#Single Review: Blues 2000

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Audio: Two Rippers from Rising London Outfit Island of Love

New Audio: Two Rippers from Rising London Outfit Island of Love @grandstandhq @jaclynulman

Rising London-based outfit Island of Love — Karim Newble (guitar/vocals), Linus Munch (guitars/vocals) and Daniel Giraldo (bass) — can trace their origins to meeting through London’s hardcore punk scene, while playing in other hands, including Newbie’s Powerplant. They’ve all shared bills with bands like Chubby and the Gang and High Vis. And with their various previous projects, the London-based…

[prettygirlstothefloor]

Cowboy Carter Review

sorry if i write a lot. i like to yap lol

Ameriican Requiem- i'm a huge sucker for a sitar so i was gripped in from the beginning. i grew up on country music (mainly 90s/early 2000s) and so when she showed up at the CMAs and performed with the chicks it was a childhood dream. but as a person who liked country music around the time 9/11 happened, it's only become even more racist since. the way they treated her that night even though she was one of, if not THE, best performer of the night was so upsetting to watch. even as the best artist on the planet, at the top of her game, she's always going to work a million times harder than any of her peers. i'm so proud of her being able to make a song like to this to put her thoughts out on the whole night that night.

Blackbiird- obviously everyone has heard this song before. i was unaware of the actual backstory to the song since i don't follow the beatles too much (i like george harrison but that's about it lol). i was not aware that the song the song was written for black women during the civil rights movement. i assumed the song was mainly written by john lennon who to my knowledge was kind of a grifter when it came to his activism. having this song come right after ameriican requiem is so poetic.

16 Carriages- shockingly i was able to avoid hearing this song in full until tonight. i tend to only do one single per release and so texas hold em was the one. this song is so heartbreaking because i think about all the kids in the entertainment industry who can probably relate to this song all too well

Protector- these songs she makes for her kids... i'm gonna need her to stop. not because they're bad but i straight up can't listen to blue and probably this song because i want a mom like this 😭

My Rose- i hate that this is an interlude. it's so beautiful and not to be dramatic should've been 10 hours long

Smoke Hour • Willie Nelson- idk what to say about this one lol

Texas Hold 'Em- i love this song. the only problem i have with it is it sounds too clean. like the production sounds too clean. maybe it sounds better on the radio where the quality is lower than streaming but its definitely a song that needs to be played not so isolated.

Bodyguard- there's something in this song. she channeled carole king for this on or something. it's so good instantly a top 20 if not top 10 song of hers through her whole discography.

Dolly P- once again idk what to say about this one its too short to say anything

Jolene- i mean i think the same way about her version as i do about dolly's version. why are we getting mad at these women when we should be getting mad at the men?? take away that beyonce is beyonce for a second. if she was a normal lady and this girl was unaware her man was taken, isn't that more on him than anyone? he's letting it happen.

Daughter- her voice in this song is insanity. the control she has is unmatched truly.

Spaghettii- the beat omgggg. i know this would hit so hard in a mashup with "my house" i'm obsessed.

Alliigator Tears- just from hearing snippets of the country music that's on the radio nowadays, i think this might be one of the few songs from this album that they will eat up. i'm not saying that as a diss at all. i love this song alot especially after a second listen.

Smoke Hour II- i guess i can add on here a random tid bit. i made a country playlist in preperation for the album to come out. i made it on valentine's day. tell me why i named it KNTRY. i didn't even know the "radio station" she has on the album was called that lol.

Just for Fun- i don't listen to lana del rey anymore. i had a small time during last year where i did but then she got real messy again and signed that letter thanking joe biden. that being said this song sounds identical to "norman fucking rockwell". which is a compliment because both are good songs. keep jack antonoff away from beyonce though. that's the good thing about beyonce is she doesn't sound like everyone else which he makes everyone do (yes i am a fan of him but i'm critical of his production lol)

II Most Wanted- i'm sorry i've never been a fan of miley cyrus (except for the song she did for black mirror and that one EP she put out). i want to like this song because i like aspects of the song but it being a miley cyrus song with a beyonce feature is not want i want.

Levii's Jeans- this is also a collab i'm not a fan of. i actually enjoy post malone but i would've liked to see them in a more upbeat song.

Flamenco- idk how to take this song. it's stunning as usual. my thoughts on the lyrics though is she's kinda talking to fans maybe like the OG like destiny's child fans who have started to leave because she's starting to experiment more with her sound and they miss her old sound. i would love to know her take on this song in particular. because i know so many artists who decide to change their sound throughout each release are terrified of losing fans because they're so stuck on a certain sound.

The Linda Martell Show- another one i can't say much on since it's an interlude

Ya Ya- now.... remember what i said about bodyguard??? easily top 10. idk where on my ranking but it's there. the interpolation of "these boots were made for walking" and "good vibrations". there's something about that old soul rock sound that gets me every single time. i know that it doesn't sound anything alike but "freedom" has that same vibe, where it takes alot from old 60s blues soul rock. this is gonna hit so good on tour!

Oh Louisiana- i will say i really like this interlude. second favorite out of the ones with actual music

Desert Eagle- another song she chose to make extremely short when it should've been hours long... come on B

Riiverdance- its a fun and cute song. i think the beat is good but i think i like it more on my first listen.

II Hands II Heaven- i'm hoping this will finally click for me. im seeing everyone really love this song but idk whats not clicking for me. i'll definitely keep listening to it though maybe someday.

Tyrant- someone said this is the thique of cowboy carter and yeah i can definitely hear it. it's a sexy song and it's a fun song. definitely like it alot more after a second listen

Sweet • Honey • Buckiin'- her sampling "i fall to pieces" in this song is so special to me. i do want someone to take this "honey" and add it to the end of pure/honey though i wonder if it would sound any good. i think sweet and buckiin are the best songs out of the three of these.

Amen- i love how this really rounds out the album, calling back to the first song. it feels and is a very emotional song. don't know if i'll go back to it only because i think it could make me cry lol

overall, i think it's a solid album. if we're comparing the acts, which idk how you can because they're two distinctly different sounds, i would probably still go with renaissance but there's still so many solid songs on this album that are now some of my top faves. usually i rate out of 10 but it feels too low tbh, so i'm rating it out of 100. it will definitely grow on me just like renaissance did. 89/100.

[tuulikannel]

That poll I reblogged, about having another name than your birth name, led me to think about my online nick... I can't remember for sure when it was, but I think it might have been around the year 2000 when I discovered fanfiction.net and started reading fanfics. And then I figured I should come up with some consistent nick to sign my (anon) reviews.

I've never really had any nicknames, so at first I didn't have a clue what to use. Then I thought that maybe something from Finnish mythology would be nice, and in the end ended up with Tuulikki. Tuuli means wind, -kki is an ancient ending for female names. It was also my mother's middle name, and I think this was relatively soon after her death (which means it'd have been in 2001). That made the choice pretty obvious to me.

Honestly, back then I had no idea I was picking a name I'd be using for years to come, everywhere online. ^^; I just wanted something with which to sign my reviews... After a while I dropped off the -kki ending (Tuulikki is very prone to being misspelled by non-Finns, I noticed ^^;;) and so I ended up with Tuuli. As both Tuuli and Tuulikki are often taken, I sometimes use other variations, like tuuli-chan (heh) back in the old days of LJ, or tuulikannel (wind harp) here on tumblr. That latter one's fitting also in the sense that I play kannel (or kantele as it's more commonly called. A Finnish traditional instrument.) Sometimes I've also used tuulentupa which literally means wind's cottage and figuratively, castle in the air. (We're not that fancy here, we just have cottages, no castles XD)

Another reason I like the name tuulikannel is that there is a poem by Eino Leino by that name. It made a great impact on me when I first read it, and only way later I've fully understood why. I did see myself in it. I have no idea what the poem really is about, but the beauty of poetry is that you can have your own interpretation... and I see someone aroace in it. But I think I'll put the rest of my poetry analysis behind a cut, cause I feel like I'm really going off on a tangent here, I was just gonna make a short post about my username... XD

Here's the first verse of that poem, in original Finnish followed by my extremely literal, not-even-attempting-to-rhyme translation:

Muut sydämen saivat, ma kantelen, muut murehti, nautti, ma en, ma en, en kurja ma elää, en kuolla voi, kun sykä ei syömeni, soi, vaan soi!

Others got a heart, I, a harp, others sorrowed, enjoyed, but not me, I, poor wretch, cannot live, nor die, as my heart doesn't beat, it only rings!

