#for the record FUCK actual nfts

[greed-the-dorkalicious]

All the discussion around AI lately got me thinking about an incident recently in which a guy got his ass sorely beat by the vocal synth community

For those of you not familiar, “vocal synths” in the electronic music sense typically refers to programs like Vocaloid, SynthV, UTAU, Alter/Ego, DeepVocal, etc., digital instruments that allow composers to create, as the name implies, synthesized vocal tracks. The way they work is that they draw from libraries (referred to as “voicebanks” or VB for short) of special studio recorded* vocal samples from singers singing different syllables at a consistent pitch. The program then splices these together and adjusts the pitch to match whatever notes you put in- You want to do All Star, it’s gonna string together “[suh][m] [buh][di] [wuh][n][s] [tO][ld] [mi]” or something like that. Basically it’s an extremely complicated sampler.

(*unless you’re using UTAU or another build-your-own-vocal program in which the “studio” is only metaphorical, and is sometimes somebody’s basement with a Rockband mic plugged into a laptop.)

Now, there is no threat of vocal synths putting actual singers out of a job. Even the best vocal synths always have a bit of a robotic sound to them, and the voicebanks take hundreds of hours of recording time from you know, actual singers. Any piece made with vocal synths has to be worked by a human hand in a process called “tuning” in order to sound any good, whether you’re trying to make it sound human or leaning into the robotic sound. This isn’t something that’s being done on a corporate scale to cut costs- This is something pretty much exclusively being done by small scale indie music hobbyists because we fucking love Hatsune Miku and her weird buddies. Most folks are less interested in doing something that sounds 1:1 like a human voice and more in going beyond what humans can do to make shit like this

One of the leading vocal synths right now is Synthesizer V (SynthV), created by a company called Dreamtonics. SynthV offers fancier versions of some of its voicebanks, which are called “AI” voicebanks. These use machine learning trained on, again, professionally recorded and legally licensed vocal samples to help make songs sound a little bit more smooth, a little bit more in line with whatever singing style you’re aiming for. Everything else previously mentioned still applies: They’re still painstakingly recorded and programmed, you still need to tweak it yourself to get it to sound just right, and it’s still never going to sound 100% like a human. And that’s fine!

For this next bit y’all are gonna have to trust me because the tweets all got deleted, though if anyone wants I’m happy to pull up screencaps of talking shit about it with other vocal synth folks when it happened lmfao

So basically. Since ChatGPT type grifters have convinced people that “AI” means “magic plagiarism button”, back in April some dipshit NFT guy on Twitter started complaining on an official SynthV update post that SynthV (which he apparently believed to be called “Dreamtonics”, the name of the company that makes it) should allow people to make voicebanks from “their own voice”, insisting that it would be easy and PROFITABLE!™ to do so. He also clearly did not actually mean “their own voice” but rather “the voices of celebrity singers shamelessly lifted without their consent”, which was made extra obvious from a tweet on his own page that was like “Teehee people in monitored Twitter spaces don’t realize their voices are being recorded and fed into AI!” which he then deleted after I linked it on the thread about SynthV. lol.

Dude proceeded to get whupped by actual vocal synth people basically saying shit along the lines of “Yeah we can all tell you just want to commit cheap plagiarism, jackass” and “Dude why are you here when you clearly don’t understand the very very basics of what this software even is” and “Go make an UTAU voicebank if it’s so easy then”. (UTAU being a Japanese freeware program that hasn’t been updated since 2013. Creating an UTAU voicebank is complicated and takes a lot of time and technical knowledge.) He still refused to learn the basics of how vocal synths work, and proceeded to ask if “UTAU or Diff is most compatible with Dreamtonics”, a question absolutely no one could make any sense of? Lol.

Anyway, I don’t have anywhere in particular I’m going with this, I just think AI grifters are morons, and it’s obnoxious how the vague and misleading term “AI” has gotten nigh-mythologized by shady tech companies to the point that people can’t tell the difference between perfectly reasonable assistive technology and magic plagiarism.

Btw, fun fact for anyone who’s wondering, there do in fact exist legally/morally questionable UTAU voicebanks spliced from outside vocals. These are called “jinriki” voicebanks and not only do they take the same amount (if not more) of hard work as any other voicebank, they’re far from the insta-Beyoncé this dude was aiming for, and instead they sound um. like this

[simmetrycal]

oc facts and tidbits! ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

just little(ish) things about everyone.

a/n: hi friends! haven’t written in a few long days so chew on this until i can finish up chapter three!

˚ · .

ash

he’s the type of mf to put a tampon up his nostril when he has a bloody nose

^“what?” with his nasally ass voice. “it works!”

played hockey in highschool and was a goalie for most of it but when he started losing weight he was center and left winger

one of his favorite things to do is just drive. like drive around the backroads in his audi listening to music.

he LOVES nicki minaj. especially barbie drip remix

he falls up the stairs

one time chantelle recorded him while he was eating salami wrapped around a cheese stick and he went “hm! it’s actually a bit fruity!” and the audio got really popular on tiktok

always keeps quarters in his pockets for vending machines

calls chantelle’s girlfriend an opossum bc he thinks she looks like one

his dad likes to keep him humble so for his first car he got him a total rust bucket

and he drove it to school. everyday.

and to work— he used to work at a grocery store.

his best/worst memory from the grocery store was getting deathly scared by a danny devito cardboard cutout that was around the corner

he does pilates once a week

has a pastel pink yoga mat for it and he ties his hair up into tiny pigtails

his dalmatian rocky is a fucking menace. absolute bark boy and does zoomies on the furniture but ash loves him way too much

he bought his sister kylie a white jeep off the lot when she turned 16.

called agnes raggedy anne one time as a joke. she wasn’t happy.

one time got sick from inhaling so many helium balloons

he’s obsessed with ludacris. the guy. he’s met him twice.

hes a shorts in the winter guy. “i’m not even cold bro.”

he has a bubble butt

he never remembers to check his pockets before he does his laundry. so much melted paper and coins are at the bottom of the dryer when he’s done.

messy handwriting

certified top of the doorframe slapper

he’s been on first name basis’ with all moms since middle school.

after he bought a bape bearbrick 1000 raymond manages ash’s finances. he only gets a certain allowance from his paycheck and the rest goes to his savings account which he isn’t allow to touch.

constantly bouncing his leg.

this man LOVES slumber parties. all aspects! the snacks, the movies, the skincare, the pillow fights! he goes crazy

super messy eater. his sloppy ass hotdogs slip out of the bun and land on his lap 7/10 times.

better at dancing that you’d ever think

likes taking picture of donuts just as much as he likes eating them

he knows how to crochet and somewhat how to play the guitar

can’t handle spicy food at all! bro is absolutely red, teary eyes, salivating, everything

really likes despicable me and minions

he is fucking feral at trampoline parks

^he has a video of himself that’s super sped up jumping around there really fast and doing flips and it makes him laugh everytime he watches it

he has shirts that say nerf or nothing on them.

when he was fourteen he shaved his head and bleached it.

lays on his belly all the time

broken so many bones in his life. bro was always in a cast or crutches. (he got hella signatures)

he likes red gatorade. a lot. he got that red circle around his lips

he often forgets to rerack his weights

bought a handicap parking pass on amazon, put it in his glovebox, and he takes it out when he wants to park somewhere easily (he knows he shouldn’t)

he makes your mom jokes maybe too often

he’s a sneaker head

^laying on his office couch like “chantelle should i buy these?” and they’re like some absurdly priced resale of travis scott jordans

his phone lock screen is rocky

he can’t use chopsticks.

says his favorite video game is call of duty black ops but secretly the real answer is roblox.

his favorite roblox game is meep city.

he bought an nft one time and it plummeted

he has never even been close to being in a car accident

he tries to come to all his sisters’ volleyball games. cora his stepmom is always there and ash doesn’t exactly like her but he’s so so kind and he always strikes up conversations with her.

he’s a cheerer and a clapper

his favorite color is blue

he always has a blue phone case

gets so so sunburnt everytime he goes to the beach

he has a ton of freckles on his back but not much in other places

^“i feel like one of them has to be cancerous right?”

a lot of people think he’s a picky eater bc he likes mcdonald’s so much but he’s actually got a pretty refined pallet. he’s a big fan of scallops

used to go to random mechanics for car stuff but for the past few months he’s been coming to chantelle’s girlfriends cousin’s shop.

he keeps coming in because he thinks oaklynns cousin, jericho, is cute but if he ever told chantelle she’d beat him to a pulp

at this point he’s getting unnecessary upgrades to his car. frequently. a tiny rock hit the windshield? shii guess he gotta replaced the whole thing.

