#I’m that soundbit meme where he’s like
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berilynzoe · 4 months ago
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I’m already shitfaced over it don’t make me do this
Go to the Joseph Quinn tag and take a shot every time you see the new screenshot of JQ and Pedro Pascal from Gladiator 2
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jonasiegenthaler · 2 years ago
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hi! since the off season is dragging and i miss the devils - what are you favorite moments for each player (or select players) from this season, not just goals or plays but an interview, soundbite, off ice moment, anything
(missing pk big time because he always posted fun team content)
hiya anon, this was a fun one, thank you! this got, Long, so i'm gonna put it all under the cut (alphabetized, not ranked, and definitely not comprehensive)
kevin: 
not like one thing in particular but playing more regularly this season! especially the second half
yanking multiple guys around casually
this was more last season but there’s a bunch of guys in utica that, every time he goes over the boards for a shift, chant a call-and-response of “who’s out?” “bahls out!” and it is beautiful
nate: 
the video of him and johnny in seattle
this one of him nearly getting taken out by a football
also he’s seen the memes he loves the love
boqy: 
a lil cuddle, or two, or three
i’ve always said he’s the devils’ morgan frost so i’m just very glad he’s found some semblance of a role this season he’s very neat to me
bratter: 
hatty! 
big hat hat!
him and nico reaching milestones together talking about how special it was,
more cuddles
notably too cute to be good at chirping
gravy: 
carshield commercials - ïf you don’t call now, your wife should stop loving you.”
for some reason his goal in the oilers game early in the season stands out? keeping the winning streak alive!
smacking nico’s ass on a driveby
[30 seconds of uncomfortably polite staring as the sm admin waits for him to complete the heart]
dougie: 
the six flags promo, wild that that was this season it feels like ages ago. 
those few games where we kept going 4v3 in ot and dougie just kept scoring gwgs, iconic, showstopping. 
fully lifting bratter like a foot? off the ice? 
herding a flock of dudes 
signing off the camera with a “hi grandma”. 
floor time!
the movie re-enactments? wheres his oscar
haula: 
“this is where i want to be. this is my family” <3
single handedly bringing us timo.
getting hit with a chicken finger
facing the other way on the bench when we went to shootouts (one of us).
laughing curling up on the floor instant fetal position
nico: 
there’s. so much. because i’m nothing if not biased. 
“i’ve just got a good feeling” 
pumping up the crowd 
selke finalist! career high in goals, assists, points! 
being absolutely dominant in the rangers series. 
game 5 nico chants! 
[gestures vaguely at 1386 tag] 
having the time of his life with some kids toys
marner’s “i felt good until nico decided to take me for a walk” 
“siegyyyy! don’t worry everyone siegy is here!” <3 
“let’s not forget to have fun. stick together. whatever happens.” + all the pre/post game speeches during the playoffs. 
nate talking about how nico made him feel like he belonged + so much more
“he cares more about his teammates than probably does about himself”
timo facetiming him because he was anxious about the trade 
jack
“oh shit :d”
hatty!
devils win for hanukkah :) 
“yeah i knew that”
“those are quinn’s boys so--”
whatever him and pk were on at all-star weekend
“i want that record”
“we are off on our chemistry today, hey?”
looney tunes ass fall
[gestures vaguely again at 1386 tag]
nothing but respect for my lady byng finalist
the dance
all the hugs
luke
first goal! ot winner!
dream dinner guests: julius caesar and george washington + getting chirped about it by dawson
the entire exit interview, all of it - messy but working on it (lie, probably), doesn’t know what day it is, hasn’t retained a thought for more than 5 seconds, fidgety
marino
[looking at a children’s toy] look i’m not not saying this looks like a bong
him and gravy giggling after they pushed pally off the ice
dawson
the players tribune article
hatty!
setting the franchise record in consecutive games with a goal
the hair, it’s majestic
yegor
santagovich
a pet bird, named ham
throwing shit at sevo
messing with the camera lights during bratter’s interview
messing with tuna during his interview
vv
made friends with a bird :) 
consistently referring to himself as “the vitek”
every time akira makes a big save vitek gives huge taps over the board <3
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eugenia-cho · 3 years ago
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First Post!
anyways
October 25th, 2021 12:52 am
This is the start of my documentation process of my UX/UI journey. This part of the journey doesn't really feel like me but I feel like all the stuff I've read up on recommends that I start putting myself out there and you know #girlboss and what not so you know what I'll get out of my comfort zone and start documenting the whole process and put it online for the world to see. If the world does see this.
To begin my story: I decided to get into UX/UI after I finished a horrible interview. Undoubtly, the worst of my career (like that Ferris Buehler reference I don't know I haven't seen the movie but that soundbite is popular on TikTok). I mean to be honest I wasn't that prepared but the night before I just really wasn't looking forward to it. Like suddenly something in me was like "Why am I doing this?" And it got worst in the morning as the interview time came closer and I just wasn't feeling it. It all came to a wonderful conclusion when I was just struggling through my answers, faking it until making it but I was definitely not making it, when the interviewer (who didn't have the camera on but I can just clearly tell he was fed up and thought it was a waste of time) asked me "What motivates me?" And I couldn't come up with an answer. An honest one at least. I don't even want to remember what I bullshitted. Actually thinking about it my bullshit answer was actually related to UX/UI. I think I said something about how other people motivated me and I wanted to do my best. And hey, isn't that the point of UX. It's about the user, the other people? Okay whatever I'll stop with that. But yeah. So after that interview I just decided I didn't want to be an engineer. Like, fake it til you make it but this was too much faking it so that I would never make it. Har har. You know thinking about it I don't know how I came to the conclusion of going to UX/UI after though. I mean maybe because even before my job search for an engineer position I talked to a family member and she studied Mechanical Engineering like me in college but after graduating after interviewing for multiple positions she decided to go for an UX position. And this was before UX really was a thing. And so then (and this was like, early July) I was also going to try to be an UX/UI designer but then I don't know I just sort of forgot about it. But I like I put UX videos in a "To Watch Later" list on Youtube and that would pop up to me sometimes like recommended. So maybe I should thank the Youtube algorithm for bringing me back to UX/UI again. Anyways I just finished like the free basic Careerfoundry courses for both UX and UI. They were okay. I definitely learned a lot but I need to do more research. I used Figma for my practice wireframe and that was fun and easy to use. I am definitely more of a visual design person but it seems like I have to learn UX too so fine I'll do both. I go with the flow. Who knows where life will take me. Or do I take myself? Ha ha how philosophical. Anyways I'm writing this on Notepad right now but once I post this on like a blog  website or something I will attach a picture of my first wireframe I made.
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Here it is! So big omg I don’t know how to change that.
