#This is like the fourth video I saw like this and the editors never disappoint!!!

[saturnscherie]

༄ Someone please take “Cause I don’t wanna be in love with another even in another life,” and this transition away from the itafushi and satosugu editors. I can’t do this anymore.

[littleragondin]

2023 Recap - Songs from (QL) Dramas

I've been tagged by @troubled-mind to make a list of my favorites songs from this year's QL dramas (thank you so much 💕) and of course I can't resist. I liked a lot of music from shows this year, which is great but made the selection harder so it will be a little long, I hope you'll forgive me.

OST I've been milking in full

I don't very often go through full OST unless someone does a background music playlist i can put on (Like this one for La Pluie by troubled-mind, and this one for To Sir, With Love for example) but two stood out for me this year.

My School President OST - I knew in advance I would enjoy a musical show, and I have to say I was NOT disappointed. My favorite though is ฟัง by Fourth, Ford, Satang, Winny, and the fantastic Pijika Jittaputta. Have a go at the original too!

Unintentional Love Story OST - This one came late this year for me, but i have been listening to the whole thing again and again. My favorite is Beautiful Day by Cha Seowon. I really enjoy his voice a LOT, and I'm weak for a nice, so soft it's even a little mushy love ballad.

With those two out of the way, let's go through the list country by country I think.

From Thailand 🇹🇭

ลางสังหรณ์ by Teng Tachaya from The Sign

This one is just a banger! It literally rocks, and I keep belting out the chorus every single time i listen to it. I love everything about it, even the spoken words. Also, not music related, but that costume!!

เงา by Lazyloxy from Shadow

I like Lazyloxy's voice a lot, as well as the rhythm/bass line (?) during the verses. There is an edge in that song that fits the show very well, too.

พรุ่งนี้ by Ford Arun from Moonlight Chicken

Ford's voice, do I need to say more? Tbh I got a little teary the first (ten) time(s) I listen to it.This ballad is so very touching, it's gentle and hopeful, I can never tire of it.

Honorable mentions >

รักคุณยิ่งกว่าใคร by NuNew's cover of Got Jakraphan from Cutie Pie 2. I loved this one so much I got myself a video editor so I could post it there. Only honorable because it's a cover, but it got me into luk thung so it deserves to be here.

เพลง รักนี้มากับดวง by Bmine & Near from Lucky My Love. This one is just because it's goddamn cute, sweet and peppy, and it makes me smile and bop my head. Sometimes I don't ask for more.

From Japan 🇯🇵

U&I by Hi-Fi Unicorn from Kimi ni wa todokanai

It's just a perfectly crafted pop song imo. It's cute, fresh and lively, fitting the show perfectly too. Since it came out, you can catch me humming "kimi ni waaa todokanai hmm hmm hmm" all day, every day, so it deserves its place on the list!

Yoruwazura by osage feat Ishino Riko from Kimi to nara koi wo shite mite mo

This one got me the second Ishino Riko started singing. The harmonies between the two are SO good! I really like the guitar in this one, and the little claps in the background. It's also really easy to hum so it stays with me a lot.

Bitter by Royce from Utsukushii Kare season 2

The contrast between the energy of the melody and the nearly bored sound of the voice (the singer sounds like their mouth does not open fully) works reaaally well for me. It's catchy and fun, and well, the lyrics are just so perfectly Hira...

ふたたび Futatabi by HIROBA & Otsuka Ai from Bokura no micro na shuumatsu

I was very surprised when I saw it was a feat with Otsuka Ai (who I only knew for her sugary pop in early 2000). The melancholy of the lyrics and the melody are beautiful, I am a huge fan of the way their voices mesh together, and I can't resist a piano + violins combo like that.

Honorable mention > Go Sign by Billy Laurent from Ameiro Paradox. The little piano, the rhythm, that chorus, it makes me shake my ass every single time.

