#because i really need to use my cds more i have like my entire music taste on cd

[mokeonn]

if you dont mind sharing, what are some of your favorite ska songs/bands?

I will admit I am not a huge band person I tend to be more of a "pick whatever random songs sound good" person, so I can't recommend any good bands. I also listen to Ska Punk, which is a subgenre of Ska... and Punk. So I am not a good authority on Ska songs to listen to I am just someone who is banned from being passed the aux cord...

But some of my favorite songs include:

No Children - Ska (cover)

Quinto Patio Ska

Everything Went Numb

S F D D

And songs by Reel Big Fish tbh. I know I just said I don't listen to specific bands but Reel Big Fish has some pretty good songs like...

Sell Out

And their Take on Me cover

Here's my disclaimer, though: I am not into music subcultures I just listen to whatever sounds good (and jazzy punk with horns sounds good), so I could be giving absolutely awful music recommendations that anyone who is especially into Ska (and more specifically Ska Punk) might find egregious. I personally just grab whatever song sounds good and add them to my forever long playlist.

Also the Jabberjaw (Running Underwater) song from Pain used for the Cartoon Network Boomerang Groovies is probably the reason I enjoy Ska punk so much, and it has been in my playlist for years now:

If nothing else in this list interests you, I require everyone by law to listen to Jabberjaw Running Under Water by pain and watch the Cartoon Network Boomerang Groovie video of it. I used to watch Boomerang a million times, and this was probably the only Groovie I really enjoyed watching and didn't go to the bathroom during.

[thedissociatives]

going without a phone since the end of november has actually taught me that i can just. not have one

[tthoroughfare]

kerosene (part 3) // ellie williams

*･゜ﾟ･* summary: the one where it's her birthday.

*･゜ﾟ･* pairing: jackson!ellie x reader

*･゜ﾟ･* content: sfw. joel likes dad rock (of course) and so do you! (a little)

*･゜ﾟ･* length: 0.5k

this is part three of this series! find part one here

fun fact the stereophonics reference in this is all my dad's fault! when i was 13 we went on a roadtrip together and the only CD in his car was the graffiti on a train album because he forgot to bring any other music, so we just listened to it over and over. i was listening to that album for the first time as an adult around the same time i wrote this and just thought it was very joel and ellie of us... maybe she'd appreciate it. idk. anyway

after that, you get a lot closer again. even more so than before — although, it’s rare that you’re actually alone. you’re not sure if you’re thankful for it, or hate it. you tend to pass your time with jesse and dina, the foursome that temporarily drifted back in full swing.

it’s a lot of hanging out aimlessly, listening to music, watching movies — you spend most of your free time together, and it’s nice. you feel grateful for the friends you have, that in this fucked up world you ended up in relative safety, surrounded by people you genuinely get along with.

however, it also complicates things. while you love that you and ellie are closer than ever, you hate how much it makes your feelings develop. you feel like there’s more at stake, now. if you were to tell her how you feel and it wasn’t mutual, you don’t even want to think how it would mess up your friendship. mess the group up.

so, you keep it to yourself. you go through the motions: spending time together, trying not to read into every little thing. trying not to let your eyes linger on her. trying not to sit too close to her, or laugh too hard at her shitty fucking jokes.

for her birthday, you make her a mixtape. you try and act nonchalant about it, but don’t tell anyone the way you painstakingly went through your entire music collection, imagining ellie listening to it, picking out the songs you think she’d like the most. all in all, it takes you a good while to put together. you make a cover for it, too, covered in little doodles, ‘for ellie :)’ written in the middle.

you get shy giving it to her. it’s later on in the day, and several of you are having a small gathering for the occasion. you pass it over with a coy smile, reveling in the way her face lights up once she realizes what it is.

“wait, what the fuck?” she asks with a grin, turning the tape around to look at the tracklist you’d written out.

“i tried to pick stuff i thought you’d listen to,” you comment, flitting your eyes between ellie and your present, hand nervously coming up to scratch at your neck.

“dude, this is… so cool. seriously. this is the best gift ever.”

you shrug, meeting her eyes for a second with a warm smile, watching as jesse picks the tape from ellie’s fingers, studying the cover before showing it to dina. the two of them let out teasing awws, making your cheeks burn even more. the way that dina looks at you feels almost knowing.

it gets passed around the room, you wanting to sink into the floor at the way you feel a small spectacle is being made.

you take note of the way joel smiles lopsidedly at the doodled cover, saying, “that’s a good one,” tapping the title of a stereophonics song you’d included.

ellie stands up, snatching the tape back with a chuckle before sitting down and looking over the cover again herself, a content expression on her face. she looks over at you, meeting your eyes with a genuine smile. 

“thank you,” she says, holding the gift up. “this is… this is so awesome of you.”

your smile widens, and you can practically feel the affection in your gaze. you know you need to tone it down, but you don’t really care. “don't mention it.”

[child0feden]

THE RIVER OF TIME

modern! eagle flies x reader

♡ general dating headcanons for modern eagle flies!

୨୧ for some reason i wanted to do a modern version of eagle flies! i will eventually be doing the game version of him too though… sorry for any major spelling errors, i feel kind of sick today <3

♡ related hc available here | view my video game masterlist here

reading music recommendations: the river of time flows through me by blackbraid - moss covered bones on the alter of the moon by blackbraid

♡ i believe with my whole entire heart that modern eagle flies would be a huge metalhead!

୨୧ he’s especially a fan of black metal <3

♡ blackbraid is one of his all time favourite bands, their music gets played HOURLY in your shared apartment…

୨୧ he just resosnates with blackbraid more than any other black metal band he’s found so he wants to appreciate the hell out of it

♡ eagle flies probably has a guitar that his father bought for him for his birthday when he was a teenager!

୨୧ he may have a semi complicated relationship with his father but he’s never replaced that guitar, it means too much to him and he loves it too much! it reminds him of easier times…

♡ he likes to play the guitar for you, he doesn’t play stuff like black metal though, he plays more relaxed and laid back stuff

୨୧ more often than not, his playing lulls you to sleep… he likes that, he likes knowing you feel at ease with him, comfortable around him

♡ to be honest, i can see his relationship with his family being kind of complicated… he has a lot of great memories from his childhood but when his mother passed and he got older, he began drifting away from his father and older brother

୨୧ but he still calls them every now and again and does try to answer their calls, just to know they’re okay and he does still love them, he just needs time

♡ he’s a huge fan of cassettes and CDs!

୨୧ he never had a phone as a teenager and got his music through cassettes and CDs in thrift stores but he still has all of them! when you guys first got together, his collection of them was something you noticed in his apartment and asked him about, causing him to go into a deep ramble about his favourites, he’s incredibly passionate about music <3

♡ he doesn’t really use social media for similar reasons; he didn’t have it as a teen so he never really feels the need to have it now!

୨୧ he has a facebook profile though, just so that he can keep up with the bands he likes and upcoming events whilst sometimes posting videos of him playing his guitar… and when you guys started officially started dating he changed his relationship status, causing his older brother to find out he was now dating you and comment some really cute older sibling type shit

♡ eagle flies absolutely loves when you play with or braid his hair! you’ll play with it softly before transitioning into crafting a small braid whilst he’s supposedly focused on a horror movie that’s playing on the tv

୨୧ but he’s really not that focused on the movie anymore… the second you started playing with his hair, his attention shifted to you, enjoying the feeling of your hands running through his glossy locks

“ feels good… you’re good at braiding, you know that? ” ( you always blush so hard when he compliments you on things like that, they just hit you right in the heart! but you simply hum a response as he chuckles )

♡ a lot of the time when you finish the braid, you don’t actually have a hair tie on you so you just let it sit and slowly unravel itself which makes him kind of sad :( he really wanted to keep it in his hair because you did it

୨୧ he has a kind of tattered black denim jacket with a bunch of pins and band logo patches sewn into it! bands like blackbraid, darkthrone, mayhem, carach angren, morbid angel, venom and many more

♡ sometimes you’ll be in a music store without him and see some patches / pins you know he definitely doesn’t have and grab them for him, excitedly showing them off to him when you get home

୨୧ he thinks this is literally the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for him, he loves that you think about him and his interests when out and about without him! he always gives you a big hug and a soft kiss on the your head before taking them from you and wandering off to add them to his jacket