This makes me so strongly think about that comic about an aroace girl whose heart is blue, not red like everyone else's. (This one.) That feeling that there's something wrong with your heart - with you - when you can't feel what others feel. That feeling of being different, and the loneliness it brings.

Third verse (it's a longish poem, I'm not going to go through it all)

Mun syömeni tuulikannel on, sen kielissä laulu on lakkaamaton, se yössä, päivässä, yksinään soi ilmahan ijäti väräjävään.

My heart is a harp of the wind, in its strings an unending song, in the day, in the night, all alone, it echoes in the shivering air.

From the aroace pov, this is interesting to me. There is a song in the heart, but it sings it alone. Should the heart have a rhythm then, rather than a melody? A rhythm it could share with someone (two hearts beating as one...) But why is rhythm more important than melody? Or is the problem the loneliness of the heart? Perhaps the heart is longing for another one to join the song. Or perhaps it has simply been conditioned to feel that way, by the surrounding society. A lonely heart isn't a good thing, we all know that, right? And if you're alone, you got to be lonely! But surely the song of a single heart can be beautiful, too.

Jumping to the end of the poem, now:

Kiro katkera, julmuus jumalien: Itse orja, ma vapautta veisailen, itse lemmetön, lemmestä laulan ma, itse tunnoton, viritän tunteita!

A bitter curse, the cruelty of gods: I, a slave, hum freedom, I, loveless, sing about love, I, unfeeling, evoke emotions!

This ending. I've always felt it pretty strongly. Sure, I don't write much romance, but it does exist in my stories too. Yet it is something I personally know nothing about, and never will. I would not call this a bitter curse, though, but I do understand that view. Again, I'm think of that girl in the comic... I can understand how this could feel like a curse to some.

I first used tuulikannel for my writing journal on livejournal, and this poem was pretty much the reason why. It felt so perfect, back then. I do connect to it now, too, but I would like to give the poet a hug. ^^ Let your heart sing its songs! I do rather have a kantele as my heart than a drum, anyway. ^^

[orgyupdates]

CrypticRock.Com reviews Candyass and Vapor Transmission's release on vinyl.

At the height of Nu-metal’s popularity when bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit and Slipknot were leading as a massive charge, something rather unique also arose in the form of Orgy. A band vastly different from their contemporaries, Orgy’s sound certainly fit more comfortably in the Industrial Metal realm, but still, was in a league of its own. Self-described as Death Pop, if you were a fan of ’80s Synthwave, mixed with modern Alternative Metal, no matter the title you want to use, you were bound to love Orgy.

Initially forming in 1997, Orgy would go on to become the first band signed to Jonathan Davis’ Elementree Records; which at the time had distribution with Reprise Records. A partnership where few knew what would happen… there were a few fun facts about the members of Orgy that should not be noted. First, you had Lead Vocalist Jay Gordon; who in fact co-produced Coal Chamber’s 1997 self-titled debut. Second, you had Guitarist Amir Derakh; who had earned some notoriety as a member of ’80s Metal act Rough Cutt. And last, by not least, you had Guitarist Ryan Shuck; who was a part of the band Sexart… where he would play alongside future Korn vocalist, Jonathan Davis.

With plenty of more intriguing aspects surrounding Orgy’s cast individually, when joined together, by August of 1998 they were set to take on the world with the release of their debut album Candyass. Released on August 18th of that year, the album picked up momentum and found an audience within just a few months; thanks in part to an appearance on the Family Values Tour in the fall, alongside Korn, Limp Bizkit, Incubus, and Rammstein. Somewhat of a key moment in history of Orgy, what would follow would be the release of their impeccable cover of New Order’s “Blue Monday” that December, thus leading to even more broader popularity. In fact, you could argue that “Blue Monday” served as a gateway for audiences to see how special Orgy was; soon leading to even more attention drawn to the single “Stitches.” So, where did this unpredictable rise lead? It led to Candyass attaining platinum status, hitting Number 1 on Heatseekers charts, on its way to becoming one of the late ’90s most beloved Metal leaning records.

Truly an inspiring story of success, matching Orgy’s musical attack was a stylistic appearance that unified ’80s New Wave fashion, Glam Rock, all with a sweet little Gothic twist. Something that enticed many, the promotional images out at the time (on press posters, etc.), immediately made you feel like you were transported into a subculture of something far out of this world. A fascination that stirred around well into the new millennium, it was in October of 2000 when Orgy plotted another impact with their highly anticipated follow up, Vapor Transmission. An album that had massive buzz surrounding it – and more than likely one that placed a ton of pressure on the band themselves – Vapor Transmission delivered in many facets of the word. Very much a continuation of the trajectory Orgy began with Candyass, the new album featured a delightful collection of tunes that solidified that they were not a novelty act, but one with significant abilities, both as songwriters and atmosphere creators. Evident with tracks such as “Fiction (Dreams in Digital),” “Eva,” and “Opticon,” Vapor Transmission would peak at 16 on the Billboard 200 and eventually attain gold status.

A more than respectful way to follow up Candyass (an album which has attained platinum status), to Orgy’s dedicated following, Candyass and Vapor Transmissions are essential listens… even over two decades later. More than likely two albums which survived the physical format purge many music fans partook in at the onset of digital downloading, leading into the streaming age, both CD formats remain fixtures in many collections. This in mind, it comes with great excitement in 2024 to learn that both Candyass and Vapor Transmission have been re-released in a vinyl format. Arriving on February 2nd, the two new releases through Real Gone Music are fit with some interesting details that make them even more compelling to look into.

First and foremost, the obvious selling point here is that Candyass is now available in the vinyl format for the first time ever. Beyond this, each album is remastered and pressed in a pretty eye-gazing way. For Candyass, the remastering (done by Mike Milchner of Sonic Vision) is fresh, bright, and crisp. Something that makes for a lovely listening experience, making it pop even more is a high quality 180 gram clear with red and yellow swirl pressing; or fire orange color if you go to Best Buy. Really nicely done, it is also presented in a grand gatefold packaging with all the original art.

Then, for Vapor Transmission, you also get a remastered copy (done by Milchner as well), but this time including “The Spectrum.” A bonus, originally “The Spectrum” was exclusive to the first 1,000 copies of the CD edition put out all the way back in 2004; that was until the digital release of it in December of 2020. A really cool bonus for collectors, Vapor Transmission is also given a color treatment pressing; this time in red and yellow “plasma,” or purple swirl if you go to Best Buy. Matched with pristine sound, as well as the original art in a gatefold package, it is the perfect sidekick to the Candyass re-release.

Overall, when looking at the journey of Orgy – past, present, and future – Candyass and Vapor Transmission are pinnacle points in time. Aware of this history and recognizing it, Orgy (currently led by Jay Gordon, along with a lineup of Bassist Nic Speck, plus Guitarists Carlton Bost and Ilia Yordanov) are set to tour April into May celebrating 25 years of Candyass. A run that kicks off on April 11th, before ending May 25th, they will co-headline with Cold on each of the dates. With that, the next question many might ask is – when can we expect a new, proper Orgy album? While that remains to be seen, they have put out several stand alone singles over the last decade since 2015’s Talk Sick EP. So, only time will tell what is next for Orgy in the way of a new album. Thankfully there is a tour, plus these two new must have vinyl edition releases of both Candyass and Vapor Transmission.

2024 Orgy Tour Dates: 4/11/2024 – Chicago, IL – The Bottom Lounge 4/12/2024 – Flint, MI – The Machine Shop 4/13/2024 – Des Moines, IA – Lefty’s Live Music 4/14/2024 – Sioux City, IA – The Marquee 4/16/2024 – Colorado Springs, CO – The Black Sheep 4/17/2024 – Denver, CO – Marquis Theater 4/19/2024 – Seattle, WA – Madame Lou’s 4/20/2024 – Portland, OR – Bossanova Ballroom 4/22/2024 – Sacramento, CA – Harlow’s 4/23/2024 – West Hollywood, CA – Whisky a Go Go 4/24/2024 – Fresno, CA – Fulton 55 4/25/2024 – Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory 4/26/2024 – San Diego, CA – Brick By Brick 4/27/2024 – Scottsdale, AZ – Pub Rock Live 4/28/2024- Albuquerque, NM – Launchpad 4/30/2024 – Austin, TX – Come And Take It Live 5/1/2024 – San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger 5/2/2024 – Dallas, TX – Trees 5/3/2024 – Houston, TX – Scout Bar 5/4/2024 – Shreveport, LA – Strange Brew 5/6/2024 – New Orleans, LA – House of Blues 5/7/2024 – Tallahassee, FL – Legacy At The Riverfront 5/8/2024 – Fort Lauderdale, FL – Revolution Live 5/9/2024 – Daytona Beach, FL – Welcome to Rockville @ Daytona Speedway 5/10/2024 – Greenville, SC – Radio Room 5/11/2024 – Knoxville, TN – The Concourse 5/12/2024 – Greensboro, NC – Hangar 1819 5/14/2024 – Mechanicsburg, PA – Lovedraft’s 5/15/2024 – Clifton, NJ – Dingbatz 5/16/2024 – New York, NY – The Gramercy Theatre 5/17/2024 – Allentown, PA – Maingate Nightclub 5/18/2024 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall 5/19/2024 – Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Soundstage 5/21/2024 – Syracuse, NY – The Song & Dance 5/22/2024 – Warrendale, PA – Jergel’s 5/23/2024 – Covington, KY – Madison Theater 5/24/2024 – Columbus, OH – The King of Clubs 5/25/2024 – St. Paul, MN – Turf Club

