#blood and sugar

[aestheticslyrics]

blood and sugar // boys like girls

[thisaintascenereviews]

How Martin Johnson Beat The (Night) Game

Boys Like Girls released their self-titled debut album in 2006, and it was a smash hit of a record, at least depending on who you talk to. A few songs from that record were minor hits, such as “The Great Escape,” “Thunder,” and “My Hero/Heroine,” but the album was mainly big in the emo / scene subcultures. The band was huge at that time, and from 2006 – 2012, they were big in that world. Hell, their second album, 2009’s Love Drunk, included a feature from an up and coming artist by the name of Taylor Swift (who was well on her way to being the biggest artist of all time). Their self-titled debut is an underrated classic of that scene. It’s aged remarkably well, but in a nostalgic way. There’s a kind of fondness for their brand of cheese-laden, corny, and oddly endearing pop-rock, but that record is a masterclass of pop-rock songwriting. Unfortunately, they fell off by the early 2010s, and understandably so, since the emo subculture was starting to wane in popularity, and that type of pop-rock / pop-punk wasn’t very popular in the mainstream anymore, so the band went their separate ways. They never officially broke up, but they hadn’t released music in more than a decade. That changed in May of this year when the band released comeback single “Blood And Sugar,” and that song is an absolute pop-rock banger, showcasing the band’s ability to craft a fantastic and earworm hook that never leaves your head, unless the thing that’s replacing it is another hook from this band.

Another thing that made that song so good (and the other couple of singles they’ve dropped since) is frontman and principle songwriter Martin Johnson. Johnson has had a very fascinating career in music, because after being the frontman of a very popular band for a handful of years, he turned his talents to songwriting for many popular artists over the last decade, such as Ariana Grande, Avril Lavigne, Hannah Montana (yeah, he wrote a song for the Hannah Montana movie), Gavin DeGraw, Daughty, Jason Derulo, and many more, but in addition to that, he also had a solo project of his own – The Night Game. Releasing his self-titled debut album in 2018, The Night Game caught a lot of people by surprise because of how (and how well) the album emulated sounds and ideas of the 1980s. The lead single “The Outfield” is almost like a lost gem from the mid-80s with its new wave sound and larger than life hook. The rest of the album followed suit, and it reminded me of one of those albums that sounds like an unearthed gem from a bygone era. Johnson also released Dog Years in 2021, and I just found out about that record a few weeks prior to writing this piece, as I’ve been heavily listening to Boys Like Girls’ new singles, but I’ve also gotten heavily obsessed with The Night Game. There’s been a real love for 1980s nostalgia, especially music and movies for some reason, over the last decade or so, and Johnson tapped into that nostalgia for this project. I wanted to talk about both records in some capacity for a couple of reasons: one, they’re good and they’re worth hearing if you haven’t listened to them yet, and two, there’s something to be said about a frontman of a once-popular band making music that’s honestly kind of better than his original band. The Night Game is kind of what makes the new Boys Like Girls songs so good, because you can hear that 1980s influence on those new songs. The Night Game is to Martin Johnson like what Soul Punk was to Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump; when Fall Out Boy went on hiatus, Stump released a solo pop record, also weirdly encompassing a lot of ideas and sounds from the 1980s (but instead of going with new wave and alternative music, he went with Michael Jackson and Prince), and when Fall Out Boy got back together a couple of years later, you could hear the influence of Soul Punk on their new material, because they started to get very pop-friendly. Even on their newest album, you can still hear traces of it, especially with the band moving into an amalgamation of soul, rock, pop, R&B, and many other styles of music. It was almost shocking hearing Johnson with The Night Game, because certain people didn’t take him seriously with Boys Like Girls, and to an extent, I get it. They were a very teenage-oriented band with sappy and cheesy lyrics, but The Night Game is much more adult, both in terms of its sound and lyricism. Hell, Johnson himself sounds fantastic on these records, and his voice got a lot better within the handful of years since he released a record with Boys Like Girls. Not only did his voice get a lot better, I really wanted to highlight these records, because this is a great example of a project that really showcases a songwriter’s strengths. If you really enjoyed the pop songwriting of Boys Like Girls, you’ll like The Night Game, but a lot of these songs are genuinely great pop songs that have very slick and catchy hooks. Johnson knows his way around a hook that’ll get stuck in your head, and he’s only gotten better with time, as a lot of these hooks are razor sharp. Dog Years, his sophomore (and seemingly last) album from 2021, is a bit more varied, as it includes elements of R&B, pop, alternative, soul, and more styles than just 1980s new wave and alternative, but the hooks are very strong, nonetheless.

Martin Johnson isn’t quite a household name, but you know his work, whether it’s with Boys Like Girls or with The Night Game. I wanted to talk about these albums in a way that’s less of a review and more so in a way that’s merely promoting them, because these are great albums, and Johnson is a very good songwriter. I don’t have a lot of negatives to say, other than some of the lyrics on these albums aren’t great, but they aren’t bad by any means. A lot of the lyrics on these two albums are about relationships gone awry, but that’s nothing new for Johnson. Fans of 1980s alternative, pop, and rock should really check these out. If you remember Boys Like Girls being cringy, bad, or generic pop-rock, I’d recommend three things – listening to their debut again (and try to look at the record from the perspective of someone that would have loved it back then), listen to The Night Game’s records, and then listen to Boys Like Girls’ new songs, specifically in that order, because you can hear the improvement and the progression from those records to these new songs. These records are catchy, fun, and interesting, even if they aren’t the most innovative or introspective. I can still admire great and catchy songwriting, and that’s exactly what Martin is good at, so if Boys Like Girls drop an album this year, you bet I’m going to be listening to it.

