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imarson404 · 13 days ago

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Is the death note 2015 drama good?

I’d say yeah, actually. It really was! 8, maybe 8.5 out /10.

i have to be real, I seriously loved watching this series, particularly the second half. I’ll do a spoiler free review first, but I do think I need to make it clear that I did not watch this in the conventional way let’s just say. My sibling and I watched this through a nearly 200 video long playlist of 2 minute clips on YouTube, in Japanese (duh) with Portuguese subtitles- note that neither of us speak Portuguese, nor Japanese, and are only vaguely competent in Spanish and French respectively, so my experience of the series may be a little skewed to how it may come off in its original or properly subbed versions. I cannot speak on how the writing was for the dialogue, for example, but I can talk about the plot, characterisation, etc.

if you want to watch any live action adaptation (that’s not the musical, because GO WATCH THAT) it had better be this one.

SPOILER FREE REVIEW STARTS HERE

first off, the changes. Boy were there changes. Practically the entire plot takes a hard left right from the start, and it keeps on going from there. Vague outlines, like Yotsuba and misa and Mikami and yellow box warehouse remain, but the circumstances are all vastly different. i adored the changes to both Watari and L’s relationship, and both of theirs with near and… Mello. I don’t think it really spoils much for me to say that for some reason known by only the writers of that series and god, Mello is made an alter of Near’s that is represented by a ventriloquist dummy. i also will never be the same after this version of soichiro and Light’s relationship. The fact they seem closer yet more distant, and the parentification of light drives a wedge and brings them together at the same time. As much as I LOVE the original version of them, there is something just more utterly devastating about these two here. The mock execution for example ends with light clinging onto his father while they both sob, and I’m not even joking when I say that it brought me to tears.

speaking of parentification, the reason for that is Dead Mom Trauma. Yeah they killed off Sachiko (which I’m not counting as a spoiler because it’s revealed within the first episode and has no plot relevance other than giving light MORE motive). I’m not too sure why this was necessary, and it’s this type of slightly contrived writing that drops its rating a bit for me. This didn’t need to happen

on the topic of light, he is a VERY different character in this. He’s messier, a nervous wreck half the time, smart but not so infallible as anime or manga light. He panics with raye penber, panics with light, IS A MISA MISA FAN and has a job. He has a best friend and a bully. He’s more average, and knows loss, and his decline is less of a sharp drop off than it is a slow painful descent into utter madness and evil. He’s a babygirl until suddenly you see a flashback and realise he’s not that guy anymore

Ryuk is great. An annoying bastard who watches on through the end.

Misa is also pretty good. She’s pretty similar to the source material tbh, but has a little more agency, and has Mikami as her lawyer, or at least the lawyer who told her her parents murderer was going free, which is interesting

speaking of Mikami, he is a secondary character pretty much the whole way through, and we get to see his build up of resentment towards the criminals who go free despite his efforts, which I very much enjoyed. I always felt like he came out of nowhere a bit in the anime, so this was a welcome change.

before I completely move on from light and miss, btw, light and his friend genuinely go to about 5 SEPARATE ICHIGO BERRY CONCERTS OVER THE SPAN OF LIKE 4 EPISODES?? Ichigo berry is misa’s group in this, and I find it hilarious that light was a fan before even the death note showed up

aaaaand for L. He’s really damn good. His characterisation is widely different from the anime, he’s more optimistic and suave in a way, he smiles and lounges in his chair instead of crouching, and wears white button down shirts and trousers and hands Watari clearly empty pieces of paper to which Watari declares ‘another wilful request!’ And goes on to do some task for him. He has a screensaver on every computer in this hotel room designed as task force hq that changes at night to a nighttime version. He's hot. He’s gay. He’s autistic. He’s totally different to the L we all know and love but at the same time is recognisable as L and loveable in his own way. overall, the plot was pretty good although it was very messy to begin with, raye penber is like,, a main antagonist, for the first 3 eps??? The Shinigami cgi is awful, the fashion is painfully mid 2010s and the characters are very clearly not the same as in the original. if you go into it expecting a perfect 1-1 of the anime, just LA, you’re bound to come back disappointed. If you go into it looking forward to seeing an alternate take on the world of death note, another universe where everything is a little to the left, you’ll thoroughly enjoy it. The emotional beats hit hard, and given it’s a tv drama, the story focuses far more on the characters and their emotions than the mind fuckery we’re used to. What does remain, however, is the Lawlight, to such an extreme degree where I find it plausible that they knew what they were doing. They knew that their relationship could come off as romantic, and played it up. now onto the spoilers!

SPOILERY STUFF STARTS HERE!!!

I LOVE THIS DAMN SHOW ICL

Light killing his bully and trying to erase the names??? Otoharada almost killing Soichiro??? THE CAMERAS STILL BEING THERE WHEN MISA ARRIVES???!!?!!

gahhh where do I even start. I’ve got FEELINGS about L’s death and Soichiro’s, FEELINGS about the dad friendship of Watari and Soichiro, FEELINGS about the lawlight of it all.

My sibling and I are both staunch supporters of both the Good Dad soichiro and Good Dad Watari perspectives, and we were FED. I scrumpt many screams at just how fed we were getting, that’s how good it was. i guess I’ll start with that. The conversation between soichiro and Watari about their ‘kids’ was genuinely moving, and it was adorable to hear them both talk about how much they love their children.

that made it all the more heartbreaking when soichiro died. At that point, L was dead (which I will get to) and near/Mello was on the run, which left Watari utterly alone. The only person using hq at that point was light, who was fully Evil and he knew it. I screamed so loud it started everyone around me when soichiro said Light’s name while he was monologuing. That is EXACTLY how I wanted a confrontation between them to go down. Soichiro seeing through lights acting and lies and being so distraught that it was true, his son was Kira, and it was obvious the whole time when you knew where to be looking. The way he never took his eyes off of him after L’s death, and the way that that allowed him to see all the little glances and ‘that Kira face you make’ as Ryuk put it. He saw under the mask, and was disgusted by what he saw. When he screamed lights name as he tried to weasel his way out of it like he had done for L’s death, I’d like to think it was the first ounce of fear he’d felt since L had died. And of course he denied denied denied right up until Soichiro tried to burn the note, and THAT was when he screamed and fought and begged, not when his father was writing his own name in the note which he had sworn was a fake. He let his father die, but drew the line at the book being burned.

he pried the notebook out of his own father’s dead vice grip.

without a single ounce of a joke, that was my favourite scene in the series. One of my favourites in DN as a whole. As I said in the non-spoiler section, this contrasted with the mock-execution scene is just so devastating, yotsuba!light loved his dad so damn much, and Kira just watched him kill himself, knowing full well he could stop it.

In tandem, L’s death was so underpinned by the friendship between L and Light as well. They don’t just pretend not the despise each other, they genuinely tolerate, or even get along. Of course I could point out the obvious, like the shower scene or ‘I wish we could have met another way’ ‘this is the only way we could have met’ but i actually want to bring up some smaller points. First off, that moment where Matsuda asks him why he still calls L Ryuga instead of L or Ryuzaki, and he tells him that it’s because he’d rather have Ryuga the friend than L the detective. And even just prior to the ‘I wish we could have met…’ scene, when light thinks he’s about to kill L he sobs as he tells him that all he wanted is to show L his new world, and that he wants to be his friend forever (‘friend’ yeah ok dude). He screams and kisses(?) his head when he does die, and rocks him as he lies there, and holds him close until he’s taken away. And L’s final posthumous video. The one where he says, even though he admits the chance that he was wrong and this video needs to be shown is slim, that he was sorry for doubting Light and that he’s glad to be his friend, and that he would be good enough to come and work with him and Near someday. And Light never gets to see that video.

the scene where L comforts near/Mello after his death is so tragic it hurts. Watari is crying, and he hugs near despite the fact that they seemed pretty detached from each other prior. They’ve lost family, and even Wammy’s in this version are allowed to let emotion overcome them.

somethings I wasn’t too big a fan of included:

raye penber being SUCH A MAJOR ANTAGONIST?? why was he a bigger threat than L for so long. Why was his real name actually Mark Dwellam or something. Why didn’t Naomi exist (well I know we got Himura/Lidner but still) why did light take such a big risk instructing him to write the names IN A CAFE?? He almost killed Light. He figured it out before anyone else really, and it’s so ridiculous that this man really did All That.

also, Yostuba was anticlimactic. The whole arc lasted barely an episode and a half, if that, and I really loved this version of mind wiped light and Misa, so that was a real shame. They figured out about Higuchi so quickly it was hilarious. The CGI when light was pricking his finger to write with was glaring obvious and bad, and duh I didn’t expect the actor to actually do it but it broke immersion a bit when this blob of blood looks so clearly edited in. You can really tell he just pressed the side of the needle into his finger and that made me laugh a bit. The good thing about the bad things is at least they’re funny and not just frustrating.

my final major grievance was just with the pacing. I feel like they hit the sweet spot between episodes 8-10 and then fell flat in the last one a bit. It feels pretty rushed but also like it dragged somehow. The first few eps definitely dragged, while the middle section flew by. also, ichigo berry performs the same song every time.

To conclude, this is a totally different show to the original and the characters reflect that. Light is a nervous wreck far longer than he’s the psychopathic god of the new world, and L is a cool guy who eats fruit pouches(?) and tbh they should kiss cos of that. Light as a clearly gay-coded make up designer slayed. Goodnight all.

#death note #death note 2015 #death note live action #death note 2015 TV drama #Death note dorama #If anyone knows where to watch it for free without viruses or anything in the Uk please lmk 🙏🙏#light yagami #L #l lawliet #watari #quillsh wammy #soichiro yagami #yagami light #lawlight #misa amane #teru mikami #My sibling and I never learned the names of Mikami’s law partner(?) or that ex detective he hired so we just called them his lawyer husband #Detective side piece

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editorialsonlife · 3 years ago

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Well

Welp, feeling like doing an update because there's been a lot going on to be honest. its one of those weird dichotomies where every day feels like an eternity and there's so much going on and then you look back and you're like oh, ok its just my brain making it difficult and making things take forever but anyway.

LOCKDOOOOOOOWWWWWWNNNNNNN

Lockdown life was good, apart from being thrust into it so suddenly dave left a banana on his desk. Wasn't great to come back to after 5 weeks out of the office - mummified mouldy banana!! Classic. We luckily got our first jab before lockdown started so that was good, and we were reasonably well stocked up on food and were generally a lot healthier this lockdown that last. honestly, there's a level of chill and serenity in lockdown that i just love. the ability to set my own schedule and only work the hours I actually work to get the job done? Amazing. getting 8.5 hours of sleep each night without having to wake to an alarm blaring? AMAZING. getting to go for walks every afternoon? SO FLIPPING GOOD. I love it so much, I really really do. I need this to be my life permanently.

WORK

Work is just ongoing and draining and honestly, coming back to the office was so fucking stressful and it was only one day. Being at home is just the fucking bomb. Pending home decisions, I wanna go contracting I think, but also ideally two part time contracts to have more flexibility? I dunno. You'd think a big 4 would provide variety but it really doesn't and honestly, with Richie leaving, wellington is just a sinking ship. Sean's off on parental leave, Kirstyn is down to four days a week, ben will be gone if he doesn't get promoted (and I don't think he will be tbh). Jack is just muddling along, Nigel wants to swap to consulting as well, Matt's going to be a shit leader in terms of bringing in work so it's just not going to work. and in our wider group it's going to get even more messy with heaps of the analysts leaving and a couple of senior hires too. so I think it's probably time to jump ship in general, pending the home stuff below. Also, coming back after a break again, I'm like, I don't actually like a lot of you? All the people I enjoy here are in other teams and groups, and I'll be sad to leave you all, but like, not enough to stay anyway lol.

Pending the home below, two options are to just going and get a job with a $30k payrise to make up for the maternity leave benefits I'm gunna leave behind when I leave this role - 18 weeks full pay, $100 a week for the first year back and a full year of maternity leave. It's basically 30k post tax which is a bit nuts to walk away from to be honest.

Otherwise the other option is to go contracting. Less security overall but holy shit so much money. If I went in as a project coordinator at the lowest rate to build up a bit of a portfolio I'd need to work 40 weeks of 40 hr weeks and Id basically match my current salary plus the lost family leave benefits and still qualify for govt maternity leave payments. Realistically I could go in as a project manager for $140 an hour ($60 more an hour than the above math) and absolutely smash it at that level as well so ya know, there's a bunch of other info. I like the idea of the flexibility of it and only having 6 months even if its a shitshow and beign able to walk away at the end of it. I really don't want to get a govt job and this is a v govt town which is fine but also, if I can avoid it that would be great. I just know I'm not gunna thrive in that environment.

Need to talk to Dave to get him across the line on the security issue part of that though. I've mostly come a long way in terms of my financial management (thanks YNAB) so I think he'd be ok with it mostly.

So there's a lot to toss up there because......

HOME

We got the reno plans done during lockdown, finally. which was super good. but holy fkn jesus $$$$$$ ++++++++++. The guy is coming around for the final quote on Thursday. We indicatively said $100k total because we're doing kitchen laundry bathroom and toilet. so only the most expensive rooms and when I was talking to him last week he said 'that might cover it' and they're seeing cost escalations of 7-10% a week which is just insane. we're not doing anything structural apart from putting in a cavity slider in the bathroom, and the quote they'll give us won't include flooring since they won't do it.

Meanwhile, the prefab homes I were looking at for our site were $425k fully done. Like, I'm not going to spend $130K on doing up my 1940s ex state house ya know? That's not good cost benefit ratio.

So depending on what that comes out at on thursday we'll be able to make some plans.

We also want to start trying for kids next year and need these renos done first - I am not having kids and no dishwasher lol.

Also we need bank financing so good to be in a permanent stable job for that application. the good thing is we have so much equity we know we can borrow whatever we need, I just don't want to spend that much money on it because it's fkn ridiculous. and if I'm going on maternity leave we need to be able to cover it all on dave's salary and whatever benefits I have as well so there;s a lot of financial planning and spreadsheeting going on at the moment lol. it's fab.

either way. we've got plenty of options up our sleeve. we've got friends who's brother owns a building company so we can talk to them, we've got the garage so we can get things prefabricated even if they're not installed til next year, Dave can get shit at cost through his work for whiteware, there;s plenty of things to like cost control we can do, we just need to know where we're starting from basically. thats the challenging part. but we'll figure it out, its just taking longer than I want it to basically.

We also planted up the vege garden for the spring/summer which was lovely, super jazzed about that. we've finally got the garden to a reasonably low maintenance level where everything is mostly under control and it's such a relief, honestly.

PERSONAL

Man what a shift to lockdown last year honestly. I think the last 8 weeks in particular has just been like, a massive reality check of how absolutely shit the last year was and how fucking glad I am to be rid of it. I spent a week absolutely spiralling 2 weeks ago now and honestly, I don't know how I lived in the state for more than a year. I actually don't know how I did it. and I could not be more glad that I'm finally on the other side of it, for the most part. There's still a bunch of other stuff to work through (hahahahahaha when is there not like damn) but fucking hell its nice to just not be anxious and nauseous and wound up constantly. life is actually accessible. miracle.

My workmate had his bebe - I went round and got newborn cuddles and was like, oh, is this what it is to be clucky? this is odd. so there's that as well. I think we'll probably start trying next year pending renos and jobs etc. If the renos can be done in jan I'll prob just stick it at the job to get the benefits but I dunno. it's a tough call to make really. we shall see. This all assumes we get knocked up without any issues which is questionable these days. I really want to feel healthier before getting pregnant as well, and part of that is losing weight. however, given discussing that is what triggered the spiral we're working on that one slowly.

