#It's probably Ru Ha (the CEO)'s doing

[liliaasyoursexyvampiredaddy]

Fuck y'all for hating on Su-Ae for having real human flaws but forgive Eunhyuk even though he ghosted her for TEN years

[rvnas]

                ✈️ — ⌜   hirai   momo   ,   cis   female,   she/her⌟  ↝    have   you   heard   ?   it   seems   like   the   heir   of   the   ITO   was   very   close   to   liam   yu   too   .   they   go   by   RUNA   and   they   were   liam's   BAD   INFLUENCE   .   their   network   is   of   95M   and   they’re   only   TWENTY-THREE   …   what   a   burden   it   must   be   .   i   heard   they   can   be   very   MESMERIZING   and   DEVOTED   .   but   these   last   few   months   ,   their   VOLATILE   and   SELFISH   personality   has   been   showing   more   .   the   media   is   sure   having   a   filled   day   with   them   !    i   hope   this   road   trip   with   friends   will   help   them   .   did   you   know   that   POSING   ON   THE   HOOD   OF   SOMEONE   ELSE’S   MASERATI   ,   13   MISSED   CALLS   FROM   HOME   ,   GLITTER   RIMMING   TIRED   EYES   AND   BROKEN   MIRRORS   really   show   their   true   persona  ?   maybe   liam   was   the   only   one   who   knew   that    ...  

━  ˙ ˖  ☆     quick  stats  !

full  name  :   haruna   ito   .

nickname(s)  :   runa   ,   ru   .

age   :   twenty-three   .

zodiac  :   aquarius   sun   ,   aries   moon   (  click   !  )

spoken   languages   :   japanese   ,   korean   ,   mandarin   ,   french   &   english   .     

sexuality  :   bisexual   .

alignment   :   chaotic   neutral   .

pinterest   :   (   click   !   )  

━  ˙ ˖  ☆     backstory  !    (  tw  :  death   ,   parental   neglect   &   drug   /   alcohol   use  )

the   daughter   of   the   ceo   to   a   real   estate   &    construction   conglomerate   and   his   high   school   sweetheart   turned   interior    designer   wife   ,    runa   ito   was   born   into   money   .   they   lived   in   tokyo   ,   the   same   city   her   grandfather   had   originally   started   his   company   back   in   the   40′s   ,   and   although   ito   property   group   had   accumulated   massive   wealth   and   international   business   by   the   time   runa   was   born   ,   her   parents   wanted   to   start   their   family   where   it   all   began   .

she   doesn’t   remember   much   about   her   early   life   —   a   blur   of   employees   and   family   members   alike   ,   their   faces   often   melting   into   one   ,   as   everyone��  had    a   hand   in   raising   the   young   girl   .   her   father   was   a   busy   man   ,   after   all   ,   the   parent   who   paid   the   most   attention   to   young   runa   being   her   mother   .   there’s   not   much   runa   will   remember   about   her   childhood   in   japan   but   the   lullaby   the   woman   used   to   sing   to   her   at   night   is   something   she’ll   carry   with   her   for   the   rest   of   her   life   .

a   few   months   after   runa   turned   nine   is   when   her   memories   seem   to   begin   ,   spearheaded   by   the   tragic   death   of   her   mother   .   a   heart   attack   in   the   middle   of   the   day   ,   sudden   and   unexpected   .   it   was   runa   that   found   her   on   the   floor   in   the   garden   ,   the   scent   of   roses   that   had   blossomed   under   the   woman’s   gentle   care   thick   and   sweet   .   she   was   frozen   in   place   until   the   paramedics   arrived   ,   unmoving   even   after   her   father   broke   down   in   tears   right   in   front   of   her   ,   so   still   that   the   paramedics   were   concerned   enough   they   carted   her   off   to   the  hospital   .   shock   .   it   was   shock   ,   she’d   later   learn   ,   but   runa   didn’t   think   that   word   was   big   enough   to   describe   the   way   it   felt   like   something   inside   of   herself   had   passed   along   with   her   mother   .

by   the   time   she’s   eleven   everything   had   changed   .   following   the   death   of   his   wife   ,   her   father   had   relocated   them   to   new   york   city   ,   something   the   media   would   call   a   fresh   start   but   runa   knew   was   bigger   than   that   .   he   was   running   away   from   his   grief   ,   and   although   the   man   would   never   be   the   same   he   still   managed   to   remarry   ,   now   heading   ito   property   group   in   booming   downtown   manhattan   .   two   years   later   the   couple   celebrates   the   birth   of   a   beautiful   baby   girl   azumi   ,   the   only   thing   runa   is   grateful   for   since   her   old   life   in   tokyo   .

adjusting   to   life   in   new   york   wasn’t   easy   for   runa   .   she   had   never   been   a   difficult   child    ,   but   unresolved   emotions   have   her   feeling   like   a   time   bomb   with   no   control   of   when   or   how   she’s   going   to   explode   .   the   start   of   her   teenage   years   are   marred   by   schoolyard   fights   ,    stealing   from   convenience   stores   ,   talking   back   to   adults   for   no   good   reason   .   she   didn’t   mean   to   get   into   trouble   ,   she   really   didn’t   ,   but   she   had   no   idea   what   to   do   with   all   the   hurt   inside   her   .   at   home   she   felt   like   a   stranger   —   like   she   was   just   a   guest   watching   someone’s   family   from   the   outside   .   when   her   stepmother   voiced   concerns   over   runa’s   behavior   and   her   possible   involvement   in   azumi’s   development   runa   was   branded   a   bad   influence   before   she   was   even   fifteen   years   old   .   

