#decide to release books because it reminds me of the youtuber book era and it's scary

[yrieso]

omg it's april which means only one month until my copy of the girls like girls book ships out......

[citylightsbooks]

The Motor of the Essay: Rachel Kushner in Conversation

This is an excerpt of a free event we held in conjunction with Litquake for our virtual events series, City Lights LIVE. This event features Rachel Kushner in conversation with Dana Spiotta celebrating the launch of The Hard Crowd: Essays 2000-2020, published by Scribner. This event was originally broadcast live via Zoom and hosted by our events coordinator Peter Maravelis. You can listen to the entire event on our podcast. You can watch it in full as well on our Youtube channel.

*****

Dana Spiotta: I know that everyone's going to ask you these questions about writing fiction versus nonfiction. And I read somewhere that you said, with your novels, you begin with imagery more than an idea or a character. With the nonfiction, there is a range of pieces about writers and specific books to journalism--like the prison story and Palestine--and then there’s the ones that are personal essays, right, like the girl in a motorcycle. So I guess they might all have different origins. But where do you begin with that? And how is that different as a process from what you write in fiction?

Rachel Kushner: Yeah, so it is kind of a different process for me, although I sometimes feel guilty to try to make declarations about which is harder, or how one does one thing, because you know, for some people, the essay is what literature is.

For me, fiction is more difficult. And so in a certain way it's what I've signed on to do with my life, because the process can be so mysterious and fickle and unreliable. And I'm waiting to catch a wave, or get the drift and then try to figure out how to sustain it, and then how to change it in order to sustain it. Managing so many different things at once is a very curious hermeneutic, because you need to know where you're going.

But then you also need to let happenstance inform you. I think some of the ways that we are challenged, and how we learn in our lives and also as writers, are by having encounters that we did not anticipate or predict, and that happens in fiction. And then you're kind of in a "taking mode" and you know exactly what's for you and you go with it and you run.

Essays are a little different for me. I mean, obviously. Time is shorter. But usually the motor of the essay is a sprung sentence. I come up with one sentence that is doing something in the syntax and it's making something sort of declarative. And it's kind of a gambit. And it needs to be followed by another. And sometimes I'll have a whole paragraph like that. And those paragraphs will just be floating in the void of the potentiality of the essay that I haven't written yet. And I don't sweat, like, "How am I going to link this to that?" yet. Because I just know by instinct that they're both going in. And if I put them in the essay, then they are interrelated by virtue merely of their proximity to each other. Then I start to build links.

Some journalism is a very different process. Like you mentioned, for the piece that I wrote, originally for the New York Times Magazine, about prison abolition and the carceral geographer, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, they said it can be any length and made it long. So you know, it was like 20,000 words. And it was my version of that essay, and it probably was a pretty good essay. But I think the weakness in it was that I was not speaking to their audience. And they really--you have written for the New York Times Magazine--they want to be able to countenance everything you say, sentence by sentence. It's not like writing an op-ed, where you just say your thing and then people can fight it out in the comments. They want to be fully on board. And I wouldn't want to have to do that all the time.

It's extremely difficult, because you have to keep remembering how to bring in somebody who may have wildly different ideas about how society should be organized, and not seem polemical, not seem pushy. It's a kind of seduction I think that really benefits from collaboration with an editor. It's arduous, it takes time. That essay took two years to write, but because the subject matter was important to me, ultimately, I decided it was worth it.

Dana Spiotta: Yeah, it's such a great essay. And I learned so much from it.

Peter Maravelis: When you're writing about events and feelings from decades ago, how do you return to the experience? What takes you back?

Rachel Kushner: That's a really great question. So, you know, with some of these essays, like the first essay in the book called “Girl on a Motorcycle,” which is about the Cabo 1000--a no longer existent, illegal motorcycle road race where you span the Baja in the course of a day--was the first thing that I ever published and I wrote it 20 years ago. And after looking back over it, in order to put it in this book and to improve upon it, I opened it up; I wrote a new beginning and a new ending. There are so many details and scenes in that essay that I never, ever would have remembered had I not written them down when I was much closer to the meat of that experience.

But there are other essays like the title essay which I just wrote quite recently. I'd put the book together, and I knew it was going to be called “The Hard Crowd.” And then I just basically sat down and wrote this essay. And I think, you know, as maybe you're telling a story, or going through your life, sometimes things really do sort of trigger the release of a memory. And Proust has this conception of two different kinds of memory that he calls voluntary memory and involuntary memory. And voluntary memory is the kind of fixed story that you tell, you know, "Oh, he's telling that story again," meaning it's a kind of sclerotic, hardened account that, for Proust, doesn't really have any real artistic or intrinsic wealth to it. Whereas involuntary memory is maybe when you would smell a perfume that you haven't smelled in 30 years and it reminds you of this or that. And I think that writing itself can activate involuntary memory, because you start to see into spaces you haven't seen in a really long time.

Like when I was writing this essay, I somehow ended up talking about Terence McKenna, and remembered that I'd seen Terence McKenna give this lecture at the Palace of Fine Arts. And then I saw the Palace of Fine Arts and him on the stage and where I was sitting, and who was in the audience. And so then I mentioned in the essay that this noise musician who I don't know, but I knew who he was, was sitting right in front of me. And that was a funny thing because the New Yorker called him and asked, "Were you at a Terence McKenna lecture in 1991." “Yeah, I was.” I mean he probably thought like the FBI is after him or something. I can start to see things and details in pretty haunting detail, particularity once I'm starting to build the framework that will allow those kind of involuntary memories to come up to present themselves.

Peter Maravelis: Do you feel that maybe kids who grew up in a certain era share communal memories, like growing up in San Francisco in the 70s is full of shared moments and scenes?

Rachel Kushner: Yes, I do feel that, but I would maybe even particularize it to not just an era, but to kids who grew up in a certain world within San Francisco. And I'm going to just be blunt: it's the kids who went to public school in San Francisco in the 70s and 80s. We all traversed a world together, and the particularity of that world. I'm not saying that it's special or different. Everybody has a world that they traversed, and that stays inside of them as memory. And ours is ours. And those who experienced it do feel bonded, I think, for life, in a way. And it's something I've thought about a lot since that essay was published in the New Yorker because of the number of people who reached out to me and wanted to talk about their own memories of this same world that we shared.

Peter Maravelis: In the New York Times review, Dwight Garner mentioned the phrase: “At the party, she was kindness in the hard crowd," from the Cream song "White Room." Is that in fact where your title came from?

Rachel Kushner: It is. I mentioned that in the title essay, it all becomes clear, or at least somewhat clear where I heard that song, and why I made it the title of this book. It's a good line.

To see upcoming events at City Lights bookstore in San Francisco, check out our complete calendar.

[daemadness]

1, 7, 9, 12, 16

Thanks!!! :D I’ll also put the rest under a cut because one just does not simply write short texts.

***

DIE ÄRZTE ASK GAME (click to the ask game!):

1. Wie & wann bist du auf DÄ gekommen?

It was in April 2009. My dad was on a German course and the book had “Männer sind Schweine”. The teacher (who was also later my German teacher!) liked dä so she played the song to them and my dad who’s very much into music, liked what he heard and at home of course searched for more. He then asked me (and my siblings) to come downstairs to his room because he wanted to showe us something - and it was the music video of Junge because he found it hilarious and the music really great.

At first I wasn’t sure what to think but said I could try listening to them, so then my dad started downloading and bringing me music on USB sticks all day every day until he got everything downloaded, and I just added stuff to my mp3 player whenever I got more songs. I did not speak German at all so at first I was pronouncing the name very much incorrectly (you know, “die” as in English), and sometimes I kinda miss it how I just saw a bunch of gibberish on my mp3 player screen. I still remember being in a work training at a horse stable and shoveling hay to a wheelbarrow, and my strongest memory is about the album Geräusch and I will always associate Anti-Zombie with this one horse box I was cleaning and it’s possible that I got obsessed with this album so that I started the day with it and was always cleaning the horse boxes in the same order. But I only remember Anti-Zombie and how I just suddenly realized that this song is one of the best I have EVER heard. (It still is! And Geräusch was my favorite album for a very long time and it’s still my favorite 2000s album.)

***

7. Lieblings-Bandmitglied?

I don’t really have a favorite? Like, musically I like Farin’s songs the most but some of my ultimate favorite songs come from Rod, too, like Anti-Zombie, T-Error, Geisterhaus (I think the best Rod songs are on Geräusch and those are some of the best dä songs overall as well), Mondo Bondage, Morgens Pauken, Sohn der Leere, Bang Bang (Instrumental)... I bet there’s also great 90s songs but I just forgot about everything again. Anyhow, I’ve never been that much into Bela’s songs. He has many really great ones too, but usually my favorite Bela songs are those that Rod has written with him. Which also explains why I’ve never been that fond of Bela’s solo music (I own the first two albums) and why I like FU/FURT the most from these two. I can’t say anything about Rod’s solo stuff or other bands as I have never listened to those, but I’m very much into movie scores and kinda interested in hearing what his movie scores sound like but I’m lazy and have memory issues and motivation issues so I don’t know more than that. (But I wish he did more songs for dä, I miss the times when he still had more than just 1-2 songs on an album. Although, I never witnessed the release of those albums but still :D)

But if this question is about them as people, then I guess it’s Bela and because I’ve just always been so amazed by his open-mindedness, you know? Like, he seems so genuine and caring and that he has had his feet on the ground at all times? (Or if he didn’t when he was younger, then he has learnt from that and can see that now, at least from what I have read from the books.) A while back I had an ask (to an ask game) on my mainblog, to choose between Bela and Farin and that post got a bit longer and you can find a deeper answer to this from that one. But let’s just say I tend to get super protective over Bela if anyone dares to claim he hasn’t always been as open-minded as what he now seems to be :D

Farin is way too similar to me and even tho he’s very relatable, especially what comes to the sense of humour, I still don’t agree on everything he says or does. And too much is too much. About Rod I don’t know enough because he doesn’t speak much and when he does, I usually don’t understand what he says because he (and Bela) is sometimes really bad at articulating and as a German learner it’s very difficult to make sense of anything he (or they) say sometimes. AN ex-friend once claimed I don’t know anything about Rod because I simply just don’t care about him and like..... no??? Also I don’t control it what my brain finds interesting, but I swear that one day I’m gonna read both dä books from cover to cover and I’m not gonna skip anything and then I’ll know more about Rod too.

