#this is NOT good. technically speaking

[aleximustpl4y]

58 – Diet for a New America: album review

Year: 2000

Label: Americoma Records

Genre: "a mixture of glam, hip hop, rock, pop, funk and a car crash."

Members: Nikki Sixx (bass guitar), Steve Gibb (guitar), Bucket Baker (drums), Dave Darling (guitar, vocals, producer)

Listen to it here: [x]

They say that in order to make good art, you have to go through some shit. But is this Nikki Sixx and Dave Darling's, fathers of this side project, case?

I don't know why, I'm here but I can't stay...

History

58 was a side project of Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx and producer Dave Darling, Nikki's ex father-in-law. The name of the band comes from the fact that they were both born in 1958.

"One day we were sitting around; he had this hip-hop loop up, and I was playing this glamrock riff; and he goes, 'Wow, that's really fucked up. You hear how that sounds together?' I said, 'Yeah, it's horrible, huh?' So we started to roll tape." - Nikki Sixx about the origins of the album.

They continued their casual approach: sometimes they'd flip a coin to decide who was going to play what and they wouldn't even write down the lyrics at some point, completely winging the process.

Sixx expected the casual approach might be part of the album's appeal: "If people like it, they can like it for the music, not because it's being shoved down their throats by a record company."

The graphic impact

The album's cover is pretty impactful at first sight, reminding of weird, dug-out-from-the-deep-web independent horror movies of the time. It was a choice for sure, but it fits to the sometimes dark themes that the songs have. The recurrent theme of the stars and stripes in the booklet, just like the name of the album itself, is clearly a parody and desecration of American patriotism.

My copy of DFANA – it looks like it got dug out of the trash.

The tunes

Diet for a New America begins with Don't Laugh (You Might Be Next), a song that starts out calm and pretty normal for the rock songs standards, but it takes a turn pretty quick: at half of the first verse, where you expect there will be the drop-down of raging guitars, you get hit with this weird, dark, insane dub-step-like base. I don't even know if dub-step is the most accurate term for it, you just have to listen to it. And this is the exact point where you ask: what the hell have I just got myself into?

The lyrics are pretty straightforward: these are the protagonist's thoughts about his struggle with keeping away from hard drugs and his regrets in regards of his actions while chasing the dragon. He's telling us to not laugh at, insult or judge him for his weakness, not at least before taking a good look in the mirror or the people around us: you or everyone around you might be going through worse.

This song and album projects you immediately into another dimension, where everything is sordid, distorted, foggy, raw and uncomfortable. But if you listened to Don't Laugh until the end, there's no turning back: you want to know what's next.

El Paso is just Nikki performing slam poetry over a semi-hip-hop base, a stream of consciousness interrupted sometimes by Dave, who sings the chorus, probably the catchiest part of this album. I remember very clearly how, when I listened to this album the very first time, my phone crashed in the middle of this song. Determined, I ignored the very blatant warning and kept going.

The dial-up internet sound signifies that Piece of Candy has begun. A mess that reminds me of country, mixed with the usual hip-hop base, with dark lyrics about a cam girl who starved herself to death because she was afraid of her stalking fans. I'm sure they're trying to say something about today's society, but I can't find a meaning that goes deeper, other than just being a very fucked up story. The upbeat melody goes in complete contrast with the theme of the lyrics, making you feel bad when singing along in the catchy chorus or the ending.

Shopping Cart Jesus goes even deeper into the madness of synths, catchy chorus and dark or sad lyrics, talking about how the second coming will be in the form of a homeless, mentally ill man who collects shoes in his shopping cart. People around Him treat Him with skepticism, making Him frustrated when trying to preach His word, not being able to figure out why nobody listens to Him, why nobody believes that he is the real son of God. In the last verse, he'll “swallow that bullet”.

...And back to a bastardized country tune with Queer, probably inspired by the novel with the same title, written by William S. Burroughs. Not much there's to say about this track, it talks about this man who has a one night stand with another guy, poking fun at him for having a moment of weakness while being married ("I hope your family understands"). Contrary on what we've seen so far, it's not clear how it ends for the main character, but it's implied that he got an STD. The musical part mixes a sleazy guitar with a distorted hip-hop base, but we're used to it by now, aren't we? But I have to say: the gospel choir is a nice touch. Also, the singer goes full on Anthony Kiedis after the second chours, which, y'know, is kinda fun.

