synths, especially with the quick zaps of melodies that bubble up during the second pre-chorus, the quick bubbly riff at the tail end of the chorus, and the light motif at the beginning that is so thin it disappears upon quicker inspection. These all sound delightful, but listen to the bass drums, stripped of their ability to carry the baseline or shift the rhythm of the song. They could've been replaced with literally any kind of drum sound and it would function the same. It's just thrown in there since capital-p Pop music has absorbed rap production techniques wholesale without paying attention to how it's used. This could be coming from say, house or bass music, but nobody who made bass music would program bass drums this way, right? [4]

Micha Cavaseno: Extremely funny to hear the punchline flow still utilized as a hook in pop in 2023, because all the parts that feel very much like the past aren't the obviously retro-touches. The robotic elements of the production going for tech-electro knuckle-drag are nice and sleek, a classic vehicle if ever there was one even 40 years after this stuff was a trope. But the brrr, the filter on the backing vocals, the devil-may-care attitude gone world weary all meanwhile feels like the clichés of a decade ago that don't quite feel ready for nostalgia. I guess there's something to be said about a record that feels beholden to its dated elements being so "cold", but not everything cold is super inviting. [3]

Will Rivitz: As cold as a fridge set a degree or two above the FDA standard, and as enthralling as a piece of iceberg lettuce dessicated after a week left inside. [4]

Aaron Bergstrom: *Kenneth Parcell voice* "What's cocaine like?" [2]

Alfred Soto: What sucks is that this song doesn't suck. My students could've commissioned the vocal from several AI resources, the electronics don't grate. What sucks is that the hook sucks. "Did she really sing, 'If you think you're so cold, brr'?!" On first listen it sounded like "If you think you're so-ber." Guess which I prefer. [5]

Taylor Alatorre: Kim Petras released two albums in 2023 and I honestly didn't remember that this was on one of them. It provides a glimpse into one potential Bad Ending to her still-promising career: getting so hyped off the Sam Smith streaming numbers that she loses the ability to discriminate between "bad bitch energy" and movie trailer music. [4]

Harlan Talib Ockey: After the mediocre "Unholy" and laughable "If Jesus Was a Rockstar", "Brrr" actually sounded... good? Petras' delivery in the chorus is like getting smashed with a warhammer. The production is utterly headache-inducing (compliment). However, the verses feel less and less substantial on repeat listens, and it never builds to a peak higher than its first chorus. This is a solid album track, not a course-correcting lead single. [5]

Katherine St Asaph: Feed the Beast was named for its raison d'etre: source enough pop songs to hit your label KPIs, then spray and pray and slay. What's less remarked upon is how many of these songs come from writers and producers who really haven't released much lately: Sarah Hudson, Ali Tamposi, Ester Dean (!!), and "Brr" producer Ilya. (Unfortunately, Dr. Luke has released plenty lately.) Also involved in "Brr": a session guitarist for The Weeknd and a guy who goes by the Instagram handle @industryplant; this ain't the A-list. One wonders how long this material was sitting in the pantry before it fed the beast. Specifically, "Brr" sounds like a demo written for Thank U, Next (in which Ilya was heavily involved), then rejected for sounding less sexy than sad. Whatever the song's provenance, Petras has it now, and she executes the motions of flirtation with bleak competence. And I don't hate it! The record's already cynical as fuck; why not put that subtextual cynicism into the music? [7]

Ian Mathers: The sound of not just calling someone's bluff, but relishing in it. There's no winning; either way, you're going to prove her point. Rarely does a discussion of temperature sound so purely withering. [9]

Leah Isobel: SOPHIE's absence hovers over me a lot, which is dumb, because we never met. I am just a fan; I saw SOPHIE live exactly once, about six months after I started hormones. I can picture myself that night vividly -- in a thrifted jersey dress, cut low, that I had to duct tape to my tits so I wouldn't break the law; in impractical high heels that another girl, who I don't talk to anymore and who probably didn't really like me, gave to me; my eyeliner as sharp as I could draw it; my hair tangled and messy but long, the way I liked, the way I'd dreamed about for years. I remember that night and I remember the relief, the stupid fucking unbelievable unbearable incomprehensible relief of that whole year, how I had denied and ignored myself for so long that just being who I wanted 2 be was incredible enough to set my head spinning.