To the girl who's reading this (meme) (if anyone is reading this at all),
How's the tone of this post? I'm writing in that stream of consciousness style because 1. I feel like it suits me 2. I am lazy and don't really want to proof read for now. But maybe the more I write the more I'll want to edit. But please feel free if I sound too negative or heavy or redundant or anything at all.
Signing off,
Genes
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Psycho Analysis: Emperor Palpatine
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(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)
There are villains. There are memes about villains. There are villains who are memes. And then, high above all of them, sitting on a lofty throne all his own, is Emperor Sheev Palpatine, a character so insanely incredible that it’s frankly quite baffling that even George Lucas at his worst still couldn’t make him awful… No, that was good old J.J. Abrams. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
Palpatine is pretty much the archetype for the evil emperor in modern fiction, a mysterious evil sorcerer in dark robes who commands the main villain from afar and contains power beyond anything thought possible. But what’s interesting to note is that Palpatine really has three distinct eras to him: the original trilogy, where he was basically an outside context last minute threat who only had a presence in the third act of Return of the Jedi; the prequel trilogy, which is his best showing and where the Sheev we’ve all come to known and love really got to spread his wings and fly; and finally, the sequel era, the worst showing of Palpatine hands down, where he is randomly slapped into a film with no foreshadowing or buildup to pander to nostalgia.
So let’s take a look at our old pal Sheevy and see what makes him one of the greatest villains of all time, and one of the worst.
Motivation/Goals: Palpatine is motivated by one thing, and one thing only:
He spends the entire prequel trilogy building this up, working behind the scenes and manipulating both sides of the Clone Wars to his advantage so he can be given more and more political power. This works out beautifully for him, allowing him to dispose of his pawns like Dooku, take over the senate, seize absolute power, amass an army of clones, and of course execute Order 66. But most importantly, he is able to manipulate the frustrated and hurting Anakin to his side, mostly because the Jedi are a bunch of bumbling, archaic morons who put so much restrictions and belittle him so much that this creepy, predatory man is able to feed into his insecurities and send him tumbling to the Dark Side.
In the original trilogy, Palpatine is pretty content with letting Vader handle the affairs of the Empire, at least until Luke shows up and the Rebels become a substantial threat. Once the time comes, he has Luke and Vader get together and puts them up against each other, thinking the outcome is either that he gets a new apprentice/keeps his old one in check, or corrupts Luke somehow into killing his father and joining him as the new Sith. He didn’t count on Vader turning, but ah well.
The thing is that throughout these six films he remains remarkably consistent in his goals. He wants power, and if he can’t keep that power he’s going to make sure as many people suffer on his way down as possible. He’s almost cartoonishly evil in the best way possible!
And then came the sequels.
His motivations in the sequels are, quite frankly, impossible to discern, because they seem to change every scene. If he’s behind Snoke and the First Order, it’s easy to guess that he probably wanted Rey dead, right? Because that’s sure the vibe Snoke gave in The Last Jedi. But no, after it seeming like he wants her dead for most of The Rise of Skywalker, as soon as she shows up his plan is suddenly for her to kill him so he can transfer into his body. And then he changes that a short time later to “I am going to suck the life out of Rey and Ben so this shitty clone body can be great.” It’s like they’re cramming three or four different Palpatine plots into the twenty-five minutes of screentime Palpatine has in this film, and there is just absolutely no thematic cohesion anywhere. It’s just a mess.
Performance: If there is one thing that is always consistent with Palpatine, it is that Ian McDiarmid is absolutely fantastic as him. This man is able to take the most cliché, generic evil overlord archetype imaginable and transform every single line of dialogue he spouts into a meme, and even when he’s the absolute worst version of this character possible and strapped to a giant Sith dialysis machine on some Sith planet where he makes Snoke clones and verbally berates Adam Driver, he still finds time to be hilariously awesome.
Final Fate: Palpatine seriously underestimated Anakin, and ended up chucked down into the Death Star, where he died. He certainly didn’t have a poorly-explained clone backup of himself anywhere that would rise up decades later to completely override any victories the heroes ever had by ensuring that the entire lineage of the Skywalkers was destroyed and then usurped by his own spawn.
Best Scene: In a scene that justifies the entire existence of the prequels, shows off McDiarmid’s acting chops as he pulls off some actual subtlety as Palpatine, delivers some great background lore, and helps make Revenge of the Sith as awesome as it is… well, have you heard of the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?
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Best Quote: Look, I could put just about anything he says in Revenge of the Sith here. I could put just about anything he says here. This man is an absolute meme machine who spits out only the finest quotable soundbites you will ever here. But look, I’m tired of not singling out great lines, so let me give you the one I quote the most. It’s one of his greatest quotes, and yet it is unbelievably simple. Two words and a ridiculously hammy inflection is all this man needs to be a meme:
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Final Thoughts & Score: Sheev Palpatine is a man of extremes. Every aspect of him is so large that when he does something, he does it with the full force of his entire character. Revenge of the Sith will eternally be his best showing in the entire franchise, because he just spends the entirety of his screentime being the most insanely impressive scheming, manipulative bastard imaginable while somehow managing to cram in time for a sick spin through the air or a monologue about his former master at the space opera house. He manages to singlehandedly redeem the prequels if only by existing in them, and he helps elevates Revenge of the Sith into being the only one of those films that is generally accepted as being legitimately awesome. And while he is absent for much of the original trilogy, seeing as he wasn’t exactly conceived of right off the bat, he manages to make the most of his appearance in Return of the Jedi by being just as delightfully malevolent as ever, goading Luke and Vader into a duel and shooting lightning from his fingertips.
There are few villains who are just this completely basic and cliché that could ever hope to be great, but thanks to McDiarmid’s portrayal, he has gone on to be one of the single most iconic villains of all time, and one of the most iconic characters of all time. The guy is practically a living meme, from his name to his actions in the prequels, and he has certainly inspired many an evil overlord after him. For a character so seemingly unoriginal, it can be hard to believe he probably deserves an 11/10, but he most definitely does. He’s just become a staple of the franchise, to the point where some people feel it just ain’t Star Wars without him…
...Including, unfortunately, J.J. Abrams and a few other writers. Palpatine managed to be shoehorned into the prequels by being a surprise twist villain for The Rise of Skywalker (and as we’ve all seen from their recent animated movies, out-of-nowhere twist villains are great!), and it is without a doubt the most stupid and embarrassing showing one could possibly imagine for a character of this caliber. His motivations seem to change every time he opens his mouth, a lot of his dialogue is just uninspired, and while he does get a somewhat striking design here it’s hampered by the fact that his entire existence and role are really unexplained in the film and he feels like he was slapped in for the sake of being there. 
