#test records

[stone-cold-groove]

One kid’s vinyl. HiFi / Stereo Review  |  Stereo Test Record for Home and Laboratory Use - 1963.

[audio-luddite]

Software.

Well relatively speaking vinyl is softer than many materials. I have a lot of LPs, but I am always on the lookout for special ones.

I have several gourmet editions of popular records. I have that two disk Fleetwood Mac Rumours. I have two fancy Steely Dan LPs. I have a MOFI Emmylou Harris. You know things like that. Basically if I like an album and know it and it may be getting old I may buy a new copy. Easy if you know the album already.

But what about other music? Say an artist I never heard of comes along how do I learn about that. And there are "classic" albums respected by collectors and audiophiles such as Willie Nelson's Stardust, or Jazz at the Pawnshop.

Those guys I usually see a review or a recommendation on-line. I find the "Copper Magazine" on the PS audio site to be a good place for that.

They have staff writers and guest writers. This is where I found the Getz / Gilberto review that led me to spend a lot of money. There is usually at least one music review. Most recent was an album by a West Coast singer Perla Batalla doing Leonard Cohen songs. I used the streaming thing to listen. The basic problem is do you like the music or the performance? The review praised the quality of the recording very much. I like L. Cohen's music and have a few albums. I did not like this particular album. Had I like it I probably would have bought it.

On the stream I can confirm the sound quality is very good. But I did not like her interpretation of the songs, any of them. She sang with LC for years as backup and duets on tours so she knew the material and was close to LC. I just did not like it.

Another album I investigated and was touted on the site was Hyeseong Hong Jazz Orchestra. Great sound quality, large band Jazz group based in New York. Much liked by the author. Also I did not like it on stream. It had great sound, detail and all that. But it just did not move me.

I keep a look out for records I missed or lost. I will probably buy a Rhythm of the Saints LP if I locate a good one. I may even buy the CD like I had before.

It is good to keep it fresh, and LPs cost much less than hardware!

This brings up the only important controversy in this Hobby. Do you have test records or records of music you like? By Test records I do not mean frequency sweeps and tracking torture tests. I do mean LPs with particular sounds or effects that you play just for that. Hey I have lots of records that have "particular sounds" but you gotta like the music. Cowboy Junkies Trinity sessions comes to mind. Yes there is the toe tap thing and the noisy AC duct on the first track, but I like the music.

I also have albums I regret buying but are really good sound. Bought back before streaming test drives and you took your chances.

When I have albums with good sound and I like the music I may play them too much. (Always the same thing says the wife) If I change something or get a new toy I have to try it out with the usual suspects.

I am currently contemplating a small change to my phono Cartridge. I will put in the AT 440 mla. It was a fairly expensive thing that started out sounding quite harsh, but got tamed by a better turntable and lower capacitance in the preamp. It is a remarkable unit but it has been in a box for a couple years. It is mounted on the headshell so it is just an easy swap.

I should do that before my new tubes arrive and the space heater goes back in the rack. They should be on the way soon.

[science-bastard]

y’know what? FUCK you. i’m putting your ass in the control group. *injects you with boring saline instead of the fun and exciting glowing green goo i originally had planned*

[canisalbus]

If only Machete wasn't so distinctly white and waifish. Otherwise one could possibly use a lookalike to fake his death and just run away with vasco. But finding someone that resembles machete would be almost as hard as making the choice to end a life to save your own.

.

[jayrockin]

Inane worldbuilding minutia of the day: there is a viral dance craze in Runaway to the Stars "modern day" (approx. 2325), because what is society without a viral dance craze. It began on Martian social media and then spread to the rest of the human internet via the extranet social platform Megaforum.

It is called "The Whop."

It takes some skill to to whop quickly without losing your balance, and videos of skilled whoppers dancing in increasingly ridiculous and inconvenient locations have plagued the human internet for years now. It has a resurgence every time a new bubble of human space discovers and spreads it.