“come here often? what am i saying— you work here.” he says, flustered over jericho. he can barely see his face half the time with it being masked by pairs of shiny sunglasses

he collects rap snacks

he likes to play hide and seek but when he hides he always goes behind a curtain and you can see his feet

bros the type of guy to open a bag of chips with scissors

has a pic of him and nardwuar.

he always downloads the games in the mobile ads

he has hundreds of games on his phone

bro always falls for the shit like ���somebody wrote gullible on the ceiling” and “gayboysaywhat”

he quotes movies and shows ALL the dang time

he can’t cook for shit

his favorite video ever is that one old guy smoking a cigar in a car with the song no auto durk

˚ · .

chantelle

she’s quick to block someone

worked for an insurance company and she absolutely hated it. that place was the bane of her existence.

one thing she loves more than anything is going on vacation— especially tropical ones

“ash did you take your adderal today?” (always keeps extra in her purse)

her favorite flowers are blue hydrangeas

hates when ash just clocks out whenever he wants but there’s no stopping him

drives a 2022 toyota camry and she has one of those like corny rhinestone ignition button decals but now it’s stuck on there

she’s allergic to dogs (no rocky babysitting for her (grateful))

her girlfriend is chronically short

number one sza fan

single-handedly keeping vaseline in production

when she’s not in business clothes she wears like 3xl t shirts and like cheetah print booty shorts

˚ · .

raymond

bros a total chef.

would have vanessa do his sleeve tattoo when he’s a dad

secretly (maybe not so secretly) really insecure.

despite looking like a tough guy he’s a total square. always doing what he’s told no matter what.

he oversees payroll as well as company finances

he doesn’t mind commercials or ads, sometimes he even enjoys them

he is left handed

jia and him went to the same college (penn state)

he played basketball there and got quite good

he’s really interested in planes

loves loves loves food videos

he doesn’t do cardio kind of ever..? he only works his legs, arms, back, and shoulders, and doesnt really run a lot.

his favorite workout is doing deadlifts

raymond’s mom can only speak cantonese and she’s 4’11

his dad is as tall as raymond and speaks decent english

part of the reason why he’s such a good cook is because jia gets hangry and he wants no drama.

raymond’s aftershave is one of the sexiest smells you can ever possibly imagine.

he can be bold sometimes. confidence comes from nowhere and it’s shortlived

he’s very very patient

˚ · .

facts about side characters:

agnes used to be a stripper and everyone in the office knows about it.

headphone guy got his pinkie cut off by a yakuza member.

eli calls raymond “raymin” and everyone thinks it’s very cute.

oaklynn, chantelle’s girlfriend, is a florist and she drives a volkswagen rabbit that ash can never quit laughing at.

oaklynn doesn’t like ash.

ash’s sisters on his dads side kylie and parker don’t often get along (on kylie’s account) but parker gets along with ash’s sister on his moms side, eva. parker and eva each lunch in the library together

eva’s very secretive, she had a boyfriend that nobody knew about. one day ash found out and she broke up with him, scared that he was gonna tell their mom (he would never).

eva doesn’t drive bc of anxiety, but if she did ash would be quick to get her a car for her birthday. he thinks a miata would suit her.

vanessa used to be a biker

jia has a naturally high stress level perpetually, which makes her cranky.

ty for reading! not proofed so ignore any spelling errors, grammar issues, punctuation mistakes, and weird formatting

love yall!

jericho copyright dylan

vanessa and eli copyright yume

[pwblogarchive]

January 2006

January 2, 2006

It was strange being outside of chicago on new years. If anyone remembers our apartment shows.

But the confetti was pretty and I think a girl from miss seventeen tried to kiss me on the mouth but kind of missed. Oh yeah and apparantly andrew john hurley is a dreamboat. Check the scoreboard. Tommorrow letterman and then I’m gonna buy some more heinous gear. Do you love it when I wear clashing colors as much as I do?

And why didn’t anyone tell me how amazing the movie the squid and the whale is? I told you about panic…

Over and way the fuck out.

xoxo

January 4, 2006

my top ten (er top seven) of 2005 - no records included.

bonnie dillard - she is always around to tell me how wack i am - she uses the the word "totes" and "just sayin" way too much - and actually types them! she named her dog roxie wentz and she has given me exactly two compliments in my entire life - one of which was on an outfit that she picked out for me. but she pretty much is the glue for clandestine and sometimes pete wentz. editor of filthy magazine.

nick scimeca - this kid makes the craziest faces i have ever seen in my entire life. the first time i met him we got in a snowball fight. pretty much we are in this gang together forever. he does infect, foe, and some clandestine stuff. pretty much whenever i am bummed i can call him up on the phone and hell tell me some hilarious story.

demar hamilton - i have pulled this kids underwear off every time he is around me and totally wasted. its awesome. he also has a dog living in his basement that looks like a 100 yearold teddy ruxpin. oh yeah, his band is rad.

leslie simon - me and her talk about our crushes all the time. we have a mutual love for the music of ashlee simpson and kelly clarkson. when i tell her insane stories i dont even have to say "off the record" she pretty much knows. she thinks of bright eyes and fob in the same way which blows my little mind. she is editting rainy day kids. oh yeah and writing a book about boys in tight jeans that wear eyeliner as far as i can tell but its pretty hush hush.

jonathon cecil miller/dirty - pretty much this kid is made of snakes, snails and puppy dog tails. i have nothing else to say but he is the new pauly shore - even if he always punches me for saying that. pretty much he looks like a cheeseburger with toothpicks for legs but i wouldnt trade him for the world. pretty much he is the best kid ever.

jim sevcik (or however you spell it) - this is the guy who goes and digs the little youth medium shirts out of tiny boxes in the 100 plus degrees on warped tour or freezing temp on NFT - and then takes the money out of your paws. he is definitely most underrated.

andrew simon/buck - when on the westcoast these guys function as my mother. they take us out to dinner, help me find a house or apartment, look up movie times, get screenings, help me find tours, starbucks, have the cutest baby on the planet, oh yeah and they even book shows every once in awhile.

oh well i ran out of steam. ill finish later. pretty much people that i hang out with every single day are not included on this - you know who you are.

- petey

1/04/06 Q&A

question

Pete, I really need some advice. I was a virgin until I slept with this guy. I didnt tell him I was a virgin until 2hrs. after we finished nad I told him online. Then I started freaking out because I was scared I had screwed everything up between us, which I think only made everything worse. this all happen yesterday. Did I screw everything up?

answer

the best part about when things like this happen is that eventually they become the past- if you really like this guy you could probably explain yourself to him- how you just got scared and were nervous to tell him certain things. if he is worth it, i am sure he will take the time to listen and tell you how he feels too. and if he doesn’t give you the time to do that, than he isn’t worth it anyway. you can be through with the past but that past isnt always through with you.

question

Pette what type of bass do you have?

answer

fender just made me my own- its pretty rad- red and black- super light maple neck- customized electronics and pick-ups- check out a picture of it over at: www.clandestine.buzznet.com - they say they are gonna make a real cheap version of it for people to learn on

question

the background on the site finally changed. who does that?

answer

it changes with mother nature.

question

Do you have any scars. Not like emotional scars (you can include them if you wish) but good-story-scars. Like stuff involving armadillos or something interesting like that.

answer

ive got this amazing one down the palm of my hand from when me and robby windgator (sp) climbed a fence in his back yard and my hand got stuck on a nail. it slid down the entire length of my hand- i was like 8. i have two on my right hand from when i fought a car the week before the VMAs. trust me i definitely beat the car up.

January 6, 2006 

notes on black clouds and underdogs - see also: cast all your fears away:

1. tickets will not be 50 dollars. haters are spreading this on the internet. if you buy your ticket ahead of time (not through some wack broker or on ebay or from a scalper)- average ticket price will be between 23-28 dollars - not going over 35 anywhere. we picked the venues based on how cheap we could get them.

2. the bands- we didn't want to have a tour where you had to see five bands that sounded exactly like fob. we went for variety. all of the bands are really nice guys as well. there will be special guests through out the tour and some suprises to make each show more exciting.

3. this is going to be fob's biggest show ever. we will be playing our longest set and will be including some special secrets.

4. did you expect us to just dump the dates in your laps? we are nerdy and weird and different. so we created a game. we thought it would be fun. the points will be weighted so a small town will have the same chance as a huge city to win a small suprise show. we want to play in front of kids that are excited and we know this is a chance to do this. there will still be other secret shows randomly happening.

5. close your eyes and just click. youve got it. dont worry just come out. andy will be running a kissing booth - it will be a blast.

more later.

January 6, 2006 

8:11 pm

i am just a hot mess. i woke up to the feeling of myself throwing up today. pretty much put a damper on the entire day. i ate about 50 stomach pills and then threw them all up- it was a pretty color in the toilet. my toungue is black on the top right now. i am pretty sure thats a bad thing. i watched way too much gastinaeu (however you spell it) girls today. i think it made me sicker. it took me awhile to realize that they were mother and daughter and not sisters- but the mom is kinda hot in pissy kind of way. my mom is out of town so there was noone here to take care of me- my brother was around but hes pretty much always bongzilla'd. so i waited for back-up caretakers to arrive- one of them was busy cutting hair and the other has like a "real" job besides being dad. the best part about vomitting alone in the morning is the way the bathroom tiles feel kinda cool in a pleasant way so i took a nap there for a bit. i want to see hostel tonight but the problem is all the vomitting- see its not that i mind so much its just what if i run into someone in my sicky gear and puke on them? wow. i am glad i did this update. arent you? im gonna leave the comments open cause i never do- just write down the first thing that comes into your mind when you see that reply button- heres mine: i am just a hot mess. 

