#there is still a lot of tone and ambience that season 1 had that gets lost as the show goes on

[fumbles-mcstupid]

It’s not that I’m not a fan of Babylon 5, it’s more that I’m MORE of a fan of what the show could have been if it had not diverged from the way the story was being set up through Season 1. I’m a fan of what the path not taken was trying to be.

[kneipho]

Hope Springs Eternal Part 1

I shivered

palpably in response to the stimulus of this auspicious winter morning as though I were a nervous acolyte on his first day of probation.

It was that benchmark event called my Birthday.

Like Christmas and Easter they have this annular ring in every sense.

Dates and their import. I was raised to have the healthiest respect for them.

A rendezvous of another kind awaited me later in the day that was seasonal in another sense.

But that just added a certain spring to my step.

Entering my eight decade on earth I dragged that motley crew of bones about me.

Like a hod carrier carting clusters of smokeless polish coal for some imperious client.

But the mind has immense powers waiting to be tapped.

A mineral rich load, a vein of resources with targeted thoughts that were the match for any prescription medicine.

Age is but a number and they can be sung in harmony with one’s universe or jarringly and at odds.

I’m a late in life poet with lines very gingerly crafted at this point in time.

My aunt Virginia who raised me when my mother died started the revolution in my thinking.

“Your mind should be a diary.

Always take note of what’s happening around you and when it happened.

Time, dates, everything.

It always comes in useful.”

She said in that nuanced tonic sol fa accent of hers.

Virginia instilled in me this most functional regard for which I am eternally grateful.

Her words about dates and time echoed continually through the recesses of mind to my ultimate benefit.

I had the required notepad and pen at hand to record anything I could sculpt into a creative ode.

As of yet

a title eluded me but maybe something lustrous, radiant romantic would be apt.

Quite a lot has been composed already much to my surprise.

Virginia’s advice and the embryonic epic planted fertile shoots in my head as I entered the kitchen.

I called it my domain.

Structured in an algebraic fashion with proximity dovetailing elegance it resembled a gallery.

The sink and shrouded tap heads my first port of call.

Stooping over archly I filled a gleaming white plastic jug kettle for that morale boosting first cup of tea.

As I sipped my tea the insights Virginia kindly bequeathed started flooding back.

Those condensed pearls of wisdom regarding time and it’s ambience.

Optimism and cheer were her other passions.

As well as paying attention.

“Focus on your environment. There is joy in abundance.” Virginia opined.

“A treasure trove awaits for those who concentrate.” She said.

“Where there is joy there’s hope.

Time and hope are intertwined.”

Never losing a chance to stress matters time-related.

Typical Virginia logic.

I’m taking it more seriously now as my respect for that statute of limitations called life expectancy approaches.

This lady’s pointers were manfully ingested as my tea stained cup wobbled in my right hand with it’s rivulet of veins.

The tea leaves scattered wildly in that microcosm of a drinking vessel had a fleeting fascination for me.

But as I scanned my surroundings with the eye of a keyhole surgeon I couldn’t help but notice something else.

The kaleidoscope of colour filling the french panel window in front of the kitchen sink.

Window drabness red carded with the zeal of a strict umpire dismissing an offending player.

My intuition told me to brace myself for events both surprising and anticipated .

This afternoon’s engagement is to the forefront of my mind and for good reason.

Think I’ll leave the cell phone behind.

Or did I hear it go off?

My device was of the more crowded cumbersome type with stubborn square buttons that even the more dexterous hand would find difficult to navigate.

The fingers slipped involuntarily like I sometimes did on those treacherous black ice patches.

“It’ll wait. Can’t really be that important.” I said to myself.

It was one of those phones that emitted this discordant buzz when some arrant nuisance rings at the most inopportune time which is often.

“No … face the morning and it’s canvas of brittle prospect.” Speaking with eloquent pride to myself, Hamilton Lake.

Walking outside on this my 78th birthday could be seen as an obstacle course.

I’ve always had a thing about posture.

The feet must be properly positioned and ready for anything unexpected.

The steps from my house could be awkward and angular with hidden crevices.

Those rugged pockmarks gouged out by the chisel of that tyrant called the elements.

The inherent beauty of garden plants, on the other hand,

purged whatever sluggishness there was in my frame.

Their spectral tint and gravity defying droop gave my eyes an optic fillip.

Green border shrubs and yellow rose petals bore a magic that defied description.

Albeit with telltale winter stains.

But the mindfulness of gait and knowing that slippage could be fatal moderated my enthusiasm about my settings.

Onto the yard and then the slope towards town with a propensity for the occasional wobble notwithstanding.

A downward denouement laced with grit and optimism.

The verges on the fringe of each footpath were covered with tufts of flickering grass cavorting about in a light south east breeze.

Haywire brambles whose overlapping tentacles were embedded in every mound or patch.

Star shaped brown leaves as veiled cover for those sharp spines sticking out.

The bane of every bulging blood vessel.

An ice clad descent that can either capsize or upend even the most determined stride.

Ice that most deceptive gloss that far too easily masks it’s latent perils.

Irrespective I continued unabashed.

The heart, portent of fragility, bruising barometer of one’s twilight moment can be an ally.

A motivator of noble human impulse.

My rainbow tipped walking stick was my elder compass.

A bearing locator for crazy paving pavement slabs.

Those structures fractured by peculiarities of sudden temperature with their plummets and summits!

But focus though impaired was motivated by a stoic forbearance imbued with fire in the soul.

Virginia’s velvet toned voice enjoined on us at home to watch the clouds.

The wispy contours, greyed over forms, wooly frills and outlines drifting overhead.

She also warned of their penchant for unleashing torrents which could spoil the daily strolls of even the most ernest of ramblers.

Today the clouds weaved their way across that azure blue path called the sky.

Curiously enough the self same clouds added to their repertoire by the graceful skirting of rooftops and faraway rock formations on the outskirts of town.

“Clouds are a heavenly canvas. A floating exhibit of the firmament.

They inspire poets, works of art.” Virginia said.

They were doing just that in my case with aplomb.

The planned mysterious link up was never lost sight of amid Virginia’s majestic musings.

“Use your imagination or your imagination will use you. The borders between make belief and the real world must always be maintained.

Imaginings of every kind can be triggered by just about anything familiar.

They can assume a life of their own.”

Wonderful counsel from a wonderful woman.

Virginia, however, unlike some philosophers had a marvelous sense of humor but abhorred the canned, corny variety.

Although such humor couldn’t always be avoided I was mindful of her sensitivity on the subject.

Meticulously taking out that pad again I scribbled a few more lines.

It’s beginning to fill up.

The only thing that remains is to have someone to dedicate it to.

The human eye, a person’s best camera turned to the leach like ivy carpet which clung with tenacity to the grey grained stone wall narrowly to my right.

Preserving their corporeal integrity and playing their part while going largely unobserved.

Fir trees, enclosed by pavement railings and gardens had an overwhelming stillness about them.

An unyielding rooted presence.

They too are age defiant when cultivated and getting the right supports.

These trees act as filters for the dust, smoke and fumed manifestations of the modern manufacturer.

Urban heat island effect offset and mitigated.

All these details forensically noted.

A sudden wakening ensued.

“Hi there, Hamilton. Lovely morning for a stroll.”

My inner space rightly interrupted for a different reality.

“Maybe we’ll meet later at one of your favourite spots or a coffee shop.”

Local teens, Sonia and Winfred with whom I regularly crossed paths and swopped pleasantries of a deeper heartfelt kind.

They alighted from their bicycles

“It’s your birthday today isn’t it?

You’d put people half your age and mine to shame.” The young lady Sonia said.

Winfred her boyfriend agreed.

“Such generosity I rarely encountered from my own group.” I thought to myself.

Sonia, a vibrant vivacious youth whose tactful airborne words shone as brightly as her arched angelic face.

Winfred, her boyfriend had a slightly bulging chin and matted haired that looked as if it had been constantly drenched.

His was a handsomeness harrowed out by high jinx and crack of dawn capers.

After a friendly departure this couple dashed off with a daring and delight so dirigere of the young.

As well as the young at heart.

–

Sunday Submission: @mantrabay

Photograph and short story by mantrabay copyright protected.

Part two will be submitted next week with your kind permission.

[elladescent449-artspace]

It started with the Milk - Chapter 1

This is the first time i’ve written a fanfiction and actually followed through with it. I’m proud of this first chapter and hope to get some feedback and ideas on his to improve it, so let me know! I’ll probably end up changing the name of it and editing a lot, so expect that!

-

Leo wakes up exhausted, and takes this late night opportunity to mess with his brother. This takes place prior to the season 1 finale.

-

It started with the milk. 

Leonardo had woken up annoyingly slow. He woke up in a way that turned his dreams into a blurry mesh that messed with his memory and made him uncharacteristically aggravated with himself for not being able to fall back asleep. After a few minutes of battling for slumber, he sat up with a hushed groan. It was late, infuriatingly late for this sort of thing to happen, and with the intensified training they had been doing for the past week, the impromptu wake-up was even more unwelcome than usual. Leo propped up a knee and tried just listening to the ambience of the city echoing through the sewers. The city provided its own brand of white noise. From where Leo sat he could hear the beep of cars and the rush of tires, the fading blares of emergency sires, rushing water from heavy rainfall, even the low boom of spring thunder. He inhaled deeply before releasing a long and sincere sigh. The moment of respite wasn’t enough. As tired as he felt,  as comforting as the ambience was, as warm as he felt wrapped in his sheets, he couldn’t fall back asleep. Leo hopped off his bed and exited his room to head to the kitchen.

He filled Dad’s teapot with water and cranked the stove up to high before shuffling through the cabinets looking for something to drink. There was Dad’s Sencha, Genmaicha, Ulongcha, Mugicha (that’d be good). Then there was Leo’s selection of teas: chamomile, Peppermint, and sleepytime. He pulled the box of sleepytime and got a mug ready with the tea bag. On high heat, the water only took another minute to start boiling. He turned off the stove and poured the boiling water into the mug before setting the kettle to the back of the stove in case he’d need it again (which he might). He didn’t want to brush his teeth again so he opted out on the honey this time. Scalding water in hand, he carefully started back towards his room, making it all the way to the curtain before noticing the faint electrical buzz. He looked towards Donnie’s lab, and the dim white of electric light was cutting through the usual fluorescent purple. Leo covered his mouth as he yawned. What kind of brother would Leo be if he didn’t take this opportunity to bug his beloved sibling.

Leo took his time getting to the next level of their home, tea still in hand as he quietly approached Donnie’s lab. Moving past the janky old door he found that Donnie’s “personal space” was more cluttered than usual. The guts of a car lay piled by the entrance while a vending machine laid on its face with it’s back gapingly ajar as its mechanical parts were haphazardly placed back inside of it. This was all bathed in the synthetic purple from the tubes and LED’s that ran along the walls. Donnie was in the far left corner of the room, perched and hunched over on a vertically laid metal trunk with his back to the door, on the floor behind him was his laptop wide open with some nerdy electric playlist playing quietly, enough as to not echo through the whole sewer. The electric buzzing was coming from him. As Leo observed, small bursts of light would erupt for a few moments before subsiding, bathing Donnie in white light and defining his features. He was Welding. Leonardo wasn’t completely stupid, so he leaned on the edge of a vending machine and waited for the buzzing to stop. 

“Hey Donnie,” Donnie twitched surprise at the sudden noise, turning towards Leo with a startled look. “What’cha doin?”

“Leo,” Donnie paused, his eyes flickering between Leo and the object hidden in his hands before he regained his composure, “why are you up so late? Scratch that, Why are you up so early?”

Leo took a sip of his tea, it was a little scalding but not so much that he wouldn’t drink it. The taste of Rosehips, lemongrass, and mint were the most prominent, but he could definitely feel the effects of the chamomile and hawthorn. “I should be asking you that.” Leo leaned forward, he teased “what you got there?” 

“None of your business, Leo,” Donnie held the mysterious object closer to himself. “Go back to bed.”

Leo set his tea down on the vending machine and approached him, suddenly feeling a lot less tired. “C’mon,” Leo put his weight on his brother's shoulders, trying to look over Donnie’s body to see what he was hiding, “what is it? Is it for the drill?” It must have been small in order to hide between Donnie’s closed fists.

“No!” He tried shrugging Leo off, “the drill is still in Beta!” He rocked backwards but Leo pushed him back. At this point Leo was standing on the trunk, putting his full body weight on Donnie, trying to peak at what his brother was hiding.

“What is it then?” Leo continued with a smirk, “is it for the turtle tank?”

“No.” 

“The soft serve machine?”

“No.”

“Teleporting Microwave?”

“No!” Donnie attempted to shove Leo with his shoulders,  becoming aggravated when his attempt failed. “None of those, Leo, now get off!”

“Show me!” Leo reached out over Donnie’s shoulders, trying to get some kind of grip on the object. “What is it?” Leo grasped Donnie’s hand trying to pull it off to see what he was working on

Donnie’s panic escalated. “It’s a-” His hand started to give way, he tried shoving back again but it was as much of a success as the first time. “It’s a surprise!”

Leo let go of Donnie's hand. “Ooooh! I see,” Leo kept a teasing tone in his voice and kept his weight leaning on Donnie. “Pop’s birthday? Little early don’t you think.” It was early, way too early. Dad’s birthday was in September, and April only just started.

“No, uh…” He paused for a moment, caught off guard and looking for an answer. He looked at his hand, and took another few moments before looking back to Leo, “it’s for everyone.”

“Okay~” Leo alleviated some of the weight and folded his arms on top of Donnie’s head. There was a pause of silence between them.

He spoke with a deep hum, “which means that it’s a secret.” 

“Uh-huh”

“To everyone.”

“Uh-huh~”

“Including you.” This came with a bit of a low growl, but it wasn’t as aggressive as before.

