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operationslipperypuppet · 5 months ago

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hi! i recently subscribed to the pateron, and im a little intimidated by all of the extra content available, lol. in your opinion, what are some of the funniest short rest / dungeon court / mixed bag episodes to start with? (if anyone else also has their fave eps to share please do)

oh wonderful! welcome to the best stupid show(s) money can buy.

i’m gonna operate under the assumption you’re caught up on main feed eps but if i suggest a short rest for an episode you haven’t listened to, definitely hit the episode first.

these are just off the top of my head with ones i can remember what they are, i may come up with more later lol

short rests:

i think short rests 99 and 100 should actually be required listening for everyone, they’re fucking earth shattering. start there.

the one for 70 is stupid and reveals how they almost lost the episode so that’s a good one.

c3e22 has one of the most insane short rests in retrospect. and c3e41 also has a bonkers short rest. they talk about santa manscaping in your bathroom. the episode came out in august. i wept.

c2e41’s campaign wrap up short rest also is a good time and gives good insights on the campaign.

the short rest for the can they kill it is the origin of crabster. 77 has a rose before noon. 91 ends with jake saying something so insane it ruins me.

the short rest for caldwells frooze your own adventure also slaps. the wilson brothers are there.

the brussels hookup is another 8bbc short rest that’s so dumb and beautiful.

c3e54 has them all hyped up on too much caffeine after a mixed bag and talking about jumping off decks onto frozen lakes and landing on one boob and one butt cheek. i wish i was kidding. it’s incredible.

dungeon courts:

i’m mostly gonna highlight patreon dungeon courts with the assumption you’ve listened to the corresponding main feed eps.

king robert can klump ft. ally beardsley. the flintstones costume fun around the house. you don’t know what that means but it’s. something.

a little place called mangia’s. murph breaks down. caldwell loses it. jake turns to google.

yuncle ft. jasper william cartwright. rats ride loose and your yuncle is power hungry.

the video dungeon courts are great, you can see murph lose it.

bird jail ft. zac oyama. actually anything with zac oyama. it’s great.

table rattlers ft. jeremy cobb. i don’t remember what happens exactly but it’s great.

the dm’s judge ft. lou wilson and zac oyama. absolutely iconic bench on this one.

mixed bags:

mixed bag tier my beloved!! so many are so good!

the whole blazing babe chronicles. not enough people know there was a second hot boy summer campaign that’s available on the mixed bag. caldwell spills half a corona on his character sheet. it’s a dry july and the boys are Not on the same page about it. love is love is love returns.

the biggest loreser is new but damn if it isn’t impeccable. warning: the fred flintstone noise is fucking LOUD

all the taste tests (energy drinks, m&ms, and gamer energy drinks). jake tries an expired products. jake later forgets to buy peanut m&ms while emily decides she can taste what color an m&m is. murph gets hyped on caffeine and has to take a break resulting in one of the most insane short rests to date. listen to the short rest first, it’s funnier that way.

if you can listen to live shows, (the sound is sometimes challenging) i recommend those. great starting point is the melbourne one from last year, i laughed so much the first time i heard it. “i was a lurking actor. that’s a union job!” also the boston dungeon court did hit the main feed but started as a mixed bag and i was there so i want to shout it out.

emily’s winter solstice one shot!! brennan and siobhan are there and it’s creepy and truly so fun.

both dungeons and dragons movies. jake and emily gaslight murph. they talk about a truly terrible set of films. there’s someone called grape lady that is a highlight.

both spilltaculars. at times a bit cringe, but it’s fun to hear other people’s failures sometimes because then you feel better about yourself. plus they make up a judgement scale that is different every time.

spellcheck! the game show that’s kinda sweeping the nation. or was. it’s fun.

that’s long (oops) and all i can think of off the top of my head. if people have other faves, share them for new patreon people!

also, my last bit of advice is to join the streams if you can. jake’s stream is for the short rest tier and above and caldwells is for the mixed bag tier and above. they’re wild. we had caldwell drawing everyone in crocs for like 6 months (it’s arguably why we’re getting the jibbitz). sometimes you get tucker lore. (tucker, the fictional man jake’s wife is cucking him with.) they’re grand.

#thanks for the ask hope this helps!!#naddpod #asks #anon

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justinspoliticalcorner · 3 months ago

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Lori Ann Larocco at CNBC:

Billions in trade came to a screeching halt at U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast ports after members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) began walking off the job after 12:01 a.m. ET on October 1. The ILA is North America’s largest longshoremen’s union, with roughly 50,000 of its 85,000 members making good on the threat to strike at 14 major ports subject to a just-expired master contract with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), and picketing workers beginning to appear at ports. The union and port ownership group failed to reach agreement by midnight on a new contract in a protracted battle over wage increases and use of automation. In a last-ditch effort on Monday to avert a strike that will cause significant harm to the U.S. economy if it is lengthy — at least hundreds of millions of dollars a day at the largest ports like New York/New Jersey — the USMX offered a nearly 50% wage hike over six years, but that was rejected by the ILA, according to a source close to the negotiations. The port ownership group said it hoped the offer would lead to a resumption of collective bargaining.

The 14 ports where preparations for a strike have been underway are Boston, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, Wilmington, North Carolina, Baltimore, Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah, Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami, New Orleans, Mobile, and Houston. New York Governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement issued shortly after midnight that “the first large-scale eastern dockworker strike in 47 years began at ports from Maine to Texas, including at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. In preparation for this moment, New York has been working around the clock to ensure that our grocery stores and medical facilities have the essential products they need.” Rhetoric from ILA leadership has been aggressive in the weeks leading up to the strike, with ILA president Harold Daggett, who was a union member the last time it went out on strike in 1977, telling rank-and-file members — who unanimously voted to authorize a strike — in a recent video message, “We’ll crush them.”

