#human equivalent of a jukebox is my NEW FAVORITE THING

[inkshadow]

"wow, how did i get to be so lucky?" she can take that however she liked but emmett can safely say that he can only really relax like this with a handful of people. perhaps even less than what he can count with one hand. "oh come on, that's not really fair. also, why would i ever tell you that to your face? i feel like that all depends on how many facts you throw at me." the latter isn't serious, of course, but the truth of the matter is that he really can't gauge that just yet. earlier tonight, he expected the argument to blow this whole thing up; now they're talking like old friends. it's probably to be expected that their friendship swings back and forth like a pendulum. "you think? sounds like you haven't had the opportunity to test that assumption... not saying it wouldn't be fucked up but it's totally possible."

“i don’t know if i would say you’re small brained, but if you want me to take it easy on you, i can do that. consider me a very generous tutor.” if he’s brave enough to let the human equivalent of a jukebox loose — once you put a dime in her, you have no choice but to let the whole song play out — the least she can do in return is try not to overload him with information. “okay, and what about people? how long have i got before you decide whether or not i’m worth the effort?” it’s said teasingly, though there’s an underlying hint of curiosity that stubbornly seeps through before it’s cut short by another quick swat of the hand aimed his way. “hey, you don’t know that. i could surprise you.” hell, she even surprised herself tonight. “oh, uh. i mean, i guess that’s possible, but he’s smart and would never bite the hand that feeds him… i think. honestly, that would be pretty fucked up.”

[pkmn-fangamer]

Pokémon Uranium Review

Intro:

Enjoy the region of Tandor, with over 150 new original species of Pokémon, complex characters, and many secrets to discover. Become Champion, complete the Pokédex, and beat the many challenge modes available; it’s time to prove your worth as a trainer! Pokémon Uranium, at its core, is a homage to the original Pokémon games, which have been in the hearts of many of us since childhood. Coupled with a serious storyline and slightly harder gameplay, this fangame is aimed towards a slightly older audience: one that often remembers Pokémon with nostalgia.

How to Play:

Go to Pokemon Uranium’s Reddit here, which gives several download options and further instructions.

Story:

-Light spoilers below-

The story of this game is unique and interesting. For the most part it is strongest at the beginning and the end of the game, though it’s not particularly weak in the middle. There is a cut scene at the beginning of the game in which your mother is working as a scientist at a nuclear power plant, where she disappears during an accidental nuclear meltdown. Your dad, Ranger Kellyn, originally from the Almia region, is struck with grief, and becomes obsessed with his work as a ranger. You, the main character, are forced to live with your elderly Aunt, and later become a Pokemon trainer and assistant to the local professor to financially relieve her.

If you find the above summary of your first fifteen minutes of game play intriguing, you’ll probably enjoy the plot of Pokemon Uranium immensely. I certainly did- the game’s story mostly took itself seriously, getting dark in a few places without getting too edgy.

The biggest difference between main series games’ plot and Uranium is the lack of your average evil team. The enemy in this game is both physical and philosophical. I’ll only get into it partially, so I don’t spoil it too badly. The main enemy are Nuclear-type Pokemon, and whoever/whatever is causing the meltdowns of nuclear plants across the region. But these plants were obviously created by humans, and in turn Nuclear-type Pokemon are also in way man-made. Nuclear Pokemon may be the obvious enemy in this game, but the human perspective is also lightly explored, and for this I was glad.

This is also the first fan game I’ve played through in a while with genuinely interesting characters. Your rival is a bratty child at first but matures and develops as a person by the end, for example. Additionally, your absentee father may seem distant and uninvolved in your life at first, but eventually you grow closer to him too, as you battle Nuclear Pokemon alongside each other. Many of the gym leaders are also interesting past their gimmick, and are encountered not just in their gyms, but are also present in another part of the game that you’ll just have to find out for yourself.

Score: 9/10

Pokemon:

The Pokedex of this game contains exactly 200 Pokemon, about 150 of which are original Fakemon, the rest being Pokemon selected from various regions. At first, I was puzzled as to why some real Pokemon were included, but then I later realized that many of these Pokemon were either given new evolutions or mega evolutions, which in the main series are sorely needed. The best example of this is Dunsparce’s new evolution, Dunseraph, making it a strong Dragon/Flying type Pokemon. However, a there are a few main series Pokemon that are included without any improvements being made to them, so their appearance does confuse me a bit, though I’m not totally against their presence.