***

9. Ein Lied, mit dem du viel verbindest?

“Allein”, definitely. Do you know that feeling when you listen to music, an album or song you have listened to so many times before, and then suddenly something just... hits and you hear a song the way you have never heard it before and you’re overwhelmed and mindblown? Yeah, that’s what happened to me with Allein. I don’t remember the exact year when that happened but I remember I was sitting in my car at a grocery store’s parking lot, listening to music and waiting for someone from my family to come out of the store.

Wait I actually found a post from my old Finnish blog from April 2010 about this song and the moment when it hit me!!! The post says the song became my favorite from Jazz ist anders! when I heard it for the first time, and this moment^ was the first time I read it lyrics and the first time ever I felt that lyrics also meant something to me. I was not able to translate anything myself yet but I found the song with English subtitles form youtube (now deleted) and that’s how I understood the story in the song.

So, I was almost 19 and relating to “Allein” a lot. Now it’s almost 11 years later and I’m (still) 29 and I STILL relate to this song so much and now also to the career part because I literally have been working with horses for over 10 years and have been studying them and I’m not sure why and now I don’t know if I even want to do this for the rest of my life or not. Idk, maybe it’s a bit sad too that for the past 10 years I have related to this song this much when it’s about loneliness... but it just doesn’t seem to end, idk if it will ever end, to be honest.

***

12. Findest du die Musik von vor oder nach der Reunion besser?

I would say the music after the reunion, but I’m also really fond of their 80s music, especially the self-titled album. I was lucky enough to find the original -86 release on vinyl, in perfect condition even, and you don’t understand how much that record means to me. I hate the song Geschwisterliebe and I will always skip that (especially now as I am able to follow lyrics from audio somewhat) but I still refuse to own a version of the album without that song. So that record really is very dear to my and my treasure and I sometimes take it out just to look at it and to be happy about the fact it’s MINE.

But anyway, to answer this question, I think I have to answer that I like the post-reunion music more because the 90s is my favorite dä time of all times. Planet Punk is still my fave dä album EVER, 13 is also a favorite, and I love Die Bestie, and all the interview and live and other video material from the 90s is also something I never get tired of watching. Maybe it’s because I was born in 1991 and 90s was my childhood so it feels familiar and safe? I don’t know. But I tend to be drawn to 90s music with all bands I like and if those bands have had a 90s phase. I guess there’s something about the 90s punk rock that I just like that also dä has.

***

16. Was macht Die Ärzte besonders?

Does this mean “what makes dä special”? Well, I’m gonna answer to that anyway even if it doesn’t mean that :D So I would say it’s the variety they have in their songs. They have loads of songs and albums and I still haven’t heard one song that would sound like some other song of theirs. (Apart from Hell, it has several songs that remind me of their older songs and I haven’t decided yet if that’s good or bad.)

There’s also pretty much something for everyone - which might also backfire because I actually knew someone who likes dä too but somehow we happened to like the opposite songs only. Like, you both can be fans and still not agree on favorite songs or even favorite albums or eras. It’s weird. So it feels like “yay we like the same band!!!” but in the end you don’t have anything in common because you don’t like the same things even within one band’s music...

For me dä is special because when I found about them, I was no longer actively searching for new music to listen to. And still they did and somehow all that diversity in their music was insane. Like, the singer’s voice is super important for me and I have turned down so many bands just because I don’t like the singer’s voice or singing style, and somehow this band has three singers and I like ALL OF THEM. Like, what are the odds??? So after getting used to their songs and learning song and album names and other stuff, I literally felt that I had actually found the music that has everything I need from music. I didn’t need to look for the best band ever because I already found it, no other band can top them, a band that would make better music than die ärzte just simply does not exist. And I’m totally happy with that which is why it took me years to even start listening to new music and new bands because I just didn’t need them anymore, I already had dä, you know. I was told (by the same ex-friend who said I just don’t care about Rod) that no band is superior than others but this person refused to understand when I tried to explain that they are superior to ME. And they are superior to me and I don’t give a fuck if others think I’m wrong, it’s my opinion and my favorite band and I have a right to say that they are the best band ever if they are the best band ever for me.

[mustlovemustypages]

Yuletide 2019 Letter

Dear potential writer,

I’m so incredibly excited that it’s Yuletide season again and I hope you are as well. Thank you for reading my letter and also thank you in advance for anything you decide to write for me!

Below are my desired fandoms and pairings along with story ideas that I would love to see written. Please don’t feel stifled by my prompts; I’ve also listed my general likes and dislikes at the very bottom of this letter if you decide to go a different route.

Peanuts:

Characters: Charlie Brown and Lucy van Pelt

This is my most unusual request, so I figured it best to put it out there first. I grew up both reading the Peanuts comics and watching the various Charlie Brown movies/television specials, so this is fueled by pure nostalgia upon seeing the nomination in the tag set.

Even as a kid before knowing what shipping was, I wanted desperately to see Charlie Brown and Lucy get together. Their back-and-forth banter with Lucy’s sharp remarks and Charlie Brown’s wry sense of humor is perfection. I don’t often request things too far from canon, but I would love to see a story with them as adults and how even though they didn't see eye-to-eye as children, over the years they have become just what the other needs.

Story ideas:

It's their high school class reunion, and it's been years since the Peanuts gang have all been in one place. Charlie Brown and Lucy are either already together, surprising the other characters by how well they get along and know each other, or everyone at the reunion sees how perfect they would be together except for them.

Lucy becomes a psychiatrist (although she charges way more than 5 cents for advice now) and Charlie Brown a child social worker. They run into each other by coincidence while they're both dealing with difficult cases and help each other cope.

Charlie Brown has recently broken up with the Little Redhead Girl and Lucy with Schroeder right before the holidays. Both disillusioned, they run into each other in the big city and decide that what they need is a road trip back home. Amazing banter ensues.

Similar to the last prompt, both Charlie Brown and Lucy have recently broken up with their respective partners. Not wanting to go back home for the holidays single, they decide to give the ridiculous, we'll-never-fall-for-each-other fake relationship thing a go.

The Boys (TV 2019):

Characters: Starlight|Annie January and Hughie Campbell

Just when I thought nothing new could be brought to the superhero genre, Amazon comes out with this smashing success. It reminds me of X-Men in a way due to the social commentary made by several of the plotlines. I especially appreciate how the show comments on celebrity status and social media.

Aside from that, far and away one of the best things about the show is the relationship between Annie and Hughie. Even in the midst of so much corruption, these two characters somehow remain so earnest and pure. The fact that they formed a connection on that bench before even knowing the other's name speaks volumes about their respective characters and chemistry.

Story ideas:

Despite being integral to the plot, it was crushing to see the moment Annie realized Hughie had been using her to enact revenge. Canon divergence where Hughie tells her the truth almost right from the get-go and Annie immediately is onboard to help would be really fun to read!

Another fun twist would be if Butcher approached Annie instead of Hughie for help, and she agreed to act as a double agent. The scene at the bench still goes down as does the one where Hughie realizes Annie is Starlight (although he's a real photographer). Perhaps Annie sneaks off to do some double agenting and Hughie follows. Annie almost gets caught and pretends to be dating Hughie as a cover.

After the explosive conversation with her mother and finding out she wasn't born with her powers like she thought, Annie tracks down Hughie to rant.

Season 2 can't come soon enough. I would be interested in speculation of what could happen next as long as it includes Hughie/Annie!

Impulse (TV 2018):

Characters: Henrietta “Henry” Coles, Lucas Boone, Jenna Hope, Townes Linderman

This show became a surprise favorite of mine in 2018, mostly because it’s on YouTube Red and I haven’t given most of their original shows much thought. Also because it tackles rape and recovery in such a raw and interesting way, especially in the context of a sci-fi show.

I just need more Henry Coles. If you want to do a romantic relationship, I’d prefer seeing something explored with Lucas Boone or her canon love interest Josh (who was only in 2 episodes but really seemed to “get” Henry). Otherwise, gen stories between Henry and any/all of the tag set characters would be great. Season 2 is just now coming out as I write this, so feel free to ignore or include it as desired. I tried to keep the prompts general enough that they can apply to either season.

Story Ideas:

Henry will never be fully “recovered” in the sense that one can never truly recover from rape. It will always have an impact on her life. The other characters get that and try to help her in any way they can.

While Lucas is aware of what his brother did to Henry, he has no idea of the real impact. I’d love a story where he learns more about her seizures and the way her anxiety/fears manifest themselves as teleportation.

Hurt/comfort in all forms because Henry has been hurt enough for a lifetime, but she could do with a whole lot more comfort. Either within the confines of season 1 or imagined opportunities for comfort in season 2.

We get the story from mostly Henry’s perspective, but I’m sure a lot is going on in the minds of Lucas, Jenna, Townes, and Anna as the events of season 1 play out.

The Folk of the Air

Characters: Cardan Greenbriar and Jude Duarte

Holly Black is an evil genius and I bow down to her greatness. Starting off the first book in this series, I never would have imagined that by the end I’d be rooting for Jude and Cardan to be together, but here we are.

They are the ultimate enemies-to-lovers and I can’t wait to see what happens to them in the third book coming in November.

Story ideas:

Maybe I'm unrealistically optimistic, but despite Jude’s betrayal at the end of the first book and Cardan's at the end of the second, I think these two can work it out. Perhaps Jude helps Cardan cope with the stresses of being king and he is able to move past what she did. Or maybe they each realize how impossible their respective situations were and come to accept the questionable decisions the other made.

