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malia123456 · 2 years ago

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1. Hi everyone! My name is Malia, and I am currently working towards getting my A.A. but I would like to pursue a career in sonography.

Art Assigned: Liberation of Aunt Jemima by Betye Saar

The message behind this piece of art is to empower black women to fight against the unfortunate stereotypes they face.

This piece of art is not just a painting but an assemblage of different items that helps portray the message.

Artist Betye Saar was a part of the Black Arts Movement in the 1970s.

In Saar’s works she creates pieces that challenged racial stereotypes.

Saar is known for being able to represent stereotypes and femininity in her art pieces.

I had never seen the Liberation of Aunt Jemima, so my initial reaction was first noticing the lady and how she had a rifle in her hand. After doing research this piece of art had a lot of meaning behind it. As said above the purpose of Saar creating this piece of art was to inspire other black women to surpass any inequality or racist stereotypes that they face in this world. The point of the gun being held by the lady is supposed to represent that she and other women can liberate these unfair stereotypes, and this is what I see different from my initial reaction.

2. Art piece from my life:

What I have chose to talk about is a flower bouquet I made myself that is in my room. This was inspired by what is commonly known as “the evil eye”. It is a flower arrangement and the base actually opens up where the ribbon is and it has a storage compartment in it. This is something important to me because ever since I discovered the meaning behind the evil eye I have always looked up to it in a way and lived my life in the everlasting eye way of thinking. The evil eye can mean different things to everyone but how I determine it is to protect one from any harm or evil in their life. In a way it is like a lucky charm. To create it I bought everything on Amazon. I utilized a floral bouquet box, fake flowers (roses) that are a foam like material, and I also used a circular piece of floral foam so the flowers could sit perfectly inside the box. I do think my flower arrangement is very beautiful. Blue is my favorite color and this incorporates two different shades of blue so it really sticks out to me and since it has a meaning that resides with me that’s why I chose to make it.

3. Self Portrait:

In high school I was only ever allowed to take one art class because everyone would get in the class before I could so to be in this class this semester means a lot to me. When I look at art I always pay attention to colors and textures. Something about color’s especially vibrant tones always catch my eyes and this make me even more interested to know the details behind whatever artwork I am observing. I am 19 years old. I am a female. I am from the east coast of Florida from an area called Palm Bay. I lived there for a good chunk of my life then I moved to Jacksonville and lived there for three years and then I ended up in Sarasota which is by far the best place I have lived in Florida. I am Caribbean. I am half Trinidadian and half Guyanese which is also considered being West Indian. For fun I love working or going to the beach. I am not a member of any group. My first job ever that I got almost four years ago now is at a restaurant called Valentino’s and I live working there to this day. I personally would like to say what makes me unique is my ability to adapt and become comfortable in new places and environments.

4. Self Portrait II:

I have chose to make a collage of pictures images that mean a lot to me. The first picture is of my boyfriend and I, the second picture I took of the religious alter in my house, a picture of my adorable dog, and lastly a recent family picture from Christmas.

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midzelink · 3 years ago

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So, as some of you might know, one of my GIFs was recently featured on the Tumblr Radar - which is pretty cool! I was fairly happy with how that one turned out, especially considering that I made it rather last-minute on a whim to acknowledge Valentine’s Day. It understandably received a lot of attention as a result of this, and I’ve loved reading through all the comments and tags (especially all the ones about how people want to eat the heart containers from TP); however, I wanted to clear up a bit of a misunderstanding surrounding the creation of that GIF, as there were additionally a lot of tags along the lines of #3d art or #artists on tumblr in that influx of reblogs. I don’t want to take credit for something I didn’t do, even accidentally, and so allow me to be perfectly clear: the heart container GIF is not something I modeled and rendered myself! It is the original in-game model, recorded in-game using the Dolphin GCN/Wii emulator, with very little done in the way of post-processing in Photoshop. If that sounds impossible or confusing (which is perfectly understandable, for those of you unaware of what Dolphin is capable of), I’d like to take this opportunity to give you guys a bit of a “peek behind the curtain,” as it were, to show you guys exactly how I made that particular GIF, as well as similar ones I’ve made (such as those in my #items tag).

I didn’t take screenshots of my initial process (nor did I save the edited textures I used), so I’ll be recreating it from the ground up for the sake of demonstration, but that shouldn’t be a problem.

First thing’s first: finding a heart container! For this particular GIF, I wound up using the one that spawns after the Morpheel fight at the end of Lakebed Temple. I’m sure many others would work just as well (I think, at the time, this one just happened to be the most accessible to me), but let’s use the same one for the sake of it.

Morpheel: defeated. And I didn’t even need Zora Armor! (Seriously, we do that in the speedrun. But I’m getting off-topic.) Of course, we’re going to need clean, close-up footage of the heart container rotating in order to do what we want to do, so let’s shift into first-person mode and and get a bit closer to the thing.

Now, because the only UI-element in this shot is Link’s health (and it’s in the corner and relatively non-obtrusive), removing it isn’t strictly necessary - but I’ve already made a texture pack that removes UI elements as part of my Text Free TP project from a while back, so let’s load it anyway, for the sake of being thorough. This shot is also still a bit too far away, so next we’ll be utilizing Dolphin’s free cam feature (which can be accessed by going to Graphics > Advanced > Free Look and checking “Enable” in Dolphin) in order to get the heart container in a more central position. Now we’re left with this:

And we’re already looking well on our way to making a nice, solid color background GIF. But how do we get the solid color? Well, that’s where more texture editing comes into play - and here I have to give credit where credit is due, as this is a trick I picked up from 186px, after wondering how they were able to make this GIFset of Link fighting Ganondorf in The Wind Waker in a great, black void. (Seriously, shoutouts to them, their stuff was and still is amazing.)

But, very basically, we’ll be using Dolphin’s texture dump feature in order to find the textures that need to be edited so we can replace them with pure black ones. Texture dumping can be enabled by going to Graphics > Advanced > Utility and checking “Dump Textures,” and the file path for these dumped textures by default is Documents > Dolphin Emulator > Dump > Textures > [Game ID]. (In the case of Twilight Princess, the Game ID is GZ2E01). After dumping the textures in the Morpheel arena, my GZ2E01 folder looks like this:

When editing textures, sometimes you’ll have to endure a bit of trial and error until you find the correct ones. Luckily, in this scene, the textures making up the sand floor and the stone walls are rather large, so let’s isolate the ones we’re pretty sure are responsible (plus a few others that are obviously environmental, just to be safe).

Now, when loading custom textures, it’s important that the file name you’re trying to load matches up exactly with the original texture that you’re trying to replace. I have a plain, black, square PNG that I keep on my desktop specifically for this purpose; I copy the file names of the textures I’ve isolated, then rename and drag and drop the black PNG into the folder where custom textures are loaded (Documents > Dolphin Emulator > Load > Textures > [Game ID]). Like so:

And now, to refresh our custom textures by disabling and reenabling them in Dolphin’s graphics settings:

And voilà! We have something that very nearly resembles the GIF I made (well, a still of it, at least). I skipped over a few details, such as the fact that TP has a pretty significant amount of bloom surrounding just about everything, which I’m fairly certain I disabled using cheat codes when I made the original GIF in order to give it an overall cleaner look. It’s hard to tell from this still, but TP’s heart containers also sparkle considerably in a way that’s random and not loopable; I found the texture responsible for this sparkle and replaced it with a transparent 1x1 PNG, in order to remove it entirely (as well as the texture behind the “glow” of the thing). After that, it was as simple as recording the game with OBS, dumping the MP4 into Photoshop, cropping and cutting it to make it loop, and adding some adjustment layers for contrast and color. So...yeah!

I hope this has served to clear up any confusion about some of the things that I’ve made in the past. I’m not a 3D artist - just a person with an emulator and way too much free time on their hands. This stuff is really, super simple, and also lots of fun, so I would highly encourage anyone with the means to mess around with emulation on their own some time to see what they can do! (Even if you don’t have Photoshop and can’t make GIFs, there are always edits, such as this one I made of Midna.) For Twilight Princess in particular, I also highly recommend checking out TPGZ; it’s a patch you can apply to a clean ISO of the original game, designed with the purposes of helping folks learn and practice the speedruns (yes, I had to bring up speedrunning one last time, kill me), but it’s got nifty features like built-in savestates, cheat codes, and HUD removal, as well as the ability to freeze actors while maintaining the ability to move the camera freely, among other things (all things that are very useful as far as making unique graphics go). Sorry this post got as long as it did, but I at the very least hope that some of you found it educational and/or interesting. Cheers!

#uhhhhh i don't even know how to tag this #not like it will show up in the tags anyway because i've linked five billion things #twilight princess #long post #tutorials #i guess????#resources #myposts*#i didn't intend for this to be a tutorial i just wanted to explain that i'm not a 3d artist lmfao #OTL

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betweentheracks · 4 years ago

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Hello and yay for this blog!!! I have a question :D. If a certain Chinese star were to wear jeans that say "my cock is gluten free" and "pull me down and fuck me," do you think his stylist would have chosen this knowingly, or do you think it's possible they just were like "hmm english words looks good" and didn't bother to look up the meaning? If they did know the meaning, would they have likely informed the star? Very desperate for the thought process behind this Choice hehehe. Thank you!

Ah, I was wondering hoping if I would get asked about those infamous jeans and here you are!

First and foremost; the following is all speculation from my experiences in the business and is wholly subjective.

It isn’t impossible that they weren’t aware of what was written on the jeans, but it also isn’t all that likely either. When you pull up these jeans on the Dsquared2 site there’s a listing of what is doodled and written on the jeans and it’s not something that would be overlooked by neither stylist nor client.

That said, Yibo does know some English and while he may not have known these words exactly, there’s more than enough ways of discerning their meaning. I would also bet half a year of my salary that his stylist would have known what was written here, or any number of personnel that works with them for that matter. I would also take into consideration that even if the jeans had slipped by all these people that may or may not have had the ability to see what was all over them, some of Yibo’s fellow idols should have (looking at you specifically, Seungyoun).

Setting this aside for a moment, I’ll go into who I think is responsible for the jeans being worn to begin with - Wang Yibo himself is the likely culprit.

Why do I think this? There’s many reasons but most are inconsequential while two points frame the scene as I see it.

This is markedly not a choice a stylist would make. Stylists, at the end of it all, are employees and therefore it shouldn’t be too surprising to know we have rules in place we must abide no matter if we are working outside the purview of the company we are housed under. Even when we work exclusively with a client, we are still taking the name of our company as well as our own with us and are operating as an extension of the brand the company promotes and promises. I don’t know of any company here (and I live in rather free faring place which welcomes eccentricities, mind) that would allow these jeans to be submitted as part of a pitch to either buy or borrow unless they were very specifically in line with a client’s public image and style. Technically these jeans would classify as offensive and profane which means they would invite trouble and cause a stir. While stylists are not associated much with the PR side of things we are still essentially a team playing for the same client - this selection, if gone badly, would be like asking for lightning to strike twice in one place at the same time. If a scandal amounted from them PR would have to handle it and that means the stylist would come under fire for making such a bold and risky choice, most especially with a younger client that thus far didn’t have the sort of image one would think to associate with jeans such as these.

The second reason is that, from what I can tell, this is in line with Yibo’s personality. He’s very serious about style and engages with it as he does most things; by overtaking it completely and rebranding it to suit him to the point that it makes one wonder if the style wasn’t designed with him in mind. He makes full use of what fashion is all about at it’s core; expression. These jeans in particular would have suited the Yibo of the time he wore them (2018, if I remember right?) as he was trying to break away from the image he held as a pretty boy with demure and soft looks which held the shock value of being in such contrast with his dancing and rapping. He’s mentioned before that he doesn’t really like being “cute/sy” and having to do things in the way of that since it’s not true to who he feels he is. Which, honestly, a lot of idols and stars go through this experience where they no longer wish to be constrained by the persona they play for the public and one of the most impactful means of going about it is to address the styling since it is the focal point of public image.

The Dsquared2 jeans don’t only say “my cock is gluten free,” there’s actually quite a lot to them and I think it would help if more were aware of it so here’s the description of them on the website:

D Squared Limited Edition Jeans. Sexy Twist Printed Low Rise. Fun, Evil Boy, Love Sucks, Pull Me Down, Open Me, Unzip, Buttons, Wine Is My Water, Tic Tac Toe, Dean & Dan, Sex, Gluten Free Cock, Hot Patches

The jeans actually say “pull me down and fuck me” right there on the ass, but naturally they can’t list the expletives in the marketing. Not strictly important to this post, but still worth mentioning given the hushed treatment of what the placement of such words could easily imply and the effect that could have had.

Anyway, the bit that is very telling in my opinion is that “evil boy” tag. I’m not terribly certain due to having never been fortunate enough to work with these jeans myself and the internet only has so many pictures from so many angles, but “evil boy” is either written somewhere (which I think is the case since there’s devil horns present as well) or they’re being promoted as such for aesthetic value. Regardless, I am fairly certain this would be the feature which caught Yibo’s eye. It’s on brand for someone seeking to shatter the conceptual ideal of being naive, innocent, youthful, or soft.

The jeans as a whole fit with Yibo’s sense of humor, as I’ve seen it at least. He lost his mind and fell into full laughter and hysterics over a dick joke, not even minding that he was being filmed or anything. He was still laughing about it even after the other hosts had moved beyond it, making them circle back around to it and in turn making it all the more hilarious for him to enjoy. You can see it clearly in the bts footage from the CQL set that he enjoys being mischievous and stirring things up and having a good time.

This is who he is, I believe, and it makes a lot of sense for him to have made this stylistic choice and then either convince his stylist to let him run with it or change out at the last second. Both of these are possible, though one of them is less probable than the other given how tricky it actually would be to sneak a wardrobe alteration past the many people that make up the staffing roster for any events, and then to be able to change in the limited time frame available between exiting the dressing room to being in the public sphere would be one in a thousand. Much simpler to goad your stylist into being lenient enough to give you free reign over your own styling - we can only hold out and say no when the grounds for it are met, which this wouldn’t have done in all likelihood - and most of the time we build up a good enough relationship and rapport with clients that we end up doting on them a bit and heed their requests when we can.

