#did I recycle a composition? yes. is this one better? also yes

[tourmaline-dream]

tell me what you want to fix and I'll break it

---------

Oshamir fandom collectively lost it over @icapturedthecastle 's stunning AU The First Hit's Free and I'm no different you have bewitched me body and soul. I've never made fanart for fanfic before but sometimes a visual sticks with you so hard you can't help yourself

check it out and ALSO sign the petition here!

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

practically

The unlocked door to the back room of the all-you-can-eat Ethiopian restaurant felt like a nudge toward the impossible, a thing of pressurized quiet and fragrant warmth. It looked like the portal to a different city, in a different time, a city you could step out into wearing fez and frock coat and stovepipe hat. Smell the air, sniffed Adam. Yes, not just spices but a different chemical composition.

The closed door had always called to him, the air behind it shimmering with movement and sound. It had been an open door once, back before Adam was born. That was back before they started running. It had been a closed door before that, too, because the city in question was a space of the past. It was 2001. We had an architecture professor who specialized in diving into historical buildings. He took us on a tour of the Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan, before the decapitation. His manner was deferential, and he always seemed to be having a much better time than anyone else in the class, even though nobody got to take home his bottle of Algonquin Old Tom. He was from a different city, and that place had no doors, so he had come to the present with a suitcase full of doors, each one encapsulating a different kind of place.

Most of the doors he showed us were in the northern part of the Algonquin. That was the haunt of late 20th-century media moguls and celebrities and other such dogs of the urban apocalypse. Small front doors led into small front parlors, wooden and restrained, with lovely pianos and wicker chairs. Flanking hallways, doors opened onto dining rooms, where new and old coexisted and struggled to perform a dance of indifference. The new could have been found in the bright lights, the brass, and the imported antiques. The old could be found in the chandeliers or, in some places, the bone china and silverware. Everyone always said that the civilized part of the hotel's architecture -- the mosaics, the brass, the polished marble -- was just Hollywood in the new center of the urbicidal economy.

He had also taken us to a place called the Old New York or New Old New York or something like that. None of us could remember the official name, so we just called it Old New York, or N-O-N-Y. To get there, we took the elevator down to the basement and walked through several long corridors down below the level of the new media canyon, which was the lowest point of the building. There was a secret, unmarked door under the revolving door, and that door opened onto N-O-N-Y itself.

It was a very long corridor, the walls lined with the framed certificates of deceased authors and actors, most of which had been recycled from the Algonquin's own framed-certificate vault. At the end of the corridor, two guardian doors flanked a viewing window: one for exiting the room, one for re-entering it. There was another door in the room, but it seemed like it was just part of the thick, old wall. This was the only room we saw in N-O-N-Y.

I can't explain how strange it felt to be in there. It felt as if we were in a time from which there was no emigration to the present. It felt -- not unkind, but it was a looming feeling. Some time later, when I had become very used to the world of the present, I thought maybe it was just that we had seen into a place where doors did not exist. Doors had gone out of fashion. The only door in the whole city was the door to the Algonquin's executive suite. The guests there, and the guards, were all holograms. The walls were made of, and dissolved into, shimmering glass. Somewhere there was a meaty, biological core that could be eaten. The occupants of the city had spurned the door and the idea of the door, and this had eventually turned into a kind of architectural perfection. The idea of "door" had been stretched into a meaninglessness as infinite as the sky.

But it felt differently when we were young. To us, it felt as if the place was populated, but the people were trapped inside it. It was an immortal prison, or maybe an immortal kind of hibernation. Maybe some of the residents were conscious of this, and maybe they wanted to wake up. Maybe they wanted to wake up but not to wake up alone, and maybe they didn't know how to wake up without ruining the dream, because they were there before they were born, before anything happened, they were just there and never left.

Maybe I was thinking too much about doors. The deadness of it was a kind of hypnotism, because it forced you into a dead world. There was nothing alive there that had not been there before. No one had ever added anything to the place, it was the same size it had always been, the same amount of wall and ceiling and floor, the same light, the same empty doors, and the same unspeaking, non-intruding guards. Maybe the reason the Algonquin was there was that it was the only place left on earth where doors still existed. The doors were the souls.

So this was the Algonquin Hotel. The one door that showed up in the eyes of the partygoers was an interior door to the back room. The back room was the Algonquin's one anachronism. Anyone in it knew they were in the 20th century. Every time the Algonquin's exterior doors opened, cars would pull in and out, but the back door was hidden behind the corridors below the canyon, and even more heavily guarded than its sister doors up above. The back room was only for those who knew the raison d'etre behind the unmarked door.

Before Adam got to New York, he did a little research on the hotel. He assumed that the back room was just the modern version of a secluded executive suite: a place to hide from all the pomp and self-parodies of the front of the building. He had become a resident of some important restaurant in the canyon, and at night he would take a taxi there. He would unlock the hotel's back door, have a drink, and look around. Maybe he would play some pool, or eat a steak, or see who was back there. He would note the names of the drinks on the menu and add them to the pool of possibilities in his head. Always, a guardian door and a hidden door sat side by side. Sometimes he could not tell which was which.

A guy called him in once. He said he had heard about Adam, and asked to buy him a drink. Adam was drunk, and liked him, so he bought him a drink. This guy told him he was an old NYC man, and had been associated with the Algonquin many years ago. Back then, this guy had been a cocoon, a type of valet for the men who came to the Algonquin with their wives or daughters. The customers called him a cocoon, because it seemed like he spent all day in a cocoon. He wore a hood and gloves and a large and heavy winter coat, and he did not like being touched. The customers had an idea that it was because he had been in a car accident and had some damage that couldn't be seen.

The guy had started out as a deliveryman, but had found the position of cocoon especially to his liking. Before long he had one assigned customer to whom he gave exclusively. The customer found this comfortable, because he worked in a place where everybody wanted to keep an eye on him, and he didn't want to give anyone an opportunity to do that.

The cocoon he had had was called Marv. Marv had been his name in life, but after some time working as a cocoon, he preferred to go by his job title. He liked the idea of one day being dead, and known as the cocoon.

They had tried to take away his cocoon position, Marv said. It was because a good deal of the cocoon's job was "personal delivery," which meant taking his charge up to his rooms, helping him with his needs, and removing his waste. The cocoon would enter through the hidden door, carrying a pair of large, black, zipperless bags, known as "dookies." The cocoon would stay in the room until the dookie was full, after which he would leave through the hidden door without saying a word. The dookie would later be emptied by chambermaids, who did not know who their customer was or what his needs might be. This was the job description, and as such it might seem straightforward, but it became difficult when the human in the dookie started talking. Marv said that he had once gone into a room, and while he was taking down his charge's pants, he heard the man say, "I am buck naked with a cocoon in the room." Mar

[captain-kit-adventuress]

One thing I find puzzling (and maybe this shows how little exposure people who support ripping out the guts and replacing with modern interiors have to older buildings), is that honestly, in many cases, older buildings are superior to modern ones in so many functional respects.

The house I grew up in was built in the 1890s, and the cross-ventilation from well-placed (and gorgeous) windows meant we didn’t need air conditioning for the summer. We were also pretty lucky to have space for mature trees, so maybe that made a difference. It’s not like it wasn’t hot in the summer, it definitely was, and humid besides. But it was tolerable. If you wore loose, light clothing, and there was a good breeze, sure, you felt hot, but you could go about your day. We did have ceiling fans, too, so that helped for when you couldn’t open the windows. We had no other air conditioning until recently, and it was because of climate change, not because we did anything to the house. Even now, it’s all window units because it’s unlikely we’d ever be able to install central air without winning the lottery.

I’m not sure too many modern architects even give cross-ventilation a second thought today because “Oh, we’ve got central heating and A/C.” The house originally had fireplaces, and even after they were removed (for safety reasons), we still had a wood-burning furnace and lovely cast-iron grates in the floor. One of the cast-iron vent pipes ran through our upstairs bathroom, and honestly, if you kept the door closed in the winter, it was super toasty. That heat carried over into my bedroom next door to the point that I often kept my floor grate closed because it made it too hot, even in a cold winter.

The house was also built with a slate roof. It has been replaced exactly once, in the entire life of the house. Last year. Slate is highly environmentally-friendly, recyclable, and durable, often having regular lifespans of 150-200 years. Compare that to modern composite, which you’d be lucky to get 30 years out of and ends up in a landfill. Especially because the cost to replace the slate would also require lottery winnings these days.

