#100 Homo DJs

[daily-coloring]

Best of 2024 - Albums

Average year, I haven't even rated any records 100 out of 100 on AOTY, which is sad. Anyway I had some DJ mixes on repeat all year around, for example Shygirl's Fabric mix which is so heavy and so groovy, perfect for driving. Also maybe because I visited Berlin twice this year, this Boiler Room mix gave me goosebumps. Another few also ridiculously good, like SG Lewis & Tove Lo's San Francisco mix, Andre VII's Mexico mix, Miss Monique's DJ Mag mix, the brilliant MAW's live mix from Johannesburg and my recent favorite, Jojo Lorenzo from the states, who made this great darkwave mix last month for Halloween.

But now lets jump onto the albums. Just as an interesting fact, from the top 50 I seen live 6 artists. Yeah, I've been going out a lot. Also went to YES! (my most favorite place in Manchester) to see Clementine Douglas before she even released her debut album. She was fantastic.

01. The Irrepressibles - Yo Homo! - "Diving more into personal narratives now more than ever, the new album focuses on deeply emotional songwriting from such a specific point of view that’s not really touched upon much in the music industry - a complete breath of fresh air that I’ve taken to instantly. Yo Homo relays this punk rebellious sound throughout that unashamedly projects a call for proudness and authenticity, a love letter to the openess surrounding sexuality." - Wilder Records

02. Allie X - Girl With No Face

03. Lola Young - This Wasn't Meant For You Anyway - "Lola Young’s fierce, funny and assertive songs run on outsized emotions, the 23-year-old singer emboldened and finally embracing everything she has to offer. ‘This Wasn’t Meant For You Anyway’, Young’s first full-length album, moves with an auteur-like touch to its production; opulent soul set pieces stand tall next to raw, scratchy indie tunes, all of which see the south Londoner face desire in its many complications. It’s a collection that feels equally empowered and tormented. Or, as one Instagram commenter put it, this is music that could make a listener “want to pick up a refrigerator and throw it”." - NME

04. Fontaines D.C. - Romance

05. Tsatsamis - Our Shame

06. Orla Gartland - Everybody Needs a Hero

07. Nadine Shah - Filth Underneath -"Songs of loss and confusion, ‘Filthy Underneath’ is also marked by a certain kind of certainty. It’s as though amid all this pain, all this negativity, Nadine Shah has found herself once more." - Clash

08. Lanark Artefax - Metallur

09. Mahmood - NEI LETTI DEGLI ALTRI

10. Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown

11. Kasper Bjorke - Puzzles

12. Nicolas Jaar - Piedras 1

13. ionnalee - CLOSE YOUR EYES

14. Jamie xx - In Waves

15. Andre Bratten - Slay Tracks

16. The Smile - Cutouts - "It is an immersive and all-encompassing record that is at its best when you play it loud, allowing all of the vast textures of sound to wash over you. In its quietest moments, the album is still full of beauty, which simmers beneath the surface, beckoning us closer." - Far Out Magazine

17. Kim Gordon - The Collective

18. Telenova - Time is a Flower

19. Rosa Anschutz - Interior

20. Emiliana Torrini - Miss Flower

21. Golda May - Say It Back

22. Michael Kiwanuka - Small Changes

23. Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn - Quiet in a World Full of Noise - "Here, Richard and Zahn have captured grief like a carved piece of obsidian—glossy, beautiful, and sharp." - Pitchfork

24. Nilufer Yanya - My Method Actor

25. Crystal Murray - Sad Lovers and Giants

26. Joywave - Permanent Pleasure

27. Foushee - Pointy Heights - "Creeping under the thirty-minute mark, ‘Pointy Heights’ is full of thrills, a conceptual body of work that makes each moment count. In doing so, Fousheé continues to earn her stripes as a vocalist driven by self-expression, stitching together her intrigue for the past, present and future." - Clash

28. Crazy P - Any Signs of Love

29. Porches - Shirt - "On his heaviest, spikiest album to date, Aaron Maine’s shredded production and raw arrangements evoke existential angst and quotidian despair." - Pitchfork

30. Rachel Chinouriri - What a Devastating Turn of Events

31. Kaleida - In My Arms

32. Erika De Casier - Still

33. NewDad - MADRA

34. Dua Lipa - Radical Optimism

35. Laura Masotto - The Spirit of Things

36. Smerz & Allina - Allina

37. DJ Cam - Broken Melancholy

38. 1010benja - Ten Total - "On his chic, adventurous, hybrid-pop debut, Benjamin Lyman is a world-weary optimist and DIY maximalist with a voice fit for the mainstream yet made for the arthouse." - Pitchfork

39. Polar Inertia - Environment Control

40. IDLES - TANGK

41. Psycho Weazel - boysdontcry

42. The Blessed Madonna - Godspeed

43. L.A. Suzi - Nem sírok, csak táncolok

44. Lime Garden - One More Thing

45. St. Vincent - All Born Screaming

46. Gavin Friday - Ecce Homo

47. Lihla - Socha

48. WILLOW - empathogen - "Throughout the record, she seems committed to tearing down barriers between her potential audiences, just as she enjoys pitting their tastes against each other." - Sputnikmusic

49. Gossip - Real Power - "If you like a bit of retro with a modern twist and music that can both grab your heart and kick your teeth in, I’d give Real Power a listen… possibly whilst eating a Freddo whilst you can still afford one." - XS Noise

50. Jespfur - Pedestrians of Bright Silence

[omegaplus]

# 3,988

1000 Homo DJs: Supernaut (1990)

Al Jourgensen and company arguably made up at least a fifth, if not a quarter, of Wax Trax’ output. The numerous amount of side projects he had his hands helped a lot. None stands out more than this. Label-head Jim Nash told Jourgensen that “only a thousand homo dee-jays would hear it” concerning a remix of his and history was made. Comprised of Ministry (Jourgensen, Paul Barker, Mike Scaccia, Bill Rieflin), Jeff Ward, Jello Biafra, and Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor, Wax Trax’ cornerstone e.p. was rumored to be rejected tracks from the Land Of Rape and Honey-era (1988) but was big enough to become its own. Their cover of Black Sabbath’s “Supernaut” is a certified floor trampler and the highlight of this release. Jourgensen’s vocal version is here, but head over to Ministry’s Trax! Box (2015), Side Trax (2004) or the three-disc Black Box label compilation (1997) where Reznor’s vocal version is found. For an unforgettable laugh or two, there’s “Hey Asshole” where Officer Agro (Ward) plays the aggressive ball-busting police officer (obviously). All tracks are concentrated and dense with heavily-processed and distorted guitar riffs, hammering drums, and blowing-hot noise pinned to red with that branded Jourgensen sound. Just as important is how Supernaut is woven into the label’s DNA. It’s a mutation of Ministry, the birth of Lard, and a pinch of Reznor’s early exposure through TVT and Invisible.

[cold-black-and-infinite]

Band ask: THE BEE GEES!!! (Im kidding). How about ministry, or my chemical romance??

adasdsdf you fucking GOT me XD

I think I’ve listened to exactly ONE Ministry song in my entire life (unless 100 Homo DJ’s cover of “Supernaut” counts), so I’ll kinda break the rules and go with MCR

Am I a fan?: Yes I am! Not as big as NIN, but they’re still one of my faves.

First Song I Heard By Them?: “Welcome to the Black Parade”

Favorite Song?: “Famous Last Words”

Favorite Album?: “The Black Parade”

Favorite Music Video?: Oh, tough one. “Helena” and “WTTBP” (I have a preference don’t I?) are in a draw.

Have any merch?: I used to have a t-shirt (which may or may not have been official now that I think about it), but I lost it years ago after I moved :/

Seen them Live?: Sadly, no.

Favorite Member?: I have a soft spot for Gerard.

Thank you for the ask! ☺

[sammydem0n64]

*GRABS YOU* haha uhh, sooo, what do Lilith and Lucifer think about the humans that end up at their place? Cause like, I'm assuming its, Diamond and the others right? (unless its not idk skjskj), and like, we all know how much Drac loves Locke, so, what do Lilith and Lucifer think of them?? I'm curious,, 🥺👉👈

[IS GRABBED] I have an answer to this of course

So basically, Lucifer couldn’t? Really give a shit? Like of course he was kinda like “?? WAIT FR??” When they og group of humans showed up (Locke, Frost, Parker and DJ... they got introduced to everyone else afterwards) because HEY ITS BEEN THOUSANDS OF YEARS AND SOME HUMANS and smiley FOUND THEM? But besides the overall shock and “oh shit what’s Drac gonna do” moment, he doesn’t care afterwards. They seem chill and they’re all friendly! I’d say he’s a bit wary of the adults (Frost never makes good first impressions and Lilith dislikes Locke a shit ton) but he gets along with the teens since they’re around his age and are super friendly and acknowledge the past

Lilith definitely didn’t like them at first, for good reason, due to the history. It took her longer to warm up to them, and even then she doesn’t 100% trust them until they show support and are incredibly disgusted by their ancestors and their actions. She specifically targeted Locke with her distaste, since she seen how he and Drac instantly hit it off the second they talked to each other. This was rooted in “oh no humans” but also “oh no what if Drac leaves me too and runs away with this human what if he only cares about this homo no no what if he’s making a grave mistake”, plus it was easy to project her trauma onto Locke 💔💔

For specifics however

Frost: Generlaly disliked by the entire family due to his attitude and treatment of others, Luci and Lili are no exception! It took the longest to warm up to him, especially since Drac is just... continuously passive aggressive with him

Locke: As stated, Lilith didn’t like him and took a while to trust him. Lucifer thought he was kinda cool off the bat, since he knew a lot about the supernatural and was a funny guy. This didn’t stop him from throwing the occasional tease here and there!

Parker: They were kinda wary of him at first, but then found him funny. Only because while he was there someone offered him some “juice” (deer blood) and he was hooked, but almost threw up when Luci told him what he was drinking the whole time.

DJ: Lilith actually has quite the slowburn friendship with him! He and Luci hit it off really well once they started talking, Lilith took longer though, but ultimately he becomes one of her closest friends... because who couldn’t love the guy? (AND ALSO HES NOT 100% H)

[troped-fanfic-challenge]

The Master List of the Summer 2020 Chopped 3.0: The 100 Fanfic Challenge!

Thanks so much to everyone who participated in this third run of our full Chopped Challenge! We are so happy that this fun little idea that we got from @chants-de-lune continues to be such a success!

In this event we had Historical Body Swaps, Sci-Fi Reunions based on TV/Movies, Epic Platonic Fantasy Heists, and Crazy El Dorado Adventures! We received so many creative and exciting fics that were a thrill to read. We hope you guys had as much fun writing and reading these fics as we did, and we hope you’ll join us for more events in the future.

Please check out all the Chopped 3.0 fics below. Don’t forget to leave the authors some love!

———

Round 1: Historical Fics

Tropes:

Body Swap

Competing “Businesses”

Meet Ugly

First Kiss

On a Tear (Rated M) [Emori/Murphy/Raven] by @sparklyfairymira

Summary: Raven Reyes doesn’t get along with John and Emori Murphy - the owners of the only other speakeasy in Arkadia. What happens when her world is turned upside down and she finds herself inside Emori’s body?

2nd Place Best Overall, 3rd Place Theme, 1st Place Body Swap Trope, 3rd Place Competing Businesses Trope, 1st Place Meet Ugly Trope, 1st Place Tie First Kiss Trope, 2nd Place Best Dialogue, and Most Unique Pairing Winner.

A Change of Heart (Rated G) [Bellamy/Clarke] by @queenemori

Summary: When Clarke’s mother informed her she’d be spending her summer in England’s newest seaside resort, she did not expect such an eventful trip. She was only sent to see if they actually posed a threat to her family’s resort in Brighton. She did not at all expect to make an enemy of the architect’s nephew. But when an unusual situation arises, Clarke and Mr. Blake must learn to work together, no matter how much they dislike each other.

Or, a loose Sanditon AU

1st Place Best Overall, 1st Place Theme, 3rd Place Body Swap Trope, 2nd Place Competing Businesses Trope, 3rd Place Meet Ugly Trope, 1st Place Tie First Kiss Trope, and 1st Place Best Dialogue Winner.

May We Meet Again (Rated T) [Bellamy/Clarke] by @changingthefairy-tale

Summary: Clarke and Bellamy both show up to assassinate the same target. Chaos ensues.

3rd Place Best Overall, 2nd Place Theme, 2nd Place Body Swap Trope, 1st Place Competing Businesses Trope, 2nd Place Meet Ugly Trope, 1st Place Tie First Kiss Trope, and 3rd Place Best Dialogue Winner.

