#but april 6th in my current time zone so.

[fiona-fififi]

An April 6th Playlist 💚 for reasons

1. "Favourite Color" by Carly Rae Jepsen

2. "I Knew I Loved You" by Savage Garden

3. "Machu Picchu" by Camilo (feat. Evaluna Montaner)

4. "Snow on the Beach" by Taylor Swift (feat. Lana Del Ray)

5. "Vulnerable" by Selena Gomez

6. "Taken by the Sea" by Darren Hayes

@freewayshark 💚💚💚 (I know these aren't really in line with your music tastes, but. they're my vibe, so. these are for you)

[gunsatthaphan]

~ Monthly BL Breakdown: April 2023 ~  

🌼 Happy May!!! 🐝

Disclaimer: ALL shows can be streamed here or here, as well as on Youtube and other platforms. For more info on where to watch what, check out this post!

New breakdowns are coming at the end of every month - feel free to add stuff! -> previous breakdowns

What came out this month? (green = seen/currently watching)

🌟 Bokura no Shokutaku (Our Dining Table) - April 6th (Japan)

🌟 My Beautiful Man: Eternal - April 7th (Japan)

🌟 Eien No Kinou: Complete Edition - April 13th (Japan) 

🌟 Naked Dining - April 14th (Japan)

🌟 Midnight Love - April 15th (Thailand)

🌟 My Story - April 15th (Philippines)

🌟 Step by Step - April 18th (Thailand) ❌(dropped)

🌟 Our Skyy 2 - April 19th (Thailand) ✅

🌟 The Promise: Part 2 - April 19th (Thailand)

🌟 Midnight Love - April 22nd (Thailand)

🌟 Stormy Honeymoon - April 22nd (Vietnam) 

🌟 The Day I Loved You - April 26th (Philippines) 

🌟 Happy Merry Ending - April 27th (South Korea) 

🌟 Love Syndrome III (Uncut Version) - April 29th (Thailand) 

🌟 La Pluie - April 29th (Thailand) ✅

Monthly likes/dislikes

❣️ Our Skyy 2 - Absolutely loving it so far!!! It’s exactly the kind of lighthearted chaos I was hoping for and especially the NLMG episodes were so much fun to watch. Once again proves that PP just work in a comedy setting. ngl these 2 episodes were better than the entirety of the 12 episodes of the main show for me lmao 🤷🏼‍♀️ The SIMM episodes were a bit strange plot-wise lmao but JD’s chemistry saved the day for sure. Very excited for what’s to come!! 

👎🏻 A Shoulder To Cry On - I was very disappointed by this one. It was my first time dipping my toes back into the kbl world after TMS and I was hopeful as I read good reviews but my god it was so bad. it had a solid start but then the plot started reaching and it got weirder with every episode. and not to mention the lack of intimacy like I get they probably didn’t do it because of kpop or whatever but why even cast them to begin with then??? I have zero understanding for things like that. This was a bromance and I hated it lmao. bye.

New series & movie announcements

🎥 Colorful Melody - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Forever Yours - Date TBA (Philippines)

🎥 Rule No.1: Don't Be Too Emotional (novel adaption) - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Night Dream - Date TBA (Thailand) 

🎥 Deep Night - Date TBA (Thailand) 

🎥 Khemjira Will Survive (novel adaption) - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Let’s Eat Together - coming June 2nd (Japan) 

🎥 VIP Only - Date TBA (Taiwan) 

🎥 I Can’t Reach You (manga adaption) - Date TBA (Japan) 

🎥 The Bartender - Date TBA (Cambodia) 

🎥 Love Supremacy Zone - Date TBA (South Korea) 

🎥 Aedan The Series - Date TBA (Philippines) 

Other news from the BL world

❗️ Workshops for the upcoming GMMTV BL Dangerous Romance have started. Filming is scheduled to start next month.  

❗️ The upcoming Domundi Thai BL Naughty Babe is officially in production. Shooting will commence soon.  

❗️ The upcoming WabiSabi Thai BL Absolute Zero (dir. New Siwaj) has started filming. 

❗️ The company StarHunter announced their lineup for 2023:

City of Stars (BL)

True Moon (BL)

Sunset Vibes (BL, starring MosBank)

The Taste of Fresh Milk (BL)

Big Dragon the Movie (BL)

Love Senior (GL) -> this will be StarHunter’s first GL drama.

❗️ A movie version for the Korean BL Where Your Eyes Linger (re-edited version) was announced. Details such as plot + air date are still unknown. 

❗️ After a supposed casting sheet was leaked in a video, rumors sparked that GeminiFourth will get replaced by ViewJune as the side couple in the upcoming Thai GL 23.5. The actresses were also seen in the workshops to Dangerous Romance, along with Papang and Pepper, creating further rumors about the 2 pairs being side couples in the show along with Marc and Pawin. Nothing is confirmed. 

❗️ Actors Billkin and PP (I Told Sunset About You) have registered a joint production company called BKPP Entertainment. It will be managed by Billkin, PP, Bell Supol, Panut (Billkin's dad) and Sureerat (PP's mom). Details about possible productions (film or music) are still unknown. 

❗️ Actors Bas Suradej and Copter Panuwat have left Starhunter Entertainment, which resulted in Copter and costar Kimmon parting ways as an on-screen pair. Their upcoming show Boy Never Smiles will still air as scheduled. 

❗️ Actor Yacht Patsit has dropped out of the Korean idol program FANTASY BOYS due to a chronic illness. He will resume his acting career in Thailand. 

❗️ Kpop group SF9 members ZUHO and Kim In Sung were announced as the leads in the upcoming Korean BL Star Struck. The series will premiere on May 18th. 

❗️ The following BL actors won at this year’s Thailand Master Youth Awards:

Zee Pruk and Nunew Chawarin: People Favorites

Gemini Norawit and Fourth Nattawat: Youth Favorites

Upcoming series & movies for May

👉🏻 House of Stars - May 1st (Thailand) 

👉🏻 Love Mate - May 4th (South Korea)

👉🏻 ViAn The Series (TikTok series) - May 6th (Vietnam) 

👉🏻 My Partner (movie) - May 7th (Philippines/Hawaii) 

👉🏻 Star Struck - May 18th (South Korea) 

👉🏻 The Luminous Solution - May 27th (Thailand) 

👉🏻 Tie the Not - May 27th (Philippines)

👉🏻 Takumi-kun Series 6: Nagai Nagai Monogatari no Hajimari no Asa - May 27th (Japan) 

[stilessderek]

My Road To Becoming A Stay

According to my YT this date a year ago (7th of April 2022) marks the 1st anniversary of me first time watching anything Stray Kids. It all started with ODDINARY Main Trailer, however, it didn't make me a Stay just yet. Due to this day being a day that started my journey to finding Stray Kids and them changing my life, I decided to create a post showing my journey and lists of favorites. As you can probably see, I can’t decided on favorite songs as they have SO MANY GOOD ONES! First encounter: ODDINARY Main Trailer (thought it was BL (boys love) trailer with Felix and Hyunjin as main leads first. When I realized it was kpop I lost interested as I thought the music style wasn’t for me). Based on my YT log, I watched the trailer the 6th of April 2022. First song I heard: Maniac (kept showing up after I had seen ODDINARY trailer and eventually gave in and watched it). Song that made me a repeat listener: I watched Circus on the 12th of June 2022, along with Your Eyes that day but it wasn’t until 17th of June 2022 (according to my YT log) when I ended up listening to Neverending Story and Venom on the 28th of June 2022 (according to my YT log) that I became a Stay. First bias: Felix and Hyunjin. First ship: (I’m a shipper, I can’t help it) Hyunlix. Music videos that made me watch them over and over: (this is when I realized that I actually enjoyed listening to the music) Venom, Circus, Thunderous, God’s Menu, Back Door and Maniac. Before I knew it I was listening and watching (YouTube/TikTok) them all the time. Current bias: Felix, Hyunjin, Bang Chan, Lee Know, (that isn’t to say I don’t love Changbin, I.N, Han and Seungmin; each have something I like but those four above just makes my heart flutter a LITTLE bit more. Though I have to be honest that Han is taking up space in my mind more and more....).  Current ship: Hyunlix (the more I see of them, the more I love them; they’ve become my comfort (friend)ship), but I also really adore Chanlix. Stray Kids became my comfort place. I adore watching their chaotic videos and their music is amazing. It’s the first thing I do when I wake up. Stray Kids makes Stay stay. List of favorite songs: 1) Neverending Story (Tie) 1) Behind The Light (Tie) 2) Venom 3) Slump 4) Easy 5) Hellevator  5) Taste (Tie) 6) 24 to 25 (Tie) 6) Get Cool (Tie) 6) Lonely St. 7) Waiting For Us (Tie) 7) Red Lights (Tie) 7) The View (Tie) 8) Gone Days (Tie) 8) Circus (Tie) 8) Thunderous (Tie) 9) God's Menu 9) Back Door (Tie) 10) Maniac (Tie) 11) Charmer (Tie) 11) Domino (Tie) 11) Christmas EveL (Tie) 11) Wolfgang (Tie) 12) Scars (Tie) 12) Sorry, I Love You (Tie) 13) LoveStay  14) Secret Secret 15) Grow Up Honorable mentions: You Can Stay, Double Knot, Mixtape: Oh, My Universe, Placebo, Gone Away, Blueprint, Voices, I am YOU, Levanter, Victory Song, Here Always, HEYDAY, District 9, 3RACHA, Chill, Surfing, Ex, Wow, Airplane, Astronaut, SSick, Hello Stranger, B Me, There, Novel, Lost Me, DLMLU, Case 143 Favorite SKZ-REPLAY Songs: Deep End, Limbo, Love Untold, i hate to admit, Alien, Wish You Back, Up All Night, Drive, HaPpY, ice.cream, Piece of a Puzzle, Because, Zone, Streetlight (this is in order)

[bulletholemagazine]

APRIL MUSIC FINDS

The essence of these types of posts is I'm going to talk about bands that aren't necessarily old enough to put in my "Dug Up From The Grave" ones, but definitely aren't recent enough to put in my New Releases posts too. Stuff thats about 5 years old at most but I think still deserves a mention. Here it goes.

1. Burst Synapse

I go absolutely ape for this kind of shit. Burst Synapse is a solo grindcore/industrial metal project with what sounds like a bit of mathcore thrown in? Either way it sounds abrasive and pissed as fuck and I'm here for it. Anything featured on the Big Money Cybergrind compilations is completely out of pocket, surprised people haven't caught onto it considering for how long it's been a thing. As I mentioned in the last post (read it if you haven't), this stuff is in the same ballpark as Hitbox, ergo early metalcore soaked in cybergrind and other harsh electronic genres, creating a heavy and experimental mess. That being said, the guy that runs this is an instagram twink. Doesn't get any better than that. Hope he releases something new soon, he's really carved out his own unique sound.

2. Yüth Forever

Isn't that literally how scottish people would say "youth forever"? These guys come from the Traitors sort of downtempo groovy as fuck school of deathcore, but they also have all the weird whammy wizardry that numetalcore bands do now. Their sound is pretty ahead of its time in terms of that, and it's even more satisfying considering how catchy their songs are. Seriously, this and their 2013 album are absolute JUICE. No offense to any of the newer bands that do this style, but I feel like Yüth Forever gets right what most of them get wrong - catchyness before production and absurd ass breakdowns. Almost all of their songs that I've listened to are extremely memorable and hooky and I think that's fundamentally missing from the current Darko US clone number #4023 type of stuff that's going on. Sad that they stopped releasing after 2016, if they continued going right now they would've been popping off and respected as innovators, alongside literally every Joshua Travis project.

3. Serling

Holy fucking shit. This is the culmination of almost 7 years of endless djent memes and absurdly low tuned deathcore. Serling is a mathcore duo with only a guitarist and drummer, and their gimmick (besides being tuned to bulldozer engine frequencies) is that all their music is based around the Twilight Zone. Adds a pretty haunting tinge to their writing if you ask me, although they'll probably eventually have to drop it since there's only so much you could say about one show. Regardless, their music is INSANE. It combines all the best tropes of deathcore and mathcore and it just becomes this insane and crushing sound. What especially helps is their vocalist's highs are extremely unique, in that they sound like cries for help more than anything else. It's really sick and harrowing when you listen the first time. These guys have influenced my own music a lot, I can only be excited for whatever next they put out.

Thanks for reading! Make sure to check out all three bands I mentioned if my corny ass descriptions interest you in them. Otherwise, I've got a video on the band Admiral Angry coming out soon on Youtube, and a Fellsilent cover I did for Nuclearsilo that's supposed to drop May 6th, after spamming amuse records support emails for a month since the first time it got denied release :((((. Gimme a follow if you liked any of this and want to see what else I'll be doing/have done, peace.

[wipbigbang]

2021 Schedule + FAQ

Schedule

All times are by 8:59pm PST. Convert time zones.

