#cue the 2001 music

[aesethewitch]

Shufflemancy 101: A Brief History & Analysis

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The difficulty with researching something like shufflemancy is that it's a relatively modern phenomenon. I haven't yet found anyone (online or in a book) specifically talking about the origins of shufflemancy as a term or where it might've come from.

So, we start from square one.

What is Shufflemancy?

According to Wikipedia, shufflemancy is divination "by the use of an electronic media player such as an electronic playlist, iPod, or other medium wherein one skips a certain number of songs and the lyrics and/or tune of the song is the answer to the divinatory question."

Simple enough. Use an electronic collection of music that's been shuffled to divine.

This did lead me to the question: What counts as shufflemancy? Does tuning into a radio station count?

It's my opinion that radio divination does not count. There's no shuffle function. Yes, it has an element of chance, and that's what makes it divination. It certainly falls under the wider umbrella of divination via music, too. But it isn't shufflemancy if it doesn't make use of a shuffle function.

So, to make things simple, for something to be shufflemancy, it must:

Use an electronic medium

Involve a randomized shuffle function

Be something the shufflemancer can interpret to answer a question (pretty much anything)

Early Shufflemancy

The earliest form of shufflemancy as we understand it today, using the above requirements, would probably be tape players capable of shuffling music. With the nature of tape, it would take a while for the thing to wind and rewind to find the cue on the tape which signaled the start or end of a song, but it'd work.

With that said, shuffling as we understand and recognize it today would've started with CDs in the 1980s. There were CD players that could hold three to five disks at a time. They could shuffle songs between all disks held in the player, creating a random mix of tunes for listeners to enjoy.

Using either of these methods for divination would work, technically. The results would be somewhat limited, but that doesn't mean it's a bad method to use. Especially if your CD player could hold 5 disks, you could easily put in 5 albums from different artists with all different vibes for a wider variety of outputs.

I certainly remember using my little blue radio that held two CDs at once like this. I'd put in two albums and hit shuffle, and the first song that played would be my vibe and advice for the day. It was divination -- some of the earliest I'd ever done consciously, at the young age of nine. And when I got the bigger one that held three CDs? Game changer.

So this puts shufflemancy's origins somewhere around the mid-to-late 1980s, when Sony put out the first CD player with shuffle. As we moved into the 1990s, CDs became more popular and cassettes faced obsolescence.

The Shuffle Revolution & Early Modern Shufflemancy

In 2005, Apple changed the game again. It had already debuted the iPod in 2001, providing an easy, pocket-sized music experience as a direct challenge to the CD's cultural domination. On January 11, 2005, nearly 20 years ago, Apple announced the iPod Shuffle.

And oh, boy, did it change everything.

I could talk forever about the iPod's impact on the music industry, the death of the in-order album, and the eventual rise of music streaming services. But others have done that to death, so I'll focus in on our topic of shufflemancy.

This is where we start seeing shuffling music as it is now, in the modern day. In my digging, I found mentions of the term "shufflemancy" as early as 2007 -- just two years after the iPod Shuffle was announced. Someone proposed the concept and terminology of "shufflemancy" as we understand it today on a Halfbakery Forum "Idea" post on October 3, 2007.

It's difficult to say whether this is the first instance of the term. In reality, shufflemancy seems to have emerged as a natural by-product of the evolution of music technology. Where there is innovation, witches and diviners will mold it to their purposes. We're a resourceful bunch like that. It grew organically as we moved from buying albums to buying singles to streaming music without buying at all.

People were offering public shufflemancy readings as early as 2009 in places like TarotForum.net. It's spoken about during this era as a "silly" and "new" form of divination that people were trying out. There aren't any dates in that link, but according to the website's data, the first post in the thread was published on June 16, 2009.

From there, shufflemancy saw a gradual rise in popularity. It evolved from using iPods to iTunes, Napster, and eventually Spotify as these new applications emerged.

Shufflemancy Now

If you look up "shufflemancy" using Spotify's search function, you'll receive dozens of results. Many of the top playlists are public ones curated by shufflemancers for themselves and others to use. Options range from general playlists to "mega mixes" containing upwards of 200 hours of music from all different genres, artists, and eras. There are some with a paltry five hours of music, while one that I've seen goes up over the 600 hour mark. (If I can find that one again, I'll reblog it, because... damn.)

Select a "messages from your guides" option from the search or curate your own -- the choice is yours. For one-time shufflemancers, using a pre-made option may be the best, most economical choice. But dedicated shufflemancers sometimes boast multiple hundred-hour playlists for different purposes, all personally curated.

Clearly, it's popular. There are shufflemancers on Tumblr and Etsy offering free and paid services using their specially curated playlists. A quick search is all you need to find someone receiving a divinatory reading via song lyrics, meanings, and vibes. And it seems to work -- sellers on Etsy boast hundreds of positive reviews. Some even offer playlist curation services for personal shufflemancy or messages from deities and/or spirits.

It all begs the question, how does shufflemancy work?

Shufflemancy Methodology

Finding this is significantly easier than pinning down the history of shufflemancy. This post from Tumblr user orriculum, sums it up fairly well. So does this one by the-daily-diviner.

To do shufflemancy, the basic steps are:

Create or find a playlist of songs. A large collection seems to be the most favorable option for a wide spread of possibilities.

Ask a question. Divination 101 -- figure out what you want to know and ask it. Simple enough.

Pick a number. Choose any number and shuffle that many times or skip that many songs.

Listen to the song. Write down lyrics that stick out, messages that come through, and anything else that seems relevant (genre, tempo, vibe, etc.)

Interpret. Take the information gathered during the song and use it to draw conclusions, just like any other form of divination.

Simple enough. Shufflemancy is the sort of method that requires a high level of intuitive thinking. It's very mutable and suits a good amount of personalization.

This is both good and bad, I think. It would be incredibly easy to create a bias in your shufflemancy playlists by selecting songs with primarily one genre, artist, album, emotion, or through-line. The ideal playlist really does have a wide variety of music, and this means selecting songs that the shufflemancer doesn't necessarily like. We all have a genre or artist we hate; excluding an entire genre skews results. Impartial selections of music are critical to the success of good divination. Otherwise, we risk interfering with the outcome.

And speaking of interfering...

The Algorithm Problem

(Note: I'm focusing in on Spotify since it's very commonly used and because it's accessible to me. Shufflemancy can be (and is!) done with plenty of other apps like Apple Music.)

When Spotify was originally launched, it used a version of the Fisher-Yates Shuffle to perform its shuffling of music. In essence, this algorithm takes a finite sequence of data, picks an option from that selection of data, and removes it from the pool. Then, it picks another and another until no more options remain.

At first glance, this seems great! It creates a fairly random output. But as is the nature of randomness, there were clusters. The same artist would play four or five times in a row from a large playlist, and Spotify users complained. It was random, but it didn't feel that way.

The human brain is wired to find connections and patterns. When the same artist plays over and over again despite a playlist being on shuffle mode, it creates a pattern that the brain recognizes. Therefore, the "true" randomness of clustering outputs was unsatisfactory.

So, in 2014, Spotify updated it. Their new algorithm would detect and remember the song it just played and, in shuffling, account for the artist and album to provide a more random-feeling result. The new algorithm detects what's already played and selects accordingly to prevent the same artist from playing twice in a row, just as it prevents the same song from playing twice. It spreads artists out evenly (though not perfectly, to maintain the illusion of randomness) to provide an enhanced listening experience.

What does this mean for shufflemancy, then? If Spotify's algorithm is interfering in the output provided from a playlist, does that mean it's not a reliable form of divination?

At first, I wasn't so sure. I adjusted my thinking -- if a tarot app was preventing certain cards from being drawn (or from being drawn in a particular order) because I'd already drawn them that day or week, would that render the app unreliable? And the answer was yes. It would! It removes the random element from the method, therefore making it not true divination by my definition.

So shufflemancy with Spotify isn't (good) divination, then. Right?

My Opinion & Theory

In thinking about this further, I think it comes down to personal opinion. People certainly have success with shufflemancy via Spotify, or else they wouldn't do it. They definitely wouldn't offer their services (free or otherwise) if they weren't confident in the results it provides.

