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sstrongstyle · 5 years ago

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𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: Adam Cole x OC, mentions of Seth Rollins x OC 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: After nearly a decade of being the golden girl of WWE, Adaline Marin wants out. Their ring was no longer home, haunted by her first love and upon reaching her thirties, the face behind "Aspen Glory" wonders if the passion she once had was still ablaze. Instead, she gets sent down to NXT to join the Undisputed Era. The next three hundred and sixty-five days, all captured by cameras for the history books, become a year of revival, reinvention, and realization with her legacy at stake and a new flame from the past emerging. 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: All characters are referred to by their real life names (for the most part) 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒: I love feedback! Please send some my way! <3 Very background heavy chapter, no real fun, but more to come. If you’re interested in being added to a tag list, let me know!

CHAPTER THREE.

June 8th, 2019

Adaline couldn't believe that she didn't just agree to this, but agreed for it to be done for an entire year. It wasn't like she cared about being in management's good graces and volunteered to do it, but she somehow got hoodwinked into agreeing to a 365 special on herself. She was the last person in the world to enjoy having cameras on her when she was out of the ring and no longer Aspen Glory. Doing interviews out of character for Adaline felt like pulling teeth. She avoided Total Divas at all costs. Even appearing on stuff like Ride Along and UpUpDownDown was difficult for her.

"Just call me the modern day Undertaker," Adaline rolled her eyes, but she smiled a bit, as she sat down for the camera.

She liked her privacy as much as any other wrestler that had cameras constantly on them, but especially since fans liked to pay extra attention to her life for whatever reason. Adaline attributed it to her once long term relationship with Colby, highly publicized at several points because of whatever dirt sheet rumours and private leaks that were thrown their way. She was quiet at all times, her Wikipedia page only covering her wrestling career, as she had been as vague about her childhood as possible in the past.

Raising an eyebrow at the producer, Craig, a few feet away, Adaline wasn't sure where to begin. "I can just talk about anything?"

Anything but the few things on the "no mention" list. Most were contributed by WWE, but a lot of other things were provided by Adaline. This included her past relationship with Colby outside of kayfabe and especially anything to do with Nikki Bella.

"Start with talking about your career so far. You can name drop companies and non-contracted performers, but only because we'll be editing whatever we don't want aired, anyway."

"Right," she shifted slightly, unsurprised. "Well, I'm turning thirty-two this fall, so this will be into my sixteenth year of doing this thing."

She wasn't exactly sure why the Network executives wanted to give her a 365 special. As far as she knew, most of the episodes were focused on wrestlers overcoming serious injuries or taking the next great step in their careers. Was this what NXT was supposed to be for her?

Craig's expression remained blank, as he pushed his semi rimless glasses higher on the bridge of his nose. "You started at sixteen years old?" His eyes never left the clipboard in front of him, where she assumed was a list of prompts to ask.

"Yeah, I dropped out of high school in the tenth grade and I worked retail and other random part time jobs for two years while training and working local shows in Toronto. Bingo halls, high school gyms, random parking lots, you know," Adaline explained further, still trying to loosen up her tense shoulders. "When I turned eighteen, I dropped everything and moved to the United States because I knew I was limited, wrestling where I was wrestling. I was an illegal alien with no plan and just a few hundred dollars—the dumb indie wrestler dream."

It'd been so long since she looked back at that time in her life. Once embarrassed by her roots, Adaline felt a warm, fuzzy feeling at the pit of her stomach and couldn't ignore the swelling of pride in her heart. She'd come far.

The look on Craig's face induced Adaline to continue, so she took a deep breath. "My early work happened in Pennsylvania, where I fought my way into gyms and I mean fought. It was really hard at that time for a woman to be taken seriously. It was guys like Drew Gulak and Jon—" Although Craig said that she was allowed to name drop non-contracted performers, she was positive that uttering the former Dean Ambrose's name wasn't worth it. "—um, who helped me learn the ropes and culture in that area. Chikara's Wrestling Factory really helped me out and I did stuff for them and other places like CZW. Drew was the head trainer at the CZW at the time and was one of the first mentor figures I had."

If Adaline had to put her money on it, she would have said that Craig was bored out of his damn mind, but then again, he had the same expression on his face ever since he walked into the room. "Did you just stay in the northeast for that portion of your career?"

"I ventured a bit more west as time went by. Definitely lingered around Illinois for a while, since it's where the top independent women's promotions were at the time. Funnily enough, I ended up living in Chicago for about ten years after that." To be with her boyfriend, but she didn't mention that. "I did some time on the west coast, not as much as I wish I did, but I definitely had some fun doing stuff in California and for a split second, Mexico. Three years into working in the States and I somehow, by a miracle, land myself in the locker room of Florida Championship Wrestling."

To this day, Adaline wasn't exactly sure how she got in. The tape that she sent the developmental recruits was god-awful and her tryout promo was more than cringy. However, looking at other people in her recruitment class, it was clear that officials and scouts looked at potential over everything—how well could they be molded into the WWE standard, the ceiling of their entertainment value. She wasn't sure if she should feel flattered that they saw that in her or not or if they simply saw that she could be easily manipulated.

"It was definitely a time down there. Difficult, yes, but I learned so much." Adaline could recall nights crying into her pillow out of frustration for where her training was going and how she was treated by the other talent. Girls often claimed how hard they were judged for being models and dancers before coming to FCW, but it was just as hard being an "arrogant indie schmuck." There weren't many women from back then who could relate to the garbage that she went through.

Craig asked, "Do you think performers then had a harder time in FCW than the recruits down in the PC and NXT today?"

She paused, taking the question in. "Not a harder time, per say, but the process is much smoother now, while being more of a burden. We have the state of the art Performance Center now, compared to that warehouse we used to train in. NXT gets so much more exposure now that it's harder to reinvent yourself at your own pace." Adaline said. "In a way, because NXT is now its own brand, I would say that talent from the FCW era were much more catty in the sense of starting drama and wanting to move up to get on the road with the main roster talent. The divas division back then was a very different culture to the women's locker room here at Full Sail, which is now very welcoming. Everyone wants to help each other, not drag them down."

There was nothing Adaline wanted to do more than expose certain names, but she held herself back. The catty environment, the hazing, the drama and sabotage, was too much for her. She was just glad that she move on from there quickly, as her memories in developmental hurt her as much as they did help her.

"And after FCW?"

Adaline grinned. "Oh, come on. Everyone knows what happened after that."

For the first few years, she was afraid that the only reason she got lumped in with The Shield was because she was Colby's long term girlfriend and that they assumed he would be most comfortable with her as their valet. After all, Adaline wasn't exactly progressing as a character in FCW. She was scared of that, and only being considered as eye candy and a side item for the boys. It took years of understanding from other people and seeing the product in the eye of the executives that they truly must have seen potential in her.

And if all of the above were true anyway, then Adaline made damn sure to prove herself to be otherwise in the past few years.

"My time with The Shield was everything I could ask for and more. I'm glad I spent that portion of my career with those guys, I don't think I could have found my way around without them. We were all definitely kind of lost, but we had each other, and we were really family." She wanted to say are family, but things were different these days.

Adaline talked to Joe the most, at least up until her move to the yellow and black brand. He texted and checked up on her often while she was off TV. Jon came here and there, but things were different. She only kept up with him through Renee, since the man clearly had yet to discover how to reply to a text.

Then, there was Colby.

Things were good the first couple months after the big finale. As fine as they could be, really. They were on different brands leading up to Wrestlemania, which contributed tremendously to the smooth sailing. After the Royal Rumble, though, things got. . . weird and of course, she hadn't known it yet, but it was around the time he started seeing Becky.

"Hey, Becks, some of the girls are going back to my hotel room after the show," Adaline had tapped Becky on the shoulder after catching her outside of the trainer's room during the later hours of Elimination Chamber. "You gonna come and kick my ass in Mario Kart?"

For whatever reason, Becky's expression dropped. "Oh, uh, actually, I'm just gonna head back to mine. Call it in early, y'know?" Tripping over her words, the fluster in her voice was a tad suspicious to Adaline, but she brushed it off.

She'd proceeded with her plans with Pamela and Leah, playing video games into the early morning. Adaline didn't even think of Becky and her obvious excuse until Leah mentioned that she ran into Becky on her way back to her own room.

"It was written all over her face! Someone definitely got lucky that night," Leah mused at the makeup table, two days later at Smackdown. "Who do you think the guy is? She's definitely not one for random hookups."

Adaline knew that she wasn't owed an explanation to Colby's new love life, but she was a little disappointed that she figured it out on her own. The little things, the rumours she heard backstage, all pieced together for her to realize what was going on between the two of them. Maybe Adaline wouldn't have felt so ruffled about it if it wasn't made to be so weird and secretive. She didn't tell anyone what she found out, keeping it to herself until they announced it themselves.

"Stop making excuses for him, I know why he's late." She didn't even look up from her phone, as she waited in the passenger's seat of the group's rental car. "He's with her, right?"

This was at the tail end of The Shield's farewell era in February earlier that year. Though, Adaline was not heavily involved in the storyline as some expected her to be—the escalation to her own Wrestlemania feud had been going on and she had duties to fulfill on the Smackdown brand. She wasn't there for the buildup throughout the month on Raw, but she was able to join the reunion at Fastlane. It was the group's last match together and the group begged personnel to let her be apart of at least the final moments.

Joe and Jon simply exchanged looks with each other in response. They clearly knew about the couple and probably found out from Colby himself. While nobody said anything to Adaline about it, deep down, they all knew that nobody needed to. She knew Colby more than possibly any other person in the world and the two weren't surprised that she figured it all out.

"Right." Jon was the one who chose to break the awkward silence. "Well, he can meet us there. Let's get this show on the road, we got some beautiful people waiting to see my beautiful face at that bar." It felt a little wrong to not wait for Colby on their way to the roster's "Goodbye Shield" party at a local watering hole, but even Joe was sick of waiting and started the engine.

"We had the time of our lives in that initial run. There's just too memories that I'll cherish forever, you know. But, my memory of all time is surprising the fans at Fastlane, when I showed up to accompany the boys to the ring one last time and having that farewell embrace as the show went off air." Adaline quickly blinked back the tears, as sensitive as ever, but she didn't like showing that side of her to the camera. "I swear to god, time seemed to just completely stop for those few minutes. It was out of this world, nothing like it."

The most magical part of wrestling was the crowd, there's no denying that. On the eve of Fastlane, Adaline felt mountains of love and excitement from the fans, knowing that they were witnessing the end of an era. All four of them knew it was the end of an era, in many ways more than one. Adaline and Colby, who were always known as a collective, rather than individually, were now apart and were now moving on from each other. Mox chose to chase his dreams elsewhere, away from the three that became his family. Joe's legacy in the industry was building and building, year by year. They were no longer the people they were in 2012, having finally gotten a taste of wealth and glory after early years of struggle when the four used to share a single hotel room to save costs.

She'll always be grateful for her run with The Shield. At the beginning, she was just happy to be in a main roster storyline. She was just happy to be able to maximize her time with Colby. Beyond that, Jon and Joe became her family. Bickering over who's turn it was to drive after long house shows, getting to know Joe's kids, playing video games in the locker rooms and every hotel room, and nobody leaving the trainer's room until everybody was clear. No one got left behind.

Back then, it was like that. Now? Adaline can't help but feel like she's come to that point, without any of the three by her side for the first time in a decade.

Craig sighed a little too loudly, rolling up his sleeve and glancing at the shiny watch on his wrist. "We're running out of time. We'll touch on your time with The Authority and everything since then for our next interview day, maybe also dig a little deeper into your new alliance with Undisputed Era." Adaline tried not to breathe a sigh of relief, already worn out from the questions. "Last thing. What are your expectations going into NXT, considering all that you've gone through in sixteen years?"

A question that she didn't know the answer to.

"It's good catching up with you. You have your locker number?" Coach Bloom stood up from his chair from across the desk, extending his hand for Adaline to shake.

She nodded, taking his hand. "Yes, sir. I'll be on my way, then."

Being called into the head trainer's office was similar to the feeling of being called into the principal's office and she had more fear in her body than someone who had just arrived should have had. That was the feeling that Bloom gave off to all NXT residents, but she knew that there was always care behind his tough demeanour. He simply wanted to welcome her properly to the PC on her first official day.

Meanwhile, Serena had been sitting to the side of the two of them and she couldn't confine the grin stretching across her face. When they had shook hands, she instead pulled her old friend into a tight embrace.

"I'm so happy you're here," she whispered into her ear, not caring that Bloom was rolling his eyes at them, mumbling about something for the two women to take it outside of his office.

They had only reunited so few times since Serena signed on as a coach for the Centre a year ago and it only made the moment feel so much sweeter. At the very beginning of Adaline's career, Serena had served as such a helpful mentor figure, even going into their short lived time in the FCW women's locker room together. To have their paths intersect once again, at yet another pivotal part in Adaline's life, seemed poetic in a sense.

Adaline walked out of the office, in tow with Serena. "I guess I'll be responding to your drills again, huh?"

