#mass effect 2: club music

[cyberpunkplaylist]

Okay, this was for another videogame, sure. That doesn't remotely disqualify the music here. This is all manner of doing any number of things with your Sandivistan fired up. Riding, Fighting, Dancing, Shooting, Driving, Doing one motherfucker of a story scene, shooting out the window at corpcops chasing you. Tell me this doesn't belong here. And I'll tell you everyone's entitled to their opinion, there's no accounting for taste, and that you're wrong.

[shuinami]

Part 2: Why is the accent? Where and when does Hobie come from? Part 1: Who, What (London Accents) | Part 3: How (Writing Tips)

In this section, we'll touch on racism since the 70s, black Londoner youth culture and how punk has historically interacted with those things.

To begin, let’s answer the question of what the hell all us black people are doing here in the U.K. 😂

Long story short, after World War II, the U.K. invited subjects of the empire over, in need of help rebuilding the place and doing essential work after getting bombed and stuff. There was further incentive on the subjects’ side to come as many of their men had been sent off for the war but were out of work and not properly compensated upon their return, leading to a poor economy and many people hoping for better in the ‘mother country’. Caribbean people, mostly Jamaicans, came over from then right through the 60s but were not welcomed and treated as British as many of them thought they might be… cause, you know, racism. 

In 1962, 1968, 1971 and 1981, legislation was passed that made it incredibly difficult for black Caribbeans to come over, even to this day, which led to the migration of black people shifting to predominantly Africans, mostly West Africans, in the 80s, who would come for education and work purposes mostly. (For context, in the 2020s, there are more African people than Caribbean people in the U.K.). In the 70s and 90s, East Africans fleeing conflict have also immigrated en masse, although the numbers were quite a bit smaller than the West African and black Caribbean diaspora.

[not an expansive breakdown of all ethnicities, I just wanted to talk about the most populous black nationalities for the general gist of where black British life really got on a roll]

So, onto life as a black person in the U.K. 

It’s important to remember that the U.K. was racist as fuck AND did not have Jim Crow laws or a history of relegating certain cities or neighbourhoods to ethnic minorities because, by the time we had been invited, there were not so many of us living in England for such laws to be deemed necessary (by racists). 

Living literally side by side, often in the same building, with people who wanted to see them brutalized had a big impact on how black British people navigated life back then and has residual cultural effects on how we behave to this day. 

One thing that stood out to me was the line where Hobie says he has “a laugh at the pub with the mandem”. As many of you will know, the pub is a large part of general British culture as the main drinking scene. Until more recently, you couldn’t just go and buy alcohol from the supermarket or whatever like you can now, so people had to go to the pub for a drink. Additionally, during times when getting clean water was unreliable due to cholera outbreaks, a drink from the pub was safer than drinking water.

It’s also important to know that, unlike clubs, many pubs sell food and are family-friendly, so while it’s not likely for a little kid to be bouncing to go the pub because it’s just basically like a restaurant to them, it’s a place that a child can be used to going to.

Not only do pubs sell food, but pubs also are places that are mostly used to watch football, as well as play pool, participate in pub quizzes (competitive general knowledge pop quizzes done in teams) and generally be out late to sit and talk.

That being said, as I mentioned before, how black people navigate where we live is different to how white people do.

Whilst many black people will go to the pub with their work colleagues or with their mixed friend groups, pubs generally have never been a haunt for black adolescents.

Instead, black drinking culture is more associated with dance and music, i.e. house parties, clubs (particularly clubs or club nights where music popular amongst the black community is played and, in older times, basement boozers) and lounges. Unlike white counterparts, most black kids will not have grown up going to the pub or around people who went and would not be used to going until they got invited out, likely by workmates.

To this day, although racism has chilled out so much since the mid-20th century, a lot of younger people actually still have a latent fear of facing racism from white football hooligan types and drunk, older white people in pubs. If you went to a pub, you typically wouldn’t see many young black people in there, if any. 

The epitome of this mindset was on display during the last World Cup, during which Gen Z black U.K. TikTok was filled with half-jokes about the brutality they would face sitting in the pub to watch an England game if a black team member were to miss a kick or otherwise make a mistake. It was something we joked about in real life too and there was a rumour that went around - which many of us believed to be true - that two black guys had been thrown in the Thames because the black players had missed the penalty kicks they took. 

It was just a rumour, however, people did take to racially abusing the players online and, whilst it wasn’t true, you can see what the general attitude towards pubs tends to be and why it’s not a hotspot for black youth. 

There are U.K. pubs that historically have had more black patronage in black communities but there’s only a few and they’re not really a thing in London.

Knowing that, it’s not to say that no young black people frequent pubs, but it means that it says something about Hobie that he does (or his world, which we’ll talk about later). What it says exactly is up to your headcanon, but it’s worth noting that it’s not typical for a black teenager in London to hang out at the pub, even if they are rebellious and not concerned by the drinking age.

So you may be thinking, damn, why do pubs have such a reputation? What happened that meant that - to this day - there’s such a divide?

While the U.K. was always racist and was unwelcoming to those who arrived during the Windrush period, it continued to get worse going into the 70s. The increasing popularity of the fascistic political party called the ‘National Front’ saw the rise of ‘the immigrants are taking our jobs’ rhetoric used to appeal to the white working class that persists, to a less extreme, today, such as with the political party UKIP, as well as the English Defense League (EDL), both of which have taken on a more Islamophobic angle than the focused and explicit anti-black & anti-browness of the National Front. The National Front’s supporters would chant and sing stuff like “We’re gonna send the blacks back”.

In daily life, black kids had to deal with shameless racism, bullying and violence from their white peers. There was a ‘sus’ law implemented, which essentially made it so that police could (and very much did) stop and arrest any black person they saw on the street that they felt was ““““suspected person””””, which included unprovable and outrageously ridiculous bullshit like being suspected of ‘loitering with the intent to steal’ (so basically, if you’re black and outside, you were - and still are, especially if you’re young - likely to be suspected of this). As mentioned earlier, there were people who would watch games and get drunk in the pub, then go out into the streets on a destructive rampage would also take those opportunities of chaos to physically assault black and brown people.

All of this was on top of institutional racism and micro-aggressions like we have today but turned up to 10. Minorities didn’t feel safe going around their own city alone for fear of getting mobbed or having rocks thrown at them. Even in their own homes, racists were putting literal shit and bombs in their letterboxes. The popularity of the National Front saw a rise in Nazism - an especially wild expression of racism, considering the Nazis had bombed the fuck out of London in WW2, which was the reason the U.K. went crying to the subjects for help in the first place. 

So, naturally, ethnic Londoners tended to craft and operate in their own spaces when it came to leisure, more attuned to the cultures from their family’s countries of origin as well as the kinds where they were just generally more accepted for who they are. Though no longer out of necessity for safety, this aspect of Black British culture persists today, to a lesser extent though, and latent anxieties about acts of extreme racism still remain in the collective subconscious, even though most young people today will have never experienced such extremes.

Just for clarity, this is not to say black people are afraid of white people in general, I’m not sure that could even have been said in the 70s, since there were also plenty of non-racist (aka normal) people too. Back then, the culture was probably a lot more gatekept than it has been for the past few decades, but I’m trying to explain why black British culture and black British life is a different experience to being white British, it’s not only experiencing racism, but it’s also that we just do different stuff cause we historically didn’t feel welcome at their figurative tables and thus did our own thing mostly. It’s why you still get friend groups that are predominantly black despite everyone’s families likely coming from different countries with different cultures, because we relate in terms of black British culture and not feeling especially understood amongst white counterparts. But if white people make us feel like they are down with us, we’re down with them, as one would hope lol.

