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Happy birthday, Tom Waits (born in December 1949)

Happy birthday, Tom Waits (born in December 1949)Best Sheet Music download from our Library.Please, subscribe to our Library.Tom Waits' DiscographyFilmography (on Wikipedia)Tom Waits - "This One's From The Heart"Browse in the Library:

Happy birthday, Tom Waits (born in December 1949)

Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on society's underworld and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He began in the folk scene during the 1970s, but his music since the 1980s has reflected the influence of such diverse genres as rock, Delta blues, opera, vaudeville, cabaret, funk, hip hop and experimental techniques verging on industrial music. As per The Wall Street Journal, Waits “has composed a body of work that’s at least comparable to any songwriter’s in pop today. A keen, sensitive and sympathetic chronicler of the adrift and downtrodden, Mr. Waits creates three-dimensional characters who, even in their confusion and despair, are capable of insight and startling points of view. Their stories are accompanied by music that’s unlike any other in pop history.” Tom Waits was born and raised in a middle-class family in Pomona, California. Inspired by the work of Bob Dylan and the Beat Generation, he began singing on the San Diego folk circuit. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1972, where he worked as a songwriter before signing a recording contract with Asylum Records. His first albums were the jazzy Closing Time (1973), The Heart of Saturday Night (1974) and Nighthawks at the Diner (1975), which reflected his lyrical interest in poverty, criminality and nightlife. He repeatedly toured the United States, Europe and Japan, and found greater critical and commercial success with Small Change (1976), Blue Valentine (1978) and Heartattack and Vine (1980). During this period, Waits entered the world of film, acting in Paradise Alley (1978), where he met a young story editor named Kathleen Brennan. He composed the soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola's One from the Heart (1982) and made cameos in several subsequent Coppola films.

In 1980, Waits married Brennan, split from his manager and record label, and moved to New York City. With Brennan's encouragement and frequent collaboration, he pursued a more eclectic and experimental sound influenced by Harry Partch and Captain Beefheart, as heard on the loose trilogy Swordfishtrombones (1983), Rain Dogs (1985) and Franks Wild Years (1987). Waits starred in Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law (1986), lent his voice to his Mystery Train (1989), composed the soundtrack for his Night on Earth (1991) and appeared in his Coffee and Cigarettes (2003). He collaborated with Robert Wilson and William S. Burroughs on the "cowboy opera" The Black Rider (1990), the songs for which were released on the album The Black Rider. Waits and Wilson collaborated again on Alice (2002) and Woyzeck (2000). Bone Machine (1992) and Mule Variations (1999) won Grammys for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Contemporary Folk Album, respectively. In 2002, the songs from Alice and Wozzeck were recorded and released on the albums Alice and Blood Money. Waits went on to release Real Gone (2004), the compilation Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards (2006), the live album Glitter and Doom Live (2009) and Bad as Me (2011).

Waits has influenced many artists and gained an international cult following. His songs have been covered by Bruce Springsteen, Tori Amos, Rod Stewart and the Eagles and he has written songs for Johnny Cash and Norah Jones, among others. In 2011, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Introducing him, Neil Young said: "This next man is indescribable, and I'm here to describe him. He's sort of a performer, singer, actor, magician, spirit guide, changeling… I think it's great that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has recognized this immense talent. Could have been the Motion Picture Hall of Fame, could have been the Blues Hall of Fame, could have been the Performance Artist Hall of Fame, but it was the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that recognized the great Tom Waits." In accepting the award, Waits mused, "They say that I have no hits and that I'm difficult to work with. And they say that like it's a bad thing!" Musical style Per Bowman, Tom Waits: has never been of his time, ahead of his time, or, for that matter, locked into any particular time. An outsider artist before the term was in common use, Waits has been enamored, at various points in his career, with the cool of 1940s and 1950s jazz; the 1950s and 1960s word-jazz and poetry of such Beat and Beat-influenced writers as Jack Kerouac, Lord Buckley, and Charles Bukowski; the primal rock & roll crunch of the Rolling Stones; the German cabaret stylings of Kurt Weill; the postwar, alternate world of invented instruments and rugged individualism of avant-garde composer Harry Partch; the proto-metal blues of 1950s and 1960s Howlin' Wolf and their extension into the world of Captain Beefheart's late-1960s avant-rock; the archaic formalism of 19th-century parlor ballads; Dylan's early- and mid-sixties transformation of the possibilities of language in the worlds of both folk and rock; the elegance of pre-war Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and Hoagy Carmichael; the sophistication of postwar Frank Sinatra; and, more recently, the bone-crushing grooves of 1980s and 1990s funk and hip-hop. Indeed, the art of Tom Waits has altogether transcended time and, to some degree, place. Asked about the distinction between words and music, he says: "I'm still a word guy. I'm drawn to people who use a certain vernacular and communicate with words. Words are music, really. I mean, people ask me, 'Do you write music or do you write words?' But you don't really, it's all one thing at its best." His work was influenced by his voracious reading and by conversations that he overheard in diners. In addition to Kerouac and Bukowski, literary influences include Nelson Algren, John Rechy and Hubert Selby Jr. Bowman notes the influence of crime writers like Dashiell Hammett and John D. Macdonald. Tom Waits says that "for a songwriter, Dylan is as essential as a hammer and nails and saw are to a carpenter." Musical influences include Randy Newman and Dr. John. He has praised Merle Haggard: "Want to learn how to write songs? Listen to Merle Haggard." He is an opera lover, and recalls hearing Puccini's "Nessun dorma" "in the kitchen at Coppola's with Raul Julia one night, and it changed my life, that particular Aria… It was like giving a cigar to a five-year old." A jazz influence is Thelonious Monk: "He almost sounded like a kid taking piano lessons. I could relate to that when I first started playing the piano, because he was decomposing the music while he was playing it." Regarding his eclectic influences, he says: "I draw from all kinds of sources and I listen to a lot of things … I would recommend that when you are starting out that you stay with your own stuff and find out who you are. And stay with you mining your own unique qualities rather than trying to sound like somebody else. I mean you do start out like somebody else, and slowly you become yourself, so it's kinda like life, you know?" Waits described his voice as being "the sand in the sandwich." By 1982, Waits's musical style shifted; Hoskyns noted that this new style "was fashioned out of diverse and disparate ingredients." This new style was influenced by Beefheart and Partch. Noting that he had a "gravelly timbre", Humphries characterized Waits's voice as one that "sounds like it was hauled through Hades in a dredger." His voice was described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding as though "it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car." Rolling Stone also noted his "rusted plow-blade voice." One of Waits's own favorite descriptions of his vocal style was "Louis Armstrong and Ethel Merman meeting in Hell." Humphries cited him, alongside Newman, Kris Kristofferson and John Prine, as a number of U.S. singers who followed Dylan in breaking away from conventional styles of popular music and singing with their "distinctive" voices. Tom Waits can sing in falsetto, as heard on "Shore Leave", "Temptation" and "All Stripped Down". Waits said he couldn't sing in falsetto until after he quit smoking, adding "Nobody does it like Mick Jagger; nobody does it like Prince." He is known for his eclectic use of instruments, some of his own devising. On Swordfishtrombones, his orchestration included talking drums, bagpipes, banjo, bass marimba and glass harmonica; on Rain Dogs, accordion and harmonium; on Franks Wild Years, glockenspiel, Mellotron, Farfisa and Optigan; on Bone Machine and Mule Variations, the Chamberlin; on The Black Rider, the singing saw; on Alice, the Stroh violin; on Blood Money, a 57-whistle pneumatic calliope and an Indonesian seedpod. He explains "I use things we hear around us all the time, built and found instruments. Things that aren't normally considered instruments: dragging a chair across the floor or hitting the side of a locker real hard with a two-by-four, a freedom bell, a brake drum with a major imperfection, a police bullhorn. It's more interesting. I don't like straight lines. The problem is that most instruments are square and music is always round." As he later put it, "A lot of things are instruments and they don't even know it." Tom Waits' Discography Closing Time (1973) The Heart of Saturday Night (1974) Nighthawks at the Diner (1975) Small Change (1976) Foreign Affairs (1977) Blue Valentine (1978) Heartattack and Vine (1980) Swordfishtrombones (1983) Rain Dogs (1985) Franks Wild Years (1987) Bone Machine (1992) The Black Rider (1993) Mule Variations (1999) Alice (2002) Blood Money (2002) Real Gone (2004) Bad as Me (2011) Filmography (on Wikipedia)

Tom Waits - "This One's From The Heart"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P40vLY45nQQ "This One's From The Heart" by Tom Waits from the 'One From The Heart' soundtrack Read the full article

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daiguit91 · 1 month ago

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Top 50 discos favoritos del 2024: 50 - 41

Como cada año, llego el momento de hacer la tradicional lista de mis 50 discos favoritos del año, de mi para mi, y así en años futuros recordar lo que mas escuché y lo que mas me gustó en el 2024.

2024 fue un muy buen año para la música, tal vez el mejor de lo que llevamos de la década, de eso aun no estoy seguro, pero de que lo disfrute mucho eso no hay duda.

Como tumblr no me deja subir mas de 10 videos por publicación esto tiene que ir de 10 en 10, así que esta es la primera parte.

50: Nala Sinephro - Endlessness

Jazz Fusion, Progressive Electronic, Space Ambient ECM Style Jazz, Spiritual Jazz, Avant-Garde Jazz, Progressive Electronic, Nu Jazz, Third Stream

youtube

49: Toby Driver - Raven, I Know That You Can Give Me Anything

Art Rock Dream Pop, Slowcore, Post-Rock

youtube

48: Pyrrhon - Exhaust

Dissonant Death Metal, Mathcore, Avant-Garde Metal Noise Rock, Brutal Prog

youtube

47: Uniform - American Standard

Sludge Metal, Noise Rock, Industrial Metal Atmospheric Sludge Metal, Pigfuck

youtube

46: Jack White - No Name

Garage Rock Revival, Hard Rock Garage Punk, Blues Rock, Punk Blues

youtube

45: aespa - Whiplash

K-Pop, Pop Rap Contemporary R&B, Trap [EDM]

youtube

44: Spectral Voice - Sparagmos

Death Doom Metal Funeral Doom Metal

youtube

43: Spiral Staircase - The Perfect Child

Noise Rock, Post-Rock, Doomgaze Glitch, Noise, Ambient, Experimental Rock, Slowcore, Post-Industrial, Avant-Folk, Doomgaze

youtube

42: ØKSE - ØKSE

Avant-Garde Jazz, Experimental Hip Hop Abstract Hip Hop, Free Jazz, Jazz Rap, Experimental Hip Hop

youtube

41: Moin - You Never End

Experimental Rock, Post-Rock Math Rock, Post-Punk, Slacker Rock, Trip Hop, Spoken Word, Post-Rock

youtube

#nala sinephro #toby driver #pyrrhon #uniform #jack white #aespa #spectral voice #spiral staircase #OKSE #Moin #music #top 50 albums #2024 #Youtube

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mywifeleftme · 1 year ago

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124: PJ Harvey // To Bring You My Love

To Bring You My Love PJ Harvey 1995, Island

PJ Harvey was a difficult one to pin down in the early ‘90s; her music was as hard and uncomfortably direct as any of the era’s celebrated grunge acts, but she also had a bit of the dark cabaret aesthetic of a Nick Cave or a Tom Waits. Compared to the confessional songwriting of a Liz Phair, Harvey’s songs felt theatrical, their raw angst frequently couched in the aesthetics of murder ballads, folk tales, and macho blues posturing. To Bring You My Love closes the loose trilogy of her guitar-centric first utterances and marks the last time she could be unambiguously described as a rock artist. Despite its eerie subject matter, To Bring You My Love trades in the hostile sonics of the Steve Albini-recorded Rid of Me for a rumbling, seductive purr. New producer Flood (Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode) wisely retains the spartan arrangements of previous Harvey records, but the elements that are present get the royal treatment: this is an album of textured, industrial bass tones (mostly played on an organ rather than a traditional bass), guitar with mouthfeel, exceptionally well-mic’d percussion, and ample room for Harvey to act out her salival fairy tales.

youtube

The skeletal “Down by the Water” was the hit, and it masquerades as a simpler production than it is—on closer examination, it falls somewhere between Harvey’s established blues-punk trio sound and Massive Attack. Built around a buzzing organ figure and an incessantly ticking snare sample, Harvey’s seductive vocal is augmented by a dozen little percussive accents, from string hits to a watery keyboard loop that wouldn’t be out of place on an aughts microhouse track. The track is representative of the album’s generally subtle bells (literal) and whistles (figurative), though the chamber folk strings of "Send His Love to Me” hint at an Automatic for the People-esque grandeur somewhere beyond the swamp.

I’ve always felt that the album loses a bit of steam after “Down by the Water,” but it’s also pleasant to have the final three songs as a cigarette after the delicious raunchiness of “Meet Ze Monsta,” “C’mon Billy,” and “Long Snake Moan.” Though it was her most commercially successful and, at the time, critically acclaimed record, To Bring You My Love usually ranks somewhere in the middle of the pack for Harvey obsessives. It’s not a rawboned pair of hips jammed in your face like Dry or Rid of Me, nor as writerly a showcase as Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea or Let England Shake. Nonetheless, its bluesy, doomed vision of alternative rock might make for the best introduction to the music of a major but frequently “difficult” artist.