There’s also the fact that his mere existence and the fact he ends up being responsible for Ben Solo’s death means he completely overrides the entire franchise, comes out on top with his granddaughter usurping the Skywalker name, and succeeds entirely at wiping out the Skywalker lineage. This entire nine film series was just buildup to Palpatine ultimately winning, and just when things couldn’t get worse, Disney decided to take away the one thing that made this Palpatine hilarious – the idea that, with his hideous scarred face, he was able to bang a woman and conceive a child – and completely toss it out the window by saying this Palpatine was actually a clone. Not in the movie, of course, because that would make way too much sense, no; it was confirmed on Twitter.
I think it goes without saying Clone Palpatine gets a 1/10. And this is through no fault of McDiarmid; he’s still genuinely great in the role, even if the role is stupid, his character’s actions are stupid, and just everything about the character’s existence is stupid. He’s certainly not phoning it in at all, and ignoring everything else about the film Clone Palpatine is at least somewhat amusing on his own. There’s also the fact that this Palpatine most definitely has an incredibly striking design and looks really cool, despite the unbelievable lameness of what he actually is:
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But how he is utilized within the franchise and what he ultimately accomplishes and represents is too much for me to actually forgive in the context of Psycho Analysis. When the most redemptive thing I can say about Clone Palpatine is that his actor is at least trying and his design is cool despite the awful writing and story relevance, that is not the sign of a great character. That is the sign of a great actor desperately trying to salvage a trainwreck.
But it’s like I said earlier; Palpatine is a man of extremes. If he’s gonna be a great villain, then by god is he going to be one of the greatest villains of all time. And if he’s going to be a crappy villain? Well then he’s gonna sit among the worst ever. I kind of respect that about good ol’ Sheev; he just can’t do anything in half measures. I guess as a Sith he really does deal in absolutes, be it absolutely amazing or absolutely awful.
UPDATE: I stand by all my criticisms of Sheev Clonepatine, but dammit, there’s just too many hilarious memes, and I can’t really hate Ian McDiarmid’s performance. Yes, I’ve come around quick, but I guess it is true: when Palpatine succeeds, he succeeds epically and hilariously, and when he fails, he fails epically and hilariously. His role in the story and the stupidity of him being here at all is a 1/10 for sure, but I think he’s just hilarious enough to edge into the “So bad it’s good” category of 3/10 alongside his bouncing baby boy Snoke. 
Just remember: No matter what Disney tries to tell you, Palpatine fucks.
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literature-islit · 4 years ago
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Don Watson - Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language (2003)
Well, I’m back after a long absence, and while I’d love to tell you it’s because I was really busy doing important things, in actual fact I was just re-watching Veronica Mars (first and second series only) and became a little obsessive about the series, at the expense of, you know, consuming literature and stuff. 
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pukka shell necklace on a tv bad boy? yes, logan was my age 15 Dolly Mag reading OG celeb crush 
But now I’m back! With possibly the most niche outwardly-geeky selection yet - a book that is extremely un-sexy in subject matter and yet somehow seems to sum up everything (and i mean everything) that plagues our dysfunctional public sphere and has culminated in the problems we are seeing manifest this year so far
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Taking ‘The Decay of Public Language’ as its subject matter, and with a part of the book dedicated to replicating, as written, customer service letters the author received from Optus (to highlight their rhetorical deficiencies) this is probably a bit of a hard sell to get people to read. 
But it also functions as a decimation of the managerial assumptions, adopted from corporate logic, that have ruined everything good about arts, culture, politics and society - and it does so in pages that are crammed full of sweet and sparkling ZINGERS.
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The crux of the argument is that, since everything started to be viewed through the lens of business, the language of business imposed itself on the way we think about everything, to the point where we cannot formulate views of success outside of KPIs, or descriptions for people who want to go to university to be educated outside of the word “customer” 
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and so it continues... 
We’re at a point today, where not even sports coaches can describe their teams success in language that doesn't refer to ‘risk-taking’ or ‘the bottom line’. As Watson neatly summarises: 
“No player in the history of the game to c.1990 was committed to the ball. Now every player must be.”
He notes:
A politician will now talk about promises being core and non-core as if these business categories mattered to a promise.
In the same way, teenage basketballers are told to be accountable as if they were global corporations
While politicians like MLK were once great orators, who quoted poets and had an astute command of language to inspire, to speak to principles, to speak to what it means to be human - our politicians sprinkle soundbites with poll-tested results-driven words like ‘mateship’ in
���the verbal equivalent of a handshake.”
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And it has the effect of numbing our minds and, ultimately, stifling our ability to express ourselves. 
You know, I really did start this blog because I had just become so bored of all the algorithm-driven content out there. I started my degree in creative writing with a desire to read widely and no idea where to begin, other than a Google list of ‘10 books you must read before you die’ and things like that. But when you leave it to companies, to SEO-ranked Google searches, to YouTube videos and Netflix to suggest to you what content you should be consuming, there is a risk that your view of the world fades to a pin-prick. In this blog I want to showcase writing that’s outside the narrow line that’s illuminated by front page search results - and the idea behind this book illuminates exactly why. 
Because, in our lives today, we accept the very flawed assumption that it is natural and normal to view something like a public art gallery as a business like any other, that should be run according to ‘strategy’ to achieve ‘outcomes’ that are unable to be detailed in any language other than that of the corporation. 
The managerial landscape is the equivalent to the great map of Baudrillard’s simulacrum being rolled out over everything previously considered normal and natural about human life.  
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This ultimately manifests in change being pursued for the sake of change, rather than because it will materially improve anything about the human condition we are all limited by: 
We are so thoroughly persuaded that everything depends on adapting to the new, we are letting go of the language for no better reason than that it is very old.
WOW readers
sorry i went so DEEP in this review 
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tfw u use the meme when you haven't even seen the film
but this book is deep and will make you laugh cry and everything in between! And for a book with a lot of space dedicated to replicating how even the BoM’s language to describe weather has been corrupted by managerial speak (e.g. the re-conceptualising of ‘rain’ to ‘rain event’) - that’s a hell of an accomplishment!
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and one more for the lulz. it’s a sick, sad world.
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fantastic-nonsense · 6 years ago
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Final Opinions on the 1st Democratic Debate
On a political level, the big winners of the first round were:
Warren: she started out strong and was consistent with her 'I've got a plan for that' but was quiet towards the end. She did what she came out to do: come out, discuss her ideas and policy positions, and stay above the fray. The first night’s debate was Professor Warren and her grad students, and that's exactly what she needed to float her to the next round.
Castro: his debate prep team is not being paid nearly enough for how good they made him look. He came prepared and it shows. Whether he will continue to impress is a different question, but he definitely stole some limelight for himself.
Booker: he came out swinging and just went for it, and it absolutely worked to his advantage.