From Taiwan 🇹🇼

'痛苦擁抱 (Painful Hug) by Ozone from Oh No! Here Comes Trouble

(I won't hear anything about technicality and it being a QL show or not =3) Had not realized it was from a boy group before checking the clip for this list. I like the way the melody rises for the chorus, their voices are pleasant, and it carries both power and some sort of melancholy that reminds me very much of Pu Yiyong.

Honorable mention > Come With Me by K6 from Marry My Dead Body. The whole OST of that movie is great, but I somehow got completely obsessed by this one from the gym scene at the start. It also features Austin Lin (I think as backup on the chorus).

From Korea 🇰🇷

IoU by UTOPI from The New Employee

It's a sweet, simple one that never fails to put me in a good mood, and sometimes that's enough to listen to a song non stop over months =3

Natural by Young K from A Breeze of Love

This one is also sunny, light and joyful. I like the guitars and I am especially fond of Young K's voice - it got me looking into him which I do not regret. A nice little surprise for the end of the year.

Thank you if you made it all the way through it, otherwise...

Tl;dr you can find all songs under this playlist (´꒳`)♡

i'm not sure who would have fun doing this, maybe @iguessitsjustme if you fancy it? Anyone who see this and want to do it, please tag me so I can have a look at your faves! <3

[yeonchi]

Thinking about the future of EDGN

I’ve never asked a lot out of my fans over the years, but to some of my close fans (you know who you are), I’d really appreciate some helpful advice because this is an important decision I’m making that will affect both you, the fans, and myself.

To cut a long story short for a tl;dr, I no longer enjoy posting about the voice languages in localised Japanese games because of some recent events and realisations and I want to retire from the English Dubbed Game News page altogether.

It’s been about five years since I started all this with the Koei Warriors Rant Series and since then, everything I’ve done that’s related to English dub has brought me nothing but hate. I know it’s a bit of an exaggeration and some of my close fans may have something to say to the contrary, but I’ve been feeling quite negative lately and because of that, I think it’s a brutally honest summary.

After ending the Dub Logistics series, I thought the one thing I could do to repay my fans for their support over the years was to continue posting on EDGN. Personally, I think I’ve done enough already and also, as I said in a post back in August, I’ve been having doubts about the future of the page and what I want to do with it given my current interests. There are several factors that led to me having these doubts, which I’ll be outlining after the break. (I can’t even put horizontal lines in my posts with the rich text editor now, thanks Tumblr)

1. I was never interested in any game outside of the Koei Warriors series or any game I played in the past (eg. Dissidia Final Fantasy).

This really shouldn’t be a surprise to my fans because in the past, I’ve rarely posted anything outside of the series I was interested in, including the aforementioned series. If I came across something by chance and liked it, then I would do some investigation into it, but these days, the spark just doesn’t want to light up anymore.

I’ve never really taken the chance to buy new games because my family doesn’t believe in buying things that aren’t important and as such, I took that mantra to heart. While I never brought a PS3, I did get a Nintendo Wii, but I traded it in later for a Wii U and not a PS4, which I still regret to this day. I pirated my PSP, DS and PC games (let’s face it, who doesn’t) and played with emulators on my computer. I only got a Steam account to play Team Fortress 2 (laggy though it was on my shitty computer) and I never brought anything from it, which made it difficult for me to add friends on there (not that they really cared in the end).

By extension, this applies to anime as well, which is the reason why I never post anything outside of the same few animes on the Waifu Network or on my Facebook pages. My belief on sexism in anime has also contributed to this disinterest; the only reason why I’m still posting the same few animes is because I’m still somewhat interested in them and I’m grateful for how they inspired some personal projects of mine.

2. Various factors have led me to lose interest in video games, including the Koei Warriors Series.

The reason why I started my dub crusade in the first place was because of Warriors Orochi 3 (Ultimate) and Samurai Warriors 4 not being dubbed. The reason why I decided to jump ship was because of Dynasty Warriors 9 being dubbed, just not with the same cast I had grown to love. I know that there were extenuating circumstances for the latter, but given everything that happened between that time, my hope that the old English voice cast (since Dynasty Warriors 4-6/Warriors Orochi 1-2) would return to voice that game (and other future games) was gone.

