#anyways! great cover. obsessed with this band

[fishpondfish]

thought the gay people in my computer would appreciate this cover of bruce springsteen's atlantic city by darlingside

[art--harridan]

[Image description: A digital painting of Alex Rogan from the film The Last Starfigher. It is a head shot of Alex with a disbelieving expression on his face, mouth slightly open. You can just see the start of his starfighter outfit on his shoulders. His skin and clothing is painted in warmer colours while his hair is partially in cooler ones. There's harsh rim lighting around his hair, and some of his shoulders. The style of portrait is done with a lot of colour-blocking and hatching textures. The background is a light blue, with shooting star shapes littered about. These shapes look like the logo of the Starlite Starbrite in Alex's trailer park.]

Inktober - Day 4 (Exotic)

Film - The Last Starfighter (Nick Castle, 1984)

[bloominheresy]

After being inspired by Kj's Band AU months back, I have decided to also throw my hat into the rink! (👉ﾟヮﾟ)👉

I only have Narinder and Leshy's streetwear designed so far, but anyways!! Lore drop time YYYYEAAAAH

An Eternal Vessel for a Voice AU ( Bishops ):

Legally recognized foster family, all used to live in one house until a few years prior to the current timeline

Shamura the eldest sibling, estimated 35 yrs old, is the founder of their own rapidly growing tech company. They used to be a super popular anonymous producer online but retired to pursue the challenge of technological innovations + support their siblings as the main breadwinner of the family

Kallamar (30-ish) used to work at a private clinic as a doctor and also supported the household, but has since parted from the household to watch over Heket

Heket at her early twenties is currently touring the lands and is a well-renowned vocalist known for her deep and powerful growls and control (think Ado!); doesn't want to return home just yet in order to heal from the rift caused by a certain event

Leshy (18) is still a high schooler on his last year; one of those 'stupidly smart without studying' type of kids who has too much free time on his hands and uses it to indulge himself in art and anime weeb stuff HAHAHA he got gifted a drawing tablet by Kallamar for his birthday and has been obsessed in exploring the art medium

Narinder (24) finished college a few years back, but a certain event made him a social shut-in for a while, taking care of the house now instead and being the only sibling Leshy loves to constantly annoy since Shamura often comes home late and barely has time to stay for the weekends. He has a great passion for music producing thanks to Shamura's influence growing up and has been using his spare time at home to hone his craft and post his work online

They all have social media accs Twitter Narinder and Leshy's mascots / pfps uses their crowns; Leshy is actually the artist for many of Narinder's album covers and music videos and is often seen bantering online on the TL even if they're literally in the same house most of the time 💀

This one is just self-indulgent and projecting but Narinder loathes the idea of socializing in order to collab with other online musicians so he forced himself to learn how to play the piano so that he could just use VSTs (virtual instruments) instead to cover all other parts his songs would need BWAHAHAHA ( I wish I knew how to play piano for the same reason :') )

Adding onto here some more Nari and Leshy-specific hcs:

Magic doesn't exist in this Modern AU, so Narinder's eyes are an olive green, and his third eye has been replaced with an oddly symmetrical scar he got from an accident years back

Leshy's social media handle (@chervx888_) is based on the romanized spelling of worm in Russian, while all the 8's are meant to represent a lot of eyes

Leshy has once bursted into Narinder's room, phone in hand, to proclaim with his volume turned up to eleven: "BRO, BABY GRONK JUST CALLED OUT THE RIZZLER TO FIGHT HIM IN THE BOXING RING"

Leshy is really REALLY nearsighted but refuses to wear the prescription glasses he was given since it looks "uncool" to his classmate friend group consisting of the Darkwood mini bosses

—

Be warned that I need to add another set of woody horns on Leshy to match his sprite... but. BUT- what if... the third set starts growing out or something later down the line.... (no clie, just add the third set instead doubling down)

Anyways, this AU is meant to reference popular JP entertainment media online! NicoDouga, Vtubers, Vocaloid, Utaites, JPop, and much more!

[roseworth]

thoughts on eddierose?

my eddierose thoughts are very similar to my jayrose thoughts tbh! i think theyre so much fun together and i love seeing them show up but i like them better as friends

their dynamic when they first show up in tt03 is soooo much fun bc <3 theyre both so insecure about their place on the team so they band together and become ride or die and its so sweet. rose thinks that she doesnt belong on the team but as soon as she perceives a threat against both of them she jumps to eddies defense <333 theyre so cute

its so much more interesting to me when theyre just friends because at this point neither of them really have any other friends. theyre both going through really rough periods in their life (eddie's aunt died, his mentor abandoned him, and he sold his soul to the devil. rose just left slade and is still struggling with who she is) and they latch onto each other because theyre the only ones they feel like they can trust :''') eddie never knew rose when she was with slade which she likes because she hates the version of herself that was being drugged but no one trusts her because they saw her. but eddie didnt and he knows that she was being drugged when it happened so he trusts her <3 they both just need someone to be there and actually care and thats what they are to each other!!!! to me it loses some of the impact when its romantic because its a very meaningful friendship to both of them

however. smoking scene my beloved. this is the most iconic thing anyone has ever done shoutout straight people

AND. GOD. my favorite of all time is when eddie gets hurt and rose loses her shit and tries to fight everyone

me when rose is worried and feels powerless so she immediately starts deflecting and covering up all her feelings with anger 😍😍🥰🥰🥰💞💓💞💕💖💘💕💓💘💖💗💓💞💘💕💞💖💓 thats my girl!!!

i cant really see them as romantic together just because their relationship is so much more fun when theyre just being friends instead of when they start pushing for more romantic stuff. at the beginning theyre kinda like a team of the two of them and its so sweet :') theyre constantly looking out for each other and hanging out together when no one else is and its so much fun to me ! even during this period that johns was setting up a future romance but in my head they were just friends and it was great

also omg. the issue where rose is accused of being a traitor and eddie immediately goes "ur wrong actually! thats my bff and she would never do that" <3333 i love this issue because no one actually believes rose would do that but i looooove eddie's reaction because he never doubts her and never stops believing her because! thats his buddy who talks shit about her dad 100 times a day! and he knows her well enough even after such a short time of being on the same team <33

anyways. as much as i stand by mckeever's rose later on i haaaate what he did with eddie & rose. first of all if youre not reading it as her being a lesbian, the shit with "rose is pretending to be friends with blue beetle to make eddie jealous" is so fucking stupid. she suddenly starts acting like she doesnt give a shit about eddie and constantly ignores him which is completely different than what she was doing like 5 issues prior. then eddie is also completely obsessed with her??? like its no longer a "thats my friend and i like spending time with her" its a huge (seemingly unrequited) crush and like?? bringing her flowers and passing out at the sight of her. i really hate it

then in fresh hell theyre suddenly so much more romantic than they ever were before and it just feels ?? weird and unearned??

