#I don’t know how this translates into a non-musical atmosphere but oh my god I will find out

[can-a-tuna-fish]

Michael mell has the most air-time of any character in almost any bmc production I’ve watched, and honestly good for him. I think he deserves to jump around as much as he feels like.

[starless-night-fright]

For once, I’m actually going to liveblog my reactions for Episode 10. 

The bubbles just...ruin the mood. Those are like “I made eye contact with my soulmate and we’re so in love” bubbles, not “I’m running away because someone I trusted and held close to me actually is part of the organization that has made my life hell and I need to stop their evil plot” bubbles. Plus mixed in with Lucien’s betrayal and the music? I cannot take this seriously. 

....What’s with the collars? 

I also cannot get over the “Potato Chip Princess”. We’re 10 episodes in, and I’m pissed that they didn’t translate it as Miss Chips, seeing as they translated the names to fit the English Server. 

I can’t wait for a revamped Blu-Ray edition where Kiro’s smile actually melts into a serious face, not something...whatever that was that he did. 

WHOMST’VE?!

I like the foreshadowing with the coin. 

“It’s too bright!” Sir, are those sunglasses for show? 

Oh my God. 

NO! NOT THE ROBOTS!

Excuse the fuck outta me? 

Cut to the cheery middle theme music for commercial break! 

Okay, okay, so the scene with Kiro’s childhood? This was from a Rumors and Secrets that hasn’t been released in the English server. I think it was that Rumors and Secrets, at least, since it explained that Kiro gave MC a bear. But, the biggest thing, was that he was non-verbal and basically ended up replacing some kid that died, and since he didn’t speak, there was no way he’d tell. 

At least one robot survived

She looks so disgusted. 

The amount of times Kiro has fallen, this episode should be called “The Two Times Kiro Almost Fell to His Death and the One Time He Symbolically Did.”

This is SO MEAN. LIKE. HE KEEPS FALLING AND I’M LIKE “DID THEY FUCK IT UP? NO?!”

The candyyyyyyyyyyy

“Kiro, you’re a fatass, but so am I, so I’ll go eat a bunch of sweets with you.” ALL LIES. 

Ooooh, that deep voice. Hello there.  

The use of the bell sound is interesting.

The don’t explicitly state that there was the sound of the stairwell falling, it’s just implied. The first gunshot, and then the fucking chaos after it adds so much more drama. 

MC dragging the pipe on the ground with determination, not crying, and ready to save everyone is fucking sexy, okay? 

Okay, she was crying. BUT STILL. The way she beats the shit outta the panel, and letting out her frustration? Good. The music? SO FUCKING GOOD. 

She thinks of the boys as she falls. Even Lucien. Which - even though her hurt her - she still cares about him. 

I love Gavin showing up but it feels kinda...awkward with the animation? Just them falling down slowly. He’s all scratched up and dirty. A pretty good detail, imo. 

I don’t know how to feel about the lack of music. 

I still cannot get over the cheeryness of the fucking ending. 

In a lab, with some ominous music and then - 

EVIL PIANO INTESIFIES

So, My thoughts here. 

I really like most of the changes they did. There’s more emotional payoff for Kiro’s sacrifice here, in my opinion, they way they foreshadowed him pretty much dying. The thing that’s mean is that I really doubt that we’ll get Helios here. Which means that people only watching the anime will think Kiro fucking died. And that’s so mean to do in an Otome anime. 

I am kinda bummed with Artemis not being there, though. 

Also, I really, really don’t like that Episode 11 is Victor centric. I get that it’s for equality among the boys, but the biggest thing is that Victor’s chapter in this arc ends with him killing MC. I have no idea how they’re going to put Victor’s chapter here, in episode 11, still have Lucien kill of Hades, and have Gavin join the military before MC sacrifices herself.

This is also the second time where it would make most sense to have the next episode be Gavin, and it switches to another character. Fuck the balance of the bois, I want my logical storytelling dammit!

I also am hoping they won’t cram 3 chapters worth of content into 1 episode, and have 12 be the beach event. 4 dates crammed into the last episode would sooooo ruin the atmosphere of the what’s happening here. 

[immortalcockroach]

21 + 15 + 8!

asdfghjkl rose thank you for asking ♥️ this ended up coming out incredibly long, so i apologize in advance!

8) where do you take your inspiration from?

surprising! mostly from visual media, actually. graphics, art, moodboards, films, tv series, that kind of stuff. occasionally, music, and even more rarely, written media (fics, books, poems, similar). that’s for when i’m starting to get ideas. when i already have something written or ideas developed a bit more, then i have a moodboard on pinterest and a playlist on spotify, or i watch something that has the same mood/theme as the thing i’m writing.

15) if you write oc’s, how do you decide on their names?

i don’t usually write oc’s for fics, but i do them for my original stuff. the names depend on the characters’ background and location, but they all have a name that either sounds specific to their character or who they’re supposed to be, or the meaning is very connected. 

in other cases, most of the time, i just go ‘woah this sounds cool’ or sometimes i build a whole character because of their name and subsequently the whole story.

21  tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? what is it about them that you admire?

i love this question!! let me give my favourite fic writers a shoutout, even though i’m probably missing some too!! it’s really long but honestly these people worked hard and they really deserve it

@grumpybell‘s ideas are absolutely brilliant. i’m a huge fan. the stories themselves, the plots would be enough for me to have a whole paragraph about, but for me, the characters are where it’s at. well-developed, very true to the canon but also to the universe the fic is set in, but also very well-rounded and overall realistic. the fics just flow really nice, honestly, and i could read them for eternity. 

fic shoutout: oh darling, here’s hoping god i remember reading this red riding hood au and just... falling in love. i did. i fell in love with bellamy as the wolf and clarke’s desperation to save him, and the new take on the fairy tale, it was just absolute perfection. i keep coming to it every once in a while, honestly. it’s just magic.

@asroarke is one of those people who are just integrated into a fandom’s fanfiction. imagining t100 fanfiction with asroarke is like... imagining the sky without the stars. i think those fics were the first ones i read when i joined the fandom, and i remember one of the things i thought was how easy it was to read. everything flowed as if there was no effort needed, as if the words have always been there, just plucked and placed on a blank document. and the consistency, honestly, damn. these fics are better than probably more than half of published stuff i’ve read. 

fic shoutout: drag me down. look there’s a pattern here and it’s the mythical/legends/fairy tale aus. i present you with a retelling of little mermaid in the most beautiful, soul-wrenching way. i waited every single chapter for when i came out. i read it as soon as i saw it came out, even if i was in the middle of grabbing coffee with a friend. honestly everything by asroarke is absolutely fantastic. 

@blvke-bellamy okay look. when i saw may is just 15 i nearly fell off my chair. i’d kill to have that talent at 15. i would. look, i keep saying look, because i’m shook. but honestly, may’s characterization is brilliant. she took my faves from the 100 and managed to insert them into a different universe, and they feel so much like the original characters and not at all. the dynamics between them are so raw and so pure and so believable i cried at one particular scene in her fic. or it might be two scenes. and look, this is impressive on its own, and then knowing she’s just 15...god.

fic shoutout: step into the sun is a bellarke tangled au and honestly. i’m a slut for tangled. it’s so damn good. and this fic?? inspired by tangled?? absolutely brilliant. marvelous. 11/10. brought my fish to life. and honestly murphy is my favourite in the fic, literally one of my favourite portrayals of him in every fic i’ve ever read. i binged this. i lost sleep over this. no ragrets.

@pawprinterfanfic (i’m biased but. in top 3 fic writers ever. and i’ve been in a lot of popular fandoms.) paw manages to take a universe and make it hers. paw manages to create a universe out of nothing and make it feel more realistic than my own life. and honestly, i am reading her hunger games au right now and it’s amazing, but the best part is that i’m also reading the harry potter au which is even better and although both are masterpieces, i can see the improvement. the development of the characters, the amount of effort in planning and mapping things out, it’s marvellous. her fics just speak to me on a different level, it feels as if i’m experiencing them myself rather than reading them, and what i’m mostly in awe of is how immersed i am in those fics, especially the newer ones. i feel like it’s a rare skill to have.

fic shoutout: starry eyes and galaxy minds (we’ll be dancing on the clouds at night) which is a spider-man au, and honestly, i cried. it’s beautiful. it’s a masterpiece. but so is literally every single one of paw’s stories, so it was a really difficult choice. the harry potter one? j k rowling wishes she wrote it.

skai_heda (i don’t know their tumblr please someone help me find it). where do i begin. honestly. when i started reading the fic i put below, i was mesmerised by the writing style. it was partly in second pov which i’d usually refuse to read, but this writing style is something that belongs to gods. the characterization is amazing, it manages to fix some of the stuff in canon without actually changing it. everything just comes together naturally, and i always feel so satisfied when reading their fics. plus, the writing style again, especially in the fic below, is flawless. some people can create magic with their words, and i’m convinced i’ve just found one.

fic shoutout: everything that comes after deserves so much!! more!! attention!!! i remember reading the first two chapters and just being like...wooow. i was starstruck. i left a long ass comment. it’s so unique and so beautiful. it’s the only fic on this list written in the canon universe, and it’s one of my favourites i’ve ever read about the canon universe. it hurts. it makes you cry, and ache, and understand, and smack your head because you just want people to be happy. if i could pocket the way this fic made me feel, i would always keep it with me. (a little frustration, but a whole lotta love.)

give me a number and i’ll answer questions about writing fanfiction

just in case you’d like to see the same questions answered for non-fanfiction/non-fanfiction influence, see below!

15) if you write oc’s, how do you decide on their names?

specific example of mentioned above - a wip about teenagers who come from a rich side of town and a poor side. there’s posh names, like cedric, declan, byron and gregory, for people who are supposed to represent the posh, stuck-up class; hadley, tessa, abigail, kate for privileged people who are the ‘good guys’; and luca, oliver, han, freddie, who are from the poor side. it’s very classist so it was very important that the names represent the characters. usually, i go for the “vibe” of the name over the meaning, to be honest. 