[...] The most significant issues would be faced by food and automobile industries, Kamins said, as they rely especially heavily on the ports that will be shut down. While a surge in inflation is highly unlikely even with a longer strike, even a modest reacceleration could create uncertainty and force the Federal Reserve to be more cautious about lowering interest rates, which would weigh on the overall outlook for job growth and investment. A one-week strike could cost the U.S. economy $3.78 billion, according to an analysis by The Conference Board, and cause supply chain slowdowns through mid-November. In all, the ports threatened with strikes handle $3 trillion annually in U.S. annual international trade.

Many industries are preparing for major repercussions. Noushin Shamsili, CEO and president of Nuco Logistics, which specializes in pharmaceutical imports and exports, said the strike comes at a critical time for inventory replenishment for the pharma sector. “Almost all of this industry is just on time,” said Shamsili. “Raw materials are being brought in to complete drug manufacturing. Medical supplies for clinics and hospitals are on these vessels. For a while importers did not bring in a lot of cargo because they were overflowing with supplies post-Covid. Now they have started reordering medical devices, gloves, syringes, and tubing.” Shamsili also said the East Coast ports are a gateway for generic medicine made in India. Approximately 48% of the active pharmaceutical ingredients used in the U.S. are being imported from India. Without these APIs, medications cannot be produced. APIs are also manufactured in Europe, which also use the East Coast ports as U.S. points of entry.

[...] The Biden administration finds itself in a delicate political moment, with the presidential election one month away and President Biden vowing he will not use existing labor law to force union workers back on the job, which is within his powers under the Taft-Hartley Act. The Taft-Hartley Act, passed in 1947, was a revision of U.S. law governing labor relations and union activity that granted a U.S. president the power to suspend a strike for an 80-day “cooling off period” in cases where “national health or safety” are at risk.

Today begins the strike along East Coast and Gulf Coast ports after International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) members walked off their jobs.

This strike, depending on how long it lasts, could have a major impact on the elections and the economy.

#2024 US Port Strike #Strikes #US Maritime Alliance #USMX #International Longshoremen's Association #ILA #US News #United States #Harold Daggett #Taft Hartley Act #Unions

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tinytimism · 5 months ago

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thots on the great gatsby bway musical

let’s get right into it

-i liked it more than i thought i would. i saw boston gatsby back in june and after reading a lot of negative stuff about the one on broadway i thought i’d hate it but i went anyway because i am still not immune to jeremy jordan. but it was solid. i liked it.

-great chemistry between eva noblezada and jeremy jordan. also in the last scene of act 1 gatsby wears light pink and daisy wears light blue and i thought that was neat.

-really good dance numbers. watching jeremy jordan honest to god dance was like watching the big bang

-HATED how they paired jordan and nick as a romantic couple. i know they go on some days in the book but it’s so fake and loveless. nick is jordan’s gbf and jordan is nick’s lbf and you can’t take that away from me!!! ESPECIALLY after i saw boston gatsby!!!

-samantha pauly and alex prakken did great though - i have no complaints about the actors only the script.

-i had no problem with how george wilson is portrayed - all im saying is that his songs are definitely the to break in a glove of is show if you get what im saying

-didn’t like how they turned mr mckee into a sex pest creeping out poor heterosexual nick (and also into a weird joke about opened relationships??? like hello???)

-jeremy jordan’s translantic accent was cute.

-really liked how they did the pool.

-really like the ending - the ending of boston gatsby felt more hopeful while this one felt more cynical and both of them work in the context of the book.

overall i felt like boston gatsby was more earnest while broadway gatsby was more ironic - and both tones work fine! still think boston is the superior of the two tho

alright so now im gonna rant a little. i am pro-bootleg. i understand that bootlegs have given shows new life and have allowed them to prosper in ways they wouldn’t have been able to without bootlegs. i understand that nyc being a train ride away from me is a privilege few have and that a bootleg is very often the only way someone can experience a show. i am, however, anti coming in fifteen minutes late with your entire militia literally as soon as jeremy jordan makes his first entrance and taking videos and pictures while you’re in the second row (there’s a reason so many bootlegs are filmed from the balcony). in the beginning of the tea party scene where jeremy jordan’s the only person onstage i saw one of them take a picture of him and it made me really mad about how the damn phones have ruined the way we experience art and tainted the relationships of those who give us it - how we view them as products instead of artists or in this case performers.

to end this post on a positive note the stagedoor was a lot chiller than i had imagined it would be. i had brought one of my copies of the great gatsby from home for them to sign and everyone that came out did. by the time jeremy jordan came over i had mustered up the courage to ask them to sign it instead of awkwardly holding it out to them (eva noblezada and samantha pauly i am sooooooooooooooooooo sorry) and he said “i’ll sign your book!” and signed it so now my life’s kinda complete ig

(my signed book underneath the cut!)

#liz informs you #bookpostin #the great gatsby #the great gatsby musical #jeremy jordan #eva noblezada #gatsby broadway #the great gatsby broadway

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mattnben-bennmatt · 6 months ago

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Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's interview w/ Premiere (January 1998)

Boston Uncommon

Bean Town natives Matt Damon and Ben Affleck return home to shoot Good Will Hunting, a tale of growing pains, friendship, and dazzling talent. It might just be the story of their own lives.