her   father   hadn’t   stuck   up   for   her   ,   the   man   too   busy   to   notice   his   daughter’s   suffering   or   perhaps   too   in   denial   about   his   own   to   even   acknowledge   the   way   life   was  unfolding   inside   his   household   .   he   was   distant   at   best    and   straight   up   absent   at   his   worst   ,   leaving   runa’s   stepmother   to   raise   azumi   all   on   her   own   .   the   ito’s   might   have   looked   picturesque   from   the   outside   ,   but   unbeknownst   to   the   public   eye   the   family   was   imploding   .   her   father’s   second   marriage   was   hanging   by   a   thin   thread   .   he   resented   his   second   wife   for   not   living   up   to   a   woman   who   had   been   dead   for   over   five   years   now   ,   and   in   turn   the   woman   resented   runa   for   reminding   her   of   the   person   she’d   never   live   up   to   .   the   only   control   her   stepmother   had   of   her   own   life   was   spent   making   runa   out   to   be   a   threat   to   the   safety   of   her   actual   daughter   ,   not   caring   or   noticing   the   love   and   fondness   runa   and   azumi   had   for   each   other   .

if   you   hear   something   enough   times   ,   it’s   only   natural   you   start   to   believe   it   ,   that   you’d   accept   it   as   a   truth   .   seventeen   years   old   and   runa   becomes   exactly   who   she’d   been   made   out   to   be   —   bad   .   in   a   way   it’s   almost   a   comfort   .   that   overwhelming   sensation   of   guilt   that   used   to   choke   her   after   every   outburst   was   slowly   lifted   as   she   accepted   there   was   no   use   in   fighting   to   be   good   if   no   one   believed   it   .   she   must   have   been   born   this   way   ,   every   fuck   up   a   marker   of   her   predetermined   character   .   she’d   given   up   control   ,   and   as   much   as   runa   tried   to   make   herself   believe   it   wasn’t   her   fault   ,   that   she   couldn’t   change   who   she   was   deep   down   inside   ,   she   knew   the   truth   .   she   was   taking   the   easy   way   out   .   better   to   be   hated   by   the   people   who   were   supposed   to   love   her   unconditionally   than   to   acknowledge   she   deserved   better   .   it   was   easier   to   be   reckless   and   selfish   ,   every   stunt   she   pulls   a   welcome   distraction   from   how   empty   all   the   collective   abandonment   in   her   life   had   left   her   .  

she   surrounds   herself   with   people   she  decides   are   reflections   of   herself   .   hollow   ,   impulsive   people   with   little   regards   to   consequence   .   she   gets   drunk   ,   she   gets   high   ,   she   shoplifts   things   she   could   buy   without   blinking   just   for   that   temporary   thrill   .   she   says   she’ll   try   anything   once   ,   danger   be   damned   ,   her   own   life   be   damned   .   she   shows   up   to   her   father’s   business   events   long   after   he   stops   inviting   her   ,   makes   a   show   for   the   press   when   she   openly   flirts   with   business   in   front   of   their   wives   ,   when   she   downs   whiskey   sours   at   the   bar   snap   chatting   the   whole   thing   ,   when   she   publicly   denounces   the   ito   name   to   anyone   who   stops   and   listens   .   a   whole   year   of   paying   off   cops   to   keep   runa’s   records   clean   (   for   the   sake   of   the   family   business   ,   never   for   her   )   ,   of   opening   up   about   his   daughter’s   troubled   mind   (   not   for   her   own   betterment   but   to   save   stock   prices   from   dropping   too   low   )   ,   of   hiring   a   revolving   door   of   nannies   to   keep   azumi   far   out   of   runa’s   orbit   .   the   ito’s   wait   until   she   turns   eighteen   to   properly   kick   runa   out   ,   not    bothering   to   threaten   cutting   her   off   from   her   trust   fund   because   they   wanted   her   gone   that   desperately   .

and   runa’s   happy   to   go   .   she’s   got   access   to   the   penthouse   of   every   building   her   father   owns   ,   bouncing   from   one   place   to   the   next   as   she   inevitably   does   something   to   get   herself   kicked   out   .   property   damage   ,   noise   complaints   ,   letting   just   about   anyone   she   meets   on   a   night   out   practically   move  in   rent   free   —   the   list   is   a   long   one   .   it’s   then   when   she   meets   liam   ,   and   he   quickly   becomes   the   light   at   the   end   of    a   dark   tunnel   runa   hadn’t   even   realized   she   was   in   ,   because   he’s   not   like   anyone   else   in   her   life   .   he   sees   her   .   past   all   the   fuck   ups   he   sees   her   ,   sees   that   she’s   more   than   the   unstable   party   girl   the   press   has   made   her   out   to   be   ,   that   she’s   not   the   villain   her   family   needs   her   to   be   in   order   to   feel   better   about   the   fact   that   they’d   failed   her   .   he   was   the   first   in   a   long   time   to   recognize   any   of   it   and   she   has   no   idea   what   to   do   about   it   .

 for   a   little   while   he   makes   her   a   better   person   ,   or   at   least   want   to   try   to   be   one   .   the   light   liam   radiates   towards   anyone   in   his   life   isn’t   lost   on   her   ,   but   very   quickly   runa   realizes   just   how   uncomfortable   she   is   feeling   that   warmth   ,   the   feeling   so   unfamiliar   she’s   terrified   to   bask   in   it   too   long   .   her   first   instinct   is   to   reject   it   ,   to   reject   him   and   the   friendship   he’s   offering   her   ,   to   run   as   far   away   as   she   can   from   all   of   it   .   but   she’s   selfish   ,   and   more   than   that   she’s   lonely   ,   devastatingly   lonely   that   the   idea   of   cutting   out   the   one   friend   she   really   had   was   more   than   she   knew   she   could   take   .   she   does   the   next   best   thing   —   she   pulls   him   into   her   darkness   .   it   wasn’t   too   hard   of   a   feat   to   influence   someone   who   was   used   to   having   fun   ,   especially   when   that   someone   wasn’t   one   who   liked   saying   the   word   no   whenever   someone   had   a   crazy   idea   .   liam   already   had   his   feet   in   the   water   when   it   came   to   being   spontaneous   .   all   runa   was   doing   was   pulling   him   towards   the   deep    end   more   and   more   everyday   .

