#also an excellent pun for the ep title

[absolutebl]

10 Best BL Shows with the Hottest Sexitimes

Because this is English and word order matters, this title means the show itself has to be good AS WELL AS the scenes high heat, as opposed to the best sex scenes in BL. The two are not necessarily the same list. Anyway I tried to pick both high heat and a fun show. This was hard (pun intended).

FYI expect triggers with your high heat.

(Oh right. For me to get a 3/3 heat rating the BL has simulated sex in it or very close to it. And usually one or more other sexual acts like bjs, a-ply, etc...)

So, I went to the spreadsheet, and sorted it by high heat and then ranking, and here is what I got. I think #1 will surprise you. What will not surprise you is it's mostly Thai and Taiwanese.

10. TharnType (and follow ups)

Thai 2019 Viki

Should it still rank, all these years later? I am sorry to say, yes it should. University setting, great acting and complex characters, interesting friendship groups, enemies to lovers, seriously angsty coming out, high production values, AMAZING chemistry, multiple BL side couples with all the issues, damaging queer rep, strong seme/uke and husband/wife language, classic tropes and lots of them bad.

But it's famous for a reason.

This was KinnPorsche before KinnPorsche.

9. Addicted: Heroin

China 2016 Viki

When Chinese BL was good it was very dirty good and when it was bad it was censored. This is the model for that statement: rich kid falls madly for the genius poor kid in his class, starts an aggressive pursuit, includes kidnapping for love, obsession, stepbrother trope, plus some cheating. I love this BL because of what I could have been.

Just stop watching it after The Sex Scene. Okay?

8. Love Stage!!

Thai 2022 YouTube

This BL surprised me with its charm. The acting was good, the leads were appealing, support cast on point, and the production values high. It followed the original manga story arc relatively closely: boy falls in love with girl as a child, grows up to discover girl is actually a very pretty boy.

Although there are some quintessentially Thai changes that mellowed, softened, and extended the romance arc and heat levels.

7. HIStory 4: Close to You

Taiwan 2021 Viki

Nancy Chen directs, the side dish plot is basically a pastiche of problematic BL tropes inherited from the above. Great chemistry, high heat, stepbrothers, dubcon, obsession, stalker etc…

They sexy tho.

6. My Day

Pinoy 2020 YouTube

The set up on this one is enemies (also boss/employee) and they don’t like each other to start. But that gets resolved pretty quickly. And then they are some of the cutest, hottest, and best boyfriends ever.

This is an under-appreciated BL, IMHO.

5. Cutie Pie

Thai 2022 YouTube

Very high production (and heat) and a lot of visual references to live action yaoi gave this show a whiff of Japan but ultimately it stayed firmly in Thailand’s BL camp veering from absurd to appealing to annoying and then back to absurd again. If you can roll with the arranged marriage conceit and very lifestyle D/s relationships, the chemistry is spot on even if the plot is naff and driven by miscommunication.

Watch this one for the pretty, give it a pass on depth. (It has depth, it just depth of tongue kisses.)

Also the follow up: Naughty Babe

4. Bed Friend

Thai 2023 YouTube but for high heat you'll net to watch on iQIYI

Office frienamies transition a flaming hot one night stand into a f-buddy relationship that is built on a puppy/cat dynamic (and kinks into it at one point). Our puppy is loyal, smitten, and protective with endlessly longing eyes, while our cat is snarky, prickly, and deeply damaged (ALL THE TRIGGERS).

NetJames give lovely high-heat with excellent chemistry and tuned-in performances of surprising depth, unfortunately the story ultimately failed them. Had the show had the strength of its convictions and kept to a tighter, darker, harsher 8 eps it would have been the first high heat to earn a 10/10 from me, but once they fussed with it, it dropped to a solid 8/10. Could have been great but was overworked.

Still if high heat is your thing, this one will not let you down.

3. HIStory 3: Trapped

Taiwan 2019 Viki

Basically the definition of enemies to lovers from Lin Pei Yu. This is a cop + the mafia man he is chasing but WAIT, they fall in love. Added bonus side couple: assassin and nerd cop ALSO falling in love. It’s great. All the leads are stellar. Its high heat, fun action, and a bit of a mystery drama but pretty about all of it.

My only warning is that the main couple doesn’t entirely end up together, it’s implied, but… amorphous ending.

2. Why R U?

Thai 2020 Viki

No one knows what’s going on, not even the characters, but absolutely no one cares 'cause it's so thirsty. The plot seems to be "great chemistry and make sure Zee's shirts are NEVER BUTTONED PROPERLY." We, the collective, have a pro Hawaiian shirt anti-button stance, so rah rah rah! (Still the most confusing thing about this show is: why they didn't just title it YRU?)

The FighterTuror sex scenes still stand as some of the best ever fielded in a Thai BL. I will not be entertaining opposition on this matter.

1. Be Loved In House: I Do

Taiwan 2021 Viki

A cute classy office set BL with a few plot raised eyebrows, but no other concerns. ALL THE TROPES plus a general sweet softness that’s pretty rare from Taiwan, who usually prefer to go hard, but all their signature domesticity.

There is one high heat sex scene and it's great. But it's the whole package of classic sappy Taiwanese BL that puts this at the very top for me.

Generally just v high heat?

Hottest sex scenes in BL is frankly gonna be largely a matter of your personal taste.

But if the ones mentioned above don't work try:

KinnPorsche

Love in the Air

Big Dragon

HIStory 3; MODC (the BL that shall not be named)

Be Mine Super Star

Manner of Death (and anything else with MaxTul)

Oh My Sunshine Night (sides)

Secret Crush on You

Wedding Plan

Most dark JBL has very good high heat, but... ya know.

For @samara44 by request.

Dated Nov 2023, not responsible for amazing high head that came after.

(source)

[it-may-be-dull-but-im-determined]

is Farscape the sort of thing that takes a few episodes to find its groove? should i be patient if we're not besties right away?

(i'm prone to snap judgements and don't want to make a mistake here)

Ahhhh so Farscape can be a WILDLY interesting study in complete contradictions. I agree with everything Cat Valente says is brilliant about it in this thread and this very long and detailed essay about why you should watch Farscape and yet also I will sit there fast-forwarding great chunks of season one especially because the quality control from episode to episode is so wildly variable. When I say variable, I mean some episodes feel embarrassingly amateur at times, especially after twenty something years of higher budget, vaguely more evolved TV SF. Occasionally it doesn't know what show it's trying to be, or what show it was the previous episode. It has a terrible weakness for bad puns in episode titles. It can be trite. It can feel weirdly childish, for a show that is frequently about aliens fucking. It's really really very silly on occasion and I have a particularly very low tolerance for second hand embarrassment. Farscape can be frequently embarrassing, but the fact I'm still flailing about it after twenty something years despite that is kind of significant.

Because when it's good, it's so incredibly fucking high quality excellent. It's got all the chemistry, all the high stakes heists and the high melodrama sacrifice, all the dealing with grief and trauma and how do you deal with a legacy of repeated genocide and fascism. Everyone is a space criminal on a stolen sentient prison ship. What the fuck even is the greater good. How do you deal with being a parent. Most of the cast are emoting through inch thick layers of foam latex and the other half are wearing fetish gear (OR THEY'RE PUPPETS. OR CGI ORGANIC SENTIENT SPACESHIPS), but they're really fucking good at said emoting and it's still heartbreaking. It's been twenty years and I will still start crying if I so much as hear the season three version of the theme tune (oh god the theme song evolution).

The silly episodes throughout season one are even weirder because it does pretty much find its feet straightaway with the pilot ep - it's snappy and emotional and charming and clever, and yes the tropes are there but the tropes didn't have quite the same level of tired significance back in 1999? I watched that first ep and was cackling over how fucking fantastic it was. It was such a refreshing change in 1999 that it sailed me through any of the occasionally dodgy stuff that followed.

It's also very very... Aussie, which to me covers a lot of the humour and the sheer demented glee of what the creators wanted to run with? The cast has chemistry, in spades, and the characters flirt and fuck (and... one of them is a hot blue zen plant priestess who orgasms in bright light. Obviously.) and everything is just a little bit.. extra. It has an episode where everyone is a loony tunes cartoon. It has an episode inspired by A Clockwork Orange. It has small stabby robots. It's squelchy and makes fart jokes ALL THE TIME (mostly because one of the main puppets is a former emperor who farts helium and okay yep it's pretty funny. The other puppet is wise and kind and troubled and possibly complicit in war crimes. This fucking show I can't even).

...I'm just going to apologise for this essay, and say probably go read the Cat Valente thing because it includes much more key whether you should in fact watch Farscape information such as:

“They’re all gonna be Australian or Kiwi! Except for one guy! It’s basically gonna be a tour of Sydney’s underground club scene, even for the smallest parts! And I mean that, everyone is going to be wearing leather BDSM gear 24/7, even the heroes. I’M TELLIN’ YA WE GOT MAGDA SZUBANSKI! THIS THING IS GOLD! Literally, the whole color palette is like really gold. With most of a Crayola box taped on top of it. SPACE IS AUSTRALIAN NOW. ALL OF IT. DEAL WITH IT.”

there will be an almost unbelievable amount of goo involved. Like if there is a Goo Department, and anyone is left over after Nickelodeon’s job fair last week, we need all the goo.”

“Because of all the sex and violence that just barely doesn’t cross the decency lines we’re still kind of feeling out right now?”

“That, too. But mostly because we need all the makeup and then after we’re done turning regular humans a TON of nutbar colors, everything else is going to be just…dripping. All the time. Just drenched in slime. Good slime, bad slime, it will constantly be hard to say. But it’s like Coco Chanel always said, before you leave the house, look in the mirror and upend a bucket of colorful sludge over your head.”

[randomvarious]

1990s Deep House Playlist

Nice little update here to this growing 90s deep house playlist of mine for you all. This week I bring you a few bangers that come from three of my favorite mixes of all time: Dimitri From Paris' Monsieur Dimitri's De-Luxe House of Funk from 1997, which features Second Crusade's "May the Funk Be With You" and Sir Raymond Mang's "Number One" on it; and then Harry the Bastard's Club "H" and Tom Middleton's A Jedi's Night Out, both of which are from 1999 and feature Global Communication's "Secret Ingredients" mix of "The Way" on them.

