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#what was that aesthetic about making audios that sounded like music playing from another room or from a rainy patio đł?#very cool#EX/cep/tional aural sensitivity
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Luxury Home Automation and Outdoor Lighting Solutions
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A professional AV installer will work with you to understand your lifestyle, preferences, and the technical requirements of your space. This ensures that your home automation systems are tailored to your needs, providing the ultimate convenience and entertainment options. They will also handle the complexities of wiring, programming, and syncing devices, so you donât have to worry about any technical challenges.
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Investing in Sasco Smart Home is more than just upgrading your space itâs about enhancing your lifestyle.
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sassy quips
note: this was so much fun writing. credits to the funny tiktok audios and instagram videos i saw to write this short fic! the writing in italics is the 'youtube video'. i need a better title for this
warnings: tom and reader are together ofc, cursing, sassy/funny!reader? lmao
tom holland x reader, tom holland and co x reader(platonic lol)
summary: harrison stumbles upon a youtube video containing funny/sassy moments between y/n and the holland brothers(including harrison)
Tom and Harrison's loud laughs could be heard from the living room, the boys were currently doing an Instagram live, claiming it was the perfect time to do one since they were bored and Tom hadn't interacted with his fans in the longest while.
You yawned walking into the room finding Tom's phone propped up on the blue fruit bowl, showing his screen the lasagna Sam made earlier. "Hey guys" You spoke, jumping over Harrison's giggly body on the carpeted floor to seat yourself on Tom's awaiting lap.
"Hey love, sleep well?" Tom asked, brushing the loose hair that rested on your forehead before pecking the space between your brows. "Yes" You sighed, turning your attention to Tom's live.
You skimmed through the comments, laughing at some funny ones and awing at the ones stating you were pretty and all boosting your confidence, "Someone asked why is Harrison laughing" You read aloud gaining the blonde's attention.
"I found a video on YouTube and it's hilarious" He grinned pushing his phone so it was in front of your face. You twitched your brows up when you saw the title.
'Y/N and the Holland Brothers funny/sassy moments'
"Oh my, no way" You grabbed his phone, clicking the video. "Wait" Harry took the phone, connecting the YouTube video to the television before handing it back to you. "Now everyone can see" He explained, plopping down on the sofa with a bowl of pretzels.
"Ready?" You inquired, pressing the play button on the phone when the boys replied with an amused 'yes'. Tom flipped the camera so the live could also see the video being displayed on the flat screen.
The music of the YouTube channels intro played, the classic aesthetic sound and the accounts name saying to subscribe before the title finally showed up. 'Y/N and the Holland brothers funny/sassy moments part.1'
-
"I am single" You wistfully spoke, your lips forming into a pout taking a sip of your orange juice before continuing. "And you're single" You pointed at Tom making him get a sense of hope that you're finally catching on that he likes you. "And well that can only mean one thing" You closed the cap of your juice, Tom smiled waiting excitedly for your answer.
"Nobody fucking wants us yo what the fuck" You dropped your head dramatically on the marble counter. Tom rolled his eyes, resuming the task he was doing before you barged in.
"Why you do him like that Y/N" Harrison voiced, his words stuttering from his loud laughs. "Tom was practically waiting for you to ask him out" Harry added bursting out into laughter as well. Tom and you just chuckled remembering that was days before he actually choked up the courage to ask you out.
-
At that moment you wanted to rip Tom's head off, who gave this foolish boy the idea of buying chickens? you questioned yourself while trying to stealthily grab the egg that rested under the hen. The boys were right behind you, outside of the coop cheering you on whilst you collected the eggs. "You can do it" Harrison clapped, swaying his head side to side. "You can do it" Sam danced along bumping his hip with Tom. "You can do it" Harry encouraged. "You can do this" Paddy sang, grinning when he heard you let out a loud huff. "You can do thi-"
"Shut the fuck up" You yelled glaring at Tom. "We're just encouraging you" They defended. "No! You almost made me drop the egg"Â You whispered yelled hearing the hen starting to cluck.
Tears welled in all of your eyes, chortling at short clip, "You all are so annoying" You playfully rolled your eyes, earning a light pinch from Tom. "Oh please we were encouraging you!" They spoke simultaneously making everyone erupt in another fit of laughter.
-
Paddy ran up the staircase, trying his best to conceal his giggles as he ran into your and Tom's shared bedroom. "Y/N get out of the house, it's on fire" Paddy exclaimed, dropping down on the floor and rolling his way towards you to make his so called prank more believable. "Well tell the fire hold up, because I'm doing some important shit here" You replied not even caring that the younger boy was crazily rolling on the floor. You gave Paddy a weird look before clicking the resume button on your phone vibing to the song once more.
"Paddy really started rolling" Tom wheezed through laughs, genuinely finding it funny that his brother really thought he could prank you, he knew nothing came between you and your music vibing time.
-
"Hey did you call our neighbor Mrs. Johnson a bitch?" Harrison inquired, seeing the scene earlier where you flipped off the old lady for some odd reason. You looked up at Harrison from your spot between Tom's clingy arms, "Yeah! She changed her Wi-Fi password" You huffed, cuddling Tom again because you were pissed off. "Yo you can't be- that bitch changed the Wi-Fi password?!" Harrison gasped. "Guys Mrs. Johnson changed her Wi-Fi pass" Sam groaned walking into the room. "Y'know we have our own Wi-Fi right?" Tom chuckled honestly finding the situation rather stupid. "Her Wi-Fi is faster Tommy, no offense" You patted his chest.
"I'm so happy we got it back" You spoke up, the boys agreeing by nodding their heads. "Please you all are so dramatic" Tom uttered scrolling through the incoming comments and hearts on his live. "We shouldn't have given him the password" Harry grumbled softly only for you and Harrison to hear.
-
It was Saturday, and on this day it only meant one thing in the Holland household, dance night! The legendary sound of 'Watch Me' filled the neon colored living room, you skipped over to Sam knowing the song was one of his favorites. And well what happened next was uncalled for, when you were about to 'whip' you accidentally punched Paddy in the face.
"Okay so explain to me what happened" Tom asked holding the pack of peas against Paddy's swollen face. "Y/N punched me in the face" The teenager whined, his words muffled. "Bitch? No I didn't, I tried to whip and he was in my way" You held your hands up, stepping back, grinning when Sam voiced 'She's right, he was in her way Tom'
-
The screen blanked off, the channels end card appearing, the same aesthetic sound played but was drowned due to the laughter emanating from the room. "I told you'll it was hilarious" Harrison held his chest trying to calm down. "Wait there's a part two" Harry pointed to the video next up.
'Y/N and the Holland Brothers funny/sassy moments part 2'
"More?!" Tom and you shouted not wasting a minute later to click on the YouTube video. "The live is officially chaotic" You glanced at the phone screen, seeing the comments full with laughing emojis and other ones portraying the way you 'punched' Paddy. Boy it's going to be an eventful evening you thought, stealing a pretzel from Harry and leaning back on Tom's chest getting comfortable.
"Hey people, we're back" Sam and Paddy called out from the kitchen. Oh yes an eventful evening indeed.
#tom holland#tom holland x reader#holland and co#harrison osterfield#harry holland#sam holland#paddy holland#lee writes short fics
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Golden Hour
The aesthetic of Sam Kiszka
1055 words
To be honest I heard an audio on tiktok and then I had to write this. Thought I would share for the vibes if nothing else
Soft sunlight drowned the room in liquid gold, pouring from the open window over pure, white sheets and onto tan, unblemished skin.
Silky brown hair fell naturally onto an exposed chest, curling softly at the ends, like gently waves frozen in time.
The body, half covered by smooth, shimmering fabric appeared a special kind of delicate in such a ethereal setting, like glass that broke the light so beautifully that all colors of the rainbow could grow from it. But there was an unknown strength it held, sleeping just beneath the surface and manifesting itself in lean but taunt muscles that were shaded so perfectly by the warm morning light.
Long limbs were languidly thrown about, stretched out so carelessly and taking up all the space that they had earned, all the space that they deserved.
Gentle fingers brushed over the colorful beads of numerous necklaces before delicately, almost reverently, tracing the faint outline of a thin ribcage. With each slow breath it expanded, taking in all the world had to offer before once more collapsing and releasing everything.
Just another being in the universe, taking and giving back in the endless circle of life and yet an entire universe in itself, building fantastical worlds with thoughts, touching countless hearts with words. An artwork and yet at the same time an artist.
The strange beauty of duality.
A comforting warmth grew beneath those cool fingertips when they finally reached a heartbeat, strong and steady.
The heart itself, blemished and bruised by neglect and hurt as it may have been, still housed childlike joy and curiosity in such abundance, fueled by a neverending thirst to see and experience all that the world had to offer.
It was a heart that longed to climb the highest mountains, to stand at the very top and scream and dance and cry. A heart that wished to swim in crystal clear lakes, letting the water cool down skin that had been warmed by the sun. A heart that dreamt of sleeping underneath the glimmering stars, discovering each story they had to tell.
And a heart that ought to be appreciated, cherished even, for what it was and what it could be.
Long dark lashes fluttered like the thin, translucent curtains in the gentle breeze as it swept through the room, carrying with it the salty smell of the sea and the distant sounds of seagulls calling.
But all that was elsewhere now, seemingly light-years away.
The room might as well have existed in a different dimension.
A man carved by the gods he was, for something so utterly, painfully beautiful could be nothing but intentional.
Sharp features softened by a bright smile and a mischievous glimmer in eyes of dark, golden honey.
A contradiction, a message, a work of art.
He was not perfect, not dull and without soul. He was no spotless canvas, flawlessly white and empty. No, he was an artwork, painted with a stream of colors that extended far beyond the skies, far beyond the limits of the galaxy even. He was layers upon layers of color put together just right.
And so he was the inspiration for the most beautiful poems and the most fantastical stories, for daydreams that would be remembered for days on end and hopeful wishes made on shooting stars.
Yet at the same time he was the cause for heartache and disappointment, for longing that tore apart hearts and loneliness that lingered on even in a crowd of people.
For what would true, raw beauty be if not the balance between pain and utter joy?
The need for contrast remained, like light needed darkness to shine, dreams needed longing to be born.
They still spoke of him surely, the old gods that lived up on Mount Olympus.
Apollo would send his light, the golden light of the sun, to make his skin shimmer in the same hues of gold, proudly showing to the world of men what he had created.
He would watch on as he played his music, the very gift that he had bestowed upon men, watch on as skilled fingers plucked on lifeless strings, drifted over barren keys and bringing them to life, creating something so vibrant and beautiful that words would never be enough to encompass its true extent. And all that even though the mind was far away, unaware of the crowds and the noise around him.
He was the most beautiful then, when his eyes were closed to the flashing, artificial lights. When his hair was wild, falling into his face and he didn't care, perhaps didn't even notice. When his bare feet were planted on the ground, his body feeling each note so deeply. When sweat glistened on his skin as he threw his head back, his lips mouthing words that could never be understood.
But he was the most beautiful now as well, illuminated by the sunlight as he dreamt.
He was the most beautiful when he smiled or laughed, flashing pearly white teeth as his eyes crinkled around the corners.
He was the most beautiful when he spoke, ever fast as though he feared to be interrupted, that people wouldn't care to hear what he had to say. When his eyes glimmered with excitement because there was someone there, willing to listen, willing to care.
It was a certain kind of vulnerability, often hidden by walls that limited what he could be if he just let himself experience it all.
Now his lips were parted slightly in sleep. A dusty pink, they looked like the soft petals of a blooming rose, the flower so closely linked to Aphrodite.
Surely she too had helped in the creation of such beauty and painted into his soul a picture that rivaled the most beautiful sunset, hues of soft orange and pink pouring over the ocean's rippling, dark surface.
She had opened his eyes to see his own beauty, bestowed upon him the pride that he needed to shine on his own, no matter who was trying to outshine him.
Like art, he was not for everyone, like art, he was not flawless but he was real. Breathing, bleeding, living.
A celebration of life.
And Dionysos would smile, self satisfied as he watched the good natured chaos that he had sown unfold every once in a while.
#sam kiszka#sam kiszka imagine#sammy kiszka#samuel kiszka#sam kiszka gvf#original prose#greta van fleet
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well, since itâs 5 in the morning I think nowâs the perfect time to ramble about my thoughts re: OMORI vs Yume Nikki game design, Black Space, and how trying to copy something successful kind of sets you up for missing the markÂ
these are thoughts Iâve been stewing in since january, I donât want people to forget that I have a lot of opinions about OMORI as a game
(firstly, Iâm sorry if this is all over the place or not worded well. it is 5AM)
I���ll preface this by saying that these are merely my opinions. Iâm specifically going to be focusing on one aspect of game design here, so if youâre curious about any of my other OMORI game design opinions theyâre scattered around my blog and are not hard to find tbh
okay so my thoughts about this are mostly Black Space exclusive, and considering thatâs one of the climaxes of the game this might be a bit of a spicy subject to talk about KJFGHKFJG but I am passionate about good game design okay. especially in psychological horror RPG games. (also throwing out there jic that I donât think OMORI is a bad psychological horror. pls reference this post)Â
(also want to say that I genuinely like Black Space. okay? okay)
so this was something that I was talking about with a couple of friends back when I first finished OMORI around the beginning of january. actually, at this point I hadnât even played Yume Nikki yet, but when I did finally play it recently my thoughts on this were 100% solidified
essentially, our thoughts on this can be boiled down to how Black Space was trying too hard to be Yume Nikki, but didnât grasp exactly what made Yume Nikki so impactful in the first place
obviously taking inspiration from something you like and wanting to rework it into your own creation is normal, good, and even encouraged! however, the most crucial thing with that is the âreworkingâ part. when being inspired by something, the goal is to take what you loved, and didnât love, and mold it into something entirely new. it shouldnât be âwell I like this thing, and this thing did it like this so Iâll try to do it like that tooâ because itâs just not going to work. (this is actually an all around issue I have with OMORI, not just Black Space, but more on that later)
so to me, a good 50% of Black Space came of feeling kind of... eh...? it was like... you have 50% that feels so well thought out and meaningful, and then 50% thatâs there just to. be there. and be like Yume Nikki, I guess. even before I played Yume Nikki, I couldnât even remember some of the rooms in Black Space existed until I replayed it again, which is a shame because Black Space is the type of area where everything should leave an impact
now I want to talk about the game design itself-
Yume Nikki is a game about experiences, and atmosphere. thereâs limitless area to explore, so much so that it feels endless. there are so few things to interact with that sometimes it feels like youâre doing nothing at all. all you have is aimlessly wandering these huge areas, taking in the sights, and listening to vague sounds and music in the background that are often just a few seconds of audio played on loop. (this is one of my favorite OST in the game. having this be all you hear for 30 minutes as you walk around in a looping forest really does things to your head)
it uses all of these elements to make you feel lost, confused, and very alone. youâre just trapped in a dream, where even with all the space in the world to explore, the lack of anything to do makes it feel suffocating. even the small area you have in the waking world is designed in such a way that feels cramped and destitute-
Yume Nikki is a perfect example of âless is moreâ and âshow, donât tell.âÂ
then take OMORI, which doesnât really know how to balance those things with itâs tendency to try and shove too much in. for instance, think about the over abundance if NPCs with irrelevant fluff dialogue. it was all too much and so dull it got to a point I stopped reading most of them altogether
(and something important to note I think, is that the general feeling of Yume Nikki is the same throughout the entire game. the tone never really changes, and neither do the expectations. OMORI, however, tends to just drop things on you out of nowhere. and thatâs not necessarily a bad thing! it works for a lot of different sections of the game, Iâll say.Â
however, Black Space was different. itâs kind of like, it just drops you in there and expects you to understand the way it works, despite the fact that all of the other horror segments lead you to have a completely different set of expectations for what you should be doing/feeling. itâs like shifting you into another game entirely, and itâs almost immersion breaking. up until this point, OMORI was not the same type of âshow donât tellâ type of game, so suddenly jumping to attempt to do that can make it lose some of itâs impact)
like I mentioned before, Black Space is designed in a way thatâs meant to mimic Yume Nikki. and I think we need to ask ourselves âjust because we can do this, does it mean that we should?â again, taking inspiration isnât a bad thing, but itâs the execution that matters
and hereâs where my biggest issue actually lies, I suppose. itâs the fact that OMORI has multiple instances of trying to take inspiration from other things, and failing because itâs trying too hard to copy, not rework. itâs just most obvious because of Black Space, I think. because, like I said before, a good half of Black Space is just trying to be Yume Nikki without giving it any OMORI original flavor, and the fact that itâs trying to be something else is immersive breaking as hell to me
for example, take the red mazes. I donât think the idea to incorporate it into OMORI was bad, but. you can plainly see when you compare the two maps that nothing was really reworked, made more interesting, or even given a OMORI flavored twist-
(Yume Nikki-1 ; OMORI-2)
another instance is less about the game design itself, but surprising/not-surprisingly, it actually has to do with OST
this is something my friend was telling me, because I myself have not read Umineko, but there are OST in OMORI blatantly trying to mimic songs from that VN, even down to their names
the biggest offender imo is GOLDENVENGEANCEÂ which is a decent song, I wonât say it isnât, but compare it to itâs Umineko inspiration, Golden SlaughtererÂ
itâs just another unfortunate instance of âthis thing I like is good, so Iâll try to copy it!â with no clear grasp on why itâs successful and itâs disappointing. thatâs really the only word I have for it at this point, disappointing
and the reason itâs most disappointing is because of things in OMORI that are obvious inspiration, but were reworked so well
letâs take this other Umineko OST, Worldend Dominator. this is a brilliant song, and itâs really fun to listen to. and, it very clearly inspired beloved World's End Valentine
Worldâs End Valentine slaps. itâs great. it takes aspects of Worldend Dominator and shifts them around to be a unique and fun piece of music that also fits into OMORI perfectly.Â
something important to note about this, is that Worldâs End Valentine and GOLDENVENGEANCE were written by two different composers. what this makes clear to me is that there were people on the OMORI dev team that were better at reworking ideas than others. because, despite a lot of the criticisms I was talking about, there are things in OMORI that are obvious references that I love and think are great!
like this one, the most pointed out nod to Yume Nikki-
I think itâs great. itâs taking a very memorable bit of imagery from Yume Nikki, and giving it a reference while also giving it itâs own deeper meaning beyond just the aesthetics of it. itâs just good, I love it
and yeah, not all of Black Space feels like one giant copy of Yume Nikki. there are plenty of doors that I think take the same aimless, empty, and unsettling feelings and use them in a new way that feels more grounded in OMORI. my personal favorite door is the âSunny... I love you.â room.Â
actually, funnily enough, the area in OMORI that felt the most like Yume Nikki to me wasnât in Black Space at all. it was actually the snowy area right before Snowglobe Mountain. something about the vast empty space, simple yet atmospheric OST, and little things to find scattered around just gave me a nice Yume Nikki vibe, but mixed with the OMORI style (hell, the OST there and the one for the snowy area in Yume Nikki even have a pleasantly similar vibe, and not in the âoh this is a copyâ way [X] [X])
gosh, I feel like if I keep talking I might end up going in circles more than I already have
hopefully my words made sense!! Iâd love if anything I said resonated with anyone aha. I just hope that Iâm not coming across as hating on something because Iâm biased towards something else or something... almost all of the critiques I have about OMORI come from a place of genuine interest
thank you if you read all of this!