Yes, we had to make safety upgrades. Expect that with most older buildings, because building codes were either very lax or nonexistent. But modern doesn’t always mean better, and a LOT of those “aesthetic details” serve really important purposes in making those homes liveable in a time without modern convenience. Many were eco-friendly, and plenty of them were actually made to last, like the roof. The idea that modern = better because of aesthetic is laughable to me, because honestly, you can make it work with a little creativity, usually very cheaply.

The biggest difference I see is that those homes came out of a time when functional didn’t have to mean unartistic. Just because someone doesn’t like the artist doesn’t make it inferior. Buy something else better suited.

Another very weird sentiment I’ve heard in the Modernizing Old Houses Discourse is “getting mad about modernized houses is classist!!!“

Which baffles me, because… Nobody is talking about making the house livable, or putting in a modern stove, or updating the bathroom, or things like that. The kind of people who live in old houses because it’s cheaper absolutely cannot afford to knock down walls, install recessed lighting, paint the entire interior white,and generally make everything a pottery barn wet dream.  The sort of modernization that pisses people off costs money, money that implies that the people who do it could’ve had the house properly restored if they weren’t such HGTV assholes determines to butt in where they weren’t needed

where are these mythical poor people who can afford to totally overhaul the interior of a house?

[ginnyzero]

Completely Harmless Appendix 8

The Golden Hills Valley

Oh, the Golden Hills that aren’t really golden. Okay, so um, this is personal pet peeve and I know there are a lot of players that actually like the Golden Hills being an area of eternal autumn while the rest of the game is eternal summer except for the Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur. (Where nothing should be growing at all, so now it’s not growing anything except some super hardy magical thistles and lichen and that’s all I’m going to say about that.) And I get why they did it initially because they were using the old assets from the Seasonal games and it was a good way to recycle the Autumn Riders assets.

Completely unnecessary but I get it.

I simply don’t like that our Golden Hills are “red.”

So, I changed it. Instead of having maples, maples, everywhere. I know that birches grow fast and take over areas pretty quickly, so I decided that it didn’t make any sense for the birch forest not to continue into the part of Golden Hills that we see.

Then as you unlock more of the Golden Hills (that are only locked due to actual plot reasons) the trees change into beeches and aspens. And what birches, beeches, and aspens have in common is that they all turn yellow in the fall. I also included Golden Chain Trees. During the spring and summer they have trailing yellow flower clusters.

Apparently the Golden Chain tree turns orange and red a bit during the fall but bits of orange and red are better than all orange and red. Which is what Maple trees do. A lot of it also does have to do with soil composition, rainfall (and thus amount of sap) and light, but for the most part, maples turn red and orange. (If your maple leaves are turning yellow in the fall, there actually might be a problem with your maple tree.) While Apsens, Birches, and Beeches turn yellow.

So, thus, the Golden Hills would actually look Golden.

Then I researched for a bunch of yellow flowers and yellow-green foliage bushes to fill in the gaps during the spring and summer to make the Golden Hills yellow all year long.

The Northern Golden Hills, by the way, didn’t exist in the Star Stable Autumn and Winter games map. When you played Star Stable: Winter Rider, you could go up the mountain behind Meander Stable and look over Silverglade. It was really cool actually. However, when Star Stable Online added in the Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur, they created magic space and therefore pushed the Pine Hills area further north and created this area we now know nothing about.

So I made it up.

When I got to the point in the story where we needed to get past Castle Marchenghast, I asked my good friend, Becca, what she wanted to see in the Northern Golden Hills. And she pointed out that if we’re in a county, we don’t actually have anything that could be considered a County Seat. This was actually really helpful for me.

I grew up on the borders of what are two very rural counties with one huge town in them. So, I based the Northern Golden Hills on the one without a university and is slightly more rural.

So, I created a County Seat. The County Seat would have things like the Fair Grounds, a major station for the Jorvik Rangers, and the big courthouse, and even a jail. The Beeches Park is a green forested state park like area with playgrounds and a event pavilion and little pavilions you can rent for families to visit and throw little parties, let their kids play type of thing. There should also be a library, a school, a natural golf course, and so on. I decided that there should be a Baron for the Golden Hills District and the Count of the entire South New Jorvik County would also live in the Golden Hills at Castle Marchenghast.

Given Star Stable Online’s naming conventions it meant the Marchenghast Family was the highest ranking noble family in the area. I created another Baron, Baron Arthur Fairhaven, and he has his own castle, stable, and village. And lastly, I created Aspendell.

Yes, I know, a lot of A names to go with the A names already in the game, but I liked the name Arthur Fairhaven too much to let it go. It’s a fanfic. I can indulge in silliness.

The cool thing about Aspens is that they aren’t a bunch of individual genetically different trees. They aren’t siblings. Aspens send out roots under the soil laterally and from these roots grow more trunks. So, Aspens are actually one giant clone of each other. They are one complex organism communicating with each other via their roots. You know, like in James Cameron’s Avatar.

Due to drought and fires, there are several Aspen forests, one I know of in Britain, that are considered endangered. I thought it’d be neat to have an Aspen forest like that in Star Stable to bring attention or awareness to the area. Even if I wasn’t able to address directly in this “Chapter” of the story.

The other village in the North Golden Hills area is Eventide, a fishing village. Not a port, but a sea side fishing community that doesn’t have their own stable. I also added a privately owned vineyard to be competition or a new ally in the South New Jorvik County wine trail.

BEHOLD A HANDY LIST

Golden Hills Valley Past North Link/Castle Marchenghast

It’s the County Seat - Goldcroft

1.     Court House

2.     Jail

3.    Ranger Station

4.     Fire House

5.    Count Marchenghast Manor

6.    Goldcroft Stables

7.     Library

8.    Big Recreational Park (The Beeches)

9.    Camping Area/Natural Golf Course

10.  Event Concert Area/Oval Race Track/Rodeo Event Space near Fair Grounds

11.    Golden Hills School

12.   Goldcroft Riding Arena

13.   County Fair Grounds

14.   Large Town including Shopping Street Area (Goldcroft)

15.   Town Square Shopping (Goldcroft)

16.   Large Regional Post Office

17.   Castle Marchenghast Stable

18.   A Medium Sized Stable of Golden Hills Baron Fairhaven

19.   A Smaller Stable (Aspendell)

20.  Protected Quivering Aspen Forest (Shimmering Woods)

21.   Aurora Breeze Winery (Privately owned, no stable.)

22.  Farm 1 (county seat Goldcroft)

23.  Farm 2 (county seat Goldcroft)

24.   Farm 3 (village Fairhaven)

25.  Farm 4 (village Fairhaven)

26.  Farm 5 (village Fairhaven)

27.   Village Fairhaven(3 of 5 farms, Medium Stable, home of Golden Hills Baron)

28.  Village Aspendell (Small Stable)

29.  Fairhaven Riding Arena

30. Eventide Fishing Village

FOR THE ACCOMPANYING IMAGES PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE MY WATERMARK AND CONTACT INFORMATION. THANK YOU. I get it. Some of you might get excited and want to see this stuff in the game, especially the clothes, tack, and pets. However, the only way I want to see this in the game is if I get paid for it. If I see it in the game and I’m not paid for it, there will be hell to pay. You think I’m salty. I’d be angry. Personally, I’m not going to send this info to SSO. If you do, leave my contact information there! Don’t give them any excuses to steal.

Now, I’ll know you haven’t read this note if you leave me comments about how ‘salty’ I am about the game and if I hate it so much I should do something else. I am doing something else. It’s called Mystic Riders MMORPG Project. Mystic Riders however is a very baby phase game. You can check out our plans on the game dev blog. (Skills, Factions, Professions, Crafting, Mini-Games, 25+ horse breeds!) If you know anyone who would be interested and has money or contacts about game making, direct them to the blog.

[longtermintermission]

SO WE SWITCHED PLAYLISTS...

DANI: The two of us love music. Since time immemorial, it’s a pretty solid way to get to know yourself, and it just so happens that it’s also a great way to get to know someone else. What can you learn about a person through their musical preference? In an effort to drum up a premier blog post, Kat and I decided to switch playlists for a week and see what we could discover. While we already know each other quite well, we thought it’d be a fun exercise in music and friendship!  

