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gasnewsletter · 2 years ago

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Alyag - Interview & Studio Tour

Studio

Gear List

Line 6 - Helix LT

Universal Audio - Apollo Twin X Quad

MOTU - M4

SPL - 2Control

Genelec - 8040BPM Monitors

Native Instruments - Maschine+

Native Instruments - Kontrol M32

Novation - Launchpad X

SubPac - S2

Guitars (some modded)

Schecter - C-7 Hellraiser

Schecter - SLS Elite E-1

LTD - Alexi Laiho SE-600

Fender - Player Plus Stratocaster

Taylor - American Dream AD17e

Headphones

Slate Audio - VSX

Sennheiser - HD650

Mics

Aston Microphones - Origin

SE Electronics - DynaCaster

Aston Microphones - Starlight

Plugins

UAD, SSL Native, Plugin Alliance plug-ins

Xfer Serum, Synapse Audio Dune 3, Arturia Pigments, Sonic Academy ANA2 soft synths

Native Instruments Komplete 14 Ultimate, and more sample libraries than I care to admit

Interview

Who are you and what is your relationship with music?

My name is Alyag, and I'm a lifelong tune-tinkerer, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, and sassball extraordinaire, currently based in Victoria, BC, Canada.

I've been honing the craft of writing, performing, and producing original music since my early teens, and more recently learning how to actually build a business and a career through marketing and monetization.

My main background has always been in rock and melodic metal -- I've played in many a band over the years -- however, more recently I took up the mantle of fusing elements thereof with various genres of electronic dance music. Growing up, I'd always had a tremendous love for both, but the production elements in electronic music (specifically the sound design) had genuinely intimidated me. That is until about a half-dozen years ago when, utterly enchanted by the sights n' sounds of the Shambhala Music Festival here in BC, I'd felt called to take a serious crack at it... and haven't turned back since.

By day, I peddle fine instrumental and professional audio wares at a music store; by night (and every other available waking moment), I'm arranging noise into something that hopefully makes sense, and spreading its gospel across the Interwebz. I've made a humble but steadily increasing income from my creative spewings, via gigs / streaming / sales / sync licensing / etc, and certainly aim to make it a full-time thing at some point in the near-ish future.

I'd go absolutely bonkers were I not doing it, so for me music is literally the thing that gets me out of the otherwise inescapably cozy confines of bed in the morning.

Which piece of equipment in your studio is essential to your production process?

These days I'd say it's the Slate VSX headphones.

Since I'm not currently in a position where I can afford a dedicated studio space, being able to check my mixes in some of the most renowned control rooms on professionally tuned speaker systems, all within my headphones, has been absolutely game-changing, especially in terms of being able to trust that what I'm hearing will ultimately translate in any environment. And being able to do the infamous "car test" without actually having to go to my car is pretty handy.

Also, guitars. Couldn't do without at least one (or several) of those.

What is the most budget-friendly piece of studio gear that gave you the most results?

If we're talking bang-for-buck ratio here, I'd still say the Slate VSX. They aren't cheap headphones by any means, but when I think of the amount of money I've sunk into my monitoring environment over the years -- between speakers, room treatment, calibration software, a fancy speaker switcher/controller with built-in cross-talk emulation for headphone mixing, the headphones themselves, a Sub Pac, you name it -- the value I've gotten out of these particular headphones over the past year and a bit I've owned them has far surpassed anything I'd used previously, at a fraction of the cost.

Beyond that, I'm a big fan of less expensive gear that "punches up", if you will; stuff that is oft pitted against much more expensive brand products. For example, my favorite mic for anything acoustic or clean vocal is the Aston Origin -- relatively cheap when compared to the Neumanns and the AKGs of the world, but it's the one I always go for whenever I record any of that sort of material, just because I've always loved the unique character it would impart on the recording, and how little processing it would need after the fact to sit great in the mix. It's also quite forgiving on ambient noise, which helps when you're a bedroom producer with a less-than-perfect space.

I've also found that certain cheap, almost "throwaway" instruments for some reason can record inexplicably well compared to (or at times even better than!) their higher-end equivalents. And taking it further than that, the beauty of the amount of processing anyone with a DAW has at their disposal these days, is that you can take any recorded signal and transform it into something so much more than it once was in endlessly creative ways... so it really isn't necessary to have all of the best stuff to make great tunes. I'm a firm believer in the concept of, "good enough", rather than ceaselessly chasing better and more expensive gear.

Walk us through your process for creating and producing music.

Every tune is different, and while I do try to mix things up every once in a while (starting with drums or a bassline instead of a melody, for example), I'm always open to where a new idea might spark.

Sometimes it could be as simple as flipping through presets in a new plug-in when something clicks; sometimes it could be a cool arpeggio stumbled across by happenstance by fretting the guitar in some unusual way; other times a random melody will pop into my head, and I'll try to map it out either on the guitar, or directly via MIDI in Ableton, and build on it from there.

A lot of my catchier tunes will typically start in the latter way, with a couple having even come to me in a dream... which is always a rare and precious moment followed immediately by my frazzled half-awake self scrambling out of bed and toward the computer to try to somehow capture the damn thing before it completely dissolves into the ether.

What is a production technique that you always come back to?

I don't know if I'd necessarily call it a technique so much as a preferred method, but I've never gotten out of the habit of programming all my drums entirely by hand via clicky-mouse -- as in, I literally write in every single note and adjust its velocity with the pointer.

Sure, I have drum pad controllers I could use to actually play in the percussive parts, but I've done it this way for so many years that it's just faster and somehow more efficient for me. It doesn't matter if I'm making melodic death metal or electronic dance music; the method is exactly the same, just the samples are different.

