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lil-tachyon · 9 months

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For the last couple weeks I've been drawing logos / designs for local-ish (mostly NJ, some PA and NY) bands as warmups in the morning. Here's what I've come up with! Massive post below the break explaining each logo + where to find each band and listen to their music.

Teenage Halloween- a staple of New Jersey basements for probably about a decade now and finally getting wider recognition in the last couple years. Pop punk / power pop with a killer horn section. First time I saw them was in New Brunswick playing with Walter Etc. and Blowout. They played a killer cover "Build Me Up Buttercup" and my wife got a black eye in the pit. Recommended tracks: "Brain Song," "666," "Clarity." Their first EP is on a separate bandcamp page btw, check it out here it's great.

Sweet Pill - They will call themselves a Philly band but in my heart they'll always be from Glassboro. Definitely one of the more recognizable names on this list. Emo revival - early stuff is more twinkly, more recent stuff is heavier. All of it's great. Recommended tracks "Nephew," "High Hopes."

Shark Club - Central Jersey's finest. I'm very biased because I actually know these dudes and they did the music for my wedding. Some of the best pop punk you'll hear and the nicest people you'll meet. Recommended tracks: "Game Theory," "Bill Murray," "Heavens to Betsy."

Rest Ashore - My favorite band for the last (oh God I'm old now) eight years. From gut-wrenching emo ballads to virtuoso math-rock instrumentals they do it all. One time I got to sing vocals on "Lucy's Theme" at a house show- thank you Erica! Recommended tracks: "Hjarta," "Chinese Opera," "Devotion," "Soyuz Sweetheart." Too many bangers to name honestly, just deep dive their discography.

Morus Alba - First band I ever went to see at a house show and still one of my absolute favorites. Their music feels like the bridge between the best pitchfork, /mu/ alt rock bands and high energy basement emo. I mean that as a compliment and I hope it comes off as one lol. I should note that since 2019 Morus Alba has morphed from a band into an experimental hip-hop project so later releases sound radically different and basically disconnected from the earlier stuff. Also my favorite release from them, Live at Isabelle's, has been scrubbed from the internet but if you'd like the files just email me. Recommended tracks: "Skyscraper," "Human Resources," "The Goodnight Waltz."

Have a Good Season - another Jersey mainstay that's still going strong. Emo revival in their earlier releases, now with more 70s power pop influences in their newer stuff. See them live, they put on a fantastic show and usually play some great covers in addition to their original music. HaGS guys if you're reading this, please put your version of "Since You've Been Gone" online, I'm begging you. Recommended tracks: "Joseph / Shel Silverstein," (you have to listen to them together for the drop, so good) , "Gum, "Gleaux / Scab." Also, frontman Nic Palermo interviewed me once.

Elephant Jake - If you see any of these bands live make it EJ, they put on such a damn good show. Electrifying indie punk from the Empire State. Recommended tracks: "F.D.C." "Sarah Moyer," "Goodness to Honest," and of course you gotta learn "Sebastien Bauer" for the singalongs.

Blind Lion - Sadly one of the greats that we lost along the way. Defunct since about 2017. I only got to see them once but it was a great performance. Alongside their own stuff they played some killer covers of "Bad Moon Rising" and "Moonage Daydream." I had trouble doing a logo design for them because I actually really like the composition, if not the "Ed Hardy-ness," of their existing logo so what you see here are two separate attempts, neither of which feels entirely satisfying to me. Frontperson Larry Flately currently plays in Nematode and also handled production of Bradley Gardens joke hiphop group The Breakfast Boiz under the moniker "DJ Ova EZ." Recommended tracks: "Brumous," "Dinner."

Fighting Seasons - A band that I sadly found out about too late (via a sticker under the bridge in my town which has since been painted over). 2010s pop punk that packs a helluva punch, especially considering that I'm pretty sure the members were high schoolers for most of the band's existence. I think some members may have gone on to form Sawce (FFO Chon, Polyphia, that type of music) but I can't remember where I read/heard that so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Recommended tracks: "Fighting Seasons," "Oil on Canvas"

Milkmen- Another fallen giant, officially disbanded in 2019. Like Morus Alba, they played the very first house show I attended and their few releases remain on constant rotation in my home. Used to put on a great show and were one of the bands I always thought would make it big until suddenly they weren't around anymore. Frontman Ben Thieberger contributed guitar and vocals to Covid quarantine project Kin if you're looking for a bit of an extra fix but beyond that I don't know what these guys are up to these days, sadly. Recommended tracks: "Ramus," "Johnny Dangerously," "how sieves catch breeze," "K.O.T.H."

Stand and Wave - New York (now Philly) pop punkers delivering instant dopamine hits with every track. Another great live act, see them with EJ if you can! They often play shows together. Recommended tracks: "Convos," "Mrs. Dash," "Splashton Kutcher," "Michael Collins."

My Chemical Romance - You know who they are. While I was drawing all these other logos I ran a poll on Patreon to decide which famous New Jersey band should also be graced with a drawing from me. MCR won the poll by a hefty margin so unfortunately you won't get to see me do an illegible black metal take on Hoboken's Yo La Tengo. I ended up doing two versions: the one with the halo is the first, the one with the bats was the second. I tried to do something kind of thin and elegant with the first one and I don't think it's terrible but I also wasn't quite satisfied with it. For the 2nd attempt I tried to lean into the kind of pulpy, almost horror punk aesthetic of early MCR and I think that one looks better even if it's less original.

Anyway if you took the time to read through all this, thank you very much! And please support these bands! Also If any of the links aren't working please let me know.

-Logan

#emo #pop punk #new jersey #band logo #logo design #punk #my chemical romance #mcr #emo revival

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gnomeantics · 7 months

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for those unable to attend the livestream i present:

NOTES FROM THE HATCHETFIELD HALLOWEEN PARTY 14th October 2023, 01:00 BST (my time!) / 13th October 2023, 17:00 PDT (their time!)

Note: These notes are at times a little nonsensical and useless and just quotes. This is because it lasted from 01:00-04:00 for me meaning I was incredibly tired. Please bear with <3

Section 1: Nerdy Prudes Must Die talkback

Started with chiptune of Feast or Famine and then chiptune of Jane’s A Car

Steph’s dad may be dead but at least she has a boyfriend <3

Joey was eating beef and potato stew for most of the first segment

When Jeff was asked for the inspiration for The Summoning: “[…] I don’t know. That just popped in my head. It could be true.” (His answer was Wizard of Oz.)

Section 2: Hatchet Town Trivia Challenge

I tried to keep track of “chat vs cast” points but lost count and failed rather miserably

Nora’s last name is Beanie. Nora Beanie

Jeff is “an avid lover of baby-water” (water pure enough for babies to drink) and “widely known as Doctor Spreadsheets” (my notes just say “baseball game”)

Every time the world destroys, Ted dies twice: once as Ted, once as homeless guy

Lex helped deliver Hannah by teleporting her out of the womb through the Black and White

Greenpeace Girl’s name is Harmony Jones!

Wilbur Cross murdered Duke Senior (Duke Keane’s dad) this may be explored in future.

Section 3: Workin’ Boys

All of my “notes” here are just gushing about the characters. I have written nothing useful enough to be put here

Section 4: Workin’ Boys talkback

Chad was not included in WB because it was deemed that nobody could live up to the legend. This spawned the “Darren 4 Chad” movement in chat

The Workin’ Boys album will be out around next week if all goes to plan. It is 5 tracks and would include Mariah’s version of the Show Stoppin’ Number monologue as well as at least some of her singing it (as seen in the show; hoping for a full version!!)

Mariah’s character in the audience was called Woman.

Lauren’s character in the audience was Courtney, Thrash’s girlfriend from Killer Track

Paul Gabriel’s character was Paul Gabriel

Linda Monroe auditioned for Workin’ Girls and was the only one who didn’t get a part (Ruth was chosen over her). This is why she was happy to see it crash and burn

The programmes made for Workin’ Girls had very detailed bios, which hopefully when in full quality will be readable when paused. This may set up the potential for the Workin’ Girls actresses to be in future HF projects where this can be explored

Jaime will hopefully be in the next Starkid musical!!!!

The Black Book was originally supposed to debut in Workin’ Boys, in its original form in 2020

The 2020 version was planned as a feature-length film but eventually it was decided that it was confusing and remodelled.

The Summoning was supposed to be in Workin’ Boys – the producer would have tricked Hidgens into making the girls perform a ritual; it was realised that this didn’t make much sense so the song was transferred to NPMD

Section 5: The Future Of Hatchetfield

Hatchetfield was supposed to be finished by 2020

Starkid is not going to be exclusively Hatchetfield in the future; their next full-length musical will not be Hatchetfield

NMT3 is hopefully going to happen provided there is enough interest! It was supposed to happen in the same year as NMT2 but they take a long time to write (much longer than a full musical) so that couldn’t happen

NMT3 would conclude Lex and Hannah’s story after Yellow Jacket

It would be produced more face to face like a TV show – Nick said “less Zoom call-y”

It would include stories withheld from NMT1 and NMT2

It would entirely depend on how much interest, particularly views on NMT2.

It would be Halloween themed.

“More things akin to Workin’ Boys would be nice” - Nick

The episodes would be:

Bottle Imps

“Bill Woodward has been chosen to test CCRP’s latest and greatest product: Bottle Imps. These reality-bending buddies will bring their owner the one thing they desire most. When his new imp, Lovely, leads him to his soulmate, Bill decides to use his magical companion to play matchmaker. But to help Charlotte find the man of her dreams, Bill will have to bend the Imp’s rules. Rules he’s been warned, must never be broken…”

Frankenruth

“Desperate to see a naked body, Ruth Fleming and Richie Lipschitz volunteer at the morgue of St. Damian’s Hospital. Their terrible plan becomes exponentially more terrible, when they become unwitting subjects in the experiments of the body-snatching madman, Doctor Lazlo, who claims to have conquered death itself. If Hatchetfield thought Ruth was bad before, then they will cower before the unspeakable horror of… Frankenruth!”

Becky Barnes Climbed A Tree

“Becky Barnes is on top of the world! Not in a literal sense, of course. She’s deathly afraid of heights. After years of struggle, Becky’s life is finally everything she dreamed it would be. She’s engaged to her High School sweetheart, Tom Houston, and the two have a surprise baby on the way! But as the couple prepared for the arrival of Baby Marie, a shadow from Becky’s past returns to haunt them.”

Devil’s Night

“Tim Houston has a crush. Unfortunately, it’s on his older, mature, and totally cool babysitter, Grace Chasity, who he fears will never see him as anything but a snot-nosed little kid. But when a devilish maniac with murderous designs on Grace attacks Hatchetfield the night before Halloween, Tim must protect his beloved, or join the killer’s growing body count. It’s another slashing adventure on the night HE came home… Devil’s Night.”

