#btw this is similar to what’s happening with f1 in the us

[brasiliangp]

Ok now i need to know why you think like that about Messi, like i agree they already asked a lot of questions about him to Cris obvss they doing it on purpose they know how much Cris likes Messi (and its gettin on everyone nerves how they get advantage of that for the marketing) but to say that he didn't change the league is already going far away

to be fair he did change it…..he made tickets more expensive and that’s about it

but on the grand scheme of things, he’s in Miami to make as much bank as possible before retiring in a couple seasons not to revolutionize the league. Good American players aren’t staying in the MLS because Messi is there. Good European players aren’t moving to the MLS because Messi is there, except for the ones who are ready to retire.

Americans might have become slightly more interested in the sport because Messi is playing there now but it’s mainly people in Miami and imo that interest isn’t as massive as people are making it out to be. The average American is too busy with their oversatured sports market to go want to drop $700 to sit next to celebrities who don’t know shit about football in Inter Miami’s tiny stadium that fits 18k people in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The hype will die down soon enough and the US will go back to only giving a shit about football when their women’s team plays in the world cup.

[pinkcarsupremacy]

Okay in all the drama of yesterday's race I feel like we overlooked the F1 movie teaser and we need to talk about what the hell was going on in that.

So we start with 60yo racer Brad Pitt telling the audience and uh someone else that their car is beat on the straights by "Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, Aston and now Mclaren" (as an Alpine fan I understand the plight) and that their only chance of beating the other teams is to battle in the turns and I quote "we need to build our car for combat" (never underestimate Americans and their ability to turn something into a war analogy)

After that bizzare statement the following exchange occurs:

Yeah fuck safety!! The FIA is actually involved with the making of this film if you're wondering.

From here on there isn't actually anymore dialogue and it's just a bunch of racing and track team shots set to 'We will Rock You'. It was here that it dawned on me that this movie is gonna be super bizzare. Despite all the noise about them filming on track at live race weekends it never occured to me the other drivers and teams would actually feature in it. I'm not even sure what I thought they were going to do but I assumed it would involve a lot of CGI.

But nope turns out this is actually just a strange self-insert film where an 11th team featuring 60yo Brad Pitt and his younger teammate will compete against real F1 drivers? The $300 million budget is starting to make sense - maybe they had to pay the other drivers a salary. I think one glaring problem with this is that it means there won't be other characters in the movie (excluding team members of the fake team) because the other drivers and team members are uh real people? Now that would be fine if it was a biopic like Rush where everyone are actors but here we have 2 actors and 20 real drivers (who are quite literally at work btw) and any interaction between them and the actors is gonna break the immersion of the film so badly.

Sidenote here's one of the Apex cars abusing a Williams - not the kind of behaviour that endears me to either of the fake drivers ngl. Probably should have picked a more disliked team to clown on.

Now I actually went and read an interview with the 2 directors to try and work out what is going on. At one point in this interview, Jerry Bruckheimer says: "It’s the only sport where your teammate is also your competitor, and that’s great drama in itself. Just think about that; you’re fighting with your own teammate for a place on the podium. And everything we use in the movie actually happened in an F1 race. Nobody can say: ‘That would never happen.’ It happened."

So in other words the teammates will fight and it will be based on real life events? Yeah unfortunately I'm getting Perez and Ocon in Force India vibes from that (those 2 shots pretty similar huh).

There was also this in the interview which is... I mean I don't really know what to take from this but it's certainly interesting. As an Ocon fan this quite literally strikes fear into my heart (why was he of all drivers named...) but we'll have to wait and see I guess.

[n1-lance-defender]

How has the dehumanization of celebrities/athletes has affected the perception people have of Lance, and it has caused so much harm over the years. A rant/ threat/analysis.

Yes, I have seen so many (3) of these post over the last few days, and I think it is my turn to speak about my views regarding Lance and what I find most upsetting about his situation. Then I proceeded to wander and explain how it also connects to other drivers, and it’s one of the weird phenomenons of the digital era.

