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mariacallous · 1 month ago

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Almost no one hits it big in music. The odds are so bad it’s criminal. But on a late spring evening in Louisville, Kentucky, Mike Smith and Jonathan Hay were having that rare golden moment when everything clicks. Smith was on guitar. Hay was fiddling with the drum machine and keyboard. Dudes were grooving. Holed up in Hay’s living room, surrounded by chordophones and production gizmos, the two musicians were hoping that their first album as a jazz duo would finally win them the attention they’d been chasing for years.

It was 2017. The men, then in their forties, were longtime collaborators and business partners—though they made an odd couple. Smith owned a string of medical clinics and wore tight shirts over his meticulously maintained muscles. He lived in a sprawling house in the suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina, with his wife and six kids. He’d judged on a reality TV show and written a self-help book. Hay—larger, softer, comfy in sweatsuits and Crocs—lived in an apartment and was dating a stripper. He loved weed. He’d hustled as a music publicist for years; by reputation he was best known in the industry for promoting a nuclear rumor that Rihanna had hooked up with Jay-Z. He’d recently, on an impulse, had sleeves tattooed on his arms. To avoid annoying his health-nut friend, he’d sneak into his bedroom to vape.

Smith and Hay finished their album and called it Jazz. That fall, they released it on all the usual places—Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal—and as a physical album. Alas, it failed to take off. Smith and Hay weren’t total nobodies; a few songs they had coproduced for other artists years earlier had gotten some buzz. So the two men decided to retool Jazz and release an updated version, adding new songs.

Jazz (Deluxe) came out in January 2018. Right away, it shot up the Billboard chart and hit No. 1. Hay was elated. At last, real, measurable success had arrived.

Then, just as suddenly, the album disappeared from the ranking. “Nobody drops off the next week to zero,” says Hay, remembering his confusion. He called other artists to ask if they’d ever seen this before. They hadn’t. Questions piled up. If so many people had listened, why did they suddenly stop? He scanned the internet for chatter. Even a single freaking tweet would have been nice. Nada. Where were the fans? “No one’s talking about the music,” Hay realized.

Pulling up Spotify’s dashboard for artists, Hay scrutinized the analytics for the pair’s work. Listeners appeared concentrated in far-flung places like Vietnam. Things only got stranger from there. Here’s how Hay remembers it: He started receiving notices from distributors, the companies that handle the licensing of indie artists’ music. The distributors were flagging Smith and Hay’s music, from Jazz and from other projects, for streaming fraud and pulling it down. Smith told Hay it was a mistake and that Hay had messed up securing the proper rights for samples. Hay frantically tried to correct the issue, but the flagging persisted.

Hay, panicking, badgered Smith to help him figure out what was happening. Finally, Hay says, Smith offered some answers: Smith had instructed his staff at the medical clinics to stream their songs. It didn’t sound like the full story.

Then, last September, Smith turned up at the heart of another music streaming incident, this one rather epic. The FBI arrested him and charged him in the first AI streaming fraud case in the United States. The government claims that between 2017 and 2024, Smith made over $10 million in royalties by using bot armies to continuously play AI-generated tracks on streaming platforms. Smith pleaded not guilty to all charges. (Through his lawyer, Smith declined to be interviewed, so this is very much Hay’s side of the story, corroborated by numerous interviews with people who worked with the two men.)

When Hay found out, he marveled at the idea of his former collaborator managing to get richer than nearly all working musicians without being a household name. “He had a billion streams,” Hay claims, “and no fans.”

When he first met Smith in 2013, Hay was working as a publicist; to make extra cash, he sold online PR consulting to aspiring musicians at $250 a session. Smith came across those sessions and signed up. “He did something really grandiose,” Hay says. “He booked like 20 hours.” Ka-ching!

Smith flew in for his tutorial in person. Though Hay was the local, Smith picked the meeting spot, a sports bar in a strip mall. (“Control freak,” Hay says now.) The way Hay understood it, Smith had amassed a fortune running medical clinics. As his next act, Hay says, Smith wanted to get famous, and he was willing to spend whatever it took. By the end of the first consultation, he says, they were simpatico: Smith yearned to be a star, Hay a starmaker.

The two men quickly settled on a strategy. Although Smith wanted to be an artist himself, they’d start a label called SMH Records and work their way through the industry as producers and behind-the-scenes movers—basically, paying their way in. “Spared no expenses on the budget,” says B. Stille, one of the members of the southern rap group Nappy Roots, who worked with Smith and Hay a few times. One of the pair’s first wins was coproducing a buzzy single for the group. Smith also financed, and became a judge on, BET’s One Shot, where he scouted for rap’s next stars alongside DJ Khaled, Twista, and T.I., despite the fact that they were all big-name hip-hop stars and he was a relatively unknown record producer with a checkbook.

Around the time Smith started working on One Shot, Hay began to suspect that his buddy’s finances were not all in order. He and another SMH employee dug around to see what they could uncover about their colleague. In February 2015, Hay sent their business associates a 111-page document accusing Smith of financial mismanagement. Hay thought it was his “Jerry Maguire moment.” He was confident he’d convince at least one other person that something was deeply wrong.

But others saw their relationship with Smith differently. “Everybody stayed with Mike,” he says. “It made me feel really stupid.” People in their circle trusted Smith, it seemed. Kxng Crooked, a rapper who judged with Smith on One Shot, found him wholesome. “I flew out to his house and played with his kids,” the rapper says. Goldy Locks, a musician on the SMH label, says she’d had “a completely positive experience” working with Smith. “Out of all the labels that I’ve ever been on, Mike’s the only one that’s ever taken care of us.”

One Shot aired in 2016, lasting for a single season. It marked a high point in Smith’s career—and a downturn for Hay. In 2017, two men broke into Hay’s apartment and held him and his daughter at gunpoint. Smith came to check on him afterward. Hay appreciated the gesture, and his anger faded. That is, until their jazz album came out and Hay began to suspect Smith again.

In the late 2010s, Smith linked up with Alex Mitchell, the CEO of an AI song generator startup called Boomy. AI song generators, which allow people to “create” music by selecting or customizing prompts about what the tunes should sound like, now have millions of users but were then a niche product. Smith was, it must be said, ahead of the curve here—few people appreciated then how omnipresent AI would become in the music world. In the government’s indictment, Mitchell fits the description of an unnamed, not-charged co-conspirator: Starting around 2018, a “Chief Executive Officer of an AI music company” provided Smith with “thousands of songs each week.”

“Keep in mind what we’re doing musically here ...,” the CEO wrote, per the indictment. “This is not ‘music,’ it’s ‘instant music’ ;).” Smith allegedly assigned the AI songs to fake artists. The songs had otherworldly, -dictionary-scraping names: “Zygophyceae,” “Zygophyllaceae,” “Zygopteraceae.” The fake artists were equally odd, with names such as “Calm Force,” “Calm Knuckles,” “Calms Scorching,” and “Calorie Event.”

According to the indictment, Smith uploaded the music onto streaming platforms and, with the help of contractors, created thousands of accounts. Using “small pieces of computer code” that he’d bought, Smith was able to “continuously” play the music on those accounts—essentially commanding a custom bot army to play his AI tracks nonstop. Those plays triggered royalty payments. In other words, Smith was—if the allegations are true—cementing his status as a master purveyor of AI slop. Indeed, the ranks of AI slopstars are filling up fast with the hustlers flooding Amazon with crappy robo-books and the schemers gobbling up websites and turning them into AI content mills. The internet has become a warehouse of algorithmically manufactured imitations of cultural products, all of it spewed into existence by people trying to game the faulty creator economy and get rich quick.

Hay says he knew nothing about AI at the time. But he believed something was up with their streaming numbers. The pair’s fighting intensified. “You steal from streaming platforms,” he accused Smith via email in December 2019. “These are federal crimes, bro.” Smith responded by resending the pair’s legal agreement. Hay claims that Smith cut him out of deals and withheld income—and it made him snap. Hay dashed off another jeremiad to their associates. He wrote to Billboard employees and other people in their professional network outlining his suspicions. This time, Hay says, he was ready to cut ties. He says he went to the local police and even the FBI: “I blew the whistle as loud as I could.”

But then—once again—nothing happened. A Billboard employee eventually texted Hay that the company had decided not to pursue an investigation. (Billboard declined to comment on this particular incident, though a spokesperson for Penske Media Corporation, which now owns and operates Billboard, noted that it will remove inaccurate records if it is made aware of the problem in a timely fashion. Billboard records from Smith and Hay still stand.) Embarrassed, Hay told the Billboard team that he had gone off his medication. He certainly felt crazy.

Smith, meanwhile, wasn’t having a great time either. He was navigating a lawsuit from staffers at his medical offices, who claimed that his clinics had engaged in Medicaid and Medicare fraud. The lawsuit alleges that Smith was moving money from the clinics into SMH Records, which was something Hay had suspected. Smith and his codefendants reached a settlement in 2020, requiring them to pay $900,000.