If you're familiar with Lita Ford's song, A Song To Slit Your Wrists By, you might not know that it was originally written by Nikki for his now ex-wife, Donna D'Errico. One day, Nikki found this song in his computer, with no memory of recording it so he “gave” it to Lita. This earlier version of Song to Slit Your Wrists By is a rude, raw and passive-aggressive letter that Nikki wrote for you to dedicate to your ex who treated you like shit. You might feel the lyrics of this one too much if you're not careful.

Stormy has the vibes of a song you'd hear in a dingy club at 3 am when everyone is passed out after a party and you're the only one sober; I dare to say it even resembles of grunge rock a bit. The lyrics are a very sweet dedication to Nikki's daughter, Stormy.

Killing Joke has a funk beat with – I'm not going to lie – confusing lyrics. From what I can understand, whoever wrote them wanted to depict the discomfort and degradation that a lot of American people have to live in and the author's hopelessness for the future. It sounds like a jam session more than anything, with random people who'd just join in for the fun of it.

"A bunch of musicians just came by and played. I don't even know who half of them are." - Nikki Sixx

The somber melody and lyrics of All My Heroes Are Dead paint a picture about the horrors of losing someone in the war. Not much to say: it sounds like a last goodbye to someone who fought and lost. I find similarities to Led Zeppelin's No Quarter in the instrumental section, which, intentional or not, is very fitting.

The cover of Alone Again (Naturally) is a re-visitation in r&b key of Gilbert O'Sullivan's classic. It's a mess, but strangely, it works.

Meanwhile, Who We Are ... It's just a mess of jumbled-up tracks. Yeah, that's the whole 1 minute and 52 song.

Conclusion

I don't really have much left to say about DFANA. It sure was a ride both the first time I listened to it and now. I have to be honest, as much as I consider this for what it is, namely “white men who try to make black people music”, I enjoyed it for its quirkiness and it sure was an attempt to try something new, to experiment, which is something I always appreciate. Don't get me wrong, it's trash, but it has that charm y'know? I highly recommend it, but only when you're going through something, just like Nikki was surely going through something while making this insanity happen.

All in all, I still look back at this album with fondness, and I don't regret spending like 4 bucks for the CD.

Final, very personal and unprofessional score: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

…the more things change, the more they stay the strange.

[kizzer55555]

DP x DC: The Most Dangerous Card Game

Ok so Danny has essentially claimed earth as his. And he is fully aware that there are constant threats to the planet. Now he can’t stop a threat that originates on earth (that’s something he’ll leave to the Justice league) but he can do something about outside threats. Doing some research on ancient spells, rituals, and artifacts, he cast a world wide barrier on the planet to protect it from hostile threats so they cannot enter. This will prevent another Pariah Dark incident. However, barriers like this come at a price. You see, there are two ways to make a barrier. Either make one powered up by your own energy and power (which would be constantly draining) or set up a barrier with rules. The way magic works is that nothing can be absolutely indestructible. It must have a weakness. The most powerful barriers weren’t the ones reinforced with layer after layer of protective charms and buffed up with power. Those could eventually be destroyed either by being overpowered, wearing them down, or by cutting off the original power source. No, the most powerful barriers were the ones with a deliberate weakness. A barrier indestructible except for one spot. A cage that can only be opened from the outside. Or that can only be passed with a key or by solving a riddle. So Danny chooses this type of barrier and does the necessary ritual and pours in enough power to make it. And he adds his condition for anyone to enter. 

Now the Justice league? Find out about the barrier when Trigon attempts to attack, they were preparing after he threatened what he would do once he got to earth. How he would destroy them. The Justice league tried to take the fight to him first but were utterly destroyed, so they retreated home to tend to their injuries, and fortify earth for one. Last. Stand. Only when Trigon makes his big entrance…he’s stopped.

The Justice league watch in awe as this thin see-through barrier with beautiful green swirls and speckled white lights like stars apears blocking Trigon and his army’s advance. The barrier looks so thin and fragile yet no matter how hard the warlord hits, none of his attacks can get through and neither can he damage said barrier. That’s when Constantine and Zatanna recognizes what this barrier is. Something only a powerful entity could create. For a moment, the league is filled with hope that Trigon can’t get through yet Constantine also explains that it’s not impenetrable. And clearly Trigon knows this too for he calls out a challenge. 

And that’s when, in a flash of light, a tiny glowing teenager appears. He looked absolutly minuscule compared to Trigon and yet practically glowed with power (this isn’t a King Danny AU though).

