#Tonal Park Studio

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Video: Pissed Jeans Share a Bruising and Ripping Meditation on Harsh Truths

New Video: Pissed Jeans Share a Bruising and Ripping Meditation on Harsh Truths @ThePissedJeans @subpop @subpoplicity

Allentown-based punks Pissed Jeans’ highly-anticipated sixth album Half Divorced further cements their longtime reputation for crating feral punk with their acerbic sense of humor. Thematically, the material mercilessly skewers the tension between youthful optimism and the sobering realities of adulthood but while still managing to be — perhaps inadvertently — fun. “Half Divorced has an…

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Interesting Statistic

Tweeted by Disney Animation Promos...

Before I start, I'll point something out here.

THE LION KING didn't gross nearly a billion dollars back in 1994-early 1995. That full total, which you can find on BoxOfficeMojo and various other sites, is made up of the original release (which itself stopped and re-started at one point), the 2002 IMAX-only re-release, and the 2011 3D re-release. The original 1994/95 take was around $768m, approximately... Which is still a monster total, and held the record for highest-earning animated movie until 2003, when Pixar's FINDING NEMO took the crown.

It's almost kind of... Rhythmic, in a way...

1990s... Movie that made $700m. 2000s, a movie that made little over... $300m... 2010s, big billion dollar hit and one of the highest grossing movies of all-time... 2020s... A movie that coughed up around $250m...

Wanna go back further? 1980s... Obviously, the biggest Disney animated feature at the box office - not counting any re-release totals - was THE LITTLE MERMAID, which made around $183m at the worldwide box office. That was an unprecedented total for an all-animated feature back in the day. Hybrid movie WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT, a year and a half earlier, collected $329m worldwide. That same year, Don Bluth and Steven Spielberg's THE LAND BEFORE TIME made $84m worldwide, while the full worldwide total for Disney's OLIVER & COMPANY - released the same exact as the Bluth dino movie - has never been disclosed. The domestic take was $53m, a record at the time... LITTLE MERMAID was a big jump up from OLIVER and LAND BEFORE TIME... And things only got bigger and bigger, as evidenced by THE LION KING making over $700m worldwide. Animated movies in the mid-1990s were now sharing the big leagues with blockbusters like TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY and JURASSIC PARK, but also leggy sensations like FORREST GUMP.

The 1970s is where things get muddy, given limited box office data - especially worldwide data... But I *do* know that THE RESCUERS was the biggest at the time, and that the domestic take was somewhere around $16m. Nowhere near that top ten of 1977, for sure... Hey, did you know that THE RESCUERS was *massive* in Europe? Like, so massive, that it outgrossed STAR WARS that same year in both France and West Germany? That's wild, isn't it? A fairly slow-paced, slow-burn mystery movie with two mice made on a tight budget, beating out the big spectacle that redefined the escapist blockbuster landscape and the family film as a whole? French folk and Germans not trapped inside by the Iron Curtain seemed to feel so... France and West Germany always seemed to come to the rescue with Disney during the 1970s. The movies that did okay-ish over here, like THE ARISTOCATS and ROBIN HOOD, were blockbusters over in those territories. The secret weapon that kept Disney's animation division afloat during a period where it was in the danger of being shut down, and a period where it wasn't easy to convince Americans other than families and children to go see a Disney animated movie in the cinema.

Anyways, some context for the 1990s vs. the 2000s vs. the 2010s vs. this decade...

We all know the story. The '90s was the "Disney Renaissance", a mostly fruitful period where they came back with a wallop, and scored some of their most successful animated movies since the final years Walt Disney himself was among the living. THE LITTLE MERMAID proved to be Disney's biggest animated domestic hit in a long while, in terms of attendance, and did excellently worldwide. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, ALADDIN, and THE LION KING built upon that success, big time.

But then the grosses dwindled. Some audiences caught onto Disney kind of reusing the same musical comedy-adventure formula with each movie (such as with movies like HERCULES and MULAN), and some were turned off by what they felt was the studio biting off way more than they could chew (the misguided ambitions of POCAHONTAS and the darker but tonally all-over-the-map THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME). That said, Disney continued to score box office successes, take home some Oscars even (largely for musical categories), and get decent to good enough critical reception for most of the post-LION KING/pre-FANTASIA 2000 movies. By the time Disney switched it up with the genres, such as doing a zany buddy comedy with THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE, action-adventure with ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE, and space opera with TREASURE PLANET... It was too late.

Those three movies came out in the early 2000s, a period when all-computer animated movies like Pixar's films and DreamWorks/PDI's spectacles were wowing audiences everywhere, and it also helped that the stories they were telling weren't the musical comedy-adventure romps that Disney Animation kept offering with each new movie. Pixar had buddy comedies TOY STORY 1 & 2, and Western-themed adventure A BUG'S LIFE, inventive workplace comedy MONSTERS, INC., and the perilous ocean adventure FINDING NEMO. PDI had the very PG ANTZ, and the very snarky and equally very farty SHREK. Audiences weren't moved by the trailers for movies like NEW GROOVE, ATLANTIS, and TREASURE PLANET... And they similarly ignored films like THE IRON GIANT, THE ROAD TO EL DORADO, and SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON. Beautifully hand-drawn movies, even if they changed up the stories a bit, just seemed same ol' same ol' to audiences. Throw a movie like SHARK TALE in front of them in 2004? Boom, big hit. As long as you were CG, competently made, and had some kind of edge, you were good to go in the early 2000s.

Hence why CHICKEN LITTLE of all things is the highest-earning Disney animated movie of the 2000s, if we’re excepting the hybrid collaboration film DINOSAUR, which only made about $20-something million more. This rather maligned 2005 movie even outgrossed the beloved LILO & STITCH, which made around $267m at the worldwide box office. That was a movie that had an enormous second life on DVD, and there was a brief Stitch-mania of sorts from around 2003-2006. A period where he was *everywhere*, to the point where he was as ubiquitous as Mickey, Donald, and Goofy... I was there, and I remember getting kinda tired of that little blue renegade, despite that I liked him and his movie. Very similar to how Disney aggressively shoved FROZEN front and center following its out-of-nowhere home run success, and trying to keep up with the demand for a movie they supposedly had muted confidence in when they were releasing it.

So the first half of the 2000s for Disney Animation was one 2D movie that did fine, and a bunch of movies that just didn't cut it. Even BROTHER BEAR, which made back its small East Coast budget, made $250m worldwide. That's a fine number, but when FINDING NEMO made $870m earlier that year... Yeah, things weren't looking great. Disney Animation switched to making all-CG movies, and while CHICKEN LITTLE made the most money of the pack, it was still pretty below what Pixar and DreamWorks racked up. MEET THE ROBINSONS was dumped, and BOLT was given a ho-hum release and consequently it just didn't make all that much for a 2008-release animated movie. THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG ended the 2000s with a whimper, a 2D animated movie... and it sadly and predictably made less than $300m worldwide... and CG TANGLED, arriving one year later and starting off the 2010s for WDAS, collected nearly $600m worldwide.

The 2010s, with the exception of the 2D animated and left-for-dead WINNIE THE POOH, was like the 1990s. Hit after hit. WRECK-IT RALPH, FROZEN, BIG HERO 6, ZOOTOPIA, MOANA, a pair of sequels, etc. Oscars, too. Good critical reception. They were back to being a well-oiled hit machine that would've likely continued into this decade, if not for COVID-19 and the whole cinema landscape being upended...

The 2020s... The world shutting down, and the re-opening being very unpredictable before the release of a vaccine... Plus The Walt Disney Company also had a very sloppy CEO running the joint. Unlike Universal, who either waited things out (like delaying MINIONS Deux by two full years, and wound up with a monster gross for that movie) or tried experimental strategies with other movies (such as the strategy they tried for THE CROODS: A NEW AGE), Disney kind of screwed the pooch with many of their animated releases...

Disney largely seemed to be using WDAS' movies, and Pixar's movies too, more as a carrot to get people to subscribe to Disney+ during this lull period. And I will be fair, RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON debuted before the vaccines really got out. That was in March 2021. I was 28 at the time, and didn't get my second Moderna jab until two months later. It was available for the elderly first, then middle-aged adults, then folks my age, then later teens and children. Maybe not the most ideal time to release a family movie, no matter what the strategy was. When I started going back to the movies in spring 2021, I didn't really order snacks much, I wore my mask when in the lobby. When Delta was cropping up, I kept my mask on, even in the auditorium. Omicron, I was back to working at said movie theater, so I was masked when with customers and out of the break room...

I still hold that, because WDAS and Pixar's films are so goddamn expensive... that they should've held some of them like how Universal did with MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU... At the same time, they did need something to release... So I understand their RAYA strategy, and ENCANTO was to get a month-long theatrical run but Delta happened, and it being on Disney+ in a matter of weeks probably conditioned audiences who knew of its existence to wait. (When I saw ENCANTO on a weekday, two or so weeks into release, maybe 4 other people were in the auditorium with me?) ENCANTO was deus-ex-machina'd by just how well it did on Disney+ and how incredibly well the soundtrack did. Not a box office hit, but huge in the second life. It's strangely a tradition for Disney animated movies... PINOCCHIO, FANTASIA, BAMBI, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, SLEEPING BEAUTY, etc. All flops on their initial releases, big favorites afterwards...

By the summer of 2022, audiences had fully returned to cinemas, and not just for Marvel movies. MINIONS 2 made nearly a billion, and there were other big hits in TOP GUN: MAVERICK, JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION, and SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2. Animated movies like THE BAD GUYS and DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS did quite well, but were lower budgeted, so their grosses made the grade. Did Disney take advantage of this resurgence for their 2022 WDAS offering? No... They just straight up left STRANGE WORLD for dead, they let it wither on the vine. Poor test screenings drove that decision, and audiences who did see it on opening week... gave it sour grades, too. Sometimes I wonder, what if RAYA came out in fall 2021, and ENCANTO this past fall? Could've been a blockbuster, pre-Disney+...

Just a sticky situation all around that could've been handled differently. Two movies impacted by how things were going in the world, and another that they straight up lost faith in...

Now it is mid-2023. Cinemas are very much alive and well, animation is benefiting from it, too... but audiences aren't made of money, so choices are narrower than ever before. WISH, along with the other not-sequel movies WDAS is making and releasing this decade, have an uphill battle to face. It's no surprise that ZOOTOPIA 2 and FROZEN III are in the works, partially because they're easy hits. Franchise favorites. They'll probably single-handedly make back the money RAYA, ENCANTO and STRANGE WORLD lost as theatrical titles. Expect at least another sequel to come out before 2030, likely a second ENCANTO. It's also no surprise that WISH is being marketed and positioned as this "definitive" Disney film, and being previewed as a sort-of "origin story" for all fantastical Disney animated movies. The teaser has a silly title card that says it was a story "centuries in the making"... They really want and need this thing to be their first bona fide box office success since... 2019's FROZEN II... And omitting sequels, since 2016's MOANA... Damn!

And I certainly hope it does well, it seems like the kind of movie that *would* come to the rescue when things aren't looking too hot. It's why I'm really curious to know what's after WISH, as in... Movies that aren't ZOOTOPIA 2 and FROZEN III, both of which seem to be deep in development and quite a while away. STRANGE WORLD's failure stung me because it happens all too often when Disney Animation tries on clothes that it doesn't normally wear in the post-Walt era. Like ATLANTIS, TREASURE PLANET, and MEET THE ROBINSONS before it, a sci-fi-flavored adventure movie with no musical numbers went belly-up. On the other side of the coin, Disney Animation - this past decade - scored hits with the video game adventure WRECK-IT RALPH, the superhero comedy BIG HERO 6, and the sorta police procedural/48 hours-almost-political conspiracy tale ZOOTOPIA. These balanced out the familiar musical comedy-adventures - TANGLED, FROZEN, and MOANA - quite nicely... So, I do hope that the post-WISH movies still play around and even experiment. I wouldn't want repeats.

With various complications out of the way, they now have to really battle for audience dollars and make the rest of this decade an upswing for them. Especially for leader Jennifer Lee, who assumed the mantle in 2018. Her tenure consisted of two sequels that were locked to do well to begin with, and then a couple of original movies that got affected by a worldwide crisis, and then a movie that was screwed. WISH should be her first not-sequel hit, a movie she apparently co-wrote, too. And a movie directed by her FROZEN partner, Chris Buck. Chris hasn't had a duff film there yet, his TARZAN made its money back in 1999, FROZEN and FROZEN II, need I say more? WISH likely continues his own little hit streak.

How well it does remains to be seen. Maybe a movie that comes out later this year, and not FROZEN III, is the surprise and takes the decade box office crown... Maybe not. Whatever happens, I hope WDAS claws its way out of the COVID-19 mess and keeps up with the other heavies.