Also, lets have a moment for counselling, because fkn bless anne and all her hard work honestly. I actually ended up emailing her being like, I;m losing my shit on the monday and then talked to her on thursday. And its so funny because it's such a counselling thing but I didn't realise until afterwards what she'd done but she was like you're clearly not doing well and then the night before dave got a fkn miserable migraine and he was up for like, 2 hrs powerchucking except he didn't make it to the bathroom in time so guess who was cleaning up vomit at 130am trying not to chuck herself but I digress. anyway, not doing well, couldn't even explain why, didn't even have words and super tired and she's like, what lynaire up to this week how's she going with izzy and chat about that and then be like how are you feeling about your body and then 5 more mins of chat about the cat and the chickens and then like bam hard question and then hows it going with x and y and z and its like, it wasn't til I was on my walk afterwards when I FINALLY started feeling marginally better I was like damn woman work your magic for figuring it out for me and helping me reregulate. all over the phone as well since we were still in lockdown. GREAT WORK FRIEND.

and then last week was like totally fucked theoretical discussion about religion and the role it's played in my life and fate vs free will and all this nutty shit but genuinely just a great discussion. She's the best and I love her. thank good for good counsellors. thank god I can afford to pay for it honestly.

Dave and I are just chugging along, god bless that man. I love him. its amazing. I miss having friends close by but understand why they had to move (boooooo f u house prices). Family is pretty chill, still not really talking to dave's parents which is nightmarish but we'll deal with that when we need to. gunna have to go and visit them at some point coz dave misses them and I feel for him, I really do. It's the whole boundaries renegotiation I went through with my family last year post wedding blow up and its just not a fun place to be. oh well. can't fix it for him but also I'm not putting up with that level of BS from either of our families once we have children. not gunna happen.

Either way, life is busy and full and fun and I'm enjoying it. Daylight savings starts this weekend too, its october next week WTF and I'm just waiting for 4pm to find out what's gunna happen to our girls trip. Clearly we cancelled our sept trip to christchurch and akaroa and hanmer springs so my covid travel curse continues. fkn ridic. Still dunno what we're gunna do with $2500 of flight credits coz if we get knocked up theres def no international trips happening any time soon.

thus concludes the almost 2000 word write up of life. hope you've enjoyed it. I'll throw up some pics in a separate post if people care about reno plans. such a good time!

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we-rate-tmnt · 5 years ago

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Give us the Donatellos!

Donnie is my favorite so Imma be super biased on this one. Maybe I like smart guys or maybe purple is my favorite color, you’ll never know!

Up first, the og ‘hehe turgle’

Donatello (1987)

Yeah I’m sorry for making this

First of all, not the biggest fan of his voice. It has a bit of a whiny quality to it, and I’m not about all that jazz. His gismo’s look pretty lame a lot of the times, either it’s a grey box with some buttons, dials and flashing lights or looks like it was pulled directly from Lost in Space. Still a cute design but he felt pretty bland and seemed to be used for plot convenience most of the time. To put it simply, he was cute and essential but kinda bland. I’m always really harsh on this version because it’s so painfully dated and cheesy, which ain’t my cup of tea, but what can I say be hehe turgle.

5/10

I had a crush on this Donnie so you know that this is not remotely close to a fair rating but eh, I love him and yall do too

Don (2003)

His voice, such a huge improvement. I’m really sound-oriented and I often like to play a game of ‘I’ve heard the VA before, but which role?’ when I watch cartoons and I don’t mean to brag, but I’m pretty good at it. So when I heard that soft, caring voice, ten year old me was head over heels. Which is one quality I love about him. His heart is so huge, like I can think back to a bunch of side characters and most of them were introduced through Don helping or knowing them. The Atlantians and the homeless in the show owe so much to Don, but he goes out of his way to make sure that they are alright. In the last season (which everyone hated but I actually really liked so fuck me I guess), Splinter is lost into tiny pieces across the web and Don blames himself and goes without sleep and food for days to bring him back. It broke my heart, and I’m pretty sure a lot of others, to see him like that.

On a lighter note, I vaguely remember this one scene where the triceration dude is like ‘you did this!’ and Don’s like ‘I did? Good for me then.’ and had a very pleased grin on his face right after. I don’t know why, but that killed me. Bless Don and his rare, but excellent, comebacks.

He really does so much and there were quite a few episodes focused on him. He also had quite a bit of character development, not as much as Leo, but whoever gets any more development whatsoever besides Leo?

I love him he’s amazing protect him/10

Next up is the Donnie that helped me love my old gap tooth.

Donnie (2012)

Voiced by the very talented Rob Paulson, this Donnie goes back and forth from really great character to eh. The whole April thing was just kinda strange to me and I don’t really think it added anything other than some interesting Casey and Donnie banter. His crush was really strong the first two seasons and came off as stalkerish almost. Although I’m guilty of having a picture of a crush as my lock screen once as well, so I can’t judge that much. I really liked that they actually addressed this when Bigfoot had a crush on Donnie and he realized how April felt. Yeah, that episode was weird and just didn’t make any sense, but it really helped Donnie gain a new perspective and made him go from super crush to (mostly) hidden pining. He has a nice design as well, especially with the gap tooth. I used to have one and was really embarrassed of it but whenever I saw that Donnie had one, I thought it looked neat and I started to see myself in a more positive light. It’s closed up now, but I can still spray water between the little bit that’s left as a parlor trick. But seriously, what the FUCK was up with Don visiososoos whatever tf his name I I don’t understnad my tiny brain don’t understand why my purple boy tried to kill this dude who looked like he should’ve been wearing a red jumpsuit in the background of a pixar robot love story. Anyway, my tall gap tooth son, ily.

7/10

Then, the barely changed but fantastic

Donnie (Heroes in a Half Shell: Blast to the Past)

Baby but Bastard at the same time purely because of the ‘Anyone who bothers me, ejector seat button’s right there’ line.

10/10

Now this version has one of my favorite designs out of all the Donatello’s!

Donatello (2014/2016)

They put a lot of thought into his design psychically, the long body, the near-constant look of surprise and curiosity in his features, the gadgets made of common objects, the wraps on his arms, I would love to be able to think of and make those kinds of details! It was all really well thought out and he stood out since he wasn’t as bulky as the rest of the turtles. I really like the little lines and the actor did a fantastic job on the delivery and really made the character come to life. Some favorites: ‘Ohmygod, they have guns’, the little awed, snorty chuckle when he flips a car over with his bo staff, ‘doitdoitoitdoit im not gonna stop til you do it doditdoit’ and when he straight up yeets himself out of a plane. He has a genuine curiosity in everything he does and I think he might be my favorite version. It’s hard to choose when it comes to Donnie because he varies so wildly. But for detail, voice and writing alone, definitely the 2014 Donnie.

8.5/10

Next up is God himself

Donnie (2018)

Chaotic as all hell, like I can’t think of a more chaotic character from ANY of the versions other than this Donnie. I have a lot of thoughts about his character in general, from design, to psychology and complexes. First and foremost, Donnie is a softshell turtle, meaning he has a DOPE battle shell and overall looks pretty damn neat. Although, I think that just the fact he’s biologically weaker has caused him to put up a lot of boundaries between him and his family and friends. He can’t be incredibly strong like Raph, agile like Leo or fast like Mikey and even though he brags about being smart, he feels almost beneath his brothers and strives to outdo them in any way he can. He wants to show them that he’s just as, if not more so, talented and feels overlooked because his inventions become ‘too smart’ or ‘too over the top’ and even the ones that work out incredibly well are written off for flashier projects.

He depends on technology and feels like that's all he has, and (ironically enough) he’s built up a shield around him. He acts confident and narcissistic and has an almost nihilistic outlook, but he’s frustrated and feels inferior and wants validation more than anything. I came up with this theory when I saw the episode Turtle Dega Nights. I know that the scene was meant for Donnie to express how he feels about Splinter lying about the event and believe that he didn’t genuinely want to hang out with his sons, but that kind of thing feels like it’s been built up over time, like he’s been lied to before about the true meaning behind something. Something like, oh idk, how great his inventions are? Or how helpful he really is? Or how talented he is? Just sayin. Also ngl I might be self projecting a bit, but mmm. Also he has so much purple on him and it’s wayyy more accurate compared to just a purple bandanna bc people who like purple GO ALL OUT. A friend told me this and I thought ‘nah thats not true I like purple’ but then I looked down to find my dyed purple jeans, purple vans and my favorite hoodie, also purple. A really chaotic version but he seriously needs a hug.

9/10

Storytime: One time my friend dressed up as Donnie the same year I was dressing as April O’ Neal and we didn’t even plan it. It was fantastic.

Thank you so much for sending this in! Sorry it’s taking me so long to get around to these! I’m so glad you guys are liking my blog and my opinions!

#tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #TMNT 1987 #tmnt 2003 #TMNT 2012 #tmnt 2014 #rottmnt #Rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #Asks #Donatello

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lcgacyofages · 4 years ago

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Ok who has the best to worst ass, rank them now hurry

An Ask because I reblogged a post | ALWAYS PESTER ME

I did not hurry bc no one tells me what to do. I went to bed instead. But it’s kind of hard to rank that, especially since I’m ace. I mean, people have different ass preferences the best I can do is just explain what kind of ass the muses probably have and then attempt to rate them on societal standards. It’s really up to you if you agree with my ratings or not after these brief descriptions but if you wanna throw in your two cents based on my descriptions, go for it! DISCLAIMER: I have never touched anyone else’s ass in my life so this is all speculative guessing from what other people have told me.

Eliana Mahariel

Eliana has a small frame and athletic build. What that means for her ass is it isn’t necessarily a wide ass because her hips are slender but it’s a very firm and slightly perky ass.

My interpreted Rating: 6.5/10 (if it was 2005, it would probably be closer to an 8/10)

Atena Hawke

Atena is tall with a solid build, a lot of muscle from her warrior training. She does have slightly wider hips, a good center of gravity and base for her stance with her two-handed sword. The main issue is the lack of fatty tissue for her.

My interpreted Rating: 7.5/10

Rajmahel Lavellan

Rajmahel’s ass is that of someone who uses the muscles in it, not just for appearance’s sake. It’s very toned and his hips are set every so slightly wider than his frame, helping to give it a balanced width to go with the perk from the constant walking/climbing/going into old ruins.

My interpreted Rating: 9/10

Alric Hawke

A far more academic personality, but also having done work on the family farm and lots of walking in general, he’s got a slightly toned but soft ass, very good for grabbing because it has a little give to it. Has very straight hips, though, so doesn’t give any extra width to it.

My interpreted Rating: 7.5/10

Antoinette de Ghislain

She’s had two children, so her hips, which were decently set before, are a bit wider now, adding to her ass’s width. Being a married noblewoman keeps her from a lot of physical exertion, as well as her profession as a writer, but she does try to keep her skills from her bard years at some kind of proficiency, so there is some toning underneath the fatty tissue. A very fine lady’s ass, if I would say so.

My interpreted Rating: 8/10

Arik Tabris

An elf on the taller side, he still has a more slender build than a human, but a bit more than a typical elf. A high amount of muscle, which creates a lack of fatty tissue. He’s got a perky ass for sure but without much cushion from fat.

My interpreted Rating: 8/10

Aurora Amell

An honest-to-goodness little academic and having spent much of her time in the Circle, she hasn’t had much in the way of physical training of any sort. The best she’s got is the stairs in the circle. She’s got some decently set wider hips to her slender frame, though, which helps accentuate her soft ass.

My interpreted Rating: 7.5/10

Dalineva

The high priestess for the Evanuris if the Hunt, Andruil. Definitely athletic build but with high femininity to it. So she definitely got those hips. Still slender because elf, but still a good ratio to her waist. Her ass is pretty damn perky with a good balance of fat and muscle with it. She’s based off of a siren, though, so, there’s no surprise here.

My interpreted Rating: 9.5/10

Dazbo Amell

Another who’s spent a lot of his years in the Circle, but he has a certain point of vanity that would make him be concerned with his ass. There’s definitely some fatty padding to it, but it’s toned as well and definitely of decent volume. His hips are actually a little narrower than his shoulders, though, so points off.

My interpreted Rating: 7.5/10

Dimetrea Brosca

Very thick, definitely leans more towards muscular than fatty but does have some fatty cushion to it. A bit of a perk to it, but not anything that’s too much in relation to her small, broad build.

My interpreted Rating: 6.5/10

Emrys Moysten

A nerd, what kind of ass do you expect? He’s got a soft ass, with only some muscle tone from walking, to it. Despite being soft, it’s decently defined and his hips are set parallel to his shoulders. If you like soft asses with a little bit of perk, he’s got the ass for you.

My interpreted Rating: 6.5/10

Etienne de Rousseau

Another academic, but an academic with connections that enabled him to learn some martial skill and thus have physical exercise to tone that ass. His hips are decently set in ratio to his frame, helping to give some perk to the ass that has a layer of fatty tissue over toned muscle.

My interpreted Rating: 8.5/10

Falon’Din

A deadass. 0/10 A vain Evanuris with a lot of magical and martial skill is definitely a threat in the ass games. Despite spending his time sitting on a throne, Falon’Din actually was a highly active individual, helping to tone that slender ass. Got some perk to it from muscles and weight from affluent feasts.

My interpreted Rating: 9/10

Fenvir

A tall, slender boy for sure. But also has been trained in magical and martial prowess from a young age, enabling him to have a good tone to his ass. It’s a little narrow for sure, but it’s got the right tone to give it some good perk to it.

My interpreted Rating: 9/10

Hildegard Cadash

Heavy muscle woman, who’s got to show her stuff to keep the cartel in line. She’s affluent in the cartel, giving her some fat to offset the muscle she builds with rigorous training. Her ass is wide set, as is the frame for dwarves, but it’s got some perk and volume to it.

My interpreted Rating: 8.5/10

Idrilla Lavellan

Idrilla has an athletic build from being a hunter for Lavellan clan. Her martial training gives her grace, though, and tonality to her ass. A wide set hip and with clan Lavellan having decent ties to human settlements, a bit more wealth than other clans, giving her some fatty volume to match with the muscle perk.

My interpreted Rating: 9/10

Inatar Adaar

Narrow hips and high muscle tone doesn’t make for a lot of volume but a decent amount of perk. Her ass doesn’t have a single point that sags and it is a tight ass indeed. If this was a decade or so ago, she’d get a higher rating.

My interpreted Rating: 6.5/10

Katarina Anhalt

This lady has some decent hips on her. With that, plus her vigorous exercise and training as a templar, adds to the perk of her ass. There isn’t too much fat, just a small layer of cushion there to give a little more volume to it.

My interpreted Rating: 8/10

Lir Cousland

Lir’s got some cushion to his ass due to being a noble and having a stable food source that may have higher fat in it. That being said, he is a fighter like any Fereldan so has intensive training regiments he keeps to, which helps with physical prowess. His hips are slightly narrower than his shoulders, removing some volume to his ass, but not in a bad way.

My interpreted Rating: 8.5/10

Mathras Myriani

A soft build, not a fighter at all. His physical skillset is that of someone who walks a lot and knows some self defense martial skills. He’s got a very slender frame, but his hips are a little bit wider than his waist but narrower than his shoulders. He’s got a little bit of perk, and a little volume. But it’s a nice little ass to grab.

My interpreted Rating: 7/10

Sasha Fitz

He’s got a standard human male frame, with the wider shoulders coming down to a point at his waist and then going out slightly at his hips. He’s not wealthy, so not too much fatty tissue. He’s very athletic, though, and does a not of acrobatic type stunts on the buildings of Kirkwall, giving his ass a nice perk to it.

My interpreted Rating: 8.5/10

Seigfried Trevelyan

Seigfried is a stocky man with broad shoulders and a rounded belly from too many times in the local tavern. He’s still got muscle, though, having a fair amount of training from his many years. His ass, though, is a little on the flat but toned side. A little perk, but it’s not the best aspect of his frame.

My interpreted Rating: 6/10

Selena Porter

Selena has a narrow hip structure but her athletic tendencies from her job as well as the wealth she gains from her work affords her muscle and fatty tissue to build up perk and volume to her ass.