Sign-ups Begin- April 1st

Sign-ups Close- April 15th

Check In #1- April 22nd

Check In #2- May 15th

Snippets Due- June 1st

Art Claims Begin- June 17th

Check In #3- June 22nd

Check In #4- July 6th

Rough Drafts Due- July 15th

Posting Claims Begin- July 23rd

Posting Claims Ends- August 1st

Final Drafts/Art Due- August 7th

Posting Starts- August 8th

FAQ

What is the WIP Big Bang? Good question! This is a Big Bang with one goal in mind: to clean out your drafts folder. These are stories that were unfinished for whatever reason, that authors returned to and completed, and the art that goes with them!

Do I need a Livejournal/Dreamwidth/AO3/etc. account to participate? No! You don’t have to have an account on anything to participate, though you will need to have somewhere to post your finished work. Having one or more accounts will help for you to follow what is going on with the bang (we crosspost to Livejournal, Dreamwidth, Tumblr, and Twitter at the moment), but they are not required to participate. You can always leave comments anonymously or with an opensource ID.

Will I get emails about the bang? We do send out some emails, mostly for snippets and art claims and to ensure communication between authors and artists, but please do NOT rely on getting an email to remind you of due dates. We currently do not keep an updated email list of participants, so we only send individual emails as needed rather than mass emails.

However, email is the fastest way to communicate with the mods. If you have any questions or are having trouble communicating with your artist/author, please do email us! We will do our best to respond quickly.

Is there a minimum word count? 7,500 words, but the sky's the limit, right?

What do you mean by minimum word count to enter? This is a WIP Big Bang, therefore we ask you to have at least 500 words of your story drafted when you enter. It's okay if you have posted a few chapters of your fic already (you never know when the muse deserts you, after all), we just require you to refrain from posting more until posting begins here.

Is there anything not allowed? As long as you wrote it and you want to finish it, you're welcome to participate. Just bear in mind that original work is only allowed on AO3 if it has a fannish connection and might make it hard for artists to work with. But we'll make a dedicated post for that if there will be any.

What are 'Check Ins’? These are a way for us to see what you've been up to and for you to make sure you're still on track. It will give you a little nudge/reminder if you need it, but they are not compulsory.

What are the snippets requirements? In order to allow the artists to make art for the story they claimed, we require you to supply three snippets from your fic, between 500 – 1500 words each. The snippets will be sent to the artist after they have claimed your story. They're to help the artist match your story for artwork the best way he or she possibly can. It’s helpful to choose scenes or parts of scenes that you feel best represent your fic, but don’t feel like they have to be perfect to be submitted. Along with the snippets, we will send your artist the basic fic info and your email, so the two of you can collaborate more if you would both like.

What are the rough drafts requirements? For the rough drafts, stories should be at least 80% complete. You will not have to turn them in to us, just assure us that you are at that point. Anything less is at the discretion of the mods and those authors should speak to one of the mods asap.

What is, and do I need, a beta? A beta is basically a person who goes over your work to make sure that there are no spelling/grammatical errors and they can even be of assistance in helping you with story lines, etc. It is highly recommended that a beta looks over your work before posting. If you are having trouble finding a beta, try this post.

Where can I post my fic/art? Stories and art can be posted to your own personal journal, tumblr, ff-net, AO3, or wherever you like. For those of you with AO3 accounts, we will set up a collection that will go live on the day of the posting. Also, we've enabled moderated posting to the comm (Livejournal and Dreamwidth) for members. We will post a template for posting artwork and stories to the comm closer to the posting date.

If you don’t currently have an AO3 account but would like one, you can contact the mods for an invitation code to see if they have any available. You can also add yourself to the AO3 Invites Request queue.

How do I know when to post? Posting will be tiered; you'll each get your own posting date that you and your artist will decide on together. There will probably be four fics, plus art, posting per day between August 8th and September 30th. The post with date claims will go up on July 23rd and you'll have to choose your date by August 1st.

If you want to post your story in chapters on AO3 or your own blog (or wherever you usually post), you may do so starting August 1st. However, posting has to be finished by your chosen posting date to the comm. One of the things we're hoping to do with the posted dates is to give everybody on the comm a little bragging time in the spotlight. You know, "this story was incomplete for this long, but I finished this sucker." If you don't have time to post on your chosen posting date, you can queue up a post ahead of time and we can post it on the date you picked. Either way works for us. Art will be due on the chosen posting date to the comm.

Is there a minimum/maximum requirement for my art? There is no strict minimum, but we do ask artists to remember that the authors are writing a minimum of 7,500 words and your artwork should reflect that. You can do anything you like, including banners, wallpapers, icons, mixes, vids, gif sets, picspams, etc. Suggested guidelines for art are 500x500px (or equivalent of smaller pieces like banner + spacers, cover + icons, etc.) for traditional art, digital art, and manips; 2 minutes for vids; 10 songs + cover art for mixes; and 6 images for gif sets and picspams. We also ask that when you are in contact with the author, you work with them to see if there is anything specific they would like (i.e. a wallpaper, book cover, etc.). The art is your work, but having ideas doesn't hurt!

What are 'art claims'? The claims are when anonymous summaries of the story go up for artists to choose from. It is based on a 'first come, first served' basis and artists may choose up to three potential stories (in case their first choice is unavailable). If there are more stories than artists, there will be a second round of claims wherein artists may choose a second story to work with. And on until all stories are claimed for art.

If a fic up for claiming is rated explicit (R, NC-17, etc.), please only claim the story if you are over 18 years of age. Some authors may be uncomfortable working with underage artists on explicit works. We do not verify ages in any way for the bang, so this is solely on the honor system.

Can I get an extension? Community extensions may be given in the event that the majority of the authors/artists need one. They may also be given individually under certain circumstances, but this must be discussed with the mods and will only be a short extension for posting. If you are certain that you won’t be able to finish your story in time, please let us know by June 13th.

What do I do if I have problems or concerns about my author/artist? Sometimes authors and artists do not get along and this may cause problems with working together. If this happens to be the case with you, please email the mods and we will try to do what we can so that everyone has a chance to have fun at WIP Big Bang!

If you have not heard from your author/artist in some time after trying to contact them, you can reach out to us via email and we will try to get in touch with them for you.

Can I drop out? We have high hopes that everybody who signs up can actually finish the round and share in the joy of the reveal with us, but real life can unfortunately get in the way and we completely understand! If you feel like you just cannot finish in time and no amount of assistance from us can help you, just let us know by July 13th (if at all possible).

Is it possible to be banned? We do have a banned users list. We hope to use this to encourage participants who are having issues to communicate with the mods. We want to help you! The way the ban works is that participants, either authors and artists, will be banned for dropping out without notifying a mod. This means that anyone who has not posted or talked to a mod by the time the posting period ends will be banned. Dropping out is not in and of itself a banning offense, so please do not panic if you have to drop out! We understand that there are many reasons you may need to drop, and we want to work with you.

Bans will last one round or until the issue is resolved, whichever comes first. To resolve a ban, authors will have to finish and post the story they signed up with and artists will have to finish and post the art for the story they claimed. Three bans will result in a permanent ban from the bang.</lj-cut>

I have a question/concern that’s not mentioned here. If you need help, you can always contact a mod and we will do our best to make sure that you get your story/art finished. The best and fastest method of contact is through our email, wipbigbang@gmail.com.

[ms-m-astrologer]

Transiting Ceres enters retrograde zone

Timeline (current events in bold):

Sunday, April 19, 2020, 05:21 UT - transiting Ceres enters retrograde zone, 28:36 Aquarius

Thursday, April 23, 2020, 20:16 UT - transiting Ceres enters Pisces

Tuesday, July 7, 2020, 04:04 UT - transiting Ceres stations retrograde, 12:50 Pisces

Sunday, September 27, 2020, 07:20 UT - transiting Ceres retrogrades back into Aquarius

Sunday, October 18, 2020, 17:02 UT - transiting Ceres stations direct, 28:36 Aquarius

Monday, November 9, 2020, 14:38 UT - transiting Ceres re-enters Pisces

Sunday, January 3, 2021, 15:53 UT - transiting Ceres exits retrograde zone, 12:50 Pisces

I wanted to go a little more in-depth with this particular cosmic event, than I normally would do in the daily/weekly forecasts. It shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out why: here we all are in quarantine for the foreseeable future, and freaking Ceres is about to enter her Rx Zone!

I also watched a very interesting video yesterday, by astrologer Steve Judd, in which he details his predictions about the world’s immediate future here in the COVID-19 world. (LINK HERE.) He went around the chart backwards, starting with the 12th House, detailing what he believes will happen. I was especially interested in lieu of this imminent Ceres stuff, to see what he’d say about her areas, namely food and home and tribe.

(He said the main business of the 6th House is “lifestyle management,” which is utterly brilliant!)

Using the excellent book Asteroid Goddesses by Demetra George (seriously, save up and buy it), we can come up with some generalities about how Ceres works:

procreative sexuality; parent-child relationships; the family

nurturing and helping professions

relationship with nature; agriculture, growing cycles; food and food-related services

loss; attachment and aversion; holding on or letting go

labor and productivity

The thing is - as Steve points out, all of those issues are going to be radically rearranged and readjusted due to quarantine, because we’re of necessity spending more time in our homes, with our tribes. Take food for example: people are rediscovering the joys of home cooking; restaurants are working with drivers (e.g. UberEats) to deliver their food to people, instead of serving it up at a table. What is that going to do to the restaurant business over the long term?

And labor and productivity? Many businesses are realizing that telecommuting (is it still called that?!?) works just fine. People don’t need to travel all over the world; they can go online to meet with people all over the world. What is this going to do for the office real estate market? The travel agencies?

So, yes, this is a Way Bigger Deal than a typical Ceres retrograde. It would be nice if she were occupying congenial signs, but alas, she ain’t. This retrograde cycle begins in the last couple of degrees of Aquarius, where (according to me) Ceres is peregrine - neither here nor there. It tells us that we are going to get something wrong about the Ceres/Aquarius process, illustrated by this (parenting-oriented) passage from Asteroid Goddesses: 

Imbalances may occur if the child was not given limits and guidelines, and therefore received more freedom than he or she was prepared to cope with. This would manifest as “the rebel without a cause” - the individual who needs to gain inner control and self-discipline so that he/she can handle the responsibilities of freedom.

I mean, look at all the Fugly Americans protesting the coronavirus social distancing measures, in Michigan and elsewhere - they insist they have the right to do whatever they want, the minute they want to do it, dad gum it! 

But I think another way this will play out for us, is the fact that as a whole, people in the first world (raises hand) are completely alienated (Aquarius) from Mother Nature (Ceres). We eat our fake food, and we dust off our fake plants. That the fake food is all many of us can afford, is shameful. And, look at all the astonished reports about the lack of pollution leading to clear water in Venetian canals, and spectacular views of the night skies in our citites.

Where is Ceres transiting in your birth chart? She’s in my natal 4th, literally her stomping grounds - in my daughter’s 11th, and my gosh does she miss her friends. Anyway, over the next four days, until Ceres goes into Pisces, pay particular attention to what she’s trying to tell you. At his website about retrograde planets, Martin Bulgerin (LINK HERE) says that during Ceres retrograde, “it’s time to reconnect with the web of life and loving.” Not an easy task for Aquarius.

(Regardless of response to this, I’ll probably whip something up for Ceres going into Pisces, too. Lots of time on my hands, and I can’t knit or crochet all day.)

[thegold59]

Swedish Empiricism in the COVID-19 struggle: Eccentricity or Enlightenment?

Sweden, what gives? We’re right in the throes of the most dangerous and scary pandemic since 1968. Yes, everyone, don’t forget “Hong Kong” flu which killed a million people in 1968, though dwarfed by the 50-100,000,000 people killed in 1918-1920’s “Spanish” flu pandemic. Noting by the way that only fools these days insist on using “national” origin titles for epidemics. So this is definitely not Wuhan disease. With those forebears, why don’t you take all of this carnage a little more seriously? Were you asleep for Ebola (2014-2016) as well? We’re all in lock down now (well, mostly), while you seem to be sauntering and sashaying along with what appears to be blissful Scandinavian insouciance. So, again, Sweden, what gives?

As of today, 6th April 2020, barely four months into this COVID-19 cataclysm, we have 51,608 people infected in the UK (based solely on hospital screening) and have seen 5,373 deaths. Both figures are unfortunately likely to rise very substantially while also being seriously inaccurate - on the one hand, only screening the sickest in a situation where we know 25% of people who interact with the virus have no symptoms means that probably for every one person screened under current circumstances in the UK, there are 99 others with the virus. And on the other hand, with the deaths, well, there are about 15,000 deaths per week in the UK from a wide variety of causes, so the much smaller number of true COVID-19 deaths will be hard to take account of. Indeed, dying WITH not OF COVID-19 is how it is officially described.

In Sweden, again, on 6th April 2020, there have been 7,206 people who have screened positive for the virus, and 477 deaths with it. When you adjust for the population difference between the two countries (66 millions versus 10 millions, approximately), there is not so great a difference between us. In both countries, field hospitals are being constructed to cope with additional patients requiring medical attention. Mortuaries are being primed to respond.

