#also for the record I don't necessarily think this is relevant. or even intentional. but gsgsgdhhsfs

[chaos-has-theories]

FUCK

solar eclipse this black like his soul that do you know what ELSE John's eyes kinda look like?

The fucking 8 ball.

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

As this leg of Louis’s tour draws to a close, I think about how much I miss seeing him so frequently. I seems like Louis disappears - and I do understand he has the right to not be seen. I am just curious as to why? I was reading where you said Louis only wants to be seen where he has a lot of control. One of the things I find really powerful about Louis is his ability to be vulnerable, but I also wonder if this also hurts him. It’s hard to be a feeling person in the world. Why do you think he wants so much control?

That's a really interesting question anon.

I wasn't talking about wanting control in general, but of taking control of his image and career. I don't necessarily think it's an odd or abnormal thing to want - I probably wouldn't say 'so much control'. But I do have some relevant thoughts.

First off, I think it's worth thinking about Louis' solo career before the pandemic. 2016 was a hellish year, whatever he had planned didn't happen and instead he was intent trying to hide what was happening, and hide that he was hiding anything. Then he immediately went into not very controlled promo for 'Just Hold On' where he was being hit by all sides by questions. Then, less than six months later, he was doing the rounds of small radio stations again adding in profiles - this was part of planned album campaign with the possibility of an album being released before the end of the year. During this time there was conflict with his record label about his sound and I think it's clear he had family difficulties that were making this harder.

2018 began with publicity and attention he didn't want went he was arrested. He then went to X-factor - I think a lot of that was about moves for his career that also worked for his life - but it also gave him an opportunity where he was seen a lot, but in ways he had quite a lot of control over. There was a plan for a big push with TOU (which would have involved a lot of prep and work for him we never saw) and that had to be abandoned. By the time he was promoing singles in the second half of 2019 it felt like his image was really burned out and he was dragging himself along (and he did a whole host of new profiles where writers get to decide who he is and present it to the population).

I think that whole experience, both what it felt like to be him through it, and what was happening with his image as a celebrity, explains what we've seen since the pandemic from him. Not existing in time and space, and then coming back with very fully formed livestreams that he entirely controlled (he didn't do any press), really makes sense as a response to what had happened the last four years.

So I think there's good news and bad news. I don't think that we need to assume that he'll be using the same strategies from now on that he was using for the last few years. He's in a very different place now than he was in March 2020. He may be releasing an album, but even if he's not, I think there's a momentum that he'll have to keep up.

But the other important point of all this is that being seen as a popstar is work and takes quite a lot of work. The resting state of a popstar is not always visible; when not on tour, it's easier not to be seen than to be seen.

Anyway we'll see what Louis has planned next reasonably soon. But I think it's useful to assume that we won't see much of him, unless he has something he deliberately wants to share, rather than treating not being visible as the thing that needs to be explained.

[xplrvibes]

i've been thinking about how much sam and colby's stories infuriated me last night and... I get that they're traveling for 25x25, it's their job and in my mind they take a lot of necessary precautions (keep to themselves, try to stay out of crowds, etc). youtube is already not doing good, imagine if they didn't put some effort on top of that. But the party bus was a crossed line for me, and I wonder if it's because I'm pissed they're having the fun they want to have and I'm not - I don't mean they're partying and I'm not, I mean they wanted to party, so they did, whereas I want to do X but I can't right now. So I wonder if my irritation comes from there. Absolutely pissed that people they're not traveling with joined tho lol (and I love Kat), not just at them but at SnC for allowing it too. That move was 100% selfish of them imo

(Disclaimer: not defending their stupidity here, but just thinking about how they came to this point, and trying to brainstorm how to get them past this point without more stupidity)

Yes, this 100%.  I think a lot of people’s anger and annoyance comes from seeing people doing something that they can’t do right now.  I saw one person say, “I feel like they’re rubbing it in our face,” and I think that’s what it stems from.  They aren’t doing that, of course- but perception is key, and that is exactly how it is coming across. 