KAT: I was very excited for this experiment, and as I eagerly awaited Dani’s playlist, I knew I would be in for a real treat. Lo and behold, I enjoyed every single track! My initial thoughts were… “This is super cool-- this sounds like something I’d definitely listen to.” I had an idea of Dani’s musical taste, but wasn’t exactly sure what that sounded like. The tracks I encountered on her playlist in fact validated what I already had in mind about Dani while showing me a deeper sense of her character.

DANI: It was refreshing having new music to listen to! I was excited for this little experiment because as much as I love my own selection of music, you can get stuck recycling the same 20 or so songs over and over. Usually I discover new music when one of my playlists ends and some similar songs are generated, or I decide to further explore the discography of an artist I like, or I hear a song that intrigues me playing somewhere outside of home. It was nice just stepping into Kat’s playlist, completely independent of the music that I normally listen to, and getting to know her “Musical day-to-day,” so to speak. 

KAT: The first time I listened to Dani’s playlist, I found it to be very upbeat, fun and emotive of a sense of nostalgia. The cinematic feel of her playlist proved that side of Dani I’m familiar with -- she’s a big film fan. I couldn’t help but pay attention to the essence of the lyrics, rich in meaning. I wondered if she finds music relatable to the experiences in her own life.  (Dani: I really wouldn’t have thought that lyrics were so important to the music I like beforehand; but now that you point it out--yeah, they are!). 

DANI: Kat’s music really relaxed and calmed me, and while those are great feelings, they’re not ones that I often experience when it comes to my own song choices. I found myself, for example, really enjoying classical piano compositions before bed (20:17 had a lullaby quality, and I melted to Deep Blue Day’s tranquil twangs) and vibing to more laid-back retro tunes in the morning (Broken Finger Blues, Under My Umbrella) . A lot of my usual song choices are very sentimental; they reflect my emotions at the moment, whereas Kat’s songs tended to have a grounding/calming effect instead of simply echoing feelings. (Kat: Yes, I can definitely say I find sentiment in music more on the level of sounds. The calming/relaxing aspects speak to me in different ways.) They met me where I was at, and took me elsewhere. While listening to songs that reflect your mood is a great way to process emotions, I find it equally beneficial to use music to alter your mood for the better (As an added note, sometimes I’ve upset myself pretty badly by listening to songs that have deep emotional meaning to me when I’m feeling down. Indulge with caution!) So much music has the power to relax, focus, rejuvenate, etc. and I feel like Kat’s playlist reminded me of this. 

KAT: Personally when I listen to someone’s choice of music. I can’t really pinpoint a specific characteristic about who they are but rather, I gain a vision of who they are. Being presented with someone’s musical taste, I imagine, while listening, the vibe I would feel being in the presence of that person. For me, I envisioned Dani to be fun, insightful, adventurous, nostalgic and simply a cool gal to spend some time with. 

DANI: Kat’s playlist definitely gave me the vibe that I get just being in a room with her! Calm, cool, collected… but there are notes of the same pathos I find in my music weaved modestly throughout her playlist, and it was great to experience these in a different light through her choice of song. Plus, I was elated to find that we share some personal favorites: L’eau à  la bouche, hello! What a banger! The first thing I did when I came to Paris in 2014 was visiting Serge Gainsbourg’s resting place in Montparnasse. What’s more, Kat and I are both massive Françoise Hardy fans; you can definitely tell that our time in France has shaped us! Kat and I met here around 2 years ago, and it’s touching to find that kind of personal history in a playlist. 

KAT: To sum this all up we got a big kick out of this experiment we assigned to ourselves. Unexpectedly, we discovered an interesting and unforeseen way to get to know each other on a more intense level. Experiencing someone else’s favorite sounds reflected the person that we already knew while also allowing us to step into deeper waters. We were both provided with a new image of each other. They say you’re happiest when how you see yourself is identical to how others see you. It can be challenging to align these two visions; this exercise helped us to do just that and even more. From here on out, when I see Dani, I will hear the sounds of Billy Idol’s Eyes Without A Face and Madonna’s Live To Tell adding more color to my very familiar image of her. I now understand more of what interests her and specifically what attracts her in the form of sound. 

It’s very refreshing to share with someone something you’ve created, something that you’re attracted to and something that resonates with you. We learned that this allows you not only to understand the people you care about better but also to be understood better which is what most of us desire in life. So, how about you try this exercise with your friends (or even an acquaintance)? Getting to know how someone sees themselves through the music that they connect with is a simple and profound way to deepen a friendship.

Check out our playlists below: 

KAT’S

DANI’S

[cookpj]

Week 3 - History of Design

This may look like an ordinary window blind, but it is in fact a cordless blind. Before moving into my current house I only came across these in hotels. They are a much more convenient design because cords often times complicated the process of drawing the blind. Sometimes its confusing to maneuver the cord and it often times would get tangled or simply wouldn’t work. Cordless blinds can be pushed or pulled up or down to draw the blinds at the desired length. 

Here is my shotgun microphone. They are unidirectional microphones used in recorded audio in a certain direction, which picks up the audio better from the target and minimizes background noise. These microphones are better at picking up audio from a distance which also helps with maintaining social distancing during interviews, press conferences or other audio recordings. 

 http://www.learningaboutelectronics.com/Articles/What-is-a-shotgun-microphone

Here is a photo of my computer, the MSI Trident 3. It is marketed as a gaming computer and has a slim form factor compared to traditional PC’s with larger cases. Some parts inside also have a smaller design, like the motherboard, graphics card, RAM and storage devices. This design is good because it makes the PC more mobile. If I wanted to take this PC to a LAN party then I could easily toss it into a backpack or small case, and the smaller design is also good because it takes up less desktop space. 

The MSI Trident 3 comes with a stand that allows it to stand up vertically. When I purchased the PC from a friend he did not have the stand so I was forced to create a new one. I took Styrofoam, a knife and speed tape to create a stand that I could slide the PC into vertically. The opening to which I slide the PC into is a bit smaller than the width of the PC so that it firmly holds onto my PC. The Styrofoam I used was a random piece that came with the packaging of my monitor. I cut it down to size and made sure that it had a flat(partially) bottom so that it would stay upright and emulate the function of the original stand. The tape is mainly to to prevent damage to the Styrofoam and stop loose pieces from falling off.

This is my HP Envy printer. It prints both documents and photos. There are two paper trays, one for regular paper and one for photo paper. This design has come a long way from Gutenberg printing press. It allows me to scan, copy, print and send documents all from one device, making it a multifunction device. It uses only two ink cartridges, as opposed to other larger models or printer types which may have multiple color cartridges and large toner components.

Army combat boots. Most boots for work are heavy, durable and sometimes have steel or composite toes. These boots are made for combat and are very light but still very durable. They might not be great for working in a warehouse, but for being in the field they are very maneuverable and athletic as you might be able to tell from the very thin material. These ones are not designed for cold weather, which are typically heavier due to the insulated material. Older combat boots were much more heavier and cumbersome yet still did little to protect the feet. Older boots were also designed in the area of trench warfare, and as combat has evolved so has the equipment that Service Members wear. 

The design of skateboard shoes have flat bottoms with a lot of grip, which is ideal for riding on a skateboard. To be able to maintain stability and balance, the bottom of the shoe should have as much contact with the surface of the board as reasonably possible, while still having some form of tread. 

These are my Nike Air Vapormax Flyknit 3 shoes. Yes they are a little bit worn, but they have treated me well. The flyknit material is soft, stretchy and breathable. The bottom air units have a lot of cushion which provides bounce when running or walking. There is only and upper sole and outsole, skipping the midsole in the design. It really feels like walking on air once you break them in. A downside is that they are a very thin shoe so they aren’t great for people with wide feet. Some of the material is also recycled, so it is a more sustainable and eco-friendly design. Like most athletic shoes, these have higher arches that help support the foot. 

Here is my cat Lizzy and one of her scratching posts. It has a triangular design for stability and ease of use for my cat. I still needed to add weight in the middle to keep it from sliding, but this design helps the post stay upright and stable. Cats do not like things that are unstable. It also come with a scratcher on each side. A bad part about this design is that I am not able to flip the scratchers around in any way so that she can use areas that are left unscratched.

An oscillating fan allows movement of the fan head to circulate more area of a room. This is good if you have multiple people or if you don’t want the fan concentrated on one area. Even if you don’t want the fan to oscillate, the head is still adjustable in all directions. We also have a box fan, but we like this design better because you can adjust it, as opposed to the box fan which you can only position in limited fashions. This fan also allows you to set speeds, a timer and can be turned on and off with a remote control. 

