#Grooving Rubber Roll

[shotmrmiller]

Simon doesn't care how he comes. He doesn't care if it's your smaller hand wrapped around his fattened cock, tugging it with a gentle twist, smearing the bead of arousal that's welled up from his slit with your thumb. Doesn't care that he usually fucks his fist roughly after a hard day's work with blood still crusted on his fingernails, hard enough to ache. The way you sit beside him, the soft swell of your breasts pressed against the corded muscle of his arm, murmuring words of praise that have his cheeks alight with a rosy glow—

He doesn't care if you use your mouth (you asked, ofc) your mouth is warm around him, the gummy inside of your cheeks slippery— the constricting back of your throat even more so. He sits still, like a good boy, not bucking his hips up, not pushing your head down to take as much of him as you can.

Doesn't care if you make him fuck your thighs— intercrural, you'd called it. How could he when your soft thighs are so smooth and pliable, enveloping his leaky cock with their warmth? Certainly doesn't mind when he glides his head along your slick folds, occasionally catching your swollen clit, hearing your little sharp intakes of breath.

Simon doesn't care where he comes, either. If it's a hand job, he spurts hot, viscous pleasure onto his pudgy stomach, coating the dark trail of hair below his navel and making a mess of your hand. (If you lick his come off your fingers, he's asking you to grow old with him asap)

If it's a blow job, he'll give you a heads-up with a rumbled, "'m, close, so close—" and that's your cue to either pull away, let him paint your cheeks with his spend, or swallow every single drop. (Or let it drip onto his jeans, none of it matters just don't stop)

He'll slicken your inner thighs with his sticky cum, scoop up some of it with his callused fingers, and slather it over your puffy pussy, using it as lube to rub you to completion.

So, when you casually ask him how he feels about a breeding kink as if you were commenting on the weather, his heart threatens to burst out of his chest. Are you asking him for a kid?

But you don't notice how his pupils dilate a fraction or how the skin around his eyes tightens, the corners forming small creases as you continue. "Because I'd been thinking," a small pause, "to spice things up a little—" before he even gets a word in, you raise your hands up in a calming gesture. "Not like there's anything wrong with what we're doing now."

There's a subtle shake to your hands and the grooves of your palms catch the light. Sweaty. You're nervous. This isn't just about him filling you with his cum. He's already done that before— pressed his tip right into your swollen entrance mere moments before finishing. he lets you gather your thoughts, unsnag the words caught in your throat.

And when you finally steel your nerves and say what you want to say (garble, more like) the shrill ringing in his ears is deafening. "You wan' me to wear a rubber 'nd let you take it off." Had he misheard?

The way your bottom lip is caught between your teeth, gaze lowered to the ground, your fingers twisting and turning, uncertain. So he hadn't. Well. How could he say no? Granted, he doesn't understand it, but for his girl? Anything.

He comes to understand it the very first time it happens.

Rolling on the rubber hadn't been different. nor the way he gently stretched you with one finger, two. The spit he'd used as lube to cause you as little discomfort as possible mingling with your own slick, dripping down his rugged knuckles. He takes his time as always, slipping between your spread thighs, watching your face twist, kiss-swollen lips part as he sinks into your heat. He goes slow, hearing you hiss between your teeth, your blunt nails sinking into his chest. He'll have red, angry welts later alongside his dog tags. Claimed by both duty and his little love. "Marked like property," he'd joked once.

You hadn't found it so funny. (Johnny got it though.)

Even with the very small difference in sensation, you're still the best thing he's ever felt. You take him like you're meant for him and maybe you are, but he smothers that train of thought quickly with a heavy hand lest he finish when the fun's just begun.

He feels you shift, even with his body weight that presses down on you with the gravity of a boulder, and he sinks to the root— like a pebble falling into still waters. Your nails tear skin, draw blood. The biting sting of it sends a shiver that sweeps over his goosepimpled skin, arousal tangling in his spine. He bucks his hips in reflex, hard enough to jolt you upward. The discomfort on your face quickly melts away, the sweetened burn of his thick cock prying your tender walls apart finally bleeding into white-hot pleasure.

Simon thrusts again, this time deliberately. Again. And again. He keeps them shallow, dragging the ribbed edges of the condom along your sensitive nerves, gently trying to coax a lazy orgasm out of you— the ones that always leave you syrupy and warm.

He focuses on you. Swirls your peaked nipples with his thumb, nestles his face in the crook of your neck, warm breath fanning over your heated skin. Simon licks a hot stripe over your fluttering pulse, presses a chaste kiss on it, nips your sensitive skin with a little too much pressure when you squeeze down around him—

Cheeky minx.

He snaps his hips, hard enough to rattle your spine, hard enough to hear the way the oxygen is ripped from your lungs. Simon keeps at it, resolute in getting you to the edge, dragging you with him, taking you over.

And then he hears you slur out a couple of words through your gasps. "C'ndom," you mewl, "the condom, off."

Right. He peels himself off of you. He'd almost forgotten —

You're impatient, pushing him away with your bare feet on his chest until he pulls out with a pop, trembling fingers reaching his twitching cock. The rubber comes off after a moment and while he's distracted by the creamy slick coating it, you're already putting him back in you, and your cunt feels sublime.

Divinity. He feels intoxicated.

The pleasure he felt before feels muted now, in comparison. Dull, almost. You feel hot, almost burning— swallowing him up, wet, so wet. The way your walls flutter around him jumbles his thoughts, tangles his tongue. He grinds down onto you with grit teeth, nostrils flared as he tries to keep the searing coil in his gut from unspooling, but he fears it's a losing battle. Beads of sweat roll down the side of his face as he fucks into your tight cunt with a hunger that borders on desperation.

He can see, and hear, that it's different for you too. Your keens and mewls are loud, nails scoring trails of red down his back. Simon leans back a bit, enough to let you watch his cock split you open, strings of sticky arousal connecting between you two. When he changes angle, aiming for your (and his) favorite spot with precision, the squeal you let out stiffens his spine.

Simon needs to hear it again. He grabs you by the cheeks, forcing you to look at him with those pretty, glassy eyes that glimmer with tears. Saliva pools in his mouth at the thought of tasting salt. "Like tha'?" The delicate strands of your eyelashes are clumped together with overwhelming sensation.

When you don't answer, he gives your hood a gentle tap, striking right above your clit. "I asked you a question." He grunts when your pussy almost strangles his cock at his gravelly tone. Simon will remember that for later.

"Yes," you breathe. "Yes, god, just like that." As a reward, he uses his thumb to draw tight little circles over your pearl, fucking you with his full weight behind every thrust. The blissful expression on your features, spit glistening in the corner of your lips, your hand flat, fingers spread wide over your lower belly as if to feel him from the outside— it's enough to almost toss him over that crumbling edge.

But he takes more. Selfish, greedy. Takes what's his with fervor; wholly, unapologetically. "This," he pushes until he can go no more, his tip meeting a firm resistance, "is better than everythin' I've ever had." Maybe it's a stupid thing to say, right here when he's rearranging your guts around to make room for his fat cock, but he's drunk off of you.

There's no thinking clearly with the slick noises echoing in the stuffy room. There's no seeing clearly when his world has narrowed to a single point of contact.

You're squeezing around him like a vise, tight enough that his nerve endings prick with pain. But he keeps going. He takes, he gives, he yearns to watch you unfurl at the edges forever, on his fingertips, on his tongue, his cock but you—

You are both his ecstasy and ruin. He can see it in the way the corners of your pretty mouth curl upward, teasing, eyes glinting with mischief, with the same kind of trouble that ensnared him into your orbit that one lousy night.

"Come in me."

Bloody fucking trouble.

(He wants all of it. The you who'll complain about the hard surface of the kitchen table he'll bend you over. The purple marks he'll pepper on your neck, your collarbone. The you that fights tooth and nail over him eating beans on toast.)

He watches you with half-lidded eyes as his fingers and his cock toss you overboard into the tumultuous sea of euphoria and then— when you're a drooling, limp mess— only then, does he finally surrender, balls drawn up painfully tight,

and fills you to the brim, until there's no more room left in your swollen, greedy pussy. Until it spills from your hole in thick rivulets, until there's no more of him left to give.

(He doesn't do rings. It'll get the both of you killed should he ever get caught. Maybe a tattoo for him and a band for you? Gotta text Price in the morning.) <- oh what barebacking does to a simple man such as he.

this was supposed to have been a 600 word drabble hello. he's clingy and squishy and so sickeningly in his emotions.

