#also while sonic is too focused on the environment the transformers is more focused on discipline and showing determination

[mistermiraecle]

𝙈𝙄𝙎𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙈𝙄𝙍𝘼𝘾𝙇𝙀'𝙎 𝙈𝙄𝙍𝘼𝘾𝙐𝙇𝙊𝙐𝙎 𝙏𝙀𝘾𝙃𝙉𝙊𝙇𝙊𝙂𝙔.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐈𝐓  ;  the original suit scott donned was nothing more than thaddeus brown’s spare spandex costume, hastily dragged on in order to go and confront intergang for the murder of his tutor and friend. after this, he made the decision to become mister miracle, leading to scott redesigning the suit using fourth world technology, although keeping the original colour scheme and some of the patterning. the new costume, used for shows, superheroing and whenever scott is called back home, is made of durable genesisian fibroid, and is both magnetically and hermetically sealed ––– although it looks like normal cloth, especially when not being worn, putting it on causes the fibre to mould around the body, leaving only the inner mouth exposed. every part of the suit also comes with two things ––– hidden compartments, allowing for the storage of other gadgets and gizmos, and a huge amount of inbuilt tech. the most important technology, from the top down, includes a life support system built into the mask, motherbox circuitry woven in allowing for handsfree use, ai lenses that can provide thermal and x-ray vision, micro-suction cups/adhesion pads/magnets built into the gloves for climbing up even sheer surfaces and lasers built into the gloves and boot soles. the cape is easily detachable, and a clasp release is built into the cuffs of his gloves and can form a protective cocoon against sizeable explosions.  the entire suit also provides fire and damage protection and allows the wearer to exist comfortably in extreme environments, even in the vacuum of space.  

𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐁𝐎𝐗  ;  invented by scott’s first friend and mentor, himon, motherboxes are small, semi-organic, sentient supercomputers capable of using the source in order to perform incredible feats, including, omniscience, omni-knowledge, summoning boomtubes (teleportation beams used for inter-dimensional travel), gravitational and energy manipulation, and healing their user. each new god carries a motherbox that is bonded to them and them alone, often dying or self-destructing upon the death of their user, and they possess the ability to communicate telepathically with their users. motherboxes can only be constructed by genesisians and even then not everyone possesses the ability to do so – most of the original boxes were manufactured by himon, and later boxes show a noticeable dip in quality after he refused to make more. himon taught scott how to build his own, and although all motherboxes provide unique abilities to suit their user, this resulted in scott’s box being particularly in tune to him and his needs. motherboxes do not need to be box-shaped and can be made to transform in both size and appearance ––– while on new genesis/apokolips they often look like bricks and are clipped to uniforms, when scott and barda come to earth they transmute them to appear more like handheld smartphones, allowing for use even in public and civilian attire. scott also reprograms them to have other smartphone-like qualities, and they come across very much like voice-activated, intelligent assistants, not unlike siri.

𝐌𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐔𝐁𝐄  ;  scott keeps an extreme number of gadgets, most of which are made by himself, on hand at all times, including electropicks and concussion bombs, for both shows, escapes, fights, and whatever other trouble he might find himself in   ( and trouble really does seem to always find him ). but potentially the most useful of all the equipment he keeps on his person is the multi-cube. again, designed and built by scott, the multi-cube acts as an extension of the motherbox, allowing for quick access to a number of pre-set functions, bypassing the need to connect to the motherbox, which is often a slower and more tedious process. the cube’s assortment of abilities is wide, ranging from creating a smokescreen or holograms, to generating a microlaser and sonic blast, which can be used for shattering materials or stunning opponents. one of the most useful and most used functions by scott, is the cube’s ability to produce several hundred feet of wire, with a tether on the other end, allowing him to grapnel out of situations, or to make a a tightrope cable across large distances. mostly the multi-cube resides in a hidden compartment in the suit unless it is being used, however the cube is also capable of flight and will follow scott around unless commanded not to through the same mental link he shares with the motherbox.

𝐀𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐒  ;  it was obvious from a young age that scott was never going to be much of a fighter ––– granny trained him well, and he can more than hold his own, but he’s nothing compared to barda or the furies, and more importantly he avoids fighting. with this in mind, she made him part of the aerotroopers, an aerial combat division of darkseid’s forces focused more on recon and intelligence gathering, with the intent of him leading them one day. the troopers’ main feature are the aerodiscs; thin metal plates that use anti-gravity technology to allow the user flight by standing on them. although difficult to balance on at the start, it’s very much like riding a bike, and with mastery can allow the user to travel at mach speeds. when not used for flight, they can also act as shields, deflecting energy blasts, projectiles, and melee weapons, although they are not indestructible and with repeated or too much force, break down.  they can also be used offensively as thrown weapons, slicing through most organic matter, and will always return to both their pair, and their coded owner, allowing for a certain amount of boomeranging and bending of their flight paths. when scott escaped apokolips, he took his aerodiscs with him, and uses them in his superheroing exploits.

[thecreaturecodex]

Qlippoth Lord, Obox-Ob

“Obox-ob, Prince of Vermin” © Michael Jaecks, accessed at his deviantArt page here

[Commissioned by @justicegundam82. I feel bad for both Obox-Ob and James Jacobs. Obox-ob was originally from Jacobs’ homebrew game, but he was brought in to canon D&D by the “Demonomicon of Iggwilv” series of articles written by Jacobs for Dragon Magazine. Too bad that within five years, Paizo lost the rights to publish Dragon, and all of their original content stayed with Wizards when Paizo went off to make their Pathfinder setting. Worse, in 4e, Obox-ob was killed off permanently in backstory (as opposed to in 3.5, where he died and was resurrected in his current weaker form). Bits and pieces of Obox-ob turn up in lots of other Pathfinder villains, like Rovagug, Yamasoth and Mazmezz, but the original is currently a bit of IP gathering dust.

Speaking of bits and pieces... in my home games, I had a demon lord similar to Obox-ob who predated his public unveiling, Khargaz. Khargaz was also a deposed monstrous vermin with multiple heads, and I was working on updating him to PFRPG when @justicegundam82 commissioned me to do Obox-ob, which would make him rather redundant. I have plans to focus on other aspects of Khargaz. And bits of my original Khargaz lore made it into this version of Obox-ob, namely making his rivalry with another vermin focused demon as opposed to the Prince of Demons (after all, there is no Demogorgon in PFRPG, and demonic hierarchy is much looser).]

Qlippoth Lord, Obox-Ob CR 22 CE Outsider This immense horror looks something like an inverted scorpion. It carries its body on a thicket of twitching legs, from which emerge three bulbous stingers, each dripping venom. Rising from its back like a tail is a long neck on which are stacked three leering, skull-like heads, each with a whipping tongue protruding from between jagged teeth.

Obox-ob Prince of Vermin, the Deposed Concerns monstrous vermin, revenge, spite Domains Chaos, Destruction, Evil, Vermin Subdomains Entropy, Fear, Rage, Venom* Worshipers fleshwarped creatures, maniacs, the vengeful Minions augnagar qlippoths, bebiliths, thulgant qlippoths Symbol a jawless human skull with a scorpion tail threaded through the sockets Favored Weapon scorpion whip Obedience eat a live arthropod while planning how to take revenge on someone who wronged you. Gain a +4 profane bonus to saves against poison Boons 1: summon swarm 2/day; 2: poison 2/day; 3: disintegrate 2/day *clerics of Obox-ob use the Venom subdomain to modify the Vermin domain

Obox-ob, the Deposed, is a qlippoth lord who has suffered crushing defeat and retains his power through sheer spite. In a time before time, he was the most powerful of the qlippoth lords, but he was slain at the hands of his rival Mazmezz and was reduced in stature as his body was reforming. Even more humiliating, Mazmezz abandoned the qlippoth for the allure of the migration of souls and became a demon, and in the war between demons and qlippoths was instrumental in thwarting Obox-ob a second time. Obox-ob has waited untold millennia for a second rematch, and is determined that he will be the victor this time. Unlike many qlippoth lords, he is encouraging of cults in his honor, and his appearance has changed with time to its current, human-skulled shape. Some sages believe Obox-ob is on the verge of becoming a true demon himself.

Obox-ob claims to be the progenitor of augnagar and thulgant qlippoths, and he is one of the few forces that can prevent augnagars from immediately killing and devouring each other. Obox-ob is rarely found outside of his sanctum, which is a stinking fen filled with poisonous vapors, jagged rocks and ravenous, monstrous vermin. When he does go abroad, he does so in astral form rather than risking his physical body. He is especially interested in the enemies of demonkind, and is manipulative enough that he is currently attempting to bait mortal heroes into killing Mazmezz for him.

In combat, Obox-ob opens with his horrific appearance, which causes mortal flesh to take a life of its own as a ravenous parody of blood drinking insects. He delights in melee, injecting mind-melting venom with his stings and pure entropy with his tongues, and few are the enemies of Obox-ob who escape unscarred. He uses his magical abilities primarily if foes keep their distance, and is fond of using telekinesis to force enemies into terrain hazards or to simply crush them under a barrage of thrown boulders. If in astral form, he fights to the “death”, but is not willing to risk total destruction or the humiliation of rejuvenating yet again.