Miss Holloween

“It’s Halloween in Hatchetfield once again, and Miss Holloway is celebrating the same way she’s done for decades, staving off the horrors that go bump in the night. But when Duke gives her an invitation to his wedding, the dejected Miss Holloway begins to chafe under the terms of a contract forged many years ago. She strikes a new bargain, but unfortunately her creditors are known for their tricks, not treats. Just as Miss Holloway gives up her powers in exchange for a mortal life, a monstrous new threat rears its ugly head. As All Hallows Eve descends, and all Hell breaks loose, Miss Holloway must save the town or die trying… for real this time.”

Orbweaver

“Lex Foster had a life once. A home. A boyfriend. Now there is only the road, and her sister, and the fear of the men who are hunting them. As Hannah Foster watches Lex sink deeper into despair, she is certain of only three things: Webby is gone. She cannot help them. They are alone. Elsewhere, an old soldier awakens from a catatonic state. Returned from some unimaginable Hell with a mission. He knows that somewhere two magical girls require immediate evac… then maybe some coffee.”

As NPMD was conceived of first, it was supposed to be a Nerdy Prudes series: Nerdy Prudes Must Die, Horny Campers Must Die… (this was turned into NMT2’s Abstinence Camp)

The next Hatchetfield full-length musical would probably be about Miss Holloway if there was enough interest.

There is the possibility of a full movie set in Hatchetfield if there is enough interest. (Workin’ Boys was like a trial for how Hatchetfield works in film)

It would be called Cast Party Massacre

“The Hatchetfield Community Players. You will never find a cattier troupe of two-faced thespians. But when the blood begins to flow at their latest show’s cast party, they must consider: is there a secret murderer in their midst? And more importantly, who amongst them is a good enough actor to pull off such a performance? Can they set aside their petty squabbles and tangled romances, or is it curtains for this ensemble? Who will survive… the Cast Party Massacre!”

It would possibly feature the girls from Workin’ Boys.

The licencing rights to TGWDLM will be available soon!

#that took fucking AGES to type out #it's almost 5am now i'm going to bed #thhat was SUCH a good livestream though!!!#starkid #npmd spoilers #<- vaguely? a little? best be safe #hall of fame #yapping

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kyrieeleisonelise · 4 months

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Head-cannons about Ai’s relationship with her kids if she lived.

Ai and Ruby;

Not only was Ai a young mother anyway, but Ruby is born with memories of a past life, so they’re both near each other in maturity so they’re really close to each other. They’re more like sisters.

Because they’re at a similar maturity level they kind of grow up and mature together.

They do all sorts of things together friends would do, like movies, shopping, cafe trips etc.

Ruby idolises Ai, but as she grows older she starts to realise more of her flaws/human side.

Due to her abandonment issues with her last mother, Ruby can be quite clingy.

Both of them bond over idols, talking about songs, costumes, camera choices.

When Ai is ready to graduate from being an idol she worries she is letting Ruby down (even though she probably has an acting job lined up).

Ai supports Ruby’s dream of being an idol, but worries about her a lot/is protective of her because the industry can be seedy. It’s only then that Ai realised how much pressure and lack of protection she had as a kid, and reflects on how bad her own childhood truly was.

Ai initially worried Ruby would be friendless like she was, but is happy that Ruby can make friends easily.

Ai wonders how she could have a daughter who can love and make friends easily.

Ai seemed to get targeted a lot by other girls/women out of jealousy over her looks growing up. She worries the same will happen to Ruby because they look so similar and is confused when it doesn’t. It contributes to Ai’s negative beliefs about herself that her personality brought on the bullying.

But also, Ai finally realised how fucked up her own mother is for being jealous over Ai’s looks instead of protective, which is how Ai feels about Ruby.

Maybe when Ruby gets older she gets frustrated with Ai’s inability to have a serious conversation/tendency to make light of everything. but this is something they work through and understand each other better.

When Ai tried to help Ruby with her homework, they both just end up choreographing a new routine and Aqua has to keep them on track.

Ruby feels bad for hiding her past-life memories from Ai, but worries that Ai will think she’s weird/lying if she tells her.

From the age of 12, Ruby keeps trying to convince Ai to be an Idol duo with her, but Ai thinks she’s too old (at the ripe old age of like, 28).

They do perform on stage together at one point and it goes super viral.

Aqua.

Given that Aqua has the memories of a 30-something, sometimes he acts more like the parent.

Since she didn’t die and he didn’t get his trauma, Aqua is a lighter character in general and his sarcastic sense of humour is more evident.

From the age of about 6, Aqua is in charge of budgeting for the household (they only get fancy ice cream if Ai had a lot of extra jobs that month!)

Definitely the voice of reason in the house.

Sometimes Ai feels guilty and that she relies on him too much for practical things.

Although Aqua has his adult memories, he’s still a kid in many ways, but gets embarrassed over wanting normal kid things like a hug off his mum.

Instead of researching his mother’s killer, Aqua gets really into researching past-lives.

Because he’s so much more mature than Ruby, he struggles making friends with kids his own age till highschool. Ai worries he’s going to be an antisocial loner like her, especially because he’s not super affectionate for a kid.

Aqua gets on okay with other kids, but feels a bit alienated at times due to the maturity difference. He still spends a lot of the time with director and maybe would become good friends with Ichigo.

He really gets into acting and enjoys it. Maybe gets a bit of fame. He probably ends up acting alongside Kana a few times through childhood.

Ruby and Ai tease him for secretly being into idols (he says he only likes B Komachi, aka Ai).

He’s protective over both Ai and Ruby, but not to the degree of the original time line.

Generic;

Ai worries that once Ruby and Aqua get old enough to understand her better they’ll stop loving her like everyone else does.

Ai is a really good mother but tends to focus on her short-comings.

Ai introduces herself as the twin’s older sister or cousin to strangers. But she’s always really happy in circumstances she can openly call herself their mother.

Being a mother makes Ai realise how terrible her own childhood really was.

#oshi no ko #oshi no ko spoilers #ai hoshino #ruby hoshino #aqua hoshino #oshi no Ko analysis

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polyhexian · 20 days

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"the most mysterious song on the internet" finally got tracked down and it turns out it's from the soundtrack to an adult film, and everyone on yt is acting like this is So Bad like omg... It was found.... But it turned out it was from a NASTY PORNO the whole time..... What an awful outcome I was hoping it was a REAL song.... Like the fuck are y'all smoking. This isn't like the genuine stomach sinking revelation of where the Jeff the killer image originated from. Song got found! Awesome! Why are you all acting like it's a failure and not a success for lost media identification

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slexenskee · 13 days

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You might have already mentioned it, but what songs did Gojo sing as a kid with that band, the Band Aides? Cause I'm really curious what teen Gojo screamed into the microphone and what people thought of this crazy punk kid with super great music. Also, will the Scrub fans ever unearth a video someone probably took of little Gojo coasting around random alt-rock venues? Cause that would be hilarious.

We're actually going to get into it in future chapters!! 😁

He 100% plays Mr Brightside and basically he starts getting into the whole plagiarizing music thing by realizing that a lot of the bands he loved are either a) entirely missing from the timeline or b) missing some of his favorite songs from them and sets out to fix that.

The full backstory:

I don't really get into Band Aides much, but basically it was a garage band put together by Satoru, this high school first year, and his college freshman brother, and idk, maybe one other person haven't figured it out yet. But they play in the brothers' garage and their dad was in a band back in the states which is why he has all this random old equipment in his garage and also an undying love for classic rock music.

So they start out playing a lot of songs that Satoru does know - famous stuff from like before 1990 basically - and at first he's just jamming and having a good time actually realizing that he likes playing all the music he used to listen to in his last life, and just figuring out how music even works. The dad is super helpful in this since he was a musician in a band himself and can at least teach Satoru the basics of guitar, sound engineering, and all the technical stuff. They're still not great or anything, being a bunch of kids and all, and Satoru himself is still going from 0 to 100 learning about instruments and music theory.

Anyway, then he hears an 'album' from The Killers, realizes they only put out one album in this world and it was not Hot Fuss, and immediately sets out to try to re-create Mr Brightside for his band to play.

Because of the way this happens > him 'learning' about bands and music, then coming immediately after with songs resembling the bands he'd just listened to, it feels really organic to his band and the people who knew him at the time. Like yeah of course he made a song that sounds like The Killers after listening to their album, that's literally how all music is made. You get influenced and inspired by something and then create your own version. It's just in this instance, Satoru wasn't 'creating his own version' he was literally adding to their originally discography.

Eventually he stops playing songs that come from bands with missing discography and starts playing songs from ones that he realizes don't exist at all, but there's still enough of a trajectory that it still seems 'plausible'.

So, tbh, people who don't 'know' music think he's just a cool punk who makes epic songs. People who do know all those old genres and bands are like 'damn this kid has great taste' and also thinks he makes epic songs that really pay homage to that era.

I'm kinda torn on what The Band Aides would play on open mic nights actually.

Realistically they would mostly play cover songs bc even if Satoru wanted to be getting them to play 'his' songs, he wouldn't be at a point where he could properly articulate what he wanted it to even sound like. But I also want to sneak a bunch of Blink-182 songs into their tracks haha. And probably All Time Low too? All American Rejects??

Honestly they can play whatever you want them too, since I probably won't get into it beyond Mr Brightside! And yeah that would be so fun to have clips of lil' baby Satoru rocking out at like a talent show or something lmao

#mdnsy asks #fic may death never stop you

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girlfriendsofthegalaxy · 7 months

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tuesday again halloween problems (10/31/2023)

not quite an "oops all friends" edition but this edition heavily advised by viewers like you. thank you!

listening

mcr's blood, for seasonal reasons. spotify

Father Finlee by Spence Hood and Justin Ray Stringer is my new favorite song, a spooky prison? folk ballad? elements of the work song and dirge about it. rounds are underutilized in modern music imo.

Finlee played that guard like a fiddle Turned his own fears into a honing missile “Father can you save my soul…” “Well, first you gotta bring me a little C4...”

usually when a song intrigues me like this i try to find interviews or breakdowns of samples or something, but i am coming up flat empty. @dying-suffering-french-stalkers tasting notes: "Volga Boatmen, maybe, but by way of like...1950s/60s Disney choruses? Like Grim Grinning Ghosts?" spotify

reading

somewhat horrifying but unsurprising article about how companies who want (or want to keep) governments contracts can buy out entire DC Metro stations' adspaces. via @andmaybegayer i think?