My interpreted Rating: 7/10

Sergio di Vasco

This guy has a gymnast’s ass. Very well defined muscles and a good perk to it. His diet, though, lacks the fatty foods to add additional volume to his ass, but overall, a good ass to look at.

My interpreted Rating: 8/10

Shalelan Amalasis

A very athletic individual with hips about as wide as his shoulders. Poor diet, though, robs him of the volume to go with the perk and width. Please don’t talk to him about his ass, though, you’ll make him stutter.

My interpreted Rating: 7.5/10

Shamut Adaar

A big nerd. His hips are about the same width as his waist and narrower than his shoulders. He’s not as athletic as other qunari, but he still has muscle mass that qunari have, along with fatty tissue to give some perk and volume to his narrow ass.

My interpreted Rating: 7.5/10

Vincentius Titus

Relies heavily on his strong magical gifts and he does the necessarily physical exercise to keep himself in some shape to offset his rich Tevinter diet. He has the average muscle mass and his hips are just a little narrower than his shoulders. This gives his ass only slight perk but okayish volume.

My interpreted Rating: 6.5/10

Zoria Amell

Widely set hips give width for her ass. The stairs of the Circle helped give her muscle to tone the perk for her ass, but she’s got fat that sticks around her body, giving a nice soft, rounded volume to her ass. A very fucking nice ass.

My interpreted Rating: 9.5/10

#Not A Legend { OOC }#I'll add tags once it's posted #Anonymous

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djgamek1ng · 5 years ago

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Shadowbringers Tank Thoughts! [FFXIV]

Well, with patch 5.2 out with a singular change to any of the tanks (WAR’s shield on Shake it Off went up to 12% of Maximum HP to 15% of Maximum HP at base), it is as good a time as any to make this post. I’ll go over all 4 tanks and describe how I’m feeling about them, maybe with some initial impressions mixed in there as well. Let’s start with the ARR jobs and work towards the ShB tank with GNB. First up, the angriest job: WAR!

Warrior (WAR):

FELL CLEAVE! FELL CLEAVE! FELL CLEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVE! The one button that changed tanking forever. Seriously, every tanking job has their Fell Cleave button. For PLD it is Holy Spirit, for DRK it is Bloodspiller and for GNB it is Burst Strike. So, what did WAR get with Shadowbringers? Not too much, but what it got was quite nice.

It got a combo skill from Overpower called Mythril Tempest and unlike Overpower it is a circle around you instead of a cone ahead of you, more on that later

Mythril Tempest also extends the Storm’s Eye buff and it gives 20 Beast Gauge

It got Nascent Flash, which is a buff you put on someone and for 6 seconds (roughly 3 GCDs if done well) you give them 10% mitigation and heal them based on the damage you do. You also get healed for 200% of the same amount you heal them (or they get healed for 50% of the same amount you heal yourself)

It also got Chaotic Cyclone and Inner Chaos, essentially roided up versions of Decimate and Fell Cleave that always direct crit and they look like Steel Cyclone and Inner Beast

So WAR didn’t change much from SB to ShB and honestly, there is nothing wrong with that. Do I wish it got a few more things to play around with? Absolutely. Do I think WAR is in a bad spot? Hell no. It is amazing on the self mitigation side and its damage, while definitely lower than GNB/PLD and while arguably (depends on what level you are preforming) DRK, is still quite good. Overal, if I had to give an arbitrary number to rate WAR with, I’d give WAR a solid 8/10. Also, as a quick aside, it feels weird to have a cone AoE combo into a player based circle AoE. I’d personally like it if WAR got 2 cone AoEs, though they would’ve had to extend the range of each a bit (around 10 yalms instead of the current 8).

Paladin (PLD): HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! IT IS FINALLY TIME THAT WE’VE BEEN LEGITIMATELY BETTER THAN WAR FOR A COUPLE OF PATCHES! MWAHAHAH- ahem I mean... the shield of the party is up next. PLD, with it being my main in the short while I played HW and the entirety of SB (I’ll get to ShB main at the end), definitely has a soft spot in my heart. But what did PLD actually get?

Well, it got a combo skill from Total Eclipse called Prominence. Prominence also gives MP back when used (only in the combo)

It got an AoE version of Holy Spirit called Holy Circle

It got a gap closer called Intervene, which has 2 charges

It got a system called Sword Oath, which gives you a use of a skill called Atonement. At the moment, the only way to get Sword Oath stacks is to do a full Royal Authority combo and you get 3 stacks of it. Each Atonement hits as hard as the final part of a RA combo (so the actual RA attack)

It also got a fix 2 years in the making in the form of the Enhanced Requiescat passive: when you are under the Requiescat buff, your spell casts are instant. THANK THE LORD!

And last, but certainly not least, it got Confiteor which is an AoE finisher to your Requiescat window

So... let’s talk about PLD. I listed everything that it got from Stormblood to Shadowbringers. While all of this is great, especially the Enhanced Requiescat passive, it also lost pretty heavily. Its personal mitigation feels kind of crappy. Sheltron is great, but unlike the other short cooldown tank cooldowns, it is tied to the Oath Gauge... something that is still tied to auto attacks. Even if it wasn’t tied to auto attacks, the only benefit that it has is that you can use 2 Sheltrons back to back and then you are stuck trying to get it back. Doesn’t help that blocking’s power has been nerfed into the ground, with the highest blocking power still mitigating only 20%. “Only 20%? That’s still a lot!” Yeah, but it just doesn’t feel great. Also, I don’t know who made this decision but I just wanna talk: WHO RENAMED SHIELD OATH TO IRON WILL? I JUST WANNA TALK I PROMISE *prepares to Fell Cleave whoever made that decision*

Anyway, lame jokes aside, overal I’d give PLD around an 9/10 as well with a small note: in its highest highs it is a solid 9.5/10, sometimes even going to a 10/10. In its lowest lows, it is still a 7/10.

Dark Knight (DRK): THE EDGE IS CALLING TONIGHT! DRK is back with a vengeance after what happened to it in SB. The black sheep no more, DRK took a page out of WAR’s book and decided that Delirium needed to be diet Inner Release. So, for the changes/additions to DRKs kit (warning: there is a lot):

firstly, it got Edge of Darkness/Shadow. It is an oGCD single target attack that gives the DRK 30 seconds of Darkside

Darkside is now a buff activated by Edge of Darkness/Shadow and Flood of Darkness/Shadow (which I’ll get to next) that increases the DRKs damage by 10%. It also doesn’t halt MP regeneration anymore, so that’s neat

Flood of Darkness/Shadow is a line AoE oGCD skill that gives the DRK 30 seconds of Darkside

Abyssal Drain is an oGCD skill now that heals the DRK a bit per enemy hit, so the more enemies hit the bigger the heal

Delirium is now a 10 second window where Bloodspiller and Quietus don’t cost any resource. Sound familiar? Yeah, it is basically WAR’s Inner Release

They also get a combo move off Unleash called Stalwart Soul, which gives 20 Blood Gauge and some MP back when combo-ed

Next they get Dark Missionary, an AoE buff that makes the DRK and everyone one arounds the DRK take 10% less magic damage

Last, but certainly not least, they get the coolest skill in the game: Living Shadow. The summon a dark shadow in the shape of our all to familiar DRK quest giver from levels 30 to 50, Fray. It does 7 attacks across the span of 20ish seconds, but a mix of AoE and single target attacks

Also Plunge gets 2 charges, matching it to PLD’s Intervene

Plus, Blood Weapon now no longer increases attack speed (or well, it decreased the GCD so you were attacking quicker)

HOT DAMN DRK! You got a lot of good stuff and I’d probably say that DRK had the biggest upswing out of all the tanks from Stormblood to Shadowbringers. Makes sense since DRK is the poster boy of this expansion. So if I had to rate DRK, I’d say a 8.5/10. The only thing I think is halting DRK is that it doesn’t get Stalwart Soul until 72 and that the Blackest Night is still its level 70 capstone, making synced stuff be kind of painful from time to time. Not as bad as PLD though, which in my opinion might as well be unplayable from levels 68 to 78 because of Requiescat not giving the instant casts yet :(

Gunbreaker (GNB): KABOOM! Squall Leonhart has arrived in XIV and he has come in the form of a tanking job. Funny, both of the popular FF mainline protagonists, Cloud and Squall, are referenced in tanking jobs. Squall more so in GNB than Cloud in DRK, but still. Oh boy, let’s start this. This is gonna be a while and I’ll do it in bullet points since this is an entirely new job instead of changes to an existing job:

GNB has its Solid Barrel combo, which gives a small heal and small shield equal to the heal on the 2nd hit of the combo and it gives 1 cartridge to the GNB on the last hit

Cartridges are used to power 3 abilities: Burst Strike, their version of Fell Cleave, Fated Circle (can you tell this job is inspired by Squall yet), their version of Decimate/Steel Cyclone, and their Gnashing Fang combo

The Gnashing Fang combo is a high powered combo of skills that is on a 30ish seconds cooldown (it goes lower with skill speed). You can use another skill, called Continuation, in between each of the hits of the combo. They are oGCDs that add more damage to the combo

No Mercy is their damage buff. For 20 seconds you get 20% more damage. Simple enough!

Demon Slice is their AoE combo starter, with Demon Slaughter being the skill that combos from it. It also gives a cartridge when properly combo-ed!

Danger Zone is an oGCD that does ST damage. Eventually it gets upgraded into Blasting Zone (CAN YOU TELL THAT THIS JOB IS INSPIRED BY SQUALL) and does more damage

Camouflage is a oGCD skill that gives the GNB 10% mitigation and increases your parry change by 50%

Bow Shock is similar to Circle of Scorn, an oGCD that does AoE damage and gives AoE a damage over time effect

Aurora is a heal over time skill that the GNB can use on themselves or a party member. Has the same eventual potency as Equilibrium from WAR

Superbolide is their invuln skill... with a twist. It gives the GNB 8 seconds of total invulnerability... but puts their HP to 1 first

Sonic Break is a GCD skill that applies a damage over time effect on a 60ish second recast (goes down with skill speed)

Rough Divide is their gap closer and it has 2 charges

Heart of Light is Dark Missionary. Exact same skill

Heart of Stone is an oGCD skill that gives the GNB or one of their party members 15% mitigation. It is on a very short cooldown

Last but not least, it gets Bloodfest (its animation is Squall’s Draw animation from FF8. So again, CAN YOU TELL THAT THIS JOB IS INSPIRED BY SQUALL). Bloodfest gives the GNB 2 cartridges

That... that was a lot, but that was expected since I was describing a completely new job. The next time a tank releases, if it does, I’ll have to do this again... oh boy. Anyway, Squa- I mean GNB is a very interesting tanking job. It has kind of taking DRK’s spot as the fastest tank. Makes sense, since a Gunblade is not nearly as big and heavy as a Greatsword. In reality, GNB is a very fast and fun tank. It is arguably the best designed tank at the moment, though I think something can be said of PLD (though that is strictly speaking on the offense side). Overal, I’d give GNB a 9/10 rating. “WHAT?! AS HIGH AS PLD?!” Ye. It is a really good and fun tank!

Overal: So, in the end, what do we have? Well, the short of it, we got 4 very fun tanks for their own reasons. Even the meh-est of the tanks, WAR, is in my opinion still quite fun to play. So I said I was going to talk about what my main is. Well... I’m still trying the tanks and see what I like the most, but I do still consider myself a PLD main. Kind of doesn’t help that Square gave me almost everything I needed to keep maining PLD. A gap closer, instant cast spells (only during Requiescat but still), a way to reduce the monotony of the 1-2-3 combos, a finisher on the Requiescat window. I’m... in love once more.

The only thing I don’t like about PLD at the moment is how it very much lost its impenetrable wall fantasy. Blocking is now only 20%, still hasn’t scaled and at this point I doubt it will. Sentinel is now the same as Shadow Wall, Vengeance and Nebula: 2 minutes cooldown and 30% mitigation. It feels very weird that the shield tank has the least personal mitigation out of the tanks, plus its utility abilities are... weird. Divine Veil needs to be proc’d via a healing spell and Passage of Arms needs to be actually aimed and either be done somewhat last second or be held, which then makes it a damage loss. Every other tank’s utilities are instantly applied. Also an issue is that the Oath Gauge still doesn’t have a reason to freaking exist. You don’t use it often enough and for enough skills to have it visible. The only reason why I still have it is because it feels weird to not have a job gauge on my HUD for only PLD. I can go on about this stuff for a while, but I still love PLD. I’ll go over a “things I want to see changed for the tanks in the next expansion” thing later. PLD will definitely be the biggest section of that. Anyway, these were my tank impressions for Shadowbringers. Overal, very good expansion for tanking c:

#ffxiv #ffxiv tanking #pld #war #gnb #drk #shadowbringers #ffxiv shadowbringers

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cjostrander · 6 years ago

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Thirty Seconds to Mars: AMERICA

Good morning everyone; i was nicely surprised by the response for my last review of Rammstein’s latest album. So i’m gonna go to another newer one that i never really gave a thorough listen. This is the latest album by Thirty Seconds to Mars and is their final release with their long time guitarist Tomo Milicevic. It seems he departed for personal issues as vague as that is but since they haven’t replaced him maybe there’s wiggle room for him to return down the road. From what i’ve gotten this album takes a venture into a more pop direction than the experimental rock of previous releases. I am going in blind so let’s get started and hopefully it’s an overlooked gem.

Walk on Water (Single): Okay so all the album singles are going to hit you right away. It starts with some low synths and worldly vocal segments that are meant to give the song an ambitiously motivational pop foundation. Jared is not bad vocally but keeps things very basic lyrically. Instrumentally it fits decent for a pop setting that could be danced to somewhat; though it does lack the artistic complexity of any of their previous work. So i am guessing this album is venturing for a less is more mainstream approach. The use of backing choir elements is a good touch for playing on the song’s atmospheric tendencies. The drums are okay and if they didn’t sound programmed it would bring elements of Radiohead and Fall Out Boy together in a odd but convincing combination. It is not a bad choice for opening the album up since it is a simple ease in for the listener that does contain some catchy elements to convince the listener to give them a chance. 7/10

Dangerous Night (Single): This next single begins with an emotionally compelling vocal entrance from Jared that delivers a stronger set of lyrics. They bring in some pop rock acoustics and combine it with synths to create an uplifting atmosphere. Because of that it still retains a minimalist approach that does manage to give him ample support. Though Jared’s lyrical flow is realistically the only thing that will make or break it for the listener; because the instrumentals otherwise wouldn’t have much to really bring attention to themselves. It does have a decent little synth interlude to build up a low key dance opportunity; but nothing more than that. I will give them props for keeping most of the songs in the three minute range because they would feel a lot more drawn out in the 4 to 5 minute range. 7/10

Rescue Me (Single): The final single of this album begins with more of that pop rock guitaring that is nicely melodic till the drum loops arrive. Jared is left a little alone in terms of support since the instrumentals don’t truly seem to have what it takes to lift his otherwise promising vocal delivery. So far this album is setting itself up to be best listened to in the background instead of being analyzed like their previous work had the benefit of. Other than that this one doesn’t really bring in anything to the table in terms of being memorable let alone catchy. 5/10

One Track Mind (Featuring ASAP Rocky): The synths start this off on a blissfully soothing note and the muffled voice of the guest vocalist is a refreshing change of pace. Jared’s vocals are a bit processed but he manages to finally succeed in creating a very emotionally deep effect on the listener. He is supported minimally as expected on here but to a much more meaningful effect. This would be a decent one to play while winding down for bed at night. His lyrics are delivered very carefully and deliver a stronger sense of substance to the listener even though they are highly repetitive. This might of been a better pick for a single than Rescue Me but it really depends on how they sell it. The guest vocals show up towards the end and do a pretty good job of staying true to the intended sound of the song; while also lyrically paying tribute to the band. 8/10

Monolith: This minute and a half long number starts off with some drum beats that finally appear to build some classic tension for the following track. It may of been a good opener for the album to please their older fans since it makes use of solid harmonies and classical string elements. It combines with a blast riffs they used heavily on their last album. It is too short to score on this album but it helps to lift this album up a bit finally. 0/0