Btw I care a lot about this topic, but this is probably (aside from school) the most I have written in English, because this is my second language. So if something doesn't make much sense, just tell me so I can correct/improve the explanation.

During the last decade we have seen the rise of social media, and with it, the fanaticism of sports started showing characteristics we associate with fandoms and literacy. For example, even thought it doesn't seem that way, fan fiction has existed for at least 50 years, being more notorious with the Spock x James (Star Trek) whose fan fiction goes back till 1966. On the other hand, the oldest fanfic we have evidence of, in F1, was written in November 2009, almost 2010. This has made, over the last decade, the perception we have of drivers shift to a more personal matter and increase the importance of having an attractive internet image.

I do not condemn RPF, I enjoy reading about it and probably, like most of us, won't stop doing it. However, I think it is beneficial to talk about similar behavior has had an impact over mainstream media and social media (influencers in particular) and it has been the cause of irrational hatred us, lance supporters, are so used to seeing.

I used to believe it was extremely weird how in random TikToks or YouTube analysis there were being made jokes of lance. Some that stood out to me were “then we have the C4 tires that, except for Stroll's car, will make them go faster” or “we are about to see 19 drivers and Stroll race in the great circuit of X”. Before and after these comments were made, I was just watching videos on tire degradation and race lines of a circuit analysis, respectively. It didn't add anything to the video, it wasn't even a video that was made to be funny. That is when I started thinking about it, and realized, mainstream media has done the same as us, they have turned him into a character.

Brief statement. Every one makes “characters” out from people. We have wide imaginations in which we think how others will behave with some evidence we have, not just in social media. We daydream for example about our crushes and things we think they will say, we idolize them in our heads. The same thing happens here in social media, we decide which driver is which fruit, animal, or teddy bear. Because we do it positively, there are no impacts, and it is more than likely that this information will never reach the driver himself. However, means of communication whom do have access to them are also doing this, but not with the right intentions.

There are stereotypical characters in movies/series, we have all see that at some point. Most times we agree that their writing is put in a way that makes them very one dimensional and not relatable at all. Sometimes they write characters whose only purpose in the series will be to act as comic relief, so then the scene doesn't feel heavy or boring. They become the internal joke of the show.

That is what it is happening to Lance, his internet image has being corrupted enough, so then people have no problem using him as a comic relief, because they are so convinced that is what his “character” was written for, to ease up tension. It seems like it has been normalized making fun of him to a point where it is expected you are into the “joke”, and there is absolutely no shame in making fun of him while talking about f1.

He is not a character. He does not fall into a common stereotype made by poor written movies. Because he is an actual person, with layers and self-awareness of the things said about him. The fact that this is how we treat people is terrible and extremely harmful, cause 90% of F1 fans do not have the time or care about little things that happen to them or mind their personality to deeper levels. They take the first input they get from social media, use that to make an opinion and move on with the other important thing in their live.

Example of this, my dad. He loves F1, he is the one that made me love it as much as I do. He has his F1tv subscriptions and talks with me about it all the time, watches all practices, qualys and races. He wants to take me some day to see a race, there is no denying he is an F1 fan. But that man does not have Instagram, does not have TikTok. I have tried to explain to him what an edit is multiple times and still he doesn't get it, so I won't even try to explain what are fan works. So when I told him “OMG MAX IS HAVING A BABY” his reaction was “oh, with his current girlfriend? cool” that man pretended some interest because I was excited. He couldn't care less about the personal life of anyone.

So then the image he has of the drivers is the little description over the Facebook posts of sky sports and danz. So when that description only reflects a character they themselves created, that is what gets in the mind of their readers. That is what their personality is to the rest of the world. That is why now more than ever, drivers care so much about their perception. There isn't enough time to get to know them, so it is usually that headline they get what makes the opinion of the public over them.