———

Round 2: Sci-Fi Fics

Tropes:

Based on a TV Show/Movie

Reunion

Kiss to keep cover/keep a secret

Forehead touches

and i’ll never say i love you (but i meant it all along) (Rated T) [Bellamy/Clarke] by @bellamysgriffin

Summary: When Coach, a dating system that pairs you with someone for an allotted amount of time and gives no way to bypass its rules, matches Bellamy and Clarke together, they find an immediate dislike for the other. Luckily, they only have to spend twelve hours together and then they can go their separate ways.

That is, until Coach matches them again. And again. And again. Until they start to wonder if something deeper is going on.

Or, Bellamy and Clarke in Hang the DJ

1st Place Theme and 2nd Place Based on a TV Show/Movie Trope Winner.

Per Aspera Ad Astra [Through Hardship to the Stars] (Rated G) [Bellamy/Clarke] by @she-who-the-river-could-not-hold

Summary: It’s boredom one fateful night that leads Clarke Griffin to ditching the first basketball game of the season. That same boredom then leads to her choosing to hang out with one Bellamy Blake – which should feel weirder than it is since they haven’t really been friends since his sister’s disappearance two years ago.

But then their night really takes a turn.

The two of them discover a strange audio frequency that could change the small town of Arkadia, New Mexico – and the future – forever. Dropped phone calls, forgotten tapes, and strange lights follow Bellamy and Clarke as they race through the night on a scavenger hunt to discover the truth. That maybe there was something more to Octavia’s disappearance, maybe there’s more to their friendship than being just friends, and that maybe they aren’t as alone in the universe as they thought.

2nd Place Best Overall, 2nd Place Forehead Touch Trope, 2nd Place Tie Kiss to keep cover/keep a secret Trope, and 1st Place Reunion Trope Winner.

through the muted waves (Rated T) [Murphy/Emori] by @the-most-beautiful-broom

Summary: Scientists call the Tomorrow People the next stage of human evolution, the government denies their existence, but their cocktail of psionic abilities have made homo superiors the target of Eligius. Even though Eligius has closed the project that allows Tomorrow People to override their genetic inability to kill, they still relentlessly hunt them, desperate to neutralize their abilities. When Murpy wakes up in Eligius headquarters, he knows he’s returned for a reason…if only he could understand his connection to the brown-eyed girl who keeps cropping up on the corners of his memory.

3rd Place Tie Theme and 2nd Place Tie Kiss to keep cover/keep a secret Trope Winner.

in the red snares (Rated T) [Octavia/Lincoln] by @justbecauseyoubelievesomething

Summary: The prevailing theory around the existence of Slayers (her existence) is that a variation of the alien parasite the miners unearthed deep in the Sub Stratum started infecting hosts in order to combat the vampire parasite. Octavia scoffs at the thought. The theory is probably right, especially since Monty is pretty confident in it, but she still hates the whole thing. The Slayer parasite really needs an upgrade in her opinion.

3rd Place Best Overall and 3rd Place Most Unique Pairing Winner.

The Cockroach (Rated T) [Murphy/Emori] by @mobi-on-a-mission

Summary: “This is the cockroach hailing Mission Team Alpha. It’s Sol 30 here on good ol’ Planet Alpha. Not that it’s really a planet, but eh whatever. Technicalities, right? Anyway. Systems check. Arm: healing. Bugs: normal. Radio: shitty. Attitude: good.”

1st Place Best Overall, 2nd Place Theme, 1st Place Forehead Touch Trope, and 3rd Place Reunion Trope Winner.

I’m No Hero (Rated T) [Murphy/Emori] by @queenemori

Summary: It’s 2052 and Reapers are wreaking havoc on mutants and humans alike. Murphy is recruited by Kane and Jaha to go back in time to prevent Octavia Blake from starting an international crisis that made the future much worse. But going back to the past comes with some side effects, mainly having to do with some relationships that Murphy left on bad terms.

3rd Place Tie Theme, 3rd Place Based on a TV Show/Movie Trope, and 3rd Place Forehead Touch Trope Winner.

from angels or devils (Rated T) [Octavia Blake] by @dylanobrienisbatman

Summary: Octavia was dead, and then she wasn’t. The nuns say it was the gift of an angel, but they may not know as much as they claim.

Will she be able to learn to channel it’s gifts, or will she be claimed by the villain who has followed the Halo through time and space?

3rd Place Most Unique Source Material Winner.

Can’t Tell if this is True or Dream (Rated M) [Echo/Gabriel] by @kuklash

Summary: “Do you understand your mission, agent?” A cloud of smoke punctuated the Director’s question, streaming from his mouth in thick, grey ribbons.

“I am to evaluate the necessity of the work Dr. Santiago is doing and report back at the conclusion of the investigation,” Echo repeated her instructions. Her lungs filled with second-hand smoke and she stifled a cough.

“I hope you appreciate the delicacy of this mission, Echo.” His intense gaze bore a hole into her’s. “Gabriel is not to know the nature of your assignment.”

She met his gaze with equal intensity as she stood up to leave.

“I understand, sir.”

1st Place Most Unique Pairing Winner.

There are some things written in the stars (Rated G) [Bellamy/Clarke] by @changingthefairy-tale

Summary: Dear Bell,

I know you have a million questions. When I planned to come see you in Sau Paulo, I knew I wouldn’t have much time, and there was just too much I wanted to say. But also so much I knew I couldn’t. My only hope is that this journal answers some of your questions, and by some miracle saves your life.

My name is Clarke Griffin, a historian. We’ve never met before today, in your time at least. In 2019, I would be just starting my professorship at Arkadia University back in the states. That’s honestly the only reason Murphy didn’t fight me on seeing you — no chance that I’d cross paths with myself. He wouldn’t have been able to stop me, mind you. But he’s definitely the better pilot, so I’m glad he was on board.

I’m getting away from myself. It’s hard to remember a time when you didn’t just instinctively know what I was thinking. It’s felt a little like you’ve just known me my whole life, the way we’ve always been in sync. Let me start from the beginning, just rip the bandaid off…

Or the “Timeless” AU you never knew you needed. Submitted as part of the Chopped Challenge: Round 2.

3rd Place Kiss to keep cover/keep a secret Trope, and 2nd Place Reunion Trope Winner.

Healing AIs, Healing Hearts (Rated T) [Octavia/Raven] by @spacekrulesbians

Summary: Raven and her mother were a perfect team, working with damaged and mistreated AIs and tech. When tragedy strikes, however, Raven has to figure out how to make it on her own. And then there’s that new assistant her mom hired, making things interesting.

1st Place Most Unique Source Material and 2nd Place Most Unique Pairing Winner.

inconceivable (Rated T) [Bellamy/Clarke] by @kindclaws

Summary: The first touch of his fingers on her wrists makes her whole body shiver. She’s so painfully aware of him being just behind her, of the wonder and the impossibility of his existence here, that she has to remind herself to keep breathing as he slowly picks apart the knots binding her hands together. “If I turn around, will you be gone?” she murmurs. “Is this a bad dream? Will you be dead again when I wake up?”

“I’m real,” he says softly, and finally the last knot falls away and her hands are free.

It’s practically inconceivable.

(Chopped 3 presents: The Princess Bride. In space, bitches.)

1st Place Based on a TV Show/Movie Trope, 1st Place Kiss to keep cover/keep a secret Trope, and 2nd Place Most Unique Source Material Winner.

———

Round 3: Fantasy Fics

Tropes:

Heist AU

Character gets given a potion that makes them unable to lie

Garnderer AU

Forehead kiss

What Is Mine (Rated T) [Jordan & Hope] by @memoriisendgame

Summary: Jordan learns the important lesson of family and friendship as he attempts to get back something he feels he rightfully deserves.

5th Place Best Overall, 3rd Place Tie Heist AU Trope, 3rd Place Forehead Kiss Trope, and 2nd Place Most Unique Pairing Winner.

A Change in the Weather (Rated T) [Murphy & Clarke & Raven] by @sparklyfairymira

Summary: Murphy leans over, plucking a weed from between the Bitter Spolwoods. “There you go. All better now. Can’t let that mean old weed try and strangle you, can we?” He grabs the water jug by his side and waters the ground around the plants before stroking the purple leaves. “You’re doing so well here. Look at you getting so big.”

“Are you talking to the plants again?”

Murphy grins as he turns to face Raven. “I don’t know why you’re surprised. I always talk to the plants. Why do you think they grow so well?”

“They’re plants, Murphy.” Raven raises an eyebrow as she stares at him.

“Exactly.” Murphy turns to the plants again, lovingly stroking the leaves. “Ignore her. She just doesn’t understand.”

Or: A friend is kidnapped causing Murphy, Raven, and Clarke to join forces with others to save him, all while set in a magical fantasy world.

3rd Place Best Overall, 2nd Place Truth Serum Trope, 1st Place Forehead Kiss Trope, 1st Place Tie Gardener AU Trope, 3rd Place Best Descriptions, and 3rd Place Most Unique Pairing Winner.

We will begin again (Rated T) [Raven & Gaia] by @dylanobrienisbatman

Summary: Over two centuries ago, Man stole the Giant’s Heart from where it was protected by the Witches, and with it, they gained great power. But the longer it is away, the more damage is done to the planet.

Can Raven, along with her companions, return the Giant’s Heart to the Witches and restore balance and prosperity to the world?

1st Place Theme, 1st Place Heist AU Trope, 1st Place Best Descriptions, and 1st Place Most Unique Pairing Winner.

picture me in the weeds (before i learned civility) (Rated T) [Clarke & Murphy] by @probably-voldemort

Summary: There are three days from when Clarke was seven that she doesn’t remember. Not odd in itself, except for what those days contain. She remembers leaving her house with her neighbour John to play in the woods like they did every day, and then she remembers coming home three days later. She has no memory of where they’d gone or what happened or why John never came back.

Now, Clarke returns to the woods for the first time in sixteen years. After running into someone from her past who shouldn’t exist, Clarke begins to wonder if everything she’s believed for years could really be a lie.

1st Place Best Overall, 3rd Place Tie Theme, 2nd Place Forehead Kiss Trope, and 1st Place Tie Gardener AU Trope Winner.

talos bless us (Rated T) [Echo & Raven] by @spacekrulesbians

Summary: When Bellamy gets himself captured by Imperials, sisters Raven and Echo plan the ultimate heist to break him out of a closely guarded fort, aided by a dark elf and a khajiit.

4th Place Best Overall, 3rd Place Tie Theme, 3rd Place Tie Heist AU Trope, 1st Place Truth Serum Trope, and 2nd Place Gardener AU Trope Winner.

truth lies in an abyss (Rated T) [Bellamy & Clarke] by @justbecauseyoubelievesomething

Summary: “Thank you for meeting me here.” Her dark blue hood obscures most of her face, but when she tilts her chin towards him, her green eyes flash in the starlight.

He nods demurely. “I take it you have a proposition for us?”

She hesitates. “Is it true what you can do? Enter the Fade?”

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t true.”

“And are you as good as they say you are?”

Bellamy lets a faint smile cross his lips. “I don’t know what they say, but I can assure you I take the utmost pride in my work, Lady Griffin.”

A Fantasy Heist AU for the Chopped 100 Challenge

2nd Place Best Overall, 2nd Place Theme, 2nd Place Heist AU Trope, 3rd Place Truth Serum Trope, 3rd Place Gardener AU Trope, and 2nd Place Best Descriptions Winner.

———

Round 4: Championship Fics

Tropes:

El Dorado

Frikdreina

Telepathy

Free Space

The Life We Seek To Find (Rated T) [Emori/Murphy] by @memoriisendgame

Summary: “Alexia and Blue, they’ll have a better chance there. You will have a better chance there. Trust me.”

Murphy and Emori make the daring decision to travel across the unknown wasteland of Earth in order to find the so-called ‘City Of Light’ in the hopes of finding a better future for their little family.

-Loosely based on “Bird Box” in the sense that there is a safe haven a long journey away.

1st Place Frikdreina Trope, 1st Place Telepathy Trope, and 2nd Place Tie Best Plot Twist Winner.

Am I dreaming (Or is this burning an eternal flame) (Not Rated) [Emori/Murphy/Raven] by @sparklyfairymira

Summary: A post-apocalyptic story of soulmates.

Murphy never thought he’d meet his soulmate - let alone find out he had two. But that’s just what he does while he and Bellamy searched for Octavia. And now he’s expected to help save the world? This was not how he was expecting his life to go.

3rd Place Best Overall, 3rd Place Tie Theme, 3rd Place Tie Frikdreina Trope, 2nd Place Telepathy Trope, 2nd Place Author’s Choice Trope, and 2nd Place Most Unique Pairing Winner.

Show Me Yours, I’ll Show You Mine (Rated T) [Emori/Murphy] by @queenemori

Summary: Emori doesn’t do normal. That’s something she’s never had in her life. It’s why she doesn’t really question it when she starts having weird dreams that have absolutely nothing to do with her. And why she doesn’t question it when she happens upon the subject of the dreams, either. Like this mysterious guy, she’s just along for the ride.

A modern retelling of Emori and Murphy’s first meeting.

