#spectrum tuning led

[guttersnarls]

He leads the world phenomenon that is currently number one on the Billboard charts. When another world tour was planned, he put his foot down - Ghost had to play in Linköping. " That's where all dreams were born" Tobias Forge tells Emil Oskar Andersson- Corren 2025-05-20

(Full article under the cut)

June 3, 2015, 9:55 p.m. It's a chilly early summer day in Linköping, but inside Agatanklubben Doom (Nightclub Doom) it's boiling hot. To the tune of "Monstrance Clock," the newly inaugurated Pope Papa Emeritus Ill and his entourage leave the stage. Getting a ticket was basically impossible, but the organizers manage to squeeze in a full 700 people - packed in tightly. But no one inside knows that it will be a decade before Ghost plays for the Linköping audience again. Or what will happen in between. 

A high-profile trial in Linköping District Court, where some of the band's musicians sued leader Tobias Forge, of course. But above all, Ghost has released four acclaimed albums, several new popes and cardinals have been presented, and the band has grown into an even greater worldwide phenomenon. 

At the time of writing, the new album Skeletá is at number one on the Billboard charts, the first Swedish album since 1993. And now, on May 22, Ghost is finally playing in his hometown again. When tickets went on sale, they sold out in just a few minutes. 

Ten years without a gig in Linköping - why has it taken so long?

  - The unsexy reason is that Linköping is too close to Stockholm. Ghost plays quite rarely in Sweden and if they do play a gig, it has often been Stockholm, Gothenburg or Malmö. Then there has been some pressure from above where they have said that if we play in Linköping we will cannibalize a possible second gig in Sweden. But this time I felt: "Then we'll screw up the second gig and play in Linköping instead", says Tobias Forge when we meet at the record label's office in Östermalm in Stockholm.

 You had to put your foot down and say, "Now we're doing this"?

- Yes, and when I said it, they were like: " Huh? What did you say?" but I insisted that we do it. And now that it's almost a fact, it feels really fun. I don't know if we'll ever do a gig on that scale again in Linköping.

We start talking about his childhood and upbringing. What places have shaped him and made him who he is today? 

Tobias Jens Forge was born on March 3, 1981 in Linköping. At the time, the family lived at Repslagaregatan 10A, near where Uncle Mellin's Square is today. At the time, the city's police station was located there, and Tobias remembers how, as a three-year-old, he found it exciting to watch the constables through the apartment window. When he turned four, he and his family, which mainly consisted of his mother Siv and his 13-year-old brother Sebastian, moved to Tegelbruksgatan in Tannefors, with windows facing the district's main street.

- Nya Tanneforsvägen is my ancestral home. It was the avenue that led into the city and away from it. That's where all dreams were born. Tannefors is a magical place for me. It was like living in a small town, just outside the city. And the district was interesting because it was both a villa area and an apartment building area at the same time. In terms of age, there was a mix between families with children and 20-year-olds who lived in studios. Then, in terms of socio-economics, there was the whole spectrum; those who lived down by the river and had money, the parents who lived together and had a car and so on. On the other side of Nya Tanneforsvägen there were homes with quite chaotic conditions.

- Nya Tanneforsvägen still lives in me today. In that I grew up in a kind of inner city environment, along a busy street where there were always people, life and the sound of honking. I am still completely addicted to that. I always have to be able to open the window and hear life going on outside.

You're not a country boy?

- No.

The rock dreams came early. Linköpings filmmaker Claudio Marino, who went to the same daycare center as Tobias, tells the podcast Ny Moral that he remembers little Tobias drawing the Rolling Stones tongue the first time they met. Tobias himself remembers how, as a three-four-year-old, he saw the music video for Scorpions' "Rock you like a hurricane" on TV and how it transformed his entire worldview. 

- It was drums and guitars and Scorpions in some kind of cage. The whole thing woke something up in me and when it dawned on me that you could actually make a living as a rock idol, it felt really relevant.

Tobias lived in Linköping until he was 16, when he and his mother Siv moved up to Stockholm. There, high school didn't work at all - he had

80 percent absences and he collected "about 20 IGs”. But the rock star dream was still alive, even though the music had become even harder than Scorpions. He fronted the death metal band Repugnant and played in an early version of the sleaze rock band Crashdiet. Although he himself felt then and there that his breakthrough was around the corner, it was never really close. At the same time, he lived on grants and felt rejected by the music industry in the capital. When he was 25 years old, he moved back to Linköping and a second-hand shop on Apotekaregatan. Career suicide, some might say, but Tobias had an intuitive feeling that it was the right step to take. It felt like a liberation. Once back on the plains, he played in the bands Subvision and Magna Carta Cartel. These bands included guitarists Martin Persner and Simon Söderberg, both of whom ended up playing in the new project - Ghost. 

Kent has done an audio-guided walk in Eskilstuna - what would a Tobias Forge walk look like in Linköping? 

- If I were to tell it, it would be very long... Yes, what would such a walk be like? Geographically, you could start down in Hawaii in Tannefors and then go up to my red preschool on Stationsgatan. My home is on Tegelbruksgatan 9 and then my entire elementary school education is along Nya Tanneforsvägen, the avenue of broken dreams, Tanneforsskolan and Kungsbergsskolan.T hen we continue over Drottningbron and at that time, when I grew up in Linköping, the bus station was on Magasinstorget, it was like the whole city was opened up there and it doesn't feel quite the same today. But we continue the walk up Nygatan and there I would bore everyone by telling them how many fucking record stores there were on the strip between Trädgärdstorget, via Tanneforsgatan up to Stora Torget. There were five or six record stores in between. They were all warp zones into another, more fun reality. And then we have the music stores and video stores... Yes, this walk could have been endless. 

It sounds like there are many places that have meant a lot to you in Linköping. 

- Of course. And we haven't really talked about places outside Tannefors and the inner city. Venues like Skylten and the rehearsal rooms in Bullerbyn? - When I really started playing in a band, we had a rehearsal space in Bullerbyn and l've probably been there more than I've been to Skylten actually. That place has really meant a lot to me. I was there for the first time in 1990 maybe and we recorded parts of the first Ghost album there in 2010. In between, it was as if time had stood still in Bullerbyn, I remember the corridor with posters looking exactly the same.

Videos on Ghost's social media mention "Lincopia, Otrogothia" as Ghost's headquarters. Does Ghost make more nods to Linköping? 

- Yes, absolutely. The Linköping municipal lion was embroidered in one of the popes' robes, but it has also been featured elsewhere in symbols and logos. Then I think most people have missed that we used the windows from the old bank premises on St Larsgatan, opposite S:t Larskyrkan, in our backdrop at concerts. You can see that quite clearly if you know about it. Then of course there is the Cathedral. The church on the cover of the first album is suspiciously similar to it.

Has the Cathedral been a place you have gone to? 

- I really like the Cathedral, it is a very beautiful place and, like many others in Linköping, it has had a great impact on me. Especially from an architectural and historical perspective. I have been there all my life, partly for funerals and masses and things that you have attended. As a parent of small children, I was there often because it was a lovely place to come with the children and walk around. I have many memories of being there as a child too. My mother is passionate about art and history, so l must have had some kind of Indiana Jones adventure in there. That has probably been how it has affected me the most, as a place of adventure more than spiritual. Not that I don't feel the whispers in the walls and the anxiety that probably lived between them. I find that very easy to come into contact with. No, it has above all been the adventure and the imaginativeness of the building that has affected me.

Time is running out, but I blame Tobias Forge for wanting to keep talking about his hometown - and who am I to interrupt him? Maybe that's why the gig in Linköping feels like more than just a tour stop. 