#text#omori#omori spoilers#oh no tumblr user white tulips made another opinion post that took 3 hours to type#meta
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Tales from the SMP Presents: The Pit
Another Tales, another Kingdom Hearts comparison post! âThe Other Sideâ is a mix between the soundtrack The Other Promise and the cinematic âAnother Side, Another Storyâ (both of which come from Kingdom Hearts, of course), which evokes a very specific KH character that... yeah. So letâs get into it.
Karl gets stabbed by the kingâs new general and finds himself back in the Inbetween. A cool new logo pops up as we enter the Inbetween, which actually is a... very typical example of a Kingdom Hearts world logo / intro card / name card? I honestly donât know what itâs called, it doesnât have a name, itâs just a thing that happens every time the character enters a new world.
Castle Oblivion is just one (1) example, but if you just look up âKingdom Hearts worldsâ and scroll a bit, youâll see what Iâm talking about, haha. This doesnât really change anything, itâs just another little wink and nod to the Kingdom Hearts series.
... Except, of course, the fact that thereâs a title placard for this world implies the existence of other worlds. Which we eventually find out is, in fact, true. Fun! Thereâs a number of associations I could make based off the aesthetic of the logo (the castle reminds me of Radiant Garden, etc) but honestly theyâre not worth much without more information.
So, the Inbetween is vividly aware of Karlâs straying from âthe pathâ. It makes a huge attempt to still be pleasant and âniceâ and whatever, but we can tell quite obviously that thereâs an undercurrent of threat under all those pretty quartz blocks and smiles :]
Speaking of the :] smile, the reveal of Quackityâs previous lore stream actually doesnât push me to think that itâs directly related to him in any way. Itâs not impossible that c!Quackity achieved such heights as... becoming? The Inbetween? Because heâs got reason to be invested in Karlâs powers and keeping him in line. But itâs a reach or long-term thing at best, honestly, so Iâm shelving the Quackity-smile association until further evidence appears.
(I could go bonkers and say that this is the culmination of c!Quackityâs ascension after ripping Information out of Dream or even XD, but thatâs well into AU territory, so itâs all just shrug emojis for now.)
Which, of course, leads to the question of who that smile actually is associated with, and I think as clear an answer as weâre going to get is... The Inbetween itself. Clearly.
Thereâs a lot of meaning I could take from that; is it associated with Dream or XD then? Or maybe is it tapping into Karlâs memories of c!Dream doing the :) thing and itâs appropriating that for itself? Why? To intimidate Karl into obeying it?
Mayhaps. Mayhaps!
Anyway, Karl goes up to the tree, and as he approaches, the video feed distorts as the game abruptly switches to a higher-level shader like BSL or something.
Now, I havenât confirmed it, but the way the audio shifts makes me think it suddenly started playing backwards, too. Itâs just the way it sounds; itâs got that... sucking effect thatâs pretty typical of musical tracks played backwards.
Karl swims down to the hidden room, which is very dark now. There is a book that tells him to go up the ladder for a surprise.
Also, by the way, Iâm back on my wither rose pot association brainrot, because I canât help but notice that there isnât one here. There was one in the previous Inbetween segment, but itâs gone now. Now thereâs a new book with the :] smiley, which of course should set the audience on edge, since we just saw the first book use it in a... mildly threatening manner.
We know that in Dream SMP itâs a pretty common thing to use redstone as blood. Other characters have used it in bits, some more seriously than others, and I think thatâs what this room is trying to emulate.
If I had to guess, Iâd... hm.
A part of me wants to say that the blood is probably from the different versions of Karl wandering around. Nobodyâs going to notice if a few abruptly take a swerve to bleed themselves out in a room or something, right? But that carries a lot of implications, namely that of control so perfect it borders on possession. So either the Inbetween can control Karls, or it has some other agent capable of dragging something into this chamber to bleed it all over the room.
Neither of those options are particularly nice, Iâll admit!
Thereâs no Kingdom Hearts associations here, by the way. Due to being so closely tied with Disney, KH is deathly allergic to portraying blood in any way lmao. Not so many messages carved into the walls.
Or painted onto the walls with blood, if thatâs what that is. Color correction gets a bit odd with shaders, so Iâm not saying anything for certain; the closed books donât look enchantment-purple, for example.
What does catch my eye are the torches, which will later be the flickering lights that guide Karl to the portal. The fact that they are here makes me think that this was definitely the scene of either a battle or some other conflict between the two sides to this story (haha, get it, Another Side, Another Story, because thatâs a Thing in KHâ), or at least proves that an influence from The Other Side was here at some point in time.
Karl quickly gets the fuck out of there, and when he swims back to the surface the shaders/music switch back to normal.
Oh, and for all you people who like to point fingers at anything vaguely false and scream âthatâs gAsLiGhTiNg!!!1!!111âł about it, hereâs an actual attempt at gaslighting. Note the language used here: âYour mind seems to be playing tricks on you :]â. Itâs explicitly trying to convince him not to trust his own senses and mind. Itâs saying, let me think for you. And that is a very dangerous thing.
Wither rose pot exists again, yay. Definitely a Inbetween voice, this book.
More wither rose book, this time in the, uh, grand entrance hall? The lobby? Yeah.
This book basically goes on a spiel about how the Inbetween is so great for Karl (a declaration, by the way, rather than a hope) and says that he is doubting himself or being less like himself, which is odd, because what heâs really doing is doubting the Inbetween and the path it has laid out for him. In a way, by questioning the Inbetween, Karl is being truer to himself than anything else.
The malicious way this place frames its words becomes more and more obvious with each passing page; it again reminds him that itâs a place to be âfeel at easeâ, which is super sketch that it has to tell him outright rather than actually being that place. It continues attempting to gaslight him, telling him that his imagination is getting away from him and that he canât trust himself or anything else but this âpathâ.
Iâll get back to the âpathâ thing in a minute, but I really want to drive home that this is the truest instance of gaslighting weâve ever had on the Dream SMP. Nothing has ever so clearly declared that it must be trusted over the victimâs own senses, practically infantilizing the victimâs concerns and trying to make them think that their worries are just flights of fancy. Please, please keep this in mind any time you want to accuse a character of gaslighting in the future; not all psychological abuse is a form of gaslighting. Sometimes itâs just... abuse. Itâs not any more or less worse than gaslighting, itâs just different.
Anyway, about the âpathâ that the Inbetween is so obsessed with. No idea what the fuck thatâs talking about.
In Kingdom Hearts, the only paths that are really of import are is a specific characterâs âroad to dawnâ (redemption without fully yielding his edginess, essentially) or the âpathsâ that characters take to traverse between different worlds. I really donât think the Inbetween has anything to do with either of them, but Iâll leave the options there if you want to peruse the possibilities.
Whatâs more likely, I think, is that this is a vaguely more subtle version of control/possession. The âpathâ is just âwhatever the Inbetween wants you to doâ.
Our next book is from the other side, and is plastered nonchalantly but boldly against the wall with no flower pot or anything.
Karl picks it up, puts it in his inventory (which probably indicates that heâs keeping this particular route close to his heart, rather than whatever the Inbetween is trying to make him do), and then the video stutters and he teleports back to the main entrance.
Thereâs a new book. Itâs spooky as fuck, and hilariously hypocritical.
The tone shift is immediate, of course, aided by the abrupt change in background music since he got teleported back here. (I canât quite nail it down; I assume itâs a slowed KH track like the others, but it doesnât quite ring any bells for me.) The way the Inbetween speaks through these books has changed too, though; it addresses him by name without any attempt to cover up its intentions with flowery softness.
It does a cool fun thing where it says that it knows more than Karl, and knows whatâs right, and then goes on to say that those visions shouldnât dictate his opinion on the inbetween. (Iâm keeping an eye on that lowercase, by the way. Not sure if itâs a typo or intentional, since itâs still one word, but.) As though he should trust the Inbetweenâs opinions of itself rather than his own brain? Aâight. Sure, Jan.
Again it tries to tell him that itâs safe here. The lying is getting more transparent now.
He puts this book back, the previous book back, and runs after a double of himself until the shaders and music glitch again.
Fun thing about shaders is that they make dark areas... much, much darker. Especially since we saw that Karlâs got night vision (the effect, for cinematic purposes) on.
The music has a few notes that again sound as though theyâre being played backwards.
The book on the tree in this courtyard does not come with its own little wither rose pot, and neither does it seem to come from the Inbetween, since itâs telling him some awful things about these other versions of himself.
It confirms a few things about the mystery other selves, namely that theyâre definitely condemned to walk the castle forever, but it doesnât really tell us why this happens or why the Inbetween (probably) wants this to happen. Whatâs the end goal?
Weâre probably a bit early in the story to figure that out, but theyâre questions worth keeping in mind as this storyline progresses.
Karl gets teleported back to the main lobby, which looks very dark and spooky, though in the transition we do see a glimpse of that portal. There are torches around the wither pot book pedestal, and the audio really kicks into high gear with the creepy notes and the visuals get stretched and glitch quite a bit as he opens the book.
Funnily enough, the audio kind of reminded me of some pokemon encounter music, but I think thatâs just because Iâve got those notes wired into my brain from years of playing those games. Anyway! The book tells him this is not a warning, and that theyâre gonna fucking come for him to make sure he sticks with their path.
âWeâ.
Who is âweâ? Is the Inbetween a collective? Is the Inbetween just part of a different whole? Maybe it counts all the different Karls as a part of it.
Either way, itâs creepy and threatening. Karl starts running; the screen glitches and tells him to follow the torches, which at first I was kind of leery about trusting, but the next series of words helped clear up exactly what side those words are on.
Also, youâll notice that some other text kinda skitters across the screen before the English, like itâs getting translated. I think itâs Galactic, which is something different from the thing that Ranboo uses for Ender? I think Ranboo uses the Alien language thing or something? Iâm not 100% sure on that, feel free to correct me and Iâll fix this portion.
It certainly implies that the speaker isnât communicating in the server equivalent of âcommonâ, however. Not sure if theyâre translating into English or if Karl inherently understands it and itâs translated into English for the audienceâs convenience, but either way, the other speaker might be linked to something completely different.
Karl runs on with encouragement and creepy music until he finally arrives at the portal, which is not barred off like it was last time. Thanks, whoeverâs responsible for that!
The music dies for this final book.
The Inbetweenâs last-ditch attempt to make him stay. It calls him silly a couple of times, and smiles at the end with a :]
Problem is, we and Karl already know that staying with the Inbetween will keep him from his friends. And the voice tells him to leave for his friends.
Karl looks around at this place that calls itself his sanctuary, and makes his decision.
He arrives at The Other Side.
The music appears to be drawn from parts of either The Other Promise or Roxasâ Theme, both of which are heavily tied to the character known as Roxas. The version that Karl uses is slower and lower, the same as with the Dearly Beloved track he uses for his Inbetween segments.
Honestly, Iâm not as certain on this as I could be, because I couldnât find the exact variation on Youtube and there are parts that could just be Emotional rather than Roxas-related, Iâm not sure. Iâll probably come back and fix this if itâs untrue.
EDIT: Yeah, uh, itâs Venâs theme, not Roxasâ, but the world itself is still heavily associated with Roxas in naming themes.
For now, Iâm going off the assumption that the decision to make both the name and the theme of this world relevant to Roxas is purposeful, which means Iâm... going to attempt to explain who Roxas is and what his story is.
Oh boy.
To grossly oversimplify the situation, Roxas is a âpartâ of Sora who develops his own sense of identity, is betrayed, gets coerced into murdering his best friend, gets kidnapped, gets memory wiped, and thenâwhen he gets his memory back and realizes he super hates his captorsâis convinced by those same captors to give up his existence because he âisnât a real personâ and if he lives then Sora will never wake up. So he âdiesâ and becomes a part of Sora again until later.
(Sora, by the way, is asleep due to the events in Castle Oblivion, which you might recognize as That Place I Keep Associating The Inbetween With.)
Heâs also a fan favorite lmao. Take from that as you will, and, I donât know, flip through his wiki page or something. Canât guarantee itâs all understandable though.
My point to bringing Roxas up is that his arc... kind of parallels Karlâs. He did his job working for superiors he didnât really understand in a white castle, with the higher-ups trying to control him, until he realized he was losing his friend/s to them. At that point, he defects. I think this is the point that Karl has reached, in his own storyline. Heâs pulled away from the thing thatâs made itself known to him, and now heâs wandering down something that hopefully isnât as awful as the beast heâs just left behind.
Roxas also doesnât get his happy ending for a long, long time.
Letâs hope Karl is different.
Off the top of my head, I can tell you that the mood this world creates is very reminiscent of some areas that the Kingdom Hearts games explore in 0.2 (yes, zero point two, that is the number of that game. This fucking series, man), specifically Castle Town, in which the player character has to smack a bunch of clock gears to make time go backwards in order to proceed, which is fun. But no exact inspirations come to mind the same way that Castle Oblivion did for the Inbetween.
Until we get a better look at the interiors, Iâm going to gently claim that this build is more original and doesnât take inspiration quite as directly from a Kingdom Hearts source, so there might not be an exact parallel. There isnât a black castle in Kingdom Hearts that I can think of, honestly.
Also, I will say that Iâm going to take this episode as confirmation that the wither roses are associated with the Inbetween and appear next to books that come from / are related to the Inbetween, especially since The Other Side associates itself with a completely different flower: the white tulip.
Anyway, The Other Side tells him heâs home, and that theyâll explore more soon.
This... eerily parallels the Inbetween, which told him that heâs safe, and has lots to explore.
I canât say that I immediately trust The Other Side, but neither can I say that I inherently distrusted it the same way I did with the Inbetween. Weâre going to have to wait and see how this place behaves in future episodes to get a good grasp of it. Who built these places? Are they alive, and writing the books, or is there a mastermind behind them? We still donât have a lot of the answers, but thatâs okay.
For now, Iâm content to know that Karl is away from the more obvious perils of the Inbetween.
It could still be a trap, but for now, itâs a refuge.
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First Take Review: Gryphon Essence Preamplifier & Stereo Amplifier
Okay, letâs get this out of the way: with a combined retail of over USD $40k (and that doesnât include another $6k for the optional Zena DAC module), The Gryphonâs Essence preamplifier and stereo amplifier are by far the most expensive electronics Iâve ever had in my home! They might be the Danish firmâs entry point into separates, but thatâs akin to calling a $146k Aston Martin Vantage âentry level.â There was a time in the not-so-distant past when spending such sums of money on stereo gear struck me as pointless excess. Perhaps Iâve been numbed by flipping through too many issues of The Absolute Sound or walking the halls of an audio show; perhaps Iâm just entering a life stage (mid-life crisis, anyone?) where Iâm allowing myself to indulge in such luxuries. Whatever the case may be, Iâve now had the good fortune of several months with the Essence combo, and despite a number of people prodding me for this review itâs been quite difficult to put into words how they perform. Why? Because every time I sit down to do the âworkâ of reviewing I just end up getting sucked into the music and forget to do the reviewing bit! But, here goes...
