#so i had to relearn the controls in like a day and get my keyboard lights on so i wouldnt press q instead of w

[staryarn]

Where's she going

[sandyca5tle]

Slime HRT - 10 Months

So - the past few months have been interesting.

My arms and legs are now fully slime except for the bones, which are now mostly just floating around in the goo. I can push them around if I put my hand inside them, which is weird on a few levels, but also pretty neat. That has been a new experience, being able to stick things in and through my limbs, but i’ve also found it kinda useful - if I need to hold something, or keep something safe, I can just kinda put it in my arm, or leg and it’s there for when i need it… have gotten a few weird looks for that though, especially if I forget I’ve got like a pencil or something in my arm.

As I somewhat alluded to, the changes in my limbs weren’t all smooth sailing, in fact so far this period has been the most awkward. First of all, once more of my feet had turned to slime, I actually found I had some trouble with my balance - turns out not having a fully solid base on your body messes with your ability to stay upright - took me a while to readjust to the new squishier ends to my legs. 

At the same time, I had to manage a decrease in fine dexterity in my hands. Part of this has to do with not quite being used to my fingers kinda sticking together, so sometimes I all but lose a finger in its neighbour. The other part is that turns out goo isn’t quite as easy to manipulate, and moves and squishes a lot more, making some finer motions harder to perform/perform as fluidly (ironically). While I can still use a keyboard, I definitely make a few more spelling errors, and I can’t game quite as smoothly, and it’s become almost impossible to type on my phone touchscreen, which has continued to become less responsive as I’ve turned more and more gooey, and combined with the loss of dexterity kinda leaves me screwed.

While both of these issues were a pain at first, I’ve learnt to adapt, and can, on the whole, still live and operate as normal (sans phone). Fortunately the slow nature of the transition gives me plenty of time to work out new ways of doing things.

The next major hurdle after that was the morning I woke up and, upon trying to stand up, had my legs just kind of pool beneath me - as in, I didn’t have legs anymore, I just had a pool of slime underneath my body. On one hand, I was very happy - I’d kinda been looking forward to trying out the ‘pooled legs’ thing I’d seen in art, on the other hand however (and in the moment the more poignant emotion) I was panicking. Turns out after 20 odd years of legs, suddenly not having them makes it pretty hard to move. 

It took me a bit to calm down enough to feel out the slime enough to find control of it and work out moving around - it’s kind of like conveyor belt logic: you move some of the slime forward, which, if you do it right (took me a few tried to do so) pulls the rest of you behind it, and you just kind of move the slime like a circle to move yourself in the direction you want. 

I actually spent about half a day managing with that, since a) it took me a bit to work that out and then I spent some time playing around with that then b) it took me even longer to work out how to get my legs to reform, and even when I did manage that, they were nowhere near stable and strong enough to hold me, so I spent a while doing that and somewhat relearning how to walk. The worst part is that for about a week/week and a half it became a morning routine, standing up, only to fall into a pool of my own slime, and it wasn’t just in the morning - while I was usually good once I got started in the morning, my legs weren’t quite as stable as they were beforehand, and so I’d sometimes end up pooled once again. Honestly, when I wasn’t in public, I usually just moved around in a pool until I needed legs, but a lot of the outside world isn’t built for people with puddle-’legs’. On that note, having to form legs took a bunch of effort to start with. I felt like I was trying to lift my whole upper body, which I guess in some respects I was, but fortunately I began to get the hang of it, both the lifting, and forming legs. Nowadays I can pretty much freely switch between pool and legs when I want, although I tend to keep to legs at the moment, as going from legs to pool has already lost me a few bones, and while I may not really use them any more, apparently they’re worth keeping so your body can convert them to more slime mass. Unfortunately I think I may have lost a couple small toe bones over the course of that week/week and a half.

The other issue with the pooling, and more slime content generally, is that I pick up all kinds of random crap off the floor. On one hand my floors have never been cleaner, on the other, I constantly have to pick shit out of myself, which while generally satisfying, is kinda a pain after a while.

The small blessing from this is I’ve actually now gained a bit of control over the shape of my slime parts. While at the moment I can really only do small things with my arms/hands (which condensing my fingers a little has helped with recovering some of my fine dexterity), and go between legs and pool with my lower half, I’m hoping that soon I’ll be able to do more exciting things. One thing I have managed is being able to extend/shorten my limbs a little, which is useful for reaching things, although I can’t go super far since I don’t have the mass, although I did work out a neat work around: I can send a little bit of slime from one arm to the other through my ‘blood’ vessels in my body, to transfer mass between them - it’s not super fast though, so it’s still pretty limited, but hey it’s something!

The other thing to report on this entry is that showering is funky now. Since my limbs are less solid now, the water kind of penetrates a little into them, and I get little bubbles of water within. Have found that this does wonders for my thirst, and when I shower I can usually drink a more normal amount, for a human, without having issues, which is nice. Have had to watch the water pressure, so as not to wash any of my limbs away, or blast my bones out of my body though, so pros and cons, as ever.

Oh! Additional notes for this update: I no longer have hair growing on my arms and legs - for obvious reasons - and not having to shave those has been nice, and I can’t wait for the same on my face - it’s cheaper than laser. I’ve also stopped taking my ‘normal’ hrt, since the recommended application spots are now slime, although I did have to shoot off an email about the non-gel parts of that since I forgot to ask about those originally, and apparently I can stop those too, so.

All in all these past four months have been… and experience. Fortunately I’m coping, although I am a little worried about what else I’m gonna have to learn to cope with over the coming months, but so far it’s all been worth it, so hopefully it’ll stick that way. See ya in the next one! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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[shadesofhui]

Pentagon discography appreciation post

Want to do a post appreciating Pentagons discography, because I don’t think I’ve seen a post solely about it. Long post beware and sorry for my jumping thought process here (I tried to make it easier to read with breaks)-

Are an actively self composing group

*can reblog a post with examples of that separately if someone wants, this is long enough

Have participated in their choreography just as actively (it varies and some members are a lot more active in this than others). Kino does self choreography for the group and it has been commented that Yeo one has been making contributions. If we want to go way back to Pentagon Maker days, then we can safety say, they did it themselves. Composing lyrics and arrangements, and choreography.