- It's going to be a day of guest lists. There are so many people I would have loved to meet - parents, siblings, old friends. But how do you politely say that... we probably won't get to see each other? Then you almost have to cancel the gig and just hang out instead. But maybe it's just me who thinks they want to see each other - maybe they just want to go to a concert, says Tobias Forge with a laugh. I walk out of the record company office and am met by a busy street in Ostermalm. So similar and yet so different from Nya Tanneforsvägen - the avenue where all dreams were born and which once led Tobias Forge away from the city, out into the world. When he now follows it back, it ends a stone's throw from Saab Arena. Maybe that's where the dream was always headed.

[delicatuscii-wasbella102]

So, I have just watched the Harris/Trump debate and the one thing that stood out to me was that Harris talked of the future, helping the country, building it up for the people. Were as Trump espoused fear, he knows that that is a great control mechanism and throws it around like confetti. Trumps statement about Haitian immigrants "eating pets" Fact Checked: A Springfield spokesperson said the city has received no such reports, and Springfield police told a local news outlet the department has received no reports of pets being stolen and eaten. Trump: "But the governor before, he said, ‘The baby will be born, and we will decide what to do with the baby.’" Fact Checked: Former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, never said he would sanction the execution of newborns Trump: "It was a fraud, just like their number of 818,000 jobs that they said they created turned out to be a fraud." Fact Checked:  Economists across the ideological spectrum reject Trump’s claim. The process is an annual effort to fine-tune initial data that the agency acknowledges is imperfect. Trump: "Millions and millions of people … are pouring into our country monthly. Where it's, I believe 21 million people." Fact Checked: Encounters aren’t the same as admissions. Encounters represent events, so one person who tries to cross the border twice counts as two encounters. Also, not everyone encountered is let into the country. The Department of Homeland Security estimates about 4 million encounters have led to expulsions or removals. Trump: The U.S. "left $85 billion worth of brand new, beautiful military equipment behind" in Afghanistan Fact Checked: An independent inspector general report told Congress that about $7 billion of U.S.-funded equipment remained in Afghanistan, According to the report, "the U.S. military removed or destroyed nearly all major equipment used by U.S. troops in Afghanistan throughout the drawdown period in 2021." Trump: Under Biden and Harris, the U.S. had "the worst inflation we've ever had." Fact Checked: The highest year-over-year inflation rate on Biden’s watch was around 9% in summer 2022. That was the highest in about 40 years.  So the majority of what he said was a lie, no surprises there

[quartzlightz]

Pt. 1 of my scrapped LU fics

Beta Name: But you, my sweet wild child, shall be mine.

Name was based off a tiktok audio I kept hearing.

Reminder: these fics are are scrapped, so that means they’ll end abruptly.

Summary: Hylia’s and Wild’s bond. The chain finds out just how close their wild hero and Goddess Hylia are.

As far as Link can remember,— from his current life— he and Hylia have always had a close bond. A bond Link thought she had with everyone.

However, the more Link traveled through his adventure, he found out that what he and Hylia shared wasn’t something on the normal spectrum.

Purah even confirmed it for him. Although, she did it in a more over-dramatic manner. I mean, he was still re-learning things after all, he didn’t know any better. She could’ve cut him some slack.

Going back on track, Hylia has always seemed fond of Link since he woke up from the shrine. She was always willing to talk to him when he reached a goddess statue, she guided him using the wind more often than not, and he even learned what the different tunes she would use through the wind meant.

And the nicknames she would call him. The majority of them would always fall along the line of ‘My Child.’

He never thought much of it. He thought it was normal. That, perhaps, she did that Before too. And it’s not like he minded at all. He actually liked it.

He also may or may not have let the word ‘Mom’ slip up a few times too. But Hylia never did mind; she was happy about it, honestly.

—

“Wild!”

Said boy looked up from where he had zoned out looking at his slate up at Wind who was calling him over.

Currently, the chain is in Wild’s Hyrule; at Akkala Stable more specifically.

While Wild was sitting in the shade given by a tree, Wind came running from the back of the Stable to him with a bright smile.

“Wild, can you please take us exploring? I saw something West of the stable I wanna see!” Wind jumped in place with excited energy as he awaited Wild’s reply.

“West?” Wild looked at Wind with a concentrated look for a moment before understatement covered his face. “You spotted The Spring of Power didn’t you?”

“Is that what that is?” Wind hummed. “Well then, yes, I want to go to this Spring of Power!”

Wild smiled at his excitement. “Who’s all going? You did say ‘Can you take us exploring’ after all.”

Wind’s smile grew bigger by the second at Wild’s cooperation…

The group of heroes, which was originally supposed to be four people turned into nine, walked through the forest path that led them towards their destination. Originally, it was going to be Wild, Wind, Hyrule, and Legend but once the others heard where they were going, they decided to tag along. And there is nothing wrong with that, but the four of them were going to do more than travel to the spring. They were going to explore more, way more than they would’ve been allowed.

“Are we close yet?” Hyrule came up beside Wild who was leading them.

Wild looked at Hyrule and gave him a sly smile, “Why don’t you go ahead and find out?”

Hyrule raised an eyebrow at him but when he looked back in front of them a vine-covered wall faced them. They all had stopped and watched with confusion as they watched Wild walk towards the stone wall.

Wild slid his hand through the vines and revealed a tunnel entrance. “We’re here,” Wild said with a smile.

In a line, they all trailed in. At the end of the tunnel was The Spring of Power.

They looked around with fascination at the sparkling spring: The walls had small waterfalls and plants all along them, and straight down the middle was a Goddess Hylia statue surrounded by a body of water and Wild who was already making a beeline for the statue.

…

“Wild, what are you doing?!” Twilight yelled.

The only ones who tried to go after him were Twilight and Sky.

Sky’s reasoning for chasing after the wild hero was that he didn’t want to anger or disrespect the goddess, this was the goddess’s spring after all.

“Champion!” Sky called out in a worried tone. “Please get back here!”

Of course, Sky and Twilight’s efforts were in vain. Wild didn’t listen to either of them and made his way to the statue.

Fortunately for Wild, the two heroes stopped chasing after him, in fear of what would happen.

Stopping before the statue, Wild called out as everyone stared intensely at him, “Hylia?” A holy light shone down upon the statue not even a second later. Following along the light, a voice answered.

��My Child, you came to visit,” A divine voice spoke.

The others stood astonished at the sight before them. It wasn’t exactly a common thing for THE HYLIA to answer.

[usafphantom2]

Electronic Warfare Systems On Ukraine’s F-16s Getting Specially Tuned To Russian Threats By USAF

The U.S. is using its highly classified threat library to improve the chances of survival for Ukraine's F-16 and to gather critical intel in return.

Joseph Trevithick Posted on Aug 26, 2024 8:15 PM EDT

Before the Ukrainian Air Force received its first batch of F-16 Viper fighters, the U.S. Air Force helped optimize electronic warfare (EW) systems on those jets against Russian threats.

Ukrainian Air Force

Before the Ukrainian Air Force received its first batch of F-16 Viper fighters, the U.S. Air Force helped optimize the electronic warfare (EW) systems on those jets to defend against Russian threats. As part of ongoing collaboration on this front, the Ukrainians will pass data they collect in real combat back to the United States to help further refine and improve electronic warfare capabilities available to both countries, as well as other allies and partners.

The U.S. Air Force’s 68th Electronic Warfare Squadron (EWS) at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, part of the service’s 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing led the reprogramming effort in collaboration with its counterparts in Denmark and Norway. Earlier this month, the Ukrainian Air Force showed off some of its initial tranche of F-16s, which includes ex-Danish and Dutch examples, at least some of which have specialized pylons with integrated self-protection systems, as you can read more about here.