By John Brodie

Ben Affleck pilots a Jeep Cherokee through the backstreets of Cambridge, Massachusetts. July twilight turns the red brick buildings around Harvard Square a fiery shade of orange. The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones play as Affleck, with his younger brother, Casey, and Matt Damon, gives a guided tour of their childhood haunts: Rocco's Place; the One Thousand and One Plays video arcade; the spot near the Weld Boathouse where a teenage Damon stripped and swam across a river famous for its dirty water; and Hi-Fi Pizza, which was always closing just as Damon and Affleck would show up for a late-night slice. "I was there a few days ago, and the guys behind the counter were, like, 'You're Chasing Amy! You're Chasing Amy!' " says Affleck, doing his best impersonation of the counterman's Indian accent. "And so I say, 'Yes, yes. I am. Now how 'bout a slice?' And they say, 'No, sorry, Mr. Chasing Amy, we're closed.' "

Tree-lined streets give way to the gray stone of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School's modern campus. As Affleck parks the car by their high school theater, Damon can no longer contain himself. "Say, Ben," he taunts, "why don't you tell us about the time you played the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland?"

"Yup, I was the zany, hookah-smoking caterpillar," Affleck says, gearing up for a cutting contest. "I chose to play the role wrapped in garbage bags held together by Scotch tape. Now, if I were to play that caterpillar today, I might do it another way."

"It was an underrated performance," says 22-year-old Casey. "Those trash bags were a bold choice."

"So, Matt, why don't you favor us with your version of 'Morning Glory' from Pippin?" says 25-year-old Ben, letting loose a left-right (Bob Fosse-Stephen Schwartz) slight to Damon's virility. Damon holds in his comeback until the Jeep is in motion and they pass his childhood home. Affleck's house is two blocks away, and as boys, he and Damon often walked to school together — even though Damon was two years older.

"Ben used to ring my bell and then cower on the other side of the street, because he was afraid of the little kids at this school right next door," Damon says and flashes a toothy smile as Affleck stops him midsentence.

"This was a delinquent school and all the kids were smoking cigarettes," Affleck says, as he quickly pulls around the corner and arrives at his mom's blue townhouse on Cottage Street. He is hoping to point out his birthplace and be on his way when he is waylaid by his mother, who, unimpressed by the presence of a journalist, wants to know when he plans on returning her Jeep.

"Are you going to be home for dinner?" the sixth-grade public-school teacher asks her son. "Mom, you're banned from talking to the press since you told the story about how I used to play with a Wonder Woman doll," Affleck warns, striding into the kitchen for a hug and a sample of freshly prepared guacamole.

Damon and Affleck could be any pair of twentysomething slackers enjoying a late summer idyll, but by the weekend, the hookah-smoking caterpillar will be heading west to costar with Bruce Willis in the megabuck asteroid movie Armageddon, and Mr. Morning Glory will be on a plane to England, where he will play the title role in Saving Private Ryan, opposite Tom Hanks, adding Steven Spielberg's name to the list of directors (Francis Ford Coppola, Gus Van Sant) with whom he has worked over the past year.

This summer has been a last gasp of childhood for the pair. They recently finished production on Miramax's Good Will Hunting, an ensemble drama Damon and Affleck co-wrote before leaving Harvard and Occidental College, respectively, roughly four years ago. The movie, due out at Christmas and directed by To Die For's Van Sant, is already being touted as Oscar bait. Damon stars as a South Boston juvenile delinquent who works as a janitor at MIT and just happens to be an unschooled mathematics genius; the Affleck brothers play two of his Southie pals; and Robin Williams plays it straight as the shrink who helps Damon's working-class hero realize his potential.

That this pet project should come to fruition with such strong Hollywood backing reflects the sudden industry heat on the young actors' careers. But Damon and Affleck have been together every step of the way — and they depend on each other to keep things real. "There's an emotional core to Good Will Hunting that came from Ben and Matt," says Williams, who plays therapist Sean McGuire with a gravitas similar to that of Dead Poets Society. "They have this unspoken twins thing. They care for each other, yet they bust on each other. And that was a great bass line to work with. I'm very proud of this movie. It has a resonance."

On November 13, 1994, the Good Will Hunting script became the object of an intense bidding war in Hollywood. Damon was living in a shabby two-bedroom house with a buddy from high school. Affleck was sleeping on his sofa, having fled a busted engagement back East. This was long before the actors' careers would simultaneously pick up speed — Affleck's thanks to Chasing Amy and Going All the Way, Damon's with Courage Under Fire and The Rainmaker.

Never during their shared childhood had they imagined that November day's outcome. "When the phone started ringing, we were ready to take the first offer, which was $15,000," Affleck says. "After each call," Damon says, "we were yelling at our agent, Patrick Whitesell, 'Take it! Just take the offer!' Then there was this moment when the phone rang and Patrick picked it up. It was for my roommate, and it was this girl he had dated in college, and my roommate was, like, 'Hey, how are you?' And we were, like, 'Hang the fuckin' phone up!' He was really bummed, because they hadn't talked in three years."

By dusk, Chris Moore, a friend with whom they had developed the script, burst through the door with a bottle of Cristal under his arm — a bottle he had been given when he left agenting and told not to open until his new life as a producer started. Moore popped the cork when Castle Rock's bid came in that evening: The studio offered Damon and Affleck more than $1 million for their script as well as their services as actors. They spent that night drinking at Damon's house.