Obox-ob               CR 22 XP 615,000 CE Huge outsider (chaos, evil, extraplanar, qlippoth, qlippoth lord) Init +10; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +36, true seeing Aura cloak of chaos (Will DC 26), discordant drone (40 ft., Will DC 31) Defense AC 40, touch 18, flat-footed 34 (-2 size, +6 Dex, +22 natural, +4 deflection) hp 455 (26d10+312); regeneration 15 (lawful) Fort +24, Ref +25, Will +26 DR 20/lawful and good; Immune cold, death effects, mind-influencing effects, poison; Resist acid 30, electricity 30, fire 30; SR 33 Offense Speed 40 ft., climb 40 ft., fly 60 ft. (good) Melee 3 stings +36 (3d6+12/19-20 plus poison), 3 tongues +34 (1d8+6 plus implant entropy) Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft. Special Attacks create spawn, horrific appearance Spell-like Abilities CL 22nd, concentration +30 Constant—cloak of chaos (DC 26, self only), true seeing At will—astral projection, greater dispel magic, greater teleport, telekinesis (M) (DC 23), unholy blight (M) (DC 22) 3/day—cloudkill (M) (DC 23), creeping doom (DC 25), empowered disintegrate (M) (DC 24), symbol of insanity (DC 25), quickened telekinesis (M) (DC 23) 1/day—implosion (DC 27), polymorph any object (DC 26), summon (qlippoth of CR 20 or lower, 100%, 9th level) *M = Obox-ob can use the mythic version of this spell in his sanctum Statistics Str 34, Dex 23, Con 34, Int 23, Wis 24, Cha 27 Base Atk +26; CMB +40; CMD 56 (66 vs. trip) Feats Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Critical Focus, Empower SLA (disintegrate), Great Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical (sting), Multiattack, Nimble Moves, Power Attack, Quicken SLA (telekinesis), Staggering Critical, Stunning Critical Skills Acrobatics +35 (+39 jumping), Bluff +37, Climb +36, Fly +22, Intimidate +34, Knowledge (arcana) +32, Knowledge (nature) +35, Knowledge (planes) +35, Knowledge (religion) +32, Perception +36, Sense Motive +36, Spellcraft +32, Stealth +27 Languages Abyssal, Aklo, Protean, Undercommon SQ no breath, qlippoth lord traits Ecology Environment any (the Abyss) Organization unique Treasure triple standard Special Abilities Create Spawn (Su) A creature reduced to 0 Int by Obox-ob’s poison transforms into an augnagar qlippoth. This qlippoth is not under Obox-ob’s control, but is favorably disposed towards him. A creature with 18 or more HD is transformed into a thulgant qlippoth instead. This is a transmutation effect. A creature so transformed can be restored with a successful break enchantment or similar effect against DC 32, but if it is restored to its own body, it is still comatose at 0 Int without a restoration or similar effect. Discordant Drone (Su) Any round where Obox-ob moves at least five feet, his plates scrape together hideously, causing all creatures that can hear to be confused for one round if they fail a DC 31 Will save. This is a sonic, mind-influencing effect. Implant Entropy (Su) A creature struck by Obox-ob’s tongue attack must succeed a DC 31 Fortitude save or take temporary 1d4 negative levels. This is not a negative energy effect, as they are created by pure entropy, and death ward or similar effects do not protect a creature. A creature under the effect of protection from chaos, dispel chaos, shield of law or a similar effect is immune to this ability. After 24 hours, a creature suffering from any negative levels caused by this ability must succeed a DC 31 Fortitude save or they become permanent. A creature with negative levels equal to its HD is utterly destroyed, and can only be brought back to life with a miracle, wish or true resurrection—even then, the caster must succeed a DC 33 caster level check or the spell fails. Creatures with the chaos subtype are immune to this effect. The save DC is Charisma based. Horrific Appearance (Su) When Obox-ob uses its horrific appearance, all creatures within 120 feet must succeed a DC 31 Will save or their flesh begins to turn into ravenous vermin. A creature that succeeds the save is staggered for 1 round as their flesh revolts. A creature that fails the save takes 120 points of damage, and an entropic tick swarm with a fly speed of 30 ft. (good) is created in its square. This swarm exists for 1 minute before decomposing into a foul-smelling sludge. A creature can only be affected by Obox-ob’s horrific appearance once every 24 hours. This is a mind-influencing effect, and the save DC is Charisma based. Poison (Ex) Injury—sting; save Fort DC 35; duration 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d6 Int drain; cure 2 saves. The save DC is Constitution based.

[theparaminds]

The musical puzzle that lays in front of artists is both sprawling and overwhelming. To make sense of the swirling emotions within humanity and form sonics that mirror them monumental. But in walks Umru. Just as the puzzle seems almost impossible, he reminds of the missing piece that had fallen on the floor. Like a breath of fresh air within pop production, Umru is solving different artist’s puzzles while also looking to finish his own. 

Based in New York, Umru is seeing production for more than its surface later ability. More so than just a collaboration tool, it is. in his hands, being transformed into a means of shared expression in a time of distance. In strengthening the vision of others, Umru finds a voice his own which carries through each of his works. This voice, ultimately, is telling a story self-discovery and freedom, stitching itself into endless far-reaching stories.

And so the puzzle sits on the table still with pieces missing, with a slew of holes and complexities. All of our puzzles do. All of our personal stories are united in the full photo being incomplete. But without individuals such as Umru, the pieces would be missing a lifetime. With every song he creates, one which touches another’s heart, a piece of their puzzle is found. The resulting image is slightly more clear and ever more beautiful. 

                                                         -

Our first question as always, how’s your day going and how have you been?

Good! I’m alright, I've felt really busy, yet unproductive recently though.

In your eyes, what defining features in your upbringing brought you into the path you’re on now and what was their significance to you as an individual?

I’ve got two very creative-minded parents and was lucky to be in an environment with few obstacles in getting to do the things I wanted creatively. I was able to use my dad’s old laptop with Ableton Live installed for example. I think access to the internet was also a defining feature, moving through online communities from Minecraft servers to Tumblr and Youtube fandoms to Soundcloud and Soundcloud producer group chats on Skype and Twitter. I was in a very small town and definitely relied on these communities just as much if not more than “real life” relationships to develop as an individual.

What were the core visions you went into music with at the beginning and how do you reflect on those original mindsets and values?

I don’t have this stuff all figured out honestly. I didn’t start making music with an end goal in mind. I started working on music early on enough that I wasn’t thinking about these things, I was just finding sounds and directions I liked on the internet and wanted to start replicating them. Since then I feel like I’ve been able to carve out and develop a sound world that’s uniquely mine even if my influences are pretty clear, but I’m still an immature artist with a lot to figure out in terms of vision.

Do you feel there was ever a shifting or eye-opening moment within your career that made you realize what it is you truly wanted to create?

The closest thing I can think of is A. G. Cook emailing me and expressing his interest in the parallels between our work. This was in 2016 or 2017, I was a high schooler and “Soundcloud trap” producer. I was a fan of PC Music but never imagined my music in a Pop context. Not too long after, A. G. had me working with him on tracks for Tommy Cash and then suddenly Charli XCX. “I Got It” came out on Charli’s mixtape, Pop 2, not much longer. Then a month after I worked on it, all of a sudden, I had all this new attention as a forward-thinking pop producer. It definitely helped me understand that the lines between these worlds were more blurred than ever, and my direction has definitely shifted since then—as much as I still end up focusing on sound design and convoluted production techniques, I want to make pop music, and stretch what that can mean as much as possible.  

Now, how do you ensure that as an artist who collaborates heavily with others you don’t diminish or lose your own personal spark and vision? How do you approach creation with others to be able to allow yourself to be heard and not simply listened to?

I used to be very protective of my work and “sound” and found it hard to collaborate a lot of the time. But I’ve learned to step back a bit and trust everyone else a bit more and the result has been better music. Especially in the pop world it’s impossible to get too attached to your work because there’s just endless music that will never hear the light of day and I have to be okay with that. And the work that does get heard may go through many changes by others after I work on it, I’ve had to learn to get less bothered by that inevitable process.

Which artists in history do you feel you could work well and create great art with, even though to many it would seem like an impossible or confusing combination?

I’m honestly a lot more interested in working with people who are making the current musical moment interesting. There’s plenty of good music throughout history but it’s exhausting to think of everything in the context of the past. I go to music school and everything is constantly about emulating the legendary studios and gear of the golden era of recording which never feels that relevant to me. That being said, I would love to work on a track with Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, J Dilla, Sylvia Striplin, Wendy Carlos, or John Tavener.

What improvements and developments do you hope to see within your sound and artistry going forth and do you feel you’re near a point of satisfaction with those elements?

I’m never near a point of satisfaction, I’ve spent a long time trying to perfect a complex, detailed, sound design-based approach and I’ve still not made it far enough in that direction.  Now, I’m feeling like a more immediate, stripped down, and more fun style that’s less concerned with the perfect details is becoming my new goal. This is after hearing projects like 1000 gecs and waterboy by William Crooks that are in this vein. What I need to improve most on is songwriting and the simplicity and catchiness of pop music that I’ve relied a bit too much on collaborators for in the past.

What do you feel is your largest goal with creation and with your efforts as an artist? Do you feel it important to speak to others or is there personal learning that you’re drawn to?

I’ve never been good at speaking to others in any other way, so music is definitely the way I do it. I guess the largest goal is simply to create or help others to create music that positively impacts as many people as possible. Production ends up being a very supportive role if you’re the kind that works with recording artists, and that’s definitely a role I’m still learning to fill. If I can get super-rich and famous that would be sick too.

Looking forward, what has you most excited for the future and what moments are you ready to experience?

Music! There’s a lot of really important work happening right now and It’s gonna sound really good in the future.

Do you have anyone to say thank you to or anything you’d like to say into existence? The floor is yours.

Thank you Rylee. Thank you A. G. Thank you Tiam and thank you Paramind for having me speak.

                                                           -

Listen on Spotify and Apple Music

Follow on Instagram and Twitter

                                                          -

Cover Photo by Max Schramp

                                                          -

Words and Interview by Guy Mizrahi

[sodomymcscurvylegs]

Steam Sale is upon us. Any recommendations?

Aw, man, quite a few! I’ll list some off the top of my head:Don’t Starve + Expansions: Super fun and cute 2D survival game. I’m not a big fan of survival games because they all basically play the same and I’m not a masochist. But, Don’t Starve has simple mechanics, a robust crafting feature, and a lot of charm. Totally awesome.Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed: The Best kart racer ever made, bar none. While Mario Kart 7 and 8 have gliding and some underwater sections and even anti-grav, they don’t really amount to much in gameplay design. Transformed basically uses the Diddy Kong Racing idea of different vehicles and refines it to perfection. Dynamic tracks that change each lap, land, air, and sea racing each with their own unique physics, awesome SEGA characters, and it looks beautiful on PC.Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Ultimate Edition: A bit of a God of War clone, but with better controls and a really compelling world and plot. A lot of fun and graphically gorgeous on PC, with the only negative being a couple of pre-recorded cutscenes that don’t look too well on a computer (since they’re pre-recorded in 720p at 30fps).Bayonetta:Not as perfect as the second one, but still one of the best action games ever made. The PC port is on sale for $15 and it’s one of the best PC ports in recent years; runs like butter and looks gorgeous.Mad Max:Currently playing it. Very fun open-world game with excellent atmosphere and entertaining combat (very similar to the Batman Arkham games, but takes more skill because you have to account to spacing). Lots to do, including building up your perfect vehicle and building and customizing Max. Great story and world development too. A total hidden gem; reviewers ragged on it and gave it shit scores, but it’s been holding a very high score on STEAM since release (rightfully so).Ori and The Blind Forest: Definitive Edition:Graphically and artistically gorgeous, and unlike every other indie game out there that settles for being a semi-serviceable puzzle platformer, Ori is actually a challenging Metroivania style game with a lot to give. The story is phenomenal and the soundtrack is magical as well. Absolutely must buy.Stardew Valley: Basically Harvest Moon for adults, with adult themes and more adult characters. It also adds a couple of nice features, like mining and basic combat, and it’s pretty much a perfect evolution to Harvest Moon. It also has a very strong community that makes some really cool mods.Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor:A really great LotR tie in game that plays like a mix of the Batman Arkham games and Assassin’s Creed, with an added dynamic of unique enemies that hold influence over the world, and how you deal with them determines said influence. An orc you fail to kill will rise in rank and so on, and you can even manipulate and have agents working for you to help take them all down from within. You can’t go wrong with it for $4.Subnautica:Pretty much what No Man’s Sky should have been. It’s still in early access, but you basically land in an alien world made up of virtually almost nothing but water and now have to learn to survive by crafting weapons, supplies, and your own underwater base. As you get better and better at it, you can explore further depths and environments, each with their own unique biomes. It’s full of atmosphere and excellently designed wildlife. Lots of amazing creatures, some truly terrifying. An adventure from start to finish.Portal and Portal 2:The two greatest puzzle games ever made. They require a lot of thinking and problem solving, all while giving the player a really entertaining world full of humor and mystery. Both are truly masterpieces, and the first one is fairly short so if you’re looking for a smaller adventure, this is it.The Talos Principle:Another puzzle game, but where Portal focuses on humor, The Talos Principle focus on questions of existence and consciousness, and it does this while providing yet another good puzzler with a lot of critical thinking and problem solving required. Excellent atmosphere and world design as well.This is off the top of my head. I’ll add more as I remember. :)

[topfygad]

Gothic Hotels (and Songs by R.E.M., Part 2) — The Agenda by Tablet Hotels

It’s Halloween, so we’re taking a look at hotels with Gothic architecture, a style synonymous with the mysterious and macabre. Why did we also include songs by R.E.M.? The answer may shock you.

