#a little bit of 60s a little bit of y2k | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

hospitalterrorizer · 11 months ago

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diary117

1/8-9/2024

monday - tuesday

i know why i was so tired yesterday, now.

i am sick once again, my whole body hurts and my nose is hard to breathe through and stuff, i feel like i'm always about to have a nosebleed, my throat hurts too. i love to live. i am so glad annoying cokeheads got me sick.

anyway today i was looking at old scans of fashion mags from south korea/china (probably hong kong i'd guess but no one specified) and japan (inescapable). i'll post some of my fav pics:

spur - japan - i like this last one because it gives me a fun idea for cover art, not the image itself, though it helps w/ pose ideas or whatever, but little watermark someone put up onto it. i think i need to do that w/ the photo i take of myself for the album art, have that there in pixelated text.

harper's bazaar - china

fhm - china - this one's super weird, the last image especially, hard to tell exactly what they were reaching for, the strangeness/relative uncanniness of these photos / defamiliarization of a magazine's approach to sex sells and whatever turning so genuinely weird and offputting feels artistically useful. it's so wholly gaudy and disorienting. weird stuff.

w - south korea

vogue girl - south korea - the scans of this mag are all super crazy, honestly, i didn't expect these all to be so interesting and good.

cosmopolitan - china - i can't tell if this one's text is part of the image or not but it's maybe my favorite part, how it's so ugly beside everything, the really strange gradient, too.

fruits - japan - i didn't realize this one continued through to 2007, really crazy, you only ever see the y2k stuff get passed around really. these outfits are super cute but like that one spur scan w/ the user's watermark, the watermarks here of this website are really interesting to me, i think i also want to stick some weird watermark onto the picture i take, i don't know what i'll call the fake site or whatever but i kind of want it to maybe be something ridiculous/violent in another language. i'd also probably do it in like 128x128 and upscale the text, and instead of having it be something white w/ lowered opacity, i'd try to index it so it's dithered white pixels, instead of smeary transparent text, and then upscale that.

the watermarking stuff is interesting, it's interesting that these scans of magazines that people used to create a sense of self/consume/receive what they ought to be / do are then turned into a kind of capital, at least when it's a website, to get people to refer back to the site/increase traffic, likely get people to pay money to not have to see the watermarks. it's a fun thing to play at, to me, the accumulation of basically trash information, the trading of images and their valuation. scans of magazines online are kind of like trading cards, it seems like, there's stuff uploaded on archive.org but not as much as anyone would hope, at least with this niche stuff. and there too, the safeguarding of images from being stolen, is sometimes present. i know they keep vogue locked up on there, same with a lot of books, you can't rip books out easily, i mean sometimes people do, but i don't try to do that really.

so en magazine - japan - another example of the watermarks on 2 of the 3 pics, this is what i'm imagining i'll try to approximate the above methods and stuff. also i really love how so en seems to really go in on a kind of fucked up revival of the 60s, the above range from like 07 to 2013.

re: music today, i did 2 tracks, i wanted to do more but i was getting hit like a truck by illness in the middle of the day. i think they've both turned out pretty good, maybe both need a little help w/ getting the kicks louder, but idk, my ears are maybe a bit messed up when trying to do that kinda thing. but i have to proceed. tomorrow i think i'll have to take care of this really tiny thing w/ a song, to get it right, and then maybe 2 other tracks. i am eventually gonna have to get back to my big problem track (really there are 2) but maybe by then i'll have a way better idea what i'm doing.

i am so sick, there's more i wanted to say, though. i read this pretty, frustrating, i guess, comic, tonight. someone posted it saying something like "this says a lot about being trans in north america" or whatever, and it mostly doesn't but it's interesting i guess to read something like that and think about why/how i feel alienated from ever being able to say anything stable about my own identity/gender. the frustration mostly though comes from this sense that everything's too perfect, the relations between characters are too neat and the things they know are too easy, almost, at one point a character looks at kiwifarms, and it's like, is this kind of person, because the comic is kind of working in types, the sort to so easily know about that. like, i dunno, it feels too easy, it seems like something find out about, when they're in the middle of the kind of thing that character was in the midst of, which would have been more interesting. but overall idk, there's a certain way of interfacing w/ oneself/other present in the comic, the sort of types it runs through, and stuff, it creates distance, even though i can sit there and be like, oh i know this type of person, i've met someone like that, or even just, i've seen this kind of thing from a distance. it's valuable to reflect on, because i try writing in similar directions sometimes maybe, i don't want to rely on types totally, i get why a comic would, in prose fiction it's better to get away from that but there's just stuff like that. really what i'm reflecting on, in my inability to say anything stable about myself, like, i can't say: i'm a girl, i'm a boy, i'm a man (speaking honestly, man is what i never want to be, i don't think i ever say i am one), i'm a woman (i don't really know what being one means, maybe, i'd need someone to tell me (and this throws up the whole issue of why girl/boy, that feels weird to me, i'm 25, i'm something else (but what, and like, i dunno))), without ever having to contradict it right after, i just want to be what i am without what feels like interference, but 'cis' is an interference too, i'm not cis, i know that, there's nothing else to know i think. anyway, because of that, when i write characters, the ones i'm writing as/using my personal life for, i can't really gender them, they can't gender themselves, they just are, no matter what, people stick things to them and they all let it linger, or they're troubling themselves over if they pass or not but that's something internal and particular. anyway, i guess there's a thought, where by never really saying anything outright, is that a cowardice, where i let the idea of normalcy/being normal creep in, i don't think so, i don't think i'm normal, or i don't think ultimately i help things be normal with my presence. i dunno though. i kind of hate the "some men are just feminine and are actually super normal" thing, not because it's untrue, but to say there's no complication there, and also that this isn't just a cope or whatever, is frustrating. it's frustrating because people are at once alienated from being 'trans' (a broad thing that can mean all sorts of things really) and wanting to still be seen as cis so people don't think you're weird. it's not something i hate the people that feel that way for, i hate the world that makes that desirable.

anyway, i dunno. it's basically all complex and fucked up. sometimes i think of myself in percentages but putting it to text feels like a commitment, i don't ever want to be committed to performing some percentage of gender. i really just want gender to disappear as a thing, but i also, obviously, really want to look a certain way, be seen a certain way, because of stuff that happened to me as a kid and stuff i saw and whatever, it's like necessary, i have to. no one has a gun to my head except i feel like one shows up when i'm ugly. i'm on a tightrope, i was put there, it's not my fault, a lot of people are on it too, like everybody is, it's terrible.

i think if tiqqun were writing currently on the young girl, they might be compelled to speak on trans stuff, but i think all they might say ultimately is that basically every human on earth is on hrt. they would be right. although that makes it sound like i think hrt is bad or something. or maybe not. i think hrt is good and i think about trying it sometimes, or not trying, i'd have to commit, that seems less scary than the percentages though because i could still really be whatever/nothing/everything. everyone's on hrt but they receive it via socially enforced norms/reality stamping down on you, you will conform to standards and so on and whatever. sometimes i think gender euphoria is really a negative thing, in ways, if you think about cis men and their gender euphoria, where they might get it from, being hard laborers or beating women, basically suffering and then throwing it around, things become more frightening. i experience euphoria when people stare at my ass and i want to kill them but i also want people to stare. when my gf is transfixed by me, it's really nice, but it's also scary, why do i want to be totally inert and just looked at. it makes me wretch but i can't help it, really. i need attention all the time. i'm writing about how fucked up my insides are, i'm so histrionic.

that's one thing on my mind. the other really is how much i hate being sick and how i am like a sick and withering whateverrrr. my head hurts distantly, in a threeway sort of thing, different points of penetration along my brain and stuff.

so, i should like, sleep, probably.

so:

byebye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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surrender-souls · 3 years ago

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been wanting to name this oc i have after a horror character give her a name like nancy, laurie, rosemary, sally, even suzy but i think. im gonna name her freddy

#suzy referring to bannion #i speak #ok listen its about the sweater #she wears a red sweater ok so thats it #and rosemary was because she ended up looking a bit like her when i drew her i havent seen rosemarys baby yet #also she is from the 60s #her design was VERY loosely based on pinhead from puppet master #god crap hold on i should probably put in some background here #the story is inspired by suspiria and the 2014 fatal frame movie it takes place in a school for orphans that opened in 1960 #freddy was one of the original students she went through a year of odd happenings like constantly waking up covered in dirt outside #before she died at age 13 #theres a painting of her up in the school i originally called her portrait girl #ANYWAYS modern day which is like… y2k kinda ish idk murders start happening in the area and its weird and supernatural and #freddy is totally innocent in all this #but yeah this is very inspired by suspiria 1977 and phenomena 1985 (even though i dont really like that movie) and kinda fatal frame 2014 #kinda took the setting of fatal frame and the vibes of suspiria and a little bit of phenomena #what was i talking about. anyways i guess her name is freddy now mr kreuger eat your heart out

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livmorbid · 2 years ago

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atlanticcanada · 4 years ago

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Why a faster spinning Earth is expected to make 2021 the shortest year on record

Scientists say 2021 is expected to be a shorter year than normal with the Earth spinning at a faster rate than it has in the last 50 years.