January 6, 2006

I have to say it makes me feel safe and some kind of comfort to look at the clock in the corner of the screen and know that you are awake too.

posted by: peterpumpkineater

1/12/06 Q&A

question

whats your view/opinion on racism?

answer

i love it. i mean what opinion would i have other than it is terrible. i hope thats what you expected.

question

So Pete, I have been wanting to learn how to play bass for a long time. Any idea when that HOT Clandestine bass will be available for the public? Thanks.

answer

its going to be available as a fender squire some time in the (near i hope) future. squire is fenders cheapest bass line - very affordable and a good bass to learn how to play on.

question

college dropout or late registration?

answer

“highschool graduate” its the mixtape he put out awhile ago- its pretty sweet.

question

okay crazy dream last night.. you [pete] and me making out after a show in a bed? yeah just thought id share.

answer

im pretty gross after a show. itd be better to just highfive i think.

question

pete. please stop licking the shoes of the island CEOs. i am getting really tired of turning on a tv and seeing a commercial for you guys playing at the fucking arena or a WHOS NEXT IN MUSIC? PANIC AT THE DISCO and THE ACADEMY IS mtv shit which was was totally all your -for lack of better word- fault. sometimes i think it cant get any worse but im always wrong. when is this going to end pete?!?!?!?

answer

i am kind of confused by this one- we are on island defjam records but the advertisements for our tour were made by our booking agent not island. academy is on atlantic/fueled by ramen and P!atd are on decaydance neither of those are island related. but i think i understand the gist of what you are trying to say. i understand that its hard to feel like you are losing a band you loved to “the mainstream” or to a bigger media. i want you to know how much fob turns down because we dont believe in it or agree with it- at the same time would you rather see the academy is on trl or limp bizkit?- id rather see sincere music up there. anyway, i know we’ll all still be here after this ends. hope you are there with us.

question

Peter do you ever get mad at us?

answer

sure. just the same way you sometimes get mad at me/us- but thats okay. neither of us ever seem to stay mad very long…

question

choose one: paramore. cartel. the academy is. or acceptance.

answer

the academy is. i dont really know the others too well.

question

Petey, what have you been up to this past week? xo

answer

training for the new video and working on/editting release the bats two (http://www.findthescene.com/Videos/RTB2_Trailer.mov)… oh yeah and sleeping some.

question

So what do you think of Brokeback Mountain?

answer

good love story. kind of depressing- it makes me think about how much i do not want to go camping.

question

ryan seacrest called you “heartbreaker wentz.” how does that make you feel? it made me giggle…

answer

i never broke that mofos heart.

question

I was wondering if any of you guys are superstitious

answer

i kiss clocks, make wishes on take offs and first kisses, hold my breath on graveyards - yes.

question

Im really upset because i have friends who like me have been FOB fans for the longest time and have met you guys numerous times but are really angry about the ticket prices and are complaining your just sell outs. Im mad because i dont think this and now they are boycotting your CT show.You guys were bound to get famous so why do people have to get like this? Whats you opinion on all this?

answer

our primary concern with this tour is: having a huge general admission floor space and keeping ticket prices as low as absolutely possible. we are doing our best- if you compare this tour with other tours with bands of the same size you will see the difference in ticket price.

question

so much for teh huge general floor space. i cant get decent tickets.

answer

if you get tickets early you should have no problem getting floor tickets. ask your broker when they will be releasing floor tickets as they are often released in bunches. i promise you every venue we are playing has a huge floor space- and if not me and my friends always used to just sneak down onto the floor. the security never tries to hard to stop you.

question

Have you ever had sex with a groupie?

answer

nope.

question

So after they finish the tour that they are on now Mest is breaking up. I sort of cant believe it but I was wondering - do you guys plan on sticking with us for a while longer? It is actually pretty hard to deal with bands just stopping for good…so I am hoping that you guys can be there with us for at least a while longer. Much love.

answer

honestly? some days i think fall out boy will be around for 20 more years and some days i think it might end tommorrow.

January 13, 2006 

first jt. now mr. frey. i fear that we are next.

it may just be the hour of the night or the song stuck in my head or some strange mix of it all.

i can't shake it. 

the chemists called it crossed signals.

the poets called it magical.

nowyousayimabird.

- petey

January 14, 2006 

i love how i never care about anything you say except how i always do.

that doesn't even make any sense.

late at night everything about you is an orchestra. and i am the conducter.

January 14, 2006 

4:14 pm 

"noones ever been this good for this long"

this is everything i am thinking right now with out transition. i apologize for my brains lack of linear thought processing: i hate the way it gets dark so early here this time of year. i guess "seasonal depression" kind of falls under "ADD" and "post tramatic whatever disorder" for me. i feel like its science from the madhatter down the rabbit hole. not too real. but lately i just wake up blue - my only thought is- how soon will the day be over so i can get back into bed. i open my eyes just a tiny bit and blur the numbers on the clock with my eyelashes. every word you say rolls off of my back - the praises and the barbs. i don't hear either, ever. sometimes the tips of my fingers itch from the back of my head- just to get the chance to tear someone to pieces and just barely let them off the hook. i swear to god, i was asleep alone. quick text me an alibi and oh god please don't dust the keyboard for prints. sometimes i stare out of the frosted window and make up stories as people walk by. the bottled blonde, park ave. princess walking whichever dog matches her coat. you know how i could turn your world upsidedown. its not love if a day goes by when you don't think about dropping it. its not the world keeping you on the outside, its you not wanting to be on the inside. everyone wants to be the first. buts its okay to be the second if you understand it better, if you make it look prettier. worn down doesn't even touch this. and theres nothing worse than when someone acts like they have you figured out, when you haven't even figured yourself out. nice boys don't write good stories or sing good songs. and his songs are boring. and his stories are just personal ads set to background music. i found the skeleton key for wedlock but i am holding off on telling her. on telling anyone for that matter. consistent inconsistency. thats all you ever have to remember and you'll do okay with me. dancers are always strippers. and paying their way through college is the BE VE. oh and hey pete do you remember the way the world used to trick you with fifty degrees in january and orange leaves in june? button your jacket tight, don't believe everything you read... don't even believe everything you wrote. i'm tired of always leaving. i'm tired of the way things always/never change. swim upstream until your gills bleed just because thats what genetic encoding commands. there aren't any trophies that are really worth it in the end. they can put you in a box when you are very young, so you'll be a pretty corpse but there are too many pages filled with too many words to lie beside you forever. intelligent design is the last great joke i heard. but honestly, no one will ever stay where i tell them, least of all the years. they keep moving. worlds greatest liar and how do you know i'm not lying when i tell you this right now? and thats coming from the king of one-liners. copy and pasted - long live the away message. kiss the monitor. fast asleep baby.

1/16/06 Q&A

question

Thanks for deleting me off your myspace friends. Youre different than who I thought you were Peter.. : (

answer

i do not have nor ever had a myspace account… the only sites outside of this one that i use are friendsorenemies.com and livejournal. fall out boy has a myspace account but i dont even know how to work it.

question

PETER! maybe that got your attention this time :)! My question, Did your parents or siblings ever say your “stupid” or “gay” for wearing girl pants, or tight shirts..because i go threw alot of crap for wearing tight clothing and i go to a city school so either its gangsters, or me left out..please help me with gettin threw this..Also cant wait to see you guys in Hersey!

answer

kanye west wears pink polos. rob halford wears black tshirts. not that any of it matters. but how you dress should only be an amplification of who you are inside, it should not be all you are… i get teased about alot of things but you know, at the end of the day its okay to be me. im pretty sure its okay to be you too, as long as you arent like hitler or a serial killer or something insane.

January 18, 2006 

these pictures make me think of me and you before i got so crazy.

the hippo lost its momma in the tsunami. now the he hangs out with this super old turtle and follows it around. from what i've read they have developed their own form of communication.

this is insane.

these parts of life are amazing.

i will try and not forget them next time.

- petey

January 18, 2006 

the band is in chicago preparing their new homes to be moved into. mine is still in my parents cause i am a loser like that: see also why i am hanging in nyc by myself. but ive got some schemes that i am working on.

how i have been (barely) living: the hippo and the turtle, hanging out with minkus from boy meets world in north carolina, going to the mtv studios in nyc to see baby bros all growed up on trl, eating every single thing in this hotel minibar, writing, you. writing you.