Speaking of down white people, another huge part of Hobie’s character is that he’s a punk, of course.

So, not gonna lie to you guys, due to the things I just stated about how black people had to navigate the world and craft their own spaces in order to feel comfortable and safe, the punk scene (as we would think of it) has never been a thing that was popular amongst black British people. It’s a predominantly white scene and during the 70s was not unaffected by rising Nazism. To this day, there are still Nazi punks and what we call dirtbag leftists, so you can imagine, at the time, though there were and still are more non-racist white punks, there were enough Nazis that a. it’s not something that seemed welcoming to black people and b. non-racist White punks in the 70s felt that the Nazi problem was bad enough that they needed to do something big about it, which we’ll get onto. 

Because we’re not a monolith, of course, there were black punks such as Poly Styrene, the lead singer of X-Ray Spex, and Basement 5, a punk-reggae band (remember this), but other than that, I haven’t been able to find documentation of black punk life in particular, nor have I been able to get any personal accounts from family. Punk is a small-ish scene to begin with, so you can imagine that the black people who participated are very few. Here, I’m not trying to say that few black people enjoyed listening to the music as part of their taste, I’m pretty sure a lot of young people would have liked the music but not necessarily been active in the scene/culture in the way that white counterparts were. 

Again, the fact that Hobie is a full-out punk as a black teen says something about him or his world; what in particular, is totally up to interpretation and headcanon, but understand that it’s another unique behaviour.

A similar thing that did include black people was ‘skinhead’ culture, something that emerged from and celebrated the working class, especially Jamaican people, in the 1960s, but it was co-opted by ‘punk’ and white people, then drifted away from its associations with and relevance amongst black people and became most popular amongst Nazis in the 80s, associated with the ‘British Movement’. Most people will think of racist white football hooligan types when they think of skinheads nowadays, even though in reality, for both punks and skinheads, not all people in these subcultures are racist/fascist. 

As I mentioned earlier, because minorities were living side by side with working-class white people, a lot of stuff that wasn’t kind of gatekeepy (i.e. super black) has always been at risk of being yanked from us and has historically been done by literal Nazis and I’m sure this plays a part in alternative scenes that stray very far from the cultures we’re raised in not being the most popular amongst us.

Nonetheless, non-racist punks and black people agreed on a lot of core points about classism/capitalism and the need to stomp out racism, which led to white punks starting the Rock Against Racism (RAR) organisation, which held concerts across the country with the intention of bringing people together to take a stand against racism. If you’re able to, I recommend watching the documentary about it called White Riot (2019), which whilst it does include some black interviewees, focuses on the white punks’ side of things and the racism of the time, as opposed to black life. Still worth the watch :)

Other than punk rock, you know what other acts were invited to play at these RAR concerts?

 Black musicians who played funk and reggae were also invited. Even though their music taste was different, the message was the same. Additionally, it might surprise non-British people to hear but even white British people have long loved themselves some reggae, hence Bob Marley’s popularity here.

Reggae is a genre that is often used to speak on politics and social issues, it’s why Rastafarians love it and make such music. So, whilst the punk-reggae fusion of Basement 5 might sound strange today when reggae is not as popular as it once was, it makes total sense why. You can also see references to the London punk scene in the 70s (the time he was living in London) in Bob Marley’s song “Punky Reggae Party”.

I mention this to emphasise how the blackness of black British people, even in white space, has not typically proven to give way, that to be punk or believe in such values is not to relinquish all traces of black culture. I also say this to say, as I’ve said in a previous post bouncing off of Daniel Kaluuya’s thoughts on ‘punk’, that people who are adamant Hobie would not listen to genres of music that are popular with or created by predominantly black people alongside the more typical punk rock give off strange vibes. There’s no precedent for a black person to totally give up that part of them that they would’ve grown up with just because they’ve solidified a political view. Of course, some people are less into it than others, as I said earlier, black people are not a monolith, but given all this context, I’m begging people to not post things like ‘Hobie would never listen to [insert black genre here] because he’s a punk! Other people’s headcanons/playlists are stupid and they’re punk posers!’. 

You can believe he only listens to genres of rock, and that’s fine, but stop telling black people that their headcanons where they project their more black tastes onto Hobie are inaccurate because they aren’t and it’s very strange to gatekeep interpretations of a black character from blackness in that way.

If you do want to know some genres popular amongst or pioneered by black British people, most of which popped off in the 90s, look to grime (hip hop, electronic), garage (electronic), drum n bass (electronic), jungle (electronic), U.K. drill (hip hop), afroswing (hip hop, r&b), reggae, dancehall (hip hop, reggae), hip hop, funk and r&b. I’d say pop since it’s popular amongst all ethnicities lol but, since Hobie is a punk, you’re gonna wanna exchange that for rock and indie, though I think it’s also fair to think there’s a few pop songs that Hobie would like, since being an anarcho-communist doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun, idk. Headcanons and stuff are not really what I’m here to share or enforce. Plus, of course, a lot of these genres are anachronistic but, at the same time, I’m pretty sure most people’s playlists feature more modern songs anyway, hell, even the song selected as Hobie’s intro is from 2011.

And none of this is not to downplay Hobie’s love of rock genres either.

I did make a playlist for myself, if anyone wants it or recommendations you can drop an ask 🤓

In the past few years, there’s been a noticeable growth of alternative life in London black youth culture, notably the roller-skating scene, as well as more people participating in more classic takes on alternative culture like goths, punks, etc. and, of course, black nerd culture has been popping since the late 90s. The black people participating in these alternative cultures aren’t relinquishing their blackness, putting hip-hop in the bin and whatnot - people can be multi-faceted.

What I hope you take away from this is that Hobie is a unique and nuanced character, he’s not a typical representation of any of the things he is, which is personally why I love him so much. I also hope you understand that being a black punk in the U.K., before more recent times, would have been a different thing to being a white punk because, not only are you participating in a counter-culture, you’re going outside the safety net and norms of black British culture which has been positioned as inherently counter-cultural anyways and is one you can never hide your associations with or come out of. It says a lot about him, it comes down to headcanon what, but it’s important to recognise that these aspects of him are not a given but things that would have been purposeful developments or huge moments of self-discovery in his life.

Headcanons are something that throws somewhat of a spanner into the works. Everything I’ve said is historically accurate but we also don’t know that Earth-138’s New London would reflect all these aspects of our Earth’s London. Perhaps 138 is written in a race-blind kind of way or, not coming from black British culture, the writers may not envision the world authentically from our point of view and might be unaware of how it’s different; maybe the execs would not allow them to tap into the racist aspect of Nazism and have the writers keep it vague for marketability's sake; hell, maybe the date on the mugshot was just an Easter egg and not a canon-accurate date, who knows? 

On top of that, if you headcanon Hobie as a transracial adoptee (meaning adopted by people of another race) or that he was orphaned at a very young age or otherwise not enculturated and socialised as a black boy, maybe none of this applies. 

From the current slang to the casting of Daniel Kaluuya, it seems clear to me that, in tandem with the retro vibe, Hobie has been designed to also evoke more contemporary ideas of blackness so the full picture of what the writers have in mind is anyone’s guess at this point.