“Hm.” Leo drew out the hum and closed his eyes, starting to tune into the soft music still coming from Donnie’s laptop. “Okay.” He could feel Donnie relax a little, although he was definitely still rigid. Leo pulled his weight off of Donnie and stepped off of the trunk. He retrieved his tea from the vending machine and took a sip, it was the perfect temperature now so he took a fuller swallow, letting the herbal fusion coat his tongue. He heard Donnie sigh, relieved with the return of some privacy.

Leo purposefully stayed for another few seconds, the exhaustion was returning. The small tussle with his brother and the familiar fluorescent lights had made him start to relax again. He looked around the room for a moment, at the large glowing table, the screens that lined the walls, the battle shells and other miscellaneous battle equipment on the other end of the room. Even the coffee cup…

“Where did you get chocolate milk?” The pale brown concoction sat behind the trunk, Leo wouldn’t have been able to see it when he had walked in. Dad had stopped buying them chocolate milk years ago after they had refused to stop chugging a gallon a day. If Donnie had some of that, where could he get in on that action.

Donnie grumbled, “it’s not chocolate milk,” with Leo behind him he tucked the object close to his stomach to free a hand. He picked up the mug and took a few swallows before setting it down again with a refreshed sigh, “it’s coffee.”

“Ugh,” Leo groaned as he started walking away, “I was really hoping it'd be chocolate milk.”

“Yeah, well, sorry to disappoint.” Donnie rolled his eyes. “Now go away.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Leo swallowed the rest of his tea as he exited the door, “goodnight.” The only response he got was the electrical buzz of the welder.

Leo dropped his mug off at the kitchen sink and quickly returned back to his bedroom. After crawling back into his sheets, the pull of sleep was almost immediate and he began to drift back into unconsciousness. The rush of rainwater, the rush of tires, the rush of white noise, it all tugged him back down. He rolled over on his side and tried to think of something that would help him walk into a deep sleep, maybe even a dream. The heat from Dad’s teapot, the taste of mint, the feeling of chamomile on the tongue, purple lights, messing with Donnie, a mystery device, a cup of coffee, coffee that was usually drunk black, but tonight… had milk.

[mantrabay]

Hope Springs Eternal Part 1.

I shivered

palpably in response to the stimulus of this auspicious winter morning as though I were a nervous acolyte on his first day of probation.

It was that benchmark event called my Birthday.

Like Christmas and Easter they have this annular ring in every sense.

Dates and their import. I was raised to have the healthiest respect for them.

A rendezvous of another kind awaited me later in the day that was seasonal in another sense.

But that just added a certain spring to my step.

Entering my eight decade on earth I dragged that motley crew of bones about me.

Like a hod carrier carting clusters of smokeless polish coal for some imperious client.

But the mind has immense powers waiting to be tapped.

A mineral rich load, a vein of resources with targeted thoughts that were the match for any prescription medicine.

Age is but a number and they can be sung in harmony with one’s universe or jarringly and at odds.

I’m a late in life poet with lines very gingerly crafted at this point in time.

My aunt Virginia who raised me when my mother died started the revolution in my thinking.

“Your mind should be a diary.

Always take note of what’s happening around you and when it happened.

Time, dates, everything.

It always comes in useful.”

She said in that nuanced tonic sol fa accent of hers.

Virginia instilled in me this most functional regard for which I am eternally grateful.

Her words about dates and time echoed continually through the recesses of mind to my ultimate benefit.

I had the required notepad and pen at hand to record anything I could sculpt into a creative ode.

As of yet

a title eluded me but maybe something lustrous, radiant romantic would be apt.

Quite a lot has been composed already much to my surprise.

Virginia’s advice and the embryonic epic planted fertile shoots in my head as I entered the kitchen.

I called it my domain.

Structured in an algebraic fashion with proximity dovetailing elegance it resembled a gallery.

The sink and shrouded tap heads my first port of call.

Stooping over archly I filled a gleaming white plastic jug kettle for that morale boosting first cup of tea.

As I sipped my tea the insights Virginia kindly bequeathed started flooding back.

Those condensed pearls of wisdom regarding time and it’s ambience.

Optimism and cheer were her other passions.

As well as paying attention.

“Focus on your environment. There is joy in abundance.” Virginia opined.

“A treasure trove awaits for those who concentrate.” She said.

“Where there is joy there’s hope.

Time and hope are intertwined.”

Never losing a chance to stress matters time-related.

Typical Virginia logic.

I’m taking it more seriously now as my respect for that statute of limitations called life expectancy approaches.

This lady’s pointers were manfully ingested as my tea stained cup wobbled in my right hand with it's rivulet of veins.

The tea leaves scattered wildly in that microcosm of a drinking vessel had a fleeting fascination for me.

But as I scanned my surroundings with the eye of a keyhole surgeon I couldn't help but notice something else.

The kaleidoscope of colour filling the french panel window in front of the kitchen sink.

Window drabness red carded with the zeal of a strict umpire dismissing an offending player.

My intuition told me to brace myself for events both surprising and anticipated .

This afternoon’s engagement is to the forefront of my mind and for good reason.

Think I’ll leave the cell phone behind.

Or did I hear it go off?

My device was of the more crowded cumbersome type with stubborn square buttons that even the more dexterous hand would find difficult to navigate.

The fingers slipped involuntarily like I sometimes did on those treacherous black ice patches.

“It’ll wait. Can’t really be that important.” I said to myself.

It was one of those phones that emitted this discordant buzz when some arrant nuisance rings at the most inopportune time which is often.

“No … face the morning and it’s canvas of brittle prospect.” Speaking with eloquent pride to myself, Hamilton Lake.

Walking outside on this my 78th birthday could be seen as an obstacle course.

I've always had a thing about posture.

The feet must be properly positioned and ready for anything unexpected.

The steps from my house could be awkward and angular with hidden crevices.

Those rugged pockmarks gouged out by the chisel of that tyrant called the elements.

The inherent beauty of garden plants, on the other hand,

purged whatever sluggishness there was in my frame.

Their spectral tint and gravity defying droop gave my eyes an optic fillip.

Green border shrubs and yellow rose petals bore a magic that defied description.

Albeit with telltale winter stains.

But the mindfulness of gait and knowing that slippage could be fatal moderated my enthusiasm about my settings.

Onto the yard and then the slope towards town with a propensity for the occasional wobble notwithstanding.

A downward denouement laced with grit and optimism.

The verges on the fringe of each footpath were covered with tufts of flickering grass cavorting about in a light south east breeze.

Haywire brambles whose overlapping tentacles were embedded in every mound or patch.

Star shaped brown leaves as veiled cover for those sharp spines sticking out.

The bane of every bulging blood vessel.

An ice clad descent that can either capsize or upend even the most determined stride.

Ice that most deceptive gloss that far too easily masks it’s latent perils.

Irrespective I continued unabashed.

The heart, portent of fragility, bruising barometer of one’s twilight moment can be an ally.

A motivator of noble human impulse.

My rainbow tipped walking stick was my elder compass.

A bearing locator for crazy paving pavement slabs.

Those structures fractured by peculiarities of sudden temperature with their plummets and summits!

But focus though impaired was motivated by a stoic forbearance imbued with fire in the soul.

Virginia’s velvet toned voice enjoined on us at home to watch the clouds.

The wispy contours, greyed over forms, wooly frills and outlines drifting overhead.

She also warned of their penchant for unleashing torrents which could spoil the daily strolls of even the most ernest of ramblers.

Today the clouds weaved their way across that azure blue path called the sky.

Curiously enough the self same clouds added to their repertoire by the graceful skirting of rooftops and faraway rock formations on the outskirts of town.

“Clouds are a heavenly canvas. A floating exhibit of the firmament.

They inspire poets, works of art.” Virginia said.

They were doing just that in my case with aplomb.

The planned mysterious link up was never lost sight of amid Virginia’s majestic musings.

“Use your imagination or your imagination will use you. The borders between make belief and the real world must always be maintained.

Imaginings of every kind can be triggered by just about anything familiar.

They can assume a life of their own.”

Wonderful counsel from a wonderful woman.

Virginia, however, unlike some philosophers had a marvelous sense of humor but abhorred the canned, corny variety.

Although such humor couldn't always be avoided I was mindful of her sensitivity on the subject.

Meticulously taking out that pad again I scribbled a few more lines.

It’s beginning to fill up.

The only thing that remains is to have someone to dedicate it to.

The human eye, a person’s best camera turned to the leach like ivy carpet which clung with tenacity to the grey grained stone wall narrowly to my right.

Preserving their corporeal integrity and playing their part while going largely unobserved.

Fir trees, enclosed by pavement railings and gardens had an overwhelming stillness about them.

An unyielding rooted presence.

They too are age defiant when cultivated and getting the right supports.

These trees act as filters for the dust, smoke and fumed manifestations of the modern manufacturer.

Urban heat island effect offset and mitigated.

All these details forensically noted.

A sudden wakening ensued.

“Hi there, Hamilton. Lovely morning for a stroll.”

My inner space rightly interrupted for a different reality.

“Maybe we’ll meet later at one of your favourite spots or a coffee shop.”

Local teens, Sonia and Winfred with whom I regularly crossed paths and swopped pleasantries of a deeper heartfelt kind.

They alighted from their bicycles

“It’s your birthday today isn’t it?

You’d put people half your age and mine to shame.” The young lady Sonia said.

Winfred her boyfriend agreed.

“Such generosity I rarely encountered from my own group.” I thought to myself.

Sonia, a vibrant vivacious youth whose tactful airborne words shone as brightly as her arched angelic face.

Winfred, her boyfriend had a slightly bulging chin and matted haired that looked as if it had been constantly drenched.

His was a handsomeness harrowed out by high jinx and crack of dawn capers.

After a friendly departure this couple dashed off with a daring and delight so dirigere of the young.

As well as the young at heart.

Photograph and short story by mantrabay copyright protected.

[willsff7rthoughts]

[REVIEW] Final Fantasy VII: Remake

WARNING: This review contains spoilers for both Final Fantasy VII (1997) as well as Final Fantasy VII: Remake (2020).

Introduction

Before I get into things, I feel like this review deserves a little bit of context. 

Final Fantasy VII (1997) is my favorite video game of all time. As a kid, I liked my Game Boy games; Pokémon Red and Link’s Awakening were good fun as I passed summer days at my grandparents’ house. However, it wasn’t until I played Final Fantasy VII that I fell in love with video games and realized the platform’s potential as an art form. The game packed a full and impactful punch – a vast and varied world to explore, an engrossing and gripping story, characters whose lives are changed forever, stunning graphics (at the time), a simple yet deep combat system, and a new way of keeping things fresh at every turn. All of this spanned across four discs and fifty hours of a completely riveting gaming experience. 

Video games have been my foremost hobby and passion since my first foray into this wonderful adventure, and thus it isn’t a stretch to say that Final Fantasy VII helped define who I am as a person. So, let me be the first person to say that I was nervous when Final Fantasy VII: Remake was announced. I wasn’t one of those people who obnoxiously kept asking for it, nor did I even really want it. The odds of this remake meeting the sky-high expectations set by the original were astronomically low, and the thought of recreating my first love in a modern gaming culture where games are more popular, more culturally relevant, and more heavily scrutinized than ever before was downright terrifying. Imagine that the thing you loved and championed for the most was vilified in the social media era. Indirectly, the part of you which that thing helped to define would be vilified, too. If, in the middle of the remake’s development cycle, Square were to suddenly announce that the plug was pulled on the project and it would never see the light of day, I wouldn’t have been upset because I was so fearful of being disappointed. Nothing could have eased this fear – not the news of the old guard getting together to make this game, not the breathtaking visual previews, or the overwhelmingly well received gameplay demo. I needed to see for myself if Square could re-capture lightning in a bottle.

The point that I’m hoping to illustrate here is that this isn’t a Kingdom Hearts III (2019) situation where Square could have put prison gruel on my plate and I’d still eat it up like a well-seasoned filet mignon simply because I’m happy it exists. Quite the opposite, in fact. Upon popping the disc in, I went in with a strict and critical mindset because this game had to be absolutely stellar; anything else would be a massive disappointment.

With that set up, and a thirty-eight hour escapade from the Sector 1 Reactor to the highway out of Midgar in the books, let’s get into it. I’ll be covering and assigning subjective scores to each of the following categories: Visuals, Sound, World, Gameplay, Characterization, Story, Ending. At the end, I’ll deliver concluding thoughts and attempt a final subjective score.

Visuals

We’ll start with the bells and whistles. Visuals, and then sound.

I’ve always been one to say that graphics are a low priority in the world of video games, that the “game” part is what should grip you moreso than the “video” part. In fact, I haven’t adhered to this more loudly than when defending the 1997 original because no game has been subject to more “polygon graphics” and “Dorito hair” memes.

All that said, good graphics are one hell of a cherry to have on top. And this game’s cherry is a sweet one.

Square Enix has always been at the forefront of graphical prowess for pretty much their entire history; they tend to set the bar in this department when it comes to a new Final Fantasy installment and this remake is no exception.

It’s pretty simple here: Everything. Looks. Fucking. Amazing.

We’ll start with the character designs. All stay true to the original; the biggest liberties that Square decided to take were Barret’s sunglasses to highlight that renegade, demolitionist aesthetic (he may or may not wear them indoors a bit too much, but I digress) and Tifa’s new stockings and sports bra underneath her iconic white tank to give her more of that sporty, martial artist look. Both are welcome additions. Zooming out and taking a look at the entire cast, everyone looks absolutely brilliant in their 2020 self. 

Facial expressions, lip syncing, and body language are of course impeccable and life-like for all characters throughout the game’s entirety. It’s important to note, too, that Square pushed the envelope so much on these character models that it’s often hard to distinguish whether or not in-game models or pre-rendered models are being used in cutscenes. 

Animations both in battle and out of it are extremely fluid and well-done. Battle particles and visuals are flashy and distinct without being overbearing or stealing the limelight away from the gameplay itself. Between Kingdom Hearts III and now this game, it’s probably fair to say that all of the chatter surrounding Square’s adoption of Unreal Engine 4 can now be put to rest. 

