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burgeoning-ambition · 10 months

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Finally a first language laddering post! In the near future I hope to start posting updates to my personal studying, maybe accompanied by study materials for others to use if I have the time! But first, I wanted to post an introduction.

Transcript of the images below the cut!

Language Laddering!

An Overview

I recently made a post asking about interest in me posting my personal Japanese -> Korean language laddering study journey and resources. And a lot of people seemed interested! Let's start off with an introduction to language laddering itself, since people may not have heard of it, or may not recognize this name for it! For my own personal stuff, I hope to post updates to my studies along with some resources as regularly as I can manage!

What is Language Laddering?

Language laddering, as I'm using the term, is a method of language study in which you use one target language (TL1) to learn a second target language (TL2). Basically, you cut your native language out of the equation and study in a target language!

How I Ladder

There are several methods you can use that I'd say count as language laddering, but I'm only going to go super in-depth into the methods I personally use!

If you study this way and have a specific method you love that I didn't mention, please mention it in a comment or reblog! I'd love to hear more methods.

Reading Japanese textbooks for Korean

Getting access to resources in Japanese is definitely harder because of international shipping, but I'm able to find store listings that offer sample pages! I've been using these until I can get the money to actually buy them.

In the meantime as I wait to get fully Japanese texts, I use the speaking pen from Learn Korean With BTS, haha- the speaking pen reads the book in four languages, and Japanese is one of them! So I just listen to it like an audiobook instead of reading the English!

Using apps and websites made by and for Japanese learners

While my Japanese dictionaries and apps are all in English, my Korean dictionaries and apps are all in Japanese!

I use an online Japanese-Korean dictionary on my phone, and when I practice grammar and other concepts in Korean, I use Japanese websites for Korean learners.

Recently, I've been using the site ハングルの森 to review basic grammar. I've been getting a pretty strong hold on Japanese grammar terms, too, which is exciting for more fully laddering!

Laddering languages in the way I choose to can be a very fun way to learn a new language and study one you've already been working on, but it doesn't work for everyone!

People who enjoy learning grammar and reading about how language works may enjoy it because they can learn grammar the way it's taught in their target language rather than how it's taught in their native language! This can be exciting, it's interesting to see how different languages teach concepts and learning grammar terms in a TL can open grammar-related doors! If you're a linguistics nerd like me, grammar-related doors are super exciting.

However, if you struggle a lot with understanding language instruction, and classroom language learning is really difficult for you, then it may only make things harder to try and use your TL's classroom language learning material for a new TL.

And that's okay! Not every learning method is for everyone. Learning through immersion may be easier and less frustrating if you struggle with classroom learning!

And guess what?

You can still ladder languages when doing immersion learning! Watching something in your new TL with subtitles for your stronger TL is one good way you can combine immersion learning with laddering!

I hope to post more about language laddering, although it will probably be pretty catered to my own personal study! People can feel free to send asks about anything specific they'd like to know! (Although I certainly am not an expert, so I can't answer everything)

Also, I know this post was SUPER text heavy, so thank you for making it to the end! I hope it wasn't too droning to read ^-^ Good luck with language laddering if you decide to try it!

#original post #language laddering #language learning #japanese #korean #langblr #study methods #studyblr #studying #japanese language #korean language

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raccoonscity · 1 year

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How Ada is being mischaracterized in the RE2 and RE4 remakes

I've been thinking about Ada in RE2/RE4make and how her character is so badly characterized. Ada is made out to be a selfish, manipulative villainess or whatever. Massive changes were made to the story and her character in both remakes, which fundamentally don't understand her character. Yes, she manipulates people, but most of the time it is the villains (Wesker, Krauser, Simmons, etc.). She is also made out to be selfish and heartless and that couldn't be further from the truth. She's morally complex but that doesn't make her a villain or inherently evil or selfish.

Ada's character was changed majorly in RE2make. In RE2, she's still a spy sent to retrieve the G-Virus, but her cover was a civilian looking for her boyfriend, John Clemens, who worked for Umbrella and was presumably in Umbrella's underground laboratory. In RE2make, her cover is an FBI agent sent to take down Umbrella and take the G-Virus as evidence. This change could work, in theory, but the problem with RE2make is that her cover achieves nothing but fooling Leon--when Ada first meets Annette, she immediately asks for the G-Virus and Annette does a background check on Ada she knows she's a spy. What is the point if the most important person to your mission can see through your cover immediately.

The other thing that was changed about Ada in RE2make is that in the original, Ada isn't really manipulating Leon at all. Ada never asks for Leon's help, he instead runs into her and chooses to help her. She always either runs off alone or, when she's injured, tells him to worry about himself because she'll slow him down. And even when injured she leaves where Leon left her to complete her mission alone. Ada didn't want him to get involved and is consistently discouraging him from following; even in their confrontation she says: "That's why I told you to leave without me. But you wouldn't listen." Checking her gun after she falls reveals that she didn't load her gun and never intended to hurt Leon if it had to come to that.

Except in RE2make, even though she initially doesn't want his help, after a certain point (especially when she's injured) she is actively manipulating him. The change in her cover story was made so Ada can appeal to his sense of duty as a cop, by lying and telling him the sample would be used for evidence. The kiss in RE2make is meant to manipulate but backfires, but the only kiss scene in the original is genuine, after Ada gets injured saving Leon from Mr. X.

When she is manipulating someone, it's the actual villains--Wesker, Krauser, Simmons, etc. We don't know a lot about Ada's true motives or backstory, but we know she never goes out of her way to make the other protagonists' lives/missions harder, and she's not out to destroy the world or cause wars.

She regularly helps the protagonists--not just Leon. In RE2, she will throw a rocket down to either Leon or Claire in the B scenario (even though she never interacts with Claire otherwise). She patches Leon up after he takes a bullet for her and will "die" protecting him from Mr. X. In RE4, she repeatedly tries to convince Wesker that Leon was not a threat and when Wesker tells her Krauser was sent to kill Leon, she does not hesitate to stop Krauser. Ada gets the jet-ski so Leon and Ashley can escape, and in a few instances Leon can find notes that Ada left behind giving tips. She agrees to help get Luis away from the Los Illuminados. In RE6, she helps Jake and Sherry fight the Ubistvo and helps Leon and Helena defeat mutated Deborah. She also gives Leon the evidence needed to take Simmons down.