maybe im just a hater but this feels like it comes out of nowhere. the last time they interacted before this she was brushing him off and lying to him to make him jealous then next thing you know theyre staring longingly into each others eyes and going "i would go anywhere with you babygirl 😍" what is going on!!! mckeever wanted a romance between them so bad that he forgot to put in any of the buildup. like this is sweet but it just feels so forced to me

BUT. oh my god. the ending of fresh hell where she starts hallucinating him is so fuckign hhghmghhm <3

BECAUSE. HES FUCKING DEAD AND SHE DOESNT KNOW. it makes me emotional every time i think about it. shes having a crisis and thinking about him and she has no idea hes already dead. im still so mad that they never showed rose's reaction to eddie being dead because hgjhghhmmh!!! thats her buddy!!!! thats her only friend!!!!!!! let me see her upset that hes dead!!!!!!! fuck. its very in character for her to lose someone then ignore that it ever happened and never bring them up ever but still.... :(

i just think that theyre so much fun together <3 they have such a good friendship and i love seeing them hanging out and looking out for each other <333 i dont mind them romantically when its done well (smoking scene) but unfortunately most of the time their romance is so boring to me. let them be friends!!! let them be close platonically without the halfassed will they wont they!!!!

[snek-panini]

It is Monday, and Monday is for books. Look at these beautiful things! They took me five months to make. I tried so many new things in the process and I am extremely proud of them. This is a binding of @racketghost's amazing Good Omens fic Strange Moons (Hi. I hope it's ok I tagged you in this. Your fic has been one of my favorites since I found it in 2019.) The story is a series of short fics (and one long one) that really need no introduction from me. They're set throughout the 20th century, and they are beautiful and sensual and moody and you should definitely read them if you haven't already. This is the longest work I've bound so far, but I was fortunate that the word count on the shorter fics added up to almost exactly the length of the final, longest one, making them the perfect choice for a two-volume set. I tried very hard to get them to be an exact match, and they turned out even better than I pictured.

More pics under the cut! Two books means twice the pics, and all the stuff I tried here means it's a very long post, so be warned.

Individual images of the covers. The titles are done in silver htv over brown faux leather, edged in charcoal bookcloth. The graphics are the same on both, except for the title text, and they have the same image of the reaching hands on the back. All the art assets are from rawpixel, I just flipped and rotated some of them to make the back image.

The cover materials were an interesting challenge. I'd worked with both before and wanted to incorporate them both in the design, but after measuring and checking grain direction I found I didn't have enough of either of them to do a full book, or even a half bind. So they're actually made by affixing the faux leather to the book board, then layering strips of book cloth over the top. The corners are actually mitered at a 45-degree angle. Here's a close-up:

It's two long strips of cloth (spine and fore edge, not mitered) with two short strips (top and bottom, mitered) glued over the top. There was so much measuring, omg. I bought a new tool to make sure I got it right. Hilariously, I still didn't have enough leather and had to order another roll anyway. Also hilariously, I got the idea to do this after seeing an image of a leather-bound book made by a professional that appeared to have the same feature, i.e. multiple materials with an inset and mitered corners. Wow, I said, looking at a video thumbnail, I'm going to do that! So I did, even though I didn't watch the video. Much later, after I watched his tutorial, it was clear that the design was from leather dye and tooling, not the thing that I did at all. But I do like the effect, and now I know it's possible I think it'll be great for using up weird offcuts from making other covers.

Look, spines! With TITLES on them! And LITTLE RIDGES! Both firsts for me. I'm a little obsessed with them. The cricut has opened up entirely new worlds, though I suspect the little silver lines might have been easier to do with a foil pen (which I don't have) than they were with a heat press. I did them by making the cricut cut out several "=" symbols that were the same width as the spine. The raised bands are false bands; I made them by layering little pieces of chipboard on the spine stiffener, then molding the book cloth around them when I covered them. I was worried it wouldn't work, since this is usually done with leather and book cloth is apparently way less stretchy, but it worked fine. Probably because it's a small straight design, no curves or fancy bits. I'd layer the chipboard thicker next time so they stand up higher (this is 2 layers, I'd do 3 in future) but I'm delighted by how this turned out. They look so professional.

The endpapers on both books are a constellation print. I had a really hard time trying to find something to go with the typeset, and the only ones I liked were from an etsy seller who kept selling out of them. I got lucky eventually but it was one of many hassles that befell this project. I also made my own end bands using a tutorial from the Renegade Bindery discord. I had some issues and I didn't quite nail them but I think they're pretty good for a first time (ok, second time, the first one was on a practice text block, but my point stands). I had originally intended this to be a split boards binding, my first time trying that, but when I got the boards glued on I found that they were crooked. Really crooked. Completely misaligned. Much swearing followed this discovery. I ended up having to cut the boards free, cutting the mull and tapes in the process. The mull was easily replaced, but the parts of the tapes that are usually glued to the boards were a lost cause. I reused the boards, but flipped them so the edge with the cut tapes inside is at the fore edge so I could have a cleaner hinge. You can see in the last photo that the cover board is a little wider at the fore edge. On the plus side, there are no tapes to wrinkle my pretty endpapers and it combated the small bit of spine swell I had. On the downside, the hinge has less support and the only thing I learned was How Not To Make A Sewn Boards Binding.

I may have gone a little nuts with the images in this typeset. In my defense they look very pretty. In order, that's the title page, table of contents, section break image (same as the back cover, just tiny), chapter header and ender (each chapter has one on its first and last pages, they just look particularly cool when you can get a full page spread like this), and the image on the last page of the book (same as the cover image, almost). The cover image was also supposed to have little rays coming off its moon like this one does, but the lines proved too thin for the cricut and it ate them. I still like how it looks though. The prose in this story is really rich and I was in the mood for opulence when I did it. I have absolutely no regrets.

Here's a feature that's unique to this typeset. One of the chapters in the second volume has three alternating, interwoven timelines. I read them fine on Ao3 but had trouble following them when I formatted it for printing. Usually I'd use the section break image to denote when there's a scene skip but there are literally dozens in this chapter, like 40-60 breaks over the course of 10 or so pages, and it looked very busy with images in it. So I left them out, made the line skips single instead of double like they are elsewhere in the book, and I color-coded the text instead. One timeline is printed in black, one is dark gray, and one is dark blue. And it's a very surreal chapter, with the characters having some very confusing and conflicting emotions, so I feel like reading multicolored text when you're not expecting it (the rest of the book is all normal black and this bit is near the middle) sort of reflects that unbalanced feeling? I hope so anyway, because I love the way it looks so much.

I learned so many things in the course of making these. I'm absolutely doing all of them again. Part of the reason it took so long was that I wanted it to be perfect, or as near as I could get, and I had to take the time to solve all the puzzles it threw at me. But it stretched my creativity and ingenuity and I could not be more in love with the finished product.

[zegas]

I've been dreaming of a Joe Kubert collection featuring his Golden Age Hawkman work for a minute. Very little of it has been reprinted here & there, and good luck finding/affording the original issues. 