[mooncalfed]

whimper (i)

insomniac Simon Riley learns to exist in the dark

[ fem!reader - inexperienced!reader - slow burn]

He rings in the second night of leave the same way he has for eight years now - a sharp inhale, eyes flying open, heart racing, a moment of weightlessness before crushing anxiety.

On the pillow to his right are a pair of folded sweatpants and hoodie. They lay largely undisturbed because they belong to a man that has learned to lie still.

He sits up, puts on the hoodie and slips on the sweatpants before sliding his phone and keys from his bedside table into the pocket of his sweats. He vaguely notes that there is a hole in his pocket but also remembers that he has noticed this eleven times and has yet to do anything about it.

A roll of the shoulders, a quick, snatched yawn, and he is walking quietly to his front door.

He grabs his mask, a simple black surgical one for the witching hour, and slides a beanie over his head.

He slips out of his apartment without so much as a shuffle and takes quick stock of the corridor. Empty, cool, silent. Same every night, but vigilance pays dividends for someone like him. The locks on his apartment click into place and he shoves his hand in his pockets before melting into the night.

It takes four hundred and twenty-seven steps for him to arrive at his destination.

It’s a small coffee shop slash bar that opened a while back. Between his deployment to Bosnia and Peru, if he remembers correctly. It’s tiny and open at all hours for some inane reason, but he is thankful for the routine respite it offers.

There is no one on the street as he nears the shop. As he walks in he notes that there is no one in the shop, either. It isn’t out of the ordinary, but he briefly wonders about the financial viability of a place like this before he realises he doesn’t give a fuck.

He marches straight to the corner booth that gives him a perfect view of the entire store. Back to the wall, entrance at eleven o’clock with the kitchen doors at two o’clock. The owner hasn’t come out from the kitchen yet but that’s okay, because there’s a routine that needs to be followed and he is a few minutes early.

The clock above the drip coffee machine reads 3:07 and with each minute that passes he finds himself winding tighter, stomach clenched and fingers curled into fists in his pockets. He runs his thumb along the length of his apartment key, feeling the cool metallic teeth warm up as his flesh presses harder and harder against its grooves.

He counts his breaths, two beats in and five beats out. In through the nose and out through the mouth.

He’s at breath twenty-five when you walk in.

Huffing from the cold, you stumble in far less gracefully than you usually do. He notes your gloved hands and thick coat and it occurs to him that it is rather cold outside. He has a difficult time noticing these things anymore, rarely cares.

He sees your bag on your shoulder and a clump of your hair trapped under its strap and wonders whether you will bother pulling it out before you set down your bag, or whether you will slump into a chair and just wince when your hair is caught by the material. He’s seen you do the latter far more often.

You rustle for something in your pocket and he watches with a pulse of amusement as you pull out a rubber, your phone, and a hair tie all in the same gesture. Those items are placed on the table you always choose - the left side of the shop, directly opposite the coffee machine, back to the window, two tables away from the entrance and two tables diagonally away from him.

It bothers him that your back is to the window. It disturbs him deeply that it doesn’t seem to phase you, that you put yourself in such a vulnerable position and seem to actually like that.

You pull out the chair and your bag slumps to the ground. He flicks his eyes up just in time to see you grimace when your hair is snagged by your bag. He smirks.

The next bit, he knows by heart.

First comes your drawing pad. Then, your two notebooks, one blue and soft-bound, the other black and hard-covered. Then comes your wooden case of oil pastels, which is placed underneath and followed by a smaller green box of pencils. You rearrange your phone so that it is on your right, and then flip it so the screen faces down. The rubber is set on top of that, and then your hair is tied up into a loose but high ponytail.

You take a deep breath, and he finds himself mirroring you. 

Fists clenched, stomach tense, jaw trembling.

You look up and smile.

“Hello Simon.”

He breathes out.

[kayslibrary]

Simon Riley's hair obsession (Simon X black reader)

Hi guys! This break was completely unprecedented (it will probably happen again). I just checked my last post date and it was JANUARY 21ST????? I did NOT mean to step away for that long lmaoo But im back! I wanted to dabble in the Cod fandom but I’m a little intimidated idk. There are a lot of different archetypes of the characters, and im a little nervous I won’t do the characters justice or portray them correctly so please give me feedback and or/ KIND critiques if you please! 

Im gonna start my Task Force 141 saga off with Simon (whose surprised lol) and this is gonna be paired with a black afab reader so ENJOY PPL

Warnings~fluff,, Simon being a lovestruck fool

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Simon likes your hair. No, Simon  LOVES your hair. That was one of the first things he noticed when you two first met. When you two were in the earlier stages of dating, he would just stare at your curls. “Beautiful, full curls,” he thought to himself as you would go on about your conversations. Now that you both were living under the same roof, He knows what goes into keeping your hair from frizz and tangles and how much it takes to maintain it. 

“Baby, can you pass me the edge control?” you requested from your shared bedroom, “what control?” He inquired, puzzled “The edge….the blue jar with the black lid on it” “The lid that's hard to open,” he asked as he walked in with 5 bottles and jars cradled in his arms. “Yess that one” you giggled,  pacing over to him to grab the one you were looking for. “This one” you smiled as you nab it from Simon. 

Other times Simon would sit on the bed and gaze at you in awe (homeboy is WHIPPEDD) “Yes Simon?” you groaned at the pain in your arms “Nothing baby doll, continue on” he smiled “Right…FUCK!” the rubberband that you’ve been finagling with popped “baby what's wrong?” he practically teleports to your side. “The stupid rubber band popped ugh” you fume with frustration. “It’s okay honey..here let me help” Simon offers as he puts your hair into a ponytail. “Is this good?” “This is more than good..thank you baby” you sigh with relief. 

To add to that thought, Simon is a big helper!!! Wash days once took 4 hours but now it took 2 hours thanks to the extra help. Like imagine you both in the shower getting clean and you both take turns washing each other's hair??  SO CUTE “Baby you know I can do this myself” Your eyes roll to the back of your skull with please as Simon scratches at the right places “I know but I want to help you. I enjoy it as much as you do” he snorts as the water cascades from the showerhead onto you both. 

OH YEA, you definitely caught him watching those ‘how to care for kinky hair’ videos sometimes, you find it admirable that he would take the time to educate himself apart from what you tell him. “Wanna help out more” he kisses you with devotion because let's be real HE WHORESHIPS THE GROUND YOU WALK ONNNN. 

Before you, he didn’t know the first thing about protective styles, different hair products for your hair, how to wrap it at night but now that hes with you, he understands and for you guys anniversary he surprised you with a heap of gifts BUT ALSO surprised you by braiding your hair for you. Who needs a hair salon when you have one built into your partner (huge money saver LMAOO) 

In conclusion, I think Simon Riley would be OBSESSED with your hair whether it be in braids, out and about, or straight. “You look good in everything, hell you could be bald. I’d still love you the same” he’d grin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author note- i love this? Hello? 10/10 crumbs and the table are GONE. i love simon but i am a rudy girl what can i say IMMA WRITE FOR HIM NEXT WATCHHHH but yea its good for me to get back into my groove. Glad to be back pookies be safe wherever you are!! Bye now!!

[ceruleanmusings]

Big Time Girlfriends - Carlos & Sammi

this isn't one of my favorite episodes but it does have my fav btr song in it! (boyfriend is one of their best, i will die on that hill!) but carlos' plotline always bothered me (james' and logan's plot really bothered me as well but that's another rant post for a different day) so this is what i came up with to make it a little better. enjoy! @witchofinterest @myloveforhergoeson @raging-violets @partiallypearl

------

Red, gold, and white lights spun and flashed from nearby attractions, begging passersby to take their shot at winning the large, stuffed prizes hanging off stalls. Beneath the inky black sky wafts of thick, heavy fried-scented air hovered over the milling crowds, luring in kids begging for treats to hold in their sticky hands. Excited shrieks and screams punched through the mechanical whooshes and grinding from nearby thrill rides and attractions, but Sammi blocked all the background noise out. Her eyes remained focused on the basketball hoop in front of her, the tip of her tongue sticking out the corner of her mouth.

She eased out a breath, her fingers gripping the small rubber ball. The bumps and grooves pressed into the pads of her fingers; her pulse jumped faintly in her fingertip. You got this; you can do it! Pulling her tongue back into her mouth, her mouth formed a line, her muscles tensed, and she shot the basketball out of her hands with a little hop. It arced through the air…and bounced off the rim.

“Aw, man!” she groaned, her nose wrinkling and her arms falling to the side.