But unfortunately, RE4make removed one of the key moments Ada helps Leon (saving Leon from Krauser after Wesker orders his assassination) and gave this moment to Luis. I do actually like this scene but it sucks that one of Ada's defining moments in RE4 was just given to another character. It also annoys me that the scene in which we see Ada talking over comms to Wesker, he doesn't seem to care at all about wanting Leon out of the way. In Separate Ways Ada tries to convince Wesker that Leon is not a threat, but Wesker knows otherwise, so Ada avoids Leon and lies about not being able to kill Leon. When Wesker tells her about Krauser being sent to kill Leon, she drops everything to stop him, lies to Wesker about what happened with Krauser, then finishes him off herself. Except now, Wesker doesn't see Leon as a threat at all? Wesker was the one Ada was working with in RE2 so he's well aware of who Leon is. So there's no threat on Leon and that removes a key part of Ada's conflict in SW, unless we're missing some context without a SW campaign yet.

Ada also left him notes in RE4 such as this one where she tells Leon how to remove the Plagas and warns him of the dangers (this role is also given to Luis):

Once a Plaga egg hatches, it's nearly impossible to remove it from the body. But if it's before it hatches, then it can be neutralized by medication. If it does hatch you might be able to get it out by surgery before it turns to an adult. But it won't be easy. There's a high chance you won't survive the operation. As far as I know the girl was injected with the egg before you. Her time is ticking. You should prepare yourself for the worst case scenario.

Now to be fair, Ada does still give Leon advice when they talk over comms, and it makes more sense for Luis to tell Leon about the surgery. Even then, Ada still helps Leon plenty. But why rewrite her story from RE2, why change and take these interactions from Ada, then say she only ever manipulates Leon? Ada never tries to convince Leon that saving Ashley is a lost cause either.

Again, Ada is not a heartless person. I hate that scene with Kendo in RE2make for that reason, because it exists so Leon can teach her to be sympathetic. She doesn't always have ulterior motives for helping others (most of the examples listed above she has no reason to do so and is doing it just to help, and in some cases she is actively putting her life/mission on the line) and is capable of being sympathetic. In RE6, she sympathizes with Carla and says: "If you had only sought vengeance against Simmons alone, I would have helped you." In Ada's reports, she says this about wanting to help Luis:

I'm the one who told the organization of [Luis Sera's] importance. I did it because I like him. His history betrays an enthusiasm I once shared. It was a stroke of luck that I happened to intercept his e-mail for help. It seems he can't trust the police, so he sent the e-mail to an old friend from college. He must have thought his friend was still alive. At any rate, that's how I managed to find him. […] When I told him who I was, he practically begged to be taken into custody. He needed protection. He said, "I have no love for Las Plagas or this stupid cult. I want out. I just want peace and quiet again." I ordered him to bring me a master Plaga specimen - a sample - for evidence.

And then there's that ending scene of Ada and Wesker in RE4make. After Ada secures the sample, she talks to Wesker and seems blindsided by the fact that Wesker is planning something that will kill billions of people. This scene bothers me for two* reasons.

One: This is framed like Ada has just now had a change of heart and doesn't want to be complicit in the death that Wesker will cause... except that's what her arc in RE2 was. Ada expresses this in Umbrella Chronicles immediately post-RE2. After her conversation with Wesker, she narrates: "If the T-Virus did this [to Raccoon City], what would happen if the G-Virus got out?" The only reason Ada gives the G-Virus to Wesker at that point was because she had no other way out of Raccoon City. Why wasn't this in RE2make?

Two: Ada already knows Wesker is planning something horrible, even if she doesn't know the extent of it. The whole point of Ada working with Wesker in RE4 was to sabotage his plans and send him a fake sample. She and her organization want to take the sample for themselves and want to gain insight into his plans.

In Ada's last report regarding Wesker, she says this:

It wasn't easy, but I'd say the mission has been a success. Getting my hands on the sample was my initial objective after all. But I've sent Wesker a different present, just as the organization ordered. Pretending to work with him was entertaining. Albert Wesker… I wonder where he's headed next. Something tells me this whole affair was just a taste of what he's got in store. To him, Umbrella represented power. He used it to hide behind while he made plans of his own. And now the umbrella's been folded. With the sanctuary of their old umbrella ruined, those in power struggle to erect a new one. They are aware of their own crookedness and deceit as they engage in their personal war of light and darkness. That's why Wesker will stop at nothing in opening his new umbrella. The giant pharmaceutical corporation, "S" maintains medical and drug facilities the world over. We know for certain that Wesker has been in contact with them following Umbrella's demise. There's no doubt we'll next hear from him there. The organization must remain vigilant.

A quick note: "S" or "Seashell" was the working title for what eventually was made into Tricell in RE5. Ada and her organization already know that Wesker is in contact with Tricell and want to "remain vigilant" against whatever he's planning. We don't know too much about the organization she works for, what their goals are, and how she came to work with them, just that they research and sell viruses and bioweapons and work with people like Wesker--which sounds bad except look at everything Mia does while working with the Connections, but Capcom just ignores that. Yet Ada is the evil manipulative one 🤔

Some other instances of Ada working with villains include her history of working with Simmons, who she stopped working with specifically because he was involved in the decision to destroy Raccoon City. At the end of Damnation she hints that she won't hand over the Plaga sample to her anonymous buyer/Simmons.

The problem with Ada is that while Capcom has hinted since RE4 about her true motives, they've not touched on the subject since, and everything we know about Ada's backstory is vague. Is she just in it for money or authority? Was she forced to work with them? Does she want to destroy Umbrella and other bioweapons groups from the inside? Does she want to research the viruses hoping to find cures or vaccines? Ada's moral complexity comes from the fact that we don't know why she does what she does, but just because she mostly helps out in the shadows doesn't mean she's selfish or manipulative, and she is still considered one of the main heroes (or anti-hero) of the series.

*A secret third reason I hate this scene is it's so OOC for Wesker, it drives me crazy. There's no reason for Wesker to tell Ada any of this (they don't trust each other) and he's notoriously a strategist who works in the shadows and doesn't tell people his plans. Wesker didn't even have any doomsday/Uroboros plans yet because he only starts his plans after learning about Project W from Spencer, like two years after this. I hate this scene🙃

#re meta #my meta #ramblings #resident evil #resident evil 2 remake #resident evil 4 remake #ada wong #video games

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declanlikesmusic · 6 months

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Music is a thing in the music industry and so I would like to talk about music,

Why Plunderphonic Concept Albums Should Be a Bigger Thing, Actually.

Plunderphonics is such a fascinating genre to me. There is so much potential in taking pieces from other peoples' work and using those pieces to orchestrate a new work entirely. Not just that, but taking those pieces and crafting a new story out of them aurally, like a concept album or a sound collage, something of the sort.