Nevertheless, by 2022 Smith seemed to be back on a roll. He produced a song featuring Snoop Dogg and Billy Ray Cyrus. He was also lining up a slate of ambitious projects—including a horror movie with RZA and an animated series in which a cartoon Smith would travel to the afterlife, set to music by Snoop Dogg and RZA. (Neither Snoop Dogg nor RZA responded to requests for comment.) But success turns on a dime in this business, and by the following year something appeared to have changed. Smith went silent on Insta-gram. The horror movie came out without much fanfare. According to a timeline included in the criminal indictment, Smith was spending at least some of that time trying to convince groups within the streaming industry that he was legitimate. Then, in spring 2023, he received a notice that dealt a major blow. The Mechanical Licensing Collective, a nonprofit entity that collects and dispenses royalties for streaming services, had confronted Smith about fraud and was now halting payments. A crucial money spigot had turned off.

On September 4, 2024, federal agents pulled up to Smith’s sprawling Colonial Revival–style brick home. They handcuffed him and perp-walked him out to their navy sprinter van, past his three-car garage, as befuddled neighbors looked on.

For Hay, the arrest was a vindication. In the indictment, Hay—who fits the description of an unnamed “Co-Conspirator 2” and is not charged with a crime—comes across as something of a patsy, the person whose work Smith used to “fraudulently generate royalty payments” before pivoting to AI. Other people in Smith’s orbit have expressed surprise. Music promoter Bram Bessoff, who is registered as a cowriter on hundreds of Smith’s AI songs, expressed “total shock” to WIRED and says he’s cooperating with authorities. (While Bessoff is neither named nor charged in the indictment, “Co-Conspirator 4” is described as a music promoter.) Meanwhile, Boomy CEO Alex Mitchell, who was also registered on hundreds of the songs along with Bessoff and Smith, declined to respond to questions. A spokesperson for Boomy, Phoebe Myers, told WIRED that neither Mitchell nor Boomy “had any knowledge or involvement in Smith’s alleged criminal conduct,” nor had they “engaged in bot streaming or knew of any bot streaming by Smith.” Myers adds that Mitchell did not have any relationship with Smith’s music publishing company.

Included in the government’s indictment is an excerpt from a jubilant email Smith sent to his co-conspirators (the ones who sound an awful lot like Mitchell and Bessoff). In it, he wrote about how they’d be receiving 10 percent cuts on the royalties generated by the songs: “We are at 88 million TOTAL STREAMS so far!!!”

Technically, it’s not illegal to make a bonkers amount of AI-generated music and put it on a streaming service. Tacky, yes. Disrespectful to the art form, probably. But not necessarily against the law. In fact, it’s pretty common: Deezer, a French music streaming platform, estimates that 10 percent of the songs uploaded every day are AI-generated. If a company were to train its song generator on copyrighted music without permission, it could run into trouble if music labels alleged that use case was illegal, as happened to Suno and Udio, two companies that are now the subject of lawsuits. Boomy appears to be aboveboard on this count—it has been certified by Fairly Trained, a nonprofit that checks whether generative AI companies got consent to use their training materials. So the first part of Smith’s (alleged) scheme might, at most, be violating laws of good taste.

Then there are the bots and fake accounts. Major streaming services often prohibit their use in their terms of service. Last year, a man in Denmark was found guilty of committing music streaming fraud by using bots to play his music on Spotify and Apple Music. Still, the vast majority of such behavior goes unpunished. Morgan Hayduk, the co-CEO of a streaming-fraud-detection startup called Beatdapp, has monitored whole networks of bad actors siphoning money from streamers. “Conservatively, it’s a billion-dollar-a-year type of problem,” Hayduk says. “The Michael Smith case is the tip of the iceberg.”

A 2021 study by France’s National Music Center found that around 1 to 3 percent of all streams were fraudulent; Beatdapp puts that number at around 10 percent. According to Hayduk, some of the startup’s clients consistently flag 17 to 25 percent of streams as fraudulent, and occasionally as many as half. As he sees it, AI song generators are a “supercharger” for this behavior, and Smith’s alleged scheme isn’t especially cutting-edge. “If you’re a sophisticated, organized criminal,” Hayduk says, “you would do this from the comfort of a beach in a non-extradition country.”

It remains unclear which streaming companies ended up paying Smith the most money, probably because nobody wants to admit their detection efforts flopped. Spotify, the industry’s behemoth, claims that its fraud detection programs caught Smith’s alleged chicanery. “It appears our preventative measures worked and limited the royalties Smith was able to generate from Spotify to approximately $60,000 of the $10 million,” says Laura Batey, a company spokesperson. Apple, YouTube Music, and Tidal did not respond to questions; Amazon declined to answer questions about Smith. While distributors and streaming services are leaning on sophisticated fraud detection in an AI-versus-AI war, some industry experts argue that the real problem is the streaming companies’ royalty payment structures and that only a total overhaul can curb the problem.

In some corners of the music world, Smith isn’t seen as a villain. Musicians often accuse streaming platforms, and of course labels, of ripping off artists. Goldy Locks, Smith’s former client, says some people view him as a modern-day Robin Hood. Others see him as a man who exploited an exploitative system, a creature native to a grift-addled environment. After all, radio invented payola, and Spotify inserts bulk-produced stock songs into popular playlists. The line between organic and paid audiences has always been blurry. Even in 19th-century France, “claqueurs” were paid to fill opera houses and clap.

Smith is now out on bail. His lawyer, Noell Tin, said in a statement that “Mike Smith is a successful songwriter, musical artist, devoted husband, and father to six children. He looks forward to responding to the charges against him in court.” The case, brought in the US Southern District Court of New York, will be heard by Judge John Koeltl, who has a history with consequential tech lawsuits, including a ruling against the Internet Archive and an ongoing case against the crypto hub Binance. If found guilty, Smith faces up to 60 years in prison. Either way, Smith has earned a seat in the music business pantheon: The government has cast him as an avatar for the AI era’s gifts to grifters. Anybody can click a few buttons and make a song now. But building a fortune off these audienceless ditties? From one angle, it might be a crime. From another, it’s a new art.

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seoul-bros · 1 year ago

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Jikook Week 18 Complete ✔️(09/04-16/04/2024)

Their eighteenth week in the military is now complete. It's time to celebrate this milestone with a look back at this week in 2020.

The world was at the beginning of the COVID pandemic lockdowns and nations across the world were seeing a sharp rise in fatalities from the disease. The US leg of the Map of the Soul tour was on indefinite hold and to fill the gap, on 09/04, BTS announced Bang Bang Con a streaming event of their concerts between 2015 and 2018 to be held on 18th -19th April 2020.

On 14/04, the one hundredth episode of Run BTS was released. BTS had hired out the whole arena used for the ISAC games (IYKYK hee hee). It was sponsored by and they were all kitted out in FILA.

As with most BTS big days there was a cake to celebrate. Jimin suggested they cut the cake together (like VIPs) which was a cute idea but didn't quite work so the maknae had to do the honours and promptly got told off by RM for turning his back to the camera. The injustice!

Then it was on to team selection. A quiz about previous episodes of Run BTS was held to see who would be the team leader.

Taehyung wiped the floor with everyone. He really was the Run BTS mastermind. He then got to pick his team - JK, Jin and Jimin. It was rap line (100 jin) against vocal line (seok 100).

The teams have to play badminton with weird rackets.

All is going well until Suga hits JK's team members twice in a row. The first time it was Jin and the second it was Jimin. At this point JK springs into protective mode and I wouldn't have wanted to be Suga at this point. Check out Hobi's reaction.

Cr. to OP

First round the rapline dominate but the vocal line stage a comeback and take all three games and the match. Man of the Match though has to be J-Hope whose skill with the pot cover was outstanding. The 95 line really enjoyed it.

The second game was Foot Volleyball. It was the hopeless three moment for 100 jin. Needless to say seok 100 won again.

youtube

Finally this week, Boyfriend had Jimin choosing their massage chair over JK's capable hands. Yeah that's believable (heavy sarcasm) 🤣😂🤣😂

Post Date: 16/04/2024

#jikook #bts in the military #bts in 2020 #jimin #jungkook

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irresponsibleink · 4 months ago

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Born Again Put a Bullet in My Childhood

*Born Again Spoilers*

The return of the Man Without Fear not only broke my heart, it signifies the end of my childhood. The bullet fired by Benjamin Pointdexter went straight through its victim and into the last bit of nostalgia I held for my younger years.