In the UK we now have unprecedented measures being taken to restrict our ability to live, move, work and play. We have to work at home, if at all possible. We must keep a “social distancing” distance between us - 2 metres is currently much in vogue it seems. We can only go out of our houses once a day, for a heavily prescribed list of activities. Pubs, clubs, bars, restaurants were all closed over a fortnight ago.

These UK measures were rushed into being following a lightening policy volte face - from “herd immunity” being the previously preferred approach. On March 13th 2020 it was said that “if the risks of COVID-19 were not too high, it would technically be possible to bring about herd immunity by allowing the disease to run rampant through a population”. By 25th March we had arrived at the implementation of an set of extreme measures of mitigation, following some population outcome modelling by Imperial College London academics published on 16th March 2020: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/ide/gida-fellowships/Imperial-College-COVID19-NPI-modelling-16-03-2020.pdf.  See diagram 1. 

To have achieved herd immunity, each infected person must, on average, infect less than one person when averaged out. Once the transmission rate drops below one, a community can be thought of as having achieved herd immunity. That won’t stop each and every case, but it will prevent the disease from spreading indefinitely. Many of our lessons on herd immunity come from the measles, because it's so contagious. The more infectious a disease is, the more people who need to be immune to reach herd immunity. One person with measles, for instance, could infect up to 18 other people in a susceptible population. To get that transmission rate all the way down to less than one, almost everyone in the population needs to act as a buffer between an infected person and a new potential host. That’s why measles needs such a high rate of herd immunity—around 95 percent. Research so far suggests that the coronavirus has a much lower infection rate than measles, with each infected person passing it on to two or three new people, on average. This means that herd immunity should be achieved when around 60 percent of the population becomes immune to COVID-19.

In France, by the way, the impositions (following their own similar projections) have been even more draconian, with official certification needed to explain one’s presence outdoors, and extensive fines for those flouting these rules. Many other countries in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, the Americas have seen similar serious erosion of civil liberties, often but not always underpinned by some enabling legislation, and enforced by the police and other authorities. In China, Russia, and other totalitarian dictatorships, artificial intelligence, facial recognition, and state surveillance have been retooled and repurposed. The negative impact on the global economy of these measures will be at least as great as that of the Great Depression of 1929. It may spell the end of the Euro-zone. The eye-watering debt levels of some countries already thoroughly beggared by debt (step forwards and take a bow, Italy, France, Japan, USA) will at best take many generations to pay off.

So, is the remarkable battery of criticism leveled against Sweden actually justified right now? And how much of an outlier really are they?

Sweden is suddenly a punching bag on social media, and indeed, perhaps in a more balanced fashion, in much of the more mainstream press and commentaries. What did the normally placid, reliable, Swedes do to so torment the Twitter sphere and provoke the press?

Sweden, unlike its European neighbours and (by now) most US states, has declined to take a hard-line approach to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Instead of instituting mass shutdowns and ramping up policing, Sweden has responded with a far lighter touch. Note - it HAS done many things, but, it has not (yet) gone as far as many other nations have. Mind you, we should be careful of straying too far into economic forecasting: When JK Galbraith (author of a bestselling book on the Wall Street crash of 1929) observed that 'the only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable', he was using humour to make the point that economics is not a science. Epidemiology is somewhat more deeply rooted than that.

People in this Swedish nation of 10 million still visit libraries and pools, which remain open. People can be found sipping IPAs in restaurants and bars, though public gatherings are now limited to 50 people (down from 500). Skiing in Åre is now prohibited. Children still get up and go to elementary schools in the morning, although students over 16 have been encouraged to school at home, and Universities are shut. The government has also asked people to wash their hands frequently, encouraged remote work, asked people to keep apart from one another  - no distance specified, and such an exhortation is as necessary in Sweden as would be instructions to eat pasta in Italy, or drink red wine in France! Finally, people who are over 70 have been asked to self-isolate, and people of all ages have been asked to self-isolate if they feel ill. Asked. Not told, ordered, instructed. Asked.

Essentially, instead of closing its economy, national leaders have asked its citizens to limit the spread of COVID-19 another way: by taking responsibility for their own actions, and help support their fellow citizens and the state in its battle.

"There are a few critical times in life when you must make sacrifices, not just for your own sake, but also for those around you, for your fellow human beings and for our country. That time is now," Prime Minister Stefan Löfven urged his people at the end of March 2020.

Needless to say, Sweden’s approach to the coronavirus has created a bit of stir. After all, the world’s economy has largely been crushed by government shutdowns and tens of millions have been put out of work. Who are these Swedes to think they know a better way? Arrogant? Foolish? Dancing their way towards death?

Which brings us back to Twitter. In recent days, influencers have begun to assert that Sweden is receiving its comeuppance. A case of premature schadenfreude from my perspective. Maybe there’s a club or self-help group for that?

“Sweden took a laissez-faire approach to COVID-19 while their neighbours shut down public life and sealed the borders,” one Manhattan Institute scholar observed on Twitter. “It looks like we're finally seeing the results.” [this comment tweeted just as the immense and growing impact of COVID-19 on the USA has become all too apparent]:

Data guru Nate Silver, founder and editor-in-chief of the influential statistics site FiveThirtyEight, also claimed that Sweden was “paying the price” for its laissez-faire approach to the coronavirus.

Sweden took a laissez-faire approach to COVID-19 while their neighbours shut down public life and sealed the borders. It looks like we're finally seeing the results. (Graph is cumulative deaths: Sweden yellow, Denmark red, Norway blue; screenshot from /r/Denmark) pic.twitter.com/Jg1qfqo1Ei

— Connor Harris (@cmhrrs) March 30, 2020

Three European countries that took a laissez-faire, "herd immunity' approach to coronavirus early on, the UK, the Netherlands and Sweden, are paying the price for it. They reported, respectively, 563, 134 and 59 deaths today. https://t.co/9fFIJJjqhz

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) April 1, 2020

Sweden’s gambit was naturally going to invite reproach, re-probation and recrimination from an audience primed to cast stones. Humans may say they value non-conformity, but Voltaire was probably right when he observed the world does not.

“Our wretched species,” the noted French philosopher wrote, “is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.”

But do the data actually support the conclusion that Sweden’s leaders are getting people killed by not enforcing mass lock-downs? For now, that remains unclear, but there is no convincing evidence I can find to make that charge stick.

Now, any serious discussion on COVID-19 should be prefaced by noting that the data we have right now are incomplete, fluid, and mortally flawed. That said, bakers must use the ingredients they have. And right now, the data show that Sweden has one of the better infection fatality rates in Europe.

First, it makes little sense simply to compare aggregate deaths in Sweden to those in Denmark, Finland, and Norway, since Sweden has nearly double the population of those three countries. If we look at per capita figures*, we’ll see that Sweden currently has a death/1M population rate of 40/1M. (This means that, according to the best data we have, Sweden has suffered around 40 deaths for every one million residents - the UK rate today is about 55/M).

That rate is indeed higher than Denmark, Norway and Finland, which have rates of 24/1M, 11/1M, and 6/1M respectively, some of the best in Europe. However, data also show that Sweden’s fatality rate is actually much better than many of its European neighbors, including: France (100/1M), Switzerland (68/1M), Spain 234/1M, Italy (243/1M), Belgium (99/1M), the Netherlands (87/1M), the UK (55/1M), and Luxembourg (50/1M) - all based on 3rd or 4th April data.

In his tweet, Silver compared Sweden (and the UK and the Netherlands) to the USA, which at that time had one of the better fatality rates in the world (21/1M). The US of course started late to the party but is galloping ahead as fast as it possibly can to become “America First” in terms of total cases, and overall fatalities. He also conveniently leaves out nations such as Belgium, France, Spain, and of course Italy—which have some of the worst fatality rates in the world and were also among the first to go into lock-down to try to counter the melee-inducing miasma.

At present, it is fair to say that there’s not yet sufficient evidence to say that Sweden’s laissez-faire approach has been a failure. Or that it has been a success. We need three more months to pass by before we can see how this played out.  We are unlikely to know the results of Sweden’s experiment—encouraging social responsibility instead of issuing government threats and force—for 12 weeks, if not longer. It’s possible the experiment will be a total disaster and cost many lives. It’s possible, perhaps even likely if deaths continue to rise, that Swedish political leaders will lose faith in the approach, and institute a more hard-line approach

However, the longer life in Sweden remains relatively normal—kids in schools, adults in pubs, an economy pumping on most cylinders while people take sensible precautions—without an explosion of deaths akin to those witnessed in Italy and Spain, the more we should be encouraged by, and supportive of, Sweden, not angrily and petulantly dismissive of its “temerity” and “naivity” in thinking for itself. Anders Tegnell - the State Epidemiologist - has been strongly identified with the current policies - a God-like figure in Sweden, revered and respected in a way no current politician could be. Graffiti currently show this ripely comedic phrase: All makt åt Tegnell, vår befriare. And politicians follow his advice to the letter, at least so far they have done, in part because of the complexities of the Swedish constitution meaning ruling by decree is hard to achieve, and also because of the consensus-driven coalition politics. Of course, there are other opinions, and substantial academic push-back has occurred in Sweden against the Tegnell approach.

Sweden has 10 million people, it is a huge country geographically (at 450,295 km² Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union and the fifth largest country in Europe by area), with only a few major areas of population density (Malmo, Goteborg and Stockholm) – see Diagram 2 below, displaying population density and travel hub data. 

People tend to be calm, measured, thoughtful and “obedient” in terms of reasonable requests by authorities; others might say they are also complacent, with a stable society and economy they have grown comfortable with, and accustomed to. Swedes tend to trust central government (they can rightly be healthily skeptical) rather than reject information automatically. Over 50% of Swedish households are single member ones. Most Swedes move out of the parental home aged 18-20 years of age. They embrace national identity numbers, novel technological approaches to commerce (cash largely being replaced by “Swish”-ing money between accounts), and have been in the forefront of voluntary micro-chipping (Evolution, Revolution, and the New Man: An ethnographic investigation into the constitution of the body and the self among microchipping communities in Sweden. Orlowski EJW. MSc Thesis, UCL, 2019 https://ejworlowski.com/). They have not been at war since 1814. Their last insurrection resulted in just 5 deaths, in 1931 (https://libcom.org/history/adalen-shootings-sweden-1931). If ever there were a reasonably ideal set-up to try to encourage not enforce societal changes, then Sweden is that place.

At its simplest, the major reason for the widespread “panic” measures to “shift the curve” in so many countries is the desperation of knowing that there are not enough hospital beds, ventilators, nurses and doctors to cope with a surge of people with virally-induced respiratory collapse (as clearly shown in the diagram). There's really no excuse for that lamentable, criminal, lack of preparedness. If in Sweden their local projections do not show this potential outcome, then avoiding a heavy-handed and largely economically-irreversible intervention designed to shift the curve seems only prudent. Moreover, as there is no current anti-viral medicine, no matter how much special advocacy we may hear from Professor Trump, and no vaccine for at least 18 months. Thus we need to understand that only nature can currently inoculate the population which brings us right back to the “herd immunity” concept we discussed earlier on. As the case fatality rate will likely emerge to be 0.5% (1 in 200 infections) by the end of the year, this natural immunity can likely safely be achieved by natural exposure without massive mortality ensuing. Imposing draconian lock-downs is one thing, but removing them (a “way out”) is highly vexed, without knowing reliably who is infected, infectious or immune. We cannot do that right now. Tegnell rightly says this is the difference between the tortoise (Sweden) and the hare (most of the rest of us) - this virus will spread into the population, and we will become immune (at least to this strain of the virus) - this will happen everywhere, maybe sooner, maybe later. But the economic devastation will not be the same. In the fable, the tortoise won the race while the hare ended up as a Winter stew.

If such a scenario does come to pass, that Sweden’s more measured approach is shown to be successful, then it should also precipitate some serious soul searching elsewhere. Why was the world so quick to employ force and the threat of force to impose mass shutdowns? Bold actions, yes, with the siren call to be seen to be doing something significant, but sometimes fools rush in where angels fear to tread. No plan survives contact with the enemy was the advice of the great German miltiary leader Field Marshal Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke (Paraphrased in The Swordbearers : Studies in Supreme Command in the First World War (1963) by Correlli Barnett, p. 35) - apposite, as politicians – few of whom have ever served at the front line of more than a coffee chain - the world over currently vie with one another to use military metaphors to characterise their efforts.

There’s a tendency to believe that free markets and cooperation work, except in difficult or “complex” situations that call for more assertive means (code for a reflex instinctive authoritarian grab of liberties and rights). Leonard Edward Read, the founder of the Foundation for Economic Education, which was one of the first modern libertarian institutions of its kind in the United States, saw flaws in such thinking.

“The more complex the economy, society, or situation”, Read observed, “the more we should rely on the miraculous, self-adapting processes of men acting freely.”

Sweden has set out on a bespoke calibrated response path, as is its inalienable right as a sovereign nation. It is different from some other nations. This is not to my knowledge a competition, nor some sort of deathathon. There are specific reasons for their choices which can be justified, and should be defended. We should wish Sweden well, as we would want them to wish us well in our own different national struggles against this common malevolent foe.

