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3wisellamas · 3 years ago

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Giant Sweet Cap’n Cakes Headcanon Masterpost!

(Fun fact, I thought most of these up while on one REALLY long hike. ^^; You can tell I fell for these three pretty hard.)

Music:

-I like the idea that, while the three all share a love of hip hop, glitch hop, electronic music in general, and a little lo-fi for chill times, they all have different tastes outside of those. (Meaning if you pass them the aux cord, they WILL argue!)

-Sweet's actually the biggest audiophile of the group, with by far the most eclectic tastes; he will literally put together playlists that go from dubstep to heavy metal to classical to rap to vaporwave to even country. The others don't really get it, but they're cool with whatever he puts on, and learn a lot of new music from him!

-He also owns an electric guitar, which he just plugs into himself to use as an amp and plays early in the morning to wake the others up if needed (he's the early riser and the other two are night owls...)

-Cap'n's definitely got a more narrow focus than the other two; he likes rap and also R&B, jazz, and even a little swing/electro swing. He's also been caught more than once listening to cheesy romantic pop songs, claiming he's just into them for their potential madamoizel-attracting uses but really he's just a sappy romantic.

-He can also rap, very well in fact, and gets Sweet to beatbox while he freestyles.

-Heck, he's just got a good singing voice in general, helped by having a built-in autotune, and dominates at karaoke!

-K_K also has a really broad range, but stays more towards the electronic end of the spectrum -- melodic dubstep, synthpop, disco, trance, chiptune, DnB, even occasionally puts on straight-up ambient spa music to chill out to (the only genre the other two will NOT tolerate.)

-K_K has also, in the past, set up entire mini-raves just by themselves, complete with glowsticks and everything, while Cap'n and Sweet were out doing whatever. They were...not pleased, when they got back, mostly because they weren't invited. All three got to have one together eventually though.

-Physical media is king in their shop; if it's not on a CD, cassette tape, or a vinyl record (or an 8-track, though they have to dig out their old player for it), they will refuse to play it, and might even ask you to leave. "MP3" is an extremely dirty word to them.

-(In fact, they don't get along too well with the MP3 player-headed robots elsewhere in the city.)

-They are indeed always listening to music on physical media as well -- K_K and Cap'n are their own CD players (though Cap'n's one of those models that's also got a built-in FM radio), while Sweet has a straight-up Walkman.

-(He's also the group's cassette champion, claiming his media of choice is superior to CDs because you can record music on BOTH sides of the tape! The other two just don't have the heart to point out that each side only holds half as much music as a CD, and you don't even have to rewind those...)

-Jury's still out on Hit Clips. Cap'n and Sweet think they're just toys, but K_K genuinely collects and appreciates them and treats them like actual music (it helps that they are only around four seconds long!)

-Believe it or not, the headphones are only decoration, all three actually just...listen to their music entirely within their own heads, though they can also switch to playing it externally on their speakers as well. Perks of being robots! Though, sometimes K_K has his internal volume up too high, and misses things that other people say because of it.

-Sweet also has an input port, and connects himself to his turntable to act as the speakers! The other two are WAY too embarrassed to ask if they can use it as well.

-Sweet can play almost any instrument you throw at him, as long as it's not a woodwind (Surprisingly, he can do brass, since those work on vibration rather than air!). He prefers his guitar or violin when he isn't spinning records on his turntable. Where the other two just enjoy music, he's the actual trained musician.

Voice headcanons:

-Sweet: Kind of deep, bass-y, lots of reverb, a slight tinny audio distortion to it like a low-quality recording that becomes much more pronounced when he gets upset or starts shouting. And since he's a speaker, you can literally feel the vibrations he makes when he's speaking!

-Cap'n: Scout from TF2. I am sorry, but I absolutely cannot get that out of my head for him. XD However, he's actually putting that voice on as an "accent" of sorts, his real voice is actually super autotune-y like K_K's, and it comes out whenever he gets flustered, his pitch only getting higher and higher as it gets worse...

-K_K: Pure autotune, he can just do whatever the hell he wants with his voice -- pitch, tone, whatever, and while he tends to keep it a little higher he can and does change it to fit his mood! He often has a completely different voice every day, but the others are used to it. He also just straight-up vocalizes sound effects (like, the kind that make you go "How did you just make that sound with your mouth?!") and can mimic other people perfectly (though the slight mechanical distortion does give it away). There are absolutely no rules when it comes to K_K's voice.

-They harmonize perfectly whenever they sing together!

Sweet:

-I like to think Sweet's actually the brains of the group; like, not SMART, he just holds their one collective braincell most often. He does any technical work when they're building stuff, like soldering circuits or the occasional programming, and even handles a lot of the actual business operations and pays the bills. The other two also like to follow his lead when it comes to rebellion plans, even if he’s not the official leader.

-That said, though? It's balanced out by him being rather hotheaded and having the shortest temper by a lot. There are REASONS why he's not usually out selling bagels with the others -- he's unfortunately prone to some more "extreme" sales tactics, like hurling half their stock at random passersby until they finally agree to buy some. On the plus side, he's always the first to step up to defend the gang from anything that dares to harm them, and is always on guard.

-He can also hold a heck of a grudge -- don't ever get on his bad side! Cap'n and K_K are mostly immune to this though, if he gets upset with them he works through it by the end of the day. It helps that they can all hug it out.

-He's a bit of a perfectionist, often working overtime to try and get everything they build exactly right. He can get really frustrated when things don't work out the way he plans, or when he can't make sense of a problem, or when Cap'n and K_K are goofing off instead of doing their part, and needs to go blast some loud music and blow off steam.

-He does have a really tough time keeping his balance, since his head is a bit heavier than the rest of his body, but he takes tripping over his own feet constantly in stride. The biggest problem he has is with dancing -- while he'll join in with the others on occasion, he can't match their more acrobatic moves and sticks more to actually PLAYING the music they're dancing to.

-He's also really, really unlucky, just in general. He actually considers the other two his good luck charms, since they help him out whenever he trips or gets into a bad spot!

-He's the fashionista of the group, surprisingly. It's difficult for him to find clothes that fit his body, so he tends to get a little creative with it and has a whole closet full of different stuff! And since Cap'n is roughly the same size they'll occasionally swap jackets.

Cap’n:

-Cap'n actually has managed to score a handful of dates with girls in the past! However, NONE of them went well, and only one actually made it to the second date (only to break up right in the middle of it), so he always ends up returning home heartbroken and in tears. Sweet and K_K, by this point just ready for it whenever they hear that he's going out that night, always dry him off before he shorts himself out, take him to bed and cuddle with him (platonically, I don't see them as brothers but I also don't see them as having that conversation until Cap'n's ready, which he clearly is NOT), remind him that it doesn't hurt forever and he isn't unlovable and that he'll find someone eventually, etc.

-They have sat him down multiple times to try and gently suggest to Cap'n that he might just not be into women? And that he’s actually turning them off by trying so hard? To which he's always just like "No, of course not. I'm straight. Love the ladies. Totally. Oh no they didn't catch me checkin' out that one dude earlier did they? Is that what this is about?!"

-(Basically, Cap'n is just a hopeless romantic in love with the idea of being in love, but is absolutely clueless as to how it works or what he actually wants, and his best buds are always there to catch him when he falls. ;v; )

-The glasses are prescription -- he's SUPER nearsighted, a hardware glitch he refuses to fix. Sometimes when he's working on something close up he'll take them off, panicking when he can't find them afterwards, only to have the others point out that they're just on his head. He’s also got non-tinted glasses, but you will not catch him DEAD wearing those unless it’s an absolute emergency.

-This dude is SUPREMELY insecure with himself. Like, his rather questionable fixation on romance aside, he basically runs off of others' validation, the "cool" persona he's spent much of his life building up being how he hides the fact that he isn't really sure who he is, or what he wants to do with his life, or what he's even good for -- the others have learned to check on him now and then whenever he hides away in the back of the shop, since he can slip into some pretty dark places when left alone to sulk. It took a long time for him to open up even to them to share his feelings, and sometimes still has doubts about whether they or anyone else really care about him as more than just The Smooth One...

-He's the only one of the three to actually enjoy the occasional silence, especially when he's trying to think, or whenever he's upset. So, his headphones also serve a dual purpose -- they're noise-cancelling!

-He's the video guy, carrying around a small camcorder and constantly trying to record the group's activities, to put together into music videos! He also just likes to record himself doing stupid stunts for posterity, though K_K just takes these and makes (affectionate) blooper reels.

-Cap'n is not his real name, similar to K_K. However, unlike K_K, he refuses to say what it is, just that it's embarrassing.

K_K:

-K_K has a bad habit of just completely zoning out when he gets into his music, getting completely lost in the groove and needing to be pulled back to reality. It's not a bad thing during jam sessions, but at work, or in the middle of a battle...not so much.

-He kind of needs to have some kind of music going at all times -- silence drives him absolutely CRAZY! Though, because he gets distracted by his own music, he then misses out on entire conversations, only tuning back in towards the end. Sometimes the other two have to repeat or summarize what they just said for him.

-He knows sign language, and taught the others to use it. They're able to communicate reasonably well no matter how loud their shop gets, or on days when K_K isn't able to form words properly (he's just shy, and even when he isn't he gets tongue-tied a LOT).

-He's easily the best dancer of the three, and uses his extendable body to get really creative with his moves! He even knows a little ballroom, somehow, which he'll pull out sometimes to make the others laugh.

-(Seriously, K_K CANNOT stand to see Sweet or Cap'n not smiling. He'll do anything to keep the group's spirits up, usually cracking jokes during a scrap project or doing little favors, and they appreciate all his efforts!)

-K_K has the WORST sleep cycle, ever. If you let him, he will stay up all night working or partying, finally going to bed at 6AM, and will then sleep until 6PM if the others don't wake him up at some point. If they know he was up really late they'll let him sleep in a little, but he's often pretty sleep-deprived and running solely on sugar and caffeine, which doesn't help his natural loopiness.

-He is a VERY physical guy. Seriously, he will just scoop up and hold Sweet or Cap'n like a cat every five minutes; at first they were just like "Oh. Okay. We're hugging now I guess," but after a while they got more used to it and even anticipate when K_K is going to do it. And he also initiates tons of snuggles and gives piggyback rides whenever one of his bandmates (usually Sweet) requests.

-K_K actually scrapbooks, collecting pictures and little mementos of places he and the others have gone and things they've done. After the library fountain is sealed, he pulls them out to show everyone else from Cyber City and reminisce about home.

-It's very hard to make K_K angry, since he tends to stay super chill and brushes off almost everything. But, on those very, very rare occasions when something does get under his metal outer casing, he'll go full-on silent treatment, not speaking to anyone for up to a week as he sulks and stomps around the junk shop, and even refuses to play any music! And no amount of sweets or hugs or cheering up will bring him out of it, either; the other two have learned to just wait him out and let him have his space, letting him come to them when he's finally ready to talk about it.

Misc:

-Though all three love everything sweet, K_K's the only one who really goes overboard with it, making whole meals out of candy. Sweet, ironically enough, actually prefers more salty/savory snacks, while the less is said about Cap'n's hot sauce addiction, the better.

-Okay, actually, I will say more about it. Cap'n loves spicy food in general, and literally drinks tabasco sauce right from the bottle. However, he's got a bad habit of daring himself to eat hotter and hotter stuff, ESPECIALLY if someone is watching, and can easily get in WAY over his head before begging for milk.

-They also all totally drink battery acid like Queen.