Thinking that way, I believe there's a way to off-set the algorithm's interference. With enough songs in a playlist, the random element is enhanced despite the algorithm. Not by having the same song multiple times (Spotify would surely detect this and prevent it from playing), but perhaps the same song covered by different artists. Songs with the same vibe, the same meaning, similar lyrics... AND songs from a wide variety of artists and genres, regardless of whether the shufflemancer likes the songs or not.

The person with that 600+ hour playlist for shufflemancy has it right, I think. That's the key. Variety and volume to make up for Spotify's algorithmic shuffler.

Additionally, in listening to my many, many Spotify playlists, I noticed something. If I'm listening to a playlist on shuffle and decide I want a specific song, I can choose to play it immediately. Afterwards, songs I've already heard might play. It seems as though doing this resets the shuffling algorithm in some way. Doing this in combination with a large and varied playlist might be the key to making shufflemancy in Spotify truly, fully reliable.

My Next Steps

Obviously, scholarly research only goes so far in situations like this. In order to properly gauge the accuracy of shufflemancy, I'll have to do it myself.

First, I'll need a playlist. I have a handful of playlists that sit in the hundred-hour range, but they're curated with friends for specific vibes. They're not really suitable for shufflemancy. So making one for myself is step one. I'll use premade playlists as a springboard for ideas, but the end result will be my own. For transparency, I'll make the playlist public and share it as part of the next edition in this series of posts.

The next step is to just... do it. Do the divinations, and do them regularly. Instead of a daily tarot card, I'll do a daily shuffle. I'll form "spreads" and put together a more in-depth methodology that fits my style as it develops.

Then, finally, maybe public ones? For reviews and feedback, obviously. It's one thing to do divination for myself -- confirmation bias and all -- but to do it for others and to be open for immediate feedback is entirely different.

Last, it's a matter of compiling my findings into a coherent document. Easier said than done, but done it must be.

Resources

I pulled from a lot of places for this one. Massive thanks to the Crossroads Discord for listening to me yell about divination for the last several weeks. It will continue.

In any case, here are all the resources I referenced for this leg of research:

Wikipedia - The Fisher-Yates Shuffle

Wikipedia - Methods of Divination

Wikipedia - The iPod Shuffle

PopSci - History of Shuffling Music

Engineering at Spotify - How to Shuffle?

The Verge - The Mixed-Up History of the Shuffle Button

Auntie PanPan (YouTube) - Shufflemancy - What IS It?!?

Halfbakery - Shufflemancy Idea Post

Fox and Faith Wordpress - Radio Divination and Intentional Living in Your Day to Day

Scientific American - How Randomness Rules Our World and Why We Cannot See It

PC World - The CD Player Turns 30

Make Use Of - How Spotify's Shuffle Feature Really Works

Orriculum on Tumblr - Post on shufflemancy technique

The-Daily-Divinre on Tumblr - Post on shufflemancy technique

Empirical Zeal - What Does Randomness Look Like?

[delta-queerdrant]

where are your troubles now? forgotten? (Resistance, s2 e12)

(POV you’re watching the Barbie intro but it’s Star Trek screenwriters. Please indulge me.)

Once, in another century, there was a show called Star Trek Voyager. (Cue 2001: A Space Odyssey music.) A lady and two dudes created it. Occasionally other ladies cowrote episodes. But by the time Season Two rolled around, there were not so many ladies. Actually there was just Jeri Taylor, and by god she tried. But one lady cannot be all things to all people.

Then in November 1995, a great miracle happened. A new lady was hired to write a teleplay. It was fresh, inventive! Something was happening!

Her name was (music crescendos)

L I S A K L I N K

I don’t know much about Lisa Klink, except that “Resistance” marks the beginning of her multi-season involvement in Voyager, and that she was a five-time Jeopardy winner. (I do not watch Jeopardy, I would not be good at Jeopardy, but Jeopardy people are nevertheless my people.) Mostly I know that I turned on “Resistance” and, despite my general disinterest in the show’s production history, immediately asked: who the FUCK wrote this?

“Resistance” is not a perfect episode, but after half a season of flailing, it is a revelation. Klink, writing the script for a story by Michael Jan Friedman and Kevin J. Ryan, has a clear vision of what Voyager can be - a show that’s grounded, emotionally resonant, and trusts its actors. 

I am partial to the gritty, Blade Runner-inflected, Firefly/BSG brand of science fiction television, so when we started in media res, our heroes in civvies doing deals in an outdoor market, I died and went to cyberpunk heaven. (Neelix’s coat alone is worth the price of entry.) Instead of swanning across the galaxy like tourists in a slightly under-resourced cruise ship, the Voyager gang are finally the scrappy underdogs they ought to be.

This is our second Janeway episode of the season, and the first episode, perhaps of the series, that really gives her a character mandate beyond “strong but feminine captain who loves her dog.” Mulgrew has her work cut out for her, acting against JOEL FUCKING GREY, but they’re both marvelous. Waking in the home of the enigmatically batty Caylem (in a claustrophobic sequence whose stagey absurdism recalls a Beckett play), Janeway slowly grows to understand that Caylem, who’s decided she’s his daughter, might be her best ally for escape. The growing emotional connection between the two is so tender and understated; as a writer, Klink has mastered the light touch.

Janeway and Caylem end up collaborating with the local resistance movement to rescue Torres and Tuvok, who have been imprisoned by the lawful evil overlords of this world. Our characters genuinely feel like they are in big trouble! Torres and Tuvok’s prison stint is rough. (I did enjoy B’Elanna’s beatnik dissident prison garb. She looks like it is approximately 1956 and she is a French student who has been arrested for throwing a baguette at a cop.)

The only weak sequence is the prison break itself, which feels too easy and relies on a tired “sex worker disguise” subterfuge. But the ending is so satisfying and will break your heart.

Once Janeway’s back in uniform, it feels like we’ve truly been on a journey, one that brings to mind iconic episodes like “The Inner Light.” Voyager is a long way from home, and I want these characters to go through transformative experiences. The boldness of this episode gets us a little bit of the way there.

A radical reimagining of Voyager, and the best episode of season two in my estimation. I award this one 4.5/5 melon hats.

[songsofelisa]

Unexplainable Episode 173 The Severed Feet of Blacksand Beach → unexplained phenomena

Warning: This episode contains discussion and descriptions of the process of decomposition, mutilation, violence, and suicide. Listener discretion is advised.

Sand, sun, and crystal clear waters are generally what people think of and what they expect when they go to the beach. However, the island that we inhabit isn’t like many other places in the world and Blacksand Beach isn’t like any other beaches in the world. Aside from being the main port and known for being the hub for pirates, Blacksand Beach has also, in recent years, begun to experience a strange phenomenon of severed feet being found along its shores. Since 2001, over two dozen feet still inside their shoes have been discovered along the beach by unsuspecting beachgoers.

Today, we will be discussing the strange phenomenon that has been ongoing over the last twenty-three years and where these feet may be coming from and why. I’m Elisa Salaliphus and this is Unexplainable. 

*cue introductory music*

The Phenomena

It’s the summer of 2019 and Sean and Jenna were enjoying their usual walk along the beach. It is not unusual to find treasures or trash floating in the many tide pools that dot either end of Blacksand Beach. Yet, when Sean found a hiking boot floating in one, he never thought that when he poked it with a stick, he would be met with the gruesome realization that there was still a foot inside the boot. This would mark the twenty-fourth shoe with a foot still inside that would be found along Blacksand Beach since the unusual phenomena first started nearly twenty years prior. 

Since 2001, just about one foot a year has been found washed up from the sea. The feet are almost always relatively intact with muscle and skin still attached and are always severed at the ankle. Both left and right feet have been found as well as a seeming variety of victims ranging from varying species and varying races and potentially varying ages. Only just about half of the feet have been identified and are often connected to missing people from all around the island.

However, the real mystery is where are these feet coming from? Why have feet suddenly begun to litter the shores of Blacksand Beach at the turn of the century and continue to this very day with the most recent discovery being in November of 2023. And most importantly, why feet? There are several theories that have been proposed over the years about what could be happening and why. 

