#aficionado recordings

[joshuaboakley]

Tears For Fears - Mad World (Official Music Video)

All around me are familiar facesWorn out places, worn out facesBright and early for the daily racesGoing nowhere, going nowhereTheir tears are filling up their glassesNo expression, no expressionHide my head, I wanna drown my sorrowNo tomorrow, no tomorrowAnd I find it kind of funnyI find it kind of sadThe dreams in which I’m dyingAre the best I’ve ever hadI find it hard to tell youI… View On…

[copperbadge]

I took a survey when I left the Country Music Hall of Fame that asked me about "artifacts" in the collection, which isn't wrong but did crack me up as a term to use, so here are two of my favorite weird artifacts:

The photo of the front seat of the car is just so unhinged. I'm going to do the description of it here because I want to make sure you guys notice that this is a white open-top car with front hybrid bench-bucket seats upholstered in leather, but that is where the normalcy ends. The door handles on both outside and inside are made of SIX SHOOTERS with mother-of-pearl grips, the sun shades are embossed leather flaps like cowboy boots might look if you flattened them, and between the two front seats where the gearshift normally goes is a large saddle covered in silver dollars. The horn of the western-style saddle might be the gearshift, it's tough to say. According to a placard nearby, this is the Nudie Mobile, so called because it was customized by "Nudie's Rodeo Tailors" which did a lot of early costume design for country performers.

This image looks more normal but I promise you it is not.

This is a Gibson F-5 mandolin, billed in the placard as the most famous mandolin in American music history, which seems like a low bar to clear, but I'm not a mandolin aficionado. Again, for an image ID, it is an extremely worn-looking eight-string instrument, a fairly standard modern mandolin. It has a number of bare patches and scratches on the soundboard. Wanna know why?

It's because this famous mandolin belonged to Bill Monroe, who bought it from a barbershop (how a Gibson made by Lloyd Loar got into a barbershop is a mystery) in the 40s. He played it for decades until 1985, when an intruder broke in and beat the mandolin to pieces with a fireplace poker. So what you're seeing in that image is the original Gibson -- reassembled from about 150 splintered pieces by Gibson company. Monroe kept playing it, including in recordings, until he died in 1996.

I have to say, I spent maybe five, ten minutes standing in front of it, leaning this way and that, looking like an idiot I'm sure as I tried to detect seams and cracks where it was reassembled, and whoever at Gibson put this back together did a spectacular job. For all it looks kicked to shit in this picture, it looks fantastic in person.

[maspers]

Arcade Game Aficionados in the Wreck-It Ralph universe must see King Candy as some kind of bizarre urban legend. Imagine being a fan of, say, Street Fighter, and finding this one specific arcade cabinet where Ryu just... isn't part of the roster. Like, he's still on the box and everything, but when you open the game there's no reference to him anywhere. And instead, there's this suspiciously similar character named, idk, "Prince Streets" who fulfills a similar role in and has tons of voice lines both from himself and all the other characters. Like, what the heck? So naturally you look "Prince Streets" up, but there's nothing about him anywhere, so you record a video of the game featuring "Prince Streets" and see if anyone else knows what's up.

Naturally this baffles everyone, because everyone is like "clearly this must be a mod or something???" but if that were the case then where did all these voice lines come from??? Did they get impressionists to mimic the VAs? And why is Ryu removed from the roster, the game could have handled it just fine.

So then eventually some geek is like "hey I think I know that arcade in the video" and they go to check out the infamous "Prince Streets" Street Fighter cabinet, but then lo and behold he's not there anymore??? Ryu is back on the roster??? All the references to Prince Streets are gone? But nerds will be nerds so they decide to check the cabinet itself, but there's no evidence of any tampering whatsoever. So naturally they come back to you and your video, but you know it wasn't fake, your video isn't fake, and everyone else in town remembers how "Prince Streets" was part of the roster for some reason. And of course Capcom denies such a character ever existed, and there's no evidence of where the voice lines or character design came from. Was it an elaborate prank or hoax???

Obviously Wreck-It Ralph's worldbuilding is far from the best or even consistent, but like. Internet Mystery King Candy.

[novlr]

6 More Writing Playlists for Scenes and Vibes!

If you love music, you’ll love these playlists! We’ve added 6 more amazing playlists to our already-growing collection.

From sweeping classical themes to write a royal court, some eerie tunes and soundscapes for writing a creepy carnival, vinyl classics for a vintage record store feel, pumping euro tunes for a European road trip, sea shanties for ocean voyages, and some vintage and modern French melodies for when you need a French bistro vibe, we’ve got you covered.

Writing a Royal Court

The pomp and circumstance of a Royal Court are palpable in this collection. This classical playlist is perfect for writing grand palaces, stately homes, balls, banquets, and court intrigues. Be transported to a world of nobles and chivalry where life is decadent and opulent.

Writing a Creepy Carnival

Creepy carnivals are staples of the horror genre, so we’ve put together this collection to help you write it. Whether your carnival travels the world, putting up stakes and causing mayhem wherever they go, or if you’re writing a static circus where visitors inexplicably go missing, then this is the playlist for you. Terrifying ringmasters, creepy rides, and eerie rituals – whatever your carnival holds, this is the playlist to write it to.

