#rock of the 80s volume 2

[duranduratulsa]

Here's today's CD 💿 Playlist...

Thank You by Duran Duran (1995)

11 by The Smithereens (1989)

Hello by Poe (1995)

Out Of My Mind by Duran Duran (1997)

Tales From The Crypt Presents Demon Knight Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1995)

Rock Of The 80s Volume 2 (1995)

One Voice by Billy Gilman (2000)

Girls On Film: The Remixes by Duran Duran (2009)

#duranduran #thankyou #duranduranthankyou #outofmymind #girlsonfilm #girlsonfilmtheremixes #thesmithereens #11 #thesmithereens11 #poe #hello #talesfromthecrypt #talesfromthecryptpresentsdemonknight #rockofthe80s #rockofthe80svolume2 #billygilman #OneVoice #80s #90s #2000s #cd

[miss-americanbi]

People can cry all they want about 80s bands/artists becoming more mainstream thanks to “Stranger Things”. I—for one—find it awesome. FINALLY. I can talk to people about Metallica and The Clash and KISS and Scorpions and Dio and all the classic rock and hair metal my dad raised me on. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.

[thenightling]

Dead boy Detectives review

I've watched all eight episodes of Dead Boy Detectives and it was a decent show. It's not something I may obsess over like The Sandman, or The Witcher, but it was decent.

Dead Boy Detectives is the story of Edwin Payne and Charles Rowland. Edwin was killed during a Satanic ritual in 1916. Charles died from hypothermia and internal bleeding after some bullies drove him into an ice-cold lake while throwing rocks at him.

(Note: That was not how Charles actually died in the source material. In the comics, Lucifer had quit and shut down Hell (the basis for the TV show Lucifer) so many evil souls returned to Earth, including the boys that sacrificed poor Edwin. They badly burnt Charles' back on a hot stove and Charles died from his injuries.)

The two ghosts decided to dedicate their afterlife solving mysteries to help other ghosts find peace. They are aided by psychic, Crystal Palace, who is haunted by her abusive ex-boyfriend who happens to be a demon.

Both Edwin Payne and Charles Rowland originated in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman: Season of Mists, The Sandman: Volume 4. Issue 25 of The Sandman comics, and within Act 2 of The Sandman audio drama.

The Dead Boy Detectives made their TV first appearance in Doom Patrol for HBO Max (now Max). During a shakeup at Max the show was moved over to Netflix as to better connect it with The Sandman since that is where they originated.

The show features different actors from the ones that played Charles and Edwin on Doom Patrol.

The Dead Boy Detectives is a decent show but ...it feels a bit like a CW teen drama. I had been told that some of the show's writers were originally writers for the CW... and it shows.

There are some deliberately surreal elements of the show that I think are a callback to their appearance in Doom Patrol.

I love the variety of supernatural entities in the show, including the appearance of two of Morpheus's siblings. Death and Despair. The things I don't like about the show can be considered CW tropes or cliches. The angsty romances and unrequited love. The ham-fisted abusive ex metaphor between Crystal and David The Demon.

And of course the most tedious of CW tropes, the end of the episode pining and angst while a sad pop song plays in the background.

If you look past the CW-ness of it, the show is enjoyable.

The only other things I can complain about is the "connecting thread" subplot of The Afterlife: Lost and Found feels like unnecessary filler. And I wish they would openly establish that Edwin, being an innocent, would NOT return to Hell if collected by Death now. I don't think that should be left hanging over his head. Especially since we're supposed to see Death as a kind entity. Also I think Charles says "Aces" a little too much. It's very distracting and makes me feel like the writers didn't know much late 80s English slang. It would be like if he was an American and they had him say "Radical" all the time. I get that it's kind of his catchphrase but it also got a bit annoying.

The parts I don't like are CW tropes and what I'd consider to be late 90s Vertigo edginess.

The thing I liked were plentiful though. The protagonists were and are likable. The ending is satisfying enough so that if there is only one season this was still good. I liked that it appears that one can ascend out of Hell after some self-reflection as is indicated by the boy Edwin confronted in Hell. The blue light was established to mean ascension, a good afterlife.

I also LOVE the opening credits theme music and animated sequence. It reminds me of the intro to Showtime's Creature Feature movies. (See the trailer for 2001's She Creature, not the 50s version. Watch the trailer at thirteen seconds in, on Youtube, and you'll see what I mean).

That's two Gothic themed shows from Netflix in the last two years with great opening credits sequences. The first being Wednesday. That one won Danny Elfman an Emmy.

It's funny, Wednesday and Dead Boy Detectives (which is a spin-off of The Sandman) have great opening credit intro sequences but The Sandman does not. Apparently Neil Gaiman was told people don't watch the opening credits anymore so The Sandman doesn't have them.

I feel we were cheated out of what could have been a great opening sequence for The Sandman.

Episodes 7 and 8 of Dead Boy Detectives were probably the best of the series. I liked it well enough that if Dead Boy Detectives gets renewed I'll happily watch season 2.

[safety-pin-punk]

Punk History Resources: Vol 2

This is a compilation of resources found and recommended by various alternative bloggers, each of whom are credited for their contributions. This started because I was getting SO MANY asks about resources such as videos, books, and websites to use to learn about punk history. Admittedly, my own list wasn't that long, so I thought it was best to reach out to some others and share their knowledge with everyone. Now, I'm hoping to make this an annual occurrence, where we all share our knowledge with each other. So thank you again to everyone who helped out with this!!

Link to Volume 1

@whatamibutabutteredcroissant @unfriendlybat @ghost--in-a-machine @mushroomjar

YOUTUBE:

Part 1 of The Decline of Western Civilization (It recieved mixed reception from people in the scene) (whatamibutabutteredcroissant)

Part 3 of The Decline of Western Civilization (Focuses on the gutter-punks of 90s LA) (whatamibutabutteredcroissant)

BOOKS:

Some Wear Leather Some Wear Lace by Andi Harriman and Marloes Bontje (It's mostly goth/horror rock/post punk/deathrock but I feel like it's adjacent enough for it to merit a read) (unfriendlybat)

Spray Paint the Walls: The Story of Black Flag by Stevie Chick (whatamibutabutteredcroissant)

Kids of the Black Hole: Punk Rock in Postsuburban California by Dewar Macleod (whatamibutabutteredcroissant)

We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk by Marc Spitz and Brendan Mullen (whatamibutabutteredcroissant)

Left of The Dial: Conversations with Punk Icons by David Ensminger (whatamibutabutteredcroissant)

The Art of Darkness: The History of Goth by John Robb (A comprehensive history of Goth) (whatamibutabutteredcroissant)

Punk Zines by Eddie Piller and Steve Rowland (whatamibutabutteredcroissant)

The High Desert by James Spooner ( A graphic novel memoir of how the authro came into the scene) (ghost--in-a-machine)

Let Fury Have The Hour by Antonio D'Ambrosio (About the band The Clash) (anonymous submission)