Earlier this year, we wrote about some of our favorite Southern hotels, comparing them to songs from one of our favorite Southern bands, R.E.M. So why write about R.E.M. again? Well, the band actually saw the first story, liked it, and asked if we’d do a part two. Not since Coppola and The Godfather has anyone had such a good reason to make a sequel.

There’s hardly been a better time to talk about “scary” hotels, either. This is Halloween week, of course, and it’s also the week that R.E.M. releases the 25th Anniversary reissue of Monster, their terrifyingly titled ninth studio album. But instead of another list of haunted hotels, we’re focusing on the style of architecture most commonly associated with things that go bump in the night.

Gothic architecture secured its association with the spooky and supernatural in the 18th and 19th centuries, when writers like Horace Walpole, Edgar Allen Poe, Mary Shelley, and Bram Stoker chose Gothic castles and abbeys as the backdrop for their stories of darkness and death. An entire genre of horrifying literature became known as Gothic fiction, and an entire mode of architecture was never viewed the same again.

R.E.M. has crossed paths with the Gothic label as well — especially during the first half of their career. With a sound driven up from underneath Georgia’s genteel facade, the Athens natives were considered a sort of modern musical counterpart to the Southern Gothic literature of William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor. Sonically and thematically, their music reflects the murky and eccentric spirit of the region, underscoring its postbellum tensions and investigating its idiosyncratic characters.

And so, without further ado, enjoy this selection of thirteen hotels with Gothic architectural elements, paired with some of R.E.M.’s most Southern Gothic songs.

Follow along with our R.E.M. — Southern Gothic playlist on Spotify or Apple Music.

The Qvest

Cologne, Germany

“Wendell Gee” — from Fables of the Reconstruction, 1985

The 19th century obsession with Gothic elements comes through loud and clear in The Qvest. Now a hotel, the 1897 building initially housed Cologne’s archives and a public library. In keeping with the reigning aesthetic in those days, a neo-Gothic influence touched just about every element in the construction: ribbed vaults, lancet windows, hood moulding, tracery, and an overarching verticality all remain visible today. Similarly, all the elements of R.E.M.’s Southern Gothic signature come through in “Wendell Gee,” one of the band’s most under-appreciated pieces of musical mastery, and the final track from their darkest and most overtly South-saturated album.

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  1898 The Post

Ghent, Belgium

“Strange Currencies” — from Monster, 1994

“Strange Currencies” might not feel at first like a song with Southern folk roots, but imagine it without Monster’s trademark distorted guitars and you begin to hear the swagger and sway of classic country-blues. It’s the kind of plaintive-yet-hopeful ballad that R.E.M. perfected throughout their career, and it’s paired on this list with 1898 The Post, a hotel that’s equally the shining example of a genre. The old Central Post Office in Ghent was completed at the turn of the last century, and while its neo-Gothic style makes it look much older than that, a brand-new renovation has this beautifully preserved structure ready to host guests in the current century and beyond.

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  Bryant Park Hotel

New York City, New York

“Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)” — from Chronic Town, 1982

Starting with the gargoyle on the cover, R.E.M.’s debut EP Chronic Town oozes a dark, peculiar, and highly literary Southern Gothic vibe. And “Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars),” with its calliope intro and images of clandestine railway activity, all but revels in the murky mood. Gargoyles don’t make an appearance on the Bryant Park Hotel, despite its home inside the American Radiator building, a strange and imposing black-gold gothic skyscraper that towers above the midtown park like something out of a comic book — or out of Ghostbusters. Penthouse guests might be safe from that movie’s statues-turned–terror dogs, but the hotel does look down on the New York Public Library, where other ghost-busting scenes were filmed.

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  Kruisherenhotel Maastricht

Maastricht, Netherlands

“The One I Love” — from Document, 1987

“This one goes out to the one I love…” — the instantly recognizable first line from R.E.M.’s 1987 hit sets the stage for a song that practically drips with heat and humidity. This song, as much as any other, announced to the world that R.E.M. was a contemporary sonic interpretation of the steamy South found in the plays of Tennessee Williams. Kruisherenhotel Maastricht is another thoroughly modern interpretation, this time of a fifteenth-century Gothic monastery. Designer Henk Vos transformed the original monks’ cloisters into handsome hotel rooms that are anything but ascetic, and even the relatively undisturbed spaces are deeply altered by the introduction of sleek furnishings and bits and bobs by the likes of Le Corbusier, Philippe Starck and Marc Newson.

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  Conservatorium Hotel

Amsterdam, Netherlands

“Country Feedback” — from Out of Time, 1991

The Conservatorium is a radical repurposing of Amsterdam’s Sweelinck Conservatorium building — its soaring institutional spaces and ornate century-old neo-Gothic construction transformed into a contemporary design hotel. Offering a focus on pop music alongside more traditional conservatory studies like classical and jazz, there probably was a surprising bit of guitar feedback heard in the Conservatorium during its time as a music school. There’s a bit of feedback heard in “Country Feedback” as well, wandering almost incongruently in between and around more traditional country sounds like pedal steel guitar and organ, adding the right amount of frustration and edge that the song’s cryptic lyrics cry out for.

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  Ace Hotel Downtown L.A.

Los Angeles, California

“So. Central Rain” — from Reckoning, 1984

Legend has it that “South Central Rain” refers to massive downpours and flooding in R.E.M.’s home state of Georgia in 1983. The band was apparently out on tour, and wasn’t able to check in on family members because the storms had knocked out the phone lines. Specifically, the legend asserts, they were in Los Angeles, which is the reason for this hotel-song pairing, and not because of L.A.’s South Central neighborhood. For the Gothic connection, look no further than the United Artists building, a 1920s Spanish Gothic Revival tower and theater that is the current home of Ace Hotel Downtown L.A.

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  SINA Centurion Palace

Venice, Italy

“Oh My Heart” — from Collapse Into Now, 2011

Michael Stipe wrote “Oh My Heart” about post-Katrina New Orleans. His lyrics can sometimes be impenetrable, but not here. This is very clearly a song about resilience in the face of tragedy and persevering into the future so we can continue to honor the past. There are no New Orleans hotels on this list, but maybe that would’ve been too cute. Instead, we turn to another timeworn city fighting back against Mother Nature and climate change: rising sea levels have led to regular flooding in Venice, the home of Centurion Palace and its postcard-perfect Venetian-Gothic exterior. The former convent is located in one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, which has survived everything from World Wars to the Black Death, and we’re confident it will survive its latest challenge.

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  Chicago Athletic Association

Chicago, Illinois

“Oddfellows Local 151” — from Document, 1987

Long before a recent renovation converted it into a stunning boutique hotel, the Chicago Athletic Association was a private club for the city’s (male) movers and shakers. Dating back to the final decade of the 19th century, this Venetian Gothic landmark hosted the kinds of government and business elite that “Oddfellows Local 151” suggests are at least partially responsible for the plight of the characters in the song: the homeless population that was left behind by the political and economic machines of 1980s America. Document was an album filled with fiery passion as R.E.M. found their political footing — no more so than on this, its closing track.

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  High Line Hotel

New York City, New York

“Swan Swan H” — from Life’s Rich Pageant, 1986

Chelsea’s High Line Hotel makes its home in an imposing red-brick Collegiate Gothic seminary — and its designers, the local duo Roman and Williams, managed to created an enormously fun hotel in what was an otherwise solemn environment. R.E.M. pulled the same trick, but in the opposite direction, with “Swan Swan H.” At first glance, this song about the Civil War appears to be a celebration of freedom, but as it progresses the true cost of a destructive moment in American history becomes more clear. And while the lyrics reference wooden beams of a presumably different sort, for the purposes of this list, we’ll think about the ornate ceiling of the Hoffman Hall event space, pictured above.

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  Le Chateau Frontenac

Quebec City, Canada

“World Leader Pretend” — from Green, 1988

A century-old Gothic Revival castle high on a bluff over the St. Lawrence river, Le Château Frontenac is Québec City’s most famous landmark, and has hosted some of the world’s most famous guests. Musicians, movie stars, and titans of industry have walked its halls, but powerful politicians may have left the greatest influence — suites are themed after heads of state who have stayed at the hotel. According to Michael Stipe, “World Leader Pretend” was the most political song of the band’s career up to that point, and it might continue to be so today. After clashing with Donald Trump over his unauthorized (obviously) use of “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine),” the band followed up by contributing “World Leader Pretend” to an anti-Trump compilation.

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  Chateau Marmont

Los Angeles, California

“Drive” — from Automatic for the People, 1992

The Chateau Marmont was constructed to the specifications of the Loire Chateau Amboise in France, and scattered throughout are certain reminders of the French late Gothic Flamboyant style. But though inspired by France, this particular chateau and its infamous scenes of Hollywood decadence could only exist in Los Angeles. Likewise, “Drive” is a song that could only have come from R.E.M. With an echoey atmosphere as haunted as the hallways of the Chateau, the song drives forward slowly and madly, calling out like a pirate radio station in the middle of the night, seeking to empower the youth through rock and roll.

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  St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel

London, England

“Life and How to Live It” — from Fables of the Reconstruction, 1985

In R.E.M.’s hometown of Athens, Georgia, there once lived a man named Brev Mekis. Suffering from schizophrenia, Brev split his house into two totally different apartments, each with its own unique furniture, books, clothing, even pets. To suit his disparate personalities, Brev would periodically switch back and forth between his two lives. After he passed away, discovered inside the house were hundreds of identical copies of a book he had written called: “Life and How to Live It.” The great Gothic structure at St. Pancras has a split personality of its own. On the one hand, it is a lavish, luxurious hotel. On the other, an introduction to a busy, full-functioning rail station. Taken all together, it is the ideal of a grand European railway hotel.

