#brixing bad posts

[zero-braincells-left]

guys do you see my vision. am i onto something or no /j

hiiii @fixing-bad-posts i did the thing thank you for the permission. my shenanigans will likely continue

[orchid-merryweather]

THEY'RE FLIRTING??

greatest ever blog: @breaking-fixing-bad-posts

[knight-of-hallownest]

The greatest sign of success is when you have a bunch of people you don't know shipping you. This is about brixing bad posts shippers. Please continue it's really funny.

[x-adoringvoid-x]

How I imagine people look when I dump a long rambling post explaining oc details into their feeds

[coolmarriagerecords]

Johan Kugelberg's Top 100 DIY Singles

From Ugly Things via http://www.hyped2death.com/Kugelberg100.html

1. The Desperate Bicycles -The Medium Was Tedium (Refill Records, 1977 UK) The Desperate Bicycles are the yardstick for this obscurist sub genre. No one did it as easy or as cheap as them. Of the slew of unfathomable brilliant pop 45's, The Medium Was Tedium is the apex: The enthusiasm, anger and joy de vivre that oozes from the tracks contained within has me reaching for Village Green-Kinks and first album Cramps to describe the passion. For drunken, leftist dorm-room intellectuals to describe the faith and for Dez/Chavo-era Black Flag to describe the power ? notwithstanding that the recordings themselves are of 4-track bedroom shut-in lo-fi jangle. Too bad the band don't want the material re-released but a good thing indeed that the records barely rate at all in the collector scum price guide pantheon.

2. Beyond The Implode -Last Thoughts EP (Diverse Records UK 1979) Barrett/early-Floyd psych as good (or better) than any Soft Boys, obscurist strum & drang way more passionate than any Flying Nun band I've heard and Inflammable vocals of the purest Oxbridge confusion. The Spacemen 3 never did anything to match this record. [Messthetics #6]

3. V/A -Weird Noise EP (Fuck Off Records UK 1980) The legend doesn't start here, but at least this isn't a cassette-only release in an edition of 50 copies or so like the majority of the Fuck Off Records oeuvre. This lines up the finest advocates of tuneless bashing within the UK late 70's underground: The 012, Danny and the Dressmakers, the Instant Automatons, The Door and the Window and finally the Sell Outs who seem to be Danny and the Dressmakers under a different moniker. The cut "Please Don't Make Another Bass Guitar Mr. Rickenbacker" showcases one of the odder qualities popular music can have: The ability to disorientate the listener. "Simply the very best in bad music" indeed! [Danny...Messthetics Greatest Hits]

4. Desperate Bicycles ? New Cross, New Cross (Refill Records, UK 1978) The godlike power of "I Make The Product" or "Advice On Arrest" (two of the songs on this six song EP) deliver a little salvation of sorts ? the Desperate Bicycles make you believe, make you feel a sense of belonging. Music does that when it is this good. 5.Slugfuckers ? Three Feet Behind Glass EP (No label Australia 1979) Invoke the god Nyarlathotep they do, cover Manson-songs w/o ever having heard him they do, shmear on the middle class art school elitism thick they do. This is an extreme record; noisier and more abrasive than most first generation industrial stuff, a hell of a lot more punk than, say, the Lewd and intelligent in a scary, vicious bullying kind of way. A blazing, hard record at the same time as everything is slightly out of tune, kind of inept and sorta shoddy sounding.

6. Popes -Knup In Your Eye (Vatican Records. UK 1980) This appeared on the worldwide punk list a few issues ago, and educated guesses can be made for this appearing on any other lists I might do in the future. Not only is the record the cats pajamas as far as relentless art school mirth goes (Derek & Clive go through puberty, again!) but the throb and spark of the band makes for repeated play. And then we have to tag on the swollen nostalgia of my friend buying the only copy at the Rough trade shop in 1980 leaving me with none until Bill Forsyth digs one up for me in his back room, oh yeah, and one for Geoffrey too.

7. The Flak -EP (Northern Records UK 1980 (?)) Starts with a depressed "why am I here" poem and moves straight along into "Knocking on Heaven's Door" done dorm-angst-diy-style. This is followed by what sounds like the band attempting a Joy Division-style song the first time they pick up musical instruments. Completely inept, utterly charming and brilliant indeed. Top shelf genre defining DIY.

8. Fatal Microbes -Beautiful Pictures (Small Wonder, UK 1979) Certainly the best record with Honey Bane on it. Charming, relentless punk-crazed homemade guitar crunch. The window of opportunity of the UK underground musicscene in the late 70's is clearly demonstrated here: I doubt the Fatal Microbes stupendous teen energy could have been nurtured in the world of merchandising deals and first-look demo A&R we live in today.

9. The Silver -Do You Wanna Dance (Black Label Finland 1980) The Silver -No More Grease (Black Label Finland 1979) A riddle wrapped inside an enigma etc. The band appears to be around 12 ? 13 years old. They hail from Finland where the trail grew cold a long long time ago. Maybe upon the release of the record. Pussy Galore without post-modern baggage. "Love Theme from the Snails" as performed by SPK. 12 year olds virtually destroying a recording studio captured on tape, not once but four times.

10. Instant Automatons -Peter Paints His Fence EP (Deleted Records UK 1980) More Fuck Off/Street Level-related sublime nonsense. The battle call is the track "People Laugh At Me Cuz I Like Weird Music" which states: "I was at a pub the other night, when a bunch of mods came in, they eyed me up, then they asked me: Hey man what's your scene? Are you a hippie a mod or a punk? Got a scooter or a motorbike? I can't understand why they burst out laughing when I told them the music I like, because: People Laugh At Me Cuz I Like Weird Music People just don't understand Why pay six pounds for an album when you can, listen to a weird noise band for free I had a girlfriend named Josephine, she liked Abba and the Bee Gees. She thought music was about lawyers and accountants, percentages and legal fees. Just the other night we stayed up late, playing records til half past ten, then I played the Danny and the Dressmakers tape and I never saw Josephine again, because: People Laugh At Me Cuz I Like Weird Music People just don't understand Why pay six pounds for an album when you can, listen to a weird noise band for free" The gospel, folks. From God's mouth to your ear via the Instant Automatons. [Instant Automatons 'Another Wasted Sunday Afternon' CD]

11. Sir Alick and the Phraser -In Search of the Perfect Baby (Black Noise UK 1980) As Chuck Warner put it: They wrote beautiful pop songs then destroyed them. More Homosexuals pseudonymous mystique. The intelligent reader who followed our previous musings on this band and their universe know how much we love them and how much they perpetually pull our collective leg. No straight-ahead answers in this lifetime which is fine ? fine as far as record collecting is concerned, fine as far as lifemanship is concerned.[The Homosexuals -Astral Glamour 3CD]

12. The Four Plugs -Biking Girl (Disposable Records UK 1979) The subtle charm of marginal culture: Truly marginal culture where 1000 singles were pressed more than 22 years ago. How many got lost? How many are never being played? How many are stored in a box in the attic? How many are being played repeatedly on turntables that cost ten times as much as the recording and pressing of this given 45? "She used to be my biking partner ? she used to be my biking girl. We used to go for rides in the country side". A true punk rock/diy statement issued by the Damaged Goods people, who knew their Chesterton and Thomas Browne.

13. The Evening Outs -Channel (Refill Records UK 1980) Super-fierce skronk from a pissed-off pseudonymous Desperate Bicycles. Puts that no wave stuff to shame, really.

14. Puritan Guitars -100 Pounds in 15 Minutes (Riverside Records UK 1980) How much it cost to make the record and how long it took. Genius sturm und sturm und sturm und drang clank from a seriously inspired one chord wonder.[Messthetics Greatest Hits and Messthetics #104]

15. The Flying Brix -EP (Modello Records UK 1980) So subtle it can barely be heard: A band consisting of Wally's and Erberts, with the odd dead-end yob or two. This record could've been released by Illegal, Fuck Off or fit in on Carry On Oi. It could also have been performed on an episode of Noddy or by Flanagan & Allen. Ur-English music, this.[Messthetics #104]

16. Shrinking Men/Beevers -Hazards in the Home EP (Pop Records UK 1981) The Beevers present a Guthrie-esque talking blues here, except that it isn't a blues, but a charming DIY-shuffle, and that Woody Guthrie as far as I know never sang about the plight and blight of the office boy. The Shrinking Men in turn showcase an angry, loutish anti-army rant that Phil Ochs would've been pretty proud of I think. And there you have it: The folk music connection rears its uncombed head. [Beevers -Messthetics #6]

17. Handgrenades -Demo To London (Phonographics (?) USA 1980 (?)) Coulda fooled me ? Excellent primitive punk/chug/diy from Noo Yak City! Who woulda thunk? Somewhere between "Pink Flag" and Fuck Off Records.

18. Homosexuals -You Are Not Moving The Way You Are Supposed To (Black Noise UK 1980 (?)) An untouchable band, and the lack of a retrospective isn't much of a crime in this house (I have lots of their records snicker snicker snicker) but in other people's houses it sure is. As if Gang of Four would've been any good, as if Wire would've immersed themselves in dub, as if indeed. Parallel universe chart toppers indeed. We all know that there is at least one world out there in the ultra-cosmos where the proverbial kids are kicking these jams daily. A truly inspired and inspiring record..[The Homosexuals -Astral Glamour 3CD]

19. Cindy and the Barbi Dolls -Press The Shutter EP (A Not Major Production UK 1980) Dorm angst at its very best. Dark, brooding overtly romantic without gothing it up, these jams have the same lurking power as the pre-Joy Division Warsaw EP or the spookier first line up Soft Boys tracks. A possible sister band to Beyond the Implode in the sense that they play a curiously British form of psychedelic music in the midst of the DIY lack of musical chops. This Cornwall band were seemingly very hip to musical peers, thanking the Desperate Bicycles, the Mekons and Ralph and the Ponytails on the sleeve. There are musical (and one lyrical) nod to the Kinks "Village Green Preservation Society" as well. A very good thing. [Messthetics #7]

20. Versatile Newts -Newtrition (Shanghai Records UK 1980) If this record hadn't existed we would've had to invent it: The marriage/blend of the Swell Maps, This Heat and the TV Personalities. In equal chunks with no lumps. Gadzooks! [Messthetics #103]

21. Pink Dirt -Hey Sir (No label Norway 1979) As far as inept, crazed joi de vivre goes ? Here's the acme. I've written this one up before and will do it again. While this is obviously a straight-ahead angry punk rock band, the abandon and enthusiasm of this record could raise the dead. An angry rant against organized religion ("I have this to say tonight ? never, never get involved with christianity!") howled in a barely English Johnny Rotten-imitation by some Norwegian genius backed by shitrock more primitive than the first Endless Boogie rehearsal. There is no sleeve, no labels, just the legend "Pink Dirt Hey Sir/Hooker" scrawled in magic marker. Who were these gods and why did they walk among us? Please email me if you know anything about the people behind this stunning art experience.

22. Scrotum Poles -Revelation EP (One Tone Records Scotland 1980) Helicopter Honeymoon is going to be played at least three record collector funerals I know of, not including mine. The mighty, mighty Scrotum Poles, proudly proclaiming "DIY! We love the TV Personalities" on the shoddy, xeroxed sleeve. Their website (http://home.switchboard.com/hornstreet) is highly recommended, though we're hesitant to vouch for its complete veracity. Here's how they tell it: "'Pick the Cats Eyes Out' featured lyrics found on the back of a set list by one of the first Dundee punk bands, Bread Poultice and the Running Sores..." [Somebody please send us a demo tape!] "Helicopter Honeymoon," meanwhile, came from a headline "in the Sunday Post." What we should add for American fans is that "cats eyes" are what Brits (and Scots) call those little orange reflectors embedded in highway pavement: "Cats Eyes Out Ahead" used to be a common roadside sign. [Messthetics Greatest Hits and Messthetics #105]

23. File Under Pop -Corrugate (Rough Trade UK 1979 (?)) Godlike DIY power. Primitive grunting, out of tune skeletal instrumentation and noises recorded at Heathrow. I know a guy with an extra copy who'll swap it for Butchy Butch and the Butch Butchers.

