#there's two components to the problems with the songs:

[zoe-oneesama]

Since you’re on that hating Wish train (I’m there with you), I think you might be interested in checking out Jonah Who Two on YouTube bc he’s re-written some of the songs (his “This is the Thanks I Get?!” is really good and way more villainy)

Jokes on you, I ALREADY HAVE!!! >:D

[anonymous-witness777]

This post is directed at an alarming number of “Eastern Orthodox” and “Catholic” blogs which my sister and I stumbled across in our search for aesthetic blogs:

In the Christian worldview, when Jesus chose to come to earth as a man, he came as a Jewish rabbi. Approximately 75% of the Word of God is revelation given initially to the Jews, in the form of the Torah. If you have a problem with this, you have a problem with Christianity.

The most positively portrayed (human) romantic relationship in Scripture (if you’re not counting the unnamed lovers of Song of Songs) is an interracial relationship between Ruth (Moabite Gentile) and Boaz (Jewish). If you have a problem with this, you have a problem with Christianity.

According to Scripture, every person bears the image of God. Antisemitism, eugenics, social darwinism, racial supremacy, and basically any other main component of Nazi ideology is completely antithetical to Christianity. 

So if you are calling yourself a Christian and posting Nazi or white supremacist imagery or rhetoric, STOP. Light can have no fellowship with darkness; Christ can have no fellowship with the Devil (2 Corinthians 6:14-16). Please, read the Scriptures:

“For he himself [Jesus] is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two [Jews and Gentiles], so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off [Gentiles] and peace to those who were near [Jews]. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” ~  Ephesians 2:14-18

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.” ~ Galatians 3:28-29

(Addendum:  The FIRST commandment is “You shall have no other gods before Me.” If your Christianity is in service to political ends, that is idolatry. Or if Jesus is just another source for symbolism existing alongside Odin and Baphomet, that is syncretism; that is NOT Christianity.)

[the-mononoke-facade]

Sitting more on the idea of "Kusu's designed to reflect women's desires and not just from the perspective of sex appeal", I kind of wonder if that's the root of why his characterization (or notable lack thereof) in Shu has been getting on my nerves so much as I've been working through it (the last story that I haven't gotten to yet might negate this, we'll see, but I kinda doubt it)

Shu's not written with the feminist themes of the series in mind and it shows. It's very much written from the perspective of the things individual men are suffering with, and their own individual self-actualization, often even to the detriment of the women around them, if they bother mentioning women at all. It shows off the status quo and the ways people are suffering under it, and then puts the responsibility on the individual to make it work within that framework instead of challenging the status quo that helped it along

It also goes back to what I was saying in a previous post about how Shu treats it mononoke as hostile outsiders that must be defeated to save people from misfortunes they might never have experienced if they weren't whereas in the show they're treated as having been born from the misfortunes of the people already existing--hell, taking the arcs as a whole in the order they're presented in, a major component of the medicine vendor's own character arc is unlearning this base assumption that Shu is built on in order to be able to get to the actual heart of the issue

Which brings me back around to the initial thought of this post, which is: with the medicine vendor being carefully crafted as a character to appeal to the desires of women, both in terms of looks but also in terms of bearing, and status, and you put him in a framing that isn't really concerned about all that, what does that leave for him as a character? If he gets any consideration at all beyond his outlandish looks, it's only once he's been able to "prove" that he has some sufficiently masculine qualities after all (his "impressive build" once he ended up disrobed in Kama Itachi for...reasons I'm still not clear on, or emphasizing his "fighting spirit" that was recognized in him by an old, grizzled veteran, or only recognizing him as a true warrior after he's released his sword and transformed). Outside of that, he's just treated as some vaguely disdained other, a curiosity to gawk at for a second and then go back to being concerned about your own problems

He's treated as a pretty object to look at, and there are so many instances in this book where if you replaced him with a colorful statue holding the sword, the same effect would be achieved. Instead of being an avatar of women's desires, he's treated as little better than a woman until he can prove otherwise. His femininity and masculinity are pitted at odds against each other instead of balanced with each other--but even when he shows off more traditionally masculine traits, he's still only a step or two above a tool, or a weapon, only worthy of consideration now because he's proven himself useful, just to have to do the same song and dance over and over again wherever he goes

I might've missed something important here, too, so let me know if so, but for now, it's just a thought I'm turning over in my head

[chaotic-minds-think-alike]

Ok ok I’m posting it I’m posting the gay r obotsr me me when red & blue characters moment also this video is the entire song so like yk for idk 4 minutes worth of this crap

Also I made this like 2 months ago and I think I was having an insanity moment so that’s why it’s very lazily made like yk when you have insane ideas but nothing but animating it gets your point across??? Yeah

(song is Air Catcher by Twenty One Pilots)

Also explaining the story below:

After Eight wakes up from his void trauma induced coma, he catches up with his local group. They all welcome him overwhelmingly but one stands out from the other two, Early Warning. He had great interest in the ordeals Eight faced. A bit too much that it led to some serious fuck ups later on.

They begin to chat a lot more one on one and loved to share their newest innovations with each other. Eight greatly valued any support he could get to fix himself and vice versa with Warning, being that he’s actively sinking into a sinkhole unfortunately. They grew very close. So close that Eight eventually confessed to feeling… more. Eight asked Warning to help him, to help reverse the damage his ancients had caused him. He was incredibly serious asking this because the last time he put great trust in someone, he nearly died. Warning accepts the offer and this is actually the first time he visits his can.

Well… Warning was still very invested in the void related issues Eight faced because he was on the cusp of abandoning The Great Problem. When he went into his conflux to repair the majorly damaged components, he snooped around and read some neurons. Because Eight sustained heavy damage to his conflux, the sudden reading of these damaged neurons caused him to seize up for a moment and he was PISSED. Eight, at the time, was still heavily into his lizard research and thus released his specimens into his structure regardless if they were to cause damage to himself. Think like an immune response. The lizards would find Warning on his way out trying to escape and maul him to death, destroying this travel puppet.

(Not pictured but after the decommission of this travel puppet, Warning wakes back up in his own structure and just… lies there. He felt horrible.)

And so, Eight enters another period of isolation. He would block any private communications from everyone. He cut off all contacts with Warning but remained part of the local group broadcasts. He would talk very little, if at all. Many cycles would pass and many overseers were lost to Eight’s unrelenting anger. Despite his toxic emotions, he kept the eyes of the overseers. There was something he couldn’t let go of, something he didn’t want to let go of. Something about Warning reminded him of the golden era, when the ancients were still around, when he could still exchange banter with his engineers. There was something more to it that he refused to acknowledge.

Time dragged on and on and he grew to be more and more guilty. He sustained this anger from a certain someone, an unfortunate fingerprint left behind, but despite that he was incredibly emotional about it all. He couldn’t bring himself to prolong the pain much longer. Eventually one of his overseers would visit Warning’s can; he’d apologize almost face to face. He knew what he did, he knew the consequences, he knew as well that Warning’s travel puppets aren’t nearly as durable. He missed their chats and the time they spent together because without it, it’d remind him of that crushing pain he felt knowing his engineers would soon be gone. He hates being alone.

And finally, things might just turn out okay. Warning, although not pictured, accepts his apology. He’d tell him it was his mistake, that he’s older and he should’ve known better. Things might actually become better.

—-

Respecting Eight’s wishes, they are very reserved about their relationship. Eight feels that he’s being too vulnerable to let anyone else know how he feels, although occasionally Warning will publicly jab at him to get a response.

[makingspiritualityreal]

Taylor Swift's "Anti Hero" - A Psychological Study of Rahu Mentality

I rarely dive into pop-culture references in my Astrology writing, but I couldn't help myself after seeing this recent piece of art from Taylor Swift, who has a strong Rahu influence in her chart (Moon conjunct Jupiter in Ardra Nakshatra). This song and music video describe perfectly the state of mind of Rahu natives, together with the emotional struggles they experience at this particular planetary stage. Every word and scene in the music video reflect the emotional state a Rahu influenced native finds themselves in, to the point it speaks for itself. I feel like my own description fails to do it as well as the source material does, so I encourage you to watch the video, with lyrics, after reading my post.

This post can be personally relatable to anyone, who has a very prominent Rahu influence in their chart, especially on their Moon, with the Moon placed either in Ardra, Swati or Shatabhisha or Rahu closely conjunct any personal planet. It is also a good information resource for anyone, who would like to understand the behaviour of Rahu in general.

Side note 1, before I dive deeper into the Rahu portion of the post. In the music video, the artist is presented talking to her alter ego. The duality of the character's two personalities interacting with each other is very typical of Rahu. A mindstate of fake social politeness and repression concerning what they view as undesirable to show externally, but battle with internally.

Side note 2. Minus the psychological component reflecting the traits of Rahu, the song directly describes Rahu's archetypal nature. "I'll stare directly at the Sun, but never in the mirror." That pertains to Rahu being the "smoky mirror" and its talent in creating illusions, mixed with its unwillingness to build up accountability, but instead being obsessed with swallowing up the greatness, that it desires through admiring the traits of the Sun itself.

Rahu trait 1: Birth of self-awareness and struggle with personal accountability. "I grow older but never wiser".