So let's start with "The Way," because it looks like it was actually recently added to Spotify within the last year, and really, I've been wanting that thing on this playlist for a lot longer than that. An extended, near-twelve-minute groove from the UK duo of Mark Pritchard and Tom Middleton that just flows so hypnotically and manages to slowly and seamlessly transition into a completely different song in its second half. And as part of that Jedi's Night Out mix—which is actually a clever pun, because an alias that Global Communications used was Jedi Knights—it definitely has this classy, cosmo-planetary spaceship lounge vibe to it, and currently only has around 6,300 plays on Spotify. And that play count should go up as more and more people realize that this deep classic from the mid-90s is finally available on the service.

Next, "May the Funk Be With You," by Glasgow's Paul Hunter, operating under the moniker of Second Crusade. The great Dimitri From Paris really seems to be partial to dance tracks that implement a retro sound, from 60s cocktail lounge grooves, to 70s and early 80s disco, funk, and jazz fusion stuff. And this is a track that definitely has some of that in it, with its samplings of two different songs: 1976's "Intergalactic Love Song," by Charles Earland, which supplies the tune's delightfully whiny and full synth, and Denise LaSalle's own 1980 song, "May the Funk Be With You," which is responsible for its lovely vocals. So, older sounds blended with a modern house beat. Really excellent track that's currently sitting near 79,000 plays on Spotify 😌.

And lastly, "Number One," by London's Sir Raymond Mang. Very appropriately titled, this track appears to have been the first solo venture of Mang aka Laj's own career, and he seems to have aimed directly at the sun with it. A super chill and beachy vibe with a terrific lead synth that really doesn't come about until well halfway through the song, first evoking the same liberatory feeling of a keyboard solo from a classic 80s freestyle tune, and then following that up with some improvisational jazziness 🥰. All laid over a sweet lather of chill keys and a funky bass groove too. Nearing 129,000 Spotify plays.

Second Crusade - "May the Funk Be With You" Global Communication - "The Way (Secret Ingredients Mix)" Sir Raymond Mang - "Number One"

But folks, you know we're not nearly done with this post yet, because, as has become sort of my specialty here, I also added some bonus tracks to the YouTube version of this playlist too, which can't be found on Spotify 👀. A couple of these tunes are derived from that same Dimitri From Paris mix, and the other one comes from quite possibly the most eclectic, prolific, and underrated electronic musician of all time, Japan's Susumu Yokota.

Back in 1996, Yokota released a full-length LP called Cat, Mouse and Me on the legendary, Frankfurt-based-and-Sven-Väth-co-founded Harthouse label. And on that album is a track called "One Way" that also appeared on Harthouse's eclectic EP sampler, Taste It, Vol. 2, the following year as well. Somewhat simple in its construction, and with a bit of a vibe that feels more germane to early 90s techno, "One Way" gets satisfyingly cinched together when Yokota brings in a stabby flute melody to fill in all of its empty space. Currently sitting at over 10,900 YouTube plays.

Karma - "High Priestess" Yokota - "One Way" Dimitri From Paris - "Free Ton Style (Monsieur D's Classique Extension)"

And this playlist is also on YouTube Music.

So, here's where things currently stand with this playlist: on Spotify, we have 30 songs that clock in at 3 hours and 55 minutes, and over on YouTube and YouTube Music, we now wave 75 songs that clock in at 9 hours and 24 minutes. So if you want a full day or night of non-stop 90s deep house goodies, that YouTube one is definitely for you, as it has a slew of tracks from what was probably Chicago's greatest deep house label of the decade, Guidance, on it, and some great ones from a 12-inch compilation series called Bakchich that was released on Parisian label Basenotic as well, almost all of which aren't on Spotify either.

And if all of that just seems way too long for you, I'm breaking some of my 90s deep house down by year too, rather than just decade.

1996 Deep House: YouTube / YouTube Music 1997 Deep House: YouTube / YouTube Music 1998 Deep House: YouTube / YouTube Music

Enjoy!

More to come, eventually. Stay tuned!

Like what you hear? Follow me on Spotify and YouTube for more cool playlists and uploads!

[touchingoldmagic2]

S01E07 - Q-Less

Moar TNG cameoooooos! Let's go! *clap*

Julian's a dork, we all know this and love him, but I want to give an Emmy to Colm Meaney for the faces he's making during the whole scene of Julian’s academy finals story. Miles never says a word the entire scene, his face says it all for him. Just puffs out a tiny sigh as he walks away. It's perfect.

Kira: Finally, a chance to shoot through a runabout door like I've always wanted! Sisko: Major. No.

Miles only exists in episodes like this to identify who the TNG cameo characters are.

I admit, as a kid I tried to convince myself I didn't like Q much because he was such a popular character and I was one of those kids who felt threatened if I liked popular things, like it would erase my own identity to go with the crowd. Regardless, as an adult I love Q. I am so glad he gets a DS9 ep. And VGR eps! And yeah, throw him in a MLP cartoon, why the hell not!

I think it's kinda weird Vash was in the Gamma Quadrant for two years and her accumulated wealth for that whole time is just like five things? That’s the whole auction? Maybe Q took the rest of her stuff.

Promethean quartz. Yes, Star Trek writers, that is totally an alien gem stone you got there, I can now tell. Thanks.

"The captain likes a good challenge, sir." Miles gossiping about Picard's sex life to Sisko. Just DS9 things.

Hahaha the dresser drawer makes a little electronic hiss as Vash puts her clothes away. Because it's a space dresser, you see. This is the future.

"What did they call you, the god of lies?" "They meant it affectionately."

Oh to be a fly on the wall when Sisko attended the official Starfleet briefing on Q!

The entire boxing scene. Enough said.

They ran out of prosthetics for some of the auction aliens so they decided blue fabric wrapped around the head was good enough

Oh I love it when the A plot and the B plot come together so perfectly in the end! And hey, a space moth! Love it. Spaaace mooooth.

[newmusickarl]

Album & EP Recommendations

Origin of Symmetry (XX Anniversary RemiXX) by Muse

Although I would eventually be put off by a lot of their later output, there is no doubt that the early Muse releases played a big part in my musical upbringing. With their genre-bending mix of classical and rock elements, they were part of the gateway that transformed me from a Nu-Metal and Pop-Punk obsessed teenager to the young adult discovering Indie and Alternative music for the first time. Although from what I remember it was Absolution and Black Holes & Revelations that offered the first real introduction to Muse, their sophomore effort Origin of Symmetry was always one of the favourites, thanks to its complex elements and somewhat experimental nature.

Having not listened to that record for quite some years and not knowing too much about this 20th Anniversary edition, I did not really know what to expect until I strapped on my headphones and hit play. I think due to the title I was expecting a set of remixes or reimagining’s, however that is not the case here. Instead what Muse have given their fans is essentially a remastered version of the original record, but one that heightens the listening experience in every way – the production is crisper, the mix is clearer, every detail here just shines that bit brighter. This is most notable on some of the album’s standouts, such as thunderous opener New Born, the epic 7-minute centrepiece Citizen Erased and their classic Nina Simone cover Feeling Good.

Additionally, there is also a place for what was previously an exclusive track on the Japanese release – Futurism. A dazzling whirlwind of screechy guitars, whirring electronics and a soaring vocal performance from Bellamy, it is a nice reminder of why this album connected so much in the first place. Ultimately for an album that is 20 years old, Origin of Symmetry is sounding excellent for its age.

One Foot In Front Of The Other by Griff

Elsewhere this week, the recipient of this year’s BRIT Rising Star award, singer-songwriter Griff released her debut EP, the aptly-titled One Foot In Front Of The Other. Written mostly during lockdown, it’s an assured and confident release that marks Griff as one to keep track of as she navigates what is becoming an increasingly saturated pop market. However, with songs like Black Hole and the excellent title track, she may just rise above the rest.

Ø by Blood Red Shoes

The Brighton-based rock duo of Laura Mary Carter and Steven Ansell, AKA Blood Red Shoes, also marked their return this week with a thunderous new EP. Beginning with the menacing instrumental intro Water, the record soon erupts in the addictive grunge grooves of Misery Loves Company and A Little Love. That said, it is the stuttering, seductive riff of XØXØ that provides the strongest highlight on what is a mightily fun EP.

Tracks of the Week

Nothing Else Matters by Miley Cyrus featuring WATT, Elton John, Yo-Yo Ma, Robert Trujillo & Chad Smith

Yes, you read that right!

As part of their forthcoming Blacklist Album which compiles covers from 50+ iconic, well established and up-and-coming artists, each contributing a unique interpretation of their favourite Black Album track, Metallica have gathered this star-studded line-up for a new version of Nothing Else Matters. Centred on Miley’s often breathtaking vocal performance, with a backdrop of some stunning string playing from American cellist Yo-Yo Ma, this is an epic first taste of what’s to come from this colossal charity project. 

Other artist renditions still to come include those from Sam Fender, St. Vincent, Rina Sawayama, Weezer, Royal Blood, Biffy Clyro, Corey Taylor, Portugal The Man, Phoebe Bridgers, Dermot Kennedy, Chris Stapleton, Idles and many more.

Breathe by The Prodigy featuring RZA

I did not think I would be driven (pun-intended) to listen to the Fast & Furious 9 soundtrack this week, but this sizzling reimagining of the classic Prodigy single with Wu Tang Clan’s RZA rapping over the beat made the visit well-worthwhile. 

Law of Averages by Vince Staples

Also on the hip-hop front, Compton’s own Vince Staples made his long-awaited return this week with this excellent short bluesy number that references betrayal and deceit in his own sharp-tongued way.

Nervous Wreck / Storyteller by Real Friends

And finally this week, American rockers Real Friends released their first double A side (is that still a thing?!) single since the departure of long-time frontman Dan Lambton and the introduction of new lead vocalist, Cody Muraro. Both tracks are a triumph, offering up a fun slice of pop-punk that gives off the impression the band are all re-energised by this new line-up.  

[shinygoku]

Top 10 CSatM Episodes (1/2)

Ahhh, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons...! Probably only Second to Thunderbirds when it comes to the most popular and beloved Supermarination programme, with only Stingray able to compete for that coveted Silver Medal. But for me, it’s my Favourite!

I could go on and on about it, but for now I’ll go over my personal picks for a Top 10, which may give some insight into what about the way the series ticks makes it so enthralling.