The Fakemon in this game are overall likeable. The starters are all well designed, and in my opinion are some of the best Pokemon in the game. They are unique because they’re only two stage Pokemon, with all main series starters being 3 stage Pokemon. I picked Orchynx, which is a Grass/Steel cat Pokemon, and there was never a point where I regretted my choice. The rest of the Fakemon are pretty good- there are some designs I’m not the biggest fan of, but this can be said about many official Pokemon too. The Fakemon range widely in abilities, types, and movepools- which brings me to my next topic.

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest gimmicks of the game is the new Nuclear-type. Nuclear Pokemon are weak against every type except themselves, but their new Nuclear-type moves are super-effective against every type but Nuclear and Steel-types, and doubly so against Pokemon with more than one type. This makes these Pokemon super interesting to use- the strongest of their types can be the ultimate glass cannon in battle if used correctly.

There are both Nuclear versions of main-series Pokemon and some original Nuclear Pokemon present in the game. The former are much more numerous than the latter, and I wish there were a few more original Nuclear types, but I understand coming up with new Pokemon for a new type must be time consuming and difficult.

Score: 9/10

Gameplay:

The gameplay of Uranium is great overall. While the game is contained in a single region, there is an East and West segment that makes it almost seem like there are two different regions in the game. The West half that you begin on is land-based, and the East half is water-based, on an archipelago of islands. The wealth of different cities, areas of interest, and routes are sure to give the player more than enough to take in and explore.

For those of you curious, I would put the difficulty of Uranium at a bit above the average main series game. It’s not horrifically hard, and not much grinding is necessary until towards the end of the game. A balanced team will help you get far, and I’d say it’s rather important to have a Steel-type, Nuclear-type, or both on your team to help you get through battles with Nuclear Pokemon. However, if you’re looking to bump up the difficulty level in playing, having neither of those types will definitely help challenge you.

HMs are present in this game, but there are items that you can receive later to replace them. It is nice that these items become available later in the game, but I wonder why HMs exist at all in the game if the creators were willing to replace the HMs with items. I would have preferred receiving these items rather than HMs from the get-go, but it is pleasant at least that you don’t need HMs eventually. My biggest gripe about HMs is how late you receive HM Fly in the game- not until winning your 8th badge. Luckily, there are various methods of transportation available, like subway and boat, but paying for these services and coordinating which methods work in what town is a little tedious.

In general, the gameplay of Uranium is very polished. There are so many tiny features that make this game more playable than even main series game, still without making the game too easy. One such feature is the Pokepod, your main technological device. In it, there is a Jukebox used to listen to any in-game track, your region map, and a phone to call the regional professor, and store numbers of trainers looking for rematches. A Pokeball is present next to trainers who want rematches, and best of all, your opponent’s rematch team has levels that are scaled to be equivalent to yours. This makes grinding much easier and more enjoyable.

Score: 8.5/10

Art/Music:

The overworld art resembles Gen 4 graphics in a way that is creative and original- I can barely find a tile that was imported directly from Gen 4, aside from some overworld character sprites. The landscapes are varied and nice to look at, many of them being based on the country Brazil. My favorite city is Venesi City, which is a beautiful port city based on Venice, Italy.

The in-battle art and animation are fantastic as well, based on Gen 5, with your Pokemon and your opponent’s actually moving around a bit. There are also many moves with great animations. However, there is also a fair number of moves lacking any animation. This bothered me a little, but perhaps it could have been a glitch? Either way, the battle scene is very polished- almost every new area has new background art accurate to whatever time of day it currently is. With how much time is spent battling in this game, I appreciate the effort put in to make it look as nice as it does.

The music in Uranium is about a 50/50 split of well-composed original OSTs and re-orchestrated versions of tracks from other generations. Since these re-orchestrations are well made and contribute well to the game’s atmosphere, I don’t mind the lack of original music in these spots. I especially enjoyed that the diving theme was a slower, more beautiful version of the in-game surf music.

There is one more important thing of note before I move on, and that is the ability to choose a well-designed, non-binary player character. Gamefreak should really pay attention and implement that feature (but I know they won’t). Fantastic job on inclusivity in this area, and I especially loved the proper usage of pronouns depending on which appearance you choose.

Score: 9.5/10

Misc:

If you play Pokemon fan games, or have even heard of them at all, then you probably know at least a little bit about the incredible rise and forced decline of Pokemon Uranium. I urge you to read about what really happened here, according to one of the creators, @oripoke. I don’t have much more to say about this topic without getting heated about it, so I suggest checking out the provided link here if you’re at all interested.

