#this is the first time a guitar has been the focal point of one of my drawings (especially one as silly as this one) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

marshmallowprotection · 9 months

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Mystic Messenger 7th Summer Event Analysis

Anyway, you're all here because you want me to talk about what I speculate is going to happen when the photo drops because it will be the 17th when the image is revealed and that means we're going to start seeing it in the early hours of the 16th over here on this side of the planet.

So there is a little bit for me to talk about but not too much because there is not too many details going on but there is enough that I can speculate this or that.

Unknown is in the center of the image so he is the focal point. I am not upset about that because like I said earlier, I didn't expect to see him on the title screen ever again apart from being a cute little chibi. There is a difference between seeing him in the stylized chibi artwork and seeing him in the flesh if that makes sense.

I am about to change my icon on Discord so fast to be Unknown that it's not even funny.

When I noticed that he was clearly holding a guitar, the first thing that came to mind was that merch photo that I shared because it seems as though it is the same purple on the guitar. It is either a very deep red or that hot purple color. I tried to color sample what I could for the surface area of the guitar and it appears to be more pink than purple but you can expect given the fact that Saeran has magenta hearts.

I do miss what he was coded with purple since that is my favorite color but I've come to love pink as my second favorite color thanks to him as a character. See, that color started to appear more and more with Jumin since Jumin's hearts are purple, but it's always interesting to think about how some merch had Unknown with purple and then Jumin with blue back in the day.

I don't think anything is different about his outfit since he appears to be wearing his tank top and jacket, the only thing that stood out to me that was even remotely different was the fact that I couldn't tell if it was a red stripe on his pants.

He has a stripe on his pants but I don't know for sure if it was used here or not. They don't always draw him with his pants showing and when they do, sometimes it can be hit or miss if they add in that little detail. His boots aren't in this photo so I don't get to make a cowboy joke, unfortunately.

The zippers in his jacket aren't always drawn, either, so that is one thing that will never be consistent when it comes to art like this.

That's really all I can tell about him from what we're shown which is why I can't really say all that much about him except for the fact that he is giving lead singer of an emo band. I can't believe we came full circle and we get to appreciate him being the one that invites you to join his emo band. I, for one, I'm ready to join his band and I already have the set list. I'm ready for it.

As someone whose favorite band is Fall Out Boy, of course, I'm ready for it.

Cheritz will sometimes label things with Ray or Unknown, but we'll all know who it is once we scroll down and see who's in the photo. That's just a thing that happens but it bothers me. Ray is not Unknown, but sometimes he's been referred to as such in merch or media, and I do think Unknown was referred to as Ray a few times in the past and it always throws me off. Names matter!

I like when they're labeled appropriately!

I do think the little Twitter event we recently had for the anniversary when they showed us GE Saeran as Unknown, it was meant to be an Easter egg to prepare us for this specific picture.

Anyway, what really threw me off about this picture when I was trying to review it was the fact that it appears to be split into three parts. It would... be easy to assume that Unknown is on the stage with V but that doesn't appear to be the case.

I speculate in this situation that the picture is cut into three parts.

V is in the audience or he's trying to get into the music festival. Rika is trying to advertise with elixir with everything she has in her arsenal. Unknown is on stage doing his best to do what his Savior told him to do. They each have their own corner to play and that's interesting to see. I don't know what I expected when I saw Mint Eye Idol Group... and I still don't know what we'll see tomorrow.

Did you guys know that Monster energy will get musicians to drink branded cans that just have water inside to better sell the product to people? Yeah, that's the only thing I could think of when I saw this... and well, now all of you are going to be aware of it for the rest of your life.

Monster is already bad enough for you, and I don't think you want to hydrate with elixir at a concert.

At the very least, if you wanted to go on a trip, you're definitely going to go on a trip if you drink enough of that.

Because of the way the image is juxtaposed, I think Rika is off center stage or in the crowd trying to sell the product. I don't know where she is but it can't be on stage with him just because of the way the image is.

Which is what led me to believe that V couldn't be on stage with him because of his posture and the poster behind him. I don't know what the composition of this photo is going to be but from what I've already seen here in this blurry promo image, I think it's going to be really visually interesting.

Another thing I noticed when I was looking over the photo was the fact that I couldn't tell what V was wearing. There's a part of me that wondered if he was trying to fit into the crowd by wearing his believer robes. But, I don't know for sure. The color looks dark enough to be that, the only thing I could think of once I had that thought was one simple question:

What if it is band merchandise for Unknown?

There's another part of me that wonders if V is trying to hand out flyers because Rika told him to. Which again leads me to wonder who designed the soda can and the flyers because it certainly wasn't Rika. When she designed something for Mint Eye it is done in a stylized manner that does not lead itself to inviting somebody to join her.

I mean, I don't think you're going to join her when you see her idea of recruiting someone and it's this:

In universe, she thinks she is a great designer but everyone around her knows the only thing that she can make is what happens when you learn how to use clip art for the first time and you go overboard. I love it. I really do. It speaks to me. I think she's great at this style but ask yourself this question, Would you join a cult if this was the only flyer for it?

If something in universe looks good design-wise it's because she made Unknown, Suit Saeran, or Ray do it. I mean, yeah, can those designs be simple? Yeah, but they get the job done. I mean, look at those photos! I feel like I'm being led to Mint Eye, THE CULT, when these photos are given to me.

TLDR;

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onewingedsparrow · 8 months

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orchid ⇢ what’s a song you consider to be perfect?

cactus ⇢ something you’re currently learning (about)?

abelia ⇢ do you have a particular piece of jewelry you always wear or can’t part with?

From this ask game

Hi! :D Thank you for the ask! <3

orchid ⇢ what’s a song you consider to be perfect?

Oh there are several, lol, but I have to highlight these two specifically. both composed by Two Steps From Hell. "Stallion" and "Star Sky" Both of these songs inspire me to write!!! They also directly remind me of certain characters. ✨ In my imagination, "Stallion" is the theme song of I am Ferdinand von Aegir (Fire Emblem). Here are some links to two pieces of art that the song reminds me of :) -By hellyonwhite -By blehtbef-arts The instruments chosen for "Stallion" are sooooo good. You can feel the motion of the stallion as he gallops, can see the banner of his tail flying behind him, can hear his proud bugle echoing over the battlefield. It's so wonderful and I am especially partial to the horn echo at 3:38, as well as the way the electric guitar flows seamlessly into the organ. It's glorious! ❤️‍🔥 And "Star Sky" reminds me of BotW Zelink (The Legend of Zelda)! I could attempt to explain why...or I could just point you to the fic I wrote when I first heard the song ✨ Literally, I found the song, got hit with inspiration, and literally put "Star Sky" on loop and wrote to it until the fic was done, all in one day. 😂 It is rare that I get a writing experience like that, but I always welcome it when it happens! (No spoilers for TotK btw, that was written long before then.)

cactus ⇢ something you’re currently learning (about)? Motorcycles! ;) Also I've been studying muscle anatomy lately to improve my drawing.

abelia ⇢ do you have a particular piece of jewelry you always wear or can’t part with? My ring, affectionately named "Navi" after the fairy companion from Ocarina of Time. It doesn't look exactly like Navi, but it is very similar. Blue focal point surrounded by silvery lines that look like glittering wings. Navi the ring also has triangular motifs, which makes me happy because it makes me think of the Triforce. Navi is really special to me. I've lost Navi a few times, which was scary, but thankfully I've always been able to find her again. (Which...also makes me think of the character too, come to think of it.)

#asks answered #afaroffsong

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imaginationlandtrilogy · 2 years

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2, 3, and 6!!

Thank you!!! :]

2) Favorite intro sequence?

I prefer the older (like, mid-early seasons) intros where it was just a bunch of jumbled up clips from that season or surrounding seasons. It went with the chaos of the theme song and I really liked turning on an episode blindly and guessing what episode from the theme song. I also liked the intros where it showed the boys being created from construction paper, singing along - that's really cool. I would say my favorites are seasons 7-9, then, as they still had that banjo and it sounded nice and twangy, but midway through season 10, the intro became more guitar and drum-focused. The banjo-focused theme song reflected more of that small town feel and felt more homey, while the guitar and drum-focused felt bigger and more extravagant. Honestly, both are great, but it's just a matter of preference.

3) What’s a fan creation (fic, art, meta, animatic, etc.) that you love and think others should see?

One of my absolute favorite pieces of South Park fanart is this one (tw for blood, gore, etc. etc.). It's just SO good and definitely deserves more notes than it currently has. I love the expressions and how gross everything is, from Kenny's blood to his intestines to the small bits of snot coming out of his nose. The energy of the scene is captured so well here. I especially love the big spurt of blood coming from Kenny's head because it's like, the first thing you notice; and with it going everywhere, it takes your eyes to every which place and serves as focal point to the overall piece (my attempt at speaking art as someone who does not art).

There's an artist whose art I ADORE, but they no longer make South Park fanart! They even deleted the majority of it, which makes me really sad. Nevertheless, here is some art that I randomly found and was able to reblog. Their art style is so eye-catching and expressive for such a realistic-leaning style; I really love it! It's a shame they don't make South Park fanart anymore and have separated themselves so much from the fandom, but it always makes me happy when I accidentally stumble upon a piece of their SP art I've never seen!

6) Favorite song from the show (or an official album)?

I am so biased here. Any song that Kyle sings is bound to be in my top five, I'm not even kidding. I think one time I made a tier list of my favorite South Park songs, and the top two were "Lonely Jew on Christmas" and "The Dreidel Song". Kyle, especially in the early seasons, just has such a lovely singing voice - I wish we got to hear it more often! (South Park, this is a plea to put more Kyle songs in the show. Please, it's been so long)

#☆#ar #agr

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luuurien · 2 years

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Melody’s Echo Chamber - Emotional Eternal

(Psychedelic Pop, Dream Pop, Neo-Psychedelia)

Melody Prochet's third studio album removes much of the shimmer and shine of her previous two albums for something more expansive, more soothing. Rather than trying to melt your mind, Emotional Eternal aims to enhance the world around you through brightly textured, forward-moving psychedelic pop tunes that work just as well as anything she's done in the past.