At the time of writing, Denmark and the Netherlands, along with Belgium and Norway, are collectively planning to send Ukraine approximately 91 F-16AM/BMs in the coming years. This includes another six ex-Dutch jets pledged just today. A portion of these aircraft will be used as sources of spare parts for the others. There have also been reports that Greece may commit an additional 30 F-16C/D variants.

“With the third-party transfer of F-16s by Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands to Ukraine, another EW capability is joining the fight for Ukraine,” the Air Force said today in a release on the 68th Electronic Warfare Squadron’s work. The electronic capability in question is not named, but it is described as one not currently in U.S. inventory.

As already mentioned, at least some of Ukraine’s initial tranche of F-16s have been spotted with pylons from defense contractor Terma in Denmark that have built-in approach warning sensors and that can be fitted with electronic warfare jammers, as well as dispensers for decoy flares and chaff. The pylons are tied to the jet’s internal self-protection suite to provide synergistic effects. It is worth noting that the Air Force has acquired similar pylon-based systems for its F-16s in the past, but without any express mention of integrated jammers.

An annotated image of a Ukrainian F-16 showing it equipped with 4 AIM-9s and a Terma pylon with integrated self-protection features. The inset at bottom left also shows a pilot wearing a Joint Helmet Mounting Cueing System (JHMCS). Ukrainian Ministry of Defense capture

A chart showing Terma’s various pylon offerings and their respective features. Terma

Regardless, the Air Force says unfamiliarity with the electronic warfare system in question, together with “the timeline needed to optimize these EW systems to meet the delivery date of the aircraft,” presented challenges for the 68th EWS.

“Relying on data provided by Denmark and Norway, then adapting new processes and approaches to the usual process, the team was able to understand the system and start their work. After understanding the system, the 68th EWS deviated again from normal methods and sent its members overseas to a partner-nation lab to collaboratively develop and test the system alongside coalition teammates,” according to the Air Force’s release. “By working alongside partner nations, the 68th EWS was able to test and verify the unique elements required by the Ukrainians and even improve the reprogramming processes by all parties.”

“This is not our standard operating procedure,” an unnamed individual described as “the 68th EWS director,” said in a statement in today’s release. “The fact that the team was able to figure out the system in two weeks, go in-country with a partner to develop a best-ever mission data file is unheard of and is thanks to the talent here in the squadron and the wing.”

Specific details about what the reprogramming entailed are not provided, but for electronic warfare systems to work most effectively, they have to be able to accurately detect, categorize, and respond to waveforms using the data in their built-in threat library. As such, operators behind air defense radars and other emitters have now long relied on tactics like switching between different operating modes, hopping frequencies, and/or taking other actions to alter the output signature to help reduce vulnerability to electronic warfare attacks.

In turn, electronic warfare systems have to be routinely reprogrammed to update their databanks to respond to evolving threats. The electronic warfare threat libraries available to U.S. forces are one of the biggest advantages available to America’s armed forces. As part of work on so-called cognitive electronic warfare capabilities, the U.S. Air Force and other branches of the U.S. military are also working to increasingly automate and otherwise accelerate various aspects of the reprogramming process, including the ability to push out upgrades rapidly, including to forward-deployed units or even aircraft in flight. Electronic warfare suites capable of adapting autonomously in real-time, even during missions, is the absolute “holy grail” of the concept, which you can read more about here.

Contractors with the 68th Electronic Warfare Squadron prepare the Advanced Integrated Defense Electronic Warfare System test lab for a test run. Members of the Advanced Systems Flight of the 68th EWS work closely with their foreign customers to facilitate future requirements so their mission data can be tailored to the ever-changing threat environment and define the customer’s necessities to build future products. USAF

Last year, now-retired Air Force Col. Craig Andrle, whose last posting was as commander of the 388th Fighter Wing, shared a particularly relevant anecdote with Air Force Times about how the current process works and its importance. At the time, F-35A Joint Strike Fighters assigned to his wing had recently returned from a deployment to Europe where they had flown patrols near Russia.

“We’re looking at an SA-20. I know it’s an SA-20. Intel says there’s an SA-20 there, but now my jet doesn’t ID it as such, because that SA-20 is operating, potentially, in a war reserve mode that we haven’t seen before,” Andrle explained, using the NATO reporting name for certain versions of the Russian-made S-300 surface-to-air missile system.

Elements of a Russian S-300 surface-to-air missile system. Russian Ministry of Defense

“The F-35 flagged the object for troops who updated and re-uploaded the data into the jet,” Air Force Times‘ report added. “After that, NATO aircraft knew what they were looking at and how to geolocate it.”

The F-35’s electronic warfare suite is already extremely powerful, much more so than the capabilities that are found on Ukraine’s second-hand F-16s, and has an impressive secondary capability to collect and fuse electronic intelligence. That data is also highly classified, limiting who the U.S. government can share it with and where programming work can be done physically, which is then where units like the 68th EWS come in. The squadron is a focal point for electronic warfare reprogramming, and not just within the U.S. Air Force, but elsewhere across the U.S. military and in support of foreign allies and partners.

As of 2022, the 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing overall handled “mission data or reprogramming… for over 70 systems for over 40 countries,” Col. Josh Koslov, then commander of the wing, told The War Zone in an interview that year. You can find the full exclusive interview, which provides deeper details about the 350th’s work, here.

A member of the 16th Electronic Warfare Squadron, another unit with the 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing, analyzes radio frequency signals at the B-1 Lab at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. (This photo has been altered for security purposes by blurring out portions of monitors). USAF

The electronic warfare partnership between the United States and Ukraine won’t end with the reprogramming of the systems on the F-16s being delivered to the latter country, either.

“With Ukraine now being onboarded as an official foreign military sales [FMS] case for the 68th EWS, the unit will provide reprogramming capabilities based on feedback from the Ukrainians,” according to the release from the Air Force today. “Traditionally, feedback from FMS cases is derived from training environments; this case will provide combat-tested data to improve capabilities.”

Like so many things about Ukraine’s incoming F-16s, it is important to stress that the U.S. Air Force’s reprogramming of their electronic warfare systems won’t make them work perfectly against all threats. Still, they could offer a critical edge in survivability for Ukraine’s Air Force, which is operating in one of the densest active air defense environments we have seen.

“One F-16 with a reprogrammed [electronic warfare] pod won’t achieve air dominance alone, but it may give you a pocket of air superiority for a moment’s time to achieve an objective that has strategic importance and impact,” the unnamed 68th EWS director added in the release the Air Force put out today. “When you’re talking about a near-peer conflict, you need all of your coalition partners to operate with the same playbook so you can achieve spectrum dominance.”

Ukrainian Ministry of Defense capture

As The War Zone has repeatedly pointed out, it will also take the Ukrainian Air Force and its pilots years to fully unlock what the F-16s have to offer, in general. At the same time, the jets bring a host of new and improved capabilities, including weapons and electronic warfare suites, to the Ukrainian Air Force beyond what its Soviet-era combat jets have to offer. Deliveries of additional types of stand-off munitions that could arm Ukraine Vipers, possibly including AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) cruise missiles, may already be on the horizon. The F-16s also bring the ability to carry various podded capabilities, including Lockheed Martin’s recently unveiled networked version of the Sniper Targeting Pod, which can act as a hub for localized ‘kill webs’ and would be ideally suited to Ukraine’s needs as The War Zone has previously highlighted.