I see less self choreography comments officially made nowadays, so it’s harder to comment on this. But it’s clear they are pretty active in their own dance routines and have a say in them. Round 1 and 2, it’s probably safe to assume they made those lovely chaotic choices themselves

Onto song writing and their vocals in general

Pentagon’s vocally is interesting and unique. Their tones are all different and have specific colors to them. Just like the group visually, they are not uniformed. However, they harmonize very well together despite their differences and same with their height gaps. With their set formations, Wooseok is set in places he doesn’t look out of place in the choreography and same applies to others.  It takes a lot of consideration every set to figure out placements to make sure everyone looks not out of place and as someone who did marching band myself. I can only assume the amount of time they take on spot learning and relearning at times. 

Especially, with how they have relearned multiple routines for missing members multiple times (Yanan’s hiatuses, Kinos injury, special performances).

As I commented on above, Pentagon has their own unique vocal timbres. Timbres being, as their own tone quality and sound that makes them distinguishable from the rest of the group. In some songs it’s less noticeable and others it’s quite noticeable; it’s not due to them being unable harmonize or such. Their vocal approach to a song varies on writing, composer(s)/ arranger(s), and the style and message they want the song to have. As it’s boring to go with the same vocal style every song and theme. Who wants to listen to the same song repeated differently over again with different lyrics?

Round 2, Naughty Boys, and Skateboard have more varied vocal tones. While in Spring Snow, Runaway, and Off Road they harmonize and blend their voices more. Honestly, their voices are so unique it was hard to judge and make that second list in general. If you compare their debuts album to their newest songs. Every member’s tone quality, control, range, and sound has improved noticeably.

Pentagon have been pursuing development in their music since debut and their music image hasn’t changed heavily in (my opinion). More of them finding what they like/ trying new things, though I feel they have been a group that likes to play with newer concepts in the industry. They have two main comebacks themes they like to do: Mature ones and Playful ones. 

Mature: Cosmo, Runaway, and Sha la la

Playful: Shine, Humph, and Naughty Boys (tho I debate its half/ half of both)

As you can assume their image has changed a bit since Edawn has left; as he had a part in their writing and major vocal/ rap part in songs. I don’t think anything fundamentally has changed for them in what they stand for, their music production/ comebacks, etc. Current members are getting more vocals/ rap parts and are more active on composing than before, so I’m appreciative of that.

Onwards specifically, more to their song arrangements as a whole 

Pentagon likes to play with reoccurring themes in their songs such as, sounds which can mean the complex sentence structure when getting to the roots of song lyrics .Their arrangement of sentence structure can have purposeful repeated phrases, onomatopoeia, idioms, and connotations (all can be found in Naughty Boy). This is only a short list of how much thought goes into composing a song. Careful sentence structure creates ways they can play with articulations; like Jinho holding a note to make it more emphasized (YuTO DaaaaAAA). Linguistics is not my strongest point, but I tried with the explanations a bit.

Redundancy is also found in their dance routines (references to shine in round 2 and sha la la) and song title tracks, (apparently they been making title songs with 3 characters only). They vary a lot instrumentally, (sounds made from computer/ keyboard/ real instrument); I can’t remember the technical names for some of these currently, they do use some elements over others more and some are obvious. But, not feeling the need to comment on it further at this moment. Like the varying vocal tones, pentagon’s members have their own unique composing and lyric differences. You can tell when certain members work on each song, even if it’s for another group. That’s not something you can recreate and just expect any idol to have. 

What I also enjoy with pentagons music overall: the variety of topics in their lyrics. Not solely about a girl/ love, lust, or rehashed ideas. They often write songs ideas solely for themselves without caring how it does because they wanted to write it (Hui has commented that’s how he composes). Songs written or covered for fans (you are and cosmo). Songs written about memories with each other (just do it yo!) and songs about how they are feeling over past experiences/ current ones (the greatest wall/ genius).  

Commenting now on humph and how I feel about the song’s composition individually

Humph is a well done summer comeback in my opinion. It’s minimalistic and focused on a story created with the song vocally and dance routine (and mv that really adds to it). Humph is started with broken notes (staccatos), showing a good job even musically the disconnection aka the unwillingness to apologize for breaking the rules. The members vocally in the song seem to be answering one another and that’s a theme throughout the whole song/ mv. The disconnected note is continuous a downbeat as the chord is brought in, but is taken away at sections of the songs. During the bridge (building up/ transition to the chorus) it’s not reoccurring.

I’m very limited on music theory knowledge and trying here. Trying to figure out the format of the song and wow, I went into it thinking it’s easy originally. Because the song seems simplistic but its not the same chorus repeated over again with the same versus/ and harmonies every time (AAA) by any means. The first chorus matches the harmonies of the song (trying to keep simple explanations), while the second chorus starts with the same continuous harmonies but changes partway (2:10/2:11ish), which continues right into the third chorus (2:40). It transitioned so easily into the third chorus almost didn’t notice was in the changed chorus still. I think I answered my question here from earlier. Thanks for reading my writing spilling outs and chaotic lengthy mess. Pentagons music deserves all the praise and love in the universe 

[hiddlesgirl]

SH 313: Beati Bellicosi

Before we get into this review I just want to say that I am always honest when writing these, when I don’t like something I will always say it and explain why. I am stating this because there are several moments, scenes and content that I did not enjoy in this episode; and I will explain each one.

While I was a little disappointed and underwhelmed with this episode, there were several scenes and story points that I really liked. I really loved Izzy’s scene with Magnus, and her scenes with Alec; her storyline with the Clave looks to be like an interesting one. I enjoyed the Luke and Maryse scenes; and although it was sad I really liked the Simon and Maia scene, it was a very sweet, heartfelt and mature scene.

The first scene is one with Jordan and Heidi, I did not particularly care for any of the Heidi scenes in the episode (I will explain why as we get to each scene) but I can kinda understand where they are trying to go with the story. In this scene I find it a bit weird that a baby vampire can not only throw a dagger with pinpoint precision but that she escapes from what 4, 5 wolves? It seems pretty advanced for someone who has only been a vampire for a month tops, and the majority of that time she spent locked up and sedated.

I mentioned in my last review that I didn’t particularly like Simon biting Izzy (as to why is explained there) but I am glad that they aren’t just forgetting it or sweeping it under the carpet, they are showing that it has had an effect on her. I love Izzy so much because she will do anything for those she cares about including endangering herself; she also doesn’t want Simon to feel guilty because it was her choice to let him bite her which is why she makes the ‘drained’ joke. She knows that he will be beating himself up for triggering her addiction, especially because he knows how difficult addiction is as his mother suffers from it.