Rahu is widely known in Astrology circles for its negative traits, having a bad reputation for being greedy and all consuming. However, people don't realise that Rahu doesn't have the potential to fully step into the role of taking responsibility for any of its actions at this stage in a zodiac wheel. Rahu is where we merely begin to understand ourselves as conscious creators of our reality, because right until the previous stage of Mars, we were in one way or another directed or influenced by external forces, kept in a primitive state. Because we only start developing consciousness in a Rahu stage, it can feel, as if bad things are "happening to us" as opposed to "we are doing the wrong thing". That is why "I'm the problem" is used as such a strong revelation from the Artist's perspective in the song. To Rahu, its own illusory nature is so strong, it considers even realising its basic flaws an enormous step, as the newly found feeling of guilt can be overwhelming. Since we have yet to reach the Jupiterian stage, we accumulate a lot of experiences, which make us feel like we're "growing", but don't really give us satisfaction, as it feels like writing chapters in a book, that hasn't really reached its main plot point yet. That is reflected in the scenes, where the main character physically grows to monstrous proportions in comparison to other people in the room, yet struggles to find any fulfilment, and experiences mostly negative emotions related to herself.

Rahu trait 2: Megalomania and sense of drama, polarised with intense self-hatred and self criticism. "It must be exhausting rooting for the Anti Hero".

Because Rahu has been freed from obedience to command, that it was spelled under in the previous Mars stage, it views itself as the center of everything, discovering its individuality for the first time. It hasn't yet learned the principle of Universal connectivity and how one's personal actions need to be responsible towards the collective, because it is only now learning about the concept of its own independence. Thus, for Rahu, a desire for being a "Hero", call for freedom and receiving attention, is strong, to savour the newly cut chains. However, with these actions come consequences and responsibility for every step taken. That's when the dread and self hatred set in, as in many scenes of the video we can see a Rahu person has a strong part inside that doesn't even like themselves and lives in a strong energy of self sabotage. Rahu can't free itself from its desires to be center stage, yet it also can't let go of the impending doom of its mistakes. Thus, it mixes self glorification and self hatred in the "Anti-Hero" concept...as deep down, Rahu knows how much bravery it took for it to conquer so much in uncharted territories. It's not giving up its accolades. And perhaps they are earned, as it is thanks to the Rahu stage, that we are reborn with so many blessings in the Jupiterian phase.

Rahu trait 3: A state of deep loneliness, paranoia and anxiety. "I should not be left to my own devices. They come with prices and vices."

Something that is often taken for granted in Rahu, is that it lives in a constant state of fear. It feels like a scared child, that has been let out into the street with no support and due to the mistakes it has made, it struggles to develop self-trust and self reliance. These qualities are only fully developed in the Saturn stage, later down the road. Rahu is where we first experience the dread of loss of any idea of protection, that was still lingering on in the previous Mars stage. Since we are constantly testing boundaries in what feels to be an empty space at best and a threatening environment at worst, it is impossible for us to go through that stage without making mistakes. Thus, a desire for guidance and protection, that we receive in Jupiter, is born, as the Rahu stage is emotionally extremely uncomfortable.

Rahu trait 4: Struggles in relationships due to all the above traits. "One day I'll watch as you're leaving, 'Cause you got tired of my scheming for the last time."

Since Rahu is the birth of awareness of our own actions, it is also the birth of awareness of people's reception of us. At this stage, we are however unable to liberate ourselves from our flaws, so the mind lives in a state of fear of abandonment, as it is constantly hyperaware of its imperfection and the havoc it wreaks on others. It creates a state of entrapment, that there seems to be no way to get out of, which is why Rahu tries to escape the painful cycle in relationships with others through "ghosting" people, which is also mentioned in the song. Because of this entrapment, Rahu feels like it's not only not anyone's friend, but not even their own. There is progress waiting, even for Rahu however, and it is found in Jupiterian boundless forgiveness.

Rahu's greatest desire is the bridge of Rahu to Jupiter - Salvation, self-acceptance and mercy. What Rahu ultimately craves for is the beginning of self love for the imperfect and fragile human condition. At this stage cosmically, we are sick not only of other people's negative opinions of us, but also of our own flaws. Rahu reaches for hope after an intense struggle. It has a deep desire for forgiveness and cooperation with its shadow side, for the sake of progress and liberation from pain. And at the end of a very long, tiring journey, after it has fought so hard to reach basic self acceptance, it does indeed receive that relief at the hands of Jupiter.

[herosplatling-replica]

hey your intern connectifia angst from *checks notes* TWO WEEKS AGO WHUH- unearthed this song from the depths of my brain. + it's making me wonder what would've happened if the poll went the other way >:)

(i also made the mistake of listening to the song while looking at the comic again and i think i have been WRECKED,)

oh god it's been two weeks already?!??!??! i felt like i made that comic like yesterday!!!

this song owns by the way????? it makes me so sad???? it's perfect????? by any chance have you read artificial arrhythmia cause i feel like that would be a good one two punch here

also to answer your question: i'm glad you asked!

the connectifia was eating up their camera components at the time of the comic (hence the glitchy view). very close to their camera components are were the intern's memory banks are. if ada and ian hadn't been able to stop the connectifia in time, then the virus would've eaten up the intern's memory (and personality) entirely.

such a traumatic blow to a system that wasn't ever intended to exist would end up forcing whats left of the intern's systems to perform a factory reset/emergency reboot of sorts to try to fix the problem. doing so would wipe what's left.

essentially, the intern as ada and ian knew them would've died. the robotic chassis that's left would then have to be fitted with new components, all that... and ada and ian would've had to watch as the intern they used to date became a walking shell of its former self. the second iteration of the intern would've been a lot more robotic and without personality.

it's really a good thing the intern's partners got there in time.

[omegaremix]

The Great Vinyl Purge.

I had a funny feeling during my last music-shopping victory spree. When I furiously dug and came across certain titles, I constantly paused on myself wondering if I already had them in my collection. Dollar records make way for hasty decisions and later regretted when you come home to see those same titles you purchased already in your library.

I audited my shelves to see doubles I didn’t realize I once had. Money well spent if only the first time. After that, you’re donating to your local record stores. That’s what’s called charity. With me buying vinyl faster than a cheetah hunting down his prey, I’m running out of space. I’m not realizing I’m spending money on records I already have, so they had to go. There were many impulse purchases made thanks to low price tags, a kick for the classics, and very little care of the artist other than the year they were made.

There were many duplicates from artists I’m familiar with. Components from my Atari and Nintendo youth in Belinda Carlisle (The Go-Go’s) and Phil Collins (Genesis), jazz-fusion artists Tom Scott and Ramsay Lewis, and an extra from Minnie Riperton. The Doors’ Greatest Hits had to go as I mistakenly bought a copy recently before the purge, and one from France Joli that I shouldn’t have had because I tried finding a song that wasn’t on there.

Not only did I take the duplicates out, but I also took records out of my collection I never listened to. Two titles from The Who and Melba Montgomery that I purchased at an Amityville veteran’s hall left the library because I literally never played them. Doobie Brothers, Nicolette Larson, and many children’s records rescued from a sidewalk dump from people who didn’t know better. They had to go. A few days later I woke up one morning and asked myself why I have almost the entire vinyl discography of Seals & Croft and The 5th Dimension?

And then these three: Al Jolson, M.C. Osso, and Justin Wilson …Meets Jean (John) Barleycorn. Those were three records my dad found ages ago from another stack tossed out for the morning pick-up. That was when I was oblivious to vinyl and record collecting. Hell, we didn’t have a turntable back then. How did I somehow keep them and why did I keep a fucking cajun comedy (?) record? I was better than this.

**********

Now that the vinyl purge was over, what did I do? I had no time creating a Discogs and wait for these records to be sold piece by piece. No record-stores would take them as the children’s records are water-damaged with dry mold. The only other option? Take the easy way out and give them to someone who appreciates them. Why? Friends and family had been charitable to me in the past. A no-longer-staffer of WUSB announced a roll-call for a huge vinyl giveaway donated to me, and later on most of those same records went to Syke. That’s the same Syke who ended up donating me some of his records he found in front of someone’s house; a customer of his who took her entire collection and threw them out in front of the curb. Not me. I give my gifts to a good home.

Once my dad found a collection of polka records and took them home. “What the fuck is this?” I asked him. There’s no way I’d be caught dead and Wee-Gee’d with polka records. Good thing this was right before WUSB’s 35th anniversary. I knew our resident polka lady Theresa was attending, so I donated my stacks to her. Problem solved. Caring is sharing and it goes both way, that is…when you’re not throwing your entire library out in the street.

So I gave them to J-Ro, host of WUSB’s Radio Free J-Ro, archivist, and vinyl fanatic. I dropped them off at the station in October and told him to come get it. He took home Carly Simon’s self-titled, Minnie Riperton’s Perfect Angel, Ramsay Lewis’ Tequila Mockingbird, Herb Alpert’s Rise, and whatever 5th Dimension records he didn’t have already. So that’s only 5% of the stack. As of now, most of it is still there. It’s now WUSB’s as far as I’m concerned. We have the space. Let ‘em deal with it.

Here’s all I parted with to make way for more records and books of my liking. Malcomb Forbes did say: “he / she who dies with the most toys wins.” Sometimes, it’s the nicer shinier ones that get you the victory.

France Joli: Now!