- petey

January 19th, 2006 

1:55 am 

wahahahahaha. i laughed for like a million hours at the shittalking over at: www.friendsorenemies.com its way fun to see your friends make fun of you. it keeps you levelheaded. it has gone live.

January 19, 2006 

yesyesyes-ya'll. newyorkcity. hung with patd and tai backstage at TRL and tried to make them unnervous. but i was butterflies inside. but they couldnt ever let me down. the rest of the day was spent listening to the new gymclassheroes songs and working on the new video. the gch songs are insane: i can't describe them "we gotta take our clothes off to have a good time". insane. new octfall: youve probably never met these kids but they are the nicest. always calling and asking how im doing. then the hush sound: all i can say is "sweet tangerine"- 6 months from now, you will agree with me. anyway, this isn't just some preachy post. i just love watching my friends suceed and i will believe in them until the day i die. its so great to watch everyone grow up. hopefully, somewhere someone says that about me.

we contributed a song to the breast cancer one tree hill episode/compilation. we just thought it was a great cause and couldn't pass it up. we actually thought it was a really personal cause to alot of people involved so i wanted to give a really personal song to me, so we used "dark alley".

its late and alot of the things i have been working on and thnking have stalled out. but i am trying oh so hard. got some smaller shows coming up in las vegas and l.a. for the diehards so keep your eyes out.

i am in new york city but it feels so fucking foreign. the band is in chicago but there is too much to be done out here. i know there needs to be breaks but i cant get away. maybe ill see you on fuse or trl tommorrow. maybe not cause it'll be weird with out the guys- i dunno. this hotel room doesn't make any sense. my lights are on and i am in bed knowing i will never fall asleep. i am realizing people in all the buildings outside i can see lit up can probably see in here on me. but thats okay cause i am wearing some sweet pj's.

wwwilliambecketdotlove

turn me inside out.

swoon. make me easy on the eyes. it aint hard in this light. read it. write it. throw it away and come back to the phone. light up text king.

oh yeah a little bird named mouth told me: friendsorenemies.com is up - my profile is actually me over there ... yay! let's hate eachother and/or get sexy.

January 20, 2006 

dear ireland- thank you for your pretty accents and your amazing show.

dear home- i miss you

dear you- what the fuck happened to this

a real update later.

the whole world loves it when you dont get down.

January 21, 2006 

12:17 pm 

i hate you and i hope you die. yes. i realize that you will make fun of me/take stabs at me/post ridiculous pictures of me. i realize that because of this band i have given up some of my privacy and personal life. i accept that. i can laugh at myself. i realize i will get called a douchbag. i get what i get. i have begun reading things about my friends and family. that i will not accept. i read things written by people who kiss my ass to my face. i remember who you are. fuck you. bring it on me. please leave my friends and family alone. it is extremely hurtful to me. if anyone is a friend of mine out there please tell your friends. i on the otherhand am open game. i have a good laugh at all of the stuff written about me. i am silly, i realize that. thank you. 

peter

January 24, 2006

I am an arms dealer.

I sell words you could only use as weapons.

This isn't a scene it is an arms race.

I am a con artist.

A door to door salesman.

A snake oil seller. Cures for whatever ails you.

Somehow I don't hear the violins playing.

Not really the leading man type.

I am a cadaver deep frozen. Waiting for reanimation to beinvented.

Wrote "fuckoff" on my hand to remind me to call you tommorrow morning.

What do you do when everything they say about you is true?

Do you expect me to just roll over and die?

My skin has made promises.

Whether the rest of me has or not.

Writing off tommorrows every time my fingers touch these buttons.

Putting all the comforts and closeness in reverse just for you.

I think its time to re-asses some of the policies of the wentz administration.

Our approval rating is at an all time low.

In case you haven't been informed you have to take a ticket to be disappointed by me.

There's a fucking line.

Well have some goddamned order.

Its a posh and exclusive club.

I have a lifetime membership.

Make it glamorous.

Make the rumors true.

Read the sign next to the bridge "giveupallhope..." and just tie down the gas pedal.

Lie in the back.

Haven't you heard, sorrow is in.

You are the beaches of normandy the night before.

And a girl with such a sweet drink should never sit in the corner and cry about anyone or anything.

The kids on the net had it right sometimes we should fuck off and die and break up and stop ruining art.

But the kids had it right sometimes when they sit waiting in line with hands frozen out waiting to get into a room first.

The only thing I can admit is this is no masterplan. I'm trying to figure it out.

"Without the sour the sweet wouldn't taste so sweet (tangerine)".

Its 3am in leeds. This is what just crossed my mind.

Love, the fancy kid.

January 26, 2006

live via manchester holiday inn express:

first and foremost. these shows have been amazing. i think it is quite possibly because we don’t get over here often or maybe because we are playing smaller clubs… but i am thinking we need to make a stop over here more often.

i wanted to congratulate p!atd the disco on making it to number 10 on the TRL countdown. and i just wanted to put this out there: there is no way it was paid to happen. of all the bands on “new bands week” panic was the only that didn’t put up big pushes to have the video voted on. if anything this band wants to do things their own way. hence picking the song they did for the single- that was the bands choice and in my opinion they have songs on the record that could easily be bigger. it was also the bands choice to create a darker video…. as a label i can tell you that we definitely don’t have the money to spend on a “big budget” video right now- not to mention having any left over for anything else- you’d laugh if you saw the budgets we filmed the new panic and gch videos on. but i couldn’t say enough about how nice these kids are- they don’t even get how big their band is and thats a good thing… i personally would rather see great bands on the forefront of music… and yes there are lots of other bands that deserve to make it there as well- so maybe on our messageboard tell me about some great (unsigned) bands that we should check out.

other than that we’ve just been writing new songs and working on the new video. pretty soon its going to become time focus all attention on a new fall out boy record again.

got some big news for you coming up very soon…

peter lewis kingston wentz

ps 'hater dudes marry hater bitches and have hater kids’

1/26/06 Q&A

question

hey, what kind of books are you and the rest of Fall Out Boy into? p.s. tell patrick he is spectacular

answer

andy is into comics and books on anthropology/human civilization i dunno what books joe reads patrick is into reading about music i am into a bunch of different authors lately hemingway still. before he went and hung out in africa. i haven’t been reading as much as id like lately. ps the book panic has in their book club this month is a great book. its the first thing i gave ryan after reading his lyrics, it kind of reminded me of him- so if you like panics lyrics head on over and check out their book club

question

do you watch that show roseanne on nick at night. i love that show!

answer

me and my friends used to hang out with becky in evanston, il in highschool. she was not to fond of me or my friend jody.

question

ok i know this is nobodys business but yours but there is alot of stuff going around on the boards saying that the big news is your engaged just to get things straight is that it? because those people are starting to annoy me….

answer

me being engaged is most definitely not the big news.

question

in the song calm before the on take this to your grave, there is a line that says :Well theres a song on the radio that says lets get this party started, lets get this party started. did you write that line because of the song by pink called lets get this party started. just curious.

answer

yes.

question

Hey Pete. My grandma is dying (and she doesnt care) and I for real dont feel anything towards her. My mom is seriously upset, my dad is just about the same and my sisters dont know. I am suppose to tell them but how do I do that when my grandma wasnt a grandma for me but for them she was a great lady? I just want this done and over because I am kind of tired of waiting for her to die since she has been making suicide references for the past two years.

answer

that is one of the hardest places to ever be in. i remember seeing thoughts of my grandfather in my head when he died i was on tour. and i couldnt really feel sad unless i thought of it as my dad and it really freaked me out. it made me feel like i wanted to see my dad right that second. id be completely lost with out him. i think that people handle grief in different ways and the best thing we can do is try to be there for them. im sorry to hear about that though.

1/30/06 

question

my roommates and i almost got into a brawl at 4am with some drunk kids who wanted to fight us because we did not appreciate the hint of lime in their tostitos. is it just me, or is your life this ridiculous as well?

answer

it is . we were thrown out of another fob afterparty after nearly fighting the staff who was berating dirty.

question

Peter, I just got the “Panic! At The Disco” cd and I love it! could you recomened any others?

answer

the hushsound “so sudden” - myspace.com/thehushsound october fall “season of…” myspace.com/octoberfall dangerradio “party foul” myspace.com/dangerfall the academy is “almost here” myspace.com/theacademyis armor for sleep “all” myspace.com/armorforsleep shiny toy guns “all”

question

do any of you have brothers and siters? (like any single younger brothers…:) if so, who and how old?

answer

um come on this question is kind of insane. but my one dog marley is super hot for a dog. hes a good kisser though.

question

I read somewhere that Patrick was a vegitarian. Is that true?

answer

he was he eats fish and likes to talk long walks in the park with hot babes.

question

Why does patrick wear a hat all the time and why does the drummer never talk?????

answer

just to drive your pretty little head mad with these questions.

question

Okay, heres a question: Has someone you superly-duperly adored gone away? And by adored we are talking like, lets-run-away-to-isreal -and-get-hitched-without-telling-anyone adored.

answer

yes. the sinking feeling in your rotten gut is your reminder. cool sheets on your bed are your antidote.