Writing in a Parisian Cafe

Sitting in a window of a cafe in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, watching the world go by, the young writer puts pen to paper. The characters who pass by them every day inspire and come alive. If you can’t people-watch, you can certainly imagine it! A mix of classical, acoustic folk, and French pop tunes, this collection will make you feel like you’re really there. So grab a croissant and a coffee and bring the Paris to you!

Writing a Vintage Record Store

Indie record stores have a vibe and are always full of interesting characters. There’s something special about them, and they’re always full of people who love music. This is a playlist for those who need to write a modern vintage feel. It’s a mix of tunes from the 1960s to the early 2000s – the kind of records vinyl aficionados would love a first pressing of. Get in the creative space to write about some of the weird and wonderful obsessive characters you’d find in an underground record shop in your favourite city.

Writing a Journey at Sea

Beware, me hearties, for here be dragons! Whether you’re writing an arctic exploration, an ancient sea voyage, preparations for a naval battle, or a band of intrepid pirates, there’s something in this playlist for you. With a mixture of modern folk tracks, sea shanties, and sea journey-themed instrumental pieces, this collection will conjure images of the salt spray on your face and the wind whipping your hair as you stand on deck, exploring unmapped places.

Writing a European Road Trip

Travel is always an adventure, but there’s something unique about a European road trip where you can fit so many different countries and cities into a small space of time. It’s a whirlwind of sights, tastes, and sounds, so this collection of tracks from all over Europe is sure to get you in the mood. From visiting the sights to sampling the cuisines, and nights out in some of Europe’s most infamous superclubs, this collection is sure to inspire you.

[singemall-stayallnight]

Jimmy Page 2023 Guitar Player Interview

“I Owe It to All of Them”: Jimmy Page Explains How His Love of the Blues Fueled the Fire for One of Rock’s Biggest Bands

You can read the full interview at the link above.

“The blues is scary,” Jimmy Page says. “It’s threatening. It’s saying: ‘I’m coming to get you.’”

“The blues – I mean, it’s just undeniable,” Page says. “It was just an undeniable element of everything that was going on in Led Zeppelin. If there hadn’t been that sort of movement in Chicago, back in the ’50s, and all that sort of riffing, then you wouldn’t have got what came through in various bands later – certainly for me and how it affected me in Led Zeppelin.

“In those days, all the guitarists were learning from records. I was lucky that I had a blues collector called Dave Williams. Through him I got to hear stuff like Elmore James. You weren’t going to hear that on the radio.”

Given his legacy, Page doesn’t owe anything to anyone as a guitarist, but he waves away the notion. “I owe it to all of them,” he explains. “That’s how I learned. My breakthrough was when I understood how to do bottleneck guitar. That’s the point when open tunings first come in for me. Boom! That’s it. And that whole world opened itself up for me. I wasn’t actually trying to play note for note what anyone else had done.”

How did Zeppelin’s treatment of the blues differ from, say, John Mayall’s and Eric Clapton’s three years before? “Well, it’s the atmosphere and it’s the attitude that’s created on something like Muddy Waters’ ‘Standing Around Crying,’” Page says. “It’s like Howlin’ Wolf: When you hear Wolf, he’s not messing about. It’s like, ‘I’m coming at you – and I’m gonna get you!’ And that’s why I love him.

“So let’s put it this way: Whether it was the first album or whether it was ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’ [from Led Zeppelin III] or ‘Tea for One’ [from Presence], whenever Led Zeppelin do a blues, it’s not like anybody else doing the blues.”

Remarkably, Page says he wasn’t Zeppelin’s biggest blues fan. “We all had our roots,” he explains. “Each and every one of us had played the blues in some sort of department or other.

“What I would say is that Robert was a blues aficionado, but he was very into the country blues. He was a damn fine harp player.

“He was used to playing that acoustically, but I was keen to get him playing it through an amp. So then you get things like ‘When the Levee Breaks,’ which is really gonna scare the pants off you with what he does on harmonica.”

[kaylor]

for real though if you were a pop star and you were going to [redacted] wouldn't you also start your album cycle & your newly found freedom under a new record label with a song about self love, about acknowledging your flaws and your assets and embracing them, about being multifaceted like a... rainbow? and include a quite frankly visually invasive amount of rainbow imagery in your music video about how much you love and embrace who you are. and wouldn't you then also find it really funny to follow that up with another visually invasive rainbow music video for a song about telling people to calm down like damn it's literally not a big deal!!! because if i was taylor swift, known millennial & infamous attention and controversy aficionado, that's exactly how i would do it too.

[zilabee]

Living The Beatles Legend:

After a lifetime of self-doubt over body issues and inveterate shyness, he simply couldn’t control himself. “Big Mal was a demon for sex,” Tony wrote. “[...] Like sacrificial virgins, a lot of the girls willingly accepted that they would have to do it with Mal to get to John, Paul, George, or Ringo, and Mal knew it.”

“A couple of newspaper friends put on a private show involving several prostitutes for our entertainment, one of them being very pregnant.” As Mal recalled, “It was a little unnerving to have these ladies performing before our eyes with each other in one room, with Brian, George Martin and Judy, and the rather more staid members of the press in the adjoining living room.”