In addition to the previous factor, I started to find myself with more commitments than I had in past years, along with some different interests that I picked up along the way. At first, I didn’t feel like playing games because of my commitments, but eventually, it got to the point where I didn’t want to play most video games again because of the disappointment I’ve experienced from Koei Tecmo. Learning about all the things that AAA gaming companies do to reduce expenditure and increase revenue turned me off from video games as well. In my opinion, it wasn’t so much a boycott (per se) than it was a loss of interest.

3. The original group of people who inspired me to start writing these rants are now gone.

I know I’ve had other fans since the start of all this, but the original group had a special place in all this because of it. There were four people in the original group, who I met on Koei’s original Facebook page, and they were as follows:

The first one did comment on my older stuff, but he left quite early, possibly since DW8E’s release. I saw that he deactivated his account some time in 2017.

The second one had a YouTube channel and he was an admin on one of my Facebook pages for some time, but then he left after a period of inactivity without any explanation.

The third one was the more prominent because of his LGBT status and mental health issues. In the middle of 2015, he announced to everyone that he was deactivating his Facebook account because it was a burden on his mental health. He reactivated his account some time later, but he deactivated it again in September 2017 and hasn’t come back since. During that time, I saw a post from him stating that he was going to take a lot of pills and commit suicide. I reported it to Facebook in the hope that it might encourage him to find some help, even though I remember him stating that nothing works for him anymore. When I noticed that he hadn’t come back to Facebook months after he deactivated his account the second time, I assumed the worst.

The fourth one, also known as the family man or “the last one standing”, deactivated his account in June this year. We never really talked much, but as I said in this post, I’m still grateful to him for helping me find the new weapon and Musou information in DW8E when the Koei Wiki didn’t have it yet (because the game was just released at the time).

4. The impact of the feud’s aftermath still haunts me to this day.

When I agreed to end the feud on a mutual understanding a couple of years back, I promised myself that I would quickly move on from the troll behind it and not keep reminding myself of everything that happened. However, I’m a person that’s prone to anxiety when I think of worst-case-scenarios and at times, I found myself thinking about what would have happened had my Facebook account been deleted just because a troll couldn’t take the L when he got owned by someone half his age (compare that to Leafy who made terrible criticisms of people who are older than him, then claimed that he can hide behind the fact that he is younger than them). Him coming back out of nowhere earlier this year didn’t do any favours for anyone either. Regardless of that, I’ve got my bottom ground and I’ll continue to live on it regardless of what anyone else thinks of me.

I’d like to take a moment to digress and talk about cancel culture and political censorship. Because both parties in the feud weren’t exactly that popular (we had our own little fanbases, but that’s it), me and the other party “cancelling” each other (admittedly) didn’t seem to have as much an effect as we had hoped. Other factors that contributed to this could be that cancel culture (an extension to call-out culture) wasn’t that much of a thing two years ago and when the other party tried to cancel me, he made no attempt to spread the word to his fans. It was likely that he was trying to show mercy, but that doesn’t explain why he kept reporting my posts relating to him and current events in Hong Kong, knowing that I would eventually get banned if I didn’t call him out on it. I was as much a victim than I admittedly was an offender of cancel culture.

Following the feud, I’ve become wary of social media censorship because I experienced what it was like for someone to get petty and get people deplatformed by mass reporting them. Other pages like meme pages have suffered the same fate in the past (mostly because people take certain jokes too seriously), but despite my hopes, it didn’t seem like Facebook was going to do anything about the petty mass-reporting of those pages. Recently, however, I’ve been seeing news on tech companies being grilled over the censorship of conservatives and President Trump criticising them for the same thing. I’m not saying that I’m supporting Trump backing the pages that are being censored (conservative, far-right, alt-right, you name it), but I hope that this can hopefully extend to random meme pages being reported for petty reasons.

5. Ever since I decided to stop being toxic, I found myself conflicted when confronted with more toxic comments to the point that I’ve started to become paranoid over negative criticism.