"And you better do it damn well," she raised an eyebrow at the younger woman. "I'm still in shock that you're here. They really didn't want you going anywhere else, huh?"

Shrugging in response, the Canadian sighed. "I'm in shock, too—considering that NXT wasn't apart of the plan." Adaline was getting tired complaining about how the wool was pulled over her eyes during her contract negotiations, but it was starting to fully settle in. Meeting the guys in Hunter's office softened the blow. It was time to shut up and accept the facts.

"People everywhere watched what you did all over the world during those two years that you were gone. You don't need this company to be a star, they need you," Serena said. "Have you maybe considered that you're here because you did all you could do on RAW and Smackdown?"

Those words echoed in Adaline's head, as she trudged into the women's locker room.

It had almost ten years since she started this journey in this company and it seemed like almost everybody that started with her had already grown tired of it. Her first road wives, April and Celeste, were long gone. Danielle decided that she was worn out and was gone. Trinity had recently taken time off and wasn't sure when she was coming back to the ring. Saraya, someone who Adaline thought would be wrestling in her sixties, was retired. Even the goddamn Bellas weren't around anymore. Ninety percent of the division from a decade ago was gone. Wasn't she exhausted, too?

She envied women like Becky and Pamela, who were still hungry for more. There were others who had just made the main roster and some down with her in NXT now, who suffered through the struggles of the indies and were still ready to claw up to the top. Adaline wondered where that drive was for her.

Every locker was labelled by ring name, some with more long-standing plates—mainstays like Io Shirai and Bianca Belair. Meanwhile, others simply had a laminated piece of paper slapped on top of the metal. These were the recruits who had yet to prove themselves, the names that Adaline couldn't recognize.

A shiny, new plate shone on the locker that sat at the corner of the room. Aspen Glory, it read, in all of its permanent lustre.

She slammed her gym bag onto the bench, the impact echoing throughout the empty room. The process felt foreign, making a locker home when Adaline spent so many years travelling to probably hundreds of different arenas and treating each space and moment as temporary. She wasn't sure where to begin, as she unlocked the door and was met with a clean, baby blue interior.

There were some basic things that she brought, like extra socks, a water bottle, and shower shoes. Adaline quickly filled the locker up with these contents and it still appeared so barren to her. What the hell else was she supposed to put in it? She shrugged, not thinking too much about it. Then, she heard the door creak open.

Somewhat hidden away from the front of the locker room, Adaline could hear a distinct voice that seemed to be talking to someone over the phone and a smile formed, hoping it was who she thought it was.

"Yeah, that sounds good for dinner. I just got into the PC, I think Cheree's already waiting for me. You know how she is, she's always early. Alright, bye, Johnny, I love you. See you."

A flash of blonde hair only confirmed Adaline's suspicions. It was Candice LeRae, who hummed the melody of a 90s pop song and chewed bubblegum, as she strolled over without noticing the other female in the room. She easily unlocked her name plated locker, which was across from Adaline's, and nearly everything spilled out from it being too full.

She groaned. "Oh, crap," Candice said, trying to chase a bottle of dry shampoo that had begun rolling across the floor, only to be met with Adaline's bemused expression.

"Hi."

"Hey," Candice replied with a grin, a little perplexed.

Almost instantaneously, they pulled each other into a hug. Knowing that she would be diving head first into the unknown, Adaline was aware that she couldn't navigate all on her own. The two Breezango idiots were too busy figuring their own things out and she couldn't voice her anxiety to her new stable mates, wanting to give off a confident face. There were only so many people that Adaline could turn to outside of them, so she gave Candice a heads up that she was now reporting to the Performance Centre.

Adaline bent down and reached out for the lavender can for her shorter friend, passing it to her. "Your shit's a mess, girl."

"Yours will be, too. Give it a month," she rolled her eyes and peeked over her shoulder at Adaline's belongings on the bench. "You're moving in today?! I honestly did not expect to see you here so soon."

"I told you that I landed a few days ago, didn't I? I've been in meetings all weekend," Adaline replied with a groan. She had only been in Orlando for such a short amount of time and the amount of work and settling she had to do was taxing. The NXT tapings hadn't even begun, yet.

Candice said, "Yeah, it doesn't really slow down for another week or so. You'll love it here, I promise." As everyone else had promised Adaline, who clearly wasn't convinced.

The blonde turned around and put the can back into its place—if it even had one, in that mess of a locker—and began rummaging through her personal possessions. Candice let a out a soft a-ha! when she found what she was looking for at the back of the space, a Minnie Mouse hairbrush. Adaline chuckled softly at the sight and turned around, closing her own locker.

"Are you off to go workout?"

"Yeah, Cheree's wanted to get some cardio in. Any more meetings today?" Candice replied.

Adaline shook her head. "No, just moving in." She gestured to her gym bag and locker.

"Well, while you're here, the taping schedule is posted up by the west wing double doors, you know, the ones to the main gym. We can check it out together. Actually, would your name even be on there?" Candice thought to herself, considering that she was one of the few people who were made aware of Adaline's presence. The taping schedule wasn't usually subject to the change unless there was an injury, but producers were known edited the cards last minute to accommodate random returns and debuts before, at least once the talent found out.

The woman in question just shrugged in response. "Beats me. It doesn't hurt to look, right?"

"Then, we can check out the travel schedule. Ooh, I hope you're coming with us to the midwest loop at the end of the month!" Candice became giddy. "We'll hit the road together, no men! I wish we got to do that more often when you were in Cali."

Adaline didn't get the opportunity to do so often, but she loved wrestling in The Golden State and especially in PWG. When she worked with them in the past, she always travelled and hung out with Candice.

"I don't think so, but probably the next one?" she shrugged.

The two began chatting more for the next few minutes, mostly about Adaline settling in and her new house. Always the lazy type, she'd been procrastinating and the boxes in her home were left untouched, despite her promising herself that she would get it all out. The small talk about something other than wrestling for once settled the restlessness in Adaline, a small distract of sorts.

It wasn't like she disliked talking about wrestling, rather it was all that seemed to be on her mind for the past while since Wrestlemania. Somehow, it was the first time Adaline really took notice of that, considering she lived, breathed, and ate wrestling for the past sixteen years of her life. A part of her felt worrisome for the sudden awareness of it, wondering it had any relation to her other career concerns.

Unfortunately, the brief, sweet wrestling-free moment was cut short when the locker room door slammed open.

Everyone knew who Shayna Baszler was, or at least, every woman in the company did. After all, the current NXT Women's Champion was probably next in line to overtake your spot in the animal kingdom. Management wanted to push her to lead the division once she would inevitably leave NXT and become a box office draw for all of the big pay-per-views and tours and media.

Some said that Shayna was one of, if not, the most intimidating women on the NXT roster and bore a vicious gaze. Even upon entering the locker room that was nearly empty, her presence demanded attention. All eyes drew to her so naturally and so quickly as they tore away from her out of fear.

"Out of my way," was all she had to say to Adaline, not even flinching at the sight of the veteran and former women's champion.

Adaline zoned out for a moment, completely baffled by the attitude that she was just given. She couldn't help but scoff, trying to process the disrespect that was being shown to her.

She narrowed her eyes at Shayna. "The hell did you just say to me?"

In between them, Candice just sighed. It seemed like that she wanted to end what was going to be an ugly dispute early, but something held her back. Adaline hoped it wasn't out of intimidation by the former mixed martial artist.

Shayna stared back at the woman in front of her. "You think you can just waltz in here and act like you got this brand on lock? They get tired of you on the main roster and Japan couldn't offer you enough money, so you come down here to fuck around?"

Adaline wanted to find out how Shayna found out that she was going to be here, but that wasn't the main concern of hers. Her jaw nearly dropped to the ground, hearing Shayna's words. Clearly, she didn't like her or some rumours already began to float around backstage. Regardless, Adaline was already on the bad side of the de facto locker room leader.

With the fury running through her body, though, she didn't give a damn.

"I'm going to say this once, so you better listen up," Shayna began, "I think you're entitled. I think that you've ridden on the coattails of your ex-boyfriend for your entire career. So, I don't like you. Plain and simple."

"You think you know me?" Adaline's voice began to rise, but Shayna held up a hand and didn't let her finish.

She said, "Maybe for you, being here is like a little vacation before someone like Ashley Flair gets injured and creative will need another spoiled brat to bury their women's division with on Smackdown. For some of us, NXT is our entire lives. Don't mess that up for us."

With that, Shayna bumped Adaline's shoulder when she walked away to the other side of the room and behind a wall to another area of lockers. All she could hear after was the stomping of boots and the slamming of a metal door open. Meanwhile, she was in complete shock of the conversation that just happened, wondering if she just imagined it.

Looking at Candice's sheepish expression, though, it confirmed that Shayna Baszler did indeed strut right up to Adaline and cussed out one of the scariest warnings that the latter had ever heard in her life.

"Honestly, she gives that talk to every new girl," Candice said in a low voice, as she ushered Adaline out of the locker room.

"You can't be serious," Adaline shot back, still worked up over what happened. It took all the will in her body to not barge right back in and swing at Shayna's smug face.

The target was now on her back and she had yet to even step into the yellow brand's ring. If she was being honest, it was definitely a wake up call to where she was now and the expectations weighing down on her shoulders. She didn't know what she was supposed to do. She didn't even want to be here. Adaline wouldn't admit it out loud, but she was terrified for the first time in years.

#adam cole imagine #adam cole fanfiction #adam cole x reader #wwe fanfic #nxt fanfic #wwe imagine #hm series

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digitalbloodhound · 5 years ago

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18. Make Your Own Fun: A Zine About Making Zines (Kriski, risograph, black ink, green ink, pastel green card, recycled white paper, staples, a zine about making zines—created by a zinemaker, available on etsy)

19. A Guide to Being Just About Okay (by dogsnotdiets, stitched paper, zine about coping with depression, overwhelming emotions and mental illness, new edition available on etsy)

20. 87,000 Steps: 5 Days in Amsterdam (by Kriski, 6" x 8" Saddle stitch binding (staples). Covers are risograph printed in two colours - blue and black soy-based inks - on recycled 160gsm white card. Inner pages are risograph printed in blue on 80gsm pastel blue paper, records the five day trip the author took around Amsterdam, available on etsy)

21. Dog House Zine (by Zoe Bread, https://www.zoebread.com/product/dog-house-zine gsm pages & 250gsm soft touch cover, about a girl, her dog that is always talking, and dreams.)

22. Things in Things (Erika Rier, staples, ink, paper, available on etsy, illustrations of various things inside a variety of other things and each page is dedicated to a new thing such as tubes or toilets.)

23. Rubbish FAMzine (by the Lim family aka HolyCrap.sg, each issue is curated and c reated by the Lim family and covers something new, Claire, Renn, and their two young children each use the magazine as a creative outlet.)

24. Cooties (multiple contributors, “an online and in-person publication dedicated to working with and for female artists of all genres”, https://cootieszine.com/cooties-crew )

25. 3 Dot Zine (founded by artist Devin Morris, http://www.3dotzine.com/home multiple contributors, “an annual publication that serves as a forum for invited artists to center and elaborate on marginalized concerns”)

26. A Sashimi Zine (Diyou Wu, Printed in Risograph, 5 inches x 7 inches, https://www.littlemountainpress.com/product/a-sashimi-zine a zine about Wu’s cat Sashimi and her habits)

27. On The Mystic, Magick, Talismanic, Alchemical Practice of Zine Making (Brian Cotnoir, 21.8 x 14 cm riso and photocopy, paperback, staple bound, a description of alchemical practice through the making of zines)

28. Flash Zine (Gabino Azuela, 21 x 14.5cm, staple-bound, paperback, risograph, a collection of flash tattoos created by Mexico City-based artist Gabino Azuela, inspired by the series Mazinger Z.)