Without further ado, let’s jump in! I’m not ordering them by preference, but rather the Episode order as I watched them on my DVDs (tediously the ep listings never seem to be consistent :T) Spoilers for all eps covered! ✂

Winged Assassin

Starting off my Favourites is the 2nd episode of the whole show, featuring a good condensed version of the events of Ep 1 if ya missed it and probably the best explanation on the workings of Retrometabolism that canon media is ever gonna grant us. The plot is fairly straightforward, but what elevates this is the aforementioned Exposition, which feels more organic than it did last episode, the interactions between Scarlet and Blue, and even the shocking twist at the ending, where the mission that had been going so well falls at the very last hurdle, in spite of Spectrum’s best efforts.

One of the most chilling visuals in the series is a surfaced shard of a downed passenger plane floating up from the sea, before the camera pans out to show the duplicated plane flying through the air, and another dark shot later on, of Scarlet’s limp hand with blood running down after he died in the effort to prevent the massive explosion that occurs regardless.

Winged Assassin sets a lot of standards of things to follow; traits like massive collateral damage just as part of the Mysteron’s grander scheme, the close partnership of Scarlet and Blue, Scarlet’s seldom used Sixth Sense and even the occasional downer ending, where the Mysterons manage to sneak a victory in and actually kill or destroy their stated target.

White as Snow

This episode shines a very interesting light on the dynamics between Col. White and Scarlet. It’s obviously one of a superior giving orders most of the time, but in a twist from the somewhat strict nature of Jeff Tracy over his sons who show respect to their father by not arguing back, with these two there’s actually the occassional spark of friction, that Scarlet will voice when he doesn’t like the commands and will only reluctantly go through the motions in the situation. I’m referring mostly to the first Mysteron attack, where a satellite is on a collision course with Cloudbase, but Scarlet unsubtly opposes the plan as there’s the possibility of innocent people on board who would get killed if Spectrum shot it down first. However, he’s overruled... and it turns out that it was indeed a trap, the people on board had been exploded hours ago and what was shot down was a Replicant copy. And that’s just the first half of the episode! But I find it interesting that again, back in Thunderbirds, the call to not remotely destroy something like that on the offchance it was populated would be the Correct course of action, but in this show pragmatism is needed, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

Anyway, the episode has another Mysteron attack aboard a submarine, with plenty of tension... but yet, there’s something of a comedic bend to the episode, such as a furious White shouting at the currently dead Scarlet, much to the Naval crew’s confusion, and the scene at the end which I’ve taken the picture from. The weakest part of the episode is probably Blue in charge of Cloudbase, as he doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing and I feel they coulda done more with him. Oh well! At least we got the fantastic music insert, which is also titled White as Snow.

Operation Time

Probably ranking in my Top 3, Operation Time is pretty remarkably both one of the most tension filled... yet an extremely funny episode. I guess some of that’s just due to my own odd sense of humour, though some moments are clearly intentional. Both the operation scenes, the Mysteron’s pursuit of the Doctor, and finally Spectrum chasing the Mysteron!Doctor are all played very suspensefully, and I find myself holding my breath. But then the funny scenes, like everything with Magenta and how hilariously pissy and unsubtle the Fake!Doctor gets leave me in stitches! [pun unintended lol]

I dunno, maybe some of the amusement effect is enhanced by the strong contrast between the scenes. Also we get a very grisly death for the Fake!Doctor and this episode establishes weaknesses for the Mysterons that will come up in future instalments. There’s a lot this ep has to offer, even something of an insight into 60′s medicine (though the series is set in 2068). While an extremely minor point, both the scenes with operations have the pssssshh.....fsssssshhhh sound that I associate with ventilators even though they ain’t being used, what’s up with that? But it’s another thing to add to the Atmosphere so s’all good, man.

Odd that I can’t think of much else to put here, I love it so much but maybe it’s so solid in the couple of things it does that’s all there really is to say? I’m feeling frustrated at how I don’t seem to have written enough for it, but trust me when I say it’s excellent and that it’s absolutely a Must Watch if you’re giving the series a look. (Though again, I’m spoiling each ep covered so uhh... read at your own risk if you’re using this to judge it!)

The Heart of New York

An interesting tale that I’ve actually Heard more than I’ve watched, as the audio adaptation is a free sample on the official Gerry Anderson site! [At least at the time of writing lmao, it’s worth a look anyway. This message was not paid for.]

This story is somewhat unique in that the Mysterons’ plan is pretty tame by their standards. They want to blow up... a Bank. Sure, it contributes to the long game they play, causing disruption and destruction, but compared to the casual massive collateral damage they inflict as part of a more focused murder attempt (again, see Winged Assassin and the passenger plane) this is small potatoes. But still, they end up feeling more moral in this episode than the actual ne’er do wells, a trio of would-be Robbers. These guys are pretty assholish, deliberately using the horrible cosmic war that’s already taken lives in the triple digits to hide behind while they take their pickings from a vault. Captain Black locking these morons in with the explosives feels like poetic justice, that they really did get what they wanted and are punished in kind.

Maybe this feeds the Mysteron’s point, that humans are aggressive, corrupt and selfish... though Colonel White challenges this view at the end of the episode, stating the robbers aren’t indicative of humanity as a whole. The whole shebang is a lot like The Twilight Zone, honestly. All we need is Rod Serling to open and close the episode...

Point 783

This episode is a bit harder to go into depth on, to be honest, it’s not one with a particular gimmic that makes it more memorable, but it’s a very solid ep all the same. There’s still a fair few layers that keep me thinking, like how it seems one of the Methane Trunk drivers had seemingly been Mysterionised offscreen to enable the Mysteron’s main pawns to me made. Then the first attempt to kill the Supreme Commander is thwarted by Scarlet’s (somewhat inconsistant) Mysteron Sense and perspex tubes that take their sweet time to descend and don’t even prioritise the actual target lol

Anyway, the meat of the episode is focused on the guest vehicle, the Unitron implacable unmanned Tank that can be controlled remotely by human operator or programmed to destroy something particular, and it will not stop or slow down no matter what’s thrown at it. Something something Proto-Drone Warfare commentary. The Mysterons’ last big attempt to assassinate today’s dude has one of their Mysterionised guys from earlier become the target, unknown to everyone else until he draws his gun inside the SPV (who even points out the 6th sense didn’t activate!). Scarlet gets shot 3 times but manages to eject himself and the Supreme Commander, which leads to the above scene, which offers a nice, human response.

Mr Supreme Commander later chews Blue out as it emerges instead of Scarlet going to a Hospital within 10 minutes, Spectrum insisted on waiting for one of their Helicopters to pick him up, which took 3 hours. Poor Blue has to try reassuring the army guys that Scarlet will be fine, truuuuust hiiiim. It makes me wonder if Spectrum is making things easier or harder overall by keeping his Retrometabolism under their hats, though I can understand they’d have reservations, but just trying to gloss over it with a ‘no no, it’s fine, he’ll get better.’ type answer doesn’t seem all that convincing. But I enjoy that it’s semi challenged here. And this episode summary ended up longer than expected cause all the Thinking I’ve done, haha!

=======

This has gotten a lot longer than expected and will be Two Parts! Find the second half here~

[meadowmines]

MAG121-124

I imagine Jon coming back to work was a lot like that gif from Community. You know exactly which gif.

MAG121: Oh hey, Oliver. Long time no see. Yeah, I guess dreaming about deathvines all over the place all the time can get kind of exhausting, kinda don’t blame you for going full ham with the identity theft, but--OKAY YES HI HELLO OUT OF ALL THE THINGS I THOUGHT MIGHT BE FORESHADOWING IN THIS EP, A PASSING MENTION OFSATELLITES FALLING THERE WASN’T IT. Jesus. 

Oh hi, Georgie! ...ooooh shit, she knows he’s been Touched By The End.

And given what Oliver just said about Jon’s choice, I was both very relieved and very unnerved to hear him start breathing again.

MAG122: okay yeah no there is no way Daisy is dead. Didn’t see a corpse, and it’s probably safe to say that coffin a) can’t be destroyed by mundane means and b) is a portable hole that led somewhere that wouldn’t get blowed up real good. Also Death is probably scared shitless of her, as anyone or anything with two brain cells to rub together should be. So no. Daisy aten’t dead. 

....uggggggggggh haven’t we heard enough of The Stranger’s shit for a while? C’mon man. Oh but here’s a new wrinkle: baddie static in the recording when Jon reads what the zombie says. And in the next ep or two as well. This is new and very disturbing.

MAG123: o hi Melanie--JESUS CHRIST WHAT THE HELL 

...The Flesh attacked the Institute? I both want to hear about this and very much do not want to hear about this because, well, The Flesh. Eww. ...and Melanie found one (1) knife and held it off? Yyyyyep. Melanie is very much Eat Up With The Slaughter and there is no possible way this can end well for anyone.

So... nobody has seen Peter except Martin. That’s kind of yikes, but at least Peter isn’t, you know, murdering people...

...what’s that, Basira? two researchers disappeared when they didn’t do what he said, you say?

...

Well... at least he hasn’t bludgeoned anyone super important to death with a pipe? Aheh. Oh god. And by the sound of it, he’s either a) training Martin in how2Lonely Avatar or b) fattening him up to feed him to The Lonely.

Still, even though I’m sure he’s going to turn out worse than Elias somehow, the distinct lack of outright mind-rape is still making it hard for me to not see him as an improvement.

Anyway, the statement. ...Jonny, we gotta talk about these Godawful pun titles. Jesus. So yeah, obviously right out of the gate we got Web shit going on, right down to Maybe Annabelle? And... “ Chelicerae.“ Quick little Google and... oh good, spider mouth parts! Excellent! Wonderful! Rad!

Oh cool, so the website what makes people die has had the names of a few statement-givers fed to it including one (1) notable arachnophobe! Eeeehhhh gross.

MAG124: Important safety tip: never get on a plane, boat, or cable car with Simon Fairchild. Ever. 

Yeah, there’s a marked difference between him and Mike Crew. Mike just yeeted the occasional person off into the wild blue yonder because he had to hold up his end of whatever deal with The Vast got the lightning-thing off his ass. Simon might be doing it to feed himself/his patron but he’s also getting a great deal of lulz out of it and I am 110% with Jon on that being highly fucking disturbing.