“I was being entertained by a young lady late one evening,” Mal wrote, “when George rushes into the darkened room, stoned out of his mind, tearing the bedclothes off, shouting, ‘My turn next—come on, give us a bit!’” Mal gave way to the Beatle, concluding that “apart from that, I was the one that got screwed.”

By this point, [Lily] wasn’t just finding “silly groupie letters” in his suitcase, but also the occasional stray pair of knickers and other telltale signs of infidelity. She recognized that Mal was being seduced—and had been for some time—by overwhelming forces, impulses with which she could hardly begin to compete.

After her brother returned from the States, June recalled that “Malcolm came home knackered, absolutely shattered from that tour.” [...] Her brother and the Beatles were living in a “totally unreal world—an extraordinary, horrendous, wonderful, terrible place that they were all existing in during that period. And they were all damaged by it. They suddenly could have anything they wanted.”

After sharing a convivial dinner with Victoria’s father, who retired early, Mal (31yo) and Victoria (16yo) returned to the hotel and went up to the twenty-seventh floor. [..] “Mal was very sweet,” she recalled, “and we talked and we talked, and we sort of made out.” And while she was unable to meet the Beatles the next morning to do an interview, she exchanged contact information with Mal. And later that year, the letters from her new pen pal began arriving, elegantly adorned with “this beautiful British handwriting.” *

Eventually, Mal would develop a vital relationship of his own with the Scruffs, although he had his detractors—namely, Carol Bedford, a peripheral member of their scrum and a George aficionado who later claimed that Mal tried to put the moves on her. Apparently, Mal had continued to approach women in the Beatles’ universe in the same transactional manner in which he and Neil had “auditioned” willing fans during the band’s touring years. Another Apple Scruff recalled a similar instance when Mal’s attempts to cozy up to the Scruffs went terribly wrong. Apparently, he had crawled under one of the girls’ blankets and “touched something he shouldn’t have.” With that, the offended Scruff came flying out from under the blanket yelling, “Who do you think you are, Paul McCartney?” **

Since leaving the hospital, [Arwen (21yo)] had reared Little Malcolm in her cramped lodgings in West Hampstead. At some point, around the age of six months, he was put up for adoption, leaving her care lock, stock, and barrel, with Mal’s teddy bear as the baby’s only consolation. Mal’s diary would enumerate lunches and telephone calls with the young woman at various points across 1969, but eventually, Arwen chose to move on, putting the whole painful episode behind her. ***

[For his son's birthday] Mal made a cassette recording in which he offered his sincere wishes for the coming year. [...] But any goodwill Mal hoped to deliver was quickly undone that morning as Gary listened to the recording over breakfast with his mother and sister. To his incredible pain and embarrassment, the tape didn’t end with his father’s birthday greeting. Apparently, Mal had recycled the cassette, and as Gary and his sister prepared to go to school, they heard the unmistakable sounds of Fran fellating their dad. The boy’s only solace was the knowledge that his eight-year-old sister didn’t understand the sounds emanating from the tape player.

[..]for the first time, Fran found herself afraid of her boyfriend, whose darkness had never been more acute. It all came to a head one night when Mal, drunk to the gills, began threatening her with his Colt Woodsman pistol, at one point placing the gun against her head before discharging it into the washing machine. When he sobered up, Mal couldn’t have been more apologetic, swearing to mend his ways and be the boyfriend she deserved.

____________________________________

Another quote under the cut, with trigger warning for rape and attempted suicide - and a few notes about some of it.

____________________________________

June 1964 - New Zealand

At the time, the official story involved a twenty-year-old female fan who, having secreted her way into the hotel, chose to slash her wrists in Mal’s room after being unable to talk her way into the Beatles’ suite. Fortunately, police caught sight of the young woman through a window and broke down the locked door with a battering ram. She was subsequently taken to a local hospital and discharged that same day.

[There are then some bits about how Derek tried to ensure it didn't link back to the Beatles in anyway, and the way the press reported it as "Girl Tries To Die For Beatles", and someone else claiming she'd actually had sex with someone and then got 'hysterical' because she realised he wasn't going to get her in to see the Beatles... but eventually it cuts to the quote from Mal's diary below.]

“On arriving back at the hotel at two in the morning,” he wrote, “I was greeted by a crowd of police and detectives as the elevator doors opened at my floor. On verifying that I occupied a particular room number, they very solemnly escorted me there, where to my horror on opening the door, I found the bathroom and bedroom covered in blood. Apparently, what had happened [was] several people had gang-banged her in my bedroom. She was so distraught, she took a razor blade from my razor and slashed her wrists, but was discovered in time and recovered in hospital. Obviously I was a prime suspect, but I had the best alibi in the world—I was drinking tea with her mother.” ****

____________________________________

* Victoria was 16, and Mal was 31. He wrote with her for a few years and met up with her again several times, and there's a quote where she says she "thought she was in love with him", and another where she was surprised to find out he was married. He's a grown man with a family and it's creepy as fuck that he was leading on/grooming a 16 year old girl - although I think according to the book they never had sex.