☆☆☆☆

The weird thing about Emotional Eternal is that it doesn't feel quite like a Melody's Echo Chamber album on first listen. Sure, all the main elements are there: the summery, effects-covered guitars, drums that don't keep time so much as make a solid landing pad for all the sweeping instrumentation, and of course the sweet and fairy-like singing of Melody Prochet herself, but compared to the ultra-fluorescent sounds of her 2012 debut or 2018's Bon Voyage, the colors of Emotional Eternal are immediately less vibrant. This isn't by accident on Prochet's part, though, as the entire new look and feel of everything from the album cover to the music itself takes on a shinier monochrome quality that she then plants in the same soil as her previous two albums, and the results are truly mesmerizing. Just because the form has changed doesn't mean the function of Prochet's music - cerebral, immersive, electrifying - isn't there, and in fact, the changes she makes to her sound here at times make those feelings seem bigger than ever. Emotional Eternal takes some getting used to, for sure, but the end result is something just as great as before. Emotional Eternal has by far her coldest sound yet: drums smack and shiver like icebergs crashing into one another, guitars are covered in this soft, chilly reverb that sounds more like the sonic qualities of an Arctic cave than the warm cocoons of her past projects. The preceding singles all worked in perfect harmony to build a small window into this new world that she's built: the first of them, Looking Backward, seems to borrow from the funk-tinged sound of her Kevin Parker produced debut, a prominent and groovy bassline over candy synthesizers and soaring vocal leads that never lets up on Prochet's energy, followed up with the tabla-kissed, pirate movie bounce of Personal Message and the orchestral rumble of Alma that all showed how her psych-pop sound has matured while staying connected to its roots. And while songwriting has never been the focal point of her work, the abstractions and heavy use of imagery she uses throughout Emotional Eternal helps give actual depth and perspective to the baroque orchestration stitched into many of these songs, twinkling harpsichord and chamber strings texturing stories of running horses and fiery dragons, her dreamy tale of nature's gifts lifted high up enough to leave the Earth entirely and dance with the moon. She sings in her native French on the fittingly titled Personal Message, that aforementioned pirate song mood further pushed by the first verse's image of a message sent "In the white and dirty sail / Of a boat worn by salt and age," the freezing ocean water splashing through each jangly acoustic strum while strings blow like coast winds. It lacks much of the immediate punch and vigor that made her self-titled, and many bits of Bon Voyage so immediately delightful, but by holding back and letting the music take its time to marinate, each new element comes out much more prominent and memorable in the end. When she does let things loose, it's absolutely fantastic. Where the Water Clear the Illusion is an easy candidate for pop song of the year, Prochet's hypnotic hook in the chorus pushed by huge guitar chords and a slippery bassline that is begging to be blasted through sport's stadium amplifier with how much energy courses through it, but other tracks like the dance-ready Looking Backward and even the chunkier prowl of drums and guitar on the penultimate A Slow Dawning of Peace give new pop sensibilities to her music. At just nine songs and a little over 35 minutes, Emotional Eternal doesn't take much of your time and rewards you handsomely for investing in multiple listens, something new to find each time and each previous element only more enjoyable the second time around. The full six minute version of Alma, titled Alma_The Voyage, makes a case for Melody's Echo Chamber outside of the usual psych-pop sound, adding an extra second half of nothing but harmonious strings that jump and wriggle around as each player drones on a single note, the occasional new additions blossoming like new flowers in an already-packed field that only make it more beautiful over time. It's easy to understand why those so infatuated with Prochet's older sound would be disappointed in this less direct approach she's taken this time around, but by forcing you to engage with the music in a more present manner compared to just letting yourself drown in bliss like you could before, Emotional Eternal renders itself a stronger and more hard-hitting album in the end. While it lets go of many of the things that brought people to Melody's Echo Chamber in the first place, Emotional Eternal only does that for the better. It was hard to imagine where her sound could go post-Bon Voyage without the kaleidoscopic blend of colors turning to a sludgy green, and by removing it all for snowy whites and shadowy grays, Prochet's graceful nature has been preserved while setting a whole new scene with it. Throwing yourself into Emotional Eternal can be a bit jarring with the knowledge of her previous albums, but letting her take the reins and do what she does best, it's hard to complain about how it's all turned out, songs that bring the same feelings out while revealing a different path to get there that works just as well. She doesn't overstuff the music with ideas like she used to, only putting what's needed to bring it all together and making you search harder for each part as she delicately weaves it all together. It's overwhelming with its openness, like being dropped into a midnight desert and seeing nothing but vast hills surrounding you, Prochet's music a soft flickering light you can chase across them, the hunt for its next position becoming addictive the second you get your first taste of it. Emotional Eternal doesn't have to try hard to make you fall in love, because the beating heart that moved her music forward in the past is here just as readily. The only change now is that you have to actively search for it, and Prochet makes sure you never want to stop.

#melody's echo chamber #emotional eternal #domino #dream pop #indie pop #indie rock #pop #neo-psychedelia #psychedelic pop #psychedelic rock #rock #2022 #8/10

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swangtup6 · 3 months

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EP Review: Esophagus - Killing for Sport (2022)

mannn ive been sleeping hard on this band. like for the last year since ive heard of em ive been like that one dude in the story where he sleeps a really long time. ig id always kinda subconsciously categorized them with slamcore and tiktok bdm bands for some reason? which i guess they kinda are a tiktok band (at least recently) but thats ok.

this EP has a really interesting style of writing, where it kinda just plods along aimlessly for most of it, which i actually shockingly really like because i think it fits the band's sound well. most of the drumming and guitarwork is super super simple, and it compliments the very catchy sound the band is going for, while staying pretty brutal. this is real meathead slam, and it lets the vocals (the obvious focal point of their music) shine. however, it does sound pretty amaturish at times, and not in a good way (especially considering this band formed in like 2008)

im also a big fan of the production, surprisingly. it's relatively clean, but i think thats mainly a result of the mix having like nothing going on in it. when the only instruments going are some really basic, relatively sparse guitar riffs, with simple drumming to match, and some vocals layered on top, there isnt really a ton you can do to filth it up, unless they wanted to make the guitars wayyyy louder. im usually a bigger fan of super rough production (i make raw black metal) but i think the cleaner production serves the band better as listening to their first demos, they clearly dont shine as bright as they did on this EP.

the guitar tone is pretty standard; crunchy, but not overly so, and without a ton of feedback. it's also thin and mixed pretty quietly, which makes this project not as heavy as a band like say Cephalotripsy or Agonal Breathing, but that doesnt really seem to be what this band is going for so i think it works. theres no bass on this project. the drumming is also mixed well, with a very poppy snare (which i can NOT get enough of). overall, the mixing is sterile but serviceable.

now, the vocals. the vocalist is 10000000000000% the most important member of this band, and it's clear that the band thinks so too. this guy sounds like if Don Campan (Waking the Cadaver) and Joe Wolfe (Heinous Killings) had a baby, with a healthy mix of predator purring (HK style) and insect trilling (WTC) making up just about all of the vocals on this release. it's interesting, actually, that they dont really utilize any significant amount of standard slam gurgles, and i think it really sets this band apart. the vocals are definitely the draw on this release, which i think is a plus and a minus. im sad that they replaced their original vocalist with Don Campan, because even though Don is the deathcore GOAT, i really liked the original guy.

overall, this is a solid release by a pretty solid band. it's not mind blowing, but i like listening to insect noises as much as the next girl. actually prolly a lot more than the next girl but that's besides the point. i do kinda wish the instrumentals were less stripped and more heavy, because i usually like heavier death metal than this. however, still a good EP and i would recommend it if you really like Waking The Cadaver or Heinous Killings.

i also think the band theming most of their music around the Predator franchise is pretty cheesy for what it's worth

7.5/10

standout track: Killing for Sport

youtube

#youtube #music #music review #metal review #metal music #death metal #slam #brutal death metal #slam death metal #esophagus #tiktok #trendy death metal

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theloniousbach · 1 year

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COUCH TOURING WITH CAFFE LENA TV

BRUCE MOLSKY/MAEVE GILCHRIST, 23 MARCH 2023

BEPPE GAMBETTA, 24 MARCH 2023

This venerable Saratoga Springs, NY, folk club has a fairly robust apparatus for streaming concerts and I have enjoyed Vieux Farka Toure and the Old Blind Dogs from them with minimal incident. BRUCE MOLSKY, starting yet another interesting project with harper MAEVE GILCHRIST, and BEPPE GAMBETTA are, like the Dogs, old Focal Point favorites. That they were on successive nights was unusual, but sure, let’s do it.

There were some temporary glitches the first night (and I had some on a different device from usually reliable Small’s Live Tuesday night), sadly, the BEPPE GAMBETTA show froze repeatedly requiring reboots and the stream seemed to skip like warped vinyl. I closed it off halfway through the second set. Both shows will be available for another week, so I may give them as shows a second chance, but I will hesitate before reupping with Caffe Lena TV.

That disappointment comes because my expectations for these artists is so high. We got to see BRUCE MOLSKY at the Hiawatha Music Festival while on vacation last summer in concerts, dances, and workshops and he still makes it to the Focal Point. He is such a solid fiddler, full of technique and taste. Like Kevin Burke among others, he makes it seem effortless and it sneaks up on you that he actually just did something amazing. He is proudly an old time fiddler and yet he plays with Balkan, Irish, Finnish, Cajun,and Swedish musicians, bringing his tradition in conversation with the others and seamlessly playing the other musics too. So now he’s working with MAEVE GILCHRIST who is from Scotland but has Irish relatives (not, I think, a typical Scotch Irish story). This was hardly Scottish tune>old time medleys, though they did begin with a deliberate Irish air that settled into an old time tune. There were songs, contemporary but with tradition (Kate Rusby, a telling of an Australian shipwreck, Nic Jones, LInda—not Richard—Thompson) and Finnish, Shetlands (Fully and Newly Rigged Ship!!) and Metis tunes to go with the old time and Celtic elements.

They are heading out for some gigs and then a festival, but this seems to have been the tour opener. There was a bit of a settling in early as the fiddle found a way around the harp, but they worked that out. The banjo worked out more immediately, interestingly enough. Gilchrist has a fine voice and sense of tunes and songs, but it’s a weird instrument. Still she gave it some drive and it is after all somewhere between a guitar and a piano. I will always be interested in what Molsky does, so I’m glad we got to see this effort.

BEPPE GAMBETTA is a guitar geek’s dream—amazing flatpicking, certainly inspired by Doc Watson, but incredibly wide ranging. We gave up after he played a Verdi aria that he played at Doc’s visitation. He also did a couple of tunes from his collaboration with David Grisman celebrating Italian mandolin music (requires a Maybelle Carter approach to translate the duets to one guitar) and songs in Italian. One told an Italian outlaw tale not unlike Randall Collins which he also did. He mentioned Watson several times and we came back from one pause in the middle of a Blue Railroad Train>Brown’s Ferry Blues>Nashville Blues. But that, the Norman Blake tune, and an outro fiddle tune refracted through his part time residence in New Jersey, Fuhgedda About Me Not were the main bits of bluegrass/old time-y music. But even those were refracted through his harmonic complexities. His guitar instrumentals, though flat picked, struck me more related to the John Fahey/Leo Kotke fingerstyle tradition. As such they are even more amazing.

The above comments are, alas, not based on a full, uninterrupted version of the concert. Over time, the irritation will dissipate and I’ll think I have a sense of Beppe Gambetta 2023. But, for now, I’m aggravated and disinclined to return to Caffe Lena even as I want to keep checking in on the wonderful world of music The Focal Point opened up to us Kleindorfs and not just defaulting to jazz.

#concert review #couch tour #Caffe Lena TV

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meruz · 3 years

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once again i am answering asks in a big compilation post. included is... gotham, patrick stump, tips about drawing backgrounds, tips about drawing in general, links to my faq, and infinity train

like.... the tv series? No... I’ve drawn dc comics fanart before, though. But it’s been years since I’ve been really into it. I like jumped ship like 10 years ago when the New 52 happened LOL.

AFJHDSLKGH I’m sorry I (probably) won’t do it again??

Actually full disclosure I have a truly cringe amount of p stump drawings/photo studies in my sketchbook right now LOL. He’s just fun to draw... hats, glasses, guitar, a good shape... but I don’t think I’ll rly post those until I can hide them in another big sketchbook pdf.. probably Jan 2022. Stay tuned........ (ominous)

(ominous preview)

These are all sort of related to backgrounds/painting so I grouped them together even though they’re pretty much entirely separate questions.... ANYWAYS

a) How is it working as a BG artist? Is it hard? What show are you drawing for?

I think you’re the first person to ever ask me about my job! Being a background artist is great. It’s definitely labor intensive but I think that could describe pretty much any art job (If something were rote or easy to automate, you wouldn’t hire an artist to do it) and I hesitate to say whether its harder or easier than any other role in the animation pipeline. Plus, so much of what truly makes a job difficult varies from one production to the next, schedule, working environment, co-workers etc. But I will say that I think while BGs are generally a lot of work on the upfront, I think they’re subject to less scrutiny/revisions than something like character/props/effects design and you don’t have to pitch them to a room like boards. So I guess it’s good if you don’t like to talk to people? LOL

A lot of my previous projects + the show I’ve worked on the longest aren’t public yet so I can’t talk about em (but I assure you if/when the news does break I won’t shut up about it). But I’m currently working on Archer Season 12 LOL. I’m like 90% sure I’m allowed to say that.

b) ~~~THANK YOU!! ~~~

c) What exactly do you like to draw most [in a background]?

@kaitomiury Lots of stuff! I really like to draw clutter! Because it’s a great opportunity for environmental storytelling and also you can be kind of messy with it because the sheer mass will supersede any details LOL.