2nd Place Best Overall, 2nd Place Theme, 3rd Place Tie Frikdreina Trope, 3rd Place Author’s Choice Trope, and 2nd Place Tie Best Plot Twist Winner.

leave my loneliness unbroken (Rated T) [Bellamy/Clarke/Raven] @justbecauseyoubelievesomething

Summary: When you turn ten years old, you hear your soulmate’s voice inside your head.

Or so Raven’s been told.

3rd Place Most Unique Pairing Winner.

Rattle the Stars (Rated G) [Octavia/Lincoln] by @she-who-the-river-could-not-hold

Summary: Even as humanity spread itself through space, the universe remains the true final frontier. Outlaws rule the fringes of galaxies and for those who are down on their luck, it’s not an easy lifestyle.

Octavia Blake grows up on stories of a fearsome bandit named Charmaine Diyoza and dreams of one day going on her own intergalactic adventures. She’s eighteen when that becomes a reality, a chance encounter leading her on a treasure hunt throughout the galaxy in search of the famed El Dorado, a Treasure Planet made entirely of gold. Along the way she makes allies and enemies –– but one person in particular guides her along the way. A cyborg named Lincoln helps her blossom on the ship and come into herself and she can’t help but fall for him, even as she learns that not everything is as it seems. But with the mysterious map in hand, unusual friends, and her own belief in herself, she might just discover more than gold on this adventure.

1st Place Best Overall, 1st Place Theme, 1st Place El Dorado Trope, 2nd Place Frikdreina Trope, and 1st Place Best Plot Twist Winner.

until the next, my beloved (Rated T) [Luna/Raven/Roan] by @spacekrulesbians

Summary: Luna and Roan set off to find the legendary city of Eden, where it is said there is gold stretching as far as one can see. As Raven cannot come due to her blindness, Luna takes it upon herself to keep sending her messages.

3rd Place Tie Theme, 3rd Place Telepathy Trope, 1st Place Author’s Choice Trope, 3rd Place Tie Best Plot Twist, and 1st Place Most Unique Pairing Winner.

lost in the woods (Rated T) [Clarke/Murphy] by @probably-voldemort

Summary: Murphy can read minds, but only sometimes. It doesn’t help him not get lost on a class hiking trip.

3rd Place Tie Best Plot Twist Winner.

[iamtryingtobelieve]

Because I can never find the Trent Reznor vocals on here, enjoy one of Trent’s earliest collaborations which didn’t make it on the original album until NIN got popular due to his shitty record label.

[insertatitlehere]

j’ai vu traîner des posts du facebook de plein de gens de mon ancien collège qui soutiennent Le Pen...

C’est jamais sortit de sa campagne, ça vit dans un bled de 100 habitants, ça a jamais vu un Arabe et ça donne des leçons de morale sur le danger de l’Islam sur la culture française

[raoul1999-blog]

Clean Bandit presents ‘Rockabye’: een ludomusicologische videoclip

Videospellen, waaruit ludomusicologie is voortgekomen, vertonen enige overeenkomsten met videoclips. Ten eerste worden ze allebei op een beeldscherm, televisie of mobiele telefoon, waargenomen. Bovendien spelen ze zich allebei in een virtuele wereld af. Enerzijds is deze aan de echte wereld gelinkt, omdat hier de virtuele wereld ontstaat en anderzijds liggen deze twee werelden juist ver uit elkaar, omdat er in de virtuele wereld dingen gebeuren die in de echte wereld weinig of zelfs nooit plaatsvinden. Daarentegen zijn de plekken van de virtuele werelden van videoclips meestal in de echte wereld terug te vinden, terwijl dit voor videospellen niet geldt. Bovendien zijn videoclips niet alleen maar spel, aangezien het erin spelen één van de werkzaamheden van een artiest is en deze vorm van spel dus ook in de echte wereld betekenis heeft, wat met de theorie van de toovercirkel tegenstrijdig kan zijn. Deze theorie, bedacht door Johan Huizinga, houdt in dat spellen zich in een afgezonderde wereld plaatsvinden <1>. Hierin krijgen de handelingen vervolgens betekenis. Videoclips hebben blijkbaar dus ook daarbuiten betekenis. Een ander noemenswaardig verschil tussen videoclips en videospellen is dat het verhaal in videoclips reeds bepaald is en de waarnemer er geen invloed op heeft, terwijl in videospellen de uitkomst door de waarnemende speler wordt beïnvloed.                                              

De clip die hier besproken zal worden, is ‘Rockabye’ van Clean Bandit, Sean-Paul en Anne-Marie <2>. De locaties waar de clip zich afspeelt, bevinden zich in de echte wereld, namelijk in Londen en in Begur in Spanje <3>. De clip vertelt het verhaal van een alleenstaande moeder die in een café paaldanst om geld voor haarzelf en haar zoontje te verdienen. Beelden van deze dansen worden afgewisseld met shots van de muzikanten die samen zogenaamd een liveoptreden geven. Verder is te zien is hoezeer de moeder zich om haar zoontje bekommert. Deze clip is een goed voorbeeld van hoe een clip als spel gezien kan worden. Het is namelijk vrijwel meteen duidelijk dat de clip grotendeels uit een enscenering of rollenspel bestaat. Waar dit aspect meestal als vanzelfsprekend wordt afgedaan, wordt dit in ‘Rockabye’ juist extra bevestigd en zelfs overdreven. Vier zaken zijn hierbij opvallend: ten eerste de bühnegordijnen die na het eerste refrein opengaan en dus bevestigen dat het een opvoering of act is, terwijl deze al bij de eerste seconde begint; de toeschouwers en de barman lipsyncen/zingen samen met Sean Paul het tweede couplet, waardoor wordt gesuggereerd dat  deze figuren op de hoogte van het verhaal zijn en dus niet slechts toekijken; de belangrijkste personen staan op een podium en deze worden aan het begin door Sean Paul geïntroduceerd en getoond. Dit is een conventie uit de filmindustrie, aangezien in films altijd vooraf aan de film de belangrijkste figuren en hun rollen bekend worden gemaakt. In dit geval speelt een Italiaanse paaldanseres genaamd Rita Conte de alleenstaande moeder, speelt Anne-Marie een barvrouw <4>. Net als Sean Paul, fungeert zij hier als zingende verteller of voice-over. Samen met de band (Clean Bandit) zijn zij de belangrijkste gezichten van het verhaal dat in de clip wordt verteld.                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Een belangrijk aspect van deze clip is het zogenaamde liveoptreden dat in de bar plaatsvindt. Volgens Simon Frith wordt in een clip performance op de voorgrond voorgezet en dit is dan ook hier het geval <5>. Echter, dit optreden is, net zoals alle andere gemediatiseerde optredens, allesbehalve live. Dat blijkt met name uit het feit dat de muziekinstrumenten die worden bespeeld, niet dezelfde zijn als die je hoort en bovendien wordt de reeds bestaande opname van het nummer afgespeeld. Op deze wijze wordt in andere clips de muziek ook meestal geïntegreerd. Dit doet enigszins denken aan de ABC-documenten in de tekst van William Cheng over het spel Lord of The Rings Online, waarin een muziekstuk dat van tevoren is gemaakt, later op een willekeurig moment afgespeeld kan worden en dan ook in de beelden wordt uitgedrukt <6>. 'Rockabye’ staat in dat opzicht nog dichter bij het voorbeeld uit Lord of The Rings Online. In de meeste clips worden namelijk slechts de vocalisten getoond die zichzelf al dan niet begeleiden. De muziek is hier supradiëgetisch <7>. Echter, bij dit optreden worden ook muziekinstrumenten getoond die zogenaamd bespeeld worden. Hiervoor zouden een aantal redenen kunnen zijn. Clean Bandit is de belangrijkste muzikale uitvoerder en Sean Paul en Anne-Marie spelen als het ware in het nummer de tweede viool. Aangezien clips onlosmakelijk een promotionele functie hebben, is het te bedenken dat Clean Bandit zelf ook in de clip mee wil figureren, terwijl ze zelf op de achtergrond blijven <8>. Dit is uiteraard niet een standaard, want denk bijvoorbeeld aan DJ’s die vaker niet dan wel figureren. Tevens ontstaat hierdoor een diëgese voor het nummer. Doordat hier namelijk de schijn wordt gewekt dat het nummer daadwerkelijk wordt gespeeld, wordt getracht het nummer diëgetisch over te laten komen. Dit is kennelijk bedoeld om het paaldansen van de alleenstaande moeder geloofwaardig over te laten komen. Deze vorm van optreden wordt namelijk meestal begeleid door muziek die niet live is. Het feit dat de muziek in de clip kennelijk ook niet live is, sluit hier dan ook goed op aan. Muziek speelt hier dus zeker een belangrijke rol als het om creëren van context gaat. Het is ook een voorbeeld van een schizophonic performance, aangezien wordt gesuggereerd dat er ‘echte’ muziek wordt gespeeld, terwijl dit niet het geval is <9>. Dit wordt benadrukt door het eerdergenoemde feit dat de muziekinstrumenten die in beeld worden gebracht, andere zijn, dan die daadwerkelijk gehoord worden.

Net zoals bij spellen als bijvoorbeeld Guitar Hero, zorgt de muziek in clips ervoor dat de figuren zich in de tooverwereld verliezen. Dit kan veroorzaakt worden doordat de muziek die erin wordt afgespeeld, voor hen vertrouwd voelt, aangezien deze meestal van de figuren zelf is, of omdat de figuren het horen en er vervolgens in meegaan. In ‘Rockabye’ zijn allebei de verklaringen te vinden, maar het nummer zorgt er tevens voor dat de rollen die Anne-Marie en Sean Paul hebben, worden verankerd. Het zijn dus personages of, in termen van Philip Auslander, personae die ze spelen <10>. Wanneer Anne-Marie in het begin contact maakt met de paaldanseres, kan de kijker dit interpreteren als een mogelijke afspraak tussen Anne-Marie en de danseres en dat zij met elkaar afgesproken hebben dat Anne-Marie haar situatie in woorden uitdrukt. In dit geval zou muziek uit sociale interactie voortvloeien.  

Over het algemeen is de gouden regel in videoclips ‘show, don’t tell’, uitgezonderd de liedtekst. Dat is in deze clip ook het geval, maar het feit dat de hoofdpersonage niets zegt en alleen maar fysiek handelt, roept ook associaties met mimespel op. Daar staat tegenover dat er door de vocalisten gesproken wordt en voor het paaldansen een object is vereist. Het paaldansen zelf is natuurlijk ook een vorm van spel, weliswaar een erg treurige in de gespeelde situatie, maar het heeft in de clip een belangrijke rol. Het laat namelijk zien hoever de vrouw gaat om voor haar zoontje te kunnen zorgen.                    

Als de theorie van Caillois, waarin spel wordt gecategoriseerd, hierop wordt toegepast, is dus eigenlijk van drie vormen van spel sprake: de gehele clip, het optreden en het paaldansen. Het paaldansen zit waarschijnlijk in de categorieën ilinx en ergens tussen ludus en paidia, aangezien bij paaldansen controle makkelijk kan worden losgelaten. Waarom het moeilijk is te stellen of het bij ludus of paidia hoort, is omdat enerzijds de bewegingen door de paal gestructureerd kunnen worden en anderzijds de danser er juist redelijk vrij in is. De gehele clip en het optreden behoren tot de categorieën mimicry en ludus, omdat fictieve situaties automatisch nabootsingen zijn en in het optreden het nummer ook wordt nagebootst en ludus, vanwege de structuur van de clip  en het nummer<11>. Hierdoor zou je kunnen zeggen dat de clip wat wegheeft van een musical, opera of ander vorm van toneel. Dit komt dan weer niet overeen met hoe Frith over een clip denkt <12>.

<1> Johan Huizinga, Homo ludens: proeve eener bepaling van het spel-element der cultuur (Haarlem, 1938), 37.

<2> Clean Bandit, Sean Paul, Anne-Marie, ‘Rockabye’, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=papuvlVeZg8

<3> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockabye_(song)#Music_video

<4> https://twitter.com/cleanbandit/status/1054489660876038144

<5> Simon Frith, ‘Performance,’ Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996), 225.

<6> Isabella van Elferen, ‘¡Un Forastero! Issues of Virtuality and Diegesis in Videogame Music,’ Music and the Moving Image 4, no. 2 (2011): 30.

<7> William Cheng, ‘Role-Playing toward a Virtual Musical Democracy, ‘Sound Play: Video Games and the Musical Imagination (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014), 117.

<8> Andrew Goodwin, ‘From Anarchy to Chromacy,’ Dancing in The Distraction Factory: Music Television and Popular Culture (University Of Minnesota Press, 1992): 28.                          

<9> Rayond Murray Schafer, The New Soundscape: A Handbook for the Modern Music Teacher (BMI Canada, 1969): 43-48.  