That being said, I feel like those conclusions would all take some stretching and reaching to come to. I’m not here to tell you what you can and cannot interpret or write, but I’m just trying to give some information so you can write more accurately and understand Hobie and Black Londoner life better.

So, now you understand where we’re coming from, I think you’re ready for the writing advice 😎

[pirunika]

Masterpost try #368

last updated: 31.8.24

Tags :

#sudraws #my writing #xx #music #photography etc.

Art Blog @mandoart

A03 (being revised)

Fave LIs in no order bc why not :

Lann (Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous)

Heinrix (Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader)

Alistair, Fenris (Dragon Age)

Garrus, Jaal (Mass Effect Trilogy)

Danse (Fallout 4)

Torian, Aric (Swtor)

Elliott (Stardew Valley)

Astraeus, Alain, Reiner, Nav (Lovestruck)

Liod, Andvari, Chris (Romance Club)

Asra, Julian (The Arcana)

Jumin Han, Zen (Mystic Messenger)

Lucifer, Mammon (Obey Me)

Hanzo (Nightshade)

Raze honestly all 3... (Demonheart)

Ernol, Haron (Ebon Light)

M, A (The Wayhaven Chronicles)

Lady Argent, Herald (Fallen Hero)

Blade (Shepherds of Haven WIP)

Laurent all of them (Perfumare WIP)

O, G (Infamous WIP)

Other Games I Play/ed

Dragon Raja Mobile

Sims free2play, mobile, 3, 4

Black Desert Mobile

Fate Grand Order

Cookie Run Kingdom

Eldarya

Lovelink

MeChat

Blush Blush

Choices

Ikemen Sengoku

Samurai LBP

Saints Row

Elder Scrolls Online, Skyrim

Dungeons & Dragons Online

Lord of the Rings Online

Guild Wars 2

World of Warcraft

Slay the Princess

Fear & Hunger

Cultist Simulator

Samurai of Hyuga

Blood Moon

Tin Star

Relics of the Lost Age

Soul Stone War

Tally Ho

I, the Forgotten One

Fields of Asphodel

Playlists :

Astraeus (Astoria Fate's Kiss - Lovestruck)

Astoria MC (aka Eos just below)

Sails in the Fog (Romance Club)

Shepherds of Haven WIP IF

Infamous WIP IF Band

Mason (Wayhaven Chronicles)

Some main-ish OCs/MCs :

Vorawin'ther Vandree 'Vora Winter' (Neverwinter/1/2, Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous — a drow in one and dhampir in the latter) #oc: vora, #oc: vorawin'ther 5"

Ayka Delgerdzaya Aeducan (Dragon Age Origins) #oc: ayka 4'7"

Nino Balkish (Star Wars the Old Republic, Chiss Mando Bounty Hunter) #oc: nino 5'11"

Emija Prizrak (Star Wars the Old Republic, Chiss Republic Trooper) #oc: emija 5'3"

Berra H'akan (Star Wars the Old Republic, Cathar Mando -by birth- Bounty Hunter) #oc: berra 4'11"

Kartili Kelborn (Star Wars the Old Republic, Twi'lek Smuggler mando ) #oc: kartili 5'6"

Yvadin Stagard (Star Wars the Old Republic, Twi'lek Bounty Hunter) #oc: yvadin 5'2"

Lirash Paaran (Star Wars the Old Republic, Togruta Bounty Hunter) #oc: lirash 5'7"

Koalcha (Star Wars the Old Republic, Chiss Imperial Agent token male oc) #oc: koalcha 6'6"

Eos Eremenko surname might vary (MC of Astoria Fate's Kiss / Lost Kisses, various other interactive fiction, Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader & my WIP interpretation of the titan goddess with the same name) #oc: eos ...

Ela (The Arcana, Fictif & Choices stories + the MC of the WIP IF Perfumare: Amalgam) #oc: ela 5'8"

Eve Mac Diarmada (Obey Me / Nightbringer, my interpretation of Eve!) #oc: eve 6"

Others :

Star Wars Clan H'akan (original Mandalorian clan settled on Werda, led by Danyal H'akan - also the father of Berra) #clan h'akan

Star Wars Clan Strillir (also my Mandalorian clan on Werda, led by Sidar Strillir) #clan strillir

ASOIAF House Dawnbreak (a semi-noble household) here

Cultist Simulator (Follower) OC here

My Writing :

Homecoming, gen but Lucifer being Lucifer (OBEY ME)

My Moodboards, Edits :

SHEPHERDS OF HAVEN MC TEMPLATE

SHEPHERDS OF HAVEN MC MOODBOARD

BLADE X MC MOODBOARD

BLADE X MC MOODBOARD 2

ASTRAEUS X MC MOODBOARD 1

ASTRAEUS X MC MOODBOARD 2

ALAIN RICHTER MOODBOARD

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 2/20/2024

i don't usually use these writeups as a memory aid, but this week it's good bc most of last week was a blur of applying to jobs and playing breath of the wild

listening

i have several playlists that are several hours long with a couple different flavors of the really specific kind of instrumental music i need to do mass quantities of data entry. these are now all poisoned by horrible memories of my last two jobs so i'm slowly building new ones. a great candidate is OASIS, off the REDLINE soundtrack. REDLINE (2009, dir. Koike) is an extremely horny anime movie about driving really fast, being true to yourself in spite of corporate overlords, sports betting, and fucking.

i think this was a scene with background club or cafe music? electronica instrumental with a little bit of a groove and a very particular mid-aughts sound. you know when powder coating is extremely matte but also extremely sparkly? spotify.

-

reading

Samantha Cole (previously Vice, co-founder of 404 Media) has a beat that's focused on sex tech, sex work, deplatforming of sex work, and kink community beefs that manages to be both detached and very, very kind. i trust her to write about any kink community in a respectful and fair way, and even when she visibly doesn't understand the appeal of a kink she writes about them in a respectful and fair way. a great example of this is the furry adult baby diaper community being deplatformed by patreon.

but her most recent investigation, "can this shitty vibrator actually give you malware?" is fascinating. any job that can legitimately claim vibrators as a buisness expense and perform a teardown is fascinating to me.

what a tremendous and endlessly fascinating world we live in.

-

watching

there are many movies on tubi that i have like. name recognition of but have never actually seen, so i'm starting to work my way through things that aren't noir or obscure westerns. like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, dir. Lee).

the practial effects in this movie are insane. the wirework is insane. wirework insane. this is the dreamiest and most beautiful chase/fight scene i've ever seen and they're zipping around a bamboo forest.

we're going to have to live with this imperfect screenshot ok this laptop is Extremely old. the interior sets often look like theater sets (complimentary). just a stunningly beautiful movie with the sickest action scenes you’ve ever seen. plot a little choppy but forgivable imo. i know this is regarded as one of the finest movies of all time, not just one of the finest martial arts movies of all times, so saying anything feels a little like giving it a dollar store plastic trophy. i liked it and i had fun. watching a critically acclaimed non-american good movie is good for the brain steeped in lackluster american westerns, i think.