The arrival of the Gryphon components was a case of one thing leading to another. My first experience was when I strolled into Gryphonâs room at RMAF 2018. After being disappointed by so many other mega-buck systems at the show, I was delighted that this one actually sounded like music! Frankly, a lot of Ăźber-expensive show systems landed on my ears like amusical hi-fi effects or whimsical fancies of what some people think music should sound like, rather than an actual musical performance. Like other big systems, the Gryphon rig was imposing and fancy-looking, but with a decidedly purposeful, even stark, aesthetic. And the sound - so tangible and luscious, maybe a little dark and brooding, but in a way that connected me emotionally to the recorded performance rather than distracting me with sonic affect.Â
At the time I was happily running the Valvet A4 Mk.II monoblocks, and also had @mgd-tawwââs Pass Labs XA30.5 at my disposal. Both delivered the pure and colorful musical flavors of Class A amplification, and both are superb amps. But things got thrown for a bit of a loop when I settled on the Audiovector SR 6 Avantgarde ArretĂŠ speakers as my new reference. I had auditioned them at AudioVision SF with the Gryphon Diablo 300 integrated amp ($16k) and the sound gave up nothing to high-quality separates - big, bold and dynamic with tremendous poise and nuance. Coming back to the Pass and Valvet amplifiers (coupled with a Pass Labs XP10 line stage) certainly wasnât a let-down, but they didnât have quite the same level synergy with the Audiovectors which sounded more complete and visceral with the Gryphon integrated.Â
This combined with the strong aural memories from the RMAF room led to a call to Gryphonâs US distributor, Philip OâHanlon and Pandora Pang of On a Higher Note. Philip acknowledged that the Diablo was indeed excellent but teased that Gryphon had recently introduced a new line of separates worth consideration. The Essence had just arrived in the States and he had one more set in stock if I were so inclined... and next thing I know, a pallet loaded with what my wife lovingly referred to as âan illegal arms shipmentâ landed at our doorstep.
Serious crates for serious gear
Like all separates in The Gryphonâs 35-year heritage dating back to the original DM100 amplifier, the Essence line features pure Class A operation with minimal negative feedback, but brings it at a lower price point ($22,990) with more conservative aesthetics and practical packaging. Prior to the Essence, to get a Gryphon amp one had to shell out anywhere from $39k for the Antileon EVO to $57k for the flagship Mephisto (double those if going for monoblocks). The tradeoff is a lower power rating - just 50wpc, albeit in pure class A and doubling into 4 ohms and again into 2 ohms - so youâll want to pair it with a reasonably efficient speaker. The Essence preamp meanwhile is a repackaging of the Zena preamplifier launched in 2018 (also $17,500), reskinned with cosmetics to match the amp. It features fully balanced operation via a discrete DC-coupled Class A circuit with zero global negative feedback, and can accommodate either of two optional internal modules, the Zena DAC ($6,000) or an MM/MC phono stage ($2,250). Being strictly digital I opted to evaluate the DAC, which Iâll talk about in a later installment. Iâll also save more details about the design and operation of this beautifully-crafted gear, including Gryphonâs unique Green Bias system, for a more in-depth review. For now, letâs get down to the business of how it sounds...
The Essence Preamp
When the Essence components arrived I clearly needed my wifeâs assistance to safely unpack and set up the 45kg/99lb Essence amp. But she was busy making reeds for her oboe that evening, so I initially made do setting up the preamp (it weighs in at âonlyâ 13.4kg/29.5lbs) and comparing it to my Pass Labs XP10 with the Pass Labs XA30.5 amplifier.
Firing up the Essence preamp from a cold start was one of those âdamn, I donât understand how a preamp can make this much of a differenceâ moments. Even though the Pass XP10 is a very solid performer - I find the sound of my PS Audio DirectStream significantly improved by it vs. feeding an amplifier directly - the 3x-as-expensive Gryphon outclassed it from the first note, taking musical resolution from the micro to nano level.
The first thing I noticed was how the entire back of the stage opened up. I never realized how triangular it sounded before, becoming narrower as you went deeper. With the Essence it suddenly feels rectangular and whole, with winds, brass and percussion able to naturally spread out and breath on the stage. It didnât even take a big orchestral recording to experience this - my very first track was an intimate vocal with piano accompaniment, soprano Elsa Dreisig singing Strauss songs with pianist Jonathan Ware (Qobuz). The sense of the space - a church, as you can see from this video - and where the performers occupied it became strikingly tangible. Piano has starting clarity, with all its complex overtones unfolded and laid out for your ear to sample at its leisure. Dynamic resolution is also unlocked - subtle gradations in vocal intensity flow so organically. Going back to the Pass pre, macro dynamics werenât Iacking, but the transitions somehow came across more synthetically, as if the volume dial was being turned rather than the performers modulating their instruments in the original performance.Â
One thing that didn't change too much was overall tonal balance. I find the Pass pretty neutral and extended, if anything having a subtly warmish character to it, at least by solid state standards. The Gryphon doesn't deviate notably from that, leaning slightly in that direction though with more sophisticated and varied tonal richness and density. The quality of the frequency extremes, however, is a different matter. Most striking is how triangles sparkle and ring with startling presence on the Gryphon. With a claimed frequency response out to 1MHz, the Essence pre delivers the highest highs with a sense of ease and finesse. And the bass is everything people have come to expect from the Gryphon house sound - deep, taut and powerful with beautiful tonality. The Pass Labs wasnât missing any of the music per se, but the deepest bass notes and highest overtones sounded constrained vs. the effortless and wide-open delivery of the Essence.
So, yeah - a preamplifier that costs 3x as much as the Pass XP10 sounds clearly superior. Not much of a news flash, and a much fairer comparison in the Pass lineup would be the XP32 ($17,500) or at least an XP22 ($9,500). But what took me aback was how a preamplifier like the Essence could bring out so much life and nuance that was being curtailed by an otherwise fine piece like the Pass. The net effect was to make the musical performance feel significantly more tangible, visceral and unclouded - something that even the change of a DAC or amplifier doesnât consistently achieve. The Gryphon Essence pre is simply an incredible conveyor of the musical signal.
And we havenât even tried the amplifier yet...
The Essence Amplifier
Once I got my wife to assist in positioning the hefty Essence amp in the cabinet (safety first!), I hooked up the Audiovectors via my usual Audience Au24 SX cables and powered up the Gryphon using the stock power cord (the amp requires a 20A IEC connector, so standard cords wonât work). I played a bit with the Green Bias settings but obviously settled with it in red-hot Class A operation for serious listening. And while the amp has since benefited from multiple months of break-in, it was apparent from its first notes that the Essence had resolution, clarity, dynamics and tonal completeness on an altogether different level from any amp Iâve experienced in my system. But there was something else remarkable about its presentation thatâs taken me many months to put my finger on, and I think I might be finally getting it.
The Essence amp has a very special ability to deliver the leading edge of a sound with incredible speed, precision and clarity. Iâve heard amps with fast leading edges (some attribute this to high slew rate), Iâve heard amps with very clean ones (lack of distortion and ringing). The Essence delivers a combination of fast and clean that is truly exceptional, and perhaps close to the state of the art. Every impulse and note attack hits you with perfect timing and delineation, then decay with similarly impeccable control. By comparison, amps like the Pass Labs that struck me as very pure have a bit of fuzz to them. Ever listen to an AM radio station when the signal gets weak, and all the starts and stops of sounds get staticky and fuzzy? There was a bit of that feeling going back to other amps in my system... no, they werenât literally fuzzy and distorted. Itâs just that the Essence amp sounds exceptionally lithe and clean, removing an extremely subtle layer of distortion that became difficult to un-hear in other amplifiers.Â
Coming from the Pass XA30.5, the Essenceâs midrange was less overtly warm but even more substantive in tone. The Pass is certainly on the warm and lush side for a solid state amp, but past Gryphons Iâve heard had their own dose of chocolatey richness, so I was initially surprised by the balance of the Essence. It has the midrange density and lush tonal colors I was expecting from a Class A Gryphon amp, and yet it also sounds close to dead neutral in character. Thereâs a crystalline transparency that makes everything else sound a bit cloudy by comparison. Class A amps usually get the tonal part right, but can sound a bit sluggish or rounded dynamically; Class AB amps often have great transient speed but with some roughness around the edges and a bit of tonal hollowness. The Essence backs its exceedingly snappy and clean transients with real tonal substance and an infinite palette of realistic tonal colors. It can simultaneously preserve the gravitas of a string bass ostinato, the glowing warmth of a French horn, the delicate nasality of an oboe and the ethereal lightness of a flute all in balance. Orchestral recordings have never sounded this vivid and realistic in my home.
An interesting display of the ampâs prowess was in violinist Hilary Hahnâs recording of the Vieuxtemps Violin Concerto (Qobuz). The album also contains Mozartâs popular âTurkishâ concerto which probably gets most of the plays; the Vieuxtemps is infrequently performed and mostly known by violinists as a sort of advanced student concerto (yes, my teacher made me study it). Vieuxtemps was a Belgian virtuoso of the romantic era and while the concerto has its charms, its orchestration is rather clunky. This actually made for a fascinating sonic experience in the concertoâs orchestral exposition, where different instruments pass melodic fragments back and forth in somewhat disjointed fashion rather than the more cohesive harmonization and counterpoint youâd get from a German master. A flute here, a clarinet there, a timpani roll or violin flourish coming and passing - the Essence conveyed each one with striking clarity and trueness of timbre and dynamics, arranging all the instruments across the stage in perfect proportion. So much of the feel of an instrument lies not just in its tonal makeup but the shape and feel of its notes - the reedy breathiness of a clarinet, the ringing âbongâ of a timpani, the firm attack of a trumpet, the brush stroke of a violin. This is where the Essenceâs leading-edge precision and lack of electronic haze help it truly evoke the feeling of sitting on the stage with the musicians, each and every instrumental entrance having that tactile realism.
Having been a classmateâs of Ms. Hahnâs I also have first-hand experiences of her playing, and the Essence strongly evoked memories of hearing her performing in recitals or practicing in our conservatory. Though we were both teenagers at the time, she had already developed her distinctive tone and focused intensity, and hearing that reproduced so vividly through the Essence and Audiovector speakers is uncanny.
The frequency extremes of the Essence amp, particularly in combination with the Essence preamp, are also something special - the crazy-wide specified bandwidth of Gryphon components is no joke. The speed and tautness and slam of the bass brings realistic clarity to the foundation of the music. Itâs bass that I like to call âsneakyâ for the way it doesnât unduly call attention to itself, but then will come out and smack you in the face as in a live event. Instruments like string bass or contrabassoon are naturally portrayed in the orchestration, rather than getting buried in the mix. The top end is extended and articulate, capable of bringing out all the energy and brilliance of string, brass and percussion instruments, and yet certain recordings that tend towards brightness actually sound warmer and smoother than I've heard before. It sounds so pure and free from distortion, so that if thereâs any distortion already present on the recording it does nothing to aggravate it. Sibilants and tape hiss and clipping are still there, yet come across less obtrusively, making them easy to tune out in favor of the music.Â
Case in point: the DSD remaster of Strauss Don Juan, recorded in 1958 by the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell (Qobuz). My wife and I have listened to this recording dozens if not hundreds of times and while the performance is riveting, the recording quality has always been a bit hissy and strident. My wife asked to listen to it again on the Gryphon setup for study purposes and halfway through I remarked, "does this recording sound a lot less bright to you?" She concurred - we had never heard it sound so clean and natural, and for the first time I didn't notice the tape hiss at all. The Gryphon gear really does excel at extracting the essence of the musical performance locked in the recording, neither artificially filtering nor amplifying the distractions of its mechanical limitations. Iâve heard far too many ultra high-end systems that need absolutely pristine audiophile material to sound their best. With the Gryphons, every recording in my collection has never sounded more distinguished and compelling.
The sense of space that the Essence preamp conveyed with other amplifiers becomes even stronger in combination with the Essence amp. I have never heard the different sections of a symphony orchestra arranged so palpably. Winds and percussion have clearly delineated space behind the string section, and delicate clarinet solos that are typically a bit hazy in recordings are conveyed with both clarity and intimacy. Thereâs something about the Essenceâs blend of clean transients, tonal rightness and harmonic resolution that bring out the distinct ambience and texture of each recording - the aural equivalent of the âmouth feelâ of a wine. Going back to otherwise excellent amps makes everything feel a bit more homogenous, a hair less stimulating.
There are a couple of potential shortcomings to call out, and they may be interrelated. The first is that the bass in combination with the Audiovector speakers isnât quite as hard-hitting as with, say, the 600wpc Class D Legacy iv2, or as what I heard with the Gryphon Diablo 300 integrated; nor is it as plump and room-filling as with the Pass XA30.5. Quality-wise itâs exceptional - fast and deep and pitch-perfect in ways they canât match - but sometimes I just want it to fill out the space a bit more and punch me in the gut a little harder. I mostly miss this when listening to pop tracks, e.g. anything from Billie Eilish where the raw punch of the Legacy amp factors more strongly than the n-th degree of refinement from the Gryphon.
The other nit is that the soundstage, while vividly painted, feels a bit less âgenerousâ than bigger-sounding amps like the Legacy or Pass Labs, or the Gryphon Diablo for that matter. Thereâs a bit more emphasis on the precise constituency of an orchestra, as opposed to its sheer scale - a little more of the trees, a little less of the forest. To some, this may make the Essence feel a hair light in presentation, despite its rich and layered midrange. Ears I trust tell me moving up the Gryphon line to the Antileon EVO or Mephisto can give you the best of both worlds, but those are obviously at increasingly exorbitant price points.Â
Iâll need to try tweaking these area of reproduction more (e.g. cables), but as it currently stands, I could see the Essence best matching with speakers that are tonally richer and a bit less critically damped on the bottom end, vs. requiring care with something leaner and more laser-focused. Itâs slightly lean with some recordings on the Audiovectors, and Iâd definitely want to check before paring it with the likes of a Magico. It goes without saying that when you get to this level of fidelity (and cost), you should expect to spend a fair amount of time and effort on component matching.
As a side note, I was able to further extend the capabilities of the Essence via Furutechâs DPS-4.1 power cord (custom built with 20A connectors) and DSS-4.1 speaker cables. These upped the clarity and transparency yet another notch or three, opened up dynamics further and created a wider sense of space on recording after recording. Iâll have more on these excellent cables and how they synergize with the Gryphons in a future installment.
Capturing the Essence
Itâs been challenging pinning down the character of the Essence system, the amp in particular. Even more so than other great Class A amps Iâve heard, including from Gryphon, the Essence amp has a combination of purity, openness, refinement, clarity, speed and dynamic life that defy the usual idiosyncrasies and limitations of Class A vs. AB vs. D. Itâs dynamically fleet, rhythmically incisive, tonally sophisticated, dimensionally resolving, and sneakily powerful and punchy. In combination with the superb companion preamp, it uncovers a sense of space in virtually every recording I throw at it with greater detail and palpability than Iâve heard before, without seeming artificially holographic like some tube amps. The tonal purity and resolving power of this pair are simply at a level I have rarely experienced anywhere at any price. Moreover, the name âEssenceâ couldnât be more apt - all these sophisticated qualities are squarely focused on conveying the beauty and quirks of the original recording without need for enhancement or editorializing to make it enjoyable. The closest aural recollection I have of this sort of musical resolution was the MSB Reference + Magico M3 system at RMAF 2018, which had a significantly superior DAC and a total cost approaching $300k.Â
As for the price... well, I can say that the monies spent on a piece by The Gryphon clearly go towards obsessive engineering and craftsmanship in the service of state-of-the-art music reproduction, rather than ostentation or frivolous excess. This is musical fidelity of the highest order, and my new reference in amplification.
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CanvasWatches: Carole & Tuesday
A charming SciFi anime focusing more on the castâs day-to-day lives than some major sociopolitical conflict that requires laser gun diplomacy? Set on a Terraformed Mars with brick and mortar solarpunk aesthetic? I can get into that.
The fact that Carole & Tuesday is a science fiction story came as a surprise, as most of the buzz and promotion that crossed my social feeds focused on the street performance aspects. Then, surprise! Tabletop fast food ordering and pizzerias that grow their tomatoes in house![1] Which is the sort of speculative fiction Iâm enjoying nowadays: normal life with the fantastic acting as seasoning to spice up the world around them.
Iâve never paid special attention to music. I listen to music obviously, but rarely in any sort of analytical capacity. Itâs pretty sounds that help fill in the background while I write, or to convey emotion in a musical, or to mark the start and end of a show Iâm watching. Iâve never sought out music to listen to when looking for entertainment, itâs always a byproduct of whatever media Iâm engaged with at the moment. Heck, these days, when Iâm too lazy to set my car radio up to play a podcast, I just drive in silence.[2]
I sometimes feel Iâm missing something by not engaging with the art form in a more conscious manner, and I only recently became aware that albums are a carefully curated thing instead of a collection of the performerâs most recent songs, so⌠yeah. Kind of a cultural blindspot.[3]
This tangent doesnât even end with a neat little note of how Carole & Tuesday had inspired me to consume music in a more deliberate and contemplative manner. The soundtrack includes plenty of insert songs I happily threw on my background noise playlists,[4] and what few albums I seek out are video game and anime soundtracks.[5]
Carole & Tuesday was chiefly directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, whoâs name was made with the Jazzy Space Epic Cowboy Bebop and Hip-Hop Samurai Series Samurai Champloo. It was probably inevitable he would produce an anime where music took front stage instead of informing tone.