[th3-0bjectivist]

     Folks, I’m back, and I’m bringing you more music because it’s my blog, and on my blog the music party don’t quit until I die, or until I’m finally permanently incarcerated by the law for online lewdness. This entire month (mid-March into mid-April 2023) I’m dedicating to Lady-Vocalist-Hotties-Who-Rock... but aren’t exactly Hollywood-caliber famous. First up is Collide, and now that I’m divorced, I don’t mind telling everyone that I’ve had a crush on lead singer kaRIN for over a decade and a half. Her voice, when not drenched in obnoxious autotune, is the sexiest thing since sliced bread. Instead of yelling or screaming, this lady lead vocalist gets downright sultry; very closely approaching the microphone and delivering a breathy, contemplative, and skilled lyrical performance that makes me wanna get on my knees and beg for a repeat live performance… preferably at her very own bedside. Folks, I’ve been listening to this group for years and I can tell you for a fact that not only are their albums unfairly undervalued, Collide’s entire catalog is about as popular as the nerdy dipshit in class with taped-together glasses who constantly smells like pee. This L.A.-based group has pounded out ten quality studio albums since the mid-90’s, each of them sounding slightly tonally different from one another. And because they aren’t as radio-friendly as say, Linkin Park or Korn, you’ll probably only hear them randomly on the internet these days. But when it comes to electronic rock, I’ll take ten trip-hoppy, darkwave-y Collide sandwiches over ANYTHING you’ll get served on modern mainstream radio. If you bother digging a little deeper into the mythos of this band, you’ll discover that this musical duo is all about combining musical styles, as well as masculine and feminine energies to create a sound that is both positive and negative. It’s hard-rocking, and soft-spoken, it’s cerebral and subconscious. This is Tongue Tied & Twisted from the very excellent 2008 album Two Headed Monster. And if that preface is still not enough to convince you to smash play, here’s a picture of young kaRIN to tempt your palette. 

     Oh, my dear, sweet kaRIN… your panting voice has been the primary source of my nocturnal emissions most pleasant dreams for over a decade now. Did I mention I’m single now? We’re about the same age, we could hit it off. Hit me up on plentyoffish.com. Oh, there’s also a guy in the group nicknamed Statik. He does the instrumentals; she does the lyrics/vocals. Image source: https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/karin-from-collide--72409506479103536/

[patricksmusicblog]

2023 Album Ratings(So Far)

These are some thoughts on some of the albums I've listened to throughout the year. Some of them are just thoughts others are mini reviews.

Owl City- Coco Moon: Solid sound/production, okay vocals, mediocre lyrics, and overall songs. It may work with a more youthful audience. 6/10

Princess Nokia- I Love You But This is Goodbye: This is a good little EP about the ends and outs, ups and downs of heartbreak. As usual for Nokia, it's elastic and expansive. However, there are moments when I find Princess Nokia's vocals to be weak. There are moments when her passion and authenticity cut through. 7/10

Aly & AJ- With Love From: With Love From is a quality summery indie-pop/rock album. There are a lot of tracks to play loud on an open road with the top down in somewhat breezy, sunburned weather. Lovely harmonies and hooks abound. The slower hooks slow things down to an extent. With Love From is not an album I imagine I'll go back to much, but it accomplishes its goal. 7.0/10

Weezer-SZNZ: Winter: Solid effort from Weezer; some catchy alt-rock tunes, nerdy songwriting Coumo's nasally vocals all things Weezer is great at and known for here. Not essential, but good. 7/10 

Conway The Machine & Jae Skeese- Pain Provided Profit: A tight and concise project that's a commonly gritty Griselda affair, grimmy and yet soulful and contemplative beats matching Conway and Skeese's ability to be braggadocious and heartfelt at the same time. A solid EP 8.0/10

Logic- College Park: Maryland MC Logic's eighth studio LP is a quality follow-up to his album Vinyl Days, released last year. If last year was Boom Bap Logic, this year is Jazz Rap Logic. It's a good album; there's much soul-baring about substance abuse and avoiding those pitfalls and ideas of getting more true to who he is. There's an 8.5-9.0 album in here somewhere, but lesser tracks water it down. There are seventeen songs here, which is just too many, but ultimately, it's still a solid effort and something long-time Logic fans can get into. 7.5/10

Statik Slektah-Round Trip: The latest LP from Statik Slektah is a dope effort that has a piano-driven and somewhat jazz-rap-driven sound that features a mixture of 90's legends and younger artists, some of which are legends at this point now as well. It's a 20-track project, and the first half is where the most potent tracks lye. All are great, but the best include "Unpredictable" feat Inspectah Deck, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon and Method Man, "Ain't Too Much Too it" ft Conway, Life & Times ft Joey Bada$$ and "Lion Heart" with Elzhi and Boldy James. Lesser guests and less entertaining beats slow the rest down. All in all, it is a solid effort, particulary for those who love the current crop of underground MCs that have been making noise from 2018 to the present day. 7.5/10

Paramore- This is Why: Paramore is ever-growing; their last LP was a foray into synth-pop, and this one is more of a post-punk album. This album is musically sharp; there are a lot of strong guitar riffs and layers of sounds underneath the mix. Hayley is vocally great at shifting velocities and tonalities during a given song. Lyrically, the album is as content-rich as any Paramore album. It's a tight album, ten great tracks 8.0/10

7XVETHEGENIUS-The Genius Tape: 7xvethegenius is a solid rapper; this project feels like a lyrical exercise for her coming from the drumwork camp. "Brainstorm" ft Conway the Machine is a highlight, as is the storytelling on "Lost on Mars," and then there's the Rome Streets and Che Noir-assisted "Neck Protected". 7.5/10

Conway The Machine-Won't He Do It: Conway follows up with 2022 essential God Doesn't Make Mistakes with Won't He Do It, an album that features more versatile production and different sounds from the lush "The Chosen" to the piano-laden "Monogram" or the R&B influenced Water to Wine" you don't know what to expect track to track on this Conway The Machine album and I enjoy that. This album, while not having quite the depth and soul searching of the previous album, is more celebratory and features an array of flows and skill sets. He sounds comfortable and effortless on this project. Great work 8.5/10 

Killer Mike-Michael: Michael is Killer Mike's sixth LP and his most personal and forthright album. The production features some gospel/soul influence that feels classically Atlanta. The album tackles issues he dealt with as a youth, from naively poising the community (Something for The Junikes) to adolescent love mishandled (Slummer) to the impact of losing his mother and grandma. This album gives you a sense of the good and bad that shaped Killer Mike. I also love the EL-P-assisted "Don't Let the Devil" for a more southern-fried RTJ feel. I appreciate what he's speaking to on "Two Days" regarding the prison industrial system and the politics that keep it going. At every turn, Mike is sharp, heartfelt, and thoughtful. The features on the album all come through with good performances from Atlanta pioneers like Ceelo and Andre 3000 to current-day essentials like Young Thug and Future. Michael's an excellent album and a refreshing solo effort, a nice change of pace from Mike's work with EL-P. 9/10

Nas & Hitboy- Magic 2: Nas and Hit-boy continue their run with their fifth album in 3 years and 2nd edition in the Magic series. While the 2021 Magic felt like an exercise in traditionalism, finding Nas rhyming over an updated 90s sound with rhyming up to par with his prime. On Magic 2 Nas finds himself more aligned with modern times; tracks like "Motion" and "Earvin Magic Johnson" sound more car and club-ready than anything on the original Magic. Songs like "Abracadabra" are more thematically aligned than most of what's on the original Magic. The more thoughtful and reflective tracks tucked in the back of the album are the strongest, "What it Really Means", "Slow it Down" and "Pistols on Your album Cover" are all great pieces of work. Par for the course at this point. 8.5/10 

Meet me @ the Alter- Past//Present//Future: Meet me @ the Alter is a pop-punk band that has been working toward this moment for a while through a series of EPs and singles that showed a band bustling with pop-punk energy and hooks that only come from a strong appreciation for the pop-punk we came up on in the 00s. Past//Present//Future is the baby of all that hard work. I love the catchy and snarky "Say it to My Face." I also enjoy the chunky, distorted guitars on "Try" a song that speaks to pushing through anxiety and going for things anyway. "T.M.I" is my absolute favorite on the project. It's the best vocal performance from Edith Victoria, the best chorus, and the most well-written tune here. The bass and big chorus on "King of Everything" make for a good close to the album. It's a fun project for the band that leaves plenty of room for improvement and expansion musically and lyrically. 7.5/10

Protomartyr-Formal Growth in the Desert: This is the sixth project from Detroit post-punk band Protomartyr. As customary for a Protomatyr album, you'll get sprawling guitars and walls of atmospheric sound. Also, you'll get lead vocalist and lyricist Joe Casey's passionate vocal performances and great lyrics. "Fun in Hi Skool" is a great song seemingly about the inability to let go of the past to the point where it ruins your present and future. "Let's Tip The Creator" is my favorite on the project; I think it has some of the best guitar playing and drumming. Protomartyr has always been adept at shifting tones and adding sonic layers as tracks progress. With Joe Casey's lyrics being thoughtful yet abstract at times, it invites more and more listens that'll be sure to reward with time. 8.0/10 

Dream Wife-Social Lubrication: Dream Wife's third full-length album is much like their previous efforts, a selection of songs where youthful exuberance meets thoughtful contemplations and some righteous rebellion. There's "Who do you want to be?" A call to mobilization instead of stagnation. The title track speaks to being buttered up and being made to get comfortable with getting screwed over. "Leech" is about men, companies, people, etc., who exploit and use women for what they provide—all great tracks. You still get simple punk tracks like "I Want You" or "Orbit," a song about an attraction that almost feels meant to be. Sonically, the band switches between straightforward punk and a post-punk sound, which is more beneficial when trying to get a message across. It's their 3rd straight great album, in my opinion. 8.0/10

Noname-Sundial: Sundail is the third full album by Chicago rapper Noname. Noname is a rapper who has always been adept at rhyming conscious, straightforward, but abstract at the same time. She's an artist who wears her culture on her sleeve and cares deeply about the state of it. She's also someone who has just gotten better and better at rapping over time. She's always had an agile and fluid flow, but this is her least quiet album yet; she's come through with a more substantial presence on the mic and more charisma. Topically, "Hold Me Down" speaks to black people only holding each other down when it's convenient, particularly monetarily. "Balloons" on why there was a musical hiatus for Noname in the first place, which is the exploitative nature of selling black trauma to voyeuristic white people entertained by black trauma. "Beauty Supply" tackles the self-loathing that inherently comes with adapting Eurocentric beauty standards. There's no turn on this album where Noname has nothing to say. There's very little wasted space on the album. Yet there are lighthearted and fun moments here like "Boomboom" or "Toxic." It's a great album that will reward with more listens. 8.5/10

Nas & Hitboy- Magic 3: Nas completes their fantastic run with their third installment in the Magic series Magic 3. To the surprise of no one, It's another high-level project that features excellent production and rhymes from Hitboy and Nas. From the production standpoint, Hit-Boy dives more into a soul sample style here, with many soulful beats and vocals floating in the background of these tracks. Meanwhile, Nas showcases his skillset; rapping well is a prerequisite for him at this point, so it's really about the direction and how the tracks meld together. "I Love This Feeling" track 4 on the project, is the first song that I think is steller on the project; it has a great soulful, almost jazzy sound, and Nas is just sharp and speaking to loving the place he's in. "Based on True Events pt1" and "pt 2" find Nas getting into his storytelling bag, both efforts are vivid. The first one is seemingly a little more personal, with him speaking about investigating a friend's supposed suicide and honoring Havoc of Mobb Deep's brother, who was murdered. Pt 2 echo's a song like "Nigga's Bleed' the late great Notorious B.I.G. "Blue Bently" and "Jodeci Member"are both bangers on the album tracks you could ride in the car too. The album tetters between celebratory and contemplative, and Nas is great at both. The lone feature on the project is Lil Wayne, who shows out his flow is fluid, and he rises to the occasion. It's another great effort from Nas & Hitboy, and in the end, this is an excellent send-off to their run. 8.5/10 

By: Patrick Griffin II

[sjbfineart]

✨ 6 WEEK EVENING COURSE ✨ Relaxed and sociable weekly evening sessions that run over a 6-week term to help you improve your painting whatever your starting point. You will gain a range of painting skills, an understanding of different materials, techniques and concepts, and build confidence with your own paintings. Clear instruction with demos, along with practical exercises and learning through experimentation using acrylics or mixed media. You will learn about: - why mark-making matters - tonal structure. The most critical element for successful paintings - using colour effectively - composition and design elements - layering and texture - the importance of edges - evaluating your own so you can improve - loosening up - finding your style - plus other topics that may arise depending on the group's needs Starts Tuesday 18th April 2023, 6 to 8.00/8.30pm Max places = 8 £225 per person This workshop is suitable for adults of all abilities. I teach this workshop in my spacious and well-equipped studio in the heart of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. All materials and equipment are provided so all you need to do is turn up with a willingness to learn and have fun! ******************** Other workshops and classes are also available. Please visit my website for further details, link in bio 💗 ******************** #art #fineart #thingstodopembrokeshire #pembrokeshire #artclass #eveningclasspembrokeshire #activitiesinPembrokeshire #sjbfineart #sarahjanebrownfineart https://instagr.am/p/CrHCzr4v4Yv/

[amberfaber40]

Home Decor Ideas for Perfect Wall Color Combination

Home Decor Ideas for Perfect Wall Color Combination

Haus Love Interiors | Lincoln Park Farmhouse | Dining Room

This Torquay Treasure Is For Sale!

