#If it gets to the goal then I’ll post a poll probably for which song

[weewooooweew]

1.5k notes and I post an audio of me singing a cover of a song (tbd) on my ukulele

You can reblog spam idc about that but like 5 comments max bc a lot at once kinda annoys me sorry 😓

[uwunnie]

Updates (December 17, 6:30 PM US Mountain Time)

There’s a lot to unpack, so let’s get into it.

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Voting:

Seoul Music Awards

Android link

Apple link

3 votes daily

Voting ends January 22, 2020

Global Disk Awards

App link

3 daily votes & 2 additional votes if you share the link (there’s full instructions on the link)

Voting ends December 27, 2019

Global Golden Hands (fan-video for Wonho)

Stream the video

There’s also a poll on their YouTube channel page, I think, but I can’t pull it up from my app right now.

Voting ends December 20, 2019

HoneyPop Artist of the Year

Vote here

Twitter: #VoteTHPMonstaX

Voting ends December 20, 2019 - 11:59 PM EST

Idol Champ (Best Song)

Download app

I think you get 30 votes per day

This ends today, but I’m pretty sure there’s always new categories to vote in.

Streaming:

Middle of the Night

Follow and Someone’s Someone on Spotify (Spotify Awards)

Follow performance (MAMA 2019)

Forever & Never Die (MAMA 2019)

MX Moments (MAMA 2019)

⚠️ Remember to not skip ads nor put the videos on the mute. Do not replay otherwise the algorithm thinks you’re a bot. Watch the entire video - especially the mv - without pausing or skipping. Don’t play Spotify songs on loop, and listen to at least 30 seconds otherwise it won’t count. ⚠️

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Twotuckgom videos:

I made a playlist of all the recent ttg videos. Please stream them! Minhyuk has mentioned that he wishes there were more views so that they could gain more publicity, so let’s stream them for him and all of OT7!

Playlist here.

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Concerts:

Japanese MBB did the OT7 fan chant at MX’s most recent show in Japan.

At one of the recent shows, MBBs holding Wonho slogans and signs were encouraged by the boys to raise them higher.

If I’m correct, I believe Jooheon actually had a ment where he encouraged MBB to raise their signs up. He mentioned that the signs were very beautiful and that he wanted to see them and asked MBB to raise them up one more time. He didn’t specify exactly which signs, but it’s pretty easy to assume he was referring to the Wonho ones because of him mentioning he noticed MBB were hesitant to hold them up and MBB tweeting from that show explained how the ones holding Wonho signs were afraid of holding them up because they didn’t know if they could.

@joohoneybunch created an OT7 fan chant for their final jingle performance and I believe mbb used it

I think that may be it for concerts.

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Appearances:

Going back a bit, Monsta X won two awards at MAMA 2019.

Fast-forwarding to more recent events, the active members went to the US for Jingle Ball and it wasn’t too chaotic.

Changkyun said Monsta Truck is about a truck for Monbebe that he wants us all to get on..sure, yeah, def.

When prompted to answer what MBB have taught MX, Minhyuk said ‘love,’ Hyungwon said ‘live,’ and Shownu said ‘dougie.’

They appeared on Ryan & Kelley.

Their B96 interviews are up!

Here’s a Spotify link, but I think there’s videos up on YouTube as well - especially their performances.

VLives were done.

Jooheon had fallen ill prior to coming to the US, but he’s since returned and informed everyone at the last US concert that he’s okay. In addition, at one of the recent shows, he said how MBB have been his strength for getting through his mental and physical sickness.

Back in SK, ISAC commenced and it was...chaotic good?

MX was two hours late - I presume because they had just flown in from America and went directly to ISAC.

MBBs attending ISAC fell asleep while waiting and one of the managers told them to wake up because it was “time to support.” 🥺

MBB said the food provided didn’t taste good.

Minhyuk told MBB to go home and rest.

MX only participated in the categories they had to - I think they were hoping to get banned tbh.

Despite their semi-obvious efforts to lose, MX ended up going to finals.

In addition, despite their efforts to lose and the fact that they had absolutely zero practice beforehand, arrived late, and just came back from the US with probably less than four hours of sleep - they won second place overall.

Hyungwon wore this shirt:

Kihyun basically dyed his hair blue after MBB talked about it on fc.

They’re aware of everything we’ve adopted and bought for them.

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SBS/KBS:

The top two major news angencies played OT7 footage when talking about MX. This is very unusual, but a good sign because usually when an idol is terminated and/or no longer respected, they get blurred from footage or cropped out, but there was actually a Wonho focus throughout most of the broadcasts’ durations.

This could hint that the general public no longer views him negatively.

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In addition to new merch for the active members, from my understanding, Twotuckgom has also restocked old Bebegom products, and continues putting a small BBG in the comics.

They also had one comic in particular that showcased one of the goms as a magician who is looking for the ‘rabbit in its hat.’ When it looks inside it’s hat, there’s another gom dresser as a bunny lifting weights with a little BBG hidden in the background. I don’t know about you, but to me that sounds like they’re finding Bebegom like we’re finding Wonho.

TTG’s Twitter also retweeted a rendition that a MBB made of the goms involved in the The Ugly Duckling (I think?) fairytale. Basically, Bebegom leaves because it doesn’t feel like it belongs and the other goms search everywhere until they find each other again.

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There are projects going on, but I’m not going to post about any until I research them. There’s certain groups I do not support because their intentions are ill, but they hide behind a sort of..veil. When I get time to properly look into everything, I’ll make a post.

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Searches have been cleared for the most part, but please continue a little bit more since some bad things still pop up when searching certain members.

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Interesting things are happening with the 🐍🐍, but I’m not going to talk about it publicly. Maybe at some point I’ll release a post, but not until more info emerges.

In the meantime, please refrain from leaving negative comments on either of their social profiles. Don’t make posts, either - even if you think your profile is small enough that no one will see. Trust me, eyes are everywhere and a negative post on an account with so much as 0 followers will still pop up and travel like one for someone with 1000 followers.

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I think this pretty much sums up what’s been happening as of late. Sorry for being slow - all of this occurred during finals, so I didn’t really have a lot of time to make long posts. Now that I’m on break for a month, I’ll catch up with the recaps and go back to the steady updates.

Continue with your efforts and try to ignore the hypocrites who continue spewing toxicity despite spreading positive mantras.

Honestly, Monbebes have accomplished a lot and made steps towards a positive change in both the industry and the world. In addition, at the end of the day, our goal isn’t to please other fandoms, but win justice for Wonho and other artists who have been wronged, as well as prevent the wrongdoings from incoming and current trainees.

Be proud of being part of the “sticky-note fandom” because regardless of other people’s opinions, we’re not only inspiring and demanding change, but succeeding in doing so.

[melien]

Update

Hey guys! Guess I'll break the silence and talk about... things. It will be a long post because I just never can make them shorter, but there will be some updates on my life and simblr that I really want to share with everyone.

