#how many times can you see a robot singing its own battle theme song

[kairukitsuneo]

Talented Bravern can sings and dances while battling 🥰🥰🥰💖🤭🤭💕💕

#bravern #bang brave bang bravern #ブレバン #anime_bbb #ao isami #new gay anime drop #gay robots #fanarts #kairukitsuneOart #phone doodles #snote drawing #i heard the dialogue where Isami screams what is that song was ad lib and director obari put it in #brilliant thank you mr director #hilarious #funny #im obsessed #the robot is so gay for isami #how many times can you see a robot singing its own battle theme song #love it #Where can I watch the full episode AHHHHHHHHHHHH

[noahmanskar]

The Best Albums of 2020 (and from the Before Times)

I read a lot of year-end music roundups, and several this year have come with a resonant caveat: It’s been harder to discover new music this year, both because of physical limitations (no shows, no record-store browsing, no chats with friends about your latest finds), and because the way we used music fundamentally changed. It certainly did for me. Rather than serving as the backdrop for a commute or a night out, it created moments of solace from cabin fever while doing dishes, or showering, or running semi-weekly errands. So I often turned to what was comfortable and familiar, songs that conjured memories and feelings to get me through the day. Even on the rare occasions of social listening, the groups I was with drifted into nostalgia — middle school dance tracks, mid-2000s emo, inherited dad rock, even songs from just a year or two ago, when everything was simpler, relatively speaking.

That’s not to say nothing new moved me. There was a handful of albums and songs that were crucial to getting through the doldrums. They soundtracked bike rides, long walks, longer drives and lots of small moments mentioned above. But I don’t think I can think about my favorite music of this year without thinking about the albums of the past that got me through it. Besides, one of the many lessons 2020 taught is that time is a bizarre illusion anyway. (This exercise also lets me write about some recent albums that I didn’t get to write about when they were actually released.

So here are the albums, past and present, that made 2020 bearable. I hope you found yours, too.

Tame Impala, “The Slow Rush”

Tame Impala’s fourth LP came out on Valentine’s Day. That afternoon, Claire and I had a lunch date to mark the occasion before we got on a plane to visit my parents. The night before, we had gone out to dinner with friends visiting from San Francisco and then to a bar, where we huddled next to strangers on a water bed. Roughly a month later, all of this would be unimaginable, and Kevin Parker’s lyrics to “One More Year” would be eerily prescient as we settled into this new normal:

But now I worry our horizon's been nothing new 'Cause I get this feeling and maybe you get it too We're on a rollercoaster stuck on its loop-de-loop 'Cause what we did one day on a whim Has slowly become all we do

The song is really about surrendering to time, and not worrying about it passing in spite of your ambivalence. The opening chants of Parker’s “Gregorian Robot Choir” make it easy to surrender. They carry you into a world where, as the cover art suggests, all that time you were worrying about has already passed, so you might as well dance. At the same time, the songs that follow, like “Borderline,” “Breathe Deeper” and “Lost In Yesterday” make it easy to remember what it was like to dance in a sweaty room with people you love, and to look forward to doing it again, after a little more time passes.

Fleet Foxes, “Shore”

There’s something comforting about the fact that Fleet Foxes released this record on the exact moment of the autumnal equinox. It’s a reminder that nature has its own rhythms that carry on regardless of what occurs in our human lives. They give us a measure of certainty in uncertain times. One of these rhythms — death — looms large in “Sunblind,” an ode to Robin Pecknold’s departed musical forebears: David Berman, Bill Withers, John Prine and others. This song exuding calm acceptance shifts into “Can I Believe You,” which wrestles frankly with doubt and fear.

These tracks contain profound contradictions, but sonically, they're both bright, hopeful and sure. That’s what made this album such a balm in the sixth month of this pandemic, a time of both growing darkness and hope for what might be on the other side. It reminds us that there’s power and beauty in feeling all these things at once.

Lil Uzi Vert, “Eternal Atake”

This one spent two years in label purgatory, but it finally arrived in March to prove Lil Uzi Vert can do it all. He’s at his most versatile here, spitting and crooning, boasting and balladeering. “You Better Move” is an early standout packed with playful nostalgia, including a beat that samples that classic PC pinball game and delightful jabs like these:

Yeah, step on competition, changin' my shoes Green shirt, bitch, I'm Steve, where is Blue? Every chain on, I pity a fool I'm an iPod, man, you more like a Zune Made her eat on my dick with a spoon, ew Versace drawers, bitch, you Fruit of the Loom

Then there are the melodic tracks like “Urgency,” which compel you to hum along even on the first listen. The excellent diversity made it worth the wait for this hourlong journey to another planet.

Sturgill Simpson, “Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 1: The Butcher Shoppe Sessions”

I haven’t spent much time with Sturgill Simpson outside of 2014′s “Metamodern Sounds in Country Music,” and I can’t say I’ve ever listened to another bluegrass album all the way through. But these new cuts of songs picked from Simpson’s catalog are wonderfully enticing. Simpson puts the talents of his backing band front and center, and their harmonies and rhythms illuminate his vivd songwriting in new ways. It was a great introduction to the genre for me.

Fiona Apple, “Fetch The Bolt Cutters”

I got here after the hype, after the perfect 10, after all the year-end number-ones. Fiona Apple lives up to all of it. Her compositions are complex and evocative, the lyrics tender and biting at once. Her artistry is unsparing. The chorus to the title track is already getting stuck in my head, and I can’t wait to spend more time with this one.

Bea Troxel, “The Way That It Feels” (2017)

Almost a decade has passed since I first saw Bea Troxel play. She was in an incredibly talented trio with two of my high school classmates: Maeve Thorne (who has an entrancing solo EP of her own), and Rita Pfeiffer (the violinist on this record). They ended up winning my school’s battle of the bands, and I got to interview them for the student newspaper. Shortly after our senior year, they recorded an album that still outshines most of today’s indie folk. So I jumped at the chance to all three of them again in Brooklyn. 

Troxel’s performance in particular was a revelation. I won’t ever forget how I fell into a trance as she picked away at “Talc,” which exemplifies her gift for natural metaphor. I haven’t stopped playing her record since, and it’s been a constant comfort throughout this year. Her voice is one of a kind, her songwriting is rich, and the compositions flow together beautifully. I can’t wait for more; in the meantime, “The Way That It Feels” will be on repeat.

Travis Scott, “Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight” (2016)

There’s been much ado about the brilliance of “Astroworld,” Travis Scott’s magnum opus, but I have a soft spot for his sophomore LP, where he reached the peak of the spare and heavy sound that started to take shape on “Owl Pharaoh.” There are plenty of sonic layers here, and the ordering of the tracks is a craft in itself — a series of peaks and valleys that glides from the haze of “beibs in the trap” to the climax of “goosebumps” and then into the cool waters of “pick up the phone.” It feels like Scott is guiding you to and from these destinations. The journey is, as The Weeknd might put it, “wonderful.”

Harmonium, “Harmonium” (1974)

One of my pandemic binges was “Letterkenny,” the sharp Ontario-set sitcom with top-notch banter and a great soundtrack full of indie hits and Canadian deep cuts. The fight scenes are elegantly choreographed, but so are the handful of sequences at the end of key episodes that reveal the show’s emotional bedrock. One such scene is set to Harmonium’s “Un musicien parmi tant d'autres” — the main characters are reveling in a bar with their Québécois pals, whom they’ve just helped beat up a rival group. As the song builds to its climactic chorus, leading man Wayne, surrounded by couples, realizes his longing for companionship. Another fight breaks out, but instead of joining in, Wayne makes his way through the slow-motion fray toward the woman he’ll propose to in the next season. (Their relationship later falls apart, but that doesn’t undercut this scene’s beauty.)

This is probably the first foreign-language album I’ve listened to in full, but all of it evokes that feeling for me — the joy of walking through the chaos to reach what’s really important. Not a bad sentiment for these times.

Bon Iver, “22, A Million”

To talk about this weird, dark and brilliant album, I need to talk about “715 - CR∑∑KS.” Everyone I’ve talked to about the third track on “22, A Million” either loves it or can’t stand it. I’m devoted to it to the extent that it was my most-played song on Spotify this year. It oscillates between tenderness and fear, between silence and explosions of sound. The lyrics are an epitome of Justin Vernon’s cryptic poetry. It’s isolated and spare and enthralling and beautiful in its own bizarre way — just like the rest of the album, which is rich with themes of persevering through the darkness in spite of the uncertainty about when the light will appear. Vernon is alone on “CR∑∑KS,” but he’s accompanied by a cacophony of his own voice. As alone as we might feel right now, there’s always someone else shouting through the darkness with us, even if we can’t see them.

#music #2020 #bon iver #harmonium #bea troxel #travis scott #lil uzi vert #sturgill simpson #fiona apple #fleet foxes #tame impala

[nightmarenoise]

Just comparing two cartoons I love

I understand that nobody asked in any capacity, but here I go anyway:

It feels fair to compare Ducktales 2017 to Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018), not only because they're only about a year apart and truly, what is a year, but also because they

1. Both use this style that looks like it jumped straight out of a comic book. Okay, it's mostly the solidly inked shadows, but it gives me, personally, comic-y vibes.

2. They have taken what's arguably the main characters (the triplets for DT, the Turtles for TMNT) and shaken the formula up a good bit. Were the triplets formerly indistinguishable and all had the exact same personality, interests and voice actor, they are now three entirely separate entities with different traits and appearances. And while the turtles had about one defining personality trait and looked basically the same, save for the color of their masks, Rise made them different species of turtle to justify giving them radically different designs and three-dimensional personalities. Both shows faced criticism for this decision from people who cannot deal with change. Despite this, in both cases, it just works and does so incredibly well.

3. The oldest bros wear red.

4. We have two middle bros associated with the color blue who are both voiced by Ben Schwartz.

5. Both shows have a focus on family, with Ducktales especially focusing on found family and Rise on brotherhood.

6. Anime references!

Ducktales has a larger cast overall, with a lot of different characters all interacting with each other and they all have the most pleasant voices I've ever heard in my entire life. It's all solidly animated, the style is consistent and the animation is fluid, the characters are diverse and they're all lovely in their own right, except for those who aren't. The writing is top notch. Everyone feels consistent despite the large cast and it's delightful to watch all those interesting people interact with each other in their own way. The show also handles its mystery elements and occasional action scenes incredibly well, building suspense and delivering laughs and gut punches without hesitation. They juggle different tones like a professional clown, except the true clown was us, the audience, all along, for ever having doubted them.

The overarching plot of Ducktales, for its first two seasons, was mostly to uncover the mystery of what had happened to the mother of the triplets and all that would entail. Mystery and mythical elements will likely continue to be afoot for season 3.

Rise works with less focal characters, we have the Turtles, Splinter and April as well as various bad guys, but more than makes up for it with a lot of animation. A lot a lot of animation and it's all high quality. There's usually so much going on on-screen that a watching it once isn't enough to catch it all. Despite that, it doesn't feel crowded or rushed. Lots of dynamic shots and incredibly-choreographed action scenes, but nothing the thoroughly solid writing has to hide behind. Even when the baddies aren't the main concern, they're still well-rounded, interesting characters with unique abilities and motivations. Although, most of the mutants are just really feral. Still a delightfully diverse cast.

The turtles on the other hand spent their first season trying to foil their various foes, from a yokai trying to mutate all of humanity, to his mutants, to dealing with random mythical stuff, to the nefarious Foot Clan trying to reassemble the Dark Armor in the shadows. It's generally a more action-driven show, but they still find the time for some heartfelt moments.

The triplets 2.0

Despite their conventiently color-coded caps, they were really mostly the same character possessing three different bodies at a time. Well, the times of eerie The Shining like-twins, except extended to triplets, are over!

We have Huey, the oldest brother, voiced by Danny Pudi. He's a gentle, intellectual soul who values red hats, science, scout badges and checklists. Huey is arguably the closest in characterization to the original triplets, with some additional neat freak sprinkled in for flavor. He tries to be the responsible older sibling and keep his brothers under control and out of trouble. He also seems to have the most fiery temper of the bunch and should clearly not be pressed to the breaking point. He's my personal favorite and I heard season 3 will bring more focus to him, which makes me elated to hear. 888/10.

Middle child Dewey, the blue one, voiced by Ben Schwartz, who will inevitably come for all the iconic blue characters. He's very clearly the middle one, because he craves attention and validation and occasionally dreams of being an only child. Dewey is the one who started the investigation into their mom's disappearance and kept it from his brothers, partially to save them from hurt, but also because he wanted to feel special. He's the most interested in going on adventures with their uncle, but can get reckless when doing so. He's a bit of a spotlight hog, who has his own talk show that nobody watches and sings his own theme song when he needs to get hyped up, or just to fill this silence. This may sound kind of negative, but rest assured, he's a good, sweet boy. The focal triplet for the first season. 500/10.

Louie, the evil triplet, a schemer and a conman. Voiced by Bobby Moynihan.  The youngest of the bunch. While they call him evil, he's really far too lazy to cause serious harm, except for when it's his laziness that's causing him to take dangerous shortcuts, oops. He dreams of making a fortune, but without having to work for it and preferably without any responsibility either, thank you. He also occasionally dreams of being a spoiled fat cat. Despite his chill demeanor, he can be a bit of a crybaby and those tears are only fake 50% of the time. I feel like he likes getting babied, but mainly because that means there's less work for him to do. Season 2, which focuses more on him, reveals that he's actually quite brilliant, capable of seeing all the angles and giving him some chessmaster-like qualities. He needs to learn to use those abilities for good. 665/10.

Hi, she's Webbie! The honorary triplet, who also got a massive makeover, from annoying token girl tagalong to socially awkward, adorkable action girl. Be careful who you call ugly in middle school, indeed. Like a more ferocious  Mabel Pines, she has a grappling hook and years of martial arts training under her belt. Webbie can absolutely decimate you, but won't, because she's a sweet girl. Voiced by Kate Micucci. She continues to like unicorns and the color pink, but assuredly in the most badass of ways. She helped Dewey with his quest to uncover the mystery of his missing mom, but works well with all of the triplets, with Huey taking her under his wing a bit and Louie trying to get her to chill out more. Webbie is a sweetheart and I would die for her, were it not completely unnecessary, since she's more than capable of taking care of herself. ∞/10.

A lot of the supporting cast also saw updates and changes, for instance Gyro being a genius without social skills and Fenton being an adorkable scientist, but again, they work really well. They're interesting new takes on beloved characters. Even the new additions to the cast are great. In short, I love me some birds and am excited for season 3, Disney, get your scheduling together.

The Turtles 2.14.2 - I upgraded my upgrade in the middle of the upgrade

Also, these guys have seen so many different iterations in their, what, 30+ years of existence. As someone with no prior attachment to the turtle brand, I don't have a lot to say here. Leo's not the leader in this one and Raph has more personality than being angry at Leo for being the leader. Donnie is not just a random nerd spouting technobabble and Mikey has more depth than yelling the catchphrase every now and again. Apparently, this made people upset. I don't know how to help you with that.  The middle brothers exude some high chaotic energy and should not be left unsupervised, but the oldest and youngest seem fairly stable.

Raphael, the red-bandana'd alligator snapping turtle is an imposing figure. He's the oldest and therefore team leader by default. Raph has no reason to be upset at Leo, so he isn't. Despite his ferocious appearance, he's a soft guy, who likes teddies and doting on his brothers, but fears puppets. He's a bit of a knucklehead, most of his plans involve smashing things with his tonfa and he may refer to himself in the third person in the heat of the moment, but he possesses emotional intelligence, is open about his feelings and looks after his brothers. He is big and and strong, but his heart is bigger and stronger. He especially loves small animals animals, who don't usually return his feelings. RIP in F. This responsible guy is voiced by Omar Benson Miller. 300/10, very soft. Somehow both the heart and the big guy of the group.

Donatello has been upgraded from second-to-youngest to second-to-oldest, not that it makes much of a difference. His color of choice is purple and he continues in the character's tradition of being a nerd, although this time, with self-confidence. Donnie is very sure of himself and his abilities. As a spiny soft-shell turtle, he's less sure of his shell, but that's okay, he's made robotic battle shells to make up for it and his bō is the mother of all multitools. This guy can build you a tank out of a buggie and upgrade your animatronic into something to give the FNAF franchise a run for its money. He's the smartest of the four and when not focused on his phone, very focused on the mission. Due to having to deal with his bros, he can be exasperated a lot. Thinks of himself as an emotionally unavailable bad boy, even though he's just really sensitive and wants his dad or someone parent-aged to tell him they're proud of him. Theater kid. 999/10, give the middle child a hug and some coffee, you can't tell me he has a healthy sleep cycle. This sarcastic nerd is brought to you by Josh Brener.

Leonardo, Ben Schwartz's second blue character (Sonic (2020) being the third under his belt) and also his second ninja after Randy Cunningham. He's not the leader. He's still a good character. Leo has approximately 800 charisma and unwavering faith in both, his family and himself. Mostly himself though. Like Louie, season 2 revealed that he is a master of prediction and playing people like the cheap kazoo you can't tell me he doesn't have to play Darude's Sandstorm on. He dabs, he boards, he will pun you to death and back and he has an Odachi that can cut through space. Leo likes hogging the spotlight when given the chance and wants to be showered with attention and praise. Having four kids really only means twice the middle child nonsense. Leo is a red-eared slider, the original species of the TMNT, as I've been told. He's also the best at being a ninja, but usually too lazy to really apply himself. He's younger than Donnie, but tumblr suggested to read the two as twins, since they're approximately the same age, which sheds a whole new light on their dynamic and frankly, makes way too much sense. 420/10, for our memelord Leonardo.

Michelangelo, the eternally youngest of the bunch. An artiste, who puts stickers on himself, tags the lair, has a spiritual connection to his skateboard and the color orange. Mikey loves all things arts and craft, but he also tries his hands at cooking. He idolizes famous TV chefs and can do pretty much anything out of and into pizza. He's funny, without being annoying, like I feel a lot of other iterations of this character are. It's an easy pitfall for comic relief guys, but this one is more than that. If that's an issue, feel free to leave my house. Mikey is genuinely sweet and happy, optimistic and soft, but also the one brother who knows when it's time to take off the gloves and just get straight to the point. He's open about and in touch with his feelings. He's just baby. Don't treat him as one though. A lot of promo stuff says Leo has taken him under his wing, but he's had more episodes together with Donnie. Not that I'm complaining, they work very well together. Mikey and Raph are both the emotional centers of the group. Does not mind being yeeted after retracting into his shell, as box turtles may do. (Disclaimer, do not yeet actual box turtles!) His weapon of choice is a Kusari-Fundo that can turn into a fire-demon and is about as unpredictable as he is. Likes to jump and bounce around. Probably does parkour. Voiced by Brandon Mychal Smith who is audibly having a blast. 500/10, just an all around Kusari-fun guy.

For last, but certainly not least, April O'Neil, my girl, who saw an upgrade from flip-flopping love interest who was vaguely ninja-ing, but mostly damsel in distress-ing, to all-around spunky powerhouse and by God, she is glowing. Rise has her more as a big sister figure to the turtles, and I will not be told otherwise. She is independent and don't need no man, mutant or no. She has her teleporting pet, her faith in herself, her pinpoint baseball hitting skills and the a complete and utter lack of fear. Despite being a weirdness magnet, April is perfectly comfortable. She would like to be able to keep a job, maybe, but she has loving friends who respect and love her. Surprisingly good a ninja, fearless and fun. Occasionally thinks about being popular at school, but it's really not a big concern, she's not gonna throw a tantrum over it or anything. April is very chill. Not likely to be damseled. More likely to run after the turtles and clean up their messes or save them and everyone involved is fine with that.

The late 10's are really coming in to show us how dynamic and well-written female characters that aren't just "strong", but three-dimensional and relatable are done, huh?

An iconic performance by Kat Graham and ∞/10 for being the honorary better ninja non-mutant non-turtle and best big sister.

Here we have it, two older properties, having new life breathed into them to make them fresh and enjoyable. Have a new spin put on them, to better fit in with our current world. You can feel the love oozing out of every frame. At the end of the day, of course, it all boils down to taste and whether or not you like something. I gave Ducktales 2017 a go because a lot of the staff from Gravity Falls went to work on it and if you don't know me, I love me some Gravity Falls. It's a good show and I enjoy it. I recently got into Rise and while I don't know much about the people working on it, it is also a greatly enjoyable show, easily on the same level as Ducktales, if not above, yet with far less people speaking about it. Which is frankly saddening. I can only recommend the two of them wholeheartedly. If you love animation, yourself and occasionally feeling things, these are for you!

#ducktales 2017 #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt #huey duck #dewey duck #louie duck #webbie vanderquack #raphael #donatello #leonardo #michelangelo #april o'neil

[tev-the-random]

A casual Sonic Forces rewrite + some headcanons, because why not

Part 1 – Infinite and Episode Shadow

Just a warning: none of the images used here belong to me! They all belong to SEGA – the game screenshots, the official art and the comic pages.

Next Part ->

I have yet to see the Sonic Movie, because the universe seems devoted on not letting me do so, for some reason. Being as desperate for Sonic content but as determined to not receive spoilers from the movie as I am, I decided to go for the next coolest thing: writing really long and random posts about a game that came out three years ago and no one cares about anymore.

This shall be fun!

(Update: as of posting this, I have finally watched the movie! But I don’t want to throw this away, so I’ll post it anyway. We can have a nice talk about the movie later.)