While F-16s may not be silver bullets for Ukraine, we know now that the U.S. Air Force has helped with programming their electronic warfare systems to be as capable as they can be against Russian threats. Further data that gets collected, along with other lessons learned from the use of the self-protection systems on the Viper, looks set to be a major boon for both countries going forward.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

[dyemelikeasunset]

Hypothetically would kye and rilu be a foil to dom and mor? And did kye’s arms get bigger cause…😳

Yes Kye got bigger 🤣 I've kinda been going through a personal rediscovery and euphoria of being butch, so I've been allowing my characters to exhibit as much masculinity as I please. Kye kinda became my trans masc power fantasy lol

But to answer your question, a little bit!! I didn't intentionally set out to make intense Rilu/Kye the foils to gentle Dom/Mor but I think their influences and inspirations kinda led them there. Solaris is based on my favorite shounen and action tropes, while Dom & Mor and You & I are based on my favorite shoujo and romance tropes.

I also realized they're both black/asian couples so I wanted to make sure they felt pretty different!! A friend of mine recently joked that Kye is the "shounen rival" while Dom is the "shoujo love interest" and it had me laughing for a good while lol

Some rambling about couple dynamics under the readmore:

dommor / Babygirls:

Prince/princess, protector/nurturer dynamic, opposites attract

Fem/andro gender expression. Mor is very girlish, gentle, and sweet, based heavily on shoujo romance lead girl archetypes, while Domi is an elegant "prettyboy" type androgynous love interest

Gentle relationship, main emotional takeaway is comfort and romantic fantasy fulfillment

Sexual dynamic is either "gentle, romantic, fairy tale like", or "down to earth, comforting, and patient"

Emotionally in-tune couple, good communication. Both are very considerate of each other

As a visual thing, their skin tones are very opposite sides of the spectrum, with Mor being one of my darkest ocs while Dom is one of my palest

House cat (Mor) / snake (Dom)

rilukye / Big Cats:

Bad girl/bad boy and rivals/enemies to lovers dynamic. Connect over similarities

Fem/masc. Rilu is a cool-headed sexy tomboy while Kye is a wild, dark and dangerous bad boi

Sexually charged relationship. Main emotional takeaway is excitement, adrenaline and forbidden desire

Sexual dynamic is either "explosive, instinctual, fun snarling" or "we don't know how to communicate love so we fuck"

Emotionally constipated couple. Neither likes talking about their feelings, both hold back a lot of thoughts and feelings

Skin tones are closer, Rilu is mid-range while Kye is a little tan (I want more tan east asians depicted in media)

White tiger (Rilu) / Black Jaguar (Kye)

[lawofnamesmedia]

A-Spec Thoughts & Characters & etc...

Over the course of the past year or so, I've been re-evaluating what my various sexuality/relationship orientations actually are, in the absence of external factors telling me what they should be. My creative work has been a fairly inextricable part of this process, which of course means the whole process & subsequent self-discoveries have showed up (or will show up in) said work.

The practical upshot of this is that I've settled pretty comfortably on the labels of aromantic/allosexual (not at all helpfully refined by "gay, but also humans are just hot, ok?"). It's taken me a while to decide if the labels fit, because I do have & enjoy non-platonic relationships. But in doing research, I've learned that the way I think about & experience those relationships is... atypical. Significantly so. I'm not going to dig into that in a tumblr post on my "professional" account, but suffice it to say a lot of thought & conversation with others led me to try on the label, & I've liked the way it fit enough to integrate into myself concept.

The reason this is on the "professional" tumblr is that it's become really important to me to create characters that share this particular label set. It's one I haven't found a lot of, & really would like to. I don't know if the combination is actually an outlier, or just feels like it, but like anyone, I want to see myself reflected in fiction, and since in this particular facet, I didn't that often, I've done what I always do and made my own.

Clarity, the lead in my final @breathingxspace episode You Can Hear the Whistle Blow is canonically aro/allo, and that's made as explicitly clear on screen as I was able to.

Though it's not as explicitly on screen (and also complicated by a variety of factors), the various Roxannes in Cloud City Sonata also fall under those labels.

I'm new to this whole thing, so I don't entirely know if it falls under the banner of @acepodcastweek, because they (and I) are explicitly not asexual. But people keep telling me it's part of the same/a similar spectrum, so I'm going to yell about it at them/on that tag anyway.

Stay tuned to see what other self discoveries inevitably make it into my shows ; )

[thrandilf]

Episodic, Serialized, Mixing the Two, and "Filler"

Been dwelling on what I personally find effective in media and what's been grinding my gears about when things flatline for me and I'd rather sit down and write about it than continue to pace while doing the Italian finger pinch thing

First off, filler is technically about when an anime goes beyond what a manga has completed and because they got ahead, they started to just screw around while waiting for more manga, so while I acknowledge that origin of the phrase, the way people often use filler now is for episodes disconnected from the main plot

And a lot of people miss "filler"/what they mean is more chill or self contained episodes, and while the concept of them doesn't usually appeal to me for pacing reasons, there's a way to do it well that I wish more shows did

So, my bias/preference is fully serialized shows which is usually harder to find in western animation, The Dragon Prince being one of the few I've ever found that's never had a full episode of Nothing because there's always an overarching plot and tension to be found. There are "filler" moments where characters on their journey have some downtime which is used for bonding and/or world-building, but they don't dedicate whole episodes to it to break the pacing, which I appreciate. However, most shows don't do this

On the other far end of the spectrum you have something fully episodic and formulaic like Phineas and Ferb where every episode is its own thing with occasional callbacks to other episodes, but it is a sort of watch in any order whenever show and I find that this actually works for me as well- when it's the expectation from the start

Some shows go for a mix of the two, and usually that's where I get tripped up.

They're shows that I like/think are Good beyond a doubt, but to give examples, Gravity Falls and RotTMNT both start off with an episode that gives you a concept of an overarching plot, a mystery to solve or otherwise a big bad, respectively. Now, I understand that a lot of shows are still under the parameters of needing to be able to be viewed in any order by people tuning in on tv (although with streaming I think this is falling by the wayside/writing this way no longer makes sense to me) but it does make sitting down to watch them a tad infuriating, because then you're waiting for a continuation of this main plot you're hooked on, but a lot of the episodes you watch right afterwards don't fundamentally matter.

Sometimes they matter- a standalone episode with character development or a new piece of information is nice, but sometimes even that isn't there, and why it gets to me while PnF doesn't is just the initial expectation set that we're going somewhere and then totally dropping the plotline or a sense of progress for awhile. In GF we get hints as time goes on/other people have numbered books, but you have to dial back your expectations/adjust to just enjoying the day to day adventures (which are enjoyable!) and shelve the main plot. PnF never led me to suspect there was a bigger picture plot to worry about, so it doesn't hang over me/leave me unsatisfied. It does what it set out to do

However, a mix of the two can work

AtLA is good at the episodic bits still mattering, but beyond that I'd argue Lego Monkie Kid is the best at it. Although the show is almost exclusively episodic in season 1, more mixed in season 2, and then gets to be pretty much all serialized in 3 and 4, season 1 managed to be episodic while still holding my attention.

No LMK episode is a "skip" from me due to even the self contained monster of the week episodes still revealing new information such as more of MK's powers so there's a sense of progress, giving character info, introducing new characters, and/or new lore.

Most importantly, the lore and character details we get matter- 1x03 is the only time we see Mei's parents, but her relationship with her family is an ongoing thread through the rest of the show. 1x05 was a goldmine of characterization and how people in MK's life don't act, with the concept of a "perfect world" being something we touch on in the s3 climax. 1x06 introduced the peaches of immortality. 1x07 hits on a character flaw MK doesn't get over in just one episode, 1x09 is arguably the most important episode in all of S1 due to introducing Macaque and giving us a lot more information about the depth's of Wukong's past, which raises questions the show then delivers on later.