“Close but no cigar,” the stall attendant said, his mustached mouth stretching into a Cheshire cat grin. Sammi’s lip curled in as she suppressed the urge to rip his sharpie-marker mustache off his face. Really, did he have to say it every time she missed the shot? Twenty times was twenty times too much. And that mustache was so outdated! “Come on, try again. I’m sure you’ll get it this time.” He tossed the ball to her. She caught it and tossed it back, shaking her head.

“Thanks, but no thanks.” Besides, she already dropped thirty-five dollars on the dumb game. She couldn’t justify spending any more, no matter how much she wanted that giant stuffed bunny.

“Just try one more. I hate to see pretty girls walk away empty handed.” He flashed a smile, popping the ball atop his finger. With a push, he spun it along the tip. The colors flashed by in a bright smear against the golden tint of the booth’s bulb lights. “Waddya say?” She wanted to say where he could shove that basketball, and it wasn’t going to be through a netted hoop.

Instead she drew herself up, lifted her chin, and held his gaze. "I hate to see desperate guys." He blinked and she lifted her eyebrows, waiting for his one-track mind to switch gears and catch up. She'd said all she needed to say. When it finally did, she smirked as he jerked upright, fumbling the ball in his hands. Brushing her hair over her shoulder, she turned and sauntered off, pausing to add, "By the way, get used to pretty girls walking away from you! That's the only direction they'll be heading!"

Man, did that feel good. Nothing quite beat the exhilaration and satisfaction of putting guys like that in their place. Honestly. She was pretty, she knew that, she made sure others knew that, but that didn't mean she could fold and roll over just because someone else acknowledged it. Where was the effort in men nowadays? Not that she'd give in a chance otherwise, she was already happily taken.

Carlos, however, looked as if his happiness had been taken away from him, judging by the long look on his face anyway. It was a stark one-eighty from the cloud he'd seemed to be riding on for the past couple days. Hands on her popped hips, Sammi glanced around. Where was that Sasha girl anyway? The two were glued at the hip in the van ride over to the fair. It was almost disgusting how much they giggled and batted their eyes at one another. Where was they mystery? Where was the chase? Where was the effort?

"Okay, what's wrong?" Sammi peered down at Carlos from the other side of the picnic table he slouched over. Two corndogs sat in his hands.

"Me and Sasha broke up," he said.

"Sasha and I," Sammi automatically corrected. She couldn't help it. The world would be better if people were on point at all times. Speech couldn't slip through the cracks; annunciation and word choice went a long way when it came to molding people's perception.

Carlos looked up at her, eyebrows furrowing. "You were dating her too?"

Sammi brought her hand up to the side of her head. This boy. Easing a sigh, she carefully sat on the other bench, scooping her skirt beneath her thighs and crossed one leg over the other. The bright lights nearby illuminated her heels as if she were bathed in a spotlight. She grinned. She knew she picked the right shoes; her sisters didn't know what they were talking about when they tried to talk her out of them. She was a 10 at all times, from her head to her feet. Literally. She couldn't afford anything else.

"Why did you break up?" Sammi asked.

"She doesn't like corndogs. Actually, she hates corndogs."

"....So?"

"I love corndogs. We wouldn't work."

Sammi snorted. "Is that the only reason?"

This made Carlos sit up straight, eyes blazing. "Is a big reason!" She hummed. Why couldn't he apply that energy to his dance rehearsals? Or anything not gross?

"So any girl you want to be with has to like corndogs? No matter what?"

"I can't just give them up!" He took a hearty bite out of one as if to prove her point. Her nose wrinkled at his following sigh, showing a glob of chewed hot dog and cornmeal mush. Plucking a napkin out a canister with two fingers, she held it out to him. The least he could do was cover his mouth.

"Why would you have to?" she asked calmly.

"I mean...isn't that the point? To have a girlfriend that likes what I like?"

"The point of a girlfriend is to have someone you like around and to spend time with." Well, there was more to it than that but he was just dipping his toes into the dating water. He'd splash and flail too much if he dove in headfirst. "They don't need to like everything you like." She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. "Jo doesn't like hockey but Kendall's still into her. In fact, I remember all of you clamoring over each other like idiots when Jo moved into the Palm Woods. Would you have dumped her if she chose you because of that?"

Carlos blinked. "I guess."

"Wow," Sammi said following a scoff. "Rude much?"

"I mean...wouldn't it be easier if we liked the same thing?"

"Maybe. But then you wouldn't have anything to talk about. Too much of the same is boring." Carlos made a noise. "Take it from me. My boyfriend's a farmhand. Literally. His family works on a cattle farm, provides meat and produce and stuff. He's very into agriculture and the environment. I'm...not so into it." The mud, the sweat, the smell, the mud? Not her idea of a good time, thank you very much. "But Jay? He puts his heart and soul into it. And he has so much passion for it. He wants to make the world better, more sustainable. I don't get it but I get that it's him and I like him. Warts and all." She paused. Did he have warts? Her mind reeled back, remembering all the expanses of his skin she'd been able to touch. His nice, tanned, strong, smooth skin... She frowned, whipped out her phone, and quickly sent a text. If he had any blemishes she needed him to take care of it right away. "My point is, differences are okay. It makes things fun."

"Yeah but..."

"But what?"

"They make it all look...so easy." He motioned with the bite-size of his corndog to the others nearby. Kendall trying to win Jo a stuffed animal from a skeeball game, Camille dragging Logan by the hand towards some dance game, and James.... Sammi blinked, leaning forward. Why was James carrying a plant? But then she pushed the thought away. She didn't want to touch that one. "They've had girlfriends. Or at least girls interested in them. Especially James. I just don't get it. It's like they know some...some secret code or something."

Sammi's head tipped back as she laughed, good and hard. "Carlos, c'mon, the rest of them aren't that perfect! Kendall's clearly got jealousy issues; honestly, I don't get how Jo's just fine with that but whatever." She waved her hand, batting them away. "And James kissed Logan's girlfriend so he's not winning points there. And Logan's kinda possessive. They don't know what they're doin' either and from my point of view, you're the one comin' out great."

"What do you mean?"

"I saw you runnin' around the Palm Woods with that girl"—she didn't earn the right to be called her name anymore—"she may have been set up by Uncle Gustavo—which I will have a conversation with him about—but you were very sweet and kind and were willing to make a lot of compromises for her happiness. Any girl who actually ends up your girlfriend would be very lucky. Don't sell yourself short."

"Really?" His dark puppy dog eyes almost made her coo at him.

"Yeah." Her shoulders bounced in a light shrug. When he wasn't being so...uncouth, he had some good qualities the right person would appreciate. That Girl certainly wasn't one of them if she could willingly go along with Uncle Gustavo's stupid boy-brained plan.

"Thanks. You know, your boyfriends very lucky."

"I know," she said with a smirk. Then her eyes dropped to the uneaten corndog in his other hand and she took it from him, teeth sinking into the cornmeal in a satisfying bite. "What?" she asked when he gaped at her. "I love corndogs." Holding her hand in front of her mouth as she chewed, she continued, "You should try the korean kind though. Some have cheese in them and some have cereal coating. They're super good. "

He snapped his jaw shut and twisted the stick of his corndog around in his fingers. "Do you...um...I mean, if you weren't dating him...do you think we...would you have—?"

Reaching across the table, Sammi patted his hand. "You wouldn't be able to handle me, Carlos," she said.

He grinned. "Yeah, maybe not."

[dustedmagazine]

Ginger Root — SHINBANGUMI (Ghostly International)

Photo by Cameron Lew

The latest Ginger Root record has multi-instrumentalist Cameron Lew diving deep into retro sounds, drawing inspiration from Paul McCartney, Yellow Magic Orchestra and other pre-internet vibes. It’s a well-constructed LP and one with the flow and pace of a concept record, but it’s also one that sticks to a formula.

Things kick off with “No Problems,” a slice of McCartney-esque pop with warm keyboards, touches of strings, and a thin guitar tone that twangs like a rubber band. Lew builds an emphasis on the McCartney II, early 1980s ambience: the analog synths, the way everything sounds like it’s been built by overdubbing one instrument at a time, or how it feels like it’s old without actually being old. This sort of not-quite-nostalgia is all over SHINBANGUMI, and “No Problems” does a great job of setting the scene for listeners.

Lew’s a musician who wears his influences on his sleeve, and throughout the first half of the record you can almost make a checklist of what he likes by the way each song sounds: “Better Than Monday” has a slinky, almost mechanical funk groove that recalls Yellow Magic Orchestra, while “All Night” has a driving, bass-led groove straight out of a vintage city pop record by Tatsuro Yamashita. And “Giddy Up” throws in a vaguely tense sort of energy that lands somewhere between solo McCartney and Todd Rundgren. When Lew’s at his best on songs like these, he makes music that’s engaging and fun.