MOVIES / DOCUMENTARIES:

Masque (A 10 minute doc about the Masque club in LA) (whatamibutabutteredcroissant)

ARTICLES:

History of Anarcho-Punk and Peace Punk (mushroomjar)

Late 80s and Early 90s Puerto Rico Hardcore Punk (mushroomjar)

The Jewish History of Punk (mushroomjar)

Japan's Impact on Punk Culture (mushroomjar)

The Forgotten Story of Pure Hell, America's First Black Punk Band (mushroomjar)

The Black Punk Pioneers Who Made Music History (mushroomjar)

Why Poly Styrene is Punk's Great Lost Icon (mushroomjar)

Alternative to Alternatives: The Black Grrrls Riot Ignored (mushroomjar)

Abandoning The Ear? Punk and Deaf Convergences Part II (mushroomjar)

Race, Anarchy, and Punk Rock: The Impact of Cultural Boundaries Within The Anarchist Movement (mushroomjar)

Street Medic Handbook (safety-pin-punk)

ZINES:

Sticking To It (safety-pin-punk)

So You Say You Want An Insurrection (safety-pin-punk)

All Power To The People (safety-pin-punk)

How to Survive a Felony Trial: Keeping Your Head up through the Worst of It (safety-pin-punk)

Collectives: Anarchy Against The Mass (safety-pin-punk)

Social War on Stolen Native Land: Anarchist Contributions (safety-pin-punk)

A Civilian's Guide to Direct Action (safety-pin-punk)

Critical Thinking as Anarchist Weapon (safety-pin-punk)

Security Culture: A Handbook for Activists (safety-pin-punk)

Betrayal: A Critical Analysis of Rape Culture in Anarchist Subcultures (safety-pin-punk)

ETC:

The Anarcho-Stencilism Subreddit (people upload stencils for others to use for free) (mushroomjar)

I would love to make a Vol. 3 post next year, so if you have resources and want to share, PLEASE message me!! (Preferably DMs)

[hatchetfieldtheories]

Who's feeling a little foolish today?

Well, this just started out as an attempt to decipher the brief glimpses of the Black Book we get to see in Killer Track, and it has turned into a bit of a beast.

Rather - today we will be touching on:

Miss Holloway's Deal

Time and Timelines

Hannah

And what all the above tell us about the Tiny Town of Hatchetfield.

The Black Book

First, let's take a look at the book itself.

(I'd recommend clicking to zoom)

There is a LOT of clock imagery in the book, now sure that might be just because Miss H is browsing through the Tinky section of the catalogue looking from great deals on time manipulation spells.

However - I think that's the point.

We can see that there are great volumes of chapters and content in the contents page, including information on the Lords in Black, "The Men" - who I am assuming are the Hatchetmen and information on the Black and White generally.

But what interests me most is what else is within that chunk of the book. If that is the case, and these are the pages on Tinky and time, its definitely notable that these pages also contain images of doors to the Black and White, locks and keys, and a map of Hatchetfield.

Tinky is the one making deals with humans. He's the one influencing how certain members of the town use their "gift", and he is the one who made the deal with Miss Holloway. CCRP try to unlock his powers for themselves. 

Yes we see all five of the Lords in Black at her deal - but her deal was to do with time. And that is Tinky's realm.

Miss Holloway and the Deal

Miss Holloway is a witch. A good one most of the time, but all the same one who has made a deal with the Lords in Black and uses the Black Book.

When we see the range of her powers, they do vary, such as moving around both her own and Hannah's Nightmare Times, going full Monkey Magic and creating a doppelganger using one of her hairs, or rocking a full 80s aesthetic (yes that is a super power).

But the rest of her powers? 

She dies and comes back to life, she can bend time to take minutes from Rose's life and implant herself, and she influences others using a rhythmic tapping - like the seconds on a clock. She even had a gold puzzle box - the Bastard Box.

The deal she made was linked to time, perfect for someone so clearly outside of time. And that's seen further in the consequences of her deal. The memories of her time in someone's life, her own timeline, is set apart - removed from other people's lives. Even causing them to lose time when they try to learn about her. 

That being said - Miss Holloway doesn't realise the timelines are split. When we meet the reconstituted Wilbur Cross in Miss Holloway's Nightmare Time, he tells her:

Miss Holloway made a deal to stop a timeline from happening. And had succeeded. 

Sometimes you have to use something bad, to do something good.

It all has a price.

I know. But I can pay it.

But then Hannah's birth shattered it again - we'll come back to that!

We can even guess where her deal happened. On the stage of the Starlight Theatre. As in Miss Holloway's Nightmare Time we are told the stage had a strange marking carved into the floor.

Hatchetfield - Together in Electric Dreams

Following the release of Nightmare Time 2, I posted my attempt to work out the map of Hatchetfield we see in the book.

However I don't think its necessarily the map that is giving us any clues to the nature of Hatchetfield. Or why its so special.

We learnt a lot about the history of the town in both Nightmare Times. We learnt the Hatchetmen built the town, named it, and contained the witch Willabella in the forest.

But we also hear about the Church of the Starry Children multiple times. 

In one night, every member of the Church was chopped up and the book was gone

In my Nerdy Prudes initial theories post I mentioned how the song Hatchet Town talks about how great the town used to be - sunshine and rainbows - until something happened. Then the town changed.

I think this is a hint towards what happened in 1979 - when the Hatchetmen killed all the members of the Starry Children. I think what unintentionalky followed was a town once filled with psychic energy suddenly becoming a vacuum, ready for the Lords in Black to fill the town with their energy.

I've mentioned in a previous theory before that I think the lighting strikes are important to the series. If we look back at when we see them, we see that not only do we get lighting on title cards, but when the meteor comes crashing through the sky, when anything particularly Lord in Black-y happens. And we see lighting illustrated and labeled in the Black Book.

Lightning is the Lord in Black's influencing Hatchetfield. Their energy is electric and filling the town. 

The town is literally charged.

And we see it mentioned in NMT2, when Sherman uses the spell to gain his youth back:

Frank feels the energy in the room shift, like the atoms in the air are being charged.

Electricity flies through the air.

Lightning strikes.

Its no wonder things go from 1-100 in this place. People literally willing to kill to become a festival queen. To get a doll. To get a husband...

So - what about Hannah?

In 1979 Hatchetfield became a hotspot for anyone wanting to get that Black and White psychic energy. And it doesn't escape my notice that Miss Holloway's whole vibe is the 1980s. 

The Church of the Starry Children were killed. Miss Holloway arrived and got the book. And then made a deal. A deal which would stop the timeline progressing how she could see it doing so. With a cataclysm of Lord in Black energy in Hatchetfield.

This door had opened in 1979 and she was shutting it.

And then Hannah was born in 2005.

And Hannah was a battery of psychic energy. She can see every possibility. She can sense the electricity in the arcade machine in Yellow Jacket.