It all establishes something relevant to enhance later episodes

And all in the background, right from 1x01, we get hints of other intrigue developing as the Demon Bull Family finds LBD's prison and plans to spring her

Season 2 is especially effective with still coming off as rather episodic but the heroes spend the entire season unknowingly losing while LBD and SQ gather materials, and we also have whatever Wukong is up to piquing our interest. The tension only grows even if almost every S2 episode is self contained. 2x04 doesn't involve the main villains, but it does set up Pigsy and MK's relationship more as well as how important Pigsy's sense of family and tradition is, which again comes back later in S4

A lot of effective, seemingly off topic "filler" winds up not being filler at all, but was working to build something later. Sometimes, a show is better on a rewatch for reasons like that,

but when it feels like the ball is dropped and relationships weren't enhanced or we didn't learn anything from it, or characters acted like there may be consequences for something and then nothing happened nor was it acknowledged and now we're moving on forever, it's like well, what was the point of that then?

This is all to say that episodic storytelling can really work, and I get frustrated when we don't tap back into a main plot even for a few seconds or there wasn't anything new. The fun beach episode can still give me character development or even pan back to the villains at the end to give me the sense that something's coming to keep tension up (I'm not far in it, but Amphibia seems to have a good sense of this too where I have a lot of questions and I gradually get answers/hints that answers are coming as well as character flaws/developments being established)

TLDR:

The questions an audience are meant to be asking should be answered at some point, and even though they should be paced out and given time, when it feels like a show forgot about them entirely before making a sharp swerve back (or worse, never addressing the threads it introduced), it can make people feel like there was no point in paying attention.

Episodic shows that want to tie into a larger plot can still work by keeping a background sense of tension and building in new information, which I wish was done more often instead of being majorly episodic Or serialized, where only a few episodes in a show fully tie together which makes the shift from episode 1 plot, nothing, and then OH GOD FINALE PLOT really jarring to me

I also bring this up because as a writer, it's what I try to keep in the back of my mind for my own writing, and seeing what does and doesn't work for me and why is helpful

Also yes, this is a Monkie Kid endorsement ty for coming

[randomvarious]

Today's compilation:

The House Sound of Chicago - Vol. III - Acid Tracks 1988 House

Hopping off of that notoriously rickety K-tel train to nowhere for a bit and latching onto some classic house goodies instead, starting with this third installment from The House Sound of…, a series that was originally launched in 1986 by Chicago house label D.J. International Records in order to showcase the city's own house scene, and was also released in the UK through the much bigger London Records too. This series would end up proving far more impactful across the pond than it would in the States, but in '88, the year of the UK's Second Summer of Love, during which house music would spread like wildfire among the youth, the London label took over its reins and decided to start redirecting this series through their newly-repurposed FFRR imprint instead. FFRR's focus would be on dance music, and as it was headed by the one and only Pete Tong, it would go on to become one of the greatest and most important labels in the history of dance music as we know it.

So, in that regard, what we have here happens to be a pretty damn big deal, because this was the first comp that was ever issued on FFRR since its dance rebrand. But its title is actually inexplicably and very confusingly misleading, because while it claims to be loaded up with 'acid tracks,' only one of these tunes actually meets the criteria for being acid—Tyree's "Acid Over," which, as all acid tracks do, stars the unique squelches of the Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer—and I can't say that I'm very much a fan of it.

Instead, what dominates this comp is a bunch of great Chicago house of a different stripe: largely black and queer, vocally male-led stuff with some soul to it, that includes things like feelgood combinations of strings and richly stabbing piano chords deployed over four-on-the-floor drumbeats.

And while I find almost all of this record to be quite good, I think its very best moments happen to lie on its B-side, with Darryl Pandy and Farley "Jackmaster" Funk's absurdly energetic "Freeman" and Sterling Void's much calmer and steadier "It's All Right" serving as a stellar yin and yang, together representing opposite ends of a spectrum of both vibe and sound that could be contained within this revolutionary dance music genre that was still very much at such an early juncture itself.

So, Darryl Pandy, as he is wont to do, sports his lovably goofy vocal passion all over "Freeman," while Farley complements him with a beat that's very fiery, deliberately ostentatious, and, by that some token, clearly on a queer post-disco/hi-NRG type of tip too. Basically, if you love yourself some big, gay, and campy 80s dance tunes, this one's a can't-miss 🔥.

And then to counterbalance something as fun and ridiculous as that one is "It's All Right," which is one of those blissed-out bits of transcendent dance dreaminess that seems to be targeted directly at your very own soul. This is a song in which those deadly key-and-string combos really abound, and if you're ever out on the floor when it comes on, you're then required to do some extensive, eyes-closed, slow grooving to it 😌. Wonderful track.

So, ultimately, I feel kinda bad for all the acid jackers who bought this record and were expecting their purchase to be a whole lot more chemical than it was, but hopefully they still came away with an appreciation for this different slate of 80s Chicago house bangers anyway. Buncha must-listen tunes here for anyone who's interested in this local scene, where this music first originated.

And you can also pair this album with my own 1980s Chicago House playlist too, which as of right now has almost no overlap, besides Jamie Principle's "Baby Wants to Ride"—but my playlist (the YouTube one at least) has the version of that song in which Jamie at one point decides to….cynically parody "America the Beautiful" 😂…and this album doesn't.

1980s Chicago House: Spotify / YouTube / YouTube Music

Highlights:

Jamie Principle - "Baby Wants to Ride" Frankie Knuckles - "Only the Strong Survive" Paris - "Girl U Need a Change of Mind" Darryl Pandy & Farley "Jackmaster" Funk - "Freeman" Romance - "All Dis Music" Farley "Jackmaster" Funk - "My House" Sterling Void - "It's All Right"

[ijosijen]

Formality Distinctions & Orthography Gore

I've mentioned that High Gavellian loves its formality registers. The language is a reified mash of traditionalist/formal sentiment, after all. Its madness will filter into the Low Gavellians (esp. the more central ones), but High Gavellian is a conlang both literally and in the same way that Standard Italian is.

...that Standard Italian would be if it started with Ecclesiastical Latin instead of Tuscan. But I digress.

The main point is that there's tons of formality and honorific floating around. My endgoal is to create a pseudo-keigo system. I'm not going out of my way to design it from the top-down, though. For that sweet sweet Naturalism™, I've been designing a bunch of smaller formality distinctions in various chunks of the grammar and lexicon.

The emergent differences in messaging when one chooses to use more or less formal constructions (as well as with what parts of the phrase one chooses to use them) has led to this really nice organic gradient of formality. Register, not mode.

And ofc a big part of formal speech is use of Formal, Traditional Vocubulary™. Which is to say that there are a metric ton of doublets in the lexicon, depending on how exactly a given word entered it. A learned borrowing? Probably mad formal. The more sound shifts it's been through, the less formal it generally is. Loaned/calqued in from the Low Gavellians? probably less formal. etc etc.

The Gavellian language group trending towards more compounds over time means that this isn't much of an English situation, where longer = more formal. Sound reductions generally produce the inverse, really!

e.g, the adjective lo "far" is older and thus more formal than its synonym sin vu. The latter exists because 〈o〉 represents schwa in High Gavellian, often elided entirely at that. A word that was pretty much [l] in fast speech loses out to the much better fortified [sɲˤvu].

But it's still more formal, rendered so by the weight of history.

Back to the doublets, see:

informal ven tovu [vɛ̃ˤtvu] vs. formal ven vu [vɛ̃ˤvu] "below, (the) bottom"

informal nilaes [nilæs~nilεs] vs. formal nilasé [nilaze] "decay," with the latter also forming a proper Nilasé for use in philosophical/poetic/giant magical curse contexts.

informal rei [ve] vs. formal órei [əve]. The cleaving in this one's fun. While both can mean "path, valley," the former can also be used for "trail" and metaphorical "way," while the latter is also "street/road" etc.

then we get into doublets that have board semantic overlap but aren't even technically synonyms.