There is also a two-person version of The Whop:

Two-person whopping is extremely popular among children, much to the dismay of their elders. If you don't pay attention and keep time with the other party, it's extremely easy to slap them square in the face. Video compilations of people getting injured while whopping abound. School nurses have seen many victims of the viral dance, sent in with bruises and bloodied noses after whopping too hard.

[ceilidhtransing]

If you hear Republicans speak to other Republicans, you'll hear a lot of them say that they really don't like Trump for whatever reason (many of them aren't fans of the felony convictions, his personal manner, his business dealings, his family life, or whatever else) but that they'll still be voting for him because he'll get them closer to what they ultimately want. They're pragmatic; they don't demand purity in their candidate. They recognise him as their strategic choice so they'll set aside the issues they have with him and vote as a bloc. That's what makes them effective at getting their way. That's how they win elections.

And boy I wish we had more of that attitude on the left. Imagine what we could get done.

[nothingbizzare]

Holding ur hand

[starry-bi-sky]

Danyal Al Ghul: Incorrect Quotes and Miscellaneous Thoughts

Incorrect quotes-style snippets specifically for my danyal al ghul au here (which i really need to come up with a unique au name for atp). Because I thought it'd be funny. And also some miscellaneous headcanons thrown into the mix. Some context for the au: - Danyal is 5 years older than Damian (so 10 and 15) - Danny faked his death when he was 10. Talia knows and helped him with it. - Jazz, Sam, and Tucker do not know he's an ex-assassin.

-------- Snippet 1

Danny, dryly tapping his temple: I have, as the Americans say, irreparable psychological damage, right here.

Jazz, an older sibling first and foremost: well, it's good that you're self-aware.

-------- Snippet 2

Danny, aged 10, in the American foster planning to just age out of the system: *emanating Bad Vibes. Pure, Little Orphan Tom Riddle Energy*

Jazz, aged 12, coming in to adopt a new sibling with her parents: Him. This is my brother now :)

Danny: ...what

--------

Lilo and Stitch is Danny's favorite Disney movie. He watched it when he was 11 with Jazz when she was attempting to connect with him, and by this point Danny was becoming receptive to her efforts. They had a movie marathon in the living room one night.

Safe to say? It resonated with his little 11 year old heart strongly, and he related very strongly with both Nani and Stitch. He got unexpectedly emotional and hid in his room for the rest of the night. Jazz felt really bad, but it had the intended (but kinda unexpected) effect of him trying to be nicer to her afterwards.

-------- Snippet 3

Dash, aged 12, causing trouble again and getting intercepted by Danny: *scaling up a desk* AHHHHH! GET YOUR LITTLE FREAK, FOLEY!

Tucker: Hey! Danny is not a freak!

Dash: GET HIM TO BACK OFF

Tucker, was the kid Dash was messing with: ....whats in it for me

-------- Snippet 4

Danny, saying some questionably immoral shit: What. Why are you looking at me like that.

Tucker: Bro. I mean this as kindly as possible; what the fuck?

Sam: yeah, I'm with Tuck on this one.

-------- Snippet 5

Danny, ranting about Vlad: if it weren't for the laws of this land, I would have slaughtered him

Sam, painting his nails black: I'm pretty sure you'd slaughter him regardless of the laws of the land -- and quit moving, you're gonna mess me up.

Tucker: we've literally seen you debate yourself about this, Dan

Danny: ...you are correct, but it is the principle of things.

-------- Snippet 6

Vlad: I have experience my child, and the money and power attained through using those powers for personal gain, you say. I could train you, teach you everything I know! And all you have to do is renounce that idiot adoptive father of yours.

Danny, was already contemplating committing a Violence: ....

Danny, internally: I'm going to stab him *turns into Phantom*

--------

Funny contrast I realized between Danyal and Vlad that iirc I haven't pointed out yet is that imo, Danyal doesn't rely on his powers nearly half as much as canon Danny does. He falls back instinctually on his League training, and thus sometimes forgets to use his powers in battle. This was prevalent especially early on when he was still getting used to the whole 'halfa' thing.