21  tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? what is it about them that you admire?

i love this question!!

fiction: maggie stiefvater, because her raven cycle series genuinely feels like magic when i read it. the characters are brilliant. erin morgenstern, who wrote the night circus, because that novel also feels like magic. donna tart’s the secret history feels as if you’re reading a secret and the storytelling sort of reminds me of f. scott fitzgerald’s the great gatsby in a way i can’t really describe. she creates a beautiful, magnificent atmosphere and you know what the characters are doing is wrong, but you completely understand them and it makes me, as a reader, question my own moral standards. madeline miller’s the song of achilles is a beautifully written masterpiece that made me fall in love with mythology, legends and history all over again. the way she develops the characters and retells the story i’ve heard a million times is so poetic and beautiful it just resonates with me on a different level. and finally, leigh bardugo with her six of crows series that again, makes me question my morals, but shows the friendship and loyalty between people in a beautiful way. it also shows a romance that i think is one of best written i’ve read, up there for me romances from the novels/series i’ve already mentioned.

there’s a pattern - storytelling and character-building that feels almost otherworldly, very focused on emotions and character development. basically, stories that you feel like as if they were made into films without proper, detailed development, wouldn’t translate well enough to bring the world to the screen. and romances incredibly well-developed over time, that go beyond just being romances and actually show a beautiful connection.

special mention of these directors, as they have a huge influence on my writing: christopher nolan, john krasinski, quentin tarantino, m night shyamalan, steven knight, guillermo del toro, alfred hitchcock, for their storytelling and character building. also, some of these are for the suspense that seems to come naturally. i know most of these are very popular directors, but they’re popular for a reason. i could literally write an essay on each of these people, honestly. my writing is very inspired by motion pictures, i most often look up to how these directors approached some things that i have in my writing, especially themes. (this could literally be a whole essay on its own)

[gloriouscrowncreator]

QUARTET NIGHT LIVE 2018 FLY TO THE FUTURE DAY 1 REPORT + DAY 2 HIGHLIGHTS

NOTE: this was NOT written by me, I DID NOT attend QN Live 2018 (as much as I wanted to). Someone on Weibo attended and I’m translating their posts. This is Day 1′s report. I also embedded links of Twitter fanart for some parts whenever I could.

Warning: long post

Double warning: Original Poster (OP) of the posts is a Tattsun fan, so this is a heavily Tattsun-biased post.

Triple warning: be prepared to have your heart slayed by QN seiyuu

Feel free to reblog with comment/write in tags/slide into my DMs if there are any parts you think can be refined for accuracy!

Everything under the cut!

Setlist (this is from Day 2 I believe but I don’t think the setlist changed)

Legend:

(?) indicates that I’m not sure about the translation

(T/N:) are my personal thoughts.

I skipped over translating the parts where OP was basically waxing lyrical over the seiyuu, sorry.

The talk corner was split between Morishow-Maeno pair and Tattsun-Shoutan pair.

Morishow and Maeno talk

Maeno: “usually we can’t have a 4-person rehearsal, we’re always missing someone”

Morishow: “that guy with the colour red was the earliest to begin rehearsal” (T/N: according to fans, Tattsun began rehearsing in September)

Maeno said he was really surprised to hear how early Tattsun began rehearsing

Shoutan-Tattsun talk (same link as above)

Tattsun: “I often end up practicing with Shouta, and he looks more and more like a girl to me - his feminine power is too damn high xD”

Shoutan did a dance move of putting his hand on his waist (apparently in a feminine way?). Tattsun tried to learn it live, totally failed and was like “how did this guy do it orz”

Shoutan smiled shyly (?)

Shoutan: “Tatsu-nii always says ‘let’s stop practicing here’ but always says ‘let’s do it once more’ and ends up practicing for a long time”

Tattsun: “it was no fun practicing songs on my own, so Shouta came over and said ‘why don’t we do QN songs’. Shouta often comes up with ideas like this, and is always supporting the 3 of us like this”

Tattsun is very grateful to Shoutan for showing him how fun it is to sing with others (T/N: is this real-life Ranmaru?!), although he sings a lot on his own, he’s really happy to sing with Shoutan.

At first Tattsun wanted to let Shoutan lead the song and he would support him, but it turned out Shoutan had the same idea lol. The two of them do their best in supporting each other~

The two of them end off with bowing towards the audience and whispering “thank you very much”

OP noted that the atmosphere was like a newly-married couple roflmao

Talk ends, Haruhana performance

They sat and sang with gentle swaying, but their singing was no less powerful.

When they sang “Ah…夜風がロンリネス締め付けて” they stared at each other soulfully. At the refrain, they stared at each other as they sang “声へと･･･歌へと”, and then suddenly the music stopped, the penlights were turned off. The two of them stopped singing, looked at each other and the whole hall was silent for a few moments. Then the two of them took a deep breath together and sang “Ah…夜風がロンリネス締め付けて”.

Be Proud

Tattsun’s first solo. As usual he carried (?) the whole performance by himself.

He walked from the doors that open at the middle of the stage (T/N: sorry, I don’t know what that’s called) and slowly walked towards the middle of the stage to sing. They sprayed dry ice too.

When he sang the second part, Tattsun went up the stairs, knelt down and used all his strength to sing “最愛なんて言葉だけでは･･･ 尽きる日まで”. The LED screen was showing red mist and stars, all the penlights turned red, and the onstage dry ice was colored red by the stage lights too.

OP noted that the sound quality this time round was better, probably because it was indoors (6th Stage was outdoors).

The last line Tattsun dragged the last note for a really long time, before pumping his fist with his mic up. The whole hall erupted into applause.

Not Bad

Ranmaru’s 2nd solo. the stage had pyro effects and backup dancers. Tattsun was singing, dancing and manipulating the pyrotechnic effects - when he raised his left hand, the left side of the stage spewed fire, and the same for his right hand and the right side of the stage.

The dancers were originally standing in a line, before quickly splitting into two, and Tattsun walked like a boss from between them towards the centre of the stage. The dance at the centre was really hype, with the fire - “(the atmosphere) was super high” accordingly to OP.

Non-Fiction (same link as above)

OP thinks that the best choreographed performance of the live was actually Non-Fiction though. 

Tattsun was sitting on the sofa like a boss, while Maeno sat on the other side elegantly, with a noble air. Apparently the two of them sang with angry expressions throughout the song LMAO (T/N: something like this, 2nd pic), and on the second half of the song they went to the stage centre. 

They were surrounded by black-clad dancers who danced smoothly, while the two of them had rougher (?) movements. The changes in the dance followed the changes in the song, and the beat was good. OP thought it was a high-quality performance.

Synchronism (lmao, the only non-Ranmaru song the OP wrote about)

According to OP Shoutan was super adorable hahahah

When he sang Synchronism, Shoutan had a hoodie lined with purple fur, complete with animal ears. (Here’s another visual.) He winked as he sang, blew kisses towards the audience (T/N: did Reiji teach you this lol), put the hoodie up and used his hands to make the ears move, with his eyes wide open and looking pitiful… (T/N: this boy is out to kill orz)

OP says they want to raise a Shoutan LOL

Final Thoughts

Tattsun:

“I’m the voice of Kurosaki Ranmaru, Suzuki Tatsuhisa. That guy (Ran) at first didn’t care about band and idol, and I wanted to tell him to focus on being an idol and leave the band part to me (the audience laughed at this point). Since he chose to be an idol, I was thinking if it was possible to do more, to do better. Previously I felt that no matter how much I practiced it wasn’t good enough, I kept feeling that today was a really scary day. Before you guys (the audience) sat here, we were practicing on this stage, and I was thinking ‘how can I do this better for everyone’. Even until now, I still feel uneasy. I want to take this chance to express my feelings and thoughts to the audience and live-viewing audience.”

“When I like a work, I like every aspect of it! I like every character, every cast member, and every staff. Every one of them deserves respect, including the staff who have been supporting us all along, the fans who couldn’t make it today, everyone at live-viewing, and of course all of you seated here right now. I’m really happy to be able to stand here as Ranmaru. Thank you everyone!”

Maeno:

“I am in charge of Camus’ voice, Maeno Tomoaki. Usually at live stages like this, I try to speak as Camus, but today I would like to speak a few words as myself, please forgive me. I entered this franchise with no experience at all (T/N: I believe he’s referring to his lack of singing career compared to the other three), really none at all. But after meeting these 3, I think that I’ve been slowly changing. It’s really a great thing to have met them. Hopefully, there are more chances in the future for me to continue playing Camus, and I won’t stop chasing after Camus’ shadow. Whether it’s Starish, Heavens or Quartet Night, I hope everyone can continue to support them.”

Morishow:

Morishow mentioned at the end of the concert that having met and performed with Starish and Heavens at Utapri 6th Stage, he got the strong impression that Quartet Night too needs to keep changing and revolutionising, so he wanted to let everyone witness a different, new side to Quartet Night today.

He also said that it’s thanks to everyone’s support that Quartet Night was able to continue from 2013 to last year’s solo live, and to today, and that he’s grateful to everyone’s support.

At the centre of the stage, Morishow said there was no need to use mics, and the 4 of them raised their hands towards everyone and shouted “thank you”.

OP tagged this part with “leader of Quartet Night” lol (T/N: it’s true!)

Final moment: After thanking everyone, they went back to the centre of the stage, discussed a little and shouted together “Utapri, arigatou”.

2nd Day

I’m not going to bother writing this because there are people on Twitter who’ve already discussed this in English, so read them here.

Raine’s thread

(Will update this if more people write reports)

Highlights and stuff:

Oh god so many things happened where do I begin (note: the following are all link dumps bc I’m not gonna take credit for someone else’s translations and art so open them and read)

Shoutan broke his nail

Maeno imitated Ranmaru’s growls lmao

Q: What is one thing you like most about your character? Shoutan: His voice.

Maeno had long hair and had a snowflake pin in his hair. Another visual. A 3rd visual because what do you mean I’m spamming fanart

Tattsun said during live that Shoutan stayed over at his house and wore his shirt, kind of like the boyfriend shirt concept

Tattsun also said he specifically picked out the shirt for Shoutan

Shoutan later tweeted that Tattsun was lying orzzzzz, he didn’t stay over at Tattsun’s house

Tattsun later blogged “Shouta, itadaita” (Shouta, itadakimashita)?!