*“Fist Bump instrumental” intro plays*

*“This is Our World: a New Hero” plays in the background*

I’m the type of person to always try and see the best in every game, and Sonic Forces is no different. Despite its obvious flaws, I love this beautiful game! Mostly the concept of it is one of the coolest things I’ve seen this last decade, but the execution… lacks on a few things. I mostly just fill in the gaps with my imagination and enjoy it nevertheless, but, upon going through the tag and seeing that some of my concerns were shared by other people, I decided to try my hand at rewriting Sonic Forces juuust a tiny bit. Just for fun!

For this first part (and I have no idea how many parts we should have), I’d like to share some of my ideas about…

*Infinite’s Theme plays in the background as I try hard not to sing along*

Oh, my poor jackal boy, what do we do with you? Despite being so heavily promoted and having an undeniably awesome theme song, Infinite’s backstory and general development throughout the game came out as lacking, having the self-proclaimed edgelord become a laughingstock amongst most fans. Nevertheless, I still love Infinite, and it saddens me how much wasted potential he had; it’s like they were trying to write a really interesting character, but gave up halfway through.

So yeah, let’s talk about it. And let us begin with his origin story.

I believe you are all familiar with this scene:

I… I want to defend my boy here, I really do. But honestly, the way this was portrayed, it just sounded like he was throwing a childish tantrum. It seems as if his entire motive for becoming a villain was “Shadow beat him and called him weak”; dude, you’re not the only one: Shadow does this to basically everybody who’s ever crossed his way! We’re not given a reason as to why Infinite gets so bloody offended, nor are we given a reason why we should care.

So, how can we fix this? I think we should firstly focus less on “I’M NOT WEEEEAAAAK!!! URRAAAAGHH!!!” and more on:

It doesn’t need to be – and I don’t even think it can be – as sad of a situation as the Rivaille Squad in Shingeki No Kyojin or anything, but I believe that showing us that Infinite lost something important would already do wonders to his backstory.

The simplest way – that is, the way that doesn’t majorly change how things go, but does give the jackal a clearer motive – to do this would involve the ever so humble inclusion of two new cutscenes and one new in-game battle, plus a few tweaks to some already existing scenes.

Episode Shadow begins not with the usual reading introduction, but rather, with Shadow’s voice. “I was a couple of months before the Doctor took over the world. The first time I encountered him… I didn’t know what he would become.” Then we open with what used to be a couple of months prior (aka where they presented Infinite’s memory, aka where they screwed up), so we’ll go through things in a chronological order instead of having a flashback inside of a prequel, because that’s confusing AF.

Now, instead of starting the Mystic Jungle level immediately, we should get a small cutscene: Shadow gliding through the jungle, cool camera angles/lighting and all – maybe something similar to the opening scene of Episode Shadow in Sonic 06? –, on his way to invade Eggman’s base as a voice coming from the hedgehog’s communicator reminds him about his mission (yep, that’s some subtle exposition to the audience so we don’t think Shadow is there just because). My idea for said mission would be the simple task of retrieving a Chaos Emerald (yeah, remember those?) from Eggman. Nothing too serious; just another day, another emerald stolen like usual; we’ve seen this before, there’s no need for a long dialogue.

As the black-and-red blur crosses the screen, the camera pans to a group of people hiding above in the trees: Squad Jackal. Infinite is not among them. One of the jackals asks “where’ the boss?” to which another one replies that he’s on the other side of the base/talking to the Doctor/whatever and they have no time to waste; their mission is to take down the intruder and protect the base. We get something in the lines of “the boss is counting on us. Expect no mercy, show no weakness. Let’s go!” and the camera fades out as the squad drops from the trees and runs after Shadow.

I believe that having the phrase “show no weakness” – or any possible reference to “I’m not weak”, really – appear earlier as seemingly common and then have it become something the character gives a lot of importance to due to consequences and parallels sounds a bit more interesting than having Infinite’s inferiority complex come out of nowhere.

The Mystic Jungle level plays as usual, except the dialogue in the background doesn’t say that “the Defence Squad has already been completely annihilated”, but rather that “the Defence Squad is on the case. They’re the best mercenaries there are, Shadow won’t stand a chance!” because Doctor Eggman is naive like that.

Once we reach the end of the level there’s another change: a boss battle against Squad Jackal. You see, we don’t want to hear the squad was taken down like some sort of lazy exposition, because it feels incomplete; we want to participate, we want to be the protagonist and see with our own eyes just what is Infinite’s squad. This gives faces and voices to something that will become an important plot point instead of just telling us “yeah, this happened or whatever”. This could also play as some sort of sympathy point for Infinite, because we, while in control of Shadow, took down his squad; it makes the villain’s animosity towards Shadow and his general anger at least a bit more understandable.

The idea is that this battle should play as some sort of field fight – that is, differently than most boss battles in Sonic Forces, this is not a racing track where you attack your enemy while running, but rather a large secluded area, much like the one we get in the fight between the Custom Hero and the DeathEgg Robot –, where squad members would attack individually in different patterns before going for a group attack. The individual jackals would have both projectile (perhaps something like a wispon, knives or some Eggman invention to keep it family friendly enough?) and close-ranged attacks, while the group attack would consist of this mass of wild jackals changing at you, trying to run you over. The opportunity windows could be either the moment when the opponents switch or band together for the group attack.

(I don’t know, maybe some of you can think of better ways to fight the Jackal Squad? This is just a random idea! I’d like to hear different ones!)

Once the fight is over, we get another cutscene: Shadow stands among the fallen jackals – don’t worry, they’re… sleeping… yeah, there’s no visible blood, they’re not dead… except they’re totally dead – and looks around for a second or two. His expression is indecipherable, and he soon leaves without saying a word – one might say he feels bad for them, or maybe he doesn’t give a damn; we leave that open to interpretation. Not a moment passes and we get to see the leader of the squad arriving at the scene. The camera moves in a circle around him as he looks at his fallen comrades in shock. How did this happen? They were the strongest, how could his whole squad be dead? This is a rather touching moment, where Infinite sticks his sword (because in his origins comic he used to have a super cool red sword and I want to pretend we have a reason for it not existing in the game) to the ground; there’s a feeling of anger and vengeance going on as we get a closer look at the last standing jackal. He clenches his fists and faces the direction of Shadow. “Expect no mercy, show no weakness,” he says in an infuriated, strangled voice. He starts to run and the camera fades out.

(Look at his sword and his squad, man. I do wish we could have seen them in the game…)

When the camera fades in again, we get that exact same cutscene from the game. Blah blah, “destroyed my squad”, blah blah, “ultimate mercenary”, a legendary ass whooping and Infinite falls to the ground, weak, pathetic and defeated.

Now, I’d like to add just a few lines to their dialogue, because this:

Doesn’t really sound like Shadow to me. I mean, man: you beat this random guy to the ground, called him worthless and pathetic out of nowhere and then you just leave? I know Shadow is rather apathetic and he’s supposed to be savage and all, but this just felt kind of out of place…

So instead of going full rude mode, what Shadow actually says is:

‘You’re part of the Defence Squad, aren’t you? Why would a bunch of mercenaries work for the Doctor? What is he hiding?’

‘The doctor paid well enough to not have his secrets spilled,’ Infinite retorts while trying to get up. He’s too hurt to do much, but he’s still willing to fight. He looks at Shadow with fiery eyes as he continues, ‘My squad… you took them down like they were nothing… why wouldn’t someone as strong as you be a mercenary?’

‘Mercenary work is for the weak,’ the hedgehog states matter-of-factly. ‘I’ve sworn to protect, not to follow the dirty line of work you did.’

This blows Infinite’s mind and he simply stares at Shadow, dumbfounded. He murmurs, ‘weak? How dare you, I’m not… We’re not weak! We’re the squad o-’

‘Where’s the Chaos Emerald?’ The jackal’s statement is completely ignored. However, Infinite is having none of this, so tries to attack Shadow once again in a fit of rage, only for the hedgehog to give him a signature roundhouse kick free of charge.

(Image merely illustrative)

‘What a waste of my time,’ Edgelord Number 1 says, aware that he’s not getting any useful information from this. He steps closer and Edgelord Number 2 flinches, ‘here’s some advice: don’t show your face around me ever again, or else I will finish you.’

And with that, Shadow teleports away, leaving Infinite to his existential crisis. He wasn’t able to avenge his friends; he wasn’t able to protect the base; heck, he wasn’t even able to hold his title of ultimate mercenary! How useless of a leader was he? Were mercenaries truly weak? Everything they’ve done… was it all worthless? Show no weakness… what did it even mean? They were all defeated, and Infinite can’t shake the feeling that he’s to blame for it. Wasn’t he supposed to be the best?

‘What is this? I’m…’ He looks at his hands, which are trembling ‘I’m shaking? I flinched? I... We failed… How pathetic… All because…’

Infinite stops as if he’s just gotten a moment of clarity. He then gets up and starts walking inside Eggman’s base. ‘I’m not weak,’ he says in a decided, chilling whisper; it’s almost scary. The view is set at the entrance, right in front of the jackal so that he starts blocking the light from the outside as he slowly walks towards the camera - while saying in that scary voice, “No mercy, no weakness”.

(I can totally see Liam O’Brien delivering this line perfectly…)

Then the last expository narrating happens about the same, except that Shadow narrates it – giving continuity to the fact that he was the one who started narrating this episode for a reason I will talk about later –, so we change a few words to match his speech more; it’s all in the third person and very husky and brooding, but with a subtle note of dread (oh, if only Jason Griffith would voice it… No disrespect to Kirk Thornton, but he just doesn’t hit Shadow’s perfect voice like Jason did; for me, at least. His Orbot voice is fantastic, though).

Now, instead of having Infinite looking forward for a few seconds before he gets the Phantom Ruby out of nowhere and places it in his chest very anti-climatically, we’ll do something different: as soon as he puts on the mask, he starts walking away, and we change settings to a dimly lit room, where we see Infinite from behind, fitting the frame perfectly. Following the beat of the background music, the camera changes to a close shot of his masked face as he’s holding the Phantom Ruby, which is glowing, reflecting on his mask and giving us a beautifully red-lit scene; it’s possible to hear very low, indiscernible whispers coming from the jewel. We then hear a small, evil chuckle from the masked jackal – he already sounds rather different from the guy who stuck his sword to the ground in honour of his friends earlier. The screen goes black, the whole “I was… Reborn!” thing dramatically happens in Infinite’s echoing voice and the not-flashback is over.

(I know this last part was quite specific and oddly detailed, but I had the scenes very clear in my head I wanted to try conveying how intimidating it looked to me o3o)

Ok, now that that’s done, prepare yourselves for an intermission. And by that, I mean prepare yourselves for a long analytical commentary on what I just wrote.

*”This is Our World: Phase 2″ plays in the background*

(Who is Shadow working for again? I don’t even know, man…)

Shadow isn’t just the guy who called Infinite pathetic. He’s the guy who killed Infinite’s squad (his friends) without any apparent remorse – and to be hypocrite as to say he’d sworn to protect when he just did something like this (yeah, Infinite doesn’t know any context of Shadow’s life, so of course he doesn’t understand what he meant); the guy who ruined everything he had going with his new job as leader of the Defence Squad; the guy who put him several levels under what he thought he was; the guy who questioned his entire way of living and the guy who put him under a lingering threat; “don’t show your face around me ever again” feels more intimidating now. Not only that, but, despite how Infinite might hate Shadow, he recognizes him as strong, admirable even – “why wouldn’t someone as strong as you be a mercenary?” Remember that Infinite himself is a mercenary; to actually acknowledge someone would be good at something you’re good at, specially someone you don’t like, has to be a sign of admiration, albeit a frustrating one. All of this puts a lot more of weight on how Infinite thinks of Shadow and why being stronger than the hedgehog is so important to him.

I made it so that “expect no mercy, show no weakness” is something like the Jackal Squad’s motto, their philosophy. I like to think it means that they should never count on someone’s mercy, for their enemies won’t spare them; they should always go into battle aware that they might actually be fighting for their lives. At the same time, they should always stand their ground and never let anyone think they can take advantage of a squad member. This is what the jackals live for. But seeing as Infinite’s world has just been shattered and he failed hard on everything, he revises his mentality. “No mercy, no weakness” is what he’s going for now, as he wants to be above everyone, he wants to effectively be the strongest and for people to know that; he will be the one who doesn’t spare others, and he won’t be weak at all. Never again would a failure cost him that much, for never again would he fail.

To have Infinite place the Phantom Ruby on his own chest in Episode Shadow contradicts the opening scene of the main campaign. Remember the episode is a prequel to Sonic Forces’ main game, so it shouldn’t be completely detached from it; things must make sense when put together. As the main game begins by showing us Infinite inside of a tube in Eggman’s lab, we can assume one of two things: he’s either a robot/biological experiment created entirely by the scientist, or he’s a guy who’s been experimented on, thus Eggman was the one who placed the Phantom Ruby on him. With this in mind, it wouldn’t make sense to show us Infinite doing something if you’re going to tell us that he couldn’t have possibly done it on his own. But to have him hold the ruby as someone who deeply desires its powers and who listens to its ominous whispering? Not only does it line better with the aforementioned scene, but it also makes Infinite seem more prone to the ruby’s power (instead of just… you know, “random angry dude”).

As this intermission has gone on long enough, I’ll only make a brief commentary on the Phantom Ruby: I like the idea of the ruby being somewhat alive and exerting influence over Infinite. Now, I won’t say it’s the kind of influence where it justifies his horrible behaviour or the awful things he did. It’s less “mind-control” and more “that best friend who always encourages you and never calls you out on your bullshit”. Its grooming Infinite’s ego and just nudging him to keep making bad decisions, to keep shutting himself in this new reality where he’s all powerful and above everyone else. So it’s the jackal’s pride, spite and grief, along with Eggman’s overall encouragement and the Phantom Ruby’s influence all put together that, in a general sense, make Infinite what he is. (I can go into more detail about this idea once I make a Part 2.)

Mission Accomplished: “angry bitchy boy turned edgy, OP and unimpressed” changed his status to “tragic boy turned edgy, bitter and extremely power-hungry”.

Intermission’s over, let’s get back to the story!

With Infinite’s backstory slightly redone (or rather, shown under a different light), I could stop right here. But I don’t want to, oh no! I say we take this a few steps further and just finish Episode Shadow! Yeah, I told you this was going to be a long post.

*”Battle with Infinite: Second Bout” plays in the background*

Ok, now we cut to a few months later, where Episode Shadow would originally begin. Rouge comments that Omega was on recon mission in that “unknown base of operations that seems to be totally outside the chain of command for Eggman’s army” (whatever that is supposed to mean) when he spotted an unidentified masked person with strange energy readings and an unknown battle ID. Omega reported a “large scale troop” and… that’s it, he just stopped talking. Rouge then talks about that “new weapon” Eggman was supposedly developing and sends Shadow to the base to investigate along with Omega. She makes a remark about how they should get the entire Team Dark together for this (“It should be fun”), but Shadow dismisses the idea, saying that he’s enough on his own. “Omega said the same thing. You two go together like chilli and hot dogs.”

We can keep this at the whole “dialogue on screen” thing. I don’t really mind and it sure spares the budget.

The City stage plays as usual, except the dialogue in the background changes a bit, because Team Dark bickering (or just talking in general, I love this team so much) is my jam.

‘E-123 Omega here. Extermination proceeding without incident. No problems to report.’

‘Omega!’ Rouge exclaims, ‘Why have you stopped responding earlier? We- wait, extermination? This is supposed to be a recon mission, what are you doing?!’

‘I was spotted. Priorities conflicted; therefore I decided to eliminate the enemy altogether. New Mission Objective: Defeat Eggman.’

‘But you can’t go making a scene like that!’

‘See, this is what happens when you send the giant killer robot for this kind of op,’ Shadow sasses. And I’ll imagine Jason’s voice for this too, thank you.

‘I have several reports of recon missions where you retaliated, Shadow.’

‘I might have to join you boys soon enough. I turn my back for five seconds and this happens…’ Rouge comments in a tired voice.

Omega is ready to start robotically recounting the reports of failed recon missions where Shadow retaliated, but he is suddenly cut by static and the vague sound of the Phantom Ruby. Rouge tries to contact him again and we get small bits of his original lines here – “All sensors offline”, “Casualty report”, “Unidentified system intrusion. Emergency withdrawal!” and “I am E-123 Omega, the most powerf-sjfpstswq”, that stuff – before his communication is completely cut. Shadow asks something like “what’s going on?”, but his communication with Rouge is cut as well. We play whatever’s left of the level in silence (except for the sweet background music).

(Oh yeah, this happened or whatever…)

Now, I know the next scene is a screen dialogue again, and I know I just said I don’t mind it, but watching this:

… Is so bloody uncomfortable. This feels dumb. This is so dumb. I feel like they robbed us an epic scene in exchange of some awkward reading with absolutely no context. What the hell is “!” supposed to mean?! What did Infinite do?! If I wanted to imagine the action scenes all on my own, I’d spend my time daydreaming! What, did they not know what to do here so they just threw in some random lines to fill the gap between this and the next level?!

… Sorry, I got a little carried away. This simple scene frustrates me a lot by not existing. So yeah, we’re throwing in a cutscene.

(I just noticed how salty this post is getting. This was not my intention at all, I still love this game, oh dear…)

Shadow reaches the edge of the city and encounters a dark silhouette hovering just above the flames that cover the ground; there’s debris scattered everywhere. The figure has its back turned, and the world seems to glitch ever so slightly around them.

‘The world’s most powerful robot is no more a challenge than crabmeat. Even the Doctor’s most daring designs can’t compete with my power… It is without peer,’ the figure chuckles to themselves.

Shadow starts approaching silently, analysing the situation. Despite this being Omega’s location, he can’t see the robot.

‘Wonder how easy it would be to end this entire planet. Don’t you…’

Suddenly, the voice speaks close to the hedgehog’s ear:

‘…Shadow?’

He turns around to see that the unknown person has appeared behind him, which throws him off. The hedgehog takes several steps back and puts himself in a fighting stance.

It’s hard to see past the jackal’s mask, but he seems amused as he looks down on Shadow. Twistedly so.

‘How wonderful to see that our not-so-tall, dark and brooding guest has arrived. I’ve been waiting for you, Shadow~’

‘Tell me what you did to Omega. Now,’ the agent demands.

‘Oh, come now, Shadow. Our long-awaited reunion and still you spout such nonsense.’ Infinite floats down to stand a few meters away from his enemy.

‘I don’t know you,’ Shadow states. The masked jackal tilts his head, but doesn’t say anything, so he asks again, ‘what have you done to Omega?’

‘Only what is ought to be done when someone stands in your way. Weaklings like E-123 Omega are of no consequence, don’t you agree?’

‘The only thing of no consequence is that big mouth of yours.’

Shadow launches himself at Infinite, who easily avoids his attack. The jackal starts laughing manically.

‘Ah, I suppose you would think so,’ he states. ‘After all, it’s not so funny to be the one losing the battle, is it? I am Infinite. You say you do not know me, and yet I remember you so very well… I’ve lost all I was, I’ve become what I am because of you. Savour that thought as I return the favour.’

Guess what happens? That’s right, we get another boss battle! I think it’s only fair that Infinite gets to have his rematch with Shadow. Besides, it establishes a comparison with the “old” Infinite and how much stronger he’s now – from Shadow’s perspective, that is.

I have no idea how this battle would play out. Maybe something similar to his second battle in the main story (no, don’t worry: we’ll talk about the exceeding amount of Infinite battles in the next part), with the 2D layout. Let’s say Infinite is surrounded with his Red Cubes of Doom while he’s not attacking, so you can’t touch him. Maybe he makes the fire glitch and get closer to you at some point. Maybe he makes clones and you have to defeat each of them to get to the real guy, I don’t know! Tag your ideas, I’d love to see them! ^^

Anyway, once the battle’s over and Shadow “wins” (because Infinite is not defeated, he’s just done with this fight), the jackal might say something in the lines of “I suppose I’ve let this duel go on for long enough. I have other matters to attend to, Shadow the Hedgehog.”

We get back to the cutscene and Infinite is glitching a bit, quickly recomposing himself, laughing. Shadow is panting.

‘What’s the matter, Shadow? Can’t take down a measly jackal anymore?’ The masked one says sarcastically. ‘It seems like I’ve overestimated your strength. You’re no fit to be a mercenary at all.’

There’s a beat and Shadow realises what this is about. He looks at Infinite, frowning. ‘It’s you… Defence Squad Jackal…’

Infinite stares at the hedgehog. He doesn’t seem to be as amused anymore. His golden eye’s glowing under his mask, and so is the Phantom Ruby on his chest. A tense background music plays as Infinite answers dryly:

‘Yes.’

‘I’ve spared you, but now you’re going too far. It’s time to finish this! Chaos Spear!’

The spears of light simply go through Infinite as if they didn’t exist. Shadow goes for a spin dash/homing attack/kick to the face or whatever you can think of, but the masked villain glitches out of the way with ease and lands an almost perfect copy of Shadow’s roundhouse kick.

The hedgehog glides across the floor, almost falling over. Infinite scoffs.

‘This new “me” has limitless power. I have no mercy; no weakness! I am the true ultimate force that will tear this world apart, and what may have worked to bring me down before…’ the jackal starts floating again; thousands of red cubes start dancing around him and, as he raises a hand, they all group in the sky not far above them. ‘… No longer does.’

(Why yes, this is a reference to Mephiles the Dark and that time he destroyed the Sceptre of Darkness!)

Infinite throws his “Take THIS!” and Shadow does the “!” – which is him frantically trying to get out of the way as the thousands cubes of doom come crashing down on him.

The screen goes black.

Scene ends.