When I say that, the first example that comes to people's minds when it comes to sample-based concept albums, it's most likely Everywhere at the End of Time by The Caretaker. If you don't already know, Leyland Kirby produced a monolithic 6-part saga of albums that ran from 2016 to 2019, each part representing a different stage of Alzheimer's disease & dementia and each part taking from super old traditional pop & jazz records and warping them to some degree until the very end where they're no longer intelligible. It's an absolutely staggering work of art and it blew up in the years since its conclusion to stunned reactions.

But to me, there's a lot more do delve into than creating haunting ambient pieces like this. Not to knock The Caretaker at all, I think it's amazing that this even happened, but it's nothing that I would personally want to listen to regularly, unless I wanna feel spooked by putting on Stage 3, but even then, look me in the eye and tell me you would listen to that kind of thing in the background on a casual setting.

Another artist that kind of fails in this regard is also one of the most important & genre-defining plunderphonics acts. Negativland are an infamous band in one of the best ways possible, using sample-based music to create some of the most biting pieces of satire in the late 80s and even 90s. I love it. They still don't have that replayability to me personally, but I still can't think of songs like Christianity is Stupid and Yellow Black & Rectangular from their Escape From Noise album without chucking a laughing fit.

Nowadays, plunderphonics music is so much easier to make than with the technology they had back then, so those albums are still miracles to me. Today, they're almost too easy to make. There are more plunderphonics albums in this past decade and a half than at any other point in history. To mention that, I need to talk about vaporwave again. They didn't start off as super detailed conceptual albums, but the way they have presented themselves over the years, you'd think they were conceptual by default.

Vektroid's pioneering albums in this genre are very potently indicative of the sounds, atmospheres and even worlds that they were not only capturing, but deeply exuding in their mere presence. You listen to Floral Shoppe under her Macintosh Plus alias and you are immediately taken somewhere else. It's completely atmospheric in that there's an ambience to the music that's playing and how they're twisted to warp you into its reality.

I know I've knocked The Caretaker's music for being too ambient, but there's a musicality in the way that Vektroid distorts her samples that still keeps them wildly enjoyable to me. I've especially been tuning into her New Dreams Ltd. project's Initiation Tape: Isle of Avalon Edition a lot recently for this exact reason. I almost so desperately want a visual accompanyment, I want to be in that lonely hotel room in the middle of the night with only this music & my feeling.

I could talk all day & every day about vaporwave albums that capture me and lift me away with their potent atmospheres. Tuning into Vacant Places by Hantasi, which makes me float like a ghost across the halls of its incredibly haunted & dense yet empty shopping centre; or The Path to Lost Eden (ロストエデンへのパス) by Nmesh & telepath テレパシー能力者 whose individual sides take me to two different ends of a journey to a mystical rainforest paradise; or Into the Light by Infinity Frequencies if I ever want to see The Backrooms again.

I also want to add probably vaporwave's biggest leading act right now into the conversation, who were responsible for some of the genre's most enriching & creative concept albums. death's dynamic shroud.wmv is a supergroup who at a point in time were creating conceptual mixtapes non-stop in 2014, my personal favourite being SEAWRLDハートブレーク from their member Tech, but there are a ton of fan favourites across their discography to choose from.

They didn't stop there either. James & Keith put together the group's magnum opus in their essential I'll Try Living Like This the following year and after a while of slowing down, they've since kicked off the NUWRLD Mixtape Club with new albums almost every month, many of which are concept albums of multiple stripes! It's so impressive how much they've been able to put together as a group.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, because over the course of its existence, vaporwave as a genre has also grown to have albums sometimes simply be albums without the need for heavy concepts or even samples to speak of to deliver an atmosphere. But I want to talk about a certain artist who bridges between plunderphonics & vaporwave in ways that I think have loads of potential in unprecedented ways.

If you know me, you know I'm talking about christtt. He's one of the most experimental figures in the vaporwave genre and often the most polarising because of it. His 2016 album no lives matter* takes the simplest components of vaporwave and completely flips them on their head by delivering themes & concepts of death and the afterlife in hell. It's the minimal sample editing and yet potent atmospheres that are common in most vaporwave albums taken to some of their logical extremes.

Along with that, you have his 2018 album deep dark trench, another concept album that delivers in a completely unique way, taking from sound collage to deliver emotions about worldwide tragedies. Not to mention his side-project 아버지 (father2006) and its album reflection, another album about death that is far more ambient, simultaneously dissonant and yet emotionally devastating. These three are among my favourite albums of all time. They are so incredibly captivating, both sonically & conceptually that they make up my most replayed listens ever.

There is so much potential in the music that he's creating that so few people are taking from to create their own concept albums with these approaches to vaporwave & plunderphonics. Especially since the ones that I currently have in mind the most recently are also among the most flawed examples. To bring up christtt again, as much as his best material has some amount of contentious decisions put into them, his lower received material is even more debatable.

His most recent album last year A.D. is probably his most underrated? It combines many of the styles that he's experimented with in a concept album about the rapture. It mostly centers around the lone survivor, but there's also a suite of tracks titled hell that surround those in the afterlife, which caught many people off guard. Even worse is social justice whatever from 2017, what I see as a love letter to the early ages of the internet paired with subtle sombre & bittersweet moments, most other people see as a compilation of chopped together memes & shitposts, understandably so.

But the biggest example to me of the unforeseen potential in music such as this is made not by him but one of his protégés. This year, a friend of mine RAWINTHEVOID put out their most recent concept album NOTINTHEMOOD, which tells the story of love at first sight turned into a sexual yet eventually bitter & spiteful relationship. There are some amazing tracks on this album that I highly recommend you sit through to find for yourself, but in my opinion, it also has some rough patches. I'm proud to say he's certainly found his edge ten albums in, but it needs some sharpening & polishing to say the least.

Conclusion? No. Concussion. 💥🔨

Overall, I hope this post serves as an inspiration for more albums like these to be made. Plunderphonic music these days is so easy to create, but it's also much more difficult to create great plunderphonic music and additionally, great plunderphonic concept albums. I would kill to see so many more albums like these coming out today. With the state of Bandcamp right now and how slowly the vaporwave scene itself has been progressing since 2017, it's easy to not have too much hope, but the potential I see is incredibly boundless and I implore anybody reading this who's interested in making music like this to get creative and go wild. The music world is your plundered oyster.