Getting Good Will Hunting into production was less of a party: The script, director, and studio would all change before it reached the screen. The plot at the time of the sale was more of a thriller, with Will's mathematical powers attracting the unwanted interest of evil government agents. In the beginning, Affleck and Damon also talked about such movies as Ordinary People, Searching for Bobby Fischer, and Midnight Run as touchstones. Castle Rock partner Rob Reiner told them to lose the thriller element and concentrate on the relationship between Will and his psychiatrist. William Goldman, a sachem of the screenwriting trade, coached them as well. Even reclusive director Terrence Malick (Badlands) came out of his shell for a meeting and suggested ways in which Will's love interest, a Harvard med student named Skylar, could become a catalyst for his decision to leave Boston.

Then came the sticking point: Damon and Affleck heard that Castle Rock bigwig Andrew Scheinman wanted to direct. Considering that Scheinman's oeuvre consisted of Little Big League, Damon and Affleck were loath to turn their baby over to him. Rather than force the actors to work with Scheinman, Castle Rock's senior executives took the high road and gave them 90 days to set up the project at another studio. If they failed, the movie would go forward with any director Castle Rock dictated.

Affleck and Damon gave the script to Kevin Smith (director of Clerks and Chasing Amy), who pressed Miramax's cochairman Harvey Weinstein to look at Good Will Hunting as a possible producing vehicle for Smith's View Askew production company. After reading the script, Weinstein made one of Miramax's most expensive purchases at the time, paying Castle Rock slightly more than $1 million for the rights to Good Will Hunting.

Somewhere outside Needles, California, Christmas 1995, Ben Affleck's car phone started chirping. Damon was taking it easy in the passenger seat — still recovering from dropping 40 pounds for his junkie scenes in Courage Under Fire. Affleck, who dreads flying and frequently drives cross-country, was all poise when the voice on the other end said, "You have a meeting with Mel Gibson . . . in New York . . . in two days."

They spent much of the next 48 hours pounding coffee and quoting lines from Mad Max to each other as the Nevada desert faded into the Manhattan skyline. "We got to Miramax's offices just before our lunch," says Damon. "And Harvey tells us, 'Mel Gibson is a great director. You can see that from Braveheart.' And I said, 'Harvey, Ben and I have been working. We haven't seen it yet.' So without missing a beat, the head of Miramax sits there and says, 'Okay: Scotland, William Wallace.' And he told us the whole movie."

Gibson's involvement had a catch: He was just starting Ransom and would not be available for nearly a year, so Good Will Hunting would have to wait. Recalls Damon, "Mel was totally understanding when we said, 'This movie is our life. And we know you're, like, the biggest star in the world. But we need a decision.' '' He shudders now at the cockiness of it all. Gibson bowed out after two weeks.

Meanwhile, Van Sant had gotten his hands on the script and contacted Damon through Casey Affleck, who had appeared in To Die For. "I was attracted to the notion of Will trying to create a family," Van Sant says, observing that his movies (Drugstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho) have often depicted street kids struggling to forge an alternative home for themselves. Van Sant also started talking about the project with Williams, whom he knew slightly from years before, when the two were developing a biopic about slain gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk.

Cambridge's Bow and Arrow pub has been dutifully re-created in a forgotten Toronto gin mill on a June morning. Affleck and actor Cole Hauser, who worked together in Dazed and Confused and School Ties, are in character as Chuckie and Billy, two Southies who have invaded a Harvard bar for the night. They play pop-a-shot basketball in one corner. "Brick!" yells Hauser in his best Bean Town accent. "Larry," coos Affleck as he emulates the last white Celtic legend's jump shot. Damon, as Will Hunting, sits with Casey Affleck, whose character, Morgan, completes the quartet of friends. They stare as Skylar, played by British actress Minnie Driver, approaches Will for the first time. The scene is meant to be a little cool, but neither Damon nor Driver can suppress grins. They furtively hold hands between setups. Damon, who in his brief career has earned a reputation as an on-set smoothie (after hooking up with The Rainmaker's Claire Danes), has struck again. The camera rolls and Skylar offers Will a crumpled piece of paper. "Here's my number," Driver says. "Maybe we could go out for coffee sometime?"

"Great, or maybe we could go somewhere and just eat a bunch of caramels," Damon says. "It's just as arbitrary as drinking coffee." Their eyes meet. The actors beam.

"Matt wasn't prepared for such a powerhouse acting against him," says producer Lawrence Bender of Driver, who auditioned by reading a love scene with Damon at New York's Soho Grand Hotel. "It was a scene where Will tells Skylar, 'I don't love you.' Matt literally had to stop the audition, apologize, and start over. There were five guys in the room and nobody wanted to look at one another because we had tears in our eyes."

Regardless of the extracurricular role she plays in Damon's life, Driver has become an expert at infiltrating close circles of male friends; she worked with Stanley Tucci and his screenwriter cousin Joseph Tropiano on Big Night, and played the chick-of-the-flick in Grosse Point Blank, which John Cusack wrote with longtime friends D.V. DeVincentis and Steve Pink. "[Being the girl] in these groups has meant that I've been allowed to do whatever I like," Driver says in her trailer as Damon and Affleck make catcalls from the curb. "Because all of these men have said, 'We've never got her quite right. We need you to fill in the blanks.' " Minnie and Matt — their names could be the title of a forgotten Cassavetes script — were together during the summer while she was shooting a period drama in England and Scotland called The Governess and Damon was soldiering for Spielberg in England. But it's hard to tell whether a Bogart- Bacall To Have and Have Not kind of magic filters onto the screen in Good Will Hunting.

"There's a rosiness that comes through, but that can be deceiving," Van Sant says. "A lot of times if you are told something before you see the film, you might convince yourself something's there when it actually turns out to be the opposite."