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  Borgo dei Conti Resort

Perugia, Italy

“Find the River” — from Automatic for the People, 1992

Borgo dei Conti Resort is a deeply romantic place. Originally built as a fortress in the 13th century, the estate was remade into a noble home some 500 years later. Surrounded by acres of gardens and lawns and parkland, the building is a dramatic example of 19th-century neo-Gothic architecture, still as imposing as ever today. On its sprawling grounds, you’re likely to find some of the herbs and fruits mentioned in “Find the River,” a song that celebrates life specifically because death is always present. Despite the heavy themes, “Find the River” is a gorgeous and uplifting song. It closes out an album full of radio hits, and is equal to or even better than each of those more well-known singles. All of this is coming your way.

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  source http://cheaprtravels.com/gothic-hotels-and-songs-by-r-e-m-part-2-the-agenda-by-tablet-hotels/

[leehaws]

John Collins is the Rarest Jewel

Atlanta Hawks power forward John Collins is, in just his second NBA season, already making the first leap of his career. He’s a walking (also running and jumping) double-double who, after missing the first 15 games of this season with a left ankle injury, currently boasts the NBA’s fourth-highest two-point field goal percentage and is averaging 22.9 points and 12.7 rebounds per game in December.

Collins is more efficient than last year, with a usage rate that’s increased by almost seven points. There’s some undeveloped Amar’e Stoudemire here, the incessant jackhammer who doesn’t know his own limitations but can’t wait to figure out what they are, or if they even exist. If for whatever reason you’re still not impressed, so far he’s doing it all without ever having any designed opportunity to create for himself.

“We make a big deal about not running anything for him,” Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce said. “But everything kind of runs through him.”

Collins gets involved without getting in the way. He bounces into put-back dunks and treats the paint like a runway. This is a skill opponents can’t really gameplan against, and it was nurtured in college by Wake Forest head coach Danny Manning, back when Collins was always the most athletic player on the court. His ability to leverage that advantage over everyone else is a major reason why his potential feels like a map that hasn’t been drawn. If he’s this good existing outside Pierce’s playbook, it’s scary to imagine what he’ll be when his number is regularly called and teammates are able to thrive off him instead of the other way around.

“Coaches aren’t drawing up a set play where they say ‘JC, here go get a bucket. Here, this play is for you to score,’” Collins told VICE Sports. “I think I just had to learn how [to score] without the ball in my hands. Now, when I can do that with elite talent, or more NBA talent around me, it looks that much better, you know?”

After an impressive albeit understandably overlooked rookie season, Collins spent last summer at Atlanta’s new practice facility, the Emory Sports Medicine Complex—“It’s like a country club with a basketball court,” he told me—tiring himself through late-night workouts alongside Hawks guard Tyler Dorsey, his best friend on the team. In an effort to become the most quintessentially modern big he could possibly be, while also slowing the game down and adjusting to the league’s blurry tempo, Collins focused on ways to expand his awareness and make better use of his physical tools. He tuned his ball-handling. Launched countless jump shots.

“I know how to play basketball. I know the flow of the game,” he says. “But it was always too fast. I wanted to try to see if I could slow it down and see if the pace would slow down if I worked on a few things.”

Gaudy box scores are enough of a draw towards any player who just turned 21, but even more impressive is how soon his game has mutated into what it currently is. Collins is as overambitious as any second-year player whose team needs him to dominate (which is reflected by a high turnover rate), but over the past few weeks he’s set himself on a different track.

“John Collins. He’s a beast, man.”

He’s catching, finishing, and rebounding everything in sight, drawing fouls like a star, and quietly understanding where to whip the ball against defenses that rotate to double him in the paint (his assist rate has skyrocketed this year). But some of the most revealing moments pop whenever Collins veers off-road to create something out of nothing. The play seen below begins with Trae Young setting a back screen to ostensibly free Dewayne Dedmon up for a lob. But Collins’s man, Ed Davis, sniffs it out and immediately picks Dedmon up.

Once Collins realizes that Jared Dudley is momentarily confused by the switch, he unleashes a graceful Eurostep that was not physically intended for use by anyone his size.

“He’s a four, but he moves like a three,” Hawks guard DeAndre Bembry told VICE Sports. “He shoots like a two.”

In 1,785 minutes as a rookie, Collins took nine non-corner threes. In 432 minutes this year he’s already jacked up 22. Only four have gone in, but the Hawks are happy with how comfortable he already looks doing a new thing that’s ultimately necessary to unlock even more for himself and his teammates.

“We’re trying to expand his three-point game. He only shot five percent of his shots last year from three,” Pierce said. “It’s a number we want to increase, but we want to do it at a very moderate pace. It’s not just ‘stand out there and shoot threes’ because you’re taking so much of his other game away, but that’s something that has to grow in time.”

“Coach [Pierce] was telling me ‘I want to see you shoot more threes. More threes,’” Collins told VICE Sports. “Sometimes I’m timid or not really too confident because I’ve never had to shoot threes in my career. I didn’t attempt a three at Wake or in high school at all. So it’s a little new and the learning curve is super high, but I’m doing my best and feel like I’m getting better with the jumper.”

Collins’s mechanics are lovely. He also won’t hesitate to turn a wide-open look into a drive, either to deliver a quick dump off or attack a closeout and finish himself. He’s thinking faster, on the fly, syncing his brain up with muscles that go zero to 100 on command.

During his rookie year, teammates would get on him for holding back some of the strength they knew he had. They’d chastise him. “He used to just do some little soft things,” Bembry says with a smile. “He’s a lot more physical than he used to be. John Collins. He’s a beast, man.”

Today, he plays basketball like an immortal kamikaze pilot. That includes standing up one of the game’s most able post scorers and making him claw for every inch, or skying into traffic and gobbling a ball off the glass.

He’s a rolling maestro who regularly finds himself in the right spot at the right time. He thrives midair, contorting his 6’10” frame in ways that defy physics, gravity, and every other fundamental law that exists to govern humanity.

“We know if we give it to him,” Dorsey told VICE Sports. “That’s gonna be an assist.”

Don’t let this ridiculous finish (which is also the first time Young ever assisted one of Collins’s buckets) distract you from how quickly Collins transforms into Sonic the Hedgehog upon realizing a transition opportunity is afoot.

“He’s the guy that kind of ignites everything for us offensively…His ability to catch pretty much anything, in the air or low,” Pierce said. “You just have a bounce and an energy in John that our offense is a little bit better when he’s out on the floor.”

But Collins wants more. For his three-point shot to be feared and for an evolving post-game to be something he can lean on as a real option, which it currently is not. There’s also work to be done on the other end. “I definitely need to learn how to at least survive out there on the perimeter as a big guy,” Collins told VICE Sports. “Learning how to guard smaller guys, especially with my athleticism, the way I move.”

Until then, he’ll have to settle (lol) for life as a priceless building block on a rebuilding organization that nailed a late first-round pick they could’ve otherwise squandered. The Hawks aren’t great when Collins plays, but their offense scores 5.3 more points per 100 possessions when he’s in the game. They go from ineffective on the glass to owning it, and their shot distribution changes somewhat dramatically: With Collins on the court, the percentage of Atlanta’s shots fired from the corner is 11.4 percent (good for first in the league) and they collectively live at the rim.

“I want to find plays to use him more. Still without calling a play, but to use him more, to have him involved in every play,” Pierce said. “Because his roll creates Kevin Huerter threes. His roll creates Trae Young layups. When teams don’t tag that’s when he gets the lobs.”

Seen below, the attention Collins draws rumbling towards the rim helps Jeremy Lin drive in for a layup. Markieff Morris refuses to get dunked on.

For some, this take will be held fresh out of an 800-degree oven, but there’s a decent chance Collins will wind up as one of the three best players from his draft class. With Jayson Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, Lauri Markkanen, De’Aaron Fox, Jonathan Isaac, Kyle Kuzma, Jarrett Allen, Lonzo Ball, Dennis Smith Jr., and several other blue-chip prospects—like Markelle Fultz, Josh Jackson, Frank Ntilikina, and…dear god this draft class is so good—in this pool, that sounds like an impossible statement. Collins was drafted 19th overall and is already spectacular thriving off others, but he’s yet to exist as anything more than a supremely gifted complementary piece. (Nearly three quarters of his baskets are assisted.)

That’s perfectly fine, though. What Collins projects to be does not grow on trees. Relative to score-first wings and electric point guards, the rim-running, paint-diving, pick-and-popping power forward who switches on the perimeter, spaces the floor, protects the rim, passes, and puts the ball on the deck without hesitation is the rarest jewel. the kind of player who indirectly makes the game so much easier for everyone else, and every team wants one. (Think “more explosive Al Horford.”)

For now, Collins is moldable energy in a situation where expectations are low. The Hawks are 7-23 and should have two first-round picks in next year’s draft (their own and one owed by the Dallas Mavericks) to cultivate alongside him, Huerter, and Young, who’s pseudo-brilliantly stumbling through his rookie year. It’s an environment that will soon be crowded by elite young talent, and Collins is the perfect player to accentuate their strengths in so many different ways. When/if his outside shot comes around, he’ll be able to coexist with any type of big, including Zion Williamson (it’s hard not to faint when day-dreaming about that collective athleticism).

Today, Collins is seemingly in the background, putting up absurd numbers as Atlanta’s best player. He may also be one of the organization’s most appreciable forces for the next ten years. Just wait until his name gets in the playbook.

John Collins is the Rarest Jewel syndicated from https://justinbetreviews.wordpress.com/

[flauntpage]

John Collins is the Rarest Jewel

Atlanta Hawks power forward John Collins is, in just his second NBA season, already making the first leap of his career. He’s a walking (also running and jumping) double-double who, after missing the first 15 games of this season with a left ankle injury, currently boasts the NBA’s fourth-highest two-point field goal percentage and is averaging 22.9 points and 12.7 rebounds per game in December.

Collins is more efficient than last year, with a usage rate that’s increased by almost seven points. There’s some undeveloped Amar’e Stoudemire here, the incessant jackhammer who doesn’t know his own limitations but can’t wait to figure out what they are, or if they even exist. If for whatever reason you're still not impressed, so far he’s doing it all without ever having any designed opportunity to create for himself.

“We make a big deal about not running anything for him,” Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce said. “But everything kind of runs through him.”

Collins gets involved without getting in the way. He bounces into put-back dunks and treats the paint like a runway. This is a skill opponents can't really gameplan against, and it was nurtured in college by Wake Forest head coach Danny Manning, back when Collins was always the most athletic player on the court. His ability to leverage that advantage over everyone else is a major reason why his potential feels like a map that hasn’t been drawn. If he’s this good existing outside Pierce’s playbook, it’s scary to imagine what he’ll be when his number is regularly called and teammates are able to thrive off him instead of the other way around.

“Coaches aren’t drawing up a set play where they say ‘JC, here go get a bucket. Here, this play is for you to score,’” Collins told VICE Sports. “I think I just had to learn how [to score] without the ball in my hands. Now, when I can do that with elite talent, or more NBA talent around me, it looks that much better, you know?”