I love Simon because he immediately offers to leave if he is a temptation for her cravings; he knows that it is easier to recover if all triggers are removed and that for Izzy he is a potential trigger. He is so terrified of hurting people, and feels guilty enough for biting her, that he does not want to be the reason why she regresses and is willing to do whatever it takes to prevent that from happening.

I feel bitter and a bit cheated that we did not get to see a reunion between Luke and Clary, he is her father and if it weren’t for Luke they never would have suspected that she was alive. I really wanted that father daughter reunion, especially because they haven’t really had any moments like that in a while that was just about their bond and not other situations or problems. Also, I was so unhappy that we did not see her reunion with Magnus; they released promo pictures of their reunion so we were expecting it. Yes, I know that they are taken while filming and in the time since they were taken the episodes have been edited, but I just wish that the promo pictures were looked over before being released and that any from deleted scenes are removed and not released. All we saw of their reunion was them standing with each other in the wide shot when we hear Simon’s voice, very disappointing.

But I did really like Clary’s reunions with Simon and Izzy, to see the relief and joy on all three of their faces at being together again was so wonderful. For Simon doubly so, because not only does he have his best friend back but he has the reassurance of knowing that he didn’t kill her in the first place. My eyes misted up a bit at Simon’s line ‘That’s what family’s for Fray’; they all love and care about each other so much.

I know that some people thought that Magnus hitting the keyboard trying to get the computer to work was a sign that he was not competent with technology, but if you look at the screen he has already drawn the ley lines onto a map so to me it seems like the map crashed which is why he was getting frustrated with it.

I love that Izzy decides to go to Magnus for help, although it is mostly because she thinks he will have the root she needs it also shows that she trusts him. She knew that he would offer support and help, which he does. He knows how much courage it took her to not only allow herself to be bitten but to come to him afterwards. Unfortunately he doesn’t have the root and she shoots down his offer to ask another warlock, I’m not sure why she declines this; is it just because she doesn’t want to cause him any trouble or is it because she doesn’t want anyone else knowing about her addiction (which would be understandable because it is a very private issue)?

I do absolutely hate how Magnus’ face falls though because it is written all over his face how utterly useless he feels at not being able to help her, it is just another little slight reminding him how powerless he is now. Although Izzy did not mean it that way at all, it is just another reminder to Magnus that he can’t be as helpful or useful to those around him without his magic and that cuts him to the bone. With the Iris situation and all these small reminders it is no wonder he goes looking for a way to get his magic back; magic is part of his identity and to be without it is like losing a limb, he doesn’t really know how to function anymore.

We learn that in the stead of Luke leaving Russell has once again taken up the mantle of pack Alpha, what I don’t really understand is why Luke didn’t put someone in charge before he left. He knew how badly Russell wants to be Alpha and how terribly he behaves as one, so why would he not appoint someone or at least facilitate something so that Russell couldn’t just take over.

Maia has always shown great leadership skill and always has the best interests of the pack at heart; she knows that Russell is being completely unreasonable and that his power grab is not healthy for the pack. I am very excited to see her step into the Alpha mantle.

Simon wants to help Jordan apprehend Heidi because he feels responsible for her as her sire, even though his part in her turning was completely unintentional. He knows how much harm she has caused to him, his family and innocent mundanes; she cannot be allowed to stay in society as she is because not only is she a danger to mundanes but she is a danger to the secrecy of the entire Shadow World.

Jace wants Clary to take a moment to relax and take a break from her desperate search to learn all she can about the twinning rune; not only is he scared of her burning out but he wants to be able to have a quiet moment with her now. He thought he would never see her again and now that she is in front of him he wants to make the most of every moment, and to have time away from the crisis that is Jonathan to just be them.

Clary understands Jace but she feels that she can’t rest until she severs her link with Jonathan, he feels like a constant shadow hanging over her. That she is never going to be able to enjoy her life while she is connected to him because he is always going to be there in the background tainting all these little moments.

We find out that Magnus has told Alec about Izzy’s slight relapse and cravings because he is offering her candy which we have never seen him touch before. I really like this moment because we know that Magnus was honest with Alec and knew that this was too important to keep from him; after everything that happened the first time he cannot keep any information about her addiction from him again (even though the first time he really did not know what was happening until that last moment). It also shows the growth in their relationship; plus, Magnus knows that Izzy is going to need Alec’s support but that she probably isn’t going to ask for it herself.

Also, Izzy doesn’t get mad at Magnus for telling Alec; she knows how important honesty is in their relationship and that she couldn’t expect Magnus to keep something that important from Alec. She knows that Alec means well and just wants to help her, she just feel vulnerable because she doesn’t want to be seen as weak. I adore Alec’s line ‘I wish I was a strong as you on your weakest day’, to him she has always been the strongest person he knows and seeing her recover from her addiction only solidified that. He loves and admires her so much and he cannot bear to let her think that of herself.

You can see Izzy’s fear when she tells him that her addiction is never going to go away and that it will be a shadow hanging over her for the rest of her life; she hates that the temptation may always be there and hates the feeling of not being in control. Alec tells her that he has been researching the groups that she goes to; this shows just how much he wants to understand and help her, he wants to have as much information as possible to know how best he can help her through it. He wants her to know that he is going to fight it with her, she doesn’t have to do it alone and that she has people who care about her who will be there to support her every step of the way. Best big brother in the world. I’m not crying, I just have something in my eye.

Heidi encantos this woman she knew from school, again this seems way too advanced for her. We saw in Season 2A how difficult it is to master an encanto and it took Simon several tries to be able to accomplish it, so how the hell can Heidi successfully encanto a mundane off the bat? Surely Raphael wasn’t teaching her that.

I really enjoy seeing Maryse and Luke reconnecting because they are several things in common; they have both been exiled from the Shadowhunter community, lost their purpose in life and in the process of finding a new one, have relearned their opinions of each other, have both lost the person they thought they would spend the rest of their lives with (albeit in very different ways) and their sole focus in life is their children.

Maia goes to Luke for help with Russell because she doesn’t know what else to do, she doesn’t feel confident enough to stand up to him herself but something has to be done before he destroys the pack. She is surprised and confused when Luke says that she is the Alpha the pack needs, she has never seen herself taking on that role and doesn’t know how to be a leader. She feels like her own life is a mess, so how is she supposed to help others.

I liked this scene because Luke was showing his confidence in Maia and her abilities, even if she might not see it in herself; but I do feel like it ended quite dismissively when he said ‘you’ll figure it out’ and walked off. It just felt strange because we know how deep their bond runs that he would just completely leave her to her own devices, I know that he wants her to gain confidence and make her own path, but with her inexperience and their relationship I personally think that he should have said something along the lines of ‘I’ll be here if you need advice’ before walking away, giving her that reassurance that he is still there for her and that he can be there if she needs a little guidance.