When I decided to change the #NoDubNoBuy page to EDGN, I hoped that the hate towards my page would be reduced somewhat, but I never expected that it would be gone entirely. Since then, three people have made negative comments on the page; one was a girl who saw one of my posts being shared on a private group, misunderstood the (new) purpose of the page and despite her attitude, was still somewhat respectful, one was a Europoor dub hater from Spain (from what I’ve seen and learnt, Europeans tend to be sub fans and/or dub haters because of their English comprehension and ability to read subtitles) and one was an Americuck soyboy dub hater who pointed out about “crybaby fans” (”fans” as in the gatekeeping term “fake fans”, never mind my theory that people, especially men, who call other people, especially other men, “crybabies” are actually spreading toxic masculinity) who liked stuff to be Americanised but didn’t acknowledge the Japanese origins.

I’m gonna go off on a tangent and do a bit of an ad-homimem here (but it’s alright because I’m going to rebut his point next) and point out that I called the Americuck a soyboy because he had quite a long beard, but to be honest, if I called everyone who had beards “soyboys”, that would make people like Count Dankula and Sargon of Akkad “soyboys” as well, so it’d be a pretty slippery slope if I didn’t clarify who I was talking about.

Now, I’m going to move back on another tangent and rebut the soyboy’s point, because I think this is a pretty important point to address. No one is saying outright that they want Japanese games to be Americanised in terms of cultural references (if 4Kids has taught us anything). Saying that Americanisation is responsible for bad dubbing is a bit like blaming video games for causing violence. If someone says that they would like a game to be dubbed into English in localisation, then it is presumed that they want the dialogue to be dubbed in addition to the text being translated (or “dublated”). Any cultural changes made to the game or the dialogue are entirely the responsibility of those who made those changes, like the gaming companies who censor stuff for Western audiences, so if you’re complaining about a Japanese game being too “Americanised”, don’t take it out on dub fans because chances are that they didn’t want the dub to be too “Americanised” either.

Completing the square and going back to the original tangent, I didn’t post any of their comments to the dub hater comments album because I had deleted it after the feud in the hope that I wouldn’t be as toxic as I had been before. You can probably already see how toxic I would probably be if the above responses were posted on the page and directed back at them, which would mean that I’m not upholding myself to the standards I wanted to follow.

6. I’m becoming more and more concerned about current events to worry about things like English dubbing in video games.

If you’re someone who has unironically thought that I was making a big deal over something you thought was minor, then this is going to sound very ironic for you. From all these years of learning and research, I’ve attained an expansive world view and while I have made jokes about current events in the past to lighten the mood or express my anger, deep down I’m actually concerned about these things, particularly in regards to Hong Kong during this politically sensitive time.

For some reason, my desire to make posts has decreased because in addition to the above factors, I’ve been getting more and more worried about current affairs. Granted, the point of things like anime and video games and the Internet is to provide an escape from reality, but in the end, I guess that you have to face it whether you like it or not.

Making the decision to stop posting on EDGN hasn’t been an easy one, but all the factors I described above have gradually made it easier. Like the Undub page did, I had considered changing the focus of my page to merely report on the voice languages of games without saying whether we approve or reject it because it isn’t dubbed in English/Japanese; that is, we report on them with an unbiased viewpoint. Not adding excessively biased pro-dub comments on our posts has made it more neutral, but in the end, it didn’t stop the dub hater cucks. I should point out that one of the reasons why I wanted to change the #NoDubNoBuy page to EDGN was so that we could reduce the amount of hate we were getting.

What was the original goal of me starting this dub crusade? If you have read my rants in the past, then you will have picked up my hopes that Japanese games would be localised to the West with full Japanese and English dubbing and that if game companies couldn’t achieve that, then they should apologise and explain why. Would I say that I achieved or failed to achieve this goal? Not really, because over the years, I learnt a lot about the video game and voiceover industries and gradually realised that it’s not as straightforward as I had initially hoped. To be honest, it was kind of stupid of me to hope that gaming companies would say anything straightforward about this, but on the other hand, I learnt that gaming companies are like politicians as well; they say the things they want to say and not the things people want to hear.