“ no, i don’t have these ones! thank you, beautiful… love you ” ( his deep voice is so close to your ear as he says it, still wrapped in a tight hug, you almost jump his bones but hold off for the time being )

♡ i can see him being a night owl! he’s not a huge fan of the hustle and bustle of daytime, he doesn’t like the near constant passing cars and loud noise… so you guys go on a lot of late night walks together <3

୨୧ with the roads being completely empty, he can actually hear himself think and have a conversation with you whilst walking, connected hands softly swinging between your bodies

♡ often times you’ll walk to a nearby wooded area and just sit on a bench, taking in the sounds of the trees blowing in the wind and twigs snapping under the feet of forest animals…

୨୧ you two probably sit there for a while, switching between sitting in a comfortable silence and quietly chatting about life! you’re always leaned into him, one of his arms thrown over your shoulder and if you get cold he’ll gladly offer up his denim jacket

♡ speaking of which, you adore wearing his jacket! it smells exactly like his natural musk and the cologne he uses

୨୧ when you pull the jacket on, you immediately get a whiff of things like pine, leather, oak and… bourbon… ? yeah, whenever you guys to see a local metal band perform at a bar, he always has a bourbon in hand, he’s very classy when it comes to drinking

♡ a lot of your guys dates revolve around similar trips out! dates are rarely planned between you, you’ll just kind of be sitting on the couch or laying in bed and he’ll raise his head to look at you before asking if you wanna go on a date today

“ do you want to go on a date today? the weather looks nice, no rain on the forecast, what do you think? ” ( hell, he’d still ask you out on a date if it was pouring down with rain, he thinks you look beautiful in any weather )

୨୧ you almost always do! they’re usually small picnics in extremely desolate areas of forest / plains

♡ he’s always laid back on the blanket, his combat boots hanging just off the blanket due to his height, whilst you lay back into him and eat some blackberries you’d found on the walk there, leaning up to offer him one as smiles and takes the berry into his mouth, pressing a gentle kiss to your cheek after swallowing it

୨୧ i can see him being kind of a jealous person but not a loud jealous person, he won’t try to fight someone just for looking at you, he’s a quiet jealous person! responding to his jealousy by having a hand on you or an arm wrapped around you

♡ he can just get kind of super afraid of losing you :( you’re one of the best things to ever happen to him and he really doesn’t know how he’d function without you

୨୧ eagle flies really likes when you wash his hair for him, it took him a while for him to actually let you do it because it’s just a very sacred thing to him

♡ the only person he’s ever let wash his hair for him was his mother when he was younger, it was a ritual of immense love and not something done just because she was the parent and he was the child, it was a show of love

୨୧ when he feels ready to let you do it, he’s kind of shy about it! which is crazy to you because he’s not shy about anything but you can feel that this is something special to him and don’t mention it…

♡ as you’re in the shower together he pauses and takes your hands in his, guiding them up towards his hair as you realise what’s happening and try to hold in your excitement

୨୧ that’s the first time you ever wash his hair for him, gently massaging the shampoo into his head as he closes his eyes and leans into you, bending his back a little so you don’t have to reach up so high! you make comfortable small talk with him as you do it, asking him about music or movies and he’ll mumble a response back, almost falling asleep due to how good your fingers feel massaging his hair

♡ you wash his hair for him almost all the time after that night, a ritual once between mother and son now shared between lovers…

[moonfromearth]

On Repeat - an oc tag by @elderwisp

"rules are pretty simple, pick as many (or as little) oc's as you'd like and find a song that you relate to them the most! feel free to mention why too! o and tag some more ppl too! that would be cool!"

I may have gone a little overboard 😅 To be honest this tag came around at just the right time! I'd just gotten a new song association and have been working on schoolwork so much that I really needed to do something creative 😆

Originally these were all going to be in similar editing styles (more like Corey's) but somewhere along the way that stopped because I had different ideas that I really wanted to do. Also I cheated a little and a few got more than one song... 🤫

I'm really proud with all of these in the end, and if you want to read more about the stories behind them you can check below the cut! ❤️

I know I'm pretty late to the party now buuut I'll tag: @igglemouse @swiftviolets @stargazer-sims @auspexsims and @seniorpollinationtechnician. Feel free to ignore though if you've already done it/don't want to! 😁

[deep dive under cut!]

COREY ALTMAN

"Holiday" - Green Day:

This song being here is random song association at its finest. The trail pretty much goes "Holiday" by Green Day > Surf's Up > Beach Vibes > Sulani > Globetrotter Challenge > Corey Song. If that makes sense... 😂 Pretty much, you can blame the Sulani round of the Globetrotter Challenge for it, plus the fact that I feel like it's the type of song/genre Corey would use in his own music.

"Catch Me If You Can" - Set It Off:

Now, it would be a crime to talk about songs and Corey without a song by Set It Off. Corey was created when I was listening to their songs a lot, and it definitely rubbed off on him. From his aesthetic to the songs I imagine him playing, a lot of it came from Set It Off. Even his name was derived from the band's lead singer (although changed from Cody to Corey because that's the route my mind took with it idk). So, this song in particular specifically reminds me of Corey for... Honestly probably obvious reasons 😆 "Catch Me If You Can" was pretty much the theme of his Globetrotter Challenge, where he was constantly moving on the run from the law. A line I really like though for him is the part that says, "I only feel at home when I'm on the run," because I feel like that leads into the deeper aspects of Corey. He really isn't at home anywhere, he's always on the move, even when he's not evading capture anymore. There's a certain non-permanence to everything he does. Something funny about the image itself is that it originally wasn't going to be edited to look like the back cover of a CD. When I took the picture of Corey with the guitar I kind of thought "this looks like the back cover of a CD" and when editing I just needed a way to fill the space at the bottom and it turned into a CD back cover edit 🤣 It actually kind of fits though since both of these songs are the sound I associate with Corey's own music so it worked out in the end.

LIZZY ALTMAN

"Unopened Windows" - Set It Off:

So this one is the context behind this post lol. It's been like two years since I started working on this plotline I have to finish it eventually 😆 Anyway, Lizzy's been teased in many tag games so far, but without a name or much information (note: and this name's not final I'm not sure yet). Here you can probably guess based on the song choice how her story goes 😅 Going back to the epilogue of the Globetrotter Challenge, we see that something is going on, and it leads to Lizzy and her dad being separated. So, the entire song lyrically I really felt spoke to them and their situation (more in a future gameplay 😉). Bonus points for it being a Set It Off song, who I associate with Corey, and thought music could have been something that they bonded over and enjoyed together. I have a few things to say about the image itself because it was a struggle but I looooove how it turned out! It turned out essentially how I imagined it with Lizzy playing guitar in the foreground with a sort of memory of her time with her dad in the background. I probably had about five or six different poses that I put in the background because I couldn't decide which one I liked the best 😆 This was the last image I had to work on out of the four, and I was having trouble with how I wanted the song title to look. While I was browsing for overlays and stuff I came across a lot of cutout style poems and ended up adding in some of the lyrics because I thought it would help explain the concept behind the image. In the end this one is one of my favorites which is unbelievable considering how much I thought it was not going to turn out like I imagined 🥰

*UNNAMED*

(Sorry I don't have a name for her yet and don't want to commit to a temporary one 😭)

"Little Chaos" - Orla Gartland:

In a wonderfully serendipitous coincidence, this was the song association I was very into when getting tagged, and was already planning what became this edit! I rarely have song associations for sims/sims stories (despite how many ended up coming together here) so that's why I'll never get over how well timed this all was (thanks again elderwisp!!) On to the song, it has to do with my upcoming gameplay story centered around the For Rent game pack, and starring the pictured sim (who doesn't have a name yet sorry! 😅). She's going through a bit of a tough time where she's very lost and I thought the lines, "And it's a good day for a meltdown. All my thoughts getting too loud," fit really where she's at, especially at the start. Plus, the vibes are perfect. The image itself was inspired by the song's MV and one part in particular, but it looks a lot different now (I was limited by the poses I could find because I refuse to sit down and learn to make my own yet). I liked this idea of the torn pages framing the image, especially because it plays into the plot, which sees the main character do a lot of journaling throughout the story. So, the lined paper had to do with that, and it doubled as being good for making the letters stand out, which I wanted to be big and misaligned to be more "chaotic," though I think that could have been done more/better. Aaaaand the background is a picture of Tomarang, where the story takes place. To be honest this will probably be the cover image once I finalize a name and get started on playing it 😉

GHOST COWBOY

(no he also doesn't have a name yet same as above 😆)

"Ferryman" - Schafer James and Will Wood:

I've actually been having a lot of fun with this character since initially creating him back before the Horse Ranch pack came out (more on him coming out in a few days for the outlaw challenge 😉). So this song.... The entire concept of our ghost cowboy is that he, being somewhat half dead and half alive, winds up being a good source of convincing "unwilling souls" to cross over, and works with the character Death to do so in exchange for finding out why he's not entirely dead. I'll explain it better another time, but I also really love this song and just thought that the concept of the ferryman and the ghost cowboy as ferriers of the dead.