-

playing

much like in real life, in breath of the wild i am refusing to do much towards the main quest and am mostly puttering around looking for shit to upgrade my outfits.

unlocked rudania, did not go inside.

what's with this little. sword graveyard??? on the northeastern edge of the caldera??? the only thing on that island is an octorok?? did it kill like eight guys???

finished richard scarey's tarreytown :) including that horrible rich guy who wanted me to kill some guardians for ??? reasons. i am pretty confident about killing hinox (is the plural of hinox, hinox?), wizzrobes, and most lizalfos if i can get the drop on em but i am Not confident about killing actively moving guardians without guardian arrows, which is an expensive way of doing business. due to reliably one-shotting the wizzrobes with revali's bow, i am running into the interesting problem of always having a glut of magical weapons. which leads me to go fuck around the extreme hot and cold areas those magic weapons are good for. and less fucking around the normie areas i actually want to fuck around.

got the good sword at thirteen hearts, i stopped short at twelve hearts gone and the deku tree called me a pussy. i unfontunately did not screenshot that. hey did you know there's a korok on the deku tree's head whose life's purpose seems to be riddles?

:(

and now for quite a lot of horse talk.

dodged like four lynels taking Ganon's horse up the northern edge of the map to get a pic of the leviathan.

caught the white horse, we are such pretty pretty princesses together. i think it's very funny that the gerudo fanciest weapons and hylian royal regalia look so similar. purple and gold eternal.

did you know if you feed your horse an endura carrot you get extra spurs???

i was looking for a 5 star speed horse but after catching and releasing four different solid black horses this is the best one (4 str, 4 speed, 5 stamina) i found. maybe I’ll shoot for a bright chestnut with lots of chrome for my speedy horse, the equine equivalent of a red convertible.

very funky conincidence on the grasslands behind the lord of the mountain's spring. not identical, bc the lead horse doesn't have facial markings, but what are the odds of that huh. i wish grays in this game didn't look so chalky and washed out, i love a gray horse in real life.

i think it's some bullshit that you have to fight your way into this spring, get told "go get a dragon scale", deal with all that, fight your way BACK into the spring, and then be presented with a Major Test of Strength shrine. c'mon just give it to me!!!

game continues to be very bad at spitting out riders next to horses or donkeys EXCEPT!!! for this doctor. i didn't know hyrule had traveling doctors! i quite honestly didn't think they had the techonology, given that the state of medicine in hyrule is very mortar and pestle based!

the game gave me a tooltip like "make friends with dogs! they'll lead you to treasure!" and i was like What but it does actually work, you just have to target them in the camera first and then feed them several hunks of meat. bonkers game. how many other goddamn mechanics are there that i've missed???

next steps: shrine hunting. i have like 50 out of 120 which is wild to me. i played this game two years ago, got to about a hundred shrines, and managed to forget where they all fucking are. yes my shrine sensor is always on. there's probably at least twenty in central hyrule, which is not a place i touched much on my list playthrough, also the last two memories i need are in there. i have filled out a good chunk of the compendium (completely filled the materials pages) but idk if i will be a completionist about it. there are so so so so so many weapons variants. i am cheating a bit and looking up the animals i missed (mostly a lot of bugs and fish) but one of the entries is for patricia, the royal sand seal. i would not have ever thought to take a picture of the named sand seal, i'm sorry game but that's a bit obtuse.

-

making

not much progress on the cross stitch or job fronts, but since i finally have a balcony, i planted peas and beans from @shiny-good-rock and basil from @morrak than have been languishing in a box for several years, the basil had an okay germination rate so my fingers are crossed re: peas and beans.

i am a bit annoyed about marigolds. maybe it's a bit too early for them here, or maybe they're not as popular as they were in the northeast? i tried like five different big box stores and indie nurseries, only one indie nursery had any and they were very pest-ridden. i would like marigolds, as friends for my tomatoes.

it is currently 11:40 PM CST as i type this so tomorrow i'll add something with a garden layout and what varieties i planted.

[demolitionsystem]

Hey there! I don’t know what to say here. Welcome, though! Also, please be nice to people! <3

Interests: MCR, Ryan Gosling, Agents of SHIELD, Honkai 3rd, Zenless Zone Zero, Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail, writing, reading, astronomy, anatomy and medical sciences, science in general, learning new things, looking into crimes and mysteries, the Breakfast Club, the Postal Service, Daft Punk, Pingu, Marvel, DC, sci-fi, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, comics, art, Brooklyn 99, The Umbrella Academy, Mass Effect Andromeda, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Community, Star Wars, Interstella 5555, the Division 2, the Good Place, Black Mirror, Fall Out Boy, early Panic!, music in general, penguins, birds in general, national parks, and a ton of other stuff (liking things is who I am I guess 💀)

[bengiyo]

Shuffle your favorite playlist and post the first five songs that come up. Then copy/paste this ask to your favorite mutuals. 💌💜

So, I made a playlist with about 100 songs for a long drive to a wedding a year or two ago. We had this Baby Gay with us who had no real appreciation for music, so we put together some songs to play in the car and talk about with them. I shuffled that and these are the five that it spit out.

Night Flowers by Lo-Ghost

I think I discovered this song because of a Spotify recommendation years ago and quickly became obsessed with it. I like the base line in this song, and I really get off on the lyric "There's blood in my body and it sounds like this: [powerful gay harmonizing]"

Sleepover by Hayley Kiyoko

I've been to a lot of smaller concerts, but Hayley Kiyoko was one of my favorites. I flew out to see her with one of my closest friends and to take a friend's kid who was figuring out who they were. I feel like I was the only dude in this crowd. I watched lesbians throw wet bras at Hayley all night. I watched a Brazilian lesbian make out with a girl and then have some sort of crisis afterwards. I almost got roofied by some other girl. I had a blast.

Find You're Here & Find You're Gone by Wolfsheim

I definitely discovered this song because of a Mass Effect 2 fan video, and have never stopped listening to this song. The melancholy in this song is the exact kind of emo I like to be.

The Best by Tina Turner

It's Tina Turner. There's no way we were gonna let this kid walk away from this trip not knowing who she is.

Hang Your Heart by Tokyo Police Club

What can I say. I'm a boy who loves songs where the singer is asking their partner to let them love them.

Thanks for the ask!

[ratwavegamehouse]

I make a lot of playlists. I've made two for Terminal, an upcoming digital pirate action game coming to Kickstarter on July 20th (written by me, illustrated by Gormengeist, edited by Alyssa Ridley).

There's lot of different reasons I'll make a playlist. Capturing a mood, something to create a certain mood, processing feelings. I make playlists for most books I do and they're usually doing one of those others for me as well.

This post I'll share both playlists and run through one which will also work as a sneak peak at the game.

The first playlist (the Digital Pirate Action mix) is a long sprawling one that I keep adding to. It's stuff that feels like Terminal vibes, whatever that means. It's lot of alternative hip hop, dark ambient, harsh noise, some pop songs and then songs from various influences sprinkled in. There's a character in Terminal called The Hedonist, an obsolete program and pirate contact who runs a nightclub for others who've escaped deletion. I imagine the Digital Pirate Action mix as what's playing in her club.

The second playlist (Enter the Terminal) I made more recently, after a conversation on a yet-to-be-released episode of This is Your Lifepath where we talked about music. In this case it's a linear playlist where each sings maos to aspect of the book. It's less concerned with being a cohesive listening experience and more about whatever songs reminded me of different things.

Gonna do a run through of this second playlist and explain some of my thoughts, also because it's a useful way to preview the game.

Song 1 - Break the Glass by Clipping.

This is essentially a mood setter. I think of it like an opening credits song. The repeated refrane of "wake up", lines about "life binary in Morse code". I was thinking of unreality.

Song 2 - Gospel for a New Century by Yves Turner

This song I'm also thinking about breaking from the simulation.