David Goldsmith, MD, London 6th April 2020

Acknowledgements:

(1)   Eric Orlowski, London

(2)   This blog post is based on the articles https://fee.org/articles/could-sweden-s-laissez-faire-approach-to-the-coronavirus-actually-work/ and

(3)    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/03/uk-backed-off-on-herd-immunity-to-beat-coronavirus-we-need-it/

3113 Words

[irisbleufic]

Hi there, anon! It’s 2am in Boston, where I definitely shouldn’t be awake given how early I had to be up yesterday in my own time zone and how many hours I spent traveling - but! Because my life is something straight out of a Wes Anderson film, I was awakened about an hour ago by what sounded like hard rainfall behind my hotel-room wall. Turning on the lights revealed water leaking from the ceiling and leeching into the carpet, so...long story short, engineering and the concierge got me out of that 6th-floor room in a hurry, and now I’m settling into a room on the 8th floor. I can tell this is going to be an exciting convention (Arisia 2019; I’m here to be a panelist as usual)...

TL;DR I’m awake and rattled, so I might as well answer this to get myself tired enough to sleep some more! All of the recent happening-in-the-series’s-internal-present chapters have covered February through April 2017, and the bit you’re quoting is set in April. That’s the spring they’re talking about. As to what’s happened between February and April, if you had been signed into Tumblr and asking, I would have sent a private answer so as to avoid exposing other readers (who haven’t caught up) to spoilers. I don’t want to say too much, but a great deal has happened to Amanda Tomlin, a.k.a. Mandy, surrounding her engagement to Iván (if you remember that happening not too much earlier; they’re both original characters, locals running around in the overarching plot since internal-events 2005). A lot has happened during those months concerning Sophia Device-Pulsifer, too, which is unsurprising given these young women are best friends. My advice to you, if you’re able to take the time to do it, would be to back up to #50 (“Garden Variety”) and read from the final non-historical-flashback scene of it forward. That will get you caught up on the “lot that’s happened” being referenced. I really don’t want to spoil readers who’re trying to get caught up, or folks reading for the first time.

With regard to giving you specific points at which Crowley’s anxiety and/or moments of distress turn up, that’s difficult to do given those moments are scattered throughout the entirety of the 74 existing chapters/stories, both historical flashbacks and present-timeline installments alike. I know this may not be helpful, but the best thing to do might actually be a full reread. If I wasn’t going to be at a hectic con for the next 4 days (I’m on 7 panels), I’d attempt to make a list of key points, but under my current sleep-deprived (and otherwise exhausted) circumstances, that...isn’t very possible.

Thanks so much for your questions, and Happy New Year!

[the-lichemaster]

all the even numbers

Ok then.

2. Outgoing or ShyShy. I making hate eye contact so much I’m eligible for disability benefits.

4. Are you easy to get along with?I think so, as long as your willing to do all the heavy lifting in the conversation department

6. What kind of people are you attracted to?Aggressive brunette women. Or more generally, I like people who have nerdy and weird interests but who aren’t annoying about it and aren’t squares.

8. Who from the opposite gender is on your mind?

Judge Judy

10. Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with?

A homeless guy I met while waiting for the pharmacy to fill my order (he was waiting too). I forget his name, but we talked about waste in capitalism and what our ideal societies would be.

12. What are your 5 favorite songs right now?

Answered this one earlier

14. Do you believe in luck and miracles?

No

16. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?

No.

18. Do you still talk to your first crush?

No. I imagine she has forgotten all about me.

20. Do you like your neighbors?

I don’t talk to them, but they seem fine.

22. Where would you like to travel?

Answered this one already

24. Favorite part of your daily routine?

Getting drunk

26. What do you do when you wake up?

Curse the day I was born, check email and news on my phone

28. Who are you most comfortable around?

I guess my mum, but really it’s a 7 billion way tie with everyone on earth making me uncomfortable

30. Do you ever want to get married? 

Maybe, although I think if I did it would just to make someone else happy.

34. Do you play sports? What sports?

No. I used to be really into basketball as a kid.

36. Have you ever liked someone and never told them?

Oh yeah. Never told any of my crushes really.

38. Describe your dream girl/guy?

Funny, patient, pushes me out of my comfort zone, like horror movies and metal music (or at least is tolerant of them), dark hair, fangs, horns, bat wings

40. What do you want to do after high school? 

I graduated from high school over a decade ago. I wanted to go into Graphic Design, but that didn’t work out (turns out I hated sitting in front of computer all day).

42. If your being extremely quiet what does it mean? 

I have nothing to say. I am comfortable in silence.

44. Trip to outer space or bottom of the ocean?

Ocean. No critters to look at in space.

46. What are you paranoid about?

People secretly not liking me. Getting locked out of my apartment (When leaving I’ll check my pockets for my keys like six times).

48. Have you ever been drunk?

I’m drunk right now

50. What was the colour of the last hoodie you wore?

Black

52. One thing you wish you could change about yourself? 

Pretty much everything except my taste in things. Also bigger dick, obviously.

54. Favourite store?

I like used book stores, but I probably go to the liquor store the most.

56. Favourite colour?

Purple

58. Last thing you ate? 

KFC

60. Ever won a competition? For what?

Not that I can recall, no.

62. Been arrested? For what?

Nope. Too sneaky.

64. Tell us the story of your first kiss?

I was in I THINK 6th grade (maybe 7th). Our class was out camping by a lake (the school I went to would send the 5th, 6th, and 7th grades out to a camp for the last week of school). Her name was Laura, and I don’t really remember the context (it might have just been her goofing around). All I remember is it what by an archery range.

66. Do you like your tumblr friends more than your real friends?

Don’t have any real friends, so you guys win by default I guess

68. Twitter or Tumblr? 

I prefer Tumblr but I do have a Twitter, which I mostly use for more political stuff (@jeremyehm if you’re curious). I find Twitter to be really toxic, everyone’s always arguing with each other and being assholes. Plus it’s just an endless cavalcade of bad news.

70. Names of your bestfriends? 

Carling Black Label Supreme and Crown Royal

72. What colour are your towels?

Dark grey. This allows spiders to hide in them easily when they are hanging.

74. How many stuffed animals do you think you have?

Zero.

76. What colour is your underwear?

Blue. The pattern is of a polar bear drinking bear.

78. Favourite ice cream flavour? 

Strawberry

80. What colour pants? 

Dark blue

82. Favourite movie? 

Alien

84. Mean Girls or 21 Jump Street? 

Haven’t seen Mean Girls, so 21 Jump Street I guess.

86. Favorite character from Finding Nemo? 

The barracuda who eats Nemo’s mom at the beginning. I don’t watch Pixar movies, I think FInding Nemo was actually the last one I saw.

88. Last person you talked to today? 

The cashier at KFC

90. Name a person you love? 

My mum and dad, I guess

92. In a fight with someone? 

No, and if I got into one I would lose (unless my opponent was like a baby or on crutches or something).

94. How many sweaters/hoodies do you have? 

One hoody that I never wear. Should probably give it away to a homeless shelter now that I think about it.

96. Favourite actress?

Edwige Fenech, or Meiko Kaji

98. Do you tan a lot?

I’m part Irish, Danish and English, so I tend to burst into flames when in direct sunlight rather than tan.

100. How are you feeling? 

Not too bad. A bit gassy.

102. Do you regret anything from your past? 

Mostly everything, yeah.

104. Do you miss anyone from your past?

Not really.

106. Ever broken someone’s heart? 

I don’t think so. I remember towards the end of my senior year there was a girl in my grade who, in retrospect, was hitting on me/trying to hang out with me all the time. I was totally clueless and left her hanging, but I imagine I’m easy to get over.

108. What should you be doing? 

Fuck off, it’s my birthday. I’ll do it tomorrow

110. Have you ever liked someone so much it hurt? 

Not really no. Crushes are always a little uncomfortable, but since it’s impossible for someone to like me back I can usually just push it to the back of my mind.

112. Who was the last person you cried in front of?

Therapist

114. Have you ever been out of your province/state?

I’ve been down to Seattle and Los Angeles before. Never been to another province of Canada though!

116. Are you listening to music right now? 

Yes (listening to the Misfits). Unless I’m watching a movie or sleeping I’m listening to music.

118. Do you like Chinese food?

Love it

120. Are you afraid of the dark? 

No.

122. Is cheating ever okay? 

No

124. Do you believe in love at first sight? 

No.

126. Are you currently bored? 

A little

128. Would you change your name? 

I think I like my current name fine. Unusual without being weird.

130. Do you like subway? 

The sandwich chain? No, it sucks ass.

132. Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with? 

Hey this is a duplicate question. Nice job, whoever originally posted this.

134. Can you count to one million? 

Yes. I won’t though.

136. Do you sleep with your doors open or closed? 

Closed.

138. Curly or Straight hair? 

Straight, but I don’t really care.

140. Summer or Winter? 

They kinda suck equally, but I guess there isn’t any snow in Summer, so I’ll go with that.

142. Favourite month? 

I’m going to say April or May. Warm and breezy.

144. Dark, milk or white chocolate? 

Milk, although I don’t really like sweets.

146. Was today a good day? 

It was pretty good, went to the dispensary, bought a pipe that’s shaped like a wizard.

148. What’s your favourite quote? 

Like this statement from the IRA following a botched assassination attempt on Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet: “Today we were unlucky, but remember we only have to be lucky once. You will have to be lucky always”

I also like a quote from a Maoist responding to Kruschev’s comment that while he was the son of a peasant while the Maoist was from the aristocracy: “We have something in common: we are both traitors to our class.”

150. Get the closest book next to you, open it to page 42, what’s the first line on that page? 

From “The Best Short Stories of J.G. Ballard”: “I’m beginning to realize it was a mistake to put them in there-all those lights blazing down, the huge floors, high walls.”

Whew, that took awhile. Thanks for asking.

[katesloan]

2017: the Year of Devastated Bravery

Time for my annual year-end survey! Been doing this one for well over a decade. Previously: 2012, the year of sex-positivity. 2013, the year of self-care. 2014, the year of turning over a new leaf, 2015, the year of foxy femme power, 2016, the year of the staunch heart.

1. What did you do in 2017 that you’d never done before? Rang in the New Year at the home of a local sex-positive community leader with some of my closest pals, and was sent home with Alka-Seltzer tablets for the morning. Interviewed a bunch of matchmakers for a news feature (which sadly has yet to be published, boo). Started writing for Glamour, after their sex & relationships editor reached out to me via Twitter DM. Hired some rad babes to overhaul my blog design for me. Was hired by, and later fired from, two different sex shops (lolol). Had a sex-date in a creepy hotel room in Queens. Got spanked with a hanger rail from said hotel room’s closet. Performed in the Bed Post variety show a couple times. Started inviting guests onto our podcast (Cooper S. Beckett was the first one!). Missed my flight from New York to Toronto and had an anxiety breakdown in the airport. Got published on Teen Vogue. Had our first podcast sponsor. Started banging one of my coworkers (whoops). Did a photoshoot in a dungeon with a beautiful babe. Made out in a heated outdoor swimming pool at a sex club (uh, many times). Got intensely spanked over an acquaintance’s kitchen counter by three people working in tandem. Hooked up with a cute older British man who was visiting on business; he invited me to return to his hotel the following night and bought me sushi and wine on his company card (so fancy). Attended the launch party for a party game I was a staff writer on. Tried having sex with a penis extender. Had a surprisingly fantastic one-night stand with a guy who remembered me from when he was my waiter at a restaurant once. Went on a date with a polyamorous guy whose girlfriend listened to my podcast and told him to ask me out. Got paid to ghostwrite spanking erotica. Celebrated my five-year blogiversary. Went on a couple dates with a cute civil litigation lawyer who was an exceptionally good kisser. Got high with my best friend and did a livestreamed podcast. Was a bridesmaid in the wedding of two of my best friends. Topped my previous monthly income goals, again and again. Turned 25. Attended (and subsequently roasted) the Toronto International Porn Awards. Dated someone (for ~4 months!) who initially knew me from listening to my podcast. Had sex for like 5 hours on a first date. Learned to like some kink acts I’d previously found scary, like choking, face-slapping, and face-fucking. Was in a Daddy Dom/little girl relationship for a while. Attempted non-hierarchical polyamory. Reviewed a vibrating teddy bear. Started a part-time social media job at an adult-industry marketing firm. Took Reid Mihalko’s jealousy workshop. Took a freelance writing class from Alana Massey. Pegged someone. Got my wrists tattooed. Did a live podcast recording at a sex conference in front of friends and fans. Spanked a friend with a bible in a hotel room in Virginia. Got fucked in the ass with a glass dildo by a blogger friend while other blogger friends casually watched. Got a 4-handed erotic massage. Performed blowjob sonnets at a sex club. Went on a date with someone who turned out to be the best friend and roommate of someone I’d gone on a date with the previous month. Unexpectedly made out with/got slapped around by/got fingerbanged by a friend I’d known for over 10 years in an alley behind a restaurant. Moved out of my parents’ place and into an apartment! Had coffee with my editor at the Condé Nast building. Saw the McElroy brothers speak (and Lin-Manuel Miranda open for them) at a live podcast recording. Attended my high school reunion. Did tequila shots with my boss on my first day at a new job. Had an actual goddamn “sugar daddy,” briefly. Sold a sweaty T-shirt and socks to a fetishist. Went to a sex tradeshow with my fuckbuddy. Got spanked with a lightsaber. Slow-danced to a song about impregnation. Got accepted to speak at the Playground Conference. Received a strap-on blowjob from a pretty lady. Had two dates with two Twitter crushes in New York in one day (and then started dating both of them). Made out in a Breather. Did a knifeplay scene. Explored my domme side in earnest. Sexted from a TSA line. Went through NRE with two different people at once (a lot of crying ensued). Got hypnotized. FaceTimed with someone for 8 hours straight.