The beginning of this month for me was truly something. I went on a three-day training with the other summer camp counsellors and then, two days later, there was another four-day sightseeing trip. Bonus: I had a really bad flu and was suffering the entire time. Needless to say, I was exhausted and on Sunday, when I came home, I slept from 5 pm to 9 am next day, and I'd sleep even longer if my mom didn't wake me up (I had a drawing class at 10 so I was really lucky).

But the most important thing is, I feel like I'm finally living an actual life that I could only dream of when I was younger, very insecure, socially awkward and constantly surrounded by wrong people. Now I know that I'm on my way to becoming a person I always wanted to be. All it took is telling all the fears to buzz off and making changes (e.g. joining the local youth center as a volunteer), and here I am now. It didn't happen immediately, but I kept pushing. Compared to myself only one year ago who believed everything is always going to end the same way so why even bother, it's such a massive progress and I'm so proud. In these past few days and by extension months I've had some great times with great people, I felt so comfortable with them. We talked about everything, had inside jokes, exchanged nice words and hugs, took a lot of photos, danced together, sang songs on top of our lungs, played mafia and other games, had walks in the unknown cities, got lost there, had to run like crazy not to miss the bus, sat in the restaurants and laughed a lot. There were plenty of moments when I felt alive and an important part of my community. When you have majorly struggled in the past, you start appreciating these things even more. I hope it doesn't sound like bragging, but I'm just so emotional about all of this because I never had anything quite like it and these experiences are new for me. I've still surely got a way to go when it comes to my personal development, but it's a start and I don’t want to go back to the times when I felt alone and unnecessary. I think the key was just changing my mindset altogether and getting rid of negativity, which is why I started attracting more positive people who think alike, and my little dreams and goals started coming true without me even realising it. For example, deep inside I always wanted to be a camp counsellor, and now I am – it’s the first step towards my big dream to be an English teacher.

Throughout these days, I only looked on simblr very briefly for the reasons mentioned above, but I want to gradually start catching up with the stories and legacies I enjoy, at least a little bit. The trips were awesome, but so physically exhausting. And I still have a lot of stuff to do this week, mainly do work and possibly a few more volunteering projects, so I probably won't be around as often as I want to, but just know that you're all great and I love you. 

I'm especially thankful for the comments and love on the recent events in the Twinkle legacy! I'm sooo excited for Cloudberry to be my next heiress because she's pretty damn awesome and I already have a huge crush on her thanks to some photos that I've taken of her as an adult, so it's going to be fun. I also ran a poll on Twitter asking if people wanted to see the Maples or Lilygreens. I have a backlog of both, but due to the poll results I'm going to post the Maples first and I'm dying for the start of my second generation to go live! Now if only I could find motivation to draft.

One more thing that I wanted to mention is that I have a ts2 side blog, @strange-mel. I really missed playing with premades and writing dialogues for them, and currently ts2 is my jam so I'm going to be active on that blog for a long time because I have a massive queue of my Strangetown gameplay going. I'm quite proud of how it's turning out because the gameplay was so enjoyable and there's a lot of hilarious moments. Also, I'm planning on writing a story in ts2 which features some of my favourite Strangetown characters, and I love the concept but it depends on my time and energy. Feel free to follow on there if you want to!

That's all for now, I guess. Oh and also, random but I go away for a few days and see Zayn releasing "A Whole New World" cover (for those who don't know, I'm hopelessly obsessed with this song and Aladdin, and I can't wait to go to the movie theater to see live action). All the best stuff happens when I'm gone, so I won't be surprised if some amazing sims posts have happened in this time period. 😅

Tl;dr: The entire beginning of May for me was travelling and I had a lot of fun with great people, which I have a lot of feelings about since I haven’t experienced anything like this in the past, and I’m really happy with my life at the moment. I may not be on simblr as often these days, but I’ll try my best and the queue will be active. The Twinkles are going on a break and the Maples are next. I also have a ts2 blog where I’m planning to be active and post my gameplay and possibly a story with Strangetown premades. To conclude, I’m looking forward to the live action Aladdin (relevant, I know)

[thekonnection82]

As promised, Mamamoo completes their year long project ‘Four Seasons Four Colors’ with the release of their ninth mini album ‘White Wind’ on March 14. ‘Four Seasons Four Colors’ had goals of building up Mamamoo’s artistic repertoire by exploring new sounds that are unexpected of the group. Using seasons and colors for the concept gives the quartet wide range to accomplish these goals. Reviewing the last two mini albums (‘Red Moon’ and ‘Blue;s’) have been awesome, and I felt obliged to post about the final piece of the project.

The concept for this album treats white as the blank canvas for Mamamoo to freely create an array of colors by using the colors they had showcased in the past, conceptually both primary and neon colors. Mamamoo pays homage to their start as they use their bright colors in a modernized way parallel to their jazzy, retro-pop concept of debut. The way they are bolder and cooler with the pop of neon gave me the essence of their previous releases under the primary colors. Even the album cover design used a gradient accent of blue and purple that reminded me of their mini album cover for ‘Purple’ that was released prior to this project, which they first expressed the concept of mixing colors to symbolize a new sound. With all this said and seeing the teasers, I wondered if they were in any way revisiting their old sound.

I’ll be quoting Mamamoo as they gave descriptions of each song in their highlight medley video.

Let’s get to it!

  ‘White Wind’ Album Art

  ‘Where R U’

R&B song that expresses the heart fluttering feelings of waiting for a destined lover, as if they’re playing hide-and-seek. 

This track took me by surprise by how airy and light the production was. The plucked chords reminded me of strings from the violin family, and the flute synth notes created a refreshing, dreamy sound. If you listen closely during the pre-chorus you can hear xylophones chiming in and it plays as a cute little accent. These parts gave me the feeling that I was probably going to transcend into heaven, but the guitar and the main beat helped balance out the mentioned parts  as if to keep listeners grounded. The vocals expressed well about wondering where their future lover is. Although Mamamoo sang lightly, they didn’t sound weak or broken but rather firm. The way the song ended felt abrupt and awkward, only to realize it emphasized the wonder that surrounded the repeated question.

  ‘Gogobebe’ (Title Track)

The song uses the ‘jijibee (…)’ from Kim Gunmo‘s ‘Jjanga‘ as a motif for the lyrics and melody. You will be able to see Mamamoo having fun and enjoying themselves without clinging to past loves or things that have happened. 

Mamamoo embodies a liberating dance track here. Solar and Hwasa have entrancing control of the refrain as it draws you in and encourages you to continue partying with the group. Wheein delivers her lines in a sassy and chic way that you can forget her soft side. Moonbyul, raps her self-written lines coolly and with ease, and I appreciate her parts had two differing tones. The chorus’ melody reminded me of R&B girl groups of the 1990’s, which gave a different kind of retro vibe (compared to their rookie funky-pop releases). Within the chorus, the line where the members sang in unison gives emphasis to the theme of letting everything go. Yet, I find the theme ironic when the arrangement and production of this song sounded like it was crafted carefully and intricately. I never would have thought the combination of reggaeton and this latin guitar riff would be tasteful. So this is a fun, colorful track that will make you move in any way as you please.