Madoc is a horrible father. Jude basically knows this from the beginning. Still, she was genuinely upset in discovering what he had done. I’d love to see her finally release all of that pent up anger - either her using Cardan as a sounding board for her rants or even having her completely breakdown under all of the stress and him comforting her.

We get the perspective of Jude throughout the entire book, but I would really enjoy seeing some of the scenes from Cardan’s point of view as his feelings for Jude change.

There is no way that Jude’s sister, Vivienne, wouldn’t be alarmed when finding out that Jude and Cardan kissed. Jude having to explain her changed feelings for Cardan and Vivienne, realizing that Jude is in love would be hilarious and heartwarming.

With the third book coming out soon, feel free to either include or not include elements from it. As long as there is Jude/Cardan, I will be happy.

Nancy Drew (TV 2019):

Characters: Nancy Drew and Ned "Nick" Nickerson

Only one episode in and I was impressed by this show. Up until now, I hadn't seen or read an iteration of Nancy Drew that I didn't enjoy, but I'll admit I was scared as sometimes the CW makes questionable choices with their adaptations. They have done a fantastic job with casting, though, and updating things just enough for the modern era without taking away the charm of the original.

When it boils down to it, Nancy Drew appeals to me because she is unabashedly herself, not ever pretending to be something that she's not to get others to like her. And although it's just getting started, so far the interactions she has with Nick and her father, Carson, are my favorite.

Nancy is a guest on a true-crime podcast featuring amateur detectives. Nick tags along and watches from outside the recording studio in amusement, or perhaps the hosts bring up Nick's criminal past on-air and Nancy gets defensive.

Maybe Nick and Nancy start a true-crime podcast of their own and it's an unexpected hit.

Carson Drew is not 100% onboard with Nancy and Nick's not-so-secret relationship. When Nancy suddenly stops shutting down Carson's attempts to connect with her and Carson finds out it was due to Nick's influence, he changes his tune about his daughter's boyfriend.

The gang goes to an escape room for fun. Nick is amused by how seriously Nancy takes it.

We haven't gotten very far into the season yet, but any speculation fics about where the mystery goes would be interesting as well!

Out-of-left field request: If you're not a fan of Nancy/Nick in the new show, I'd be open to a story where the Hardy Boys arrive in River Heights (I'm not so secretly hoping the CW makes this a TV show if Nancy Drew succeeds). Although I love Nick and Nancy together, I have always loved Nancy/Frank stories as well.

Things I don't like:

Alternate Universes – For the specific fandoms that I picked, I really like the universes as they are. I’m definitely okay with deviations from canon, but please don’t make Peanuts into a supernatural werewolf story or have the fantasy/sci-fi canons take place in a mundane coffee shop setting. (I don’t mind Soulmate AUs or something similar because those can be incorporated into canon with little change to worldbuilding).

Non-Con/Rape/BDSM/Sexual Violence/Graphic Sex – I like my characters to be happy and everything within ships to be 100% consensual, no question about it (mentions of non-con if it occurred in canon is fine). I also prefer plot over porn, especially with one-shots.

OT3s – Two people per romantic relationship, please. Any more than that makes me uncomfortable.

Character Bashing - Unless a character is a bad guy in canon, I don’t want to read hundreds of words about how awful they are, especially if they are one of the characters that I requested. Don’t take it out on the characters. If you hate my pairings, just write gen.

Things I love:

Hurt/Comfort – There is nothing I love more than one character comforting another. The hurt can be physical, psychological, or both.  

Happy Endings – I’m all for the realistic endings… but if they could be plausible AND happy-ish, that would be amazing.

Expanded Scenes/Contorting Canon – Feel free to expand scenes and change up the canon to your heart’s content as long as it makes logical sense.

Humor/Banter/Snark – I thrive on this stuff.

Bonding/Building Relationships – Whether it be a friendship or a romantic relationship, I adore reading about two people growing closer together. When characters know each other so well that they can have conversations with just their eyes or anticipate the person’s next move (especially if it’s to the surprise/confusion of everyone around them), my shipper heart is thrilled.

Dark to Light – Seeing a character come out of a bad mindset or situation and get better is so satisfying.

Thanks again and happy writing!

- Maddy @mustlovemustypages (on Tumblr, Ao3, and FF.net)

[daddy-bean-boy]

FMP - Table Top - Evaluation

Earlier this year I wrote my project proposal, proposing the idea for my FMP that I had imagined. The original idea is different in a few ways but ultimately the final product reflects the proposal’s intentions. Other than my admiration for the 1930′s aesthetic which I wanted to achieve, I also wanted to improve my skills outside of my “comfort zone”. I planned this through having a live action side to my animation. This was the part which I knew would create the most challenge, and I can safely say it was. I had to prepare what settings I would have the camera on, create a filming environment that was suitable for the animation and include tracking points. I succeeded in creating the environment I wanted to film in, and I even thought my camera movements came out smooth. This was all from the help of tools I practiced with such as the glide rail. This helped get a smooth panning camera shot I needed of the table. Aside form what when well with this portion of the FMP, I would definitely improve the contrast in which I filmed in. The light bloom of the room gave an overly saturation scene in some cases and this makes it very hard to motion tack using after effects. This is what I am most disappointed with. The tracking in some scenes brings the characters I have drawn, out of the world as they slide because the tracking is unstable. Despite this however, I have gained experience in media creation that I wouldn’t have if these subtle difficulties weren’t there, because then I wouldn’t needed to have found out how to improve them.  I’m now more knowledgeable of Adobe software like After Effects and Premier Pro because of this. Specifically with my interest in animation, I would now be able to more carefully prepare myself when composing animation over a live action scene. With learning about software and cinematography, a lot of my aspiration was based on the appeal I have of old era animation from the 1930′s. I wanted to recreate the fluid movement and pioneered techniques that are all but unseen in today's industry. At the time of writing my proposal, I was unaware of how many rules an set backs this level of animation restricts you to. This is where my first major turn in the road had to be realized. I would not be able to perfectly recreate the style of animation with the resources I had. And this was okay, it just meant my animation would be more a homage to it. This was due to me using a computer for animation, as it would be impractical to hand draw within the given time. However, despite digitally creating all the animation I found I can still create the fluid and smooth motion. I found out that among the society of classic animators (Because there are animators who purely use tweening and bone tools etc.) there are 12 rules that following will bring frame by frame animations to life. This is what I decided I would follow as closely as possible while animating, even creating a practice animation in preparation. I had eventually re used this animation after much more practice and changed it ever so subtly, however it had a big impact on the realism of the movement. The most important thing to me, even from the proposal was learning what I now know to be “form”, moving a 2 Dimensional character believably in a 3rd Dimensional way. Now that I’ve come to the end of the project time, I’ve been given perspective on how long this animation takes and why industries have elected to using quicker less costly methods that sacrifice quality. A great help for me during the lengthy process was actually critically watching over animated shorts and films. I watched a lot of Studio Ghibli movies while making the FMP and listening to the studios methods. The films animation is so fluid and believable. Creator Hayao Miyazaki, gives a lot of credit to “people watching” saying almost every movement is based on the way he’s seen others move. This gave me a lot of thought and motivation to keep drawing even when I had little motivation. Time became the biggest obstacle in the end. As I plan on still producing the rest of the animation in my spare time, I discovered ways to make it feel less of a chore. In my original proposal, I had about a month of time allocated to production. While this seemed like enough, I didn’t factor in all the bits that get in the way. For example, keeping up with blogging. I needed to explain everything I was doing and learning through out. This is because while I was producing it wasn’t just drawing, I kept making each key framed drawing based on knowledge I had from the principles of animation. Each key frame I wanted to have Arching Motion, Slow Inns and Slow Outs, Squash and Stretch, and finally Exaggeration. The biggest incorporation that took more time than expected was anticipation and overshoot. This is having frames before and after slowly build up and release the momentum of an action. These were the main principles I focused on. Having to consider each one with each drawing made it much more lengthy than I had intended. I see this as good in a way, because if I was speeding through, then all the high level animators who say frame by frame takes years would false. Although, I have complete just over 50′s which is around the length I had originally intended. My miss sight was with story. Where I had wrote the story of the animation, it would’ve been impossible to fit it all in a minute. This lets me know I had carried myself away with a complex story that had a beginning, middle and end. I should have stuck to a simple plot, maybe not even having the second character “Shaker” who didn't make it into the FMP (as of hand in). 

The research I did throughout my FMP was the foundation to everything that I made the film on. The live action cross animation was heavily inspired from the video made by “PWow” on YouTube, entitled “How to make the space jam effect in after effects”. It walked through using after effects to track the motion into a null object and us that tracking information to move the animated character. This had a large impact on my project because it’s literally what let me compose characters into a world as if they are sitting in that plane and moving with it. Obviously like I said this effect I didn't use to its best ability. With more carefully thought out lighting and use of objects. Something through research I found, in Rodger Rabbit, a film I used as inspiration for it feature length use of pioneering animation and live action, they had used objects in the live action footage that mimicked the 3D space of the character that would be imposed over the footage. This let the artists know how they would appear in that space, how the light might affect it and also, if the camera moves, the animator will know exactly where they should be. I think if I recorded live action for animation again, I would do this. It would’ve allowed me to make a much smoother tracking scene for him, by drawing over the top of the cup in real life, following its shape as the angle changes and the camera pans. I even might have just skipped the camera pans all together. Saving myself the trouble of having to track could’ve given me more production time. This would have given me more time, however I learnt a lot of how after effects works and interacts with information to create motion, and that will lead me to being able to create better things in the future. I said in my proposal that I might use a mood board to remind myself of what research I had done and what from it I should use within my animation that I would reflect on. I actually found that the aesthetic comes with simple and appealing character design and the animation itself cant just be a reference to a mood board, it requires more critical thinking. This is where my research lead me to the most useful influence I had when drawing, these being the “12 Principles of animation”, which I originally discovered from Allan Becker, a legendary YouTube self made animator, but written originally by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas. These were two Disney animators who wrote this in the book “The Illusion of Life : Disney Animation” in 1981. Not quite the 1930′s but the principles were based off all Disney learned of animation over the years of making movement look as though it were living movement. While it made my animation appear much better than I would have expected, I think it would have helped if I had delved into each one, with practices and experimentation on them. I could’ve done quick sketch animations that would individually go through them. I said how I wanted to post a lot of my research based on YouTubers and entertainment that inspires me, I think I did well keeping to this and it still remains one of my favorite ways to motivate me. I never feel more like animating than after watching a well animated short of film. However, I do take all my inspiration from similar things. Studio Ghibli and Disney classics both use flowing hand drawn frame by frame and the YouTube Animators I watch also take inspiration from them. This actually worries me because a lot of people who take their inspiration from one source end up creating “unintentional rip offs” which end up becoming someone else’s work through your hands. And that way there no creative thinking to the production. With this in mind, my future animations will be less an homage to a style, and more of an exploration of my own animating style and being more experimental, so there’s less restrictions limiting me to possibly become tunnel visioned when animating.