I was twelve years old in April of 2015. The concept of a streaming service was still new to me, and I expected the first Marvel/Netflix show to be reminiscent of a low-budget fan series. I was going through a lot at the time. My parents were getting divorced, my grandfather was sick with cancer, and my family was on the verge of being homeless. On April 10th, my father and I stayed at my grandad’s house. Grandad was at the hospital because his lung cancer had taken a turn for the worst, and I curled up on the worn couch as spring air filtered in from the open window and my Dad sat down with a grunt in the recliner. My Dad turned on the show and I was enthralled.

I had never seen a superhero show that felt so adult, so real, so slick, and complicated and heavy. I related to Matt Murdock, someone who always seemed to have some sort of obstacle ahead of him. I related to Matt’s boyhood counterpart who was concerned about his father making the rent payments on time. I related to being small, consumed with the big mysterious world that can change at any moment with various levels of stability. I liked that Matt Murdock kept going, no matter how bad things got.

Two days later, I was sitting in my bedroom late at night, watching the infamous episode “Nelson V. Murdock” on my Wii console, legs folded under me, chewing my nails as Charlie Cox and Elden Hensen cried on screen. I was still thinking about that episode the next morning as we drove to Grandad’s house. Later that day, the police called informing us that our house had been robbed. My TV and Wii console were both stolen along with all our other possessions. The drawers in my bedroom were pulled free and clothes were strewn about. Looking at my room, I felt naked. There were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle decals on my walls and I wondered if the thieves looked at them when they came into my room. I wonder if they felt bad about stealing from a child and I knew they probably didn’t. Two days after that, we were officially evicted.

In 2018, I was an angry teenager. My mother was getting remarried and I didn’t like the guy. I didn’t like that we were moving or that I wouldn’t see my friends as much anymore, even though they didn’t feel like my friends at the time. Most of them treated me like shit because we were all young and unhappy about something. I was suicidal but I didn’t fully understand what I was feeling. I pretended to be happy all the time and that made it worse. The new season of Daredevil was the only good thing I had going on in my life. I coveted the episodes, watching one every other week, taking my time. When the series was canceled I was halfway through the season. I stopped watching it and I wouldn’t finish it until 2024. I didn’t want the story to be over. I didn’t want to say goodbye to Matt, Karen, and Foggy, my only real friends.

Recently, I’ve been struggling with the concept of growing up. I’m twenty-two years old and I’m in a weird space where I’m not a kid but I also don’t feel like an adult. It feels like I stopped aging in 2020. I keep reminiscing, thinking to myself “Things used to be better,” even though I know that isn’t true. I’m in college, I’m in therapy, I’m on medication, and life is good. Yet, I can’t seem to move on from periods of my life that have passed. I find myself dreaming about my childhood home and places I lived in my teens. They’re always altered, mashed together like some fucked-up Winchester mystery house.

For years I wanted Daredevil to return. The original series was the postmark of my adolescence. Matt, Foggy, and Karen did more for me during the worst parts of my life than most of my friends have. I wanted to see them again. It was so weird when I got my wish. Tuesday night, I assembled the best bar food I could find, spicy chicken wings, fries, mozzarella sticks, a big juicy burger, and three ice-cold bottles of Coors Light. I set my favorite Daredevil comics and Funko figurines around my television set and placed my fancy chair right in front of it. Seeing Matt, Foggy, and Karen together again was like a dream or a hallucination. And none of that compared to the shock of seeing Foggy gunned down in the street. Hand covering my mouth, food getting cold next to me, and my cousin crying on speakerphone, I watched one of my best friends bleed to death on screen.

I’m a sensitive person and I tend to overthink. I like drawing connections, even if they don’t make complete sense sometimes. In the aftermath of the Born Again pilot episode, sitting on my chair and staring at the ceiling, I realized something: I can finally move on. In some odd, fucked up way, seeing my three favorite comfort characters together again, and seeing one of them die, has given me a sense of closure on my childhood. No TV show was meant to last forever. I’m glad the 2015 Daredevil series died a hero before it could become a villain, and I’m glad the new series is taking a different route. Seeing a definitive end to the original series is permission for me to let go of my unhappy adolescent years and move on. I’m grateful for that, and I know that Born Again is going to make me cry more in the future.

Tonight, I will drink to Nelson, Murdock, and Page and all they’ve done for a lonely kid.

Rick Stepp ([email protected])

#daredevil #daredevil born again #born again #netflix #disney plus #marvel cinematic universe #marvel mcu #marvel studios #marvel television #matt murdock #foggy nelson #karen page #charlie cox #elden henson #kingpin #wilson fisk

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aois-amaterasu-painting · 6 months ago

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Gekirock - Uruha & Kai interview (2021)

The New 10th Album and a Message for the Present Day, Released After Nearly Three Years! "What We’re Always Conscious of, at the Core, is the Live Show."

The long-anticipated full album MASS from the GazettE has finally arrived, marking nearly three years since their last release, NINTH. What’s more, this new work is their 10th studio album. Following the cancellation of their milestone 18th anniversary live concert last spring due to the pandemic, the band has been working steadily behind the scenes. This production involved significant online collaboration, a necessity of the times. The completed album is imbued with meaningful messages reflective of this unique era. Naturally, the release of such a monumental work raises expectations for live performances. Stay tuned for future announcements!

Interviewer: It has been almost three years since your last album, NINTH (released in 2018), and now you’ve completed MASS. Could you first reflect on the journey the GazettE has taken over this time?

KAI: After releasing NINTH, we spent quite a lot of time on an extensive tour, so a significant portion of our efforts as a band went into that.

URUHA: We were touring on and off for over a year, after all.

Interviewer: Indeed, starting with the hall tour PHASE #01-PHENOMENON in July 2018, followed by the standing tour PHASE #02-ENHANCEMENT, the live house tour PHASE #03 -Passion is Ferocious, the world tour PHASE #04 -99.999-, the Japan homecoming semi-final performance PHASE #05 -Mixed-Blood, and the FINAL NINTH LIVE AT 09.23 YOKOHAMA ARENA in September 2019—this LIVE TOUR spanned 61 performances, covering not only Japan but North America, South America, Europe, Asia—a truly massive undertaking.

KAI: Yes, and since it’s hard for us to mentally shift toward starting new material until after the tour is fully completed, this album’s creation followed the same process as usual—beginning about a year after the tour ended.

Interviewer: So when did the band—or even the individual members—begin to form a vision for MASS, even vaguely?

URUHA: The vision became clearer as we progressed with production. There wasn’t any rush to establish a clear direction; instead, we took the time to carefully discuss and decide on our next steps together.

KAI: By the end of 2019, we held our first song selection meeting. After a series of discussions, we gradually narrowed it down, eventually settling on the 11 tracks included in this album.

Interviewer: On March 10 of last year, during what was likely the middle of your album production period, the 18th-anniversary live show “18TH ANNIVERSARY DAY/6576” was originally scheduled to take place at the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza Main Arena. However, the GazettE made the decision to cancel the event after carefully assessing the situation, even before the first state of emergency declaration was issued. After that, it seemed like the band's activities went completely silent. While I assume you were focusing on creating MASS behind the scenes, why didn’t you opt for the types of outreach many artists were doing at the time, like audience-free streaming concerts or video uploads on YouTube?

URUHA: That’s simply because we had already planned to enter the album production phase at that point.

KAI: Actually, we had our second song selection meeting even before March 10. After that, we stopped production temporarily to switch into live mode and started preparing for the anniversary concert. Unfortunately, it ended up being canceled. So, once that was decided, we just returned to production as planned.

Interviewer: I see. When did you actually start recording?

KAI: We recorded in multiple phases, and the first session was last summer. At that time, we recorded just one track, the lead tune of the album, BLINDING HOPE.

Interviewer: Speaking of BLINDING HOPE, could you share why this particular song was chosen as the lead track for the album?

URUHA: It was a song RUKI (vocals) wrote and presented right from the start saying “this has to be the lead.” When we listened to it, it had a convincing impact and a strong presence that made it clear it was perfect as the lead track. All the members agreed on that point without hesitation.

KAI: This isn’t specific to this album; RUKI always thinks about it holistically and presents the main song and album title at the same time. We listened to his thoughts on that and respected his wishes as we continued to produce the album.

Interviewer: From the perspective of each player, what kind of sound did you think needed to be captured for the lead tune, BLINDING HOPE?

KAI: The phrases were already quite developed in the original composition, so I just added some of my own arrangements here and there. As for the sound, it wasn’t just about my approach as a drummer. Instead, we started from the question, “What sound should the band aim for next?” and built from there.

Interviewer: I'm really curious about what kind of conversations you had within the band when you were searching for this "next sound we should aim for."

KAI: Each of us brought up different reference points, including sounds from various international artists, we did talk about wanting to aim for something that focused on a fairly natural sound at first. I think that was because we were conscious of going in the opposite direction to our previous album, NINTH.

Interviewer: When comparing MASS with NINTH, the difference is striking. NINTH had a densely packed, almost enclosed soundscape, but in this album, even the sound of the kick drum seems to carry more resonance and a sense of space.