it’s   a   manipulative   thing   to   put   someone   you   love   in   danger   ,   to   ask   for   companionship   on   a   stupid   stunt   because   she   knew   he’d   say   yes   if   she   said   she   needed   it   ,   to   pretend   that   maybe   just   maybe   liam   was   the   same   as   her   and   she   really   wasn’t   influencing   him   at   all   but   opening   his   eyes   to   bigger   and   better   possibilities   .   she   knew   it   ,    every   minute   of   the   day   she   knew   it   ,   but   it   wasn’t   enough   to   ever   make   her   stop   .   he   gave   her   the   acceptance   she’d   never   gotten   at   home   and   she   gave   him   excitement   but   that   didn’t   make   it   alright   .   when   she   gets   the   news   he’s   dead   ,   she’s   back   in   the   garden   of   her   childhood   home   all   over   again   .   it   doesn’t   make   any   sense   at   all   ,   and   runa   refused   to   let   it   ,   picking   fights   with   anyone   who   dared   utter   he   was   in   a   better   place   .   there   was   no   room   in   her   heart   for   so   many   emotions   ,   so   she   does   what   she   can   to   drown   them   out   ,   quiet   and   out   of   the   public   for   the   first   time   in   years   because   of   how   hard   she’s   self   medicating   .   months   go   by   before   her   step   mother   reaches   out   .   azumi   has   a   ballet   recital   on   sunday   is   all   the   voicemail   says   ,   but   those   seven   words   are   enough   to   draw   runa   out   ,   to   get   her   to   come   home   for   the   first   time   since   they’d   kicked   her   out   .  

whatever   tiny   hope   runa   had   that   her   family   had   been   concerned   with   her   well-being   was   shattered   when   she   learns   the   call   had   been   a   trick   ,   a   false   pretense   as   requested   by   her   father   .   he   had   a   proposition   for   his   oldest   daughter   which   was   really   more   of   an   ultimatum   —   runa   had   one   year   .   one   year   to   either   get   her   life   together   and   start   working   under   his  iron   fist   as   a   director   at   ito   property   group   or   be   excluded   from   his   will   and   properly   disowned   ,   never   allowed   to   be   more   than   ten   miles   from   her   younger   sister   as   long   as   she   was   a   minor   .   it   wasn’t   long   after   her   father’s   proclamation   that   runa   gets   the   invitation   to   go   on   the   road   trip   .   she   doesn’t   think   she   cares   ,   swears   she’s   not   interested   in   remembering   liam   in   the   company   of   people   who   no   doubt   had   less   than   kind   things   to   say   about   the   girl   that   was   infamous   for   being   the   permanent   devil   on   a   dead   man’s   shoulder   ,   but   a   bottle   of   the   expensive   stuff   all   to   herself   later   that   night   and   she’s   saying   yes   ,   she’s   coming   ,   because   despite   everything   she’s   sworn   is   true   about   herself   and   about   how   she   feels   she   needs   this   trip   more   than   she’d   ever   admit   .                                                                             

━  ˙ ˖  ☆     personality  +  tidbits  !

aha   ...   where   oh   where   to   begin   JSBDJWDBJW   i   feel   like   hot   mess   it   the   perfect   and   easiest   way   to   describe   her   💔😔   not   to   b   all   she’s   complicated   but   !   she’s   complicated   !!!

on   one   hand   she’s   a   lot   of   fun   ,   and   i   mean   a   LOT   like   in   a   room   full   of   people   it’s   easy   to   feel   drawn   to    her   bc   she’s   got   an   exciting   kind   of   energy   surrounding   her   .  she’s   that   type   of   person   that   you   know   you’re   gonna   have   fun   with   no   matter   what   you   guys   do   even   if   you   have   no   idea    what   kind   of   shenanigans   to   expect   because   she’s   always   doing   something   new   and   not   predictable   .   

on   the   other    hand   ?    yea   she’s   kinda   fucking   crazy   not   2   get   all   lana   del   rey   but   SJDBWJBDJWBJWD   runa   has   a   concerning   lack   of   care   for   her   own   health   and   safety   so   in   turn   she’s   not   too   concerned   abt   anyone’s   else’s   health   and   safety   ,   either   /:   she’s   just   following   the   traumatized   girl   handbook   doing   reckless   stuff   just   to   feel   something   and   all   that   jazz   it’s   all   fun   and   games   until   u   have   a   near   death   experience   jumping   off   a   yacht   super   wasted   at   a   billionaire’s   party   ...   and   even   then   it’s   still   fun   and   games   if   ur    runa   <3

mommy   issues   ?   yup   ..   daddy   issues   ?   yup   again   baby   we   got   two   for   two   😭   runa’s   desire   to   be   nurtured  and  have   someone   hold   her   face   and   say   i   care   abt   u   versus   her   attraction   to   ppl   who   literally   couldn’t   tell   u   if   she’s   happy   or   sad   fight   to   the   death   !!!   yes   she   wants   love   and   acceptance   yes   she’s   gonna   ruin   any   chance   she   has   at   getting   that   by   pushing   ppl   away   or   purposely   fucking   up   so   they   just   give  up   on   her   the   way   her   dad   and   stepmom   did   .   literally   she’s   like   i   want   to   be   loved   no   i   don’t   yes   i   do   .   don’t   .   yea   <3333 

idk   if   any   of   you   have   ever   met   an   aquarius   that   literally   makes   no   damn   sense   and   ur   just   like   what   universe   do   u   live   on   bc   it’s   impossible   to   try   and   plan   something   with   them   and   when   they   do   finally   message   u   back   it’s   asking   u   to   come   out   to   a   club   at   2   am   when   ur   already   in   ur   pajamas   but   that’s   runa   ...   except   if   u   get   out   of   bed   and   finally   show   up   to   the   club   she’s   already   gone   SJDBWJDBJWD