Tattsun yelling at Shoutan for adjusting his belt on stage (this boy orz)

Tattsun and Maeno have a “hi/bye” relationship IRL lol

Morishow did Reiji’s Force Live kick!

Maeno as usual was all decked out in gear

To no one’s surprise, Shoutan cried on day 2. Tattsun comforted him.

Directly from the horse’s mouth (aka seiyuu own content):

The 4 of them went out for drinks after Day 1 and took this photo. (T/N: this is such a Reiji-style photo LOL. Apparently fans think so too!)

Gold long coats outfits

Shoutan and Tattsun pics (where Shoutan said he didn’t stay over at Tattsun’s house)

Group pic

Maeno’s blog post

Tattsun’s blog post

Shoutan’s selfie with Tattsun (yes, he posted this separately from the other 2′s selfies...)

Shoutan’s selfies with Morishow and Maeno

My thoughts:

Don’t blame me for making Tattsun and Shoutan sound shippy, they did this to themselves xD

I’m not sure if the seiyuu got to pick the songs they wanted to perform this time round, like Starish did, but I wouldn’t be surprised. I heard that Shoutan likes performing Synchronism anyway lol

FKING TATTSUN AND SHOUTAN YOU JERKS STOP DOING THIS TO US ORZ

Morishow did the Reiji kick ;-----; thank you Morishow

I bet Maeno looked beautiful ;-----; please BD release soon I need

Thank you Maeno for basically being Camus’ biggest fan ;-----; honestly I love it whenever he’s all decked out in Camus gear bc that’s just so amazing of him

[trans-siberian-orchestra-life]

Night Castle

Hi all! I will be posting mini-reviews of my favorite parts from each TSO album! I will go over band personnel, the story, and the music! Please enjoy! 

Night Castle was released in 2009, and was TSO’s second non-Christmas album! It is also their longest, with 26 total songs, and, to me at least, their most emotional album to date.

The album features many familiar faces, with lead singers being Jay Pierce, Jeff Scott Soto, Tim Hockenberry, Rob Evan, and Jennifer Cella. The band personnel is also very familiar, with Paul O’Neill, Chris Caffery, Angus Clark, Al Pitrelli, and Alex Skolnick on guitar, Robert Kinkell, Jon Oliva, Luci Butler, Shih-Yi Chang, Jane Mangini, and Derek Wieland on keyboards, Chris Altenhoff and Johnny Lee Middleton on bass, Roddy Chong and Anna Phoebe on violin and strings, and John O.Reilly and Jeff Plate on drums. And, with Dave Wittman on, as all TSO albums say, “drum, guitar, and bass inserts for those little things the rest of us forgot.”

It also features Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's Greg Lake on bass for Nutrocker!

And, not to mention the numerous amazing backing vocalists and instrumentalists!

Its a big album with big personnel, a big story, and even bigger music. Lets get into that~

---------

Night Enchanted

-Best hard opening to a TSO album

-HEEERE belieeeve a nigHT ENCHANTED S̸̟͋̉̔͛̀͋̃̑̑̈́̏̅̈́È̵̡̜̼̞͔̖̩̦̟̞̣͈̑̄̽̒͝E̸̛͖̯͙̜͕̟̽̈́̃̉̿̏̈͛̌͆̔̂́ͅE̵͙̙̞̯͚̹̲̟̙͐̀͑̍͊̚͜Ẹ̷̡͇̹͍̓̈́̏͑̄̅̀̎̈́̓̚E̶̛̱̖̘͓̹͍̟̭̲̲̽͋͒̀̓E̵͓̰̠̤̻̪̣̎͊̎͒N̴̢̧̜̰̦̰͓̯̗̦͚̘̝̑̔̌͂͐̀͊

-Very different song, like,,VERY DRAMATIC. ExtrEMLEY DRAMATIC

-Based on Verdi’s Requiem and Dies irae

-Has the Child Of the Night aria sandwiched in the middle

-So the falcon character sings the aria

-I don’t know how that works either

-then it KICKS IN AGAIN FULL POWER

-The pounding opening guitar motif that repeats is amazing

Childhood Dreams

-A very classical-based song, like, its very operatic

-The “controversial” song on the album. Only because people either love it or hate it. I love it. Its fun.

-CHILDhood CHILDhood CHILDhood

-Jay is singing from his SOUL here

-Lyrics are very whimsy:

“But then it's known to catch our eye And dare us all to once more try And with a childhood faith believe And that magic to retrieve As childhood dreams ...”

-Overall solid song

-The slow piano that kinda hangs back the entire time is great

-I love the way he sings the line “But suddenly inside the dark, she sees the magic of the sparks...”

Sparks

-Old-school rock n roll song

-One of my favs off the album, its just so, idk..classic sounding?

-”Tell me when...Ḁ̷̯͖͉̽̎̔͋̀̽͗͐͂̊̌̇̕A̸̢̳̪͉͓̼̟͑Å̷̛̛̜̈́̆̀̆͂͋̊͐͗̔͑̇Ḩ̸͋̿̓̆͋͛͌͐͑͆̕̕Ḣ̷̨̙̺̦͚͓̠̀̿́͝H̴̗̮̎̽̀́̓̏̓̋̚H̶̼̘̩̱͖̻͎͒́Ḩ̶̢̧͓̲̼͇̼̱͓̱̞̖͕̀̽̾̒̚̕͠ͅ”

-It actually has “AHHH” in the CD booklet I kid you not

-Its a tad long ill admit but it rocks so hard you hardly notice

-The old school chugging guitar riff rocks

-”Leaving marks...SPARKS!”

-Just a classic song, nuff said

The Mountain

-eyyyy first Savatage cover- based n Prelude to Madness! From Hall of the Mountain King!

-The atmosphere is REAL

-The windy sound effect in the opening, the deep bells AH so good

-A familiar melody, and MAN they give it their best

-They speed up gradually over time, and it just gets to the point where its ridiculous how much is going on in the song

-These guys are so talented I swear

-The solo at 4:09 KICKS

Night Castle

-Jeff Scott Soto giving me life, once again

-Very different sounding song I believe, not many other TSO songs sound like it

“Am I risking my own life...my life..?

-OK also I SWEAR in the last 4th of this song, when the slow bit hits, the melody is EXTREMELY CLOSE to the opening to Mephistopheles, from Beethoven's Last Night. It may just be coincidence, but it sounds like an Easter egg to me. Or maybe I’m just crazy. AHA. 

-The falling synth piano bits at 1:55. Yes.

-Song gets creepy with the minor change at the end

-I LOVE the last few seconds its so peppy and pretty, like that piano is so gentle

The Safest Way Into Tomorrow

-And I’m crying already, thanks Paul.

-They used this song for the tribute to Paul O’Neill in the 2017 live show. And i get so sad every time I hear it now. Like a melancholy feel now.

“Morpheus is at your side, offering the wings to fly, and be there..”

-Thanks Morpheus

-This line hits me right in the feels every time:

“Be there, free from Earth to sail across this night, where stars are all eternal”

-The piano build at 3:15 mmmm

-BEEEE THEEEEEERE

-BEEEEEE THEEEEEEERE

-BEEEEEEE THEEEEEEEEEERE

-BEEEEEEEE THEEEEEEEEEEEERE NOOOOOWWW

-”And tell me what you...see!”

-I cry

-Also may I note how I LOVE that every character that TSO makes looks like an 80′s rocker. Like look at my dude Morpheus. And Tran-Do. Never stop TSO, never stop.

(Morpheus^)

Mozart and Memories

-Second Savatage cover!

-Very eerie

-Fits with the “dream” thing going on in the story at this point

-The guitars are the best part at 0:42, that melody is so eerie and cool

-The pianos and strings at 0:24 hit me hard, VERY well recorded there

-It gets real fast at the end

-TSO and classical covers are such a good combo

Another Way You Can Die

-TSO got PG.

-Like look: 

“And the tracers probe on 'Till a close friend is gone And you find yourself embracing ground”

-and:

“I see a figure in my rifle sight Who does not know that he's there And as I hesitate to take his life The ground explodes My blood it flows My heart is racing Times escaping As I feel it slowly scraping by”

-like holy hell

-Like I love the song don’t get me wrong

-But lord Paul went all out here

-He was NOT holding back

-PAULS GOT A MESSAGE TO GET ACROSS AND LORDY HES GONNA DO IT ANY WAY HE CAN

-That end piano drop mY HEART HURTS

Toccata - Carpimus Noctem

-TSO has mastered Christmas, TIME FOR HALLOWEEN MUAHAHA

-Literally its such a good cover. They keep the classic classical intro, with synth and guitars of course, but then they go full metal with it.

-I love the weird guitar lick at 1:49, it really stands out

-Yet another guitar solo featured song and mmm its good

-Also, the DRUMS ARE AMAZING IN THIS ONE

The Lion’s Roar

-Third Savatage cover kind of

-The second half is from Temptation Revelation from Gutter Ballet

-As a trumpeter, I love this song, as it is TSOs only trumpet-featured song.

-The first half is a very military-esque (Fits with the story, eh?) trumpet solo on The Minstrel Boy. This song is very accurate as it is usually played at military events or funerals.

-Which makes me even sadder because of the context of thE STORY

-Nice little interlude song

Dreams We Conceive

-EMOTIONS.

-The opening organ, it its me right in the HEART.

-You can just HEAR the sorrow in his voice in this song.

-The way he sings “Where the dreams die...as the blood dries...”

-Too relatable my soul can’t take it.

-His little voice quiver on the word “do” in the line ‘WHat else is the night to do..”

“As you stand all Alone at your station What if God doesn't Know where you are As you send out your Prayers for salvation But afraid that They don't go that far

So you wait all Alone in your darkness There's a train that drives on Through the night And if everyone's On it except us Would it return for That single life

In a city After midnight Neath the halo Of a street light”

-Its just so LONELY SOUNDING this man needs a hug

Mother and Son

-I used to skip this track before I understood it in context to the story.

-Then I felt emotions

-You can find the translation HERE.