-Heck, being both Darkners and robots, they can really eat literally anything. Normal food, milk, oil, batteries, gallons of pure sugar, toothpaste, moss, glitter (NEVER let K_K get hold of any though, he gets lost in the sauce), broken glass, etc, and of course their own deep-fried CDs. Only thing they can't do is water, since, you know, robots.

-With a lot of the aesthetics of Cyber City being close to turn-of-the millennium and early 2000s (CDs and boomboxes, popup ads, wired mice, Queen theorized to be one of those see-through iMacs, EVERYTHING about Spamton), I like the idea that the boys DO NOT have smartphones, and if you handed them one they'd have no clue how to use it or what to do with it. But they do have cell phones: Sweet's got an old flip phone covered in stickers (courtesy of K_K), Cap'n splurged for one of those that slide open and with a camera (he set his background to a tiny, grainy photo of the three of them!), and K_K has one of those indestructible Nokia bricks, that Sweet got him after he kept breaking all his other ones. They can all text, but that's about as high-tech as they get.

-Same with tablets or newer computers in general, they might share one tiny netbook at most. Cap’n never remembers to log out of his Dark World dating profile, so the others will snoop or post embarrassing things to it.

-They're really, really durable, even without milk -- they're made of 90s plastic and electronics, so it takes a LOT to take one of them down! Plus, they regularly repair each other back at the shop (it took a LONG time for them to gain enough trust to physically open and work on each other), so as long as at least one's left to drag the other two to safety they'll be just fine.

-However, if they get splashed with water, caught in the rain, or worse, drowned, they will short out, or shut down on the spot to prevent damage. Once they completely dry out, though, they'll start right back up, no worse for wear. When only one of them gets waterlogged the other two will break out the hair dryers to dry them out faster, or even pop them into the oven in a pan of rice like an iPod that got dropped in the toilet...

Finally, backstory?

-Cap'n and K_K met first -- maybe both as new recruits to another, much less savory gang of music equipment robots, and bonded as a result of being put upon by the more established members (Cap'n probably even had to defend K_K more than once when his inattentiveness got him into trouble!) But, they both had enough one day, and decided to break off and form their own thing, making music and selling CD bagels to support themselves.

-Sweet, meanwhile, has the complete opposite background, coming from a rich and important family of musicians in Cyber City who regularly entertained Queen in her mansion (hence why he always used to get sweets from her!) But, he was kind of the black sheep, preferring his own style of music, and decided to strike out on his own as a street musician instead.

-They met when Cap'n and K_K accidentally set up to sell bagels on Sweet's usual corner, and he battled them to reclaim his turf. But, they were evenly-matched (even two-to-one; Sweet's definitely the strongest of the trio!), and impressed each other with both their fighting and musical skills, so Sweet decided to join their tiny group, and thus Sweet Cap'n Cakes was formed.

-After the whole situation with Queen is resolved, SCC turns their rebellion into an anti-DRM kind of thing? Nobody can hold back the music, man!

#deltarune #sweet cap'n cakes #deltarune sweet #deltarune cap'n #deltarune k_k #sweet #cap'n #k_k #emheadcanons

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nobody-knose--archive · 4 years ago

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so guess who bought complete demos today on a whim

yeah i wasn’t expecting this one to be over as quickly as it was either. have your liveblog

-complete demos. i bought it today & already forgot the tracklist. listening to it on the mp3 player i got for hmcrmshcidshdamsth because why not. makes pausing/typing easier that's why

-who the heck just coughed

-good lord the mixing is. and boy that's steve drumming isn't it. wow

-i mean we've got the stereo panning just like ever but this is incredibly rough. they are true babies aren't they

-oh those flutes are amazing what the hell. can people stop yelling in my individual ears

-and there's the rough megaphone. it's so incredibly clear that these aren't studio recordings but like. still tally hall!

-i think i'm finding many of these a little too funny but gotdam you're pitchbending your own voice do you really expect that to not sound so goofy at such a high pitch

-oh we're not slowing down at all, this is the same tempo as before for sure

-the flipping around audio channels is very not good at all when it comes to disguising the cuts between takes

-a sculptor you say? (is that one in the later versions? i don't remember it at all)

-nothing but rob's voices in the background and maybe 1 or two from red. no ross bits whatsoever. that's wild

-quick move into the greener intro and even quicker movement into greener itself

-well those are extra harmonies. interesting that they removed them for later versions because they're not bad, maybe a little out of place though

-honestly the biggest difference in steve vs ross drumming seems to be more a difference in the quality of the drums themselves. or the recording software but that applies to everything in this album

-it's painfully obvious that everything was recorded in really different circumstances & not mixed professionally and yep. complete demos alright. not inaccurately named in the slightest

-reminds me of the beta versions of g&e songs we heard live before they appeared on the album, makes me wonder if we could've gotten an admittedly complete demos for g&e somehow

-anyway these little different synths-

-hello there rob. alternate bridge. i have remembered this is a thing. something about tissues? a shoulder to cry on? cool

-yeah the little different synths do capture my attention from time to time

-and a basic piano for the outro? huh. sure gives it a different tone alright

-hm? who's that right at the end there- ooh! wtth time! and this still has steve in it doesn't it?

-generally more enthusiasm when it comes to that T, wonder what lost him attention in later years

-boy is that beatboxing weirdly mixed.

-lawn

-well this chorus is actually rather snazzy. the vocals seem better mixed than anything else i've heard in this album

-"who's to blame?" that's like the 4th time now i've heard someone's random voice that i can't recognize. ...it couldn't be steve, could it? i am now aware i have absolutely no clue what his voice sounds like but that seems like it could fit. hm

-zubin sounds really unenthusiastic here. just faintly unenthusiastic all over the place. still sounds more like "badiggle" than anything else

-oh shit they're falling down a well

-red's bit is hella unchanged other than the direct invasion of my individual ears & extra megaphone useage (i really wish the megaphone became more of a tally icon than it did but that's neither here nor there)

-it's rather more barebones though. less andrew keys in general. the calliope-reminiscent synth he uses is different i suppose.

-they did more stuff with funny crowd voices i think i've noticed. playing around with falsetto, as a college band dude might do

-ok yeah steve is a worse drummer. don't ask me what made me change my mind but i did

-wow a crowd that can consistently clap on the 1-2-3-4? how utterly unrealistic

-no wonky wild & weird intro to taken for a ride because i don't think it's on this album. understandable, i can't imagine what sort of wild hell the vocoder would be if it was attempted this early in its lifespan

-1st 2 piano chords of just apathy has me thinking of i know your name (deporitaz ver.) which is certainly as good a start to a song as any

-extended piano intro has me thinking of the ending of mold en mono but nope here's rob's voice to completely knock that impression out of the water

-ohoho? rob cantor swearing momence? i hadn't realized there'd be this many lyric changes

-interestingly enough this track doesn't seem horrendously mixed so far- nevermind that guitar/piano together is way too loud

-the guitar itself does have a pretty cool unique sound. obviously they hadn't had any access to string instruments at this point so given that those're the main thing separating this song from your average sade rock ballad there aren't a whole lot of notable differences here other than said guitar

-very different tone to this lil bridge. faintly reminiscent of weezer but it's not like i know anything about weezer

-sounds like the same synth from wtth being used in the bg there. what, did they have just that limited a selection so as to need repetition that frequently, or did they really like how it sounds? hard to tell with 200 (uhhhh) 4 college band dudes

-and right into two wuv. yes i had heard there's no haiku in this one but i forget what else will be missing. not sure if anything else will other than hidden in the sand. they would have ruler of everything, right? and a track that appears here but not any other albums? something like that i think

-more of that piano in the bg and more of mildly unenthusiastic zubin singing. different melody for said singing but it's not much of a secret that these guys were more untrained vocalists at this time

- .subsides?

-this chorus sounds significantly more laid-back than the later version

-the extra piano part sure moves this piece way further away from "rock love song" & way closer to "andrew horowitz song", especially that lil flourish where a bee buzzing might otherwise be

-ooh! andrew! he speaks! so does zubin! this song's two olsen boys coming in for a weird bridge bit! hell yeah oh this is adorable

-"because there's 2 of them :}"

-hm. are they actually just removing various parts because they don't have the technological capabilities to do a straight fadeout here? got dam

-i suppose letting zubin do a final solo-ish cadence works too

-uh- say it ain't so‽ w. no this is stationary love, the song that appeared here & nowhere else. cool, cool. strange but cool i guess

-i guess that can explain the multitude of weezer comparisons made for these lads. it's certainly there. honestly andrew was the only thing keeping them from being true weezer successors

-pure acoustic guitar thus far. this is my first time hearing this song of course & it seems like a pretty typical rob "homophonic heterophobic" cantor song

-nothing but acoustic guitar. nothing but rob vocals. nothing but alloromanticism. guess what! it's not my cup of tea! however i can't help but think if this song was worked on more, fixed up a la either mmmm release, with some more andrew/red touches, i could enjoy it some more

-not even any drumming. the simplicity could easily explain why it wasn't played live very often at all

-so the next thing i expect is some very funky & very weird spring and a storm which should highlight steve's (worse) drumming more than anything else i'm sure

-nevermind banana man's just getting slapped directly in here out of order compared to the later mmmm releases. this version i have indeed heard before because it's the version used in the music video

-therefore i have very little to say about it i haven't said on any of the other banana men. or other tracks on this album. the intrusions of vocal harmonies seem jarring because they're not mixed professionally, an effect that's only enhanced by the stereo panning & intense reverb

-this song really didn't change all that much over its lifespan, did it? vocal flairs were redone, but relatively few harmonies were added/removed, i don't think things like the bridge(s) were modified severely. not as noticeably as any of the other songs, at the very least

-i'm pretty sure i can hear andrew's voice in there but beyond that this is severely unsettling

-back to the chorus wahoo. relievingly familiar territory

-get out of my left ear hawaiian guitar- wait a minute are my earbuds on wrong

-no i'm good

-oh holy shit i forgot this had to be somewhere didn't it‽ i know it's just the same! ok ok

-i've heard this one but only because i had no idea it was from complete demos, it's like rather polished too so i had never considered it would be on an unpolished album like this. i also had no idea that was goddam steve drumming in there too hot damn

-and this is the only recording of it‽ that's wild i always thought it was redone at some point & just kinda. manifested in one of the vague ways miscellaneous high quality tally hall songs do

-it's another romance one but the guitar arpeggios and extra layers give it a pass in my book. man i should watch the music video for it shouldn't i

-i still think it's utterly wild how tally hall played this at an actual high school's homecoming once. wouldn't that just blow your mind

-there's not a major difference between how it's performed here & what i've heard of it in from the occasional live performance, which is making me realize i should watch more live performances of this song

-angstier prequel to hidden in the sand

-or sidequel maybe. depends really. we can tell whatever stories we like

-did my hidden in the sand sotry come out of the queue yet? i feel like i queued it a while ago but also like y'all would've said something if you'd seen it

-bit slow paced innit. much like everything else in this album, it would have gained much from a professional studio treatment, but its mixing & general quality is still surely the best out of everything i've heard so far

-working your falsetto there aren't you my dude? ooh boy

-ruler of everything.... so no spring & a storm? >{

-yeah. ok. weird glockenspiel. almost sounds like a music box

-no vocoding either! i just realized that's a thing here! curious. and... those are some heavily wonky sfx in the background

-who's singing those aaaaas anyway? it's not a chorus which i thought could surely be handled and there's really minimal reverb too; strange considering not only is reverb a jh trademark but easily doable here

-the piano synth used is mostly identical to the 05 mmmm- oh holy shit there's different lyrics & they're being beamed directly into my skull