Carole & Tuesday takes inspiration from Pop, but is unafraid to feature and mix other genres, such as Opera and Rap.[6] Whatâs really exciting is the decision to have the insert songs performed in English.
Historically, when diegetic music is present in anime, the song is performed in Japanese, and most dubs make the smart decision to leave the japanese audio and subtitle them. I may prefer dubs for my various reasons, but I wouldnât dare ask for the policy on subbed music to change. Carole & Tuesday took an international view to its production, and thus used the most widely spoken language when no one (reasonable) would begrudge the use of Japanese performers.
Netflix picked up the show as part of their continued haphazard attempts to seize the genre with an attitude out of the early 2000s, and the company tapped to record the English dub did an admirable job matching voice performances believably similar to the singing voices.
Which may be the first time that speaking actors were hired to fit the singers.
The story takes place on Mars in the future year of⌠50 years after humanity started migrating to Mars. I cannot find a year cited, which is the smart and wise choice and I am super annoyed Iâm not going to be able to make jokes about the production's attempts and failure to predict the future.
50 years after starting to migrate over to the red planet, humanity has terraformed large swathes of Mars into a Solarpunk paradise. Earth is apparently not in a great state as refugees are desperately making their way to the planet, but Earth remains offscreen for the entire run. Fortunately no one has any giant robots,[7] so the two planets arenât at war. While Mars has been made hospitable enough, the atmosphere does occasionally mess with the genetics of residents.
Thatâs just background details, however. The story is really about the titular duo. Tuesday is introduced fleeing the mansion of her politician mother, hopping onto a cattle train like Kiki, and riding off to Alba City with only a quitar and robotic luggage to keep her company, where she stumbles upon Refugee Orphan Carole busking with a keyboard. The two have a jam session and decide to become a musical act.
Meanwhile, famed child star Angela Carpenter[8] is setting to transition from a modeling career to an exciting career singing. Her mother pulls strings and utilizes her connections to team up with Tao, a genius of Artificial Intelligence Design who is willing to use his technology to provide Angela with computer generated music and lyrics.
Thus we have the start of a sci-fi John Henry Tale where the battle is not hammer and steel but instruments and voice.
I say âthe startâ because while the two teams utilize different methods to produce their music, their methods are never weighed against one another. In fact, thereâs barely a one-sided rivalry, as Angela is jealous of the titular duoâs ability to enjoy their career, and our two heroes take only a polite, professional view of Angelaâs rising career.
Carole and Tuesday are both weighed down by a common problem with anime protagonists: theyâre just nice. Thereâs a certain fear when writing protagonists, especially females, of accidentally making them off-putting that the writers overcorrect and donât let the hero make mistakes or have much personality, to the point that Carole and Tuesday have very little agency.
Instead, itâs Gus, the ex-rock star manager the duo acquire, that does the leg work and takes risks while Carole and Tuesday just sing nice songs then sit back while the plotlines orbiting their rise to success are resolved by the men.
The show also canât choose a lane, playing with several story threads that could carry full 24-episode stories by themselves, but instead are dealt with as lightly as possible.
We start with the story of a run-away from decadence and a refugee bringing their world views together, but that instead goes into a tournament arc disguised as a talent contest, then the drama of navigating the music industry, before ending with the presidential run of Tuesdayâs mother causing public unrest. Carole and Tuesday donât make a meaningful choice that affects any of these stories.
Meanwhile, Angela gets a story of asserting her identity while already in public view, facing dangers both external and internal on her journey.
Surprisingly, this is the first show in a while that I didn't resent for transitioning out of the episodic, playing with the premise portion. While Carole and Tuesday were attempting to get their big break, bopping around misadventures trying to get contacts, gigs, and filming a music video, Angela looms in her plotline, building up to the inevitable rivalry.
Angela is introduced just before her mother, Dahlia, starts reworking Angela's career from modeling to singing, hiring Tao, renowned AI designer, as Angela's producer. Angela experiences mild paranoia from Tao's standoffish nature, machinery, and making a holographic simulation of Angela. So Angela had a more consistent narrative during the first arc.
Introductions out of the way, it's time for everyone's favorite trope: the tournament arc! In the form of âSpace!'s got Talentâ Generic Brand Named into Mar's Brightest. The main duo meets their rival, backstage drama ensues, some very good music is performed, and things are set up to technically give both Carole and Tuesday as well as Angela a win at the end.
With publicity achieved, Gus starts getting to work preparing the girls' debut album and booking appearances, as well as meeting other artists and (briefly) Caroleâs father. We learn about Gusâs past client, Flora, who dropped Gus as soon as she found success, then found herself without a support base and spiraled into depression and addiction. Carole and Tuesday remain upbeat and optimistic.
Meanwhile, Angela starts getting harassed by a stalker and feeling helpless and poorly supported by those around her. Tao takes point on stopping the stalker when the police fail, ultimately taking him down before the stalker could pull a Mark David Chapman.
The story bleeds into the final act, as the presidential campaign of Valerie Simmons, Tuesdayâs mother, moves forward in prominence. The AI algorithm Valerie is utilizing suggests she take an anti-immigration stance, which the woman follows in an attempt to further her career. Musicians are getting harassed by law enforcement, Tuesdayâs brother Spencer is becoming uneasy with being an accessory to the campaign, and starts meeting with a reporter with information that Valerieâs campaign manager orchestrated a terrorist attack to villainize immigrants. Spencer and the reporter argue over how many chances to give Valerie, and agree on Spencer taking the evidence to Valerie, and if she doesnât back down, then theyâll leak the scandal. Valerie, seeing the crimes committed for her benefit, gracefully renounces her candidacy. Itâs very heart warming.
Carole and Tuesday write a protest song, and gather friends to sing it. This protest song has no observable impact.
Meanwhile, Angela learns sheâs adopted, and her mother suffers a heart-attack shortly before Angela is set to win a Martian Grammy, and Angela spirals into depression and prescription drug abuse, to the point of collapsing at the end of her Grammy performance, being rushed to the hospital and missing her motherâs passing and funeral. Angela is adrift. She has no family, no support, and is just lonely.
Tao, who was working to sabotage Valerieâs campaign and burning as many bridges as possible after being targeted for refusing to assist the campaign, appears in Angelaâs hospital room to drop a bomb: both he and Angela are designer babies, and though Tao must go into hiding now, he does intend to look out for his little sister.
Angela joins the performance of Carole and Tuesdayâs protest song.
If itâs not already clear, I feel the story of Carole and Tuesday themselves was pretty lacking.
So, how would I rework this? Step one: weâre either cutting Carole and Tuesday, or combining them into a single character and making Angela the second. With the second option, Angela can maintain her backstory, but take Caroleâs introduction of fleeing her family mansion and attempting to strike out on her own, meeting up with Carole and forming an act. To maintain the final arc, Carole would need to be reworked into the abandoned daughter of Tuesdayâs late father, making her the half sister of Spencer and something to be hidden by Valerie Simmonsâ campaign.
We then intermingle the two plotlines: Gus maintains his managerial position, and eventually convinces Angela to use her connections and mother to get her career jumpstarted, Ms. Carpenter still brings in Tao to write music, and now we can lean more into the AI-written music versus human compositions subplot as well as creative differences, which can lead to an arc where Angela and Carolday split to attempt solo careers, each taking a different manager.[9] Dahlia still has her issues and passes away, Angela her depressive spiral, but now Gus gets pathos by being there to help his client out of self-destruction, and the final number can also be a reconciliation of the main musical duo. The song can even be a combination of AI and human composition.
Carolday, meanwhile, discovers her relation to the anti-immigrant candidate and has to decide if she wants to finally have a family with Valerie and Spencer or stand up for her beliefs and assist a politician in bringing the campaign down. The resolution of the political plot can remain a happy compromise, but Carolday gets a slightly more active role in it.
The animation and world-building is great, and Angelaâs arc is very strong. But the writing was too afraid to let either Carole or Tuesday dip into unlikeability that they become props to their own storyline, which is made further unfortunate as their supporting cast that do make decisions are mostly men.
The series is also riddled with a lot of good starts. Many short vignettes or minor details that could be made into full animes by themselves. Show more of Carole and Tuesdayâs attempts to break into the music industry while also trying to pay bills and put food on their table. An expansion on the other competitors at Mars Brightest.[10] Heck, expand the roster of the competition and dig more into backstage drama. Caroleâs father, who was sent to prison and found his wife dead and daughter sent to another planet upon his release, could carry a story of his own on his back! Valerieâs presidential run and the plight of Earth immigrants given more attention. Heck, even the story of how Earth, the origins of the human species, fell into being a third-world planet people are desperate to leave.
Iâd even watch a series about the solarpunk pizzeria that grows their own tomatoes.
The music is really good, however, featuring many artists and styles, and those by our main duo wouldnât sound out of place on a car radio or licensed on a primetime television show.
Itâs a good show, but not an eternal classic. Maybe a second choice for someone digging deeper into anime. However, if its placement on Netflix means itâs someoneâs introduction to Anime, that wouldnât be terrible. Give it a watch if you want something to wind down for bed, or want inspiration for your own speculative fiction.
Kataal kataal.
-
[1] Solarpunkâs neat. [2] Mostly because I lost all my preset stations last time I took my car in for fixing, and I don't actually know any to punch in. Also, I use youtube for music when writing. [3] Also means Iâm wholly unprepared to find music when I finally get a podcast project off the ground. [4] The soundtrack is very present on Spotify, which is nice. [5] I am finding myself increasingly intrigued by vinyl records, however. Probably a bit extravagant, and difficult considering my narrow interests. [6] Presumably to annoy fans of both. [7] Bam! Gundam reference! Anyone have Bingo yet? [8] Though I could swear they never use her last name on screen. [9] Iâd find it amusing if Angela takes Gus and Carolday teams up with Dahlia, but the rest of my outline works better if Angela remains with Dahlia. [10] Though this oneâs not a major loss. Typical tournament arc stuff.
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Glee - S1 E4 (Preggers)
And from this moment onwards, Kurt Hummel proceeded to steal every single damn scene he was in. Iâm actually unironically excited for this one. I didnât think that could still happen! Here goes!
I will always love this Single Ladies scene. I will always love season 1â˛s Tina/Kurt friendship. Also, Brittanyâs here, inexplicably. Did he pay her for this? In Pixie sticks, perhaps? Or Monopoly money?
âKurtâs Superstar Playlistâ is the most adorable name his playlist could possibly have. All we get to see on it are 4 Beyonce songs, and 1 Gwen Stefani - but itâs a cute little insight.
God sometimes I forget how cute Jenna Ushkowitz is and then this scene really slaps me round the face with it huh!!!
WHY are you filming this, Kurt? What are you using this for? Iâd love to know. Iâd say itâs just to check out his own dancing technique but itâs in black and white⌠Where are you posting this!!!
I want that swingy-suspended chair thing he has in his room sooooo bad
Ok now the fact that this is being filmed is giving me fic ideasâŚ
BURT HUMMEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BURT F U C K I N G HUMMEL BABIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
God the look of fear on all three of their faces when they see Burt??? Donât you worry kids heâll come around real soonâŚ
Burtâs approving nod when he yanks on Kurtâs unitard⌠God I love this man.
The LOOK on Kurtâs FACE when Brittany says heâs on the football team⌠I can hear his inner monologue like âbitch we may be in the basement but I will make a window to throw you out ofâ
Kurt just wants to relate to his old man so bad :( Baby boy heâs already so damn proud of you!!! Also that LAUGH.
He really just slapped Tinaâs ass! And she completely rolls with it, the absolute champion. Also, the subtitles Netflix provided me with were (smacks bottom) and I just love that.
Oh god it immediately cuts to the WORST scene. Terri learning to give birth. William Schuester trying to help. Just let me perish, RIB?
Shout out to Kendraâs actress for somehow managing to make her character even more despicable than Terri!
Actually the shit she says to Will here is almost valid⌠All three of them are fucking awful huh!
Seriously why are Kendra and Terri the best actresses on this whole show? Itâs the only reason I care about this fake pregnancy arc anymoreâŚ
The teacherâs lounge is always either an arid, desolate wasteland, or the only watering hole within 100 miles where all the thirsty ass teachers congregate. Take your pick.
Why does Will pretend to hesitate before going to sit with Ken and Emma? Theyâre the only people we ever see you talk to dude!!!
Ken with the psychoanalysis, wow. Just hit her right there buddy!
THATâS HOW SUE Câs IT!!!
Rachel really just EXPECTS every solo⌠I almost forgot how bad she was when she started. âMaria is MY part!â Not anymore!! Kudos to Lea Michele for managing to make Rachel really sound like she thinks sheâs the victim when she really isnât.
Tinaâs face⌠She was seriously happy. Season 1 Rachel SUCKS for even trying to take this from her. She IS talented. She IS ready!
Everybody else knows itâs a fat load of BS⌠Kurt lowers his sunglasses to look at her like sheâs a bug beneath his shoe. Also, Kurt, why sunglasses? You donât start getting hangovers âtil next episode, sweetie!!
âYouâre trying to punish meâ I think being a total martyr might be one of Rachelâs worst traits early on in the series. I get that performing is her deal, but she canât even take a second to at least fake being happy for Tina? Unreal.
Everybody else just moving straight on with it is hilarious. Theyâre all so happy for Tina and donât give a shit about Rachelâs melodrama, which Iâm living for!
I wanna be all âFinnâs an arrogant bastard for assuming Kurt wanted to ask him to prom, grr!!â But then I remember Kurtâs canonically in love with him at this point, so Iâll let him off this time
Kurtâs devious little smile when he asks Finn for a favour⌠I love one (1) boy!
AHHH THE TRYOUT SCENE. INCREDIBLE. This might honestly be my favourite scene from season 1. Itâs definitely up there, anyway.
Cute brotherly Furt moments. Finn putting that helmet on for him. âRedâs your colour!â And they DONâT make Kurt get all giggly about Finn just being nice to him? Kurt just telling him heâs really cool? Pure.
âRehearsingââ âPRACTICING!â
Finn tells Kurt heâll be murdered if he uses his music and Kurt comes straight back with that rum chocolate souffle line. This show would be NOTHING without Kurt.
And THIS is what I mean when I say Kurt was a Gryffindor from the get-go. Even now heâs refusing to be anything less than himself for anybody, even the jackasses that harass him every day when heâs on their pitch.
Shut the fuuuuuuuck up, Puck!
âHi, Iâm Kurt Hummel and Iâll be auditioning for the role of kicker.â What did we do to deserve him?
His starting pose⌠His hips⌠The footwork⌠âThat was good, right?â His whole ATTITUDE. THE ROYAL WAVE.
As if the TV network would cancel Sueâs news segment for having a few Cheerios in the glee club?
Oh god. Quinn telling Finn sheâs pregnant. The fucking cinematography here⌠The camera work, the audio mixingâŚ
âThink of the mail⌠Think of the MAILâŚâ
Did Quinn seriously just say âAsk Jeevesâ told her the hot tub could knock her up? I mean, I know sheâs lying, but ASK JEEVES? That shouldâve tipped Finn off more than anything elseâŚ
Damn. Season 1 really had the power to get me shook, laughing, and then crying in the span of 30 seconds? Or maybe itâs just because I canât stand seeing Diana cry⌠Â
Sandy lets his kettle whistle for far too long, it stresses me out
Sue just⌠Offers this fired man a job? I know sheâs got Figgins by the balls over the stockings commercial, but come on, surely the council would get involved or whatever???
Rachel sucks right now but god damn it Taking Chances gives me chills every time I hear her sing it⌠And sheâs so cute when they tell her she got the lead!!!
If musical stuff is so frowned upon socially here, how are they expecting to get a full cast for Cabaret? Especially if NONE of the other glee kids are interested?
And thereâs no funding for the arts but they have a whole ballet studio on school propertyâŚ?
Sign #12 That Mr Schuester Is An Asshole: He just straight up tells Rachel that heâs the only person that likes her, which is wrong for so many reasons
He does have a point about Rachel needing to take a step back sometimes though. I hate that sheâs so awful sometimes that I have to agree with Schuester.
Heâs not HURTING you Rachel, heâs giving a chance to grow to somebody else!
Jenna did a beautiful job with this solo⌠Tinaâs so cute too! I love her singing this sweet song with her goth aesthetic
This scene between Mr Schue and Tina was almost sweet BUT:
Sign #13 That Mr Schuester Is An Asshole: He did NOT need to touch Tinaâs shoulders, or get that close, or whisper to comfort her.
Donât take one for the team, Tina! Take one for YOURSELF!
Iâll let him hugging Finn slide because, wow, Finnâs breaking my heart right nowâŚ
However I will not let it slide that heâs seemingly taken him off campus for lunchâŚ???? Dude, take him to your office. This is creepy as all hell even if he has good intentionsâŚ
âI got this at the school library. Did you know that you can just⌠Borrow books from there?â Protect him. Protect him at ALL costs. He was so genuinely inspired by watching Kurt make those goals that he went to a library for the first time in his LIFE oh my goodness
Oh god. The camera panning from a random father and his young son, over to Mr Schue looking at Finn? HEâS NOT YOUR SON MY GUY, HE IS YOUR PUPIL. PROFESSIONAL BOUNDARIES!!!
Terri and Will are both brushing their teeth with no toothpaste⌠FreaksâŚ
Have I mentioned how much I adore those little background choir soundbites between scenes? They did so much for this showâŚ
SHUT! UP! PUCK! Drink your fucking character development juice already!!!