Tom Scott: Blow It Out

Paul Simon: Still Crazy After All These Years

Doobie Brothers, The: Minute By Minute

Phil Collins: Face Value

Carly Simon: self-titled

Minnie Riperton: Perfect Angel

Ramsay Lewis: Tequila Mockingbird

Herb Alpert: Rise

Belinda Carlisle: Belinda

Al Jolson & Oscar Levant: Songs And Comedy

M.C. Osso: Umbra Penumbra

Justin Wilson:  Justin Wilson Meets Jean (John) Barleycorn

Doors, The: Greatest Hits

Who, The: It’s Hard

Melba Montgomery: Don’t Let The Good Times Fool You.

Seals & Crofts: Unborn Child, The Longest Road, Diamond Girl, Closer, Summer Breeze, Greatest Hits, self-titled.

5th Dimension, The: Greatest Hits On Earth, Greatest Hits, Up Up And Away, Stoned Soul Picnic, The Age Of Aquarius, Portrait

[kate-cosette-vocals]

Everything You Need to Know About Singing (in a nutshell)

(I made a YouTube video on this exact stuff too. If you’d rather watch that, here’s the link!) One of my top priorities as both a singer and a singing coach is to simplify the singing process as much as possible. When I was learning how to sing, I filtered through hundreds of concepts, theories, exercises and read or watched any and every video I could find on singing. And sometimes, the things you find contradict with each other, are completely off track, or are just simply overwhelming.

So, as I was learning to sing to simplify my learning process, I came up with something I personally like to call the Holy Trinity of Singing, though it has no religious connotation at all whatsoever. (But it has a nice ring to it, right?)

Throughout my years of study and experimentation, I learned that there are only three concepts that singing boils down to. And no matter what you’re struggling with singing-wise, no matter the level of your talent, you can always pin your issues back to one, two, or all three of these three components in this Holy Trinity of Singing to fix what needs fixing.

The (un-religious) Holy Trinity of Singing

(AKA, the ONLY places you ever have to look to improve*):

1. Breathing

2. Vowels (Mouth Shape)

3. Vocal Placement

These three places (breathing, vowels and placement) are the only places you’ll need to look. This guide you’re reading has to do with how you’re singing, rather than what you’re singing.

If you learn each of these three components to your fullest potential, and you will have the voice you’ve always dreamed of. I’ve  written these three components in the order I learned them, and the order I teach them. I suggest you learn them in this order, and I’ll explain why in a little bit. (But again; learn to hear yourself first if that's something you struggle with!)

Now first, let’s learn what each of these three components are, how they can be messing with your vocal improvement, and why they’re so important to learn correctly and fully.

Breathing

Anyone who’s done their fair share of research in learning to sing has probably heard of, “breathing from your diaphragm.”

Breathing from your diaphragm is so important because, without it, you’ll never have enough air, and you’ll never be able to use it wisely.

Diaphragm breathing is just a fancy way of saying to breathe lower. When you breathe normally, a muscle (imagine it as being horizontal) underneath your ribs called your diaphragm moves down as you breathe in. This allows your lungs space to expand as you take in air. When you exhale, your diaphragm moves back up, gently pushing your air back out.

When you breathe normally, your diaphragm only moves down a little tiny bit—barely at all, really. It moves down just enough for you to take in a little bit of air, which is all we need to simply breathe and survive and speak. You don’t need a ton of air to speak and breathe normally, so your diaphragm doesn’t bother moving down so much.

But with singing, you often hold notes a while, and often much longer than with speaking. So, that small amount of air you usually take in just isn’t going to cut it.

Singing is literally the result of how you exhale your breath. Which means that how you breathe is vitally important! And often, even after you learn how to breathe from your diaphragm, singers will simply forget to breathe during a song. Sometimes they don’t breathe low enough, they don’t take in enough air, or they aren’t controlling their exhale and they let all the breath out in an instant instead of pacing it.

Here’s some things you may be experiencing if you’re breathing incorrectly:

- voice is too breathy

- you’re out of breath quickly

- pitch inaccuracy

- unable to maintain enough air for long notes

For tips and techniques on how to breathe from your diaphragm, check out this post here!

Vowels (Mouth Shapes)

I have a post on what exactly singing vowels are and how to form them, but here I’ll just explain their importance to singing and the problems you may experience if your vowels are incorrect.

Vowels are very important. Without perfect—or close to perfect—vowels, you’ll run into a bunch of vocal problems, and you’ll never sound as amazing as you are capable of sounding.

If you’ve done even more digging into learning to sing, you may have heard the term “singing vowels.” Always remember: although we call them vowels, they aren’t the same vowels we know and love from English class: A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y.

Singing vowels are: Ah, A, E, O, and Oo.

In essence, saying each of these vowels correctly (shaping your mouth in a very specific way as you do so) forms your mouth into a very specific shape. So you can also think of singing vowels as mouth shapes.

Each of these five singing vowels—mouth shapes—are the only five mouth shapes or vowels you’ll ever use while singing. Because, each of these five vowel sounds are the ONLY five different sounds that make up every word you’ll ever sing.

(Much more about vowels in the vowels post).

So, why is it important how we pronounce words when we sing? Why can’t we pronounce things the same way both speaking and singing?

Because—when we speak, we don’t care about how our tone sounds. We don’t need our voices to sound angelic. We just need to get our point across. When you’re trying to sound pretty, however, that has to do with how you pronounce things.

It all has to do with that air you’re breathing out.

We talked about how it’s important to take in enough air and release it at a controlled pace, but we also have to consider how you shape its exit.

Think of mouth shape and air the same way sound reacts in a room. A spacious room that has hardly any furniture or carpeting to absorb the sound and no open windows or open doors (such as a cathedral or a bathroom) gives singers and musicians great acoustics. The sound circulates freely and it’s very concentrated; it has nowhere to escape. On the other hand, if you’re singing in a room that has open windows and open doors and plenty of furniture for sound to absorb into, it has plenty of room to escape. You don’t get that glass-like, beautiful tone that you get in a church.

The same idea goes for how air circulates in your mouth.

Your mouth shape is your room, your breath is your voice. The more space you have in your mouth and the smaller/narrower the opening of your mouth, the more glass-like your voice comes out. If your mouth is open too wide, that’s like opening the windows in the room. You’re letting the air escape and breaking that glass-like tone of your voice. (Not to mention causing a bunch of other issues).

Singers like Ariana Grande and Kelly Clarkson have beautiful glass-like tone because their vowels—their mouth shapes—are so perfectly shaped. They’re both classically trained, and classically trained singers are usually taught very perfect vowels. Anyone can achieve glass-like or autotune-like tone if they perfect their vowel shapes.

With imperfect vowel shapes, you may experience:

- breathy voice

- pitch inaccuracy, usually too flat

- dull tone

- difficulty singing higher

- lack of flexibility in voice

- lack of air

If you’re experiencing any of these issues, go back to your vowel shapes. Polish them up… the results may astound you.

Vocal Placement

Last but not least, we have vocal placement.

Vocal placement is simply where you concentrate your voice when you sing. It’s where you place your voice in your body.

The reason I both learned and teach this last is because you often can’t learn this either easily or at all until you have breathing and vowels under control (and my definition of “under control” is the ability to do them without having to consciously think about it. After you’ve made them a new habit).

Now, why is placement important?

Where you put your voice in your body is so important because singing doesn’t occur in just one spot. That’s why, when people struggle to sing higher, it’s often because they’re trying to sing notes that don’t exist where they’re trying to sing them.

If you’re struggling with placement, you might be experiencing:

- a break in your voice as you try to sing higher, like you’re hitting a wall in your throat

- a light, soft voice that is unable to sing with power

- a heavy, thick voice that is unable to soften

- any trouble singing high notes

- any kind of tension or strain in your throat while singing

Another reason I leave placement until last in this Holy Trinity of Singing is because placement takes the longest to master (and for me, it’s been four years and I still wouldn’t say I’ve “mastered” it). If breathing and vowels are like a sports player’s equipment and uniform, placement is the player actually playing the game. Placement is the heart of singing.

But to put it simply, you have two major “places” to sing: head voice and chest voice.

Head Voice is located from pretty much the roof of your mouth and upward through the crown, or the back of your head. Head voice is comprised of the highest notes in your range, and sounds thinner, softer and lighter. We all use head voice when we talk to an adorable puppy or baby, in that soft, high voice.

Chest Voice is from the roof of your mouth and down, and you'll feel it resonate in your chest. Chest voice is comprised of the lowest notes in your range, and sounds heavier and thicker. You've used chest voice all day long; chest voice is your speaking voice range!

The problem occurs when you try to go from chest voice to head voice (or vice versa). The point where your two voices meet is called your “vocal break”. Everyone has one, and it’s different for everyone. You'll feel where your vocal break is when you have that “hitting a wall" feeling in your throat as you try to sing higher. Most beginning singers try to force their voice up past their break. But that's called straining. It also sounds like straining, and it's almost always unsuccessful. Trying to bust through your vocal break isn't just the way to sing through your break, it can be very damaging! So, don't strain! Ever!! Because there is a way to sing up and down your range smoothly and easily! And that has everything to do with where you're putting your voice: placement.

The way to stop that break from happening is by smoothing the transition between head voice and chest voice, and we do that by learning mixed voice.

Mixed voice is a mixture of head voice and chest voice. And it is one of the most beautiful things in the world of singing, because it opens you up so much!