Because of the cease-and-desist order from Nintendo, the community for this game is a little more hidden than it would be for a famous fan game. However, you can find an extremely helpful wiki here, and the main discord here.

Overall:

I’ll begin my conclusion by saying that this is the third time I’ve attempted to finish Pokemon Uranium, and boy am I upset that I didn’t stick to following through with this gem of a game earlier. Uranium truly does have just about everything fans could want- a game with a slightly deeper storyline than main series games, with nearly all new Pokemon (and even some old ones, if you prefer), a new region to explore, and even a new type to spice things up.

I would gladly recommend this game to Pokemon fans new and old. This is a polished, pretty product, and you won’t find many other fan games as complete and polished as this one. There are almost no glitches- the only one that I experienced was the music cutting out occasionally, but the game can easily be saved and rebooted to fix this.

Usually I have more to say in this ending section, but I think that’s all for my final thoughts. This game really is just a work of art, and because of its interesting plot and gameplay, I can see myself picking Uranium up and playing it through again in a few years, possibly even more than once.

Final Score: 9/10

[chelseawolfemusic]

Chelsea Wolfe on not being afraid to take risks // The Creative Independent

Prelude:

Chelsea Wolfe is an American singer-songwriter and musician who incorporates folk, goth rock, and doom metal into her sound. Her most recent album, Hiss Spun, is her fifth. Wolfe co-produced the collection with longtime collaborator Ben Chisholm. It was recorded by Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou and features contributions from Troy Van Leeuwen of Queens of the Stone Age and Aaron Turner of the post-metal band Isis. Her music has been featured in Game of Thrones, Fear the Walking Dead and How to Get Away with Murder. Here she discusses her songwriting process, explains why it's worth shaking up your approach, gives tips for surviving in the music industry, and talks about the importance of old books.

Full Article Via The Creative Independent 

Conversation:

How do you deal with creative blocks?

If I start to feel stagnant, going to see a good show always helps. Watching a great band makes me want to play music. Like, when we opened for Queens of the Stone Age a few years back. I was unsure where I wanted to go next musically, and had a feeling, like maybe I should do another acoustic album… I was starting to put some invisible pressure on myself instead of letting my instincts lead. But after a couple nights of watching Queens play these rock ‘n’ roll songs that have been my favorites for years, it was like, “No, fuck that, I want to play heavy music and let some aggression out,” so then I started working on Abyss.

You did change your sound on your Abyss. It was clearly you, but it was heavier. The album that came after it, Hiss Spun, is darker and even heavier. As an artist, is it important to take risks?

Yes, and it’s important to follow your intuition. That’s what I was doing then. I did that tour opening up for QOTSA, and immediately after did a tour opening for The Eels, switching from a rock set to acoustic set with literally one day between. I wasn’t ready to be up there playing this quiet music, and cried through the soundcheck of the first show. I was so uncomfortable. That’s how I knew I didn’t want to make another acoustic album just yet, and went full-force with the heavy. There was something I needed to let out first, like an exorcism.

Can you talk us through your songwriting process?

I keep endless notes and recordings of lyrics and production ideas that pop into my head in the middle of the night, when I’m driving, when I’m reading a book, whenever…Then when I get a musical idea or have the time to sit down and work on new songs, I have this store of ideas to pull from. I’ll treat it like a collage at times—scanning over pages of words and seeing what stands out, conceptually or visually, and I’ll start from there, sometimes culling other things from those pages that relate, or sometimes just writing all new things based on the one thing that stands out at that time.

There are also instances where I write a complete song in one go. Those are the more exhilarating, revelatory times. Sometimes it comes out of nowhere when something hits me emotionally or instinctually, and sometimes it comes from writing sessions where I’ll set up my gear around me, get ready to record, and then take mushrooms, allowing myself to open up in a new way. It’s not always easy. Sometimes it can be daunting or physically taxing, but I can be so closed-off at times—protecting myself from the energies of the world—that I have to pry myself back open when I’m ready to start writing again.

Do you stick to any kind of regular regimen as far as writing music? What’s your daily schedule like?

My only real regimen is not to ignore any ideas. Inspiration can sometimes come at the most inconvenient moments, like when I’ve finally just started to fall asleep, but I force myself up and follow it through. My family inspires me a lot, so I’ve warned them that if I have to stop and do something in my phone while we’re in the middle of a conversation, I’m just quickly taking note of an old-fashioned phrase they said that I thought was beautiful, or something they mentioned that I want to look into later. When I get to a point where I’ve written a few songs that start to feel related, like the beginning of an album, that’s the most exciting time. At that point I’ll hone in, researching certain subjects, and I start to well up with musical ideas and melodies.