I’ll cover the visual quality of Midgar itself in the “World” section, but as you can probably imagine, I was blown away by that, too.

Visuals Score: 10/10

Sound

Let’s begin with the voiceover quality (I played in English). This is actually a harder obstacle for Square to tackle than people realize, I think. These aren’t brand new characters. People know them already. The original game’s dialogue was done completely in text, so if you’re Square, you face this challenge where your players have a distinct voice in their head for these characters based on their appearances, backgrounds, personalities and choices of words. Can you capture that exactly?

I think Square did a great job, for the most part. You can hear Cloud’s fake apathy, the sincerity underneath his front of not caring. There’s a distance and mysterious quality to his voice that I think is so essential to his character. Barret is likely the weakest in terms of vocal performance; when he gets loud, I can’t get the Internet’s early comparisons to Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder (2008) out of my head. However, when speaking at a normal tone, and especially when speaking at a somber tone, I think he’s absolutely perfect. Gruff and tough, yet absolutely empathetic and passionate. Tifa likely has the strongest vocal performance, perfectly capturing a character who is pensive and struggling to identify what’s right amidst the chaos around her while being put in the position of needing to be the voice of reason. Aerith’s voice is higher pitched and carries more whimsy than I had imagined, but I also really like this version because it paints Aerith as this ordinary, innocent and playful woman which is true to her initial characterization before we find out that she is connected to something much, much deeper. The rest of the characters are voiced beautifully, from the Shinra crew, to the entirety of Avalanche (shoutouts to getting Badger from Breaking Bad to play Wedge, how absolutely perfect), to the random scared citizens we meet amongst the slums.

Moving onto the soundtrack... just wow. Nobuo Uematsu, you brilliant son of a bitch. 

I’m of the opinion that Final Fantasy VII boasts the second best soundtrack in the franchise, second only to Final Fantasy IX (2000), and I really didn’t see where it had room to improve. Imagine if all of The Beatles were alive and said today, “Yeah, we’re going to remake Abbey Road, and make it even better.” Like... how? How do you improve upon a masterpiece? The potential and possibility is just outside of our comprehension, right? And yet, they would probably find a way.

Similarly, in a 2020 landscape in which Nobuo has a lot more tools, tricks, and experience up his sleeve, he managed to churn out a reimagined soundtrack that builds upon the core strengths of the original to create something new and grand. For example, from the jump, we can compare the Bombing Mission tracks. The original is fantastic, and a classic – a spunky baseline combined with anxiety-inducing synth horns create the perfect ambience for the mission at hand while setting up Midgar’s feel of a grungy, electric city. Nobuo’s version for the remake utilizes a sweeping orchestra to create the exact same feeling but with a much fuller sound fitting for a modern game. 

Of course, plenty of new tracks were created for this game as well such as the score for the Wall Market sections, and certainly deserve their place amongst the old songs that we fell in love with before. Because of this, no two areas of Midgar felt the same (which can happen in a world where everything is called a sector and a number), and areas from the original took on that received their own theme took on a life of their own. Finally, the collectible jazz tracks were an amazing touch that provided an alternative look at the game’s iconic themes without breaking the immersion of the world too much.

A few of my personal favorites from throughout the game:

The Airbuster – A remake of Final Fantasy VII’s boss theme, and it just... slaps, as the kids say.

Critical Shot – An alternate battle theme that we first heard in the trailers which was simply a lot of fun to fight to

Tifa’s Theme – Seventh Heaven – The iconic piano track blossoms into a wonderful and iconic orchestral experience. Beautifully done.

Aerith’s Theme – Sector 5 Church – This one’s a bit of an outlier; it’s not actually listed on the FF7R OST and is in fact original to Nobuo’s Final Fantasy VII piano collections, but it’s the perfect example of music tying a ribbon onto a scene. Cloud falling into the Sector 5 Church and meeting Aerith is something I’ve seen countless times, but I was still moved to tears by how beautifully everything comes together. 

On Our Way (Collectible Jazz Track) – We get the Kalm theme early with this one. Man, oh, man that saxophone.

Sound Score: 10/10

World

To be honest, it was basically a given that Square was going to nail the bells and whistles. Square-Enix games rarely, if ever, disappoint in the audiovisual department. With those out of the way, we can start moving to the meat of the review: How well did Square-Enix recreate this iconic world? In the case of this edition of the Remake, did they manage to bring Midgar to life in an acceptable way?

I’m going to make a confession. After the bombing mission, I felt bored. In fact, I turned the game off and called it a night. This isn’t to say that the bombing mission wasn’t recreated beautifully – it certainly was – it’s just that I've been conditioned by the original game to associate Midgar with being this slow, uninteresting opening act of the Final Fantasy VII story and that the bombing mission is just the first step to leaving Midgar so that I can start the real adventure. 

And then, I got to Sector 7.

Holy shit.

I hadn’t really put much thought into how many levers Square had at their disposal to bring Midgar to life. Sector 7 served as the first of many slaps to the face that absolutely nothing was off limits, and whatever Square was going to touch was turning into gold. What in the 1997 edition was simply one screen with the bar, a couple shops, and an apartment or two we could enter was transformed into a full-on city. A grid of streets, avenues, and alleyways littered with townsfolk whose conversations about recent plot points we could overhear as we passed by, which created a pulse within the slums. A bevy of different stores and buildings to explore. A fresh cast of characters and NPCs to converse with which deepened our connection to these slums. And the plate. I could talk for hours about this – in the original, such a big deal is made of the two layers of Midgar, and how the top plate on which the privileged live blocks out the sky and pollutes the air for the slums below. But we literally never see the freaking thing because obviously, how could they show it in a top-down view? And yet, in this remake, it’s very much omnipresent. The steel sky of dread and inequality spans omnipresent across the slums we traverse (I unashamedly spent a legitimate five minutes just staring up at it, like “Holy crap. There it is...” as if I were a kid catching Santa Claus on Christmas night). 

And of course, Sector 7 was just the tip of the iceberg. Sector 5 got a very similar treatment in addition to perfectly recreating Aerith’s house while capturing its vibes of being a diamond in the rough. Shinra HQ was downright gorgeous and more grand than we could have imagined. Something that stood out to me was Square’s ability to expand on areas from the original Midgar that were total afterthoughts – the journey from Sector 5 to the Sector 7 playground which in the original was a couple unremarkable screens became a winding stretch worth hours of exploration, puzzles, and battle. Other originally miniscule areas like the train graveyard, the sewers underneath Wall Market, and the climb up to Shinra HQ all got a similar treatment. Square didn’t stop there, either, introducing new areas such as a brief foray to the suburbs topside of the plate which showed new light upon this electric city. Honestly, what floored me the most was just how much life there was in all of Midgar. The conversations that the city’s inhabitants in virtually all areas that we pass through served to not only give Midgar a heartbeat, but also to make us as the player truly feel the gravity of our actions.

Truly, Square’s brilliance shone bright here – the bland and boring original Midgar only served as a blank canvas for the city to be invigorated in grand fashion for this remake.

World Score: 10/10

Gameplay

This is possibly the most important section. All the bells and whistles about this game are great, and the setting was recreated beautifully while capturing every vibe of the original and then some... but in the end, this is a video game, and aesthetics and soundscape don’t mean anything if your game isn’t fun.

Square-Enix had a monumental challenge before them when having to come up with a combat system for this remake. On the one hand, you have the classic Final Fantasy ATB system which longtime fans of the series absolutely love; this rewards tactical thinking, preparation, and methodically planning out and expending turns and resources to reach the outcome that you desire. On the other hand, turn based combat isn’t exactly premium gaming in 2020. I’m a Final Fantasy purist and even I can admit that. We’re just not as limited anymore. Developers have the ability to create these fantastic action-based games with better responsiveness, flow, and hitbox/hurtbox technology than ever before, and this style of gaming is obviously a lot more appealing and rewarding to a wider audience of players who frankly know better in this day and age.

So, Square did their best Dora impression and said “Why not both?”

And from it came perfection.

Yes, I said “perfection”. Square was somehow able to find a way to make old school and new school tango, and they are wonderful dance partners. 

A brief summary for those who are out of the loop: In a normal state, combat plays a lot similarly to a lot of action-based games we know and love today (think God of War, Kingdom Hearts, Dark Souls). You can move around freely, guard, dodge, and attack to your heart’s content. There are elements here that are absolutely necessary in a modern video game that were missing in the original Final Fantasy VII: Constant engagement. Real-time skill expression. 

The traditional Final Fantasy players don’t get left out either. By playing through combat normally – attacking, blocking, and dodging – the player builds up their ATB gauge. Once their ATB is full, they can enter Tactical Mode, which slows down time dramatically and allows the player to use their character’s skills, magic, summons, and items.

And the absolutely beautiful thing? You need both standard play as well as Tactical Mode to succeed in combat. The necessity of standard play is obvious – you need to be able to run around, attack, and defend to thrive in combat. But you won’t get anywhere with tougher enemies just by whacking them. You need to use your ATB gauge in order to pack a significant punch to enemies, to discover and exploit their weaknesses, and to heal up your party.

Speaking of the party, I deeply enjoyed being able to switch seamlessly between controlling the party members with the push of a button. AI-controlled party members’ ATB gauges fill up more slowly, which means constant switching, assigning ATB usage, and moving to the next party member are key to maximizing effectiveness. Hooray for even more avenues for skill expression!

And let me just take a second to gush. Perhaps my biggest criticism of the original Final Fantasy VII is that literally every character is pretty much the same in battle. Yes, their base stats vary slightly, as do their Limit Breaks, but aside from that, with enough materia and stat increase item shenanigans (and it doesn’t take much), every character plays and feels the same in combat.

Square completely shattered that criticism in this remake. Every character feels unique and satisfying to play:

What’s remarkable to me about playing as Cloud is how well Square nailed the speed at which he plays at. ‘Cause think about it, right? Dude’s holding a sword that weighs 80-100 lbs, so his attacks and moveset have to be able look and feel like they pack a heavy punch. But at the same time, we know that Cloud’s no rook, and he has some dexterity and speed to him. To find this balance, his combos from beginning to middle a great tempo and good flash, and they finish with a visible powerful and empathetic smash.

Tifa is far and away my favorite character to play as. Honoring her Final Fantasy monk inspiration, Square designed Tifa in such a way that she feels like she came straight out of a fighting game. Lightning quick, an emphasis on combos, and get this – you can animation cancel. As an example, I was fighting a boss and already had Unbridled Strength (damage boost) and Haste (ATB buildup boost) activated on Tifa. I dodged the boss’s frontal cleave with Focused Strike, strung some basic attacks together, threw in Overpower which links with your basic attacks, and finished by using Whirling Uppercut then canceling the landing animation by using Divekick. That’s. Insane.

Square nailed Barret’s awkward role as the supporty-ranged tank. His damage isn’t great, but he plays at a safe range and is your best bet to take down units at a far distance. He has some ridiculous HP and defensive stats and is a solid magic user so he was honestly great to switch to when my higher DPS characters needed a breather to get healed up. 

Okay first of all, thank God they gave Aerith a magic-based ranged basic attack. The sound of her whacking something in the original to the tune of, like, 12 damage will haunt my dreams forever. Aerith feels fantastic to play as well. I draw comparisons to the Final Fantasy XIV black mage – switch to Aerith, set up an Arcane Ward (doubles spellcasts!), don’t move, and watch as her ridiculous magic abilities burn enemies down. She’s also great to leave on AI-controlled standby so that she can attack safely from a distance and heal up the party as needed.

The battles themselves were great; each boss felt unique and had a weakness to discover and exploit. Seamlessly weaving in cutscenes and dialogue added a cinematic flair that was just another cherry on top of an amazing combat system. The typical monsters and trash mobs that we came across were all unique as well, and their variants encountered later in the game added twists of required tactical thinking.

I have only a couple points of discomfort with the new combat system, and they’re both very minor ones. First, the fact that skills/spells (and even Limit Breaks!) can be interrupted by enemy actions could be extremely frustrating – especially if there were larger amounts of enemies present, your character could get juggled quite easily. Filling up your ATB gauge and readying a skill just for it to be interrupted because some demon hound ran up and smacked you in the head has to be the least “Final Fantasy” feeling ever. That being said, this is easily where you can throw the term “skill expression” right back at me. The second point of discomfort is that enemies were very clearly agro’d to whoever you control as the player. This made playing a ranged character like Aerith annoying at times, because, dammit, I just want to DPS without hordes of monsters running at me! Again, “skill expression” is a double edged sword, but I found it a little strange that enemies would drop what they’re doing, stop fighting Cloud, and start running at Barret just because I switched to him.

Zooming out to other facets of gameplay! I really enjoyed how materia was implemented which may just be a derivative of how smart the combat system was that Square created, but I think Square really hit the mark of having to carefully plan out your party’s materia loadout and envisioning how it would execute in battle. The weapon level-up system adds an extra layer of depth and reminds me of Final Fantasy IX’s skill learning system, which is great. Finally, the large amount of minigames and side quests available added a good deal of variety to the game, without being overly complicated or time consuming.

This was probably the most enjoyable game in the Final Fantasy series from a pure “this is a fun game” standpoint.

Gameplay Score: 10/10 (would honestly be an 11 if such a thing were real)

Characterization

The Final Fantasy series is typically at the top of its class for its character building and development, but I was still slightly nervous heading into this remake that Nomura wouldn’t recapture that magic accurately. Maybe I was conditioned from Final Fantasy XIII (2009) and Final Fantasy XV, but I was especially worried about Cloud. “Please don’t make Cloud this typical brooding, angsty emo Final Fantasy protagonist,” I remember thinking to myself. Because that’s not who he is. Cloud Strife is a dork. He’s a dork who adapts incredibly poorly to new situations and puts on a front of apathy when uncomfortable, but he doesn’t hate the world.