-even more nonsensical & it's because you can hear them hella easily too. that backwards segment did not need to go on as long as it did. also

-so no zubin vocals? >{

-slapping 5 billion vocal effects on doesn't make up for a lack of the best singer in this damn band

-especially because he sounds reminiscent of goddam fred. being fred before fred was even a thing. oh how accursed

-quiet down your guitars when you're singing shouting through a megaphone if you please

-and there's the earstrain-ass reverb + vocoding on the flibbity jibber jabber reprise. i feared as much would happen. doesn't sound horrible i just need to turn down the volume on my mp3 player

-honestly thing whole thing isn't bad at all in the sense that it's mostly just strongly different from the later versions & lacks zubin

-lease stop yelling though my dude schwiggling your voice like that isn't always a good thing at high volumes

-is that the end? are we.... at the end? i heard that's the name of some song from like sketches or something

-no. how silly of me to assume as much. anyway my dude needs to fix up his ukulele this one sounds like shit

-no vocal effects makes me realize how few times we got this one live-

-now what would you call a wonky little transition like that? puts a smile on my face, even if it does take me by surprise at the same time

-but at least one of the times this was done live featured casey shea

-now for the love of god i already hate the ending of something glowing (view-monster) for its weird-ass asmr finale don't reverse someone's cough & twiddle your ukulele strings directly into my right ear to end an otherwise really nice version of hidden in the sand if you please. oh mama mia. good night

#tally hall #loolin liveblogs #joe is mentioned sometimes but not by name fyi #tis i #as usual it's recommended that you listen to the album in question as you read to get a better idea of the context #because 9 times out of 10 i won't tell you it #i feel like i come off as slightly negative for much of this. what can i say complete demos is an album of amateur demos #the songs aren't as good as their later counterparts by nature & that's all i ever have to say #to the world and back again

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chungledownbeamcannon · 5 years ago

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@minadeku

Izumina week has come and gone, but I wanted to do one more thing for it. So here is a late entry for day 5: Second chances.

It is based off of an idea I had for the sequel to Walk. Might not use it as I am unsure how well it gels with the rest of my plans, but here had a look at a possible timeline, I guess. (P.S. I will try to get the first chapter of You Say Run out soon. If not this week, then early next week.)

Title: Hold Me Closer

It hurt. Burned even. Izuku had faced villains that could turn him to dust or freeze him in place. He had been beaten and bruised, and even broken his own bones. A lot. He had a reputation for that nowadays.

And yet this hurt more. Mina had been one of his first friends in years. She had been a light in his life that he desperately needed and had opened the door for him in several ways. He had hoped to repay that kindness to her every day, as he had felt blessed to know her. All those memories with her and his friends kept him going.

And yet at the end of the day, he had hurt her. Scared her. They had broken up because she couldn't handle it. Her words echoed in his mind.

"I can't do this. I can't.deal with you jeopardizing your life and body."

That voice was like honey to him and now it was like the very acid she produced. He had really messed up. It was a good thing It was a weekend. He felt like just laying in bed and sleeping, especially after how awkward things had been and how horrifying the ordeal before it was.

Izuku had been through the ringer and just needed sleep. A knock on the door had other plans for the boy though.

Izuku just rolled over and pretended to be asleep. He wished he were at least.

"Izuku? Can we talk?" It was her voice. Mina's voice.

Dammit. He couldn't say no.

"Um...sure…" Izuku opened the door and ushered her in. He sat on his bed and sat awkwardly. He normally would have patted the bed, offering her a spot. He had picked that habit up from her. The air was more tense, however, so he decided to let her stand. "W-what's up."

"Nothing...just wanted to…" Mina sighed. She wanted to be her own cheery self, act like things were normal. They weren't though. Or maybe They were. Maybe this was the new normal. She wasn't a fan of it. She liked to be flexible about life, but this was not fun at all.

She started again. "Look. We both messed up… You definitely did. I want to be honest.You could have gotten killed. Or expelled. Maybe both if that works somehow. Sometimes, I feel Sensei would find a way… and you went to save someone who hurt you…"

"There is no amount of sorry that will fix this, huh?" Izuku chuckled sadly, Looking up at his ex. She was the kindest, prettiest soul he knew, smiling no matter what. It honestly inspired him just as much as All Might did now. Close enough, at least. And yet knowing he was responsible for causing her worry and duress was the final knife in his chest. He felt ready to collapse. He felt her warm hand lift his chin and their eyes met.

"Easy there, green bean...I...it was hypocritical...I got scared of losing you and yet I pushed you away. You messed up and put yourself in danger for someone who likely wouldn't risk the same for you...but …"

"Yeah. You think I would learn. I just… " Izuku paused, Looking for the right words. He couldn't even muster a mutter. It was that bad.

"It's what heroes do though, right?" Mina smiled softly. Once again, she took the words out of his mouth.

Izuku nodded. An uncomfortable silence took hold for several minutes. The One-for-All inheritor choked up. "I hate this, Mina… I didn't want to scare you. I should have just let him go. Heck, he has his own classmates that could risk it all for him...but I knew him longer...I felt responsible in some messed up way. I couldn't let them go into it and say "not my problem anymore". They are my schoolmates and I couldn't risk it…"

"I guess we both are bent up about this, huh?" Mina admitted.

"I guess so…" Izuku replied.

Mina took a seat next to Izuku and fiddled with her thumbs. It was all starting to come out. It was more of a sputter than a steady stream but it was coming along regardless."You are too forgiving..."

"Yeah. I know. Bakugou hasn't been my friend for some time…" Izuku frowned. He thought it would get easier, but there was still that complicated feeling in the back of his mind.

Mina looked at the ground. "Not him, no. Not this time. You forgave me too easily. I mean I went to Aizawa! Aizawa! I dumped you and narced on you. Glad he didn't expel you. God I am such an awful girlfriend. I betrayed you...I just...I didn't want to lose you and I got scared and acted all weird and..." Tears fell from the pink girl's eyes, emotion pouring like a faucet now. Her eyes opened as Izuku brushed her cheek. His scarred hands felt so gentle despite their roughness. She had to resist the urge to nuzzle them. It was too soon.

"It's different with you. You gave me more love and concern than I ever felt deserving of. I mean, forgiveness is in my nature, I guess. Might be tied to my self worth. But how could I not?" Izuku held her hands. Both their hearts still ached. They were raw from the events that just unfolded and the regret of how things turned out.

What had happened had happened, but it hadn't changed the love the two still had. Despite the heartache and complications, those feelings lingered

Mina wiped her tears away and smiled weakly. Soon after, something occurred to her as her face produced an mp3 player from her purse, complete with wireless speakers. Izuku learned not to question how she fit them in there.

"It's not breakdancing or roller disco, but please...dance with me...I don't want this weirdness between us...just please don't do this sort of thing again. Not without me...I know you're smarter...get better grades...but my concerns matter too. My insight matters too. I know you know that… just...don't forget, ok?"

Izuku obliged. "Ok… looks like my muttering rubbed off on you a bit," Izuku joked.

"Shut up and hold me, dork," Mina huffed, leaning into him gingerly.

The two joined hands and danced slowly together in Izuku's room, cheek to cheek. A soft chiptune song played, something from an old video game. Regardless, it carried all the weight the two teens could no longer bear to handle alone. Was it too soon to reconcile? Was there any reason not to? Those concerns could wait until later. Right now, they needed this.

"I'm sorry, Mina...I keep causing you worry…"

"Yeah you do...you're my boyfriend…" Mina murdered into Izuku's shoulder

"Was your boyfriend...you dumped me...I would dump me too probably." Izuku gently pulled away but was pulled back in.

"Yeah...well...I like having you around...I could say let's just be friends...take it slow."

"That...might be for the best" Izuku's heart sank a little but he expected it. He was even ready to make peace with it.

Mina looked up in confusion. "What? No! I mean...that is probably how we should do things. We're young and stupid and emotions are still raw...but I always wanted to fall in love, Izuku. I knew there was a whole life in front of me but I wanted a live story. It appealed to me. And yet I didn't really...get those feelings, you know? Until you...I don't want to lose that...or you...just please...if I say stay, stay. Ok?"

"I promise. I stake my future as a hero on it." Izuku did a mild All Might impersonation. Mina ruffled his fluffy green hair in response.

"Dude, that is a bit overboard...don't put your dreams on hold because of me. Besides, I would miss you. I would want to rain blows upon you for being reckless and almost dying, but I don't want to lose you."

"Yeah...I don't want to lose you either. I-I just want to show you how much you matter. I don't think I would be here without your support? Not to discount everyone else. I feel so blessed. All Might, mom, Tsu, Kirishima, Uraraka, Iida...everyone… but above all...you...I'm sorry. That sounds cheesy. I just wanted to be honest and also sound cool but I might be going too fast again and..."

"Pretty sure you would. You're that good… And don't worry. I'm going the same speed as you" Mina laughed more genuinely now.

"I...maybe...But it feels empty to think about that." Izuku's tone became somber again.

The two cradled each other, tears staining their clothes as they refused to let go for the rest of the night.

"We should probably rest. If we just got back together...I don't want to push my luck." Izuku broke off slowly, allowing Mina the space she needed.

"Yeah...I'm going to sleep in my own bed. You're still riding the couch, buster." The pink girl gently booked her green-haired nerd's nose.

"I have a bed though." Izuku cocked his head inquisitively.

"No. Beds are for good boys who don't scare their girlfriends." Mina huffed teasingly. Her face relaxed. "Maybe in a day or two though, we can go back to normal...what passes for normalcy I mean."

"Y-yeah...that's fair. We can't just jump right back into things."

"Which sucks, because now we can cuddle...like...any time we want. Unless Iida comes in and physically puts a stack of textbooks between us. I feel he will want the glasses back that I stole from him as well."

"He could be listening. He might get ideas...but yeah. I respect that. Honestly, if we stayed broken up, I would have had to change my hero name. Calling myself Green Rush without the person who inspired it would seem weird."

"What would you pick though? Don't say Deku. I liked the reasoning Ochako gave for it but it still carries that Bakugou stink. It would be like you calling yourself "Stupid asshole, the traumatized hero"."

"I mean." Izuku rubbed the back of his head but was pulled into a quick kiss by Mina. It was just a short peck but it still sent lightning through his body and straight to his heart in a way full Dowling couldn't match. Soon after, a flurry of gentle blows found their way into his shoulders.

"No. No self deprecation. Not tonight. Just hold me please, ok?"

"Deal." Izuku rested his head against her shoulder, hesitating afterwards. "Sorry. I am rushing things. I need to slow down and…"

Izuku was cut off by a hand to his scalp. "Sssshhh. Stay. You're warm." Mina nuzzled him.

"Didn't you want to slow down? Stay in your own bed for a night or two? N-Not that I am complaining. I just...I don't know," Izuku stammered.

Mina pulled Izuku onto the bed as they fell backwards. "I changed my mind. Don't make me change it again, you beefy otaku." She muttered in a sleepy tone, voice slightly hoarse from crying.

"Yes ma'am" Izuku smiled softly as he fell on top of Mina.

"I love you, Izuku." Mina yawned as she buried her head into the crook of Izuku's neck.

"Love you too, Mina." He adjusted his head to avoid being poked by her horns. It wasn't long before the two passed out in each other's arms. Between the room competition, the move in, and everything else, the young couple had been exhausted. They needed this rest. Together.

Unbeknownst to them, a pair of eyes watched through a creak in the door. The figure croaked silently and headed back to her room, unsure of how to word what she wanted to say. Sleep would help. Besides, her friends needed this and she didn't want to ruin it.