Taking all that I can from this project, I’ve been left in a better place than when I started for sure. Though my actual animation hasn’t reached its conclusion, all that I have gained from it is more than worth it. I’ve never had an incentive to be overly interested in cinematography, however, I wanted to experiment regardless to see if I could create a believable character in a believable world. Not believable as in it were real, but believable in the sense that its weight, appeal and body language could make sense if it were int he world its presented in. This was the goal I wanted to achieve. All these came into factor when I was researching. Aside from the composition, the second thing I wanted to achieve was the aesthetic. This mostly came into play when choosing character design and the frame by frame animation. There where a few secondary features I used to add to this, such as the film grain (dust and scratches) that I layered over the top of all the footage. These were commonly present in movies of the 30′s because all films were physical strips that could be damaged. All these attributes I believe made the 30′s aesthetic. I’m very pleased with how it looks and I think it was successful. The main thing that brought the believe-ability away was the poor tracking in some cases, where you can see the tracking slide along surfaces. This is something I will take steps to avoid in the future, hopefully to make an even more believable character. Overall, my appreciation for the style is stronger than before, I know how difficult and thought provoking frame by frame can be. Tracking might be something I use scarcely in the future and live action backgrounds can be a refreshing break from animation. For my aspiration of becoming an animation artist (in-between animator and higher) these things will certainly bring me closer to being able to fit into that work environment and understand the process behind it so that I might one day direct my own feature animation.

[stacks-reviews]

New Releases 8/29/17

Happy New Release Day!

This is the big one folks. The one we’ve all been waiting and training for.

The Lion King, The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride, and The Lion King 1 1/2 is finally freed from on the vault. I missed picking it up the first time it came out on DVD/Blu-Ray but I am not missing out this time. Unfortunately for our wallets, all three will have to be bought separately. Which is mildly frustrating since Pocahontas, Lilo and Stitch, Mulan, and The Fox and the Hound were all released with their sequels in a combo pack earlier this year. For the same price as what one of these alone will be. Yet I can’t blame Disney for wanting to cash in while they can though they really don’t need to. I’ll definitely be getting the first two later today. I’ve never seen the third and I don’t particularly care to.

In Books --A Song for Quiet (Persons Non Grata #2) by Cassandra Khaw “Deacon James is a wandering bluesman straight from Georgia, a black man with troubles that he can’t escape, and music that won’t let him go. On a train to Arkham, he meets trouble - visions of nightmares, gaping mouths and gasping tendrils, and a madman who calls himself John Persons. According to the stranger, Deacon is carrying a seed in his head, a thing that will destroy the world if he lets it hatch. The mad ravings chase Deacon to his next gig. His saxophone doesn’t call up his audience from their seats, it calls up monstrosities from across dimensions. As Deacon flees, chased by horrors and cultists, he stumbles upon a runaway girl, who is trying to escape her father, and the destiny he has waiting for her. Like Deacon, she carries something deep inside her, something twisted and dangerous. Together, they seek to leave Arkham, only to find the Thousand Young lurking in the woods. The song in Deacon’s head is growing stronger, and soon he won’t be able to ignore it any more.”

I have not read the first book (Hammers on Bone) in this series yet but I don’t think you will necessarily need to in order to read this one. John Persons was the main character in book one but it looks like he’ll be taking a back seat in book two. It was actually this book that made me interested in this series. I love it when music is a form of magic.

--Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor Volume 1 by Tarou Hitsuji and illustrated by Aosa Tsunemi “Lumia and Sisti are mages-in-training at a prestigious magical academy where they hope to be taught by the best of the best. However, when their favorite instructor suddenly retires, his replacement turns out to be a total jerk - he’s idle, incompetent, and always late! Can Lumia help uncover their new teacher’s true potential - and can Sisti still learn magic and unravel the secrets of the mysterious Sky Castle with such a terrible mentor as her guide?”

I watched the anime of this series on Crunchyroll, though I still need to finish the last episode or two. If you ever decide to try it out, give it two episodes. It does a complete mood change near the end of episode two and from the there the show really starts getting good. The volume showed up a little early at my work so I flipped through it at the end of my shift. The end of episode two is where the volume ends. Or maybe it was a little into episode three? 

There is some mild fan-service in this series. And the new teacher is a perv. But other than that I really enjoyed the show and I’m excited to read the manga.

--Kigurumi Guardians Volume 1 by Lily Hoshino “Hakka Sasakura’s life it about to turn upside-down. She comes home from a day of admiring her student body president to discover that a mysterious creature resembling a man in an animal suit has taken up residence in her home. What’s more, she has been chosen to work with this strange being to fight off invaders from another dimension and save the world...and she has to kiss him to do so?!”

Really drawn to this series because of the art style. Which this series is written and illustrated by the artist of Penguin Drum. Which then makes me think of Utena and Yurikuma Arashi. The first chapter is available to read on Kodansha’s website. It covers how Hakka and two other students (one girl and one boy (yay more magical boys!)) are recruited and become involved in a short fight with one of the weaker dimensional beings. Though none of them fight in the first chapter, it was set up for them to see that such beings are indeed real and threatening their world.

In Movies --A Journey Through Fairyland “Michael is a gifted oboe player, but his heart’s not in it. He ignores his musical studies to lose himself in the garden, playing for the benefit of his beloved flowers. Michael’s frustrated teacher gives him an ultimatum: Be serious, or leave the music school forever! Despondent, Michael prepares to say goodbye to the garden. But the floral fairy Florence, so bewitched by his music, bestows a powerful magic wand on Michael, and whisks him away. Will Michael’s astonishing adventure with Florence in Fairyland help him rediscover his love of music?”

Really want to see this. It was directed by Masami Hata who also directed Little Nemo Adventures in Storyland and The Sea Prince and the Fire Child. Which I have also never seen. But all three just look amazing. Especially Little Nemo.

--Marmalade Boy Collection 1 “Miki Koishikawa’s parents have always been strange. While deeply caring for their daughter, they’re prone to wasteful spending, oversleeping, and even taking extravagant trips. And their latest trip to Hawaii has brought back something truly outrageous: love. Not for each other, but for a different couple entirely! With her parents planning to divorce and swap partners with the Matsuuras, Miki’s life is turned upside down with a new, highly abnormal family all living together in one house. To top it off, Matsuuras have a son named Yuu exactly Miki’s age, and he’s too gorgeous for words. For better or worse, this is Miki’s life now, but adjusting won’t be easy when jealous rivals and old flames enter the mix!

Collection 1 includes episodes 1-38 of this classic shoujo series. I have never seen this series but two of my friends are very excited for this re-release. At first I thought this would be a more drama shoujo series but after a second thought I realized that it is more of a romantic comedy. After all, with both families under the same roof but staying with the others spouse there is sure to be a lot of funny, awkward situations.

--The Nutcracker Fantasy “After a young girl, Clara, receives a nutcracker from her enigmatic Uncle Drosselmayer, she finds that her precious present is stolen by thieving rats led by Mauslynx, the double-headed rat queen. To win it back, Clara enters a surreal land through her family’s grandfather clock. One of her stops is the Kingdom of Dolls, where she finds the king grieving over his cursed, eternally-asleep daughter, Princess Mary, a doppelganger for Clara herself. She and Franz, the captain of the guards and Mary’s suitor, infiltrate the army of rats in a desperate attempt to dethrone the despot!”

A stop-motion film from 1979 made with dolls. It reminds me of the classic Christmas films of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Year Without Santa Claus, and so on. Which I watch every year so this title would be a nice addition to add to my yearly movies. Also, film wise, it looks very impressive. I looked up a trailer on YouTube and it has some pretty great camerawork that I don’t think I’ve seen in other stop-motion films of that era.

Those are my top picks for this week. Other great titles are also coming out today like Gotham S3 and Ushio and Tora (the new series). What is everyone most excited for?

[hermanwatts]

Sensor Sweep: Pulp on Pulp, Sabatini, Jirel, Weird Westerns

New Project (Misha Burnett): A reminder that the collection of essays that Cheah Kit Sun and I are putting together is open for submissions. I don’t know that Pulp On Pulp will be its title when it comes time to publish it–I just needed to call it something. I am looking for essays from writers, editors, reviewers, and readers of fiction on the subject of what makes fiction fun. The emphasis should be on practical considerations–do this, don’t do that.

Writing (Amatopia): I recently put up a huge blog roll of sites I read and authors I want to spread the word about. Problem is, lots of them didn’t have websites or blogs to link to! Sure, there are alternatives. For example, I linked to many Amazon pages, either for the author or a particular book. But an actual web presence can make an author seem more official, and in the indie world, this is very important.

Review (DVS Press): Brian Niemeier’s new book is out now, and it’s a number one best seller. Let’s address one 100 IQ level comeback I see frequently when talking about shutting your wallet to the mega-corporations who not only don’t give a shit about the franchises that you grew up with, but actively hate you and your culture and want it (and you) dead: bUt yOu Use AMaZon/yOuTUbE /fAcEbOok/PAtreON.