When you try to sing higher in chest voice and you don’t switch to mixed voice, you hit what can be described as chest voice’s “ceiling”. Pretty much, all the notes below your break can be sung in chest voice, but those above your break cannot be sung in chest voice; your anatomy doesn't allow for it. You cannot “raise” your chest voice by trying to pull or force it upward. It physically cannot happen; it’s like trying to push a car to go 60 mph in first gear; it simply isn't made to work that way, and you’ll either stall or break the car or both. How do you go 60 mph in car? You switch gears. Essentially, that's what we're doing with vocal placement! You have three gears in your voice, and it's your job to make sure you switch them before you try going faster, or singing higher.

What we’re doing with placement is moving your voice to a different place. A place where you can hit those notes.

So, if you find yourself always tense and straining, running into that vocal break all the time… look no further than this. Learn vocal placement and you’ll never have to strain to hit the notes you want to hit ever again. (post on placement coming soon!)

So, that is my Holy Trinity of Singing. I’ve narrowed it down to the only three components of singing—so, master all three of these, and you’ll have the vocal freedom you’ve always wanted.

I’ll reiterate what I said about learning these in the order I wrote them if you’re a beginner; don’t try learning placement first. That would be like trying to bake a cake without proper ingredients; it’s not gonna work and certainly won’t taste good. Learn breathing and vowels until you don’t have to consciously think about them anymore. Because trying to learn all three components—breathing, vowels, and placement—at once is very overwhelming and a recipe for disaster. (Can’t get away from the baking analogy, apparently).

Take your time with these, and learn them thoroughly. You’ll thank yourself in the long run and save yourself a heck of a lot of time. Again—don’t take the cake out of the over before it’s done baking. (Okay, that’s the last one, I promise).

For those of you intermediate or advanced singers out there who are still struggling with one or two smaller, specific issues, really, honestly, ask yourself if you’re breathing correctly and using perfect vowel shapes.

I’ve had many clients who rolled their eyes at re-learning breathing or vowels because they “learned it already” in chorus or wherever. But often, they didn’t actually or completely learn how to do them correctly—they just thought they did. You can roll your eyes at the basics all you want, but you’re only hurting yourself if that is your problem and your pride prevents you from giving it another honest look. They may be basics, but they’re basics because they’re your foundation. They’re the wheels on a car or the walls on a house (or the chocolate in the cake batter… sorry, I had to). Set yourself a strong foundation to build upon, and you’ll be grateful for it, trust me.

With that said, use this little guide any time you find yourself struggling in any part of your singing; you’ll find the solution in here somewhere. Really pinpoint what’s wrong and revisit these three components of singing to figure out what’s going wrong, and you’ll be on your way to becoming the singer you’re meant to be in no time.

*Note: there is one other place someone may need to look, but that is only if you find yourself singing off-pitch (pitch is simply the note you're singing. If you're off-pitch, you're either singing flat, which is under the correct note, or sharp, which is over the correct note). If you have problems singing on the correct notes because you have trouble hearing yourself, you will first need to look at Pitch. When I say hearing yourself, I mean that when you sing, sometimes or much of the time, what you think you’re singing with what you really are singing aren't the same thing. I will make a separate post dealing with that alone!

Any questions? Drop them in an ask, a reply or an email on my website here! I’d be happy to help! If you need any one-on-one help, feel free to set up a consultation with me!

[mightybee113]

Raychell x Kikuta Daisuke (Elements garden) for Real sound [2022/10/21]

~ Raychell (RAISE A SUILEN) x Kikuta Daisuke (Elements Garden) talk about the process to achieve the unique “RAS sound” in BanDori!’s history ~

Born as the backup band for Pastel*Palettes, Hello, Happy World! and Afterglow in the BanDori! Project, THE THIRD (temp.) made their debut. Starting from July 17, 2018, the band re-started their activities under the name of RAISE A SUILEN. Differently from the previous band that had many inexperienced players, the band includes Raychell (Vo/Ba) who had been working as a solo singer, Natsume (Dr) who showcased her talents in bands such as SHAZNA, experienced instrumentalists Kurachi Reo (Key) and Kohara Riko (Gt) and Tsumugi Risa (DJ/Rap) who attended an International School and is proficient in English. Amongst BanDori, the band has showcased their authentic style from the beginning. 

Once they step onto the stage, their musicianship brings a splendid soundscape that overwhelms all who watch, blending Electronic Dance Music with Rock, making an aggressive sound alongside powerful lyrics. In recent years, they have been showing up regularly in Rock Festivals, and thus making their name be known in places outside of BanDori 

And the ones responsible for making their music is the composition team that takes care of BanDori!’s music as a whole, Elements Garden. This time, we bring a conversation between Raychell and composer Kikuta Daisuke who has experience with many familiar RAS songs, such as R·I·O·T (Arranger) and EXPOSE 'Burn out!!!' (Arranger and composer). We look back on RAISE A SUILEN’s steps, focusing on the key points of their songs and live performances.

-------------------

ーKikuta-san, you have been involved in the making and arrangement of RAISE A SUILEN’s (RAS) music from the beginning. What was the direction you had in mind at the very start?

Kikuta: Back in the beginning, Agematsu (Agematsu Noriyasu, head of Elements Garden) told me that there was going to be a new real life band with a different sound from anything that BanDori! had so far. So, we went for a theme that mixed EDM, electronicore and loud rock. We wanted RAS to have electronic sounds as its main core, different from Roselia’s grand and elegant sound. Although I had experience with EDM, I had never worked with electronicore before and putting these two components together proved to be quite a challenge.

Raychell: So that’s how it all began!

Kikuta: Yes! I had problems in many parts and I received plenty of advice from some people at Bushiroad as well, so it was a lot of trial and error. I believe our team had an overall road map already charted but, at the time we made RAS’ debut song, “R･I･O･T”, RAS hadn’t had any live performances yet, so I remember we had to think about their whole band image from nothing.

ー When compared to the other real life bands, the EDM and loud rock sound is certainly a strong element. This big difference gives them quite a strong personality, doesn’t it?

Kikuta: I believe that none of the other bands would be able to achieve such an aggressive sound.

Raychell: I see. I have never heard about any of this before! This is all so fascinating. 

Kikuta: We’ve met in the recording studio before but this is the first time we have a conversation like this so this is also a new experience to me!

ー RAS had a different start as well. Differently from the other bands, they had the real life band established before the characters, giving them a unique origin. Can you say that they were able to showcase more and more things as they had more performances?

Kikuta:  The band started off as a backing band, called THE THIRD (temp.), and that’s where the name RAISE A SUILEN comes from.

Raychell: It means to “Raise the curtains”, to stand in the main stage.

Kikuta: Yes, it means that they came from behind the scenes to the main stage. They truly are people with a lot of experience and incredible skills. Because they can be more technical in their performances, they’re able to showcase overwhelming power, which is a completely different presentation from the other bands.

ー So, when the songs are made, do you keep this difference in mind?

Kikuta: Back when I heard the song’s melody I thought I had to use Raychell-san’s singing skills the best I could and that really broadened my horizons. She’s able to express a huge variety of things when singing and once we understood that, we started having some wild ideas. (Laugh)

Raychell: (Laugh)

Kikuta: When we make RAS songs, our expectations are always like “Well since this is Raychell-san, let’s do it like this!” 

Raychell: Ah, not at all~

Kikuta: We have complete faith in you! 

Raychell: Thank you so much. On that note, were there any moments where you thought “Ah, I should make a song this way-!” when watching our performances?

Kikuta: I made “EXPOSE ‘Burn out!!!’” right after THE THIRD (temp.)’s 2nd LIVE at Akasaka (Mynavi BLITZ AKASAKA). This show marked the addition of Tsumugi-san in the group as well as the start of them as RAISE A SUILEN officially. I asked to be in charge of the composition and arrangement of “A DECLARATION OF XXX”’s coupling track and just before hearing the recording of “A DECLARATION OF XXX”, I found out that she was fluent in English, so I thought it was a waste to have her only as the DJ.

Raychell: I see! 

Kikuta: Back then, I was worried people would say that the band was “only good at performing”. I wanted them to have a little bit more on the entertainment side and Tsumugi-san joined at the perfect timing. I trusted that she could sing, so I thought that perhaps an energetic and carefree performance in English would be interesting. I saw the future in that. I fully believed this would make the band a lot stronger, so I added that rap section. I suppose I could experiment and have more freedom on this song than on the main track.

Raychell: And because of that, we have the RAS signature style today. Thank you so much for wanting to see that girl rap (Laugh). Maybe you saw Riko-chan, Reo-chan and Risa’s performance of Hello, Happy World!'s “Worldwide Treasure!” at our show and that image of her rapping got stuck with you.

Kikuta: Yes, maybe I did watch that performance! Well, there are songs where Tsumugi-san doesn't sing as well as songs where she sings alongside Raychell-san, like their “BRING IT ON” (GigaP) cover, so I suppose you can say our range of possibilities became larger. Also, I don't think settling down as only the DJ goes with her personality either, so I'm glad she gets to sing.

ーRaychell-san, Kikuta-san, do you have any songs that you are especially attached to?

Raychell: Ah, there's a lot of them! Actually, I remember every single thing I've felt during recording. Well, for our debut song, “R･I･O･T”, I remember thinking about controlling the lows and highs because that would change how my voice sounded completely. So, I wondered which voice LAYER would have and after I listened to the finished product I thought, “Ah, so this is how LAYER sounds” for the first time ever.