To my fans, particularly my close fans, feel free to send me your opinions about my decision, however if you’re trying to change my mind, then I’m not sure if it can be changed so easily. If you think that I haven’t lived up to what you expect from me, then I’m sorry, but in the end, I have to think of myself as well.

If I could say one thing to the dub fanbase, I want to ask why no one else has ever tried to do something like EDGN. You have your groups and pages on social media and yet, it had to take two people pissed off with the dubbing direction of gaming companies to do it. Granted, that was how the Undub page started, with the lack of Japanese voices in localised games, and yet they didn’t get as much hate as my page did.

If there is anyone out there who wants to follow in my footsteps and make a page like EDGN, let me be the first to give you my blessing because I’m not going to be like the Undub page when they discovered us and point fingers for copying their posts when in the end, games are the same to everyone. While transparency regarding voice languages has increased over the years, there was never a place where dub fans could know about what games were dubbed in English. You don’t have to be like me and make a series of rants about why some games aren’t dubbed, because I’ve already done it, but instead, I suggest going the unbiased route as I stated earlier. Of course, you don’t have to follow my advice - it’s your page, after all.

My plan is to retire from EDGN at the end of the year. I have 12 more games in the backlog, all with English voices, and I’m hoping to post them all on the page before then. I probably won’t remove myself as an admin (because I think there’ll be some petty, obsessed cuck who’ll dig out my posts and make a rant series on me or something), but I’ll probably have it so that I can forget about the page as time goes on.

With this, my dub crusade has come to an end. Once again, to the fans, I’m sorry and I thank you for your support. As always, it is your choice as to whether you wish to continue following me, whether on Facebook or Tumblr, after my retirement.

[concerthopperblog]

ConcertHopper's Favorite Metal Albums of 2020 So Far

With the year a bit more than half over, everyone here at Concert Hopper is feeling the sting of having no concerts to hop to. But our little band's metalhead contingency is feeling it especially keenly. There's just something about the energy at a crowded metal show that can't be replicated. Fortunately, there have been a lot of great albums released this year. And, as metal is arguably the most sub-genred style in the world, we didn't present one person's list of mid-year favorites as we did with our Americana Albums, but five albums from three different Concert Hopper contributors. As you will see below, not only did we not agree on the five best, we didn't agree on any of them. So pick the sub you like best and find a new album to bang your head to.

Xerxes Tzolis- Editor in Chief

As you can see, Xerxes metal tastes run toward the sludge, stoner, and doom metal genres. He manages to pull a good mix from those areas for his list, presented in chronological order by date of release.

Haunt – Mind Freeze (01/10/20): I have not been able to catch Fresno’s Haunt live until The Speed of the Wizard Tour hit Atlanta in 2019. That fateful night, I was able to witness firsthand the heavy metal awesomeness that is Haunt. Haunt’s latest release, Mind Freeze - Shadow King Records, is the third (3rd) LP to come from the band since 2018. This record really hits home with thunderous tracks like, “Light the Beacon”, “Divide And Conquer”, “Mind Freeze”, “Fight or Flight”, and “Have No Fear”! Just sit back with some good headphones, turn up the volume as loud as you can handle it, and then let Haunt do the rest. You will be playing air guitar within seconds. Also, it is worthy to note that Haunt will released their fourth (4th) LP, Flashback, sometime in July (2020).

Candlemass – The Pendulum (EP) (01/23/2020): Swedish Doom Metal titans, Candlemass, fresh off of their Grammy nominated LP, The Door to Doom, has now released a new EP entitled, The Pendulum – Napalm Records. Candlemass solidified their ranking in the doom metal pantheon many years ago. And when Candlemass releases new material that also keeps progressing so does their dedicated and loyal fan base. They even brought back their original vocalist, Johan Langqvist, to lend a hand with The Pendulum. Some of my personal favorites are “The Pendulum”, “Sub Zero”, “Aftershock”, and “Porcelain Skull”. Now keep in mind that every song (save for “The Pendulum”) is considered a demo for their upcoming LP which is likely to be released sometime in 2022 or 2023. They do say good things come to those who wait.