York University astronomy and physics professor Paul Delaney explained to CTV's Your Morning that as the Earth’s rotation speeds up, the shift means that time is slowing on the planet’s surface, making each day a "fraction of a second" shorter than 24 hours.

He said in an interview on Tuesday that this phenomenon is likely being caused by climate change.

"There is such [sic] a lot of ice that is becoming liquid and is flowing into the oceans, as a consequence of that you're changing the way the mass on the surface of the Earth is situated. Instead of a really heavy mass around the pole, you're melting it and [spreading] it all around the planet, and that is changing the way we are rotating on our axis," Delaney said.

"When you bring the amount of material, the amount of mass, closer to our rotation axis that actually spins up our rotation rate a little bit faster."

Delaney compared this shift in the Earth’s mass to that of figure skaters pulling their arms in closer to their body in order to spin faster.

However, he says this change does not mean the timing of one's day-to-day activities will change.

"We're talking about a fraction of a second here. People shouldn't think they're about to get an hour's extra sleep as a result of this, but it really is associated with the melting of the polar ice caps," he said.

While the planet's rotational speed often drifts around slightly, Delaney said the melting of the ice caps with climate change can alter the global time frame as well as the marking of days.

Due to this increase in rotation speed, scientists report that the average day in 2021 is expected to be 0.05 milliseconds shorter than the 86,400 seconds that normally make up the 24-hour period.

Delaney says adding an extra second to clocks in what is called a leap second can help with this.

"The fraction of a second per day is not going to make much of a difference to you and me, but things like leap seconds have been introduced over the last sort of 40 to 50 years to compensate for this change in the Earth's rotation rate compared to what we call our fixed frame," Delaney said.

Delaney explained that leap seconds are irregular, with one second added to the last minute of a given calendar year. Since 1972, scientists have added leap seconds about every year-and-a-half, on average, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

But with the Earth rotating faster over recent years, the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) says no leap seconds have been necessary since 2016.

IERS announced in July that no leap second would be added to the world’s official timekeeping in December 2020. However, a second may actually have to be subtracted in the future in what is known as a negative leap second, which would be a first for the IERS.

While the change in time may not affect every day activities, Delaney says atomic clocks used in GPS satellites do not consider the planet's evolving motion, which can cause potentially confusing implications for smartphones, computers, and communications systems that synchronize with Network Time Protocol (NTP) servers.

"Most computer systems are expecting 60 seconds in a minute and when you get 61 seconds in a minute, then you can cause computer crashes, so it's a little bit like having Y2K thrown around in a way that you just don't expect," Delaney said.

Because leap seconds are irregular, he says there may be only a "few weeks or a few months notice" that time will be added or subtracted. This can lead to computer glitches and crashes, which Delaney said is a "big problem in our very computerized society."

Delaney added that this can also be a problem for stock markets. For example, he noted that the New York Stock Exchange went down for over an hour on June 30, 2015 because of a leap second.

"If you're the person who is on the selling floor trying to transact millions if not billions of dollars, and the stock market disappears on you, you're not going to be a very happy camper. So there is financial issues that are driving this whole question of leap seconds, and that brings into sharper focus the changing of the day," Delaney said.

So, what can be done to help adjust the Earth’s rotation? Delaney said there isn't much people can do.

"The Earth is doing what it wants to do. As we move around the sun, as we rotate on our axis, the rate at which we are rotating is completely independent of what you and I are wanting to do," he said.

With ice caps melting as a result of climate change, Delaney said the "easy answer" would be to stop the global warming of the planet.

"Let's keep the ice where it should be so that the rate of rotation is retained in the way that we're expecting it to be," he said.

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/35UpWG6

#new brunswick #prince edward island #nova scotia #news #politics #canada #CTVAtlantic

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durmstrange · 4 years ago

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could i have a ship (golden trio era, no specific gender)🥺 i have strawberry blonde hair, green eyes and im medium hight. i love music and singing!! my style is vintage, i’m a huge fan of 60’s and 70’s fashion but also y2k fashion. idk what else to say tbh, i’m either a griffindor or a hufflepuff. thanks in advance if you answer this! ❤️

(Gif credit to owner!)

Hello!

I ship you with Ron! I think he would be absolutely lovely with you, constantly encouraging you to sing to him when you’re alone, because he would simply die to hear your voice. He also gets pretty amused with your older fashion, constantly teasing you by saying stuff like, “I think had that my mum had that same sweater some years ago...” But he loved the way you dressed, and how infatuated you were with the era.

He would even only argue a little bit when you brought things back from holiday breaks for him to wear, far outside his own fashion choices. Nonetheless, he wore what you would bring him, as he secretly loved the fashion from that time as well.

#durmstrange #harry potter #Ron Weasley #emmys 250 celebration

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deadcactuswalking · 2 years ago

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Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 2000

The year 2000. Y2K. I’m a little too young to have any overt specific memories of this year, so let’s see how the year 2000 started. So, let’s see here... January 2000: the UN sentences five Bosnian Croats to up to 25 years in prison for killing of more than 100 Muslims. Okay, well, at least justice was served. What else happened in 2000? Oh, Dr. Harold Shipman, the UK’s most prolific serial killer believed to have killed 215 people, was found guilty of only 15 murders? Second Chechen War? A leaking petroleum pipeline in Nigeria explodes and kills at least 250? DeviantART is launched? Thanks, Wikipedia, now let’s talk about the Backstreet Boys or something.

The Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 2000

This is a weird US Billboard Hot 100 year-end list. Before listening to it, I had no idea what the #1 even sounded like. It’s “Breathe” by Faith Hill – it didn’t go to #1 on the weekly chart and it’s not near the best or worst of this year. There are many reasons for this, of course, the rise of Napster and peer-to-peer filesharing being the most obvious as what the kids were listening to wasn’t necessarily represented through CD sales and radio plays. As a result, these songs fell into around two categories: I either had no idea what they sounded like until this year or they’re some of my favourite songs ever. Honestly, it’s a pretty damn good list of songs too – I’m sure it’s missing many a hit or iconic song from the turn of the millennium in favour of country radio schlock but as we’ll find out, even some of that stuff is good. Despite the mish-mash of genres, it also just felt very consistent sonically, it was a calm bed to rest in more often than not and whilst it could get boring, I was pretty happy to do a 10-song session every couple weeks and gather my thoughts. A good fifth of this list I found to be great songs, and half of that fifth will be talked about in length. I also can’t bring myself not to honourably mention some of the great songs that just missed out and were really tough cuts, like “My Love is Your Love” by the late Whitney Houston, “It Feels So Good” by Sonique, “Say My Name” by Destiny’s Child, “Try Again” by the late Aaliyah, “It’s Gonna Be Me” by (the late) *NSYNC, “Only God Knows Why” by Kid Rock of all people, “Hot Boyz” by Missy Elliott featuring Nas, Eve and Q-Tip, “The Next Episode” by Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg, “Cowboy Take Me Away” by The (then-Dixie) Chicks, and finally, just not cracking my top 10, “Party Up (Up in Here)” by the late DMX. We don’t stray too far away from that kind of song with our first entry, however.

#10

“Party Up (Up in Here)” is an alarming banger for the ages, with aggressive bars from DMX barked in needless fashion and some of Swizz Beatz’s most rumbling productions. That’s why it’s great, but equally the reason why it’s not on this list. See, the year 2000 was at its best when it mellowed out a tad, and whilst I’m not going to say this next song doesn’t have energy, because it’s full of it, I wanted to ease you in with something a bit less cacophonous than DMX’s best tracks. See, this list may end up slightly depressing in terms of the topics we talk about, considering we’ve got vengeful post-breakup tracks, desperate loneliness, suicidal ideation and God forbid, thongs, coming up, so let’s start off this list with something more lighthearted: prostitution.

#10 – “Big Pimpin’” – JAY-Z featuring UGK

Peak: #18 | Year-End: #60

Okay, to be fair to UGK, only JAY-Z really raps about actually “big pimping” in the first verse, and it’s mostly reserved to a casual misogyny that gets ridiculously blunt to the point where even though I know JAY-Z is not joking, I kind of hope he was. I question if Beyoncé has heard this verse. Regardless, even though he sets himself up as this heartless Casanova, he still ends off the verse goofily singing “let’s ride”, so clearly fun is being had. Barely any of that fun would be present without one of Timbaland’s career-greatest beats, as he chops up this Egyptian percussive loop alongside the soaring flute that twists in and out of each measure like a snake. It barely changes throughout the whole song, and I don’t think it needs to, since it has enough bounce to make JAY-Z sound like he can flow competently... which is rarer than fans will admit.