"Toss A Coin To Your Witcher (Epic Version)" - Samuel Kim and Black Gryph0n:

Liiiiisten... My family made me watch three seasons of The Witcher I had to get something out of it 😆 I joke a lot that this character gives off Geralt vibes but honestly they are definitely super similar just based on their overall aesthetic and horse companions. I wanted to be special though and chose this epic cover instead of the original... Just for fun 😁 There were some cool piano covers too that almost made the cut. This is probably a good place to talk about the actual image (yay!). I hope the visibility on it isn't too bad because it ended up waaaay more cluttered than I originally intended, plus the mist effect definitely makes it harder to see the characters. I made his (also unnamed) horse a little more transparent to try and give off this ghostly see through effect so I hope that comes through. The font isn't the kind of "wild west wanted sign" font that I wanted, but I think it's close enough lol.

Credits:

Image by rawpixel.com on Freepik

[maxtalksalarmclocks]

Radio Tuning and Volume Controls, Part 1

At the risk of too many technically dense posts in sequence, I’m following up my post on the minutiae of battery backups with two posts on the minutiae of radio tuning and volume controls! These “explainer” posts will likely be the most time-consuming for me to write, so I want to knock them out rather than turning them into Big Daunting Things in my head that I then procrastinate on.

In Part 2 of this post, we will explore the weirdnesses of radio tuning and volume controls. But first, we need to explore how they work in the first place. And before we explore that, we need to explore why alarm clocks have radios or other music-playing apparatuses in the first place. So let’s do it!

Why do so many alarm clocks have radios, CD players, or other music players?

There’s an obvious reason and a slightly less obvious reason! The obvious reason is that it saves space on a nightstand. I know my nightstand barely has enough space for everything on it, and I can imagine pretty much nobody wanted to cram a CD boombox and an alarm clock onto their bedside table. Combining these devices reduces their footprint!

The slightly less obvious reason is that these “combo” alarm clocks tried to give you a more pleasant sleeping and waking experience than alarm clocks of yore. Most people don’t enjoy waking up to bells ringing or obnoxious buzzing or beeping, though for some of us, it may be the only way to get us out of bed. But for others, it might be nicer to wake up to a favorite song, or the voice of your favorite anchor on NPR. That’s why alarm clocks with radios, CD players, or other audio sources typically let you set these sources as the alarm sound, which wouldn’t be possible if the radio or CD player was an entirely separate device.

Pretty much all of these alarm clocks also go a step further. They don’t just try to help you wake up peacefully, they also try to help you fall asleep peacefully too. Tons and tons of alarm clocks have a sleep timer, which shuts off the radio or CD player automatically after a set time. That way, you can put on soothing music or a boring news station to fall asleep to, and then have the sound shut off automatically once you’re asleep. I feel like sleep timers are something surprisingly few people use or even know about, though they’re included on practically every alarm clock with a radio or CD player ever made.

Now, here’s the tricky thing. The audio people want to fall asleep to is not the same as the audio they want to wake up to. (Or the audio they listen to during the day!) Maybe you’re the kind of person who puts on soothing classical at a low volume to lull you into slumber. But you’re a deep sleeper, so you need the guitars of heavy metal playing LOUD to get you out of bed. (If you’re that person, I applaud you for your rich and varied music tastes.)

I don’t think there are really that many people using their alarm clocks to the max in this way, setting the CD alarm, using the sleep timer, and letting their tastes meander across every genre and volume level of music. But when that rare human being comes along, alarm clocks have to be prepared. It’s helpful when they have the ability to play one thing at one volume (such as during the sleep timer), then switch themselves to a different thing at a different volume (such as for the alarm sound). And that leads nicely into our discussion today!

Analog vs. digital controls

If you’re young and sprightly like me, you may have no idea how radio works. (Well, I know a little about how radio works, but mostly because I’m an alarm clock nerd, not because I really listen to it. Though NPR slaps, I will say.) Both AM and FM radio stations broadcast at specific frequencies, measured in kilohertz (for AM) or megahertz (for FM). Using FM as an example, one station may be located at 91.1 MHz, then another at 91.3, then another at 91.5, etc. The important thing to know is that, unlike “stations” on an app like Spotify, real radio stations are arranged in a numeric sequence, and you change between them by changing the frequency the radio is set to receive. The process of changing this frequency to the number you want is called tuning.

If you’re an alarm clock designer, you might approach designing controls for radio tuning in a similar way as you might for volume. That’s because volume controls, like radio tuning controls, also need to move through a series of numbers in sequence. These numbers are more obvious. They are an arbitrary range the alarm clock designer chooses, from mute all the way up to super-super-loud.

Both radio tuning and volume controls (on alarm clocks or other devices) can be analog or digital. This is a surprisingly important distinction that I want to explain as carefully as I can.

Digital controls

I’m actually going to explain digital controls first, because they are more familiar to most people. With a digital control for radio tuning or volume, you press a button or turn a dial, and your action sends a command to the device’s motherboard, which changes the numeric value for radio frequency or volume by a preset amount. The resulting value is typically shown on a screen. You know when you press the volume-up button on your TV remote, and the screen shows that the volume changed from 29 to 30? That’s a digital control.

Below is a an alarm clock (a Sony ICF-CD853V) with a prototypical example of digital radio tuning. The radio frequency (87.5 MHz) is shown at the bottom of the screen. The “Tune / Time Set” buttons allow you to decrease or increase the radio frequency. And there are buttons numbered 1 through 5 on the top of the alarm clock for “Preset Tuning,” which is almost always a telltale sign of digital radio tuning. I’ll explain what those do in just a moment.

There are two crucial things to understand about digital controls. First, they change radio frequency or volume in discrete steps, rather than continuously. If volume is on a scale from 0 to 30, you can’t set the volume to 5.5, or 3.3333333, or 2.57684749249. You can set it to 2, or 3, or 4, or 5. This could be considered limiting for a volume control, because what if you want to listen to music at 5.5, and 5 is too quiet and 6 is too loud, gosh darn it? But alarm clock designers can usually resolve this problem by including enough volume options. And changing in discrete steps is actually really helpful for radio tuning, because radio stations are arranged in discrete steps. You want to move from 91.1 FM to 91.3 FM without ending up in between. If you end up at 91.2 FM, where no station exists, I believe you'll hear a little bit of both radio stations on either side simultaneously, which is what we call “not ideal.”

Second, you can use a digital control to change radio frequency or volume, or the electronics within the device can change the radio frequency or volume themselves. There are so, so many reasons why this is important. With radio frequency, it allows for preset stations, where you save the stations you listen to most, and at the touch of a button, the electronics within the device can leap from the old frequency to the one you selected, regardless of how far apart they are. (That’s what those 1 through 5 buttons do on the alarm clock pictured above! I could save NPR as preset 1 and jump to it whenever I want.) With alarm clocks specifically, digital controls also allow you to set a radio frequency or volume level for the alarm that is different from whatever you were last listening to. At the alarm time, the clock can change itself to the new radio frequency or volume level. Finally, digital controls also allow you to adjust the radio frequency or volume without physically interacting with the device, such as by using a remote control.

