#mountaineering gear

[rekkabo]

Brokebacks ur otasune

[rox-of-iu]

something silly from yesterdays evening class

...

[grovesnail]

ocelot was alive in 2005 and loves westerns so theres a 99% chance he's seen brokeback mountain

[crappyyuki]

More Lego Ninjago!

This man has me on a choke hold.

Like. I started this just after the other post and finished in 2 hours. 2 HOURS. Its a miracle. My average is around 5 hours XDDD

Spoilers!

Anyway. Its his time to shine. As a father mentor to his daughter a feral child. And be the badass ninja that he is.

But also he dumb because he is so dumb.

I love him so much. He is so my fav.

I love the sketch too. I couldn't capture its essence during the rendering stage so imma just—

Mwah. I love it so much. Idk how I pulled it off. It came outta nowhere omg.

I love Kai. Hope to see more content of him.

And his trauma on Nether Space omg gimme the details. SPILL THE TEA GOSH DAMMIT! Did he get depresso cuz he's told he's trapped there for eternity but no expresso cuz he has to keep the bravado for his amigo Bonzle?

(Idk where that came from.)

Pls share ideas my god. I might draw them. Or write. Or cry. Idk. Whatever comes first.

Give the fire big bro some love pls. He deserves it. He's been sidelined for so long oh my god you have no idea. Its so disheartening cuz he was the protagonist on the beginning and has been for a long time in my eyes. He deserves some screen time and main character energy.

Like he had such a main character energy when he came back. That entrance was FIRE and that line was COLD. He is so cool. Gosh.

(Let him collapse pls. Nether Space should not be good for a not shattered soul like him. Like, did his soul shatter when he was sucked into the portal? If so, what are the effects? I have so many questions.)

(Also also I'm so curious to what happens when you forcefully shatter someone's goodness with the gong of shattering. If that's a thing, PLS DO IT TO KAI PLS. HE DESERVES A VILLAIN ARC!

LET HIM FIGHT HIS FAMILY.

MAKE THEM SUFFER.)

I love Kai man. You have no idea.

[hypnoneghoul]

someone asked me why mountain always has a hole/rubbed out spot on his thigh. it's from one of his drumsticks, just his playing style that makes it hit/rub on his thigh

[crimeronan]

why get stressed about online discourse when you can instead google the current wildfire situation in your area and discover that hikers keep fuckin' walking onto trails that are specifically closed..... Because The Woods Are On Fire.

you will experience the same sharp rise in blood pressure. with none of the queer infighting!

anyway. this warning SHOULD be even less necessary than the one i gave a few weeks back about checking the summit conditions when you hike unfamiliar mountains, BUT:

IF you live in fire country.

please. Please.

do not.... go hiking.

on a trail.

that is actively on fire.

🙏🙏🙏

[jan1979]

his ass would not wear denim! but it's whatever

[kas-e]

Balkan Lake Views

[serpentenial]

My name is David.

[zeeckz]

[jesjokes]

Brokeback mountain x mgs anyone?

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

A Dark and Drowning Tide

gothic fantasy romance

a folklorist is chosen as the co-leader of an expedition to find a fabled magical spring for the king, along with 6 nobles

when her mentor, the other leader, is found dead on their boat in the middle of the night, she has to figure out who did it; while continuing the mission through the wilderness and navigating the potential political fallout

and the only one she can probably trust is her academic rival, a naturalist, who she hates

dark folktales & creatures

Jewish lesbian MC

arc from netgalley! out sep 17

putting both covers here because they’re both so beautiful!! (artists: Audrey Benjaminsen, & Erica Williams)

[doubleedgemode]

(If you wonder who are those ghosts and why A.B.A looks a bit different at first, refer to this post)

I still stand that activity here is currently low, at least at the moment I'm typing this, but last day I got a flash of inspiration and spent til 4 am drawing this. 😅

I have a lot of thoughts about how lonely must've A.B.A felt during her upbringing, before meeting Paracelsus, and how would would her creeping, conflicting feelings about herself and her loneliness develop, and just the horror of feeling no one is in the Frasco "prison" salve herself, really, the little times I headcanon she spent with the ghosts being almost like a taunt at how alone she objectively is.