The difference between JAY-Z and his Texan guest stars is that JAY-Z treats this as any other lackadaisical beat that he can mosey over, whilst the Underground Kingz know full well that Timbaland’s production a bit more attack. The late Pimp C brings his signature drawl to a verse that feels breezy and effortless, as he compares his white accountants that pay him at the record label to the white that used to pay him, if you get my gist. That’s all fine and good, but even with Pimp C, this song would not be here without Bun B’s killer verse, where even through an intricate rhyme scheme and content that really is just flexing but delivered with enough charisma to really sell it, he still feels like he’s kind of playing word association. It’s such an observational, casual-sounding verse with its comical asides, brags and put-downs, but delivered with conviction that just lawnmowers through the beat. In the middle of the verse, he tells an “illiterate son of a bitch” to read a book and “step up his vocab”, seemingly out of nowhere, and it just continues on that stream of hunger that deservedly gave Bun the reputation of being the guy from the South who carried JAY-Z, who felt so bad about it that he added a second verse in the video version... and it’s still not better than Bun’s. This is a bonafide rap classic, far from the last that any three of these guys would make, and even with the intimidating and inconsistent discographies overall, this shines right through as a smash hit.

Recently, I’ve had to mourn the loss of my music taste, particularly the fact that I actually kind of like pop-country to an embarrassing extent. Sam Hunt and Jon Pardi have got slappers, it’s time for people to finally admit this. One of the important stepping stones in me finding out that my taste in country is despicable was this 2000 list, which had a lot of really decent if dated country tracks. I’ve already mentioned the despondent power ballad “Only God Knows Why”, but I also appreciated the compelling songwriting from George Strait’s “The Best Day”, the immense power and catharsis of Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance” and the hilariously bad Auto-Tune of the honest-to-God bop that is Faith Hill’s “The Way You Love Me”. The song on this list is probably not as effective a composition or as resonant lyrically, but remember how I said I liked Sam Hunt? Well, I may have just figured out where his general lyrical tone came from.

#9 – “How Do You Like Me Now?!” – Toby Keith

Peak: #31 | Year-End: #82

As far as I’m aware, Toby Keith is basically a punchline now thanks to his biggest hit, “Red Solo Cup”, but this was far away from the bro-country pipeline... not that it’s going to stop me from making connections. A song like Sam Hunt’s “Hard to Forget” is whiny and disjointed, expressing the bitter post-breakup in way of clunky trap beat and Hunt’s pestilent vocals. Now, don’t get me wrong: I like the song a lot, but it’s a messy track, one that doesn’t always feel fully formed. Toby Keith has the same bitter post-breakup track but takes a really different spin on it. Sure, they derive from the same premise of remembering an ex, but “How Do You Like Me Now?!” takes it a step further, with Keith “reminiscing” on how desperate he was to be with the valedictorian of his high school. The valedictorian was too pre-occupied with her other partners and made fun of him for playing his guitar “too loud”. That’s all the reasoning we get for this song, and it’s decent enough detail, sure, but it doesn’t prepare for the freaking vicious attack of the second verse, where he goes on an unwarranted rant about how her husband tore her dreams apart, never comes home and leaves her to cry whilst her children hear. It could play off as kind of a sappy, “you could have been with me” track, but given how cruel and unnecessary this second verse, I don’t think Toby Keith wants anything to do with the woman other than point and make fun of her for her terrible living situation whilst he plays on the radio as she cries herself to sleep.

This should be a terrible, hateful song, right? Well, no, that misses the point: a song can very much be hateful and deliver its hateful message in an uninteresting or silly way that doesn’t work. Toby Keith’s “How Do You Like Me Now?!” delivers it with a scathing punch, starting with that retro-sounding guitar riff that already scratches through the mix before the more traditional country instrumentation comes in for the “flashback” in the first verse. It almost tricks you into thinking there’s a happy ending, but the real happy ending is that Toby Keith is a country star and this woman now has a terrible life with a potentially abusive husband. Yet no, given the deep-voiced rasp of Keith’s yell in those choruses, the sing-songy mock of the guitar in the outro and the quick, one-and-done solo, it’s just a catastrophically pissy song... and I’m not going to lie, sometimes we can do with that. This is technically not the only country song on this list, but it’s the only time you’ll see Nashville proper and there’s no better way to represent the industry other than with unwarranted cruelty and injustice. #1 country song of the year 2000, everyone.

This one might be a bit harder to explain. Daniel Jones and Darren Hayes had just finished writing for their second album after an incredibly successful debut, but they realised – or more accurately, the label came knocking to tell them – that they had no love ballad on the scale of, say, a “Truly Madly Deeply” to pull at the heartstrings. I never liked that song, and I think it’s because it comes off as too genuine. Its sickly-sweet platitudes never appealed to me because they come off as almost too longing and sincere for what is a really bargain-bin production and composition. By 1999, “Truly Madly Deeply” could not be replicated.

#8 – “I Knew I Loved You” – Savage Garden

Peak: #1 for four weeks | Year-End: #7 | Decade-End: #54

In 1997, Darren Hayes was for the first time away from his family and then-wife, and “Truly Madly Deeply” is longing and desperate. By 1998, Hayes was separated and by the year 2000, he’d divorced, and started coming out to his friends as gay. Now, of course, this does not look good for a pop duo who make the middle-aged white ladies swoon, and the album this stems from, Affirmation, whilst immensely successful, was their last. Hayes himself says he felt “wounded by love” in the process of writing and recording that second album so he wrote a love song in 40 minutes to spite his label... and God, you can tell. The instrumental is similarly sickly, but in a more deactivated way this time, with a downtempo drum scuffle and lazy yet well-produced acoustic guitars providing a foundation for Darren Hayes to sell his worst and most meaningless lyrics with as much conviction as possible... and it sounds like it hurts.

I’ve never liked Hayes as a singer but here, he plays up the boy-band inflections in a way that sounds a tad forced, from the beginning hums and riffs in the intro to how he’s drenched in harmonies that render his performance emotionless. What he’s singing about is also complete nonsense, as you can’t know that you love someone before you meet them, at least not in the days of dial-up Internet in 1999 unless you’re a stalker, which isn’t really an angle I can discuss this song at. There aren’t many leads towards that; I’d argue that it’s more clearly about just... completing the song, getting the album done with. The second verse is essentially him voicing his process of writing the song, and there’s this frustration throughout the whole thing as he slightly restrains himself from really singing his heart out. He just wants to end his limelight career, get on with what matters in his life: he had an estranged wife, he was closeted in an industry that was really not open to accepting an openly queer singer in adult contemporary – and given Sam Smith, I don’t think they are now. A contemporary critic – of a Christian fundamentalist organisation no less, which should explain some of Hayes’ strife here – said that this is how it feels to be “hopelessly in love”, but by the time the key change hits, I just think this is how it feels to be hopeless. This is a beautiful song, in all the ways it did not intend to be. I hope it doesn’t get lost and derided with the rest of the slow AC tracks that came out during this time, because it’s something special.

As I said earlier, and as proven by the last two songs, a lot of these tracks will be more sensitive, emotionally resonant and have deep reasons behind me enjoying them. A lot of them also will not. This one is just here because it’s a bop. There’s technically a narrative to this one, but I just don’t care. It goes, that’s all I can say.

#7 – “Then the Morning Comes” – Smash Mouth

Peak: #11 | Year-End: #48

“All Star” is not good, and neither is “Walkin’ on the Sun”. Don’t even get me started on their cover of “I’m a Believer”. In my opinion, Smash Mouth struck gold with the similarly basic “Then the Morning Comes” which gets here essentially entirely because it sounds cool. The song is essentially about a hangover, and the consequences of living life recklessly when “the morning” coming is a looming threat, and they’ll regret everything afterwards and man, this song sure sounds like careless living and simultaneously the regret that comes with it. Steve Harwell’s lyrics are just as admiring as they are condescending, and the main guitar riff is lackadaisical but fuzzed out to Hell and back in this compressed mix that takes a traditional lounge swing and shuffling drum pattern, only to plaster on cryptic sound effects in the intro, robotic backing vocals and beeping in the pre-chorus, and a complete cacophony of buzzing synths in that infectious chorus. This is probably on the song that I find the hardest to really explain what’s so good about it, but it does really come down to how needlessly catchy every part of this song is, whilst it stays as weird as possible.

Smash Mouth tended to like blending genres, but this feels pretty singular in how it mixes the then-current Cocktail Nation trend with cheap synth-strings, a wiry guitar solo and the cluster of synth and guitar work that just gets shoved into a pretty sizeable groove that could have worked well in a more minimal mix that kept the lounge-influenced instrumentation... but it just wouldn’t have fit a song about regret, with the nonsense of it all essentially being the alarms that wake up this character and make them realise the consequences of all the garbage they got up to the last night. Sadly, Steve Harwell himself does not seem to heed this song’s warning, as he’s yet to fully understand the consequences of a drunken Nazi salute or defiance of COVID-19 regulations... but he’s the Smash Mouth guy. I don’t expect moral righteousness from any famous musicians, but if you do, a standout exception has got to be the Smash Mouth guy. We’re continuing a string of Summer pop-rock bangers with our next entry.