Popular Culture (Wasteland & Sky): As you can see from the photos in this post, normal people were all over the arcades at its peak in the late ’80s to early ’90s. I know, because I was there. When the most creative and successful games from Double Dragon and Final Fight, to Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, to Time Crisis and Dance Dance Revolution, were around, arcades thrived. By the end of the ’90s, the crowds got smaller as the games were shifting to home consoles. Normal people left, and developers abandoned the subculture.

Fiction (DMR Books): When I wrote my first post about Rafael Sabatini and his swashbuckling fiction, the concept for a series about the “Forefathers of Sword and Sorcery” here on the DMR Blog was still merely a glimmer in my eye. As with Arthur Machen, it’s high time Sabatini received his own entry. In this post, I try not to retread too much ground. For a more complete picture of the man and his work, I recommend that you check out “Rafael Sabatini: King of the Swashbucklers”.

Westerns (Brain Leakage): it’s not hard to see the appeal of stories about rugged loners living by their own rules. Nor is it difficult to see the appeal of books and movies that dwell on the majestic beauty of wide open spaces. Above all, Westerns are stories about personal freedom. After so many weeks being told where we can and can’t go, how close we can and can’t get to people, and what businesses we are and aren’t allowed to patronize anymore, who can blame viewers for looking to John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Yul Brenner for a little cathartic release?

Weird Western (Marzaat): There are new additions to the Weird Western subgenre all the time in games, fiction, comics, and movies. I’ve been interested in it for decades, starting with old Twilight Zone comic books and the Clint Eastwood movies High Plains Drifter and Pale Rider. The trouble is that, while I haven’t looked at every single example of the subgenre, I have sampled quite a few and most have been disappointing. For me, that disappointment comes in three areas.

Art (Broadway World): The Frank Frazetta The Serpent (aka “Aros”) Paperback Novel Cover Painting Original Art (Paperback Library, 1967) and Bernie Wrightson Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein Front Endpapers Illustration Original Art (late 1970s) sparked furious bidding to lead Heritage Auctions’ Comics & Comics Art Auction to $9,099,710 in total sales April 30-May 3. So strong was the demand that the Dallas-based auction raced past its pre-auction estimate of just over $7.3 million and boasted sell-through rates of 100% by lots and value.

D&D (Jeffro’s Space Gaming Blog): Magic is way more interesting. Tons of off the wall spells get used. Having to find magic the AD&D way creates one of the best incentives to adventure ever made. Success here– finding even two or three new first level spells– can fundamentally change the nature of the game and the balance of power between the first level classes. Exciting! With three big books of monsters instead of a “pure” edited down list of archetypes, the players run into something they’ve never seen before almost every session.

Art (Mens Pulp Mags): David is, among other things, an aficionado of men’s adventure magazines (MAMs). So, he knows that Eva is the most widely-recognized female artist’s model in the MAM genre, in addition to being a popular pinup photo model featured in various types of men’s magazines from the mid-1950s to the 1970s. He also knows that Steve Holland is the most famous male model in the realms of both MAMs and paperback covers. Holland is particularly well known for being the model artist James Bama used for Doc Savage, in the cover art Bama did for the Bantam paperback series.

Sword-and-Sorcery (Legends of Men): What makes this story bad is first and foremost the prose. Phrases are repeated in ways that only seem like that of an amateur author. In the opening scene, Jirel storms a castle and impatiently calls for Giraud’s head. Twice more we are told how impatient she is. This sort of repetition is rampant. More importantly, C.L. Moore does not follow the best practice of “show, don’t tell.” Rather than showing us that Jirel is brave Moore just writes “she was not afraid.” This frequent and another example of how the author comes off as an amateur.

Video Games (That Matt Kid): Conan has had quite the bumpy ride in his transition to the video game world. Let’s revisit some of the earliest titles in the barbarian’s gaming adventures.

Pulp Magazines (Don Herron): ere’s a shot of Kong emerging from an alley next to a news agent shop. More mags. The big model allowed panoramic shots and flyovers, but the level of detail extended to street scenes as well. Those shots are rich in every way. Relevant to our interests, there are numerous shots of newsstands, featuring a variety of magazines, including pulps.

Streaming T.V. (Running Iron Report): The world was living for real in the shadow of the fictional prophecy that forms the bedrock of Showtime’s new horror tale, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels: City of Angels is built around the seething racial tensions that simmered just below the golden surface of Los Angeles through most of its history. The planned Arroyo Seco Motorway (eventually the 110 Freeway running from Pasadena to downtown Los Angeles) will displace a Mexican-American neighborhood, just as the construction of Dodger Stadium would clean out Chavez Ravine two decades later. Nazis are infiltrating the film studios and the aircraft manufacturing plants.

Review (Paperback Warrior): After the pulp magazines disappeared, they were largely replaced by a more gritty and realistic magazine genre collectively known as Men’s Adventure Magazines (MAMs). These glossy, color publications featured stories and artwork by the same people servicing the men’s paperback original market in the 1950s and 1960s. Magazines like Adventure and Real Men were filled with colorful illustrations and stories designed to appeal to working class men returning home from the wars of the Mid-20th Century.

Fiction (DMR Books): Gustave Flaubert died on this date in 1880. While most famous for his novel, Madame Bovary, and dubbed “The Father of French Literary Realism”, Gustave nonetheless had a strong influence on the early formation of sword-and-sorcery. Salammbo–published in 1862–is loosely based upon the events following the First Punic War. The Carthaginians had lost their war with Rome and then decided to stiff the mercenaries who had fought for them. Predictably, mayhem and atrocities ensued during what has been dubbed the “Mercenary War”.

Fiction (Dark Worlds Quarterly): Fire Hunter (1951) by Jim Kjelgaard follows Hawk, chief weapon-maker for his tribe, as he makes innovation after innovation and leads his tribe to survive sabertooth tigers, rival tribesmen and grass fires. It was illustrated by Ralph Ray. Kjelgaard, who is best known for his Big Red dog books, serves up a fascinating tale of cavemen and invention that is plausible for the time but filled with action and adventure too. He attempts Burroughsian fantasy but strives for plausibility in a way that Jean Auel will make best-sellers of in thirty years. The film 10,000 BC should have used this story.

Gaming (Pelgrane Press): There’s value in seeing how a hero you know translates into Swords of the Serpentine, especially when that hero changes over time. SotS lets you play fledgling (less experienced) and sovereign (exceptionally experienced) versions of the same character, jumping back and forth in time between adventures in the same way a collection of fantasy short stories might jump between different eras of the same hero’s life.

Sensor Sweep: Pulp on Pulp, Sabatini, Jirel, Weird Westerns published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

[kayawagner]

Happy New Year–Plans for 2019 and A Look Back

After taking an extensive break over the holidays I am back at work. This is also a good opportunity to give you an update what I have been up to lately. Without further ado, let’s get started…

Forbidden Lands and Shipping Woes In December Fria Ligan’s latest roleplaying game called Forbidden Lands was finally ready for shipping. It’s a sandbox fantasy roleplaying game which I backed on Kickstarter in 2017. When the game finally was done it was already a bit delayed but that’s something you get used to when you regularly support projects on Kickstarter.

Sometimes things don’t work as planned. Unfortunately, the shipping of the Forbidden Lands boxed sets quickly turned into a total disaster. Backers started to get grumpy when it turned out that the books and boxed sets were already done, but the distributor had to delay shipping because of another Kickstarter fulfilment.

When finally shipping started everyone was excited and a few people quickly got their packages but then things went downhill pretty fast. A lot of backers didn’t get any shipping information even though the distributor claimed they shipped everything. When Fria Ligan support contacted the distributor they got told that the packages have been sent out without tracking – which is a terrible idea considering some people were waiting for stuff worth up to hundreds of Euros. Then the same people suddenly got shipping confirmation emails with conflicting information. Quickly accusations were thrown around and it seemed as if the distributor was lying to both Fria Ligan and the backers.

At this point I decided to write an email to Fria Ligan support, the distributor as well the CEO of Fria Ligan and voice my concerns and displeasure with the whole situation. I usually don’t use my status as an “influencer” but this time I thought it might be wise to throw my weight around. And lo and behold the management director of the distributor reached out to me and they even posted an update to the Kickstarter explaining what went wrong. And only a day or two later packages which have been stuck in some warehouse for ages started to move again.

The whole kerfuffle was caused by the initial shipping delay. Shipment of hundreds of boxed sets coincided with a lot of traffic caused by both the Black Friday sales and pre-holiday online shopping. The distributor’s logistics partner was extremely overwhelmed. Even though they had hired additional help, some shipments stuck for up to two weeks in sorting hubs all over Europe. Bad communication between the distributor, Fria Ligan, and the backers caused a lot of bad blood, but luckily things calmed down after people finally received what they’ve paid for. And oh boy, Forbidden Lands is a beautiful product. The long wait was definitely worth it. I’ll probably write more about it in the future.

Hacking, Alchemy, and animated GIFs As you probably know I am not only interested in roleplaying games, but I am also a great fan of video games. I also dabbled in software development (which is probably a too big a word for what I’ve been doing) since my teens. So it’s no surprise that I enjoy many of the games released by Zachtronics. Most of their games consist of puzzles which are solved by programming. During the Steam Winter Sale I added both Exapunks and Opus Magnum to my collection. In Exapunks  you play a hacker living in an alternative version of 1990s who has to work for a mysterious AI in order to pay for medicine they need to survive. To do your job you use EXAs (which are small software constructs) which you program with a programming language comparable to Assembly language.

The other game I picked up is Opus Magnum which is set into world where Alchemy works. Your job is to design transmutation engines to – for example – turn lead into gold. It reminded me a lot of Zachtronics’ older title SpaceChem, but is much more polished in every way.

You’re probably wondering why I mentioned animated GIFs earlier. This is easily explained. Most new Zachtronics games allow you to export your solutions to the puzzles in the form of animated GIFs! I’ve included one of my solutions to a Exapunks puzzle below.