But when he errs, it grinds the album to a halt. “Kaze” is a curveball that sounds like an odd, almost-listing sort of lounge music. Tonally it doesn’t really match what else is happening here: there’s little rolls of percussion and it builds into an uneventful climax. It feels like it’s from a completely different record and it disrupts the flow he’s been building up.

Throughout SHINBANGUMI, Lew hides his voice behind filters and it’s occasionally hard to make out his lyrics when he’s shoved to the back of the mix. He isn’t a strong singer or especially a wordsmith, but his singing almost feels incidental to the music here. This is a record that’s big on pop hooks and funky basslines. And perhaps a plot of some kind, too. Lew’s released a series of connected videos for this that suggest it’s a concept record following a TV executive in 1980s Japan making his own network. The plot feels loose and sort of incidental to the lyrics, but the way this album flows does have a feeling of a storyline, right down to a climax on “Show 10” and a coda on “Take Me Back.” Those two close the album out with more lush city pop grooves, touches of sax and strings, and carefully placed splashes of keyboards.

The thing about a record like this is that you almost know the game plan from the album’s lead single. Lew sets the template early: lots of old sounding keyboards, basslines that move all over the rhythm, and a vocal template that keeps his voice almost buried. Aside from a couple of curveballs and a few short interludes, he never really strays from that model. It’s an album that if it catches you right away, it’s probably one you’ll enjoy all the way through. But if you’re expecting it to build into something or for him to explore a wide palette of sounds you’ll be left wanting. As they say on TV: viewer discretion is advised.

Roz Milner 

[mondoradiowmse]

07/10/24 Mondo Radio Playlist

Here's the playlist for this week's edition of Mondo Radio, which you can download or stream here. This episode: "The Match That Lights the Fire", featuring classic funk and more. If you dig it, don't forget to also follow the show on Facebook and Twitter!

Artist - Song - Album

James Brown - Make It Funky (Part 1) - The Singles, Vol. 7: 1970-1972

James Brown - Super Bad (Part 1 & Part 2) (Promo Version) - The Singles, Vol. 7: 1970-1972

Norma Jean & Ray J. - Right Time-Wrong Place - Raising Hell

Norma Jean & Ray J. - Raising Hell - Raising Hell

Black Heat - The Jungle - Black Heat

Black Heat - Wanaoh - Black Heat

The Beginning Of The End - Funky Nassau (Part II) - What It Is!: Funky Soul And Rare Grooves 1967-1977

United 8 - Getting Uptown (To Get Down) - What It Is!: Funky Soul And Rare Grooves 1967-1977

The Politicians Feat. McKinley Jackson - The World We Live In - Psycha-Soula-Funkadelic: The Hot Wax Sessions

The Politicians Feat. McKinley Jackson - Everything Good Is Bad - Psycha-Soula-Funkadelic: The Hot Wax Sessions

The Sons Of Truth - Son Of The Deacon - A Message From The Ghetto

5 Spiritual Tones - Bad Situation - Good God!: A Gospel Funk Hymnal

Gospel Comforters - Yes God Is Real - Good God!: Born Again Funk

Manitas De Plata - Twist Flamenco - Ole!

Ann Peebles - 99 Pounds - Straight From The Heart

Satisfaction Unlimited - Somebody Else's Woman - Think Of The Children

George McCrae - I Get Lifted - In Yo' Face!: The History Of Funk, Vol. 3

Sly And The Family Stone - In Time - Fresh

Sly And The Family Stone - Thankful N' Thoughtful - Fresh

Aaron Neville - Hercules - Mojo Presents: Heavy Soul

Curtis Mayfield - Freddie's Dead - Mojo Presents: Heavy Soul

L.T.G. Exchange - Money Mad - Susie Heartbreaker (Ghetto Child)

The Meters - People Say - The Very Best Of The Meters

Earth, Wind & Fire - Shining Star - The Best Of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1

The Isley Brothers - The Heat Is On (Part 1 & 2) - The Heat Is On

The Isley Brothers - Hope You Feel Better Love (Part 1 & 2) - The Heat Is On

Earth, Wind & Fire - Getaway - The Best Of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1

Parliament - Mothership Connection (Star Child) - Mothership Connection

Funkadelic - Cholly (Funk Getting Ready To Roll!) - One Nation Under A Groove

Bootsy's Rubber Band - The Pinocchio Theory - Ahh … The Name Is Bootsy, Baby!

Bernie Worrell - Insurance Man For The Funk - In Yo' Face!: The History Of Funk, Vol. 5

Betty Davis - Is It Love Or Desire - Is It Love Or Desire

Betty Davis - Bottom Of The Barrel - Is It Love Or Desire

[captainderyn]

[ CHIN ]:          as they stand close to one another, the sender hooks a finger and tenderly lifts the receiver’s chin, tilting it up so that they can look at one another, and running a thumb across their skin lightly.

Oof totally didn't mean to have this sitting in my ask box for so long but, I'm finally feeling back into the groove enough to write! For Emeldir and Risha no less :) (EDIT TO ADD: That note was from months ago lol. 6/24/2023 Deryn says: Sorry this took so damn long, enjoy these two being idiots!)

Set sometime in the grey area of their relationship, when Risha isn't ready to admit she has feelings, and Emeldir is feeling so many things way to much all at once.

(Important to note, Em's flirting is nothing like in-game)

--

If Emeldir kept stuffing his foot in his mouth whenever he talked to Risha he was never going to get the taste of rubber out of it.

He didn't know where he kept going wrong. She was mad about his optimism, mad about how he flew his ship, mad at his idealistic need to help those who were struggling and to top it off downright angry at every offer he made to help her.

Frankly, Risha seemed irritated at his very existence.

It should have turned him away, sent him running into the arms of someone else.

It didn't. Not even close.

There was nothing thrill-of-the-game in the way his want for her gnawed at his mind.

She wasn't some challenge to be conquered, some wild spirit to be tamed.

It was as simple as an insistent tug, pulling him towards her, like they were meant to walk on the same path. It was inexplicable, confusing, and something he continually side stepped.

He doubted he could voice any of this without sending her running for the hills. He wouldn't voice any of this, wouldn't dare, when he was certain that she hated his guts.

So he kept his roiling, confusing emotions to himself. Tucked them away for later, tried and failed to focus his attention elsewhere.

Even if time and missions spent together seemed to ease Risha's iciness towards him, he didn't know that it would ever melt.

When they found themselves alone in the airlock, shrugging off their jackets that smelled of sweat and smoke, he wasn't sure exactly what he was in for. Her expression was unreadable, her silence hanging thick in the air as she tugged her rifle over her head and leaned it against the wall.

He looked to the side as she moved to stand in front of him, unable to meet the look on her face. They were so close that if one of them so much as shifted their bodies would brush together. He could feel the rustle of her duster jacket fluttering against him with the air from the vents.

"You need a haircut." Her words were...

"What?" Emeldir blinked, brain short circuiting entirely as her slender fingers were suddenly in his hair, giving it a ruffle.

The eye roll she must have given was apparent in her voice, "Your hair. It's a mess."

Sure, it'd grown out a bit, floppy and tousled and rather untamed since the last time they'd been able to stop off somewhere to find a decent barber. He'd hardly call it a mess, he still maintained it diligently as ever and--

And her hand slid town his face, halting at his jaw. Her fingers brushed lightly across the bit of scruff that had grown in, barely more than a shadow. He let the pressure of her hand tilt his head this way, then that, too stunned to do anything else.

He was pretty sure his heart was going to burst out of his chest. Or his face was going to melt away for how hot his skin was burning.

"Trying to look the part?"

Her well meaning jabs and her ill intentioned jabs were so difficult to tell apart that it took him a moment to grasp the humor in her voice.

He dared a glance up at her. She raised her eyebrows at him.

"Think I'm going to bite? Cat got your tongue, captain?"

Emeldir opened his mouth, struggling to both find his voice and get enough parts of his brain to fire to form words. "I..."

What did she want from him, exactly? If he said all the things on his mind she'd certainly climb right back over any of the walls she'd let down.

But the way she was looking at him, stars, he still wasn't thinking when he said, "I want to kiss you."

The perfectly maintained crescents of Risha's nails raked across his skin as she went to jerk away, only to freeze before she actually did. Her eyes widened, a storm brewing in them, and it was then that Emeldir processed what he'd said.