#music #plunderphonics #sample based music #vaporwave #vaporwave music #experimental music #electronic music #concept album #music recommendation #music opinions #music community #music review #music producer

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musicthatyoucandanceto · 4 months

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robin's opinions about sparks albums 2013-2023

the final part, where I talk a lot more than the rest of my reviews for some reason (4/4)

Two Hands One Mouth (2013): I've only listened to this once all the way through and I didn't like it very much

Bops: Sparks Overture?? I love an overture, I am what's known as a Musical Theatre Bitch

Flops: ...the rest of it... for now...

FFS self-titled (2015): I have also only listened to this a few times

Bops (aka songs that stood out) : Call Girl <3, Johnny Delusional, Dictator's Son

Flops: I don't remember if any of the others were good!! I have to listen to this album more

Hippopotamus (2017): I didn't think of this before but "Life With The Macbeths" sounds like it could really fit in with the Annette soundtrack!! I think it's a little too basic for Annette but too dramatic for the rest of Hippopotamus. I don't know what to do with this information

Bops: What The Hell Is It This Time (!!), Missionary Position (!!), So Tell Me Mrs. Lincoln.../Bummer (lots of bops on this album)

Flops: I get tired of Giddy Giddy often, and A Little Bit Like Fun is actually not that fun to me. The rest of them are great, which is nice!!

A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip (2020)

Bops: weirdly I LOVE Lawnmower! it's such a charming song and they are truly grandpa-core at heart!! second and third place are Onomato Pia and Left Out in the Cold. surprise fourth place goes to All That because I don't listen to it very much but it makes me emotional when I do :')

Flops: Please Don't Fuck Up My World (immediate skip for me. not sure why) and Nothing Travels Faster Than The Speed of Light, which is just a little boring :/

Annette soundtrack (2021): I don't listen to this regularly but I've seen Annette twice so I'll base my opinions off of that

Bops: I loved anything Marion Cotilliard sang (for example The Woods) and anything to do with the Baby Aria. Also the Lalala song that sampled Thanks but No Thanks was GENIUS (and So May We Start, of course). I'm going through the demos rn and a lot of them are really cool too

Flops: Most of the time Adam Driver was not the moment. I really didn't like the ending songs, like the thing about the abyss, I thought they were equal parts overdramatic and boring. (Somehow.) You Used to Laugh is pretty cool but I could go without a lot of his other songs

and finally... The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte (2023)

Bops: The first half of this album is SO incredible because it feels like they're reinventing synth/electronic pop in a really cool way! The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte, Veronica Lake, and Nothing Is As Good As They Say It Is are my favorites.

Flops: As soon as we hit Track 7 I feel like I lose interest, with the exception of A Love Story. It's a weird phenomenon and I'm curious to see if anyone else feels this way!

#sparks #my 'sparks opinions' tag #really warming up to these albums tbh

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daily-utsu-p · 1 year

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Utsu-Poll Roundup

Pretty much all the polls went about how I expected, but I'll talk a little bit more about the results under the cut! (And you can see my own votes in the pictures...!)

I am shocked that GALAPAGOS won the favorite album poll. I thought for sure MOKSHA would have had a clean sweep! A close 2nd place isn't bad, but wow, that one really caught me by surprise. I'm not surprised Warufuzake was so low, because while I think it's one of his best, it isn't available for streaming anywhere so it's not as well-known. It is what it is!

The EP poll was basically what I expected, although part of me is a little surprised P ended up winning over DOLL. But I was still happy to see the two classics got the most votes!

I specifically kept the remaster albums in their own poll because I knew GREATEST SHITS would've ended up sweeping a favorite albums poll. Shout out to the singular person who voted for SUPER_SHIBORIKASU_DX though. Stay strong soldier

Votes started petering off with the rest of the polls – The Ohayogozaimas poll only had 23 votes. Congratulations to No-Nonsense for winning~ the choice for me personally was really difficult. I voted for SEISHI but wished I had said Toku ni Nashi.

The Zsasz poll only had 18 votes with Otaku no Uta and Dark Hero tying for the victory. I was a little surprised Percontation Point wasn't more popular, but I guess it's a pretty small sample size... lol

For Sekihan, I pretty much expected IDOLATRY to win over PSYCHODRAMA. So no surprises there. If you didn't vote on this poll because you haven't heard them, omg please go to YouTube and listen to them. Sekihan's voice is so charming and the songs are so unique and amazing and undeniably Utsu-P.

Speaking of "go to YouTube and listen to them", the poll about how everyone usually listens to Utsu-P... omg, you guys. There is SO MUCH bonus Utsu-P content out there. Even just on spotify! There's nothing wrong with preferring his Vocaloid stuff, but if you ever get a chance, I really urge you to seek out his other projects. The Ohayogozaimas retains a classic Utsu-P sound, and Zsasz takes the reigns of his more upbeat and fun tracks. 🥺 pls go listen to zsasz i love my girls so much

... and then the last poll was a finale of all the winners! This one went exactly how you'd expect. GREATEST SHITS took the victory. I'm just happy everything else got at least one vote! Ahahah.

So, that's it! Thanks for playing my silly little polls with me. I'll get back to your regularly scheduled Utsu-Posting as soon as I can, but I've been without internet for the past while. Again. 😮‍💨

Let me know your thoughts on the results in the replies or in the tags!! Or in my inbox. or keep it to yourself that's OK too i guess

#utsu p #poll #mod post

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leagueofgardens · 5 months

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A Sampling of Futagawa Fumi's Tweets

Back when I wrote about our sources of Assault Lily info, I mentioned Fumi's Q&A Twitter account, but only gave an example of one tweet from it, which was a joke. We translate these regularly on the fan Discord, so I thought I'd post some of the ones that I've done myself here to show people what they're like.

It's also way easier to copy and paste stuff than to write a proper post of some sort from scratch

Q: At Yurigaoka, how often is it that a Schild isn't in the same legion as her Schutzengel, like is the case with Miriam and Moyu?

A: It's something that happens. I'd say it isn't typical of Schutzengels, but it also isn't super rare or anything

Q: What do the older Phantasm users at Yurigaoka think of Tazusa?

A: They have a high opinion of her. The third-years like the mindset she has where she isn't afraid to get herself hurt. As for the second-years, they recognize her solid grasp of tactics. The overall opinion is that she's the kind of Phantasm user who's easy for commanders to incorporate into their strategy.

Q: Fumi-chan, you spend a lot of time with Hibari-san, and you've also talked about how she's really got the bearing of a Star Lily. I'm sure she's incredible when she fights, but is there something else she does just day-to-day that makes you feel that way?

A: The way she looks down at her smartphone or book when she's reading, or how she gestures as she's talking, they've both got this starry quality… it's like, she's got this unique aura to her that just draws you in, you know?