29. Proof I Exist (by Billy McCall, available on etsy, sectioned off pieces of McCall’s life written very poetically)

30. If You’ll Find Yourself In This Zine You’ll Get One Free (Y.Meiry, 22.5 x 16 cm, paperback, staple-bound, inkjet printed, this zine is A severe portrait of nightlife in Tel Aviv)

31. Five Zines About The Internet – (An Anthology (includes Dad Tweets and List of Lists of Wikipedia) by Amy Burek, spiral bound, risograph printed, monochrome on colored paper)

32. Fan-Zine (by Shiori Kawasaki, 11.5 x 8.5 inch softcover, tribute to Japanese punk music fans, photography of the culture, fans, and their love of punk music)

33. Flyer Zine (by Julia Aredondo, https://julia-arredondo-sk3r.squarespace.com/flyer-zine, 16 pgs, saddle stitch bound, covers the flyers Julia made for Disco Go Round in Chorpus Cristi)

34. A Zine Devoted to All of the Prime Ministers of Canada (Alexander Atkinson, paperback, laser-printed, staple bound, captures basic biographic info and portrait of each Canadian PM)

35. CANCEL Art Zine (multiple artists/contributors, digital process, staple-bound, paperback, 21 x 15cm, “Cancel is an art zine published in Helsinki, Finland. The publication aims to showcase and promote works by new and unknown artists with a fresh and unique approach to visual art”)

36. Only Human by Printed Matter Inc. This is the second printing of a compilation of black-and-white photographs by documentary and street photographer Jill Freedman, published by Printed Matter with 8-Ball Zines, photocopy, staple-bound, tape-bound, 28 x 21.5 cm)

37. Things I’ve Been Really Into Lately (by the Space Bureau, risograph, https://thespacebureau.com/listing/564196586/things-ive-been-really-into-lately depicts things the artist has been into over the last month through photo and illustration)

38. 84 - Entertainment Ephemera (by Andy Brinkman, http://andybrinkman.com/84-stacks-lgal/8ce3kcdedtl2jcdye6c3o9uk7n3i3q depicts Pop culture phenomenons from 1984)

39. Nine Lives (by Kriski/Kristyna Baczynski, 10-page concertina mini comic, printed on heavyweight card, digitally printed on heavyweight 200gsm, follows an unlucky feline as they go through their 9 lives)

40. Can’t Lose (multiple contributors, was available on etsy, 5"x8" risograph, staple-bound, comics, illustrations, and other contributions paying homage to Friday Night Lights.)

41. The Last Girl in the Woods (by Bergslagsgatan http://www.talesfromthewoods.eu/?p=1063 A visual short story about the forest in conjunction with an earlier exhibition by the artist)

42. Straubs (By Kelly Walton who is now on hiatus, was available on etsy, The Straubs are "semi-feral girls" who "who hunt giant strawberries & use them to make elaborate desserts & jams.")

43. Tesseracting (By Megan Bentley, was available on etsy, zine Inspired by A Wrinkle in Time, this zine teaches you how to travel to the fifth dimension.)

44. A Guide to Being Alone (by Julia Arrendondo, https://julia-arredondo-sk3r.squarespace.com/guide-to-being-alone-zine 8.5" x 7", covers traveling alone, being newly single, etc.)

45. Their Paradise Materials (by J.Yung, Excerpts from the work of Ronald Johnson, John Milton and William Blake along with illustrations reinterpreting those excerpts

46. How to: Be Kind to Yourself (by Bunny Miele, 4"x6", hand cut and stapled, available on etsy, a self-care guide)

47. Kazoo (founded by Erin Bried for young girls aged 5-12, Bried made this zine after being frustrated with the lack of STEM publications geared towards girls, Kazoo is “a magazine that doesn’t tell girls how to look or act, but instead inspires them to be strong, smart, fierce and, above all, true to themselves.” https://www.kazoomagazine.com/)

48. Number One: A Zine of Firsts (by Missy Kulick, a zine of firsts, paper and staples, available on etsy)

49. Origin Story (by DanaCapybara mini zine tells the unusual but true tale of three rats. With a bit of a stranger's kindness, they survived the odds and went to live with their forever human, available on etsy, paper, ink, pigment, stapled, 4.25" x 5.5")

50. This Party Really Sucks (by Leigh Luna http://leighlunacomics.com/#/this-party-really-sucks/ comic about Luna’s mom paying her with comics to go to prom)

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recentanimenews · 5 years ago

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The Most Popular Anime in 2020…According to Wikipedia

How can you tell what anime is actually popular? Your Twitter feed is a bubble, curated by people you’ve chosen to show up. Most anime fans don’t use a service like MyAnimeList or AniChart to broadcast what they’re watching, nor are those who do necessarily representative of the broader community. Crunchyroll may be the largest anime service for most of the world, but its own “Popular” ranking doesn’t capture any viewership from anime licensed or watched elsewhere.

However, our curiosity is more honest — and, potentially, more representative. You can fake interest on a survey or a Discord channel, but if you’ve landed on a Wikipedia page, there must be a certain sincerity to your action. Like a Google search for symptoms or snooping on an ex’s Facebook, when people query Wikipedia, they’re doing it in a semi-private sphere. Today, we’ll be using that candor to count down the most popular anime of 2020 so far…based on page views on the English version of Wikipedia, the web’s 11th most popular website.

Using Wikipedia’s internal tools, your reliable author examined and compared viewership between all 9,848 pages within the website’s “Anime” category, year-to-date as of February 19th. Below, you’ll find the top 10 most-read pages related to anime on Wikipedia by this standard, regardless of how sensical the results may have been. Let’s jump in!

Yusuke Murata (One-Punch Man, Eyeshield 21) Illustrated the cover for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse's Japanese Home Video Release

10. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

The 2018 film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a sensation, and was inspired by anime as well as coming full-circle to serve as an inspiration to creators in the medium as well. Yoshiyuki Tomino called Spider-Verse “a really weird anime” during a 2019 lecture, but just because the creator of Gundam says so, is this really an anime? A quick “CTRL + F” of the Spider-Verse page indicates that the film was grouped within the category on Wikipedia due to it being included as one of 199 entries listed as an "Anime-influenced Western animation”. So Spider-Verse isn’t really an anime, but since Wikipedia classifies it as such (and so would many of your favorite creators), we're not going to editorialize this list. Its inclusion speaks to the growing bridge between animators in Japan and overseas, as well as the high level of excitement for the film and anticipation of its sequel planned for 2022, and I for one am thankful this is the one true non-anime page that made the top 10, particularly compared to other contenders like 4chan (Rank 18).

Promotional art for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot

9. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot

Our next entry is much more closely aligned with anime, but rather than being an anime series or film itself, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is a new video game based on the Dragon Ball manga franchise for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC released just last month. Of the 262 pages directly associated with Dragon Ball on Wikipedia, it makes sense that fans in 2020 would flock to this more than the rest, since Kakarot is the only new adventure of Goku and friends released this year. The parent page of the franchise “Dragon Ball” is the next most-read page on the list at rank 22, with approximately 4,150 readers every day. Dragon Ball Z and the most recent TV anime, Dragon Ball Super, follow shortly behind.

What’s most impressive to me about Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot’s spot on this list of Wikipedia’s most popular anime-related pages is not how high it is, but rather, how low in the ranking it’s found. Kakarot was the best-selling video game in the United States for the month of January, and the US makes up more of the English-language traffic for Wikipedia than any other country. Yet, the Kakarot game only gets half the traffic on the platform as the most recent Call of Duty game, which is several months past its peak Wikipedia interest and isn’t moving as many copies in stores. This disparity speaks to the varied reasons one would go to Wikipedia to learn more about a game, but it also may represent the relative staying power of Goku’s latest console outing.

Momoka, the mascot of FAKKU (NSFW), the largest English-language platform for hentai

8. Hentai (Warning: This link includes NSFW content)

Hentai, which Wikipedia encourages us not to be confuse with Hentaigana, is defined by the platform as “anime and manga pornography” - at least when the term is used outside of Japan. While not all fans of anime are also compelled by anime pornography, certainly, judging by Wikipedia traffic and Google search data, many are. That said, with a Google search, one would expect most of the queries would be made with the intent to consume hentai content. On the Wikipedia platform, that may not be the case - whether it’s a confused parent or friend, investigating an encyclopedic page for hentai may feel like the safer way to understand the topic.

Hentai Page Monthly Traffic on Wikipedia

Interestingly, 2019 was the weakest year on record for the Hentai page of Wikipedia - had it continued at its rate from last year, the topic would barely miss a top 15 list of anime pages. But in 2020, there seems to be a resurgence, though with no particular inflection point your author could discover, no major article about the topic that would inspire further curiosity from those not “in the know”. It’s worth noting that popular hentai related terms did not show similar dips in 2019 on Wikipedia, and the largest English-language hentai distributor, Fakku, saw its best year on the platform to date.

A comparison of international search traffic for the topics “Anime” and “Hentai” via Google Trends

However, in investigating this strange downturn, I re-discovered something else that I’ve always considered a novelty of data. “Anime” and “Hentai”, as topics, are incredibly strongly correlated on Google search. When one goes up on search, the other follows - and likewise for downturns in traffic. There’s a meaningful exception at the end of 2015, when hentai and its related terms saw a huge drop-off, but that may be more related to Google’s update to the Trends data collection method. That said, it’s hard to argue that anime has outpaced hentai these last five years, and that hentai’s downturn can be found both on Wikipedia and Google. While I don’t believe there’s any less interest in the subject than before, as anime becomes more accessible to broader audiences, and more people are on the internet in general, I would imagine a slightly smaller proportion of those who love anime are also interested in the style applied to pornography now as compared to 10 years ago…but that’s a topic for another day.

Giorno Giovanna and his stand, Golden Wind from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

7. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

Finally, taking the number seven slot on our list is the first actual anime series, and it’s a good one: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. My instinct would be to assume that the meme of “watch jojos” has led many a curious Wikipedia users to this page. While technically this page is the parent page for the manga (and the franchise at large) and not any particular part, the growth in the franchise over the last few years has exploded overseas.

Starting with the anime adaptation of Part 4, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has transcended from one of the most meme’d anime to one of the most watched. From this author’s perspective, Part 4 represented a critical mass in the English-speaking JoJo’s fandom, where it became just the right size that the unengaged finally relented to watch this crazy anime that had been recommended to them with the intensity of a road roller for years before. Part 5 only ramped up this effect, a much more accessible story for those unfamiliar with the years of mythos that led up to Giorno Giovanna’s adventure in Italy.

There’s no particular cause for JoJo’s high readership on Wikipedia so far this year — no announcement of a Part 6 (sadly), no major shakeups in the manga, no more memes than usual — JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has simply become an unstoppable force in the world of anime, and that’s a good thing by my judgement. The best thing I could ask for, even. Please, watch JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure on Crunchyroll.

Studio Ghibli's My Neighbor Totoro

6. Studio Ghibli

After our first actual anime series of the list, we return to another more meta-relevant anime page with Studio Ghibli, undoubtedly the most famous production house in the industry. Started by Hayao Miyazaki and the late Isao Takahata and famous for films like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, Ghibli has won at the Oscars, won our hearts, and given Miyazaki endless excuses to never actually retire.

In January, the Studio Ghibli page reached a 4-year high for monthly Wikipedia pageviews due to the announcement that the 21 films previously announced as part of HBO Max’s service at launch in May would also be included on Netflix outside of the United States, Canada, and Japan. According to Comparitech data on subscribers from December 2019, that would mean that even with their top country out of the running, approximately 55% of the service’s subscribers would have access to these beloved films.

The top-performing Ghibli works when it comes to Wikipedia traffic are Spirited Away (rank #18), My Neighbor Totoro (#29), Grave of the Fireflies (#67). Not surprisingly, these are also 3 of the top 5 most-watched films from the studio according to imDB, with Princess Mononoke and Howl’s Moving Castle ahead of Grave of the Fireflies in the list.

Various Characters from Interspecies Reviewers

5. Interspecies Reviewers

Interspecies Reviewers is an anime about a human named Stunk and his friends as they explore the world of prostitution via a series of brothels run by succubi of various fantasy races and species. The series, from its premise, sounds like it has more than enough potential to cross some lines in regards to what is allowed on television…and according to multiple Japanese TV stations and streaming services, that’s exactly what happened.

On January 31st, Funimation was the first licensee to stop broadcasting Reviewers, stating, “After careful consideration, we determined that this series falls outside of our standards.” Amazon, Wakanim, Tokyo MX, and SUN soon followed suite.

The reaction within the anime community was…vibrant. The news spread quickly— there’s not much better way to draw awarenesses to something than to tell people that they can’t have it. While some fans made the anime a rallying cry for various causes, the interest faded quickly after the engagement on various YouTube videos started to flag. In fact, it’s worth noting that Interspecies Reviewers is not particularly popular on any major pirate site that lists viewership, falling far outside the season’s top 10 on each of the sites sampled by this author. Had this article been written about January traffic alone, Interspecies Reviewers would’ve topped the list, but at the rate Wikipedians are trafficking the page now, it won’t stay in the top 10 for much longer.

Makoto Shinkai's Weathering with You

4. Weathering with You

Next on our list is the film Weathering with You. Makoto Shinkai’s visually stunning follow-up to your name. came in #2 last year at the Japanese box office and has since surpassed Aladdin to become the country’s top earner of a film released in 2019. Being able to wrestle anime theatrical dominance from Detective Conan in its native country isn’t enough to get this film onto the top 5 of an English-language Wikipedia-based anime list, though: Weathering with You has been opening in theaters around the world, with its impressive US release on January 15th.

With $7,710,749 in US box office as of writing, Weathering with You is one of the top-earning anime films in the country in history at #11 not adjusting for inflation, just behind Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ and Digimon: The Movie. Going by the average movie ticket price in North America as reported by The Hollywood Reporter, that means about 846,000 people have gone to see the film in the United States - nearly twice the amount of people who looked it up on Wikipedia.

