not seeing any news about it

All time turners were destroyed during the battle for the department of mysteries

read cursed child

Best game of all time

did you know that, in harry potter, there is an in-universe rumor that draco malfoy's wife was impregnated by voldemort after they got married? (who proceeded to give birth to the antagonist of harry potter and the cursed child)

do you know what that makes him?

dracuck malsoy

i'm starting over from my last playthrough since it's been too long, and i've spent most of my time grinding out spell cards so i can create a persona that is unaffected by things that cause instant death, ie. the Mudo bullshit

i refuse to progress too far into the game until i create a persona with this attribute, because i seriously just cannot handle instant death bullshit or one-hit kill moves in RPGs, it drives me absolutely fucking insane

you can only have 12 cards at once, none of them can be duplicates, and there's virtually no rhyme or reason for what you get in terms of it being able to resist your desired type, so it's all a bunch of random BS basically, and i spent hours grinding for it to get absolutely nothing

and now i have to restart once again, because the worst character in the game just joined my party even though i told the bitch no, so i obviously fucked up somewhere along the line because Elly, the character who i like much more and was in my party last time, was nowhere to be found and i don't remember where you get her

i also don't use guides or anything because of pride reasons

fuck this game

maridia is definitely my least favorite area

after playing the first four

i know i don't have to, but i'm going to

actually playing the first one as we speak

oh, you know

get my license get a girlfriend get a job buy a house start a family

I went ahead and completed the rest of January, since I was already relatively close anyway, and I'll be taking a small break from listening to more music before I move on to February 95. I listened to a lot of shit, but I still haven't come close to hearing everything, and that kinda wears me the fuck out.

Also, because I recently decided that listening to over fifty Hank Jr. albums in a short period of time is a godawful idea, Hog Wild is off the table for the time being. Remember: I try to listen to an artist's entire discography before I get into any of their recent stuff, because I think that having all that context is very important. Yes, even if it makes certain older bands or musicians nearly impossible to get into. Not that I'm raring to become a Hank Williams Jr. fan, or anything. Kinda seems like a dick, and probably makes music for dicks. I'd much rather listen to Hank III.

That being said, though, I still might get around to it later, because I'm crazy like that. I already know it's not going to be worth it, but the sheer absurdity of this journey is part of why I find it so fun and appealing in the first place.

Anyway, here's the rest of January 95, and I'll have a nice 3x3 chart with all of the best albums at the very bottom, so you know which ones you need to listen to the most.

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Laughing Hyenas - Hard Times
Punk blues
3rd album

This was the last record these guys ever made, and it's pretty all right. It didn't leave that much of an impression on me, though, so while I do remember enjoying myself somewhat as I was listening to it, I cannot for the life of me remember so much as a lick or even a song title off this song. In the end, I was underwhelmed.

I think, overall, I wound up enjoying their debut, You Can't Pray a Lie, just a little bit more, if only because I think the vocalist gave a much more immediate, intense, and ferocious performance on that one. Therefore, that's the one I'd recommend you check out first, if you happen to be in the market for some fiery-aggressive and explosive punk music—the kind where you can't help but start worrying about the singer's vocal chords and shit—and then see if you wouldn't mind something a bit more bluesy, which is the direction that Hard Times goes in.

6/10

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The Human League - Octopus
Synth-pop
7th album

It's their seventh album.
There are nine songs on it.
The band had three members performing on it.

So why the fuck is it called Octopus?

Anyway, it's a cheesy pop album made by the guys who made that dumbass song, "Don't You Want Me." What do you want?


That doesn't mean it's a bad record; it's just kinda hard for me to take them very seriously. I have a very low tolerance for '80s and '90s cheese, and these guys may as well be the poster children for that. Their legacy is helping to pioneer one of the cheesiest and most milquetoast genres in all of music before fading into relative obscurity shortly thereafter.

They did use analogue synthesizers on Octopus, at least, thanks to Ian Stanley (ex-Tears for Fears guy), which is pretty cool, and if you can get past how utterly dated it sounds (which is no small feat), you are able to recognize that it's a passable effort by The Human League. I don't love it, because it's still pretty vapid, but I do appreciate the human touch that an analogue synth gives an electronic record like this.

Unfortunately, however, they simply haven't produced a record that is good enough front-to-back for me to recommend as an alternative, even in passing. I think their debut, Reproduction, had a lot of interesting experimentation to it, and Dare has a couple of joints that stand alone just fine, but apart from that, they're wholly forgettable.