The Pentagon station, a prime target for reaching DOD staffers, was one of a kind. The Pentagon is the most expensive station to “dominate” according to Outfront Media data which I obtained, even though it has substantially fewer riders than some of the others. Advertising to the 665,786 commuters estimated to visit the Pentagon station in a four week period costs $198,000 (about 30 cents per commuter), before fees. Yet in Gallery Place-Chinatown, a station in downtown DC farther away from government buildings, it costs only $120,000 to reach more than three times as many people (5 cents per commuter).

it is difficult to stress how uncooperative miss mackintosh was during this book's photoshoot. this is genuinely the best one.

i did not enjoy and did not finish Roshani Chokshi's 2018 queer magical intrigue and heist caper in belle epoque france, first in a trilogy. i think there is a mismatch between concept and execution here. i originally had a rather long paragraph about how i'd be interested in a non-new-adult book from her, but after checking her website and seeing that she mostly writes midde-grade and YA, and classifies this book as YA (which doesn't really make sense to me, i think everyone in the core crew can legally drink and i think what i read from this book fits better in New Adult) and has a forthcoming adult book i am not interested in, i think she is simply not an author for me. i reevauated this book with YA in mind, but i think teens deserve books with sophisticated writing and good execution too!

this had a really killer hook but the worldbuilding comes very in thick and fast during the first quarter of the book i read, and felt a little dorling kindersley (here is an eye of horus! on a chinese compass! with a sumerian cipher!). the magical system chokshi uses is novel in its heavy reliance on physical objects and like, countermeasures and counterspells? we get little hints of it as a global system, and it feels very analogous to The Power Of The Computer. a lot of it is based on creation of various physical objects, some of it is mind-based, there are the equivalent of magical stone faraday cages. the macguffin is like. what if a major internet exchange was an object you could carry around.

this magic system is so interesting it makes it disappointing and difficult to break down the distinction between "i don't think the soft-skill worldbuilding through connections and loyalties of characters is that well executed in these first hundred pages" and "hate this specific literary device". we are dropped into a heist at a magical auction where the many magical representatives are attending and rapidly rush through a lineup. this would be a really fun movie or other visual setpiece with intricate costuming choices, but it's hard to show and not tell a complex system of combined familial/cultural/nation-state houses of magic with backstabbing politics when you are rushing through a very time-limited heist. i know that it's the first in a trilogy, but the sheer number of factions and names is very large for a ~400 page trilogy entry. if this were a fucking doorstopper of a series i would have more faith that all will be eventually explained and i will eventually be able to distinguish them all, but i truly don't think she has the pages to do that.

the book's most frequent reviewer praise is that most of the core (but still! very wide! there are so many goddamn names!) cast are colonized or otherwise oppressed people, and i must give this book props for including a bisexual man in the ragtag crew. i read up to the first hundred pages to the first twist, and when the person who joins them at the twist has a voice that is not distinct from the existing gang’s, who are already not distinct from each other, i put the book down. a brief excerpt that does not serve this point very well but serves the following paragraph's point

this book felt like someone describing their dnd campaign to me. people on goodreads do love this book so i'm sure it does eventually deliver on the heist and found family aspects, but it's simply not for me.

bought this here in houston over the summer ( i think) not sure where

watching

House on Haunted Hill (1959, Castle). this was so charming!!!

"it’s a pity you didn’t know when you started playing murder…that i was playing too." vincent price truly is that bitch. his scenes with his fourth wife in the film, carol ohmart, are electric. they hate each other so much. they've tried to kill each other so many times. she laughs when he reminds her how she poisoned him with arsenic. the sex has got to be insane.

this is a public domain movie that's embedded in its own wikipedia page, lol, but there are various restorations of varying quality floating around.

youtube

the exterior shots of the "old, ugly, moldering house" are the frank lloyd wright ennis house in LA, which made me shriek bc it is a famously light/airy/sundrenched building. (exterior wikipedia, interiors here).

thank u @americanwwhore for logging it on letterboxd recently and making me go "oh hey i should watch that too"

playing

not technically fallow but i don't have an interesting story to tell about how i'm trying to get a specific set of genshin impact achievements

making

hey remember this baby blanket? i also forgot about it but now we’re up to 7/10 repeats. i may actually get this out before the child turns one

every time i make these sheet pan chicken thighs i arrange them like the isle of man coat of arms bc it amuses me. had to really mangle them to get a good temp reading but i have not yet given myself food poisoning here (fingers remain crossed).

#tuesday again #tuesday again no problem

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bonesandthebees · 8 months

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500 words on the Lovejoy concert: go

500 oh god oh fuck

Glasgow was a really fun concert!! Though it’d probably rank as one of my lower ones just bc I didn’t do the whole queue all day experience so it felt a lot shorter to me (and also it was such a huge venue)

I originally debated doing the all day queue bc I was selling my ticket to a Twitter mutual of mine I’ve met up with at concerts before, and they were planning on queueing all day. But when my alarm woke me up around 6 am I texted them asking what the queue was like and they said their friends held a spot for them at 4 am and they were 24th in the queue. Like, what.

So yeah I decided that wasn’t how I wanted to spend my last full day in Glasgow lol. Instead I took a tour of a whisky distillery (I do not like whisky but it’s Scotland so I figured why not) and got tipsy off the whisky samples they gave us. Then I went to a science museum across the way from the distillery (technically it’s meant for kids but it’s meant for adults to enjoy too) so I was just slightly drunk playing around with interactive science exhibits and befriended one of the staff members lmao

ANYWAY then around 4 I got to the venue and got in line (doors opened at 7). Got some takeaway from a nearby restaurant and ate it in line, it was very spicy but it kept me warm bc it was raining so I wasn’t complaining. Then I just kinda hung out there and chatted a bit with the girl behind me! We ended up being next to each other at the actual gig and became buddies which was nice and I was actually closer to the stage than I expected to be. Also I got tired of the ‘someone holds pictures up to the crowd on their phone and lets them cheer and boo respectively’ bit that happened at a few lovejoy gigs this past year, but it was pretty funny when someone held up the Scottish flag for everyone to cheer, and then the English flag for everyone to boo (and ofc I joined in)

It was SO HOT. At first I was glad bc as I said it was raining outside so I was shivering by the time we got in, but it didn’t take long for it to get sweaty. Loupe as an opening act was SO good. I’d never heard of them before but their music was so good!! (also the lead singer and the bassist were both so pretty I was having such a gay moment). Then Goodkid performed and tbh I know a ton of Lovejoy fans love their music but I’d never heard their stuff before, but I get it now they have such a fun sound and great energy!! Definitely gonna save some songs from them when I get around to it

Then lovejoy was fantastic as always. Although we were only about 3 songs in when someone fainted and everything had to stop. I couldn’t see what was going on from where I was but I hope the person’s okay! This was my 5th lovejoy gig but it was the first time someone’s fainted at one I’ve been to.

Then we resumed and in between songs the boys would start playing this instrumental track I didn’t recognize, but I filmed each time it happened bc it didn’t just sound like random jamming. I sent the clips to firesnap after the gig and she and I both agree it sounds like snippets from a possible new song so… :)))

Also Lovejoy covered The Killers at my gig which was so good. At first I was confused bc it was a mashup with cause for concern so I got hyped thinking it was cfc and then Wilbur started singing different lyrics but it slapped so I’m so glad I got to see that in person.

Anyway overall really good gig!! Also I wasn’t getting shoved nearly as much as I have at American gigs so shoutout to the Scottish for that

Is this 500 words? Is this more? I don’t feel like plugging it into a word counter so this is what you get lol

#ask #anon #lovejoy #bee travels

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bomberqueen17 · 11 months

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vacation

I'm in Maine with my dude. Our anniversary is around the 4th of July so we kinda try to do stuff around then. This year is 22 years, which marks the point at which it's been more than half of each of our lives. So that's keen. Not to be mushy.

I just saw a thing about celebrating Pickett's Charge Day and it amused me a lot. As an impressionable child I read Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels repeatedly, which is an account of the battle of Gettysburg with alternating points of view from participants on both sides-- it was adapted into a movie but I didn't see that so IDK if it captured any of what I found so poignant in the narrative. (Does the song Kathleen Mavourneen play a big role in the movie? bc it does in the book.) But because of this I knew that it was the 20th Maine Reg't led by Col. Joshua Chamberlain that held the left flank against repeated assaults on that day, so it seems fitting. I looked it up before I posted this, but I did actually know that.

No, I've never been to the battlefield at Gettysburg either, I'm a poor secondhand student of the civil war. My mom wrote a book about it but it's unpublished, she just put it up on the town website. LMK if you want to read it (I'm not linking directly to it because it's on the town website so it's kind of uh doxxy, LOL); it's an extremely dry work, simply recounting the results of her research into the service record, origins, and ultimate fate of every single person she could track down who either served in the regiment our town sent to the war, OR who served in the war and later settled in our town. It was years of research by her including many trips to battlefields. This is my background, is all I'm saying, and the reason why I know the names of like a bunch of the colonels at Gettysburg without checking.

Anyhow. We're not up here for civil war purposes, we're here to sit in a house on a lake and listen to some loons. We went last night and got on a schooner and schooned around Penobscot Bay, which was fantastic; saw the sunset, but not the moonrise, as it was cloudy. It's been mostly rainy here but it stopped raining long enough for that and that's all I care about. If it rains tonight, so much the better, as it'll keep the noise down. Na ha I'm the Grinch of the Fourth of July.

so anyway a couple of photos and some meandery stories behind the cut:

I'm putting the descriptions/captions in the alt, idk how well that works. Ah you can see the lighthouse here-- Camden, ME has a slightly dangerous harbor entry , with two nice wide channels that allow easy entry but a large submerged rock ledge in the middle that at high tide is completely invisible. Every year, our skipper said, some boat forgets about this and runs violently aground. This year's sacrifice was a 50-foot powerboat, and he heard the mayday call as he was on his morning commute. Some lobstermen were in range and managed to haul the boat off the rocks and tow it in to port, but it sank in the launch area-- still, they could easily raise it from there. The passengers were all unharmed, following behind in a dinghy very abashed. A couple weeks later on one of his several-times-daily tours our captain found all the cushions from the wrecked powerboat washed ashore in a nearby cove, and was wondering at the etiquette-- should he collect and return them? He did not reveal whether he had, as conversation moved on.

He was a college kid, raised locally, home for the summers, but in his senior year as a computer engineer up at the U of Maine in one of the campuses about an hour away.

Since it was not very windy we had to use the motor a bit, but we did sail for a goodly while, and in the very light breeze he said "So I'm going to do a controlled jibe here, because the wind is super chill, and if you know a lot about sailing you'll know why I've been taught not to do this move but this is the ideal condition for it. So everybody duck, I'm holding it but the boom is going to move."

A schooner has two masts, so that meant both booms moved. And the mate controlled the forward one admirably, and he the aft, and we were all fine. But as we were coming into the harbor and taking the sails down, the forward boom swung again a little unexpectedly, and the passengers sitting below it had to duck. The mate worriedly asked if everyone was okay, and one woman said "Oh, no, I had a past life regression where I learned I was killed by a sail boom, so I'm really good at ducking!" to which the mate cheerfully, slightly awkwardly, replied "Oh that's great! that! uh! I mean not that you died! But that you didn't this time!" which was extremely gracious of her, especially given that she was about seventeen years old. (She had just been explaining to us that her doctor made her wear glasses full time now because she had gotten her driver's license and he didn't think she should drive without glasses.)

ANYWAY the lighthouse at Camden has been automated since the 1980s, like all US lighthouses, BUT has still had a lighthouse keeper-- a local woman lived there 50 years and raised a family there and only recently at 90 retired as the keeper, and now the assistant harbormaster lives out there. Nobody really needs to be in that lighthouse but it's a point of local pride to have a manned lighthouse.