Kikuta: Oh yes, back when we recorded “R･I･O･T”, your type of voice wasn’t fully concrete yet. But, as you performed more and more and received feedback, LAYER’s voice was perfected. Prior to RAS, the band visuals and characters were announced beforehand and their music would fit that. But, this time, they took the very opposite direction, with the real life band serving as inspiration for the completion of the character’s visuals.

Raychell: Thinking about it now, I think “R･I･O･T” was where I was the most nervous. Ah, Natsume was right in front of me when we recorded “EXPOSE 'Burn out!!!’”. I remember that she asked me if she could listen to the recording and so, she stayed there. Ah, that’s a very fun memory. (Laugh)

Kikuta: Raychell-san is really good at reacting. For example, when she performed “A DECLARATION OF XXX” live, she suddenly added an ad-lib in the song’s interlude! Ah, she did that in “Invincible Fighter” as well, I think. 

Raychell: That’s right! And I’ve also added things of my own accord in recordings as well. (Laugh)

Kikuta: Ah, don’t worry about it! I think your reacting and arranging skills are amazing. Besides, we are very grateful for you showing us the way you sing these songs.

Raychell: I add an ad-lib at the end of “EXPOSE 'Burn out!!!'” and then I usually add some more things too.

Kikuta: I think RAS is wonderful for transforming the songs in live performances like that. To me, adding those ad-libs at the last chorus in UNSTOPPABLE was the right decision too. 

Raychell: Really? I’m glad! I also change the last chorus in R･I･O･T. (Laugh)

Kikuta: The audience has things that they want to hear live. This fever together with the show’s atmosphere increases the amount of these arrangements that truly express the group and I believe that’s a good thing.

Raychell: Originally, I didn't sing Anime songs or Rock songs at all, so, for RAS songs, I had to train myself and think about the issues that I had to solve every time. 

Kikuta: You used to sing R&B originally as a solo singer right? 

Raychell: That’s right. I was mainly focused on ballads.

Kikuta: I see. I think that you’re able to handle songs from many styles easily because of this solid foundation that you’ve built up until now.

ーKikuta-san, how do you feel about the growth in their performances?

Kikuta: The overall band is growing each and every day in my opinion. I had never been worried about them as performers but I do feel like their smiles during the sets have increased. I guess you could say that they’re able to control things in a better way because they can be so flexible in their performances. They have each found their own role and they have a lot of respect towards one another. Seeing that sense of respect come together makes me think that they have become a really good band.

Raychell: Our connection really transformed because of the characters and their stories. The animations from both the Anime and MVs served as a big reference for our own movements as well. 

Kikuta: For RAS, having the Anime so close to the real band’s own steps made for something very fresh in the franchise. Being able to revisit the things that we’ve already seen but in animation form is something really interesting that only they can do.

Raychell: All the shows we had at our beginning were able to be imported to the Anime.

Kikuta: This is nothing other than a new and exciting way of media mixing!

ーAs the venue sizes were gradually increasing, it influenced the way you all faced each show, correct?

Raychell: That’s right. Before getting up on stage, I always carry the feeling of wanting to have a battle. Up until our show in Akasaka (THE THIRD (temp.)’s 2nd LIVE), I didn’t really stir up the audience, but ever since RAS received our name, I’ve been working hard to get them worked up!

Kikuta: It was just an ordinary stir up in the beginning.

Raychell: And now, I go like “Y’all! You better let your heads fly-!!”. (Laugh)

Kikuta: But, I think that’s exactly what makes RAS unique in BanDori. I don’t think any of the other bands can have the same aggressive, or rather, mischievous feeling. I believe this sort of instigation is loved by Rock fans and I also think that it’s something that the audience looks for. In things like professional wrestling, it’s necessary to have a “bad guy” or “anti-hero” role and RAS takes that position in BanDori.

Raychell: RAS’ creator, Ayana Yuniko-sensei has said that RAS takes that “bad guy” role as well.

Kikuta: Because that bad guy exists, Poppin’Party and Roselia can shine brighter. No band other than RAS can make that happen. I also think that RAS lyrics are things that can’t be sung by any other band as well.  

Raychell: Every time I talk to other cast members, they always say “RAS lyrics are so difficult, aren’t they~?” (Laugh). There’s always a lot of really strong wording to showcase RAS’ blazing fight spirit.

Kikuta: CHU²’s words always stir things up and I think that gives the band a really nice balance.

ーAlthough it’s a bit lawless, things are never really too bad, right?

Kikuta: That’s right! I think that’s thanks to Natsume-san and Raychell-san. If everyone acted like CHU², the whole band would be chaos, wouldn’t it? (laugh). Still, she makes the band stand out and all the other characters have their own charm as well.

Raychell: The balance between all 5 members of RAS is really nice, isn’t it?

Kikuta: They’re like a squad! I think that’s really nice and suited for a band.

ー I see! Raychell-san, are there any songs outside of RAS that make you think “I wish I could sing this!” or “I wonder how this would sound in my voice”?

Raychell: Back when we were THE THIRD (temp.) and also in our early days, we used to perform songs from other bands, like “That is How I Roll!” from Afterglow-san!

Kikuta: Although the collaborations with guests left a big impression, that’s how things were in the beginning.

Raychell: Well, now we have more original songs so we hardly ever do these covers anymore, but there are still songs that I want to sing. Afterglow-san’s songs are always fun to cover. Some songs from Glitter*Green-san, Pastel*Palettes-san and Hello, Happy World!-san makes me think “Ah, I would bring this out for this song!”.  We’ve had joint concerts with Roselia-san and Morfonica-san where we played together but there still hasn’t been one with PoPiPa-san, right? 

Kikuta: That’s true, you haven’t had a joint concert yet.

Raychell: That’s why I’m really excited to face them next February in BanG Dream! 11th☆LIVE! I really love Double Rainbow!

Kikuta: Wait, are you saying that because it’s my song? (Laugh)

Raychell: No, no! (Laugh). I found out that you wrote this song today! I was so surprised! How can you write these girl-like melodies, Kikuta-san?

Kikuta: This is part of my everyday job. I have to make songs in many different genres, coming from RAS-ish Loud Rock to Pastel*Palettes-ish cutesy songs.

Raychell: I like Pep meets Step from Pastel*Palettes-san, and I also love Kyouen Red×Violet from Roselia-san and Afterglow-san!

Kikuta: Ah, this song really has that battle energy.

Raychell: Isn’t this song something that I would sing? (Laugh)

Kikuta: It is! On that note, I don’t think I can imagine you singing PoPiPa songs.

Raychell: I guess that’s true! But, I love singing them on Karaoke! (Laugh)

Kikuta: I want to hear that someday! Well, now that I think about it, Aimi-san has a very distinct voice, doesn’t she? Since her voice has a unique charm to it, I can’t really imagine someone other than her singing PoPiPa songs.

[...]

ーYour dreams reach far and wide, don’t they?

Kikuta: […] To me, RAS’ number 1 goal is to go abroad. They do have some popularity already but I think it would be nice if they were more popular abroad as well.

Raychell: There are many foreign RAS fans on social media! I always receive comments! Especially fans from other parts of Asia. I receive many messages saying things like “I can’t really attend any shows but I’ll always support you!”. 

Kikuta: They have been to many festivals in the country as well. RAS really left their mark in many places, right? RAS was trending in social media when they performed at SUMMER SONIC 2022 this year so I think many people got to know them in these spaces.

Raychell: There’s a line from R･I･O･T that says “(Our sound) will take over the world”. This phrase represents our main goal. We’ll work even harder towards that goal!

Interview by 西廣智一

Translation by @mightybee113

Source

[victimsofyaoipoll]

I'm like 70% sure I sent the wlw dominated fandoms ask and was just feeling like being on anon that day (if I wasn't and just nearly submitted something super similar I'm so sorry original anon) the main fandoms I was thinking of were

The Owl House: Another anon suggested that so I won't bother with too much. Canon wlw ship and canon nblw ship, it took a while for me to even see a mlw or mlm ship come into the picture.

Revue Starlight: Absolute favorite anime/franchise, no I don't understand it 100% because you usually won't immediately. It was what I was really thinking of there. It has exactly one super explicit lesbian there (Mahiru, local winner of exactly one really big lesbian tournament I found on Twitter who stood alongside Hatsune Miku as the ultimate lesbian) and several wlw ships so heavily implied that they are pretty much canon. You also get your pick from the big ships (not noting Mahiru ones. Sorry girl), so you can choose between the childhood friends who act like they're broken up 50% of the time and like they've been taking for years the other 50%, the girls who look like the healthiest happiest practically married couple until you get to the eventual problems (mostly in the movie, despite the many mental problems one of the components of the ship has), the two rivals who were the only couple happy by the end of the movie and the focused on couple of two childhood friends who decided to define their lives around a play which is a tragedy and just met after years apart. Also it's one of the only fandoms where a really big ship I see (Mahikaren) is a poly ship so there's that. There's also two movies (one's a recap), stageplays, a mobile game which only 50% of the players like (the big suggestion regarding it is to just find videos of the stories/read them because there is some really brilliant writing there and another super explicit lesbian in the form of Rui and many more very heavily implied ones) and more.