I like to draw clouds... I like to draw grass but not trees lol,,, I like to draw anything that sells perspective really easily like tiled floors and ceilings, shelves, lamp posts on a street etc.

d) Do you have any tips on how to paint (observational)?

god there’s so much to say. painting is really a whole ass discipline like someone can paint their whole life and still discover new things about it. I guess if you’re really just starting out my best advice is that habit is more important than product. especially with traditional plein air painting, I find that the procedure of going outside and setting up your paints is almost harder than the actual painting. There’s a lot of artists who say “I want to do plein air sometime!!” and then never actually get around to doing it. A lot of people just end up working from google streetview or photos on their computer.

But going outside to paint is a really good challenge because it forces you to make and commit to lighting and composition decisions really quickly. And to work through your mistakes instead of against them via undo button.

My last tip is to check out James Gurney’s youtube channel because hes probably the best and most consistent resource on observational painting out there rn. There’s lots other artists doing the same thing (off the top of my head I know a lot of the Warrior Painters group has people regularly posting plein air stuff and lightbox expo had a Jesse Schmidt lecture abt it last year) but Gurney’s probably the most prolific poster and one of the best at explaining the more technical stuff - his books are great too.

e) Do you have tips for drawing cleanly on heavypaint?

@marigoldfool UMM LOL I LIKE ONLY USE THE FILL TOOL so maybe use the fill tool? Fill and rectangle are good for edge control as opposed to the rest of the heavy paint tools which can get sort of muddles. And also I use a stylus so maybe if you’re using your finger, find a stylus that works with your device instead. That’s all I’ve got, frankly I don’t think my drawings are particularly clean lol.

f) Tips on improving backgrounds/scenes making them more dynamic practicing etc?

Ive given some tips about backgrounds/scenes before so I’m not gonna re-tread those but here’s another thing that might be helpful...

I think a good way to approach backgrounds is to think of the specific story or even mood you want to convey with the background first. Thinking “I just need to put something behind this character” is going to lead you to drawing like... a green screen tourist photo backdrop. But if you think “I need this bg to make the characters feel small” or “I need this bg to make the world feel colorful” then it gives you requirements and cues to work off of.

If I know a character needs to feel overwhelmed and small, then I know I need to create environment elements that will cage them in and corner them. If a character needs to feel triumphant/on top of the world then I know I need to let the environment open up around them. etc. If I know my focal point/ where I want to draw attention, I can build the background around that.

Also, backgrounds like figure compositions will have focal points of their own and you can draw attention to it/ the relationship the characters have with the bg element via scale or directionality or color, any number of cues. I think of it almost as a second/third character in a scene.

Not every composition is gonna have something so obvious like this but it helps me to think about these because then the characters feel connected and integrated with the environment.

Some more general art questions

a) Do you have any process/tips to start drawing character/bodies/heads?

I tried to kind of draw something to answer this but honestly this is difficult for me to answer because I don’t think I’m that great at drawing characters LOL. Ok, I think I have two tips.

1) flip your canvas often. A lot about what makes human bodies look correct and believable is symmetry and balance. Even if someone has asymmetrical features, the body will often pull and push in a way to counterbalance it. we often have inherent biases to one side or another like dominant hands dominant eyes etc. you know how right-handed artists will often favor drawing characters facing 45 degrees facing (the artist’s) left? that’s part of it. so viewing your drawing flipped even just to evaluate it helps compensate for that bias and makes you more aware of balance.

2) draw the whole figure often. I feel like a lot of beginner artists (myself included for a long time) defer to just drawing headshots or busts because it’s easier, you dont have to think about posing limbs etc. But drawing a full body allows you to better gauge proportion, perspective, body language, everything that makes a character look believable and grounded.

Like if you (me) have that issue where you draw the head too big and then have to resize it to fit the proportions of the rest of the body, it’s probably because you (I) drew the head first and are treating the body as an afterthought/attachment. Sketching out the whole figure first or even just quick drawing guides for it will help you think of it more holistically. I learned this figure drawing in charcoal at art school LOL.

oh. third mini tip - try to draw people from life often! its the best study. if you can get into a figure drawing/nude drawing class EVEN BETTER and if you have a local college/art space/museum that hosts those for free TREASURE IT AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT, that’s a huge boon that a lot of artists (me again) wish they had. though if youre not so lucky and youre sitting in a park trying to creeper draw people and they keep moving.. don’t let that stop you! that’s good practice because it’s forcing you to work fast to get the important stuff down LOL. its a challenge!

b) I’ve been pretty out of energy and have had no inspiration to draw but I have the desire to. Any advice?

Dude, take a walk or something.... Or a nap? Low energy is going to effect everything else so you gotta hit that problem at its source.

If you’re looking for inspiration though, I’d recommend stuff like watching a movie, reading a book, playing video games etc. Fill up your idea bank with content and then give yourself time/space to gestate it into new concepts. Sometimes looking at other art works but sometimes it can work against you because it’s too close.

Also something that helps me is remembering that art doesn’t always have to be groundbreaking... like it’s okay to make something shitty and stupid that you don’t post online and only show to your friend. That’s all part of the process imo. If you want to hit a home run you gotta warm up first, right? Sports.

I should probably compile everytime i give tips on stuff like this but that’s getting dangerously close to being a social media artist who makes stupid boiled down art tutorials for clout which is the last thing i want to be... the thing I want to stress is that art is a whole visual language and there are widely agreed upon rules and customs but they exist in large part to be broken. Like there's an infinite number of ways to reach an infinite number of solutions and that’s actually what makes it really cool and personal for both the artist and the viewer. So when you make work you like or you find someone else’s work you like, take a step back and ask yourself what about it speaks for you, what about it works for you, what makes it effective, how to recreate that effect and how to break that effect completely, etc. And have a good time with it or else what’s the point.

for the first 2, I direct you to my FAQ

For the last one, I don’t actually believe I’ve ever addressed artwork as insp for stories/rp but I’ll say here and now yeah go ahead! As long as you’re not making profit or taking credit for my work then I’m normally ok with it. Especially anything thats private and purely recreational, that’s generally 100% green light go. I only ask that if you post it anywhere public that you please credit me.

(and I reserve the right to ask you to take it down if I see it and don’t approve of it’s use but I think that case is pretty rare.)

a) @lemuelzero101 Thank you!!! I haven’t played Life is Strange but actually that series’ vis dev artist Edouard Caplain is one of my bigger art inspirations lately so that’s a really high compliment lol. And yeah I hope we get 5-8 too...!

b) Thank you for sticking around! I’ve been thinking about Digimon and Infinity Train in tandem lately, actually. They’re a little similar? Enter a dangerous alternate world and have wacky adventures with monsters/inanimate objects that have weird powers... there’s like weird engineers and mechanisms behind the scenes... also frontier literally starts with them getting on a train. Anyways if anyone else followed me for digimon... maybe you’d like Infinity Train? LOL

c) @king-wens-king I’M GLAD MY ART JUST HAS PINOY VIBES LOL I hope you are having a good day too :^)

a, b, c, d) yessss my Watch Infinity Train agenda is working....

e) aw thank you!! i think you should watch infinity train :)

#ask #trying this new thing where i tag people in the body of the post instead

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0bianidalas · 3 years

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I was supposed to post a gifset of my favorite ship of the show for the JATP Week for Day 3 but I realized I've done plenty of gifsets and I haven't done the mandatory ship manifesto so, I guess this is it.

DISCLAIMER: like I did for my AlexReggie post, I'll mention again that this is me discussing why this OT3 can be enjoyed in fandom spaces rather than this is me actively asking JATP writers/producers to make this ship canon. That's not what shipping means to me.

So, let's dive in into the softest, most wholesome OT3 I have ever had the privilege of shipping:

Luke/Alex/Reggie

Ok, so first off, I wanna start by saying that if you think that polyamory inherently means something sexual or dirty then please kindly fuck off this post and my blog altogether.

The definition of Polyamory on Wiki: (from Greek πολύ poly, "many, several", and Latin amor, "love") is the practice of, or desire for, intimate relationships with more than one partner, with the informed consent of all partners involved.

It is a way of expericing both romantic and sexual attraction, a way of living. And as so, there’s nothing wrong with teenagers being polyamorous because there’s nothing wrong with loving more than one person at the same time. It doesn’t always have something to do with sexual activities.

So, circle back to this Power Trio: our main himbo ghosts.

Luke, Alex and Reggie have a lot of common settings of your basic Power Trios, but to their own degree; the Comic Trio being surely the most fitting for them as they are indeed all himbos in their own right (yes, Alex is SO included even though he’s the one who holds the braincell most of the time).

However, I maintain that other than the obvious Rock Trio (which I will get on in a beat), the most evident trope for Luke, Alex and Reggie is the Brawn, Brains and Beauty:

“Brawn — body or the impulsive, pleasure-seeking one [Luke] Brain — mind or the academic, reasonable one [Alex] Beauty — heart or the one who ties them together, as the calming, healing influence [Reggie]”

Luke and Alex aren’t antagonistic towards each other at all as you would expect from most of these common tropes (especially Freudian Trio; which is also very fitting for them as they all have each contrasting personalities), but Luke and Alex have the type of personalities that would ensue them getting conflictive towards each other. Enter Reggie, who’s a happy bean and hates conflict.

They’re also obviously a perfectly balanced best friends trio, which is super uncommon. I’ve talked about how Alex and Reggie seem like actual best friends more than they do with Luke on their own but that’s only because Luke suffers from his being the male protagonist so the plot forces him to be on his own (or with Julie) oftentimes and so he leaves Alex and Reggie to develop more their Power Duo friendship on screen.

But it is no secret that Luke is, to his core, the central and focal point of their bond. He’s the one who, according to the plot, ties them together as he is their Leader character.

And Luke is a good one at it, too. Even if he’s not as bright or as emotionally sensitive as the other two, Luke fights for what he believes in and what they all want and he protects them. And Alex and Reggie pay back by being the most loyal and caring they can be. So it’s great.

Now, I'll get on the absolute softest side of them as both their canon platonic bond and why I tear up imagining them as something else than that:

The Family of Choice aspect

Luke, Alex and Reggie are together because of their shared interest in music and dream of making a life out of it, sure. But things happened along the way that made them have a deeper bond than that, and it's what forged them, almost by fire, closer together and no, I'm not just talking about the poisoned hotdog that drove them to an early grave at just 17: all three of them have lost their families one way or the other. And in doing so, the three of them found a family in each other. (Which then they end up adding Julie to it and it's an absolute blessing).

Luke ran away from home after a heated fight with his mom, which took an emotional toll on him and we learn that even though they had a difficult relationship, the Pattersons loved their only child enough to still commemorate him on his birthday even 25 years after his passing.

And even if we don't know a lot about them, we know that Reggie's relationship with his parents was also hard on him because they were a "fight away from a divorce", which implies that their arguing escalated to the points that even Luke knew about them.

And then you have Alex, who probably has the hardest backstory with his parents and their stopping "being cool" after he told them he was gay.

So you have three boys who are very inclined to love and appreciating family (Luke writing Unsaid, Emily is an evident example of how much his mom matters to him, Reggie being the first to ask to see his parents after they come back and then Alex voicing his 'I was always trustworthy' and the implication that he trusted his parents enough to tell them about his sexuality) losing that ground and safe place and deciding to build one of their own with each other:

The symbolism of them being a ‘Rock Trio’ - guitar, bass, and drums

As it has been discussed a few times before on this site: Kenny Ortega lives for symbolism and he likes implementing imagery and semiotics into his stuff. So, yeah, I absolutely believe you can look into their instruments as a window to who they are as characters and how they blend together -- like their music does.

You have Luke in guitars (and vocals, but that’s not key here): Guitar is in charge of harmony. And it being a lead guitar is also very up-in-your-face. The guitar makes its presence known, it is obvious, and usually a central focus--- it’s Luke through and through.

Then you have Drums: Drums is in charge of rhythm. It provides the ground they all follow, the stability, it is the backbone. It’s loud when it needs to, but it can blend in the back, too. And drums is usually placed behind, laid back -- if that doesn’t say Alex, I don’t know what does.

And there’s the bridge between both: Bass. “It bridges the gap between treble (guitar) and percussion (drums), providing a rhythmic and harmonic function at the same time”. (x) It serves both elements constituting music. Bass is low, quiet, and often underlooked but it is essential in a band. You just can’t be without bass -- Just like Reggie, who’s an odd mix of both Luke and Alex.