I was so confused by this next scene, when the woman tells Jordan that she overheard Heidi’s conversation and her location why the hell did they not check for encanto immediately. I know that they are probably underestimating her because she is a young vampire, but they are the Praetor. Surely they have dealt with enough vampires that checking for encanto should be one of the first things they do with a mundane victim.

Plus, why would he not let Simon go with him? Why on Earth did he not let a vampire go with him to visit a clan of vampires to discuss another freaking vampire? Especially because Simon is a Daylighter who is respected or a little bit feared by the vampires, Simon is also very level headed so could prevent the situation from getting out of hand.

Of course the Praetor going to the Du Mort goes absolutely terribly, Jordan goes in completely hot headed and even pushes around the Head of the Clan. He completely lets his emotions and anger control him which he should not be doing as a member of the Praetor. It is just completely stupid and ridiculous that Jordan goes in and accuses the Head of the Clan on the word of mundane, especially knowing how tenuous the peace between vampires and werewolves is at the best of times.

I know that the Simon and Maia break up wasn’t well received by some and I am sad to see their relationship end too because I absolutely loved their bond, but I think that it was handled very well. In 311 you could sense the distance between them and the lack of intimacy not only physically but in the scene itself, something had definitely shifted in their relationship and that happens sometimes for no reason at all.

Maia clearly still has feelings for Simon but she has made the decision that the pack comes first especially because she wants to have a bigger role, she knows that it will need her full attention and commitment. That would force her relationship to take a back seat and her partner would come second to the pack; she doesn’t want that for Simon, she cares about him so much and sees so much good in him that he doesn’t deserve to come second. She wants him to have someone who can love him entirely and will be able to put him first, and she knows that she can’t do that right now or for the foreseeable future. She knows that the kindest thing for both of them is to let go now before they start hurting each other which would be inevitable if their relationship continued as Maia goes forward in becoming Alpha.

Simon understands her decision, he knows how important her pack is to her and doesn’t want to stand in her way; he can see the potential in her to be an amazing Alpha and doesn’t want to be selfish in holding her back from that. He knows that they have both felt this shift in their relationship too, so much has happened and changed over the course of their relationship that they have changed a little as people which has changed their relationship. They both feel that distance and that the spark has faded. It is a very mature conversation and decision on both of their parts to mutually agree to let go now and move back into friendship before they can hurt each other.

I really don’t understand how Heidi is able to completely manipulate and hoodwink everyone she comes across, and why is the Head of the Clan allowing a baby vampire to dictate his moves and push him into violent retaliation. It seems a bit like lazy writing to have this month old vampire have all these skills and cunning to move all these players into doing her bidding, I know that there is probably a bigger storyline they are heading up to (maybe the return of Raphael) but giving her all this influence is just ridiculous as a viewer.

Maruke is real! Luke and Maryse share a steamy kiss, Maryse showing that Alec gets his boldness from his mother as she moves in for a second kiss similarly to Alec in 112. They part quickly with Maryse seemingly embarrassed before she rushes off with a parting smile, it seemed very abrupt but it is probably the first time she has kissed anyone who is not Robert in a very long time.

I know that some think that they are moving too fast, and I slightly agree, but with a show like this the story moves so quickly that the emotional side has to move quickly along with it or it would be devoid of meaningful, emotional connections. The entire timeline of the show from Season 1 to now is about 4-5 months which is absolutely ridiculous, really you just have to forget about the timeline and enjoy.

I am very confused at the complete turnaround Clary has in attitude towards the twinning rune, only a few hours ago she was threatening to cut it out of her flesh and now she just wants to forget it’s their and enjoy the moment. I understand the journey and wanting to get her to this point but I think that her lines earlier were much too dramatic to have such a quick turnabout, if her lines in earlier scenes were a bit less severe then it would have made a little more sense.

I like the sweet Clace moment of them telling each other ‘I love you’ because they haven’t has many opportunities to have moments like this in a very long time, they keep getting separated. I also really like Jace’s line about loving in until he dies and in the next life, I think it’s from the books; but it really helps give you a sense of how deeps his feelings for her go.

Okay, the sex scene, oh boy. Don’t misunderstand me, I am happy they got one because let’s be honest it’s over due and I am happy for their development as a couple in taking that next step. But, I didn’t like how it was shot; it felt like too much and became uncomfortable to watch. First of all they jumped straight from gentle kissing to being naked which I felt was too quick for it being their first time, it would have been more intimate if they had shown them kissing while Clary was removing Jace’s shirt and then moving to being naked. You missed out on the newness to this sort of intimacy by jumping straight to being naked.

I felt that the kisses were shot too close to their faces, it would have looked much better if they had been a bit further away so that their entire heads were in the shot instead of just getting an entire frame of their interlocked lips.

And the lighting, holy fuck did I have an issue with the lighting which I know a hell of a lot of people did. The room was lit with just freaking candles but you could see everything. It was lit up so freaking well and that got me a little (okay a lot) mad because the majority of Malec scenes, especially the more intimate ones, you can barely see their fucking faces never mind their lips (I am sorry for all the swearing but I just get so riled up).

It is showing a complete double standard, that all of Clace’s kisses and even there sex scene is lit up like a freaking Christmas tree when the only Malec kisses that I can think of that were lit well was their first kiss, the one after their date in 206 and the one after their first ‘I love yous’ in 210. Three fucking kisses out of the many (I am too mad to have a think and count them all) they have had; their first time was lit ok but nowhere near Clace’s and Malec had the fucking lights on, even the training scene kisses were in darkness.

It may not seem like a lot to some people but it is such a kick in the teeth to all the LGBTQ+ viewers who look to Malec for healthy representation, don’t get me wrong I love Malec and their relationship. They have amazing representation, Harry and Matt are amazing, and I would not change a thing about the content of any of the Malec scenes because I love them the way they are. The issue is that the same sex kisses and sex scenes are shrouded in shadows and you can barely see their faces sometimes, yet the heterosexual couples are lit up so much you can see every strand of stubble and eyelash. It is not showing them equally because it feels that the same sex couple’s intimate moments are being hidden when the hetero couple gets put in the spotlight (literally).

I honestly do not intend to offend anyone and I do genuinely like Clace, it just makes me so frustrated that their intimate scenes get treated so differently especially when Malec is such a great healthy couple and representation.