<10> Philip Auslander, ‘Musical Personae,’ TDR: The Drama Review 50, no.1 (2006), 100-119.

<11 > Roger Caillois, Les Jeux et Les Hommes (Paris, Galimard, 1958).

<12> Simon Frith, ‘Performance,’ Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996), 225.

[shrimpkardashian]

I have a list of ~900 albums from 2019 that I still want to eventually listen to / review [IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT ALERT]

For this project (already 125+ releases deep), which is just impossibly daunting and makes me head hurt. IDK how to streamline this process or is any “critic” out there really listening to “all” the good music? It’s impossible I guess... BUT needless to say, these have made this list from an even larger pool of music that I either listened to briefly and immediately dismissed or (gasp!) never even came across my radar (radar = many many music blogs I follow via RSS). 

Anyway, because I’ll most likely never get to this (whatever this is, an Xgau parody or something)... Here is the list (please ignore some of my notations/typos):

1 matana roberts, coin coin chapter four 2 jeffrey lewis 3 negativland 4 camedor 5 the darkness 6 jai paul [leak] 7 shikoswe 8 anatolian weapons 9 cakedog, doggystyle 10 carly rae jepsen (LP, plus single w Gryffin) 11 parsnip 12 the comet is coming 13 girl in red 14 ezra furman 15 the kvb 16 freddie gibbs & madlib 17 say sue me (single) 18 denzel curry 19 fatamorgana 20 vivian girls 21 wobbly, monitress 22 helado negro 23 anamanaguchi 24 paul demarinis 25 comet gain 26 personal best 27 king princess, LP? big little lies single 28 marble arch 29 mini dresses 30 matt christensen 31 jade bird 32 black mountain 33 body meat 34 pat, Love Will Find A Way Home 35 acid arab 36 the 83rd 37 common holly 38 wicca phase 39 mark ronson 40 spirit in the room, single 41 rebe, “pienso en ti a todas horas” [just a single?] 42 a giant dog, neon bible cover LP 43 hey collosus 44 moon king (meh/ or *) 45 vanity productions 46 velvet negroni 47 g perico 48 budokan boys 49 skryptor 50 oscar scheller 51 the muffs 52 larry gus 53 these new puritans *** 54 angel olsen 55 bleu nuit 56 meatraffle 57 josephine wiggs 58 jennifer vanilla 59 big|brave 60 rico nasty 61 friendship, dreamin' 62 mike, tears of joy 63 bellrope 64 gbv 65 machìna, archipelago 66 toy, songs of consumption 67 ayankoko 68 the intelligence 69 drahla 70 corridor, junior 71 urochromes 72 david hasselhoff 73 aMAZONDOTCOM 74 kehlani 75 ne-hi EP (final) 76 avey tare 77 bonnie "prince" billy 78 battles 79 snapped ankles 80 mannequin pussy 81 toro y moi, soul trash 82 twen 83 self discovery for social survival comp 84 bad heaven ltd 85 eric frye 86 the mattson 2 87 duncan park 88 pure bathing culture 89 arthur russell, iowa dream 90 wild pink 91 flaming lips 92 pan amsterdam 93 flaural 94 knife wife 95 hannah peel & will burns 96 klein 97 meat puppets 98 tnght 99 james ferraro 100 royal trux / ariel pink 101 new rain duets 102 black marble 103 sui zhen 104 liam the younger 105 the mountain goats, welcome to passaic 106 frank hurricane and hurricanes of love 107 sebadoh 108 xylouris white 109 lindstrøm 110 franck vigroux 111 joyero 112 dorian electra  113 ride 114 crumb, jinx 115 nonconnah 116 cup, spinning creature 117 brutus 118 bjarki 119 khotin 120 alexander tucker 121 gunna 122 operator music band 123 tony molina 124 nanami ozone 125 sad planets 126 bemydelay 127 laurie anderson et al, songs from the bardo 128 teebs 129 deerhunter, timebends 130 tr/st (2 LPs) 131 dolores catherino 132 liturgy 133 floating points 134 sasami, LP + xmas EP 135 trikorder23 136 moor mother 137 have a nice life 138 la dispute 139 lingua ignota 140 lina tullgren 141 earl sweatshirt 142 entrail 143 alexander noice 144 shock narcotic 145 rakta 146 munya 147 el drugstore 148 buck gooter 149 caribou, single - more? 150 rosenau & sanborn 151 kevin abstract 152 pile 153 e for echo 154 animal collective, new psycho actives vol. 2 + live album 155 harlem 156 sudan archives 157 lil peep, posthumous ep 158 young guv, i and ii 159 orville peck 160 75 dollar bill 161 institute 162 tove lo 163 the chocolate watchband 164 foie gras, holy hell 165 french vanilla 166 chuck cleaver 167 kollaps 168 spirits having fun 169 game 170 badgirl$ 171 medhane 172 alberich 173 show me the body 174 the night watch, an embarrassment of riches 175 inus, western spaghettification 176 pregoblin, singles? 177 ra ra riot 178 de lorians 179 kool keith 180 kaspia & stride 181 glen hansard 182 dpeee 183 berlin taxi 184 foghorn 185 ionnalee 186 american sharks 187 sitcom, dust single 188 pip blom 189 j balvin & bady 190 fenella 191 tanya tagaq 192 sean o'hagan 193 j robbins 194 peter ivers (comp) 195 neon indian, not sure if single is part of larger proj? 196 triad god 197 yeule 198 roland tings 199 schoolboy q 200 ava luna EP 201 fried eggs 202 drugdealer 203 half japanese 204 todd anderson-kunert 205 emily reo 206 christelle bofale 207 brion starr 208 jan jelinek (reissue) 209 peaer 210 devin townsend 211 vik 212 young m.a 213 default genders 214 night lovell 215 rocketship 216 kim gordon 217 ellen arkbro 218 george clanton and nick hexum [single?] 219 the minus 5 220 penguin cage 221 felicia atkinson 222 take offense 223 moon duo 224 chemical brothers 225 nef the pharaoh 226 daniel norgren 227 unkle 228 pup (?) 229 baroness 230 velvet bethany 231 resavoir 232 gruff rhys 233 lana del ray 234 empath 235 burial and the bug, flame 2 236 russian baths 237 quelle chris 238 corpse flower 239 roy montgomery [reissue] 240 clinic 241 a.g. cook, [single] 242 why? 243 beck 244 francis lung 245 thom yorke 246 warmduscher 247 uv-tv 248 aa bondy 249 max richter, ad astra ost 250 younghusband 251 stereo total 252 julie's haircut 253 aa matheson 254 eartheater 255 kelly moran 256 mana (seven steps behind) 257 c.h.e.w. 258 sarah mary chadwick 259 midsommar ost 260 beabadoobee 261 life, a picture of good health 262 dumb, club nites 263 dame dolla 264 endless boogie 265 burna boy 266 lungbutter 267 wand 268 future punx 269 yves jarvis 270 kim petras [LP, halloween EP] 271 bts world 272 pikelet 273 panda bear, single 274 samiyam 275 red river dialect 276 ryan pollie 277 ryuichi sakamot (reissue) 278 jackie mendoza 279 dark blue 280 jay som 281 stephen mallinder 282 neutrals, kebab disco 283 foodman 284 capitol, dream noise 285 new pornographers 286 mark korven, the lighthouse ost 287 gauche 288 the japanese house 289 cave (re-issue) 290 ybn cordae 291 the vacant lots 292 arwen 293 rhucle 294 lil b, @ least 2 releases? 295 tea service 296 chai 297 black pumas 298 program, show me 299 marika hackman 300 sonny and the sunsets 301 lillie mae 302 mean jeans 303 the stroppies 304 poppies 305 twin shadow 306 vanishing twin *** 307 portrayal of guilt [EP + split single] 308 lucki [2 lps] 309 absolutely free 310 girl band 311 black midi 312 torche 313 perfume (best of) 314 white denim 315 clipping 316 the hu 317 big business 318 metro crowd 319 ex-vöid, 7" 320 broken social scene 321 lil pump 322 uranium club 323 doon kanda 324 hesitation wounds 325 sorry girls 326 bibio 327 red mass 328 the shins, single 329 lil keed 330 yeasayer 331 bts / blackpink KPOP 332 galen tipton, fake meat 333 the world, reddish 334 lanark artefax, ep 335 ladytron 336 g.s., schray 337 just mustard [single, more?] 338 mdou moctar 339 rangers, spirited discussion 340 tyson meade 341 dj nate 342 kelly lee owens 343 bambara 344 kilo kish 345 lusine 346 ralph heidel / homo ludens 347 psychic graveyard 348 homeshake 349 wives, so removed 350 proto idiot 351 let’s eat grandma, ost ep 352 foals 353 caroline shaw & attacca quartet 354 juan waters 355 mount eerie with julie doiron 356 mestozi 357 patio 358 oh baby, the art of sleeping alone 359 earth 360 haybaby 361 anna meredith 362 the caretaker (6) 363 rich brian 364 sunn o))), [two LPs] 365 alessandro cortini 366 ty segall 367 injury reserve 368 elucid 369 budos band 370 tim hecker 371 waqwaq kingdom 372 william doyle *** 373 innercity ensemble 374 filthy friends 375 prurient 376 shlohmo 377 bon iver 378 sean henry 379 yeesh 380 faye webster 381 megan thee stallion 382 squid, town centre 383 simulation (hausau mountain) 384 flying lotus 385 horse jumper of love 386 rap, export 387 lansky jones 388 the gonks 389 cate lebon 390 rome fortune 391 chain cult 392 empty set 393 big thief (2 lp's) 394 laura cannell [and polly wright album ?] or is there just a laura c album too ? }} 395 froth 396 thugwidow 397 organ tapes 398 the new pornographers 399 zonal 400 bbg baby joe 401 whitney 402 guards 403 anemone 404 sheer mag 405 nots 406 fujiya & miyag 407 kool aid, family portrait ep 408 frankie cosmos 409 kaputt 410 quelle chris 411 operators 412 marco benevento 413 elvis depressedly 414 school of language, 45 415 rob burger 416 pozi 417 redd kross 418 randy randall 419 yatta 420 hide, hell is here 421 bobby krlic, midsommar ost 422 planet england 423 kev brown 424 robedoor 425 tropical fuck storm 426 haram, 9/11 ep 427 candy, super-stare single 428 sly and the family drone 429 kevin morby 430 porches, rangerover [single] 431 odae 432 pottery 433 saint pepsi 434 slowthai 435 iggy pop 436 swans 437 iLOVEMAKONNEN 438 mukqs 439 feels 440 luke temple 441 oli xl 442 orphan swords 443 post pink 444 deli girls 445 nilüfer yanya 446 idk, is he real? 447 interpol 448 priests 449 galcher lustwerk 450 smokepurpp, various? 451 kindness 452 ex hex 453 sampa the great 454 methyl ethel 455 ellis, the fuzz ep 456 jeanines s/t 457 water from your eyes 458 twin peaks 459 sam cohen 460 fontaines dc 461 spiral stairs 462 the hecks 463 nicola ratti 464 four tet, various (inc. "wingdings" alter ego side proj) 465 holy ghost 466 half stack 467 cherubs 468 juana molina, forfun EP 469 jpegmafia 470 bedouine 471 fury 472 melvins/flipper 473 the curls 474 izambard 475 heart eyes 476 drinking boys and girls choir 477 big search 478 glenn branca 479 rose elinor dougall 480 bat for lashes 481 young knives, [single, more? 482 hot chip 483 alex lahey 484 hemlock ernst & kenny segal 485 dj seinfeld 486 joni void 487 rema rema 488 spencer tweedy 489 trash kit 490 dry cleaning [2 ep's] 491 mega bog *** 492 saudade 493 monster rally 494 wilco 495 chromatics, LP + EP 496 slayyyter 497 maral 498 blarf 499 pernice brothers 500 la neve 501 marie davidson 502 tredici bacci 503 deathprod 504 lowly 505 russian circles 506 angel witch 507 fires were shot 508 amy o 509 q da fool 510 clams casino 511 automelodi 512 paradox 513 dababy (2) 514 david kilgour 515 missy elliot 516 baby smoove 517 boris 518 thanks for coming 519 yves tumor [single w/] 520 ΜΜΜΔ 521 falcon/falkland 522 noel wells 523 ecstatic vision 524 amyl & the sniffers 525 barrie 526 bianca scout 527 katie dey 528 prince rama 529 control top 530 duster, comp + new LP 531 foxes in fiction 532 slowthai x denzel curry [single] 533 the murlocs 534 plaid 535 ela orleans 536 gobby 537 cfm 538 carla del forna 539 pale spring 540 pixx 541 širom 542 lightning bolt 543 cate lebon & deerhunter 544 channel tres 545 sigrid 546 help, s/t 547 shellac, live 548 crack cloud, pain olympics (ongoing) / s/t (2018) 549 notes underground 550 fat white family *** 551 gloop 552 equiknoxx 553 nakhane 554 czarface meets ghostface 555 the rubinoos 556 shannon lay 557 tim heidecker 558 droneflower 559 john vanderslice 560 your old droog 561 bats, alter nature 562 zvi 563 justus proffit 564 lower dens 565 anna of the north 566 yg 567 holly herndon 568 good fuck 569 clark, single 570 charli xcx 571 the nativist 572 low life 573 jonsi & alex somers 574 kazu 575 günter schickert 576 odonis odonis 577 kelsey lu (+ remix EP) 578 young thug 579 thaiboy digital 580 hatchie 581 hiro kone 582 cocorosie 583 sabiwa 584 oh sees 585 rex orange county 586 311 587 erland cooper 588 jtamul 589 the brilliant tabernacle 590 free love, extreme dance anthems 591 jeff lynne's elo 592 dutch courage 593 booji boys 594 giggs 595 ceschi 596 inter arma 597 psychic sounds ensemble 598 eli kezsler EP 599 thelma 600 haiku salut 601 julia jacklin 602 otoboke beaver 603 colin self 604 mark mulcahy 605 rosalia, single "a pale" more? 606 chris lott 607 royal trux 608 weyes blood 609 mikal cronin 610 hissing tiles 611 grace ives 612 vic bang 613 nick cave 614 sugar world [single] 615 herzog 616 offset 617 mike adams at his honest weight 618 real life buildings 619 aldous harding 620 pye corner audio 621 doja cat 622 bleached 623 book of shame 624 kate davis 625 i was a king 626 pendant, through a coil 627 joseph arthur 628 great grandpa, four of arrows 629 modern nature 630 stef chura 631 spaza, s/t great 632 the alchemist 633 pond 634 aiden baker, etc 635 kirin j. Callinan 636 possible humans 637 greys 638 kizuna ai 639 little simz 640 big bend 641 membranes, what nature gives… 642 young nudy 643 car seat headrest (live) 644 seahawks 645 dumbhop's party 646 julien chang 647 pacific yew 648 pharmakon 649 lomelda 650 versing 651 olden yolk 652 mekons 653 the dream syndicate 654 the gotobeds 655 amy klein 656 bABii 657 bill callahan 658 grlwood 659 van dale 660 ziúr 661 delicate steve 662 debby friday 663 dehd 664 south city hardware 665 kesha 666 (sandy) alex g 667 computer slime 668 fka twigs 669 rob halford, celestial 670 dean hurley 671 school of language 672 nicolas godin 673 blue hawaii 674 leggy 675 ceremony 676 his name is alive 677 third eye blind 678 sadgirl 679 ariana grande 680 skepta 681 dylan moon 682 jay mitta 683 the drums 684 kero kero bonito, ep 685 charly bliss 686 lee renaldo etc 687 rina mushonga 688 ulla straus 689 cherushii & maria minerva 690 slaughter beach, dog 691 maps 692 dj shadow 693 tool LOL 694 diiv 695 pixies 696 cuco 697 black peaches 698 subhumans 699 gurr 700 cashmere cat 701 brockhampton 702 fire-toolz 703 lambchop, LP + EP 704 messthetics 705 neuland 706 westkust 707 haelos 708 sturgill simpson 709 maria usbeck 710 king gizzard (2) 711 earthgang 712 paranoid london 713 fet.nat 714 bethlehem steel 715 neil young with crazy horse 716 tengger 717 guerilla toss 718 spelling 719 lizzo 720 wiki 721 dr00p, mkULTRAHD 722 ghost orchard 723 jane weaver 724 usa/mexico 725 carl stone 726 richard dawson *** 727 rafael toral 728 test dept 729 sacred paws 730 big krit 731 mallrat 732 jenn champion 733 moE/Mette Rasmussen, tolerancia picante 734 facs 735 yung lean, single (blue cup) and ep, more? 736 pissgrave 737 moodyman 738 sing sinck, sing 739 tyler the creator 740 sleater-kinney 741 dean blunt, zushi 742 cursive 743 barker, utlity 744 gemma 745 octavian 746 pronoun 747 girl ray 748 julia shapiro 749 nodding god 750 daniel saylor 751 jakob ogawa 752 richard youngs 753 diät 754 w00dy 755 omar souleyman 756 vōx EP 757 topdown dialectic 758 penelope islea 759 gbv 760 glass beach 761 james hoff, hobo ufo 762 euglossine 763 dream ritual 764 terry allen 765 office culture 766 ghostie, devour 767 beat detectives 768 red channel 769 octo octa 770 julien baker [toyko single] 771 shackleton as "tunes of negation" 772 sons of raphael 773 lena raine 774 fitted, first fits 775 velf 776 cvn 777 black country, new road, [2 singles only?] 778 chief keef 779 andrew bird, LP and EP 780 tamaryn 781 vagabon 782 zelooperz 783 brian jonestown massacre 784 angel dust 785 pere ubu 786 vatican shadow, church... 787 spencer radcliffe 788 mr muthafuckin exquire 789 earth to mickey 790 beak> 791 byron westbrook 792 major murphy 793 nicole yun 794 the divine comedy 795 sote, parallel persiao 796 the radio dept. 797 prince daddy & the hyena 798 mudhoney 799 truth club 800 shura 801 underworld, drift 802 lil texas 803 that dog 804 gary wilson / r. stevie moore 805 divino nino 806 spiral heads 807 claire cronin 808 devendra banhart 809 c.y.m. EP 810 dude york 811 sangri 812 vegyn [2 lp's?] 813 brooke candy 814 caroline polachek 815 hurt valley 816 O.L.I.V.I.A, modo avion 817 ziúr 818 pepper mill rondo, it's christmas time 819 ben vida 820 nick hexum/george clanton 821 meara o'reilly 822 tyler holmes, devil 823 blood incantation 824 guenter schlienz 825 gavilán rayna russom 826 loraine james *** 827 lithics, Wendy Kraemer EP 828 navel, ambient 2, in space 829 the proper ornaments 830 jon hopkins & kelly lee owens, single 831 julianna barwick 832 park hye-jin 833 bea1991 834 men i trust 835 erika de casier 836 ducks unlimited 837 lyzza 838 refused 839 jim o'rourke, to magnetize ... 840 analemma, 2 singles on a comp? 841 zack fox, "the bean kicked in" 842 real life rock n roll band 843 prefab sprout 844 daniel lopatin, uncut gems ost 845 kaytranada 846 the voidz, 2 song single + video? 847 grandaddy, single (add scissors icon) 848 dark thoughts, must be nice 849 loose nukes 850 sam mallet 851 very good, adulthood 852 henge, nothing head 853 kaleidobolt 854 nebula, holy shit 855 terminal cheesecake 856 uzeda 857 wet tuna 858 sean mccann 859 black dresses, love and... (2nd LP) 860 nefew 861 taylor swift ??? 862 lala lala, the lamb 863 jenny lewis 864 33EMYBW 865 blood orange, angel's pulse 866 caterina barbieri *** 867 yusu 868 white reaper 869 rozi plain 870 bamboo, daughters of the sky 871 seragina steer 872 clear channel, hot fruit 873 patience, dizzy spells 874 mope grooves, desire 875 current affairs, object & subject 875 comfort, not passing 876 bill orcutt 877 bonnie baxter 878 carl stone 879 thurston moore 880 alameda 5 881 john zorn 882 the membranes, what nature gives... 883 meemo comma 884 ana roxannne 885 whistling arrow, s/t 886 dis fantasy 887 giant swan, s/t 888 buck young, buck ii 889 abdu ali 890 ifriqiyya électrique 891 $hit and $hine, doing drugs, selling drugs 892 ghold 893 theon cross 894 yao bobby & simon grab 895 solange *sure whatever ok 896 the comet is coming 897 the utopia strong, s/t 898 karenn, grapefruit regret 899 brìghde chaimbeul 900 nav, bad habits 901 chance, big day 902 nostalgia critic's the wall 903 uboa, the origin of my depression 904 hobo johnson 905 ana frango elétrico 906 dorian electra