** I've bolded a lot of the wording which fucks me the fuck off in that passage about apple scruffs, what a fucking weird piece of writing. Apparently apparently apparently - I don't even think he's using it to suggest it might not be true, I think he's just using it to make it sound a bit casual, oh turns out he was just treating them like shit like he used to! Oh he was just 'cozying up' ??????? The last bit also feels like the girl being able to fight her corner and tell him off is being used to suggest it therefore didn't matter - not to suggest that there were probably lots of other girls who didn't want his hands on them but didn't know how to say no. It's also quickly followed by a quote of another apple scruff saying he took care of them like a big brother and they all loved him. Which is fine. But teenage girls feeling as though the creepy guy who is being nice to them in order to take advantage is just being nice to them, doesn't mean much. It's creepy that he was trying to befriend the young vulnerable girls that idolised anyone who worked with Beatles, you've literally just said he was doing it in a 'transactional manner'.

*** The author used a pseudonym for Arwen - a young woman that Mal had an affair and a child with. He wrote in his diary when the child was born, and visited them, "gifting the boy with an oversize teddy bear from Harrods". Personally I think 'chose to move on' covers an awful lot of pain very glibly. Imagine having to give your baby away after six months, imagine what she went through. It is not a small thing that he carelessly got a young woman pregnant and then offered her nothing.

**** I think we all live in Beatles fandom knowing that the people we enjoy did awful terrible things, but sometimes it's good to confront how bad it was, even if we'll never know who was involved in this particular incident. Or how often it happened to other women. Whether Beatles were involved here or not, they were around this, they were inside it. They were influenced by and friends with horrible people. Imagine writing that in your diary like it's a good joke that you were having tea with her mum while she was going through that, and not how awful that would actually feel if you had a heart. The author adds that this incident affected Mal, saying, "His “demon” persona was still alive and well, to be sure, but there would be perceptible shifts in his outlook as the group’s touring days moved forward." I didn't really pick up on these, so I'm not sure how so.

[aifanfictions]

Can I request Alastor x female reader who loves 70-90 year old jazz? Maybe she's Charlie's sister, and Alastor hears music coming from her hotel room. Probably something like Ruth Etting or Annette Henshaw.

Jazz of the Heart

In the heart of Hell, within the walls of the Hazbin Hotel, chaos and mayhem reigned. Among the residents was Charlie, the determined princess of Hell, and her sister, (Y/N). (Y/N) was unlike her sister in many ways. While Charlie was passionate about redemption and salvation, (Y/N) had a deep love for the music of a bygone era.

Her heart belonged to the tunes of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, especially the enchanting jazz of Ruth Etting and Annette Henshaw. As she settled into her room at the hotel, the smooth melodies of these jazz legends echoed through the walls, serenading the restless souls of Hell.

Alastor, the charming Radio Demon, couldn't help but be drawn to the sultry, nostalgic sounds. He had heard countless songs from different eras, but there was something enchanting about the vintage jazz tunes that (Y/N) played.

One evening, as (Y/N) sat by the record player, carefully selecting the next vinyl to spin, Alastor decided to investigate the source of this delightful music. He followed the alluring melodies to (Y/N)'s room and knocked lightly on the door.

(Y/N) opened the door to find the grinning Radio Demon. "Alastor, isn't it? How can I help you?"

He tipped his hat with a charming flourish. "Why, (Y/N), I couldn't help but be drawn to this mesmerizing music of yours. Quite the aficionado of vintage jazz, aren't you?"

She smiled, appreciating his recognition. "Oh, indeed. There's nothing quite like the classics. They have a soul that modern music often lacks."

Alastor stepped inside, and as the melodies of "Button Up Your Overcoat" filled the room, he extended his hand. "Would you do me the honor of a dance, my dear?"

(Y/N) was taken aback for a moment but couldn't resist the charisma of the Radio Demon. She accepted his offer, and they began to waltz around the room. Their movements were as smooth and enchanting as the jazz itself.

As they danced, Alastor couldn't help but be captivated by (Y/N)'s grace and love for the music. He found himself falling deeper and deeper under her spell, and he knew he had to have her in his life.

The soft, velvety notes of the song enveloped them, creating an intimate atmosphere. As the music swirled around them, Alastor's scarlet eyes bore into (Y/N)'s, and he gently pulled her closer. Their bodies moved in perfect harmony, each step a declaration of their growing connection.

With every subtle touch and the close proximity of their bodies, an electric charge filled the room. The scent of old vinyl records mixed with the faint aroma of (Y/N)'s perfume, creating an intoxicating blend. As Alastor's hand rested at the small of her back, a shiver ran down (Y/N)'s spine.

The song reached its climax, and Alastor couldn't resist the magnetic pull drawing him to (Y/N). In a fluid motion, he dipped her low, their faces mere inches apart. The world around them seemed to blur as time slowed down. Their breaths became shallow, and they shared a charged silence.

As the final notes of the song lingered in the air, Alastor, his voice as smooth as honey, whispered, "My dear (Y/N), it seems the music has brought our hearts together."

With an irresistible charm, he closed the remaining distance between them. His lips brushed against hers, gentle and tentative, igniting a spark that neither of them could deny. The kiss deepened, a passionate fusion of two souls drawn together by the enchantment of jazz and the intoxicating allure of their shared attraction.