[radramblog]

Album Discussion- Viva La Vida- Coldplay

Oh shit, is Rad gunning for the throat of what was once one of the biggest bands in the world again, no actually, I really like this album, why would I talk about albums I hate. I’m not sure I have the comedic acumen to manage that yet, but I guess we’ll find out when I inevitably try.

Viva La Vida is Coldplay’s 4th studio album and one I have a lot of personal nostalgia for. It’s permanently associated with a particular time in my life, where I got the album added to an MP3 player I had and listened to it constantly over and over, and somehow didn’t get sick of it. It’s also the last album from the era in which they were actually good (haven’t listened to Everyday Life yet though), though it’s kinda a major departure from the sound and tone of the previous 3.

It’s also the first one where they really start getting up their own ass. Like, that font? And the French Revolution imagery? I guess there’s something to be said for such but relatively clean band having artwork featuring someone’s entire tiddy out on their album, but I suppose it’s considered a tasteful nude given the context of the original painting. Anyway.

The album opens with Life in Technicolor, spelled without the u despite them being British because fuck me, I guess. This instrumental really quickly establishes that this is going to be a different one- Coldplay’s previous work is extremely solid if vaguely generic alt-rock instrumentation, and here comes this song with a…. (looks it up)…santoor? Which sounds completely different to anything else they’ve put out. It’s also, again, an instrumental, which is pretty unique for the band considering how heavy a focus Chris Martin’s vocals tend to get. What we end up with is this short and sweet little introductory piece that I don’t have much else to say about other than I really like it. What I can briefly comment on is Life in Technicolor II, the version released as a single and on the EP immediately following this album. It’s like, twice as long, as full on vocals, and as a result overstays its welcome by quite a bit. It’s not like the vocals are bad, but they really do feel tacked on.

Cemeteries of London is next up, a ghost story of a track with heavy Christian themes and folk influences. There’s this echoey guitar in the backdrop of this that gives it an eerie edge, even with the relatively chill acoustic lead. I think putting so much clapping in such a minor-key track is a bold play, and it seems to have paid off for them. This song feels almost bleak, even desperate at times, like the vocals’ peak describing an encounter with God that doesn’t quite work out. There’s an unspoken tragedy here. It’s another of the album’s better tracks.

Lost! (exclamation point is part of the title) is a bit more uptempo, but not really any more upbeat. I don’t know what instrument is making that beat, but it sounds neato, and they just have a church organ running through this whole thing, because why not, sounds aight. It’s kinda U2-ey, which isn’t really a compliment coming from me. I would be very interested in another artist’s take on this track- and I don’t mean Lost+, that’s awful and doesn’t fucking count.

42 is the next track, and I don’t think that’s a Hitchhiker’s Guide reference. It’s again, extremely moody, or at least, the first part is. The composition of this is actually really interesting, it’s basically three separate songs mashed into one. The first part is the moody piano bit, the middle a banging instrumental bit, and the last bit this really fun collision of both types of instrumentation. Ultimately, 42 is an experiment that was probably for the best, since I’m entirely confident any part of this being the full song would get old real quick. But the split means none of them overstay their welcome.

Speaking of overstaying welcomes, Lovers in Japan is almost 7 minutes, and as a result was the track I always skipped as a kid. This is because the album version contains a second song in it, “Reign of Love”, which isn’t its own track for reasons that are completely alien to me. Much like Lost!, Lovers in Japan feels extremely U2, soaring guitars and choruses, but I just did not vibe with that as a kid and it’s hard to come back to now as a result. Reign of Love, on the other hand, basically just feels like 3 entire minutes of piano-based outro, and is really not worth sitting through Lovers in Japan to experience.

Yes is the title of the next song and it opens with violins in a rock song fuck yes! It’s also one with two songs in it, this time with “Chinese Sleep Chant” (uhhhhh) attached at the end for a total track length of 7:06. This doesn’t bother me as much as weith Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love, because I actually like both halves of this one. Yes feels like VLV-era Coldplay’s take on something grungier, with Chris Martin going lower than I think he does on any other song in their discography. This simple vocal switch makes the song seriously stand out from their other works, a more traditional rock instrumental standing out from the rest of the album in its relative simplicity. There’s still a lot going on, but it feels tighter and more restrained. I do think Yes might be my favourite track on the album. Chinese Sleep Chant is…an ethereal wall of sound, with heavily affected vocals to the point where they feel more like part of the instrumental than anything. It’s otherworldly, and hardly the best example of a song like this, but it’s more than satisfactory.

The next song is the title track, Viva la Vida, and I’m not really sure what there is to say about this that hasn’t already been said. It’s just such an incredible piece of music, orchestral and sweeping, emotional and moving. Aside from being tied to some awkward memories (I used it to audition for a musical in middle school, something I haven’t managed to forget try as I might), I don’t really have any complaints about it. Actually, that’s a lie, I have one. It’s fucking criminal that it’s largely associated with the CaptainSparklez Fallen Kingdom Minecraft song, which I never liked (compared to Revenge/TNT at least), to the point where every time VLV comes up in a SiIvagunner rip people are referencing that instead of the original. It’s just kinda shite, basically.

Violet Hill, then. This rocks hard enough that it was in Guitar Hero III, standing proud alongside Through The Fire and Flames and The Number of the Beast in rock history. It’s pretty low-key for that lineup, of course, but it’s the heaviest thing on this album sonically, and probably lyrically, too- took me until googling it to find out it was an anti-war song, though some of the lyrics are more understandable (and decipherable) than others. The close of the song is soft and kinda heartbreaking, but the rest of it just goes. It used to be my favourite on the album. Not so much, I like Yes more now, sorry.

The penultimate track is Strawberry Swing, another one I didn’t connect to as a kid. It’s got a bouncy, “tribal” beat, some really panned out double bass (?) for the bassline, and sounds almost sugary sweet. This song is so unbelievably relaxing, which is a really odd thing for a Coldplay song to be, but it works pretty well. I’m genuinely finding it hard to write listening to that, I just kinda keep getting lost in it. I swear it’s not just my ADHD, this song just chills you out. That’s probably a good sign, right?

The final song is Death and All His Friends, is another bloody double song- except I’m not sure it was on the version I had as a kid? I might be remembering wrong, but I’m pretty sure I’d not heard The Escapist before going back to this as an adult. Regardless, Death and All His Friends spends a long time in this low piano mood, serene and reassuring, it’s about a minute of that. It then spends like, another minute building up into what I’d call the song proper, an instrumental bit that eventually breaks out into this just desperate cry against what I can only assume is life, or death, one or the other. The lyrics are relatively brief before the song folds in on itself and ends, taking what I thought was the album with it. I do particularly like the line “I don’t want a cycle of recycled revenge”, that’s just fun to hear. And then we get to The Escapist and-wait this is just the start of Life in Technicolor again. But Chris has some vocals on some of it. I guess it bookends the album, but this is kinda pointless. And if you’re listening to the Album+EP version, it runs right into Life in Technicolor II, which gets a little repetitive.

In essence, Viva la Vida is an artier, more variable take on Coldplay, with a somewhat up its own ass aesthetic that at least backs it up with interesting music much of which is absolutely worth the time. It is also the last gasp of Good Coldplay, with every release afterwards (again, I haven’t heard the latest album, it’s apparently decent) being not especially great- while most agree that the poppier direction of Mylo Xyloto alienated most of their fanbase, and it sure did me, I actually don’t like Prospekt’s March either. But that’s a story for another time.

[immosh-blog1]

. Project(homage)evaluation .

Why did I choose Koi fishes? Many of the attributes of the koi symbolize several lessons and even trials individuals often encounter in life. The koi fish has a powerful and energetic life force, demonstrated by its ability to swim against currents and even travel upstream. Some of the characteristics associated with the koi include: good fortune, success, prosperity, longevity, courage, ambition, perseverance. The fish's coloring also has something to do with its symbolism. Certain colors represent certain aspects or outcomes in life.

Kohaku - This koi has a white body with red spots and symbolizes success in your career.

Kumonryu - There are two main variations of this koi. One variation is a koi with a white body and black spots and the other is an all-black body. This Kumonryu koi symbolizes life changes and transformations.

Ogon - This solid, silver-colored koi symbolically represents success in business and wealth.

Kuchibeni - This white and red patterned koi is often referred to as the "lipstick" fish because the red coloring around its mouth makes it appear as though the fish is wearing lipstick. Kuchibeni koi represents love and long-lasting relationships.