Another set of “Rule of three” that these himbos are is the Hands (Luke), the Head (Alex) and the Heart (Reggie), meaning that Luke is the one who takes actions, Alex is the sensible one and Reggie is the sensitive one.

All in all, they’re the whole set together. You can’t just have one without the other two, either as friends or siblings tropes-- they’re just that tight.

You just can’t pin-point if either of them love one above the other, it’s all equal. And even if you feel like one is third-wheeling, it’s still alright. You know why? Because third-wheels provide support and comfort. Just like these three do for each other.

#alex x luke x reggie #sunset curve #jatpweek #jatp #luke x reggie x alex #luke x alex x reggie #reggie x luke x alex #reggie x alex x luke #alex x reggie x luke #i really just put the WHOLE SETS of ways this ot3 can be tagged as huh #ot3: we're the only family we need #long post #meta #luke patterson #luke #alex #reggie

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natromanxoff · 4 years

Text

Queen live at Colston Hall in Bristol, UK - November 18, 1975

The photos could be from either night.

This article from the November 29 issue of Sounds chronicles the second night in Bristol.

Queen triumphant

QUEEN ARE the type of group that make a man want to abandon rock writing. They pose questions and never provide answers. They exist in their own space-time continuum, visible and audible but keeping their secrets to themselves.

On the surface they couldn't be a nicer bunch of people, but they carry English reticence to an epitome. It isn't, as Geoff Barton said two weeks ago, that they're boring, it's just that they're reserved. Or in writer parlance, they don't automatically provide colourful copy. All my instincts as a writer tell me that there is a great story in that band, but after two nights with them I'm hardly any the wiser.

Skin tight

That their insularity has a lot to do with them being one of the most amazing heavy-metal and/or rock bands in Britain - with all the signs that they'll end up monsters on the order of Zep - is fairly obvious, but just how much bearing it has on the matter is hard to say. The enigmas they might pose mightn't even have answers.

Is there any logical reason why they present an image and persona straight out of the Beatles school of interlocking chemistry?

John is reserved, almost nonchalant on stage, as if it's all in a small, personal joke. When asked how he saw himself within the framework of the band he replied, with a small smile, "I'm the bassist".

Roger is his opposite, the cheeky sidekick in a Clint Eastwood movie, and attracting a lot of cheesecake attention in America and Japan.

Freddie is an original - one of the most dynamic singers to tread the boards in quite a few years. His attraction is obvious.

Brian is perhaps the biggest enigma of all. What is this seemingly frail, gaunt astronomer doing on that stage, striding purposefully and blasting diamond-hard rock? They're all equally strong personalities - like the Beatles there's no one major focal point. Ask four fans who their dream Queen is and you'll get four different answers.

Queen have been busy lads these past few months. Having disassociated themselves from their former management and joined with John Reid, the fourth album was seen to. Reid decided that a tight schedule wouldn't cause them undue harm, and figured on two months to record before embarking on this current tour.

Only Queen are driven to better each previous album - which at this stage of the game is obviously producing some excellent results - and 'A Night At The Opera' turned into a saga - culminating in 36-hour mixing sessions in an effort to allow at least a few days for rehearsal. In the end they managed three and a half days at Elstree with four hours off to videotape the promotional film for 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.

Their first few dates had not been without errors and the quartet were still not feeling totally comfortable their second night in Bristol, fourth night of the tour. You'd never know it, though.

Like all other aspects of the group, the stage is sophisticated. A black scrim provides a backdrop bounded by a proscenium of lights both front and rear. At each side the p.a. rises like a mutant marriage of Mammon and Robby the Robot. Amp power is readily evident but the most extraordinary is Brian May's subtle set up: nine Vox boxes stepping back in rows of three. The only packing crate visible is holding a tray of drinks, and you may rest assured that no roadie will rush, crawl or lurk across the stage while the show is in progress unless it's to rescue Freddie's mike from the clawing crowd.

As the auditorium darkens the sound of an orchestra tuning up is heard over the p.a. The conductor taps his baton on the music stand and a slightly effete voice welcomes the audience to A Night At The Opera. The Gilbert & Sullivan portion of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' follows, a brief glimpse of Freddie is allowed, and then in a blast of flares and white smoke the blitzkrieg begins.

Roger is barely visible behind his kit, just his eyes and tousled locks. John is wearing a white suit and playing the-man-who-must-stand-still-or-it-will-all-blow-away. Brian is slightly medieval in his green and white Zandra Rhodes top, while Freddie is...

Around his ankles his satin white pants flare like wings - fleet footed Hermes. Everything north of the knee is skin tight - tighter than skin tight - with a zip-up front open to AA rating. But further south, definitely in X territory, lurks a bulge not unlike the Sunday Telegraph.

There have been sex objects and sex bombs, superstar potency and the arrogant presentation of this all-important area, but never has a man's weaponry been so flagrantly showcased. Fred could jump up on the drum stand and shake his cute arse, leap about and perform all manner of amazing acrobatics, but there it was, this rope in repose, barely leashed tumescence, the Queen's sceptre. Oh to be that hot costume, writhing across the mighty Fred!

Phallic

Freddie is not pretty in the conventional sense of the word; like Mick Jagger of '64, he is his own convention. Also like the Jagger of the time, his stage persona and action is unlike anything else. Although it borrows - like most of the group's plagiarisms - slightly from Zeppelin, in tandem with Freddie's supreme assurance and belief in himself - he always refers to himself as a star - it explodes into something that is a constant delight to watch.

He reacts to his audience almost like an over-emotional actress - Gloria Swanson, say, or perhaps Holly Woodlawn playing Bette Davis. At the climax of the second night in Bristol he paused at the top of the drum stand, looked back over the crowd and with complete, heartfelt emotion placed his delicate fingers to lips and blew a kiss. Any person who can consume themselves so completely in such a clichéd showbiz contrivance deserves to be called a star.

Freddie's real talent, though, is with his mike stand. No Rod Stewart mike stand callisthenics here, just a shortee stick that doubles as a cock, machine gun, ambiguous phallic symbol, and for a fleeting moment an imaginary guitar. He has a neat trick of standing quite still in particularly frantic moments and holding the stand vertically from his crotch up, draw a fragile finger along its length, ever closer to the taunting eyes that survey his audience.

Their show contains lots of bombs and smoke, lots of lights, lots of noise. They fulfil the function of supremely good heavy metal - i.e. you don't get a second to think about what's going on. When they do let up for a few minutes, it's only so you can focus in on the bright blue electric charge crackling between your ears.

Bulldozer

Dominating the sound is Roger's drumming, a bulldozer echo that bounces like an elastic membrane, meshing with your solar plexus so that your body pulses in synch with the thunder. Tuned into that, everything else is just supremely nice icing.

For three days rehearsal, after eight months off the road Bristol was extremely impressive. In speculative mood I quizzed people on how long they thought it would take to headline Madison Square Garden. I was thought a radical at a year and a half. John Reid smilingly assured me it would take a year.

That Queen should end up with John Reid is an entirely logical proceeding. Everything about Queen demands that the world eventually kowtows at their feet in complete acquiescence - so big that bodyguards have to accompany them at every step. Well, no - they found that an annoyance in Japan, but, you know, huge.

Such status demands a Reid or a Peter Grant, and whatever the causes for their leaving Jack Nelson and Trident, an elegant group like Queen is going to look for a man with class. Reid found the idea of managing a group interesting, and having to deal with four strong personalities a challenge. He only concerns himself with their business and ensuring that the year ahead is mapped out. In January they begin a jaunt through the Orient, Australia and America, by which time it's March and they begin preparations for the next album.

Reid's prediction of a year was proven highly credible the next evening in Cardiff. The band had still not paused from the rush up to the tour and spent most of the day relaxing and sleeping - no doubt a factor in their near recumbent profile. Also, unlike most groups, they were keeping their dissatisfaction with the show to themselves.

They stopped off at Harlech TV on the way to see a cassette of the video for 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. The general consensus was quite good for four hours, with much laughter during the operetta. Brian finds film of the group educational - the first time he saw himself was a Mike Mansfield opus for 'Keep Yourself Alive' - "It was 'All right fellows, give it everything you've got but don't move off that spot.' It was terrible." You don't like Mansfield, eh? "Oh, I hate him - we all do... I was horrified when I saw it - I couldn't believe we looked that bad. I looked very static - seeing myself has taught me a lot about stage movement. Some of the things I do are planned for effect, but it's mostly just feeling the audience and communicating that back to them."

Arriving at the motel - several miles out of town - Freddie immediately fell asleep, John held court of a sort, joined later by Brian, while Roger went jogging, a daily event when touring. Tuning in to rock via Bill Haley and Tommy Steele, he became a drummer because he was better at it than guitar. All through school he was in bands; he only went to dental school out of "middle class conditioning, and it was a good way to stay in London without having to work". His mother thought it a bit strange when he opted for a career as a rock star, but she doesn't worry too much now.

The concert starts in much the same manner as the previous night, but there are signs that tonight is work, with posing an afterthought. The endings to most of their songs are magnificent and majestic, especially 'Flick Of The Wrist' and the rapid harmonies of 'Bad Boy Leroy Brown'.

Maniacal

The audience, seeing their faces in town for the first time, are vociferous in their appreciation. Guys know all the words to every song, yelling enthusiastically at every effect and solo. The band picks up, Freddie receiving the crowd beneficently, telling them they’re beautiful.

As the show builds it is obvious that things are gelling more. The previous night Brian had seemed totally out of place, not moving too much, taking solos with the weirdest half blank half possessed stare, talking to himself; cocking ear towards guitar. He was the proverbial stranger in a strange land, one step removed from the plane inhabited by you and me.

Tonight he moves fluidly, the gonzo lead guitarist of a gonzo band. His expressions are just as maniacal, but it only makes him look more demonic. His solo in 'Brighton Rock', an exposition in riffing and echo, is a treat because of his physical response to both music and audience, complete with ham acting. Freddie gets into the same game on 'The Prophet's Song', where he conducts an acapella madrigal with himself. It's a pretty commanding moment.

It’s soon after this that Madison Square seems reasonable. About a minute into 'Stone Cold Crazy' it becomes very obvious that Queen have suddenly Plugged In. Found the metal music machine and Connected. Freddie's movements explode in perfect unison with the music, the lights and surroundings go crazy, and the audience goes berserk.

Freddie asks for requests and receives a roar out of which one can vaguely make 'Liar'. Fred walks along the stage, nodding, agreeing he will do this one and that one while the kids roar on. "I'll tell you what - we'll do them all!"

'Doing Alright' opens slow and portentously. Queen's variation of light and shade is one of the major factors in their popularity, but even so the quiet sections frequently find the audience's mind wandering. One kid starts getting a joint together, totally forgetting it when everything blasts off again; guys talk among themselves, only to instantly leap to their feet, fists flying to the beat.

'Doing Alright' changes into a cha-cha beat, Freddie snapping his fingers, the coolest hipster in town, and then instantly drops into faster-than-light drive - the whole row next to me leaps to their feet as a man, rocking back and forth as Brian roars into a blinding solo.

Two songs later, in 'Seven Seas of Rye', the kids break - very fast - and in five seconds half the audience is a seething mass in front of the stage, climbing on each other in pyramids, sudden openings appearing as a splintering seat sends a few bodies to the floor.

The rest of the show is equally intense, especially for a couple of minutes during 'Liar; where Fred and Brian merge into a tight little triangle with Roger while John stands in front of the bass drum, staring out with his small smile.

Freddie has treated his encores - 'Big Spender' and 'Jailhouse Rock' - differently on successive nights, once appearing in a kimono and in Bristol with rather rude tight white shorts, giving the song title new emphasis. In Cardiff, though, he doesn't bother to change at all. Later it transpired that Brian had twisted his ankle during 'Liar'. While he’s attended to, kids out front pick up chair slivers to keep as mementos.