It's only local knowledge that will lead you to this coveted coastal location in Church Block Estate!

Dining Room Wall Decor Ideas Unique and Personalized Charm - Backsplash.com | Kitchen Backsplash Products & Ideas

A correctly chosen wall decor ideas add a dash of style, unique modern eye-cathing look and personalized charm to your dining room.

Living Room Layout Mistakes (Do's and Don'ts For Furniture Arrangement)

Are you making these common living room layout mistakes? Find out how to fix them with 10 simple furniture arrangement do's and don'ts.

Be Inspired By This Luxe Family Home

This London apartment is a stunning example of how to maximise space within the confines of an existing footprint. With careful zoning, tonal palettes and beautiful finishes, interior designer Deborah Bass of Base Interiors has created a luxurious family home. While the budget was clearly generous, there are plenty of clever solutions to the challenges of city living for anyone to be inspired by.

SM Presets Inspiration - Studio McGee

Customer photos, before and afters, and more!

How to Decorate A Long, Narrow Living Room

Do you have a long, narrow living room and don't know how to decorate it? Check out this article for tips on how to plan your layout.

Dining Room Decor

In this post, you'll find all the details and sources for our dining room as well as a peek at the process of designing the space.

Dining Room – The Smitten Collective

Our moody dining room's furnishings and details. Including chairs, table, lighting, rug, and links and sources.

The Look: Marigold Dining Room

Our beloved Marigold project is a forever fave! See how we filled this beautiful space here, and shop the look!

Make Life Beautiful with Erick Garcia - Studio McGee

Read our Q&A with Erick Garcia, founder of Maison Trouvaille, and learn more about how he got started in the Interior Design industry.

Tour the Charming Silver Lake Home of a Hollywood Screenwriter

The Los Angeles Tudor chalet received a full gut reno

The Dining Chairs That Will Meet All Your Comfort Needs + Rules for Picking Them Out - Emily Henderson

What's better than a great meal with friends & family? Comfortable dining chairs. We have 96 options so you never have to have an uncomfortable meal again.

Свежий интерьер, в котором перенесли кухню и нашли место для третьей спальни

Рассказываем, как дизайнеры решили задачу размещения в городской квартире многодетной семьи. Свежие идеи дизайна интерьеров, декора, архитектуры на INMYROOM.

Dining Room Downsizing With AllModern

Dream Green DIY

[tastydregs]

Voice Actors are Having Their Voices Stolen by AI

Towards the end of 2022, there was a big boom in AI-generated art on social media and artist-friendly sites such as ArtStation. Though human artists have been quite vocal about how art generators are copying art that already exists from real creators, AI art is gradually becoming a part of that community and other parts of various entertainment industries such as books or music. And now a similar problem is arising in the voice acting space.

Earlier in the week, Motherboard reported a story on how video game voice actors are now being asked to sign their voice rights away to company-run AI voice generators when signing on for a new project. Some actors have been made to sign contracts with these clauses built in, others don’t even know the clause exists until after they’ve signed. Either way, the concern that these AI voices will take roles from actors of all size is very real, particularly for those who are trying to get into the industry.

Fryda Wolff, a voice actor best known for Apex Legends, told Motherboard what AI-generated voices could mean for human actors and getting paid properly, particularly those who work with game developers and animation studios. “[They] could get away with squeezing more performances out of me through feeding my voice to AI, using these generated performances, and then never compensating me for use of my ‘likeness’, never mind informing my agency that this was done.”

Simlarly, Sungwon Cho added Motherboard that it was “disrespectful to the craft to suggest that generating a performance is equivalent to a real human being’s performance. [...] You can get it to sound tonally like a voice, and maybe even make it sound like it’s capturing an emotion, but at the end of the day, it is still going to ring hollow and false.”

G/O Media may get a commission

12 Giant Lego Sets for the Giant Child Within You

Lego sets for anyone of all ages to enjoy Anyone who says Lego is for kids has never seen the price tag on these kits. And even if that were true, what are adults if not really big kids? The truth of the matter is Lego is for everyone.

In addition to Cho, longtime voice actors such as Steve Blum, Kara Edwards, and Stephanie Sheh have recently used Twitter to ask fans to let actors know when their voices are being used on AI voice apps. “I know AI technology is exciting, but if you see my voice or any of the characters that I voice offered on any of those sites, please know that I have not given my permission, and never will,” wrote Blum. “This is highly unethical.”

When it comes to AI art and voices, consent has been one of the key points of concern. In a lot of cases, the artists whose work is being used for AI aren’t giving their explicit consent to be a part of this—it’s fans or websites that are making the choice for them. Actor Sarah Elmaleh stressed to Motherboard that for performances, “consent must be ongoing. What happens when we happily agree to a role, and, once in the booth, we see a particular line in the script that doesn’t feel right, and express unambiguous discomfort? [...] Normally, we are able to refuse to read the line, to prevent it from being used. This technology obviously circumvents that entirely.”

Between actors signing their voices away to AI companies and studios actively getting in bed with this technology (see Linkin Park or Netflix), it’s safe to say that AI will be a part of the broader entertainment industry for some time. It’s honestly pretty depressing to see the optimization mindset of the tech industry apply to artistically minded fields. As much as its vocal proponents like to go on about how much this is the future, it’s not one to look forward to if that means getting rid of the passion and hard work that can only come from a human touch.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

[chatterjust]

Gear shift

#Gear shift manual

Inspire.’Īt NEXA, it is our belief that every drive should be pleasurable, despite all the hurdles of the city, which is why we continue the journey towards creating remarkable experiences for all. In our endeavour to provide inspiring experiences, we have brought about technological innovations in our products that are a testament to our core philosophy – ‘Create.

#Gear shift manual

This feature, installed in both the automatic and manual variants of Ignis, allows you to park your car with precision and ease, even in the toughest of spots. Make calls, text, play music and navigate with just a touch of a button or your voice*.Īmong other technologically advanced specifications, the Nexa Ignis’ Rear Parking Camera and Sensors are an addition to the convenience of driving the Tough Urban. Just connect your smartphone to this state-of-the-art infotainment system and you’re good to go. To make your drives even more convenient, Ignis is also installed with Smartplay Studio. Its smooth transmission enables you to drive past the traffic with uncompromising efficiency and comfort. The Auto Gear Shift in Ignis further elevates your driving experience. Ignis’ peppy engine is now BS VI compliant, which means that driving through busy roads is not just pleasurable it is also environment-friendly. This engine ensures better combustion, reduced friction, and lower emissions, leading to a delightful drive through the packed streets of the city. Ignis comes with a Peppy 1.2L VVT Petrol Engine in a manual transmission as well as Auto Gear Shift. Be it the manual transmission of Ignis or the Auto Gear Shift, this car breezes through the chaos of the city with immense ease. The spacious interiors are designed to keep you calm and comfortable, no matter the chaos outside. The tough exteriors of the NEXA Ignis make an imposing first impression, even amidst the hustle and bustle. The urban jungle can be tough, your drives, however, need not be. Ignis is one such offering, which provides the best of technology along with a host of innovative features to ensure that your journeys are always comfortable. It is through these innovations that we strive to create experiences that inspire people. Technology and innovation are at the heart of NEXA. Send us feedback.Ignis Technology Advanced technology for effortless driving These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'gearshift.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. 2022 Andrei handed me the controls and dove into the driver’s seat, jamming the key in the ignition and raking the gearshift into drive.Īlexander Sammon, The New Republic, 16 Feb. 2022 The Emira's gearshift had a better weight and feel than the loose shifter of the Evora, but the linkage often seemed to snag on changes across the planes of the box, especially the shift from second to third. 2022 The burden of those unmet expectations combined with injuries that have required them to maintain hope have basically left this team spinning its wheels with the gearshift in neutral.ĭan Woike, Los Angeles Times, 25 Mar. Nojan Aminosharei, Men's Health, 24 June 2022 The Hyundai also retains the skeuomorphism of a Start button and physical gearshift stalk to the right of the steering wheel.ĭan Neil, WSJ, Use of the feature is selected by double-clicking the gearshift into Drive after selecting the Pure driving mode on the central screen. Hearst Autos Research, Car and Driver, 24 June 2022 So there's a big tonal gearshift between some of the darker scenes in the show and then scenes like when the Deep's trying to save a dolphin from Oceanland and accidentally ejects it through the windshield of his car. Recent Examples on the Web That didn’t prevent her from joining the French Ambulance Corps and driving a manual- gearshift ambulance right up to the front lines.Ĭatherine Musemeche, WSJ, 22 July 2022 Be careful when cleaning areas like your gearshift, infotainment panel, and console controls.

[nwdsc]

(▶︎ Universal Tonality | William Parkerから)

Universal Tonality by William Parker

[CENT1030] - Universal Tonality - Roulette, TriBeCa, NYC December 14, 2002 Jin Hi Kim - komungo Miya Masaoka - koto Billy Bang - violin Jason Kao Hwang - violin Joe Morris - guitar Dave Burrell - piano Leena Conquest - voice Steve Swell - trombone Grachan Moncur Ill - trombone Daniel Carter - reeds, brass Matt Lavelle - trumpet Rob Brown - alto sax Cale Brandley - tenor sax Jerome Cooper - balafon, chiramía, keys, drums Roger Blank - balafon William Parker - bass, dilruba, shakuhachi, donso’ngoni Gerald Cleaver - drums William Parker’s Universal Tonality documents an epic performance which brings his titular concept to full, vibrant life. An exquisite example of this system in practice, it features a truly once-in-a-lifetime assembly of creative music luminaries and legends. Clocking in at nearly two hours and featuring six extended pieces flowing across two discs, this Universal Tonality happening took place in December 2002. Parker invited 16 musicians of various ages, cultures and musical backgrounds – to join him in an experiment of “breathing together.” Many of them met on stage for the first time that evening. While he provided a score (wonderfully illustrated pages from same are included in the package), all were advised that there need not be adherence to it. Parker’s hope with this approach is that each musician will trust their own instincts — and those of the musicians around them — enough to let the sound find its shape in real time. Ranging from roof-raising big band to intimate cross-cultural exchanges, that constant current of inspiration, and open, receptive communication was wholly present at Roulette that night, and is on full display on this magical recording. Lyrics and personal writings by Parker – which Leena Conquest sings, recites, or dramatically interprets – also play a key role in this work. Parker gave Conquest the same freedom of choice he afforded the instrumentalists, supplying her with materials to draw on as she saw fit. When discussing or writing on his Universal Tonality concept as a whole (as on the enclosed, extensive liner notes), Parker can sound like he’s outlining a life philosophy. It is both telling and fitting that author Cisco Bradley chose to title his 2021 biography of William Parker after this concept. The results of this one-night-only communion can now take their place among Parker’s many landmark works spanning the past three decades, including previously released Universal Tonality–driven pieces like Double Sunrise Over Neptune, and Red Giraffe with Dreadlocks (released on the box set For Those Who Are, Still). "Universal Tonality is another name for Love." -WP クレジット2022年9月30日リリース All compositions & lyrics by William Parker, © Centering Music (BMI) Produced by William Parker Recorded by Jim Staley at Roulette, TriBeCa on December 14, 2002 Mixed & Mastered by Jim Clouse at Park West Studios, Brooklyn Production assistance by Steven Joerg Illustrated score pages, painting, liner notes by William Parker Design by Ming@AUMライセンスAll rights reserved

[dukeofriven]

Watching The Good Dinosaur for the first time and the best way I can describe its visuals are ‘Imagine a Studio Ghibli film where all the characters were drawn like South Park.’ This movie is jarringly unpleasant to look at. Lush, photo-realistic backgrounds of sobering beauty and purposeful lighting are ruined by the presence of tonally-out-of-place, ugly character models. The colour choices are unnatural, the models do not look good in motion, they don’t resemble or feel like dinosaurs, and they have weird, fleshy knuckle-knees that are faintly nauseating. This is not a thematic choice—this is not the movie trying to make a commentary on the nature of beauty or ugliness—this is just a movie with irreconcilable design decisions. Something went seriously wrong in this film’s production. (Also, thirty minutes in, TGD manages to be both boring and feel a little like I am watching cartoon torture porn. I knew going–in that this movie was the least successful of Pixar’s movies from a box-office standpoint (at least until Covid made all those metrics weird), and yeah it’s... yeuch. I don’t like looking at it, and I am not enjoying watching it.)