That’s all from me on this token moment in Yibo’s very stacked fashion history. Thanks for asking!

Furthermore, there’s the third possibility that this wasn’t a styling choice whatsoever. Or at least not one that involved the stylist in any real regard. It is very plausible that this was just Yibo in his own clothes, having dressed down after the main events wound down. I’ve never actually watched to see what that night looked like overall, but from the videos I have seen it looked to me like the actual do had passed and they were all just goofing around and having their own dance competitions and such when he was wearing them. I can’t say for sure that he did or did not have them on for the whole thing or if they were his own self packed casual wear. In which case it would fall back to his studio to tend to since stylists generally don’t hold authority over personal clothing choices and only ever have a hand in it when it is expressly stated in contracts or temporary clauses, and it just isn’t too common anymore.

Worth a quick mention for means of distinction, here in the US this choice wouldn't have raised many eyebrows no matter if it was chosen by an artist or a stylist. The only reason I feel it necessary to say this is simply because this is not so in China and that alone lends context to the controversy of these jeans. In the scope of conservatism these jeans are outrageous and I think that a stylist would steer clear of utilizing them at all if they value their job. This is why I don't consider it likely at all that Yibo and his stylist collaborated to make use of these jeans as a way to shake away the remnants of his pretty boy aesthetic.

#wang yibo #dsquared2 #racks asks

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thesuitelife547 · 4 years ago

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CNU “My songs match B1A4 completely…I can’t imagine anyone else singing them” [ARTICLE TRANS]

Here’s the translation to the recent interview that CNU did. You can definitely tell that they thought long and hard about what direction they want B1A4 to go in as a “new group” and you can also kind of see how he’s very sort of future facing in regard to the group. But, I hope you enjoy reading!

- Marisa

Part 1

Part 2

[t/n: I combined the two parts of the interview since the intros are the same for both parts]

The third person for this [I-Mind] is CNU (30, real name Shin Dongwoo) of boy group B1A4. CNU is the eldest and is in charge of vocals and dance in the 11-year group, B1A4. Additionally, he directs and makes music within the group as a ‘Composition Idol.’

CNU started by writing lyrics for the title song of B1A4’s second mini album ‘Beautiful Target’ and then composed the ending track ‘Seoul’ on their second full length album ‘Who Am I.’ Since then, he’s made songs in various genres and has showcased a broad spectrum of music from the emotional ‘Drive,’ ‘Call Me’ that has a trendy beat, and even the intense ‘Nightmare.’

CNU, who has been recognized for his composing ability, earnestly participated in the production of B1A4’s fourth full studio album ‘Origine’ that was released in October of last year. About the album CNU said, “I think that this album will influence the next 10 or 20 years and we tried to do music that utilized our strengths.” As a result, CNU’s name was listed in the credits of 8 of the 12 songs on the fourth full length album including the title song ‘Like A Movie.’ Thanks to that, the group’s identity was able to be in the song and even their musical maturity could be higher.

What will the future musical direction of B1A4 be? CNU has said that he wanted B1A4 to not be confined within a mold in regard to music and that even if they receive negative comments, he wants to do various things sincerely saying that he wants to create “music that listeners can look forward to.” He was also determined when he said, “I will work harder with the sense of duty that even with music, it’s not just to let the public know but also so that it can be recorded on one page of K-Pop.”

News1 met with CNU, a ‘Composition Idol’ that is full of musical greed.

It’s nice to meet you. Please introduce yourself. I’m also curious about your recent situation

I’m CNU, the eldest in B1A4 and I’m also in charge of the mother role. We made a comeback two months after I was discharged in August and we also had a concert in December. (Smile) I’m glad that we were able to do that as soon as I was discharged because it was my goal to release an album.

If you were to introduce a representative song of B1A4 as a Composition Idol?

I think it would be ‘Like A Movie,’ which is the title song of our fourth full length album that we released last October. It’s the title track of an album that we released after such a long time and I’m fond of it because it seems to fit with our situation.

I’m curious about your style of working

I tend to worry a lot when I wrote about songs so it’s a kind of progressive and aggressive style. It’s hard but it’s also fun to make songs.

How did you first start composing?

I believed that there were a lot of things boiling inside of me and at first, the way to express those things was through song and dance. Then while completely working on the stage, I gradually had the desire to write songs so I tried to write lyrics. The first time I wrote lyrics was for the title song ‘Beautiful Target’ on our second mini album. I wrote the chorus and my part for the song. That then became my momentum and I thought that I wanted to continue writing songs. So by the second or third year, I bought equipment with my own money and started composing.

What was the first song you worked hard on?

That would be the song ‘Seoul’ that appeared as the last track on our second full length album ‘Who Am I.’ At that time I didn’t think like “I have to write a song!” It was a song that I was able to comfortably write without any expectations. It’s a side track that I wrote while thinking “Should I try to make one?” It’s a song that contains what I felt after coming to Seoul. Because all of the members are from the countryside, the city of Seoul has a different meaning to us. [t/n: in case anyone might not know, the countryside in this context is just referring to anyone that’s not from Seoul] The song details my honest feelings about how I felt when I came to Seoul to become a trainee and anyone that has lived in a foreign country will agree. It’s a place where I met my members when I had no one else to lean on and it’s a place where I was able to meet the fans after I debuted. It holds the message that in this cold city I only have the members and fans to lean on.

Since you didn’t specialize in it, you must’ve struggled and had difficulties while working

[t/n: specialize as in I’m assuming be formally trained in composing]

In the beginning it was really frustrating but I fortunately have a lot of good people around me. Artist Jooyoung is my good friend from my hometown. When I was making ‘Seoul,’ I asked him a lot of questions about music. At that time he told me about what kind of equipment I should buy and he taught me a lot about how to do the beats. I learned while doing that. Jooyoung and I were in a band club together in high school and the two of us promised to do a collaboration if we both succeeded in Seoul. (Smile) Later, I worked together with Jooyoung and his close friend Gureum to create ‘Drunk on Music’ and ‘Drive’ amongst others.

You must’ve been really proud when your own self-made compositions were included in B1A4 albums

I really was. It was a time when I was into mannerisms. I had doubts about myself as a member of B1A4 wondering, “Am I doing well?” Although I was working hard since our debut, I wanted to be of more help to the team. I then did some composing and created some results. Thankfully the reactions of the members and the company was good and it was able to be put on an album. I really liked it back then.

Did you want to formally study composing afterwards?

Personally, I don’t think that the concept of learning art is established. Rather than studying about it, I think that you should share and empathize. It’s about a person who has experienced many things letting the one who hasn’t know the way. I have seen how a lot of composers have written their songs, but eventually I did what it was that I wanted to do. Their way isn’t mine. You can receive some sort of influence, but you have to create the result in your own style. When people listen to the songs that I’ve written so far, they say “This is CNU’s style.” I tried to make my own path very clear.

When listening to the songs you made such as ‘Seoul,’ ‘Drive,’ ‘Nightmare,’ and ‘Sparkling,’ the genres and colors are all different. I can feel that you have a desire to create a variety of music

I didn’t intentionally attempt multiple genres, but I just made the music that I like and it could have been felt as being varied. Personally, ‘Nightmare,’ that was on our third full length album ‘Good Timing’ was a challenge for me as well. Who would’ve thought that B1A4 would do music that had a reggae beat? It was a style that I definitely wanted to try at least once and thankfully everyone liked it after I made it. I do have a greed and desire to broaden the spectrum with a variety of music.

What would you say is the biggest feature or differentiated color of music that you’ve made?

That it seems like music that has been specially made for B1A4. That’s also the part that I consider the most important when writing a song. I always worry about how I should incorporate the member’s voices into a song. I can’t imagine other people singing it because it completely matches with our tone. That’s why I don’t even think about giving songs to others.

Up until now you’ve only participated in the side tracks, but starting from your fourth full length album ‘Origine,’ you’ve become more proactive in creating songs. You participated in 8 of the songs and even made the title song therefore I’m curious about the process

It’s an album that took 3 years, from before I went to the army until it got released. The original goal was to announce it before my enlistment, but it took a long time because I went earlier than expected. I prepared the album all the way until I went to the army. I thought about it every day. When I was on vacation I wrote songs in the studio with a friend named Wooram and then I’d return and when I was on vacation again, I’d record. That’s the way I worked on it. I even asked the members to write songs and participate in creating the album. Personally, it was important because I thought about the album as something that will influence the next 10, 20 years of B1A4 so I thought about the direction. After thinking about it, we tried various things by using our strength as an ever-changing group. Even while feeling the weight of the year, we made a lot of effort for different music that will be further anticipated in the future. [t/n: I’m pretty sure the year that they’re talking about is the year that they became 3]

In the process of creating the album, was there no difference in opinion from Sandeul or Gongchan?

It matched well with the members. Although there were times when our opinions were slightly different, our desired directions and flows were the same. And because the company also agreed with our opinions, we were able to work while receiving more strength.

Out of the many songs, is there a reason why the title should have been ‘Like A Movie?’

Since it had been a while, I thought about songs that had our existing color and ones that had a different color and I felt like ‘Like A Movie’ seemed like the best in terms of B1A4’s new direction. Honestly, ‘Like A Movie’ is a dynamically composed song that has a melody line and no rap. Not having a rap is a big change in regard to idol music. Because we can’t help but think about that year, there is a sense of that weight but since we wanted to express B1A4’s unique charm, we made a new attempt. I don’t have any regrets because we gave forth all of our efforts. (Smile)

What is the most memorable compliment you have ever received for your songs?

In my final months of the military, I completed ‘Like A Movie’ and played it for the members. After I had come back, I had asked the president, executives, and successors to take a listen to it. When the song was over, all of them said that it was awesome. The successors may not be very objective (Smile) but I still can’t forget that expression. And I asked for a professional evaluation from the military band and was proud when they said that the rhythm and melody line was good. Even the boss praised me saying that it was really good and I gained strength from that.

What would be the song that became a turning point for Composition Idol CNU?

It would be the fan song ‘A Day of Love’ that I made before I enlisted. It contains the message that I want to convey to the fans without being convoluted. Just like how BANA always think about B1A4, we also expressed our feelings of always thinking about the fans when we’re eating, when the wind blows, and in every moment of our daily lives. It’s a song that was made with honesty.

Out of all of the songs you’ve worked on, what is the song that you like the most?

The song that I’m most fond of always changes but right now it’s one of Sandeul’s solo songs, ‘Oblique Line.’ It’s a song that contains the feelings that I had during various changes. I had written it before joining the military and I had given it to him because when he listened to it, he said he really liked it and wanted it.

With the fourth full length album you decided to do music that was different from the usual music B1A4 released thus far. What kind of songs do you want to do in the future?

I hope that B1A4 is a group that doesn’t become confined to a mold. It’s my goal to make music that is unpredictable and causes future anticipation of “What kind of songs will they release?” I want to try an unlimited amount of various things and even if there is a negative reaction and we get scolded [t/n: scolded from the public], I have a big desire to try just that.

Do you have an artist that you wish to collaborate with?

There is an artist that I really wanted to collaborate with, but we collaborated on our fourth full length album. That would be Bibi who participated in my solo song ‘Zero Gravity.’ When I was in the military, I listened to their music and wanted to work with them so I asked for her to feature in my solo song and thankfully that worked out. When we went to record, I’m very thankful that Tiger JK-sunbae and Biji-sunbae gave all sorts of advice and I fell for both of them. Besides for BiBi, if there’s an opportunity, I’d like to collaborate with my role model, Taeyang-sunbae.

There’s not many Composition Idols in today’s idols. Is there someone’s songs that you want to compliment?

It would be ONF’s MK. When MK makes a song, he works really hard on it. Before, when ONF received a vacation, MK didn’t go and rest, but he stayed at the company to work. When I saw that, I felt his passion.

Please express your determination for future activities as a singer and composer

When I first said that I wanted to become a singer it was because I was simply thought that singing and dancing on stage was fascinating and cool therefore I set my mind on only becoming that. However, if you now ask me about what energizes me to make music, the answer would be BANA. Because the fans are there, I’m motivated and receive strength when I’m working or try to make music. I’m very thankful for that. I also try to be careful as I think that the activities that we do can have an affect on many people. I will work harder with the sense of duty that even with music, it’s not just to let the public know but also so that it can be recorded on one page of K-Pop.

#b1a4 #article #translation

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snkpolls · 4 years ago

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SnK Episode 65 Poll Results (for Anime Only Watchers)

The poll closed with 98 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results for the Anime Only Watchers’ poll. If you wish to see the results for the Manga Readers’ poll, click here.

Anime only watchers, beware of spoilers if you venture over to the manga readers’ poll results.

RATE THE EPISODE 94 Responses

Although a bit muted compared to last week, the response to this episode was still overwhelmingly positive, with 96.8% of people giving it a rating of 3 and higher. MAPPA’s on a roll!

Amazing!!!!

i just wanna see more!! 20 minutes is not enough. its too good

Awesome episode! Great pacing and the cgi was not too noticeable.

WAAAAYYYYY TOO HYPE

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING MOMENTS WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 93 Responses

Mikasa and Levi took the spotlight this week! 30.1% of viewers felt most hyped up by Mikasa’s “explosive” reintroduction to the anime, while 22.6% were stoked to see Levi take on Porco to save Eren. 18.3% were most hyped by the Survey Corps taking on the Jaw Titan and the subsequent cliffhanger.

THE CGI CONTINUES TO BE A POINT OF CONTENTION. BE HONEST, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE EXECUTION OF CGI SO FAR THIS SEASON? 93 Responses

Just under 50% of responses seemed to indicate that they thought MAPPA was doing very well with the CGI utilized. A little over 15% stated that although it was not their favorite, they understood that it could be a lot worse. Other responses (in order) were being neutral about the CGI, not liking it, but understanding the need for its usage and folks who adamantly rejected 3D animation.

I actually prefer CGI titans because of the way their movements looks, it looks almost slower, to me it fits very well with how the big titans are. Im not an anime guy at all so ive never seen cgi in other anime but i really like the way Mappa's CGI looks, it blends in very well. I dont like CGI people though, the shot with Jean throwing the marly soldier off the rooftop i didn't like very much.