Lando is seem as childish. Charles is seem as pretty. Yuki is seem as angry. Franco is seem as flirty. George is seem as girly. Lance is seem as useless. Try asking someone older, their opinion over these drivers, and they will say something between these stereotypes. We could debate it is better or worst to not get one of these labels, because the problem of always flying under the radar (which is now almost impossible) is that nobody is sad when they leave, there is no recognition, goodbye, appreciation, or thank you, which to me, it is beyond sad.

We have gotten into a point where media training and curating social media is part of the rookies' preparation, being popular has become a requirement to be a successful f1 driver. I am just left to wander, what is the best approached we can take about it? We can't stop the dehumanization of drivers and then let them put them into stereotypes. That is just a sad truth and problematic of the internet. So I guess what we have left is to defend, create narratives against the hatred they receive and hope eventually media will become more empathic and joke around just because they can.

Who knows, people are becoming more critical of stereotypical characters and are less willing to believe one dimension personalities. Hopefully with new generation this marketing strategy will become useless and media portrayed would change.

[georgegraphys]

Warning : Unprofessional unverified talks as I am not Mercedes nor have 10 masters degrees. Fragile snowflakes that got their heart shattered by opinion differences are not welcomed. An opinionated talk.

I'm just gonna back track on what happens here. What started this all sudden China PR campaign of this douyin acc thing and my whole summary of thoughts. If you're new here and you haven't had the time to scroll through my PR talks regarding this whole 2024 George PR cooking class. Let me summarize you here (this lacks the recent targa florio updates, mercedes vision one eleven, etc. i haven't updated it further)

Again, I'd like to say. I am not a Mercedes Benz PR team member. I am not a professional. I am just someone who worked in a similar field who analyzes, plans, and strategizes PR agendas like this. Of course the very first time I posted about this whole theory it's just a goofy hypothetical tweet of "what IFs"

This was just minutes after George opened his douyin acc btw. Something just struck me like "Huh? Why bother opening an account for a race that lasts 2-3 days?". As someone who worked in PR myself, these things are not a good move. Like why the hell open a douyin account? If I were Mercedes, I'd open a tiktok account for George that could be used beyond China GP. That was my mindset back then until I watched the video again and I realized George saying things like his F1 journey throughout the season. And that's the part where it struck me.

Now why does it intrigue me? Douyin is a platform that is only available in China (or probably in Macau/HK/Taiwan too, idk sorry) and to sign up for Douyin you need a Chinese phone number or ID card verification. It makes me think that maybe Mercedes pulled some strings? To be able to get George in Douyin? But until then my thoughts are just goofy ahh what if lol. Then suddenly Douyin Sports starts posting about George on their account and George makes a specific video greeting for Douyin Sports. Now this kind of confirms my idea? Because douyin sports rarely post international athletes unless you are on the calibre of probably Marc Marquez or Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, other than that they just posted about the chinese athletes. Afterwards, there was the Mercedes Benz official account commenting here and there and I just went "maybe this isn't a joke"

For now, it seems that the douyin account is also posting personal things about George like his post with Carmen, his family and friends and more. Well surprising considering I thought they're going to be full racing and business because at first i thought that douyin acc pr move was solely for the company because they were promoting lots of 63 series that George will probably lead the promotions later. I didn't expect them to actually build something that is also personal to George? Like his brand image? As they also involve posts about his beloved ones and not pure business. Also Mercedes even invited a LOCAL press to directly interview George one-on-one??? I'm surprised by that. But this is honestly good for George!

I know i've seemingly been all positive about this but just to let you know, I had doubts lol. Like I thought this wasn't gonna last this long. I thought it was just to keep the China GP hype for 2 weeks and it's all gone and dusted. But it didn't. Turns out they even have these 3 days posting patterns which not only intrigues me but also intrigues the chinese audience. It brought them to pay attention to George and question things like "oh he is still posting??" "who posts for him??" "he's using douyin actively??". I honestly expect lower than this and thought that the account would be another vessel to promote Mercedes cars to the chinese audience but wow... also building his individual brand images? I did not expect that.