I should have put more faith in the fact that the original game’s character designer became the remake’s director. For the most part, I truly feel like the cast’s Act I character arcs played out and were shown as they should be. Cloud starts out apathetic but that front really begins to melt after he meets Aerith. Aerith herself comes off as this fun and innocent girl but progressively drops more and more hints that she’s part of something much bigger. Barret begins as the loud and rambunctious leader figure which gives way to a total empath who’s still trying to process just what he’s been caught up in. Tifa is shown with her typical slow and steady struggle to come to terms with what has to be done to make things right in the world after traumatic childhood events made her averse to it all.

The rest of the cast’s characters were painted beautifully. Sephiroth made more appearances than normal in this Midgar section (more on that later), but we still don’t understand a word that’s coming out of his mouth. We see the distinct division in those under the Shinra umbrella between those who have morals and those who sip the Kool-Aid. We’re introduced to a new cast of characters in the slums who are working tirelessly to make life better for those around them despite being dealt a terrible hand, and they function to strengthen both the main cast and the story as a whole.

A particular gem that I was delighted by were the interactions between characters. The original was somewhat limited in this department, but we can visibly see the cast grow closer as the remake goes on. Cloud goes from being disinterested and saying “For a price” to any request that Avalanche have for him, to selflessly agreeing to help Barret search for his friends and family post-plate drop, to poking fun at his old self in front using his old “For a price” motto. Additionally, because the areas of Midgar to travel between locations were expanded immensely, things like conversations between characters with no other purpose but character development were added in as we made our way through these winding stretches. That’s a huge advantage that a modern voiced game has over the original that had to use text for dialogue – we had to literally stop everything in order for an interaction between characters to occur. Now, they can just be thrown in wherever. We see more high fives, cheers, ribs, jokes. hugs, and tender moments than ever before. And to me, what this establishes for the cast as a whole is such a beautiful change of pace from a classic Final Fantasy game. This isn’t just a collection of individuals with aligning goals. These are friends.

This in particular makes me really excited for future installments; we now have evidence that these characters are everything that they should be. That baseline allows for more interactions and development, and even the most hardcore old school Final Fantasy VII fans will get to know and enjoy these characters on a deeper level.

Characterization: 10/10

Story

Too often did I get one of my friends to try the original Final Fantasy VII, hoping they’d fall in love too, only for them to lose interest before leaving Midgar because that part of the game is downright boring. Everything is dark and dreary, we don’t really care about the people of the Slums so we don’t feel the empathy to want to help them, the story crawls along, the deaths we see are of characters we only knew briefly, and all of it seems for naught because we find out Sephiroth is the much bigger threat; not some greedy electric company.

But much like with the design of Midgar itself, I hadn’t really put much thought with just how much they can build upon that unexciting first act.

[filmexit]

esc 2019 pre-show top 10

i might do a full top soon, maybe after the show, but for now i’m sticking to the top 10 because a.) i’m lazy b.) i wasn’t involved as much during the pre-party and the nf season, so a lot of the songs this year hadn’t had the time to connect with and grow on me yet, so i don’t think it would be fair to rank all the songs. naturally this will be subject to change except for my immortal top 3. nonetheless, these are the songs that stood out for me, y’all can drag me if you want

1. Australia | Kate Miller Heidke - Zero Gravity

i’m a zero gravity clown and what about it?? talented brilliant incredible amazing showstopping.... i didn’t expect to love this song so much but here it is. i don’t wanna be cheesy on main but like, yes this song is out-there and maybe ott but underneath the theatrics i can feel that this straight out came from the heart, and you can hear it when she does it live and she pours 150% to this song. also its core message of overcoming your demons is something i really resonate with. i could go on and on about how much i love this song but i’m tired and lazy just know i love kate miller heidke so fucking much and i’m ready for my wig to be forcibly taken to sydney. i’m bopping to it as i’m typing this

2. Netherlands | Duncan Laurence - Arcade

i feel like such a phony for having this url when he ain’t my winner but i still love duncan so??? arcade was my favorite when it came out and maybe it has been dethroned from my top spot but it doesn’t change how much this song slaps. lyrically it’s the best of this year and i would not be opposed for a dutch win because he deserves it also i want duncan to redacted me uhh what so yeah!!

3. Greece | Katerine Duska - Better Love

rounding out my holy trinity is this banger. fact: french canadians always serve so hard at eurovision and miss duska is no exception. her voice is so unique and i love the romantic quality and aesthetic this song brings......and yeah nothing else to say, it’s just on a league of its own... a masterpiece

4. Belgium | Eliot - Wake Up

overall i like this song, especially the chorus! his voice is good, the ambience of this song is very dreamy but intense at the same time  

5. Armenia | Srbuk - Walking Out

the power this has.... it’s fierce, it’s strong, it’s all-consuming. armenia is going hard this year and you know what?? i’m all here for it

6. Italy | Mahmood - Soldi

ok at first i didn’t have any feelings for it but one day i decided to listen to it and read the lyrics and it just grew on me then and there... it’s definitely not the type of song i listen to but it’s very real and personal, not to mention it’s a huge banger too

7. Albania | Jonida Maliqi - Ktheju tokës

i loved this from the moment it won fik. it’s atmospherical, ethnic, has great vocals and a message, and also slightly edgy. it’s very albanian, and i appreciate how they sent a song that just represents their country’s essence

8. Ireland | Sarah McTernan - 22

oh god i hope this song pulls a ryan o’shaughnessy or a eugent bushpepa and just murders the fuck out of the odds. it’s simple but nonetheless it’s cute and catchy, i dig the nostalgic retro tone they’ve got going on.

9. Serbia | Nevena Božović - Kruna

a dramatic balkan ballad with strong vocals? uh we stan, from the rehearsal clips the staging looks incredible and i hope she gets a good place in the final.

10. Spain | Miki - La venda

it’s fun, upbeat, catchy... about time spain sends something like this, it will definitely stand out thanks to miki’s charisma. looking forward to see spain at the left side of the scoreboard for once 

bonuses:

11. Romania | Ester Peony - On A Sunday

because she deserves to be recognized!! this one has a Dark Vibe™, a bit avant-garde and a good melody. altogether a solid entry

12. Poland | Tulia - Fire of Love (Pali Się)

i have no idea where this exactly falls into my ranking tbh, but i had to say something about this song, i fuck heavy with folk rock overall and well i hope this pulls through

[pvccream8]

Discussing Upgrades On New Building And Construction.

Florida Top Home Builders.

Content

Exactly How The Residential Or Commercial Property Remodelling And Also Repair Services In London Work.

Rj Refurbishment Solutions.

Start Your Task.

Little Orangery Conservatories And Glass Conservatories.

Allow The Sunlight In! Everything You Wanted To Know Concerning Sunrooms

Newly Built Residences.

The firm you pick for the job will deal with the entire procedure and also keep you notified regarding the progression. In addition, they work to ensure they remain within budget as well as promptly.

What to do if Builder is cheating?

https://www.designbuild4u.co.uk/general-builders/ who is the victim of the unfair practices of the builder can approach the following forums for his redressal: 1. He can file a civil suit in a Civil Court. 2. He can file a complaint before the consumer Forum. 3. He can file a complaint before the Competition Commission of India. loft conversion company br/> 4. He can approach Regulatory Forums. More items

The glass extensions of today are designed to lower thermal loss and keep the residence warmer for longer all year. This will certainly assist to minimize energy costs as well as your carbon impact. Glass extensions typically include a glass roof covering to let in as much natural light as possible. This aids to produce an illusion of more area, which leads to an ambience that is brilliant and spacious. Just like other building expansions as well as sunrooms, you will call for planning permission for glass extensions.

Just How The Residential Or Commercial Property Restoration And Also Refurbishment Solutions In London Work.

If you are working with an engineer to install the expansion, they will certainly advise you on the policies prior to building starts. Besides the value glass extensions contribute to your house, they are eye-catching, specifically if they are developed to match the general design of the residence. If you have limited room, extensions are excellent for including room. Of course, there is additionally the appeal of having a room made from glass. The glazed expansion gives one of the most stunning views of the landscape.

Regardless of being an all-glass space, there are different design options you can make use of to personalise the expansion. The architectural components provide a possibility to make the expansion distinct. A suitable alternative is a powder-coated aluminium which has numerous tones to offer the expansion a modern and also classy look. And also with the stringent structure regulations, it is crucial to maintain high thermal effectiveness and decrease the glow of the sunlight. As a result, you need to take into consideration utilizing dual or triple glazed panels, which are much more energy-efficient.

Rj Refurbishment Solutions.

You likewise get to enjoy the sunlight from the convenience of your home. Therefore, if you want to light up your house with all-natural light, glass extensions are an excellent option. Your home is your haven, and it should show your style and also personality.

Begin Your Job.

Little Orangery Conservatories And Also Glass Conservatories.

Lots of house owners keen to add value to their homes as well as increase their space are purchasing a sunroom. A conservatory is a room containing a glass roofing and wall surfaces, generally attached to a home on one side.

What Do You Do With a Cowboy builder?

What they've done constitutes fraud, so you should complain to the police, giving them as much information on the builder as possible. Also complain to Trading Standards, which takes a very harsh view of rogue traders. If you can track down the cowboy builder and he refuses to refund your money, take him to court.

Many thanks to the bricked wall surfaces, orangeries can be tailor-maked to match nearly any design as well as are available in a series of colours. The lavish visual appeals can additionally add kerb attract your residence. Many glass extensions do not call for any kind of planning authorization. Thus, you ought to not expect hidden costs when the task starts.

How do I approach a home builder?

10 Tips for Choosing and Working With a Builder 1. Don't approach a builder too soon. 2. Consider the scope of the project. 3. Establish whether you need a specialist or just a general builder. 4. Aim for one point of responsibility. 5. Let the builder manage the project. 6. Be specific. 7. Embrace bidding. 8. Understand the importance of a building contract. More items•

Discover hints and also suggestions for filling your area with daytime, before-and-after galleries as well as case studies. The design of the roof of a 2 floor extension will certainly be subject to planning needs, however there are still alternatives to make the most effective selections. Bi-folding or sliding doors, roofing lights, glazed wall surfaces as well as structural glass are all choices that a good engineer will help you review to get the very best for your priorities.

Let The Sunlight In! Every Little Thing You Wanted To Know Regarding Sunrooms

Whether you are planning a simple pitched roof extension or a bigger project, prices can start to accumulate very promptly. Planning policies limit how far a two storey extension can predict.

If your neighbours have window openings in the direction of the suggested expansion, there are restrictions to stop a loss of light to the neighbours. The expansion should predict no even more back than a line set at 45 levels horizontally from the centre of adjoining home windows. Skylights are widely used in making daylighting for domestic, public, and commercial buildings. Enhanced daylighting can result in less electrical illumination usage as well as smaller sized window glazing, saving energy, decreasing prices, and decreasing environmental influences. Daylighting can cut illumination energy use in some buildings by as much as 80%.

The traditional glass provides the very same superb view, however during summertime, the warm will certainly be intolerable, and you could ice up in the winter season. Unlike a sunroom, glass extensions have a regular temperature as well as are beautiful. Below is a guide on glass extensions and the choices readily available.

Is the BCA now the NCC?

The Building Code of Australia (BCA) is contained within the National Construction Code (NCC) and provides the minimum necessary requirements for safety, health, amenity and sustainability in the design and construction of new buildings (and new building work in existing buildings) throughout Australia.

It can be used to meet many objectives and is usually made use of as a greenhouse, a sunroom or perhaps a kitchen. Many cottage conservatory extensions are of the lean-to design, as well as they are built to make sure that the top of the conservatory roof slope is no higher than the rain seamless gutters on the main home. Nevertheless, by expanding the elevation of the conservatory, and with some design panache, you can capitalize on layouts such as the Gable, Edwardian or perhaps Georgian conservatory kind.

House improvements often tend to be expensive, yet the worth it includes is worth it. In some cases all it takes to get the excellent interior space is flooding the area with all-natural light. With a glass extension, you can delight in the breath-taking views from your living room.

Experience 360-degree, self-guided scenic tours of all of our new residence layouts.

See each layout from street degree or doll-house floorplan view.

That brings us to a total amount of 2,000 houses because this program began in 2006.

" Environment for Mankind ®" is a registered solution mark had by Environment for Humankind International.

One of America's leading homebuilders and a Lot of money 500 firm, Lennar has had the opportunity helpful over one million households relocate right into the following stage of life with a brand-new home.

Select a home style, choose an elevation, add choices, area furnishings and also make notes.

We're thrilled to see our grinning buyers in front of their brand-new lot at Parson!

Congratulations to our cute new home owners at Preston at Brighton Touchdown.

An additional design choice for glass wall surfaces is including a roofing with openings on the ceiling for personal privacy. Expansions can vary substantially fit, dimension as well as consequently spending plan.

Why are bad builders called Cowboys?

Cowboy builder refers to the term cowboy with the meaning of reckless, unreliable: A house builder with no proper training or official qualifications who does work of a low standard.

Nevertheless, you won't need consent if the extension has an elevation of listed below four metres and also is far from highways and roads. Nevertheless, you will require a license if the extension is to be affixed to a noted building. To ascertain whether a permit is essential, you require to speak with an expert.

Developing a tiny glass box extension onto a smaller sized commercial residential property is suitable as it permits you to expand the building as well as produce more internal spaces. Nonetheless, by visiting this website you will discover how can also be created in much bigger dimensions to give great amounts of extra space.

[easynaturalhairstyle]

16 stunning bright red hair colors

A bright red hair color is an ultra-warm and intense red shade that is dyed on the hair in the form of highlights, an ombre, a dip dye or a full solid shade. Warning: this is not for weak hearts!

Fiery tones of red hair have seen their revival this season, as is famous on celebrity divas Christina Hendricks, Chloe Dykstra and Jennifer Morrison. All boundaries are broken when it comes to how extremely lively you can be with your curls, and everyone gets moving!

Tennessee hair artist Josh Boynton presents his hottest ruby ​​hair creations on his lining, and there's only one thing to say: it's pure perfection. From mermaid waves to slim and straight, bobs to waist lengths, bright red tones prove that you can never be too bright with red!