Old Man Gloom – Seminar IX: Darkness of Being (01/23/2020) & Seminar VIII: Light of Meaning (05/22/2020): Originally, from Santa Fe, New Mexico, but currently calling Boston, Mass. their home. Old Man Gloom is a sludge/doom/extreme metal band that is compiled of members from Isis (the band), Converge, Doomriders, Cave In, Mutoid Man, and Sumac. That pedigree gives this band enough musical credentials in the metal world and rightfully so, after releasing not one but two solid pieces of work in 2020. Old Man Gloom picked right up where they left off with their 2016 release, The Ape of God, with two stellar LPs: Seminar IX: Darkness of Being & Seminar VIII: Light of Meaning - Profound Lore Records. After listening to both LPs, I feel that these are both fitting tributes for Caleb Scofield, who is the former bassist for Old Man Gloom who died suddenly in 2018. Some notable tracks to check out are “Heel to Toe”, “Death Rhymes”, “In Your Name”, “EMF”, “Wrath of the Weary”, and “Calling You Home”. R.I.P. Caleb!

Elder – Omens (04/24/2020): Elder is a four piece progressive heavy/doom/stoner metal band that has been a particular favorite of mine ever since their debut split with Queen Elephantine in 2006. Since then, they have gone on to release one (1) live LP, two (2) EPs, and five (5) LPs including their most recent release, Omens – Armageddon Label. As time has gone on, each release from Elder shows the bands maturity and progression the juggernaut that they have become today with tracks like; “Omens”, “In Procession”, “Halcyon”, “Embers”, and “One Light Retreating”. Coming in at just under 54 minutes long and only five (5) tracks, each song helps guide the listener to escape into Elder’s riff-filled reality.

Witchcraft – Black Metal (05/01/2020): Now it’s time to round out my choices for Top Metal Albums (so far!) from 2020 with one of my favorite doom metal/occult rock bands, Sweden’s very own Witchcraft. Black Metal – Nuclear Blast is Witchcraft’s first new album in four years, which incidentally, is a deviation from their previous material because the entire album is acoustic. There is something eerily, magnifying and raw about Magnus Pelander’s (vocals/guitar) vocals when he starts off the first track, “Elegantly Expressed Depression”, with the lyrics “I swear I saw death standin’ in my hall / Casting her black shadow on my white wall / I reek of death from inside my soul / I’d never thought I’d lose you on a whim.” Other notable tracks include “Sad People”, “Free Country”, “Sad Dog”, and “Take Him Away”. If you dig this LP, check out Witchcraft’s discography consisting of six (6) LPs (including Black Metal) and seven (7) Singles/Splits/EPs.

Chris Griffy- Album Review Editor As will become abundantly clear from his list, Chris' metal tastes tend to run almost exclusively toward the European progressive/folk/power/symphonic metal niche. While there were some great albums produced outside those confines (Khemmis, Testament, and Candlemass especially), his list hews pretty closely to his favorite genres.

Demons & Wizards- III Damn is it nice to hear Demons & Wizards again. The supergroup consisting of Blind Guardian frontman Hansi Kursch and Iced Earth guitarist Jon Schaffer has returnd with III. Demons & Wizards has stretched outside their power metal comfort zone and released an album that, while not as good as the generational genius of Touched by the Crimson King, is still an outstanding listen. Album highlights include “Wolves in Winter”, “Dark Side of Her Majesty”, and “Diabolic.”

Nightwish- Human:II:Nature While Floor Jansen has been Nightwish's vocalist since 2013, Human:II:Nature is only her second studio album with the band, there being two live albums in between. This album continues bandleader Tuomas Halopainen's recent obsession with nature and science begun on Endless Forms Most Beautiful and should be well-placed to capitalize on Floor's increased American profile from what seems like a thousand YouTube reaction videos and her genre-hopping appearance on the Dutch program Beste Zangers. Songs like “Noise”, “Shoemaker”, and “Pan” are showcases for Jansen's powerful vocals, as well as a long overdue feature lead for multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley on “Harvest.”