[vnvu]

say you wanna show me your place, the place is here, the here is inside you, where did you come from, you?

[foldingfittedsheets]

I think it was about a month into dating my betrothed that I first turned to them and said, “You smell hungry, want to get some lunch?”

“I what? I smell hungry?”

“Yeah, like, the empty smell. Aren’t you hungry?”

They were, but it was hard for them to accept smelling a state of being. After a few weeks of me pointing it out right before they realized it themself though they asked, “What does hunger smell like?”

“Bad.”

“That’s not helpful.”

“It’s like… an emptiness that goes past the mouth? Bad breath is more upfront but hunger is like you’re smelling stomach acid, it’s all the way from an empty belly.”

They started smelling my mouth in exaggerated silly fashion but eventually they did start to recognize it.

They’re now very smug when they get to use the skill back at me and inform me that I’m hungry.

[dreamdripdistance]

✦ the most consistent part of this life, is that the sun will always rise and there's stars in the night ✦ (the reverse)

[tinx-methinks]

GOD.

BOYS LIKE GIRLS put out another BANGER of a song tonight and I only liked a few of their songs when I was a teen but if their whole album is going to be good as this then I think I'm just a fan now.

[hyunpic]

HYUNJIN SKZ TALKER EP. 65

[feyriejane]

NEW BOYS LIKE GIRLS???

[somethingsgottasaveyou]

Boys Like Girls // Blood And Sugar

[reasonsforhope]

"People living with diabetes might have a new hope. Scientists have tested a new drug therapy in diabetic mice, and found that it boosted insulin-producing cells by 700% over three months, effectively reversing their disease.

Beta cells in the pancreas have the important job of producing insulin in response to blood sugar levels, but a hallmark of diabetes is that these cells are either destroyed or can’t produce enough insulin. The most common treatment is regular injections of insulin to manage blood sugar levels.

But a recent avenue of research has involved restoring the function of these beta cells. In some cases that’s started with stem cells being coaxed into new beta cells, which are then transplanted into patients with diabetes. Researchers behind this kind of work have described it as a “functional diabetes cure.”

Now, scientists at Mount Sinai and City of Hope have demonstrated a new breakthrough. Previous studies have mostly involved growing new beta cells in a lab dish, then transplanting them into mice or a small device in humans. But this new study has been able to grow the insulin-producing cells right there in the body, in a matter of months.

The therapy involved a combination of two drugs: one is harmine, a natural molecule found in certain plants, which works to inhibit an enzyme called DYRK1A found in beta cells. The second is a GLP1 receptor agonist. The latter is a class of diabetes drug that includes Ozempic, which is gaining attention lately for its side effect of weight loss.

The researchers tested the therapy in mouse models of type 1 and 2 diabetes. First they implanted a small amount of human beta cells into the mice, then treated them with harmine and GLP1 receptor agonists. Sure enough, the beta cells increased in number by 700% within three months of the treatment. The signs of the disease quickly reversed, and stayed that way even a month after stopping the treatment.

“This is the first time scientists have developed a drug treatment that is proven to increase adult human beta cell numbers in vivo,” said Dr. Adolfo Garcia-Ocaña, corresponding author of the study. “This research brings hope for the use of future regenerative therapies to potentially treat the hundreds of millions of people with diabetes.”

The results are intriguing, but of course being an animal study means there’s still much more work to be done before it could find clinical use. So far, harmine alone has recently undergone a phase 1 clinical trial in humans to test its safety and tolerability, while other DYRK1A inhibitors are planned for trials in humans next year.

Perhaps most importantly, the team will soon experiment with combining beta-cell-regenerating drugs with others that modulate the immune system. Ideally this should help overcome a major hurdle: the immune system will continue attacking new beta cells as they’re produced.

The research was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine."

-via New Atlas, July 14, 2024

[heavenbarnes]

leaning over older bf Simon’s lap in the drive thru to order catching him off guard…a lil arch in the back…maybe his hand on dat ahhh… I beg u to feed us

no doubt older bf!simon hates talking at the drive thru speaker, they either can’t understand his accent (even when he’s home, his voice is so deep), or he forgets the order, or they’re asking him a question and he’s just looking at you like “fix it”

so you’re leaning across the console and his lap so you can chat the lady through the speaker or maybe even when you’re up at the second window (he’s paying at first) and when you’re in that spot he’s going kind of crazy

his hand is firmly on your ass and if your back is arched and your chest is pressed to his forearm that’s leaning on the window, he’s actually going to have to practice self restraint

if the person in the window is staring a little part of him wants to get angry but the other part is like “yeah me too”

if he had a semblance less self control he’d have you in the exact same position in the back but he’ll let you have your lunch first lest you get hangry on him

[keysmashing-bees]

Hot chocolate boy amirite?

[realstrap]

08/06/2024

Please help us get groceries!!!

Remaking bc our last post lost traction

My partner and I both have diet restrictions, we are gluten/Dairy/legume free and we have no food that is safe for us to eat.

I do not get paid until Friday and we have not eaten since monday morning, we really need help with food!!

We're very hungry, please help with whatever you can, $200 helps us get the things we need

CA: $lezsalt or $sleepyhen

Vm: wildwotko

Dm 4 ppl