What makes it so difficult to pinpoint a particular cause or reason is that none of the rest of the bodies of any of the victims has been successfully recovered. Autopsies are unable to be performed without the rest of the bodies and most medical examiners seem to agree that the feet are not being severed but rather due to decomposition, the feet naturally break away from the rest of the body, with the foot being preserved in their respective shoes, shielded away from the elements as well as any scavenging fish. 

It also makes it difficult to pinpoint a precise time of death as varying other factors cannot be taken into consideration to determine just how long these feet have been separated from their owners. And to that end, many of the feet that have yet to be identified, their owners may still be alive. People do not need their feet to remain alive, after all. Additionally, only one foot has ever been found from one individual. The feet never wash up in pairs and two feet from the same person have never been discovered.

The Theories 

The first theory is there are one or several serial killers that are operating on the island, dismembering their victims and only the feet are washing up on the shore. As already mentioned, it is thought that the feet are being somewhat preserved within their shoes and so while the rest of the body decomposes more naturally and thoroughly, the feet are staying mostly intact until they are found. 

Researchers who study the natural patterns and movement of the water, also think that if a killer or killers are disposing of bodies, the dumping site is thought to originate in Wailing Waters. The natural ocean currents then bring the feet down south and around the island where they eventually land on Blacksand Beach. The problem with this theory is that it is impossible to prove until a body or several bodies are discovered that match the feet. There is no way to know if these people are even dead and whether it was due to foul play or natural causes. 

An offshoot of this theory is that these deaths are specifically victims of sirens. As mentioned, it is thought that many of these feet are being washed over from Wailing Waters, which is well known to be siren territory. Many believe these are victims not of land dwelling killers but rather sea dwelling monsters. Once again, this theory is one that may be impossible to confirm without bodies to confirm cause of death.

This third one, once again, belongs in the same category as the other prior theories in that many people seem to think these are gang killings. Many gangs are known to have very specific Modus Operandis that identify them as being taken care of by a specific gang. fter all, who among us hasn’t heard of the Columbian necktie, a hugely famous tactic that was used to scare and ward away potential enemies or rivals. 

In a similar fashion, the feet could be a sign that part of the MO is these severed feet that are being thrown into the oceans while the rest of the body is being disposed of elsewhere. Many say this is the most likely possibility as it fits the most neatly out of all the potential scenarios where these are due to murder. 

And yet, that is operating under the assumption that this is because of murder or some sort of foul play. Many experts believe that the sad reality is these are accidental deaths or suicides. People who have gone for a walk or a run along the cliffs that dot the island, have slips or falls that cause them to tumblr into the ocean. And yet others might do it as a purposeful act, never to be seen again once they leap off the edge, the only sign they were ever once around are their feet that eventually make it onto Blacksand Beach. 

The evidence of these accidental deaths lies in the disarticulation of the foot from the body. As mentioned, the one thing the medical examiners believe is that these feet are not being severed and removed from the bodies with a saw or knife, but rather due to natural decomposition. Of course, many opponents of this theory will say that the ocean has simply become a dumping ground. 

Wrap-Up

The reality is, we will likely never know which theory is correct or if it is a combination of all of the above. We may never know, without bodies, what happened to these people. By now, any bodies that may have been nearby would surely have completely decomposed, lost to mother nature and to the sea, nothing but bones that can only provide so much information now.

[romanceyourdemons]

i really need to stop being surprised when i watch a film widely recognized as one of the greatest of all time and it ends up being really really good. the taste of tea (2004) is an incredible film. as a piece of magical realism and what i would almost call slow cinema, the film avoids one unified narrative and one established nature of the world. all registers of impossible things—objectively perceived phenomena like the mud man, subjectively perceived phenomena like the sunflower, and metaphorically perceived phenomena like the music video—are made visible by the camera without any sort of signposting to suggest which is more “real” than others. linked to this egalitarianism of portrayal is the film’s portrayal of devoted and passionate artists, whose artistic endeavors are as respected by the camera as the camera of 8 1/2 (1963) respects its protagonist’s filmmaking or moulin rouge! (2001) its protagonist’s writing. the difference is that the artists of this film pursue forms and venues of art that narratives, published and cultural, tend to view as lesser or subordinate to writing and filmmaking: indie animation, sound mixing, cosplay, manga, interpretive dance. the film clearly respects these nonprofessional or subordinate art forms: among other cues, it intercuts the performance of the song “oh, mountain,” repeatedly judged by the other characters as strange and bad, with music video-esque clips of mountains, allowing the audience to get caught up in the message of the earnest, amateurish song rather than highlight its amateurishness by showing us only the silent, judgmental in-text audience. from time to time the film does use the technique of pulling the camera back to reveal the in-text audience to highlight how bizarre these ordinary conversations really are, thereby reframing what we would ordinarily see as strange as something admirable and something we might ordinarily see as admirable as strange. there is much more to say about the taste of tea (2004), but these are the features of the film that struck me most, and i would highly, highly recommend it

[lgcrp]

◔ ┈ LOADING … TRAINEE PROFILE INITIATED !

YOON BITNA ( READ MORE HERE )

AGE 22 ( 12 NOVEMBER 2001 )

TRAINED FOR 2 YEARS AND 4 MONTHS ( SIGNED JANUARY 2022 )

              INTRODUCTION VIDEO FOUND … PRESS PLAY ?

yoon bitna has always been someone of confidence, per se. it’s the first word that comes to mind when people think of her. it’s an attribute that sits perfectly like a mask, with not a crack in it. at least, only on the outside. on the inside, there’s an unwavering fear of being perceived as someone with flaws, an even stronger fear for said imperfections to mess up what she’s worked hard, to this stage, for. but if there’s one saying she can live by for the rest of her life, it’s ‘fake it ‘til you make it.’   even if bitna can feel her heart in her throat, it does nothing to stop the melody from beginning—it never does. it’s always when the music begins, that so does the girl in the spotlight, in front of the camera, on cue. each movement flows like water, smooth and steady in accordance to the song’s pace; the sharper of beats met with an equal measure of accuracy, fluently easing back into softer bits, before gestures fade with the conclusion of the song, ultimately allowing her to compose herself.    “i’m bitna, yoon bitna.” a small wave is offered to the recorder in trail. “i’m a trainee under legacy entertainment with the goal of debuting as a main dancer. but who knows? maybe i’ll change my mind down the line and decide i’d like to be an all—rounder.”

            INTERESTED ? REACH OUT TO THE TRAINEE !

[macmanx]

Each of these “intensely charged memorials in sound,” Eichler writes, is “a prism through which we ‘remember’ what was lost.” That’s a weighty burden to place on any piece of music, not to mention on a listener. There are many for whom nonnarrative works—Bach’s Goldberg Variations, say, or a Beethoven string quartet—represent, in their very abstraction, the epitome of pure musical meaning. For such people, this kind of musical memorializing is bound to seem uncomfortably freighted—art with an agenda, relying on extra-musical cues for its significance. Not everyone wants a musical experience to conjure images of violence and grief. Eichler seems to acknowledge this, at one point posing the question “Should genocide really be the stuff of a night out at Carnegie Hall?”

In 2001, shortly after the September 11th attacks, I found myself confronting similar questions when the New York Philharmonic asked me to compose a work to honor the victims who died in the World Trade Center. I was initially reluctant to accept. It seemed too soon: How could one create music to “commemorate” a public trauma that the nation was still processing? At the same time, it felt wrong to say no. Surely a composer ought to be able to respond to a public need; if firefighters and first responders were risking their lives at Ground Zero, the least I could do was answer the call. The resulting work, “On the Transmigration of Souls,” was agonizing to compose, not just because I spent months meeting with grief-stricken families and reading their accounts but also because I found it nearly impossible to fix on a voice for the piece. The media was still hectically recycling images of the catastrophe, to the point where any real meaning had been leached from them. In the end, I made what I termed a “memory space”—a mostly quiet piece for orchestra and a chorus of adults and children which incorporated prerecorded sounds of the city and the murmured recitation of names and phrases from missing-persons signs. The piece had its première on September 19, 2002, almost exactly a year after the event that prompted it.