Analog controls

This is all in contrast to analog controls. With an analog control for radio tuning or volume, you turn a dial, and the dial physically interacts with the circuitry of the device in a way that I honestly don’t fully understand, and the radio frequency or volume changes along a continuum (not stepwise or discretely). The resulting radio frequency or volume is not shown on a screen, because (a) the device doesn’t know exactly what radio frequency or volume it’s set to (yes, really), and (b) the radio frequency or volume isn’t an exact, discrete number.

Below is an alarm clock (a Sony ICF-C630) with a prototypical example of analog radio tuning. An estimate of the radio frequency is shown on the dial scale, which looks like a ruler and is located below the display. The radio tuning dial is the small gray wheel on the lower-right side of the clock. As you rotate the dial, a mechanical linkage moves the red pointer on the dial scale, showing you roughly which station you are tuned to. (If you’re wondering why the frequencies on the dial scale are weird numbers, it’s because this isn’t a U.S.-market clock, and radio frequencies work differently in different countries.)

Analog controls will probably make more sense if we discuss the physical controls themselves. Both analog and digital controls can be dials. But a digital dial can make more than one full rotation, while an analog dial is restricted to one full rotation or less. An analog dial also never clicks from one “step” to the next, while some digital dials do. Using volume as an example, an analog volume control is usually a little dial or wheel on the side of a device that smoothly, freely rotates from one endpoint (mute) to another endpoint (the loudest volume possible). If you’ve ever had a Nintendo device (like a 3DS) with a volume slider on the side, that’s a perfect example of an analog volume control. (Though on alarm clocks, dials are much more common than sliders.)

As I said earlier, analog controls change radio frequency or volume continuously, not stepwise or discretely. They have an infinite amount of settings between their two endpoints. So you can dial in the perfect volume level for your listening (though you may get sucked into an obsessive loop doing it), but you can also find yourself tuned between two radio stations, which sucks. You’ll rarely, if ever, tune perfectly to 91.1 FM, so you better get comfortable with “good enough.” Devices with analog controls also can’t change these controls themselves. So if an alarm clock’s radio tuning dial or volume dial is set to a particular station or volume, that’s the station or volume the alarm clock will be using, until you physically rotate the dial. So no preset radio stations, no programming a unique radio station or volume level for the alarm, and no changing the station or volume using a remote control.

Analog volume controls don’t typically indicate the volume level, but it’s easy enough to hear if the music is already playing. Analog radio tuning controls do typically indicate the estimated radio frequency, because you don’t always know which station you’re on just by listening to it, unless the announcers tell you. Above, I showed you an example of a dial scale, which is the most common kind of radio frequency display for analog tuning. But there are others. Sometimes radio frequency numbers mechanically rotate through a little plastic window, like on the Sony ICF-CD815, shown below-left. And sometimes the radio frequency numbers are printed on the dial itself, like on the HoMedics SS-6000, shown below-right. (You might need to zoom in to see the radio tuning dial, which is on the lower-right side of the clock.)

Time for a break!

I know this is a pretty technically dense post, and I really appreciate you bearing with me. Here’s the good news: now that you’ve learned all this information, you will be better able to appreciate the weird and fun things I’m going to show you in Part 2! So go get hydrated, have a snack, touch grass, and then join me for Part 2!

Image credits:

Sony ICF-CD853V (digital tuning): Poshmark

Sony ICF-C630 (analog tuning with dial scale): Google Images

Sony ICF-CD815 (analog tuning with frequency windows): Google

HoMedics SS-6000 (analog tuning with numbers on the dial): eBay

[farcillesbian]

"I need to protect Laios, Falin, and the others... I must protect them...!"

pt: "I need to protect Laios, Falin, and the others... I must protect them...!"

id: end credit art from the dungeon meshi anime. it shows marcille and falin running to catch up with shuro, laios, namari, and chilchuck. /end id

welcome to my humble blog! ʕ`･ω･´ʔゞ [← waving bear kaomoji]

expect to find art, alternative music, bugs, science, bears, and more! frequently used tags will be added to this post.

i add image descriptions when they're not already included in a post.

if i add an image description to your post, please edit it into the original post - that's the most accessible way to do it aside from including it from the get-go. no credit is needed.

please do not add undescribed images to a post you're reblogging from me. if you need help describing something, my inbox & DMs are always open and I would literally rather describe the entire thing for you than have you post it undescribed. more information about image descriptions and the like can be found under #accessibility.

id: a divider made of different plush bears /end id

more info about me under the cut!

if you are a minor, i won't follow you back but you're free to follow - please block the tag "minors dni" though. i don't really post much nsfw but it does pop up from time to time.

please go share Najlaa's fundraiser and donate what you can!

id: two identical gifs of a plush rainbow worm inching along. /end id

about me:

my name is peach or riley, pronouns are he/they/fae, and i'm a transmasc femme lesbian - see my pronouns page for more info if you're curious how i like to be referred to!

i'm 27 (♎ libra), i've been on tumblr since 2010, and i have a master's degree in biology!

i enjoy reading (seriously, i have read over 80 books so far in 2024) with a particular fondness for sci fi and fantasy. i also read a lot of manga!

i also really enjoy music - i love listening to albums front to back when i discover an artist i like and reading up about them on the internet. I have over 100 CDs in my collection. i have spent hours on end researching songs that fit a particular vibe that i want to curate a playlist around. i also love reading about specific genres and their origins. my top genres include midwest emo, screamo, and shoegaze, but i will generally listen to any kind of music. if you say you listen to everything except rap, you're being antiblack and you should shut the fuck up and think about it.

#tunez is where i share music i enjoy.

my favourite video games are the pokemon mystery dungeon games (explorers of sky is the best), the dragon age series (zevran is forever in my heart), baldur's gate 3, the mass effect series, dave the diver, final profit, and civ 6.

previous URLs you may know me by include zevbian (will probably come back to it when the new dragon age releases), dyketorbjorn, and chubey.

i write image descriptions because this makes the internet a more accessible place for many people - first and foremost, blind and low vision people, though it can be helpful to others as well. posts with only alt text are tagged "id in alt text" and posts without any description are tagged "undescribed". descriptions I have added myself are tagged "described". i do not tag fundraising posts as undescribed even if they aren't because i believe that they need as much exposure as possible and the images they include are usually secondary to the intent of the post.

feel free to look at my carrd that I haven't updated for a few years, lol

[aprillikesthings]

swear to god the amount of time I've spent on this fic that's just looking up release dates of fucking songs/albums like do you KNOW how many times I've had a half dozen tabs open that are just the wikipedia page for [band/person name] discography

because yes I remember that The Beatles' Revolver came out in 1966 but WHEN in 1966, when can I make Adora listen to it while doing homework

for extra-fun points this was back when a lot of music had not only different release dates but the albums had different track lists, between the USA and the UK--American kids had more spending money, on average, than British kids; so American albums tended to be shorter so they could sell the songs as singles and EP's as well. In the case of The Beatles specifically, their really early stuff was across more than one label! Their albums didn't have the same track lists on both sides of the pond until Sgt. Pepper--at that point they insisted on it, and after that the track lists were always the same.

Sgt. Pepper was still released a week later in the USA than in the UK but I wonder if that was like, literally due to the time it took to ship the damn thing across an ocean lolol

Anyway even as an obsessed teenager in the mid-90's I only bothered memorizing the British album names/tracklists, since that's what was released on CD--the singles that weren't on any albums in the UK were released on their own compilations.

I say "bothered memorizing" lol I didn't even do it on purpose it just...happened. I used to be able to just recite the UK full-length albums in order of release.

Wait can I still do it?

Please Please Me, With the Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, ...I'm missing one I think?..., Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Magical Mystery Tour, Yellow Submarine, The White Album, Abbey Road, Let it Be (hah those last two always trip me up bc they were released in a different order than they were recorded)

Okay let me look and see if I fucked up

OH RIGHT the one I missed was Beatles for Sale. To be fair that album has a lot of...less good songs on it. Though it does have Eight Days a Week on it, which is one of my FAVES. And I got Yellow Submarine and the White Album in the wrong order. (To be fair, Yellow Submarine was mostly "leftovers" from recording Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour; the White Album is a totally different style)

ANYWAY this was SUPPOSED to be a post about writing my fic lol god I spent all of yesterday going "I need to write....I need to write...." but couldn't get any words down, until I watched a chunk of Monterey Pop on youtube and then voila, words fell into the gdoc. The funny thing is that I know I just recently reblogged a post that was like "if you're stuck, write or at least imagine things later in the story" and I keep refusing to let myself do that even thought it keeps working when I give up and do it. Because of course it's by writing things that happen later that I figure out how to approach scenes that happen earlier!