Love is Madness (Featuring Halsey): This one starts from the previous track into a dark and gloomy call and response duet between Jared and the guest vocalist. They actually do a really good job of working together without appearing to force it. They both grow rather ambitious in their delivery and use a strong diversity of energy to set a sense of tense conflict between the two singers. Because of this the lyrics prove to be some of the strongest on the album and contain a very compelling dose of catchiness. This is definitely a highlight on the album and a clear example of what their pop sound should be like on this album. 9/10

Great Wide Open: This song begins with a soothing loop open that creates a very compelling sense of blissful atmosphere. Jared arrives with a slightly gospel demeanor. He finally seems to be shaping the album’s pop approach into something that is finally engaging and understandable. The lyrics are pretty compelling and benefit a bit from the drawn out delivery; even if it risks feeling sluggish when overly analyzed. This and the last track would of been smart picks for singles. This one mainly because it demonstrates the compelling strength of Jared’s vocals and could bring some similarities to sound and spirit on This Is War (Reviewed). 9/10

Hail to the Victor: This track begins with a little more spacey approach. It explores a sense of emptiness and vulnerability before shifting into some more energizing drum beats. The stronger use of synths and distortion works decently to change things up; as well as add a sense of convincing emotion to Jared’s lyrics. It helps to set up a mood of conflict and rising to overcome it. I can see a better dance reaction to it since it is better suited for a live performance or late night club scene than most of their earlier tracks were. 8.5/10

Dawn Will Rise: We begin this track off with some soft electric riffs and french female vocals to give it a nice sense of artistic class. Synths arrive to slowly seep a danceable yet peacefully relaxing presence. Jared’s vocals feel a bit processed but deliver some sufficient lyrics to focus on while the song progresses. His vocals vibration can get a hair annoying but overall he does succeed in achieving a sense of catchiness that will enable the listener to appreciate this song. 8/10

Remedy: Acoustic riffs start off with an interesting rustic approach. I think Shannon Leto is singing on this one and his more rough approach fits rather nicely with the tone of this song and offers an interesting surprise for the listener to encounter. I definitely appreciate them changing things up with this track because it adds some diversity and helps to set the album up for a gradual conclusion. I actually wouldnt mind hearing a solo album from Shannon if this is in fact him on vocals. 8.5/10

Live Like a Dream: This track begins with a nicely soothing yet modestly energetic opening. This one sounds a bit more familiar to their older work. Jared demonstrates a masterful control over his vocals and helps to keep things feeling inspirational and interesting as the song progresses. He delivers a firm sense of catchiness without trying to take away the subtle impact from his instrumental support. I definitely think a few more tracks like this on the album would of made their pop venture a bit easier to get into; though by this point they have pretty much returned to the sound of their last album instead of their intended mainstream soft pop. Kind of creates a damned if you do; damned if you don’t situation for them ha ha. 8.5/10

Rider: Here’s the finale track to the album and it begins rather softly with some audio backing before Jared arrives to deliver a wounded and compelling vocal presence. The acoustic riffs and drum loops create a rather nice ambiance that is cleverly complex and emotionally engaging. It helps to establish a very fulfilling sense of farewell to this album. 8.5/10

Overall album rating: 7.9/10

Even though this album had some lackluster bumps in the first half; the second half is very solid and will please their fan base if they give it a chance. Their attempt at more direct pop in the first half i don’t believe works really well for them; because of their emphasis on slowness and heavy complexity verses the faster and catchier elements that i believe pop requires. I wouldn’t mind it if they tried to incorporate a more successful dance element into the music but i feel that it wouldn’t be in the band’s nature otherwise they would end up sounding like a modern day Maroon 5. Still; i would still suggest giving it a listen in album sequence and see what you think. It’s going to be conflicted but that feeling alone should feel fitting coming from this band. Hopefully they learn from whatever input they got on this album and build on it for their next album; which i hope but doubt won’t take another 5 years to release.

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sambart93 · 7 years ago

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2018.02.09 Neko to Inu to Yakusoku 2018 [Review]

Official Website here Official Twitter here Press Coverage 1 DVD PreOrder here

CAST and CHARACTERS Takashima Yuuki as Koyano Mitsu Matsushima Yunosuke as Iwatani Gunji Kunishima Naoki as Shimoda Kaiji Shinozaki Ayana as Koyano Miki Futaba Yu as Shiroi Ryo Kyo-Hey as Hirose Kouta Karube Ruka as Yodogawa Hana Ota Riona as Yodogawa Hana Nakatsuka Tomomi as Imamiya Yasuko Matsuura Shotaro as Toga Ichiro Azuma Nanae as Yamano Sayumi Iizuka Rie as Kishiba Kou Takamatsu Yuki as Danda Yuzu Ohashi Noriyuki as Matsudaira Yuuki Haru as Shibaki Youji Tatsumi Shina as Sakurai Ann Enoki Tomokazu as Genjo Fumimasa Midorikawa Ryosuke as Kusumi Reito Sakaba Asuka as Yoshikawa Kana Araki Masaya as Ishimine Sho Takahashi Asuka as Daidouji Emi Igarashi Keisuke as Daidouji Kengo Umeta Ayano as Nekoko Sakata Ryuichiro as Kenta Konishi Keita as Tegamiya (lit. Post Man) Izaki Hisato as Sazanami Kurita Yoko as Daidouji Kiyomi Morooka Moro as Daidouji Mutsuo

NON-SPOILER REVIEW Overall: I did not expect to come out of this stage balling in streams of tears, but I damn well did! This was so heartwarming and so touching and so good! It was equals parts funny as it was dramatic, as it was family dynamics, as it was about life, as it was about youth and finding out what you want to do in life. It was such a good balance of everything and every theme this stage wanted to cover! I love how it started off as something small but eventually the story grew into this huge thing connecting everyone and everything slipped into place by the end. ODAC has definitely earned my trust and I'll be keeping an eye on whatever they do in future! Rating: 8.5-9/10 << I pretty much can't fault anything about it!

SPOILER REVIEW

STORY

We follow Mitsu who is basically leading his life and getting through life by jumping part-time job to part-time job and he’s also using methods and ways in order to swindle money out of people rather than going out and finding an actual job. His best friend, who is the same as him, joins him on his many ways of ‘getting money quick’ and one day they hear about a very wealthy business man who just died, so they decide to pretend to know the guy so they can help out at the funeral in order to steal the money (at Funerals and Weddings in Japan, people bring money in envelopes to the family and is all registered and written down when they get there) while everyone else is attending the funeral. This all goes well until he finds out his sister is an employee at the company; also he falls for the daughter of the deceased man; AND someone has just burnt out the deceased’s company part way through the funeral - so what is going on?!

There is so much more to this and I’m barely telling you the main story but I don’t want to spoil it completely until we get to spoilers. Which is right now!!

STORY SPOILERS: So we very quickly find out early one that Mitsu keeps coughing and had been given medicine from the doctor. We also quickly learn that he can see a ghost Postman and his deceased pet cat and dog which he loved so much! The postman tells him the only reason he can see him is because he is going to die soon. Which escalates and becomes hilarious when Mitsu is able to see the damn business man! But turns out, he’s left his family is a massive state; his wife HATES him, his daughter HATES her mother, the son BARELY visits home and is a failing guitar player. So thanks to Mitsu he is able to mend each other of these relationships while trying to not let slip of his condition to any of his friends or family. WHICH eventually comes out because his newest/third friend finds the prescription and, because he’s studying to be a doctor, is able to read what medicine it is and KNOWS what the medicine is used for – we can assume it’s terminal lung cancer because he smokes and he keeps coughing and it’s a terminal disease, but I’m not a doctor, there could be a billion other terminal lung diseases but I assumed this one.

I still haven’t told you anywhere near enough of the story but I hope this is enough to inform you and wet your palate.

OKAY now for some break downs… I’ll have to go back character as I think it’ll be the best way to jog my memory and be able to pick out specific scenes:

Takashima Yuuki as Koyano Mitsu: He's our main character so obviously he's on stage for the majority of the stage. While the story only takes place over about a day or two, his character development is really good! We see him going from this irresponsible guy to realising he only has a short while left to live and we see him conciously making decisions like trying to make the best he can and/or choosing to not tell anyone for more than just one reason. But his story IS super sad. We know pretty much from the beginning that he's dying (or at least has a serious illness) and we see him getting in arguments with his friends and sister who are angry he didn't tell them but he tells them he didn't want to worry them and he definitely doesn't want his parents step in which of course make everything even sadder because while his sister wants to tell their parents, she respects him enough to not tell them but you can see how damn heart broken she is. It's the same with his friends. For the most part he's very calm and cool about the fact he's going to die BUT that final scene right at the end when he opens up to his pets and just wail cries about being scared about dying and not wanting to die is just heart breaking. I really liked the actors performance in this too and he did a great job at making the character feel so normal and down in the dumos. His performance at the end was so good too!

Matsushima Yunosuke as Iwatani Gunji: The main character's best friend since childhood. I really liked this character; you can just tell from the visual he's like my type of guy. I really liked his relationship with Mitsu and you could tell and see they were best friends. OH I also loved how much he liked Emi and he'd always run to her side all the time and try to impress her xD

Kunishima Naoki as Shimoda Kaiji: The new friend Gunji recently introduces our MC to. I liked how even though he was the new friend, he was the one who figured out about Mitsu's disease and I love how it turned out he was/is a Tokyo Uni student but was seriously thinking of dropping out because of the pressure and such which I felt was really accurate, espeically for many Asian families still it seems. I also love the moment where Mitsu finds out he's at Tokyo and wants to quit and even though Mitsu dropped out and stuff he's very passionate about Kaiji understanding how amazing it is that he's in Tokyo Uni and that he shouldn't quit. It was a really nice scene. Also Kaiji discovering the medicine and figuring out what it was for straight away was a really good moment to and he runs off to find Gunji and it's great!

The end scene with these two where they’re doing the Japanese Baseball way of chanting just outside his door and yelling their support to him even though Mitsu is inside just wailing crying to himself about how scared he is about dying and how desperately he’s trying not to get his friends involved. Gunji is an absolute crying wreck at the end of this scene and stage.

Shinozaki Ayana as Koyano Miki: Our MC's younger sister who works at the deceased CEO's company. She had a short role for the most part; up until she learns about her brother's illness. She was a really sweet character though and her support and love for her brother is very evident and totally cute. We do have a minro side story of her and Matsudaira getting together and planning to get married.

Futaba Yu as Shiroi Ryo: Also an employee at the company and in love with the CEO's daughter Emi. Ahhhh he's so small!! That was literally my thought for most of the time he was on stage. I personally never thought he was small but next to people like Takashina and Kyo-hei, he's TINY! It was ADORABLE! He didn't have a big role in this which obviously made me upset but the story ended up being really great that I wasn't too bummed about him not being in it so much. Also he looked great in that dang suit! His character was really adorable too; he's love with Emi and spends most of the time by her side or trying to impress her but it's also clear that he knows Emi really well and that she opens up to him because there's a scene where he faces off with her mother (because she's a bitch to Emo in all honesty) and says 'do you even know what your daughter wants to do?' and then goes running after Emi who's stormed off upset. I think they did end up together in this end. I liked how sweet and supportive his character was ^_^

Kyo-Hei as Hirose Kouta: Employee at the company. He reminded me A LOT of Higashi Keisuke (aka. TonChan); not just because Kyo-hei is damn tall like TonChan but just his overall presents and his slim body and his characters attitude, I just had huge TonChan feels from him. I liked the part of the story where we're supposed to semi-suspect he's the one that set the company on fire and I also loved how Kou really liked him but he was either ignoring it or oblivious to it xD

Karube Ruka and Ota Riona as Yodogawa Hana: Employee at the company. I'm going to be honest, I have no idea which one it was that was in the show I saw. She didn't have a big part anyway, she was kind of like the new employee so was new to everything and wasn't very helpful.

Nakatsuka Tomomi as Imamiya Yasuko: Employee at the company. Turns out she's an ex-AKBer which kind of surprises me because I'm pretty sure I've seen her in other stuff and I find her really funny. She's really good at the ridiculous comedy parts.

Matsuura Shotaro as Toga Ichiro: Senior Manager at the company (now CEO). I think we're supposed to not like this guy and find him ridiculous but I actually quite liked him. He definitely gave me the giggles at times and he's definitely someone the employees don't really listen to xD

Azuma Nanae as Yamano Sayumi: I found her really difficult to handle. I get she's upset that her lover has passed away, I get that she's pissed he promised to buy her the famous Mont Blanc from their favourite cafe but now that he's dead, that promise is broken. I get it BUT... she's the CEO' lover, NOT his wife, he is cheating on his wife with you; I have no sympathy for you and you have no right to mourn MORE than his wife. I found her a little bit too dramatic and VERY inconsiderate and insensitive towards his family. She literally has a massive go at the wife and it's like 'she's just lost her husband of like 50 years. How dare you make a scene and yell that he hated his wife and that he was unhappy with her. It's his WIFE! Regardless of whatever shit was going on between them, you have no damn right to yell at her!,' I am totally fine with this character turning up at the funeral, she does deserve that but just... how dare you have a go at his wife. You have no right. She really rubbed me the wrong way very quickly and I didn't give a shit about her. Am I making any sense about my anger for her?

Iizuka Rie as Kishiba Kou: Neighbourhood worker. She was hilarious! She was the stereotypical funny fat girl and I know I should hate that because it IS such a stereotype (more so in Japan than in other countries now I think), BUT I found her totally charming and a wonderful character and very funny who just happens to have a bit of weight for her. And yes they did make many fat jokes but I assume the actress was consenting and mature enough herself to decide for herself to put those jokes in so I had/have no problem with them being there. And all her jokes and all her humour was great! I found her such a delight of a character. She was very... fresh << probably the best way to describe her. She was such a nice and sweet and fresh, funny character!

Takamatsu Yuki as Danda Yuzu: Neighbourhood worker and Kou's friend. SHe was interesting because she never really spoke. Like she would 'whisper' to Kou and to Haru but she never spoke and a lot of her comedy and such came from her body language. Also it was an interesting dynamic because Kou is really tall compared to her, Danda is TINY, so that made it interesting too.

Ohashi Noriyuki as Matsudaira Yuuki: He is Mitsu's old friend from school; they meet back up again for the first time in a while during this event. Also, we later learn Yuuki is dating Mitsu's sister Miki. His character is really interesting; he's really calm and mature and collected and he really helps Mitsu see the reality of things, but he's also super hopeful because he still hasn't given up his training and his dream to be a pro-boxer even though he's already way past the age to be drafted/scouted (is that the right term when it comes to boxing?). BUT what makes his mysterious is that, like Mitsu, he can see Mustuo, Nekoko and Kenta who are all dead and now ghosts. What makes this point MORE interesting is that at the beginning of the play, the postman explains to Mitsu that he can see them because he's going to die soon; so it's implied that Yuuki is ALSO going to die soon but it's never revealed why or how or what's wrong with him. He's very much a positive, well put together guy so we're left thinking like 'what's wrong with him?!?!?!' so yeah, I found him super interesting.

Haru as Shibaki Youji: Singer, Guitarist, Danda's boyfriend and more of a guest for the stage than anything. I say guest because he's in it for only two parts and he sings live during those parts; so he seemed more like a guest role slash musical insert than an actor and character who was part of the play. He's a really good singer though and I got super emotional when he was singing at the end because it was already sad and he sang a sad song and he sings really well and it was live and with a guitar; it was a GOOD performance!

Tatsumi Shina as Sakurai Ann: She played a very, very minute role so I'm gunna skip her. But she's very pretty.