[tulipkitties]

Little Einsteins review

Welcome back to more “nostalgic reviews!” Today, I’m talking bout the 2005 playhouse Disney show, little einsteins.

“What is little einsteins?”

To introduce this show, we first need to discuss why the show is called little einsteins. “This show is bout music and art. How does Albert Einstein play into this?” U prob asked urself. Well, you see, there used to be a direct to home video (dvd/vhs) series called baby einstein, created by Julie Aigner-Clark as a way to entertain/educate her baby with classical music, (her baby also appeared in the videos up until 2002) in 1997, the first vhs of BE (later called language nursery) was released. And instantly, it was a success, that caught the attention of one Mickey Mouse (aka Disney) who in 2001/2002, bought up the rights of BE from FHE (family home entertainment) and julie, Disney decided to make a spin off of BE for preschool aged kids, and thus, little Einstein was born!….then they changed the name to little Einsteins, (later on disney attempted to create another spin-off, Einstein pals…it never released.) starting as 2 pitch pilots in 2003 and 2004, and in august of 2005, a direct to dvd/vhs movie (which later got split into 2 episodes, “A brand new outfit” and “The missing invitation”) our big huge adventure, then getting its own season later in october of the same year as the movie, much the thing it spun off from, it was a success from day 1.

Animation:

being done by curious pictures (yee, that codename: kids next door curious pictures.) this cartoon was rather unique for its time, as it combined 2d animation with cgi, real-life stock footage and real art. Format of the show:

After the (very very catchy, no wonder why som1 made a trap remix of it,) theme song, the title for the episode, and the art and music of the day gets called out. We get introduced to a member of the team and the set-up for the mission (in the first tv episode “Ring around the planet” one of Saturn’s rings falls down and befriends June, and in “Annie’s solo mission” after leo teaches annie how to pilot rocket, Leo, June and quincy accidentally get trapped inside a super bubble.) Once leo waves his baton…it’s mission time! If they are near rocket, they walk to rocket, but if they are somewhere else, they walk to the tree that serves as a entrance to the HQ. this also has a song, (which is a mix of the Leo’s mobile song and the theme song.) Leo welcomes you aboard rocket, next, they have to charge rocket up. “How?” you may ask, viewer interaction! by patting on their lap, the team (and you) charge rocket up, and then.. “blast off!” (In season one, this part was longer, “June’s patting, Quincy’s patting, Annie’s patting, but we need. more. power!” - Leo, season 2 shortened it by removing leo commenting on the member’s patting.) rocket zooms off. The show also has running gags, which happen usually once (or twice) in a episode, such as…

Running gags:

quincy exclaiming “I can-not believe it!” When somthing crazy/surprising happens.

Annie making up lyrics for the song of the day,

Quincy playing a instrument for a certain obstacle in the way,

June’s incredible dancing skills.

Leo’s conducting (as seen in the pilot movie, where he’s able to conduct a group of cows to sing ode of joy.)

June saying a “great big fancy word” (yee, I made a pinky dinky doo ref) lik anemone or hieroglyphs, and annie (or someone else) asking what it means, and june telling what it means.

Leo asking you to tell rocket to go slower or faster, by using music terms,

June’s “dancey dance dance” song playing as a instrumental whenever she dances,

Once the mission is done, Leo waves his baton, says “Mission…Completion!” And we get the curtain call, where the team claps for themselves, rocket, a character they met, you, the music of the day, and the art of the day, (in season 1 it was all dialogue, season 2 changed it into a song, which Ngl, it reminds me of the octonauts creature report song.) cue credits!

Mc’s:

Leo: Named after Leonardo da Vinci or the composer Leopold Stokowski, 6-year old Leo (short for Leonardo) is the leader of the team, always carrying around his trusty baton for conducting in certain scenarios or when a mission starts/ends. he’s also the one who pilots rocket, (other than in the episode Annie’s solo mission, where Annie has to pilot rocket) in season 2, he gets a pet, melody, introduced in the episode “Melody, the music pet,” melody was from the pet train, which delivers pets to people who’ll take care of them, near the end of the episode, melody and Leo said goodbye, and Leo (who is usually upbeat and cheery) is noticeably upset/saddened by melody’s departure..until the team finds out melody was gonna be delivered to leo as a pet. The writers (and the fans) lik to ship him with June, as in the episode “Ring around the planet” he hugs june, although in the episode “The glass slipper ball,” rocket dances with June, And june kisses rocket at the end…..weird. va; jesse schwartz.

Annie: Named after jazz singer anni Rossi, 4-year old annie is leo’s younger sister, Despite her age, she’s very talented at singing, she usually comes up with lyrics for the song of the day, she’s also very good with animals, befriending a caterpillar/butterfly in the pilot movie, in season 2 her outfit changes, going from green and blue to pastel blue and pink, she also gains a microphone and her va’s singing is improved, in season 2, she and Leo get a spotlight episode, “brothers and sisters to the rescue!” Where they have to save Hansel and gretel, (who in this show’s universe is real, as while they have a book of the story, they somehow manage to go and rescue the storybook characters, LE takes place in the super why universe?!/j) it’s heavily implied the writers ship her with quincy, as Annie’s the one who cheers on Quincy’s instrument playing the most, va; natalia wojcik.

Quincy: Named after quincy jones, 5-year old quincy is a African-American boy who loves to play any instrument he finds, instantly being able to play it very well, in the season 2 episode “Quincy and the magic instruments” annie, Leo, june and rocket get stuck. and quincy finds..well, magic instruments that can shapeshift, he’s also shown to have a fear of the dark, as in our big huge adventure, he’s a bit hesitant on going inside the cave, and in “Northern night light”, he sings a silly song to help him when durning a mission, it gets dark out. va; aiden pompey.

June: Named after the dancer june taylor, 6 year old chinese-american June is the smartest of the team, and a great dancer, in the episode “Ring around the planet” she befriended ring, one of Saturns many rings. which fell off and June was able to tell it to come to her, she’s the one who noticed rocket was missing from the mobile in “How we became the little einsteins: a true story” and was the one who came up with the teams name, after annie commented on how they’re all very smart. va; erica huang.

Rocket: While being unable to talk normally, (only communicating in marimba/xylophone noises) Rocket has a kind heart, and his noises is actually (as coined on the Disney.go website) “rocket-speak.” As the team can understand him, rocket also has the ability to shapeshift, (such as into a sub or a firetruck) in the episode “How we became the little einsteins: a true story.” It’s revealed that he used to be apart of Leo’s old baby mobile, but (velveteen rabbit logic perhaps, aka “if you love somthing enough, it’ll become real”) he grew big and flew off, only returning when the team sings the song the mobile played, in the episode “Hungarian hiccups” rocket is able to have hiccups…huh, the team tries to get rid of rockets hiccups in time for a race, but it’s only when rocket sees a mouse that his hiccups are gone. He also has a grandma, seen in the episode “Rocket soup” why does he have a grandma when we know he was apart of Leo’s mobile? Idk. And in the same episode, it’s shown that he can eat..despite him not having a mouth. (He reminds me of a precure fairy, lik kururun from tropicrouge, with the fact that they both can’t talk normally, LE takes place in the precure universe?, although, that would explain a few things…someone make a Little einsteins precure au!)

A…villain?

Big jet: Yee, a preschool show had a villain, this being big Jet, big jet, much like rocket, is unable to speak, big jet’s hatred for the team started after the team and rocket beat him in a race, (as seen in the episode “The great sky race,”) and and now, he likes to cause despair and mischief wherever he goes, (such as changing the seasons in “oh yes oh yes it’s springtime!” ripping up a sheet music for Annie’s song in the episode “Annie, get your microphone!”) however, in the season 2 episode “Show and tell” big jet…goes through a character arc, and turns good and apologizes for stealing the teams stuff. Although we never see who drives big jet, I imagine him being more self-aware (aka older) than rocket and not needing a driver.

Season 2’s changes:

Much like pinky dinky doo, season 2 changed quite a lot of things, such as in the opening, where certain scenes and transitions were changed, (such as the addition of clapping when the team’s name gets mentioned, annie now having her mic and her season 2 outfit, quincy playing a drum at the end, the locations seen in the intro being different) The animation being better, Annie’s singing being improved, the addition of the “super fast!” Segment, more interactive moments, and leo having a new line for when the mission starts (“let the mission…begin!” -leo)

Mission….Completion!