This spicy early 2000s Latin rock jam was a #1 hit... in the Winter of 1999. Listen, if you thought that once the clock struck twelve, technology will crumble, society would panic and humanity as we know may cease functioning, this is probably the best song to celebrate all of those Summers you’d end up missing, because it’s a hot one.

#6 – “Smooth” – Santana featuring Rob Thomas

I mean, what better introduction can I give than that? It’s the third biggest song of all time in the United States, and I think what that really comes down to is something that all humans can appreciate in music, especially the kind of popular music that gets played in public and on the radio. Whilst intimacy is just as respectful and has just the appeal – and really, this song tries to be about intimacy – there’s nothing secret or just between you, the listener, and Rob Thomas in the song. It’s all-out honesty, delivered in the most brazenly earnest way possible. Rob Thomas is not really that good a fit for this song on paper but I simply cannot imagine another guy on it. From the opening lines, you can tell that his post-grunge croon, barely filtered in the sensual verses, doesn’t have any right to be on this jazzy Latin groove, with the iconic brass riff and the virtuoso guitar from the legendary Carlos Santana. Three decades into his career, he’d mastered Latin jazz-rock, so running the risk with Rob Thomas seems almost silly... but then the pre-chorus comes in. He’d already been coyly ridiculous when calling this woman the “Spanish Mona Lisa” who melted everyone by speaking, but stripping the filters off gives Thomas’ overly-pronounced rhythm a new sense of liveliness. A song with so much technical expertise is now immediately accessible to sing along to, as Thomas harmonises with himself about how he feels the same as the ocean under the Moon when he’s making love with this unnamed Spanish woman... and does she need to be named? It would almost cheapen the raw emotion here, and the immense breakdown after each chorus that however long feels just as cathartic as it does sexy.

“Smooth” and its success, alongside “Maria Maria” the same year, could have – and probably has had – books written about it. I’m not going to try to explain any of Santana’s career up to this point, God forbid if I’m going to listen to Matchbox Twenty, and I couldn’t care less about the music theory behind what makes this song tick. All I care about is hearing Santana shred on one of the most iconic guitar solos of all time, the little intricacies in the drum fills, and Thomas sing his heart out as if this unnamed Spanish woman is a Goddess. It’s almost profound and makes the point towards enjoying this song when he says “give me your heart, make it real, or else forget about it” – the song stenches of people, and pure human enjoyment. Looking at it from a 2022 perspective, where that feels inaccessible, this is always a joy to come back and I’ll never get sick of it. It’s the third biggest song of all time for some damn good reasons, and the purity of how “Smooth” works on a basic level is commendable on all fronts. If I were more objective or ranking with consideration to legacy, this would be up there, but I’m not Rolling Stone and I don’t care how iconic “Smooth” is. The “Thong Song” is just that much better.

Remember when I said that there would technically be a second country song on this list? Well...

#5 – “Country Grammar (Hot Shit)” – Nelly

Peak: #7 | Year-End: #29

“Ride wit Me” is one of the best rap songs of all time. It is on the 2001 year-end only, and hence is not eligible for this list. In a year with “Fallin’” by Alicia Keys, “Ms. Jackson” by OutKast, “Get Ur Freak On” by Missy Elliott and “Hero” by Enrique Iglesias... the song absolutely would have topped my list, with little hesitation. I just wanted to get that out there before I say I’m absolutely not settling for this Nelly track in place of an unfortunate omission, because “Country Grammar” kicks just as if not even more ass as the general public’s introduction to Nelly.

Much like “Then the Morning Comes”, this is here purely because of how much I enjoy listening to it. “Country Grammar” is a banger, plain and simple, and it’s largely not because of the beat. It’s far from bad, and is actually pretty great, with Jay E adding the knocking and chanting in the intro, as well as the twinkling synths behind that bumping drum beat that has equal amounts bounce and grit. This would be a good beat with anyone on it, but with Nelly on it, it’s a great beat. Much of his time is spent flexing in typical pop-rapper mode, smoking weed, chatting up women and threatening to shoot people whilst bragging about how cool is car is and how much money he has, with pop culture references and brand names that really emulate the modern word-association form of pop-rap flexing. The difference here is that Nelly sells all of this as if it were his life story, with an effortless charisma covering up the effort and craft put into managing the highly melodious and technically manic flows for his time, with slick rhyme schemes and chanting ad-libs that act as his own posse hyping him up. Oh, and Nelly says that whilst he hangs with Hannibal Lecter, he would rather hang with the elite as he pleads Bill Gates and Donald Trump to “let him in” to the exclusive club. He also compares his spending sprees to how MC Hammer ruined his fortunes, compares himself to a Jehovah’s Witness, and disses his own producer because he sold this same beat to another group that did nothing with it. Once Nelly stops rapping, the track would almost feel empty if not for that sharper piercing synth and alarm that comes in to grab your attention during the last few measures of the instrumental outro. It’s a song full of character, to the point of some non-sequiturs that feel aptly of the year 2000, that absolutely goes off in pretty much any setting... though seriously, “Ride wit Me” is even more of an all-timer. 2001 has the less interesting year-end list overall, sadly.

I’ll admit; until we get higher – like Creed at #11 on this year-end list – this list is kind of a sausage fest. You can see in the honourable mentions that songs by iconic women of the era just barely got knocked off and I’m not going to try and mix what I see as “necessary inclusions” to my genuine taste, though I could have absolutely swapped out some tracks lower down the list for, say, “It Feels So Good” or “Try Again”. I’m saying all this because the next song is one I’ve teased this all list – you knew it was coming and it’s basically the musical representation of an erection. It’s only the Goddamn “Thong Song”.

#4 – “Thong Song” – Sisqó

Peak: #3 | Year-End: #14

It’s pretty well-known by now but it still amazes me that “Incomplete” was the Sisqó single that hit #1 instead of this classic. Hate it or love it, “Thong Song” is more immediately recognisable than the painfully forgettable “Incomplete”, which hit #1 largely as a result of both radio and the fact that its B-side was, you guessed it, “Thong Song”. It’s actually lower than its B-side on the year-end list, landing itself at #25 and really, I can understand why because the difference is night and day. Sisqó sounds similar on both songs, both in how he actually performs the songs and how he tackles the instrumentation, which either shows you how not varied he is as a singer or shows that he’s a comedic genius for treating his ass anthem with as much sincerity as his love ballad. The thing is, though, it’s not even really an ass anthem. It’s a thong anthem.

The song is about how he first discovered a thong when his partner was getting undressed and how flabbergasted he was at this new article of underwear. He was so surprised that he ran home, told his friends and a couple days later, one of them announced to him in joy that the girl he’d been with was wearing a thong. So naturally, this needs a string section, right? In terms of songwriting, this is a minimal track, with basically no verse and just a constant chorus, with much of the writing in the later choruses being additional vocal riffs and ad-libs because, well, what else is there to write about? It’s a damn flimsy song concept and he absolutely does the most with it, making the discovery of a thong sound as triumphant as possible. To be clear, he doesn’t talk about this narrative in the track, and much of the song is actually just his surprise at how the girl let him see that thong – not her butt, but her thong. He mentions the butt, and the thighs, and the “dumps like a truck”, but only in reference to the thong and the scandalous dress. Oh, my God, the guy is just pouring his heart out at this sexy revelation. It’s just great “shut your brain off” music, a theme that runs through a lot of these year-end hits. It helps that it has UK garage-influenced percussion that keeps shuffling and emulating the stuttering of the chorus, to make the song feel oddly tense. It’s just a ridiculous song overall that I can’t help listening to for the grin it always provides me with. “Your thighs, your knees, your breasts, your feet!” Lennon-McCartney wouldn’t dare. As a side note, there was a music video made for this song that promoted Nutty Professor II: The Klumps starring Eddie Murphy and Janet Jackson. This is not the last time that the film will appear in this list.

This next entry is not nearly as fun, but I should maybe have a disclaimer here. I’m going to put aside everything about the Red Hot Chili Peppers that is not this song, including all of my gripes. They have an inconsistent at best discography, all of the band members have icky pasts regarding their sexual interactions, especially Anthony Kiedis, and I hope that my praise of this song is no way taken as an endorsement. Whilst this should be inherent and IS inherent for all of the people featured here on this list, since this song involves a more serious topic, I feel like I should preface the song with that note and also that this section will feature discussion of drug addiction and suicidal ideation. If any of that is something you don’t want to hear, I recommend you skip reading to #2. With all of that said, the next entry is “Otherside”.

#3 – “Otherside” – Red Hot Chili Peppers

Peak: #14 | Year-End: #59

I’m kind of surprised this even charted, considering that whilst it’s very much an accessible song, it’s not really within the same sphere of pop music that most of 2000 was in, which felt like an extension of the sunshine-pop late 90s, with just as much random experimentation in EDM and R&B, fluke hits, manufactured boy-bands and pop rock not yet on its dying breaths. To have a song like this sticks out on the year-end list, but it’s for good reason as the way it tackles its topics is as nuanced as it could be from someone who has been on both sides of the “otherside” and ultimately came out clean.