Song 3 - A Drop of Nelson's Blood by Jarvis Cocker

I needed a sea shanty (in this case a cover of a sea shanty) to set the mood in the Wake, the real world. Long ago, before anyone can remember, the robots and humanity shattered the moon and the world flooded, reshaping landmasses. Now the pirates of Libertatia, those who've awoken from the simulation, battle the Robot Authority on the waves.

Song 4 - Road to Hell II from Hadestown

In the world of Terminal there is story of the omen, someone who emerges in each iteration of the Terminal with extraordinary power. They use this to battle the system and hope to overthrow it. They have always failed. This song choice reflects, the idea of trying again, in the hope things might turn out different this time.

Song 5 - Saint by Deaf Havana

For this song I was thinking a lot about the pressure the pirates are under. Specifically I ended up thinking about Captain Breach, the chair of the Captain's Council, who has this position at what is going to be a pivotal moment in Libertatia's history.

Song 6 - Miracle by CHVRCHES

I wanted a song to represent the character of The Seer, a program with the power of precognition, who often aids the pirates but is ultimately still a routine part of the Terminal's function and so is difficult to trust.

It was hard to find a song that really fit, and honestly this doesn't feel like it fits perfectly but I think I'm almost imagining from the perspective of a pirate wanting to feel trust.

Song 7 - I'm Beginning to Think You Prefer Beverly Hills to Me by Fight Like Apes

This was about the aforementioned Hedonist. An upbeat song about firing fit their attitude to being declared obsolete. She intends to dance to the night away until the curtain falls, rather than fighting back.

The Hedonist's starting point of inspiration was the character of the Merovingian from the Matrix sequels. Her role in the world ended up drawing from Carrie Ann Moss's character in Mass Effect 2. They also, in my interpretation of them, ended up having some Jareth the Goblin King vibes. She's one of the NPCs I end up thinking about a lot.

Song 8 - Not in This World by Kids in Glass Houses

A campaign of Terminal begins with the startup operation Run, Atalanta, Run, a scenario designed to introduce players to how the game plays and the world as a whole as well as sparking the overall campaign. It involves your crew trying to help free a restless sleeper known as Atalanta. It's the thing in the book thats going for the plot of the first Matrix film the most.

I was thinking of the character Atalanta with this song choice. The lyrics "Don't wanna see, I want an ocean, and all of the madness, so give me your worst" feels very them.

Song 9 - Heel Turn 2 by The Mountain Goats

The major scenario arcs in Terminal are called Crashes, and each could escalate to the point of being the games finale. I picked a song for each crash.

Heel Turn 2 is for Curations of The Archivist. The crew faces of again an obsolete program who's former role involved cataloging everything important in an iteration. Now they turn to capturing and freezing everything they find value in, eventually threatening to cause enough instalibity to kill everyone in the system.

Heel Turn 2 felt appreciate for this bitter character lashing out.

Song 10 - Zero Zero by Gerard Way

The Crash Multiplied by 0 involves faxing off against the titular 0, a former special agent turned living virus who threatens to assimilate the entire Terminal (their analog should be fairly obvious to anyone who's seen the Matrix films).

This was an on the nose song choice but the refrain of "Call me zero you are zero" is pretty perfect for the way they assimilate others.

Song 11 - Frankenstein by Rina Sawayama

Corruptions of The Passenger involves facing a new plot by the Robot Authority, involving a program who can hack into pirates mind and leave bots that take over. The first known hacked pirates is Orpheus, appropriately named for their failure to avoid looming back.

I love the album Hold the Girl so much. I think this placement here is almost imagining this as from Orpheus to The Passenger.

Song 12 - The World We Knew from Sayonara Wild Hearts

The Dying Dream is where a lot of the games Paprika influence is. The crew venture into a firewalled off domain where nightmares have begun to bleed from the mind of a dying sleeper. Much of the dreams fixate on the fears and regrets of the sleeper which led to me picking this song from Sayanora Wild Hearts.

Song 13 - Born to Lose by Jenny Owen Youngs

The Twin Peaks influence I may have mentioned before is sprinkled throughout the game, sometimes in direct riffs like the character of The Arm in the Dying Dream, but also in general vibes and logic of certain places like The Seer's domain. The Crash Tortures of The Killer draws some influence from Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet, and involves The Killer, a disgusting program deployed by The Puppeteer, threatening lingering threads to the crews sleeping past.

The lyrics "Somewhere in the night, a man is standing by/With a deal you won't be able to refuse/No, you can't call him, but expect your phone to ring/And brother, you prepare yourself to/Offer up what you were born to lose" reflects the way The Puppeteer wants to blackmail the crew into doing their bidding.

Song 14 - Life on Land by Dessa

The Crash Sailor's Warning is the only Crash taking place mostly in the Wake, the real world. It involves tensions at the heart of Libertatia, and challenges the crews relationships with their pirate comrades.

Using a song called Life on Land for this Crash is partly being cutesy but also a lot of the song does feel like it drives at the mindset of the central NPC Captain Wail.

(Not related to Sailor's Warning but the lines "I'm just a girl, in the body of a boy, in the belly of a whale" also really brought to mind transness in Terminal specifically.)

Song 15 - Volunteer DJ by Fishboy

[ERROR//PERMISSION DENIED//OPERATION ENCRYPTED//ALTER EGO CONTROLS REQUIRED]

Ok so I won't say what this song relates to textually, but thematically I was thinking about the last and what gets left behind.

Song 16 - Black Wave by K.flay

So as mentioned before any of the Crashes can become the games finale, the Total System Crash, where as well as defeating the central threat you'll determine the fate of Libertatia and this iteration of the Terminal. This song fits for facing something as immense as the fate of two worlds and also musically fits for like a final montage as you prepare for the last showdown.

Song 17 - There is a Place for You Here by Left at London

Figured the last song on this playlist is almost like an end credits song for the book. The lyrics remind me of some of the more emotional and subtextual themes of the game.

Like I said, less musically cohesive then the other playlist, like very much made up of songs I listened to a lot that I linked to different things. Probably also influenced by my mood when I made it, which was kinda depressed over some personal life things. It's got a more melancholy tone then the playlist I made have made a week before or a week after.

Anyway so that's two playlists about Terminal, which as a reminder is coming to Kickstarter on July 20th. Please follow the pre-launch at terminal.ratwave.uk and back when we go live!

[its-my-whump]

Whumptober 01

“But now this room is spinning while I’m trying just to fill in all the gaps.” | Swooning |

Hummingbird 01

The sensation under his hands was kind of grounding. It felt good, natural, polished wood. It's surface smoothened over years and years of hands touching it, bottles and glasses brushing over it until it was as soft as it felt. Like stones being rubbed round and perfectly smooth through the rough forces of water.

His fingertips were testing the wood, rubbing up and down just a pinch. His pinky and ringfinger felt sticky and wet. The beer to his right was spilled a bit. Fresh foam still running down that cloudy glass on the outside.

Why had he put his hands down on the bar anyway? It still felt grounding. He didn't know, but he felt like, he needed grounding.

Apparently everything started with that energy drink. Sam was so freakingly tired after 2 weeks on the nightshift. Now, he didn't know, why on earth he came to the club at all. No friendly faces and his drink couldn't wash down the sour taste of failure at all. It tasted awkward too. Great finish for a forthnight, that already sucked.