After 2 seasons, much lik how the show started as a direct to home media movie, the show ended as a direct to dvd movie. Rocket’s firebird rescue. (released in august of 2007) This movie is special, as instead of the usual credits, it’s a different song..almost lik the crew were aware the show was ending, although the episodes of the show officially ended with the episode “Little elephant’s big parade!” I consider the firebird rescue special to be the true finale, the show has a lot of merch, books, (which for the season 1 episode adaptations, has annie in her season 2 outfit,) fisher price toys, plushies, (yee, there’s even a plushie of rocket, if u are wondering. No big jet plushie though.) stickers, a cd, and a whole lot more, as for home media, there’s a lot, the show reran quite a lot after it ended, even after Disney lost the Einstein brand to kids ll, rn the show is on Disney+, and there’s a lot of flash games, such as mission to learn, which is a fun fact viewer/clip viewer, theres even a gba and a vtech v-smile game!

[zirhlikuzgun]

Today, it are going start up "Sean and Dave's new maintenance"

We're today going to start up "Sean and Dave's new maintenance." But however, before we're going to start up, we're first going to test some pre-episode music cues.

List of part-of-the-day music cues.

Day: Random piano music cues (by Sean Allison and Dave Matson)

Day ➡ Evening: [1988-2000] LK-TEL Video jingle

Evening: Pir new world media AB jingle

Evening ➡ Night: [2002-2003] ONT (Belarus) "closedown" cue

Night: [January-September 2004] Game Freak jingle

Night ➡ Morning: [2001-2010] Pan Vision jingle

Morning: Upside Studios jingle [The Gnomes version]

Morning ➡ Day: [1984-2001] Shokakugan Home Entertainment jingle

[nsfwhiphop]

Part 9 - Incoming Text for Jennifer Garner (@jennifer.garner): “An Idea Worth 300 Million Dollars”

Question:

Could you explain to Jennifer the importance of creating a memorable theme song for her Heist reboot? Discuss how this theme song could help establish a successful franchise similar to Mission: Impossible, and provide point-by-point explanations of its significance. Additionally, mention the original Mission: Impossible Theme composed by Lalo Schifrin and emphasize the potential for a catchy theme that resonates with audiences, contributing to the film's recognition and longevity.

Here is the Wikipedia link to the Mission: Impossible Theme: Mission: Impossible Theme - Wikipedia. (click on the blue link) - This page includes information about the composition, history, and cultural impact of the iconic score created by Lalo Schifrin.

Here is the Wikipedia link for the movie Heist (2001):

Heist (2001 film) - Wikipedia (click on the blue link)

ChatGPT Answer:

To achieve similar success to the Mission: Impossible franchise, the Heist reboot can develop a recognizable soundtrack that resonates with audiences, akin to the iconic "Mission: Impossible Theme" composed by Lalo Schifrin. This theme not only enhances the film's identity but also creates a sense of anticipation and excitement.

Creating a unique theme song for the Heist reboot can establish a signature sound that audiences associate with the franchise. A well-crafted score can elevate the film's emotional impact and enhance its memorability, driving interest in sequels and merchandise, similar to how Mission: Impossible has thrived on its musical legacy.

Creating a memorable theme song for the Heist reboot is crucial for establishing a successful franchise similar to Mission: Impossible. Here’s a detailed breakdown of its importance:

Brand Identity: A distinctive theme song helps forge a strong brand identity, much like the Mission: Impossible Theme. This auditory cue can evoke instant recognition and familiarity, drawing audiences to future films.

Emotional Resonance: Music significantly influences emotional responses. A well-composed score can enhance tension, excitement, and engagement, making key scenes more impactful and memorable.

Cultural Impact: Iconic soundtracks can penetrate popular culture, leading to widespread recognition beyond the films. This can generate discussions, social media buzz, and increased audience interest.

Franchise Longevity: By consistently utilizing a recognizable theme, the franchise can maintain continuity across sequels, creating a cohesive experience for viewers. Each film can innovate while still resonating with the established sound.

Marketing Opportunities: A popular theme song opens avenues for merchandising, licensing, and promotional campaigns. Similar to Mission: Impossible, which features the theme in trailers, video games, and merchandise, the Heist franchise can capitalize on this with strategic marketing initiatives.

To solidify this strategy, the creative team should aim to develop a theme song that reflects the film's essence while being catchy and dynamic. This could invite comparisons to the high-energy, suspenseful feel of the Mission: Impossible score, ensuring that audiences associate the music with thrilling heist adventures.

By focusing on these elements, the Heist reboot can pave the way for a lucrative franchise, leveraging the power of music to enhance its storytelling and audience connection.

[fineartsjournal]

213341 Art Studio IIIA ⋆ Week 9 - Veejaysaurus Rex

Everything happens faster on the web. A hundred year's worth of culture has sprung up within a temporal blip, and history is made, recorded, and subsequently yearned for in the space of months.

In the old times of the internet, which well-adjusted folks call the mid-2000s , plunderphonics lived on, albeit transformed by the kooky, sunlight-deprived qualities of online culture at the time.

This entry is about YouTube Poop.

The idea behind a YTP is straightforward, and in the context of this workbook, quite familiar. Just take a preexisting piece of video - usually from some quirky bit of media, or otherwise any video you please - and re-edit it to form something.

On the early YouTube sphere, this usually meant some nonsensical parody, with hallmark techniques being the sentence mix, 'earrape' (the sudden increase of volume to headphone-cracking levels), and 'sos', which is to reverever a worow inni theeht middlddim for comedic effect. An entire subculture formed around this, but for the sake of brevity, it's Ryan Trecartin's filmography and daB by John Oswald over and over.

Where things pick up is with users eventually adapting this edit-heavy formula to create entire songs from their source material; being the YouTube Poop Music Video (YTPMV), and is the third time that plunderphonics developed in isolation.

What makes the YTPMV special is how, with it rooted in the video-edit formula of YTPs, each sound has a video clip displayed from which it originates, directly communicating to the listener what the layers of sound are, and where they come from.

The class critique went well, what now? With all signs pointing to interactivity, I reckoned the best way to get the same response to EIBY would be to put the audience in the same level of control over a video.

Searching up how to accomplish this led me to a forum post from 2001...

Oh hell nah.

The amount of learning required for this, especially before the finish line, has got me reconsidering. What else can I do?

Cue The VJ Book. As I found out, it comes with an attached DVD, featuring VJ'ing software!

Around this time, I went to a friend's costume party wearing an all-black morph suit. While uploading a video of me breaking it down in the kitchen for the socials, I found myself adding effect after effect, eventually re-recording myself dragging around the playback slider in Davinci Resolve, creating a jumbled, micro-montage video.

If it weren't for the fact that my studio piece was to be interactive, I probably would've continued down this path. Alas, this is the life I've chosen.

Scrolling past the bundled documentary, test images and template videos, I found two demos of VJ'ing software on my CD, the first being VIDVOX GRID2.

I got to downloading, which included installing QuickTime and ticking a few-too-many boxes. I suffer for my art.

Opening up the grid, I found myself back in the familiar territory of having absolutely no idea what to do.

All things considered, a 15 page manual was forgiving.

Around this time, it was also worth planning ahead for my presentation itself. Did I want to project it? How many speakers did I need? Was I going to follow my principles and avoid the cliché of being that-one-student-every-semester-that-presents-their-work-on-TV-monitors? I had to get Mike on speed-dial.

I was truly struggling with thinking of how to incorporate an interactive element, especially with a video work performed in software that I hadn't even heard of 20 minutes prior.

Until I saw this line in the manual.

MIDI notes can be used to trigger clips. This is discussed in Section 3.4, which deals with MIDI settings.

Bingo. I also regret selling my keyboard back in June.

And god damnit, it had the makings of being the next big thing for me. I'd press a key and the test video would jump, reverse and speed to my content. But then it crashed. And crashed. And crashed again.

Isadora, the other software bundled on the VJ CD, was another hopeful contender. A glance on their website showed that it did support MIDI.

