Lurker > ZaziGuado

I apologize for not reading the tracklist on the first post. Let me do the courtesy of reposting my list.

Dancing Queen
Knowing Me, Knowing You
Tiger
When I Kissed The Teacher
My Love, My Life
Why Did It Have To Be Me?
Money, Money, Money
Dum Dum Diddle
That's Me
Arrival

I've never gone out of my way to listen to ABBA, so I felt this was a good opportunity to finally explore a little of their discography. They have a very distinguished sound and when you absorb their music through singles and everyday life, it works incredibly well. However I found myself exhausted by the end of a full album of ABBA. Their constant vocal harmonies became grating and every song sounded incredibly busy. I tried to reward a higher ranking to the songs that had interesting instrumentation and vocal styling. Tiger was a notable beneficiary of this. Overall I'm glad I listened to this but I'm content to continue consuming ABBA through the radio and public locales and never intentionally engaging with them.

Ending E is an existential crisis I look back on fondly. Also that ending track and how it is utilized is *chef's kiss*

I really loved the main theme song. I dig space western banjo. Did that appeal to you from the get-go?

Dancing Queen
Knowing Me, Knowing You
Tiger
Fernando
When I Kissed The Teacher
My Love, My Life
Why Did It Have To Be Me?
Money, Money, Money
Dum Dum Diddle
That's Me
Happy Hawaii
Arrival

I've never gone out of my way to listen to ABBA, so I felt this was a good opportunity to finally explore a little of their discography. They have a very distinguished sound and when you absorb their music through singles and everyday life, it works incredibly well. However I found myself exhausted by the end of a full album of ABBA. Their constant vocal harmonies became grating and every song sounded incredibly busy. I tried to reward a higher ranking to the songs that had interesting instrumentation and vocal styling. Tiger was a notable beneficiary of this. Overall I'm glad I listened to this but I'm content to continue consuming ABBA through the radio and public locales and never intentionally engaging with them.

Regarding Complicated Creation, I can agree the the lyrics can feel a little high horse-y. I've always enjoyed the ending of "Some days you give thanks, some days you give the finger. It's a complicated creation" though. Kind of a good summation of the message overall and encourages me to keep an even keel in life of not taking the positives for granted and not overreacting to the negatives.

The Drum was definitely a point where I reached exhaustion, though I remember being annoyed at how long the section you mentioned was too because it didn't feel like it was associated with anything else in the story.

I'm also very confused about the Sephiroth stuff. Maybe it's nodding to late game story beats and revelations or complimentary games and media that I've never engaged with, but it just seems so obtuse. I assume there's should be some explanations at the end of Chapter 18, but I've never enjoyed when he or the Whispers have showed up due to the lack of any meaningful explanation side from Red XIII's comments.

Again, I don't hate the game at all but there is a lot to gripe about. When everything is said and done though, I could see myself appreciating this sort of take on remaking a game.

foolm0r0n posted...

Oops

From the sounds of it, the Rebirth filler is more my speed given it sounds like it takes the form of mini games and general open world shenanigans. It's also a part of the original game that I'm much less familiar with both experience-wise and from general gaming discourse, so weird extrapolations of story beats should feel less uncanny to me. Midgar is such a small, linear portion of the game that it's incredibly noticeable how much padding there's been.

I'm on Chapter 17 my first playthrough of Remake. I have no nostalgia for the original having only played the first 10ish hours about five years ago. That still gives me a base for which to compare Remake too, however, and I am exhausted by the amount of filler in the game. Well, maybe not the amount but rather the type? Rather than things being expanded and explored in greater depth, many missions and tasks feel drawn out and bolted on. It's fun enough, but I'm ready for this playthrough to be done (or at least to move on to Intermission) and the promise of Rebirth has been a strong motivator.

I'll edit to say that I do like the character development and interactions. I think that part was done well and I don't really have any trouble with that despite some at-times weird voice acting and audio mixing.

I was surprised this song didn't get more attention when it was released:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5sN7kgEw954

I like to pop into these topics and see what gets voted. I know the rules state video games or consoles or IP-specific stuff, but would something like "Believe it or not I'm watching E3" count?

It's a talharpa which is a traditional Estonian instrument. The two guys using them are the group Puuluup. They make what is called "nu-folk" music. I haven't explored their discography but I may someday. I hear all the people in this song are just as goofy off stage.

Spark_Garou posted...

===============

5MIINUST x Puuluup | (Nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (kll) midagi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htPAhtVgKsI
Nominator: @ZaziGuado [14 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 58.96
Final Score: 56.90

Oh man the timing of this wounds me. Eurovision *just* ended within the hour and Estonia didn't get much love there either in the voting.