Check out ‘Jjanga‘ by Kim Gun Mo, who co-composed this track.

  ‘Waggy‘

Bossanova-style song that tickles your heart like a spring wind, and has witty lyrics. It’s a song that’s like listening to a friend who has fallen in love and can’t hide their heart fluttering excitement. 

When the simple instrumentals started playing, I already had good feelings towards this song as it sounded upbeat and sweet. ‘Waggy’ really oozes fluttering affection, perfect for the spring season. The vocals are charming as they sing like a fresh breeze, and bounced to the rhythm like animated springing flowers. Mamamoo’s “beagle” humor could not be avoided as they added cute but subtle animal sounds throughout the song. The trumpet solo was a nice, classy touch that rides along the track’s wholesomeness. This quaint song was a little reminiscent to their similar, but more relaxing bossa nova track called ‘My Hometown’ (2016). It was nice to hear Mamamoo do this style of song again as it reminded listeners of their strength in making something a little old sound new while maintaining their boisterous group personality. You can definitely see this come to life as they performed ‘Waggy’ on music shows as they dressed up in various costumes and finding amusement out of  Hwasa’s tsundere attitude.

  ‘25‘

…still clumsy at 25, missing her natural, pure younger days while still loving her own self now, a step closer to her dream by maturing strongly. 

Since Wheein holds the color and wind symbol for this project, ‘25’ is the album’s obligatory solo track. Knowing her discography, Wheein is usually the one being featured, or has had a rapper feature on her tracks. It was nice to hear Wheein sound relaxed yet her serious effort was still prevalent. Even co-writing this song, ‘25’ gives listeners a chance to hear a personal, introspective side of Wheein. Besides the lyrics, the smoothness and steady groove of this song gives a sense of nostalgia, especially for those who grew up with ‘90s-early 2000s R&B.  The simple arrangement of guitar and snap beats didn’t overshadow Wheein’s varying vocals as it expressed genuine gratitude. Mamamoo’s fanbase, or Moomoos, would find this track so obvious in style as they are familiar with her leaning towards R&B and soul. It’s a down-to-earth, chill song which acted as a nice break between the livelier songs throughout the album.

On the set of ‘You Hee-yeol’s Sketchbook’ .

Backstage at M Countdown.

  ‘Bad Bye‘

Pop slash R&B track that ardently expresses the painful feelings of not being able to accept an approaching breakup. As the farewell is too painful and bad, a ‘good bye’ is expressed as ‘bad bye’.

This song started off with sad piano notes and I assumed it would be Mamamoo’s classic pop-ballad like the way they performed on music show “Immortal Songs 2” or their diva-esque ‘I Miss You’ (2016). But the thought was immediately denied when the mid-tempo beat with brief pulsating synth high hats, rain drops as snaps, and deep basses came in. The vocals are strong throughout the song, even at their lowest, softest parts. The melody sounded distressing and reminiscent (again) of old-school pop slash R&B tracks of the early millennium. The arrangement briefly alters during Moonbyu’s first rap part, and I thought it was interesting how dark it felt. Overall, listeners can belt out their heartache with some rhythm and soul.

  ‘My star‘

It expresses ‘You are my star’ to someone who can’t be compared to anyone else. The heavy bass and trendy beat hit you powerfully. 

A few seconds of the intro created a dramatic mood. Mamamoo is definitely right when they say that this song hits you hard, especially since the heavy bass drives the song. To match the heavy bass’ booming energy, the vocals had to sound mighty and confident as well. Solar’s tone fits perfectly for this, and Hwasa’s raspiness added some texture as it stands out more when reaching for those loud, high notes. The rap sounded gritty and flowed rhythmically well even though it was so brief. I kind of expected the bridge to be totally toned down, but there were spurts of the resonant notes (in the background) that tells me the energy was not going to be halted at any time. Kudos to Wheein who sprinkles the ending chorus with her falsettos. This song was very enjoyable and can uplift one’s mood.

  ‘4season (Outro)‘

It’s a song that brings Mamamoo’s ‘Four Seasons Four Color’ project into one. It has lyrics about each of the album themes, ‘moon, wind, flower, and sun’

This definitely ties up the ‘Four Seasons Four Colors’ project nicely. The arrangement felt warm and laid back, and it had me reminiscing of what Mamamoo tried to prove with this project for the past year. It’s parallel to their song ‘Paint Me’, but instead of talking about the colors they mention each season. Like how Mamamoo has described in their highlight medley, the outro encourages listeners and fans alike to continue on making memories with the group, which implied that just because the project is over, does not mean their musical ventures end.

Promoting to vote on M Countdown.

Promoting on Music Bank.

‘White Wind’ for the majority of the album reached the retro vibes in a way I did not expect. Rather than the funk and blues similar in their debut, Mamamoo took elements of 90s-2000s R&B pop and showed a more modernized confidence. It is a unique take of fusing old trends with the current trends of programmed music. I mostly enjoyed the diverse beats and production of this album, thanks to the magic provided by Cosmic Girl, and Rainbow Bridge World’s Cosmic Sound, Park Soo Wang, and hit maker CEO Kim Do Hoon. They were able to provide clean, vibrant backdrops while keeping Mamamoo’s vocals shining upfront. This EP also compiled the gists of previous albums: the freshness of spring like ‘Yellow Flower’, the bold and daring like ‘Red Moon’, and the chicness like ‘Blue;s’. Mixing these sounds gave Mamamoo more to paint with and it has produced vivid and entertaining tunes for any kind of listeners. 

  What do you think of ‘White Wind’? Comment your thoughts down below!

Take Our Poll

  Written by: Eliana L.

Sources: Mamamoo Facebook | Mamamoo Twitter | Mamamoo Youtube | TV-People Youtube | Mnet K-POP

Check out Mamamoo's newest album 'White Wind' ! As promised, Mamamoo completes their year long project ‘Four Seasons Four Colors’ with the release of their ninth mini album ‘

[some-cookie-crumbz]

Not Another Fic Info Dump

Hey, all! I promised to get this up soon so here it is! I’m putting most of it under a read more, since even though it’s shorter than my last one, it’s still a full like 2 pages.

TLDR for those who don’t want to read:

Okay, so, remember that schedule I posted a few months back? That got totally blown the fuck out by the situation at work? I had specifically planned that out with the intention of having more free time this summer, but that simply didn’t happen. My boss of the last five years just left this week and has been replaced by a new manager, whom I already have high hopes for. Our staff situation is almost fixed, but our store’s assistant manager is receiving a promotion and we only have her for one more week. Once she’s gone, until a new assistant manager is brought in, I’m the only one with the availability and training to fill that role. I’ve already spoken about my situation with my new manager and explained that the absolute latest I can do that for is about a month, since I go back to school the third week of August to start up my final term of college. So, unless we get a new assistant in the next two weeks, I’ll basically have minimal free time until right before my semester starts, and then I’ll have to balance my free time to work in study/ class works as well. I am, however, confident that things will be able to get worked, since I’ve worked with the new manager before and know that he’s a great guy.