"I'm so sorry," he fumbled, making to step backwards only for his heel to hit the wall, "That was not meant to leave my mouth. I'm not saying that you have to...wait no that sounds bad. Scratch that I'm--"

His cheeks burned, he wanted to throw himself out the airlock. Plunge into the engines. Crawl under his bed and die. All of the above.

Risha smushed a finger against his lips, "Stop talking."

She narrowed her eyes at him, eyes sliding from his down to his lips. Her finger caressed across them lightly, sending goosebumps popping up across his skin.

This was it. This was the end for him.

"You don't have to." he stammered out again, against her demand, painfully aware of the multitude of reasons what he said was absolutely stupid, the least of which being the fact that, "I know you hate me."

His fingers grazed down his chin, light as a feather before seizing tight. He was almost certain was going to pass out when he felt her breath brush against his lips, hers a hairsbreadth away,

"Captain," There was a warning to her voice that killed any protest building in his chest again. Then she tilted her head, looking up at him from beneath her lashes.

Absurdly, he realized the sweat and heat had smudged some of her mascara onto her upper and lower lids.

"What if I want to?"

Her words barely registered in his frazzled mind, his reply even less so, "Then do it."

All logical thought zipped from his mind as she pressed up onto her toes, slanting her mouth against his. His back hit the wall of the airlock as he steadied himself, hands uselessly fluttering at his sides.

It was everything, it was confusing, it was heat zipping across his skin as his nerves alit and it his mind going entirely blank.

Risha's lips were soft, the gloss she wore everyday sweet.

The kiss was brief, too brief, and in a daze he leaned after her before reality snapped back into place and his eyes shot open.

Risha had already retreated, seizing up her rifle. He didn't miss the flush staining her cheeks a brilliant red.

She cleared her throat, eyes darting him up and down before away,

"Get a haircut next time we're on planet. And buy a razor to shave."

Those were her parting words as she exited the airlock, leaving Emeldir dumbfounded and clueless as ever.

What in the blighted stars was he going to do?

[gerogerigaogaigar]

David Bowie - The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars

This was the dawning of a new age of glam rock. It's spacey like much of the glam scene, but it brought a rock n roll edge that would go on to be a major influence in the development of punk. Ziggy Stardust is supposedly a concept album about a bisexual alien rock star sent to earth to avert an energy crisis, but let's be real that concept only exists in like four songs on the album and even then only loosely. No this is really just an album about creating a moody and weird rock and roll drama filled with jangly guitars, dissonant chords, and a weird sense of desperation that is hard to put my finger on.

Talking Heads - Remain In Light

Remain In Light is a complex labyrinth of looping polyrhythmic grooves equally inspired by punk and new wave as it was from Fela Kuti. This is the album that truly brings the strengths of every member of the band to the forefront. Chris Frantz's funk/punk hybrid drumming is challenged to incorporate complex rhythmic elements from African drumming. Tina Weymouth's looping bass lines wind up holding the entire album together. Jerry Harrison on keys and guitar wind up filling in all the empty spaces in the soundscape. And singer David Byrne delivers cryptic stream of consciousness lyrics. Remain In Light, like their last couple albums, was produced by Brian Eno, and Eno's touch is definitely felt. The production is tight, but well textured. Odd noises are brought further into the foreground and vocals are allowed to sit further back than most bands would allow. Remain In Light is a must listen album.

Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde

It must be said, Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 is a bad and stupid song. Yes I 'get it' haha see he says stoned like weed but he means like biblically 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. Oh it's so fucking clever kill me. The second that song is over this instantly becomes one of the best Dylan albums by a huge margin. The stretch of songs from Visions Of Johanna to Most Likely You'll Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine) is an amazing run of 10/10 songs. And the closer, Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands is probably my second favorite Dylan closer after Desolation Row. The tightrope act of balancing the folk and rock sides of his style is performed incredibly.

Dr. Dre - The Chronic

The Chrinic is not a Dre solo album, it's a sampler of all the talent he has collected for his new record label. In fact Snoop probably shares as many verses as Dre does on here. It's an incredibly confident move and all the original Death Row inmates are here. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Lady Of Rage, Warren G, RBX, Kurupt, Nate Dogg, it's an incredible cast. And it's all topped off with new and innovative production that utilizes fewer samples, but deploys then with precision. The gratuitous Parliament-Funkadelic sampling would become standard for hip hop going forward, with The Chronic G-Funk was officially established.

Michael Jackson - Off The Wall

This was Michael Jackson's fifth album, but it really was his debut as an adult musician. The cutesy baby faced member of the Jackson Five was now a certified pop star who could compete on his own merits. The disco hits Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough and Rock With Me as well as the ballad She's Out Of My Life lay the groundwork for Jackson's most fertile creative period. Other than that the album is quite good but does pale in comparison to his 80s output.

The Beatles - Rubber Soul

This was the first Beatles album where it felt like they actually wanted to be taken seriously as artists. Rubber Soul leans into a more folk rock sound that strongly distinguishes this album from its rock and roll predecessors. The expanded instrumentation, including their first use of sitar on Norwegian Wood, is a welcome inclusion. The fab four have fully embraced fuzzy guitars. Also of note is the very surreal attitude towards women on here. Like what the fuck is going on in Norwegian Wood and Run For Your Life? Rock music isn't kind to women, but this is just some psycho shit. I love it.

Stevie Wonder - Innervisions

Innervisions is the real start to a more introspective, witty, and socially conscious Stevie Wonder. There are no more sappy love songs and instead politically minded songs like Living For The City or spiritually hopeful songs like Higher Ground are the bread and butter of this record. What Innervisions does do is take the synth bass that was used on Talking Book and ramp it's usage up. The Moog bass gets more usage as the the clarinet and electric piano. Wonder's energy is extremely infectious, it's no surprise that Innervisions spawned four massive hits that all still see play on classic rock radio.

Amy Winehouse - Back To Black

It is very clear that Amy Winehouse could have gone all the way for period accurate recreation of early 60s Doo wop and girl groups had she wanted to. Thankfully she was better than that. The way she blends those classic styles with their modern equivalents beautifully illuminates the evolutionary path of soul and R&B music. Winehouse is backed up by the legendary Dap-Kings which adds to the authentic retro feel, but the lyricism absolutely trends more towards a modern style (I don't think Rehab would have flown in the early 60s). All in all Back To Black is a shockingly unique yet recognizable album that can only be the result of a unique musical vision.

Beyoncé - Lemonade

This album made a huge splash when it came out. It was dropped without any warning and overnight white girls were writing think pieces about the state of black America. The album's main topic is how her husband Jay-Z had been cheating on her, but she takes the simple theme os heartbreak and betrayal and evaluates it through the lens of how the legacy of American slavery has had ripple effects on black masculinity, femininity and relationships. I'll stop there lest this becomes another white girl think piece about Lemonade. Underneath the themes and stuff is one of Beyoncé's most dynamic albums. It is not at all contained to just R&B and delves into rock frequently and Daddy Lessons is straight up a country rock song. I'm not even close to the first person to sing the praises of this album but you're gonna have to hear it again because Lemonade is perfect.

Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue

In many ways Kind Of Blue resembles other post bop albums. But under the surface something incredibly innovative is happening. You see rather than a chord progression to set the key and then a bunch of solos there is... Wait do you guys know about musical modes? Oh. Uh. This is gonna be hard to explain then. Just trust me that the underlying structure of these songs provides the performers with much more tonal freedom than in other forms of jazz without losing the sense of harmonic center. If you are intrigued Google modal jazz at your own risk. Now the performers themselves are some of the best of the best. Miles himself on trumpet, Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane on alto and tenor sax respectively, Bill Evans on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Jimmy Cobb on drums. Each one of these performers is a legend, each one likely to be the biggest name in any other band. And they explore the freedom that the moral form allows them to craft some of the finest solos in the history of jazz. And it's kinda catchy too. I already have the refrain from So What stuck in my head. Somehow one of the most experimental albums also became one of the best selling jazz albums of all time.

[sofiagabrielle]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: ON CLOUDMONSTER PEARL/ARCTIC WOMEN'S.

[jensownzoo]

Okay. Fuck it. I give up for now.

Was determined to throw a coat of rubber roof tar over the spot where shingles have blown off this morning. Wanted to do it yesterday afternoon, but started having backspasms on the walk to vote and decided it probably wasn't a good idea.