Enoki Tomokazu as Genjo Fumimasa: Yakuza Boss. I really enjoyed this character! He acts like this tough yakuza/yankee like guy but his henchmen (Midorikawa Ryosuke as Kusumi Reito and Araki Masaya as Ishimine Sho) walk all over him and always speak over him even though they really repsect him. He was a HUGE source of humour. Especially because whenever (Sakaba Asuka as) Yoshikawa Kana was around, he was this HUGE softey and she is just a badass, very outspoken woman; it's great! Especially Sho - he is just this camp but very aggressive Yakuza guy and he is absolutely hilarious! He had the perfect balance of acting tough, being funny and adding a camp sparkle everywhere! I really liked his character and you could tell he was a crowd favoruite too. Sho and Reito constantly saying Genjo's lines before he could say it and just the exhaustion coming out of his mouth every time they did was hilarious xD

Takahashi Asuka as Daidouji Emi: Deceased CEO's daughter. I liked seeing just how 'walking on egg shells' the relationship with her mother was but I also liked how Yuukun's character was always there to support her and kind of set up the scene of 'do you even know your daughter', BUT for the most part she spent the play storming on and off stage with Yuukun running after her and not really opening up and just (like a typical teenagers) assuming her mother understands what the hell is wrong with her.

Igarashi Keisuke as Daidouji Kengo: Eldest Child and Son of CEO.He had an interesting story arc. He originally turns up as this loud kid who quit school, is aiming to be a musician and doesn't really respect his family BUT as the story progresses we see that he's be seriously thinking about his future and has even been considering quitting being a musician. He ends up being a really decent and nice guy.

Umeta Ayano as Nekoko and Sakata Ryuichiro as Kenta: Mitsu's deceased pet Cat and Dog. These two were absolutely adorable! They were the typical cat and dog that don't get along most of the time but they were also at the center of a lot of the comedy. I also loved how that even after death they were loyal to their owner and wanted to keep their promise which was to never let him be alone or die alone. I really enjoyed their dynamic and they were such good characters! ALSO Kenta has a freaking Kansai accent and uses Kansai Dialect which is absolutely LOVED! They did a lot of cat and dog things too like saying Nyaa or licking their paws, making cat and dog barks and meows, and they were always on all paws and walking around. Honestly the scenes that stick out to me the most from this play are the ones they are in. The opening scene where they're being typical pets and fighting. Another scene where the CEO comes through the window and proceeds to do some adlibbing that causes both of them dying laughing; and the end scene where Mitsu is crying his heart to them about how scared he is to cry and they're like 'we promised we'd never leave you' oh the feels...

Konishi Keita as Tegamiya (lit. Post Man): He is the postman of death essentially; he comes to Mitsu and tells him he's going to die. He pops up now and again but he's really just the bearer of bad news.

Izaki Hisato as Sazanami: The real culprit behind the fire. He was a really interesting character! He's very mysterious for the first part of the play and we even see Kyo-hei's character interact with him which is what makes us suspicious of Kyo-hei but in the end, it is Sazanami who did it and he did it because when he first entered the company, he was all hopeful and everything but then they ended up firing him (I think due to a misunderstanding) and because of that, he couldn't find another job and basically fell to the lowest of the low (I think he's homeless too) and he wanted to get his own back. But in good Japanese story style fashion, in the end he hands himself into police and Kiyomi says she'll give him a job a the company when he eventually gets out. The scene where he confronts everyone and is somewhat crazy is a really good scene - kudos on his acting there.

Kurita Yoko as Daidouji Kiyomi: CEO's wife. For the most part I was very in the middle with her. When we're first introduced to her, we get a scene of her hearing her husband's voice yelling at her 'you can't do anything right! You're an awful cook!' so you feel (pretty much all the way until the end) that she HATES her husband so much. But she was very well put together and never got verbal or went yelling on about it so I always felt like that wasn't really the case. BUT the way she treated her daughter and how little she knew about her daughter really gave me a negative image of her somewhat. It was touching when right at the end it turns out that she never doubted her husband and that she didn't hate him; she was just super upset that, on their wedding day, he had promised her that he wouldn't die before her, that he wouldn't leave her alone, but clearly he did die first and that's why this entire time during the funeral and everything she called him a betrayer and stuff. She couldn't care about the bit he had on the side or anything, she was just heartbroken that he broke this one promise to her and now she was all alone without him. I really liked at the end where she decides to take over and become CEO in his place and start the company over again and offers job to Gunji, Sazanami and Mitsu.

Morooka Moro as Daidouji Mutsuo: I didn't like him. We're told these entire time that he's a shit head but as soon as he shows up, he's all jokes and he has a LOT of adlibbing comedy time but it's like 'mate you cheated on your wife. You (inevitably by accident) broke your promise with your wife. Your family is a broken mess because you spent more time with your company and your whore rather than with your family'. I get we're supposed to like him and be like 'oh he's not as bad as what everyone's making him out to be' but I personally just found him to be a shit head that didn't deserve all the apologises and forgiveness that he ended up getting. The actor himself is very sweet and very funny (like I said earlier, he had Nekoko and Kenta's actors dying with laughter one stage).

I really, really enjoyed this stage. I laughed, I cried, I was moved in so many feels, great story, great characters; I really liked all their performances; I’ll definitely be wanting to keep an eye on ODAC from now on. Especially because even Hiramaki Jin has worked with them and Domoto is part of the group and he’ll be in their play in May!

GOODS

And that’s done! I am SO FAR BEHIND on reviews but I am trying! I really am!

#takashina yuuki #matsushima yunosuke #kunishima naoki #futaba yu #futaba yuu #kyo-hey #kyo-hei #ohashi noriyuki #igarashi keisuke #sakata ryuichiro #umeta ayano #konishi keita #izaki hisato #review #stage

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lostinthelightss · 4 years ago

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literal chaos fire (ch.6)

amazing banner by @downn-in-flames / down-in-flames@FFT

find it elsewhere: fft | ao3 | ff.net | hpff learn more: chaos universe link to other chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 link to missing moments: 5.5, 7.5, 8.5, 15.5

pairing: Lily Luna Potter / OC genre: AU, Humor, Romance rating: mature audiences

summary:

Victoire Weasley is a masters student in infectious diseases handling a devastating break up with her girlfriend of two years. Lily Potter is a first year law student navigating a figurative minefield that is the star quarterback’s unrequited affection. Molly Weasley is pursuing her bachelors in engineering while pining over her best friend - who doesn’t seem to realize it.

Three women, three vastly different lives, all coming together with group chats, family dinners, and a whole lot of chaos.

chapter summary:

VickyBaby: look, we love you...

mollydramatic: but your laugh sounds like a cross between a dying hyena and a crocodile trying to swallow a deer whole

psychiclilz: WHAT?!??!

mollydramatic: yeah, it's not cute

VickyBaby: sometimes you also snort VickyBaby: which would be cute but it sounds like the deer is trying to cry for help

SEPTEMBER 30TH, 2021

‘literal chaos fire' (psychiclilz, mollydramatic, VickyBaby) 9:28am

mollydramatic: omg, are you as excited as i am? mollydramatic: please tell us everything ASAP mollydramatic: even if ur still in his bed ;)

psychiclilz: it's just dinner psychiclilz: and it's not until 6

mollydramatic: this is most exciting part of my life right now mollydramatic: since my love life is woefully nonexistent

VickyBaby: mood

psychiclilz: you guys need a life

mollydramatic: @VickyBaby she's right mollydramatic: we should go out to dinner together mollydramatic: how does the three broomsticks sound?

psychiclilz: oh, piss off

VickyBaby: ooh, ive been meaning to try their chicken cacciatore

mollydramatic: ive heard their cheesecake is to die for

psychiclilz: if i promise to tell you everything that happens psychiclilz: will you promise not to crash this date?

VickyBaby: oooh its a date now!

psychiclilz: you are the bane of my existence

3:48pm

psychiclilz: Attachment - 1 Image psychiclilz: is this alright?

VickyBaby: i thought i was the bane of your existence VickyBaby: and now you're asking for my help?

mollydramatic: you come to me, on the day of my math assignment, to ask for my help

psychiclilz: nice try, brando psychiclilz: just please help me

mollydramatic: you look hot

VickyBaby: i agree VickyBaby: also please let me borrow that skirt VickyBaby: it would go great with my fishnets

mollydramatic: give her enough time to wash it mollydramatic: who knows what will get on it tonight? ;)

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(micky, vicky) 5:42pm

vicky: would you be able to snag rose's car and drive us over to the three broomsticks?

micky: ixnay on the car, rose and malfoy are out rn micky: but also wouldn't she kill us if we actually ended up crashing her date?

vicky: yeah, but thats the fun of it vicky: she'll have to wrestle with her moral obligation as a lawyer-in-training vicky: and the rage monster she'll turn into if she finds out

micky: have you never seen how to get away with murder?

vicky: no, i dont want ur trash tv

micky: IT IS QUALITY CONTENT micky: I WATCH QUALITY CONTENT

vicky: you watch the bachelor

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‘literal chaos fire' (psychiclilz, mollydramatic, VickyBaby) 6:31pm

mollydramatic: @psychiclilz we want the deets mollydramatic: how's it going so far?

VickyBaby: if you need to text us 911 and we'll call with an emergency

mollydramatic: if it needs to sound real, ill get roxy to push me down the stairs mollydramatic: it's honestly not bad

VickyBaby: ... VickyBaby: what the fuck, NO

7:09pm

VickyBaby: okay so its going well? VickyBaby: because i actually will push mollz down the stairs if i need to

mollydramatic: its really not that bad, ive done it way too many times

VickyBaby: WHY?

mollydramatic: stair surfing on mattresses isn't as fun as it is on tv

7:23pm

mollydramatic: HELLO!??!?! mollydramatic: @psychiclilz

VickyBaby: @psychiclilz answer us plz or ill call the cops

psychiclilz: oh my fucking god, its going fine psychiclilz: dont fall down the stairs psychiclilz: and dont call the fucking cops! psychiclilz: message me about this again and i wont tell you anything

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(micky, vicky) 7:26pm

mollydramatic: $20 they bang

vicky: hell no, thats such a bad deal vicky: theyre obvi gonna bang at some point vicky: $20 they bang tonight

micky: fine, but if they last even until just 12:01 its victory for me

vicky: ur on

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‘literal chaos fire' (psychiclilz, mollydramatic, VickyBaby) 9:34pm

psychiclilz: ...

mollydramatic: OH MY GOD TELL US EVERYTHIGN

VickyBaby: did you bang? are you in his bed right now?

psychiclilz: no psychiclilz: it was actually a really nice night psychiclilz: dinner was good, he's actually really easy to talk to psychiclilz: but then he drove me home...

mollydramatic: hand job in the car

VickyBaby: blow job in the car

psychiclilz: NO, perverts psychiclilz: he walked me all the way to my front door

mollydramatic: AND YOU PULLED HIM INSIDE AND BANGED ALL OVER YOUR KITCHEN

VickyBaby: FUCK YES, YOU OWE ME $20

psychiclilz: NO psychiclilz: will you let me finish my thoughts here? psychiclilz: WAIT, WTF, YOU WERE BETTING ON ME?

VickyBaby: no?

psychiclilz: w/e not the issue psychiclilz: we're at my door and he tucked a lock of my hair behind my ear psychiclilz: ...

mollydramatic: and? mollydramatic: AND?!?!?

VickyBaby: oh my god, i just remembered why i hate you

psychiclilz: and then he left?

VickyBaby: hi, i would like to formally ask VickyBaby: what the fuck?

mollydramatic: i second that motion

psychiclilz: idk! psychiclilz: i thought it went well, but then he shook my hand and left

mollydramatic: OHHHH MY GOOODDDDD

VickyBaby: HE SHOOK YOUR HAND???

mollydramatic: WTF IS WRONG WITH HIM?!?? mollydramatic: is he DUMB?

psychiclilz: idk, maybe he realized that it wasnt worth it? psychiclilz: this is what i was worried about psychiclilz: he was just looking for a quick fuck psychiclilz: not someone to wine and dine

VickyBaby: damn, i was so sure he was legit VickyBaby: whatd scorp say

psychiclilz: nothing, havent told him

VickyBaby: well he's the guy's best friend, maybe you should ask?

psychiclilz: no, i dont want him to feel trapped between us psychiclilz: besides, its not a big deal

mollydramatic: are you kidding me? mollydramatic: he's been asking after you since summer mollydramatic: are you sure maybe you were sending him some bad vibes? mollydramatic: some ‘dont you dare kiss me' vibes?

psychiclilz: argh psychiclilz: i dont think so?

VickyBaby: what were ur exact words before he shook your hand? *gag*

psychiclilz: um, "i had a really nice time tonight" psychiclilz: and then he tucked my hair behind my ear and i think i giggled?

VickyBaby: oh no

mollydramatic: that'll do it

psychiclilz: what? psychiclilz: what did i do?!?!

VickyBaby: look, we love you...

mollydramatic: but your laugh sounds like a cross between a dying hyena and a crocodile trying to swallow a deer whole

psychiclilz: WHAT?!??!

mollydramatic: yeah, it's not cute

VickyBaby: sometimes you also snort VickyBaby: which would be cute but it sounds like the deer is trying to cry for help

psychiclilz: WHY IS THIS JUST COMING UP NOW??? psychiclilz: ugh, i probably repulsed him psychiclilz: he's never gonna wanna talk to me again psychiclilz: im so embarrassed

mollydramatic: its probably not that bad?

VickyBaby: she *giggled*

mollydramatic: yeah, no, ur fucked

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(Lily Potter, Scorpius Malfoy) 10:03pm

Lily: i never want to see him again Lily: if you know what's good for you, you wont fight me on it

Scorpius: what? what happened???

Lily: i dont want to talk about it...

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(Scorpius Malfoy, William Flynn) 10:06pm

Scorpius: wtf did you do? Scorpius: if you hurt her, i will unleash molly and she has the wrath of all women scorned Scorpius: im pretty sure one of her death glares will set you on fire

William: what?

Scorpius: Attachment - 1 Image

William: oh... William: i thought it went well William: i swear i didnt do anything William: like i said, it wasnt even a date, idk what i did wrong?

Scorpius: im not getting in the middle of this Scorpius: but maybe keep your distance for a while Scorpius: i really dont want to be picking sides

William: yeah, alright...

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aclockworkfilmsnob · 7 years ago

Text

Thoughts on Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Spoiler Free, Vague as Fuck)

First off I’d like to say that the best thing to do with this movie, like most movies in general, is to go in as blind as humanly possible. I’m happy to say that I went in to this film without hearing a singe solitary thought. No reviews, no rotten tomatoes scores, no mention of anyone even briefly implying that they liked it or they didn’t. I liked doing that quite a bit, and if anyone wishes to do the same, even though there are absolutely no spoilers ahead, I suggest you stop reading from this point forward and just see what you think of the film yourself.

Alright, here we go. I really really liked this movie. I dare say I loved it, though to truly determine that I’ll have to both give it a lot of time and see it a second time. Every performance is fantastic, the John Williams score is great, the effects range from pretty good to out of this world, and most of the characters are just as interesting and complex as ever.

The best thing I can say about this film is just how much it develops from The Force Awakens. Every character we knew from the last film, and the ones we’ve known longer, are given an extra dimension, and you feel their presence so remarkably well. And it’s not just the characters, it’s the force itself. They take a lot of liberties with the force here, some things that may make fans angry, some things I wasn’t so sure about when watching the movie. It’s easy to think to yourself “that’s not the force I know.” I soon came to the realization that saying something like that is the same thing as complaining about Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi isn’t the same Luke Skywalker from A New Hope. Of course he’s not, he’s grown and developed, it’s called a character arc and its changes make the story more interesting. I never even considered this in the past, but putting such a heavy twist on what we know the force to be is exactly what this movie needed to work.