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Audio: Pissed Jeans Share a Bruising Ripper

New Audio: Pissed Jeans Share a Bruising Ripper @ThePissedJeans @subpop @subpoplicity

Throughout the course of their 20-year history together, Allentown, PA-based punks Pissed Jeans — Matt Korvette (vocals), Brad Fry (guitar), Randy Huth (bass) and Sean McGuinness (drums) — have never been known to go halfway: They’ve long been known for material that pairs feral vocals and acerbic, biting lyrics with buzzsaw guitars — and for their unhinged live show.  The Allentown-based punks’…

[steliosagapitos]

           “A Fireside”, 1912, by Mary Hiester Reid (Canadian painter, 1854 - 1921).

    ~ This painting portrays Hiester Reid’s studio in her home, Upland Cottage, in Wychwood Park, Toronto. When George Agnew Reid (1860–1947) designed the house, he made room for two studios, the second one larger, near the one pictured here.1  Hiester Reid captures her own deliberately styled interior replete with artfully arranged objects, flowers, and framed prints, located within a fire-lit, warmly toned space.This work, like the earlier piece Chrysanthemums: A Japanese Arrangement, c.1895, speaks particularly to Hiester Reid’s Aesthetic tastes. Inspired by the art critic John Ruskin (1819–1900), proponents of the Aesthetic movement, such as John Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), promoted the concept “art for art’s sake,” championing the pursuit of beauty and self-expression in all facets of life.2  Hiester Reid’s commitment to these pursuits is signalled by the strategically placed objects, such as the framed prints or paintings located on the wall adjacent to the fireplace, and flowers bearing a striking resemblance to Japanese orchids.While George Reid designed the house complete with two studio spaces, Hiester Reid here captures in painted form the couple’s collaborative dedication to the Arts and Crafts movement. In the 1850s artists such as William Morris (1834–1896) and Edward Burne-Jones (1833–1898) called for the elimination of the ideological divisions separating the fine arts and applied, decorative arts (or crafts), such as furniture design and production, as well as graphic design. Achieving this, Arts and Crafts reformers believed, would improve people’s quality of life and their aesthetic taste.3  In 1902 Hiester Reid and her husband helped establish in Toronto the Arts and Crafts Society in Canada, and they applied the society’s principles in the design and arrangement of their home.In A Fireside, Hiester Reid shows how the decorative and fine arts were incorporated into the home. The architectural details, such as the exposed beams and the inglenook (the recessed sitting area next to the fireplace covered by plush colourful pillows), frame and enclose the decor, the floral arrangement off to the right side, as well as artworks—some framed and others not—hanging atop the wood panelling in the inglenook and off to the far right.In 1911 Hiester Reid was photographed in this same studio space by William James for the Toronto Sunday World. In the photograph, Hiester Reid sits holding a palette and brushes, signalling her identity as a professional artist. In April of that year the image appeared as one of eleven artists’ portraits in a full-page feature article entitled “In the Studios of Toronto’s Best Known Artists.” Both the photograph and Hiester Reid’s painting produced approximately one year later depict objects and artworks that she had collected, such as brass and copper wares, an array of ceramics, and a print by Japanese artist Utagawa Kunisada (1786–1865). Also featured was George Reid’s painted copy of Diego Velázquez’s Portrait of a Dwarf with a Dog, c.1645.4  Velázquez was a seventeenth-century Baroque Spanish court painter that both Hiester Reid and her husband admired. Ultimately, Hiester Reid unites high and applied art, as in her private life, and she puts it here on public display.Source: Dr. Andrea Terry, National Gallery of Canada* * *Mary Augusta Hiester Reid was an American-born Canadian painter and teacher. She was best known as a painter of floral still lifes, and by 1890 she was thought to be the most important flower painter in Canada. She also painted domesticated landscapes, night scenes, and, less frequently, studio interiors and figure studies. Her work as a painter is related in a broad sense to Tonalism and Aestheticism or "art for art's sake".She was made a member of the Ontario Society of Artists in 1887, and in 1907 became only the second woman to serve on its executive committee. She was also one of the first women to be elected an Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) in 1893. She was elected to join the Canadian Society of Applied Art in 1904.Reid was born in Reading, Pennsylvania on April 10, 1854. From 1883 to 1885, Reid studied painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with Thomas Eakins. In the Academy, she met her future husband Canadian artist George Agnew Reid (1860–1947). From 1888 to 1889, she studied at the Académie Colarossi in Paris, taking costume-study and life classes. She studied there again in 1896.During the 19th and early 20th century, at the time of her schooling, women were rarely allowed to pursue art as a career. If they attended art school, they were often not taught the same subjects as men. Although they both attended art school, Mary was restricted to traditionally feminine themes, and in turn became known for her flower paintings. Despite the expectations for women to remain at home and care for children, Mary rose to prominence and became one of the first women to have her work included in the National Gallery of Canada.Reid exhibited her work at the Palace of Fine Arts at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois and to the exhibitions of the OSA and the RCA, the Art Association of Montreal, the Women's Art Association of Canada, and the Canadian National Exhibition. She also exhibited her work at the Pan-American exposition in Buffalo (1901), and the Canadian exhibition at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St Louis (1904), with Mary Evelyn Wrinch at the galleries of the Art Metropole in Toronto (1912), and with her husband and Wrinch at the Royal Ontario Museum, in aid of the Red Cross Society (1915). In addition to producing paintings that were widely admired, Mary became financially successful and received significant reviews in the Toronto press. In 1893, she was elected an Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, one of the first women elected.A retrospective show of Reid's work was held in 1922 at the Art Gallery of Toronto, following her death on October 4, 1921. It included 308 works. She was the first woman to posthumously receive a solo retrospective exhibition at that institution. In 2000, Mary Hiester Reid's work was rediscovered (suggested CBC Radio, 21 June 2020) when the Art Gallery of Ontario held an exhibition of her work, Quiet Harmony: The Art of Mary Hiester Reid, curated by Brian Foss and Janice Anderson. A biography by Molly Peacock is planned for publication by ECW Press in 2021. In 2021, the Art Gallery of Ontario exhibited The Open Door: Mary Hiester Reid and Helen McNicoll. ~

Source: Wikipedia.

[aion-rsa]

How the Jaws Scene in Back to the Future Part 2 Predicted Modern Blockbusters

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Back to the Future Part II is a strange movie. As a sequel that director Robert Zemeckis and screenwriter Bob Gale never intended to make, the ambitious follow-up to one of the greatest sci-fi comedies of all time was put into production simultaneously with Part III, which may have ultimately hurt the middle chapter since Zemeckis was still shooting scenes filmed in the Old West while editing Part II’s trippy vision of the then distant future…of 2015.

Even so, there are elements in the second Back to the Future that still play like gangbusters today, particularly in the sequences set during 2015. To be sure, part of the charm now is what those wild guesses about the future got wrong—such as the idea we’d all be driving around in flying cars, or even simply own cheap cars that didn’t run on fossil fuels. There were no real hover boards in 2015 (or 2021 for that matter), nor even automated Texaco pumps. Yet what Back to the Future Part II got very right is the numbing horror of something like Jaws 19.

Indeed, one of the best bits in the whole film is a slight dig at BTTF’s own studio, as well as the legacy of the film’s producer. The original Jaws is of course the first modern Hollywood blockbuster and it put Steven Spielberg on the map. With its innovative storytelling of leaving the monster to the imagination before finally providing the spectacle in the third act, Jaws is a masterpiece in narrative restraint that could still play for all audiences.

…Which is something no one would say about the three cash-in Jaws sequels that Universal Pictures green lit in the span of 12 years after 1975. In fact, when Back to the Future Part II was released in ’89, it’d only been two years since Jaws: The Revenge, the one where the ghost of Jaws went Bahamas and chased the Chief Brody character’s widow to the Caribbean while on a vendetta for what happened in ’75. It’s kind of hilarious.

As is the scene in Back to the Future Part II. In that sequence, Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly stands slack jawed in the middle of Hill Valley’s town square, the same space that was so memorably used in the first BTTF film where Marty was forced to finally accept he’d traveled to the year 1985. In the sequel, he comes to realize what it means to be in 2015 when he turns around to face the local multiplex, which has only one film on its marquee: Jaws 19. And then to demonstrate to Marty the state of 21st century special effects, the “HOLOMAX” release teases its thrills as a holographic Great White Shark emerges from the building and descends on Marty’s head.

Perhaps like many an audience member who choked on their popcorn kernels in ’75 with fear, Marty screams bloody murder—and then realizes it’s just a movie and scoffs, “The shark still looks fake.” Yes, it always did, but at least in the first movie that didn’t matter so much.

At the time, the scene was a nice dig at Universal’s expense as well as the Jaws franchise as a whole. What was once the most revolutionary Hollywood movie of 1975 had become a punchline by 1989: a once glorious title that’d been run into the ground with endless cash grab sequels. And the joke is even funnier because of the “19” in the title. Nineteen movies of the same franchise. Could you even imagine?!

Oh, how sweet the irony is, then, that one of the most absurd notions in Back to the Future Part II turned out to be the most true! No, there haven’t been 19 Jaws movies (yet), but that might be by virtue of the studio churning the franchise’s mystique into putty before Gen-Xers and Millennials could grow up with it beneath unsullied nostalgia glasses. Nevertheless, the future where Jaws 19 could exist came true.

Consider that we scoff at the idea of 19 Jaws movies being made in 40 years, but Marvel Studios has released 25 pictures in only 13, with two more due out before Christmas 2021. And that doesn’t even include the television shows that are now coming to dominate Disney+.

I know what some will say: Marvel movies are a series of interconnected franchises, as opposed to one amorphous content farm. But that’s not entirely accurate. There are exceptions, of course, which stand out as singularly distinct from other MCU efforts. There’s Black Panther, for instance. That 2018 Oscar nominee is totally removed from the events of The Avengers, you might say. Then there’s Guardians of the Galaxy and its wacky space opera shenanigans occurring literal light years away from the events of Iron Man 3.

And yet, the appeal for most moviegoers, and the brilliance of Marvel’s marketing strategy, is that they all seem like the same thing to the undiscerning eye. And even to the discerning one, there is a pat familiarity to the formula, story beats, and sitcom-esque ability to wink at the audience at its own silliness. Tonally, they all feel of one piece. Hence why the first Shang-Chi movie was gladly welcomed by the industry last month as Marvel’s latest blockbuster hit—a feat borne in large off it being the next Marvel movie, as opposed to a new original property without a built-in audience.

It’s an aspect to the whole series which caused Dune director Denis Villeneuve to suggest that some Marvel movies are “cut and paste.” It’s also a formula which aids the studio to force its millions of fans to see it “as all connected” and be encouraged to go see the Ant-Man sequel they might otherwise skip in order to discover how its post-credits scene will set up the deus ex machina for Avengers: Endgame.

And that aforementioned Black Panther originally had its protagonist introduced in Captain America: Civil War, an Avengers movie by another name. It’s also the only “Cap” flick to cross $1 billion because they stuck Iron Man in it. Similarly, James Gunn’s Guardians films are genuinely auteur-driven, yet they still worked as a years-long tease of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame’s big bad: Thanos. Hell, Infinity War’s biggest selling point in the trailer was seeing the Avengers and Guardians meet face-to-face for the first time.

The methods and talent being used to produce these endless sequels are far more sophisticated and entertaining than the hack work which produced Jaws: The Revenge, but then that’s why Jaws only lasted four movies and Marvel’s already mapping out its 30th “event” in the next few years.

This is not meant to only criticize Marvel, however. They are simply the most successful studio at exploiting their intellectual property in the 21st century. Universal’s own Fast and Furious movies aren’t half bad at that game, though. This summer just saw the 10th “Fast Saga” movie when you count Hobbs and Shaw. And while Vin Diesel claims the 11th main line Fast and Furious movie will be the last, you just know with its own Avengers-sized cast that Hobbs and Shaw will be merely the first spinoff franchise from “the family.”

Even Spielberg, who was reportedly never happy with the Jaws sequels and what they did to his first masterwork, has been much more ready to “open up” later successes like Jurassic Park. Considered a “smart” blockbuster entertainment in 1993 that inspired genuine awe from millions of moviegoers, that film’s fourth sequel (which was produced by Spielberg, like all the follow-ups) reveled in watching dinosaurs stalk around a haunted house, as if they were Frankenstein and Dracula. Next year’s Jurassic World: Dominion is supposedly intended to be the “final” film of the three most recent, Chris Pratt-led sequels, as well as another sendoff to the original 1993 movie’s cast. Yet it seems dubious that it’ll be the last film set in that “universe.”

After all, the “Skywalker Saga” ended with a whimper in 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but Disney is preparing to churn out more Star Wars movies and TV shows than ever before in the next decade.