The song’s writing is relatively cryptic in the way that all RHCP songs are as mysterious as they are straight-forward, and it’s never clear what “otherside” refers to but I’ve always seen it as the drawing line between sobriety and addiction, with either playing as the “otherside” depending on what side you’re on. Kiedis said about former band member Hillel Slovak that his addiction had robbed him of “life force”, and that prior to his overdose, which Kiedis largely believes was suicidal, he had essentially been dead and was just coasting off his addiction and denial, hence the chorus. Kiedis goes out of his way to diminish the societal myth that drug addiction makes someone an inherently bad person whilst never ignoring its truly harmful impacts, going into pretty stark detail regarding the metaphor of heroin as a false “soul mate” who starts as a “starlet”. The first few verses are introspective from Kiedis’ perspective, essentially introducing the narrative wherein he takes upon the perspective of his late friend recognising, denying and attempting to fight the addiction and the mental anguish that comes with it. Sure, the bridge could be on-the-nose but through the soaring instrumental break that follows and the distorted catharsis of Kiedis’ yelling over Chad Smith’s chamber of drums, it feels like an almost cinematic moment, and the ability to turn something so intimate and introspective into a theatricality mirrors the facade that rockstars like Slovak and Kiedis have to keep on throughout the most difficult and weakest times in their lives. You can see this same unwillingness to truly elaborate on how addiction affects him in One Hot Minute, which truly sounds like a deathbed album and is probably my favourite from the group.

This is all beautifully performed, of course, with John Frusciante and Flea at their primes with the iconic acoustic guitar riff being twisted into the eeriness of the verses, and set free within the melancholy of the choruses. Kiedis sounds freaking devastated here, and the little touches like having the surrounding voices – represented by Frusciante’s backing vocals – as well as the bass take higher prominence in the mix as the song goes on is just a brilliant touch. This is one of the band’s best songs, and a really stark look at addiction that I don’t think they’ve topped since. By the end of the song, either Slovak, Kiedis or both have just come to the acceptance that it doesn’t even fill them with grief anymore. If it’s the easier way out than living a lie and fighting the undefeated, then it may as well be the best route for everyone. This is the bleakest hit on this year-end, and I will reassure you that from here, it gets happier.

For whatever reason, only the first Nutty Professor movie is on Netflix. I could have just watched the sequel THROUGH TOTALLY LEGAL MEANS for research for this list, but I remember watching the first one at silly o’clock and being utterly confused for just about every second of it... so I imagine I’d just be having a similar if not worse experience watching the second one. Honestly, looking at the plot of the second one, I may have also watched the second one in the same late-night fever. For whatever reason, this bargain-bin sequel – although a big-budget comedy at the time – had a soundtrack album with songs by JAY-Z and Eminem, and the uncensored version of the “Thong Song”. Oh, and it also produced a #1 hit out of Goddamn nowhere. Until the Super Bowl, there really was no stopping this woman.

#2 – “Doesn’t Really Matter” – Janet Jackson

Peak: #1 for 3 weeks | Year-End: #18

This song is a mess. Disregarding its connection to an Eddie Murphy sequel that critics called “obnoxious”, its release and composition as a whole is all over the place. It was leaked to radio stations unmastered, so the mix was a rush job to push it out to release. The lyrics are from a poem that Janet found and sporadically altered and added to whilst recording, the song has two choruses written by both Janet and Jimmy Jam, both of which end up on the final track, it was initially conceived as a slow, lounge song but on a whim, Jimmy Jam decided to both increase the tempo and record the song mostly live on tape, and it’s a stark contrast to the sparse R&B that Janet had mastered on The Velvet Rope. By all measures, it should not work, and to tell the truth, I hadn’t heard of this song until looking through this year-end list... but I quickly fell in love.

This is such a unique hit with so much going on, so the fact that a lot of it wasn’t sequenced should actually show you the talents of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, as well as, of course, Janet Jackson, who spends most of the song in her impeccable higher register, as she coos breathily in a tone that once probably felt intimate at a slower tempo but at this speed feels unrecognisably tense and confident, especially when placed upon the stuffy snares, random squelching percussive noises, and the writing that is so wordy and unfitting, yet also mind-numbingly repetitive, that it creates constant little mantras and earworms through each little crevice of the track. Somehow, through the five minutes, the song never really loses steam, mostly because of the constant hooks and refrains, including the chorus which kind of just feels like a restart of itself every time. It turns the squelching percussion to 11, has Janet double-track every vocal, before it breaks down into a sea of harmonies that took me aback on first listen since it’s just gorgeous.

This manic, broken production honestly really fits the content which is about unconditional love – the writing is clunky as all Hell and I think that’s kind of the point: regardless of any conditions, including what her friends believe, what the situation is – sometimes mentioned to be economic trouble, which would definitely lead to the kind of stress that fuels a song like this – she will love Eddie Murphy in a fat suit forever. It represents this bubbling desire to just be with a person forever in such a uniquely messy way... because love and relationships are messy, especially if you’re married and the finances end up going into the same household and there’s a family dynamic. This couldn’t have been a ballad because a long-term relationship is not just simple, traditional and moving. Janet even tries to go for a half-time ballad in the bridge but even then it’s overwhelmed by the bass and instantly kicked into gear once again. She’s “in love with the inner being”, and the “nutty” image that their relationship gives off is really just a front for how they’ll love each other unconditionally. If everything is perfect, the only place to go is downhill.

Oh, and she does indeed profess her love for the Nutty Professor by the end of the track, before her infectious ad-libs and laugher that’s always a pleasure to the ears come in to decorate an already busy track with as many layers of personality as possible. This song is just pure joy, and for me has been on constant repeat since I discovered it on this year-end list. It’s a bonkers song, but crazy in the name of love, which is a niche emotion that really found its home in pop music.

Something I’ve been thinking about for really the past couple months is why electronic music to me has been so much more resonant in forming a human, emotional response. Any good music will stimulate the brain or create some kind of gut feeling, whether it be visceral hatred, indifference or admiration, and deeper in those categories are two factors: how the song makes you feel and what the song is trying to make you feel. Now, in say, a classic rock song, maybe a Beatles track, “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, the band is trying to make you feel happy. The preferred response is naturally, to be convinced by Paul McCartney’s love-struck performance and infectious chorus, and you feel happy. You could also find the song annoying because of its repetition and lack of self-awareness, but you can’t really debate that the song is trying to make you happy. Electronic music, especially dance music, is where the line becomes harder to distinguish, and the goals of the artist are separate. I could use a more nuanced, narrative-driven folk song to make my point instead of a classic, basic Beatles tune, but electronic dance music, especially the type that hits the pop charts, will also use infectious hooks, one-note performances and repetitive beats and melodic patterns, just like “I Want to Hold Your Hand”. However, the human component is distanced in an EDM song, and whilst the Fab Four aren’t as intimate as a singer-songwriter, they’re using guitars, they’re singing pretty clearly: the humans are available, and you can resonate with the human emotion that a human has written, rehearsed and performed. When the human component is a DJ who hasn’t as much sat down to write the song as much as he has crafted it from samples, programmed beats and synths, that “human component” becomes more fragmented. Whilst there may not be anything as nuanced as a human, what comes close is a human’s thoughts and emotions pushed through a technological lens, which is what to me makes the emotions in electronic music hit harder and deeper.

I did not know this song was on the year-end list until I had nearly finished it and I heard it, seemingly out of nowhere, amidst forgotten R&B and middle-of-the-road country music. It stuck out like a sore thumb, but I quickly remembered why I loved it so much.

#1 – “Better Off Alone” – Alice Deejay

Peak: #27 | Year-End: #88

Sebastiaan Molijin of Alice Deejay says that he wrote the signature lyric of this trance classic about the love of his life, whom he had separated from. She left him, they never spoke again and he never told her that the big hit stemmed from that heartache. Once again, the human component proves its limitations: he couldn’t cough up the aching question of “Do you think you’re better off alone?” to her face, but he can through song, and better yet, through Edith Pronk, a female vocalist. Molijin uses a vocalist closer to his ex-partner’s tones to him to echo those thoughts back. It becomes mutual and confused rather than the basic, simple and aching question, which considering the loaded nature of said refrain, was only ever basic in melody and verbiage. None of that matters though, because by the end of the song and by the time that the one question has been asked repeatedly, that question gains as much gravitas as possible... and remains answered.