[asklittlepip]

Things have certainly happened, and normally I woulda commented on yesterday being "Fallout Day", or more specifically, the date on which the Great War happened, though it isn't exactly 2077 yet. But a whole buncha family health drama happened I don't want to get into, so that dulled the week for me. And then you've got what's happening overseas as I alluded to with the last post, as well as a certain criminal who still roams free..

Ugh. I just wanna play videogames and talk about stupid nerdy stuff that only affects those into that! We live in an age of technology and social progress, yet there continues to exist those who'd drag us back into the darkness, bereft of freedom and innovation. A somehow even more fucked up dystopia where the machines steal creative jobs and the humans do the manual labor, instead of the reverse..

And on that note, stop calling it "AI" generated. It's automated theft! These are just algorithims that are assembling pieces of things they copied from others. They aren't creating it out of anything they didn't steal. Nobody taught these things how to paint, or proper techniques on artistry. And while everybody is inspired by something, if you just start lifting others' work, without permission or payment, that is unacceptable.. so why make excuses for this being ok?

I'm not saying the technology is completely without merit (unlike, say, NFTs, which are utterly pointless and fortunately, continue to fail). A good "AI" art tool could be used by an actual creator to, say, correct seams in textures on a 3D model, or to add more randomness to a repeating surface in a game. But in those cases, it's not really intelligent, is it? It's simply another thing you click in [art program of your choice], that isn't scouring the Internet to rob others of their career or even their OCs.

As for voice-based "AI", which, again, I hate the use of that term since it.. isn't.. more like a VI, really.. there's a small number of uses that aren't wrong. Remember how Stephen Russell recorded a few hundred names for Fallout 4, so that Codsworth could address the player properly? Then had to be called back to the studio for even more, and it still barely scratched the surface of common names, let alone silly ones? That's an application I can see vocal algorithims doing their work in, without impacting the career of actors; it could dynamically construct names based on player input, and respond appropriately.

This is where a computer could actually do it better, because the idea that you're going to get a human to speak tens of thousands of names, all in the correct cadence and presentation, and also store all that.. is absurd. Or using this knowledge to improve text-to-speech programs for the disabled. But when you're having the machine do their actual line readings for them in movies or games, or you're making yet another stupid Youtube video / mod that's having them say absurd or even offensive things.. yeah, no. Stop. Just stop.

Anyways, just some random thoughts, as it were. Hope you're all doing well and continue to DO good, too!

[androdragynous]

ive been feeling some kind of way about AI art and NFTs and the general shittiness of having to exist around brands 24/7 and I just. okay a lot of this is going to copy from the rant I went on in discord earlier because I don't want to retype it all on phone but it's like

DA is the only existing gallery that I have that actually spans like. My entire time online. Which like yeah it's cringe or whatever but it's important to me since that's where I started and now it's like well do I fucking nuke that record because the alternative is some crypto bitch minting my shit for $0.76257358 in twitchcoin or something. I hate it here. And I say that with actual vitriol this time.

I hate that being someone who likes to draw means my entire existence is a profit margin for some bitch who has decided letting people rip others off is the most reliable business standard and the alternative options are to never share anything and live under a rock or just quietly tolerate it and hope it blows over before the global ecosystem fries because a motherfucker realized money is imaginary and decided to burn a metric ton of resources to count monopoly money. If you put me in a room with a CEO of Anything right now I'd rip their throat out with my teeth before you could even hand me a gun.

It's INFURIATING that like. the fact that there is art on dA of people who have died doesn't matter to them. It doesn't matter that people have moved on. It doesn't matter that things were gifts for friends who are no longer talked to, or showing interest in things that have been moved past. It doesn't matter that there are resources meant to be shared or communities meant to be fostered and it doesn't matter that this was made by people. Art isn't content that just appeared magically in the world and you can't just skim it off and slap it on to something else. There was reason in it. Things were made for a reason and so often that reason was love and that's irrelevant.

I do think AI art has the potential to be an incredible tool especially for artists who otherwise can't draw, of whose speciality in art isn't a visual medium. But the way it's been introduced was not done for them and never will be because the people who developed it don't care and have no reason to. There is a difference between accessibility made for people and accessibility made for profit and only one of them will last and only one of them should matter.

I am tired and I am livid and honestly I'm a little bit grieving because it should not fucking be like this! What people make to connect to the world and the people they care about should not be reduced to PNG metadata #84026 for some Bitcoin freak who doesn't even know their fucking name. The person matters the reason matters. All of it has always fucking mattered.

In 2016ish I was talking to someone who had had to euthanize a horse they owned and they said my reassurances were some of the best they'd ever received. That site no longer exists. If I saw the same words I'd typed somewhere else now I wouldn't remember them, I wouldn't recognize them, but that person probably would. It was a string of words in a comment section of an offline site. Not even a little bit protected by anything art usually is. But it still fucking mattered to someone! And the fact that it did still matters to me! It's about being fucking human!

It's like, fuck, what do you do if somewhere down the line you see the fursona of a dead person in some AI prompt art? Whose fucking ghost is it? The person who made it won't know and won't care but someone will and that's not a grief that comes with legal measure - how the fuck are you supposed to quantify love in a court of law to prove that art has meaning?

It's infuriating. It's beyond infuriating. It has to matter because it matters and there's no way to frame that in a way that someone who doesn't care about it will acknowledge because they can't, fundamentally, recognize that any of this matters without realizing that their own part of it matters too. One big fucking performance art piece on a giant rock that happened to have the right molecules on it for the rest of us. Fuck me running. The problem is that none of these people have ever talked to someone who is not sufficiently rich, that art is to be generated so it can be placed in a foyer and resold after we die. There is no place in that world for parents singing their children to sleep or kids creating elaborate playground roleplays or teenagers writing poetry to try and make sense of how everything feels. Art is about being fucking human and we have to remember that. We have to.

Take the time to love your work. Take up a physical medium or print it out and hold it. Know you made something that exists and will continue to exist, and know that you loved it. There is a humanity in it that can never be taken from you and I hope that it can bring you joy. Please take the time to remember that.

[lhazaar]

the actual difference between oli and cabraxis in terms of Wizard Shit is more like

okay look both of them were very smart very young. oli was socialized very little and the one (1) friend he Did have was just as big of a nerd. he needed things in a very particular way, he needed to control all aspects of a situation, and he spent most of his time with scrolls and dissertations. he's a dragon and not an inherently social primate; his model for an ideal life trajectory are the sovereigns and the gods beyond them. he's idolizing lendys and seeking to emulate aureon to such an extent that he wants to replace them. he can't handle being wrong and his desire to study magic and fuck with the prophecy is to prove that he can and that he's right, above all. he's a cryptobro because i know for a fact that he would buy not only bitcoin but a whole bunch of weird fucking altcoins, and nfts, and would also participate in Many heated reddit threads defending his investment.

cabraxis on the other hand is only barely a wizard. i consider him one because the core of his Big Magic is that he's either learned or written some of the longest-running magical rituals in recorded history. he wouldn't be who he is without academic knowledge and manipulation of information. but he's also been exposed directly to some Different Big Magic and has help from a patron. he has a network of [REDACTED]s that are powering him up on multiple continents. he's keeping himself alive fuelled by pure magical spite and i think that's beautiful! it's also why he's a cunt.

[homesweetgoodneighbor]

I insta-block pro-A.I. people. It isn't even real A.I.! It is a program that is trained to mishmash stolen bits of other works! I may pirate things, but NEVER from small artists or authors or small game devs. Nor do I make money off of any of it. I am trying to preserve media that big corporations are trying to hoard or take away from us who already spent money on it because how dare we expect to own things we spend money on! I. Have. Fucking. Standards. These A.I. assholes don't. They are literally acting like big corporarions that also steal people's hard work to make enormous profit that those little people never see. NOT TO MENTION the unbelievable evil that is using it to create dubious videos and documents voice recordings of people and then using it to destroy their reputation or flat out exploit them. Pro-A.I. people also try to say that it id ableist to be anti-A.I. because it "helps disabled people create art" WHILE IT STEALS FROM DISABLED ARTISTS.

And now corporations, movie studios, and game companies want to use this "A.I." to use the works, voices, likeness, and art of others so they don't have to pay the real people. It is literally putting people out of work instead of being beneficial aids to make work easier. It is being used by laxy motherfuckers who are "writing" articles about foods and science that are going to get people killed because the information is widly inaccurate since it is random shit mashed together. I have seen this in action with food articles on very popular sites and yelled at them because they didn't even take the time to edit before they published and the result was so inaccurate as to be dangerous!

Amazon and AO3 is so full of A.I. written works that real people who actually write their own fiction are being accused of using A.I. in an attempt to discredit them while their own work is being stolen by the same A.I.and used for another's benefit.