This is not to say you should feel ashamed for enjoying any of these movies or franchises. Folks like what they like. But what Back to the Future Part II perhaps unintentionally predicted was that audiences would have an appetite for a proverbial Jaws 19.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

When BTTF became a trilogy, sequels were still seen as a creatively risky proposition. Filmmakers often maintained artistic credibility by attempting to turn sequels into a larger thematic whole—often as a trilogy. Lucas set that standard with Star Wars, and only after his buddy Francis Ford Coppola claimed he’d never make another Godfather movie after Part II. Spielberg originally walked away from Indiana Jones after three movies, and many likely wish he’d stayed firm about that in retrospect. Meanwhile, Zemeckis and Gale have done the near impossible thing: refuse to allow Universal to make a fourth Back to the Future movie or reboot the series entirely.

But equivocations in the industry about a proverbial Jaws 19 are long gone. What was once a cheeky riff on the dystopian Coca-Cola billboard ads in Blade Runner have become a modern day reality in 2021. And hey, there’s now a real holographic Times Square billboard ad for that, too.

The post How the Jaws Scene in Back to the Future Part 2 Predicted Modern Blockbusters appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/39HMnzU

[patricksmusicblog]

2023 Album Reviews/Thoughts

Some summeries, reviews and thoughts I had about albums released last year.

Owl City- Coco Moon: The production is solid in sound/production. The vocal performances are okay. The lyrics are mediocre though as are the overall songs. May work with a more youthful audience though. 6/10

Princess Nokia- I Love You But This is Goodbye: This is a good little EP about the ends and outs, ups and downs of heartbreak. As per usual it's elastic and expansive. Though there are moments I find Princess Nokia's vocals to be weak. There are moments when her passion and authentication cut through. 7/10

Aly & AJ- With Love From: A nice summery indie-pop/rock album. A lot of tracks to play loud on an open road with top down in somewhat breezy sun burnt weather. Nice harmonies and hooks abound. The slower hooks drag things down to an extent. This is also not an album I imagine I'll go back to much but for what it's attempting to achieve I think it accomplishes that. 7.0/10

Weezer-SZNZ: Winter: Solid effort from Weezer some catchy alt-rock tunes, nerdy songwriting Coumo's nasaly vocals all things Weezer is great at and known for is here. Not essential but good. 7/10

Conway The Machine & Jae Skeese- Pain Provided Profit: A tight and concise project that's a commonly gritty Griselda affair, grimmy and yet soulful and contemplative beats matching Conway and Skeese's ability to be braggadocious and heartfelt at the same time. A solid EP 8.0/10

Logic- College Park: This is Maryland MC Logic's eighth studio LP and this is a quality follow-up to his album Vinyl Days released last year last year was Boom Bap Logic this year is Jazz rap Logic. It's a really really good album, there's a lot of soul-baring about substance abuse and avoiding those pitfalls and ideas of getting more true to who he really was. There's an 8.5-9.0 album in here somewhere but it's watered down by lesser tracks there are seventeen songs here which is just too many but ultimately it's still a solid effort and something long-time Logic fans can get into. 7.5/10

Statik Slektah-Round Trip: The latest LP from Statik Slektah is a dope effort, that has a piano-driven and somewhat jazz-rap sound that features a mixture of 90's legends and younger artists some of which are legends at this point now as well. It's a 20-track project and the first half is where the strongest tracks lie. All are great but the best include "Unpredictable" feat Inspectah Deck, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon and Method Man, "Ain't Too Much Too It" ft Conway, Life & Times ft Joey Bada$$ and "Lion Heart" with Elzhi and Boldy James. The rest is slowed down by lesser guests and beats lacking quality. All in all a good effort particularly for those who love the current crop of underground MCs that have been making noise from 2018 to the present day. 7.5/10

Paramore- This is Why: Paramore is ever-growing, their last LP was a foray into synth-pop and this one is more of a post-punk album. This album is sharp musically a lot of catchy guitar riffs and layers of sounds underneath the mix. Hayley is vocally great she's shifting velocities and tonalities greatly. Lyrically the album is as content rich as any Paramore album. Trying to be considerate of others, and dealing with how sad the news is among other things. It's a tight album, 10 great tracks 8.0/10

7XVETHEGENIUS-The Genius Tape: 7xvethegenius is a solid rapper this project feels like a lyrical exercise for her coming from the Drumwork camp. "Brainstorm" ft Conway the Machine is a highlight, as is the storytelling on "Lost on Mars" and then there's the Rome Streets and Che Noir's "Neck Protected". 7.5/10

Conway The Machine-Won't He Do It: Conway follows up with 2022 essential God Doesn't Make Mistakes with Won't He Do It, an album that's much more versatile production-wise, and features different sounds from the lush "The Chosen" to the piano-laden "Monogram" or the R&B influenced Water to Wine" you actually know what to expect track to track than any Conway The Machine album to this point and I really enjoy that. This album while not having quite the depth and soul searching of the previous album, is more celebratory and features an array of flows and skill sets. He sounds comfortable and effortless on this project. Great work 8.5/10

Killer Mike-Michael: Michael is Killer Mike's sixth LP and really his most personal and forthright album to this point. Backed by a great production that features some gospel/soul influence that feels classically Atlanta. The album tackles issues he dealt with as a youth, from naively poising the community ("Something for The Junikes") to adolescent love mishandled ("Slummer") to the impact of losing his mother and grandma. This album gives you a sense of the good and bad that shaped Killer Mike. I also love the EL-P-assisted "Don't Let the Devil" for a more southern-fried RTJ feel. I appreciate "Two Days" where Mike touches on the prison industrial system and the politics that keep it going. At every turn, Mike is sharp, heartfelt, and thoughtful. The features on the album all come through with good performances from Atlanta pioneers like Ceelo and Andre 3000 to current-day essentials like Young Thug and Future. Michael's an excellent album and a refreshing solo effort aside from the work with EL-P. 9/10

Nas & Hitboy- Magic 2: Nas and Hit-boy continue their run with their fifth album in 3 years and 2nd edition in the Magic series. While the 2021 Magic felt like an exercise in traditionalism, finding Nas rhyming over an updated 90s sound with rhyming up to par with his prime. Magic 2 finds himself more aligned with modern times tracks like "Motion" and "Earvin Magic Johnson" sound more car and club-ready than anything on the original Magic and tracks like "Abracadabra" are more thematically aligned than most of what's on the original Magic. The more thoughtful and introspective tracks tucked in the back of the album are the strongest, "What it Really Means", "Slow it Down" and "Pistols on Your Album Cover" are all great pieces of work. Par for the course at this point. 8.5/10

Meet me @ the Alter- Past//Present//Future: Meet me @ the Alter is a pop-punk band that has been working toward this moment for a while through a series of EPs and singles that showed a band bustling with pop-punk energy and hooks that only come from a strong appreciation for the pop-punk we came upon. Past//Present//Future is the baby of all that hard work. I love the catchy and snarky "Say it to My Face" I also enjoy the chunky distorted guitars on "Try" a song that speaks to pushing through anxiety and going for things anyway. "T.M.I" is my absolute favorite on the project though, I think it's one of the best vocal performances from Edith Victoria, best chorus and overall well-written tunes here. The bass and big chorus on King of Everything make for a really good close to the album. It's a really good/fun project for the band that leaves plenty of room for improvement and expansion musically and lyrically. 7.5/10

Protomartyr-Formal Growth in the Desert: This is the sixth project from Detroit's post-punk band Protomartyr. As customary for a Protomatyr album, you'll get sprawling guitars as well as walls of atmospheric sound. You're gonna get lead vocalist and lyricist Joe Casey's impassioned vocal performances and his great lyrics. "Fun in Hi Skool" is a great song seemingly about the inability to let go of the past to the point where it ruins your present and future. "Let's Tip The Creator" is my favorite on the project, I think it has some of the best guitar playing and drumming. Protomartyr has always been adept at shifting tones and progressing as tracks progress and with Joe Casey's lyrics being thoughtful yet abstract it invites more and more listens. 8.0/10

Dream Wife-Social Lubrication: Dream Wife's third full-length album is much like their previous efforts a place where youthful exuberance meets thoughtful contemplations and some righteous rebellion. There's "Who do you want to be?" A call to mobilization instead of stagnation. The title track speaks to being buttered up and being made to get comfortable with getting screwed over. "Leech" speaks to men, companies people etc who exploit and use women for what they provide. All great tracks. You still get simple tracks punk tracks like "I Want You" or "Orbit" a song about an attraction that almost feels meant to be. Sonically the band switches between straightforward punk to more of a post-punk sound that definitely more beneficial when they're to get a message across. It's their 3rd straight great album in my opinion. 8.0/10

Noname-Sundial: Sundail is the third full album by Chicago rapper Noname. Noname is a rapper who has always been adept at rhyming conscious, poetic but abstract at the same time. She's an artist who wears her culture on her sleeve and cares deeply about the state of it. She's also someone who over time has just gotten better and better at rapping. She's always had a nimble and fluid flow, but this is her least quiet album yet, she's come through with more stronger presence on the mic and more charisma to it. Topically "Hold Me Down" speaks to black people only holding each other down when it's convenient particularly monetarily. "Balloons" on why there was a musical hiatus for Noname in the first place which is the exploitative nature of selling black trauma to voyeuristic white people who are entertained by black trauma. "Beauty Supply" tackles the self-loathing that inherently comes with adapting Eurocentric beauty standards. There's not a turn on this album where Noname has nothing to say. There's very little wasted space on the album. Yet there are lighthearted and fun moments here as well like "Boomboom" or "Toxic". It's a great album that seems sure to reward with more listens. 8.5/10

Nas & Hitboy- Magic 3: Nas completes their amazing run with their third installment in the Magic series Magic 3. To the surprise of no one, It's another great project that features great production and rhymes from Hitboy and Nas. From the production standpoint, Hit-Boy dives more into a soul sample style here a lot of soulful beats and vocals floating in the background of these tracks. Meanwhile, Nas just showcases his skillset, rapping well is a prerequisite for him at this point so it's really about the direction and how the tracks meld together at this point. "I Love This Feeling" track 4 on the project is the first song that I think is steller on the project it has a great soulful almost jazzy sound to it, and Nas is just sharp and speaking to loving the place he's in in life. "Based on True Events pt1" and "pt 2" find Nas getting into his storytelling bag both efforts are vivid. The first one is seemingly a little more personal speaking to doing some personal investigating on a friend's murder and honoring Havoc of Mobb Deep's brother who was murdered. "Pt 2" echo's a song like "Nigga's Bleed' from the late great Notorious B.I.G. "Blue Bently" and "Jodeci Member"are both bangers on the album tracks you could ride in the car too. The album tetters between celebratory and contemplative and Nas is great at both. The lone feature on the project is Lil Wayne who shows out on his verse his flow is fluid and he really rises to the occasion. It's another great effort from Nas & Hitboy and in the end, I think this is an excellent send-off to their run. 8.5/10

Drake- For All The Dogs: Another blockbuster Drake event and similar to the last 3 it's a bloated affair that attempts to please multiple audiences and run up the streaming numbers by any means necessary. The album is 23 tracks long with a runtime of over 84 minutes which from a modern perspective is a long project, one that Drake isn't capable of carrying to greatness. The album thematically leans more R&B and specifically speaks to Drake and his dealing with women. How they do him dirty and how he returns the favor. The best of the R&B include "Slime Me Out" ft SZA which features some of the best vocal work from Drake. "Virginia Beach" sets the tone well and with a nice Trap & B feel. However, most of my favorites on the album are the rap cuts. J.Cole has arguably the best verse on the project with "First Person Shooter". "8 Am in Charlette" finds Drake doing what he does best basically giving you an exact snapshot of where he is in his life, his mindset his mentality, and where he thinks he fits within the game. I enjoy the levity found on "Another Late Night" ft Lil Yachty. However the absolute best track on the album is "Away From Home" a track detailing everything went through to get to the point where he's at, all the rejections and no's he had to endure to get to where he's at in the game. All in all, I think For All The Dogs is a solid effort it's too long and a bit meandering at times. I think some of the R&B is a bit generic at times but I think the highlights make it worthwhile to listen through once to pick out the tracks you like and make a playlist out of those you enjoy. 7.0/10

Earl Sweatshirt & Alchemist-Voir: Earl's interesting because he's a really good/great rapper who's grown from more of a wordy abstract rapper who would impress with dense dexterous rhyme patterns. He's still that way but much more direct, maybe more monotone and monotonous than he ever used to be. You can't care about charisma, or wide-ranging vocal dynamics if you're going to be into Earl Sweatshirt. It can often feel as though Earls just rambling over these beats. However, he's still nice and stern on these soulful and beautiful beats from Alchemist. Earl has a way of still being heartfelt and vulnerable there's a weariness and soul-searching nature to him on these tracks. I love the bright synths on "Heat Check" and the soul samples that come in on that track. The guitar-laden "27 Braids" is a highlight of the project. "Mac Deuce" is my favorite on the project though Alchemist's fluttering swirling beat sounds great under Earl's vocal. There are two tracks with Vince Staples on the project but neither disappoints with "The Celiphant" being the best of the two. 7.5/10