How would you explain your style?

Historically I've referred to my tunes as an eclectic amalgamation of Electro-Psy-Funk-DnB-nuDisco-Trance-Metal, which is a bit of a mouthful, hah. Thus far it's the best way I've come up with to describe my noise making antics, as they very much are as cohesive a blend of all of those conventionally-rarely-seen-dancing-together elements as I can possibly muster. Being a tremendous fan of a plethora of highly varied genres and styles, I've never been keen on pigeon holing myself into any particular one, rather opting to fuse together as many of my favorites as possible.

That being said, I'd say a fairly accurate (as I imagine it) explanation for my music would be the soundtrack to a high-stakes hover car race in a dystopian future cityscape whilst in the midst of a legendary boss battle.

What’s your biggest struggle?

Ironically, being the jack of all yet master of none in terms of niche genres makes it very difficult to appeal to curators or even labels that specialize in specific styles of music.

Often times if I try to pitch my stuff for promotion, I'll get feedback citing that it's too much of one thing and not enough of another (namely the one that they specialize in), and thus it doesn't quite fit their mold... which is precisely why I've remained 100% independent with all of my releases to date (with the exception of a couple of collaborations with other artists on their labels).

The benefit thereof, however, is that I retain all the rights to and creative control over my work, so I don't have to cater to anyone or anything other than my zany imagination.

Has building a hardware setup changed your perspective on music or life in general?

I actually do most things "in the box", and own very little hardware, as I'm pressed both for budget and space.

If anything, I've been trying to simplify my setup more and more over the years, downsizing quite a bit from what I'd used to have. For example, instead of a hefty studio rack, I now do everything on the Apollo Twin; in place of a gargantuan tube guitar amp, all my tone comes from the Helix floorboard; and instead of a band, I have my laptop, hah.

So I suppose that if I've drawn any life lesson parallels here, is that the simpler the better (at least for my own peace of mind), and the less I have to cart around to gigs and such.

One tip on how to spark creativity?

I think creativity is akin to a muscle -- exercised regularly, it grows stronger and more efficient; left to stagnate, it atrophies. So based on that analogy I'd say the most important way to maintain it is to keep doing creative things, even if only a little bit each day. Taking that same analogy a tad further, there have been studies in physical fitness that show that one receives the same amount of health benefits from light daily exercise as they do from a couple of heavy work-outs with longer periods of recovery in-between. Which is to say that, even shorter bouts of creative output multiple times a week will likely yield similar amounts of progress as one solid day of continuous flow.

And here's the thing: in the context of, say, an independent music producer who already wears many hats in the writing/engineering/producing/releasing/marketing process, creativity doesn't just mean making music. It could pertain to making a social media post; writing an email to your mailing list; updating the bio on your website; designing new merch; creating ancillary video content that delves into the production story of your new release; answering questions in an in-depth interview (ahem) -- you name it -- it's all a form of creativity... and at the end of the day, as a creative person, all of those many ways amount to flexing that muscle.

The goal is merely to keep doing the things.

A book, movie, article, or album that has inspired you?

"The War of Art", along its follow-up, "Turning Pro" by Steven Pressfield are a absolute must-reads for any creative.

Relatively quick reads, but the sense of creative empowerment and drive they instill in you cannot be understated.

Where can people find more of your music and connect with you online?

Official Website

Bandcamp

Spotify

SoundCloud

Facebook

Instagram

In Case You Missed It

47 - Generative Ambient

Friends, this is a past issue from the G.A.S. Newsletter. Every Tuesday and Friday a new artist is featured.

#studiotour #producerlife #musicstudio #homestudio #mystudio #producer #musicproducer #synthesizer #soundengineer #sounddesigner #beatmaker #musician #eurorackmodularsynth #eurorack #electronicmusic #gasnewsletter

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sailor-cresselia · 5 years ago

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The Great Ex-Aid Rewatch: SPECIAL EDITION! Ex-Aid “Tricks”, Kamen Rider Genm

…Oh, no, I’m stuck with tv-nihon subs again, since apparently nobody else got around to subbing the Genm specials. Welp.

Like, I do want to say, right off the bat, that I’m grateful that they sub pretty much everything, but the formatting tends to sleave… a lot to be desired.

Anyway, here we go, with the awful legend rider forms and the first time we see that bright yellow should never, ever be put onto the Ex-Aid suit.

Ever.

––

We open in Dan Kuroto’s secondary lair, panning over the first fourteen Heisei Legend Rider Gashats. I am struck by the realization that I like the colors they used for these a whole lot more than the Ridewatches.

Kuroto’s also just got a Ganbarazing game cabinet in here, implying that the game is a joint project between Genm Corp and Bandai in-universe. This implication is only further enforced when he holds up three unlabeled gashats in front of the cabinet, data streams from the screen into them, and they gain labels of their own.

Introducing the Legend Rider Gashats “Magic the Wizard,” “Toukenden Gaim,” and “Full Throttle Drive.”

Legend Rider Gashat names are weird.

Kuroto says that he finally has them – gashats with the powers of legends.

…Okay, so this implies that you went and got battle data from the other 14 Heisei Riders, but I’m just saying that might have been a little difficult in a lot of cases. You know, seeing as Godai doesn’t transform because of the risk of going monstery, Kenzaki is basically in hiding while wandering the world most of the time, nobody ever knows where Tsukasa is, and Takumi is just flat out dead at the moment.

(Right here is where, up until this week, I would have thanked Zi-O for fixing two of these issues, but nooooo.)

(gfdi Sougo.)

––

After the title screen, Emu and Asuna are walking through a park, where apparently Kuroto’s called them out to meet.