We learn that the words the Clave guard muttered before he died means ‘Heavenly Fire’ which is a secret Clave program that very few people know about. Maryse tells Alec and Izzy to stay away from this and to drop their investigation, she is terrified of them being hurt or killed because they asked too many questions, especially because she can do absolutely nothing to help them now. She has no position in the society anymore, never mind within the Clave; if they get into trouble she can do nothing but watch, which would kill her.

Despite their mother’s warnings and worry there is no way that Izzy and Alec are going to let this drop, they have too strong a moral compass to let it be. They will not stand by while Downworlders are being tortured by the Clave, especially when they both have such strong connections to Downworlders. They cannot stand by while they know injustices are being carried out by the people that are supposed to lead them.

Clace is cuddling in bed which is cute (I need Malec bed cuddles okay, especially because we saw that Alec loves cuddles and was refused them in the last episode) but to me it looked like Clary was laid in a very unnatural position. I know that Kat was getting ready to sit up but surely there was a better way to lie that would have looked more natural. Jonathan goes Harry Potter and carves out ‘I miss you’ into his own arm so that Clary sees it, has he never heard of texting? No joke though, it was creepy as hell.

Jordan appears at the Jade Wolf to say goodbye to Maia, I am a little confused as to why Maia looks happy to see him and sad to learn that he is leaving. With everything that has happened between them it seems really strange, I thought that she might be a little less hostile with him but would still keep a distance; it just seems like a complete attitude change. I know she learned the truth about his behaviour but that doesn’t change what he did.

Also, he’s here telling Maia that he lost control and Heidi played him; why the hell has he not gone back to the Du Mort to apologise to the Clan leader? He knows he was in the wrong and that he acted inappropriately, I don’t understand why he hasn’t gone to apologise and explain Heidi’s actions that led to what happened.

Once again Heidi is manipulating Griff into doing what she wants, goading him and his clan into attacking the Jade Wolf while she stays out of the way. Again, it seems completely weird that she is able to persuade a clan leader into doing something he knows is reckless and will lead to all out war with the wolves, he knows that it isn’t a smart decision and he lets himself be led into it anyway. This whole storyline has just been a jumble of confusion and ridiculousness because a baby vamp should not have been able to do all this.

I make no qualms about saying I don’t like Jordan okay, Chai is a great actor, but I really dislike Jordan. Even after Maia let him say his piece in 3A he still persisted in trying to talk to her after she told him to leave her alone, he wouldn’t respect her wished even then. And now he is giving her this speech which seems a little self pitying to me saying that he is of no use to anyone and that there’s no reason to stay in New York. Plus, I don’t like that after he attacked her those years ago he didn’t seek help for his anger issues which he is clearly still dealing with; that even after the way he treated her and knowing he has control issues he still didn’t seek help.

I love seeing Maia being an absolutely badass taking out the vampire who was going to attack her, but I thought they would have been a little more prepared to put up more of a fight with the big speech Russell gave earlier in the episode. I also felt a little cheated in that we didn’t get to see Maia challenge Russell and earn the position of Alpha, instead now she is going to become Alpha in the wake of a massacre that killed the previous Alpha. I wanted to see her be confident enough to fight for it and win it from Russell because the pack had faith in her to lead them.

I understand that Maia wanted to hide somewhere secure because Jordan was hurt but I didn’t like that she locked them in the same room Luke locked her in during 209,210? We saw how drastically she reacted then and it just felt uncharacteristic for her to put herself in that situation again, even though I know it was because she is trying to protect someone else and in that instance she puts her own comfort second. But surely they could have found another storage room or gone out the back door and hid in a storage container instead? Maybe I’m just nitpicking.

Okay, that’s it for this episode, I know I did a lot of criticizing but as I said I have to be honest and this is just what I felt. I still enjoyed several aspects of the episode, but I hope that the rest of the episodes are a bit tidier and more polished.

As always, if you want to talk about anything I have (or haven’t) written about in my reviews my ask box is open and I welcome discussion.

In 314, Magnus goes to desperate measures to regain some magic, Maia is freaking out in the storage room and Clace go on a date. I heard that we’re also getting protective Alec, who’s ready?!

[emmaruthrundlesh]

Dispelling Genres with Emma Ruth Rundle // Addicted Mag

(Via Addicted Magazine) Following Emma Ruth Rundle’s stunning set at Sneaky Dee’s in Toronto, we sat down (in this case, stood under an ATM security light) and discussed her new album, her new home and uh, music.

The review of her show can be found here.

Let’s start from the beginning.

I grew up in L.A. Both my parents are musicians. My mom plays harpsichord. My dad’s a pianist, my stepmom is a bass player. They met in a band. I just grew up around a lot of music.

Did you grow up listening to folk music?

It was all kinds of music. And I think the folk music thing really took hold when I started to hang out at the McCabe’s Guitar Store when I was a little girl, taking Celtic harp lessons. Then went on to work there for 13 years. So I think that’s where the folk influence originated. I think it was just from being so steeped in every element of what that multifaceted establishment was. It was about the concerts, the lessons, the repair and retail.

What was the first album that you bought with your own money?

Probably In Utero, to be honest, it was Nirvana.

About your songwriting process, you start on acoustic guitar. Do you come up with ideas in standard tuning and then work out your chord voicings?

No. I Inherited the open tunings also from the guitar store. If you handed me a guitar in standard tuning, I would have a hard time with it. I mean, at some point, I started tuning the guitar in a way that made more sense to me. I heard somebody else start changing a string and then I thought well if you can do it to one string, why can’t you do all this to all the strings, just rearrange it all. So for me, mostly my voicings , the root is usually on the fifth or sixth string. Using those open strings a lot in the chords, its makes them more of a modal thing.

You give yourself a lot of work.

I actually think it’s so much easier to play guitar like that. What’s hard about what I’m doing now, on this tour. To have a guitar in all the tunings, I’d have to have all of Kevin Shields’ guitars. If I was really wealthy and had a dedicated guitar roadie. That would be amazing. But it’s not the case. What I use is a combination of two guitars, sometimes it’s three and then capoing around. it’s been difficult actually to relearn the patterns of the songs in those different positions on the fretboard, it’s throwing me off a little. Not feeling super comfortable with it yet. I have tried to learn standard. I did take some classical guitar lessons a couple of years ago. It’s like. I do want to learn standard, be more proficient.

The genre that you tend to be put into, seems to be called gothic folk or dark folk

I don’t think this is folk music at all.