As such, I’ve reached the following decision regarding my fics: I will not be following any specific schedule anymore, but I am going to be trying my best to get into a rhythm.

For now, I am limiting myself to only four major projects, though I do have some more one-shots and continuation pieces in the works for other stories I’ve submitted. I’ve decided to run with the four ideas I have the most plans for and my goal will be to upload the first chapter of all of them before this month ends. I am not abandoning any of my other projects, though; they’ll just be settled on the back burner until I have more free time/ finish one of the other four projects.

So, which projects should be expected from me?

Time, Space, and Everything Between: This fic is one that I’ve been chomping at the bit to work on and have already almost finished the first chapter. Of all my undefined projects, this will most likely end up being the longest, as while I have a lot of ideas I want to explore with it, I haven’t really decided tOo much in regards to how I want it to end. Pairing: Kidge; Others to be determined at a later date.

Copper and Indigo: The Voltron Soul Eater!AU that I keep promising will be uploaded soon! Since I’ve gotten the results from the poll, I’ve started drafting out an outline to try and have a general idea of where I want to take that story. This is a project that might end up a bit longer than most of my defined projects, but not as long as T,S,aEB. Pairings: Kidge; Hanlura (I think that’s the ship name? IDEK)

Squeaky Brakes: I’m going to be honest and say that Heith has very quickly become my second favorite Voltron ship and I couldn’t resist. I really wanted to do something that was a bit more on the domestic side of romance, and what could be better than Single Dad Keith falling for the Patient Mechanic Hunk? I’ve already got a rough outline completed for this one, and it will only be about 10-12 chapters, maybe, so not a particularly long project. Pairings: Heith; side-lined Allurance.

Here (In Your Arms): Title taken from a song by the band Hellogoodbye (Please listen to it, it is a great Kidge song and also a great Latte song!) This is the fic I was talking about in this post a little while back. I’ve decided I really want to pursue it, since I think it’s be a blast to write and it got a lot of positive feedback! This is another shorter project that I doubt will make it far into the double digits, if it even does, so probably about 8-11 chapters, maybe? Pairings: Latte; Kidge; others to be determined as I start working it out.

My goal will be to have the first chapter of all of these uploaded by the end of July, and then I’ll be running with the goal of updating them each once a month, so it’d be one update to one of these projects a month. All other ideas I have will still be worked on as my free time/ interest wavers. My goal is to be consistently uploading something at least once a week, though there will be weeks that my productivity goes higher due to additional projects – I’ve fallen hard into Persona 4 Hell and am big on a low-time ship that needs some more love, as well as having a short story idea using my own characters that I want to maybe self-publish on Amazon – so there’s that to consider as well.

Hopefully this helps clear up my current situation in regards to writing! Looking forward to seeing what you all think of everything I have up my sleeve in the coming weeks!

[theundergroundarchives]

Rap Beast: Here comes the up-and-coming artiste, ASYRFNSIR, the spellbinding KL-hailed musician who recently puts out the antidote rap track “VIRUS”

You might not want to miss out on this one because this artiste right here is about to blow up and become the next big thing inside the music industry. He’s ASYRFNSIR (pronounced as Asyraf Nasir). Having been recently crowned as the champion of RapStar ERA, where he toppled down other equally prodigious contestants in front of the music industry virtuosos as the judges, the climbing moves for the effervescent rap star doesn’t stop just there. In an introspective interview with writer Ainaa Amirrah, ASYRFNSIR lets us in on the analytical facet of him and his first commercial single “VIRUS” which is collaboratively produced by Def Jam South East Asia and Universal Music Malaysia. Could be, “VIRUS” is all about the current pandemic that we’re being faced with right now? This is where the “secrets” get revealed.

Words by Ainaa Amirrah

When was the first time you realized that you're into rapping? 

I’ve always been into hip hop since I was in school. The first rap song I heard was “I’ll Be Missing You” by Puff Daddy (his name at the time la) and I just got hooked into the genre ever since. But taking rapping more seriously started three years ago when I decided to join this video making competition about a potato snack with an old classmate I had not seen since I left high school! I randomly decided to go makan (eat) very late at this mamak stall I have never gone to around the neighbourhood and bumped into him. He shared with me that he does video editing full-time and so, I recommended him to tag along for the competition. We had to lip sync the words and while filming the scenes, my friends was saying how I should try writing actual songs because zaman sekolah dulu (during the high school years) I liked to do parodies! Long story short, we won and managed to meet SonaOne for the first time because he was the jingle for that video competition. Pretty overwhelming considering that was the first time I won anything before! After that my friend tried to convince me to rap for real, and the deal he made was that he’d shoot every music video I do for free to help build my career. And damn, I guess here we are! Crazy times. I owe a lot to this guy, if not, I might have not taken that step to start. Much love to you, Nicholas Bong!

How does it feel like being crowned as the champion of RapStar ERA? 

Surreal. That is the best word that I can think of. Okay, so I’m going to be honest and say that none of the participants expected that this thing was going to be that big! I saw the poster online and thought it was just a standard challenge where you have to upload a 1-minute video of you rapping and boom! Done! Sadakallahul'azim, finish already and we have found a winner. But no man, from the ‘Gram we had to go for live auditions and from there it was an intensive 2-week journey with daily challenges! Every day we had to write fresh 16 bars on a new beat and memorize it for the next day! If this was another ‘upload video on Instagram’ thing takpe la (nevermind), but we had to perform in front of actual judges in the music industry! (Fariz Jabba, Joe Flizzow, Navigator, SonaOne). Dah la (What’s more) we had the finale show some more, and it was a legit concert! So to put it simply, very overwhelming because the journey was very competitive and the hype about the whole competition was building up along the way so the pressure for me personally, was high. My whole family for the first time came to see me perform live kot that night of the finale! What made me join the competition by the way, is of course the opportunity to work with Def Jam South East Asia, but also, I always try to participate in any rap challenges on Instagram. I feel like it pushes myself to continue to come up with materials creatively (because you have to make videos too kan) and personally I feel like if you want to get anywhere, we just have to take every opportunity we can to showcase our skills you know? We can’t be too picky and selective on what we want to take part in, because the true fact is that how you perform will determine the outcome.

Now that you’ve become the RapStar ERA champion, what plans do you have in mind for the next phase? Are you still going to actively produce more of free verses posted on your Instagram, or perhaps, we could expect an extended play or an album coming from ASYRFNSIR? 

Writing never stops. Since RMO started, I’ve been coming up with this series called #Quarantingz where I would come up with a fresh verse every two days, based on the stories of other people during quarantine! I enjoy putting up content and it challenges my writing capability to explore new flows, so yeah, you can expect more free verses! I’ve had plans of coming up with an album by the end of this year, but RapStar ERA happened, and right now, I just want to recalculate my steps for a solid game plan you know? We’ll see.