Imagine my surprise and sheer delight to discover this 70s fanzine-looking square bound index of Golden Age Joe Kubert comics. The store's sticker described the contents as "surprisingly good reprints" ...and at a glance they were. Even if the reprints weren't great, I probably would've bought this thing for the novelty anyway. Something didn't seem right when I cracked it open, though, the stuff looked a little wobbly, a little off. And yet, it still looked complete. I couldn't figure out what was wrong about it.

Then I read the introduction and couldn't believe what the catch was. I had to read it twice to make sure I understood it correctly. The author, Al Dellinges, had *redrawn* every piece in this book. Dellinges was an obsessive list-making human Xerox machine. I'm not sure what his process was (did he lightbox the original comics or just eyeball it... and what about the lettering??) but he must've owned or had access to all of the Kubert comics from the era. This might be an interesting exercise for a page or two. But 120 pages? That is an unprecedented level of mania. I can appreciate the intense devotion to the subject, trying to catalog all of that delicate data - the brush lines, the style development, the stories -  before it's all completely erased from existence. Dellinges' mission is beautiful, in a way, and it's completely bonkers.

Look closer, dear reader, there's a catalogue page at the end of this book. That means there are more of these types of books. Was this a normal thing back in '78? Joe Kubert was apparently impressed enough with this project that he had Dellinges help out with some TOR material (to what degree, I'm not sure; Dellinges ultimately never really worked in comics.)

As it stands, I'm charmed and confused by this strange artifact. It's like an amateur cover band re-recording an established band's earlier rarities note for note. But hey, I got a Golden Age Joe Kubert book after all. 

[fantasy-mixtapes]

Kristen Applebees S3 Playlist: Side A

Here's Part 1 of Kristen's Junior Year Playlist, I am obsessed with it so far and will probably continue to be. Descriptions and key lyrics below. Spoilers for Episodes 1-10

Genres include: Pop-Punk, Alternative, Punk, Folk

1. Lavender Bones, Stand Atlantic

I know I'm out of my depth, but I just float in it I try to do my best, stop picking fights with it I wanna be upset, you're not alright with it I can cover it up, I can cover it Try to speak my mind, wish it was by design But I can only confess to having doubts with it Don't wanna feel regret, I'm not alright with it I can cover it up, I can cover it

So this is a perfect background music for the start of a movie about Kristen's life right now and I LOVE finding those songs. It's perfect on so many layers, it talks about feeling trapped, wanting to fix empty habits, and not to mention how "lavender bones" really hits home to my queer little heart. This entire playlist is really a game of guessing when the "you" in songs chosen mean Tracker and when they mean Cassandra, level: impossible

2. Starchild, Sweet Pill

What do you want from me? I am not a charity Work hard at everything Do it all for free What do you want from me? I am not a guarantee Go all or nothing Lose your money ... Set up to win Wind up disappointing everyone In the end I am disappointing mostly myself In the end Hang your Head

I AM SO NOT NORMAL ABOUT THIS SONG Guys its like it was written for this very specific situation. AND THE TITLE???? FOR A CLERIC OF THE GODDESS OF MYSTERY, DOUBT, THE NIGHT, AND STARS???????

anyways just please please listen to it its so great like even without the connection to Kristen, go support Sweet Pill they have a new album being released tomorrow (March 15th)

3. Uneeda, Deady

What about the bones The bones have no problem Turn them into ash And this never happened Your ashes big asses Your brains on the pavement Oh no! I can feel myself rot Unless I take your hand

Ok so this is kind of a genre outlier on the playlist since it is very very alt punk but for me it represents the rage at the mall, Kristen's relationship to Cassandra, and both of their respective reactions to what happened. It's very chaotic, but it was a very chaotic situation and I stand by it plus I love adding modern bands to things

4. Bite the Hand, boygenius

I can't hear you You're too far away I can't see you The light is in my face I can't touch you I wouldn't if I could I can't love you how you want me to I can't love you how you want me to

Yeah, sorry had to whip out the queer break-up big guns. I don't feel sorry I feel right.

5. Untitled God Song, Haley Heynderickx

When you're drunk near a sunset, look straight in her eyes She's a quick glimpse of heaven, forgetting her headlights are on When you misread her fortune, don't misread the joke She's the note on your lampshade, the honeycomb holdin' you And she spins me around like a marionette Oh, my web is still spinnin' My web is still spinnin', you can't see it yet

Immediately going from having total contact with a divinity figure to having to grasp for straws once again to a memory you hold onto, literally holding onto the shards of your faith. Having to both embrace doubt and faith at the same time. Girlies, I'm ruined

6. C'est Comme Ça, Paramore

In a single year I've aged one hundred My social life a chiropractic appointment Sit still long enough to listen to yourself Or maybe just long enough for you to atrophy to hell ... I know that regression is rarely rewarded I still need a certain degree of disorder I hate to admit, getting better is boring But the high cost of chaos Who can afford it?

I love Kristen, and I think her arc this season is extremely relatable; currently, 90% of what she does are bits, and I KNOW it's a coping mechanism, but STILL, WHY ARE YOU SO MESSY. I love you; keep being 17, but god, keep your clothes on and stop going to the steel plants girlie you're gonna give Riz a heart attack

[rosewaterconley]

I solved a mystery that only I care about lol

ok so I have no clue what I'm doing and social media terrifies me. I will probably never touch this account again. why did I have to follow 3 algorithm-selected accounts to get into this website? I can actually name 3 people I'd want to follow on here and it's none of the people your fucking robot told me to follow. but hey, I feel like I have to post it here rather than my blogspot since nobody in the world actually uses blogspot and I want people to see this!

so anyway, there's this band out of the city of Milwaukee called Hero of a Hundred Fights. they dropped a couple CDs in the early 2000s and seem to have broken up, though all their members have been in bands since. that'll be important a little later. for now, Hero of a Hundred Fights are important to me on 2 levels:

I'm a Wisconsinite who has a tiny bit of an obsession with local history and art and really fuck with their weird mathy little corner of the 2000s hardcore scene

I'm a Faction Paradox fan and their 2001 EP The Remote, The Cold contains numerous references to the series! if you've heard of this EP before, it was probably in the context of some "music that references Faction Paradox" list or another

about #2... see, everyone already knows that track 2 is called Faction Paradox and track 3 is called The Celestis. we've all long since put together that the title is a reference to Lawrence Miles' Interference. but what about the lyrics? unfortunately, we don't know. they're not online, and the vocals are good, mind, but rather incoherent.

well, we didn't know. until I ordered a CD copy for like $8 lol. that's all it took! so here you go, the lyrics booklet plus some of the other artwork featured on the CD. artist Nick Slough did a great job on this art and it's a shame only the cover is widely available online (though that's hardly a problem unique to the physical version of this one album). turns out, this is some kinda concept album based on the Miles novel Interference. cool! really love the lyrics on Rope especially. "I need your blood to get this vessel running" and "my life was in your hands, I cut them off and now they're mine" are both raw as hell.