I've spoken in 2 previous theories about how I view the shattered timelines ( Part 1, Part 2). In fact I think shattered is such a perfect word.

When Hannah was born, Miss Holloway's deal wasn't enough to stop the timeline from progressing. The veil became thinner. PEIP were able to open the portal to the Black and White. Hannah was a battery the Lords in Black could use.

So to stop her brother's from destroying everything she split the timelines. Spun her web.

In those theories I mention how there are certain events or connections that happen in every timeline. Or elements that bleed from one timeline to another. Imagery replicated again and again. I've called these the golden threads, the one's pulling elements of what should be the true timeline.

So where is this all leading?

My prediction for the rest of Hatchetfield's overarching story is that we're going to see Webby trying to unspin her web in a way that means the Lords in Black can't cause harm, bring back the one true timeline.

But hey...

[zahri-melitor]

Okay rough first run through of what's got at least a mini between 1937-2011 and marked up if it's on DCUI.

There's almost certainly some missing, but it's a good chunk of the list.

Some of the more egregious (to me) missing comics:

Azrael volume 2

Man-Bat volume 3 (can be read on Ultra in Tales of the Man-Bat but you need to know it’s included to find it)

Knight & Squire (only available on Ultra as a trade)

Batman Family

Batman: City of Light

Batman: Orphans

Batman: Orpheus Rising

The Demon trilogy (as in Ra's Al Ghul) are only available on Ultra as trades

Almost all runs of The Demon (as in Etrigan/Jason Blood) are missing

Basically all of Sgt Rock, which is amazing given how frequently I was tripping over that in the Holiday Specials

Almost all of the Warlord runs, aside from the first 24 issues

The Cassie Wonder Girl mini

The Spectre volume 4 (aka Hal's Spectre)

Superboy and the Ravers

A bunch of minor 90s runs only have their #0 or #One Million issues

Most Martian Manhunter runs

Weird chunks of the 90s runs of Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Superman, and the Man of Steel

Only two issues of Solo are available

[atlantis-archive]

Vinny Has a Blast!

Written and lettered by: Michael Stewart Pencils by: Steven Butler Inks by: Jim Amash Colors: John Green Published in: Disney Adventures Collector’s Issue! Atlantis: The Lost Empire Volume 11, Number 6 (pg.80-83). Publisher: Buena Vista Magazines Inc. Publication date: circa July 2001.

Text:

Page 1: Rourke: [To reach Atlantis, we must get the Ulysses through that narrow opening in the rocks up ahead.] [Vinny, you'll have to blast a hole big enough for the ship to pass through.] [Moliere will handle any digging for you.] Vinny: [You want your standard round opening, or maybe something interesting--] [--a diamond... or a figure eight? Perhaps an "A" for Atlantis?] [I've got enough nitro to get creative here...] narrator: [Red alert! The crew of the submarine Ulysses faces the first major obstacle in their quest to find the lost continent of Atlantis!] Mole: [-:Sigh:- I have just escaped the bath and now we go into the ocean?]

Page 2, Panel 1: Rourke: [You're sure there's no other way, Milo?] Panel 2: Milo: [The Shepherd's Journal says we have to go through, Commander Rourke.] Panel 3: Milo: [It also says the seas around Atlantis contain unknown dangers...] Panel 4: narrator: [Minutes later, Vinny and Moliere eagerly strike out into the unknown...] Vinny: [We'll bury two charges--one on each side of the opening.] [Like I always say, two explosions are better than one!] Mole: [I cannot wait to sink my pickax into the unknown delights of this exotic undersea rock!] Panel 5: Vinny: [Remember, the depth of the holes must be very precise!] Mole: [Please! Am I not the famous Moliere?] Panel 6: Vinny: [This explosion will be a true work of art!] Panel 7: Vinny: [Did Michelangelo ever sculpt rock on such a massive scale? No!] Mole: [Something's moving over there...]

Page 3, Panel 1: Mole: [Fish! Big fish!] [Scary fish!] [Vinny!] Panel 2: sfx: THWACK! Panel 3: Vinny: [You got that second hole ready?] Mole: [Sacre bleu!] Panel 4: Mole: [Please--it looks hungry!] Vinny: [Let you're little fishy nibble on this flare.] Panel 5: sfx: FLASH! Panel 6: Mole: [We go now!] Vinny: [If that hole isn't just right, this explosion could be very... messy!] Panel 7: Mole: [Uh... sure. The hole is fine. Let's go!]

Page 4, Panel 1: Vinny: [OK, time for the first big boom! Mole: [Are we fare enough away?] Panel 2: Vinny: [The view is much better up close!] [On the count of three!] [One... ah skip it--boom.] sfx: KA-BOOOOM! Panel 3: Vinny: [Let me guess--you didn't finish digging the hole...] Mole: [Not exactly, no.] Panel 4: Vinny: [My foot is trapped! And your helmet is cracked! Get help from the Ulysses!] Mole: [Yes! I'll go back to the ship!] Panel 5: Vinny: [Might as well finish the job...] sfx: BA-BOOOOM! Vinny: [Ahh! Is there anything more beautiful than a very large explosion?] [No, I think not!] Panel 6: Vinny: [Hey! Look who's back!] [That explains my sudden craving for fish sticks!] narrator: [Turn to page 84 for the exciting conclusion!]

Notes:

This post is passed the weekly deadline! That's 1 demerit for me. I'll need to figure out something to do with those to make them effective. This still counts as last week's post so I owe another this week, which I have decided will be the last comic in the Disney Adventures issue.

The story here takes place prior to the battle against the leviathan, seemingly before Milo's presentation on the bridge in the film.

We see that the Ulysses, unsurprisingly, carries diving equipment. However, these are ambient pressure diving suits, good for protection against tearing and cold but useless against the pressure at deeper levels. Humans can't really survive more than 60 meters (196.85 feet) below, which is why Atmospheric Diving Suits were invented! Imagine them in steampunk-esque, underwater robot suits instead!

The "scary fish" (the nayap according to Sweet's Fish Story!) is the first fantastical creature encountered by the expedition. It doesn't seem particularly interesting, though. A weird shark with a feathery tail and long snout?

Vinny's dialogue really shows how much Don Novello brought to the performance. Without his adlibbing and weird energy the character just doesn't hit the same.