I might have been able to guess the purpose of the douyin account making but I could never know what they were cooking. It baffles me. You might not understand but in that one single douyin account, there's a social media team or at least one person handling it and a PR planning over it. The posts were planned, it has posting patterns and it shows that it was scheduled, the subtitles, the songs (even though it's shitty), and the editing. The editing specifically appeals to the chinese audience. And I cannot wrap my mind on the reason why. These have lots of efforts poured into it and the supportive Mercedes Benz account? Unusual. Because they usually gave 0 fucks in other platforms. You need to acknowledge that this is

a) A whole ass PR planning with the approval of the company because it represents George and even also builds his individual brand value and image to the chinese audience/target market

b) No doubt Mercedes pulled some string to get his account to douyin and have the app promote his account

c) This stretched out longer than i would ever expect. My expectations weren't low but it's realistic. This thing is a bucket full of effort and planning inside for it to stretch until this long.

Now this part gets a bit sensitive. So again WARNING that this is highly SPECULATIVE and we're PREDICTING not saying that this is true. "But ari you're so jobless for all of this guessing. No one does this except the obsessed ones" This is what I and some people who worked in the PR sectors do. We look at a company's PR planning and make a guess out of it. Why? To counter their PR strategy of course. For the sake of competitions. And it's a REAL PAID JOB. But anyways

My guess is that maybe in the future George will be used as some sort of representative or ambassador for the chinese market? As for now, Mercedes Benz's objective and target market is the Chinese market. Their collaboration with Denza and BAIC, Beijing Benz subsidiary making China specialized vehicles, joint cooperation with chinese universities like Tsinghua and more.

Not to mention that this whole Mercedes in China field trip is not just any other field trip. It is state backed. Germany and China seem to be building this whole bestie relationship when it comes to automotive, technology, engineering, etc. Judging by how it's state backed and which means things won't get "nahhh okay byeeee" just anytime, that means this would then be a long term thing?

I'm just connecting two points here. A) Mercedes strong ambitions on the venture in China (Not every automotive manufacturer is aboard on this idea btw. Stellantis doesn't) B) George's sudden PR campaign in China. I look at those two and suddenly 🧐🧐, maybe it might be related??? I understand that Mercedes could use chinese ambassadors to promote Mercedes in China. Of course they're more popular and relevant in China than George since he isn't Chinese. But to promote China and Beijing Benz outside, they need a guy too yk? And that guy MAY be George Russell with all this PR cooking up behind him.

Again this is just a silly goofy guess based on EVIDENCES and PROOFS shown. As much as I love to waffle, I don't lie about these things unlike Toto. But also, don't trust me on it and take my words seriously?? Because I ain't Mercedes 😁😁 🤷‍♀️

Lastly, George's linguistic journey is basic at its finest. ciao, bonjour, JEL-AND-WAGEN, adios, hola, konnichiwa. For him to suddenly be SITTING DOWN reading a written script of his introduction in Chinese??? To be seriously sat and memorizing "da jia hao, wo shi qiao zhi la sai er-" means something 😭😭😭 don't tell me someone did not write that down for him and tell him to memorize that like an asian parent would sign their kid to a mandarin course.

[glumblr]

ARABIC ESSENTIAL GRAMMAR #3 - Verb Roots and Forms - وزن

Okay! A longer post this time but learning about the verb forms and roots and their وزن (wazan) or “weighting” is important for future posts in terms of conjugation!

This system of verbs is something vital to Arabic and while it was hard to get my head around at first, it ended up being one of my favourite aspects of the language. Ask me or Message me any questions you have and I’ll do my best to answer!

First off, let’s talk ROOTS!

Arabic verbs generally follow a “CaCaCa” pattern, where “C” is a consonant and “a” is a vowel. e.g. kataba (to write) = KaTaBa. 

The root of a verb is taking the 3 consonants that form the verb, so in kataba, the root is k, t, b,  or in Arabic  - ك ت ب

These are called trilateral verbs. There are some quadrilateral verbs but I will focus on them in a seperate post! 