The world outside faded into insignificance as (Y/N) and Alastor surrendered to the magnetic pull they couldn't escape. His gloved hand cradled her cheek, and the kiss became an exquisite dance of longing and affection.

It was a kiss that transcended time and place, a kiss that marked the beginning of a love story that defied the boundaries of Hell. In that fleeting moment, (Y/N) and Alastor discovered that love, like jazz, was timeless, resonating in the deepest recesses of their hearts.

As they broke the kiss, (Y/N) was left breathless, her eyes filled with both surprise and a hint of desire. Alastor's grin was filled with satisfaction and a hint of mischief. He took her hand, and as the music continued to play, they swayed together, their hearts in sync with the rhythm of love.

In Hell, where chaos and darkness reigned, their love shone like a beacon of light and passion, and the jazz of their hearts would play on, a melody that would never fade away.

NOTE! This story was generated by OpenAI

[millerflintstone]

Mad City records stop. So cool that my hooping friend is also a music aficionado

[sivavakkiyar]

Holy shit an entire performance of El/Aficionado from 2021 is on YouTube if you like Badalementi’s Twin Peaks score you should *really* check it out, opera, noir etc etc it’s weird and wonderful

This new production of eL/Aficionado by the late Robert Ashley (written in 1987 and last performed in 1995) is an opera scored for four voices and a pre-recorded electronic orchestra.

It is the story of a person on trial — on trial for her character and the quality of her answers, on trial for her skills of perception and her intelligence, on trial as a human being. The principal character (the Agent) is being cross-examined by two persons (Interrogators) under the direction of a third person (First Interrogator), who directs the narrative and comments on the Agent’s answers throughout the opera. The Agent is required to recount her actions and explain her behavior in carrying out certain assignments. She does not explain whom she works for, or even why she does what she does, but she is expected to respond without question to some deep obligation or contract with the past.

Although the opera’s mysterious mood owes much to John LeCarré’s world of espionage, it is not a spy story. The four scenes of the narrative are progressively concerned with events of an otherworldly nature while delving into the Agent’s different life stages, from the present time to her earliest memories. Throughout the First Interrogator’s remarks, there are passing references to analysis and to the world of dreams. eL/Aficionado is the trial of a mind or an imagination, of “every person” coming in contact with something foreign — the unknown.

Kayleigh Butcher will sing the lead role of the Agent. The other vocalists are Bonnie Lander, Paul Pinto, and Brian McCorkle. Music direction and sound design are by Tom Hamilton, and lighting and stage design are by David Moodey.

[louisupdates]

Gracias a este gesto Louis Tomlinson fue considerado como el "Dios" de este festival, ya que los aficionados al futbol morían por ver este partido.

A lo largo de los años, los fans de Louis Tomlinson han sido testigos de la pasión que el cantante siente por la música, pero también por el futbol, pues además de ser un aficionado de este deporte también suele practicarlo.

Por ejemplo, durante su visita a Argentina en abril de este año, el cantante se viralizó, ya que mientras visitaba el Estadio Vélez, Louis Tomlinson aprovechó para tirar un penal, momento que quedó grabado en un video, el cual tuvo una fuerte aceptación entre sus seguidores y en Argentina, un país, donde históricamente el futbol ha tenido una amplia aceptación.

[Thanks to this gesture, Louis Tomlinson was considered the "God" of this festival, since football fans were dying to see this match.

Over the years, Louis Tomlinson's fans have witnessed the passion that the singer feels for music, but also for football, since in addition to being a fan of this sport he also usually practices it.

For example, during his visit to Argentina in April of this year, the singer went viral, since while visiting the Vélez Stadium, Louis Tomlinson took the opportunity to take a penalty, a moment that was recorded in a video, which had a strong acceptance among his followers and in Argentina, a country where football has historically been widely accepted.

[a-roguish-gambit]

I am OBSESSED with your turn of the century AU. OBSESSED. Foaming at the mouth. Any fun Hank stuff from the AU? Does he ever gaslight people about being Bigfoot like he did in that one episode of Evo?

Thank you!!!

Hank has a degree in medicine and chemistry. He kinda left the greater scientific community disillusioned though because of the focus being placed on pseudo scientific thought and disregard burgeoning discoveries due to who they were coming from. This was before he had his full furry awakening thankfully.

He traveled the world for a while with some anthropologists to study medicine in other areas of the world and test what worked and what was placebo. As a result he's become quite the aficionado for different kinds of teas and herbal drinks, as well as foreign translated works. Jubilee enjoys hanging out with him because he has a few records in her mother's native mandarin to listen too when she's feeling home sick for California.

Speaking of he has a large collection of wax records he's slowly trying to get transferred into disc records to preserve them. In the early days of records you could make your own at home out of wax cylinders. When he was traveling he made a lot of people singing in their native language as souvenirs. They are fragile so he doesn't play them much unless forge is helping get them transfered. He had the ones in students native tongues transfered first so they could listen to them and not have to worry about damage from repeated playback.