The Virtual Reality level should play as usual from there. I don’t even want to change the background dialogue, because I really like it: it’s confusing, it’s weird, it’s unsettling and it slaps Shadow in the face in a way that we rarely see. I love it! (Although, I do think the gameplay should have a tiny little bit more of 3D parts. We love Green Hill, but we also love the freedom to move on more than two directions when playing as the Ultimate Life Form. But it’s cool)

After that, we could get another cutscene (we’re full of cutscenes, huh? Well, this is a hypothetical rewriting with a hypothetical budget. Also, Episode Shadow is more of an exposition episode anyway). In this cutscene, we would start with some shots of different known locations: Green Hill, Chemical Plant, Crisis City, Mystic Jungle, Kingdom Valley, Babylon Garden, you name it! And all of these places are somewhat “corrupted”; they’re glitching out, full of those red cubes, and there’s just this ominous atmosphere in them, as if they’re abandoned, desolated despite looking roughly the same as ever. We then see a black-and-red blur cross the screen, and a short narration takes place:

“I’ve been here for longer than I can remember. This… alternate reality, this fake world. There seems to be no escape. Rouge and Omega talk to me occasionally…”

We see Shadow leaning against a wall. His communicator plays only white noise, then Rouge’s voice comes in; it’s strangely echoed as it calls out to him. Shadow throws the device far away and sighs.

“… They’re fake too. No matter where I go, no matter how much I run…”

Shadow is skating through Pumpkin Hill or something, when the world suddenly starts to glitch out massively; we hear the Phantom Ruby’s noise and suddenly, we’re on the ARK.

“It’s like this place was made to torture me. Although, I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case.”

‘I’ve moved on from this a long time ago,’ Shadow says to the void of the Universe as we hear gunshots in the distance. He’s not being completely truthful. ‘Putting me through this scenario dozens of times changes nothing. Don’t you have anything more creative at this point?’

There’s silence, except for the shouts in the Space Colony. A voice calls out to Shadow, and he promptly ignores it, albeit with a pained look in his eyes. He’s visibly tired, almost hopeless, if one could ever describe Shadow the Hedgehog that way.

He sighs.

‘Alright, how do I get out of this one?”

We then get a start of a short level in the ARK. Don’t worry, it’s not one of those hellish mazes that usually haunt every ARK level there ever was; this is more straight forward, with doors closing all around you so that you know where you shouldn’t go, and some G.U.N. robots trying to kill you, simple thing.

The catch happens when you’re halfway through the level: as you’re crossing a long corridor, the game begins to “crash” – in the sense of you losing control of the character, the visuals beginning to glitch and the soundtrack going weird, all in a way that makes the soul leave the body of the player for a terrifying four seconds of “HOLY SHIT, I BROKE THE GAME”. But nope, you didn’t break the game: the Phantom Ruby is trolling you. We soon find that out as the signature noise plays and the glitching effect on screen disperses to show a new scenario: Mystic Jungle. The real Mystic Jungle. Congratulations: you get to play in a totally different zone for the rest of the level.

‘My head…’ Shadow murmurs to himself. ‘That was too quick; this can’t be right, it- ugh, why is it so bright here? Where are all the red things? This place seems too normal… is it… am I back in the real world?!’

We then finish the level, get our nice score and head to the last scene of the episode.

Shadow is going through the jungle, taking in everything that isn’t an illusion. He passes by a red sword stuck to the ground and leans against a tree, still a little out of it, still struggling to believe that anything is real anymore. The hedgehog then takes his communicator – surprisingly intact; hadn’t he thrown that away? – and tries to make contact. There is static for a moment, when suddenly…

‘Shadow? Oh my- Shadow, is that you?!’

He’s startled for a moment, but so relieved to hear Rouge’s normal voice again.

‘It’s me, Rouge. What’s the situation? Where’s Omega?’

‘Omega? We lost contact with him months ago; the Resistance says he must have been shut down after the Doctor took over!’

Shadow raises both his non-existing eyebrows in surprise, barely holding a gasp. He then frowns.

‘Shut down? Resistance? What do you mean “the Doctor took over”? What the heck happened?’

‘What happened? What happened?! I should be the one asking you that! You’ve been offline for six months! Everyone keeps saying you’re working with Eggman and Infinite, and I couldn’t contact you or Omega, I thought… I thought we’d lost you for good…’

‘Nonsense,’ Shadow states. We start hearing voices in the distance, and the hedgehog starts looking around while still talking ‘I’ll tell you the details later, it’s long story. What’s the current situation?’

‘Shadow…’

The (Tired) Ultimate Life Form spots something from behind the trees. Still in hiding, he looks closer only to see the Custom Hero holding the prototype Phantom Ruby they just found and talking to Tails and… Classic Sonic, much to Shadow’s confusion.

‘… We’re at war.’

Shadow takes a moment to process what’s just been said. He doesn’t even pay attention to what Rouge says next (neither do we, as the background music starts getting louder than the bat’s voice). He still watches the avatar, Tails and Classic Sonic as they leave; he focuses on the Phantom Ruby.

‘Meet me in the City. I’ve got a lot to tell you,’ Shadow says.

And with that, he leaves, the scene fades out and Episode Shadow is over!

*”The Light of Hope: Menu Version” plays in the background*

Now, a few more analytical notes before we close this ridiculously gigantic thing:

The immediate reason why we have Shadow being stuck in the Virtual Reality for six months is to indicate to us why he doesn’t show up earlier in the main game. It’s not like he was being useless this whole time and just decided to show up whenever it was most Ex-Machina of him; much like Sonic, he was trapped by the enemy. A mental trap that put Shadow on survivor mode for months without any way of communicating with anybody; with twisted versions of his friends trying to get to him and remind him that, hey, they��re still out there, probably in high danger; with these illusions mocking him, reminding him of painful memories, isolating him in familiar places… I say: if you want to emotionally hit a character, hit them hard. And this experience is bound to leave Shadow with some emotional scar, alright.

(Ever heard of conveniently coming out of nowhere?)

Shadow is bound to lose his sense of reality and sometimes it should be hard for him to acknowledge that this is the real world. I hope I can showcase some of his reactions in the later parts of this o3o

The Virtual Reality isn’t all glitchy by mistake. No, no: Infinite is perfectly capable of making a “perfect copy” of the real world, but he doesn’t want to. He wants Shadow to know this is a fake world and to know that he’s completely trapped in it while his real friends and allies are out there doing who-knows-what in a world run by the enemy. He wants to throw Shadow off-balance as much as he can, because he’s spiteful and doesn’t just leave the hedgehog to the side without a second glance.

In the game, Infinite says that they didn’t really have time to tune his power yet, so we can tell putting Shadow in the Virtual Reality was more of a practice of sorts. But man, I think this is too much of a cool concept, so I’ll say Infinite did put his power to the test before all of this; because Eggman, sir: you don’t simply throw your super-secret, amazing, unparalleled weapon in the battlefield without testing it first. This is something that can be inferred, it doesn’t need to be directly told, it just- I’m telling you this right now, ok?

I know Shadow is supposedly “over” this conflict with what happened in the ARK and it probably feels over-used to add it in again, but… it’s a thing the games haven’t tackled in such a long time, I feel like this would be a nice call-back. Besides, Infinite would want to know what would bring distress to Shadow; what happened in the ARK isn’t exactly a secret, especially if he’s working with Eggman. And Shadow can be as “over it” as he wants: it’s still a scar that will never truly leave him. Even if he watches it happen dozens of times, it’s still at least a little bit of an emotional rollercoaster.

ALTHOUGH! I also think this ARK level could be easily replaced with some other random level if you want to argue that Forces happens in Mobius or something, where Gerald and Maria and G.U.N. maybe never existed and whatnot.

What brought Shadow back, you ask? Well, it probably has to do with a certain someone spontaneously activating a Phantom Ruby. Maybe the avatar was thinking of Shadow and how it’d be nice to have him on their side again? Maybe they were thinking of undoing Infinite’s evil deeds? Maybe the raw power of the Phantom Ruby prototype being suddenly activated by the Custom Hero just crashed something another Phantom Ruby user did, like magnetic waves interfering with each other? Who knows?

I also find it important to show the Custom Hero here not only to show that there’s a connection between Shadow’s sudden freedom and their actions, but also to establish the tiniest amount of early familiarity between Shadow and the original character. Then maybe (maybe) I’ll give them a bit more of interaction in the main game, because it’d be nice to have a cool interaction with Shadow; and as endearing as his smile after the avatar does their thing with the sun of destruction is, it feels like it comes out of nowhere, if you think about it…

(I mean... Does he even know who we are?)

Infinite’s sword stuck to the ground goes completely over Shadow’s head, as he has no idea what that is or who it belonged to or what it means. It’s really just there for the viewer to reminisce the beginning of the episode and have a slight existential crisis.

When playing the main campaign, we get some pretty convenient information from Shadow once he finally shows up. Episode Shadow should give us a sense of how he knows those things. Want it or not, he did spend a long time studying the Phantom Ruby’s power far more closely than anybody else – well, maybe Sonic spent almost as much time as Shadow in a similar state, but that’s something to cover in another part.

The fact that Shadow is the one narrating this entire episode is supposed to allude to him telling Rouge exactly what happened during those six months he was gone. But if you want to read it as him talking to himself in the Virtual Reality as he slowly descends into madness, then be my guest!

I don’t know if it’s noticeable, but I’ve tried to tune Infinite’s cheesiness down a bit. I don’t think I can rid him of it entirely – after all, he is somewhat of a pompous, edgy, over-the-top character in general; he’s a full-on drama queen 24/7 and the only character cheesier than him is Sonic. Now, what we do with Infinite is to at least give a base to what he says. Also, I wanted him to sound a bit more like he lets the power get to his head. Oh well, I surely hope we’ll be tackling more of Infinite in the future!

Episode Shadow is extremely short, even for a DLC. I mean, it’s about only 20 minutes long – even less, if you’re good at it! With the addition of the cutscenes, the small changes, the boss fights against Squad Jackal and Infinite, and the added levels, the episode shouldn’t get overwhelmingly longer, but longer enough for it to feel more satisfying!

And with that, we’re done! I hope you enjoyed this massive thing. Despite me really liking Sonic Forces, I do think a few things could be improved. It’s not like it will happen, but rewriting is a lot of fun!

And why, no: I don’t take myself seriously.

#Sonic Forces #Episode Shadow #Sonic the Hedgehog #Infinite #Shadow #Rewrite #Headcanon #Character Analysis #Word count: why do I even bother? #phew that was a lot #I'm so tired

[dragonheart-swtor]

OC Playlist Meme

Thanks so much to @thehighground​ for tagging me in this!! You’ve activated my Song Analysis Backlog trap card

I’ll tag @elaphaemourra​, @sith-shenanigans​, @opalxempress​, and @swtorpadawan​ - and anyone else who sees this and wants to do it!

I don’t have a good screenshot of her in-game so y’all get the character select screen

♦️ ERISINE GANNE ♦️

♦️ Their intro theme: Everything Moves by Bronze Radio Return

“Ramble on, chug along, And if the beat stops thumping, man, then something’s wrong. Ignore it son, it's just a song, But I can see your white-knuckled hand from holding on. So lately I, wonder why, we rely, on the sure thing- It's too damn comforting. To stay alive, overdrive, ‘til we find something new To keep the pulse alive in you.”

♦️ Their own favorite song: Young Volcanoes by Fall Out Boy

When Rome's in ruins, We are the lions, free of the Colosseums. In poison places, we are anti venom, We're the beginning of the end. Tonight, the foxes hunt the hounds, It's all over now, Before it has begun- We've already won.

♦️ Their boss battle theme: False Pretense by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

“All along you know you thought you got the best of me, You were wrong and I'm laughing right in your face. I cannot believe you claimed you were my family, Don't sweat it- Set a false pretense.”

(Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans from Undertale was honestly a very close runnerup. I mostly chose False Pretense instead because of lyrics.)

♦️ Their love song: Gone, Gone, Gone by Phillip Phillips

“So I will do it for you, for you. Baby, I'm not moving on, I'll love you long after you're gone. For you, for you. You will never sleep alone, I'll love you long after you're gone, And long after you're gone, gone, gone.”

♦️ Their sad times song: iRobot by Jon Bellion

I am a robot, thoughtless and empty. Don't know who sent me, don't know who made me. Electric robot, everything's gray now, Numb to the pain now, I knew what love was - Now when they ask me, I just reply slow And sound like an iPhone: I do not know love, I am a robot.

♦️ A song that fits their aesthetic: Midnight City by M83

“Waiting for a word (Word), Looking at the milky skyline (Skyline), The city is my church (The city is my church), It wraps me in its blinding twilight (Twilight).”

♦️ A song that reminds them of a better time: Oh, What A Life by American Authors

But I tried so hard, but we killed our hearts, In valleys low, I hear the trumpets blow, Yeah, I tried so hard, yet I'm lost and scarred. And I'm filled with regret yet I sing, And we laughed oh, and we cried and thought, Oh, what a life. And we laughed oh, and we cried and thought, Oh, what a life.

♦️ A song that calms them down: In Our Bedroom After the War by Stars

“Lift your head and look out the window, Stay that way for the rest of the day and watch the time go. Listen, the birds sing. Listen, the bells ring. All the living are dead, and the dead are all living. The war is over and we are beginning.”

♦️ A song that gets them hyped up: Born For This by The Score

“We are the warriors who learned to love the pain, We come from different places, but have the same name, 'Cause we were, 'cause we were, 'cause we were, 'Cause we were born for this, we were born for this! We are the broken ones who chose to spark a flame, Watch as our fire rages; our hearts are never tame, 'Cause we were, 'cause we were, 'cause we were, 'Cause we were born for this, we were born for this!”

♦️ Spring: Towards the Sun by Rihanna

“Turn your face towards the sun, Let the shadows fall behind you. Don't look back, just carry on, And the shadows will never find you.”

♦️ Summer: C’mon by Panic! At The Disco

If I should die tonight, May I first just say I'm sorry, for I Never felt like anybody, I am a man of many hats, Although I never mastered anything. When I am ten feet tall, I never felt much smaller. Since the fall, nobody seems to know my name, So don't leave me to sleep all alone, May we stay lost on our way home!

♦️ Autumn: Oh My Dear by Tenth Avenue North

“Oh, my dear, I'll wait for you. Grace tonight will pull us through. Until the tears have left your eyes, Until the fears can sleep at night. Until the demons that you're scared of disappear inside, Until this guilt begins to crack, And the weight falls from your back, Oh, my dear, I'll keep you in my arms tonight.”

♦️ Winter: As Long As You Love Me by Sleeping At Last

“Loneliness has always been a friend of mine, I'm leaving my life in your hands. People say I'm crazy and that I am blind, Risking it all in a glance. And how you got me blind is still a mystery, I can't get you out of my head. I don't care what is written in your history, As long as you're here with me.”

♦️ The song that plays while they’re lying on the ground bleeding out in a Walmart: Take On Me by a-ha

“Take on me (Take on me) Take me on (Take on me) I'll be gone In a day or two”

♦️ The song that would play each morning if they’re stuck in a time loop: Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield

“Feel the rain on your skin, No one else can feel it for you, Only you can let it in. No one else, no one else Can speak the words on your lips. Drench yourself in words unspoken, Live your life with arms wide open, Today is where your book begins, The rest is still unwritten.”

♦️ The song they’d listen to while robbing a Wendy’s: Mamma Mia by ABBA

“Mamma mia, here I go again, My my, how can I resist you? Mamma mia, does it show again? My my, just how much I've missed you.”

♦️ The song they’d accidentally introduce to people in medieval times if they were a time traveller: Fireflies by Owl City

“I'd like to make myself believe That planet Earth turns slowly. It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep, 'Cause everything is never as it seems.”

♦️ The song they’d play in the middle of the night when their neighbors are being too loud: I’ve No More Fucks To Give by Thomas Benjamin Wild Esq., Damian Clark

“I've no more fucks to give, My fucks have runneth dry. I've tried to go fuck shopping but there's no fucks left to buy! I've no more fucks to give, Though more fucks I’ve tried to get. I’m over my fuck budget, and I'm now in fucking debt!”

♦️ The song that plays at their funeral: When The Darkness Comes by Colbie Caillat

“I'll be here waiting, Hoping, praying that This light will guide you home. When you're feeling lost, I'll leave my love, Hidden in the sun, For when the darkness comes. For when the darkness comes.”

♦️ The song that plays when it’s revealed that they faked their death: Army by Zayde Wolf

“The time is now, Going kamikaze, Won't back down. You can bring your army, You can bring your army, You can bring your army, But your army can't bring me down.”

#star wars #swtor #swtor ocs #imperial agent #erisine #my ocs #oc playlist meme #music

[saintheartwing]

So! Battle of Heart and Mind!

Okay, so the episode begins with more Pink Diamond memories as he realizes Pink got locked up a lot, and lost her first Pearl, and Blue would often come in to talk to her about how she messed up. So Blue is the most sympathetic to her.

Then Steven awakes and Blue comes in. She is angry with Pink and yells at Steven, who points out how her behavior isn’t how family should act. How her behavior has just kept hurting Pink for centuries and centuries and it drove her away. Blue realizes how much she’s been hurting Pink and thus, Steven. So she lets her out.

They go to free the Crystal Gems, and Yellow is there. She’s mad at first and a big fight breaks out. Steven and Connie manage to get her to realize how her trying to build up a perfect empire has made her drive away the people she cares about, and kept her from enjoying the things she loves....and from being happy with the people she loves.

They’re about to go rush off planet and then...White shows up. It looks bad.

Luckily, that’s when the earth Gems show up. And Lapis and Peridot are back to normal! They use the big mecha arms to fight White Diamond in her big white head, fused to the pink legs, off. And Connie suggests to Yellow and Blue they force White Diamond to listen to them, that just talking about their feelings can go a long way.

So, yellow and blue go before white diamond and the gigantic formed jam robot mecha suit. Yellow and Blue say that they’ve worked to further the crystal gem empire for so long, but it’s been grinding them down, and hurting them, for years and years and years. And they’re no longer close. They no longer feel like a family anymore. White is as distant as can be. And they want things to change.

White shoots lasers and does to them what’s happened to the White Pearl. It’s brainwashing, losing all their colors and the like. And the gang is falling, falling and the gems haven’t reformed!

So Steven begs and pleads with the gems, one after the other, first Amethyst, then Pearl, then Garnet... and in doing so, he fuses with all of them! First he makes smoky quartz, then a new Rainbow, and then, with Garnet, “sunstone“!

When none of those fusions work, it’s time for ALL the gems to fuse and make...OBSIDIAN!

She looks just like the front of their home, that big statue thing with the many arms and double mask thing. And she’s all grey and fiery like magma!

So they fight against White Diamond and use their combined might to slice off the arms! Then they force the mech down, down, down!

But that’s when they un-fuse. Luckily they managed to reach white diamond’s eye. They crawl in to talk to her. And White is creepy.

She’s able to see into all her brainwashed people’s heads evidently. And she shoots Amethyst! Then Garnet! Then Pearl! And she insults them, Amethyst is deficient, Garnet is dependent and Pearl is obsessed.

Steven in turn says the Crystal Gems are fine the way they are. White says Pink only thinks that way because she wants them to be around to make herself feel better. Pink just wants to be surrounded by people who are lesser than her to make herself feel better about herself. She’s an enabler who, by being their mentor and their light, is able to get the attention and love she wants. And all the while blaming her problems on everyone else but herself.

Steven insists that he’s not Pink diamond. He’s not his mom. But White just responds with “but don’t you know things about her that you couldn’t possibly know?” She says that deep down, Steven IS Pink, that he’s just been essentially buried all this time, and lying even to himself. This is just a new form for pink diamond...

And then before the shocked Connie’s eyes White removes the gem from Steven’s belly! And...

Steven’s not dead. He’s not got his gem and...

And out comes Pink Diamond’s “spirit” as Steve. Floating down on a beam of light from the gem!

Everyone just stares, shocked. The spirit walks over to the barely alive Steven, Connie carrying him. White tries to stop the spirit but...it just blocks her. She can’t hurt it.

The Spirit tosses them away with its might and then holds Steven in its arms. They hug and embrace, and dance about and then...

Steven is back to normal. White Diamond says “No! You don’t look like this! You’re just acting like a child!”

“I AM a child. What’s YOUR excuse?” Steven asks. And then everything goes pink! And everyone turns back to normal! Somehow his influence has gotten to them all and Pink Pearl is back to normal. And White is smaller too. And off-color.

Steven in turn says White needs to learn to accept that other people should be who they are, to not force them to be someone else, and she can be her real self in return, and in turn. White says she isn’t SUPPOSED to be flawed. She’s supposed to be perfect and better, to make everything better, that’s what she exists to be.

Steven says she CAN be better. But first thing’s first.

She’s got to get outside of her own head.

So now we go down to Earth! Sadie and her band are singing on the beach and of course...down comes the Gems in the full mecha suit!

And Lars is there too. He’s finally arrived back home just in time to see-oh. The Diamonds. Whoops!

Luckily the Diamonds are well, reformed. Though White still looks like the Off Colors are something under her shoe. Baby steps. Oh well.

Sadie and Lars are astounded by what they’ve become, and the two share a moment. Lars feels guilty he crashed his show though. Steven, in turn, takes the stage....and sings the theme song as we get a montage of the gems who were made into monsters are changed and made normal once more.

It involves a big bubble bath! That’s hilarious.

Jasper is back to normal and she has horns now too. And she looks embarrassed but, well, cute. And White actually smiles. So they go off into space after they’re all cured at last, and it ends with Steven singing on the beach with all the gang under the moon, Steven singing a song with his ukulele about how you can change your miiiiind...

So! That’s what happened. A lot I didn’t see coming, and the ending was surprisingly heartfelt and tender.