His heart was hammering and his chest hurt. It felt tight, but after the incedent at work that was probably no surprise.*

The smoothened feeling under his fingertips was gone. Now it felt like it actually was. His hands were touching a dirty counter, touched by countless others, spilled and decorated with who-knows-what. He felt disgusted all of a sudden and pulled his hands away. They went to his pants automatically and tried to get rid of the stickyness by rubbing up and down his tights heavily. The movement brought pain to his left arm again*, his right hand went up there for some support instinctively. He felt dizzy. The room seemed to be tilting a bit.

Actually, it wasn't a plain energy drink, he reminded himself. It was a drink with wodka and energy to flush down his miserable day and frustration.

He hadn't touched booze in over a month. Hadn't had the time or energy to spare. Nevertheless, whatever he was experiencing right now, wasn't alone from fatigue, mixed with energy and alcohol. Something felt off.

The room was spinning a hint too much. His legs were a nuance too unsteady, too fast, after just one half of that tiny glass, that had cost him about a fortune.

The music was just a note too loud. The movements of all these people dancing and pushing themselves through the crowds were really just too hectic. The smoke-filled air was actually much too thick. His chest was a bit too small and unmoving.

Sam felt his jaw tightening, a pinch in his stomach, a bitter taste on his tongue and suddenly nausea was creeping up. He left the remains of his unfinshed drink and pushed himself away from the bar. The urge rising constantly.

The room was spinning even more now without any support from the counter or was it just him swaying? He stumbled towards the restroom. Bodies blocking his way, shoulders touching. This space was just too cramped. Foreign skin, just too hot, touching his naked armes. Goosebums were running up and down those arms. A shiver ran down his spin, he almost lost his footing, if not for countless others keeping him pressed upright inside that crowd. The pinch in his intestines developed into a fullblown cramp.

At the same time, someone was probably trying to blow up a ballon inside his head and the ambient noise was cancled out by his own blood rushing through his suddenly pounding skull. Instantly he felt freezingly cold. In addition cold sweat was summoning under his hairline, threaten to run down his forehead, while the external circumstances should have let him sweat raindrops of hot salty liquid out of every pore.

Noise, smoke, bodies were mixing into a blurry colorful mass, he felt stuck in, as if wading through molasse. The static noise inside his ear canals must have been turned up now. Flashing lights were making him even more dizzy and the effects of a screaming boombox, screwed down to the floor, running waves through his whole body were favoring the sickening feeling in his stomach.

Finally he reached the restroom. His shoulder bumped into the wooden door, which gave path way too easy. His hand instantly flipped from the metallic doorhandle and Sam stumbled towards the nearest stall. He had hardly pushed the next door open, when his knees gave way. Clammy hands grabbed for the bowl to find just some kind of stability.

Two little burritos, he had for lunch this evening, resurfaced ungracefully.

He retched and heaved, while holding onto the ceramic for his dear life. Wave after wave of disgust and pain rolled through his shivering body. His head threatened to explode and he could only manage a desperate attemp to get some vital air in between his insides turning out violantly. Everything was so heavy, all of a sudden his extremities felt like being made out of lead. It actually felt like some vicious maniac had strapped addional weight to every part of his body. He wanted to break down on the spot.

When he found himself dry heaving for the fourth time, his knees, keeping him almost upright over the bowl, finally gave way. He slumbed against the partion wall, first with his right shoulder, than his back, completely drained.

Blood was still rushing through his ears and desperate breaths were his last resort to keep his eyes from closing and blackness taking him into a smoothing embrace. Sam felt more than exhausted, his hands were shaking, while he tried to calm his frantic heartbeat. The bitter taste in his mouth and the sourness in the back of his throat almost let him throw up again. He had turned a bit and his left cheek was now pressed against the hard but still kind of comfortable furface of the partionswall and prevented him from falling to the ground completely. It acted as an anchor, keeping him in the present. But he felt his grip on reality slipping with every - by now - halfcalm breath.

Over his bodyfunctions going haywire, he hadn't registered someone entering the restroom and approaching him. He was just too occupied with existing in this cruel moment.

Sam was slumped, his left cheek felt like sinking into that wall to the next stall. The fresh bruise on his arm or the hurt knee from his last shift this morning, were dull and slightly tingling, but they didn't hurt, like they should have.* He was facing away from the toilet and his legs were spread out in an uncomfortable angle, bearing witness of his misery. They were sticking out under the wall on the other side, feet partly in the next stall on his right.

One shaking hand was holding onto the wall and the other grabbing for his head. He was too weak to neither flush down the remains of his already eaten food, nor to even think about the hand mere minutes ago fingerdeep in fecal bacteria from countless people now touching his own face. Just his fingers pressing down on his skull brought an awkward kind of relief to the pounding behind his eyes. But still the room just wouldn't stop moving. At least the static noise in his ears had gone down noticable.

His heavy lids wanted to close on their own, when he registered a movement. The door to his stall was being opened slowly and completely soundless. Alone watching it move, brought his nausea back up again. The bitter taste intensifying mercilessly.

Lifting his head was too exhausting, but still his eyes followed just out of reflex.

A body came into view. He really couldn't make out more than a body. Figure and height made that shape a man, his head slowly puzzled together. But it all was too much and ultimately the events caught up to him. It was like the world had just stopped spinning and finally the room too. Everything was frozing in this awkward blurry still-life. It felt like his frame was brought to an abrupt stop after a rollercoaster ride. Sam felt his body just giving in, all tension leaving his muscles and shaking extremties, like a drain had been opened.

His face slid down the wall. Next thing, he knew, were cool tilts bringing a kind of heavenly stability, when all went black.

A distant voice reached his ears just before, he was lost into oblivian.

"I already feared, I'd lost you, my little hummingbird."

TBC

Hummingbird masterlist

*explained later (05)

@whumptober-archive

[tenelkadjowrites]

I remember you saying that when writing, you are blasting music [same, it was nice to know someone out there has a similar brain in that since]— did you have a playlist when writing Attention?

I did not have a playlist for Attention. I wrote the club scene to one specific song from the video game Mass Effect 2 and then I was bouncing around to various songs during the smut.

Going forward tho since multiple people seemed interested i will be posting the playlist on any fics that have one. 🥰

[freeworldallahexecutivembaclass]

And another one

Proposal for New MTA automobiles , vans , buses and electric trains and Mass Transit services

All trains from the A train to the F train , J Train , Z Train be changed into a newer shell more cleaner , faster and more modern trains with Television on the train with channels from NY 1 news channel ABC News Channel Fox News Channel WPIX News Channel

Joyce Meyer TV show on the train 🚆🚂

Joel Osteen on the train we already have stores in his name in New York City now we could get his show and sermons live on the train or catch the reruns on the next train if you miss your train don't miss the chance for a better life in your city and country

I just finished Joel Osteen Peaceful on purpose and rule your day two very thin books probably 100 pages book that you could breeze through going to read it again it is a easy book and I'm asking all New Yorkers to read it share it and to use it in our daily interactions with each other it will help develop a new mindset and you can enjoy your day on your way home or to work with a victorious mindset and behavior live a life of victory and don't forget to start a book club and add on Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer in your book list in your book bag if you are a student or purse and pockets on your way to exercise .