It is not even in the wheelhouse of what Artificial Intelligence is supposed to be.

Could it be used in a beneficial way? Maybe. But, right now, no one who uses it has any sort of intention of being beneficial beyond lining their own pockets or gaining noteriety they don't deserve or causing real harm in the political arena.

I fucking loath it and I will not fucking discourse it. I have no intention of changing my mind. If you are pro-A.I. you are no better than NFT/crypto bros or fucking big corporations or godsdamn landlords who want to get rich on the backs of hard-working people.

Fuck off with this A.I. bullshit.

"This fic was ai generated—" Cool, so lemme block you real quick

[seeminglyseph]

I wonder if I could get popular enough to like. Crowd fund the parts to upgrade my computer to have like. A new motherboard and video card and stuff to do better gaming stuff. I didn’t put it together myself I admit I did pay a local computer guy $100 I think to put all the pieces together so like. I mean. That’s supporting my local business.

But I have a pretty big tower to fit pieces if I can just figure out some like components to buy to upgrade the like. Computer itself. I could probably do alright. And now NFTs are dead there might be actual Video Cards on the market. When I was building my PC back in the day it was fucking impossible to find a Video Card that wasn’t either slightly garbage (the one I currently have is not great) or a bajillion dollars. So maybe I can find something affordable. And I think I need to upgrade the motherboard, I have an upstairs do whatever computer that’s like an all-in-one and in my basement is a like. Desktop that I need to upgrade. It’s my project beast. That my anxiety around the basement has kept me from getting to work with, which is definitely pretty pathetic, I know, but like whatever.

I probably should just try to save money but with things becoming more expensive and my income not really increasing that is. Difficult. And since I feel like I’m just getting sicker and sicker I don’t know how I’m gonna like. Suddenly summon the ability to earn money. I can’t create or do things when I feel like I’m dying. I should have better impulse control. I need to not buy things. Maybe I’ll try very hard to not buy anything. I don’t know if I can succeed in this. It’s not usually when I’m at my most coherent when I’m like “I need that”

GPU, potentially motherboard, potentially internal SSD, probably some like. I think it didn’t have Bluetooth or wifi internally setup so I need to figure out that setup because whatever I do setup externally always seems to be inferior and bullshit. And takes up USB ports. And I’m always gonna end up needing those and I don’t wanna overload the system. So I think those are in the motherboard and that’s why I need to upgrade the motherboard. And I need a GPU that lets me hook up my tablet *and* do a screen record without a third party software and causing serious RAM issues. Because my video card isn’t equipped for screen recording and can barely handle a lot of the games I try to run despite the upgraded memory.

I know high quality video cards still run in the thousands, and I still gotta figure out compatibility, but if I’m replacing the motherboard that’s probably kinda everything… but it might just come down to the case but I think my case is a big ol’ behemoth of a thing. But then I gotta make sure everything else is compatible with a new motherboard or I may as well start over from scratch. I wish I actually knew what I was talking about.

I know just enough to know I know dick about shit. Dunning Kruger is a mother fucker.

[ailtrahq]

Carving out a sustainable career as an independent musician is no easy feat. The competition is fierce, support can be hard to find, and earning a living without the financial help of a major record label is an uphill battle. Yet, for those who are able to build a loyal fanbase, the freedom of complete creative control can be liberating. Technology has long proven to be a potential friend to those musicians willing to embrace it, and nonfungible tokens are the latest innovation that many tech-savvy artists have begun incorporating into their careers. But NFTs remain both controversial and experimental, especially among the mainstream, and music NFTs are still relatively niche. One artist who has cracked the code to maintaining a successful career as an independent musician is American singer Vérité, who has racked up hundreds of millions of streams without the support of a record label since releasing her first single, “Strange Enough,” in 2014.  was about to sign to a major label. they backed out last minute. now i'm an independent artist with 200 million+ streams, own my masters & publishing, create & release whatever the fuck i want & run my own business. rejection is always for a reason. #ShareYourRejections— VÉRITÉ (@Verite) August 17, 2018 After finding success and touring internationally, Vérité became one of the earliest musicians to experiment with NFTs in February 2021. Since then, she has built a strong Web3 community and had several successful high-profile drops, including releasing 1/1 NFTs, selling the master rights to her music, fractionalizing song royalties on the blockchain and giving NFTs to concert attendees. She has done all this while still retaining her dedicated non-Web3 fans, many of whom have little to no interest in crypto. How does one walk this fine line and successfully integrate Web3 into their career without alienating their existing, perhaps skeptical, fans? Magazine sits down with Vérité to find out.  Don’t over-rely on Web3 For many musicians, Web3 is an exciting frontier filled with new possibilities for fan engagement and revenue generation. However, Vérité believes it is important that artists have diversified revenue streams and marketing strategies and don’t fall into the trap of assuming that the hype surrounding anything, especially NFTs, will last forever. (Vérité) Building a music career in Web3 is “a bit of a double-edged sword,” Vérité tells Magazine. While it can help bring people together, “it becomes a negative when maybe artists limit themselves to only utilizing those tools and only existing within those communities, not really having the foresight that there was a hype cycle that then broke and these paths to monetization closed.” “My focus is ‘How do I build a career that can withstand trend cycles, that can refocus on the foundation of my career while trying to push forward to build better?’ because we recognize that a lot of these systems are extremely broken.” Protect and respect fans Not every fan wants to join their favorite artist on their Web3 journey, and that’s fine, according to Vérité. When she first started releasing NFTs, she heavily emphasized that she was simply experimenting with the technology. “I was very, very clear that I don’t care if you come with me on this experiment — this is an experiment for me,” she states. Vérité actually took it one step further, actively encouraging fans not to join her. “A lot of my communication with them was, ‘Don’t buy this. Don’t participate unless you are fully educated and willing to fully educate yourself and take on the risks.’” Even now, she still tells her fans that they should never feel pressured to participate in anything Web3-related. Web3 has a scalability problem. It doesn’t resonate with non crypto native audiences. Sentiments are vitriol, skepticism, distrust & lack of interest.. We are building solutions that audiences aren’t asking for in hopes to create better monetization structures for artists.— VÉRITÉ (@Verite) March 15, 2023

“More than monetizing, it’s really protecting the people who have supported my career for the last eight years,” Vérité emphasizes. It’s clear that not everyone is sold on the power and potential of blockchain. The bear market certainly hasn’t helped the space’s reputation either, with the collapse of crypto exchange FTX making mainstream media headlines and the prices of even blue-chip NFTs crashing 95% from their bull market peaks.  “If you go on my Discord — and I do tag everyone and say, ‘What do you think about crypto and NFTs?’ — people are not jazzed. Most of them, honestly. It’s just general disinterest,” Vérité explains. But it’s not necessarily that her fans actively hate crypto. “I’m finding that people don’t have a desire to do something new because they don’t see a problem, right?” According to the singer, “NFTs, Web3, how it’s been marketed out to the masses is also wholly unpalatable really to non-tech-native fans.” Instead, she offers the following advice:  “I would more so recommend people to frame it as utilizing tools because it’s a weird market, and it’s hard to justify some of the scams and the negative aspects that can cause real harm to someone who isn’t knowledgeable or educated on those things.” Offer an option, not a requirement Instead of forcing fans to join her on-chain, Vérité instead focuses on building experiences with a Web3 element that is present but optional. She describes her approach as offering a “door” for fans to enter, one where blockchain functionalities can be unlocked to further enhance the fan experience — but where fans will still enjoy the experience regardless of whether they open the door: “Do you need to jump the technological hurdle in order to have the experience, right? Or is it just a door? If it’s a door, you can talk about it because it’s not a burden.” “For me, it’s really trying to consider, ‘What is the experience that we’re offering, what are the actual viable use cases of blockchain technology that we can tack on that aren’t burdensome?’” she says. One example is “The Vérité Crewneck,” a tech-enabled sweatshirt the singer dropped in late 2022 in collaboration with IYK, a company working with brands, artists and creators to develop phygital experiences. The sweatshirt has a near-field communication, or NFC, chip embedded in the sleeve, which can be scanned to access exclusive content and unlock an NFT representing a certificate of authenticity. The Vérité Crewneck. (Vérité on Mirror.xyz) Vérité explains that fans who bought the sweatshirt received “premier access to the next era of my records.” Buyers could scan the chip with their phones and get early access to music and perks such as behind-the-scenes content. “That was the main value proposition — not a Web3 activation, right?”But the landing page also features an option to verify the garment, through which curious fans can receive their NFT. Fans are at the center of it all Between straight-up telling fans not to purchase her NFTs to offering them experiences where the Web3 option is an added bonus, Vérité’s fan-centric approach has undoubtedly played a significant role in her ability to push boundaries — and see success — in Web3 while still maintaining a loyal non-Web3 fanbase. Or, in her words, “My fans come first, and I don’t have fans just so that I can sell them shit all the time.” Regarding her long-term hope for the future of blockchain and music, Vérité says her vision is that “we can demystify the black box of data that exists between artists and their fans, that is held by social platforms, ticketing companies, etc., and that blockchain actually does have the ability to make that information transparent so that artists can communicate directly to the people who support them and reward them in long-term scenarios.” If the hype is to be believed, this dream may one day come true. But based on Vérité’s experience at the forefront of it all, it seems the only way the music-Web3 revolution will be truly successful is if fans are placed at the center of it.