#my writing #my hero academia #bnha spoilers #fic spoilers? posdible idea?#mina ashido #izuku midoriya #minadeku #izumina #day 5 #late entry #izumina week 2020 #izuminaweek2020

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edwardleak58-blog · 5 years ago

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Saving In Mp3 Format

Free Audio Converter from DVDVideoSoft means that you can convert audio information to completely different output formats as a way to play them through various devices and packages. The 7.0 model of MIDI to MP3 Converter for Mac is offered as a free acquire on our software program program library. This program's bundle is recognized as com.maniactools.MIDI_to_MP3_Converter. This technique's set up file is normally discovered as The most nicely-preferred variations among the program users are and 6.2. Convert MIDI to WAV - Convert your file now - on-line and free - this page additionally incorporates information on the MIDI and WAV file extensions. Recommendations on how one can convert a MIDI to a WAV file ? Choose the MIDI file that you just just wish to convert. WIDI recognition system along with WIDI Audio to MIDI plugin will assist you in converting MP3 to MIDI. Widisoft is a paid Windows software program. Having mentioned that, it gives 30-days trial license for the user. The Home windows platforms supported by Widisoft are Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10. Fundamental technical music data is should to make use of this software. For those who don't need to make your life crucial, please chorus from utilizing this software program. Protecting the technical data aside, that is finest to use. MP3s are compressed recordings of sounds. Some instruments can now transpose them to a level. They really can't be edited though. The sounds that had been originally recorded are what you get! WAV format is where most of them begin, and they are compressed by the MP3 format to save space, since WAV information are really giant as compared. Should you use a reasonably high MP3 fee of compression, say 320, then it's hard for most ears to tell the difference in sound from the unique file. Converting midi file to Wav format helps you to simple burn them on an audio CD which may be carried out in any CD participant. Tuniac Media Participant. (wav, aif) CD Audio (cda) Speex (spx) MOD Codecs (mod, mo3, xm, it, s3m, mtm) Recreation Audio Codecs (adx, umx) MIDI (mid) Supporting radio streaming of most the above codecs. Our converter does its finest to read the midi file and convert it into readable sheet music. It's certainly not a super system but we offer it right right here as a instrument which may be helpful to some. One heck of a situation that can worry clients is to have the file that's not recognized by the media participant. The time has come to seek for the alternate options and endeavor to go with a valid format. There are quite a few softwareвЂs accessible online to convertВ MP3 to MIDIВ Format. However, earlier than examining these, letвЂs know what does MIDI File implies. But image codecs such asAI andEPS, or sound formats such asMID andMUS, don't include precise picture or sound info, but relatively the instructions wanted to generate them. AnEPS of a sketch of the Mona Lisa would have the actual curves of the sketch in a format that the pc understands and might show to the person. The pc can manipulate every curve independently, even where it overlaps other curves, without disturbing them. Likewise, http://www.magicaudiotools.com a MIDI file of the Fifth Symphony has tracks or channels for each of the devices, and the notes and velocities and other commands for each of those in a approach the computer understands and can manipulate. You would change the individual notes of an individual instrument without affecting the other sounds that occur during the same time. You possibly can't do that with aWAV orMP3. Breathe new life into your outdated midi assortment! Magic Midi to MP3 Converter will show you how to you're your MIDI files into one of many many widespread formats together with MP3, AC3, WAV, OGG, or even the lossless FLAC. Supporting all sorts of MIDI information, the instrument can convert RMI, KAR and MIDI information to quite a lot of waveform audio formats with simply a couple of mouse clicks. The constructed-in tag editor allows specifying text for artist, tune and album data. Now that CDs have traveled down the identical street to obsolescence as cassette and eight-track tapes, the ability to successfully archive your music library within the digital realm has turn into a valuable commodity. We examined all the options of free and for-pay audio converter software program to ensure we suggest a product that may handle all of your audio manipulation needs for current and future music formats. This is a little rant that has been brewing within me for some while now. On occasion I get requested or see questions requested as to how one goes about converting MIDI to audio, and vice-versa. When you search on StackOverflow, you will discover literally dozens of questions asking this for practically each programming language out there. And it is simple to see why. Lots of individuals want to make some type of music-based mostly software program thing, and they should generate or save some content, and the easiest method to do that is with MIDI information.

If you compose music, work with MIDI recordsdata, or similar to tunes which can be accessible solely in MIDI format, you've got surely considered converting these MIDI recordsdata into actual music. MIDI information are extremely small and straightforward to share (that is why they are accessible virtually in every single place on the web), midi to mp3 converter free download android but they have some drawbacks. Firstly, most standard units, like players, aren't capable of play them. However, units that do play them usually play them in another way. On a top quality sound card music will be magnificent. However when you use a less expensive card, midi to mp3 converter free download android you'll in all probability find the same sound too artificial and never fulfilling at all.

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sterlingpiner · 2 years ago

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Relax melodies move to sd card

#RELAX MELODIES MOVE TO SD CARD UPGRADE#

#RELAX MELODIES MOVE TO SD CARD FULL#

Like I was in REM sleep, only I wasn’t really asleep. The audio sometimes moves from ear to ear in such a way that it almost made me feel like my eyes were moving back and forth under my closed eyelids. Here and there ocean waves, and bird chirps are thrown in too. The music isn’t like an actual song, it’s more like a combination of energy sounds, bells, drawn out tones, hums and pulses. The first few times, the music felt a slight bit creepy to me. He also talks about letting your mind relax and letting your thoughts drift. He runs through some relaxation exercises such as tensing all your muscles and then relaxing them. But with the pzizz, every nap is a bit different… Each nap starts out with a male narrator talking for a minute or so. I thought it would be similar to some of the relaxation CDs that I had tried in the past. You gotta love a review that requires sleep as a test! I really didn’t know what to expect the first time I tried it. My tests with this player consisted of using it to take a 20 minute nap several times a week for a 3 weeks.

#RELAX MELODIES MOVE TO SD CARD UPGRADE#

It was worth a try though… Since the card is removable, this gives the player an upgrade avenue. Unfortunately, regular SD cards do not fit in the pzizz slot, and the pzizz card won’t fit into a card reader. MP3s and use the pzizz to play them, or plug the pzizz card into a card reader to see what the files look like.

#RELAX MELODIES MOVE TO SD CARD FULL#

I thought maybe I could insert a regular SD card full of. The base of the pzizz pulls out to reveal what looks like a SD card. A battery status icon is located on left edge of the LCD display.Ī standard sized earphone jack is located on the top of the player, along with a DC in connector if you wish to power the device with an AC adapter (not included). Typically a set of batteries will power the device for approximately 6 to 8 hours. The battery compartment is located on the back of the player. When the nap is in progress, the smaller buttons adjust the volume levels. Once you select the duration, you press the middle button a second time to select the time, then a 3rd time to start the nap. Then using the smaller buttons, you can adjust the length of your nap from 10 minutes up to a maximum of 60 minutes. Holding it down for several seconds will turn the device on. The large button in the middle is the power/select button. The buttons toggle power, adjust volume levels and change nap duration. The front of the player has a small mono backlit LCD display and 3 interface buttons. Sent MON, WED, and FRI with the latest gadget reviews and news! Subscribe to The Gadgeteer Daily Digest newsletter That’s just a super technical way of saying that it uses a special algorithm that draws from three levels of data files (words, music and sound effects) to create a different nap each time you initiate one. This product helps you take a special uber-relaxing power nap whenever you need one, by using Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and binaural beats. The P in pzizz is for Power and “Having a zizz” in the UK means “having a nap”. The name is a reference to Power Napping. What the heck is a pzizz you ask? First of all, pzizz is pronounced “puh-zizz”. Enter the pzizz Personal Life Coach System. Not long ago, I came across just such a product from a company in the United Kingdom. That’s why any product that claims to help a person de-stress and recharge, is a product that I want to test. It’s just a lot of work and like all of us, work can cause a real energy drain at times. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about playing with and writing about gadgets at all. There’s nothing that says stress, like spending an 8hr day supporting CAD users all over the world and then coming home and having to write about the latest gadget or gizmo to show up in my mailbox. Working 2 full time jobs (Cummins and The Gadgeteer) can sometimes take a toll on my sanity. If you buy something through the links on this page, we may earn a commission at no cost to you.

#Relax melodies move to sd card

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musicrunsthroughmysoul · 2 years ago

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Y'all I still cannot believe my luck from last night. (Was it luck? I feel like it was, because anti-social people like me just generally do not get this lucky. x_x)

So, I went to a concert last night, and first of all the venue (which I've been to several times now, but this was a different part of the venue I'd never been to before) was AMAZING and totally better than I expected. Second, like two minutes after I arrived I decided to check IG for funsies (the show was about to start in like 10 min) and 'WHAT THE FUCK? I HAVE A DM FROM BLACK ENDS, THE BAND I'M HERE TO SEE?! AND THEY MENTIONED ME IN A COMMENT, WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!?!' so I check my DMs and they're like "Hey, we're playing your town, where the heck are you!!!" and "We're about to dedicate every song to you whether you're here or not!" So I immediately DMed back like "OMG, WHAT, WELL I'M HERE! Of course I am!! And I'm stoked as fuck!" and longer story short, I GOT TO FUCKING MEET two of the three members of Black Ends (the one I didn't get to meet apparently remembered my comment on an IG post of theirs asking where else they should go on tour, and in my comment of course I'd suggested my town), and it was just so fucking awesome! They were super nice, and it was super awesome to get to tell them that I'd been waiting to see them for two whole fucking years and also that I'd first discovered them because I'd seen Nicolle (their frontperson) live at an acoustic show that happened right at the very, very beginning of the pandemic (right before lockdown), and they were just super gracious and I was so shell-shocked and grateful that they'd wanted to meet me and dedicate a song to me, omg, which didn't happen btw but HONESTLY I WAS GRATEFUL they didn't embarrass me like that even though there were only like 25 people there, but still, I would not have been able to handle that, heh... It was just so awesome, and the whole damn show was FANTASTIC (two more things: one, the drummer of the band of all women, the second band to go on, is hot as hell and apparently she's queer also; and I got to meet with that band after their act and thank them for the awesome show, and now I follow them on IG so hopefully I can go to the next show they perform at in my town!). Also, Black Ends unknowingly played my favorite Black Ends song (besides "Monday Mourning" and "Stay Evil," which they did play OF COURSE, they played "Tongues Turned" which I very easily put on repeat whenever it comes on my mp3 player on shuffle...which is to say it's my favorite, though I listen to "Monday Mourning" and "Stay Evil" on repeat, as well), and it was as fucking awesome as I dreamed it would be. :') I was also intrigued and grateful that they let some of their songs (like "Monday Mourning" I think, if I remember correctly, "Low," and definitely "Stay Evil") devolve into jams, since I feel like shows tend to be so scripted (time-wise, I mean) these days that bands don't really take the risk of jamming during live performances anymore, but that shit is always so fun and interesting, like whoever the fuck thought that shouldn't be a thing anymore was and is still fucking wrong - it's FUN, and cool and interesting to see and hear bands jamming for an audience! SO ANYWAY, YEAH, I LOVED BLACK ENDS AND ACTUALLY I LOVED THE WHOLE DAMN SHOW, ALL THE PERFORMERS. IT WAS PERFECT (even when it wasn't, but it was basically a punk rock show so that's okay) AND SO EXCELLENT and I'm so, so, SO glad that I went!!! :')