Oh hey, Martin’s back! ...oh. oof. this is uncomfortable. ...uhhhhhh Martin’s on a first-name basis with Peter now? After he made a point of not wanting to do that in 120? NO SIR, I DON’T LIKE IT. ...ugh this is heartbreaking to listen to, Martin, please don’t get eat up with The Lonely, y’all need to hug

Also, running theme here: look, guys, I get that things have been bad what with The Flesh starting shit with you and Peter feeding the occasional insubordinate researcher to The Lonely and Tim being dead and Daisy being definitely not dead but very missing and all that but Jesus Christ people Jon did not ask to spend six months in a coma, and y’all are all treating him like he just up and fucked off to Hawaii and spent that six months in a beach chair sipping cocktails out of coconut shells or some shit. ...okay, Melanie has Slaughter cooties and no that is not an excuse but it is an explanation at least. But man, I feel awful for Jon right now.

[dndeed]

Critical Role Miniature Rollout: C2E67

With Andrew Harshman

An archive and review of the minis used on Critical Role.

Quality episode, particularly in the encounter design department. Encounters with alternate objectives are so refreshing and engaging. In this session we are treated to a timed encounter, a puzzle encounter, and a spider encounter. What a deal. And the maps, as always, are stellar. The offset descending stairway was especially striking, what a smart and sharp way to present the combat. This episode ties the Campaign 2 map number record with three maps. Still holding out for that record breaking four map ep, but in the meantime let’s check out the E67 minis.

Start the clock, it’s time for Critical Role Miniature Rollout Campaign 2 Episode 67!

The List

Campaign Coins DEVEN RUE COMPASS ROSE

Mats by Mars: Shattered Soil

Zeckos Dragon and Pentagram Black Stone Finish Hourglass Sand Timer

Combat Tiers Elevation Set

LITKO Flying Figure Stands

Dungeons and Dragons Condition Markers by thelukec

Wizkids Pools and Pillars

Crown of Fangs Dressing: Lectern

Classic Dungeon Remastered Core Set

Dwarven Forge Double Doors

Dwarven Forge Mountain Peak Pack

Dwarven Forge Rock Cave-in / Rocky Slope

Dwarven Forge Stone Rubble

Dwarven Forge Spider Web

Dwarven Forge Caverns

Dwarven Forge Dungeon of Doom Doors and Bars Insert

Dwarven Forge Large Tower Fortified

Dwarven Forge LED Castle Assortment Valorian Spire

Dwarven Forge Door Pack/Dungeons

Dwarven Forge Chamber of Sorrows

Dwarven Forge Warded Door

D&D Icons of the Realms Miniatures: Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage - Halaster’s Lab Premium Set

Steamforged Games Critical Role Miniatures

HeroForge Jester Duplicity Miniature

Steamforged Games Cat Claws

Dungeons & Dragons Spell Effects: Arcane Fury & Divine Might

Custom Lollipop Spiritual Weapon

Elemental Evil #008 Wolf Spider

Dungeon Command Giant Spider / Dragoneye #54 Large Monstrous Spider

Dungeons of Dread #54 Deathjump Spider / Dungeon Command Demonweb Spider / Castle Ravenloft Board Spider

Underdark #57 Spider of Lolth

Monster Menagerie #033 Invisible Stalker

Deadly Foes #032 Giant Eagle

Lords of Madness #39 Roc

Rise of the Runelords #007 Ghoul / Undead Horde #003 Ghoul

Tomb of Annihilation #009 Chultan Zombie

Elemental Evil #009 Ghoul

Demonweb #46 Corruption Corpse

Against the Giants #07 Visceral Devourer

Undead Horde #004 Zombie

Rusty Dragon Inn #005 Vampire Spawn

Unhallowed #44 Strahd Zombie

Monster Menagerie 2 #008 Ghast

Monster Menagerie #026 Swarm of Bats

Miniature Chains

The Nonhuman Animals

Giant Spider Dungeon Command Giant Spider / Dragoneye #54 Large Monstrous Spider

Not an especially exciting or interesting monstrous spider. But it does deliver in the biological design department. This spider looks reasonably realistic, like an arachnid that could legitimately exist. The original sculpt is from the D&D Miniatures Game and the onscreen spider is from the Dungeon Command reprint.

Adolescent Giant Spiders  Dungeons of Dread #54 Deathjump Spider / Dungeon Command Demonweb Spider / Castle Ravenloft Board Spider, Underdark #57 Spider of Lolth, Elemental Evil #008 Wolf Spider Mini images in this section sourced from minisgallery.com Yikes. If this were a Call of Cthulhu campaign some party members would definitely have arachnophobia. Quite a few figures in this fight. A proper skittering swarm of spiders with some properly spidery models.

Deathjump Spider basically looks like a giant tarantula in a deadly jumping pose, a Death Jump if you will. A grand sculpt to be sure. So grand in fact that the sculpt has appeared in three different D&D products (two prepainted and one unpainted). The paint jobs look pretty unique, I would guess these are Matthew Mercer specials. Painted copies of the unpainted spider figures from the Castle Ravenloft Boardgame.

So here we have a black widow sorta design with the Spider of Lolth mini. Some quick questions regarding the title of this miniature, doesn’t Lolth hold sway over all spiderkind? How come this one particular spider gets the official Lolth title? What’s so great about this spider eh? Well the eight bright red eyes are a neat little paint detail. But the rest of the paint is nothing to write home about. And the legs are kind of spindly and goofy. Not the best spider, not the worst.

If there were a spider that Lolth would want nothing to do with, it’d probably be the Elemental Evil Wolf Spider. Totally puzzling gray/blue paint scheme, a very blobby, ill-defined sculpt, and an inaccurate name. This does not look like a wolf spider, nor is it the size of an average D&D miniature wolf. But when you have a whole mob of spiders on the table, a few stinkers are hardly noticeable.

Jester Giant Eagle Deadly Foes #032 Giant Eagle

Don’t look behind you Fjord! This figure has kind of a weird flight stand. But it works really well, so there’s not much to complain about. It’s a little wobbly, but the pose is well balanced. Excellent model resolution, all the features and sculpt details are really nicely defined. The sculpt fidelity is high enough that the flat paint actually looks pretty good. On a simpler model this paint scheme would be quite unflattering.

Caleb Giant Eagle Lords of Madness #39 Roc

A glamorous model. Just look at that majestic pose! I’m not especially into the inclusion of a stone on the base. Did the modeler/artist put a rock in the roc’s talon as some sort of delightful pun? Surely this has to be intentional. The paint on this figure is a little messy, but overall it’s a righteous roc.

The Monsters

Invisible Stalker Monster Menagerie #033 Invisible Stalker Mini image in this section sourced from minisgallery.com

A high quality miniature of a rather intangible creature concept. This figure is surprisingly true to the Invisible Stalker 5E Monster Manual art. A slightly funny looking pose on its own. But when positioned behind the mini of an unwitting victim this figure really sings!

The Zombies

A veritable horde of zombies contained in a single combat. Excluding the Mad Mage Preserved Corpse terrain pieces, there are a total of nine zombie representing miniatures. What do you say we rank them?

9. Strut Zombie Monster Menagerie 2 #008 Ghast

A decently good movement pose, but dirty paint and crummy model definition in the face.

8. Shredded Zombie Elemental Evil #009 Ghoul

A boring pose and paint scheme with reasonably defined muscle definition in the sculpt resolution.

7. Lunging Zombie Rusty Dragon Inn #005 Vampire Spawn

If it were not for the extremely kinetic and engaging pose, this model would have a worse ranking. The resolution on this model is pretty poor with bare feet that look like shoes and fists that look like spheres.

6. Neon Guts Zombie Unhallowed #44 Strahd Zombie

A model with perceivable toes and fingers. Fine sculpt fidelity but a terribly flat paint job. This zombie’s guts are hanging out, but they are oddly neon colored. Practically the same color as Caleb’s cat claws.

5. Skull-Wielding Zombie Rise of the Runelords #007 Ghoul / Undead Horde #003 Ghoul

Nice details, fun pose, neato skull and loincloth accessories. This dude kind of looks like he’s bowling.

4. Stylish Zombie Tomb of Annihilation #009 Chultan Zombie

This figure really stands out on account of its costume design. It’s very refreshing to have a generic commoner zombie that’s not wearing the same old generic medieval peasant garb. Also, this sculpt is pretty sharp and sports some clever undead details. This zombie is clearly malnourished. Bones and wasting muscle are visible in the plastic casting. Really nice. Really original.

3. Gnarly Zombie Demonweb #46 Corruption Corpse

Gross! Look at this thing. On second thought, don’t look. This is some Return of the Living Dead basement zombie level nastiness. The resolution on this figure is on point. All the visible bits of the skeleton and the textured filth sloughing off this creature is simply delightful. Of course I wish the paint were a tad more complex, but the simple paint is pretty effective on its own. 

2. Left 4 Dead Smoker Zombie Against the Giants #07 Visceral Devourer

A relic from miniature days of yore. When miniatures sculpts were literally sculpted. A relatively straightforward pose with so many beautiful details. The textures of the hanging clothing, the grimy shin guards, and the shredded undead flesh. This is the sort of richly shaped figure that is rarely seen outside this era of prepainted figures. Glorious.

1. Pincushion Zombie Undead Horde #004 Zombie

I’m a sucker for a properly battlescarred zombie. This zombie has a total of three projectiles stuck in him. Totally brutal. And on top of that, the toe of his left boot is busted open and he’s lost one of his gloves. But this undead dude could not care less, look at that expression, look at that pose, he’s having the time of his life (ironically)! This figure always gets a great response at the table. Players love it. I love it. You should love it too. 

Closing Remarks

As a DM who recently ran a miniature zombie horde, I really appreciate the variety and sheer quantity of undead in this session. Quite impressive indeed. This dungeon delve is proving to be quite the trek. This is certainly a dangerous place to take a rest. Sleep tight Mighty Nein.

#criticalroleminiaturerollout 

[bookenders]

WIP Blind Date Spinoff: How to Save the World in 12 Easy Steps

[Do you wanna read another amazing WIP? Do a spinoff!]

First Spinoff Date! Yay! I rolled the dice (literally) and got @cookiecuttercritters Fantasy/Scifi Kitchen sink slash Slice of Life screenplay.

Here’s the Blind Date Intro post - I highly recommend checking it out.

Now, on with the show!

[I read up to ep. 5, btw! It’s fantastic! Everyone go read it right now!]

General impression of WIP: Title, yes. WIP intro, yes. Concept, yesss. This is my exact brand of weird bonkers shenanigans. I can totally see this being sold as a script book; it’s ripe for the imagining.

Character intros in the script are solid. Not sure how formatting works for alien-ish characters, but I think you nailed it. (I come from the desert and have seen news stations fry eggs on car hoods and bake car cookies, so the opening made me chuckle.) I think I might be the target audience for this kind of story because I love me a good cliche/genre trope giggle served with a dollop of the absurd.