I feel horrible saying this believe me... but I really vibed with the CGI up until this episode. I think maybe because it's the first time its been used on humans (OPM) rather then titans. I'm not massively put off though, I really apreciate the efforts this episode must have taken. TY Mappa

The episode is great no doubt, my only concern is the CG personally, as a 3D artist myself, I think I would prefer an all 2D medium like the battle at Stohess. Using 3D is fine as long as it blends seamlessly to the background, like kengan ashura, it's not perfect but bearable.

I honestly think that 2D will always 100% be better than cgi but I can understand why mappa is using cgi

It was fine in the other episodes, but in this episode, it looked overused and bit bad

HOW WAS EREN’S ROOFTOP SWAN DIVE? 94 Responses

When it came down to Eren’s swan rooftop dive (“Like a fallennn angel…”), the majority seemed to be impressed, with 68% giving it a score of 4 or higher. It was not a monolithic opinion however and many seemed also rated it poorly. Do better, Eren!

WHICH RETURNING CHARACTER’S ENTRANCE WAS YOUR FAVORITE IN THIS EPISODE? 94 Responses

The Survey Corps has returned! Of these reappearances, viewers most enjoyed Mikasa’s (48.9%), Levi’s (31.9%) and Sasha’s (14.9%) the most. Jean and Connie got a little less love, though we’re sure people were still happy to see them!

WHICH RETURNING CHARACTERS HAS THE BEST GLOW UP? 93 Responses

It would appear that the slight plurality sees Mikasa as having the best glow up out of the cast, followed by (in order) Eren, Sasha, Connie, Jean, Floch and Levi. The Old Captain doesn’t like to change up his style, we suppose.

Eren didn't have a glow up- he had a glow down.

Mikasa can stomp on me please god

OF ALL THE ORIGINAL CAST, WE STILL HAVE NOT SEEM ARMIN, HANGE OR HISTORIA YET. WHICH OF THE THREE ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING NEXT? 93 Responses

In relation to the previous question, we still haven’t seen 3 major members of the cast. Armin, Hange and Historia. When we asked which of the three you were most looking forward to seeing next, the slight majority (52.7%) expressed their excitement for seeing Armin again, followed by 11.8% wanting to see Hange most. Some others have also expressed their desire to see Historia again. 17.2% simply could not choose and 10.8% stated that they simply didn’t care about the 3 characters.

WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THE WARHAMMER TITAN? 90 Responses

The Warhammer received an overwhelmingly positive response, with the majority expressing much excitement over both its design and powers. 15.6% noted that the design was a bit too creepy for their liking, but the powers were awesome. And on the flip side, 10% noted the Titan’s design was rather cool, in contrast to its rather OP ability. A select few did not enjoy either aspect.

Would probably enjoy it more if it belonged to someone that likely is not going to be just cannon fodder

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE NEW UNIFORMS? 92 Responses

The Survey Corps returned sporting new uniforms to much fanfare. 30.4% of respondents really enjoy the upgrade, finding the suits to be badass. 23.9% couldn’t find the words and just settled for pure hype. 20.7% enjoy the new uniforms just as much as they enjoy the classic uniforms. 12% felt it was a much needed upgrade, though 10.9% don’t care at all about the uniform change.

I like both but I prefer the old design

EREN SAYS TO MIKASA, “YOU GUYS ACTUALLY CAME.” THIS IS FOLLOWED UP BY MIKASA ASKING EREN TO COME HOME. DOES THIS INSINUATE THAT EREN WENT TO THE MAINLAND ON HIS OWN? 90 Responses

The circumstances of the Survey Corps’ presence on the mainland continues to be a mystery. When we asked about whether Eren was there alone or not a few episodes ago, the majority believed that he was either there alongside the Survey Corps or was sent there by them. Overall, the feelings seem to be the same (that Eren came alongside the Survey Corps). 45.6% think that Mikasa’s words may have some other meaning and that things are way too planned out to be coincidence. 18.9% believe that Eren did go rogue, while 15.6% think that Eren didn’t necessarily go rogue, but wasn’t working with them for a while either. The remaining 20% have already been spoiled on this particular plot point.

THE ATTACK ON LIBERIO SEEMS TO PARALLEL THE BREACH OF SHIGANSHINA. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS EVENT IN COMPARISON? 92 Responses

Now that both sides of the conflict have had their rude awakening, we asked how you guys felt about the two events comparatively. 33.7% feel that both attacks were tragic, but still feel more empathy toward the Eldians on Paradis than they do toward those who were raised on Marley. At a tie, 22.8% of respondents felt that the victims of the Liberio attack got what was coming with them, while another 22.8% felt about the same amount of sympathy for the victims on both sides. 10.9% feel this is way worse than what happened in Shiganshina and feel more sympathy for the victims in Liberio.

I am yet to know the goals behind this attack.

Marley did this countless times so I don’t feel bad for them. I kind of feel for eldians tho bc they are brainwashed from a young age to give up their lives for a country who doesn’t give a shit about them.

Honestly they deserve what Eren is doing to them. Excluding Falco, no one outside of Paradis has earned my sympathy, even with the additional context.

SADLY, UDO AND ZOFIA DID NOT SURVIVE THE ATTACK ON LIBERIO. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THEIR DEATHS? 91 Responses

Udo and Zofia have joined the ranks of characters who tagged along with the main cast for a while only to be killed off for character development. 25.3% anticipated at least one of them to die, but not both. Another tie on this poll, 24.2% stated that they were disappointed and was hoping to see more of them, while another 24.2% didn’t care about them at all. 14.3% are happy to ditch the focus on them in favor of more familiar characters, and 8.8% feel pure and utter devastation.

Good riddance Warrior scum

Sad but allows for Gabi’s development

sad but okay. death is common in this anime.

EREN AND FLOCH’S LAST INTERACTION IN S3 WAS A VERY TENSE ARGUMENT. NOW IT SEEMS FLOCH IS DEDICATED TO EREN’S CALL TO ACTION, SHIFTING THE “NECESSARY DEVIL” STATUS FROM ERWIN ONTO HIM. WHAT DO YOU THINK THEIR RELATIONSHIP IS LIKE NOW? 91 Responses

Eren and Floch were anything but BFF’s at the closing of season 3. Now Floch seems to be wholly devoted to Eren’s cause… What changed? 28.6% believe that nothing has actually changed in terms of their relationship, but that Floch simply just latched onto Eren’s fight in need of a new devil. 23.1% feel that they still aren’t friends, but are in more comfortable “ally” territory. 15.4% aren’t sure what to make of it. Smaller handfuls feel that they either grew to become friends and/or co-conspired to attack Liberio together. 22% are already spoiled on the details.

Floch is easily persuaded...and annoying 🤷‍♀️

WE SEE GABI GRAB THE GUARD’S FUN AFTER WITNESSING SASHA KILL HIM. WHAT DO YOU THINK MIGHT HAPPEN? 90 Responses

Gabi moves headstrong into the fight, wanting to play her part in defending her hometown. A large chunk of anime only viewers have been spoiled on future developments for her character. But for those still in the dark - 24.4% feel that she will successfully kill a member of the Survey Corps. 21.1% aren’t sure what to expect, while 10% think she will only manage to injure someone in the Survey Corps. Smaller amounts feel she won’t be successful in any capacity or may even die herself.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

Epic episode, survey corps come back, OH YEAH, but I wished they didn’t use CGI on humans and bettered the CGI on Titans.

It really makes me sad how Eren is continuing the cycle of revenge by killing innocent Marleyan civilians, but it makes sense for his character.

Real cool ep but w h e r e a r m i n

It sucks that I like the warriors and the Corp bc both of them are victims in different way so seeing them have to go head to head sucks. They all deserve better

SO great I loved it! However, I missed Reiner, Falco, and Zeke. I hope they're okay :-) RIP Udo and Zofia :-(

I think I need more dialogue between the old crew to really settle back in with them. I kinda believe that Mappa's still trying to 'click', they obviously can't just get it right immediately. Other then that I loved the titan scenes, more than ODM scenes 😔

This was a great episode and I was literally vibrating in my seat from excitement! I think MAPPA is doing a great job with the animation and the music works really well with the action. Can’t wait for the rest of the season!

I miss wit studio

Willy seems to have his first daughter really early, he looks like 30 !

I’d say the episode as a whole is a solid 8-9/10, the cgi in some parts really ruins the moment for me

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 88 Responses

Thanks again to everyone who participated!

#snk poll #snk polls #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #snk #aot #snk s4

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onestowatch · 4 years ago

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Lynn Gunn’s Honest Portrayal of PVRIS’ Past, Present and Future Plus Details on New LP ‘Use Me’ [Q&A]

Did you know that quicksand cannot really sink your entire body? Hollywood renditions of this frightening occurrence showcase “Indiana Jones” type heroes desperately reaching for a branch or a vine to evade being swallowed whole by the muddy foe. In real life, however, quicksand is much denser than the human body–namely your torso and lungs. So, although you may sink to some degree, you’ll only be engulfed to about your torso region. That being said, to escape the hold of this mucky captor, you’re called to utilize, not a vine or a stick, but a natural aspect of yourself–in this case, the buoyancy of your torso and lungs. Doing so allows you to adjust your positioning so that you are on your back and are therefore more easily able to free your legs and eventually, yourself.

During moments of crisis such as this, it is not often that we think to use what comes most natural to us in order to overcome difficulties. However, as PVRIS frontwomxn Lynn Gunn discovered, tuning into your natural inclinations can be exactly what sets you free.

After battling debilitating health issues, anxieties, and multiple album delays, the refreshingly new album Use Me is here, and it has the empowered LGBTQIA+ artist plastered all over it. From the distinctively raw lyrics, impassioned vocals, dexterous commixture of that classic PVRIS Alternative Rock and new-aged Glitch-pop, and even a 070 Shake feature, this new album is taking everything we thought we knew about PVRIS to much higher heights. Use Me serves as the first release since Gunn followed her heart and came forward as the sole architect behind PVRIS back in March. After listening to all 40 emotion-inducing minutes of this cinematic project, it becomes clear that Use Me is so much more than an album, it is an unapologetic reclamation of power.

We were able to speak with Lynn Gunn before the release of the album and gather her perspective on this new era of creativity, utilizing her natural abilities for this new project, and even on supporting social justice causes.

All quicksand jokes aside, sink into this interview with Lynn Gunn below:

Ones to Watch: Although you’ve been making music for quite some time, this new era seems to be of a new bloom, not only for PVRIS, but for you. As you have stated, PVRIS is still very much a collective, but you have decided to shed the skin of “band culture” and from it emerge as the sole vocalist, lyricists, and creative director of PVRIS. How has that transition been on you all? Are people taking to it the way that you imagined?

Lynn Gunn: I didn’t really imagine anyone taking it any way, to be honest, it’s happening regardless of what others want to say or feel about it. It’s felt great personally and as a unit. I’ve seen mostly support but obviously, with anything, there’s always going to be people with the opposite. At the end of the day, this is what this is moving forward and works best for us, I know my truth and what this journey has been and looked like so far. I’ve seen so many insane and comical theories and conspiracies about the transition/negative comments… but ultimately I think anyone who decides to wastes their energy like that might find their life to be much more enjoyable if they channeled that energy back into their own life as there’s clearly a lack/wound somewhere within themselves. If that seems sprinkled with “shade”, it is, but I mean that with the most sincerity as well.

The saying goes “you can never really outrun yourself”, and from White Noise to Use Me, it seems that you’ve left a bit of a breadcrumb-trail leading us to this point. Although PVRIS has primarily been recognized as an Alternative Rock “band”, we can hear tiny glimpses of the sound that best encompasses PVRIS now throughout your entire discography. Was this glitch-pop, disco-esque sound something you were intentionally experimenting within your previous projects?

To be honest, this is always where I imagined PVRIS’s sound living and the type of production I’d heard PVRIS songs being told through. I think in the past I didn’t fully know how to communicate the little production nuances that would have taken some tracks from point A to B, there was also a fear (that I now regret having) about straying from the “rock” production/experiencing rejection from the “scene” we initially started playing shows and touring in.

For the most part, and I truly mean this, there really isn’t that much of a difference in the instrumentation and sonic choices of this album from the first two, it’s still a very even play of organic instruments and electronic/synths, it’s just being produced through a different lens that’s a bit cleaner, crisper and crunchier in some areas. It’s a new interpretation of the woodwork that’s always been there.

What has kept you motivated to continue creating and sharing your truth with the world?

That’s a great question because I go back and forth with that feeling sometimes… Ultimately seeing comments from fans/listeners and hearing everyone’s stories and ways that they connect to PVRIS’s music is the most motivating thing in the world. I also feel that no matter what type of obstacle course the universe wants to throw me through, I’m always going to be grateful for the bruises/lessons and always going to feel compelled to create and share those truths through music.

I understand you’ve run into a deluge of unfortunate health issues the past few years that have affected you and the band greatly. If you feel comfortable sharing, could you talk a little bit about these illnesses and the ways you have had to overcome the obstacles they brought forth to get you to where you are now?

Totally comfortable sharing! I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) about two years ago and then about a year ago was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. AS is an inflammatory disease that mainly attacks the lower back, hips, and ribs, but it can also manifest in a lot of other ways as well such as joint pain, chronic fatigue, and even eye issues. Sometimes when my AS is really bad, I can barely get out of bed or even roll over in bed. Over time, if not treated properly or managed, it can cause your vertebrae to fuse... I’ve heard that’s super rare though. Crohn’s is chronic inflammation in the digestive tract and is a little more embarrassing but pretty self-explanatory haha…

They definitely taught me (and by taught I mean forced me) to take time in caring for myself and caring for my body. Resting properly, staying in shape, eating super healthy, setting boundaries with work, etc. It’s also just made me really appreciative of the moments when my symptoms aren’t as bad/just happy to be alive and not have it worse. I’m determined to manage both diseases holistically and through integrative medicine, so far I’ve seen great progress.

Do you believe these difficulties aided in your journey towards this self-actualization that listeners are able to distinguish in this new era of PVRIS? If so, how/in what way?