KAI: At first, we were even saying, “Should we just go back to recording normally for once?” But after further consideration, we decided to stick with the same separate recording method we used in the previous album. Of course, we used samples for some of the sounds, but one of the key changes was having a different drum technician this time. That likely contributed to the final result being noticeably distinct from NINTH.

Interviewer: Was the main change in the drum parts related to tuning?

KAI: It wasn’t just the equipment we used that changed; the change in the tuner was surprisingly significant. This person is very precise in tuning the snare and toms to match the original compositions perfectly. He seems to have great chemistry with me and provides lots of valuable advice. Honestly, I learned so much—it was really eye-opening.

Interviewer: It’s incredible that even with the GazettE’s 19-year career, you were still able to gain new insights like that.

KAI: Yeah, I was genuinely surprised by how much I still don’t know (laughs).

Interviewer: Did the unique drum sound that became the foundation of this album affect the guitar sound in any way?

URUHA: Since we recorded the guitars while listening to the recorded drum tracks, there were moments where I thought, “The sound is different from the pre-production stage. So that's how it turned out.” However, that didn’t lead to significant changes in the guitar sound. The sound changes drastically during the mixing stage, so getting caught up in minor adjustments during recording could cause inconsistencies in the overall album production. That’s why my focus was consistently on the sound of the album as a whole.

Interviewer: So you had to look at things from a big-picture perspective. Speaking of that, what were the key aspects you emphasized while working on MASS? My impression after listening to it is that there are many parts of this album that seem to be made with live performances in mind, starting with the SE track COUNT-10 leading into the lead tune BLINDING HOPE and the energetic ROLLIN’ with its drum solo intro.

URUHA: Absolutely, that’s exactly right. The GazettE rarely creates songs solely for recordings. We often approach music with live performances in mind. Even during the song selection process, we judge whether a track is suitable for live settings. Fundamentally, live performance is always at the core of what we do.

KAI: During the album production, we actually simulated setlists. We experimented with mixing new songs and existing ones to see what combinations would feel cohesive for a live performance. Based on those tests, we identified gaps like, “We need this type of song,” and added tracks accordingly.

Interviewer: Now, for the Gekirock readers, could each of you recommend two personal favorites from MASS?

URUHA: For the Gekirock audience, I have to start with BLINDING HOPE. It’s the one song that encapsulates the various elements contained within MASS. The melodic progression, the sense of speed, the intricacy of each instrument—this track is a condensed representation of the current state of the GazettE. Just by listening to it, you’ll get a good grasp of the album’s overall feel. And since Gekirock readers tend to be metalcore fans, I’d also recommend MOMENT.

Interviewer: Interesting choice. Why MOMENT specifically?

URUHA: For metalcore fans, I think it’s refreshing to sometimes take a break with a ballad like MOMENT featuring acoustic guitars. I’m guessing many of you don’t often listen to this type of song, and it’s also rare for the GazettE. It had been a while since I recorded with an acoustic guitar, and I hope you’ll enjoy this tranquil atmosphere.

Interviewer: When using acoustic guitars in the GazettE’s music, what is important to you?

URUHA: Normally, acoustic guitar parts are handled by AOI. However, MOMENT is a track where the acoustic guitar takes center stage throughout, including the guitar solo. Since it was such a special case, we emphasized capturing the natural resonance of the guitar body by recording it with a microphone. That said, faithfully reproducing the recorded sound in a live setting might be challenging due to the band’s overall acoustics, so I think we'll have to go through a process of trial and error from here on out.

"The thing is, the GazettE just can’t lie" - KAI

Interviewer: Not just MOMENT, but listening to MASS, I was reminded again of how strong the GazettE’s melodies are in general.

URUHA: I like heavy music, but I this is largely because our roots aren't in metalcore. Our roots are in visual kei, so of course we think about song melodies as the axis.

Interviewer: Meanwhile, KAI, what are your personal recommendations from MASS?

KAI: While I feel like I should pick something different from URUHA’s choices (laughs), I can’t leave out BLINDING HOPE. It’s the entrance to MASS, and more than any other track, it encapsulates what the GazettE is as a band. So, I can't leave it out.

URUHA: So, what about the other two songs?

KAI: Hmm, all the songs are my favorites, so it's hard to pick out just one (laughs).

Interviewer: In terms of drum phrases, HOLD has quite a flashy structure, doesn’t it?

KAI: Ah, yes, definitely. I think readers of Gekirock would probably prefer tracks like HOLD, BARBARIAN, and FRENZY. But personally, I’d like to recommend LAST SONG.

Interviewer: Please tell us why.

KAI: This is the song that concludes the album MASS, and if we do any tours in the future, it's definitely the song we'll play last at live shows.

Interviewer: That's why it's called LAST SONG.

KAI: Yes, it’s a track that really makes the live experience come to life, and I believe it will play an important role in our future live performances.

Interviewer: LAST SONG includes lyrics like "I was dreaming in despair" and "Wandering voices, here and now, screaming like that day." For those who have been eagerly waiting for the GazettE’s live shows since last spring, this song seems like it will be an incredibly emotional moment.

KAI: Yeah, this song carries a very strong message. The thing is, the GazettE just can’t lie—we end up expressing exactly how we feel in the most straightforward way. In that sense, BLINDING HOPE is also entirely that kind of song. Since this album was created during the pandemic, it was only natural for us to want to pack it full of the emotions we experienced during that time.

Interviewer: And which other track would you choose?

KAI: 濁 (Daku). I think this type of track might not be very familiar to Gekirock readers. It’s a song that really lets you immerse yourself deeply in its world, and I believe that’s one of our strengths. And being able to enjoy such a dark atmosphere is one of the best parts of visual kei, so it might actually be something fresh for Gekirock readers.

Interviewer: With tracks like NOX, which incorporates string elements into loud rock, and THE PALE, which evokes vivid imagery as you listen, the 11 songs on this album each stand out with their unique characteristics. That said, with such a wide variety of songs, wasn't it difficult to compile them into one album?

URUHA: If anything, it was actually a bit harder during NINTH. This time, we didn’t really struggle with that.

KAI: The GazettE has been a band that’s experimented with a lot of different things over the years. We’re quite accustomed to blending a variety of elements into a single album, so it’s something we’re pretty good at by now (laughs).

Interviewer: What was the most challenging part of the production process this time around?

URUHA: This time, because of COVID, we couldn’t gather as a band very often. All the string instrument parts were recorded at home. Even beyond the recording process, we had to proceed without being able to clearly see what each member was working on or how they were approaching things.

KAI: We even did the mixing online this time, which was a first.

Interviewer: When working on the guitar ensemble, did you also communicate with AOI online rather than in person?

URUHA: We kept using LINE and Zoom throughout pre-production. Even after the recording phase was done and we moved to mixing, we still had thorough discussions to make sure the ideal form we each had in mind matched up with the actual sound, so we kept communicating until the very last minute before the deadline.

Interviewer: In such a setup, what approach did you take to find solutions to issues as they arose?

URUHA: First, I tried to draw out AOI’s vision as much as possible—what kind of sound he was aiming for. In the past, I might have jumped in with my own ideas first, like, “Here’s what I think.” But this time, I focused on understanding what AOI wanted to achieve and then considered how I could contribute. Luckily, with tools like re-amping and cabinet IRs (impulse responses), we could tweak sounds extensively. We were able to adjust both AOI’s tone and mine in real-time during our discussions to bring them closer to our shared vision. It was a somewhat tedious and roundabout method (laughs), but it gave us ample time to share and refine our ideas. I think the way we aligned as a twin-guitar duo turned out quite well in the end.

Interviewer: Wouldn’t it be fair to say that it wasn’t a roundabout process but rather a meticulous and careful approach?

URUHA: I guess you could put it that way. Also, this time it was necessary to create from a bird's-eye view, rather than from a subjective point of view.

Interviewer: The twin guitar sound doesn’t clash unnecessarily; instead, it achieves a harmonious and refined ensemble, which makes perfect sense now.

URUHA: I'm glad. If you could feel that, it's all worth it (laughs). While it wasn’t to the extent of completely suppressing myself, this time I really focused all my energy on fully embracing the intentions of the composer, each part's preferences and finding the best possible landing point.

Interviewer: After completing MASS, is there anything new you’ve realized or learned from this experience?

KAI: We were able to do the production online, and as a result, we managed to create something like this. I’ve come to understand that the ideal way to work would be for everyone to gather in person for things like mixing. Hearing the sound from the same speakers and discussing it on-site is really important. When each of us listens on different speakers, our discussions can get a bit misaligned (laughs).

URUHA: The sound changes depending on the environment, after all. Things we used to do smoothly without any issues took unexpected extra effort this time. That’s definitely something to address moving forward, but realizing it was itself a significant takeaway from this production.