Yamabuki - The Yamabuki koi is gold in coloring and symbolizes riches and wealth.

When I just started doing research I thought that it would be difficult to find artist which is drawing ONLY koi fishes because almost all artist every time drawing something different, I can be one direction like landscapes, flowers, town panorama or one style but not always the same thing. So I was happy to find Terry Gilecky works because they are absolutely beautiful and magnificent.

My first idea was to draw a girl with long hair and make her hair as detailed as I can to make it look like a river flow, but I after I draw detailed fishes I understood that they gonna merge with a background- hair. so I started to experiment with watercolor pencils (because they can give soft shade and make a drawing look more natural) trying to make fishes bright, to make them stand out from the background hair. I liked how fishes were looking drawn with watercolor pencils but detailed fishes I liked more so I changed the idea to make a colorful background and leave fishes how they are. Drawing background was not easy because I didn't want to color background in equable blue I wanted to show somehow that water is moving so I tried to draw it like its moving what was difficult enough. So final idea was draw koi fishes with black gel pen because it can give hard but clean lines and use watercolor pencils for a background.  I choose to draw my project because I feel more comfortable when I'm drawing, I can control all lines and everything that is happening. But next time I would like to try others media and materials doing my project because it can give more inspiration and more project work variations which can be interesting.

did the rest of the group understand my idea? I think yes because I heard a lot of positive comments to which I'm very glad. But I'm still not satisfied with my presentation because I haven't shared all found information with the group. Like for example: Why did I choose to make exactly this composition?  I arranged the composition so that it would create a silhouette of the recycling logo because I wanted to touch the subconscious of people, maybe my problem was that I did not make it understandable enough, but next time I will show my idea in a much better way.

This project was not easy, it was challenging and I think I did this challenge well, but everything could be better.

[survivor-zvt]

Immunity Challenge #2 Results

Let’s get to the results and see the iconic music videos! First let’s meet our iconic judges!

TYLER!

He edited the barbie girl video and guided us during Algonquin and is a professional video editor. He’s also my dynamic duo #ClashMeDora

JESS! Jess was a famous girl on zwooper but migrated to Tumblr a few months ago but she still goes to her hometown zwooper to visit her children

JOHNNY! Who doesn’t know Johnny? He has won the most group games on zwooper and hosts almost every TS season and i am pretty sure i have seen him judge music videos before so he has the experience!

ALYSSA! Alyssa won TS Guyana and has been in one of the videos where she killed it in 7 rings! Now let’s right jump into the music videos! Zwooper’s Music Video

TYLER Creativity: (4/10) You guys definitely paid attention to the lyrics and there were moments where you matched the song with funny props. With that being said I wish you pushed that envelope the whole way through. There was not much coordination (except for Carter who went in). Maybe some costuming could have helped? Effort: (6/10) Some people definitely put in more work than others when it came to dressing up and dancing. I peeped how there were different "roles" or "parts" and that was great organization, but in some cases I just wish it came through more. You had great material with the song because they were talking about different kind of boys and you had a tribe full of boys who could have literally embodied that. But you just didn't. Composition: (4/10) The edit was really lacking. There was a lot of moments off-sync and there was a lot of times there was no footage at all. Also, the recycling of footage kind of took me out of it. I'd rather you have shown dancing there when it was just instrumental or cut that part out entirely. Most of the cuts were just simple cuts between footage and some of the shots lingered for too long. Theme: (5/10) I don't really think there was a theme to this. It's hard to have a "message" with a song like this, which you guys clearly chose to be entertaining. It was fun to watch, but I don't think you really thought about this aspect. Nothing tied it together. JESS Creativity: Honestly was it creative... no? Did you have a cute cat who stole the show..yes! This wasn't a standout at all.... 5 Effort: Sadly, not all of your tribe members were in the video :( I think the effort was there it just didn't really translate... 6 Composition: The beginning of this video dragged on too much. The editing picked up throughout the video and personally.. this might be your stronger point? 6.5 Theme: There was a theme? Um.... awkward because I didn't really see one. 5 JOHNNY Creativity: 3 Effort: 6 Composition: 8 Theme: 4 A lot of this didn't really flow and there was no outward thinking when it came to the song and what y'all did with the lip sync. It seemed like y'all were like "okay here's the song, now record your parts and let's not discuss WHAT we're doing in our recordings." It was kinda entertaining, and I love TJ, but the first 35 seconds being on the same person is just meh with coming out with a KILLER opening for a video and drawing me in as a viewer. I do take into account that a good amount of y'all were in the actual video, but missing some tribemates is always going to dock some points so........... ALYSSA Creativity: 7 Effort: 7 Composition: 6 Theme: 8 The editing of the second verse made my life but I think that some portions were looped, so I docked for effort there. But I think the whole tribe was included in the video which is excellent. Docked point in composition for the ever dreaded horizontal/vertical mix. Stan Lizzo !! TOTAL 83.5/160 Tumblr’s Music Video

TYLER Creativity: (6/10) I think the creativity came through more in the edit than in the performances. Several people wore ridiculous outfits to stand out in their own way, but they go together. I think some coordination in that department could have really benefitted you guys. The editor did a good job putting everything together but the footage wasn't always the best material to work with. Effort: (7/10) It seemed like everyone had a lot of fun. Again, the editor did a lot of work here. I appreciated the shots of people dancing and going all in, regardless of how they look. Composition: (8/10) This was the highlight of this video. The fast cuts, the use of transitions, the special effects. These all made it more exciting to watch. It felt more like a music video and my attention was maintained. I don't even know who edited this but if you bitches end up losing somehow and then vote out the editor I hope all y'all go home. Theme: (4/10) This was the weakest part. There really was no theme, and I think the song choice makes it hard to put together a theme. The footage and costumes were all very different so nothing really meshed. The one shot of the girl singing on the city billboard sent me because it came out of nowhere. JESS Creativity: I admire the onesies and costumes. I appreciated the choreography too! 7.5 Effort: Just as the Zwooper tribe, not all members were in this video so that kind of sucks? (RIP MADISON K). But there was SOME effort here so… 7 Composition: This video flowed well. I really liked it. My little virgo heart is happy. 8 Theme: I don’t know if there was a strong enough theme here? BUT I’ll give you a pass. 6 JOHNNY Creative: 6 Effort: 8 Composition: 9 Theme: 6

Ahhhhh a Sammy edited music video? Yea everyone was into it, and I love the little bits of y'all at the beach house (excluding the fact that Jack and Connor aren't in the GAME), but I just think everyone in this video was into the song itself more than literally everyone on the other tribe besides maybe Carter. Also, Maynor had the funniest part of both videos with his icky face and the piece of paper. That's some fun creativity to make me laugh. Decent standard music video, but in my opinion, better than the other tribe so good job woooooo ALYSSA Creativity: 6 Effort: 6 Composition: 8 Theme: 7 In my opinion this was overedited.... But this made me laugh at points and obviously a lot of effort was put into it on the editing portion. I do think there were some people missing based on the mini flag at the end so I docked some points for that. Overall it looks like you guys had fun so I’m glad! TOTAL 109.5/160 Congratulations to TUMBLR on winning the immunity! and zwooper you will be heading to tribal council, where you will be voting off the first person from zwooper tribe and second from ZVT. Tribal will be over skype call and skype call will be recorded, and we plan to start at 9:00 EST. please let the hosts know beforehand if you will be able to attend tribal council or not. Tribal Council 9EST August 5th

[darthlenaplant]

Is that why I essentially fell out of love with Kylux? (Or that was at least one factor) And now I'm even MASSIVELY annoyed with it. How did that one even happen?

[Insert the "we just don't know" bird]

I will be completely honest with y'all, I just elected to disregard anything about the "canon" (whatever the fuck is that supposed to be anyway) that I don't like, and focus exclusively on the things that I do like.

I've been saying this for years, fanfictions are more often than enough WAY BETTER than anything they throw at us in the bookstores (especially those in the German speaking realm), and that's why I mostly just read fanfics. (Also because there's more and way better representation than just "tragic trans person/gay couple that dies at the end" or "the trans aspect is literally the only part of the story" or "what the fuck is a non-white person anyway".)

Where the fuck did I even want to go with that?

Oh yeah! Disregard the shit the media throws at you and only talk to your fellow fans about the things that your little circle likes.