-Imagine you past self looking at you and saying “How did I become you?” TO YOUR FACE

-savage

There Was A Life

-ENTER ROB EVAN

-This song man,,,the emotions are REAL

-The way he sings the word “life” in the opening line

“Can someone tell me Can someone say when The writer of this story Will just tell us how it all will end?”

-I relate too much to that

-Paul asking the real questions of life: “ Is there forgiveness for hesitation?”

-The HURT in his voice when he sings “DEAR GOD” at 3:14

-Robbbb why you gotta kill me like this

-The piano is superb at 4:22

-Captures the vibe perfectly

“Are you scared of your life? Are you scared of your death? Though that day will arrive Well it hasn't come yet...”

-Calling me out like that huh

-His “ALIIIIIIIIIVE” at 8:37 oh my LORD

-I’m feeling ALL the emotions

Moonlight and Madness

-OK. So I can’t think of which piano player it was, I’m thinking either Kinkel or Weiland, I could be wrong...BUT. Paul said in an interview once that the songs piano was recorded in one take. ONE TAKE THAT INTRO. He just FLEW INTO IT PERFECTLY.

-Its a wild song, based on the moonlight sonata. 

Time Floats On

-This song man..this song

-*Insert seagull meme here* “tiiiiime flllOAATS OOOOON!!!”

-It was one of the first TSO songs I ever heard

-The crazy contrasting piano bit in the middle AH its cool

-Such an eerie song really

-”Time floats on...as I write these letters that you'll never see...”   ;-;

-this song has so much heart

Epiphany

-OK HERE WE GO

-TSOs longest song

-TSOs most emotional song

-I’m crying again

-The SHEER HURT and SORROW in Rob’s voice when he sings “ I fear the night, I fear the dark, I need this light...that distant spark...”

-The fast bit at 3:52...I don’t think Rob breathed once during that recording.

-The spoken part was a bold choice, TSO has never done that before. I liked it a lot, its a great addition to the song. 

-The subtle harmonies in the “Somewhere”s...amazing.

-and MAN. The LYRICS.

“Did you ever walk up To the edge of a cliff Stare into the abyss As your mind wonders if You should take one more step Further into that night Well your mind says you won't But your heart says you might Would you fall through the dark Feel the wind in your hair Would you embrace the ground And end your life right there Or would god reach his hand And that moment you fly Or if he chanced to blink And then, that moment you die You die...”

-Like GEEZ that is heavy stuff

-This is the “contemplating death song”

“Be who you are What you were What they see From eternity's view Tell me which one is me?”

-Relatable. holy heck.

-He sounds like hes about to cry when he sings “Hold me close...”

-Like me too Rob. Me too.

-”This all is your....life..."

-You feel DRAINED by the end of it, like wow. The emotion, the power, my soUL. MY HEART.

Bach Lullaby

-A nice calming music box medley of the C major prelude.

-OK SO TSO SHOULD ACTUALLY MAKE LITTLE MUSIC BOXES THAT PLAY THIS HOLY HECK ID BUY 50

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

-The OTHER most EMOTIONAL SONG on the album

-First half: pain, sorrow, regret, melancholy, slow piano...

-The EMOTION in the line “ Never quite there but it's never quite gone, you are the star that is wished upon...forever....”

-Second half: RAGE. ANGER. FIRE. AAAHHHHH.

-The main guitar riff is so heckin powerful

-Lyrics literally have this background in it: “...she raged against all those citizens of apathy and willful ignorance who lived behind the sacrifices of others.”

-The high piano swapped out for low guitar and bass melodies, a heavy mood, and pounding drums

-”...You cling to that card, Father, Son & Holy Ghost”

-You FEEL THE RAGE

-It has the most metal lyrics:

“And Christ and Confucius Are all their words useless We quote them in fractions But not in our actions”

-Like WOW

Remnants of a Lullaby

-A simple, but pretty song

-Very calming, and a nice breather from the song before

-The feeling in “ What to keep, what to save...”

”Wished on coins Childhood wings Carousels Still turning Waiting there patiently Remnants of a lullaby...”

-IM A KID AGAIN

The Safest Way Into Tomorrow (Reprise)

-dangittt I’m crying AGAIN

-album comes full circle here in the most emotional way possible

-especially when you consider the context of the story at this point aahhHHH

-Soto owns my soul

Embers

-OK, just..I love this song. Simple as that.

-This is pure atmosphere.

-Listen to it. Bonfire. Embers soaring to the stars above. Fireflies all around. Friends sitting with you at the camp fire. Acoustic guitar playing. A perfect summers night.

-Just...perfection.

Child of the Night

-Eyyyyy the aria again. It grows on yah.

-Very relaxing.

-Just brings that calming night vibe to life.

-Makes yah feel like a kid again.

Believe

-AAAAND the TSO song everyone knows for one reason or another. 

-Also one of the more emotional ones on the album.

-A cover of the Savatage song off Streets

-I love this version, (No offense Jon), like idk why exactly...it just feels more..personal? Idk, maybe its just because of the sheer emotional journey we just went on lol.

-It builds spectacularly, and the emotion is all in in this one. 10/10 great cover.

Nutrocker

-YAYY JUST HAD AN EMOTIONAL AND HEARTBREAKING JOURNEY, TIME FOR HAPPY FUN CHRISTMAS EMMERSON LAKE AND PALMER NUTCRACKER SONG YAYY

-Heh I kid I kid

-It features Greg Lake on bass!

-This song ROCKS man it ROCKS

-TSO does SO WELL WITH THIS

-The fast piano, the amazingly melodic guitar melody, the rock bits with a jazz break sandwiched in between AH.

Carmina Burana

-This is also one of my favs off the album.

-I believe this is also the song that got some conservative folks mad at TSO for being “satanists” by playing this. It was the latin I think. 

-Doesn’t matter, this song is epic. Very bombastic.

-It builds so well, and the repeated guitar and bass riffs make it feel so pounding I love it.

Tracers

-Ok so this song and I have history.

-I originally didn’t like this song (woah, right?)

-It just didn’t click. Buuuuut, TSO did it live in 2018, and BOI that changed everything. I loved it after that. Its top 25 TSO songs for me now. 

-IDK what they did or how they did it, but after the live show, I loved it. Past me was wrong. This song ROCKS.

-The pounding opening is iconic

-The soaring guitars

-The weird interval medley at 0:49 is so cool

-The main melody KICKS at 1:00

-My fav bit is the surreal acoustic bit at 2:06

-Its SO GOOD

-The repeated 5 notes at like 1:34 are so driving

-The descending bit at 2:55!!!

-and the BUILD UP TO THE VOCAL PART AT 3:32 OH MAN POETIC CINEMA

-------

And there you have it!!! Night Castle! To me, its the most emotional album of the lot. And the most atmospheric. Its long, but its a wild ride the entire time. The story is sad but inspiring, the music is legendary, the art is beautiful, so all around, this, to me, may be their best album in terms of general scoring. What do you think?

Thanks for reading ya’ll! You rock!

[moody213]

WicDiv #35 Impressions (and craters)

(I started this commentary 2 days after the last issue was released, and seeing how the latest issue was released on Friday and I haven’t finished yet (something extremely typical of my lax/non-existent work ethic) I’ve decided it needed to be done before I would allow myself to read issue #36. Here goes!) 

SPOILERS UP TO #35

This issue was particularly hard for me to start reading. Ever since we reached the penultimate arc the idea that we had so little to go has become an anxiety-stirrer for me; I've been a fan since before Laura got her freckles, when all we had was Luci and Laura inviting us on a floor of broken glass to anticipate the next Mcklevie/Gillen chapter after Young Avengers. The idea that the past four years were almost done- well, the subtext should be obvious for anyone who's been reading. 13 hours after release, I read. And then I opened issue one and did a concurrent re-read. And then I reread yet again and promptly passed out.

Seeing that Mckelvie has reworked his first issue art- our first introduction- was marvelous to behold. Matt Wilson's recolor was also stunning (except for one instance of Amaterasu's lips!). I compared them on my second reread, and both the subtle and not-so-subtle reworking truly encapsulate the journey they've both been on: I found issue one an enthralling, gorgeous ride from the beginning; they're my favorite colorist and artist currently working in comics. Issue #35 has a level of ease and understanding of the art that was perhaps more rigid in the first one.

Minerva's rework was especially obvious here; she went from a cute little Shirley Temple gremlin to a child star a bit beyond her cutest years. Also, the difference in hair and clothing (I mean, that sleeve! I stan that sleeve! The ease! And I fixated on it every reread like a sleeve fetishist?)

I love that it kind of insinuates that the version we got on #1 was the ‘it is known’ version and this was the post-Persephone-being-alive truth, like in issue 20. I love the warmth and depth this rework adds.

Susanoo is a peach who cared too much and truly was too good for this world.

Minerva leaving the fire splattered in blood with her hands in fists- iconic and quintessentially WicDiv!

Ananke never cared about the gods. She was crying for her own approaching expiry date. Everything we learn about her adds more to this pathetic and yet unrelentingly cruel force of selfishness. I love how the last turn of Minerva is treating the old Ananke the way she treats the gods- and then assuming her place. Fitting.

JOSEPHINE BAKER AS 1923 PERSEPHONE #DEAD #GAGGING

Set- even as a talking head, ever the bore.

Face-flaying issue #11 powerup!

I love how the pixelated effect still shows up a bit less clearly. It reminds me of the 'tattooing of reality' aspect of the deal between Ananke and her sister. They're resources she can translate- here, for 'eternal' life four faces must be shorn from reality.

The colors and general atmosphere of being somewhere underground and laden with arcane implications is so apparent- I love the warmer tones, they remind me of those heady spiritual moments when you’re somewhere religiously/arcanely significant (those places are always smaller than you’d expect) and the gravity and headiness of the energy seems to make everything a bit more vibrant and hard to explain.

I love jewel tones. This is the quality discourse you’ve been looking for!

The art on the transformation scene, and the purple skull eyes: shivers. How they achieved the transformation effect so much more subtly and yet just as profoundly as the usual God transformations- Mckelvie/Wilson, you're just bragging now.

Present Minerva is a cold snake and if I was even remotely on her side of the equation I would be so proud of my evil maidenr/future manipulative crone!