After an impressive albeit understandably overlooked rookie season, Collins spent last summer at Atlanta’s new practice facility, the Emory Sports Medicine Complex—“It’s like a country club with a basketball court,” he told me—tiring himself through late-night workouts alongside Hawks guard Tyler Dorsey, his best friend on the team. In an effort to become the most quintessentially modern big he could possibly be, while also slowing the game down and adjusting to the league’s blurry tempo, Collins focused on ways to expand his awareness and make better use of his physical tools. He tuned his ball-handling. Launched countless jump shots.

“I know how to play basketball. I know the flow of the game,” he says. “But it was always too fast. I wanted to try to see if I could slow it down and see if the pace would slow down if I worked on a few things.”

Gaudy box scores are enough of a draw towards any player who just turned 21, but even more impressive is how soon his game has mutated into what it currently is. Collins is as overambitious as any second-year player whose team needs him to dominate (which is reflected by a high turnover rate), but over the past few weeks he’s set himself on a different track.

"John Collins. He’s a beast, man.”

He's catching, finishing, and rebounding everything in sight, drawing fouls like a star, and quietly understanding where to whip the ball against defenses that rotate to double him in the paint (his assist rate has skyrocketed this year). But some of the most revealing moments pop whenever Collins veers off-road to create something out of nothing. The play seen below begins with Trae Young setting a back screen to ostensibly free Dewayne Dedmon up for a lob. But Collins’s man, Ed Davis, sniffs it out and immediately picks Dedmon up.

Once Collins realizes that Jared Dudley is momentarily confused by the switch, he unleashes a graceful Eurostep that was not physically intended for use by anyone his size.

“He’s a four, but he moves like a three,” Hawks guard DeAndre Bembry told VICE Sports. “He shoots like a two.”

In 1,785 minutes as a rookie, Collins took nine non-corner threes. In 432 minutes this year he’s already jacked up 22. Only four have gone in, but the Hawks are happy with how comfortable he already looks doing a new thing that's ultimately necessary to unlock even more for himself and his teammates.

"We’re trying to expand his three-point game. He only shot five percent of his shots last year from three," Pierce said. "It’s a number we want to increase, but we want to do it at a very moderate pace. It’s not just 'stand out there and shoot threes' because you’re taking so much of his other game away, but that’s something that has to grow in time."

“Coach [Pierce] was telling me ‘I want to see you shoot more threes. More threes,’” Collins told VICE Sports. “Sometimes I’m timid or not really too confident because I’ve never had to shoot threes in my career. I didn’t attempt a three at Wake or in high school at all. So it’s a little new and the learning curve is super high, but I’m doing my best and feel like I’m getting better with the jumper.”

Collins’s mechanics are lovely. He also won’t hesitate to turn a wide-open look into a drive, either to deliver a quick dump off or attack a closeout and finish himself. He’s thinking faster, on the fly, syncing his brain up with muscles that go zero to 100 on command.

During his rookie year, teammates would get on him for holding back some of the strength they knew he had. They’d chastise him. “He used to just do some little soft things,” Bembry says with a smile. “He’s a lot more physical than he used to be. John Collins. He’s a beast, man.”

Today, he plays basketball like an immortal kamikaze pilot. That includes standing up one of the game’s most able post scorers and making him claw for every inch, or skying into traffic and gobbling a ball off the glass.

He’s a rolling maestro who regularly finds himself in the right spot at the right time. He thrives midair, contorting his 6’10” frame in ways that defy physics, gravity, and every other fundamental law that exists to govern humanity.

“We know if we give it to him,” Dorsey told VICE Sports. “That’s gonna be an assist.”

Don't let this ridiculous finish (which is also the first time Young ever assisted one of Collins’s buckets) distract you from how quickly Collins transforms into Sonic the Hedgehog upon realizing a transition opportunity is afoot.

“He’s the guy that kind of ignites everything for us offensively...His ability to catch pretty much anything, in the air or low,” Pierce said. “You just have a bounce and an energy in John that our offense is a little bit better when he’s out on the floor.”

But Collins wants more. For his three-point shot to be feared and for an evolving post-game to be something he can lean on as a real option, which it currently is not. There’s also work to be done on the other end. “I definitely need to learn how to at least survive out there on the perimeter as a big guy,” Collins told VICE Sports. "Learning how to guard smaller guys, especially with my athleticism, the way I move."

Until then, he’ll have to settle (lol) for life as a priceless building block on a rebuilding organization that nailed a late first-round pick they could’ve otherwise squandered. The Hawks aren’t great when Collins plays, but their offense scores 5.3 more points per 100 possessions when he’s in the game. They go from ineffective on the glass to owning it, and their shot distribution changes somewhat dramatically: With Collins on the court, the percentage of Atlanta’s shots fired from the corner is 11.4 percent (good for first in the league) and they collectively live at the rim.

“I want to find plays to use him more. Still without calling a play, but to use him more, to have him involved in every play,” Pierce said. “Because his roll creates Kevin Huerter threes. His roll creates Trae Young layups. When teams don’t tag that’s when he gets the lobs.”

Seen below, the attention Collins draws rumbling towards the rim helps Jeremy Lin drive in for a layup. Markieff Morris refuses to get dunked on.

For some, this take will be held fresh out of an 800-degree oven, but there’s a decent chance Collins will wind up as one of the three best players from his draft class. With Jayson Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, Lauri Markkanen, De’Aaron Fox, Jonathan Isaac, Kyle Kuzma, Jarrett Allen, Lonzo Ball, Dennis Smith Jr., and several other blue-chip prospects—like Markelle Fultz, Josh Jackson, Frank Ntilikina, and...dear god this draft class is so good—in this pool, that sounds like an impossible statement. Collins was drafted 19th overall and is already spectacular thriving off others, but he's yet to exist as anything more than a supremely gifted complementary piece. (Nearly three quarters of his baskets are assisted.)

That's perfectly fine, though. What Collins projects to be does not grow on trees. Relative to score-first wings and electric point guards, the rim-running, paint-diving, pick-and-popping power forward who switches on the perimeter, spaces the floor, protects the rim, passes, and puts the ball on the deck without hesitation is the rarest jewel. the kind of player who indirectly makes the game so much easier for everyone else, and every team wants one. (Think "more explosive Al Horford.")

For now, Collins is moldable energy in a situation where expectations are low. The Hawks are 7-23 and should have two first-round picks in next year’s draft (their own and one owed by the Dallas Mavericks) to cultivate alongside him, Huerter, and Young, who’s pseudo-brilliantly stumbling through his rookie year. It's an environment that will soon be crowded by elite young talent, and Collins is the perfect player to accentuate their strengths in so many different ways. When/if his outside shot comes around, he’ll be able to coexist with any type of big, including Zion Williamson (it's hard not to faint when day-dreaming about that collective athleticism).

Today, Collins is seemingly in the background, putting up absurd numbers as Atlanta’s best player. He may also be one of the organization’s most appreciable forces for the next ten years. Just wait until his name gets in the playbook.

John Collins is the Rarest Jewel published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[chronoscasuals]

Sentinels of the Multiverse: Cauldron review (part 5: Experimental expansion)

Welcome all to chronos Casuals. I’m chronosMysty and today I’ll review the Experimental expansion (that’s the name, it’s not ‘Experimental’). I forgot to give my review on the base Cauldron, so here it is: highly recommended for those that like SotM and want more.

Additionally, here are the links to buy the relevant expansions, no I am not sponsored: Experimental:https://www.drivethrucards.com/product/175879/The-Cauldron--Experimental-expansion-BUNDLE Promo Pack 1: https://www.drivethrucards.com/product/170568/The-Cauldron--Promo-Pack-1 Promo Pack 2: https://www.drivethrucards.com/product/203550/The-Cauldron--Promo-Pack-2

The links might be a little weird but each of the things that look like addresses should lead you to the correct location. I’ll edit the previous reviews to have these as well.

Anyway, let’s start with Cricket

Cricket is a damage/support character. She has a lot of one-shots and powers that can do damage, but she also has a fair amount of deck and card manipulation. She also has quite a few ways to mitigate or redirect villain damage. Unlike most cauldron heroes, she doesn’t really have a deck-specific gimmick, just a bunch of rather unique cards and a decent grab-bag of abilities, although damage and support stick out as much more common themes. Cricket is quite fun.

Character cards:

Base: This gives cricket more of a Sponge role, giving the heroes enough time to set up and is very helpful. First response: Cricket has a lot of cards in her deck that provide powers and this lets you tack on an extra 2 sonic damage total to them. This is very helpful with Sonic Amplifier, which builds up cards and damage with sonic damage dealt. Renegade: this one is a lot of fun. For any other hero with card draw, this would be a good power, but combined with Cricket’s penchant for revealing cards from decks, this power can be amazing!

Titan

Titan is a rather strange hero. He’s quite a tank, but most of his tankiness (and most of his deck’s power in general) stems from 1 card in his deck called Titanform. Each time a target other than him deals him damage, he gets 1 DR until his next turn. Also, He can destroy Titanform to increase one strike of his damage by 2, but I find that very rarely needed. While he does have 4 copies of Molten veins to help him out, his reliance on a 1-of in his deck makes him a bit suspect and means you might have to go a few turns without Titanform. that being said, titanform and Stubborn Goliath is plain silly, making him a wonderful Sponge when it happens.

Character cards:

Base: A 2 damage option is always nice. MSS: Titan has a lot of Ongoings, so being able to set up while looking for Titanform faster is always a bonus. 2199: Basically the same idea as above of speeding up the deck but only while Titanform isn’t out. That restriction is fine because once you have Titanform out, you generally don’t need much else. The power can still be semi-useful if multiple high damage attacks are going to come at you, but it’s mostly a “use this until you get Titanform and then ignore it” kind of power.

Cypher

Cypher is a support character through and through, existing only to enhance his teammates. His deck revolves around five Augments and further improving Augmented heroes in a variety of ways, generally be letting them deal damage, use powers, regain health, or even temporary immunity to damage. Despite only having five Augments, he has a lot of cards to help him find Augments. Cypher is, in my opinion, an extremely OP character, but sometimes you need that to balance out a weak team or to fight against a strong villain.

Character cards:

Base: Essentially there to round out the hole left from his other Augments (which add damage dealt, reduce damage taken, heal, add play, and add power), this power adds a draw to an augmented hero, completing the full support ensemble. Very powerful. First Response: Eh? I will rarely ever say a damage option is bad, especially since this one can go up to 5 energy damage, but sometimes it’s best to keep a support character to the support role. Swarming Protocol: This makes a lot of the “augmented hero” and “destroy any number of augment” cards a lot better, spamming out otherwise nearly indestructible Augments faster and more consistently. that being said, I find it to be less powerful than I hoped but still more powerful than you might first think. It’s kind of weird.