Demons, Bomb Disposal, and Nausea Traditionally my wife and I spend New Year’s Eve with friends. Usually I run a roleplaying one-shot, but this time I just didn’t feel like it. So our hosts offered we play Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes instead. It’s a party game developed for VR headsets in which one player has to disarm a bomb only they can see, while the other players have access to a manual with disarming instructions. It’s a fun game where precise communication is key. This has actually been the first time I experienced VR on a Playstation 4 and I was surprised how well it worked.

Last time I had the chance to try out a virtual reality headset was when a friend lent me his Oculus Rift Developers Kit 2. My PC at the time was barely VR-ready and most of the games weren’t really optimized yet. When it worked it was pretty impressive, but also extremely nausea-inducing. Surprisingly the PS4 VR headset didn’t cause any of these problems, even though movement in VR still felt a bit weird.

After playing Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes for a while I also had the opportunity to try out DOOM VFR which was totally awesome! If you ever have the chance to play this game, you definitely should do so. There’s also a video of me playing this game which doesn’t look as silly as I feared, which I might upload to YouTube eventually.

Retro PC Gaming and Thin Clients The older I get the more I enjoy playing old computer games from the MS DOS and early Windows era. Some of these games just have a certain charm that modern titles lack. Tools like DOSBOX and online shops like GOG have made it much easier to play old games on modern machines, but there are advantages to running games on actual hardware. While browsing YouTube I stumbled upon various videos in which retro gaming enthusiasts talked about using thin clients for retro gaming.

A thin client is basically a stripped down computer basically not much more than a terminal used to access a remote server. Most of these machines use outdated hardware and are available for just a few bucks on eBay. After doing some research I found out that a good choice for a retro-gaming machine was the HP T5720 thin client. The CPU is not too fast and can be further slowed down by reducing it’s speed multiplayer and disabling its cache. This can even be done by software while the computer is running. This is perfect if you intend to play old DOS games.

Quickly I found an HP T5720 on Amazon Marketplace for less than 20€. Unfortunately the seller supplied the wrong AC adapter. Luckily he immediately sent me the correct one, but alas the thin client still didn’t work. This time replacing the CMOS battery did the trick. While opening the machine I also found out that the seller sent me the HP T5730 by mistake. For a moment I considered returning it, but then decided to keep it for some other future project.

A few days later I found an offer for a HP T5720 on eBay. After the auction was done it turned out I was the highest bidder and for less than €20 including shipping it was mine! This time I got the correct machine including the original packaging, all documentation, a USB keyboard and a PS2 mouse. Yay!

It took me a while until I figured out how to install Windows 98 using an USB drive, but after a couple of hours my retro-gaming PC was working fine. The sound chip included on the mainboard is unfortunately not 100% DOS compatible, but works fine under Windows. I own a couple of games intended for Windows 95 and 98 which are almost impossible to play on modern machines, which should work fine on the thin client. If you’re interested in reading more about this project, please let me know.

Roleplaying game plans for 2019 Over the holidays I also had the opportunity to think about how my roleplaying activities went last year and what my plans for the future are. When it comes to Kickstarter projects 2018 was for me dominated by Fria Ligan projects – and not just on Kickstarter. I have probably played Mutant Year Zero, Genlab Alpha and Mechatron more often than any other roleplaying game this year. I also own Tales from the Loop and have backed their successor Things from the Flood which I am very excited about. I have considered running the games for a while now, I just couldn’t commit myself to preparing anything yet.

Other games I would love to run in 2019 are John Harper’s World of Dungeons Turbo: Breakers, which uses a very cool and extremely streamlined variant of the popular PbtA mechanics (it’s also free!), Everywhen, a multi-genre implementation of Barbarians of Lemuria, Advanced Fighting Fantasy or its scifi variant Stellar Adventures, and – last but not least – D&D using the Rules Cyclopedia.

My last few years as a DM have been dominated by failures and even though I feel the itch to run a roleplaying game from time to time, I haven’t been able to commit to anything yet. I also know that I’ll have to make some unpopular decisions in the future. The group I regularly play with is just too big, so I have to make up my mind who I want to invite to a new game. Regardless of who I pick, scheduling will probably an issue, and this had lead to some serious burn-out in the past. I don’t know why scheduling issues are such a huge problem for me, but it drives me totally bonkers.

I also would love to write more in general and definitely more regularly for the blog, but my lack of writing is directly tied to my lack of DMing. It’s much easier to come up with interesting topics to write about if you run a weekly game. I haven’t run anything in quite some time, and I am not sure if it’s wise to bore you with stories of my failed attempts to get a new campaign running. Heck, I am already boring myself just thinking about it…

So what have you folks been up to lately? What are your plans for 2019? Please share your comments below!

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Kickstarter: Forbidden Lands

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year–Plans for 2019 and A Look Back published first on https://supergalaxyrom.tumblr.com

[joshcroteau]

Alan Vega, Alex Chilton, Ben Vaughn - Cubist Blues (1996)

I decided to leave my response to my first listen of Cubist Blues in a track by track format because I don’t plan to give Cubist Blues a second listen. There have been albums in my life that I had to listen to over and over again to grasp (albums by Velvet Underground, The Modern Lovers, The Byrds, Captain Beefheart, Arthur Russell, Bjork, The Cure and especiallyThe Rolling Stones…) but this album will not be one of them, because I do not want to like this album. I think if I heard someone listening to this album from start to finish I’d make an assumption that I probably wouldn’t really hit it off with that person and they’re probably a little up their own ass. I by no means hated Cubist Blues. I really liked a couple songs on the album and will listen to them again but I am writing about Cubist Blues as a collective album of songs and some of the songs stink.

I found Cubist Blues, in full, on youtube and oddly enough it had been uploaded just a few days ago. 124 people had already listened to it and it has seven thumbs ups. There was one comment from Edward Feltch (oh, what an interesting last name) about how he met Alex Chilton after a show in 1990 and they smoked weed and watched TV together. The album is 12 songs long and just a hair over an hour. Cubist Blues was released in 1996 by Thirsty Ear and more recently rereleased by Light in the Attic. I wanted to listen to something by Alex Chilton, and with Vega’s somewhat recent death, my adoration for Chilton’s work in Big Star, and the cool abstract album art, I decided to go with Cubist Blues.

Vega takes over singing duties and according to the liner notes Chilton plays guitar and shares synthesizer, bass, piano and drumming duties with Vaughn.

There’s a definite improvisational feel to the opener Fat City. From having heard Suicide, I am immediately familiar with Alan Vega’s repetitive, monotone, hammered Elvis ramblings that eventually turn into shrieks. The song does a good job of setting the tone for what’s to come.

Fly Away: When Alan Vega sings “there’s no pain” and “no more crying” he sounds like he’s probably lying. As the song picks up I realize that his voice and his singing style reminds me of the limited amount of Nick Cave I’ve heard (a few Birthday Party songs, soundtrack stuff, a Grinderman album and some of The Boatman’s Call album) but it reminds me of Nick Cave… a lot.

Freedom: I immediately like this song. Phasey, filtered synths whirl over a reverby drum loop while Vaughn drops some warm guitar leads over the trance. This would have been on the Drive soundtrack if it had come out in the nineties.

Candyman: When Candyman starts I am reminded that Alex Chilton is on Cubist Blues. The chiming Velvet Underground Loaded-era style guitar that breaks off into occasional blues bursts is clearly Chilton and wouldn’t have seemed out of place on a Big Star demo. If it weren’t for the demonic, didjeridoo sounding drone in the background this song could have actually made sense on an album like Big Star’s Third. (I’ve never looked into much of Alex Chilton’s solo work outside of a live album at theOcean Club in ’77). Vega’s absentminded mumblings actually add a nice layer to the top of the track, saving what could otherwise be a bit too straightforward of a song for an album categorized as being in the  “art rock” genre. Candyman is a cool song.

Come On Lord: I thought this was a pretty give or take song overall.

Promised Land: Promised Land opens like a more organic sounding Suicide song. The track is a blend of snappy looping electric and live drums accompanied by a hooky, fuzzed out keyboard line while feedback weaves in and out of the groove. I kept thinking this album had to have been a live recording of three guys improvising, trying out multiple takes of each song but the credits on the album prove otherwise. Vaughn is credited with both guitar and drums on this song and unless the man has multiple arms (he doesn’t, I checked) there is no way he is doing both in syncopation.

Lover of Love: Again, the song starts with a very obvious Alex Chilton blues riff, this time on piano. I typically get very bored with “by the book” blues riffs but I don’t mind when Alex Chilton plays them, I’m not sure why he gets a pass. This song gets pretty sloppy and falls out of time on more than one occasion. Lover of Love didn’t need to be on this album. This was the first song I felt like skipping and I started to get nervous that the rest of the album was going to go downhill.

Sister: Sounds like music that would be playing in the back of a lounge by a band that isn’t going to get paid that night.

Too Late: Too Late builds off of a smooth, rolling riff over yet another drum loop. The band starts jamming out sporadically on this track and I took the opportunity to look up who the hell Ben Vaughn is and why he was important enough to warrant Chilton and Vega wanting to record an album with him.  Vaughn was in a band that toured the U.S. several times called the Ben Vaughn Combo, he went solo in ’88 and recorded critically acclaimed albums, toured those albums and eventually made the record Cubist Blues. Vaughn’s wikipedia was basically a snooze-fest until I read that he recorded the Third Rock from the Sun theme song,  and the Big Star cover of “In the Street” for That 70’s Show. My biggest takeaway from listening to this album is going to be that I can share this fun fact with my friend Carl;  I know no one else gives a shit about Ben Vaughn.

Do Not Do Not: Another sloppy mess that snowballs. There are points on this song and parts of this album that sound like a blues band chose their slowest song and then all swapped instruments, they don’t last for long but these moments do show up pretty regularly on Cubist Blues.

The Werewolf: The synth is dialed into the classic Suicide tone and Vega sings about a Werewolf driving in a jeep. I don’t know if it’s because it’s  what suited Vega’s voice best, or his comfortability level, but when the root of the song is a looping drum and a looping keyboard line, everything clicks. I get lost in these songs (Werewolf, Freedom, Promised Land) and I am reminded of why I enjoy the first Suicide album.