Kurt just casually dropping in Sun Tzuâs Art of War⌠He just knows that. Heâs prepared to just drop that in conversation. Son, why are you so ready for combat,
Also the way Kurt commands their attention? They can rag on him all they want but they all know heâs legitâŚ
Look at all these doofuses in their football gear busting a move. Look at Kurt sat at the front just watching, judging, as he was born to do
MIKE! KILLING! IT! I love that they let us see a sneak peek of his moves⌠Serious HC that Kurt making the football team dance is the first time that Mike really got to show off his skills
Kurt shooing Mr Schue away like that gives me life!!! Sit down old man
âAll right boysâŚâ  And they all look so concerned behind him lmao⌠âOhâ SNEAK ATTACK back to the ringâŚâ Mikeâs trying so hard to keep in time. I love him. OH and thereâs Matt! Most valid glee club member simply because he never says anything.
âComb through the hair⌠SLAP THE BUTT!â And theyâre all trying so hard⌠10/10
âIâm your best friend,â says Puck, to the boy he has been consistently fucking over for four (4) episodes, and presumably many years priorâŚ
I really do hate Puck for the first part of this season but god damn does he have some lines. ââSup, MILF?â âWell, CALL the Vatican! We got ourselves another ImMaCuLaTe CoNcEpTiOn!â
I remember the first time I heard the term âLima Loserâ but I didnât know the show was set in a place called Lima (I wouldâve been, like, 9) and I thought it was lime-a-loser. Like he was going to have limes thrown at him. And it was this big, serious threatâŚ
How the FUCK did Terri get into Quinnâs car? Why is that never addressed? Like, ever? Quinn doesnât even ASK?
Do this many people turn up to American high school sports events irl??? And do they really play the national anthem? That must get old
Why are all these football players 30⌠Iâm so thirsty for realistic castingâŚ
BURTâS HERE TO SEE HIS SON!!! We love a proud dad.
âI TOLD YOU! I TOLD YOU!!!â And now heâs doing high kicks. Kurtâs doing the absolute MOST.
I will never understand the rules of American football⌠And I mean NEVER.
âRing on it on threeâ I love that it has a code name. And they were all too busy being dudebros to call it Single LadiesâŚ
The one dude on the opposite team who starts boogying along is the real MVP
NEVERMIND. BURT BOPPING IN THE STANDS IS THE MVP!!!
âCan I pee first?â Legendary
Burt just going âheâs so littleâŚâ In the middle of the silent crowdâŚ
MY BOY NEEDS HIS MUSIC!
BURTâS SO FUCKING PROUD IâM ACTUALLY CRYING??? YOU CAN HEAR HIM SHOUTING âTHAT IS MY BOY!!! THAT IS MY SON!!!â THROUGH THE WHOLE CROWD!!!!
I feel like Puck seeing Finn and Quinn kiss and then the crowd going silent as he walks away is meant to make me feel⌠Bad for himâŚ? But weâve only ever seen him be mean to Quinn, really. Youâve got to earn those moments!
Ah⌠The skincare routine. Heâs thriving.
Burt! Hummel! Is! Proud! Of! His! Son!
Burt⌠Iâm pretty sure he assumed you wished his mother was alive. As opposed to her corpse being at the big game.
Oh boy here it comesâŚâŚ Chris looks SO young here. So scared. So vulnerable. The way he slightly stutters⌠He nailed this scene. So much.
Heâs gay!
He knows.
Do they make sensible heels in sizes for three year olds� Asking for a dad
The raw EMOTION on Kurtâs face. Itâs killing me.
This is the starting point⌠âIâm not in love with the idea, but I love you.â And it only gets better from thereâŚ
And he THANKS his SON. Heâs sure. Heâs so sure, Burt, and you are going to be so proud of him forever.
Finn gives Quinn that blanket his dad gave him when he was a baby⌠Did she give it back? I fucking hope soâŚ
You tell him, Finn! Puck IS an asshole!
MIKEâS IN GLEE!!! SO IS MATT!!! And Puckâs here I guess, yay⌠Heâs got a season or so of sucking to go before I can get excited about that.
âRegionalsâ here we come? My guy, letâs get through sectionals firstâŚ
Rachelâs big, cruel smile when she thinks sheâs going to be handed Tinaâs solo. Why would she presume that itâd just get handed to her??? I mean, I know why, but like, why⌠And she has the audacity to look like sheâs been betrayed. Not even slightly, hon! You deserve nothing if not getting one solo is all it takes for you to quit!
This Sueâs corner genuinely gets me through some shit. âThereâs not much of a difference between a stadium full of cheering fans and an angry crowd screaming abuse at you - theyâre both just making a lot of noise. How you take it is up to you. Convince yourself theyâre cheering for you. You do that, and someday, they will.â Hits me hard!
This one was longer. Primarily because of Burt, I will admit, but it canât be helped. Perhaps itâs the best episode of season 1 because of Burt! Now thatâs a break throughâŚ
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2019 Mega Drive Explorations [1]
It takes me a long time to do some things and Iâve finally gathered up a bunch of Sega Mega Drive / Genesis titles that Iâve been meaning to play, hopefully through their entirety, or replay and take as many screenshots as I can. These arenât going to look like most other screenshots youâll see online, though; Iâve been using an NTSC filter because I believe itâs the visual format in which these games look best. So, letâs take a stroll through the material so far.
Super Hydlide (1989)
This is one of the best âold styleâ action-RPGs Iâve played. Iâve gone in with barely any prior knowledge, and I think thatâs how to best experience it. Spoiling yourself on the extent and workings of its mechanical systems would, I think, turn it into nothing more than leveling up and finding the next place to go. The range of overworld which youâre initially able to explore is fairly restricted, and, as the action-RPG designation suggests, there are no randomized battles. Because of details like your need of food and sleep, or the encumbrance limit, though, itâs a deep relief to return to a town after some exploration in a way that reminds one why this trope of wilderness vs. domesticity caught on. You might just find yourself exhaling when your enter an inn. In another game, your characterâs attack would likely be assigned a hitbox straight ahead of the sprite, but Super Hydlide locally assigns it to your right arm/hand, and itâs a welcome quirk in a game with super basic combat. There is no in-game map (or, if there is, I havenât found it yet), and so -- as with Simonâs Quest -- Iâve been drawing my own on a sheet of gridded paper.
Above: the same screen at different times of day.
I hope that this blogâs emphases and its audience make the claim that I think Super Hydlide looks amazing at least appreciable. Everything has just enough detail to render the object, being, or space as categorically legible while retaining ambiguities, and thereâs a variety where you might not expect it, like the grass around the building above, that gives each screen a kind of visual grain that an ornate and time-worn carpet might have. Complementing this is a soundtrack that seems unaware of the consoleâs audio capabilities in a way that another contemporary Mega Drive release, like Sword of Vermilion, certainly was not. Thatâs fine, though; the soundâs smallness, with those lite approximations of exclamatory synth brasses and the percussionâs dusty, dinky punches, enhances the cute visual aesthetics: people, monsters, and buildings you could hold in a pair of cupped hands. Especially remarkable is the overworld theme, âChaos Separatorâ -- almost three minutes long, a duration that was basically unheard of at the time.
Atomic Runner Chelnov (1992)
Chelnov has me torn between wanting to share either as many screenshots of it as I can or as little. Itâs so stunning to behold that exposing anyone who hasnât played it to its sights seems like a disservice. Itâs in extreme contrast to the gameâs original arcade version, too, which may as well be a different game. Every stage is a stream of layered ornaments, and continuing to play to see more of this is motivation alone. At first I thought the graphic theme was one of a general âexoticismâ, with ziggurats settled above lava giving way to stepped Mayan pyramids, but then the penultimate stage threw architecture designed by Antoni GaudĂ my way, making me wonder if the theme is more broadly âeclecticâ -- choosing certain settings and motifs for their dazzling power alone. This is one of those run ânâ gunners where your character will keep running unless you stop them -- but you soon have to start running again anyway, since the screen keeps moving right and only stops for bosses. It took me playing through half of the game to figure out how to turn around. Please, if you want to give Chelnov a look: consult a controls FAQ.
El Viento (1991)
If youâre looking for level design thatâs a mixture of the mundane and the out-of-control, El Viento might be for you. One moment youâre walking through an open sewer channel, exploding the occasional fish; the next, youâre navigating a bundle of platforms that feel way too closely packed together for your characterâs sprite size as you attempt to outrun a never-ending flood of rats that move at speeds never before recorded. One moment youâre going through an apartmentâs door into an empty interior; the next, a tank bursts through the opposite wall and just starts hammering you with missiles and bullets, giving you only five feet of space to work with. Itâs the second in a trilogy of games, which includes Earnest Evans, a game perhaps most notable for all of its footage making it appear that the players are incompetent on purpose, but which in fact plays more or less the same no matter how good you are. Grave sacrifices were made so that the titular character could be a composite sprite. El Vientoâs level design hews closely to Earnest Evansâ, with the important difference that its protagonist, Annet Myer, is controllable.
Even with its problems, El Viento is charming. Itâs nice to play a videogame with a female protagonist whoâs not creeped on by the artist(s) (perhaps we can, in part, thank technical limitations for this). The palettes and style of pixel art bear an uncanny resemblance to Master of Darkness, released for the Game Gear and Master System, and give each stage a distinct, almost dirty granularity. For me, El Viento gets especially interesting around the fourth stage, a shipâs engine room (or... factory?) thatâs preceded by a short segment that has you crossing water on top of a cartoon-eyed dolphin. The level design transitions to looking like a network from Metroid Fusion -- a knotty maze with small destructible points that cause chain reactions, oddly small platforms, moments where youâre not sure whatâs interactive and whatâs not, and low ceilings underlined by spike-beds that necessitate you make use of a crouch-dash mechanic that feels like it shouldnât work the way it does. Itâs a hardly perfect yet precious occurrence of extinct, or endangered, level design, and the developers apparently had a confidence in letting it, as it were, speak for itself, because thereâs not a single enemy to defeat throughout.
Jewel Master (1991)
Wanting to hear Motoaki Takenouchiâs incredible score, one of the Mega Driveâs best, in its intended context was almost totally my incentive to play Jewel Master. Itâs a fine, somewhat haphazardly designed action game; not bad, not memorable, but for the music. You acquire different rings, some optional, as you go from stage to stage, and can assign them to a total of four active slots on an equipment menu. Different combinations will lead to different effects -- or you might want to leave a ring on one hand on its own. Itâs a neat idea in the abstract. In practice, youâll often be better off sticking to one set-up per stage until a boss demands a switch. The level design is pretty uninspired, and it increasingly makes artificial attempts at challenging the player by burying you under swarms of suddenly-appearing monsters. When this happens, you just have to hope that you can make it out alive. Thereâs not a whole lot to look at, either: the stagesâ environmental peculiarities and palettes are minimal to an extreme, although I do love that the protagonistâs sprite seems to take a cue from Rastanâs by only moving his legs when he walks.
Gynoug (1991)
My experience with, and interest in, shumps, is next to nonexistent, so I donât have a ton to say about Gynoug. Whyâd I bother? Well, because of the weird and grotesque enemy and boss sprites, which combine the mechanical, exoskeletal, and visceral. The first miniboss is like a floating snapping turtle... except without legs, and a head thatâs a toothed skull. Later, in stage two, youâre confronted by the bow and head of a ship that reveals itself to be the hat atop a colossal, wrinkled face. Maybe it was expecting too much to hope that the settings would match the bestiaryâs inventiveness, but only stage three and four wowed me. If itâs not a game Iâm going to be returning to any time soon, it was worth going through once.
Thatâs all for now. Other titles Iâve been exploring and will write about at some point include Alisia Dragoon, Cadash, Chakan: The Forever Man, Elemental Master, Light Crusader, Mazin Saga: Mutant Fighter, Mystic Defender, Shining Force 2, Splatterhouse 2 and 3, Two Crude Dudes, and Ys III.
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âSuckerâ Punch: The Behind-the-Scenes Players to Launch Jonas Brothersâ First No. 1 | Variety
The trio's manager, A&R and label chief explain how an authentic thaw in sibling relations led to a strategy of silence, then shock and awe.
March 11, 2019 by Chris Willman
America is collectively a sucker for the Jonas Brothers again â or at least thatâs the strong indication from first-week results for their comeback, a full decade after the trio last had a top 30 single. âSuckerâ just became their first song ever to top the Billboard Hot 100, and the first by any band to debut at the top of the chart in more than 20 years. According to Buzz Angle Music, the first seven days for âSuckerâ racked up a combination of 30 million audio streams, 16 million video streams and 88,000 digital sales, on top of a fast radio start that found nearly every pop station adding the tune.
Howâs it possible one of the biggest phenomena of the late 2000s never had a No. 1? Back in their original heyday, radio and older fans were both mutually suspicious of any act coming out of the Disney camp, no matter how massive the ticket sellouts or record sales (they had four straight platinum or double-platinum albums, if you count the âCamp Rockâ soundtrack). Ten years later, pent-up fan energy is meeting no such gatekeeper resistance.
âAs big as they were previously, theyâve never seen this kind of chart action, which is pretty wild at this point of their career,â Monte Lipman, the chairman/CEO of Republic Records, tells Variety. âThey were an arena act, but in terms of the traditional record flying up and down the charts, they never had that. From the outside looking in, I was always intrigued by their success and thinking about what would happen if they had a record that stormed the charts on top of all of that, like they do now. So weâve been having a blast.â
Crucial parts of the campaign: âHaving Nickâs and Kevinâs wives and Joeâs fiancĂŠe be a part of the video was really powerful, and that visual provided a lot of fuel at launch that was beneficial to the whole campaign,â says Phil McIntyre, founder/CEO of Philymack, their management company. âAnd the platform of James (Corden, whose show featured the Jonas Brothers for an entire week) was phenomenal and made for great, fun content that travels.â The âCarpool Karaokeâ was even revealing enough about the brothersâ personal story to make up for a lot of interviews they could have done and didnât. But prior to the video and Corden, the perhaps even more critical component in the plan was⌠silence. âIt was definitely part of our strategy, to try to keep it under the radar, and it was helpful that it stayed there,â says McIntyre, âbecause we were totally expecting that it wouldnât.â
âAs hard as it is to keep a secret in 2019, especially when youâre three of the most followed guys online,â says Republicâs EVP of A&R, Wendy Goldstein, âthey did a great job at keeping it quiet. And the Jonas Brothers as a band may have been dormant, but their individual development and success probably contributed to amplifying excitement. Theyâve been out there for six years in the public eye, but not as Jonas Brothers,â she says. âIt was the perfect tease.â
Adds Lipman, âBecause when you think about the marketplace, nearly 150,000 new songs are made available every single week, and the greatest competition weâve got right now is that sheer volume â the static, the noise. So in this case the best thing to do was almost the opposite, something without any messaging, and literally just drop it out of the sky â and ka-boom, itâs the loudest bang you can create.â But everyone was concerned the secrecy could be blown at any moment. âAny time the guys were ever seen in the same room together, the rumors started flying. So there was a lot of denial, absolutely.â
Plausible deniability, though, because the Jonases really did have another reason to be in one anotherâs company â a documentary â and the recording was an outgrowth of the unofficial on-camera therapy sessions undertaken for that.
âA year ago, we started making a documentary with just the intention of telling what an incredible story these brothers have of taking this journey together and growing up in the public eye together as a family, and the ups and downs of it,â says McIntyre. âAnd it was not to necessarily make new music or anything like that. So it unfolded in the most authentic way possible, and I think thatâs part of why there was an element of surprise, because for the most part when they were seen together, most people thought it was for the documentary.â
When did a documentary shoot turn into a resumption of the Jonas Brothers as a commercial and artistic enterprise? âI would say it was toward the end of the summer last year,â McIntyre says. âBecause we probably did four or five different trips with the brothers: They went to Australia where Joe was shooting âThe Voice.â They went to Jersey and to a couple other locations, and probably after the fourth or fifth location, they had sort of processed through so much of the things that tore âem apart earlier in their career, and just started to get honest with each other. And thereâs a magic to when theyâre together, and as much success as anyoneâs had on their own solo journey, it doesnât necessarily compare to what theyâve experienced as brothers. So it was toward the end of summer that they started to have the conversations around it, and it was at that point that I said, âIâve got to get with Monte and talk through this.â Because in my mind, there was only one place to do this, and that was with Republic. I just knew that they would they would be able to nail it.â
Finding a new label home for the Jonas Brothers, many years after their departure from Disneyâs Hollywood Records, wasnât a stretch. Republic had had Joeâs interim project, the group DNCE, and been jointly involved with Island Records on Nickâs solo career.