Vector

Vector is a strange fight. he starts off with 40 of his 55 and as a regular “beat this guy down”, except that he plays an extra card each time he takes damage. You might be able to beat him down really fast with high-powered strikes, and if you do that without a certain card popping up, you beat him in one phase. Just one problem: if the card Supervirus pops up, the game gets two more phases, of which you have just entered the first. Now you have to keep Vector alive but not so alive that he regains up to full and escapes. Meanwhile, at the start of his turn, he’ll deal each hero target 1 toxic damage and regain HP. Your mission is to get Virus cards from his trash under supervirus (which can only happen once per round and you need H+2 cards, so strap in for a long battle). After successfully doing so, Vector will become a desperate assassin and gain 1 DR for each villain target in play (note that he is a villain target, meaning he always has at least 1 DR) and now reliably only plays 2 cards per turn. Vector is fairly difficult, given how much damage you can deal, but if you take time to set up, he can be quite manageable.

Swarm Eater

Swarm eater is very strange among villains in that his primary concern isn’t dealing with the heroes. Instead, his deck contains nanomutants that make their concern the heroes and swarm eater tries to eat his own nanomutants and environment targets to gain the nanomutant’s absorb texts and HP regen from the environment and to then go after the hero targets if they’re weak or there isn’t anything else around. That being said, don’t let him build up too much, or he will utterly destroy the heroes. Part of the battle is letting him damage the nanomutants and environment target but getting the finishing blow. Do that, and this fight should be significantly easier.

Swarm Eater: Hivemind

No longer using Traits, this version of swarm eater turns swarm eater into a sort of Cypher for nanomutants, augmenting nanomutants with other nanomutants. He no longer attempt to cannibalize his nanomutants, with all villain damage that would be dealt to other villains being redirected to heroes. Overall, a different kind of challenge, but I think it’s kind of boring and loses Swarm eater’s novelty.

Jade/Oriphel

That’s right, a villain card that changes its name (and some cards’ functionality) based on the current side of the character card, although they do share the same HP score. Jade is focused on “summoning” Oriphel as quickly as possible, playing extra cards as relics enter, which can happen naturally or as the result of a Guardian’s destruction. Additionally, the Relics try to speed up Jade’s transformation into Oriphel (which occur via two one-shots), a high-damaging villain with 1 damage resistance but can be flipped back into Jade by destroying two of his Relics. Overall, I find her to be a rather difficult villain but a very interesting one to fight. The Guardians are very powerful and she starts with H-2 of them, which indirectly helps her transform into Oriphel sooner as well.

The Cybersphere

One of the more neutral environments, the cybersphere is generally equally hostile to heroes and villains without having too much AOE. A wide variety of Grid Viruses with different methods of dealing damage have invaded the Cybersphere and even threaten to crash the system, but the environment makes up for this with the Hologame Arena, a minigame in which the heroes can destroy environment targets to draw cards in exchange for accelerated environment plays. If I don’t know what Cauldron environment I want to play, I’ll generally default to this one.

Overall, Experimental has some nice variety of decks and I recommend it to anyone who likes The Cauldron. That’s all I have for you today. I’ll see you all next time, and remember, keep it casual!

[sultan-of-weasels-in-boots]

Kin Tarot Readins - My Sonic kins

It’s been a while since I’ve shared any memories, so I thought I’d share some of my past lives via this tarot spread for fictionkins. (It’s a good thing my mom bought me tarot cards of my very own a long time ago.)

I figured I’d start off with my Sonic character kins since I’m starting to get a little more hyped about Sonic Forces (plus happy birthday Sonic!!).

Also please keep in mind that I’m still a bit new to giving myself tarot readings, and I’m just going by the card meanings the set I was given say, so...I apologize if I word my timelines a bit oddly.

Johnny

1. An emotion/feeling/state of mind that dominated you: The World – Everything. Completeness, understanding, trust, perfection, achievement, love. Fullness. Saturation. Lack of space for other things. Everything in the right place.

2. An action you took because of it: Chalices 4 – Habits. Doing the same things, indifference to news, loss of drive. Care and patience for the little things. The same gesture has the same meaning.

3. A key event in your time line: Three of Pentacles – Service. Obedience, duty, respect, work. There is also honor in serving.

4. Your role in the key event: Two of Pentacles – Balance. Moderation, prudence, equilibrium of opposites. Opposites can coincide.

5. Your standing with others: Prince of Chalices – Birth of an emotion. Thoughts come from the heart and take on life.

6. Others' standing with you: Two of Wands – Desire. Search, curiosity, love, far-off thoughts. Where the eyes don't see, the heart sees.

7. Something you've forgotten: Ace of Chalices – Source of life. Everything comes from life and from life comes everything.

8. A mistake you made: Queen of Pentacles – Harmony with the environment. Harmony between us and the world that surrounds us is the basis of happiness.

9. Something you did right: Seven of Swords – Subterfuge. Moving about secretly, shrewdness, small steps, don't attract attention. The straight road is rarely the best.

10. A lesson learned: Ace of Wands – The Ego. Know yourself and don't be afraid.

So, from what I can gather, I was at first satisfied with my life. I did pretty much the same things each day (probably a lot of jet skiing). But, despite my hobbies, I worked as much as I could during my time being a part of Captain Whisker's crew and knew to keep myself under control when working. The captain and I were real close, so it was only fair that I repay his kindness towards me.

I'm not entirely sure who the “others” are for 5 and 6. For 5, perhaps the “birth of an emotion” happened once I heard about Sonic. I was jealous of him and it must have taken over me. And 6? ...Maybe I did have some fellow fans/speed lovers out there. Whether they truly adored me or were jealous of me and my skills, I'm not sure.

Here's where things stood out more for me: Something I've forgotten. The source of life.

Whisker... I left him behind. I feared so much for my life that not once did I think about him. I probably just thought he'd be able to fend for himself, but...he didn't. He couldn't. His death impacted my life greatly, didn't it? I just...have this deep feeling that I felt pretty empty once I realized what had happened.

As with my mistake...I refused to make peace with the so-called “heroes”. I kept challenging Sonic to races rather than simply give him his stupid emeralds. After all of that, perhaps after Sonic went home, I made a wise decision to keep myself away from any innocent people, as they probably would've alerted their Blaze that I was still around.

And then, I learned my lesson. The isolation gave me time to retrace any facts about myself. It must've given me enough courage to go out there and do what I do best, possibly even improve my skills a bit. Maybe I even eventually made peace with the kingdom's people.

-

Blaze

1. An emotion/feeling/state of mind that dominated you: Queen of Chalices – Harmony of emotions. Live emotions fully without getting swept away or worn out.

2. An action you took because of it: Eight of Swords – Dead End. Fear, paralysis, difficulty, feeling of imprisonment, ability to react. The solution is found by not giving up.

3. A key event in your time line: Prince of Pentacles – Birth of an interest. Curiosity is the initial contact between us and the world.

4. Your role in the key event: Ace of Swords – Thought. May thought be your blade, penetrate deeply and stop only at the truth.

5. Your standing with others: Death – The Threshold. Transformation. Confront the unknown. Defeat personal fears. Grow. Let go of the past. Make a clean break. We will never be ready to overcome certain thresholds, and yet we will get beyond them anyway.

6. Others' standing with you: Queen of Wands – Harmony with yourself. Don't have remorse or regrets but feel comfortable with yourself.

7. Something you've forgotten: The Hanged Woman – Equilibrium. A rite of passage. Sacrifice, training. Submit to or confront adversities. Understanding paid for dearly. Determination when faced with difficulties. Equilibrium comes from inside.

8. A mistake you made: Prince of Wands – Birth of a wish. Existing means acting and not following.

9. Something you did right: The Moon – Harmony. Dreams, thoughts, imagination. Intuitive understanding, perception of things, going beyond appearances. Illusion, magical moment, fleeting sensations. Harmony in giving and receiving.

10. A lesson learned: King of Wands – Search for the right choice. Don't be centered only on yourself but have self-confidence.

In this timeline, I often made my emotions clear to myself and other people, but along with that, I had some difficulty controlling my powers. Thus, I stopped being open about how I felt, which helped give me time to control my flames, but obviously, it didn't help prevent me from being picked on.

Now, birth of an interest... I guess I was a bit curious about Sonic's world, as it was quite different from my world. But, overall, I had to be focused on getting the Sol Emeralds back. Cream and Sonic helped change me quite a lot. They both helped me overcome my hatred of my powers, which is what made me be able to harness the power of the Sol Emeralds.

Once again, 7 and 8 greatly stood out to me, but not the same way it stood out during my timeline as Johnny. I forgot...equilibrium. Balance. A sacrifice? Did I forget to sacrifice myself? Is this in reference to Iblis? Was I too scared to die that I didn't go through with sealing Iblis away, and the future was never fully saved? I never would've thought I'd have any event from Sonic 06 as part of my timeline, but I guess now it's a possibility. I wonder how Silver must have felt...

I'm honestly not sure what the reading means in regards to harmony, but judging by the lesson I learned, I'm guessing it's more based on the Rush timeline. You could say it had something to do with me making up with Sonic, and that relying on others helped defeat Eggman and Eggman Nega. It's certainly a lesson I'm glad I learned.

-

Fang/Nack

1. An emotion/feeling/state of mind that dominated you: Nine of Pentacles – Possess. Control, opulence, lack of drive, self-confidence. Be careful of what you desire because you might receive it.

2. An action you took because of it: Queen of Pentacles – Harmony with the environment. Harmony between us and the world that surrounds us is the basis of happiness.

3. A key event in your time line: Three of Swords – Suffering. Anguish, solitude, fear, loss. Reason alone does not warm.

4. Your role in the key event: Nine of Wands – Vigilance. Regard for something, defense, commitment, prudence, anticipation of problems. Not everything happens without conflict.

5. Your standing with others: Three of Wands – Wait. Patience, nostalgia, things that follow their course, times that must mature. Sit on the bank of a river and wait. Sometimes it's the only way.

6. Others' standing with you: Six of Chalices – Nostalgia. Remember the past. Recall things believed lost. Find yourself. The meaning one's roots. Flowers grow every year with the same colors.

7. Something you've forgotten: Three of Pentacles – Service. Obedience, duty, respect, work. There is also honor in serving.

8. A mistake you made: The Sorceress – Will. Decision-making ability, beginning of a journey, courage, energy. Will and equilibrium are the basis of every action.

9. Something you did right: Princess of Chalices – An emotion that gains strength. The heart cannot be controlled.

10. A lesson learned: Five of Chalices – Loss. Give up the superfluous. Distinguish the important from that which is not. Preserve something. Look at yourself in the river. Let it divide what you have from what you don't have.

Let's see. During my life as Fang, I had plenty to possess, such as the profits I earned off of selling stolen artifacts. It was this simple life as a thief where I had confidence in myself and I lived peacefully in the Special Zone. Of course, I got caught a few times, thus I lost every treasure I was planning to sell. I was starting to think I was losing my spark, which drove me a bit over the edge. Then I heard that there were these sets of Chaos Emeralds that were always left unsupervised.

So, I waited for an opportunity, or someone, that I could use to my advantage. I waited specifically for Sonic and Tails to get into my dimension, and I went after them so I could get the emeralds once they took care of all other obstacles in the Special Stages...not that it worked, especially once I saw Dr. Eggman get into the picture. I tried to run away, though I guess that was my mistake, 'cause that's when Eggman suddenly struck me down. Pretty much showed how much of a coward I was.