2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Last year I resolved to “make self-development and career development my top priorities, to make romantic/sexual decisions based on the maxim ‘quality over quantity,’ and to make more money.” I think doing the first two things is what enabled me to do the third thing (I earned twice as much money in 2017 as in 2016!) – focusing on love and sex only when it actually served me, and delighted me, freed up a lot of time and passionate energy for businessy pursuits. Next year I resolve to pitch more stories, travel more, further foster my friendships with femmes, write more helpful content, and save more money.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Not that I can recall.

4. Did anyone close to you die? My grandfather, Rex Loring.

5. What countries did you visit? Just the USA (New York in January, September, and December; Alexandria in August). Within Canada, I spent a fair bit of time in Hamilton but was otherwise in Toronto the whole year.

6. What would you like to have in 2018 that you lacked in 2017? A specific goal for my savings. Some steps taken toward larger-scale writerly ambitions (like, perhaps, writing a book proposal and/or self-publishing an ebook). Maybe a long-term relationship of some description; I dunno, man.

7. What dates from 2017 will remain etched upon your memory? January 25th – missed my flight back from New York February 10th – met my current FWB (and then, February 13th, banged him for the first time) April 22nd – Eric and Ashley’s wedding April 25th – first date with G, at Tell Me Something Good May 9th/10th – some disastrous poly stuff happened with G June 1st – started at my current dayjob August 3rd-6th – Woodhull August 11th – the hardest breakup I’ve been through in many years September 1st – moving day (and Brent’s show at the Horseshoe) September 8th – live MBMBaM show + coffee with Cady at Condé Nast September 11th – BirthdayBruises November 14th – got fired + talked to Dick a bunch November 29th – Vagic Tricks workshop December 13th – first dates with Dick + my Sir

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Professionally: Made twice as much money as I made last year. My dayjob remained under 25% of my income, with the other 75% coming from my more creative and self-directed income streams. Had clips in two prominent Condé Nast publications (Teen Vogue online, and Glamour online and in print). Sold 27+ sponsored blog posts. Personally: Made it through a horrendous breakup without dying. Got better at setting boundaries within my friendships and relationships. Successfully prioritized relationships and friendships with people who treat me well and actually deserve to be in my life.

9. What was your biggest failure? Putting up with men who walked all over me. (I feel like this is a recurring motif in my life, and in the lives of most women and femmes, honestly…) I also got fired from two different jobs this year. In both cases, they were minimum-wage jobs I didn’t really care about, wasn't well-suited for, and didn’t actually need, but still...

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Not really. I had the flu in September and struggled with mental health stuff all year, particularly in January and August, but was mostly fine.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Several things: My bright turquoise Coach tote, which I carried with me on numerous trips, sex-dates, photoshoots, etc. An app called Piezo which I use all the time for Skype interviews/podcast thingz. My knee-high Frye engineer boots (swoon) and rainbow glitter Doc Martens (swooooon). The V10 brush from BH Cosmetics (sooo useful for my brows on a daily basis!). Two Tarina Tarantino heart necklaces. A new mirror for my new apartment. Several adorable H&M dresses. My turquoise Seven-Year Pen. Lots of knitwear. A new Kindle. Weed. A microwave.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration? My best friend Bex, and my family. (Hell, Bex is family at this point.) My close and supportive buddies Sarah, Suz, Dan, Tynan, Taylor, and Steph. The 4 boys with whom I am romantically/sexually entangled right now (gems, all of ‘em!).

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed? The boy who broke my heart, and lots of Men On The Internet. Same old.

14. Where did most of your money go? Other than boring answers like rent and transit? Food and drinks, probably. I was more gluttonous than materialistic this year. I also spent a good chunk o’ change on tickets to things: theatre, airfare, classes, concerts, comedy, live podcast recordings...

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Working with Glamour and Teen Vogue. The Adventure Zone and other McElroy content. Hitting income goals (seriously, I’m talking about money more often than boys in my journals recently, which is a FEAT). Hippo Campus and Nathan Stocker. Working on ye olde blog and podcast, as ever. Negotiating/exploring new kink stuff.

16. What song/album will always remind you of 2017? First and foremost, Hippo Campus’ album Landmark, which I thrashed for almost the entire year. Related: their Warm Glow EP, and anything from their guitarist Nathan Stocker’s solo project Brother Kenzie. Beyond that: Coin’s How Will You Know If You Never Try?, Pinegrove’s Cardinal (which I listened to pretty much on loop while recovering from my brutal breakup in August), Grouplove’s “Do You Love Someone?”, Vampire Weekend’s “Horchata,” Panama Wedding’s “Uma,” Bombay Bicycle Club’s “Cancel On Me,” Betti’s “Ordinary,” Saint Motel’s “Puzzle Pieces.”

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: happier or sadder? Happier. My heart got thoroughly broken this year but I feel stronger and more self-sufficient for it. thinner or fatter? A bit thinner. Who cares. richer or poorer? Soooo much richer. Your girl made some goooood biz decisions this year.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Last year I wrote that I wished I’d gone on dates with more people, and woof, I sure met that goal in 2017. I went on 12 first dates, which is more than enough, thank you very much. I wish I’d spent more time chasing my creative impulses than my romantic or sexual ones. Although the latter kind of fueled the former for me, this year and every year.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Thinking “I can and will put up with this [bad behavior/uncomfortable circumstance/shitty job]” when I couldn’t and shouldn’t have. Being depressed, but hey, what can ya do.

20. How will you be spending Christmas? Spent it exchanging presents and eating delicious meals with my family.

21. Who did you spend the most time talking to? Bex, Max, Brent, Sarah, my FWB, my two current long-distance beaux, and the dude who was my boyfriend for a bit.

22. Did you fall in love in 2017? Yeah, and I’m still pissed about it. Love is pain!! [tosses hair in the manner of a tortured goth]

23. How many one night stands in this last year? Two true one-night stands (defined as: we had sex the night we met, and never saw each other again), plus one additional person I had sex with only once but went on a second date with afterward.

24. What was your favourite TV programme? American Horror Story, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Bold Type.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I’m not thrilled with the guy who broke my heart, but I wouldn’t say that I hate him; that would involve more energy than I am willing or able to give to his memory at this juncture...

26. What was the best book you read? Fiction: I loved The Killer Wore Leather (Laura Antoniou’s murder-mystery set at a kink convention), Perfume: the Story of a Murderer (a truly haunting and viscerally olfactory novel by Patrick Suskind), and Sleeping Beauties (the creepy “what if every woman on earth fell asleep and wouldn’t wake up?” novel co-written by Stephen King and his son). Nonfiction: Laurie Mintz’s Becoming Cliterate was eye-opening, inspirational and fresh. Lisa A. Phillips’ Unrequited blew my fucking mind. I recently devoured Rachel Hills’ The Sex Myth and it’s wonderful.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery? I listened to a bit of Pinegrove last year because Sean recommended them on his blog, but it wasn’t until this year that I really got into them. I started inexplicably craving their music after I got my heart broken and it made me feel weirdly better for weeks afterward.

28. What did you want and get? A boyfriend/partner/daddy dom (though it didn’t last very long). More money than I have ever made before. Career expansion. Closer friendships. An invitation to do a live podcast recording at a conference. An apartment, with a rad roommate. More confidence and self-sufficiency. Interesting kink adventures.

29. What did you want and not get? A romantic relationship that was actually and enduringly satisfying to me in the ways that most matter to me. I feel like I write some variation on this here every year. It’s okay. It’ll happen when it happens. Also, I wanted to do a writing retreat and that didn’t happen, though I’m blessed enough that I take little mini writing retreats of sorts all the time anyway.

30. What was your favourite film of this year? I think the only new ones I saw were Wonder Woman, The Big Sick, and It, none of which I really loved that much. It wasn’t a big film year for me.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 25. At midnight I was in bed in a hotel in Hamilton, having been in the wedding of two of my best friends the day previous. I had invited a gentleman friend to come romance me in my hotel that night but he was sick and had to cancel, so I just spent the night in a hot bath and then cozy in bed. The morning of my birthday, I checked out of the hotel and took a bus back to Toronto. That evening, Bex and I got dressed up fancy, went for dinner at the Black Bull Tavern, and attended the Toronto International Porn Festival awards gala, which was a hot mess.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? I can’t even think of anything. It was a satisfying year for me in many ways.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2017? Low-effort femme. Lots of cozy colorful sweaters, denim shorts, stompy boots, crop tops, big hair, and kneesocks.

34. What kept you sane? My friends, my family, therapy, journaling, sex/kink/masturbation, my work, quiet introvert self-dates at bars/diners/cafés, hot baths,

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Nathan Stocker, Andy Samberg, Mark Andrada, Dan McCoy...

36. What political issue stirred you the most? Civil rights stuff, same as always. Gender equality and sexual equality and racial equality and all the equalities, basically.

37. Who did you miss? The two New York boys I’m currently romancin’, and Bex, pretty much always. And my ex, for a time.

38. Who was the best new person you met? Jordan, Adam, Thane, Cady, Logan (and several other babely bloggers at Woodhull), Todd, Dick, Matt, Eva...

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2017. Even people who claim they will never hurt you can hurt you. That’s depressing, but it’s also somewhat Zen, because if you deeply, truly know that anyone can hurt you at any time, you come to enjoy the non-hurting parts so much more while they’re happening. Again, this sounds super tragic but I actually find it so liberating and uplifting when I think about it.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. “Menfolk, they need their women, but women don’t need their men.” -Nellie McKay, “Just a Pose” “Maybe I would’ve been something you’d be good at. Maybe you would’ve been something I’d be good at.” -Tegan and Sara, “Call It Off” “It’s cold outside this evening, but warm between your sheets. We both wanted something we’re not likely to repeat.” -Paul Cook & the Chronicles, “Ships Pass” “Someone to talk to late at night. Someone who fits you right… Someone who makes your heart go boom boom boom. Someone you see across a crowded room. Someone who makes your heart jolt. Not some okay girl. A real thunderbolt.” -Paul Cook & the Chronicles, “A Real Thunderbolt” (I could’ve quoted this entire song here, honestly)

[joshuajacksonlyblog]

Ethereum Price Analysis: Bears Eye Pullback To $190 Support

Ethereum price recently broke out of a period of consolidation as mentioned in my previous analysis on ETH, completing an asymmetrical triangle in favors of the bulls but has since begun a pullback breaking the short-term support. Bears now eye $190 support around the visible range low.

Ethereum Price 1-Hour Analysis

On the 1 hour chart for ETH/USD, we can see how price action progressed after the breakout. Price levels tested $240 resistance and failed to gain on the 6th of August resulting in a rejection causing a pull-back to break the short-term support around $217. Since then price levels have continued to drop and looks poised to re-test the visible range low at $189 just below the 0.382 Fibonacci level.

It’s important to note that volume remains reasonably low on this pull-back and will need to see a drastic increase in selling momentum to cause a crash through $189 support making it likely that a bounce could happen as market price tests this key support price level. RSI just hovering above 20.00 being oversold indicates selling momentum has control over market price.

Ethereum Price 8-Hour Analysis

On the 8 Hour chart for ETH/USD, we can see where the support at $189 originates from being the local top throughout the middle of April just before price levels broke out and swiftly tested $282 resistance thereafter. RSI has yet to hit oversold zone but appears to be clearly heading in that trajectory, by the time the market price which is currently $204 tests support at $189 it’s likely RSI will be fully oversold presenting a good reason to consider re-entering at this level.

200 EMA can be seen acting as resistance at the local top mentioned on the 6th of August at $240 meaning the recent breakout was a failure to gain aka fakeout as the necessary volume needed for price levels to sustain a new short-term bullish uptrend didn’t arrive. The volume appears to be almost flatlining now in comparison to volume seen throughout April, May, and even June. POC (Point of Control) sits at $168 and will be the next key support level to look out for if $189 breaks.

15 SMMA and 50 MA can be seen just about to cross down over each-other at the recent support break-down point at $218. This could signal much further downside to come so it’s important to practice effective risk management when taking any trades on ETH/USD over the coming days and weeks.

Do you think the volume necessary to propel ETH/USD higher will arrive in the coming days? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below!

Images via Bitcoinist Image Library, ETH/USD charts by TradingView 

This article is strictly for educational purposes and should not be construed as financial advice.

The post Ethereum Price Analysis: Bears Eye Pullback To $190 Support appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.

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[concertcollector-blog]

“Harry Styles” by Harry Styles (Review)

Guess who’s bringing rock n’ roll back to the 2010s? That’s right, ladies. Harry Styles.