On the bus back to the hotel Brian sits quietly at the back, chatting with two girls. John sits at the front, as always. Freddie stares out of the window, lost in his own world. Roger bounces around, starts a pillow fight with Brian - which stops as soon as Brian scores a direct hit to the face - then discovers an eight track of 'Sheer Heart Attack', punching it through the channels as he conducts the group. The two hours towards which they have channelled the day's energies are spent.

Ambition

That Queen have become a top attraction through a fair degree of plagiarism is amusing. Stealing is nothing new in rock (or any art for that matter) and mostly Queen use the borrowed material better than the originals. That they would be big I don't think anybody really doubted. All four have immense desire to be successful, and that kind of ambition will keep them slogging until they achieve it.

But there are popular heavy metal bands and there are popular h-m bands. From watching Queen's audience it is apparent that Queen speak for them in a way that bands such as the Who and the Stones and the Beatles spoke (and continue to speak) to their audience. Uriah Heep may be great at what they do, but five years after their demise who'll remember them? Creedence Clearwater Revival demonstrate the same thing - who remembers them? And yet five years ago they were the largest band in the world.

Queen will probably always be remembered, because as their tour is beginning to demonstrate, they have the ability to actualise and encompass the outer limits of their sense of self-importance. Queen and their music, presentation, production - everything about them says that they are more important than any other band you've every heard, and who has there been, so far, who has objected? Certainly not the 150,000 people (plus 20,000 a day) who bought 'Bohemian Rhapsody' in the first 20 days of its release. Certainly not me.

See you at Madison Square Garden.

[text © J. Ingham 2007; photos © Kate Simon]

~ You can see the photos which was mentioned on the article, from the link on the title. ~

#queen #queen band #roger taylor #freddie mercury #brian may #john deacon #queen concerts

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misssilencewritewell · 4 years

Text

Overall review of wizards. Spoiler warning. This is just my opinion. If you enjoyed it, I’m happy for you. I think it was far too rushed.

Five episodes in we finally started to get introduced to interesting characters. But the pace never slowed down long enough to understand their role, their personalities, purpose, etc. It was a quick flash of ‘Oh that’s cool-and they’re gone...but I wanted to see more and understand...’ The quick glimpse of Angor Rot (my boy 😭) Why did he fish Morgana from the river? He hates humans...I’m confused??? He has magic. Did he learn from the evil magic squad?

The graphics are incredible. It looks amazing but I feel like for me to have a connection to this part of the story it had to have been longer. Another ten episodes of us getting to know Douxie in Arcadia would’ve been nice. When you dump as much information and new things on viewers it’s just too much for us to handle. I was so distracted by going “the heck is happening” to ever bond with Douxie. This makes me sad because I was enamored with him in Trollhunters. Also, he went from super suave bad boy to derpy bard boy. Not necessarily bad...but personally, I enjoyed his confidence in Trollhunters. Straight up hit a gum gum with a guitar. Not a magic one...just a regular guitar. Chad move. But this...felt weird. I personally think it would’ve been a much better plot twist had he been Mordred. Would’ve given him a darker edge, a vendetta, an interesting character arc. His goal to be to avenge his mother Morgana and kill Merlin/Trollhunters. Instead we find out that he’s basically a edgy, awkward bard. Which isn’t bad but not enough character development for me to be excited about any apparent growth or newly discovered powers.

Steve Palchuk (while I love his character) was unnecessary to this plot. I would’ve preferred Eli. His brains would have been helpful and I think his comedic relief would’ve fit better than Steves. Steve’s jokes just didn’t seem to land. The comedy relief was not timed right. Again, I absolutely loved Trollhunters and 3 Below...but there was never a moment to stop and catch your breath to know the world and characters which made it difficult to enjoy.

I still don’t fully understand how magic works. Douxie taught Claire for a minute and that was it and now he’s her teacher? Morgana and Merlin walk to the other side and say that sorcery dies with them but Claire and Douxie are left. Magic is...emotion? Kinda? Idk they never explained. 🤷‍♀️

Arthur’s character was...confusing to say the least. He misses his love and hates “dark” creatures because they killed her. But he comes back from the dead...to atone for his sins...by being evil? That didn’t make sense to me. Same with Morgana coming back and him being like sup sis! Know I tried to kill you but we are blood family! His super quick switch to asking for trolls help and loving his sister again was unexplained and made 0 sense. Just make him a dislikeable character and leave it at that. Sometimes it’s better to keep things simple. Over complicated plots can be messy and unenjoyable.

Morgana going from villain to hero was expected but executed poorly. She would flip like a switch and I just couldn’t sympathize with her as much as I did when she was a villain. I enjoyed her passion while being dark. Her redemption arc could’ve been handled so much better. Her having a romantic thing with Merlin and Merlin betraying her becoming the true villain while she is thirsty for revenge would’ve been top tier world building. We got butt jokes from Steve instead.

Strickler and Nomura. I want to see them. Especially back then? Oh they would be so evil and dark and I LIVE FOR IT. Especially since we love them now. It’d be cool to be reminded of their past. Back to the Jim smelling of human without being a changeling. Could’ve seen more on that and an interaction with him. They’d be fascinated I’m sure. Morgana created changelings but that could’ve easily been explained that she was working behind Arthur’s back the whole time. Working with Gunmar and creating changelings to infiltrate the castle while pretending to be submissive in court to Arthur and Merlin. It would explain why Changelings value cunning even more so and it would’ve been more believable than her talking to Claire one time and saying “yes! I’ll just tell my bro he crazy and needs to stop! Thank you kindly foreign hand maiden with dark magic!” Like there’s no reason for Morgana to trust her. Use her...sure. She would want Claire power, but Morgana’s character was far too rushed to make sense. I miss it when she was just a villain.

Also...Jim gets stabbed by a blade and they don’t call his mom? They don’t let her know her son could be dying? She’s a doctor. She doesn’t know much about the dark Magicks but she’s so smart and Strickler is her boyfriend. She should’ve been told. She should’ve shown up. I love her character and she adds a lot to the dynamic. Steve was the focal point far too often.

Bular. (Inhaled deeply). I missed him so much. It was cool to see Gunmar and Bular again. Bular I feel could’ve been interesting to build more too and I’m grateful for what we received. He obviously was more impressionable than his father. Morgana saved him and he immediately vouched for her while touching his fathers shoulder saying softly “she spared my life.” Like...Bular is an excellent character because even when fighting Jim in his final moments, Jim talks to him about dad issues and you can see Bular think about it and ultimately decide his fate. Just...ugh yes I missed the angry tall charcoal man.

Confusing part though...Gunmar and Bular declare that forest their own. Jim and Deya are there and watch as they scare off Arthur. You’re telling me they just let them go??? When they’re trying to recruit trolls for the war? They just go welp...see ya. Nah. There should’ve been dialogue there. The strange troll that smells of human but isn’t an impure. Cue the changelings. Could’ve been an awesome Segway into the life of the gum gums because honestly...Arthur was a douche and I sided with the Gum gums. Like yeah they eat people but Arthur was so...weird and uncomfortable to watch that I’d rather see the Gum gums who make no qualms over what they want or who they are.

The...giant dragon that’s the familiars dad. No reason for him at all. An attempt at a quirky dad character that landed flat. He went from oh lemme get you a cup of tea to DONT ChALlenge Me BoY I KnOw KaRAte!!! And I was like...ummmmm excuse me??? And then he went on to give a lesson on grief and show pictures of his son and I was like Soooooo we aren’t burning Douxie to a crisp? We are just going to throw in a quick ill timed lesson on grief?

The fight between Krel, Claire and the gang vs evil Jack Frost, eye ball raven, and evil Arthur electric boogaloo. Instead of showing the fight they did a recap. That fight would’ve been so awesome to watch and instead we got a recap of them getting their booties kicked. It’s an effective time saver but lazy story telling.

The fawn earth bender woman is important because she was part of the secret magic club and decided she didn’t want to kill people anymore...or something. As if her club ever lied to her about what they were about to do. Like Oh we are killing people? I thought you were joking for millions of years.

They all need her back to do...something evil that I can’t remember which I assume the movie will be about. I want more lore on evil Jack Frost and eyeball raven. They just were like “Congrats Morgana! We are the cool super old magic squad. We are the dopest thing in this show and we won’t say anything about ourselves besides a vague description in under 3 secs that leave our viewers confused and disappointed because they want more.”

Like seriously. They were the best part. Their intro was on a flying castle and I kinda hate that their intro was Merlin yelling “Oh no! Them!” Like we are supposed to know what and who they are. Build up is so important for an aundieces understanding. Like who they are? What they want? What they are? I spent the first half of the show mostly confused and the last half moderately confused and bewildered.

In conclusion, not my fave. It lacked the charm and quirkiness of 3 below and the depth and character development of Trollhunters to deliver a mediocre segway to a film. I really want this film to do well...but they will be on a time crunch and I was not impressed with how they handled this one in ten episodes. Fingers crossed the movie does better.

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extraneousdominomask · 4 years

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Family.

This was, technically, Elyna’s second ever Día de Muertos.

That first autumn had bled into winter in a blur. Things in the house had been hectic, and tense. Understandably tense. Justifiably tense. Even without the exceptional circumstances, the ghost of a murderer hanging over this lovely home, it was easy for traditions to slide a little. It had taken a lot of careful effort to “adopt” her.

Oops. She was doing it again. The thing her therapist had pointed out where she didn’t classify the things that happened to her as real, because she didn’t see herself as real, but everything she felt was more than real so it only made sense to drop that habit and accept herself.

It had taken a lot of effort to adopt her. Yes.

That was what had happened. About fourteen months ago, this family, this wry and well-liked pillar of the local community, had revealed that they actually had a second daughter. Older and taller and much more purple than the pre-existing daughter. And they included her in everything. Last night, she had shared a wonderful Hallowe’en with them.

And now it was November 1st. From one holiday right into another.

Sly wasn’t a particularly spiritual man, despite - because of? - all the actual, literal undead creatures he had battled in his youth. He loved a good excuse to celebrate, though. As well as the big, basically secular holidays, he was happy to join his wife in her own traditions. The Montoyas and the Foxes were spread across pretty much the entire Spanish-speaking world and beyond, and at this point Carmelita essentially just picked her favourites. Factoring in all the globe-trotting they had both done, separately and together, the household’s annual calendar was… interestingly blended.

So, an archetypal Hallowe’en was always followed by a traditional Día de Muertos. It wasn’t a total shift in tone - it was important to remember the deceased with love and good humour, something this household could produce in industrial quantities - but there was a certain reverence to proceedings that was noticeably absent on the preceding night of pumpkins and candy and horror films.

Carmelita took this fairly seriously. That was why Elyna was dreading it.

Sly had stepped out, taking B with him. An annual raid for clearance candy. A shared activity Elyna preferred them to keep for themselves. This was her best shot. She had no idea how she was going to get through this conversation, even removing the possibility of her father bursting in with a poorly-timed joke.

‘Her father’. She reflected on those words as she stalked towards the living room. Sly Cooper was the source of half her genetics. The necessary ingredient that made her a test-tube baby instead of an unfeasible clone. And despite a… tense first meeting, she hadn’t had much difficulty accepting the fact he was her father. It was exactly that. A fact. His overtures of friendliness, everything he did to make her feel welcome, came with a solid, scientific basis.

His wife, though…

Elyna let herself into the living room. It already looked so different from the makeshift movie theatre it had been last night. This was a small town, with an almost suspiciously low crime rate. There wasn’t that much work even for the Chief of Police, and that leftover energy meant quick and efficient decorating and undecorating and redecorating.

The only survivors were the skeletons, grinning and painted, specific to Día de Muertos but certainly not out of place last night. But the pumpkins and cobwebs and big orange candles were gone. The back wall had been cleared, making space for several beautiful ofrendas.

Elyna’s eye lingered on one corner, distinct from what was otherwise a sea of severe foxes. A photograph was the focal point, per tradition. It depicted two raccoons. One had black hair and sharp, intelligent eyes - still noticeably green in the otherwise faded colour palette. She was giving the camera a quiet smirk. The other was only identifiable as a raccoon by the hint of his striped tail sneaking up through the bottom of the frame. His arm was lovingly around the woman’s shoulders, but his face was totally obscured.