Then Sonic the Fighters happened. I accepted my loss from before and, feeling pretty generous, I helped Sonic and his friends defeat Eggman and destroy the Death Egg II as a somewhat thanks for having the heart to save someone like me from death. I eventually had to go back to my zone, but I guess I ended up leaving a pretty good impression on them, and they still remember me from time to time. At least, from what I understand.

[topfygad]

Gothic Hotels (and Songs by R.E.M., Part 2) — The Agenda by Tablet Hotels

It’s Halloween, so we’re taking a look at hotels with Gothic architecture, a style synonymous with the mysterious and macabre. Why did we also include songs by R.E.M.? The answer may shock you.

Earlier this year, we wrote about some of our favorite Southern hotels, comparing them to songs from one of our favorite Southern bands, R.E.M. So why write about R.E.M. again? Well, the band actually saw the first story, liked it, and asked if we’d do a part two. Not since Coppola and The Godfather has anyone had such a good reason to make a sequel.

There’s hardly been a better time to talk about “scary” hotels, either. This is Halloween week, of course, and it’s also the week that R.E.M. releases the 25th Anniversary reissue of Monster, their terrifyingly titled ninth studio album. But instead of another list of haunted hotels, we’re focusing on the style of architecture most commonly associated with things that go bump in the night.

Gothic architecture secured its association with the spooky and supernatural in the 18th and 19th centuries, when writers like Horace Walpole, Edgar Allen Poe, Mary Shelley, and Bram Stoker chose Gothic castles and abbeys as the backdrop for their stories of darkness and death. An entire genre of horrifying literature became known as Gothic fiction, and an entire mode of architecture was never viewed the same again.

R.E.M. has crossed paths with the Gothic label as well — especially during the first half of their career. With a sound driven up from underneath Georgia’s genteel facade, the Athens natives were considered a sort of modern musical counterpart to the Southern Gothic literature of William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor. Sonically and thematically, their music reflects the murky and eccentric spirit of the region, underscoring its postbellum tensions and investigating its idiosyncratic characters.

And so, without further ado, enjoy this selection of thirteen hotels with Gothic architectural elements, paired with some of R.E.M.’s most Southern Gothic songs.

Follow along with our R.E.M. — Southern Gothic playlist on Spotify or Apple Music.

The Qvest

Cologne, Germany

“Wendell Gee” — from Fables of the Reconstruction, 1985

The 19th century obsession with Gothic elements comes through loud and clear in The Qvest. Now a hotel, the 1897 building initially housed Cologne’s archives and a public library. In keeping with the reigning aesthetic in those days, a neo-Gothic influence touched just about every element in the construction: ribbed vaults, lancet windows, hood moulding, tracery, and an overarching verticality all remain visible today. Similarly, all the elements of R.E.M.’s Southern Gothic signature come through in “Wendell Gee,” one of the band’s most under-appreciated pieces of musical mastery, and the final track from their darkest and most overtly South-saturated album.

See More Photos

  1898 The Post

Ghent, Belgium

“Strange Currencies” — from Monster, 1994

“Strange Currencies” might not feel at first like a song with Southern folk roots, but imagine it without Monster’s trademark distorted guitars and you begin to hear the swagger and sway of classic country-blues. It’s the kind of plaintive-yet-hopeful ballad that R.E.M. perfected throughout their career, and it’s paired on this list with 1898 The Post, a hotel that’s equally the shining example of a genre. The old Central Post Office in Ghent was completed at the turn of the last century, and while its neo-Gothic style makes it look much older than that, a brand-new renovation has this beautifully preserved structure ready to host guests in the current century and beyond.

See More Photos

  Bryant Park Hotel

New York City, New York

“Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)” — from Chronic Town, 1982

Starting with the gargoyle on the cover, R.E.M.’s debut EP Chronic Town oozes a dark, peculiar, and highly literary Southern Gothic vibe. And “Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars),” with its calliope intro and images of clandestine railway activity, all but revels in the murky mood. Gargoyles don’t make an appearance on the Bryant Park Hotel, despite its home inside the American Radiator building, a strange and imposing black-gold gothic skyscraper that towers above the midtown park like something out of a comic book — or out of Ghostbusters. Penthouse guests might be safe from that movie’s statues-turned–terror dogs, but the hotel does look down on the New York Public Library, where other ghost-busting scenes were filmed.

See More Photos

  Kruisherenhotel Maastricht

Maastricht, Netherlands

“The One I Love” — from Document, 1987

“This one goes out to the one I love…” — the instantly recognizable first line from R.E.M.’s 1987 hit sets the stage for a song that practically drips with heat and humidity. This song, as much as any other, announced to the world that R.E.M. was a contemporary sonic interpretation of the steamy South found in the plays of Tennessee Williams. Kruisherenhotel Maastricht is another thoroughly modern interpretation, this time of a fifteenth-century Gothic monastery. Designer Henk Vos transformed the original monks’ cloisters into handsome hotel rooms that are anything but ascetic, and even the relatively undisturbed spaces are deeply altered by the introduction of sleek furnishings and bits and bobs by the likes of Le Corbusier, Philippe Starck and Marc Newson.

See More Photos

  Conservatorium Hotel

Amsterdam, Netherlands

“Country Feedback” — from Out of Time, 1991

The Conservatorium is a radical repurposing of Amsterdam’s Sweelinck Conservatorium building — its soaring institutional spaces and ornate century-old neo-Gothic construction transformed into a contemporary design hotel. Offering a focus on pop music alongside more traditional conservatory studies like classical and jazz, there probably was a surprising bit of guitar feedback heard in the Conservatorium during its time as a music school. There’s a bit of feedback heard in “Country Feedback” as well, wandering almost incongruently in between and around more traditional country sounds like pedal steel guitar and organ, adding the right amount of frustration and edge that the song’s cryptic lyrics cry out for.

See More Photos

  Ace Hotel Downtown L.A.

Los Angeles, California

“So. Central Rain” — from Reckoning, 1984

Legend has it that “South Central Rain” refers to massive downpours and flooding in R.E.M.’s home state of Georgia in 1983. The band was apparently out on tour, and wasn’t able to check in on family members because the storms had knocked out the phone lines. Specifically, the legend asserts, they were in Los Angeles, which is the reason for this hotel-song pairing, and not because of L.A.’s South Central neighborhood. For the Gothic connection, look no further than the United Artists building, a 1920s Spanish Gothic Revival tower and theater that is the current home of Ace Hotel Downtown L.A.

See More Photos

  SINA Centurion Palace

Venice, Italy

“Oh My Heart” — from Collapse Into Now, 2011

Michael Stipe wrote “Oh My Heart” about post-Katrina New Orleans. His lyrics can sometimes be impenetrable, but not here. This is very clearly a song about resilience in the face of tragedy and persevering into the future so we can continue to honor the past. There are no New Orleans hotels on this list, but maybe that would’ve been too cute. Instead, we turn to another timeworn city fighting back against Mother Nature and climate change: rising sea levels have led to regular flooding in Venice, the home of Centurion Palace and its postcard-perfect Venetian-Gothic exterior. The former convent is located in one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, which has survived everything from World Wars to the Black Death, and we’re confident it will survive its latest challenge.

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  Chicago Athletic Association

Chicago, Illinois

“Oddfellows Local 151” — from Document, 1987

Long before a recent renovation converted it into a stunning boutique hotel, the Chicago Athletic Association was a private club for the city’s (male) movers and shakers. Dating back to the final decade of the 19th century, this Venetian Gothic landmark hosted the kinds of government and business elite that “Oddfellows Local 151” suggests are at least partially responsible for the plight of the characters in the song: the homeless population that was left behind by the political and economic machines of 1980s America. Document was an album filled with fiery passion as R.E.M. found their political footing — no more so than on this, its closing track.

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  High Line Hotel

New York City, New York

“Swan Swan H” — from Life’s Rich Pageant, 1986

Chelsea’s High Line Hotel makes its home in an imposing red-brick Collegiate Gothic seminary — and its designers, the local duo Roman and Williams, managed to created an enormously fun hotel in what was an otherwise solemn environment. R.E.M. pulled the same trick, but in the opposite direction, with “Swan Swan H.” At first glance, this song about the Civil War appears to be a celebration of freedom, but as it progresses the true cost of a destructive moment in American history becomes more clear. And while the lyrics reference wooden beams of a presumably different sort, for the purposes of this list, we’ll think about the ornate ceiling of the Hoffman Hall event space, pictured above.

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  Le Chateau Frontenac

Quebec City, Canada

“World Leader Pretend” — from Green, 1988

A century-old Gothic Revival castle high on a bluff over the St. Lawrence river, Le Château Frontenac is Québec City’s most famous landmark, and has hosted some of the world’s most famous guests. Musicians, movie stars, and titans of industry have walked its halls, but powerful politicians may have left the greatest influence — suites are themed after heads of state who have stayed at the hotel. According to Michael Stipe, “World Leader Pretend” was the most political song of the band’s career up to that point, and it might continue to be so today. After clashing with Donald Trump over his unauthorized (obviously) use of “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine),” the band followed up by contributing “World Leader Pretend” to an anti-Trump compilation.

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  Chateau Marmont

Los Angeles, California

“Drive” — from Automatic for the People, 1992

The Chateau Marmont was constructed to the specifications of the Loire Chateau Amboise in France, and scattered throughout are certain reminders of the French late Gothic Flamboyant style. But though inspired by France, this particular chateau and its infamous scenes of Hollywood decadence could only exist in Los Angeles. Likewise, “Drive” is a song that could only have come from R.E.M. With an echoey atmosphere as haunted as the hallways of the Chateau, the song drives forward slowly and madly, calling out like a pirate radio station in the middle of the night, seeking to empower the youth through rock and roll.

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  St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel

London, England

“Life and How to Live It” — from Fables of the Reconstruction, 1985

In R.E.M.’s hometown of Athens, Georgia, there once lived a man named Brev Mekis. Suffering from schizophrenia, Brev split his house into two totally different apartments, each with its own unique furniture, books, clothing, even pets. To suit his disparate personalities, Brev would periodically switch back and forth between his two lives. After he passed away, discovered inside the house were hundreds of identical copies of a book he had written called: “Life and How to Live It.” The great Gothic structure at St. Pancras has a split personality of its own. On the one hand, it is a lavish, luxurious hotel. On the other, an introduction to a busy, full-functioning rail station. Taken all together, it is the ideal of a grand European railway hotel.

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  Borgo dei Conti Resort

Perugia, Italy

“Find the River” — from Automatic for the People, 1992

Borgo dei Conti Resort is a deeply romantic place. Originally built as a fortress in the 13th century, the estate was remade into a noble home some 500 years later. Surrounded by acres of gardens and lawns and parkland, the building is a dramatic example of 19th-century neo-Gothic architecture, still as imposing as ever today. On its sprawling grounds, you’re likely to find some of the herbs and fruits mentioned in “Find the River,” a song that celebrates life specifically because death is always present. Despite the heavy themes, “Find the River” is a gorgeous and uplifting song. It closes out an album full of radio hits, and is equal to or even better than each of those more well-known singles. All of this is coming your way.