Thanks to an excellent marketing campaign from the people at G-KIDS and a 90% “Certified Fresh” rating from Rotten Tomatoes, the hype for Weathering with You was real enough for its Wikipedia page to interest more folks browsing Wikipedia than even a controversy surrounding a fantasy race prostitution rating anime.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Wins the Crunchyroll Anime Awards (via Crunchyroll Germany)

3. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

Say “Hello!” to the 2020 Anime Awards winner for Anime of the Year, Best Boy, Best Fight Scene, it’s Demon Slayer! Demon Slayer became one of the most popular franchises in the world of anime and manga in the last year, with its manga breaking sales records, its opening song still topping Billboard Japan, and its unbelievable fan power around the world.

It’s been nearly five months since the TV series for Demon Slayer ended, but the excitement around the exploits of Tanjiro, Nezuko, and their friends has not slowed down. With an upcoming movie coming soon, it would be surprising to see this franchise lose steam any time soon.

My Hero Academia

2. My Hero Academia

There’s not much to be said about My Hero Academia here; since its second season, the show’s popularity has skyrocketed all around the world, and has only started to slow down recently now that nearly every anime fan out there has given the Weekly Shonen Jump standout a chance. Whether it’s topping Toonami’s viewership numbers or ramping up for its next international theatrical release, it’s hard to imagine My Hero Academia any lower on this list while new episodes are coming out every week!

Alita: Battle Angel Promotional Image

1. Alita: Battle Angel

Last year, audiences around the world were treated to the biggest Hollywood adaptation of a manga to date - Yukito Kishiro’s Gunnm was released as Alita: Battle Angel, a passion project of James Cameron’s that came to life under the leadership of director and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fan Robert Rodriguez. Now, in 2020, the film’s Wikipedia page tops the list of anime-related pages for a second year in a row — thanks to diehard fans.

If you looked at the rankings in January, Alita would still make the top 10, but just barely. However, an online group known as the #AlitaArmy started a kickstarter late last year to get enough funds to fly a plane over the Oscars requesting a sequel to the 2019 film. The quote for the banner was originally $1,810 USD, and all further funds raised were set to go to Open Bionics, a prosthetics company that worked with Fox to help create the look and feel of those featured in the Alita movie with a mission to “make beautiful bionic limbs more accessible.” The #AlitaArmy ended up raising $15,599 as of February 20th, and is in the process of passing along the excess funds to Open Bionics.

The #AlitaArmy Plane Petitioning for an #AlitaSequel at the 2020 Academy Awards

The airplane’s message was heard loud and clear: outlets from Indiewire to IGN covered the story, and staff and cast alike shared their excitement about the stunt with fans on social media.

John Landau, Producer of Alita: Battle Angel, sharing his support of the fan campaign on Facebook

View this post on Instagram

The Oscar for outstanding performance by a fan base goes to #alitaarmy

A post shared by Rosa Salazar (@rosasalazar) onFeb 13, 2020 at 9:17am PST

Rosa Salazar, who plays the titular Alita in the film, celebrates the fandom on her Instagram.

It’s incredible to see that a fan campaign was able to both bring such attention to this franchise with a single stunt that Wikipedia traffic for the page even exceeds that of the top airing simulcasts, but if that doesn’t speak to the power of fandom, I’m not sure what does! Alita: Battle Angel was recently added to HBO, HBO Now, and HBO Go, so if you haven’t had a chance yet to see the biggest thing in anime (at least according to Wikipedia), give it a shot! Your author was enthralled by the movie as well, and here’s hoping to an #AlitaSequel!

And that’s our list! I hope you all enjoyed diving into Wikipedia’s analytics to help better understand part of the larger interest around anime. While including all pages, regardless of whether they’re actually a show, studio, genre, or not really anime at all may not have told the specific story you were looking for, I’ve also gone through the effort to collect the top 10 currently-airing anime by Wikipedia pageviews. Enjoy!

1. My Hero Academia (466,536)

2. Interspecies Reviewers (428,338)

3. Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun (213,930)

4. Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! (201,656)

5. BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense (199,691)

6. One Piece (196,166)

7. Black Clover (171,645)

8. Haikyu!! (156,525)

9. Darwin's Game (154,975)

10. Plunderer (123,129)

Thanks for reading - let me know what you think of the results in the comments below!

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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curiositydotcom · 6 years ago

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Collaborations that bridge the political spectrum produce higher-quality work than articles that moderate or one-sided teams edit, according to a new study of more than 200,000 Wikipedia pages. Many studies have found that political polarization in the United States is rapidly increasing, particularly online, where echo chambers and social media have inflamed partisanship. But the new study finds that when editors with a broader range of political affiliation team up to create Wikipedia pages covering politics, social issues, and science, those pages rank better on Wikipedia's own quality scale because of diverse perspectives, increased debate, and appeals to community guidelines.

https://ift.tt/2U3jqsK

#curiosity #learning #educational #education #science #society #culture #facts #fun fact #curious #wisdom #knowl

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botslascl · 2 years ago

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The hobbit the lord of the rings editions by j.r.r. tolkien

#The hobbit the lord of the rings editions by j.r.r. tolkien movie

#The hobbit the lord of the rings editions by j.r.r. tolkien full

The Ring Bearers: Tracing the history of every ring of power in Arda in a family tree format.The issue is also laced with several interesting interviews and articles such as: The short descriptions of the books are accompanied by a variety articles ranging from book cover artwork to meaningful lines from the films. This special edition look at the works of J.R.R. A wonderful collectible opening with an introduction by Shaun Gunner, Chair of the Tolkien Society.

#The hobbit the lord of the rings editions by j.r.r. tolkien full

This is a beautiful, high-quality, glossy 100-page issue full of articles, information on both books and films, and many full-page photos. Tolkien – Celebrating the Professor’s Greatest Creations is on newsstands and store check-out lanes now. But many copies contain the true account (as an alternative), derived no doubt from notes by Frodo or Samwise, both of whom learned the truth, though they seem to have been unwilling to delete anything actually written by the old hobbit himself.Newsweek: J.R.R. Evidently it still appeared in the original Red Book, as it did in several of the copies and abstracts. This account Bilbo set down in his memoirs, and he seems never to have altered it himself, not even after the Council of Elrond. But being in a tight place, he said nothing about it, and made Gollum show him the way out, as a reward instead of a present. Bilbo guessed that this was the very ring that he had found, and as he had won the game, it was already his by right. To them his account was that Gollum had promised to give him a present, if he won the game but when Gollum went to fetch it from his island he found the treasure was gone: a magic ring, which had been given to him long ago on his birthday. Now it is a curious fact that this is not the story as Bilbo first told it to his companions. The "author" reflects on this very point in Prologue: The text for what he did write though can be found at the end of Volume 2 of The History of the Hobbit edited by John D Rateliff. However in the end he decided not to change the original published text too drastically and dropped these large scale changes. Tolkien also planned to include Bree in some capacity in the journey from the Shire. In the published version, the band just crosses an unbroken bridge and carries on their way. I can’t fully remember what happens, but I do remember that this was one of the first times Bilbo began to prove that he wasn’t a burden on the Dwarves’ quest. In what he did write for that expanded section we see the band come across a broken bridge and try to figure out a way across. Considering how long the same journey took in Fellowship of the Ring, I can kind of see where he was coming from. It doesn’t appear in the finalised published version of the Hobbit, but Tolkien expanded the earlier part of Chapter 2 as he believed that he didn’t explore the journey between Hobbiton and the 3 trolls enough. If you are discussing something new, such as the recent Hobbit movies, please use spoiler tags as follows: (/spoiler)Īnd remember NOT to put spoilers in your post titles! If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world! Legolas, Aragorn and Gimli Snoos created by Tom Sexton LoTR - Wikipedia Page Spoiler Tags - USE THEM! Tolkien Related Multi-Reddit to Rule them All Recommended Sites The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Sonįor a full recommended Tolkien reading list, please CLICK HERE - written by ebneter Related Subreddits.Lord Of The Rings (Including Appendices).your link or idea may have been posted before! Use the 'search' function before posting.No links to copyright infringing works (fan edits included).Images of the lights at the Cheesecake Factory will be deleted on sight.Avoid posting image macros (pictures with text on them).CONSTANTLY REPOSTED CONTENT WILL BE REMOVED.

#The hobbit the lord of the rings editions by j.r.r. tolkien movie

r/lotr is 100% Meme-free! No links to online stores of any kindĭon't put movie spoilers in post titles! Please be considerate of others and give fair warning before discussing movie details! For all things Tolkien, The Lord Of The Rings, The Hobbit, Silmarillion, and more.

#The hobbit the lord of the rings editions by j.r.r. tolkien

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brenna-boland-blog · 6 years ago

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Week 8

Installation art

Reading

“I do not see according to its exterior envelope; I live it from the inside; I am immersed in it. After all, the world is around me, not in front of me.” a quote from Maurice Merleau-Ponty in the art review. The philosopher view on installation art completely sums up what this genre is all about. This genre can be found in galleries, shows, and normal buildings. The real beauty of this genre, in my opinion, is shown in exterior showcases. Installation art in use in gardens, bridges, and parks, are some of the best destinations to showcase their true beauty. This is because Installation art is meant to be a full body experience. Meaning that they are created so they can be intractable and be able to be walked through. The artist often wants the viewer to experience everything the piece has to offer.

My favorite piece is the Rain Room, which is shown below. I’ve been a fan of this place/piece for years and I am so glad that it is covered in the art review. The room works with cameras and sensors. As it rains all the time, you are able to move anywhere and the rain will never hit you. It parts as you stand, walk and even dance throughout the water. This is because the cameras and sensors predict your moves. It’s literally programmed so you always experience the best parts of rain and get to enjoy the beauty without the worst part of getting wet. Its beautiful and pure.

Video

Because of a noisy night and not being a to sleep, Do Ho Suh creates a sanctuary. As it is not directly referred to as a sanctuary in the video, this piece to me is described as one. Do Ho Suh created this piece because he couldn't sleep and he realized he missed home. As for most of my childhood, I Grew up in Northeast Iowa I know the feeling of being homesick. For me I miss the hills and valleys and the constant smell of the true fresh air, Do Ho Suh misses his home and to be more specific his childhood home. So Do Ho Suh created a replica of his home that he could always take with him. This home was recreated out of fabric. I have never seen anything like it before and not only is it beautiful but it showcases installation art in a way unlike most. He is able to be “in” his home whenever he wants, which is so cool.

Relevant Artist

The relevant that I chose this week is Nancy Holt. In my opinion, her works embody the beauty of Installation art. Regardless of the fact that most Installation art pieces are found in interior spaces. Nancy’s work is mostly land art pieces. I believe that installation pieces have more effect on the visitor because natural beauty is always better. Also, natural beauty is never the same when it is recreated. Installation art is beautiful and makes you see through different perspectives. I am just glad that I finally figured out the artist responsible for the piece that is showcased on the cover of our art appreciation page. I never realized the beauty of it till you see each piece through different perspectives. Each hole showcases light into an image when placed at the end of the piece. It's Beauty that makes you work for it.

Works Cited:

“Art Review: Installation Art – Five Wonders in New York.” Hamptons Art Hub, 14 Apr. 2016, hamptonsarthub.com/2013/07/12/art-review-installation-art-five-wonders-in-new-york/.

“NANCY HOLTAVIGNON LOCATORS 1972-2012.” Avignon Locators | Home, www.nancyholt.com/.

“Installation Art.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Aug. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Installation_art.

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juniorformulamotorsport · 6 years ago

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Tuesday, 18th September/Wednesday, 19th September 2018 – Kiev, Days 2 and 3

Day 2 was manic and intense work-wise, and the only sightseeing that was done was from the seat of a mini bus taking us back and forth from the hotel to the office, mostly while stuck in traffic that wasn’t much going anywhere. We did still manage to spot the National Circus of Ukraine, which has its own rather wonderful 1960s building, in grand Soviet style. Well, I say spot; it would have been hard to miss really.

Additionally, there were more of the fantastic murals to be seen (excuse the photo quality – these were all taken from inside a minibus moving at a variety of speeds). And no, I’m not sure what the significance of an inflatable dolphin is, but I was struck by how brilliantly executed it was.

Wednesday the Danish and German contingent would be flying out late afternoon, while those of us from London were not leaving for another day. Thus, we two found ourselves back at the hotel at around 16:30 with time on our hands and an ambition to keep going on the sightseeing front. We set off round the back of the hotel this time, eying up the stadium and realising just how big it actually is.

The nearby lamp posts are decorated with planters made to look like footballs, which amused us.

From there we passed a small park with what I now know is a memorial to Solomon Naumovich Rabinovic, better known as Sholem Aleichem (1859 – 1916), a Yiddish author and playwright whose stories about Tevye the Dairyman were the inspiration for the musical, “Fiddler on the Roof”. There were several other monuments in the same space so I may have misidentified it of course.

It’s fair to say that for the most part the history of the Jews in Kiev (and in the Ukraine in general) has been long but has not been easy or happy, and I did wonder if the mural we found is a a reflection of this. However, it’s an area of history that I don’t know a great deal about (so I’m going to have to go and do some reading before our next trip to Kiev).