It kinda reminds me of Futurama, actually, the way everything is set up visually. And I love it.

Favorite part of WIP: The visual puns (and just puns in general) are great. The sidewalk eggs not being fried right before the cutaway, EXIT PURSUED BY BEAR (Shakespeare nerd is appeased), the Clark Kent reference, all of the subverted and poked-fun-at tropes and stereotypes, I love ‘em all.

I wish I could tell you every single one I loved, but that’d just be a really long list of out of context jokes. Which would be a sin, because you should really read the pages to experience them at full pun strength. 

A compliment about writing style: Dude. The dialogue? Quirky, snappy, and fun. Your style really lends itself to self-awareness, too, which is perfect for this kind of humor writing that evolves into something bigger than it started as. 

Favorite character: John Smith! I’m a sucker for the everyman. And he’s serving such a crucial role in this story: he’s the litmus test. He’s the guy you look at to remember that oh, no, normal exists and it’s not this dude. And of course he’s the Chosen One’s go-to guy. 

And I see that his role gets a lot more complicated as the story goes on. I, for one, am psyched to see where he ends up in the grand scheme of things.

A post that I liked a lot: Just one? Ugh, fine. This art is gorgeous and I really get a feel for her character! Also, all the episode posts. Because they’re excellent.

What I’m looking forward to seeing next: I really wanna finish the whole season and learn more about how everyone is connected. The plot you’re weaving is intricate and intriguing as hell. I wanna see where this goes!

Anything else?:

If you don’t have a copy already, I recommend picking up The Screenwriter’s Bible. I had to read it for two of my film classes and it’s a lifesaver (another is Story by Robert McKee, which is more popular and well-known and works as a writing guidebook too!). 

I’m not sure what medium you’re going for - like, podcast or tv serial or web series or what have you, and a lot of scripting advice will be only relative to that medium, and my experience is with feature/short film and television series, so I can’t really comment on that. 

If you want more nitty-gritty commentary/concrit, shoot me a message! I know a lot of people don’t like that kind of thing being public. 😊

[threshie]

Supernatural 14.18, 14.19, And 14.20 Thoughts

I knew Jack would end up in the box and I doubted he'd stay there, but that was a good twist on how -- the writers made the box seem like an absolute thing, everybody believed it, so Jack simply overpowering it was actually a surprise. After saving up Supernatural episodes 14.18, 14.19, and 14.20, I have now watched them all back-to-back and I can discuss spoileriffic things about them in this post! :D

First 14.18. Highlights of this ep for me: 

It's the grander version of the scene with Jack accidentally stabbing one of the Lebanon kids and fixing it. Only this time it's bigger and it can't just be fixed. Jack's missing his soul, but he's still trying to be good.

Loved that Rowena, who in the past might have double-crossed Jack immediately, actually WAS putting together the ingredients and was going to try the spell for him until she saw there was no body to resurrect. Mary got a pyre, Mary got to go to Heaven, and we got Mary flashbacks.

I especially liked the scene flashback with Cas and Mary where she wouldn't let him heal her. That's not only underscoring how strange it was still to Mary to have an angel there and an ally (in her day all monsters = bad, like Dean in first few seasons) it also show how much she and Dean were alike, not wanting to just heal up from injuries even if given the option. I wouldn't be at all surprised if she has a similar self-punishing mindset as Dean does when he thinks he deserves injuries.

14.19 highlights for me: 

Somebody took the opportunity to make a pun with that episode title, LOL. Loved Cas not being intimidated by Heaven anymore in the least, and shanking Dumah when she used Jack. I'm curious if Cas is now ruler of Heaven because he killed her.

Soul or no soul, Jack's motivations are very much the same: he wants to be accepted and to have a family and to make his dads happy. I appreciate Cas saying outright, Jack is still just a child. He's 2, he really is, superpowers or not. =(

I knew Jack would end up in the box and I doubted he'd stay there, but that was a good twist on how -- the writers made the box seem like an absolute thing, everybody believed it, so Jack simply overpowering it was actually a surprise.

Nephilim ARE more powerful than the archangel that sired them, though, so it makes perfect sense. It's sad that Jack's grace came back and let him have full power after his soul was burnt up. If he'd just gotten both back, he probably would've been okay.

14.20 highlights: 

I got a kick out of the humor in the first part of the episode. And though Jack was upset about his family lying to him, after his grandmother confronted him about HIM lying he seemed to realize he can't just declare the Winchesters bad for lying if he did too.

All I knew going into this episode was that there was some huge plot twist, and that folks seem excited for S15 so the finale did not bomb. I did not expect Chuck to return, and I REALLY didn't expect Chuck to get pissed when his characters didn't follow the outline...

...and to just decide to end the world. I friggin' love Cas's line "He's a writer, writers lie." Ahahaha, as a writer I have always appreciated the writer interpretation of Chuck and Metatron, and Cas said it so seriously. It was great.

Thank goodness Cas got to be a badass dad here and do what he felt was right, not just follow the Winchesters. When Dean said get onboard or walk away, he promptly walked away. Dean was in 'do what we must' mode, but Cas really has become a dad to Jack.

Thank goodness Jack got a hug. You could see that it hurt Sam a lot to trick Jack into the box, and I think the only reason Dean could even justify it is that Mary died. If Jack was a worldwide threat but they hadn't personally lost anyone thanks to him, they all would've failed.

Also, can we talk for a sec about Sam Winchester, the one who always had faith in God, willing to die in the process of shooting Chuck dead to stop him from killing Jack? And to stop Chuck from using them? Sam lost his faith this episode when Chuck said...

"Of all the Sams and Deans in all the worlds, you're my favorite," or something to that extent. Of course Chuck could have done something about Jack himself, and probably could've helped Jack if he felt like it. He wanted to see Dean shoot Jack and himself instead, though.

And when it came down to it, Dean couldn't shoot Jack. Not because he was afraid to die, either -- like Sam looking up at him and telling him he'll never be anything but good, it's okay, cut my head off, Jack told him he was right and Jack was a monster and should die.

For a second there when Sam came running, I expected him to jump in the way and for Dean to shoot Sam, and both of them to die. I'm glad that didn't happen. I'm also glad it wasn't Dean who shot Chuck -- it was Sam, same energy as grabbing Lucifer after he hit Jack. Go Moose Dad.

Since Chuck mentioned disliking Billie, and Billie wants to chat with Jack, I have a strong feeling Jack will be back in S15 in some creative way. The Empty still has that string attached to Cas that if he's ever happy he dies, but since the world's now ending, good luck Empty.

All-in-all, I think S14 was very solid (although it had a lot more Nick than I cared for), and it's rare that a show can go this many seasons and still feel like the writing and acting and production quality are all excellent, but it pulls it off. ♥ Onward, to the last Hellatus.

[brainy-storm]

S419 - I Can Come Up With Puns in my Sleep

Been having exams so just watched this episode!

General Thoughts:

SG tends to split between storylines a lot but I thought this felt even more split up, huh. From the title I thought it was going to be even more Nia centric, though James’ storyline in the Mind Palace was I suppose a ‘waking dream’ kind of thing, so that works.

Franklin was precious this episode, he thought he saved Kara pfft. (Though would have been nice to see *his* alien powers but...*side eyes CW*)

Sh** is about to go down, like oooh that look on Ben Lockwood’s face. I’m glad that his son seems to be starting to get to see what he’s being taught is wrong. I hope George doesn’t want revenge for his mum, and sees that Lockwood’s policies are violent and incurred a violent response. (I was chanting ‘unbrainwash the kid!’ at the screen everytime George popped up haha).

J’ONN!!!! Nice to see him as his Martian self (ofc he would be on his journey) and seeing My’rnn as a giant face was lovely pfft. Yay for him finally going back to his family, they certainly need him right now. He’s just going to get back and be like ‘uhhh looks like I missed a lot’. More Danvers family hugs please, thanks.

Kara’s Storyline:

Ahhh I feel so bad for her, because she wants to help people out so much, and yet she can’t do it just yet because of everything going on.

I do like seeing her investigative side and using her superspeed to get things done quickly  kinda like how the flash does

Ooof I can’t wait to get to do confrontation between her and Red Daughter

Nia’s Storyline:

Her puns are kinda cringe but I make equally cringy puns so I totally relate. If I was a superhero I would 100% make puns on my superhero name all the time. If she needs any more I can get a list. 

I’m confused about her powerset - again from the title I thought she’d be doing more...ya’know dreaming but guess not. She’s got - and I quote from friends - ‘green lantern powers’ now. They’re basically giving her powers the Supergirl!Saturn Girl treatment.

Good to see her back at CatCo and eager to help out when she can. She’s definitely giving off that novice/sidekick hero vibes, especially in that scene where she was perched on that ladder thing, lol. 

Also, well done for her speech! Like Kara said, it was important to inspire hope and I think she definitely reached a ton of people over there. I like how she gave a lot of small details about herself, to relate to all the viewers not only in-canon but real viewers too. (I’m a Ravenclaw, fyi pfft).

Only thing I didn’t like about the speech was where she said ‘nerdy boys who think too much’ cause like *points at my icon* THIS BOY BRAINIAC 5′S MAIN CHARACTER TRAIT IS BEING EXCELLENT AT THINKING.  is it even brainy if it’s not ‘too much’ lolol 

Oooooh I’m worried about them coming after her, though. I wonder if she’s going to lie low for a while too. 

James’ Mind Palace  Storyline:

This has like a lot of characters in one so here we go...

*clutches heart* I CRIED OKAY. I CRIED FOR JAMES AND KELLY DON’T. This ep had a lot and POOR James omg. And poor Kelly too, she was crying and just AHHHH. My sibling heart felt for them so much. I’m glad that they could understand all of what happened in the end though.

JAMES TELLING BEN LOCKWOOD WAS THE BEST THING. I WAS YELLING ‘YES EFF OFF LOCKWOOD’. GET EM JAMES.

Alex & Kelly’s interactions have been great so far. I think Alex has a good read on Kelly for the short time they’ve known each other and they’re giving each other good advice. Good to build up the friendship for now....and hopefully get to the romance next season

I also like how they’ve already shown Kelly vulnerable too, and worried about what to do about all of it. It’s a tough decision to go into the Mind Palace, because she herself knows what it could do to her mentally but she’s going for her brother and like - *sobs again* I’m fine, I’m fine.