124/365

#pj harvey #'90s music #alternative rock #singer songwriter #female singer #vinyl record #music review #polly jean harvey #down by the water #flood

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trentreznortuesday · 1 year ago

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every album i listened to this year pt. 2

this is the second 119 of them + basic genre tagging.

Midori - Shimizu [hardcore jazz punk]

Midwife - Like Author, Like Daughter [alternative]

Miles Davis - Bitches Brew Sessions [jazz fusion]

MJ Lenderman - Boat Songs [alt-country]

MJ Lenderman & Wednesday - Guttering [alt-country]

Model/Actriz - Dogsbody [noise rock]

Model/Actriz - No [noise rock]

Nightosphere - Katabasis [black metal]

Nightosphere, Flooding, Abandoncy - 3 Way Split [black metal]

Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile [industrial]

NOFX - War on Errorism [punk]

NoMeansNo - Wrong [punk]

nouns - still [punk]

nouns - still bummed [punk]

nouns - WHILE OF UNSOUND MIND [punk]

Painkiller - Execution Ground [avant-garde jazz]

Panopticon - Autumn Eternal [black metal]

Panopticon - Roads to the North [black metal]

Panopticon - The Rime of Memory [black metal]

Parquet Courts - Content Nausea [post-punk]

Pelican - Australasia [post-metal]

Pelican - The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw [post-metal]

Pelican - Untitled EP [post-metal]

Pixel Grip - ARENA [electropop]

Planning for Burial - Below the House [black metal]

Planning for Burial - Desideratum [black metal]

Pretty Bitter - Hinges [dream pop]

Pretty Happy - Echo Boy [post-punk]

Priests - Bodies and Control and Money and Power [post-punk]

Prosperity Gospel - Society of the Spectral [black metal]

Protomartyr - Formal Growth in the Desert [post-punk]

Pure Adult - II [post-punk]

Pure Adult - Pure Adult I [post-punk]

PVA - BLUSH [synth-pop]

Ragana - Unbecoming [black metal]

Ragana - We Know That The Heavens Are Empty [black metal]

Ragana - You Take Nothing [black metal]

Raja Kirik - Rampokan [industrial kuda kepang]

Ramshackle Glory - Live the dream [folk punk]

Ramshackle Glory - The mark inside [folk punk]

Rid of Me - Access to the Lonely [alternative]

Scarcity - Aveillut [blackgaze]

Scratch Acid - Scratch Acid [noise rock]

Serac - The Ledger [sludge metal]

Short Fictions - Oblivion Will Own Me and Death Alone Will Love Me (Void Filler) [midwest emo]

Sigur Rós - ÁTTA [pot-rock]

Silver Jews - American Water [alt-country]

Silver Jews - Bright Flight [alt-country]

Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea [alt-country]

Silver Jews - Starlite Walker [alt-country]

Silver Jews - Tanglewood Numbers [alt-country]

Silver Jews - The Natural Bridge [alt-country]

Sleep - Dopesmoker [doom metal]

Sprain - As Lost Through Collision [black metal]

Sprain - The Lamb as Effigy [black metal]

Starscream - Future Towards the Edge of Forever

Street Sects - End Position [noise rock]

Stress Positions - Harsh Reality [hardcore]

Sun of the Sleepless - To The Elements [black metal]

Sunn O))) - Life Metal [drone metal]

SUSS - Promise [ambient]

Swans - To Be Kind [post-rock]

Sweeping Promises - Good Living is Coming for You [post-punk]

The Angelic Process - Weighing Souls with Sand [drone metal]

The Cars - The Cars [art rock]

The Distillers - Sing Sing Death House [punk]

The Hotelier - Home, Like Noplace is There [midwest emo]

The Jesus Lizard - Goat [noise rock]

The Jesus Lizard - Head [noise rock]

The Jesus Lizard - Lash [noise rock]

The Monks - Black Monk Time [punk]

The Mountain Goats - Devil in the Shortwave [folk rock]

The Mountain Goats - Isopanisad Radio Hour [folk rock]

The Mountain Goats - Jam Eater Blues [folk rock]

The Mountain Goats - New Asian Cinema [folk rock]

The Mountain Goats - Satanic Messiah [folk rock]

The National - First Two Pages of Frankenstein [alternative]

The Newfound Interest in Connecticut - Tell me about the long dark path home [midwest emo]

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra - Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything [post-rock]

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra - Hang On To Each Other [post-rock]

Tilt Contrls - Pizza Hut Demo Disc [punk]

Tongue Depressor - Broad is the Road that Leads to Death [drone]

Tongue Depressor - Fiddle Music Vol. 1 [drone]

Tongue Depressor - Fiddle Music Vol. 2 [drone]

Tongue Depressor - Fiddle Music Vol. 3 [drone]

Tongue Depressor - Fiddle Music Vol. 8 [drone]

Tucker Theodore - To Make the Sun Hurt [freakfolk]

Tyvek - Blunt Instrumental [punk]

Tyvek - Overground [punk]

Ulrika Spacek - Compact Trauma [post-punk]

Underdark - Managed Decline [black metal]

Uniform - Shame [industrial]

Uniform & The Body - Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back [industrial]

Upchuck - Bite the Hand that Feeds [hardcore]

Vulture Feathers - Liminal Fields [alternative]

Warmduscher - Tainted Lunch [alternative]

Water from Your Eyes - Everyone’s Crushed [art pop]

Weald & Woe - For the Good of the Realm [black metal]

Wednesday - I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone [alt-country]

Wednesday - Mowing the Leaves Instead of Piling ‘em Up [alt-country]

Wednesday - Rat Saw God [alt-country]

Wednesday - the smallest snowstorm on record [alt-country]

Wednesday - Twin Plagues [alt-country]

Wednesday & MJ Lenderman - How Do You Let Love Into The Heart That Isn’t Split Wide Open [alt-country]

Wet Leg - Wet Leg [post-punk]

Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising [chamber pop]

White Suns - Totem [black metal]

WHORES. - RUINER [noise rock]

Wilco - A Ghost Is Born [alt-country]

Wilco - The Whole Love [alt-country]

William Ryan Fritch - Built Upon a Fearful Void [ambient]

Wingnut Dishwasher’s Union - Burn the Earth, Leave it Behind! [folk punk]

Xiu Xiu - Girl with Basket of Fruit [industrial]

Xiu Xiu - Ignore Grief [industrial]

YHWH Nailgun - No Midwife and I Wingflap [noise rock]

Zeal & Ardor - Devil is Fine [alternative]

Zulu - My People… Hold On [hardcore]

Zulu - Our Day Will Come [hardcore]

沢村 NO HITTER - Demo Tracks Pt. 1 (HATE TO KNOW HATE TO TELL) [hardcore]

every album i listened to this year pt. 1

i listened to 238 albums that were new to me this year. this is the first 119 of them + basic genre tagging.

A Sunny Day In Glasgow - Sea When Absent [noise pop]

ABBA - Volume 25 [karaoke]

Agriculture - Agriculture [black metal]

Agriculture - The Circle Chant [black metal]

Alcest - Écailles de Lune [black metal]

Altar of Plagues - White Tomb [black metal]

Animals as Leaders - Parrhesia [djent]

Another Heaven - 1: You Are Loved [shoegaze]

Art Sorority - Older Boys [folk punk]

Ashenspire - Hostile Architecture [black metal]

Atomic Guava - Peasants of the Future [power metal]

awakebutstillinbed - chaos takes the wheel and i am a passenger [emo]

Bad Religion - New Maps of Hell [punk]

bar italia - Tracey Denim [post-punk]

Basketball Divorce Court - rebound [punk]

Big Black - Atomizer [noise rock]

Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You [alt-country]

Black Ends - Stay Evil [noise pop]

Black Math Horseman - Black Math Horseman [black metal]

Blanky - Blood Harmony [alternative]

Bosse-de-Nage - Bosse-de-Nage [black metal]

Bosse-de-Nage - ii [black metal]

Bosse-de-Nage - iii [black metal]

Bosse-de-Nage/Deafheaven - Split EP [black metal]

boybrain - In The Company of Worms [punk]

Bríi - Último Ancestral Comum [rock]

Cable Ties - All Her Plans [punk]

Callous Daoboys - Celebrity Therapist [hardcore]

Charlie Megira - Da Abtomatic Meisterzinger Mambo Chic [lo-fi]

Chat Pile - God’s Country [sludge metal]

Chat Pile - Remove Your Skin Please [sludge metal]

Chat Pile - This Dungeon Earth [sludge metal]

Chat Pile & Nerver - Brothers in Christ [sludge metal]

Cherub Tree - where are your manners [alternative]

Choncy - Community Chest [post-punk]

Corker - Falser Truths [post-punk]

Crime of Passing - Crime of Passing [post-punk]

Dark Factory - Dark Factory [new wave]

Days ‘N Daze - Rogue Taxidermy [folk punk]

Days ‘N Daze - Songs We Recorded for Splits [folk punk]

Dazy - OTHERBODY [alternative]

Deafheaven - New Bermuda [blackgaze]

Deafheaven - Sunbather [blackgaze]

Deeper - Careful! [post-punk]

Dirty Old Town - No Returning Home [alternative]

Dummy - Mandatory Enjoyment [post-punk]

dust - et cetera, etc [punk]

Eddy Arnold - Cattle Call [country]

Ekko Astral - Quartz [punk]

Ekko Astral - The Quartz Farewell [punk]

Elizabeth Colour Wheel - Nocebo [black metal]

Erik Hall - Canto Ostinato (Simeon ten Holt) [neo-classical]

Erik Hall - Music For 18 Musicians (Steve Reich) [neo-classical]

Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden, I Miss Everyone [post-rock]

Explosions in the Sky - How Strange, Innocence [post-rock]

Ezra Furman - All of Us Flames [art rock]

Ezra Furman - Perpetual Motion People [art rock]

Ezra Furman - Transangelic Exodus [art rock]

Ezra Furman - Twelve Nudes [art rock]

Feeble Little Horse - Girl with Fish [shoegaze]

Fela Kuti - Beasts of No Nation [afrobeat]

Fela Kuti - Coffin for Head of State [afrobeat]

Fela Kuti - Expensive Shit [afrobeat]

Fela Kuti - Roforofo Fight [afrobeat]

Fela Kuti - Zombie! [afrobeat]

Feminazgûl - The Age of Men is Over [black metal]

Frail Body - A Brief Memoriam [hardcore]

Fucked Up - Dose Your Dreams [hardcore]

GEL - Only Constant [hardcore]

Genital Shame - Gathering My Wits [alternative]

Gilla Band - Live at Vicar Street [noise rock]

Godcaster - Godcaster [psychedelic rock]

Hatchie - Giving the World Away [dream pop]

hey, Ily! - Internet Breath [bedroom pop]

Hoaxed - Hoaxed [alternative]

Home is Where - i became birds [emo]

Home is Where - our mouths to smile [emo]

Home Is Where - The Whaler [emo]

Horse Lords - Comradely Objects [microtonal]

Horse Lords - Hidden Cities [microtonal]

Horse Lords - Interventions [microtonal]

Horse Lords - The Common Task [microtonal]

Hot Snakes - Automatic Midnight [post-hardcore]

Housewives - Twilight Splendor [post-punk]

Ian Noe - Between the Country [bluegrass]

illuminati hotties - FREE I.H.: This Is Not the One You’ve Been Waiting For [pop rock]

Institute - Readjusting the Locks [post-punk]

Jane’s Addiction - Nothing’s Shocking [alternative]

Jeff Rosenstock - HELLMODE [punk]

Jeff Rosenstock - No Dream [punk]

Jeff Rosenstock - POST- [punk]

Jeff Rosenstock & Laura Stevenson - Still Young [punk]

Josaleigh Pollett - In The Garden, By The Weeds [bedroom pop]

julie - pushing daisies [alternative]

Kitten Forever - 7 Hearts [riot grrrl]

Kurt Vile - b’lieve i’m goin down… [alt-country]

Lamp of Murmuur - Saturnian Bloodstorm [power metal]

Leonard Bernstein - Chichester Psalms [choral]

Leonard Cohen - New Skin for the Old Ceremony [folk]

Leonard Cohen - Songs from a Room [folk]

Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker [folk]

Liturgy - 93696 [black metal]

M(h)aol - Attachment Styles [post-punk]

M(h)aol - Gender Studies [post-punk]

Malthusian - MMXIII [black metal]

Mamaleek - Cadejos [black metal]

Mamaleek - Come and See [black metal]

Mamaleek - Diner Coffee [black metal]

Mamaleek - Those Who Pass Between Fleeting Worlds [black metal]

Mandy, Indiana - i’ve seen a way [post-punk]

MDC - Live at CBGB’s [hardcore]

MDC - Millions of Dead Children [hardcore]

MDC - Millions of Dead Cops [hardcore]

MDC - Multi-Death Corporations [hardcore]

Meat Puppets - Meat Puppets II [alternative]

Meat Puppets - Up on the Sun [alternative]

Messa - Close [hard rock]

meth. - Mother of Red Light [noise rock]

Midori - Aratamemashite, Hajimemashite, Midori Desu [hardcore jazz punk]

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anotherterritory · 3 years ago

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astrobstrd · 2 years ago

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2022. GAME OF THE YEAR. OK?

Hey folks, season's greetings. Runner-up for most sentimental gamer 2021 here and I got a bug up my ass to write about video games. It's equal parts games that did and didn't release this year. Forgive me for any run-ons or excessive commas, this started as a piece on one game on the list and then became a top 10, then it spiraled out of control a tad as I forced myself to write more. Regardless, I'm happy with it and you can check it out under the read more. Happy holidays!