Q: Do a lot of Madecs get boosted so that they're strong enough to become Lilies?

A: It varies by Garden, but at some of them, yes

Q: Who would win in a duel, Moyu or Miriam?

A: I think Moyu would, she's good at fighting

Q: How does Shiori like the pachypodium gracilius she bought with Foomy?

A: She takes very good care of it. I hear that she talks to it every day

Q: Right now only the members of the 1st and 2nd generation Álfheimr have Grams, but if there's ever a mass-produced version, would any Lily in Team Hitotsuyanagi be good at using one? (Aside from the two ex-Álfheimr members who've got one already)

A: It's the kind of CHARM that demands a Lily who's excellent at all the fundamentals of battle, so Kaede would be the best bet

Q: Why doesn't Yuyu like Tominaga Shin?

A: She's very chatty, and she'll often talk incessantly at Yuyu with no consideration of whether she wants to listen… or rather, just to mess with her. Yuyu-sama seems to have a hard time dealing with that. Shin: "For real, now? I bet you actually like it, though~" Yuyu: "Be quiet! I most certainly do not!"

Q: Has Araya been sleeping over in other people's rooms and that sort of thing lately?

A: She has, yes. It's becoming a real problem…

#assault lily #assault lily lore #lore #futagawa fumi #Somebody's got a crush on Hibari #I feel sorry for Kaede but she had plenty of time to make her move on Fumi and hasn't

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munsonsduchess · 1 year

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Teenage Wasteland

summary: eddie and the band are about to hit their big break and you want to be there for it all w/c: 2,302 warnings: swearing, underage drinking (kind of, if you squint), that's about it honestly a/n: so i've been gone for ages i know, i just kind of hit a slump tbh and tumblr just wasn't doing it for me so i took a break and i'm hoping to be back more regularly from now on, i just need to curate my dash a little if you enjoy this why not consider reblogging so more people can enjoy it too! this is technically the second part of my mallrats series which much like the god and goddess of hellfire has no real plot it all just sort of links up in different one shots.

(moodboard by me)

Working in the mall had gotten much less terrible in the year since you and Eddie had started dating. You'd met all of Eddie's friends, most of whom also worked in the mall because well that's where all the work was.

Jeff and Gareth who were also in the band were probably exactly what you'd imagined Eddie's friends would look like. Kind of grungy, kind of metal, lots of flannel and ripped jeans. The other friends you were introduced to were a little less than typical.

There was Robin who worked in Scoops Ahoy who didn't seem to have any filter and just said whatever came to mind. She was funny and smart and always gave you the skinny when a new shipment of ice cream was coming in so you guys could get free samples before anyone else. It was hilarious to watch her argue music with the guys who refused to expand their knowledge outside of their own inner circle of 'alternative' and refused to listen to anything popular or top forty related.

The most surprising were perhaps Chrissy and Steve who looked like they'd stepped out of the latest abercrombie catalogue. Chrissy who was sweet and bubbly and blonde, an ex cheerleader who was the epitome of a bubblegum pop princess. She loved the Spice Girls and NSync and The Backstreet Boys but also Led Zeppelin and Nirvana. She painted her nails pink and wore pink lip gloss but no one ever batted an eyelid and they welcomed her wholeheartedly into the group.

Then there was Steve, who was an honest to god former Shirtless Ambercrombie Dude who'd packed the whole thing in and was now a babysitter to a group of pre teens who seemed to think he was the best thing ever as well as the most lame person to ever exist. He wore Ralph Lauren polos and khakis he bought in the gap. His jeans were ironed for god's sake, not to mention the hair he was so proud of.

The thing was though these were the most honest, open, loving and accepting group of people you'd ever met in your life and you were so happy you'd met them.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

You were closing up one Friday night when Eddie came rushing across from the music store,

"Babe, babe babe babe babe babe babe, you aren't gonna believe this"

"First of all take a breath, second what's going on?"

"You remember that gig, the one we were told we'd just be the opening act?" you did remember, some other local alternative band was playing a show on Halloween at the Hideout and even though Corroded Coffin had a standing Tuesday night gig they'd been told that if they wanted to play on Halloween they'd be the warm up act for the other band,

"Yeah, what about it?"

"They broke up. Turns out one of the guys had been sleeping with another guys boyfriend and it's a huge thing but they aren't playing on halloween anymore which means …"

"OH MY GOD YOU GUYS ARE THE HEADLINE ACT!"

"WE'RE THE HEADLINE ACT!"

You couldn't have been happier for Eddie at that moment. You all but flung yourself at him knocking the wind out of both of you, this was huge. The guys practised so hard and they put all their effort and energy into their work so it was amazing to see them getting their big break,

"You have to tell everyone, like immediately. I know Robin is closing up in Scoops but Chrissy had the early shift but there's the payphone outside"

"You seem way more excited about this than me" Eddie joked,

"Uh yeah, you're about to become a big time rockstar. Next thing you know you'll be touring with Metallica and James Hetfield will personally sign your guitar" you spoke emphatically, waving your arms around grandly,

"I seriously doubt that's gonna happen after one gig in the Hideout"

"You don't know that!"

Eddie laughed again and pulled you away from the now locked shutter and towards the food court where Robin would no doubt be waiting since you and Eddie were her ride home.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Everyone else was just as excited to hear about Corroded Coffin's lucky break and so began weeks of planning costumes and how you were all going to get to and from the bar. Steve offered to drive everyone claiming his car would have the most room for you, robin and chrissy and whoever else wanted to come. Throwing a not so subtle hint to Robin about his friend Nancy who would be coming home from College in Boston for fall break.

Robin pointedly said nothing but did slap Steve on the arm for being a jerk. Chrissy laughed brightly at their antics looking on fondly like she'd never been happier to witness two friends engage in a bitch fest.

You didn't see much of Eddie outside of work and a quick hi when you saw him in the evenings before he crashed. The band was practising almost all the time now to prepare for the show, Eddie had even written some new songs to play for the first time that night. Word had it that a talent scout was coming down from the city to see the gig, apparently the original headliner pulling out didn't dissuade them from coming. So the stakes were at an all time high.

The night of the gig you were waiting at the edge of the trailer park for your ride, Steve had called to say his friend Nancy was driving her parents station wagon so rather than have her attempt to navigate the trailer park on Halloween in a 'middle class' car you'd let Steve know where you'd wait instead.

You'd chosen to dress as Stevie Knicks, who happened to be your Mom's favourite artist and you'd be lying if you didn't admit the beaded shawl was doing things for you. When you spotted the station wagon cresting the hill towards the park you'd waved to signal your location and moments later the door was being opened so you could climb inside.