ALSO BRAINY WAS GOOD. That hologram bit at the part made me laugh so much pfffft. A bit more tasteful for humour since it was a malfunctioning hologram tech kind. 

I thought his interactions with James were excellent, like...it was calming and probably tried to be calming for James too. 

HIS TALK WITH LENAAAA WAS DONE BEAUTIFULLY. 

Brainy’s been showing his veteran hero self like every episode now. ‘I know what it’s like’ to be betrayed.  WHO BRAINY? YOUR MOTHER? COMPUTO? BOTH? GIVE ME THAT BACKSTORY I KNOW YOU HAVE IT.

The initial ‘you’re leaking’ was odd though after 4x04 ‘tears of logic’ line but maybe he was trying to make a joke....maybe...*side-eyes writers’ again*. Maybe at this point Brainy is so self-aware that people think he’s socially inept that he says stuff like that on purpose.

Speaking of Lena - AWW NOOOOO - she was so upset by it all this ep. Ii can see why she’s sad at Kara at first because yeah it seems like Kara’s just been gone, and Kara was even gone when James first got shot and Alex noticed that too. her tears when telling Kara about helping Lex was 10/10 crying, same.

but yay for kasnia popping up, let’s get it!

[astra-storm]

Astra Lost in Space Review - Ep 02: You are my sunshine, my dear tsun-shine! (1/2)

...If you cringed at the title, I suppose you are a regular human being. If you snorted, then congratz you are a fellow pun person. Welcome to my second review for this show!  This will be spoiler-free from future parts of the manga. 

Episode 01 covered chapters 1 and 2 from the mange. Episode 02 covered 3 until 7.

The Good Stuff

The backgrounds for the world are beautiful and they really brought Shinohara-sensei’s planet to life. I love the look of the world.

Sound direction is still amazing. The call of the turgon was...threatening in an excellent way. The music when they’re doing the exploration is great, and then the shift when the sphere reappears - love it!

Funicia’s voice actor did splendid! Super realistic crying for a kid. Reminds me of my younger siblings when they were younger (lol).

I like how they framed Quitterie/s backstory...she gets a different kind of ‘frame’ to Kanata’s, I suppose cause hers is less ‘intense’ but it fits the mood.

I loveeee how they take time with the exploration part, which gives you a good sense of wonder. 

The balance of humour and plot and character development hits all the right spots for me. They took what was the most important bits from these chapters and put them in, making sure none of the elements needed were lost. 

Kanata’s face when Quitterie says he’s a useless captain. 10/10. Art, voice acting, everything. 

Shoutout to YUMMY. I died. thank you. 

The New Stuff

There’s not really anything ‘new’ but there are some things cut out!

The anime cut out having Kanata not know where to direct Zack to land the ship. The other crew members contributed ideas for this, so later when Quitterie bursts out that Kanata isn’t fit to be captain, it’s a bit truer since the others also think Kanata’s orders were being vague. 

They actually stay one night over in the manga...and this is when Zack finds out the communications are damaged, but it works better in the anime since he doesn’t say it is cut intentionally or that the cuts are fresh until the end, which is a bit more intriguing. 

Quitterie gets a bit more on her backstory, where you see her being younger. It’s nothing too much but if you the backstory you got didn’t make you sympathetic towards her, it might help a little bit. Also young Quitterie is cute so boo.

Ulgar was a bit more emo and ‘I don’t want to be friends’ in these chapters but I mean...he didn’t have any lines this episode so I guess that counts hahaha.

Some of the stuff they cut out is absolutely fine, like Kanata’s explanation on how to test if something is edible or not...like useful but not essential to move the episode a long.

The Not as Good Stuff

Due to them shifting around the introductions to be in episode 01 instead of being once they reach the planet, you do lost a bit more character interaction. Not too much, but there are a few lines that are great on a re-read. Or even just plain funny which would make me laugh. I like my jokes, okay.

On my first watch I thought this was too face-paced but after a rewatch I thought it was fine, so this isn’t...really a point I guess haha. 

[inthewired]

New CDs in my collection - August 2018

>> Michael Giacchino: Incredibles 2 A great energetic soundtrack for the equally good PIXAR film. And plenty of Giacchino’s pun-laden cue titles which make even a pun aficionado such as myself roll my eyes. ;)

>> Nine Inch Nails: Not the Actual Events A little late in picking this EP up, but filling an important gap in my collection. Also, since I got the CD version, there is no bag of dirt for me. ;)

>> Pet Shop Boys: Behaviour >> Pet Shop Boys: Very >> Pet Shop Boys: Bilingual This trio of albums from the early to mid 1990s brings to a close the Further Listening series, where each proper album from 1986′s Please to 2012′s Elysium has been remastered and reissued, accompanied by a Further Listening volume containing nearly every PSB-produced non-album track (and many demos) from the corresponding album sessions. Of course, with PSB making very club-friendly music, there are scores of remixes out there, though not included in these sets, which were done by other producers. (The PSB remixes of their own tracks are included, though!) Even without the outside remixes, the number of non-album tracks found on the Further Listening volumes vastly outnumbers what did make the albums! And it’s all excellent.

>> Howard Shore: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - The Complete Recordings 3CD and BD-Audio set with every note of music from the extended version of the film. The blu-ray of course features the entire score in high resolution sound in either stereo or surround.

>> Lindsey Stirling: Brave Enough Target special edition with four bonus tracks. There’s been a lot of buzz about her for the past several years, but I just discovered her. Solo violin for the early 21st century, set to an electronic backdrop. It’s nice to know that instrumental music is still alive in the hands of younger artists. (Though eight of the sixteen tracks here do have guest vocalists on them... the highest percentage of her three regular albums thus far.)

[dustedmagazine]

Dust, Volume 4, Number 8

Sad Baxter

For the latest installment in our often-monthly roundup of shorter reviews, we've got an elusively rare CDR, a brief discussion of "Mallcore," the merging of Arabic tones with a free jazz style of performance, and some lovely, understated Aussie songwriting. Contributors include Bill Meyer, Jonathan Shaw, Jennifer Kelly, and Justin Cober-Lake

Anne-James Chaton/Andy Moor —Tout Ce Que Je Sais (Unsounds)

Tout Ce Que Je Sais (All That I Know) is the fourth cohesive recording project by vocalist Anne-James Chaton and guitarist Andy Moor, and the second under their Heretics project. Sonically, it comes full circle to the strengths of their marvelous debut, Le Journaliste. Stripped back to what the two men can do live, certain strengths come to the fore. Moor’s guitar playing, an amalgam of chugging riffs, melodic permutations and those emotion-overloading near-explosions that have been his gift to the Ex for decades, is simply fantastic. You could just listen him do his stuff and the only thing you’d be missing is the way he shadows, underlines and propels the stark unfuckwithable authority of Chaton’s delivery. The Frenchman sounds undeniable reading the contents of his wallet, but the contents here — Francophone texts borrowed from or written about heretical figures that have endorsed the idea of undoing something — can’t help but add gravity to the music. Simultaneously freewheeling and unmovable, no matter what you’ve been listening to lately, this is one record that you really ought to know.

Bill Meyer

Neon Tiger—Accessorize (Bogus Collective)

Accessorize by Neon Tiger

Mallcore is a thing, it seems, so much so that multiple, competing subgenres lay claim to the label. One doesn’t know whether to laugh or weep. Neon Tiger’s recent EP sure doesn’t clarify anything. A few of the tracks scan as celebratory invocations of the climate-controlled corporate space of the late-twentieth century shopping mall, and the various consumer pleasures to be had therein. A few tunes feature weirdly distorted baritone vocals (including “Waiting in Line,” which turns out to be a couple sections of Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” chopped up and slowed down a cycle or three; perversely, it’s compelling listening). The distortion misshapes the vocals discomfitingly enough to suggest a measure of critical distance from all the logos and fluorescent lighting and foodcourt linoleum. But it’s hard to say for sure what attitude Neon Tiger takes toward its subject matter. In that way, the EP is a perfect postmodern object—mystifying surfaces, ambivalent values, with only the commodity form as a legible presence.

Jonathan Shaw

Luke Stewart—Works for Upright Bass and Amplifier (Astral Spirits)

Works for Upright Bass and Amplifier by Luke Stewart

There was a time when you had an excuse to not know who Luke Stewart was if you were not hip to Washington, DC’s jazz scene. Given his membership in the fiery improvising-for-justice quintet Irreversible Entanglements, that time is coming to an end. But that’s only one rock on a veritable heap of live-performance and community-building work that dwarfs his still-slender discography (debut efforts by Heart of the Ghost, Heroes are Gang Leaders, Mean Crow, Trio OOO). To that you can add the 31-year-old bassist’s solo cassette. Rather typically, his voice on his instrument is strong, but it does not speak alone. First comes a burrowing feedback tone, which morphs and recurs throughout the nearly half-hour long first piece as if to say that even when you’re alone, you’re not alone. Sometimes Stewart uses that continuous presence as a springboard for knotted, bursting figures; others he lets the amplification add a red, ragged glow to sprinting pizzicato forays. Turns out that the upright bass and amplifier make good company when Stewart’s giving out the working orders.

Bill Meyer

Leo Mullins—Being Here Is Everything (Self-Released)

Being Here is Everything by Leo Mullins

Leo Mullins, an Australian songwriter also affiliated with the Small Knives, makes a low-key but excellent folk-tinged full-length here, with shimmering spiderwebs of acoustic picking and soft shadowy melodies. “Weight of the World,” with its quietly gorgeous harmonies, is maybe the pick of the litter; it is melancholic and uplifting at once, and the guitar cuts through shifting vocal textures with a clean, sure resonance. Mullins brings in Amy Galloway and Kirti Mills to add subtle, pretty embellishments to a couple of songs, the slyly percussive “This Paper Boat” cushioned and softened with dual vocals at the chorus (that’s Mills), the drone-y mysteries of “Linger On” enhanced with Galloway’s wavery unisons (she also sings on the very lovely “Weight of the World"). This latter cut is one of two to feature Mick Turner of the Dirty Three on guitar. He bows his instrument on “Linger On,” adding to the VU-ish mesh of tones and undertones that flicker through that cut. “Let the Light In” also bears his imprint, though unassumingly, in the glittering lattices of picked acoustic that are hemmed in with bells. The songs take shape slowly out of mists and aura and tone, shiver like rainbows for a little while and then subside into the air, all the prettier for their evanescence.