Definitely! There are definitely some references to those difficulties in a few of the songs. I think outside of the music, it’s given a lot more self-love, strength, and patience. It’s also just created even more urgency to live my truth and to live it unapologetically in the way that I want, which naturally extends into PVRIS and the art that I want to make.

youtube

If you had to use one word to describe each album thus far, what words would you use and why?

White Noise - Freshman - everything was so new and exciting and there was so much eagerness with it, like a freshman walking through a high school for the first time haha.

All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell - Bootcamp (haha) - creating it and touring it were both pretty hard experiences BUT incredibly strengthening.

USE ME - Upgrade - despite all the chaos around this release, this is the freest I’ve felt and the most confident I’ve felt about a PVRIS album.

All the visuals and music video treatments that you have conjured up have a strikingly symbolic and cinematic feel to them. However, the symbolism and tone of the music videos tied to Use Me seem to take on a different nature. Can you talk about this shift in creative expression?

Mostly just working with new collaborators (Yhellow, Katharine White and Griffin Stoddard). I feel a lot less precious about things (to a healthy degree) and much more open to letting others run with the concepts as they wish! So many fun new exciting perspectives have been able to shine through.

I know you are a film fanatic and dabble in cinematography. Do you have any staple films that influenced the creation of the last five music videos?

The Holy Mountain was a big influence for the “Hallucinations” video, as well as [for] “Old Wounds”. For “Dead Weight”, I was actually inspired by the opening credits to That 70’s Show and Saturday Night Fever haha.

In July, you announced that the album was being pushed back so as to allow the floor for the amplification of Black voices, and to generate events in support of Black Lives Matter. Do you believe artists have a responsibility to take steps such as these to create a better future, regardless of whether or not these issues directly affect them?

Absolutely. We all need to be educating ourselves and actively doing the work to demand and create change towards a future that’s equal and just for Black lives.

Fans have been clinging to the edges of their proverbial seats waiting for Use Me in spite of all of the justifiable album delays. If you could relay one message to all the fans who have been patiently waiting, what would it be?

Please enjoy/connect, be good to each other and please please please vote if you are able!

Who are your Ones to Watch?

DRAMA, Jax Anderson, HDBeenDope, Royal and The Serpent, Nikki Hayes, Kat Cunning and LEXXE!

#PVRIS #Alternative #Pop

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fyexo · 5 years ago

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191220 K-Pop Stars EXO Reflect on How Far They've Come — and How Far They'll Go

As Chen tells Teen Vogue, this year has been “a time for EXO to reflect” on their past, present, and future.

Chances are, even if you didn’t know it at the time, you’ve seen the members of the legendary K-Pop group EXO before. Their musical prowess speaks for itself, but even beyond that, their careers have taken over TV, fashion, celebrity culture, and more in the past year.

Maybe you've seen rapper and multi-instrumentalist Chanyeol, 27, shaking hands with Zendaya at Paris Fashion Week. Or perhaps it was breathtaking dancer and rapper Kai, 25, cracking 7th place on British GQ’s Best-Dressed Men of 2020 list. Or singer and composer Lay, 28, becoming Calvin Klein’s first-ever Chinese global ambassador. You might’ve watched rapper and youngest member Sehun, 25, on Netflix’s detective program Busted, or glimpsed leader and vocalist Suho, 28, waving from the red carpet as an honorary ambassador of the International Film Festival & Awards Macao. These are just a few of the places and memories that stamp the proverbial passport of EXO’s lives this year.

It’s been an equally powerful year musically for EXO too. With two members — Xiumin, 29, and D.O., 26, — currently completing their mandatory military enlistment and Lay promoting in China, the remaining six members of EXO have explored their own individual musical identities in 2019. Power vocalist Chen, 27, released two solo albums that chronicled love and heartbreak through mature, heart-warming ballads, while Baekhyun’s groovy solo album, City Lights, broke the highest monthly sales record for a solo artist in South Korean chart history with over 500,000 copies sold. Sehun and Chanyeol teamed up this summer for the debut of EXO-SC, EXO’s hip-hop sub-unit, while Baekhyun and Kai joined forces to “jump and pop” in SM supergroup SuperM.

As Chen tells Teen Vogue, this year has been “a time for EXO to reflect” on their past, present, and future as they reunite to promote their sixth album Obsession.

It’s December 4th, 2019, and the six members are dressed in thick, woollen, neutral-toned sweaters and trenchcoats to protect themselves from the arctic winds billowing throughout Seoul. There’s a warm camaraderie to their interactions as they laugh amongst themselves and take sips of their iced coffees. The atmosphere feels comfortable and familial, born from an understanding of each other’s mindsets and quirks that has been learned organically over the group’s career.

“It’s been seven years since we debuted and we’ll be hitting eight years next year; that’s a long period of time,” Chen says. His humble, calm demeanor is a balm for the rest of the group who cling to his introspective thoughts. “We reflected on our past journey and tried to make improvements in this new album. It’s been a grateful and fun time.”

This desire to continuously push boundaries both musically and creatively has been at the crux of EXO’s identity since their debut in 2012. Originally split into two groups, EXO-K and EXO-M, EXO performed their shared discography in both Korean and Mandarin in an effort to appeal to two major music markets simultaneously. The groups came together in 2013 to release their debut album, XOXO, and the album’s repackage released later in the year saw EXO’s popularity hit a fever pitch with the funky, dance-pop single “Growl.” Since then, each of EXO’s last five albums have sold over a million copies in South Korea alone, earning them the title “quintuple million sellers.”

The group is not only a staple in South Korea but across the globe too. From performing in front of the world at the closing ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics to becoming the first K-Pop group to have their faces projected on the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, EXO has stamped their name in the annals of pop history with their devotion toward their music, fans (called EXO-L), and each other. As they’ve matured over the years, that dedication hasn’t wavered.

“In our early years we just played together, whereas now we’ve grown up and matured,” Baekhyun replies. The singer’s personality is brighter than his shining white hair, and he thrives on the reactions to the jokes he makes throughout our chat. “We share a lot about where we’re headed in life, what we want to do for the upcoming album, and discuss how we can come together closer as a team to improve our teamwork.”

That tight-knit teamwork manifested itself in multiple ways throughout this year. From congratulating each other on Instagram like Lay did for Baekhyun’s solo debut to Xiumin and Sehun emceeing Chen’s solo album press conferences, the members have made it a point to support one another with every milestone they achieve, both individually and as a group. It also took center stage as the group embarked on their fifth world tour, Exo Planet #5 – The EXplOration, this July.

Part of the decision to go on tour, according to Suho, is because it makes the fans “happy,” which in turn makes EXO happy; this treasured time spent with fans also one of the reasons why the group worked tirelessly to release their new record in between their jam-packed personal schedules.

“Since the year EXO debuted, we’ve released an album every year. We’ve never skipped a single year,” Suho answers. With attention-grabbing ruby red hair, the leader holds himself with a quiet confidence and classic charm. “Even though it wasn’t a formal promise we made, it’s been a tradition to release an album each year, even if that means we have to make the promotion period short. Everyone’s been having hectic schedules, but it’s very meaningful for us to spend the end of the year with the fans.”

Heavily rooted in the group’s constant state of reinvention, the concept for Obsession sees EXO face off against their evil, superpowered doppelgängers X-EXO. Superpowers have been a common thread that has tied EXO’s music video multiverse together since their debut single “MAMA”, with each member utilizing their own signature power ranging from Chanyeol’s pyrokinesis to Kai’s teleportation abilities. When X-EXO arrives ready to destroy the planet in the group’s music video, the result is an explosive, superhero-style brawl between good and evil that leaves viewers enthralled.

In the lead up to shooting the music video, EXO emphasized the importance for both of their characters to have their own distinct, contrasting identity. While EXO dressed in weathered, straight laced black cargo pants and berets as if ready to march into war, X-EXO celebrated their eccentricities with jewel toned hair colors, white eyelashes, and uniquely cut clothing that bridged the gap between menacing and seductive.

“Our main focus was to draw a big contrast. All of us thoroughly discussed with our makeup and hair artists to bring that contrast, almost to the point of exaggeration,” Chanyeol says. He’s as jovial as his bubblegum pink hair and is openly expressive with his emotions, which light up his face whenever he speaks. “We tried to make X-EXO look very dark. EXO, on the other hand, was the good, righteous EXO like what fans have seen in the past. They came easy and naturally.”

“Like Chanyeol said, we discussed thoroughly with the makeup, hair, and costume team so that you could see the contrast right away,” Kai continues. Conscientious and thoughtful, Kai surveys the older members before answering so he doesn’t interrupt them. “Our attitudes also play a key role because they add to the strong visuals. Since it was a video, we all tried to make our performances convincing. X-EXO showed something that EXO had never done before — something mischievous.”

Amongst the members, X-EXO wins in a landslide over the team they liked the most.

“X-EXO had a stronger visual impact,” Baekhyun explains. “Personally, I wish that we made the plain EXO look cooler. That would have been right, because EXO was supposed to be the revolutionary army against X-EXO! I feel like they were visually weaker; I wish we had expressed more passion as EXO.”

With every album, EXO releases a bold title track that shatters the current K-pop paradigm, like the sinister “Obsession” or the reggae, EDM hybrid track “Ko Ko Bop." The remainder of the tracks on the albums typically allow EXO to explore new genres and make them their own, which range from hip-hop dance tracks like “Ya Ya Ya”, which samples ‘90s vocal trio SWV’s “You’re The One”, to heart-fluttering ballads like “Butterfly Effect."

Kai’s favorite track on the album is “Jekyll," which he loved from the first listen. “It starts off like a sweet R&B song, but the chorus suddenly changes into this shouting, which I think is in line with the duality expressed in the album,” he says. “I immediately thought that we could show a very different type of performance for this song — I can’t wait to perform this on stage and show the fans.”

“I like “Obsession” the most,” Sehun answers. Although under the weather, he makes a point to attend the interview to support his older members. “It was good enough to make the title track, so it’s my favorite.”

Chen picks the dreamy “Groove” because: “I love all the other tracks, but this song made me wonder if I could pull it off when I first heard it because it was such a different genre. It was challenging while recording it, but I love the result. It’s one of the songs that I feel most attached to.”

Chanyeol also fell in love with “Jekyll”, but is also partial to the similarly haunting reggae track “Trouble”. “The song came out to be great; I think we pulled it off pretty well,” he says happily.

“‘Day After Day’ for me,” says Baekhyun. While the other members have been discussing their favorites, he’s been silently exchanging silver rings with Suho. He nicks Chanyeol’s wire-rimmed glasses and puts them up his face backwards, reveling in the laughter he receives. “The song reminds me of a certain type of weather. I like songs that remind me of something — a song with a theme or story. ‘Day After Day’ does that for me.”

“I was going to say the same,” Suho says, shocked. A mischievous grin spreads on Baekhyun’s face. “Stop it,” he teases.

The room is whipped into uncontrollable laughter as Suho jokingly grasps the collar of Baekhyun’s sweater, as if he’s about to wrestle the other singer mid-interview. Suho’s faux fury only makes Baekhyun’s smile grow wider and he lets out a loud ahh, ahh! before Suho lets go.

“It reminds me of rain!” Suho complains, but a smile is working its way across his face too. “That’s because the lyrics have the word ‘rain’ in them,” Baekhyun dryly quips. “Choose something other than ‘Day After Day’,” Kai urges in between laughs. “Day after tomorrow? Two days after tomorrow?” The laughter doubles.

In the end, Suho chooses “Baby You Are." “The song uses band sounds and I really like the sound of the guitar,” he answers, before replying in English: “The intro is the best!” He flashes an assured smile and gives a thumbs up to further prove his point.

“The intro is your part!” Chen lovingly chides. “It’s because you sang that part!”

The most emotional track on the album is “Butterfly Effect," which is a direct callback to the group’s 2013 song “Don’t Go” (which literally translates to “Butterfly Girl”). The song, according to Chanyeol, was selected as a way to thank fans for their unwavering support over the last seven years.

“After viewing the different universes portrayed in EXO’s albums, you’ll be able to see a connection between Obsession and our previous records,” Chanyeol says. “In songs like ‘Don't Go’ and ‘Butterfly Effect’, there are butterflies that resist the Red Force [the canonical evil force mentioned throughout EXO’s music videos] and protect EXO. To us, these butterflies represent our fans, who are always beside us no matter what. They are why and how we exist.”

He continues: “Because of our fans — through their love and support — we are able to overcome any difficulties [we face as a group]. This is probably one of the biggest messages that we wanted to share on this album.”

Prior to their debut seven years ago, the members’ goals for the future were heavily built upon their dream to debut together. Chanyeol recalls that, before they were ever officially called EXO, each member was bonded together by a “common goal to create good music as one” as well as their frequent discussions while training to “work together for a very long time."

“At the time of our debut, we had achieved nothing and everything was up in the air. We talked about working together for a long time, hitting number one on the chart, winning awards, and more,” Kai replies, tone contemplative as he leans closer. “Personally speaking, when we eventually achieved all those goals, I realized, yes, winning awards and being successful is important, but more importantly being able to perform happily as an artist is what mattered the most. There were times when I obsessed over our sales record, stages, and something tangible, but now my goal and dream is to be a happy artist, being satisfied with what I do.”

At the end of Kai’s answer, EXO breaks out into a hearty round of applause. Kai bashfully shines on the encouragement with a soft grin. “He’s like a supervisor,” Baekhyun teases. Chanyeol concurs, “He’s like a CEO!”

Looking ahead, EXO’s goals for the upcoming year aren’t the grandiose, tangible achievements of their youth, but rather to keep the promise they made to each other all those years ago: to make music together for a really long time. “I’m wishing all the members’ health and happiness [in the future],” Chen says.

“Being able to perform for a long time as one, being able to meet the fans for a long time…” Kai reflects. “That’s the most important.”

source: emlyn travis @ Teen Vogue

#exo #suho #baekhyun #chen #chanyeol #kai #sehun #t: info

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dailyexo · 5 years ago

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[INTERVIEW] EXO - 191220 Teen Vogue: K-Pop Stars EXO Reflect on How Far They've Come — and How Far They'll Go

"As Chen tells Teen Vogue, this year has been “a time for EXO to reflect” on their past, present, and future.