Archon Angel- Fallen Anyone who knows me well knows that Zak Stevens era Savatage is my metal sweet spot. So I was excited to hear Stevens' new project with Secret Sphere guitarist Aldo Lonobile, who met while recording as guests on the new album from Timo Tolkki’s Avalon. The results didn't disappoint. Fallen is kind of the mid-point between the cinematic prog of Savatage and the more grounded work of Stevens' follow-up band CircleIICircle. Unfortunately, hearing the band is all you'll get to do as, after Stevens wrapped up his winter commitments with Trans-Siberian Orchestra, they managed one concert (the 70,000 Tons of Metal Cruise) before COVID shut down the touring world. Highlights include the title track, “The Serpent”, and “Rise.”

Conception- State of Deception 2020 is the year of the great vocal return. But while there have been places to hear Zak Stevens and Hansi Kursch, fans of former Kamelot vocalist Roy Khan have been without as the artist was retired until 2018, when he reunited with his pre-Kamelot band Conception. State of Deception is everything a Khan fan could have hoped for, a return to his Black Halo and Poetry for the Poisoned vocal form, with a new (old) cast. Highlights include “Anybody Out There”, “Of Ravens and Pigs”, and “Waywardly Broken.”

Ad Infinitum- Chapter 1: Monarchy The award for debut of the year goes to Ad Infinitum. Chapter 1: Monarchy is a symphonic metal fan's dream. The band wisely lets the bulk of their work ride on the more than worthy shoulders of Swedish vocal powerhouse Melissa Bonny. Capable of belting a siren's song like Simone Simons one moment and growling like Angela Gossow the next, Bonny's vocal gymnastics are anchored by some great hooks on songs like “See You in Hell” and “Marching on Versailles.”

Richard Davenport- Concert Hopper Metal Prophet The most well-rounded metalhead among our ranks, Hopper's resident Metal Prophet chose a wide-ranging list of releases as his favorite. Unfortunately, an unexpected illness prevented him from sending in the write-ups of his choices, but we still wanted to include his selections.

Lamb of God- Lamb of God

The Amity Affliction- Everyone Loves You... Once You Leave Them

The Acacia Strain- Slow Decay

Code Orange- Underneath

The Black Dahlia Murder- Verminous

Let us know your favorite metal albums in the comments!

[mollycp-blog]

Being camera operator and Editor.

So far I've loved filming and editing, my first day of being camera operator was successful because i got such a wide variety of shots all that i had planned i wanted and more i created on the day. I also white balanced the camera which helped the lighting situation as we had to use all natural light as no lights were available for us to book out on our filming days. 

Editing however i feel very new to but i am quickly picking up new tricks and learning how to put special effects. My aim of the music video was for the montage to be fast pace and match with the beats and changes in the music. Firstly with the lyrics ‘that that don't kill me will only make me stronger’ i got a shot of ben directly looking at the camera and punching towards the audience to create a intense mode of address. I then slowed this clip down to 50% and matched it to the lyrics to create a dramatic drop on the lyrics. 

I am in the fourth week now of this project and i am finding the biggest problem is that my partner isn't contributing. I have directed the project whilst he acted and obviously was unable to direct as it was my idea and i was behind the camera able to give directions. I have obviously also done one hundred percent of the camera work and now due to his unfinished work i have completly edited the whole music video myself. This has put more pressure and work on me than i was prepared for but coping with this has been perfect practice for what the real work environment would be like.  

On our last day of filming ben was two hours late so i had to think on my feet and quickly adapted by finding another actor who was available immediately. I realised that using another actor would have to change the story line so i used jack my new actor to do the work and studying side of the video that Ben was meant to do and then when Ben turned up i filmed the two actors together so it would make sense and tie them both into the video. 