There are also bell buoys, which I hadn't really noticed as a thing before-- but it's just a buoy with a large bell on it, and the waves' rocking tolls the bell constantly, and it's meant to warn of a hazard. There are several in Camden harbor, because there are a number of very tall rocks that stick up out of the otherwise mostly 180-200ft depth, and some of those rocks are submerged at high tide so you would never see them coming and your onboard depth sensor thing wouldn't catch them in time. (Those rocks, our skipper said, are called The Graves, because of the number of wrecks on them, but they're so steep you can almost touch them from the side of a passing boat; they're used as turning points in some of the tall ship racing that happens locally, and he was aboard one once that turned so tight around one of those rocks and he said he was so terrified the whole time and would never himself sail that close to one.)

It was so calm while we were out there-- Lake Erie is choppier-- but it was sunset, which is when the wind changes direction usually, and the weather here has been heavy rain for days and it was a break in the weather. Anyway that was the Atlantic Ocean, though we weren't really out in it, it was all Penebscot Bay.

Apparently the Olad's original name when commissioned was The Whistle Binkie, which is terrible and hilarious.

OK next slide, good thing I'm only doing two

Good morning, I woke at 5 and noticed the sky was pink and knew it would be fleeting, so I threw my bathrobe on and went out even though I really needed to pee, so I suffered for this art-- I got out a little ways on the dock and listened to a loon calling and took several photos, and then went inside and when I came back out the light had gone, so I'm glad I ran out when I did. Those bridges are narrow though, and I'm not the steadiest when I first wake up, so I was not going all the way out to that last dock. The view is great from that last dock but the great view is to the north, and the pink clouds were to the west, so for this photo, this was the better view anyway.

This is Megunticook Lake.

Today we have no plans; the restaurants downtown were nuts last night, we walked into one place at 4:45 and were told we could be seated around 6:25, so we walked back out and went instead to the Sea Dog brewery, which I had heard of-- I've had their beer somewhere-- but we're thinking tonight will be nuts, so we're going to stay home and eat the stuff we brought for today's lunch instead, and we're going to venture out for lunch today in hopes that it will be less insane.

We'd asked the skipper of the Olad what the 4th of July was going to be like, did he have the day off etc, and he laughed and said no, he works on that day, but it is kiiiind of the worst, because everyone with a boat or access to a boat has to take it out on the 4th of July, and they're all drunk, so he spends most of the day trying to avoid drunk boaters and trying to make sure nobody falls off his boat. (When we'd boarded he'd given us the rules before we pulled out of the berth, and the only actual rule was stay on the boat, and I don't like to think about how emphatic he had to be about that.) I think I mentioned, he was like twenty, and when someone asked him how long he'd been doing this he blithely said "oh this is my first day!" but then admitted it was actually his first season as skipper, but he'd been crewing these kinds of boats for about five years now. Uncommonly among tourist attractions, his job had gotten more busy during the pandemic, because honestly it's an extremely low-risk activity, you could not be any less enclosed, though they had to abide by the same regulations re: mask wearing as airplanes and large commercial ferries, so it was a bit silly-- but absolutely lowest risk of all given that they're wind-operated.

So we know Camden town is going to be insane all day tomorrow, and there's a fireworks display they launch off a boat in the harbor, and we are not going to attempt to go see it! We will hear it from here, and that is fine. We brought our own sparklers, should we be so inclined.

#about the author #maine #vacationing

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kieselsteinn · 1 year

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which csh albums to listen to in order in my Opinion umm I wrote this for a friend and I’m not gonna reread it LMAO um there’s probably stuff in there that only caters to her

1. START at teens of denial it’s very cool there’s some long stuff and some short songs it’s a nice introduction to csh and it’s just like a very chill but emotional!! destroyed by hippie powers and drunk drivers / killer whales are the most emotional and in my brain I think they’re short and sweet but no they’re 5 and 6 minutes long ermmm that’s funny!! this is actually the album that kinda launched csh into the mainstream and got them on the tonight show with jimmy fallon along with twin fantasy. nice solid rock album.

2. if you want more emotional stuff, twin fantasy (face to face)!! I FUCKING LOOOOOOVE TWIN FANTASY!!!!! it’s very emotional and the end is fucking fantastic it’s like the telling of a story of teenage love that went oh so terribly wrong!! kind of umm yeah it’s really really good my personal favorites are beach life in death and bodys !! bodys is super electric and such a fun track it is so awesome I fuckin love that song!! beach life in death is so emotional and LONG (13 minutes) This album is actually a like redraw of the mirror to mirror 2011 version of this album (THAT I BOUGHT THE VINYL OF!!) that old version of the album is shorter and has shittier production quality but it has far more raw emotion. becuase that album was made while that shit was happening to will and not just to redo the music

3. teens of style umm if you want more cheerful stuff!! it’s super nice I don’t like it personally as much as like the original songs but it’s still great!! teens of style is like a compilation album of some older car seat tracks from monomania and my back is killing me baby!! my favorites are probably strangers, and something soon!! something soon is probably one of my favorite csh songs of all time I won’t lie I kinda prefer the mbikmb version ermmm you could PROBBALY relate to the lyrics it’s a very very good song!! strangers is also a fun Energic song that’s easy to get stuck in your head 😜😜 it’s also a nice way to introduce (prepare) yourself to some of the songs that are on this next album!

4. MONOMANIA. HOLY FUCKING SHIT MONOMANIA. Ummm well this album is a very sad emotional roller coaster. it’s very electric and experimental music wise. this is basically the continuation of twin fantasy (mirror to mirror) I would actually rlly recommend listening to them back to back!! these songs are absolutely fantastic ohh my god misheard lyrics kinda sucks BUT THE MEANING IS GREAT!! my favorites are los borrachos and Maud gone they r fantastic music wise (the drums on Los borrachos R SOOOO FUCKING GOOD) and I actually know maud gone on guitar teehee!! two tracks on here that are absolutely fucking soul crushing are souls and anchorite. some of the first csh songs I listened to!! Ahaha ohh my god 🙁 yeah they r really really really sad souls is like bodys but HEARTBREAKING!!!

6. how to leave town!! not a personal favorite! Really good though! it’s got more electric synth stuff on it and the first track is so fucking long Jesus Christ they did not need to make a SIX MINUTE LONG INTRO?? yeah this album is kinda forgettable but it’s got some real good shit! I really like hey space cadet (who doesn’t it’s absolutely fantastic) and beast monster thing umm itw as hard to choose favoirtes bc I rlly like some of these tracks!! this album is just really relaxing and then all of the sudden you’re sobbing uncontrollably and calling up a therapist dear lord

7. living while starving! kind of like an interlude to the csh albums it’s just a nice short ep with five songs I really like every song on there umm except devil moon and I hate living pls I swear I like them but they’re kinda forgettable !! this album has the best version of oh! starvibg i fucking loove it sm!!!! will’s redone taht song THREE different times but this is the best version I swear 🙏 this ep actually has their second most popular song! it’s only sex! which is really good but im not gonna talk about it 😊😊😊😊

8. nervous young man. THE BEST CSH ALBUM HOOOLY FUCK ITS SO GOOD!!!!!! There is a lot of variety in these tracks and some long ones, some short ones!! My favorites are I wanna sweat and fuck I can’t choose I’m just gonna list off like a ton of songs I like umm so some strange angel, knife in the coffee, big jacket, dreams fall hard, burning man, crows, the gun song (SO GOOD), jerks, and Boxing Day!! the gun Song and Boxing Day are so long (15 minutes each) but oh my god they are so emotional I love them so so so so much umm the reason this album is so far down on the like,, csh path is because IT IS TWOO HOURS LONG!! GOD it’s soo fuvking good though I actually made art based off of I wanna swear and I’m working on a. Dreams fall hard piece it’s soo yum

9. my back is killing me baby!! just a like 47 minute long album of a lot of short and sweet songs this is actually a super old album so the production quality is shitty to say the least! Umm I absolutely love every song off of this one except lawns because it’s soo 😭 unserious hes literally just complaining about picking up garbage?? every song is super upbeat and catchy and always fucking stuck in my head

10. MAKING A DOOR LESS OPEN! this album is really good you just have to be a big csh Fan to like it LMFAO umm it’s very experimental! it’s all electric stuff I really like deadlines hostile and life worth missing! this is very much so. Acquired,, taste but I swear it’s great! deadlines hostile is actually one of the first csh songs I listened to and it’s a great starter I won’t lie

11. twin fantasy (mirror to mirror) umm oops idk why I put this so far down I kinda forgot about it LMAOOO umm well it’s sooo strangles will toledo it’s very soul crushing compared to face to face. face to face feels more hopeful and cheerful but this version is soo sad dude oh my gof!! I actually like these versions of bodys, sober to death and nervous young inhumans more teehee they’re just better! these tracks just feel more personal I guess? like will Toledo is younger and he was making this album because this is what he was feeling at the time, but the newer version is just some really great retellings yk! I love the raw emotion and want to give this album a hug

12. 4 & 3 I put these in their one little group together bc they’re both pretty short and like,, they’re the numbered albums. These aren’t on any streaming services I don’t think besides youtube! And band camp! Soo I recommend 4 before you listen to 3 because 4 is just nice and a. Lot like my back is killing me baby! Some nice catchy stuff my favorite is probably that daniel johnston song idk I haven’t listened to the album in a while,, umm 3 is soo. EIEUGEVATWU that’s one album to cry to! beach funeral and beach fagz are fucjing soul crushing oh my god they are so sad esp the outro parts um don’t look up the lyrics to beach fagz tho and if you do don’t,, don’t ask me idk either man 🙁 3 is my favorite numbered album and I actually listen to it like regularly I fuckin love that album sm

13. BEFORE YOU LISTEN TO 1, 2, AND LITTLE PIECES OF PAPER WITH NO WRITTEN IN THEM LISTEN TO DISJECTA MEMBRA! it’s basically some outtakes of nervous young man and where the outro of the face to face version of famous prophets came from!! the songs on there are really good but I put it so low because it’s so deep in the rabbit hole. this album was only accessible if you bought nervous young man for a certain price on band camp back in 2013, so it’s literally ONLY on YouTube. I really like the song sinner it’s yum and also really sad Ermm DRUNK ON A WORK NIGHT IS ON THIS ALBUM I TJINK THAT SONG IS SOO FUVKING FUNNY!! YOU WERE ON METHBTHE WHOLE NIGHT?,!!,????

14. 1 and 2 these are soo,, what was going on man! um the production is shit because he was recording on a tape recorder LMAOO I like the emotion in these he does an awful lot of screaming. The original version of big jacket from nervous young man actually comes from 1 and that’s pretty cool I guess! I like the song where he goes THE FUCKING COOFFEE HOUSE I don’t remember which one it is umm I need to relistento these,, KID WAR IS ALSO RLLY GOOD

15. little pieces of paper with no written on them. Umm these songs has no written on them for a reason! this album is just basically Will releasing a bunch of experimental tracks he scrapped to the public because they’re still good,, the best song is I CAN TALK WITH MY EYES SHUT and it’s actually,, dare I say one of the best early csh songs DONT TELL ANYONE I SAID THAT THO

16. go to therapy

#car seat headrest #will toledo #autism #twin fantasy #monomania #teens of denial #teens of style #how to leave town

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ystk-archive · 7 months

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[Translation] L.D.K. Lounge Designers Killer interview (BARFOUT! magazine vol. 122, Oct. 2005)

(Yes, there's really a long-running arts and culture magazine in Japan called Barfout. Click here to view full-page scans of the feature, and feel free to contact me with any questions/comments.)