Interviewer: This album has been titled MASS. I would be grateful if you could explain a little about the thoughts behind this title.

KAI: The word MASS itself carries many meanings, so it’s not like the title is meant to reflect just one of those meanings. But the aspect of "MASS" as "one cohesive entity" is definitely one of them.

Interviewer: It seems like listeners will have the opportunity to explore and find the meanings themselves while enjoying this album. Also, this happens to be the GazettE’s 10th studio album.

KAI: Yes, and we kept that in mind with the jacket design. It’s a collage that incorporates elements from all our album covers since our first full-length album, DISORDER, released in 2004. In that sense, you could interpret MASS as a square within a square*, and I think it can be interpreted in many other ways.

*The term he used is "枡目の枡" (masume no masu). It’s like saying the "unit" or "box" that is a part of the grid. So, it’s a way of emphasizing that the "masu" itself is a part of a larger, organized structure made up of smaller units.

URUHA: That said, MASS isn’t what you’d call a conceptual album. It wasn’t created around a specific theme. It’s more accurate to say it encapsulates the core of the band, distilled into one record at this moment in time. But this doesn’t represent some sort of final destination for the GazettE. If anything, it’s just a checkpoint. This is our best work at this time, but there are still many unanswered questions even after finishing the recording. Those are things we’ll have to discover as we keep moving forward. Creating this album really reminded me, after three years, "Oh yeah, this is what making an album feels like" (laughs).

Interviewer: As the GazettE celebrates 19 years this year and approaches its 20th anniversary next year, we sincerely hope for the day when we can hear the songs from MASS performed live as soon as possible.

KAI: Since we’ve released MASS, of course we want to follow it up with live performances. That’s definitely on our minds. However, we’ll need to consider the timing carefully. Regardless, we’re making preparations so that we’re ready to go whenever the opportunity arises. So, I’d like to say it clearly here: We will do live shows!

URUHA: The issue of COVID-19 is a global one, so for now, saying “We want to do live shows” is really just an expression of our hopes. But if people listen to MASS and feel, “I want to go to their concert!” then we believe it’s our job to create the conditions to respond to that feeling as much as possible moving forward.

Interviewer: How are you feeling about the upcoming 20th anniversary next spring?

URUHA: We had a lot of plans in place for the 20th anniversary, but some of them have had to be changed under the current circumstances. Still, when I think about it, I feel like reaching 20 years is pretty incredible. I'm amazed that we've lasted this long (laughs).

KAI: Hahaha (laughs).

URUHA: But as the years go by, I’ve come to feel more and more that it’s because of the five of us that we’ve been able to keep going. Our members are truly resilient, and their love for the band runs deep. Without that, we wouldn’t have made it through all the rough seas we’ve faced over the years. I felt that once again when we finished MASS.

KAI: That’s why, even beyond the 20th anniversary, all we want to do is keep expressing what we want to convey through our music. That’s everything for the GazettE.

#the gazette #ruki said the exact same about breath “there are many meanings but im giving you 1” wink wink #its nice to have this confirmation though. thank you kai #thing is. i know exactly what they mean with that mass cover art #its the coagula of solve et coagula but i wish they said a bit more #interview translations #mass #mi #gekirock #counting 10

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natlacentral · 1 year ago

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The Actress Who Waited a Lifetime to Become Katara

Kiawentiio talks joining the cast of Avatar: The Last Airbender and playing a character that means so much to so many

The 17-year-old actress Kiawentiio (pronounced gya-wuhn-dee-yo) can’t remember a time when Avatar: The Last Airbenderwasn’t part of her childhood in some way. Growing up on the Akwesasne Mohawk reservation in Ontario known as Kawehno:ke (or Cornwall Island), Kiawentiio—who was born in 2006, a full year after the beloved animated series debuted on Nickelodeon—recalls having older siblings who would have the cartoon regularly playing in the background of their house. Years later, when all three seasons began streaming on Netflix, she revisited the series and developed a newfound appreciation for its narrative ambition.

So, when Netflix first announced that it was developing a live-action adaptation of Avatar in 2018, Kiawentiio told her team to get her an audition for Katara, the 14-year-old girl who is trying to fulfill her potential as the last Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe after her mother was killed by the ruthless Fire Nation.

“By the time they actually did start casting, I got the call from my manager that was like, ‘Don't freak out, but we think we have the Avataraudition.’ And obviously, I freaked out,” Kiawentiio tells Harper’s Bazaarwith a laugh in a recent phone interview. Of all the roles she had auditioned for, this one was at the top of her bucket list, because she knew that it could have the same impact on the next generation of Indigenous children that it had on her. “Katara was one of the only people that I could really see myself in. With the role model that she is for young Indigenous women, it's hard not to be drawn to her, especially when the representation is so scarce.”

Kiawentiio got her wish in the spring of 2021. After undergoing an intensive audition process, complete with a seemingly never-ending number of Zooms and chemistry reads, she got the news that would change her life. “They sat me down for another Zoom call, and I was expecting them to tell me it might take a while, but [creator and showrunner] Albert Kim ended up telling me what the project was, who I was auditioning for, and then I landed the role, and I was crying,” she recalls.

Every diehard Avatar fan can recite the basic premise by heart: Long ago, the four nations—Water, Earth, Fire, Air—once lived in harmony, with the Avatar, the master of all four elements, keeping the peace between them. But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked and wiped out the Air Nomads. A century later, Aang (Gordon Cormier), a 12-year-old Air Nomad who has been frozen and suspended in time in an iceberg, reawakens to take his place as the next Avatar. Feeling responsible for the destruction he was unable to prevent, Aang sets out on a quest with his newfound friends, Katara and her Water Tribe leader brother Sokka (Ian Ousley), to save the world from the onslaught of the power-hungry Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim), who is determined to place all the nations under his authoritarian rule.

Katara, as Kiawentiio puts it, is the heart of the Avatar crew tasked with using their bending powers to restore peace in the divided world. “I think the core factors that make Katara [who she is] are her hopefulness and her optimism, and she's the person in the group that can keep them moving forward in a positive direction, and I think without that, team Avatar wouldn't be able to see the light,” she says.

Below, Kiawentiio reflects on the defining moments of Katara’s arc in the first season (which was shot two years ago in Vancouver), how she has grown alongside her character, and why she feels a new day has come for Indigenous representation in Hollywood.

A lot of the dramatic tension of the first season boils down to Aang’s internal conflict: Does the Avatar need to act alone, or can they afford to have people who help them along the way? In Aang’s case, he doesn’t just want people in his life; he needsthem to help save the world. Why do you think Katara is immediately drawn to Aang and his mission? How do you think that relationship evolves over the course of the season?

I think the reason that she was drawn to him in the first place was this energy of bender to bender, honestly, and I feel like that type of energy [bonds them] not only physically, but just spiritually. It's really intertwined in who they are because Aang plays a huge part in Katara's growth physically with her bending, and I feel like it was just this calling of fate and where you're supposed to be. But in terms of how the relationship has grown, I think it really is just blossoming into a family. Team Avatar is a family in our show. They're not going to leave each other's side; they're always there for each other.

Midway through the season, Koh, the face stealer of the spirit world, temporarily imprisons Katara and her brother Sokka and traps them with some of their darkest memories, which allows us to see, rather than hear about, their backstories. In Katara’s case, she is forced to relive the day she lost her mother. How do you think that loss has affected her in the present day?

It's just painful and that is the point of Koh, right? It is to weaken his prey with their own pain and their own memories. The way I see it is she probably feels helpless. She can't do anything, and that's really what has held her back. What has stuck in her mind is the fact that she couldn't do anything [to save her mom], and to be stuck in that painful loop definitely puts a damper on her confidence that she's been working up this entire season.

That memory of the loss that she went through is a roadblock, and that's something that she has to try and overcome as we go through the series because it really is the main reason that she can't get to that next level [of waterbending]. In the episode with Jett, after he shifted her perspective on how she was thinking and how her memories were acting up, she really unlocks that good energy that her mom was trying to leave her with.

It's impressive how together Katara actually is, especially in our season, because the flashbacks and her memories are so brutal that it's like, "Wow, I can't believe you are still normal." [Laughs.] But that goes to show how resilient she is and how strong she is. I think that was one of the things I took away from her while playing her. I tried to implement her message in my life more to be more optimistic and to have that hope and strength.

When she arrives in the Northern Water Tribe, Katara realizes that the women of this tribe aren’t allowed to fight, which comes as a bit of a culture shock for her. But it’s moving to see how she is able to mobilize the women of all ages when the tribe is under siege by the Fire Nation. At the end of the day, they are the ones who helped defeat the enemy.