Every year, Carmelita asked if Sly seriously didn’t have a better photo of his father, and every year, Sly would make a fresh joke about the man’s lifelong animosity with cameras. Just another tradition. Another ritual, part of the smooth running of the holiday.

“Your grandparents.”

Carmelita was adjusting a small figurine of an acoustic guitar with pinpoint precision, getting it in exactly the right spot relative to a smiling ancestor. But she had heard Elyna come in, and knew where those hazel eyes were focused.

“Conner Cooper, and his wife Beatrice,” she continued. “B is named after both of her grandmothers, actually. It’s made easier by the fact Sly’s mother preferred to be called Trixie.”

Elyna took another look at the bulk of the ofrendas, remembering her sister’s full name. “But, um, Zoe’s not up here, right?”

Carmelita smiled to herself. “Not yet she isn’t. Or my father. Too stubborn. At this rate, they might both outlast you.”

It was a harmless joke. One Elyna had to stop herself from hearing as a threat.

Carmelita straightened up, turning thoughtful. “We’re overdue for a visit,” she said. “I thought we had introduced you, but apparently not.”

These sorts of forgetful exchanges were becoming rarer. Elyna fiddled with a stand of her black hair - she was growing it out, and still getting used to it, and didn’t need distractions right now. Didn’t need to think about how she never met her father’s wife’s parents. Her step-mother’s parents. Her step-grandparents.

This was her chance. Her best shot. She should just follow her training and seize the moment. Without fear.

“I have a question,” she mumbled. “About this, I mean.”

“Oh?”

“I, uh,” said Elyna, “have no idea whether I should put up a picture of my mom.”

The living room went silent.

Silence was one of the reactions Elyna had been expecting, and it was honestly one of the better ones. But that didn’t make it comfortable. “It’s just,” she attempted, “it’s kinda unclear to me if it’s all your family, or just the ones you…”

“The belief,” said Carmelita, crisply, “is that by setting up an ofrenda you’re inviting that person’s spirit into your home.”

“Right.”

“So you do it for people you want in your home.”

“Right,” said Elyna again, quieter.

A few moments passed. And then Carmelita sighed. Her posture, which had become rigid, uncoiled a little. “There’s no one answer,” she said, more diplomatically. “The spirit of the holiday is remembering the togetherness of family. But we both know that’s how things should be, not how they always are. Not everyone is so lucky.”

“I’m sorry.” Elyna was back to fiddling with her hair. “I know it’s a stupid question.”

“Not at all. I’ve always held there’s no such thing as a stupid question.” She put on an expression of exaggerated tiredness. “Or at least I used to say that, before moving in with your father…”

Elyna chuckled at that, and Carmelita smiled. That was always Sly’s strategy for smoothing a bumpy discussion - knowing when to include a soft joke. Carmelita had gotten better at it herself over the years.

“Has this been worrying you for long?”

“It’s kind of been in my head on and off for the past month. Sorry for only bringing it up now. And sorry for…” Elyna sighed. “I shouldn’t even be asking you about this. I know how much Mo- …how much Neyla hurt you both. Obviously you don’t want a picture of her in your living room.”

“The question,” said Carmelita softly, “is do you?”

Said question hung in the air for a few moments, unanswered. Carmelita intently watched the teenage girl in front of her. She looked so much like Neyla. But standing there, her paws awkwardly clasped, her gaze nervously on the floor, she couldn’t be more different.

“Do you know the origins of this holiday?”

Elyna managed to tear her eyes off the carpet, watching Carmelita carefully.

“It’s pre-Columbian,” she explained. “The practice of honouring the dead is rooted in the ancient cultures of Mexico. It was an important part of life for the people who lived there long before the Europeans came. The modern version we celebrate today is a mixture of those original practices with a Catholic influence. That’s why it’s held on this date, for instance - to sync up with the church calendar. I think it’s important to remember it’s a blend.”

Elyna’s ear flicked. “A ‘blend’? That’s a pretty nice way of putting it. I’m no historian, but Hernán Cortés didn’t just step off his boat and ask everyone to play nice, did he?”

“No,” said Carmelita quietly.

“It’s not a blend. A blend would be if the Europeans and the natives set out to make something nice together. This is some kind of Frankenstein monster made when one group was just minding their own business and someone else came up behind them and-”

It was Elyna’s turn to fall silent.

“Oh,” she said.

Her face scrunched up a little, and Carmelita sighed. “That’s… not what I meant. Or at least not exactly.”

“You only kind of meant to call me a Frankenstein, got it,” muttered Elyna, who was, fantastical circumstances or not, still a teenage girl.

“I didn’t call you anything.” Carmelita’s voice was steady. Not sharp, but steely, leaving no room for argument. She hadn’t thought much about motherhood earlier in her life, but she had always been able to keep a firm grip on an unpleasant discussion, and that was one of the fundamental requirements. “Try not to assume the worst of what I’m saying.”

Elyna stayed quiet.

“But… yes. I suppose it might be an applicable metaphor. You’ve got two sides to you, too. You’re Neyla’s, and you’re Sly’s. You’re the result of some cruel revenge scheme, and you’re a person with your own desires. Who you are now is a product of both.”

“That’s… yeah.” Elyna rubbed her arm sheepishly. “That’s pretty much what’s been eating at me. Neyla was an objectively bad person. And like, I never even met her, so it’s not like I’m attached. Or at least I shouldn’t be attached…”

Not for the first time, Carmelita privately despaired at the uncertainty in the girl’s tone. That therapist had a lot to work through.

“…but the fact is, I wouldn’t exist without her. At all. And that’s… It’s just weird.” She paused. “Yeah.”

“And now all those confusing feelings have a physical problem. Whether or not to put up her picture.”

“Yeah…”

“I’m not being flippant when I say I don’t know what to tell you,” said Carmelita. “Not everyone in my family tree was a saint. No-one can claim that. But as far as I know, we never had a Neyla.”

“As far as you know,” echoed Elyna. “That sounds like the answer, then. Monsters get written out of the family history.”

“They don’t get invited to parties, at least,” she replied. “Which, like I said, is the spirit. It’s keeping your family close, because you never want to forget their warmth.”

Elyna resisted the urge to scoff. Purely for Carmelita’s benefit - it wasn’t directed at her. ‘Remembering warmth’. There wasn’t any warmth to remember when it came to Neyla. To the brisk, clipped instructions Elyna had been left in lieu of a childhood.

She felt the decision click into place.

“Let’s not do it.”

Carmelita, to her credit, kept her reaction diplomatic. “You’ve decided?”

“Yeah. If the point is remembering the good times, well… A photograph of Neyla is just a waste of space.”

In other circumstances, Carmelita would have shown more enthusiasm for an insult that harsh, that confidently delivered. But she knew to tread relatively lightly, so she just offered Elyna a smile. “Well said. I’m glad I could help.”

“Yeah. Thanks a lot.” Elyna nervously returned it. “I was hoping you’d know what to do. And, I knew that you, y’know… I mean, I can ask Dad for advice on a lot of things, and it’s usually pretty good, but-”

“Happy Skeleton Day~!”

The door swung open, revealing a grinning Sly. They hadn’t heard him come through the front door, but he had no qualms about announcing his presence.

“How’s it going?” His eyes, the same hazel as Elyna’s, fell on the ofrendas. “Oh, wow. These look better and better every year, ‘Lita.”

“Oh, I didn’t do much differently…” said Carmelita, but her face betrayed how much she appreciated the comment.

He planted a kiss on her cheek, then planted himself beside her, husbandly.

“Where’s B?”

“Oh, she ran straight to her room,” he said. “Pretty sure she’s stashing her candy in a secure location. Or locations. Who knows how many caches she might have…”

Carmelita sighed. “Is that raccoon behaviour, or fox behaviour…?”

“Oh, both. Absolutely both. It’s a marvel she eats anything at dinner.”

He turned his warm smile more towards Elyna.

“So, what are you two talking about?”

“Just, uh, holiday stuff,” said Elyna. “I had a weird question. Carmelita is a good person to ask.”

“She is! Honestly, I just follow her lead.” He glanced over to her. “Speaking of, there’s still a few things to figure out about the big dinner. Bentley and Penelope are easy to cook for, but I like to give Murray new options where I can. Any thoughts?”

Seizing this chance for a tactful retreat, Elyna began to drift towards the door. “I might, uh, go check on B.”

“Good idea,” said Carmelita. “Again, I’m glad I could answer your question. You can always talk to me, Elyna.” That earned a smile, once much less nervous.

“Thanks, Mom.”

There was a pause.

Sly was pretty sure that blushes weren’t supposed to show up through fur, and yet, the lilac of Elyna’s face seemed to briefly veer into a much more reddish purple. Her hazel eyes were wide and unblinking. “mrrghg,” she said.

“Come again?” said Sly, unruffled.

“I said ‘okay bye’,” said Elyna and she was gone an instant later.

The door clicked shut with surprising gentleness. Sly chuckled. “Well…”

He stopped, finally noticing his wife had a similar facial expression.

“‘Lita? Everything alright?”

She blinked, twice, and suddenly she was back. It was still hard to slow Carmelita Fox down. “Sorry. Just wasn’t expecting that.”

Sly’s smile was wry, but his voice was soft. “I was.”

Carmelita leaned against him, and they stood there for a moment, half-embracing in their living room. Logistical questions about dinner plans and decorations fell away, briefly, as they savoured the feeling in the air. What had just happened, and the unique atmosphere of the day, and, of course, each other.

The silence was broken by a soft murmur.

“She’s a good kid.”

“Really?” said Sly innocently. “She doesn’t get it from me!”

Carmelita scoffed.

“Okay, maybe she does,” he admitted. “I have many wonderful qualities to pass on, as is evident in both our daughters…”

He cupped his wife’s cheek. Lost himself, for a moment, in those deep brown eyes.

“But you’re a better influence than I could ever be.”

Her reply was a kiss.

The moment passed, slowly, but they didn’t hurry to get back to decorating. It was still early, and they had several hours before the annual dinner they held for Murray and Bentley and Penelope - familial relations just as important as the gallery of photographs in front of them. As the girls engaged in hushed discussion of cheap chocolate upstairs.

“Oh,” said Carmelita. “While she and I were talking, I realized that Elyna’s never met my parents. We should fix that.”

“We should,” said Sly. “Sometime in winter, maybe? Whenever suits your folks. Might take us a little while to get over there, but we could throw in a few detours on the way, really make use of the journey…”

She smiled. “And when did I say we’d be going to them? They’d be perfectly happy to come here. You’re just-”

“-taking every chance I see to go on a trip, yes,” he smirked back. “C’mon, ‘Lita, you can hardly be that surprised. Old habits, etcetera…”

“Are you really so eager to escape?”

She said it as a joke, but he didn’t bounce back with another quip. He stood there, in his living room. His daughters upstairs. His parents watching over him from behind the glass of their picture frame. His brothers and sister-in-law, still thriving, quietly, the same way he was, on their way in a few hours. And, above all else, the love of his life in his arms.

His smile was as warm as his voice.

“Nah. We’ve got something pretty good here.”

#SlyFox #Elyna #just some regular-boy prose to close out!

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voodoochili · 3 years

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My 75 Favorite Albums of 2020

Every year produces excellent music and 2020 was no exception. The exceptional thing about this year, though, is the loss of livelihood so many musicians suffered as a result of the pandemic. To better celebrate all I’ve listened to and loved this year, I’ve expanded my albums list from 50 to 75 albums and included a highlight track from each in the Spotify playlist below. If you like what you hear, why not throw the artist a few dollars on Bandcamp?

Check the Spotify playlist HERE.

Without further ado, my favorite albums of 2020. Happy New Year, and happy listening!

10. Playboi Carti - Whole Lotta Red: Carti’s long-awaited opus has only been out for a week, which is probably not a long enough time to give an album as sprawling and surprising as this one a full critical evaluation. But I do know when I’m hearing something that’s unlike anything I’ve ever heard: this album rearranges hip-hop at the molecular level.