The area we were now walking through obviously has quite a history and there are some fabulous buildings along the route we were taking, in a mixture of many grand styles.

We were heading initially for the Besarabsky Rynok (Бесарабський ринок) market hall because I wanted to take a look at it, and I know my colleague, A, likes that sort of thing too. It’s fabulous even at the tail end of the working day, and there are plenty of things to buy (including caviar which I don’t care for). In fact the caviar sellers seem to be very keen on engaging with you… I wonder why! It’s quite sizable, and was built between 1910 and 1912 to a design by the Polish architect Henryk Julian Gay, and is named after Bessarabia, claimed by Russia during the Russo-Turkish Wars and now part of the Odessa oblast. It has massive high ceilings…

And plenty of fresh produce.

It’s also fine looking from the outside.

From here we headed along the Tarasa Shevchenko Boulevard, which has a green strip running up the middle of it with traffic flowing (or not flowing depending on the time of day) on either side. We were aiming at the church we had only seen through the trees on our way to the office, Saint Volodymyr’s Cathedral. Prince Volodymyr the Great imposed Christianity on the Kievan Rus and in addition to a massive monument on one of the hills along the river Dnipro, also has a cathedral of his own, and a glorious thing it is too.

The building was completed in 1882 (30 years after the idea of it was first mooted to celebrate 900 years since the Kievan Rus’ were baptised) and it was another church to narrowly avoid being demolished under the Soviets. Instead it was turned into a museum of religion and atheism, and then remained closed until after WWII, when it was reopened as the main church of the Kiev Metropolitan See of the Ukrainian Exarchate. After the Soviet Union fell apart, it was a source of argument between two dominations, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which had autonomous status under the Moscow Patriarchy, and the new Ukrainian Orthodox Church Kiev Patriarchy, the latter eventually winning control of the cathedral. If you want to know more about the history of Ukrainian Christianity, the Wikipedia page provides a useful starting point, but be warned; it’s complicated. There was a service on when we went in (me with my hair covered with a scarf because it seemed unlikely I’d be allowed in otherwise), and it’s fair to say the congregation seems very diverse in age terms, and very devoted. The singing was stunningly beautiful, and A, who is also a musician and a composer was loving every minute of it.

I concentrated on taking photos (there’s a small charge if you want to take photos – I was happy to pay it). The interior is absolutely stunning, with an art nouveau feel to the work that decorates every available surface. Where there are no mosaics, there are paintings, the mosaics created by Venetian masters, the paintings the work of a group of painters under the guidance of Professor Adrian Prakhov. The frescoes were completed by 1896. The interior taken as a whole is almost overwhelming to anyone more used to the stark beauty of Western European cathedrals. It was all we could both do not to just stand and gaze an repeatedly say “Wow!” to each other.

We left the church and headed down past Saint Sophia’s, which was looking particularly fetching in the evening sunshine and stopped to take a look at the massive monument to Bogdan Khmelmitskiy, the leader of the fight for freedom against Polish oppression between 1648 and 1654. It should have been even bigger apparently, but there wasn’t enough money for the planned sculpture, only enough to create Bogdan on his horse. For six year’s they couldn’t even afford a pedestal. It ended up being mounted on some stone blocks left over after construction of the bridge over the Dnipro in 1888! He looks magnificent enough despite all of that.

Further along we stumbled across the monument to Saint Olga (Ольга), the grandmother of Volodymyr, whose cathedral we had just seen. As Princess Olga she was Regent of Kievan Rus’ for her son Svyatoslav from 945 until 960. The sculpture shows her flanked by Saint Andrew the Apostle, and Saints Cyril and Methodius (missionaries to the Slavic peoples). Olga was the first Christian ruler in Kiev and was baptized in Constantinople, though the dates are somewhat fuzzy. The monument itself, which dates from 1911, was removed by the Soviets and buried under the square in which it stands, and was restored in 1996, though using a copy of the statue of Olga. It was originally intended to be part of “The Historical Path” which would have been an alley of statues illustrating the history of Kiev.

From here we crossed the road to take a look at the beautiful blue church we had spotted on the first day. This turned out to be the recreated Saint Michael’s Cathedral (or Monastery). There has been a monastery here since the 11th century, founded by Prince Isyaslav of Kiev. It was his son, Sviatopolk (or Michael) who had a new stone church to Saint Michael built in the monastery precinct in 1108. With its golden roofs it was unsurprisingly known to all and sundry as St. Michael’s Monastery of the Golden Domes. It was added to, and decorated over the centuries, but in the 1930s the Soviet People’s Committee had the bell tower and several other buildings demolished, blowing up the monastery in 1937, leaving behind nothing but a pile of rubble. Between 1997 and 2000, post the fall of the Soviet Union, it was completely rebuilt and it looks incredible.

The Ukrainian authorities managed finally to persuade the Russians to return 18 of the 29 mosaics that had been taken from the original building, and were also able to obtain the return of the remaining frescoes from the Hermitage Museum. We didn’t have time to go inside but were able to roam the “territory” and admire the buildings, including the refectory, which is one of the few buildings that survived the Soviet period.

Behind the complex, we discovered the Kiev funicular, which takes you down to Podil (you can walk but it was a hot, sticky evening and we fancied the look of the funicular, which opened in 1905).

Having discovered that the funicular is part of the Metro system, and that it takes contactless payments for the 8 hryvnia fare (a stunning £0.24, 0.22€ or $0.29 US) we rode down to Podil just as dusk was falling. Podil runs along the bank of the Dnipro and is the old mercantile quarter. It seems to be where all of Kiev fetches up for an evening stroll, cycle ride, run or simply to sit and watch the river. There is a row of street food stalls, cafes, and hotels, with various amusements thrown in.

The Chernobyl museum is down here, but again we were far too late to go in. And we needed a beer. We chose a cafe that looked promising and sat out on the terrace watching the world go by. Shortly afterwards we noticed that there was some sort of light display being played out on one of the bridges.

Beer done with, we caught the funicular back up and headed back towards the hotel in search of dinner.

Travel 2018 – Kiev, Days 2 and 3 Tuesday, 18th September/Wednesday, 19th September 2018 - Kiev, Days 2 and 3 Day 2 was manic and intense work-wise, and the only sightseeing that was done was from the seat of a mini bus taking us back and forth from the hotel to the office, mostly while stuck in traffic that wasn't much going anywhere.

#2018 #Arts #Cathedral of Saint Michael #Cathedral of Saint Volodymyr #Cathedrals #Churches #Europe #Kiev #Monastery of Saint Michael of the Golden Domes #Murals #Museums #Sightseeing #Travel #Ukraine

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call-me-rei · 4 years ago

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Chapter 3: Flashback to Us

***Disclaimer because apparently I didn't mention it when I started this story: This story is based on real events! Just about everything in this book actually happened with PTV and SWS, including the things in this chapter 😉***

September 17, 2011

I scrolled through my mentions amazed that I had so many. It wasn’t unusual that people would tag me or the band in their tweets. What was unusual was the nature of these mentions. Almost every day one of our accounts would be asked to work on music with other artists. Kids wanted us to make music with State Champs, All Time Low, or Mayday Parade. Little did they know we had things already in the works.

One of the weirdest mentions I was seeing had started in mid-June of this year. So many kids were asking for a specific feature with one specific person I’d never heard of before.

@piercetheveil can you please record with @kellinquinn? Omg @piercethevic and @kellinquinn together on a song would be AMAZING!!! Petition for @piercetheveil to have @kellinquinn on their next album. RT to sign

Who the hell was Kellin Quinn?

Almost every day for the last three months I’d been tagged in tweets asking if we’d make a song together. That was super awkward since I had no idea who this kid was, or why everyone was so obsessed with him.

“Bro, are you seeing this?” Mike asked me. “How many times are we gonna be asked to work with this dude?”

I shook my head. “No clue.” I wasn’t too interested in entertaining the tweets when the guys and I were supposed to be working on new music at that moment. We had hit a wall so we decided to take a break, which of course meant we were checking Twitter.

“I don’t know, maybe we should consider it.” We all looked to Jaime with questioning expressions on our faces. “I just mean that we wanna hit the studio soon and we only have a couple songs ready to be tracked. Maybe we could have this one with this guy.”

Jaime had a point. We were working toward a new record, and so far we had more demos than songs that were ready. We were trying to avoid writing songs in the studio but that was proving to be difficult.

“I don’t know…”

“C’mon Vic, we already reached out to Jason. What’s one more feature?” Mike was referring to me and our new label, Fearless Records, reaching out to Jason Butler of letlive. He had agreed to be featured on our new record and was going to send us some things we’d add into the song when we got to the studio.

“We don’t even know this kid. Have any of you listened to him before?” They looked at each other wondering if one of them would prove me wrong. “That’s what I thought.”

“Well, if a bunch of fans are saying it’ll be worth it then maybe it’ll be worth it.” I shot Tony a look to which he put his hands up. “Just give it a chance; that’s all I’m saying.”

I sighed. It was obvious that online peer pressure had gotten to my bandmates and they weren’t going to let this go. “Fine,” I huffed, “I’ll listen to his stuff. But if it sucks then no deal.” They didn’t care. They hi-fived each other at their accomplishment as if the feature was in the bag.

“Did you guys hear what I just said?”

“Yes, but we’re choosing to ignore your negativity.” Tony giggled at Mike’s reply.

“Whatever,” I mumbled, “let’s get back to work.”

***

September 20

I finally had some free time for the first time all week. Granted, it was almost midnight and I was finally settling down. I wanted to pass out more than anything, but my brother had other plans for me.

Have you listened to Kellin yet?

That was the message Mike had sent me just as I was about to start relaxing. I rolled my eyes but responded anyway.

No but I’m going to

He replied quickly: Do it now! I’m tired of waiting for you!

I rolled my eyes again and chose not to respond. Instead, I got up from my position on my couch and went to my Macbook that was resting on my desk. If Mike was texting me so late then this was important to him, and I didn’t want to be on his bad side in the morning because I ignored his request.

Where would I even start with this? I guess with a Google search. I typed the name that had flooded my mentions into the search bar and watched the results pop up. Apparently Kellin was in a band called Sleeping With Sirens, and they had just released a record. That would explain why fans were so invested in them. A new record can bring a band an influx of obsessive fans.

I scrolled down the first page of results to see what I could learn about Kellin. According to Wikipedia he was the singer in the five-piece band. The band had just released their second album, Let’s Cheers to This, in May. Their first record, With Ears to See, and Eyes to Hear, came out in 2010, the same year our second album, Selfish Machines, came out. It seemed like we were on the same timeline.

There wasn’t much else about him besides the fact that many websites said he had a high-pitched voice. I wondered how high it was and if it would sound good with my band’s sound.

I read as much as I could about the guy before I switched over to YouTube. I searched Sleeping With Sirens and was met with so many videos. The first video was for a song called “If You Can’t Hang.”

Might as well, I thought and clicked on the thumbnail.

My ears were immediately met with guitar and drums. I watched as the black screen faded in and showed a water-covered floor. Black shoes walked up to a microphone, then the beat dropped.

Each of the five guys were jamming out to their own performance. It made me want to do the same. This Kellin kid was going crazy in his American flag shirt and black skinny jeans. The introduction to the song calmed down and the camera zoomed in on his face.

Kellin was actually a kid, a literal child! He had such a baby face with his chubby cheeks and black hair falling over his eyes. I couldn’t believe that our fans wanted us to work with a tween! He almost looked too young to be taken seriously.

I decided I shouldn’t judge and focused on his voice as he sang the first verse of the song. He did have a higher voice than most male singers, but it was so smooth and melodic that you moved past it. I studied his face as he sang. The eye contact he made with the camera made me feel like he was singing to me and me alone. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

This video really showcased his stage presence. He was intense when he needed to be and let loose when the song called for it. It was hard to believe that such a young kid had that much talent in that situation.

The bridge of the song surprised me. His voice went up and down the octave like it was nothing. It was impressive as hell, and I needed to hear more. So I went back to the search results when the song ended and found another one called “If I’m James Dean, You’re Audrey Hepburn.”

This song was different from the first one. The music behind the lyrics was much heavier and Kellin’s hair was much longer. His voice was higher in this one too. This video was released before the first one I watched so maybe puberty had finally caught up with him.

Wait, this kid could do unclean vocals? Interesting. His voice had so much range. Maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing to do a song with him. The song ended and I was almost convinced, but I needed to hear one more song to be sure I was making the right decision. I went back to the search results and found one more music video. This one was for the title track of their first record.

This video showed a bunch of tour moments, many of them being on stage performances as well as moments with fans. Kellin seemed to do well in all of those situations. On stage he was energetic and passionate, and off stage he was goofy and smiling.

I couldn’t deny that this kid really had my attention. He also had a cute smile, but that was something I wasn’t going to dwell on.

I was convinced that doing a song with Kellin would be a great opportunity, but I couldn’t get over how young he was. He looked like he was barely out of high school. How much experience did this kid have with working with other bands?