[yettofindaname]

Playing Prince of Persia 2008

So last week i got COVID, and was out of work for a few days. I use a dual-booted computer with windows/linux at home - with linux as my main but Windows to use a few windows exclusive programs and to play games on steam. With a lot of time on my hands, but little willpower to do anything challenging, i booted the old copy of PoP 2008 on the steam library, created a new game and got into the hidden valley with the worst walking infrastructure the gaming world has to offer.

A bridge salesman would really clean up in this place. -The prince

Now everyone who played this game already talked gameplay: How the moving-around-part is cool and the single combat with combos is meh. So let's say something else.

In a review from 2021, the reviewer talks about how the game's stylized graphics keep it timeless, and there is a care on the design of every level such that it feels like looking at a painting someone carefully crafted. This is a hard agree. The stylized looks+ the no death mechanic feel very modern, in a way. In the 2008 market, there was this flow towards more realistic games, and also a expectation that Prince of Persia was meant to be challenging, and this game subverted both. In this aspect, the game would be more successful if it was released today than in it's original climate.

Nolan North is here as the Prince. This game came the year after Uncharted 1 came out and was a huge success, and Nolan is here to bring that sweet uncharted rizz to the game. And bring it he does! Does it fit well with the game? Well, I liked it - but it's more of Nolan redoing a wisecracking adventurer in a magic antiquity setting. This is maybe not just ubisoft copying naughty dog's homework, but a trend of the 2000s to have these very, well, very 2000s people around having adventures in other epochs. Reminds me of this post about how everyone in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is a 2000s hero except James Norrington (who suffers dearly for it), so while the game style and gameplay were ahead of it's time, this part really feels right were it belongs.

Elika - chosen one of the god Ormazd and last of the Ahura people, tasked to the keeping of the evil god Ahriman in his tree prision - plays more of an straight man role to the prince's joking and lamp-shading shenanigans. Her design is a very 2000's design: Where most video games hot girls are more about boobs-and-ass design-wise, she is all about that impossibly thin waist line. Overall a great character, and the banter with the prince is funny and fresh, she makes for a great part of the fun in the game.

Every creative endeavor is, for the lack of a better word, an aborted process. Animators would polish their animations forever if not for the cruel team leads to rip the file from their hands to give to the next guy on the pipeline. Planned features get scraped as the deadlines tighten, and so turns the world. PoP 2008 is no different.

- A central gameplay feature is the power plates: When the prince and Elika jump on them, the game's movement mechanics change, and a kind of minigame starts, based on the magic of the plates: The Green plates give the Breath of Ormazd, where the prince can run up, down and around walls like they are the floor, while avoiding bumps and obstacles on them. The Yellow plates give Elika a long term flight ability (Wings of Ormazd), the prince rides on her back and you use the arrow keys to avoid obstacles mid-air. The Red plates catapult you both to a next destination, and the true obstacles are the chain of conventional moves between the red plates. Aaaand the blue plates are the same as the red plates, but blue. We can see that the inspiration died after the red plates, if not with them. Every level has 45 light seeds (game 'currency', to trade for more plates), where 40 are accessible by normal routes, and 5 are accessible using a set of plates of a specific color hidden on the level. Many of these hidden plates are red (easy to place after the level was done) but almost none are blue, the most uninspired plate.

- The game has 4 main areas split into 4 sub-areas, each main area assigned to a boss. Each main area needs two power plates to complete - The Citadel, for example, needs the red and yellow plates. We can imagine there was space (there are literally unused closed gates in the corner of the areas) for 4 more areas, each for the unused combination of 2 of the plates, with 4 more associated bosses, that were removed from the scope pretty early in the project.

Speaking of bosses, the five bosses of the game incidentally make for a near perfect dark version of the heroic Five Man band. Its kind of sad they never interact or even acknowledge each other, but it's one of the limitations of the game onset from it's original design.

- The Mourning King is the Hero, a noble ruler who sold his soul for the somewhat noble - if selfish - motive of resurrecting his daughter.

- As his foil and Lancer, both in combat style and motivations, we have the Hunter, also a noble ruler who sold his soul for the cruel prize of hunting men .

- The Alchemist -> Brains, all mad scientist like.

- The Warrior -> Brawn, he literally cannot be damaged in combat.

- The Concubine -> The Chick, the Only Other Girl in the story. Does illusion magic stuff.

In the finale, Elika sacrifices herself to seal Ahriman back to the tree - and the ending is centered around you - the prince - redoing a bargain her father previously made and breaking the seals in exchange for Elika's life - undoing all your progress in the process. This is weird to me: While we see a growing relationship between Elika and the Prince - Story-wise they know each other for like, 8 hours tops. And there are few lines of dialogue that feel like a true romantic relationship developing. And it's also disrespectful of Elika's final wishes. But everyone bashes this ending, so I will do a first in gaming history: I will defend the ending of Prince of Persia 2008.

Why the Ending of PoP 2008 is Okay, actually:

First, the romance thing - two things come to mind: First - though there is little romance dialogue, there is much romance touching and physicality. Elika and the Prince are maybe one of video games more intimate couple in terms of physical interaction in gameplay. They move together, depend on one another. When they climb vines, Elika grabs herself onto the Prince's back, when they drop of a ledge onto the floor, the prince catches Elika and places her on the ground. They do a cute little spin together when changing places atop a wooden beam. This relationship is not mainly on the story, but is a core feature of the play of the game itself. Second: This is an 1001 nights themed story, where this kind of spontaneous, love at first-sight thing is a theme - this is echoed in the finale, where if you got every light seed in the map, the final seed that resurrects Elika is the 1001st light seed.

But outside of the romance, there are reasons grounded in friendship, and those hit harder for me: The Prince is a well traveled guy, and many of the dialogue lines with Elika revolve around this growing notion that Elika has spent her whole life trapped in this dwindling secret valley, desiring the amazing things of the outside world, but bound by her sense of duty even when all the other members of the kingdom shirked this duty and went away to the outside world. That the reward for her selflessness, her hard and unwavering faith in the god of light - that left her fighting for all of creation alone - was death. That would piss off our guy, damn - it pisses ME off. Elika fucking deserved to see the world, to enjoy herself! Damn this absent god that let her fight for the right to kill herself. I would want my friend to be free, and also we have the final point...

Ahriman's current prison (at the end of the game) is absolute dogshit - held together by strings, sticks, spit and a prayer. And the last magical maintenance staff is dead in your arms. Minutes later Ahriman is already fucking with your mind, and while you could get out and move on, the next wanderer to fall in the valley can be persuaded to cut the five flimsy-ass trees for as little as a bag of free candy. While a more cowardly person would want to get the fuck out and never come back you on the other hand want to see a chance of this business having a clear end to it. So you go back, get the magic power from the tree and resurrect the last of the Ahura, hoping to get her stronger, or to get a lead to finding more of the Ahura who went away, or even Ormazd himself.

The game would have everything lined up for a sequel along these lines (and it kinda has, in the DS spin-off game) but the whole franchise was cancelled and left for dead. It's so delusional to hope for a sequel even Nolan North himself said to a fan to go write some fanfic to scratch that itch.

And that's it for Prince of Persia 2008 for me. One thing that made me happy was that when I had just finished the game, and had the PoP 2008 content itch, i found the page @fuckyeahpop2008, that let me see some cool memes and content fans made of the game. The last big burst of activity in the page was 2014, so I'm indulging in the vintages, the 10 year old PoP memes. Thank you @fuckyeahpop2008 - your page, and your love for the game means a lot for me - and is really nice to indulge is this love, kept fresh in tumblrs servers for 10 years. Cheers for anyone playing the game, now or in the future.