What surprising developments took place on capsule's new album!?

I'm crazy about capsule's newest album, L.D.K. Lounge Designers Killer. It includes "Flying City Plan" [Soratobu Toshikeikaku] — featured in a collaborative music video created by Ghibli subsidiary Studio Kajino and directed by Momose Yoshiyuki — for a total of ten songs (perhaps I should mention that video is on the same level as many sci-fi films!). capsule is a creative unit made up of Nakata Yasutaka (producer) and Koshijima Toshiko (vocalist). The two have been entertaining listeners with their extremely poppy releases that'll take you on a virtual joyride through a world of music inspired by interior design and mass-produced goods. That said, I was taken aback by the song "Glider"! Even with their cool, plastic charm, capsule launched a dramatic pop track with a melody that tugs at the heartstrings the minute it begins. If I had to compare it to works by other artists, it's got a similar feeling to Quruli's "Wandervogel" and Supercar's "YUMEGIWA LAST BOY." Geez, I've really been wearing this song out! (At this point, "Glider" is going at #1 on my top ten favorites of 2005!) Including a club-oriented track with an enjoyable guitar sound, capsule's new album is filled to the brim with groundbreaking songs that overflow with human emotion. It'll definitely add a certain je ne sais quoi to your own space!!!

Original interview text by Fukushima Ryutaro, translation by ystk-archive

"From outerspace to the ocean, I wanted it to have a sense of vastness" (Nakata)

barf: How in the world did you arrive at something like L.D.K. Lounge Designers Killer? Nakata: All the tracks on this album definitely make me go "hey, I can make good songs too!" (laughs). barf: The jacket photo is a picture of grass. Nakata: It's fake. The clothes we wear in the "Glider" video are also made out of that. I'm not much of a nature enthusiast, but in Japan we sure do have a lot of state-manufactured parks, don't we? The album cover's aura is sort of like that, how it's natural but somehow artificial at the same time. barf: The first track, "Flying City Plan," was used as the basis of a short film, following the examples set by "Portable Airport" [Portable Kuukou] and "space station No.9." They're even screening it before the movie Touch. Nakata: The first short "Portable Airport" showcases a fantasy town in capsule's type of aesthetic. After that was the resort concept for "space station No.9." So for this third one, we aimed for it to be more visually spacious and panoramic. From outerspace to the ocean, I wanted it to have a sense of vastness, so that's why I went with "Flying City Plan" for the music. barf: It has a majestic feel. Nakata: I tried to give it an easygoing sort of speed. When you're flying in an airplane, you can't feel the wind, but you know it's going by extremely fast outside. So the music follows along those lines, with a relaxed pace, kind of giving off an executive's suite type of vibe. And they retired the Concorde planes, so... (laughs) barf: Did you have any thoughts on the video, Koshijima-san? Koshijima: It's dramatic. She's a damsel in distress (laughs). barf: The second track "Teleportation" sounds so much like capsule's usual while simultaneously feeling quite new. Nakata: That's because, in a rare move, I played the guitar. I've used it before but only for riffs and whatnot, this time I played it more messily. barf: Speaking of guitars, the third track "Lounge Designers Killer" is rather rock-influenced. Nakata: To be totally honest, I was given a guitar. So I was just thinking like, "What if I use guitar sounds for this album?" There wasn't a deep reason behind it (laughs). barf: What kind of guitar did you get? Nakata: The one I used in the music video.¹ After we finished the shoot for "Glider," I added guitars to the song (laughs). Originally I thought it'd be interesting that the video was going to show a guitar being played with no guitars in the music, but since we went through the trouble of getting it, I threw some in the song after the fact. barf: That would've been a bizarre visual element (laughs). I get the sense that capsule is strongly influenced by cool instruments. Nakata: I really like changes of scenery and instruments. With bands, new ideas are sparked by the members interacting with each other, right? I pull my inspirations from instruments and checking out stores I haven't been to before.

"capsule does things without focusing on whether or not it's 'too late' to do them." (Nakata)

barf: "Glider" really comes to life as the seventh track following the science fiction-esque "Antenna." Nakata: I tried to make the transition sound unnatural. There used to be a sense of flow even though songs weren't actually connected to each other, but nowadays there's a high possibility that people will import albums into a computer and listen to everything out of order anyway. I wanted to put something there that would make the listener go "huh?" when the song changed over. "Antenna" starts and ends abruptly: the intro begins and cuts off halfway through, giving the impression that it's broken; it's the same type of weird feeling you get when the TV channel suddenly changes. So I put that in there to make the connection between the songs worse, not better (laughs). barf: "Glider" stands out strongly. Koshijima-san, how was it singing this song? Koshijima: Honestly, my voice was in really bad shape during recording and it was at its worst when we got around to "Glider" — it wouldn't come out at all. But when I got to listen to the song in the studio, I was struck by how long it's been since I heard something so good, and because of that my voice somehow managed to power through (laughs). barf: The title of "Progress and Harmony for Mankind" [Jinrui no Shinpo to Chouwa] feels a bit out of place, doesn't it (laughs). Nakata: It's from the 1970 Osaka Expo. barf: Really!! I didn't make the connection. Nakata: It's so like us to not use the theme from this year's Expo (laughs).² The Osaka Expo happened during a time when people really valued science. They thought like "with science, anything is possible!" Along with the ecological issues, I think the idea of creating another earth is fascinating (laughs). barf: With the kind of rhythm it has, the song's got a cool spacy feel to it. Nakata: That track is close to the type of music that pushed me into doing music. I felt like how I did in junior high, making songs like this when I started recording at home. Koshijima: You definitely did material like this when we first met. It was pretty heavy (laughs). Nakata: That's why when I listen to recent releases, I feel like I've gone back in time. These days, a lot of the songs I hear that people say are "good" are nostalgic. Bands have started making house and electro-ish music with '80s sounds and I wind up thinking, "Can they really do that?" barf: It has gotten like that. Nakata: capsule does things without focusing on whether or not it's "too late" to do them. It's not that I'm bitter about it though; that's just what happens when you do what you enjoy. barf: But if that's how you naturally go about about things, then it's okay. Nakata: It's not a recent phenomenon, but I do think people who create things feel confined. If they do this genre, then they have to use certain sounds — they have so-called rules like that. I make music thinking it'd be nice to ignore those rules.

¹ Nakata owns a Yamaha RGX A2 which he "played" in the Glider music video. I think. I was told that it was actually a different guitar but I guess not! ² 2005 was the Aichi Expo with the theme of "Nature's Wisdom." He's saying this in reference to his disinterest in nature.

#koshijima toshiko #nakata yasutaka #capsule #L.D.K. Lounge Designers Killer #Glider #BARFOUT!#2005 #studio ghibli #studio kajino #translations #magazines #interviews

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chevvy-yates · 10 months

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[NC_RES]-31102049-EUR-GER scharfenberg_g_portraits_015_3_KBI-DA_WA.file ///core:_ryder_von_scharfenberg.file\\\

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⚠️ READ: Please do not repost/reupload any of my art here or to any other platform, or I will be forced to do anything to get it annihilated.

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Ryder's theme playlist.

Beware – long text passages behind the cut.

I've tried to shorten it but it's somehow gotten to a character eassy. So maybe save it for later and read it when you got time for it if Ryder really interests you. He is so dear to me and so complex I try to explain him with the help of this song collection for you to underline and understand his character better. I just lack of explaining it in a short way.

Blade Runner His main theme. It is no such wonder I chose a Blade Runner (end) title for him, because when I look at Ryder I always say to myself "You're my one true Cyberpunk 2077 character" — and Blade Runner basically is the foundation of this amazing yet dystopian future noir genre after all. I've always found the music in the original movie tremendously moving and mysterious in a way I've never experienced before. And so is Ryder to me: mysterious and evocative. A book I had and still have to read, to find out who he is. If you do not know him, you can only speculate who and what he is. He's that dark character, that looks frightening and bleak to you, stares at you until you look away. You may want to, but you can't stop looking at his drawing presence. Yet it is a mask he wears or rather is also forced to wear, because behind all this mystery is his true character savely kept for VIP only. The drums in this song represent he might be the dangerous sinister type whilst the synthesizer gives this overall beautiful and mysterious tune surrounding him, that feels somehow more chilling than dangerous. Yet there's still a hint of threat in that song because of its continuous fast paced cadence. If you could see the world through Ryder's eyes, it looks exactly like in Blade Runner, a city full of neon lights but in a mere monotone way — darker, less saturated, even at day because skyscrapers block the sunlight down in the streets. Buildings built onto buildings, lots of (acid) rain pouring down daily. Ryder knows how this world, he was born into, works. It is reigned by corrupt rich Corpos wanting nothing but power absorbing every small independent corporation, reign over people, don't tell what goes on behind the curtains because the lesser folk doesn't need to know (cloning/human meat theory, soul killer program, black wall etc.) — the rich don't care what happens to them. They are only interested in their money and consumption behaviors. At the same time Ryder knows what's going on down in the streets because he walks amongst them voluntarily. He sees the misery that is going on, people are mostly poor and barely can make a living if they don't devote their whole lives to working for the big ones. Humans become more and more synthetic, so much that the rise of cyberpsychosis is getting higher and higher and becoming more problematic than ever as they can not control it anymore while AI reigns the net, controlling an entire population (including himself) in a subtextual way. I don't want to compare Ryder exactly with Blade Runner. His job is not to hunt down bioengineered humanoids. He's a merc who hunts down those bad for this city and the entire world to make it a better place. He knows that the original vision of Night City was something entirely different and he's got hope that it can still be put on the right track. He devotes himself to this, as a merc, fighting that what he once was supposed to be too, but never felt like he belonged into: power-hungry Corpos like his father. Ryder's weapons are blades and he runs them into the flesh of his enemies — therefore: Blade Runner. If you listen closely at the end you'll also hear rain and a breath before it ends. Fits so to Ry.

Mesa Another Blade Runner (2049) song. It is calm, yet still mysterious right from the start, lingering, single piano tunes make it sound threatening but also interesting that you want to listen further. Then it gets bright, and nice, warm even, turning into a beautiful melody. Ryder’s personality is exactly like that melody. He doesn't trust anyone right from the start. But when he feels he can do that and decides to let someone in, he opens up towards you. He's not the mean guy, it is quite the contrary: he's got a heartwarming personality, a lower voice with a certain softness in itself that makes you wish he would read you a good night story. But this takes time, and you should let him decide when that time is. Because yet that song bears a threatening moment towards the end: suddenly it gets awfully loud and sounds even alerting — that is when Ryder's mood suddenly snaps. He gets mean even to a point where anger turns up from zero to hundred — it only takes a stupid commentary at the wrong time. Beware when it happens and choose your further proceeding carefully — because there is something lingering inside him that likes to have him angry.