Stars' personal lives are a squeamish topic for the director, but not nearly as squeamish as the donnybrook he got into with Good Will Hunting producer Bender, a longtime Quentin Tarantino associate who was handed the movie by Miramax. Since Damon, Affleck, and Van Sant had already gelled by the time Bender came on the project, the tight-knit group viewed him as an interloper. And according to several of the principals, Van Sant told Bender during a preproduction meeting, "You don't have a creative bone in your body, and I just want to punch you in your face." Van Sant then called the leads into his hotel room and demanded that Bender make assurances to the group about creative control. Van Sant and Bender agree that the contretemps was mostly about staking out territory. "Yeah, it happened, then it blew over," Bender says. Van Sant, however, cut Bender's cameo out of the film. And according to the stars, they see Bender's top billing as the only blemish on what was otherwise a dream come true. "The first thing onscreen is a Lawrence Bender production," says one. "It makes me want to puke."

No one recognizes Damon or Affleck as they cajole a janitor into unlocking the doors to their high school theater, and now they're back on the proscenium stage where Damon performed "Burning Down the House" in a school talent show. Casey and Ben are telling horror stories about Damon's slovenliness. The clincher for Affleck was when he showed up at the pad he shares with Damon in Manhattan's Chinatown and found his friend watching TV seated next to an old box of sushi being devoured by maggots. "I can forgive him," Affleck says, "because I know in my heart that he was using all his energy to figure out how he was going to play Will Hunting."

The two actors arbitrarily decided five years ago that Damon would play Will and Affleck would play Chuckie, a supporting role. Damon, as a consequence, gets the girl and a chance to shine with Robin Williams. As solace, Affleck penned himself a pivotal scene, in which Chuckie grants Will permission to turn his back on his friends and rise above his working-class roots. "Every day, I come by to pick you up," Chuckie says, "and we go out and we have a few laughs. But you know what the best part of my day is? The ten seconds before I knock on the door, 'cause I let myself think, I might get there, and you'd be gone. I'd knock on the door . . . and you wouldn't be there. You just left." It's an understated moment of male intimacy, one that almost overshadows the emotional pyrotechnics between Damon and Williams.

When asked whether he ever thinks about how things might have been different had they switched roles somewhere along the line, Damon insists that on the next movie he and Affleck write together, Affleck will star and he will provide the comic relief. "The biggest sadness I have," Damon says, his voice breaking slightly, "is that I look at my role and I think that Ben could easily have played it. I think he let me do it because, literally, he's my best friend in the world and he's that selfless." Catching himself getting mushy, Damon adds, "But, hey, don't feel bad for Ben. He's saving the world. Didn't anybody tell you there's an asteroid the size of Texas headed toward Earth? And if it weren't for Bruce Willis and Ben, God knows what would happen."

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tobyfoxfacts · 1 year ago

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ANSWERING GOOGLES TOP TOBY QUESTIONS

Below, I will answer the TOP Toby questions asked on Google, in microscopic detail.

What did Toby do for homestuck?

Toby Fox composed many songs for the webcomic Homestuck; created by Andrew Hussie. The comic started in 2009, and Toby joined a forum for the comic. He emailed Hussie and requested to join the private music team forum. He included a sample of his music in the email. Toby was immediately added to the forum. Toby stated that many members in the forum never made music as well. He was quite prolific and wrote SEVERAL iconic homestuck soundtracks. After graduating high school, Toby was accepted by Northeastern University in Boston MA. Hussie offered Toby their basement cause Northeastern University was close by. That's how Toby ended up in Homestussies basement.

How did Toby Fox make undertale on his own?

To answer the first part of the question, Toby Fox primarily used game maker studio and MsPaint for the creation of undertale. He did not make Undertale on his own! He got help from several buddies. He didn't design all the enemies in undertale, and Temmie Chang played a HUGE role in the production of Undertale. Toby met Temmie on Tumblr and commissioned her!

What was Toby's inspiration for undertale?

At an interview with Fangamer, Toby advertised the release of Undertale's demo! During his little sales pitch, he said that Undertale was inspired by Earthbound! One of Toby's childhood favorite games! With fond memories like playing the game with his brother, and all the lovable characters, Toby Fox keeps Earthbound near and dear to his heart.

What are some interesting facts about Toby Fox?

READ AND FOLLOW MY BLOG I POST A LOT OF FACTS.

How is Toby Fox such a good composer?

Well, that's up for interpretation. Some people may find Toby's music to be repetitive and empty, after he replays the same melody over and over. On the other hand, perhaps Toby's music composition is simply catchy. He always incorporates a simple tune you can hum to. From a neutral standpoint, I believe Toby gets so much praise because his music appeals to a large range of people. Hes got a wide ranged audience. I've met 34 year olds and 7 year olds who like Toby's music! Even my MOM likes his music and she's... not 30.

Thats right! Adults who grew up retro 8 bit music in their video games will be attracted to Toby's nostalgic esque tunes! Chiptune is a common music genre among the autistic community because the beeps and boops are stimulating to the brain. Tons of autistic people enjoy video games, vocaloid, etc. You know. Classic beep boop music. When autistic people like something; they LOVE IT. So Toby's music takes on a whole new meaning for us neurodivergent people. Toby's target audience has hyperfixating personalities, so he receives TONS of praise.

How old was Toby Fox when he started making undertale?

Math time! (^ω^)~♡ Undertale was published on September 15th 2015. Toby Fox was published on October 11th 1991. The game took approximately 2.7 years to complete. The production of undertale began in 2012. Toby was 21 when the true production of Undertale began. The game was published when he was 23, almost 24.

Hope this was helpful!! I hope this shows up on Google so people see my answers. No more false information and shitty news websites that find pictures of men that aren't even Toby Fox to include in their articles!