Try it out - tell me what the root is for the following verbs: 

1. سفر  - safara (to travel)

2 . نزل - nazala (to descend)

3. فعل - faa3la (to do) (btw a3 corresponds to the letter “ع”)

Wazan?? what’s that

The wazan is literally the “weighting” of the roots. The wazan determines the emphasis placed on the word and the addition of other elements - there are 15 different forms of wazan and each one corresponds to a different nuance or meaning ( though 11-15 are pretty rarely used)

What does this mean in practice?

Basically the same root letters can be fit into different forms and this can alter the meaning slightly. However , the root letters tend to carry some sort of relation (e.g. words that are formed from safara will have something to do with travel or movement, even in different forms). 

In tables, the forms are usually represented by the verb “faa3la” but if you want to know what it would be for another verb, you substitute the root letters into the form. 

The verbs above were all in form one and in past tense, which is a simple 3 syllable fa-a3-la. The form will also affect how the verb is pronounced and emphasised in the present tense. 

Okay , let’s get into the forms. 

VERB FORMS!!

Don’t get stressed when you see this verb form chart! It looks confusing but that is because it gives you not only the verb in its 10 forms in past (perfect tense,  as the verbs above) but also in present ( the imperfect tense) , passive participle , active participle, the imperative and the verbal noun! YES, ALL are affected by the form in which the root consonants are in!

I know that can sound overwhelming but once you get used to it, it makes it a dream to guess a word’s meaning and to instantly change a word into the active participle , for instance imagine you didn’t know the word for dancer, but you did know the verb “to dance” - using the verb forms, you can easily figure out how to say “dancer” - the active participle, without having learnt the word separately! It makes communication and vocabulary acquisition a lot easier imo!

For this week, let’s focus on the far right column - that is, the verb forms in perfect active - this is what you use for basic singular masculine past tense e.g. kataba = he wrote. 

Form I = فعل/ fa-a3-la

this form expresses the general meaning of the root consonants - e.g. 3a - ma- la = to work (عمل)

Form II = فعّل /fa-33a-la

This form builds on Form I by doubling the second consonant with a shadda

In terms of meaning, Form II usually adds a causative quality to the meaning, causing something to happen. 

e.g. darasa (درس) (F1) = to study

but darassa (درّس) (F2) = to teach

Sometimes it has the intensive function.

 jama3a ( جمع ) (F1) means "to collect, gather"; 

jamma3a(جمّع ) (F2) means "to amass, to accummulate"

Form III =  فاعل /faa-3a-la

Builds on Form I by adding an alif after the first consonant, thus elongating the vowel. 

In terms of meaning, Form III describes someone doing the act in question or doing it to someone else. 

e.g. 3amala (عمل ) (F1) = to work 

but 3aamala (عامل) (F3) = to treat or deal with sb. 

Form IV = أفعل / af-3a-la

Builds on Form I by adding an alif before the first consonant, connecting it with with a sukoon. 

Meanings-wise, it is similar to Form II, in that it is usually the causative of form one.  

e.g. kharaja (خرج) (F1) = to leave , exit

but akhraj (أخرج) (F4) = to expel, evict

Form V = تفعّل / ta-fa-33a-la

Builds on Form II by adding the prefix ta (ت) to the form 2 verb. 

 Often a reflexive form of the FII verb, and often intransitive. 

e.g. kharraja (خرّج) (F2) = to graduate (sb.) 

but takharraja (تخرّج) (F5) = to graduate 

Can sometimes be an intensive of F1 verbs - 

jama3a ( جمع ) (F1) means "to collect, gather";

but tajamma3a ( تجمّع) (F5) means “to congregate, gather together”.

Form VI = تفاعل / ta-faa-3a-la

Builds on Form III by adding the  prefix ta (ت) to the form 3 verb. 

Usually a reflexive of the form 3 verb. 