GUNDAM EVOLUTION

Gundam Evo is so goddamned weird. It’s a great game that I cannot recommend anyone jump into now. I really enjoy the core gameplay loop and what it does versus a game like Overwatch— the dash and boost system serve as a salve to the ever-present hero shooter roll-out problem and offer a little bit of movement unpredictability, the lack of clearly defined roles prevented the game from having a dichotomy of “hard” or “soft” tank and support units, and, generally, I found myself having more fun with it than I could recall having with OG Overwatch at the time. Every time I think about going back, however, I remember that it’s one of the clearest examples in recent memory of a publisher just not really giving a shit about its product.

The game sits at a sub-1k player count on Steam, with no way for people in certain regions of the world to even play the game, the console versions took a full two months after initial release to hit digital storefronts, and there’s no backfill system in any capacity. For a game to have such promise in a world where only one hero shooter really survived the late ‘10s burnout period, then to fizzle out so quickly… it’s just kind of a bummer. I would not be surprised if the game is shuttered by this time next year. Still, the time I spent with it felt immensely satisfying.

FORTNITE

Yeah. I fell in last year, (completely by coincidence, when they put the skanking emote in, if you can believe that, which you shouldn't,) and now that I can play Zero Build, my playtime's only gone up. I've also watched as the remaining capital G-I Games Industry folks I follow, who poked and laughed at the Tower Building Gaming For Children also fall into the exact same hole. So... lmao.

I think as you get older you do look for a few more opportunities to have a common activity that you nor your friends really pay a whole lot of attention to but use as a vehicle to shoot the shit. That's Fortnite. It's like getting drunk at a baseball game in the middle of the day for late millennials. It also has full patch cycles that are genuinely, unabashedly, very fun. We got dirtbikes and gravity hammers and fuckin Doom Slayer now man! It's great!

Oh, and to defend my honor just a little, I've spent a grand total of $14 on it. I caved to buy the Rasputin and Gangnam Style emote. What are you, the IRS? Leave me alone.

SONIC ROBO BLAST KART 2

...henceforth referred to as SRB2K because I'm not typing all of that out again, is not a live service game, and also a mod for Doom. It's (probably) the best Sonic kart racer ever made, and it's all built in a game that has nothing to do with the little blue freak. It feels fantastic to play, and it evokes the same feeling of fuzzy-warm coziness that I got from playing a lot of Skulltag one winter. I spent quite a lot of time in late January and February compiling user created SRB2K mods, hacking together soundpacks for existing characters, and screaming into a microphone as I careened through some of the best and worst maps I've ever played in a racing game.

DEAD BY DAYLIGHT

I pretend to hate this game and sometimes I do.

And now it's time for

Let's find out!

10) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge

Man, was this a fun surprise! I’ve never been the biggest turtles guy, but I am enough of one to have a favorite that I’ve picked almost entirely on the basis of color and weaponry. (It’s Don, for the record.) I am also enough of a fan of cooperative side-scrolling beat-em-ups that playing this whole game in a little under four hours with a group of friends was a complete blast. I have this weird hang up where I just can’t play these games solo. I think most beat-em-up devs also know that the real meat is in flying through them with a buddy or three or five. (After all, the only way I was ever going to finish Double Dragon: Neon, a game that I love but was definitely not the target market for, was playing it in co-op a year after its release.) That all being said, the fact that TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge allowed for six players at a time is as perfect as it is completely batshit and overwhelming. I’d routinely lose my place altogether as the genuinely fantastic backdrops and battle arenas turned into a flurry of blows and flying footclan bodies, and I simply did not mind.

While my time with it didn’t last long, I couldn’t help but admire the fact there was enough depth in the combos and strategic use of heavy moves, super attacks and thug-juggling technique to potentially make the game worth replaying. This is not even mentioning the genuinely fantastic sprite, level and sound design work. Fast, fun, and punching above its weight class as a title that was free day one on Game Pass, a fact of the gaming landscape that I constantly feel like we’re on the verge of having a reckoning with. Anyway!

9) Rumbleverse

I must preface this blurb with the fact that I have completely fallen off of Rumbleverse and I am genuinely sad I don’t have more to say about it. It’s been probably 3 months since I last fired into Grapital City, but the pull to go back amidst my neuroses and general malaise has been strong. It’s one of the few battle royale games where the insane love for its inspirations and the dedication poured into the game itself both shine right through. From the looser fighting game influence in its move priority and combo systems, to the completely unmistakable wrestling mark DNA, Rumbleverse is authentic and just plain fun. Compared to your bog-standard, shooty-bang-bang battle royale, the hype, guttural-noise-inducing moment ratio is off the fucking charts here, and that’s reason enough for me to include it.

By the way, every now and then I’ll hear people bemoan the fact that there are no melee-focused battle royale games. The fact that this game did not once and for all solve this quandry for people despite being the best implementation of that concept? It makes me want to scream.

8) Marvel Snap

Don’t look at me like that.

I really didn’t expect to like Marvel Snap. I’m not a comic book or superhero movie guy, but it’s amazing what being both free and available on Steam can do for you. Despite starting a little rough and having some growing pains in making decks that I actually wanted to use, the game of Snap itself is undeniably fun and incredibly easy to fall into. As of the time of writing this, I’m collection level 593 and I can no longer deny that I’m just playing it for giggles. This is the game that the certain-Blizzard-card-game-playing-me of 2017 wanted and just didn’t realize. Despite the whale bait in this very obviously mobile card game being clear and evident, and the fact that there is no way to assuredly get cards you want before level 500, I still somehow feel like this is the one online CCG I’ve seen that treats you with some modicum of respect... so long as you pace yourself and play in chunks. The quick nature of Snap, of course, isn’t really conducive to this, but you really just have to chalk that one up to terrible, awful, no-good, very bad mammalian reward responses.

I know the one thing that people just cannot shut up about is the game’s brevity, but it really is important to herald. As someone who’s played half-hour Hearthstone matches, it’s an undeniable factor in its continued popularity. After a particularly rough two days in late November where I kept snapping and kept playing despite losing six(!) ranks, I remembered an extremely salient realization I had while falling out of love with MOBAs a few years ago— if it sucks bad enough, you can leave. You can hit da bricks, so to speak, if you’re not making anyone else suffer as a result of it. If you’ve put a handful of your chips on black the last six spins and lost every time, it's okay to walk away from the goddamn table.

Latent gambling impulses aside, Snap is undeniably fantastic, and not even the only card game I’ve been playing this year.

7) Downfall: Slay The Spire

I’ve played a lot of Slay The Spire. It’s probably not even a fraction as much as the truly dedicated card gaming wizards that I’ll occasionally see screenshots from on the Community Hub, but damn, I love that game. Slay The Spire also came to me in a weird time; I was knee deep in my graveyard shift job at a gas station and spent my evenings, (7AM-11AM on any given day,) trying DESPERATELY to find a game that didn’t require too much of me but was still engaging enough to play between smoking pot, drinking, doing laundry, or all three. I bought the game on a whim, knowing only that it was a rogueli(k)(t)e and a card game, then fell ass over end into a Spire shaped hole.

Downfall: Slay The Spire is a lovingly crafted mod that pretty much just serves as an excuse to get me to play even more of this damn game. From the incredibly well-translated boss characters to the Hermit’s ability to pass as a character that Mega Crit would’ve made themselves, Downfall is fantastic. It could easily pass as an officially released expansion, and it's something I’ve already lauded over in the Steam Reviews for it

6) HYPER DEMON

This shit is bananas, man. I loved Devil Daggers so, so much, and despite still being squarely stuck 50 seconds away from the Devil Dagger, I swear I will get it before I shuffle off this mortal coil. And you’re gonna give me another lofty goal to strive for in a completely different game 6 years later? Fuck you m4tt. I love you m4tt.

I’ve played 3 ½ hours of HYPER DEMON so far. It was all in one sitting. I was amazed I didn’t forget to breathe during all of those 210 minutes. It’s the exact same all-consuming, focus demanding immersion that Devil Daggers ensnared me with in 2016. It’s Devil Daggers: Puzzle Fighter. It’s a cocktail of cosmic horror, Windows Media Player visualizer, Quake 3 montage over-editing, what I imagine the visual sensation of DMT looks like, and pure, unfettered skill-based FPS ecstasy. HYPER DEMON holds you to the sanding belt of its incomprehensible blazing-fast iridescent horrorscape and is unfeeling to whether you can handle it or not. I want more.

I need to play more. I will be playing more. I live to serve SORATH.

5) Super Mario 64 — B3313

I have never completed Super Mario 64. In fact, to my recollection, I never actually owned a copy of it despite having an N64 around the time of its release. I did, however, play an awful lot of this Super Mario 64 romhack in January. It has stuck with me ever since.

In second? grade I’d pass the controller at my best friend's house, as each of us desperately tried to clinch the red coin star in Lethal Lava Land or not tumble off Cool, Cool Mountain. In my teens I’d boot up an emulated copy through Project64 and try, to my behest, to play a game that paled in comparison to the breadth of experiences I’d already had with, at the time, recently released games. (Of course, when your high watermark is something like Garry’s Mod with workshop support or Just Cause 2, anything else feels like hoop and stick.) Even still, I appreciated what Mario 64 meant at both of these stages of my life, for one reason or another. Now, as an adult who claims to have a pretty good understanding of video gaming history, that respect has only deepened.

As a kid, I could recall broad strokes of the in-game world when I was away from the Mario Sanctioned Zone of my best friend’s house. The general layout of the first floor of Peach’s Castle, the first Bowser stage, the royal slide, as well as strange fragments of the hub world architecture scattered through my brainspace. In the days after a hang-out or sleepover, I’d devise ways to get around stages in my head, but SM64 never stuck in my craw for long amounts of time. Yet, I still had moments where it was forced back into my consciousness.

During a particularly shitty bout with the flu when I was about seven, my child brain conjured up visions of a castle that… sort of existed. In between retching up anything that wasn't saltines and soup, half-watched segments of Nickelodeon’s Games and Sports channel, and confronting the sickly taste of bile and lemon-lime Gatorade, I’d pass in and out of dreams, seeing feverish facsimiles of Mario 64. Strange floating voids that might’ve resembled a run-up to Bowser, Tick-Tock-Clocks that didn’t seem to match up with what was on the cartridge, and impossibly long hallways that bled into one another.

I had a passing knowledge of the “every copy of SM64 is personalized” “meme” before playing B3313, and saw increasingly convoluted icebergs and the Wario Apparition, (something that thankfully doesn’t show up in this romhack,) as laughably goofy addendums to already lame gaming creepypastas. The general idea of this hack, despite being fueled by this mix of amateur horror, is something still so genuinely fascinating to me. It's not even really the concept of a game with a “personalization AI,” but moreso the idea of imperfect memory. Things might be changing without any input from some spooky and malicious entity pulling the strings, you just can't remember what these places looked like. Those who are as equally fascinated with B3313 as I am use that term— “fever dream.” They use it liberally when talking about the general feel of the romhack, while also mentioning that at some point during their childhood, they would also have dreams about parts of Mario 64 that didn’t exist, or were slightly off. As one of those people, B3313 nails that exact feeling one-hundred percent.

Super Mario 64: B3313 is a fever dream come true. It’s a slurry of beta, demo-build and original content that bleeds into areas from the retail copy of Super Mario 64. Despite its brief, eyeroll-worthy, yet awkwardly fitting brushes with metatextual horror writing, (enter this cave if you want to see your deepest fears unfold!!!!!!!!!,) the main conceit of this strange, alternate-history beta-dump Mario romhack still hits like a guided missile to my brain. The seldom-played yet still familiar memories of Peach's Castle turn from a welcoming environment into an LSD: the Dream Emulator-esque maze of doors to entirely different castles, alternate versions of existing Mario worlds, densely foggy ominous hallways, and harshly inhuman architecture. It’s bizarre, surprisingly unsettling and manages to evoke a sense of familiar unfamiliarity.

B3313, Wet Dry World’s Negative Emotional Aura and the Personalized Copy concepts are at a bizarrely interesting confluence of childhood imagination, video game folklore, niche meme culture, and, most importantly to me, the impermanence of memory. It already feels like decades ago that we were telling people that, no, Nelson Mandela did not die in prison, the Berenstain bears’ surname was just being misremembered, and, uh, that Taco Bell never had “medium” sauce, but there’s something weirdly different about the foggy, self-aware recollection of sections from Peach’s Castle that never actually existed. There’s an unspoken understanding in YouTube comment sections and other circles versed with B3313 that none of this is, y’know, for real. It’s all gotten a bit tongue and cheek and suffocatingly ironic now, and while some would consider this a horrible breaching of kayfabe, I see it as a necessity to prevent B3313 and other experiences like it from becoming deeply lame, reminiscent of the early days of extremely self-serious YouTube ARGs.

There’s a seal that you break at some point if you came up playing video games. It’s the realization that everything in the game you’re currently playing is there on the disc. Emotion engines and curated experiences cannot magically conjure a completely unique experience specifically for you. With digital games, automatic updates, and the increasing capabilities of neural networks and AI, this becomes a harder point to make, but we’re not quite to the point where games can just generate new assets out of thin air. New content speeds through pipelines for still-alive service games, patch notes get nailed to the theoretical doors of your chosen Gaming Chapel, yet ghosts do not haunt hardware. There is no “personalization AI” present in a two-decade old N64 rom, and with how fast information travels and the fact that leaking video game news and secrets is basically a goddamned industry now, most games don’t get to keep their secrets for long, no matter how much I may want them to.