24. Nancy Sesay and the Melodaires -C'est Fab (It's War Boys UK 1981 (?)) Un-musical, un-punk and possibly unpleasant music hall-esque skronk/DIY by the godlike Homosexuals using one of their myriad of pseudonyms. And whence you can't imagine the doofus art wank getting any more unlistenable, they spin on a dime and throw in a beautiful chorus sitting on top of a backwardsy funky drummer beat. I am, as per usual, in awe. Shall I hook some enterprising young bootlegger up with a CDR of all their stuff?

25. Performing Ferret Band -Brow-Beaten (Dead Hippy Records UK 1981) Deeply moving primitive musical fumble from this rare 45 by the masters behind the in my mind most seminal LP to come out of DIY. The eponymous Performing Ferret Band LP, which features jaw-droppers such as "Plastic Macho Man", "Fizzly Drinks" or "Great Duos Of Our Time". Fantastic over-enthusiastic juvenilia of an almost supernatural beauty. The Performing Ferrets - no one told us CD (Messthetics #216)

26. Different Eyes/Royston - Shish EP (Tuzmadoner Records UK 1979) One of the two masterpieces released on the Tuzmadoner label (the other being a 12" comp entitled, uh, "folk music" bringing up more parallels to skiffle that we should probably choose to ignore). Royston are like Flanagan & Allen fronting the world's greatest shit rock band. Different Eyes sound more lethargic than anyone else I've heard I think, and I used to work for Pavement's label. Simon Gilham from either Royston or the 'Eyes later played in Colin Newman's solo band. [Royston -Messthetics Greatest Hits and #1; Different I's -Messthetics #101 (plus their even better track from Folk Music)]

27. Homosexuals -Hearts In Exile (Black Noise UK 1978) Words fail me. As far as beauty goes, this is like Mozart or Shirley Collins. Probably their greatest moment. Somewhere along the lines of Brill Building and traditional UK folk and the Upsetters and ESP Records all at once in perfect harmony. A milestone, I think, and a record that I'd place in a timecapsule of 20th century folk art.[The Homosexuals -Astral Glamour 3CD]

28. Andrew Klimek -Felt Hammer (Mustard Records USA 1979) The guitar break alone sends this one soaring over the sky scrapers. Has that patented and most beautiful basement 4-track sound down pat even though I get more and more convinced that all those legendary Cleveland bands all were record collector rock of the umpteenth degree. Extraordinarily self-aware, sly and with meticulously thought out records, this one being no exception. The pompous liner notes on the sleeve of the 45 proves me right. You got to be some kind of Apples in Stereo-type shmuck to brag on a record sleeve that you put the bass guitar through a ring modulator.

29. Mekons -Never Been In A Riot (Fast Records UK 1978) Way before they became icky hippy-punk icons for aging counter culture types across the world they released a couple of singles of gorgeous nihilist slop. This is the first, and the funniest and the noisiest.

30. Jelly Babies -De Nada EP (No label name UK 1981) Simply heaven. A clumsy speed-chug with lyrics about a day of roller-skating and lovely pre-pubescent boozy backing vocals. Genius. Extra-tinny sound, extra passionate execution. I've quoted this portion of the notes on the (shoddy xerox, natch) sleeve: "Recorded at Dirt Cheap Studios, the best studios in the whole wide world by Grant Showbiz, the most silly person in the whole wide world, who steals your food and has a nice red guitar with a super tremelo arm which somebody gave him." Like Blake, the words transcend space, time and mortality. You need this record. Crunchy granola collectors should also note that I have personally seen at least five different (shoddy xerox) picture sleeves for this record where the priority can be determined with relative accuracy using the carbon 14 method. [one from the EP is coming on London v.III: another song from the EP demos appears on Messthetics Greatest HISS (Messthetics #110)

31. Thin Yoghurts -Girl On the Bus (Lowther Street Runner Records UK 1980) More sing-a-longa-slop-charm. You can take the limey out of the music hall but you can't Cute, touching and romantic lyrics about lusting over some tasty lassie on the bus to the kippers factory. They did this record as well as a cassette, which is a hundred bucks in your sweaty palm, if you send it to me. [Messthetics Greatest Hits]

32. Lucky Pierre -This Could Be The Night (No label USA 1984 (?)) Scuzzy, phenomenal art-rant by some Ohio Bowie-boy who'd re-record these musical chairs of Chain Gang, Klaus Nomi and cocaine freebase ten years later for Trent Reznor's label adding a "industrial dance beat" to the mess and changing the band name to Prick. Supposedly (some record-log-pincher told me) there were only 50 copies pressed for Lucky Pierre to use as record deal bait (also the reason that the lyrics are etched on the flip together with a ten second excerpt of the song). Well, I guess it worked. I seem to recall seeing a video for the re-recorded version on MTV during ol' Pierre's 15 seconds in the spotlight. The awe-inspiring power of this record remains tho'.

33. Skabb -78 EP (Mistlur Sweden 1978) Track 2 side one is jaw-dropping Opus-style DIY-crunch punk with Kriminella Gitarrer-guitar breaks. I can't believe this isn't a hotly pursued record by herd-following punk rock turd-swallowers round the globe. Fantastic slop-o-rama-lama-fa-fa-fa production too.

34. V/A -Angst In My Pants double EP (Street Level UK 1979) Imagine how good the previous 33 records on this list are, as I guarantee by risk of punishment of rock writer hyperbole, that this is doubtlessly one of the finest records I've ever heard, and the second greatest compilation in the history of rock! How can I say this wonders Rutger the Punk from his bedroom in Krakow ? Well the proof is in the pudding: Not only does the record include some of the finest recorded moments by the legendary Instant Automatons (who unknowingly channel the Monks!), 012 and the Door and the Window, but furthermore a rare vinyl appearance by the Digital Dinosaurs, heralded by me, Mario and Geoffrey in that most smug sort of way as unheralded gods of music! If that ain't enough you get some fine TVP-related spurts from the Missing Persons and extremely do it yourself DIY frenzy from the Midnight Circus. Who in "Silicone Baby" and "Hedonist Jive" have out-poignanted a tow-truck full of Aimee Mann's and Michelle Shocked's edgy humanity and funny as shit to boot. [Digital Dinsaurs and Instant Automatons are on Messthetics Greatest Hits: Midnight Circus have their own CD...And there's more on Deleted/Street Level at the Instant Automatons website]

35. Pleemobielz -Dagenlang Balen (Kamikaze Records Holland 1981) More sociological sloganeering a la Midnight Circus here: Dagenlang Balen which needlessly translates as "fuck all day" roars through the speakers with all the might of a bunch of over-testosteroned 16 year old virgins singing about what they think it'll be like to have sex some day. Tinniest sound in history. When a copy finally showed up on my doorstep after the fucking (literally!) record had spent a solid 10 years on my want list my expectations were quite low since anyone I had talked to who had heard the record all stated that it was weak/a waste of time etc. Well: It being a want list staple has more to do with the scarcity of the disc than it being a desirable punk rock record. However: It is an extremely desirable record if frenzied DIY bliss is your chosen poison.

36. Just Urbain -Guns & Guitars (No label Australia 1979) Another amazing DIY record from Australia, this one definitely sports a spiritual kinship with SPK, the Slugfuckers, the first Thought Criminals record, and those Systematics and Tactics records I need to find. Very dark, scuzzy art-damaged DIY that (a la Cabaret Voltaire or early SPK) is well aware of the fine krautrock musics coming out of Germany on Ohr or Sky a few years previously. The proto punk of say Neu or Cosmic Jokers is here handled with poisonous skronky passion.

37. The Gags -Sex Ist Schau (Leg Auf Records Germany 1981) And then one has to simply wonder if the belly laughs generated by this piece of vinyl have racist connotations: How much are we allowed to laugh at the Germans? This might be the stiffest record I've heard. The vocals lyrical bark manages to reanimate Basil Fawlty's classic performance in the "Germans" episode as well as the Sprockets. The jams are crazed. Stiff, yes, but crazed.

38. Desperate Bicycles -Smokescreen (Refill Records UK 1977) Their debut, more aggressive than a lot of the other classics and maybe it was the year. This is the 45 that launched hundreds of others: Two songs on one side to save mastering costs, the cheapest packaging, music that had to be documented, and it didn't matter if it was done in the cheapest and easiest way imaginable. [Messthetics #8]

39. Butter Utter -Jävlarnas Jul (Leonid Breznjev Records Swe 1977) Took me ages to find this one. Extremely inept, Shaggs-like fumble with a certain Je Ne Sais Qui of punk rock aggression. A lot of Killed by Death-types paid a lot of moola for this one, that some guy hyped to the moon in a Boston straight-edge fanzine back in the 80's. Only truly "punk" in the musical disaster sense of the word.

40. Cut-Outs -DIY (EMI UK 1979) Great novelty pop monster complete with carpentry noises. Possibly not a DIY record at all, but since the genre is made up by people like me this is a DIY record cuz I sez so. [NOT on Messthetics #7]

41. Massmedia ? EP (Massproduktion Swe 1979) Debut sloppiness from future KBD mainstays. There is no discernable musical ability to be found on this record and yet they play and play and play. The energy level is however awe-inspiring.

42. Dagens Ungdom -EP (Mistlur Swe 1980) Having an art school wank with Dagens Ungdom. Brilliant faux-DIY released on one of the major noo wave era indie labels of Sweden, home of Ebba Gron. All songs have titles nabbed from Kafka books, lyrics are more adjective heavy than a tub full o' Morrisey and the music is flawless DIY stumble n' fumble.

43. The Discounts -Selling Records (Original Records UK 1980) Blank 1000-yard stare DIY novelty straight out of High Fidelity. The lyric is a monologue as by a bored-to-tears record store clerk. The jams are sub-sub-sub-Blockheads DIY stumble. Extremely amusing.

44. Grinder Wickford's So Boring -EP (Wax Records UK 1979) Forget punk rock, bring in hick-rock! The aliases of the band read: "Dav-Id, Si-Kic, Terry-Ball, Stu-Pid and Holy-Grail"!. Three band members have moustaches! The singer is wearing a Rocky Horror t-shirt! The a-side is a "humorous" ditty about the acne problem of Spiderman, reflecting the sleeve front depicting some fool in a Spiderman costume driving a tractor, The b-side is an anti-fuzzy dice song. Genius. It is obvious to me that Wickford wasn't boring at all as long as you hung out with the bold gents of Grinder. The songs range from primitive clunky riff-rock to DIY jangle of the highest order. Messthetics #101

45. Psykik Volts -Totally Useless (Ellie Jay Records UK 1979) More Music Hall-punk DIY genius. The spirit of Vivian Stanshall is looming large; as is the empty pint glasses littering the room as this 45 is stuck on repeat. All together now: "It's to-tal-ly useless"!! The sleeve bears the legend: "Side A: recorded in a sock, Side B: recorded in a morgue. May god bless vocalist and songwriter Victor Vendetta. Now pardon me while I go to the corner and cry.

46. Raisinets -More Fun To Play Than To Listen To (Fun-Ethic Records USA 1979) Fantastic record-collector hippie-punk a la Gizmos/Afrika Korps/Half Japanese. Primitive guitar duets complete with questionable production values and mucho muchacho helpings of pure static. Great post-arrest pre-OD lyrics making fun of Sid too.

47. Dag Vag -Dimma (Ball Records Swe 1978) Two years after this record was released, Dag Vag were playing new wave-scented white-boy reggae to sell-out crowds all over Sweden. This, however, is a one-man band bedroom project by a Träd Gräs & Stenar roadie who had discovered punk rock and the DIY scene. Beautiful dark/sinister home studio atmospherics, killer fuzz guitar and demented lyrics about psychiatric care and drug experiences. A great record. And by all means: Don't buy any other Dag Vag records after you've obtained this one.