There are points where I was worried this was going to be another retread of past SW films, like The Force Awakens was. Now I LOVE The Force Awakens, but its heavy tribute, references, and similar plot structure to A New Hope should stop there. It’s the love letter of the franchise, it was the perfect time to make the big celebration movie while simultaneously introducing new characters and premises that will guide the franchise. Any more than that would just be too much. And this film shares quite a few similarities to Empire and Jedi, at least that’s how it seems at first. I am elated to say that they never truly follow through with replicating those movies beat for beat, they may pay tribute and homage every now and again, but I really do think they did something special and unique with it all. Do they take some general ideas and concepts that were explored in previous SW films? Yes. But they delve so deep in to them and answer so many questions we never even thought we had that it not only justifies these similarities, it works in regards to how this universe is changing.

That being said, this movie has its flaws. In preparation for this film, I rewatched the OG trilogy (Despecialized) and The Force Awakens. Something that really stuck with me about TFA is that there is just so much thought and care put in to the presentation of that film, even if there are one too many visual callbacks to A New Hope, the filmmakers just did such an amazing job at making the universe feel palpable and lived in. The Last Jedi mostly achieves this, but it’s not QUITE there. This time around there’s more CGI than in TFA, and while it’s not the massive fuck you that the CGI mess of Alien: Covenant was to the visual marvel that was Prometheus, it is noticeable at times. It never gets as bad as that Rathtar sequence in TFA but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t stick out. There’s a scene in the beginning when BB-8 is fixing something in an X-Wing, and his settings are almost entirely CGI, when stuff like that was practical in TFA. Some creatures are practical and look amazing, and some are CGI and they look... okay. And as far as creative settings, there are a lot. But there’s one that’s devoid of any real creativity at all, and though I won’t say much about it, I have to talk about everything surrounding it, because I am 99% sure this is the biggest flaw most people will have with this movie.

There is a side plot in this movie that is really just okay at best. It involves two characters with not the most fleshed out chemistry, but it’s not completely vapid either. These two have to do something vital to the plot, but the execution of this scene really made me feel like I was watching another movie. The place they have to go to, for whatever reason, looks pretty much just like a place you would see on earth. Sure, there are some sci fi bells and whistles here, but it’s like 8% there and the rest of it is just... regular stuff... And this scene is supposed to be visually cool, and we’re supposed to be sucked in to this magnificent Star Wars universe while this totally uninspired setting is playing a major role in this key scene. Between the dumb setting, the characters that lacked strong chemistry, and some of the weakest CGI in the entire movie... this scene reminded me of the prequels. And my word there is just no excuse for why this scene is the way it is, especially when everything else in the movie is so thoughtful and clever.

Before I give my final verdict (for now at least) let me briefly list some specific things in the movie and briefly how I felt about them. Once again, no spoilers, this is all stuff that most people should know are in the movie even if you don’t know a thing about it.

The Force: Loved

Rey: Loved

Kylo Ren: Loved

Poe Dameron: Loved

Finn: Liked a lot

Leia: Liked a lot

Snoke: Loved (also couldn’t even tell if he was CGI or not, he looked outstanding)

Porgs: Indifferent

Other Creatures: Meh

Visual Effects: Mostly liked a lot

Cinematography: Liked a lot

Lightsaber fights: Loved

New Characters: Some were great, some not so much

Expanding on the universe: Loved

Overall, The Last Jedi was a damn good time and I strongly recommend it. While I’m not 100% sure whether or not I’d rank it above The Force Awakens, I can say that I would consider it one of my favorites of the year. Wasn’t quite as enamored by it as Baby Driver, Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri, and Blade Runner 2049, but I did have a damn good time and I do believe it takes the franchise in a unique, satisfying, and interesting direction. Even though there is quite a bit I didn’t like, my rating system is usually weighed by how strong I think the positives are against the negatives. Hell, the positives against the negatives on A New Hope are so strong that I gave it a 10/10, and rewatching it recently I still stand by that firmly. Certainly not saying this movie reaches that cinematic milestone that the 1977 classic did, but I can say that I would give The Last Jedi a very enthusiastic 8.5/10, which is heavily leaning towards a 9. We’ll see what I think when I give it a second watch.

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aidoru-ojisan · 7 years ago

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Hey! Hey! Hey! End of June thus leading into July which officially means the end of Spring 2017! And it also means that I post not only my Top 5 Metal Albums of June 2017, I will also be making my Top Anime of Spring 2017 along with some thoughts of mine along with an updated version of my Top 10 Metal Albums of 2017 So Far! So enjoy~ (as always albums will be linked to bandcamp and youtube and remember everything is my opinion so don’t cry or rage)

MB Oji-san’s Top 5 Metal Albums of June 2017

1. Dying Fetus - Wrong One To Fuck With (USA/Technical/Brutal Death Metal)

2. Elder - Reflections of a Floating World (USA/Stoner/Doom/Heavy Psychedelic Metal)

3. Shade Empire - Poetry Of The Ill-Minded (Finland/Industrial Black/Death Metal)

4. Igorrr - Savage Sinusoid (France/Avant-garde Experimental Metal/Grindcore)

5. Exist - So True, So Bound (USA/Progressive/Technical Death Metal/Fusion)

MB Oji-san’s Top 10 Metal Albums of 2017 (So far...)

1. Fen - Winter

2. Dying Fetus - Wrong One To Fuck With

3. White Ward - Futility Report

4. Dodecahedron - Kwintessens

5. Heretoir - The Circle

6. Persefone - Aathma

7. Elder - Reflections of a Floating World

8. Havukruunu – Kelle surut soi

9. Immolation - Atonement

10. Draugsól - Volaða Land

MB Oji-san’s Top/Ratings of Spring 2017 Anime (not including sequels and even if I did Tsuki ga Kirei is AOTY lmao)

1, Tsuki ga Kirei - I consider myself a romanticist, despite seeming to be a cold hearted ass that constantly listens to Metal and enjoying my own company, I too yearn for a pure love that Tsuki ga Kirei made me witness, yet being quite a cynic myself, I still believe that pure love can blossom in this cruel world, whether it be real or fiction... and who would have thought Tsuki ga Kirei managed to give me that with two simple plain looking Japanese middle school students, Tsuki ga Kirei was as pure as it can be, no random BS like you see in many current romance anime (heck Kimi no Na Wa had to use another plot concept to keep us rooting for the main couple) whilst Tsuki ga Kirei used many precious moments and many forms of conflicts to keep us rooting for Akane and Kotarou to stay with one another. It fascinates me that such a simple yet pretty looking (despite those outplace CG background characters) romance Anime can grab the attention of my heart despite me not being able to relate to the concept (tfw no gf ever) so thank you to studio feel. for allowing me to witness such a pure romance anime, for you have created my current Best Anime of 2017... 9/10

2. Sakura Quest - Well I’m glad at least I’ll be able to watch a show about cute adult Anime girls ACTUALLY working unlike CERTAIN ANIME New Game! during the 2017 Summer season 8.5/10

3. Alice to Zouroku - The character designs were nothing special yet the soundtrack and heart of this series about a grumpy old man nurturing a little girl with special powers into a woman voiced by Yukari Tamura was... WONDER DRIVE!!!! 8/10

4. Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii desu ka? - The ending of this series left me in a bit of manly tears yet also with many questions, probably a sub-par adaption in the eyes of those who read the source material yet at least this adaption did its job by advertising the Light Novel 7.5/10

5. Seikaisuru Kado - Goddamn I didn’t want to agree with the critics but the few final episodes of this Sci-Fi series with so much potential drifted it away from said potential, I was kinda disappointed but Kado at least kept me entertained in its beginning stages... 7.5/10

6. Re:Creators - I know this show is gonna be 2 cours but damn does it take long to reach the action, Sawano and the plot itself is overrated but it’s still a good show 7.3/10

7. Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records - Up and down this adaption was going, sadly left with a incomplete rushed ending, I knew this would happen to an Anime based on a light novel/manga like this... well Rumia is an angel so it makes up with that 7/10

8. Renai Boukun - Kiss Note was a decent RomCom, nothing phenomenal but WUG did the OP and MONACA did the OST so, 7/10

9. Zero Kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho - meh loli witch and the beast, was a pretty good LN adaption but kinda overrated 7/10

10. Granblue Fantasy The Animation - More like GranWaifu Fantasy The Animation 7/10

11. Fukumenkei Noise - A decent shoujo manga adaption with GREAT MUSIC ALT.ROCK courtesy of Ayahi Takagaki and Saori Hayami! 6.8/10

12. Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka Gaiden: Sword Oratoria - Pretty sure the LN is better but the Anime adaption kinda sucks, well at least the Elf Yuri Vibes between Lefiya and Filvis were great 6.5/10

13. Saekano S2 - Megumi best girl but Utaha stole Aki’s first kiss so this show kinda sucks- well I didn’t expect much from a Harem Ecchi LN adaption so... 6.5/10

14. Hinako Note - Damn, the studio must’ve used all that fanservice in the show to make viewers unaware that this was just another basic moe slice of life Anime, well the OP and ED was great 6.5/10

15. Tsugumomo - Don’t have much to say, was just glad to hear Kiriha have Satania’s VA (Gabriel Dropout was my Anime of Winter 2017) 6.5/10

16. Frame Arms Girls - The F.A Girls were pretty cute and Aoi is pretty cute, too many panty shots but the Japanese audience seem to enjoy it, Base best girl 6.5/10

17. PriPri Chii-chan - Uh.. Momo Asakura and Toyosaki Aki ED, that’s all 6.3/10

18. Clockwork Planet - HOW DOES AN ADAPTION WITH A GIRL LIKE RyuZu AND A GOOD SOUNDTRACK END UP HAVING SUCKY ANIMATION AND PLOT?????? 6/10

19. Busou Shoujo Machiavellianism - Can’t believe people actually liked this generic harem ecchi LN adaption adding action elements so it wouldn’t completely suck, people are entitled to their own opinion and at least the few final episodes were quite brutal and interesting 6/10

20. Sin Nanatsu no Taizai - It’s a sin to watch this show but ay, hot and gay female Lucifir voiced by Kitamura Eri was cool... BOOBS 5.7/10

21. Sagrada Reset - Yui Makino sings the themes but... this show is kinda dead and boring, can’t believe David Production is gonna make this 24 episodes... I will still watch tho 5.5/10

22. Eromanga Sensei - Anime is dying because of series like these, fanservice of 12 year old girls, saying they love dicks and love to be naked while playing piano... Sagiri was cute enough to convince me to continue to watch it but damn the Anime community and industry messed up if they love s**t like this Abomination Reborn/10

#goddamn my Eromanga review #RIP Anime but ay Metal looking strong this year #long post #review #top lists #anime #metal #mb oji-san's lists

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buffaloareafishfrygal · 6 years ago

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April 19, 2019

Clarence Bowling Academy

10718 Main Street

Clarence, NY 14031

Good Friday and what a way to close out the season! Jim was so welcoming and accommodated our party of 10 for Bowling and dinner at 4:30pm. He was all over the place making sure the bar patrons were happy, checking in bowlers, AND taking food orders. Out of all the places I’ve been this was an amazing, unique, fish fry destination. 8 lanes in the back. Restaurant in the front. I loved it’s old school character. We had a blast bowling and playing the jukebox while we waited for our dinner. Good ole family fun! Now on to the fish... beer battered skin on haddock which was done well. Portion could have been bigger but it was tasty with a nice crispy shell 8.5. Fries were hand cut and had a great taste and seasoning. If you like a dark fry, these are for you 9. Salads all featured a “miracle whip” or salad dressing base. The cole slaw was highly shredded and wet but had great taste 8.5. Mac salad featured elbow macaroni with a slight green pepper hint. Simple but delicious 9. My favorite side was the potato salad. Fan damn tastic 10. Baked potato was standard fare but did not disappoint 9. Tartar was also a miracle whip base and did the job. Lots of great beers on tap. We enjoyed $9 pitchers of Budlight while bowling. Parking was plentiful off to the side. Front eating area was small but super cute. I LOVED this place. It made me so happy and we had so much fun. This gal will be back. Maybe for Sunday brunch and bowling? Overall rating is a 9. The ambiance really steals the show at this hidden gem but the fish fry was pretty great too!

#clarence #fishfry #fishfrygal #clarencebowlingacademy #touchtunes #bowling #goodfriday

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cjostrander · 7 years ago

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All That Remains: Overcome

Hello everyone! back from another busy break and are back to scratch another anniversary album off of the list. This album turns ten years old this year and is definitely one of the band’s most well known works. I could also say that it is the beginning stage of their transition into a more mainstream centric direction. As with future releases it still has a very heavy edge of course but on this album is where you start to see songs that actually had easy playing potential on the radio. This will be a good one to get off of the list today and is one of the picks that i made a note to try get done before the end of the year. I still have plenty of those albums to get to you while still trying to toss in a few new albums here and there so i haven’t ran out of material to review yet lol. Let’s get started!

Before the Damned: We start this album off with a rather tense drum opening that is sure to be a good concert opener for anybody that wants to start the aggression right away. The guitar riffs are very enjoyable and have a nice rhythm and melodic balance to get you going. Phil’s growl vocals make a nice entry that while not very coherent help to push the song nicely before the chorus arrives. The chorus is a very clean and displays a nice degree of power to keep the song changing up. Because of the muffled but enjoyable growls the lyrics likely won’t stand out on this one but it should still make for an enjoyable album opener for a first time listen. I definitely like how the growls are well balanced and textured; while the guitars provide plenty of melodically technical riffs to spice things up. 8.5/10

Two Weeks (Single): Now this was a big single for the album and starts off quick with an energizing yet simple guitar/drum opening. Music video is awesome and worth a view by the way. Phil arrives with a middle range delivery that isn’t quite clean but isn’t his usual growl style either. The chorus is much more coherent and the lyrics manage to stick out rather nicely in the song. This will help the listener to have some extra substance to ponder over while the song progresses. This one does pretty good live and definitely showcases their transition towards a more mainstream approach. Personally i think its a good move with this song since it will surely gain traction on rock stations and attract a more diverse audience due to its balanced vocals, pounding drums, and complex guitar instrumentals. 9/10

Undone: This tracks begins with more of that aggressive drum bashing and Phil arrives with a very powerful growl before shifting between clean melodies and harsh but effective screams. The chorus has a nice sense of drive and life which will help to make the song stick out a little extra to the listener. The instrumentals do a solid job of keeping the atmosphere full of melody, aggression, energy, and clear complexity; but most importantly; BALANCE. So far despite the complexity things seem just simple enough to keep the listener from feeling overwhelmed and needing a break; especially after being only three tracks in. 8.5/10

Forever In Your Hands (Single): This next single begins with a more relaxed melodic build up and takes its time and building the ambition in the listener. It will definitely be a decent workout song and Phil’s verses come by with a very nice sense of substance. The vocals have power but emotional vulnerability that will be very pleasing for a mainstream audience to sink into. The live potential is very easy and makes this a relatively safe but highly effective choice for a single that certainly broke new ground in the band’s sound in this album. 10/10

Chiron (Single): This final single is a personal favorite of mine from the band and is easily one of the heaviest on the album. It begins with a thematic guitar riff and pounding drum beats that really help the drummer to stick out on the album. Phil arrives with a energetically powerful growl style that will do wonders at getting a live audience up an moving. The instrumentals do well to provide the vocals with a strong lifeline to progress and should make it easy for the listener to remain energized as they progress into the second half of the album. The band brings in some melodic acoustic riffs towards the end that are very soothing and bring forth a nice transition element before the instrumentals gradually begin to infuse the song with a quick dose of melodic rush before closing out smoothly. 10/10

Days Without: This track starts off smoothly with a medium speed (for them) of melodic riffs before the drums begin bashing heavily and Phil pours forth a high degree of hard growl verses to keep the album’s momentum going. The drums definitely really stick out on this song and serve as a solid companion element to the vocals and would be a very pleasant element to see being done live. I could see single potential for this one due to its smoothness and continued balance that really helps this album to stand out as one of All That Remains’s strongest albums. 9/10