After a rocky last few years and worrisome hiatus, Harry Styles has officially begun his much awaited solo project with the release of his self-titled debut album, Harry Styles. The 10-track record, ranging from simple acoustic songs to jaw-dropping ballads, completely blew me out of the water and took me on a journey through the sides of him that I went 6 years without truly understanding. 

Going into this, I knew this wasn’t going to be a biased review. Although I was a massive One Direction fan a few years ago, I eventually grew out of them when I found other bands that suited my music taste a little more than what they were producing. I am not afraid to admit that Made In the AM was a not a good album in my opinion, nor was FOUR a home-run for me either. But, that was One Direction. This is Harry Styles, and my respect for him has skyrocketed as his new album exceeded every expectation I had for it. 

So, let’s dive into this iconic masterpiece, shall we?

Track 1: Meet Me In The Hallway.

The 10-track album opens up with “Meet Me in The Hallway”, a dreamy and lethargic taste of what’s to come later on in the record. The song starts off with Styles murmuring some numbers under his breath, and then transcends into a funky melody of faded vocals and fingers picking the strings on a finely tuned guitar. If the musical elements of this song weren’t already ambiguous enough, the lyrics only push my curiosity further. The repetitive line “Gotta get better” was mysterious; What could this possibly mean? Was his meaning shallow, or was he really in a dark place throughout the writing process of this record? It made me, the listener, wonder how deep this album could go, or how equivocal it could remain.

Overall, “Meet Me In The Hallway” was the perfect song to open Harry Styles up with, and I will explain why more towards the end of this review. 

Song rating: 8/10

Track 2: Sign Of The Times.

Styles’ infamous debut single, “Sign Of The Times”, follows after the album’s whimsical introduction. My initial reaction to this song when it first dropped back in April was nothing but positive: although the first verse of the song was questionable for my taste, I fell in love with the song the second the chorus began. From that moment on, I’ve been a huge fan of it.

“Sign Of The Times”, in my opinion, is a successful attempt at modernizing classic rock. It has certain elements to it that remind me of a lot of artists from the Classic Rock age, and it doesn’t make Styles seem like a “poser” at all. The song altogether - from the lyrics to the melody - is extremely mysterious and I’m sure it generated a lot of excitement to hear the rest of the album beyond just my own curiosity.

Song rating: 8.5/10

Track 3: Carolina.

In Harry Styles’ 3rd track, titled “Carolina”, Styles’ smooth voice tells a cheeky story of a girl from the South who immerses herself into the superficial world of the Los Angeles, California. The chorus of “Carolina” is fun, upbeat, and sexy in the most classy way possible. The constant La la la la’s in the background put a grin on my face every time I listen to the song. 

Although I feel like some parts of this track are childish, that is not a negative observation. They’re childish in a way that still works extremely well and keeps the song fun and current.

Song rating: 8.5/10

Track 4:  Two Ghosts.

I must admit that I hit a small bump in the road after “Carolina”. The next two songs on the album, titled “Two Ghosts” and “Sweet Creature”, are probably my least favorite songs on Harry Styles. This may come as a shock for some people, because I’ve gotten the sense that these are some fans’ absolute favorite songs from the whole album. Just hear me out you guys, I promise I have a rational reason.

The thing I dislike about “Two Ghosts” is that it is musically forgettable. Don’t get me wrong, the lyrics are magnificent; They are powerful and poetically heartbreaking. It’s plain to see that Styles was describing a low time in his life, and I respect him for opening up. But the tune of the song, in my opinion, just doesn’t do the words justice. From a musical perspective, “Two Ghosts” wasn’t as unique as the other songs off the album, which causes me to skip it most of the times it comes on. 

Song rating: 5.5/10

Track 5: Sweet Creature.

Similarly, “Sweet Creature” has lovely lyrics, but with just a simple guitar and a few backing vocals behind it all, I feel like it is not enough to truly wow me. 

Personally, I love when songs have a lot of production in them. I like songs that don’t rely solely on the lyrics to entice people, but use instruments to help create a masterpiece as well. “Sweet Creature”, from a musical standpoint, needs some more instruments to help bring it to life. 

But, then again, there are a lot of people who like simple songs like that. So, to turn this bump in the road into a positive pit-stop, at least this album has diversity. 

Song rating: 5/10

And then, we are brought to the 6th track on the album, and a huge transition is made. We leave this calm and gentle side of Harry Styles and enter a whole new world of sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll. Literally.

Track 6: Only Angel.

“Only Angel” begins with an almost minute-long introduction consisting of a gods singing and a soft piano and in the distance. The intro sounds as if we’re all being lifted into heaven aboard a bedazzled spaceship with Styles behind the wheel. Everything is calm and euphoric until we are immediately thrown back down into a 1970s rock concert at the 53-second mark, and the song truly begins.

“Only Angel” is a lyrically and musically genius song. ‘I'm just happy getting you stuck in between my teeth’ and ‘She’s gonna be an angel ... when it turns out she's a devil in between the sheets’ are just a few lines that I found to be not only surprising, but clever as well. 

Song rating: 9/10

Track 7: Kiwi.

Don’t even get me started on this song. This was the first track I listened to off Harry Styles, and to say I was shocked is an understatement. I was shocked in a good way, of course.

Being one of my favorite songs on the record, “Kiwi” is yet another bold and daring taste of Harry’s rock n’ roll side. The melody of the song is sassy, very sexual, and probably takes a lot of parents back a few decades to what they often refer to as “simpler times”. 

The lyrics show that Styles knows what he’s doing. Some phrases that stick out to me are ‘She worked her way through a cheap pack of cigarettes, hard liquor mixed with a bit of intellect’ and ‘It's New York, baby, always jacked up, Holland Tunnel for a nose, it's always backed up’. One particular line in the bridge that I think is pure lyrical genius is “She sits beside me like a silhouette. Hard candy dripping on me 'til my feet are wet”. 

Whenever “Kiwi” comes on, there is no way I can get myself to skip it. In combination with “Only Angel”, these two songs are proof that Harry is not afraid to step out of his comfort zone and say the things he never could when he was in a boyband.

Song rating: 10/10

Track 8: Ever Since New York.

“Ever Since New York”, with it’s charming lyrics and soothing guitar riffs, is a nice cool-down from “Kiwi” and “Only Angel”. I feel like this song is very visual. Something about it will take your mind back to a particular memory or time in your life… or, if you’re me, it’ll take you back to a scene from your favorite movie. 

Whenever I listen to this song, for some reason my mind visualizes that scene from Almost Famous where they're all piled in the tour bus, driving across the country and singing Tiny Dancer together. Everything about that scene is graceful and heartwarming, as is this song, although it is rather sad. 

One negative thing I have to point out about “Ever Since New York” is that it get’s pretty repetitive after a while. I feel like the phrase ‘Tell me something I don’t already know’ is used too many times, and Styles could’ve incorporated other lyrics in those spaces. With just a little more variation, this song could’ve been a huge hit.

Song rating: 7/10

Track 9: Woman.

The 9th track on Harry Styles is yet another song that I refuse to skip whenever it comes on. “Woman” is one of the best songs on this record, and I’m sure many Harry Styles fans can agree with me. 

The beginning is one of the most unique introductions on Harry Styles. The random man asking about romantic comedies throws you off at first, but then the piano transcends into the enticing guitar riff and you are brought back into reality, as the song truly begins.

The chorus is short, sweet, to the point, and catchy as hell. It makes me wonder how this concept came to Styles’ mind and why he decided to take a plain word and fuze it into the song in such an elementary way. All he’s got to say is ‘woman’ over and over again and poof! It’s a masterpiece.

He took the word ‘woman’ and truly transformed it into a work of art. Because, let’s face it: Women are beautiful, and sometimes all we need is a simple, charming song like this to prove it. As Styles sings about this mysterious woman (or perhaps all women in general) he does it in a way that is sexy and fun, yes, but he doesn’t objectify us. I give him mad kudos for this one.

Song rating: 10/10

Track 10: From The Dining Table.

The final track on Harry Styles is “From The Dining Table”, a soothingly sad song that brings the album to a satisfying close. This song explores the final side of Styles that is a little bit more raw and truthful than the others portrayed on this record. The guitar and edited vocals create a chill, almost Jack Johnson-like sound while the mature lyrics show that he is finally able to grow up after certain expectations prevented him from doing so. 

For example, I’m sure the line in the first verse that goes ‘played with myself, where were you?’ came as a shock to some fans, but in an exciting way. The song is simple but powerful, and just as mysterious as the beginning of the album. I feel like this song and “Meet Me In The Hallway” are very similar to each other in a lot of ways, and they both work together to bring the album around into a full circle, with an interesting beginning and successful ending.

Song rating: 8.5/10

Overall, I think this album was amazing and something that the music industry was in need of. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels that every so often, the radio runs dry and repetitive. Harry Styles, still in its rightful place at the top of the charts, is something new and different, a breath of fresh air for us all after we’ve been drowning in generic pop songs that all sound the same for so long. 

I didn’t know what I was expecting Harry Styles’ first solo album to sound like, but it wasn’t what I got. Everything about this record, from the melodies to the lyrics, completely exceeded my expectations and impressed me beyond belief. 

I wish there were more than just 10 songs on this album, but perhaps that means that Styles will be back relatively soon with another masterpiece to share with the world. I’ve got mad respect for Harry Styles after hearing this album, and I hope that those who once judged him or ignored his talents because he was in a “boyband” can eventually come around with an open mind, and appreciate what he has been able to do on his own. 

Overall Album Rating: 8.7/10

[wipbigbang]

2019 Schedule + FAQ

Schedule

All times are by 8:59pm CST. Convert time zones.

This year we also have a Google calendar you can subscribe to with the schedule.

Sign-ups Begin- March 23rd Sign-ups Close- April 13th Check In #1- April 20th Check In #2- May 11th Snippets Due- May 25th Art Claims Begin- May 29th Check In #3- June 8th Check In #4- June 22nd Rough Drafts Due- July 6th Posting Claims Begin- July 10th Check In #5- July 13th Posting Claims Ends- July 20th Final Drafts/Art Due- July 27th Posting- July 27th

FAQ

What is the WIP Big Bang?

Good question! This is a Big Bang with one goal in mind: to clean out your drafts folder. These are stories that were unfinished for whatever reason, that authors returned to and completed, and the art that goes with them!

Do I need a Livejournal/Dreamwidth/AO3/etc. account to participate?

No! You don’t have to have an account on anything to participate, though you will need to have somewhere to post your finished work. Having one or more accounts will help for you to follow what is going on with the bang (we crosspost to Livejournal, Dreamwidth, Tumblr, and Twitter at the moment), but they are not required to participate. You can always leave comments anonymously or with an opensource ID.

Will I get emails about the bang?

We do send out some emails, mostly for snippets and art claims and to ensure communication between authors and artists, but please do NOT rely on getting an email to remind you of due dates. We currently do not keep an updated email list of participants, so we only send individual emails as needed rather than mass emails.

However, email is the fastest way to communicate with the mods. If you have any questions or are having trouble communicating with your artist/author, please do email us! We will do our best to respond quickly.

Is there a minimum word count?

7,500 words, but the sky's the limit, right?

What do you mean by minimum word count to enter?

This is a WIP Big Bang, therefore we ask you to have at least 500 words of your story drafted when you enter. It's okay if you have posted a few chapters of your fic already (you never know when the muse deserts you, after all), we just require you to refrain from posting more until posting begins here.

Is there anything not allowed?

As long as you wrote it and you want to finish it, you're welcome to participate. Just bear in mind that original work is only allowed on AO3 if it has a fannish connection and might make it hard for artists to work with. But we'll make a dedicated post for that if there will be any.

What are 'Check Ins’?

These are a way for us to see what you've been up to and for you to make sure you're still on track. It will give you a little nudge/reminder if you need it, but they are not compulsory.

What are the snippets requirements?

In order to allow the artists to make art for the story they claimed, we require you to supply three snippets from your fic, between 500 – 1500 words each. The snippets will be sent to the artist after they have claimed your story. They're to help the artist match your story for artwork the best way he or she possibly can.

What are the rough drafts requirements?

For the rough drafts, stories should be at least 80% complete. You will not have to turn them in to us, just assure us that you are at that point. Anything less is at the discretion of the mods and those authors should speak to one of the mods asap.

What is, and do I need, a beta?

A beta is basically a person who goes over your work to make sure that there are no spelling/grammatical errors and they can even be of assistance in helping you with story lines, etc. It is highly recommended that a beta looks over your work before posting.

Where can I post my fic/art?

Stories and art can be posted to your own personal journal,Tumblr, ff-net, AO3, or wherever you like. For those of you with AO3 accounts, we will set up a collection that will go live on the day of the posting. Also, we've enabled posting to the comm (Livejournal and Dreamwidth) for members. We will post a template for posting artwork and stories to the comm closer to the posting date.

If you don’t currently have an AO3 account but would like one, you can contact the mods for an invitation code to see if they have any available. You can also add yourself to the AO3 Invites Request queue.

How do I know when to post?