48. I Jog & the Tracksuits - Redbox (Tyger Label UK 1978) More lost artform unique stumble-rumble from the UK. Sounds like it was recorded under water this one. A petty miracle of a pop tune with a sublime lyric about waiting for the bus. Gotta bless em for the stamina it takes to get a record out: Recording, Mixing, Mastering, Designing, Printing, Approving, Distributing, Balancing. All to get a little song about missing the bus heard by me 22 years later.

49. Injections -Prison Walls (Radioactive Records USA 1980) This has always been an extremely desired and expensive record in KBD/Japanese Tasty/Moustache circles, and it doubtlessly deserves its inflated price tag even though we aren't talking chainsaw-buzz punk rock per se here.

50. Devils Hole Gang -Free The People (Slow Burning Fuse Records UK 1979) Huge moustaches, huge choruses, and a record that sounds like it was recorded inside one of those Moroccan hotel showers that basically consist of a huge tube of aluminum siding. My pretentious nature is such that I feel forced to unleash the folk art metaphor for this again. If your friendly neighborhood rare record dealer charges you a couple of C-notes for this and you feel like your being had for big G's by the sleaze, then remember that you are investing in art, not buying a record!!

51. Funboy Five -Life After Death (Cool-Cat Daddy-O Records UK 1980) A pure pop record indeed, but where pricey production values would've turned this into a memorable Stiff Records 45, the band's lack of bucks and resulting throwaway/enthusiasm production and energy has created a masterpiece. Both sides are stalwarts for a neighborhood sing-song or a rousing music hall chorus. Punk rock music hall: A genre waiting to happen again! [Messthetics #101]

52. How To Get Rich In Rotterdam - Dapper Dan (Vormgeving Rotterdam Records Netherlands 1981) Brilliant, plodding art-slop that reeks of inside jokedom. This record is a reason unto itself to pay ebay prices for vintage drum machines.

53. Come -Come Sunday (Come Organization UK 1979) Before William Bennett became the Benny Hill of industrial noise, his band Whitehouse were called Come and released a single and an album which both are quite lovely homemade art-dirge crankiness, a friendly psychedelic kind of crankiness indeed.

54. The Riotous Brothers -Vicki's Dancing (Riotous Records 1980) How all these disparate bands came up with a sound this cohesive is a mystery to me. Any of the hints handed to us through fanzines and interviews only mess things up further: Yes, anyone could form a band, make a record, start a record label indeed. Where it gets weird is why so many of them harbor a similar tinny guitar sound, cardboard-y drums, messy synths, inept recording techniques, smart-assed lefty lyrics and nasal singing tone. This was not a movement. It was just a bunch of stuff that happened. That's all. This record has the beautiful simplicity of a Shaker chair or a Maine seafood soup. The swanky speedpunk of "Operation Zero" or the plink-a plunk-a guitar solo on "Emotional Cripple" will some day have their own wing at the Victoria and Albert museum. Make my art primitive!

55. Partizans -Goods (A-Noyz Records UK 1980) Chain Gang's retarded English cousins. Ace!!

56. Amor Fati -Economics 100 (Yuck/Flesh Records USA 1984 (?) Very angry anti-r&r/anti-big-business slightly tongue in cheek rant that shows spiritual kinship to "Rat City" by the Art Attacks. Vertical Slit/V-3. The odd blend of wanting in, wanting to play the game and wanting to stay the fuck away that is symptomatic for a lot of Ohio underground musicians (Shepard, Hummel, House etc.)

57. Desperate Bicycles -Skill (Refill Records UK 1978) Blazing DIY-shuffle and unmistakenly Bicycles. More pro production which has this one slip further down the list. Still godlike though.

58. Sarah Coffman -Titta Jag Ar Död (Konkurrenz Rekårdz Sweden 1980) Excellent primitive shit-rock by band from my hometown!

59. Hornsey At War -Deadbeat Revival EP (War Product UK 1979) Extremely amusing ultra-sloppy DIY. No discernable production values, sound-as-filtered-through-ground-beef, emotionally charged out-of-tune vocals, crackly guitar (broken cable?) and a true aura of dead end yobs (and jobs) instead of the more common middle class art school vibe as prevailing on most DIY records. Hornsey At War are complaining about English radio too: "They won't play this record on the radio because it poses a threat!" Here tis again: That charming blend of hubris and defeatist that seems to penetrate the psyches of most people involved in underground music and/or collectors of it.

60. Take It -How It Is (Fresh Hold UK 1979) Stunning out of control DIY/noise not unlike a more frenzied Soft Boys, a more good Gang of Four or a less psychotic SPK. Igor and Simon seem like a couple of gents with some hardcore political and intellectual pursuits, and like the Desperate Bicycles before them I sense that the choice of releasing a noisy cheaply recorded 45 with a xerox cover was an act of some sort of political defiance, back in the day where such an act was not co-opted from the ground up by extreme sports and Wall Mart hair dye. [Messthetics Greatest Hits and Messthetics #2]

61. Rough Cuts EP (Z-Block Records UK 1980) Inspired sampler of four bands (The Boywonders, The Ghoulies, The Czechs and the Decadent Few) two of which tell us their age on the cover (The Boywonders are all 16, The Czechs are all 17). Humbling thought that such musical spirit could be mustered at such a tender age. Great variety of flavors too: The Boywonders great inept, spooky DIY strut where the band might think that a reggae influence is prevailing, us knowing that the stumbleblock shuffle bears more resemblance to ancient Celtic airs, the unbearable beauty of the Czechs utter disregard of tone, meter and signatures or the Ghoulies oddly Booker T-esque chug n' scrape. The business, all and all. [Boywonders and Czechs on Messthetics #104: The Z-Block Story is here]

62. The Petticoats -Normal (Bla-Bla-Bla Records UK 1980) Ripping good-kind-feminist anti-normalcy rant. Spiritually uplifting in a way not dissimilar to first-hand experience of medieval church architecture, I shit you not. Recorded at Street Level which means that this record is Fuck Off Records related.

63. Reducers -We Are Normal (Vibes Product UK 1978) The sub genre Geoff Weiss-punk is hereby coined to describe this record. High-energy ineptitude. There is a strange kinship to the Pink Fairies/Deviants axis on this record ? A similarity in energy and attack, notwithstanding that the Reducers really don't know how to play their instruments very well. [Messthetics #1]

64. Il Ya Volkswagens - Kill Myself (Mechanical Reproductions UK 1981) One more year in the rehearsal space for these guys and I wouldn't be writing this. Discernable elements of gothrock and Bauhaus influence can be noticed as a faint vapor in this aural air to speak it in goth-speak, the crunch of the slightly sour guitar, the plodd of the (genius) bass line and the all-in slouch of the lethargic vocalist and the cracked-everyday electronics elevates this dirge into an 18 carat DIY-cruncher.

65. Quite Ridiculous Nonsense -Identity Crisis (No Label USA 1984) Most ace industrial wank of that rare late 70's variety. Wildly entertaining experiments in four track flatulence and transistor radio static.

66. Pervers/Deutscher Abschaum split 7" (Suff Productions Germany 1984) The Godhead. Reminds me of Teddy and the Fratgirls or the Foams in the sense that one gets the notion that these must have been fun gals to hang out with or date. The timeless splendor of the arty urban misfit girl: Her goofy charm and no-holds-barred enthusiasm for all that she found weird, interesting or sexually appetizing. A toast to the art school weirdo outcast girls of the world: May they forever paint their room black or read Hermann Hesse to you in bed! The music is wild, out of control amateuristic slop goes from Electric Eels fuzzed out haterock to drumkits thrown down the stairs to minimal teen-angst and then back. Beautiful stuff. Got this in trade from Thurston Snore for some boring free jazz records back in the day. What a chump!

67. The Prats -Disco Pope (Rough Trade UK 1979) 15-year old Scottish schoolboy punks seething with rage over the demon disco. Early Downliners Sect-style one chord R&B shuffle complete with the drum breaks that made God decide not to spare humanity. Don't miss it!

68. Plast -EP (Stranded Rekords Swe 1979) Four song EP of the finest in teenage punks attempting to embrace the confusion in their head from listening to TG, Cabaret Voltaire and Pere Ubu. An ungodly racket where the hostility of the chosen sounds meets the cozy ineptitude of the random noises. Plenty of short-wave noises and the crappiest of synths. Utterly charming.

9. Raincoats -Fairytale in the Supermarket (Rough Trade UK 1979) All enthusiasm/zero chops Ubu-esque DIY-charm from these stunning ladies. This is the best of their many records. Some kinda CD anthology that I can't find right now was released in the USA on the basis of Kurt Cobain being a big fan.

70. Tone Deaf and the Idiots -Why Does Politics Turn Men Into Toads? (Blue Angel UK 1979) Tone Deaf and the Idiots how do I love thee. This flexi is taken from their debut album Catastrophe Rock which still stands alongside the Damian & the Criterions "Avant Garde", Alvaro's Drinking My Own Sperm and Kräldjursanstalten's Voodoo Boogie as peerless monuments of original thought as far as late 70's underground albums are concerned. Catastrophe rock indeed. This is what "Music from the Big Pink" would've sounded like if it had been performed by the Portsmouth Sinfonia.

71. Desperate Bicycles -Grief Is Very Private (Refill UK 1980) One of the mighty Bicycles more introspective and subtle moments. Their entire recorded output is well worth hearing, and the range of emotions they paint from their palate quite astounding.

72. Door and the Window -I Like the Sound (NB Records UK 1979) One of many brilliant anti-music art school rants by the grand old daddies of the very genre. They like sound, they don't like the Pop Group, they like noise (um yeah!), they don't like butter The list goes on and I can't say that I reached any enlightenment as such by the end of this demented scratchy noise-fumble. But the journey sure was great.

73. Slugfuckers -Instant Classic (PRS Australia 1979) Homosexuals-y whiteguy funk/noise fracture that Liquid Liquid would've been pretty stoked about. Screeching scrape and dumb jokey asides. Who could ask for anything more?

74. Happy Cadavers -Nothing New (Undefined Records UK 1982) Punk/wave slop from the Midwest ? kind of aims for the Stranglers but hits Small Wonder Records. Charming stuff. Give me a fake English accent any day.

75. The Reflections - 4 Countries (Cherry Red UK 1981) Coulda been by the Desperate Bicycles this: stop/start gurgling plodding slop with most excellent Mark P. whining on top. Patented Karl Blake crumble-o-rific drumming not to mention the ambience added by the illustrious Nag of Door and the Window celebrity status. The Reflections album is well worthy of your grease as well as it is more of the same DIY-gunk but with a more contempo Recommended Records-type sound. [Messthetics #1]

76. Reacta -Stop the World (Battery Operated Records UK 1979) Another one that demands the Desperate Bicycles as cultural cookie cutter ? A beautiful ramble with the edgy guitars of Hilton Bomber-Thought Criminals.[Messthetics Greatest Hits]

77. Crash Action Winners - Hurricane Fighter Plane (Sonic International UK 1979) Somewhere in this mess of static and filtered mud are the chord-change(s) of "Hurricane Fighter Plane". The sleeve hints at the band being American, the sounds point straight in the direction of an English middle class art school, and the record cover furthermore defines them as a bunch of record collectors to boot. Not only is a Roky Erickson tune given the same crap-o-riffic sonic treatment, but the shoddy crumb-bum picture sleeve showcases record covers by the Seeds, the 13th Floor Elevators, Russ Meyer and Question Mark and the Mysterians displayed in tasteful collage form. Messthetics #104

78. The Plastic Mechanical Pig -Book Brains (IX Recording Company Japan 1981) Tricky one here, Ricky and Paul, the two guys on the cover of the PMP 45, look like a couple of student teachers and the record sounds like a couple of student teachers recorded a Raisinets/Half Japanese hybrid on a primitive 4 track. Charming record this, with two folky DIY-punk cuts, but why on earth was it released in Japan?