Gundam Witch: This isn't the actual title just shortened. Anyways this series is a good entry to the Gundam series as a whole but works as a stand-alone series. The main character and the next most focused on one are both canonically sapphic and in love and I care about them. I'm trying to make this shorter than the Revue explanation since I just really love that series so much but this fandom also has other wlw ships which have popped up and generally is just great for wlw content.

Bandori: It's a gacha mobile rhythm game but we all have our flaws (and I really love the rhythm parts and all of the super good music. Like I need to clarify that I was only talking about the gacha as a flaw because I know it's the one bit which may not be loved. That's one one thing I left about the Revue mobile game too. gacha unfortunately is very good for ongoing stories). Very few men exist here, the ones who do are related to main characters usually and are outside of their age range and the characters are all very very sapphic. Plus there's exactly one super canon ship (Parechu) where one of the characters involved has an arc heavily relating to the lesbian experience (and who also writes what is basically a love song for her gf considering all of the lyrics. Basically what I'm saying is that they're super in love), more with canon crushes on girls, and generally there's a lot of wlw fanwork in the series due to how sapphic all of these girls are. and I love the writing very much.

There are others but these are the ones constantly in my head. If I can think of any more I might send in another ask, and I'm also happily looking through the other wlw dominated fandoms I see because I'm always looking for media which is sapphic inside and outside of canon

^

[timeclonemike]

Economics and Logistics

Coin of the Realm: The nation of Veck (and by extension the Barony of Barry) uses a currency colloquially referred to as a Buck, a silver disk roughly the diameter of the average thumbnail. The official name is the Royal Mark, but the nickname "buck" won out because one side prominently features a stag, that animal being a focal point in the royal family's coat of arms. The Hafton Princes also mint silver coinage with their own heraldic emblems, and that might have helped the "buck" terminology gain traction, to make it clear what nation's currency will be accepted at any given business. (The coins are similar in size and shape, and have been similarly devalued with other metals over time, so in practice they are used interchangeably throughout the archipelago.)

You Can Take That To The Bank: Carrying around a large bag of silver has numerous logistical problems when it comes to making large purchases, so of course there are various means by which different individuals and organizations get around it. Banks offer written checks (or cheques, as the empire on the mainland spells them for some reason) against the recorded balances of account holders, businesses establish records of credit and debit, and there are plenty of traders and merchants who speculate on physical goods that might fetch a better price than what they paid for them. All of this creates paper trails of one sort or another, which the Hero can use to try to figure out the Villains' plans - but the Villains can also do the same to keep track of the Hero and their Party. Buying cash is not that anonymous when every trader remembers the three dangerous looking people carrying fistfuls of silver. (Dexter points this out early on in his Mission Planning tutorial and also lampshades how hard it is for an individual to launder money compared to a larger organization.)

Can't Make Bricks Without Clay: In order to oppose the machinations of at least two aspiring dictators, the Hero and whoever they recruit will need more than just a sense of righteous indignation and catchy theme song. Party members will need food, medicine, equipment maintenance and upgrades, ammunition for various types of weapons, crafting components, and all manner of unusual context specific items needed for one quest or another. All of this runs into questions of money. Establishing and upgrading safehouses often requires an outlay of funds if the safehouse is not acquired through some sort of quest or mission, and any damage will need to be repaired as well. All of this means that saving the world can be a costly proposition, and some of the missions and side-quests the Hero will need to undertake will be purely for financial gain and stability; Party members without food, medical care, or a safe place to sleep can't fight as effectively, recover from injuries, or use their full range of skills.

New Money Versus Old Money: As part of their attempts to leverage control over occupied territory, both Silas Van Der Horne and Ben Waters start mandating the use of their own currency instruments and financial networks in any territory they manage to occupy. This means the only businesses in occupied territory that will still take bucks will be Pawn Shops, which do not have the same range of inventory. Complicating things further, traders from across the sea or the mainland will sometimes try to spend the money of their homeland rather than finding somebody who can do a currency exchange, and a few of those traders are either hamstrung by port regulations or paranoid about being cheated and will ONLY accept payment for their goods or services in the forms they recognize. (At least one quest requires Imperial Crowns from the Siderial Empire.)

[whiskeyswifty]

do you have any favorite non-Taylor performance looks? I really like hearing your thoughts on that stuff because it goes beyond "looks good/looks bad"

sorry it took me a while to answer this but i wanted to give you a good answer! i am terrible at thinking of thinking of things off the top of my head so i compiled the below over a few days. i'm sure i missed many that i'll kick myself for later, but this is what i got for now! also thank you so much for saying that! I love being thoughtfully critical and analytical of things, especially fashion and clothing which, to me, is function first. that can be boring for some people who want to just like or dislike something, and they're totally valid for that. but i'm glad you enjoy this sort of discussion like I do. it's really fun for me to probe my brain this way so thanks so much for sending this question! (these are in no particular order other than just what popped into my head)

Beyoncé at Beychella

an obvious choice, a recency bias choice, but also there's a reason this pops into your brain (if it does, which makes you correct and hot). While most of the people who remember this experienced this via the livestream that night (if you're like me losing my mind at 2 am) or via the eventual tour movie on netflix, it's still extremely successful because of the distance the camera often sits from the stage. very out of the norm for a filmed concert, where the instinct is to get close ups which make the film worth watching. if i wanted to see full stage views i would just go to the concert. but the reason the camera spends so much time far back and beholding the entire stage is because as much as beyonce is the center of the show, the stage and every single member of her band and dancers were also the center show. it was a full experience from corner to corner, and a major part of what made it so breathtaking was the tour costumes. color blocking isn't anything revolutionary, but it's so rarely employed like this because tour designers fear same-ness and losing the popstar amongst the dancers. but employed in this way, where the venue created audience members at extreme distances, it was a logistical stroke of genius to create a sea of yellow or pink, easy to see and behold from long distances. Also, a fantastic execution of a concept (which i'll probably reiterate several times that a unifying concept is CRUCIAL) that is both theatrical to watch and personal to the artist. Not only featuring the artistry and visual of outfitting her dancers and band/orchestra as HBCU marching band and color guard members, but going as far as to make her own fake sorority, i mean that's just spectacular. Effortlessly cool in it's appearance, while also deeply moving to the HBCU and black community who got to see their artistry and culture proudly displayed by the worlds biggest popstar. doesn't get better than this, in my opinion. Thoughtful, logistically solving problems, and wholly unique to the show and the artist herself. BONUS for her opening costume where she appeared as Queen Nefertiti!!!! all designed custom for her by olivier rousting, of balmain wunderkind fame. TWO DIFFERENT VARIATIONS OF THIS AS WELL

2. Britney Spears - Dream Within A Dream Tour

one of the all time tours in general, in the history of pop tours, and one of the major components was the costumes. Too many to find and show, but that's also what makes it marvelous. An astounding number of costume changes and sets that worked with the costumes in concept. One of which is above, a giant music box that she rises out of dressed as a ballerina in the middle of the show. another being the denim cowboy outfit, complete with chaps and a lucite cowboy hat because the show broke out into rain. it was an indoor traveling show, and yet the entire final song was done in the rain. also, projected onto the rain was a 30 ft tall hologram of britney IN THIS OUTFIT. I highly suggest you check out this tour if you can find it. there is a tour movie and it's probably on youtube somewhere. She also brought out a lot of her music video costumes, including my favorite, the lucky feather trimmed robe which translates phenomenally on stage.

3. Madonna - Confessions tour

another one for the history books, just an incredible run of dozens of costumes all unique to the themes of the songs or chapters of the show. above, she opens the show in a sexy riding outfit with a mane coming off the top of the hat (she got very into being an equestrian in her british era until she had an accident with her horse). you can see in the background a lot of the dancers are also outfitted in riding outfits, all with crops and helmets. you can also see the male dancers who are dressed as like bdsm horses, complete with reigns in their mouth, who she then RIDES on their backs. Only to be followed up by a performance of like a virgin where she performs suggestively on top of a saddle. she runs through 19 songs in full, almost each of them with their own sets including a whole parkour set and finishing off with the final "disco" act. complete with a saturday night fever suit that she and her dancers wear and ending in a roller disco. incredible stuff. we love a strong theme that ties into the theatrics!!

4. Ariana grande - dangerous woman tour

this one is less flashy and showy, but i really love structural costumes. given ari's low center of gravity, they're easy for her to pull off! joking, but also she does minimal dancing and comes from broadway/theater so she can carry more theatrical costumes. and i love when a costume cuts a cool silhouette and transforms the body. having been to this tour, the pink chiffon bow outfit was one of my favorites because of how the loops bounced as she ran around, as if they were little wings. Also, she closed the show (post encore) with an extended dangerous woman, complete with fire on stage and her at the end of the catwalk in this black latex gown. Her black silhouette against all the red/orange was really striking and you can't really see it here, but it dragged all around her and made her look like she was this foreboding black sludge demon. all while going on the most insane vocal runs i've ever heard in my life, completely ad-libbed.