Harris: she consistently killed it all night, stayed on theme, and had at least three soundbite zingers. She's pretty much guaranteed a spot in the Final Four at this point.
Buttigieg: he showed up poised, calm, collected, and thoughtful, had solid policy ideas and solutions, and had what was probably the single most honest and direct answer I have heard over the entirety of the debates so far. He's going to get a lot of mileage out of that persona (and also his statement concerning religion and politics). I personally think he’s running about 5-10 years too early for the campaign he wants to run, but we’ll see where he goes from here.
Biden is definitely hanging in there, but Harris drove a real spike into his wheel. One more one-shot KO like that and he’s going to have some serious problems. Defending states' rights to segregate schools to a black woman on national television, especially in 2019, is not a good look.
Sanders is also hanging in there, though he just like...inexplicably tanked his chances of gaining any new voters by doing so poorly on the debate stage. Unless he shapes up quick, he's also gone. He's not the only progressive on the stage anymore, and it shows.
On the second stringers:
Gillibrand and Klobuchar are doing okay but could be doing much better. I think they'll be better off once the field narrows and don't feel like they have to jockey as much for the time to speak.
De Blasio was a surprisingly competent and strong voice on the stage, though I'm not sure how much of that was genuine and how much of it was "standard New York politician bullshitting his way to the top for 2 hours."
Hickenlooper sounds more like a Reasonable Republican than a 2019-era Democrat; that might help or hurt him depending on what he does with that image. He had his zinger with the "where I'm from that's called kidnapping" line, and it'll boost him if that gets any traction; he needs some substantive policy solutions and a couple more zingers if he wants to make it.
Gabbard was granted a grace period for that absolute slam dunk over Tim Ryan on the Taliban/Al Qaeda issue (because your five seconds of internet meme fame is still fame and is thus helpful for ratings), but she's going to have to talk about something other than her status as a veteran if she wants to break out from the bottom-middle of the pack.
Everyone else:
Can I tell the "Delaney, Ryan, and Swalwell drop the fuck out challenge" joke already? Because they need to get with the program and drop out before they start damaging everyone else.
Yang is a one-trick pony with the UBI/automation stuff and was absolutely not prepared for prime time. He completely bumbled and got bogged down in technical terminology during his (very few) minutes of mic time, to his detriment. He's out of his element (which is long-format one-on-one interviews) and it shows.
Inslee had some good ideas and some good moments, but he largely just didn't have any "shine time," and with a candidate field this large that's basically a kill shot in and of itself. He needed a media moment, and instead he's largely forgettable.
I literally can’t understand anything Bennet said besides “socialism is bad.” I’m going to actually have to go hunt down the transcript for this debate because he was rambly and incoherent.
Beto looked positively gray; I think he’s realizing that he is a high school-level debater trying to be on the same stage as post-grads. Being a House Rep for three terms and failing to win a Senate race is bad preparation for the presidential debate stage, but this whole endeavor might give him enough of a media boost to go after Cornyn in the Texas Senate race next year (if he drops out early enough).
Special shoutout to Marianne Williamson for being such an absolute nutcase (and thus an absolutely delightful mess) to watch.
Right now, I think my Top 5 candidates are Warren, Harris, Buttigieg, Booker, and Castro. Warren was my early favorite, and no one has really done anything to persuade me off of her yet. I think at the present moment I'm gunning for a Warren/Buttigieg ticket with Harris as AG, Gabbard as SecDefense or head of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, and Booker and Castro taking domestically-focused cabinet positions (maybe Labor and HHS?). It's very early days though, and so many things can change between now and the day I go to the polls.
One good thing I will say is that it's incredible how many good candidates there are. I have my favorites, but apart from the scrappers at the bottom of the pack (and imo Biden, but that's a personal opinion) there aren't any truly bad candidates to be had this go around. It honestly feels like all of the serious candidates are really just auditioning for their place in the 2020 cabinet and one lucky winner will get to be president instead of a cabinet member, which is such an incredibly freeing breath of fresh air from the nonsense of the past 3-4 years.
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ao3bronte · 5 years ago
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[Part 6]
A lot of things happen all at once.
The news breaks early Saturday morning and it takes all of ten minutes for the Shanghainese-French lawyer representing Adrien’s missing assets to be traced back to Marinette’s family. Sabine and Tom greet the flock of reporters in their bakery with open arms, their smiles terse but pleasant as they explain their side of the story as vaguely as they can.
“We’ve booked appointments with the health and safety officers at least twice a week for the foreseeable future,” Sabine says, her eyes as sharp as the scalpels they use to cut details out of fondant, “We’re fully prepared to fight any attacks on our business and livelihood in case of retaliation.”
The press devours that particular soundbite with slobbering delight as the entire city rises up in arms, savagely enthralled with the latest celebrity drama. Twitter feeds explode with support for Adrien as legal experts flood the twenty four hour news channels, revelling in the upcoming court case should Adrien decide not to drop the charges. It’s juicy, it’s controversial and there’s nothing the French love more than an absolutely ludicrous rompus between rich people in the press.
Romeo and Juliet, they call them. The Agreste’s versus the Cheng’s, like the Capulets and the Montagues with Lord Capulet starring as our favourite father of the year. Memes begin to crop up all over the place, most of which call out Gabriel for being the world’s most prolific jackass. It gets even worse when Adrien shares one of them on his personal Instagram which is liked, commented on and screenshotted so many times within the first half hour of being posted that Instagram actually crashes for a few minutes. The blackout is just enough time for Gabriel's team to shut down his entire social media platform which only leads to further chaos. 
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#saveadrien trends across Europe and beyond.
Marinette prays to every kwami in her box that Adrien isn’t being skinned alive by his father as she paces around in her room, too nervous to do anything other than wave her arms around and practice scripts in her head for when she’s inevitably hunted down by the press screeching her name. She has no idea where he is or what he's doing since he still doesn't have data on his phone and she hopes to god that he isn't still in the mansion…
...but where else would he be on a Saturday morning?
knock knock knock
Marinette's screech of panic knocks several picture frames off the walls. She leaps onto the surface of her desk in a fit of pure Ladybug prowess, wielding a floor lamp, "Who's there?!"
There's a muffled holler from above her head and there's only one person who could be on the other end of that question...unless the paparazzi have learned how to climb up to her balcony.
Bursting through her trap door fully prepared for an ambush, Marinette grabs Chat Noir by the bell and yanks him down onto her mattress with murderous intent, "What the heck are you doing here?!"
"I could ask you the same thing," Chat Noir grunts, landing flat on his face, "Except you live here."
"Exactly!" Marinette scolds him, "There's a million paparazzi outside the bakery! What were you thinking? Oh my god, now they’re going to think I’m cheating on Adrien with you!