I love how gradually she was transformed into this punk-y, calculating creature; with her hair down you can really see how the red is a callback to previously blood-splattered Anankes and Ananke (Maiden Edition With Minerva Mask) and yet it’s been peeking out at us from Imperial Phase.

Such an accomplished actress, a veritable Shirley Temple! (Dakota Fanning?)

I wish I could go back to meeting McKelvie/Gillen last year and make a clever quip about talking heads and evil Minervas. That’s my baseline for an excellent twist: I WISH I COULD HAVE SEEN IT COMING!

In the present, Laura makes me sad. The warmth between the gods has seemingly dissipated once and for all. Everyone's either looking out for themselves or isolating. Laura's idea that if they were truly friends Cass wouldn't be screaming at her- hogwash.

Oh, Jon. I love you. I also truly think you’re our always-captured/suffering proxy princess. I can’t wait for him to do something other than be forced to build Woden another contraption that removes consent from the conversation. (He does have a pattern!)

Again, Minerva, you (literal!) snake! That expression on her face when she’s setting Baal up is DELICIOUS and I’m pretty sure I’ve made that expression before, most recently when I convinced a friend to eat coffee grounds I pretended were healthy brownies. (I know! I’m an awful person. But at least I stopped her from taking another bite. By laughing. Still.)

I loved how in the Writer’s Notes Gillen says this was supposed to be more pages+no words, but I think it works perfectly for what he’s going for even with the words. I can almost hear suspense music reading Laura/Persephone’s thoughts, and the insight into her feelings feels earned after so much with nothing further elucidating her thoughts. I mean, we all thought she was pretty horrible to Baal, no? A bit indifferent.

I’ve really missed her, you guys. She’s our Laura, our herald, our first guide. We lost her, we found her, she lost herself, she found (?) herself (or at least her thoughts).

I’m really curious about Jenny (Laura’s sister). I really wonder if we’ll have enough issues for anything to wrap up about that aspect of the story, or if it was a superficial lure, like Baph’s Christmas Dinner with Laura’s Family was basically a simulation of reality, and meant nothing, really.

 Minerva getting pushed is really strong, in that there’s no way he’d ever do that unless he was under a crazy amount of pressure. Also, if I was woken up with news my greatest secret, a secret I’ve invested so much in keeping, was about to be discovered by a person I LOVE and CHERISH, well... I wouldn’t be that conscientious either. Reaction got, Minerva, you manipulative teenage goddess, you! (Is it obvious that if I were a 13-year old again I would choose to be Minerva? I would choose her so hard, she’s Hermione Granger but, like, with none of the redeeming qualities except maybe caring for her parents before her older aspect (?!?) literally decimated them.)

Flashback page is spectacularly done. I love the reds of the room, and the repetition of four skulls (except these are baby skulls we are set to believe and not primates! NOT THAT IT WOULD MAKE IT BETTER BUT MAYBE THEY’RE NOT INNOCENT CHILDREN... no. No. This argument doesn’t make it any better, I’m just pathologically delusional when it comes to people I like.) 

‘I’m not afraid of who I am. But everyone else should be.’ It’s one of those Baal-isms you’d be disinclined to take a note of, one of those prepared one-liners like the line about how when you know someone’s bad in their guts, you don’t have to lie about your own shit. We just thought it was posturing, and here we have evidence of child sacrifice. As can happen, sometimes, never. 

And now I’m finally off to read the latest issue!

[flyingfoxofthedanube]

English translation of an interview with Egyházi Géza done by Kulisszak.hu. (2017. November 19) He talks about the upcoming show, We Will Rock You, his acting career, family and some other stuff.

Translated primarily for @edythe-von-krolock, @dostresseisdostres and @wildlingcorner, but I hope others enjoy it as well (: [not a perfect translation, but not bad :D]

The powerful and silky voice, the confident and polite, masculine aura and Géza has always been inseparable for me. Just as with his Krolock from Tanz der Vampire. Our talk in a café in Óbuda went deeper than that, I could get a more detailed picture about the actor who once was a singing waiter.

Q: You have mentioned that you are going to a rehearsal after our talk. Which show are you preparing for at the moment?

A: We have the premier of the musical We Will Rock You – which is based on Queen songs – at BOK Csarnok. After Sakk and Vámpírok Bálja this is the 3rd big hit of PS Produkció. The play has been successful for 16 years in the West and finally we get to have it as well. I’m happy that I got a part in it, but my heart aches because we couldn’t cooperate with Pesti Magyar Színház (where Vámpírok Bálja is played). Although the number of the audience will be limited to 2800, you still can’t give the same in a sport stadium as in a theatre. It has a different atmosphere, and we have to build the stage and other technical stuff. Fortunately these are in good hands and the designer – Kentaur – got free rein in it.

Q: That’s rare with an international production. Usually they expect replica shows.

A: Kentaur and Simon Edit have proved enough so that others trust them. We are the first who got this permission that we can translate not just the prose, but the lyrics as well. Of course there is a risk in it because these songs live in our memories in English. But it is a fact that we weren’t socialised as in for example the people in the Benelux countries. For them it is natural that they speak several languages, English among them. The Hungarian premier will be a non-replica show completely: we could change the design, costumes, choreography, dramaturgy and lyrics as well.

Q: What is this musical about?

A: The story takes place in the 2300s on the planet called iPlanet. It was written in the 80s, and most of what the writer had predicted became reality. We live in a globalised world where everyone consumes the same mass-produced articles that are put in front of them. If people don’t take the time to discover for example their own taste in music, then they get the same music the media emits. The vision of We Will Rock You is the same: real, valuable music has disappeared from the planet. Songs are not written because of love and emotions, they are only producing the same kind of music that is then sold to the population of iPlanet. There on this planet lives Killer Queen, who controls the whole universe. I am her executor, commander Kashoggi whose task is to imprison those who are against the system. A gigantic company, Globalsoft controls everything. Everyone works for them, the schools are under their control as well. Everyone is the same, as if even people were produced in factories. A girl and a boy are born into this world, with big hearts and real individuality. They are different from the others: they like other things, they have their own interests, which is of course prohibited. These two youngsters are living their own lives that are propelled forward by the ideas and dreams of the boy. They happen upon a society that lives according to the old values, of course in illegality in a place called Hard Rock Café. They fight against oppression from there.

Q: Is this where the success of this musical lies? In fighting against the system?

A: I think the music is what the main reason is. The story is woven around Queen songs that we have known and have been listening to for decades. Recently, musicals have started to use older music more and more often: Illés, Omega, Edda or Neoton songs have been used to create musicals. Mamma Mia started this series. That’s story was given, it was based on the 1968 movie called Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell. In the other cases the stories are written now, and the songs have to be organised in a way that they have an impact. This isn’t easy, and sometimes the makers can’t achieve this. But the songs themselves always show real, classical value, and it isn’t by luck that they stay with us for decades.

Q: Among the songs of recent times, do you think there will be some that we’ll be listening to in the future as well?

A: Nowadays bands often lack perseverance. There aren’t many groups like for example Quimby, who have been playing together since the 90s, putting an enormous amount of energy and money into their careers. Today they would fill an Arena, but for this they needed lot of endurance. Even their start was hard.

Q: In an earlier interview you have mentioned that when starting your singing career you felt at a disadvantage because at 36, you started it with the role of Graf von Krolock in Tanz der Vampire. You didn’t complete the steps that could have given you experience. Do you still feel like this?

A: If someone falls into any profession with minimal previous experience it is natural that he lacks some skills. I had to work on these. It was a blessing that I had some affinity for it and that the stage didn’t throw me off. But it isn’t incidental that to this day they don’t call me for prosaic roles. For that matter, I am constantly training myself, I got my actor’s papers, but this isn’t what matters. It is more important that I’ve been thrown into deep water immediately and I could learn and better myself by watching experienced actors’ play and style. And I can’t imagine a better tutor than the school of life. While in the catering trade I already saw that those who were in vocational school were at a huge advantage because they were put out into the world immediately. They became professionals by the end of their third year, while we, who went to secondary technical schools only got the spend one day a week at work, and even then only in the kitchen. We had way less practice and we had to get it later.

Q: Did the theatrical world accept you easily? Didn’t they consider you as an outsider?

A: They weren’t unfriendly, but it was strange that they never mentioned where I have come from. I didn’t know what they thought of me. Now in productions I’m surrounded by young people around the age of my kids and I am often surprised of how much respect they show me. Nowadays I feel that colleagues have a positive attitude towards me. I don’t care about the criticism because the big roles that I got to play in the last 10 years can’t be only luck. If someone told me that starting tomorrow it’s all over I would be sorry, but I would feel that this was already something beautiful. A huge, whole and successful story and a real treat.

Q: Can we say that you are satisfied and have achieved what you wanted?

A: When I started learning singing my ambition was to become an opera singer. Somewhere along the middle of this I got stuck, I couldn’t put enough time and energy into it. I arrived into this with a complete family and I didn’t want to lose them, sacrifice them for my career, because they are just as important for me as theatre is. I wanted to keep my marriage, and for that, everyone always has to fight. If I made a bigger sacrifice, I would have probably gotten farther, but my family would be damaged. It wasn’t worth it.

Q: Your daughters are slowly growing up, they are 21 and 18 years old. Were there important family events that you missed because of theatre?

A: Unfortunately yes. With my elder daughter for example I missed her primary school graduation, I only got there in the evening. I couldn’t go to her prom either, because I had to jump in for someone else in a show. That really hit her hard "You know what, Dad? You don’t have to come to my wedding either."- she said. For me there are no weekends or holidays, just as in the catering trade. It is especially difficult when your family lives in the Monday-to-Friday world, and you are the only one sticking out. But we have learned to be flexible and celebrate when we have the time.

Q: How did your family react to your change of career?

A: At first it was hard, especially for my daughters. They loved visiting me at my workplace because they always got some ice cream or something else. It always turned out good for them and they really enjoyed it. But then came the change, and they didn’t really know what to do with it. They didn’t understand why it was good for me. While I was only going to singing lessons that was mostly alright, but when I started practising at home with my vampire teeth they were thinking "oh my god, Dad may have gone crazy for real". Seeing me on stage was even more surprising for them.