You've significantly been known to have always included your personal trademark of "#AYangLuMinati" in your bars. Perhaps you could enlighten us about the meaning behind the words? 

“AYangLuMinati” was a completely accidental tagline. So my hand sign which is the shape of an ‘A” was interpreted by a lot of random kids who said that I’m showing ajaran sesat (heresy) and promoting the Illuminati agenda whatever that means. But I wasn’t mad or anything, I just thought that it was hella funny on how the internet can have so many different interpretations. So what I did was put up in my Instagram stories of the ‘actual’ or common Illuminati hand signs or symbols and show that it clearly is very different. And this is where the tagline came about, I put a poll that said: “What do you see in this hand sign?” A) Illuminati. B) A-luminati. C) A-Yang-Lu-Minati. From what I thought was a very lame pun, people actually voted and responded to C! So instead of taking all the concerning comments [and teguran (reprimands) in DMs too] as a form of negativity, I embraced it and turned it into my trademark. Also, Altimet used to refer to himself as ‘A’ a lot in his music. And one of the last few words he mentioned in an interview before he retired from performing was telling the new rappers to “be better than me”. So I guess as a personal interpretation, I wanted to strive and be better than the OGs in the game eventually in my journey to the top.

Can you tell us a bit about your first single “VIRUS” produced by SonaOne of Def Jam South East Asia? Could be, is it about the current Covid-19 pandemic that’s happening right now? 

A lot of people assumed that it is about the Covid-19 before the song was released, but I’m afraid that it is absolutely not related at all. This song was made before the RMO and I think the pandemic only just started to slowly spread in Malaysia. In the spirit of current news, I thought it would’ve been fun to use that as a reference in the song as a means of saying that my music is contagious. But then, the more I thought about it, this song is going to be my first introductory single into a wider audience in the music industry. I needed to make sure that this leaves a memorable mark in everyone’s minds. Thus, I embraced myself to be the ‘virus’ itself. Hoping to ‘infect’ the eardrums of listeners who had just heard of me for the first time, leaving them wanting for more. As much as this ‘spreads’ as a ‘virus’, it is also an antidote to ease everyone who’s been deprived of a good hit during the quarantine period. So without mentioning Covid-19, if you analyse the lyrics, there’s a lot of keyword elements about bacteria, hygiene etc. But they are interpreted as life lessons instead.

Could we also expect any forthcoming projects of you with Def Jam South East Asia after this? 

Well, I don’t know yet. (No really, I don’t!) But if God wills, if “VIRUS” achieves its goal, let’s hope you guys will be addicted for more! So stream it everywhere and stay tuned! Regardless, my promise to you is that I’m definitely going back into the lab and continue writing more bops for you guys!

I’m pretty sure that the fans out there are curious about the cash that you won from participating in RapStar ERA. What was the first thing that you bought using the money? 

Well, so far, I haven’t used the money yet. But this has always been my thing since I started performing, which is that whatever I earn from music, I try to put it back to the growth of my music. The first few pay checks I got from my early gigs, I used them for buying a new studio mic and headphones for better quality. So I won’t spend it on other material items but instead, probably build my home studio or channel it back into my future music video productions!

What are the reasons that especially keep you motivated and positive in pursuing your dream of becoming a successful artiste? 

What keeps me motivated is honestly, the scene itself. I feel like listening to great materials by other rappers, both old and new, keeps me fired up. It’s like collecting the great energy around and channelling it into your own you know? Also, the goal is to share the good stuff I have because I would like to believe that I’ve got materials and a style that the world would want to pay attention to.

So it seems like you’ve been venturing more into trap music as heard in your discography. Would you one day, like to any other genres in showcasing your rap ability? 

I’m actually flexible in different sounds, I guess my recent releases have been more into trap but I’m more open to trying out other genres as well! People always think rap needs to only be in hip hop, but rapping is just a skill like singing. If you can sing in other genres, surely rapping can apply too, no? Break the barriers! If not, we wouldn’t have Rage Against the Machine! Linkin Park! Old Town Road by Lil Nas X!

What do you really hope the world sees in ASYRFNSIR’s music? 

The energy I bring in every track. I always try to associate myself with good vibes and good tunes for people to have a good time you know? The message will come together of course, and it may be about other issues instead of my own story. You can give my first release a listen called “Sunshine”, which is an ode to all women in conjunction of International Women’s Day. Plus, I don’t curse in my lyrics so you guys can bet your 3-year-old niece to listen to my music too.

Any hope for the local music scene in Malaysia? 

A lot. I have so much hope and expectations from the music scene in Malaysia. We got young blood filled with talent who’s just trying to do what they do best you know? Some of these newer acts also have crossed borders and gained fans in our neighbourhood countries like Midnight Fusic. GARD is also one of the gems we have in the hip hop scene. Have you heard his EP with WUZGUT titled CPR (Club Perenang Rohani)? So yeah, I think we’re headed the right direction. Just let the people do their thing! And do your part in showing support as well. Also, one more thing I want to add, I feel like in order for us to push the standards, we should remove ‘local’ when we announce our talented musicians. For example ‘local singer’ or ‘local rapper’ or ‘local music’. An artiste is an artiste, and if people can take out the ‘Malaysian’ label in our artistes, we can finally improve the mind set of putting these people on the same pedestal as other international artistes.

QUICK TRIVIA Q&A WITH ASYRFNSIR!

Be rich or be smart? Smart. Smart people always have ways in making money. Boom.

Be handsome or be famous? Famous. Looks alone may not get you anywhere. Fame can help give you a greater voice of influence. It’s a great tool to create change in less fortunate communities and the lives of others as well.

Have a song with Eminem or Tupac? Tupac. The values and messages he carries in his rhythm and poetry.

Beat SonaOne or Joe Flizzow in a rap battle? Hmm, okay in RapStar ERA, Joe Flizzow was the judge for one of the rounds we had which was a rap battle. No disrespect, but if you could be the judge, then damn, they should just give you the crown already.

Live in Paris or Japan? Japan! Have always admired the Japanese lifestyle and values they have. They’re also very innovative! Constantly levelling up! Amazing. I can imagine living there.

Have 9 lives like cats or own 9 Porches? 9 lives man. Create a new legacy in every life you’re given. Boom! Also, you got 9 Porches for what? Parking susah guna Grab jugak. (At last, you’re going to be using Grab anyways because of parkings.)

1 million dollars to save in your bank account or give it away to charities? Invest in things to help yourself first and the people around you. Only then use the tools and influence you have to help the less fortunate. I am sometimes sceptical on donating money to charities, because you don’t handle the accounts so you don’t know where the money goes and what is spent on.

Eat pizza for your whole life or rendang instead? PIZZA FOR LIFE!