"Hey now," Chat has long become accustomed to Marinette's tendency to catastrophize, unbeknownst to her, "I snuck in from behind and laid low. No one saw me."
"You can't be sure of that," Marinette grouses, crossing her arms across her chest, "Now, shouldn't you be out saving Paris or something?"
"I am, in a way," Chat shrugs, "I kind of have a favour to ask you."
"A favour?"
"Yup," Chat replies, unzipping his right side pocket and fishing out a crumpled piece of lined paper, "This is for you."
“For me?” Marinette says, unfolding the paper in her hands. Her curious expression quickly drains of colour, her mouth gaping like a fish, “Oh god, where is he?!”
“He’s safe for now,” Chat tries to assure her, throwing his palms up in defense, “But he’d really like an answer from your parents.”
“They’re downstairs,” Marinette replies, her entire body heating up, “I can’t believe...can’t Nino take him in?”
Chat’s eyes widen, his lips twisting downwards, “You don’t want Adrien to stay here?”
“No!” Marinette gesticulates in that strange, convulsive way of hers anytime she’s even remotely flustered and Chat has to duck to keep from being inadvertently slapped across the face, “I mean, yes! I mean, our flat is tiny and he’s used to his own mansion...we don’t even have a guest bedroom! He would have to…”
Marinette trails off and turns a vibrant shade of cherry red.
“...uh, Marinette? Are you okay?”
She opens her mouth. She closes it.
Chat waves his fingers in front of her eyes, “Mari?”
There’s a strange white light taking over her bedroom. Is this what dying feels like?
“Okay, Marinette? I’m going to need you to take a deep breath for me, alright?”
Breathing is overrated. Her heart goes into overdrive.
“Marinette!”
Nope. 
“Marinette!”
This is it. This is the end.
Chat violently shakes her shoulders, “MARINETTE!”
Air finally floods her lungs as she inhales, sputtering all over herself as Chat continues to knock some sense into her thick skull. The voice inside her head she often attributes to Tikki tells her she’s being about as extra as a vsco girl at a lululemon half price sale and to get a grip on herself. The other voice in her head, the one she often attributes to her increasingly dwindling grasp on reality, screams endlessly into the void when her common sense usually resides.
“Oh my god,” she wheezes, now lying flat on her back with Chat’s worried eyes peering down at her, “Adrien would have to sleep in my bedroom.”
Chat blinks, “Oh.”
“The boy I love more than anyone else in the entire freaking world is going to have to sleep in my bedroom,” Marinette grasps Chat by the elbows and stares wide-eyed at the ceiling.
“You love him more than anyone else in the world?” Chat asks softly, and Marinette is far to preoccupied with the terror-stricken screeching between her ears to notice the pink in his cheeks.
“Chat,” she turns her thousand yard stare in his direction, her eyes boring into his, “Adrien is my soulmate. We are going to get married and we are going to have three children and a hamster and we are going to live the rest of our lives together until we die side by side just like they did in The Notebook.”
“Oh my god,” Chat quivers, tears welling in his eyes, “That is the most romantic thing I have ever heard in my entire life.”
“I know,” she whispers, patting his hands, “I’ll invite you to our wedding. I’ve already picked out a theme and venue.”
~
That’s all I have written for the meantime, folks! If you’d like to sponsor more of my Chat Blanc AU, you can buy me a coffee! ☕💋
Chat Blanc AU
You know that part where Nathalie just marches into the Dupain Cheng Boulangerie Patisserie with that smug little smirk on her face and literally supports our favourite father of the year as he threatens (I repeat, threatens) our fourteen year old protagonist?
I know you do. You probably reeled in aghast when Marinette looked on desperately as Gabriel told her to break up with his son. You probably roared in indignation when Tom told Nathalie to leave now and never come back. And if you're anything like me, you probably wondered why her parents didn't step in like mine probably would have, because if someone threatened me in front of my fam, there would have been fireworks whether I liked it or not.
It's been 2 weeks since Chat Blanc and that's still the part that's pissing me off the most. 
And you all know what that means *cracks knuckles*
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thefavouritechild · 6 years ago
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KINGS CROSS TUNNEL x FANTA
HACKING A MEDIUM
PROJECT PARTNER: RAHIMA (and later Sam + Jacob)
THE RESEARCH
My task for the research stage was to research our brand, and try and find as much information about them beyond the surface aesthetic as possible, which proved to be a difficult task as Fanta tries very hard to be as bubbly in attitude as carbonation. Fanta’s twitter is largely inactive, and has very little to offer apart from videos of people drinking their drinks with overly colourful filters and lacklustre attempts at utilising memes, but no real brand-customer interaction. 
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Most of the information available about them was through the Coca-Cola website, which had a watered down history of Fanta’s development and introduction into the world, and a limited view of their flavours (looking only at the American flavours, and ignoring the other 100+ flavours across the world) - the information was largely from the American perspective, despite the drink (thanks Wikipedia, the true G here) having originated in Europe. Though, when you find that Fanta has some Nazi routes, you can kind of cut them some slack for shoehorning a single perspective into the audiences view. Fantisemitism doesn’t really have a nice ring to it. Family friendly Fanta (Jews excluded). 
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One key piece of research that came from my snooping was the variety of flavours across the world - there’s hardly any countries with the same collection of Fanta flavours, with a lot of countries having their own, region or country, specific flavours that are unique to them, and acting as a collectors item for themselves. I did screenshot every single countries flavour selection, but I think I’ll pass up my chances of ever getting anything about a Fail if I make anyone sit through 50 screenshots. Japan itself has 75 flavours of Fanta, the largest flavour collection in the world, with some truly fucking weird flavours, my personal favourite being the R18 Fanta - there’s nothing distinctively adult about it, its not jizz flavoured (which I’m very disappointed about), it’s just... Normal Fanta, but Adult. Alongside this, they also have Hip-Hop flavour Fanta (described to be flavoured like America), and a lot of different Melon flavours. 
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Alongside this research, I came across articles from the recent importation and UK release of America’s Grape Fanta, which was noted to be a big hit, with the UK population greatly enjoying something new on the market. These are the two key pieces of research that fuelled our Hack ideas for Kings Cross Underground tunnel - capitalising on the hype of introducing new flavours to the UK’s limited Fanta Range by dropping all 75 flavours of Japanese Fanta at once in a mega launch.
IDEA EXPLORATION
INSIGHT: ‘You loved America’s Grape Fanta; Now prepare to love all 75 of Japan’s Fanta’s at once.’
Overwhelming the UK with choice; You wanted more? Here’s a fuck ton more for you.