#toby fox #toby fox facts #indiedev #undertale #gamedev #video games #gaming #toby fox my beloved #tobyfox #tobyfoxfacts

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someawesomeamvs · 2 years ago

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youtube

Warning: Flashing lights, violence, potential spoilers

Title: Cyberpunk Resurrections

Editor: Rider4Z - Otaku Lounge Productions

Audio: "The Matrix Resurrections" Trailer

Anime: Cyberpunk Edgerunners

Category: Trailer

Awards: RICE 2023 - Best Parody/"As Seen on TV" Award Winner Anime Boston 2023 - Best Concept Sakura-Con 2023 - Best Trailer

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docileeffects · 1 year ago

Video

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OVRLDR - Garage Session [recorded live 07.23.2022] [Official Video]

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rainydawgradioblog · 10 months ago

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Interview with Samba Jean-Baptiste

The other day I came across an article about AI bots mass-releasing auto-generated music on Spotify under different names. A concept as democratic as “unfettered access to music by way of streaming services” was bound to be corrupted by bad actors. Artists are consigned to grueling tour schedules in order to make a living because streaming pays them in Monopoly money. Pitchfork is gone and the writing is on the wall for Bandcamp, because curation is now being handled by algorithms. It’s important to keep in mind that any artist releasing music today has to navigate a culture in which there’s more out there than ever before, it's all at the tip of one’s fingers, and everything except for the music itself is worse than it used to be.

The topic of how the internet has shaped music came up frequently in my discussion with Samba Jean-Baptiste, an independent artist out of Brooklyn. I discovered his work after seeing Dean Blunt’s music video to “Felony” (his best song? I’m ready to make the argument), and the Algorithm decided I might like a video titled “talk / pleasure.” Behind a camera that might be a flip phone, somone offers Jean-Baptiste directions: “Wait, look off that way, and start the song. Then just start doing your shit.” The music plays and we hear Samba’s subdued voice over acoustic guitar strumming. He crosses a wide urban boulevard. All of it is easy and unforced.

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“Talk / Pleasure” was released on Cardinal, a project that’s difficult to categorize and beautiful and disarming. Jean-Baptiste chiefly uses acoustic guitar and his voice to create stripped-back art pop, as if the Young Marble Giants grew up listening to Stereolab instead of Lou Reed. The relationship between skilled yet raw guitar playing and more attuned peripheral production toes a line between an open mic performance and sound leaking from someone else’s headphones. There’s some really incredible interplay between organic and auto tuned vocals on “Windows.” The string and warped piano accompaniments on “A Wish Slanted” perfectly compliment Jean-Baptiste’s rhythmic strumming. It seems like he’s drawing from so much, because he’s had access to (and has seeked out) so much. The internet has given us windows into every corner of musical expression imaginable. If you’re an artist, how do you reckon with that, how does it find its way into your art? I didn’t want to put words in Jean-Baptiste’s mouth, so I reached out to see if he’d be interested in an interview for the Blawg.

He was kind enough to agree back in early December; we spoke over the phone for about 40 minutes. I think he was playing Dave Bixby in the background. In addition to the internet’s impact on the music landscape, he touched on song-writing, looping, and Veeze. Hope you all enjoy it. Please, check out Cardinal on Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube, and Bandcamp (before it’s subscription based).

Can you tell me a little about yourself?

Yeah, I’m 22, about to be 23, I live in Bedstuy, Brooklyn, I cook at a Japanese Breakfast restaurant that’s also in Brooklyn. That’s kinda what I do four days a week. I grew up in Massachusetts playing classical music, me and my sister, I played Cello, my sister played violin and we grew up playing in the Boston Symphony Orchestra. That’s where I gained a lot of interest in music, because when I wasn’t playing cello, everyone would be showing off like, what pop song [they] could play on the piano, and from there everything trailed into, you know, writing a little song about a crush or something when I was a kid.

My family is from Haiti. That’s important to me. In middle school I used to just make beats so I was really into dubstep and a bunch of stuff on youtube. I was always big on youtube, listening to people make beats at home, and then soundcloud blew up, which gave so much access to random nooks and crannies to the country and world for that matter. Got into songwriting a little bit. Used to make a lot of different sounding stuff to now. Picked up guitar, somehow, and I guess that landed me to where I’m at now.

Songs like “Better Now” from Cardinal feature a lot of looping. Do you find that to be a big part of your process?

It’s funny because looping, from making beats in middle school, looping is such a big part of it. You make something, you loop it, you progress from there. But by the time I realized I could be playing actual instruments in my recordings, I still had that mentality. I’ll record something and think: “this part is great, I’m just gonna loop it.” And it doesn’t feel unethical. Cause for me, for a long time, looping other people’s music was like, “you’re going to hell, you’re not making music” but somehow my eyes have opened up and my ears have opened up to so many new ways of sound creation, rather than seeing it like “you have to create from the sound up like you’re fucking Beethoven.” You can hear something and make something out of that and that’s ok. It’s not yours, it's everyone’s.

Looping is really interesting too because everytime you hear something or see something you can see something new about it. There’s albums I’ve listened to kajillions of times and it’s like I’m learning something new about it every listen. The same thing can happen with a simple loop, it’ll just be new information, newly perceived information each time. So yeah loops are super important to me.

When you’re writing a song, do you have an idea of what you want the finished product to be, or does it evolve naturally over the course of the entire process?

Definitely the latter. That’s funny I was talking to my dad *today* that when I make songs, or work on an idea, I have to like make the whole song, just so that when I go back to these drafts, I can see the full blueprint. [...] It’s definitely a process. If I write a song in one sitting, I’ll kinda just… show a friend. That’s not the stuff I like releasing.