And yet in my research, I keep seeing it called folk music.

It’s because somebody said something and then everyone else just repeated it. I think that there are folky moments on the records, especially on Some Heavy Ocean, but I don’t think it’s folk music.

Maybe because it’s hard to pin down, if someone needs to classify your music…

I think Americana would make a little more sense in the mix with some other things. There’s a grunge influence. There’s a shoegaze influence, there’s post rock. There is, maybe, a touch of some country songs. And there’s a lot of 90s music. You know, I’m surprised people aren’t like “this is the drop tune Cranberries”.

That brings me to a point because as I’ve been listening to the new album, On Dark Horses, there are elements in these songs that lead me to think ‘that could be a pop song’. Play it in a standard tuning, throw in a little piano and a soft beat…Let’s get to the new album. I think it’s fantastic.

Thank you.

(Producer) Kevin Ratterman is credited with doing pretty much everything behind the board including engineering, mixing and mastering.

Yeah, he even played some keyboards and some guitar. He’d be like “I’m going to mix the song” and you’d come back and he’d say “I just added this little moment here”. He’s a very colourful creator. He’s got that creative fire. He’s a very special person. He moved to L.A. sadly. Kevin will come back. I was attracted to working with Kevin because of the Young Widows album, In and Out of Youth and Lightness, which is my favourite Young Widows album. That’s another reason why I fell in love with Louisville and Evan. I did a tour with them 10 years ago. I became enamoured with Evan’s guitar playing immediately and then listened to all their albums and that record has this wonderful theme in its sound and that’s Kevin and I think he did that for this record. He captured this sonic palette. It just has a colour and it’s Kevin. Once you know him and you’re around him, you see that he’s so in the records that he’s made.

On Dark Horses seems like the kind of album that you can continually listen to and still pick up new little pieces in the background.

He’s hidden a lot of little things. I love what he did with the bridge in Darkhorse where he did this panning so drums become the horses running around you. It’s very cool.

It’s good to have a producer thinking creatively like that.

Exactly, and Todd (Cook, bassist) and Evan and Dylan. Having them as well really changed it for me too.

Do you have a favourite off the album?

Darkhorse and Control are my two favourites

You Don’t Have To Cry is the song that I listened to again and again

I think a lot of people love that song and it’s our encore. I wrote it for my friend, Blake.

You write a lot in what I think of as vignettes or abstractions. There​ isn’t really a narrative in your songs.

It’s all about my life, my music and my lyrics…

Your lyrics can be interpreted in different ways. I think that’s the kind of music that people grasp onto. They can make it about themselves as well.​

I think that that is perfect. And that’s one reason why I don’t want to talk too much about my things, because some of is explicit in nature and I don’t want to really directly divulge those things. But it is meaningful enough and I think that some of it is charged in that way. That’s what music did for me when I was younger. That was the ultimate thing, when music could do that.

Of course. When someone says a song saved their life, it’s never a pop country song about tequila and trucks.

Yeah, It’s hard to find it now.

Which is why people grab on tight when they do find it.

I’m definitely like that. I have certain albums and I just listen to over and over and have for years.

What’s the one that you still gravitate to?

Well, for the last few years,. I would say 40 Watt Sun. The Inside Room. I listen to it almost every day. But that’s not like a nostalgic classic record from my childhood. It’s a discovery in my adult life. It did that cathartic thing for me that’s just so rare. That’s some serious soul music from my perspective

Why did you move from LA to Louisville?

It’s a fantastic place for artists. There’s a tight little scene of people. I think the great thing about it is that it’s very affordable and there’s a good quality of life. People are down to earth and we have a nice little situation there. Sometimes I start to feel like I’m trapped in the Beetlejuice town a little bit. And I do miss LA a lot but we get to tour.   (Pause).   I couldn’t go back. It’s kind of what Dead Set Eyes is about, leaving LA. Louisville is a great place. These fine people are from there (pointing to Jaye Jayle as they load out). Like my family. It’s kind of a long story. I was on tour, Jaye Jayle and ERR released the split record (The Time Between Us) last year, those were b-sides from Marked For Death and from their album, House Cricks. And the packaging, we just made it like this weird country romance. So we had this wild idea, since I was got asked to play Roadburn and do a little tour in Europe. Because I had very little funds, the idea was to combine the bands, have them learn my music and they would open for me. Then they would back me up as my band. That was Cathy’s wild idea (Cathy Pellow, founder of Sargent House) and she’s full of wild ideas. And I came off the Deafheaven tour and had split up with a partner. At some point earlier in the year, I was just kind of like gypsying around. I went back to Denver with Dylan (Nadon), that’s my drummer and Jaye Jayle were on tour with Oathbreaker. So the plan was they were going to finish their Oathbreaker tour and we were going to rehearse for four days in Louisville. I would go to Louisville and then we would all together fly to Europe and play Roadburn and do this tour. And I just thought, they were playing in Denver the next day and thought why don’t I just get in the van with you. I’ll sell your merch for the next two weeks and then I don’t have to fly to Louisville. I’ll just get a free ride, we’ll all have a wild time and I’ll help you out. And I got in that van and I just never got out. And now I’m married to Evan, So it’s a pretty good deal.

Talk about collaborating with Evan (Patterson, husband, Young Widows/Jaye Jayle songwriter and singer) .

Light Song is a love song. And so, he’s the answer, you know. I sang on their album. We did that record right after we came back from Europe. I had to cancel a bunch of shows because I was physically destroyed. I just went to the studio to recover and he had written that song (Marry Us). It was so weird. Like a sort of strange magic. He wrote that song before I got in the van. I sang on it. We had been singing together on tour. We were singing Run Forever when we played that song live. Those two songs, Marry Us andLight Song are like secret partner songs. So, if you’re a fan that’s paying attention, it’s kind of a cute thing. That there’s these matching love songs on the records that we both sing on together. I think it’s cute.

I do too! Thanks for talking to us, congrats on the new album. Have a great tour.

Photo by Geert Braekers

[arantele5-blog]

re-learning the forgotten

So for anyone who has actually been reading anything I’ve written over the past few days here know that I’ve been trying to become more musically involved as of late.. That for the longest time one of the largest parts of my life was music which brought me so much joy and fulfillment but had to take a back seat to being an adult and taking care of adult things. So I made the decision recently to try my hand again at cranking out some of my own tracks.. Not trying to do anything spectacular or anything like that but it brings me joy...So a few weeks ago I got the basic of the basics, FL studio 12, mind you I have no midi keyboards or dedicated synthesizers like I used to so I’m basically using all of the native instruments within the program without any hardware.. Which I’m totally ok with since I need to relearn EVERYTHING once again.. After not touching any type of DAW for about 5-6 years even looking at something as basic as FL studio is akin to the picture posted above... Like Holy shit! I’m stepping into the cockpit of some advanced star-fighter and don’t know how to use any of the controls! Don’t press that button!!!! you’ll vaporize a planet!!!.. ok, a little extreme but a somewhat accurate analogy. LOL.