#crystal visions of lilies in the valley #don't quite treat this as a concert review because uh I might actually do one for real. I loved this show so much seriously #I 😍 AM 😍 SO 😍 HAPPY 😁😁😁😁

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tsukimoos · 3 years ago

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so now im gonna ramble about her. I'll give u hint.

she's not tall. a little bit taller than me. she has fairer skin than me. she has a bushy eyebrows which is to me is her charming points (what the heck sha) last time i saw her she's still wearing braces. she has a pretty smile. the nicest smile in school. ( oh my god he's whipped) its obvious that she has rich parents. though i dont really mind. i usually hate rich people lol. she's super nice and smart. she's an honour student. well, im also an honour student but she's wayy above me in rank. i think she likes math. she was an accounting student. i remembered that she told everyone that her mom is an accounting teacher. maybe that's the reason. she's quite athletic. she is a rugby touch player idk if she plays rugby anymore though. everytime there's a sports event she would actively participate! she runs super fast lol. of course because she's an athlete. also !! i think she knows japanese. i remembered she wrote her name and our classmate's name in japanese. she's very good at english! i really liked the way she spoke in english lol. her music taste is cool. i borrowed her mp3 for a while in form 3. although it's kind of basic to be honest whatever. she likes red velvet the kpop group! idk if she still likes them. she's a mendes army (lol) also don't know if she still likes him. i remembered the night of shawn mendes concert she would listen to the radio. i was listening to it too i didn't knew she was listening and shawn was singing thinkin bout u by frank ocean and we both "ooh lagu ni " at the same time HAHHAHAHA. anyways uh. i think she has nice fashion sense. her baju preps are always pretty. maybe because she's rich but some rich people can't dress too so.. yeah. i never knew whaf type of men she likes because she never talked about men with me. i never seen her fangirl over men. this somehow made me feel hopeful. lol anyways let's talk about good things about her. but i do think there's nothing wrong about her actually. i know a pretty biased opinion. but really! there's nothing bad that i could think of her. maybe she seems a bit materialistic. but i think everyone too. i am myself a materialistic person. i like pretty and branded things too. its normal,right? oh and also i noticed she puasa sunat a lot. well thats random fact. i dont like some of her friends because most of them are type of people i cant tolerate. i sometimes thought maybe she is like them. but i somehow can't find anything bad about her. to me, everything about her is wonderful. she's soooo fucking cool. idk but she just cool. also she's like funny and friendly. she always makes me laugh and smile. i feel comfortable around her. i always want to hold her hands. not to be sappy but her laugh is like music to my ears. her laugh? outsold the whole music industry.

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ms-m-astrologer · 7 years ago

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The Music of Uranus/Taurus

Something I have yet to read in the veritable blizzard of Uranus/Taurus articles, is a discussion of what happened musically during the last time Uranus was in Taurus. Even if one isn’t as obsessive about music as this author, there are plenty of amazing watershed events which can lead us to some intriguing speculations about the years 2018-2026.

April 23, 1935 - “Your Hit Parade,” sponsored by Lucky Strike cigarettes, is broadcast on the radio for the first time

Uranus, of course, rules radio. This show, broadcast every Saturday night for the next 20 years, was immensely popular. It exposed the entire nation to the week’s top 15 songs (performed by cover artists). We can argue that it was perhaps one of the first attempts to profit (Taurus) from establishing a homogenous (Taurus) US pop music (Taurus) culture (Uranus).

January 4, 1936 - “Billboard” publishes its first music hit parade

Exactly how the folks at “Your Hit Parade” calculated its top 15 song rankings is a bit, ah, murky. “Billboard,” at least, based chart positions on quantifiable sales, radio, and jukebox plays. Again, we’re seeing an attempt to standardize (and therefore make a buck from) musical taste for an entire nation. It was an innovative way (Uranus) to take advantage of electronic means of hearing popular music (radio, record players, jukeboxes) and make money (Taurus) off it, too. This was also an important milestone in the progress of “Billboard” itself, from an advertising-agency rag, to an exclusively music-oriented publication.

January 26-28, 1936 - Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich denounced by Joseph Stalin

On the evening of January 26, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and some “friends” attended a performance of Shostakovich’s opera “Lady MacBeth of the Mtsensk District.” Joe didn’t like it, made his displeasure visibly known - and Shostakovich left town in a hurry, only to learn, on the 28th, that the USSR paper “Pravda” had published (take it away, Wikipedia):

...a tirade entitled Muddle Instead of Music, complaining that the opera was a "deliberately dissonant, muddled stream of sounds...(that) quacks, hoots, pants and gasps." This was the signal for a nationwide campaign, during which even Soviet music critics who had praised the opera were forced to recant in print, saying they "failed to detect the shortcomings of Lady Macbeth as pointed out by Pravda".... When Shostakovich returned to Leningrad, he had a telephone call from the commander of the Leningrad Military District, who had been asked by Marshal Tukhachevky to make sure that he was all right. When the writer Isaac Babel was under arrest four years later, he told his interrogators that "it was common ground for us to proclaim the genius of the slighted Shostakovich.”

On 6 February, Shostakovich was again attacked in Pravda, this time for his light comic ballet, The Limpid Stream, which was denounced because "it jangles and expresses nothing" and did not give an accurate picture of peasant life on the collective farm. Fearful that he was about to be arrested, Shostakovich secured an appointment with the Chairman of the USSR State Committee on Culture, Platon Kerzhentsev, who reported to Stalin and Molotov that he had instructed the composer to "reject formalist errors and in his art attain something that could be understood by the broad masses", and that Shostakovich had admitted being in the wrong and had asked for a meeting with Stalin, which was not granted.

As a result of this campaign, commissions began to fall off, and Shostakovich's income fell by about three-quarters.... During 1936 and 1937, in order to maintain as low a profile as possible.., Shostakovich mainly composed film music, a genre favored by Stalin and lacking in dangerous personal expression.

This wasn’t mere censorship; Shostakovich’s life was in danger. Family and close friends (including his protector Tukhachevsky) were killed in the Stalinist purges which followed. From a certain cold-hearted perspective, this (as well as what was happening in Nazi Germany at this time) was an attempt to “set in stone” (Taurus) what popular culture (Uranus) defines as music (Taurus).

December 25, 1937 - Arturo Toscanini conducts the NBC Symphony for its first broadcast concert

The NBC Symphony orchestra was specifically created for Toscanini. Two things were going on here. One, NBC had clearly realized that there was money to be made via promulgating the classics; two, Toscanini’s particular tastes in music influenced what US symphonies played in concert halls for the next several decades (Taurus).

January 16, 1938 - Benny Goodman and his Orchestra play Carnegie Hall, New York (at 8:45 pm EST, for event chart addicts)

I can (and will!) argue that this was THE most significant musical event in the US, during the 20th Century. Originally conceived as a mere publicity stunt - Carnegie Hall, at that time, was “reserved” for classical musicians - this gig was the first jazz concert held there, and the recorded results were (upon their release in 1950) the first double LP. Best of all, the troupe was racially integrated: if we had no integrated Goodman band, then there would have been no Jackie Robinson in baseball in 1948. (No less a figure than vibraphonist Lionel Hampton averred this.)

April 9, 1939 - classical contralto Marian Anderson sings for 75,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC

She was there because the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused permission for an integrated concert at their own Constitution Hall. (One “reason:” no integrated bathrooms, which at the time were legally required.) Following that, the DC Board of Education refused permission for her to sing at a local high school, for the same “reason.” Again, Wikipedia:

As a result of the ensuing furor, thousands of DAR members, including First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, resigned from the organization.... At Eleanor Roosevelt's behest, President Roosevelt and Walter White, then-executive secretary of the NAACP, and Anderson's manager, impresario Sol Hurok, persuaded Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes to arrange an open-air concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The concert was performed on Easter Sunday, April 9….

Where the heck do I start?!? This was striking a blow against racism and segregation as manifested in the US capitol city. The US First Lady made this concert happen, which ensured the blow could not have been missed or glossed over - and set the bar high for future First Lady activism..

This is of course a “small sample” - I’m handicapped somewhat by my classical background and training, which means I am personally thrilled to pieces about things like (say) the premieres of Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” or Copland’s “Billy the Kid” or Piston’s “The Incredible Flutist.” And so forth. I don’t know if my readers have a similar background, though; I’m therefore forced to leave things at “the second half of the 1930s was an amazing time for US composers.”

(And that may be due to the nation’s Neptune return anyway. However, over two-thirds of the Uranus/Taurus transit will fall in the US natal 5th House - and for part of that time, the U.S. has an opposition from natal to transiting Neptune. Author rubs hands together gleefully.)

So, what kind of music can we expect from Uranus/Taurus in our 21st century? I think we have identified three general themes:

Making money off music, by innovatively “organizing” previous technological innovations

Think digital recording, the MP3, autotune, iPod, GarageBand, and SoundCloud - and remember that before “Your Hit Parade” and “Billboard,” nobody had ever heard of a “Top 15,” much less any idea of the marketing capabilities.

Homogenous, nationalistic pop culture

This may well manifest as censorship; I don’t believe that Dolt 45 (for example) has any more musical taste or chops than Joseph Stalin had. And, he seems to share the general Nazi abhorrence for the non-Aryan.

Breaking down racial barriers in music

Benny Goodman’s chosen genre of jazz, swing music, “brought to fruition ideas originated with Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, and Jean Goldkette” - only the latter of whom was not an African-American - and furthermore “was precipitated by spicing up familiar commercial, popular material with a Harlem oriented flavor and selling it via a white band for a white musical/commercial audience.” (Wikipedia) In a cynical mood befitting 2018, we have to wonder if white people won’t again “discover” some non-white form of musical expression, rendering it palatable for/to the (white) masses, and therefore making a ton of money.

I’d rather think of music making people steadfast. Someone who once used the n-word around Benny Goodman was told by the feisty clarinet player, “I’ll knock you out if you use that word around me again.”

=====

Finally, let me throw in this Uranus/Taurus caveat: astrologers aren’t any more immune to the lure of clickbait than anyone else. I’ve seen so many articles already about how to survive the dire times ahead - and, let’s face it, human monkeys like to be scared and thrilled. Please don’t believe everything you read, here included; please keep in mind that (to a certain extent) our dread of what’s to come will actually affect what actually comes.

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deeeelightfuldee · 3 years ago

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surveyss 013.

Are you mad at your best friend right now? I guess it depends who that is. I’m not mad at em. I have to get out of the habit of calling Kile my best friend, but he has been my other half for so long. I’m not mad at him.. I just.. I guess I am just so sad wishing he wanted me the way I thought he did.

Do you know anybody with a pet snake? Ugh. Gross yes. I am not close with these kinds of people.

Do you buy your underwear in a pack or seperately? Either way. In a pack is convenient and cheaper, but seldom allows for cute undies. Buying individually is proving to be great for style, but expensive.

Have you ever made fun of anybody and later became their friend? I never really made fun of Nathan, I just would smack him with a plastic baseball bat.

Is the lamp on in the room you're in? Right now only this new little egg shaped lamp that is trying to die.

Do you have a pair of shoes that you can only wear with one or two outfits? Uhhh, maybe like ... no. Actually no, I think most of my shoes are interchangeable.

Is there any drink that you absolutely MUST drink cold? I genuinely prefer my drinks cold. I think the only warm drinks I like are hot chocolate or tea.

Did you sleep in past noon today? Woof, no.