#steven universe #steven universe spoilers #battle of heart and mind #spoilers

[megacrustle]

My last Paper Mario odyssey partners.... had a lot of fun making these! even if they dont get very many notes lol

Part 1 [x] / Part 2 [x]

Oh Mario Baby, I know you're a big, ~strong~ man and all but let me handle these low-class goons~ Siren the Loch Lady. Siren is a former classical opera singer with a silky voice that can put others under her spell. Under the guise of a high-class and posh lady, Siren is actually a bit callous and has a pension for anything morbid. She has no patience for anyone who wastes her time and has no qualms in dealing with others in however manner she decides necessary. Leader of an intimidating "Informant" spy group, Siren and her associates offers help and information to anyone who needs it (granted they have the coins). However, for unknown reasons Siren offers Mario help completely pro bono. Despite her convincing and sadistic nature, Mario and Team have no choice but to accept her incredibly useful help. Siren's ability "Intimidation" is to make enemies on more likely to avoid Mario, meaning he has an easier chance of backtracking or traversing while on low HP? In battle she can give enemies the "cold shoulder" which deals ice damage, as well as charming enemies with her singing so they temporarily switch sides in battle. Attacks Cold Shoulder- Siren snubs a ground enemy and gives them a cold shoulder, dealing ice damage that might freeze enemies. *Siren's Song- Siren sings and has a chance of charming an enemy so they temporarily switch to Mario's side of battle. **Kiss and Tell- Siren plants a gentle kiss on an enemy, dealing damage that penetrates Defense and healing herself the same amount. ***Endear-Gives Mario another chance to act. It's not until later that it's revealed her Sister has disappeared due to mysterious circumstances and she believes Mario's journey is the key to uncovering what happened to her. After time and bonding with Mario and Party, she has grown a bit attached and decided to help him on his journey herself. On this adventure, maybe she will open up emotionally more to the group and in return become less cruel and spiteful.

Times like these makes me just wanna pull out my guitar and strum some mellow jams. Got some good vibes comin' your way, brothuh, I believe we can make it through anything. Morris the Moe-Eye. A world famous retired musician, Morris has traveled to every kingdom playing sold out concerts and spreading the cheer covering a wide range of genres including blues, country, and folk rock (as well as the universal charm of his smooth, golden voice). His music focuses on themes of adventure, self discovery, and other introspective concepts that make those listening stop and *really* thinks bout whats going on in their lives and the lives of others. Morris has a very open minded view of others, he believes everyone and every location has its own story to tell, and in his youth he has traveled the globe and experienced many things in order to gain inspiration for his music. Like other Moe-Eye, Morris has the ability to view invisible and unseen objects, but Morris is capable of seeing also invisible attributes of people and objects, such as emotions, which helps him bond and relate to others exceptionally easily. Morris's ability is to use his shades to reveal hidden objects in the overworld. In battle he can strum rancorous cords that deal damage to enemies or strum a silky lullaby that might lead some to fall asleep, Attacks: Rowdy Twang- Morris plays an unpleasant cord that damages any enemy. *Spectacled- Morris equips his sunglasses which allows him to see enemy weaknesses, which may boosts his attack or defense. **Lullaby Blues- Morris strums his guitar gently and softly, which may cause enemies on the field to fall asleep. ***Rockapalooza- Morris performs a concert which boosts the spirits of the party, temporarily increasing his own and Mario's Attack and Defense as well as replenishing some star points and filling more seats in the audience. Morris joins Mario because he's grown bored of the retired life and decides to relive his old days as an adventurer and helping others, and maybe get inspiration for a come-back album he's planning along the way. How does he even play a guitar without fingers? Does he use his toes?

Come Captain Mustache, with our help we will destroy suffering and evil once and for all! In the name of truth and justice, all villains will experience the mighty power of ROBOT RABBIT RANGER: CYBROOD! Cybrood the Robot Rabbit Ranger. Originally built by a mysterious and unknown scientist, Cybrood was originally 3 individuals of a team of 100 other Rangers who were created to solve problems throughout the world. But when one of these Rangers started strafing towards the side of villainy, re-branding itself as Rex λ, it decided to end the group once and for all by destroy every last Rabbit Ranger. All but 3 Rabbit Rangers were slain, their bodies destroyed and their minds incorporated into the evil singularity of Rex λ. The 3 remaining Rangers; Ranger X, Y, and Z; attempted with all their might to stop Rex λ from wreaking havoc across the cosmos, so they lured it back to their place of origin and used their collective powers to trap it in an indefinite prison. Rangers Y and Z, however, were mortally wounded during the fight. The only way to save them was for Ranger X to assimilate their minds into its own mainframe just as Rex λ had done to the other Rangers. With the assimilation complete, all 3 rangers were no longer individuals, but a new single entity now known as Cybrood who has taken it upon themself to guard Rex λ from escaping its prison. Cybrood has been in guard for many, many lonely years which has given them time to think about themselves. They love being heroes and helping other but more importantly they look back at all the times they were able to give others joy and see smiles on their faces. Perhaps when they're finally back out into the world, Cybrood can find new ways to make others truly happy. Cybrood's ability is an Elemental Blast: Using a concentrated laser that cycles through shock; freeze; or burn, Cybrood can solve numerous puzzles and advance through a multitude of obstacles. In battle he can defeat enemies with simple chopping attack, high kicks, and other similar martial art attacks. Attacks: Bunny Hop-Cybrood quickly hops over to an enemy and kick them with their powerful robotic legs. *Elemental Blast-Cybrood blasts an enemy with his powerful laser, which may leave it shocked, frozen, or burned. **Over the Moon-Cybrood grabs an opponent and flies them high into the sky. A turn later they come crashing down onto the field like a meteorite damaging other enemies on the field. ***XYZ Star Rush-Cybrood produces a myriad of holographic stars to shower over the enemies, causing massive damage throughout the stage. Cybrood follows Mario because, after Mario helps them defeat their demons both literal and metaphoric, they are not only just able to finally return to their original objective of helping those in need and saving the day but also now has a chance to possibly explore new career paths and find new ways to bring joy to others.

HUMAN MARIO, IT IS WISE OF YOU TO HAVE FOUND COMPANIONSHIP WITH A SPIRIT SUCH AS I. WERE WE ENEMIES ON THE BATTLEFIELD, I WOULD BE UNABLE TO DETERMINE THE VICTOR. Ja-Shi the Jaxi. A benevolent and ancient spirit, she has protected the denizens of a small village for thousands of years but has become ambivalent of outsiders. But when a danger comes to her village not even she can handle, she realizes she needs to team up with Mario who she did not initially trust in order to keep the townsfolk safe. Ja-Shi's ability is to carry Mario over deadly and hazardous obstacles such as spikes, poisonous water, or lava(similar to Lakitu or Carrie). In battle shy can trample enemies, burn them with spectral flames, or pull them into the spirit world for massive damage. Attacks Knock Back- Ja-shi slams onto the closest ground enemy, launching them to the back of the stage. *Trample- Ja-Shi rams through all ground enemies, possibly launching some out of battle completely **Spectral Bark- Ja-Shi roars and inflicts an enemy with fire damage, possibly leaving them burned. ***Spirit Warp- Ja-Shi attacks and drags an enemy into the spirit world, dealing massive damage as well as leaving a guarantee burn. Ja-Shi joins Mario because she wants to put an end to a greater threat that could cause possible harm to her village or its inhabitants. Maybe on this journey she can learn to have more trust of outsiders, and be more accepting of receiving help and friendship from those outside her town.

Zap Bang Crash and Pow!! Have no fear, Powup is here!! Powup the Bonneter. A quirky little ghost from Bonneton, but unlike the other guys who possessed hats she had the ability to possess and take the powers of power ups! She is a super secret bonus partner, so Mario has to do some work to get her amazing benefits. Outside of battle, Powup can help Mario locate hidden and secret objects. In battlem Powup acts as a 3rd partner: Mario just has to activate an item and Powup will take its powers. She only has 1 attack and it varies between item, but a 3rd partner can help with Mario's strategy as she can damage enemies, defend herself or her teammates, and appeal to the crowd to increase SP. Mario can change what powerup she is currently possessing anytime as long as he has the item in his inventory, and if she falls in battle he can bring her back. She's a bit of a trickster and hid herself behind multiple difficult objectives to see if anyone could find her. After Mario succeeds and reveals her from her hiding place, she devotes her loyalty  to him for being such a clever player.

#paper mario #paper mario partner #super mario odyssey #mario oc #lochlady #moe-eye #broodal #jaxi #bonneter #cappy

[mrskylerreviews-blog]

POPPY - AM I A GIRL? (Album Review)

           Only a year after the release of her debut album Poppy.Computer, the singer and ever-growing internet personality Poppy has returned with her second musical effort, titled Am I A Girl? This sophomore record sees our favorite android widening her range in lyrical content and production quality, offering a more polished and extensive view at the world through her sweet, robotic eyes. While her director Titanic Sinclair still had a hand in some of the songs on this album, there are also major collaborations with producers Diplo (owner of the label Poppy is signed to, Mad Decent) and Fernando Garibay (responsible for Lady Gaga’s ‘‘Alejandro’’ back in 2009).

           Am I A Girl? further progresses the narrative of the Poppy character, after the first album basically introduced who she was to the world, and commentated on the presence of technology and the internet in our modern society. This time, Poppy takes us on a more personal ride, as she begins questioning everything about her surroundings, from the reason of her existence on this world, to the fate that might await humanity due to pollution that we have caused ourselves. The first half of the record, though, is focused more on Poppy’s love for fashion, and a sassier and much firmer confidence that reassures the growth of the character. She isn’t a follower of what ‘‘They’’ want anymore. Poppy knows what she’s capable of and even though this album is based on a question that could define her entire life, it also presents her with answers that she may have been asking herself since she first started appearing on Youtube back in 2014.

1.      In A Minute: a solid opener for the album, this track shows a great combination of the material Poppy is known for, and a big step towards this new polished path she will be taking us on. With lyrics such as ‘‘I used to be free willing / Now I got work to do’’, we are presented head-on with the aforementioned confidence and sense of individuality that is to become the running theme throughout the record. Overall, In A Minute works perfect as an introduction to Am I A Girl?

2.      Fashion After All: although the theme of sass and confidence tried real hard to stretch enough for several songs on the album, Fashion After All feels a bit overdone and very easy to skip. While sing-talking about how she’s mother to many and the fact that she is relatable yet scary, the electropop production doesn’t really do its job of grasping the listener, as it sounds not too exciting or like something we haven’t heard before, and the lyrics can get tiring quick.

3.      Iconic: this track attempts a go with the inspiring and ‘‘even if you’re weird, you’re still so cool’’ concept that isn’t at all new for female pop singers. While the lyrics aren’t necessarily the most original and groundbreaking piece of handcrafted artistry, they succeed in delivering an uplifting and feel-good vibe to the listener, with the production matching the joyous energy that is supposed to carry the message. Poppy’s vocals also shift from low tones in the pre-chorus that we haven’t really heard from her before, to sweet and colorful falsettos that we all know and love.

4.      Chic Chick: this track feels like what Fashion After All should have been, and it is honestly a bit surprising that both of them made it on the album. Chic Chick is a punch to the face, with Poppy making it very clear that she’s here to do her business, she is classy yet a handful, and there is nothing you can do about it. Being the only song on the project to have an Explicit warning with the line ‘‘I’m a chic chick / If you don’t like it, suck my d*ck’’, the aggressiveness and the unapologetic tone of this track steers the album towards the right path. The synth guitar solo felt like a very nice touch for adding a bit of edge to the track, as it also suffers a bit of weakness with the electropop production.

5.      Time Is Up: being the lead single of the album, Time Is Up gave us our first glance of what Am I A Girl? was going to be, and we can all agree that the raise in production quality and 80s synth sound that Diplo gave us threw us all for a loop. Not only that, but the lyrics, which narrate Poppy’s perspective of waking up in a factory then realizing mankind is destroying their own home, truly solidify the strength of this track. She is telling us that all we really have achieved during our time on Earth is pollution, overpopulation and causing sickness to the planet, and that once we go extinct due to our irresponsibility, her android body will stay here to witness the aftermath of the mess we made. Time Is Up does an astounding job of delivering a very serious message, while doing so with a sound that is sure to capture the interest of mainstream music listeners.

6.      Aristocrat: this track makes me feel the most reminiscent of Poppy’s work from the Bubblebath EP back in 2016. Produced by Fernando Garibay, Aristocrat is a very theatrical and dramatic telling of how Poppy infiltrated a party in what feels like the late 1700s France, easily capturing the attention of all those who are royal due to her dancing abilities, without realizing that, as she puts it, she ‘‘got there from the gutter.’’ The track is fresh and new for what Poppy usually puts out, while somehow still giving a nod to her earlier musical efforts. Definitely one of the strongest in the album.

7.      Hard Feelings: this is where we start getting that personal inside look on Poppy’s life, and where she becomes more vulnerable with the questions she’s asking about herself, like why she’s falling so hard for her creator if she wasn’t meant to be capable of feeling in the first place. The track opens with some lines in French, asking somebody what they want from her. We see more of the vulnerability when in the pre-chorus she asks ‘‘Am I a replica of someone that you loved? / Someone you made me to replace?’’ Then we get a very interesting touch of heavy rock guitars smoothly blending into the track after the chorus, which reappear with just a bit more intensity during the bridge, without necessarily overpowering the song or ruining the soft honesty the song is meant to portray. Overall, Hard Feelings does its task of presenting Poppy as someone who has more worries than just being chic, and also subtly opens for the surprises that are to come later in the album.

8.      Girls In Bikinis: this track leans more to the failing side of the album, as it feels somewhat unnecessary and honestly quite boring. Sounding like something that would perhaps gain more attention in the late 90s if it were released by any other female phenomenon of pop, the only redeeming quality that Girls In Bikinis might just carry is the bisexual hinting Poppy throws throughout the song. Other than that, it quite frankly sounds nothing like a track we should be getting from her, even if this album is all about expanding and experimenting with sounds.

9.      The Rapture Ball: this is another track that also falls a bit weak, especially with its lyrics. Poppy sings about going to a party and seeing everybody arrive in limousines and dance in gowns, but really she just fails at actually creating a good enough atmosphere for this grand ball that we’re supposed to be intrigued by. Perhaps the line where she states that she never got to go to her prom were meant to give it a more personal touch, but the overall content still feels like it only scratched the surface of its potential. The song in its entirety seems to rely mostly on the one line ‘‘This is the best bang since the big one’’, almost like it’s supposed to be so clever and iconic that we’ll want to sing it over and over and just forget how lacking the end result of everything really is.

10.  Am I A Girl?: Picking up once again after the disappointment of the last two songs is the title track, Am I A Girl?, where Poppy urges the listener to please not try to resolve or define her as either male or female, because she is having a hard time even knowing what it truly means to be either of those. It is a very nice track to hear, starting with the pop sound that we got on the first half of the album, and then hitting us with a hard rock that blends perfectly with the frustration of the message. Poppy is basically declaring war against gender roles and the definition of gender itself, something refreshing to hear for people like me in the LGBT community.

11.  Play Destroy feat. Grimes: this is where things get intense. First off, I simply could not imagine a world where this song would sound any good without Grimes in it. Poppy does add her own edge, and the combination of both these artists’ weirdness is just grand. Grimes is what makes the song though, which is not at all a bad thing. We hear these girls so sweetly announce that they are going to drop a match into a gas tank and burn down the local Walmart, all alongside a heavy rock production, and it’s nearly impossible to not allow them to do so. Then in the bridge Grimes says that she’s dying, with Poppy simply replying ‘‘It’s a Hollywood moment!’’, making fun of the way people there see anything that happens to celebrities as the newest gossip or article for their cheap magazine. In the end, Play Destroy is an absolute masterpiece that truly displays Poppy’s behavioral battle with herself and discovering if she really is the sweet angel she thought she was on her first album.

12.  X: Closing the album is the song that all previous rock attempts were really building up for. Continuing with the theme of going back and forth between wanting peace or wishing to see chaos and destruction in the world, this track goes for a less subtle approach (and it’s perfect). It begins with very heavy guitar, then quickly shifting into a melodic sunshine pop a la Beatles, with Poppy saying she wishes to empty the bullets out of all the guns in the world. But the calm does not last long before we go back into the metal, where we get lines like ‘‘Please get me bloody / You can get down on your knees if you’re naughty’’. A third sudden genre kicks in, this time (believe it or not), it being trap music. The track continues aggressively going back and forth, switching between all these sounds, but cleverly enough as not to get boring or overwhelming. It is definitely new and exciting to see Poppy go and attempt something so out of what she usually gives her fans, and it really could have gone either really well or horribly wrong. Luckily for her (and us), it was the former.

Am I A Girl? is an album that somehow is better when it gets out of the comfort zone of what we know Poppy for, with very nice vocals and a brave refusal to stick to only one genre. It contains very high replay value and it allows Poppy to show fans a new, edgier side that Poppy.Computer might have restrained her from. Hopefully in the future, she continues to explore and experiment in ways that keep being entertaining and interesting.

RATING: 7/10

Favorite songs: Chic Chick, Aristocrat, Time Is Up, Play Destroy, X

Least favorite songs: Fashion After All, Girls In Bikinis, The Rapture Ball

#poppy #i'm poppy #am i a girl? #album #mad decent #diplo #titanic sinclair #music #reviews #music reviews #album reviews #time is up #moriah pereira #corey mixter

[stevecanmakeanythingnerdy]

Battle #20

Kraftwerk : The Man Machine ( Side A )

Vs.

Wilson Pickett: The Midnight Mover ( Side 1 )

Kraftwerk : The Man Machine ( Side A )

Kraftwerk (German that literally translates to "power station") is a (duh) German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. They are widely considered as innovators and pioneers of electronic music, and they were among some of the first successful acts to popularize the genre. The group began as part of West Germany's experimental scene known as krautrock in the early 1970s before fully embracing electronic instrumentation, including synthesizers, drum machines, and vocoders. Essentially they are Germany’s Devo, but before Devo began. Themes often center around computers and science. So basically it’s amazing. Kraftwerk started out with traditional instruments like guitar and drums with flutes, etc, but eventually developed a self-described "robot pop" style. It combined electronic music with pop melodies, sparse arrangements, and repetitive rhythms, while adopting a stylized image that included matching suits. (See the Devo yet?). In May 1978 Kraftwerk released The Man-Machine . The cover of the album is produced in black, white and red, and was inspired by Russian artist El Lissitzky and the Suprematism movement. Gunther Frohling photographed the group for the cover, and it’s now an iconic image which features the quartet dressed in red shirts and black ties. Kraftwerk is largely responsible for 1980s synthpop groups such as Gary Numan, Ultravox, Human League, Depeche Mode, Visage, and Soft Cell. Bands like Joy Division and New Order claim them as a huge influence. Kraftwerk would also go on to influence other forms of music such as hip hop, house, and drum and bass, and are also regarded as pioneers of the electro genre. So yeah, they’re KIND OF A BIG DEAL. so this “album” (its really more of a mini-album at only 6 songs) is a career defining moment for them. The first song is “The Robots”. As you may have inferred from the title, It’s quite robotic. It is synth driven German efficiency. As you can also imagine having only 6 songs makes the songs longer and droning. Though innovation and technological advances prevail, the robo vocals are pretty sweet. “Spacelab” is a floating melody and I can completely imagine sitting in an observatory and looking up at the “stars”. They were certainly exploring new territory with the synth and vocoder. This one might as well be an instrumental with barely any vocals. It’s like they take a concept and write a song and melody around it. They’re like song scientists. “Metropolis” is the final song you get. Essentially a blending of the two previous offerings. A dystopian soundtrack that has alternating keys, a lead and fill. Layers and layers that build to glorious proportions. I can only imagine they would be quite a sight to see live. I can’t stand how pleasing the cover is. Very artistic but perfect and propaganda all at once. Yes, these guys had it figured out loooooong before anyone else. I live for individuality like this, so unique and nothing you can do about it, but listen in amazement and be jealous.

Wilson Pickett: The Midnight Mover ( Side 1 )

Pickett was born in Prattville, Alabama, and first polished his singing skills in Baptist church choirs, and on the streets of Detroit. He found influence through recording stars such as Little Richard. He formed gospel groups at first, but eventually sent a tape to Atlantic Records, who ironically gave the song away. It was disheartening of course but he kept on and eventually came up with another hit. Pickett's breakthrough came at Stax Records' studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he recorded his third Atlantic single, "In the Midnight Hour". The MGs (of Booker T. & the... fame. You may remember them from a few workouts back earlier this season) were the studio musicians. Small world. He had more hits in the following years, but unfortunately,most of his success was early in his career and led to later problems with drugs and alcohol. This record held some hits as well. Among them, the lead off single “I’m a Midnight Mover”. You know it has to be good if he named the album after it, right? Bluesy and groovy enough to make you say FUNK yeah! Of course is IS similar to “Midnight Hour” in both sound and title but you won’t care. It’s a pretty great tune. That Motown sound with gang vocals. “It’s a Groove” is just that, a groove that gets you moving. We’re talking Marvin Gaye level of soul. Smooth and oodles of noodles on the guitar. Next up might be my favorite track on the album “Remember!I been good to you”. YES on the guitar Mr. Hendrix junior!! Stellar! The raspy and smoking vocals just contribute on so many levels, and the riffs compliment the music. “I’m Gonna Cry” is another Motown level banger. A quick one too. I may cry when it’s over. “Deborah” is the last track (it’s a cover) and makes me think that she could be the reason this album was made. The bravado in the vocals is great! It’s slow to burn, but in Italiano! It’s rockin’ and you feel it! Diverse and pulsating are just a few words that describe this man. There is a fair amount of hype on the back of the jacket (as is often the case for most records of this time period) but this time it is 100% accuracy. Any one of these songs are hits in their own right, even the covers which he really makes his own just by adding those unique and distinctive vocals.