I've already done a dictionary entry on informal ochne [ɣn] vs. formal auôchne [oɣ.n]. The former is a simpler "truth, fact, validity," whereas the latter is "realization/manifestation, crux of the matter." Still, it has some semantic overlap with the informal version, just to an extreme: it can aslo mean "an ultimate/final truth"

my newest doublet is the informal relya [vəja] vs. formal réliâa [velja]. they're both verbs with similar enough meanings, but historical nonsense means that they're on the opposite ends of the agency spectrum.

relya's space hovers somewhere between "to command/fate/doom/force," while its "formal" equivalent has a smaller space and inverted agency: "to be commanded, to accept, to be fated."

The big shadow behind the Gavellian family is the breakdown of a highly-ergative system. trying to level the solutions that a bunch of daughter languages used has given High Gavellian a whole host of odd unaccusatives and unintuitive agency distinctions in transitive verbs.

finally: check out the titular orthography gore on that réliâa. well, it's just some doubled letters and diacritics. but it looks ugly to me in a way that hits very nicely. High Gavellian's historical spelling is expertly (desperately) tuned to the language's "common" phonotactic patterns. Sure, it can handle stretch cases, but it's not going to be pretty.

the spoken language has far less restrictive norms, which is where all the orthogore comes from - some scribe tries to write down a word that's entered spoken use and is forced to resort to lrevahrínonei [leva'i:nne].

[sonuscorewoodsofthewild]

Sonokinetic – Chime Download

Sonokinetic – Chime: A Journey Through Time with Antique Bells

In the pursuit of creating the perfect chime collection, we embarked on a magical mystery tour, sourcing authentic antiques to bring you Sonokinetic – Chime. We didn’t want just any bells—we aimed for the resonance of history itself. Our journey led us to remastered hand-cast replicas of original clock bells from 17th and 18th century clocks. These bells were not mass-produced; they were individually crafted, preserving the craftsmanship and character of antique timepieces.

This collection features chime bells from iconic clock styles: Dutch Amsterdam Standing clocks, French Pendules, Comtoises, Dutch Grandfather clocks, Bracket clocks, Carriage clocks, and large watch bells. These bells offer a sound steeped in history, crafted from a unique alloy of silver and bronze, and hand-tuned to preserve the vintage character. The resulting tones are rich, full, and distinct—far surpassing the usual orchestral bell tree instruments.

A Unique Sound of Vintage Clarity

The bells in Sonokinetic – Chime each possess a unique voice. Their clarity is remarkable, standing apart from traditional factory-made bells. We chose to remaster these bells to maintain their vintage charm, making them the perfect addition to any cinematic score. Their timeless, resonant tones are ideal for creating both ethereal moments and bold statements in your compositions. Every chime echoes with the authenticity of centuries-old craftsmanship.

Each bell was carefully selected to bring forth the rich tonal palette that makes the Chime collection so special. The variety of sizes and tonal qualities of these bells offers a wide array of possibilities, from delicate and soft to loud and triumphant, allowing you to compose with depth and versatility. These bells resonate with an unmatched beauty that is sure to enrich any project, whether it be film scoring, sound design, or music production.

The Four-Part Bells Collection

The Sonokinetic – Chime library is part of a comprehensive bells collection that includes four distinct libraries: Bowls, Carillon, Chime, and Sleigh Bells 2. These libraries shine in unison, each offering a unique tonal flavor, yet combining effortlessly to form one cohesive musical voice. The wide variety of bells in this collection offers endless compositional possibilities, ensuring that every piece you create will be filled with a distinct, authentic atmosphere.

The Chime library, in particular, focuses on the rich tonal characteristics of the chime bells, offering everything from delicate glimmers to bold, resonating strikes. Paired with the other libraries in the collection, it provides the perfect contrast of sound, helping to elevate your compositions to new heights.

Capturing History with the AMS Microphone Array

To achieve the purest representation of these bells, we employed our innovative Aligned Microphone Setup (AMS), a bespoke and standardized microphone array designed to capture every detail of these bells in perfect clarity. The AMS allows us to capture instruments with unparalleled precision, providing every subtle detail of their resonant tones.

Our recording space was designed with minimal reflection, ensuring that we captured the bells' full spectrum of sound without interference from unwanted acoustics. The AMS setup includes a mix of small diaphragm condensers, high-end open cardioid microphones, and large diaphragm condensers, alongside a binaural head in the center of the array. This binaural setup is perfect for creating immersive, 3D audio experiences, making it an ideal choice for composers working on surround sound or immersive video game scores.

Versatility and Musical Magic

The versatility of Sonokinetic – Chime shines through in the demos created by our talented composers, who drew inspiration from this library to create some of their best cues. The bells’ musicality is truly magical, and the library's extensive sound palette allows for a range of compositions, from subtle background textures to grand, heroic statements.

With this collection, you can easily incorporate these unique bell sounds into your projects, creating scores that are filled with history and rich tonal depth. Whether you’re composing a cinematic score, working on a game soundtrack, or crafting ambient sound design, Sonokinetic – Chime brings a timeless and magical dimension to your work.

Conclusion

Sonokinetic – Chime isn’t just a library; it’s a collection of bells that hold stories from centuries past, now available to enhance your musical creations. With its rich variety of sounds and detailed recording quality, this library is perfect for composers who seek to infuse their projects with a sense of elegance and history.

Don’t miss the opportunity to explore the beautiful and distinctive tones of Sonokinetic – Chime, and discover how these antique bells can bring your compositions to life.

#Sonokinetic #Chime #Bells #CinematicSound #AntiqueBells #VintageSounds #ClockBells #FilmScoring #SoundDesign #MusicProduction #SonokineticChime #AntiqueInstruments #SoundLibrary #MusicLibrary #BinauralAudio #3DSound #AMS

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Tracking a newly discovered hypervelocity star spotted by citizen scientists

by W. M. Keck Observatory

It may seem like the sun is stationary while the planets in its orbit are moving, but the sun is actually orbiting around the Milky Way galaxy at an impressive rate of about 220 kilometers per second—almost half a million miles per hour.

As swift as that may seem, when a faint red star was discovered moving even faster across the sky, clocking in at a speed of about 1.3 million miles per hour (600 kilometers per second), scientists took notice.

This rare stellar speedster is the first "hypervelocity" very low mass star found, thanks to the efforts of citizen scientists and a team of astronomers from around the country using several telescopes, including two in Hawaiʻi—W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaiʻi Island and the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy Pan-STARRS on Haleakalā, Maui. Located just 400 light-years from Earth, it is the nearest known hypervelocity star to us.

More remarkably, this star may be on an unusual trajectory that could cause it to leave the Milky Way altogether.

The research, led by University of California (UC) San Diego Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics Adam Burgasser, has recently been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters and is available in preprint format on arXiv.

The star, named CWISE J124909+362116.0 (or "J1249+36" for short), was first spotted by some of the over 80,000 citizen science volunteers participating in the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project, who comb through enormous reams of data collected over the past 14 years by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission.

This project capitalizes on the keen ability of humans, who are evolutionarily programmed to look for patterns and spot anomalies in a way that is unmatched by computer technology. Volunteers tag moving objects in data files and when enough volunteers tag the same object, astronomers investigate.

J1249+36 immediately stood out because it was moving at about .1% the speed of light.

"This is where the source became very interesting, as its speed and trajectory showed that it was moving fast enough to potentially escape the Milky Way," says Burgasser.