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[topfygad]

Gothic Hotels (and Songs by R.E.M., Part 2) — The Agenda by Tablet Hotels

It’s Halloween, so we’re taking a look at hotels with Gothic architecture, a style synonymous with the mysterious and macabre. Why did we also include songs by R.E.M.? The answer may shock you.

Earlier this year, we wrote about some of our favorite Southern hotels, comparing them to songs from one of our favorite Southern bands, R.E.M. So why write about R.E.M. again? Well, the band actually saw the first story, liked it, and asked if we’d do a part two. Not since Coppola and The Godfather has anyone had such a good reason to make a sequel.

There’s hardly been a better time to talk about “scary” hotels, either. This is Halloween week, of course, and it’s also the week that R.E.M. releases the 25th Anniversary reissue of Monster, their terrifyingly titled ninth studio album. But instead of another list of haunted hotels, we’re focusing on the style of architecture most commonly associated with things that go bump in the night.

Gothic architecture secured its association with the spooky and supernatural in the 18th and 19th centuries, when writers like Horace Walpole, Edgar Allen Poe, Mary Shelley, and Bram Stoker chose Gothic castles and abbeys as the backdrop for their stories of darkness and death. An entire genre of horrifying literature became known as Gothic fiction, and an entire mode of architecture was never viewed the same again.

R.E.M. has crossed paths with the Gothic label as well — especially during the first half of their career. With a sound driven up from underneath Georgia’s genteel facade, the Athens natives were considered a sort of modern musical counterpart to the Southern Gothic literature of William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor. Sonically and thematically, their music reflects the murky and eccentric spirit of the region, underscoring its postbellum tensions and investigating its idiosyncratic characters.

And so, without further ado, enjoy this selection of thirteen hotels with Gothic architectural elements, paired with some of R.E.M.’s most Southern Gothic songs.

Follow along with our R.E.M. — Southern Gothic playlist on Spotify or Apple Music.

The Qvest

Cologne, Germany

“Wendell Gee” — from Fables of the Reconstruction, 1985

The 19th century obsession with Gothic elements comes through loud and clear in The Qvest. Now a hotel, the 1897 building initially housed Cologne’s archives and a public library. In keeping with the reigning aesthetic in those days, a neo-Gothic influence touched just about every element in the construction: ribbed vaults, lancet windows, hood moulding, tracery, and an overarching verticality all remain visible today. Similarly, all the elements of R.E.M.’s Southern Gothic signature come through in “Wendell Gee,” one of the band’s most under-appreciated pieces of musical mastery, and the final track from their darkest and most overtly South-saturated album.

See More Photos

  1898 The Post

Ghent, Belgium

“Strange Currencies” — from Monster, 1994

“Strange Currencies” might not feel at first like a song with Southern folk roots, but imagine it without Monster’s trademark distorted guitars and you begin to hear the swagger and sway of classic country-blues. It’s the kind of plaintive-yet-hopeful ballad that R.E.M. perfected throughout their career, and it’s paired on this list with 1898 The Post, a hotel that’s equally the shining example of a genre. The old Central Post Office in Ghent was completed at the turn of the last century, and while its neo-Gothic style makes it look much older than that, a brand-new renovation has this beautifully preserved structure ready to host guests in the current century and beyond.

See More Photos

  Bryant Park Hotel

New York City, New York

“Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)” — from Chronic Town, 1982

Starting with the gargoyle on the cover, R.E.M.’s debut EP Chronic Town oozes a dark, peculiar, and highly literary Southern Gothic vibe. And “Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars),” with its calliope intro and images of clandestine railway activity, all but revels in the murky mood. Gargoyles don’t make an appearance on the Bryant Park Hotel, despite its home inside the American Radiator building, a strange and imposing black-gold gothic skyscraper that towers above the midtown park like something out of a comic book — or out of Ghostbusters. Penthouse guests might be safe from that movie’s statues-turned–terror dogs, but the hotel does look down on the New York Public Library, where other ghost-busting scenes were filmed.

See More Photos

  Kruisherenhotel Maastricht

Maastricht, Netherlands

“The One I Love” — from Document, 1987

“This one goes out to the one I love…” — the instantly recognizable first line from R.E.M.’s 1987 hit sets the stage for a song that practically drips with heat and humidity. This song, as much as any other, announced to the world that R.E.M. was a contemporary sonic interpretation of the steamy South found in the plays of Tennessee Williams. Kruisherenhotel Maastricht is another thoroughly modern interpretation, this time of a fifteenth-century Gothic monastery. Designer Henk Vos transformed the original monks’ cloisters into handsome hotel rooms that are anything but ascetic, and even the relatively undisturbed spaces are deeply altered by the introduction of sleek furnishings and bits and bobs by the likes of Le Corbusier, Philippe Starck and Marc Newson.

See More Photos

  Conservatorium Hotel

Amsterdam, Netherlands

“Country Feedback” — from Out of Time, 1991

The Conservatorium is a radical repurposing of Amsterdam’s Sweelinck Conservatorium building — its soaring institutional spaces and ornate century-old neo-Gothic construction transformed into a contemporary design hotel. Offering a focus on pop music alongside more traditional conservatory studies like classical and jazz, there probably was a surprising bit of guitar feedback heard in the Conservatorium during its time as a music school. There’s a bit of feedback heard in “Country Feedback” as well, wandering almost incongruently in between and around more traditional country sounds like pedal steel guitar and organ, adding the right amount of frustration and edge that the song’s cryptic lyrics cry out for.

See More Photos

  Ace Hotel Downtown L.A.

Los Angeles, California

“So. Central Rain” — from Reckoning, 1984

Legend has it that “South Central Rain” refers to massive downpours and flooding in R.E.M.’s home state of Georgia in 1983. The band was apparently out on tour, and wasn’t able to check in on family members because the storms had knocked out the phone lines. Specifically, the legend asserts, they were in Los Angeles, which is the reason for this hotel-song pairing, and not because of L.A.’s South Central neighborhood. For the Gothic connection, look no further than the United Artists building, a 1920s Spanish Gothic Revival tower and theater that is the current home of Ace Hotel Downtown L.A.

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  SINA Centurion Palace

Venice, Italy

“Oh My Heart” — from Collapse Into Now, 2011

Michael Stipe wrote “Oh My Heart” about post-Katrina New Orleans. His lyrics can sometimes be impenetrable, but not here. This is very clearly a song about resilience in the face of tragedy and persevering into the future so we can continue to honor the past. There are no New Orleans hotels on this list, but maybe that would’ve been too cute. Instead, we turn to another timeworn city fighting back against Mother Nature and climate change: rising sea levels have led to regular flooding in Venice, the home of Centurion Palace and its postcard-perfect Venetian-Gothic exterior. The former convent is located in one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, which has survived everything from World Wars to the Black Death, and we’re confident it will survive its latest challenge.

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  Chicago Athletic Association

Chicago, Illinois

“Oddfellows Local 151” — from Document, 1987

Long before a recent renovation converted it into a stunning boutique hotel, the Chicago Athletic Association was a private club for the city’s (male) movers and shakers. Dating back to the final decade of the 19th century, this Venetian Gothic landmark hosted the kinds of government and business elite that “Oddfellows Local 151” suggests are at least partially responsible for the plight of the characters in the song: the homeless population that was left behind by the political and economic machines of 1980s America. Document was an album filled with fiery passion as R.E.M. found their political footing — no more so than on this, its closing track.

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  High Line Hotel

New York City, New York

“Swan Swan H” — from Life’s Rich Pageant, 1986

Chelsea’s High Line Hotel makes its home in an imposing red-brick Collegiate Gothic seminary — and its designers, the local duo Roman and Williams, managed to created an enormously fun hotel in what was an otherwise solemn environment. R.E.M. pulled the same trick, but in the opposite direction, with “Swan Swan H.” At first glance, this song about the Civil War appears to be a celebration of freedom, but as it progresses the true cost of a destructive moment in American history becomes more clear. And while the lyrics reference wooden beams of a presumably different sort, for the purposes of this list, we’ll think about the ornate ceiling of the Hoffman Hall event space, pictured above.

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  Le Chateau Frontenac

Quebec City, Canada

“World Leader Pretend” — from Green, 1988

A century-old Gothic Revival castle high on a bluff over the St. Lawrence river, Le Château Frontenac is Québec City’s most famous landmark, and has hosted some of the world’s most famous guests. Musicians, movie stars, and titans of industry have walked its halls, but powerful politicians may have left the greatest influence — suites are themed after heads of state who have stayed at the hotel. According to Michael Stipe, “World Leader Pretend” was the most political song of the band’s career up to that point, and it might continue to be so today. After clashing with Donald Trump over his unauthorized (obviously) use of “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine),” the band followed up by contributing “World Leader Pretend” to an anti-Trump compilation.

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  Chateau Marmont

Los Angeles, California

“Drive” — from Automatic for the People, 1992

The Chateau Marmont was constructed to the specifications of the Loire Chateau Amboise in France, and scattered throughout are certain reminders of the French late Gothic Flamboyant style. But though inspired by France, this particular chateau and its infamous scenes of Hollywood decadence could only exist in Los Angeles. Likewise, “Drive” is a song that could only have come from R.E.M. With an echoey atmosphere as haunted as the hallways of the Chateau, the song drives forward slowly and madly, calling out like a pirate radio station in the middle of the night, seeking to empower the youth through rock and roll.

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  St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel

London, England

“Life and How to Live It” — from Fables of the Reconstruction, 1985

In R.E.M.’s hometown of Athens, Georgia, there once lived a man named Brev Mekis. Suffering from schizophrenia, Brev split his house into two totally different apartments, each with its own unique furniture, books, clothing, even pets. To suit his disparate personalities, Brev would periodically switch back and forth between his two lives. After he passed away, discovered inside the house were hundreds of identical copies of a book he had written called: “Life and How to Live It.” The great Gothic structure at St. Pancras has a split personality of its own. On the one hand, it is a lavish, luxurious hotel. On the other, an introduction to a busy, full-functioning rail station. Taken all together, it is the ideal of a grand European railway hotel.

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  Borgo dei Conti Resort

Perugia, Italy

“Find the River” — from Automatic for the People, 1992

Borgo dei Conti Resort is a deeply romantic place. Originally built as a fortress in the 13th century, the estate was remade into a noble home some 500 years later. Surrounded by acres of gardens and lawns and parkland, the building is a dramatic example of 19th-century neo-Gothic architecture, still as imposing as ever today. On its sprawling grounds, you’re likely to find some of the herbs and fruits mentioned in “Find the River,” a song that celebrates life specifically because death is always present. Despite the heavy themes, “Find the River” is a gorgeous and uplifting song. It closes out an album full of radio hits, and is equal to or even better than each of those more well-known singles. All of this is coming your way.

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