the cover art is pretty interesting. this album was recorded in 2000, released in 2001. the entire creative process occurred before the first standalone Faction Paradox release, The Book of the War. this means the album is entirely Doctor Who-based, not based on the FP series itself. it also means, if we assume the humanoid characters on the art are supposed to be the Remote, that this is the first-ever professional art depicting them!

disclaimer: the booklet lyrics don't 100% match up with what's said in the songs! it's mostly accurate but unfortunately there are some sections missing, some repeated bits that are only written once et al. that's all par for the course but I figured I'd mention it - especially in the case anybody wants to use this to transcribe the lyrics on Genius or some other site like that.

and while we're here, Hero 100 member William Zientara has been in a billion different bands, and I think he's probably the most responsible for the Doctor Who theme on this album. See, he was also in a short-lived band called Managara - named after a Doctor Who tie-in novel so obscure even I, owner of a complete set of Virgin New Adventures who spends my work breaks combing through digital copies of old fanzines, have only ever heard it discussed a handful of times. one of their songs is called Happiness Patrol. more recently, in 2021, he was in the band Fuiguirnet, who have a song called What Grows From the Seeds of Doom! which means Zientara has been randomly tossing Doctor Who references into songs from at least three different bands for twenty years!

so uhh without any further rambling here's the lyrics and art:

[strayheartless]

Now that it’s been pointed out to me that Genesis is ADHD when I previously read him as autistic, I now have a list of AuDHD sensory issues swirling around my head that I think he has.

So, in no particular order:

Butter. Genesis is staunchly against butter. It is evil and the minute it he hits his tongue he gags. He also doesn’t like touching it.

Air on any skin but his face. Most people believe Genesis wears the coat glove combo because he wants to emulate Sephiroth. The actual reason is he can’t bare to have his skin exposed to the elements. You’ll never catch him dead without something covering his arms, not even in the summer. The gloves depend on the day.

Corduroy. It’s a crime against fashion anyway but the feel of it on his skin makes it crawl.

Cotton wool. You just have to say the word cotton wool to Genesis and he looses his composure. Zack takes great pleasure in pulling it apart just to watch Genesis squirm. Mostly because Genesis makes fun of his sensory issues

Full fat milk. This is something Genesis didn’t know about until he met Cloud. His mother had always had fully skimmed milk in the fridge because she was obsessed with diet fads so he’d never had it. He knew he didn’t like creamy things, but he once drank a cup of coffee that Cloud made him that had full fat milk in it and couldn’t swallow it.

Pears. They are grainy and not like apples. He hates them.

Bananas. They make his teeth itch.

Tags, sequins, itchy wool etc. anything that is itchy is hell

Hats and Earmuffs. Angeal is the one who discovered this. He once placed his own hat on Gens head and then watched Genesis get fustrated and upset for twenty minutes because he didn’t like it touching his ears.

Blocked noses. The biggest reason Genesis hates being sick is because he can’t cope with his nose being blocked or stuffy. He genuinely forgets how to breath through his mouth sometimes.

Cold hands. If Genesis’s hands get cold he may as well be dead, it would be preferable to this hell.

White noise emitters. Because quite frankly fuck them.

Marching bands. The drum beats mess with his heart rate. He doesn’t like it. The made parade duty very difficult.

Genesis can deal with pain, what he can’t deal with is how itchy wounds get while they heal. It would be funny if it didn’t wind him up so much he cries in frustration.

Cold sink water, especially if it’s had something greasy in it.

Avocado. Angeal made him Avocado on toast one morning for breakfast and Gen put it in his mouth, looked panicked and Angeal said “do you need to spit it out?” And that was how Angeal struck Avocado off of all future meal plans.

Genesis will 100% tell people he doesn’t have sensory issues. He’s one of those “nobody would ever guess I’m Autistic” people and then you’d put a fear food in front of him and he’d panic and not be able to swallow it.

He’s also the kind of person who will poke fun at Zack and Sephiroth for having extreme sensory issues but then gets rudely reminded that the only reason he seems to not have them is because he avoids everything he hates like the plague and has some truly elaborate work arounds to avoid them.

[bunchashapes]

any music recs?

i could have made this very short or entirely too long. i opted for the latter:

HAVE YOU LOOKED FOR SOME NEW MUSIC TO LISTEN TO? LOOK NO FURTHER, FOR HERE IS

I know. There's a lot of music out there. Well have no fear, because I've selected, organized AND categorized a fine number of music selections, just for you! I tried to keep it to just stuff you probably haven't heard of before, but I make no promises. Hopefully you'll find at least one new thing you can take with you into 2023.

MAKE YOUR SELECTION:

1 - MIKE, I'M LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO GROOVE TO. SOMETHING I CAN GET DOWN AND VIBE WITH OR PERHAPS LISTEN TO WHILE I WORK:

Sounds good! Let's start with a few of those:

Vulfpeck - Okay you may already know about Vulfpeck. Sorry. If you HAVEN'T, they're a wonderful group of dudes from Michigan that are all insanely talented. They have a wide-range of styles they cover and pretty much every member has gone on to do other solo stuff, which may also suit your interests. They also have a spin-off band called The Fearless Flyers that I'll cover a little further down.

Jacob Mann (As well as his Big Band) - Jacob's solo stuff has a nice laid-back feel to it, while his big band stuff is slightly more bombastic, but all of it is fun and groovy. Great example of a musician effectively switching between different toolsets, whether its a whole group of talented musicians at his disposal or just a bunch of nice Roland presets.

EMEFE - They haven't been very active lately but EMEFE is an incredible ensemble with plenty of amazing music for you to listen to. Their live album from 2017 makes me wish i could go back in time and watch it live.

Louis Cole - Louis Cole's also pretty popular, but maybe you haven't heard of him! Originally hailing from Knower, he's collaborated with a ton of musicians (including Vulfpeck AND Jacob Mann Big Band, mentioned above) as well as produced an impressive array of solo music. I can't understate how much I love this guy.

Thundercat - Know who else he's collaborated with? Thundercat. Have you listened to Thundercat? You should really do yourself a favor and listen to Thundercat.

Sammy Rae and The Friends - Only learned about Sammy Rae very recently but The Feeling (linked) was an earworm that lodged itself in my brain for months. Infectiously positive vibes, a great ensemble and really brilliant singing.

Silk Sonic - Okay they played at the Grammys so it definitely doesn't count as a deep cut but listen to Silk Sonic anyway okay? Okay.

2- MIKE I NEED SOMETHING THAT WHIPS ASS. SOMETHING TO COMPLETELY KNOCK MY SOCKS OFF.

Can do. Your metric of kickass may vary but at least one of these should work for you:

King Gizzard and The Wizard Lizard - King Gizz has put out such an unbelievable volume of music that it's hard to just recommend ONE thing from them. I've linked Nonagon Infinity, a great little album with the fun gimmick of seamlessly looping front to back. They really haven't put out a single bad album, so just go wild.