As Chen tells Teen Vogue, this year has been “a time for EXO to reflect” on their past, present, and future as they reunite to promote their sixth album Obsession.

Amongst the members, X-EXO wins in a landslide over the team they liked the most.

“I was going to say the same,” Suho says, shocked. A mischievous grin spreads on Baekhyun’s face. “Stop it,” he teases.

“The intro is your part!” Chen lovingly chides. “It’s because you sang that part!”

“Being able to perform for a long time as one, being able to meet the fans for a long time…” Kai reflects. “That’s the most important.”"

Photo links: 1, 2, 3

Credit: Teen Vogue.

#EXO #EXO K #EXO M #191220 #exo im #exo k im #exo m im #p:news #t:news #fs:teen vogue #comeback:Obsession

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mochuelovelli · 4 years ago

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Some Alt. Jobs for the Kids in the Future:

Mainly doing this as just a thought experiment. Usually people are of one mind on what the kids will *probably* be when they are older(myself included) so I wanted to give some alts that could fit their personalities.

Louie-Manger/Agent:Making this list mainly for him because I recalled Princess Carolyn from BoJack and how her job could fit Louie pretty well. Ik a lot of people headcanon Lawyer! Louie, I do too, but I think this would be a fun idea.

A manager's job is basically finding ways to get their client's hired or trying to tailor a client's project in order for it to be marketable. We already seen Louie do this in his ep this season but I think it be cool if became a legit job for him. He's still a McDuck ward so nothing with his business would be "normal" and he would have to do similar "schemes" to get his clients jobs, especially if they are inter-dimensional goat demons.

Louie would probably say the reason he became a manager would be "because I've been trying to convince people I am good enough my entire life, might as well make a career out of it". Edgy ik, but this is Louie we are talking about of course he say some dumbshit.

Dewey-YouTube Personality: this is probably just a less popular hc rather than one that's not talked about at all like the Louie (or the next couple examples). For me, I can't see Dewey being anything but some kind of globe trotting adventurer who would also record it for views. But in the case that DIDN'T happen, I think he'd become a youtube personality and make shows with his friends and family. I think it be really cute, that even as they grown older and become more independent, Dewey can still find ways to bring them all to his house to be apart of his youtube show(s) where he and a guest try to guess obscure history facts Webby comes up with (Watchers know what I'm talking about) or where he and some friends try to solve unsolved mysteries or try and bake without a recipe (im really showing what content i watch).

His Youtube channel would be sporadic like, "series" but he doesn't make actual playlists (Huey or Violet do) and uploads whatever he wanted to do that week. Good thing is, he never misses an upload date. Almost.

Huey-Military Engineer/Tech Guy (IE better Beaks): I had the hardest time with figuring out Huey since like Webby, he can pretty much be in any field to me (as long as its stem related). This suggestion to me is the least chill out of all of them but I picked it because 1. Huey likes structure and chain of command and 2. Science and defense systems.

Out of his brothers, Huey isn't the most WORRIED about safety but he definitely is the one who would do something about it to fix it. I can see him making some intergalactic defense systems and various prevention junk. Maybe he works under Gosalyn's administration[see gos] or he makes "unnatural-natural phenomenon" protection stuff. Kinda like the seawalls in Venice but like, stuff to make sure the Earth doesn't get destroyed because of all the crazy shit the duckverse has. Like ghost forcefields or the reversal of timephoons. I don't think he would be a Tony Stark character tho so I am not 100% with this one.

He could also just be a tech guy, but yknow, better than Mark Beaks. He accidentally has more followers than him would crush him in twitter fights (an example would be something along the Logan Paul vs Chris D'Elia). I find this just really funny, Huey would actually be what all those "good guy billionaires" claim to be (also he wouldn't be one just as a matter of principle). Owlson would probably be his mentor or maybe just business partner.

Webby-Comic Artist/Cartoonist: Webby, to me, can pretty much go into any field and I would be like "yeah makes sense". However I know in my heart she'd be some kind of spy or detective. Thinking about her being anything else was honestly kinda hard but then I realized she DOES have another hobby which could be turn into a career - her drawings and stories. Webby is definitely a creative person, maybe the most creative so far in front of or slightly behind Dewey, so I think she would like to make comics and cartoons.

If you want to be angsty, maybe she chooses this mundane route because she was somewhat conditioned by her granny (or her creators if theories are to he proven right) to be a super spy; choosing to be a cartoonist is something she was never trained to become and yet she still did because it's something SHE wanted to do for herself.

Lena-Poet/Song Writer: okay another one that might not be uncommon but I like to just see it thrown out there. Lena is cool in large part because of her magic but in a possible similar motivation to Webby, she wanted to be a poet not only because she was good at it but because she wanted to be. This doesn't have to be her main hussle, usually I don't see it as such, but I also think it be cute if she became a new Robert Frost (this is the only poet ik sorry).

Violet-Cosmologist: Most people see Violet as either some kind of chemist, professor, or occasionally a witch. I think another good alt tho would be cosmology since Violet herself wants to understand the world around her, which is a bit different from Huey who wants to obtain knowledge for knowledge sake in the case it might come in handy though not extremely. Cosmology as field in the dt universe must be WILD too since im pretty sure most scientists know of all the magic and junk, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if there was a legit subject on it or multiple. Trying to make sense of YOUR universe while knowing others exist along with time travel, possibly multiple after lifes? Its a lot. Perfect job for Vi.

Boyd-Therapist/architect: I feel like this isn't such a niche hc, but I do see more folks make him into his own superhero and/or an accountant. I might be playing into the Baymax stereotype of robots being good mental health assistants but idc, I think it's warranted since he has gone through and understands trauma. Maybe he focuses on those who need rehabilitation or are unable to get paid treatment. Maybe he just helps those who have committed crimes. Another alt is that he becomes an architect, building well planned buildings and public spaces in a flash by utilizing his vast abilities. He might even be commissioned to make space colony housing.

Gosalyn-Politican: Alright so, Gosalyn being a superhero like her dad is like, canon but again in an alt universe where it WASN'T (or maybe later in her life) I can see her becoming political. Frank even laid out some of what inspired this iteration of Gosalyn which included notable political activists, so as of rn its not that far of a stretch to say she might be interested in that. I have a feeling its happens because she gets riled up for something in particular rather than she always wanted to be a career politician or whatever. She would definitely be a less polished politician and that be her appeal, she'd kinda be like an AOC in that regard(im sorry I tried really hard not to name drop political figures but-). An example of her "abnormal" diplomacy tactics is where she stopped Ragnarok semi permanently by absolutely wrecking their shit. (She be dramatic about it like her dad, coming in her normal President wear and then throw it off to reveal some crazy wrestling shit. Louie would also make a lot of money that day.)

#ducktales #dt17 #ducktales 17 #ducktales 2017 #huey duck #louie duck #hdl #dewey duck #webby vanderquack #gosalyn mallard #lena saberwing #violet sabrewing #boyd gearloose #boyd drake #boyd

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blurry-fics · 5 years ago

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Sketches

Pairing: Tyler Joseph x Reader

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1491

Request: Hi Kae! Could you write sth where Tyler accidentally finds out that his s.o. can draw, but hardly ever does so cause of insecurities? Thanks 💛 -Anonymous

Author’s Note: I haven’t really written many fics set during the hiatus, so this was super fun to do! Hopefully all of you enjoy it as well :) (gif credit)

“Ok, what do you think of something like this?”

Tyler slid his laptop over so that it was now sitting in front of you. On the screen was a listing for a plain, brown jacket, complete with some large pockets and a nice zipper right down the center. You and Tyler had spent all morning looking through various clothing websites, seeking out inspiration and potential outfits for the next set of music videos. Since it was the first introduction the fans would get to the new era, as well as the end of the hiatus, Tyler was really putting the pressure on himself.

“Would you wear it just like that?” you asked.

“Well, no. It would probably have some yellow on it and we could dirty it up a bit to make it look worn,” Tyler said, absentmindedly pointing at the jacket. “I don’t think this is it.”

He slowly closed the laptop and buried his face in his hands, letting out a long sigh as he did so. You reached over and lightly rubbed at his back, making sure to give a little extra attention to his shoulders. Between finishing up the album and preparing to end the hiatus in a few short months, Tyler had been extra stressed lately. You were doing your best to support him in any way that you could.

“It’s like I have this whole vision in my head and then I can’t pinpoint, what, a jacket? It’s ridiculous,” he continued.

“Sometimes having a vision can make it harder because you’re looking for something that might not even exist.”

“I know. It just feels like I haven’t found anything that’s even close to what I’m imagining.”

“Ok, I think I have an idea,” you said. “Just wait here for a second.”

You left Tyler sitting at the dining table with a confused expression on his face as you ran off to the office. When you returned with a piece of paper and a pencil in hand, he had already gone back to scrolling through the endless pages of utility jackets that the website had to offer.

“What’s this idea of yours?” he asked as you sat back down next to him.

“I want you to close your eyes.”

“Eyes are closed,” he nodded.

“Ok, now picture the outfit in your head. I want you to think of all the little details and everything.”

Tyler thought for a moment. “Ok.”

“Now describe it to me in as specifically as you can.”

While Tyler described the outfit, you sketched it all onto the sheet of paper you had grabbed from the office. It had been awhile since the last time you did some sketching, a combination of never having the free time to do it and letting your insecurities get in the way when you did, but all of your old techniques came right back to you as soon as the pencil hit the paper. Keeping up with Tyler’s descriptions was a breeze, and you even managed to sketch in his face just for fun.

“Then you add the yellow tape over the shoulders and I think that’s it.”

“Hold on just a second,” you said, drawing out the end of the word as you quickly sketched in some tape. “Ok, do you want to take a look?”

“Yeah.”

Tyler slowly blinked his eyes open and leaned over so that he could see the piece of paper sitting in front of you. His eyes immediately went wide and he pulled it closer to him, letting his eyes roam over your haphazard sketch.

“Y/N,” he said plainly. “You drew this?”

“Yes.”

“Just now?”

“Yes.”

“Wow, this is amazing.”

You felt your cheeks getting hot from Tyler’s obvious impression with your artistic ability. It was never something you had really made a fuss about drawing attention to, mostly because you had never entirely convinced yourself that you were living up to the hype other people gave you.

“It’s just a sketch,” you shrugged. “Nothing special.”

Tyler had fully picked up the paper now. “Nothing special? Y/N, we’ve been dating for four years and I had no idea you could draw like this. If I hadn’t listened to you sketch this as I was speaking, I wouldn’t have believed you did it in ten minutes. Look! That’s me!”

“Yeah, that’s you,” you laughed.

“Also you totally nailed the outfit design. That’s almost exactly what I was picturing in my head.”

“I thought getting a sketch of the picture in your head would help you, and everyone else, find something that resembled what you wanted for the video. If nothing else, we can put a little more manpower into finding it now that we all have a clear vision.”

“This was a great idea,” Tyler nodded. His eyes were still glued to the sketch. “Thank you so much.”

He leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to your lips.

“I’m happy to help, Ty.”

Tyler looked over the sketch for a little while longer before he finally set it back down. “Do you, um, have any sketchbooks or anything? I would love to see more of your art, Y/N.”

Now it was your turn to raise your eyebrows in shock. There had only been a small handful of times in your life when people asked to look through your sketchbooks.

“Yeah, I have some in the closet upstairs.”

“Alright, let’s go-”

“Hey, hey,” you said, reaching out and putting a hand on Tyler’s arm. “Why don’t we get through the rest of the outfit ideas you have in your head and then we can go look through my sketchbooks.”

Tyler slowly sat back down in his chair, “Yeah, that’s probably not a bad idea.”

So that’s what you did. Tyler described another handful of outfits to you, all of which you sketched down onto a piece of paper. Each time, he was just as impressed with the outcome. You were also enjoying seeing a small piece of Tyler’s universe come together.

When you had finally gotten through all of Tyler’s ideas, you led him upstairs to the closet where you had tucked your sketchbooks away and laid them all out. You sat cross-legged on the floor with Tyler and watched as he slowly flipped through their pages, making comments on nearly every sketch or full-size drawing that you had done. No matter how many times you tried to brush off his compliments, Tyler insisted that they were sincere.

“I swear I’ve never seen you draw once during the entirety of our relationship,” Tyler said as he flipped through one of your high school sketchbooks. “Until today, that is.”

“I stopped drawing as much once I got out of high school. Sometimes I would draw if I got bored while you were out at meetings, but even those moments were few and far between.”

Tyler looked up at you, “Why did you stop?”

“I wasn’t happy with what I was creating and it slowly started to become more of an obligation than a hobby. I never really had a reason to keep doing it, either.”

“Why did you hate what you were creating? These are beautiful.”

“You know how it is,” you sighed. “Sometimes you just hate everything you create with no real reason for it. Not to mention that I always had friends who were better than me, so I convinced myself that my art would never live up to the things they were creating.”

“You can’t compare art, though,” Tyler frowned. “Everyone has their own unique style and vision that could never be compared to someone else’s. You’re the only person that can make art quite like this, Y/N.”

“I know, trust me, I’ve heard it a million times. I would love to get back into art, it’s just hard to overcome that wall of insecurity.”

Tyler gently closed the sketchbook he was holding and set it back on the top of the pile.

“Well, I would love to help you get back into it however I can. Your art is beautiful and worth sharing and I would hate to see you shut it away because you fail to see the beauty in it.”

Your mouth slowly curled up into a smile. “Thanks, Ty. That means a lot.”

He held his arms out and you happily accepted his hug, making sure to press a quick kiss to his cheek as you did so. You hadn’t expected Tyler to be so supportive of your art, but you would be lying if you said you weren’t happy that he did. Drawing had been a huge part of your life, and you were glad that you had the opportunity to bring it back with plenty of people to support you.

“You know, there’s some more concepts I have that I would love to see on paper, if you’re up for the challenge.”

You smiled and kissed him again, “Absolutely.”