…Actually, now I kind of wonder why half of the time, early-series Poppy refers to Kuroto as ‘Genm’s CEO’. Straight up using those terms, or ‘chief,’ or similar. Later on, she’ll use his name, but… like, she knows who he is. She’s not unfriendly with him. I know it’s probably some sort of formality thing that I’m not picking up on, but it still feels weird.

Anyway, he’s called them up to get back the Kaigan Ghost gashat. They’re walking, right up until a Gekitotsu Robots Collabos bugster steps out into view. Emu, being an absolute sweetheart, asks Takeru to lend him his power as he readies the gashat.

…I still don’t like the legend rider helmets.

There’s a distinct problem in his choice of gashat, however. Namely, he’s using a squishy mage form against a heavily armored robot, meaning his punches have less than no effect, and he gets sent flying just by being sideswiped by not-Gatton’s fist.

Kuroto runs up, asking if Emu’s alright.

No, no he’s not, but he’s also more concerned with making sure you stay safe, because as far as he knows, you can’t do jack to defend yourself.

Kuroto looks ‘taken aback’ by the sight of not-Gatton, and tells them that the gashat in it’s head is proto-gekitotsu robots, one of the gashats that Dr Pac-man had stolen, and asks them to get it back for him.

Emu, being Emu, immediately agrees, and runs off to go fight again, despite having just gotten knocked on his ass. Kuroto hastily opens the breifcase he’s carrying, and tosses Emu the Full Throttle Drive gashat.

Said Gashat, when activated, briefly summons an energy Tridoron out of the Game Start screen, which promptly goes and hits not-Gatton. This car also promptly disappears off screen.

(At this point, my torrent of a higher-quality version of this special finishes, and I get some much cleaner visuals. Looks like I’d been using the lower-res one, and this is much better. Also, some of the wording has been fixed up. Emu’d said that he’d made a ‘newb mistake’ in his choice of using Ghost in the DVD version, but in this one he says a ‘huge mistake.’ Much better.)

I’d like the Drive armor, because the general aesthetic converts far better into an Ex-Aid suit than Ghost’s does, but… there’s that stupid eyepiece overlapping with the eyes on the Drive helmet. This is the only problem I have with the anime eyes on the gamer suits – that the frames stick around in the legend forms, cutting into the rest of the visuals. That’s it.

As Emu starts wailing on not-Gatton with his shiny new Steering Sword, Kuroto admits that he was collecting battle data during the fight against Dr. Pac-man. We have a brief shot of him just. Lurking around a column and watching Shinnosukes fight against Robol’s minions, with a notebook in hand. Because that’s totally how he usually collects battle data. Sure.

Whatever. Anyway, Emu thinks that’s really impressive, beats on not-Gatton some more, and readies a finisher. I can’t even get mad at TV-Nihon’s typesetting habits for making the announcement a nigh-illegible red with white pinstripes, because they’re just matching what the show already had on screen, so this one’s on Toei. (Toei had a better font choice, though.)

Also, the background for the attack title card is a road, with a pair of Type Speed tires in the corners. The energy Tridoron makes a re-appearance to let Emu do Shinnosukes base finisher, and not-Gatton gets the Proto Gekitotsu Robots gashat knocked out of him.

Impressed by Drive’s power, Emu tosses the proto gashat back to Kuroto, and Asuna reminds himt hat he still needs to actually finish off the bugster.

Whoops. That warning came a little late, because the Collabos shoves the Proto Giri Giri Chambara into it’s forehead slot, and immediately goes to slice Asuna and Kuroto.

…Okay, I did not remember this – Kuroto shouts for her to look out, shoves her out of the way, and gets his back slashed in her place. As in, he’s knocked to the ground. And bleeding.

I’m pretty sure that’s for real on his part, I don’t think Kuroto expected his minion to do actually attack him. He does, however, still manage to pass Emu the Toukenden Gaim gashat, saying that since the enemy’s using a katana, this would be a better choice.

He’s right, of course, and I’m pretty sure this is, at least in part, him trying to stick to the plan, despite the ‘holy shit I am very injured right now’ factor.

The Gaim start screen opens a Helheim crack – my gaim-watching instincts immediately recoil – and the Orange Arms… well, orange drops onto Emu’s head, as robo-fruit are wont to do, at the same time as the level up screen passes by. So, he’s using both transformations here! That’s really neat!

Now please put that back because I do not want any more Helheim here than necessary thanks.

Gaim’s suit doesn’t translate nearly as well as Drives does. The flattened version of the eyes and chest piece just… they don’t do it for me. It looks like a cheap imitation. I mean, the non-chest and helmet parts of the armor work, but those… urgh. No.

Emu winds up chasing not-Kaiden down a path to another section of the park. Hah. Get it? Because part of Kouta’s armor announcement is ‘The flowered path’? I’ll see myself out.

Asuna comments to Kuroto that Emu’s doing amazing – except she’s not talking to him, because Kuroto’s taken off.

He’s leaning on the corner between a wall and holding wall for a grassy area, breathing very heavily and holding his side. He’s. He’s genuinely injured. And he’s pissed. I mean, he was sliced on the back, and he’s holding his side, but I can’t even say that it’s because he’s actually holding his driver, because he pulls that out with his other hand.

Also, uh, Rider Wiki? I have you open for easier access to names… and I don’t think ‘ruffled, but well’ is an accurate descriptor of Kuroto’s state when he hands over the Gaim gashat. Not if how he’s panting and pausing while he’s saying that that it’s time to enter the final stage of data collection is any indication.

Harutos very textured helmet, much like Kouta’s, does not translate well to the flattened image of the Ex-Aid helmets.