And that is when the conditions for passing the barrier are revealed. And the Justice realize that the only thing stopping Trigon and his army from decimating earth. The only way he can get through….is by beating this glowing teenager in a card game. 

Not just any card game though. The most convoluted game Sam, Danny, and Tucker invented themselves. It’s like the infinite realms version of magic the gathering, combined with Pokémon, and chess. And Danny is the master. So sit down Trigon and let’s play.

(The most intense card game of the Justice league’s life).

After Danny wins, this happens a few more times with outer word beings and possibly even demons attempting to invade earth, yet none have been able to beat the mysterious teenager in a card game. Constantine might even take a crack at it and try to figure out how to play. He’s really bad though. Every time this happens, the Justice league worry that this might be the time the teenager looses. Yet every time, he wins (even if only barely). 

Meanwhile, Danny, Sam, and Tucker have gotten addicted to the game and play it almost daily. Some teachers might seem them playing the game are are like ‘awww how cute’ not realizing this game is literally saving the world. Jazz is just happy they aren’t spending as much time on their screens playing Doomed.

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 249

Danny tilts his head. The masked figure across the roof tilts their head back, a gold similar to Tucker’s eyes shimmering, though he knew it wasn’t him. He lets out a curious chirp, inaudible to the living, and the masked figure stills, as silent as a corpse for several moments before letting out two clicks. 

A greeting in turn. 

Danny smiles, letting green bleed into his eyes and scurrying over with a croon from his core. I’m here, I’m here, their own core clatters like metal against bone as his responds with the drone of a blackhole. I see you, I see you. I’m HereHereHere. 

Yet another twitters in turn, clicking echoing across the city from shadow to shadow until it’s as though the city itself has a heartbeat. Click-click. Click-click. Click-click. I’m here, I’m here, not alone, I’m Here. 

[shalom-iamcominghome]

[meamiki]

(You gently drop the flower in their open palm, and act like nothing out of the ordinary happened.)

(Loop does, too.)

[xxplastic-cubexx]

If you were to like redesign Magneto's classic outfit in a way that both suits the character and your own tastes, how would you redesign it?

uhhhh errrmmmmm i dont know i really couldnt improve upon perfection but i have still tried for you my friend !!!

[electrozeistyking]

Fun fact about In Rot and Infection: Loop has no idea there’s a mystery sickness going around until after Siffrin loops back from it for the first time. Needless to say they are quite baffled. A little surprised, even.

On the plus side, Loop is definitely immune to it! On account of being a nonbinary star person, of course! So that’s one thing they’ve got going for them.

(Hurray, name reveal for the sickness in IRAI!! It’s called “pourrir disease” because I like how it looks, not because it’s an actual disease. It can also referred to as “pourrir” for short. :3)

[feelo-fick]

miscellaneous au doodles + a VERY self indulgent song lyric comic :D

+ extra evil comic below the cut :

"chil!" "don't look at me like that..."

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Results from the ‘Who is the tallest MDZS Character poll! Thank you all for voting!

[leroibobo]

another mena language post - i wanted to talk about judeo-arabic and clarify a little bit about what "judeo-arabic" means

the basics, for those of you who don't know: arabic, being a language that was spread over a large part of the world and has since evolved into many different forms, has many different things that differentiate certain dialects. languages/dialects can be influenced by languages speakers' ancestors spoke before, by the social structure of where speakers live, by languages they come into contact with, and by gradual evolution in pronunciation. (many letters like evolving into ones that are easier to pronounce - this is why arabic has no "p" sound, it eventually evolved into "f" or "b". the same thing happened in germanic languages to some extent, which is why we say "father" in english and "vader" in german while in romance languages it's some variation of "padre" or "père".) many arabic dialects in particular possess different substratum (obvious, traceable influence from languages people spoke in before shifting to the new one).

arabic, being a language that was spread over a large part of the world and has since evolved into many different forms, has many different regional dialects which are different for the reasons i described in the above paragraph. even though there's modern standard arabic (which is the subject of its own post), people speak regional dialects in real life. on top of that, there's a variety of social influences on different types of arabic, such as whether someone's living in the city or in the country, whether someone's sedentary or a bedouin, and in some cases religion.