In order to utilise out medium in a ‘new’ way to carry out this idea, we discussed with Steve using soundbites from actual Japanese advertisements for their Fanta flavours - not only are Japanese adverts incredibly overwhelming, but when layered together they could create a cacophony of noise. Our hack then evolved into hiring the super expensive amazing screen and then just not fucking using it. Instead of having visuals demonstrate the 75 new Fanta flavours, we’d only use sound - the tunnel won’t be lit at all, the screens will be dead, and the audience will be submerged in audio with the goal outcome being that the noise is so overwhelming and chaotic that you only walk out of the tunnel remembering one flavour you’ve heard. It throws all these flavours at you, but leaves you only remembering one - overwhelming, but tactfully so.
References for this idea came from artists Bruce Nauman and Cildo Meireles, both artists that utilise sound as their medium - Cildo Meireles has an exhibit I’ve visited at the Tate, where he has a tower of radio’s all tuned to play different pieces of audio, so as you walk around it the noise fades in and out, the previous piece becoming an echo as you get closer to a new radio. This would be an good way to utilise the tunnel - have the audio echo like it would if you were talking underground, and as you progress through previous layers of audio fade out as you reach a new point, meaning it’s not baseless babble, but a journey through the 75 flavours. 
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As my part of the outcome creation, I attempted to construct some audio pieces that would hopefully capture this effect even if in a rough, loose way:
AUDIO LINK - This audio piece is the layered snapshots from the Japanese Fanta adverts; I isolated the pieces where they mentioned the Fanta flavour, so as not to distance the audience from the audio by having it be too much of another language that they wouldn’t understand.
AUDIO LINK - This audio piece is me experimenting with changing the volume of the audio in places and whether it plays out of the left or right headphone, but I don’t think it was too successful. I also applied ambient sound of footsteps through a tunnel to attempt to capture the sound ‘in situ’ as it can’t be visually demonstrated. 
The ideas following that were also encapsulating the idea of the UK population having a limited range of Fanta, and the excitement of introducing new products to our palettes.
‘OUR REVEAL, YOUR REVEAL’ -
INSIGHT: ‘We’ll give you what you want, but you’re gonna have to work for it.’
Making the new Fanta flavour an exclusive luxury for those that are willing to interact with the brand.
This idea looks at giving the control of the Fanta flavour reveal to the UK public, utilising motion sensor panels on the floor of the tunnel to construct an image of the new bottle on the screen. It requires all motion censor panels being found and activated for the full image to be realised, meaning greater footfall in the tunnel will have the image activating and deactivating on repeat in a chaotic manner that tantalises the audience in a way where they’re able to view an image as they’re walking, but not in full, and have to rely on others being as interested as them to reveal the new Fanta flavour. 
Rahima constructed the visuals for this idea, creating mockups in Photoshop of a partially constructed Fanta bottle being activated across the screen by the public:
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LATECOMER - SAM JOINS THE TEAM
‘BRITAIN’S GOT FANTA’ -
INSIGHT: ‘Giving the British public a Fanta to call their own, UK only and a national treasure.’
Utilising the tunnel space to give the British public a chance to create their own Fanta flavour that is uniquely British. 
Taking control of the third idea, Sam came on board to produce the visuals and branding for our Create-Your-Own-Fanta Campaign. The idea looks at using motion censors to allow the public to interact with the screen to ‘click’ and ‘drag’ ingredients into a bottle to compile their own flavour of Fanta, which is then entered into a competition online that the public can vote in. The inspiration for this was Walkers’ crisps numerous campaigns where they hand the reigns to the British public and end up with some weird as shit flavours that really encapsulate our countries sense of humour (and sense of flavour). 
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(PICTURED ABOVE: Sam’s initial moodboard documenting his inspirations for the visuals of the campaign)
Sam produced multiple iterations of this idea because he likes to put me and Rahima’s abilities to shame:
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He toyed with two types of tone of voice - the first using correct grammar and spelling, and very straightforward fruity imagery to give an overall idea of the project. The second looks at playing with the voice to create a more youthful and playful vibe, in my opinion more in keeping with Fanta’s attempts to be the drink of teens. It also features empty bottles, allowing the audience to perceive their role in the process. 
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Sam also visualised the idea in a series of images documenting the process of the user interaction with the campaign, and then compiled these images into a stop-motion gif to show a real time motion view of how it would function in situ.
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DEVELOPMENT FOLLOWING FEEDBACK:
Following our feedback, Rahima decided to develop some more imagery revolving around the third idea from our insights:
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joneswilliam72 · 6 years ago
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Review: Toro y Moi delights and frustrates in equal measure on Outer Peace
Toro y Moi were at the forefront of the chillwave scene a few years back, alongside Neon Indian and Washed Out, although the man behind the music, Chaz Bear, rejected attempts to pigeonhole his musical offerings. Chillwave was something of a fairly nebulous ‘microgenre’ with poorly defined parameters but that’s to be expected in the age of meme culture and soundbite knowledge. Regardless of his refusal to accept the label, Toro y Moi’s output remains focused on those aspects of chillwave which make most sense in terms of forming a cohesive identity for a number of disparate musical acts – one eye on nostalgia, a summery feel and a pop sensibility. All are abundantly evident on Outer Peace, the sixth album from Toro y Moi, with just a dash of added funk and R&B. The former serves the party atmosphere of some of the tracks well, the latter is a hindrance to the personal element of the album, as Bear relies far too heavily on auto-tune which belies the supposed personal themes of the lyrics.
‘Fading’, the album’s opener, is glorious and sets the tone for the lighter elements of the album to good effect. There is much on this track which will sound familiar to fans of Toro y Moi – time-stretched backing vocals, skittish programmed percussion and washed out keyboards. The subject matter of the lyrics is a little vague; on the first few plays the listener would be forgiven for thinking that it was a basic “love at first sight” tale, but there is an alternate reading of new temptation killing an already established relationship. This double-play continues on the next track, ‘Ordinary Pleasure’, which is the real earworm of this collection and comes across as a hybrid jam between Metronomy and later period LCD Soundsystem. It’s a party tune filled with self-doubt and angst, with Bear’s lyrics asserting that “Sometimes I don't understand what I'm saying/ So it’s fine if you gotta get away.” The song’s overall despondency is hidden behind the disco beat and funk-infused bassline, the nostalgic musical elements rendering the almost doleful vocal delivery to a secondary position in the mix. The heat of the disco inferno is turned up even further on the James Murphy namechecking ‘Laws of the Universe’, which borrows knowingly from the tone and timbre of Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories.