But of course, with great results comes great responsibility. Use color-safe products, wash with cold water and follow the advice of your trusted colorist religiously. Do this and you will surely turn your head for a long time!

Ready to set your look on fire? Get started now by taking a look at these trendiest examples of bright red hair colors!

Light long red hair

How would you describe this look?

Every time I see this beautiful hair tip, I can only think of the iconic hibiscus flower. Fashion / vibrant color is 100% a passion of mine. I've been making this guest's hair for some time now, but the first time I dyed her hair it was a pretty vigorous color correction that went from adult to old color / blonde!

Every time I make color, whether it's a fashion or natural color, I love to add dimension and depth to the hair. If you can't tell from checking out my Instagram page, I'm a big fan of bright vivid reds. Fashion / vibrant colors will always have a special place in my heart, but I'm having fun adding a more modern and trendy twist to it.

Of course, the haircut plays a crucial role in the overall look, including the effects on the color. Having these soft long layers, but then breaking up really soft by adding texture and bringing even more dimension to what is so important to me. Everything in terms of color, cut and style should be coherent so that the beginning and the end complement each other.

Any advice for someone considering it?

Although this is my expertise, I would not recommend this service to everyone. It is definitely a lifestyle. The reality of this color is that it's high maintenance, so the first thing you should always do before making an appointment to book this type of service (if you've never had a fashion color) is for one To come in consultation with your stylist.

Once you've decided that this is something you want to go forward with (awesome!), Just keep in mind that when you leave the salon, your job is not done. It is imperative that you have professional products (shampoo, conditioner, styling products) at home that will help prolong the longevity of your color and maintain the integrity of hair health.

Do little things like washing your hair in cold water and maybe not heat styling it so much is always helpful. It's just one of those things – if you're at a point where you would have fun and exciting hair, I absolutely think that everyone should at least try. Make sure you do your research. Let me tell you it's worth it!

Light copper bob

How would you describe this look?

I love this color and cut combination. We wanted to create a dull bob look that looks good even with beach waves. I created waves with styling iron and salt spray. Dark copper roots with lighter copper teasy lights add dimension to the hair and make it look thicker than it actually is. Red copper tones also look super good with customers light skin tones.

Any advice for someone considering it?

This bright red haircut is perfect for someone struggling with thin hair. Styling with sea salt or powder spray increases the volume of the hair and makes it look fuller if you style it with waves or just keep the hair straight.

Hot copper tones look good, someone with a light skin tone. The important thing is to find the right shade of copper for customers complexion and style. Copper tones make hair look shiny and healthier. If the customer wants to be brave and turn his head, this look is great for them.

Light red violet

How would you describe this look?

For this look, I first applied a dark red base and balayaged the lighter red throughout the hair, so thin pieces of the darker base color went through the ends for a small dimension. The cut is a long layered cut with an angled front and bangs. To style, I always apply a leave-in conditioner before blow-drying and then dry the hair with a round brush. Next I sprayed a light layer of hairspray and then waved it with a 1-in curling iron. I sprayed the hair with a shine spray and used a paddle brush to gently brush through the curls.

Any advice for someone considering it?

Follow the correct follow-up instructions and be prepared for regular maintenance. Bright red is one of those colors that can fade very quickly without proper care. You should use professional color care shampoo, wash in cold water and not wash every day. I tell my customers, the longer you can walk between shampoos, the better. If you visit the beach, lake or pool frequently, this may not be a color that suits your lifestyle.

Faded bright red

Pomegranate is as sweet a fruit as a hair color! The straight locks further enhanced the dyeing technique.

How would you describe this look?

This color was a true definition of ruby. It was deep, but it was light! Of course, this customer has very fine, curly hair. This sleek, straight style was so silky compared to where it started! I would like to show the before. You will really appreciate this artwork!

My favorite was the seamless mix. I could have divided her hair into any section and there would never be a mistake!

Any advice for someone considering it?

Entertains! Every red is an obligation. Without proper take-away products, your color will never stand a chance. Red is difficult to remove and difficult to hold all at once. With every consultation I always consider my canvas before I ask my client about her lifestyle. If hair is not healthy, it can make red really stick to porous hair and process and fade differently.

Having healthy hair is an important key to vibrant colors. It can go south very quickly. The longevity of their color and fading is just as important for the day of their color. Education for customers will keep money in their pockets and smile on their faces!

Speaking of faces, I think skin tone is very important when you choose red as your color choice. I have a lot of women sitting on my chair with very red cheeks. Red hair, against red skin, can be a terrible combination.

Bright ginger pixie

With all the apparently bad things associated with orange locks, this just proves that they're all wrong. The copper with light ginger hair color is an extravagant statement for anyone who judges any ginger heads.

How would you describe this look?

This look is liberating – with a true ambience of a femme fatale. I mean, look at them! She shines in copper charm, shows her beautiful facial features and does not hide from anything or anyone!

This cut was made by me for my beautiful, evil and inspiring boss Lady Annette (@annetteluxe). She is a very daring but fabulous woman and she needed a change right now. We dared to convert them from a long platinum pixie to this shortened ginger cut.

It's so hard to name my favorite thing about this look – maybe it's the way it just looks so light and is capable of anything that really gets me. If I saw her walking on the street, I would probably be both intimidated and intrigued.

Any advice for someone considering it?

Short hair is like that at the moment. Having a pixie is both low and high waiting. Low maintenance in the sense that you just wake up, style in a little texturing paste, and go.

However, such a short haircut would require a shape at least every 4 weeks. As for the color, copper is beautiful and one of my favorites, but is also high maintenance and would require a semi-permanent shine to look refreshing no less than every 4 weeks.

Pixies are so versatile, funny, sexy and elegant. I think practically any face shape can pull it off with styling and shape of the cut because there are so many creative and courteous pixie cuts. If you've always wanted to do something bold and spicy with your hair, do it.

Light magenta

Pretty in pink just came into town! This bright red balayage has been made very tastefully to protect the roots from the color, but not that it is completely separated from all of the vibrancy.

How would you describe this look?

This beautiful magenta hair color and cut was done by Gill Kolkman, a team member at the Washington House Salon in Innisfil, Ontario Canada!

Owner and stylist Cecile Washington had this to say about this look. This look is fun, funky and fresh! Our favorite thing about this look is how brave it is. This magenta ombré can be worn straight or with a nice soft wave to accentuate the beautiful root extension and graded layering when it comes to the cut.

Any advice for someone considering it?

If you're considering a bold, vibrant color like magenta, be ready for some maintenance. We recommend refreshing the tone every 4 weeks. At home care would be washing your hair with cold water and with color protection shampoos and conditioners.

If you live a busy lifestyle and cannot commit to maintenance, this is not the choice for you. But there are definitely plenty of fun options out there for you!

Poppy red to light brown

Cherry caramel combo with highlights? Delicious! You wear in long wavy curls? Outstanding!

How would you describe this look?

This formulation went from an all over poppy red to a deeper base, with the new growth merging into a nice balayage blend. This could certainly be a strawberry and cream formula. We didn't make our foilyage too difficult. We still wanted to see all the great play of colors in contrast.

Her cut leaves the hair away from the face. Long, round layers give us bouncy, touchable movement, and it's a great cut for more petite face shapes that are long.

The best part of this formula is its wealth. As a red head you are always looking for wealth, fun, reflection!

Any advice for someone considering it?

My red-haired conversation with my guests never looks at home maintenance and care, but luckily Lanza Healing Color is known for Color Attach System Technology. Our colors hold and hold and you will never see a more vibrant redhead come in for a refreshing one!

My guests use Color Guard to protect them from fading from water before and after showering. They use color care shampoo and conditioners, and we're discussing the importance of keeping our shampoo and style going longer by being proactive with the right style products.

Being red in the head always requires some maintenance, and you'll also want to consider whether you might have a change of heart and change your color on the street. Any kind of drastic color change can be stressful for your locks.

If a feisty red suits your personality and you can get your color update formulas to work for you instead of against you when it comes to tanning your reds, you can enjoy bright reds over and over again.

Curly red hair

Have a night and paint the city red! These glorious bright red curls can be seen all over the world.

How would you describe this look?

What I love about this look is how heavy but still portable it is! This is about as real copper red as you can achieve with permanent hair color, and the cut is a separate pixie! By separating, we cut everything below, about two inches above and below the ear, shorter.

We decided to disconnect because it allows the curls to meet more organically, but gives the illusion that it's not shorter below. This is my preferred way of cutting short hair to keep the shape very feminine with one edge!

Any advice for someone considering it?

I would talk about this color first as it can be more of a maintain than a more natural tone. We would talk about home care and what kind of color care products they would need to add to their routing. I prefer Pureology Hydrate Shampoo and Conditioner for home care followed by Redken One United Leave-in.

I would then ask about the haircut, how do you feel with the display, your ears, your neck? – to ensure that they are comfortable with this style. An elongated neck, oval to heart-shaped face, and confidence will best wear this cut!

Next I would ask her what her hair regime looks like at home and explain that this is actually very easy as long as you use suitable products to use the curl and keep the curl at bay. We used the Redken curve line, starting with the ringlet gel for hold and the curl refiner cream for a soft finish. This will help with all crunchy after effects from the gel. We dried with the Sam Villa artist series dryer and diffuser nozzle for curly hair. As soon as it was dry, we finished with a half inch curling iron and wrapped all the rotten curls around to define extra.

Bright red highlights in brown hair

A delicious mix of strawberry, ginger and reddish brown tones. These bright red highlights combine dimension with layered hair.

How would you describe this look?

This was an existing balayage that I had done for my guest in a previous service. She wanted something different and fun without lightening her hair or compromising it. It is also a color that we can easily adjust again.

I used Pulp Riots Faction 8 boosters in their red (-66) orange (-44) and yellow (-22). I simply took an inch of randomized cut and applied color to saturate the center and ends. Then I feathered myself to mix like in a traditional balayage.

After processing, I cut them with softly textured layers not only to lighten their thick hair, but to show all the colors when they are styled. I then styled them with smoothing cream and took one inch sections to curl with a 1 1/4 curling iron. Once done, I used a wide tooth comb to break up the curls and then sprayed it with a medium hold hairspray.

Any advice for someone considering it?

For guests who want to go the red route, keep in mind that it is one of the tougher colors you need to keep in your hair and requires a lot of maintenance at home.

You need to use professional color safe and sulfate free products such as shampoo, conditioner, etc. Also, you need to keep shampooing a maximum of twice, and if you do, use cold / cool water. Warming tools for styling must also be on low heat.

Everyone can turn red when it comes to portability! Whether it's a fire truck red to a chocolate cherry, an all-over color, or just a few pops, everyone can wear it, just do it!

Ruby red

Go for the gold, or in this case, ruby! The rose glitters so vividly and goes so well with your long, silky hair.

Shoulder length bright auburn

Maroon for autumn and also for all seasons. The bright crimson bright red hair is a sight especially with this wavy bob for a strikingly casual look.

Short, bright red hair

Red heads unite! The short inverted bob makes it look rounder, but a sleeker, straight front that gives both shape and flattery to the look. Ideal to bring a flush to your cheeks.

Red and blonde

A feathered ombre with platinum blonde to red colors! Waves swept to the side add a wind-blown effect that presents the look with even more movement and dynamism.

Light red to dark ombre

Estimate how the bright maroon colors turned into a bright rose at their ends. Even with such short, bright red hair with bangs, the colors were accentuated along with the facial makeup.

cherry

Jessica Rabbit would be jealous of how sensual these big, shiny, bright red curls are! The longer locks, the more you can play with it!

Red with blonde highlights

To make these red tones come out more, paint over a lighter shade as an accent. Neon orange and glowing red with bright blonde highlights are analog colors that go really well together so you never go wrong! This fiery red hair color is super hot now!

16 stunning bright red hair colors

[kihocrystal]

Summer 2017 - Final Impressions

I may have skipped writing opinions up for Spring season (due to computer issues...), but I’m back for Summer season! I even fell behind this season because of school (hence why this is half a month late), but nonetheless, here are my thoughts on the animes I finished this past season! 

The list of shows is in the tags, and are ordered alphabetically under the cut!

Boku no Hero Academia S2 - 8.5 / 10 ( B+ )

This was another really fun season of Boku no Hero Academia! This season was twice as long as season 1, which meant double the action! Most of the action this season was actually more on the light-hearted side, as two of the main story arcs of this season were the School Tournament, and the Final Exams. These arcs got to see the cast work together and face off against one another, which helped us learn more about their characters in the process! Almost everyone had their time to shine (which was great!), but the one who had the most prominent character arc was Todoroki; we learned about his troubled past with his family, and how he changes his mindset and attitude throughout the tournament, which was great to see! Character development was definitely a big aspect of this season (as seen through both of those arcs), but there was also a good amount of overarching story set-up as well! The main arc showing this off was the Hero Killer Stain arc (which included the Internships), which was definitely my favorite part of this season! Seeing Midoriya, Todoroki, and Iida face off against him was super fun and interesting, and also kicked off some plot progression that should go towards future arcs! Midoriya has improved his super power usage over the course of this season, and we also learned about All For One, which will surely be the Big Bad of this series as a whole. The finale also teases more things about upcoming conflicts, which included Midoriya having an interesting interaction with villain Tomura (and a ship might be sailing with Ochako and Midoriya)! It’s a good thing a season 3 has already been confirmed, because an open ending like this would’ve been bad otherwise! As it stands though, it’s a really good lead-in to the next season! Season 2 was great set-up for things to come (and good fun action on its own, of course!); I probably would’ve enjoyed this season even more if there was more interactions with the villains, but that will surely come in the upcoming season 3!