Let Me Out is the song that represents that something inside him he started calling 'Bad Enduring (&) Aggressing Sinister Termination' (program) or in short: 'BEAST'* at a certain point in his and the teams story because it is what it forces him to do: do evil (bad) — in his eyes it definitely is because in a lot of cases he does not want to act this way. It is constantly (enduring) haunting him. It happens in a very assaulting (aggressing) way. And it is scaring (sinister) him as well. It only ends with death (termination) for his opponent while he is lucky to have survived each time. He doesn't know how it looks (it is mostly a distorted shadow with sharp teeth) and where it came from, but it is a daily and constant knock-knock that says: "Time to be angry. Now where is that hunger to kill? I know you want it. Fetch me their souls. Hey! — I'm here, don't you ignore me! Let me out! They harmed you. Kill them. Let me help. Let me out! Let me kill! Let me kill them all!" That song exactly does that: having a constant knocking-like beat. It never stops except for a few seconds accompanied by various other threatening dark and strange sounds making you slowly go crazy. Ryder is dealing with this constant pounding almost daily. It never lets him alone, since it first showed up in 2070 and took a part of control when he had his first rampage damaging his own furniture at home. He noticed that his anger grew as soon as he moved to Night City and it's gotten worse over time. First he thought it was because of the constant violation and degradation he received from his family, but he is sure this plays only a minor part now, since he cut ties with his Corpo life about seven years ago. He assumes the source must be something else or the only explanation left could be he’s close to end up becoming a cyberpsycho. Aware of that he chose to fight it even more. There are times he is able to completely ignore it, and he finds some peace when he is listening to his favorite music, passes out or is sleeping because thankfully he's got a very deep sleep at last. Carrying it always with him, he got used to living with it though, but lately (2078) it seems to have received an update that made it stronger than ever (it also makes him stronger in fights) and it frightens him more than ever. It bears one of his greatest fears: him hurting those around him he loves because he can’t remain in control over it anymore. And he knows he's a threat and a burden to his team as well once it happens. But Vijay insists that Ry stays part of it and promised to help him no matter what. *I want to underline that beast is not my idea. The overall AI idea is part of @nervouswizardcycle's (Void Jester) story, we just happened to work it out so my boys fit better in and named it beast one day. I like the thought for Ryder giving it the name BEAST, all caps, as written above because he will describe it to other people as that but he doesn't know it is an AI program controlling him. Finding out about it is gonna be mindblowing. A fun fact: he could just frigging leave Night City and be free from it because it is only tied to it. Hilarious.

Berlin represents one of the many songs Ryder simply loves: good, (extra) hard, dark and loud techno beats giving him the best thrills with the ability to stimulate his senses so that he falls into a trance only concentrating on moving along to the beat: raving until his stamina completely fails of exhaustion. He can do it for hours — his stamina is incredibly high through years and years of raving almost every night until the sun goes up. He's been on 24h raves many times. There's nothing better than those hard beats for him. Not only can he vent his anger through it, that music lets him forget this mad world for a while, gives him freedom for the time being — it's just him moving along with the beat. All he wants is to rave until he can't anymore. He doesn't even drink beer then, just water to stay hydrated. But there's another important reason why his heart beats for those techno/dark wave beats: it overshadows the BEAST's constant pounding, so he won't hear it for the time being. The BEAT of various songs literally BEATS the BEAST here. You could also say in a way he trained to hear the BEAST as some constant techno song (which also explains why he's constantly fidgety — imagine having a 24/7 techno beat in your head and what you would do). Also the title "Berlin" is chosen because it was in Berlin when Ryder first came into contact with his favorite music. A lot of good memories are tied to it. He's the opinion that Germany makes the best Techno(ise) (it is even mentioned in the CP lore books as well, yup).

Berzerker + Don't You Know Who I Am I certainly wish these two songs could melt into one. I tried to choose only one but for me one can't do it justice without the other. However, they represent Ryder's battle/fight theme. I've already mentioned them in a tag game post a while ago, but here we go again: 'Berzerker' is similar to Let me Out but harder and faster, so it can be seen as when Ryder is fighting yet still remains in control, slicing his Mantis blades through the flesh of his enemies while his Berserk operating system, Zetatech Berserk Mk.5, is activated. It boosts him up with an immense strength and resilience, increases his melee damage and receiving hits only make him stronger and more powerful. The song gets wilder in between when he's going into a killstreak having beast mode activated, dealing a huge amount of damage. Since his blades are standard with no effect they only deal physical damage with a high possibility for bleeding and dismembering. Depending on how hard the enemy ist, how long the fighting takes and how annoying they are to him, the chance to go literally berserk becomes critically high: he will slowly lose control with BEAST now taking over. It literally consumes him for the time being and all he sees is black and white with red shadowy distorted figures that are enemies and friends all together (robots and drones do not appear as distorted shadows at all though). That is when the song 'Don't You Know Who I Am' takes over: Ryder turns into his total unstoppable berserk mode killstreak — you better stay away from him. The raging screams in this song represent his sheer anger as he charges towards his target while the sound of blades can be imagined as he's slicing his sharp blades through everything and everyone in a total blind rage. The song is also very fast paced. Ryder has no Sandevistan but he's fast and versatile when it comes to running and parcouring and even dodging. His reaction reflex is trained constantly for years and he keeps his body agile.

Mörder This is another song I found way later when I've already written all of this post here but these lyrics hit so into the guts because they are so point — they describe how he sees himself concerning his out of control being: that he's a monster and a murderer. The lyrics are in German though: Dann steh ich vor einem Plakat und lese, Was ich getan habe, Und lese und lese: das habe ich getan? Aber ich weiß doch von gar nichts! Aber wer glaubt mir denn, wer weiß denn, Wie's in mir aussieht, wie es schreit Und brüllt da drinnen, Wie ich es tun muss... will nicht Muss... will nicht... muss! Aber ich, kann ich denn, kann ich denn anders? Hab' ich denn nicht dieses Verfluchte in mir, Das Feuer, die Stimme, die Qual? Ich will davon, vor mir selber davonlaufen! Aber ich kann nicht, kann mir nicht entkommen, Muss, muss den Weg gehen, den es mich jagt. Muss rennnen, rennen endlose Straßen... Ich will weg, ich will weg... Und mit mir rennen die Gespenster Müttern und Kindern. Sie gehen nie mehr weg, sie sind immer da, Immer, immer, immer! Nur nicht wenn ich's tue here is a translation via translator. Ryder isn't proud to always leave a mess of pool of blood, organs and dead literally shredded bodies behind. It scares him as well a lot of times as soon as he is coming back to his senses again. He doesn't remember what he's done, all he sees is the mess that's left around him. You could say he has gotten used to it with the years passing by since he learned to live with it, but since it got even worse it frightens him more than ever. He judges himself heavily thinking he's not better than those out there doing bad to harmless people even tho he kills only the bad ones. He also wishes to be more like Vijay (V is more you shall not kill orientented and leaves the badboy for the NCPD). It's Ryder's greatest wish that BEAST vanishes one day the same way it showed up, so that he is able to use his blades with a rather normal behavior instead of tearing everyone apart. He does not enjoy this kind of killing but he's got no choice, being unable to withstand the hunger to kill driven by BEAST turning him into a killer. Even Vijay could not help him, when he started looking into it. The only thing he can help with is to prevent the worst happening by resetting Ryder's Berserk System, so that he stops raging blindly. During this phase he will pass out for an undetermined amount of time and be vulnerable to his enemies. So it can only be activated when Ryder's safety is assured and another team member (also a reason why V wants more team members) can jump in fast to his side because Vijay is often too far away for him (Ryder's personal wish). Ryder gets a lot ofhelp by the team. Arki is dealing with similar to same problems but he remains in control. Arki sees a big threat in Ryder at first but as they get to know each other he understands Ry and offers his help to train how to focus and to stay calm. Thyjs joining in as the last one will do everything to help him. He's mostly back up to protect Ryder when he needs to be knocked out, giving Arki more room to concentrate on their enemy because he doesn't need to protect him anymore since Thyjs takes that role now.

Shake the Disease important mention: I did not choose the song because of the lyrics. I chose it because of its melody, which is why I went for an instrumental version made by someone else instead. So I would prefer you just blend out this is a Depeche Mode song (if you know it). Because if I'd chosen that because of the lyrics, netlords — I'd have to write something entirely different here now. That melody in this song stands for Ryder's good mood. Moments when he feels happy, content and simply has a very good time, completely forgetting about his troubles and worldly problems. Moments he spends with the team in the Afterlife having good talks. Moments of fun that conjure a bright grin on his lips. The melody sounds promising and accentuates that Ryder has already worked a lot on his selfesteem so he can be content with himself and proud of what he has achieved so far. He took his life in his own hands, chose who he wanted to be, that he got further away from having self destructive thoughts. This life of his was not lost, not hopeless. It is promising. He only needed a true friend (Vijay) who opened his eyes to see the world from a different angle – it is also why it sounds so close to Vijay’s themes (both like listening to Depeche Mode). Life is precious and you should enjoy every day while you still can. Ryder doesn’t know what happens to him, his future is unwritten with that raging anger inside him, but he does the best to enjoy it as much as he is able to (and he will get rid of this thing for sure so he don't has to kill anymore). He deserves happiness and does not give up to seek it which can only be achieved with this nesting demon inside him gone for once and all.

Memories of Green A calm song – another Blade Runner score one as well – it is one of those rare moments when everything seems calm for a while, presented by the piano. Yet there's still sounds wanting to distract. It stands for, that Ryder really wishes to concentrate fully on the piano, to take in its soothing melody, but has a bit of a hard time to blend out everything else around him. Some of these noises could also be done by his inner Beast to gain attention again. The piano stands for Thyjs as well, since Thy was taught to play piano. Ryder loves to listen to him playing some tunes a lot, it lets him forget almost everything, it's some balm for his never resting soul. He never thought he would enjoy classical music either — only with Thyjs he discovers it for the first time. So these are moments he tries to enjoy as much and as long as he can. Thyjs is going to mean the world to him. He has a natural gift to calm Ryder down similar to Vijay before but in a different way and Ryder will protect him as much as he protects his best friend all the time. He is more than thankful that Thyjs values him all the way he is, not caring he's murdered more than hundreds of living beings in the most cruel and agitating ways. It's because Thyjs can relate to it in a way since he was turned into being a killing machine trough Militech. He offers his help as well and does anything for him. Ryder never thought that after V he could fall this hard for someone else again. But Thyjs is the one. The calm center of the storm capable to handle the hot-headed angry man Ryder is, seeking peace he will find one day for sure.

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If you read all through here. I simply cannot give you enough kudos for it! Besten Dank! <3

#cyberpunk 2077 #masc v #male v #oc: ryder von scharfenberg #about: ryder von scharfenberg #cyberpunk photomode #virtual photography #cyberpunk oc #theme songs for my beloved german dude

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rhaenella · 1 year

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You & Me - Rhys Montrose x Reader - Part 5

Part 4 | Part 6

Summary: What happens when reader assassin is tasked with killing the possible future mayor of London; Rhys Montrose. Politician by day, Eat the Rich Killer by night. But he isn’t the only person wearing different masks.