79. V/A - Mell Square Musick EP (Yaw Records UK 1979) I've listened to this record a good dozen times or so, and my jaw still drops. Frenzied homemade punk where the energy could light up a medium-size town. Similar to the Tandstickorshocks, Seems Twice or Red Cross "Born Innocent" LP in its instinctive disregard for notes, chords and melody, the Accused or the 021 are more than deserving of particularly exquisite golden wings in the halls of the Valhalla of Amateurism. I bow my head. [Cracked Actor Messthetics #7; Accused and 021 - Messthetics #103]

80. Tandstickorshocks - Allan Vogalan (King Kong Records Holland 1980) The Dutch Puritan Guitars right here, it is almost spooky how similar the sound of the two bands is. Spinning these 45's makes me wonder if this music somehow managed to sidestep rock & roll and the black music tradition as a core influence. There is something about the Tandstickorshocks which at the same time manages to remind me of Schoenberg, microtonal composers and Irish tin-whistle folk music. This is, needless to say, evidence that I should get out more often, but also that these slices of true-life counterculture juvenilia are not isolated from a cultural context, but embracers of it. Even if it did take a couple of decades for these records to be collected in some kind of organized manner. The kids in Tandstickorshocls must have been aware of Wire and the Young Marble Giants, but the minimal primitive music they create is original in the same manner as the artists on Pat Conte's "Secret Museum of Mankind" compilations.

81. Foams - Paint Me (Pet Me Quick Records USA 1981) A classic of sorts. Frenzied, inept live recordings by this all-girl Austin Texas punk band. The only way that I can explain the similarities to the Slits or the Raincoats are that gals sure have a different way of looking at things, or at least playing drums. Great smutty lyrics and barky art-school vox too.

82. SST -Clutch On the Ward (Tidal Wave Records USA 1977) Super-inept hippie punk/DIY from California with lotsa early punk scenesters name-checked on the sleeve. Ted Falconi pre-Flipper on guitar.

83. The Simple Approach to Newtown Products EP (NTP Records UK 1980) My approach was to pay the inflated price the dealer was asking and happily walk home with this great record. 4 songs, four bands: Crimedesk are toilet-recorded DIY-slop, Basic Unit must be the most amateuristic goth band I've ever heard, Beat Necessity showcase only the finest in tuneless death-dirge with off-key howling and Story So Far is an awesome Joy Division/Factory Records attempt, but with no discernable musical talent. Needless to say, the whole EP is as charming as the day is long.

84. Hörförståelse -Förläst Jävel (CTR Sweden 1980) Demented art skronk of drums, bass and crap keyboards featuring out of tune vocals regurgitating about someone being an over-educated bastard. Perfect, really. A must for fans of primitive shit music.

85. What To Wear - Casual But Smart EP (Basic and Typical Records UK 1980 (?)) Inspired stumble as an attempt to play dub, The Homosexuals can do it ? These guys can't. I don't know if this given failure brought about something new, but this record is a very listenable stab at atmosphere by a DIY band with limited budget and equipment. The flip also contains a couple of amazing speed-pop DIY-rambles. [ Messthetics #104]

86. Contact -Future (Object Music UK 1979) An avantfied klutz by a band who probably wanted to be Tubeway Army one thinks as one gazes upon the sleeve. They move from sloppy pro-rock attempts to full-on art-noise to excellent DIY jingle and jangle. One of many excellent items on the Object label. [ Messthetics #106 and Messthetics #7]

87. Good Missionaries -Deranged in Hastings (Unnormality Records UK 1979) A great stop/start hiccup with the patented GM/ATV tinny guitars and peripheral production. What makes this stand out is that barely concealed aggression, like a slow fuse or something.

88. The Potent Human EP (L'Aventure Records UK 1980) I maintain, and not only because of my middle class lifestyle, that the Bathroom Renovations is the greatest band name in the history of rock. This EP is a four out of four winner. Brilliant DIY fumble from The Mekon (no relation), The Liggers , The Spurtz and the ultra-wah-wah power of the Bathroom Renovations. Let me type that again: Bathroom Renovations. [Liggers: Messthetics #106]

89. Disco Zombies -Here Comes the Buts (Dining Out Records UK 1980) This is my favorite of their three spectacular singles. Thw thuick brogue of an accent blends in a most interesting way with the crappy guitar and dull throb of the melody line or the voluptous Steve Severin-style bass line.

90. Record Players -Double C Side EP (Wreckord Records UK 1978) The Record Players came from Kent, which mustered a bit of a mod scene a couple years later, but otherwise wasn't much of a factor in the punk (or DIY) world. Here they've mustered up an anti-MOR rant with a chorus that comes off kind of, eh, MOR-sounding. Imagine the classic DIY trashing, bashing and gnashing, but with one big ol' chorus, and the most obvious bridge you'll ever hear. "Ignore Us" on the flip is self-defeatist art that'll piss all over any Magnetic Fields as far as smug self-hatred goes. "It's just one thing you gotta do if you want to move along, ignore the music and ignore this song ? Ignore us and we might go away". How about that. [Messthetics #1]

91. Boys and Girls Come Out and Play EP (Boys and Girls Records UK 1980) Might be a grade school project this one, and not an art school project. Bands like the Human Cabbages, The Profile and The Famous Five are very young sounding. The fragile beauty of these tunes remind me of the UK Voice of the People anthologies of field recordings of folk songs. The purity, private nature of the songs and homemade-ness makes for a truly intimate, moving listening experience. The people on this record should be proud of this slice of juvenalia 20-odd years later.[Profile -Messthetics #103 -also a Human Cabbages song]

92. False Idols -Ego Wino (Old Knew Wave Records UK 1980) Paul Morotta's unknown English nephews. This could be a Poli Styrene Jass Band outtake. Great, spazzy DIY with jazzy chording and great, supressed aggression.

93. Bandage -Republik (Bandage Records Sweden 1978) Seems as if the average age of the band members is 16 or so, and that the mere existence of this record points to the purest and most blissfully unaware state of do it yourself: Some kids in a suburb of Stockholm getting turned on by punk rock and the notion of releasing their own record. The four songs are all fuzzed out riff rock, not unlike say, the Crucified EP, but the poor quality of recording, sound separation, levels and what have you is why the record is mentioned on this list. Not that any of that was done on purpose, mind you, for any DIY-ethic of sorts. Necessity and gratification and all that good stuff.

94. 49 Americans -Big Value (NB Records UK 1979) Another hidden Fuck Off Records release? The 49 Americans certainly moved in the same circles, and furthermore share plenty of aesthetic choices with Danny and the Dressmakers or the Instant Automatons. This record consists of 14 short blasts of fuzz punk meets art wank and is absolutely brilliant.

95. Gods Gift -925 (New Market Records UK 1979) Three tuneless tunes of the finest in fuzzed-out death-dirge DIY-slop. Kilslug jamming with the Door and the Window.[Messthetics #106]

96. Mud Hutters -Declaration EP (Defensive Records UK 1979) Mud Hutters ? Information EP (Dead Good Records UK 1979) Truly original band this. Somewhere in a Heartwork Records/Rock In Opposition neighborhood, but with a real Safe As Milk-crunch. There are psych elements on both these records, moments of blistering punk rock, and a generous infusion of the Desperate Bicycles (or Thought Criminals) ethics and esthetics. Fantastic records, and mandatory listening for any fan of the underground music of the late 70's era. Unfortunately, their subsequent album isn't great. By that time the band got Gang of Four damage.[ Messthetics #106: a track from their first EP is on Messthetics Greatest Hits]

97. Horrible Nurds -Consuming Passion (Half Wombat Records UK 1980) Oddly enough, this record sounds a hell of a lot like early Problem (Sweden) on the a-side, with the b-side being Tim Rose backed by ATV in a fantastic art-rock/DIY howler In that lost art form kind of way.

98. Reptile Ranch -Animal Noises EP (Z Block Records UK 1980) Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 (one of the most under-rated bands of the last 15 years says I and ponder an upcoming UT article) are here channeled way before they even were formed by some UK art school kids. Fantastic Beefheart-y R.I.O-hybrid DIY. Passionate, crude and obnoxious, sending this record to the top shelf of any record room! [Messthetics Greatest Hits]

99. Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle - EP (Zick Zack Records Germany 1980) Ace generic DIY/punk that could've been at home on an early Rough Trade 45.

100. The Rutto - Ei Paluuta (Ikbals Records Finland 1983) Figured I'd seal the circle with this one: A record as stupendous as "Medium Was Tedium" and as prominently throwing all the weight of the DIY-aesthetic on us, the listeners. The Rutto seem to be your 1983 run-of-the-mill small town punk rockers, and this 45 is generic, frantic buzzsaw guitar 2-chord punk. The magic with this one, however, is that in between the choca-blocks of teen nihilism is a noticeable sense of wonder and joi de vivre oozing thru' the grooves, or maybe I am just getting old and sentimental. Thanks for reading.

[zero-braincells-left]

oh… oh dear… the lore…

hey it’s me. the brixing bad posts guy. it appears since last time the pfps have changed….. hmmm… I shall change my ship art accordingly… (also do i get to do a polyamory with double-breaking-fixing-bad-posts now? hmmm….)

If you're doing a polyamory, you should probably be aware of @triple-breaking-fixing-bad-posts

They're new, and who knows if they'll keep it up, but they're here for now.

[tearasshouse]

Tech & vidya ramblings pt 1

Making original posts? On Tumblr? In this day and age? What?

So I want to do a little cataloging, sue me. With the recent purchase of an Intel NUC, specifically the Crimson Canyon unit I’ve been taking a dive into my old ass Steam and GOG library, with detours into Battle.net and *shudder*, the Epic Games Store (hey, free Borderlands forced my hand). Oh and my Vita TV bit the dust -- bad HDMI port, bah. 

NUCs (pronounced “nook”) are, by the way, these tiny desktops that Intel make with almost zero marketing that give you comparable laptop performance in a 4x4″ footprint. They get away with this size by having a bespoke single-board setup, and an external power brick. This product is for those who: want something like a laptop, but not a laptop; a Chromebox, but without the restrictions of ChromeOS; something with way more oomph than a Raspberry Pi or Intel Compute Stick, or those who find even m-ITX form factors on the big side. Gigabyte and ASUS also make the BRIX and Mini PC lines respectively that are the same kind of thing, but the pricing and availability on those (not to mention that they don’t seem to be updated as frequently with newer parts) in Canada are not so good. You could also get those off-lease mini desktops from Lenovo, HP and Dell from eBay, if you’re okay with second hand. 

I wanted something with the ability to play games though, and this itty bitty thing packs a discrete Radeon that’s about on par with a GeForce 940MX or AMD’s own Vega 10 iGPU. This model also comes with an 8th gen U-series i3, which I’m going to be honest, I’m not super with thrilled with as dual-core computing, even with hyper threading in 2020 is a bit sketch but benchmarks aside, its handled productivity web apps and older gen AAA games, current eSports titles and possibly even emulation without any complaint. Oh and HDR10 4K video at 60fps through MPC? Yeah, it’ll do those fine too. 

Honestly, for the $583 CDN total I paid for this (which includes tax and a 512gb stick of Adata SX8200 Pro for storage), I’m pretty darn happy. You could conceivably opt for a 5+ litre case and go with AMD’s Ryzen APUs for a tiny budget gaming setup, but sourcing those parts at the same price bracket was difficult (again, hello Canadian market and WFH/’Rona putting further strain on supply/demand). The NUCs start to make more sense when you factor in an equivalent bill of materials plus labour. 