The only other in the lyric in the song is the desperate, longing refrain of “Talk to me”, which doesn’t answer the question as much as it echoes the devastated heartache of Molijin, but through Pronk’s voice, it emulates what Molijin wants to hear as much as it does what he wants to say. This lyrical simplicity of course would be an entrapment if not for the ethereal instrumental, which is instantly recognisable and constantly re-interpreted. It starts squeakily, with blaring, dated synths and a plodding four-on-the-floor beat before the synth riff we all know and love comes in... but isn’t complete. It takes until the beat comes to a stop for the synth riff to complete itself in a cloud of cheap but universal synth strings – it’s the closest I’ve really heard music try and replicate the feeling of sudden rain.

Yet, the beat kicks in once again and could get the dancefloor going, kicking in harder than ever, and that’s where a lot of the dissonance comes in. It’s a desperate, depressive track but also just bumps, with an aptly stiff groove but a present one that feels absolutely club-ready. That’s why it’s such a shock to the system when the vocals first come in – Pronk’s a good singer, but it’s a hardly-trained vocal, not Auto-Tuned and just layered over the ethereal synths and a counter-melody that comes beeping in to take over the track for sheer urgency’s sake. It’s imperfect and clashes... and that’s the human component creeping right back in from where it first emerged with the singular lyric. It’s almost a cycle, but Pronk never really stops asking that question. She never stops pleading, even when her only accompaniment is a ribbiting frog of a Eurodance bass tone, and refuses to leave the question unanswered even when showered in a cloudy mist of synth and four-on-the-floor beats that make the whole ordeal seem worthless. She can beg, “Talk to me”, all she wants, but life keeps on going as quickly as possible around her – or him – and even if she can put a stop to it in moments of dreamy bliss, where the synth strings blossom and the percussion takes a backstage role, these moments won’t be forever, and reliving it kind of seems fruitless. Yet reliving is exactly what us humans want to do, and that’s why the song ends with Pronk singing, unaccompanied, a final “Talk to me”. It’s universal.

There’s a reason this song has been constantly interpolated, remixed and sampled by any artist, genre or scene under the sun – it’s purely universal. It asks of two things that we as humans all need: communication and closure, and does so through the most visceral and basic of words yet holds so much nuance and complexity in said words, not to mention the detailed and perfected production choices. When someone samples “Better Off Alone” or even listens to it, they’re definitely the electronics, the synth tones, the entirely digitally-programmed mix, because that’s the only way for the human component to truly resonate and be understood. A dance track with this much energy, melodrama and feverish emotion can really make a song based off two, universally human lyrics work, because it’s taking the human component and layering it on top of what may be more human than any emotional resonance: feeling the beat.

Thank you for reading. I’m not sure if another one of these is in order at any time, since this did take a while to prepare for and listen, even if it didn’t take very long to actually write. These are all great songs, so much so that I feel they could have much more justice done for them than my rambling so I hope I got some of the messages across that I was trying to convey, or that I just convinced you that these are great songs, though really, listening to the songs should prove that in itself. Again, thank you for reading, and I’ll see you on Friday for

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aklsupporter · 4 years ago

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The Evolving Future of the Office

A growing number of companies have either announced plans to move out of California to a more “friendly” state or have already done so.

However, in this environment where people don’t need to go physically into the office, it is unclear if any California-based workforce must or will move with these companies that are fleeing the Golden State.

I participated in a group analyst event several weeks ago about companies converting their offices into collections of meeting rooms. We couldn’t picture people who have been meeting remotely for so many months suddenly concluding that the long commute to and from the office was worth meeting in person; given they are now okay with using solutions like Webex or Microsoft Teams.

Let’s talk about what the future of the office should be, and we’ll conclude with my product of the week, the Microsoft Surface Pro 7.

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The Pandemic

We can’t start this discussion without talking about where we are with the pandemic, which significantly changes where and how we work.

Right now, many of us are anticipating a post-Superbowl pandemic surge here in the United States; and the inability to reach crowd immunity before year’s end, due to a combination of vaccine supply and logistics issues, and some folks refusing to take the immunization. Eighty percent of us must either be vaccinated or have had the virus to get to a level of immunity that would allow us to go back to the old normal.

Also, the virus is mutating at a high rate and may metamorphose around the antiviral products we currently have; potentially lengthening further the need to mitigate the problem. This set of circumstances makes it unlikely that those of us over age 60 will ever be able to go back to the old normal.

More and more companies are altering policy so that increasing numbers of employees never have to come back to the office. Firms that have done work from home well are reporting increases in productivity and an improved ability to attract top talent by getting around the need to relocate (people don’t like to move).

These trends all suggest that most of us will continue to work from home and that company offices will need to be redesigned; not with huddle rooms that still put folks in close physical proximity, but with systems that can better protect employees from viruses.

What we need to prevent most aggressively is the chance that even one infected person can innocently get into the office and, once in, infect a vast number of employees all at once.

The Home Office

Home offices then rise from being a “nice to have” to a critical feature. Where more than one person works from home, the configuration must conform to how the family works.

If the family has kids, there needs to be a provision for oversight to ensure the kids are studying and not screwing around when they are supposed to be doing schoolwork.

Parents with different types of jobs will probably drive each other crazy if forced to work too close together in the home office. Ensuring the home can accommodate the work needs of both parents without driving each other nuts will help with marriage longevity.

The home office solution needs to be presentable, so the room doesn’t detract from the employee’s image. The green screen stuff may eventually evolve so it doesn’t look so artificial. But until it does, having an office space that is neither too flashy (so you never get a raise again) or too ratty (so people lower their impression of you) is critical. You want folks focused on what you are saying, not how you spend money.

You’ll need a strong Internet connection and adequate power. If you’re in an area that is prone to power outages, a backup system so an outage doesn’t put you out of work.

There are tax advantages to fully separating the home-office space that should also be considered. Since we’re entering tax season, consult with your tax adviser.

The Company Office

Office buildings need to be rethought entirely.

Cafeterias need to be redesigned to deliver packaged meals that can be delivered to employees to minimize unnecessary interaction. Sensors at all office entry points should be enhanced with scanners that will alert if a staff member is running a fever. Cubicle farms should be eliminated in favor of rooms that separate people completely or into working groups. Air conditioning systems need to be modified to mitigate contagion, and mask policies need to be implemented.

Open-plan offices also need to be reconsidered but could still work as long as social distancing between workers and mask policies are enforced. Space planners need to take into account the changing OSHA rules concerning the pandemic and advances in technology that can mitigate the transfer of pathogens, such as built-in sneeze guards. But the place still needs to be attractive and welcoming; otherwise, productivity will take a hit and there will likely be issues getting people to come into the place consistently.

Ingress and egress routes need to be thought through to minimize contact and spread. Should someone become symptomatic while at work, there must be a path for their safe and rapid removal from the environment without forcing an evacuation.

In short, rather than focusing on the old goals of employee density and productivity, the new objective is to limit or eliminate pathogen transfer without destroying the collaborative reasons people are likely coming into the office in the first place. Creating the right balance will be anything but easy.

Wrapping Up: Employee Care

I’ve focused on the physical design of offices both at home and at work that will need to change to embrace what is likely to be an extended pandemic response in the office. But HR will also need to step up to the increased need for employee care, as those working from home or in the company’s office will be under a great deal of additional stress.

Those working at home already have work-life balance issues, and those issues could cause adverse job performance and/or behavioral problems. HR will need to instrument employees so that these emerging problems can be mitigated in a timely manner before they escalate to become major issues.

In the end, there is little likelihood we’ll ever go back to the world as it was before the pandemic. So, anticipating and building for a sustaining new standard will have a great deal to do with the long-term performance and viability of your organization. This virus has already killed so many companies. Don’t let it kill yours.

The Surface Pro 7

The Surface Pro, like the Xbox, was created for a problem that never really emerged. For the Xbox, the problem that Microsoft was anticipating was Sony turning the PlayStation into a PC replacement. Microsoft wanted a hedge, but Sony never really made that pivot, and that could have been because it was forced to instead focus on a pure gaming play to better compete with the Xbox.

The initial Surface and Surface Pro were created to prevent the replacement of the PC by the iPad. That never really happened either, but that failure could have arguably been because with the Surface and Surface Pro in the market, the opportunity for a business-oriented iPad was significantly reduced.

These results remind me a bit of Y2K, where we argued that a disaster was coming, worked our butts off to prevent it, and then rather than surmising that we did a good job, instead concluded that the threat wasn’t real. That seems stupid to me, but that’s what happened.

I’m not a huge fan of the Surface Pro 7 design, primarily because although I use tablets for reading and browsing the Web, for me, a 12" screen is just too big for this use. The 15" Surface laptop is my favorite design with a decent-sized screen, the coolest product in the Surface Book line, and makes no attempt even to pretend it is a tablet.

However, what frankly annoyed me about the Surface Pro design was its tendency to fall off airplane tables in coach, causing iPad users to laugh at me. It happened on almost every trip, but I’m not flying anymore and generally work off a table friendly monitor like the Dell U4021QW.

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I’ve also found I can fold the screen up, put the kickstand down, and use it like a little desktop computer that takes up less space than a non-tented laptop (and tented laptops, where you invert the product while partially open look stupid).