[angela-hartbreak]

October Vogue Review

{Note, how I do my Vogue reviews is that I don't really talk about every single picture or article I just love talking about standouts<3 please don't be mad if I didn't mention YOUR favorite picture, also I try to give both positive and negative but I HATEE BEING MEAN}

First off, as a Lady Gaga lover (Little monster here <3) UHH the cover is just lovely. I love anything this woman puts out. Also FUR!!!!! UGH TO DIE FOR. maybe it's feathers but 99.99% sure Miss Gaga was wearing some kinda fur in this!

Bella Hadid is looking STUNNING for Saint Laurent, maybe I'm biased because I am a true sucker for lace and leather together {wearing that combo rn lmao accidentally twinning} but overall in love. also petition for making black-on-black a thing again.

Again as I have been seeing--kitten heels galore.

Ok when I say I was gagged for Giorgio Armani I WAS GAGGED. LIKE almost dropped my latte. Don't ask why ok usually I hate clear shoes but just the way that this is photographed has me STUNNED still--ew clear shoes. And I love any black and blue combo.

I loved the Gabrielle perfume scent from chanel--would I buy it?? Maybe idk I have 3 perfume shelves as we speak.

I keep on seeing way more black outfits and I'm so thrilled, my fav example of this this issue was maybe the middle lady of MaxMara..... And I'm honestly shocked to say this because I'm a Michael kors hater until I die but that picture is looking gorgeous hun

Negative time. The ugg boots looked really ugly I'm sorry. I have a love-hate relationship with uggs but I just don't like this heavy platform I just don't think it looks good. Also not a huge fan of the dolce & Gabbana devotion Eau de parfum intense scent, such a shame I have been eyeing up this bottle for so so long and was honestly thinking about buying a bottle but honestly I just don't think it's worth it for me personally it's just not something I would wear everyday.

Tom Ford's eyewears little gold T's just being perfect

"Age on the runway" was just a sweet little read I genuinely enjoyed.

I personally kind of rediscovered my love of blush after finding out about the whole red blush trick used by the Victoria's secret angels but the coming up Rosy article just kind of just secured my love of it again and I finally am using blush again for like the first time in months.

The second Erdem releases this flower handle bag I might just need to snatch one up-- because this is like the first time I've genuinely like wanted a handbag becides my beloved coach I've been religiously using.

Odissi's pictures are gorgeous {I might have accidentally forced all of my non-vogue reading friends to look at it (they were hella confused) while I was in love}

I can't tell if I'm supposed to hate guess or not with all of these STUNNING STUNNING PICTURES 🤍🤍

Okay so Michael kors new pour femme perfume actually smells pretty good {I'm doing a very bad job at hating Michael kors right here} and the pour homme one smells like every other cologne ever I'm sorry.

Honestly I'm not really invested in any of these books this month in the section but maybe the night we lost him would actually be something I would pick up the rest of them I'm honestly not that intrigued by which is kind of heartbreaking for me because I usually love the book section of Vogue

Okay Lady Gaga's article--BASICALLY THE WHOLE REASON WHY I BOUGHT THIS MONTH'S ISSUE as fast as I could get my hands on it. The shape shifter part is so real and you know damn well I tried my hardest to look at all the looks brought up in this one because well MISS GAGA IS THE LOML. and I'm so so so happy she found someone I hope the very best for them both ahhh also her saying "I'm not ready to meet my husband" HAD ME on the floor.

I am a sucker for decades--so obviously I was obsessed with the article and the pictures for on with the shows. My favorite pictures were the 60's and the 80's personally. As someone who generally likes 2000s fashion personally I just wasn't the biggest fan of the picture for it no hate to anyone in the picture just wasn't my taste.

OK OK I WAS SO HAPPY FOR THE FALSE FRENCH CHIC GIRL THING ON PAGE 158 BECAUSE THIS IS LITERALLY THE REASON WHY I BOUGHT VOGUE LIKE OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS. I love the giant sunglasses with the cute little Veronica de piante jacket and I love any chanel two tones shoe. Also can we please just bring back cameras?? Like just physical cameras because oh my God their so cute and chic.

IN GENERAL 8.7/10 ISSUE HERE. Please feel free to disagree or share your own opinions down below I LOVE YAPPING ABOUT VOGUE

Xxx Angela Hartbreak

[vidreview]

VIDEO ESSAY ROUNDUP #5

[originally posted march 30th 2024]

it's been a minute since i've done one of these, for a whole host of reasons. the biggest one is that i just haven't been watching very much youtube lately, on account of spending my time making youtube instead. in February i released a scripted essay about the German time travel murder mystery show DARK, while in March i posted an unscripted conversation piece about all the movies i own but haven't watched. i've got a lot more planned for this year, but we're here to talk about other people's essays, not mine. so let's do that!

"Yellow Paint" by Caleb Gamman.

i've talked about Caleb Gamman on this blog before, and no doubt i will continue to do so. he's a fantastic and criminally underrated essayist whose materialist approach to media analysis is a model for the kind of thing anyone making video essays ought to aspire to. nominally about the discourse over yellow paint signposting interactible objects in modern AAA video games, this essay is a disgusted and exhausted act of passive aggression (which turns into regular aggression by the end) against the ways social media and corporate greed have engendered an atmosphere of deliberate ignorance and illiteracy towards games, traditional media, news, politics, everything. it's an entertaining and vindicating watch, full of great points argued with genuine conviction.

"PS1 STORIES - 3D SHOOTING MAKER" by Blue Bidya Game.

this one i found through a friend posting about it. we're looking at a review of a very specific PS1 "RPG Maker" spinoff dedicated to 3D rail shooters a la Star Fox --which is an instant sell for me, a long-suffering Star Fox enjoyer. but it's just as much an in-depth history of the Maker franchise as a whole, which is a lot deeper and more interesting than i ever could've imagined. a lot of research went into this, a task i can only imagine was made incredibly difficult by the language barrier. it's a great little video that packs a lot of charm into its 31 minute runtime, but what i find even more remarkable is Blue Bidya Game's mission statement: "I do sentimental videos on every game in the PS1 library alphanumerically and region-free until I die. Let's get weird and look through low graphical detail windows together. What do you think is out there? What could be just past those blocky hills?" at time of writing, there are 36 videos on Blue Bidya Game's channel, the vast majority of which are below 2000 views. if the quality of this single essay is even remotely indicative of the rest of his catalogue, then this might qualify as one of the most exciting & slept-on works of historical games journalism out there. if you were a fan of Tim Rogers' "Let's Mosey: A Slow Translation Of Final Fantasy VII" series, i think you may have found your new favorite youtube channel. you're welcome

"VR's Greatest Hope, We Thought - Half Life: Alyx Four Years Later" by Brother Burn.

there was a time when i believed wholeheartedly that VR was my beat. i futzed around with the Oculus DK2 at the University of Oklahoma tech lab in, what, 2014? and had my mind blown by the experience of riding a virtual roller coaster. in 2016 my roommate and i went halfsies on an HTC Vive, which arrived on our doorstep the very day that Donald Trump won the presidential election. more on-the-nose symbolism you couldn't possibly ask for-- that is, assuming VR software development & investment kept up its then-rapid pace long enough to support total quadrennial escapism, which it absolutely did not. don't get me wrong, i found a number of titles to love; i made a video about perennial VR classic Beat Saber in 2018, but was plenty charmed by the likes of Arizona Sunshine, The Gallery, Vanishing Realms, Zombie Training Simulator, and especially the fast-paced climbing game To The Top, whose only weakness for me was the limited number of tracks in its (admittedly good) OST with no ability to easily import your own tracks instead. yet for as much as i liked these games, vanishingly little about them was so far beyond what was offered by the tech demos present in Valve's VR pack-in The Lab that you couldn't get an approximately similar experience by just playing that instead. alas, the horizon of possibility for VR games hit something of a ceiling once all the most obvious ludic experiences had been more or less perfected.

anyway, this video by Brother Burn is at least in part about that. i never played Half Life: Alyx, but it certainly seemed positioned to be "VR's Greatest Hope" at the time and so i was naturally drawn in by this essay's title. what it confirmed for me is that i'm glad Alyx exists, but don't feel an especial need to play it. he talks at length about the stealth level "Jeff", which sounds cool as hell and is something i could never under any circumstances subject myself to. i cannot handle horror in VR. there's a section of Arizona Sunshine set in an abandoned mine that i had to psych myself up to finish for three weeks. so it's good, in that respect, to get a breezey overview of Alyx from someone who isn't a Half Life superfan (like me), who gets motion sick in VR easily (also like me), and who clearly came up during a very specific era of youtube (ditto). Brother Burn's style is a time-capsule from 2017 in all the best ways. post-Game Grumps, pre-Breadtube, high effort editing with a lightly self-aggrandizing sense of humor, lives maybe two or three doors down from Errant Signal; i dunno what to say except i find his work charming. that he has less than 2000 subscribers at time of writing is as unfortunate as it is unsurprising.