#tyler joseph #tyler joseph x reader #tyler joseph fluff #twenty one pilots #twenty one pilots fluff #tyler joseph imagine #tyler joseph drabble #tyler joseph fanfiction #twenty one pilots x reader #twenty one pilots imagine #twenty one pilots drabble #twenty one pilots fanfiction #fluff #skeleton clique #blurry-fics #gn!reader

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moonscribe · 6 years ago

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Dungeon Blogging #1: Warlock Necromancers

Once upon a time a friend of mine asked me for advice on how to build a warlock necromancer in 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons. My response was to send them a long string of texts that was my breakdown on the matter. For this new blog series I thought I’d start out with that. So here is my take on building a necromancer as a warlock in 5e.

So necromancers in D&D run into the same problem as animal companions and summoned creatures: action economy. One of the most powerful things that you can do in a turn based game is get more of it, that’s why Extra Attack is such a big deal for combat classes. When you have one or more zombies doing your bidding you’re getting more things that you can do in a turn which is something that Wizards of the Coast is hesitant about giving to low level characters. Because of this, most of the low level “necromancy school” spells (Toll the Dead, Cause Fear) have nothing to do with making undead and your first real necromancy spell Danse Macabre doesn’t show up until level 9.

When a player has a character concept they generally want to play that concept right away. Waiting however many months or years it takes for their character to reach level 9 is not what most players are looking for when they say they wanna be a necromancer. This is why so many campaigns start out with a party of level 3 characters. By level 3 the druids can wildshape, the monks have ki, and every class has chosen their subclass, which is where your character really comes to life.

So assuming you don’t want to wait until you have 5th level spell slots for your character to feel right, there are two things that you need to do: be on good terms with your Dungeon Master (always important) and take advantage of the freedom to reskin and reflavor abilities. The spell Find Familiar is extremely good as it provides a ton of utility and flavor. Every game I’ve played with a character that took this spell has gotten crazy use out of it, it’s hands down one of the most useful 1st level spells in the book. Whatever animal you summon with the spell has either the celestial, fey, or fiend monster type. That’s the rules as written. That said the Player’s Handbook is ultimately a book of suggestions for the DM to use to make their group have a fun experience and in the spirit of such I’d say 95% of them are going to be willing to let you choose undead as your familiar’s type (this may not work in Adventurer’s League). Now imagine your warlock, conspiring with dark forces their familiar perched atop their shoulder, perhaps it’s a zombie weasel or a skeleton crow! There is so much exciting stuff aesthetically to go from here and help flesh out the image of the character you want to play. Now technically Find Familiar is not on the warlock spell list but there are some ways around this without multiclassing to take a level in wizard (though that is an option too).

The first two options are feats so if you’re playing a human you can take these at level 1: Magic Initiate and Ritual Caster. Magic Initiate gives you two cantrips and one 1st level spell that you can cast once per day, they all have to be the same class so your cantrips would be from the wizard spell list giving you good utility options like Message and Mending as well as the necromancy attack options of Toll the Dead and Chill Touch. If you take the Ritual Caster feat then you get to cast wizard spells but only as rituals and you only learn them from scrolls, spellbooks, and the like. The spells you get from these feats will always be cast with your intelligence rather than your Charisma so be wary of that.

The other two options are a little better in my opinion but don’t come until level 3: Pact of the Chain and Pact of the Tome. Pact of the Tome gives you 3 additional cantrips from any class and access to the Book of Ancient Secrets eldritch invocation which functions like the Ritual Caster feat but better since you get access to rituals from any class and still use your charisma. Pact of the Chain is my favorite giving you the ability to cast the Find Familiar ritual as well as access to four, much more powerful familiars: imp, pseudodragon, quasit, and sprite. Imps and quasits are CR1, which is to say a balanced challenge for a party of four level 1 adventurers! Furthermore, they along with the pseudodragon have magic resistance as well as the ability to share their magic resistance with their summoner! Finally, unlike a normal familiar, Pact of the Chain familiars can attack (at the cost of the warlock’s own attack). Now I know you edgy nerds who got this far reading a blog post about how to make a necromancer warlock are going to be at least interested in the idea of summoning a zombie pseudodragon. Its tattered leathery wings and empty eye sockets burning with the cold blue flames of undeath serving as a reminder to everyone you encounter that your totally Chaotic Good and not going to sick your pet the next NPC to draw your ire.

Okay that was a lot more about the Find Familiar spell than I expected to write so I’ll keep the next bit brief.

As I mentioned Danse Macabre (5th level) is your first real necromancy spell. It lets you quickly animate several corpses for combat but its a concentration spell with an hour long duration, after that time the undead return to being normal dead bodies. Wizards, Spore Druids, and Death Clerics all get the 3rd level spell Animate Dead but that’s them and we aren’t so spoiled. At level 11 we get Create Undead which lets us make the more elite undead: ghouls, and later ghasts, wights, and mummies.

At level 9 I’d take the Eldritch Invocation Whispers of the Grave which lets you cast Speak With Dead as many times as you want without spending a spell slot.

Finally when it comes to subclasses there are two patrons who will reward you well for your service.

The first is The Undying from the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide. This patron is usually a lich on an evil god and it basically sets you up as a lich in training. You get some self healing powers, the undead have trouble attacking you, and at level 10 you don’t require food, water, or sleep (though you still need long rests) and you age at a rate of 1 year for every 10 which is even crazier if you play an elf.

The other patron to look at is The Hexblade. The Critical Role fans reading this (which is to say probably more than half of you) will recognize this as Fjord’s patron. The Hexblade is the most thematically versatile of all of the warlock patrons, the book is vague about what your patron actually is beyond “a mysterious entity from the Shadowfell- a force that manifests in sentient magic weapons carved from the stuff of shadow” so who or what your patron actually is is up to you and your DM. Mechanically the reason that we care is the 6th level class feature Accursed Specter which lets you bind the soul of someone you just killed, raising it as a specter. The Specter gets temporary hit points equal to half your warlock level and a bonus to it’s attacks equal to your charisma modifier so it’s slightly stronger than a normal specter. In addition, it sticks around until you take a long rest at which point it passes on to the afterlife. You can only do this once per long rest so don’t expect to collect a bunch of souls and see how long you can sleep deprive your character.

Although 5th edition is relatively simple, there are a lot of potential combinations to create lots of types of characters. If there was anything I missed be sure to let me know!

If you have a question or idea for a future Dungeon Blogging post be sure to send me an ask! ^^

Edit: I was asked to cite the art used in this post, I don’t know where the bird art was from so I replaced it. I apologize.

Art: Willian Murai, Tianhua X, (I couldn’t find the name of the artist for the last piece but it’s from page 153 of Xanathar’s Guide to Everything).

#5e #Dungeons and Dragons #DnD #Necromancer #Warlock #Dungeon Blogging #Critical Role

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rivetgoth · 5 years ago

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Okay, the verdict is out, I finally got to watch THREE FROM HELL after anticipating it for ages and I got some thoughtz.

First, some full disclosure, so y’all know where my biases are:

1. I genuinely adore House of 1000 Corpses and I consider The Devil’s Rejects one of my favorite movies of all time. In general I really adore a lot of Rob Zombie’s work — I also loved 31. That being said, he’s been hit or miss in the past and there’s some stuff of his I really detested too, but overall he’s not only impressed me but stood out as the creator of some of my absolutely favorite films. I wanna clarify this because I’ve seen a lot of people write up scathing reviews for this film that literally start with “I HATE ROB ZOMBIE’S MOVIES!!!!!” and that just seems like a really unfair way to approach a review specifically for a sequel. Idk what you’re expecting to get out of it.

2. Speaking of that, I love good horror sequels and some of my favorite movies of all time are specifically sequels. I fall in love with characters and concepts and I love seeing them expanded on in fun ways. I have no inherent negative feelings towards sequels at all.

I say all this to point out that I was genuinely looking forward to this movie without any unfair biases, it didn’t have to change my mind on anything larger than itself, like “convince me that Rob Zombie is a capable film director after all” or “convince me that sequels have artistic merit” or anything like that.

My overall thought, before I explain anything else, is pretty much that I feel like the first half of the film is extremely promising and fun, and the second half of the movie is so bad that I more or less wish I’d just turned it off halfway through and pretended that was the whole film. And, given the fact that so many of the developmental issues with the film that led to its shakiness came from Sid Haig’s declining health, I almost feel like this wasn’t a movie that had to be made at all — at least in this form.

I read one review that pretty much said that for Rob Zombie to revive this series he needed a damn good reason, and he never managed to make that reason clear. And I feel like that’s exactly what my overall takeaway was here. The ending of Devil’s Rejects is pretty much perfect. In order for that to be retconned and expanded upon, something really mind blowing had to happen. In general, even when you’re not taking the risk of retconning an ending of such epic proportions, if a sequel is made to something I want to see it do something new and uniquely memorable in its own right. Devil’s Rejects itself is a perfect example of this; one of the things I completely adore about it is the fact that it expanded upon the very classic retro slasher feel of 1000 Corpses to center the attention on the killers and recreate them as antiheroes with an entirely different tone. Similarly, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 stands out to me as one of the great horror sequels, partly in the way it so fearlessly completely shifts it’s tone away from the total frenzied isolation horror of TCM 1 and does something entirely different. Other series try less for “perspective/atmosphere shift” and more for “just go bigger” and that can work too — I think the increasing extremity of gore and complexity of the traps in the Saw series (which I love) is a good example, especially through the first three films which are by far the best as a coherent trilogy.

The WEIRD thing about Three From Hell is that Rob Zombie has clearly proven that he 1) understands the idea of sequels that build upon original films in unique new ways 2) has no qualms being increasingly and shamelessly extreme and shocking and horrific. But instead, I felt like Three From Hell is... jarringly tame, actually, compared to what we got from Rejects. And I mean, in some ways that’s fine, I didn’t necessarily miss the way-too-long graphic rape scene in Rejects, which is a miserable chore to get through in just how sickening it is. But there’s no moment where I felt that we get anything more extreme or intense than what’s seen in Rejects. It all feels like it’s been toned way down, which is bizarre to me. The victims aren’t people we’re sympathetic towards like the traveling musicians we meet in Rejects, and their deaths aren’t particularly gruesome - The majority of the deaths in this movie are “shot in the head” or “stabbed.” That’s it. The climax of the film is extremely similar to the opening shootout of Rejects, with significantly lower stakes and less memorable artistic direction, meaning that one film’s introductory scene is able to create a more intense moment than this one’s entire two hour duration.

The thing is, I feel like the first half of the movie really has potential. There are things I could nitpick — for example I love Richard Brake and I feel like Foxy is fun but flat — but the majority of my complaints would be things that, if the movie had a stronger second half, could easily have been further developed and solved. In fact, the first half of the movie feels like it’s gearing up to pretty much be exactly what I’d want out of a Rejects sequel. It’s weird and engaging and markedly different from its predecessors. It focuses on Otis, Spaulding, and Baby’s survival and arrest after the ending of Rejects, the subsequent trial, and then Otis’ escape and attempt to save Baby (after Spaulding is given the death penalty; more on that later). There’s a ton I love here, mostly Otis and Baby’s relationship being given more time in a really interesting way. The stakes are high and Otis clearly cares about his sister to a degree that feels like a fitting continuation of Rejects’ attempts at showing sympathetic or relatable aspects to these characters that makes them very three dimensional and complex. Bill Moseley is the fucking greatest and his ability to make Otis so completely depraved and unrestrained while also clearly caring about his family is one of my favorite things about the series and this played it up really well. You get the feeling that Otis is genuinely concerned for Baby, even after she’s freed, although it mostly comes out in yelling and deadpan snarking. Baby, meanwhile, gets the beginning of a completely fascinating character arc that included my favorite dialogue and scenes through the entire film as we’re shown that after a decade in prison she’s gone completely off the deep end. She rambles on about being Snow White and saving kittens and cries while hallucinating ballerinas with cat heads. By the time she’s free even Otis is expressing vocal concern for her. We get to meet the first half of the film’s main antagonist, Warden Virgil Harper, who was memorable and fun and felt right at home in the Rejects canon. We got the chance to see him developed into a character you almost start to feel sorry for; he’s cocky, but he clearly has no idea how in over his head he really is. On top of this, the scene when the clown shows up at Harper’s house while Otis and Foxy are torturing him and his friends and family is the best torture scene in the film in the complete absurd awfulness of the clown trying to put on a funny show while everyone is sobbing and a man is bleeding out.

At this point, the movie is going in a direction I totally dig. By the time Baby is finally free and able to reunite with Otis and he’s picking up on how fucked up she’s become, I’m genuinely excited to see how things will develop. It feels like Rob Zombie was setting up a film where we get to explore the siblings’ dynamic in a way that’s new and intriguing but developing from the things people loved in Rejects, which is that perfect blend of “utterly irredeemably despicable people” and “genuinely likable, oddly human characters.” Baby and Otis only really have each other at this point (Foxy is there, but even in the movie itself they allude to the fact that he really barely matters — a bit of a copout of a running gag, but whatever), and Baby actually voices this. It hit me at that moment how all of their family has died, and considering how much family has been a driving force for these characters, they were literally initially introduced in 1000 Corpses as the classic murder family and that’s all been taken from them, it’s genuinely sad. Spaulding’s death feels like it could be the final catalyst for... something to come from this, as that was Baby’s father and such a hugely important member of the Firefly family. We have Otis and Baby, alone (well, accompanied by Foxy) in the late 1980s (also a COMPLETELY not utilized detail), on the run as the country’s most wanted serial killers and trying to cope with the weird scenario of being merciless murderers who’ve had their entire family taken from them.