Arriving at the Northern Water Tribe was something that she was looking forward to all season, and I think in her mind she had this image of like, "I'm going to get there. I'm going to meet a master, and he's going to teach me everything I need to know, and I’ll finally be able to reach that next step [as a Waterbender]." And getting there and being told basically all your work is not going to be paid off [because you’re a woman] was, in my opinion, devastating. That devastation leads straight into anger, which I relate to. I feel like I get the same waves of emotions, and then that leads to wanting to prove them wrong, wanting to change things [like Katara does]. Honestly, that scene with the women [Waterbenders] is just so beautiful, and it was one of my favorites to film. But I think in her mind, she was just reality checking Master Paku: "We are literally in a war. We are not going to make it. Just use your resources." And not only was that the realistic thing that needed to happen, but the change that she's been fighting for [all season].

I read that you trained for six months ahead of production to commit Katara’s waterbending motions to muscle memory. You spent that time going over forms of tai chi and getting strong enough to handle the action sequences.

Boot camp was intense for me personally, just because I'd never really gone through that before and I don't have as much or any experience outside of the show with martial arts. But it was really helpful to be in the same boat as my character, training-wise. At the start of the show, she really doesn't know that much about bending. As we go along through the episodes, we could see her get more comfortable and more confident in her bending. As we watch Katara gain her confidence, I feel like off-screen I was also gaining confidence with those movements, getting stronger as we go and just getting more comfortable in general.

With the critical success of many Indigenous projects in recent years—Reservation Dogs, Rutherford Falls, Killers of the Flower Moon, The English, Dark Winds—it feels like we have reached an inflection point when it comes to accurate depictions of Native American communities. As someone who is part of this growing movement, what is your take on the state of diversity and inclusion for Indigenous communities? And what do you think is the next step that needs to be taken to move the needle even further?

I think we are making huge steps in the industry. I love being able to look around more and more and see more of our faces, and I do think that there's places that we could improve on for sure. But thinking of how far we've come, even from when I was younger, Katara was one of the only brown people that I saw on my TV, so it's really special to be a part of this generation that's being able to do these things.

I think the next step could be just normalizing things, like it doesn't always have to be an Indigenous story to have Indigenous actors, writers or directors. I think that's one of the things that can get touchy in this industry because we want to include everybody of course, but it doesn't have to be so specific. Why does the doctor have to be [only] the Indigenous doctor that came from [this tribe]? Why can't he just be a doctor that happens to be Indigenous?

Indigenous people or actors can be the main character. Obviously, our culture is always a part of who we are, but it doesn't have to be that the reason we are in this role is because we are Indigenous. We can tell our story as a person and still value and venerate our culture without that being the only reason that we're in the story to begin with.

With big blockbusters, I feel like it ends up being like, "Oh, the lead is white, the other lead is white, and then everybody else is a person of color." I feel like that's a theme that we end up seeing a lot. But another really good way to improve [on that] is supporting Indigenous storytellers. We have so many stories, and [telling them] is one of the things that is keeping our cultures alive, and there are so many stories that could be told from our perspective.

#natla #atla #kiawentiio #netflix avatar #avatar the last airbender #netflix atla #avatar netflix #atla netflix #interview #harper's bazaar

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nadjavrkacevic · 2 months ago

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Greeting spring hike (Kozara)

Activity title: Greeting spring hike (Kozara)

Date and duration: from 8am until 15pm, 23rd of March, 2025

Type of CAS activity: activity

Activity description

In order to describe this activity I took all the information from Mountaineering Society Klekovača site https://www.pdklekovaca.org/?page_id=740

"Greetings to Spring" is an event held during the weekend closest to the first day of spring (March 21st), organized by the Mountaineering Society "Klekovača" Prijedor, continuously since 1980 (even during the war years without interruption). Each year, the event attracts an increasing number of participants. In 2019, a record number of 96 mountaineering societies from Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia took part. The year 2018 saw a record number of individual participants 2,500. Even in 2021, after the COVID-19 pandemic, around 1,200 participants from 40 mountaineering societies joined the event. The aim is to gather mountaineers, especially younger nature enthusiasts, on Mount Kozara after winter, at the time when nature awakens. This further promotes mountaineering activities and Mount Kozara itself. Trail-goers have the opportunity to pass through some of the most beautiful parts of Kozara, enjoying streams, meadows, and wide vistas, especially from the most attractive point of the ascent, Kozarački Kamen. From there, visitors can see the Prijedor valley, the mountains of Grmeč, Majdanska planina, Klekovača, Manjača, and much of Kozara. The trail is about 13 km long and of medium difficulty. The final destination is Mrakovica, where, in addition to the memorial zone, participants are welcomed with a free lunch. A cultural-entertainment program and dance performances are also organized. The entire event is supported by guides from our society, members of the Mountain Rescue Service, emergency medical teams, police, and radio amateurs.

Reflection

Our trip to Kozara turned out to be a fantastic idea. Instead of staying home or sitting in a café, we finally went for a walk. Even though we arrived by car, we chose to take a short hike through the forest and explore some trails, which left us a bit tired. Eventually, we found a restaurant along the way and stopped to eat and honestly, the food was surprisingly good. I’m not sure if it was genuinely that delicious or if I was just really hungry, but either way, it hit the spot. Spending the entire day in nature left us feeling amazing, and we realized we need to do this more often.

Learning outcomes

Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

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kylesvariouslistsandstuff · 3 months ago

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COCO 2, Disney shareholders reject anti-LGBTQIA+ moves from Disney, Warner Bros. blinks w/ CAT IN THE HAT... What a Thursday, huh?

So yeah, at the Disney shareholder conference, they announced that COCO 2 is coming sometime in 2029. Lee Unkrich comes out of retirement to direct the sequel to his 2017 hit, alongside the original's co-director Adrian Molina, who pitched ELIO and was its director until he was taken off of it some time in 2023. Of course, leading to the major delay from spring 2024 to this coming summer... Uhhh yeah, I do not know what to make of this one, honestly.

I kinda knew it was coming, because a podcast I listen to called Fine Tooning (hosted by Jim Hill and Drew Taylor) hinted at it after it was announced that Molina was taken off of ELIO. He was moved to a "priority project", which Taylor slyly said "rhymes with BoCo".

And I thought, what could they possibly do with COCO? The titular Coco, Mama Coco, passed away at the end of the original movie, and Hector was finally remembered and gets to spend eternity in the Land of the Dead. They had a perfect little ending there, and I felt, of all the Pixar originals... That's one where a sequel probably wouldn't work? Well, I guess they found a way. We shall see, come 2029. Probably a summer release, knowing Pixar and odd-number years these days.

I would've preferred if they sequelized something a little lighter, like, say, BRAVE, or A BUG'S LIFE. I get that most of the cast of the latter film is dead, but that hasn't stopped Pixar nor other studios... But again, what do I know? COCO's more recent, the original made over $800m worldwide, it's one of the most-streamed movies every year (alongside Disney Animation's FROZEN movies and MOANA), easy billion right here.

I find it amusing that this has a release year set, but not INCREDIBLES 3, which was announced last summer at D23. I was thinking *that* would be a 2029 release, but I guess not?

Soooo... Our Pixar runway for now...

03/06/2026: HOPPERS

06/19/2026: TOY STORY 5

06/18/2027: UNTITLED

TBD 2029: COCO 2

TBD: INCREDIBLES 3

INCREDIBLES 3 should be out some time after 2028, though, because director Brad Bird's RAY GUNN is supposed to be out some time next year. Having about two years to do INCREDIBLES 3 is probably not enough (unless someone else has been directing it), as INCREDIBLES 2's schedule was shortened by a release date change (from summer 2019 to summer 2018)... So, maybe? COCO 2 and INCREDIBLES 3 share 2029? Or we have to wait 'til next decade for INCREDIBLES 3. It's so surreal to think about sometimes, INCREDIBLES 3... From the 2004 movie... Coming out in 2030-something...

Not like other animation studios or even many blockbusters, who got sequels out around 3-4 years apart. SHREK 2 and 3 were the same decade as SHREK, SHREK 4 missed it by a smidge (a May 2010 release).

But, I care about the end results, so if it needs to come out in 2030 or 2031, so be it! Sequels that are far off tend to be announced at these shareholder conferences more so than originals, as a franchise entry arguably whets their appetites more than "original wacky romp about beavers" or something like that.

Speaking of originals, I'm sure something's circling 2027... I still hold hope that Kristen Lester's project still exists, but it hasn't been talked about in eons, ditto whatever Brian Fee was working on. I'm guessing at this point, the ones ready to go are from Enrico Casarosa and maybe Rosana Sullivan? We haven't heard much on who is directing upcoming originals in the recent years, what with CCO Pete Docter being mandated by Disney to make Pixar more "universal" and "less autobiographical"... I'd imagine some previously-announced projects might've fallen to the way side.