6/10

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Van Halen - Balance
Hard rock
10th album

This is the fourth and last record of the Sammy Hagar-era, and probably my favorite one of that era, too. Like the Extreme album I talked about before, where they made an embarrassingly callous attempt to cop a grunge sound for their 1995 release, Balance too introduces a somewhat grungier aesthetic—but I actually think it rolled over rather decently here, because it's not super obvious. It doesn't sound like they're trying to cash in on a trend; they're just taking a popular sound that had resonated so heavily with a lot of people during that time, and they do it without compromising what makes them Van Halen. And I respect that.

Does that mean I loved the album, though?

Nahhhh, I was never really big on Van Halen's particular brand of rock music, and even if you do blend it with some slightly grungier elements, it just sounds impure to me. Not to mention, I've never really been into Hagar's vocals. DLR may not be as... "good" of a singer, in the traditional sense, but it was always more about his personality, which is something that Hagar always kinda lacked, in my opinion. He does show a bit more of an attitude on Balance, which is why I prefer it over his first three albums, but I still can't help but feel that way. There's a reason he's never been able to sing his own smash hit like "Jump" or "Panama" or any other Roth-era bangers you can name.

Either way, I'm just happy that I got to dodge the fucking Gary Cherone album. Jesus Christ.

6/10 (once again)

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Too Short - Cocktails
Hip hop
9th album

This record fulfills just about every classic hip hop stereotype imaginable, so if you already dislike the sound of that, I will point you in the exact opposite direction of this album, because to put it lightly, this is a man who chooses not to rap about a wide variety of intelligent subjects.

As it turns out, Too Short is as OG as you can get. He's been rapping since the genre was created back in 1980, and he likes to bring that up a lot. His delivery is slow and a little basic, but he spits with the utmost clarity—which, depending on which of his three or four pet subjects he's rapping about (pimping, bitches/hoes, money, how good he is at rapping compared to you), can either be a good thing or a bad thing.

An unapologetic misogynist (at least in persona), he's known for his highly pornographic bars, which may seem tame by today's standards, but are no less completely disgusting and uncomfortable as fuck to listen to, unless hearing a juvenile story about how he once killed a bitch by cumming in her mouth too hard sounds remotely appealing to you. Dick this, cum that, bitch this, pimp that. It's the exact kind of hip hop that I actively avoid listening to, because I'm just not about that degenerate-ass shit.

Occasionally, every couple records, he'll have one track where he's actually rapping about something real and intelligent, or something I can actually get down with. These songs are a rare treat; none of them are present on Cocktails.

He may be an OG, and I can't ever take that away from him, but he's not dope. That may be sacrilege to oldheads, but I just can't fuck with a guy who only raps about two or three things over some relatively simple funk beats. It's corny to me.

5/10

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Local H - Ham Fisted
Grunge
Debut album

Solid, but not outstanding. Standard fare for a new outfit's first outing, really. Scott Lucas's vocals are pretty great, although there are points where he kinda sounds like an angstier Dexter Holland (take that as you will). Nonetheless, there are definitely some cuts on here I can see myself revisiting.

7/10

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Neal McCoy - You Gotta Love That!
Country
4th album

5/10

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Free Kitten - Nice Ass
Alternative rock
Debut album

Alternative supergroup between Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and Julia Cafritz of Pussy Galore, also featuring members from The Boredoms as well as Pavement. This is a pretty wild album, and I dug it quite a lot, but it's one of those weird records that's extremely difficult to recommend because of how esoteric and off-kilter its humor is.

If you know nothing about the alternative rock scene in the late 80s to early 90s, a lot of what makes this record appealing is going to go over your head, and it's just gonna sound like vacuous nonsense to you. Otherwise, it's a hoot.

7/10

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Leftfield - Leftism
Progressive house
Debut album

I'm not particularly well-versed in house music, so I feel like I don't have a lot to say about this one beyond the fact that I quite enjoyed it. Every single track bumped hard, and somehow, there's even a Johnny Rotten feature. My only real issue I have is that I associate this kind of music with the same sort of mindless hedonism and self-indulgence that I associate with raves, which makes me feel as though I need to be tripping on MDMA in order to get the authentic experience. Which is unfortunate, because I don't do stupid shit like that.

7/10

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That's the last one, it seems, so here's my 3x3 representing the top of the list so far:


This is in order of descending quality from top left to bottom right, meaning the Swans record is still definitely my favorite. The Roots and Smif 'N' Wessun are honestly tied right now; I'm not sure which of their two records I liked more. Leftfield could very well have the advantage over the Banshees, but I wanna give The Rapture a relisten before I can definitively determine that. Everything else seems to be in a good spot, I think.

I know I wasn't overly enthusiastic about the Human League record, which is why it's at the bottom right corner. I couldn't put anything else above it, so it just barely scraped the cut. Maybe the Laughing Hyenas deserves to be there, instead, but like I said—I don't even remember shit off it, so I might have to give that one a relisten.