[commajade]

gonna talk about that se so neon concert again and maybe i'll get flagged as mature again idk lol.

truly the best and most organic global rock experience that has ever come out of korea. on superband s2 the really famous 80s and 90s rock artists talked about how early korean rock bands were very derivative of western rock because that's what they liked and that's what they knew and that decades later they were seeking a new specifically korean band that could have a truly korean artistic core for korean music lovers and global fans alike. and the winner of s2 was crackshot, who are fantastic but are very much from the 80s style heavy metal style and younger korean fans have embraced that in a way that's very beautiful. and the closest they got to a specifically korean brand of music is kardi because they have a traditional korean instrumentalist and their productions are so out there and technically impressive sometimes. but they don't have a core songwriter, just immense talent. so their new album was very much created with the korean music industry and korean population demographics in mind with certain songs for certain groups that is typical in corporately produced korean music like kpop.

se so neon is exactly what those legendary musicians wanted. soyoon is the mastermind: the songwriter, the vocalist, and the genius guitarist. all of se so neon's music have unifying musical motifs but also a large breadth of sonic range. the philosophy and lyrics of the songs are so deeply korean. and they're global in an organic artistic way, through collaborations and a slowly expanding audience around the world. her friend and mentor was ryuichi sakamoto and she's performed with john cale of the velvet underground. their songs are made for the stage and developed in the studio and the stage.

soyoon told us at the beginning that it was the biggest audience they've ever had in the US and that rly showed. the concert was incredible, pure rockstar energy just blasting from the stage and the crowd was wild the entire time. people have been writing op-eds about the death of the rock star since the 2000s and there's a lot of talk about how all the great rock performers revered in history were just asshole men.

se so neon had no opener, no build up, didn't make the crowd wait too long. they had a post punk/hard rock playlist and then it stopped and hyunjin soyoon and the new drummer kim hyunggyun just walked onto the stage and started playing. soyoon's vocals got much stronger and more polished since last year and it was already good. she always pushes her voice out and projects as far as she can and last year i could feel her pushing out beyond the edges of her voice and that was a specific raw gorgeous sound but this time her voice never faltered and her notes were exact. her voice got bigger and more controlled. the tone of her voice is so specific, so androgynous, and so textured with a smooth rasp and huskiness that she emphasized and used by putting quieter vocal-centric songs directly after screaming to instrumental-centric high energy songs.

the energy was immediate and immense, the volume was high but never unpleasant. i was right at the front, 2 people behind the barrier. it was perfect. the setlist was perfect, starting with their only english song joke! and putting out heavy hitter after heavy hitter, then a slow emotional song surprisingly early in the setlist then picking it back up again. they controlled the energy of the room with perfect precision and it kept going up and up and up. the band was rly enjoying themselves, soyoon beaming a huge open mouthed smile while she jumps around and shreds on her guitar, especially in intimate moments facing her band members.the new drummer kim hyungyun was relentless and played hard and heavy and intricate the entire set and that made the whole band go harder.

and there were 3 instances where people passed out in the audience during the show. the energy was high and it was a hot day and people had been waiting outside for hours so it wasn't unexpected. and every time, soyoon noticed immediately and shut everything down and the lights came on and she watched the audience member who wasn't feeling good and told them to take their time and that we would wait for them. and she asked the venue to give out free water bottles and they were all handed out and passed all the way back until everyone had one. and then the rock star would turn back on and the energy would pick up right where it left off. it was immediate, the way she noticed something was wrong and shut everything down until it was resolved. i respected that a lot.

besides those necessary pauses, the entire show was a smooth high-energy ride. the band was unfaltering, inexhaustible. just 3 people on a stage with occasional synth or vocal tracks layered throughout. the energy never lulled when every other concert i've ever been to has had a lull where i'm pulled out of the music and take a moment to drink water and check my phone. this show was perfectly paced and never slowed down. the touching emotional moments had everyone taking out their phone flashlights and there was waves of light making the whole room brighter. it was so beautiful. we all just had a beautiful night together. the crowd recognized all the songs (their catalog isn't very large) and they did athena from soyoon's solo album and the unreleased song kkd that they've been workshopping since the tour last year. you could tell that they never took a break in working on the music, the instrumentation for the songs was often so different i couldn't recognize them until soyoon started singing the verse.

they're rock stars! it was a rock show! it's all the energy and connection and sense of transcendence of witnessing the greats but they're all just normal people too. they're all confident and highly talented performers but have basically no ego. it's all about the shared space and the music and the art and gratefulness and care for their audience. just a fantastic show.

[testure-1988]

I love compilations so very much. I'll never get tired of downloading em (I have thousands in my plex library). I especially love the ones that have 100+ volumes

Some of my favorites are:

A Life Less Lived (80s goth rock/post-punk)

The Goth Box (90s goth rock)

To The Outside Of Everything (Post-Punk)

Black Box (Wax Trax! Boxset)

Those were...Crazy Times (Bootleg series of 90s Acid, Techno, House, 200 volumes!!!)

D.Trance (Trance compilation series)

Super Eurobeat (250 volumes!!)

The Unknown Beauty Of The 80s (This is a great bootleg series of 80s music...has lots of unknown and underground New Wave and alternative stuff. It even includes japanese music!! It's the best 80s series I've discovered)

Belgian New Beat vols 1 & 2

New Wave Club Class-x series

Once Upon A Time series (Punk Rock)

[otakween]

Digimon Tamers - Volume 2

It turns out this series is super out of print and rare. My library only has the first 2 volumes, so I'll be reading the rest after this one online (if you want to buy it it's like $80-$100 per volume!) It's a little bit of a relief honestly, because the volume that I got from the library is pretty crusty and battered. I think I saw some dried shredded cheese on some of the pages 🤢 Really shows who the audience is.

Ch. 8

This manhua has really bad continuity and no sense of space. Characters will just pop out of nowhere. Culumon is the worst offender, but in this chapter there were a bunch of dramatic scenes between Rika and Renamon and then it just randomly turned out that Takato and Jian were watching the whole time but not saying anything? Riiiight.

I was really confused at the end and thought that Yamaki was saying he created a digimon but it was actually a really clumsy flashback to the original digimon programmers. Confusing panels...

Ch 9

Wow, the Devas arc already, it obviously felt like it took a lot longer to get here in the anime. I wonder if they'll do all the Devas or condense them/do some off screen?

At least one thing that's nice about this manga is that I can take in the Devas designs without them jumping around too much.

Ch. 10

Some of these jokes are flying over my head. Takato tries to name his group of friends "team rock" and he mentions "a skinny guy on TV who talks about the power of positive thinking." I wish they would cut out the unfunny, outdated material and just tell the damn story >:/

Worst boys Hirokazu and Kenta show up to reestablish themselves as part of the party...yaaay

Didn't realize that MegaloGrowmon was called WarGrowlmon in the dub. I guess it is kind of nice to keep the naming conventions more consistent. "Megalo" is sort of a weird prefix (megalomania?)

Ch. 11

I'm still obsessed with Jian's computer that can read trading cards as if they were CD-ROMs. I wish that technology existed!

Two perfect evolutions in one chapter? Pretty rushed but okay...they still looked cool. (Taomon and Rapidmon). I think the Wonderswan card game rot my brain a little cuz when I saw Rapidmon I was thinking about all the option cards I could use with him.

Ch. 12

Other than my fave Antylamon, I think Indramon is the most memorable of all the devas. His design is really unique, he's massive, and he kicks the shit outta Impmon. I like his emo hair too lol

When they realize that Hirokazu's homemade blue card works I'm surprised they didn't move onto a counterfeit card making scheme after that. I just it only works if it was made with pure intentions or something.