The Surface Pro 7 is a surprisingly elegant alternative to a small form factor desktop PC that you can grab and go. In a year or so, when/if I start traveling again, I may change my mind. But for now, for how I work, this design is an excellent alternative to a small desktop computer because I can take it with me and work outside.

It comes in platinum or black (I favor black), and it has the 10th generation Intel Core processor (i3, i5, or i7) in it. The i5 provides a nice balance of price and performance. It also has Wi-Fi 6, which requires a Wi-Fi 6 router if you want the extra performance, but it should work fine on older Wi-Fi 5 routers.

You shouldn’t have battery issues with 10 hours of expected battery life, mainly when working from home. It should outperform a similarly configured Surface Pro 6 by about 40 percent, which is significant.

With the keyboard and the i5 processor, the resulting price is around $1,330 before sales tax (which the state in which I live doesn’t have).

In the end, the Surface Pro 7 may be a better design for many than a traditional laptop, and it is looking better to me all the time, so it is my product of the week.

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kartiavelino · 6 years ago

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Paris Hilton, Ashanti, LC: Which Early 2000s Style Star Are You?

J. Vespa/WireImage Developments at all times make a comeback. The fanny packs and slogan tees of the ’80s are again; the mother denims and scrunchies of the ’90s are seeing resurgence—so it’d make sense early 2000s developments would return, too. What precisely does that appear to be? We’ve to take a stroll down reminiscence lane again to the type stars who dominated the pink carpet on the time: Britney Spears and her fedoras, Missy Elliott and her tracksuits and even Lauren Conrad and her very American Eagle-friendly type. Celebrities within the early aughts wore a mishmash of kinds—some good; some unhealthy and possibly unlikely to return. However which pattern is best for you? Let’s take present items you wish to put on now and apply the wardrobe components to stars within the ’00s who would put on the identical. On the very least, you will meet your Y2K spirit animal. Preserve scrolling to seek out which 2000s developments may match finest for you! Textures You want textures, like fake fur and suede, and mixing supplies to create extra dimension. SHOP: Cupcakes and Cashmere Daton Fake Suede Gown, $125 Lace-Up Particulars You additionally actually love lace-up and wrap-around particulars, which ooze a sultry vibe. SHOP: Raye Lacey Fake Fur Heel, Was $198; Now $60 Frank Trapper/Corbis by way of Getty Photographs Ashanti You are Ashanti, the R&B princess of the early aughts! When the “Silly” singer wasn’t carrying bikini tops and snakeskin mini-skirts, she was rocking fedoras, feathers and furs, which resulted in a female, Amazonian-like type. Article continues beneath Low-Rise Pants Overlook the high-waist pattern! You want your waistband as little as potential…maybe to point out off your toned abs or go away room for that meals child. You additionally like a bit of flare at your hems. SHOP: Free Folks Low Tide Flare Denims, $98 Hats You additionally love toppers to no finish. A hat endows you with a way of old-school badassery. You may put on a fedora with denims, to a membership, out purchasing…the sky is the restrict. SHOP: Banana Republic Genie by Eugenia Kim Grayson Hat, Was $78; Now $50 Michael Loccisano/FilmMagic Britney Spears It is Britney, b*tch! The pop princess has had many type levels, however within the early 2000s, there was nothing the “Poisonous” singer beloved greater than flaunting her midriff. Article continues beneath White Tanks You are a tomboy at coronary heart, however even with easy fundamentals like a white muscle tank, you know the way to infuse a bit of female aptitude with textures and prints. SHOP: Off-White Lace Tank Prime, Was $405; Now $203 Utilitarian Staples However let’s be actual: You are largely snug in unisex, utilitarian items you make your personal with distinctive styling (sort of like how Kaia Gerber wore these pants). SHOP: Dickies Ladies’s Authentic 774 Work Pants, $21.99 – $23.99 Kevin Mazur/WireImage Avril Lavigne You are greater than only a sk8tor gurl, you are just like the punk-pop singer of the early aughts and shrink back from following super-popular developments. You do not want studded leather-based cuffs or put on slick-straight hair that covers your face both—you are inherently edgy. Article continues beneath Sequins Prime A shiny prime is all it’s worthwhile to costume up a pair of denims. SHOP: LIU •JO Tank Prime, Was $118; Now $70 Assertion Jewellery You additionally wish to play with equipment, particularly with beaded, colourful jewellery. SHOP: Modcloth Enjoyable to Flaunt Beaded Necklace, $19 Michael Loccisano/FilmMagic Lauren Conrad You are LC! The Laguna Seaside reality-star-turned-mogul mastered the girl-next-door, all-American look whereas at all times within the operating for queen-bee standing of the group. Article continues beneath Tracksuits As a result of consolation is at all times key. SHOP: PrettyLittleThing Burgundy Stripe Shell Trancksuit Prime, $38; PrettyLittleThing Burgundy Stripe Shell Trancksuit Jogger, $35 Assertion Sneakers If you cannot bedazzle them, you’ll at all times go for the kicks with character. It might be gilded in rose gold or coated in fur, but it surely’ll specific your inventive nature. SHOP: APL: Athletic Propulsion Labs Techloom Professional Knit Mesh Sneakers, $160 Gregg DeGuire/WireImage Missy Elliott Between the bedazzled bandannas and countless tracksuits, there was no type extra signature than the “Work It” rapper’s. Article continues beneath Leather-based Trench Persons are naturally intimidated by you due to your refined, luxurious style SHOP: Ainea Fake Shearling-Trimmed Fake Textured Leather-based Coat, Was $645; Now $290 Designer Purse You are additionally an enormous fan of logomania. SHOP: Gucci Ophidia GG Medium Prime Deal with Bag, $2,100 Gary Marshall/Newsmakers Lucy Liu You are the Charlie’s Angels and Ally McBeal actress who, if wasn’t already trying like one million bucks, may very well be seen carrying near it. Article continues beneath Pink Every part You are a girly woman, and also you personal it. SHOP: Boohoo Strappy Wrap Element Midi Gown, $36 Drippin’ in Diamonds Any likelihood you get to shine, you will take it. Oh, additionally, you consider in mermaids, unicorns and can gravitate to something that blings. SHOP: Eternally 21 Floral Cat Ear Headband, $4.90 J. Vespa/WireImage Paris Hilton You are the Hilton heiress, clearly! Just like the 2000s trendsetter, you might have full confidence in no matter you put on. Your purpose: to make an announcement. Article continues beneath We love these merchandise, and we hope you do too. E! has affiliate relationships, so we could get a small share of the income out of your purchases. Gadgets are offered by the retailer, not E!. Do not miss E! Information each weekday at 7 and 11 p.m. http://www.eonline.com/news/949126/paris-hilton-ashanti-lc-which-early-2000s-style-star-are-you?cmpid=rss-000000-rssfeed-365-lifestyle&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_lifestyle The post Paris Hilton, Ashanti, LC: Which Early 2000s Style Star Are You? appeared first on My style by Kartia. https://www.kartiavelino.com/2018/07/paris-hilton-ashanti-lc-which-early-2000s-style-star-are-you.html

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satam2-0 · 7 years ago

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Introduce Yourself

Introduce yourself

Rules: answer 30 questions and tag 20 blogs you wanna get to know better

Tagged by @do-you-believe-in-uravity

Gender: He/Him

Star sign: Aries

Height: 5ft 1in

Time: 5:34 pm EST

Fav bands: Queen, The Smiths, The Cure, New Order, Daft Punk, Radiohead

Fav solo artists: David Bowie

Song stuck in my head: None at the moment.

Last movie I watched: Blade Runner

Last show I watched: George Lopez

When did I create my blog: 2017

What do I post on this account: When I do post here it comprises of memes, nsfw, fan art, paintings, and aesthetics.

Last thing I googled: “luka bayonetta wiki”

Do I have other blogs: No

Do I get asks: Never

Why did I choose my url: Satam is my username/screen name on the internet and it is my second blog. Should be read as “Satam 2.0”

Following: Jojo, Yakuza, y2k aesthetic, paintings, nature, cyberpunk, anime gifs, manga caps...

Followers: 43

Fav colors: Blue, red and purple

Average sleeping hours: probably 7-8

What am I wearing: sweat shirt and pajama pants.

Dream job: zoo veterinarian

Dream trip: Japan probably

Favourite food: pizza

Nationality: American

fave song right now: Don’t have one atm.

Fav animal/spirit animal: Possum

Fav weather: Sunny with a little bit of wind, above 60 F less than 80 F. Favorite season is Spring.

Dream hair: Long and even

First toy/fav childhood toy: Probably the PS2

Last book you read: Pride and Prejudice. It was for school.