"remember fingerboards?" by Jeffiot.

this may quietly turn out to be one of my favorite video essays of the year. a history of skateboarding with a history of finger-skateboarding along with a personal history of both into a genuine loveletter to what is objectively a very silly activity? oh yes, thank you very much, i'll take two. the section where he first tries fingerboarding is so surprising and charming, and everything that follows is like… i dunno, freeing? there's something about this video that feels like a substantially relieved exhale, as it's the first really niche thing Jeffiot's done since the astronomical success of his Skull Trumpet essay. the scariest part of being Suddenly Popular after such a long time being totally invisible is the looming specter of What Next. the temptation must've been there to just keep on doing videos investigating the origins of Weird Internet Ephemera forever, since that clearly resonated with a lot of people. instead, here he is doing something totally unrelated, in a realm that none of his new subscribers are likely to be interested in --a supposition at least momentarily supported by the fact that this video only has 14,000 views after a single day (compared to the 100k+ views his last few hit). that number will surely go up, but for the moment i think it's illustrative of the fact that every channel's subscriber count actually contains at least two, probably more, discrete pools of audience. 155,000 subscribers is impressive and substantial, but how many of those people are there for Jeffiot, and how many are there for More Skull Trumpet? all things being equal (which they very much are not), i see that 14k viewership number as a soft indication of Jeffiot's dependable long-term viewers, the people who'll follow him down whatever blind alley he wanders through.

i plugged Jeffiot in the previous roundup, with a lot of time spent analyzing the phenomenon of running a small channel that suddenly gets huge because of a single viral hit. when i wrote that post in january of this year, he'd just exceeded 50,000 subscribers after having only 5,000 a few weeks prior. now, two months later, he's got over 155,000 subscribers. this makes Jeffiot's channel a really useful case study in how one translates good luck into good fortune. the most notable development in my opinion is that quite a lot of Jeffiot's back catalogue has seen an immense increase in viewership as well, something that simply does not happen unless there's a palpable and immediate and consistent qualitative energy shared between the old stuff and The Thing That Went Viral. when i say that the job of a video essayist toiling in sub-5k-views obscurity is to lay the groundwork for getting lucky, this is exactly what i mean. Jeffiot's stuff is high-effort, surprising, and thoroughly entertaining across the board, unique in subject matter yet somehow broadly approachable (that he's clearly very influenced by the work of Tim Rogers over at Action Button is, i'm sure, just a coincidence). i really hope that Jeffiot doesn't take the relatively low viewership of this fingerboard essay as a Failure and vow to stay away from such seemingly off-brand subject matter in the future. it's not a failure (i mean, god, i'd kill for a video of mine to even break 5k in a single day at this point), but rather an indication of confidence and direction. the best artists and creators will walk their path whether you follow them or not. there's no being true to what compels you which also permits universal success, and any attempt to the contrary is a great way to strangle your soul to death. the successes float you on from the sinkers. views and subscribers don't have a linear relationship with monetary success on youtube (unless you rely exclusively on ad revenue, at which point you're already fucked and should probably check a calendar to see if it's still 2015), yet it's so easy to get spooked by them because youtube wants us to be obsessed with analytics. somehow, i think Jeffiot's smart enough to avoid such pitfalls.

"The Mass Extinction Debates: A Science Communication Odyssey" by Oliver Lugg.

this one was suggested to me through my askbox. what strikes me most about this video is how it spends 45 minutes building up the context leading up to the debates about what actually caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, so that you understand what they really represented beyond a simple who's right/who's wrong. i had no idea this was such a recent thing-- 1996, man. that's so in my lifetime. i've always thought the asteroid theory was just uncontroversially true, it never occurred to me that there would have been a combative dogma against it in the scientific community. this is just a good, fun, enjoyable and educational video essay.

"Everyone But Me Is Wrong About The Cornetto Trilogy" by Innuendo Studios.

this is an essay refuting the semi-popular assertion that the Cornetto Trilogy (Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World's End) are about stunted manchildren being forced by circumstance to finally grow up. instead, Ian Danskin argues, these films are about stunted manchildren who refuse to change until circumstances beyond their control forceably change the entire rest of the world in a way that allows them to never have to grow up. this is one of those essays that's clearly been on the backburner for a long time, delivered with a real sense of frustration and desire to correct the record on something that seems, to Danskin, transparently obvious.

i liked this essay a lot because (to get a bit inside baseball) i'm dedicated to finally producing my extremely-long-in-the-works essay titled Everyone Is Wrong About LOST, about how everyone is wrong about the tv show LOST, by the end of this year. a big question for me in writing that essay has been what tone to strike, how much indignance i should show, where the line between funny and annoying lies. this essay did a lot to clarify that question for me, which is only that much more edifying because Ian Danskin has been at this since 2014. his original essay, This Is Phil Fish, was a big inspiration for me when i first started thinking i might want to try my hand at this gig, and his work ever since has remained some of the most consistently good and clear argumentative writing on the platform. any time he posts a new essay is a moment of quiet celebration for me, especially on the rare occasion he does traditional media analysis like this instead of the equally excellent but generally dry rhetorical analysis he's been doing with the Alt-Right Playbook for the last 6 years. it feels somehow poetic to once again have the path forward in my work clarified by a creator who inspired me an entire gender ago, like somehow despite all that's changed i'm still being true to my WAIT HOLD ON WHAT

well i guess i'd better hurry up and make this fucking LOST video, huh?

<- ROUNDUP #4 | ROUNDUP #6 ->

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Ugh...

Here we go again with this... Something something, "It's not my fault Disney is making these sequels! I avoided their latest original movies because they sucked! I shouldn't be to blame for that!"

A) These Disney Animation and Pixar sequels were likely always going to be made regardless of how the recent original movies performed financially. In the biz, if a movie makes a shit-ton of money, it's likely getting a sequel. It ain't 1997 anymore.

B) There is no blame or punishment, per se... The system in the world of mainstream American feature animation is working as intended. It's capitalism 101. It sucks, yes, but that's how it is. The performance of one movie dramatically affects the slate, or even the studio's survival. Must we dredge up what happened to Blue Sky after The Walt Disney Company bought them and their first movie released by them lost money at the box office? Better yet, all the times Disney Animation faced shutdown for many decades.

C) What if... Hear me out... These sequels are all pretty good? Better than the recent original stuff, even? Impossible! Something can be a critically-acclaimed audience favorite, and you'd still have gaggles of people online insisting the thing in question is garbage. Just look at TURNING RED, for example. It's all fuckin' subjective at the end of the day.

D) It's never gonna be good enough anyways, so why bother? I don't think I can name a *single* Disney animated movie where almost everyone was on the same page, praising it... Since THE LION KING? The latter-years Renaissance movies all had their detractors, as did the early 2000s movies, as did all the "Revival" movies (why don't they do 2D anymore? Because a lot of people avoided PRINCESS AND THE FROG and WINNIE THE POOH). I remember there were at least a few people who didn't like TANGLED, WRECK-IT RALPH, etc. etc. Were very vocal about that or didn't think they were "Disney enough" or whatever. Hell, even LION KING used to get flack for the KIMBA similarities. Plenty of the now-beloved films overseen by Walt Disney himself were largely greeted with mixed or negative reviews upon initial release. It'll never be perfect, it's just the nature of the beast. How the movies live on, is the more important part. Not the opinions of self-appointed "experts" on the Internet. Again, it's all personal preference.

The thing is, the movies Disney chooses to make is kind out of our control. No one should be obliged to pay for a product so that you get the next one like it ("vote with your wallet!"), but unfortunately, that's how the biz works. If you're not game on the latest films from the studio, you're also not to blame for what they do next, but they're gonna do what they're gonna do. That's just that about that. Hell, the thing can be a big success... And they'll still do the opposite of what people want! Off the top of my head, not an animated movie, but WORLD WAR Z 2 not moving forward despite how well the first one did. Again, it sucks. But... If WDAS ever got to a point where they were making things that I just did not want to see whatsoever? Then I'd go watch something else. It's ultimately the higher-ups' decisions that are at fault.