But also at this point, their senior year is going to be two or three chapters!, and "Catra hitch-hikes to SF" is going to be an entire chapter by itself. My actual chapter listings in the doc are unintentionally hilarious because at this point it's going to be, like, twice as many chapters as I was planning. 😩

That said I think I only need a couple more scenes before this upcoming chapter is finally done? But at this rate, by the time they graduate high school the rest of the fic will be basically done hahhhhh

[ecargmura]

Maho Aku Episode 12 Review + Final Thoughts - The Cutest Enemies-To-Lovers Story

Because this anime’s finale is just Byakuya and Mira being cute as heck for the final time, I’m going to just give my overall thoughts about the entire anime!

This is the cutest enemies-to-lover anime I’ve watched and now it’s over… This is a show where it’s impossible to ask for a second season because there isn’t anything else to adapt. Still, I can’t deny that this has been one of the most entertaining animes of this season…and it’s only a 12-minute long anime!

It’s crazy how much Bones did to make this weekly 12-minute anime be concise with the pacing and how well they animated it! I loved the cute moments between Byakuya and Mira and how each character helped play a part for both leads, whether they be the sleaziest and the worst character (Cat Familiar), or the cutest thing ever (Fomalhaut). From the beginning, Mira fell for Byakuya, so it was nice seeing her fall for him throughout the 12 episodes. I do like that all the characters have distinct personalities, even if they don’t appear much. I personally enjoyed Hibana and loved whenever she showed up on screen to give Byakuya a chiropractic adjustment and throwing f-bombs.

I like the world building with how there are actually multiple magical girls and familiars with the introduction of Hibana and her Bird Familiar and how the familiars are actually angels. The evil organization fight against the magical girls, but I do wish that we get to learn a bit more about them—we never even saw the Evil King. I guess my only issue with the worldbuilding is that I wish there was more to it. Why do the familiars need the magical girls? Who’s the actual villain? The fact that these will never get answered does upset me slightly.

The music was great! I really loved the songs used for the magical girl transformation! Hibana’s magical girl song was clearly the highlight with the constant blurting of F*ck in the background. I also loved the opening and ending songs as they were catchy!

The voice acting was really good! The two leads reprised their roles from the drama CD and I think they did a good job! I normally associate Yuuki Ono with cool roles, so it was nice to see him do comedy! Actually, I did like his role as Hori from Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun! I feel like Ono amped up his comedy game with this anime! His outbursts were so hilarious, especially when he flips his switch from serious to down bad. Byakuya is voiced by Mai Nakahara. It’s nice to hear Nakahara not voice an anime mom for once! Two animes I’ve watched, she voiced an anime mom. It was nice to hear her go out of her usual comfort zone and voice soft-spoken and adorable Byakuya! I think she did a really good job making Byakuya sound young and convincingly young! The other cast did a splendid job with their characters! Other than Hibana and the Bird Familiar, I also enjoyed Hiro Shimono as Alcyone because I originally thought he was Natsuki Hanae, so I’m mentioning him here because he fooled me. Though, if I had to pick a stand out role, it’d be Ayako Kawasumi as Bellatrix. No one ever expected the stoic and aloof officer to be extremely perverted! I sure didn’t!

Overall, this is a quick watch but I totally recommend it if you want something cute to watch! It’s super cute! I do plan on getting the manga! What are your thoughts on the anime as a whole?

[sixty-silver-wishes]

19. 29. 44. For the ask game

19. Okay, as much as I like vampires, I think we're really sleeping on zombies as a concept. I feel a need to point out that I'm referring to pop culture zombies and not zombies in Vodoun/Voodoo, which are an entirely different thing, as the concept of a zombie has been considerably changed in the public consciousness and I want to acknowledge that. Anyway, it's always been gross to me how in pop culture, zombies are sort of there to fulfill this fantasy of being able to kill scores of people and get away with it, as they're not exactly conscious, but they're like, still sort of alive, right? And so I think I have some sympathy for them. I guess vampires and zombies are both undead, but vampires are typically afforded more sentience and sympathy than zombies are. I mean, vampires get to be tragic and multifaceted and complex, but we don't typically see the same concepts afforded to zombies. But what if we could? Do we have to kill zombies once they turn into zombies? What if they're our loved ones? Both of these monsters are so interesting because the fact that they're undead means that they used to be people whom we could have once formed relationships with, and I think there's a dialogue to be had about what that means for zombies. What are zombies analogies for? Disease? Disability? Ideological control? And as zombies exist in pop culture primarily to make more zombies until they're killed, what does that say about the people they may represent? I think we're cruel to zombies in a way that we're not cruel to vampires, and I'd be interested in a story that explores that.

29. A frozen pizza lol. I was planning to eat quickly and then go to the library, but it just closed for today :/

44. Yeah; I collect classical music CDs, but I haven't actually gotten any in a while. I have most of the Mahler symphonies and all of the Shostakovich symphonies; those are my favorites. I've got a bunch of others too, which I like, but I'm not as interested in completing the sets. The fun thing is, most of my CDs are thrifted, with only a few of them being gifts. For a while, I really liked going to the thrift store and seeing if I could find my favorite music; it's a lot more gratifying that way.

[chevvy-yates]

[NC_RES]-13062047-EUR-BU-NED de_wit_m_portraits_004_GA_HW.file ///core:_thyjs_de_wit.file\\\

—

⚠️ READ: Please do not repost/reupload any of my art here or to any other platform, or I will be forced to do anything to get it annihilated.

jumpsuit jacket by @pinkyjulien

—

'Thunder and lightning Heading your way Ride the rainbow Crack the sky

Stormbringer coming Time to die' — Stormbringer by Deep Purple

In other words:

'You've been thunderstruck' —Thunderstruck by AC/DC

—

Thyjs' theme playlist.

FIRST:

Yup! That's right – Thyjs is going to electrify y'all.

My original thought was that I've wanted to create a little playlist with thunder/storm/electro lyrics but then I stumbled over these songs in the list up there (first one shook me the most) and so I threw my original idea into the storm. Spending like two months on it now how to write down what I feel or see when I listen to this selection tied to Thyjs. So, here's his entire Playlist now: basically Introduction and fight theme songs as well as a calm one — like I did with V before but different.

Storm If I had to choose just one song for him, this one would be it. This awesome instrumental song is the ultimate standalone theme song for Thyjs. Like his goddamn introduction in a movie appearance. When I listened to it for the first time it just struck me like one of his lightning strikes. It is the only song that can be tied to the cyberpunk music genre since every song in the list is more classical soundtrack-ish (he needs that epicness. He's a godverdomme soldier). Back to the song: It sounds tempting right from the start with that beat giving you an overall Cyberpunk feeling at first, making you somehow feel alarmed because of the electronic sound. The air around you may feel electrified and you know something is coming. Then suddenly there is that melodic part setting in with those classical elements that literally screams 'Thyjs' to me. When I look at him I see; He's beauty, he is grace — but coming as an all through soldier package. No one would probably expect it but Thyjs does love to listen to classical music (piano, violin/cello and entire orchestra) of various known artists as well that is why it brought me on the way to look for songs like these in the list. It calms him down, especially after a long and hard mission. To me he feels unapproachable, like he's not from this world at all, yet he is. Wherever he goes in uniform or military gear, people will look at him with a certain respect. You're immediately drawn into admiring him because you probably ain't seen such a pale soldier like him ever before. He can make you feel like time stopped only to let you know with a loud thundering bang that everything you see is real and time is still running. That is when that part that sounds electrifying somewhere near the middle of that song, starts right out of nowhere. Sir! I'm so sold to it right now. I have to admit, the song is fairly long at 7 min, yet I recommend listening to it completely but the important parts really are the start and the middle.