Lipman says he didnât offer any preferences for which stylistic direction the Jonas Brothers should take their new music, once he was brought in. âMonte Lipman? No,â he chuckles, as if the idea that heâd get personally involved in their A&R is a laugh. âI learned a long time ago just let them let them do their thing. The cool thing about working with the Philymack camp in particular and the Jonas Brothers as their partners is that when they come to the table, so much of it is been vetted, and âHey, this is the way weâd like to present the music. This is the aesthetic.ââ
But Goldstein did get highly involved as recording continued â and had a strong preference when it came time to pick a single out of the supposed two albumsâ worth of material the trio has recorded. âThere are some really powerful bangers ready to go,â she says. âBut âSuckerâ just had a vibe. It felt like a great way to come out. I think everybody agreed on that.â After her persuasiveness, anyway. âThere definitely was a debate as far as what the first look would be,â says McIntyre, Â âand to Wendyâs credit, she was the one who said, âI feel strongly that âSuckerâ is the right first sound and first song.ââ
âSuckerâ is much more akin to the dance-oriented material Nick and Joe have done in the interim years than the guitar-based, power-pop sound the brothers played in the 2000s. At recent âsecretâ shows in New York and L.A., the group sounded like they did in the first part of their career â that is, like a straight-up, heavy-on-the-hooks rock band â and they rearranged the one new song they played, âSucker,â just enough that it fit in with the guitars-and-live-drums ethos of their old sound. But that may not be an indication of where the eventual album will be headed.
âCreatively, theyâve evolved, as any artists would after a decade,â says Goldstein, not quite willing to commit them to a genre. âI donât think itâs tied to any era in particular. They were adamant about making an honest, real and somewhat raw comeback. They draw on their history together, but itâs an exciting new chapter.â McIntyre is a little more committal about how fans shouldnât expect the new material to exactly revive the 2000s: âI would say that you will be able to see and hear the influences of what Joe did in his solo career and what Nick did in his solo career come together in a very natural way.â
It was a good time for the brothers to reunite, personal reasons aside, because although their solo endeavors had kept them somewhat in the limelight â Nick as a solo artist and Joe with DNCE had both made the top 10, and had ongoing success on the dance charts â neither had had such an ongoing run of hits that a resumption of the brother act would seem like a step backward. Nothing was guaranteed: The last time the Jonas Brothers tried coming back after a layoff, in 2012-13, on an indie label, the media and radio werenât much interested, and their personal disagreements took such a toll that a planned album and tour were canceled as they officially broke up. But clearly a few years of their absence as a collective made the public heart grow fonder.
âThey were part of a lot of peopleâs most influential years, of their childhoods or beyond,â says McIntyre, âand so I think that the timing of them bringing those positive, good times has resonated, and people appreciate them now for being the soundtrack to their lives.â Plus, thereâs the small matter of the song being good, âso we do get the opportunity to get a whole new audience that isnât there for nostalgic reasons. Itâs very much a two-pronged strategy.â
As for an album, âWeâre working through the timeline now,â McIntyre says. âI think everybody would like to get it out as quick as possible, so I would look to the first half of this year.â As for a live return, the brothers had 35 minutes of material very solidly rehearsed for their secret El Rey show last week, but the nature of a tour is still under discussion. Picking up where they left off at the height of their careers, in arenas, has been part of the conversation, but so have more modest venues. Nick leaves this week to shoot a âJumanjiâ sequel, which may put a slight speed bump in those discussions.
Will the documentary, done in partnership with Amazon, come out simultaneously with the album? âAs of right now theyâre separate things,â McIntyre says, âbut weâre looking at it. Because as you tell this story, you realize that so much of the story revealed itself through the process that then led to the music. So weâre playing with just how to kind of roll out the two bodies of work.â
McIntyre says some healing had gone on before work on the documentary started, but the filming process caught any sense of alienation further breaking down. âI think that they are like most families out there â that they had touched on the issues enough to be able to move forward, but they didnât really get into it,â says the manager. âThey didnât go into the depth of where the hurt was each one of them really felt in those moments, and being able to articulate it and explain it to each other. That was a discovery along the way of making this. It wasnât something that we knew was there, necessarily; it was once we got into it, we sort of all looked at each other and were like, âWow, thereâs a lot of layers to this that need to be discussed.ââ
Lipman also says the documentary will further reveal that the reunion âis not a marketing ploy. Itâs not anything that was calculated. It wasnât a money grab.â But if theyâre able to mint some out of the finally refreshed brotherly love, that will be a significant Jonas bonus.
Source: Variety
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Soundbar
Before we go into the details of the latest R Series middle-end soundbar, let's have a mindset of what criteria to look into while coming to the purchase of soundbar irrespective of the brands.
I have summarized 4 key areas of "Soundbar Buying Guide Cheat Sheet" you should take into consideration as follow:
How many channels?
While choosing the soundbar, many of Getit customers will first ask "how many watts?". Fairly to say, there are other more important factors or technologies other than the number game of the watt as usually highlighted by most of the China OEM budget soundbar.
Firstly you should look into how many channels sound output delivered by that soundbar. There are soundbar with 2, 3, 5 and even 7 channels to provide you a much more immersive theater experience.
Secondly, the sound format it can support. Recently, the most popular sound format is Dolby Atmos. I will cover this in our high-end Q Series soundbar in the coming weeks.
Thirdly, other value-added features delivered by the soundbar such as the delay of certain sound output which is synced with the action on the TV.
It is advisable to only look for a soundbar with at least 3 or more channels. For budget users, we also launch 2 channels soundbar to satisfy this market segment. It is basically a mini-stereos of which Astro is delivering this sound format in most of their broadcast.
On the other hand, soundbar with 3 or more channels, you can simulate surround sound for a more immersive experience.
Wireless subwoofer or Active soundbar?
Active soundbar means soundbar that come with built-in amplifiers. The price can be a bit pricey. This might not be worth it unless you're trying to save space or want a 2-for-1 solution.
On the other hand, we suggest you look for a soundbar with a wireless active subwoofer. This allows you to hide the subwoofer away from the living room. This makes your home entertainment modern, neat and simple.
All the Samsung Middle-End soundbar come with this wireless subwoofer.
Where you should place your soundbar?
Do you prefer hanging it on a wall or laying it on a table? Aesthetically speaking, your soundbar shouldnât be any wider than your TV.
The perfect spot for your soundbar should be centered underneath the TV. We will normally suggest our customer to wall mount to the wall with a specific distance from your Samsung UHD/ QLED TV.
How about connectivity?
Nowadays, mostly all the branded soundbars come with Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth-enabled, so you can easily stream music from any computer, phone, or tablet. This makes your soundbar a stereo (change the sound mode to music in any Samsung soundbar with one-touch button).
Depending on the connectivity option of your TV and soundbar. Commonly, we will recommend either HDMI or Optical cable.
Personally, I prefer to use an optical cable. It is simple while I just need to transmit sounds from my TV to soundbar with no picture signal transmission needed. Whether HDMI or optical cable, they are both perfect for transmitting digital sounds such as Dolby Digital.
For most setups, the sound will be just as good with optical as with HDMI. All the Samsung soundbar comes with optical input.
Samsung surrounds sound expansion expands the listening area both sideways and up to emanate sound.
Now you can enjoy great sound with truly immersive surround effects. You feel the power, a new dimension to your home audio experience.
Elevate your TV sound with Built-in center speaker.
You can experience crystal clear dialogue with a dedicated center channel speaker. It provides a balanced sound from one end to the other. It beautifully completes your home entertainment experience.
Elevate your TV sound with Powerful bass. Powerful bass where you need it. Donât let wires get in the way of your bass.
Set the soundbar with wireless subwoofer anywhere in your space and surround yourself with powerful, deeper bass.
Connect the Soundbar to your Samsung TV* with ease and without the clutter of wires via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Youâ ll be able to enjoy all your content instantly with clearer, more impactful sound.
The soundbar automatically analyzes your sound sources to optimize the audio track for your specific content. Whether itâs a loud sports match or a drama with quiet dialogue, you
can count on the best soundbar to provide clear sounds for optimized TV viewing.
You can plug in your console and get the amazing sound effects you expect, right away. The auto settings optimize your sound to the game youâre playing while cross-talk cancellation technology removes distracting sounds so you hear clear audio from the right direction to help you gain the advantage.
Samsung Soundbar uses Bluetooth for easy wireless connections to other devices. Enjoy music from your mobile in top audio quality anywhere, no strings attached.\
We have initiated 3 different pricing for third different customers as follow:
1) P.w.P with any Samsung QLED, UHD in a single receipt. This is claimed as the most value for money package.
2) Getit's Samsung QLED, UHD customers. A slight price increment than the above for any customers who bought Samsung QLED, UHD TV from us BEFORE.
3) Offer price for Walk-in customers who have never bought Samsung TV from us.
The following are our customers' review on Getit for your reference. You can access the similar contents in the Review section of our FB page.
Was looking for a good 4K TV as our current coming-7 year old 46â TV is starting to show its age. Asked a friend for a good place to buy one and was recommended to check out Getit.com.bn for their pricing relating to value, latest models availability, and after sale service â all of which are crucial to me for a big purchase.
Reached out Getit via FB messenger and was attended to instantly and is technically very knowledgeable of which I learned a lot more about the latest audio and video technologies, such as the pros and cons between and features in UHDs, PUHDs, QLEDs, competitorsâ OLEDs, curved vs flat, and etc. Of course I also did research from other sources to avoid unbiased views.
So I ended up getting the Samsung 65â Curved 4K PUHD TV at a really good price. đđPersonally it is the best TV you can get when you think of the pricing territory. It comes with an assuring 2-year warranty from Samsung as well.
Got interested and bought the Samsung HWN650 Soundbar as well for its price, features (the acoustic beam technology especially) and its minimalism (less clutter and wiring compared to our almost 7-yr old home theater).
These are still on their way but I am confident that they will be delivered on time đ
Definitely will come again to Getit as the boss there, Angus, sure did bring confidence in my purchase. đđť
Getit.com.bn provide another level of shopping experience in a country that is fairly brick and mortar based. Shopping experience with getit.com.bn is entirely virtual- the customer contact the provider and request information of a particular item and when both parties reach an agreement the customer pay for the item online and within a few days it is delivered to the doorstep.
My experience purchasing a front-loading Samsung washer was painless and saves my time too. Angus sent me several information leaflets and websites to look at from Facebook Messenger and I was able to make an informed decision when purchasing the washer.
The washer itself is exactly what I was expecting and Angus went to great lengths to get me started with Q-Rator app. A very approachable and knowledgable man, Angus never hesitate and gave me concise information about the washer. An overall positive experience.
I believe this was the best shopping experience that I ever encounter. Not just because the value for the money but mostly on their product knowledge which makes it even more interesting in choosing the product.
Their customer service is of a quality standard, Angus and team will try to accommodate to the customer needs and budget.
Overall shopping with this company is a must for every customers looking for a perfect TV.
Getit, I had a great experience with this company, I really like the idea of development of online business, not only does it reduce the cost of operations, but helps customers get a better price for the Product. So I decided to purchase my TV from this company, the Sales guy was very enthusiastic, and insisted that I come and visit him in heâs Samsung school.
This made me feel that this was a legit business and made me confident in dealing with him.
The Samsung School, has educated me in all the new technologyâs that 4K TVs has to offer, he showed me the difference between a sense of Depth from the Curve TVs and the difference between a Premium UHD and a standard one.
I had so many old TVs in my house not being used and Getit managed to sell them.
The TV arrived in a week, there was very coordination involved. I would say the customer service is excellent and very professional.
Shopping at getit.com.bn is a great experience. When you already know what you want then all you have to do is tell Angus and he does the rest. When you are not sure what to get then Angus is there to advice. I am a returning customer and I am a very satisfied one everytime.
Fantastic service. Stopped by their store with enquiries for a washer I saw on their website but ended up purchasing a Samsung 55" UHD Curved TV (after a brilliant sales pitch by the boss) and a Samsung 13kg washer. After looking around many different electronic stores in Brunei, I've concluded Getit has the lowest price (even when other stores are on sale).
Delivery was prompt and communication between Getit was flawless as the boss updated me on the delay/expected delivery day/time. Stress free purchase with installation and set up included. I would highly recommend everyone to purchase from them and would purchase my future electronics from them.
Outstanding service from Mr Angus and Ms Meera. Exceptional and vast knowledge on the products. Initial plan was just to buy TV, but ended up buying 55 UHD curved TV and curved Soundbar.
Mr Angus suggested the best product based on our requirement and budget. Now, both my wife and I are enjoying the products. No regrets! Well done!!! Will definitely buy more products from you in the future.
Been scouting for a new 4k and came across getit.com from Facebook. Very competitive price compared to other shops. Attended their Samsung UHD school by Mr Angus and learnt a lot of info on their 4K TV and Soundbar. High recommended. would shop again in the future.
Thank you
Excellent information from Getit Samsung School. The knowledge shared and showing us the difference between Flat and Curve TV.
With all the information being shared and learned, didn't need to think twice about purchasing it from Getit.
Now enjoying my Curve TV + Soundbar
Excellent online shop. great customer service. Planning to buy the 43", but end up bought the 49". If you guys wanna buy a new Samsung TV, so here is your right choice. Excellent service, really fast online shopping. Just 1 day, I repeat, just 1 DAY. my item arrive. Thank you sir Angus!
Great customer service. Was showcased detailed explanation of the different TVs and their advantages and disadvantages. Would definitely hit them up again next time I'm looking for a new TV
Excellent online shopping. The knowledge shared its really worth it, good customer and after sales service.
A real good experience from this place. Quick response and super efficient. The Samsung Smart tv is real good!!
Getit outstanding service i had great experience. This company suggested the TV based on our budget. Fantastic service. Excellent online shop. Now my family are enjoying the product. No regret if we buy from Getit. Well done Getit!!đđťđđťđđť
Recently bought a TV from here and really happy with the price and services provided by them. Got the TV delivered + installed fast as well with no extra charge. Salesman was very informative and managed recommend me according to my needs.
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Money Make Her $mile - Part 3
ALRIGHT. SO. ITâS CURRENTLY 7 AM. I DONâT REMEMBER ANY OF THE OPENING NOTES. I DONâT REMEMBER THE PEOPLE TO TAG. I CANT REMEMBER THE HASHTAGS EITHER. RIP ME I GUESS. BUT. TUMBLRâS A HELL-SITEÂ THAT DECIDED NAZIS ARE MORE ACCEPTABLE THAN A GIF OF A GIRL GRINDINâ ON A BOY FULLY CLOTHED. SO THEY TOOK MY FUCKIN CHAPTER DOWN.
Iâm literally only tagging my wifey @wittystilesâ because she is the reason anyone ever got to see this story in the first place.
Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4
Chapter 3: Come Closer
Song rec: All We Do by Trey Songz, Skin by Rihanna The songs play in the story so play this in order if thatâs your thing :)
Warnings: Listen, itâs been forever since I read over this chapter. Swearing is a safe bet cause itâs p much a fixture in my fics. Obvi a lap dance. Other than that itâs a surprise for both you and me lmfao. Gif not really related but like. Itâs safe per tumblrs new fucked up standards and also Aesthetic so.
Two weeks later, Mitch was still coming into the club to watch Alexis dance. He would drop a minimum of three hundred dollars on her with each performance. Sometimes heâd give her even more. He followed her when one of the other girls asked to switch platforms, hoping to get some of Mitchâs generosity.
Now Alexis was coming back in after having changed shifts with the same girl, whoâd been hoping to get Mitchâs attention when Alexis wasnât present at all.
âAlexis!â The girl snapped the second the brunette had stepped into the dressing room.
âRose, whatâs wrong?â Alexis asked, confused on why sheâd taken that tone.
âThat guy! He came in while you were gone, and he gave me ones.â The bleached blonde huffed. Alexis frowned in confusion.
âI swear heâs never done that to me.â She promised.
âMaybe he just likes Alexis, and wants to get her attention.â Another girl piped up as she teased her hair at her vanity. Alexis snorted, thinking if only they knew the real reason.
After Roseâs complaint she realized that Mitch was probably trying to buy her continued silence. She refused to acknowledge why the information gave her a twinge of melancholy as she sat down at her vanity and began applying her makeup.
âââ
The second she stepped out into the main space Bryce caught her arm and tugged her across the room to a long hallway lined with doors.
âBryce, what the hell?â She demanded.
âYouâve got a private lap dance lined up.â He told her.
âOkay, with who?â She huffed, tugging her arm free and massaging it to get her circulation back.
âThat new regular of yours, heâs in room eight. Get in there and make sure we both get a good tip.â He pushed her down the hall when she didnât immediately move.
âUh-...â She hesitated. âThe cameras are on right?â She asked.
âOf course theyâre on. Now go. Make him happy because happy people blow more money.â Bryce huffed. Alexis sent him a quick glare before hesitantly opening the door and slipping inside room 8. She turned to face the room once the door was closed and locked, ensuring that no one accidentally stumbled in and disturbed them.
Mitch was standing casually in the middle of the room with his back to her, his form dressed in an all black suit, glancing around as if he was only politely interested in his surroundings. He turned when she cleared her throat, effectively getting his attention.
âHave a seat on the chair.â She directed as she walked over to queue a song up on the digital stereo that was built into the wall. The leather padding on the glorified folding chair made unpleasant noises as Mitch sat down on it, and when she glanced back she found him spread on it as if he was perfectly at home, his posture lax, his knees spread to each side of the chair, but his hands were obediently resting against the back legs of the small chair, since he wasnât allowed to touch her unless she said so. âComfortable?â She asked.
âAs I can be, yes.â He nodded, leaning his torso back to rest against the back of the chair. She nodded and pressed play on the music before making her way over to him as her song of choice began flooding the room with its enticing beat.
She stood in front of him and softly placed her hands on his shoulders for support as she moved her legs to straddle one of his thighs. She started off with a slow grind, swirling her hips back and forth while her hands moved from his shoulders down to his chest. She settled her hands against his ribs underneath the suit coat, her fingers feeling the heat of his skin through the thin material of his black dress shirt as she all but rode his thigh.