Also, on the youtube issue: I’ve been pretty vocal in the past about my feelings on the whole 25x25 thing and what they’ve been doing up to this point- I was looking this morning and I saw some people saying, “they could just stay home and do content from their houses,” and the logical, analytical part of my brain that thinks about figures and numbers and view counts (too much time in the corporate world will do that to you) immediately started thinking, “Well thats what they’ve been doing all of this time on their personal channel vids, and those are tanking (outside of the tiktok vids, which everyone in the fandom seems to hate) and I know if they decided to say fuck it and join twitch now, they would get absolutely flamed by everyone saying they were only doing it for the money, jumping on a trend, etc, so they are kind of in a weird boat right now.”

Youtubers who do travel content are in a rough spot right now, because they are known for...travel content.  If they don’t do the content they are known for, their views go down.  If they do the content they are known for, they are now traveling in a pandemic.  If they don’t do anything, there goes their income and their platform as people slowly lose interest and turn away.  So, it’s a fine line to walk.

So my first thought was them going back to doing abandoned stuff that is within driving distance of them, to limit travel/exposure, but still put out content they are known for.  That would be an easy fix.  But obviously, they have concerns about doing that for legal reasons and that’s completely valid, given their (literal) record, so if they don’t feel comfortable doing that, then fine.  

So, because I am just in general more of a, “Let’s come up with a solution to this problem rather than stand and scream about the problem all day,” person, I started thinking about things they could do that could keep them relevant and help them with their platform/income for the next couple of months until herd immunity kicks in and they can start this whole thing up again.  Here’s what I came up with:

twitch streams or podcasts on their main yt channel where they tell in depth stories about their travels- they could even do a rewatch of their older videos and tell us behind the scenes stuff about them.  Maybe do one of two of those a week.  Hell, they could do it on a stream somewhere, record it, and upload it onto their yt channel later. Best of both worlds.

they could do more of those virtual ghost tour type things that you can do in your car, like what they did on Sam’s channel.  I bet there are a ton of those out there- I did one in Gettysburg years ago, so it’s not a new concept.

Virtual tours that are being offered on National Parks websites or travel websites, or virtual ghost tours being offered on websites- a watchalong of those.  Could be fun!  They could go to the Louvre if they wanted to. 

Pepper in the occasional real trip to a place that is open and socially distant/safe to visit.  National Parks, again, are a good place to start, but I’m sure they can find other stuff even within the general California area that are cool, interesting, and not a packed building full of tons of people.  

I mean, these are 4 ideas I came up with after 5 hours of aleep, before I had my first shot of caffeine of the day, and I am not a creative youtuber, I am just a corporate schlub.  Imagine what they could come up with if they got creative and thought outside the box.

Anyway, with this whole controversy brewing, I think their best bet now would be to postpone the 25x25 and do something else for a few months until things are calmer.  I don’t think they necessarily went into this thinking, “Fuck this pandemic shit, we’re YoUtUbErS!”, I do think they went in with intentions of staying what they deemed as “safe” and still being able to produce content, and until now it hasn’t been an issue so they kept it going.  But they did the old Icarus thing and flew to close to the sun on this one.  Time to come down a little more before them wings burn off.

[greenlightmusicreviews2]

Hyperion - St. Lucia | Album Review • 7/10

Now Playing: Hyperion by electro-pop outfit St. Lucia.

I feel like where we fit in and where we're unique is that what we do is positive, but it's also not preaching to you or hitting you over the head with a message. I think it makes you feel positive.

- Jean-Philip Grobler (2018)

Bright, dancing keys - big, reverb-drenched drums - and bright, energetic vocals is how Hyperion, the third album from St. Lucia, electro-pop artist extraordinaire, begins.

“Bigger” is a heavy dose of the feel-good pop music that Jean-Philip Grobler - St. Lucia bandleader - is so intent on delivering. In his own words:

“I think that we need more positivity,” [Grobler] concludes. “Not in a brain-dead way where we don't acknowledge problems, but rather to show there's a way to overcome them. You can make reactionary music that is negative and aggressive, but I gravitate towards the things that feel more inspirational. Social change has often come from a positive force, not an anarchistic one. How can you make your life the most enriched positive thing that it can possibly be?”

Not every song sounds like the feel good hit of the summer, though every song does carry this quality of positivity. Even in darker sounding songs like “A Brighter Love,” where these dark, introspective synths glisten below Grobler’s lilted South African tenor, with partner-in-crime Patti Beranek offering her vocal talents in the chorus where the song “finds [its] way to a brighter love” complete with handclaps and sonic burps that remind me of Chi Ali’s repetitive uh - come on! on Black Sheep’s “The Choice Is Yours (Revisited).” On a similar note, the fourth track “Walking Away” is as aggressive as it gets on Hyperion which has the memorable line “the summer days are numbered.”