Isekai Shokudou - 7.5 - 8.0 / 10 ( B- )

This was a cute little show that was a good pick for “comfy show of the season”! I enjoyed meeting the wide range of characters and seeing them try out different types of food. I also appreciated how the food reactions were very downplayed, in comparison to more over-the-top fares like Shokugeki no Souma. That being said, they go into just as much detail describing why the food is so good (at least in the earlier episodes). I also liked seeing the patrons interact with each other, including getting into fights about who’s favorite dish is better. Each character’s story about how they discovered the diner (and the occasional backstory) was enjoyable to watch; we didn’t learn much about them outside of that, but we learned more about their interests and relationships via how they interacted with others both inside and outside the restaurant. It was also nice seeing how the restaurant has been a recurring thing for years, going back to the chef’s grandparents! The story is episodic, but each individual story was a nice, occasionally heartwarming, and “comfy” thing to watch once a week. The art-style complemented the easy-going pace as well; it was warm-toned and drew the food quite nicely (even if the animation itself was standard fare). This may not be a super in-depth slice-of-life show, but it’s a good watch if you just want to relax and see some good food!  

Kakegurui - 7.5 - 8.0 / 10 ( B- )

This was the most popular show of the season on MAL (in terms of amount of people who watched it), and it’s easy to see why: high stakes (and over-the-top) gambling, the extreme reaction faces, and VERY sexual characters who get off on gambling (with yuri overtones to boot!). The more sexual scenes kind of got old for me over time, but I enjoyed all those other aspects! The crazy gambling games and characters were fun to watch (as someone who enjoys YuGiOh so much, that’s right up my alley!), and the crazy reactions added to the over-the-top appeal. Yumeko was an enjoyable lead, since she’s got just the right amount of insanity behind her also-enjoyable sweet facade (plus her seiyuu, Saori Hayami, did a great job performing her!). Many of the other main girls got some time in the spotlight too, both student council members and eventual Yumeko allies (though some student council members got more time than others, for sure). The main male lead, Suzui Ryouta, was definitely just there as an audience surrogate though, since he’s pretty bland (though he had some involvement in some gambles too!). When you get down to it, the appeal of this show is the characters and the gambling events themselves; all the story in-between just feels kind of lacking in comparison. Even the finale, which to be fair was anime original, kinda felt like a non-ending; the outcome kind of made that final gamble pointless and didn’t leave me with a good sense of conclusion (but hey, at least it’s better than a full-on cliffhanger or abrupt stopping point!). This show was far from my favorites of this season, but it was still an fun time during the gambling parts (which thankfully there’s a lot of here!). If you enjoy over-the-top gaming action and don’t mind the more sexual aspects (which can get somewhat explicit at times), you might like this one!

Made in Abyss - 9 / 10 ( A )

This is easily my pick for AOTS, no contest! It’s just a great adventure show from top to bottom, with a great sense of adventure and mystery! It also helps that the setting is one of the most unique and mysterious we’ve seen in anime for a long time! The Abyss is full of many different elements that not even the in-universe cast know of, which lends itself well to majestic scenes, along with terrifying secrets (it’s a lawless place, after all). Not to mention that the background art captures it extremely well; the huge amount of detail is a good contrast with the more square and cartoony character art-style! The soundtrack is used wonderfully, as it really gets a grand sense of ambience, mystery, and scale all at once! (Especially that one insert song they use a couple times, but first in the premiere!) The Abyss has been a cool place to learn and see more about over the course of the show, but it can definitely rear its ugly dangerous head from time to time, too. Meaning, this show can be VERY gruesome at times; there’s quite a few scenes involving large amounts of blood, and even body mutilation. It’s definitely not for the squeamish. If you can handle it, these scenes just add to the raw emotion this show has, and will have you on the edge of your seat! As for characters, Riko and Reg were a really good duo to follow in their journey! Their personalities (plus abilities and awareness of danger) balance each other well, and I enjoyed seeing them grow closer over time! Riko’s definitely an odd case since she has no fear of the Abyss despite never being able to return home, though (^^;). My other favorite was Nanachi; she was (unfortunately) only in the *last four* episodes, but her character and story really makes up for it! I enjoyed the rest of the cast too, including the cynical and crazy Ozen and her maid assistant Maruruk (she was so sad when Riko & Reg had to leave ;~;). The only real gripe I have about this show is its… inappropriate jokes at times. Lets just say there’s quite a few penis mentions (and yes, they say that word outright). However, the (double-length!) finale was crazy good; incredibly intense, fucked up, emotional, and with a hope cherry on top (including the balloon scene! I just wish I knew what was written inside!) Just learning the full details of Nanachi (& Mitty)’s backstory was REALLY fucked up… and the whole buildup and execution (I’m sorry…) of Mitty’s death brought a few tears to my eye (and I don’t cry easily when watching stuff!). The story definitely isn’t done yet (which impacts its score as a standalone season a little bit), but it had as good of a conclusion as it could’ve had. It sets up an easy-to-hate antagonist really well too, all within the span of one (double-length) episode! This show is definitely the best of this summer season (and one of my top picks for this year!), so this is a very easy recommendation! (Unless you don’t do well with gore, of course).

New Game!! S2 - 8.5 / 10 ( B+ )

I really enjoyed this second season of New Game! It definitely took a slightly different approach, as there was a bit more emotional and dramatic moments (which personally, I think is a good thing!) I also can relate to this show quite a bit, as I’m now a game design student at a community college; so as a result, seeing the girls work on a game in a variety of ways (along with the working process in general) is very interesting to me! Of course, that’s not to say this show is the most realistic portrayal of the industry, per se, but it’s still cool to see more of this slice-of-life comedy about working in a game company! This season shows the team work on a new IP from start to finish, and all the trials that happen along the way. The girls are challenged a lot more as well, especially Aoba as she gets her first go at being the main character designer (with help from Yagami-san)! The concept art contest was definitely the biggest moment for her character arc; seeing her do her best on an art piece, despite knowing she’s going to lose by default due to a sales decision, was bittersweet to see for sure (but she came out much stronger in the end)! That even tied into Yagami’s character arc as well, since she realizes she’s holding back the growth of her younger employees (;~;). Aside from that, the programming aspect got a bit more spotlight this season! Watching Nene make a game by herself, then see her as a programming intern was great to see! Speaking of interns, we got two new girls this season: Momiji and Narumi! Both of them served as good “rivals” for Aoba and Nene, even if there wasn’t fierce competition between them; I just liked seeing their different (more cynical) viewpoints and how they interacted with the other girls (and learned from them + vise versa!). This season ended on a strong note as well; seeing Yagami leave for France and all the girls going to see her off (plus Aoba’s tearful goodbye to her!) was a great emotional end to the season (and heck, it could be a good end to the series in its own right!). I definitely liked this season even more than season one, as the increased emotional depth added a lot to this cute and fun series! If you like slice-of-life comedy shows, this is a really good one to check out!

Princess Principal - 8.5 / 10 ( B+ )

This show is my runner-up for AOTS, so you know this show is a fun time! It’s always fun to see a new spy anime, and this one really delivers on the spy action! The action scenes are really well done, with fluid motions and well-choreographed fight scenes! Add in the steampunk / early 20th century-style, and you’ve got a really cool spy show! The characters’ art style (for the girls) are definitely more on the moe-side, but they were fun to watch the whole way through! The main girls’ personalities were a good mix, and really interesting to see play out (especially Ange’s deadpan shtick). They all have their own skills to contribute too; even Beatrice, with no spy training, can use her mechanical neckpiece to perfectly imitate other people’s voices! The story is mostly episodic; while there is an overarching premise of an England-esque country being torn apart by war and regimes, each episode focuses on one specific spy case. I liked this approach, as each case told a nice little story than could range from action-packed & tense, to somber & heartbreaking. Each of the main girls get some spotlight time too in at least one story, meaning we get more insight into their personal histories and personalities, which is great! The main character focus though is definitely on Ange and Princess, as they swapped places when they were kids and reunite in the spy team during the present timeline. This story is kept vague (which added a good sense of mystery to these two!) until slightly past the halfway mark; it was great finally seeing their backstory when it came time! Their relationship had a big part in the final two episodes as well; speaking of that finale, it was yet another action-packed good time! But it also was very open-ended; The main villain hasn’t been defeated, and the anti-hero spy (Zelda) in the final two episodes got away as well. At least the main group is back together, and hopefully we’ll see them in a season 2, because the ending makes this season suffer a little bit as a stand-alone show. That being said, this was one of my favorite shows of the season for sure, and you should check it out if you like steampunk-style or spy stories!

Re:Creators - 8.5 / 10 ( B+ / A- )

What a solid show! It’s not every day we see a modern anime have a definitive and satisfying conclusion, but here we are! The first episode might not have won me over initially, but it definitely grew on me over time. Exposition was a bit more heavy-handed in earlier episodes as well (which is the most common complaint I’ve seen), but it’s not as bad later on. Re:Creators had lots of themes and messages about the act of creating things and what can come from it, which was really cool to see, especially since I’m an aspiring artist myself. This show may have had a lot of action, but the characters (both creations & creators) and how they interacted with each other was one of the most enjoyable parts for me. I definitely related to the main character (Souta) quite a lot, as he had a hard time creating things (& enjoying it) due to negative circumstances (albeit his reasoning was guilt-related, via mine being self-confidence). Not to mention he admitted to having negative bitter feelings towards his friend Setsuna due to her success (which I admit I also relate too…). Seeing this kind of character reflected in an anime, in addition to seeing a variety of different creators, was definitely great to see, since I could relate to it so much! The creative process is a big part of plot progression & magic-power-logic as well, which is super unique! Seeing a bunch of different genres being represented was cool as well, including a magical girl! (though I wish Mamika was the first to die & last only 8 episodes… at least she was a great character in that short time!) Magane was probably the other standout character for me, as she had a fun personality and was a real wild card in terms of what she could do (though she took a liking towards Souta, in the end). The villain, Altair, was also a great concept for a villain, since she was a Hatsune Miku-type who could use endless material from fan-works as her powers! Each character got at least a decent amount of development/screentime, and like I mentioned before, the conclusion to Altair’s story was really well done, and even left room for an epilogue episode at the end… I love when they do that! The ride that was Re:Creators was full of action, funny moments, heartwarming and heartbreaking moments. In the end… it’s a really good original action series that’s actually complete!

Sakura Quest - 8.5 / 10 ( B+ / A- )

P.A. Works does it again with another really good “working women” series! Like Hanasaku Iroha and Shirobako before it, this show follows a group of young adult girls working to try and revitalize a small rural town. As I’m getting older, I love seeing anime with characters closer to my age range, as they try to find their place in a working adult world, just like I am! The “revitalizing a rural town” aspect was also interesting to see play out, as there’s a lot that goes into that, like trying to get your name out there (either through the web or through TV) or organizing and planning events! The story plays out over the course of the year, but there’s lots of 1-2 episode-long stories that show off all these aspects, along with highlighting certain characters (which I always love to see!). It’s definitely a slice-of-life show that has a lot of character growth, and seeing the team accomplish things and the town slowly-but-surely come together was great to watch! The cast of characters was also really nice, both main and supporting! Most of the supporting cast were elderly or adults, so seeing them bounce off the young adult main group (& seeing their ideologies clash and work together) was cool to see too! Each of the main girls had their own realizations and journeys to make while working for the Tourism Board, whether it was learning the value of small towns (Yoshino) or finding your own way to do what you want to do, even if you fall short of your dreams (Maki). By the end, all five of them definitely show off some good insight towards adult life! The finale was nice as well, showing their classic festival finally coming together and the Dragon Song showing up again (which was one of my favorite mini-arcs back during the first half). While it’s left unclear whether Manoyama gets absorbed or not, it definitely ends on a happy, conclusive ending for our characters, and the town is definitely better off than at the show’s beginning. This was an enjoyable, down-to-earth show to watch, and you should give it a try too if you like slice-of-life shows (or if you enjoyed Hanasaku Iroha or Shirobako)!

Senki Zesshou Symphogear - 7.0 - 7.5 / 10 ( C+ )

This fourth(!) season of Symphogear was a big, fun action fest, just like the other seasons! The strong points of this series have always been the bombastic fight scenes, the insert songs, and the characters, which continues to be true here too. This was the first season that I stopped trying to focus on the story, and I think my enjoyment actually improved because of it! This series’ story has always been silly and tries to top itself with every iteration, which happens again in this season; it likes to pull explanations out of thin air, and have situations work out for our heroes at *just* the right time so the show can have a cool “badass” moment. I will give AXZ credit though for at least trying to pull elements from past seasons into this season’s weapon upgrades and logic reasoning, even though it still kinda feels like an ass-pull to me (then again, other people disagree with me on this, so YMMV!). The story is definitely this series’ biggest weakpoint for me (which is why I tend to rate these seasons relatively low), but its strongest aspects are in top form and a lot of fun to watch! The fight scenes and power-ups keep finding new ways to one-up themselves, and the main Symphogear girls continue to have an enjoyable dynamic together! The new antagonist group was mostly just okay, but the core three alchemist girls (Saint-Germain, Cagliostro, and Prelati) grew on me after they turn on their master (even though I liked Cagliostro the entire time, really~). The final episodes were a fun time, as always (including Hibiki being an evil god-monster at one point!); it’s notable though that they set up some things here for the already-confirmed season 5! Symphogear definitely grew on me this season, as I realized it’s the epitome of a popcorn-action show; just shut your brain off, and enjoy the spectacle!

Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul - 8.0 / 10 ( B )

This was another fun and action-packed season of Shingeki no Bahamut! While I’m not sure whether I liked season 1 more than this one, it was still a very enjoyable watch throughout! One of the main reasons for this was the main new addition to the cast: Nina! She’s such a fun character to watch, as she’s strong, goofy, and jumps into action right away! I wasn’t the most fond of how “horny” she was for other guys, but that settled down a bit once she finds the guy of her dreams…. Which by the way, is also the main antagonist of the show, King Charioce. She falls in love with him when he’s in disguise, but even after his reveal, she still doesn’t give up her love for him (while simultaneously trying to stop his evil crimes). It’s definitely a unique approach to this type of romance for sure, but it was still a bit odd to me that she still stayed in love with him despite all the tyrannical things he did… At the very least, the execution of this subplot was pretty good, as were all the other story beats! This show has strong execution throughout (the prison escape arc was a highlight), with high quality animation (especially those dance scenes!), swelling music, and the right emotional notes. The problem for most people then will be some story beats themselves, mostly at the show’s end. A couple notable characters seem to get killed for no good reason, Charioce’s motivations try to spin him as “a good guy all along”, and his punishment at the end seems too light (as he merely just loses his eyesight); plus it feels like the people being oppressed by his rule turn right around and he gets praised as a hero for defeating Bahamut (which btw he himself summoned)! And oh yeah, Bahamut isn’t actually dead for good (leaving things open for a possible continuation). Oh well, at least the bittersweet aspect of a voiceless Nina and a sight-less Charioce being together is a nice touch. (I may sound mad here, but I didn’t hate these episodes at all ^^; ) In any case, the whole journey was fun to watch, and was full of engaging action the whole way through. I enjoyed seeing all the returning cast come back, and seeing them interact in both the upbeat and darker moments. Even though the ending won’t win over everyone, if you enjoyed the first season, you should have a good time here too!

[mollymerula]

cyb tagged me for this Bigge Thinge which i will put under a cut!! thank u cyb i love you

1. Are you named after someone? kind of named after Molly Ringwald bc my mom was like “wow that’s a nice name!!” and also one of my middle names is after a great-grandma on my dad’s side

2. When was the last time you cried? ?? too long ago (i don’t mind crying as long as it’s for a good reason but i haven’t been able to lately really) but i teared up p good when explaining to @lingthing last night how i had made friends thanks to fma

3. Do you like your handwriting? nngndhfjg it’s pretty unremarkable and painful at times but i discovered last weekend that my handwriting in hiragana/katakana is nice (that’s a weeby thing to say isn’t it)

4. What is your favorite lunch meat? i’m a vegetarian now but i used to really like roast chicken sandwiches!

5. Do you have kids? nope, just 500 fictional adopted ones!!

6. If you were another person, would you be friends with you? haha hahah ahaahahah h ha (also that depends on like who i was bc...if i were another person who also likes Briggs i might consider it)

7. Do you use sarcasm? not...a lot?? sometimes when i get really salty especially at myself

8. Do you still have your tonsils? yep!! my dad has had his out like 3 times tho

9. Would you bungee jump? YEA!!! as long as i knew it was gonna be okay that is...so in actuality probably not?? but i would love to if i knew the outcome would be fine

10. What is your favorite kind of cereal? umm i really like cornflakes but it’s super hard to find ones that don’t have barley malt in them

11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? nah i have zippy flower boots!!

12. Do you think you’re a strong person? physically i’m stronger than i logically should be!!

13. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? chocolate or coffee but it has to have chunks of stuff in it like chocolate sauce, nuts, etc.

14. What is the first thing you notice about people? uhmm I DON”T KNOW

15. Red or pink? it depends on the context!! and the shade of red or pink!! i like both

16. What is the least favorite physical thing you like about yourself? my face and utter lack of any aesthetically pleasing curves in my torso ˙ ͜ʟ˙

17. What color pants and shoes are you wearing right now? NO SHOES?? i’m wearing blue tones socks my mom knitted last week and black pants with grey skulls and crossbones on em

18. What was the last thing you ate? spanish rice with fajita seasoned tofu!

19. What are your listening to right now? runescape ambience lmao i left myself logged in

20. If you were a crayon what color would you be? ???????????????????????? idk probably the white one they put in there for some reason and you can’t get to show up on any paper

21. Favorite smell? i could make a whole post about these but right now i can’t stop thinking about this honey-scented lotion one of my coworkers was wearing yesterday

22. Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone? my dad before he came home from work!

23. Favorite sport to watch? @bisexualwinry tearing apart Bad Discourse Posts that make me upset (in private messaging of course not publicly lmao)

also Ashley reblogged an ice skating video the other day and it was really cool to watch i wanna be good at that

24. Hair color? Bad

25. Eye color? Rly Dark Blue™

26. Do you wear contacts? noN!! i have glasses

27. Favorite food to eat? All

but especially Mexican food

28. Scary movies or comedy? i guess comedy bc i’ve never watched a horror movie in my life but there are a lot of comedies i can’t stand lmao

29. Last movie you watched? oh it was...Princess Mononoke i think?? i hadn’t seen it in like 8 or 9 or 10 years so i decided to give it another try and it’s not quite the thing for me i guess

30. What color shirt are you wearing? black tank top

31. Summer or winter? WINTER

32. Hugs or kisses? HUGS

33. What book are you currently reading? none actively dshfjdgshfjg

34. Who do you miss right now? my friends i’ve never met in person and my cousins ;v;

35. What is on your mouse pad? there is no mouse pad, only a lot of grime from my mouse

considers various mouse pad possibilities and sweats audibly

36. What is the last TV program you watched? u h

maybe jojo???

37. What is the best sound? there are lots of best sounds but i love thunderstorms and also the complete absence of sound when there’s fresh snow on the ground at night

38. Rolling Stones or The Beatles? NEITHER WHOOPS

39. What is the furthest you have ever traveled? hmmm...does it count that i moved from wisconsin to california when i was younger? and back again?

40. Do you have a special talent? if i do it’s not a good one probably

41. Where were you born? wisconsin!

[the-right-to-write]

Thai Indeed Ethnography

Saturday, September 23, 2017

Thai Indeed is located in Scarborough, Ontario at 3081 Kingston Road. It is situated on a busy street, but it is slightly difficult to notice unless you are passing through there everyday. Some trees obscure it from view if you are driving East. There are few parking spaces, but the plaza is never too busy and people don’t stay long, so it’s not hard to get a spot. The quiet plaza has a seemingly abandoned appliance shop right next to Thai Indeed, a flower shop, a shop for home decor, two salons, a tattoo place, a wine store, a carpet store, a European bistro called Vi Pei, a Japanese restaurant called Sushi & Wok, and finally, a convenience store on the opposite corner.

We get out of the car at approximately 1:20 PM. A sign on the door informs us that Thai Indeed will be closed on Tuesdays and making slight adjustments to their hours, which we take note of. On our way in, a white, middle-aged man makes his way out, carrying a closed paper bag and a can of coke. I presumed that he had ordered for pick up, and my dad held the door for him as he left. The first thing I noticed upon entering was a chalkboard sign that had “We’re the Diamond Winner for Best Thai Restaurant” written on it, and while that’s something that creates a good impression, I must say that it’s quite difficult to search up what exactly the Diamond Winner or the Diamond Award is. And Thai Indeed is not the only one that has apparently won this award. Other Thai restaurants have won it as well.

We’re greeted by a Chinese woman, who allows us to choose a spot to sit. There are no customers, and every table is neat and tidy, although six more customers, all in parties of two, eventually filter in after us. The fact that it was a sweltering day may have been a factor for the low number of customers. The Chinese woman, who happens to be the lone waitress, hands us menus when we choose our seat, immediately grabs an extra set of cutlery/dishes (since there were only two sets in the spot we were sitting, and we needed three), then pours us each a glass of ice water. She’s courteous, but not overly friendly to us for the duration of our stay.

The ambience of the restaurant is relaxing and exotic. There’s mellow music playing softly in the background, but I can’t quite identify the language. It gets a little dark the farther you sit within the restaurant, but the large windows in the front of the restaurant, with brown bamboo blinds raised at the top, allow for lots of natural light to come in. At the back of the restaurant are a few stacked boxes and two high chairs and an elevated plastic seat for small children. The walls are white, and flat, mahogany brown chair rails line every one. The front desk matches the chair rails. Scattered across the walls are several minimalist paintings with vibrantly coloured lines, images of Thai food, and images of tropical place. There are also a few dark brown shadow boxes high on the walls that hold cans of various main Thai ingredients, such as coconut milk. The paintings vary from being black and silver to being a bright red and orange in colour. The ceiling is black, with several yellow pot lights embedded in the tiles. Like the ceiling, the floor is also black, made with 2 by 1 tiles with a white and grey linear design. Each table is made of fine, dark brown wood, and all the chairs are comfy black leather. The booths, located on the walls of the restaurant, have dark brown leather benches, and drop lights with vintage style elongated bulbs, giving off a more intimate lighting. The cutlery and dishware are all plain in design. Overall, the layout of Thai Indeed is very minimalistic and simple, but I feel that the dark tones and simplistic style complement the colourful and eye-catching dishes. I feel relaxed and ready to dig in.

Speaking of the dishes, we are quickly served Thai Iced Tea and a large bowl of Coconut Soup with chicken. The Thai Iced Tea is a bright salmon colour, and is sweet and extremely milk-heavy. It’s very good, though I wouldn’t advise anyone who is lactose intolerant to get it. I have a small aversion to milk, so I don’t end up finishing the drink. There are other juices, soft drinks, teas, and even bubble teas on the menu. The wide variety of choices when it comes to drinks pleases me and makes me want to try something else the next time I go here. The Coconut Soup is steaming hot and comforting. It includes coconut milk, pieces of chicken, some pieces of lemongrass, sliced mushrooms, and some kaffir leaves. It also has a slight spice to it, but definitely doesn’t make your tongue swell up or anything; it would be perfect to eat on a cold day or when you’re sick because it really clears the throat and has a very nice fragrance. As we’re eating the soup, several people come in for pick up. A majority of them are white, with maybe a Chinese man and two Hispanic ladies. It seems like ordering for pick up is more popular than dining in here. Nonetheless, the waitress is quick to get their orders. She seems to know what they’ve ordered immediately as they walk in, which makes you believe that they have a very organized system when it comes to dealing with pick ups. An uber driver even shows up to deliver, and the waitress immediately hands him the right bag. She thanks all of them, and wishes them a good day.

Next comes the Deep-Fried Calamari, which is a bit overpriced in my opinion, considering the batter tastes quite dry, especially compared to the later more delectable dishes. It’s possible that they are ordered frozen. However, the layout of the dish stays true to Thai standards. The calamari is neatly decorated with an orange slice on top of a piece of lettuce, a small cut of a stock of celery, and a few shredded carrots. It also comes with peanut sauce and a sour sauce most likely made with a bit of vinegar with cucumbers and chili in it. We finish it despite its dry, bland taste. The Thai Grilled Beef comes after it’s sweet and spicy, and, similar to the calamari, it has an orange slice, lettuce, celery stock and pickled carrots topped with black herbs. The meat is pleasantly easy to chew on and has a nice texture. I notice that the restaurant phone keeps ringing, and it automatically says the caller ID aloud, which is a little awkward and disrupts the atmosphere from time to time. Luckily, the waitress doesn’t keep it ringing for long.

Then comes Indeed Pad Thai with chicken and shrimp, in a large heap of noodles and ground peanut bits with a lime, an orange slice, and more peanuts on the side. It has a nice, smooth texture, and has no spice, instead having sourness as its main flavour. That’s when we all start to feel hot, most likely because we chose a seat by the window, and today was unusually hot for the season. There is no air conditioning or any fans, so my dad goes downstairs to the washroom to wash up a little.

Soon after comes my own order, the Garlic Sauce with Tilapia. It’s easily the most vibrant and busy dish, which I find impressive. The golden crispy fish is covered in green and red peppers, garlic slices, carrots, and, you guessed it: an orange slice on a piece of lettuce. I have to work a little bit to get to the fish since it’s hidden under everything, but the first bite has me feeling quite good about my decision - the crispiness of the fish blends exceptionally well with the creaminess of the sauce and is perfect with the dryness of the complementary rice (cutely served in the shape of a star on its own separate plate). Overall, while all the dishes looked pretty similar in aesthetics and decor, they did ultimately follow the “Thai aesthetic”, making everything neat, colorful and aromatic - the food is really eye-catching and elicits excitement. The flavours of each dish are differ from one another, creating the famous palate blending Thai food is known for.

As I reach my eating limit, I take a moment to observe the other patrons, two South Asian men, a white elderly couple, and two white women, all conversing casually and ordering beers and mostly small appetizers. For a moment, I feel like we’ve ordered too much, but I push that thought aside rather quickly. I also take notice of the kitchen, which can be partially seen from our table. From what I can see, there isn’t a door, it’s all made with stainless steel, and there are at least 2 chefs. You can still hear the food being made and the chefs conversing from time to time, but it’s not noisy enough for you to immediately notice it the second you walk into the restaurant. It balances out the tranquility of the front of the house. I notice that there aren’t too many choices for dessert, but I’m alright with that. We’re too full to order any desserts anyway, so we ask for two styrofoam boxes to take home our leftover fish and beef, making sure to eat the oranges and pack the lime. As we pay the bill, our waitress leaves us each a guava candy - it’s a Chinese brand, but it’s something that’s often handed out in Thai restaurants around Scarborough after meals. She thanks us for coming, says she hopes to see us again, and as soon as we leave the table, she immediately gets to work cleaning up after us. She is very hospitable and quick on her feet, which is something I’m sure everyone can appreciate in a waitress. We pull out of the humid, hot parking lot at approximately 2:30 PM. I’m surprised that we were only there for a little over an hour, but I think that was thanks to our waitress being so fast and on top of everything, as well as the small amount of customers.

(Posted 2017-09-29)

[nitemice]

Hey, here's my latest post over on my main blog:

For the record, I had never heard of Jen Gloeckner before 4 months ago, when I received an email, asking me to review her new album VINE. They described it as “hypnotically captivating, and spellbinding music”, and compared it to Twin Peaks, so was intrigued. Plus, there was a song called Ginger Ale!

My first reaction when I found an unsolicited email in my inbox, asking me to review an album by an artist I had never heard of was flattery. I was amazed and thrilled that, whoever this was, like what I did enough that they thought I should review their work. As time when on though I was a bit hesitant, especially since VINE seemed to be getting a fair amount of positive press already. Additionally, this request for review came at a pretty hectic time, as I was already in the middle of reviewing two other albums: Sumo Cyco’s Opus Mar and Paramore’s After Laughter. Luckily, the predicted delay wasn’t a problem for them, so I got onto this review as soon as I could.