She felt his eyes on her and ignored them as best she could, keeping her gaze down, her eyes half lidded as she stared at her hands on him. She had to move to hold his upper arms when they inched forward after a particularly hard rotation of her hips that brought her leg brushing up against his groin. He huffed out a breath, probably in annoyance over being reminded of his restrictions, and she stood up before flipping around so her back was to him, her legs on either side of his other thigh. She settled back down on him and pulled her hair from her back so he had an unobstructed view as her ass wiggled teasingly close to his hips but didnât quite touch.
The smallest sound, not quite a groan but close, floated to her ears and she felt a small smirk steal across her lips, feeling powerful with the control she held over him in that moment.
She leaned her back up against his chest, consequently pushing her chest out for his viewing pleasure, and snaked a hand up around the back of his neck and into his hair. The position brought her backside in direct contact with his crotch and she bit her lip against the urge to smile at feeling his hard length pressing up against her.
Normally sheâd be annoyed, counting the seconds and waiting for the blissful moment when the dance would be over and she could be paid, but Mitch wasnât her usual type of customer. He wasnât fat, balding, and sweaty, eagerly waiting and hoping that sheâd allow him to put his hands all over her. He was built with lean muscle, unnervingly attractive, and poised in the way that a lion was as he coiled waiting for his chance to pounce. He had a predatory danger in the air about him and it thrilled Alexis as much as it scared her.
Her head leaned back against his shoulder and her eyes opened, unsure of when she had closed them, but remained hooded as she met his focused stare. His honey eyes were dark, whether from the dim lighting in the room or his arousal she couldnât puzzle out, and his looked at her as if waiting. She didnât know if it was that anticipating look or what, but she found herself turning her head and speaking into his ear.
âFeel free to touch me, if youâd like.â She breathed. His hand met the outside of her left leg, his touch almost hesitant as his fingers curled into the soft skin lightly and his palm dragged up higher. When she closed her eyes and hummed at the warm feeling he allowed his other hand to grab at her hip, his pinky finger dipping just under the edge of her metallic black shorts.
âWhere am I allowed to touch?â His low voice asked against her ear.
âIâll tell you if I donât like where your hands wander.â She promised. With that open ended consent his touch began to roam across her exposed skin, looking for his boundaries.
He didnât meet them, even when his fingers moved across her leg to her inner thigh, gripping and pulling her legs open wider. She felt his other hand trail up across her stomach to the bottom of her sternum, and had to withhold a shiver when his fingertips just barely teased their way underneath the fabric in the middle of her metallic black bikini top.
The song was drawing to a close and her grinding slowed, drawing out the feeling until the last note played. She stopped but didnât immediately stand like she normally would, eager to get away from the client that was usually panting across the back of her neck. Mitchâs hands moved away from their provocative spots and settled on her hips.
âCan I pay for another?â He asked, his voice the epitome of calm even as she felt him twitch through his slacks against her backside.
âIf you want, I can give you the second dance now and you can pay after.â She offered, standing up and stepping away from him, mourning the loss of touch as his hands slipped away from her body.
âI would like that, then.â He agreed and she nodded before heading back over to the audio control panel. She selected another song and walked back over.
âAny requests on how you want me?â She asked coyly. He took her hand in his and pulled her forward until she was standing over his thigh again.
âI donât mind, as long as youâre facing me.â He smirked, watching her settle herself along his leg. âCan I still touch you?â He asked as he released her hand.
âIf youâd like.â She shrugged, acting aloof. His hands moved to rest against her hips, loosely holding her as the new song started up and she resumed the grinding rotation of her hips against his body. Her rhythm matched perfectly to the music, her hips working over him slowly when the melody dragged out slow and sensual, and then she quickened her pace when the music picked up. She changed position, going from straddling one of his thighs to swinging her leg over his other until her hips were flush against his. She felt him push his hips up the slightest bit and nearly forgot to hold in her groan as she slowly dragged her hips back and forth across him.
Her hands moved along her own body, her fingertips trailing slowly up her ribs before she turned her palms around and began pushing her hands up over her chest to her neck and up into her hair as she leaned her torso back. She came back up with her chest mere inches from his face as her hands landed on his shoulders. Her hair curtained their faces as her fingers snaked up around the back of his neck and wove into his hair. She tugged gently and he tipped his head back in compliance, staring up at her with his now nearly black eyes.
âIf youâre here to make sure Iâm not talking to anyone about what happened, I promised I wouldnât tell a single soul and I donât break promises.â She said just loud enough to be heard over the music. Her mouth opened in an involuntary exhale when his hands slid down over her ass and gripped it tightly, tugging her over him roughly.
âIâm here because I paid for a lap dance, Alexis.â He taunted.
âYou know what I meant.â She gave a deliberately firm grind against him and watched his eyelids lower slightly for a second as his jaw clenched before his gaze focused back on her.
âYou interest me, Alexis. I want to learn more about you.â He explained earnestly.
âYou could have come by and asked me to coffee, Mitch.â She teased. âThen youâd only be blowing four fifty instead of three hundred dollars every night.â
âI couldnât care less about how much money it would take to entice you, Alexis. And if Iâd approached you outside your apartment would you really have agreed to accompany me?â He pointed out.
âI would.â She promised.
âOut of fear.â He clarified. She didnât deny it and he shook his head. âThatâs not what I want from you. I donât want you to comply with what I want because youâre afraid of telling me ânoâ.â He explained.
âSo stalking me at work is a better option?â She snarked before she could stop herself. He simply grinned, happy that sheâd revealed a sliver of her true sass to him.
âIâm a paying customer, Alexis.â He smirked.
âLexi.â She corrected as the song ended. âI prefer Lexi. If youâre going to keep calling me by name.â She added.
âAlright, Lexi.â He agreed, releasing his hold on her body to allow her to get up. She stepped away and fixed the areas of her outfit that had been tugged out of place while Mitch reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He stood and handed her a few bills folded in half. âThank you for the dance.â He said politely, buttoning his suit coat closed before he turned and left.
It was only once he was gone and she was left alone in the dark room that Lexi realized just how much his touch had affected her, as she felt a dull wanting ache throb from low in her gut.
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< C2 - - C4 >
Iâm not gonna re-add tags cause thatâs just an annoying waste of time lmfao.
#Money Make Her $mile#MMH$#my writing#ellie's scribbles#these are literally the only tags i'm adding cause fuck that whole ass mess
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Any motivation or advice for one man team developers? Sorry if this has been asked already
Hey! Iâve been working on a solo fangame project for too long almost 3 years, while working on The BOSS & Glitch In The System. IÂ have no clue if thisâll help or if this is the type of advice you wanted, but here you go. The things written here can apply to non-fangame projects, too!Â
(Warning: lots of text ahead - and take this with a grain of salt; Iâm not an expert.)
General:Â
You are going to have to plan in advance and organize absolutely every single thing about your project. Donât just make an outline for your story. Create concept art for your characters, figure out what makes your game story unique, figure out the mapping and game mechanics early.
Make sure you know your options. If youâre really good at one thing (writing,art,music,code) and everything else is a bit new to you, there are free and paid resources out there. Donât feel bad for using them.Â
If youâre a perfectionist, make sure the tools you use are quick. Do not spend a week on one room design, or a month on one song. You will never finish your game, even if itâs super short.Â
Kinda joykill advice, but I donât recommend making your dream project first unless you fully KNOW how to start making your project on your own (which even then, youâll need to organize everything for it to work). Make something silly, or try joining game jams.Â
External feedback is even more important when working on your game. Get playtesters or people willing to help give feedback to you early on, or midway through development.Â
Figure out how much energy you can devote to your project. If you want to be ambitious, thatâs great! But overworking yourself is a horrible idea.Â
If you want to change something fairly major about your game, you should probably only do it if youâre below the 30-40% mark. Otherwise youâll forever drive yourself insane by changing anything when youâve made that much progress on your project. You can always improve on certain aspects for future games.Â
Especially for fangames: donât take everything you make seriously.Â
Games can still be considered solo projects, even if the developers got help for stuff like art, music, and code. You donât have to do every single thing by yourself. But if youâre stubborn like me about this and still want to do everything, thatâs cool too.
Back up your game or forever suffer in developer hell. Yes, Iâm serious. Iâve seen projects get cancelled because they couldnât afford to get a backup drive (or even a USB key) and itâs miserable.
Donât act like youâre above other game developers. This applies for anyone, really. Support the other people around you, too!Â
Visuals:
If you have absolutely no passion or desire to do your own art assets, premade resources are your friends. However, you need to really focus on your other game aspects in other for your games to stand out. To The Moon used a lot of pre-made RPG Maker XP resources but had a phenomenal soundtrack and used that + its visuals to make the game feel more cinematic than most RPG Maker games.
If you feel like you suck at art or donât have money for expensive drawing tools, but want to make all of the game assets, then do it! Even with simple/free-to-use tools, your can make game art thatâll be unique and memorable. example / example / exampleÂ
Keep backups of every single one of your original art asset files.
If you want to do pixel art for your game, 1: Always avoid coloring with pure black. Your game will look disgusting. 2: Programs like Asesprite are useful for animations. 3: Make sure itâs proper pixel art. Using AA brushes, the blur tool (etc) will completely ruin that.
Video cutscenes arenât 100% necessary. Certain game devs make it a goal to never include cutscenes to create a certain atmosphere, or for the game to feel more interactive for the player. (ex: Night In The Woods)
Pretend the player canât listen to game audio while playing. Keep the visuals interesting and make your game feel alive! Whether itâs through tiny animations, window animations, etc.Â
For 3D Games: motion blur =/= super cool polished game. >:(
It depends on your gameâs style, of course, but usually itâs not a good sign if you can tell your project is made by someone with default assets and doesnât try to work beyond that (for any engine, 2D or 3D).Â
If you want to do regular art for your game: make sure you know what resolution your game is going to be at its absolute highest, and always work with bigger than that.Â
Keep your visuals consistent! If an early area looks unpolished/different from the final maps, then fix it.Â
Iâm going to skip music advice because I 100% suck at composing and donât know what Iâm doing yet. Just make sure your audio files are lossless, even if it adds a bit to your gameâs file size.Â
Audio:Â
Use the same logic like in one of the points for visuals: Pretend like the player canât see any of your cool visuals or fancy animations, and is just left with blocks for character sprites and very shapes for maps. Make your game convey emotion through audio, even if itâs through tiny sounds, or really quiet environment sounds.Â
Voice acting: Donât even bother if you canât find people who have good microphones or canât afford/know how to properly remove background noise. Youâll just be left with really bad quality audio that wonât help immerse the player at all.Â
There can be a theme to your audio, much like there can be a theme to your visuals. Whether or not you decide to contrast the visuals with your audio or pair them up is up to you. It can give the game a whole new tone, depending on how you approach sound design.
Audio cues are good for puzzles, but again, donât just rely on that only to indicate to the player that an objective has been completed. If they have the game on mute, theyâre just going to be left wandering around.
Binaural audio can be cool, if you want to try doing that.Â
Writing:Â
Donât write game dialogue at 4 am. It never works.Â
Game writing is VERY different from what you might be used to. Keep in mind that for the most part players want to interact with an environment, not just only hear what characters have to say about a certain event or area. Forcing them to go through giant dialogue cutscenes every time is not a smart move to make. (Obviously, visual novels and text adventure games are an exception to this)
Not that you only need to have 4 words in your entire game! But there is a chance someone will download your game and just not enjoy the writing. Think ahead of time if you really feel like every game puzzle, every important cutscene needs to happen after giant walls of text.
If you have the ability to make visuals that can be paired with writing, you donât really have an excuse for avoiding that. Especially if the cutsceneÂ
Proofread every single thing, or get someone else to do it. If you can export all your game dialogue into text files, that could be helpful.Â
If youâre trying to write a serious game (with lighthearted moments or not), chances are that adding that one dumb inside joke with your friends in-game could ruin the immersion for the player.
Only time I think the developer should focus more on their own opinion than the players: create as much atmosphere as you can. Figure out the things YOU like about a game world, and focus on that as much as you can. Donât worry about making it appeal to all/certain audiences.Â
Donât act like every single player in the world will like all of your characters. Even if theyâre nice, someone could absolutely despise your main characters, or find themselves liking the antagonist more.
Dumb character ticks and speech mannerisms can still work.
Not everything about a Serious Game⢠has to be gritty and all that. Me and Katie wouldnât recommend making a completely serious fangame anyway, but thatâs another topic.Â
Youâre probably not going to ever write a game that has absolutely no tropes in it whatsoever, so give up on that.Â
You can make a character dislikeable but still charming. The other way around works too. Not everything has to be clear-cut right and wrong.
Game design / Programming:Â
If you ever use shortened names for certain switches, variables, etc - or have a complex system for one game feature, write down what all of it does somewhere. You donât want to screw yourself over months after you implemented something because you forgot what one button does, or what another variable is for.Â
Bite the bullet. If thereâs an area you restrict access to for the player purely for the sake of not having to deal with coding it, thatâs no fun.
You can never make a game with endless options/possibilities.
If thereâs something buggy in your absolute basic gameplay mechanics (movement, UI) just change it and donât focus on anything else before itâs fixed. Thereâs no excuse not to.
Make sure your game UI is bearable to look at. Please.
You donât have to add 50 game options or features for your game to stand out. Unless you know itâll encourage the player to keep playing or will help the player enjoy the game, then thereâs no real use for it.
If you can ever optimize your game (frame rate, controls, etc) do that too. Having a simple 2D game running at 15fps one second and 60 the other wonât make your players happy.Â
Personally, Iâd rather play a working puzzle even if itâs a bit boring, over something thatâs super creative but buggy as hell.Â
Color puzzles arenât going to work for colorblind players, and if you have an aesthetic (super tiny) game font, people with bad eyesight wonât be able to play. Give people options!Â
âChoices in this game matterâ if you know they donât matter whatsoever for the ending or for a majority of the game, then donât say that. This also ties into the branding section.
Making band-aid fixes for every single one of your game bugs is a really bad idea. If you can take some time to fix one bug fully rather than relying on workarounds, do that.Â
Back. Up. Your. Code. Files. Especially if youâre planning on making major changes to it. It can be very useful to have old pieces of code to fall back on if your changes donât work as planned.Â
Figure out what you can and canât do with an engine. Thereâs a section in The Beginnerâs Guide that talks about the limitations certain engines can pose to developers, and how certain engines are just better fit for certain tasks than others. You wonât be able to include or make everything for one project. (Chances are, that wouldnât work well anyways).Â
Donât expect the player to only behave one way to your gameâs design, puzzles, or mapping. Again, give people options. There can be some fun in giving the player different results for different puzzle solutions.Â
Presentation:Â
You donât have to reveal every single thing about your project online-Â but on the other hand, keeping everything to only vague/abstract teaser posts isnât very helpful to people, either.Â
Social media is your friend. Twitter, tumblr, youtube, etc- Find different audiences through your games there!Â
Figure out what sites you want to put your game on. There are tons of options: Itch.io is my favorite. But sites like Gamejolt, indiedb, rmn.net, Steam (more for commercial games), etc can work for you. You can always just upload it for yourself online (mediafire, google drive, dropbox) too, if you dislike all of those sites or prefer doing it through direct download links.Â
Donât self promote your game on other peopleâs games or accountsâŚ
Even if someone is hoping to see something really specific in your game, your project will get out of hand if you just add in what every single person wants. Convince people that your game will be worthwhile even if a feature or a character doesnât appear in it.Â
Remaining transparent with your audience will help you a lot.
Keep things easy to access and read/look at for potential players. Make sure people can find something about the game quick. Things like FAQs, âAbout this gameâ, external links, etc are very helpful.Â
Apologies in advance for any embarrassing typos that I may have missed. Â
One last thing: Focus on making something that you ultimately like. Itâll be much easier to handle any sort of obstacles during/after development that way.
There is so much more I want to cover on this, but this should give you some basic things to work with. Hope this helps!