That year, the girl who doesn't talk to me anymore got into Kim Petras. I treated her work like a guilty pleasure; "Hills" was spacey and fun and exuberant, "Hillside Boys" was tender and sweet and exuberant, "All The Time" was bouncy and bright and exuberant. But all that joy was tempered by the knowledge of Dr. Luke's fucking greasy hands gripping her recording contract. His presence indicated something that I didn't understand yet, and maybe still don't, though it makes sense intellectually: that if you want to be a part of society, the recognition you feel within yourself doesn't actually matter that much if everyone around you hates you for it; that people are ultimately social, and being forced to choose between external ostracization (with the threat of physical death by violence) and internal spiritual death (with the threat of physical death by isolation) is one of the cruelest things to do to a person, and yet this is the choice I was given, that #girlslikeus are all given. No matter what I choose, there will be genuinely evil soulless fuckers who look at me and say that it was really my fault to begin with because my presence -- just my existence in the world -- is proof of moral, social, civilization-wide decay. Cisgender women get to talk about their innocence as if it's a birthright. Transgender women are not given any innocence to begin with. Kim was put in front of the media at sixteen years old to explain her decision to get bottom surgery; it makes me feel crazy to watch those interviews, to know that what everyone is actually talking about is her body. No matter how ostensibly supportive those interview segments were, no matter what the intent, the knock-on effect was to make her teenage body a matter of public record, to take away her privacy and dignity because it's just so interesting that trans girls exist and, please, tell us more about your genitals! I see the neon-bright straight line from the invasive, violating, violent "curious" "empathetic" gaze in these interviews to the music Kim would go on to make, in which the fact of her body hovers on the edges of her songs, freighting them with meaning, making their frivolity feel manic and fearful and rebellious and unbelievably significant.

Jules Giles-Peterson describes the opening line of "Hillside Boys" -- "My silhouette is in the frame of your shades again" -- as evidence of her desire just to be seen, linking the heterosexual gaze of the individual man and the patriarchal gaze of the pop industry together. Her whole perspective on herself is compromised by the knowledge that she has to constantly prove her worth to other people and to society at large; there is never, ever a moment of rest. But that song held up the capacity for feeling as proof that things could change someday. "It's over in your Range Rover... You look so pretty when you're breaking me, yeah" mourned the loss but rejoiced in the ability to feel it. But when "Brrr" revisits that Range Rover, it's to remove all sense of warmth, desire, or real emotion from the image: "Turn the heat up in your Rover Why don't you take it out on me?/ If you think you're so cold, brrr." "Brrr" leaves absolutely no space in its tense, cold atmosphere for Kim to express a desire that feels authentic and real; it is about embodying what other people want from you so thoroughly that you have gone numb to what it is that you want. In Kim's work, being a woman and being a pop star are the same thing; the gaze is constant and inescapable. There is no interiority anymore. The demands of disclosure and confession and surveillance are too great. In the background, faux-SOPHIE wubs and schwacks and clangs rattle like ghosts, banging on the wall between death and life, between what should be -- what was promised -- and what actually is. More than anything, in "Brrr" I hear a grief so wide it could -- and should -- swallow her whole. SOPHIE is gone. Kim remains. But in our broken promise of a world, where her body -- my body -- is public property that politicians and lovers and friends and music producers can dispose of at will, what is there left to take joy in? This is the truth: being trans is wonderful, and everyone around me sees it as terrible. Transitioning saved my life, and everyone around me thinks that I died. I have never been this happy; I have never been this desolate. I have never loved so deeply. I have never felt loss this acutely. "Brrr" is purely evil in its emotional perspective, in what it says about the world we live in. And it is also the most honest song ever made. [10]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

[gritsandbrits]

She's on sale for $4.94 lmao

[statementlou]

louis should show his feet during 505 as a prize for us getting him to 4.94 on wikifeet

galaxy brain thinking sadly Louis was not on this level even though we got all the way to 4.95 now 😞.... maybe if we'd managed 5.05😞😞