Dream Baby Revisited: The final track on Cubist Blues sounds like a final track on an album. A drunken swaying goodbye that quickly fades out just as it sounds like it’s about to pick up.

Rating: 5/10

Favorites: Freedom, Candyman, Promised Land

[mikeyg1985-blog]

Debbie Gibson: Out of the Blue 30th Anniversary!!!!!

Somewhere deep in a storage space, a VHS recording of me performing Debbie Gibson songs for my mom (who was recording the video) on a public park stage, exists.  It was the day before my fourth birthday and my parents had just acquired a video camera for the family. My mom took me to the park, held up an 'I <3 Mikey' sign and let me do my thing. I was three years old and could sing Debbie's radio hits better than I could sing Mother Goose rhymes - and all I wanted to do was sing and dance on a stage in front of anyone who was around. Even at 31, married with two kids, I'm still known around my hometown as 'that kid who used to sing Debbie Gibson songs on the dirt mounds at baseball and football games'. . .Yep.

I didn't become a big rock star like I'd dreamed of being but I've spent most of my life chasing that dream. My love for art, music, performing and theatre - all begin with Debbie Gibson.

Not too long ago, I was looking through a box of childhood memorabilia and I came across my preschool portfolio. Inside there was a list of my 'favorite' things as a preschooler. My favorite show was 'Debbie Gibson: Live in Concert!' and when I grew up, I told them (I'm sure with no hesitation) that I wanted to be a piano player. I smiled at the little book and turned to my mom and asked her:

"How did I get into Debbie Gibson?"

"You loved listening to the radio and every time 'Shake Your Love' would come on, you would dance and sing to it. So - yeah, we bought Out of the Blue for you." She smiles and sighs before saying, "Those were such fun times." 

My earliest memory is receiving the Live in Concert: Out of the Blue Tour '88 VHS for Christmas  and watching it for the first time. It was an hour long packed with Debbie Gibson dancing and running around the stage to all of her hits from Out of the Blue. It was my first time being exposed to performance and I immediately identified myself with it. It wasn't that I wanted to be Debbie Gibson; it was that the music, the dancing, the lights, the audience, the art, the energy - I knew all of that was the beat of my heart - it was who I was. 

I recently watched the entire concert on YouTube, and that same excitement and energy is still there. Of all the concert footage I've seen in my life, Debbie Gibson's Live In Concert: Out of the Blue Tour '88 beats them all . . . and I totally wore out my original VHS. 

From that moment on I was performing for anyone, anywhere, at any time. My cousin likes to tell a story that at two years old, I started performing for two ladies at a mall cafeteria and they just couldn't get enough of me. She says that it was the moment that she knew I was her favorite cousin. I just think that I drove a lot of people crazy.

I was a bit more coherent during the Electric Youth era and I remember that everyone in my family loved 'Lost In Your Eyes'. My great-grandmother bought us both the cassette single when it came out and she would dance with me to it in her dining room. My mother bought me Electric Youth when it was released on a cold winter morning in 1989 at a K Mart, and I remember that my grandmother cut her thumb on the plastic security casing that the tape used to be in. There was absolutely nothing that could compare to the excitement of the first few bars of 'Who Loves Ya, Baby?' as it played through the speakers of my mom's car. I also had recently gotten a Fisher-Price record player for Christmas and my mom bought Electric Youth for me on vinyl as well - it was my very first record.

When my fourth birthday rolled around in September 1989, my parents decided that they would take me to see Debbie in concert. They bought nosebleed seats . . . but my Aunt had a little something up her sleeve.  She knew a local radio DJ from working the drive-thru at a bank and one day when he pulled up to her window, she said: "Hey, my nephew is a really big Debbie Gibson fan . . . you got any tickets?" and the rest was history. So, not only was I going to see my idol - I had seventh row tickets!!!

This is me in the parking lot of Blossom Center in Cleveland, Ohio. I think I napped in the car and woke up cranky - because I did not want to get my picture taken. I remember that we had brought a rose for Debbie (on the Out of the Blue Tour VHS I had seen people handing her roses onstage - so I thought that was just something you did) and for some reason, I thought that I would have to personally hand it to her and I was nervous about meeting her. So that may have had something to do with my crankiness. We gave the rose to some security guard to give to her - looking back, that guy probably thought we were nuts . . . but I do wonder if she ever got it). All of the women in my life came to the concert as well (my parents did already have nosebleed seats) - my mom and I would be in the seventh row and my grandmother, my great-grandmother, babysitter and Aunt were in the nosebleeds. Now (minus my Aunt), these were senior citizens checking out a Debbie Gibson concert - probably excited for 'Lost in Your Eyes' and 'Foolish Beat' - but it wasn't no Sunday Night Concert in the Park. I wish I could tell you that I remember the entirety of the concert, but I don't. Thankfully, I had Debbie's Live Around The World VHS to remind me - but I do remember that I couldn't really see anything; everything looked HUGE (the world to a four year-old) and there was a girl that I thought was Tiffany sitting next to me who thought I was the coolest thing - and she gave me one of those big buttons that people used to wear on their jackets at the time. I'm sure that my mom and I had a great time, it may have just been too much for me to really take in - I think any memories I may have are from watching Live Around the World countless times. The other ladies that accompanied us that night thought the concert was a little too loud. 

The rest they say, is history. Debbie released Anything is Possible the next year and I got it for Christmas (man - did my parents not know to buy these things that day they came out?!?!). I can go back to Anything is Possible now and appreciate it a lot more than I did when I was five. I remember that Debbie's sound was changing - she was rapping? - and although I took her 'Anything is Possible' mantra for gospel (I used it as my senior quote for the yearbook in 2004) I don't really think that Anything is Possible or Body Mind Soul were really made for listeners my age and I didn't latch onto those albums as much as the first two. Think with Your Heart and Deborah have always felt like the more authentic progression and I'm glad that I was old enough to really embrace them. M.Y.O.B. was the first thing I bought with my very first paycheck, at 16.

To understand the other part of this story, you must know that I am from a small town overlooking Youngstown, Ohio - where boys played sports. My parents always supported my artistic and creative ways, but since my brother played sports - they thought maybe I should try as well. It was fun sometimes. I still sang Debbie Gibson - only I did it on a soccer field instead of a stage. It didn't really do anything great for people's perception of me. Also, you have to understand that there were a ton of women surrounding me in my life - older women. So my demeanor and mannerisms were greatly influenced by the women in my life that were between the ages of 30-75. In the late '80s and early '90s - a seven year-old boy flamboyantly performing female artists wasn't exactly embraced by a community. It was cute for a while, but - my parents didn't really know what to do with me. I remember being taken into an office and talking to this guy for an hour or so a few times. It was only in my teens that I realized that I had been taken to see a child psychologist to see if I identified as female. I never identified as a female - I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life very early (music;performing) and I didn't know any other way to channel that part of me other than how I already knew. 

The best thing that my parents did was point me straight to the theatre, where I finally felt like I had found my home. I know that my parents had the idea to take me to auditions at my local community theatre (The Youngstown Playhouse), but I have to give credit to Debbie Gibson. After all, let's be honest, all Debbie Gibson signs pointed to theatre (she was focusing on theatre as well). I finally found all of those aspects that I had identified with watching Live in Concert! Out of the Blue '88 - the music, the lights, the performance, the audience, the energy. I spent most of my childhood in theatre where I not only honed my talents and learned from great actors and directors - but was also exposed to different cultures and people that I don't think many of my peers were exposed to at my young age - and that has given me a great sense of empathy ('We Could Be Together') for all people. There is no better community like The Theatre Family - and I love my theatre family very dearly and so proud of those who have followed their dreams. 

In my late teens and early twenties - after I discovered that music could heal and touch others - I decided that was my calling and I began singing in a rock band.  By that time, I was influenced by many different artists and genres of music - but I was always honest that Debbie Gibson was truly my musical roots.  

Because of Debbie's early influence - I was never just a singer standing between a guitarist and a bass player - I commanded every stage I laid foot on; running around, dancing and interacting with the crowds; keeping the energy up at every gig. From a songwriting aspect - I always tried to keep that simple pop sensibility in melodies and lyrics that I contributed in every song like those early Out of the Blue hits. I even slipped in a lyric ('But I can't reach above/No, I just can't shake your love') on one of our songs that only one person ever realized was a total ode to the song that started it all - for me, anyways. 

Debbie Gibson is releasing her first ever box set, We Could Be Together. It celebrates 30 years of her pop career - and I'm so excited for her.  One of these days, I'm sure my stay-at-home dad budget will allow me to get my hands on it. For me - the dreams of becoming a rock star have simmered, but I have different inspiration today.  Instead of performing for a large audience (which if you've ever been a performer - you know there's always that itch), I perform for my two fast-growing sons; I find joy in teaching them about music and seeing how music moves like it did me long ago - and you can bet your ass that 'Shake Your Love' is in rotation. 

Tomorrow marks 30 years of Out of the Blue, and I can say that the album has always been a constant in my life; it has always been there when I've needed it - on a day that I've needed cheering up, on a crystal blue day with the windows rolled all the way down - it has always brought me joy. In celebration of it's 30th birthday, I am planning on spinning it all day! Happy Birthday, Blue. Thank you for the joy!

If Debbie Gibson should ever happen to read this, I would want to say - Thank You for all of the times. I've read a few things you've written about other artists and how they shaped you, and I wonder if you ever realize that half of us DebHeads could say the exact same thing about you. Thank You so much for being in this world and sharing your gifts with us. I will always be proud of my musical roots. Enjoy this day!

Whether or not you're a fellow DebHead, take a moment to listen to Out of the Blue!!!!

Also check out my Debbie Gibson playlist post here.