ESPN channels with all sport shows like sports center in the train that is great for all New Yorkers erasing all tension and anxiety depression and frustration of all commuters and not to mention the upgrade for New York City and any country and cities transit system it help reduce crime and bring more businesses to those cities not to mention the millions made for the advertising industry . I see that they have a new store in NYC next to the library Disney Haunted Mansion that is going to be great for the family for the kids they are going to love it they will scream and enjoy it love it and laugh and have fun Justin Bieber song Ghost 👻 brought this all about so I want to be there . Imagine trains with views of the graffiti in the tunnels of the train station like make that a tourist attraction on the new trains for MTA you could look at the tunnels graffiti like it's a museum 🖼️🎨 art exhibit with special effects sites by MTA workers showcasing the best graffiti the world has ever seen enhancing the commute experience for all New Yorkers .

Trains running on Grand Concourse a New station the outside rails carrying electric 💡 ⚡ trains 🚂 Travel Routes include New Jersey , Connecticut , Example of New trains and their names

The Golden Eagle 🦅 The Aurora The Fury The Storm ⛈️ The Rock Climber The Great Bear The Laser The Vision The Messenger The Sunflower The Sparkle The Dynasty The Vortex The Phoenix The Knight The Hunter The Polar The Diplomat The Paradise Coast The Liberty The Jade Garden 🪴 The Frost fire The Ambassador The Hawk The Rage The Ghost 👻🎃 The Angel The Warrior

Cabin rooms doors to private cabin rooms with 4 passenger seats with Tvs in the cabin , cushion chairs with cushioned headrest and recliner chairs and modern pop , R and B , and Gospel Music , Rock and Roll stations playing over a system in the background in the cabin .

Fully carpeted train with a diner on board for fried foods and drinks and other refreshments , and restaurants on board . Salons and Barbershops on board as well as Newspaper news stands with magazines , candy and sodas lounge area for tv watching sports , the news and nature channels with water kingdoms and traveling to foreign countries channels .

Book of the month Joel Osteen empty out the negative it means let go of the negative influences and negative people in your life that hold you back with me is to get these tyrants and puppet masters off of me and truly live the message that Joel Osteen is preaching I just read some of it from chapter 2 to 4 and wonder can I be let go of please if you other than a person that follow his message in that please let me go so I could live my life and yeah it could save your life Don't feed on poisons chapter 3 to 4 is good for you unclog your heart drink water and do light exercise just walking is a start but also clean out out your inside as well from the filthy anxiety look at the definition of anxiety , the hurting people feelings and blocking my path in my life if their is book that will save a life it would be this one book in fact get his whole collection I got all his books , Joyce Meyer and Victoria Osteen books I kinda teach now to get the voodoo and mind control off of me I don't want to think like my enemy about myself , no thanks read the book and change your life .

According to Social Psychology people and your environment make you who you are and I'm against that especially if your from an environment where people are hateful towards you verbal abusive and telling you that is the best that life has to offer you no their is a better life for you I want a new kind of community and environment it is people like me that change where we live and put the people and our community on the right path call it a new social psychology thinking like my pastor Joyce Meyer or Joel Osteen and Victoria Osteen about me and other people I only have good things for you in my heart and your future . I truly believe you have to reeducate the people and teach them to build the kingdom of God on this earth 🌍 the Muslims do try but they needed help and plus it is effecting me and my mental health and physical health and I have to speak out against it so read the book empty out the negative by Joel Osteen their books and live it out you got it from me , thank you and remember nature can be changed by nurture and nourishing yourself with love and a good education you can change your life and be successful you heard it from me you can be anything you want to be and beat any disease and incurable illness of the mind and the body especially now with the cure for HIV Aids and be freed from the curse of the death of the spirit through spiritually depressed neighborhoods read the book and love your friends family and even the stranger on the street with your words behavior and attitudes , thank you let's practice social psychology together in a better way take this words home and practice them instead of creating social schizophrenics mumbling and talking to themselves in self hatred and living less than their best potential lets treat each other better and want the best for each other each human and race period that is how it is suppose to be on this planet .

[clericofshadows]

10, 35, 40 and 42 for mass effect ask 😉

thanks for the ask :)

mass effect questions!

I answered 35 here :)

10. Best Shepard quote?

Hmm... this is a tricky one. I love the one from Tali and Legion's post loyalty fight: "We're on a mission. You can either fight at my side or get crushed under my heel. But you will not stand in my way." It kind of sums up Regis quite well, and it's always been one that comes to mind. Or the one from when al-Jilani interviews you in 2 and you choose the renegade response. I never save the council, so I never get that line everyone loves, but I like this one better.

"Saving everyone only happens in vids. There will be sacrifices. Being in charge means making sure they lead to the greater objective. That's a reality shared by all soldiers, in command and on the ground. Don't you dare suggest I made that call lightly."

once more peak Regis :) ME2 is definitely my least favorite but it has good lines.

40. Favorite place on the Citadel?

in 1, I just love the vibes of Chora's den. Neon lights, shady dealings, pounding music... night clubs are usually my favorite video game locations. In 2... the Citadel just kind of sucks. Can't say I have a favorite place there. In 3, Shepard's apartment. It's large, but still has a nice, cozy vibe to it I enjoy.

42. One romance you just can’t stand/doesn’t make sense/etc?\

lmao Shakarian. Can't stand it at all. Does it make sense? Sure, in some people canon's but not all you crazy garbus fans. Anyway, yeah. Sorry. I never really liked Garrus even before checking out the fandom, and the only redeeming part of the romance is the tango scene, I can admit, because I've stolen it for my romances lol.

[bbpsnoida]

Sikhsha Saptah: A Week of Holistic Education at Bal Bharati Public School, Noida

The Sikhsha Saptah: 22-28 July, a week-long educational extravaganza, was a resounding success at Bal Bharati Public School, one of the best CBSE schools in Noida. This annual event is a testament to the school's unwavering commitment to providing holistic education and fostering the growth of its students as responsible citizens of India. Through a diverse array of activities, the Siksha Saptah aimed to cultivate critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and a deep appreciation for learning.

Day 1: Cultivating a Love for Literacy (Teaching-Learning Material(TLM) Day The Siksha Saptah commenced with a vibrant celebration of literacy. Students from all grades engaged in a variety of literary activities, including storytelling, poetry recitation, and book reviews. The objective was to ignite a passion for reading and writing, enabling students to express themselves creatively and develop their communication skills. Lectures by language teachers further inspired students to explore the world through the written word.

Day 2: Foundational Literacy and Numeracy(FLN) Day: Fostering Environmental Stewardship On the second day, the focus shifted to environmental awareness and sustainability. Students actively participated in tree plantation drives, nature walks, and workshops on waste management. These activities aimed to instil a sense of environmental responsibility and equip students with the knowledge and skills to contribute to a greener and healthier planet. The school also undertook a plantation drive. This provided students with first-hand experience of the natural world.

Day 3: Sports Day: Nurturing Innovation and Creativity The third day of the Siksha Saptah showcased the school's dedication towards the motto of “A Healthy Mind Resides in a Healthy Body”. Students engaged in Mass PT, Yoga sessions, Swimming sessions and indigenous games demonstrations. By fostering a culture of integrating sports with education, the school encouraged students to explore their creativity, develop problem-solving skills, and prepare for the challenges of the 21st century.

Day 4: Celebrating Cultural Diversity In, one of the top 10 CBSE schools in Noida: Bal Bharati Publicm School, Noida, the fourth day was dedicated to celebrating cultural exchange and diversity. Students from different backgrounds showcased their unique cultures through dance performances, music recitals, and traditional cuisine. This event aimed to promote understanding, tolerance, and respect for different cultures, fostering a sense of unity among the student body. The school also organized a cultural exchange program with neighbouring classes, providing students with the opportunity to interact with peers from different backgrounds.