––

Looks like Emu and not-Kaiden have made it to another plaza, where Emu has since swapped out Kouta’s sword for his own, likely so he can actually use a proper sword-based finisher.

He wipes out not-Kaiden, and properly, this time. The proto Giri Giri Chambara gashat clatters to the ground, and the Collabos bugster appears to have finally been destroyed. Emu, cleraly remembering that there were three protogashats stolen, immediatley starts looking around, saying that “if there was a second, then there’ll be a third… Or not.”

He’s proven… sort of right, when a black and purple suit with a red and black longcoat steps into view.

“Aw, come on! You’ve got to be kidding me!”

The not-yet-named Black Ex-Aid doesn’t say anything, even after Emu realizes that “hey, you’re that asshole!” No, he just starts laying a beatdown, with lots of very Wizard-y kicks and arm strikes. Nice touch, having him use Haruto’s fighting style.

Kuroto starts up a finisher, to which Emu seems resigned to his fate of being about to take a Rider Kick to the face.

Getting knocked out of his transformation, Emu goes tumbling to the ground, the three legend rider gashats he’d been carrying clattering away.

Kuroto picks them up, switching back to his usual Proto Mighty Action X form. He activates all four gashats in turn, tossing them to the ground as their areas start generating. In his creepy, we-wish-you-had-stayed-silent disguised voice, he says that he’s obtained all the data, and the lights from the four gashats stream into one pale blue one.

Emu, picking himself up off, asks what that gashat is.

Black Ex-Aid doesn’t dignify him with an answer, instead going over to the still not defeated Collabos bugster, who is basically sprawled out on the ground. He kicks it into a sitting position, and sticks the newly-created Kamen Rider Ganbarazing gashat into it’s forehead.

This is about fifty percent payback for cutting him, I just know it. “You went off script, and now you get what you deserve. And what you deserve is an untested gashat taking control of your body, and summoning a game start screen that our local genius gamer has never seen before.”

…I really hope he picked up one of those regeneration energy items before he came out to kick ass and take data.

Anyway. Three ‘riders’ jump out of the screen before it goes blank. No, Emu, these aren’t actually them. These are Game World data copies, and they care not for your morals or history.

…Uh. The, uh. The hips of the Double suit have seen much better days. Those joint sections are completely falling apart. This isn’t like the issues with Takeru’s driver being grungy, or Kenzaki’s belt being really worn out during Zi-O, or the numerous dents in Decade’s armor. This is… it’s sad and it makes me sad.

The three ‘Riders’ advance menacingly on the very much not transformed Emu, before…

Before a figure in a white labcoat and yellow helmet shoves them away, and stands over Emu.

Kuroto: Wait, what.

Emu: Wait, what? Dr. Pac-Man?!

Kuroto asks what he just did.

Dr. Pac-Man just silently holds up three gashats, for Pac-man, Xevious, and Family Stadium.

See you next game.

––

Or, see you right now, because I’m going right into the second part!

Dr. Pac-Man momentarily stares down the three ‘Riders’, before pulling out his bugvisor – on the opposite arm from in the film – and firing, providing a distraction for him and Emu to get away.

Kuroto growls.

––

Dr. Pac-Man is basically dragging Emu by the arm to a warehouse as they run, before they come to a stop.

Emu asks, hurriedly, what Dr. Pac-Man is doing here. They defeated him!

“I have no idea how, mind you, but I’ve been assured that you were very much re-killed, and I’m willing to chalk Takeru’s reluctance to say anything up to his not quite remembering either after his near-death experience.”

Suddenly, a wild Taiga appears, punching directly for Dr. Pac-Man’s face… which is at about the same level as Emu’s, so when he dodges, Emu’s forced to leap out of the way, landing in a sprawled heap on the ground.

“So, you’re back from hell? We’ll just have to keep sending you back.”

“Wait, hang on!” Emu scrambles to his feet. “He did save me, this time!”

“That’s impossible.” Hiiro emerges from yet another column. Seriously, how did you two even know to be here? “I don’t know who that is, but we’ll just have to cut him out.”

The black Ex-Aid approaches, flanked by three figures whose suits have seen much better days.

Taiga, rather justifiably, assumes that they’re a new strain of bugsters. Emu quickyl puts a stop to that train of thought, saying that they’re fellow Kamen Riders… although they are being controlled as game characters.

Taiga’s still taking them out, though.

Dr. Pac-Man seems to approve, and tosses each of the three a Classic Namco Gashat. This pisses Kuroto right the hell off, and he pursues the now running Dr. Pac-man.

As the three inspect the new Gashats, they… well, Taiga admits they sure seem like the real deal.

Emu’s excited, because he’s a nerd and way too nice for all of this, and says that he told them Dr. Pac-Man was a good guy now!

EMU. Emu, you need to learn not to take strange gashats from people who are really, really ominous. I know this advice will go unheeded, but really. Survival instincts. You need them. Badly.

Hiiro agrees with me that your huge grin is entirely baseless, and as the imitation riders prepare to attack, the three real riders transform.

There’s some brief fighting, noticeably not in the matchups that they’ll be having soon, before Ex-Aid pulls out his new gashat. He winds up giving a quick description of Pac-Man while he’s basically got not-Fourze’s arm locked, and not-Fourze is trying to break loose from his grip.

Nice.

Brave shoves not-Double away, and describes Family Stadium, an old NES baseball game. …Okay, sorry, old Famicom baseball game, because this is in Japan. Also, I have to wonder how Hiiro of all people would know literally anything about video game history, much less that Famista basically set the standard for baseball games.