I for example like to talk about the FO being employing some sort of Techno-Terror, but who says that they couldn't change? Yes, they have massive firepowers, but what is their stance on renewable enrgies and recycling? Just because they were formed by the remnants of the Empire, who says that they have to be the exact same? There are so many things to explore, and only limiting or binding oneself too strongly to the source material is just boring.

Tbch, I NEVER liked sub Hux, and at some point in the last two years I essentially got somehow "violently allergic" to it, I just nope out of the tab. I do make a point of never flaming a content maker, if I don't have anything constructive to add (and style* is not a technical error) I say nothing. I just (try to) avoid it. If I encounter it anyway, I just shake my head and move on.

*) neither is the placement of a person in a picture really a technical error, I didn't want to say "composition" though, since there CAN be actual technical errors there, just like in perspective, lightning, movement/wind direction and anatomy.

Urgh. I can’t seem to shake my inner conviction that all Kylux is now domestic violence. I can’t look at sub!Hux stuff without worrying about heteronormativity and that toxic tendency to laugh at and belittle anyone who isn’t the physically strongest man in the room. I feel queasy about consent in a relationship where one character holds all the power and the other has every reason to suppose they might die if they don’t say yes. 

But otoh I can’t look at soft!Kylux or dom!Hux stuff without feeling like it’s wish fulfilment and Kylo can’t be trusted not to lash out with the Force or fists at any moment. 

I’m not honestly sure - after all the background material - that Hux is the character I took him for either. I mean, I’ll forgive him blowing up five planets, but I won’t forgive him being incompetent.

I’m still hoping for and expecting him to attempt to kill Kylo in Ep IX, but I’m slightly afraid that they’ll make him do it stupidly and I don’t think I want to be emotionally involved for that.

[xenophoraobjects]

Q&A with Hour Detroit

Q&A: Karissma Yve, Creator of Xenophora

The Brightmoor native discusses the meaning behind her jewelry, her journey to Paris Fashion Week, and beyond

BY RYAN MILLER Published: April 5, 2018

Originally published by Hour Detroit

Brightmoor native and Xenophora creator Karissma Yve is making more than jewelry. She’s making a name for herself. “I have literally gone from nothing, not a pot to piss in, and have really made something,” Yve explains when describing her Alchemy collection. The line is inspired by spiritual and philosophical transformation. “That's what I do,” says Yve. Like an alchemist turning lead into gold, Yve says she has transformed her experiences growing up in Detroit into an internationally-recognized business.

Aside from operating the only full-service jewelry manufacturing facility in Detroit, the designer has had her pieces appear in boutiques around the globe and even showcased during Paris Fashion Week.

Getting to this point has been no small feat. In January 2017, Yve received a $35,000 Motor City Match grant (presented by former Vice President Joe Biden) and has been continuously growing from there. Following the grant, Yve has been involved in various collaborations, including one with Roslyn Karamoko, the CEO and founder of Detroit is the New Black.

Yve sat down with Hour Detroit to discuss her journey so far, as well as the personal meanings behind her jewelry collections.

Hour Detroit: What, from your experience growing up in Brightmoor, has inspired your collections? Karissma Yve: I think, mostly, the experience of it. I don't have very literal inspirations that you can look at, see, and touch. It's the feeling. Jewelry is such an intimate product. When you wear it, you feel it. It's like a talisman. My experience growing up there was the symbolism, mysticism, and the esoteric that you're seeing within the products and the language of the company. For example, my latest artisanal collection for Xenophora was, "We Shed Tears Like Layers of Skin." It is a jewelry collection where I 3D-printed the chemical composition of tears based on the tear type. I worked with tears of possibility and hope, tears of release, and tears of those yearning for liberation. Growing up in Brightmoor, specifically, I know that I have cried many tears of possibility and hope. Almost everyone I have seen in that community has cried tears of possibility and hope. They've also cried tears of release and they've also cried tears of those yearning for liberation. You know, freedom from the blight and the poverty that we are in. And the physical abuse that we may or may not be enduring at that moment. Most likely, we are because of our socioeconomic displacement. These are very emotional collections that are more spiritual that are meant to connect more with the person rather than the personal style of the person. The style aspect is secondary. It looks good, but the meaning behind it is what will connect you to it and transform you.

Can you tell us about Casting de Khrysopoeia? How did it come to fruition? Yve: Casting de Khrysopoeia is a full-service jewelry manufacturing facility and a boutique design house. This manufacturing facility is about providing access and resources to other designers and brands, like myself, or better. We provide services, starting from concept to creation. So, that means if you came into the manufacturing facility with a paper napkin sketch, we will take that and we will help you develop a fully-rounded jewelry collection that you can take directly to market. We do that by offering services like CAD (Computer Aided Design) and brand/design consultations, finishing, casting, mold making, stone setting, etc. There are few things that we don't do that we are working towards offering. But, as we grow, it feels good. I know that all of the services that we offer I can stand behind and say, "This was made with love and this was made with care." This is the best damn quality you are going to get in the United States.

Which of your personal accomplishments is your favorite and why? Yve: Just the mere fact that I was able to take an idea and manifest it into reality. It applies to everything. I've said that I wanted to go to Paris Fashion Week and I had absolutely nothing to show for it. This was way before I even started really making collections that were strong that they could have been shown during Paris Fashion Week commercially. Once I went, I realized that I want to do that more. Also, developing Detroit's first and only full-jewelry manufacturing facility and design house. It was just another stepping stone and it speaks to every single thing I've done. …. But, when you hear me talk about my accomplishments, like "Oh, I was able to realize my idea into something in my life," it sounds almost fairytale-esque, but that's the reality of it. Also, the deeper part of it is that I had to go through a lot. And also, while manifesting a life you want to live, you're also manifesting the challenges and struggles you have to go through to really see where you want to be. People don't talk about that. And it sounds so luxurious, like "Oh, I've gone to Paris Fashion Week." But the value is, really, that yes, I went to Paris Fashion Week, I struggled, I worked my ass off, and I made it here. Then, I'm going to continue to struggle, work my ass off, and make it to the next point. That's really what it's about.

Is there anything you can us about your upcoming projects? Yve: Yes! I'm really looking forward to launching the new Xenophora Formed product line. Those are more competitively priced, lightweight, every day, and more wearable pieces that still have that symbolism, meaning, and purpose that the artisanal collection has. [The products are] eco-silver (100 percent recycled silver) to raise awareness on the more eco-friendly fair trade mining industry. [This is] to give local miners what they deserve: to be compensated at a fair price and to build up their own communities. I'm looking at giving a portion of the sales to a charitable organization that I will be unveiling soon.

Check out the XENOPHORA Formed Collection

[theseventhhex]

Sóley Interview

Sóley

Back with her third solo album, Sóley’s new LP 'Endless Summer' was written over the period of one year together with her long-time friend and collaborator Albert Finnbogason, the new full-length sees the acclaimed musician from Iceland explore the more optimistic, sun-drenched corners of her songwriting. Comprised of eight songs, 'Endless Summer' is an album that’s grounded in fertile wisdom. Not just an ethereal dream of love and light, but a subtle, accumulative wisdom, a conscious choice to cling to vitality. 'Endless Summer' is like the Icelandic summer, a liminal, endless turning, a shift of consciousness, an endless awakening of continual brightness not without the acknowledgement of winter; it is the eruption from which the rebirth of light emerges… We talk to Sóley about poems, being a workaholic and motherhood…

TSH: For ‘Endless Summer’, how key was it for you to challenge yourself even more via making the compositions more complex?

Sóley: Well, challenging yourself whilst making art is very important. Like when you sit down and you write something down, then the next day you find a way to make it different from everything else. I get easily inspired by music and art so if I don’t focus on how to make it sound like my own, it would just sound like everyone else. By challenging myself, I try to go deeper into the composition and even if I take an idea from someone else, let’s say some chord progression; I try to fuck it up so much that in the end it won’t sound like the original chord progression. I had much more fun making more complex compositions, I love the simple stuff, but I’m more satisfied when I make something a little out of the ordinary.

TSH: Knowing writing is like a personal diary for you, do you feel at all vulnerable sharing your thoughts with each passing album?

Sóley: I guess I’m not really aware that I’m sharing my music with the world; even my lyrics are often not so straightforward, so people read into them in different ways, which is what I like. One person will understand my music differently to another.

TSH: How essential are the poems in terms of inspiring your writing process and helping you to be unstuck with lyrics?