Day 5: Skilling Day and Technology in Education Dedicated to highlight the importance of integrating skill development and technology into the educational curriculum, a wide range of activities were designed to raise awareness among both students and educators, focusing on various educational aspects and promoting the holistic development of young learners on the fifth day of Sikhsha Saptah.

Students exhibited their diverse talents in the Hobby Expo, featuring displays such as the Philately Corner, Coin Collection, Cartoon Corner, and other fascinating aspects of Indian culture. To broaden students' understanding of emerging technologies, the school organized various club activities designed to refine their technical skills. Students had opportunities for hands-on experience in clubs such as Robotics, Astronomy, Aeromodelling, and Snapshots.

Day 6: Eco Clubs for Mission LiFE Day One of the best CBSE schools in Noida, Bal Bharti Public School, Noida, has always been working on the all-round development of children so that learning is effective and long-term. On Day 6, the focus shifted to environmental stewardship and the significance of Eco Clubs in promoting sustainable practices. The school emphasized the importance of contributing to Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) through active participation in Eco Clubs. 

Day 7: Community Involvement Day The final day of the Siksha Saptah celebrated community involvement and social responsibility. The school encouraged students to give back to their communities and make a positive impact.

The Siksha Saptah at school with the best infrastructure in Noida- Bal Bharati Public School, Noida was a transformative experience for students, providing them with opportunities to explore their interests, develop new skills, and grow as individuals. By focusing on holistic education and fostering a love for learning, the school is nurturing future citizens who are equipped to make a positive impact on society. The Siksha Saptah is a testament to the school's commitment to providing a nurturing and enriching environment for its students.

[dustedmagazine]

Fulci — Duck Face Killings (20 Buck Spin)

Photo by Chiara Meierhofer Muscar

As the name suggests, Italian brutal death metal outfit Fulci has dedicated its music to the movies of Lucio Fulci, the director who made a series of gory horror films in the late 1970s and 1980s amid a long career of hack work in comedy, spaghetti westerns, softcore “erotica” and giallo. The sensationalistic, clumsily executed bloody violence of those horror flicks is not always without wit; see especially the notorious zombie vs shark sequence in Zombi 2 (1979). But mostly Fulci’s work is marked by the sort of moist, trashy schlock for which some death metal freaks have unslakable appetites. It might be a match made in a specific iteration of subcultural heaven, if Duck Face Killings weren’t so irredeemably repugnant and reactionary.

Musically, there’s not much to complain about in Fulci’s sound. It’s competent, up-tempo brutal death metal, with compositions often oriented in the direction of slam’s knuckleheaded pleasures. What sets Fulci apart is its concept, and the band has gone deep this time, making a record devoted to the director’s most execrable horror movie, The New York Ripper (1982). Song titles might give you a sense for the record’s vibe: “Morbid Lust,” “Fucked with a Broken Bottle,” “Stabbed, Gutted, and Loved.” Set around the porn and sex-work clubs, bookstores and theaters of New York’s 42nd Street, pre-Giuliani-time, the movie features a serial killer who talks, quacks and squeals like Donald Duck. The narrative is as incoherent as it is insipid, the visual effects are unconvincing but mean spirited and none of the actors appears to have much interest in the characters they are alleged to portray. This reviewer can attest to those facts—he has seen the flick so you do not have to.

Fulci’s movie is more moronic than cynical—but it’s pretty cynical, a fantasia of misogyny barely dressed up in motley, as slasher-horror and as psychologically driven police-procedural. Mostly it just wants to subject a series of more or less interchangeable young blonde women to meaty violence, with switchblades, straight razors and (yep) broken bottles. But the array of characters and scenarios is not entirely adrift from some very pressing social realities: that sex work is an industry, and a massively profitable one; that unregulated sex work can too frequently be enormously dangerous for the workers; that those dangers manifest in horrific violence and in asymmetrical confrontations with indifferent or outright hostile structures of public morality and law enforcement. Early in the movie, our sort-of protagonist, homicide detective Fred Williams (Jack Hedley), notes, “Eleven people a day are murdered here in Fun City, and over half of them are women.” But he delivers the line with smug dismissiveness.

Fulci the band uses a different voice from The New York Ripper to start the record; pathologist Barry Jones (Giordano Falzoni) describes the serial killer’s stabbing of one of the women this way: “He used a blade. Stuck it up her joy trail. Split her wide open. He could have done a slightly better job if he’d had more time. But overall, it was a good, efficient butchery.” It’s a familiar move in death metal, which previous (and odious) bands like Jig-Ai and Gut took to far greater extremes decades ago. What’s troubling is the sheer persistence of these tropes and symbolics, the tenacity of the hate and of the eyebrow-waggling sensationalism the bands and their fans use to justify it, inasmuch as some of them feel any need to do so.

It’s by turns depressing and exasperating. Fulci the band deploys a different variety of apologia for its symbolic violence, a sort of anti-hipster hipness, a knowledge of semi-obscure mass culture that plays in areas that feel (at least to some) vaguely dangerous or scandalous. But The New York Ripper ends up reifying the established, traditional libidinal-economic relations that make sex work so dangerous, and the band’s celebration of the film couldn’t be further from anything substantively transgressive. It requires no courage to vilify sex workers. Official culture—cops, priests, politicians and the rhetorics of moral rectitude they love to mouth—encourages us to do so.

Want to do something really shocking? Make a metal record about unionizing sex workers. Write a song for each of the 321 sex workers murdered in the US and Puerto Rico between 2012 and 2020 (see the data in the 2024 study published in The Journal of Forensic Sciences). Then write another song noting that such data are massively underreported; maybe call it “No Humans Involved.” Make a benefit record to fund the more careful and comprehensive collection of such data world-wide. That would really freak people out. Isn’t that what transgressive culture is for?

Jonathan Shaw

[emoshep]

about me

hi there! i'm emo.

i mean, uhh, emoshep. you know! like the mass effect character bu- okay, you get it. anyway, i've been here for a minute now and i figure it's time to make a new intro post to pin so here we go.

i'm a mid-20s music enjoyer (for whom you may use any pronouns you like). in fact, i make metal covers of music from video games under this name! here's a sample of my work:

so yeah! there's a thing. and hey, i also have a twitch channel under this name. mayhaps check that out too whenever you like?

alright that's enough o' that, let's get to the interesting stuff.

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big fandoms

• RWBY

• the amazing digital circus

• football/soccer

- atlanta united and celtic fc

- any club you can describe as "not a nazi club"

• anime

- fairy tail

- vinland saga

- cheesy romcoms

smaller fandoms

• baseball

• helldivers

• whatever else i think of later

favorite bands

• Amon Amarth

• Dream Theater

• Kreator

favorite games

• the legend of zelda: ocarina of time

• final fantasy xiv

• the atelier series

• helldivers 2

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there! that's some info about stuff that i like.

i would also like to share something more personal: religion and spirituality. specifically, norse pagan heathenry. aye, i worship some o' them old gods. i was raised a christian, but ended up walking down this road instead.

it felt weird at first but i actually enjoy doing rituals and prayers now. it feels fulfilling. total vibe.

that being said i do acknowledge the validity of other religions (including the one i left) and those of no religion, and try to approach difficult topics from a pluralist perspective. to be clear: on this blog we support the declaration of deeds and declaration 127.

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not sure what else to put here at the moment but i think this will do for now! feel free to ask questions and what not.

and remember, always and forever:

FREE PALESTINE!