3aamala (عامل) (F3) = to treat or deal with sb.

but ta3aamala (تعامل) (F6) = to deal with each other

Form VII = انفعل / in-fa-3a-la

adds to the Form I form of the verb by adding the prefix ان (in) 

Usually a reflexive / passive of the form 2 verb 

e.g. qaTa3a (قطع ) (F1) = to cut

but inqaTa3a (انقطع)  (F7) = to cut off; abstain from

Form VIII = افتعل / if-ta-3a-la 

Builds on Form 4 by adding “ta” after the first root letter, and having the alif join with a kasra as opposed to a fatha ( ifta3la as opposed to afta3ala)

a reflexive version of the form 1 verb - 

jama3a ( جمع ) (F1) means "to collect, gather";

but ijtama3a (اجتمع) 9) (F8) means “to meet, agree upon”

sometimes it has a specially derived meaning from a form 1 verb- 

ba3ada (بعد) (F1) = to be far away

but ibta3ada ( ابتعد) = to avoid 

Form IX = افعلّ / if-3al-la

This is generally only used in relation to colours 

e.g the letters ح ، م . ر are the root letters associated with redness 

if you substitute the فعل in the wazn with these root letters, you get احمرّ (ahmarra) (F9) which means “to become Red”.

FINALLY, FORM X = استفعل = is-taf-3a-la

Built on Form1 by adding the prefix ‘ist’  and adding ta in between the first and second radicals ( the ‘t” in ist) which links to the fa with a sukoon (creating “taf”)

A “considerative” form of the Form I verb - it gives the meaning of “ to consider or to deem someone to have the quality” of the Form I verb. This can sound confusing so here’s an example - 

ba3ada (بعد) (F1) = to be far away or distant

but istab3ada (استبعد) (F10) = to consider sth/sb remote or unlikely. 

It could also give the meaning of “to request or seek x for yourself” , where x is the quality of the Form I verb. 

e.g.  3amala (عمل ) (F1) = to work

but ist3amala (استعمل) (F10) = to use , put into operation 

Phew! Good on you for making it this far. I know this sounds super long and convoluted, but forms are a really interesting and useful aspect of Arabic language and they are NECESSARY! In the future, when I post about conjugating , or passive, or verbal nouns, the rules will depend on their form! 

I highly recommend you practice figuring out what form a verb is, and what the root letters are. Then you could look for verbs in other forms , but with the same root letters and see how that affects the meaning! This will help you get a better grip on the concept of forms, as well as help you memorise their patterns quicker!

Credits to https://arabic.desert-sky.net/g_vforms.html for the detailed info on forms and the examples! I never got to learn them in this detailed way ( I learnt by speaking more than textbooks) so this was a good revision exercise for me as well! 

Thank you for reading and see you next week!!

[aperfectphantom]

No no, you're right. As a madrid fan, the team was honestly way worse than last season. We lost 2 key defenders, and other than benzi vini and the midfield trio, we're pretty mediocre. Man City on the other hand, they're arguably the best team in Europe, give or take. Gosh I'd do anything to have a super team like City wearing our badge.

And yes, their style of play isn't quite entertaining for fans who want to watch explosive offense, but their counterattacks work so yay madrid.

But I guess their simplicity did the work, and yay again for madrid because we won. In any sport, athlete quality and skill might not guarantee the outcome, a lot of factors come into play. Like in F1, no matter how fast you go in quali if your lap time gets deleted by a red flag, or if you put on the wrong strategy, or if a safety car happened that isn't in your favour, it won't matter because it'll change the outcome. Same with football. My team isn't technically the best team in the competition, but they did the work and things work out in their favor so yay.