As you do with the childhood loss of innocence, you learn to eventually understand and cope with the feeling that games are not infinite dream machines made for you and you alone. However, you inevitably replace that malaise and disappointment with the fact that these collections of data and if-then statements still have so, so much to share with you. Experiences like B3313 come along from time to time to serve as a haunting reminder, though. This romhack is a transmission from a moderately different yet hauntingly similar reality that threatens to plunge you back into the depths of childlike mystique, wonder, and, funnily enough, horror, but with your current adult understanding and awareness. It’s equally as enticing as it is terrifying.

I know part of it is just getting older, not having enough space in your head for everything, and generally just "recording over" less important events in your life, but I've realized in the last few years that I don't remember parts of my childhood. I'm not talking year long spans or anything like that, but traumatic experiences that my brain has blotted out, or lengths of time that I just used to remember very succinctly. I don't think my childhood was any more or less extraordinary than anyone else's, probably on the "less" side of that spectrum, actually, but… it just feels weird. In finding old TV show uploads and reliving games from that time period, I feel like I've been trying to piece it back together or convince myself that I shouldn't. I think this romhack, in its own way, helped me cope with a little bit of that.

Playing B3313 is tasting honey lemon cough drops as I sweat into my childhood bedsheets, drifting in and out of tenuous sleep in my dark bedroom in the middle of the day. In its own weird way, it’s beautiful.

4) Hitman: World of Assassination

Thanks for sticking with me through that.

Up until recently, I always felt like an outsider when I said I was a fan of the Hitman games. I loved Blood Money when I was at the ripe old age of 10, and loved watching Tom Bowen’s “How Not To Play Hitman” series slightly more than actually playing it. I did end up finishing Blood Money, eventually moving onto Silent Assassin and, for some reason, Codename 47. I could not finish the first, nor stomach the latter, and it always made me feel like… a poser, I guess? They were pretty “hardcore” games at the time, known for stringent stealth and detection mechanics, and looking at forum posts and videos at the time it felt like I wasn’t getting The Full Experience by not being a bad enough dude to play them, let alone get Silent Assassin ranks. The World of Assassination trilogy has blown that locked door off the fucking hinges for me.

The three newest Hitman games are wonderful romps. As someone who’s been following Giant Bomb for a decade and loved their Hitman coverage and content, it feels like I’m just copying their homework here, but oh well. From throwing homing briefcases and walking around as a clown with a WA2000, to actually seeing the bald beauty's story wrap in the third chapter, Hitman asks you to take these games as seriously as you can. While you’re still definitely Agent 47, (nom de guerre, Tobias Rieper,) and still definitely going through an actually pretty good plot thrust in between garroting sociopathic billionaires, you are given carte blanche to steal so many clothes, chuck so many wrenches and empty as much lead into bystanders as possible with very little restriction. It's this distinction that I feel makes stuff like World of Assasination and, in my opinion, the Dead Rising series work. Comedy is often a hard thing to do in games, and I feel it's best left up to player expression and interpretation in most cases.

Whenever possible, I WILL go for alert-less stealth runs in any game where it's possible, and I killed hours meticulously reloading checkpoints, or missions wholesale, in the World Of Assassination trilogy back in February just to get Silent Assassin. But I also had plenty of moments where I had to break my own self-imposed restrictions to, for example, shoot Vanya Shah right in the back of her smug head and beat a quick, immediately exposed retreat as I let the exhausted sweatshop workers she rules over see her body careen two stories to the ground below her. This was a moment so satisfying that I am struggling to not reinstall the game right now and record a clip myself. (By the way, while Hitman has never been about killing people who don’t deserve it, WoA’s targets ride a hell of a line between being laughably sociopathic and ripped from the headlines of [what is hopefully not] the near future. I really do admire it.)

Hitman had some of my absolute favorite moments this year and, despite it pushing you strongly to a lot of those moments, they never felt unearned. I often yearn for the desire to feel like I truly was the brain genius who earned my moments, but Hitman helped lessen some of that stringency on myself while still allowing me to push my understanding of the game. From throwing Erich Soders’ replacement heart into the trash to whacking the Janus in a send-up to Blood Money’s A New Life, it’s some of the most satisfied I’ve ever been getting lead to water.

And, god, that fucking mission in Berlin? Insane. Insane. I know people talk up Dartmoor a lot and it does deserve it but… man.

3) Dicey Dungeons

In the midst of my summer-time seasonal depression, nothing was really working for me. I found myself pouring over what was on PC Game Pass, writing off games that seemed like too much of an undertaking after I’d completed a certain, lengthy RPG earlier in the season. Dicey Dungeons was a blip on my radar once upon a time, but had slipped through the cracks of my memory until I scrolled past it in my Xbox app, then inched my way back up to it.

I am both surprised and not that I spent SO much time playing Dicey Dungeons this year. As a man that will play any rogueli(k)(t)e you put in front of me at least to the completion of one successful run, it’s basic fuckin’ math. It’s the logical conclusion of just how rudimentary you can make a roguelike and have me still play it.

It’s also, by technicality, the third god damned card game on this list.

Dead simple— Dicey Dungeons is a game of rogueli(k)(t)e Yahtzee with RPG classes, inventory management, and an absolutely fantastic soundtrack that has me picking up my chiptune defending sword-and-board once again. The fate of your runs are, with some influence from the player, entirely up to literal dice rolls. I truly love just how much the game leans into being a stone-cold RNG fest, down to the fact that the entire thing takes place in a game(show) of fate hosted by an anthropomorphized Lady Luck. Its writing and enemy design is sickeningly, saccharine sweet and just a tiny skosh insufferable, but it never gets in the way of how rock solid and addictive the game itself is. So much so that I squeezed this damn game dry of content.

I’ve seen quite literally every piece of new content the game has to offer shy of the Halloween expansion, (it turns the game into a lethal puzzle thing, just not my cup of tea,) and I still had to stop writing this section of the list to go play a quick round. Played Robot in Parallel Universe with a decisive victory against Madison, in case you’re curious. And I cranked the volume in the boss fight for the first time since I turned it down to catch up on podcasts and video essays while whittling through the end-game hard modes. Lifeline goes completely insane as does the rest of the soundtrack. I was throwing ass in my kitchen making sandwiches listening to this months ago. This game just rules.

2) Yakuza 7: Like A Dragon

Of all the ‘guys’ I have claimed to not be in this GOTY list, I am, maybe least of them all, a turn-based RPG guy. I’ve tried, multiple times to breach them, and the best I can get is about halfway through most mainline Pokemon games before the tedium of Okay Now You Go battling gets to me. And yeah, I know, I just got done rattling on about two different card and dice-based roguelikes that are also turn based but… that’s different, y’know? I’m not just highlighting Firaga and watching an animation play out, I’m throwin’ dice and channeling lightning orbs and…

Look, it’s not important. What is important is I finished my first fucking Yakuza game this year. And it was the goddamn turn based RPG! Yakuza 7 is one of the most charming and enjoyable games I’ve played in my life! And it’s a turn based RPG!

That’s horrifying!

I don’t need to sing the praises of any of Ryu Ga Gotoku’s games. If you’re following me, you’re probably fully bought into the series or have heard people around you audibly get boners for Goro Majima and Kazuma Kiryu. In fact, I find it incredibly difficult to write anything new or provocative about this game that hasn’t already been said, but I just feel so strongly about it. It’s the insanely fun video-game-meets-real-life premise and immeasurably loveable cast of misfits that excel. It’s the heat moves. It’s Zhao. It’s the raw passion, genuine heartbreak, and joy of just being here that really got me. It’s Zhao again. Combine all that with an active battle system that satisfies the goopy goblin gamer brain’s need for near constant input and man? I’m set.

I know through cultural osmosis that Yakuza is a series about a few key things: compassion, loyalty, the bonds we share with others, and what loyalty really means. Yakuza 7 obviously has all of this in spades, but especially what it has to say about the lower/working class, anyone unfortunate enough to be homeless, sex workers, and those from impoverished backgrounds is so effortlessly excellent that it makes me excited to go back and play this series from the word go. I’ll miss the hell out of Ichiban and the shonen protagonist brand of fire-blooded vigor and bullheadedness he brought, but I’m excited to (…eventually) start anew.

1) Jabroni Brawl: Episode 3

Here we are. Finally. I’m not only writing something about a released version of Jaykin Bacon Jabroni Brawl, but I also genuinely feel it’s my game of the year. And now that we’ve arrived at this juncture I just keep thinking… what the hell do I even say about this game? I found something, but fuck, it took a while:

It must be said that I was raised in a triple parent household: I was brought up by my mother, father, and the Source engine. When I was 9 years old, I tuned into a mid day re-run of the now anicent television program The Screensavers that showed off version five of Garry’s Mod. At that point, I’d already played scattered chunks of the short, but enthralling Half-Life 2 demo we had on our family computer, (of course, the Icthyosaur jumpscare and being teleported to Ravenholm scared me right off,) but hadn't picked up the game. I begged my poor cash strapped father for a copy probably too many times, and after we both realized the pirated copy he nabbed wouldn’t be compatible, got a Half-Life 2 & Counter Strike: Source double pack for me as a birthday/Christmas gift.

I loved Garry’s Mod. I’ve got no clue how many hours I poured into version 9 before its subsequent release on Steam as an officially sanctioned mod, but let’s just say it was a lot. In December 2005 I joined the Facepunch forums, learned the difference between models and textures, corrected a lot of spelling mistakes, had my first bouts with navigating Windows folder directories, definitely made some crude sex poses, and found my first group of online friends shortly thereafter. I would eventually slowly slip away from regular patronage to Facepunch sometime in the early 2010s, but the impact it had on me as a youth is unquestionable. We can talk about whether it was a net good some other time though.

Before this gets too far into navel gazing and nostalgia, I’ll say that along the line I played a wonderful mod for Half-Life 1 called Half-Life 2: Jaykin Bacon Source that serves as the genesis for Jabroni Brawl. It’s a mess, but up until its Facepunch-branded revival and subsequent alpha/beta tests, it was the only thing I’d ever played like it. It’s full of ripped assets from other mods, purposefully goofy voice acting from its shithead (lovingly) teenage creator, and plenty of stuff taken from the then-recent Metal Gear Solid 3, a game I had also fallen in love with prior. It was dumb fun that I have forced multiple groups of friends at varying stages of my life to play and have a ludicrous amount of attachment to.

And Jabroni Brawl: Episode 3 is that, all over again, from the faithfully recreated weapons and impenetrable Facepunch callbacks, to the fact that this more or less ended up being a surprisingly official-feeling love letter to anyone who has ever made anything in either Source or Goldsrc. Jabroni Brawl knows what it is, and that’s all it is. It’s a deathmatch mod for and by the people still cherishing the rapidly atrophying muscular structure of a game engine that just won’t seem to die. It's for the people who want to get a group of people together on a Friday and throw friction grenades at/fart on each other. And that's all it needs to be to knock it out of the park.

Source and its modding scene still means a lot to people, myself included. For a lot of us weirdoes, it was a playground that evolved into a way to make friends, hone skills and even turn interests into hobbies and jobs.

But hey, this is getting KINDA GAY!!!!!!!!

Jabroni Brawl is frenetic FPS bullshit. It’s terminally stupid, rough around the edges, and unbelievably fun with the right people. Jabroni Brawl is gaming. It’s e-sports. It's, dare I say, hobby-grade. And it’s a complete goddamn miracle. I mean, fuck, this is probably the one project to start on Facepunch and actually see the light of day, right? Even seeing the Tales From The Galactopticon models in the customization menu made me feel positively ancient.

Here’s an in-game clip of a good friend killing himself in maybe the funniest way I’ve ever seen. Take care, and Feliz Navidad.

#goty #long post #writing

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oneoftheprettynerds · 4 years ago

Text

Worth The Eternity: Dark! Bucky x Reader (Vampire AU + Mob AU + Soulmate AU)

This is for @cherienymphe’s 5K Twilight Renaissance Writing Challenge. Congratulations, keep slaying! I wrote this instead of studying, so pray for my paper please lmao.

A/N: This tired girl tried.

WARNINGS: something between dubcon and noncon present. Triggering, darkish themes.

Summary of sorts: Ever seen Hotel Transylvania 1/2/3? In this AU, mythical creatures exist and have soulmates and you feel a zing if you are blessed enough to encounter them.

"Boss, we narrowed it down to these core three suspects.” A husky voice, slightly muffled by the sack on your head, entered your ears and you had a hard time being calm.

You had been picked up from your office, specifically the basement of Oscorp Industries while entering your sleek silver car. A pinch in your neck and everything comically blurred. Next thing you know, you are waking up with your entire body sore, your muscles and joints screaming and begging for freedom from tight restraints. Your vision is black, as if you are staring into an abyss and your vision is filled with white and red dancing spots forming patterns, maybe from the hours of inactivity.

Muffled noises of protest and scraping of metal against the concrete floor entered your ears and you realized you are not the only one here held captive. You racked your mind for possible explanations but couldn’t come up with one.

You lived a very simple life, even as the vice president of Oscorp industries. No messing around, no rivalries with other employees, no butting heads with the seniors on the Director’s board. Was this a ploy against the company? Or a domination statement against the weaker species, the humans?