“But why would you get this when you could get a laptop?” you ask. Again, these things have equivalent performance to laptops, but occupy a different market segment. They’re replacing traditional tower desktops as computing miniaturizes and ���good enough” performance can be had on small budgets for most people. Yeah, you could set your laptop up with a stand, a USB hub, monitor and peripherals, but I just find that clunky and I want my Chromebook unshackled. 

“Are you sure you can’t build something as good if not better for around ~$600?” I’m pretty sure I cannot. You’re more than welcome to send me a shopping list though. Again, Canadian here. While space wasn’t a huge consideration for me, I’m also not working on a McMansion sized table, so any chance to free up real estate is much appreciated. I’m not so sure you could find a 4x4″ motherboard that easily, plus that would also come with the price premium SFF computing carries. Trying out a NUC began as a novelty, but now I can’t ever see myself going for something much bigger than a palm-sized unit. 

“Aren’t NUCs bare bones kits? You end up paying for RAM and storage which brings the price up.” Yes, this is true for most NUCs, but mine came preconfigured to go (though I added an SSD). I’m not saying NUCs are this incredible price/performance proposition, but they really aren’t as bad as some think. Sure there’s a slight premium that you absorb by downsizing to this footprint (not to mention the Intel premium for their products), so that’s going to be an individual choice. Besides, don’t OEMs charge you exorbitant amounts anyway to upgrade storage and memory? At least you get the option to tinker and upgrade yourself with a NUC. 

“Aren’t these just Mac Mini clones? Why should I get one of these instead of those?” Yes and no. You could probably put Hackintosh on these and turn it into a Mac Mini though? And obviously get a Mac Mini if you want real MacOS? They’re clones in the sense that Apple did the whole ultra SFF mini computer first (I think, don’t @ me), but here in PC Land, NUCs and similar products are where it’s at. Intel seem to be the most prolific at refreshing these with new parts in a dizzying assortment of configurations across a variety of price points. You wouldn’t know that though, because they hardly advertise these things to end users. 

TL;DR get these if you want a super tiny PC that has a bit of customization going for it if you’re the DIY type. Get this one if you want something with some gaming legs, or better yet its “Islay Canyon” sibling with i5/i7s if you need more CPU oomph. Oh and if you were wondering, no, they aren’t exactly like Valve’s aborted Steam Machine concept, if only because most NUCs aren’t configured for gaming due to the historically crummy Intel iGPUs, but with managed expectations, or if you splash the cash and get their Hades and Ghost Canyon models, you can run a lot more than you might expect. 

For myself though, I’m hoping Tiger Lake CPUs and beyond with Intel Xe graphics find their way into future NUCs so I can get below or at console-ish performance while retaining all the benefits of a tiny PC. Or if AMD steps it up with OEMs and makes a similar product with a Ryzen APU. That’s the way it’s playing out for me next gen, as the PS5 (well, consoles in general) is looking less and less appealing to me.

[lilytcyip]

December 31st, 2019

1.3 tera v w/ rjin & ggao

1.4 cactus & la foret w/ jng

1.8 talked it out with jng ; tried to understand that if i were happy, what more could you ask for

1.11 cyns bday dinner

1.11 craft beer w/ aleung & lwong

1.13 arisu & standing egg with efeng & aleung ; drove on highway for the first time

1.18 west dineout w/ annie pkp

1.19 glass w/ fifi

2.10 first snow of the year

2.3 cny lunch at home with the fam - tong yuen & poon choi

2.4 mooseknuckles - grateful

2.5 lunar new year

2.16 hangiout with mamayip & sis: beta 5, fixing the parka, meetfresh, miku sushi dindin

2.17 mom leaving for 2 months, wandering earth with the yips

2.19 happy hour cactus w/ fifi

2.20 kokoro lunch & shopping w/ rjin

2.20 so hyang w/ veda & nwu

2.21 black been noodles & tonkatsu lunch & usagi matcha sweets w/ ewong

2.22 green leaf sushi & grounds for coffee w/ vtan

2.25 sushi mura w/ acao ; larry berg planes and kisses for the first time

3.13 mental health talk w/ nwu & tchiu + jamjar

3.15 virtuous pie & nanas green tea w/ rjin

3.16 wine night w/ claw, aleung & fsyal

3.17 tabom & stanely park w/ jerpilla

3.23 pool & rc shopping with jyang

4.3 studying with jyang on campus & langara bye

4.9 studying with jyang at my house

4.18 ramen danbo & official date 

4.20 so hyang & off the grid waffles w/ ayip

4.26 sci ning off w/ aleung, claw, fsyal, lwong & mcheung

4.27 clay llama terra pot class

4.29 so hyang budae jjigae & yifang w/ ewong

4.30 rc shopping & sushi lover with the yips 

5.1 maenam, kits beach & rain or shiine ice cream w/ rjin

5.2 our first little tiff & being called chubby by mlo

5.3 shopping w/ vchan, aleung & fsyal

5.7-5.11 LA trip

5.8 LACMA & melrose & century city field

5.9 warner bros tour

5.10 malibu

5.28-6.1 hokkaido, japan

5.29 a 2-floor hotel with own onsen

5.31 otaru food adventures

6.1 doraemon painting & royce airport

6.2 macau: got scammed by taxi & lost luggage

6.7-6.15 inner mongolia & beijing

6.18 first co op offer 

6.21 fire port party at fifis house

6.29 pottery painting w lwong, aleung, vchan, fsyal

7.5 brunch w/ rjin at jethro’s fine grub, baker & table

7.6 nwu’s birthday dindin at coast, hangout with aleung & nwu at nightingale

7.14 leavenworth cherries

7.17 brunch w/ rjin at OEB

7.19 nightmarket w/ jyang, mlaw, rjin

7.21 beach day w/ aleung, fsyal & lwong; hy’s with fam

7.24 chau veggies w/ acao

7.27 shiok & icy bar w/ ewong

8.3 first day of work at doctors office

8.4 escape room w/ vchan, fsyal & jyang; bowling & anh and chi

8.17 dindin w/ fsyal, aleung & tlim; double date walks at olympic village with ancas

8.18 - 8.19 kelowna

8.18 polar grove & penticton lazy river, mission hill

8.19 kayaking, quail’s gate

8.24 lit night at fifis house with the girls and boys

8.25 aleung’s bday harrison trip

8.27 work shopping & nuba w/ fsyal

8.28 sleepover w/ rjin

8.29 brunch w/ aleung, moii cafe chill with fsyal too

9.3 first day of co op work

9.7 grave of the fireflies & wildtale cuddles

9.14 eric chou meet & greet

9.19 amandarachlee neg comment and posted my encouragement on her story

10.5 maiko parfait & shopping w/ jyang, earls with the amigos

10.18 gmen & oncecake: melody, rillakuma, card & collage

10.24 dark table w/ rjin

11.7 moii after work 

12.15 baking custard souffle pancakes w/ ewong

12.18 office christmas party & bbt w/ slim

12.19 glow

12.21 fifi’s christmas party

12.22 christmas market w/ rjin: churros & chimney cake

12.23 psyc team secret santa & mahjong

12.25 christmas dindin at market by jean-georges

12.26 birthday dindin at zeferelli

12.27 ring & birthday dinner at brix and mortar w/ jyang

12.28 skated alone, worked out, baked & dindin at botanist

looking back at it now, i definitely went out a lot more compared to previous years LOL i had some struggles in january, and at multiple points in my life i blamed myself for being ungrateful, for seeking more when i already had so much in life compared to other people. my friends were there for me and i wouldnt have been able to live through it without them. then again, during reading break in february, i got myself into the same hot mess and i was sad about it for a week and i blamed myself for getting so attached so quickly. because of these experiences, my expectations were v low and i didnt really expect anything when i talked to jyang, what they say really is true, you get it the moment you stop seeking for it. it comes and find you (: the 3 most important that happened this year is burbur, co op job & me getting more comfortable around doggs; this is a big deal !! i actually like cuddling dogs and i feel less scared of them as long as i have some time to get used to them!! im proud of myself for making progress with my phobia! after i started my co op job, bc i didnt have a lot to do, i felt like i wasnt actively contributing to my workplace and that i was very useless. i still feel the same way now, but i think i am slowly getting used to it. thankfully, my coworkers are VERY nice and i enjoy working around them. while i did not get a different position for january, im still grateful that i got an extended placement. nonetheless, meeting with the different PIs and sumeet pointed me in the right direction of looking for nserc / volunteering opportunities when i do go back to school. AND ofc burbur! im grateful that we were able to be there for each other for the past 8 months, both the ups and downs and i am so so thankful that we’re understanding and patient with each other, as we help each other learn along the way and help each other become a better version of ourselves. this companionship is better than i have asked for and i always remind myself to focus on the important things rather than the minor inconveniences. this year, in terms of fitness goals, ive been doing really well before asia. but ever since i came back, it all went downhill and i gained back all the weight that i lost this year year LOL so in 2020, one of my biggest goal is to eat healthy again, and workout more consistently. getting a job in sept kinda interfered with my progress too, bc i was so tired after work, even when i wasnt doing anything and i stressed eat bc i felt terrible. a lot of diff factors made me feel super stressed, and the fact that i wasnt eating clean / exercising reguarly made me feel worse about the whole situation ): so in 2020, maintaining a healthy lifestyle will be one of my top priorities and gifting myself a healthy body is one of greatest things i can do for myself. this also contributed to the lack of journalling near the end of the year, it felt like bc i wasnt doing the things i was “supposed to do”, i just felt so bad whenever i couldnt tick off that particular habit whenever i fill in my trackers. but tonight, i watched this video and it talked about habits should be for awareness, not for self-hate or self-loathing. this is something that i need to keep in mind. ever since april really, the issue of leaving my house and meeting up with my friends have always stressed me in fear of dealing with passive aggressiveness with my mom lool everytime i get inviited to plans, i just get anxiety about having to tell her about it LOL and even when im out, having a msg/ call for her freaks me out in fear that she will get mad at me for being home late and etc and fifi really woke me up with her words, i should just care less LOL i need to stop caring so much about what she thinks, bc at the end of the day, this IS my life and if i never make any changes, i will never be able to grow and be independent. i think this pree much sums up all my events and emotions in 2019, the last year of the 2010s. in the next decade, a lot of things will happen as i will be in my 20s - 30s, where new opportunities will arise, and graduate uni, do my masters, find a job, maybe even marry and move out LOL the 2020s will definitely be an impt decade, but just for next year i want to:

1. understand that i am old enough to make choices, and in general, care less about what she thinks

2. at the same time, i want to appreciate and be grateful for what my mom, dad and annie have done for me; a lot of the times, i feel like i take them for granted just bc i know they will always be there for me and this is not how you should treat your biggest supporters

3. trust that everything will workout in the end, while you may not be able to envision what you career / life would be like when youre 30, you can definitely take small steps and move towards your goal

4. be mindful of what i eat and exercise regularly (4x hiit & cardio a week) ; treats & sweets in moderation; use those habit trackers for awareness, not for self-loathing / self-hate

5. create art regularly, read more and at least do 5 duolingos every week! 

every year, time just seems to go by faster and faster and i feel scared at times. as i type this, theres only 8 minutes left of this decade LOL so in 2020, continue to live in the moment, be present, cherish those that are around you, and have faith that everything will come together, one piece at a time. at the same time, always rmb that you can make small changes to be a better version of yourself, whenever & however you want and this is the 1 thing that other people can’t stop you from doing! 

[tcpk25]

MADDEN Release - Premade Posts

"💙💀 𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗔𝗩𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘! 

💀💙

MADDEN is 𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗟𝗜𝗩𝗘 and available for 𝙁𝙍𝙀𝙀 with Kindle Unlimited! You won't be able to get enough of this protective alpha rock star. 🥵

 💙 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙗𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚! 💙

The series is complete! Time to read Madden or get caught up starting with Brix.

𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗯 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗽𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝗔𝗗𝗗𝗘𝗡: geni.us/madden-arh

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲���� 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗫: geni.us/arebelshavoc

𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙚'𝙨 𝙖 𝙜𝙡𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙈𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙣…

✓ Protective alpha rock star

✓ Confident and strong-willed journalist

✓ Secrets, lies, and deception

✓ Loads of heat

✓ Interconnected standalone

Madden Cole is considered a rock 'n' roll god, and all the women want him. Except for me.

After working my butt off as a journalist for years, I’ve heard the rumors about him and his band and have read all about their dirty scandals in the headlines.

When I land a job as a writer for 𝘓𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 magazine, I'll stop at nothing to make a good impression. Even if it means agreeing to a sit-down interview with the bad boys of A Rebels Havoc.

They’re making a name for themselves by soaring to the top of the charts with multiplatinum records and sold-out tours.

Madden is cold and closed-off, but the more I get to know him, the more he starts to open up to me. As hard as I’ve tried to resist wanting him, when he turns on his sweet-talking charm, all the walls I've built around me crumble.

They say what goes up must come down, and the band is forced to face the downside of fame. Rumors, lies, and blackmail threaten Madden's life and the career he and the guys have worked so hard to build.

He doesn't know about the secret I've been keeping.

And I fear when he finds out the truth, it could destroy everything.

#sinsofarebel #tysin #arebelshavoc #certifiedrebelreader #authorbrookeobrien @authorbrookeobrien"

[bookloversreviewer]

🔥🔥 HOT NEW RELEASE 🔥🔥

Brix by Brooke O’Brien is LIVE!! Grab it today!!

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆’𝒔 𝒂 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆.

Brix Ward is a Grade A prick.

⠀⠀

He's arrogant, spoiled, and self-centered. As the lead singer of A Rebels Havoc, he's used to women falling over themselves for a chance to tame the wild bad boy.

⠀⠀

Except for me.

⠀⠀

I still remember the boy I grew up with. The one who went out of his way to make my life a living hell. I did my best to avoid him at all costs.

⠀⠀

Imagine my surprise when our parents announced they had eloped, then left me to live with my new stepbrother. Alone.

⠀⠀

Now, no matter what I do, there's no escaping him. He's always there, tempting me, provoking me. Every moment of every day. The more we're around each other, the more the heat between us begins to rise.

⠀⠀

If he thinks he can hurt me again, he’s dead wrong.

⠀⠀

I won’t let him be the one to destroy me, even if it breaks my heart.

PURCHASE BRIX:

books2read.com/brix

🎤 ADD BRIX TO YOUR GOODREADS TBR: bit.ly/BrixGR

Cover Designer: Cover Art © Dee Garcia, Black Widow Designs

Watch the Book Trailer: bit.ly/BrixTrailer

Read the Love Letter from Brix featured in the Love Letters Collection for FREE: authorbrookeobrien.com/loveletterscollection

GIVEAWAY:

Brooke O’Brien is giving away a signed paperback copy of Brix and a bunch of goodies are up for grabs.

Check out the pinned post on Author Brooke O'Brien's Facebook Page (facebook.com/authorbrookeo) or bit.ly/BrixCRGiveaway to enter!

[booklovershangoutlove]

🔥🔥 HOT NEW RELEASE 🔥🔥 Brix by @authorbrookeobrien is LIVE!! Grab it today!! 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆’𝒔 𝒂 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆. Brix Ward is a Grade A prick. ⠀⠀ He's arrogant, spoiled, and self-centered. As the lead singer of A Rebels Havoc, he's used to women falling over themselves for a chance to tame the wild bad boy. ⠀⠀ Except for me. ⠀⠀ I still remember the boy I grew up with. The one who went out of his way to make my life a living hell. I did my best to avoid him at all costs. ⠀⠀ Imagine my surprise when our parents announced they had eloped, then left me to live with my new stepbrother. Alone. ⠀⠀ Now, no matter what I do, there's no escaping him. He's always there, tempting me, provoking me. Every moment of every day. The more we're around each other, the more the heat between us begins to rise. ⠀⠀ If he thinks he can hurt me again, he’s dead wrong. ⠀⠀ I won’t let him be the one to destroy me, even if it breaks my heart. PURCHASE BRIX: books2read.com/brix 🎤 ADD BRIX TO YOUR GOODREADS TBR: bit.ly/BrixGR Cover Designer: Cover Art © Dee Garcia, Black Widow Designs Watch the Book Trailer: bit.ly/BrixTrailer Read the Love Letter from Brix featured in the Love Letters Collection for FREE: authorbrookeobrien.com/loveletterscollection GIVEAWAY: Brooke O’Brien is giving away a signed paperback copy of Brix and a bunch of goodies are up for grabs. Check out the pinned post on Author Brooke O'Brien's Facebook Page (facebook.com/authorbrookeo) or bit.ly/BrixCRGiveaway to enter! #BrookeOBrien #BullyRomance #HotNewRelease #needtoreadit #bookobsessed #wildfiremarketing https://www.instagram.com/p/B9HVSzRA-dQ/?igshid=hvt3c6bm59ss

[kandrsdarkangelsbookblog]

Are you ready for this steamy, forbidden romances?

Brix by Brooke O’Brien is releasing on February 28th! You will love it! Have you pre-ordered yet! Head over to Brooke O'Brien's website to read an excerpt!

Excerpt reveal ➜ https://www.authorbrookeobrien.com/post/brixexcerpt

Pre-order Brix for the special release price of $2.99: www.authorbrookeobrien.com/brix

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆’𝒔 𝒂 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆.

Brix Ward is a Grade A prick.

⠀⠀

He's arrogant, spoiled, and self-centered. As the lead singer of A Rebels Havoc, he's used to women falling over themselves for a chance to tame the wild bad boy.

⠀⠀

Except for me.

⠀⠀

I still remember the boy I grew up with. The one who went out of his way to make my life a living hell. I did my best to avoid him at all costs.

⠀⠀

Imagine my surprise when our parents announced they had eloped, then left me to live with my new stepbrother. Alone.

⠀⠀

Now, no matter what I do, there's no escaping him. He's always there, tempting me, provoking me. Every moment of every day. The more we're around each other, the more the heat between us begins to rise.

⠀⠀

If he thinks he can hurt me again, he’s dead wrong.

⠀⠀

I won’t let him be the one to destroy me, even if it breaks my heart.

🎤 ADD BRIX TO YOUR GOODREADS TBR: bit.ly/BrixGR

Cover Designer: Cover Art © Dee Garcia, Black Widow Designs

Release Alert: www.authorbrookeobrien.com/releasealert

Watch the Book Trailer: bit.ly/BrixTrailer

Vote for Brix for Most Anticipated February Release: bit.ly/VoteBrix

[story-the-world]

Northern California

San Francisco, San Jose, Napa… really all of Northern California. This is an interesting one to write about, since I have been to Northern California around 20 times… however most of them were when I was little. Below are my recommendations on the various areas – with a bias towards activities (rather than going out). I have heard from several people that the best part of living in San Francisco is how close you are to all of the other gems Norther California has to offer – and not the city itself. Which I also believe to be true… this post will not take the usual form of 3 do’s and 1 don’t and will be more of a list of things I like/places to visit – with the most detail on Napa.

Redwoods:

Redwoods are amazing. It’s like going to a giant waterfall, you look up and think “nature is really cool.” There are a bunch of places to see the big trees, and even drive through them. We would always go to (

http://www.roaringcamp.com/excursions/redwood-forest-steam-train

) It is touristy and for little kids but the train is fun and the trees are beautiful. The pro of going down here (about an hour and a half south of SF) is that you are close to Santa Cruz – which has a cool boardwalk (similar to Coney Island). Not much else to do here besides the boardwalk, as the town isn’t that special.

Monterey and Carmel:

Monterey is a cool town another hour south of Santa Cruz. It has a really good aquarium (if you are into that) and some good sea food. The drive from Santa Cruz down to Monterey is really scenic and there are some nice beaches to stop at along the way. One of my favorite things to do is to buy kites, and fly them at Marina State Beach – or one of the other ‘dunes’ along the way. It is super windy and great for flying kites.

If you keep driving down, you get to Carmel… probably my favorite place in the world. White sand beaches, and a quiet, cute little town. Might be the most beautiful sunsets in the country. The restaurants are fantastic.. I like Portabella the best.. but skip the dessert and grab something at Patisserie Boissiere Restaurant.

Napa:

This is tricky because it is really up to you in terms of what you want to do. There are a bunch of options:

-wine train (I didn’t do this and heard it stinks)

-bike tour (I didn’t do this since I did a bike tour in Mendoza but I assume it is similar)

-groupon tour (I actually heard good things about a few of these. If you do your research you might be able to get a good deal on a bus tour/tasting. Only problem is you are stuck to a specific agenda and with a large group. If you want to make friends and not worry about driving, this might be a good option).

-research and take ubers (probably the most expensive, but you get the personalized agenda. This is what my sister did since her and her husband wanted to go to very specific places that were somewhat far apart)

-drive (If you don’t drink too much at the tastings (they are expensive) this is a good option. Probably can only do 1-2 in a day)

-walk (stay in town and walk to ‘tasting rooms’ – I like this option because in my opinion, once you go to one winery and see the ‘process’, you don’t need to go to another. I am spoiled since I have been to plenty of places to see ‘how wine is made’ and I really just like tasting different vintages, and grape varieties)

Some places in various areas:

Sonoma: 

Hawkes Wine tasting room (the vineyard is very cool as well), Tasca Tasca – Portuguese Tapas, Girl and the fig – really good food

Napa:

Regusci Winery – wine is really good, beautiful scenery, great people… highly recommend doing to tour where they take you around on a golf cart. If you are lucky enough, you might get invited to a special concert in the cellar on the 3rd floor! Oxbow market – cool public market with fresh veg. This is a must stop if you want to get snacks or bring a picnic.

Yountville: (this is where I stayed… there are about 15 tasting rooms within walking distance (or bike). At each one, they will give you a map of all the wineries (names, hours…) Don’t try to do them all! Napa Valley Lodge ($300 per night). Good hotel with a really nice pool – easy to walk to all the tasting rooms. The French Laundry (Michelin star… impossible to get in… if you do, the food is wonderful). Hope and Grace – the owner Charles is super friendly and they have really good wines. I purchased quite a few while I was there. Jessup Cellars – cool spot, good wines, and an art gallery. Brix – great place for lunch, beautiful garden with fresh veg for the salad. 

Rutherford/Oakville

Cakebread cellers, nickel & nichel, opus one, Robert Mondavi Winery, Frog’s Leap winery

St Helena

Beringer Vineyards, Newton Vineyard

Calistoga

Schramsberg, Castello di amorosa – wine was meh… views were beautiful

Other (non wine)

Tank – good tasting room in an old gas station, Buster Original BBQ – good bbq – get the pulled pork!

Other tips for Napa:

-bring some small bills and tip the person doing the tasting for you if they are good. This is pretty common in Napa, and it encourages them to be more personable

-if you buy wine, the tasting fees are generally waived. If you buy enough, the shipping might be free as well

-cabs are really expensive, so try some of them, but don’t limit yourself to just cabs. There are some lighter reds and whites that are really good too.

As far as SF goes…

Fishermans warf = time square – avoid.. the seals are cool but there are not many left hanging out at the dock. Otherwise, it is your typical chain restaurants/bars

Palace of fine arts is cool, and so is the golden gate bridge. Recommend going to each and taking a few pictures for the gram

Best bars – in my opinion – are in the mission. There is a combo of dive bars and fancy new places.. it had a similar vibe to division street in Chicago. Some places I like are Zeitgeist (huge beer garden in the bac), Monk’s kettle (unlimited beers on tap), Lolo (tacos), El Techo (rooftop).

Golden Gate Park and Twin Peaks are cool to hike or bike.