And btw I'm not clarifying to you, if you decide to post this, it is for other people to read, let's say a second opinion to give them some perspective. Cheers mate ^^

Yeah I think that is an aspect to it. Like I grew up with Real Madrid when they would be unbeaten all season (like when they had cr7 and casillas etc.) and there was no getting near them. They would just destroy teams and obviously they have won la liga and the ucl so it’s not like they’re shit but I would also say that la liga has really declined and ucl is a knockout game and anything can happen in a game (the better team doesn’t always win just like when sheriff beat real lol). But this team is full of superstars so I wasn’t annoyed that we lost and saying how did it happen - I understand their tactics - I was just annoyed that people are saying it’s a masterclass when they had one shot on target. If we didn’t give them that chance I don’t think they would have scored and then no one would be praising them as much. Tbh idk if we would have scored either cause there was no getting past courtois. Honestly I don’t even think you’re mediocre but yeah comparing to previous seasons. But even as a lfc fan I will understand if people say city are better than us because they really are a great team but I also love the way they play unlike Real Madrid who sit back too much for me. But like you said it works so there’s that. But exactly like you said in f1, a driver could be leading the race for 40/50 laps and then a car collides with it or there’s a safety car etc. and then the driver loses (similar to lfc dominating and then Madrid scoring from one opportunity). Anything can happen in sport which is amazing but also horrible depending on what side you’re on. And honestly I would say that your team is very good technically. And that’s how ancelotti is as a manager anyway whereas I feel like lfc aren’t as technical but we play with a lot of energy and we press a lot. But I really hope you enjoy the win (which I’m sure you are lol) and thank you for sending this it was really interesting hearing your perspective.

[stevecanmakeanythingnerdy]