Jennifer Kelly

Finn Loxbo—Eter (Gikt)

Apparently Finn Loxbo is a restless sort. The Swedish musician has played punky electric bass in the jazz trio Doglife, navigated his electric guitar through the busy traffic of the Mats Gustafsson’s Fire Orchestra and recorded an album of pensive folk-rock for Kning. Now comes a solo CD, the first release by the Stockholm-based Gikt label, comprising solo improvisations on the steel-stringed acoustic guitar. Is this the real Finn? Probably not, anymore than any one good thing you do sums up the real you. But he’s pretty good at it, and it concentrates talents he’s likely developed in his other endeavors. Loxbo seems to have prepared his instruments strings and mic-ed them closely, yielding gamelan-like sonorities on one piece, Derek Bailey meets razor wire fence sound-spikes on another and soft abrasions on a third. Each of the album’s seven tracks proceeds with a lucidity that suggests his songwriter’s mind does not shut off when he puts away the vocal microphone. File this with the work of Bailey, David Stackenäs, and Norberto Lobo, but don’t just file it away.

Bill Meyer

Mutilation Rites—Chasm (Gilead Media)

Chasm by Mutilation Rites

This record completes Mutilation Rites’ transformation from a black metal band flirting with death metal, to a death metal band that sometimes plays black metal riffs. When Mutilation Rites began dallying with deathy rhythms and chunky chords on Harbinger (2014), it was worrying stuff: it suggested a band flailing for a sense of identity, and the resulting record was uneven, at best. Mutilation Rites’ more significant commitment to death metal on Chasm turns out to be an enlivening move (pun intended, hardy-fucking-har). This sort of music isn’t supposed to be fun, but on Chasm the band sounds loose and confident, like they’re enjoying themselves. Maybe that’s partially due to their decision to cut the tracks for the record at Brooklyn’s Saint Vitus, a venue the band plays regularly. In any case, Chasm is a good record, and folks who really loved Mutilation Rites’ first few EPs needn’t fret: “Putrid Decomposition,” the longest track on the album and ironically the one with the most death metal title, has the fleet, jagged riffing that captures the band at their blackest.

Jonathan Shaw

Shelton/Mofjell—Uncovered short run CDR (Singlespeed)

Uncovered by Shelton Mofjell

Ole Mofjell kicks off Uncovered with a blast of force. Unrelenting but texturally varied, it makes this clear; you’re not in for an easy ride. In short order Aram Shelton joins him, blowing so hard and low that you might ask, “who’s the tenor player?” Ride the wave into the next track and the pitch territory moves upward, and then the question changes to, “how does he make an alto sound like that?” Time and experience have darkened and deepened Shelton’s instrumental voice, which has shed the diamond brightness that he wielded in various Chicago-based ensembles in the earliest years of the century. But his fluency has increased, and there’s no better place to hear it than in the company of a drummer like Mofjell. Each player shifts tone and tack in a second, using silence as well as motion to give the other room to take deep dives into the complexity of interactions with their instruments and each other. Caveat — the physical edition of this album is a pressing of 100 professionally duplicated discs that you might only be able to get by attending one of Shelton’s concerts or contacting him directly via his webpage or the Singlespeed site. But if you’re not into keeping the international postage racket afloat, there’s always Bandcamp!

Bill Meyer

Sad Baxter—So Happy (Cold Lunch)

So Happy by Sad Baxter

Sad Baxter’s “Sick-Outt” does the mid-1990s ramp up from relatively quiet, melodic verse to screaming, crashing, unhinged chorus in a way that few bands even attempt these days, and if you’re thinking Hole, that’s because Deezy Violet’s a girl. The real reference is Nirvana, here and in the slow building guitar-and-cymbals firestorm that is “Wash,” a transformation from clamped down palm-muted tension to full on feedback fused noise. Violet’s partner in all this, Alex Mojaverian, builds a bristling, shivering dissonant wall of percussion and amp buzz around a voice that snakes around curvy melodies like the Muffs’ Kim Shattuck or, more recently, Speedy Ortiz’s Sadie Dupuis. Sweetness and melody lurk in the intervals between bursts of splintering noise, hooking a finger to lure you in for the kill.

Jennifer Kelly

Manas—Live At (Null Zone)

Live At by MANAS

This cassette, which was recorded last summer at Fresh Produce Records in Macon GA, drives home a point that’s never exactly been a secret. These guys are punks. Guitarist Tashi Dorji may have been raised in Bhutan and he and drummer Thom Nguyen may operate within the realm of freely improvised music, but they're writing their own rule book. This half-hour performance rolls, slashes and rumbles in some pretty rocking ways; they play with an improvisers’ faith that their music will create its own form, but also with an abandon that suggests they really don’t care if someone doesn’t get it; they sound really loud; and out of all the places where they could have made a record, they picked a shop that (per photographic evidence sourced from a Yelp review) puts all four Kiss solo LPs on the wall. That’s plenty punk enough! Sobering up for a second, the music on this tape evinces more nuance and space than other Manas recordings, and sports their clearest recording quality to date. Rock on.

Bill Meyer

Gordon Grdina's The Marrow—Ejdeha (Songlines)

Gordon Grdina's been merging his jazz-based guitar work and his oud studies for a decade and a half now, finding his way into Middle Eastern traditions while integrating his own voice. With his Marrow quartet, he's expanded the strangeness of what he does by opening space for bassist Mark Helias and cellist Hank Roberts, each of whom toy with the function and sound of their own instruments on new album Ejdeha. “Idiolect” lets each of the three musicians shine (percussionist Hamin Honari mostly stays steady here) while revealing Grdina's gift for composition. The track ebbs and flows, trading melodies and shifting intensity across its eight minutes before its surprising end. The piece relies on Arabic tones, but feels like a free jazz approach to performance, the sort of blend that Grdina can deliver in a way that's both comfortable and alien. “Ejdeha” pulses in a different way, its heavy beat thumping through as the quartet finds an unlikely groove. Grdina and his bandmates have figured out how to keep a grounding in various traditions while still sounding surprising.

Justin Cober-Lake

[newmusickarl]

Although many music publications have already revealed their 2020 Albums of the Year, a wave of stunning new releases this week has shown that it is always best to wait till the last minute before drawing any conclusions. From surprise sequels to one a decade in the making, here is everything worth checking out this week…

Album recommendations

Dave Jakes by Dave Jakes

Enigmatic former Lonely The Brave frontman Dave Jakes finally released his debut EP this week, having proceeded it with a couple of soaring singles in Caterwaul and opener Been In My Dream. If this self-titled is a glimpse of what to expect from Jakes’ solo material then fans can expect the same bruising, heartfelt songwriting and stirring vocals that made Lonely The Brave’s earlier material so special.

From the string-drenched majesty of Silhouettes, the emotional gut-punch of Diggy’s Pushing Holes to the beauty and splendour of the EP’s curtain call, Be The Apple, Jakes’ talents shine through the melancholic, emotive arrangements on show. Having now reintroduced himself to the world, here’s hoping a full-length debut album is up next.

Evermore by Taylor Swift

Having not been a fan before, one of the biggest surprises for me this year was just how much I enjoyed Taylor Swift’s folklore. The record saw the superstar team up with The National’s Aaron Dessner over the Spring lockdown to create some of her most honest and acclaimed work to date. However not one to rest on her laurels, Taylor has (pun intended) swiftly returned with folklore’s sister record, Evermore, for her second Album of the Year contender of 2020.

Once again teaming up with Aaron Dessner, as well as his brother Bryce who’s on orchestration duties on several tracks here, Taylor builds on the foundations laid by the collaborative partnership on folklore to sound even more assured in this new found style. If folklore was her dipping her toe into the indie-folk world, Evermore is her effortlessly backstroking in it.

From the festive lament of ‘tis the damn season, the stripped-back minimalism of happiness to stunning piano ballad tolerate it, it is clear this collection is some of the best songs Swift has ever written. She continues to thrive in this collaborative working too, with the HAIM sisters showing up for country-folk, murder mystery no body, no crime, whilst Dessner calls in the rest of The National for the album’s undisputed highlight, coney island. Having joined Swift on folklore for one of the songs of the year, Exile, Justin Vernon also returns once again to lend his vocals to the record’s closing title-track.

All in all this is another faultless album from Swift, and one of the welcome surprises of 2020 has been her converting me into a fan of her music – here’s hoping for more releases like this in the future please.

Man on the Moon III: The Chosen by Kid Cudi

From one sequel to another, however this one could not be more different. Whereas Swift waited just a few months to release the follow-up to folklore, pioneer of modern hip-hop Kid Cudi has spent the last decade building towards the third part in his Man on the Moon trilogy. Having paved the way for some of today’s biggest rap stars such as Travis Scott with his first two records, Man on the Moo#n III ultimately brings with it a weight of expectation. With this being the case, MOTM3 can’t help but feel like somewhat of a disappointment as Cudi comes across as the follower this time around rather than the innovator.

That said despite being a somewhat patchy collection, what this album does deliver is plenty of enjoyable moments that are some of the best of Cudi’s career. From the Scott Pilgrim-sampling, infectious beat of She Knows This, the spacey, mesmeric groove of Damaged to the hypnotic ambience and defiant lyrics of Mr. Solo Dolo III, Cudi forges immersive sounds you just want to wash over you. Towards the home stretch of the record, MOTM3 finally starts to hit its stride with The Void offering up the album’s standout moment, before being shortly followed by excellent collaborations with Phoebe Bridgers and Trippie Redd. The record finally draws to a close with Lord I Know stating that things are to be continued, suggesting this isn’t the last chapter in Cudi’s MOTM story.

So although this won’t make any year-end best of lists, Cudi adds a worthy addition into his MOTM series with another highly enjoyable album which is probably still the best of the three so far.

We Will Always Love You by The Avalanches

Also worth checking out, Australian electronic outfit The Avalanches are joined by a host of special guests including Johnny Marr, MGMT, Blood Orange, River Cuomo, Karen O and many more for their latest odyssey into psychedelic indie-dance. Although the record can be quite self-indulgent at times, there are plenty of highpoints, none more so than one of the tracks of the year so far, Neneh Cherry and Jamie XX collab Wherever You Go.

This story is dedicated to all those cyberpunks… by Grimes

And finally to coincide with the release of Cyberpunk 2077, one of the most highly anticipated games of the year, Grimes has released a DJ mix album from the perspective of her character in the game. Blending her own music with segments of electronica, dance remixes and mash-ups of classic tracks by Britney Spears, Rihanna, The Ramones, Tatu and Kendrick Lamar to name but a few, listening to this mixtape is a trippy and immensely fun way to kill an hour.