5. Lady Gaga - Monster Ball Tour (original theater run and revamped arena run)

it would not be a complete list without miss gaga herself, the woman who singlehandedly reset what it meant to be a popstar. And it began with this tour, which after Kanye's taylor swift fiacso in 2009, went into hiding and their joint tour that was planned was scrapped. instead, gaga embarked on the monster ball tour, which she threw together in a few weeks i believe. it was a theater only show, so a small stage, but she went all out. and as we all know, her favorite way to devote resources is to pour them into costumes via her haus of gaga team. The costumes on this first leg of the show were whacky, sculptural, and of course, very theatrical, making her a larger than life popstar even on the small stage. The show was revamped after the north american run with europe getting a totally reworked and redesigned show that was upgraded to arenas. super deep little monsters cherish the memories of this brief and wildly creative show. i mean the exoskeleton costume is astounding. there are many more you can look at, and i encourage you to if you have never seen or heard of this brief, first leg. although i did go to both, and i enjoyed the arena tour too and all of it's upgrades. including how she lit her tits and crotch on fire i meeeeaaaannnn. now THATS a tour costume.

Honorable mention - Beyonce Formation tour

the hats truly being one of the most memorable visuals i've seen on a tour in person. i has higher seats for this one, and it was at citi field which is a baseball stadium, notoriously HORRENDOUS for concerts. anyway, from the cheap seats i could even be blown away by the opening of the song, formation, where she and a group of dancers, all donning these exaggerated brimmed hats, marched forward from backstage as the screens parted. they were lit so they were full black silhouettes and you couldn't tell which one was beyonce, on purpose. the opening to the song was extended as they stomped around until they lifted their chins and revealed themselves in the light, to rapturous applause. it was dramatic, but so simple, and a great example how tour costumes don't have to be intricate. sometimes, it's way more effective to play with shape and shadow and drama. She also closed the whole tour run by swapping out the black bodysuit for a yellow cavalli suit, which i mean INCREDIBLE flex to wear a full 3 piece suit when you're sweating and running around. cut gorgeously on her, those fantastic flared legs. In lemonade, bumblebee yellow, of course.

i limited it to tour looks cuz if i delved into award show looks that might take me forever to compile. also this is not a definitive list, even for myself. i'm sure i forgot some favs i just couldn't keep adding to this and putting off posting this ask forever lol. anyway, hope you enjoyed this as much as i did going down memory lane.

[bbsprint]

DEV01: New Music Track System

i'm not very good at audio. i can't make music and my sound design is mid-ish at best (maybe). this also applies to the low level portions of working with audio: me and waveforms don't get along so well

so could you imagine the face i had when the moment came where i wanted to add proper introlooping to the tracks in the game?

i'm using unity's audio system, which means the most i can do is limited by its boundaries. i could have used fmod as it is amazing from all the things i've read and heard. fmod studio looks awesome. but there are chances that i would need to rework how absolutely everything worked in the audio side and i didn't want to spend too much time doing that (remember: my current next milestone is nano plus! it's meant to be quicker!). as a matter of fact, i probably wouldn't later in development because i am content with a solution i came up while digging how some people looped their tracks seamlessly.

there's this Unity addon called IntroLoop. i originally was going to use it for the game, but the way it stored metadata and how it worked with its player could pose a problem and, again, i did not want to rewrite too much to implement this particular bit, as well as some opinionated ways-of-working a friend had warned me about from using it. not that it's bad, it just probably would've been kind of a pain

IntroLoop uses somewhat low-level components of the Unity audio engine to make sure the audio loops properly, such as directly reading from dsptime and scheduling sound plays. it works very well from prior experience. however they do say webgl has issues with it because of course, webgl is very unstable of a platform for unity and precision anything after all. (partially a joke. but there's so many unsupported things in webgl that it's crazy)

my approach uses something different based on how i've seen other people handle seamless loops. one person in unity answers had come up with the solution of using two tracks with a little bit of overlap between them so when changing the audioclip and the position of the sound the loop would sound seamless.

i thought that using two tracks was kind of wasteful, so i went and added 3-4 seconds of the loop's start to the tracks of the game that had an introless loop. below is an approximate of where the loop ends and the trailing bit for the next loop to start

i then take the desired loop end's samples (original end length), store them in notepad, paste the loop's tail, and put it in a new track metadata class that incorporates all metadata i want for the track in one place, like name, album cover, description, attributable link, and now loop start and end samples

no spoilers! this is a new track. the metadata still needs some polish.

with this approach, when the playhead's sample position exceeds the sample end, i just subtract its position by the length of the looping section and with the little bit of leeway given by the extra seconds any delay will be compensated for with the builtin overlap, and sounds very good (as in, PERFECT) for my purposes.

you probably noticed i'm saying samples instead of seconds of time. i wanted the loop to have zero cracks or pops when using this overlap mechanism, and i am afraid of floating points for many reasons. it just so happens the song time variable from the AudioSource in Unity has its timer in seconds, stored as a floating point value. these fears got me scared enough to instead choose what i consider a more reliable way of counting time in audio: samples.

all songs in bbsprint, ingame at least, are locked at a 44.1k Hz sample rate. if any song happens to be higher Hz than that, i will override it. it saves space and for the game it doesn't have to be that high quality; leave that for the OST release, but more importantly it allows this system to work with all tracks

it is also worth mentioning that this method probably disallows an OUTROloop (as in, letting the audio play, no loop, and having it end gracefully!) depending on how some tracks are structured, maybe you'd have to make the looping tail a section way too long so it's still structurally sound to achieve the effect.

i also have not tried testing whether the audio actually works well with this compensation in webgl, which is the most finnicky of all the build targets i have available.

however, this works for me and i am glad it does as well as it does, at least in desktop being profiled thru the unity editor, which... yeah, let's say that it adds quite the overhead compared to a standalone build (which gives me strong hope).

[ciaossu-imagines]

The last one for this particular prompt, I decided to write for a Lance/Reader/Kitty polyship! I actually don’t have any other polyships for X-Men: Evolution, a real change for me so I hope any fans of the show will enjoy the headcanons (and feel free to suggest alternate polyship ideas for this fandom!)

Who is the one who would go up to a random elder in a coffeeshop and ask them about their life?

It would have to be you, if anybody. Lance doesn’t really approach strangers like that, especially not just random old people and Kitty is usually too busy with friends and her own social life…and kind of isn’t into chatting with old people, if I’m to be completely honest.

Who hates checking out books because checking them out means interacting, and that is always awkward?

Lance doesn’t really check out books. One, reading isn’t his thing. Two, he forgets completely about returning them and definitely has overdue book fees from the one time he did think to check out a book. Three, he really fucking hates small talk. It’s a huge pet peeve of his. Kitty, on the hand, checks out books for studying and to use in her schoolwork and has no problem with interacting to do so.

Who is the one to use toilet paper as tissues and carries it around all day?

This is so something Lance does, though he’s also kind of gross at times and might just use his sleeve or shirt collar if nothing else was available.

Who is the one who carries around $100 just in case there is some apocalypse and they need to buy gear?

Lance can’t seem to keep money. It’s not that he’s horrible about spending it, just that it tends to go missing on him, living in the Brotherhood house. And let’s be honest…if an apocalypse did happen, he’s just taking the gear he needs without worrying about paying for it. Kitty, meanwhile, does have a spending issue and if she saves up that amount, it’s quickly gone on things like clothes or CD’s or a million other things she wants, leaving this one to be you, my lovely reader, or nobody.

Who is the one who points with their chin?

Lance does this constantly. It’s half-laziness and half that he thinks it makes him look kind of cool and tough.

Who is the one who takes pictures of their food and instagrams it?

Lance does not have an Instagram or has one that has absolutely nothing on it. Kitty’s a little guilty of doing this but it’s not an everyday or every meal thing for her, just when the food she’s eating is like, super aesthetic and gorgeous or when she bakes something and really wants to show it off to her followers.

Who is the one who reads fanfiction daily?

I feel like Kitty would be a little into fanfiction, especially shipping fanfics that are fluffy and cute or reader inserts along the same lines. She’s really into romance fics and the tropes used in them but she doesn’t read fanfiction every day by any means, or even every week, leading it to be more likely a you thing.

Who is the one to write fanfiction?

It’s you or nobody. Lance doesn’t get fanfiction and Kitty wouldn’t be that into writing fanfiction, preferring to read it when she’s in the mood for it or to stick with her daydreams about the characters.

Who is the one who cosplays?

Now this one…this is right up Kitty’s alley. She loves getting the opportunity to dress up, especially in wild costumes. She prefers cute over sexy or edgy cosplay and loves having photoshoots done when she does cosplay. However, she’s not at all into making her own cosplays and would prefer to be able to buy most of the components of any particular cosplay she does.

Who is the one who likes to quote movies, books, and songs in conversation?

Lance quotes old 80’s movies and classic rock. I don’t know why but that is a completely unshakable headcanon I have in regard to his character.

Who is the one to burst out into song randomly?

Kitty sings quite frequently, albeit not amazingly. But she’s so happy doing it that it makes people around her smile. Lance doesn’t sing randomly but I definitely feel he sings along to music in his car, tapping on the steering wheel with his hand to the beat of the music and probably bobbing his head along to the beat as well.

Who is the one who secretly uses their neighbours WiFi?

The entire Brotherhood house is using their neighbours Wi-Fi whenever Mystique shuts off Wi-Fi to the house because these boys are all broke-ass bitches and refuse to pay for Wi-Fi even when they have the money.

Who is the one who safety pins friendship bracelet strings to their clothing so they could have something to do if bored?