I think the lyrics about not doing drugs is supposed to be cheeky, especially because the song title translates to We (Really) Don't Know Anything About (These) Drugs. It sort of implies that yeah they use drugs but not the drugs you are trying to pin on them. Sort of like a "These drugs are for rich people and we sure as hell ain't rich", y'know? I'm not well-versed in drugs, but my head goes to cocaine (rich) vs crack (not rich).

It's a very fun, goofy song with a dance to back it up. Glad you were able to listen to it and give it a shot!

So that was some Israel televote.

Wow I was gonna say Estonia deserved more points but then I saw the lower scores come after it and sheesh that's brutal

I think Switzerland has amassed a large enough lead to win. They should have a decent televote, right?

Alright I need to see somebody throw Estonia a bone here. Juries hate fun.

Very interesting to see Israel not getting points from the jury. I think under normal circumstances that song would be a jury magnet.

Oh man I'm surprised they didn't try and cover the boos when sending it to Martin Osterdahl

The country of Zazi would submit this vote:

1. Estonia
2. (Netherlands)
3. France
4. Spain
5. Croatia
6. Ukraine
7. Switzerland
8. Luxembourg
9. Slovenia
10. Italy
11. Ireland

Something like that. I didn't think TOO hard about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT2wY0DjYGo

The Netherlands song for those who's aren't familiar with it. It was probably a guarantee for Top 10 based on audience vote alone.

Is it just me or did the backing track for Croatia sounded much worse than the semi?

LightningStrikes posted...

Apparently Israel only made the final because of the audience vote apparently. Which to me stinks of an organised campaign, but jury vote will probably sink them.

The semi finals are audience vote only. It'll be interesting to see how the juries vote.

Yeah it's probably hard to talk about this year without skirting the line with politics, but saying people are incredibly divided on Israel's participation is objective, not political. I just wouldn't air personal grievances about it.

Luckily (?) the Netherlands DQ seems to have nothing to do with Israel so that should be fair game for discussion. The decision sounds entirely disproportionate to what seemingly happened. The EBU has botched this situation the entire way.

Boy what a mess this is. Since I'm on my phone I don't really have the ability to explain why to the uninformed, but if you know you know.

Grand Final starts in an hour. I wonder how awkward it will be.

Fluttershy_Pony posted...

? If it's the Cloud Cult & Beach House nominations, I swear they're showing up on every tab on my end. They're a bit hard to see on some tabs due to Google's stupid "Open with sheets" pop up blocking the last two lines in which they appear, but they're easier to find when sorted by Artist or Song Title.

Though yes, bonus nominations remain open for anyone who has them until the 50th song drops.

You know what you're right. I was scrolling on my phone and it was scrolling all the way to the bottom of the sheet. Since I'm at the bottom and it was cutting off two lines, it makes sense why I thought this. I just verified it now. My apologies. Carry on.

I noticed the last two songs I submitted in this topic weren't added to the spreadsheet. Just wanted to let you know in case you were still interested in taking the extra noms.

I suppose I'll throw out two more.

Beach House | Myth (4:19)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv7IcjmxjGo

Cloud Cult | Complicated Creation (2:31)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os7kvLzYKgY

Ya go my Bears. I don't really have a concrete opinion on what to do with 9. But I'm glad there's no suspense about 1! I wish there were more picks to make, but I'm okay with why there aren't.

Nominate Enya - A Day Without Rain

AKA the album with Only Time on it. Her most acclaimed album is Watermark, but when I listen to it I get mostly vibes and that doesn't work very well in this format. My favorite album is Dark Sky Island, but I'm more curious to see the opinions of the rest of A Day Without Rain when put up against the most pervasive song in Enya's discography. Plus I think this album is great too.

5MIINUST x Puuluup | (Nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (kll) midagi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htPAhtVgKsI

This is my favorite Eurovision song this year

My dad called Bluey a Communist. Is Bluey political?

Probably something like Doing Things The Hard Way in VVVVVV or getting the Sun Sigil (chocobo racing) in FFX.

Yeah the first ten or so episodes set up the family dynamics and then they start throwing the life lessons and emotional resonance around.

I haven't been watching things in order, but Season 3 seems to have gone hard on making parents emotional.

It finally made me straight up cry with the most recent episode. But it's truly one of the best shows ever created.

I recently spent like $25 or so on cocktails in Las Vegas, but I was okay with paying the Vegas tax in that instance. If I were back home I wouldn't have been willing to spend that much for one drink.

Mold on Pizza

I was very worried about this game so I'm super relieved that the reviews are so positive.

Nostalgic content right here let's do it.