Into the Storm is literally Thyjs getting ready for the battle that lies before him. Ride right into the storm, full force. It is like he can feel a storm is coming, with the storm being the enemies. You gotta know, Thyjs is a soldier to the bone. He devoted his entire life to it, trained as soon as he was old enough for it, to serve his country and Benelux Union. He's heroic in his own way. And that song does him justice.

I'm Electro A short song that strikes you after just a few seconds — the hard way. It represents that you gotta show some respect towards him if you do not behave correctly. He'll immediately put you back into your place where you belong, using his voice and electro shock (if you dare to enter his comfort zone) — like AC/CD would say: in the 'You've been thunderstruck' way (it's in fact exactly what happened to Ryder meeting Thyjs for the first time). Thyjs is capable of making use of electricity that is fed into his left arm, therefore also the glowing (Hanako) cyberware. The brighter it glows the more electricity Thyjs has to make use of. He already knew very early he was kind of immune to electricity after he grabbed an electrified fence feeling literally nothing. Once he lost his left forearm during a heavy battle with drones he decided to get himself some limb replacement that could make use of electricity since he literally survived a lightning strike as well on the battlefield during a thunderstorm, but more of that I'll keep for another time. That battle also gave him his nickname 'Storm', which he also uses as a code name. He can power up from any source that is running with electricity — Night City is full of it. He will give Arki and Ryder a boost if they need some as well. Ry gets himself Shock-n-Awe installed after having met his future lover for the first time. Thyjs even suggested the team to wear mods in their clothing gear if they do not want additional cyberware to their body because lightning can't be really controlled. It will always spread over to the next best source.

Storm Another Storm song (I wanted to decide for one of them but they are both so awesome I have to include them both). This one here seems to be a re-interpretation of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" and this song hits differently: Thyjs has Sandevistan — the Militech 'Apogee' Sandevistan Mk. V of course. So he's fast. Like lightning. The fast stringed instruments represent his fast acting and when that thunder sets in right at the start he vanishes into air. The only time you'll see him is before he starts and when he ends it, with the ladder it is already too late for you. The highlights in the song can stand for that if you are able to watch him in action you will be seeing him in between, avoiding incoming their enemies that are fast as well, sometimes he may even look gracefully, appearing for a moment, time pausing for max 3 seconds until he vanishes again just to reappear in a different place again, slaying his enemies one after another. You can hear exactly 3x a loud bang in that song around 2 min in — this is him starting with Sandevistan going for the enemy, then disappears, leaving only electricity behind, and lastly he shows up again, right in front of you with his Constitutional Arms M2038 Tactician 'The Headsman' Power Shotgun –BANG– three enemies on the ground, limbs missing, or even their heads exploded. He's able to load his shotgun within his used Sandevistan time but he often makes use of his toxic knife as well dealing severe damage to the enemy who will die because of poison going into their bloodstream.

Tempest It's like that epic battle song everyone likes and may even get goosebumps from. It is fast paced, tearing forward, to set one strike after another. See it as the last boss battle. The final big one. Before everything is finally done. Battle won, for Thyjs and his squad (when he was still serving) or the team he joins shortly after the incident out in the badlands that led to his whole squad being blown up and him being the only survivor. If you can't imagine Thyjs' fight style in some epic battle try imagine a combination of playing battlefield V and e.g. watching Final Fantasy Kings Glaive. Thyjs moves similar like Nyx Ulric, the warps with the weapons I mean, only he does not warp, he's just super fast with his Sandevistan but also leaving lightning behind.

Van Gogh's White Roses Calm moments incoming. Thyjs loves to play piano. The pretty tunes calm him down as he plays them, or even just listens to them. It is his way to chill and he could do it all day long appreciating the calm moments of his live thrice as much because as a soldier he is mostly on high alert (even if it doesn't look like it) and always prepared that every day could be his last. So better especially appreciate the little things in live and things that he loves: music, art, flowers and his new gained friends and most of all; time with his love: Ryder. The moment I decided Thyjs is Dutch was when I added the ears cyberware to him. Idk I just got reminded of Van Gogh in that moment. So Thyjs went to be Dutch, he loves Impressionism and is ofc an admirer of Van Gogh's art (I might do an extra post for that as well some time why I made Thyjs like Van Gogh).

[archoneddzs15]

Super Famicom - Shadowrun

Title: Shadowrun / シャドウラン

Developer: Beam Software PTY. Ltd.

Publisher: Data East

Release date: 25 March 1994

Catalogue Code: SHVC-WR

Genre: RPG

No. of Players: 1

Not the same game as the one I already played on the Sega Mega CD, which is from Compile.

I don’t believe I have ever witnessed a more creative and effective way of introducing a character as a badass than having him escape from his own slab at the morgue. I mean, this tells me that even death couldn’t stop him. That’s the kind of storytelling that makes this lesser-known action RPG worth playing. From what I know, it’s based on a pen-and-paper RPG of the same name, which I know nothing about, and I personally have not played much of. The Super Famicom game developed by the same guys that did the incredible Super Famicom port of Smash T.V. follows an amnesiac shadowrunner by the name of Jake Armitage, as he tries to figure out who wants him dead, and why. The game is really great about giving you little pieces of the puzzle to lead you along. I rarely felt that the main character knew more than me, and that’s unusual for an RPG. The storyline is also very concise, so you’re never doing anything that seems unrelated.

The art style seems to take a cue from Blade Runner (Konami's Snatcher is also another one that does this). The city is gritty, dark, and atmospheric. Despite several hours passing throughout the game, you don’t see a wink of sunlight. That atmosphere is one of the strongest points of the game. There is heavy use of black, everything is very bleak, and the city feels lonely yet lived in. The wonderful and memorable music adds further to the atmosphere. The game certainly does have its own personality. Altogether, the graphics aren’t anything amazing, but the art style more than makes up for it.

Combat is very simple, but it works. I found it to be a welcome alternative to the turn-based battle system that plagues most of that era’s RPGs. Basically, you just point and shoot. You can run around corners or cast spells, but for the most part, you just place your cursor on an enemy and fire at him until he’s dead. It sounds boring, but it does its job without being tedious at all.

There's one flaw though: its lack of polish. You can recruit party members to help you through the game. Unfortunately, the system doesn’t work, it’s more like babysitting. Your ally’s AI has 2 routines; follow you and shoot anything hostile. That leaves you to monitor their HP because they won’t heal themselves or run away. You have to manually select their additional spells, which means you have to drop what you’re doing, scroll over them, select them, pick the spell you want, and who you want it cast on. You also can’t revive downed teammates, so after they get themselves killed, they’re dead forever. Luckily, you can play through the entire game without ever needing a teammate. Otherwise, this would totally ruin the experience.

Some of the smaller items and switches blend into the background. On more than one occasion I found myself wandering aimlessly because I missed something. Once, it was because I couldn’t tell that a gate, I had to go through was open. Something simple could have prevented these things from happening, like making objects you can interact with slightly brighter or having items sparkle or glow. The UI as a whole is quite unwieldy and could have been tightened simply by replacing the cursor with an action button.

I found the game to be quite unstable, as well. On over a dozen occasions, the game locked up on me. A few times, I could no longer interact with anything in the room and couldn’t move. I ended up having to find exactly what would cause the game to stop working, so I could figure out a way around it. I’m willing to concede that maybe it was a flaw in my particular cartridge, but I can’t imagine what. Someday I'll figure out if my cartridge has been assembled wonkily or something.

Shadowrun is a very different game. It's even different from the Sega Genesis and Sega Mega-CD games of the same IP, though you can say both are RPGs in their own right. I can’t really think of another game that’s quite like it. It shares some similarities with RPGs like Fallout, or adventure games like Déjà Vu, and apparently, there’s another, completely unrelated, Shadowrun game on the Genesis (I'll cover that one soon), but this Shadowrun is really something of its own. Its style and personality do a lot to hide its flaws. For those reasons, I’d say it’s entirely worth your while to try this game. Overall, Shadowrun is a GOOD game, and well worth exploring on your Super Famicom.

[kuwdora]

For the vidder ask: 11, 18, 24, 26! :)

Ooohhh, this gets really really long because of the multiple questions ahaha and I also tried to be succinct in my answers but that's hard.