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Violence, murder, immoral sociopathic behaviour, mentions of alcoholism, drug abuse and neglect, (eventual) smut

Word count: 2.8k

A/N (spoilers!) at the end.

Song: No Good – KALEO

The sun was already setting by the time Rhys left you to return to the main house. The business that he needed to take care of really did involve you. Now that Lockwood had sent you after him, Rhys needed to find a way to get to the man. Not only for the reasons he had explained to you before. No, killing him was now even more vital because of the possible threat Lockwood posed to you. If you wouldn’t deliver in ending his own life, there was no saying what Lockwood would do to you in retaliation. Rhys knew that even though the man would never get his own hands dirty, he would still go to extreme lengths to preserve his power and dominance. And that included taking care of liabilities. It wasn’t difficult for Rhys to arrive at that conclusion as he would do the exact same thing.

It was all the more reason to grab the nearest shovel and bury him six feet under ground where his body and vileness could rot.

This was why Rhys needed to speed things along a little, even though you were clearly still conflicted about working together to kill Lockwood — or whomever after that. He understood. It was a big offer he had put on the table. But he knew for sure now that the unexplainable connection he had felt the first night he’d seen you, was reciprocated. You felt it too. Rhys could see it in your eyes. Even though you denied him now, he was certain you’d accept his offer eventually. It might take some time, but he could wait. And in the meantime, he would start his preparations and make sure there was no way Lockwood would be able to get to either of you.

Rhys had been patiently waiting for the right moment to meet you for months now and still it occurred sooner than he had originally planned. Lockwood had personally seen to that. Rhys had initially wanted to meet you on his terms. To wait until everything was perfect. But his previous plans had been interrupted the day before when he recognised you, despite your best efforts at a disguise, when you all but ran into him at the park. Rhys knew you had cleverly used the distraction to plant a tracking device on him. He didn’t think for a second to take it off, finding it a much better solution to use it to get you to come to him unbeknownst of his intentions and awareness of you.

His previous, and now cancelled plans for this getaway, included at least one more of his so-called friends having to die — Gemma. She had the potential to become a real thorn in his side in the near future. Such an unpredictable and insolent woman was bound to run her mouth about the affair they’d had in the past, sooner rather than later. Him drunkenly shagging that woman while he was still married was not only one of the stupidest decisions of his life — but it was also a dirty little secret that could in all likelihood derail his plans to become mayor of London during the upcoming elections before he’d even announced his candidacy.

Next, Rhys would have needed to find the perfect fall guy. Which is where Jonathan came into play. Rhys had already used the professor once before to clean up after him, proving himself more than capable. Rhys could use his skill set again, especially now. Because in all honesty, Rhys had been too preoccupied with you. He had told you earlier how you had intrigued him and how he had come for you. But he hadn’t admitted to the fact that he’d done all of those things simply because he couldn’t stop thinking about you. It was excruciating and highly — highly inconvenient.

Following you as you brutally killed that prosecutor Williams was a calculated risk. Rhys just had to witness it with his own eyes. To see how you would do it, how your body would react to it, and more importantly, how you would then go on with your life afterwards.

It turned out to be more rousing than Rhys could have ever imagined, feeling a surge of pride when he watched you unflinchingly choke the poor man to death after you’d lured him in. Williams had fallen to the floor, a pair of lifeless eyes staring up at the ceiling, and you'd let go of a breath you’d been holding. He saw your shoulders relax as you reached over to loosen the tie around his neck. Then you took off your heels, placing them beside your purse, getting to work. A sense of calmness and serenity emanating from you. Rhys remained in the shadows for the rest of the night, watching you methodically get rid of Williams’ body.

When you had safely made it home in the early morning hours, he couldn’t help but stay outside your apartment a little while longer after he had seen the lights turn off. Rhys stared at the curtain-covered window of your bedroom, overcome with this feeling of longing that he couldn’t decipher. He’d run his hand through his hair and down his face multiple times, frustrated with himself. Rhys knew he should’ve been plotting how to use you to get to Lockwood, not caring what ultimately happened to you once he would achieve his goal. Yet the opposite was true. He had almost completely forgotten about Lockwood altogether — you claiming his full attention. It alarmed him slightly. As a loner by nature, the need to reach out to another person like that felt tremendously foreign.

Now, all he felt was the need to protect you. And part of that protection was to get Lockwood out of the way, hence why he was currently on his way to his daughter’s bedroom.

Killing Kate wasn’t part of his to-do list today, figuring she could potentially serve a larger purpose by leading him to her father. Maybe he was even doing her a favour in the end by killing the devil himself. He certainly would be doing the rest of the world a favour. Rhys smiled to himself. The first of his many good deeds that he had in store for the betterment of London. And who knew, perhaps an even broader area in the future. But for now, he focused on the task at hand.

Which is how he found himself standing in front of Kate’s closed door, raising his fist to knock twice. Rhys put his hands in his pockets and glanced down to see if he could detect any movement from underneath the door. After thirty seconds of silence, he took that as his cue to enter the room, briefly checking to make sure there was no one in the corridor watching him.

Rhys scanned the room swiftly, concluding there was no one there. He left the door slightly ajar as he stepped further into the room so he would be able to hear approaching footsteps.

He looked around, plotting his next steps. He started at the bedside table and worked his way through towards the cabinet, opening drawers and meticulously searching its contents. Rhys needed something — anything — that could help him get to Lockwood. He was simply looking for the opportunity that he needed to present itself.

When the cabinet also didn’t hold the answers, he roughly shut the drawers, making the expensive looking vase standing on top rock a little. Sighing in frustration, he turned around. Come on, he thought. There must be something here.

Rhys checked the vintage case at the foot of the bed — empty. But as he closed it again, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. There, on the desk next to the window, rested the anticipated opportunity Rhys had been looking for. Kate’s phone.

Finding Kate’s phone meant two things. One, he had to act quickly for she would most likely return soon. No one left their mobile phone alone for an extended period of time. Two, he would be able to clone her phone and use that to get to Lockwood. Brilliant.

Rhys strode over and picked up the phone from the desk with his gloved hands. Naturally it was locked. But that was an issue he could work around. He took out his own phone from his pocket and opened an app that would do all the work for him. Y/N wasn’t the only one who had access to fancy technology.

As he was waiting for the app to work its magic, Rhys heard the door creak open, notifying him someone had just entered the room. He glanced in the mirror and saw who had managed to quietly approach the room without him noticing.

Gemma. Of course. Was this the universe giving him a sign?

“Rhys?” Gemma asked tentatively, looking puzzled. “What on earth are you doing in Kate’s room?”

He didn’t immediately answer, distracted by the bleeping noise his phone gave that confirmed he had now successfully cloned Kate’s phone. Rhys put back her phone on the desk in the exact same position as before and stuffed his own phone back into his pocket.

“Are you shagging her?” There was a note of jealousy present in her voice.

Rhys could feel his patience dropping and his temper rising. Really, he could just—

“Answer me,” she demanded. “Look at me!”

He slowly turned around, his hand reaching behind him to take hold of the letter opener that was just lying there for grabs on the desk. Rhys kept it hidden from her view as he slowly stalked towards her, his face completely devoid of any emotion.

Gemma’s angry expression slowly morphed into one more closely resembling fear. He advanced on her, completely ignoring her stuttering. “What– what are y-you doing?”

Rhys didn’t give her a chance to run as he closed the final distance in a single stride, raising his right arm and plunging the letter opener directly into her carotid artery. Her fear turned into shock as Rhys pulled out the letter opener with force, careful to avoid any blood spatter. Gemma’s expression eventually turned into nothing as he watched how her wretched soul departed her body, dropping lifelessly to the ground.

Then, at last, silence.

Rhys watched as the blood rapidly pooled around her and huffed in annoyance. Now what?

His senses now on even higher alert than before, he clocked the distant sound of heels approaching. It made him briefly pause and check Gemma’s feet — bare. So, that’s how he hadn’t heard her. Oh, Gemma, he internally scolded.

Rhys thought quick on his feet, dropping the letter opener next to Gemma’s body before marching towards the door that connected Kate’s room to Jonathan’s. They would find her body, there was no stopping it now. But he could still slip away unnoticed.

He waited behind the door in Jonathan’s room, carefully listening to what was transpiring on the other side. Rhys could make out the sharp inhale of a breath followed by a thump. Was it Kate? Had she just found Gemma’s dead body?

From a distance, Rhys heard someone shouting. It was Jonathan, he realised, calling out for Kate. A thrill ran through Rhys at the prospect of what would happen next. He really should’ve been getting the hell out of there, but his feet were seemingly glued to the floor. His curiosity getting the best of him.

Rhys heard a loud noise like someone hastily rushing through the door. Then another moment of deafening silence.

“I don’t know why I grabbed this.”

Kate. Had she grabbed hold of the letter opener? The murder weapon. Oh, splendid.

Jonathan still had no clue that Rhys was the one who had dumped Malcolm’s body in his kitchen. Nor that he was the one sending him all these taunting text messages. Jonathan now finding Kate next to a fresh corpse and also holding the object that killed Gemma was an interesting turn of events to say the least.

Rhys kept listening as Kate tried to explain herself to Jonathan, tried to convince him that she hadn’t done this. And he kept listening, even as he heard them starting to devise a plan to get rid of Gemma’s body — to at least hide her for the foreseeable future. Even though Rhys knew of the developing relationship between them, this was something he couldn’t have predicted.

How fascinating, he thought. Let’s see how this plays out.

––

The reality of the situation finally started to dawn on you. At least in terms of what Rhys truly wanted from you as you laid there staring at the mould-covered ceiling. It had never been about catching his attacker and killing them in cold blood. Instead, Rhys wanted to work together. As partners. As equals.

You should’ve been appalled by the situation, and in a way you were, but there was also a part of you curious to see where it could go. What could happen. You’d recognised that slight shimmer of hope in his eyes as Rhys explained to you how he envisioned both your futures. Interests aligned. Was that even possible? Your doubts for now out-winning the battle raging inside of you.

He couldn’t be good for you, or even more importantly, for your sisters. Zoe’s horrified comments on the murders still fresh in your mind. How could you possibly expose them to that? Yet, with everything that Rhys had said about protecting those you love, part of you felt that he would not be a threat to them. But what if he proved you wrong? What then? It would be a decision you could never take back. And you would regret it for the rest of your life.

You had sworn to take care of your sisters, to protect them from the evil in this world. Nevertheless, you were also painfully aware that you might have just openly invited that evil into your little bubble as you had been freely unleashing your own inner monster to take care of them and keep them safe.

You groaned, moving onto your side to face the hole in the ceiling. The sun had set and your little prison cell was now illuminated by the full moon and the single small lantern on the side table close to the door. The shadows created an eery atmosphere whilst you waited for Rhys to return.

You weren’t scared of him, even though you likely should be. All the same, you felt this inexplicable conviction that he wouldn’t hurt you. Was it naive? Perhaps. Although you wouldn’t necessarily label yourself as such.