Posting will be tiered; you'll each get your own posting date that you and your artist will decide on together. There will probably be two fics, plus art, posting per day between July 27th and August 24th. The post with date claims will go up on June 10th and you'll have to choose your date by July 20th.

If you want to post your story in chapters on AO3 or your own blog (or wherever you usually post), you may do so starting July 20th. However, posting has to be finished by your chosen posting date to the comm. One of the things we're hoping to do with the posted dates is to give everybody on the comm a little bragging time in the spotlight. You know, "this story was incomplete for this long, but I finished this sucker." If you don't have time to post on your chosen posting date, you can queue up a post ahead of time and we can post it on the date you picked. Either way works for us. Art will be due on the chosen posting date to the comm.

Is there a minimum/maximum requirement for my art?

There is no strict minimum, but we do ask artists to remember that the authors are writing a minimum of 7,500 words and your artwork should reflect that. You can do anything you like, including banners, wallpapers, icons, mixes, vids, gif sets, picspams, etc. Suggested guidelines for art are 500x500px (or equivalent of smaller pieces like banner + spacers, cover + icons, etc.) for traditional art, digital art, and manips; 2 minutes for vids; 10 songs + cover art for mixes; and 6 images for gif sets and picspams. We also ask that when you are in contact with the author, you work with them to see if there is anything specific they would like (i.e. a wallpaper). The art is your work, but having ideas doesn't hurt!

What are 'art claims'?

The claims are when anonymous summaries of the story go up for artists to choose from. It is based on a 'first come, first served' basis and artists may choose up to three potential stories (in case their first choice is unavailable). If there are more stories than artists, there will be a second round of claims wherein artists may choose a second story to work with. In the event that there are more artists than stories, the remaining artists may choose a story to work with and those stories will have two artists working independently of each other.

If a fic up for claiming is rated explicit (R, NC-17, etc.), please only claim the story if you are over 18 years of age. Some authors may be uncomfortable working with underage artists on explicit works. We do not verify ages in any way for the bang, so this is solely on the honor system.

Can I get an extension?

Community extensions may be given in the event that the majority of the authors/artists need one. They may also be given individually under certain circumstances, but this must be discussed with the mods and will only be a short extension for posting. If you are certain that you won’t be able to finish your story in time, please let us know by May 25th.

What do I do if I have problems or concerns about my author/artist?

Sometimes authors and artists do not get along and this may cause problems with working together. If this happens to be the case with you, please email the mods and this will be dealt with immediately so that everyone has a chance to have fun at WIP Big Bang!

Can I drop out?

We have high hopes that everybody who signs up can actually finish the round and share in the joy of the reveal with us, but real life can unfortunately get in the way and we completely understand! If you feel like you just cannot finish in time and no amount of assistance from us can help you, just let us know via this link by May 25th (if at all possible).

Is it possible to be banned?

We do have a banned users list. We hope to use this to encourage participants who are having issues to communicate with the mods. We want to help you! The way the ban works is that participants, either authors and artists, will be banned for dropping out without notifying a mod. This means that anyone who has not posted or talked to a mod by the time the posting period ends will be banned. Dropping out is not in and of itself a banning offense, so please do not panic if you have to drop out! We understand that there are many reasons you may need to drop, and we want to work with you.

Bans will last one round or until the issue is resolved, whichever comes first. To resolve a ban, authors will have to finish and post the story they signed up with and artists will have to finish and post the art for the story they claimed. Three bans will result in a permanent ban from the bang.

I have a question/concern that’s not mentioned here.

If you need help you can always contact a mod (@voldiebuns or @biffelderberry) and we will do our best to make sure that you get your story/art finished. The best and fastest method of contact is through our email, wipbigbang@gmail.com.

[ms-m-astrologer]

Transiting Jupiter enters Rx Zone

Timeline (current events in bold):

Monday, January 14, 2019, 09:56 UT - transiting Jupiter enters Rx Zone, 14:30:18 Sagittarius

Wednesday, April 10, 2019, 17:01 UT - transiting Jupiter stations retrograde, 24:21:01 Sagittarius

Sunday, August 11, 2019, 13:38 UT - transiting Jupiter stations direct, 14:30:18 Sagittarius

Wednesday, November 6, 2019, 02:36 UT - transiting Jupiter exits Rx Zone, 24:21:01

To get us in the mood, here is what was written by Martin Bulgerin (www dot biopscinst dot com) about Jupiter retrograde:

Jupiter is a planet of "luck", opportunities, and contacts with the world at large. When Jupiter is retrograde, the support provided by others dries up, leaving us to get by on our own resources. Often sources of income decrease or unexpected big expenditures crop up. This serves to draw our interests away from "frivolous matters" and concentrate our focus on what is truly important. Use this time to put your life on a firm foundation -- if you can survive this period with so little, you're sure to thrive later when the support resumes.

In this first portion of Jupiter’s retrograde zone, we’ll become aware of these decreases in income or support. Bulgerin wrote that in the first phase of any Rx Zone,

...you may not even be aware of the need for change or that at some unconscious level, your psyche is already setting the stage for situations that will teach you. Perhaps you dimly notice storm clouds on the horizon, but you don't pay them much attention. By the retrograde station, the pattern is crystalized and set in motion.

In order to get a better handle on what’s happening, consider first your natal Jupiter position, for the cause of what’s about to befall you. The social justice which motivates my own natal Jupiter Rx/Libra/11th, for example, won’t necessarily motivate anyone else.

Next, we look at transiting Jupiter’s position in our natal charts. It’s transiting my own 2nd House, which is a definite warning about funds possibly drying up, wouldn’t you say?! We also need to consider how Jupiter in Sagittarius is going to backfire or be mishandled. Some possibilities (keywords for “Unskillful Applications,” from Astrology for Yourself) are pomposity, self-righteousness, blind faith, impracticality, extravagance, indolence, excess, tactlessness, wastefulness, exaggerating. Clearly, Ms M needs (as the saying goes) to start pinching the pennies so hard she makes Lincoln cry.

Which of your natal placements will Jupiter affect? If it can be affected by Jupiter travelling between 14:30 and 24:21 Sagittarius, it will receive three total aspects from Jupiter during the Zone. Prioritize transits to the Luminaries, Angles, and Nodes. (As Ms M’s luck would have it, Jupiter will oppose her Sun, trine her Moon, trine her MC, and sextile her IC.)

Then look for transits to Mercury, Venus, Mars, and the Lady Asteroids (Ms M gets an opposition to Vesta); these are also going to be a little more personal.

Next, will your natal Jupiter (sextile) and/or Saturn (conjunction) be affected? These aren’t quite so personal; most of your high school classmates will experience these along with you.

Finally, you can pretty much disregard transits of Jupiter to your natal Centaurs, Uranus, Neptune, and/or Pluto. Huge swathes of population share these positions, and we all get to go through these together!

For the potential results of the Zone, look to the houses with Sagittarius and Pisces on the cusps. The Sag house(s) want to be expanded in a positive, healthy way; the Pisces house(s) might experience some immanence, perhaps a deeper understanding.

I’ve gone into more detail about what to look for from an interpretive standpoint, than I usually do - Jupiter in Sagittarius could be spectacularly fortunate, but just as easily could turn spectacularly catastrophic. We can help each other through this! Pay attention to aspects made to Jupiter from the faster-moving planets, as they are potential triggers for what’s to befall us. (I blog an aspectarian every Sunday.) Jupiter makes two aspects to slower movers, which could usher in some bigger events.

Thursday, March 7 - Pluto/Capricorn semi-sextile Jupiter/Sagittarius, 22:36

First of three. This is a waning semi-sextile, and I can’t help but feel it’s a hint to get our ducks in a row before the three Jupiter-Pluto conjunctions of 2020. In his book Dynamics of Aspect Analysis (which I strongly recommend), Bil Tierney writes that we need to “consciously aspire towards altruistic, collective goals” in order to receive the best blessings of this aspect. A Pisces Moon, late on the 6th (US time), will bring us some whispered hints. Incidentally, the three conjunctions take place at 24+, 24+, and 22+ Capricorn - perhaps you could look at which of your natal houses will be affected, and take it from there. (Ms M also has transiting Pluto squaring her natal Jupiter during this time, darn it.)

Planets/Points affected lie between 21:36 and 23:36 of all signs.

Saturday, March 16 - Eris/Aries trine Jupiter/Sagittarius, 23:20

Again, the first of three. This could be a demonstration of how trines can go wrong; we could become a little too enthusiastic about addressing our grievances. We could be very self-deceptive about the righteousness of our own causes. We may want to look a little deeper at what provokes our knee-jerk responses. Although the basic nature of a waning trine is (per Tierney) “humane, tolerant, philanthropic, and freedom-seeking” (it has an association with Sag/9th House), Eris is pretty much perpetually spoiling for a fight.

Planets/Points affected lie between 22:20 and 24:20 of the yang signs Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, and Aquarius.

[smartoptionsio]

📚Whale Secrets Revealed📚 -Cryptocurrency Bull Market Cycles

Do we experience the start of a NEW BULL RUN right now? This piece will take examine the current situation and give you a best guess. Furthermore, it takes yourself out of the goldfish glass bowl mentality and shows you how Whales see the market.

My assumption: this article will be another epic piece and attract many readers. Too bad, I did not write it myself

To be honest with you it is a real gem, just like the signals group, that contributed to our website: Alpha Trade Zone. These guys know A LOT of stuff and are working on really advanced solutions (like an auto trader which is connected to Binance & BitMEX and hedges positions automatically). They hired great traders and they success rate skyrocketed, while being way to cheap in my opinion

No need to bore you further with my praisal – from the Author of “The Ripple Mafia“, we proudly present: “Whale Secrets Revealed: Cryptocurrency Bull Market Cycles”. Enjoy!

If you are an avid cryptocurrency passionate and investor, you are probably aware of the immense cryptocurrency market volatility. Imposing high risk, but also extremely high reward opportunities this asset class has lured massive waves of participants in the past and will most likely keep doing so in the future, along with its advancing mass adoption by the society. The cryptocurrency market, due to the low liquidity of most traded assets, is subject to extreme manipulation from the big players – called Whales. The whisper of manipulation often means that the first thing coming to mind is “conspiracy”. Not exactly. Manipulation is the outcome of a market that does not offer enough liquidity to the participants. Manipulation in the markets does not only relate to “inside information” trading but also to having the power to move the price of an asset in a desired direction. Now replace the word “power” with the word “money”. See where we are going?

Emotions in Trading

Keeping that in the back of our minds let’s look at the cryptocurrency market and the cycles it experiences. We witness two major stages in the market: a bull cycle accompanied with euphoria, greed and hope and a bear cycle accompanied with fear, desperation and loss of hope (and money). They are often associated with two main emotions from psychological perspective: Fear and Greed.

Identifying the two market cycles in crypto:

In order to create a new bull cycle there are two things that must be taken care of.

1. Let it calm down – The Accumulation Phase

In between the bear and the bull cycle price must remain in a mild state, going up and down into a tight range. This, known also as consolidation, is the phase of accumulation. This is the place where price finds a flat leveling stage, most of the smaller investors give up on their last positions because they are losing hope and trust that the market will ever go up and they leave the market in desperation and loss. This is exactly what the bigger whale players in the market are waiting for as they are aware of the market cycles and emotions psychology. They are incrementally increasing their positions, buying up the small player’s positions (buying into the fear) and stashing them for when the moods in the market change.

At the lower parts of the range big portions of the assets are getting bought that will get sold later at higher prices. This is a phase that takes space and time because of inadequate liquidity in the market. Traders known as whales are buying the asset from retail traders that are selling their positions due to fear since we are at the bottom of a bear cycle.

2. Creation of hype in the crypto space so that new money starts flowing in that help pushing the price to higher levels

When the accumulation phase is over there has to be a catalyst that will help those professional traders push price to higher levels. Most of the time this has to do with news. It’s either some fake news or some major fundamental event in which those traders have inside information about. The selection of the asset is not randomly done.

And it’s not always one asset…

It only takes one pair to create some interest in the space and motivate retail traders to FOMO in the game. Then the rest of the coins simply follow the path.

So it’s not the next bull run??

Now let’s get to the point! Every time a bull cycle happens people tend to believe we are heading into a new bull run and new all-time highs. Well, not exactly. Those cycles are artificial and not backed by real money flowing into the cryptocurrency market. Do not compare those cycles with the 2017 run, this was backed by huge hype, news and price was organically driven to higher prices. A legitimate bull run. Back to out small artificial bull cycles in 2019. Focusing our attention only in BTC and the Major altcoins (ETH, XRP, TRX, ADA, LTC, EOS) since only these generate attention. So in every cycle we separate them in two categories.

The “First to pump” and the “Late to the party” coins. Their main difference is that the “Late to the party” coins are usually largest capitalization coins like BTC and ETH. The “First to pump” are mostly lower capitalization coins from the major altcoins. Those coins are easier to move due to less money needed to initiate some artificial pumps and create attention of retail traders. Money starts flowing from inside the market, while new money from big players are accumulating the hardest to move assets (BTC & ETH).