Very rarely are financial failures looked at logically, very rarely do executives ever try to pick up the pieces from there. Instead it's "never make this kind of thing again" or "shut this place down". It happened to Blue Sky. It happened at DreamWorks, projects cancelled (B.O.O., MONKEYS OF MUMBAI, etc.), staff laid off, a whole animation unit closed down (Pacific Data Images), etc. Disney Animation threw 2D features out twice, cancelled many movies, laid off tons of people multiple times, they faced complete shutdown multiple times. Animated movies are expensive and require lots of people and resources, they're fragile as is. COVID-19 really cut into their box office, and it doesn't help that going to the movies costs a fortune.

I'm not saying this is all a good, it's not. I've just made peace with it, and can only hope films keep getting made, staff still have work and roofs to keep over their heads, and maybe... Just maybe, I'll like the movies, too?

Anyways, I hope I like MOANA 2. I'm curious to see what the director and writers and artists and musical talents all bring to this world that was created by the first film.

[thepermanentrainpress]

CONCERT REVIEW: TEARS FOR FEARS W/ COLD WAR KIDS AT ROGERS ARENA - JULY 24, 2023

Tears for Fears have been wowing audiences with their high-energy new wave for over 40 years. Playing to an almost sold-out crowd at Rogers Arena, Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith put on a show that felt like time traveling back to 1985.

Opening the show was indie rock group Cold War Kids. Their first album was released in 2006 — I was surprised to see them and their style of music opening for a much older band. It took a few songs to win the crowd over, but by the middle of their set everyone was clearly having a good time. Lead singer Nathan Willett greeted us about halfway through and said “Vancouver, this is an oldie, you know this!” before launching into “Hang Me Up to Dry,” one of their first and most popular singles. The whole set was high-energy and a lot of fun. People were dancing, getting into it, and the band commanded the stage and crowd. 

They played for 45 minutes or so, concluding with “First” – the group’s biggest single to date that reached #1 in 2015. Nathan told us that it was an “excellent experience” to be part of this with Tears for Fears. “They are incredible people and this has been a life-changing tour. Thank you guys for being a part of it. We love you, peace and love.”

Between sets, I noticed the pre-show playlist had covers of Tears for Fears songs on it. Examples included “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Lorde, “Shout 2000” by Disturbed, and perhaps the most well-known cover, “Mad World” by Gary Jules. This was a cool feature I’ve never seen a group do before, and was a reminder of their legacy over the years.

Finally came the main event. Although they look a bit older, there’s no mistaking the famous duo on stage.  They opened with “No Small Thing,” the first track from their latest album The Tipping Point – also the namesake of this tour. This was followed by the titular track. Then came the first major hit of the night — the smooth, mellow yet merry “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” Perhaps my personal favourite of their singles, it lit up the arena both literally with phone videos and in the energy as we all sang along. 

Curt in particular spent a lot of time speaking to the audience. Just a couple songs in, he thanked us for coming out “on a Monday… It’s great to be back in Vancouver.” Curt also informed us it was a special night as their touring drummer, Jamie Wollam, hails from Salt Spring Island just outside of the city. “He’s an amazing guy with an amazing heart and a proud Canadian,” Curt added, leading of course to loud applause. Roland took the mic to inform us “it’s fantastic seeing people singing along to our new songs… It means a lot.” He told us to expect a lot of new songs that night (“If you don’t know them, you will”), and that they’d do “perhaps a cover as a sing-along, and a forewarning, some deep cuts.” 

The setlist consisted of a mix of songs from all of their eras, with particular emphasis on their latest album. After a deep cut (2004’s “Secret World”) we heard another hit – the 1989 tune “Sowing the Seeds of Love.” This was followed by no less than four songs in a row from the new album. Although the newer tracks were not as well known as the classics, the attention and style never left the room on stage or in the audience. I heard the entire album before the show, and it’s a timeless, diverse, orchestral release leading to a trippy experience on stage. Psychedelic backdrops and various dark hues added visuals to the melodic, often strange music.

We got back to the familiar songs with the very upbeat but sad “Mad World.” Curt danced around the stage to flashing neon of red and blue, basically turning the arena into a club. Curt and Roland then left the stage for a bit as their backup vocalist, Carina Round, used her beautiful voice to sing “Suffer the Children.”

In addition to highlighting Vancouver as a hometown show for the drummer, Curt said it’s “a gorgeous city and great if you’re a runner.” He also mentioned he’d spent quite a bit of time in Vancouver filming episodes of the show Psych, in which he played himself. Tagging on to the runner comment, Roland remarked “our songs are more famous than we are. It’s great, because Curt can go running along the seawall without being mobbed. I’ll go on holiday and say I’m a musician in a band called Tears for Fears, and they’re like ‘who?’ Then I say you know ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World?’ and they say oh yes, yes.” He had a great sense of humour about this, and it was clear the group was so happy and grateful to be here performing these well-known songs for us 40 years down the road.

We closed the main set with a long staple hit – “Head Over Heels / Broken” – a song still running through my head a few days later. We all sang along to the “La la la la…” part, leaving the show on a high note.

But it wasn’t quite over yet — they came back for an encore and introduced the band. Keeping the synth beat on the keyboard was Doug Petty. The guitarist was Charlton Pettus, also noted as a co-writer and producer on the new album. They then highlighted local drummer Jamie and backup vocalist Carina, before of course introducing themselves as Curt and Roland.

The previously promised sing-along cover turned out to be “Creep” by Radiohead, of all things. It’s not a song I expected – it certainly isn’t upbeat or cheerful – but it did seem appropriate for the band’s style. It’s also very well known and was a fun one to chant the chorus to.

The final track of the night was perhaps the most upbeat of all of their hits – “Shout.” It was the perfect closer as the entire arena stamped their feet, jumped around, and chanted “Shout! Shout! Let it all out!” once again echoing a club at the height of the 80s. It’s clear Tears for Fears have still got it. A couple generations later, they continue to record, entertain, and draw a crowd of thousands. They may have aged physically, but their music, old and new, is simply timeless.

Written by: Cazzy Lewchuk

[hananoami]

[05/19] Deepspace Trials Progression

XAVIER'S THE REAL MVP TODAY! To summarize today's deepspace trials progression Xavier is the first love interest to successfully clear his directional orbit - stage 120! All that's left is for Zayne to clear his directional orbit - stage 120 and Rafayel to fight his directional stages 119 and 120 this coming Wednesday. Here is my usage breakdown of the allotted keys today: ☆ Xavier : 2/3 - cleared stages 119 to 120; 1 extra key available ☆ Zayne : 0/3 - currently stuck on stage 120 ☆ Rafayel : 3/3 - cleared 116 to 118; going on stage 119 ☆ Open Orbit : finished stage 120 on 05/13

𝚇𝙰𝚅𝙸𝙴𝚁

Stage 119

The Protofield Stellactrum for this stage is 5-Amber + 1-Sapphire memory. Seeing as stage 119 of Xavier's directional orbit had a green hue around its planet so I wasn't worried about the difficulty of this fight. There were a couple of wanderers both waves with 3-HP bars + 2-protocore shields, but you can shatter those to bring them into a weakened state in a single strike by utilizing your < resonance skill > and having a perfect match using the designated colored stellactrum. The reward for clearing this stage is 20 diamonds and 2000 gold.

Stage 120

I'll do a more in depth review of this fight when I upload my clear vod. Will include a link to that post here at a later time. Please look forward to it!

𝚉𝙰𝚈𝙽𝙴

Stage 120

I didn't bother doing any attempt runs today for this stage. Currently waiting for his new myth memories to come before I challenge this fight again. Reason? I rather use my precious and limited leveling resources to level up those 5-star memories than push his 4-star NT solar pair any higher than I have them.

𝚁𝙰𝙵𝙰𝚈𝙴𝙻

Stage 116

I forgot to take a screenshot of the stat attributes for this team set up, but for the most part I wasn't worried about this stage at all after seeing the green orbit hue. The Protofield Stellactrum for this stage is 3-Violet + 3-Pearl memories. To be honest you don't even need to match the Stellactrum. I was able to clear this via auto battle. None of the wanderers you'll be going against have protocore shields so you can pretty much brute force it with ease. The reward for clearing this stage is 20 diamonds and 2000 gold.

Stage 117

Stage 117 did not have a Protofield Stellactrum so you'll be able to use whatever team composition you'd want. I went with Rafayel's highest leveled memories for this stage and was able to clear this via auto battle. Like the previous stage none of the wanderers you'll be going against have protofield shields. So you should be able to brute force this stage without any issues as well. The reward for clearing this stage is 20 diamonds and 2000 gold.

Stage 118

The Protofield Stellactrum for this stage is 6-Pearl + 1-Amber memory. Unlike the previous stages the color of this orbit was blue, indicating it would be a special stage that will be somewhat challenging. Stage 118 is a protect Stabilizer Anchor. The reward for clearing this stage is 20 diamonds and 2000 gold.