How did Cardinal become more acoustic than your previous album, Pandora?

It wasn’t so much a conscious decision to be like, I have to be different from the last record, but it was a conscious decision in my process. Because Pandora was made while I was still primarily recording through my laptop, and like, there’s guitar on there, but it’s all pitched up, and my voice isn’t in my natural cadence. But in the same way I realized I could use my instruments and play them in my recordings, I was like damn. That feels natural. I can also just sing in my natural low voice, I don’t have to be reaching for something that I’m not. So it sort of just trailed in that direction naturally.

I was wondering if playing the cello made picking up guitar easier, or otherwise informs your guitar playing? You said you “stumbled on guitar,” which sounds like a bigger undertaking than you make it out to be.

Yeah, picking up guitar was pretty simple for me because of that knowledge, but like, there’s six strings on a guitar [compared to cello’s four], so I’ve found new ways to approach an instrument, because there’s a learning curve there. A lot of my songs, if you listen to them, it’s all the same chords, because I only know so much, and sometimes I’m fucking lazy and I know certain chords and they make me feel good enough.

Also it's funny because some songs are written on different guitars. “I Could Have Cried” was written on a guitar with five strings (the high E is gone) because my roommate didn’t finish stringing it. The other one I got in London, that one plays “Talk/Pleasure” and “A Wish Slanted” and it has four strings because two of them snapped. Each weird situation lends itself to a new creation, which is like a huge part of my process anyway. Error is so acceptable, if not sought out.

The stream of consciousness of it? Less premeditated?

Right. There’s a mix too though. I love when records have noise added after cause that’s real. You can only listen to so much perfect, cookie cutter stuff.

When you were making Cardinal, were there any major songs or artists that you took inspiration from?

Nah I had no influences, I came up with this shit. I’m playing, of course, of course, there’s so many. I feel like a lot of people are finding my music through like Dean Blunt youtube wormhole, and he’s for sure one of my big influences, like all my influences are like 30+ year old black people doing their thing. But the main influence is music that sounds like wind, water, grass, and that all relates to guitar.

I wish I had a list of my influences, cause on this record there’s a lot you know? I had a lot of people in my life showing me new things, because I’m so closed minded often. And I like to try to surround myself with people that will show me something new. A lot of inspiration is what’s new to me.

I think wind, water, grass sums it up great. Wrapping up, would you have any recommendations for me and the good people of Rainy Dawg Radio as a whole? Movies, music, books, etc?

Hell yeah. I just finished this book called Your Love is Not Good, by Johanna Hedver… Movies? I’m still learning about movies. Two or three things I know about her. I’m into Jean Luc Godard, that slice of life stuff where nothing happens, cause it’s just like looping music to me. Music? I’ll just give you what I’ve been into recently, cause I have huge influences but they’re probably everybody’s. I’ve been listening to this song called “Tea in Bed” by Blessed and Blushing. That shit’s incredible. I’ve been listening to this song called “Everybody Knows” by Glucose. I’ve been listening to a Serge Gainsbourg record, The History of Melody Nelson. I’ve been listening to Veeze, you know, Ganger. There’s so much shit. There’s so much out there. Michael White is this great jazz violinist, I’d definitely recommend him. Forma Norte, that guy’s incredible.

Who’s that, Forma Norte?

Yeah, you know what’s funny is I found him on my “related artists,” online, and sometimes I find stuff I really hate through that. But sometimes I think “damn this guy’s awesome, how’s he related to me?”

It’s so interesting to hear an artist’s perspective of their “fans also like” on Spotify.

That first one I said, Tea in Bed by Blessed and Blushing, is just blowing my mind recently. I’m like, “who is sitting down and making this shit?,” it’s so good. And that’s what’s crazy is there’s so much music now, it’s like, is there even a point in trying to make a career out of this? No. I don’t think so. Which I think is lending itself to the best music ever, cause people are like “there’s no fucking way I’m gonna make a career out of this, I might as well just make what I want, whatever I want.”

You used to have to deal with the label, but now everything is just, “yeah go for it.”

It’s such a blessed time in that regard, but at the same time… let me chill on that. Let’s say, Marvin Gaye, “I Want You”? We’re not getting that right now. And that’s no hate to right now. But it’s just like that was a whole different way of living, thinking, moving, breathing you know. It’s just a whole different way of recording.

But we’re so blessed to be able to do exactly what we want without the idea of needing to make money off it. Obviously it would be nice. But it’s unlikely so people are just making cool shit. And I’m really thankful for that.

You can find Samba Jean-Baptiste on Instagram here and YouTube here. Once again, listen to Cardinal any way you get your music.

#Spotify #Youtube

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ausetkmt · 1 year ago

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A New York City councilmember is introducing legislation that would ban the New York City Police Department (NYPD) from using weaponized robots.

Councilman Ben Kallos will introduce the legislation today, which would amend the POST Act, a law that requires the NYPD to be more transparent about its surveillance tactics.

Specifically, Kallos’ legislation would ban weaponizing remote or autonomous robots that interact with people in New York City.

The legislation may be the first of its kind in the country, according to Wired.

The proposed legislation comes after the NYPD used a robotic dog built by Boston Dynamics, called “Digidog,” during a hostage situation in the Bronx last month. The robot has cameras, lights, and a communication system attached to it, according to the New York Times.

Video of the robot police dog, which isn’t armed, went viral, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) criticized it as “robotic surveillance ground drones.” Other police departments in the country have used the robots in the past.

Kallos’ bill would make it so that any kind of autonomous robot used by police—like robot police dogs or drones—that interacts with the public in the future doesn’t have weaponry attached to it, his office said in a statement.