she’s   moody   😔   one   minute   she   can   be   having   the   time   of   her   life   and   she’s   being   really   open   and   fun   and   the   next   she   can   just   totally   shut   down   and   get   really   cold   and   bitchy   or   really   angry   and   it’s   /:   truly   not   a   good   time   !   she   really   isn’t   a   bad   person   but   she   DOES   make   lots   of   mistakes   and   if   you’ve   got   a   negative   opinion   about   her   she’s   not   going   out   of   her   way   to   change   it   or   prove   u   wrong   ,   in   fact   she’s   way   more   likely   to   prove   u   right   bc   that’s   the   easy   way   out  

super   super   devoted   to   people   she   cares   about   !   even   if   she’s   not   open   about   the   fact   that   she   cares   you’ll   know   bc   if   u   ask   her   to   do   something   or   go   someplace   she’ll   do   it   no   questions   asked   

does   anyone   rmr   that   one   tweet   where   it’s   like   “   hmu   if   ur   toxic   im   trying   to   have   a   crazy   summer   “   runa   is   both   the   person   tweeting   and   the   toxic   person   they’re   looking   for   .   duality   <3

flirts   as   easy   as   breathing   but   it   legit   means   ...   nothing   like   she’ll   just   mindlessly   flirt   her   way   through   life   just   bc   she   can   !   uses   her   pretty   privilege   for   free   stuff   despite   being   rich   .   has   never   been   in   a   serious   or   a   committed   relationship   and   she’s   not   abt   to   start   now   she’s   got   mega   abandonment   issues   to   work   on   first   </3333   is   always   down   for   a   good   time   though   runa   believes   in   whore   rights   😏😏

dresses   like   an   e   girl   even   though   she   legit   doesn’t   know   wtf   that   is   ...

can’t   stand   the   sight   /   smell   of   roses   bc   they   remind   her   of   her   mom   ): 

likes   to   make   very   large   donations   in   her   father’s   name   to   really   progressive   organizations   to   piss   off   all   the   boomer   shareholders   of   his   company   (:

has   never   used   🥺   this   emoji   in   an   not   ironic   way   her   whole   life   i   told   u   guys   she’s   CRAZY   ...   

loves   to   sweet   talk   ppl   into   getting   into   doing   wild   stuff   if   she   hits   u   up   with   a   wyd   text   IGNORE   her   unless   u   wanna   end   the   night   with   a   broken   wrist   or   a   matching   ass   tattoo    ...

who   was   that   one   twitter   girl   that   stole   someone’s   hamster   at   a   party   i   can’t   rmr   her   name   but   /:   that’s   runa   SJDJWBDWJBDJW   

lies   abt   the   randomest   things   sometimes   for   literally   no   reason   like   someone   can   be   like   hi   im   amy   (:   and   she’ll   be   like   aw   that   was   my   grandma’s   name   like   no   it   wasn’t   don’t   ask   me   why   she’s   like   that   ...       

━  ˙ ˖  ☆     wanted  connections  !  (  all  open  to  all  genders  )

okay   i   was   gonna   type   a   bunch   of   bullets   here   but   this   intro   is   literally   already   disgustingly   long   and   LATE   im   .   so   embarrassed   ...   i’m   seriously   down   for   anything   though   like   platonic   romantic   wholesome   angsty   enemies   old   family   friends   a   i   keep   calling   ur   mom   a   milf   and   u    hate   it   connection   ...   whatever   it   may   be   i’m   open   🥺  

truly   i   hate   this   life   i   wrote   a   novel   for   NO   good   reason   ...   if   ur   like   me   &   prefer   discord   for   plotting   u   can   add   me   @   glo lovecore ʕ´• ᴥ•̥`ʔ#8172   and   we   can   plot   there   💖 💖 💖   if   discord   isn’t   ur   jam   though   we   can   plot   via   tumblr   ims   im   just   gonna   be   harder   to   reach   that   way   so   it   might   take   a   little   longer   🥺   im   sosososo   excited   to   be   here   &   finally   write   with   u   all   i’m   sorry   this   intro   took   forever   !!!!    

[makingnewenemies]

Hi Hi Hi. Here is a little blurb I wrote off the top of my head about all my friends on this year’s Group Picture Vol. 8. I love them all. I love their songs. And I love that we still keep up this stupid tradition; and somehow the comp keeps getting better and better. Thanks everyone! Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays :) - walt

Sour Guy - All Those Plans Were Wrong

Last summer Kris Schobert (Sour Guy, Walter Etc. / Mitty core member, Ernie…) was admitted to the hospital… and then again… and then again…. I think he spent like a month total in the hospital. It was not chill. But when he got out, the whole experience gave him a bit of clarity and new perspective on his life and the decisions he has made thus far. I won’t speak any further for him, but Kris… hey, nice song! And your quality home recording production and continuation of the WMAHMO slop sound doesn’t not go unnoticed! This song made me tear up in a coffee shop the first time I heard it. 

Slaughter Beach, Dog - Big Band

Slaughter Beach, Dog are randomly GP staples by now but also one of my favorite bands and greatest friends. This song is a bit of a sound change for them, swapping mid tempo soft rock John K Sampson vibes for a theatrical late 60’s / 70’s sound that is a bit more light hearted than normal and I LOVE IT. It’s catchy, it makes me laugh, yet its so true. Glad to have these boys back this year.

Teal & Jer - Alphabet

Portland’s dreamiest duo Teal & Jer (Chain, Riled, Loose, lots of projects) bring a quirky alt edge to our otherwise bland and boring comp. Without them, we’d just be us. I personally would like to hear more Teal solo work??? Teal???

Milk Flud - Rodeo

If you don’t fuck with Milk Flud then you can get out.