Ch. 13

Why is Juri's dub name "Jeri" when "Julie" was right there?

Damn, they really killed any suspense with Makuramon's intro there. In the anime he's presented as a kid at first but here they showed him as a kid but then slapped the name tag "Makuramon" right next to him...

They skipped a bunch because Juri just magically knows that Guilmon exists. They showed Hirokazu and Kenta meeting him, but not her. Oh well, I guess.

Ch. 14

Calling Juri, Hirokazu and Kenta "groupies" is pretty funny, not gonna lie. So accurate.

I like that they're clearly ID-ing each deva as its corresponding zodiac animal. I think there was a little bit of that in the anime, but not as spelled out as it is here. Usually I don't like to be spoon fed, but there's something satisfying about them saying "that's the boar, that's the monkey, etc."

[p7agu3]

i have so much salt

what can i do with this much salt? well

each piece is about the size of 2 fists

google says a fist is roughly 250 ml in volume

0.0005 x 200 = 0.1

i'm gonna say it's 1000 kg/m^3

SO: I have 100 kg (220 lb) of solid salt (all obtained naturally from exploding rocks, of course)

oh sweet neptune

that is 38,758,000 mg of sodium

(turns out i didn't need that step but that's certainly a number)

AO takes place in the like, 18somethings probably (source: rackham's journal, dated 1806-1807, presumably from decade(s) ago)

reaching a little but should be close enough, let's say 130lbs?

i'll just round up to 60 kg

hey google how much salt would kill a man

3 x 60 = 180 g, or 0.18 kg

what kind of cursed worm can am i opening here?? (*continues to pry at the can's lid*)

100 / 0.18 = 555.5

i have enough salt to kill 500+ people

truly a menacing notion. that's enough to wipe out most smaller islands, and my power is only growing-

Goal Unlocked: Have Enough Salt to Theoretically Kill Everyone in the Bronze Sea

ravenna will rue the day that they arrested me, setting me on this path of (rock) destruction

the island is absolutely lush with rocks, too

ahem

Bronze Sea Population:

Ravenna, ~12,000 (goddamn)

Fort Talos, ~2,000

Silverhold, ~1,000

Palo Town, ~1,000 (literally how)

Cirrus Island, ~300

Redwake, ~300

Frostmill, ~180

Shell Island, ~80

Sailor's Lodge, ~50

Whitesummit, ~40

The Northern Jaws, ~30

The Forest of Cernunno, ~30

anywhere small enough to lack a population counter isn't worth putting on my saltlist, i'm not gonna hunt down Thorin and feed him salt, that's just unnecessary (and Thorin is cool, he has bronze hammer 👍)

0.18 x 19,010 = 3,421.8 kg

100 kg = 200 salts (1kg = 2 salts)

6,844 pieces of salt could kill every human in the Bronze Sea

and That's assuming we need the maximum dosage of sodium

sure, the Gravy and Ravenna military wouldn't go down without a fight, but they'll fall eventually. even sailor fist users probably have limits (except that one guy who ate fifty pies. they turned into God, i'm sorry, i could never kill such a being)

i will become Theoretically Unstoppable within years

[notafraidofredyellowandblue]

Gitta Lindemann - Meine Fensterplätze

Gitta Lindemann published her first book recently, in it she talks about the end of the GDR, her husband and her son Till. Article from Nordkurier.de 2023-10-23

googly translated

-‐‐-------

Rammstein singer's mother also writes a declaration of love to her son

It took Gitta Lindemann more than 80 years of life to publish her first book. In it, the former culture editor also writes about her famous son Till.

Gitta Lindemann belongs to an artistically diverse family. Her former husband, Werner Lindemann (1926-1993), was one of the most famous poets in the GDR . His poems for children were part of school reading at the time. The Lindemanns' son also writes impressive poems. Till Lindemann made a name for himself above all as the singer and frontman of the band Rammstein .

With Radio GDR since 1969

Gitta Lindemann was also always connected to culture through her career. After studying journalism in Leipzig, she worked for Radio DDR from 1969, including in the Neubrandenburg studio , for the popular Urlaubwelle in Rostock and for NDR from 1992. She played a key role in developing culture-oriented formats such as “Literati in Cross-Examination” (1987), the NDR Literature Café and “Kunstkaten”, which is still broadcast today.

But Gitta Lindemann has also written literary texts herself since the 1980s, which have now been published in the volume “My Window Seats”. It is the first book published by the author, who was born in Dresden in 1939. An apt title, as Gitta Lindemann takes the addressee to her window seat and opens up her individual view of the world to the reader.

Her favorite window seat was the view of the garden from the house in Drispeth, Mecklenburg, which the Lindemanns had purchased as a holiday home. “Here I see orderly life, how it arises, blossoms, passes away and reinvents itself again and again,” she noted on December 25, 1991.

Diary describes fears of the end of the GDR

The diary, which begins at the beginning of May 1990 and runs until January 2, 1992, forms the heart of the volume. Many former GDR citizens will likely find themselves here, torn between hope and hopelessness in the “wild” years between the fall of 1989 and the mid-1990s.

First the run-down SED dictatorship was swept away and just a few months later tens of thousands of East Germans were at rock bottom when it became clear that they would lose their jobs. “The defeated go to the victor,” wrote Gitta Lindemann bitterly in June 1991 in connection with the liquidation of the orchestra in Schwerin and the tire factory in Neubrandenburg.

“The sell-out of a country must be seen”

She too is gripped by fears for the future. From the beginning of 1990 onwards, she always expected to lose her job as a journalist from the GDR. At the same time, she describes exactly the upheavals a few months before German unification, such as the conquest of department stores by the new western goods before the introduction of the D-Mark: “The sell-out of a country can be seen. Dissolution of an impoverished household. The new residents have already brought the furniture: cans and blouses and T-shirts and yoghurt and coffee and Rama and people are running. I as well."

Especially in times like these, when East and West intellectuals are fighting for the sovereignty of interpreting the GDR more than 30 years after the fall, authentic memories like those offered by Gitta Lindemann are incredibly valuable.

Granddaughter always gives strength

Only to a diary can you trust honest, hard confessions: “I've always tried to live in an ivory tower, but a sea of ​​shit is hitting its walls.” In addition to the struggles of German-German integration, it was the Gulf War at the beginning of 1991 most of us have erased from our memories in view of other conflicts, but which Gitta Lindemann's diary brings back to mind.

In these times of upheaval, she is continually motivated and strengthened by her granddaughter Nele's honest, naive approach to life: "If the GDR no longer exists, will we have to move?"

Sensitive lines about her husband's death

In recent years, Gitta Lindemann has written a number of sad, sensitive texts that describe topics such as loneliness, illness and death, of which much of it hardly seems alienated.

Here she often touches the soul, for example when she describes the last hours of her husband's life, from whom she lived apart but to whom she was so close: “We washed and dressed you. Your son tapped you on the chest - hey old man, he said, very despondent and we both cried. I couldn't watch them carry you away, so I cowardly sneaked into the garden."