Westside Gunn-And Then You Pray For Me: And Then You Pray For Me is essentially a sequel to Westside Gunn's most acclaimed effort and Pray for Paris a nearly perfect representation of East Coast underground hip-hop circa 2020. And Then You Pray For Me, finds Westside staying close to roots while also itching to expand his sound outward. Much like Westside's taste for traditional East Coast boom bap and blending that with elegance and opulence, he has a taste for classic trap music, done in the mid-00s by artists like Jeezy, T.I., and Ross. "Kostas' is Griselda trap featuring the big three in Benny The Butcher, Conway The Machine, and Westside Gunn himself and they sound right at home on the beat the track is meant to play in your ride at high volume. The album goes back right into some menacing hard East Coast sounds with "Suicide in Selfridges" the "Eurostep" of this project. "Kitchen Lights" ft Stove God is in my opinion probably the best track on the project it has the best production, love the lush strings on here as Westside paints the picture of his background as Stove romantizes cooking up the work under kitchen lights. There's something about Stove's serious yet somehow unhinged tone when singing that makes this track. "Disgusting" is dark and menacing and speaks to Westside's ethos "Yeah a ngga from the hood but a ngga bougie though". It's another banger on the album with trap percussion that sounds like it'll sound nice in your ride. Then he turns back to that standard gritty sound with "Babylon Bis" ft Stove God Cooks, They're both strong on here but Stove just shows why his album is so anticipated in the underground. On this album, I think Westside finds a way to bring a trap sound in and still blend it into Griselda's world. It's 21 tracks long though which means there more variance in quality here than your average Westside project. Still, I think it's a strong project. 8.0/10

City Girls-RAW: City Girls are back with their 4th project in RAW. This isn't as good as their 2020 album City on Lock. That album had more energy from track to track, still "No Bars" is among the best on the project which features some of the best of the project. I wish JT would just go solo, she can rap and I'm more curious and what she has to say lyrically. "Fancy Ass B*tch" is another highlight of the project it has some of the best production on here. "Flashy" is a solid pop-rap tune. Outside of that, almost everything is formulaic and a couple tracks are awful due to blatant sampling and straight-beat jacking. The City Girls have something but it just doesn't feel like they're progressing musically and it doesn't even feel like they're on the same page at times. 6.5/10

Reason- Porches: Reason is a good artist, I really enjoyed his 2018 album There You Have It, Then he dropped New Beginnings, and that one actually escaped me. Reason's new album speaks to coming from the ghetto and the good and bad that comes from that. It's a great album that finds Reason telling stories of homies that are good and have a lot to lose getting off track due to the street element on "A Broken Winter Break". He touches on generational curses as well as the same friend who was watching the older brother repeat some of his same actions later on on "Bussin". Love the flow pattern on "Too Much" as he gets introspective about how he came from the bottom but how still deals with issues even though he's seen "success". He's basically saying I'm not a superhero I go through issues too. On the fun side "At it Again' is my favorite song with some bounce on it, a great track to ride too. On "Gang sh*t" Reason touches on how people feel as though you switch up when you made it but when the really only thing that has changed is them. The album could've been a lot sharper at 12 or 13 songs but at 17 it feels like it drags a bit but that's how things go with hip-hop albums these days. Still, this was a great project from Reason. 8/10.

Lil Wayne & 2Chainz-Welcome 2 Collegrove: Lil Wayne & 2Chainz's first collaborative effort Collegrove while solid didn't really grab my attention when released, Wayne's career was somewhat in a lull and I wasn't the biggest 2Chainz fan. On Welcome 2 Collegrove things are much different Lil Wayne feels like he's getting into a 2nd prime and 2Chainz is a really quality MC at this point. This album also feels more highly produced and organized with varying sounds. "Big Diamonds ft 21 Savage has that classic cash money/New Orleans sound produced by none other than the great Mannie Fresh. It felt good to hear Wayne go back to his roots on that sound. There's the bounce and whistling sound of "Presha" on which Wayne showcases his great flow. "P.P.A" has a great jazzy sound, and has a lush sound as 2Chainz, Wayne, and, Fabulous wax poetic about women's genitalia. Wayne once again has the best verse on this one. "Oprah & Gayle" ft Benny The Butcher is sharp again the production is strong, everyone is great but Wayne dominates this one again. "Shame" is fun because they take on a Wu-Tang-influenced track produced by Havoc where they reference to being like Rae & Ghost. The Havoc-produced "Bars" is excellent as well. "Can't Believe You" has a beautiful opulent sound where Wayne is the MVP as well. Wayne is the MVP of the album. He's competitive, his flow is nimble, and his wit is on point. The sequencing is on point as well. Great album. 8/10

Kamaiyah- Another Good Night: A Good Night in the Ghetto(2016) is truly the principal project for Kamaiyah and one where she showcased her penchant for hooks, melody, and, an around-the-way arura on 90's flavored West Coast production(highly recommended). While this tape is similar in aesthetic. The quality of the tape is about 2 or 3 notches below what that project was. The best track was the first track "Raining Game in California" It has a catchy hook and Jay Worthy is strong. "Take a Sip" repurposes "Out The Bottle" and is a track worthy of being on the album. After that there are really a lot of middling Kamaiyah tracks with a lot of them being no longer than 2 minutes long barely long enough to establish a vibe and leave. It's a fun lil project still but I found her EP Still Lit released late last year to be better not to mention 2020's Got it Made. 6.5/10

[popculturebuffet]

Scooby Doo (2002) Review: The Most Punchable Fred Jones of All Time

It’s one last hurrah for Halloween as I take a look at the often derided 2002 Scooby Doo Movie! See what happens when you combine future superstar director James Gunn with .. the guy who thought directing the Smurf’s movie and Big’s Mama’s House were good ideas. Oh and with a splash of the guy who wrote the loveable family film Cheaper by the Dozen and the utterly loathed Percy Jackson film. It’s as messy as you’d expect with that.. but is it BAD? good, so bad it’s good, just sorta okay? Come with me as I try to find out under the cut with a full review. 

I’ve always loved Scooby Doo. I grew up with the guy, watching reruns of the non-scrappy classic series from Where Are You to the Scooby Doo Movies, the three Superstar 10 movies (Boo Brothers, Ghoul School and Reluctant Werewolf), or the at the time brand new What’s New Scooby Doo. And later in life i’d absolutely adore Mystery Incorporated.. minus the whole Shaggy, Scooby Velma love triangle, but i’ll likely cover that at some point or sooner, you can comission reviews from me for 5 bucks each, 5 dollars off group orders if you really want to make me suffer through that that bad. But getting off self promotion point is I loved and still love the franchise. While I”ve yet to see “Scooby Doo and Guess Who”, though given there’s Weird Al, Kristan Schaal and Urkel episodes you can be sure i’m going to eventually, and Scoob was VERY ehhh even if Dick Dastardly was awesome. But despite my history with the great dane much like with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, despite my rich history with the franchise I haven’t dove in yet and with a friend who could use a nice halloween suprise and loves scooby doo, I figured now was the time to take a look at it.  And since i’d been wanting to take a look at it again anyway, and decided going big wasn’t a bad way to start, i’m taking a look at the 2002 Scooby Doo movie. I saw this flim first run in a drive in, and saw the sequel the same way and loved it as a kid, and fondly remember checking out the Sountrack Preview page back before youtube existed to make checking out soundtracks easier. It was a simplier time. And even rewatching it later with my nieces, I found myself liking it.  And the thing was almost every time this film comes up it’s with a turned up nose. The CGI, the confused audience, the deciding to cast Freddy Prinze Junior.. all terrible decisions that overshadow the film, when it’s not that bad. It’s not GREAT, but it’s not TERRIBLE either. So what is it then? Well i’ll tells ya. Let’s start with

PRODUCTION: Wait James Gunn Wrote This?

At the turn of the millneium Scooby Doo was back on top. After waning popularity during the Scrappy era, the advent of the warner affilated Cartoon Network meant a whole new generation of kids (raises hand) got to experince Scooby Doo for the first time. This new audeince lead to Scooby Doo on Zombie Island, the first of the franchises 80 or so DTV movies that will continue on long after the earth dies, and brought back the franchise after it’s long slumber. Scooby Doo went from dead to as popular as he was in his hey day again. Naturally Warner wanted to cash in and thus this movie was born.  Originally the film was supposed to be a more adult project, a send up of the franchise with more sex jokes and what not than made the final cut according to writer James Gunn. Yes, the same James Gunn who wrote and directed the Guardians of the Galaxy movie and whose currently saving the suicide squad. It was one of Gunn’s earlier films but just from when he’s talked about it, you can tell he genuinely cared about the project.  Along for the ride with our future Guardian was his co-writer, Craig Titely,  who i’m convinced only came in to do punch ups as the guy has only written three other movies. One of them was being one of MANY writers on Cheaper by the Dozen and thus likely not doing much of note with that, and the other.. is being the only writer on Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief’s movie adaptation.. aka the movie the fanbase and general audiences rejected in droves yet SOMEHOW got a sequel. Which is somehow still worse than his other film, one that asks “was the moon landing a hoax?” Spoilers, it wasn’t. Point is this isn’t a resume that screams co creator and more screams “Guy brought in to kid freindly this up”. More on that in a minute.  The director is another less than reassuring face: Raja Gosnell, whose credits BEFORE this film were Home Alone 3, Never Been Kissed and Big Momma’s house.. so already he dosen’t have the best track record but somehow got worse because AFTER this film and it’s sequel he directed both live action Smurfs Movies and the universally hated Show Dogs, aka the film  that thought dog rape was funny. The fact this film isn’t out and out terrible is a miracle. 

Even more so because naturally, as Studios tend to do they interfered: The film was supposed to be more adult, cracking jokes about common things fans of the series growing up thought like Velma is Gay or Shaggy’s a stoner, and having both be fully true. But wanting to appeal to kids, Warner gradually lightned it, hence Craig, and Raja clearly having no shame gladly took it instead of you know.. standing his ground.  So Velma has a love intrest thrown in and her kiss with Daphne is gone, while Shaggy’s toke smoking was lowered to subtext.. because either of those things is bad apparently? I dunno the 2000′s were fucked. 

Point is THAT’S why these films are so tonally confused and why I don’t hold it agains the film now I know: It wasn’t James Gunn or even, as dumb as he is, Raja Gosnell’s fault that the film had some tones clashing when the studio was demanding it, instead of you know, thinking this through at all and realizing more kids cared about Scooby Doo than they would’ve josie and the pussy cats instead of bringing it up DURING production, when most of the adult stuff was in there. It’s also why the sequel has no real adult stuff, though it’s STILL damn good, but i’ll get to that some other day. 

The film was also shot at an actual theme park in australia. Neat. 

So yeah the film’s humor kind of ping pongs between knowing adult winks and kids stuff. We get Scooby dressing like a grandma in the same film shaggy enhales his demon possed love intrests breath like weed. The jokes themselves on average are pretty good: Some of my faviorites include the grandma scene, everything rowan atkinson does, Velma getting drunk off her ass, and the instructional video bit which is easily my favorite bit of the episode and one of my faviorite scooby doo jokes period:

This is even FUNNIER to me on rewatch, as we now know this is an instructional video for demons.. and that Scrappy clearly had enough problems with his demon horde to have to pay for this thing. It tis glorious.  However there also are also a few that HAVE NOT aged well, are very creepy at best and disgusting sexual assault at worst with Daphne getting her ass grabbed by the Luna Ghost at the start being treated as a joke and Fred oggling Daphne’s body when he’s in it being treated as a ha ha and not...

So yeah the humor’s USUALLY good, but the slipups are noticable and do bring things down a bit when they come by. So the humor is decent if mixed and the production’s a nightmare, how’s the plot? The Plot: Scoob, We’re Getting the Band Back Together!

I won’t be as through as usual because this is a 90 minute movie, I’m running behind as is and it’s 20 years old, 

We start with your standard mystery inc case with the Luna Goose, aka Old Man Incel who resented Pamela Anderson for not boning him. But Fred hogging the glory during the resulting News Cast leads the gang to start fighting over lingering tensions: Velma is tired of Fred hogging all the credit when she does most of the legwork solving things, Daphne is tired of being kidnapped and being mistreated by Velma and Freddy who laugh at the idea of her doing more, and Fred..

We’ll get to him later. Shaggy is the only one wanting to stick together, but no one’s having it and the group breaks apart and Matthew LIllard REALLY sells Shaggy’s heartbreak over his friends all abandoning him well. 