Got the 5 gallon bucket of coating out of the basement. The contents have completely separated, which isn't surprising since it's just been sitting for years. Start trying to stir it up and I have to do it manually since I sold my more powerful drill with the mixing attachment after I stopped needing it to mix concrete for fence posts. Really regret that now since it took all morning to get everything completely resuspended and my wrists, elbows, and shoulders are killing me.

Go into garage with battery-powered lantern (because lightning fried the electrical system in there last summer and replacing the breakers and gcfi outlet didn't fix it, so no lights) to see if I can find some tar paper too. I had some at one point, can remember putting hands on it sometime in the past few years, cannot remember if I threw it away or kept it. Cannot find tar paper, do find old shingles and a large rodent nest. Then on my way out, notice there's significant daylight coming in at the roofline at the opposite end of the garage. SIGNIFICANT daylight. Fuck.

Grab ladder and go around to that side of the garage on the outside. Squirrels have ripped up shingles and rotten strand board above the gutter and into the roof. Like a 6 x 12" section. Rain will flow right into the hole and into the garage and all over the stuff beneath it. This is the first time I consider it a lucky thing to not have rained in over a month as this seems to be relatively recent damage. Unfortunately, it's supposed to storm tonight/tomorrow (which is why I was trying to repair the roof).

So. Redirect attention to fixing the squirrel damage. Repurpose some ducting I had leftover from venting the dryer. It's 2ft lengths of sheet metal that hook together to form a tube shape instead of the flexible coil stuff, so it will work. Shove one edge under the remaining shingles, flex the rest to fit into the interior groove of the gutter, and flatten somewhat to hold it firmly in place. Use aluminum flashing tape to secure sections together so the critters can't rip them right out.

I wore work gloves, but apparently there's something in the rotten strand board, either mold or mites, that causing me to itch like crazy on my unprotected forearms. So there's that.

It's now just a few hours before sunset and the clouds are already rolling in. I'm sweaty and grimy and very frustrated. This particular roof repair is something that really scares me and has kept me at a high level of anxiety all day. I have no issue climbing on my other roofs, but this one is two-story, with a steep pitch, and the shingles are already loose enough to be falling off. I've been trying to psych myself up enough to get it done for weeks because I can't afford to pay someone to do it for me. Now it's going to be too cold and too wet to use the coating, but there's also not enough time left for it to have a chance of setting in time today.

So I'm giving up. For now.

On the next clear day I will climb up on the roof with a tarp and a few cinderblocks and rope and try to block the rain from that spot until it's warm and dry enough to affix a patch. Maybe I'll see if I can do a trade for some tar paper in the meantime. Maybe a few newish shingles (the ones I found in the garage are pretty old and stiff) for a proper patch job. Until then, I'll just have to sit in the underlying room during the rain with buckets and plastic sheets so I can catch any leaks before water ruins anything.

Sigh.

[tyrerepairsblog]

Different Types of Truck Tires: A Quick Guide

When it comes to truck tires, selecting the right type is crucial for ensuring optimal performance, safety, and longevity. Whether you’re a fleet manager, a truck enthusiast, or someone who relies on trucks for daily transportation, understanding the various types of truck tires available can help you make informed decisions. This comprehensive guide will explore the different types of truck tires, their features, benefits, and ideal applications.

1. Understanding Truck Tires

Truck tires are specifically designed to withstand the unique demands of hauling heavy loads over various terrains. Unlike passenger vehicle tires, truck tires are constructed to offer enhanced durability, stability, and traction. They come in various designs and rubber compounds to cater to different driving conditions and applications.

2. Types of Truck Tires

2.1. All-Season Truck Tires

Features:

Versatile tread patterns designed for both wet and dry conditions.

Made with rubber compounds that remain flexible in various temperatures.

Benefits:

Suitable for year-round use, making them a cost-effective option for drivers in regions with mild weather.

Provide good traction on both highways and light off-road conditions.

Ideal Applications:

Ideal for light trucks and pickups used for commuting and light hauling.

2.2. All-Terrain Truck Tires

Features:

Aggressive tread designs that provide excellent traction on and off-road.

Reinforced sidewalls for added durability against punctures.

Benefits:

Offer a balance between on-road comfort and off-road capability.

Suitable for mixed-use, allowing drivers to venture into rough terrains without compromising performance.

Ideal Applications:

Perfect for trucks used for recreational off-roading, farming, or in rural areas.

2.3. Mud-Terrain Truck Tires

Features:

Deep, wide treads designed specifically for maximum traction in muddy and loose surfaces.

Large voids between treads to prevent mud from packing.

Benefits:

Exceptional grip on soft terrains, making them ideal for off-road adventures.

Improved self-cleaning capabilities to maintain traction.

Ideal Applications:

Best suited for trucks frequently used in off-road conditions, such as in construction sites, trails, or muddy fields.

2.4. Highway Truck Tires

Features:

Designed with a smoother tread pattern for reduced rolling resistance.

Built for high speed and fuel efficiency.

Benefits:

Provide a comfortable ride with lower road noise.

Enhanced fuel economy, making them economical for long-distance hauls.

Ideal Applications:

Perfect for long-haul trucks and delivery vehicles primarily used on highways and well-paved roads.

2.5. Winter Truck Tires

Features:

Specialized tread patterns with deeper grooves and softer rubber compounds for enhanced grip on snow and ice.

Equipped with additional sipes for improved traction.

Benefits:

Provide superior handling and braking in harsh winter conditions.

Designed to remain flexible in low temperatures for better traction.

Ideal Applications:

Essential for trucks operating in snowy or icy regions during the winter months.

2.6. Commercial Truck Tires

Features:

Designed for heavy-duty performance and durability.

Available in various tread patterns for specific applications (e.g., drive, steer, and trailer positions).

Benefits:

Capable of carrying heavy loads while maintaining stability.

Often equipped with advanced tread technology to extend lifespan.

Ideal Applications:

Suitable for fleet vehicles, delivery trucks, and heavy-duty applications.

3. Choosing the Right Truck Tire

When selecting truck tires, consider the following factors:

Load Capacity: Ensure the tires can handle the weight of your vehicle and any loads it will carry.

Driving Conditions: Determine where you will primarily drive (highway, off-road, winter conditions) and choose accordingly.

Tread Life: Look for tires that offer a balance between durability and performance based on your driving habits.

Budget: While it's essential to invest in quality tires, consider your budget and the overall value offered by the tires.

4. Maintenance Tips for Truck Tires

To maximize the lifespan and performance of your truck tires, follow these maintenance tips:

Regular Inspections: Check for signs of wear, damage, or punctures regularly.

Proper Inflation: Maintain the correct tire pressure to improve fuel efficiency and reduce wear.

Rotation and Alignment: Rotate your tires regularly and ensure proper wheel alignment to promote even wear.

Tread Depth Monitoring: Use a tread depth gauge to ensure your tires have adequate tread for safety.

Conclusion

Selecting the right type of truck tires is vital for optimal performance, safety, and cost-effectiveness. By understanding the different types of truck tires available and their unique features, benefits, and applications, you can make an informed choice that suits your driving needs. Regular maintenance will also help extend the life of your tires and ensure a safe driving experience. Whether you're navigating highways, tackling rough terrains, or preparing for winter conditions, there's a perfect truck tire for every application.

[customhydrauliccylinders]

Hydraulic Cylinders: What You Need To Know (And Why!)

Hydraulic cylinders form the heart of a wide range of industrial applications, from driving heavy construction machinery to agricultural implements; they take one key role in transforming energy into force and motion. From the tie-rod hydraulic cylinders and welded hydrualic cyinders, to telesoping hydraulics cyliders — knowing what goes into these types of equipment is imperative for maintaining their functionality. The following article outlines how hydraulic cylinders work, detailing the important functions of each section to provide a basic understanding of these strong machines.

Hydraulic cylinders anatomyXSLHydraulics, XSL Hydraulic Cylinders, Custom Hydraulic Cylinder, Custom Hydraulic Cylinders

There are various types of hydraulic cylinders which have different components, and they all do work for making it functional. Knowing these pieces will give you a deeper understanding of the engineering involved in custom hydraulic cylinders, and enable you to choose or maintain those units without ignoring essential components.

Cylinder Barrel

The cylinder barrel is the body of a hydraulic cylinder, thus it is complete product material. This component contains the hydraulic pressure that is created in the cylinder and some internal parts. The durability and the precision machining of a barrel are essential to avoid premature failure in custom hydraulic cylinders via poor operation under high pressure.