Maybe it was due to this thing you couldn’t shake. It felt like you knew him somehow — like he felt familiar to you. It was something you couldn’t for the life of you understand.

That initial feeling of a bond between you — did he feel it too? He admitted it more or less when he told you of the connection he felt. It was like he saw right bloody through you.

God, you were losing it. You sincerely hoped that all of this was the Stockholm syndrome talking. There was no way in hell this was actually happening.

Your thoughts were interrupted as you heard some movement behind the door. You quickly sat up, estimating on the basis of the angle of the full moon’s light that penetrated the barred ceiling that about four hours had passed since Rhys had left you alone to organise your thoughts ‘in peace’.

The sound of the heavy door opening as it noisily scraped the floor made you look in his direction.

Rhys entered slightly out of breath, looking positively dishevelled as he ran a hand through his unruly curls.

“What happened to you? Killed another person?” You couldn’t help but teasingly joke, taking in his state as your eyes roamed freely over his physique.

Rhys had put his hands on his hips, taking some deep breaths to slow down his heart rate. When he looked up at you, head tilted to the side, he shot you his charming smile that feigned innocence.

No way.

You stared at him.

No way the man was truly this brazen.

He started to move closer to you, his eyes mischievous as they betrayed his wicked actions. You marvelled a little at how quickly you were getting better at reading him. Perhaps you recognised the murderous tendencies from the mirror.

“I suppose congratulations are in order then.”

Rhys stopped a couple of feet from where you were still sitting on the uncomfortable bed. He frowned a little, but you could make out the amused little twinkling in his eyes. He knew damn well what you were hinting at.

“You’re officially a serial killer now.”

––––

A/N: Hmm, I do wonder what Rhys has been up to after killing Gemma and watching Kate and Jonathan clean up his mess that makes him return so dishevelled and out of breath… stay tuned to find out!

Also, I don’t know why but this chapter’s song really translates Rhys’ chaotic nature for me

#rhys montrose x reader #rhys montrose x female reader #rhys montrose fanfic #rhys montrose fic #rhys montrose #you netflix #you season 4 #you season 4 canon divergence #jonathan moore #joe goldberg #goldrose #ed speleers #rhys montrose x original female character #on ao3 #you and me

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celticbotanart · 7 months

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You guys really liked the "Ecclectic Halloween" post I did a while ago, so I want to go for another round!!

For those who didn't see the previous post - music is my biggest hyperfixation, and I love making thematic playlists and play with them by adding little rules and such. My "Ecclectic Halloween" playlist currently has over 150 tracks, and all of them are there according to the following little rules I've stablished:

The song MUST include anything supernatural, spooky, bizarre, "murder/serial killer", classic creature and so on - if it's instrumental, which is the case of many tracks in this list, it has to have all of these but in VibesTM

The song can be of ANY genre; is it metal? Prog? Disco? Electronic? Soundtrack? COOL, ALL ARE WELCOME!

I'm still including less widely known / "cliche Halloween songs", and this time I decided to feature songs that are soundtracks (from movies, games, animes, books even!); most of them are instrumental, or feature a heavy use of choir, and/or vocals that are prevalent but doesn't really mean anything (bear with me, you'll see what I mean, lol)

LET'S GET STARTED, part deux!!

1- Only Murders In The Building - Creatures of the Night

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Starting off with this banger from the latest season of "Only Murders in the Building"! The original context is that Oliver Putnam, one of the main characters who's a theater producer/director, decides to put on a musical play as one of the main subplots of this season; the show actually presented a couple of full, real songs, and they are all REALLY Broadway-like, campy, and epic (fucking Meryl Streep sings two of them???? It's REALLY good!). The musical's plot is that this woman was murdered in a mysterious lighthouse, and a private Investigator and a Constable comes in to investigate it. The main suspects are the Nanny and... the baby triplets of the deceased woman??? Lol This song is SUPER fun, weird and extra, with that little touch of mystery - it's the "opening act" of the show, and it's the Investigator arriving at the lighthouse, singing with the whole ensemble cast, it's SO cool! I'm including here the actual scene where they perform it, so you can see it! (Spoilers for the last episode of s3, I guess?)

In this eerie old lighthousе thrashed by the tide Live triplets whose mother suspiciously died And suspects uncanny, a constable, a nanny Do they all have secrets to hide?

2- Genshin Impact - Die Mittsommernacht-Fantasie

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This one is VERY "mischievous trick or treat" vibes! Very, very fun and colorful, with that little touch of mystery, too! This was definitely one of the best battle themes in Genshin Impact, and it was featured exclusively in a time-limited event last year?? Such a tragedy this good of a song was used only then!

The domain this song appears is themed after the character Amy "Fischl", who roleplays all the time as "Fischl, the Prinzessin der Verteilung"; the domain itself was a huge castle, with big fairytale vibes going on. Fischl is a very dramatic, mischievous character, and this theme really reflects that, in the most fun way! The song has INTENSE baroque influences with the harpsichord as main instrument, and even features a classic/ spanish guitar!

3- Cuphead, The Delicious Last Course - The Finishing Touch

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To those unfamiliar, Cuphead is a game that mimics the entire aesthetics, artstyle and music from 1920's cartoons. It's honestly one of the best ideas I've seen, and this one is a song from the DLC released a while ago. It's very spooky, and of course in that 20s cartoon sort of way.

I personally love the super eerie atmosphere, the flute, piano and the strings combo creating all the tension!

4- Young Sherlock Holmes - The Ceremony / Waxing of Elizabeth ("Rametep Theme")

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These are technically two songs, but some good soul mashed them together into one cohesive piece, because they both really, REALLY slap hard with the dramatic chorus and Carmina Burana-esque energy! This was featured in the movie "Young Sherlock Holmes", in a scene where a crazy-ass cult is having their gathering, and preparing to mummify this girl.

I have to say the soundtrack is actually better than the scene itself, lol. It has a really impressive crescendo and use of orchestral metals, I have goosebumps every time I listen to it, hnnng <3

5- Ori and the Will of the Wisps - Mora, the Spider

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Easily one of the most intense boss fights I've ever played - and the theme really reflects that fear and tension. Mora is a giant spider hidden in the deep, buried shadows of the forest that you, as Ori (a light/forest spirit) has to defeat. It really is a "dark vs light" sort of fight, and the this theme really goes fucking hard. It also has strong horror music elements used in movies of the genre - like the violin pizzicato at the beginning, and its use throughout the piece, giving that "classic horror" feeling to it.

Note how when the choir kicks in around the minute 2:15 - they are chanting "MO-RA! MO-RA!" in such a terrifying way! And then, around 4:50, it really shows how Ori's determination and hope prevails, when their leitmotif starts playing!

6- Yuki Kajiura - Ship of Fools

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If you follow me for a while, you know already that Yuki is literally one of my all-time favorite composers ever, so OF COURSE I had to include her here!! She is an OST composer for animes and games, and this was the first song of her I've ever heard - it plays on the very first scene of the "Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles" anime. Yuki is well-known for her dreamy, haunting style and this piece is a huge example of it!

She mixes in electronic, rock/metal, classic and folk genres, and layered vocals (mostly done by singers hired for her projects). This one is also an example of her using the "kajiurago", or "kajiura language" - it doesn't mean anything, it's just vocalizing that sounds like words. They are one of her trademarks, and one of her elements that really gives the etheral, haunting atmosphere in her works!

This song really goes hard into the "mysterious, dangerous witch" territory, and I fucking love it! <3

7- Yuki Kajiura - The Main Theme of Petit Cossette

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Another one from my favorite girl - this one is soundtrack to a very obscure anime called "Le Portrait de Petit Cossette" - it's essentially the story of a girl's ghost (Cossette) trapped in an artifact (I think it's a goblet?? It's been over 15 years since I saw it, lol), and this guy who falls in love with her. It's a very weird, dark and atmospheric animation.

This one track here really translates that energy, and I honestly HIGHLY recommend the rest of this OST - it's VERY VERY GOOD, and mostly all tracks have that dark, eerie, gothic vibe too.

Here we can see once more the use of "kajiurago", and another trait of Yuki's work that I fucking love - the intricate solos!! In this case, a violin solo, which is also very prevalent in most of her work.

8- Mary Fahl - Exiles (The Wolves of Midwinter)

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Another Anne Rice-inspired! "Exiles" was composed by Mary Fahl as an actual official song for the audiobook version of "The Wolves of Midwinter". I don't know about the book's plot because I haven't read it, but this song is SO atmospheric, and it's very werewolf-y. I personally LOVE Mary's deep voice, and how I can almost see the wolves running in the wintery forest.

When the hunger comes and I lose control Hold me in the darkness, bless my tarnished soul I will run beside you, we'll leave the past behind We'll hide inside the ages beneath the sands of time

9- Karliene - Become the Beast

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Technically, the only one of the playlist that isn't a soundtrack - not offcially, anyway, hehe. This is a song that Karliene wrote inspired by Hannibal, the tv show; I haven't seen Hannibal, but I'm OBSESSED about this one, because yeah, it can be about Hannibal, but I like how she's a bit vague about it, so it can also be about werewolves, or any other dark supernatural creature, like vampires.

Her voice is incredible, and I love how "minimalistic" this song is, featuring pretty much only a violin, piano and cello as insstruments. The pizzicato sound comes in again to give that unsettling, classic horror vibe, at the same time her layered vocals + the piano and cello really softens the whole thing, which in my opinion, makes the song so eerie and menacing - even more with the lyrics!

So look in the mirror and tell me, who do you see? Is it still you? Or is it me? Become the beast, we don't have to hide Do I terrify you or do you feel alive? Do you feel the hunger? Does it howl inside? Does it terrify you? Or do you feel alive?

10- Wolfwalkers - Howls the Wolf (Moll's Song - Wolf Run Free)

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And closing the "werewolf trilogy" here at the end of the playlist with another favorite of mine - and ending with wholesome vibes! This is a song that plays in the credits of the animated movie "Wolfwalkers" - IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THAT MOVIE YET, AND YOU LOVE ANIMATION, YOU MUST. LIKE FOR REAL. ITS SO GOOD. And the entire soundtrack, written by Kíla and Bruno Coulais, fucking slaps - it's mostly all traditional folk Irish music and instruments, and so full of life!

Wolfwalkers here are people who turn into wolves when they fall asleep - their sleeping body remains behind, as their soul takes a tangible form of a wolf. It's pretty rad!!

And this song, it's Moll, the wolfwalker mother, probably singing this "lullaby" to her daughter, the wolfwalker Mébh (and one of the main protagonists, the red haired little girl in the art above!).

Maria Doyle Kennedy is the one voicing Moll and singing this song, she has such a pretty, soothing voice! I love this song so much, and with the context of the movie, it makes me teary-eyed almost every time I listen to it kjdfhkjdf, ahhhh <3

The wolf will leap from child asleep The wolf will run 'til rising sun The wolf will guide you in your dreams Run free! Wolf, wolf, howls the wolf Wolf, wolf, run free!

Hope you also like this second part!! And it's really cool to see your suggestions in the tags, too <3

#music posts #halloween #long post #Youtube

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