I did another search of Kellin and his birthday. “He’s twenty-five?!” I shouted out loud. There was no way that he was only three years younger than me. Well, at least he wasn’t a child. That made this a little bit better.

Seeing that it had gotten later than I would have liked, I turned off my computer and stood from my desk. I made up my mind about Kellin. Feeling good about my decision, I got ready for bed all while figuring out what I’d say to everyone involved.

***

September 22

Hey Kellin, my name’s Vic. I think you’ve seen me mentioned in tweets

I probably could’ve started that message better, but whatever, what mattered was that I sent it. I finally bit the bullet and messaged Kellin. Yesterday I bought Sleeping With Sirens’ two albums so I could really study his voice, and damn, it was amazing. After taking that extra day to be sure that I wanted to work with him, I sent the message in the morning.

There was no doubt in my mind that Pierce The Veil was going to work with Kellin Quinn, so I sent him the message through direct message on Twitter. He replied a few minutes later.

Yeah I know about you. You’re all over my tl lol

So you know that our fans want us to work together? I asked.

Yup! It’s everywhere

I smiled softly. It was good that he had seen all of those fan requests. That made this a little less awkward.

Well I’ve listened to your stuff and I think it’s a good idea. If you’re down we can get together and make a hit!

He confirmed that he was interested. Apparently he had listened to us when the requests started and was excited to have the opportunity to work with our band. That message made me smile.

Ok I’ll talk to you once we have a plan for the song and we’ll get to work!

Sounds good!

***

October 18

I was sitting in a chair with my guitar against my body. Tony and my friends Curtis Peoples and Steve Miller were with me in a cabin in Big Bear. I needed to write for this song with Kellin and I had no idea where to start, so I went up to the cabin to get away. The other guys offered to come up to help.

“I’m just stuck,” I groaned. I wanted this song to be perfect, but I had no idea where to start.

“Well, what are you feeling right now? Whatever it is write it down and work with it.”

I took Curtis’ advice into consideration as I leaned back into my chair. How was I feeling? I was frustrated. I wanted this song with Kellin to be perfect since so many people were expecting it. We hadn’t revealed that we were working together, but I knew that once word got out the hundreds of fans on either side would be expecting something great. I didn’t want to let them down.

I also didn’t want to disappoint Kellin. He seemed so eager to work with me and I didn’t want to give him a bad impression of my song witting. There was too much riding on this one song; I thought I was going to go insane.

I ran my fingers through my hair and gripped it. There was too much weighing on my mind, putting too much pressure on me. I knew it was one song, but it was a song so many people were counting on. That made it even more important.

An idea occurred to me in that moment. I quickly turned to the face the desk I was sitting at and wrote my thoughts down – pressure, expectations, too many thoughts, pushed past breaking point.

“Vic? You good?”

I smiled brightly as I nodded. “I think our song has a theme.”

***

January 10, 2012

“I was thinking something like, ‘push me for the last time,’ or something like that.”

I nodded. “Yeah, that could work.” I leaned over to pick up my guitar. “We also added something to the instrumental. Check it out.” I played a progression that the band was thinking of adding to the beginning of the song.

“Dude, that sounds sick!” I smiled.

Kellin and I were on a FaceTime call working on our song. We’d been having video calls a lot lately. It was easier to bounce ideas on lyrics off of each other when we could see the other’s face and hear their voice.

“Oh dude, did you get my email? I sent it pretty late last night, but you know, when inspiration strikes.”

I chuckled in agreement as I went into my emails. “No, I get it. I’m the same way. Remember, last week I sent you one at two in the morning?”

He laughed. “Yeah, maybe we should stop doing that.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

Kellin and I were getting to know each quite a bit with these video calls. We would talk for hours before realizing how long we were on the call. Of course, we’d start by working on the song, but then we’d get off track and chat like we were lifelong friends. It really felt like we were.

Kellin was very easy to get along with. He was a really nice guy, funny, and creative as hell. His energy worked well with mine, so we found ourselves working together almost every day.

“Yeah, I like what you have so far,” I said after reading through the lyrics Kellin had emailed me. “This is really good.”

He smiled brightly at me. “Thanks! I’m glad you like it!” I couldn’t help but smile back at him. His smile was infectious, and I think I liked it more than the lyrics he sent.

“Is there a title for it yet?”

I brought myself out of my thoughts and shook my head. “Not yet. We’re hoping to have one once the song is done.”

“Cool,” he said with a nod. “We’ve been on for a while so I think I’m gonna let you go. You’ve probably got things to record or something.”

“Something like that.” I tried really hard to hide the disappointment in my voice. Hopefully he didn’t notice.

“Alright, well I’ll send you another email when I have some more stuff.”

“And sometime in the next month I’ll send you the song demos.” The band was heading to New Jersey to record our third record in February. I figured sending Kellin studio demos would give us both an idea of where the song was and what else we needed to do.

He smiled again. “Awesome! I’m looking forward to it.” I smiled back. “I’ll see you later, Vic.”

“Seeya.” We ended the call, but I stayed sitting there thinking of his smile.

***

March 16

“How was that one?” I asked Kellin from my computer screen. We were once again on FaceTime.

“Hold on.” He typed on his keyboard then called out to someone off camera. Another minute passed and I could hear the recording I had sent him played through speakers in the room.

Kellin alternated between nodding his head along to the music and typing on his computer. When the recording was done he looked at me and smiled.

“Check your email,” was all he said. I did as he asked and read over the lyrics he had just sent.

“That’s it! That’s what we should use!” He gave me a heartfelt laugh and a bright smile.

“Great! Let me record this real quick before I forget.” Kellin had called me while he was in the studio. I asked if he was ready to hear the final master for our song from my end and he agreed. All that was left was for him to send us his master and for our producer to mix both and we’d have a completed track for our fans.

I sat back against the sofa in the studio and listened to Tony in the booth as he tracked his parts for our new album, Collide With The Sky. We had about another month in the studio booked and we were trying to get everything done so we could announce the release. This was an exciting one. We had features from so many of our friends on this upcoming record. Hopefully it would be received well.

“Okay, I’m done.” I looked back down to my computer just in time to see Kellin come back into view. “Give my producer about half an hour and I’ll send you the recording.”

“Sounds good,” I spoke with a nod. He sent me a bright smile, the same one that had been constantly making my heart skip a beat lately.

“Do we have a title for this baby yet?”

“Yeah. My brother said we should call it ‘King For A Day,’ you know, because we’re talking about wanting to overcome all this shit and feel like we’re above it all.”

He nodded along to my explanation. “That works. I can’t wait to hear the finished product.”

“Me too, but trust me, we’ve got a hit.”

***

April 20

“You ready?” Jaime asked me. I chewed on my bottom lip nervously as I read over the potential post once more.

“Dude, it’s fine, just post it,” Mike said in annoyance. I took a breath. He was right, everything was the way it should be.

We had finished recording our record a couple weeks ago and had gotten the masters back. Everything was to our liking so now it was finally time for us to announce the release of our third album.

“Post it!” Tony said excitedly. I nodded at him and hit the button that sent the post to the world.

New album “Collide With The Sky” out JULY 17th! We are very excited to announce that our new album “Collide With The Sky” will be released this Summer on July 17th! We can’t wait to show you the new songs! Till then please spread the word #CollideWithTheSky

Love ya!

-PTV :)

“It’s out there,” I said with a relieved sigh. As soon as I finished speaking my phone buzzed with a new text message.

Congrats dude! I get the first copy right?

I smiled at Kellin’s message. Of course!

“Who are you texting?” I tore my eyes away from my phone to look at Mike.

“Oh, it’s just Kellin.”

“You mean your boyfriend?”

I rolled my eyes. Mike had been teasing me lately about how much time I had spent talking to Kellin in the last few months. That was necessary though; we were writing a song together. Even though I explained that to him he still found moments to make jokes. I didn’t understand why since Kellin and I were just friends. Sure, I may have found him to be adorable, but friends can think that about their friends, right?

“Kellin’s just my friend.”

Mike smirked at me. “Sure, whatever you say.”

***

May 25

“Okay boys, we need a single for this record.”

We were sitting in an office at Fearless Records with our manager and PR representative. Collide had been announced a month ago and hype was starting to slow down. We needed to keep everyone as excited about this record as possible.

“How about ‘King’?” I suggested. “We could finally reveal that we worked with Kellin, and we’d have another fanbase behind us.”

Everyone in the room looked at each other and nodded. “That’s fine with me,” our manager said. “Let me get in touch with Kellin’s people and-”

“I already did.” Jaime looked over to me with an expression I couldn’t make out. I shrugged it off and continued. “It was Kellin’s idea, actually. His management brought it up and asked him to ask me.”

“Oh,” was the only response I got.

Was it weird that Kellin and I had talked about this? No, right? That was just one of our many conversations about the song. Of course, we had talked about other things besides that, but that was our focus.

“Okay, well let’s plan for a release date.”

Once we talked everything over I sent a confirmation text to Kellin. He agreed to our plan without hesitation. I wrote out the Tumblr post shortly after.

Your boy Vic here! We’re very stoked to announce that due to the crazy amounts of requests and tweets that we’ve both been receiving, Kellin Quinn from Sleeping With Sirens and I recorded a new song together! The song is called “King For A Day” and it will be officially released and available for download on June 5th! But for those impatient souls that can’t wait that long, we will be dropping a clip of the song this Wednesday May 30th. You asked us to make it happen and we did it just for you! This song is 100% for fans of PTV and SWS! Thank you so much, can’t wait for you to hear it!

-Vic

“King For A Day” will be found on our upcoming album Collide With The Sky. Pick it up on July 17th!

We left the office feeling very proud of ourselves. This was sure to make the fans even more excited about Pierce The Veil, Sleeping With Sirens, and Collide. I wanted to ride this high forever.

Dude this is exciting! I can’t wait to release this shit! Everyone’s gonna freak the fuck out!!!

Kellin’s text made the smile on my face grow.

Hell yeah! 🤘

He sent a quick message back. This isn’t the end for us right?

Of course not! Not even close. This is just the beginning!

Good! I’d be bummed if you said yes

Maybe it was the feeling of accomplishment that I was still riding on, or the thought of Kellin still wanting to hang out with me even after the song was out. Or maybe it was the message he’d just sent that made my heart flutter. Whatever the reason, it was at that moment that I knew I’d do anything to keep Kellin in my life.

#Soulmates #Traces - Hypnotized #Vic Fuentes #Kellin Quinn #Kellic #Kellic fanfiction #Kellic fanfic #Pierce The Veil #Pierce The Veil Fanfiction #Pierce The Veil fanfic #Fanfiction #Fanfic

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sussex-nature-lover · 4 years ago

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Sunday 6th December 2020

Trees and Rivers

♦ bold type indicates a link to outside pages not linked in any way to this blog apart from via my imagination

Typical East Sussex country lane this year.

I’m missing this weather.

Apparently it’s the end of National Tree Week today. To be honest I’m not sure if that’s going to make any difference to my writings, although it’s apparently taken very seriously

Tree of the Year

Scotland’s Finest Woodlands The Oscars

Ancient Woodland, Sussex

I love trees, all types of trees. The three things I like best on a landscape are trees, water and sheep. I’m sure people who’re familiar with this Blog could’ve guessed that and been spot on. That’s raised a conversation here. Seems Crow likes sunrises and sunsets (who doesn’t?) deer and trees...and ducks. That’s four Crow, or even five if I was being picky. I like all of those too, but pointed out the sun situation is more fleeting, as are the deer and ducks, so my picks are more consistent. He saw some Deer across the lane the other morning, but I wasn’t on hand with the camera and we haven’t seen any in the garden although the seed disappears at an alarming rate so there’s every chance they come after dusk.

When you look at the aerial map of our area and the satellite photos, you see the land is absolutely covered with woodland, often quite interestingly named as well, so possibly ancient in lay man’s terms even if they don’t meet the official classification (16thC or thereabouts)

I really can’t recall where I took this photo earlier in the year, but I like it. It would’ve been on a walk from home

Amongst the patches of smaller woodland are also numerous ponds of varying sizes. When I say numerous I just had a quick look at the map covering where we go on one of our hour long walks and gave up counting the ponds when I got to 39. This all lead me back to a conversation earlier in the Summer when the colour of the water and the banks down at Linnet Bridge caught my eye and lead to one of my internet investigations.

When the Romans invaded in AD 43, they found a well-established local tradition of iron making, using small, clay bloomery furnaces. With growing markets generated by the building of towns, villas and farms, the Romans encouraged this native industry. Sites from the period have been found all over the eastern part of the High Weald

Iron Story

I knew a vague history of our village and its surrounding area but the more I searched the more I found

Roman Coins found in Sussex

Sussex /ˈsʌsɪks/, from the Old English 'Sūþsēaxe' ('South Saxons'), is a historic county in South East England.