Lucky enough for you, you realized you would soon find out as the sound of a shutter opening and metal clanking noisily filled your ears.

“Took you long enough, Scott. Fill me in.” Another brooding voice reprimanded jokingly and a million goosebumps traveled the path of your skin as you involuntarily shuddered.

“Yes Boss. We tracked the missing sum to the account of this man on the left. He has fourteen other accounts under different names and nationalities, pretty hard to trace but not impossible luckily. This proved he is shady so he’s most definitely involved.”

“This ginger on the right, he made the suspicious call with weird words so we believe he pretty much passed the verdict, calling the shots with the codewords. He has had several surgeries, his face is fucking silicon at this point but his DNA showed us his true identity, Mr. Rumlow here is the Consigliere of The Midnight Moon.”

You sat and listened, piecing together whatever you understood. The pack/mob name more than rung a bell, it scared you shitless. You were quick to catch on, realising that you were caught in an inter species scruffle.

“This shit just got interesting folks. Alright, where does Miss Sexy Legs fit in all this?”

The pencil skirt you wore wasn’t the most modest piece of clothing to exist and the spaghetti straps blouse was a bad choice considering the sheer coldness in this warehouse, the temperature only seemed to go down with the entry of your kidnappers but it’s not like you knew this was going to happen.

You could only assume with your legs on display that you were the one being sexualised and talked about.

“We are not sure about her though, that’s why I said suspects. We have proof the call was made from her phone but the videos show her lending it to a creepy stranger at a café. It might be really good acting but it’s highly unlikely. We brought her in because in the transfer of the stolen cash, her account was an intermediary but it’s a good chance that she was tricked when her phone was borrowed by Mr. Rumlow. Also, she’s a human, you see?”

If it was you being talked about, you felt a jot of relief, just a smudge because at least they were aware you weren’t involved in whatever game they were playing. That didn’t necessarily ensure your freedom, but hey, you were willing to take anything at that point.

“That’s the sweet fucking scent I keep on smelling!” The leader exclaimed as if he made a great discovery, a cure for a pandemic or cancer you’d think. His gruff voice almost had a light, cheery undertone to it, too unlike of a man who was wronged and cheated and was close to murdering someone no doubt. These mobsters are always maniacs like The Joker.

“It sucks that you brought her here. She might not be guilty, but now she knows too much. She’d make a good blood bag though. Maybe I’ll just have a taste, who knows?” The ‘boss’ made a disturbing slurping noise and your heart stopped at his words, a tear almost escaping your eye.

Discussion about drinking blood? You were most definitely in The Vamps territory, your assumption about the inter-species conflict true. You had no doubt you were the weakest in this creepy space, the frailest here, most probably the only human.

“Show me the bastards’ faces.” Like the flip of a switch, the joking man swapped his personality and all but growled. You heard the ripping of cloth and a man gagging, his shrieks muffled. Another flurry of movements and another man retching on the fabric could be heard.

“Well, hello Mr. Rumlow. I must say, brown suited you better.” A horde of chuckles made you widen your eyes, even though only black still filled your vision, as you realised there were at least a dozen twisted, sick men in the room. The fact that they were silent as fuck till now only showed you how disciplined and regimented these soldiers were.

“This one has a pretty face, boss.” You felt the sack ripped off you, and your eyes closed with the sudden flooding of the lights. Your eyes sealed due to hours of inactivity and you kept them shut, afraid to face your tormenter.

A cold hand cupped your cheek and straightened your face that was trying to hide itself in your silky locks by curling in your own neck, the cool metal of rings and insanely icy fingers chilling you literally.

“Open your eyes sweetheart.” A voice called out behind you and you gathered enough courage to face your impending doom, the air as silent as the calm before a storm.

Your orbs opened and gazed into piercing sapphire blue eyes and everything behind this chiseled face blurred. You could swear a ring of pink and red passed over his eyes and you shuddered again, getting overwhelmed due to the eye contact yourself. This wasn’t the usual anxiety you felt while meeting new people, it was somehow both a pull and a push. An inviting comforting pull and a terrifying, ‘stay cautious' push.

You, a self-sufficient woman, who had been independent for as long as you could remember, suddenly felt half; incomplete in a way that you couldn’t fathom. You felt an attraction, a tug towards the man in front of you, and the absurdity of the thoughts and emotions that popped in your brain made you heave on the gag.

Your intellect couldn’t find a reason, your view on love and romance until now completely conflicted. You believed soulmates to be separate pieces of art that complemented each other when together; then what was this broken jigsaw puzzle sentiment you were having now?

Your wide eyes somehow managed to break free of his stare, panicking and looking around to observe, which wasn’t comforting in the least as men with guns and gadgets filled your vision. You were relatively unharmed in comparison to the beaten lads beside you, one with a bruised face and the other with a bloody one.

The handsome man, the Boss’s stare didn’t leave you through the entirety of your searching around, you were sure they saw you as a scared little rabbit, waiting out its inevitable death.

“Lost in her eyes, Boss?” The sideman cracked what he believed to be the funniest joke in existence, earning laughs of the horde of the soldiers around.

Your eyes went to the Boss’s face, surprisingly when his left your face to glare a nasty stare on his trusted man. His muscular form raised the forelimb, his hand signaling to stop, that effectively quietened the room to a pin drop silence.

With gentle fingers, the man took off your gag and yours lips quivered, throat too dry to make a noise though. You greedily gulped the air through your mouth for whatever reason, maybe just to move your jaw after hours of inactivity.

Maintaining eye contact was challenging, arduous to say the least. It seemed as if he could read you, find everything about you there is to find by studying the flecks in your orbs. His delicate hands, loosened the ties and you were now more so confused, along with the trepidation.

Just what the fuck was going on?

Bucky had almost lost hope, centuries on this planet and no one to love and cherish, no personal confidante, no soulmate. But good things take time, right? And in his opinion, best things take an eternity. He knows this now.

Expect the unexpected was the truest phrase, idiom whatever it was, in this moment. He had spent countless nights wondering about his soulmate, was she pretty? Ugly? Was she even a she or not? Dumb or witty? He made a lot of scenarios of how they’d meet, the kids, reigning together. He entertained the idea of her being from a different species, a nymph, an orc, maybe a werewolf?

And now that he found her, it was a revelation, a surprise honestly. After all optimism got evaporated, after traveling the dark tunnel for centuries literally, there she was, his beacon of light. Finding her was a wonder, and her being a human was astonishing, a possibility he somehow failed to consider, but he was over the moon cause there she was, right in front of him now. A beautiful, stunning lady in flesh and blood, human flesh and blood, with the prettiest eyes he had ever seen. His zing.

He always liked humans, apart from the similar appearances the vampires shared with them, they were always docile and accommodating. In the last few millenniums, after the mythical creatures showed themselves to the world, the humans understood their place and tier pretty early.

They were smart to surrender and be peaceful as all the species came to light, clever to know that even with less numbers they could be overpowered and bloodshed was detrimental to all involved.

He knew he would convert you soon though, your lifespan far too short for his liking, and obviously, now that he found you, you were to rule together. For Centuries.

His happiness was over taken by the realisation that you were not in the most hospitable settings, you were tied and strapped, being preyed on by his men. He made quick work of the restraints, allowing you to breathe by loosening them first. Your scared, trembling form plucked his unbeating heart’s strings, but strangely enough, his brain found amusement and he felt smug. Seeing you tied up and trembling was definitely a turn on for him, noted.

After commanding his foolish men to stop giggling, he leaned closer to you, your aura comforting and intoxicating as he smelled your hair. A divine scent, an addictive one for sure. The goosebumps on your skin confirmed the reciprocation of his connection.

“You don’t know how long I’ve waited for you.” His husky voice, calming but imposing resonated in your ears, his hand tapping your cheek on the other side. Even though the private statement was whispered for you, the deafening silence made every person witness it.

He leaned back, his hands behind his back as he grinned, tone again light like earlier and commanded, “Get her out of here and cleaned up, tell Nat and Wanda, they’ll know what I mean. Then we’ll deal with these guys here, after the lady leaves of course. No scratch on her from this point forward or you’ll lose a limb. Proceed.”

All three of you, the hostages were going to get ‘taken care of’ but in different ways.

It had been over twenty hours for sure, you were abducted in the early hours of the morning and now the moon was out again, like one endless night. You remember being escorted to a sleek black car; your limbs ached but you managed to keep up. You tried to keep up with the car’s turns, trying to memorize the streets but your head was pounding and eyes were blurry.

You remembered being led to a suite in an expensive hotel like ones where your conferences were held, being taken to room and given towels to clean up. You didn’t change the dress when given another, the attire being a summer dress even shorter. A woman came a while later named Wanda who checked the forming light contusions and scuffed skin with hands so delicate, as if you were precious cargo. You were, you just didn’t know.

You didn’t eat anything they provided and after hours of conspiring and overthinking, you heard sturdy footsteps. Since your arrival, only women bothered with you, probably the ones the leader sent. But these were heavier, harder.

The door opened and you glanced up to find the leader who demanded your locking up in this fancy place, his eyes travelling on your form sat up on bed, as you mindfully pulled your skirt down. You were anxious the entire day, dreading your future but nothing was like the restlessness that ran through you in this person’s presence.

Maybe it was the fact he was a vampire, or the leader of a Mob or maybe both, but whatever it was he intimidated you, alarmed you, even though you’ve had only two encounters including the present one. You were smart to be scared, he looked at you like, like you were something to eat, your mind told you.

“Hey.” His raspy voice caught you off guard, not having heard a single syllable out of the women the entire day, your questions being ignored the entire time.

You stared at him warily. Your mind having a myriad of emotions and thoughts. You didn’t want to trigger him, besides the place being armed well, he was a vampire, a beefy one at that and you would be stupid to try anything. Shouting and making a scene was no good either, your best option being the lamest one: to talk it out. You refused to become a willing blood bag.

You let out a long sigh, surprising him somehow, “Look, I have money, resources in the business sphere, information, what do you want? I know I got caught in this by accident, but I’m willing to do a lot of things to get out. Name it and I’ll do my best.” You said with your ‘business deal’ voice, the wise, guiding leader voice from your office.

For some reason though, the man found it hilarious. He slapped his hand on his chest, his boisterous laugh echoing. It wasn’t that good a joke if he believed it to be one. Men, ever so condescending.

“Humans, ever so gluttonous. I don’t want your money, precious.” His term of endearment didn’t fall short to your ears, but you had larger things in play here than a sweet nothing.

“I have other things to offer, name it.” Within your moral sphere, of course.

“You still don’t get it, do you? And you humans boast you have everything figured about us.”

He neared you and you leaned to the inner area of the bed, refusing to get cornered to the wall if things escalate and wanting to have the option of running away, probably in vain though. With each step he took, a new shudder ran through you because of the closing distance between your bodies, it getting triggered in unexplainable ways.

You didn’t need to say words to prompt him to explain, your scrunched eyebrows already doing that mission. “You should feel it too, you know? The goosebumps, the bewilderment in your insides, you’re intoxicated by my very presence too, aren’t you?”

The more he neared, your breaths quickened visibly, his words becoming truer. Your skin heating, mind losing a bit of consciousness. His presence didn’t affect you to this extent in the warehouse, but now? You were putty, almost incapable to think. You tried to roll over to the other side but your plan failed because he caged you with his bulky hands on your shoulder, body diagonal across yours. With how slow and out of it you were, he didn’t even need his heightened speed to trap you.

“Oh, it’s kicking in, isn’t it? The realization, the surge of love and lust? To be held and cherished and be full of me?” He smirked at your trembling form, your chest heaving and weak arms trying to push him off.

“I’ve read humans feel flushed, hot, so let’s get you out of these scraps, yes?” He slid off the thin straps while you mumbled a very unconvincing ‘stop’. Both actions were pretty pointless because he wouldn’t stop, you both knew that and also, he ended up taking the top off over your torso the normal way.

Your hands barely managed to land themselves on his wrist to pull them off, but the foolish limbs ravished in the feel of his cold skin instead. It was like a high you had never experienced and your body wanted more. It was already addicted to the feel of this stranger whose name you didn’t even know.

He unzipped the skirt, your pathetic body no longer even fighting him as he rambled on. “Among us vampires, well not much to tell but we’re all freezing cold when we find our ‘zing’. Like every normal day. Except for the inability to think and the need for their mate’s blood, of course.”

He came back up to kiss you, his body now in line with yours as one hand held your cheek and the other groped your breast. You had an out of body experience, feeling disgusted for reciprocating the kiss but also wanting more of that, more of him.

He trailed down your neck to your collarbone and you gasped for air, your thoughts incoherent. He kissed between the valley of your breasts, removing the bra sometime in between as you heaved. He wanted nothing more than to rest in those swells for an eternity.

As soon as cold air hit your nipples, one was being sucked while other was being pinched. The nameless stranger alternated between licking like a kitten and sucking like a baby on the breasts. Your rational part felt gross but the dominating side was the one experiencing delight.

He kissed down the sternum, to your bellybutton and then hovered above the thin, flimsy underwear. His hands slid down your sides, down the curve of your waist and hooked themselves at the cloth’s side, pulling them down in a swift motion.

Your legs quaked, trying to close themselves but one muscular arm on your thigh was able to hold them off, throw one away from the other. He leaned down and you were pathetically still under his muscles, your lower limbs either not daring to move or not wanting to.

You wrapped your hands around your torso to hide a bit of yourself, but did that really matter in the larger picture of the events unfolding right now?