Chase Hoyt - Health

Chase Hoyt (Ubu Roi, Feed, Chaz and the Minions of Chaz, The Rodeo…) is a GP fixture by now, and important asset to MNE because it’s his classic rock sensibilities that balance out the overload of folk / indie rock that we swim in. This song not only has a comically true message (health is the most important, i agree Chase) but the vibe, especially the chorus, has my head bobbing and me feeling like I’m on a grassy hillside at an outdoor concert in the 70’s, but also one glass of wine deep making homemade pizzas at an Air BNB with a girl I love, and that is a nice combo of feelings. “Let’s wrap it up / I’ve embarrassed us all enough”

Dry Goods - Learnt Nothing

You hear that flawless acoustic finger picking? That masculine story telling voice that sounds somewhere between a suburban Bob Dylan and a cowboy singing to the emptiness of the high desert? Yup, its Russell Park AKA Dry Goods and FKA Weston Bookhouse coming at us with another folk masterpiece, but this year adding in some new elements we aren’t quite used to- namely some cruisey guitar solos! Rumor has it Dry Goods is in the studio recording a new album right now and I would not be bummed out if this song were on it.

Byronius Punk - Beautiful Things

I just spent 3 weeks with Byronius Punk (Ian Farmer of Slaugher Beach, Dog / Modern Baseball) at his studio The Metal Shop in Philadelphia making a record with his beautiful mind and his new drum machine- so this song really hits home for me. I could write an essay on why this is the perfect Group Picture song- my three main points being - 1. It is a song about the act of creating. (“in everything that exists there lies a certain beauty / I want the world to know how much it all means to me”) which is exactly what Group Picture aims to celebrate. 2. It’s a song written and performed by someone who is usually more in the background of his bands (bassist / backup vox / recording engineer) but here has a platform to express his own individual style and skills, which is exactly what Group Picture wants to promote. 3. It has a Milk Flud name drop, which is a classic and classy GP / MNE move. Thank you Ian. You rule.

Dante Elephante - It Bothers Me

Dante Elephante are Santa Barbara legends and their new album “Rare Attractions” shows them evolving their sound into more loungey and ethereal territory. I am so glad they have joined GP this year, because I see singer / songwriter Ruben almost every weekend when he DJ’s at The Tavern in Ventura and I drunkenly annoy him / vaguely fan boy out on him. Dante being on Group Picture is a sign that our friendship extends beyond Saturday nights at the Tavern. Also their album vibes hard. Check out Rare Attractions on Spotify.

Peanut Butter Cups - Highest Quality

Petition for Aaron Kovacs (Peanut Butter cups, Lauren Records CEO, Winter Break and Summer Vacation drummer) to finally put out a full album? This catchy lo-fi pop rock is undeniably infectious. Fun fact: I’ve been hanging with this boy for almost 10 years and I’ve never heard him sing, but then he sends me these recordings and I’m like wtf your voice is so cool! If he makes a full album, MNE will put out the LP and still give him 100% of the digital income. That is how much I like Aaron’s style. 

Anika Pyle - Young Love

I once wrote a song with the lyric “I’ll probably see her on tour but she won’t be on Group Picture this year.” I’m so glad I was wrong. Welcome to GP Anika Pyle! Anika (Katie Ellen, Chumped) plays raw emotional pop rock songs and this gem “Young Love” is just the tip of the iceberg. When her vocals max out at the end of the tune and you get a little bit of musical goosebumps, that is the feeling you get for a full 30 minutes of watching her play live. Anika, please come in and stay for a while! 

Walter Etc. - This Would Only Happen to Me

Ok ok enough of the soft emotional bullshit. Here’s a song about someone coming to kill me! It’s 100% true. If you’re reading this, help!!!

Jake Lee - Good Run

Jake Lee (Bleeding Gums Murphy) strikes again with a lo-fi indie gem in which we hear Jake Lee reflect on his gaime from last year. Sounds like he made some interesting choices and is coming to terms with them? Or did I miss the mark, Jake? He is and always will be one of my favorite songwriters and his voice in this fuzz effect is not a bad look, I have to admit. The only way my life would be better is if Jake made a full album. Cheers homie.

Babytooth - State Quarters, OR

Technically, this is Babytooth’s official debut on Group Picture, but Portland, OR singer / songwriter Isabel Zacharias had a song on the comp last year that blew me away. It was her vocals and lyrics that hooked me then, and are still yanking me now. Now backed by a full band that gives dynamic range to her songs, it was still that first line “now you know you want a girl without a phone” that had me nodding “yup i love this”. Fingers crossed for Babytooth to become a GP staple.

Trashbike - Weasel

Trashbike is Bread (Blowout, Walter etc., Donkey Lips) and his homie Ru playing the pedals. He told me he wrote this song while stumbling home from the Bye and Bye. Bread is like a sexy emo prince, can’t you hear it? This song rules and I really hope Trashbike is more than just a one and done GP band. I would listen to a few albums of soft songs like this, wouldn’t you?

Banned From Japan - Vegan X

Welcome back to the Socal Valley punk rockers Banned From Japan! If you know that singer / songwriter Matthew Earle has been sober for a few years, this song is hilarious, simultaneously poking fun at vegan straight-edge and himself. The music rips and his vocals are catchy af. Fat Wrecks Chords come and sign Banned From Japan asap!