To better understand the nature of this object, Burgasser turned to Keck Observatory's Near-Infrared Echellette Spectrograph (NIRES) and measured its infrared spectrum. The data revealed the object was an L subdwarf—a class of stars with very low masses and cooler temperatures than our sun. Subdwarfs represent the oldest stars in the Milky Way.

The team compared Keck Observatory's insight into J1249+36's composition with a new set of atmosphere models created by UC San Diego alumnus Roman Gerasimov, who worked with UC LEADS scholar Efrain Alvarado III to generate models specifically tuned to study L subdwarfs.

"It was exciting to see that our models were able to accurately match the spectrum obtained with Keck's NIRES," says Alvarado.

The spectral data, along with imaging data from Pan-STARRS and several other ground-based telescopes, allowed the team to accurately measure J1249+36's position and velocity in space, and thereby predict its orbit through the Milky Way.

What gave this star a kick?

Researchers focused on two possible scenarios to explain J1249+36's unusual trajectory.

In the first scenario, J1249+36 was originally the low-mass companion of a white dwarf. White dwarfs are the remnant cores of stars that have depleted their nuclear fuel and died out. When a stellar companion is in a very close orbit with a white dwarf, it can transfer mass, resulting in periodic outbursts called novae. If the white dwarf collects too much mass, it can collapse and explode as a supernova.

"In this kind of supernova, the white dwarf is completely destroyed, so its companion is released and flies off at whatever orbital speed it was originally moving, plus a little bit of a kick from the supernova explosion as well," says Burgasser.

"Our calculations show this scenario works. However, the white dwarf isn't there anymore and the remnants of the explosion, which likely happened several million years ago, have already dissipated, so we don't have definitive proof that this is its origin."

In the second scenario, J1249+36 was originally a member of a globular cluster, a tightly bound cluster of stars, immediately recognizable by its distinct spherical shape. The centers of these clusters are predicted to contain black holes of a wide range of masses. These black holes can also form binaries, and such systems turn out to be great catapults for any stars that happen to wander too close to them.

"When a star encounters a black hole binary, the complex dynamics of this three-body interaction can toss that star right out of the globular cluster," says Kyle Kremer, incoming Assistant Professor in UC San Diego's Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Kremer ran a series of simulations and found that on rare occasions these kinds of interactions can kick a low-mass subdwarf out of a globular cluster and on a trajectory similar to that observed for J1249+36.

"It demonstrates a proof of concept," says Kremer, "but we don't actually know what globular cluster this star is from." Tracing J1249+36 back in time puts it in a very crowded part of the sky that may hide undiscovered clusters.

To determine whether either of these scenarios, or some other mechanism, can explain J1249+36's trajectory, Burgasser said the team hopes to look more closely at its elemental composition. For example, when a white dwarf explodes, it creates heavy elements that could have "polluted" the atmosphere of J1249+36 as it was escaping. The stars in globular clusters and satellite galaxies of the Milky Way also have distinct element abundance patterns that may reveal the origin of J1249+36.

"We're essentially looking for a chemical fingerprint that would pinpoint what system this star is from," said Gerasimov, whose modeling work has enabled him to measure the element abundances of cool stars in several globular clusters.

Whether J1249+36's speedy journey was because of a supernova, a chance encounter with a black hole binary, or some other scenario, its discovery provides a new opportunity for astronomers to learn more about the history and dynamics of the Milky Way.

[lwlrix]

Rogue is now done for according to Mindhunter: Glee according to Rachel Berry's equilibrium from Finn Hudson's death from New Directions, his alleged disappearance is how Eva Green is now actually a prominent member of Harper St. James (Rachel's sister in the UK) league of extraordinary gentlemen in Doctor Who

irrelevant decisions made on Eva's behalf was because of Brittany S Pierce not taking initiative years after the TV show ended because of Hudson's death in reprisal to St. James honour (married to Rogue) now because of timeline events occurring on Deviant Art is actually transgressed with algorithm physics (actually mensa of the art universe now) but the subjectivity of the arts is where Demi Lovato is actually relevant to Green's metaphor likeability (her persona is not as you would see her if known for her lifestyle despite status)

so if you know Demi Lovato, she had been on Glee in an episode with Naya Rivera as her girlfriend but her emotional status quo led to Rachel's reasoning with Finn being underqualified for since he cannot cope with commitment (hence the show's ridiculous comparison to Euphoria as a reason to social commitment with society right now) making Schuester the lethal outcome to go since New Directions success cannot compete with the acapella circus to Anna Kendrick's reasoning with other acapella bands existing within Glee's alternate direction, so where was it actually going to go according to Pitch Perfect's (movie) perspective all along, so all point's given is how Harper (Lovato fan) was actually in tune with Berry's reasoning to New Directions success according to Rogue (Jonathan Groff's character on Doctor Who), so he did what he can to protect Harper from being psychologically tortured from Lovato's life from the conspiracy network that went Rogue due to religious reasoning of Harper St. James in real life according to Will Schuester knowing who Rachel's sister is behind cameras (mockumentary to Waynes World)

so Harper and Demi's circuits stayed true to each other all along with social normative values of true peace (Demi is actually a Muslim woman all along growing up with Harper (who has autism spectrum disorder)

Harper St. James (Harper Oberlin) was actually a Spade (Rachel Berry's real name before her parents made her go TV show Rogue for the West End than Broadway (where the real stars are at) is how she stuck with Jesse just so that Harper can be with him in real life (long lost sister connection in real life to Lea and reader)

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 15/04/2024

A Mambo Moment

Season 4 Episode 1 Featured on: SiIvaGunner's Highest Quality Rips: Volume AI

Ripped by Cryptrik

God, man - I ALWAYS forget just how good Cryptrik is at ripping until I hear another one of his works. I've covered it from time to time on here already, primarily their great big mashup-medleys, Battle Emergency and Follow μ’s / Halation Generation - it came as no surprise at all to learn that the guy has experience in DJing. Yet in rediscovering Maroonbound recently, I was reminded of how vast Cryptrik's list of contributions really is, how many facets of it I'm still unfamiliar with. And now with A Mambo Moment, I'm starting to actually consider - is Cryptrik a Maroon 5head just like me??

Like, maybe Maroonbound should've made it obvious, but I'd partially just assumed it was made for Chaze the Chat moreso than due to Cryptrik himself actually being a Maroon 5 fan. And maybe that is the case, maybe this rip too isn't meant to be taken that seriously - but fuck man, Shiver? Of the songs on Songs About Jane, its hardly the most recognizable, it's not like Harder to Breathe 64 or Sunday Morning which used the album's big singles - Shiver is the kind of deep-cut that I myself had never even heard until listening to the whole album for myself. Mind, this isn't me complaining, Songs About Jane in its entirety is an all-time album for me for all of its tracks, and I adore Shiver as well: it blends an intimidating and almost threatening tone with a sense of funk only rivaled by fellow album deep-cut Tangled. Maybe it was that funkiness, and the inherent comedy in mashing up its imposing feel with a tune as fun-loving as Mambo No. 5, that led to A Mambo Moment being made - if such was the thought process, it was a stroke of genius.

And really, it is just that simple reason why this rip is featured here. Cryptrik found a really fun way to mash up two songs that feel as if on opposite ends of the vibe spectrum, elevating it beyond the standard mashup at several points throughout. Be it the rip's beginning including both Shiver's iconic guitar distortion and Mambo No. 5's verbal introduction, the slightly swing-ier rhythm that Shiver's vocals get to fit through the new percussion, the breaks in both songs' instrumentals at Mambo No. 5's designated pauses...it all works incredibly well!!