Snipe palm-strikes not-OOO off of him, and… says ‘let me try this.’ Are. Are the Namco Gashats somehow giving them these lines?! I mean, there’s no way they don’t have a heads-up display in their helmets, so… is this info just streaming from the activated gashats to the riders who would otherwise have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about? Because that is the only way I can see Taiga knowing anything about Xevious, including the name of the ship you pilot.

So, all three start up their newest gashats. Oddly, Pac-Man is the only one with an individualized name – Pac-Adventure – and Xevious doesn’t even get a jingle beyond the driver just saying ‘Xevious.’

Emu and Hiiro both charge their opponents, while Taiga, who is once again wearing a plane, makes the logical decision and activates stage select.

––

Snipe, now in a forest-esque stage, proceeds to engage in combat with not-Fourze, via copious use of miniguns and fists.

I like the Xevious recolor of Jet Combat a lot better than regular Jet Combat. The colors aren’t nearly as awful. The blue goes a lot better with Snipes usual color scheme than the garish orange. There’s a little too much linework from the source material, but I can let it pass for the better color scheme.

––

Ex-Aid and not-Double are in one of the many, many factory fight locales. They charge at eachother, but Ex-Aid leaps over Double’s punch, and books it in another direction.

I. I don’t like the Pac-Man armor. It’s a yellow and orange recolor of the torso section of Gekitotsu Robots. Color-wise, neither of them work with the bright magenta of Ex-Aid’s suit. The dark red of Robots looks out of place, more-so in motion than in static images,while the garishly bright yellow is just. It’s bad alongside magenta. It just is. The orange boxing glove fists don’t work, either.

…Actually, are those gloves from Knock-Out Fighter? Let me check real quick…

Oh. No, no they’re not. They get re-used for Ex-Aid’s version of Knock-Out Fighter 2, though.

––

Famista apparently doesn’t just equip it’s user with new armor, it comes with its own battlefield, a bugster baseball team, and gave not-OOO a baseball bat.

…Let’s just not ask why Hiiro, of all people, knows how to play baseball, and instead focus on the little baseball decals that get added to the speaker system for Doremifa Beat.

The red and white of this upgrade doesn’t quite suit Braves cyan, but it’s far and away better than what Emu got. Also, the baseball cap/visor? It has an ‘N’ on it, for Namco.

Additionally, Hiiro is able to throw a baseball so hard that it caught fire and blasted the bugster mook catcher and umpire into the wall.

I am no longer going to question anything Famista Gamer does, because that was awesome.

––

Snipe and not-Fourze exchange some decent punches, before not-Fourze remembers that he has switches! Including a rocket, which he uses to get in the air.

Snipe immediately follows suit with his jetpack, and they begin an aerial dogfight between Snipes miniguns, and not-Fourze’s gatling powerup.

I’m just going to assume that these gashats are giving the riders info, because I really can’t see Taiga knowing what the names of weapons and such are in here for any other reason.

Not-Fourze is shot out of the sky.

––

Meanwhile, Ex-Aid is running for his life. Because right now, he’s Pac-Man, and Pac-Man is on the defensive for most of his game.

It’s a nice touch that when we see Emu and not-Double running through new sections of the factory, the dots that were in the game projection disappear. They managed to get this right in the maze scene in the film, too. Nice attention to detail.

Same attention to detail goes to the small gust of green-lit wind at one point when not-Double’s Cyclone half punches, and the purple effects when his Joker half tries to land a kick.

Unfortunately for not-Double, this is right about where Emu finally finds the power pellet, and is able to fight back. To great effect, at that.

(Come on Toei, those grunts don’t sound anything like Shotaro!)

––

Snipe has unlocked a targeting system, and isn’t giving not-Fourze a chance to get airborne again. After a sizable amount of gunfire, he finally relents and just goes into his devastating finisher.

You can practically see the ‘oh crap’ on not-Fourze’s face before he gets defeated.

––

Brave manages to get a Strike on not-OOO, via the pitch going fast enough to just go right by him…

And also hit the poor, abused bugster umpire in the crotch.

The umpire and catcher feel true fear as Hiiro readies his finisher, but not-OOO still tries to hit the ball. All three of them get launched bodily into the air and explode.

––

Emu relents on his beatdown of not-Double – I feel awful about the things that poor stunt suit has gone through – and starts up his finisher.

Said finisher summons an energy Pac-man around him, and he jumps onto poor, poor not-Double. Energy Pac-man then eats said false rider, leaving only an explosion behind.

Emu realizes what I hadn’t with the other two riders, and that’s that there’s no ‘Game Clear’ announcement.

––

Poppy warps to the still unresponsive collabos bugster, who is just standing stock still as the blank Ganbarizing is projected from the gashat.

She spends a fair amount of time trying to get any reaction from it, including shouting at it, poking at the screen, and punching him, with distinct metallic clangs.

The Ganbarizing gashat flickers back into color, and the collabos’s eyes light back up. It starts going on the flailing, ineffectual offensive, chasing after Poppy.

This is just sad.

Even more sad is that Ex-Aid, in his usual armor, does a flying hip-check to knock it away from her. She takes this opportunity to get out of there.

“Now, let’s just get this gashat out of there… What’s Ganbarazing- ohhh no that didn’t work, you’re still flailing around and trying to attack me.”

Emu manages to kick the poor, useless collabos bugster away before inserting the Ganbarizing Gashat into his Gashacon Breaker for a finisher. This summons a floating swarm of Heisei Rider emblems into the air.

I like these, actually. They’re not the usual plain black silhouettes that the emblems usually are – they’re all colored, and some of them have multiple colors, namely Hibiki, Double, OOO, and Ex-Aid. It’s a nice touch.

They all merge into a giant version of the Ganbarizing logo, which Emu strikes with his hammer to blast it towards the Collabos bugster.