Royal Blood - Royal blood's bassist plays through an octave pedal, giving their stuff this fuckin' beefy sound that's well-rounded enough you'd never guess the band is just a bassist and a dummer. Their style has gotten poppier lately but it's still all worth listening to.

Tricot - Tricot's been around for around 10 years now and their stuff has only gotten better over time. I feel like Math Rock is kind of an obtuse genre for most people but their recent stuff is absolutely worth checking out even if that's not your usual sort of thing. Makkuro (真っ黒) is my favorite album of theirs by far.

Thank You Scientist - Stranger Heads Prevail is probably one of my favorite prog albums ever and you'll probably like it too. Insanely good ensemble (the amazing triple threat of sax/trumpet/violin is such an integral part of their sound) and really fun vocals.

Nova Collective - Another incredible prog group. As far as I know they've only put out one album but it whips ass.

Ask My Bull - These guys popped out of the woodwork a few years ago and I've been obsessed with them ever since, I can't wait to see what they do next. If you're a horn-loving freak like me you absolutely need to listen to them.

Fearless Flyers - The previously aforementioned Vulfpeck spin-off band, guest starring Mark Lettieri of Snarky Puppy and the incredible Nate Smith on drums. Their album Tailwinds is easily one of my favorite albums ever, the addition of a sax trio takes their stuff from incredible to legendary.

Daikaiju - Kaiju-themed surf rock. That's really all that needs saying.

3 - MIKE I NEED SOMETHING THAT'LL MAKE ME SAY "DAMN THAT'S COOL"

Well you're in luck! A wide range of things fit the bill:

Snarky Puppy - A powerhouse jazz/funk/rock ensemble full of insanely talented musicians. Just give this song a listen, you won't regret it.

The Dear Hunter - Dear Hunter (not Deerhunter. Different band) has remained my favorite band since high school. The band has a number of different projects, A collection of EPs for each color of the rainbow, a 5-part rock opera/narrative concept album (with a 6th part that may be a movie??) and other more straightforward albums that still cover a broad range of genres and styles. I think they're great and hopefully you will too.

Hiromi Uehara - Hiromi's probably my favorite pianist ever. Just watch that video. She's ridiculous. She also plays in an incredible trio and guest stars on my favorite Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra song! Preposterously talented and insanely fun to watch. I love her.

The Bad Plus - Speaking of great trios, you can't go wrong with The Bad Plus! Really vibrant arrangements and generally incredible musicianship throughout their work.

Esperanza Spalding - Obscenely talented bassist AND singer AND songwriter. As someone who sings and plays bass (not at the same time, of course) watching her do effortlessly do both at the same time is mesmerizing. I love her.

Chon - Chon's also pretty big now but I want you to imagine you're me at a Dear Hunter (see above) concert back in 2015 and one of the opening bands walks onstage and you're like "well okay what's these guys' deal" and then they start playing these fucking insane picking solos in perfect unison. I literally couldn't believe what I was seeing. I wish everyone could experience Chon through those eyes.

4 - MIKE THOSE ARE COOL AND ALL BUT WHAT I'M REALLY LOOKING FOR IS SOME MUSIC TO GET BUNDLED UP AND GO TO SLEEP TO

You need ambient? I got your ambient right here.

Hiroshi Yoshimura - I was first exposed to the wide, wide world of Japanese ambient music back in college and in all my years since then, few things have been able to beat Yoshimura's atmospheric soundscapes. If you need music to shut your brain off (and who doesn't, from time to time), look no further.

Chihei Hatakeyama - Another Japanese ambient powerhouse, Hatakeyama's got a huge discography of music and all of it will knock your lights out (very pleasantly).

Green-House - Very much inspired by Japanese ambient, Green-house is described as "music for plants". I only wish there was more of it.

Joep Beving - Not exactly an ambient artist but a masterful practitioner of minimal, atmospheric piano. His style is understated but filled with emotion, a great mix of more classical elements with a modern cinematic flair. Great to work to!

5- MIKE EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT JAPANESE CITY POP, JAZZ FUSION AND EARLY ELECTRONIC MUSIC BUT I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START. GET ME ON THE GROUND FLOOR HERE

You got it boss:

Yellow Magic Orchestra - You've probably heard of these guys by now. I've only known about them for 6-ish years after they had a moderate burst of fame here but I think it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say these guys were one of the principle pieces of genetic memory that coalesced into the DNA of modern electronic music. All three of the principle members, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi (rest in peace) have all had really prolific solo careers in a ton of styles of music that are all worth your time.

T Square - An absolute titan of Japanese jazz fusion, their album Adventures is a veritable Rosetta Stone of video game music, directly inspiring a good number of video game songs including the dang mario brothers theme! Their stuff is an absolute joy to listen to.

Tatsuro Yamashita - Yamashita is often called the king of city pop and is (according to wikipedia) credited for pioneering Japanese "soft rock". Having grown up on the pacific coast, there's some ineffable truth in his schmaltzy surf music that touches me deep in my soul. You may not have the same experiences as I do, but I hope listening to him will allow you to tap into that divine spark and enjoy it for yourself.

Masayoshi Takanaka - Perhaps not quite as famous as Yamashita, Takanaka is a brilliant guitarist and musician known for that same schmaltzy pacific rock (just look at that damn guitar. I love him) as well as a number of other styles of rock and jazz fusion. He's got a huge discography and it's all incredible.

Casiopea - I would be remiss if I didn't mention Casiopea. I'm not an expert in Japanese music obviously, but I think it'd be fair to say they and T-Square are the two titans holding the glory of late 70's-early 80's jazz fusion like Atlas shouldering the world. Do yourself a favor and listen to Mint Jams.

Himiko Kikuchi - Truthfully I don't know much of Kikuchi's discography other than Flying Beagle (linked) but she absolutely killed it. Do yourself a favor and listen to that too.

6 - WELL MIKE THAT'S ALL WELL AND GOOD BUT WHAT IF I WANT SOMETHING WEIRD THAT DOESN'T FIT IN ANY OF THOSE CATEGORIES

I'm always happy to recommend unconventional stuff. Here's a few albums that I love to close us out:

Tom Waits - Alice - First of all, you should listen to Tom Waits. I know you know him as the Funny Voice Guy but he's had such an incredible musical career that starts great and only gets more and more amazing over time. Anyway, in the 90's, Tom and his wife (and writing partner since the 80's) Kathleen Brennan were scoring weird experimental musicals in Germany, namely The Black Rider (also worth listening to) and Alice. The musical is a strange extrapolation of Alice in Wonderland, namely inspired by Charles Dodgson's (Lewis Carroll) relationship with Alice Liddell, generally accepted as the real-life inspiration for Alice. Though the actual specifics of their relationship are uncertain, the age discrepancy and Charles' general fixation with Alice leads many to assume....the worst about their relationship, an interpretation the musical runs with. The actual musical is hard to find evidence of (there's some documentary footage from the 90's and I've found the script) but Tom rearranged his music for the show and released it in 2002, which in my eyes is the definitive version of the music. The album is unbelievably melancholic, heart-wrenching, at times deeply uncomfortable, and absolutely filled with beauty. Lost in the Harbor is maybe one of my favorite songs of all time. If ANY of this sounds even slightly interesting to you, I implore you to check it out. It also has Colin Stetson on saxophone and clarinet, which segues quite nicely to the next album.....

Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol. 2 - You may have actually heard Colin's music before, he's scored films like Hereditary, Color Out Of Space and the newest Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie. New History Warfare is one of his experimental solo projects, most characterized by Stetson recording basically everything in a huge room filled with microphones, creating this incredible impression of scale. It's filled with some of the craziest shit I've ever heard someone do on a saxophone; long, galloping phrases with no pauses for air thanks to circular breathing, mixing in the sound of the valves opening and closing, and an incredible unnatural-sounding delay all achieved with live recording. The Righteous Wrath of An Honorable Man is one of the coolest things I've ever heard in my life (you've probably already heard it before) but the whole album is absolutely captivating.

Caroline Shaw - Partita for 8 Voices - Caroline Shaw is an amazing musician, singer and composer. All of her stuff is really beautiful and worth listening to, but few things stand out as much as this composition, written for and performed by a cappella group Roomful of Teeth (which is probably the sickest possible name for a choral group). I feel like a cappella music has a woefully bland perception among most people (thanks in no small part to Pitch Perfect); all lavish arrangements of pop music with absolutely no soul. If this is what you think all a cappella music is, I urge you to listen to this album. It's a masterful blend of speech, song and energy, filled with a vibrancy and passion I have a difficult time putting into words. You really just have to listen to it.

[silly-bean]

5 songs you're obsessed with...

(Just 5?? How the hell am I just gonna pick 5 😭)

thanks for the tag @withgreatpowercomesmyfuckingdick!

Greatest Show on Earth (Nightwish) - yes it's 21 minutes, yes they keep you engaged the entire time, and i am obsessed w/ every minute. This one is the recording from their Wembley 2015 concert which is my personal favorite version. It covers the history of life on planet earth from the beginning to now in one song and it's fucking amazing so listen to it right fucking now (especially go find the youtube version because then you can watch the band have the time of their lives on stage)

Where Butterflies Never Die (Broken Iris) - psychadelic is how I describe this song but I can't find another word I like better. I discovered this song shortly before I got super into Trigun and holy fucking shit the amount I freaked out when I made the connection about the butterfly shit. Anyways highly recommend

Can You Hear It? (Aviators) - Off the Dreams of the Deep album, it's a fantastic song that digs into that good good eldritch horror stuff similar to the stuff we get in Bloodborne (which, there is at least one bb inspired song on this album so go listen to the entire thing if that sounds cool). Alt-rock with orchestral stuff thrown in I am in love from those first instrumental bars

The Seas (Envoi) - There's something about Envoi's sound and style that is just big nostolgia for me. It's sorta pop punk/rock but not quite and i just love it so much. This one gives me major season 2 opening for an anime vibes i don't know how else to explain it 😅 I recommend all their other stuff too it's great ("Ghost" to this day gives me such Tifa vibes its incredible).

Crash Poet (Cold Kingdom) - for me this is the song for Genesis. Blatant poetry/stage performance analogies?? Begging for the chance to step up and show how much you have to offer to the world? Yeah, it's Genesis alright.

as for tagging, how about @ibyte13, @nexomify, @darktiger57, @raeofgayshine and anyone else who wants to!

[mellotronmkll]

EMBARRASSING CONFESSION: I don't really get like obsessed with people on youtube or care about them generally cos i dont watch a lot of youtube anyways However There is this one extremely normal looking middle aged guy on youtube im just actually like so obsessed with cos he's like a music professor and does videos about theory and whatnot and his videos are really well done but he also just has the best taste in music ever like he just gets me cos he's like jazz fusion❤️ but he'll also be like My hour long video analyzing an XTC song because im obsessed with XTC and theyre my favorite band ever and im just like YES! and im always embarrassing myself in his comments like Wow! Another great video!!!😍 Very well done excellent analysis! I love that song too!!!! and shit it's just I can't help myself.. . Anyway he keeps uploading these jazz guitar covers of songs and the choices have been SO GOOD im like TASTE and he just freaking uploaded one of a labi siffre song and I'm too scared to watch it. Because it will kill me. Like the notification scared me so bad. But I had to tell someone.

[purplekoop]

Things I Love #2: WATCH OJAMAJO DOREMI.

Okay so. context.

A while back, way earlier this year if memory serves correctly, my friend Dyna (y'know from the streams) found a peculiar song in the girl idol band rhythm game they like. Upon investigating, they learned that was an official cover of the theme song for a 1999 magical girl anime with a very niche cult following here in the states. They looked into it further, watched a video explaining why the show is so great, saw it for themselves, and after becoming thoroughly obsessed, convinced me somehow to watch the entire 200+ episode run with them.

And it. was.

Worth it.

I say it without an ATOM of hyperbole that this is genuinely one of the best shows I've ever seen. Like. Seriously, no bits no laughs no nothing, this silly little pastel-colored show is utterly phenomenal in more ways that I can do it justice. It's genuinely that good. It's hilarious, it's intense, and it made me cry and intensely hilarious number of times. It's legitimately a show that makes me happier to be alive when I think about it.

And one of the main cast members looks like this for the majority of the show.

...Okay maybe it deserves a little more context.

So, okay, plot summary:

Doremi (the pink one) is a silly, short-tempered, and chronically unlucky grade schooler who kind of sucks at... most things, to be frank. And one thing she sucks at that actually bothers her is her inability to muster up the courage to one day confess to a boy she likes. Logically, the only way she'd be able to confess is if she had magic, so she's also obsessed with witches, and one day becoming a witch herself. (Good news for her incoming.)

One day, she goes to a mysterious old house, and finds an equally mysterious woman inside with a cat. Just kind of, y'know, as a hunch. She accuses the woman of being a witch, which causes her to spontaneously turn into the green creature seen above.

This is Majo Rika, a genuine article but short-tempered witch, and the cat is secretly her fairy companion Lala. When a witch's identity is found out by a human, they get cursed into being a silly little creature known as a Witch Frog, and the only way to turn back into their original form is for the human who found them out to become a witch themself, and then use their magic to turn the witch frog back to normal. This, very conveniently, means Doremi now has to become a Witch Apprentice, learn magic, pass the apprentice exams, and eventually earn the honor of becoming a full witch herself.