RANDOM RECORD WORKOUT SEASON 5 Battle 29 Billy Ocean: Suddenly (Side 2 ) Vs. Sigue Sigue Sputnik: Flaunt It (Side 1 ) Billy Ocean: Suddenly (Side 2 ) Here is the lowdown on Billy Ocean. Aside from having a pretty cool last name, Billy Ocean (actually born Leslie Sebastian Charles) is a Trinidadian-born English recording artist who had a string of R&B international pop hits in the 1970s and 1980s. He was the most popular British R&B singer-songwriter of the early to mid-1980s, so take that, seal! He was wildly popular in the UK, and eventually had a series of transatlantic successes, including three US number ones. In 1985, Ocean won the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for his worldwide hit, "Caribbean Queen" which is included on this album. In fact, the middle 80's were quite kind to Mr. Ocean. This album had his biggest hits, and he also had the theme song to the popular film Jewel of the Nile a little later after this album. Billy has been active, pretty much since 1969, and part of that is attributed to his lungs. No, really. Freak fact about Billy- dude has an extra lung! In the 70's a routine doctor's appointment discovered an extra pulmonary node central to his albeit medically normal lungs. This extra lung has been attributed with the longevity of Billy's singing career. Crazy, right!?! Well, anyhow, lungs aside, Billy can also write a pretty mean tune. "Loverboy" starts off the second side. I have always thought this would make an excellent rocked up cover. Gwar has already tackled "Get out of my dreams" so I am calling this one! Mine! Think of the chord progression with some cool rugga chuggas...?! Yeah? You get it. The tune made big waves on the air. "Lucky Man" follows it up. More in a similar vein of the previous tune, but this time with acceptable funk levels. Late night airwaves party! A B-side for sure and very Lady positive so that's good. Billy appreciates his woman! "Dance Floor" contains a slow jam from the ocean man. Tide comes in, tide goes out. The actual tide, not the laundry detergent everyone is eating. What is wrong with you anyways! Call up Lionel, because we are dancin' on the CEILING with these key heavy rhythms! (#seewhatididthere). "If I Should Lose You" is an even slower jam. Real smooth and steady like waves from the ocean (#seewhatididthere). "Suddenly" is an even SLOWER jam, and more famous...since it's the title track and a major hit off the album. A bit of pop and orchestral arrangements. Simple piano seals the deal. Billy's voice is so smooth and flawless. He really is a great singer. Right in line with Ray Parker Jr. And Lionel Ritchey. Billy can kill it. Also worth noting is the impressive line art on the cover. Sigue Sigue Sputnik: Flaunt It (Side 1 ) Sigue Sigue Sputnik were a British new wave band formed in 1982 by former Generation X bassist Tony James. The band had three UK Top 40 hit singles, including the songs "Love Missile F1-11" and "21st Century Boy", both on this LP. The band was formed by Tony James, who had just left the band Gen X, and Neal X(Whitmore), who recruited "post-punk drag queen" Martin Degville. Degville was a clothes designer and supplied the band's wardrobe, and YaYa, the store where he worked, became the band's base. Their first gig was in Paris, supporting Johnny Thunders, with James' former Gen X colleague and then drummer for Thunders, Mark Laff, on drums. The band's name Sigue Sigue Sputnik (pronounced "cig-cig" btw), is a supposed reference to a Russian street gang and supposedly meaning "burn, burn satellite". Themes and imagery in the band's songs were often influenced by futuristic, dystopian or post-apocalyptic films such as A Clockwork Orange, The Terminator, Blade Runner and the Mad Max trilogy. Visually, their image included fishnet masks and brightly coloured wigs. It's essentially a mash up of Max Headroom meets New York Dolls. SSS even went as far as to sell advertisements in between tracks. You may also recognize the name from the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off soundtrack. To say they were unique is an understatement. The previously mentioned "Love Missile FL-11" starts off all the bizarre action. Lots of production, loops, synth, sound clips and fades. Literally, the sound fades from speaker to speaker at points. This is Devo on speed. It's a cool trick, but not mind blowingly amazing. "Atari Baby" is the next tune and it's slower...building techno. Maybe if U2 were an electronica band? Innovative and different certainly...but not actually too different from the previous track. "Sex Bomb Boogie" is back to the up tempo beats. I feel like there are going to be lots of sex noises. This song just seems like a drunken Tokyo all nighter gone awry. Too long for my tastes on this one. Strangely no sex noises, though. "Rockit Miss U. S. A. / Deathwish VII" is the final cut. Eastwood's famous "make my day" line kicks it all off. I Am sure this is ripe with controversy, but I don't get it. Still pretty futuristic and chaotic sounding, but really not that different from all three tunes before it. This is starting to seem like a one trick pony. I appreciate the weirdness for the sake of being weird, but it's just...too weird. It's like Billy Idol and Tina Turner met in Thunderdome and went waaaay beyond. (#seewhatididthere). Village people 2.0 for the future. Literally if the Blade Runner city street scenes came to life and formed a band, this would be it. And that's sad because I love all of those things. It's the reason I picked this up in Vienna, Austria and carried it all the way back to the U. S. A. I saw that cover and said WTF?!? I HAVE TO HEAR THIS!!?! Polysics beta. I think it's one of those cult things. You either get it or don't. DJ's on crack. One thing is for sure, they must have been a site to see live! Maybe the Buggles tripping with the Cure?!? And to clarify I mean tripping on acid, not actually tripping on cords on stage...which could also happen. I *think* I even heard the Willhelm scream! (#lookitup #itsathing) Mr. Ocean put in motion all kinds of commotion, but he burned off 165 calories over 22 minutes and 5 tunes. That is 33.0 calories per song and 7.50 calories per minute. Billy also earned 9 out of 15 possible stars. Sigue Sigue Sputnik not only flaunted it, but also exploded my mind and burned 161 calories over 4 songs and 21 minutes. That is a total of 40.25 calories per song and 7.67 calories per minute. The Sputniks earned 8 out of 12 possible stars in the process. Looks like Sigue Sigue Sputnik can also flaunt a RRW win, too! They beat Billy by .17 CPM! Listen for yourself! Check out the links: Billy Ocean: "Loverboy" https://youtu.be/CmhjXEkI5Lg Sigue Sigue Sputnik: "Love Missile F-11" https://youtu.be/Dn4EOGJMAgU #RANDOMRECORDWORKOUTSEASON5 #RANDOMRECORDWORKOUT