So today Kraftwerk made a man out of machine...or maybe it was the other way around...but either way they were technically proficient while doing so. They burned 115 calories over 3 songs and 18 minutes. That’s an average of 38.33 calories burned per song and 6.39 calories burned per minute. Kraftwerk earned 7 out of 9 possible stars. Wilson Picketted to be a Midnight Mover, and he sure moved some calories! In 14 minutes he burned 91 calories over 5 songs. That’s 18.20 calories burned per song and 6.50 calories burned per minute. Wilson earned 12 out of 15 possible stars. Seems that the protests paid off, as Wilson walks away today’s RRW champion!!

Wilson Pickett: “I’m a Midnight Mover”

https://youtu.be/422G-2yUw-I

#Randomrecordworkoutseasonseven

#Randomrecordworkout

#randomrecordworkout #randomrecordworkoutseason7 #80s music #80s #vinyl #records #80's music #kraftwerk #robots #devo #wilson pickett #60s #60s vintage

[geekyreverie]

My fave episodes of Wander Over Yonder (part 2)

So, it’s the second part of the list!

Both seasons of Wander Over Yonder are great! And they are so different! The second season is more about Lord Hater and his feelings to Lord Dominator. At first I wasn’t excited about this storyline that much (I loved how it was in the first season and I was afraid that now the show might lose it’s special touch), but soon I realised how wrong I was!

This season is totally amazing and deep and touching! And I do adore and very impressed the way Hater’s character and his relations with other characters are developed! So let’s go! My favorite episodes from Season 2!  11. The Greater Hater Hater chases Wander as usual, but suddenly a mysterious stranger (whose ship is way cooler) appears. This episode is a great untroduction of the new character. It has an awesome intrigue and it shows different approaches of Wander and Hater to the new guy as well which is amazing! And the joke in the titles with Hater/Vader is one of my favorite gags from the show! 

12. The Breakfast The episode shows the morning of Wander and Hater in a really creative way! The screen is split in two areas, and these two parts make a great contrast! I absolutely enjoy this idea and its realisation on screen! So smart and very precisely, accurately done! Never seen this in cartoon series before! 13. The Fremergency Fronfract Because of the anesthetic’s effect Wander and Hater become friends (for a very short time).  First of all, I like the Superman reference here very much! It’s funny and actually the words are clever! I mean who Wander actually is? And yeah - he’s not just a fool, he’s actually cool, I can’t argue with that! :D Also I love episode’s end, it’s touching and sad. And funny too as well, wonderful mix indeed!   14. The Wanders Wander’s personality is split in many pieces and it’s up to Sylvia to get the one and only Wander back! I absolutely love the episode and its message! I love how it focuses on different aspects of Wander’s personality and tells that every part is important, even the one that seems annoying. :) And what makes my heart melt is the most important part, could this show possibly get any better after episodes like this?! It seems so perfect! The helper seeks to help because he knows what it is to be helpless. Aww! I love this guy so much and really wanna know what’s behind this!  15. The Axe Oh no! Commander Peepers is fired! Hater, don’t do it!  I feel so sorry for Peepers here! The song in the episode is just heartbreaking! And the kind of questions Hater asks makes me giggle! So here we see how it actually works: Hater knows so little about invasions and Peepers does all the stuff, but still they need each other and make a great team, haha! Peepers is so cool in the episode’s end and the dialog between him and Hater before! Hilarious! And yeah, I like that feeling of competition in conquering planets!

16. The Cool Guy One more episode about Hater, Peepers and that conquering thingy. :)  I often wondered what it would be, if Peepers tried to conquer a planet without Hater - and now we can see! I really love Peepers’ lines about Awesome and Hater’s actions in the end of the episode. Makes me love these two even more! And the remark that Commander’s goals are evil is an interesting one! Complicated! I feel for them, but actually they are bad guys or... well, that’s that interesting line that goes through the whole show. 17. The Battle Royale It’s in the middle of the season, it changes the direction of the plot and it’s epic! So very epic! Lord Hater discovers that Lord Dominator is a girl and fells in love with her! It’s really funny and ironic how he shouted that he hated Dominator few seconds before! I like how ironic WOY is! Another great detail here is how mighty Hater becomes when it comes to his hate to Wander. Oh, he really hates this guy! 

18. The New Toy To impress Lord Dominator Hater builds his own car! I like the design of it! :D And I find the commercial bizarre, made me laugh out so loud! It’s nice to see very many Hater’s attempts to be cool and his embarassment. I also like their conflict with Peepers. Hater’s love line brings not only drama, but comedy as well! 19. The Eye on the Skullship I like that in this episode we see Hater and his actions from a different point of view - from one of his fans! The episode is again about the watchdogs and their feelings, I like that in WOY no one is left behind, I mean even minor characters. 20. The Bad Hatter Wander’s hat is now in Hater’s hands! I like Wander’s hat and I think it deserves more attention. Now we know more about it, we know its history, it’s not just some cool accessory, it’s alive, alive! :) And once again I like the message. I like how Hater is mad at the Hat, though it seems like the problem is not in it. Oh well, poor hat. 

21. The Show Stopper Hater performs a rock concert (to impress Lord Dominator! nice try!). And Wander helps! This episode is one of the best! I do love Hater’s theme song and I absolutely enjoy watching their perfomance with Wander. Wander is so good and Hater is just... HATER!! Oh boy, I can listen to the same song for hours and hours and Hater can sing his song for DAYS! Wow! He’s so active and energetic! Just watching him fills me with energy too! I like how Sylvia works together with Peepers and the last perfomance of the song totally rocks! The lyrics - aww, just daww!! Actually this song gets better and better with every loop! :D

22. The Cartoon Another Hater’s try to impress Dominator - now with the help of the most sophisticated and respected art form in the universe - the cartoon! It’s hard to express how I love this episode, it’s incredible! I love the idea, stylization and references, cast, songs (especially the opening one) and actually everything about this episode! Solid writing too! And I literally can’t stop laughing all the time, one of the WOY’s best! POWER!! And Hater’s remark how hard animation is just... wow! 23. The Bot Wander makes friends with Lord Dominator’s Bot. One of the saddest episodes of the show! I won’t say much about it, except... oh well, that silent scene at the end! It’s perfect in every way, everytime I remember it, I feel I’m still impressed. 24. My Fair Hatey The musical episode and... MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE FROM THE SHOW! And one of my favorite animated musicals ever!! I mean it! I rewatched it many times and I can’t get bored! How can you stop rewatching it, it’s so precious! The quality of animation and music numbers is incredibly high, I absolutely enjoy it and it totally deserves to be in one line with full-length movie musicals. I love how it concentrates all best things about the show in 1/2 hour! The action is so powerful (indeed!). The gags and songs and action continue for the whole half hour non stop, from the very beginning to the end, everything here is awesome! The songs are stunning and inspiring, they reveal all characters motives and feelings so well! And the mood changes so many times here, from excitement to despair and then to new hopes again, it’s amazing how many emotions are covered in one episode!  And it brings the main plot to the new point. For me it’s the top episode of the whole show so far!  25. The Robomechabotatron It’s the name of a giant robot that can stop Dominator. I find this episode extremely funny and I stand for Wander’s point here. Though it seems kinda doubtful the way he brought it (the team was counting on him anyway), so that makes the episode especially interesting to think about.    26. The Flower Wander and Sylvia are trying to save the flower from Lord Dominator. This episode literally made me cry. It’s so emotional and touching, it actually hurts to see Wander’s tears! And Wander formulates one of the greatest messages: Just because I'm sad doesn't mean I've given up hope. 27. The End of the Galaxy It’s series finale so far. The contrast between approaches of Wander and others is great! It’s sad to see Wander stands alone. Despite many threatening and menacing moments of the episode (it definitely should be like this), it’s still very positive. It’s a great finale of the season, but... not of the whole show! The story is so rich, and many lines are not finished yet! It shouldn’t end this way, come on!  So... if you agree, please sign in the petition! https://www.change.org/p/walt-disney-encourage-disney-to-make-wander-over-yonder-season-3 @disneyxd

#wander over yonder #savewoy #trending 27th #woy #disney

[mandelsmusic]

Playlist & Analysis

I have created a playlist consisting of ten songs for a journey to Mars.  There is a link at the bottom to listen to this playlist but this is my in-depth analysis of each of the ten. 

My first song on the playlist Space Oddity by David Bowie. This song not only fits the theme of our cosmic journey but also takes listeners on an individual journey of their own. Space Oddity an influential song which has been used in the media landscape of today and past decades, causing a timeless renown reputation. The production on this song features fascinating panning effects, which make the listening experience “out of this world”. 

Following Space Oddity, I have chosen My Way by Frank Sinatra. This song is notably bold in its lyrics and speaks to me in a very meaningful way. In this song, Sinatra takes a retrospective look at his life, recognizing his regrets and losses, not everything he did was right, but through it all, he did it his way, and he was proud of that. This is a true song to the legacy Frank Sinatra left on the music industry because following his death no one could quite do it “his way”. Recently, my good friend’s mother passed away after fighting a courageous battle against cancer. The thing that stuck with me after her untimely death was that as she passed, her last wish was to hear My Way. For the length of time that I knew her, she had always had cancer, but lived such a bold and exciting life that you forgot she even had it. Through it all, I truly believe she lived this song to Sinatra’s intentions. In the face of great sickness, she lived her life her way, and that is something I will always remember.

Next in the queue is Tiny Dancer by Elton John, a classic anthem that I believe will never grow old.  Growing up in Los Angeles, this song always spoke to me. I thought it was the vague mention of “LA Lady”, or the fact that my mom always played it in her car, I couldn’t figure out why I loved this song so much. Earlier this year, Elton John released a music video 45 years after the release of Tiny Dancer. The music video depicted individuals living very different LA lifestyles, but all singing along to Tiny Dancer as they crossed paths. The music video captured the beauty of both LA culture and the song itself, and most importantly it captured what the song meant to me. No matter who you are, where you are, or what you are doing, this song has the power to unify a set of complete strangers because everyone knows the lyrics. While it isn’t Rocket Man, I believe my fellow astronauts and I could benefit from blasting this one together.

Next up is If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out by Cat Stevens. When I was younger, my father used to drive me to my soccer games, and we listened to an eclectic set of tunes, ranging from Garth Brooks to Weird Al Yankovic. If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out stuck to me as a track I particularly enjoyed my Father’s unique playlist. But the significance and beauty of this song is the lyrics.  I always found that my Father emphasized these lyrics in his parenting, allowing me to “sing out” and do whatever I put my mind to.  Both he and my Mom have always been there to support and encourage me throughout every step of my life. I need this song as a reminder that I have the loving support of my parents wherever I travel.

Taking a break from the classics, my next song choice is from my favorite rock and roll artist, Jack White. Jack White is behind so many influential songs and bands and to choose just one song to represent his repertoire is a challenging task. I have chosen one of my favorites, You’ve Got Her In Your Pocket from The White Stripes early album, Elephant. Jack White has always fascinated me as an artist because of his distinct branding. For each band he is in, as well as his solo career, there is a different color scheme and a new persona presented which allows the listener to understand Jack in a different aspect each time. The White Stripes had a color scheme of red, white, and black and played bold inspirational ballads. Jack White’s current solo career has a color scheme of blue and black, representing the change in his style of music to somber rock songs centering around the challenges of love. It is very important for music to be both seen and heard. White’s attention to design and branding adds a vibrant concept to his artistry and shows his anthology of sound through brands he has crafted over the years.  I love and respect Jack White as an artist greatly and cannot live without at least one of his songs. 

Another musician who I draw inspiration from is John Bonham, the drummer for Led Zepplin; he was truly was the backbone of the band and created a unique sound from jazz but applied it to a rock aspect, thus changing the possibilities for rock as it had not been seen before.  The band captured this interesting drum beat by using the Glyn Johns recording method which had not been seen before but after, was widely used by most bands because they loved the amazing quality and simplicity of the technique, consisting of 4 microphones.  But the band was able to work so well because Bonham was able to get in sync with the guitar player; typically, the drummer gets in sync with the bass player to get the best rhythmic feel but Bonham got in sync with the guitar player and if you listen to Fool in the Rain, you can see the tightness between the guitar and drums as they change constantly through the phrases.  Within Fool in the Rain, the drumbeat is absolutely insane!  Bonham plays a steady polyrhythmic 4/4 beat, meaning that he is playing two beats simultaneously; the first beat is executed through the triplet high hats which are accented by opening and closing them and adding ghost notes on snare in between; yet Bonham adds a twist by doing a swung half-time shuffle with his bass and snare drum which is difficult on its own.  Although the beat is challenging on its own, he adds more difficulty by play with the piano and guitar which are a 12/8 time signature which adds a syncopated triplet feel to the song that anyone can groove to.  To me, Bonham is what made Zepplin great and in totality, it was his drumming within this song that truly allows an audience to groove to.

The next song chosen has a lot of sentimental value as a musician; Nights & Weekends by Cold War Kids was the first song that I ever recorded. It was the song that motivated me to expand my skills and learn about production. I began by listening to every individual instrument track and was amazed by the production quality, with the smooth transition from electronic type drums to an ambient acoustic sound that comes in strong for the chorus.  I was truly inspired by the album as a whole because it was a different direction that Cold War Kids portrayed; originally being a band that produced songs focusing on the problems of and containing an instrumentation of a rock band, Cold War Kids tried a different approach, adding electronic samples on top of the live drums into the piano and guitar heavy tracks.  I was motivated to make my rendition of this song because I loved the vibe of the entirety of the album but this song in specific stuck out because of the catchy chorus and interesting transition from electronic to acoustic drums.  I also really love the organ and feel that it should be used as a staple for their sound.  My initial recording was very poor in quality being that it was my first recording ever and I was using a single microphone for everything, yet I recently redid it to show how I have evolved as an artist and I find that there is still room for improvement, though it is decent. 

Transitioning from this, I Sumatran Tiger by Portugal. the man which is also known as the endangered song.  Interestingly enough, there were no digital copies of this song but instead 400 copies of the hard copy record were produced and eventually the record, made out of polycarbonate material, would stop playing and become extinct.  The message clear, if we do not do anything, then the species will go extinct.  Portugal. the man created this song with the intent of the song becoming extinct unless reproduced.  But this exclusivity tactic is very fascinating and has been practiced by many artists such as Jay Z and Beyoncé, ultimately it doesn’t work because eventually it will go to other streaming services but this concept of extinction unless shared within the community is like no other.  Not only is this a genius tactic to promote the preventing from extinction but it is also an amazing song.  Sadly, it will be overlooked by their one hit wonder Feel it Still but the endangered song will forever hold a place in my heart being that it is a masterful medley of instrumentation, high pitched male vocals, and a message like no other. 

Directly after this, I have chosen Alright by Talk.  Talk is a band I was honored to become apart of during my time at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU this past summer. I chose to put this song on my playlist as a reminder that you can accomplish great things if you work hard. As a band, we wanted to create a song that encapsulated all of our diverse musical talents. I am very proud of our band’s hard work on this track. My primary role was as a drummer, but we all worked hard on co-producing, branding, and managing to create a cohesive end product, that sounds pretty good.  But taking leadership for this band, we produced a book that is like no other, which gives the consumer a visual representation to enjoy as they listen to the song. 

To close out the playlist, I have selected Do You Realize?? by The Flaming Lips. I honestly love everything about this song form the beautiful instrumentation to the incredibly powerful and realistic lyrics. The Flaming Lips adds tasteful elements to transform the track to a galactic melody by using robot generated noise, crazy synth sounds, and random church bells.  Wayne Coin, the lead singer of the Flaming Lips, inspires me as an artist through his authenticity and creativity. This is one song I cannot live without.

Check out the playlist on youtube!

Rock On, 

Justin Mandel

Follow me on Instagram @mandelsmusic

[miragablog]

Madoka Magica isn't a deconstruction

As a subject, Mahou Shoujo is, in my opinion one of the most misunderstood and yet widely adopted genres in anime.

Being a regular fan, you can know about its presence like that of Super Robot and Battle Shounen- and yet have no insight into its role as one of the eldest genres on the scene.

Many viewers simply don't find interest in watching a feminine, almost voyeuristic take on dramatized child adolescence, which is totally fine. (Doesn't make you any less of a fan of the genre either if you’re of the male persuasion and aren't there for those themes. All power to you!)

However, when it comes to analyzing such genre steeped shows, like that of Sailor Moon or Little Witch Academia- those without the wide understanding for which their structures are based can make unfair or miscalculated conclusions of what those stories communicate.

This is the exact quandary that Madoka Magica poses for such analysis and why I don't consider it a deconstruction of the Magical Girl genre.

Mahou Shoujo, or Magical Girl is a term assumedly coined by that of Mitsuteru Yokoyama and Fujio Akatsu-ka, creators of Mahoutsukai Sally and Himitsu no Akko-chan; firsts of the genre, bench marking its creation in the early 60’s.

(I say “assumedly” as I can't find anything divulging the cut and dry fact. Hit me up if you have the actual source with citation.)

The genre has many subsets, but for the sake of your time we’re going to focus on the most popular and prolific of the Magical Girl Sub-genres, Magical warrior. There are some key components that make a show “magical warrior”.

1.) Have the protagonist or other female characters gain/have the ability to transform into an alternate, enhanced version of themselves.

2.)The presence of a magical companion, whether that be a animal or object that accompanies the protagonist in her magical endeavors.

3.)Items that assist in either the transformation process or battle for the protagonist

4.)An adversarial force threatening the lives of the protagonist, their friends, society and or existence itself

Its is of note that while a transformation is a must for this sub genre, the other factors can be all present or sparsely.

In Cardcaptor Sakura for instance the main character, Sakura Kinomoto doesn't traditionally transform but rather changes her clothes. However she still uses a magical item, is accompanied by Kero and works towards a goal that threatens the lives of those around her or her way of life.

(Arguably Sakura's “transformation” is just that because she transforms her mindset when changing outfits to better suit her magical endeavors.)

Along with those structural linchpins, Magical Warrior-centric shows are known for their glamorous, long-winded transformation sequences, teenage leads, handsome love interests, revealing outfits and normalized use of cute, bright and feminine iconography.

On the subject of how Madoka supposedly “deconstructs” these shoujo conventions common to the genre, with its “dark” tone and DEATH and despair- it simply doesn't work because modifying elements of a genre and subverting audience expectations doesn't mean your critically taking apart the framework.

But you must be asking by now “well Mirage, if twisting elements of a genre isn't Deconstruction then what is?”

Jacques Derrida was an accomplished french philosopher of the early 20th century. You can see his fingerprints all over, influencing how we study subjects embroiled in the arts and social sciences. He found that the meaning many authors and scholars claimed to see in stories were inherently arbitrary or transient.

Generally speaking, Derrida’s theory of deconstruction, (or post structuralism) deals with the mental form of which meaning takes- form. Although we perceive meaning in a text such as, let's say Evangelion or Welcome to the NHK- such meaning isn't structurally sound. A lot of deconstructive analysis focuses on the words and language we use in describing- communicating those thoughts and how they are, in their own form- failures.

Tim Nance has a fantastic video on explaining in laymen’s terms what the act of deconstruction is, I highly suggest you pop over and listen to his video. For now I will simply relay that of his points on the process of which someone deconstructs a text.

Find meaning

Identify tensions

Identify the ways that those tensions seem to be unified by meaning

Deconstructing the tension

Then unity falls apart

Then the meaning doesn't mean anything anymore.

So a Hypothetical; Hameru is chasing Kyuubei down a corridor.

Cornering the demon rat creature, she pulls a gun from her shield.

Before Homura can muster the greatest of head tilts, Kyubey yells “Homura, no matter what you do magical girls and their wishes cannot exist without the creation of witches and their curses!”

However Hameru being the dimension-skipping cynic we all know and love doubts this, arguing that “you can't know the intent of which causality occurs, Incubator. You may think that being a magical girl ultimately means being a witch but you can't know that for sure because hope is not guaranteed to falter to despair.”

Kyubei asserts to Homura that its is impossible for witches and Magical Girls to not exist together through the Cycle of Entropy, forwarding their meaning in the knowledge perceived. Homura then identifies the tensions of such a statement, and their unity.

She understands that Kyubei believes the two to be omnipresent however questions if it's necessarily true, stating that hope doesn't necessarily need despair.

By deconstructing the tension, the structure of Kyubey’s statement falls apart and loses its meaning.

When I refer to Madoka as not being a deconstruction, its as a genre deconstruction. Instead of words, we cut down to a set of trappings and conventions that cement the subject and go about playing those elements as they would in the real world, then commenting on the genre as a whole.

While undoubtedly Madoka uses the ingredients of Mahou Shoujo, it doesn't necessarily comment on the way in which those trappings are when deconstructed. Rather it simply changes the shades of pink and white to purples and blacks.

It points out that the form the genre is known for is problematic and pushes the shape of events to a far darker place. But it doesn't take that point any further than that, focusing rather on its themes of selfishness vs selflessness.

In the case of deconstructing the genre what conversation does that start?

If it was as deconstructive as people claim, Madoka would’ve elaborated more on, lets say its themes of utilitarianism through Kyubei or Feminism regarding the witches as a whole.

Madoka has a female cast, a mascot character, transformation items and weapons, a cosmic big bad and trucks full of cute, fairytale imagery paired with its stark depictions of despair and death. It's not an outlier for its themes but rather the boundaries it's willing to push.