He incorporates them more often after a year, but still for the most part relies on his own physical hand-to-hand combat. He trusts those skills much more than he does his powers. I'm not sure where he is on a technical level compared to canon, but just to stay safe I'll say he's similar in power skill as canon Danny. Perhaps a little more finessed than him because his League training would probably have him trying to figure out his powers as soon as possible.

But in summary? Danny is strong in hand-to-hand combat, weak in powerset.

Meanwhile Vlad is the opposite. I can't recall if he even knows hand-to-hand in canon, but it makes total sense to me that Vlad Masters wouldn't because he's so confident in his monetary influence and ghost abilities that he sees no need for it.

And he's kinda got some merit behind it. He's very powerful and has 20 years of experience to experiment and fine tune his powers. He's got bite to follow up his bark. He's perfected long-range combat and his ability to phase through walls makes it impossible to corner him, but if you can manage it, then one good hit could probably knock him on his ass.

So in summary, Vlad is strong in powerset, weak in hand-to-hand combat.

And it casts a good contrast between the two of them in that regard. Danny, as a fellow halfa, can follow Vlad when he phases through walls and is fast enough to land a hit on him. His league training as an assassin, albeit rusty, is still deep ingrained enough in him that he can hold up as a rather veritable threat against Vlad without needing his powers.

But Vlad can force Danny to use his powers more often through use of his own. The duplication is the first thing to come to mind: Danny's fast enough to dispel them on his own without powers, and smart enough that he could figure out who the real one is if given a few minute. But that's not always efficient enough.

Good foils for each other that way. Also Vlad's Plasmius design mimics Ra's juuust enough that he looks like Ra's knockoff loser second cousin no one talks about, which only fuels Danny's hatred.

-------- Snippet 7

Danny, ranting about Vlad for the first time: --and it's only made worse by the fact that the little ingrate resembles a cheap knock-off of my grandfather!--

Sam, choking on her water: he what--

Tucker, doing a spittake: HE DOES?

[territorial-utopia]

Huzzah! It's birthday time! I'm slowly accumulating more and more things I like (latest additions this vest I made and a travel typewriter! Still need to fix the latter one though)

Sure has been a year.

[chiptrillino]

Hi, I love your art sm! I have a question about your process; how do you get references for your art? Are you at the point where u don’t need them, or do u have a go to website? Or take photos yourself?

thank you! I explained my process a bit here in this ask LINK depending on the time and energy, i am pretty much at the point where i can figure out some poses by memory alone. but i need one first very crude sketch in order to like to have visuals about what i like to do? or how to pose the body. So: step 1. Crude sketch step 2. Redraw it properly (sometimes i can right away use the sketch for coloring) step 3. Proper line art for coloring (examples below)

(ID in ALT text)

i don't spend much time combing through the internet till i find the one pose i would like to draw now. i just start to doodle. see something i like. and then refine it. i look up images if i have trouble with some anatomy or i need some help with colors and pattern. but its then things like... "toothy smiles" "male torso with belly fat" "guy stretching nude" "long hair in water" "human skeleton with muscle" "underwater photoshoot" check out how it more or less works and then adapt it to the drawing i am working on. i have been drawing for over 15 years now. i have build up a bit of a visual library, and have reached the point that sometimes i see artworks and know which pinterest image was used as a reference because people stuck to only one photo of a model and basically redrew the original just with some refinement. nothing wrong with that just not something i do or at least avoid doing.

[whitherwanderer]

--—TOTALITY—--

[javisfreckles]

crying about two fictional men and their funky lil sons

[b0tster]

go white girl go 💃

(📸 @isthatyourmain)

[science-bastard]

i bend sexily over my lab bench to jot down a data point but my assistant doesn’t notice because they’re too busy drawing little faces on the test tubes and making them kiss

[wejustvibing]

WB: can we expect an album, duet between you and lewis? that's what everybody wants to know

Charles: oh if it's what everybody wants to know then... i'm not sure. i'm not sure to be honest. i haven't spoken about music too much with Lewis yet. we discussed about it last year and he was telling me that he loves music and... i don't know. i'll speak with him from next year onwards about a potential collaboration

[sinsofsinister]

the pitt - abandoned area