Now, interestingly, at Disney's little shareholder conference... There was a resounding rejection of anti-LGBTQIA+ measures and the company's capitulation to MAGA, such as plans to cut ties with the Human Rights Campaign, and also rejected - per Deadline - "an Elon Musk inclined measure to probe Disney’s alleged moves in recent years 'to demonetize platforms, podcasts, news outlets, and others for expressing disfavored political and religious viewpoints.'"

Wowie zowie, gee willikers! Almost as if most people aren't rabidly anti-LGBTQIA+ or foaming at the mouth at other groups that these right-wingers regularly target! And that, maybe it's really no big deal to show more kinds of people in these big screen stories??? That it's actually a GOOD thing??? Even the shareholders are giving a big ol' NO to Disney's attempts at pleasing Wannabe-Dictator Trump... That's quite telling. Not good business, there, Mr. Iger.

In other news... Warner Bros. blinked in the cartoon chicken game.

Their CAT IN THE HAT animated feature was originally set to open the same day as Pixar's HOPPERS, but now it is opening a week early. February 27, 2026. As to get some ground before the beavers come a-chewin'. Smart! Knew someone would eventually move.

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putschki1969 · 1 year ago

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youtube

Consultation Session 【Long Video】

Hello, this is Hikaru. Thank you for watching! This time, I asked you to submit some questions and concerns so I could discuss them in a video. I tried to answer all of your questions as best as I could💪 Thank you for all your submissions! I don't know if I am being helpful at all but I did my best to answer with sincerity 🌱 Hopefully I was able to help you just a little with your troubles. Please leave your video suggestions in the comment section📝

Nothing too interesting unfortunately. Don't think I will be doing a detailed summary. But of course, please don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to Hikaru's channel and LIKE her videos. Also, here's the video from last week =>

youtube

【PLAZA】Haul 【@cosme】

Hello, this is Hikaru. Thank you for watching! This time, I will introduce some cosmetics which I purchased💄 It's spring and I'm so excited to see lots of new products lined up✨ I like to try something I've never used before. I always makes me happy when I find something that suits me☺️ Please let me know your recommended skin care items, cosmetics or really anything that has caught your attention this spring🍀if you have any video suggestions, please leave them in the comment section📝

Hikaru at Music Champ event

The other day, Hikaru appeared as a guest on day 2 of the Music Champ promo campaign to celebrate the release of SHAZNA's album "参華三釼" 🎼 (Tweet by Hikaru). The song corner seems to have been pretty neat from what I could tell from various responses on Twitter. Not sure how many songs they sang in total but they definitely did a collab of "Blackbird" by The Beatles (reminds me of Hikaru's Birthday Event from 2018). I haven't been able to watch any of the latest Music Champ streams so I have honestly no idea what's going on at the moment T_T.

#kalafina #hikaru #video #hikaru ch.#music champ #Youtube

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moochilatv · 4 months ago

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Caligula presents: This Alchemy

Nice comeback to the sound of the 90's

Sydney electro rockers Caligula recently released the latest taste of their goth-flavoured groove with new single “This Alchemy” .

Emerging from a dark corner of early 90’s era Sydney, Caligula’s take on alt rock added more of an electronic sound to their walls of guitars. Their most excellent cover of Tears Of A Clown saw them nominated for a ‘Best New Talent’ ARIA Award, become a staple on Triple J and Triple M, and tour with the likes of Depeche Mode, Pop Will Eat Itself, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin and The Beastie Boys.

In 2018 Caligula kickstarted their engine again and knocked out a couple of tours with old mates Pop Will Eat Itself, The Mavis’s and Defryme. 2023 saw Caligula hit the road with DEF FX for a sold out national double headline tour.

Always a popular live act, the boys toured through 2024 with some huge festival appearances at the Spring Loaded Festival juggernaut as well as shows with The Machinations and Jesus Jones. The band have released 5 new singles forging forward with a new sheen to their unmistakable goth groove sound.

“Having first formed in the early ’90s, Caligula quickly found fame around their native Sydney, with a handful of EPs peppering their early years together, before finding mainstream radio play thanks to their cover of Smokey Robinson’s “Tears of A Clown”, which hit #25 on the ARIA charts.

In 1994, group unveiled their debut album Rubenesque, which not only reached #13 on the charts, but also saw their track “Before” beat out the likes of The Lemonheads and Alice in Chains in the inaugural Hottest 100 countdown.

In 2018, Caligula reformed to support grebo icons Pop Will Eat Itself on their Australian tour, and later joined the Spring Loaded festival lineup in 2021.”

Stream This Alchemy:

youtube

#Caligula #This Alchemy #Youtube

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avida-heidia-5 · 1 year ago

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I was tagged by @twinkodium. This was a lot of fun! Thanks for the tag! 😊

Star Sign:

Aries. 🐏 (I don’t believe in zodiac signs and their supposed meanings. I just know I’m an Aries as I was born on 22nd March. 🤷🏻‍♀️)

Favourite Holiday:

Easter! 🐰🥚🌸 Because chocolate. I’m ADDICTED to the stuff! 🍫 Also, Spring is one of my favourite seasons. I just love seeing nature come back to life and seeing more wildlife more often after a long winter period. It brings me so much joy every single time. 😌

Last Meal:

I’ve just eaten homemade toad-in-the-hole for linner (dinner at lunchtime). It was deeeeelicious! 🤤😋

Current Favourite Musician:

Depeche Mode. I fell in love with them ever since they released their latest album Memento Mori (2023). I pretty much binged the whole of their discography on Spotify last year out of sheer curiosity and I’ve now become strangely obsessed with them as a result. I’ve recently learned that fans of DM are called “Devotees”, soooo yeah. I’m a Devotee now! Whoopsie! 🌹🎹

Last Music Listened To:

Meet Me In The Woods by Lord Huron. I like me a good folk rock song to keep me going. This song was just so pleasant to listen to. Plus, it’s very catchy. I couldn’t get it out of my head after listening to it.

Last Movie Watched:

I watched The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) with my parents on Netflix a couple of weeks ago. For those who don’t know, it’s an anthology film of sorts containing many different stories centred around the Wild West. My dad recommended it to me as he likes watching films made by the Coen Brothers. I don’t have a lot to say about it other than I really enjoyed it. I’m a film buff and I usually have a lot to say about the films I’ve just seen, so having that happen to me was really odd. 🤔

Last TV Show Watched:

I don’t watch a lot of TV and I don’t keep up to date with any shows, so I don’t know if what I’ve put down counts.

I recently finished watching the Fernando (2020–) docuseries on Amazon Prime and I loved it. 🤩 It’s mainly about Fernando Alonso and the many adventures he got up to during his 2-year retirement from F1. It’s really interesting!

Last Book/Fic Finished:

The last book I read was The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum and the last fic I read was a Chalex fic called I Can Feel The Sun On You by mintchocolatechip97.

Last Book/Fic Abandoned:

The book I abandoned quite swiftly was a Dave Grohl autobiography my uncle and auntie got me for Christmas. I was never a Foo Fighters listener and I’m not a Foo Fighters fan. I still have no idea why they thought I’d like it. Sorry to the people who like them, they’re just not for me. 🙁

Currently Reading:

A Pocketful Of Happiness by Richard E. Grant. It’s such a sweet, tender, and heartbreaking autobiography that highlights how he got into acting and how he met and fell in love with his acting coach Joan Washington. ❤️

Last Thing Researched for Writing/Art/Hyperfixation:

“sebastian vettel mark webber 2010 monaco”. Just seeing pictures of these two smiling and hugging each other makes me smile. 🥰 I was also psyching myself up for this week’s F1 Watch Party on Discord, which, funnily enough, will be streaming the 2010 Monaco Grand Prix this Sunday. I can’t wait!!!! 🏎️💨🏁

Favourite Fandom Online Memory:

I love making friends through their interests in the fandom. The F1 community is massive, so it was easy for me to make friends online and in person as a result. I can feel comfortable being weird around them and in turn they can feel comfortable being weird around me. 🥰🥰🥰

Favourite Old Fandom You Wish Would Drag You Back In/Have A Resurgence:

I used to love the Merlin fandom when it was popular. I still do, but not as strongly as I used to.

Favourite Thing You Enjoy That Never Had an Active or Big “Fandom” But You Wish It Did:

Hmmm, this is a tough question. I’m not fussed with how popular my fandom choices are. If I had to choose one though, I’d say The Beatles. I think a lot of RPFs about certain bands and singers don’t get as much attention as, say, Formula 1 or Super Mario or Supernatural do.