A Song for the Hopeless: Acoustic melodies begin this song off on a soothing note that will help the listener to refresh themselves a bit. Phil arrives with a soothing vocal melody that meshes with the song’s atmosphere rather blissfully before shifting into some fitting growl verses. The transition is actually pretty decent and enables the song to pull off a decent surprise for the listener to encounter. The lyrics may not be a strong focal point in the song; which is a typical case for All That Remains but flow-wise the song certainly takes risk that will stand up as either some of the best or worst in the band. For me this is one of the weaker songs personally but definitely is one that you respect for the elements that they dabble in on here. It shows a willingness to grow in the band and will help to keep them from putting the same thing out every year like other band’s i’ve reviewed in the past. 7/10

Do Not Obey: This one begins a bit too familiar to past songs so that initial rush of excitement may be missing on here but the growls do provide some intensity to enjoy while backing clean harmonies help to add some extra dynamics into the song. The growls and guitars do manage to develop a rather pleasant rhythm as it progresses and will certainly help to strengthen that song up so that it can be a stronger live pick for the band. Other than that; it’s one that may not stick out on its own but will contain substance to be a decent pick on shuffle and the clean verses do have a nicer sense of strength to them as well. 8/10

Relinquish: A single aggressive growl shows up nicely before the instrumentals provide a lower aggressive push to help the song obtain a nice sense of uniqueness. It is definitely a more rhythm oriented song but still retains a high degree of melodic speed in the transitions. The growls are definitely a good highlight that make this song just a bit stronger than the last one and as a result; a stronger choice for a live performance as well. It should also help to bring back interest in the listener in case the last two songs appeared to be a little stale in comparison to the previous ones. 8.5/10

Overcome: Growls start this one off very quick while the instrumentals retain a lower tone. The clean verses during the chorus are a smooth transition point that should provide the listener with plenty of substance to help shape this song up as decent middle ground tune for the album. The melodic instrumentals are definitely solid even if they are beginning to get typical by this point in the album. At least on this song they spend more time building a sense of climatic energy in them. It would be a standard safe pick for a live performance i think; so it has easy purpose. 8/10

Believe In Nothing (Nevermore Cover): This cover finale track begins with a very melodic foundation that is sure to bring up a very pleasing sense of emotional turmoil into the listener. The vocals take on a very unique tone that is surely fitting for what the album needs in a closing song to make the listener satisfied. The lyrics are a bit easier to follow and will bring some additional substance as a result. I definitely have to give them credit for picking this one as a single because its another potentially risky move that seems to work out rather well for them and showcase a growing sense of skill and diversity in the band that they’ve been able to build on since. 8.5/10

Overall album rating: 8.6/10

Well this one one took the top score for my All That Remains reviews beating The Order of Things by a margin of .1 This was a pretty good album from the band; it’s complex but balanced enough to feel simple at times yet fluid. It’s definitely an album that i recommend checking out sometime if you are looking for something a bit older that may have slipped through the cracks with you. I gotta be brief and head out now for a busy day so enjoy your long weekend everyone!

*Reviewer’s Pick*

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cjostrander · 7 years ago

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Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds: Who Built the Moon?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! After having that rather solid review for Liam Gallagher’s debut solo album “As You Were”; i felt pretty motivated to do his brother’s new album and have a battle so to speak between their work. I would of let it wait a little while but after blasting it for hours yesterday at work i have to get this gem up here and see how it does. It releases tomorrow for black friday so if you are looking for a christmas present then here’s an idea. It follows the band’s previous work and ventures on that dream pop like sound but with a very cheerful yet ambitious note to it. For guitar fans; it has been described as not really a guitar focused album; but it contains a lot of guitars. Kind of an asinine description but it means that the guitars are very active in creating a layered atmosphere than being in the forefront of the mix. Hope you guys enjoy this promo review!

Fort Knox: The album starts off on a mysterious note with heavy bass rumbles and rather energetic drum patterns that compare nicely to the Oasis song Fucking in the Bushes off of their album Standing on the Shoulders of Giants. Backing vocals help to give it a nice sense of life while the guitars and string elements work their magic in creating a very enchanting sense atmosphere. Noel comes in to toss in some verses here and there; but only as a lift to the song. The very blissfully complex instrumentals are what will give the listener a sense of awe when they encounter it and it does very well at establishing a very strong mood point to begin the album with. Where Liam was straightforward but remarkably strong; this one tackles him with a strong sense of complexity and musical maturity. Definitely a nice piece to open with. 10/10

Holy Mountain (Single): This is the first single on the album and begins immediately with a roaring drum beat and moving brass segment. Noel enters with a party like swagger that proves to be very energizing and perfect for opening a live show. The lyrics are very easy to understand and deliver a strong sense of substance for the listener to follow along to. It will be easy to sing along to as well and the prominent energy coming from the instrumentals will create a wall of layered momentum which the listener will immediately fall in love with. If there is a song that you will be blasting all day; then it is going to be this one. It’s definitely a smart pick for a single since it contains a very radio friendly sound while being very unique yet familiar to his fanbase. Pay attention to this one because if you haven’t gotten into his work yet then this will convert you easily. I also suggest checking out their first two albums as well because they are pretty solid in their own right. I did review their first one here but it was actually my first review ever. I don’t stand by that review since it was from my development stages of reviewing and i was trying to get the knack for scoring and describing the music. 10/10

Keep on Reaching: A groovy bass line begins this one under a steady drum pattern and it will gradually grow into a relaxing yet dance friendly tone. Noel arrives with a quick yet controlled delivery and it will infuse the song with a nice sense of class. The backing female vocals and carefully placed brass elements do very well at infusing the song with a high degree of class and complexity; which is a very big highlight to notice when listening to any of Noel Gallagher’s work. It definitely brings a stronger sense of difficulty than he did during his Oasis days. I say that loosely because i’m sure i can find a few tracks that fit the boot; but Liam and technicality usually never went hand in hand. That’s one big plus i will give Liam with his new solo album because you are really seeing a sign of growth on his part. 8/10

It’s a Beautiful World (single): This is currently the second single from the album and it begins with a rather cheerful guitar melody that appears very fresh even for him. The bass and drums create a nearly electronic rhythm format; which reminds me heavily of Radiohead’s style. The vocals are slightly echoed as to create that dreamy pop like atmosphere and the lyrics keep things flowing on an interesting note. The chorus brings forth a nice degree of theraputic emotion and will be a nice segment to focus on during a live performance. He does pretty well with the atmospheric layers since they are rather careful not to smother his voice or take away from the impact of the instrumentals. It’s another decent pick for a single since it will make a decent splash on poppier radio stations without appearing to be inching for that type of publicity. French female vocals arrive towards the latter half and give it a slightly more experimental vibe. It does sound like an announcer at a french train station but it succeeds in giving the song a worldly feeling. 8.5/10

She Taught Me How to Fly: The drums enter with a very blissful melody and the guitars do very well in helping to start this song off with a very dance friendly climate. Noel’s soft vocals do very well in giving this song a blissfully romantic foundation that will be perfect for getting you significant other on the floor for a memorable date night dance. The chorus contains a nice bit of focused energy and his lyrics will do an outstanding job of grabbing the listener’s attention and holding on for dear life. This one would make for a good live performance and single as well due to how positive in tone it is. The guitars and drums do stick out nicely on this one; so make sure to pay attention to those just as much as you do to the vocals. 10/10

Be Careful What You Wish For: Acoustic guitars begin this one on a rustic note and once the drums enter; it develops a rather nice blues vibe which will be rather hard not to dance along to. Noel enters with a calm yet commanding sense of swagger that allows for his lyrics to retain a strong sense of substance and mystery at the same time. The chorus hums are very reminiscent of the band’s first album; which is a nice throwback trait and will help to connect the fan-base with their earlier work. The female vocals do add in a nice touch during the middle section and keep things from feeling repetitive or lacking in creative charm at all. Not a bad piece to end the first half of the album with by any means. 8.5/10

Black & White Sunshine: The song starts off with an energetic combination of pop-rock and post-grunge which reminds me a little of early Matchbox Twenty at times. The guitars do very well at infusing the song with a sense of beauty and theraputic happiness. The vocals are very strong and emotionally lifting during the chorus; which will help it to retain a strong sense of substance during your initial listen. The drums keep a nice beat going but retain a supporting role while the guitars themselves manage to attain a little extra spotlight during the prechorus riffs. This would be a nice song to see being done live due to its refreshing tone and potential for a very engaging response from the audience. I can see some single potential so it’s got potential. 9/10

Interlude (Wednesday Pt.1): This instrumental piece begins with a soothing guitar melody and the use of romantic sounding acoustic do well at establishing a rather nice melody. The drums keep things filling with a nice texture before the keys arrive to deliver a strong sense of classical technicality for the listener to become refreshed with before the next track arrives. It’s a two minute piece so it justifies a scoring on this review otherwise; i’d only be scoring nine tracks on this album. 8.5/10

If Love is the Law: This song begins with a soft opening and then arrives a triumphant guitar/drum instrumental that is rather energizing yet soothing in atmosphere. The vocals are a bit layered in the background so it achieves a romantic sense of farewell. It’s lyrics capture a nice sense of substance as a result and will do well to attain a wide range of listeners on mainstream radio stations. It’s a bit simpler than the first half of the album; so it will do well to wind things down a bit at this point in the album before bringing a harmonica to keep things from getting lazy. Not a bad piece; though it does feel a little long. 8/10

The Man Who Built the Moon: This is technically the finale piece since the next track is an instrumental fade out for the album. This one begins with a loud guitar roar and accompanying drum bash that sets the song on for a very tense yet climatic foundation. It proves to be rather engaging and will stand a firm chance of grabbing hold of the listener with ease. Noel enters with a firm sense of control and seeks to develop a sense of mystery and atmospheric wonder as the song progresses further on. I does contain a little less power than the other songs but makes up for it with triumphant sounding guitar chords and background drum patterns; which keep things feeling layered. Overall not a bad piece to peak things with before the instrumental track closes things out. 8/10

End Credits (Wednesday Pt.2): This closing instrumental begins with a very soothing melody which is comparable to the first one; but adds in a little more key work to differentiate it from the first. Other than that; this one really just serves to close the album off on a smooth note as opposed to doing else so i won’t score it on the album. 0/0

Overall album rating: 8.9/10

Damn almost got an A- for a score. Either way it still beats Liam Gallagher’s new one by a margin of .5 and is the highest of Noel’s solo albums on the album. i would say that it is his best work yet and is really worth checking out. I suggest grabbing the deluxe edition because the live track Dead in the Water will really blow your mind. The live edge and emotional rawness will shape it up to be a very memorable track. It would of made the perfect closer for the album but is still a great piece to focus on during your first listen. I hope you all enjoy this one because it was a real fun one to do today and i have to go; but maybe tomorrow i will get another one out. I’m think an anniversary one but we will see what i’m feeling.

*Reviewer’s Pick*

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sambart93 · 7 years ago

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2017.10.24 Show By Rock (Cross Ambivalence) Review!

I literally had to get this out asap! I stayed up to write this damn thing! xD I saw the very first one when it came out (review here); but I’m not sure we should include it in this new cast/series xD

Official Site here Official Twitter here Press Coverage 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Video Coverage 1, 2, 3, 4

CAST and CHARACTERS

Shingancrimsonz: Yonehara Kousuke as Crow Teruma as Aion Torigoe Yuuki as Yaiba Naoya Goumoto (Takigawa Eiji) as Rom

Trichronika: Kamakari Kenta as Shuuzo Yutaro as Riku Kihara Rui as Kai

Arcareafact: Itokawa Yojiro as Titan Tanaka Ryosei as Orion Itagaki Rihito as Selen Takikawa Koudai as Argon

Ninjinriot: Tsuji Ryo as Arashi Isaka Ikumi as Oboro Takahashi Kensuke as Rin Akazawa Ryotaro as Kamui

Judas JR: Kubo Yukito, Matsumoto Kento, Abe Daichi, Masumoto Kenichi

Other: KIMERU as Adam Yoshioka Yu as Eve Toba Jun as Jii Kon Takuya as Maple Arisugawa

NON-SPOILER REVIEW

Overall: That was so much fun!! It might as well have been a real live! Lots of audience participation, lots of singing, wooing, dancing along etc. It was so. much. fun! I even cried! I cried at one point because it was sad. And I cried another time just because it was so much fun, I didn’t want it to end! It was so good! For me, the MVP was either Yojiro and/or Kensuke xD I’m happy they did a story from the anime. They’ve left it open enough to continue too! I hope we get another stage AND another live! Also I want a CD asap! Rating: 8.5-9/10

Seriously all the stages I’ve seen lately have been amazing! YumeStage, EnStage, (spoiler alert >) Honoo no Mirage, Captain Tsubasa, UtaPuri, now this!!

STORY

The story is about another battle of the bands but, we have the ex-members of Amatelast who are trying to get the band back together and plotting ways of breaking Rom and Shuuzo up from their current bands; with Rom and Shuuzo’s past coming up and both of their groups think they’re going to leave them. We also have a band coming from the future to warn them that everything is bad.

SPOILER REVIEW

Where to start?!??!!? xD

SCENES/COMMENTS

The opening straight away was hilarious because after Trichronika performed, Kai gave Shuuzo some water but Shuuzo/KenKen coughed on his water hard, couldn’t get his line out, and everyone was dying of laughter so he ‘started over’ and take a sip of water again xD Rui’s faced cracked hard when it happened.

There’s a scene where Crow looks and acts trashed out of his head drunk; but he’s just milk-drunk xD it’s so adorable and cute!

There’s a scene with Crow on a bike (he’s doing his part time job), and he ends up banging into Adam twice, and the second time even YoneChan cracked up and laughed his line out.

I was lucky enough to be right next to the break between the front seating area and the back seating area. I got so many good views and closeness from people <3 I was super happy that Naoya and KenKen came in from my side and they were like BAM right there! Also, there’s a scene where KenKen gets carried by Judas Jrs across this aisle area and because I was right next to the exit door for him, he was so slow leaving my eye line <3 and he waved to all of us as he went past too! In fact almost ALL of them walked past at one point because they wall came out in a line when they time traveled back to when Amatelast (Shuuzo, Rom, Adam and Eve) were together. And Akazawa walked so slowly in that outfit of his that he took ages to walk past me xD

Another golden moment thanks to me seat was Teruma headbanging almost AGAINST the girl in front of me - his hair was ALL in her face; she was dying of laughter as was I xD She was super duper happy after he left though - NOT because he left, but she got such direct fanservice. And Torigoe was across from me, leaning over the front area bar to give some girls fanservice too.

There’s a scene where Shingan are in a bar finding out about the Battle of the Bands tournament, but while Rom and Crow are trying to get sense of their manager, Yaiba/Torigoe was pretending to be a cat and was following Teruma’s tail around and Teruma was purposely playing with his tail and putting it in Torigoe’s face. Then Crow ends up with a flower and he uses it on both Teruma and Torigoe who became cats xD I’m pretty sure this is a higawari. Which Naoya/Rom could always perfect stop with his mighty fists and punches xD

OH! One major thing I love about this stage is that EVERYONE’S mics are on so if (for example) 8 characters are on stage, you can hear everything; also they’re pretty much able to play around and do stuff and interact stupidly if it’s not their line or if they’re not a major point to the scene so we saw a lot of hilarious things going on; both planned and unplanned.

Speaking of Rom’s fists! When he punches the teddy version of Manager Maple and then a mini teddy of him drops from the sky xD so funny!

But also speaking of fists and punches; Crow and Rom’s showdown fight broke my heart and it was during such a sad song sung by Teruma, Torigoe and Kimeru too! BUT it was impressive seeing YoneChan have such energy to keep falling almost every time Naoya ‘hit’ him. It was very well choreographed.

Related to Teruma! There’s a part of a song where he has to do screamo and oh my! Teruma’s screamo!!! It was good! His singing is always great but I didn’t know he could do screamo singing too!