But now that I’ve been working on it for a few weeks, things are starting to make sense again, even in the smallest ways. Definitely not like riding a bike at all... Can’t just jump back on and expect it all to come back instantly.. And that is one of my flaws, being somewhat of a perfectionist I want things to come back to me quickly, especially if I’ve done them before.. But, even over the past few weeks my persistence has paid off!! Im finally relearning a lot of the controls and what they do. For me the most fun portion of this is going through all the different sound presets and seeing how much I can tweak them to sound different. Last night I didn’t want to go to bed because I was making so much progress on a track and didn’t want to quit.. and today I can’t wait to get home and keep playing around with it..

[bernieanderson]

Learning to Solo: Five Ways To Live in the Present Under Quarantine

Last month I had the opportunity to produce an audiobook. It was a learning process that resulted in a product to be proud of for sure. Software like GarageBand is great for keeping all the recorded files organized, as well as editing — and we got to know each other pretty intimately last month, as the editing process takes many hours.

There is a function in recording software called “soloing”. This is when you take one or two individual tracks and separate them from all the other tracks. When recording a song this is a helpful feature because the elimination of other tracks helps the ear to focus on specific sound waves - a single soloed track, ready for editing to perfection.

The soloing feature is particularly critical when it comes to audiobook creation. When recording a song, the goal is to play each track together to produce a solitary whole. A song. For audiobook recording, each chapter needs to be its own track. If you forget to “solo” the output sounds like a room full of voices.

There’s too much input.

Too much noise. Nothing to focus on because there’s too much stimulation.

Sometimes I think we live with this sound in our heads. We are inside the sound. Consistently. Constantly. Relentlessly. We assume this is normal and instead of turning the volume down, we turn it up. More is always better, right? The fear of missing something means we end up missing everything.

I’ve been thinking a lot about noise, input, and quietness after reading Ryan Holiday’s book “Stillness is the Key.” And now that COVID-19 is a global thing. Stillness is a reality for many, whether they want it to be or not.

"It’s very difficult to think or act clearly (to say nothing of being happy) >when we are drowning in information."  -- Ryan Holiday, “Stillness is the Key”

Even with COVID-19 isolation, we still have a problem being still. The problem with input is that we often don’t know how to place limits. We don’t know how to put ourselves in a place of mindfulness which allows for fruitfulness and productivity. When I think of my input as a literal sound, the noise is unbearable. And even under quarantine, it’s too much. We don’t know how to solo.

On the one hand, it seems super simple. Limit inputs. Stop looking at the newsfeeds and the unnecessary. Turn off notifications. Shut down your Facebook account. It’s not hard. Here’s the problem.

Tips and tricks are not all that helpful in the real-life work environment of 2020. Sure, you might be able to limit some input. As we should. But there is more to this story.

Limiting input is not enough. Stillness may be the key. But the key to stillness is mindfulness.

What does it mean to solo?

I’m currently writing thoughts that may become a blog post or it may become a podcast (or both). I won’t know until I edit this. But right now. At this very moment, I am completely into what I am writing. The noise is temporarily turned down. I am in this moment of keyboard clicks and words, thoughts, and ideas. There is nothing else at this moment. I’m soloing.

When I finish here, I won’t intentionally turn up the volume. That would be foolish. The volume will turn up on its own. There is a more important question to consider.

How do we turn the volume down in the first place? In Garageband it’s easy. With a couple of clicks I’m soloing and it’s great. Our brains are more complex than Garageband. How do we live in and with what’s happening in our own headspace?

I have five habits of mindfulness I recommend to you. COVID-19 lockdown is a fantastic opportunity to practice these five things. Give it a shot. Learn to solo.

Journal.

Not everyone gets excited about this. But I’ve found it to be an important habit over the years. Sure. Write down the big things. The trip to the Grand Canyon. Baby’s first steps.

But it’s even more critical to write down the little things. I’m tired today. I’m worried today. I’m deliriously happy today. Something is bothering me and I don’t know what it is. What’s needling at my conscience? What’s under the surface of my heart and soul?

I’m a fan of Julia Cameron’s “morning pages” method of journaling. I read “The Artist’s Way” back in 1999 and found this practice to be most helpful. Start your day with a time of free-writing. Do it for 15-minutes. Do it for three pages, as she recommends. True confessions, I cheat occasionally and will only do a page or two. It still accomplished the same purpose. The only rule is to put pen to paper and write whatever is there. Write without thought or distraction. Write without stopping, editing, changing the spelling, fixing the grammar. What comes out is sometimes a mess. Other times it’s profound. That’s not the point. What you write is for your eyes only. Morning pages unblock a fuzzy mind and put one in the moment. This moment. This is my head-space. I recommend trying this for a month. It might just become a daily habit. It’s a great tool for mindfulness.

Breathe.

Yoga focusses on breathing. So does running and performance magic and acting, musical performance and meditation. It’s an app on the Apple Watch.

Breathing is a miracle of human life that happens without our awareness. Yet, it’s a different function than digestion or circulation. We can control our breathing, at least to some level. I can slow down my breathing. I can speed up my breathing. I can breathe deeply or keep it shallow. Sure, we breathe without thinking — but self-awareness is sometimes found in breath-awareness.

It’s not about woo-woo. It’s about taking a moment to solo.

Sit. Be still. Breathe in through your nose, pushing fresh oxygen deep into your diaphragm. Exhale until the lungs are empty. Do this for a minute a couple of times a day. There is nothing more present tense than your current breath. Take a couple of minutes per day to use your breathing as a means to self-awareness.

The great thing about this is you can do this anywhere. Sitting at a desk. A moment in the car. Waiting in the carpool line while picking kids up from school. While there’s life, there’s breath. So breathe. It’s the most present thing you’re doing.

Gratitude.