(Now is that thing dead?!)

I think it’s a bit early for you to say ‘Game Clear,’ Emu, or for Poppy to be giving any congratulations. I mean, this was cool, but we still haven’t heard the announcement.

And yup, they both realize that, as well, just in time for the Ganbarizing Gashat to start shaking, and pull itself out of the finisher slot in Emu’s hammer. This is fine.

It then proceeds to float into the Game Start screen, which is still here for some reason. This is fine.

Drumbeats and bells can be heard as a silhouette approaches within the screen, and pulls out a pair of drumsticks.

––

As all of that is happening, Kuroto’s still been chasing Dr. Pac-Man. He manages to corner him against a chain-link fence, and demands to see who he is. Pulling off the helmet, he startles.

Dr. Pac-Man still doesn’t speak, and holds up a Taiko no Tatsujin gashat, conveniently blocking his face.

See you next game

…Wait, what?! I thought I had- shit, now I have to find the third part in this mess of files.

…Okay, I guess I kept the DVD version for a reason, and that would be that the third segment of this was never individually subbed? I guess?!

FINE. Lower res, DVD quality it is.

––

Okay, cutting back into the unified version, with its horrible artifacting around the text, the shadowy figure hops out of the Ganbarizing Screen, and Ex-Aid and Poppy are brought face to face with not-Hibiki.

Somehow, Emu knows who he is, presumably the same way that the other guys knew about games, because nobody ever sees Hibiki.

Poppy doesn’t stick around for any more explanation, and runs the heck out of there.

Emu complains that he wasn’t done yet, as Dr. Pac-man walks up. Emu asks what happened to the black Ex-Aid, but receives exactly zero answer. Instead, he receives the Taiko no Tatsujin gashat, and gives some information on that.

He starts the finisher right away.

How better to fight the Oni drummer rider, than to play a drumming game on Oni difficulty?

And with the Ex-Aid character skin for Don-Chan when he starts up TV-Size Excite, no less!

The duel winds up being not-Hibiki launching small fireballs, which Ex-Aid cancels out with strikes from his gashat-supplied drumsticks. Once the majority of Excite is done, he truly activates the finisher, and the notes he hits during the repeated chorus start to charge up fire of their own… which grows to a massive fireball, which gets launched at not-Hibiki, defeating him.

Finally, finally, the Game Clear announcement plays.

Snipe shows up as Ex-Aid goe to pick up the Ganbarizing Gashat. He’ll be taking that, thank you very much.

Or not, if Brave has anything to say about it.

And it turns out none of them will be keeping any of their Namco gashats, since Dr. Pac-Man nyooms on in, and nabs all five from them in one go.

The black Ex-Aid shows up, and Dr. Pac-Man backs off as he takes the Ganbarizing gashat for a finisher.

Said finisher summons holograms of the previous Heisei Riders, in their pre-asskicking poses, before Genm leaps into the air, taking all of them along, and oh look that’s a whole lot of Rider Kicks aimed right at our heroes.

Fortunately, they aren’t hit by all 18 of them. Unfortunately, that’s because the holograms merge into a giant icon of the Ganbarizing logo, which Genm drops down through to kick all three heroes at once.

Nobody manages to keep their transformation once they hit the ground, and Genm just walks away.

Emu sums it up best. “What just happened?”

––

Back in his lair, Kuroto sets the Ganbarizing gashat next to the rest of the Legen Rider ones, saying that he finally has them all. I think the Showa Riders would beg to differ, but regardless.

Dr. Pac-Man comes in through the door. He has to duck a little to get through the frame, because of the helmet.

Kuroto turns around. “Take off that stupid helmet, already!”

Setting the helmet on the table, Parad smirks. “Come on, I was just having a little fun! You took off and got started without me, after all.” He sets three of the Namco gashats down on the table – the first three. Taiko no Tatsujin is nowhere to be seen.

As Parad calls dibs on Kuroto’s chair, Kuroto saunters over to where Parad left the mask. And. Uh. Starts… stroking it. While saying that everything is going according to plan.

Why. Why are you caressing it?! That’s… that’s like, a whole different level of creepy than the one you usually operate on!

Man. Now I’m going to be stuck on that for a while.

––

Anyway, that’s the Tricks: Genm special done! Not much to say about it that I haven’t already said in the liveblog, so I’ll just leave with one last comment.

The Dr. Pac-Man disguise is literally the only other outfit we see Parad in throughout the entire show, and it’s not even his. At least Graphite got that hoodie outfit when he faked having stolen the level three gashats.

Give Parad a wardrobe 2Kforever!

#kamen rider ex aid #sailorcressy says

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legendaryquill · 8 years ago

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My long emotional review of GOTG Vol.2

ok here we go

it’s VERY long

and spoilers af

I saw it opening night,and I ended up watching it alone because both people bailed on me last minuet. I made sure no one sat beside me so when I cried I wouldn’t be bothered or embarrassed. [I’d accidentally read a spoiler about Yondu a few days before and it hurt I knew tears would happen.]

The movie began and I COULD NOT STOP SMILING. I was so happy, my face literally hurt. Which was odd, what the hell was I smiling for? IDK I was just so happy. I couldn’t NOT smile. We got to see Meredith before she was sick and dying nd OOOH BOY I WAS SO HAPPY. I love meredith so much, y’all dont even know. she’s my river lilly. We got to see Peter’s mom and dad interact and be in love. Despite what Ego said, I feel like he really did have feelings for Meredith. There was strong emotions when he talked about her later in the film. James Gunn totally forced that accent in her though, like ooh no baby what is you doin??? I live in the south and have been here all my life and I’ve literally never heard anyone with an accent that strong. I have 2 friends from Missouri and have literally never heard them or their friends or relatives talk like that.