24. When and why did you get started?

A stargate friend way back in maybe 2004 was sending me bootleg copies of Stargate SG-1 episodes on a CD-ROM but also had included some music videos that had some pop songs to the characters. (I’m A Slave for Yu of Britney Spears for Lord Yu and My Goddess by the Exies for the Goa’uld stick in my mind). I thought these videos were really, really soooo cool. I also grew up watching MTV when they were still showing music videos regularly and had unconsciously been absorbing the visual language of short form narrative and grooving with the music. So it’s no wonder that I wanted to learn how to make music videos of my own to a show that I really deeply loved.

I started vidding in 2007 with a copy of iMovie. And pretty quickly I realized I wanted to do more of this video editing thing because I was having so much fun. I didn’t have the pirating knowledge back then so I used my entire summer job money to pay for a student license of Final Cut Express which I think at the time was $200 or $300 back then as well as an external hard drive. A small investment to dive further into the hobby that would become much of my creative joys for the future.

Around 2006 and 2007 I was scouring livejournal for other fanvids at the time to see what other people were making. Buffy and due South and X-Files and Stargate were all very popular shows to vid for and I found the vidding community on livejournal and just hit the ground running with the hobby. Reading people’s vid notes, reading people’s comments on vids. Looking up lyrics and seeing how people tried to connect story ideas of the song and shippy feelings to the show. This was pre-YouTube and streaming video platforms were only just starting to become a thing. All fan-made tutorials were meticulously written out in text and screenshotted. It was a combination of all the fannish resources and communities where people asked questions and me literally mashing every button and pulling on every lever in the software that I started to learn how to export and lose my mind over things called “codecs” and “aspect ratios” and more. You won’t hear people screaming about it much now but old school vidders will remember ghost frames and that weird green line that would appear in exports and other batshit visual artifacts that would end up in finished results. the tech was so janky back then and Final Cut crashed a lot. The technical aspect was so hard to get used to but it was really satisfying to learn enough to make the things.

I love making stories come alive in fanvids. ---

11. Have you vid any ocs?

I had to sit and think about this because I was only kind of sure the answer was yes. I needed to go and look and make sure it was only one or two instances that I managed to vid OCs because I’ve made SO MANY vids and have half-started others over the years that it’s hard to keep track.

Armour For Liars is a fanvid for synecdochic’s Stargate SG-1 AU fic A Howling in a Factory Yard. At the linked vidpage I have a lot of notes about making this vid at the time. It was a true delight to fan-cast for synecdochic’s original characters. It was also really, really great to recieve such enormous and surprised and awed feedback on that vid. I wasn’t not doing well at the time I made that vid so it was nice that I could still make something really cool and watch people get excited. Just take a look at the 40+ comments I got on that vid, it’s still wonderful to look back on it. :)

—

18. Favorite artist to vid to?

I have like five different answers to this depending on the day (and I also have another ask like this I’m answering with more and different detail.) I love vidding Kesha, Linkin Park, Lady Gaga, Audioslave, Bishop Briggs, 2000s music, etc etc.

Right now I REALLY look forward to vidding covers and mashups and medleys. This type of song allows me to create a more layered narrative/emotional landscape to use songs that are familiar but end up hitting very differently when applied to a vid. Also the songs are just really cool, IMO and tickle my brain. Let me give you an example.

Memory Leak (also on ao3) is my Matrix Resurrection vid. I wanted to vid this film and I specifically wanted to find a song that was contemporary at the time of the release of the original trilogy (so 1999-2003) but I wanted to have it be a cover. It’s a new take, re-visiting an old song. Similar to how the film is re-visiting the events of Neo’s life from the original trilogy after he's aged 20+ years.

I identified the song Adam’s Song by Blink 182 pretty quickly since it came to mind based on the subject of the film. The original song had depressive overtones (and you can read more about the song on Wikipedia) which I believe mapped out well to the emotional journey of Neo in Matrix Resurrections. However, the thematic arc and motivation of Neo’s journey is one of love and perseverance. I had like 3-6 covers of Adam’s Song that were more melancholy and hopeful, somber and positive. I settled on Albert Salt’s cover because it his vocals and his version of the song I felt matched the hope and love vibes that I got out of the film. This cover also ended up being a medley and giving me some extra lyrics from other Blink182 songs to play with outside narrative context of Adam’s Song and I think that also really helped elevate the vid. Also I think it’s just a really pretty cover, very lovely.

—

26. Any vidding rituals you have?

My main ritual happens before I even start actively working on a vid. When I’m ready to warm up my brain for a project, I create a vidsong playlist for my current vid interests. I will be listening to the vidsong about 4,000x before I even download an episode or make a clip or create a project file. I listen to it until it’s in my bones, my brain is saturated with it and no other music exists. I should be tired of the song by the time I start vidding it but it really helps grease my creative wheels.

I also love to create multiple vidsong playlists and shuffle things around for various reasons. It helps me keep some of my (too many) ideas somewhat organized and I love tidying my playlists and adding to them during this idea/discovery stage of the process. I have a main/general vidding playlist, a playlist for songs that are “incubating” and don’t have a show or film attached to it yet but I love the song and know the song would be great to vid. I have two (actually three) witcher-specific vidsong playlists, a ‘vidding graveyard’ playlist for song/ideas I’ve abandoned over the years. I have other playlists that are genre specific. I have show/film specific playlists while I’m either contemplating an ambitious project like a Vid Album or when I’m trying to listen to potential vidsongs back-to-back and audition them in my brain for the vid I think I want to make or would like to make. Honestly I could do a separate ask game just on my vidding playlist ideas or my vid wips and published catalogue for the sheer volume of music genres/artists and sources I’ve done over the years. If that’s something people might be interested in exploring. I could call it “Vidder Open House.” thank you for the ask!! Get to Know the Vidder ask game! Send me an ask!

[girlreviews]

Review #184: She’s So Unusual, Cyndi Lauper

You’re receiving a fair warning right at the outset: there are going to be no less than two references to The Simpsons in this review – possibly more -- and I’m not even a little bit sorry about it.

I think that Cyndi Lauper is one of the very first female artists I ever knew the name of and recognized, and knew her record from start to finish. I don’t think it was this one. I believe it was a compilation CD called Twelve Deadly Cyns… And Then Some, that had a really striking image of her with bright yellow hair and a bright red hat. It had all of the major hits from this album, and the next few, as well as the most interesting remix of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun that was done by the guys from Redbone, and was very much my first introduction to the bassline from Come And Get Your Love. That shit worked.

Anyway, I wish that every three-year-old girl got to hear Cyndi Lauper like this because she’s fucking iconic. Powerhouse voice. Uninhibited. Artist. Creative genius. A girl’s girl and a woman’s woman. I’d love to get drunk with her and play a round of cards. I bet she’s been treated like a child while navigating this industry. I just feel it in my bones and guts. Because of the earnest, girlish, sincere, whimsical music she’s making, as well as her unapologetic cute and girly aesthetic and small frame. But she’s always demanded to be taken seriously. She’s the inspiration I’ve carried around as an experienced professional in my field: I can have a bubble tea pencil case with a smiley face on it, and cute stationary, and a notepad with a bird on it, and a cute haircut and fun outfits. It doesn’t mean I’m childish, or any less good at my job, and I will rip you a new asshole if you fucking cross me or any of my employees, cool? Do not be fooled by the enamel pins on my jacket. I could stab you with them if I wanted. I just don’t, that’s all.

My notes: Money Changes Everything, which it does, has a harmonica solo in it, and I think we all need to take a moment and bow down to the boldness of that. How many harmonica solos do we hear outside something like Bob Dylan? It’s pretty few and far between and it’s really fucking great in this song. Every single track on this album is deep, fun, and interesting. And some of them have harmonica solos! When I was a doofy little teen, I used to have a necklace with a tiny harmonica on it. It was ugly as could be, but it was pretty cool. I recently started looking into whether there were any cute, adult versions of it. There are. And I am once again inspired by Saint Cyndi to be cute, functional, and badass.

I’m going to save Girls Just Wanna Have Fun for last because I have so much to say about it. So next up will be Time After Time, which to be honest is every bit as iconic. Genuinely. It’s absolutely beautiful. Stunning. Moving. How does one write a song so incredibly poignant and dedicated to someone? Can anybody listen to this synth ballad and not just feel their heart plunge into it? Maybe they can. Maybe they’re a monster. Not a Simpsons reference, but to illustrate my point: even April Ludgate, known to be cold-hearted and dead inside, can’t resist the pull of this song.