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eddsmediamashup-blog · 7 years ago

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This was my original scrip for “Metal then and now”

Metal then and now

Old School Metal

Heavy metal is a genre that can be easily judged, I mean how hard can it be grab a few scruffy men together and completely mutilate guitars with inaudible vocals over the top? Well here is a little story on how a couple of men from Birmingham managed to create the most dark, beautiful and complex music and a genre of music which I consider home. Black Sabbath were the first band that were considered to be heavy metal with their creepy tones and sound of lyrical content about the devil, wizardry, war and conspiracies. In the late 60’s and early 70’s many holy families considered Ozzy, the leader of Black Sabbath and the rest of the band to be of the devils origin. Black Sabbath started out as a blues rock band but managed to adapt their sound over time to eventually lay down the fundamentals for the future of metal. It wasn't only the music that inspired the next generation of hard rockers which were soon to be metalheads, but the art of the album as well; with its dark colour pallet and creepy undertones it was like nothing that was previously seen in the 60’s and it especially wasn't a cute pop or beach boy album.

Fast forward 8 years from the release of the original Black Sabbath album and you had new faces on the scene, that were growing from the sounds that bands like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin had already laid down. Those band were still going and they were nowhere near the end of their careers, the only thing that had changed now is that they had competition. The metal market had only just started and it was faster, heavier and more raw than ever before.

In the mid 70’s to early 80’s, a movement was taking place in Britain under the name of Nwobhm, this made the metal genre get put into a spotlight, with names such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Motorhead, although it would take a little more time for some of these name to grow. This genre grew alongside punk bringing with it a faster sound than your typical hard rock and metal bands of late 60’s and early 70’s. Punk was dying and most fans had decided to jump from their sinking ship and set up home in a scene that was only starting to bloom, many people jumped to Motorhead during this time and would consider Motorhead to be the face of old school metal as there's nothing quite like their sound.

As if it was captured as soon as pen was put to paper, Motorhead’s songs were raw with an unpolished sound but it fit the theme so well; with lyrical content about gambling, drinking, sex and life on the road nothing could stop this genius group from writing songs about life of the fast lane for years to come. It was around this time that metalheads started to find their fashion, with denim and leather jackets covered in patches from the bands that they liked, the scruffy look was a straight up fuck you to pop culture and to the mainstream, alongside that the clothes matched the dirty and raw sounds that Motorhead had set out to create. My essential Nwobhm albums: Ace of Spades by Motorhead, Iron Maiden by Iron Maiden and Wild Cat by Tygers Of Pan Tang.

Thrash Metal

The 80’s were a time of struggle, with the cold war still in full force, the political system was failing to represent the people and the media was telling people what to think, feel and say. There was an outcry for a way for people to vent their true anger and one day a genre came that reflected the brutality of the 80’s. Inspired by hardcore punk, nwobhm and the early years of metal, thrash was the combination of everything that metal stood for, and with it thrash brought new complexity, new speeds and a new attitude to the genre. With a hate towards the political system, thrash was music by the people for the people. And now the music wasn't only limited to one country or continent, a vast amount of Europe and America was affected by this new sound. In Europe bands like Venom started to popularise thrash metal whilst also experimenting to find new genres like black metal but you'll hear more about that later. In the USA a group of young guys were looking to form a new group and a man named Lars Ulrich helped popularise an entire genre with his collection of European metal records, he drew inspiration from bands like Motorhead, Iron Maiden and The Sex Pistols to form Metallica. This is where metal really started to take off and hit the mainstream, over the course of 5 albums Metallica started to mold itself into the thing they didn't want to be, a radio friendly rock band with ballads becoming more common on their albums and their songs getting slower and less complicated, it wasn't too long until this watered down “metal” style started to influence teens and this later gave birth to genres like nu metal and alt metal. My essential Thrash albums: Reign In Blood by Slayer, Master Of Puppets by Metallica and Rust In Peace by Megadeth.

RANT ABOUT SKREEEEE(aming) A common misconception with metal is that the vocals consist entirely of inaudible screaming and nothing else, which is not the case, as metal has grown through the years it’s not only the instruments that have changed sound, but the vocal instrumentals have changed sound as well. Like any genre of music, not every band is the same and some wish to follow more clean cut singing or loud powerful screaming and growling.

The screams were typically thrown in to express the more extreme messages in bands lyrics, to a first time listener it’s understandable that they could struggle making out what bands were saying during these screams, however, over time metalheads have adapted to this style of vocals and can make out what the singers are saying.

For many bands, this is used for stylistics.

Black Metal

Black metal a controversial topic for some, but personally, for me no genre in metal intrigues me more. Black Metal was formed in the mid 80’s, it started out as a protogenre for thrash but you may recognize the genre because it was well known for murders, church burnings and crimes that took place in the early 90’s. Venom was one of the first bands to experiment with its sound, starting out as a thrash band and slowly beginning to bring in new elements to their music focusing on more melodies and adding in blast beats. 80’s bands like Mayhem, Burzum, and Emperor took inspiration from Venom and made their own new sounds with the distant and melodic guitars from bands like Emperor making this some truly frightening work.

At this time in metal the sound was getting heavier, the lyrical content was getting darker and the songs were getting more complex. Not only were the instruments sounding dark but the singers in bands started to use the screams I previously mentioned, this is because in the early 90’s this style of singing was getting more popular and personally, I could not think of anything more fitting to go with the music.

My essential black metal albums: Nemesis Divina by Satyricon, Hvis Lyset Tar Oss by Burzum and In The Nightside Eclipse by Emperor.

Death Metal

Meanwhile whilst black metal was taking over Norway and the rest of Europe, overseas death metal was growing in the USA with bands like Cannibal Corpse and Death, this genre popularised the death screams and growls with lyrical content ranging from serial killers, torture and gratuitous sex, most of which was inspired from movies, old horror books and comics, because of this it was only an amount of time before word got out this beautifully sickening genre.

During the mid 80’s and early 90’s the music industry was under attack by suburban mums and dads who were worried about what music industry was doing to their children, as you could've guessed metal came under fire by this group of people but it wasn't the only genre under fire, hip-hop was too. With parents worried their children would become gang members and satanists this movement affected the music industry in a big way bringing in the Filthy Fifteen and the Parental Advisory Sticker that was soon put onto every obscene album. The Filthy Fifteen was a list that was composed by the group members to warn other parents of the most disgusting music out at the time but many bands made it a target of theirs to make it onto the list. Many teens of the 80’s and 90’s went out of their way to listen and support the bands on the list and for many it was their gateway into metal and hip-hop and the new generation of satanic gang members were born.

Nu metal filth

>limp bizkit< Nu metal was a genre that skyrocketed towards pop culture in the mid to late 90’s, the genre was metal with all the soul sucked out of it and garnished off with a bit of rap. The genre traded off its guitar solos, blast beats, guttural singing, etc for more generic and sometimes repetitive riffs and rapping. Nu metal was popularised by bands such as Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and Korn and the genre was seen as one of the popular fads of the 90’s as well as pogs, boy bands, iced tips and sitcoms. It’s fair to say that Nu metal hasn't exactly aged, with songs such as Evanescence's Bring Me to Life which is now seen as a joke with its cringe-worthy and simplistic lyrics. Albums worth your time instead: Bloodlust by Bodycount (Rap thrash/metal album)

Sludge and Progressive

As the 90’s was coming to a close and the survivors of Y2K mentally scarred forever. Towards the end of the 90’s and the beginning of the 2000’s metal was more diverse than ever, it had even more genres than before, including but not limited to power metal, folk metal, doom and melodeath but more people were wondering how the genre would grow and it didn't stop growing there.

Although sludge metal was already on the scene with tons of fans, Mastodon was the one to break the iceberg with sludge metal, with their doom metal and hardcore punk influences, the music was hard, heavy and slow which is best described by the genre's name: sludge. Despite the slower time signatures it didn't stop bands like Mastodon from kicking ass. Over time Mastodon started to adjust their sound to be more progressive, taking influence from early heavy metal and prog rock bands of the 70’s like Rush.

Progressive metal at the time was led by Opeth and Dream Theater, both bands took influence from the prog rock of the 70’s along with death metal and black metal from the 80’s and 90’s, this led to a very technical sound that would boggle and intrigue the minds of musicians for decades to come, it also produced some of the best drummers of this generation. My essential sludge metal albums: Leviathan by Mastodon, Red Album by Baroness, Dopethrone by Electric Wizard.

And my essential prog metal albums: Blackwater Park by Opeth, Crack The Skye by Mastodon and Scenes From A Memory by Dream Theater.

Metal now.

It’s been about 40 years since metal graced our ears and we’ve barely touched the surface, the genre hasn't stopped growing since it was first formed.

As of 2017 thrash metal has made a large comeback with bands like Havok, Warbringer and Municipal Waste. Along with that, more bands are fusing sounds together like Zeal and Ardor with their blend of black metal and 1920 blues, talking about America's history of slavery and the discrimination of the black community. Some symphonic bands are now also fusing genres to create mindblowing classical music with death metal influences, it makes for one impressive show. There are many genres that I haven't even covered but as we move more into the future I can't wait to see where this extreme genre will take us and if it can be outdone by something more extreme. Thank you for watching.

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