Coffee shops – I wasn’t impressed, most were chains and they were all pretty crowded. The ones that weren’t chains had a pretty bad atmosphere… the tech bro stereotype is real

[hearingaidsandtea]

On Accommodations (they’re for me not for you)

On Hearing Aids and Tea, I don’t mind acting as your Deaf/HoH Dictionary. But, what works best for me will not work for or be applicable to everyone in the community. This is simply a place to start. This particular post is going to be long because I’m going to be addressing the nitty-gritty. So bookmark it, like it, whatever. Come back to it and take it in small manageable bites. Anyway, let’s do this.

I’ve been watching a lot of Glee lately. Glee has its issues (sooo many issues) but their episode Wheels did a good job with physical disabilities in one key part.

Will, the Glee club head is calling out Sue (cheer leading coach) for being mean to the new cheerleader, a girl with Downs Syndrome. He says Sue should be nicer because "She's not like everyone else." 

Sue stops, faces him and says "I want you to listen to what you just said, William. You're asking me to treat this girl differently because she has a disability. When it seems to me she just wants to be treated like everybody else."

Not enough people realize this. This is what accommodations are for. That is what they are designed to do--help disabled people interact with the world as normally as possible. Let me help you out here by explaining what you need to know about accommodations.

WHAT is an accommodation?

Anything that helps me function as independently as possible. Functioning here means communicating with the world and being able to interact and do the things I want to do (going to school and participating in class, working, going to the mall with friends, etc.). 

WHO accommodations are for?

Me. They are not for you. They are not supposed to make your life easier. Let me repeat that. Accommodations for a disabled person are not supposed to make your life as an able-bodied person easier. Read that as many times as you need to. It hurts, but it’s important for you to know and understand if you’re going to interact with those who need and use accommodations.

WHY do I (Anna) have accommodations?

Because it helps me interact with the world, the world you (assuming you are an able-bodied person) are apart of, as close to normal as possible. Because guess what? I am magically a human being! I actually want to be treated like a  person! Which is why I freaking loved that part of Glee despite the rest of the episode being a train-wreck. That scene nailed it. I do want to be treated like everyone else as much as possible and the best way for me to do that is to use my accommodations.

My accommodations are not to single me out, but so that I can interact with the world more easily. Many, many doors are closed to me because of my disability, and using my accommodations helps me push some of those doors open.

I have a number of accommodations: My hearing aids, subtitles on movies, an alarm clock that can wake me/the dead/the Elder gods, and translators (which in my case are family and friends). I also have a cell phone that is designed for people who are deaf/HoH. In certain situations, such as school, I have other accommodations (such as preferential seating). If my hearing were to get bad enough I could get a hearing dog.

Some of these are free and some of these are incredibly, incredibly expensive. Let’s take a look at the accommodations I use more closely: 

Hearing aids boost my hearing but even with cochlear implants (which I do not have and have their own problems) hearing is never 100% perfect. I will NEVER have normal hearing.

Hearing aids can cost up to $5,000 or more.

To get ones that fit my hearing needs, I need to get hearing tests, which are around $200 (and that’s after insurance). Frankly, I should be getting my hearing tested once a year to keep up with any changes.

Hearing aids require batteries which are around 20 dollars a pack for 20. A pair of batteries lasts me (with my current aids) about a week, sometimes less. That adds up!

I have a currently have a dry aid which absorbs the moisture from my hearing aids. This isn’t the place to explain how that spiffy and all important piece of technology works, but suffice to say, it’s bloody important. This costs around $150-200. To run it needs a Dry Brix which come 3 to a pack and cost $20 dollars. I need 6-8 of these a year.

Subtitles: This should be a no-brainer. But to explain it anyway. I cannot lip read if the characters are not facing the camera or are in a super dark place. If they have accents that makes it harder. While I adore the music in movies, that also makes it hard for me to hear. Many times certain tones overlap which makes it hard for me to pick out voices and what the characters are saying. Subtitles are the core of my enjoyment in movies. Unless I have someone who’s willing to explain to me what’s going on every so often, I much prefer to watch movies at home with my beloved subtitles. 

Alarm Clock: I actually need a new one, which is totally beside the point. But an alarm clock that can wake me, the dead, and the Elder gods is very important. Thankfully the deaf/HoH techno geeks (and techno geeks in general) have got my (and the community’s back) on this point. There are alarm clocks that will make the pillow vibrate so you wake up. There are alarm clocks that flash brightly while beeping so you wake up. There are ones like mine, that are so loud that even with both my room doors closed, it can be heard all the way at the other end of the house at full volume. These alarm clocks are all around $20 or so dollars. Most expensive one is around $50. 

Translators (aka family and friends): My family and close friends are probably one of the biggest accommodations after the hearing aids. Ironically it only works because they are willing to accommodate me. A translator in this case is someone who is standing close to me and when I can’t lip read or hear what’s being said, they tell me. This person is always standing close to me and faces me when they’re talking. My translators change frequently depending on the situation and are more often than not my family. But these are people who have been around me long enough to know when I’m catching something or when I’m not and will naturally translate for me. If I knew ASL, a translator would translate what is being said into ASL. At many events I can request that I have a translator or bring my own.

Cell Phone: DID YOU GUYS KNOW THAT THE MAN WHO INVENTED THE PHONE WAS TRYING TO INVENT THE HEARING AID FOR HIS HARD OF HEARING WIFE AND ACCIDENTALLY INVENTED THE PHONE INSTEAD?!?!?! I know he was trying to invent hearing aids, but bless him anyway! And bless the phone manufacturers that make phones that are specifically for people like me. These phones are awesome because they allow me to hear well with my hearing aids in or out. Even on my bad side I can hear pretty well using those phones. Now this might not seem like a big deal, but if you are constantly frustrated by not being able to understand what is being said then talking on the phone becomes terror inducing. It’s frustrating and not at all fun. We’ll avoid talking on the phone if at all possible, and thanks to the internet as well as texting, often times we have an easier way to go about things than calling someone. But sometimes you just have to make a phone call. A good phone helps take away a lot of that anxiety and frustration. The phone also has an option to light up whenever I get an alert or call, so that I can see it flashing, even if I don’t hear the phone ring.

There’s actually a rating system that phones have, and the system is based on how well phones work with hearing aids (HAC ratings). When I buy a new phone this is the key thing I look for. Phone prices vary, but using the HAC ratings is super helpful in narrowing down a phone to suit my needs. My current phone (Samsung Galaxy) is one of the highest rated. I love it! Any phone that rates highly on the scale is a good investment.

Preferential Seating/Note Taker: All my life in schools I have had multiple accommodations. Those have changed over time but two have always remained the same, ready for me to make use of if needed. In a later post I’ll talk about the process to get the accommodations you need in schools. Preferential seating means that I have first choice in where I sit, regardless of any seating charts. I sit in the first or second row so I can easily hear and see the professor. A note taker is someone who sits beside me and takes their own notes on a special paper and after the class is over, they give me a carbon copy of the notes. I have always taken my own notes, but in the past I’ve found note takers useful because if I miss something, my note-taker has most likely written it down.

Other Accommodations: There are fire alarms for the Deaf/HoH which light up and are loud enough to once again, wake the Elder gods. This is great because you can see it. On the off chance you can’t see or hear it, one of your neighbors can. A hearing dog can alert their human to noises, such as people talking to their owner, the door bell, any objects in the kitchen that are beeping, and loads of other things. Speaking of door bells, there are specially designed ones that light up. These are only a portion of accommodations that we have access to. There are resources out there that level the playing field.

There is nothing that we can’t do once we have the right tools.

As a friend or family member to someone who is deaf, the most important thing is to respect these accommodations. If you have questions, ask them! Keep in mind though, understanding isn’t as important as respecting and doing as asked to help. 

[lozshop]

Review LOZ Pokemon Pikachu Diamond BlockS

New Post has been published on https://lozshop.com/review-loz-pokemon-pikachu/

Review LOZ Pokemon Pikachu Diamond BlockS

This is the best replica of a Pikachu I’ve seen this month, especially when compared to its counterparts. The eyes, ears, mouth, tail, cheeks, etc. are all instantly recognizable and distinct, and it’s much cuter than anything other model featured before. So I’ve decided to make a very review for one of the best Loz’s products. 

Review LOZ Pokemon Pikachu Diamond Blocks for every single detail

The back even keeps the stripes and tail colors, as well as a tail that is the most accurately shaped as Pikachu’s tail.

Unfortunately, the size of the tail makes the figure a little backheavy, making it more frustrating that, as far as I can tell, there are no base plates made for these bricks…

And I just said that I’m impressed with how well they constructed Pikachu’s face, especially since they were working with more pieces than the other sets utilized, but with how they designed the face… We are working with high levels of “derp” here. Oh, that’s even better.

Not as good as it trying to find its nose though. Or its “punched in the stomach” face. I guess that looks normal. …Though we now have a very sarcastic-looking Pikachu. And now Pikachu’s just seen what Professor Oak does with all those Bulbasaur that starting trainers don’t take… Eh, heck with it… Let’s create a derp gif for future reviews so I don’t have to steal other peoples’.

And the mouth… …I don’t know why they bothered to make an actual mouth as opposed to a small smile or something… but thank you for making it as goofy and ill-fitting as possible. I want to say it reminds me of a really early computer-animated independent short I saw one time where the characters’ mouths moved in a diamond pattern, but it’s not coming to mind.

Actually, is anyone else getting a Far Side feel from this? Especially with the fat kid whose mouth turns into a trumpet when he’s excited? Like what Strong Sad dressed up as in that Homestar Runner cartoon? …No? …Just me?

The cheeks are nice, though, especially since they could afford to round these. Maybe they look a little big, but Pikachu are known for their large cheek patches that generate electricity, so I can’t fault the design for that.It even has a cute little button nose! …Which is offset somewhat by the close-up shot of the lifeless pupils staring at me…

They built the top of the head to give it a much more spherical and natural look, so we’re not dealing with the cube-heads of Nanoblocks or the creepy Ionix mask stolen from the Happy Mask Salesman.

Guess this Pikachu has avoided meeting with a terrible fate. …Still gotta save the world from the moon, though…

However, I’m strangely put off by the shape of the ears. On the one hand, I’m glad they matched the shape of the ears so well, since Pikachu does have rod-like ears, but on the other hand, since most of the figure is so blocky, they don’t quite match the design.

Maybe I wouldn’t be so concerned with the design if they kept the cylindrical shape, but the little triangles on the top don’t match the smoothness of the rest of the ear. Why couldn’t they have used cones for the tips and kept it smooth all the way up? …Still, it’s a minor nitpick at best, one that only people with too much time on their hands would bother to point out and complain about. …Anyway…

I LOVE the design of the arms. They’re just the right shape and size and actually look like arms as opposed to claws or tiny brick mounds. I even love the little claw at the end, since that just perfectly represents how tiny Pikachu’s little fingers are and just makes it all the more cute.

Not as much detail was put into the feet, but they did make them look like feet and not little blocks or The Tramp’s comically oversized shoes. It would have been nice to have some semblance of toes, but they keep him standing, so can’t complain.

The tail is very nicely shaped, given what they had to work with. I would have liked it if they made the tail more slanted and lightning-shaped, but I don’t know how they would have pulled that off without using an excessive amount of bricks that probably would have made the design more fragile.

I especially love their use of headlight bricks to build a slant on the backside of the tail and make it look less “blocky.” …Though I’m wondering if those crevices left between the bricks can be filled in with something?

But the best part about this figure? The thing that causes it to excel far beyond anything else we’ve seen this month? It’s articulated! Yes, it actually has hinged arms and ears, allowing for roughly 90° of movement with the arms and 45° with the ears. Ok, it’s not minifigure-level, or possibly Wall-E level, but when you have a figure built out of standard building bricks, you take what you can get. And now you can reenact that Paffendorf meme that was briefly(and I mean BRIEFLY) popular a few years ago.