And it just plain didn't work.

Downloading 20 year-old demo software onto my computer was making it act up, and it was about time I gave the thing a break.

Back to Cycling 74's Max. Begrudingly.

Although not for long. A second glance on their website lent their editing workflow to be less intimidating than I'd thought.

With a 30 day free trial a perfect fit for a nearby hand-in, I got to downloading.

To my shock (and delight), I had just opened the damn thing and it had already connected to my laptop camera and was now remixing my face.

We had a keeper.

[stephdisturbstheuniverse]

Cluttered

Nothing in my life seems to spark joy anymore. I’m holding onto some things for sentimental reasons, but honestly, I’m not even sure why. I wish I could just wave a magic wand and make them all disappear. I feel trapped and suffocated by all this stuff. Cue the 2001: Space Odyssey music. Dad passed away in May, and Astroboy followed shortly after. My brother and I have been Marie Kondo-ing our…

[missellafitz]

**The concert dates for this Caesars Palace engagement were June 6-18, 1974, which begs the question, why did this take place on the 19th? Was Frank doing an additional show without Ella? How was she a surprise? Was the show itself a surprise? Love the possessive pronoun of "my" though, hehe.

Also, this engagement apparently brought Frank out of retirement and was the catalyst for "The Concert" that he, Ella, and Basie had at the Uris Theater in NYC the next year. One thing I'll say is that Frank LOVED to sing with Ella, so maybe she really was enough to bring him back to the stage.

A Secret Caesars Palace Trove Captures Sinatra, Ella and Scores of Others, Unaware

By Anna Wilde Mathews Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

March 19, 2001 12:01 am ET

LAS VEGAS -- On June 19, 1974, Frank Sinatra took the stage at Caesars Palace. Backed by the Count Basie Orchestra, he delivered a set of standards before telling the audience, "Surprise! My girl's gonna sing for you." On that cue, Ella Fitzgerald joined him for a rollicking duet of "The Lady Is a Tramp." The two traded lines and improvised harmonies, punctuated by Mr. Sinatra's exhortation: "Swing, baby!"

It was a special evening, even by the lofty standards of the Caesars showroom, then a premier venue for the biggest names in entertainment. But the two singers themselves probably weren't aware of one thing that made their performance exceptional: Every note was captured by a reel-to-reel tape recorder wired directly into the Caesars sound system.

It was only one of scores of acts recorded in secret over a quarter of a century at Caesars Palace -- a playlist that includes Louis Armstrong, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, Judy Garland, Peggy Lee, Johnny Mathis, Bette Midler, Diana Ross, Sarah Vaughan and dozens of other show-business luminaries.

Behind it all was Dave Rogers, the longtime sound engineer at the hotel and casino's 1,000-seat Circus Maximus showroom. Mr. Rogers stored the tapes at home, keepsakes that he occasionally played for the memories.

Then, in 1998, he died, and the tapes were in the hands of his stepson, Gilbert Cebollero, a former craps dealer who set out to turn them into a profitable endeavor. Since then, Mr. Cebollero has managed to strike an unlikely deal with a fledgling company backed by television impresario Norman Lear to release the material on compact discs and, possibly, over the Web. Already, singer Andy Williams and the estates of Mr. Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. have tentatively agreed to participate, and the first CD is in the works.

The obstacles are big, however, and many of the recordings may never reach a mass audience. Mr. Lear's company, Neon Tonic, is still struggling to secure release rights from many of the artists, their estates or their record labels -- which have been surprised to learn of the tapes and aren't all eager to strike a deal. Some of the artists worry that their performances may not be good enough for public consumption.

Yet the tapes themselves aren't the typical muffled bootlegs. Mr. Rogers created recordings of startling clarity, often with nearly commercial sound quality. And the collection is more than just live music; it is an unedited record of Vegas culture in its heyday. As the curtain falls on Mr. Sinatra's duet with Ms. Fitzgerald, a microphone picks up his parting remark: "OK, baby, the bar's open." On another tape, a disoriented Judy Garland stumbles off-key through "Over the Rainbow." Moments like those may never make it to record stores, but if Mr. Lear and his partners succeed, many hours of unique recorded entertainment will.

In 1966, when Andy Williams performed on opening night at the new casino and its showroom, the venue was among the most glamorous in the world. The hotel feted its first visitors with two tons of filet mignon, 300 pounds of crab and 50,000 glasses of champagne.

Mr. Rogers helped build the sound system that was used on that first evening. A veteran engineer at the Flamingo and the Sands, Mr. Rogers had moved over to Caesars about a month before the opening. For much of the next quarter of a century, he could be found in an open booth suspended above the rear of the Circus Maximus. There, he twiddled dials on the soundboard to ensure that the mix was clean and balanced. He almost never missed a night. "His home was Caesars," says Donovan Belian, a son of Mr. Rogers who is now a carpenter in Las Vegas.

A constant tinkerer, Mr. Rogers worked hard to please the most finicky artists. He built an echo chamber under the stage to add depth to performers' tone. As a special favor, he once set up a VCR in Mr. Sinatra's hotel room.

Such services put Mr. Rogers on a first-name basis with many stars. He collected autographed pictures from the likes of Raquel Welch and Burt Bacharach. One of his backstage photos shows Bill Cosby arm-in-arm with Sammy Davis Jr., who is wearing a "Caesars Sound Crew" T-shirt. In another, Mr. Rogers hugs a smiling Nancy Sinatra. The pictures weren't his only souvenirs. A pack rat, he also filled a wooden locker backstage with old tools and gadgets, and at home collected discarded televisions, radios and other electronic debris.

Then there is the stash of Caesars recordings, made from the showroom's soundboard over a period stretching from the late 1960s to the early 1990s. Mr. Rogers kept the reels and cassettes in his workshop at home and occasionally listened to them while he puttered around, his stepson Mr. Cebollero says.

The taping may have begun as a way for the sound engineer to catch technical mistakes and thus hone his craft, says Mr. Rogers's daughter Suzynne Fowler. Michael Rogers, the sound engineer's oldest son, says, "I think he wanted to record his history, and maybe even the industry's history." The younger Mr. Rogers, now a Las Vegas theatrical electrician, worked at Caesars with his father in the mid-1970s.

Dave Rogers took a leave of absence in 1994 as he battled liver disease brought on by years of diabetes. He never returned to work. In January 1998, he died at age 66. A brief obituary published in local newspapers noted his National Guard service and his membership in the theatrical stage employee union. It gave his occupation as "director of sound in the entertainment industry."

In all, Mr. Rogers had captured hundreds of hours of concerts and comedy by well over 100 performers. Upon his death, it all ended up with Mr. Cebollero.

The Balloon Drop

Mr. Cebollero's mother, Elba, had met Mr. Rogers, who was already divorced with four children, while she was working at the Caesars front desk. The two married in 1970. As a teenager, Mr. Cebollero hung out backstage at Caesars while his stepfather worked. He recalls New Year's celebrations when his stepfather let him release the flood of balloons above the Caesars audience.

https://archive.ph/s1csZ/edae5250cb4b4f7d6decc057a4570949fecb8ae5.gif

Through the 1970s and '80s, Mr. Cebollero bounced around Las Vegas as a bellboy, a stagehand and eventually a craps dealer at various casinos. More recently, he has worked as a residential real-estate agent. By the time his stepfather died, Mr. Cebollero faced a federal tax lien of more than $19,000, which he says was related to a dispute over tip income from his casino days. The lien was lifted in 2000; Mr. Cebollero says he took care of it with a reduced payment.

Mr. Cebollero says he was motivated to turn the tapes into a business in order to preserve his stepfather's work, not to pay a tax bill. In the past, "I never applied myself," he says. "But I plan to now."

Today, Mr. Cebollero, 43 years old and never married, lives with his mother in the modest two-story white stucco house Mr. Rogers had built for the family in the mid-1970s. Over the door hangs a small sign: "Mi casa es su casa." In the basement and in a shipping container in the backyard, he keeps all the things his stepfather hoarded over the years. "Everything they were throwing out, he'd bring home," Mr. Cebollero says.