Cylinder Base

The barrel of the hydraulic cylinder is closed on one end by a cap called a Cylinder base or Cap; this bounds as well. The base can be mounted on the barrel by welding, threading bolts or tie rods according to design. The base also acts as a mounting place for the hydraulic cylinder, locking it in to its machinery or equipment home. The cylinder base of tie-rod hydraulic cylinders and many others needs to be attached correctly inorder for it to work properly.

Cylinder Head

On the opposite end of that barrel is a cylinder head sealing off the barrel and containing ports for piston rod extension/retraction. The cylinder head is equipped to hold in the pressure of a piston and has seals that don't allow hydraulic fluid escape as it moves through its travel. The design of a cylinder head is one example: in welded hydraulic cylinders which require that the seal hold pressure, quality can be especially critical.

Piston

This piston is a very important member which moves inside the cylinder barrel at hydraulic pressures, to give force or power ot push he rod of the engine. The piston has grooves for seals, and the seals are what keep pressure while preventing fluid from bypassing around the outside of the piston. Using telescopic hydraulic cylinders is reliable and efficient, but the piston must be accurate enough for it to hold up against great or even high forces when working through hundreds of cycles.

Piston Rod

The piston rod is made from hard chrome-plated cold-rolled steel and extends all the way up through to the cylinder head. This is what attaches to the machinery like a plow or dump body that you are going to operate. Movements and the environment are two key factors that make a piston rod useful in its application, therefore a good quality must be expected by any manufacturer. Many times the manufacture of custom hydraulic cylinders focuses on improving the strength, and wear properties in a rod; which will increase overall performance.

The Role of Hydraulic Seals

Any hydraulic cylinder relies on the functionality of a number of hyrasulic seals to retain fluid and maintain smooth force transfer between piston and rod. Hydraulic cylinders are useful only if the seals in them are excellent and compatible with certain types of materials which include rubber-like nitrile, polyurethane based or Teflon®/fluorocarbon.

Primary and Secondary Seals

They are the primary seals against fluid leakage with secondary or buffer seal make up. These seals of course should be selected carefully depending on the cylinder's operating pressure, speed and temperature range. However, you might find that a hydraulic cylinders manufacturer suggests fluorocarbon seals for high-temperature applications or polyurethane seals in filthy environments; alternatives best suited to withstand harsh conditions.

Bearing Elements and Wipers

Bearings elements help to support the alignment of the piston rod and also reduces friction & wear due to different movements during working operation. They keep the rod clean by removing dirt, dust and moisture so that these contaminants cannot get into the cylinder to create harm. Despite what anybody may inform you of the contrary, suitable maintenance to your bearing elements and wipers is essential for extending the lifetime of welded (as well as other) hydraulic cylinders.

Quality Components for Impressive Performance

For the best performance of your hydraulic cylinders, you should use high standard replacement parts and components. That doesn´t encompass just the selection of appropriate seals, rods and other essential elements according to your specific application requirements. At XSLHydraulics.com, we hot sale trade from china hydraulic cylinder manufacturing and carving a wide range of cylinders for use in diverse industries around the globe.

Conclusion

Knowing what you are dealing with in regards to hydraulic cylinders is important if you want them working as efficiently, and reliably, as possible. It does not matter if you deal with tie-rod hydraulic cylinders, welded hydraulic cylinders or telescopic units so tracked or mobile machinery; all of our parts can be inspected and in compliance which helps against breakdowns but also to extend the lifetime.

Hire For the Experts and Be at ease for The One Stop Shop in Hydraulics- XSLHydraulic.com today. We are dedicated to the best products and service for your hydraulic system, so it can run even better.

[nonagesimis]

"it didn't happen like that."

you had a cavalier. the red tufts of burning hair are fuzzy memories that thrum around your cranium like a fucking bezoar. it grows something deep inside you, something that tickles each neurone and aches at each striation of muscle that you can fathom. your flesh magic had never been truly perfect, but you knew each length of bone like it was something you'd dissected from your own flesh itself. you stare at the mirror, condensed and with its own flesh-burning bands that drip hot water through butter, and you will yourself to remember.

"it didn't happen like that." it rings like a church bell, a solemn hymn pronouncing yourself to the locked tomb, to the body that sits itself wrapped in too many shackles for you to unclip. it seethes under the broil of your skin, too hot, too heady, and you see those flashes of red, and gold, and the sparkling, toothy grin of a woman that seems too far away from you.

"it didn't happen like that." ortus, so strong and meaty, so worn into the tapestry that the skull anointing the features of his face is just that beat too disjointed for a pious member of the ninth house. your brain is ablaze in nerve endings and that thin rapier-sized twinge of pain splitting the grooves in your prefrontal cortex. you remember the casually-cruel, cool murmurs of TIME TO ABSOLUTELY FUCK YOU UP, SISTER, and the pleading that ensued. (it didn't come from you — you aren't sure where it came from, aside from the bleeding tears of ianthe tritendar.ius begging you to reverse it).

you remember all pain, the burning edges of your vision flaring into the back of your skull, and the crunch of knuckle bone between your fingers as you reached back with the cold, thin strip like a goddamn ice pick. you remember ortus, peeling you off the floor like a child who'd stayed up too late, or a bird with a clipped wing. you remember him lamenting, stroking the crest of your forehead like caring for a newborn babe alone in the aftermath of a house fire. you smell burning, and rubber, and a nauseating heretofore of soup and the sickly sweet of acid on your lips. you threw up again, and mercy rolls her eyes in your general direction and pities the worn-out shrivelled husk you've curled yourself into.

it didn't happen like that. how the fuck did it happen?

[fineartsjournal]

213341 Art Studio IIIA ⋆ Interim - Study break-ing my heart

Out of campus for the break and with my emails to Mike unanswered, I cut my losses, went on Rubber Monkey and ordered the UCA202 myself.

A few days later it arrived - the final piece to my procrastination-fueled sampling puzzle.

It was exciting! For the first time in two months, I was actually going to turn the damn thing on and USE it.

Everything was hooked in, the sampler was now fully connected to the computer, and I was ready to rock and roll.

…I had enough time to tap the buttons a couple times before I heard a loud pop, turned my head to the outlet, and saw smoke coming out of the plug.

The following is a recreation of the event:

After yelling a number of expletives, I hurriedly unplugged everything and sat with the very real possibility that I might had just burned through $500 in 10 seconds.

A text exchange with my dear friend and recent BFA graduate Zero roughly pinpointed the cause to be with the incorrect voltage of the adaptor I was using, and the SP-202 manual more-or-less confirmed this.

Wanting to make the most out of an increasingly-shitty night, I put some of the CDs to work in Audacity and did a little plunderphornicating for a couple hours.

It was my first composition in over 3 weeks - so here's to not having a creativity gap that wide ever again.

...it could've gone better: I spent an hour alone just trying to get the individual components to sync-up pitch-wise; and not to much success.

Audacity is a finnicky, obselete, idiosyncratic and utterly annoying piece of tech to use, but when it gets me down, I remember: Any recording artist even 25 years ago would KILL for software such as this, let alone it being free.

Samples used:

Trey - With or Without

Trey - Wall-paper

Kim Stockwood - Soap

Aside from the musicmaking session, a brief smell test put the plug, adaptor and extension multi-plug into the bin, but not before an outing the next morning to Music Planet for some diagnostics.

The young man at the desk there was a good help, further clarifying the issue to be with the plug (that was shipped from Japan with the sampler) having a different...voltage... transform.... thing than the New Zealand... forgive me, this is like learning a new language.

I would need to buy a new adaptor plug, specific to the details he wrote on the back of a business card. If I were lucky, the current (fried) plug would've absorbed the damage, but otherwise, the Rockshop would provide repairs.

It was then on to Jaycar, as I brought myself a new extension multi-plug and adapter plug, and watched $50 disappear in front of my very eyes.

The chap there was also quite handy, whipping up some wiring diagrams of the Boss Sampler to show that, if there had been any damage, it would only be in the region near where the plug goes in and I forgot the rest.

I could, if I had wanted to, plug the new adaptor into the sampler and try working things again - at my own risk. I was a bit fearful in reference to the following graph:

TWO WEEKS OF PUSSYFOOTING LATER (est. Week 7)

...and so I hauled my gear to Rockshop, to see what I could do about it. After wincing at the nearly-burning-the-house-down-backstory, they plugged in the sampler with the new gear.

They were jumpy about it, and I couldn't even tell if they were joking - a decent chance they were just as unsure as I was! But low and behold... IT WORKED!

I tapdanced my way back home.

I mean, I still had to actually learn to use the damn thing.

During the meantime, I was back in the lab, creating small 'beats' from the CDs at my disposal.