I think this issue is less of a problem with the show and more its fanbase. Madoka isn't deconstructive, its subversive, turning the expectations of common viewers upside down. (Again, note i’m saying subversive and not subversion.)

When ads started popping up on social media in 2011, not many people were expecting anything other than that of the “standard fair”. They were fairly innocuous, toting typical character slates and a new ClaRis song. Nobody seemed to care all that much outside of magical girl trash like myself. Then when fans of the genre saw the cool direction the show was heading as it aired, they shared it with others. Eventually a swath of anime fans Came to sing Madoka’s praises.

But as the internet is, when communities started coming together to dissect the show somebody threw the word deconstruction into the mix and now we’re here.

One thing people bring up in defense of the deconstruction argument is that Madoka features a collection of irrevocable character deaths, not recouped by the power of friendship. And while this is technically true I don't understand what makes this qualify as deconstructive. Many of the deaths in Madoka end up just as friendship fueled, and arguably less meaningful in context of the multiple universe dilemma.

For better or worse you get it; But still may be asking- what's the problem with Madoka being considered a deconstruction in the first place?

This is a rather daunting question because while it seems to be a non-issue, it affects not only the way we perceive deconstructions but that of the shows titled as such.

I want more people to get into Magical Girl-centric anime but those who label Madoka as superior to that of its predecessors stop potential fans from being created.

Believe it or not Mahou Shoujo is a much more flexible genre than it looks, capable of tackling difficult themes like that of abuse, love, identity and growing up.

Saying Madoka is contrary to the genre as a whole rather than being a darker take greatly limits what Magical girl as a concept is able to be. It harmfully obscures the shows that have celebrated and deconstructed the genre while simultaneously denouncing the messages they convey as “frivolous girly redundancy”. And that's the last thing Mahou Shoujo is.

#Madoka #Miragephan #puella magi madoka magica #mahou shoujo #analysis #anime #magical girl #deconstruction #Jacques Derrida

[bearpillowmonster]

Kingdom Hearts 3 Full Review

Here I am 6 years later and I've beaten Kingdom Hearts 3. Was it worth it? What did I think of it? This will be an extensive review. So bare with me because I'm going to cover almost every little detail however I'm going to try and keep it spoiler free in terms of story! (I'll nod to the people who finished it with vague comments as you already know what happens) I spent a lot of time on this review so it will work out to fully explain my thoughts on this game without hesitation, I don't want to hold back from criticism even though it's my favorite franchise and the most long awaited game for me.

I will say this to both people who haven't played the games and casual fans. DON'T COMPLAIN YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THE STORY. The negligence of some of these reviews is appalling because they haven't played the past games. Square Enix has went out of their way to go and rerelease all of the games ebfore the release of this one, put up a summary video, put nods in the intro to the game. As well as put seperate summaries in the menu of the game, so I don't want to hear the whining, if you want to play it so bad, play the other games first, that's all there is to it. Yes it is confusing, but make an effort to understand it.

There are no more pesky text boxes like the other games, this is all cutscenes baby! So it may seem like a lot but think how many text box scenes were in the previous games and translate those into full cutscenes.

Let's talk about the menu. Yes, the menu. It's BRILLIANT. I love the transition from the past games, you look at the first two games, Sora with that fish in his mouth looking to the side, then the second with Sora turning slightly but with a sea salt ice cream, and now we have Sora turned all the way around with a paopu fruit. The way the music is presented is excellent, I couldn't get enough of it. In fact a lot of the music is great, both Utada songs are top notch despite me not originally seeing why she made those songs specifically, they make some sense now. Now the actual battle themes and stuff were instant classics for me in KH2, I would unintentionally hum some of the tunes, in this game I might have to get used to them though and familiarize myself. I'm sure if I heard the theme out in the open, I would recognize it though.

I worked my way to try each of the keyblades a decent amount (about one world each and that don't need unlocked through version exclusives and Ultima weapon yet but I never get ultima weapon anyway) The fun part about that is that each keyblade has a different ability and a different form so no more drives. I especially love using all of them in the Monsters world because it changes the color of Monster Sora.

I'm not going to talk about all of the worlds but just the ones revealed through trailers because I want you to experience them blindly or to their full capacity without the knowledge of what's ahead so I won't mention anything in any particular order either. I'm going to refer to the movie they are from and not the actual world name, to make it easier on you. Let's start with Pooh since that was the shortest. The minigames are just eh, I mean I love Pooh as a character and I like the idea that he's in the games but I've never really found his actual world all that because it's just minigames, I can't really bash it because that's what they did in the past games. Also at the end of Winnie the Pooh, why was that happening? Was something made to throw us off?

Now let's talk Twilight Town. I love Twilight Town, it is my favorite non-Disney world to explore in Kingdom Hearts 2 and when I saw we would return and see the characters we love, I got all excited. This Twilight Town however seems kind of condensed because it's just a section of it. You don't get to explore as much of Twilight Town as I would have liked but they do make references to it through the townspeople such as mentioning Seifer. There's a certain group of characters we saw a lack of but after the secret ending I'm starting to understand story-wise.

Frozen. We all saw it coming and I can say to you that it's not a rhythm based world. YAY. They do sing at times but you don't play those parts. I just think Frozen is ok as a movie so this world wasn't too hyped, I did like seeing Marshmallow though, that part is fun in fact any part you fight an actual Disney character I just adore. As for the actual landscape, it's different than I would have imagined, the heartless are interesting but there's no draw back to make me want to go back to that world. This, technically Pirates, and Tangled are the two world that just follow the movie plot, the others have their own new plot.

Toy Story. I have to say that I like the Toy Story 2 game and I really like the idea of exploring the Toy Story world, even just exploring Andy's house. I knew we weren't going to see the whole house like TS2 but it was still fun to see everything there as I remember it. Galaxy Toys is a new area though, pretty cool to play through because it's not hard to navigate, there are 3 floors and you go through all the stores, interact with objects, and get this really cool and interesting mini boss. There are these mech robot things that I've come to love and each color has a different ability, making it just that much more fun to play around in. I particulary like the purple one because it's the fastest but even when you're in a keyblade form the mech will change colors with you (usually a bluish green in my experience) but that was a cool little tidbit I noticed. The story just surprised me with how involved it became with it's characters especially Woody.

Pirates. This opens so nice, it begins with Sora being excited to be brought back and then we eventually get a mini-boss (there are quite a few compared to the other worlds) where you can ride the heartless, that's really cool. We get some ship gameplay where you can shoot down other ships and basically sail around all the islands, they aren't all required so exploration is pretty vast. A really cool idea is that with the shotlock command you can shoot on over to wherever it can lock onto, that way instead of making your way all the way back to the ship then trying to find a way to climb back up it, you just use the shotlock and boom you're back!

In the Tangled world, it takes the time to show you some of its great design with Rapunzel pointing things out such as how nice the grass is and how when you use Aero on the dandelions, they fly all over the place, then you can splash in the water, it's her first time experiencing it but it's also a nod from the developers showing you the amount of work they put into it and it's well deserved.

Monsters Inc. I mentioned about how the forms change the color of your monster and I really adore that. You can actually go into Roz's place! There are some places that would be interesting to see but wouldn't do much for story, just be to explore so I can kind of see why they aren't in the game, same with Big Hero 6. This is where the railriding really comes into action and I must say is pretty fun. There is also a dive option when you get up to a certain height then it will have you free fall and you can press X to dive bomb, it's all over the place in this game but it's just another good addition.

Olympus. Not the Colessium, we saw that before. This is brand new ground and is quite a joy to explore, I would be disappointed if Greece didn't actually look like that. I beat it the first night I had the game and I've revisited multiple times for other content, this was essentially my first impression of the game as well as everyone elses and it delivers. This as well as Tangled have a town full of people. I love hearing the little conversations they have and even going around and interacting with them. There's a side mission to collect these Golden Herc dolls (I finished after the game) that reminds me of the odd jobs at the beginning of KH2 that I actually have come to love, however those were mandatory, these are optional.

The Gummi Ship system is awesome, I mean I don't see any multiplayer coming to this but it's fun. I like being able to customize my own gummi ships and unlock new parts to put on it. The only complaint I have with it is small and that's when you're creating a gummi ship, it's not always easy to know which way is up considering you can change all different angles, so you may end up building your gummi ship upside down if you don't pay attention when you start. I've saw this problem quite a bit in the community as well as experienced that mistake myself but it's nothing too major, can probably be fixed in a future patch to just have a little note pop up that says "This is the front". Big Hero 6 is the best world in my opinion. I love all the worlds in their own unique way but this has momentum. A lot of the worlds have their own original story but this one seems to use that to the best effect. This one has an atmosphere that is open and easy to navigate, it's all one big area. You can fly with Baymax during a certain part which I would have loved to do that all the time but then what would be the point in using your fly ability you get at the end of the game?

At a certain part at the end we see some of the heartless move slower, like the framerate is down. It does not affect your gameplay and the thing I'm talking about is only visible stuff, but once you reach that part you will understand why it's like that. Voice acting is pretty good, they didn't get all the same voice actors for some of the characters such as Buzz and Woody, Mike and Sully, etc but they got a pretty decent amount of the characters their original voice actors and I respect that. The ones that are standing in, do a really good job though to the point I had to actually listen to try and find faults that differ from the originals. Old man Xehanort also has a new voice actor, I mean nobody can beat Leonard Nimoy but this guy seems to do a different take on the way the character sounds so it might take some getting used to but it's nothing bad just different I guess. I think they should've given you more space in your camera because there's a whopping 90 hidden mickeys and 100 slots, so you better make those 10 extras count if you want to get that secret ending. (However you can delete pictures so I don't know if the hidden mickey still counts if you delete it but I wasn't risking it) If you try to take a picture of a character (mostly any character) they will pose or smile, I love that.

Kairi doesn't get enough. I'll be honest. We don't get enough Kairi, she was great in this game and we see her grow, in fact I'll argue we probably see her more than the other games but they could have given her more spotlight.

The final battle is interesting, I like how it turned out but I will say you take on a lot at once. I liked the change of pace, but at the very end with the final 4, I say you should have taken them one by one. I also expected a different order because (we all knew this was coming so it's not a spoiler) but I thought they were going to make us fight Xemnas and Ansem then Old Man Xehanort because if we beat Young Xehanort first then wouldn't they all disappear? I mean it does work out in a way that makes sense but I just would have liked that way too.

Also aging, we can see visible changes to Sora, Kairi, and Riku from age but what about the rest? Will it just continue like nothing ever went wrong or…I mean they left a few things open for future games but don’t think they ended it on a cliffhanger to where you feel cheated in any way. It’s not like that, it still makes you want to play future games without cheating you of the full experience. I know that’s a concern for some people. Critical mode doesn’t make an appearance but that’s fine, if they end up releasing it in a patch or something I might play it but it’s nothing bad, just some people complain about it and say that they left it out on purpose for DLC but I highly doubt that and even if they do put it in a DLC be rest assured that won’t be the only thing. I don’t know Square Enix to cheat fans, you get what you pay for and DLC is a new avenue for KH if it decides to go that way, if it does I’ll be there for it but I think it’s fine without it. Look at FFXV for example, they put out full episodes based on the side characters with new gameplay, story, and various weapons and skins, I’d say that’s a pretty good deal and if I get far enough in the game I might get it and I’m not one who buys DLC at all unless it comes with the deluxe edition. So stop complaining about that, you don’t know what will come of this game.

I love the recovery command, I never used it in the older games (inexperienced noob) but this is more or less my first experience getting strategic. As well as the kupo coin where you get one last shot after a fatal blow. I can't tell if I actually got good at the game or it's just that easy but because of that Kupo Coin, I only actually died once or twice.

I cried. Once (before all the soras ;)) and of course at the end and even just thinking about the end afterwards. They throw back to one of the most well known gameplay parts in KH2 and in my opinion made it even better. Goofy is the smartest one in this game, like I found myself surprised at how aware he was. I knew the Big Hero 6 keyblade would be my favorite the moment I saw it in the trailer, I was right, I played with it until the very end and upgraded it (The monsters keyblade is a close second along with the one you get from Classic Kingdom). However...the snowball is the most powerful weapon hands down.

Flowmotion is fixed, but the shimmer effect doesn't need to exist. The sparklies that indicate that you just hold the control stick in that direction and they'll parkour it wasn't always as functional as you might like, I found myself just jumping my way up whatever villain had it some of the time, but again it's no big deal, it gives you that freedom to do whatever you want.

The attraction flows are fun but what threw me off is that you get more or less all of them from the start, you don't progressively unlock them. This led me to think that they will get repetitive but no they really weren't, I ended up skipping some of the events from time to time just to challenge myself but I never found myself bored with playing with any of them. I will say that once the command pops up, there can be another one above it and there's a time limit for each of them, I actually didn't know that you can choose between reaction commands (using L2) until after I finished it...so that happened. As well as learning that you can change keyblades on the fly just using the D-Pad.

My favorite attraction is either the teacups or the Buzz Lightyear blasters because the train is awesome but you only get to use it in certain parts of the game. The worst one is probably the carousel in my opinion just because it's more rhythm based and overall doesn't seem to do much damage. Some of the finishers get stuck or caught and I think that's a little bit of a problem, like the Pegasus chariot that you get with the Hero's Origin keyblade; I wish you could actually control that rather than Pegasus doing whatever and you just press X but there's such a variety of them so there's bound to be a few that aren't as good.

This game reminded me why Sora was originally my favorite character. You can look at him as naive but it's part of his character, I actually want to be friends with this dude in real life. All of them really but Sora has that vibe where he'll accept just about anything and find a way to work through it. You can play as a few of the characters and they all feel different to me, I like the subtle differences in gameplay but having the same core, it's very fun which makes me wish there was more of us playing as them.

How does it stack up versus the rest of the games? Well it's hard for me to say because I love them all, KH2 is my favorite game of all time and this is actually giving it a run for it's money. I do like this better than KH1 though (KH1 is my second favorite KH game so it's better than the rest too)

The graphics are impeccable, like I literally can't say they could have made this look any better, even going farther into the game it almost looks better than the rest (given there are more higher quality cutscenes such as the end of the Disney worlds just because of their importance) I was a bit worried about a few of the characters from the trailers such as Xemnas and Young Xehanort. In the earlier trailers they looked just eh but in the actual game they look way way better. Mickey even has fuzz on the top of his head but just by the secret ending alone, I was blown away by how real it looked for a cartoonish styled game.

Speaking of the secret ending I mentioned earlier, it took a hot minute to realize what it meant exactly, until I found a post on tumblr (on reddit too) about it. I won't link it or anything but just know there's an explanation/theory out there if you end up watching it. It makes me give it more credit for what it's worth.

Now the big part...how long was it? I won't tell you how long it took me to beat but I will say it logged more hours than any of the other games. I knew this was coming, because no matter how long this game was, I was going to want more, I'm actually going back to play through some stuff since it lets you keep your stats and puts you back before the final bit, so I will keep playing it and I will more than definitley play it again. I've played the beginning of the first game so many times, just haven't beaten it as much, same with KH2 (though I always end up farther in KH2 than 1) . I want to challenge myself, I want to take on hard mode, see how far it goes since I beat standard already, collect the secret reports, get ultima weapon (first time in a KH game if I can beat this stupid Frozen minigame). I kind of see where they changed some stuff from its original state, perhaps way back from the conception in 2013 but still to see the growth and adaption makes me feel really connected to it.

I will probably post updates to the review whenever the DLC comes out or once I get level 99, ultima keyblade, etc. so take what you will with it. It is currently up there with my favorite games of all time which isn’t so easy to get to.

[girl-in-the-library]

Elementary School Memories

I was thinking a lot last night about things I remembered from my childhood. I think it came from a fanart of Crowley as Nanny Ashtoreth questioning when Warlock’s permanent memories would begin to form. So I began to wonder...what memories do I have of things from when I was a child? So I decided to write some down here...in as close to chronological order as I can.

I’m just going to do memories until I was 10 - the end of 5th grade - because I started writing this and it got super fucking long so I figured middle and high school memories could come another time, if I decide to do that.

Under a cut for length

I went trick or treating with my sister and my dad. She was dressed as a Dalmatian from 101 Dalmatians but she lost her mask at some point during the night. I was dressed as Pocahontas because that was my favorite Disney movie

I was swinging on the monkey swing when an enormous moose ran through the back yard. I ran inside the house, terrified (it was probably not a moose. It was probably just a large, male deer and I was tiny)

We won a giant monkey at my town’s 4th of July carnival, but it was one of those ones that was filled with newspaper/packing peanuts as filling (you know, a typical carnival prize) and so my mom made us keep it on the enclosed porch so when it eventually got moldy we could just throw it out instead of having it drip in the house

Singing “Who knows one?” in the stairwell of preschool (I can only think of up to seven nowadays...)

“gym class” in preschool included a game where we all were in a very large circle and we had to walk around it and then sit on cushions and it seems kinda like musical chairs in hindsight, except we all always got chairs

blowing kisses at the boy I had a crush on in kindergarten until he got uncomfortable and told the teacher (who I also had a crush on) and I got in trouble, but like, little kid trouble

I went to this kid’s house for a birthday party that was pirate themed, and I was one of only two girls there. We made treasure boxes out of little wooden boxes that we decorated with markers and glitter and plastic gems

Climbing to the top of the playground with my kindergarten teacher (he was also my first grade teacher) and the rest of my class during recess as he sang “I am the pirate king!” from Pirates of Penzance and we would all reply with “Hurrah for the Pirate King!” 

Going to see said teacher act in a local performance of The Secret Garden. He was an actor, I remember him being very good, but I don’t know if he acts anymore (I think he’s a third grade teacher now)

His name was Mr. Congdon (though I don’t remember if that’s how it was spelled)

The day I moved into a new house I was so upset I went to first grade crying and wanted to talk to my teacher about it, but we had a substitute that day (my dad remembers this exactly the opposite - that I was all smiles and excited, and my teacher wasn’t absent, and I was babbling on and on about my new room, etc)

The Kelly-Lexi war at recess. Kelly and Lexi were enemies, and everyone on the playground was either on Kelly’s side or Lexi’s side. I was on Lexi’s side, my future best friend Krislyn was on Kelly’s side. We made battle strategies and drew them in the dirt and pretended to fight each other.

“planting” an apple seed in a rock and trying to water it with ice chips

My first two pokemon cards were a Ponyta and a fire energy.

The pack of pokemon cards from Toys R Us that I got a shiny Ninetails in and being so fucking excited

Trading a Mewtwo card for a Gyarados card

Trading a Dugtrio card for an Articuno card

Pokemon cards getting banned from school

getting glasses in second grade

my second grade teacher being absent for a while, and then dying (the first time I ever saw a therapist was after she died). Her name was Ms. Klein

Digimon cards. I don’t think I ever did anything but collect them, and I only had a small amount, but I loved my Digimon cards.

Crazy Bones. Little plastic collectible nothings that you would play with by flicking them at each other. (These things)

playing and trading Crazy Bones with the neighbor kid across the street, Drew, in my backyard

The game shop where I spent my allowance on crazy bones, pokemon and digimon cards going out of business

Being afraid to sleep in my own room, so I slept on my sister’s floor for months. My parents actually made a chart, that if I slept in my own room for a week, I would get a pack of pokemon/digimon cards or crazy bones.

the 50 states quiz - where we got one M&M for each state we could name, and if we got all 50 we got an extra 50 M&Ms (or skittles, if you didn’t like chocolate). I hadn’t memorized the 50 states song yet, so I only got 46 states

everyone being so proud they could spell Massachusetts, but when our teacher asked if anyone could spell Connecticut (the state I lived in) none of us could

learning to spell Connecticut

My first Yu Gi Oh card was one whose name I can’t remember, but it was a regular card, not too good stats, with a blue atlantean sea monster on it? I kept it in a card case and carried it around at school

Buying three Kaiba starter decks so I could have three Blue Eyes White Dragons and not understanding that I needed polymerization and a Blue Eyes Ultimate fusion card to actually make Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon in the game

Yu Gi Oh cards being banned from school

Mad Science Camp in the summer. I went for two weeks, for several summers, but this summer in particular I remember one week we built mini robot kits and at the other I don’t remember what we did but the boys were obsessed with yu gi oh and I wanted to play with them but they wouldn’t let me play because I was a girl (and the other girls, except for my sister, didn’t understand why I wanted to play yu gi oh)

Those same boys, when I climbed onto the jungle gym wanting to play yu gi oh with them, saying “let’s scream like a girl until she goes away” and then they screamed at me until I went away

math minutes - doing as many math problems as we could in a minute. If we got 100%, we got a candy or a bonus point on our next test.

my third grade teacher reading to us. Her name was Mrs. Klein, I think she was cousins with the Ms. Klein who was my second grade teacher who died. she read the BFG and it absolutely terrified me - not the BFG himself, but the other giants who would crunch on children’s bones. I couldn’t sleep at night and had to talk to my teacher and she said that if I was scared or uncomfortable just to ask to go to the bathroom and she would let me

Bug check. I made my dad check my bedroom for bugs every night before I went to bed because I was scared of them. I’m still freaked out by a lot of bugs, and definitely arachnophobic.

officially meeting my best friend Krislyn and playing Mario Party 2 all the freaking time (she was the one who inspired me to ask for an N64 for my birthday)

the new kid Mark from California who became one of my best friends

the crush I had on Mark from California that I confessed to him at recess one day and then as soon as I said it immediately ran and hid behind a bench on the other side of the playground. I made Krislyn go and check what his reaction was and he was standing confused by the fence

Playing dodgeball in gym class and jumping over 4 balls at once (this might not be real, but it is definitely a memory I have)

deciding to try and bring Pokemon to life with my friends Krislyn, Mark, and Tyler by extracting the DNA of a Poliwag from the Poliwag pokemon cards and putting it in a fishtank with a bunch of tadpoles.