Evidence from a fossil of Boxgrove Man (Homo heidelbergensis) shows that Sussex has been inhabited for at least 500,000 years. It is thought to be the oldest human fossil ever discovered in Britain.[2] Near Pulborough, tools have been found that date from around 35,000 years ago and that are thought to be from either the last Neanderthals in northern Europe or pioneer populations of modern humans.[3]On the South Downs lie Neolithic flint mines that date to around 4000BC, some of the earliest in Europe. The county is also rich in remains from the Bronze Age and Iron Age. Prior to Roman invasions it was occupied by a Belgic tribe called the Atrebates. Togibubnus ruled over much of Sussex when the Roman conquest of Britain began and formed most of the Roman canton of the Regni.

The retreat of Roman forces in the 5th century facilitated the landing of migrants from what is now Germany and created the kingdom of the South Saxons under King Ælle, who is recorded as having held overlordship over other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and the first bretwalda, or 'Britain ruler'. Under St Wilfrid, Sussex became the last of the seven traditional kingdoms of the heptarchy to undergo Christianisation. By the 8th century the kingdom had expanded to include the territory of the Haestingas. Around 827 in the aftermath of the battle of Ellandun, Sussex was annexed by the kingdom of Wessex, a kingdom that with further expansion became the kingdom of England.

Wikipedia

The banks by Linnet Bridge

Spring - the big pond up at the farm

The story of iron working conflated with names and how they came about, to find that a local farm name has both the word for woodland and a word that links it to the ponds used to furnish the working forges, so it’s tying all the historical facts together. We all know how much I enjoy these circular stories and this one really fits with the old saying ‘all roads lead to Rome’

‘ Many pen ponds survive where the main ponds have not ‘

from this link Iron

Summer - one of the smaller ponds up at the farm, very likely Hammer Ponds

So I enjoyed myself reading all of that and letting my imagination run riot about the people who used to roam this land many, many centuries before. It totally boggles my mind to be honest and I could pontificate on and on, as I tend to do.

On the subject of ponds, but bringing us right up to date, this was a lovely story too. Ghost Pond.

That’s absolutely the beauty of Mother Nature isn’t it. Always something to surprise us and always hope.

KITCHEN NOTE:

Salmon tonight with leeks in a cream and tarragon sauce topped with a (ready made) puff pastry lattice, baby sweetcorn and sugar snap peas plus asparagus for Crow. I think there’s a bit of left over fennel too so I’ll throw that on as well.

December 6th Advent Door. The Taming of The...

#iron ponds trees nature photography love where you live Advent #ponds

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wallpaperpainter · 5 years ago

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The Modern Rules Of Edward Hopper Paintings | Edward Hopper Paintings

Christine Dwyer Hickey has won the 11th Walter Scott Award-winning for her atypical The Narrow Land, in which she explores the alliance of the artists Edward and Jo Hopper.

The columnist wrote an article for The Irish Times aftermost year anecdotic how afflatus for the atypical came to her from watching a TV documentary while convalescing afterwards an operation to abolish a annihilative kidney.

In accustomed affairs the award-winning would accept been awarded at a alive accident at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose, Scotland, but because of lockdown restrictions the champ was appear alive on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row arts programme this evening, with Dwyer Hickey abutting the programme from her home in Dublin.

Dwyer Hickey said in her video accepting speech: “Writing a atypical takes a big block of one’s activity – The Narrow Land was six years in the authoritative – which is why I really, absolutely acknowledge this recognition. I would like to accelerate my thoughts to a grave in a hillside cemetery in Nyack, overlooking the Hudson river, a few afar from New York City, area the artists Edward and Jo Hopper lie, and area I achievement they accept at aftermost begin peace. I additionally achievement they will absolve me the intrusion.”

It is hoped that Sebastian Barry, the Laureate for Irish Fiction and the alone biographer to accept won the Walter Scott Award-winning twice, can present the champ with her bays in Ireland in the advancing weeks. Dwyer Hickey additionally receives a cheque for £25,000 (€28,000) and an aboriginal affected book by the acclaimed photographer, Walter Scott, who is

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thisislizheather · 5 years ago

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February Feats 2020

I write this from underneath two blankets, perched atop three pillows. This is day three of being sick (Nathan just joined me in illness yesterday) and I think I’m getting better but that could just be blind hope. In any case, I still have to tell you what went on last month. Forgive the tone of this post, it might be… affected.

I heard that Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker are going to be in the Paul Simon play Plaza Suite together and so I casually thought “Ooo, might be nice to catch” so I looked it up and tickets START at $700. So I guess fuck me then. I swear to god, this fucking city.

The best cover so far this year:

Above Photo: Brian Stauffer, The New Yorker

I rewatched a movie I love: The Door In The Floor and it really holds up well. Kim Basinger and Jeff Bridges and both too good at what they do. Love this movie so much.

I rewatched The Evil Dead and look I understand it’s probably a “good horror movie” especially for its time and budget, but I fucking hated it, maybe even more so than the last time that I saw it. Never again. Why do I keep rewatching things that I hate? I don’t have to like everything. I must repeat this to myself daily.

I had lunch at Daily Provisions and their lemon cruller was really good and light and the chicken club sandwich was good, too. Always a solid morning/afternoon place.

Favourite tweets of the month.

I tried Trader Joe’s Whole Wheat Couscous and maaaaan, it was so good. So I guess all couscous is good? Gotta get my hands on that pearly couscous. That seems like the money cousocus.

I made this Greek Couscous Salad for lunches for a week and didn’t get sick of it at all, I gotta remember to keep this in the rotation. I also kept the salad and the couscous separate until I wanted to eat, and then I’d join them together.

I can’t believe I hadn’t seen this sketch before (calling someone a “goofy bitch” just about killed me), also ignore how bad an actress Cardi B is.

I finished watching The Good Place and yes it was a good show. I don’t think l liked it as much as pretty much everyone else in my life who loved it, but it was definitely a good show. This scene was the best part of the finale, for sure. That song used in the scene will always elicit tears, I remember falling in love with it when it was used in the movie that everyone hated but me, Swept Away.

Again, I visited Everlane and it still disappoints. Why do I keep thinking it’ll be different each time? What the fuck is wrong with me?

I saw Parasite and it was wonderful and everyone who hasn’t seen it should see it. I haven’t heard from one person who didn’t like it. Universally liked!

I listened to the new Strokes single and hated it, so that’s something. Growth?

I haven’t seen the whole episode yet, but I really liked RuPaul’s SNL monologue.

Why isn’t everyone putting pickles on grilled cheese? Makes no sense. Fucking taste explosion.

I finally tried the (off-menu, must be requested when it’s not brunch) Cacio E Pepe at L’Artusi and holy christ, it might be better than their mushroom ragu. I KNOW. Such wild developments! (They also started serving at lunch, but only lunch delivery, not dine-in. SO this means nothing to me.)

I think I will officially stop buying candles from Bath & Body Works. The ones at Marshalls are cheaper, last longer and the variety of scents is endless. I have a candle from Marshalls right now simply called STORM and it really does kinda smell like stormy weather. Obviously I’m waiting for a thunderstorm to light that mother. I have mental issues?

I watched the newest season of Shrill (no big spoilers ahead) and loved it, obviously. The disappointing-ness of parents is so nicely shown (that moment at the restaurant when she asks her dad what he thinks of her boyfriend and he’s so indifferent, ugh so perfect), I absolutely LOVED the wedding episode (infact all of the episodes following that one are the best ones, I think I just love the episodes not centered about this not-great relationship with her and her boyfriend), the WEHAM episode is perfect (finally someone making fun of makeup for for legs), and I continue to love the character Fran. Really hoping for a third season, especially based on the season finale.

Don’t ask me why, but I watched most of the Police Academy movies and I think the Miami one might be the best one?? I couldn’t make it twenty minutes into the Moscow one, so I feel like you might want to trust me when I say that I know what I’m talking about.

These are my new favourite leggings of all time, they feel like you’re wearing nothing at all.

Cannot get over the beauty of these women and these outfits.

Above Photo: Camila Mendes

Above Photo: Nyma Tang

I watched the Michelle Carter documentary and I don’t know how other people feel, but it’s absolutely unreal that she was found guilty. Of course Nathan disagrees.

I ate at Frank for the first time in over a decade with the one and only Irene and it’s still great. Love that they do the opposite of al dente pasta here. Photos below.

Above Photo: Tagliatelle special, at Frank

Above Photo: Roasted garlic bread, at Frank

Above Photo: Mushroom pappardelle special, at Frank

I can’t find a link for them online, but I bought some reusable Leak Proof Snack Bags by Kitchen Details at Nordstrom Rack and they’re perfect since we typically use a million of those disposable ones for holding sunflower seeds and almonds

I threw out a lot of clothing/shoes/bags, so I went out and bought some things that I absolutely love. I now have a faux fur, brown evening coat that I’ve long dreamed of owning, a new everyday purse, a vintage, gold, mesh evening purse, new everyday shoes, more sunglasses and some new wedges that may or may not replace the older wedges I’ve had since 2006 (the ones lovingly referred to as my Terminators because of the massive fall that I took in them upon exiting the movie Terminator Salvation). I could show you all of the new pieces, but I’d much rather slide into a room you’re in to show you my new fur coat. However if it annoys you not to see any of these new things that bring my joy, here are two of them.

Above Photo: Classic Reeboks from DSW

Above Photo: I also got them in blue

I’ve actually started using tiny drops of facial oil mixed with my nighttime face lotion and even though I’ve only just started to do this, my face is already way less dry when waking up. I don’t know if I can do this in the hotter weather, but for now I’ll keep it up.

I know all of these are old songs, but I recently heard and fell in love with this Taylor Swift song. And this one. And this one. Oh and this one too.

I went to Giorgio’s of Gramercy again (the last time was a few years ago with Nathan) and it’s still great! I haven’t had a steak in awhile, but the one here? Holy hell. Magnificent.

I went to see the new Kubrick 2001 exhibit at the Museum of the Moving Image and it was pretty neat. They have one of his Oscars on display in a case, which was actually really cool to see.

I read and reviewed a biography of Johnny Carson that truly sucked.

So Nathan and I are in the middle of watching McMillion$ and can I just say: boooooooooooooooo. I’ve never seen a “documentary” more over-produced, self-indulgent, superfluous and WILDLY overdone. It’s a bloody six part series that could’ve EASILY been an hour and a half movie. If you ever need proof of a documentary having too much money spend, my god have you found it. Of COURSE Mark Wahlberg has something to do with it, this man needs to fucking STOP. I know they are countless other men attached to the project too, but it’s much easier to shit on just him. God, what a waste of time. The Wikipedia page is more succinct.

I watched To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before 2: P.S. I Still Love You and it was everything I wanted it to be and more. Loved the Adventures in Babysitting reference right off the top (I’ll forever love that movie and it doesn’t get talked about enough), I loved pretty much every musical choice (these are my top three songs from the movie), and I loved the idea of doing another Thanksgiving in March (although I’m pretty sure Chrissy Teigen did this a few years ago and planted that great seed in my head). Definitely the best thing on Netflix at the moment.

Seeing this restored footage of NYC in 1911 is both exciting and eerie as hell, for some reason.

Nathan and I went to the Raptors game that ended their winning streak, sorry about that.

I’ve been consumed with reading so much stuff about what’s going on right now and this was a little helpful: 4 Practical Ways to Prepare Your Home for a Pandemic. Don’t judge me for sharing this link! I’m delirious.

Things that I’m looking forward to this month: visiting Collingwood and going skiing with my family, I might splurge and get that mini birthday cake from Momofuku Milk Bar, and the new season of On My Block comes out on the 11th. I’m pretty into the idea of turning 35, usually I’m more jacked about my birthday month but I think I’m too down to care at the moment. Caring coming soon.

If you’ve got any interest in reading last month’s roundup, you can see what went down in January over here.

#monthly roundup #Liz Heather #this is liz heather #February #2020

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yeonchi · 5 years ago

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Doctor Who Series 12 Review: Prelude

Well everyone, Doctor Who is back and I’m getting on the train again. That’s right, I’m going to review the twelfth series of Doctor Who, also known as the second series with Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor.

As with last year’s reviews for Series 11, I’ll be posting my thoughts on every episode of Series 12 and rating them on a scale out of 10. I’ve created a new page on my Tumblr with all the links to my past reviews, which you can find here. Without further ado, let’s begin the review series prelude.

A year to mull over

In the past, I had more interest in Doctor Who because I was utilising aspects of it in a personal project of mine. Now that it’s pretty much coming to an end, I could have left the series after Peter Capaldi’s final episode, but I decided to give Jodie Whittaker a chance and maintain a casual interest in it if only for something to watch.

After mulling it over for a year and rewatching some clips of Series 11, I’ve found that I’ve gotten accustomed to the Thirteenth Doctor, even if her character is basically an expy of the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors. It’s given me quite a bit of time to think about what I would like to see in Series 12, particularly since the writing in Series 11 wasn’t necessarily up to par.

On an unrelated note, I did a review of a decade-old Australian-Spanish-Brazilian children’s cartoon series called Sea Princesses. I’m promoting this because some episodes of that series have an environmental theme to them and there is a rumour that there will be an environmental message somewhere in this series of Doctor Who. You can find it through this link.