Q: Were they proud of you?

A: They felt some pride for a couple of years but after that they realised that it is the same job as others. And puberty took them in a different direction, kids like to get away from their parents when they are at that age. Recently they started to show some interest again, something they come to see me play, but the magic has dulled over the years.

Q: And your wife?

A: She is only willing to watch prose.

Q: She doesn’t like musical theatre?

A: No, imagine that! *laughing* She only admitted this to me after a long time, but it irritates her. Operettas could send her straight into a wall. I managed to get a ticket for the show Bajnok (Champion),  I had to work really hard for those tickets. We went to watch it and there was zero prose in it. It was in recitativo(?) and there were some Puccini melodies in it. It's a fantastic show, watch it if you can!

Q: You are not a member of any theatre companies – how much does it make your life harder?

A: Being a free-lance actor is always stressful, uncertain, and it is hard to plan anything because I can’t really predict what’s going to happen. But what is certain nowadays? If I were to work at a multinational company it wouldn’t be sure that I would have my job next year. The thing is that our generation was born in a calculable system, there was a kind of security that vanished with the regime change, and it is hard for me to live with this uncertainty. What is more, I have a family for whom I am responsible. That’s why self-managing and good relationships are important. It’s not enough to be good in a profession, the human factor is important as well in whom they choose for a role. I have several colleagues who fell out of roles because they don’t adapt well. They complain a lot, so others don’t really want to work with them.

Q: That’s natural, a show is always teamwork.

A: Yes, and being humble is rewarding in the long run. Of course we have to stand up for ourselves, but patience, humility and flexibility are very useful because we have to tolerate a lot. By the way, my waiter past helps a lot. We always had to smile whatever happened because the customer is always right.

Q: Different religions consider humility important. What role does faith have in your life?

A: At the moment I don’t visit any religious groups, but my faith is strong. I think more and more often about it and I thank the things I have. But this is only a communication of my own way, and I often feel that more is needed. Humans are comfortable by nature and after some they may neglect this kind of spiritual connection. That’s why we need a community: they help and strengthen us in it. Christianity stands closest to me because I grew into that culture. I started looking into other religions only in my 20s and 30s. They all have a common seed, base dogmas, and the different details are added to those.

Q: You are great in doing different kinds of genres of music. Which one is closest to you?

A: In the past sometimes I answered operettas, sometimes I said musicals. It isn’t the most important thing for me anymore, but the production. That I participate in something that is successful, that moves the audience because it is put together well: so the characters are good, the creators are good and there is enough money to do it. Essentially singing is the same: you must have hold(?), you need enough breath under it, etc. etc. And then you have to put the stylistic stuff on it that makes one into a musical, another into jazz, operetta or opera. But all styles can’t work well with everyone, so one has to know how to choose. I started with classical singing, and from that operettas and musicals are not that far from.

Q: If you sit in to watch a show, do you look at it differently than we do?

A: No, then I really turn off everything. Maybe the only thing that can distract me is if I know the actor. I know what he/she is like and I know of their professional skills. I can see whether they had to work a lot to form that character or if they fit the role perfectly. Once you know the person his magic dissipates. Those people who see me only on stage, only as Krolock look at me differently. That's why I advise people not to look "behind the scenes". That takes away the magic.

[thedoctorvie]

Another questionnaire

1: when you have cereal, do you have more milk than cereal or more cereal than milk?

Pffft, more milk of course. What kind of uncivilized barbarian uses more cereal than milk?

2: do you like the feeling of cold air on your cheeks on a wintery day?

Depends on the coldness of air. Sometimes, if the winter mood is right.

3: what random objects do you use to bookmark your books?

Toilet paper; other, smaller books.

4: how do you take your coffee/tea?

Coffee: Milk and a bit sugar. Tea: Nothing besides tea.

5: are you self-conscious of your smile?

Don't know. Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

6: do you keep plants?

Yes, artificial ones. Those never fail me.

7: do you name your plants?

Nope. I'm not THAT crazy... yet...

8: what artistic medium do you use to express your feelings?

I don't have enough mastery over any artistic medium to adequately express anything inside me.

9: do you like singing/humming to yourself?

Yep.

10: do you sleep on your back, side, or stomach?

Left/right side alternating, most of the time.

11: what’s an inner joke you have with your friends?

Wait, what? Which friends?

12: what’s your favorite planet?

Venus. 460 degrees celsius, sulfuric acid rain, active volcanism, a hundred times higher atmospheric pressure than earth... exactly my kind of planet.

13: what’s something that made you smile today?

The astonishing and heartwarming reactions to an important facebook post of mine.

14: if you were to live with your best friend in an old flat in a big city, what would it look like?

Since my girlfriend is my best friend and we live in a (somewhat) old flat in a big city... not very different than now ;)

15: go google a weird space fact and tell us what it is!

One from google: Neptune radiates more heat than it gets from the sun. One from me: Alcohol has been found in some galactic nebulae.

16: what’s your favorite pasta dish?

Penne carbonara.

17: what color do you really want to dye your hair?

Something appropriately futuristic. Don't know what the cyberfashion of our future looks like.

18: tell us about something dumb/funny you did that has since gone down in history between you and your friends and is always brought up.

Again, which friends? But i once didn't remember the appropriate name of a wire whisk and called it something very funny (which, unfortunately, can't be translated to english)

19: do you keep a journal? what do you write/draw/ in it?

Nope.

20: what’s your favorite eye color? Green.

21: talk about your favorite bag, the one that’s been to hell and back with you and that you love to pieces.

My bags from the medical university of vienna.

22: are you a morning person?

Ahahahahahahaha, no.

23: what’s your favorite thing to do on lazy days where you have 0 obligations?

Coding, reading, playing computer games.

24: is there someone out there you would trust with every single one of your secrets?

No, and i guess there never will be.

25: what’s the weirdest place you’ve ever broken into?

Broken into? I'm not that type of criminal ;)

26: what are the shoes you’ve had for forever and wear with every single outfit?

Currently cheap brown synthetic leather boots from a discount store.

27: what’s your favorite bubblegum flavor?

Apple.

28: sunrise or sunset?

Sunset.

29: what’s something really cute that one of your friends does and is totally endearing?

My girlfriend, when her brain just quits and does something very irrational.

30: think of it: have you ever been truly scared?

Oh yes.

31: what is your opinion of socks? do you like wearing weird socks? do you sleep with socks? do you confine yourself to white sock hell? really, just talk about socks.

I like socks, but not white ones. I like my socks systematically ordered. Socks are life to me, since they guard my feet from unwelcome encounters with... *shudder*... nature.

32: tell us a story of something that happened to you after 3AM when you were with friends.

Why all those "friends"-questions? Seriously, i can't think of any interesting story with above parameters.

33: what’s your fave pastry?

I am no big fan of pastry. Maybe buns?

34: tell us about the stuffed animal you kept as a kid. what is it called? what does it look like? do you still keep it?

It is a very old teddy bear. His name is teddy bear. It looks a bit like Mr. Beans' teddy.

35: do you like stationary and pretty pens and so on? do you use them often?

Whats a stationary pen? I mostly write with boring black stabilos.

36: which band’s sound would fit your mood right now?

Good question. Kai Tracid?

37: do you like keeping your room messy or clean?

Both.

38: tell us about your pet peeves!

I could write a book about it. But one of the most important is when people hurt other people.

39: what color do you wear the most?

Pitch black like my heart.

40: think of a piece of jewelry you own: what’s it’s story? does it have any meaning to you?

I don't own much jewelry except of my engagement ring. You can imagine its story and meaning.

41: what’s the last book you remember really, really loving?

The one i am currently reading, roughly translated: "Manual of chip cards"

42: do you have a favorite coffee shop? describe it!

No, i don't.

43: who was the last person you gazed at the stars with?

My girlfriend, while smoking in the courtyard of our residential building.

44: when was the last time you remember feeling completely serene and at peace with everything?

That was... well... the last time... lets say... ehm... wait...

45: do you trust your instincts a lot?

Depends on the situation.

46: tell us the worst pun you can think of.

Unfortunately, i can't translate it into english, but i will give it in german: "Haben Sie Milch?" - "Ja, fettarme." - "Das sehe ich, aber haben Sie auch Milch?"

47: what food do you think should be banned from the universe?

Insects.

48: what was your biggest fear as a kid? is it the same today?

It was being abducted by aliens (seriously!). I don't know what my biggest fear today is.

49: do you like buying CDs and records? what was the last one you bought?

I didn't buy any CDs or records in the last few years. The last one i bought a long time ago was some album from The Vision Bleak.

50: what’s an odd thing you collect?

Books.

51: think of a person. what song do you associate with them?

I usually don't have strong connections between persons and music, but one of the strongest is between a friend of mine and Ashbury Heights - Spiders.

52: what are your favorite memes of the year so far?

I... don't know. I don't remember any in particular.

53: have you ever watched the rocky horror picture show? heathers? beetlejuice? pulp fiction? what do you think of them?

Rocky horror picture show: Yes, i liked it and its crazyness. Pulp fiction: Yes, its ok, but very overrated.

54: who’s the last person you saw with a true look of sadness on their face?

My girlfriend.

55: what’s the most dramatic thing you’ve ever done to prove a point?

Er... don't know, argue it?

56: what are some things you find endearing in people?

Intelligence, kindness, individualism, openness, tolerance, very broad interests, insatiable curiosity

57: go listen to bohemian rhapsody. how did it make you feel? did you dramatically reenact the lyrics?

It made me feel bored (sorry!). I didn't dramatically reenact anything.

58: who’s the wine mom and who’s the vodka aunt in your group of friends? why?

The what and who? What the heck are you talking (writing?) about?

59: what’s your favorite myth?

The one of diarrhea god of some tropical island (i am NOT kidding, it really is a myth! It is from some book about world mythology)

60: do you like poetry? what are some of your faves?

I never read any good poetry.

61: what’s the stupidest gift you’ve ever given? the stupidest one you’ve ever received?

The stupidest i ever received where non-fitting (but expensive) clothes. The stupidest i've ever given? No idea.

62: do you drink juice in the morning? which kind?