in the middle east, religion was historically:

not seen as a personal choice, but as something you're born into and a group you're a part of, kind of like ethnicity;

not generally something governments actively wanted everyone to share one of at the penalty of ostracization due to sticking to your group being the more livable way of life in the area, or later, the benefits of things like imposing extra taxes on people who weren't the "correct" religion/branch (this is far from being a "muslim thing" btw, it's been in the area for a while now, i mean look at the assyrians);

an influential factor in where you lived and who you were more likely to interact with because of those two things. (for example, it wasn't uncommon for most of the people living in one village in the countryside to share one religion/branch of a religion. if your village converted, you converted, too. if they didn't, you didn't, either.)

this means that the influence of religion in different types of arabic is due to people of different religions living in or coming from different places, and who people talked to most often.

for example, in bahrain, most sedentary shia bahrainis' ancestors have lived on the island for a very long time, while most sedentary sunni bahrainis' ancestors immigrated from other places in the gulf and iran in the 18th century. therefore, while they've all interacted and shared different aspects of their dialects including loanwords, there are two "types" of bahraini arabic considered distinctive to sunni and shia bahrainis respectively, regardless of how long ago their ancestors got there. despite the differences being marked by the religion of the speakers, they have nothing to do with religion or contact/lack thereof between bahraini sunni and shia, but with the factors affecting the different dialects i mentioned in the first paragraph which influenced either group.

a similar phenomenon to this in english is class differences in accent in england. nothing in received pronunciation is actually something only rich people can say or unintelligible to poor people, it developed by the class differences influencing where rich and poor english people lived and the different pronunciation/linguistic histories in those places, as well with different classes keeping more to themselves.

the influence of religion on arabic dialects isn't universal and nowhere near as intense as it is with aramaic. some places, especially more cosmopolitan or densely populated places, are less likely to have very noticeable differences or any differences at all. in addition, certain variations of a dialects that may've been influenced by religion in some way (as well as urban dialects) may be standardized through tv/movies/social media or through generally being seen as more "prestigious", making more people who wouldn't have spoken them otherwise more likely to pick it up. (this is why so many arabic speakers can understand egyptian arabic - cairo is like the hollywood of the arabic-speaking world.) this is the case with many if not most countries' official and regional languages/dialects nowadays.

this phenomenon is what "judeo-arabic" refers to generally. like many other jewish diaspora languages, the "jewish" aspect is that it was a specific thing jewish people did to different types of arabic, not that it was isolated, possessed a large enough amount of certain loanwords (though some varieties did have them), or is unintelligible to non-jews. people were generally aware of differences where they existed and navigated between them. (for example, baghdadi jews may've switched to the more prestigious muslim baghdadi dialect when in public.) if you know arabic, listen to this guy speak, you should be able to understand him just fine.

judeo-arabic also often used the hebrew alphabet and some may have been influenced by hebrew syntax and grammar in their spelling. you can also see the use of script for religious identification in persian and urdu using the arabic script, and in english using the latin alphabet. in general, influences of hebrew/aramaic on different types of judeo-arabic aren't consistent. you can read more about that here.

"judeo-arabic" isn't a universal that definitely happened in every arabic-speaking part of the world that had jews in it to the same degrees, but it did definitely exist. some examples:

after the siege of baghdad in 1258, where mongols killed all muslim baghdadis and spared baghdadis of other religions, bedouins from the south gradually resettled the city. this means that the "standard" sedentary dialect in the south is notably bedouin influenced, while dialects in the north are more notably influenced by eastern aramaic. christians and (when they lived there) jews in baghdad have dialects closer to what’s up north. within those, there's specific loans and quirks marking the differences between "christian" and "jewish".

yemenite jews faced some of the most persistent antisemitic persecution in the middle east, so yemeni jewish arabic was more of a city thing and often in the form of passwords/codewords to keep jews safe. jews were usually a lot safer and better-regarded in the countryside, so jewish yemeni arabic was much less of a thing there, and when it was, it was less "serious".

due to the long history of maghrebi immigration to palestine, there's attestation of maghrebi influences in arabic spoken by some palestinian jews with that origin. this was also a thing in cairo to some extent.