But we don’t get any of that in the second half. At all. Instead, we have Baby suggesting they all run away to Mexico. They do, winding up in a little hotel in the middle of nowhere full of prostitutes and alcohol. Baby wins a knife throwing contest against some big misogynistic guys. Then Danny Trejo’s character’s unmentioned son shows up (oh yeah; Danny Trejo was here for about 5 seconds, he died early on), has about 3 lines of dialogue, sends in 20 masked luchadors to kill Baby and Otis, they have an extremely long low stakes shootout, and with the help of the second half’s most interesting but still underdeveloped and shockingly unironically sympathetic character they burn Danny Trejo’s son alive and the movie ends. And that’s it. The characters regress even further backwards than their Rejects counterparts. They don’t really do... anything, actually. Otis fucks some women and then lays in bed flirting with them until the luchadors show up with their machine guns. My favorite moment was Otis’ attempts at saving Baby’s life by telling Aquarius (Danny Trejo’s character’s son) to let her go because he was the only one responsible for his father’s death, and they share a brief exchange about family. But that was one interesting moment amidst an extremely stale and low stakes plot separate from anything I care about after the intensity and high stakes present in the previous movie’s climax, and even this movie’s first half. A lot of things are recycled here, like the revenge plot driving the antagonist, but Sheriff Wydell’s descent into righteous insanity in Rejects was given way more time to develop, or a character betraying the Fireflys’ trust, but instead of the extremely memorably shocking, selfish betrayal from Charlie who was a longtime acquaintance clearly considered family (plus he actually attempts to “redeem” himself in the end), this is betrayal from a random hotel owner we do not know or care about. When the credits roll and we see Otis and Baby and Foxy driving away to... somewhere, I don’t even know where they’re going, I’m not even really sure what I’m supposed to feel. I chuckled a little at Baby being allowed to drive after an earlier argument where Otis asserted she shouldn’t, but that was it.

I hadn’t read anything about this movie before watching it, because I didn’t want anything to be spoiled for me. I was really excited for it! I learned that Sid Haig, who of course passed on only very recently (RIP), was dealing with very serious health issues that made him unable to film the movie, when originally the film had been written with the original infamous three - Otis, Baby, Spaulding - as the leads for the whole thing. Rob Zombie wanted to honor him with at least a cameo, knowing that the movie wouldn’t be the same without the Captain, but aside from a brief few minutes of screen time he had to rewrite the whole rest of the film with Spaulding removed. I feel like that’s where a majority of the problems with the movie lie. It’s why Foxy is as flat as he is and it’s why there’s an awkward uncertainty in how to deal with the loss of the Captain as the patriarch and why the whole idea of Otis and Baby’s aloneness is so awkwardly glossed over, like Mr. Zombie noticed the elephant in the room enough to address the turmoil but didn’t want to rewrite the entire movie from scratch to account for one of the most important characters in the franchise (maybe THE most important) being unexpectedly killed off.

Now, I LOVE some films that have been to developmental hell and back and came out as solid movies. In fact, there’s an extremely special place in my heart for films that fought tooth and nail to be made. It inspires me as a creator myself and it’s why indie low budget horror is my favorite genre of movie. I absolutely love seeing creators fight to bring their artistic visions to life against the odds. There are fantastic sequels out there where major actors either died or refused to/were unable to return and the stories were reworked or the actors replaced. I feel like something went wrong here. The moment he realized that Sid Haig would be unable to return, Rob Zombie should have set the whole thing aside and done a total rewrite. Right now, the knowledge of what was going on with Sid Haig behind the scenes makes the movie’s shortcomings go from “poor writing and storytelling decisions” to “genuinely extremely sad.”

One of the things I totally love about the writing of Devil’s Rejects is the way Rob Zombie inserts seemingly random moments that do nothing but add to the overall atmosphere and tone of his world. Random arguments, random character quirks, random shots of random things that simultaneously add a gritty “anything goes” realism as well as a surreal absurd humor. I’m also ALL for disjointed, nonlinear, or otherwise experimental and strange plots with a lot going on in them, I don’t think a big genre shift halfway through a movie is inherently bad. In the past, it’s been Rob Zombie’s fearlessness with experimenting with strange, often shameless storytelling decisions that have made his films so memorable and enjoyable and even inspiring to me. But in Three From Hell, there’s just a sense that everything feels kind of... disconnected and unfinished. It feels like two different movies were trying to be made and neither were fully developed. It just ends up sort of feeling like a kind of sad mess.

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writerchickmarie · 5 years ago

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John Lloyd Young’s Broadway - Dreams Revisited and Renewed

Sometimes the best of Broadway is performed north of New York City - three hours north, to be exact.

John Lloyd Young brought his Broadway set to The Mansion of Saratoga for one very special evening, to the delight of everyone in attendance...adding his unique touches to these well-known songs, and proving once again how versatile he is as an artist.

He began the evening by evoking the magic and mystery in “So You Wanted To Meet The Wizard” from The Wiz, complete with his signature shades. From there he moved seamlessly into the beauty and romance of “I Have Dreamed” from The King and I.

Up next was the sly “All I Care About” from Chicago, and you could easily picture JLY on stage as Billy Flynn. The display of versatility continued with “Till There Was You” from The Music Man, done in the style of the Beatles’ arrangement. JLY had also mentioned that he and Tommy Faragher had borrowed from the Tom Jones arrangement of “I Have Dreamed”, weaving the thread throughout the show of how rock music and Broadway often come together to create magic.

JLY has become a master of storytelling, sharing tidbits of how some songs came about, such as how words uttered after a somewhat traumatic event led to the beautiful love song “My Heart Stood Still” (from One Dam Thing After Another/A Connecticut Yankee) - and how he was drawn to a song sung by Anthony Perkins that was different from anything else he had heard while viewing a Broadway special while he was growing up (in upstate New York, not all that far from this particular venue). “Never Will I Marry”(from Greenwillow) is definitely not your typical Broadway tune, and JLY makes you feel all of the pain and angst that goes along with it.

Two of the standouts from this set were “Where Do I Go?” from Hair, which JLY performed when he played Claude while he was in theatre at Brown University, and “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables”, which he performed while playing Marius in Les Miserables at the Hollywood Bowl. JLY completely makes you feel what each of these characters is going through and moves you to tears with his performances. I have to mention here that a few days ago, I heard “Empty Chairs” on Sirius radio on the Broadway station, sung by another performer - whose version doesn’t even come close to JLY’s vocals or the emotion he conveys when he performs it. Hearing it on Thursday night at Saratoga just confirmed that for me - and made me think of how many other roles JLY could shine in as well.

JLY took a well-earned break while Tommy Faragher brought his own brand of soul to “Stand By Me”, which also qualifies as a Broadway song because it was featured in Smokey Joe’s Cafe.

After JLY came back to the stage, he treated us to several selections from Jersey Boys - “My Eyes Adored You”, “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”, and “Walk Like A Man”. He had a lot of fun with the latter, and we did as well. You can easily see - and hear - why he won the Tony Award for his portrayal of Frankie Valli on Broadway.

JLY then made his way around the room to share “One Last Kiss” (from Bye Bye Birdie) with a few members of the audience, and performed one of our favorites, “Unchained Melody”, which also is a Broadway song since it was featured in Ghost: The Musical. We also got to hear “A House Is Not A Home”, which originated in the show “Promises, Promises”.

JLY closed out the show Jersey-style with “Working My Way Back To You” and Sherry”, letting us participate in the singing and the fun.

Whether it’s from the show that he is known for, or another well-known (or not so well-known) Broadway show, John Lloyd Young demonstrates his ability to perform any role while showcasing his incredible vocal range. Don’t miss his show when it comes to your area - or travel to see it if it’s not in a city near you. And if current Broadway producers are smart, they will utilize JLY’s talent and abilities on stage again soon. I foresee another Tony in the future - but for right now, I am thankful that so many of us across the country get to experience the magic of a JLY performance. His is a voice that needs to be heard.

#john lloyd young #john lloyd young friends #broadway #tony award winner

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mishas-workshop · 5 years ago

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Chainer, Your Opponents’ Worst Nightmare

I have to say, when the deck themes were revealed for Commander 2019, I was not very excited. Flashback decks have been done, same with tokens. Morph was kinda neat. The only one that gave me any bit of excitement was the madness one. After the full spoilers, the madness deck was still the only one that had any appeal to me. A big reason for this was Chainer, Nightmare Adept. I have wanted to build a deck around the original Chainer, but Bontu and Skithiryx were already in my rotation, so I didn’t really want to add another mono black commander. The Nightmare Adept had me up all night, brainstorming ideas for how I could build around him. So, I did. Shortly after my LGS opened, I went and picked up a copy of the Merciless Rage precon.

Chainer is essentially, a fixed version of Recurring Nightmare, a card so powerful, it was banned from commander. Not to mention, I am a huge fan of reanimator style decks, so that is the direction I went. In short, you fill your graveyard through looting type cards, then reanimate your creatures and take out everyone! The preconstructed version focuses very heavily on the madness mechanic, and while this deck still utilizes the abilities, it is more focused on accruing value through the graveyard.

Since this is a reanimator deck, let’s start by taking a look at the cards that we will be using to cheat death. Animate Dead is going to be very useful. Very little drawback, not to mention that it combos with Worldgorger Dragon, which allows the deck to do all sorts of crazy infinite combos. Reanimate will bring anything back at the cost of some life. Stitch Together is also in here because of the threshold synergy with a big discard pile. Grave Betrayal has a cmc of seven, but I put it in the deck because taking opponents’ dead creatures is just extra value, especially when someone drops a boardwipe. Not to mention a handful of other things like Boneyard Parley and Mimic Vat.

There are many great reanimation targets that the precon already gave us. Archfiend of Spite is a madness costed Phyrexian Obliterater, Flayer of the Hatebound is a second Warstorm Surge for the deck and Meteor Golem is removal. A few other targets I added include Demonlord Belzenlock, for some additional card advantage. Tsabo Tavoc, to destroy legends at will. Sepulchral Primordial to get even more reanimation value. Finally, Archfiend of Ifnir is a force to be reckoned with in a deck that has so much discard.

That demon is far from the only card in the deck that rewards discarding. Faith of the devoted can help us win over a longer period of time if we need to grind out a win in a control matchup. Bone Miser is a new card from the precon and it is outstanding in a deck like this, it is an inverted Waste Not. Some cards with the original Madness mechanic are: Call to the Netherworld (free Raise Dead), Big Game Hunter (removal), Stromkirk Occultist (card advantage) and Fiery Temper (bolt) among others. Plus, Anger and Filth to benefit all of our creatures if they wind up in the yard. Squee, Goblin Nabob and Sanitarium Skeleton are also here to ensure that we always have something to pitch.

Looting is another mechanic that is a huge part of this deck. Red and Black have a hard time drawing cards without a cost. However, this deck tries to turn that cost into a benefit, seeing as how we want the graveyard to be stacked. Anje Falkenrath, Mad Prophet and Rummaging Goblin are all looters on bodies. Similarly, this build of the deck also runs Magus if the Wheel for an all out discard and draw en masse, if necessary. Tormenting Voice, Cathartic Reunion, Faithless Looting and Burning Inquiry all do a great job at filling both our hand and discard pile. I also put Ill-Gotten Gains in the deck as a way to not only disrupt opponents, but to get extra value out of discarded cards.

Rakdos decks tend to have a bit of a problem with ramp. Solemn Simulacrum is great, especially when it can be used multiple times. However, that isn’t nearly enough. The full ramp package also includes: Rakdos Signet, Rakdos Locket, Sol Ring, Hedron Archive and Gilded Lotus, plus an Armillary Sphere for additional fixing. At some point, I might increase the size of this aspect of the deck by one or two cards. As of right now, it seems a little light to me. More play testing is required before I make a decision.

Removal is something that Rakdos, as a color combination, has loads of. Excluding anything mentioned previously, here is the full removal package: Decree of Pain, In Garuuk’s Wake and Nightmare Unmaking are all mass creature removal. Shattering Spree works as both single and multi target artifact destruction. Bedevil, Dreadbore and Chaos Warp are the other single target removal spells. Chaos Warp can be great at removing enchantments, as Rakdos has an extremely hard time dealing with them in general.

Lastly, I want to touch on some cards that are hard to categorize. Swiftfoot Boots is great and can easily be upgraded to a Lightning Greaves, or paired with on for additional protection and haste. Key to the City helps fill the grave, allow our creatures to get in unblocked and can draw cards to replace those we discarded. Read the Bones is just a solid draw card that can fix the deck before drawing. Entomb puts any one creature i to the graveyard *cough* Worldgorger Dragon *cough*. Wildfire Devils are in here because... I want to see how they do. Garna, the Bloodflame is also here because they allow us to save some of our graveyard if someone threatens it.

This deck is a very fun, very strange deck to play. Often times, it feels like you are shooting yourself in the foot and then suddenly, you have the upper hand. I am pleased with how this deck turned out, but I know there can be even more modifications made. I hope this guide helped some people who may have been interested in a Chainer deck or a reanimation deck, or were on the fence about which of the new Commander 2019 products to pick up. Happy Brewing and as always here is my list: https://manastack.com/deck/chainer-nightmare-adept-5

Artist Credit:

Steve Prescott - Chainer, Robert Bliss - Reanimate, Michael Sutfin - Tsabo Tavoc, Greg Staples - Squee, Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai - Burning Inquiry, Dan Scott - Solemn Simulacrum, Mathias Kollros - Decree of Pain, Wayne England - Worldgorger Dragon

#mtg #mtgcommander #mtgcommunity #edh #magic the card game #magic the gathering #commander 2019 #rakdos #nightmare #budget

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monstersdownthepath · 6 years ago

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Spiritual Spotlight: Cayden Cailean, the Drunken Hero

Chaotic Good God of Ale, Freedom, and Wine

Domains: Chaos, Charm, Good, Strength, Travel Subdomains: Azata, Competition, Exploration, Ferocity, Love, Lust, Resolve

Inner Sea Gods, pg. 36~43

Obedience: Sing a song in praise of freedom, bravery, and your god’s glory (and good looks). The song must be audible to those nearby—friend or foe. Between stanzas, you must pause to drink from a full mug of ale, wine, or other spirits. When the song is done, drink the remaining alcohol while mentally composing the song you will sing on the morrow. If a creature is attracted by your song, do your best to engage it in conversation about the merits of Cayden Cailean. If hostilities become inevitable, leap boldly into the fight without hesitation. Benefit: Get a +4 sacred bonus to saving throws versus poison effects.

Discussing one of Pathfinder’s more well-known Good Guys has been a long time coming! I just had to get all of the Evil gods out of my system first (which is a lie, there’s still 80+ more pages of Evil to discuss), and what better way to wash them all out than with a pint?