Album highlight ‘Miss Me’ features ABRA on vocals, and the track languidly reveals at its essence the story of a suitor reassuring their potential lover. There is an intoxicating quality to the vocals which lures the listener in, like the mythological Sirens tempting their pray to their eventual death. This, then, is a love song with warning signs waving in plain sight. It is an open letter to the burgeoning moments of what is bound to end up as a doomed relationship between previously burnt lovers. The next track, ‘New House’ continues this theme of desire, but the focus moves away from matters of the heart to material comfort. Bear imparts that “I just want a long shower/ I been feeling so crowded,” as he pines for an escape, a place of solitude where he can be away from the anxieties of travel, the war zone of baggage claim and a constantly ringing phone. This theme of peace, as the album title signposts, is a recurring one throughout these songs and there is a sense of claustrophobia to get away from the modern world whilst also celebrating a number of technological advances that are seen to be of benefit.
It is from track six of this album that things start to take a surprising turn for the worse. ‘Baby Drive It Down’ feels entirely out of place here, its sexual undercurrent and pseudo-dancehall drive feels forced, unnatural and as though Bear has one eye on demonstrating to the listener a range of writing styles rather than a consistency that is needed more. The track that follows, ‘Freelance’, breaks the disappointing monotony of the second half of the album and it skips along at quite a pace. There is a playfulness to this track which elevates it above most of the other songs on the album. It is the bastard hybrid of Daft Punk’s funkier side and of Montreal’s ‘Gronlandic Edit’. From here, though, the three tracks that close the album are forgettable, derivative and seem like lazy add-ons rather than statements of intent for a fully formed body of work.
Overall, the first half of Outer Peace sparkles, but there is a disappointing limpness to the second part which suggests that the ideas ran out and two EPs of excellent material could have been produced instead of one album’s worth of work.
from The 405 http://bit.ly/2sBgD9Q
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bitcoinegoldrush · 7 years ago
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This Week in Bitcoin: Big Bangs, Huge Swings, and a Word From the White House
Featured
Every week we tell ourselves “This one’s got to be quieter” and yet every week we’re proven wrong. Welcome to the latest and craziest edition of This Week in Bitcoin. We’ve no idea where this madness is gonna end; all we know is that there’s no time to assess the situation – there’s too much stuff happening in bitcoin. For those of you who were forced to sleep at some stage this week, here’s a roundup of what you may have missed.
Also read: Trump and the Federal Reserve Are ‘Keeping an Eye on Bitcoin’
Bitcoin Goes Bang
We tried to teach you about ways in which bitcoin is changing the world. We tried to inform you of cryptocurrency regulation in developing countries. We even tried to impart cautionary advice regarding margin trading. But all you wanted to hear about was bitcoin appearing on The Big Bang Theory. We said:
[Bitcoin] has been featured on many television broadcasts over the years. This includes shows like The Good Wife, Mr. Robot, The Simpsons, and even on Jeopardy. The Big Bang Theory’s upcoming show was also filmed a while back when bitcoin was averaging $5K per BTC….This week’s BBT episode is sure to bring more attention towards the ‘Internet of Money’ alongside a touch of laughter.
All of this week’s most popular stories were of the low-brow variety, but that’s okay: amidst all the heart-pounding drama of watching the ticker hit $11,300, shed $2,000 and then rise again like a phoenix from the flames, some respite was needed. You got all that in our tale of a man who lost 1,000 bitcoins thanks to a faulty thumb drive. As the unfortunate Australian put it, “If my wife knows, I’m dead”.
Other click-friendly stories included The World’s Worst Named Cryptocurrencies. We said:
Classics that are dead in the water include Fck Banks Coin, Fellatiocoin (it blew), Groincoin, and Crimsoncoin whose devs “sold their coins and ran off in less than a week”. No prizes for guessing what happened to DodoCoin.
…And Now For Some Real News
Bye midweek, the bitcoin roller-coaster was making everyone giddy and causing overloaded exchanges to tap out. There were more memes, media headlines, and soundbites than we could keep up with, though we tried to summate the best in our piece on bitcoin going parabolic. We said:
The only way to find out whether this rocket is filled with paper straws or moon fuel is to keep going. One thing’s for sure: up this high in the atmosphere, things start to get scary. It’s a long way down.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders finally broke her department’s silence on bitcoin this week.
Welcome to the School of Bitcoin
With all the new money and newcomers pouring into cryptocurrency, we decided it was time to dispense a few elementary lessons, including one on calculating transaction fees and another on how to safely store your bitcoin. In Stay Safe By Keeping Your ‘Bitcoin Business’ to Yourself we urged:
Leaving your private information out in the open or bragging about [your bitcoin holdings] on social media is not the greatest idea because thieves and even jealous friends can become very real.
Kiss Goodbye to Another Whirlwind Week
For an intangible digital currency, bitcoin sure stirs up strong emotions. From elation to anger and greed to disgust, we did our best to capture the best and worst elements of the sector as we covered such stories as the IRS receiving the data of 14,000 Coinbase users and bitcoin hitting new highs in Zimbabwe. We said:
After years of theory and debate, the decentralized currency has its real-time case study as a refuge for those seeking to store their wealth in a medium that will hold its value or better.
In a week where politicians correlated bitcoin with getting kids hooked on drugs and Turkey deemed the currency un-Islamic, it really was a jam-packed seven days. Oh, and we haven’t even mentioned bitcoin futures, which are totes coming. Like, for real this time. December 18th. This week’s required reading from elsewhere on the web, incidentally, is The Three Economic Eras of Bitcoin by Rusty Russell and an excellent piece on bitcoin’s true value by Miguel Cuneta. Stellar stuff.
The week ended with more drama as we revealed that proposed U.S. legislation may criminalize people who ‘conceal’ bitcoin. Y’all had a lot to say about that one in the comments – turns out you’re not big on Diane Feinstein. Eric Wall also returned to deliver his second trading column in which he pondered whether now’s a good time to buy bitcoin.
Could next week’s round-up surpass the giddiness and drama of this one? You wouldn’t want to bet against it. See you next week for more all-time highs (possibly), bankers saying dumb stuff (certainly), and crazy tales from the bizarre world of bitcoin.
What was your favorite story from the past seven days? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, and Zambian Astronaut.
Keep track of the bitcoin exchange rate in real-time.
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The post This Week in Bitcoin: Big Bangs, Huge Swings, and a Word From the White House appeared first on Bitcoin E-Gold Rush.
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cmf200memeteam-blog · 8 years ago
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Sample of three fictional/pop culture memes meant to present the contextual layers within them, and how all layers of context must be understood in order to properly respond some memes.
Meme #1 - Navi Rae Jepsen - There are two layers to unpack with this meme, and both need to be understood in other to obtain its message in full. For starters, we begin with the text. The words within the image is structured off the chorus of the hit pop song ‘Call Me Maybe’ by Carly Rae Jepsen. It largely sticks to the blueprint of the hook, but with a few alternations including the emphasis on the words “HEY” and “LISTEN”.
The original chorus goes as follows: Hey I just met you/So this is crazy/But here’s my number/So call me maybe
Follow that with the meme lyrics: HEY! I just met you/So this is crazy/But I’m a fairy/So LISTEN maybe?