Listen to ASYRFNSIR’s latest single, “VIRUS”:

[thirdkoopa]

Hymn of the Hallux Announcement Post

**Since this is only on the Tumblr page, I highly suggest checking out my crosspost with this link: https://lucascomposerblog.wordpress.com/2017/01/02/hymn-of-the-hallux-announcement-post/ for better formatting. In the future I’m hoping to have that squared away**

Hello everyone! Welcome to the Hymn of the Hallux Gameplay + Some More Information post. For any asking, this is indeed the “Chrono Type Game” or the “Game that plays like Chrono Trigger” – But there’s a few twists to follow. I wanted to make a post outlining everything in this game’s official announcement, from every aspect of gameplay, to when you all can expect more info. Everything is WIP and still subject to change. Let’s get this started:

Outside of Combat Gameplay Gameplay

You know it’s an RPG that plays like Chrono Trigger – On-Map battles in the gameplay, three party members, and so forth. How does outside the battles work, though? I present an answer,

The characters are censored through the magical blob of photoshop.

How do you get past this ledge?

I can answer that easily.

Slowly but surely, the characters move past through a hookshot!

“Woah, now how did you do that?!”

When you’re on-map, the game plays like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, but each party member has control over a different on-map ability. The one up there was the hookshot; used to get across ledges and to get new items. While there is a lot of inspiration from A Link to the Past, there are a few abilities that don’t come from The Legend of Zelda. Designing dungeons based around these mechanics have made this awesome – I’m able to appeal to people who want to explore everything, while also appealing to people who just want to get a dungeon over with.

Battle System & Other Gameplay Updates

The Battle System plays like Chrono Trigger, but here’s a few changes/additions:

–Dual Techs and Triple Techs are based on your TP – Based on how many turns you’ve done, you’re able to use them, so they’re separate from MP. –Six spell type system – Bar bosses, the spell system is pretty basic. You’ll be able to recognize an enemy by color (there will be a lot of recolors of similar enemies at stronger) to identify what type they are. If you’re using the same color magic that an enemy already uses, it won’t work. If you’re using the one that opposes their type, it’ll be super effective (whether it’s x2 remains to be seen). If you’re using one of the four that don’t affect it at all, nothing will happen. –Interesting Weapon Variety (to be explained more later) –Three spells for each characters. No more, no less, but all spells definitely have ability. –No revives. (I’m balancing heavily around this; the party is becoming really strong to compensate) -Able to switch characters between battles. –Non-Linear Dungeons

Everything is subject to change, but this is what I’m working on right now.

Art Preview

Here, have the first screenshot that doesn’t use RPG Maker assets:

The first demo isn’t focused on the most… aesthetically appeasing stuff. Censor blob comes back to censor party members!

I plan on doing a majority of the art for myself, for self-improvement, but I have a lot of friends who are professional at the craft whom I plan on getting feedback from. If all plans go well, I do plan on funding a few other artist friends to come join me for relatively small work on it. The main thing I’ve learned from analyzing RPG’s over the past few years: There’s a lot of places that they do budget cuts to make a game of that scope possible. I’ve bunked myself into three categories for art: “Need” “Want” “Would like to have”

Programming & Engine

I mentioned it before already in here, but for the first demo, I’ll be using RPG Maker VX Ace. After this, thanks to the assistance of Moghunter1’s Schala Battle System, I will probably be transferring over to RPG Maker MV. If I don’t transfer over to RPG Maker MV, I’ll be working on my own system (which will make the game take more time, but I have ideas in the works in-case.)

For porting, I’m pretty positive we’ll be able to get it on Mac along with PC. Anything else is too early to call, but I want to place it on as many systems as reasonably possible.

Story Preview

This is a preview set two years after the events of Solace. Here’s a short preview,

‘Some sounds were never meant to be heard’

“Craftsion, a fledgling colony in the world of Alkazure, is being overrun by creatures that are unknown to all. Abraham, the colony Leader, has only one clue: Every century a song is sung, a story is told. With time of the essence, can Abraham and his allies be able to solve these mysteries? Or will everything fall to ashes?”

I do have a few friends who are fantastic at writing helping me with polish. Since I do plan on making this an infinite universe under the name “Alkazure” (Meaning sequels, prequels, side stories, and so forth are all up in the air) I want to make sure the universe is as consistent and as strong as I can make it, and all of the writing reflects that as much as possible.

I know there’s one more preview…

Music Preview

As a Musician, there’s no way I could forget a music preview?

So remember Solace? I reflected about the project that wrapped up only seven months ago. The album was a timed 5 month finish from starting with sketches on my computer, to finalizing the album art with the last minute help of Kyle Labriola. I came out of my shell and collaborated five other musicians to create tracks that were truly able to be sprung to life with their help. My thought isn’t “How do I go bigger from here” but “What would be the next big improvement?”

While I am the sole composer, I’m planning on upping the ante in a way that won’t be predicted. While many won’t see it coming, it’s the most logical step for me to push my goals forward. If all goes well, the soundtrack might be my favorite thing to come from this game. For now, have a super early town draft:

https://soundcloud.com/thirdkoopa/velgon-town-theme-hymn-of-the-hallux

Infusion & Who Else is Working on Hymn of the Hallux

Most people don’t know about this, but I’ve been working on Shoot-Em-Up called Infusion for a while with this cool person, one of my favorite people & collaborators, another cool person and a fourth cool person. Yes, each of those links are separate. Since Hymn of the Hallux is going to take up a lot of my time, what does this mean for Infusion and the rest of the team?

Nothing.

I’m working on recruiting a few more people for Infusion, and then it will be a project that, at this moment in time, will be done when it’s done: we’re working on it every Thursday for now. There’s going to be no overlap bar a few people potentially doing small tasks and us all working to ensure the success of Hymn. Beyond that, even with contracting people and various favors whenever (thanks to possible funding; more information on that later), Hymn will be mostly me. I do want to work with people to make this possible, but since this is the very first full fledged game in the “Alkazure” series, I want to get this out as timely as possible.

Demo? What was with the twitter polls? Questions?

I’m happy to announce that I’ll be having the first Demo available soon. My goal is before the end of January, but I’ve recently caught a cold, so it may take a bit longer. This demo is more of a “Gameplay Sample Demo”

While the Twitter polls were to gauge interest, I appreciate getting feedback. Even though Chrono Trigger is a very popular game, the ‘community’ for it is rather split up. Since programming is mostly squared away and I’ll be re-using a lot of art assets, the biggest time sink that this game is going to face is balancing combat & balancing dungeon design. Feedback is crucial to the success of Hymn of the Hallux and I want you all to be a part of that

I don’t know when the next update will be, but all planned future updates will be shorter than this. All blog posts will be on My Blog – Comment to me on any of these outlets I link and I’ll respond as soon as I can; preferably the Blog. I will be posting links to these updates on my Twitter and Facebook Fanpage and I’ll be reposting these blogs on Tumblr. I have plans to use my YouTube channel as well, so for those who like YouTube, head on over to My Channel Here.