One of the most curious parts of my email exchange leading up to my review, was when I asked how they had come up with me as a candidate to review VINE. They mentioned that they had found me through my review of Garbage’s Strange Little Birds. I didn’t think much of it at the time, except that it was a surprise to me that, out of all my reviews they would have been endeared to me by one where I was as scathing as that. But it did make some sense in the end.

Because I’d never heard of Jen Gloeckner before, I couldn’t do what I usually do in my other album reviews, where I list songs each track reminded me of from the artist’s previous albums. However, I’ve tried to still do this with whatever songs came to mind. I’ve also given each track a rank on this album, as well as a comment. Plus, there’s an overview of the album as a whole at the bottom.

1. Vine

Reminds me of: Imogen Heap – Lifeline [Sparks] Rank on this album: 8 Vine sounds like the opening theme to a spooky TV show. There’s a forlorn quality to vocals, laid over a soft, curious piano riff. These elements, together with reoccurring scraping, clinking chain noises, fill the track with intrigue and set the tone clearly for the ensuing album.

2. Firefly (War Dance)

Reminds me of: Half Life 2 OST Rank on this album: 11 An instrumental track, Firefly (War Dance) is well described by that title. The percussion and the throb of the bass give the song a war-like march or chant feeling. Wordless voices, guitars, synths and reverb effects all mix together in an ebb and flow, mimicking the effect of a fly or a swarm of insects circling your head.

3. Breathe

Reminds me of: Leah – Calling [The World Ends With You OST] Rank on this album: 2 Breathe opens with breathy vocalisations that switch left and right, as if to test your speakers. The vocals are simple and clear, with an echo-y reverb that gives the song a mystical, molasses-like feel. These vocals stuck in my head like honey, and I found myself humming the tune throughout the day. The track switches to an early bridge, which moves towards a Middle Eastern sound, with a crazy electric violin solo. The track doesn’t really follow expected verse-chorus structure, so after the bridge, it seems to start again from the chorus-like verse until it loops out.

4. Ginger Ale

Reminds me of: Megan Washington – Yellow & Blue [There There] Rank on this album: 6 Ginger Ale alternates between calm, serene sections dominated by overlapping voices singing in a round-robin-style echo with call-and-response-like emphasis, and instrumental sections dominated by a marching beat with a little syncopation. A deep, almost horn-like cello plays the song out.

5. The Last Thought

Reminds me of: Clare Bowditch and the Feeding Set – Between the Tea and the Toast [The Moon Looked On], Clare Bowditch and the Feeding Set – Starry Picking Night [What Was Left] Rank on this album: 9 The Last Thought is a romantic, dreamy tune with an oriental flavour, driven forwards by a low, slow swing. The chorus is surrounded by a bundle of catchy “la la”s.

6. Blowing Through

Reminds me of: Paula Carino – First Come the Joggers [Aquacade], Olympia – Honey [Self Talk] Rank on this album: 5 Blowing Through sort of feels like a really slow surf rock song, crossed with a blues ballad, as a soulful guitar carries the melody. A 60s-style flute flutter through every now and then, to add to the dreaminess of it all, and cello fills out the sound.

7. Counting Sheep

Reminds me of: Chromatics – Shadow [Twin Peaks (Music From The Limited Event Series)] Rank on this album: 10 I nearly fell asleep listening to Counting Sheep. Its plodding pace, romantic lyrics and deep instrumentation puts me into a drowsy trance. Every note drips with reverberations that seem to vibrate through your whole head. The cello solo that forms the bridge echoes the main melody.

8. Prayers

Reminds me of: Garbage – Magnetized [Strange Little Birds] Rank on this album: 1 Prayers caught my attention immediately as it opens with a mechanical, buzzing effects. This transitions to a more melodious sound, that forms a fun syncopated rhythm, by rapidly swapping between two industrial-like sound effects. As the verse kicks in, the vibe changes, but even the gravelly nature of the vocals seem to pick up on what has been laid out before it, and comes back around near the chorus. From here, more and more musical elements are layered on until a light drum break kicks in to close the song with a fade out.

9. Colors

Reminds me of: Paramore – Future [Paramore], Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Despair [Mosquito] Rank on this album: 7 Colors is a heavily rhythmic, acoustic-feeling song, with emotive vocals and many layers of piano, guitar and percussion. Echo effects are used sparingly to give vocals and some instruments more body and ambience.

10. Row With The Flow

Reminds me of: Kate Nash – The Lion, The Devil & The Spider [Merry Happy] Rank on this album: 3 Row With The Flow* is characterised by the choral layering of voices, each distinct, ranging from very deep and devilish to the high and sweet, to the solemn and gravelly. Initially I didn’t realise it, but these many voices are actually other artists (I’ve also never heard of): Angela Mattson, and Henry Padovani. This mixture of voices, along with the twang of a cowboy-like guitar, gives the song a sense of menace and melody, perfectly suited to an episode of Twin Peaks, especially the recent continuation season.

11. Sold

Reminds me of: Garbage – Sugar [We Are Not Your Kind Of People] Rank on this album: 4 Even though some of the lyrics are hard to decipher, Sold is catchy enough that the chorus got stuck in my head. The gravelly, breathy voice, atmospheric percussion and bright guitar riffs combine for one of the sunnier sounding tracks on this album, although I don’t think this is reflected in the lyrics.

After listening through VINE a few times, I started to understand why I had been asked to review it. While not a pair you would normally compare, there were a number of similarities between Garbage’s Strange Little Birds and this album. Imagine, if you’d like, Strange Little Birds with all of the rock elements removed, and all the atmospheric elements turned up to 11 and stretched to their limit. That would put you somewhere in the realm of VINE. As you may recall, I didn’t love a lot of those experimental effects when Garbage used them, so it’s kind of weird to be reviewing an album that is so heavy with them.

That said, within this context, not only did those elements fit in better, but I even enjoyed them most of the time. This is because they are an essential element of the type of sound Jen Gloeckner is going for here. Her music, on this album at least, is heavily atmospheric and somewhat surreal. I believe it’s what could be described as ambient pop or dream pop. As someone who hasn’t heard very much of this type of music, it’s hard to describe. Throughout my listening, various sections bought different other artists to mind: Garbage and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs for their intensity and varied musical elements over the years, Nerina Pallot and Metric for their wistful yet abstract lyricism, and Imogen Heap for her proclivity for experimental sounds.

That’s not to say that VINE is monotonal; far from it. Every track has so many musical sources to it: from guitars and vocals, to strings and keys, to the echo and reverb effects. Each time a new element is introduced, it just adds a new layer to the rich tapestry of sound that forms each song. Some moments can seem busy and crowded with different components, all busting to be heard. These moments give the songs are unique intensity that is managed well, and feels quite natural as none of these sounds come out of nowhere. They build up over the course of the track, and layer on to a fever pitch.

Not only are the songs filled with many and varied elements, but the album as a whole covers a variety of forms and moods. Sweet to seductive, melancholy to malice, playful to powerful, it seems to cover it all. Listening to VINE while going about my daily life made me feel like I was living in an episode of the new Twin Peaks. It’s got the suspensefulness, the sense of unease and unpredictability. It got the intensity, like there’s some unseen force lurking around any corner. It’s got the hard to interpret lyrics, that left me questioning their meaning. I picked up on a few that had romantic inclinations, but others were more abstract. That may not be something you want to go through every day, but it was an interesting experience.

And that’s how I would basically summarise VINE as a whole. While it’s not the type of music I would want to be listening to every day, it adds its own spice to my overall collection, and was a unique, enjoyable album to hear. If you’re more into this kind of music than I am, it may be something you really love, so you may have to just check it out for yourself.

RATING: 7/10 – ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

But you don’t have to take my word for it…Listen to the album for yourself, and make up your own mind. Then you can let me know what you think of Jen Gloeckner’s VINE.

So, are you a fan of Jen Gloeckner? What’s your favourite songs of hers? Have you heard VINE? What do you think? Did it live up to your expectations? Have I said anything you disagree with? Tell me & everyone else who passes through here what you think in the comment below.

To Infinity and Beyond,

Nitemice

Filed under: Leisure & Hobbies, Music, Reviews

[bandcloud]

Bandcloud - DDR - 23-07-2017

Astoria Sound - 34°32'42-n (The Calm) (Self-released)  Beautiful sounds from San Diego.  

Jeliwan Tok Hudoq - Abadiah (Ripstore.asia) Released for Netlabel Day, this is strange and possibly upsetting. 

Meemo Comma - Dialup (Objects Ltd) Coming soon, this release from Lara Rix-Martin is a study in experimentation, with this appropriately named piece standing out for obvious reasons. Bleeps and tones. 

Topdown Dialectic - Phlt V1.4 (Unreleased) Thanks to Aught for sharing this with me from the vaults. 

Mhysa - Siren (Halcyon Veil) This whole album is stunning, shadowy club meeting heartfelt R&B and riven throughout with political intent. This swampy cover of TLC’s ‘Red Light Special’ is beautiful. 

Michel Philippot - Ambiance 1 (Cacophonic) Taken from a collection of early electronics, this shows where it all began. 

D Hansen - Idioms (Angoisse) I missed this split release when it came out but I’m glad I found it. Lots of strange movements in sound. 

Baraclough - Anaglyphic (Forris) Dale Cornish sold off some copies of this CD and I’m glad I snagged a copy. The album is wild, I especially love ‘Brigitte Fontaine In Cuba’, but this piece of weirdness worked best here. 

Holovr - Hillraiser (Likemind)  Jimmy B goes deep into ambient techno. 

CM-4 - Rain (Docsleep Remix) (Outpost)  Docsleep is a great artist and label head, I love this remix she’s done for her friends at Outpost. 

Mustapha 3000 - Kongo Thong (Unreleased) Getting silly with this old bootleg track from Erol Alkan. That new ‘Thong Song’ rework is awful, why Sisqo, why? 

Look Like - Delta (Akoya Circles)  This comes from a great release that works with well worn samples but gives them new life. 

Cailín - First Taste (Jheri Tracks)  I’m still playing tracks off that triple vinyl Jheri put out because they’re super. By summer’s end I might have exhausted the supply but this one from Cailín is a marvel. 

Aidan Wall - Stuxrunner Resin (Unreleased) Aidan stuck this banger on their SoundCloud and kindly shared it with me. 

Greyhouse - New Beats The House (Dark Entries)  Squawking acid that I heard Call Super play to great effect last weekend, even if I spent its duration at the bar. 

DJ Haram - Body Count (Self-released) Gunshots and drums, the perfect combination. Not everyone can pull it off, but Haram is a pro. 

Chekhov - Rotlicht (Peach)  Peach is really growing as a label, and Chekhov is a great new talent. Call Super played this one too! 

Paul Woolford - Pterygota (Unreleased)   Taken from a SoundCloud (that preceded the announcement of his latest Special Request album), this is emotive yet powerful. 

Flora FM - Drain Age (Acid Gate 2 Heaven) (Unreleased)   My man Taylor is going down a new road as Flora FM, and this is a true acid banger. 

Violet - Silver Lining (Naive)   More fun breaks, this time from Portugal’s Violet on her own label, due soon. 

Primitive Trust - Day One (Shanti Celeste Remix) (Aus Music)   This floral and fruity arrangement from Shanti is perfectly emblematic of her wonderful style. Playful and fun, airy, utterly delightful.

Arnaldo - Urgent Soul 100 (Naturist Recordings) Squelchy and bouncy house from Arnaldo. 

P Diddy Ft Kelis - Let’s Get Ill (Deep Dish Illicit Remix) (Bad Boy) More silliness with this ‘I Feel Love’-aping remix of Diddy’s foray into house music. 

Ikonika - Shovel (Nervous Horizon) From a comp on this London label, it’s a rattling banger. 

Mudwise - Plastic Models (Enklav) This new track from Chevel’s label is hypnotically aquatic and leads nicely into strange zones. 

Solid Blake - Mario (Outer Zone) BANGING techno from Solid Blake on this new label. Outer Zone is affiliated with La Cheetah in Glasgow, a wonderfully intimate spot for sweaty parties. 

SW - Untitled (Sued Records Via Apollo) One of many incredible tracks from SW’s album, now released digitally, it’s a perfect bridge track between modes. 

Body In The Thames - Loverboy Idiom (Self-released) BITT is a wonderfully talented artist who knows his way around a synth or two. Like with SW above this is just one of a load of great tracks on his self-released album. Great guy too. 

Daniel Karlsson - Gaining Traction With The Local Branches (Conditional Records) Conditional love to get wonky, and this is as wonky as it gets. 

Orlando Ft Nemesis - Cyaa Done (Gobstopper) Orlando’s been through various guises over the years, pop-dancehall producer is my favourite of late. Wake de neighbours indeed. 

M/M - Welcome To The Rain Season (Spring Break Tapes) Bandcloud guest mixer M/M just released this album on Spring Break Tapes, and this one is a beautiful taste of his international approach. 

Swim Platførm - Surface 3 (Kit Records) This is a bit old but deserved some airtime. Beautiful stuff as ever from Kit. 

Assel - Fitness Talk (Where To Now?) (Unreleased)  New stuff on Where To Now?, I’m not sure who it is but the whole album is weird and intriguing. This is a jolt of straightforwardness by comparison. 

Fes - Airyle (Fuck Off I'm Not Done Yet) (Patrúin) Fuzzy weirdness from a brilliant Irish compilation. 

Rhucle - York (Otherworldly Mystics) Gentle, blissful ambience to end things. At least until I had other plans. 

JEM - K3M (Unreleased)  Big up Joe, who sent me this strange workout.

Lone - Under Cherry Blossoms (Mind's Eye Reprise) (R & S Records) And finally, this tender rework of Lone’s own Mind’s Eye, a summer banger if ever there was one. This feels like ‘Love On A Real Train’ or something from Reich before taking its own direction. A beaut.