Till Lindemann as family representative

Speaking of son, speaking of Till Lindemann. With “Declaration of Love to My Son,” the mother dedicates her own text to him, which shows the often martial-looking Rammstein frontman from his sensitive side, as a “family guardian” who picked up his grandmother in a wheelchair for Christmas dinner and fed her, for whom Mecklenburg is his home and “source of strength”. "If I didn't happen to be his mother, I would like to be friends with this man."

Gitta Lindemann: My window seats. With pictures by Rosa Loy and an interview between the author and the German scholar Carsten Gansel. Berlin: Okapi Verlag, 2023. 287 pages, 22 euros

[suddenfossilfightersheadcanons]

Frontier Branch Leaders, pt. 3: Drake and Liu Ren

Pt. 1: Background Information

Pt. 2: Sean

Drake

-I stated in an earlier post on this blog that he's 27. Please forget that. He's probably on the cusp of 39 (circa 2015, at the beginning of Frontier).

-Originally from Sweden; moved to Copenhagen a few years before Frontier started.

-Absolutely hates the sensation that occurs when he enters his ancestral battle trance. To him, it's as being possessed, not to mention being utterly exhausting. Starting in his teens, he'd often have periods of abruptly losing control of this trance, and lashing out, sometimes violently, against tormentors and, in worse cases, family. Violet's interest in mysticism allowed her to help him work out what was going on, and slowly learn to detect when a wave of possession was imminent.

-Loves his Ankylo BO because he needn't fear injuring it during one of his trances. He feels most comfortable around padded and armoured vivosaurs.

-For a long time, he tried, desperately, to minimise the length of time he had to spend around children and, by extension, the youngest of the Wardens. He's terrified of hurting people accidentally. Moreover, he finds most people too loud, too much, too extraverted to deal with.

-Has a surprisingly excellent relationship with Sean, who quickly worked out that Drake was intensely sensitive to Sean's typical loudness. As such, Sean usually drops his volume around Drake, and where possible, emails or texts him, instead of talking, on bad days. When Drake's overloaded trying to handle the caseload that comes with managing not only Europe, but also cases in Africa, Sean will often offer to take over some of Drake's more menial duties. Drake, in return, bakes for him, and brings him odd fossil trinkets and weird rocks.

-Despite how much he hates loud people, he loves Scandinavian death metal.

-Known to abuse the World Gate to conveniently escape people. ('Sorry I can't come to your birthday, friend. I'm in Chile right now.')

-Suffered significantly with OCD from childhood, being at his worst in his teens and mid-twenties. He waited for almost 15 years before finally seeking help. While he still has intrusive thoughts and compulsions, they're far better managed now. His social anxiety is also significantly better than it once was.

-Was diagnosed with autism at age 4. Will scream if someone enters his office unexpectedly.

-Has some of the same powers as Violet—however, while she can communicate with spirits and occasionally see the future, he can merely hear spirits and detect psychic energy, but can't actually manipulate them well. Generally, if he can hear his ancestors chattering, he knows his bloodthirsty side is about to take over.

-Blows off frustration by punching pillows. If he punches walls instead, he will leave cracks in the plaster.

-Speaks Swedish and Danish fluently, as well as German and English proficiently. Has a very, very strong accent.

-Visits Switzerland all too often for the sole sake of buying too much Toblerone. Violet can and will raid his supply if there's any left by the time he returns to Fossil Park Europe, so he has about three days to consume everything he buys before she can find him.

-INTP 6w5 sp/sx.

Liu Ren

-Originally from Shanxi. Swears he's forty-eight years old, but Drake and Violet both detect a particular spiritual energy coming from him that's far too immense for him to be a normal forty-something. Writes exclusively in traditional Chinese, never mind that simplified characters have been in use since well before the 80s. Moreover, he's clearly far smarter than he lets on. Violet and Drake are both absolutely certain he's at least a century old, and aren't entirely sure he's human.

-Writes his name as 劉仁, but Violet swears that certain Qing-dynasty documents by 劉陽磊, a mystic and self-proclaimed witch, give off the same energy as Liu Ren's own writings.

-Fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, six other Chinese dialects, English, and Portuguese.

-Tends to playfully rib Tria for her extremely strong Sichuan accent.

-Consumes obscene amounts of Sprite and Coca-Cola. Nobody knows how his teeth are still intact.

-When other Wardens get injured, he'll tell them to cheer up, and inevitably have a story of a similar injury. As such, he's been poisoned, burned, bruised, and broken over and over. Nobody knows how he's had time to suffer all these abuses, let alone recover.

-Drake and Sean both overtly dislike him. In part, it's that Fossil Park Asia has a longstanding rivalry with Fossil Park America, and that rivalry means that Sean tends to interpret Liu Ren's gestures as patronising, instead of circumspect, and Liu Ren thinks Sean to be green and overconfident. Drake's suspicions about Liu Ren's history remind him of his own supernatural tendencies, leading him to deeply distrust Liu Ren. Stryker is the only one at HQ who isn't concealing some kind of misgivings about Liu Ren, and even then, Stryker is notoriously unwilling to take orders. While Liu Ren has been there far longer than Stryker, and Stryker owes some success to Liu Ren, they exasperate each other.

-He's been in the job for over 25 years, and looked the same then as now. Though few people like him well, he's still impossible to boot from the position, as he's never actually done anything overtly wrong. Fossil Park America claim that he's overpowered and obsolete; Fossil Park Asia claim that he's done more for INTERFOL than Fossil Park America has in the last three decades combined. He's possibly the most experienced person in INTERFOL, and doesn't seem to be running out of momentum; as such, he's invaluable, even if he's incomparably ill-liked.

-Though he's not overtly frayed at the edges in the same way that many, many Wardens are, he can and will go very, very quiet if someone mentions anything to do with Cosmonium, and when he touches the stuff, he claims that it burns. Drake is starting to wonder if Liu Ren's apparent agelessness might have something to do with Cosmonium, and if there may be some awful incident at the heart of what drove him into contact with it.

-Occasionally takes partners for a night, but doesn't appear to be seeking companionship. Has a portrait of a wife in his office, but it's old-fashioned, in black-and-white, and nobody has ever met the woman herself. Mei Lian once worked up the courage to ask her name. Zha Youjing. When Mei Lian looked at the photo of Youjing and called her gorgeous, Liu Ren looked as if he'd seen a ghost.

-ENTP 3w4 sp/so.