Two years later though, with Shaggy and Scooby naturally getting stoned and eating large quantities of food on the beach, have made peace with retirement, and have apparently had to duck tons of people coming to them to solve mysteries since they aren’t about that. The latest in that line is a man representing Emile Mondovarius, the owner of Spooky Island, a vast island resort and theme park. Naturally since it has spooky in the name the boys want nothing but Mondovarius does what honestly every previous guy coming to them should’ve done: offers them an all you can eat buffet.  Since they’ve done more traumatizing for Dog Treats, they agree and it soon turns out the entire gang was invited, though none of them but Shaggy and Scooby are happy to see each other. I will say one of my complaints about the film is it never tackles the emotions behind the breakup: while the teams slowly repairs there are never any outright apologizes or scenes of them recociling or scenes of Shaggy chewing them out for abandoning him due to their spat. It just skips over the emotional bits to either wave a joke for the kiddies around or scream 

Really the jokes aren’t bad, the film just has trouble with actual emotion or depth that could’ve been there and tries for it once in a while, but dosen’t really do anything with it. The gang splitting up’s a good concept, and at this point on Scooby Doo on Zombie Island had really used it, and that was one where they were clearly still close friends and were still in touch they just quit mystery solving for a while till Zombie Island happened. Mystery Incorpreated would finally give this story justice later: Instead of over a petty ego squabble, the gang broke up over underlying tensions: The revelations about Fred’s dad caused him to go try and find himself, Velma alienated herself by hiding things from them, and Shaggy was shipped off to Military School and Scooby doggy prison camp... thankfully the last two didn’t last and Scooby rescued Shaggy with a tank but the tension DIDN’T go away: While the gang mostly reunited, Velma took time to forgive them and also tried bringing in the friend/girlfriend she’d made in the meantime only for her friends to isolate her and throw her out while Daphne took her time to return due to being hurt by fred. It’s complex and good stuff versus here where it’s just “WE’RE APART BECAUSE WE HATES EACH OTHER. And now we’re NOT”. It’s just a waste of a good concept and i’ m glad the franchise got around to doing it right. 

But my gripes aside our heroes head to the resort and meet Mondevarious, who admits outright to having tricked then and with confronted with the gang being broken up, makes it clear he knews.  “That’s the thing about broken things.. you can put them back together.”

And so he did. He needs the Gang’s help as he’s worried about the island and something going wrong there: The teens are leaving polite, well behaved. and clearly not themselves as one reacts to an old friend by neck lifting him and tossing him aside. Something’s deeply wrong here and the gang’s intrest is piqued enough to stay though everyone but Shaggy is determined to solve it themselves out of ego. Mondvarius is played by Rowan Atkinson and while I watched the bean movie as a kid this is where I fell in love with the guy, with later watches of Blackadder confirming that in my college years. Rowan just brings a fun dorky energy to the character and a nice earnestness too but when he later takes a turn for the bad, he does that well too. Atkinson is HIGHLY underated in my opinon and easily the MVP of this film’s supporting cast.   So the investigation begins, and we get our supsects: The first we met on the plane, Mary Jane, a kind blonde played by Isla Fisher who got the job becasue Gosnel, in a rare good decision, saw how talented she was and while still picking Sara Michele Gellar for Daphne, made sure she had  a part. She’s a nice sweet girl who Shaggy falls for and Scooby’s annoyed by it.. though unlike earlier the film beats mystery inc easily here as it’s a more understandable conflict and dosen’t act like Dog Issues is a thing people says. Again i’ll get to that clusterfuck of an arc some day. The other two are N’Goo Tuna, a shady worker at the park who spouts off the legends of the island. In a nice twist, he’s NOT the vilian, as is obvious but is his right hand man. He also has his own right hand and muscle in Zarkos a cool looking Luchador and N’Goo’s muscle. Also N’Goo may be one of the worst names in Scooby Doo History, and that includes Dabba Doo. But the legend claims the island was once owned by demons who want revenge since the resort took the island from him. 

The other is probably my faviorite non Rowan Atkinson character, Voodoo Maestro, played by Miguel Nunez. He’s basically just a guy who lives on the fringes of the island and also hates the resort and tries using voodoo curses. He’s honestly a delight from his attempt to sacrifice a chicken (An already dead one at that), to his general hammy and annoyed at dealing with these teenagers demeanor. NAturally he has nothing to do with this but he’s still a fun addition and I wish he was in more scnenes than the two he gets.  But with what they’ve gathered the gang all end up at a spooky castle attraction, with Scooby and Shaggy of course being bribed by daphne while Velma and Fred show up indpeendntly and end  up finding the weird training video from earlier but all get caught when the traps are activiated> There’s also a farting contest which.. eh not funny to me but i’ve seen so much worse i’m not even remotely upset. But then the traps trigger though during the chaos Fred and Velma are forced to work together and finally start doing so, and Daphne finds a clue: A mysterious pyramid known as the damon righus and finally gets some, if not nearly enough, credit.  So the gang is back together.. even if it’s a tenative peace, the high from solving this and relay to their boss the suspects, including him, though Fred assures Mondovarius it’s just because he’s spooky and rowan’s character’s delight over that is fucking glorious.  So the gang enjoys some down time at the local bar, with Fred and Daphne doing their own look ins, Scooby and Shaggy eating and encountring mary again and Velma getting hit on by a dude while looking over the ritus, revealing it’s some sort of soul sucking aparatus, and going into their history... which is really just an excuse to bring Scrappy in who in this universe, is a horny egotistical little shit whose abandoned as a result. ANd before anyone boos he’s not a puppy here, he’s got.. dog dwarfisim.. which while .. how does that even work... means he’s a grown ass man and deserved this. We also get drunk velma and Linda Caredenlli is a delight

The night gets interupted by terrible cgi monsters, the aformentioned emon who soul suck most of the college kids present and also get fred and velma who both find out these are very much real. We also get the best song on the soundtrack, man with a hex. It slaps. But it makes good chase music as with Mondvarious, Fred and Velma captured, the rest of the gang and mary escape.  The next morning we get a surreal as hell scene as everyone’s partying, Fred’s talking in slang and Velma with clevage, thank you, is chatting up.. Sugar Ray? For those younger of you they were a band at the time. They were a big thing. Not half bad but faded away. They looked as 2000′s as hell though. WHy Smash Mouth gets all the memes and not them is beyond me. Look at lead singer Mark McGrath!It’s like the early 2000′s gained sentience and took a human form. But the gang is quickly forced to run from sugar ray, though they get Daphne in a deleted scene. Why it was deleted I dunno. Point is Shaggy, Scooby and Mary are all alone.. oh and Mary’s possessed. Shaggy and Scooby argue over it because Shaggy just thinks Scooby is jealous and while he is .. why would he lie about this? He’s as cowardly as you are. But Scooby falls through the floor, and Shaggy is now going solo but luckily finds his friends souls, and eveyrone elses in a massive cool looking vat and frees them all.  Velma, when the demon leaves her and confronts her, finds out sunlight kills the demons and saves Daphne from hers... only to find Fred in her body. Daphne is naturally horrified and we do get a great bodyswapping scene.

Our heroes reconvince on the beach where htey find the Maestro who explains what’s going on to a point, with the gang’s clues filling in the blanks: The ritus, which they stole back earlier, is used for a ritual that will allow the Demons to rule over the earth for “a thousand years of darkness” but it requires a pure soul to work. Cue our big bad talking Scooby into being their willing sacrifice since Scooby dooes not understand what a sacrifice is.  Shaggy naturally rallies the group to go save him after their understandably worried since they usually dealt with weirdos in costumes and not the apocalypse.. well okay Velma and Fred aren’t, Daphne dealt with this kind of thing once a week back in Sunnydale. So they set up a plan to destroy all the demons at once by unleashing the soul bath, setting them all loose and then using a spooky disco ball from one of the attractions rigged up over the ritual area to shine the light in. It’s classic scooby doo. 

Things naturally go wrong as while Shaggy goes to rescue scooby and makes up with him, he’s caught, so are fred and velma and they have to scramble, while Daphne looses a fight with the luchador up top while trying to let the light in to finish the trap. Meanwhile Shaggy saves Scooby’s soul just as Mondovarious sucks it out by shoving the guy.. revealing him to be a robot! DUN DUN DUN. And inside is Scrappy.. which you all probably knew already but try to act suprise who wanted to conquer the world as revenge for the gang abandoning him and because again, in this universe he’s kind of an asshole. He absorbs the souls gathered so far and merges with the damon ritus, because we’re operating on video game rules now apparently, so final boss time.  But we get a great climax as Scrappy chases scooby, Daphne goes buffy on Zarkos ass , and as a result he shatters the glass and lets the light in releasing the disco ball the kill the demons.. man I love that I get to type things like that. Scooby removes the ritus and defeats his nephew and the day is saved. Velma hooks up with random guy, Daphne and Fred get together, I die inside a little and Shaggy and Mary Jane bond. At the press Fred does his good deed for the movie by letting Velma explain things and get the spotlight and the group have firmly reunited. THE END. Overall it’s a solid plot, that works well, comes together in the end and was well put together, it’s more the filling that causes it to tilt back and forth a bit, but overlal outside of the issue I mentioned it’s a good scooby doo plot. While some have pointed out it is similar to zombie island, a case reuniting the gang, the person who brought them there wanting to sacrifice them, or just scooby here, monsters being real, it works because everything else is so different. But since there’s more to break down and it’s easier to give it it’s own section let’s look at...

THE CHARACTERS: NOT HALF BAD, FRED CAN GO FUCK HIMSELF. 

So we’re down to character.. and since there’s a blonde, preeening, selfish, arrogant, sleazy, sexist, obnoxious, loud mouthed, useless elephant in the room, let’s start with Fred. And to quote it’s always sunny....

Yeah so that fury of a thousand crashing waves (Cracks Knuckles): Fred is the worst part of this movie, the worst version of the character across the entire franchise that i’ve seen with the sincre doubt that there is ANY version worse than this. Everything I said above is true and THEN some. He is one of the most unlikable characters i’ve seen in a film that wasn’t INTENDED to be. There’s just NOTHING to like about him. Nothing. He treats his “Friends” like garbage, all four of them: He basically ignores shaggy and scooby at best and treats them as if they were nothing. For Velma he’s your classic power abusing douche who pushes her to the side and often steals the credit for things she did. He’s still a good mystery solver, but he acts like he does all the work to the press and takes all the credit when Velma works as hard as he does if not harder. And worst of all is Daphne, who he basically either treats like some moron who gets kidnapped due to incompetence and not because creepy old dudes want to feel her up, which given the intro is VERY likely the reason she’s the resident victim of the group, and not like a person, or like a pair of boobs and legs he wants to bang or feel up creepily while he’s in her body. For fuck’s sake his reaction to finding out he’s in her body is a creepy and smug “I can see myself naaaakeddd” If that dosen’t make you want to smack him get off my blog. And they get together in the end! 

Who who wanted that. I genuinely want the presumibly original ending where Daphne and Velma hook up and Fred falls off a pier and is never seen again. The acting does not help. While the other four gang members are expertly cast Fred was given to Freddy Prinze Junior, who made a career out of playing arrogant dicks who are somehow the main character so I can’t fault the casting but I can fault that he can’t delver any line without that smug air of trying to be cool douche and it’s at it’s worst with Fred since Fred’s already written as the biggest creepiest douche in the world and Freddy somehow makes it WORSE. He also has zero chemstiry with Daphne, which would be weird given he and Sarah Michelle Gellar had dated for 2 years at this point and as of this writing have been together for 20 overall and have two wonderful kids together... but given how badly written Fred is here, I can’t blame either of them. And i’m sure FPJ is a swell guy, loves his kids loves his wife seems like a really plesant guy, nothing against him as a person, but at least at this point in his career he wasn’t very good. And I am actually planning on trying to seek out one of his later works in his career to see if he’s gotten better in recent years, and willing to give him the benifit of a doubt that he probably has. I just don’t like him here, and while the script does most of the work he only makes it worse.And works before this (Pup Named Scooby Doo) and after this (Mystery Incorperated) would prove you can give fred a personality that’s not dick tip, so fuck this character, fuck the writing.. and I hope Freddy is having a happy halloween with his loving wife and children, seriously I meant it I have nothing against him as a person. A terrible actor can still be a WONDERFUL guy. 

Now that’s thankfully put to bed, let’s pivot over to Shaggy, whose easily the best of the cast. Matthew Lillard looks the part pefectly, has the right combination of heart and goofus and has some great comedic timing. Granted Scream had already proven the guy’s got genuine talent, but still he’s great here and is currently playing Shaggy in most films and productions, except Scoob which.. was far from it’s only mistake but easily the biggest. There’s not much else to say: the guy IS Shaggy and is the only person whose taken up the roll to equal Kasey Casem in it. As for how he’s written.. he’s basically the same and apart from one line of him wanting to leave everyone to their deaths, which feels like it was added later, he’s written really well and is easily the most likeable of the group. 