You closed your eyes, tears already escaping since minutes ago as you tried to accept the reality of what was happening. A cold sensation on your little button caught you off guard; an infinitesimal fraction of time later, an inhale reached your ears.

You looked down, opening your eyes to find the man smelling you, his Grecian nose poking through your folds and taking in sniffs of your intimate part.

“Please sto-”

“The scent at its source, so fucking divine. I want a taste.” With that, your sentence got interrupted by his words and then by his action as his tongue licked away. It sucked on the bead, delving in the cavity there pretty fucking deep and he slurped away like he pretended to do when you were blindfolded.

Your back arched like a gymnast, hands that were folded across your chest clawing at your own skin, leaving marks behind. His hands were hooked around your thighs and they threw your legs on his shoulder some point in between. When he thrusted three fingers at once, an audible wheeze left your lips, your noiseless gasps now hoarse ‘Aah’s and you could feel him smirk.

There a also a lot of teeth involved with his razor sharp canines that appeared out of nowhere during this and when he thrusted his fingers particularly hard with his teeth nibbling on your sensitive bud, you shamelessly let go of the inside flow.

It felt humiliating and mortifying, your body glowing with the aftereffects of descending into bliss while your mind wanted to cry. Your soul was surprisingly content with what unfolded, at peace. You hated the diversity of emotions you felt, revolted to find even a bit of positive sentiment at your assaulter’s actions.

While your inner monologue happened, the man got up and out of his clothes painfully quick. You tried to sit your up, feebly trying to escape but ineffectively so. Your eyes couldn’t meet the handsome stranger’s nor did you want to see him naked and removed him form your eyeline, making you get caught off guard when his hands wrapped around your ankles and pulled you down, finishing the small distance you managed to crawl up.

His hands left their place as he kissed his way back up your flushed skin, from the swell of your ankle to the swell of your stomach. He licked away the drops of blood around the crescent scratches left by your nails under the intense ecstasy he forced upon you. Then he continued his journey from the swells of your chest to the swell of your cheek, taking you in a fiery, needy yet affectionate kiss.

Your surroundings blurred a second into the kiss, mouth and skin hungry for his touch alike. A thrust had you painfully gasp as you were stretched unlike ever before, impaled to a depth unlike ever before. He kissed away your tears that continued to spill on command of your ashamed mind and leaned back to look into your eyes, a pretty pink passing over them for a fleeting second.

His blue orbs bore into yours and you almost believed he loved you by the intensity of his gaze. At this moment in time, nothing but you two mattered, connected and finally together. How you got here didn’t matter, how unwilling you were didn’t matter. This felt right, felt necessary and was worthy of everything you went through. The rational part seemed to die the instant you two physically connected and somehow, everything and nothing made sense.

But you felt complete.

Your lips captured his of their own accord, and you both smiled into the caress of your lips while he began thrusting, one hand on your waist, the other supporting his weight. Out of breath, he leaned back, still thrusting though, and gazed at you. “Scott back there, he called you pretty, that’s practically an insult. The way you look right now, you’re much more than beautiful. You’re ethereal, my Zing, the loveliest in existence.”

His genuine words tugged at your heart. For some reason you believed him, had confidence in his feelings. Your foreheads connected as he quickened, his hand caressing your skin, the cool against your warm skin soothing. It didn’t take long for you to let go again this time; your previous resolution already dissolved. He neared your ears and whispered, “I want you to scream my name. It’s Bucky.” You nodded absentmindedly, chasing the high.

One particular thrust paired with his canines piercing your skin made you cry out “Bucky!” and you felt him smirking in your neck, lapping the blood. You wilted in bliss and your eyes closed, warmth filling you minutes after. Your eyes were dazed and you felt ‘Bucky’ shift, removing his towering frame from you, a goofy smile on the chiseled face.

With mind free of the aforementioned disapproving thoughts, you checked out his handsome face. It was like you saw him in an entirely different light now.

He gave you a quick peck, his hands cradling your face and he spoke with the utmost sincerity. “You are worth the wait, precious. No measure of time with you will be long enough. But we’ll start with forever to compensate. I’m never letting you go.”

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nightingaelic · 3 years ago

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FO4 bots meeting FNV bots. Nick, Codsworth, DiMA, Ada, maybe the gen3 synths but they're pretty much just humans so idk... Yes Man, Victor, Muggy, ED-E, FISTO, etc. This is kind of a vague request so just do whatever you want with it *shrugs*

The AI's voice echoed warmly through the large conference room at the Tops Casino, hushing the assembled crowd. "I'm Mr. New Vegas, and I want to welcome you all, dear listeners, to the 41st National Robotics Expo. Vegas has been hosting this convention since 2037, and even though we skipped a few years, we're so happy to welcome it again. Let's get back to business."

A smattering of applause with a distinct metallic edge followed, which the automated DJ paused for before continuing in a tone as warm as the desert outside. "As most exhibitions do, let's begin by introducing our various delegations. We'll start with the home team, Securitrons by RobCo: RobCo Industries, automation designed and built for the private sector."

The Securitron in the back of the room with a cowboy on its screen waved. "Present!" he piped up in a southern drawl.

The robot next to him, identical in every way except for the woman's face on its screen, patted his arm. "Thank you, Victor."

"Yeah, thanks Victor!" added the Securitron with a permanent happy face on its screen. "It's not often I'm let out of my room, but it sure is nice to see another part of the hotel!"

Nick Valentine, who was sitting in the front with his arms crossed, looked down at the miniature Securitron that was pacing next to his seat. "Shouldn't you be back there with them?"

"With the House Industries bunch?" The cartoon-faced coffee mug on its screen looked up at him with an unchanging smile, but every word dripped with contempt. "Don't lump me in with them, gumshoe."

Nick frowned. "What's your name again?"

The robot gestured at its screen. "I'll give you three guesses."

"Cheeky little-"

"Ssshh." DiMA looked over from Nick's other side. "We're guests here, Nick."

"Next up we have the RobCo eyebots, both classic design and Duraframe-upgraded models," Mr. New Vegas continued, completely oblivious to the chatter in the room. A pair of eyebots on the left side of the room, one in bright Atom Cats paint and the other with haphazard shielding including a car license plate, began bobbing up and down and beeping ecstatically. A third model, outfitted with some kind of modification that crackled with blue energy, let loose a sonic blast that shook dust off the ceiling. The crowd tittered, but the courier accompanying the license-plated eyebot just laughed.

"I know folks, I know, it's a day full of excitement, but let's get through our list," Mr. New Vegas said smoothly, evidently worried that the eyebot was going to shake the room's speakers loose. "Moving on to the assaultrons, something you don't see often out here in the Mojave. Welcome, ladies."

"The pleasure's all mine," replied KL-E-0 from her seat behind Nick. The Goodneighbor trader was reclining precariously on the conference room chair, with her frame's considerable weight straining the piece of furniture's limits. She didn't appear particularly concerned though, given the way she was examining her claws the way an uninterested woman examines her nails.

"Preliminary adjustments to statistical models complete," added PAM, who was seated next to KL-E-0 in a much more attentive position. "Commencing introduction. I was, am, and will most likely be an assaultron."

"An astute calculation," agreed Ada. She was standing next to PAM and KL-E-0, as her own modified frame would not let her sit down.

"Objection." A mechanical voice rang out from the back. "Petition to acquire the modified assaultron model into the protectron class. Model clearly uses more protectron parts than assaultron."

"Stand down, Mr. First Mate," ordered the exasperated sentry bot parked next to the protectron that had spoken up. "We must show a certain measure of decorum, in these waters."

Ada rotated her head all the way around to face the first mate. "Acknowledged. I am willing to re-categorize myself if requested."

"Baby, don't let him talk you into anything you're not comfortable with," KL-E-0 replied, uncrossing her metal legs.

"Next we have the workhorses of the robotic world, the protectrons," Mr. New Vegas cut in, once again oblivious.

"Sound off!" the first mate ordered.

"Howdy pardner! Primm Slim at your service!"

"ナンニシマスカ?"

"I'm NIRA, your friendly Nuka-World Informational Robotic Assistant. Is this your first visit to Nuka-World?"

"Fully Integrated Security Technetronic Officer active and reporting for duty."

Nick made a face after the last one. "Fisto? What kind of-"

"And rounding out the RobCo set, our sentry bot representative, who I understand is responsible for our Commonwealth friends' safe arrival."

"A fine voyage for a fine vessel!" Captain Ironsides said jovially. "Our mission was a glorious success, the first of many for the pride of our navy!"

"Thank you, Captain," Mr. New Vegas replied, with a hint of amusement in his announcer's voice. "Now for RobCo's greatest partner and competitor, General Atomics International: The finest industrial robots in the world!"

The collection of Mister Handy and Miss Nanny robots on the right side of the room perked up and began applauding. "Spot on!" Codsworth said, at the front of the crowd.

"Let's start where General Atomics started, with the classic Mister Handy model. I see we have a few who made the trip with the USS Constitution."

"Present!" Codsworth answered.

"Fresh lemonade here!" cried Deezer at the same time, attempting to distribute dented cans to everyone within reach of him.

"Don't burden this lot wiv your swill, Deezer," said Whitechapel Charlie, collecting the cans as quickly as they were handed out.

"Wonderful, wonderful. Now let's hear it for the ladies again, our elegant Miss Nanny robots!"

"Hello!" said Pearl and Miss Edna, bobbing in place and prettily snapping their little claws.

"Merci beaucoup," added Curie, who was seated with the group, despite having shed her Miss Nanny frame in favor of a synth body months ago. Nick grinned.

"Objection." The first mate, despite not having a face, appeared absolutely scandalized by this development. Captain Ironsides was having none of it, however, and bopped the protectron on the head with his minigun arm.

"Maybe I should look into getting a synth upgrade," Mr. New Vegas mused. "Finishing out General Atomics are the robobrains, once human like any wastelander, now showcasing the best in technology that pre-war America can offer."

"Thank you, thank you so much," said Gilda Broscoe, who breezed up to the room's stage. She had decorated her shiny brain dome for the occasion with an enormous hat sprouting peacock feathers, and she grabbed the stage's microphone with practiced ease. It wasn't on, but that didn't appear to be enough to stop her. "Thank you all so much for this opportunity. I'd like to thank my studio, Starlight Cinemas, and of course my beloved Keith McKinney-"

"Get off the stage!" yelled the other present robobrain, Jezebel. "My orders from the Mechanist didn't include listening to you drone on about your fantastic former life!"

"-of course, I feel I have to thank my dear Santiago, Santiago, you were such an inspiration even if you couldn't bear the thought of us parting-"

Curie shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "Mademoiselle, might it not be better to wait and see-"

"Get off the stage, you old bat!" yelled Muggy, who appeared to share Jezebel's feelings.

"-and I'd like to thank that bitch Vera Keyes for passing on the role so that I could give it my own, personal touch. Thank you everyone, and good night!" Gilda let go of the microphone and curtseyed as best she could with treads. A few robots clapped, while the courier in the back stiffened and looked at the robobrain actress with wide eyes.

"Only one category left, folks, and then we can start the planned festivities," Mr. New Vegas went on. "Now for a Commonwealth Institute of Technology original, the prototype synth model. Only two in the world, and we're lucky enough to have both of them with us today."

DiMA turned around to wave to the other bots, while Nick sank deeper into his chair and pulled his hat down. "Christ."

"Objec-" The first mate didn't even get the full word out before Captain Ironsides bonked him again.

"And that concludes the introductory portion of the expo!" Mr. New Vegas paused. "Unless there's anyone I've inadvertently left out."

"Me!"

The curtain on the stage behind Gilda flew open, revealing a toaster placed on top of a stool. Gilda let out a theatrical gasp and rolled backwards, giving way to the appliance's maniacal laughter.

"Ahahaha! I am online once again!" the toaster cried. "Tremble, world, before my electric heating coil of doom! You thought you could silence me by drowning me in a bathtub, but I swore you would rue the day you had bread and no way to toast it!"

The courier in the back jumped out of their chair. "Oh shit."

"That's right, buddy, the day of bread has come!" With a ding, two slices of C-4 plastic explosive popped up from the toaster's slots. "Cower before my nuclear fire!"

Mild panic swept the room of robots. Gilda fainted dead away on the stage. Nick eased up off his chair. "Talk about delusions of grandeur. I've seen more intimidating appliances in a scrap heap."

"How dare you!" the toaster screamed. "I am the scourge of all small appliances and the bogeyman that keeps lesser toasters awake at night!"

"You're the scourge of breakfast, I'll give you that," Nick answered with a smirk. He tried not to draw attention to the courier that was inching their way to the stage. "But you're low on the ladder of bogeymen, compared to the ones I've dealt with."

"NAME THE ONES MORE FEARSOME THAN I!" the toaster demanded.

"An interesting development here at the Tops, folks," Mr. New Vegas commented. "The crowd appears to have been taken hostage by a rogue toaster."

Nick started counting off adversaries on his metal hand. "Well, there's the Rust Devils, the Gunners a few times, the Pack and all of their angry critters, the Disciples and the Operators, can't forget the Triggermen and Skinny Malone, plus his doll Darla..."

The toaster let out another frenzied laugh. "Nothing but bags of meat, easily toasted in-"

Its speech died mid-sentence, and the courier emerged from behind the curtain holding its electrical cord. "That takes care of that."

Nick winked at them. "Good on you, kid. Should we get on with the shindig?"