GROOT DANCING TO MR. BLUE SKY WHILE THE GUARDIANS FOUGHT IN THE BACKGROUND. It was so good, so pure, Baby Groot is Good and we must protect him. Peter being a Dad, hhhhmmmmMMM YES. MOM GAMORA SAYING HI TO HER LITTLE TREE SON HMMMM YES. unofficial mom and dad lbr

Peter was kind of flirting with Aesha, and then he look a look at gamora and was like ooh shit sorry babe ad then HE APOLOGIZED TO HER AND they were just, a married couple tbh

And then the ravagers, who appear to never have seen snow before, are having a good time on some Robot Hooker planet with anime weeabo music blaring in the background and it’s all around a good time until Yondu confront’s Stakar and it’s just tension,,,,,,

also When The Guardians were about to be obliterated and they were suddenly saved by the tiny man, I was hoping it was Yondad to the rescue, but it turned out to be Ego. Which was alright. They were sitting around the fire and Ego was like “I gotta take a wiz” and I was like hhhhm yup he’s your dad peter theres no doubt there.. And then Gamora was like lets take a walk and i was like hhHHHMM YES TAKE A WALK KIDS and kiss. And I was all happy and smiling and then Gamora starts telling the David Hasselhoff story and my heart just broke because FUCK, i’ve done that before.

Gamora Telling Groot That It Will Be Okay And She And Dad Peter Will Only Be Gone For A Few Days

When they went to Ego’s planet, everything was so bright and pretty and colorful, my artistic side was already picking color pallets.

And then peter learned about his background and i was fUCKed Up. It was so good.

Meanwhile Rocket is back with the Milano and he’s just Having A Good Time kicking those ravager’s asses while country music plays in the background. Now, I dont even like country, But i was getting Turnt The Fuck Up in my seat. And then poor Groot is crying while nebula pressures him in to setting her free and tHIS BITCH shoot’s yondu’s fin right off his fuckin head WHAT THE FUCK

Groot’s panty raid and Kraglin sadly apologizing for fucking everything up was good too

Back on Ego’s planet, Peter is learning that he is one with light, all I cared about was the Meredith sculpture of her holding the fruit basket or whatever it was because honestly same. I want a giant Meredith statue in my sculpture garden.

AND THE EGO AND PETER STARTED PLAYING CATCH

honestly my favorite Part of the movie. My weak sensitive ass started tearing up when they were passing the ball and then Ego took a few steps away from Peter to create good throwing distance and Peter realized that they were gonna legitimately play catch and he smiled and I started bawling my fucking eyes out and i pretty much cried through the rest of the film. THE ENTIRE THEATER WENT “AWWW”

Mantis learns that she is A Pet and Ugly [she’s so cute, kill me]

And later, when Gamora and Peter are having their Married Couple Argument, and she storms off, Peter is just laying on the sofa in his room all up in his feelings and Ego waltzes in and gives him relationship advice and snooping in Peter’s business

He begins teaching Peter about expansion and he boops peter’s head and Peter literally gets starry-eyed and IT’S FRICKIN ADORABLE. Peter with galaxies in is eyes. He’s in awe and smiley and just so fuckin cute it makes my heart flutter. And then he starts dwelling on living forever and how he’s gonna miss his friends and he’s just Sad From All Angles. It hurt me. And the way he says “my mother” with a half-mumble and cute little voice slays me.

And then Ego was like “That’s why it hurt me to put that tumor in her brain.”

THE ENTIRE THEATER LITERALLY WENT “OH” AS IN OH SHIT. LIKE, SHIT JUST GOT REAL.

I shed some more tears when Ego crushed the walkman.

And of course Yondu and Kraglin come to his rescue. Also Yondu and Rocket is a great friendship pleeeease leave me alone to to die. It’s all just so good and the battle’s going great, and it’s all action, and giant Pac Mans, and Mary Poppins, Y’all!!!!

And at the end Peter is just ready to accept his fate and Die. and then Yondad swoops in and saves him and they start flying outta there and Yondu puts the space suit on Peter.

“He was your father but he wasn’t Your daddy”, “my boy”, and Peter clinging to Youndu and crying [cue my ugly ass sobbing in my seat with my sleeve in my mouth to keep quiet.]

And the funeral...Oh My God. Peter admitting that he had a pretty cool dad while a tear streamed down his face [My Total Cry Count: probably like 5 at this point.] Then they sent Yondu off and it was just COLORFUL and eye pleasing fffuck

And then the ravagers appear and They have a ravager funeral and It’s so bright and colorful and lovely, Kraglin cheers, Everyone pays their respects, I cry again.

Groot goes from Peter, to Mommy Gamora, to Drax, and he is a small sleepy baby and rests his head down on Drax to sleep. Drax realizes Mantis Is beautiful, Gamora and Peter finally get together [they didnt kiss, dammit], I cry harder. They stand back and watch the light show, and it’s a beautiful ending.

I cried and waited for like a-whole-nother hour to compose myself before calling my mom to come pick me up

[True stories: I’ve told people on two different occasions that my dad is an actor or a drummer in a band. Because I had no real reason for explaining why he was never around. I said I never really grew up with a dad and they asked why not or if I knew where he was and I didnt want to tell them that I knew exactly where he was.]