Sóley: Really important. I have a lot of poem books that I read when I’m stuck. Poems are short and they get right to the point. Sometimes I only need one word, a word that brings me to a new place. I write words or sentences that I read or hear in a small book and then they become something else. Art is recycling.

TSH: Tell us more about the idea of ‘Endless Summer’ being written about another reality and another world…

Sóley: You know, I had made up an image which I’m just not sure I wanted to be a part of. It’s not only about making sad songs, I still like making sad songs - it’s just in my destiny. However, this time it was all about how I saw myself, how I was behaving onstage and how I told myself that my voice was only able to sing within a certain technique. ‘Endless Summer’ is just the first step of many to make things right again. I had lost the happiness of playing music. I felt I was never good enough and that I was a horrible singer. I was forced into pop music and I never ever wanted to be a singer, but still I compare myself to “real singers” and I’m really good at putting myself down. On ‘Endless Summer’ I’m breathing a little bit and I’m finding happiness again. So, yes, it is about another world - we are what we think. If you tell yourself that you’re a piece of shit, then you start to believe it. Now that I have a daughter, I want her to be happy with who she is, therefore I mirror myself in her. I can positively become better, ‘Endless Summer’ has made me realise this.

TSH: Why is working with your inner-self so important to you?

Sóley: I just deeply want to be a good role model for my daughter. I find that making music is my meditation but it also makes me so stressed out and nervous, ha! I find it hard to find balance my life. I’m really hyper. I can’t stop, but at the same time, I’m so tired of needing to be constantly thinking and creating. My brain hardly ever stops working; if I’m at home, I’m always making up melodies, listening to music, taking notes, emails etc… Ok, now I can see I need meditation, ha!

TSH: Which song did you end up writing in a major key?

Sóley: The album was never supposed to be a happy album but it starts out with a song in major key, the song entitled ‘Úa’. Even though the chord progression in that song is so weird, I’m really, really happy with it. I love playing it live; it’s so dynamic and unpredictable.

TSH: What sort of inspiration did you take to form ‘Sing Wood To Silence’?

Sóley: I really wanted to make that song so complex that I would actually need to rehearse it. I thought it was a great idea to jump up and down with my voice for the song, but when I have to play it live, I need to be really calmed down to sing it, which is a challenge for me. That song starts in a C minor key and the middle part becomes a Eb major and then back to C minor. It’s a song with many parts and I really loved making it. I made it when winter was ending and spring was coming, so basically it’s about that.

TSH: Also, how did you decide on your vocal stance for ‘Never Cry Moon’?

Sóley: I just wrote it! Haha! I was really on and off with the melody in ‘Never Cry Moon’ because it’s one tone in both verses and I changed it slightly when I was recording it. I thought I’d get tired of the really simple line but I still like it, as well as when the extra voice comes in verse two. It’s just one tone but both the voices allow for some tension to be released in the last part.

TSH: Do your dreams still inspire your lyrics and music?

Sóley: Yeah they do. I dream a lot. A lot of bullshit. And then I wake up, tired!

TSH: You’re also very thrilled with your recent European tour…

Sóley: The tour was great. Me and my band had a great time and we played some really good gigs. I had the biggest band I’ve had on tour so far and it was just perfect.

TSH: How liberated does your new family life make you feel?

Sóley: Of course a child changes everything. I’m not really able to do whatever I want to when I want to. Far from it. I can’t work all night, which I loved doing. Now I have to wake up early and make some porridge, you know! It’s a challenge for me to not always be at work. It’s hard to stop working when you’re an artist. Sometimes it’s really unfulfilling! However, I have a great husband, a rock. We make a great team. Also, my daughter is such a great person; she’s getting really good at musical elements, so she’ll be a genius!

TSH: What are your favourite Wes Anderson and Michael Gondry movies?

Sóley: That’s a hard question. I really love Darjeeling Limited and Moonrise Kingdom. Eternal Sunshine is one of my favourite movies too, it’s really good.

TSH: As you look ahead, what is your biggest drive?

Sóley: To develop as an artist and to get to the bottom of why I’m making art. For me, art is like science and by studying it you try to get to some conclusion. The funny part of it is, that with every work you make (an album, book etc.) you just get more confused and even further away from your results. That’s why we never stop!

Sóley - “Pretty Face”

Endless Summer

[doodlewash]

My name is Jill Gustavis, and I’m originally from Pittsfield, Massachusetts but my husband and I moved over the NY border to quiet Stephentown in 2016. Since that time, you could say my daily exposure to the country and job at work have helped me reprioritize my art.

I’ve been artistically inclined and encouraged since childhood, but I found myself doing less and less art as I made my way through school. I mostly worked with pencils and oil through high school, and acrylics afterwards. I’d still really enjoy it when I did create, and sometimes the works were incredibly encouraging for being few and far between, but I still couldn’t find time.

Now fast forward to college, and my years earning a degree in Interior Design because I was one of many people under the perception that Artist, as a job, was a ‘dream job’, so I picked something ‘professional’. Now, I still pull many useful things from that degree, even though I don’t work in that field anymore. The most important being perspective and illustration techniques, but also a working use of Photoshop and some color theory. I was very basically introduced to watercolors during those years and even completed the renderings for my thesis project using Sakura’s Koi colors. I’ve had basic art instruction in a few areas, i.e. open ended art studio, drawing and composition, and interior rendering, but no extensive instruction as to how to really use the materials available, nevermind master them.

After trying to work in the Interior Design field after college (circa 2008, right when the recession happened) I was relieved to be laid off and had an excuse to freelance as an illustrator and graphic designer. Freelancing was a great change of pace, but ultimately I didn’t enjoy the assertiveness and discipline needed for self-employment at the time. A year or two later, in 2011, I started at the company I now work for, Lymphedivas. We make fashionable medical grade compression garments that treat lymphedema (sleeves and handpieces). In a way, this is where my journey back into painting starts.

I loved school, I’m a smarty pants at heart, and when it comes to art, I like assignments. After working my way up from a Production position, to Junior Designer, to Art Director, I now illustrate patterns based on a set collection of ideas. Yes, I am responsible for helping come up with said ideas, but then I have a timeline to get them done. A deadline is the surest way to be productive for me. Many of these patterns I create with watercolors on paper and then manipulate them to fit the garments in the computer.

Every time I would start a new painted design at work, my inner artist would rejoice and tell myself, “See, you love this, you should do this more at home!”. I would get all excited to get home and paint, only to get home and be exhausted, make dinner, watch TV or read, and go to bed.

Jump to 2016 and we were planning on moving to a more relaxing country area, I was doing lots of art at work, and something clicked. I felt more motivated to do art at home, and I followed through not once, or twice, but consistently. I started an Instagram account for my art that March. I invested in artist-quality paints and brushes. I made time. Now, a year and a half later, I’m still amazed at what I’d been missing all that time I didn’t pick up my brush. But I’ve also learned not to beat myself up about it, I wasn’t ready, and I let it go.

Now, I’d say I regularly paint, but I don’t always have a smooth studio session. I developed into quite the analytical thinker during those years away from my paints and sometimes this is a good thing as an artist, and sometimes it’s not so helpful. For one, and I think a lot of beginning and seasoned artists can relate, I struggle with the “what’s my style?” question a LOT.

The ‘how’ and ‘why’ of painting seems to have an immense philosophical weight. At work I paint what the pattern needs to look like, very straightforward. At home I can do ANYTHING I want, and that’s a bit crippling when you like to over analyze your options.

I also enjoy doing a little of everything creative. In addition to watercolors, I spend time doing photography, sewing, knitting, calligraphy, acrylics, carving, furniture restoration, interior organizing, and gardening to name a good range of interests. I don’t do some of these things regularly, but occasionally working the brain in areas related to painting is like Crossfit for your creative juices. That and I don’t end up making myself hate painting, forcing myself do it when I don’t want to. Instead I come back excited, missing my paints.

I enjoy the change-up the most after I do a lot of visual thinking or painting at work, I can come home and attempt to carve something, knit, work on the house, or anything that involves making something with my hands and intuition more than thinking.

At the same time, the large repertoire means my choices aren’t just limited to painting when I find an hour or two. I love learning about Leonardo da Vinci, he was the master of doing a little of everything. I do wonder if his brain felt a bit permanently scattered? Maybe I should make a magic 8 ball or an origami fortune-teller to make those decisions for me.