“Walking Away” brings me to the unabashed 1980s synth-pop influence that is all over this record.

I had a friend tell me once that the 1980s was one of the most influential periods for pop culture - especially for music, basically saying that a lot of what we hear from many artists today, you can pick out the influence from ‘80s musical trends. I don’t think that’s a totally unfair claim to make - I think a lot of rock acts from the 2010s certainly had a neo-hair/glam metal way about them; there is of course the Lady Gaga/Katy Perry comparison to Madonna; and the wave of synth-oriented acts like St. Lucia.

You can hear the ‘80s influence often in the musical themes and motifs. The triple-threat of “Walking Away,” “Tokyo” and “Gun” are all very reminiscent of that cool mix of new wave synth and funk guitar with some big nods to classic rock of the 1970s. Take a song like “Gun,” for example, the faux-horns and the triumphant dun-dun-dun-dun electric keyboard that would not sound out of place on a latter-day Phil Collins record, and with a chorus that is achingly catchy. In fact, a lot of the album’s best moments manage to combine an older, traditional pop styling with a bit of psychedelic moments that are taken straight from Dark Side of the Moon. In particular, “Tokyo” and “Gun” both feature these dazzling and winding synth leads that remind me of the VCS 3 synth used on “Any Colour You Like.”

I want to highlight that line of thought - what Hyperion does best is blend traditional pop styling with a tinge of psychedelia that comes out in songs like “Paradise Is Waiting” with it’s sunny gospel-style choir and lyrics like:

Every night I dream about a man who takes my place Tells me to go up, up into the highest mountain In the dream I wait, among the lonely ancient beings ’Til I hear that voice, telling me to come to paradise

“Paradise Is Waiting”

“Paradise Is Waiting” is of course, one of a few songs featuring, again, the Pink Floyd-esque synthesizers, which brings me to “Tokyo,” where the synth comes in at around the halfway mark and just takes the song to the next level.

One of the album’s biggest highlights for me is “Tokyo,” a love song for that popular Japanese metropolis. The drums are perfectly understated, and the synth work is tastefully done with gorgeous vocals that are stacked and harmonized to perfection. The hook is catchy and not in the way that other songs are where it can be gratingly so.

Later on in the record, it does lose a little bit of steam. “China Shop” is good, though the annoying synth lead imitating something that I think is supposed to sound Chinese does not do it for me. A lot of the back end of this record begin with interesting ideas and sounds, and there are some great, lush and atmospheric instrumental passages (intro to “Next To You,” all of “Last Dance”) that don’t lead anywhere that makes it enough of a satisfying listen, and often just devolve into cliches by album’s end. Do we really need another song about “saving the last dance?” And “Next To You” has a verse where the descending chord progression has been done to death and reminds me of “Overkill” by Men At Work.

Although the group does occasionally fall into instrumental and lyrical cliches mentioned before, there are some poignant moments where Grobler displays his talent for writing thoughtful lyrics.

Apparently there’s a bit on this record that’s meant to be confrontational and political. “Gun” for example is an examination on the issue of gun control and power dynamics between men and women - however, there are times when Grobler’s lyricism is just too vague and toothless for any meaningful dissection of what he wants to get across. It’s interesting that “Gun” is the song that he chooses to make as an example, because there are other songs that convey his political messaging much better. A song like “Next To You,” which I wasn’t terribly impressed with, does have some of the most direct and interesting lyricism on the record:

And millions of people keep checking their phones As a Labrador keeps licking the bone That it hid in the earth 5 years ago The director tells the actress to say her lines quick There ain’t no time here to overthink The world’s changed, and it’s changing so quickly And can’t we build a skyscraper 20 miles thick And fill it up with all the shit that we bought At the president’s impeachment sale

“Next to You”

Even the album closer “You Should Know Better” manages to maybe convey some kind of message to the political and upper class in America.