Walter X - Winter Shy

Ok. This is a bit meta. Walter X (Michael Mahaffie and his WMAHMO / Walter Etc. hardcore chip tune cover project) covers an old Walter GP song as his own GP song. Pretty niche MNE content! This song, in this Lifetime-esque style, his vocals so clear but so gruff, those guitar harmonies, the creative intro and chip-tuney bridge…. this literally gives me chills and is so much better than the original. I encourage anyone reading this to go check out his own original music under the name Jump Cut. It sounds just like this but with Michael’s own songs, shedding the limitations of the musical simpleton Walter songs.  Also, check out the full Walter X album on Spotify! What a talented dude…

Curling - Genkai Trip

Curling released their MNE album “Definitely Band” this year and the musical arrangements / song structures absolutely floored me. Genkai Trip is a song that got left off the album, but lives on through GP! Singer / guitarist Bernie Gelman noted “There's some pretty wacky guitar overdubs where Jojo and I each doubled some guitar parts while the other person was playing with the trem on the guitar, so you get this really weird detuning effect.” and yup that is Curling in a nutshell for you. Always excited to play around with gear and recording techniques that are way beyond my level.  I think this is an extremely underrated band and highly encourage the world to check out Definitely Band on spotify!

Ali Muhareb - DIY Hell

Ali? What the hell did you even make this song? It’s intriguing in the verses and then when the chorus busts out it sounds like if Dough Martsch were an up and coming artist in Portland in 2018. I actually had to text Ali to ask what these guitar sounds were and, if anyone is interested, he responded, “I compressed two guitars together through a virtual amp. And they’re both running through this sick pedal I got called the Data Corrupter.” For sure Ali! Thanks for a bad ass tune.

Dakota Loesch - Don’t Solve My Mysteries

I’ve been listening to a lot of Dakota’s music (solo, Animal City, Lemp Lungs) recently. I keep coming back to it, and its not a mystery. After hundreds of songs in his pocket, songs like “Don’t Solve My Mysteries” still sound musically and lyrically fresh, like Dakota has never had writer’s block in his life. When I listen to his music, I feel like it vicariously breaks down my own creative barriers. For instance when I first heard this song and he dropped the hook “just don’t solve all mysterious” I had that knee-jerk urge to ditch what I was doing and go write a poem or something. His will to create is just that contagious. Combine that with the Casio-keyboard bedroom drum machine vibe that I love so much about his songs like “The Basmati Rice” and you have a 10/10 GP banger. 

Jerbear - Nowhere Girl

Jerbear is Jeremy Murphy (Teal & Jer, Riled, so many) and he is the king of a few things: weird bad guitar tones, asymmetrical organic song structures, rad lyrics that I never understand, and a voice that is universally loved. He stole my heart with Cranberries in the Cosmos on a previous GP, but I think Nowhere Girl takes the cake. Jer- when do we get the full solo album? Please don’t fall into the category of GP lost wonders. You’re not too shabby at this music thing! 

Hemingway - Catch My Cool

Catch My Cool is a B-side from Hemingway’s You Will Never Be Happy.

I played drums in Hemingway at this time and I always vibed that Benny didn’t really like the way this song came out int he studio. I don’t get why? That vocal melody, soft sad and surfy guitar leads… it makes me wanna hold hands with a girl on Christmas Eve while walking down some bougie street looking at Christmas Lights. It sounds like a Starflyer 59 worship track and I love it for that. Benny, you made a mistake. This song should have made the album. 

Alex Maddox - The Hypocrit’s Dilemma

I’ve heard Alex play this song when we get together to jam, and he always laughs it off as a Walter Mitty rip off song. But honestly, this is what I wish WMAHMO would write about if we made a folk punk record today. If you listen to this song knowing that Alex Maddox was a guy who quit his high paying job to travel Europe in his van, surfing and skating and working on farms, the lyrics to this song are way more wanna-be Walter Mitty. The song depicts a transformation in his paradigm and is completely raw, authentic, and sincere. Alex inspires me to chase a wholesome life that is designed for and by myself, rather than the obvious and sterile template that is provided for us, and this song exemplifies that 1000%. 

Uncle Uncle - Nira (I’m Alive)

We played with Uncle Uncle last year in Santa Barbara and I honestly think we should have opened for them. They are actually a good band, both live and recorded. Stylish, friendly, and comically laid back- they might be the quintessential Santa Barbara band. A semi-new band, Uncle Uncle is gaining momentum quickly, and I won’t be surprised when the day comes that Kevin and Dom big time me on State st. Til then, I’m just glad I get to claim that they were on a Group Picture. 

Humphrey Orlando - Set U Free

Ah, Humphrey. No, Humphrey accompanied by Toast. Two legends as old as MNE itself. What is there to say? I could listen to their wandering ballads til I fall into the Big Sleep, and still the melodies linger on…

[terabitweb]

Original Post from Krebs on Security Author: BrianKrebs

For at least the past decade, a computer crook variously known as “Yalishanda,” “Downlow” and “Stas_vl” has run one of the most popular “bulletproof” Web hosting services catering to a vast array of phishing sites, cybercrime forums and malware download servers. What follows are a series of clues that point to the likely real-life identity of a Russian man who appears responsible for enabling a ridiculous amount of cybercriminal activity on the Internet today.

Image: Intel471

KrebsOnSecurity began this research after reading a new academic paper on the challenges involved in dismantling or disrupting bulletproof hosting services, which are so called because they can be depended upon to ignore abuse complaints and subpoenas from law enforcement organizations. We’ll get to that paper in a moment, but for now I mention it because it prompted me to check and see if one of the more infamous bulletproof hosters from a decade ago was still in operation.

Sure enough, I found that Yalishanda was actively advertising on cybercrime forums, and that his infrastructure was being used to host hundreds of dodgy sites. Those include a large number of cybercrime forums and stolen credit card shops, ransomware download sites, Magecart-related infrastructure, and a metric boatload of phishing Web sites mimicking dozens of retailers, banks and various government Web site portals.

I first encountered Yalishanda back in 2010, after writing about “Fizot,” the nickname used by another miscreant who helped customers anonymize their cybercrime traffic by routing it through a global network of Microsoft Windows computers infected with a powerful malware strain called TDSS.

After that Fizot story got picked up internationally, KrebsOnSecurity heard from a source who suggested that Yalishanda and Fizot shared some of the same infrastructure.