If you like Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Earthbound, Super Mario RPG, The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past, or Secret of Mana, you’ll probably like this game. If you don’t like those games, you probably won’t like this but give it a shot and some feedback – all is welcome. If you’ve never played any of those, well, you’re in for quite a ride.

Thank you to all of my friends, family, and followers for making this possible, whether big or small. I have big plans for future. May 2017 be a good year Hymn of the Hallux and for all of us!

[silentstardb]

The Best Night Ever (as a Clemson fan)

Seven months have passed, and it occurs to me that I have yet to really sit down and write about my happiest memory ever as a Clemson football fan. I’m talking of course about the fateful night in January when the Fighting Tigers came back to win the national championship against the Alabama Crimson Tide, our second national championship in school history. I’ve posted my raw, in-the-moment reactions to it on Facebook, but I haven’t sat down and wrote a full-length blog on it. I’ll warn you now, this is longer than something I would produce on my best writing day, so here we go.

First, some context. Clemson was climaxing the most successful two-year run in their history (is “climaxing” a word? I don’t care). The year prior, we’d gone 14-1 and went undefeated all the way into the college football playoffs. Under the leadership of QB Deshaun Watson, the violent running of Wayne Gallman, a wide receiving corps second to none, and a frothing defense that included Shaq Lawson, DJ Reader, Ben Boulware, and Mackenzie Alexander, we scored some impressive wins over teams such as Notre Dame, Miami, and Florida State. I could write an entry all about ND alone, since we played it in a tropical system, but I’ll file that away for later. We won the ACC Championship over North Carolina, clobbered Oklahoma in the semifinals, and faced Alabama for a chance to win it all. The game was incredible, an instant classic that saw both teams go back and forth for 60 minutes (football time) before Clemson fell just short in the final moments thanks to a couple of special teams plays and some back-breaking lapses by the defense. The game was played in Phoenix, AZ, too far out of the way for us to go with work for an extended time, so we watched it at my parents’ house. Losing that game stung badly. I wanted to live to see Clemson win another title in my lifetime like my Dad had in 1981. But I had hope that we could come back and do it again the next year if enough key players returned.

Enter 2016. Watson, Gallman, Boulware, and many of our key guys were back, and we added back Mike Williams, our best receiver who had sat out the year before with a neck injury. The season was an exciting one, and at times a little frustrating as well. We struggled to put away lesser teams and seemed to lack killer instinct at times. It caught up to us against Pittsburgh and we lost by a point at home. Instead of the quest for the playoff being over, though, other teams at the top of the polls lost the same day. That’s college football for you. With two regular season games left, Clemson took the field with renewed vigor & fresh determination. We stomped Wake Forest and South Carolina, won another ACC title against Virginia Tech, and defeated Ohio State in the semifinals - in Phoenix, once again - to earn a rematch with Alabama for the national title. One more chance at redemption.

This time, the game was played in Tampa, FL. A much closer venue. We were going.

I remember the Friday night we left, an ice storm threatened the upstate. Anna’s folks drove thru the night in a torrential downpour. I don’t recall if any of it was ice or not, but it was pretty bad. We didn’t get into Florida until the following day as we’d have had to drive all through the night. We put up at a motel in Savannah, GA that Friday night and got breakfast at Cracker Barrel the next morning. Then we knocked out the rest of the trip to the Sunshine State.

For once, the state lived up to its label. The sun returned and gave us pleasant weather as we pulled into our home-away-from-home for the next few nights. We stayed in Valdosta, a little town just a few miles outside Tampa, and rented a nice house with a pool that neighbored a golf course. It’s a treat to be in Florida in the winter. The night was actually cold but not terrible as we enjoyed a great dinner at Bahama Breeze.

The next day was Fan Day, so we went into town to see some of the sights. Lunch was at a really nice joint called James Joyce Irish Pub. There was a soccer game on, and the patrons would call out chants every few minutes. It was really a fun experience! Next up was a the convention center, the hub of Fan Day. Talk about insanity! We got a group shot with the CFP championship trophy, played games, mingled with some of the fans, both Bama and Clemson, and even did a Facebook live video for our friends and family back at home stuck in the ice and snow. Down in Tampa, the weather was just about perfect.

All the time, I’m thinking, “Is this real?” Are we really down here to see Clemson compete for the national championship? Could we actually win it? How will it feel if we do? I’m pretty sure that I got a bruise on my arm from pinching myself so many times.

That feeling stayed with me as we got back to our rental house that late afternoon. We cooked dinner and hung out for the rest of the evening, our minds drifting ahead to the following day. I predict Clemson games as a fun habit, and I felt like we could win this game if we played our best game and didn’t make too many mistakes. But I’d felt that way the year before. This was Alabama. Big Bad Alabama, Nick Saban and the mighty Crimson Tide, the toughest team in the country seemingly every year. Rarely did coach Saban lose a game, least of all when he had a long time to prepare. Could Clemson do it?

Monday, game day, dawned clear and sunny. Again, the weather was perfect. Comfortable, just a hint of crispness in the air, and hardly a cloud in sight. We drove to Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where we took in all of the fan festivities and tailgated for what would be the last time that season. Win or lose.

I remember that day was the most activity-filled fan day we’d ever been to. We went zip-lining - waited in an hour long line for it - saw the ESPN College Gameday set, and stood in a monstrous crowd to watch Tiger Band play all their songs. It kept us entertained, for sure; otherwise, I’d have probably chewed off my fingernails waiting for game time.

Game time arrived soon enough that evening, of course. I remember every detail. Gearing up in three layers of clothing in anticipation of colder weather. The long walk to the stadium. Moving through a maelstrom of people not knowing how to get in or where to go. Seeing the gigantic and bright “2017” billboard lighting up the darkness on the side of RJS. Again, pinching myself and wondering “Is this real?”

We were seated in the upper deck of Raymond James in plenty of time for pregame festivities. Little Big Town sang the national anthem. There was a flyover. Fireworks rang out along with the lyrics of the anthem, bombs bursting in air. An eagle soared majestically over the stadium. All of it felt so incredibly surreal. And then Alabama and Clemson took the field. The sight of my team sprinting onto the turf in their classic white jerseys and the legendary orange pants - which are reserved for championship games under coach Dabo Swinney - brought another round of giddiness from me. I saw Deshaun sprint to the other side of the field to pump up our crowd as he’d done for the Fiesta Bowl. We were here. It was game time. The national championship.

The game started … rather ugly. Alabama was clearly out to rattle our team from the get go. Our star players absorbed bone rattling blows from the Tide defense, a few of which I thought should have been called for targeting. Clemson couldn’t seem to find their cohesion on offense. The defense got outblocked on two long runs by bruising RB Bo Scarborough. Before you could blink, it seemed, the Tigers were down 14-0 by the end of the first quarter.

I grew visibly worried after the Tide’s second TD because we hadn’t fallen behind by two scores all year and come back to win. I remember turning to Anna and her brother and his friend, who were sitting with us, and saying, “We have to turn this around fast or it’s over.”