[tycry]

“Zappa In New York” is an album recorded in 1976, and released in 1978, in the midst of Zappa’s lawsuit with Warner Bros. Records. But that’s for another post.

The album was heavily censored. A couple of minutes were sliced from “Titties & Beer” and “Punky’s Whips” was removed entirely, out of fear of offending the song’s subject, guitarist Punky Meadows of Angel, who, in fact, loved the song.

The album follows Zappa’s stints in New York around Halloween and Christmas. He had the SNL studio band at his disposal, and he used them to their fullest. Just compare the vamp the horns play during Zappa’s solo on “I’m The Slime” that appeared on the CD re-release to the Over-Nite Sensation version.

Zappa in the modern world is very strange. I remember when UMG first bought out the ZFT, they announced they were gonna do Zappa NFTs and I was pissed. How could they do something so fucking stupid to the most genius composer of the 20th-21st centuries? But thankfully, those dumb little pictures died out before that happened. But then all the Valley Girl stuff launched, and then came the visualizers. It’s just odd. I’d like to go back to 1964 and tell the starving Zappa, “You’re music’s gonna get a cult following, you’ll have a 30 year career, and there’ll be visualizers of your songs on YouTube in 50 years.”

I dunno, but this ZINY visualizer is actually pretty nice.

[mytransparenttown]

Warning: Not ready for publication

03052022   This is the first time that I have gotten back to my notes. I have hidden the formatting so it looks like one long stream of consciousness. I took everything from my twitter comments. I'm going to use it in a thesis eventually. It will take an enormous amount of work.  

I don't mind getting lost. Would you like to get lost with me?  They "write themselves" In the United States, a Presidential Commission is a special task force ordained by the President to complete a specific, special investigation or research. They are often quasi-judicial in nature; that is, they include public or in-camera hearings.  how do you bounce a network?  I'm fixing grub. How do you reset a computer with no text files.  Reality check. The Warren Report did not write itself.   Sheryl Jennings @SherijenningsUn · 2h I remember reading the Warren Report and how it must have been so easy to pull all of that together and just put it on Audible.  We are trying to replace misspent optic nerve with real optic fiber cable.  A hearse for Marnie has dropped people. She got my report and why are people still messing with her.  The first digital human went offline. I had one chance to see her picture. She looks very real and she is very tough.  Some people so so fortunate that they are in virtual remote South Sudan. My computer remains in Togo  These screens are one of my deep dives. I don't get green screens of death anymore. Bixby Vision and Surface Fold are real.  stop code is not a company. It is memory management. I didn't have to use my phones and other computers to bring this up this time. My phone didn't drain the memory. Earning 7% cash back on Microsoft Card!!!  Heads up to my real friends on here. Getting vaccinated is called the "jab". I'm 4 Economists behind and 2 Wall Street Journals behind. They didn't teach us that the OSI is battle ready for no reason. We are lucky to use it to talk right now.  working between shouts. looking at rebreathers in a totally different light. these tweets will be lost. I'm looking at court case "cat" and "brook"  Get out of my stream. I want to help other people feel good. I have another report to do.  I'm almost in tears at what I'm seeing.  I'm almost in tears at what I'm seeing.  Venmo is worse that Gitmo  Minting NFT is grinding in our bones. I'll be back at it today.  I'm just used to a different Oval Office.  Who are the new Navy Chaplains?  Why are the neighbors bank records sitting in the living room!!! Jesus Christ! These people don't even read their own mail  These Birch Steele Grannies are so dangerous that my money is sitting in Google and Microsoft and literally floats from my savings into these other accounts. WAKE UP AND GET A FUCKING CLUE  these people are paying foreign bank fees!!! How will they pay for this $345 tv after I'm gone. It comes out of my savings.  I noticed several people's property and bank record littered about the house. I did report this before making plans to move.  If I legally change my last name then I'll let you know.  A daughter who flies in to help a grandma and grandpa 4 times on one summer is going to be gone when this grandma and grandpa are on their own.  People who lost life alert for misuse are totally out of emergency calls  If you are locking for a county where you WON A COURT CASE then you don't know that you weren't even allowed at the "styled court case" that was held at 9:00PM. Lose with grace and dignity.  people who are supposedly on social security shouldn't need to HELP actual disabled people who are so burdened with them that they can't do their part time jobs.  I understand that times are hard. However, those of us who are veterans and me a disabled person (who could not join the air force TRANSLATORS because of my back) are not sitting here waiting to support "grandmas and grandpas"! END OF STORY  if you have a smaller problem then call the police like I do.  whitelotus is a romance scam but if it is a guy pretending to be a woman, wtf do you expect  back channeling is 6 years old. wtf  the catts family bank robbers moms and dads club are all over the news. i do not need to hear about it  Concussions in athletes are extremely common. In fact, about 3.8 million concussions occur each year in the U.S. from sports-related injuries. The Center for Disease Control estimates that 5-10% of athletes will experience a concussion in any given sports season.  to me hearing the name sheryl crow doesn't reflect on sheryl crow.  All I had said was that I had never gotten a head injury at a concert.  yes, my room vibrates at all times  One G is the force of Earth's gravity -- it is this force that determines how much we weigh. At 5 Gs, a driver experiences a force equal to five times his weight. For instance, during a 5-G turn, there are 60 to 70 pounds of force pulling his head to the side.May 10, 2001  THEIR BRAINS ARE STEWED  sound torture is a violation of the United Nations Charter. There is no band that wants to sell music that way and you can be guaranteed that anyone obsessed enough to do it isn't going to cause a fucking romance scam. I DON'T LISTEN TO MUSIC  I am waiting for 100% neural silence so obviously there those who will never return to brain health.  would it be cool if the "cool" people all had to be treated for mild anthrax dose again. I am so not out making friends or dates the hospital  I stopped seeing a gerentologist before I died.  Can you imagine a doctor who connects to your cell phone on twitter to an urgent care and calls into medication that I didn't ask for!!! This leech is unbarable.  I never know when that savings deposit is going to transfer but there will always be someone claiming to be my relative when it does. 3 flights worth of freeloading "sisters"  unfortunate visitors. extremely unfortunate.  I'm hearing the kids working at fast food and seeing signs on the restaurants that people are trying to trick them with their change.  someone still covered my account with swastikas. now more and more people are locked off of twitter and I have an account that I CAN'T CLOSE BUT WON'T LET ME IN.  what is up with all of the military stuff. this is the type of hexes that I've seen. I just tell them, convert the hexadecimal if you can't figure out a spell.  The person who holds the deed to the property owns the property.  If your copy of Microsoft Excel Word has the owners name grayed out then you ARE NOT THE OWNER. I PAY GOOD MONEY FOR MICROSOFT  that fake twitter sidebar is a good indication that you are on MY account. To whom it may concern, you have less that two days to breath on your own  airgaps are a problem.'  I just found this one. This is in relation to somewhere in Nevada. I have to check my paperwork.

03052022  This is the first time that I have gotten back to my notes. I have hidden the formatting so it looks like one long stream of consciousness. I took everything from my twitter comments. I'm going to use it in a thesis eventually. It will take an enormous amount of work.

[mayanakos-madness]

So. I have a friend.

We will call her Bloo. Now, remember I specifically say that she is my friend, meaning that I mean no ill will to her by making this post, but god fucking damn it, it needs to be made.

Back in the grand ol’ days of early 2021, some of my friends were having a nice little conversation on Discord, so, pretty average day.

And then Bloo, lovely, lovely, Bloo, asks how to make a grilled cheese. Now, perhaps this would be excusable if she was a small child, but she was not. at this point in time, she was 16.

Now, this was a rather short event on it’s own, but it started a meme in the friend group about how Bloo can not cook grilled cheese, because this was peak comedy to us. It also spawned this glorious fucking image.

Also just so no one gets confused, “Maw is gae” is Bloo. And yes that does say iPod in the corner.

Anyways, flash back to just a couple weeks ago. almost a month ago. It was an average day in our current GC, the previous conversation having something to do with the difference between cannibalism and vore, when we receive these fateful messages.

As you can see, my eyes were filled with hope. Was this it? After nearly two full years of torment, was this it? The brilliant moment in which our anime protagonist would finally overcome her biggest weakness against all odds? Were the credits about to roll after the greatest grilled cheese known to mankind had been constructed by her own two hands?

But, then...

The hope in my eyes deteriorated into dust, tears beginning to fill in their place. How. How the actual fucking hell did she come up with this. After all of the teasing and bullying, this was what her character arc lead up to?