Hyperion at times manages to reach the potential that its leader seems to so passionately reach for: music that is positive, meaningful, thoughtful and provocative in a proactive way - but sometimes it just amounts to pleasant-enough sounding electro-pop bedroom hits. In a featured piece in Riff Magazine, there’s a very touching and illuminating part of the profile where Jean-Philip is utterly candid in his experience recording this album:

[Grobler] felt like pop music stopped being about being truthful and inspiring others. “I take what I do very seriously, and I didn’t know how to bridge that gap,” he said. “I felt like what I was trying to make was so at-odds with where the music world is heading. Sometimes I wondered if it was even possible. It’s like climbing up a sheer rock face and not seeing another ledge to hang off of.”

Riff Magazine | Sept. 25, 2018

The back-and-forth struggle between the need for honesty and truth in your music, and the desire for artistic relevancy, was clearly on display on this record. No doubt the music industry has long been a pretty machine that spits out pop hit after pop hit while disposing of artists when they have no use for them anymore, but there are a lot of “pop” artists that still manage to create totally compelling works while not necessarily becoming the Billboard darlings, or while even being critical/commercial chart toppers. St. Lucia, and Grobler in particular, totally appear passionate about the music they create, and I hope that on future records that they can just run with it with no pretense of who to please other than their following and the muses in their heads. That’s when a lot of the best music is made.

Hyperion: 7/10

Favorite songs: "Paradise Is Waiting" • "Walking Away" • "Tokyo" • "Gun"

[torchholder247-blog]

Eric L Andrist-the man behind the curtain of baddoctordatabase, bad medicine database on fb, 4Patientsafety and The Patient Safety League

What follows is an exchange with Eric L Andrist (photo bust attached to this site), the man who runs the baddoctordatabase@tumblr.com blog where he re-posts articles about doctors accused of wrongdoing, often adding his own spin to the posts. In the exchange below we removed the doctors name and identifying information as the focus is Who is Eric Andrist? and the defamatory false exposure of Innocent doctors are posted on his sites.

Us: Charges were dismissed against Dr X and his medical license is active and unlimited. Dr X was and remains innocent of the charge.

Andrist: I already posted the newer articles. However, dismissal of charges does NOT necessarily equate to rendering someone "innocent." The article clearly says:

"In an unusual move, Circuit Judge X sealed the probable cause affidavit and case information at the request of Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney X the day before Dr X was taken into custody.

The Order to Seal Affidavit and Information document indicates the record was sealed on the grounds that if released to the public, it could compromise an ongoing investigation. In addition, the release of said information is sensitive, and it is necessary to withhold this information for a short time to ensure the investigations are not impaired."

So clearly there is an ongoing investigation.

Us: Your integrity is appreciated. The citation you post above are from reporters of Online & Bulletin articles of X date. Clearly from that date further 'ongoing' investigations transpired that the State dropped charges and reinstated Dr X's medical license 'in full without restriction'. Those two current legal actions verify 'Innocence' in that surely you are not suggesting that the State would permit the doctor to resume practice otherwise. You posted Dr X to your various social media Bad Doctor related sites solely on the basis of 'the Charge against him' yet 'the Charge against him' has been dismissed..and you now refuse to take down your negative posts. That decision defeats the otherwise good intention of your site. Since the ruling no further investigation of Dr X exists. IF you are suggesting that other persons are part of a current ongoing investigation, that has no relevancy to Dr X. Please reconsider and remove.

Thank you for posting the Online Dismissal article provided to you.

Andrist: Actually, they don't. That's not how the law works. Dropping charges does not equate to innocence. It just means there was not enough evidence to proceed with the charges. The state constantly lets doctors practice when they've done something wrong! We monitor the California Medical Board heavily. We have 3 doctors currently on the Sex Offenders Registry who are practicing with clear records!

My decision to keep up the information does NOT defeat the purpose of my site because he has not been proven innocent...they just gave up proving him guilty.

If you have documentation PROVING innocence, by all means send them to me and I'll post them. But again, dismissing charges does not mean he's innocent. There's a big difference.

In court, even a "not guilty" verdict by a jury does not equate to "innocent" As we saw in the OJ Simpson case, he was found not guilty by a jury, when he was clearly guilty, and later found guilty in a civil trial.