Whole Lotta Red is overstuffed with invention, the glitchy, expansive production giving Carti ample opportunity to glom onto the contours of the beat and experiment with his voice. That voice is the album’s main attraction: it squeaks, it squeals, it roars, it spits, it shudders, and organizes itself into irresistibly ignorant mantras (my current favorite is “Lamborghini parked outside, it’s purple like lean”).

Across its 24 tracks (which feels like too many, sure, but only the 5-minute long Kid Cudi-infected droner “Metamorphosis” overstays its welcome), Carti plays with listener expectations, annihilating rap songwriting conventions (why do you need verse-chorus structure if every line is a hook) as he defiantly proclaims his desire to be unlike anybody else. Though it bears some resemblance in sound and subject matter to Future’s Monster (and much of the production owes a debt to the work of Lil Uzi Vert’s favored Working Of Dying collective), Whole Lotta Red firmly establishes Carti as a totemic figure connecting mainstream and underground sounds.

9. BbyMutha - Muthaland: BbyMutha is a natural born spitter, armed with a drawly stutter-stepping flow that routinely annihilates unconventional instrumentals. She glows with supreme confidence and comfort in her own skin, especially when she’s dripping with disdain with those who’d dare refuse her the respect she deserves. A 25-track opus that earns every minute of its runtime, Muthaland is an engrossing immersion into Mutha’s world, balancing a fascination with the occult (“Sorry I don’t fuck with n****s who don’t fuck with Satan”) with grounding interjections from close friends and her four children. Boasting rockstar fantasies like “Heavy Metal,” bad girl anthems like “Nice Guy,” and dancefloor-ready jams like “Cocaine Catwalk,” Muthaland is a tour-de-force by one of rap’s singular voices, and if she’s really finished with music as she’s claimed (rappers never really retire, but Mutha has indicated she wants to focus full time on her Apothecary), the game will greatly miss her incisive punchlines and crudely empowering perspective.

8. Westerman - Your Hero Is Not Dead: In 2020, Mid-’80s sophistipop grew into one of my favorite comfort foods. Westerman’s Your Hero Is Not Dead struck me directly in the sophistipop sweet spot, evoking the attention-to-detail and synth-heavy craftsmanship of that era and pairing it with harmonic complexity and a piercing emotionalism that recalls his idol Neil Young. On songs like “Blue Comanche” and “The Line,” Westerman constructs tales as twisty as his melodies, economically exploring how people relate to each other at the beginning and end of romantic relationships. Westerman complements his tasteful palette of synth sounds with intricate and lyrical guitar playing, most notably on the sighing, gorgeous instrumental “Float Over,” which softly segues into the title track to end the album on a gently-rising high note.

7. WizKid - Made In Lagos: The focal point of the sub-Saharan Afrobeats renaissance, Lagos is having one of the most exciting musical moments of any city since Kingston in the early ‘70s. WizKid is one of the scene’s biggest stars, with an ability to combine the sonic tapestry of his hometown with Caribbean-influenced beats and vocal styles. Made In Lagos is a masterwork of sound design, bringing creamy bass, chicken-scratch speckles of guitar, tasteful interjections of saxophone and brass, and an intoxicating mix of acoustic and electronic percussion, all offered in service to an immaculate vibe that matches the album cover’s shiny, monochromatic color scheme. Made with lockdown in mind, the album eschews uptempo dancefloor workouts in favor of stress-relief and romance. WizKid plays the perfect host, tamping down his melodic flights of fancy and embracing a song-serving smoothness. He’s a warm and inviting presence throughout, laying out the red carpet for a cross-continental cast of collaborators like H.E.R., Skepta, Burna Boy, and Damian Marley. The result is a truly global pop masterpiece, capable of brightening even the dourest day of a miserable year.

6. Ka - Descendants of Cain: Firefighter by day and rapper/producer by night, Ka is a master of allusion. He organizes his thoughts into themed collections of metaphor, illustrating the bleak realities of street life with gnomic symbolism. On Descendants Of Cain, Ka’s strongest work to date, the enigmatic rapper expresses himself through a litany of biblical references, drawing parallels between ancient parables (he goes far deeper than the Cain/’caine double entendre that rappers have been using for decades) and the stark code of morality with which he lives his life. The 48-year-old hermit produced the project himself, creating an immersive sonic realm, crafting expansive, noir-ish backing tracks populated by late-night saxophones, sparkling pianos, and the occasional shot of sweeping strings. Once again, Ka’s music comes almost entirely without drums (certainly without “beats” in the traditional hip-hop sense–every once in a while, he adds an open hi-hat or a subdued shaker), the artist preferring to let his music swirl around his half-whispered words of wisdom. The album ends on a tearful, sentimental note with “I Love (Mimi, Moms, Kev),” in which the artist ditches the biblical lyrical conceit and expresses his love for his wife, his mom, and his best friend atop light percussion and a warm soul sample.

5. SAULT - Untitled (Rise): Rise is the second part of a diptych that SAULT recorded in response to the movement that exploded in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Black Is, the first part, is a great album (you’ll find it in the lower reaches of my 2020 list), but the mysterious UK collective fulfilled their immense potential with Rise, a propulsive, powerful, and danceable album that doubles as a thought-provoking examination of the nature of freedom and liberation. The album tackles weighty topics–police violence, fake-woke “allies,” protest, cultural appropriation–but handles them with an inspiring effervescence and a propulsion meant to usher right-thinking people into the streets. The music itself is an intoxicating marvel, combining elements from every trendy musical movement from the early ‘80s (post-disco, post-punk, house, hip-hop, whatever the hell ESG was) into a percussive and surprisingly cohesive cocktail. The album immediately makes its greatness known with its first four songs, one of the strongest opening runs of any album in recent memory: the swaggering, funky, keep-your-head-up anthem “Strong,” which features a drum solo from SAULT architect Inflo, the soaring, club-ready vamp “Fearless,” concept-establishing, string-heavy interlude “Rise,” and especially “I Just Want to Dance,” the best song ESG never wrote.

4. Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters: Fetch The Bolt Cutters arrived with the kind of universal acclaim that can make some people suspicious. The Pitchfork review got a lot of attention, not just for its perfect score but for its bold statement that “no music has ever sounded quite like it.”

That statement might’ve been slightly hyperbolic. Fetch The Bolt Cutters has the kind of propulsive left-hand piano figures, chest-thumping percussion, and impassioned vocal performances that we haven’t heard since...the last Fiona Apple album. But the album deserves its experimental reputation. These songs mess around with song structure and melody in ways that resemble avant-garde singers like Meredith Monk, use overlapping vocals that occasionally evoke the works of post-modern composers like Luciano Berio, and echoing modernist composers like Edgard Varese in the way she wrings pathos out of rhythmic elements.

Though Fetch might be a slight step down from The Idler Wheel, it’s an invigorating listen, packed with the soul-baring confessionals that only Fiona is capable of executing. Combining literary wordplay with plainspoken directness, Fiona forces the listener to confront her trauma and contemplate her diagnoses of patriarchal ills. The songs are uniformly excellent–especially opener “I Want You To Love Me,” the most “traditional” song on the record, and “Shameika,” a burrowing childhood rumination with a happy ending–but Fetch The Bolt Cutters stands out to me as a collection of amazing moments: when the jig-like “For Her” fades into an unforgettably painful cadence (“Good mornin’, good mornin’/You raped me in the same bed your daughter was born in”), Fiona’s ground-shaking vocal intensity at the end of “Newspaper,” her dogs howling over the outro of “Fetch The Bolt Cutters,” the winking repetition of the title phrase on “Ladies.” Her albums display more than enough ambition to forgive the long gestation periods, but hopefully we won’t have to wait another 8 years for Fiona to bare her soul once again.

3. Drakeo The Ruler - Thank You For Using GTL: Embroiled in a Kafkaesque legal saga that shines a light on the worst aspects of our horrendous justice system, Drakeo The Ruler spent more than three years wrongly incarcerated for a crime he not only did not commit, but for which he was acquitted (for more info on Drakeo’s ordeal, read Jeff Weiss). He’s now mercifully a free man, mostly due to the work of his lawyer, but at least partially because of publicity generated by Thank You For Using GTL. Recorded over the phone from prison during the height of the pandemic, it’s a miracle that an album created under such sub-optimal conditions sounds as excellent as it does, but credit producer JoogSzn–who not only supplied the creeping, head-nodding backing tracks but recorded Drakeo’s phoned-in vocals–and engineer MixedByNavin for the project’s astonishing fidelity. Drakeo and Joog spent hours on the phone to record the album, in the process paying thousands of dollars to GTL, the predatory telecom company of choice for the L.A. corrections system, whose mechanical interjections serve as a constant reminder of the injustice that made the album necessary. Of course, a good story is a good story, but that alone doesn’t get an album on 2020’s most prestigious Best Albums list (mine). It’s a classic rap album, perhaps the best ever released by an incarcerated rapper, and a thumb directly in the nose of the D.A. and the LAPD. The album is a lyrical marvel, packed with winding wordplay and outlandish flexes, as Mr. Mosley takes aim at 6ix9ine, cackles at sorry-ass Instagram haters, and sneers at American-made cars (“To be honest, a Hellcat isn’t a foreign”). Each song has a carefully considered concept, the rapper’s punchlines building upon one another to make an airtight case for his status as L.A.’s top dog. He contrasts his own whip-crashing lifestyle with flashy wannabes on “GTA VI” and “Backflip or Sumn,” mourns a favorite department store on “RIP Barneys,” and proves he still doesn’t rap beef on “Maestro’s Tension.” The album’s masterstroke comes with “Fictional,” the final track, in which Drakeo exposes the prosecution’s use of his lyrics as evidence in criminal proceedings as the farce it is: “It might sound real, but it’s fictional/I love that my imagination gets to you.” Drakeo’s story was a rare bright spot in 2020, and a rare one with a happy ending. Just last week, the rapper released Because Y’All Asked, a studio-recorded version of Thank You For Using GTL, giving the album’s songs the clarity they deserve. But I think I’ll mostly return to the original, which will live on as an excellent album and a vital document of post-George Floyd America.

2. Pa Salieu - Send Them to Coventry: Hailing from the middle of nowhere–or, more accurately city in the English Midlands only known in the states for its middling Premier League team–Gambian-British artist Pa Salieu served up the most distinctive, visceral, and daring rap debut of the year. His style fuses elements of grime, drill, afro-trap, dancehall, and the darker edges of U.S. hip-hop into a percussive slurry, injected with the urgency of his struggle to survive. The magic of the album comes from the way Pa’s fluid flows interact with the shimmering and foreboding production (Felix Joseph and Aod lead the cast of the project’s sound architects), which is perfectly suited for cold city nights. He slips effortlessly into the pocket, toe-tagging the beats with a combination of aggression and trance-like meditation and uttering casually powerful pronouncements (“I'd make a killa riddim offa any riddim/The grind can never stop 'til I'm wrapped in linen”) that make you believe he’s Britain’s next great rapper. Pa keeps the vibe consistent throughout, but the moments that stand out are the moments when he locks into an unbreakable groove over no-frills production, like on singles “Block Boy,” “Betty,” and “B***K.” The artist’s wry sense of humor and brash confidence keeps the album from feeling bleak, but Send Them To Coventry wisely ends on “Energy,” a warm and bright ode to keeping your creative spark safe from the prying forces of fame and fortune.

1. Kassa Overall - I Think I’m Good: “I think I’m good”–a phrase that’s ran through my head throughout this shitstorm of a year. Sure, I postponed a wedding, cancelled trips, and saw my friends and family much less often than I would like, but I count myself among the lucky ones. Still breathing, still sane. Though it was recorded and released before the pandemic started, Kassa Overall’s I Think I’m Good became a lodestar of sorts for me. It’s a brilliantly introspective and deeply personal album about existing in enclosed spaces–whether a jail cell, an NYC subway car, or the inescapable prison of your own body.

Kassa Overall made his name as a jazz drummer, touring with icons like Geri Allen, but his solo music incorporates elements of hip-hop, classical, and trap to create a wholly original milieu. The album features contributions from over 30 accomplished voices, ranging from luminary Vijay Iyer, to Kassa’s saxophonist brother Carlos Overall, to virtuosic pianist Sullivan Fortner, to venerated activist Angela Davis. But all the disparate elements come together in service of Kassa’s deeply personal and engrossing vision.