#fallout #fallout new vegas #fallout 4 #fnv #fo4 #robots #no I'm not tagging everyone that sounds like a lot of work

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piermanwalter · 4 years ago

Text

Thief’s Apprentice: More on Magic

Things Involving Souls that Aren’t Technically Magic

According to Sidran magic theory, magic is strictly defined as energy from soul dying outside of the body harnessed for telekinesis of a single material. Anything not fulfilling all these criteria is not magic. Other parts of The World have different classifications, but in Veilheim, most people tend to call everything involving the soul leaving the body magic, and those who use more stringent definitions in normal conversation are considered elitist nerds.

Being Alive

Soul is a quantifiable spiritual substance produced by all living things and also some magically altered dead things. It can only stably exist within bodies and objects, but takes up no physical space. Soul needs to die to provide the impetus for beginning every conscious action. Normally, the amount of soul killed is so small and the rate of soul regeneration is so fast that people can do normal things like walk and talk without lasting effects on their soul. But if the mind, body, and soul are out of balance, normal activity can cause debilitating damage, whether by reducing the soul to the point where the bearer loses the will to live, or by bloating the soul until the bearer becomes dangerously overconfident.

This is one reason why powerful living mages often develop terrible and selfish personalities, which I will go into later. Revenants can deal with having gigantic souls because they are dead and the plague has severed the connection between mind, body, and soul, preventing one part from directly affecting the others.

Every living thing on The World is capable of killing their own souls inside their bodies to achieve otherwise impossible things in life-or-death situations, such as driving chemical reactions backwards to avoid drowning. This is much less efficient than magic, because souls are supposed to live and die in bodies. When soul dies in a body like usual, very little energy can be harnessed to perform magic-like functions, and it can only affect the soul’s body. When someone miraculously survives a disaster, but doesn’t have the will to speak afterwards, it is believed they killed own soul to survive. There is much philosophical debate if all negative emotions in the mind are caused by destruction of the soul, or if negative emotions are caused by the mind itself being destroyed.

Scrying, Astral Projection, and Other Forms of Sending Souls

As you may know, revenants sense their surroundings by breaking off tiny pieces of soul and sending them radiating out of their bodies, feeling substances by how their soul fragments die as they travel through them. Although the soul has left the body and died, this is not strictly magic because the resulting energy dissipates and isn’t used for anything. This can also be done by the living, but they typically can’t handle this level of soul destruction without adverse effects.

Souls can pass through anything except other souls, which allows hiding from projection by being in a crowd, a forest, or giant magic item. A soul in its original living body will override any material sensing and other souls will sense it as its own self image. This means very few people look the same in light the same way as they do from soul sensing, and self esteem has an even greater impact on appearance.

This also means revenants see many dogs as green, because the dogs themselves think they are green. Pragmus of Veilheim is a great curiosity to revenants because he was born blind and has no self image. To revenants, Pragmus appears as a void in the shape of a man. Living people with extreme dysmorphia or intentional self delusion can shapeshift from a revenant’s perspective. Do the Ophtha of Surenia truly have blue hair and massive eyes, or is it a result of internalised cultural identity?

Alchemy

When soul dies outside the body, but the energy dissipates without being harnessed, it has very small and unpredictable effects on its surroundings. Although it can be argued that this is a form of telekinesis, the lack of conscious control and one soul’s effect on all substances means by Sidran theory, alchemy is not magic. Normally this goes unnoticed, but during complex chemical reactions, the presence of dying souls changes the proportions of resulting products, sometimes to the point where impossible side reactions occur for seemingly no reason. Some believe this is a similar to what happens when soul dies in its body. It’s still not understood how this happens, but alchemists use it to their advantage.

To have some level of control over chemical reactions, alchemists detach a large piece of soul to chase away small fragments of soul, then return their soul to their bodies. Alchemists can also deliberately introduce soul into reactions to drive it towards rare products.

Although alchemy is well-studied, many untrained people do it unintentionally by yelling at wet paint and oily sauces until things work themselves out. Alchemy also happens as a side effect of soul sending, and anywhere with an extremely high concentration of people soul sending has a lot of weird shit happen, like paper suddenly bursting into flame, or metal rusting at supernatural speed, or caramel producing long strands of carbon fiber. Some people call this Folk Magic, since it only happens when a lot of folks are around. Preventing unpredictable Folk Magic is why alchemists are vital to quality control for any transformative process.

Alchemists can also forcibly use or disenchant magic and religious items by bullying the other souls out of it.

Things that are Magic

Magic is when soul dies outside the body, and the resulting energy is harnessed to greater and more specific results than everything I just talked about. Magic is separated into genres of materials that can be moved by one person. Each living being can perform a maximum of two magic genres. It still isn’t known why, but many cultures independently developed the theory that the soul is actually composed by two parts, conscious and subconscious, will to act and will to live, central nervous system or peripheral nervous system, human spirit and animal spirit, or whatever you want to call it. One part serves as fuel for higher level thinking and motivation, and the other serves as fuel for simple activities such as breathing or metabolising needed to stay alive. It is believed that each part can separately be killed to produce different genres of magic.

There aren’t strict classifications of magic genres, and a lot of magic genres end up being the same thing at different scales or in different applications. Industrial Magic is fine control of metals, while Doom Magic causes mountains to collapse. Symphonic Magic is fine control of the air to make sounds, while Pirate Magic changes wind direction. People still aren’t sure if Death Magic, control of the dead, and Black Magic, control of soulless products of the living such as hair and dust, are different things.

Magic can only be performed on materials that don’t have soul. Gore Magic is the sole exception. It can only be done on living things containing their own soul. In many cases, magic and alchemy must be combined to purge the soul fragments out of something so it can be moved telekinetically.

Religion

By Sidran theory, since religion is when many souls inhabit the same magic item, and are killed to grant specific prayers, by definition it is magic. If you say this in other parts of The World, you might get killed.

Channelling

Channeling is similar to religion or magic items, in that someone else’s soul is being killed and harnessed by a different person to do magic. The key difference is that the other soul is stored in the user’s body for some time before being killed, which grants finer control and more power. Channellers absorb soul fragments from their surroundings to bolster their own will and do magic. Essentially, channelling is magic when the channelled souls are killed for magic, and channelling is not magic when the channelled souls are killed for other purposes.

Although there are established channelling techniques, anyone can do this unintentionally by encouraging and motivating someone, or by instantly leeching the good vibes out of a room whenever they show up.

The Moon bones, who consume all soul that gets too close to The Moon, are channellers. Revenants are also all technically channellers, but I will get into that later.

Why Aren’t There More Mages?

Given the spectacular power achieved by magic, you’d expect there to be perpetually increasing mage populations, as well as the progressive increase in mage strength over history, but it doesn’t happen because magic has some terrible drawbacks.

Mages typically are humongous assholes because they are expected to burn huge amounts of soul. If moving a giant boulder kills the same amount of soul as finding out your child was murdered, mages often become soul-deprived wrecks and die, or become incredibly callous to tragedy because they feel like this all the time.

Mages also tend to develop all kinds of health problems and mental illnesses, because their minds and bodies are deprived of energy, since too much of it is going to their souls, and also because miraculous reactions from too much soul dying inside the body can warp their bodies to the point where organs start poisoning themselves and conventional medicine stops working.

To avoid soul deprivation, the most healthy and powerful mages have enormous souls, but this causes other problems. Having a bloated soul, as you know, leads to dangerous overconfidence, but also stubbornness, selfishness, and dedication bordering on insanity.

Although society benefits greatly from mages, its best that there are only a few of them. Societies ruled by or composed mostly of mages are always extremely violent and unstable, undergoing rapid cycles of expansion, infighting, and collapse. Gehenna knows this and purposefully instigates succession wars whenever a Pontiff dies to ensure the powerfully magical royal family can function as a just and semi-reasonable ruling body during other times.

Once again, revenants don’t usually have these problems because they are dead and and the plague has severed the connection between mind, body, and soul, preventing one part from directly affecting the others. However, if pursuit of magic power becomes a societal goal, things can get just as bad.

The Necromancer’s Unholy Power

As the most powerful mage on The World, The Necromancer is the embodiment of the worst of magic. A violent, power-hungry society enabled him to invent the plague, and its ideals continue to compel him to lord over and exploit other people despite being completely alienated from the new post-plague society.

All revenants are sustained by The Necromancer’s magic. He constantly radiates countless soul fragments that move all throughout The World and are attracted to plague bacteria. The plague bacteria then act as channellers, using The Necromancer’s soul as fuel to infect people and sever the connection between mind, body, and soul. The plague bacteria sustain the plaguebearer’s mind, letting the body rot and soul grow enormous.

You can think of The Necromancer as an internet service provider, his soul fragments as WiFi, and the plague bacteria as modems. You can also think of vampirism as stealing WiFi.

After 700 years of soul sending, all of The World is blanketed in a thick miasma of The Necromancer’s soul fragments. This revived The Moon bones, and skewed chemical reactions everywhere to the point where many techniques developed before the plague don’t work without alchemy. Without knowing, he also raised the boiling and melting point of water by a few degrees, causing huge ice freezes even at high temperatures, and refuses to let carbonic acid form in the air in any circumstances.

Much of North Beringia is covered by ice, partially because The World is cold to begin with, partially because mass plague death decreased human wood and coal burning, and also because underground revenants attract The Necromancer’s soul fragments. Vast lifeless fields of ice in impossibly warm weather is a sign that revenants will burst from the ground soon.

The more proud of his experiments, the bigger his soul gets, and the bigger his soul gets, the more experiments he can do. The Necromancer would be unstoppable if he wasn’t an easily impressed diva.

#thief's apprentice #magic #worldbuilding #long post #graphic injuries #the necromancer

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Screamfest Horror Film Festival Announces Initial Lineup for 21st Edition

Screamfest® Horror Film Festival, the largest and longest-running horror film festival in the United States, announced their first-wave lineup of competitive features and shorts for its 21st edition. Running October 12th through 21st at the TCL Chinese Theater, Screamfest® welcomes audiences back to the big screen for a collective experience they won’t soon forget. Tickets can be purchased here: https://screamfestla.com

The Retaliators will open Screamfest® LA on October 12th for its North American premiere with a red carpet prior to the screening. The film follows an upstanding pastor who uncovers a dark and twisted underworld as he searches for answers surrounding his daughter's brutal murder. Directed by Bridget Smith and Samuel Gonzalez Jr. and written by the Geare brothers, The Retaliators also features a high-octane original soundtrack and cameos from some of the biggest names in rock music, including Five Finger Death Punch, Tommy Lee, Papa Roach, The Hu, Ice Nine Kills, Escape The Fate, and more appear on screen. Marc Menchaca (Ozark), Michael Lombardi (Rescue Me), and Joseph Gatt (Game of Thrones) star in this horror-thriller which reveals a game of revenge played using a new set of rules.

Considered the "Sundance of Horror," Screamfest® is proud to showcase new work from independent filmmakers from across the globe. Highlights from this year’s program include the World Premieres of Father of Flies, the haunting tale of family life and the supernatural and Teddy Grennan’s Wicked Games where a long weekend at a country estate is turned into a nightmare when a group of masked intruders invades the property. Little do they know one guest has a surprise for them.

Four films will be making their North American debuts at the festival. In addition to The Retaliators, Richard Waters’s dark folk horror Bring Out The Fear traps its protagonists in an unsolvable maze where a sinister presence awaits; Clare Foley stars in the sci-fi horror The Changed where an alien presence takes possession of the hearts and minds of her city; and Isolation depicts nine tales of terror which are woven together as remote people work to survive an increasingly deadly outbreak.

US premieres at the festival include Russia’s #Blue_Whale produced by Timur Bekmambetov, which follows Dana as she works to uncover the truth behind her sister’s suicide; Argentina’s fantasy horror film Nocturna: Side A- The Great Old Man’s Night which depicts one old man’s journey to rethink his past and present and question his reality; and Kratt by Rasmus Berivoo in which children stumble upon an instruction manual to create a supernatural being.

West Coast premieres at the festival include a joint production between the US, Mexico, and Venezuela, Exorcism of God which follows an American priest working in Mexico who, due to a botched exorcism, carries a dark secret with him; hailing from Ireland, Let the Wrong One In dives into the complications of family ties when a vampire is discovered in the family; Erik Bloomquist follows twins who spend a night at a remote inn to investigate their missing father in Night at the Eagle Inn; North American distribution rights to the Argentinian The Returned (Los Que Vuelven) - which follows a woman in 1919 prays to a mythical deity to resurrect her stillborn son - were acquired in a new venture between Peter Block of A Bigger Boat and Seth Nagel, Scott Einbinder and Garrick Dion of 5X Media; What Josiah Saw explores a farmhouse haunted by the past; Alone With You stars Emily Bennett, Emma Myles, and fan-favorite Barbara Crampton in a twisted tale of memory and horror unfolding over a romantic homecoming for a distant girlfriend; and When I Consume You by Perry Blackshear where two siblings get more than they bargained for when hunting a shadowy stalker.

The festival will also feature a Special Presentation of Daniel Farrands’s Aileen Wuornos: American Boogeyman starring Peyton List and Lydia Hearst, which follows the notorious killer through a little known chapter of her life in Deland, Florida.

“After a challenging year for cinema, we are excited to return to our home at the TCL Chinese Theatre for our latest lineup of frights,'' says festival founder Rachel Belofsky. “While last year’s drive-ins allowed us to continue to celebrate horror films as a community, we have missed the magic of the traditional theatrical experience.”