Along the way, some of Doremi's friends get caught up in the secret, including her childhood friend Hazuki, the soft-spoken sweetheart (and my favorite of the apprentices but quite not my favorite character outright), and the new transfer student Aiko, the cool-headed tomboy who rocks the blue. Together, they all train to be witch apprentices, learning under Majo Rika, and working at her house, which is turned into a magical crafts shop, the Maho Dou. A few more witch apprentices join them along the way, but aside from them they have to keep their witchy business a secret from everyone else.

Now that we've established the basics, I think I'll continue the tradition of posting the show's theme song in each of these. Doremi has a 4-ish season run, with each season getting its own OP in standard anime fare, but I think the first and most iconic opening, Ojamajo Carnival, should suffice:

Oh yeah, might help to explain what "Ojamajo" means. It's a pun that roughly means "bothersome witch", since "Majo" is "Witch" and "Ojama" means "bothersome" or "annoying." So the title would more directly be "Bothersome Witch Doremi" but literally everyone prefers "Ojamajo" so. yeah.

Anyways, theme song shows a lot about the show that's great.

For one is the art style, which I'd say is "pleasant" in the most intensely delightful sense of the word. The designs themselves are all nice, soft, and delightful, with hardly a sharp corner in sight and a real sense of childlike whimsy permeating through it all. The general color palette and style of the show also just has a nostalgic fuzziness, even after the show's technical quality improves over its 4 year run. And the animation I adored as soon as episode 1, with characters frequently deforming to goofy faces and round nub hands right out of Animal Crossing. Hey, I don't blame them, I wouldn't wanna draw full hands for over 200 episodes either.

Another thing is the soundtrack. I don't know what terms to describe its genre, but beyond just the bombastic opening, with its cheery violin, twangy guitar, and overall exuberant joy, the soundtrack for each episode is also full of bangers. There's upbeat jazz to stir up excitement for energetic scenes, pleasant standard background tracks, and even some unexpectedly tense tracks for some dramatic scenes. This is also a show that will make you cry, and that includes even just from the ending themes. Here's season 1's:

That plays during an episode and I become a sopping mess without fail. Gets me every time.

The other big thing is arguably the show's biggest strength: its cast. While I won't go in-depth on the main cast, both for the sake of spoilers and because people have done that better than me already, I will give the show its due respect for its more broad cast. As the intro implies, the girls' entire class are notable side characters. While a good number of episodes focus on magical trials and hijinks, the majority of the show actually has the girls encounter a problem their classmates are facing, and then secretly use magic to help solve that problem. It's a formula that not only keeps things fresh with making different side characters the spotlight of an episode, but also rewards following along as the show progresses. Even the most obscure background classmates (save for I think ONE exception) will be the focus of an episode, and remember how Doremi and the gang helped them out. You can even see characters from past episodes in almost every group shot, and get to go "oh hey it's that kid!" in a really satisfying way. It really helps add to the childhood feel of the show, since... yeah, back then, your classmates were the stars of each day's adventures, and even if you weren't close friends you still knew their names would hang out every day. The teachers are also great characters in their own rights, again hearkening back to elementary days where teachers really were there for you. The cast isn't limited to the classroom though. The girls' families often factor into their more personal episode plots as well. And the magical side of things has its own small recurring cast. Witches actually reside in, another dimension known as the Witch World, a pastel-colored world with a striking visual appeal of its own right, and is also home to a cast of additional witch characters that get introduced over the course of the show.

Of course, the only important one is the underhanded saleswitch who barges into the Maho Dou with a smile and a song:

Dela.

Yeah no she's the best character and nothing's changing that.

Not kidding about her song by the way:

Literally every single time she appears, she sings a unique (shorter) version of this song to announce her arrival. It's fantastic.

So yeah, that's the basics of what makes this show great, but like... again, this show is insane, and there is SO much more I could say but won't, I'd rather people just experience it for themselves.

Which... brings us to how you experience this show yourself.

I should explain first that Doremi didn't take off in the west. Unlike her home country, which still has a dedicated fanbase who remembers the show fondly, English-speaking countries were stuck with...

*dramatic lightning crash*

the 4kids dub.

The dub, otherwise known as Magical DoReMi, is widely considered to be a downgrade from the original by fans. Look up the opening compared to the original and you'll see what I mean. Though the quality is one thing, the real way 4kids screwed the show over was by greatly limiting its airtime due to it being "another boring girl show", kneecapping its potential popularity severely. They only ever dubbed the first season, and the second half of that was limited to an online-only release if I remember right.

Now, while the show itself was a relatively failure over here, apparently toy sales didn't do too bad actually. And I know that specifically, because when I told my partner I was watching Doremi, they went "Wait WHAT" and proceeded to show me pictures of their childhood Doremi toys. Apparently they even came with a bonus DVD, though only for one episode. My friend Seven also had Doremi toys and a bonus DVD of that one episode too, so uh... small world, huh?

But yeah, with this in mind, it shouldn't be surprising that Doremi has such a limited english-speaking fanbase, and thus should be even less surprising that there is no official way to watch the show here. There is no newer dub of the whole show, and no official subtitles. I managed to watch the show thanks to the efforts of fanmade subs, and though there's some unfortunate dated language early on, it's otherwise an extremely commendable effort that I can't thank enough for making it possible. As for how to access this subbed version... I mean come on, if you're reading this, you're an adult on the internet, you can figure out how. I know pity for corporations is comically low on this site but if you need help feeling better about it, remember that there is no way to officially watch the show as an english speaker. If they do make official subs and stream the show somewhere, I'll let you know, but that seems extremely unlikely.

As for what you watch then, Doremi has 4 main seasons of roughly 50 episodes each, and then one weird bonus season. Each season after the first one has a subtitle: season 2 is Ojamajo Doremi Sharp, 3 is Motto, and 4 is Dokkan. There's also Naisho, a shorter set of about 17 episodes that takes place during the same time as Motto, but was made years after the main show originally ended. I watched episodes of Naisho sprinkled in with my watchthrough of Motto, but there's also merit to watching it in release order, at least the final episode. There are also two episode-length "movies" that take place about midway through a couple seasons: one for Sharp, and one for Motto. Finally, made for the 20th anniversary back in 2020, there's the feature-length film "Looking for Ojamajo Doremi", which was the final thing of the show I watched, and just finished tonight actually. It's not directly in the same "canon" as the show itself, but I highly recommend it as a great finale to a watchthrough of the show as a whole.

It's a long ride, but it's worth it. I genuinely wouldn't skip any episodes, as again, even minor characters are worth remembering for later. It's not a show with "filler", because what you're there for is a simple and relaxing slice of life style show that takes it easy to appreciate the mundane joys of just being nice and helping others. Plus, it makes the absolutely fantastic gut punch of a finale all the more worth it.

I really can't say enough about this show. It's genuinely better than I can put into words. If you have the time (and a soul) then please, PLEAAAASE consider giving it a watch, I swear it's worth it.