#ooc #long post #spoilers

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conniecochran · 6 years ago

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The Secret Of Media Buying published first on https://bluhorn.com/

#Media Buying #Media Planning

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bluhorn · 6 years ago

Text

The Secret Of Media Buying

Some Challenging Ideas For Aspects For How To Start Media Buying Agency

youtube

Txt messages to push notifications, check-ins, emails & even social media, mobile marketing helps you boost sales.https://www.360degreedigital.com.sg/store

360 Degree Digital @360 Degree Digital

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Some Background Guidance On Sensible Media Buyer Plans

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theconservativebrief · 6 years ago

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An old mugshot and photos from the punk rocker past of Rep. Beto O’Rourke, the Texas Democrat making a long-shot bid to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), are flying around on social media — thanks to the Texas Republican Party.

The official Texas GOP account began circulating a photo of 20-something O’Rourke, with a voluminous head of hair and cool-kid stare, trying to paint O’Rourke as an immature drunk and former-criminal punk rocker.

O’Rourke was arrested twice, but not convicted, in his 20s; a 1995 misdemeanor arrest for jumping a fence at University of Texas at El Paso campus — filed as a burglary — and a 1998 misdemeanor drunken-driving arrest in El Paso.

The excuse for the photo? O’Rourke has said a debate with Cruz this Friday isn’t happening. One tweet implied O’Rourke was too drunk to debate the sitting Republican. A second tweet asked if O’Rourke was skipping the debate for music “gig.” Another featured a recent photo with O’Rourke and a skate board.

This seems to have backfired for Republicans; Twitter users focused on O’Rourke’s perceived attractiveness and fun background as a musician and skateboarder. (Some users surfaced a photo of Ted Cruz in high school, performing the Christian Creation story as a mime). The Texas GOP did not respond for comment, but they did tweet this:

Based on the reaction to our tweets we can confirm that Beto is in fact going to receive 100% of the vote from Buzzfeed contributors, out of state liberals, and people who use the word “rad.” We feel very owned :'(

— Texas GOP (@TexasGOP) August 29, 2018

Resurfacing opponents’ past criminal records is low-hanging fruit in political campaigns. But in this Texas Senate race, it is indicative of an increasingly nervous Republican Party. Recent polls show O’Rourke gaining on Cruz, recent polls find — a development that has pushed the Cook Political Report to change the state’s partisan rating from “Likely Republican” to “Lean Republican.”

For the first time in more than two decades, a Democrat is proving to be a formidable candidate to win a statewide race in deep-red Texas — and the Republican Party is retreating to its standard failsafe: fear.

On the surface, this whole attack campaign is about scheduling a series of debates. For weeks O’Rourke and Cruz’s campaigns have been going back and forth on where and when — and in what language — the two men should debate.

In April, O’Rourke’s camp offered having six debates, including two in Spanish. In July, Cruz countered, challenging the Democrat to five debates, sending proposed dates and locations. The first was scheduled to be this Friday, August 31 in Dallas. On Monday, O’Rourke said that wasn’t going to happen.

So now the Texas GOP is on the attack, hitting O’Rourke for “ducking” debates that were never fully organized. Their strategy has been to highlight O’Rourke as a punk-rock skater boy with a criminal history.

The tweets are meant to make O’Rourke look juvenile. But instead, for those who have been following O’Rourke’s brand, the attack strategy seems to be just feeding into the Democrat’s image; a young, bold, former punk rocker on a Hail Mary mission to turn Texas blue.

“When you’re putting out your own records and booking your own tours and writing your own songs, you get to control what you say,” O’Rourke told Vox, comparing his decision not to take PAC money for his campaign to his days playing in a punk band named Foss. “The campaign is the same thing.”

Texas GOP didn’t respond for comment. But it’s increasingly clear they are taking O’Rourke seriously as a Democratic challenger. The latest survey, an Emerson College online poll, found Cruz and O’Rourke in a statistical tie.

The poll, conducted August 22-25, found Cruz with 38 percent of the vote, O’Rourke with 37 percent, and 21 percent of respondents undecided. It had a 4.4 percent margin of error. Several other surveys have also found O’Rourke within single digits of Cruz.

Put simply: It’s becoming a very real possibility that Cruz could lose reelection to a Democrat — an upset that would seriously imperil Republicans’ hold on the Senate majority. Texas has not had a Democratic senator in more than 20 years.

If O’Rourke wants voters to think anything about him, it’s that he’s an open book.

He hasn’t hired a political consultant or pollster on his campaign; he live-streams almost every aspect of his life, from his kids eating breakfast to his morning runs with voters. He brags that he’s not taking any money from PACs. His campaign still raised more than $10 million in the past three months, more than double what Cruz pulled in.

His first campaign ad showed O’Rourke driving through every single Texas county, and was called “Showing Up.”

And he’s fine talking about his legal history; it’s not the first time his arrests have popped up in his political career. O’Rourke apologized for his run-ins with the law when he ran for El Paso City Council in 2004. The two arrests surfaced again in O’Rourke’s first congressional race in 2012, when he was challenging then-sitting Rep. Silvestre Reyes, a Democrat. Reyes ran the photo and criminal record in a TV ad that said O’Rourke “has a criminal record that includes DWI and burglary arrests.”

O’Rourke has acknowledged both cases, saying that he had no justification or “excuse” for his behavior then and that he was “grateful for the second chance.”

“Some 20 years ago, I was charged with driving under the influence and, during my college years, I jumped a fence at the University of Texas at El Paso which resulted in a burglary charge,” O’Rourke told a local paper, the Palestine Herald-Press, in 2017.

He continued: “I was not convicted of either. Both incidents were due to poor judgement and I have no excuse for my behavior then. However, since then, I have used my opportunities to serve my community and my state. I’m grateful for the second chance and believe that we all deserve second chances.”

And as for his punk-rock past: It’s informing his campaigning, he said.

Original Source -> Texas Republicans are trying to use Beto’s punk rock days against him

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

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