But again, most of all, I am just happy to see Shiver get repped on the channel. This is, unlike a lot of the recent coverage on here a la Light! (Potentialseeker Colress), a rip where I AM attached to both sources used, and it makes the end result all the sweeter, the kind of mashup I never knew I wanted but adore ever so much now that I've heard it in action. Really, A Mambo Moment is the second Cryptrik rip like this to be covered on here, after Give Me the Fantasy - and its possible it won't even be the last! The guy's rips just has a way to plainly make me happy, and I'm so happy that he's still contributing to SiIvaGunner with his same signature style, eight years into it all.

[freddiemercurydaily]

12 November 1977, Queen performed @

This is almost certainly the longest show Queen ever played, clocking in at nearly 2 1/2 hours. They play thirty songs in all, including eight from ‘News Of The World.’

“A Royal Quartet Rules The World of Heavy Metal Rock”

Boston — By New York or even Philadelphia standards, Boston is a generally sedate town, although an an outsider on hand last week at the Boston Garden would be forced to reassess any such generalization. Indeed, the more than 13,000 young rock fans who packed the Garden on the evening of Nov. 12-provided. an awesome example of mass hysteria, as the British rock group Queen unveiled a new stage show of such epic proportion and sustained excitement that there seems no way to adequately describe its impact.

It was only the second performance of the quartet’s current 27-city American tour (which touches down here at the Spectrum for shows Wednesday and Thursday nights), but it was a clear enough indication that Queen has blossomed into the leading practitioner of heavy-metal rock drama, With British kingpins Led Zeppelin temporarily out of the touring picture (due to the sudden death this past summer of singer Robert Plant’s young son), Queen literally reigns, thanks to ah impressive new album — “News of the World” (Elektra Records) — and the sort of non-stop, three-hour, no-opening-act show pioneered by Zeppelin in the early 1970s.

Queen’s triumph — after about five years of increasing popularity and one smash hit single (“Bohemian Rhapsody”) — derives from a wise and welcome change in musical/theatrical direction. Originally a busily theatrical “glitter” band reliant on a multitude of costume changes, smoke, strobe and fire effects, Queen has considerably toned down its flashy excess. With the exception of one major costume change — from stripes to sequins — on the part of lead singer Freddie Mercury, a modicum of smoke and flare, and a massive, 5,000-pound lighting rig in the shape of a queenly crown, the group’s theatrical impact is almost exclusively tied to its music. Noticeably phased from the current repertoireare the rococo, operetta-like tunes of an earlier period, and in their pIace is a masterfully paced program of eruptive yet polished hard rock

With such boldly articulate new, recent and old Queen songs ” We Will” Rock You,” “Keep Yourseif Alive”, “Liar,” “We Are the Champions”, “Tie Your Mother Down,” the group brillantly sates the mass appetite for the surefire basics of modern pop rock: soaring tenor lead and harmony vocals, pungent electric guitar lines, driving yet sophisticated rhythms, evocative Iyric:s and rich melodies.

“I suppose we’ve been leading up to this all long. It certainly feels like the breakthrough we’d never quite made” admitted Freddie Mercury after the Boston Performance. Mercury is tall, dark, muscular yet lean, retiring yet intense in terms of eye contact, and possessed of a rather pronounced overbite. He’s a gifted showman of genuine grace and relentless energy, a first rate vocalist and songwriter, and quite lucid on the subject of Queen.

“I think it got to the point with us where the theatrical tag began to take over our image, but it was only a matter of time before the musci began to come into its own. That’s what’s making the difference on this tour”, he reflects. In a near chair, bassist John Deacon – quietly amiable – nods in agreement.

“What bothers me so often when people discuss rock ‘n roll is their tendency to label it,” continues Mer­cury. “Either it’s ‘glitter’ or ‘punk’ or progressive’ or whatever, and these tend to obscure the fact that you’re really talking about a kind of entertain­ment that often touches on a lot of styles. The last thing l’d want to do is limit our music to a label.”

Speaking of labels, though — and of “punk” rock in particular — one can’t help but note that one of the group’s new tunes, “Sheer Heart Attack,” affects the piledriving intensity of today’s “punk” sound.

“I suppose it does, now that you mention it,” agrees drummer Roger Taylor, who wrote the song. Blond and blue-eyed, Taylor is very much the pretty boy of the band. “But even so, I wrote it a few years back and we only just got around to recording it. I do think, though, that the punk rock scene is still very nascent, and you’re going to see a lot of these young bands making a lot of crappy music before the good stuff comes along, i suppose it has to be that way”.

The nucleus of Queen — Mercury, Taylor and guitarist Brian May — met up in London in 1969 and rounded out in 1971 with John Deacon. Previously, Mercury had been with a group called Wreckage, while May and Taylor had been members of one called Smile. All four are in their late twenties, and each has a college degree, Mercury in graphic design and illustration, Taylor in biology, Deacon in electronics and May in astronomy.

The most accomplished academic of the four, May not only taught astronomy but published a few papers in British scientific journal before forming Smile with Taylor in 1968. Tall, leather Jacket and sporting an abundant mane of curly black hair, May could hardly look less a scientist.

“I was doing research on cosmic dust”, he explains, ” and I really did enjoy my work, in fact I still keep up with the latest developments”.

By now, the party has thinned down and it’s quite late – 3 A.M. – as May and I share an elevator to respective floors. he shakes his head, dazed and happy. “You know”, he odfers, “we’ve played a lot of places, but everytime I hear an audience roine crazy like they were tonight before we even got onstage, I get such a feeling inside, and I know I could never feel that way doing anything else…”

Source: The Sunday Bulletin

[dustedmagazine]

Woods — Perennial (Woodsist)

PERENNIAL by WOODS

Though Woods has been a band for nearly 20 years now, their discography has been surprisingly consistent. With vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Earl at the helm, plus long-time bandmates Jarvis Taviniere and John Andrews, Woods seamlessly interweave a range of folk, rock and psych elements into an appealing tapestry with a wide spectrum of hues. Built out from a series of loops created by Earl, upon which the band would jam and develop their ideas, Perennial is an easy-flowing new collection of songs, including a number of dynamic instrumentals, which showcase the chemistry among the players.

Perennial opens with the airy, surfy “The Seed,” an instrumental overture featuring lovely horn textures and some juicy filtered guitar lines. “Between the Past,” the first song proper, is as close as Woods get to being anthemic, pairing a winning psych-folk swing with Earl’s sticky refrain of “Can you see?” Things take a turn for the darker on “Another Side,” which initially feels it might be another weaving instrumental until Earl’s vocals enter the fray. From there, lyrics are soon cast aside to make way for droning organ and fuzzy guitar leads. The sun breaks through the murk on “White Winter Melody,” a mellow instrumental with some jazzy guitar runs and aching pedal steel from Connor Gallaher. It proves a welcome shot of sunshine before the rather bleak, piano-led “Sip of Happiness,” on which Earl confesses, “I’ve been let down, I’ve been depressed.” 

At the album’s mid-point, “Little Black Flowers” is a decent-enough tune with a slinky shimmy, but the central lyric, “Wrap your lips around the sun,” feels incongruous. “Day Moving On” combines shuffling, brushed drums and thick beds of vintage organ tones with plaintive bass notes resonating high up the neck. “The Wind Again” is a jazz/lounge instrumental featuring vibraphone and an eerie, whistled melody, which leads into album standout “Weep,” where the rhythm section locks into a satisfying groove full of pulse and shuffle, set against insistent guitar arpeggios. Fading in and then out again, the warbling tones of the instrumental title track bring the album to an unsettling close, suggesting the loops on which the album was built are running on and on.

Tim Clarke

[thegymfaction45]

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