Samples used:

Kim Stockwood - Truth

Fruit - Tales and Truth

Samples used:

Joakim Unander - Vibracell

Joakim Unander - Terra Firma

Groove Collective - I Want You (She's so Heavy)

Samples used:

Trey - Arcade Warrior

Clay Aiken - Touch

Clay Aiken - Measure of a Man

I was having fun! I almost forgot what that word meant! I was also getting more familiar with the Audacity layout - each beat took only an hour to assemble.

[tyrelabtradeuk]

 Why Are Nexen Tyres Some Of The Top-Performance Tyres?

You might suppose top-class tyre manufacturers like Michelin, and Pirelli dominate the marketplace, however, Nexen isn't always tons farther! With their Roadian and Aria tyre collection, Nexen is speedily catching up. So, in this weblog, we can see how Cheap tyres perform.

 What are Nexen tyres?

 Nexen is an identified logo that produces tyres at a reasonable price. It was in 1942 in South Korea. To begin with, it commenced as a Heung-A Tyre employer but changed its name to Nexen in 2000.

 Nexen Tyres' maximum popular car tyre models consist of the Nexen Classe choicest and Nexen Roadian HP. To fulfil your driving demands, you may effortlessly purchase Nexen tyres based on their specifications and other functions.

 Are Nexen Tyres excessive-overall performance?

 Nexen Tyres are mid-level tyres taken into consideration higher high-quality than price range tyres, however now not almost the same old as premium tyres. As an alternative, they have popular overall performance tyres referred to as N’fera SU1 and N7000. In exercise, they can close longer with increased performance than finance tyres while not costing as a great deal as top-class tyres.

 Included With pleasant-In-class technologies:

 Nexen makes excessive-performance tyres of class exceptional with the use of the most modern technologies evolved at its studies and improvement facilities, and the same global-magnificence merchandise is there globally.

 The tyres had been using the pleasant-in-magnificence era to function optimally in numerous conditions. they're carefully made with rubber composition and consist of specifically designed grooves that offer a great grip on diverse driving occasions.

 Whilst considering new tyres, take into account braking, handling, and luxury. Nexen has an intensive range of performance tyres meant for these situations. these tyres provide tremendous braking, coping with, and a clean trip.

 Summer to all-season variants are to be had in incredibly high-performance and ultra-high-performance fashions. For folks who seek the finest using revel in viable, those performance tyres are a tremendous choice.

 All-Terrain Tyres With Long-lasting Tread Existence:

 Nexen gives a huge variety of tyres designed for overall performance on numerous terrains. those all-season tyres are to offer satisfactory-in-class handling and performance

 In dry and wet conditions. Nexen tyres are there for long-lasting tread lifestyles, which protects your stability for an extended duration in addition to trip comfort and minimal noise. there are numerous tread styles to pick out from, as well as all-terrain, motorway, and dust-terrain tyres.

 Nexen also offers specialised tyres for light trucks and mild commercial vehicles. those hard tyres are there for elevated durability, resulting in longer tread lifestyles and more financial savings.

 The advanced material composition gives incredible performance in every situation and minimum rolling resistance, resulting in advanced gas efficiency.

 Wide variety Of Miles Nexen Tyres ultimate:

 Industry specialists say they have a long lifespan even if unused however, the everyday lifespan varies depending on the model and the way frequently it's far used.

 Primarily based on the layout, Nexen tyre brands commonly close 50,000-60,000 miles.

 The Nexen N5000 Plus and N'fera RU5 are to vary sixty-five,000 miles, at the same time as the Aria AH7 ranges at 80,000 miles. when not used frequently, these tyres may additionally last as long as eight years if maintained dry and funky.

 It's far essential to smooth and look at Nexen tyres often and inflate them to the proper strain. in case you save your tyres for the long term, cautiously clean them and preserve them in a dry, bloodless region. this may assist keep away from fractures and different kinds of damage, such as dry rot, that can limit their lifespan.

 Earlier than making use of tyres, always take a look at the pressure to ensure they are not damaged or dried out. this can allow them to stay longer and carry out better. this can expand their life and assist you to maximize the benefits of your funding.

 Based For better control And Stability:

 Nexen tyres are in particular engineered to grip on all surfaces, along with highways and rugged terrain.

 Also, these tyres are the greatest choice for a vehicle. The big grooves lessen hydroplaning, which aids in correctly evacuating water. As a result, the tyres offer a higher grip on moist surfaces and enhance the automobile's braking capability.

 The tyre is also designed to be extra durable, offer a noise-free riding experience, and offer extra comfort and safety functions.

 Nexen tyres are in this kind of way that they may offer wonderful overall performance.

 The four wide and direct channel designs offered multiplied grip on the ground, which helped to beautify the automobile's balance. As a result, it presents the passengers with the most protection. Similarly, an arrow middle rib layout provides appropriate control even at excessive speeds by improving excessive pace using overall performance.

The bottom Line:

 Nexen gives 23 one-of-a-kind passenger automobile, truck, and SUV fashions as each affords a wonderful Garages in Birmingham degree of overall performance for different riding circumstances. Furthermore, the model and proper protection determine mileage. Nexen tyres assure a secure journey by way of enhancing the automobile's braking overall performance additionally, the bigger footprint allows the tyres to make better and more constant touch with the street, improving the automobile's balance and balance.

[ecoscreen]

DIY Fly Screen Installation Tips to Save Your Day

There are several advantages to window screens, such as shielding against dirt and other environmental factors and deterring flies and insects without compromising light and fresh air. A window screen can shield windows from potential damage caused by high winds during a storm.

If you have the necessary time and tools, or if you just want to know if you can install a window screen continue reading this blog. Go for the fly screens installation Service Auckland if you don’t feel confident about the DIY job. 

Choosing the Right Fly Screen

Determine the material of your window screen before installing it, then buy a replacement in the appropriate size. Fiberglass mesh is the most often used material for screens. Solar screens and aluminium screens are two more common choices.

To make sure you purchase the correct size screen, measure your frame and windows. A central support is required if the screen is 36 inches or taller to keep it from bending. Although there are differences in window sizes, the typical sizes range from 18 by 20 inches to 36 by 74 inches. Custom orders from fly screens specialist Auckland are needed for screens that are not in these sizes.

Keep Supplies Ready

Make sure you have all the necessary tools before you start. Acquire a measuring tape, a spline roller, a reliable utility knife, your preferred replacement screen material, and the right spline (typically vinyl or rubber). Additionally, it's usually a good idea to have a screwdriver handy in case your window frame calls for one.

Make the Material Ready

After positioning the frame on a level surface, lay out enough screen material to completely envelop the frame. Using a utility knife, cut the screen to the desired size, leaving an extra 2 inches of screening material on each side. This will guarantee that your replacement screen fits correctly.

Install the Fly Screen

To avoid calling for a fly screens installation Service Auckland follow the installation steps below. 

Using a clamp at the bottom and top of the frame, pull the replacement screen snugly over the frame.

Using the screen rolling tool, press the screen into the frame's grooves using the convex wheel's outward groove.

Using the spline roller, press the spline into the channel to secure it to the frame. Use wire brads to secure the mesh or staples if the frame is made of wood.

Don't overstretch the cloth; instead, keep it tight over the frame. The screen will droop if it's too loose, and the edges of the frame may get damaged if it's too tight. Rolling the screen in on two adjacent sides and then positioning a brick or other heavy item in the centre of the screen is one approach to make sure it fits taut.

After attaching the mesh along the last two edges, remove the brick. Take out the spline and try again if you see any creases or bulges in the mesh.

Get Rid of the Excess

After the spline is firmly in place, clip any excess screen material that is hanging over the frame's edges with your utility knife. This step helps guarantee that the window screen rests correctly and provides a cleaner, more polished appearance, although it is not necessary.

Maintenance 

In addition to extending its protective lifespan, window screen maintenance may help you save money. The following advice from a fly screens specialist Auckland will help you maintain the quality of your recently fitted screens:

Make sure you get the screens on your windows cleaned once or twice a year at the very least. To get rid of the collected dust and filth, you can use a vacuum. To gently brush them off, you can instead use soap and water.

Take off your screen in the winter. Snow might become trapped between the screen and the glass, severely harming it.

To avoid causing harm to the material, learn how to correctly remove and replace the window screen.

Though DIY is quite trending today and with the right skill and patience, many people are achieving the desired result with DIY, professional installation is always recommended to avoid any problem in the future. Choose a reputable fly screens specialist Auckland to help you with the product and installation both so that your investment becomes worthwhile.