His mother wouldn't comment for this article. Nor would his sister, Lorraine. Stepbrothers Mr. Belian and Michael Rogers say they support Mr. Cebollero's efforts. Ms. Fowler declines to comment, saying she doesn't know the details of her stepbrother's plans. Stepsister Trish Elliott says she "has no problem" with Mr. Cebollero's efforts.

Mr. Cebollero used an address for Nancy Sinatra obtained through a Web site to send her a compilation of Sinatra snippets from the Caesars tapes. But he sent it under the name of a friend, keeping his own identity secret: "I didn't know what kind of feedback I would get," he says.

His efforts drew the attention of Robert Finkelstein, a longtime Sinatra family attorney who represents the music-rights companies controlled by the singer's children. Mr. Finkelstein says the Sinatra estate had no knowledge of the recordings before hearing from Mr. Cebollero in 1998.

Threat of Litigation

After several months, negotiations over the rights to the Sinatra tapes stalled. Neither party will specify the terms Mr. Cebollero sought. Mr. Finkelstein then fired off a letter threatening to sue, arguing that the recordings were illegal, unauthorized bootlegs. "If someone says to you they possess tapes of your recordings, your initial reaction is, 'You have no right to those,' " he says. "That can be resolved either by litigation or by compromise."

But Mr. Finkelstein also explained the situation to longtime acquaintance Hal Gaba, chief executive of Act III Communications, a media holding company of which Mr. Lear is chairman. A jazz buff, Mr. Gaba already ran a side business distributing videos of performances by Mr. Sinatra and others, and Act III was negotiating to purchase the Concord jazz record label. He immediately saw the potential of the Caesars tapes. With Mr. Finkelstein's knowledge, Mr. Gaba contacted Mr. Cebollero.

Messrs. Gaba and Lear had already been noodling around with the idea of a music Web site that would reach jazz fans all over the world. The recordings, they figured, could provide a one-of-a-kind draw to the site. "I had this fantasy of this little guy in this obscure corner of Caesars Palace," says Mr. Lear.

In early 1999, Mr. Gaba began traveling to Las Vegas to meet with Mr. Cebollero, first over lunch at a Caesars coffee shop, and later at the home Mr. Cebollero shares with his mother. There, Mr. Gaba was ushered into a dark basement cluttered with dusty equipment, including an old Caesars soundboard and a pile of black-painted floorboards from the original showroom stage. During hours of reminiscing about oldtime Vegas, Mr. Cebollero played samples from the tapes.

Over the next few weeks, Mr. Gaba and Mr. Cebollero pinned down details of a tentative deal. Mr. Gaba would see to the daunting task of securing legal clearances from artists and record labels. Mr. Cebollero would receive royalty payments. Neither side will disclose terms.

Mr. Cebollero also insisted that he retain possession of the original tapes. "It's sentimental," he says. "My dad's handwriting is on it." And he wanted his stepfather credited on the CD packaging.

A Five-Hour Trek

More troublesome, he wouldn't let the fragile recordings out of his sight even for an overnight shipment. So starting in the summer of 1999, he and a friend drove five hours from Las Vegas every couple of weeks to deliver boxes of tapes to a recording studio in the San Fernando Valley home of a producer who works with Mr. Gaba.

Initially, Mr. Cebollero refused to leave the house while the producer and another sound engineer transferred the recordings from the original analog tapes to digital tape. Later, the music was put on computer, and song by song, they smoothed out distortions and toned down extraneous noises -- the foot-tapping of a Count Basie Orchestra musician, for example.

Many of the tapes were dusty or moldy, and a few were so brittle that they broke. Some of the older ones needed a special player obtained from a used-equipment dealer. Many had only fragmentary, hand-scrawled labels, or weren't identified at all. Clues such as a reference to Watergate helped pinpoint performance dates.

The sound quality of the Caesars tapes is nonetheless impressive. Band members can be heard laughing quietly at a headliner's jokes. Comments never meant for an audience also come through clearly. When Mr. Sinatra turned to quietly thank the band after a rendition of "My Kind of Town," he added, "Sang my d--- off that time!" Then he told the audience, "I just had an intimate discussion with the gentlemen of the orchestra which cannot be repeated."

The engineers also had to make sense of a jumbled archive. A single shipment contained a 1991 routine by comedian Joan Rivers; a 1972 show by singing duo Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme; and a 1988 Red Skelton performance. Another tape in the batch came with a label that read only, "Thunder and Cow." It turned out to contain a series of moos and booms apparently meant for sound effects.

In the same shipment, Mr. Cebollero brought a vintage Sammy Davis set from Halloween 1981. It opens with the Basie orchestra swinging through "Sweet Georgia Brown." Then Mr. Davis delivers several of his standards, such as "Teach Me Tonight," along with some classic Vegas stage patter. "You're looking at the only black actor who wasn't in 'Roots,' 1 or 2," he says at one point. Later, he jokes: "I can't help it if I'm short! If I had any real class, I'd be in a bell tower someplace, saying 'The plane, boss, the plane!' "

By last fall, nearly 500 hours of concert tape had been digitized. Mr. Cebollero was now flying the tapes over from Las Vegas, though he still didn't want to check them as luggage. Mr. Gaba and Mr. Lear, meanwhile, were putting together their start-up in a Beverly Hills office lined with posters of "All in the Family" and other Lear television shows.

Calling on friends and their own resources, they raised about $3 million in seed money. The new company began a months-long process of building a Web site and picking a name and logo. Eventually, Neon Tonic beat options like "Gigolution" and "Shanghai Lobster" because, company executives thought, it suggested a sophisticated music club.

Mr. Gaba began trying to resolve the tangled legal questions surrounding the tapes' past, starting early last year with Caesars' parent company, Park Place Entertainment Corp. Mr. Cebollero insists that his stepfather never tried to conceal his taping from the performers or his bosses. "It wasn't like it was hidden," he says.

But Caesars executives say they weren't aware of the tapes before Mr. Gaba contacted them. Tom Pilkington, once Mr. Rogers's boss at Caesars and now a vice president with Park Place, says he had "no clue" that his employee was keeping a collection of such recordings. "It wasn't a policy of the hotel" to regularly record and archive shows, he says. He does remember Mr. Rogers making some tapes for performers' personal use, at their request. Generally, acts that played Caesars had contracts that explicitly banned recordings.

Still, Park Place decided to work with Mr. Gaba. The hospitality firm agreed to sell compact discs containing the showroom tapes and to allow the start-up to use the Caesars name in packaging and marketing the CDs. The Neon Tonic CDs would first be sold exclusively through Park Place retail outlets, then distributed more widely by Concord Records, the jazz label Mr. Gaba and Mr. Lear had bought. But the deal was contingent on Mr. Gaba's securing legal clearances from artists and others with rights to the recordings.

For help, Mr. Gaba looked to Mr. Finkelstein, who had been named to Neon Tonic's board. Together, he and Mr. Gaba crafted a tentative agreement to allow use of the Sinatra material. Then Mr. Finkelstein reached out to others who manage the rights to some of the other big acts Mr. Rogers had taped.

Jeff Lotman, who runs a marketing company that represents the work of Sammy Davis Jr. and others, says he was surprised when Mr. Finkelstein called him and told him of the tapes. But he liked the offer: The Davis estate would get a stake in Neon Tonic, as well as royalties from recording sales. "Our clients are not making new movies, so anything we can do to raise the awareness is obviously a good thing," says Mr. Lotman, whose company is called Global Icons LLC. Mr. Davis's widow, Altovise, agreed to participate.

Mr. Gaba personally courted Andy Williams, a longtime acquaintance, at the Grill, a Beverly Hills power-lunch venue. Mr. Williams, who became a Caesars regular after performing the hotel's first show, says, "I never knew they were recording me." When he found out that several of his shows had been taped, "I felt an invasion, a little bit, of privacy."

A tape of a June 10, 1969, show finds Mr. Williams performing a lush, brass-backed "Moon River," along with a medley from the musical "Hair." The show includes an appearance by a very young Jimmy Osmond, who delivers a squeaky "I Dig Rock 'n' Roll Music." Between songs, Mr. Williams warns: "I think I ought to tell you the truth -- I'm a swinger!"