Waiting periods

This really doesn’t matter to me now that I’ve downgraded myself to being a casual fan, but I want to complain about how the scheduling for this series has been all over the place since Series 6. If you look on Wikipedia, you can see when each series aired each year. Take the Christmas Specials into account and you’ll have an idea of how long we had to wait between episodes.

In the revived era, series used to go from March or April to June or July, but the split series in Series 6 and 7 were the first signs of the schedule starting to go all over the place. In all honesty, it was exasperating to wait for something related to The Day of the Doctor after Series 7′s finale, particularly given that the first trailer was exclusive to Comic Con.

In the Twelfth Doctor’s era, Series 8 and 9 went from August or September to November or December. There was a gap year in 2016 before Series 10 aired from April to July 2017. After the Thirteenth Doctor’s debut, Series 11 aired from October to December 2018, then 2019 was a gap year before Series 12 premieres from January to March 2020.

This doesn’t go to say that the timing of the classic era seasons weren’t all over the place at some points, but even then, they still managed to maintain regular schedules for as long as they could. I guess back in the days without the Internet, people actually had other things to do or watch without wondering when the next season of Doctor Who would air.

I’ve heard something on some forum somewhere about how Chris Chibnall likes to have a gap year between series like he did with Broadchurch, which might explain the 2019 gap year. But still, fans have waited before and I’m sure they would be happy to wait again. I just hope that the BBC can make their minds up about what time of year that Doctor Who will be on.

Four things I would like to see in Series 12

I would do five, but I couldn’t think of a fifth one.

1. No more misunderstood villains

This was my biggest problem with Series 11 - there were five such episodes where someone would be introduced as an antagonist based on their actions, but they are later revealed not to be because of their actual intentions that are sometimes unrelated to whatever problem the Doctor and her team are trying to solve. I probably wouldn’t care as much if there were only one or two misunderstood villains at most, but the fact that there are five of them with four in a row is really telling because the actual villains in those episodes turn out to be humans.

In regards to the “four in a row” thing, I’m counting the Pting as a misunderstood villain because it fed off the energy of the Tsuranga to thrive. It didn’t have any malice toward anyone onboard (except when they were disturbing his meal).

2. More character development for the companions

In Series 11, we saw an arc based on Ryan’s relationship with Graham and his father. Ryan was also mentioned to have dyspraxia while Yaz is a police officer, but those aspects weren’t fully explored in the series. I was hoping for Ryan’s dyspraxia to be mentioned in Resolution, but I guess they forgot about it. Let’s not forget the fact that Yaz has barely had any character development in Series 11 and the question of why the Doctor has such favouritism for her.

3. Explore the Timeless Child (story arcs)

The Timeless Child was something that the Remnants found inside the Doctor’s mind in The Ghost Monument. Along with the Stenza (and how everything was basically their fault), I thought that it would have been explored in the last series, but I guess I was partially mistaken. We don’t have any clue on what the Timeless Child might be, so I’m glad that it hasn’t been forgotten, at least for the time being.

On a side note, I don’t really mind whether the Stenza return or not. You could say that their story was done at the end of the last series, but then again, we only saw one of them, namely Tim Shaw. If we do see or hear about them again, it’ll give me more opportunities to continue the joke about how everything was Tim Shaw’s fault, because I really enjoyed it.

4. Returning monsters

The lack of returning monsters made Series 11 a bit bland. Combined with the lack of story arc and the number of human villains or misunderstood villains, I could argue that the writers didn’t quite know what to do with the new monsters they created.

At this point, we know for certain that the Judoon and Cybermen will be returning in Series 12. We already had the Daleks in Resolution, but that’s considered to be part of Series 11. However, in late October, some fans had snapped some Daleks in filming on Bristol’s Clifton Suspension Bridge. Since a Christmas special was confirmed, it is likely that they could be featuring in that.

Other matters

I won’t be reacting to the trailers for this series; I only did it in Series 11 because I was more concerned with how the series would be given that the first female Doctor was cast.

I’m feeling less concerned about SJW red flags this time around. Maybe it’s because I’m a bit dense or I wasn’t able to find much of them. As for tokusatsu references, I’ve realised that they might not be intentional and that I’m probably the one making these parallels to them. That’s not to say that I won’t be looking out for them, particularly the latter because I quite enjoyed doing it.

I think a lot of my concerns regarding the red flags were because I was following Bowlestrek’s videos during Series 11. I stopped watching his videos one day and gradually, he disappeared from my feed. I’m not saying I ever disagreed with what he said, but I do try to form my own opinions when I can and not be influenced by pessimism. At the same time, I’ve also dropped out from The Oldest Nerd’s reviews. I might try following him again for Series 12 because he does more level-headed reviews like I do (that is if I can even say that for myself). On an unrelated note, Jonathan Pie and Tim Pool are a couple of go-tos for insights on left-wing, right-wing and SJW culture, so never let it be said that I don’t try at the very least.

The first episode premieres on New Year’s Day and subsequent episodes premiere on Sundays. As such, we do get a de-facto New Year’s Special, but not a Christmas Special - the Christmas Special I mentioned earlier is likely to be for Christmas 2020, which is going to be a long way away again with no other specials after Series 12 is done.

Now, there is something I should tell everyone, which is that I’ll be going away for two weeks near the end of January, meaning that the episode reviews for the third, fourth and possibly fifth episodes will be delayed (for reference, the dates are 12, 19 and 26 January). I will probably be able to watch the episodes and possibly take some small notes on them, but I won’t be able to take detailed notes or write out the reviews until I get back to my home computer. I don’t know if I can release all the reviews within the week of 27 January, but I’ll try not to let the backlog snowball.

At the moment, I’m behind on other things, but I think I’ve covered most of what I want to cover without going any further into myth or rumour territory. I’ll see you all after the new year for the review of the first episode of Series 12, Skyfall Part One.

#doctor who #doctor who series 12 #thirteenth doctor #doctor who series 12 review #thirteenth doctor review

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1-dollar-cd-sale-reviews · 7 years ago

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The Bleeders - As Sweet As Sin (2006)

EDIT: At the time of this review, I believed that this was the first album in the Bleeders’ discography. I was wrong.

My mistake comes from a quick scan of a legitimate-looking Wikipedia page, and a careless glance at a Discogs page for another band called The Bleeders. There are two self-titled albums, one in 2005 and another in 2007 - this album is in the middle, in 2006. Because of my negligence, I’ve just reviewed the band’s first full-length release as their second full-length release, and vice versa.

I regret my decision terribly, and I’ve chosen to correct my most egregious errors. The only edits involve my age circa 2006, correcting an awkward turn of phrase, listing that the Bleeders album I’ll be reviewing after this one is their first self-titled album, and I’ve corrected the year of publication as being 2006 rather than 2005.

This is the first CD I picked out of this lot. The name of the band, and the way it was stylised on the spine of the CD case, were what drew my eye - and the kick-ass cover art is what made me keep it. I have never heard of this band before today, and when I saw the cover art I was expecting something metal.

You’d expect something heavy and edgy from that cover art, and when you first play the album that’s kind of what you get - just in a kind of muddy and derivative way. I dunno - honestly, as far as I know, this band used some of the themes and vocal imagery better than other artists of the time, or before edgy teen bands drove them into the ground. I would have been ten or eleven when this album came out, and I didn’t have a musical identity back then aside from “““Classic Rock”““ - I can’t say too much about how bland and uninspired I found the subject matter, I guess, but I will say that some of the songs brought back vague American Idiot-era Green Day vibes. It’s probably just the trappings of the era, or a bit of direct influence maybe, considering how American Idiot came out in 2004. I’m not a music historian or whatever, I don’t know. Just thought it was worth mentioning.

I’ve described the music on this album as sounding a bit muddy and - to my uninformed ears - derivative, and that holds true for the first four tracks of the album. The Kill and Secrets both had riffs that were boring and seem to exist to fill in time, and the vocals basically put me to sleep - I wasn’t hot on the subject matter or the sound of the singer’s voice. I don’t even remember the next two tracks, they basically went in one ear and out the other.

Wild at Heart, however, was actually pretty servicable. The riff brought me back to the album slightly, and while I still disliked the singer (god bless his heart, he’s trying), this song left me in a better mood. That might have set the groundwork for Nightmares, the first song that I actually kind of liked. The chorus sucked, but the music behind the track was pretty solid. This is what made me want to talk about the album - aside from shitting on the songs I disliked, I wanted to mention these little almost-diamonds in the rough that kept me invested in the whole package.

I could go on down the track listing, but really, there are two types of songs on this album - the ones I liked, and the ones I didn’t. They fit into these categories in fairly similar ways, so I’ll talk about them as a whole.

The songs I kind-of-liked were Wild at Heart, Nightmares, S.O.S, Silhouettes, It’s Black II, Eating Up Your Mind and A Bleeding Heart. The ones I didn’t like were The Kill, Secrets, Holding On, Out of Time, Night Sky, Bridges Burning and Femme Fetale. It’s an even 50/50 split of the track listing

I’ve listed the songs I’ve liked for two reasons. The first reason I might have enjoyed them is because they had an entertaining riff, or the music behind it was pretty good all things considered, or I might have even grown to like the lyrics. The second reason is that it might have had a cool fake-out, or a quick little guitar thing, that caught my attention. Not all of the songs in this section were particularly good, but if it sparked a positive reaction from me, I wrote it down as a good track.

The songs I didn’t like were listed for the opposite reasons. The music was mediocre and bland, there’s no variation in the already monotonous and mediocre instrumental track, and the singer’s vocals and the lyrical content were both uninspired or didn’t sound good to me. I fucking forgot how two of these songs even went, right after they finished playing - they were just gone from my head, I didn’t absorb a single modicum of information from them. They’re like musical ghosts.

Special mention goes to the two songs with featured artists on them - S.O.S, which features a guy named Danny Diablo, and Femme Fetale, which features an artist named Roxy. I listed S.O.S as a good track because the 15 seconds of Danny Diablo’s voice on it were the best 15 seconds of the album for me. I didn’t like the music or the feel of the song, but this guy’s very brief verse in this very brief song (1:13)? Best part of the album. Roxy’s feature, however, was sloppy, a bit out of time (which I think was an intended stylistic choice, which I still dislike regardless of the context) and arguably less enjoyable than the main vocalist’s voice. Please note, I already dislike the main vocalist’s voice a significant amount. It’s pretty funny how even the featured artists have split me, I’m that divided on this album.

My main issue with this album is that I simply didn’t enjoy the lead vocalist’s voice. I didn’t feel any energy from him for the entire album, it seemed to hover around the same level of enthusiasm and energy the whole time (which wasn’t much to begin with), and when he’d do a drop, it sounded like his voice had actually been dropped on the floor like a soggy sack of potatoes. The instrumental track could be bland and completely forgettable, but there was the occasional drop or riff that had me thinking “Alright, I could listen to more of this” - but I never once thought the same thing about the vocals. The song “Silhouettes” was the most striking example of this happening, with me really liking the music but being completely bored and turned off by the singer’s voice.

There were only two things that “got” me regarding the vocals - I think he dropped the n-word in the song “It’s Black II”, and his lead vocals on the chorus of the final track on the album were the only set of vocals that sounded alive during the entire thing. Those were the only vocal surprises from this guy, and one of them was more of a shock-value thing rather than actually enjoying what he had done.

To sum it all up - As Sweet as Sin came across as a fairly generic mid-2000′s edgy rock record, even during the best parts. The best parts of the album were usually marred by one of the worst aspects, with the best feature on the whole thing being relegated to the shortest song on the album or the best riff being hidden behind some pretty standard vocals. I was hoping for something, anything, that would blow my tits off - a shriek, an extended instrumental, whatever. And it never came. The closest there was were a couple of cool little fake-outs or little guitar shake-ups that woke me up and got me to pay attention, and even the pretty decent final song was just kind of uniform and there.

I recommend listening to Nightmares, Silhouettes and A Bleeding Heart for the best tracks (in my opinion), and The Kill, Femme Fetale and Secrets for songs that sum up what I don’t like about the album.

You can buy the album online for anywhere between $3 used, or $11 - $41 dollars new, depending on where you look. I saw it on Amazon, eBay and Discogs, and the entire album is also on Youtube for free - most likely uploaded by a fan of the band. Or you could find it during your local multimedia store’s $1 CD sale, like I did.

I mean no ill will towards The Bleeders or their fans. I picked the album randomly, I liked what I liked and disliked what I disliked based solely on my first impression of the band and their songs - if I had really hated the band, I would have stopped at the fourth track and claimed the whole album was the same bland, forgettable trash. I respect those who enjoy The Bleeders and their music, including the tracks I personally disliked, and I wish the band continued success. I will be reviewing their (first) self-titled album later on (because I bought it in the same sale as this one), and maybe their music will have grown on me - I doubt it, but let’s hope.

#the bleeders #music #punk #emo #new zealand

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