Nope, through my veins runs coca cola.

63: are you fussy about your books and music? do you keep them meticulously organized or kinda leave them be?

Well, it's kind of a mess, but i try to organize them.

64: what color is the sky where you are right now?

Black (because it is night)

65: is there anyone you haven’t seen in a long time who you’d love to hang out with?

Yeah, but i don't know if i get along with her as good as back then.

66: what would your ideal flower crown look like?

Wild and untamed.

67: how do gloomy days where the sky is dark and the world is misty make you feel?

Like i am in the right place where i can feel good (strange, i know).

68: what’s winter like where you live?

Chaotic. Sometimes warm, sometimes cold, often in-between.

69: what are your favorite board games?

Monopoly, chess.

70: have you ever used a ouija board?

No.

71: what’s your favorite kind of tea?

Black tea.

72: are you a person who needs to note everything down or else you’ll forget it?

No, i just forget it.

73: what are some of your worst habits?

Good question... smoking?

74: describe a good friend of yours without using their name or gendered pronouns.

A red-headed, smart, wild cat.

75: tell us about your pets!

You think cats are strange and crazy? You don't know mine.

76: is there anything you should be doing right now but aren’t?

God, yes... too much.

77: pink or yellow lemonade?

Yellow.

78: are you in the minion hateclub or fanclub?

FANclub! I LOVE em!!!

79: what’s one of the cutest things someone has ever done for you?

Being there for me.

80: what color are your bedroom walls? did you choose that color? if so, why?

Greyish, my girlfriend made me a portal bedroom for my birthday. Wait, can i revise question 79?

81: describe one of your friend’s eyes using the most abstract imagery you can think of.

Re-emission of electromagnetic field waves, outside the thermal spectrum of usual chemical reactions.

82: are/were you good in school?

No, i didn't want to be.

83: what’s some of your favorite album art?

I liked the one on Monolith - Subsystem, don't know why.

84: are you planning on getting tattoos? which ones?

Yes, an aesculapian staff.

85: do you read comics? what are your faves?

Yes, i especially like star wars comics.

86: do you like concept albums? which ones?

What the fuck is a concept album?

87: what are some movies you think everyone should watch at least once in their lives?

Good question. All Star Wars-movies. 2001 - a space odyssey.

88: are there any artistic movements you particularly enjoy?

3D-generated arts (see for example https://blendpolis.de/forum/kunst/galerie)

89: are you close to your parents?

Yes, kinda. But i am more adult then they are.

90: talk about your one of you favorite cities.

Well i like Berlin very much. People there seem to be much more open and uncomplicated than in vienna.

91: where do you plan on traveling this year?

I don't know, i don't plan anything at the moment.

92: are you a person who drowns their pasta in cheese or a person who barely sprinkles a pinch?

Drown it in ALL the cheese!!

93: what’s the hairstyle you wear the most?

Long, open and flowing.

94: who was the last person you know to have a birthday?

A fellow student of mine.

95: what are your plans for this weekend?

Preparing the silvester party at our home.

96: do you install your computer updates really quickly or do you procrastinate on them a lot?

I have activated automatic updates.

97: myer briggs type, zodiac sign, and hogwarts house?

ISTJ or INTJ, gemini, slytherin.

98: when’s the last time you went hiking? did you enjoy it?

A loooooong time ago, and yes, i enjoyed it.

99: list some songs that resonate to your soul whenever you hear them.

Schalldruck - Turntable Junky (The Crow Remix) ASP - Krabat Weird Al Yankovic - White & Nerdy Zeromancer - Doctor Online Robert Palmer - Bad Case Of Loving You Eluviete - Omnos Crazy Town - Butterfly Faun - Tanz mit mir

[edmtranslations]

LOUD No. 168 - Justice Interview [Text Version]

(This is a text version of the full PDF-based translation that I have done, for mobile readers and non-PDF suited environments. The cover and advertisement included in the same magazine are treated in a separate post. Please enjoy!)

Justice - since they gained notice in 2004 with their essential party anthem, Justice VS Simian 'Never Be Alone (We Are Your Friends)', they enjoyed much fame as the leading unit of the new generation of French electronic music. In Japan, as soon as their EP Waters of Nazareth ('06) had debuted, their rocking musical and fashion sense soon brought them into the glory of the limelight. Last year, they released their debut album † (Cross) which subsequently gave rise to club hits such as 'D.A.N.C.E.', 'Phantom Pt. II', 'DVNO' and 'Stress'; this year, they visited Japan for Summer Sonic in August and GAN-BAN NIGHT in October, again demonstrating their incredible popularity.

Now, under the directing efforts of Romain Gavras and So-Me, they have announced the release of their first filmed work, A Cross the Universe. This monumental work couples their American tour that took place in the spring of 2008, captured in a sixty-minute documentary film (DVD), as well as the full seventy-five minutes of their their San Francisco live performance (CD). As Justice themselves have stated, the film is 'an excellent example of what happens when dozens of men get into trouble for a straight month'; Justice and the Ed Banger crew are depicted with brutal honesty throughout. Such is A Cross the Universe, the work that captured without reservations all kinds of happenings. In this interview, we spoke to Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Augé of Justice about the mysteries birthed by the work, as well as what they could mean.

— First, please tell us about the documentary! What were your reasons for setting your North American tour as the backdrop of the film? Xavier de Rosnay: The first reason was that we'd never filmed anything over such a long period before. Like, for example, for a whole year... The American leg of the tour happened to take place over twenty days, so we thought we'd be able to film that in an aptly compact way. And the second reason was that every time we went back and forth between the USA and Canada, we could experience all of the four seasons. Unthinkable in almost any other country.

— That's true. Xavier: This tour began in the West Coast of America, and it felt like spring there - but cross the border to Canada and we were right in the middle of winter! It was so cold! Then we moved towards the East Coast and then it felt summery all around. You move around just a little, and everything down to the season and the surroundings change - how could we not film that? Even in Europe the scenery barely changes throughout the year.

— I knew it! Xavier: And I guess we were... kind of anticipating something big to happen? You know, just because it was America? That feeling was strong in both of us. We supposed that if we were going to film this, we might as well choose a location where a lot of things were bound to happen.

— The documentary truly did end in a rather rock-and-roll fashion, it felt that the behind-the-scenes aspect of the tour was laid out bare. This may be a rather direct question, but wasn't it overtaxing a little, showing off your darker sides, or were you genuinely all right with it? Xavier: I see what you mean, and yeah, we were. (Laughter.) And in addition to that, the parts where we limited ourselves... I mean, I guess... they did exist... Basically, no scene in this documentary was forced. It was filmed according to the meaning and value of what was actually there. So anything that was repetitive was edited some, but otherwise we showed it all, whether we were unsightly at the time, miserable, or being complete idiots. The terrible habits we showed in the documentary might well have been, uh, illegal... Gaspard Augé: Ahahahaha. Xavier: But right now it's 2008, and from the present perspective, I don't think there's a problem.

— It's an attitude that still suits your appearance in the work [A Cross the Universe] immensely. Xavier: Thanks a lot. Though we did have to follow regulations some. Like, for example, we had to edit out everything that showed an alcohol brand name. There’s a regulation that says that any scene or footage depicting alcoholic beverages have to be blurred out; but honestly, I never heard of anything so ridiculous. If you saw a video where somebody was drinking a thing, and if it was all blurred out, wouldn’t it be more obvious upon watching it that they were consuming alcohol?

— You're right. (Laughter) Xavier: And also, there was the rule that you couldn't show a woman's nipples. But seriously! Who goes through life without ever seeing a nipple? If you blur that out, you'd be like 'oh my God, these are nipples, all right!' for sure; isn't that more lewd? (Laughter) And if you blurred out a woman's panties, it'd probably look like she wasn't wearing any. It's a real paradox, that. Censoring such things make them more grotesque than if you'd just let them be!

With the Cross

— Returning to the topic at hand, what ideas did the mutual director of the project - Romain Gavras - contribute to the making of this work? Xavier: He was the director, if anything it's us who tossed small ideas towards him. Of course we participated in the production, but this documentary wasn't produced in a pre-structured way. Romain and So-Me had a bunch of videos and images they took of the tour, and we connected them afterwards to craft the scenario [for the documentary].

— I see! Xavier: The work led them to create some interesting methods of operation, which might have meant that Justice wasn't at the forefront of things. There's a lot showing the tour manager - you know, the gun maniac - and the tour bus driver, and that was their idea. Romain and So-Me were the ones who decided to film them, so they did. And as a result, I think the documentary ended up a lot more entertaining than it could have been.

— It wouldn't have been as entertaining without the driver or the tour manager, no! Xavier: That's sort of why the camera wasn't on us a lot of the time. (Laughter) And during our live performances, Romain was always next to the stage and So-Me always in the innermost parts of the venue. The differences in camera angle from them both, as well as what they chose to focus on, really helped to lend a new depth to the work.

— In addition to that, the title A Cross the Universe seems to be a homage to the Beatles' Across the Universe. Whose idea was the title? Gaspard: From yours truly. A Cross the Universe seemed like the most fitting title to what happens in this documentary. Xavier: Having such a simple and effective title is what helped to complete this documentary, no lie. What's the most memorable thing in live Justice performances, it has to be the cross. And we - ourselves and our staff - sure are roaming the universe with a cross in tow!

— Did Gaspard also come up with the stage structure as well? The cross, the martial amps - the hard rock-esque atmosphere? Gaspard: That's different. We came up with that together. But as you said, that stage set was inspired by the hard rock feel of the seventies. We had some help regarding the theatrical light effects from a fellow member of staff who'd actually worked in theatre, as well. I think that restorative, monotononous mood was exactly right for our overall image. Xavier: Everyone seems to think that Gaspard's in charge of the metal and I'm in charge of the disco and pop, but that's not the case. As Justice, every idea we produce is something that the two of us discussed together beforehand. There's no one factor that only one of us is in charge of.

The Evolving Live Sound of Justice

— Please tell us about the live CD, which is also at the heart of the film. The live CD gives the feeling that what you play live is very different to what is on the original album ([Cross]). Xavier: That's right.