To evaluate as I work on my project I looked at the footage we had from our second day of filming in the mechanics classroom and realized quickly, as ben wasn't aloud near the operating equipment, the footage did not make sense or fit in with our video. So due to this I added another day of filming to our schedule and looked online for inspiration for what our new footage could be. This is where I came up with the studying and learning idea. I got the inspiration from legally blonde because she wants to prove everyone wrong that she can be smarter and ace all her exams. So then I researched into this film and saw that it was made in 2001 and the morals of the story are that Elle Woods (main character played by Reese Witherspoon) learns to be independent and the value of education.

Throughout this project I have learnt from scratch how to edit and direct. I had never done one of these roles completely on my own so this gave me a chance to really learn. With the editing I feel that if I had co edited with ben so had his  help the final project would be better as I would of had a second opinion and simply a second pair of eyes to notice errors and have a fresh view on things. However as I have edited on my own I have learnt how to color correct, cut certain parts of the screen to black half of it to black and  show the other half. Ive also  learnt how to change the speed and reverse the clips.

I feel as my biggest problem has been that I didn't have enough footage because after a while the clips began to all look the same. So I asked Julian to sit down and help me work around this problem, he showed me how to use similar clips but make them look different and unique by putting effects on them. This helped me feel motivated again because I could make the video more interesting. However when evaluating I feel as if my video is boring and not got enough change in it because I was limited by the actor refusing to act scenes planned as he didn't want to look uncool which p`ut me at a big disadvantage and if I could of known this before I would have chosen a different actor who would take the project seriously.

When filming our gym scenes we had to way of blocking out the light that was over exposing the shots because of the high windows and white walls. So when it came to editing I struggled with matching the lighting and when color correcting as much as I tried to take out the over exposure it was still oblivious so Julian taught me that I should use it to my advantage and add a effect over it to make it look stylish.

i have also took inspiration from the scene in Batman vs Superman where Batman is working out and the lighting has a dark green tint to it, this scene gave me ideas because it was a montage set to a male song.

Evaluation-

My role was Director, camera operator and editor. In these roles I had to plan the narrative, each camera shot and the order of the scenes. I feel the project could have been better because the footage I had wasn’t as varied as it could have been and began to look repeated; this also was because the song is over four minutes long which I found hard to fill all the time. However I feel the project went well because being all the roles meant I had an excessive amount of work to do but coped with that well and I had never edited by myself before or directed before so this gave me the opportunity to learn more about each role. With the editing I learnt how to use all the effects and how to three way colour correct. If I could change anything in the project I would change the gym location because the lighting was so over exposed because of the high windows not being able to be covered. I would also use after effects to make the project more professional but as this was the first time I learnt to use the basic effects I wasn’t able to learn after effects as well.

I feel my research influenced my work a lot because i loved the style of them all and wanted to recreate the determination and productivity in the videos and i also tried to re-create the colour tint to it with the three way colour wheel.  I know my project was well planned and prepared the problems i found were when i was filming.

The finished project disappoints me compared to my planned version because if the actor had done all the scenes i had asked and acted seriously then the project would look more professional as planned and i would of had all the footage i had planned for. However i still managed to work to my schedule except that i had to add on one extra day of filming to try and resolve the lack of footage issue. However this was cut short because my actor didn't turn up all morning so i had to try and find someone to stand in for him. 

From a technical point of view the weaknesses are the over exposure and the repeating clips. However also from a technical point of view the strengths are the use of effects and the fades and cuts of the clips working to the exact beat of the song.

I feel i worked well as i thought quick on my feet to resolve problems and took on a lot of work, more than anyone else had which was unplanned and not by choice but i dealt with it well and also learnt how to use premier pro as when i began i barely new the basics of it. However i feel my weaknesses were creativity and lack of new ideas. 

The feedback I got from the class was that my work was up to a merit standard and they thought the variation of shots were good and the style of the video was really suited to the song which was good. However they had the same opinions as I did about the lighting needed to be less over exposed and the shots began to look repetitive.