#also average Fallout fan music taste

[ghosttrolls]

Take this as an opportunity to talk about what makes you happy pls! ^^

I really like to make stuff! I've talked about it here and there before but I'm kind of always working on something. Whether it be writing "Can You Adopt a Ghost?", making fan comics, or trying to reinvest my time into Trollhunters, I've got something up my sleeve most of the time.

And that's just fandom stuff. Like, I paint - acrylic, oil, watercolor. My apartment is covered in art that I've made - drawn with sharpies, made with charcoal, I have this huge drawing I made with oil pastels... sketches made with graphite, studies done in crayon, I've tried almost every medium at some point. I collect comics and graphic novels, and I'm working with a writer on creating my own, and I just love the idea of visual storytelling and getting to tell my own someday.

I love music and making playlists, and I'm so glad Spotify has the discover weekly feature because it's kind of hard for me to discover new music that fits my tastes on my own. My liked playlist is nearing 2,000 songs long, and yes, I have them all downloaded. When I build playlists I only go off of songs I know, so they're all from my liked playlist... I have an interesting system, I guess. I've shared one of my playlists here but it didn't get any traction. Maybe I should just share more?

I make little animals out of tiny tiny beads, mostly lizards, just for fun, and I give them out as gifts. I know at one point I tried to sell them but that was never the reason I made them anyway. I just like doing it.

I also play video games - I'm no gamer god, very average and often poor - but I do it often, because I find it fun. I play breath of the wild a lot. Yesterday I played mariokart for the first time since I moved into my apartment... and I still got first place every time. 😎 I also have PC games like fallout and hades and some other stuff, but I honestly play on the switch more often right now.

I like to cook, too... but it's been too hot and I've been too tired to really make much stuff lately. It was SUPERHOT just over a week ago and it was actually dangerous to turn on the oven or stove... but one of my favorite quick things to make is veggies roasted in the oven. Chop them up, cover them in olive oil and garlic pepper and salt, and toss them in a 425 oven for 20 minutes (or until the edges look slightly burned). Perfection every time. Throw in some sausage or something for protein if you want.

And finally, I love to watch cool and fun movies and TV shows! I could try to list my favorites but I'd be thinking for half an hour and end up with 30+ titles, so I'll just say: if it's animated I probably enjoyed it. I love to rewatch things often, because certain stories just scratch that itch - and somehow for me, knowing how it'll end doesn't ruin the fun. Because of this I have all the dialogue from the Incredibles memorized, and I associate Mr Blue Sky with Megamind exclusively, and I forget that in the original Little Mermaid movie Flounder was also a kid, and not a father of 10. You can ask me about any of that if you want. Honestly ask me about anything animated and I'll probably have an opinion to talk about.... I watch so much stuff.

Anyway. Suffice to say there's a lot of things I just really enjoy doing. I'm happiest when I'm doing something that I get to decide on, it's just nice. I'm never bored at home because I fill my life with stuff to do on purpose. It's pretty good that way :)

[brettdavidbaker-blog]

Feature: Revisited Album: Black Sabbath - Paranoid 1970

Feature: Revisited Album: Black Sabbath - Paranoid 1970

After the summer of love in '69 the dream of revolution was crushed under it's own weight as free loving hippies turned to murder, English Skinhead gangs ruled streets of the working classes and a paranoia of imminent nuclear fallout engulfed the west. On 'Friday the 13th February 1970, less than a year since Black Sabbath's debut, the UK was delivered a thundering and crushing soundtrack to their post-decade of false hope comedown. 'Paranoid', showcased Sabbath's evolution from an occult dabbling blues band into a heavy metal monolith fuelled by a deeper understanding and embracement of the evil reality around them. Each band member was a product moulded by a hard and grim upbringing in working class Aston, Birmingham. As a youngster Bill Ward would rhythmically tap his bedpost in-between the booming strikes of metal cutting machines which shook the town and a teenage Tony Iommi felt first hand the thundering hammers unforgiving nature as he lost two finger ends operating one. It was this type of world the band were looking desperately to escape from and they toured relentlessly in order to hone their craft. By the time 'Paranoid' was released the band had become tighter, heavier and groovier than ever before. As most of the albums tracks were written during marathon live jams, Sabbath were able to create elongated constructions of noise without clinging onto the pompous un-necessities of introverted prog-rock that often relied on quantity over quality. Along with impeccable groove and tightness the bands ultimate power came from their ability to “riff” in unison. Iommi would lead through his finger ends, creating hook after hook for the band follow, creating a wall of striding noise. Once extreme volume was added to the equation the riff truly came to life, a lesson quickly learned by rock pioneers Led Zeppelin who were on a rise to stardom, releasing their groundbreaking LP Led Zeppelin IV a year later in '71. Today the riff is an integral part of many guitar driven genres but none more so than in the world of rock and metal.

Their lives in Aston and time on the road not only inspired Sabbath's sound but also the bands lyrical subjects. Whilst in America touring on the back of their debut Sabbath were able to hear first hand accounts of the atrocities, being kept hidden by the media, that were happening in Vietnam. At the time bassist Geezer Butler believed he would be called up to fight himself and was keen to reveal the true plight of wartime suffering by infusing his lyrics with stark anti-war messages. Album opener 'War Pigs' attacked fat-cat warmongering politicians, 'Hand of Doom' unveiled grim truths of heroin addiction among troops and 'Electric Funeral' recites the aftermath of a world engulfed by a storm of atomic bombs. These were not your average protest ballads wailed by self-elevated '60s intellectuals, they were aggressive accounts and forewarnings of doom asserted with full force and volume. 'Fairies Wear Boots' penned by vocalist Ozzy Osbourne offered the world a glimpse at Aston's viscous and violent skinhead gangs in their Doctor Martens before moving on to giving a grave warning of the mind melting affects of LSD and marijuana abuse. 'Planet Caravan', a jazz inspired weightless tale of space exploration as told by two lovers, sits comfortably amongst what have come to be heavyweight rock and metal fan favourites and offered the band an opportunity to show their musical and lyrical versatility. Ultimately though it was the albums hit single 'Paranoid' that helped to break the band in America. Written in the under half an hour at the studio it has become one of the most popular selling heavy metal records to date. It's success on release brought the band further album sales as well as a new type of fan, “Teenyboppers”. Ozzy Osbourne even contemplated never releasing singles again as despite their obvious financial gains, the young fans stage invasions and other antics interfered with performances putting a bad taste in the mouths of genuine Black Sabbath supporters.

The middle class music press struggled to deal with the un-sophisticated mob of long haired nihilists and their grave foretelling's of doom, which led to scathing reviews by some of the worlds most renowned critics. Lester Bangs once described the band as “Cream but worse” yet Black Sabbath were able to tap into the psyche of thousands across the globe and offered the next generation of musicians an alternative to what would later become Punk. The intensity, darkness and heaviness associated with 'Paranoid' is arguably the original blueprint for all Heavy Metal. Bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest established the New Wave of British Heavy Metal on the backs of tracks such as 'War Pigs' and 'Iron Man' by replacing lumbering blues licks with speed and virtuosity. Next Doom and Thrash emerged during the '80s (Thrash originators Metallica will be headlining Leeds and Reading Festival this year) ultimately leading to '90s Death and Black Metal. In 2012 Black Sabbath drew a crowd of over 100,000 to Download Festival, who gathered in the pouring rain to watch the forefathers of metal perform tracks over forty years old, each one just as reflective of the world we live in today as they were Friday the 13th 1971.

(Written for and published by http://theinfinityofthought.blogspot.co.uk/)