— How do you feel that Justice's sound has evolved through your live performances? Xavier: Eh... how our musicality's evolved over time, you can probably tell at sight from all the grey hairs we've got. We can barely goddamned breathe nowadays! Gaspard: Hahahaha! Xavier: Or all the hidden kids we fathered all across the universe... (Laughter) Things like musicality are influenced by our spiritual world, too, most certainly...   I mean, we're forgetting how to speak French. For real, it's all growing dim. All those things are probably reflected in our live sound in some way.  

— Back to the serious discussion. (Laughter) How much ad-libbing is there on average in your live sets? Xavier: Almost none, we barely touch it nowadays. This tour's taken eighteen months in total, and for the first few months, we sought the best format for our performance through trial and error, but around halfway through we felt deep in our hearts that we'd completed the best set we could possibly make right now. And we've played that arrangement ever since.

— Why is that? Xavier: We're a team: the sound engineer, the lighting staff, everyone moves as one. Someone ad-libbing in that scenario would break down everything we worked so hard for, wouldn't they? Our live performances, therefore, are all based around the thought - how complete can we make it? And if you think about it, someone who saw us live in Tokyo today is unlikely to see us live again in Berlin tomorrow. That's just a part of it, but we're always trying to make each performance the best that we can.

— I see. So what's on the CD must be the best set you've played until now! If this is so, where was it recorded? Xavier: The San Francisco live. From March to September this year we've recorded something like seventy to eighty live performances, but only the five or six recordings that we thought were the best made it through. It's a far more perfect set than the one done in Summer Sonic this year, by the way. Festivals, you can't skimp out on.

— What was your favourite thing about the San Francisco performance? Xavier: We made a few little mistakes here and there, but I think we had the most excellent chemistry with the audience there. We recorded this performance with the mic stood in the audience section, that was completely intentional. You know, the weirdly bootleg-like feel. By the way, we actually thought that the live performance in Belgium was the absolute best for us personally - but the audience was so loud that none of that could make it into the CD! (Laughter) They were screaming, like, 'kyaaaa~' for over fifteen minutes straight...

— What a shame! Then, before we bring this to a close, please tell us about your future plans! Are you working on any new songs? Gaspard: Nah. Xavier: We were busy editing [A Cross the Universe] as soon as the tour was over, after all.

— Are you taking a break for a while? Xavier: Nah, it's not about that. We've had our break, as you might have guessed from the film - while we were touring, it was exactly like being in holiday, all the time. (Laughter) I feel as we've mucked around for an entire year and a half, to be honest with you. Thanks to that, we're actually geared up to put some genuine work in at the moment!

The wording of the translation is © 2017 luminatranslations. First posted 27 March 2017. The full PDF version and documentation are available. 

Disclaimer: The original text of this interview and associated material, given by Justice and printed in LOUD Magazine in 2008, is not copyrighted by this blog nor by the author of this post. Therefore, the original Japanese text will not be distributed here. The author claims ownership of the wording of this translation, which does not deny nor seek to possess the existence of other translations. This translation may be subject to changes in the future.

[annakie]

Thoughts from the first few hours of Andromeda

Part one, I’ve run out of time right now, hopefully will finish up with a part 2 later.

I’m keeping it non-major-stuff-spoilery as possible as to plot stuff,but if you want to stay 100% spoiler free to all of the stuff like, what the loading screen looks like, what character creation is like, some of the opening moments of the game etc. and haven’t played any of the trial yet, keep away!

Startup - Game-breaking Issue

Apparently, if you use a Corsair mouse like I do, you can’t even launch the game (you get the black screen, game won’t even really launch) with the Corsair utilities installed.  This means that I had to un-install the Corsair utility engine, the thing that lets my MMO mouse actually use the 12 keypad buttons that I bought it for, even work.  Really, really freaking annoying.  So if I want to play SWTOR I’ll have to reinstall the Corsair utilities, but to play ME:A I have to uninstall it?  This is pretty unacceptable.

A Corsair employee took to EA’s forums to say they’re working on providing a proper solution, so the issue shouldn’t plague the game after release. For now, if you’re using their software for mouse configuration, you’ll have to do without your custom setup and macros.

Let’s hope that’s true.

Load Screen

The load screen is really pretty, most reminiscent of ME2, and the atmospheric music is more reminiscent of “Vigil” than any of the other games I think.  I really do like the music, and the load screen is pretty, though I still think ME1 still gets the best load screen award.

Controls

The menus are a bit frustrating, and the UI definitely feels more designed for controllers than keyboard and mouse.  I’m already considering getting a controller. Would love to feel how people who’ve used both feel about this issue.  It’s especially frustrating without being able to use my mouse number pad like I’m used to, instead of hitting number keys with my left hand.  

The biggest menu/ui annoyance to me right now is that you can hit M to get to the planet map, but have to hit escape twice to get back into the game.  I check my map a lot, this got really annoying real quick.

It looks pretty, though!  I haven’t dug too much into the quest log / codex / weapon & armor outfitting though.

Character Creation

Oof.  Not completely happy here.  I can see what others were complaining about.  You basically get 9 heads to choose from, if you choose to customize, and can make some changes to those heads but not really enough to make a lot of the Ryders who also chose that head to look basically the same outside of hair color/style and eye color... maybe a scar and/or tattoo for flavoring. 

So I wanted a F!Ryder with a basically round head.  I found a head shape that I liked, though the Ryder’s facial appearance was of Asian descent.  I thought.. no problem, I’ll just pick a different set of eyes, amongst a few other changes... but nope.  There are no options for other eyes.  You can change the height, depth, and color of those eyes but that Ryder head will always have an overall Asian look.  I had to pick one of the caucasian looking options and use the limited controls to bring her head into more of a round shape.  I did OK, but overall it wasn’t the look I wanted.  You get no options for lip shape, eyebrow shape etc. outside of those 9 basic heads.  

The hair options went from OK to Oh God Why.  The color options were plentiful, at least.  The makeup options were pretty good in the eyeshadow, eyeliner and lip categories, but the blush had 3 options, all of which were comical, so it’s better to just turn those off.

Interesting to note that your M!Ryder can have full makeup options, as well.

Overall, I came out looking with an acceptable-looking F!Ryder, but character creation was not what it was with ME3.

Customizing M!Ryder was about the same, and I really felt like, despite doing my best to try and pick a Scott that would match my F!Ryder I wasn’t able to do that so well.  I did the best I could, but I think my two came off looking more like cousins than siblings.  This also translated into the character’s father not looking much like his daughter.  Overall the father didn’t look much like either of his children, tbh.  Just the skin color seemed a few shades too dark, like the character generator didn’t notice that I bumped the skin color up a couple of notches.  If I have time, I’m going to create a set of dark skinned twins and see if it’s the same going the opposite direction.

Me:

Almost every screenshot I have of her so far (not many) has those same... wild looking eyes.

Dad:

I don’t have a good screenshot of my Scott, argh.

I’ve seen rumors that Bioware is supposed to give us more options soon, I really hope soon means at launch, and not a bunch of DLC hairstyle packs or whatever.

Finishing up character creation, you get to choose if Commander Shepard was male or female.  There’s no ME3 Save importing, which we basically already knew.  So far, making this choice hasn’t made a difference in Andromeda, but I’m still, you know, barely into the game.

Graphics

Maybe it’s me, or my just-Ok-now graphics card (Nvidia GTX 960), but parts of the graphics looked really.... crunchy.  The shadows in hair and reflecting off the floors in the opening ship were particularly bad.   I don’t expect to run the game on ultra or anything, but I will definitely want to tweak the settings more to see if I can get rid of that once getting rid of it doesn’t take up my precious 10 hours I have to play the game over the next few days.  I’ve already used up 2.5 of them.

I had a, what seems pretty common, graphics glitch with Dr. Lexie’s arms getting stuck open wide through basically her entire character introduction.  That was super distracting and a big disappointment, since she was one of the characters I was most looking forward to meeting.

But I did manage to hold a pretty steady 60fps most of the time I played, and aside from Dr. Lexi’s glitch and the shadows issue, everything looked and performed great, even once I got down to the first planet. 

There were some things that I thought were either weird or cool, though, like, could someone tell me if my Ryder is sweating inside her suit here, or being rained on? Both are kind of neat details, but I couldn’t decide which was happening.

The Game Opening

A nice speech from Dad (from the always welcome Clancy Brown), a last glimpse of Earth and you’re pretty quickly thrown into the action.  It definitely felt reminiscent of the ME1 opening moments, but without that big, epic walkup scene with the screen panning to reveal your face.   The face reveal is more reminiscent of ME2′s.

I did appreciate, though, once you have control of your character there’s a lot to take in all of a sudden.  There’s a whole “hallway” area connected to the medbay where there’s a couple of sets of people having conversations and giving background. There was so much to see and interact with just in those few moments that a couple of times I accidentally stopped a conversation by clicking on something else. Seriously, take your time walking around and talking/listening to everyone.  It’s a “oh no things are happening we’d better hurry up and go!” situation but really you have all the time in the world.  I’d have spent longer on all those opening moments, but, you know, 10 hour trial, and the minutes were ticking by.  I was almost an hour in character creation.

I also felt like the game expected you to know what was happening pretty right off. After talking with Dr. Lexit there wasn’t a crapton of exposition and ten characters explaining the same things to you over and over to nail it into your head like some games do.  It’s great for those of us who know our Mass Effect like scripture.  I wonder if any of this would be confusing to anyone who’s coming in fresh to the universe.  What was there felt more organic and ignore-able.  My 5th time through the game I won’t feel as compelled to make sure I talk to the NPCs that don’t have full dialog trees like I feel like I always need to talk to Joker, Kaidan, Pressley, Chakwas and Jenkins before heading to find Anderson in ME1.

There were enough touches here and there to connect you back to ME1-3 if you were looking for it.  Things like the red medical cross & the red medpack boxes around the medbay, some crates that looked straight up taken from ME2&3, etc.  One crewmember talks about a familiarly named planet that isn’t Earth & something that happened there.  But nobody was going “OH MAN I sure hope Commander Shepard saved the Milky Way from the Reapers!!”

Gotta run, got lots more thoughts.  Part two later!