Turn it around, we did, slowly but surely. The offense, sputtering and conservative up to that point, began to open things up. I recall the play that turned things around was a tunnel screen to Deon Cain that went 43 yards, the longest play we’d had up till then. We scored a TD on the drive, and that made me breathe a little bit easier. We still trailed at halftime 14-7, but the offense was finding its rhythm, and our play count was rising. We were starting to get stops on defense, bottling up their ground game. We could catch them in the second half, I thought.

The third quarter couldn’t have started much worse. We lost the ball on our first series and Bama recovered. I grabbed the sides of my head in anguish as an Alabama lineman grabbed the ball and sprinted for the end zone and a two TD lead, one that would surely put the game out of reach. But out of nowhere came a little walk on receiver named Hunter Renfrow. Acting on instinct, he launched his body at the lineman’s legs, taking him down at the 16-yard line. The defense held, and Bama kicked a field goal, making it 17-7 instead of 21-7. Those four points would be monstrous later.

Our offense was continuing to move the ball and run up the play count despite little to no run game. Deshaun at one point faced 3rd down & forever, took a drop, surveyed the field, and took off running. He was about a step or two from the first down marker when a Bama linebacker shot out and smashed into his side, sending him pinwheeling like a helicopter in mid air before hitting the ground - a half yard short. I cringed in my seat when he took that blow. That was at least twice I felt Bama had gotten away with a targeting call, and I wondered how much more our man could take.

By the time the 4th quarter arrived, it was 24-14 Alabama, but we drove down the field and scored a TD on a fade to Williams. Our defense was continuing to stop them; we’d neutralized their passing game, and their top running back was out of the game with an injury. If we could just hit a big play and get the lead…

And then, just when it seemed like we had blown every possible chance to take the lead, it happened. We got the ball back with a little over five minutes to go. Gallman & Watson’s running got us a first down. Then Watson uncorked a pass downfield that Williams went sky high for and yanked down in a play that reminded me of Jerry Butler’s “Catch” almost forty years earlier. A Bama penalty and a Watson run to the sideline gave us 1st and goal on the 1-yard line. What I saw next made me break into a huge grin. With a mighty push by two of our offensive linemen (I think it was Taylor Hearn and Jay Guillermo), Gallman dove into the endzone for the go ahead TD. With about three minutes to go, Clemson had the lead at last! It was happening! We were going to win this. Our defense wasn’t going to give them anything.

The stadium was going bonkers as our guys stuffed Bama on 1st and 2nd down. We sold out on 3rd and long, but their QB got off a pass that netted them enough yards to go for it on 4th & short. They converted. Two plays later, after a crazy wide receiver pass and a 30-yard gallop by their QB Jalen Hurts, it was 31-28 Alabama.

I remember sinking into my seat, my heart dropping into my shoes. All that work, all that effort, for nothing. Bama was going to shatter our hearts for a second time in a row. It would be a painful ride home. I was all but reconciled to a defeat. But Anna and her brother reminded me that we had a little over two minutes left.

Clinging to flickering hopes, I watched CJ Fuller return the kickoff to our 32-yard line (he was a trip-up away from breaking it), and our offense took the field. I recall that Deshaun was as calm as I’ve ever seen him. After all of the punishment he’d absorbed, he still looked as unflappable as ever. He’d rallied us to wins all year. Could he do it again, against the best team in the country, with the national title on the line?

And then came the drive that will live on in Clemson infamy. A five-yard out route to Jordan Leggett. A 24-yard deep ball to Williams. A six-yarder from Artavis Scott to Gallman on a hook-and-ladder. An absolutely incredible 16-yard catch by Leggett that put us in striking distance of the end zone with 14 seconds to play. Our section was going nuts, I was jumping into the air and pumping my fists, but at the same time, I was watching that clock tick closer and closer to zero. Why weren’t we moving faster? Would we run out of time? Could we get it done?

After two incomplete passes, there came a play our coaches nickbamed Crush. It’s been dissected as nauseum on ESPN by now. Watson rolled to his right where he had Artavis Scott and Hunter Renfrow working opposite ways. Scott set a pick and was tackled by his man, and Renfrow was wide open. I couldn’t believe it. Watson threw the ball. Renfrow caught it, took a powerful shot from a defender & fell backwards, but held on, flipping the ball to the ref like it was no big deal. TOUCHDOWN!

Words can’t do justice to what happened at that moment in our section when Watson hit Renfrow. But I’ll try anyway. We went freakin’ BALLISTIC. I screamed, Anna screamed, her brother and his friend screamed. We hugged each other, we hugged total strangers in our section, we jumped up and down, we danced, squealed, whooped, and made complete fools of ourselves. And we didn’t care. A national championship was all I’d wanted to see happen for Clemson ever since I became a Tigers fan, and we were one second away from partying like it was 1982. I’m not sure I’ve ever been as delirious with joy from a football game as I was at that moment. I’m a little glad it wasn’t caught on video, but we were crazy with glee.

We kicked an onside kick, which seemed to take Bama by surprise, and our kicker cradled it after it had gone 10 yards, which should have given us the ball back. It did, but we had to wait out the L-O-N-G-E-S-T replay in the history of the game before the officials confirmed it. And so Deshaun and the offense came out in victory formation, took a knee, and the Clemson Tigers were national champions.

By this point, it was fairly late; I’m almost sure it was after midnight. But you wouldn’t have known it if you saw us living it up in RJS. I didn’t ever want to leave that stadium. We took in the trophy presentation, the post game speeches by Dabo, Deshaun, and Ben. We were cheering and yelling and screaming like we were drunk with joy. I said “That just happened!” to Anna probably half a dozen times as we hugged each other and anyone within eye shot of us over and over again.

It was probably more than an hour or so after the game ended when we finally left the stadium. I was glowing. Anna and I were giving each other the craziest, goofiest smiles on our faces. When we got back to our tailgate spot, the rest of our family was waiting, and we had another celebration right there in the parking lot. We toasted our title, recalled our favorite moments, laughed, probably cried a little too, and just had a grand old time. I don’t think we made it back to our rental home until well after 3 AM, and I’m fairly certain we all got very little sleep in what remained of that night.

We drove back the next day, and I spent much of it reliving the game on our talk radio station. Every story, every moment, every little anecdote made me smile; I still couldn’t fully believe it was real, that my lifelong sports dream had come true. My team was a national champ, and I had been there to see it with the love of my life, and my family. It was pretty amazing.

And as Providence would have it, the ice storm that had hit the upstate shut down school for the two days we’d been out of town, so I didn’t have to miss any work. A nice little bonus.

So that’s my national championship game experience. Thank you for sharing it with me if you managed to read all the way through my jumbled ramblings. I’ve watched replays of this game all summer; not a week goes by that I don’t watch the final drive at least once, maybe to remind myself that it really happened. And I was there to see it happen. What a blessing!

Go Tigers!!