This comic (?) study is very rambly on purpose, as I felt it befitted her the most and also more scribbly as it goes on cause I got tired lol but each pictures has image descriptions in case it's too confusing. I really hope you enjoy this take on her! :)

[vaultedliteracy]

Pictures of eiderdown, submerged and emerged, showing its great hydrophobic qualities. - Icelandic Eider (purveyor of the new exciting outdoor brand Ducking Warm)

[mooneln0ne]

the Moon reflects the Sun doesn't it?

(click for better quality + Another version under the cut)

[hypnoneghoul]

absolution live 2017/2023

here I am with my over 1,5k word autistic ramble about the differences between absolution live from 2017 and 2023. at the end there is an audio file of both versions put together, if anyone would be interested in that. it sound very cool heh

also tags for people who showed interest in this: @forest-rot @ghuleh-recs @counting-eyerolls @ngnt-writes @ghnosis @rain-ghoul-appreciator @sister-rosemary-marie

anyway, under the cut

I will start with an analysis of instruments and players separately, one by one, and then I’ll talk about the whole thing a little bit. Also I’m using only ghoul names in there, but when I’m talking about styles and skills I obviously mean the unmasked folks.

Both in 2017 and 2023 we have Mountain on drums, which gives us a very fun comparison opportunity. In 2017 he goes heavy on the cymbals—according to the original version of the song—but it makes the whole thing a bit too crashy and too clogged. The drums are very widely mixed and set—slightly focused on the left side following the stage layout from then—but I think the cymbals could be a bit quieter in comparison to the actual drums, especially the floor tom. In general we can hear how smaller Mountain’s kit was in 2017. In 2023 the entire drum part is sharper and deeper, more bassy and it’s focused more in the middle. The way it feels to me, in 2017 the drums are the background and in 2023 they are the core. Mountain has better fills in 2023, he obviously got more comfortable just jamming in there and having fun over the years.

Dewdrop on bass in 2017; we can hear (or at least I can) that he is not a bassist. He scrapes his pick on the strings a lot which is connected to him being primarily a guitarist—it’s about the picking hand placement and angle. The bass is pretty quiet and it has overdrive on it. It helps conceal his buzzing a little bit, because it happens a fair amount for Dewdrop. Again—bass is not his main instrument. We can also hear exactly when he slams it, like we know he loves doing. In general sometimes he’s quieter and sometimes he’s louder and it’s mostly caused by his picking; how he angles his hand in certain moments and how much strength he puts into it. At the end he goes absolutely feral. Not surprising.

Rain in 2023 is amazing. He’s very skilled, and it’s a huge shame Ghost doesn’t have any songs that could really allow him to show off. He hit his cue a bit too fast at one point, but it might as well be intentional. He’s so much clearer and cleaner, both due to his skills and the settings. Rain has more drop, he most likely has his bass on a different pickup setup than Dewdrop, plus they used different basses—Rain’s with additional mods. One of those mods is a very heavy bridge—Badass Bass—and I bet we can thank that piece for the sustain and note definition in Rain’s playing. In general it flows more, fits into the whole image better. His changes in volume are controlled, not accidental like it happens for Dewdrop. Rain puts more slides, tiny additions and note changes into his live playing, it makes it a bit more lively to me. He’s put perfectly in the middle, nicely blended with the drums.

Unfortunately there isn’t much I can say about Ifrit, Dewdrop, Aether and Phantom mainly because “Absolution” isn’t really a guitar focused song and so it isn't the best song to compare guitar skills, either. The most interesting part—guitar wise—is the solo and little fills on the rhythm now and then.

Ifrit is very precise, I couldn’t hear any mistakes from him, but also the lead is surprisingly quiet in general. His palm muting is on spot, pull-offs and hammer-ons both in the chorus and the solo are very clean and he is simply a pro, he’s got super skills and I wish we could’ve gotten more (</3). He makes the whole song as lively as his stage personality, it sounds flowy but packed with emotions and still so precise it hurts.