Tracks of the Week

Atmosphere by James Blake

Already one of the most beautiful tracks of all time, here James Blake’s haunting vocals and stripped back production help Ian Curtis’ lyrics on this Joy Division classic to somehow transcend to even higher heights. Simply incredible.

Savior Complex by Phoebe Bridgers

Phoebe Bridgers wraps up her breakout year in style, collaborating with Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Paul Mescal on this wonderfully shot, tongue-in-cheek video for one of the standouts from her incredible Punisher album – you can check it out above.

[kpoprambles00-blog]

CLC (씨엘씨) - No.1 (8th Mini Album) [COMEBACK REVIEW]

2019 already seems to be the year of underrated artists finally hitting it big in some shape or form. It started with Chungha, and the trend has (thankfully) continued with CLC. These girls have been on the go for 4 years, and after the addition of two new members and a drastic concept change, they've FINALLY got their first music show win alongside some mainstream success. And it's about damn time, if you ask me! CLC have been a group I've kept an eye on since the start; I vividly remember listening to "Pepe" when it came out, and falling in love with Yeeun's rapping pretty much instantly.

But that was then - what about now? Does "No. 1" live up to the calibre of their past albums in terms of quality? Let's take a look and see!

1. NO [TITLE]

This song is so good I couldn't wait to cover it - and I didn't! I've already talked about it in my winter comeback review. But every single point I made in that review still stands; "NO" is a fantastic dance-inspired track that shows just how far these girls have come. Every single member of CLC is at her most confident here, and it shows. It also helps that Soyeon's composition and lyric writing skills are excellent, and she managed to help create a super successful song for CLC. Good on her! Good on CLC too - I feel like they've finally reached their full potential with this concept, and I can't wait to see where it takes them in the future.

Since I've already talked about this song, though, I figured I'd draw some attention to a REALLY good dance cover I came across on YouTube recently! (Cause why not?)

[Unfortunately I can’t include the dance videos in this post because of the video limit! Here’s the link though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdMOU7zjWn8]

I've never heard of RISIN', and I'm not sure how popular they are, but if this is the standard they have in the rest of their covers, I may have a new favourite cover crew. And I'm someone that likes accuracy in cover dances - hell, it's why I like East2West so much. These girls are talented as hell, and I'll definitely be checking their other stuff out! 

2. SHOW

Back to CLC, though. Now we're getting into what is (normally) unfamiliar territory for me. CLC have always been a group whose title tracks I've loved, but I never normally listen to their side tracks. That's a habit I normally reserve for my bias groups only. But hey, starting this blog has helped me broaden my horizons a bit; I listen to a lot of full mini albums and EPs now, including this one! So what do I think of "Show" as a song itself?

...okay, since when were CLC's sidetracks THIS good, 'cause if I'd had known sooner, I would've listened to them ages ago.

Like jeez. I wasn't expecting much from "Show", but after liking the short preview in the highlight medley, I got excited to hear the full thing. And aside from the bubbly/wub wub sound effect during the verses that I really don't like (seriously, who let 2012 Skrillex into CLC's recording studio), it's certainly an impressive song! It's got some real momentum to it, and it was the sort of song I heard potential in the minute it started up.

The melody is catchy, the choruses pack a huge punch, and all of the members sound fantastic. Especially Yeeun, and that's not just because she's my bias - I feel like she REALLY stands out here. Her raps have momentum in and of themselves, and when you pair them with a great song like this, everything comes together to make a damn good track. Eunbin's spoken adlib towards the end and Seunghee and Sorn trading high notes are probably my other favourite parts here - there's a lot of great elements to "Show".

The lyrics are... surprisingly sexy, actually. But what makes them interesting to me is that there's this strange sense of vulnerability in them as well - yes, this girl is confident, but there's a layer of delicacy underneath that most people don't see because they can't get close to her. They're very refreshing!

Before falling in my sharp gaze I want you to hold onto me for a little [longer] [...] Now in this feeling, [we can] be more honest with each other

What surprised me most about "Show", though, was that we actually have a choreography to look at as well! But is it as good as the song itself?

[Unfortunately I can’t include the dance videos in this post because of the video limit! Here’s the link though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSUhJC_0Wuw]

I'd say it is, actually. It immediately reminded me of Melody Day's routine to "Kiss on the Lips" - graceful and elegant, yet with a great deal of complexity hiding underneath. The formation changes are silky smooth, and it's honestly a really well put together routine! Every move flows into one another and nothing feels disjointed, which can be hard to achieve when you've got so many position changes. It's very impressive, especially for a side track - they didn't have to go all out on a routine, but they did and it makes me insanely happy.

Overall, "Show" really managed to surpass my expectations. Like I said, if I had known CLC's side tracks were as good as this, I would've checked them out ages ago! After listening to it for the first time, "Show" got me thinking - "if the rest of the songs on "No.1" are as good as this, I'm in for a treat!"

3. BREAKDOWN

Yeah. Looks like I WAS in for a treat, after all. Let me just say that slow songs/ballads are not generally my thing; I'm much more of a fan of the upbeat, energy-fuelled title tracks. It's why I'm always so trepidatious when listening to an artist's side tracks. The ballads always tend to feel like letdowns to me. But I'm glad to report that that's not with the case with "Breakdown". Not at all, actually!

To sum up my thoughts, "Breakdown" is a GORGEOUS song. It's a smooth R&B track, which I wasn't sure if CLC would be able to pull off. But yet again, my expectations were met and surpassed almost immediately. This, to me, is what "Where Are You?" should've been - and I don't mean any offense with that! I like "Where Are You?" for what it is, but I really prefer this style of ballad overall.

"Breakdown" has a little bit of a sexy vibe to it, and it ends up working in its favour if you ask me. The shattering glass was a great choice as well, since it conveys how broken the relationship the girls are singing about has actually become. They're tired, and very much ready to move on - the song's slow pace conveys that excellently. On top of all this, the brief key change doesn't feel out of place or jarring in the slightest, and THAT'S a major mark of quality to me.

The lyrics are, as you'd expect, focused pretty heavily on a breakup. And yet... they're very impactful. You immediately get the sense that this girl has tried to change herself and her appearance to meet her partner's expectations. She thought that was the problem; what she didn't realise what was the relationship itself was flawed, not her or her appearance. Now that the entire thing is over and done with, she's finally able to rest easy. They're a class above what a song like this would normally have in terms of lyrics, and they're a really welcome surprise. A change of pace is always good!

I just thought I was tired of [my] long hair [I] just [cut] it off and [changed] the atmosphere Knowing that I'm different because of you, [...] I have nothing to say

"Breakdown" really sets the standard for what I look for in ballads. It's not just a nice slow song to serve as a change in mood for the album; it's got some real depth and interesting features to it. If these are the kind of ballads CLC are going to have, I'll listen to every single one of them if they're as good as this!

4. LIKE IT

It's rare for me to like a side track more than the title track. When it does happen, I'm grateful for it nonetheless, but it's incredibly rare.

Guess what? IT JUST HAPPENED.

"Like It" is not only title track material for CLC, it's... honestly just as good as "NO". I like it even more than "NO", personally! "Like It" has got a huge sense of presence, and that's mostly thanks to the commanding bass and brass elements that are scattered throughout the instrumental. That little whistle melody is also incredibly addictive, and it just adds a cherry on top to what is one of my new favourite CLC songs. This is one of those songs that had my jaw on the fucking floor from start to finish, honestly. It never once falls into the trap of feeling overcrowded or messy, either - the choruses feel just right, and all of the instruments and elements of the instrumental work together perfectly. It's a real knockout for me.

The lyrics are nothing to gloss over here either! They're again very confident and kinda sexy, yet full of this sense of curiosity at the same time? They're very commanding, which is only fitting considering how powerful the song itself is. I like them a lot! (No pun intended.)

My greed is ample, [I'm curious about] this emotion You're one and the same - tell me, be honest [...] If you want me, don't stop

But as if THAT wasn't good enough as it is... we have choreography to look at here, too. WE'VE BEEN BLESSED, Y'ALL.

[Unfortunately I can’t include the dance videos in this post because of the video limit! Here’s the link though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJbDVjkgZTw]

Blessed, indeed. This is fucking great! Those choruses go way harder than they have any right to, let's be honest. Every move matches the song's energy and momentum beat for beat, and I really don't think I could ask for much more here. A fantastic song, some good lyrics, and a great dance? I'm very much happy with that.

I hope CLC come back with a song like "Like It" in the future, 'cause if they do, I'm there day one. This is one of the best side tracks I've heard in a while! 👏👏👏

5. I NEED U

To close out the album, we have "I Need U" - an uptempo dance track that's completely in English! That surprised me, honestly. Of all the groups to do an all-English track, I didn't expect it to be CLC; I mean, yeah, Sorn speaks English pretty damn well, but I wasn't sure if the other members would be comfortable with it. Yet here we are!

And hey, the song's not half bad either. It's full of some bouncy synths and guitar melodies that sound pretty good when combined together. I do feel like the choruses are missing a slight bit of punch, but that gets fixed within the song's closing moments thanks to some additional brass elements and adlibs. It's quite funky, which I like! There's a great sense of energy and catchiness throughout, and the song itself is a lot of fun.

The lyrics are pretty standard love song faire, albeit with some nice details thrown in here and there. They're pretty repetitive honestly, but that works in the song's favour. It's not meant to be overly complex or deep - it's just a good time. And I'm alright with that!

I got lost in your eyes from the first look It's a universe full of explosions Feel excited, we're rising, the earth shook

I feel like "I Need U" was honestly a great way to wrap up the album! It's a nice closer, for sure. And hey, when the album is as good as this, I was almost disappointed to see it end. "No.1" really managed to surprise me in more ways than one, and it has me excited to see what CLC will do from here on out. It can only be up from here, surely. My fingers are crossed for them - they were successful this time around, and I hope it continues! So long as we keep getting some good mini albums (or even a full album) like this, I can't wait to see where their success takes them.

ALL SOURCES FOR THE ENGLISH LYRICS I USED IN THIS REVIEW: Show Breakdown Like It I Need U

COVER IMAGE SOURCES: CLC PNGs: PufffyCake on deviantArt Background: mycutegraphics.com No.1 and CLC 8TH MINI ALBUM logo PNGs: MissCatieVIPBekah on deviantArt