Scooby is alright. Not the best version but funny and charming enough when he needs to be and while I hated the CGI at one point.. it’s honestly not that bad. It’s not GREAT, but time has actually been very good to it both in how it’s held up and in the fact we’ve gotten SO MUCH WORSE with so much better techlogies. I mean.. Cats exists.. Marmaduke Exists.. the Bill Murray Garfield exists. This was offputting at the time but now it’s just okay. But character wise he’s good and again not much diffrent. 

Velma is the second best casting of the movie. Played by Linda Cardenelli, who i’ve harbored a crush on for a good few decades now and admire mostly for her talent and charm, Linda kills the roll and easily slips into it as easily as Matt did, and while not picking it up full time like he did, still did it a few times afterword and played hot dog water in mystery incorperated, so she did finally get to play a Lesbian Velma it just took a while. And while Velma being gay is kind of sterotyping, it would’ve been nice to have been kept in instead of edited out for bullshit reasons. But overal her character is decent: While she ALSO bullies and belittles daphne like fred, unlike fred it comes less from just being a douche and more from insecurity. As her scene at the bar makes clear she feels undervalued like the other, like the nerd who the cool kids LET hang out with them instead of part of the team. While it dosen’t make her treatment of Daphne OKAY, it makes Velma understandable. We also get Velma Clevage which.. okay not sure if the world needed that but whatever. Point is it’s throughly likeable portryal that I wish got some character growth.  Finally out of the main 5 there’s Daphne, whose alright. Not as good as the other two, as it feels they lean a bit too heavily on her having taken self defense and wanting ot be tougher, but Sarah Michelle Gellar gives her a ton of charm and likeablity that her husband’s character sadly lacks. There’s just a fun, adorable energy to daph that ends up coupling with her buffy style badassery at the end and Sarah plays both beautifully. The script didn’t give her a ton to work with, though that’s the same for all four of htem, but Sarah really made the character work and made her somewhat memorable despite not being as good as Linda or Matthew. Basically not the best, but still a comfortable third ahead of scooby doo and jackass jones. 

As for the rest of the cast, Rowan Attkinson i’ve covered and is utterly fantastic as is the Voodoo Maestro, and both should get hteir own hbo max spinoff together. The minons.. stupid name and luchadoor are decent enough, nothign special but they have presence and do the job of goon well. And Mary Jane is alright.. the joke is WAY too on the nose to be funny and she’s mostly just there to be sweet, but she’s harmless. Not good but not bad.  So finally we have our big bad, Scrappy. And i’m.. mixed about this. On one hand, Scott Innes, who it turns out is also from Missouri good on you dude!, does a terrific job and I couldn’t tell it wasn’t don messick as Scrappy and he plays him as evil great. On the other.. it’s just kinda goofy. Out of all the tips of hte hat to scooby stuff this feels the most over the top. Scrappy was hated, including by james gunn.. so he’s the bad guy. It’s just a bit on the nose, and the twist is pretty easily teligraphed since Scrappy suspciously is mentioned in one scene so him showing up at all is pretty easy to see coming. It’s not terible but it’s not great. His demon minons also just suck.. the designs are wonky and their cgi, unlike scooby and scrappy’s, is just REALLY bad and dated, and even as a kid I never liked them. 

FINAL THOUGHTS:  Scooby Doo is a decent but messy movie. The clashing tones, dated humor and godawful version of fred drag it down at times, and it’s very clear this had a lot of hands in the pot. But.. I still enjoy it. It’s not the best scooby ever, tha’ts mystery incorpeated, but it has great atmosphere, some good ideas, an utterly spectacular with one exception cast, and some really funny jokes. I genuinely feel the film is overhated when it’s a unique, weird and wonderful slice of Scooby. For better or worse there’s no other Scooby doo property quite like it, and that’s what makes it so fun. And it has enough good performances and jokes to smooth out the edges. It’s not the best, it’s a mess.. but sometimes a mess is fun and I like this flim for being a fun mess I can enjoy with my nieces and talk about to all of you. And sometimes that’s all you need.  Thank you for reading this. If you like this you can comission your own review: 5 bucks for a tv episode, 15 for a movie, 10 for an hour long special, and 5 dollars off when you order more than one episode of a show at a time. Just send me a direct message or ask on here and we’ll get started. Until then you can check out my backlog of reviews, check this space every monday for ducktales reviews, and VOTE DAMMIT VOTE. Until we meet again it’s been a pleasure. Play us out Atomic Fireballs, it’s been a wonderful halloween. 

[thebiblesalesman]

Hero of Numbani new canon brands, products, tech, concepts, etc.

*SPOILERS FOR The Hero of Numbani AHEAD*

This list does not include Yoruba or Afro-Brazilian food/clothing/cultural concepts, which probably deserve their own list.

344X-Azúcar - A wireless signal used by Sombra.

3-D Puzzle: Horizon Lunar Colony - Efi and her cousin Bisi spent 400 hours putting this together.

Alatise Parkway - Street in the Numbani Arts District where a gray market auction house can be found.

Bankolé’s Grocery - A neighborhood grocery store.

Bello tower - Tower where Efi’s cousin Dayo lives.

Bisi’s laptop - An extremely high-end laptop that Bisi tries to gift to Efi. Capable of 3D holoprojection. Can crush logic exercises that cause “the most advanced omnics” to struggle in seconds.

Blanchet771 - A literary icon beloved by Efi’s father.

Breaking Circuits trilogy - A Flash Brighton movie trilogy where Flash is a human pretending to be an omnic pretending to be a human.

Carnival Calabar - Real-life Nigerian festival that occurs December 1-31. Efi mentions that Unity Day rivals Carnival Calabar in size.

Chinua Achebe - Real-life Nigerian novelist (1930-2013). A literary icon beloved by Efi’s father.

Compass Point Insurance - An insurance company used by Efi’s family.

Court-appointed cybernetic surgeon - Employed by world governing organizations for removing cybernetic implants from war criminals. One such surgeon removed most of Doomfist’s implants after his trial, a procedure apparently broadcast out to the whole world.

CraftLife 5000 - Premium power tools including a hard-light screwdriver.

Cybernetic brain upgrades - According to Efi, Sojourn has these upgrades, which consist of “bionic neurons” injected into the brain

Cyborg African wild dogs - These are things that exist. Efi encounters two dogs with spinal implants and flickers of green light in their eyes.

Dagger Sect - Enemy agents in the Breaking Circuits movie trilogy

Declaration of Unity - A declaration read and signed by Gabrielle Adawe during the founding of Numbani.

Delivery drone - Used to deliver things. Some are powerful enough to carry an 11-year-old.

efi_was_here_v3-39x.aipm - The name of Orisa’s personality matrix.

eNaira - Electronic Nigerian currency.

FacePunch - Site where Efi finds a lot of jokes and memes, such as Marley the Dancing Coconut.

Fadeout/Fading out - An omnic condition induced by a malicious code that self-replicates and overwrites the omnic’s native functions one-by-one. The name comes from the lights on an omnic’s head fading out when it is affected by this condition. Omnics experience severe program malfunctions during fadeout. For example, an omnic forklift operator might keep driving the forklift into a wall over and over again, or an omnic artist might destroy her own work. Fadeout also causes an omnic’s private wireless port to become publicly accessible, and if the malicious code is allowed to operate for long enough the omnic can lose all original programming and memory. Fadeouts were induced in Numbani by Sombra for a time after Doomfist’s attack on the airport. Because fadeout causes omnics’ wireless ports to become publicly accessible, an “antidote” code can be administered to one omnic and will be automatically distributed to all other affected omnics in the area.

Flash Brighton - An action movie character with numerous franchise films such as...

Flash Brighton and the Omnic Crusaders: Forty-Four Hours Till Midnight - Movie where Flash Brighton abandons werewolf pups to go looking for his brother’s assassin with a time machine.

Flash Brighton and the Omnic Crusaders: The Duel to Infinity - Movie starring Kam Kalu, Thespion 4.0, and A.I. Schylus, among others.

Flexxon Pro Micro T1 reactor - Alternative to the miniature Tobelstein reactor. Cannot maintain a graviton charge for more than a few seconds.

Free Thinkers - A website where Efi gets most of the open source code for her robots.

Harmony Key - A symbolic key presented by Gabrielle Adawe to the leader of the Numbani Omnic Union during the founding of Numbani.

HollaGram (or Hollagram) - Social media service where users can make multimedia posts and other users can award likes, claps, or shares and leave comments.

International Baccalaureate - A real-life instructional programming standard based out of Geneva, Switzerland. Efi is taking senior-high level IB instruction in calculus and physics at age 11.

Ipanema - Real-life neighborhood in Rio. Efi planned to take surf lessons here, and Lúcio’s studio is here.

Junker reactor - A graviton reactor purchased by Orisa when a miniature Tobelstein reactor cannot be found. Cobbled together from mismatched parts, with some graffiti on the side. Efi notes that it is probably irradiated and likely to blow up in Orisa’s face.

Junie (Junior Assistant) - A robot stand-in for social and professional situations, capable of broadcasting holograms of people and recording video/audio with a 360-degree camera. Hologram features can be upgraded with hardlight conversion kits. Invented by Efi Oladele. Holograms produced by Junies are referred to as [name-of-the-person-being-shown]-Junior. For example, Naade-Junior for a hologram of Efi’s friend Naade.

Lagos - The largest real-life city in Nigeria, on the coast.

Maxwell Interpreter - Part of Efi’s robot creation kit. Used for creating simulations by autosorting “eight billion permutations into virtual hash matrices.”

Modulated Biochemical Currency (MBC) - DNA-coded cryptocurrency used on the dark web. About the size of a sand dollar, they wiggle in your hand and contain synthetic blood with unique biological codes in it. Also known as bio gold, wiggle notes, glam clams, scritch scratch...

Nollywood - Real-life slang for the Nigerian film industry

Numbani civic codes - For example, Code 34-342b - Driving a vehicle with an expired registration. Code 92-574j - Pedestrian cross-traffic. Etc.

Numbani Civic Defense Department - Numbani government security forces/police.

Numbani Credit Union - A credit union. Efi stores her grant money here.

Numbani museum exhibits - Historical artifacts, omnic art, a walking tour of Overwatch’s presence in Numbani, Numbani native plants, and a diorama of the Declaration of Unity, among others

Numbani Omnic Union - An omnic representative organization present during the founding of Numbani. The leader was presented the Harmony Key by Gabrielle Adawe.

OmnicCon - A con in Numbani with a costuming contest.

OmniWorx - Company that produces synthetic greases in designer tins with different scents like mint and citrus. The product is used by omnics as an indulgence, such as on Unity Day in Numbani. Efi buys OmniWorx tins for her omnic friends.

OR15 auction - An auction that took place after the defeat of the OR15s by Doomfist at Numbani airport. The Numbani Civic Defense Department sold off decommissioned OR15s in lots of 10 that cost around 20 million naira. Bidders were not informed of the OR15′s defeat at Doomfist’s hands.

Overwatch cartoons - Cartoons Efi describes as “old” that are based on the lives of real Overwatch members like Sojourn.

Overwatch coin bank - Owned by Efi. Features Reinhardt protecting the bank with his rocket hammer.

Overwatch pajamas - Efi owns a pair of these.

Paper notes - Used to avoid digital filters at Efi’s school.

Peace Park - A park in Numbani which had a statue of Gabrielle Adawe. The statue ended up being destroyed by Doomfist.

Precision Core reactor - Alternative to the miniature Tobelstein reactor. Unit is the size of a car.

Rapid-X heliotherapy - A type of therapy that heals broken bones in the span of a few days.

Sky Postal - Delivery company that uses drones. Capable of executing Lightning-Priority deliveries.

Steppe Wanderer - A model of car.

Super Fun Family Time - A “game” Efi’s parents taught her where they hide in the interior bathroom of their flat whenever the warning sirens go off indicating a Doomfist attack.

Tiawo Boulevard - Street in Numbani that intersects Heritage Avenue

Tin Can Island Port - Port where Numbani omnics held a dockworkers’ revolt several years back.

Tonal Abyss - Omnic pop band with 38 members. Broke up at one point due to disagreements about which quantum clock standard to use as a time measure for their music. Reunited at Lúcio’s concert in Numbani.

University of Ibadan, University of Lagos - Real-life Nigerian universities that Efi’s cousin Dayo received acceptances from in the story.

Valor Matrix distributed computing project - Project that rewards loans of processing power with currency.

Version 3.44 VAvmpCompiler - Part of Efi’s robot creation kit. An alternative to a dedicated Maxwell Interpreter box.

Virtual Physician protocol - Downloadable physician protocol accessible to any robot or omnic.

Yankari National Park - Largest national park in Nigeria.

Yoku Voyager - A low-end car model with weak levrims.

Zobo Bot - Robot that makes juice drinks at Efi’s school. Known to be ornery.