The Drunken Hero’s Obedience prevents you from being subtle about who you’re working for. It MUST be audible to anyone nearby, even party members you want to keep it a secret from, and it MUST be about Cayden Cailean. There’s also the fact you have to start your day with a hearty drink (the mug must be full, and you must finish it), which could prove disadvantageous if you have anywhere to be early in the morning. Alternately, you could drink just before going to bed; I make most of the Obediences sound like they’re something to be done right as the day starts, but that’s only true for casters, who are basically encouraged to do their Obediences at the crack of dawn as they prepare their spells (Obediences can be done alongside preparations, no matter how wild they are).

A martial character can have a nice tall nightcap and sing everyone to sleep--the song has to be audible, not ‘ear-cracking’--and enjoy their benefit and Boons for 24 hours, waking up with a mild hangover (easily cured) rather than going about the first few hours of their day like a drunken fool. If you ARE a caster, however, I hope you didn’t dump Constitution, because you’ll need it! Especially if a baddie does overhear your singing and come investigating, because Cayden requires you to leap into the fray no matter what.

Benefit is nothing we haven’t seen before. Ironically, since alcohol itself is considered a poison for the purpose of game mechanics, this benefit actually helps keep you from getting too sloshed. I just hope you remember not to drink your strongest stuff in your first mug, because the bonus won’t apply then!

Boons are gathered slowly, typically obtained when a given character has 12, 16, and 20 hit dice. Unlike fiend-worshipers, servants of the Eldest, and devoted of the Empyreal Lords, characters worshiping Good gods do not seem to have catch-all classes (though I could very well have just missed it)… but Good-aligned characters can enter the Evangelist, Sentinel, and Exalted Prestige Classes earlier than Evil characters, classing in as early as level 6 (they need +5 BAB, 5 ranks in a single skill, or the ability to cast lvl 3 spells); entered ASAP, one can gain the Boons at levels 8, 11, and 14.

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EVANGELIST

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Boon 1: Liberation. Liberating Command 3/day, Knock 2/day, or Dispel Magic 1/day.

You all should know by now how useful Dispel Magic can be, even at 1/day. It shatters more or less any magical effect that doesn’t require another specific spell to undo, and can shave buffs off enemies and debuffs off allies in the middle of combat.

So lets look at the other two! Knock, in particular, seems pretty fun. It can open just about any locked object you can think of and can even go so far as to loosen welds, knock nail-studded boards away, and undo bars and chains holding something shut. You use your caster level +10 versus the DC of a locked object, and since your caster level is equal to your HD for spell-like abilities, you can only fail on a 1 when opening simple locks and have a pretty good chance of unhinging more complex locks as well. It takes SERIOUS effort to keep someone with Knock out of a particular door, because most means of shutting someone out count as ‘simple locks’ unless you invest hundreds of gold into it.

Liberating Command is a pretty nice spell, really. You can target any creature in Close range (25ft + 5ft/lvl) to grant them an immediate attempt to escape a grapple, binding, or restraint with an Escape Artist check... Which get get a bonus to equal to twice your caster level (+18, when you first get this Boon, but it only goes up to +20). One thing I missed on my first pass over it was that it was an immediate action, allowing you to use it in response to someone near you getting grappled, or if you yourself get snared.

Liberating Command is a pretty terrible spell to prepare, but it’s an amazing spell-like to just have at 3/day. The number of critters with Grab in the game is worrying, and many scrawnier players more or less become dead weight the moment they’re grappled, so giving them an instant chance to escape with an enormous boost to their attempt can let them wiggle right out of the grip of a troll/octopus/worm monster.

Boon 2: Drinking Buddy. 1/day as a standard action, you can create an illusory duplicate of yourself in an adjacent square next to you. The duplicate moves on your initiative count and has your movement speed. It automatically moves to try and flank enemies you designate, avoiding Attacks of Opportunity using your Acrobatics bonus if needed. Anyone interacting with the double can attempt a Will save (DC 25) to see through it, and anyone who realizes it’s an illusion cannot be flanked with it. It has your AC, but vanishes instantly if it successfully struck. Otherwise, it lasts 1 round per HD you possess.

Ugh. Cayden, what are you doing? What is this? This is just awful!! I mean, if you’re a class with Sneak Attack or someone who’s built to flank others, this is passable, but at 1/day? Instantly vanishing if damaged? Granting a flat Will save to disbelieve (it does not rise as you level)?

I suppose it makes for a decent distraction, if nothing else. Boosting your own AC before sending in the clones works fairly well, possibly drawing numerous enemy attacks in, and the ability does note that the double only vanishes if hit with an attack, meaning AoE won’t clear it out, and many spells which don’t rely on an attack roll simply fail as well. That gives this ability a bit more utility than it otherwise would have.

But it’s a standard action to perform, at 1/day, and you can’t even send the double into a room alone, since it only exists to try and flank enemies and the description doesn’t mention if it’s usable for anything else. For characters who don’t want to be flanking enemies, this ability is essentially useless.

Boon 3: Intoxicating Strike. 1/day, you may declare one of your attacks to be an Intoxicating Strike. You must declare this before the attack rolls is made. If the attack is successful and deals damage, the victim becomes supernaturally soused for 1 round per HD you possess; a soused creature takes a -4 penalty to AC, attack rolls, and skill checks, and their movement speeds are all reduced by 10ft.

Honestly, this one is kind of pathetic as well. You all probably know that I don’t like 1/day things negated by a successful save unless they change the course of a battle, and this is one of those things and it sets my teeth on edge. I do, however, admit that the fact you can use it on ranged attacks gives this a bit more reach than it otherwise would. A -4 penalty to attacks and skill checks usually won’t matter at such a high level, though there’s always the cases where they turn a certain blow into a near miss, so I won’t talk down too hard on this. A -4 to AC, however? Now THAT’S something special! Especially since there’s a good chance it’ll last the entirety of the fight!

This intoxication, by the way, is entirely supernatural in its intensity. It affects ALL creatures, even ones that can’t get drunk, such as Constructs, Undead, and most Outsiders. And it’s not technically a Save-or-Suck since there’s no save! All you have to do is get past someone’s AC! Which, eehhhhhh, can be just as iffy as firing it at their saves... Unless you’re using a firearm, of course, which hits touch AC from certain ranges.

All in all, Evangelists of Cayden don’t really win this round.

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EXALTED

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Boon 1: Libations. Gain Bless Water 3/day, Delay Poison 2/day, or Create Food And Water 1/day.

And Exalted is already off to a bad start, too! Yeesh! Holy Water stops being useful roughly around level 3 except as components for beefier Divine spells and certain rituals, and Delay Poison is a niche pick rendered useless by the fact Neutralize Poison exists and is within a level 9 party’s reach.

That being said, because spell-likes don’t require components, you don’t need the ridiculous five pounds of silver to transmute a singular pint of water into Holy Water via Bless Water. Holy Water doesn’t fade from day to day, either, so you can just slowly rack up an entire lakes-worth of the stuff over time to dunk Undead and Evil Outsiders in, or sell it by the bottle to churches or other adventuring parties for a tidy profit.

I would still just take Create Food And Water and never have to worry about rations or using resources to bribe hungry enemies again, though. Hell, at level 9, CFAW creates so much stuff that you could reasonably carry it to the next day and just alternate between CFAW and Bless Water (you can even bless the water you create!!!!) to keep everyone fed and armed. You won’t make much money by selling the excess food, but feeding the hungry without expecting profit is something a goody-good person like you should be doing anyway. Just uh, make sure at least one person on your team knows Prestidigitation, because I can speak from experience that a party will quickly grow tired of CFAW’s bland food.

Boon 2: Freedom’s Ally. 1/day as a standard action, you can call a pair of Bralani Azatas to your side. You have telepathy out to 100ft when communicating with them, and they serve you perfectly for 1 minute per HD you possess. They will not fulfill any orders which would cause them to commit evil acts or restrict the freedom of another purely for the sake of law, and asking them to do so may draw their ire. They may attack if your commands are especially vile.

Oops, nevermind, Exalted is Good, Actually. Bralani Azata are CR 6 creatures from the realm of Elysium armed with +1 scimitars and +1 composite longbows that they get two attacks with each round, and have such interesting spell-likes as Mirror Image, Wind Wall, and Charm Person at will, as well as Lightning Bolt and Cure Serious Wounds 2/day each. Against an army of foes, the Bralani can assume Wind Form to grant themselves an enormous 100ft fly speed and the power to deal 3d6 bludgeoning damage in a 20ft line with their Whirlwind Blast ability.

VERY powerful critters to have on your side, even if you’re twice their level! The defensive options they have via Mirror Image and Wind Wall alone make them tenacious even against enemies of higher CR, and their Wind Form turns them from gorgeous humanoids into nondescript clouds of fog, letting them run stealth missions if needed... Or use their massive movespeed to deliver curative spells to far-off allies.

I’m not sure how far away they’re summoned, since this ability doesn’t use any preexisting Summon Monster spell and doesn’t say where they pop up. I assume they appear adjacent to you, which limits the shenanigans you can pull with them, but not enough that I’d consider it worth worrying about.

Boon 3: Wine to Water. As a full-round action, you may transform a single serving of an alcoholic beverage into either potent Holy Water or a potion of Cure Serious Wounds. The potion option cures 3d8 HP, +1 HP per HD you possess (max +15). The Holy Water you create deals 4d4 damage to the Undead or to Evil Outsiders, and 2d4 to such creatures within 5ft of the initial target. Both the potion and water last for an hour. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to your Charisma modifier (min 1).

Ohoho now this is something special... Provided you have a Charisma modifier of 3 or more, because at 1 or 2 a day? This ability’s kinda pitiful. The maximum healing it can do is 39, which is GOOD, but you’re likely never going to roll maximum healing.

Yes, the emergency healing is nice. You can turn even common 1-copper swill into an emergency healing potion, and “a serving” can be as small as a shot glass (which potions are traditionally served in), but it’s a full-round action to do, which means you can’t actually use this ability and then hand it to an ally in the same round. They’d have to use some actions on their turn to take it and drink it. After-combat healing is usually the way to go unless desperate, pouring a quick shot into an unconscious ally’s throat to get them back on their feet. If you know combat is coming you can make the potions ahead of time since they last an hour, but know that if the potion ‘expires,’ the ability is wasted. The use is limited, but it helps your healer’s spell slots stretch just a bit further.

4d4 damage to an undead or fiendish enemy is also pretty lackluster at level 15, the earliest you can get this ability. The best trick you can pull with it is to trick such a creature into drinking it, burning them inside and out and likely preventing them from speaking from the searing their throat just took. This ability is even more hilarious than typical Holy Water in that regard; you can instantly detect shapeshifting Evil beasts by spritzing them with a bit of the stuff, but that likely won’t work against more cunning monsters. This ability, though? It makes suggesting a drink for your friend MUCH less suspicious than handing them a vial of water. You’re just pouring them a cold one to enjoy!

It’s like you’re testing your party for The Thing, only instead of them exploding into a tentacle monster and killing everyone in the room, it’s a secret mystery test that’ll expose them while also debilitating them! That’s about the only use it has at high levels, aside from being used as material components for spells that actually matter.

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SENTINEL

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Boon 1: Devastating Duelist. Bless Weapon 3/day, Brow Gasher 2/day, or Greater Magic Weapon 1/day.

By level 9, most people in the party should have magic weapons anyway. Not always, but usually you’ve got enough of a mystic arsenal to make Bless Weapon redundant. The fact it overrides magical enchantments already on a weapon also means that it becomes weaker as you level up and gain access to better equipment, putting it firmly in the Niche of this list.

Greater Magic Weapon is almost always the better choice when choosing to buff a weapon, though I will admit that Bless Weapons’ ability to auto-crit against Evil creatures is pretty nice. GMW, however, makes any weapon hit harder and hit more easily. The fact it also lasts for 1 hour/level means it’ll likely last your entire adventuring day.

Brow Gasher is also an interesting choice. It forces you to use a slashing weapon (which you already likely do, if you’re a Sentinel of Cayden) but heavily rewards you for doing so; discharging the spell as part of a successful attack slashes the poor fool across the forehead, bleeding them for half your caster level (4 damage a round, which rises as you level) and potentially blinding them if they can’t get it cured in time. The list of creatures who are immune to resistant to this ability is long, but it’s certainly worth taking anyway on the occasion you find yourself against targets capable of bleeding.

Boon 2: Light Weapon Master. Whenever you battle with a light bladed weapon, if you have the Weapon Training (Light Weapon) ability, you get a +2 deflection bonus to AC. If you do not have Weapon Training, instead you get a +1 sacred bonus to attack rolls with light bladed weapons.

Here I thought Evangelists were hogging all the bad Boons this time, but it turns out Sentinel is the one who got shot in the leg here.

This ability basically reads “unless you’re a Fighter, get a lame benefit.” Don’t get me wrong, on an actual Fighter (or a Swashbuckler, if your DM is nice enough)? This ability is amazing. +2 extra AC for a character already loaded with AC makes them that much better at tanking, and it’s a DEFLECTION bonus to it even applies to touch attacks!

But if you’re not a Fighter, this ability is basically worthless. I know I’m being a little harsh here, but a Boon should be ABOVE the power level of a feat, not on part with a feat you can take as early as level 1 (Weapon Focus). Even Drinking Buddy is better than this.

Boon 3: Critical Luck. Each time you roll a natural 1 on an attack roll, keep a tally, up to a maximum of your Charisma modifier. Whenever you threaten a critical hit with an attack roll, you can ‘trade’ one of your tallies to automatically confirm the critical hit. Your tally empties out every 24 hours.

If you roll enough natural 1s to make this ability useful, you’re likely either dead or dead weight. Seriously, you may need to exorcise your dice if you roll three or more 1s in a single day of combat. I think the first thing that would need to go is the Charisma mod limitation, followed by the fact it empties out every 24 hours. Unless you have a weapon with a high critical range, you might not even get to use this ability at all, let alone in the same combat.

I know a lot of abilities rely on luck, but this is one of the only Boons I’ve seen that specifically relies on YOU, personally, having absolutely terrible luck, followed by absolutely fantastic luck. It’s just... not good. I would go as far as saying that this ability could realistically be a simple feat anyone could take, and not even one locked behind particularly terrible prerequisites.

Exalted of Cayden win this round by a long shot.

You can read more about him here.

#Spiritual Spotlight #Saintly Spotlight #alcoholism//#alcohol #Pathfinder #Dungeons and Dragons

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