[lookingforthemagic]

Alan Vega, Alex Chilton, Ben Vaughn - Cubist Blues (1996)

I decided to leave my response to my first listen of Cubist Blues in a track by track format because I don’t plan to give Cubist Blues a second listen. There have been albums in my life that I had to listen to over and over again to grasp (albums by Velvet Underground, The Modern Lovers, The Byrds, Captain Beefheart, Arthur Russell, Bjork, The Cure and especially The Rolling Stones…) but this album will not be one of them, because I do not want to like this album. I think if I heard someone listening to this album from start to finish I’d make an assumption that I probably wouldn’t really hit it off with that person and they’re probably a little up their own ass. I by no means hated Cubist Blues. I really liked a couple songs on the album and will listen to them again but I am writing about Cubist Blues as a collective album of songs and some of the songs stink.

I found Cubist Blues, in full, on youtube and oddly enough it had been uploaded just a few days ago. 124 people had already listened to it and it has seven thumbs ups. There was one comment from Edward Feltch (oh, what an interesting last name) about how he met Alex Chilton after a show in 1990 and they smoked weed and watched TV together. The album is 12 songs long and just a hair over an hour. Cubist Blues was released in 1996 by Thirsty Ear and more recently rereleased by Light in the Attic. I wanted to listen to something by Alex Chilton, and with Vega’s somewhat recent death, my adoration for Chilton’s work in Big Star, and the cool abstract album art, I decided to go with Cubist Blues.

Vega takes over singing duties and according to the liner notes Chilton plays guitar and shares synthesizer, bass, piano and drumming duties with Vaughn.

There’s a definite improvisational feel to the opener Fat City. From having heard Suicide, I am immediately familiar with Alan Vega’s repetitive, monotone, hammered Elvis ramblings that eventually turn into shrieks. The song does a good job of setting the tone for what’s to come.

Fly Away: When Alan Vega sings “there’s no pain” and “no more crying” he sounds like he’s probably lying. As the song picks up I realize that his voice and his singing style reminds me of the limited amount of Nick Cave I’ve heard (a few Birthday Party songs, soundtrack stuff, a Grinderman album and some of The Boatman’s Call album) but it reminds me of Nick Cave... a lot.

Freedom: I immediately like this song. Phasey, filtered synths whirl over a reverby drum loop while Vaughn drops some warm guitar leads over the trance. This would have been on the Drive soundtrack if it had come out in the nineties.

Candyman: When Candyman starts I am reminded that Alex Chilton is on Cubist Blues. The chiming Velvet Underground Loaded-era style guitar that breaks off into occasional blues bursts is clearly Chilton and wouldn’t have seemed out of place on a Big Star demo. If it weren’t for the demonic, didjeridoo sounding drone in the background this song could have actually made sense on an album like Big Star’s Third. (I’ve never looked into much of Alex Chilton’s solo work outside of a live album at the Ocean Club in ’77). Vega’s absentminded mumblings actually add a nice layer to the top of the track, saving what could otherwise be a bit too straightforward of a song for an album categorized as being in the  “art rock” genre. Candyman is a cool song.

Come On Lord: I thought this was a pretty give or take song overall.

Promised Land: Promised Land opens like a more organic sounding Suicide song. The track is a blend of snappy looping electric and live drums accompanied by a hooky, fuzzed out keyboard line while feedback weaves in and out of the groove. I kept thinking this album had to have been a live recording of three guys improvising, trying out multiple takes of each song but the credits on the album prove otherwise. Vaughn is credited with both guitar and drums on this song and unless the man has multiple arms (he doesn’t, I checked) there is no way he is doing both in syncopation.

Lover of Love: Again, the song starts with a very obvious Alex Chilton blues riff, this time on piano. I typically get very bored with “by the book” blues riffs but I don’t mind when Alex Chilton plays them, I’m not sure why he gets a pass. This song gets pretty sloppy and falls out of time on more than one occasion. Lover of Love didn’t need to be on this album. This was the first song I felt like skipping and I started to get nervous that the rest of the album was going to go downhill.

Sister: Sounds like music that would be playing in the back of a lounge by a band that isn’t going to get paid that night.

Too Late: Too Late builds off of a smooth, rolling riff over yet another drum loop. The band starts jamming out sporadically on this track and I took the opportunity to look up who the hell Ben Vaughn is and why he was important enough to warrant Chilton and Vega wanting to record an album with him.  Vaughn was in a band that toured the U.S. several times called the Ben Vaughn Combo, he went solo in ’88 and recorded critically acclaimed albums, toured those albums and eventually made the record Cubist Blues. Vaughn’s wikipedia was basically a snooze-fest until I read that he recorded the Third Rock from the Sun theme song,  and the Big Star cover of “In the Street” for That 70’s Show. My biggest takeaway from listening to this album is going to be that I can share this fun fact with my friend Carl;  I know no one else gives a shit about Ben Vaughn.

Do Not Do Not: Another sloppy mess that snowballs. There are points on this song and parts of this album that sound like a blues band chose their slowest song and then all swapped instruments, they don’t last for long but these moments do show up pretty regularly on Cubist Blues.

The Werewolf: The synth is dialed into the classic Suicide tone and Vega sings about a Werewolf driving in a jeep. I don’t know if it’s because it’s  what suited Vega’s voice best, or his comfortability level, but when the root of the song is a looping drum and a looping keyboard line, everything clicks. I get lost in these songs (Werewolf, Freedom, Promised Land) and I am reminded of why I enjoy the first Suicide album.

Dream Baby Revisited: The final track on Cubist Blues sounds like a final track on an album. A drunken swaying goodbye that quickly fades out just as it sounds like it’s about to pick up.

Rating: 5/10

Favorites: Freedom, Candyman, Promised Land

[sfjazz]

A New Toolkit for Listening to Music, Chapter by Chapter - KQED Arts on Ben Ratliff

https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2017/03/16/a-new-toolkit-for-listening-to-music-chapter-by-chapter/

MUSIC

A New Toolkit for Listening to Music, Chapter by Chapter

By Gabe Meline

MARCH 16, 2017

For three days I’ve been fervently enamored with the 1997 album Tri Repetae, by the electronic duo Autechre. How I lived 41 years on this planet without hearing it before is a little strange, especially since I’d been so close to discovering it through natural means; over the past 15 years I had bought, completely blind, three of Autechre’s albums at random from record stores. They ranged from puzzling to pleasant.

I might have decided to leave it at that, except over the weekend I happened to ask a record store ownerfor an Autechre recommendation. Chiastic Slide had been too scattered and musique concrète for me, I told him, while Oversteps had been too mild. I wanted something in between, and so, $27.85 later, I drove 60 miles back home with the album that took me 20 years to discover and which I would immediately play six times in a row.

I thrive on these “hard” ways of discovering music. I have a self-inflicted condition which dictates that if I haven’t put in some sort of investment into finding music — monetary or otherwise — I value it less. I still make cassette tapes, partly for the required attention to detail which connects me tangibly to the music therein. I track down hard-to-find copies of old records by musicians because I want my search for their music to rival their search for its creation. I have never once listened to a playlist compiled for a streaming service, because that’s too easy. If I’ve put in some work to find music, I’ll get more reward.

I admit that in a world where almost all of the world’s commercially released music is available at the tap of a finger on a small black device in my pocket, this is a very limiting way to listen to music — and that may be the point, foolish though it may seem.

A smarter way of listening can be found in Every Song Ever, a new book by Ben Ratliff, who for nearly 20 years worked as a music critic for the New York Times. Ratliff embraces the instant availability of music and, rather than sorting it into genre — or worse, algorithm-based, activity-focused playlists like “Morning Jog” or “Chill With Friends” — posits an approach to sorting the internet’s endless supply of music based on a different set of characteristics.

Each chapter of Ratliff’s book deals with an aspect of music that traverses genre and era. The first chapter, on repetition, explores James Brown’s reliable funk alongside Steve Reich’s hypnotic phasing. A chapter on slowness deals with the Flamingos’ molasses-like doo-wop hit “I Only Have Eyes for You” as well as Sleep’s stoner-metal opus Dopesmoker. When discussing speed in music, Ratliff turns to both an 18th-century piano sonata by Domenico Scarlatti and a live show from 1984 by hardcore thrash band D.R.I.

There’s a built-in thrill to the variety here, and several times in reading Ratliff’s moving descriptions of these pieces of music, I had to set down the book to consult my own record collection for songs I’d heard many times already, or YouTube for the ones new to me — for once, I wanted the endless supply of music at my fingertips. But even more thrilling is when these quantifiable aspects of music in the book give way to more abstract measurements. Virtuosity. Sadness. Memory.

In this, Ratliff’s strategy is a sly one. Just as he pulls the reader in with a simple concept like tempo before musing on more complex themes (music being “powered by its search for membership,” for one), he dangles a recognizable song and then draws a connecting thread to an obscure one. A chapter that opens with a deep look at the legacy of thefamous drumbeat to “Be My Baby,” by the Ronettes, leads to Barry Manilow, and then the Clash, then the Italian tenor Beniamino Gigli, then Duran Duran, Bill Evans, Pablo Casals and Kanye West.

By Every Song Ever’s end, genre is a futile construct. Overall, the effect of finishing the book reminded me of spending long hours in dark video arcades as a teenager, and stepping out into the world afterward with a rearranged concept of the city. Is a ninja attacker approaching from behind that bush? Can I ollie over this handrail? Shall I take cover from the space invaders behind this electrical box?

Which is to say: I hear music differently now. It may wear off, like the lingering filter from video games did. But just as I still do for The Jazz Ear, another worthwhile Ratliff book about listening, I can see myself years from now pulling Every Song Ever off the shelf to consult during spans of jaded disinterest. I might also cue up an album I’ve never heard before — like Autechre’s Tri Repetae — on my phone, instead of waiting 20 years to discover it through convoluted, lengthy means.

There’s a hoary maxim about life being 10 percent what happens, and 90 percent how one reacts to it. Too many books about music concern the former. Every Song Ever works as a chapter-by-chapter toolkit for listening that readers can use for a lifetime.

Ben Ratliff appears in a ‘guided listening’ event, playing music and discussing ideas from ‘Every Song Ever,’ on Sunday, March 19 at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco. An author reception follows. Details and more info. here.