In the statement, Kallos said he wanted to make sure the city didn’t feel “like a Black Mirror episode.”

“The technology to arm robots already exists and in order to prevent anything like that from happening we have to act now, before the technology gets ahead of the laws,” Kallos said.

As Wired notes, Boston Dynamics prohibits attaching weapons as part of the company’s terms of service. But the potential for arming robot police dogs is not farfetched.

Last month, MSCHF, a New York-based company known for its outrageous publicity stunts and product drops, attached a paintball gun to a “Spot” robot made by Boston Dynamics and allowed people to virtually control it and shoot paintballs in an art gallery.

#The first-ever bill to ban armed robot police dogs is coming #police robots #police robot dogs #robot police dogs #nypd #new york #ben kallios #spot #black mirror #boston dynamics

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elaine-of-shalott-blog · 3 months ago

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A lovely tribute by Het National Ballet

It is with great sadness and dismay that we received the news that Michaela DePrince has passed away at the age of 29. To honour her memory, we will make it possible to donate to War Child, the organisation for which Michaela passionately worked as an ambassador.

Michaela grew up in war-ravaged Sierra Leone. At a young age, she lost both her parents and was admitted to an orphanage. Her skin condition vitiligo meant that people there treated her as inferior. Her nickname in the orphanage was devil’s child. A story she chronicled in her autobiography: Taking flight: From war orphan to star ballerina .

Michaela was adopted by the American DePrince family. Once in America, she followed her dream of becoming a ballet dancer, inspired by a photograph she once saw, still in Sierra Leone, of an American ballerina. This was not an easy path for Michaela; she was told several times that she did not have the right body type ánd skin colour to become a ballet dancer.

Determined, she persevered and in 2012 came to Europe at the invitation of the Hague dance company De Dutch Don't Dance Division, to dance in one of their productions. This also introduced her to the Dutch National Ballet, and in August 2013 she joined the first batch of the Junior Company. In 2014, she made the switch to the ‘main company’ of Dutch National Ballet, where she rose to the rank of soloist in the following years.

From a young age, her extraordinary life story combined with her dance career did not go unnoticed. Among other things, she featured in the film documentary First Position, danced in a video by Beyoncé and Madonna bought the film rights to her autobiography. She also starred in the film version of Coppelia, choreographed by Ted Brandsen.

Motivated to help children from war zones, Michaela became an ambassador for War Child in 2016 and committed to helping children in many ways.

In 2022, she left Amsterdam to continue her dance career with the US Boston Ballet.

Michaela is taken from us far too soon. Our thoughts are with her loved ones and family.

Link to donate: https://actie.voorwarchild.nl/teams/michaela?locale=en?utm_source=facebook-hnb&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=2425-michaela%20deprince-donatie-236

#michaela mabinty deprince #Het National ballet #ballet #war child

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agentnico · 5 months ago

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The Instigators (2024) review

Just a regular day in Boston.

Plot: Rory and Cobby are unlikely partners thrown together for a heist. However, when it goes awry, they team up to outrun police, backward bureaucrats, and a vengeful crime boss.

I feel kind of sorry for director Doug Liman. Guy was screwed by Amazon who promised to give his Road House remake earlier this year a theatrical release only to dump it straight to Prime Video to the director’s dismay, and now he’s had the same treatment again twice in a row courtesy of Apple TV+ with The Instigators. Dude must be fuming! That being said, from what I’ve heard about Road House, it sounded like that was a fun action flick. Same can’t be said for The Instigators, as this definitely feels like a straight-to-streaming release.

That’s not to say there isn’t plenty of talent behind and front of camera. As aforementioned, Doug Liman directs (by the way if you haven’t seen his film American Made with Tom Cruise, do yourself a favour, just saying), and we have the good will of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck as producers, and then Damon again and Casey Affleck (who wrote the script) leading this Boston buddy action romp. Look, on its own merit The Instigators is a perfectly watchable ridiculous heist movie, with some semi-decent action sequences, a charming comedic energy from its two leads and a surprisingly stacked cast. I’m not even kidding, we have appearances from Hong Chau, Alfred Molina, Michael Stuhlbarg, Toby Jones, Paul Walter Hauser, Ving Rhames and Ron Perlman! Evidently the Affleck’s called in a heck of a lot of favours, as this set gives the Deadpool & Wolverine cameos a run for their money! I do admit though that most of the cast are wasted and appear for maybe a scene or two if that, so most of them were in all likelihood there for an easy pay-check. And I don’t blame them - Apple has a lot of money that it evidently doesn’t know what to do with.

The issue with The Instigators is simply how normal it is. This is the most generic by-the-numbers heist-gone-wrong film you can possibly imagine, with lazy jokes, uninspired set pieces and the whole thing feels so repetitive as we’ve seen it before. It’s such a shame as again, one naturally goes into this with a certain level of expectation due to the talent involved, but the end product is nothing more than a shoulder shrugger. I didn’t even think Matt Damon did that well - his line delivery felt lazy and he looked bored throughout. Casey Affleck is a bit more fun and probably is the reason for some of the laughs. I guess we’re so accustomed to him playing serious roles that it’s nice to see him relaxed and spread his comedic chops a little.

Though they have been killing in the television medium, Apple have struggled with their original films, as aside from Martin Scorsese’s The Killers of the Flower Moon, and I also have a soft-spot for that Tetris movie as for some reason tetrominos are my jam, but aside from those the movies from Apple haven’t really struck a spark. Shame really. Oh well, they’ve still given us Ted Lasso so can’t hate on them too much now.

Overall score: 3/10

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