Once seated you took a moment to appraise the other costumes, Robin had chosen Ripley from Alien, Chrissy had chosen what appeared to be Barbie but as a rockstar from the 80s, Steve was the Terminator and Nancy was Sarah Connor,

"Wow, couples costume. Steve you didn't tell me Nancy was your girlfriend!" you reached into the front seat so you could whack him on the arm,

"What? Ow! No! Nance and I aren't dating" he replied rubbing the sore spot on his arm,

"We used to but it didn't work out" Nancy explained with a genuine smile while Steve pouted in the passenger seat, "you should have seen what he was wearing when Robin and I picked him up"

"This was all we could put together at the last minute. Lucky for us we were able to put this all together"

"So you guys aren't worried about being seen as a couple all night?" you asked, mostly because you'd rather die than be seen with your ex all night,

"Well it was either this or dress him as Ken to go with Chrissy's Barbie"

"Yeah and I don't need that at all tonight" Chrissy said, "I have major plans"

The rest of the drive to the hideout entailed Chrissy a) explaining her outfit, it had come from a Barbie movie released in 87 that she just adored and then b) detailing her big plans for the night, hoping at least one beautiful girl into metal would take notice of her

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

The energy inside the bar was electric, you actually thought Chrissy's hair might go on fire with the amount of teasing and hairspray. You'd arrived in the middle of one of the warm up sets and Steve had gone to get everyone a drink while you and the other girls found a table you could steal until Corroded Coffin came on.

The drinks were watered down and tasted terrible honestly but no one seemed to care. You were catching Nancy up on everything that had happened with the other band and how Eddie and the guys got the headline spot,

"Can you believe? This is gonna be so huge for them"

"That's amazing. I'm so happy for them, you'll have to introduce me when they're finished"

"Totally. Also if I get like swept up in emotion Robin knows the guys super well too so she can totally introduce you"

Robin shot you a look over the top of her drink and Steve tried not to laugh. You'd heard all about Robin's crush and how she'd apparently almost fainted when Nancy came out before leaving for college. Honestly it was kinda cute.

Chrissy, though she stuck out like a sore thumb amongst all the mullets and various shades of black seemed to also be having a great time. She'd already made more friends than you thought was possible in a dive bar outside a small town in Rural Indiana but you didn't doubt she'd be going home with at least a few phone numbers.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

WHen it was finally time for Corroded Coffin to take the stage you all left your drinks with Steve to take your places at the stage. Pushing and elbowing people out of the way to get a good spot, you wanted Eddie to be able to see you when he came on stage.

"You girls here for the show?" a voice asked by your ear making you recoil as Billy Hargorve stood far too close to you for comfort,

"Yeah we're here for corroded coffin" Nancy replied shooting him a scathing look, "and we don't need company"

"Those posers are who they got to replace us?" he laughed, "wow, i guess anyone will do when you're desperate"

Before you could share your thoughts on Billy's opinion Chrissy stepped in and levelled Billy with a punch,

"Those are our friends you jerk!"

For a second it looked like Billy might say or do something but then a tall blonde guy came over and ushered him away. Not before throwing a look back over his shoulder that told you all exactly how he felt,

"God I hate that guy" Robin sneered, "he's such an asshole"

"Don't let him bother you, look, they're coming on stage!" Nancy turned everyone's attention back to the stage where Eddie and the guys had begun to take their places,

"What is up Indiana!" Eddie yelled, "We're corroded coffin and we're here to rock!"

A cheer went up from the surrounding crowd and you managed to catch Eddie's eye before he got started throwing him a good luck kiss, for which you received a wink back.

The crowd went nuts when the band started to play. Eddie, Gareth and Jeff were giving it their all, they played a mixture of covers and their own original songs, some of which you'd neve heard before.

You could not have been any more proud of your boyfriend at that moment.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

After the show, and three encores demanded by the crowd, your group pushed their way backstage to congratulate the guys in person,

"Baby you were amazing!" you cried as you launched yourself at Eddie, he caught you easily spinning you around in a circle,

"Did you see us? We totally killed it!" Jeff exclaimed, "that was seriously metal"

"The most metal" Robin agreed enthusiastically.

There was a knock on the door followed by an older man in a suit jacket, white tee and jeans walking into what passed as the bar's 'dressing room' leaving you all stunned,

"That was quite a show gentlemen. I don't think I've seen a band play to a crowd like that in a long time. At least not in a little local bar like this"

"Uh yeah man we're glad you liked the show" Gareth said looking around for some help,

"My name is Craig Townsend and I represent Capital Media Entertainment Group. I liked what I saw up there. Tell me, do you write your own music?"

"Yeah, yeah we do" Eddie replied, "all our stuff is original"

"That's what I like to hear" Craig pulled a card from his jacket pocket, "come by the office sometime, bring a tape. I'd like to hear more"

He handed the card to Steve who seemed to be the only one not stunned by what was happening and nodded a goodbye. Once he was gone everyone let out a yell all at once,

"Oh my god he wants us to leave a tape in!" Jeff was shaking Gareth's shoulders, "dude wants to hear our tape!"

"This is so cool!" Chrissy squealed, "you guys are gonna be on the cover of rolling stone before you know it!"

You shot a grin at Eddie who was staring in wonder and awe at the business card he'd taken from Steve,

"We'll be able to say we were there the night Corroded Coffin got their big break" you said nudging your boyfriend, "when you guys go off to LA and become famous rock stars the rest of us can give interviews to shitty indie mags about how we knew you before"

"If you think you're getting rid of me that easily" Eddie laughed wrapping his arms around you, "you've got another thing coming"

"We're a team!" Gareth agreed, "all of us"

"Next stop LA" Nancy laughed, "you'll have to give me an exclusive"

"Wheeler, I promise you if we make it to LA you're gonna be the only journalist I trust" Eddie replied, his grin infectious.

This was it. This was the big time. Eddie and the guys had made it and he was gonna bring you along for the ride. Like Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo.

Next stop. LA Baby.

Taglist: @pillow-titties @shenanigans-and-imagines @jobean12-blog @prettyboyeddiemunson @eddiemvnsonss @ches-86 @eddiesmutson @hellfireeddie6 @boomhauer @xbreezymeadowsx @that-lame-ghoul9000 @flashyourgreeneyesatme @anxiousstark @ruinedbythehobbit @winnifredburkleismyhero @inluvweddiemunson @wheaty-melon @lucciaa9 if you’re stricken out it means tumblr won’t let me tag you properly.

If you’d like to be added/removed from the tag list please let me know!