The world is in the middle of an unusual situation at the moment. Pandemics are not the norm for our generation. There are a lot of reasons to join in “2020 Sucks” meme parade. But there is always a reason to be grateful. Make the choice that allows gratitude to trump despair and cynicism. This requires mindfulness. Make a daily “3-thing gratitude list.” List three different things you are honestly grateful for. In the worst of times, you can find them. You may just have to look a little harder. Monsters don’t hide under the bed. Most of the time that’s where you’ll find the things for which you can be grateful. Look for gratitude. You’ll be surprised by what you find.

Reflection.

Western culture is generally bad at this. We tend to react, rather than reflect. COVID-19 is the perfect opportunity to be intentionally reflective. Reflection requires time and space. There are no short-cuts or hurry-ups for this. I use a paper planner that has weekly questions for reflection. That’s a good place to start. Take a walk and ask yourself these kinds of questions:

What were my biggest wins this week? Did I accomplish what I set out to accomplish this week? How far did I get with my goals? What worked? What didn’t work? What will I keep? What will I improve? What will I stop doing?

Reflection is an art that takes time and discipline to learn. But it’s also a game-changer. Reflection before reaction exponentially increases the value of your input. It requires you to be alone with your thoughts. It’s a part of soloing that takes you to a higher level. Learn the discipline of reflection.

Focus.

Of the five of soloing, this might be the most difficult. Especially in a day and age when “multitasking” is considered not only a virtue but a job-qualification. Employers may think they want a multitasker. Multitasking is fake work and makes distraction a commodity. Today’s economy needs people with the ability to focus. Many of us need to relearn how to do one thing at a time. We’ve become distraction dependent, and this re-wired our brains to the point that the ability to focus is a rare commodity. Soloing is unlearning distraction dependence and learning how to focus. There are entire libraries about neural science and learning how to focus. For me, the best primer on the subject is “Deep Work” by Cal Newport. I recommend starting there. Purchase a physical copy of the book. Put your phone in another room. Grab a highlighter and read without distraction or interruption.

"The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive."  -- Cal Newport, Deep Work

Relearn how to focus. This will be a long journey for some. Not only will you make yourself more productive and valuable at work, but you will also find soloing a much easier task than you first thought.

I’d love to hear from you! How do you solo? What lessons are you learning about mindfulness during your COVID-19 quarantine?

Stay healthy. Stay safe. Go and make.

[fantasticedifice]

Eight months into this year, and I’ve finally gotten around to building a journal. Luckily I only hold grudges against other people, otherwise I’d be quietly seething to myself about myself.

Journals are toted as being stellar for progression assurance; They show you where you’d been and let you track your path to where you want to go, and habits breed compliance. It’s straight-forward thinking, but my brain struggles to shimmy up and over the first few obstacle-strewn days with any new behaviour pattern. See also: this blog, which was intended to be a fortnightly thing. Regardless of the number of plates I’ve got spinning, I want to get better at spinning them so hopefully this physical, personal record will help with that. On with the show!

Fan-made art of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is consistently ranked among the top 5 greatest manga/anime franchises of all time, and has enjoyed mainstream success across Japan for over twenty years. The reason? It’s bizarre, naturally, but it’s creator (Hirohiko Araki) has infused Jojo with dozens of contemporary western references, naming dozens of characters after musicians and songs popular in the west at the time of production. Whilst we may think Japanophilia is in vogue in some circles here today, there is a reason the phrase ‘Big in Japan’ was coined; Japan had a thing for our rockstars, and Araki played off of this with wildly successful results.

What that produces, especially from the second season onwards, is a Japanese interpretation of perceived western characteristics and culture, foregrounded against a backdrop of vampires, magical breathing techniques and ethereal spirit-warriors with otherworldly powers (time control? we got it. really fast fencing? We got that in spades. The ability to pull people into a videogame and if you die in the game you die for real?… Probably too much of that, to be honest)

My point is, Jojo is a phenomenon, with an art style that begs for iteration, as we see above. The progression from Muscle boy to Slender boy is also mildly interesting:

Joseph Joestar, season 2

Josuke Higashikata, season 5

I’m a fan. You should watch it.

Find it here.

    Touch typing

I recently humbled myself when googling something on a close friend’s PC using only my two index fingers. The look he gave me was a confluence of amusement and concern; I, like the rest of the west, spend the majority of my time with a keyboard within inches of my mitts, yet I’ve lost the ability to touch type since we were taught it at school. I suppose a combination of poor adoption in the first instance and a path-of-least-resistance style reversion due to laziness has brought me back to typing the way my mom does.

Nevertheless, i realise that to be a better person, i need to patch all weaknesses, not just the ones i can brag about fixing later. So, if you (or a friend, if you want to be coy about it) need similar training advice for those disobedient digits, this site seems to be the easiest to pick up and use, which is what we want when learning or relearning stuff.

Nootropics

Tim Ferriss is my hero. If you know me, you know that. He has the discipline I wish I had, the resources I would dearly love to spend and the drive to pursue things because they fascinate him that I believe I share. The first point is why he’s such a big deal for me, though.

His determination has led to uncommon results, and his documentation of those results (ask me if you want to borrow his books that can also be used as cinder blocks, such is their size) is truly inspiring to me. While I still flounder at the very, very basic dietary advice he gives (doritos and monster do not feature, so what am I to do, really.) His fitness advice, both in terms of personal mental fitness and overall physical fitness 

is based on his experiences and discussions with those who would know, but what is most valuable to me are the resources he throws out there in the course of his studies. During his study into cognitive enhancement, mostly for language acquisition and memory improvement, Tim delved into nootropics – drugs that improve cognitive function. Naturally this sparked my interest since it seemed like the best and least taxing way to build a better self. Sadly it’s not that simple, but it is fascinating. There’s dozens of sites that go over individuals’ experiences with nootropic ‘stacks’ – groups of drugs that, taken together, act synergistically and affect cognition far more effectively than when taken in isolation. Check out this forum for a rabbit hole of science, placebos, illegality and extreme caffeine consumption. It’s a riot.

Who’s that Genre?

  Honestly, if anyone can help me with the categorization of this. sick. beat. then I’d be very grateful. I’m thinking of petitioning Jacob to make this the new podcast intro music, it’s that chill.

I’m taking this boat in a whole new direction from next week, things will be more concise and pithy and, importantly, more valuable as self improvement/autodidact fodder. (I’ll probably keep the music/artwork sections though. Gotta justify that Arts degree somehow)

Until then.

Jozef

  Sailor Boys and Drug Stacks Eight months into this year, and I've finally gotten around to building a journal. Luckily I only hold grudges against other people, otherwise I'd be quietly seething to myself about myself.