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NKTLDK/FILM ENTRY #3
PRIOR ENTRY
I made my decision a while back. I went with the smaller but more artistically in tune band. The other band, the time frame didnât work out, the sound wasnât exactly what I was going for, and for us to work in their studio it was just too far away. I couldnât justify the following they had for the amount of other drawbacks involved. Remember some of your favorite bike riders with tens of thousands of followers work part time or full time. Who knows, it could very much be the same with them so I didnât put too much weight on it.Â
So I asked the band member(Mark) who I wanted to be involved in this if I could oversee production and he was immediately enthusiastic about the idea. We passed around notes on e-mail and text to figure out the direction we were headed in for the soundtrack. I was more self assured I would say cause I honestly took a listen to his discography and thought everything he did is near perfectly in line with what I wanted to accomplish with this particular project. So even if it was my first time working with another artist, I didnât have the jitters too much. I told him that but I was happy to see he was still running in his mind how things can go and what he can do. It just shows that heâs thinking about the project in a serious way and most of the time thatâs all that you can ask out of people. In that sense I felt like I made a good decision. Maybe the bigger band wouldnât have taken this project half as seriously, which is understandable cause they have more responsibilities to attend to. All speculative but still reasonable points. I gave Mark a playlist (NKTLDK PLAYLIST) and a list of notes on what I like about each track particularly. He was based in Chicago which is 12 hour drive from where I live. Not too bad for a guy who spend way too many nights living in his car, wandering around aimlessly. Iâve never been so I always like to go somewhere new. They have legendary food that I really wanted to try. I was going to bring my bike to ride the seawall and meet Nick @challengerbmxmag cause heâs up there and he gave me an opportunity so wanted to thank him. Mark said I could stay with him and his fiancĂŠ, he also registered us a room for a sound space so Chicago me and Omar went.Â
Omar and I are people on similar wavelengths. Heâs the closest thing to a real life mad scientist most people will ever met. I wouldâve taken him on this trip anyway but a real big advantage to having Omar around is that he is familiar with my project but also musically trained. I played piano when I was 7 for like a year and thatâs it. I knew the sound I wanted but I didnât really know how to go about eloquating it. I have no idea about any type of technical details or the process behind music at all but itâs an art and Iâm well aware enough to know that there are certain parameters that canât be done cause of equipment or style cause thatâs the nature of art. I figured Omar is aware of the big picture of the project and him being there could definitely help out and ultimately I think it did. Mark did get a rough cut of the edit but itâs changed drastically since when I sent it to him. I worked on it literally right before I left to go to Chicago. Exported it directly to my Vimeo but it failed. Which isnât surprisingly cause the computer has been extra janky with itâs memory bank nearly full with the unprocessed footage in it and yes I am running it out of an external hard drive too for the people who are more aware of the editing process.Â
I chose doom/drone metal approach to this particular project. The short film is naturally a bit ambient and melancholic so it fits the general aesthetic of doom and drone already. I mentioned already the project is black and white because of technical issues and I thought that genre of music would compliment that. Thereâs always been a weird tie in with karate/samurai/ninjas and hip hop. Iâm pretty sure it goes back to the explosion of popularity associated with Wu-Tang but itâs persisted to the modern day with things like Samurai Champloo and Afro Samurai. I wanted to do something different and take a different approach. I didnât know exactly what I wanted, just that I thought Mark was capable of producing something Iâd like. I always read online stories about inexperienced directors blowing out of control with ego because âvisionâ. I always thought that was ridiculous. Of course there is a perfect in my head like any other artist but Iâm an inexperienced filmmaker, if I was master filmmaker like Stanley Kubrick, I think I can be a bit more demanding but Iâm not. Iâm just a guy with an idea and a lot of inexperience in how to achieve it so to be demanding is just completely ego based. I set the parameters and Omar and Mark can figure it out. If I donât like the direction then I think I can step in and say âletâs try something differentâ but thatâs it. I gave them the playlist, Omar knows what the project is about and Both him and Mark are a talented musician in their own right, I wanted to let the song flourish on itself rather than try to mold into how I think it should fit in my brain. I wasnât too fussed. Mark brought up this idea of incorporating âEastern Chordsâ and giving them a doom layering. I had no idea what that meant but Omar explained it as certain cultures have certain stylings that are associated with that culture so what Mark means by Eastern Chords is the pattern of sound most associated with East Asian cultures. I was feeling that cause Iâm sucker for conceptual ideas like that and we are making a samurai movie. Itâs not something that is overtly prevalent when you hear the soundtrack but itâs one of those tid bits of information that one day you can share and it makes that experience in hindsight even richer.Â
In the end we got 40 minutes of usable audio for video that is at most 15. I got to ride the seawall, didnât get footage cause my phone was about to die and I needed it to meet Nick and get back home. I thanked Nick personally even though ultimately he ended up buying me beers. Had a solo session where the best trick was a boost out of a curb cut, ate a Chicago deep dish pizza, Chicago Italian beef sandwich, Chicago hotdogs and had a Polish buffet so food wise it was amazing. Didnât visit the silver bean and couldnât figure out which one was the Sears tower.. which youâd think would be easy cause it should be the tallest one.Â
#filmmaking#films#movies#samurai champloo#wutang#afro samurai#chicago#plague of carcossa#music#doom#drone#doom metal
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hey so it seems iâve forgot to do a l o t of tag memes, and iâm lucky i drafted a big bunch of them! lots of questions overlapped so i did my best to answer in different ways, sorry for the lateness! also @ the people that tagged me here, i wouldn't hesitate to kill for you
@natcaptor / @gayspaced
name: leon or lionel!
nicknames: literally the only nickname Iâve been referred to is âbig gayâ and like. word!
gender: im pretty sure im a guy, i have been kinda đ¤đ¤đ¤ abt my gender identity since around november-ish though
star sign: sagittarius!
height: 6â1! iâm told that Iâm tall but my uncle is 6â7 so...
time: 3:36pm rn! ive been watching video essays and binging music all afternoon
birthday: december 9th!
favourite bands: animal collective, beach house, camp cope, car seat headrest, death grips, fleet foxes, florence + the machine, gang of youths, glass animals, gorillaz, hop along, iceage, idles, kero kero bonito, mgmt, miike snow, modest mouse, run the jewels, superorganism, the avalanches, the cat empire, the go! team, the mountain goats, the wombats, xiu xiu
favourite solo artists: alex lahey, anderson .paak, ariana grande, billie eilish, bjork, cashmere cat, charli xcx, courtney barnett, cupcakke, d.r.a.m, eric taxxon, frank ocean, gfoty, hatchie, janelle monae, jeff rosenstock, joanna newsom, jorja smith, jpegmafia, kacey musgraves, kali uchis, kendrick lamar, khalid, kimbra, lorde, mac demarco, madeon, mick jenkins, mitski, oneohtrix point never, perfume genius, ravyn lenae, rina sawayama, serpentwithfeet, sophie, st. vincent, sza, vince staples
song stuck in my head: caramelo duro | miguel // kali uchis! its a bop, miguel is one of the few singers that can convincingly make sex jams
last movie i watched: deadpool 2! it was even better than the first, which is a feat in itself ngl
when did i create my blog: december 2016??? i only started using it properly in february last year tho
last thing i googled: âim in my mums car broom broom.â dont @ me
do i have any other blogs: yeah, plenty actually!! i have blogs for aesthetic (@moltenstar), general inspo (@wverns), flight rising (@szarising, kinda inactive?), and overwatch (@blackhardts) tbh the vast majority of my âsideblogsâ are just saved urls H
do i get asks: when i say stupid shit like ârung has the ass of a dilf but the dick of a cockroachâ
why i chose my url: that one panel where kobd have a vacation at the acid wastes because fuck its finally canon babey!
following: 1,767, which is kinda horrifying!!
followers: 890?? somehow??? thats almost One Whole Thousand and i don't even make content
average hours of sleep: around 6 or 7!! n e v e r more though
lucky number: 43 and 64!!
instruments: i'm too poor to afford music lessons or instruments jsbddsjknfs
what am i wearing: a grey shirt and nothing on my bottom half so my [redacted] is hanging tf out, i should put on some damn clothes
dream job: Â oooo uhhh, iâm studying to get an education degree rn because iâd love to teach children (around grade 3-4s preferably because i'm too jittery to handle anyone younger and older kids probs won't listen to me as much as i lack plenty of assertiveness), but!! iâd honestly love to be a musician, one of those underground ones that get lots of critical acclaim
dream trip: one day i wanna gather up some friends and just go on a road trip! idm where we go to, as long as we just have fun and just! adventure!
favourite foods: rare steak, mashed potatoes, eggs, and energy shakes made with like. fruit / cheese / yoghurt / oats / chia seeds ! protein is a large part of my diet
nationality: new zealand, but living in australia
favourite song right now: best part | daniel caesar // h.e.r - gosh i need to re-listen to danielâs album again, i donât remember this beautiful song being there and thatâs a crime
@damndesi / @novarebel / @luciform-philogynist
APPEARANCE - I am 5'7 or taller - I wear glasses - I have at least one tattoo (but I am getting a tÄ moko in December, I believe) - I have at least one piercing (planning to get a nose ring, like a bull!) - I have blonde hair - I have brown eyes - I have short hair - My abs are at least somewhat defined (b a r e l y) - I have or had braces
PERSONALITY - I love meeting new people - People tell me I am funny - Helping others with their problems is a big priority of mine - I enjoy physical challenges - I enjoy mental challenges - I am playfully rude to people I know - I started saying something ironically and now I canât stop saying it - There is something I would change about my personality
ABILITY - I can sing well - I can play an instrument - I can do over 30 pushups without stopping (barely) - I am a fast runner - I can draw well - I have a good memory - I am good at doing math in my head - I can hold my breath underwater for over a minute - I have beaten at least 2 people arm wrestling - I can make at least 3 recipes from scratch - I know how to throw a proper punch
HOBBIES - I enjoy sports - Iâm on a sports team at my school or somewhere else - Iâm in an orchestra or choir at my school or somewhere else - I have learned a new song in the past week - I exercise at least once a week - I have gone for runs at least once a week in warmer months - I have drawn something in the past month - I enjoy writing - Fandoms are my #1 priority - I do some form of Martial arts
EXPERIENCES - I have had my first kiss - I have had alcohol (tastes like shit) - I have scored a winning point in a sport - I have watched an entire TV series in one sitting - I have been at an overnight event - I have been in a taxi - I have been in the hospital or ER in the past year - I have beaten a video game in one day - I have visited another country - I have been to one of my favorite bands concerts
MY LIFE - I have one person that I consider to be my Best Friend - I live relatively close to my school/work - My parents are still together - I have at least one sibling - I live in the United States - There is snow where I live right now - I have hung out with a friend in the past month - I have a smart phone - I own at least 15 CDs - I share my room with someone
RELATIONSHIPS - I am in a Relationship - I have a crush on a celebrity - I have a crush on someone I know - Iâve been in at least 3 relationships - I have never been in a Relationship - I have admitted my feelings to a crush - I get crushes easily - I have had a crush for over a year - I have been in a relationship for over a year - I have had feelings for a friend
RANDOM - I have break-danced - I know a person named Jamie - I have had a teacher that has a name that is hard to pronounce - I have dyed my hair - Iâm listening to a song on repeat right now - I have punched someone in the past week - I know someone who has gone to jail - I have broken a bone (do fractures count?) - I have eaten a waffle today - I know what I want to do in life - I speak at least two languages (not fluently) - I have made a new friend in the past year
@smstransformers
age: 16
birthplace: auckland, nz
current time: 4:19 pm rn!!!
drink you last had: i just skulled half a liter of water whoops
favourite song: jesus etc. | wilco if we're talking abt an all-time favourite
grossest memory: accidentally swallowing a bee when i was seven years old (somehow nothing bad happened?)
horror, yes or no: not unless itâs an incredibly tame horror t b h, my threshold for scariness is very low
in love: i believe so!
jealous of people: lots of times, over really dumb things
love by first sight or should I walk by again: i believe that infatuation can exist at first sight but true love not so much. wish that could happen tho :C
middle name: shane!
siblings: my sister is eight years old, and my brother is seven!
one wish: EZ, make my anxiety disappear, iâd have a much more productive life
song i last sang: jupiter | haiku hands
time i woke up: 7:13, woke up immediately because i usually like to wake at 6:30
underwear colour: blue + purble
vacation destination: auckland / kingston / sydney!
worst habit: not remembering to make my goddamn bed, it looks like garbage
favourite food: mashed potatoesâŚ.
zodiac sign: sagittarius !!!
@alyonian
relationship status:
at the moment iâm single! and while being in a relationship sounds brilliant, the last two relationships i was involved in? didnât work out to say the least, lucky iâm still young
favourite colour:
itâs been emerald green for the longest time but orange seems to be dethroning it at a steady pace
lipstick or chapstick:
i havenât used chapstick since i was six but i probably should use it again, water is my substitute rn fdghdgh - and i havenât ever used lipstick in any capacity? so iâd have to go with the former
last song i listened to:
the space travellerâs lullaby | kamasi washington - iâm trying to get through his second album rn (i left off on the second disk yesterday) and while everything he makes is undeniably amazing, itâs? a three hour album? i donât have the attention span for his spiritual jazz, as great as it is
last movie:
monsters inc is playing on the television right now, iâll go with that! the animation aged kinda badly but itâs still such a fun movie! sidenote: james p. sullivan? a childhood crush, so this gives me memories
top 3 tv shows/podcasts/comics:
i rarely, if ever, venture into these forms of media but! if i had to answer, iâd say;
unbreakable kimmy schmidt / parks & recreation / luke cage
taz / mbmbam (i havent like. watched a full episode of either but they seem cool,)
tf idw / âŚâŚâŚâŚ. yeah thatâs it, iâve never read anything else. probably should!
additional favs:
my friends, writing (in theory), listening to video essays, learning music theory + instruments and understanding audio production software
top 3 bands / artists:
HHH okay if i had to limit my choices to just three artists, uh. lorde, the mountain goats, and sophie. i couldnt even fit janelle in i hate th is
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@alyonian
color(s): light colors are always nice and pleasant, though anything peachy and sandy are the best! orange (specially pastel orange) is like. the best thing
last band t-shirt i bought: usually merchandising is very expensive and i dont have the money to accommodate that, but like. i do recall having a wiggles shirt when i was five. i wore it all the time, shjdjgsksd im sure that counts
last band i saw live: i almost went to splendor in the grass last year with family, which wasn't only cool since iâve never been out of the state since i immigrated - the festival was in queensland, which is around a two hour flight from victoria - but the lineup was pretty fuckin lit too! the xx, haim, peking duk, tash sultana, future islands, vallis alps, a.b original,, i was p excited! unfortunately my uncle fell ill and so they had to give the tickets to extended family :( otherwise, i haven't been to a single concert in my life
last song i listened to: street fighter mas | kamasi washington - up to this song on the album and i really fuckin dig this! also the video is hypnotizing
last movie i watched: monsters inc is about to finish and up next is monsters university! which likeâŚ. honestly, this is an extremely unpopular opinion but, i like it just as much as the original? my opinion might be skewed because iâm a monster [hugger], but i like everything abt the movie! except for the finale of the scare games and the last five minutes of the movie, both were just. dreadful.
last three tv shows i watched: if aggretsuko counts thatâs the last series i watched of my own volition, which is a miracle in itself considering thatâs legit only the second anime iâve watched to completion (the first being shirokuma cafe, which i probably need to re-watch). otherwise, the last two shows i had beared witness to were thirteen reasons why and queer eye bc my cousin put them on! that first show i could completely do without but queer eye is iconique
last 3 characters i identified with: grimlock (legit. all of them), urdnot grunt (mass effect) and vector the crocodile (sth), iâm not sure what this says about me other than Big
book(s) iâm currently reading: iâm reading âmausâ by art spiegelman at the moment, for the third time i believe? i believe my classmates are supposed to be writing an essay on this next term and shit, this novel is heartbreaking, i haven't been this emotional when reading a book than⌠ever, really. itâs a recommendation of the highest caliber
@victorion
name: leon / lionel, i picked up the second name because i was in a server with an admin that was also a Leonâ˘
nickname: besides âBig Gayâ i also have the nickname âlemon lionâ which is! nice!!
zodiac sign: archer man
height: Tallâ˘
language(s) spoken: english / some maori + italian
fav fruit: watermelons (only when in season)
fav scent: the smell of a freezer tbh? it just smells Nice i donât know how to properly explain it
fav season: spring! the breezes are welcoming without being overbearingly freezing
fav color: ornge,,,,
fav animal: SHARKS + CROCS + FERRETS
coffee, tea or hot chocolate: tea! with some milk tho
average hrs of sleep: too little
fav fictional character: One character?????? uhhhhhhhâŚâŚ. like. biggest cc right now is either idw skids or oz from monster prom
no. of blankets you sleep with: depending on my mood but iâd say the average is like, 3??
fav songs: i quickly whipped up some songs i listen to
fav artists: i came to the realization that i like acts that are considered âbadâ like maroon 5/drake/lil yachty etc in specific doses⌠i wouldn't call them good yet, but! i have no beef and thats good
fav books: remember âwhere the wild things areâ??? that shit was like. literal childhood, man.. :happytears: i really need to look for a copy again
@thonany-klieme
name: leon / lionel, interchangeable really
gender: male, im probs an nb guy
star sign: sagittarius!
height: 6â1
sexuality: gay??? im not sure, im mostly attracted to other guys but i have had very brief crushes on girls + nb people? sexualityâs confusing so im gonna just latch to the gaybel (gay label) for now
lock screen image: its the album cover of 1992 deluxe by princess nokia, tho it was âT Hanosâ a few days ago since i change it often - my home screen is venom but his torso says âfuck machineâ
ever had a crush on a teacher: no??
where do you see yourself in ten years: ideally iâm teaching kids math n english, realistically iâm probably going down with the political climate
if you could go anywhere, where would you go: new zealand!! or the netherlands
what was your favorite halloween costume: halloween is not big at all where i live, the only time i tried trick or treating was when i was like 7?? i threw a bedsheet on myself and pretended to be a ghost, though since there were no eyeholes + the sheet was blue, it looked more like i was just a moving lump
last kiss: never had one
have you ever been to las vegas: nah and i dont plan to?? how do you handle regular days of 40C wtf
favorite pair of shoes: i have this pair of jandals that ive worn for a fair bit longer than my other pair of shoes, tho i only wear them in summer + very warm nights
favorite book: ngl its. âthe very hungry caterpillarâ by eric carle. i just, love it alot and i cant explain w h y
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