[turntabless]

🔮 la folie - the stranglers 🔮

welcome back to turntable takes, folks!!! hope everyone’s doing wonderfully <3 this week (said so very loosely. i underestimated how hard it would be to do them every week but that’s on ME!) we have a gem <3 i know 2 songs off of it and they constantly occupy my mind! so! if you’re checking this out, thank you!! and hope you enjoy <3 once again i am very musically illiterate and don’t know theory!! this is me going AWOOGA!!!

also i’m not including the bonus tracks off the reissue because i’m TIRED. SLEEPY EVEN. but they’re also really good!

genres: new wave, punk rock, baroque pop

non stop

okay immediately loving the lil tippy tappy drums with a little echo that fade in! cute lil organ lick that is so fun!! i’m also a big fan of talk-singing when done in a sexy way and this is that! GUITAR crunchy echoing bass coming in. OH those drums fuck. this is just so fun!!! very sarcastic singing its scratching my brain!! and the guitars are so cheeky. layered vocals crescendo in volume cute like harmonies??? ooooo stripping it back then speeding up going louder again is such a choice i love it here. CHANGING TEMPO let’s go!!!

everybody loves you when you’re dead

ohhhhhh god i love the keys intro here. bass is sexy and so clear and i’m in love. the odd pitches with the guitar is so nice ! yummy drums!!! synthy business! punky talk vocals with layering going on is so good and these lyrics kinda make me feel insane. god that keyboard part and odd wavering synth in the background is so nice. harsh cymbal type sounds YUM! PICK IT UP LETS GOOOO cute lil tempo change and then right back to it!! ohhhhh slow little breakdown descending in pitch

tramp

OHHHH. flat guitar really interesting here. WITH BUZZING KEYBOARD AND BASS ????? drums are really!!! OOOOOH an instrumental soundscape baby!!! i love these vocals he’s got a great voice very punky and when he pitches up it’s really pretty??? also love the return to the darker sounds during the chorus? BASSSSSSS AH GOD !!!!! love the speed and the experimental nature of the chorus !!! 80s video game synth yummy. there’s something so dancy about this and god the vibrato and INSANELY nice drums????

let me introduce you to the family

OH FAST DRUMS LETS GO!!! ooooo this bass? is it bass? descending thing is so intriguing! faaaast guitar playing a really fun ear catching riff that’s like. this really is so experimental here. okay there’s some freddie m rasp at some parts which are really interesting and then the harmonies and layering of the vocals in the chorus are crazy! that bass is so consistent and so clear and great!!! ohhhh switch up that RIFF babes!!! it’s all very like buzzy fuzzy yum! ohhh TURN up the volume on the vocals add another lil keyboard thing this is sooooooo intricate!! ECHO on the voice for the fade-out ending with a drum beat to end everything!

ain’t nothin’ to it

ohhhhh that guitar is yummy. drums go hard in this beginning. BASS I HEAR YOU BABY YOU SHINE!! these vocals are so fun and sassy!! oh that odd lil dissonance in parts of this song is so cool??? and the lil changes in riffs and pitches sound really cool <3 ohhhhh BREAKDOWN lets gooooooo!!!! fuck it up instrumental section!!! BASS AND DRUMS ONLY OH LETS GO!!! this is really cool i’m obsessed. ohhhhh????? ohhhhhhhhhhhhh guitar little staccato notes??? this repeating instrumental part is so intriguing colour feel taste wise??? it’s so dark and a little unsettling with the occasional flatness but it’s nice????

the man they love to hate

BUZZY KEYS LETS GO !!! god. goddddd. that bass goes so hard. ohhhh crunchy soar on that guitar is so nice. drums going HARD. echoing lil keys are fun!! talk vocals as always are so fun !!! PITCH UP LETS GO !!! uplift meeee !!! back to the really punchy instrumentals on top of those buzzy keys that add such an interesting texture!! some little sweeping synthy kind of cymbal effect? ohhhhh. this is so fun !!! also the little whispered backing vox are fuuuuucking scrumptious! oh jesus it’s getting darker babes…… in tone in lyrics and then right back to light???? what in the world how is this this way. GUITAR FUCK IT UP cute lil solo! ohhhhh PLAYING WITH SHADE AGAIN THIS IS SO…… those lowest instrumental notes are so deep and fat and intriguing.

pin up

fucking insane drums i love you. ohhh??? xylophone-esque twinkly keys? GUITAR THERE YOU ARE BABY! sounds crunchy and thin but in such an atmospheric way! the “oooohhh”s are really nice with the bit of reverb on it??? this is such a fun little song? those twinkly xylophone sounds are back i love!!! the instruments are so so good at melding together so that those lil keys are picked out of the fold so well???

it only takes two to tango

ohhhhhhhh this is such a fun little intro… i don’t know what the name of this stylistic choice is but it’s like someone swinging you around with the drums bass guitar and then you get layered talk vocals with a BEAUTIFUL ascending like… quartet harmony going on. this is so fun!!! warbling keys again they’re so good at atmospheric sounds here. also sorry those harmonies are needed inside my bloodstream stat! OH KEY CHANGE! uh ohhhhh bestie the dissonance is back in the vocals but not in the instrumental i kinda love the effect??? faaaaaaat guitar just swingin around <3 OH the warbling is so interesting looking slightly more haunting as it progresses! LITTLE DRUMMER BOY GOING OFF WITH A FUN LIL HIGHER PLUCKED GUITAR RIFF? this is so….

golden brown

THIS IS MY BABY ONE OF MY FAVOURITE SONGS !!!!!! HARPSICHORD WHAT THE FUCK!!!! also with a bassy keyboard behind it! god his vocals in this are so buttery so yummy with just a hint of nasality? also god this fuckin time signature is all fucked the harpsichord is playing in a completely different time. bass and drums come into the fold so carefully subtly it’s beautiful. everything is just a little heavier but it’s still so light and mysterious and plain cool??? guitarrrrrrrrrrrr oh the reverby echo???? this solo always gets me !!!! ohhhhhh vocalisation that’s so echoey and sooooooo otherworldly is insane. the deepness and the layering of it is Fucked. this is truly such a soundscape AGAIN! chu bee fair idk how they’re so in sync when the times are so different.

how to find love and happiness in the present day

ohhhhhh this is different. screechy little synthy things going on to more spoken vocals with an insane lil bass trying going on? so sectioned with the vocals and instruments it’s really cool!!! the layering of the guitar pitches are so nice. AH TWANGY GUITAR mixed with some bongo vibes!!!! nah this is so fun!!! ohhhh these lil drum things sound like trickling raindrops. not sure what exactly they are but it adds such a cool effect. god that high frequency synth solo what the fuck !!!!! so insane so sick!!! ohhhh it fluctuates so nicely and smoothly between notes. descending vocal line with fuzz and partially covered by the instrumentals TO A FADEOUT

la folie

Oh This Is Grand. this intro is so beautiful???? what sounds like strings (made with keyboard) with a high smooth guitar part with echoey reverb and bass. OH ITS A SPOKEN PART IN FRENCH. beautiful. these words are so lonely and beautiful too and that’s conveyed so well with the effects placed on the voice itself? drums………. god this is so twin peaks right now !!!! DEEP SUNG VOCALS WHISPERING. back to spoken word with the bass getting a deeper sweeping moment??? oh beautiful deep staccato notes. there’s such a cool effect put on his voice this is….. really cool. the stringy synths really paint the background of this with colour. OHHHH high synthy parts joining the mix in a fun little flourish!!!! that bass…….. is so genuinely yummy holy goooood. spoken word so cinematic and lovely. the “la folie” being sung so deeply and whispery is so nice and comforting….. i love this. beauty guitar part at the end so soft so nice so echoey. drums holding down the fort so well UGH.

thoughts: okay. okay. i was genuinely surprised at how varied and genuinely INTERESTING this album was? like the tempo variations the key changes the instruments used the shifting parts the vocals and the USE of all of it to set tone? the tone itself was also so insane and has to be mentioned because there was so much interplay with shadow and light in each song?????????? incredible. i know talk-singing isn’t for everyone but i think it’s cinematic and cheeky and fun so i loved it. l o v e d. genuinely surprised at this guys!!!