Did your grandma ever tell you about her love life? I have never had a personal conversation with my paternal grandmother, and no longer have an opportunity since she was killed. My maternal grandmother has shared very little because she seems to think being private is like a badge of honor. She was in love once in college, but her parents ruined it and he let go and moved on. She never did. She ended up “settling” for my grandpa -- who was an awesome guy. She just wasn’t really in love, she did it because that’s who her parents wanted.

Have you ever painted anybody's nails aside from your own? Yes.

Anything exciting happening in the month of September? It’s my mom’s birthday which should be a national holiday. I can’t afford to spoil her, but hopefully I’ll be able to make it fun somehow.

Who is your last missed call from? I think my sister. I wish I had calls from Kile. It’s good I don’t, cus I would be tempted to answer. But it would be so good to hear his voice on voicemail. Sigh.

When was the last time you ate Frosted Flakes? Oh boy, it’s been a hot minute.

Did you ever NOT want a substitute in a certain class? I was homeschooled. There were no substitutes.

Do you ever donate to the less fortunate? Yes

Did you buy an American flag after 9/11 to put on your car/house/ whatever? Did I personally? No, I had no money. But my family did buy a lot.

Do you know any songs that are older than you are? Heck yeah.

Are there framed pictures of you anywhere in your house? Yes. We have like a large gallery wall with a photo of myself. We also framed some graduation photos.

Compared to other people of your age would you be considered 'NORMAL'? What is normal.

Honestly, do you have any Hilary Duff on your MP3 player? I don’t use an MP3 player anymore. I have plenty of Duff on my spotify lol

Who is worst in your family about calling people back? MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Do you like peanut M&M's? I do, but now I’m madly in love with regular m&m’s. Kile used to send me peanut ones I had so many I could have filled a bathtub with them hahaha.

When was the last time you had an ice cream sandwich? It’s been a very, very long time.

When was the last time you ate jelly beans? Yuck. Not that long ago we had some for David. I’m not a fan.

When was the last time you had hot chocolate? Around Christmas time.

Have you ever caught a friend cheating on their bf/gf? In a way. Not someone I’m close to.

What was the last song stuck in your head? I almost always have My Country Tis Of Thee stuck in my head. It literally happens all the time and I have no idea why. Mom thinks it is hilarious and also semi concerning.

Do you enjoy doing math? Not even a little.

Do you think your mom has secrets she’s never told you? Yeah probably. Not many, but I would imagine some.

Do you own anything you don’t want your parents to know about? Probably.

Do you pose in your pictures or just smile? Both. Just depends what strikes my fancy.

Are there any colors you will NOT wear? Pale creamy colors do not do justice to me.

Do you use scented soap in the shower? Always scented something.

Did you ever want to be a fashion designer? Nooooope

Who was the last person you danced with? Enjoyable? Hahaha. I mean I danced last night with the kids. the last time I danced with a male, it was enjoyable.

Do you like convertibles? I do, my sister once rented one for a weekend when I came into town just so we could drive around and be spoiled. It was so awesome.

Have you ever yelled at the television? Definitely. I just did for this murder story I’m watching.

How many songs on your MP3 player are about sex? On spotify I have plenty, not gonna lie.

Do you like water parks? I love them in theory, but I am repulsed by them in all honesty.

Dark or light colored jeans? Depends on the fit.

Can you take apart a computer and name all the parts? Heckie no.

Can you take apart a car and name all the parts? I’d probably have more luck with this than the computer, but still no.

Would your friends describe you as nerdy? Yes, yes they would.

How many different colors are you wearing right now? four. White/blue, blue, black, mauve.

Have you ever purchased a lotto ticket? I sure have

Are you double-jointed anywhere? Nooope.

What is the longest amount of time you've spent playing Monopoly? Probably like 4 hours. Though, it should be stated that I don’t think I’ve ever played with anyone who genuinely wanted to play the correct way. I would love to try.

Have you ever witnessed a tornado first-hand? Yes but it didn’t look like the stereotypical tornado. I want to see one. It’s wild how things change... back in the day tornadoes were my greatest fear. Crippling fear. No longer that way.

Did you play in the sand box as a kid? I didn’t dislike it. I just didn’t do it all that often. There weren’t any at the parks near me as a child, and my dad would have lost his mind at the mess.

How about on the monkey bars? I always tried and was often OK at it. I just disliked how hot the bar could get or when my hands would slip.

Have you ever made an alarm go off? Oh I sure have.

Have you ever colored your eyebrows? Yup. Naturally, my eyebrows are MEGA white blonde.

Did you ever own a pop-up book? Uhhh Probably one or two as a kid.

Have you ever honked at a biker? I don’t think so?

Have you ever taken another person's prescribed medication? A muscle relaxer once that my mom gave me that she didn’t need.

Have you ever played golf (not miniature golf)? I’ve gone one time to a like.. driving range type thing? Never gone official golfing. I’d like to.

Do you use gel in your hair? Maybe 1-5x a year.

Do you own a garden gnome? Definitely not.

Are any of the rooms in your house painted blue? Yes

Do you kick off your shoes as soon as you walk in the door? Typically yes I do, but sometimes we leave them on. Gram has to wear them for stability, mom wears them to protect her feet from cuts, and so I will sometimes.

Have you ever judged a book by its cover? Yes

What is the most effective device at the gym? I couldn’t tell ya. I’m intimidated by the gym.

Can you drive a stick shift? At one point yes I could! I am positive I wouldn’t remember how to now.

Have you ever picked on a substitute teacher? Never had a sub and I would never

How good are you at giving directions? OOOOOOOOOOOOOooo I’m terrible at it. I’m great at doing it in the car, but don’t call me and expect me to be able to tell you directions like “go northeast for 1.2 miles” heck no.

When was the last time you looked out the window nearest you? Probably a half hour ago or so. I checked on the water filling the pool.

Have you ever got dressed with the windows open? Yes. Often I will. Not in the summer though, because I try to keep my room as dark and cool as possible.

Have you ever given a foot massage? yes

Do public restrooms freak you out? It depends on where the bathroom is. Some of them are cleaner than others. I don’t like FREAK out about it, but I don’t enjoy it. I often can wait til I’m home.

Have you ever taken a shower outside? yeah, but I don’t love that.

Have you ever been to a junkyard? I have.

What do you think of Brad Pitt? I don’t really have a big opinion on him.

Have you ever watched the History Channel willingly? Yes, if it interests me.

Have you ever used pennies to pay for something that cost over 50 cents? Hahahaha for my siblings, yes.

If a place makes you pay for delivery - do you still tip the driver? Yes.

Without the aid of a cell phone - do you know your parents numbers by heart? Yeah.

Can you name 10 former presidents? Trump, obama, bush, bush, reagan, clinton, nixon, roosevelt, jefferson, washington.

Have you ever bought a gift for a teacher? Yes

Is your bedroom carpeted? Not since I was a child. I do have a rug down.

Right now, what color is your tongue? Pink.

When was the last time you had a Tootsie Pop? Last year probably.

If you could get the cell phone of your choice - what would it be? I have the phone I love. I have to give it up soon, but I’m dreading that.

Who is your favorite super hero? Uhhhhhhhhhh, I’m not sure. Either batman or superman I guess. I would probably have a clear idea if I watched all the superhero movies.

How about your favorite villain? I dunno, still would need to see the videos.

Do you know anybody who works at a bank? I doooooo.

What do you usually order from your favorite fast food place? Right now my favorite fast food place is Buona Beef. I love their char-grilled avocado pepper jack chicken sandwich on gluten free pita with extra jalapeno. OMG. so good.

Do you hand out candy to kids on Halloween? Yup. I dooooooooo.

What perfume/cologne do you wear the most? My favorite is refuge by charlotte russe.

Can you name all 7 dwarfs? uhhhh, sleepy, dopey, grumpy, ... no. lolol

Does the early bird really catch the worm? In my world, I totally believe this.

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wulfalomerlin · 6 years ago

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Music Monday

I'm going to start a new thing on Mondays: post about music that means something to me. This is a blatant effort to get my hermit-like butt to be more 'social' on social media. I'm calling it 'Music Monday'. Feel free to replicate if you so desire!

To start out, I went back to the earliest 'favorite song' I can remember having. There's a lot of haze the further I go back and some of my experiences may as well be myth now, but I remember 'Axel F' by Harold Faltermeyer being my 'favorite' as a child. Every time it came on the radio when my mom or dad was driving, I was transfixed. We could be going to or coming from the public pool on a scorching, steamy Texas summer day, and suddenly the muggy oven-heat didn't matter. 'Axel F' was playing and it was time to shake my young butt. Going to the grocery store, there it was. Bank run? Hope 'Axel F' comes on, that's my jam.

I can't say what drew me to the piece. Maybe it was different than the classic rock we'd normally listen to in the car. I mean, no doubt in my mind, it's catchy as heck. I still get a little excited hearing it now, though I don't even have it on my MP3 player. 'Axel F' was early electronic music (though after the Hot Butter's 'Popcorn' of course) and that could have been why I was drawn to it. Novelty and newness for a little kid anyway. I recall at least once hearing it in my dad's two door Toyota something-or-other (little red sports car looking thing), and that was a cool ride, so perhaps I just conflated the two in my child brain. Cool car, cool song; sound child logic.

Regardless of the reasons why I liked it, I think started me on the trail of enjoying instrumentals. They let you paint your own picture of what's going on, to imagine something different each time, if you want to. I still love conjuring brain movies to instrumental music, or music in a language I can't understand. I can't recall what it was that 'Axel F' made me think about. Dancing and ants is all the comes to mind at the moment. For some reason, the higher pitched parts reminded me of ants or what I thought ants would sound like if you could hear them. I was and still am a weird kid. Thank goodness for that!

So, there's more than you wanted to know about my 'first' favorite song. I'm sure my true first favorite song was some kind of lullaby, or maybe Raffi, or some children's song. Again, I can't remember back that far to say with certainty what it was. I can remember the rolling wooden toy chest that dad made in his shed, but I can't for the life of me say 'that was my favorite song when I was in super-low, single digit ages'. Here's to childhood remembrances and kitschy electronic instrumentals.

#music monday #music #childhood #memories #holy hell I feel old

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nemolian · 5 years ago

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Build a Timeless Streaming Audio System with These Speakers and Add-Ons

I love my smart home, but if there’s one area I prefer more old-school tech, it’s audio. A good set of passive speakers can last you a lifetime, and you can swap in new amplifiers, receivers, or streaming add-ons whenever the tech world moves to a new audio platform—that way, you don’t end up wasting thousands of dollars on a Sonos system that dies a slow, painful software death.

Build a Piecemeal Stereo System That Lasts

If you want a true, old-school stereo with separate components that you can mix and match (and will stand the test of time), you’ll want to start with a pair of passive speakers. Passive speakers don’t plug into the wall—they connect to an amplifier or receiver using speaker wire, and receive power from that instead. That means no matter what happens to your receiver, or wireless streaming platform, you’ll be able to keep using those speakers for years.

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Right now, the $270 ELAC Debut 2.0 B6.2 are widely regarded as some of the best passive bookshelf speakers you can buy for an affordable price. A 6.5-inch woofer ensures you cover a wide range of sound, and the flat black finish is understated enough that it’ll blend in to your shelves nicely. If you don’t have quite that much to spend, there are decent speakers on the lower end, too. Pioneer’s Andrew Jones-designed series is great, and has bookshelf speakers for just over $100. Or, if you’re a fan of the more unique, bright Klipsch sound, their entry level reference bookshelves are $140. If you have more space to dedicate, a pair of tower speakers like Polk’s T50 at $130 are a great buy. And for true budget speakers, I always look to Parts Express’ Dayton sub-brand—their B652-AIRs are only $50 on Parts Express’ site. (On the other hand, if you have money to blow, look at KEF’s LS50, which are incredible bookshelves for $900.) Heck, you can even add some outdoor Polk Atrium4s if you want to expand your system to the backyard.