OH! And those damn Shingen aprons are back! I was great seeing those again! And when Torigoe and Teruma’s part time ob involved cleaning the Judas Studio and they had to pretend to not be Yaiba and Aion so they could overheard Arcareafact’s conversation. Aion cleaned the floor in front of Argon as if he was playing Curling. And Torigoe put on an old woman’s voice and potted around. At one point Teruma always span around wipping the broom around too which was very funny.

Another funny part is when Kimeru finds Riku late at night but accidentally scares him by shouting, and so Riku runs of stage screaming, BUT Riku’s screaming also caused Kimeru to panic and scream too in return and he sort of ducked where he was. Then Kimeru went backstage to grab a weeping Riku and pulled him back on stage xD

I really love when the Manager actor sings too! There’s two great parrts! The first is when he sings on stage and slowly the rest of Shingan join in except Rom who’s just like ‘wtf are you all doing?’ but eventually Crow drags him to join in xD the other time is when he’s talking to Shuuzo in the aisle and he sings all his lines and also walks off singing. Shuuzo ends the scene by going ‘it seems like someone’s listening to us (meaning the audience xD)’.

I cried so easily and so hard when Shuuzo got to the hospital and was like (to Riku - who had gotten himself into a car accident because he was so miserable and upset about Shuuzo possibly leaving them) ‘YOU IDIOT! I WAS SO WORRIED!’ And then he hugged Riku and Kai like ‘I’ll never leave you two’. Shortly after this moment, we also have Kimeru breaking down which also broke my heart, especially because the scene fades to black with Kimeru just scream-crying his heart out =[ To then have the bands start performing straight after... it took me a good song to calm down and get back to enjoying it. But then I fully enjoyed it! SO MUCH FUN!

You can tell those that have Live/Band experience because they went ALL out and you can hear it in their voices by how well trained their vocals are and how amazing their range it and how they can blast out a song and not get tired: YoneChan, KenKen, Kimeru. Their love of performing just oozes out from them and very obvious to see.

I NEED a second live so I can do and support them!! They were all amazing! All the songs are great!!

I need another LIVE, another STAGE, AND I want a CD released please!!

ACTING

I won’t mention everyone, sorry(!)

Yonehara Kousuke as Crow: YONE IS THE PERFECT CROW! Need I say an more? He has so much DAMN energy and he’s just loud and crazy and does stupid things but also cares so much for his friends; he is EXACTLY as Crow should be. And that tummy, am-I-right?!

Naoya Goumoto (Takigawa Eiji) as Rom: While what happened to Eiji is terrible and unfortunate, I was so happy when Naoya got announced as his replacement. And he did not disappoint; he was enough Naoya as he was Rom <3 Rom is a character both he and Eiji suit very well. And we got to see Naoya WITHOUT a shirt! Like waaah! And he’s well toned too! I was goooogling a lot xD

I assume it’s a higawari but there’s one part when Rom is a salaryman and begging his boss for money and the boss says if he wants the money then he should do a Monomane/Impersonation. A girl in the audience told him to be a bicycle and YoneChan (who was on stage with Kimeru, looking on at Naoya and the boss) pointed to the bicycle on stage like ‘there’s one here!’ . But Naoya did the bicycle and used his tail to make it look like a seat but as he left the room as a bicycle, he blurted out ‘ISN’T THIS THE WRONG SHOW?! (referring to YowaMushi Pedal xD)’. It was hilarious.

Kamakari Kenta as Shuuzo: I love how KenKen just OWNS his mistkes in a way that he pretends they didn’t happen while everyone else is dying of laughter. Before the after event live started, he came on stage and fucked up his own bands name AND the name of the music tournament and he just ignored the fact he made the mistakes, smiled to the audience and continued his lines xD

By the way, Mitsuya Ryo (who played Shuuzo previously) was there tonight; KenKen did sing directly at someone in the audience at once point, so could’ve been him. I have so much respect for Mitsuya; he went to a musical where he was replaced and it’s clearly obvious KenKen is doing the FAR superior performance, yet he is all buddy buddy and smiles with KenKen and it looks genuine. If it had been me, I wouldn’t be going anywhere NEAR stages I get replaced in.

AND I’M SO HAPPY WE GOT TO SEE HIM AS DARK SHUUZO!! I love dark Shuuzo and his outfit was so pretty and sparkly!! *dead*

Yutaro as Riku: His singing has gotten a tad better than Hatsukoi Monster, but he definitely should not be cast in musicals. He’s able to act so he can stay in the stage world but he shouldn’t force his voice vocally so muhc xD BUThe character was so cute and adorable! He was the cutest whenhe was in hospital and had these white pjs on <3 And he was totally cute in the AfterEvent; he was the last one to put his instrument back, and KenKen and Rui waited so patiently for him. When he turned around and saw they were already waiting, he was a little flustered and hurried down to them; so cute! His character in this is very similar to his character in Hatsukoi Monster (review here).

Kihara Rui as Kai: It’s SO weird seeing him so adorable and cute and smiley! The gap between his true self (which I’ve heard is somewhat very straight faced and -__-) and this character is amazing. Also seeing him in Give Up Dance and then in this and seeing the drastic difference even between those characters is amazing! He’s definitely a talented actor and could go a long way. It was totally adorable when Teruma and Torigoe stole his drumsticks xD OH also he does this cool/kakkoi line during his solo song which was so cool yet also laughable xD

Itokawa Yojiro as Titan: Is there anything this mother fucker can’t do? I mentioned in my non-spoiler that he and/or Kensuke are the MVP of this stage for me. His voice is AMAZING! I didn’t expect him to sing SO WELL! But I should’ve because it seems to be part of the Bancho Boys requirements that they can sing (seriously, they can ALL sing from what I’ve heard so far). His voice was so great! He’s definitely his strongest when he’s NOT doing super high notes but still he was soooo good! I want everyone to hear his pretty voice! I’m trying NOT to be his fan because he already has a loyal and big-ish following but damn... he’s a great actor, he’s in a crap ton of popular shows, he can sing, he’s cute, we practically have the same birth, I enjoy everything he does... ugh... someone stop me from falling indeep with yet another actor. Also, his pants looked really good on him.

I really hope the next stage is Arcareafact’s backstory because Titan has a sad but interesting back story that I want to see on stage. Especially if it’s Yojiro! Goddammit boi.

Tsuji Ryo as Arashi: He looked freaking adorable! He was soooo cute!

Isaka Ikumi as Oboro: He looked SUCH cool and interesting. Visually he looked great; I want to see his (and the rest of Ninjinriot) developed more in future!

Takahashi Kensuke as Rin: OMG Kensuke, you know no chill. He was absolutely fabulous in this stage! Surprisingly his boobs become the least interesting part about him very quickly. How he can walk in those heels, constantly up and damn the stairs, with the massive height he already has is IMPRESSIVE. And his skirt was so DAMN short that my eyes were like o_O whenever he was on stage or near me (which he walked past me once and I got a good eyefull of his chest and how flawless his skin is around his arms and back - lucky bugger). With the heels and the skirt, his thighs looked amazing! And then his mannerisms were so feminine and fitted the character so perfectly and he kept in character SO FREAKING WELL! He was so pretty and so beautiful <3 how he suited this character so well is CRAZY! But I just wish he had more lines, more stage time, and actually sang - he didn’t sing at all, just ‘played’ his guitar xD I hope we get to see more of him in future stages/lives.

Akazawa Ryotaro as Kamui: He was so adorable too! But he walked so clunkingly and so slowly in his outfit xD

Judas JR: Were ALL adorable!!

KIMERU as Adam: It’s obvious I’m going to say he was wonderful and perfection in this! Kimeru always is. He KNOWS how to literally put on a show and be entertaining. Kimeru is always fabulous and always the life of the party and you can tell he LOVES performing and singing!

After Event

KenKen is amazing at being awkward but also just brushing it off and being normal xD << I already mentioned this moment above.

The special Trikronika live was so much fun! Especially when KenKen couldn’t even say their name properly and Riku and Kai corrected him about three times but pretend he never said it nor that he didn’t hear them xD

The live was A LOT of fun! They sang INSIDE -- when he said that, even lost their shit for some reason -- tis a good song though.

GOODS

I, and so many other fans, appreciate it so much that they decided to sell Eiji’s stuff too!

And there we have it! I had to get this one out ASAP because I enjoyed it so much!

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cjostrander · 7 years ago

Text

Blink 182: Dude Ranch

Hello everyone! It’s album number 400 and to mark it; i’m going to scratch off an essential anniversary review. This one turns 20 and was the final album with their original drummer Scott Raynor before Travis Barker took over on Enema of the State. It is a pretty quick work and will give you guys a break from the softer direction my reviews have been focused on lately. Hope you all enjoy!

Pathetic: First we begin this album with a fast drum bashing and energetically cheerful guitar riffs. Mark and Tom join with a back and forth delivery of quick and emotional verses. The chorus is highly energizing and will do very well at getting a live audience up and moving. Both singers do a pretty decent job so nobody is found to be lacking on this song so far. It also benefits the album as an opener due to its immediately dose of energy and substance; which will stand a strong chance of hooking the listener fast. 9/10

Voyeur: The drums start off with a low rumble while Tom enters with some of his angsty style vocals. Mark provides steady support while the guitars develop a layered sense of energy and hidden rhythm. The bass makes a nice presence in the mix; so bass fans will be easily pleased when this comes by. The lyrics are a bit humorous in theme and be an easy segment to follow along to as they progress. I will give him props for his level of coherency despite his level of speed. This layered approach could of easily resulted in them becoming cluttered real quick; so props earned! 8.5/10

Dammit (singe): Now this is an anthem song from your 90′s days and the best known track off of this album. The guitars begin with an emotionally tense opening before the bass and furiously pounding drums enter to infuse it with a high level of adrenaline. Mark sings perfectly on this one with his teenage yet oddly mature sounding tone. His delivery gives the lyrics a nice rumble/rhythm quality to them; which will help the lyrics to be very easy to follow along to. This will give them a solid level of substance that will resonate with the listener very well. The music video is worth watching so pay attention and as a live track; this is safe to assume as a concert staple for them; since this one garnered the band a high degree of attention at this early point in their career. This is only their second album after all and their first one was more joking than serious as an album. 10/10

Boring: The guitars bring a little grit into the mix before the drums and bass enter to infuse the song with a decent level of punk rawness for the listener to encounter. This is the shortest song on the album at just over a minute and a half long. It manages to maintain purpose on the album and will actually surprise the listener that it is actually as short as it is. It contains plenty of musical transition points so music-wise it has meaning. 8.5/10

Dick Lips (single): This next single begins with an ambitious drum/guitar opening and it does well to develop a strong level of energetic emotion for the listener to engage with. Tom sings rather smoothly with a strong emphasis on his lyrics; which will help to give them more meaning on the album. The modest level of rawness in the instrumentals will do well to keep things from feeling really commercialized or over-produced in any means. The slow vocal segments do make this one feel like a bit more of a drawn out listen but the brief slowdown will help to keep things from feeling too predictable at this point in the album. The guitar jam-solo is a nice segment so pay attention to that one when you see it. 8/10

Waggy: The guitars begin with another energetic opening and the drums will do well to infuse a high degree of bashing for the listener to fall in love with. The vocals from Mark are perfectly placed in the middle of the mix so that they carry calming strength without being smothered by the high paced energy of the instrumentals. The backing vocals from the two other band members do well to support Mark and further ensure that this one is going to be a very enjoying one to see during a live performance. This one would of actually been a good choice for a single since it is a longer song at 3 minutes and contains that extra sense of attention grabbing due to the instrumentals. I would make sure to make this a track you look at when browsing for the first time. This one and the next one easily. 9/10

Enthused: The guitars and drums start off fast with a dire sense of urgency and emotional turmoil. The fast pacing of these instrumentals will do wonders at getting your heart racing and will be ideal for a live audience to go crazy over. The vocals start off slow at first but then quickly grow with intensity as the drums pick up the pace of their bashing. Because of the high spacing between instrumentals and lyrics; this song is going to be better remembered for its lengthy instrumentals as opposed to their lyrical substance. Not bad for either since the lyrics are still solid and the instrumentals will make this a great jam track to work out. It also helps to showcase their musical chops to their growing audience at the time. 10/10

Untitled: The bass and drums begin with a steady warm up and Tom takes on a more angsty vocal style. This actually matches the pacing of the instrumentals rather nicely. Mark’s backing hums are rather soothing and do well at keeping this album flowing rather smoothly without sacrificing an ounce of meaningful energy. 9/10

Apple Shampoo (single): This third single starts off with some humorous vocal segments before Mark enters with a somber and emotionally tense vocal opening. The guitars give soft rhythm support as he progresses and once the drums arrive; the song returns to its cheerful punk instrumentals. The quick pacing of Mark’s delivery is decent but could of used a little more melody from Tom to prop them up a bit since his speed takes away focus from his actually lyrics at times. At other times they dont but thats because they do manage to slow down and obtain backing hums to provide this needed fix. 7/10

Emo: The guitars and drums open with a nice level of melody and Mark takes of a softly layered vocal style that reminds me of Tom Linton from when he originally sang for Jimmy Eat World’s first two albums. I do wish that guy still sang because he was phenomenal. Check out my review for their Static Prevails album and you will know. The pacing for this one is decent and will help the lyrics to retain a high degree of seriousness and substance for the listener to appreciate as the album begins to gradually wind down. 9/10

Josie (single): This final single begins with a medium paced drum opening and a catchy bass segment underneath the guitars. Mark then enters with a high degree of teenage energy and the lyrics immediately dig their catchy hooks into the listener’s focus. The substance in the lyrics is simple but highly effective for this band and should have little issue with keeping the listener highly engaged at this point in the album. 9/10

A New Hope: This one is a Star Wars song so expect them to get their nerd on with this one. The guitars begin with a nice sense of emotion and gradually grow into a highly smooth dose of energy that will put the listener in an energetic but highly soothing mode. The drums are very nice to follow along to and Mark’s vocals remind me of Jimmy Eat World’s song Episode IV from Static Prevails; but on a much quicker note. I really do suggest checking that album out after reading this because it will surprise you when you compare those days under Tom Linton to the more indie direction under Jim Adkins now. This song hits all the marks pretty smoothly with entertaining instrumentals and highly effective lyrics. 9/10

Degenerate: The bass opens this one up for a change and the drums give them a nice echo quality while Tom opens up. His vocals are bit nasally as can be expected and deliver some odd yet interesting lyrics for the listener to engage. The chorus is highly quick and lose coherency but make up for it with a fast pacing; which will get the listener’s heart racing rather quickly. This will help to maintain strength at this point in the album and should make for a decent toss in for a live show. 9/10

Lemmings: The guitars start a little low at first before joining with the drums to create a layered punk atmosphere. The melody is still there and Mark delivers a semi-quick set of vocals and Tom works hard to give him a blissfully melodic vocal layer. This layered touch will help his vocals to retain a sense of freshness as the instrumentals continue to keep the listener’s heartbeat rushing rather quickly. If you haven’t already guessed; this album is great for a workout playlist due to its speed and positive atmosphere. This album definitely shows a little more musical energy then their more commercial work does. I hesitate to say more complex mainly due to their self titled album. 9.5/10

I’m Sorry: This finale track is the longest one at five and a half minutes long. The guitars open up with a good melody before Tom enters to shift the song into a more somber direction. The instrumentals quicken up a bit and really give it their all to get the listener up and moving with ferocity one final time. The vocals do space themselves out a bit ; which will help the song’s runtime to retain a dose of purpose rather than just intent. The drums will be a nice instrumental offering even if they are pretty consistent throughout the song. They will offer a nice bashing element in the background. This one closes things on a rather nice note and hopefully leaves you feeling rev’d up for the day ahead of you. 8.5/10

Overall album rating: 8.9/10

Damn almost got an A- but hey great score still for a great album. This was a goodie to finally get off the list and give you all a break from the softer albums ive been grinding through. I hope you all enjoy this one and tomorrow if things go well i’ll try and get another one done for you. I gotta go get ready to teach class now; so see you later!

*Reviewer’s Pick*

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