The fairy in this meme is known as Navi, a character in the iconic video game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The character serves as a helpful companion throughout your quest, and whenever the game presents a hint to the player, it is indicated by a “HEY!” soundbite, and upon responding to the hint, there’s the additional soundbite where the character says “LISTEN!”.
So the meme presents what the character Navi is all about by incorporating a mere two words within a catchy pop song. As a result, an understanding of both the song and the game is required to understand the meaning of the meme. If you know one and not the other, you only obtain half the reference, and it ultimately would not yield a response.
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Meme #2: Taken: Yu-Gi-Oh Edition - The middle meme is similar to the Navi Rae Jepsen meme, with an identical level of “depth” to its presentation. Two pop-culture properties are being merged once again in this case.
To start off, there is the text: “I don’t know who you are, but I will find you and I will duel you.” The quote is structured from the action movie Taken, starring Liam Neeson. In the film there is one scene where he talks on the phone to the man who kidnapped his daughter, and towards the end he says “I will find you, and I will kill you.” In this case, the word “kill” is replaced with “duel”, for instead of Liam Neeson in the image we have the main character from the animated series Yi-Gi-Oh, which centres around characters dueling each other via a card game. The meme fits upon understanding the context from both sides, however there’s also a visual indicator on top of a textual message via the character holding a phone similar to how Liam Neeson holds his in the scene in Taken.
If you watched the film, and are unaware of the series, you will understand the quote but not the context within it. Just as how if you watch the series and haven’t watched the film, the word “duel” would ring a bell but not the text surrounding it. It is another example of how both layers need to be understood to fully understand the message and/or reference.
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Meme #3 - Leo’s Oscar Love - The final pop-culture meme has a few different layers to consider, and it accomplishes this without having to resort to the use of words. The image is originally from Titanic, the 1997 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, shown above, and Kate Winslet. A story of star-crossed lovers, a popular scene from the film has Leo and Kate standing at the front of the ship, pretending to “fly” as their relationship blooms to a more affectionate state.
In this particular image, we have Winslet’s character replaced with an oversized Academy Award (or Oscar). Over the course of his storied career, DiCaprio was nominated five times for an acting Oscar before finally winning one in 2016 for The Revenant. It was a narrative of an actor constantly losing out on what is looked upon as the top acting trophy, with several memes being produced which played upon and joked about this fact. There’s a temporal analysis to consider here for those memes would not make any sense for those who weren’t aware of the actor’s struggle for a win. After all, actors who won the award in the past weren't given the same meme treatment as DiCaprio as his "struggle" was more apparent. With his Oscar win, the meme almost serves as a full fledged character arc. DiCaprio memes began with him constantly being eluded by an object he desires, and ends with him finally obtaining said object. And just like any character arc, in order to understand the end you need to be aware of its beginning.
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joneswilliam72 · 6 years ago
Text
Review: Toro y Moi delights and frustrates in equal measure on Outer Peace
Toro y Moi were at the forefront of the chillwave scene a few years back, alongside Neon Indian and Washed Out, although the man behind the music, Chaz Bear, rejected attempts to pigeonhole his musical offerings. Chillwave was something of a fairly nebulous ‘microgenre’ with poorly defined parameters but that’s to be expected in the age of meme culture and soundbite knowledge. Regardless of his refusal to accept the label, Toro y Moi’s output remains focused on those aspects of chillwave which make most sense in terms of forming a cohesive identity for a number of disparate musical acts – one eye on nostalgia, a summery feel and a pop sensibility. All are abundantly evident on Outer Peace, the sixth album from Toro y Moi, with just a dash of added funk and R&B. The former serves the party atmosphere of some of the tracks well, the latter is a hindrance to the personal element of the album, as Bear relies far too heavily on auto-tune which belies the supposed personal themes of the lyrics.
‘Fading’, the album’s opener, is glorious and sets the tone for the lighter elements of the album to good effect. There is much on this track which will sound familiar to fans of Toro y Moi – time-stretched backing vocals, skittish programmed percussion and washed out keyboards. The subject matter of the lyrics is a little vague; on the first few plays the listener would be forgiven for thinking that it was a basic “love at first sight” tale, but there is an alternate reading of new temptation killing an already established relationship. This double-play continues on the next track, ‘Ordinary Pleasure’, which is the real earworm of this collection and comes across as a hybrid jam between Metronomy and later period LCD Soundsystem. It’s a party tune filled with self-doubt and angst, with Bear’s lyrics asserting that “Sometimes I don't understand what I'm saying/ So it’s fine if you gotta get away.” The song’s overall despondency is hidden behind the disco beat and funk-infused bassline, the nostalgic musical elements rendering the almost doleful vocal delivery to a secondary position in the mix. The heat of the disco inferno is turned up even further on the James Murphy namechecking ‘Laws of the Universe’, which borrows knowingly from the tone and timbre of Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories.
Album highlight ‘Miss Me’ features ABRA on vocals, and the track languidly reveals at its essence the story of a suitor reassuring their potential lover. There is an intoxicating quality to the vocals which lures the listener in, like the mythological Sirens tempting their pray to their eventual death. This, then, is a love song with warning signs waving in plain sight. It is an open letter to the burgeoning moments of what is bound to end up as a doomed relationship between previously burnt lovers. The next track, ‘New House’ continues this theme of desire, but the focus moves away from matters of the heart to material comfort. Bear imparts that “I just want a long shower/ I been feeling so crowded,” as he pines for an escape, a place of solitude where he can be away from the anxieties of travel, the war zone of baggage claim and a constantly ringing phone. This theme of peace, as the album title signposts, is a recurring one throughout these songs and there is a sense of claustrophobia to get away from the modern world whilst also celebrating a number of technological advances that are seen to be of benefit.
It is from track six of this album that things start to take a surprising turn for the worse. ‘Baby Drive It Down’ feels entirely out of place here, its sexual undercurrent and pseudo-dancehall drive feels forced, unnatural and as though Bear has one eye on demonstrating to the listener a range of writing styles rather than a consistency that is needed more. The track that follows, ‘Freelance’, breaks the disappointing monotony of the second half of the album and it skips along at quite a pace. There is a playfulness to this track which elevates it above most of the other songs on the album. It is the bastard hybrid of Daft Punk’s funkier side and of Montreal’s ‘Gronlandic Edit’. From here, though, the three tracks that close the album are forgettable, derivative and seem like lazy add-ons rather than statements of intent for a fully formed body of work.
Overall, the first half of Outer Peace sparkles, but there is a disappointing limpness to the second part which suggests that the ideas ran out and two EPs of excellent material could have been produced instead of one album’s worth of work.
from The 405 http://bit.ly/2sBgD9Q
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