Taking partial inspiration from Kassa’s struggle with manic depression, the music fluctuates between meditative calm and unbearable tension, mimicking the patter of an unquiet mind. Album opener “Visible Walls,” is a mesmerizing prayer for salvation soundtracked by fluttering harps, piercing woodwinds, and heartbeat percussion. “Find Me” buries a plea for help within a cacophony of sampled voices and rattling piano notes. Fortner’s piano guides us through the hauntingly devastating “Halfway House” and the Chopin-indebted “Darkness In Mind,” each highlighting a different stage of grief (despair and acceptance, respectively). The arc of I Think I’m Good concludes with the hopeful “Got Me A Plan” and “Was She Happy (For Geri Allen),” a Vijay Iyer-assisted tribute to his late friend and mentor.

It’s ironic that an album that so deeply explores the feeling of isolation vibrates with such a collaborative spirit. I Think I’m Good feels like an answered prayer–a community coming together to check on a beloved friend who’s gone through a tough time: “You good, man?” “I think so.”

Here’s the rest of my list.

11. Yves Tumor - Heaven To A Tortured Mind 12. Shackleton & Waclaw Zimpel - Primal Forms 13. Bob Dylan - Rough & Rowdy Ways 14. Duval Timothy - Help 15. Lil Uzi Vert - Eternal Atake 16. Moodymann - Taken Away 17. Secret Drum Band - Chuva 18. J Hus - Big Conspiracy 19. Headie One & Fred Again - GANG 20. Tiwa Savage - Celia 21. Andras - Joyful 22. Bill Callahan - Gold Record 23. King Von - Welcome To O’Block 24. Flo Milli - Ho, Why Is You Here? 25. Chubby & The Gang - Speed Kills 26. Madeline Kenney - Sucker’s Lunch 27. Empty Country - Empty Country 28. Smino - She Already Decided 29. Destroyer - Have We Met 30. Yves Jarvis - Sundry Rock Song Stock 31. Ela Minus - Acts Of Rebellion 32. Creeper - Sex, Death & The Infinite Void 33. Alabaster DePlume - To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals, Vol. 1 34. Good Sad Happy Bad - Shades 35. The 1975 - Notes On a Conditional Form 36. Kate NV - Room For The Moon 37. $ilkmoney - Attack of the Future Shocked, Flesh Covered, Meatbags of the 85 38. Eddie Chacon - Pleasure, Joy and Happiness 39. Kenny Segal & Serengeti - Ajai 40. Bad Bunny - YHLQMDLG 41. Kahlil Blu - DOG 42. Califone - Echo Mine 43. Boldy James - The Price of Tea in China/Manger On McNichols/The Versace Tape 44. Bufiman - Albumsi 45. Moses Boyd - Dark Matter 46. Thanya Iyer - KIND 47. Jyoti - Mama You Can Bet! 48. Obongjayar - Which Way Is Forward? 49. Rio Da Yung OG - City On My Back 50. Young Jesus - Welcome To Conceptual Beach 51. Owen Pallett - Island 52. Oceanator - Things I Never Said 53. Shootergang Kony - Red Paint Reverend 54. Shabason, Krgovich & Harris - Philadelphia 55. Six Organs of Admittance - Companion Rises 56. Lido Pimienta - Miss Colombia 57. Kelly Lee Owens - Inner Song 58. Polo G - The GOAT 59. Actress - Karma & Desire 60. Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher 61. Porridge Radio - Every Bad 62. Yg Teck - Eyes Won’t Close 63. Mozzy - Beyond Bulletproof 64. Ratboys - Printer’s Devil 65. R.A.P. Ferreira - Purple Moonlight Pages 66. Ulver - Flowers of Evil 67. Rina Sawayama - SAWAYAMA 68. SAULT - Untitled (Black Is) 69. Ezra Feinberg - Recumbent Speech 70. Davido - A Better Time 71. Hailu Mergia - Yene Mircha 72. HAIM - Women In Music Pt. III 73. Half Waif - The Caretaker 74. Key Glock - Yellow Tape 75. KeiyAa - Forever Your Girl

#kassa overall #pa salieu #drakeo the ruler #fiona apple #sault #ka #wizkid #westerman #playboi carti #bbymutha

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dudewantscupcakes · 5 years

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Calling it right now: Luka will sacrifice himself for Marinette/Ladybug in the “Miracle Queen” finale.

Was thinking about this theory way too hard on my Sunday afternoon, and felt the need to share the pain with Tumblr (you’re welcome!).

Spoilers (for Love Eater/Heart Hunter and Kwami Buster) and pain under the cut!

It’s already been well-established in the prior episodes that Marinette relies on Luka for emotional support (see “Captain Hardrock”, “Frozer” and “Silencer”), and some have pointed out this moment in “Desperada” as an indication that Luka has caught onto Ladybug’s secret identity:

I firmly believe the interplay of Luka and Marinette’s relationship, as well as this possible identity suspicion in “Desperada” serve as foundation for what’s to/has unfolded in the season 3 finale. This, what we’ve seen in “Love Eater/Heart Hunter”, and the alleged fact that the Miraculous crew were “moved to tears” by the final episode all point towards this conclusion: something tragic will happen in the finale, and they’ve developed Luka as the perfect martyr.

Disclaimer: Before Luka fans get mad, please understand that this is not a Luka hate post. I’m also a Luka fan, and I want nothing but the best for my guitar playing, slightly cheesy, teeth-rottingly sweet boy. But the (unfortunately shallow) character arc for Luka seems to foreshadow nothing but bad things for his future :( I hope I’m proven wrong when the finale airs in December, but until then, I am convinced bad things will happen to him.

Ok, let’s start from the beginning. “Love Eater/Heart Hunter” (I’m going to call the episode Heart Hunter from now on) starts off with Marinette’s narration, and it’s interesting to see who they choose to focus on the most during her monologue:

“And some have nothing to lose”, Marinette narrates as we see a happy Luka. He’s humming what is likely one of his drafts of Marinette’s ‘melody’, looking cheerful as usual.

What do we cut to in the next scene?

We all know that Marinette is (almost unrealistically) superhuman when it comes to multitasking and coping with pressure. But we are also reminded at certain points in the series that she’s only human. Despite her ingenious plans and effusive energy, she also makes mistakes and sometimes needs help from others. This scene where she trips while she’s carrying a stockpile of boxes for her parents (bless her soul) is a perfect microcosm of what the writers are trying to convey with Marinette’s character design: she often carries more on her shoulders than she can handle.

And guess who appears to help her out?

As I’ve mentioned before, from the storywriter’s POV, Luka serves as emotional support for Marinette. His prior development in “Silencer” showed just how far he was willing to go for Marinette’s happiness: even though he was controlled by an akuma, the passion and devotion he felt for Marinette was all from him. And this scene in Heart Hunter is a reminder of his ‘role’ when it comes to Marinette. He is her support.

Notice how the frame also includes the guitar in his basket. Luka is not a man of many words, choosing rather to express himself through music. In a way, his guitar is his soul, the medium he relies on to communicate his emotions – especially towards Marinette. The scene focuses even more on the guitar as he uses it to strum a song for Marinette, which becomes important at the end of the episode.

But before that, we get this adorable sequence:

Luka gives her a helmet and drives her to the hotel. Marinette hangs onto him from the back while wearing said helmet. Why include the helmet sequence? Other than instilling a message of bike-riding safety (Which is actually very important! Falling on your head without a helmet sucks, not that I’d know.), I think the animators were trying to hint at something else. Keep reading.

The rest of the episode unfolds badly for Marinette. She third-wheels on Adrien’s date with Kagami, sees Cat Noir growing distant from her, and suspects that she’s put Fu in danger. It’s a lot for person – let alone a teenager – to handle, and cracks start to form in her façade of nonchalance.

Who appears again when her stress is at its worst?

Other than the obvious fact that Luka comes to the rescue, let’s note how the guitar is not only a part of the frame this time, but its visual focal point:

The animators really want us to focus on that guitar, huh? If you’re still skeptical, guess what happens when Luka walks over to Marinette.

His bike falls over, the camera pans over to the guitar (again!) falling along with the helmet. And they’re both conveniently placed at the dead center of the camera shot. Why focus on the falling bike and the scattered items? Because they’re supposed to tell us something.

They fall when Luka loses his grip on the bike as he walks over to comfort Marinette. It shows how focused he was on comforting Marinette, prioritizing this over salvaging his items from the fall. As I’ve said before, Luka is a passionate, devoted person. And he feels these emotions for Marinette, almost putting her on a pedestal of sorts for the sake of making her happy (letting her go after Adrien in “Frozer”, resorting to criminal acts for Marinette’s sake in “Silencer”, etc.). This scene is a perfect visual illustration of the extent Luka is willing to go to for Marinette’s sake. He’s willing to ‘take the fall’ for her when it comes to making her happy.

The guitar is an obvious symbol of Luka himself, given his penchant for the instrument. But what about the helmet?

This scene shows the answer. Luka is giving her protection and will continue to do so into the next episode (hence why the episode ends on this scene). At this time, he’s protecting her in an emotional way, literally shielding her from the rest of the world as he embraces her and lends a listening ear.

The episode concludes with a shot centered around Luka, and I think that’s something significant to note. Heart Hunter starts and ends with shots focused on someone who honestly wasn’t that instrumental to its plot. Why? Because Heart Hunter is only the first part of a two-parter finale, and these shots serve as foreshadowing for Luka’s importance in the second part.

I mentioned before that Luka may suspect Ladybug being Marinette, and this is the perfect place for the writers to tie that back into the storyline. Marinette has just been driven over the edge due her thinking she has failed as Ladybug, and Luka is offering to listen to her problems. Whether Marinette will choose to disclose her identity in the process of alleviating her anxiety is admittedly still uncertain. But given how the finale provides the perfect opportunity for this drama to go down (see my comments about the crew’s reception to the finale) I am thinking that Luka will be let it in on Marinette’s secret in the next episode.

This, along with the consideration that Luka has already wielded a miraculous, makes me think that Luka will hold a significant, protective role in the upcoming story: a tragic hero’s role. Luka’s altruistic characterization, as well as Heart Hunter’s unsettling imagery point towards the possibility that he’ll put himself in danger for Marinette/Ladybug’s sake.

My shot in the dark is that he’ll attempt to wield both the ladybug and cat miraculouses in order to defeat Hawkmoth and Mayura; who may attempt to use the miraculouses they’ve just stolen from Fu. Marinette has been shown to be able to handle using multiple miraculouses, but it’s also been explicitly stated that this is a dangerous practice that requires physical and mental fitness. I am not so sure if she meets the latter requirement at this point in time due to the events of Heart Breaker, so Luka may offer to help her out. And she may let him help her.

Even though Marinette was successful in using multiple miraculouses in “Kwami Buster”, we also saw how exhausting this was for her. I can’t even imagine what doing the same would do to Luka, especially if their battle against Hawkmoth/Mayura is prolonged (as they are always in finales). My guess is that Luka will suffer consequences similar to Emilie’s, going comatose as a result of misusing miraculouses. For the writers, this is the perfect hurricane of drama needed to stir up the fandom but not jeopardize their future seasons/the love square: have the secondary love interest find out Ladybug’s identity, and then remove him from the equation once and for all by having him make the ultimate, tragic sacrifice for Ladybug. After all, he has “nothing to lose”, right?

Again, this is not a Luka hate post, and I want to make that abundantly clear. I personally hope I’m reading too much into this and that I’m proven wrong in December. But how the writers have characterized Luka so far in the series and in Heart Breaker makes me really anxious. :(

Prayer circle for Marinette AND Luka.

#miraculous ladybug #ml #luka couffaine #marinette dupain cheng #lukanette #love eater #kwami buster #ml 3.25 #ml spoilers #love eater spoilers #heart hunter #heart hunter spoilers #s3 spoilers #kwami buster spoilers #spoilers #miraculous theory

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