[jamesboy3421]

August 3rd, 2018

18:54: Jms- Dude. There’s something about Jaxon. Like, something I just gotta write about and put into permanence. Let me tell you how I led to this whole train of thought.

So we’re currently in the car, heading down to Ohio for the week. It’s the new one that only Pabu can drive, so there’s three rows of seats. It’s just G, J squared, and I tho.So G is in the passenger seat next to Pabu, JJ are in the middle together with their row of 3 seats, and I get my one seat in the back with the luggage and, honestly?, I kinda like it like this. G loves her passenger seat, and Pabu gets someone next to him. JJ get their cuddle space together, and I get total independence over the back. It’s not bad. So I’m leaning up against the luggage cause I had been napping (read Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda till I was tired :p) n I rolled over a bit. My head is propped up by Beary-O so I just look over at my legs crossed up on the seat, in Jax’s black n orange boy shorts. I got my grey tank top with the cat in sunglasses on it on. My body hair is noticeable, as well as a pretty strong tan, and my upper arm honestly isn’t in the worst shape anymore. And I was thinking trying to say I looked like a boy, but not just a boy. So I said a cute boy, cause that’s what I’ve always said. A cute little boy, cause I still looked feminine. But now things are different. And I said no, I’m not gonna go with that anymore. So I said I looked like a hot boy. Hot boy in tank and shorts, skinny with a strong tan. I’m a good looking guy. Even with the messy ruffled hair. I’d say I looked hot. And then I thought about how I never use hot. I never have. I’ve never really thought of anything legitimately as “hot”. Like, I’ve used the word. But like I used it cause they were situations where I felt like I had to. I never really felt strongly for the term, as I never really perceived anything as hot. But like, then Jax came along. And he used that word. I’m not saying like he uses the word constantly or anything. I dunno. Like, we do stuff. N we would be doing stuff and god it feels so much different than before. Everything is so different. It’s all good. Everything is okay in the moments I’m with him. It doesn’t feel wrong or guilty anymore either, cause I can freely call him my boyfriend (July 24 :p) everything just feels right. It feels okay. Happy. Better. And so we were doing stuff and ahrhdg man you can just tell it’s legit with everything he does. I mean yeah I still get those paranoid thoughts, I still get anxious, I always will. But I honestly feel like I can just push them away with him. I can trust him. And he says stuff like that when we do stuff, he says I’m hot and stuff, but like the way he says it and when he says it I just feel like it’s right. I mean agh I’m not saying he’s right I’m not conceited. I’m just saying it feels right. It feels like it’s supposed to, y’know? And like we were walking the other day, we both had on skinny jeans and band t-shirts and beanies. I was recording him with my new camera (I lost the footage :(((((((() and like honestly ? I can say he looked ... hot?? Like legit. There was feeling behind it where just it was legit and I knew I meant it. He looked hot. I ain’t ever used that word but I know for a fact that it applies to him damnit. Honestly everything just feels legit with Jax. Like, I trust him. And I actually trust him. Like I trust him trust him. Like yeah I love him, and god I know that, I love him so god damn much. But I can definitely say that I am attracted to him. 100%. All of him. Everything he does is just oh my god, y’know? 

God I know how to word it all but like I don’t It’s just like ???? everything ???? feels ???? legit ???? Everything is just YES my man honestly. Like let me give you some examples as I remember them all. There was when I was feeling bleh about family stuff happening and I didn’t wanna talk about it cause I felt annoying always talking about it, I felt like I was complaining. Cause like we were lying down and he was trying to get me to talk, to open up. And he’s said he feels guilty about how mush he pushed but honestly I am really glad he did. I don’t remember what I said, but I said something and sat up n he say up and just the wwaayy that he looked at me. If this boy was acting then damn he deserves an Oscar cause like oof. I don’t even remember what he said but that mixed with just the honest look like his whole face was in it. Just concern and worry and caring and legitimately wanting to hear me open up and wanting me to be okay. You could see it in his eyes and his eyebrows and his mouth and just his face and hdhd his eeyyeess and my wall just crumbled and when we layed back down yeah I started off slow just saying some details but then I just let it all spill everything that was going on and all the worries I had with my family and it just felt good to just talk to him and tell someone the stuff that I keep just locked away in my head and just speak the truth. And just whenever anything happens, anything that he thinks he’s done to inconvenience me or whenever something seems to bother me, the way he just goes into this one voice. He has this voice that just happens every time and it’s just soft and gentle and calming and he’s saying it’s okay and god you just believe him because with him there everything really is okay, everything is alright. Problems melt away when you hear his voice. God, I love when he goes on rambles. And wow, does he ramble. If something is clearly upsetting me he just holds me and he talks. And he just talks and talks and talks. And it helps, I just sink into his chest, his warmth (god he’s so warm) and I feel his heart and I can feel when he speaks in a rumble in his chest right at the top and he just speaks and everything in the world just goes away and it’s just me and him and the rest of life doesn’t matter and everything is just okay and I can hold onto him and just listen and I can’t seem to find my voice I can never say any words cause I’m just lost in his and god this is so cheesy it’s like describing something in a book but it’s actually my life now when I’m with him it’s reality.