I have a small writing studio that’s right next to my bedroom where I work on lyrics and record demo vocals, and then downstairs is another studio room where the band and I will jam and work parts out together. I live in the middle of nowhere, but I’m lucky enough that my bandmates come stay with me and work on songs for chunks of time. It’s not so bad here—there’s lots of trees and lakes, and a dive bar with a jukebox and karaoke.

I’ve learned over time that keeping most of my thoughts, experiences, and ideas to myself and my close friends as they happen, instead of sharing them with the internet constantly—that helps them remain special. We’re in such a zeitgeist now that I also find it important to find inspiration sources that have nothing to do with the internet. Of course it’s going to seep in here and there. I mean, I still start my day with the news, usually via CNN, Vice, or Reuters, but for years I’ve been collecting books, and old books especially are an invaluable resource.

For me, going to an antique store or used bookstore is almost equivalent to going to a museum. I love to think about the stories those items hold. While I was writing songs for Hiss Spun, I experimented with getting up really early and writing with a fresh mind. Steve Von Till told me he does that, so I gave it a try. It worked well for me, but then as soon as I go on tour my sleep schedule goes back to late nights and late mornings! When I come back from Europe the jet lag brings me back to the early mornings so I try to take advantage of those times.

Is it ever okay to abandon something you’ve started?

I’m not afraid to let go of songs that aren’t working. I mean, I threw 100s of copies of CDs of the first album I did in my early 20’s into a dumpster behind my old apartment back in Sacramento. I wasn’t happy with it. I knew I wanted to make music, but wasn’t able to execute my vision yet. It was just practice, really.

How do you come back from a bad review?

I think because I’m so hard on myself, and constantly critiquing what I’m doing, it’s not weird for me to see a review with something negative about me… I’ll even agree. Like there was a show in Vancouver once with a review that said my voice was “much raspier than the recorded version,” and I was like, “Yeah, I was exhausted that night and the monitors were shit.” No big deal, I still gave it all I had.

That’s not to say it doesn’t affect me. I had to stop looking at comments because that can be a bit much, hearing everyone’s opinion on you all the time. But you kind of expect reviewers to be looking for something to pick out to counteract anything positive they have to say, because I think a lot of people read negativity as authenticity. I don’t, but I do try to see the balance in all things. To me, it’s worse when an artist spends their energy tearing another artist down. If you’re spending a lot of time and energy seething against another band, it probably says more about how you feel about the work you’re making.

Do you see social media as a useful tool?

It can be an insight into someone’s life who may otherwise be a private person, like myself, but I’m also careful about what I share. I rarely post photos of my closest friends, family, or who I date. Then every once in a while I’ll surprise you with something exhibitionistic or personal. I mostly just use Instagram, and I don’t plan out my posts… I just put things up when the mood hits.

Like the other night I drank a bit too much and was hyperventilating in bed at my friend’s house. I started almost speaking in tongues and then was repeating my album title Hiss Spun in a strange way. I took video of it (well just audio, the room was dark) and posted it because it felt very real and related to the feeling of the album. But then I’ll see someone like St. Vincent having these nice, well thought-out videos to introduce her new album and I feel like a total loser, but at this point in my life I’m just more spur-of-the-moment, I suppose. Anyway, social media is useful in the sense that you can let a group of people who are interested in your work know what you’re up to or have coming up, like a new album or tour.

What does success look like to you? Failure?

I have my own weird definition of perfection that I hold my music to, so sometimes the recording process can be grueling, but at the same time it’s the only way I feel like I’m successful at all—if I’m proud of the music I’m putting out, I’m successful. Failure would be to make music just to keep up with trends, or to give someone else control over your music because you’re not feeling up to it. If you’re drained of drive and ideas, it’s time to take a break, live life, and through that, find reinvigoration.

The music industry can be a weird place. What are your survival techniques?

It was like navigating through an apocalyptic wasteland for many years, dealing with human vampires and exclusion, but I’ve also held truly good and grounding people close along the way. Playing with musicians who aren’t sexist or controlling, but are instead supportive and willing to listen, combined with having a powerful woman as a manager have helped me maintain a certain kind of balance and sanity. I’ve always had a strong vision, but haven’t always had the strength to put myself out there into the world, so it took me a long time to get to where I am. I recognize that I have a long way to go, but I’m almost 10 years deep into this so I’m much more confident and enthusiastic about pushing forward with my ideas and perspective than I was at the beginning. I’ve also learned to say “No!”