At first, I was too distracted by her spelling mistake, which she then “corrected” with another spelling mistake, to even realize the horror that had yet to come. This was the one and only warning for what was quite possibly the worst thing I have ever dared to lay my eyes upon.

I am going to cut this off here with the keep reading thing because this is honestly just the most disgusting display of something that is supposed to be edible I have ever fucking seen. Click at your own risk.

My eyes could no longer hold the tears, they flooded out onto my bed sheets as the despair and agony overtook my senses. All I could see was this abhorrent piece of fermented dog shit. THIS is the result of that horrid procedure she took to make what was supposed to be a “Grilled Cheese.”

And the bitch has the audacity to ask-

I want to fucking blow myself up. This is the most pathetic and nauseating mistake for an edible sandwich that I have ever had the displeasure of viewing. I don’t want to be in the same timeline in which this shit exists.

And to top it off? That bread, which was supposedly toasted despite being white as fuck,

is potato bread.

She used fucking potato bread for her grilled cheese, tumblr. I can not make this shit up.

I just. I. I fucking. I.

What do I even say about this that hasn’t already been said about NFTs and Politicians. Anyways, we have more things to cover about this shitwreck, so let’s not linger on this for too long. God is it fucking awful. “abysmal at that” -Cam

Now, I, being just the stupendous friend that I am, immediately shared this god-awful mistake with my other friend group, and they reacted with just as much horror as the first friend group did.

One of them asked what cheese she used, which prompted me to ask her. She used velveeta slices.

Ok, not the worst mistake made here, but fucking... velveeta slices? Really? You couldn’t get one step of the equation correct here? Fucking really, Bloo???

That same friend that prompted the question of what cheese she used then recorded a whole tutorial on how to make a damn grilled cheese, and another friend from the first friend group recorded a video of a power point presentation for how to make it. It was glorious.

Yeah I know I said the potato bread would top this shit off but no, there’s more.

SHE COULDN’T EVEN ALIGN THE FUCKING BREAD PROPERLY. I think Cam puts it best:

Speaking of Cam, they made a Reddit post about this.

https://www.reddit.com/r/amistupid/comments/117mr7a/my_friend_doesnt_know_how_to_make_grilled_cheese/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Many beautiful comments here including my own.

And then later one of Cam’s friends also made a grilled cheese tutorial.

OH. AND I ALMOST FUCKING FORGOT.

Cam asked Bloo if she genuinely did not own a stove, because at this point with that stupid ass method she pulled out of her ass, it came into question, Bloo said:

I am not even fucking with you, this is genuinely how clueless she was about making grilled mcmotherfucking cheese.

ARE YOU ACTUALLY SHITTING MY DICK OFF? ARE YOU GENUINELY SHITTING MY GOD DAMN MOTHERFUCKING DICK OFF???

FOR ANY OF YOU WHO CAN’T DECIPHER THAT SHOVING-THE-WHOLE-KEYBOARD-UP-MY-ASS GARBLED MESS IN THE FIRST MESSAGE, IT SAYS: “WHEN I ASKED ABOUT HOW TO MAKE A GRILLED CHEESE, I WAS SERIOUS”

Yeah she has atrocious spelling too. I’m used to it

I don’t. I don’t even want to exist anymore. I. I think I’m done. That’s a good place to end this. I’ll look back at this in the morning and see if I forgot any important details and reblog with said details, but I think I covered everything of “value.”

Enjoy trying to fall asleep tonight knowing that this life-ruining fucking monstrosity of a sandwich exists.

Feel free to ask me any questions about this, I would love to humiliate her even more. We’re friends I swear.

[fowlcer]

Will of the People - Muse

poster thing i made aaa ok i'm so excited it looks so good i worked so hard on it

i'm especially proud of the shading and how i used the line art with it i'm so happyyy, i also revisioned my signiature and it looks much better

also i saw the live show like last month and like

AAAAAAAAAA

my first show as well, god it was so good i'd do anything to be able to watch it again but this time without the shock in the initial two songs of "holy fuck this is actually happening" because tbh it ruined how i experienced hysteria which is like one of my favorite tracks of theirs

btw i am disappointed this album was an nft but it's too good so i ended up buying the vinyl record and the cd

unnecessary you might say but i already had a cd collection going and i honestly thought it'd be such a good start to a record collection aswell; the vinyl is absolutely beautiful, just a little low quality from what i could tell, as it was kinda chipped upon arrival, but that could've also been the delivery ig

featured music this post is... you guessed it:

Cracker Island - Gorillaz which releazed just today!! fun!! most tracks that actually matter were already singles but oh give me a break shut up

oh and the mexico documentary muse made about their experience here :)

[havoxel]

these little shits are definitely gonna kill us in our sleep aren’t they

[nerdynikki94]

So, I just can't stop thinking about watching Rob McElhenney cut off Mary Elizabeth Ellis mentioning Roe V. Wade, saying that it's not a 'political show' (when they have all repeatedly pointed out that Sunny has always been political), but not saying a goddamn word when Glenn and Charlie both start making comments about it. Like, yeah, Rob.... God forbid the guest, and only person directly affected by this choice, be allowed to say a single fucking thing about the government robbing her of her autonomy.

Am I the only one? Rob's just come across as such an annoying bro lately. He's focused on all the dumb shit that isn't important, when Sunny is right there, a ripe, record-breaking sitcom that has the potential to push passed typical mediocrity, but sure dude... try to sell people NFTs or do commercials for allyship when you've played television's most romantically-averse gay man in history.

Y'all I'm tired. Sunny could be groundbreaking (while still funny and in-character) but he's so determined to stay middle road so he can get fans from both sides of social turmoil (entirely ignoring that women and queer people's lives are literally being threatened and controlled right now) because none of the issues IASIP addresses, ever actually affect him.

[cerastes]

AI is almost cool, but you're right. Right now the only way to actually make it worth your time is to have a small warehouse of machines working together to do anything and that is just way too privately owned and way too beneficial to an individual who obviously wants to use it for money.

If a library or museum had it and was running it on their collection that'd be an entirely different story. They'd probably be able to source their creations correctly too since they have that metadata in abundance. I wonder how Star Trek's holodecks handle that, since holodeck programming is pretty much the same thing as AI Prompt Based Generation.

Besides what I've already said about AI in regards to artistic integrity and how I do not trust techbros to harness any of this tech in any way that could prove altruistic and not aimed exclusively at making money and maybe even NFTs 2 - The Sequel, I do think it's important to point out that the technology behind it is amazing and the applications and implications of advancing AI technology are sincerely intriguing.

For example, with AI art, an animation team could easily and quickly produce in-between frames in key animation, that is, the transition frames and smear frames between more important shots. This would, if implemented properly, alleviate a significant load off the shoulders of animators, and we know animators can use all the help they can get nowadays, in an industry that becomes more and more demanding to its workforce and that is yet so immensely disrespected and underpaid.

An illustrator could also get a lot of reference for their own art. Anatomy, backgrounds, certain poses, objects at different angles, the applications really are there! A writer of a more visual disposition could easily generate a number of assets for internal, personal use only, to help visualize locales, characters, objects, and what have you. With a more specialized model, I believe even sculptors and other more hands-on and physical artforms could definitely benefit as well, especially when you consider the leaps and bounds in 3D printing.

My scathing criticism of AI 'artists' is one thing, because I do not for one second think of anyone as an artist by just putting in a prompt into an AI that then generates an image for them, and that will not change, you didn't create art, you simply used a tool, so don't call yourself an artist for that one, to whoever it may concern, but AI technology in itself is fascinating, and what frustrates me is not the fact that there's an AI that can make visuals easily -- that's honestly fascinating -- rather, it's the fact I do not at any point trust the tech industry to ever respect art in any capacity because they have a track record of not doing so, and the interest in creating an 'art AI' is wholly based on a thinly veiled desire to mass produce for the sake of raking in profits while -- and I insist, bear this in mind -- disguising it as an "accessible tool" that can make anyone an 'artist'.

We have to make sure we don't go durr hurr technology bad, Tesla was a witch, because it's easy to do so and I've seen some bad takes on that regard already, it's ultimately techbros and the tech industry that live on this hardlane bubble of "profit no matter what we destroy or defame". Most everything nowadays starts by techbros selling the ideal of "look how helpful this could be!" and getting a lot of attention on their product, and when it's ready for a stable release, they paygate it behind the kind of money only big private industries can afford, and fuck everyone else.

And hey, that's been a lot of the world of business for a long time, in many, many other regards, but if people expect artists not to make a fuss when techbros look at art and try that shit there, I have no idea what they expect. Which is wholly disrespectful, anyhow, because everyone loves art but hates artists for some reason. Not to sound like a cafe blog for a second, but I do need to point out that during the harshest parts of the pandemic, art is what people turned to in order to assuage themselves. I hope that knowledge stings whoever it may concern.