When I’m painting I’ve found, simulating the focus of an assignment, I have to trick my brain. I have to just jump in. My favorite way to do this, is to look through a portfolio of printed pictures I’ve taken, pick one, and paint it. I’ve painted some of them many times and each one looks completely different.

I also scroll through my phone photos, but then it’s easier to get distracted by Instagram or pulled into Pinterest. When I’m really lucky, I get to paint from life. Although, with my two cats, bringing flowers and plants into the house doesn’t happen anymore because they like to eat them, or at least knock them over.

My style ranges all over the spectrum from detailed studies to loose gestural sketches. When I became more focused last year, I followed a lot of botanical painters like Anna Mason and various botanical societies because my style using acrylics is very realistic. As time progressed, honestly, I got a little bored looking at only perfect renditions all the time and I started including looser artists like Angela Fehr, Thomas Schaller, and Eudes Correia. I have to really concentrate to do loose work, but most consistently, it ends up mostly realistic with some extra contrast or soft edges. My sense of perspective usually gets skewed too, still working on that.

Now, instead of saying I’m going to do a painting in a particular style, I just paint the subject however I’m feeling, then look to see what I like, what I learned, and what I’d do differently. Maybe in 10 years I’ll have a better answer to that question, maybe not.

My favorite subjects to paint are flowers, hands down. I love the organic shapes and tonal shifts, bright colors and endless variety. Most of my work is flowers, and I’m sure that will increase as I work to add a flower garden to our property in the future.

Other favorites are architecture, glass, and highly contrasting landscapes. There’s something highly satisfying about painting a subject with interesting shapes, colors or textures. I’ve had more fun painting tiny etched vases than full blown roses. I’ve come up short and bored, halfway through a highly repetitively detailed subject enough to know they’re just not for me, at least not in a detailed manner. I favor variety and contrast, I think it adds interest not only to your work, but also your practice. Sometimes looking for something truly moving to paint handicaps my sessions though, and I just end up being too picky and don’t paint anything.

When I can’t decide what to paint, only have a short amount of time, or I’m avoiding having to decide on anything, I’ll do color studies. Yay! A good outlet for my analytical brain. I can sit and swatch out colors for an entire day, and maybe come to one or two decisions, but enjoy the process the entire time. I’ve found the results of these romps is not always immediate, but they gradually build up an understanding of the materials I’m using.

On occasion, if I plan what the experiment is for, I’ll have more tangible results. For example, I received some samples of different papers from some lovely fellow Instagram artists, and since I really wanted to understand their properties as much as possible from that little sample, I made a plan. I took a look at what I usually paint, two subjects with different properties, and I decided that I do a lot of flowers and landscapes.

Painting the same flower, an iris in this instance, on half of each sample let me test how the paper took to soft blending and lots of detail. Painting the same landscape scene on the other half of each paper demonstrated how well the paper worked more wet, how fast it absorbed, and displayed the layered coats of pigment. It worked beautifully and I still have the swatches to reference.

Color studies also include supply explorations. They are not tests, but explorations, because I really do get that excited about them; it’s an adventure into the unknown! I also possess some Daniel Smith dots cards, and after playing around making pretend palettes, I’ve been known to write-up and recycle enough “potential new supplies” lists to make my own watercolor paper. Maybe one out of every handful actually gets saved for consideration when I do add to my supplies. My most recent exploration resulted in completing my translucent warm and cool primary options. As I tend to get muddy quickly, I’m hoping I’ll be able to scale back the heaviness of some of my work and learn the benefits of glazing.

Because I have a hard time making decisions on most things (especially exciting things like art supplies), I’ve mostly stuck to one brand of paint so far. I have one tube of M.Graham, but the rest of my artist paints are Daniel Smith. I enjoy the wide range of foundational and novelty colors that they offer, and like I said, the access to dot cards to try out paint colors instead of guessing has often hooked me once I see and feel a new color. Brush choice still eludes me. Like my assortment of pens, I switch from one to another as my mood changes.

I do enjoy the softness of squirrel, as well as the soft spring of sable. I use both in natural and synthetic options. For natural, I’m currently in love with my sable pointed round and squirrel mop from Rosemary & Co. out of England. For synthetic, I’ve started using the Neptune and Versatil series from Princeton and Escoda respectively. I’ve enjoyed all of them for different reasons too. The world of artist papers is still new to me and I know it’s taboo, but this was the last thing I upgraded. No one will ever convince me that cellulose paper doesn’t still have a place in my studio, but as I spend time and learn to work with the new, more absorbent cotton paper, I’m less frustrated by it’s unfamiliar behavior.

At work currently I have on hand: Strathmore 400 Series 140lb CP paper, Koi tube colors and my personal Black Velvet Squirrel brush. The paintings I do for designs are not for display or long-term use, so light-fastness is not an issue. I may upgrade the supplies as needed and as I learn more about them personally and see what would benefit my workflow there. I believe the pros and cons of supplies is a fluid subject, everything has it’s place and I’ve dug out supplies I’d hidden away in disappointment, only to fall in love with it using a new technique, or having changed my preference.

Excited to use those lovely supplies, I often get hung up on what to paint. I’ll make very extensive and thorough lists of potential projects, styles to try, experiments, etc. I’ll write them down with gusto, thoroughly excited to try them out the second I get a chance. Only I read through them as I sit down, and still feel unmotivated by these previously exhilarating ideas. A lot of times it comes down to it being after work, I’m tired, and I don’t want to start something. Other times it’s a roadblock I have that prevents me from creating anything I can’t envision a use for. If I can’t see it hanging in my house, and no one asked for it, then why am I painting it? I jokingly call it my KonMari syndrome. Like I said, I have to trick myself into painting anything sometimes.

This is where work comes in again. I enjoy having assignment-like focus when I paint. This no hesitation painting is most beneficial when I’m in a rut at home, and it makes me physically remember I like painting. Like running, I know I’ll feel good once I get out there, and starting is not always easy, but once I physically feel the high kick in, I remember why I like running and it’s easier to jump in the next day. I’ve tried doing the Doodlewash prompts, but I think I’ve only done one since last July… I’m setting a personal goal to try and do the 31 in 31 challenge this World Watercolor Month. Maybe I’ll make a gallery just for them on my portfolio site just to hold me accountable.

To make it even more confusing as to why I find it hard to paint, some of my work pieces are also the most rewarding. This is especially true when I have to paint something I’ve never painted before. I then get to research it (yay!) and do studies, and learn how to paint something new. I push more personal boundaries doing the wide array of painting styles at work than I ever have at home. I’m really excited right now, because I think I’m just starting to really understand the knack of water control, timing, and layering on my current work project.

The other really positive influence my professional work brings is the effect it has on the world. I’ve always wanted to do something that benefits society and when I did Interior Design, that was possibly designing environments that help people live better. Now, I create art that makes the very uncomfortable condition of lymphedema more bearable and less stigmatizing. My grandfather, who owned his own mechanic garage, once told me that he never hated going to work a day in his life. He may have meant he enjoyed working for himself, but I’d like to think a lot of that satisfaction is doing something you find purpose in too.

The long and short of it is trust your intuition, you’ll arrive at your destination when you’re ready. I’m still toying with the idea of selling and showing my work. I’ve done a few personal commissions, but I’m endlessly researching what would be the best route (web & paperwork/taxwise). I also contemplate how I want this new aspect to fit in with my already busy life.

I’m happy with where I am now. I may have took the roundabout route to get here but I’ve learned a lot about myself in the past few years; how what helps you create balance is constantly shifting, and to have patience with everything including yourself.

So, I paint when I can, I post when I can, and the only reason I finally got my website up and running was because Charlie offered me the opportunity to write this post and I thought, “Since I’m editing images, I should probably do those too… “. Chalk one up for deadlines!

All Lymphedivas patterns were commissioned by and are the property of Lymphedivas, LLC and have been shared here with expressed written permission.

Jill Gustavis Website Instagram Work Website

GUEST ARTIST: "The Long And Short Of It" by Jill Gustavis - #WorldWatercolorMonth #doodlewash My name is Jill Gustavis, and I’m originally from Pittsfield, Massachusetts but my husband and I moved over the NY border to quiet Stephentown in 2016.

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Oshamir fandom collectively lost it over @icapturedthecastle 's stunning AU The First Hit's Free and I'm no different you have bewitched me body and soul. I've never made fanart for fanfic before but sometimes a visual sticks with you so hard you can't help yourself

check it out and ALSO sign the petition here!