In particular, the source pointed to a domain that was live at the time called mo0be-world[.]com, which was registered in 2010 to an Aleksandr Volosovyk at the email address stas_vl@mail.ru. Now, normally cybercriminals are not in the habit of using their real names in domain name registration records, particularly domains that are to be used for illegal or nefarious purposes. But for whatever reason, that is exactly what Mr. Volosovyk appears to have done.

WHO IS YALISHANDA?

The one or two domain names registered to Aleksandr Volosovyk and that mail.ru address state that he resides in Vladivostok, which is a major Pacific port city in Russia that is close to the borders with China and North Korea. The nickname Yalishanda means “Alexander” in Mandarin (亚历山大).

Here’s a snippet from one of Yalishanda’s advertisements to a cybercrime forum in 2011, when he was running a bulletproof service under the domain real-hosting[.]biz:

-Based in Asia and Europe. -It is allowed to host: ordinary sites, doorway pages, satellites, codecs, adware, tds, warez, pharma, spyware, exploits, zeus, IRC, etc. -Passive SPAM is allowed (you can spam sites that are hosted by us). -Web spam is allowed (Hrumer, A-Poster ….)

-Forbidden: Any outgoing Email spam, DP, porn, phishing (exclude phishing email, social networks)

There is a server with instant activation under botnets (zeus) and so on. The prices will pleasantly please you! The price depends on the specific content!!!!

Yalishanda would re-brand and market his pricey bulletproof hosting services under a variety of nicknames and cybercrime forums over the years, including one particularly long-lived abuse-friendly project aptly named abushost[.]ru.

In a talk given at the Black Hat security conference in 2017, researchers from cyber intelligence firm Intel471 labeled Yalishanda as one the “top tier” bulletproof hosting providers worldwide, noting that in just one 90-day period in 2017 his infrastructure was seen hosting sites tied to some of the most advanced malware contagions at the time, including the Dridex and Zeus banking trojans, as well as a slew of ransomware operations.

“Any of the actors that can afford his services are somewhat more sophisticated than say the bottom feeders that make up the majority of the actors in the underground,” said Jason Passwaters, Intel471’s chief operating officer. “Bulletproof hosting is probably the biggest enabling service that you find in the underground. If there’s any one group operation or actor that touches more cybercriminals, it’s the bulletproof hosters.”

Passwaters told Black Hat attendees that Intel471 wasn’t convinced Alex was Yalishanda’s real name. I circled back with Intel471 this week to ask about their ongoing research into this individual, and they confided that they knew at the time Yalishanda was in fact Alexander Volosovyk, but simply didn’t want to state his real name in a public setting.

KrebsOnSecurity uncovered strong evidence to support a similar conclusion. In 2010, this author received a massive data dump from a source that had hacked into or otherwise absconded with more than four years of email records from ChronoPay — at the time a major Russian online payment provider whose CEO and co-founders were the chief subjects of my 2014 book, Spam Nation: The Inside Story of Organized Cybercrime.

Querying those records on Yalishanda’s primary email address — stas_vl@mail.ru — reveal that this individual in 2010 sought payment processing services from ChronoPay for a business he was running which sold counterfeit designer watches.

As part of his application for service, the person using that email address forwarded six documents to ChronoPay managers, including business incorporation and banking records for companies he owned in China, as well as a full scan of his Russian passport.

That passport, pictured below, indicates that Yalishanda’s real name is Alexander Alexandrovich Volosovik. The document shows he was born in Ukraine and is approximately 36 years old.

The passport for Alexander Volosovyk, a.k.a. “Yalishandra,” a major operator of bulletproof hosting services.

According to Intel471, Yalishanda lived in Beijing prior to establishing a residence in Vladivostok (that passport above was issued by the Russian embassy in Beijing). The company says he moved to St. Petersburg, Russia approximately 18 months ago.

His current bulletproof hosting service is called Media Land LLC. This finding is supported by documents maintained by Rusprofile.ru, which states that an Alexander Volosovik is indeed the director of a St. Petersburg company by the same name.

ARMOR-PIERCING BULLETS?

Bulletproof hosting administrators operating from within Russia probably are not going to get taken down or arrested, provided they remain within that country (or perhaps within the confines of the former republics of the Soviet Union, known as the Commonwealth of Independent States).

That’s doubly so for bulletproof operators who are careful to follow the letter of the law in those regions — i.e., setting up official companies that are required to report semi-regularly on various aspects of their business, as Mr. Volosovik clearly has done.

However, occasionally big-time bulletproof hosters from those CIS countries do get disrupted and/or apprehended. On July 11, law enforcement officials in Ukraine announced they’d conducted 29 searches and detained two individuals in connection with a sprawling bulletproof hosting operation.

The press release from the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office doesn’t name the individuals arrested, but sources tell KrebsOnSecurity that one of them was Mikhail Rytikov, a man U.S. authorities say was a well-known bulletproof hoster who operated under the nickname “AbdAllah.”

Servers allegedly tied to AbdAllah’s bulletproof hosting network. Image: Gp.gov.ua.

In 2015, the U.S. Justice Department named Rytikov as a key infrastructure provider for two Russian hackers — Vladimir Drinkman and Alexandr Kalinin — in a cybercrime spree the government called the largest known data breach at the time.

According to the Justice Department, Drinkman and his co-defendants were responsible for hacks and digital intrusions against NASDAQ, 7-Eleven, Carrefour, JCP, Hannaford, Heartland, Wet Seal, Commidea, Dexia, JetBlue, Dow Jones, Euronet, Visa Jordan, Global Payment, Diners Singapore and Ingenicard.

Whether AbdAllah ever really faces justice for his alleged crimes remains to be seen. Ukraine does not extradite citizens, as the U.S. authorities have requested in this case. And we have seen time and again how major cybercriminals get raided and detained by local and federal authorities there, only to quickly re-emerge and resume operations shortly thereafter, while the prosecution against them goes nowhere.