Even the tail has a wide angle of movement, so you can get it to adorably wag its tail. …It’s too bad the arms don’t pivot forwards, or we could get it to reenact Leek Spin in addition to Paffendorf. …My mind’s strangely centered on ancient memes today, isn’t it?

And now let’s look at the Pokéball that came with this figure. …Strange that a Pikachu would be paired with a Pokéball, as anyone who’s even slightly familiar with the show or game would know, but I guess if you’re illegally producing knock-offs of other franchises and you don’t know if you’ll get away with any more, it’s best to include as much as possible in your first release.

Besides that, the faux-round shape and how the red and white bricks don’t properly layer on the black middle makes it look mechanical and avant garde, more like paper cutout origami than a proper ball. …In fact, do you know what this design reminds me of?

Still, I guess it’s not terrible and it’s impressive they could make one with the limited amount of bricks they had. I guess we’ll just pretend Giant Pikachu is so powerful, it can rip the heads off Daleks and paint them red and white.

And that’s your LOZ Mini Blocks Pikachu set! A strange yet welcome addition to the new trend of creating figures out of regular building bricks. And since it’s not made out of Nanoblocks, I don’t have to superglue it together to keep it intact, nor spend 2 hours getting the first layer of bricks positioned. Heck, since there are more Mini Blocks in the range, I might just have to look at some more and see what this is compatible with.

Review LOZ Pokemon Pikachu Diamond Blocks in main factors

Quality: The quality is very high, even higher than their Nanoblock bricks since I couldn’t find any “problem” bricks that were melted or molded incorrectly. The plastic quality actually feels even higher than most other mainstream companies, since they’re made with that “Lego”-feeling plastic that franchises like Mega Bloks and K’Nex don’t even have. The colors are vibrant and the bricks molded quite nicely, with a uniformity not many obscure building brick companies have. There were a few bricks that felt loose or didn’t quite click together smoothly, as was expected with LOZ, but overall, the high quality for the relatively low price point of this item is extremely commendable.

Design: This is the best Pikachu model I’ve seen so far. It legitimately looks like what I’d imagine a Pikachu to look like if Lego ever decided to make a Pokémon figure in the same style as their Wall-E set. The proportions aren’t perfect and it looks quite blocky in some areas, especially around the torso, but I would probably expect this of any building brick company that decided to take a stab at this character. And the fact that they made it articulated and more than just a statuette REALLY helps up the fun factor to be had with this set. I guess my only legitimate complaints are with the derpy eyes and the undetailed feet, and maybe the diamond mouth, but since they made this with standard Lego brick shapes, I’m impressed with the amount of detail they were able to accomplish. If Lego DID make this, most of the detail would have probably been through stickers, and I’ve already made my opinion of stickers clear in my Lite Brix review… As for the Pokéball, it’s ok. It’s a very bulky, strangely cubist version that looks like if Pablo Picasso was hired to design a brick set, but it’s recognizable and sturdy and does fit the strangeness of the Pikachu design.

Creativity: As it’s a Pikachu most likely produced without a license from The Pokémon Company, there’s not much creativity in the idea of building a Pikachu or a Pokéball. However, the fact that they managed to build this out of standard brick shapes with no custom bricks is impressive, especially in areas where they flipped the bricks on their sides to give the design a bit of a slope. And again, the fact that they included articulation does make it feel like a legitimate toy and not just a model to assemble and stick on a shelf.

Readability: The instructions are done in the standard “single sheet” and “multiple steps in one” styles we’ve seen so far from Diamond Blocks and other Nanoblock companies. However, since these bricks are a bit bigger and there’s more of a variety with the shapes, it’s much easier to follow along with than regular Nanoblocks. I’m much more of a booklet-type of person, but I didn’t lose my place or start on another layer before I finished the first, so it also has that going for it over Nanoblock instructions. Overall, if it was just printed in a booklet, I would have no complaints.

Packaging: I LOVE this box. It gets the product information across without seeming too cluttered or overly detailed. It’s just the assembled product against a white background, but the small details they added did catch my eye and heightened my interest in the product. It’s obviously trying to trick you into thinking it has something to do with Lego Ideas with its “LOZ Ideas Classic Creator Series” declaration, but it backs it up with Pikachu sitting on a piece of paper covered in sketches, which really does give it the appearance of an “indie” fan creation. And the small windows on the back featuring the figure’s articulation really help to sell this item. So even though it’s not the Engrishy type of box like the Jie Star boxes are, it’s professionally made and slightly humorous that they’re trying to pass this set off as legit.

Compatibility: It’s compatible with Lego Nanoblocks

Overall for my first review LOZ Pokemon Pikachu Diamond Blocks:

If it was compatible with other building brick lines, it would have been a 5/5. I LOVE this figure and the packaging that came with it. It’s fun, it’s stylish, it’s professional, and it perfectly represents the cartoony nature of Pokémon. If Lego or some other company was to include Pokémon in their line of figures built with standard bricks, LOZ has set a standard that might be tricky for them to match. If you can find this set, whether you’re a huge or passive fan of Pokémon, I highly recommend it. It’s truly the best building brick set featuring Pokémon I’ve ever seen…

#LozBlocks, #LozDiamondBlocks, #LozPokemonPikachu #Reviews/Unbox #loz #lozblocks #nanoblocks #diamondblocks #miniblocks #ministreet #blocks

[jbpiggin]

The Madaba Mosaic Map in Jordan has never, to my knowledge, been reproduced and published to modern scholarly standards, frustrating my efforts to include it in the Library of Latin Diagrams. The first photographs, by Eugène Germer-Durand, appeared in 1897 in a thin book in Paris. Single color photographs of the mosaic appeared in Donner and Cüppers (1977), but they are badly lit. It ought certainly to be possible to create one composite, high-contrast, high-resolution photograph of the whole artefact in the Church of St George in Madaba (a single exposure of the entire map is impossible to take, since the mosaic flows on all four sides around a pillar). However a photograph does not allow a diachronic approach where we can contemplate the object at different times. What is required is a very accurate technical drawing as a base for annotation.

Astonishingly, scholarship continues to depend on a colored drawing made of the mosaic in 1901-02 by Paul Palmer, a Jerusalem architect. That drawing is employed in the still-current edition of the map by Mikael Avi-Jonah of 1953. At my prompting, a major library earlier this year brought the first printed book with the drawing online (see my post), but I soon realized it is neither practical nor economical to digitize the Palmer drawing at fine resolution. What other drawings exist? As far as I know, most of the drawings date from the early years. Some 20 years ago, Yiannis Meimaris of the National Hellenic Research Foundation surveyed them. The first drawing, on graph paper, was that by Cleopas Koikylides, a scholar but not an archaeologist, of 1896 December 13.  This was published 1897 March 8 in his pamphlet printed by the Franciscan Fathers and is reproduced in the volume by Donner/Cüppers, but it is too crude to be useful. The next drawing was done by Geōrgios Arvanitakis, variously described as the Greek Orthodox patriarchal astronomer or professor of the Holy Cross School of Theology in Jerusalem, who did a more thorough version at Madaba 1897 January 9-23. Meimaris describes this as a precise copy in 12 sheets on a scale of 1/5. The same copy included an 0.80 x 0.60 m plan of the church, showing the position of the mosaic in it, but excluded the two fragments which were separated from the main part of the map and located to the north of it. Arvanitakis set about making money from it. He photographed this copy and offered reproductions for 100 golden franks (this seems to be the set of 10 photos mentioned by Thomsen). He also prevailed on the Franciscans help him in a bid to sell his original to French scholarly bodies (Meimaris quotes Clermont-Ganneau PEFQSt 1897:213-214 and I have also found a report in Belles-Lettres). Hopping promptly on a ship to Istanbul, he gave lectures about the map. The newspaper Neologos Konstantinoupoleos reported these seances in March. In 1898 a patriarchal letter of authority was issued to Mr. Salim (K)ari. From a copy of the map in the possession of Palestine Exploration Fund, on which is written that "it was bought from Selim el-Kary who said he copied it direct from the mosaic", it seemed his purpose was to copy the mosaic map. I  have not seen this image published anywhere. In September 1901, the Orthodox Patriarchate seems to have engaged two German painters, F Cornely and G. Hartmann, to painted a full-size copy on canvas of the mosaic. Thomsen wrote in 1929 that this was still hanging in the Greek School opposite the Greek Hospital. Meimaris says it was then lost for several decades and it "was found only recently (in November 1996) by me in the Patriarchate, torn into two pieces and in extremely bad condition. This copy deserves to be restored, since it is the only life-size colour reproduction of the original map." No more has been heard of it. Palmer, who had been given authority by the Greek patriarch 1897 February 20 to examine the map, does not seem to have done a precise copy at first. By his own account, he teamed up four years later with Cornely and Hartmann, and there remains a certain suspicion that he may have saved himself trouble by copying their image, at least in part. Thomsen however implies that the two copied from Palmer: Die weitgehende Übereinstimmung mit den Tafeln von Palmer erklärt sich daraus, daß die beiden Maler mit ihm zusammen gearbeitet haben. Palmer was fortunate to get a deal with the Deutscher Vereins zur Erforschung Palästinas to make an image in sections, but it was not until April 1904 (according to Thomsen) that Hermann Guthe, who was to write the accompanying text, arrived in Jerusalem to inspect his accuracy. This was published in ten lithographs in 1906 and presumably owes something to F. Cornely and G. Hartmann, of whom we know but little. They are real enough though, gaining mention by Josef Strzygowski and P. J. Dashian in connection with a mosaic of Orpheus in ZDPV (1901) and by Metaxakis in Nea Sion (1906, 156). Thomsen notes several points where Palmer's accuracy is wanting:

Bei Palmer sind die Farben viel zu lebhaft für das im allgemeinen matt gehaltene Original. Die Linien der einzelnen Steinchen sind zu regelmäßig gezogen. Spätere Ausbesserungen und Schäden sind nicht erkennbar. Das Versehen an den drei Toren der Grabeskirche (gleichhoch und oben gerundet) ist in der endgültigen Ausgabe berichtigt.

Our immediate need now is for a crisp drawing which covers every detail of the mosaic, but is not overly complex. For that I intend to turn elsewhere, to a line drawing published by Adolf Jacoby in 1905. It is a simple tracing of the photographs in the Germer-Durand book by an amateur in Strasbourg, Leutnant Brix. Jacoby does not give Brix's first name but says he had been munitions disposal officer, presumably Prussian. Brix probably never saw the mosaic in color let alone travelled to Madaba, but his patient tracing at least gives us a place to start creating a scalable vector graphics image which can be modified as we go along.

Avî-Yônā, Mîḵā’ēl. The Madaba Mosaic Map: With Introduction and Commentary. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1954.

Donner, Herbert, and Heinz Cüppers. Die Mosaikkarte von Madeba: Tafelband. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 1977.

Germer-Durand, Eugène. La Carte Mosaïque de Madaba: Découverte Importante, 1897. Paris: Maison de la bonne presse, 1897.

Jacoby, Adolf. Das Geographische Mosaik von Madaba: Die Älteste Karte des Heiligen Landes ; Ein Beitrag zu ihrer Erklärung. Studien über Christliche Denkmäler 3. Leipzig: Dieterich, 1905.

Palmer, Paul, Hermann Guthe, and Deutscher Verein zur Erforschung Palästinas. Die Mosaikkarte von Madeba. Leipzig, Baedeker, 1906. http://archive.org/details/diemosaikkartevo00deut.

Piccirillo, Michele, ed. The Madaba Map Centenary, 1897-1997: Travelling through the Byzantine Umayyad Period; Proceedings of the International Conference Held in Amman, 7-9 April 1997. Publications of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum [Collectio Maior] 40. Jerusalem: Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, 1999. https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.christusrex.org:80/www1/ofm/mad/articles//*.

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