Tempting Project You’re Trying To Rein In/Don’t Have Time For:

I really want to post some more fanfics on AO3, make some more banners on InShot, and do some video editing and gif making on CapCut, but I’m incredibly slow at doing all of them because college work keeps getting in the way of my plans. 😵‍💫 I hardly have enough free time to do any of them. Don’t worry though, I haven’t abandoned them altogether. I will get them done eventually! 🤞🏻

I tag the following peeps: @kaossbells, @hurricane-heatt, @racingliners, @formulaes5, and @wanderingblindly. Feel free to participate if you’d like to. No pressure obviously. 😊

#tag game #personal #My Ramblings: F1 #My ramblings: Music #My ramblings: Films & TV Shows #depeche mode #fanfic #fanfiction #films #movies #cinema

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dustedmagazine · 1 year ago

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Paul Paccione and Apartment House — Distant Musics (Another Timbre)

Is Apartment House too prolific? As Another Timbre’s house band, they’re on about 40 releases. Do we really need another record of theirs, especially one focused on a lesser known composer? It seems like a fair question. And yet Distant Musics is a welcome addition to the catalog. Across five pieces the ensemble plays in a variety of configurations and introduces listeners to Paul Paccione’s music. He’s a composer and educator who taught between 1981-2018 and has been composing for over 40 years. But his discography has been sparse, making Distant Musics a good introduction.

Musically, Paccione is deeply influenced by minimalist composers like Morton Feldman and John Cage’s Number Pieces. His music is dominated by long notes played on stringed instruments and his pieces slowly unfold over five to ten minutes, if not longer. “Exit Music” opens this record with a string trio playing slow droning passages that surround the listener, pulling them along in a slow drift as the textures overlap and shift. It’s similar to the feeling Kali Malone evokes in her organ dirges and the way they envelope you in a warm space of sound.

Meanwhile “Gridwork” adds a wrinkle by introducing clarinet and piano into the mix. It starts with small plinks of piano as the strings create an eerie background texture. Heather Roche’s clarinet has a thin, wiry tone that feels like it’s a piano string pulled tight. Soon, sounds start to mesh and move around between short pauses, giving this one a lattice-like feeling of intersecting lines or a sliding tile puzzle.

“Distant Music” has a similar instrumentation - two clarinets, a violin, a viola, and a cello - and instead of the short phrases, this one is built around overlapping lines: as soon as one instrument takes a pause, two more spring up in its place. At times it’s like watching waves crashing on the shore, one after another.

Key to this record is “Violin.” Both the longest piece here and the only one written for only one kind of instrument (four violins) this one goes deepest into his influences. Between its tense, thin opening and the way the violins overlap, it builds tension by both stretching the notes as far as they can go and emphasizing the slight dissonance between the four players. The music creaks and groans, droning like a set of bagpipes, and settles into an unsettling, otherworldly ambience.

As noted above, Paccione wears his influences on his sleeve, so one should approach Distant Music with that in mind. There’s no bombast or marches here, just five pieces of slow, sometimes atonal music. Those who’ve been keeping up with Apartment House will find this one compares well to their Number Pieces or Naiads records. So yeah, we did need another Apartment House record.

Roz Milner

#paul paccione #apartment house #distant musics #roz milner #albumreview #dusted magazine #contemporary classical #minimalist

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manysmallhands · 2 years ago

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FearOfMu21c #40

Janelle Monáe - Make Me Feel

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Released - February 22, 2018

Highest UK chart position - #74

Spotify streams to date - 143,911,857

Janelle Monáe is someone who seems to stand outside genre to a degree, to the point that I was listening to her way back when it was unusual for me to buy anything that wasn’t a white lady yelling over a guitar. Some of that comes from the fact that she’s often unashamedly retro and has some clearly accessible reference points, Stevie Wonder, Motown and ofc Prince being the most obvious ones. Another aspect is the way that she codes as an auteur in amongst the pop ladies: with her high concept double albums and character-driven work she’s much more of a David Bowie than, say, Kelis or Amerie. This isn’t to say her records are necessarily better than theirs, it just says a lot about the fairly rockist codes that I still subscribed to back in the early 10s. Indiepop and DiY knocked a lot of that out of me in that they bypassed a good deal of what passes for critical “common sense”, but the tyranny of the singer-songwriter-creator has always hung heavily over my tastes and I can still catch myself At It every now and again.

Make Me Feel itself is one of her most obviously allusive songs: the Prince references here, especially to Kiss, come thick and fast - same sparse structure, same squelching synths and shimmering guitar. But anyone who’s ever heard a cheap knock-off knows that it takes more than that to make something truly great and Make Me Feel really does stand up against any modern classic (much as I love them, it’s fair to say that she pulls off this kind of theft with more panache than Little Mix did back on day 12). Janelle has a strong charisma that dominates her music and which feels cut from a different cloth than Prince; she’s more relaxed in her own skin, less ostentatiously freaky, “powerful with a little bit of tender” as she puts it here. And more from anything, her way with a melody is what stamps her authority on the song - with the notable exception of 1 Thing, it might be the catchiest thing in this list.

But what always brings me back to Make Me Fee is actually my initial mishearing of the lyrics - is that an emotional…sexual…blender? What might such a thing do? Through all the weeks of radio play in the spring of 2018 it never left my mind and it’s still the first thing I think of when I put it on to this day. Did Prince ever write a line as good as that? Did he fuck.

#50favouritesingles #fearofmu21c #10s music #Pop #RnB #Funk #Janelle Monáe #Make Me Feel #Youtube

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laurelrusswurm · 8 days ago

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DONATE at https://radiowaterloo.ca/how-to/donate/ I created the audio track of this radio promo for the 2025 Spring Fundraiser for Waterloo Region's best Community Radio Station.

Radio Days

My mother appeared on the legendary CKNX Radio Station (home of the CKNX Barn Dance) in Wingham, Ontario before she'd even met my dad. A shared love of country music got my parents together, and they became the "Pine River Sweethearts."

My father hosted his own country & western music radio show on a (or maybe the) local radio station in Kitchener-Waterloo (which is now part of Waterloo Region).

CKMS Radio Waterloo

is a CRTC regulated Community Broadcaster, located at 102.7 on the FM dial, broadcasting over the airwaves in Waterloo Region, Ontario. Many of the shows generate podcasts or videos for the ⁨station's @RadioWaterloo⁩ Youtube Channel. In the 21st century it can also be streamed anywhere in the world online at https://radiowaterloo.ca/

Ordinarily a donation of $24 buys you a year long CKMS membership, which comes with a certificate to host your own broadcast radio show, which is why I've included the black and white photo of my Dad, Lynn Russwurm, with my brother Lance Russwurm, and mother, Laura Gaede Russwurm, performing on Dad's radio show. My promo centers around the CKMS opportunity, which cost just $20 during the week long fundraising campaign.

Although the fundraiser is over, the non-profit volunteer driven CKMS can always use any donation you care to make. (And if you mention this video, you might still be able to get the reduced rate!)

DONATE at https://radiowaterloo.ca/how-to/donate/

Picture Track

To turn it into a video, I added various photos I've taken at CKMS over the years, beginning with the Agriculture show, where host Jeff Stager interviewed my husband Bob Jonkman, when he was a candidate for the Green Party of Canada in 2015. These were photographed at the previous CKMS location in Waterloo (next door to Ethel's Lounge). In his post-politics life, Bob began volunteering at CKMS, and now involved in some show work, as well as providing technical support.

Photo Credits

Appearing in the video:

• Jeff Stager (CKMS "The Agriculture Show:) • Bob Jonkman (GPC 2015, GPO 2018, CKMS show host) • Michael Harris (2015 Ontario Progressive Conservative Party MP) • David Weber (Green Party of Ontario, 2018) • Lynn Russwurm • Lance Russwurm • Laura Gaede Russwurm • Ethan Russell (Green Party of Canada, 2025) • Maya Bozorgzad (New Democratic Party, 2025) • Darren Bondy (Maya's campaign manager)

With the exception of my b&w Russwurm family radio station photo and the two CKMS montage screencap sequences from CKMS shows featuring David Weber and Bob Jonkman (2015), and Maya Bozorgzad and Darren Bondy (2025).

Sound Credits:

I had a lot of fun putting this together, and would like to thank all the creators who shared their sound work under sharable free culture licenses at Freesound.

pistol_riccochet.ogg by Diboz https://freesound.org/s/213925/ License: Creative Commons 0 [ MPooman ] Horse Sounds (SE515) (High Quality) by MPooman https://freesound.org/s/681727/ License: Creative Commons 0 CGC-castanets by suonisordi https://freesound.org/s/737094/ License: Creative Commons 0

Because I used only the 1st musical phrase (a fraction of a second) from the following piece by LittleAlienXXX (credited below) I believe it would constitute a "fair use," and would not require attribution under copyright law. Regardless, as a free culture advocate, if at all possible I always provide attribution, even of public domain works.

The_good_the_bad_&_the_ugly_02.wav by LittleAlienXXX https://freesound.org/s/369402/ License: Attribution 3.0 I also used my own recording of wild birdsong in the morning in my own back yard... which I'm planning to upload to Freesound shortly, along with a few other sound files. (Licenced CC0, of course!)

DONATE at https://radiowaterloo.ca/how-to/donate/

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