(i'd link sources, but most of them are in hebrew, i guess you'll have to trust me on this one??)

still, the phrase "judeo-arabic" is often used with the implication that it was one all encompassing thing (which it wasn't, as you can see), or that jews everywhere had it in some way. many jews who spoke some version of arabic special to their mostly-jewish locale may not have registered it as a specifically "jewish" version of arabic (though they did more often than not). the truth is that research about anything related to middle eastern and north african jews is often sloppy, nonexistent, and often motivated by the desire of the researcher to prove something about israel's colonization of palestine (on either "side" of the issue). this is not me being a centrist about the colonization of palestine, this is me stating that academia is often (even usually) influenced by factors that aren't getting the best and most accurate information about something. i don't think we're going to get anything really "objective" on arabic spoken by jews in that regard for a long while.

for comparison's sake: yiddish is considered a separate language from german due to 19th century yiddishists' efforts to "evolve" yiddish from dialect to language (yiddish-speaking jews were said to speak "corrupted german" historically; on that note sephardim were also said to speak "corrupted spanish"). this was at a time when ethnic nationalism was en vogue in europe and declaring a national language meant declaring your status as a sovereign nation (both metaphorically and literally). for yiddishists to assert that they were speaking a language and not a dialect that intrinsically tied them to germans was to reject the discrimination that they were facing. (besides, german/austrian/swiss jews weren't speaking yiddish (leaving it with the connotation of being the language of those icky ostjuden), yiddish-speaking jews had practically zero other ties to germany/austria/switzerland, and yiddish-speaking jews (let alone the yiddishists) were almost entirely east of germany/austria/switzerland, so it's not like they were pulling this out of their ass.)

whether a jewish person of arabic-speaking descent calls it "arabic", "judeo-arabic", or something like "moroccan"/"syrian"/etc depends on who you're talking to, where they're from (both diaspora origins and today), how old they are, and what they think about zionism. despite "judeo-arabic" being what it's called in academia, on the ground, there's no real strong consensus either way because the social circumstances arabic-speaking jews lived in didn't drive them to form a movement similar to yiddishists. (not because there was no discrimination, but because the political/social/linguistic circumstances were different.) the occupation since made the subject of middle eastern jews’ relation to the middle east a contentious topic considering the political and personal weight behind certain cultural identifiers. the term "judeo-arabic" is modern in comparison - whether it's a distinction dredged up by zionist academics to create separations that didn't really exist or a generally accurate term for a specific linguistic phenomenon is a decision i'll leave you to make.

[the-gayest-tree-you-ever-did-see]

michael sheen can't say anything about being number 6 on the dilf list with david tennant at number 3 bc if he opened up twitter his fingers would type out "we should fuck nasty about it" without his permission and then where would the world be

[the-judicial-assistants-notebook]

sometimes I think I don't have many thoughts or feelings about Ema, but then I think about her returning from Europe after her studies, failing to get the job she's dedicated her life to since she was a teenager, finding out that the man who saved both her and her sister got disbarred for submitting false evidence, being assigned to the prosecutor who got him disbarred, and running to find him only to be greeted by this slippery, silent stranger who won't talk about what he did or what really happened, and who's behaving just like her sister did for years, and I think about how powerless she is to help him because he won't let her, because he won't trust her, just as Lana hadn't for so much of her life, and how he should know better than to do that to her, but he doesn't or maybe he just doesn't care, and I think about Ema who came back full of hope and conviction only for that all to turn to dust in her hands in a matter of days, and I realise I do think about her a lot actually.

[kwillow]

Started this back in February when it was more topical but... I suppose no time is a good time for romance as far as Theo is concerned.

[dragonsongmakhali]

<HIATUS>.End() ->

Hello world!

This little lizard is back to cause problems on purpose 😎

[cozylittleartblog]

small PSA: if you shop at craft shows or artist alleys, please bring more than apple pay or a virtual card - especially if you're not comfortable entering your card number manually. not all of us have fancy card readers, so please also bring your physical card or cash, even if it's only as backup 👍

[slythereen]

May I ask why you say the orange car is illegal? I see that around a lot and cannot tell if it's a joke or there is genuine speculation.

i think it’s 50% joke/feverish hope and 50% genuine speculation for most tbh. mostly bc the meteoric rise in mclaren’s development came out of the blue and it’s now a better car than even the rb19 seemingly (don’t quote me on that idk the math), with no perceivable disadvantages (monza is supposed to be one of their worst tracks) + some of the upgrades have seemed sketchy (the dagger front wing; this weekend it’s apparently a bendy/flexible front wing design that’s actually against regulations, which merc might be doing too)

when you pair that with distaste for mclaren in general and mclaren’s actual noted history with corporate espionage (against ferrari no less) and f1 fans’ tendency to decide too-good cars are illegal… clearly that mclaren is actually illegal!!!