Kitty doesn’t pin them to her clothing but to her backpack. Either that, or she carries them in a little baggie inside her pocket or purse. She likes making friendship bracelets; she learned how to from a friend in elementary school and learned some really cool designs during art classes at a summer camp she went to and it’s an easy thing to keep her entertained whenever she gets bored. She doesn’t really make them often for anyone in particular but gives them away to whoever likes them or asks for one.

Who is the one who played/plays an obscure instrument just to be different?

I have always strongly headcanoned that Kitty can play the cello. She’s embarrassed about it and thinks it’s really uncool so it would take a lot for her to admit it. She only learned because her parents made her take lessons.

Who is the one who puts bajillions of stickers on their door/wall?

I feel like Lance has a shit ton of posters, from band posters to classic cars to pin ups, and they’re all held up with stickers from brands he likes, bands he’s a fan of, or just really cool, kind of badass designs like snakes or skulls or things along that ilk. They’re all over his walls.

Who is the one who likes to rewatch the same movies?

Kitty likes to keep up on new movies, really only rewatching things if a sequel or prequel is coming out. Lance rewatches a lot more, probably the most out of the three of you, just because there’s very few movies that come out that he’s really into, since his tastes in media are kind of really particular.

Who is the one who uses bootlegs to watch their favourite movies/TV shows?

Lance does this a good 99% of the time. He really doesn’t have a lot of money so it’s often the only way he can manage to watch a lot of the television or movies he enjoys. He also gets DVDs from thrift stores or pawn shops for fifty cents to a dollar to build his collection up because that’s what he can afford.

Who is the one that writes on their arm to remind themselves to do something?

While Kitty is a lot more intelligent than she seems, she’s more than a little absent-minded and can forget things pretty easy so she does this fairly regularly, though she usually remembers in a slower moment, when she has time, to write the information down on a Post-It, which she sticks to the mirror on her dresser where she’ll be sure to see it.

Who is the one who owns dozens of pencils but is too lazy to sharpen them?

Lance mooches pencils and pens off of people and rarely returns them. Kitty has an extensive stationery collection but only because she really loves pretty, often glittery, pens and cute patterned pencils. She is so into anything like that. So this would have to be you who doesn’t like to sharpen pencils or nobody at all!

Who is the one who uses YouTube for their music because they don’t want to buy/download anything?

He just really can’t afford to buy new music often, so YouTube is a godsend for Lance. It’s how he listens to music when he’s not in his Jeep.

Who is the one who always wears the same shoes?

I feel like Lance does this. He didn’t grow up rich enough to own multiple pairs of shoes and he often had to patch the shoes he had with duct tape to make them last longer. So, even as he grows up, and even when he can afford more than a single pair of shoes, it’s just force of habit for him to have one pair of shoes that he wears everyone and only throws out when there’s either no soles left to them or the holes in them are too big to ignore anymore.

Who is the one to do asks like this?

It’s definitely Kitty and she really, really wants you to do them with her. She genuinely loves doing couples asks and things along those lines because you always learn something new about your partner that way and she’s just intensely curious about both you and Lance.

[tinycatslay]

#9 Adulting and adultery (Yes, I love alliteration)

Sometimes I wonder if I have always been like this and I just never noticed because I was distracted with something else. I get scared that there is something integrally important that I am missing about my experience of being alive, and how to improve it.

I recount endless episodes that have brought me pain through movies, songs, and books and ask myself if happen because it needed to happen or because I played the game wrong.

I know the key components of all of the things that haunt me. I know the movies will say otherwise to make you feel better about yourself, but the harsh truth is that being pretty does help. Having a crap tone of friends. Having a semi-functional family. Having savings since day one. Having a lot of degrees, but not too many that people think you had to take all those because you couldn't get a job in the first place.

I have these days where everything is actually set out to be good. The components are out there. So why do I find myself taking a nap at 5:32pm on a rare sunny Saturday?

As I scroll on Tiktok to see yet another video of a funny, happy, and seemingly normal baby, I think I will never be able to give someone a seemingly normal nice life. Maybe I'll never be able to be someone's mum. Or won't be fit to be.

I am not sure of when I became my biggest setback but I can pinpoint a few moments that have hammered the "you're not making it past 20" thought into my head. I won't talk about those right now, but they're here. The problem is that I'm 22. And now I have to figure out, like a normal person, what to do with the rest of the time.

From time to time I call my mum and pretend I am over all of the things I've found out about my parents in the past months for the sake of being close to her again. I miss her a lot lately, I miss them all really. But I miss them as they were before I moved to university. Before the lies came ashore, before the split, before feeling like I never actually knew anyone in my approximate family. I try not to think about this because it would make weekly calls that much more depressing.

I've always been a great liar. I can be as secretive as I am chatty. As much as I didn't know what my parents were going through, they didn't know anything real about me until recently. I hope someday I can get rid of the resentment I still feel about them. All that was good is gone, yet something inside me still longs for a house I can come back to - one that is full and lived in, and a little messy, and that smells like homemade food. Each day I distance myself more from where I grew up. I left home willingly, but no one told me it would be gone when I came back to visit.

I try to plan and be excited about things but it's just not happening to me right now - an internship on the way, another two degrees nearly finished, complete and udder independence at the grasp of final digital submission at the end of June. It could be my medication but my fear is that this is actually me, and the medication just heightens these things I've always felt and been.

We will see. I will write.

[farewellwndrlst]

tick, tick ...BOOM!(2021) what is the point of money, if you’re not going to spend it on the people that you love?

tick, tick... boom! is a biopic about a musician. about a classically poor musician who lives with a friend in the same apartment, simply because he cannot afford more, and is afraid that by his 30s he has not written anything "worthwhile". he has no savings, no hope and no stability. but there is a crisis, the fear of being a nobody in the world after your birthday and the persistence to write "something".

how do we usually see biopics? something starts from childhood - some kind of story that shows the character 20-30 years before the events in the film. before he became famous. a person from a poor family who has a bad relationship with mom or dad (sometimes with both of them), maybe even someone without a future. there is always some feature - additional teeth, expressiveness, again a bad relationship with parents.

and that's not going to happen in this movie. we start with a monologue. the main character greets us, introduces himself and talks about himself. about his problem. and no a word about how tight his budget.

tick tick tick.

in a little over a week he will lose his youth.

and it is the fear that haunts him.

tick tick tick.

he will be more than a hundred famous people when they finish their last great works. (club 27, although it will appear a little later, but it still exists). at 30, people have kids, a dog, mortgages, credit cards, and a paid job. john has been writing one musical for eight years. rewrites. changes. trying to do something perfect.

few people can move mountains, change the world, and still not go crazy working in a diner just to get at least some money for food and rent.

he has a friend (an incredible actor who gets a job in an advertising agency and is now, in fact, an adult who has gone from a "writer who works as a waiter" to a "waiter who has a hobby") and a girl who is not ready to put up with the way john lives in trying and wanting to do something great.

the film touches on many themes. talents, the loss of loved ones, the choice between career and love, but all this under the cover of the main theme of the tape - the theme of time. we are all given a certain number of hours of life. tick, tick... and then boom. time is running out, we are dying. we will not be able to avoid this, put life on pause. tick, tick. all we can do is make the most of the time allotted to us. and here a person is already faced with a choice on what to spend his life on: follow his dream to the end, like the main character, or leave it in the past, finding himself in an ordinary but well-paid job.

john is running all the time throughout the movie. party? john runs around the apartment singing about not wanting to see the time. news that shocks him? john is running from it as fast as he can. fight with a friend? john runs into the apartment, although there is no reason to hurry.

four days before his 30s, john writes the last element of his musical, which he has been working on for 8 years.

three days before his 30s, john does his first full run, which becomes a success but doesn't take him to broadway.

two days before his 30s, john finds out that his friend is terminally ill and makes another dash before finding his lonely deus ex machina.

he still can't pay off his electricity bill. even after his success at the run of the musical. and even the fastest run of time, horror and anxiety here echo the story of john who has already stepped over all this, who also, in the musical, talks about it after a while.

and the music here - the main component - is incredible. maybe it's because the songs were originally written for the production, or maybe because andrew garfield did a good job with singing. most of the film is bright, emotional songs, replaced at the last moment by small sound elements.

the whole film is very vivid - the story in "a little more than a week" is told pleasantly, logically, touchingly and sensually. we see a beautiful picture (not as bright as in «la la land», which definitely benefits the film), but the film is not free from elements of "drawing" - the words that are spinning in the head of the hero appear around him, the notes appear on tiles in the pool, and the main question of the film appears on the screen directly from the notes.

a lot of work with the frame - the use of "chronicle" in a different format, which echoes the story of larson, complements and improves it. we see the whole truth and what jonathan made up.

and, perhaps, the brightest thing is the acting. yes, we can talk a lot about how incredible the direction of the film is, especially for a debut, but really all the attention is on garfield, who approached the role as a different person after losing his mother.

in addition to himself, he creates a bright world around. he wants to empathize, he is natural and gives all the best in his work. it can be said that he rediscovered himself as an actor because he learned to sing for this role. for the same work, he received an oscar, which is definitely deserved.

after superbia, he went back to a project he’d started and put away, called rent. it ran on broadway for twelve years. it changed the definition of what a musical could be. what it could sound like. the kinds of stories that it could tell. jonathan never got to see it. the night of the show’s final dress rehearsal, he died from a sudden aortic aneurysm. he was thirty-five years old.

so to sum it up

fear or love? cages or wings?