February 95 happens to contain the debuts of both Blink-182 and Atari Teenage Riot, among other seemingly cool stuff, but I'll be looking forward to those two the most.

Yeahhhh this isn't for me. Crippling self esteem issues and constant frustration to the point where I can only play the game for like an hour before getting annoyed is pretty telling.

Sorry to hear

maybe if the game offered more/better single player content

Of course a lot of people put on a facade. It’s very hard to find people who are real. But it’s just not the same. You’re not having any physical interactions or seeing them and all that entails. You can’t play sports, have something to eat watch a movie etc. It’s just not the same at all. Even playing a video game with someone online isn’t the same as a friend sitting next to you. There’s a reason there’s such a high demand for virtual reality.

i haven't engaged in any physical activity with my friends since we were small children, especially not sports, and i wouldn't say i'm too nostalgic about those days either

i suppose if you're actually into that sort of thing, then being able to see each other physically is still an important thing, but i'm simply in a position where i cannot relate at all to that desire

it's interesting that you bring up virtual reality, though, because i've always said that the better virtual reality gets, the more indistinguishable it will become from reality, and therefore, the closer any divide there may be will come to completely vanishing, because you won't be able to have these hang-ups anymore

hence the term virtual reality--reality by virtue, or the only things that really matter

ok

the joke is that you're really really dumb only it's not a joke

There is. Almost none of us here have ever met each other and haven’t forged the type of friendships you can have when meeting someone face to face.

i do not see a meaningful difference

whether i see a person physically or not, i'm getting exactly what i want out of a friendship with them through our interactions--when i hang out with my best friend at my house to play smash, the medium that's between us is the video game we're playing, or the movie we're watching, or sometimes it's just the air between us

the words we say to each other are chosen for each other, and because we're friends, we speak a certain language to each other--i see him, i see his clothes and hairstyle, the image of himself that he wants to project to the world and say "this is me" with, and to me it all just seems like a game, because the fact is, you're not your clothes and your not your hairstyle

i've known him for 15 years, and i know him very well, but i can't ever know who he truly is, and i wouldn't know him any better or worse if we had met over the internet instead--the only difference is that he'd be wearing a profile picture or an avatar instead of clothes, which is really the same kind of thing--you're not your profile picture, your profile picture is merely a projection of what you want people to perceive about you

i can concede that it's a different form of interaction, but i don't see it as a divide, and when i use that word, i mean it in the sense that the differences are so great that they are irreconcilable or incomparable

i just dislike it when people pretend as though the internet is this extraterrestrial realm where things are so different and people act so different--when they really truly act the same, and in some cases, the internet serves as a better microcosm for the human psyche than the real world ever could, and that's part of what makes it so useful and intriguing

It doesn’t mean these are worthless experiences or conversations, but I’d say most people just aren’t real about who they are. Half the people here don’t interact with other in the way they would if this were in person. A lot of people play a character. You can meet a lot of cool, decent people online but there is a clear difference between a friend you can see every day and one you’ve never seen before.

Personally, I don’t care. I take things as they come and any interaction had online is just as real as one had in person. But it’s not exactly the same. Just like it’s sad when a friend moves away or you move away from friends and instead of handshakes it’s phone calls and messages.

again, do you think people don't play characters outside of the internet?

do you think people are real about who they are outside of the internet?

how do you explain me then

this is my facebook profile picture, I'm not using any mask

a mask in and of itself

"people lie and troll each other on the internet, so you can't trust anyone"

yeah, unlike the real world where you can trust everyone

"the internet allows people to be anonymous so they can get away with saying fucked up shit"

in other words, the internet allows people to reveal to each other who they REALLY are—even if what you really are is a worthless troll—making it even less of a facade than the one created by physical social interaction, where we try to make ourselves look presentable to one another due to obligation, among other smokescreens, that basically serve to do nothing but obfuscate the seedy underbellies, or the true cores of our being

which is not to say that no one has ever been honest outside of the internet, just that there's no reason to trust or distrust anyone in particular based exclusively off the medium they're using to interact with you—if i just met you, whether it's on or off the internet, i have no reason to assume virtually anything about you—it's all the same shit

the internet isn't a special mask that people wear—it's a mask, but it's just another mask in a big collection that everyone has and uses, and nobody, on or offline, has ever really seen anyone's true face; indeed, some people can't even see their own (and maybe no one truly can, since we're constantly learning evolving as individuals)

either way, all of this takes place under the purview of the physical material world, so there is, literally, metaphysically, no reason to divide "the internet" with the "real world," because they are objectively one in the same, and the former cannot even exist without the latter—everything that happens in life is part of life, obviously

the only things that aren't part of our world are fictional or imaginative worlds, ones created in stories or dreams, and the internet is neither of those things