𝙾𝙿𝙴𝙽 𝙾𝚁𝙱𝙸𝚃

I have successfully cleared Open Orbit - Stage 120 on 05/13 !! Currently there are no more stages available for me challenge.

[veni-vidi-vici-ous]

my dad just told me im not autistic because i was sick of looking at this stupid beer puzzle :0:0

like ok girl lets see how long you can look at lou reed

like if my dad is autistic then beer is definitely an interest of his

he makes his own beer… he knows every single beer i bet. anyway he loves beer and beer brands and breweries and whatnot and so oc he’s into this damn beer puzzle

like gimme a 2000 piece puzzle of Lou Reed’s face and ill fuck it up get that puzzle done in an hour.

oh and my cousin said that the song i was playing (pale blue eyes by velvet underground words and music Lou Reed) and she said, as soon as i put it on, “WHATS THAT NOISE???

it sounds like crickets

it sounds like our washing machine”

go away ive had enough lou reed slander these past few days cause i got this

growing up in public special dj version and they left the actual dj sheet in there with the notes on the album and a review and it was the MOST SCATHING REVIEW IVE EVER READ!!! (exaggerating) but it pissed me off and if david v from WPGU is out there he won’t be for much longer

[itwas50yearsagotoday]

11/8/23: It was 50 years ago this month, November 1973, Hall & Oates would release their second album Abandoned Luncheonette. I've heard a couple tracks from their first record, Whole Oats, but not impressed enough to review. This record's a bit different as they have roped in their various styles into a (mostly) blue-eyed Philly Soul sound that would mark most of their late 70s pop hits. The biggest song here is the A.M. classic 'She's Gone'... it failed initially as a single but later when H&O had success with 'Sarah Smile' they re-released it in 1976 and became at top 10 hit. It deserves it too... excellent wistful and emotional song about lost love and regrets. It has a very urban sound too, which really works when you're walking around a big city (a great listen on The Drive when walking around Chicago). The other song on this record that I like equally as much is the title track. Spotify indicates that this song is one of the lesser tunes listened to on the record, and that's a shame because it's a really cool song. Yeah, the lyrics are kinda banal, trying to be deep, but what makes the song is the chorus... vastly different than the slow, quieter verses, the 'month to month, day to day, year to year' part of the chorus is damn near majestic, with fake strings (I thought it might be Paul Buckmaster) played on a mellotron... goosebumps, man! The rest of the songs on this record are okay, nothing offensive... it is interesting how much Oates does lead vocals on almost half of the songs, my favorite being 'I'm Just a Kid (Don't Make Me Feel Like a Man)'; later, on the big hits it seems, Oates is only the harmony to Hall's lead. Since I won't get to it with this blog (or at least the 50 years part) note that H&O would reach super-stardom in the early 1980s with the advent of MTV and videos accompanying their more New Wave-style singles. They were a duo to have nostalgia for in an ironic way in the 2000s, but now I consider their songs to be entrenched in my rotation probably forever.

[lollytruecrimeworld]

Melanie Hall Murder

A Cold Case from Bath UK

This is a case that my team are currently reviewing in hope that we can put out a documentary about it. This murder seems to have been committed in 1996 but the victim’s remains were not found until 2009. This murder has to date never been solved.

This is one case that we as a team believe can be solved and in fact, should have been solved a long time ago.

Melanie Hall was born on August 20th 1970 and disappeared on June 9th 1996 after a night out at the Cadillacs Nightclub in Bath, UK.

Melanie had graduated from from the University of Bath in in 1995 having achieved a degree in nursing. She went on to get work as a clerical officer at The Royal university Hospital in Bath.

On 8th June 1996 Melanie had made arrangements for an evening out with her boyfriend Philip Karlbaum and then spent the night at his home afterwards. Her mother dropped her off at Philip’s home amd it was from there that they set out with another couple to Cadillacs nightclub in Bath city centre.

During the course of the evening Philip apparently saw 25-year-old Melanie dancing with another male and as a result an argument ensued. He left the club upset and headed home. She was last seen sitting on a barstool at 1.10 am in the early hours of June 9th 1996.

There was an unconfirmed sighting of a woman arguing with a man between 1.45am and 2am on Old Orchard just around the corner from the nightclub. Whilst police say that they cannot rule out that the woman was Melanie but at the same time there is no way to confirm that it was her.

There is also a report of a male seen talking to a woman matching Melanie Hall’s inside the nightclub. He was described as white, around 27 years old, 5ft 10ins tall, medium build, dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, bushy eyebrows and clean shaven.

His clothes were described as black trousers, black shoes with a brown silk shirt. The person who gave the description could not be certain but it seems quite possible the male had a gold hooped earring in his right ear and a flashy gold watch on his wrist.

Despite a massive police operation Melanie was not found and she was declared legally dead by a court on November 17th 2004 but without her body being found

Now before we go any further it is right to day that it has been suggested that a serial sex offender who preyed on women in the Bath area between 1991 and 2000 could potentially have been responsible for Melanie’s disappearance and death but thus far this has never been confirmed.

Officers from Avon & Somerset Police have said that they cannot rule out that the ‘Batman rapist’ was responsible for Melanie’s murder. The rapist is known to have attempted to carjack a woman at knifepoint in the same area of Bath as the club where Melanie was last seen just a few hours before Melanie is believed to have been abducted.

The victim of the attempted carjacking was left wouded when she fought her attacker but managed to escape.

Coming back to Melanie Hall’s murder the night of her disappearance is a night that may stick in some people’s memory as it was the evening of the opening game of the Euro 96 football championships, England played Switzerland and drew 1–1.

Melanie was wearing quite distinctive clothes and shoes on the night that she disappeared namely a pale blue silk dress with a round neck, black suede mule shoes with straps across the front and an open toe, size 5 or 6, a cream single-breasted, long-sleeved jacket and a black satchel-type handbag. Her jewellery consisted of a Next watch with expanding bracelet and silver drop earrings.

She was also known to have had her Midland bank cheque book and cheque guarantee card with were in her handbag and have never been recovered.

Maybe you were in the club that night? Did you speak to or recognise Malanie Hall? She was a very pretty young lady with very distinctive blonde hair. Were you a can driver in Bath in 1996? Did you take Melanie and a male somewhere in the early hours of June 9th 1996?

Were you offered the items of jewellery to purchase? or even the high quality handbag?

If you know anything at all that could lead police to solve this heinous crime, please contact the police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

If you are willing to discuss the case were a friend or colleague of Melanie and would be willing to speak to one of my research team then please get in touch.

Our contact details:

Email: UCMTUK@protonmail.com

or: lolly.truecrime@gmail.com

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[lmaowh-at]

top 5 WORST MOVIES EVER!!!

Uh oh um. So I gotta say that I'm not that much of a cinephile or a hater when it comes to movies because I watch the vast majority of them with friends and that improves my watching experience greatly. That being said I think I do have 5 movies that I have beef with (might be controversial)

1. Starting off with BATTLE ROYALE (2000) I don't care this movie sucks and I have a personal vendetta against it. I was 15 years old, watching and overanalysing squid game because I liked it, enjoying life, when my dad came to me and started full on SHITTING on the squid and saying how it SUCKS BALLS AND ASS and that it's a CHEAP COPY OF BATTLE ROYALE and that he's disappointed in me because I'm such a smart girl and I'm enjoying such a trash show. So I was really angry because wtf he tore my hyperfixation apart and so I watched battle royale out of spite and God......... I did not enjoy it in the slightest and I still harvest nothing but negative feelings towards it. From what I can remember the characters were Nothing, the action was disappointing, the point was made 10 minutes in and the rest was filled with nonsense. I don't care for the themes of this movie and I don't want to make sense of them. I was just angry at my dad for saying I'm stupid and then directing me to a movie that doesn't even have a single character with a compelling motivation that i care about and shoves relationship talk in the middle without it being rewarding in the slightest.