Accidentally killing a bunch of tadpoles

making an upset face when in gym class my teacher told us we were only running one lap today (hah! wouldn’t I love that to happen at LITERALLY ANY OTHER POINT IN MY LIFE) and the teacher pulling me aside and telling me that was very rude

sitting around on benches at recess making up our own Pokemon and telling each other stories about the Mario universe (basically writing fanfiction, but we didn’t know what that was yet)

my favorite pokemon that I ever made was called Tickel, it was a blue bear with spikes on its ears and it wore a shell kinda like Togepi

Having multiple teachers for the first time in 4th grade - we had one teacher for math (I don’t remember his name), one for science (Mrs. Iacurci) , and then one for history (Ms. Greenberg) and english (Ms. Koritko). Ms. Koritko was my homeroom/main teacher.

Getting a C for the first time on any test ever in science class, but on my favorite subject - Outer space.

my 4th grade teacher playing Enya for us while we were doing our writing assignments

September 11, 2001. It was a Tuesday. A lot of people were getting called out early and none of us knew what was going on. Ms. Koritko was trying to keep the class calm but we were all really rowdy because things were so strange. She told us we were going to have indoor recess as punishment for being rowdy - but I think they just wanted to keep us inside. When we went home, our parents were waiting for me and my sister by the bus stop, which they had never done before. I told them I didn’t want to go to Hebrew School that day. They told me I didn’t have to. The kitchen construction workers had just started that day tearing down the kitchen and then the news hit. My parents told me and my sister. We were worried about my Aunt, who worked in New York City, but she was fine. We were worried someone would attack Sikorsky Helicopters - a military helicopter manufacturing plant that was only 20 minutes from where I lived. Things were very scary and confusing for a fourth grader

writing in my school journal about it. we were all asked to process our feelings, and told there were therapists available. I remember writing that maybe the people who did it just wanted America’s attention.

And things moved on

Adopting my kitties Pepper and Phoebe!

My grandfather died at the end of 2001

My grandmother died at the beginning of 2002

I started writing a lot of poetry in 4th grade about death. I wrote it in a notebook with red pen. Sometimes green pen.

Here’s one of the overdramatic poems I wrote:

“Be still, be soft, my beating heart, because the battle’s won / come home to me, my love, before the day is done. / Come home to me, my love, as I darespeak these words. / The chase is on, my love, as the horses fill the land / And you soon will be battling again / The enemy’s near and you will have to lend a helping hand / but, my love, please come back to me, safe as a beach of warm sand / The leaves have fallen one too many times and you have not come back / so I must go and fight with you / but I find you are gone so the time has come for me to go too / because waiting to die for all these years shall put me in despair / but to be up there with you is no punishment nor crime / so die, my self, die, die, die!

And another one:

As darkness descends, I mournfully cry. / Never again will my tears dry / Sadness engulfs me / I’m lost in the dark / as blackness threatens to crush my heart / peace will forever elude me until the day I die / as I close the casket and whisper goodbye

A book report on the book Julie of the Wolves - which was probably my favorite book report I wrote ever

One time I was trying to do group work but no one in my group was even paying attention and Ms. Koritko noticed I was trying so hard to get everyone to work but was getting frustrated, so she came over and said “Come on guys, Nikki is rolling her eyes here!” and then I rolled my eyes really overdramatically and she laughed

We all had to write a little “book” called Collections containing one piece of creative writing, and one piece of expository writing. My expository writing was an essay on the topic of love. My creative piece was called “Princess Blue and the Mystery of the Scary Noises.” It was about a princess with blue hair named Princess Blue, who went on a camping trip with her parents who were the king and queen, her brother Prince Red (who had red hair) and her two best friends whose names I don’t remember. One night they heard scary noises. They thought it was a monster! But it was just a squirrel. They laughed really hard at their mistake!

Princess Blue came into being as a character because one day I came out of the shower and had a blue towel, which I let hang over my head. I saw myself in the mirror and thought, “Man, wouldn’t it be AWESOME to have blue hair?”

I had a teacher named John Johnson. 

Mr. Johnson and Ms. Nelson were every 5th grader’s OTP. We used to “spy” on them at recess and we all thought they were getting married because they “flirted” (they were probably just talking with each other). We were all devastated when Ms. Nelson moved away to get married to her boyfriend and teach in another district

Ms. Greenberg died from complications with her pregnancy when she had a baby at the beginning of my 5th grade year. This is the second teacher who I had who died while I was in elementary school

Mr. Spillane and his M&M machines

Mr. Spillane collected M&M dispensers. He had all sorts of cool ones and he would give out M&Ms as treats and prizes. We got to pull the handles on the little funny dispensers and M&Ms would fall out, it was great

Sentence of the Day was one of our daily chances to get M&Ms - we had a “Thesaurasus” (a notebook with a picture of a dinosaur on it) and he would give us a word with three synonyms. We had to write a sentence for each synonym and then share our favorite sentence with the class. Mr. Spillane would pick one sentence from each synonym and that kid would get M&Ms

The Mr. Spillane Football League. We were learning percentages in math class. Mr. Spillane developed a “football league” where we divided into teams of 2 and each of us represented a team in the NFL. We would each represent our own player plus one of the players from the actual team, so each football team had four players. Each player had numbers that they could move on, for example, the actual player that I had was Tiki Barber from the Giants - and he could move on a roll of 2 or 5, or something like that. So we had to pay tokens to bet on which player would move and if we matched, we got to move a certain number of yards. We played a full “season” of football and then we finally got to the “Super Bowl.” My team, the giants, got to the championship game before the super bowl, but lost there.

The Mario Movie - Krislyn and I were handwriting a script for a Mario Movie called “Toadstool Kingdom Sensation”. We handwrote it in several notebooks using gel pens. We ran out of gel pens so frequently Mr. Spillane joked he ought to buy stock in the gel pen company

We had Mr. Spillane read it as we were writing it. I’m sure it was absolute shit, but he reacted like it was the funniest thing he had ever read, even too crazy for him to understand

Daisy was the main character because she was Krislyn’s favorite, and Krislyn had a stronger will than I did. Peach was also featured prominently because she was my favorite character. Peach and Mario were dating, but Daisy was dating a talking, more human version of Yoshi, because we made Luigi SUPER STUPID. We called the species “yoshis” LDTs, which stood for Lizard-Turtle-Dinosaur. There were lots of booger jokes because Luigi liked to pick his nose.

We wrote a song that Luigi sang: “The best part of pasta is eating spaghetti / then I like to blow it out of my nose / but my feelings are totally different / when I’m eating ice cream!”

The only line I remember from the actual script is “There’s a fat weirdo in the haystack and Peach is hitting him with a hammer” because when Mr. Spillane was reading it, he exclaimed aloud, “There’s a FAT WEIRDO in the HAYSTACK?!?!?!” and Krislyn and I thought it was the funniest fucking thing ever

the context was Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi all lived together. Mario had eaten too much spaghetti and couldn’t fit through the door one night, so Yoshi told him to sleep in the haystack in the barn that night. The next morning when Peach and Daisy came to visit, they didn’t recognize Mario and they thought he was an enemy, so Peach started attacking him with a hammer while Daisy ran to get their friends

There were also aliens that were terrified of farmland involved at some point

Making a birthday card for my friend Krislyn and ending it with “I love you” and my mom said I couldn’t phrase it like that but I could sign it “Love, Nikki” so I did (and hindsight reveals a crush on Krislyn in elementary school, but that was not something I realized until looking back while in college. I think I also had a crush on Lexi, actually, now that I think about it).

The Voyage of the Mimi - did anyone else ever see this?

It was a movie featuring Ben Affleck as a child, playing a character named CT. He, and several others, including Captain Granville, some random dude, and a deaf girl whose name I think was Sally or Sarah or something like that, were going on a trip on a boat called the Mimi. I think at one point Captain Granville fell off the boat and got hypothermia and they had to save him.

This was part of a unit on ocean life and conservation, in particular whales. We all had to do a project, either a video project or a “newspaper”. Krislyn and I were partners and we chose to do a video project, which we styled like a News Report on the evening news. Well, as much as 5th graders could anyway. Krislyn’s dad filmed it, but we had no editing software or ability to edit at all, so it was all done in one take and had a lot of mistakes. We had a news story about Orca whales, a news story about ocean pollution, and interview with Captain Granville (Krislyn’s dad wearing a paper beard) and commercials. One of the commercials was for soap. It involved a toilet flushing and one of Krislyn’s little sisters “screaming” simultaneously but the timing was off and the toilet flushed, then her sister screamed and it was really funny. There was a commercial for the aquarium gift shop, where my younger sister and both of Krislyn’s explained how they spent over $1000 at the gift shop! And then at the end we went upstairs and Krislyn’s mom said, “look what I bought for dinner” and it was a package of calimari and we all said “ewwwwwwww!” and then the video ended. (Calimari is delicious, as I know now)

We had to do a book report on a mystery. I wanted to do mine on a Boxcar Children book, but my reading level was much higher than the other kids in my class, so Mr. Spillane asked me to pick a book that would be more challenging for me. I don’t remember what I picked.

We had to do a report on one of the states. I chose Texas. I don’t remember what I learned about Texas, but I made the cover of my report on pink construction paper and tried to draw the Alamo in crayon.

Another report was during Black History Month. I wrote about George Washington Carver.

Another was on Juan Ponce de Leon and the fountain of youth

The Chronicles of Narnia were my favorite books, but I read them in a really weird order. I don’t remember that order, just that I never ended up reading The Magician’s Nephew and I think I read The Silver Chair before Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

I tried to read The Fellowship of the Ring when I was in 4th grade, but it was very wordy and confusing for a 8-9 year old.

We had to write a little bio for our “commencement” ceremony in 5th grade and I wrote something like, “I like reading and writing, and I’m a hockey girl!” even though I never played hockey - but hockey was my favorite sport. My favorite team was the Detroit Red Wings

At one point in elementary school, Tyler invited me over to his house to hang out but we ended up sitting in his basement and he wouldn’t let me leave until I had memorized Hillary Duff’s part in the song “What Dreams are Made of”

I also helped Tyler build a chair from scratch once

my penpal from another state, Kate, moved to my town after 3rd grade and was in my class in 4th grade

I once got in trouble during lunch because I didn’t notice the principal had asked everyone to be quiet so that she could say something and I was shouting across the table about Pokemon Blue

I wanted to learn the lyrics to “Time” by Pink Floyd because my dad played it all the time on the guitar and it was my favorite song, so my dad wrote them down for me so I could memorize them. My mom found it and thought I had written it, and thought I seriously needed counseling. She did not recognize the lyrics, nor did she think about the complexity of the song and how it would be ridiculously difficult for an 8 year old to write

I once shared with Mr. Spillane that I ran into a (male) classmate while shopping for bras at Kohl’s. I think he was embarrassed but I thought it was funny.

Seeing “Recess: School’s Out” in the theaters and my parents deciding they were never going to see another animated movie in the theaters again

...and that’s all I can think of for now. I’m sure I have more memories, but this is a lot, and it was fun to take a trip back and think about elementary school.

#oh the inanity! #memories #elementary school #trip down memory lane #this is my life

[caveartfair]

The Strange and Stunning Results of Artist-Directed Music Videos

Music videos, of course, have always involved artistry, from Michael Jackson’s epic mini-movie for “Thriller” in 1983 to Björk’s 2004 video for “Triumph of a Heart,” which famously features a love affair with a human-sized cat.

But something undeniably odd and inspiring can happen when visual artists who don’t normally work within the medium try their hands at it. Here, we look at 15 clips that showcase the beauty, inventiveness, and occasional disaster that can result when artists step outside of their comfort zones and collaborate with musicians.  

Jon Rafman for Oneohtrix Point Never’s “Sticky Drama” (2015)

This clip for Oneohtrix Point Never opens slow and strange—imagine the gravitas of the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan transposed onto a lo-fi battle between cosplaying adolescents—and it only gets wilder from there. Jon Rafman is an artist known for his mastery of digital animation effects, creating grotesque universes that bend the rules of logic and physics (and traverse the uncanny valley). For one series, he creates creepy CGI renditions of his own dreams—consider him a 21st-century Surrealist with superior software.

“Sticky Drama,” from the 2015 Oneohtrix Point Never album Garden of Delete, is a viciously attention-deficit mix of robotic pop and sheer electronic noise. To accompany it, Rafman chose to go mostly live-action. A vast army of child actors stage their own brutal war, replete with ultra-violent battle scenes and a surplus of green slime (a mood board for this video would likely include both Game of Thrones and Nickelodeon’s Double Dare). A feature film’s worth of epic drama is crammed into less than six frenetic minutes.

David LaChapelle for Blink-182’s “Feeling This” (2003)

How best to conjure the snotty, rebellious energy that made Blink-182 one of the enduring names of pop-punk? David LaChapelle chose to film in a defunct L.A. jail, but don’t expect a treatise on the importance of prison reform here. Instead, the photographer (who has also directed clips for Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, and many others) presents a sort of horny penitentiary stocked with nubile young things who are sick and tired of institutional conformity. As in Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall,” these oppressed prisoners don’t need no education—but in this case, they will fight for their right to hump each other during visiting hours.

We see a classroom full of fed-up boys and girls overtaking their fascistic teacher, climbing on their desks in what reads like a punk-rock riff on that climactic scene in Dead Poets Society. That turns into a full-blown riot; a jailbreak; what might be an outtake from a Victoria’s Secret commercial; and a rowdy concert on the roof, where Blink-182 gets anthemic within the safety of a barbed-wire enclosure.

Marco Brambilla for Kanye West’s “Power” (2010)

Clocking in at under two minutes, this slim, supremely dramatic video feels more like the trailer for an action movie starring Kanye West. We see the rapper draped in chains, standing still as a painterly scene comes to life (with half-naked women featured prominently). The general mood—epic surrealism with a dash of kitsch—is in keeping with Marco Brambilla’s other video work. Anyone who has ever stayed at The Standard in New York, or visited its bars, has likely seen his Civilisation (Megaplex) (2008), a Boschian dream that screens in the hotel’s elevators.

But if the video for “Power” manages to jam a lot of bombast into a short space, West’s 2010 short film for “Runaway” (with art direction from artist Vanessa Beecroft) would prove as expansive as his ego. Stretching to nearly 35 minutes, it includes a massive explosion, a fireworks display, a marching band, and an extended ballet performance, among other things.

Alex Da Corte for St. Vincent’s “New York” (2017)

This lush video is a decadent indulgence in color and pattern, from baby-blue blinds to leopard-print tights, a cherry-red shoe telephone, and acres of bodega flowers. St. Vincent’s Annie Clark deadpans through an ode to lost romance in New York City, with cameos from some famous city sculptures—Tony Rosenthal’s Alamo cube in Astor Place; Forrest Myers’s The Wall on West Houston at Broadway—as well as studio installations that recall Alex Da Corte’s own irreverent, Instagram-friendly practice. Despite various absurdities—a random swan; a microphone stand surmounted by what appears to be burning kale—the overall effect is both seductive and eerily moving.    

Ryan McGinley for Sigur Rós’s “Varúð” (2012)

Atmospheric Icelandic band Sigur Rós—famous for singing in a made-up language—tapped 12 creatives to direct short films to accompany their 2012 album Valtari. Ryan McGinley has earned well-deserved acclaim for a photographic practice that celebrates the nostalgic glow of youth; here, he crafts what he called his “poem to New York City.”

The camera tracks a young woman—wearing nothing more than a gold wig, an oversized T-shirt, and underwear—as she skips barefoot through the metropolis. (Editor’s note: Always wear shoes when skipping in Lower Manhattan.) The footage is shot from a great distance, as if captured by an eye-in-the-sky satellite. At certain points, the woman keeps dreamily moving, even though her surroundings—pedestrians on the High Line, yellow cabs—have frozen in place. The video is something of a woozier, romantic counterpart to James Nares’s short film Street (2011), which likewise skewed the way we see New York’s everyday foot traffic.  

Damien Hirst for Blur’s “Country House” (1995)

Damien Hirst won the Turner Prize in 1995, another step on the ladder to international fame for the British artist. But that same year, he also directed this doozy of a music video for the pop quartet Blur, which truly needs to be seen to be believed. It opens with four blokes in a shabby apartment playing a board game called Escape from the Rat Race; the game soon explodes into a surreal reality, one that is decorated with giant skulls and populated by people riding pigs and taking cheeky bubble baths.

The cheeseball factor is off the charts here—Hirst would have made a stellar mid-’90s maestro of beer commercials. Rather than waxing poetic, the artist also shows himself to be a shockingly literal thinker, directly illustrating many of the lyrics: When Damon Albarn sings “He’s reading Balzac and knocking back Prozac,” we get a demonstration of…exactly that. The video’s protagonist is a rich everyman who seems plucked from one of René Magritte’s bowler-hat paintings, and there’s enough cleavage and sophomoric sexual hijinks to satisfy even the most avid fan of the Naked Gun franchise.    

Pipilotti Rist’s “I’m a Victim of This Song” (1995)

Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist is known for her immersive video environments celebrating color and nature, offsetting any earnest New Age vibes with a healthy dose of irreverence. (Her work indirectly entered the popular imagination after the motifs in a 1997 piece were liberally borrowed by Beyonce in 2016.) The original video for this Chris Isaak song “Wicked Game” was directed by David Lynch in 1990; Rist completely altered the effect with her version, which is almost painfully vulnerable, with helium-high missed notes that devolve into a sort of desperate shrieking.

Meanwhile, the grainy video itself seems almost entirely arbitrary, with scenes of rolling clouds, vintage photographs, and random strangers sitting in a restaurant. Rist’s brittle rendition of “Wicked Game” poses a thorny question: Is the song itself the thing plucking brutally at our heartstrings? And would any random collage of footage have the same effects, given the proper soundtrack?

Robert Longo for Megadeth’s “Peace Sells” (1986)

Robert Longo, a member of the “Pictures Generation” who is best known for his hyperrealistic graphite drawings, teamed up with Megadeth for this clip in 1986, and what a hot metal mess it is. Full of flickering, strobe-like cuts and found footage of war and riots, it hiccups between the goofy and the graphic. Fist-pumping fans are interspersed with images of bombed buildings; a man falling down the stairs; a burning Constitution; statues of the Buddha; and several extreme close-ups of singer Dave Mustaine’s oral cavity. (Things slow down around the two-minute mark, when Longo himself seems to grow bored of yet another interminable, noodling guitar solo.)

Fast forward three decades, and everyone involved with this has aged quite differently. Longo is still a sought-after artist dedicated to capturing our fraught political moment; Megadeth’s Mustaine has been a guest on Infowars and has fondly trafficked in any number of conspiracy theories.

Tony Oursler for David Bowie’s “Where Are We Now?” (2013)

American artist Tony Oursler brings his video-sculpture techniques to bear on this bittersweet anthem from his friend, the late David Bowie. “There’s a theme of looking back and moving forward to ‘Where Are We Now?’, of abandoning things and carrying things forward,” Oursler said at the time. Watching this clip now, in the wake of Bowie’s 2016 death, is almost pleasantly crushing; if your eyes aren’t watering at the 3:30 mark, there might be something wrong with you.

The video is also a marvel in terms of how it achieved heightened emotional effects with limited means. We see a static tableaux in the artist’s studio: a few props (an empty wine bottle; a giant sculptural ear) along with a large screen, upon which grainy footage from Berlin and elsewhere is projected. The focal point is a lumpy doll with two projected faces of Bowie and the painter Jacqueline Humphries, Oursler’s wife. Bowie sings while Humphries stares placidly ahead—at one point, she licks her lips, poised as if to sing, but that moment never comes. “As long as there’s sun,” Bowie intones, his words floating before him. “As long as there’s me. As long as there’s you.”

Harmony Korine for Sonic Youth’s “Sunday” (1998)

Harmony Korine got his start in 1995 as the screenwriter for Larry Clark’s brutal teen drama Kids, and has since gone on to produce an unpredictable oeuvre, from Julien Donkey-Boy (1999) to Spring Breakers (2012). He’s also a visual artist, showing on occasion with blue-chip powerhouse Gagosian—and despite any urge to accuse him of dilettantism, Korine’s painting practice is both sincere and impressive.  

This video for a track off Sonic Youth’s 1998 album A Thousand Leaves puts the viewer in an aggressively uncomfortable place. As it opens, we see a young Macaulay Culkin staring drowsily into a mirror, redolent of an Elizabeth Peyton painting. Wearing Hugh Hefner-worthy pajamas, he begins making out, in slo-mo, with a young woman.

Korine cuts to equally slow, dreamy footage of a young ballerina practicing her moves in a dingy apartment, and then cuts to a scene of the Home Alone child star headbanging over dueling banjos with Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore. Culkin pulls off the rockstar vibe better here than he would in the later phase of his career, when he earned internet disbelief for The Pizza Underground, a cover band that repurposed Velvet Underground songs with lyrics about…pizza.

Ebony Hoorn for Lost Under Heaven’s “Bunny’s Blues” (2018)

This sinister, P.J. Harvey-inflected track comes with a seductive, lurid video directed by the band’s frontwoman, Ebony Hoorn—a recent art-school graduate from Amsterdam. Incorporating both a striptease, a magic ritual, and a murder, the clip nods to director David Lynch, the 1976 film Carrie, and the saturated color palette of Italian horror icon Dario Argento (an admitted influence of the artist-musician).