God I’ve been talking about this boy for almost an hour now. I didn’t even say a lot of the thoughts I was thinking before I started writing them down. 

Honestly dating is just about finding the right person. I was so down about it before. Going through that kind of breakup, watching my parents divorce unfold, watching friends relationships go in and out, I just didn’t believe in any of it. But honestly? I think it really is just finding the right person. Cause even through all of this, I’ve been watching Jazzy and Josh too, my man. Like legit, bro, goals. They really are. They are such goals where yeah it’s clingy but not lovey dovey clingy it’s just like, right, y’know? Like it’s the relationship that just feels right even when yer not the one in it and you can’t be without it in yer life.

21:40: Jms- And I dunno I think I feel that way with Jaxon. Even in the beginning, everything just clicked. Legit I’ve never felt like I was friends with someone so fast. He was just instantly so easy to talk to. And even the first time we actually hung out, I didn’t feel like I had to hide anything. Sure, I was completely oblivious to him liking me at all, but I didn’t feel like I had to hide any part of me, I could just be myself. 

I don’t know. Maybe I’m just over thinking things. I’m writing all this after reading a book, and while thinking of him, so maybe I’m just describing things in that magical fantasy book way of writing. Maybe it’s all how I actually feel. I guess you’ll never know ;p

21:45: Jms- I think I’m gonna stay up tonight transferring this writing into my Dragon Journal (DJ :D might change it to Script Journal tho cause it sounds cool). Cause I’m currently writing this all originally just on me phone on colornote cause I was having many a thoughts about the boy and needed to get them out fast. And I can definitely type faster than I can write in Script.

I’m not really in that big whole thinking process that I was in earlier cause we had to swap into my Grams car n I don’t get my little world all to myself anymore (now sitting in the middle seat with G). Still, wanna keep talkin tho just cause talking to myself is nice. The games on my phone would use up too much battery and it’s too dark to read. Unless I use my phone as a light that is. I light do that. I dunno yet. I like this book. 

I was thinking about the book and that led to thinking about Jax and I really like just hugging him and being with him. I really wanna hug the boy and just lay with his warmth. I miss him already. My brain is just realizing how long it really is gonna be till I can see him again and that is not at all a happy feeling, my man. A week of just messaging.

[musicplayperformance]

Clean Bandit presents ‘Rockabye’: een ludomusicologische videoclip

Door Raoul Kleijn

Videospellen, waaruit ludomusicologie is voortgekomen, vertonen enige overeenkomsten met videoclips. Ten eerste worden ze allebei op een beeldscherm, televisie of mobiele telefoon, waargenomen. Bovendien spelen ze zich allebei in een virtuele wereld af. Enerzijds is deze aan de echte wereld gelinkt, omdat hier de virtuele wereld ontstaat en anderzijds liggen deze twee werelden juist ver uit elkaar, omdat er in de virtuele wereld dingen gebeuren die in de echte wereld weinig of zelfs nooit plaatsvinden. Daarentegen zijn de plekken van de virtuele werelden van videoclips meestal in de echte wereld terug te vinden, terwijl dit voor videospellen niet geldt. Bovendien zijn videoclips niet alleen maar spel, aangezien het erin spelen één van de werkzaamheden van een artiest is en deze vorm van spel dus ook in de echte wereld betekenis heeft, wat met de theorie van de toovercirkel tegenstrijdig kan zijn. Deze theorie, bedacht door Johan Huizinga, houdt in dat spellen zich in een afgezonderde wereld plaatsvinden <1>. Hierin krijgen de handelingen vervolgens betekenis. Videoclips hebben blijkbaar dus ook daarbuiten betekenis. Een ander noemenswaardig verschil tussen videoclips en videospellen is dat het verhaal in videoclips reeds bepaald is en de waarnemer er geen invloed op heeft, terwijl in videospellen de uitkomst door de waarnemende speler wordt beïnvloed.                                              

De clip die hier besproken zal worden, is ‘Rockabye’ van Clean Bandit, Sean-Paul en Anne-Marie, die je hierboven ziet. De locaties waar de clip zich afspeelt, bevinden zich in de echte wereld, namelijk in Londen en in Begur in Spanje <3>. De clip vertelt het verhaal van een alleenstaande moeder die in een café paaldanst om geld voor haarzelf en haar zoontje te verdienen. Beelden van deze dansen worden afgewisseld met shots van de muzikanten die samen zogenaamd een liveoptreden geven. Verder is te zien is hoezeer de moeder zich om haar zoontje bekommert. Deze clip is een goed voorbeeld van hoe een clip als spel gezien kan worden. Het is namelijk vrijwel meteen duidelijk dat de clip grotendeels uit een enscenering of rollenspel bestaat. Waar dit aspect meestal als vanzelfsprekend wordt afgedaan, wordt dit in ‘Rockabye’ juist extra bevestigd en zelfs overdreven. Vier zaken zijn hierbij opvallend: ten eerste de bühnegordijnen die na het eerste refrein opengaan en dus bevestigen dat het een opvoering of act is, terwijl deze al bij de eerste seconde begint; de toeschouwers en de barman lipsyncen/zingen samen met Sean Paul het tweede couplet, waardoor wordt gesuggereerd dat  deze figuren op de hoogte van het verhaal zijn en dus niet slechts toekijken; de belangrijkste personen staan op een podium en deze worden aan het begin door Sean Paul geïntroduceerd en getoond. Dit is een conventie uit de filmindustrie, aangezien in films altijd vooraf aan de film de belangrijkste figuren en hun rollen bekend worden gemaakt. In dit geval speelt een Italiaanse paaldanseres genaamd Rita Conte de alleenstaande moeder, speelt Anne-Marie een barvrouw <4>. Net als Sean Paul, fungeert zij hier als zingende verteller of voice-over. Samen met de band (Clean Bandit) zijn zij de belangrijkste gezichten van het verhaal dat in de clip wordt verteld.                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Een belangrijk aspect van deze clip is het zogenaamde liveoptreden dat in de bar plaatsvindt. Volgens Simon Frith wordt in een clip performance op de voorgrond voorgezet en dit is dan ook hier het geval <5>. Echter, dit optreden is, net zoals alle andere gemediatiseerde optredens, allesbehalve live. Dat blijkt met name uit het feit dat de muziekinstrumenten die worden bespeeld, niet dezelfde zijn als die je hoort en bovendien wordt de reeds bestaande opname van het nummer afgespeeld. Op deze wijze wordt in andere clips de muziek ook meestal geïntegreerd. Dit doet enigszins denken aan de ABC-documenten in de tekst van William Cheng over het spel Lord of The Rings Online, waarin een muziekstuk dat van tevoren is gemaakt, later op een willekeurig moment afgespeeld kan worden en dan ook in de beelden wordt uitgedrukt <6>. 'Rockabye’ staat in dat opzicht nog dichter bij het voorbeeld uit Lord of The Rings Online. In de meeste clips worden namelijk slechts de vocalisten getoond die zichzelf al dan niet begeleiden. De muziek is hier supradiëgetisch <7>. Echter, bij dit optreden worden ook muziekinstrumenten getoond die zogenaamd bespeeld worden. Hiervoor zouden een aantal redenen kunnen zijn. Clean Bandit is de belangrijkste muzikale uitvoerder en Sean Paul en Anne-Marie spelen als het ware in het nummer de tweede viool. Aangezien clips onlosmakelijk een promotionele functie hebben, is het te bedenken dat Clean Bandit zelf ook in de clip mee wil figureren, terwijl ze zelf op de achtergrond blijven <8>. Dit is uiteraard niet een standaard, want denk bijvoorbeeld aan DJ’s die vaker niet dan wel figureren. Tevens ontstaat hierdoor een diëgese voor het nummer. Doordat hier namelijk de schijn wordt gewekt dat het nummer daadwerkelijk wordt gespeeld, wordt getracht het nummer diëgetisch over te laten komen. Dit is kennelijk bedoeld om het paaldansen van de alleenstaande moeder geloofwaardig over te laten komen. Deze vorm van optreden wordt namelijk meestal begeleid door muziek die niet live is. Het feit dat de muziek in de clip kennelijk ook niet live is, sluit hier dan ook goed op aan. Muziek speelt hier dus zeker een belangrijke rol als het om creëren van context gaat. Het is ook een voorbeeld van een schizophonic performance, aangezien wordt gesuggereerd dat er ‘echte’ muziek wordt gespeeld, terwijl dit niet het geval is <9>. Dit wordt benadrukt door het eerdergenoemde feit dat de muziekinstrumenten die in beeld worden gebracht, andere zijn, dan die daadwerkelijk gehoord worden.

Net zoals bij spellen als bijvoorbeeld Guitar Hero, zorgt de muziek in clips ervoor dat de figuren zich in de tooverwereld verliezen. Dit kan veroorzaakt worden doordat de muziek die erin wordt afgespeeld, voor hen vertrouwd voelt, aangezien deze meestal van de figuren zelf is, of omdat de figuren het horen en er vervolgens in meegaan. In ‘Rockabye’ zijn allebei de verklaringen te vinden, maar het nummer zorgt er tevens voor dat de rollen die Anne-Marie en Sean Paul hebben, worden verankerd. Het zijn dus personages of, in termen van Philip Auslander, personae die ze spelen <10>. Wanneer Anne-Marie in het begin contact maakt met de paaldanseres, kan de kijker dit interpreteren als een mogelijke afspraak tussen Anne-Marie en de danseres en dat zij met elkaar afgesproken hebben dat Anne-Marie haar situatie in woorden uitdrukt. In dit geval zou muziek uit sociale interactie voortvloeien.  

Over het algemeen is de gouden regel in videoclips ‘show, don’t tell’, uitgezonderd de liedtekst. Dat is in deze clip ook het geval, maar het feit dat de hoofdpersonage niets zegt en alleen maar fysiek handelt, roept ook associaties met mimespel op. Daar staat tegenover dat er door de vocalisten gesproken wordt en voor het paaldansen een object is vereist. Het paaldansen zelf is natuurlijk ook een vorm van spel, weliswaar een erg treurige in de gespeelde situatie, maar het heeft in de clip een belangrijke rol. Het laat namelijk zien hoever de vrouw gaat om voor haar zoontje te kunnen zorgen.                    

Als de theorie van Caillois, waarin spel wordt gecategoriseerd, hierop wordt toegepast, is dus eigenlijk van drie vormen van spel sprake: de gehele clip, het optreden en het paaldansen. Het paaldansen zit waarschijnlijk in de categorieën ilinx en ergens tussen ludus en paidia, aangezien bij paaldansen controle makkelijk kan worden losgelaten. Waarom het moeilijk is te stellen of het bij ludus of paidia hoort, is omdat enerzijds de bewegingen door de paal gestructureerd kunnen worden en anderzijds de danser er juist redelijk vrij in is. De gehele clip en het optreden behoren tot de categorieën mimicry en ludus, omdat fictieve situaties automatisch nabootsingen zijn en in het optreden het nummer ook wordt nagebootst en ludus, vanwege de structuur van de clip en het nummer<11>. Hierdoor zou je kunnen zeggen dat de clip wat wegheeft van een musical, opera of ander vorm van toneel. Dit komt dan weer niet overeen met hoe Frith over een clip denkt <12>.

<1> Johan Huizinga, Homo ludens: proeve eener bepaling van het spel-element der cultuur (Haarlem, 1938), 37.

<2> Clean Bandit, Sean Paul, Anne-Marie, ‘Rockabye’, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=papuvlVeZg8

<3> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockabye_(song)#Music_video

<4> https://twitter.com/cleanbandit/status/1054489660876038144

<5> Simon Frith, ‘Performance,’ Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996), 225.

<6> Isabella van Elferen, ‘¡Un Forastero! Issues of Virtuality and Diegesis in Videogame Music,’ Music and the Moving Image 4, no. 2 (2011): 30.

<7> William Cheng, ‘Role-Playing toward a Virtual Musical Democracy, ‘Sound Play: Video Games and the Musical Imagination (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014), 117.

<8> Andrew Goodwin, ‘From Anarchy to Chromacy,’ Dancing in The Distraction Factory: Music Television and Popular Culture (University Of Minnesota Press, 1992): 28.                          

<9> Rayond Murray Schafer, The New Soundscape: A Handbook for the Modern Music Teacher (BMI Canada, 1969): 43-48.  

<10> Philip Auslander, ‘Musical Personae,’ TDR: The Drama Review 50, no.1 (2006), 100-119.

<11 > Roger Caillois, Les Jeux et Les Hommes (Paris, Galimard, 1958).

<12> Simon Frith, ‘Performance,’ Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996), 225.