Mr. Williams agreed to sign on as an investor, with veto power over recordings of his own performances.

Neon Tonic has offered other artists veto power, as well as royalties based on album sales. Some also have been offered stakes in the new company. The company says it is close to signing agreements with several, whom it declines to name. One problem: The Sinatra estate wants the original tapes of Mr. Sinatra that Mr. Cebollero now holds. Until the two sides agree to terms, none of the Sinatra material from Mr. Rogers's recordings is likely to be released.

Some of Mr. Rogers's recordings probably won't ever reach the public. Jeffrey Berkowitz, an attorney who represents Judy Garland's daughter Lorna Luft, says the singer's children wouldn't want "to have poor-quality stuff released" and are "more concerned about protecting the name and image of their mother" than anything else.

During an undated Garland show that Mr. Rogers recorded, the singer leaves the stage soon after the start, telling the audience, "I'll be back in a minute." Later, in the middle of "That's Entertainment," she stumbles on a line. Then, as the band plays on, she interjects, "There are too damn many words in this song. I'm sure that someone from either Warner Brothers or MGM wrote the lyrics."

Retreat From the Web

The Web downturn has altered Neon Tonic's plans. Just days before a test launch of the Web site in late January, Mr. Gaba decided to delay it indefinitely. For now, Neon Tonic will focus on the CDs.

The first disc, a compilation of individual tracks from several artists' performances, is tentatively scheduled for summer release. It isn't yet clear how many artists will be on it. Mr. Sinatra's duet with Ms. Fitzgerald probably won't be, though Neon Tonic hopes to include it in a later CD. Remarks Mr. Rogers taped that obviously weren't intended for an audience -- including Mr. Sinatra's risque private remark to his band -- probably won't make it to disc.

A Neon Tonic executive says the liner notes are likely to acknowledge Mr. Rogers in some way. As for the tapes, Mr. Cebollero hasn't told even his partners where he keeps them.

Last September, the Circus Maximus showroom closed forever with a performance by Steve and Eydie. It has since been leveled. Park Place is considering building a larger showroom at the hotel. A company spokeswoman won't comment on the type of entertainment it might provide. The hotel still has a sound engineer on staff. He works part time, mainly to handle special events.

[malicethewriter]

I'm making a separate post for this but like the Barbie movie is so messy in that it has so many threads that would be really interesting if they explored any of them in more depth but for whatever reason they don't, either because they don't want to or because they can't.

Like, the reverse Genesis thing about the setting is interesting but it sits uncomfortably with the attempted satire of patriarchy but it has to veer off into that but it can't follow that thought to its end because it can't change the status quo that it set up if Barbie is to get her transformative Wings of Desire-esque ending - again either by design or by mandate neither Barbie or Barbieland can transform that much, much less at the same time.

Meanwhile, we need the mother-daughter relationship as the catalyst to bring Barbie and Ken to the real world and to examine a human relation to Barbie, but by the time the movie ends they almost feel tacked on, but we can't do away with them entirely either.

The movie has seeds of something in it - the fact that Also Sprach Zarathustra plays both in the beginning where Barbie appears to the little girls in a direct homage to 2001, but also plays when Ken explores the 'real' world is interesting considering that music cue heralds something both liberating and ominous and yet the implications of both those things are left either subtextual or unexamined. It could while still remaining a fun colourful homage to classic cinema buts its just kind of imperfect instead.

[lgcrp]

◔ ┈ LOADING … TRAINEE PROFILE INITIATED !

SON HAEUN ( READ MORE HERE )

AGE 22 ( 5 JUNE 2001 )

TRAINED FOR 2YEARS 5 MONTHS ( SIGNED JULY 2021 )

              INTRODUCTION VIDEO FOUND … PRESS PLAY ?

haeun was clearly nervous. she had never done anything like this before. an introduction was nothing like holding up her phone for a tiktok. suddenly a camera is an intimidating object and haeun’s mouth run dry. were her parents right? was this a fruitless effort? but it was too late. she’s already been a trainee for some time now. this was nothing more than an evaluation. yet here she was shaking like a leaf as the training manager tells her to move to and fro to get the right angle for the camera. there’s a mention of getting her to relax and not think about it. haeun can vaguely make out the sound of herself saying “yeah, i’m fine,” but the sound is distant. it’s almost as if the words didn’t come out of her mouth. her eyes are fixated on the camera. her newest challenge and so far, the camera was winning. it wasn’t even on yet. “don’t think about it, haeun. just be yourself.” right. herself. what was her personality again? did she prep a song like they asked? is it ready for them? do they know the cue to start the music? suddenly haeun wanted to grab her phone and call her mom and say she was right. this was a mistake. she can’t even accomplish a small evaluation. how was she going to handle being an idol? “ready, start!” it was as if something took over her. the minute she saw the red dot of the camera, her face lights up. a mask was pulled over her face and suddenly she’s the same haeun who could make energetic tiktoks. “hello everyone! my name is haeun~ i’m a still-new trainee here at legacy” she starts with a sickeningly sweet tone. she tones it down when she opens her mouth next. “i bet you look at me and think i remind you of something, hmm? don’t i look like a fox?” she motions to her eyes with her index fingers. “my eyes are my charm point and many say i look like the cunning fox! don’t you agree?” she turns her head to give the camera a side glance, emphasising how her eyes draw someone in. “well, this cunning fox can also hypnotise you with not only her eyes but with her dance moves as well.” she cues the music with two finger guns pointed to the person off camera in charge of the music. haeun waits for the music to start before she drops her cute facade and begins her dance (0:09-0:58). her entire demeanor transforms from the bubbly and sweet girl to the serious and sensual dancer. haeun prides herself on her duality and how that often catches others off guard. hopefully the difference of her introduction and her dance exemplifies this. she could only hope. the dance is completed with a wink to the camera. every time she’s prepped this introduction before she’s never done such a thing. in the moment it felt right. “i bet i’ve enticed you with my dance moves, yeah? my goal is to become one of the best idol dancers in the industry. so please wait for me patiently to see me reach my dream!”

            INTERESTED ? REACH OUT TO THE TRAINEE !

[poptones-1974]

poptones, 11th November 2023 setlist

OP. The Ex Pistols - Land Of Hope & Glory (1984)

okkka DJ

Young Fathers - Geronimo (2023)

Lil Peep – Yesterday (2016)

Dry Cleaning - Magic of Meghan (2019)

Catherine's Pranging Out - Slagheap (2019)

The Undertones - Teenage Kicks (1977)

The Strokes - Life's A Gas (2006)

Fin del Mundo - El Próximo Verano (2022)

細野晴臣 - PLEOCENE（1989)

Cornelius - Cue (2006)

Can - I Want More (1976)

DEVO - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (1978)

高橋ユキヒロ - Murdered by the Music (1980)

Big Joanie - In My Arms (2022)

The Cure - High (1992)

Ben Lee - Cigarettes Will Kill You (1998)

Death Cab for Cutie - I Don't Know How I Survive (2022)

The Breeders - Divine Hammer (1993)

The Clash & Ranking Roger - Rock the Casbah (2022)

The Clash - Three Card Trick (1985)

ザ・ハイロウズ - 十四才 (2001)

interlude William Basinski - dlp 1.1 (2001)

zaki DJ

DMA'S - Lay Down (2015)

Catfish and the Bottlemen - Cocoon (2014)

Inhaler - It Won't Always be Like This (2019)

Blondes - Street Fight (2021)

The Night Café - Endless Lovers (2019)

Sam fender - All is on My Side (2019)

Snail Mail - Glory (2021)

The Big Moon - Wide Eyes (2022)

Florence + and the Machine - Ship to Wreck (2015)

Japanese Breakfast - Slide Tackle (2021)

Alvvays - Tile by Tile (2022)

The Beths - Out of Sight (2020)

The Kooks - Ooh La (2008)

Mystery Jets - Half in Love Elizabeth (2008)

Cajun Dance Party - Amylase (2008)

The Beatles - Now and Then (2023)

Arctic Mokeys - She's Thunderstorms (2011)

Travis - Selfish Jean (2007)

The 1975 - Me & You Together Song (2020)

Circa Waves - The Way We Say Goodbye (2019)