The germ of “Bunny’s Blues” came from a performance project Hoorn launched in the Netherlands in 2015. “I created this character Bunny Blue while writing my thesis,” she told Artsy. “I started dressing up and going to empty bars and cafés in Amsterdam, exploring the tremendous amount of freedom experienced without the mundane expectations regarding your identity.” That led her to explore virtual reality and online identities as presenting other sides of the self. “Bunny, for me, is like a research tool,” she continued. “It allows me to look with fresh, new eyes. It sets me apart from myself.”

Make sure to keep watching until the bitter end, where a blood-drenched Bunny flaunts the head of a man she’s just decapitated with a scythe—a visual rhyme with any number of paintings of Judith and Holofernes.

Jimmy Joe Roche for Dan Deacon’s “The Crystal Cat” (2007)

Jimmy Joe Roche and Dan Deacon both cut their teeth as part of the Baltimore-based art collective Wham City. They’ve collaborated on longer, more conceptual projects—like Ultimate Reality, a 2007 film that appropriates footage from Arnold Schwarzenegger films—but this bite-sized video is an easier place to start.

Roche’s aesthetic for this clip mirrors motifs that reappear in his own drawings, paintings, and sculptures, with endless Rorschach-like patterns in psychedelic colors. Deacon, clad in an unglamorous grey sweatshirt, presides over a cast of characters seemingly plucked from amateur public-access television. The parade of flickering neon mandalas builds to an almost unbearable climax that might permanently alter your brain chemistry.

Allison Schulnik for Grizzly Bear’s “Ready, Able” (2009)

Allison Schulnik, a Los Angeles-based artist, goes overboard when she paints, applying impossibly thick layers of oil to create her depictions of cats, clowns, flowers, and landscapes. That handmade tactility carries over into her claymation work for the indie band Grizzly Bear.

In this video, creatures with gaping eyes and mouths are constantly evolving, melting, turning inside out, or being sucked into ominous spacecrafts. The aesthetic is purposefully rough and lovingly handmade. “You go into this zone, there’s nothing like it,” Schulnik toldL.A. Weekly, discussing her very labor-intensive process. “You’re in a little black room all by yourself…alone in the dark for hours and hours in this little mini-world that you created and have complete control over. It’s complete escapism. I love it. And when you see the result, it’s magic.”

Wolfgang Tillmans for Powell’s “Freezer” (2017)

Wolfgang Tillmans loves to buck convention—he’s notorious for installing his gorgeous and poetic images of male anatomy, fruit, landscapes, and countless other subjects in inventive, unprecious ways. It makes sense that Powell tapped the photographer to direct one of his videos: “Oscar Powell’s music is often deemed difficult,” Pitchfork once surmised, and Tillmans accompanied this track with an equally difficult, occasionally maddening video.

Scenes of exceedingly mundane things—a pot threatening to boil over; leaves gently blowing in a breeze—are intercut with a slideshow of still photographs of military members and riot cops. The quiet, restrained pace of the clip is at odds with the electronic song’s insistent, thumping beat, and the video itself almost seems like a parody of a stereotypical art film in which nothing of substance occurs. Still, one can’t help but appreciate the brazen disregard for the clichés and conventions of the form. Don’t expect to see it on MTV anytime soon.

Kara Walker and Ari Marcopoulos for Santigold’s “Banshee” (2016)

Ari Marcopoulos, a photographer known for his casually evocative portraits, teamed up with Kara Walker for this hard-to-classify video. While Walker is synonymous with cut-paper silhouette works that spotlight the horrors of America’s racist past, here, she contributed shadow puppets that gyrate and cavort in a comparatively lighthearted way. This freewheeling dance party is preceded by an incongruous black-and-white segment, in which we see Santigold sitting on a city sidewalk holding a sign that reads “Will Work For Blood.”

It might not add up into one cohesive whole, but the energy and enthusiasm that went into the shoot is palpable. “We decided to just all get together in the studio with the puppets, a bunch of lights, and just have a good time and made decisions as we went,” Marcopoulos told the New York Times. “It was a total team effort. My son Ethan was the cameraman and Kara’s daughter [was] the stills photographer.”

from Artsy News

#Artsy News

[euro3plast-fr]

Best Christmas Adverts of 2017

25 of the best and the worst Christmas adverts from 2017, with reviews from the Smart Insights team

The battle for the most popular Christmas advert is underway. It has been reported that UK companies will spend an estimated £5.6bn on marketing in the run-up to Christmas. While prime television spots alone are expected to attract a spend of £1.3bn. From Tescos to John Lewis we cover the best and the worst of Christmas adverts for 2017.

Marks & Spencer

Marks and Spencer have used a well-known character, Paddington bear as part of their Christmas advert this year. They have launched a fully integrated campaign using the hashtag, #LoveTheBear, accompanied by its own paw emoji. The campaigns aim according to M&S’s Marketing Director, Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne was:

'We have to break through that mood of the nation, which is why the campaign plays into something much warmer and more heartfelt. As we see every year, people do want a break, a little bit, from reality and this is what the campaign is supposed to provide them with,”

Alongside the advert and social media promotion, they have created marmalade-themed recipes and are hosting private screenings of the new Paddington film both for members of its Sparks loyalty scheme. In-store, you will find Paddington Bear merchandise, childrenswear, Paddington Bear themed foods and a book dedicated to the story.

Latest update: We can now reveal our tale of true Christmas spirit with our favourite @paddingtonbear #lovethebear > https://t.co/CbdLGcbYIn pic.twitter.com/fNKu7Sr5f0

— M&S (@marksandspencer) November 7, 2017

Campaign Live reported that 'M&S's campaign achieved 159,957 engagements within the first 12 hours of release on 7 November. Of those interactions, 93% were positive in sentiment'. Whereas John Lewis only received 74,039 engagements within 12 hours.

Vodafone

Martin Freeman returns in Vodafone's Christmas ads, with a festive love story. Martin meets a young lady who’s using her Vodafone Video pass to stream It’s a Wonderful Life. The love story is told across six pieces of content – two for TV and four for social. Their main aim is to highlight two new launches their pay as you go product PayG 1 and Vodafone Passes.

Tesco

Every family has a different turkey tale, Tesco features a range of families spending Christmas day together as they focus their attention t0 the turkey. They finish the Ad with the tag like 'However you do Christmas, we’ve got a turkey for you'. I think this is a great advert from Tesco, it's heartwarming, and authentic.

Tesco did receive some backlash for the advert because they featured a Muslim family in the advert. Tesco replied by issuing a statement:

“Everyone is welcome at Tesco this Christmas and we’re proud to celebrate the many ways our customers come together for the festive season.”

John Lewis - Moz the Monster

The much anticipated John Lewis advert was launched last week, and there have been mixed reviews. Similar to previous years John Lewis has returned to its focus on creating an ad that will pull at your heartstrings. The advert focused on a little boy befriending a monster named Moz living under his bed. In True John Lewis style Moz the Monster is accompanied by Elbow, who perform The Beatles’ lullaby Golden Slumbers.

They launched the advert on John Lewis’s website, social media channel, and in-store. as part of their campaign, they have teamed up with Facebook to use their augmented reality platform, offering consumers the chance to ‘Mozify’ their faces. You can also buy Moz merchandise such as cuddly toys, books, mugs, and pajamas.

Marketing Week reported that the advert received '2,906 mentions of the John Lewis Christmas ad on social media between 7 and 8am, after the ad was released at 7.40am. During this first hour, mentions peaked at 246 per minute. Overall consumer sentiment was 86% positive, while 14% of mentions were negative.'

For me, this advert didn't reach the expectations of previous years. it didn't leave me feeling warm, fuzzy and excited for the festive season, it actually left me confused.

Sainsburys - #EverybitofChristmas

The supermarket says it made a conscious decision to move away from one-off Christmas ads in favor of a more consistent brand approach. They made an advert based on their 'Living well' campaign for consistency. The campaign is centered around a song about Christmas, featuring members of the public and a couple of 'celebrities'. For me, Sainsbury's was the biggest disappointment, compared to previous years such as Mog the cat or 1914 Christmas day ads, Sainsburys really missed a trick. For those who can keep up with the jumpy, feative song you can sing along in their karaoke version.

Peacocks - #XMASFACTOR

That's right peacocks have joined the battle of the Christmas adverts, with an XFactor theme. Featuring ex-contestants such as Jedward, Honey G and Wagner, they sing a bespoke rap 'Deck the halls with rhymes from Honey'. Although I felt a little sorry for the acts featured in the ad, it stands out from teh crowd and is perfect for their target audience.

Mcdonals - #reindeerready

Mcdonals based their story on a young girl who saves a McDonald's carrot for Santa's reindeer. We follow her as she takes the carrot home ready for the reindeers until she gets home and her older brother says You know there's more than one, right?'.

Although a slightly confusing message going to McDonalds for 'carrots', they have supported the advert with a Snapchat partnership that introduces a hub on the social platform with special features. There's a carrot-collecting game, an augmented reality lens that shows dancing reindeer and new geofilters.

The link between a carrot and McDonalds seemed odd to me as that's not what they are really about. But it tells a sweet story which got the 'Aww' vote from the Smart Insights team.

Argos - #Readyfortakeoff

Argos take us to their magical Argos distribution centre, where the elves are busy helping Santa deliver toys. However, a robotic puppy is left behind, so one of the elves chases the delivery spaceship to make sure the toy gets to the child in time. The ad ends with the message: “Argos, ready for take-off. Presents delivered within four hours'. The ad helps promote that Argos will be making deliveries within 4 hours up until 6pm on Christmas Eve.

According to Gary Kibble, Marketing Director at Argos:

'There’s an opportunity as 40% of the respective customer base currently shops at both brands so encouraging the other 60% to shop across the two is a big opportunity.'

Aldi - Kevin the carrot is back

Our Email Marketing Manager, Kim Greenop-Gadsby had to say about Aldis Christmas advert:

'Kevin the carrot is back and this time he’s looking for Santa and love. This year we find Kevin outside in the snow, acting as a substitute nose for a snowman. Harry Potter actor, Jim Broadbent commences to narrate, as Kevin is awoken by a passing train. Believing to have seen Santa, Kevin catches the train. Once inside he enters the dining car and his gaze falls upon the beautiful Katie, as she lounges upon some mince pies while reading “9½ Leeks”. Our hero is instantly infatuated and undertakes the perilous journey to reach his carrot love. He travels passed a needle-like fork and the remains of a bisected gingerbread man. Horrified, Kevin starts a chain-like reaction that leads to peas being throw into the air and heading directly towards his love. With no thought of his own safety he throws himself in front of the speeding pea. And all goes dark. He awakens to being held gently by Katie and continues to say, “I think I pea-ed myself," thus winning over his lady as she bends down to kiss her romantic hero.

This ad pulls at the heartstrings, as much as animated carrots can. Like most retailers who have a mascot in their advert, Aldi is no different and is selling a plush version of Kevin and Katie. Last year, customers scooped up multiple Kevin's and proceeded to sell them on various auction sites at extortionate prices. This year Aldi have restricted purchases to 2 Kevins and 2 Katies per customer with sales supporting the Teenage Cancer Trust.'

The carrot soft toys went on sale on 19th November online and sold out straight away. People already have the toys on eBay selling for around £50.

Pandora - DO Get What You Wish For

Somya our Content Intern, reviews Pandoras ad:

'Pandora – the jewellers you can rely on, to deliver great Christmas adverts. Unlike the dreamy Debenhams video, Pandora has gone for a more light-hearted approach, yet, making for a highly effective Christmas advert! Starting with a groovy background score, the video immediately establishes a relaxed, cheerful setting, where we see couples asking for their dream Christmas presents, by dropping not-so-subtle hints.

In addition to giving you numerous clever ideas on how to nudge your partner on getting that perfect present, the advert cleverly makes use of Christmas symbolism, to create a simplistic yet powerful holiday narrative. Moreover, the video cleverly ends in exactly 60 seconds, avoiding any dangers of becoming too repetitive.

Another interesting feature of this Christmas advert is definitely the choice of words. The caption, “DO Get What You Wish For”, could’ve been a question asking people what are they wishing for, this Christmas, but Pandora wanted to leave no scope for confusion there. Even though the caption may sound quite authoritative, oddly enough, it can help give a sense of rightfulness to the viewer. Through its simple yet powerful use of diction, the Pandora advert can leave you with a sense of worthiness, worthiness to deserve a great Christmas present!'

Asda - Best Christmas Ever

The very Charlie and the Chocolate Factory advert features a grandad and his granddaughter. The couple explores the Asda factory discovering new and exciting creations for Christmas. Although a good advert for me this doesn't have the wow factor or get me excited for Christmas.

Waitrose - #ChristmasTogether

Our Blog Editor, Annie shares her thoughts on Waitrose:

'One of the greatest things about Christmas is the magical element in colour, either garish reds and greens or delicate silvers, golds and blue to represent chilly winter days. Waitrose’s Christmas advent doesn’t capture any of these elements, instead choosing to represent their best food with a dull black and white filter. Like many other supermarket Christmas adverts, you find yourself looking at the different festive foods they offer, but the bland colours leave me feeling disappointed. Where is the crisp golden turkey skin? The brownness of the gingerbread? The light, comfortable and supportive warm hue of a family coming together at Christmas? I’m sure that even when snowed in with a black-out the candles would still shine some festive, warm emotion into the house but there’s nothing warm about this advert. I find myself staring at some black and white boiled potatoes in a black and white pan and it doesn’t make me want to run to Waitrose to buy them. I want colour.'

Sky - Movies at Christmas

Our Rob Jones reviews Skys Christmas advert:

'With the aim of bringing the family together around a movie at Christmas, Sky Cinema have produced an ad for the Christmas season which follows the relationship between a mother and daughter over 25 years. The piece, created by WCRS for Sky follows a mother and daughter from 1992 to the present day. The focus of the ad is onThe Sound of Music, one of the first films to be broadcast on Sky in 1989. The clever part? As the little girl ages, the Sky TV boxes change too. If you watch closely at each shot of the TV, you’ll notice the Sky boxes accurately change over time. For example, moving from the old Amstrad Sky TV box and finishing with a Sky Q box, in the present day.

This represents the relationship between Sky and their loyal customers. Even in the age of Netflix, who doesn’t know someone who has Sky TV. Brilliantly thought through, effectively put together and finished off with a few mentions of “The Sky is full of stars” a quote from the Sound of Music'.

Talk Talk - This is Christmas

A real British family enjoying Christmas day. Talk Talk film a one families Christmas day to capture authentic, unscripted footage. Compared to the big brand campaigns this is a refreshing advert that everyone can relate to. For me Talk Talk have capture what christmas is all about.

Boots - #Showthemyouknowthem

Boots take us back through two sisters memories, looking at their Christmases together sharing 11 boots products from the brand’s archives. Annie shares her thoughts:

'I am a big fan of storytelling! Storytelling is a great way to represent your brand, what you stand for, and what your product means to your audience. I think Boots got this right! We’ve probably all sent at least one beauty related product to a family member or friend, but here boots shows you WHY it’s important and what it means. Two sisters who have been through life’s challenges and milestones together, coming together for Christmas. But, for me it’s the story Boots tells that engrossed me into the advert because above all else, it’s relatable. Being able to empathise is a valuable personal emotion and Boots shows that they can not only relate, but empathise with the wider population and show the value in their products - the coming together of family at christmas with gifts that mean something.' 

Debenhams - #Youshall

Somya, our Content Intern shares her thoughts on Debenhams attempts to copy the cinderella story:

'The Debenhams Christmas advert is here and let me tell you, it’s here to stay! Amidst a plethora of not-so-christmassy Christmas adverts, the Debenhams advert hits you right in the feels. It makes you want to curl up in your bed, with some fuzzy popcorn and re-watch all the versions of the Cinderella movie ever. No, really, the advert itself has the potential to bloom out in a full-fledged feature film, Cinderella 2.0.

The advert begins with a romantic train setting, where the modern-day, clumsy Cinderella meets her prince charming, and needless to say, it’s love at first sight! However, Debenhams has taken the age-old fairytale, added a quirky twist to it and made it oh-so relevant to today’s day and age. Even though the advert consists the classic lost shoe, romance finds its way through hashtags and social media. With the help of rapid reposting, #FindMyShoe and #FindThatGirl seem to be the two magical hashtags that unite the digitally-savvy lovers.

In a short duration, the brand has managed to convey a powerful narrative with a strong emotional quotient. The advert effortlessly showcases the strength of smooth and crisp storytelling, in conveying a brand message and engaging the audiences. As Ryan Deutsch (Senior Vice President of Global Customer Success at Persado) correctly points out, “Retailers need to get their arms around the fact that emotions matter and that urgency is not the most important emotion." Oh, and a cameo by Ewan McGregor ain’t hurtin’ nobody!'

Barbour - The Snowman and The Snowdog

Rob gives his honest thoughts on Barbour's Christmas ad: 

'The ad features the story of The Snowman and The snowdog, which was a animated film launched in 2012, a sa sequel to The Snowman.

Whilst the ad includes some brilliant animation, snow and a pet dog, which all make the ad feel christmassy, the ad also doesn’t seem to have any association with the Barbour brand. Nevertheless, it’s great to see an animated christmas film being used, as we all those those sort of ads.'

Matalan - Creating Value in Every Moment

Our Email Marketing Manager, Kim Greenop-Gadsby had to say about Matalans Christmas campaign:

'This year Matalan feature a busy family and Dodger the dog. While the busy mum and teacher dashes off she grabs the dreaded “to-do list”, which Dodger tries to eat. We cut to the mum trying to organise the primary school Christmas pageant (which of course, includes a dinosaur, superheros and Santa). Through all the chaos of kids picking noses, fighting and set disasters, our mum receives a text from Matalan that her click-and-collect is ready. We can instantly observe our mum relax and smile. We cut to the dad and kids at home, dealing with their own chaos. Dodger again is trying to eat dad’s to-do list. After they struggle to get the tree and house ready we see a well behaved Dodger in a cute reindeer outfit. Mum collects her order from Matalan and arrives to the Christmas party. Our mum changes into a stunning red dress, is relaxed and full of smiles. Mum and dad enter a room and we see their smiles disappear. Naughty Dodger has eaten all the food.

I can relate to this advert. A working mum, having loads of those to-do lists on the fridge and dogs that would happily eat anything in sight. However I don’t think I would be as relaxed or cheery as the mum without a relaxant pill or copious amounts of mulled wine. For Christmas we all have a desire to make things as perfect as possible. At least this advert shows no matter how many to-do lists you have, things can still go Pete Tong.'

TK Maxx - A White Christmas

TK Maxx offer something a little different as they promise that they will deliver actual snow to people for free if you find an exclusive snow globe in the shop. This is a grwat spin on the normal christmas advert and makes them stand out from the very competive crowd.

Children's Hospice - #FirstChristmas

Among the chaos of Christmas, adverts like this bring us back to what really matters and raises awareness for those who find Christmas hard. This advert by Shooting Star Chase brings to life the story of the Barker family, who tragically lost their son, Matthias, after a battle with cancer. The ad tells the story of a father, struggling to come to terms with the passing of his son and how the family comes together to help him cope with their grief. Although hard to watch, an advert like this always gets my vote.

House of Fraser - Bring Merry Back

The sister theme strikes again, as House of Fraser follows two sisters through each Christmas they have spent together.

Paddy Earnshaw, Chief Marketing Officer at House of Fraser, said:

"As adults we can sometimes lose sight of the magic of Christmas as we have to do grown up stuff like manage plans and ‘to do’ lists. There is no such thing as a picture-perfect Christmas where everything goes to plan; that’s half the charm and the fun. "

Lidl

Lidl have a series of six short separate adverts following different characters such as The Cavalier Carver, The Mince Pie maverick, and the Double Dipper. Characters we can all relate to and see through the Christmas period.

Claire Farrant, the supermarket’s Marketing Director, said:

‘Our campaign “Every Lidl Thing For Christmas” has been developed to showcase the fantastic breadth of food and drink we have for the UK customer at Lidl.'

Morrisons - Christmas List

Morrisons looks to tell the story of how three families prepare for their perfect Christmas. The first ad shows a family writing letters to Santa, listing what they want this Christmas. The second focuses on a young girl and brother, who encourages her to do things such as feed a reindeer and putting the star on the tree. The aim to promote their Free From range. The adverts lack the wow factor for me and I the link between an older brother encouraging his sister to do new things and eating gluten-free are still confusing.

Here is what our Senior Research Analyst, Rob Jones, thought:

'As Tesco, ASDA and Sainsbury’s have suffered over the past few years, Morrisons have found their feet. Morrisons have increased market share, profits and revenues more recently, this is is almost unheard of in these difficult times for grocers, with the exception of the discounters Aldi and Lidl. A marketing overhaul has also helped to reinvent the brand. Continuing the brand message that Morrisons is a family focused brand, the story follows a little girl that is nervous to feed a reindeer and take centre stage in a school play, but isn’t nervous about the treats she can eat, as they are gluten free. It’s easy to associate. those with allergies and dietary limits are always unsure of what they can eat, represented by the little girl's nervousness of most things. The ad promotes the free from range, sharing the message that everyone can enjoy mince pies at Christmas.'

Overall the quality has been good but not as good compared to previous years. The biggest disappointment for me was John Lewis. It has been good to see brands using more digital platforms to promote their campaigns and adapting to platforms such as snapchat or Instagram. Next year I would love to see retailers take a brave move into new creative territory to shake it up and to challenge consumers’ perceptions with something unexpected.

Which Christmas advert gets your vote this year? Let us know what you think and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.

from Blog – Smart Insights https://www.smartinsights.com/internet-advertising/best-christmas-adverts-of-2017/

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