[mywifeleftme]

320: V/A // Tommy Boy's Greatest Beats Volume 1

Tommy Boy's Greatest Beats Volume 1 Various Artists 1998, Tommy Boy

The Tommy Boy catalogue has been endlessly repackaged over the years, but if you’re looking to score some of the classics on wax you could do worse than this late ‘90s double LP compilation. Tommy Boy had commemorated its first 15 years with a 2xCD/4xLP box set of the label’s “Greatest Beats,” but for the more cost-conscious consumer also broke the vinyl set out into individual volumes. Volume 1 sadly (sadly!) does not include anything by Coolio or House of Pain, for which you would have to splash out for Volume 2, but what is here’s pretty good: both Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock” and “Renegades of Funk” (the latter in its full 12” glory); the 12” mix of De La Soul’s debut “Plug Tunin’ (Are You Ready for This”); early electro gem “Play at Your Own Risk” by Planet Patrol (likewise in 12” format); Stetsasonic, Naughty by Nature, Digital Underground and more.

The selection admittedly feels a bit random without the accompanying Volume 2 (we get K7’s minor New Jack-dancehall hit “Move it Like This” rather than his smash “Come Baby Come” for example), and it’d be hard to argue fun but forgettable cuts like Choice MC’s instrumental b-side “Gordy’s Groove” or Bambaataa and James Brown collab “Unity” belong on a “hits” comp for a label of Tommy Boy’s magnitude. Not all of the actual hits are winners either—Club Nouveau’s Grammy-winning Kidz Bop version of Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me” has aged like a Kidz Bop reunion tour. On balance though, the set does a good job of representing the label’s hip-hop, dance, electro, and R&B sides, delivering some of the most influential Black music of the past forty years, a heap of ‘80s and ‘90s nostalgia, and some sure-shot party fuel. Drop the needle and hit the floor.

320/365

[dilfsuzanneyk]

1, 2, 6, 7, 10, 11, 15, 22 and 23 about Ace!! (I hope it's not too much)

hi al!!! thank you for the ask :D and no it's not too much dw i am so happy to talk about ace

does your oc have any motifs?

an obvious one would defo be the ace of spades. she has a tattoo of one on her arm, and an earring with it that she usually wears. she has an ace of spades patch on her crust jacket, too! the ace of spades appears a lot in her album covers and music videos. sometimes she makes her spade pink :D

2. describe your character's voice. do they have a voice claim?

she doesn't have a voice claim at the moment but ace's voice is somewhat nasally when she speaks naturally, and she has issues controlling her volume so it's usually pretty loud. you see her before you hear her kinda deal. also she has a natural growl in her voice whenever she gets excited or angry. she has a pretty thick malay singaporean accent, which gets incredibly obvious when she's passionate about something, and she's more comfortable using it around close friends. sometimes during live shows her accent gets obvious too. during interviews and such, however, she hides her natural accent with a more polished vaguely american accent.

6. what is the thing your oc likes the least about themselves?

ace hates how passionate and serious she can get about most things. she very rarely experiences things in in betweens, and it's usually extremes for her. she doesn't like it because she feels as though it makes her annoying and unlikeable, and it has gotten in the way of relationships before and caused them to fall apart.

7. what is the thing your oc likes the most about themselves?

as she learned to love herself over the years she did come to really like her ability to talk to people!! growing up, she was always told that she was awkward and didn't socialise well. so becoming an adult and learning that most people couldn't care less, and even see her quirks as something that made her Her, was incredibly relieving for her. she slowly got more comfortable with striking up conversations with people if she needed/wanted to, and felt less like she Had to pretend she was someone she's not. it combats the thing she likes least about herself most times, but she still gets insecure about it some times. she works on it :]

10. what kind of music do they enjoy?

ace is a "listens to everything" kinda gal. and she Means It. but in terms of Really enjoy and favourites, she really enjoys the 60s and 70s rock scene (kind of just. any, really. but her favourites are jimi hendrix, the rolling stones, the shadows and musicians in the 70s punk scene. any other british rock artist from the 60s too, i'd say, considering she grew up in singapore). she also enjoys malay music from the 60s, mostly for the nostalgia. she grew up watching P. Ramlee films, so she enjoys his music the most. she also really likes music from bands like the quests and the trailers (all of these are popular music in singapore from the 60s btw so i'd highly recommend you check all of these out if you have the time. i personally really love p ramlee and the quests). aside from the nostalgia factor, ace did get really into the new wave scene as she entered the 80s music industry. and she eventually ended up picking up a few new favourite bands and artists along the way (and had the honour of occasionally bumping into these artists or even opening for them sometimes).

11. has your OC ever fallen in love and with whom?

our girl nikki haas baybee!!! ace is head over heels for her, as she should be. aside from that ace has a whole history of romantic relationships that go down in flames after she falls really hard, namely her relationship with her old drummer, mary dimes.

15. who is your OC’s best friend?

jack hardy :]] they've known each other since they were both in university, and shared a flat at some point. they have a special little bond. ace considers nikki her best friend too, along with jun! mary was also considered by her as a best friend, even if their relationship wasn't the best.

22. what is holding your OC back to achieve their goals?

self doubt. that's a big one for ace. she prolongs doing anything because she's simply afraid that she hasn't done the best that she can do. in fact, she's mostly afraid that her best won't be enough to achieve a goal in the first place. also, her obsession with being the best and doing the best she can often ends up with her so committed that she disregards her own health and safety. obviously that sets her back a little since she's not at optimum health and condition.

23. what are your OC’s biggest flaws and biggest strengths?

like i said, her biggest flaw is probably her obsession with being the best, and giving her best. but her biggest strength is probably her willingness to listen. be it to advice or to someone vent. if it's advice, she'll disregard it if she thinks it doesn't benefit her or if she feels it makes no sense. but most times, she does take advice into account a lot. which is good because her friends often notice when she's getting in too deep, and try to pull her out. she's always willing to listen. and if someone wants to vent, then, she'll take a lot of care in listening. she may not have advice or anything else to say, but she is always willing to just let you rant and let you know you're not alone.