LCD Soundsystem | Great Release (6:36)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NFy1VJFDrZ4

Barenaked Ladies | If I Had $1,000,000 (4:27)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aynCgnbbgbM

Air - La femme d'argent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUX8fUrKRNU

The World is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die | You Can't Live There Forever (4:01)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgNxrQ97BMo
@ZaziGuado

Air | Alone in Kyoto (4:51)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0SVd_Q5wIg
@ZaziGuado

Tonight, Tonight | The Smashing Pumpkins (4:18)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOG3eus4ZSo
@ZaziGuado

Reptar | Stuck In My Id (5:10)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTg5smK0fOI
@ZaziGuado

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog | Bad Horse Chorus (0:31)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNhhz1yYk2U
@ZaziGuado
Character: Bad Horse

This month is pretty relevant to my interests. Unfortunately this is also the month I let my subscription expire.

I'm very happy to see the user cycle going by the wayside. I never thought the intent of this series was to introduce people to new music but rather invite discussion of albums or artists of some repute. I know we switched to the user cycle from nominations so that people didn't have to be frustrated when their nominations are voted over constantly, but at least then there was a broader consensus on what people wanted to listen to and rank.

An idea for the new format could be to have a rotating theme each week and either come up with a list of albums that fit that theme or have people nominate albums that fit the theme and choose the top nomination. This would also allow people to plan ahead if they will want to participate in that week knowing what the theme will be ahead of time.

Meg Myers - Lemon Eyes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqG9hsjLf3M

Broken Social Scene - Stars and Sons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSrwV4A7mZc

Weezer - Do You Wanna Get High?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_Wu6lI-42w

Lights & Motion - Fireflies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3sMLzIerSs

Cloud Cult - When Water Comes to Life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DvjFAl1jno

With the Everton point reduction reduction, it's a real bummer seeing the promoted teams all in the relegation zone. It's depressing to see how wide the gulf is getting between EPL and the Championship, especially as a fan of a yo-yo team currently in the Championship.

If I were to play a March game in March, it'd be Unicorn Overlord. I'm also interested in Dragons Dogma, but want to wait for reviews because I'm worried about its quality.

So this demo has a time limit? That's a bummer. I'm somebody who dilly dallies around constantly in games so I would hate the stress of a time limit locking me out after a bit.

Mega_Mana posted...

#72. Cha Cha Cha
Artist: Krij

Cha Cha Cha placed 2nd at Eurovision last year and tied for 2nd place all time in fan televote score. It was very beloved by fans. If you are interested, I encourage you to check out the performance from either the National Final or the Grand Final. The choreography is such a treat. I prefer the original, but the cover is fantastic and I don't fault anyone for preferring it. Last year was the first time I really got into Eurovision, but it's an exciting time and I'm eager for this year's contest.

Adam Young | Shackleton (3:09)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELiS3fCJWo8
Character: Ernest Shackleton
@ZaziGuado

Background: Adam Young (of Owl City fame) wanted to create albums that could serve as movie scores of historical events. One of the albums was for the Endurance, a ship commandeered by Sir Ernest Shackleton that ended up wrecking and sinking. This is the first song on the album and feels like it would be an introduction to the character and his goals if this were a movie.

Bluey | Keepy Uppy (3:04)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciI2SJcNDO8
@ZaziGuado

Background: Having a child introduced me to the wonders of Bluey. In addition to the stunning quality of the show, the music from it slaps so much harder than you would ever expect. Huge kudos to lead composer Joff Bush who has helped make Bluey the worldwide phenomenon that it is.

Beck | Blue Moon (4:01)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIWbgR4vYiw
@ZaziGuado

Background: A coworker reminded me of this song the other day and how much I enjoy it. It feels very introspective in a melancholy sort of way and I think you might be into that kind of thing for better or worse?

The Rentals | Please Let That Be You (3:33)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVOk76f8_gA
@ZaziGuado

Background: Seeing as a Rentals song finished top of the ranking last go around, I thought I'd give them a chance to defend their crown a bit. Before Elon Musk Is Making Me Sad came along, this was probably my favorite song by them, though I was biased because I was aware of the next song in this set of nominations.

Weezer | Mrs. Young (3:35)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIK3C8OnG7o
@ZaziGuado

Background: Please Let That Be You is a re-imagining of Mrs. Young, a song written before Weezer's first album came out in honor of their lawyer who looked out for them as they were coming up. It was never put on an album instead only surfacing as a b-side on a single or two. Since it was written by Matt Sharp, he took it with him when he left Weezer and formed The Rentals and put it on their first album in a new form. I wouldn't normally consider a (very good) demo for a topic like this, but I thought it'd be fun to see a little competition between the two as they deliver the same melody in different ways.