Us: I am trying hard to understand. I get what you are saying about other cases, but am only informed about the case of Dr X. Your website states "'Innocent' until proven guilty", the 'one' charge against Dr X was dismissed, not by the Judge, not by Statute of Limitations, but by the State Prosecutor..resulting in Dr X having no charges against him. He cannot be proven 'guilty' when there is no charge against him..nor any further investigation of him. Therefore based upon your site claims, Dr X is innocent...supporting removing your posts on social media. To take any action otherwise contradicts your website virtue of Innocent Until Proven Guilty...and becomes Guilty Until Proven Innocent. Our legal system is not perfect, but it is based solely upon that same legal system that your website exists.

Andrist: You don't seem to understand what "dismissed" means. Why do you think it relates to innocence? If someone murders their spouse and they get arrested just because they were there at the time, but later the charges are dropped because they simply couldn't find more evidence linking them to the murder, does that mean to you that the person is innocent and didn't kill someone?

Innocent until proven guilty is a phrase that only has meaning in a court of law. In the real world, not so much. People judge people guilty all the time. It's on my website as a disclaimer, not as my own personal belief. I don't put information in my blog personally, I only link to stories that other reporters have already written. The stories about Dr X are other people's words, not mine. It's there for informational purposes.

In the eyes of the "law," he is considered innocent until proven guilty. But in real life, that's not the case. We as people are not bound by the laws of the court to read the facts and make a judgment based on them.

IF he is guilty, don't you think his patients have a right to know the details of this story?

What is your relationship to him?

Us: I understand both 'dismissed' and 'innocence' in both lay terms and legal terms. I also understand human nature as it relates to judging/harming others on an emotional platform. Additionally I saw that your sites were merely re-posting articles written by others. The dialogue between you and I could go on exchanging philosophical views but cutting to the chase..what evidence do you accept to prove 'innocence' of anyone posted to your baddoctor related websites?

Andrist: First, who are you and why are you asking for this? Why isn't the doctor asking me?

Us: No story here, just trying to understand how, as the site manager, to work with you to remove the post and would appreciate your guidance on what is required. Please advise.

Andrist: Well, I won't continue the conversation until I know who you are and your motives. I've been contacted by companies before who did this same thing who were paid by the doctor to clean the internet. They gave me all kinds of lies trying to get me to take a post down including bribe money. They told me the doctor was proven innocent. Then I checked with the DA's office and it was all lies. So if you want to continue the conversation, come clean.

Us: I can't be held accountable for what others do. As you can attest, I have done nothing but provide you with updated Source data (articles, legal docs) to support a reasonable request. You claim you have 'no relationship' with the folks that submit to your sites, accordingly it is illogical to require otherwise of me. My request of what constitutes 'Proof of Innocence' to you is straight forward. Without knowing your requirements, the tasks is unreachable...as from a legal platform I have already provided you adequate documentation to satisfy my request.

Andrist: Sure it is. It's my blog, I can do what I want with it. I need to know where information comes from and if it's from a person, the motives for it. You could be lying for all I know. And no, you have not provided me anything to satisfy your request. You seem to think that a dismissal equates to innocence.

If he did the things he's accused of, why should his patients not have access to the information so they can decide for themselves? Why would you want to take that away from them?

Us: With all due respect, I ask again, what would satisfy you to establish Proof of Innocence? or is your site unamenable to ever removing a post?

Andrist: Sorry, I'm done talking if you're not going to tell me who you are.

Have the doctor contact me himself.

Us: I am sorry also. You could have simply told me that you never remove anyone once you make a post.

Andrist: Why would I say that if it's not true. I've taken a doctor down when he was able to convince me of his innocence. You've convinced me of nothing except being a busy body.

Us: Name calling, really? If what you now say was true, you would easily provide your site requirements to prove innocence. There would be no motivation not to produce the requirements, yet you refuse.

Andrist: What's wrong with name calling if it fits? I don't have to provide anything. I'm a patient safety advocate, my allegiance is to the public not the bad doctors. You're asking me for a favor, I gave you the requirements for me to proceed, and you've chosen not to. You'r choice. I've refused nothing...you just don't want to play.

Us: You are partially right, this is not a game. Your site while it does serve a great public good when the doctor is 'guilty', it is negligent to have no clear protocol for the wrongly accused to clear their name, given the harm your site causes the innocent..who are 'also' part of the public you say you serve. For that portion of the posts, the innocent, however small it may be, your website does a great injustice. But that does not matter to you, it's all about the game and power. Sad.