So that's this Things I Love. Not sure what the next one will be actually. These won't all be shows, so maybe expect a game next? Could also be a show that I'm due to finish a watch or rewatch of too, like a certain other show where a weird girl stumbles into a witch and her creature companion, and then learns to be a witch herself. We'll see though. In the meantime, uhhh... Rabbids? I think I was talking about Rabbids for some reason.

[siren--squid]

haiiii um. maybe its just bc ive been associating you with music the last week or so. but im a little Hyperfixated on Ice Nine Kills rn, so im here to pitch a rec to you.

theyre like, metal? maybe? metalcore? so i get if ur not into that kind of thing but i think theyre very fun. more bands should have a gimmick fr.

most of their songs are based on Horror Movies!!! they kind of have a fanmade fnaf song vibe going on sometimes, lol. they have songs based on IT, resident evil, jaws, friday the 13th, halloween, etc etc. they also covered Walking On Sunshine which is fun, and they did a Stacy's Mom parody about Jason (which tbh is mid but i still find it very funny)

but anyway. Ive been listening to Love Bites a lot (which features a girl from stranger things i think??? wild) but idk. i thought id rec it. idk why. i hsvent listened to enough of Waterparks to know if its in your wheelhouse but it feels like a Lore Song yk. like u can imagine ur OCs to it. or Mystreet characters if yiu feel so inclined.

(but my other favourites are Rainy Day, Funeral Derangements, and Thank God Its Friday. TGIF has the GNARLIEST scream ive ever heard in a metal song /pos i love it)

HELLO FRIEND!!!!! HI !!!

Uhm!!! I actually really REALLY like Ice Nine Kills,, and I think my boyfriend does too!!! SUPER SUPER COOL,,, and also lmao dude. Dude. I love LOVE metal and everything adjacent to it,, my older brother is in a metal band!!! (For The Dead on spotify, he's the bassist, they're epic!)

I LOVE THAT YOU SENT THIS TO ME,, YOU HAVE NO IDEA, seriously reading this made me get all super excited lol, and!! Waterparks has been dipping into harder stuff technically!!! With RITUAL, RSD, FAI2, and like all of their live performances of TURBULENT,,, the lollapalooza show had an AWESOME ASS scream during the transition from FAI into FAI2,,,,,

I'm a huge fan of heavier music, and horror films, or just scary or bloody movies lol. I'm obsessed with Chucky, my brother introduced me to childs play when I was literally not even two years old yet. It was GREAT. So!!! Yeah!! I go a little feral for those things combined lmfao,,,

ALSO i'm 100% gonna check out the others you listed!!!! Definitely sounds really really cool!!!!!

[thebreakfastgenie]

If you had to make a script for a Billy Joel episode of Glee what episodes would you put in it

Okay so I actually think the Billy Joel episode of Glee did a decent job with the songs it chose:

Movin' Out

Piano Man

My Life

An Innocent Man

Honesty

Just the Way You Are

You May Be Right

They had previously done Piano Man, Only the Good Die Young, Uptown Girl, New York State of Mind, and The Longest Time.

They had no problem using Piano Man again, so I'm going to treat songs appearing previously as no object, that being said I feel less strongly that Only the Good Die Young is essential since it was used in the show elsewhere. Anyway I'm going to come up with seven songs because Movin' Out had seven and that gives me a guide lol. This isn't a cohesive episode plot it's just songs I think would work well, I will think about a cohesive episode plot but I need more time for that.

I would do:

The Entertainer (idk who would sing this but I'm picturing Mr. Schue bringing someone in to mentor the kids about the music business and this person being cynical and singing this song)

You May Be Right (but edited better, christ I hate how they edited it)

Tell Her About It (I see Blaine doing this one)

Allentown (that tank factory you're obsessed with fits in with the dying industrial town theme, also the music video for this is a little homoerotic so Kurt and Blaine could do something with that maybe)

An Innocent Man (in the episode this is used as a teen angst romance thing and it's great, it was kind of a surprising choice to me at the time and it was excellent I would keep it)

Summer, Highland Falls but only if Blaine gets to sing/play piano (I can't stomach a Glee cover of Vienna even though I think Darren Criss could do it so he gets Summer, Highland Falls)

We Didn't Start the Fire (Gwyneth Paltrow's substitute character should do this one. Also I know Mr. Schue becomes a history teacher but it doesn't suit him.)

I know Piano Man is obligatory but fuck that. It's too long and you can't edit Piano Man because Billy Joel will write a whole other song just to yell at you. Also like enough already. Enough.

Some other considerations:

This Is the Time as a Finn/Rachel graduation/breakup situation, featuring the other high school kid couples facing an uncertain future as well

My Life was great in the episode also and I would love to see that again

It's Still Rock and Roll to Me in the context of the kids freaking out because their intel says their competition (that school in the pilot with the steel drum band) is doing something flashy and new and Mr. Schue reassuring them that it's all still just rock and roll and they just need to do what they do

Keeping the Faith in the context of doing an old school throwback number for a competition but I would kill myself if I had to watch Glee do that because old school throwback numbers were my school's show choir's Thing and they won all kinds of competitions and everyone was obsessed with them

Miami 2017 when one of the original kids has a getting fired/quitting/dropping out arc in New York and is being dramatic about it lol

[cleoselene]

my homeskillet @an-ivy-covered-summer tagged me to spell out my url using song titles, thank u dear, always appreciate music games like this

C - The Calling by The Amazing Devil (this is top three song of theirs for me. Definitely my favorite song from the Ruin album)

L - Linger by The Cranberries (been back on a Cranberries kick lately - what a great 90s band, RIP Dolores <3)

E - Energy by Beyoncé feat. Beam (JUST VIBE, VOTING OUT 45 DON'T GET OUTTA LINE)

O - Over by Portishead (yeah no way was I going to ignore the greatest band of all time here, they've taken me oooooooover)

S - Spark by Tori Amos (From the Choirgirl Hotel turned 25 last year and my obsession with it was, erm, ahem.. sparked anew? What an immaculate album infused with trip-hop and industrial, Tori's piano blended with the best of 90s electronica)

E - Everbody Hurts by REM (aka my theme song for the Cubs this year ;__;)

L - Liquid Diamonds by Tori Amos ("I guess I'm an underwater thing so I guess I can't take it personally. I guess I'm an underwater thing, I guess I'm. Liquid running.")

E - Electric Sun by VNV Nation (been back on my VNV bullshit for about a year. Every few years I get back on my VNV bullshit, usually because I need that sort of humanist optimism Ronan infuses into his music)

N - Nothing New by Taylor Swift & Phoebe Bridgers (guh I love this song. Outside of ATW10, fave vault track hands down. Love Phoebe tremendously, her voice is so soothing)

E - Edge of the Moon by Tori Amos (now I'm going back past that marmalade sky, 'cause you've got me waxing and waning. as primitive goes, you stir the embers of the Lucy inside of my soul)

lol why does my URL have so many E's??? anyway thank you as always I love me some music asks <3

tagging everyone because brain not work good now to think of names