She Bop is one of my favorites. I think I loved it when I was really tiny. It makes sense that I would have. I loved nonsense. I still love nonsense. It’s a lot of nonsense (Oop, she bop, she bop, she bop, he bop, we bop, I bop, you bop, they bop, be bop, a lu bop), but it’s positioned over some very serious-sounding synths and electric drums. That’s my exact shit and always has been. There’s a good chance Cyndi Lauper and this song are largely responsible for my entire persona, in hindsight. That’s fine with me. I think this song is about bad boys and having crushes on them (hey, hey they say I better get a chaperone, because I can’t stop messin’ with the danger zone). Cyndi Lauper has always been completely about her uninhibited noises. Woops, and breaths, and squeaks, and squawks. They’re amazing, and they add absolutely everything to the experience. Simpsons reference #1 coming up here. They made it the butt of the joke, but I loved it. Cyndi Laupi (yes, Laupi), singing the National Anthem at a baseball game, with all that breathy, squeaky, baritone nonsense. Absolutely fucking hilarious. Also the way in which I mostly learned the words to the National Anthem (you try knowing it when you grew up in Europe? I do not accept your judgment, and frankly I’m still pretty shaky on the words and I don’t care).

Every track on this album slaps, and you should listen to it, but it is one of those where you kind of have to focus on the singles/iconic tracks because they are iconic for a reason. So here we go. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. I want to say that this song is so happy and upbeat and means everything to every girl and woman that knows it, which, is like, all of them, ever, and if it isn’t, it should be. However. There’s also a sad undertone to it, or at least I have always felt one. It’s always just tugged at my heart a little bit. I actually have no idea whether that’s just me or whether that’s a universal experience. It’s like a gentle feminist wish. She’s singing about oppressive experiences — from parents, from partners, from society:

“Oh Mama dear, we’re not the fortunate ones”

“Oh Daddy dear, you know you’re still number one”

“Some boys take a beautiful girl, and hide her away from the rest of the world”

It genuinely hurts my feelings. I’m not sure a song has ever so captured the simplicity of experience. Just trying to exist. Just trying to walk in the sun. Just trying to go home and chill after work, and for some reason, it’s just hard to do. But, in singing it, she’s fulfilling the wish, because she’s having fucking fun. It’s fun. I don’t know man, that’s really cool. I love this song. But it’s way deeper than I imagine a lot of people have ever given her credit for. I imagine to a lot of people, it’s just a silly little party song. But it’s not. And if you want to fight with me about that, I’ll get my cute enamel pins ready. Here’s Homer Simpson singing it, which I have always found extremely endearing. Do you think it’s lost on him? Probably. That’s sort of what’s endearing about it.

[track-maniac]

Rant: I hate modern CD cases

I'm talking about these cardboard idiots where the cd slides inside, AKA "sleeves".

Context: I ordered 3 Justice albums last week: "†" (Cross), "Audio, video, disco" (AVD), and "Hyperdrama".

Cross came out in 2007. It came in one of those plastic cases that opens like a video game case.

AVD (2011) and Hyperdrama (2024), being more recent, came in cardboard cases where you take the cd out the side.

This is the design Wii Sports used and it's sort of similar:

There are two reasons why I don't like these.

Reason 1: they bend.

Because it was built like crap, this one won't close

Reason 2.1: they can be too tight

AVD is way too tight. It's possible to get it out if you're fine with touching the underside (sin) and if you have two hands available (I don't, I'm driving)

Reason 2.2: they can be too loose

Hyperdrama is way too loose. I don't mean "it's not a perfect fit". I mean if you pick it up and it's not facing up, this happens:

Now let's look at a detail:

The Wii Sports disc is on the left, and you take it out by sliding it to the right.

But Hyperdrama and AVD are already on the right, and they also come out on the right.

And that's why I'm so mad that the Hyperdrama case is too loose. Wii Sports can be as loose as it wants, the case has to be open for the disc to slide out. That's not the case with hyperdrama and AVD

The most keen-eyed among you may have noticed the cd that's dropping from the hyperdrama case is not hyperdrama. That is correct! I'm making this entire rant because I LOST IT. Not even 24 hours after receiving them, I lost one of the 3 CDs I purchased.

I have a habit of misplacing stuff but this is something else entirely. I still have the case. I only took the cd out to look at it and put it back inside. I haven't even used it yet.

I don't really need to buy the CD, it's just for my car, and I can use the aux there. I'm doing it to support my favourite artists. But what you get for paying money is the bare minimum.

Conclusion: I still don't feel bad about listening to tons of music for free on youtube music with ublock on. Also I'm going to start burning CDs.

[pridewishes]

i wanna try to get into enstars bc i like pjsk (even tho i am so bad at it) and also am gay but i find it overwhelming and confusing can u give me some tips or something

Absolutely, I will do my best to help! It's very, very overwhelming and a lot so I don't blame you at all! I'll put everything under a cut because I'm autistic and very excited and have a Lot of links and things!

First, absolutely watch the Enstars anime. This will go over the main points / ideas of the Main Story of the first game (aka ! era). Strongly recommend watching in sub because the dub isn't very good.

Then, watch Element. This goes over the Element Arc of ! Era Main Story. They cover this in the main anime but not as good.

There's also a movie, which I have but I don't have a link for it. If you'd like the download + subtitle file for it, just shoot me an ask or dm me at @shinobukawajiri and I can help out! But it's not super lore important or anything so don't worry.

Alright! So you've seen the anime! Now you can get into the music. You could also listen to songs before the anime, really whatever you want! For this, I'd suggest going to the wiki and picking a Unit! Check out their discography, which you can view from their wiki page and give the songs a listen. You can find all of them on YT! I'd definitely listen to a couple songs from all units to get a feel because they all have very different sounds! If there's a music genre you like let me know, and I can recommend some songs / units! There's also some Temporary Units + Shuffle Units, which have music as well that you can listen to! If you'd like some recommendations, lmk!

Now, after viewing the anime, and listening to songs, pick a Unit or some characters you like and focus on stories for them! Since there's a lot of stories it's better to just pick some favorites and go from there. Crazy:B and Alkaloid were introduced in !! era / the second game, so you won't see them in the anime, if they're of interest to you. Here is a guide for important stories from the first game for the characters in that.

To access stories for the first game / ! Era, you'll have to use the wayback machine, or you can just look up (story name) tl / translation on Google, and you should usually be able to find what you need, since they were forced to take down any tls on the wiki.

Now, there's two games as I've established. The first game is completely in Japanese, and I'd rely on Story translations from the wayback machine wiki. As for the new game, you can play in English! It's accessible from the appstore, but remember, this takes place AFTER the other game! You absolutely do not have to know all the lore / read all the stories or anything to play! I'm just mega autistic so lmao. But the English version of Enstars Music doesn't have the best translations, but it is more accessible. Though, if you become super invested like me and my partner, you can absolutely download the Japanese version of the game!

There's lots of people on Twitter who translate and things for the stories + general game things and id be happy to direct to them if you find yourself super enjoying the Series!

Basically it is VERY difficult bc there's also drama cds, stageplays, manga, but finding things translated or just finding them can take work but ofc all that isn't required. In general just have fun!!! Don't be deterred and like I said I'm more than happy to help find things or whatever anyone needs! Since my partner has been more invested for longer than me, we both can do our best to help!!

Also a note from said partner ;

to my wife’s autism anon: i am also autistic . enstars has been my favorite thing in the entire world since the ripe and beautiful year of 2019. this source is beautiful , fun , indulgent , deep as all hell , and So So So much to unpack . there is no such thing as a background character in enstars . there are 50 characters who are all so deeply fleshed out and have so much content and backstory to them so i am absolutely certain you will find somebody that appeals to you . enstars can have some pretty heavy topics at times it’s not your run of the mill happy idol franchise, but if you like project sekai (which i also LOVE) you will Love enstars . the game is so much fun , the characters are so deep and interesting and real , the stories are engaging and silly and wonderful, you will love it. you Have to. for me . stan knights