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson fic #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fanfiction #stranger things #stranger things x reader #stranger things fluff #stranger things fic #stranger things fanfic #stranger things fanfiction #fluff #90s au #duchess writes #duchess.txt

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ghelgheli · 1 year

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what do i do if i genuinely feel too stupid to read theory?

my reflexive response here is "i don't fuckin know". because honestly i worry about this shit constantly. i don't know what's going on half the time — i regularly have no idea what people On Here are talking about. if I've given the impression that i know things it's because I've faked it until it looks like I've made it and I'm here to tell you i absolutely have not made it. and if I've picked up on the tone here correctly: yeah as far as feelings go it's discouraging as hell

one thing I try to keep in mind is that intelligence, and therefore stupidity, are not natural kinds: there are not people with the attribute "intelligent" and others with "stupid". intelligence is a device of bourgeoise epistemology used to funnel knowledge production through its agents; it's not the case that someone just "is intelligent". rather, by design, ppl who had resources growing up for tutelage, for private schools, for test prep, for university prep, for "prestigious" universities, etc. etc. are trained specifically to exhibit the skills designated as "intelligent" (test-taking, fluency in academic jargon, bourgeoise etiquette, etc.) because this is the pipeline by which the epistemic aristocracy ensures its continuation. and conversely, someone who is excluded from this pipeline for any number of often socioeconomic reasons will not receive this training and will be less likely to have the arbitrary masteries assigned to intelligence — hence, "stupid".

so if you're ever feeling "stupid", particularly "too stupid to read theory", i recommending thinking through why. is it maybe because when you crack open, idk, engels, you don't have the benefit of a professor/tutor to explain it to you? is it because you read a page and you have no idea what half the words mean? does the style of writing go right over your head because you've leapt right into a very hard piece of writing for the subject you're learning about? because none of those reflect innate facts about you. they are contingent.

this leads to the second thing i keep in mind: reading takes practice. reading any given subject takes practice in that subject. it takes attentive study of the jargon and idiom of that subject, and without the benefit of a university pol sci course or whatever, you are left with the task of independently figuring out 1) what you need to read/watch/listen to for what you want to know 2) in what order 3) with what supplementary materials to explain things and, if you're struggling 4) who you can go to for help. because this is a lot harder done alone. there are syllabi, lecture series, podcasts, and more out there, but it's a lot easier when someone's going thru it with you.

if you want to learn about x, research what are recommended introductions to x. introductory books, lectures, syllabi, survey papers. do not automatically dive in to the first thing you find. compile a bunch. sample from a few. find whatever is presenting things in the most accessible way (which anything introductory should) and start with that. as you learn more you'll have a sense of what you need to read next. what concepts did you learn to begin with that you want to learn more about? follow through with the bibliographies of what you read. search broadly before reading deeply. unless you have to, don't force yourself through a paper or book you feel like you're banging your head against: find something else. there will be something you enjoy more. this shit is fucking hard. work at it, but don't make more resistance for yourself by bludgeoning yourself with a book that just isn't doing it for you. that's how you burn out and end up "feeling stupid". there is a learning curve and part of the trick is not to try and start at the very top. and there will be things that interest you more vs. less and nobody is making you read the latter.

#ask answer #this is all wildly generalized of course #its gonna be different for each person and each thing you want to learn about #the most important point is there IS a starting point for you and the hardest part is finding it #and if like me you struggle to keep momentum then as soon as you slow down on one thing find something else before you start spinning tires

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thelarisb · 11 months

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The H in House stands for Hyperfixation

Alright. So everyone knows I have a house hyperfixation. Here it is. A house infodump. Because autism. I love autism so much. Defected Reco

if you take a peek at my Last.FM page you will probably see a lot of house. Where's Will Wood or Lemon Demon you ask? HA I don't listen to those. These are for sta

Who are these people?

So I got into house back then when I discovered Daft Punk through a sampling video. It turns out that I really liked their music - back then I was only listening to a small playlist full of mainstream pop eurgghgh COLDPLAY eURHgh

turns out I really really resonated with Daft Punk's music--no really I resonated with HOUSE MUSIC in general. my earliest tracks I added to my playlist were 8-minute long house tracks made by a producer named Iceferno (you may know him if you've watched many a Dmitrivalencia video)

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Dmitrivalencia also introduced me to many awesome house artists - one of them being a not-so-well-known French act named Hystereo (not to be confused with the Armin van Buuren song of the same name), who released a couple of singles and only one album, Corporate Crimewave, during the 2010s. Oh. And Ross Couch. And Lusine.

But Lusine isn't house, I hear you say. That's correct! Why did I put that there?

So once I got hooked on Daft Punk I began expanding my range. I added a bunch more stuff into my playlist (and removed all the pop songs too), which includes songs from Alan Braxe, Patrick Alavi, Etienne de Crecy, Cassius, Junior Jack, The Bucketheads, and Cheek (NOT THE FINNISH CHEEK)

Nowadays my house playlist has ballooned to over 200 songs. I still regularly discover Frenchy House tracks from all over the internet--HouseOfTheDJJade is an especially great resource!

That's enough about my playlist. It's time to discuss what you were probably looking for all this time--House!

One of the tracks in my playlist comes from a guy from England named Pete Heller. It's called Big Love. Despite the boring album artwork, this song has quite a rich history, as evidenced in an article written by Nick Gordon Brown for Defected's blog.

Pete Heller's Big Love is a 10-minute long (yes, you heard that right) French House track made in the 90s. He sent demos to DJs, which suddenly blew up in popularity.

Unfortunately, Pete didn't make any more Big Love-style tracks after this - he cited the massive oversaturation of French/Filter House which also led to the demise of French House overall as a contributing factor. Pete's tracks on Spotify typically consist of beeps-and-boops acid house/tech house/whatever-the-heck-it's-called house.

He has, however, made just one other song called the Love Mix for Jamiroquai's Supersonic - and just like the track it was named after, it retains many characteristics of French House.

Another French House artist I've always loved is a guy named Patrick Alavi.

Patrick has been posting for years now and saying his music is good is just, really, the tip of the iceberg. He's been in this for decades!

But you know, every artist has a wild side. And Patrick? Oh. It's not just wild. It's conspiracy theory wild.

Patrick owns a Twitter account where he posts...erm, let's just say interesting stuff.

You see, there's this guy called Ingo Swann - he's basically this guy who does wild ass supernatural stuff. Otherwise known as being a psychic! Ingo has envisioned this ✨crazy ✨thing called "remote viewing" which is, basically, in essence, using "extrasensory perception" to view things remotely.