Formed in August 2001 by film producer Rachel Belofsky, Screamfest Horror Film Festival is a female-run 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that gives filmmakers and screenwriters in the horror and science fiction genres a venue to have their work showcased in the film industry.

Please find the 2021 Screamfest feature line-up below:

Aileen Wuornos: American Boogeyman (US, 2021) - Special Presentation Written and Directed by Daniel Farrands Produced by Lucas Jarach, Daniel Farrands, Meadow Williams, Swen Temmel, Luke Daniels, Daniel Davila Executive Producer(s) Nicolas Chartier, Jonathan Deckter, Lydia Hearst, Alan Pao Cast Peyton List, Lydia Hearst, Tobin Bell, Nick Vallelonga, Swen Temmel, Meadow Williams, Andrew Biernat Based on a little-known chapter in the life of America's most notorious female serial killer, "Aileen Wuornos: American Boogeyman" takes place in 1976 when 21-year-old Aileen (Peyton List) arrives in Florida attempting to escape her tragic past. Soon she marries wealthy yacht club president Lewis Fell (Tobin Bell) who offers her the chance to become part of Florida's high society. Ultimately, the victimized Aileen surrenders to her murderous impulses and wreaks havoc on the peaceful seaside community of Deland, Florida.

Alone With You (US, 2021) - West Coast Premiere Directed by Emily Bennett & Josh Brooks Written by Emily Bennett & Josh Brooks Produced by Andrew D. Corkin & Theo James Cast Emily Bennett, Emma Myles (ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK), Dora Madison (BLISS, VFX), and Barbara Crampton (RE-ANIMATOR, YOU'RE NEXT) Charlie (Emily Bennett) is setting the atmosphere in her sleek, two-story apartment in Brooklyn for a romantic homecoming for her distant girlfriend Simone (Emma Myles) who’s been away for work. There are past glimpses of visual tension between the two, so we’re led to feel that this meticulous setting of mood may be a peacemaking gesture. Enamored beyond all good sense, Charlie begins to experience a myriad of unsettling incidents, and the horrors of what has transpired are slowly revealed in the shards of Charlie’s resistant memory.

#Blue_Whale (Russia, 2021) - US Premiere Directed by Anna Zaytseva Written by Evgeniya Bogomyakova, Anna Zaytseva, Olga Klemesheva Produced by Timur Bekmambetov, Anna Shalashina, Igor Mishin Cast Anna Potebnya, Timofey Eleckii, Ekaterina Stulova, Diana Shulmina, Olga Pipchenko, Polina Vataga, Daniil Kiselev After her younger sister Julia commits suicide, troubled adolescent Dana decides to find out what led to her death. Examining her sister’s computer, Dana finds a secret chat group where adolescents are encouraged to kill themselves through a challenge called "Blue Whale". Dana’s investigation leads her ever closer to the truth, but to really discover what happened, she herself must play the deadly game. #blue_whale // #I_want_to_play_the_game is inspired by real events that happened in Russia in 2015 and 2017.

Bring Out The Fear (Ireland, 2021) - North American Premiere Written and Directed by Richard Waters Produced by Alison Scarff & Richard Waters Cast Ciara Bailey, Tad Morari, James Devlin Rosie and Dan are a couple in a doomed relationship. While taking a final walk in their favourite forest, they find it has trapped them in an unsolvable maze. The paths lead nowhere, the trees never end, the sun never sets, and a sinister presence stalks and torments them, trying to drive them insane... There is no escape. But what exactly are they hiding? This dark folk horror will leave you questioning what is real and what is malicious trickery.

The Changed (US, 2021) - North American Premiere Written and Directed by Michael Mongillo Produced by Taylor Warren and Eloise Asmuth Cast Clare Foley, Jason Alan Smith, Carlee Avers, Doug Tompos, introducing Olivia Freer, with Kathy Searle, and Tony Todd Something has taken possession of the hearts and minds of the populace. Kim (Clare Foley), Mac (Jason Alan Smith), and Jane (Carlee Avers) try to convince themselves it's paranoia, but before long the city is besieged by the changed. By the time they realize an alien intelligence has merged with their neighbor, Bill (Tony Todd), a horde of changed is amassing outside their suburban home.

Exorcism of God (US/Mexico/Venezuela, 2021) - West Coast Premiere Directed by Alejandro Hidalgo Written by Alejandro Hidalgo, Santiago Fernández Calvete Produced by Alejandro Hidalgo, Joel Seidl, Karim Kabche & Antonio Abdo Cast María Gabriela De Faría, Will Beinbrink, Joseph Marcell Peter Williams, an American priest working in Mexico, is considered a saint by many local parishioners. However, due to a botched exorcism, he carries a dark secret that's eating him alive until he gets an opportunity to face his own demon one final time.

Father of Flies (USA/UK, 2021) - World Premiere Directed by Ben Charles Edwards Written by Kirsty Bell Produced by Kirsty Bell, Phil McKenzie Cast Nicholas Tucci, Camilla Rutherford, Davi Santos, Page Ruth, Keaton Tetlow, Colleen Heidemann A haunting tale of family life. A vulnerable young boy finds his mother pushed out of the family home by a strange new woman, and he must confront the terrifying supernatural forces that seem to move in with her.

Isolation (US, 2021) - North American Premiere Directed by Larry Fessenden, Andrew Kasch, Dennie Gordon, Bobby Roe, Alix Austin & Keir Siewert, Christian Pasquariello, Alexandra Neary, Zach Passero, Adam Brown & Kyle I. Kelley Written by Larry Fessenden, Cody Goodfellow, Dennie Gordon, Zack Andrews & Bobby Roe, Kyle I. Kelley & Adam Brown, Keir Siewert, Zach Passero, Alexandrea Neary, Christian Pasquariello Produced by Nathan Crooker, James P. Gannon Cast Larry Fessenden, Dennie Gordon, Graham Denman, Damien Gerard, Bobby Roe Sunny Roe, Bodhi Roe, Adam Brown, Alix Austin, Hannah Passero Marieh Delfino, Alex Weed, Fine Belger, Hans Gurbig Woven together are nine tales of terror that follow isolated citizens from around the world as they confront their darkest fears in an attempt to survive an increasingly deadly outbreak.

Kratt (Estonia, 2020) - US Premiere Written and Directed by Rasmus Merivoo Produced by Rain Rannu, Tõnu Hiielaid Cast Mari Lill, Ivo Uukkivi, Jan Uuspõld, Paul Purga, Nora Merivoo, Harri Merivoo When children are left at Grandma's without smartphones they’re bored to tears. That is until Granny finds them loads to do. She also tells them about a magical creature named KRATT that’ll do whatever its master says. When they stumble upon an instruction on how to build one they don’t hesitate. All they have to do now is to buy a soul from the devil…

Let The Wrong One In (Ireland, 2021) - West Coast Premiere Written and Directed by Conor McMahon Produced by Trisha Flood, Ruth Treacy, Julianne Forde, Michael Lavelle Cast Karl Rice, Eoin Duffy, Anthony Head, Mary Murray Let the Wrong One In follows young supermarket worker Matt, who is a little too nice for his own good. When he discovers that his older, estranged brother Deco has turned into a vampire, he's faced with a dilemma: Will he risk his own life to help his sibling, with blood being thicker than water? Or will he stake him before he spreads the infection further? The film stars upcoming Irish talent Karl Rice and Eoin Duffy, along with Buffy the Vampire Slayer icon Anthony Head, in the role of Henry; a taxi driver with a sideline in vampire hunting.

Night at the Eagle Inn (US, 2021) - West Coast Premiere Directed by Erik Bloomquist Written by Erik Bloomquist, Carson Bloomquist Produced by Erik Bloomquist, Carson Bloomquist Cast Amelia Dudley, Taylor Turner, Beau Minniear, Greg Schweers, Erik Bloomquist Fraternal twins spend a terrifying night at a remote inn to investigate the last known whereabouts of their father. As they dive deeper, the property's dark secrets ensnare them in a hellish labyrinth they must escape before dawn.

Nocturna: Side A - The Great Old Man’s Night (Argentina, 2021) - US Premiere Directed by Gonzalo Calzada Written by Gonzalo Calzada Produced by Alejandro Narváez, Javier Diaz Cast - Pepe Soriano, Marina Artigas, Lautaro Delgado Synopsis - Ulysses is a hundred-year-old man, he lives alone and is on the verge of death. The last night of his life, he will experience something that will force him to rethink his past, his present and his view about his reality.

The Retaliators (US, 2021) - North American Premiere - OPENING NIGHT Directed by Bridget Smith, Samuel Gonzalez, JR. Written by The Geare Brothers Produced by Allen Kovac, Michael Lombardi, Mike Walsh Executive Producer(s) Dan Lieblein Cast Michael Lombardi, Marc Menchaca, Joseph Gatt, Jacoby Shaddix, Katie Kelly, Abbey Hefer, Ivan Moody, Zoltan Bathory In THE RETALIATORS, an upstanding pastor uncovers a dark and twisted underworld as he searches for answers surrounding his daughter's brutal murder. A high-octane original soundtrack and cameos from some of the biggest names in rock music set the tone as this horror-thriller reveals a game of revenge played using a new set of rules. Marc Menchaca (Ozark), Michael Lombardi (Rescue Me), and Joseph Gatt (Game of Thrones) star. Five Finger Death Punch, Tommy Lee, Papa Roach, The Hu, Ice Nine Kills, Escape The Fate, and more appear onscreen and on THE RETALIATORS Original Soundtrack, coming soon via Better Noise Music.

The Returned (Los Que Vuelven) (Argentina, 2021) - West Coast Premiere Directed by Laura Casabe Written by Laura Casabe, Paolo Soria, Lisandro Colaberardino Produced by Alejandro Israel Cast Maria Soldi, Lali Gonzalez, Alberto Ajaka South America, 1919; a landowner's wife is desperate for a child of her own, having suffered through multiple miscarriages. She finds hope, however, in a seemingly outlandish plan: she'll pray to a mythical deity to resurrect her stillborn son. The plan works, but along with the child comes something else...something evil.

What Josiah Saw (US, 2021) - LA Premiere Directed by Vincent Grashaw Produced by Ran Namerode, Vincent Grashaw, Bernie Stern, Angelia Adzic Executive Producer(s) Cole Payne, Scott Haze Written by Robert Alan Dilts Cast Robert Patrick, Nick Stahl, Scott Haze, Kelli Garner, Tony Hale, Jake Weber Everyone in town knows about the haunted Graham Farm on Willow Road. You'll hear there's a bad history to it. Josiah and his youngest son, Thomas, are all that remain of this estranged family. But after experiencing terrifying visions from beyond, Josiah decides they must change their ways to right a great wrong. After being away for over two decades, Eli and Mary, Josiah's eldest children, are enticed to sell the property and reunite at the old farmhouse in hopes of closing this haunting chapter of their lives for good. Sins of the past will be paid in full.

When I Consume You (US, 2021) - West Coast Premiere Written and Directed by Perry Blackshear Produced by MacLeod Andrews, Perry Blackshear, Evan Dumouchel, Libby Ewing Cast Libby Ewing, Evan Dumouchel, MacLeod Andres, Margaret Ying Drake Siblings Daphne and Wilson Shaw practically raised one another. They’ve protected each other from everything life has thrown their way. Daphne’s professional life is soaring and she’s looking to adopt a child. Wilson is interviewing for a position at a local school, hoping to become a teacher. But Daphne has an unsettling, dangerous stalker whom she can’t seem to shake, and now threatens to destroy them both. They hunt for their tormentor through the shadowy streets of Brooklyn, honing their bodies and minds for a showdown. But this foe may prove to be more than they can handle. They will break and rebuild themselves if necessary to save each other, and protect the light they know is in this world for them... if only they can persevere.

Wicked Games (US, 2021) - World Premiere Written and Directed by Teddy Grennan Produced by Bennett Krishock, Heath Franklin, Burton Gray, Teddy Grennan, Christopher Walters Cast Christine Spang, Markus Silbiger, Michael Shenefelt, Conner Ann Waterman When Harley joins her new boyfriend for a long Halloween weekend at his country estate, they're invaded by a bank of masked freaks and forced to play a Wicked Game. To the intruders' unpleasant surprise, Harley's hard-boiled history has endowed her with a bag of tricks which give the game a surprise ending.

Standing out as one of the top tastemakers in the genre of horror, Screamfest has been a launchpad for top tier franchises and storytellers. Among the numerous films that have been discovered and/or premiered at the festival include box office hit The Wretched, Tigers Are Not Afraid, We Summons the Darkness, Pledge, The Master Cleanse, Tragedy Girls, American Mary, Paranormal Activity, 30 Days of Night, Trick ‘r Treat, and The Human Centipede.

Screamfest selects award winners at the close of the festival. Film entries are accepted in the categories of Best Feature, Directing, Cinematography, Editing, Special Effects and Musical Score. In addition, there are special categories for Best Animation, Best Short, Best Documentary and Best Student Film as well as a Screenplay competition.

Screamfest® takes the health and safety of its guests seriously and proof of vaccination or negative COVID test with a temperature check will be required for entry. Masks are required at all times while inside the venue. Hand sanitizer stations are placed throughout the theater and lobby with special cleanings in between screenings. Screamfest® will comply with all LA County regulations and policies are subject to change.

For more information or the latest news, visit screamfestla.com

#film news #movie news #festival news #screamfest #selections #lineup #2021

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