[fassanda]

Stella’s Eindejaarslijstje

Naam: Stella Lombaers aka Stells P. aka Stackysnacky

Leeftijd: 22

Beroep: Booker, Freelance music manager aka MOMager & lowkey highkey inloop psycholoog voor iedereen. Oja en service + music bij DEUS Ex Machina.

Beste gerecht in 2019 (waar, wat, wie?): Alles homemade bij m’n fam <3

Meest memorabel moment van euforie onder invloed in 2019?: ...

Meest aangename verrassing in 2019?: Veel groei bij BP en een hele nieuwe Famirie erbij krijgen was wel een hele mooie uitkomst.

Ik heb voor het eerst ....... In 2019?: Met plezier oesters gegeten. Geloof het zelf ook nog niet helemaal. En De School gecheckt!

Beste reis(spot) in 2019?: Meegaand in de Japan hype zag dat er wel het meest aantrekkelijk uit ja. Bangkok is altijd goed ook trouwens. Also, anywhere met zon en warmte is een pré.

Beste collabo(s) in 2019?: Pop Smoke X Skepta, James Blake & Travis Scott, Loopey & Fosa YG, Frodeau & Goudi, Dencho & Teach.

Eerst opgeslagen track op Spotify in 2019?: Work – Maxo Kream

Eerst opgeslagen track op Spotify in 2019?: Zugusun – Bokoesam & Yung Felix

Meest hinderlijke social mediapersonality in 2019?: Donald Trump, Jeffree Starr

Top social mediapersonality in 2019?: Godsend.

Domste Vice artikel uit 2019?: “Hoe moet je omgaan met loslopende artiesten op het festivalterrein?” Really? They’re just peeoplllee maannnnnn

Beste podcasts uit 2019?: GIVE & TAKE!!!! Ted Talks Daily, 99% Invisible, KINK Homebase, Stuff You Should Know

Beste meme uit 2019?: Ghamte op vakantie met Dagmar: Love & Marriage – Frank Sinatra

Gemiste kans in 2019?: Geen enkele kans is ècht gemist, want 1. Je weet niet wat je mist en 2. Je bent er niet voor gegaan, omdat iets anders op je pad blijkbaar beter voor je was.

Grootse deceptie in 2019?: Brexit & Donald Trump impeachment.

Het meest hoopvolle in 2019?: Eigenlijk heel 2019 was een jaar vol hoop, nieuwe mensen, nieuwe kansen en groei.

Persoonlijke overwinning in 2019?: Volwassen worden, is al lastig genoeg, maar ook vertrouwen opbouwen in jezelf en anderen op allerlei verschillende vlakken en het eerste jaar zonder één van mijn grootste rolmodellen. Real shit yaknowmean

Maaaarrrrr ook meer schijt en lol hebben!! S/O naar BP for opening my eyes

Gezelligste feestjes in 2019?: Vans Afterparty @  Sexyland, Live at the BBQ @ Club IIII in Gent, Famirie @ PAL, Hamburg, Hiphop Saved My Life & La Cassette @ Ekko.

Gezelligste festival in 2019?: Woo Hah!, door mien metgezellen, en ADE aka gekkenhuis.

Beste concert in 2019?: Erica de Casier… Vibes vibes en nog eens vibes.

Beste films uit 2019?: The Irishman, Ruben Brandt – Collector, en alles van Bobbie Müller & Mila van der Linden.

Beste series uit 2019?: Russian Doll, Rapture, Hiphop Evolution, Black Mirror

Beste documentaire uit 2019?: Kijken in de Ziel, Devil’s Pie

Beste boek uit 2019?: Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow!!

Muzikale hoogtepunten uit 2019?: The Life of Pi’erre (Pi’erre Bourne), Over It(Summer Walker), Essentials (Erika de Casier), Project YG (Fosa & Loopey), Nachtvlinder (Bokoesam), Meet The Woo (Pop smoke) en Rema, Wizkid, Burna boy, Tekno.. mogen niet echt missen eigenlijk.

Muzikale dieptepunten uit 2019?: No tea, no shade…

Beste mixtape uit 2019 (artiest, dj, radioshow)?: Ace & Tate mix door Sandor Dayala, NTS show Bossy LDN 13/11/19, Re:lax w/ Re:ni, Laksa, DJ Plead & Cop Envy 17/11/19, Last but not least: Live at the BBQ X Ring my Line @ Red Light Radio <3

Nepste bitch in 2019?: Wie weet die weet. En Fabiola. En m’n ex #shade

Beste bitch in 2019?: S/O to myself cuz I always got my own back, maar buiten dat sws Rihanna en Doja cat. 100%

Doelstellingen voor 2020?: School afronden, meer tour- & artist management, Festivalseizoen beleven & overleven, nieuwsgierig blijven en kennis vergaren.

Uitkijken voor ....... in 2020?: BUREAU PUNT!! Maar ook Lava La Rue, Meer van Erica de Casier

[soyoureviewhiphoptoo]

Soundtrack of the Week 22/06/2017

This doesn’t look like an album review...this doesn’t look like an album review at all. What is going on, sir?

This is a new thing I would like to implement into this blog called “Soundtrack of the Week” where I give a look into some of what I have been listening to over the course of the week. I felt like doing this as a way to give some kind of exposure to my hip-hop tastes, to preview any future content I would like to review and most importantly, to show projects or songs that I would either recommend people to listen to or to move as far away from as possible.  So, without further ado, here is the Soundtrack of the Week

Joyner Lucas- (508) 507 2209 Released: June 16, 2017 Label: Atlantic Records

Last Friday (June 16, 2017), quite a few highly anticipated hip-hop projects dropped. While the world was focused on the release of Pretty Girls Like Trap Music from 2 Chainz and the rather unorthodox singing album Beautiful Thugger Girls from Young Thug, one other project was released that was spectacular. This project was the latest project (which I believe is an album) from Massachusetts M.C. Joyner Lucas. Over the last year, Joyner has been making a name for himself, releasing freestyles over the beats of Panda and Mask Off (the latter at which he takes shots at Lil Yachty and Logic...which was interesting) as well as appearing on the Tech N9ne track Sriracha (which also features Logic...damn Joyner).  This project (at least in my mind) has definitely proved that Joyner Lucas is a rapper to look out for. With impressive displays of intense lyricism and powerful storytelling, (508) 507 2209 is a must listen! (and the subject of a future review)

RATINGS

Concept: 4/5 Production: 3.5/5 Lyrical Content: 4.5/5 Flow and Delivery: 4/5 Repeatability: 4/5 Did I enjoy this project? Yes I did Songs to Recommend? Ultrasound, Lovely, Keep It 100, Winter Blues, Just Like You, Literally, I’m Sorry and Forever

Final Rating: 4/5

Joyner Lucas- Keep it 100 A song that personifies the story of a single hundred dollar bill as it is passed from one interesting character to the next.

Joyner Lucas- I’m Sorry A song that displays the lamentation of a man in his suicide note and the toll his death takes upon his best friend.

Royce Da 5′9″- The Bar Exam 4 (Hosted by DJ Green Lantern) Released- June 20, 2017 Label: Self-Released

I will make something very clear...I LOVE ROYCE (No homo). Ever since I first heard him and Eminem together on Hell: The Sequel, Royce Da 5′9″ has become one of my all-time favourite rappers. Since 2011, he has dropped nothing but straight fire and this mixtape is not an exception. 

The fourth installment of The Bar Exam series, Royce is doing something we don’t really see much in hip-hop these days; a mixtape of freestyles on other people’s beats. This sounds weird to say but newer rappers don’t do this anymore so to see an OG (and one of the best rappers on earth) releasing a mixtape filled with freestyles on some of the biggest hits over the last few years, its a breath of fresh air and definitely worth a listen. (It is 28 tracks long though...which is a lot)

RATINGS

Concept: 3/5 Production: 4/5 Lyrical Content: 5/5 Flow and Delivery: 4.5/5 Repeatability: 4/5 Did I enjoy this project? Yes I did Songs to Recommend? C Delores, N My Zone: Mask Off, Combat, Gov Ball, Chopping Block, I Got The Keys Freestyle, Wait a Minute, Beats Keep Callin', Let’s Take Them To War, Magnolia Freestyle and Still Waiting

Final Rating: 4.1/5

Royce Da 5′9″- Beats Keep Callin’ Freestyles over Bad and Boujee & Lockjaw (with the mixtape version having a beat switch to FuckWithMeIKnowYouGotIt in between)

Royce Da 5′9″- Let’s Take Them To War Freestyles over Moves & No Hook

Vince Staples- Summertime ‘06 Released: June 30, 2015 Label: Def Jam Recordings, ARTium Recordings and Blacksmith Records

Vince Staples is another artist I have only started to listen to over the last year but he is quickly rising to becoming one of my favourite rappers in the new age of hip-hop. He is a rapper that speaks a lot of social issues in his songs, more specifically the issues that affect black Americans and how his own personal experiences in the hood of Long Beach, California are reflective of this. 

While some artists tend to sugarcoat these experiences to ease listeners into these issues, Vince is point-blank, he holds no punches and expresses his views with no filter. So much so that a mother posted an 11-minute video on YouTube called “Norf Norf Rant” where she would read the lyrics of the single Norf Norf and burst into tears on camera. This was my first real exposure to Vince Staples (as well as features on the Jhene Aiko song The Vapours and ScHoolboy Q song Ride Out) and frankly, I’m always pleased to know that hip-hop still offends middle-classed people even with it being placed in mainstream culture (even though Norf Norf is not even offensive when you compare it to the trap songs on the radio).

Anyway, Summertime ‘06 is a meaningful debut for Vince Staples and while it didn’t go platinum, it is an immense depiction of the life of black teenagers in America and it is certainly an underrated project. This album, alongside his EP, Prima Donna has got me excited for his upcoming album The Big Fish Theory...which comes out tomorrow (June 23, 2017)

RATINGS

Concept: 4/5 Production: 4/5 Lyrical Content: 5/5 Flow and Delivery: 4/5 Repeatability: 4/5 Did I enjoy this project? Yes, I did Songs to Recommend? Lift Me Up, Norf Norf, Birds and Bees, Dopeman, Jump Off The Roof and Senorita 

Final Rating: 4.2/5

Vince Staples- Norf Norf A strong summary of a young black male living in the “Norfside” of Long Beach, California while the video depicts the fate of wrongfully arrested black males. (How offensive is that?)

This week has been a week of deep storytelling, calmer, more hypnotic beats and straight up freestyles. Next week, I can tell I will be listening to a lot more Vince Staples as well as mentally preparing for the Jay-Z album dropping next Friday...Am I even ready for that???

[gigslist]

8 LGBTQ Festivals from San Francisco

A lot of people don’t think of being gay as being an art form. But if you live in San Francisco long enough it becomes understandable. Even if you aren’t gay there are some great San Francisco festivals to express your inner drag queen or drag king. Please note this is not a top 8, just 8 festivals…

1 Burning Man (Last Week in August)

Originally founded by San Francisco as an affordable event for artists. Burning Man now attended mostly by Los Angeles folk. From Wikipedia: “Burning Man is an event held annually in the western United States at Black Rock City, a temporary city erected in the Black Rock Desert of northwest Nevada, approximately 100 miles north-northeast of Reno.” From the Burning Man web site “Burning Man is not a festival! It’s a city wherein almost everything that happens is created entirely by its citizens, who are active participants in the experience.” Actually that statement is not quite true. The prices of tickets in 2019 were $1200, a far cry from $200 when we went. At $1200 a head there aren't many genuine artists spending weeks out of work and whole pay checks to build instillations. Those that can afford the tickets now pay people to do that. A girlfriend was on on of the 2019 paid teams to build and manage a camp.

2 How Weird Street Fair (May)

How Weird started as a bunch of ravers from local underground warehouse parties. It grew every year until being co managed by the Gay Pride folks. From the Weird wsite ”The faire, the area, and the participants represent the convergence of art and technology, the fusion of creativity and possibilities. How Weird is a place where evolutionary ideas can form, paving the way for fresh perspectives and new ways of viewing the world. We ask that everyone come to the faire in costume. Come as the You you’ve always wanted to be. Multiple music stages featuring cutting-edge electronic music and some of best daytime dancing you will ever find in the middle of the street, the unique vendors from around the world showcasing the new styles for the upcoming festival season, the visionary artwork displayed by local artists, and the colorful costumes and dazzling performances that make How Weird so much fun. ”

The following sourced from SF Travel:

3 Frameline43 - The King of Queer Film Festivals (June 20-30)

Lights! Camera! Action? Frameline43, San Francisco's International LGBTQ Film Festival, features screenings of more than 150 movies, shorts and documentaries at different venues all over the city. From their web site “Frameline's mission is to change the world through the power of queer cinema.  As a media arts nonprofit, Frameline's programs connect filmmakers and audiences in the Bay Area and around the world.”