He still keeps in touch with a few of his contemporaries but doesn't go to events anymore for obvious reasons. Curie is a good friend of his, as was Booker T Washington, though not a scientist. He also personally met Mark Twain which is something he brags about.

He doesn't pretend to be bigfoot, he does pretend to have been a yeti when he was in tibet.

Also due to the time period he is a first generation Irish immigrant. He has a little bit of an accent.

[fionarara]

+ hipster ! kenma .

+ tw : one mention of a drug, cigarettes, slight cat slander, please this is a joke

+ hipster ! kenma . owns a hairless sphynx cat, because cutesy cats with fluffy fur are for plebs + hipster ! kenma . who shows up to a kickback party at kuroo’s place and upon discovering that the fridge is only stocked full of ultra-generic basic beer brands, decides he would rather drink the warm belgium-imported craft beer which has not yet been cooled, because dude would never be caught holding a shitty bud light in hand or drinking a white claw + hipster ! kenma . “knows the DJ” when you walk into this music venue with him, but in actuality, they only had a singular random encounter on the street during one of kenma's smoke breaks from his part-time job at a local arcade bar: this DJ guy just happened to be strolling by when he casually asked kenma if he could bum a cig off of him and come in real quick just to use the bathroom

+ hipster ! kenma . says, not only is it too expensive to touch up the roots of your hair so often with bleach, but it’s also way too high maintenance, and according to hipster kenma, high-maintenance = highly manufactured, super lame. clearly, presenting with two-toned slightly unkempt hair with a heroin-chic grunge look is some sort of torch one can hold about their own authentic individuality against the status quo...and how one is too cool to give a fuck, yeah + hipster ! kenma . who only rolls his own cigarettes, being the loose tobacco aficionado he is, and uses Bali Shag brand–exclusively. shows you how to roll it just right into a small narrowed cone shape that’s precise and comfortable enough to rest between your pretty fingers, demonstrating how to twist the tip’s end of the handmade cig in the most exquisitely cool way so that when you flame it up, it'll flash with a dazzling little light show right before you take a puff and inhaaale + hipster ! kenma . shows you his entire collection of vintage 8-bit video games, his faves are the few that are most rare and special edition versions where only a handful in the world were made (500 copies worldwide to be exact) + hipster ! kenma . will often wear high quality acetate-plastic glasses with thick-rimmed frames – non-prescription. boy has 20/20 vision and, more often than not, has his bicolored strands of hair hanging over his eyes, barely able to see from his own peripheral vision, so can someone please explain why the guy has thirteen different varying-style pairs of them? + hipster ! kenma . who is, duh, a self-proclaimed male feminist. he even has a cat onesie for his hairless sphynx kitty made of organic cotton with the words 'The Future is Female' printed on it. he makes sure to put the garment on his penisy-looking cat before going out on any first date in case he happens to score that night by getting to bring the date home

+ hipster ! kenma . buys and then wears a thrifted 90s D.A.R.E. T-shirt three days in a row, but later that weekend does cocaine off the cover of a vinyl record by The Stokes at this hole-in-the-wall dive bar while attending Yamamoto’s birthday party

+ hipster ! kenma . hates every mainstream video game, yet you’ll still catch him playing Pokémon GO on the DL when he thinks no one is looking because the nostalgia can’t be beat no matter how much his little alt-heart tries, plus deep down he refuses to quit until he’s at least caught the shiny versions of Jolteon and Umbreon

+ hipster ! kenma . has a nose piercing, with a vintage sterling-silver stud that comes with a whole intricate story and history behind it that he purchased at this obscure pawn shop out in the arts district of a super hip neighborhood he heard about + hipster ! kenma . whose newest pair of skinny jeans are so tight on him, they’ve begun to chafe the delicate skin of his thighs and a small rash developed as a result (despite hinata repeatedly mentioning they were probably a bit too snug), so he takes himself in for a yearly doctor’s visit for a simple topical cream prescription fix when his physician informs him they’d detected some curious results of a lower sperm count, asking kenma if for any reason he’d been doing anything as of late that would impact his testicles…oopsie

+ hipster ! kenma . whose favorite beanie is definitely in need of a wash soon, however he can’t just go ruining the ethically-sourced organic cashmere it's made of and risk ruining this special material + hipster ! kenma . would grow a “dope stubble beard” – if only he could, but alas – (and he would use the word, alas, whenever sharing this dilemma with anyone) alas, he—cannot. “...damn my damned genetics...”

+ hipster ! kenma . has not been to see or support a nekoma game as an alumni ever since he seriously started working (–biking to work, by the way, because ‘excess fossil fuels are whack’) in the tech world at this startup company of some trendy new game app…since being associated with any jock conduct anymore is the antithesis of his counter-culture lifestyle now

+ hipster ! kenma . believes heavily in the issue of gentrification in the new neighborhood he just relocated to, without realizing he is part of the problem + hipster ! kenma. has a snide opinion about eeeeverything …

 + hipster ! kenma . part 2 . ⇢ + link2masterlist . ⇢

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Television - Max's Kansas City, New York City, August 28, 1974

I just got my copy of Uncut's Ultimate Music Guide — the Television edition! Very cool to see a band that was far from a chart-topper / arena-filler get this kind of lavish treatment. The mag is a thing of beauty: tons of fascinating vintage articles/interviews, fantastic photos, interesting new reviews and plenty of dips into Television-adjacent zones (Voidoids, Heartbreakers, etc). Go grab it ...