Dewdrop’s sound is way better, though he and Ifrit are close skill wise. The difference between Hagstrom Fantomen and Fender Stratocaster is a big one, the main aspect that we can hear is the sharpness of the former and more grounded sound of the latter. Those two guitars also have a very different pickup arrangements—Dew’s strat has SSS (3x single-coils) pickups and he uses the bridge one (which is a Seymour Duncan Hot Rail), and the Fantomen’s has HH (two humbuckers that can be slip, but as far as I’m aware no ghoul used that feature), also with the bridge one used more frequently. In “Absolution” Dewdrop doesn’t add very much—as he does to some other songs—so it’s pretty much the same as the original version. There are small differences that inherently come with his style and that is what makes his version differ from both Ifrit’s and the album's, but it’s all very slight. Dew also makes a very good use of his pedals, mainly wah—especially at the end.

Aether is a bit off tempo in some parts. He plays well, mostly clean, but we can pick out some slight mistakes—mostly sounds that aren’t supposed to be there. His palm muting is a bit too light. He goes heavy on the pick which makes his part of the solo a bit sharp (especially that he’s playing the higher harmony) and square-ish. The sharpness is, again, something we can partially blame on the Fantomen. Only partially because both Ifrit and Phantom prove that it’s manageable. 

Phantom is very clean, he adds a lot of slides which is a feature of his personal style. Said style of his is very lively and fun, to me it sounds and feels like a slinky (don’t laugh at me it’s the autism). He’s more fluid both in the solo and the rest of the song than Aether, but makes one—barely noticeable—mistake in the solo where he misses a note.

Also Phantom and Dewdrop in 2023 are more in sync than Aether and Ifrit in 2017. For whatever reason.

Now keyboard; Zephyr goes absolutely ham on the keys, but it is a piano song so that’s not only understandable, but also desirable, I would say. Key’s are in the right ear with slight migration to the middle when it matters, again according to the stage layout. Their precision and speed and overall skill is insane, the ending when they go wild is the most impressive part, because the song itself doesn’t give many opportunities. If you haven’t seen a video of Zephyr playing that ending you gotta do it now because it really is insane (RIP to that Nord Stage 2 though). The synth fill before the solo in 2017 is played back, in 2023 it’s played live by Cirrus.

In 2023 Cirrus plays the main chorus keyboard part, it can be heard easily on the left side (so once again stage layout accordingly). It’s clean and precise, she’s also very skilled, but unfortunately doesn’t really show off at the end like Zephyr does. Cumulus plays some chords before the solo while Cirrus plays the synth fill.

Vocals are not my thing so I’m only going to say what most of us can hear; Terzo is very nasal, but cleaner, and sings a bit higher. Clear pronunciation, good flow. It’s closest to Tobias’ normal singing voice. Copia is even more nasal, more growly and raspy. They’re both, obviously, in the middle in case of mixing.

Backing vocals in 2017 are all play-back for obvious reasons—pretty simple, taken straight off of the album recording. It’s put on the left, but it could be more favorable in the middle. 2023 is way more spectacular thanks to—mainly—the backing vocals. They are 90% Aurora and Cumulus, with lower levels of Cirrus and barely anything of Swiss. He’s louder by the end. I’m still conflicted about the growls—if it is Swiss or Papa’s play-back—but it’s a great addition that was very mild in 2017’s play-back. The backing vocals are on the sides, accordingly to the stage layout. It all just adds more spice, I adore them.

Sound engineering and mixing is so much better in 2023. We can easily tie it to the budget (though I’d like to “blame” it on Hayden’s part in the engineering, he’s a mastermind, too). The sound is much clearer and fluid than in 2017, it highlights all the instruments perfectly at the same time. Mixing in 2017 is more blunt, it’s a bit duller and some changes in volumes and placements of instruments could—or even should—be made. It doesn’t mean 2017 sucks—far from it—it’s just a technical difference which actually warms my heart if we look at how far has Ghost come. So, once again, considering the budget in 2017 vs. 2023 it’s all understandable. Also the crowd sound control in 2023 is very fun; it makes a great use of all the yelling causing the whole song to sound warmer and fuller.

Both 2017 and 2023 are on the exact same tempo, they can be put over each other perfectly (which I did). They slide apart at the end and the break before the outro is longer in 2023. The 2023 outro itself is pretty boring in comparison to 2017, most likely because in 2023 it’s not a closing song. Below there’s both “Absolutions” over each other; 2023 in the left and 2017 in the right headphone.