2. Queen Margot 1994. Sorry I'm trying to enjoy the story without incest porn in the middle but this movie doesn't let me

3. Thor the dark world... Thor is my favourite avenger and ragnarok is my favourite mcu movie so I don't like the direction of this one very much. I just think that Thor and Jane don't work in the first two movies and basing Thors entire motivation on her when the relationship is not very compelling in the first place is not a good recipe for a movie. Loki felt much more like the main character and I already forgot who the villain and what the plot was. Ragnarok is the only good Thor movie 😔

4. Ummmm red white and royal blue??? Idk I went into it thinking it would be at least funny but it was so shallow and cliche and had the most overused gay archetypes and character arcs and the politics were funny in how they sucked and the main couple just reminded me of Charles and Navarre for some reason and it made me very sad and angry because they had NO CHEMISTRY WHATSOEVER!!!! And. Yea. That's it I guess

5. Ok this is gonna be veryyyy controversial but I did not like the ragad movie at all for the simple reason that I do not see how ragad can be performed in a different medium. Stoppard may have directed it but Roth and Oldmas performances were so unenthusiastic and it lacked what made the actual play so great. I don't know. Maybe I'm missing something but I really don't like this movie and this letterboxd review really sums it up for me

[joecial-distancing]

Albums of the new year

MGMT Oracular Spectacular (2007): There’s a review of Spring Breakers that I really like, where the reviewer points out that it’s a movie that makes more sense now, in hindsight, because instead of getting Harmony Korine’s hot takes on America’s youth, you get a dead-on time capsule of a very specific time & place--a zeitgest, over now, that at the time didn’t seem aware of its own mortality.

I was thinking a lot about that when listening to Oracular Spectacular; I was actually pretty shocked to see it’s as old as 2007, because the era I vividly remember it from was 2011-2013 aka my college years aka a time when the hits from this were ubiquitous instead of showing their age. It’s another one of those where exactly half the songs on here got way too much exposure, while the other half you’ve never heard in your fucking life. Most of the unknowns were actually pretty fun, with the exception of “Youth” which was so awful it single-handedly knocks the whole thing down a rung of my esteem. Fun trip down memory lane!

UB40 Signing Off (1980): I’m slowly triangulating my reggae taste, for the most part this was pretty good, didn’t stand out very much, but a couple of the songs (”Signing Off”, “Reefer Madness”) are long instrumental pieces that I thought were really cool and engaging

John Lee Hooker The Healer (1989): I’ve learned through this project and after seeing Kingfish Ingram live that I really like blues, and this is tremendous stuff

Talking Heads Talking Heads 77 (1977): This was an interesting one for me; I consider myself a huge Talking Heads fan, but also their big deal albums for me all come from their middle/later years, like Remain in Light onward. So even having grown up with their stuff around, I never really checked out their earliest offerings.

All of which is to say I’m having a tough time with this one, I think I don’t like it as much as what came later, but I still like it a lot, but I struggle to get into the headspace of what I might think if I were coming to this completely cold

Madonna Ray of Light (1998): Outstanding side A existing in tension with kind of a dull side B. I dunno, this one really excited me at the start, but I didn’t end it with the same enthusiasm

Giving it another listen, am I crazy, of am I hearing shades of Moon Safari in this?

Oasis Definitely Maybe (1994): Knowing them only from “Wonderwall”, this was pretty good. At its best made me think about underwater cities, which is a winner for me.

iirc there’s like a fan feud between them and Blur? going off this, I think I’m probably Team Blur

Coldplay Parachutes (2000): Dire stuff, I was correct to give them a miss back in the day

Julian Cope Peggy Suicide (1991): I have no idea about who this guy is or his deal in general, but this was really interesting. Album length kind of uncalled for, but on the other hand a normal length wouldn’t have been enough to get lost in, which was very fun with this

Screaming Trees Dust (1996): Grungy, forgettable

The Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream (1993): Kind of mixed for me, fundamentally compelling, vocals have a weird quality that I’m kind of on board with, but also often the thing got boring

Nancy Griffith The Last Of The True Believers (1986): Spotify reactivated autoplay without permission, and it took me a solid hour to notice the album was done with.

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band Safe As Milk (1967): Had to dig up a mono release because the stereo mixing was way too aggressive for headphones, but overall pretty fun weird folky mishmash thing

Soft Cell Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (1981): “Tainted Love” is the thing they’re known for, but the actual highlight of this was “Sex Dwarf”. Otherwise forgettable Brit Synth Pop.

Pink Floyd The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967): First time listening to a non-Dark Side Of The Moon or -greatest hits Pink Floyd album; since the last time either of them came up on the list, I head something about how Pink Floyd in general was kind of a predecessor to Radiohead; like even though the tone is different, both groups’ appeal lies in the sound mixing, and there’s audience overlap of people drawn to that.

Janelle Monáe The ArchAndroid (2010): This was fantastic! I feel like concept albums haven’t been in vogue for a good long while, so I really really appreciated how big she went with it here.

a-ha Hunting High And Low (1985): “Take On Me” is correctly the well-known song from them, but there were a few other gems in this

Pet Shop Boys Very (1993): Pet Shop Boys grates on me in general, and this one was done no favors by coming right on the heels of a-ha like that. I feel like by 1993 it was long past time to evolve past this kind of sound

Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti (1975): Album went a bit too long. The number of songs was correct, lots to get lost in, and they go a lot of different places, but the songs mostly overstayed their welcome.

c. 2012 I was using Pandora a lot, and for some reason it was absolutely obsessed with serving me up instrumental covers of “Kashmir”. Which I guess was fine, just confusing.

Johnny Cash At San Quentin (1969): Johnny Cash is great and I like how much this benefits from being a live album, really shows off how charismatic of a performer he was

Devo Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo (1978): Foundational album of a low-key influential band, but not one of my preferred releases from them

Echo And The Bunnymen Ocean Rain (1984): More of a stereotypical ‘80s sound compared to Crocodiles, by which I mean less along the lines of synth pop, and more grandiose, lots of orchestral stings, etc. A Bigger sound that I think benefits them

Muse Black Holes and Revelations (2006): I expected to have a bunch of thoughts on Muse and whether their stuff has aged very well since my high school days when I was super into them, maybe some ideas on the distinctly Nolan-movie-style bombast, evaluating whether I still like it etc. What I thought about instead is how I never really listened very much to this as a full album, usually I just skipped between the singles. The big fuckoff Cosmic Arena Rock pieces show their age, but actually still land alright, but in between them are a whole lot of bad filler pieces that really drag the whole thing down

Orbital Snivilisation (1994): The type of techno that Strong Bad was making fun of

Arcade Fire Neon Bible (2007): Band continues to be mids

Dolly Parton Coat Of Many Colors (1971): I’m a tough sell on most post-50s/60s country music, and I liked this quite a bit

Tom Waits Heartattack And Vine (1980): Think I liked Rain Dogs better, he was sleazier for that

Tortoise Millions Now living Will Never Die (1996): I got excited when I realized it was going to be all instrumental, but it never really rose above passing the time alright

Arrested Development 3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of... (1992): This is the most dated-90s shit I’ve heard in my life

[mywifeleftme]

113: Medicine Head // Dark Side of the Moon

Dark Side of the Moon Medicine Head 1972, Dandelion

The aptly named Medicine Head (thick, bleary, good-feeling) were one of influential BBC DJ John Peel’s pet groups, an idiosyncratic combo he introduced to many of the biggest stars in British music and signed to his own Dandelion Records. In their original formation, Medicine Head were the duo of Peter Hope-Evans (who mostly played harmonica or Jew’s harp) and John Fiddler (who sang and simultaneously played guitar and a single large kick drum). Their debut, Old Bottles, New Medicine is a hangover classic, like rolling around in a good soft bed until you find a position that briefly relieves the grinding plates of your skull.

1972’s Dark Side of the Moon is a curiosity in the Medicine Head catalogue, and not merely for beating a somewhat more lucrative prog album of the same name to the presses. Hope-Evans had departed the band (briefly it turned out), and Fiddler was accompanied by producer, former Yardbird, and future amateur grounding rod Keith Relf on bass, plus the impressively anonymous John Davies on drums. It didn’t receive a CD reissue until the mid-2000s, and to my knowledge still hasn’t been re-pressed on vinyl since its release. So’s this one any good?

Yep! I’d be happy to hear “You and Me” or the Big Star-worthy “Only to Do What is True” ramble on for a full LP side if it were offered. (The latter also seems ripe for a Wilco cover.) I’ve read reviews that suggest the relative heaviness of a few of these cuts is a relief, which seems a bit churlish—there were plenty of bands doing this kind of acid blues thing, but few who could generate the waves of gently druggy bliss Fiddler could. Despite the addition of more conventional sidemen, Dark Side of the Moon wisely stays within Fiddler’s wheelhouse, seldom reaching even mid-tempo, the de rigueur wandering guitar jams (a la “You Can Make it Here”) more soothing than scorching.

When I saw Dark Side at the shop, I asked the owner to throw it on his table to preview it, and my immediate impression was, “This is one of those albums that says nothing but sounds incredible, and that’s enough.” And so it is.

113/365