You will probably not be shocked to learn that my contribution to the UMG Television extravaganza is a lengthy writeup of the band's live albums and bootlegs ... a favorite Doom & Gloom subject since before the beginning. Here's what I wrote about the Max's gig in 1974, which is one of the earliest Television (if not the earliest) live tapes out there. (How early? Well, "Marquee Moon" is introduced as "the new one.")

Richard Hell was long gone by the time Television recorded Marquee Moon. In the beginning, however, it was as much his band as it was Verlaine’s — a fact made clear by this Max’s gig, which took place just a few months after the quartet had played their first shows. Hell’s rudimentary-but-right bass work and strung-out vocals may make later Television sound like Steely Dan in comparison, but the impressive verve and originality of the band is positively thrilling even at this early stage. With a host of songs that wouldn’t survive Hell’s ousting from Television, this tape is a vital document of what might have been. 

Ohhh yeah. I'm fascinated by the list of songs above, which seems to be a comprehensive rundown of the Hell era. A lot of tunes for a band that hadn't existed for all that long — and many of them future classics.

And hey, one more thing: sad news that Keith Allison passed away this month. Keith was the webmaster / Television aficionado behind the long-running The Wonder website, which has been an indispensable resource on Verlaine and the band and beyond for decades now. It was the kind of site that always made you remember that the internet could actually be ... good? I didn't know Keith personally, but I greatly appreciated his work. Hopefully there is some way that The Wonder can stay up for future generations to access ...

[mywifeleftme]

364: Various Artists // Israfel

Israfel Various Artists 1997, Ape

A 1997 vinyl benefit compilation of mostly Middle American grindcore / powerviolence / emo acts, assembled in an edition of about 1000 by Bloomington-based DIY label Ape Records (active 1995 to 2002), in handmade sleeve with a recent release catalogue, a substantial zine, and a few priceless gag inserts (incl. YOUR HARDCORE SELL OUT DECODER RING). I’m not an aficionado of any of the genres Israfel covers by any means, but you’d have to be a real head to know most of these: in terms of notoriety, the Locust (who contribute a 47 second blast of lo-fi outrage) are basically Led Zeppelin compared to the rest of the acts, most of whom topped out with a couple of EPs and compilation appearances.

Of course, hearing music that would otherwise be basically lost to time is the appeal of taking a flyer on a comp like this. One of my favourite tracks is “Untitled” by Roanoke, VA’s the Weak Link Breaks, supposedly the first thing the band ever wrote (and, judging from their discography, nearly the last too). It begins with a very, very quiet spacy-Fugazi-style amble (the vocal harmonies couldn’t be more Ian and Guy) that explodes into a brief screamo-style D-beat section, and then some big heaving riffs that make me want to exaggeratedly lift and stomp my feet like a giant trying to keep his balance. I also dig Murfreesboro, TN’s Serotonin, an emo / post-hardcore act with a steely '80s shred band guitar tone who play like they want people in the pit to twirl around ecstatically instead of slam dancing. A lot of the other nasty yowling cat speedballs on Israfel don’t really catch my ear, but that’s okay—I’m weirdly proud of them 27 years after the fact for being themselves and getting out whatever they needed to get out through this violence.

The package’s tone is all over the place. The zine opens with a haunting description of the compilation’s beneficiaries, the family of a pair of little girls with spinal muscular atrophy (a common birth defect) whose condition worsened until they perished, leaving their parents distraught and financially ruined—and the 21-year-old compiler racked with guilt that he didn’t somehow do more to help. From there, it whips through his heterodox thoughts about the hardcore scene (despicably self-absorbed; unresponsive to requests from label operators); the state of emo (too abstract); the best way to bring about change (working within the capitalist system); rape (it’s bad; consent is black and white; can we stop litigating this in the scene?); calling the cops (fine to do); disrespecting the American flag (played out; tacky); and drinking/drug use (“when did self-destruction become rebellion?”). After he finishes up, each band (that got their artwork in on time anyway) gets a page to talk about themselves. This section is full of old school punk zine/leaflet treasures, with designs that mimic motel newspaper ads, postcards, messy handwritten perzines, and Xeroxed 7” grindcore sleeves.

It's funny reading his scornful words about pseudo-rebellious drunkards stumbling toward “the day when punk rock is shelved for an 8 hour workday, Budweiser, and television” and then finding his LinkedIn, where he describes himself as “driving omnichannel excellence” and as “whimsical (after coffee).” You wouldn’t believe it from the splenetic angst of the Israfel zine, but the guy seems like he turned out happy and normal, with a few kids and a successful career. I wonder how the 21-year-old would see the 48-year-old, if he’d call him a sell-out or feel relieved that things worked out; if the 48-year-old would pity his former self, or feel ashamed about losing his edge. More one-time zinesters and hardcore kids end up looking square from a distance than you’d think (I certainly do if you catch me during the workday), because you usually stop hearing about them when they drop out of the scene. For most, the quiet part of life is the larger portion by far. It’s your choice whether to embrace that, mourn it, or seek your own alternative. But if Israfel reminds us of nothing else, it’s the importance of having a good scream at least once in your life.