I don't exactly know what remote viewing is, so have this scene from Stranger Things as an example. This is what remote viewing is like...right?

Patrick is hands-down OBSESSED with Ingo Swann. He has even made music based on Ingo Swann and his concepts of remote viewing. He especially cites Ingo as inspo for his track Analytical Overlays.

I don't even know what he's talking about. Original signals? Doppler effects? Matrix sensibility? AOL? Like, America Online? Maybe this is what remote viewing is all about. America Online!

But whatever AOL shit Patrick believes in, you can't deny his music is pretty damn funky. Same goes for our next artist: Todd Edwards!

Todd is this super cool 50-year old who makes WAY too much music. I'm talking hundreds of songs and also hundreds more remixes. Dude runs on a power plant.

Todd has been producing for 30-ish years, first starting with a few tracks on 111 East Records, then eventually moving on to other record labels like Locked On, Bean (yes, beeeeaaaaaannnnnssssss), and especially i! Records. If there's one thing Todd has extremely strong ties with, it's i! Records.

Todd is known for his extremely unique music - you see, instead of playing with instruments like a BORING musician does, he samples extremely short snippets of tracks and plays around with them, arranging it like a musical collage.

Pretty much the entirety of his music is like this - little snippets of beepity boop Carpenters samples overlaid over swung beats and strong basslines. And yes - he does sample real music.

On WhoSampled, "sample hunters" have been discovering hundreds of Todd samples--I'm talking 5 HUNDRED individual samples. Many people have been involved in the search for samples, including sample prodigies like DJPasta and a bunch of other people like Danny Shazam.

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For years, Todd's music has really never been available on streaming as i! Records releases were really only on vinyl or CD. Giant house label Defected Records then snapped up those releases and rereleased them on streaming. Which, I think is a gigachad move. Defected Records is very based.

One of the few releases Defected hasn't snapped up yet is Todd's only real album, Odyssey.

Odyssey is a pretty great album--and it has its fair share of sample goodness, too. One of the most notorious samples on Odyssey is a pair of undiscovered samples known as the Jazz Sample and the Interlude Til Infinity sample, both of which have been baffling sample hunters for years. It's that they've found a 40-second long snippet of the Jazz Sample but are nowhere close to finding the sauce.

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Both Jazz and Interlude are theorized to be from the same album. Sample hunters have found out that a man named Ludwig Mausberg has a longer snippet of the sample as evidenced in one of his tracks, Interlude til Infinity (hence the name). Ludwig, however, has been gatekeeping the sample's name and/or artist, probably due to legal issues that could arise upon disclosing the information. Ludwig has also declined to answer any questions about the sample, too.

Maybe you can help find it, too?

#house #house music #todd edwards #infodump #DEFECTED RECORDS #you can tell someone is autistic if they made like a thousand word essay on some random cool thing they have #Youtube

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sansoan · 1 year

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Pens and Ink 2022: Personal Highlights

In the latest episode (#73) of the Tokyo Inklings podcast, the hosts talked about their ink- and pen-related personal highlights of 2022 and made a few predictions for the next year.

These kinds of posts are usually made at the end of the old year and not at the start of the new one, but listening to the episode made me want to make my own short list with my own little categories. So here we go.

Note: Unlike the podcast, this list is not exclusively focused on events, new product releases etc. that happened in 2022, but on stuff that I personally encountered, appreciated etc.

Best new ink release: Sailor Yurameku

This award goes to Sailor with their new "Yurameku" line. To be honest, I wasn't that wowed with the initial wave - the colors, while pretty, were too pale for everyday use (I tend towards F and EF nibs) and overall, the whole concept of the product (inks that you can't really put a color identifier on) still felt a bit weird to me at the time.

However, even though I didn't end up buying any inks from the first wave, I grew to appreciate the concept over time - and then the second wave came, right at the end of the year. These inks are darker, highlly legible when used with finer nibs and show a really neat color changing effect when freshly put down as well as interesting complexities when dry.

Until now, I've only got Sukigokoro, but at least two more from the line are on my ink list.

Best event: INK.Ink.ink! @ Itoya Ginza

This was the first fountain pen-related event that I attended ever, so of course it was something special for me (one or two of the big pen/stationery shows in Tokyo are on my list for 2023).

The event was held in the basement of the Itoya store in Ginza. Hundreds of ink bottles lined up on glass cases/tables, and participants could freely swatch (and of course, buy) inks for the duration of their time slot (I believe it was around 2 hours).

Here in Japan, ink samples aren't a thing, so this was a nice opportunity to test out some inks that I was on the fence or just curious about.

Most used pen: Sailor Lecoule

Picture from Jetpens

Over the years, I've amassed what I'd call a reasonably-sized pen collection - not so many that I feel like I'm drowning in pens, but enough that I have to rotate through them to use all of them (semi-)regularly. Obviously, there are pens that you tend to use more often than others. Overall, the pen that I found myself reaching for most often in 2022 was my Sailor Lecoule (Safari Beige version).

When trying to be as objective as possible, the Sailor Lecoule is nothing special - it's one of Sailor's low-end offerings with only one nib size (Medium Fine). If there's one special thing about it, it's that it comes in a bunch of neat color variations. The Rose Quartz one seems to be especially popular. At the same time, at around 3,000JPY, it's expensive enough that even I would't really recommend it to anyone - it's not like you get a lot of bang for your buck or a really nice nib, as is the case with a lot of lower end Pilot pens, for example. Still, I found myself strangely enjoying it.

I think things just come down to design and aesthetics on this one. I like the shape with the flat tops, the simple, no-nonsense design, and the slight retro feel coming from the almost crude-looking nib. I don't feel like I have to be overly careful with it, it's pocket-sized and easy to carry around - it's not exciting, but just a good daily driver.

Best content: niki.notebook

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I think this YouTube channel didn't start in 2022, but I personally first started noticing it around June. The (unnamed) creator behind the channel - let's call her niki for convenience - posts mostly ink reviews, in a format that I find very pleasant to look at.

The videos are all video and music only, with no talking whatsoever. Instead, nikis comments show up on the sides in writing. The reviews provide all the information I want - how an ink looks in a swatch, in a fountain pen, when used with a glass/dip pen, properties like shading and sheen ... all with beautiful page layouts and nice lettering/illustrations. A nice plus is that nikis taste in ink tends to align with my own - so there are always videos on colors that I'm interested in.

The videos are made for a Japanese audience, and there are no English subtitles. However, even without being able to read the writing and the creator's comments, I think the reviews are still easy to follow and understand. I'd recommend the channel to anyone looking for ink reviews!

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