Now let’s get practical…

TRX Chart – Artificial Bull Run

I want to shift attention on a specific date in the market. The 6th of February. This is exactly the time when TRX reached almost the top of its bull phase. This coin is a “First to pump”, it started pumping since December.

Let’s focus again on 6th of February.

Pay attention here..

This is how you define an artificial bull run from an organic one. TRX level on 6th. Same as it was when Bitcoin had the price of $7000! Total Market Capitalization at this price was over $240 Billion back then, now it was as low as $110 Billion. Our conclusion: This coin was pumped artificially and there was not any strong evidence to support that it was an organic move.    TRX topped out at 6th of February and money flew from TRX to the next asset. In this case Litecoin…

Litecoin Chart

Why the selection of LTC?

Simply, news about the halving plus it’s Market Cap was low at that moment. Litecoin, as a major asset in the cryptocurrency space, combined with the fundamental event is a coin that could generate a lot of FOMO in retail participants in the market. After 6th of February price on TRX starts to stabilize and LTC starts pumping. Again, market cap is not growing, it’s obvious that money are flowing from TRX (since TRX is dropping) to Litecoin. Add one super bullish news like the halving event and the perfect opportunity is here. Spread it across digital crypto media outlets, make people fear that they will miss the next train that’s right in front of their eyes! Small retail investors are now willing to move from their Bitcoin holding to Litecoin because they hope on some quick, easy profits! Let’s explain it again. People are FOMO (fear of missing out) buying into TRX while it topped, so whales can unload their bags there and sell their holdings while moving on the next asset which is Litecoin. They have already accumulated Litecoin and after the 6th it’s time to pump. People seeing TRX then LTC growing in value are selling their Bitcoin for Litecoins. They essentially start moving Litecoin in value while selling Bitcoins. Remember, for ever seller there has to be a buyer.

Who is buying those position that are being sold?

Whales. Accumulation is happening now in BTC. They made money both from TRX and continue banking on Litecoin but the safest and most important asset is still not moving. It’s the asset that will make them the most money since big percentage of their portfolio is allocated in BTC. Bitcoin also needs huge amounts of money to move eventually.

Accumulation phase above. Price is ranging up and down preparing for a major move.

Next important date to shift our attention is 20 of March. This is when Litecoin reached a local top and ADA started moving. TRX is still dropping. No new money flowing into the market, money just flow from one asset to another. This run in both altcoins was a warning sign, next coin to pump in the market is a sign that some major move is going to happen.

ADA Chart

Litecoin Chart

Finally, when ADA starts losing momentum, Bitcoin makes its move up, and on 3rd of April 2019 most altcoins have topped out. Money is away from altcoins and into the strongest asset, Bitcoin. Dominance starts rising and those overvalued and overextended altcoins trap buyers while losing their value each day.

What we need you to keep in mind from this article…

Thank you for reading our work this far. We are putting countless hours into analyzing every small detail in the complex market changes every day. Combined with our experience, we tried to explain in details the process that you have to follow in order to understand when the market is heading into a new bull cycle. It’s a different way to see the market, other than a plain chart. And it’s always handy when you have a different perspective. It’s how assets correlate to each other and how to they correlate to the price of Bitcoin. This is the real game, game that is being hidden behind closed doors that no one has ever revealed to the public. Now you are one of the selected few insiders to witness and likely confirm the legitimacy of our analysis. This is too far away from drawing some lines, rectangles and triangles like 90% of the paid channels will proclaim to teach you and make you money. This game is hard and requires deep understanding of the market behavior and knowledge of how money is flowing in and out. It’s the only way to survive, there is no shortcut to success. We at AlphaTradeZone ® have fought our way to the top and have now shared a pinch of our trading secrets with you. Now that you have reached the end of our article, here is one small but handy gift for you!

Our 3 quick trading tips: 1- Never trade when you just wake up or before going to bed. 2- Never trade when you are tired. 3- When you make a decision, ask yourself, is it driven by FOMO/FUD or it is based on judgement.

Alpha Trade Zone

Thank you for reading! LIKE & SHARE this article to help spread some little known trading secrets! Join our communities on Telegram and Discord and get in touch for further discussion. See you on the inside!

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Fact Sheet for ALPHA TRADE ZONE

Discount Code:  SMARTOPTIONS10OFF (10% off)

Pre Membership channel: https://discord.gg/nqSJFKc

Public Telegram: https://t.me/AlphaTradeZone

Telegram premium: Discord signals are forwarded to our private premium telegram group for the users' convenience. It is included in the subscription price.

Discord Contact: AlphaTradeZone®#4675

Discount Code: 10% off with SMARTOPTIONS10OFF

Plans & Pricing: $98 per month / $979 per annum paid in BTC (not incl. 10% discount)

Special Features: Personal Portfolio valuation, Long-term gems recommendations, investment, and trading portfolio split, Daily market updates with analysis, Live trading tracking with stop-loss management, Binance altcoins trading AI in the final testing phase with more than 85% Accuracy on live tests. To be released in upcoming weeks for Premium members only. Weekly live market analysis sessions of 1hr, recorded. We give full access for every premium member to our custom designed BTC movement tracking script with insane accuracy. Only available for Tradingview accounts.

Further Information: Interview with Alpha Trading Zone | Guest Post "The Ripple Mafia"

Auto Trader: Yes, Cornix - soon another solution with HEDGING option

Exchanges: Markets on Binance / Bitmex (Margin trade calls)

Results Tracking: Tracking Sheet on Google Docs

Signals with TA: Yes, Tradingview charts are attached

Bitmex Signals: Yes, officially supporting signals for Bitmex as part of our premium service.

ICO Reviews / Seed Sale Opportunities: No

Trading Timezones: GMT +1

Chat Rooms: #open-discussion (public community chat) – general discussion #bots-lounge – user supported bot construction community #ta-lounge – Everything TA related #premium-lounge – VIP members chat, access to Alpha Team members.

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[middleeyt]

Latin Headliners, International Billings... and Idris Elba?

The lineup is finally out in much anticipation and with a better build-up than past years. Coachella teased on the afternoon of January 2nd a handful of artists over their social media and at 8:25pm released the full list of artists heading to the Coachella Valley this April. This will be the 20th year of the festivals running (technically 19th) and so to many of us, the hype was real to find out how the heck Goldenvoice was planning to top last years roundup.

So About This Lineup:

Now first thing is first though, let’s address the elephant in the room. According to a number of sources Kanye West was actually supposed to make appearance at the Coachella venue this year, but allegedly dropped off the lineup due to disagreements with Goldenvoice over his stage setup. Kanye, according to some publications, apparently claimed the current Coachella Stage design to be “artistically restrictive”. (Beyonce added bleachers and a long ass strip... now I'm just wondering what the hell he was trying to turn the stage into?)

This year will mark my 6th attendance to the Coachella Valley (shit, just did the math… that’s a fuck ton of money) so to be quite honest, a large number of these artists I have already seen perform in past years. To any newcomers this lineup offers just the right balance and touchpoint for a variety of genres, but to me it just seems... well... “ok”. Every year Goldenvoice makes a point to grab at least one headliner that will cause some conversation, this year… they’re all just….”ok”. Although Ariana Grande has an amazing voice, and this past album has offered a number of bangers, I just don’t see her as a headliner... just yet (She did just get dubbed as the youngest person to headline Coachella though… dammit thought that was going to be me). Childish Gambino is one that I am actually kinda stoked about, he’s an artists who dedicates great thought into his craft, and this being his last runthrough with the “Childish” stage name, it might make for an epic performance.  Tame Impala… well, that one once again… is just “ok”.

A number of the second tier artists were also a little predictable. It seems that year after year Coachella has swayed in the direction of radio and streaming trends, as more and more “mainstream” artists make their way into the lineup… I’m afraid soon enough the festival might turn into a 97.7 radio artist roundup (shoutout to my 760 locals...wow that came out lame as hell) People like Khalid, Ella Mai, Mac DeMarco, and Billie Eilish I am juiced to see, don’t get me wrong… but they were lowkey guaranteed to be there due to the popularity they've recently gained, and that’s the problem. The one thing that I have always enjoyed about Coachella is the opportunity it offers to catch a large number of underrated artists who you can bank will make some moves in the years to come, or who you might not have heard of and end up loving. This year it just seems like I have heard a good number of these people in some shape or form.

The one thing I will say this lineup does well, is in giving homage to a lot of indie, R&B, Latin, Asian and female artists for the first time in a long while (Ok, now I see where the hype is at!) This line up includes a couple Latin headlining artists (J Balvin, Rosalia, and Bad Bunny) and not one, not two, but THREE international Asian billings (BLACKPINK, Hyukoh, and Perfume) The lineup is also stacked with a good number of women, and I am sure this list is going to give me plenty of opportunities to get in my feels with the number of lyricists in attendance. 

As a friend put it this year is going to be a “chill ass year”. I’m not mad about the lineup but neither am I super excited about it, I am... indifferent. As I have always said, the people make the music, as long as you’re vibing with a good crowd Coachella is going to be a great time come this April.

My Top Picks for 2019:

Now most of us tend to sleep on a good number of artists, like literally… a ton of y’all don’t even head to the venue until like 4pm (wtf). So to help you find some will to hit the venue bright and early, here's a list of my top (tiny name) artists to go give a listen to this year:

Friday:

Tierra Whack- She is nothing but “whack”, the Philadelphia native offers a totally unique and theatrical vibe to her contemporary rap and R&B, if you fuck with 6LACK you'll totally dig Tierra.

JPEGMAFIA- A villain or satirist who knows where he's at. JPEGMAFIA’s music is uncomfortable not going to lie, his lyrics are dark and humours at the same time, but the amount of power each of his songs carry is heavy. Give him a listen and try to figure out where you stand, it's tough and that’s kinda what’s dope about his sound.

RAT BOY- Reflecting millennial fears, Jordan Cardy better known as RAT BOY sings about what everyone my age feels, from fucking around to the prevalent political and socio-economic topics we often think about but don't speak for.

88GLAM- The newly created duo comprised of Derek Wise and 88 Camino gives me Migos and NAV birth child vibes… if you know what I mean.  

Bakar- The cyclical nature of the music scene, and Bakar’s smooth sound help put indie back on the map. Straight out of Virgil Abloh’s debut runway show as Men’s Artistic Director of Louis Vuitton, Bakar brings such a dope blend of rap and indie melodies.

Dvsn, Jaden Smith, SG Lewis- I put these all in one cuz if you haven't heard of them I don't know what the fuck you’ve been doing, and if you have this is just a reminder that I’ll see you at their tent!  

Los Tucanes De Tijuana- Now if you're Mexican… you know this shit is about to be lit. You’re going to be singing all the songs your mom used to make you do Saturday chores with, and y’all already know your non-mexican friends are going to vibe hella hard when “La Chona” comes on.  

Saturday:

Mr. Eazi- Y’all know I love my Afrobeats, if you're ready to get down to some fucking vibes join me for some booty-swaying club smashes with Mr. Eazi.

Sabrina Claudio- R&B songstress Sabrina Claudio is why my Saturday word of choice “VIBES”. Her 2016 EP Confidently Lost released over SoundCloud gained her a ton of momentum with over 3 million plays before it was even commercially released. 2018 became the release of her 8 track album No Rain, No Flowers, and I'm just saying y'all best not sleep on her!

Smino- If 2018 was the year where you went through a lot of “adult shit” well then Smino is the guy for you. His most recent project NOIR reflects on what it means to take experiences as growth and that growth as our reward.  

FKJ- Image what French Kiwi Juice (FKJ) would sound like. Now that’s not only what Vincent Fenton goes by but it legit is what he sounds like (y’all think I’m crazy hu?) With a blend of mellow electronic and R&B this is what Coachella is about right here.

SiR- Can something be soulful and mellow at the same time? It sure can. If you fuck with Frank Ocean (and I mean who doesn't) SiR is the guy to watch.

Soulection-  Independent music platform, radio show, and artist collective with an incredible fucking roster, Soulection is bound to serve us a damn good show!

Sunday:

Clairo- Lo-fi singer/ songwriter Claire Cottrill gives us some intimate and dreamy vocals, if you're ready to get down to the carryover of Saturday’s vibes, come join me.

Shallou- I got to see this guy and his incredible drummer a few months ago, he is one of the few people that I am super juiced to see again. His sad lyrics combined with happy beats make for a dope sound. If you were ever in the car with me within the past 4 months you probably heard his song “Lie” a good 30 times.  

Emily King - Pop-soul singer Emily King is total goals. A year ago she stepped out of her comfort zone by moving from her hometown and taking the NYC scene, that change and chance gave birth to the album that made her career: Scenery. Her story and lyrics tell it all.

Dennis Lloyd- You’ve probably heard his song “Nevermind” somewhere. This guy gives me Hozier vibes, if Hozier was a producer, singer, songwriter, and multi-intrumalist… I mean he might be, but I fuck with Dennis more.

You’ve made it to end! As a gift check out this playlist I made with all the need to know songs by the artists on this list! See ya at Coachella! 

Also checkout the all encompassing Coachella 2019 collaborative playlist and add your picks for the year! https://spoti.fi/2FUWzHz (playlist cover art by @madebyjuhie)