4 Fresh Meat Festival (June)

What Frameline is to LGBTQ cinema, the Fresh Meat Festival is to live art. The Transgender and Queer Performance Festival features acts that run the gamut from opera to boy bands and ballroom dancing to hula hooping. Each show ia followed up by drinks, dancing and DJs. The Fresh Meat Festival makes a point to be inclusive, offering a wheelchair-accessible venue and American Sign Language interpreted performances.

5 San Francisco PRIDE (June 29-30)

San Francisco's PRIDE festival. This celebration is a great introduction to all the area has to offer. Started in 1970 on the one-year anniversary of the infamous Stonewall Riots in New York, the theme this year is "Generations of Resistance." The event starts on Saturday in downtown's Civic Center Plaza featuring a festival of more than 20 community-produced performances, from Homo Hip Hop to Gray Pride, and culminates in the 49th Annual SF LGBT Pride Parade on Sunday morning.

6 Up Your Alley Street Fair (July 28)

If you like leather, body hair, and a healthy dose of filth, then the Up Your Alley Street Fair is for you. This all-day event starts in front of the Powerhouse Bar on Dore Alley and stretches all the way to 10th Street. A precursor to the more famous Folsom Street Fair, Up Your Alley is a summer festival targeted to fetish enthusiasts and fans of BDSM with more than 50 adult vendors and close to 15,000 participants every year.

7 Folsom Street Fair (Sept. 29)

"The World's Biggest Leather Event" for nothing. An all-day event covering 13 city blocks, the Folsom Street Fair attracts more than 400,000 participants every year and offers a little bit of action for everyone. Want toys and gear? More than 200 vendors will be displaying their goods. Want electronic or alternative music? The fair boasts an line-up of music, dancing and live art. Not for the faint of heart, this event can be celebrated in leather or nothing at all. The event also offers food, beer, liquor and The Playground, a space for women and genderqueer folk.

8 Castro Street Fair (First Weekend in October)

Castro Street is arguably the most famous and iconic of all LGBTQ neighborhoods. Launched into fame in the early 1970s and influential in electing Harvey Milk, the first openly gay official in the city, the Castro District is fully open about its heritage. In fact, the annual Castro Street Fair was founded by Milk himself in 1974. The fair is located in the heart of the Castro District, centered around Market and Castro streets. With vendors, dance parties, arts and crafts, live performances and more, the Castro Street Fair donates its proceeds to local charitable organizations.

Stay Happy My Friends :)

[cynthiajayusa]

The Frivolist: Six Way Gay Things to Get into Right Now

(Photo: Varsity Gay League)

One of the best parts of my job as an LGBT lifestyle expert is discovering all the dynamic new people, places and things expected to interest the LGBT community. Some do, some don’t – I sift through A LOT of duds, in fact (like the travel-size cold-sore medicine one PR hack pitched me for years because he thought it would make a great stocking stuffer at Christmastime) – but every once in a while I stumble upon a few gems to tell you about it. As such, here’s what I’m into right now – and you might be too.

1. REVRY LGBT Streaming Service

You have to tip your feathered caps to Netflix, Hulu and other popular streaming services for providing (for the most part) satisfying LGBT programming options, like trans creator Jill Soloway’s award-winning “Transparent” over at Amazon. But now you can effectively eliminate all the hetero noise clogging up your queues and go full “queerated content” thanks to REVRY, the first dedicated LGBTQ+ digital streaming platform. Available on Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, plus iOS and Android devices (with Pluto.tv and Amazon Fire capabilities coming soon), REVRY, which recently celebrated its first anniversary, features original content like “3030,” a series about platonic black lesbian roommates living in Las Vegas; the newly added Bob the Drag Queen comedy special, “Suspiciously Large Woman”; as well as international shows and movies, like the subtitled “Free Fall”, characterized as the German “Brokeback Mountain”. Spoiler alert: They bang in the woods using nature’s lube.

2. Varsity Gay League

When I lived in Manhattan I was a regular on the social sports scene – both “straight” and gay leagues – playing a wide range of activities, including bowling, kickball, dodgeball, trivia and cornhole (and yaaas, competitive cornhole is totally considered a sport, queen). When I left NYC for life in a small beach community on the Jersey Shore, however, being part of these teams was among the things I missed most. That could all change soon, though, as I was recently introduced to Varsity Gay League, which is celebrating its milestone 10th anniversary this year. VGL is the largest sports league in California with more than 8,000 members, and it has outposts in San Diego, San Francisco, Long Beach, Sacramento, Austin, Orlando and Portland, with plans to add other major cities to meet demand. I’m currently in talks with the league’s founder Will Hackner to bring VGL to my part of the world, and if you think your city might benefit from this organized homo-raderie, hit ’em up on Twitter @vglsocal.

3. OUTshine on the Sea

Earlier this year I attended the 10-day OUTshine LGBT film festival in Miami – which featured some of the best LGBT films I have ever seen (not an exaggeration; find French-Canadian film “1:54” and have a box of Kleenex handy) – and I’m pretty pumped for OUTshine on the Sea, the fest’s seven-night Eastern Caribbean Cruise (hitting Nassau, Punta Cana and St. Thomas), from February 17 to 23, 2018, aboard Celebrity Equinox. If you’re a film and cruise lover – two of my favorite things! – pack your movie-marathon sweatpants and let’s gain 10 pounds of popcorn weight on the open ocean together.

4. Hornet App

If you’re fed up with all the blatant racism on your gay dating/hookup apps, take a break and zip into Hornet, a gay social-networking app oddly popular in France, Russia, Brazil, Turkey and Taiwan (you want to expand your horizons, right?), but whose user base is consistently growing here at home. Aside from finding like minded men nearby (the app includes a GPS component just like Grindr and the gang), you can tap into and share LGBT-focused new stories on its companion website UnicornBooty.com; discover local queer hotspots around your home and when you’re traveling; and keep your social calendar lit with curated homocentric events.

5. Ascension Asbury Park

After years of false starts and delayed gentrification, Asbury Park, New Jersey is now a full-fledged LGBT destination for gay men and lesbians alike. There’s no shortage of “fam”-friendly places to stay (you won’t be disappointed with a night at the celebrated Asbury Hotel), dine (upscale Mexi-joint Barrio Costero has margies to die for), and get your swerve on (the pool at Paradise is always poppin’ after midnight on Saturdays during the summer). But if you really want to throw your weekend getaway into overdrive, swoop into town for Ascension, Aug. 4 to 6, featuring 11 high-octane events, including tea dances, beach bashes and glow parties taken to new heights by 14 DJs and thousands of prospective half-night stands.

6. Handmade Sexy Time

My boyfriend and I are adventurous, especially when it comes to our bodies and bedroom activity, and we had an arousing at-home date night with Haus of Betch’s hand-crocheted jock straps – it was like Captain America himself was calling me hither in his blue three-starred weiner basket (sorry, no photos) – and an arts-and-crafts project making vibrating dildos of our own dicks with kits from Clone-A-Willy. The latter was a bit stressful because the process moved ultra-fast – we had to get and stay hard while mixing the plaster at an exact 90 degrees and cast our cocks in under three minutes! – but we shared laughs along the way, amazing sex afterward, and now we’ve got life-size replicas of our own wieners that we’ll probably just use to go fuck ourselves whenever we have a tiff. (Sorry; still no photos.)

Mikey Rox is an award-winning journalist and LGBT lifestyle expert whose work has been published in more than 100 outlets across the world. He splits his time between homes in New York City and the Jersey Shore with his dog Jaxon. Connect with Mikey on Twitter @mikeyrox.

source https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2017/07/26/the-frivolist-six-way-gay-things-to-get-into-right-now/ from Hot Spots Magazine http://hotspotsmagazin.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-frivolist-six-way-gay-things-to-get.html

[demitgibbs]

The Frivolist: Six Way Gay Things to Get into Right Now

(Photo: Varsity Gay League)

One of the best parts of my job as an LGBT lifestyle expert is discovering all the dynamic new people, places and things expected to interest the LGBT community. Some do, some don’t – I sift through A LOT of duds, in fact (like the travel-size cold-sore medicine one PR hack pitched me for years because he thought it would make a great stocking stuffer at Christmastime) – but every once in a while I stumble upon a few gems to tell you about it. As such, here’s what I’m into right now – and you might be too.

1. REVRY LGBT Streaming Service

You have to tip your feathered caps to Netflix, Hulu and other popular streaming services for providing (for the most part) satisfying LGBT programming options, like trans creator Jill Soloway’s award-winning “Transparent” over at Amazon. But now you can effectively eliminate all the hetero noise clogging up your queues and go full “queerated content” thanks to REVRY, the first dedicated LGBTQ+ digital streaming platform. Available on Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, plus iOS and Android devices (with Pluto.tv and Amazon Fire capabilities coming soon), REVRY, which recently celebrated its first anniversary, features original content like “3030,” a series about platonic black lesbian roommates living in Las Vegas; the newly added Bob the Drag Queen comedy special, “Suspiciously Large Woman”; as well as international shows and movies, like the subtitled “Free Fall”, characterized as the German “Brokeback Mountain”. Spoiler alert: They bang in the woods using nature’s lube.

2. Varsity Gay League

When I lived in Manhattan I was a regular on the social sports scene – both “straight” and gay leagues – playing a wide range of activities, including bowling, kickball, dodgeball, trivia and cornhole (and yaaas, competitive cornhole is totally considered a sport, queen). When I left NYC for life in a small beach community on the Jersey Shore, however, being part of these teams was among the things I missed most. That could all change soon, though, as I was recently introduced to Varsity Gay League, which is celebrating its milestone 10th anniversary this year. VGL is the largest sports league in California with more than 8,000 members, and it has outposts in San Diego, San Francisco, Long Beach, Sacramento, Austin, Orlando and Portland, with plans to add other major cities to meet demand. I’m currently in talks with the league’s founder Will Hackner to bring VGL to my part of the world, and if you think your city might benefit from this organized homo-raderie, hit ’em up on Twitter @vglsocal.

3. OUTshine on the Sea

Earlier this year I attended the 10-day OUTshine LGBT film festival in Miami – which featured some of the best LGBT films I have ever seen (not an exaggeration; find French-Canadian film “1:54” and have a box of Kleenex handy) – and I’m pretty pumped for OUTshine on the Sea, the fest’s seven-night Eastern Caribbean Cruise (hitting Nassau, Punta Cana and St. Thomas), from February 17 to 23, 2018, aboard Celebrity Equinox. If you’re a film and cruise lover – two of my favorite things! – pack your movie-marathon sweatpants and let’s gain 10 pounds of popcorn weight on the open ocean together.

4. Hornet App

If you’re fed up with all the blatant racism on your gay dating/hookup apps, take a break and zip into Hornet, a gay social-networking app oddly popular in France, Russia, Brazil, Turkey and Taiwan (you want to expand your horizons, right?), but whose user base is consistently growing here at home. Aside from finding like minded men nearby (the app includes a GPS component just like Grindr and the gang), you can tap into and share LGBT-focused new stories on its companion website UnicornBooty.com; discover local queer hotspots around your home and when you’re traveling; and keep your social calendar lit with curated homocentric events.

5. Ascension Asbury Park

After years of false starts and delayed gentrification, Asbury Park, New Jersey is now a full-fledged LGBT destination for gay men and lesbians alike. There’s no shortage of “fam”-friendly places to stay (you won’t be disappointed with a night at the celebrated Asbury Hotel), dine (upscale Mexi-joint Barrio Costero has margies to die for), and get your swerve on (the pool at Paradise is always poppin’ after midnight on Saturdays during the summer). But if you really want to throw your weekend getaway into overdrive, swoop into town for Ascension, Aug. 4 to 6, featuring 11 high-octane events, including tea dances, beach bashes and glow parties taken to new heights by 14 DJs and thousands of prospective half-night stands.

6. Handmade Sexy Time

My boyfriend and I are adventurous, especially when it comes to our bodies and bedroom activity, and we had an arousing at-home date night with Haus of Betch’s hand-crocheted jock straps – it was like Captain America himself was calling me hither in his blue three-starred weiner basket (sorry, no photos) – and an arts-and-crafts project making vibrating dildos of our own dicks with kits from Clone-A-Willy. The latter was a bit stressful because the process moved ultra-fast – we had to get and stay hard while mixing the plaster at an exact 90 degrees and cast our cocks in under three minutes! – but we shared laughs along the way, amazing sex afterward, and now we’ve got life-size replicas of our own wieners that we’ll probably just use to go fuck ourselves whenever we have a tiff. (Sorry; still no photos.)

Mikey Rox is an award-winning journalist and LGBT lifestyle expert whose work has been published in more than 100 outlets across the world. He splits his time between homes in New York City and the Jersey Shore with his dog Jaxon. Connect with Mikey on Twitter @mikeyrox.

from Hotspots! Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2017/07/26/the-frivolist-six-way-gay-things-to-get-into-right-now/ from Hot Spots Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.tumblr.com/post/163454129195