364/365

[govindhtech]

Obsidian And RTX AI PCs For Advanced Large Language Model

How to Utilize Obsidian‘s Generative AI Tools. Two plug-ins created by the community demonstrate how RTX AI PCs can support large language models for the next generation of app developers.

Obsidian Meaning

Obsidian is a note-taking and personal knowledge base program that works with Markdown files. Users may create internal linkages for notes using it, and they can see the relationships as a graph. It is intended to assist users in flexible, non-linearly structuring and organizing their ideas and information. Commercial licenses are available for purchase, however personal usage of the program is free.

Obsidian Features

Electron is the foundation of Obsidian. It is a cross-platform program that works on mobile operating systems like iOS and Android in addition to Windows, Linux, and macOS. The program does not have a web-based version. By installing plugins and themes, users may expand the functionality of Obsidian across all platforms by integrating it with other tools or adding new capabilities.

Obsidian distinguishes between community plugins, which are submitted by users and made available as open-source software via GitHub, and core plugins, which are made available and maintained by the Obsidian team. A calendar widget and a task board in the Kanban style are two examples of community plugins. The software comes with more than 200 community-made themes.

Every new note in Obsidian creates a new text document, and all of the documents are searchable inside the app. Obsidian works with a folder of text documents. Obsidian generates an interactive graph that illustrates the connections between notes and permits internal connectivity between notes. While Markdown is used to accomplish text formatting in Obsidian, Obsidian offers quick previewing of produced content.

Generative AI Tools In Obsidian

A group of AI aficionados is exploring with methods to incorporate the potent technology into standard productivity practices as generative AI develops and speeds up industry.

Community plug-in-supporting applications empower users to investigate the ways in which large language models (LLMs) might improve a range of activities. Users using RTX AI PCs may easily incorporate local LLMs by employing local inference servers that are powered by the NVIDIA RTX-accelerated llama.cpp software library.

It previously examined how consumers might maximize their online surfing experience by using Leo AI in the Brave web browser. Today, it examine Obsidian, a well-known writing and note-taking tool that uses the Markdown markup language and is helpful for managing intricate and connected records for many projects. Several of the community-developed plug-ins that add functionality to the app allow users to connect Obsidian to a local inferencing server, such as LM Studio or Ollama.

To connect Obsidian to LM Studio, just select the “Developer” button on the left panel, load any downloaded model, enable the CORS toggle, and click “Start.” This will enable LM Studio’s local server capabilities. Because the plug-ins will need this information to connect, make a note of the chat completion URL from the “Developer” log console (“http://localhost:1234/v1/chat/completions” by default).

Next, visit the “Settings” tab after launching Obsidian. After selecting “Community plug-ins,” choose “Browse.” Although there are a number of LLM-related community plug-ins, Text Generator and Smart Connections are two well-liked choices.

For creating notes and summaries on a study subject, for example, Text Generator is useful in an Obsidian vault.

Asking queries about the contents of an Obsidian vault, such the solution to a trivia question that was stored years ago, is made easier using Smart Connections.

Open the Text Generator settings, choose “Custom” under “Provider profile,” and then enter the whole URL in the “Endpoint” section. After turning on the plug-in, adjust the settings for Smart Connections. For the model platform, choose “Custom Local (OpenAI Format)” from the options panel on the right side of the screen. Next, as they appear in LM Studio, type the model name (for example, “gemma-2-27b-instruct”) and the URL into the corresponding fields.

The plug-ins will work when the fields are completed. If users are interested in what’s going on on the local server side, the LM Studio user interface will also display recorded activities.

Transforming Workflows With Obsidian AI Plug-Ins

Consider a scenario where a user want to organize a trip to the made-up city of Lunar City and come up with suggestions for things to do there. “What to Do in Lunar City” would be the title of the new note that the user would begin. A few more instructions must be included in the query submitted to the LLM in order to direct the results, since Lunar City is not an actual location. The model will create a list of things to do while traveling if you click the Text Generator plug-in button.

Obsidian will ask LM Studio to provide a response using the Text Generator plug-in, and LM Studio will then execute the Gemma 2 27B model. The model can rapidly provide a list of tasks if the user’s machine has RTX GPU acceleration.

Or let’s say that years later, the user’s buddy is visiting Lunar City and is looking for a place to dine. Although the user may not be able to recall the names of the restaurants they visited, they can review the notes in their vault Obsidian‘s word for a collection of notes to see whether they have any written notes.

A user may ask inquiries about their vault of notes and other material using the Smart Connections plug-in instead of going through all of the notes by hand. In order to help with the process, the plug-in retrieves pertinent information from the user’s notes and responds to the request using the same LM Studio server. The plug-in uses a method known as retrieval-augmented generation to do this.

Although these are entertaining examples, users may see the true advantages and enhancements in daily productivity after experimenting with these features for a while. Two examples of how community developers and AI fans are using AI to enhance their PC experiences are Obsidian plug-ins.

Thousands of open-source models are available for developers to include into their Windows programs using NVIDIA GeForce RTX technology.

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