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Of course, you’ll need an amplifier or receiver to power any of these speakers. For a simple stereo setup, something like the Sony STRDH190 or Yamaha R-S202BL will do you good for under $200, though if you plan on using them in a home theater, you may want something with room to grow into a surround sound system, like the $330 Yamaha RX-V485 for 5.1 audio or its bigger brother for a 7.2 or 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos setup at $500. (I’m currently using the Pioneer VSX-LX03, which can go all the way up to 5.1.4 for only $400—a steal compared to its competitors.) If you need something smaller and cheaper, Dayton’s DTA-120BT2 is a good option for small stereo systems, and even has Bluetooth built-in.

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Whatever you do, when buying audio equipment, make sure you do a little research and make sure your speakers are well suited for your amp (or vice-versa)—otherwise you may not be able to get enough volume, especially with some of the cheaper amps out there. And buy from somewhere with a good return policy, so if you don’t like the way your speakers sound, you can swap them for something else.

Grab Some Standalone Powered Speakers for Simplicity

Putting together a full stereo isn’t for everybody. If you aren’t looking to “get into audio” and want the simplicity of a Sonos setup without the expiration date, a set of powered speakers may be a better choice. You won’t need a receiver or speaker wire, since the speakers have an amp built-in—just plug the speakers into the wall, plug your music player into the audio jack, and start jamming.

Audioengine is an extremely popular brand in this realm, with their $350 HD3 speakers being some of the most well-regarded. Edifier is another, with options ranging from the $100 R1280T to the $350 S1000DB. If you want something a bit more standalone, Klipsch’s The One is a cool retro-style speaker with Bluetooth and auxiliary input for $280, though you can grab one refurbished for $200.

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In home theater land, you can also use a soundbar to supplement any other speakers you have in the house. I’m personally a fan of the Sony HT-Z9F, which has three channels for clear dialogue, a wireless subwoofer, and virtual processing that delivers an impressively wide soundstage for movies—on top of some solid music performance, of course. Samsung’s soundbars sound even better, albeit with a larger footprint and extra speakers that bounce sound off your walls for that wider soundstage. On the budget end, Yamaha makes some great options, as does Vizio.

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Stream Throughout the House with Wireless Add-Ons

Gathering your speakers is the meat of this project, but it doesn’t end there—after all, your music still has to come from somewhere, and most of these speakers don’t have Spotify built-in.

A lot of receivers and soundbars, on the other hand, do support streaming services like Spotify and wireless protocols like Bluetooth, Apple’s AirPlay, and DTS’ Play-Fi. That’s awesome, but the beauty of this setup is in its modularity: when a new service comes out your gear doesn’t support, you can add it on yourself. Or if your home theater supports AirPlay and your outdoor speakers don’t, you can add on a module that brings them together for one seamless, whole-house system.

Generally, I recommend a protocol that uses Wi-Fi over Bluetooth, since Bluetooth isn’t really meant for syncing a whole-house system together. If you’re an Apple user, AirPlay is the obvious choice. Apple discontinued their amazing AirPort Express, and I’m still bitter about it, but you can find them used and refurbished all over the web. Heck, I’m still using my old Wireless G version, which I grabbed on eBay for super cheap—its wireless chip may be outdated, but for AirPlaying MP3s, it still works wonders. You can also AirPlay music to any Apple TVs you have around the house.

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https://smile.amazon.com/Apple-TV-32GB-Latest-Model/dp/B075NCMLYL

If you’re more of a Google household, Google’s Chromecast Audio is similarly discontinued, and similarly available in used and refurbished form around the web. The regular Chromecast can hook into a receiver via HDMI and play audio over the same protocol. Sadly, the Nest Mini still doesn’t have a 3.5mm jack for plugging in external speakers, but I’m still holding out hope for the future.

https://smile.amazon.com/Google-GA00439-US-Chromecast-3rd-Generation/dp/B015UKRNGS

Thankfully, the competing voice assistant, Alexa, has you well covered in this realm. Most of Amazon’s Echo devices have a 3.5mm line out jack that can plug into your speakers—that way, you just tell your $50 Echo Dot to play whatever you want, and it’ll head straight to your nice bookshelves. The cheaper Echo Input seems to be out of stock, and potentially discontinued—but it’s all over eBay for virtually pennies. Amazon also sells the $200 Echo Link, which supports higher-fidelity audio, and the $300 Echo Amp, which has an amplifier built-in for your passive speakers—though that gets you into “could be deprecated at any point in the future” territory, which isn’t ideal for a $300 product. I’d rather get a standalone amp that’ll last well into the future.

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Personally, I’m using Alexa to get audio to all my speakers around the house, but I’m not particularly married to it. And that’s the beauty of a system like this: if you decide you’re done with Amazon one day, you can swap over to Apple’s AirPlay without spending hundreds or thousands on a new speaker system. If AirPlay goes the way of the dodo, you can jump on the latest and greatest protocol without skipping a beat—and your large array fo speakers will continue pumping out tunes for years to come, with no planned obsolescence getting in the way.

via:Gizmodo, February 13, 2020 at 06:48PM

#IFTTT #Feedly #Gizmodo

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daleisgreat · 5 years ago

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30 Years of TurboGrafX-16 & 25 Years of 32-X: A Lethal Combination!

Greetings and thank you once again for joining me in another anniversary retrospective! I know we are in the first month of 2020, but please indulge me and pretend it is still 2019 so I can say this is officially a piece commemorating the 30th anniversary of the North American launch of the NEC TurboGrafX-16 and the 25th anniversary of North American launch of the Sega 32X! Yes, this is the two-for-one anniversary special! I have been neglecting this for too long and wanted to have this up before the end of 2019, but I think I was a wee burnt out with my tomes I crafted for my other three flashbacks I posted throughout this past summer. I have good faith this will be a shorter piece because even though I have a history with both the TG16 and 32X, my experiences with them are both greatly after their original launches so I do not have those twee childhood memories of the 32X and TG16 as I did with the GameBoy and Genesis. Regardless, I do cherish my time with both ill-fated systems I will be covering today, so let us kickoff with the system that came out first, NEC’s TurboGrafX-16 in 1989.

Yup, these are the issues of Game Players I dug out of the closet and took poor quality cell phone pics for proof of where I first remember reading about the TurboGrafX. Even though TG16 launched in America in 1989, I do not recall seeing it in stores or hearing about it until 1994 when I got my first videogame magazine subscription to Game Players. Yes, I still have those 1994 issues of Game Players in my closet and if I can find the right issues I will attempt to paste in a semi-decent cell phone shot of the pages that referenced the TG16. If memory serves right, I believe there was a spread video pinball games that highlighted both Crush pinball titles for TG16, and another column highlighted TG16’s Ys Books I and II for being a revolutionary RPG title with its then-unprecedented cutscenes and voiceovers. I also discovered about TG16’s mascot, Bonk when reading a review in GP for the NES port of Bonk’s Adventure.

By consuming other gaming press media over the following years I eventually learned what happened with the TG16 and its CD add-on in America and how they did not fare as well as they did in Japan and quickly faded out within a year or two after the SNES launched in America. I never had a friend that owned the TG16 growing up, nor do I recall a store kiosk having any set up for play in my middle-of-nowhere hometown. I cannot remember even dabbling with hunting down TG16 emulators since I never saw the games out in the wild for sale at my local shops to peak my curiosity. So I believe the first time I played a TG16 game was when the Wii launch in 2006 and also debuted at its launch the Wii’s downloadable classic games for its ‘Virtual Console’ channel. The TG16 was one of the supported platforms and I recall downloading the hit multiplayer game, Bomberman ‘93 around or shortly after the Wii launch making it likely the first official TG16 game I played.

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Aside from playing my first TG16 game in 2006 on the Wii, 2006 was a big year for learning a lot more about the system thanks in part to one particular podcast. Apple debuted podcasts in 2005 and other MP3 players quickly supported them too. I sampled countless gaming podcasts, but one I quickly got turned onto towards the end of 2005 was one Team Fremont Live. That podcast is still around to this day, but underwent a couple name changes and is now known as Super-the-Hardest. I quickly became a fan of the three hosts, John, Moe and Hilden and loved their take on videogames. They had frequent retro gaming segments on the show and the trio frequently waxed nostalgic for their TG16 memories. Over the years consuming their podcast and participating in their forums my knowledge for the system exponentially expanded! If you currently dig through the Super-the-Hardest archives or check out these links, you will find a wealthy amount of TG16 articles there to learn a ton about the platforms and their recommended games.

The then-Team Fremont Live hosts lived about a five hour drive away from me, and they had on open invite community event in the summer of 2006 where I first met them in person and gamed and drank the night away with them and their fellow community members. It was an awesome time, and in January 2007 they hosted another community event for their first ever year-end awards, ‘The Darryls!’ I remember meeting up with the three hosts the night before the event for a ‘packing party’ where we drank all night again and quickly got stone cold sober, literally, as we packed up the van with recording equipment in the middle of a January Midwest night of biting subzero temps! The Darryls transpired the next day and I got reacquainted with many community members again and there were several TVs set up with various games to play for everyone in what ended up being another memorable night with the TFL community. John, Moe and Hilden did a special presentation later on in the night for their 2006 best of game awards and did a contest drawing towards the end of the night that I was the lucky winner drawn. My prize was a TG16 system, complete in box and with a copy of the original pack-in game, Keith Courage in Alpha Zones! I was blown away and stunned the prize was going to be a system! That pic at the top of this article is indeed me being the proud new owner of a TG16! Keith Courage was a decent little platformer, but I would never become that skilled at it and would peter out of lives by levels two or three and regret never taking the time to master that game.

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Thanks to listening to many hours of TFL at that point however and through other online research over the years I knew which games to hunt down. Luckily in 2007 and for the next few years TG16 releases remained affordable to hunt down as most games save for a select few went for under $20. I tracked down a far superior platformer in Bonk’s Revenge. Its vibrant visuals, challenging-but-fair platforming and adorably gruff mascot Bonk blew Keith Courage away and looked graphically on par with the other 16-bit platforms. World Court Tennis initially appeared as another run-of-the-mill tennis game, but diving into ‘Quest Mode’ provided an in-depth medieval narrative complete with an RPG-esque overworld and random tennis battles! I looked into getting the CD add-on, but from what I gathered it sounded like the add-on attachments had a high faulty rate by 2007 and were not worth the risk. Even with those drawbacks I regret missing out on the TG-CD games and only had the chance to dabble with a handful off of other collections and Virtual Console over the years. Fighting Street (aka the original Street Fighter) had its only American console physical release on the TG-CD, and I did not get a chance to play it until a Capcom released a arcade hits collection on the original Xbox. Ys Books I & II was a revolutionary RPG for what its cinemas and voiceovers debuted to the market, and it was not until the Wii Virtual Console that I finally had a chance to experience the original version. Turbo Technologies brokered a bonkers deal with EA to bring a little known version of Madden to TG-CD that I would have played the heck out of compared to the other gridiron game on the platform I will touch on shortly.