Some examples of this include several Ukrainian men arrested in 2010 and accused of running an international crime and money laundering syndicate that used a custom version of the Zeus trojan to siphon tens of millions of dollars from hacked small businesses in the U.S. and Europe. To my knowledge, none of the Ukrainian men that formed the core of that operation were ever prosecuted, reportedly because they were connected to influential figures in the Ukrainian government and law enforcement.

Intel471’s Passwater said something similar happened in December 2016, when authorities in the U.S., U.K. and Europe dismantled Avalanche, a distributed, cloud-hosting network that was rented out as a bulletproof hosting enterprise for countless malware and phishing attacks.

Prior to that takedown, Passwater said, somehow the core actor behind the Avalanche hosting network — an individual who went by the nickname “Sosweet” — got a tip about an impending raid.

“Sosweet was raided in December right before Avalanche was taken down, [and] we know that he was tipped off because of corruption [because] 24 hours later the guy was back in service and has all his stuff back up,” Passwater said.

The same also appears to be true for several Ukrainian men arrested in 2011 on suspicion of building and disseminating Conficker, a malware strain that infected millions of computers worldwide and prompted an unprecedented global response from the security industry.

So if a majority of bulletproof hosting businesses operate primarily out of countries where the rule of law is not strong and/or where corruption is endemic, is there any hope for disrupting these dodgy businesses?

Here we come full circle to the academic report mentioned briefly at the top of this story: The answer seems to be — like most things related to cybercrime — “maybe,” provided the focus is on attempting to interfere with their ability to profit from such activities.

That paper, titled Platforms in Everything: Analyzing Ground-Truth Data on the Anatomy and Economics of Bulletproof Hosting, was authored by researchers at New York University, Delft University of Technology, King Saud University and the Dutch National High-Tech Crimes Unit. Unfortunately, it has not yet been released publicly, and KrebsOnSecurity does not have permission yet to publish it.

The study examined the day-to-day operations of MaxiDed, a bulletproof hosting operation based in The Netherlands that was dismantled last summer after authorities seized its servers. The paper’s core findings suggest that because profit margins for bulletproof hosting (BPH) operations are generally very thin, even tiny disruptions can quickly push these businesses into the red.

“We demonstrate the BPH landscape to have further shifted from agile resellers towards marketplace platforms with an oversupply of resources originating from hundreds of legitimate upstream hosting providers,” the researchers wrote. “We find the BPH provider to have few choke points in the supply chain amenable to intervention, though profit margins are very slim, so even a marginal increase in operating costs might already have repercussions that render the business unsustainable.”

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Go to Source Author: BrianKrebs Meet the World’s Biggest ‘Bulletproof’ Hoster Original Post from Krebs on Security Author: BrianKrebs For at least the past decade, a computer crook variously known as “

[news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog]

I played 'HQ.' It was fun. It'll be gone in six months.

Today, a bunch of us cool folks here played that hip new, live phone trivia game HQ. As a big trivia guy (and regular champion), I enjoyed myself. As a realist, I don't think it'll be around for too long.

HQ is an app that you can download on your iPhone (no quiz for you Android users). Then, twice a day on weekdays and once on weekends, it will notify you to join a live-hosted trivia game where you compete with many thousands of people to win real money.

It's simple. It's intuitive. It's mildly charming. And it doesn't stand a chance.

SEE ALSO: Let's take a trip down iPhone memory lane

It's an extremely futuristic service that seamlessly connects people and creates a sense of community over something as basic as a trivia game. I was greatly appreciative of the thoughtful questions that seemed neither too hard nor too easy and the hosting (by "Quiz Daddy" Scott) went down pretty well. 

However, it has a number of things working against it. 

There are these things called fads? 

You can always count on a large mob of people to get bored of something. And that's doubly true of the internet. 

Though HQ's users have skyrocketed in the past few months, you can see that same trajectory in any number of fast-rising applications or experiences that died quick, quiet deaths. Friendster, Meerkat, Yo!, Peach, Ello, Secret, Yik Yak are all apps that had a lot of buzz, gathered a big user base, and fell hard.

I don't doubt that HQ can hold on for maybe a year. But it still has no discernable revenue stream, and is giving away $2,000 a day ($1,000 on weekends), not including server costs, talent costs, overhead, etc. We wrote that they have a few million in venture capital funding, which gives the team a limited window to make this thing succeed. 

They could prove me wrong, but the short attention span of the internet is a real thing. 

Not the stablest of ownership

HQ entered the consciousness of many people a few weeks ago, and not in the way the game's owners would have preferred. 

The Daily Beast's Taylor Lorenz attempted to do a profile of the game's main host, Scott. What she got was a threat from HQ CEO Rus Yusupov that if she ran her previously recorded interview with Scott, the host would lose his job. In the wild post, Yusupov flew off the handle and came across as someone no one would want to work for. 

Yusupov did apologize, but the damage was done.

Maybe it's just an isolated incident, or maybe it's a sign of bad leadership for a company walking on a tightrope.

It would be soooo easy to replicate (and to do much better)

Several of those apps listed above fell to competitors who were able to provide a much better experience, on a stabler platform, with an already competent business model that could provide a service with longevity.

HQ doesn't have a patent on a quiz game, and other big platforms (Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter) are almost certainly looking into how they could develop a more compelling product and disperse it across their enormous user bases.

And they could do so much more with the game: More access to the hosts, bigger prizes, microtransactions, user factions, avatars, etc. 

Certainly, HQ is trying to future-proof its product and will probably evolve to keep its users. But that's a real balancing act for a fledgling company already suffering bad press and trying to keep fans with legendarily short attention spans.

I'm sure I'll play a few more times, gradually forget about HQ, and eventually delete the app. And I'm certain I won't be the only one. 

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