The TFL crew were big fans of shmups (aka the original ‘shooters’) and I recall them being high on Blazing Lazers and I wound up spending many hours trying (and failing) to vanquish that space shooter. Already being a diehard fan of videogame pinball in 2007, both Alien Crush and Devils Crush were among my first TG16 purchases. They were both fantastic multi-layered pinball titles, with several screens of verticality to flip the pinball through and vanquish enemies and mini-bosses away on the playfield. I loved both games, and if you want a current rendition of that then I highly suggest tracking down the recent release of Demon’s Tilt that is available on most current platforms. Demon’s Tilt is essentially a modern take on the Crush games, but on crack with amped up visual effects since it is capitalizing on the horsepower of modern systems. After accumulating these several titles I would make it a habit to add one or two more a year at an annual retro videogame expo I regularly attended in Milwaukee called the Midwest Gaming Classic. John, Moe and Hilden would also attend MGC most years around this time and I would make it a point to track them down at some point during the convention and get them to recommend me a TG16 for under $20. There recommendations never failed, and this was how I discovered NEC’s answer to Ikari Warriors (Hey, I was a huge fan of the NES game!) in the superior Bloody Wolf, and the quirky platformer, JJ and Jeff. The yearly MGC pick-up was how I finally procured a copy of the gore-slasher-fest that is Splatterhouse. I would also chance random games that caught my eye for the TG16 and did not go for that much. I loved my 8 and 16-bit sports games and took a shot on TV Sports Football, and it was a decent adaptation of the gridiron, but did not measure up to the many other football titles on the other 16-bit platforms.

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The same can be said for the TG16’s sole American wrestling game, Battle Royal, it was an OK videogame grappler, but nothing that held my lasting attention. However, the excellent FirePro Wrestling series got its start on the platform as Japan-only exclusives, and I will give props to my former podcast co-hosts Chris & Lyzz for grabbing a copy of FirePro: Second Bout for me at MGC one year I could not make it. The FirePro games have evolved into the pinnacle of 2D wrestling games over the years, and it is fascinating to see how it started on the PC-Engine in Japan and even in FirePro’s earliest installments it was already a class above the competition. While both of these wrestling games went for under $20 by 2012, the next year when I returned to MGC in 2013 TG16 game prices inflated exponentially. For proof I was looking up some old MGC photos from my pictures library, and found some photos of Chris & Lyzz’s 2010 MGC loot-haul laid out on their bed. As you can see they picked up a TG16 and several games, if you zoom in on the photo you can see most of their games went for under $20. I have no idea what brought on the sudden demand, but a vast majority of TG16 games started going for around $50-100 within a couple years and that was without jewel cases and instructions!

For this piece, I contacted Chris and Lyzz for their memories of picking up the TG16 and their favorite games they have played since, and Chris responded back with the following: ”I can't remember much. I just remembered that I liked Bonk’s Adventure and Fantasy Zone. Bonk’s Adventure because of how much I used to like side scrolling games and that is the only game that I wanted to play at the time that didn't come out for the NES/SNES/GEN. Fantasy Zone because of the sheer weirdness factor of it.” 2009 marked the 20th anniversary of the TG16 launching in North America and I wanted to do something special to commemorate it. I was in the midst hosting my own videogame podcast, On Tap, at the time and invited John, Moe and Hilden to come on for a special TurboGrafX anniversary episode! It was a delight to have them on the show and have them take us all to school with their master’s degree knowledge of all things Turbo and reminisce about the TG16 for an hour. I recently dug that episode out of the archives and uploaded it onto my YouTube channel and will embed it below for your listening pleasure!

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This is a special TG16 20th anniversary podcast I recorded 10 years ago! Add it to your queue to listen to for more TG16 wisdom! I would bust out the TG16 once every year or two until several years ago when the WiiU became my virtual replacement. The WiiU started supporting the TG16 by uploading a ton of the TG16 library to the WiiU version of the Virtual Console in 2016 and uploaded nearly a game a week from mid-2016 until early 2018, well after the launch of the Switch. I sold my Wii after owning it for only a year and only owned a few TG16 games for it, so this late infusion of TG16 titles on the WiiU caught my eye (and other Retro enthusiasts too). This culminated in about 50 TG16 games hitting the WiiU by the end with even a few former Japan exclusives among them….and I bought all of them! The original Wii Virtual Console that is backwards compatible on the WiiU remained open until early 2018 to purchase their TG16 games too which I used to acquire other acclaimed TG16-CD games not available on the WiiU like Castlevania: Rondo of Blood and Ys Books I and II.

A few times a year I fire up my WiiU and pick a few random games to play from my many Virtual Console purchases. It was this way I finally got around to trying out the Legend of Zelda-inspired Neutopia and having a fun night with a couple buddies hack and slashing away in Dungeon Explorer. I also got to take in the ridiculously huge sprites of the brawler China Warrior and finally experienced TG16’s take on Outrun in Victory Run. The WiiU surprisingly wound up a gratifying legit alternative to the now-absurd asking prices for used TG16 games, and a convenient way to make TG16 games appear on a HDTV without the fuzziness that happens when I plug an SD system into a HDTV. While I never knew of the TG16 during its active North American lifespan or got a chance to play it until this century, I still have priceless memories of discovering hit titles exclusive to that system that stood out in a way unlike anything else on its 16-bit competition. The 32X is a whole other beast though. I remember being a furious 11 year-old upon its release in 1994. I vividly recall the hype in Game Players for it and even 11 year-old Dale thought Sega was out of its mind for releasing a $150 add-on for the Genesis merely several months before the Saturn when Sega already had plenty on the market to tide them by with the Genesis, Game Gear and SegaCD. A wee shy of 50 games only came out for it in the little over a year games were published for the 32X, and nearly half of them were marginally enhanced Genesis titles. From reading mags during its lifespan and hearing other gaming media reflect back on it throughout the years I gathered the add-on had a handful of standout exclusives, but was largely forgettable and not worth tracking down, and I hand no plans to do so, until….

Living proof of the speculated demon that is Sega's Tower of Power! …In 2009 a co-worker was about to get married and was parting with his gaming collection to raise funds for the wedding/honeymoon. He knew me as an ardent game player and gave me a print out of what he was selling and his asking prices. This was still a couple years before the big retro used game boom I described above, because around same time a couple years later 32X game prices jumped just like TG16 games. Still, I noticed most of his prices were at the higher end of most eBay auctions when I researched them online. I did not have a SegaCD or 32X in my collection at the time and there were at least a few exclusives on both systems I always wanted to try, and with the funds going to a good cause I made an offer for those systems with about a dozen games in the middle range of what he was asking for and what other asking prices I saw online at the time. I want to say I paid roughly $200 for the lot.

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I got about six or seven games for 32X from my co-worker and later tracked down three or four more over the next year or two to get the other 32X games I wanted. I had a couple up-ports/’Remasters’ from the Genesis for 32X like Toughman Contest and WWF RAW. Toughman Contest was EA’s gritty take on Punch-Out that I was a big fan of, and it got a big endorsement from toughman hot-shot at the time Butterbean. The 32X version did not add too much other than lightly touched up graphics and framerates. The 32X version of RAW though had a couple extra weapons at ringside to bash adversaries away with and its own exclusive wrestler, the masked Kwang, who later on went to be better known as Savio Vega in the WWF throughout the 90s. Unfortunately the gameplay for those old Acclaim 16-bit games had those tired button mashing grappling meters that killed your thumbs and was a few entries old at that point so it did not get too much playtime from me. A 32X version I did enjoy was of Doom, and for a few years it was the only version of the iconic first person shooter I owned until a version hit download on 360 a couple years later. I was a big fan of Sega’s early polygonal titles, Virtua Racing Deluxe and Virtua Fighter on the 32X. The launch Saturn version of Virtua Fighter was notorious for being a buggy mess, and the 32X version that released a few months later surprisingly had a smooth framerate and played as crisp as I recalled in the arcades. Sega somehow against all odds managed a port of Virtua Fighter on the Genesis, but had a somewhat cleaner version with exclusive tracks on the 32X later that year. I loved me some Virtua Racer and if I ever get a Switch one of the first eShop downloads I plan on getting is the recent touched up remake of Sega’s first polygonal racer M2 developed last year. Finally the last upper-tier quality game I have in my 32X library is Sega’s arcade port of Star Wars Arcade. It only had the three missions of the arcade that boasted dog-fighting missions on the Death Star and a Super Destroyer, but they were quick mindless, pick-up-and-play blasting fun.

As seen above, Doom had a pretty solid 32X port at the sacrifice of screen resolution and I suffered through RAW's middling gameplay for its exclusive character Kwang and extra ringside weapons. There were five 32X CD games released with Slam City and Corpse Killer pictured above in their unremarkable glory! I do own all five ‘Sega CD 32X’ games that come on discs for the Sega CD, but require the 32X in order to load. All five of these games are FMV-based games from Sega and Digital Pictures and all have releases on the SegaCD already, but the 32X CD versions have slightly better resolutions and framerates thanks to the added power from the 32X. None of the five games are all that fun regrettably. I have awful memories of the clunky controls in one-on-one basketball in Slam City with Scottie Pippen and never getting a good memory for the order of camera patterns in order to succeed in Night Trap. I guess Corpse Killer was a semi-decent on-rails light gun shooter with digital characters similar to Area 51 of that same era, but with far cheesier acting and implementation. Both Night Trap and Corpse Killer recently got touched up remasters on the PS4 for those brave enough to see how they hold up today.

There were a few other 32X games I wanted to track down, but I neither saw them in the wild, had negative buzz or at that time were already going for a bit more than I preferred, and are selling for outrageously more today. I always heard good things about Knuckles Chaotix being a decent substitute for a Sonic-style platformer on the system, but that one always escaped me. I loved the World Series Baseball games on Genesis, and the 32X got a slightly up-res’d version of the ’95 release, but it had such a low print run that it is one of the higher selling games of the 32X library. I liked the original 80s version of the arcade shmup, Zaxxon and was bummed to see the polygonal 32X follow-up get panned with negative buzz which kept me away from that version. Finally, the comic book game nerd in me always wanted to own Spider-Man: Web of Fire, but with it having a low print run being the final the 32X game, and combined for being an awful game to boot were a lethal combo to keep me away from it for good. That wraps up this two-for-one flashback anniversary special on the 32X and TurboGrafX-16. What were some of your favorite games or memories of those systems? Feel free to comment about them below or reach out to me on Twitter @Gruel. I guess combining my memories of both systems went on for a bit longer than I anticipated, but I managed a modicum of brevity by being about a 1000 words shorter than my gigantic Dreamcast special. If you want to check that one out or my anniversary specials on the GameBoy or Genesis, than check the links below!

UPDATE: A couple hours after posting this I realized I completely forgot to touch on the fast approaching release of the TurboGrafX Mini in North America in several weeks!!! It is launching as an Amazon exclusive so do not be on the lookout for it in retail stores right away. It has over 50 games, about half of which are Japanese PC Engine versions. If you want something more physical than pick and choosing which games to download on the WiiU, the TurboGrafX mini is an ideal way to start discovering most of the top titles for the system! As for the 32X…..Sega did release their own official Genesis mini last fall, and did include a 32X add-on mini attachment…..that is sadly for visual purposes only and is completely non-electrical. While the overlords of the TG16 library at Konami have re-released TG16 games on several platforms over the years I cannot think of a single 32X game that got one digital or physical re-release unless you count the up-ports of Night Trap and Corpse Killer Keep your fingers crossed though, a working 32X mini may one day happen. My Other Gaming Flashbacks Dreamcast 20th Anniversary GameBoy 30th Anniversary Genesis 30th Anniversary

#videogames #Sega #NEC #32x #turbografx #turbografx-16 #bonk #sonic #splatterhouse #bloody wolf #blazing lazers #firepro wrestling #wwf raw #wwe raw

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