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You need to go see this movie if you haven't already. Was a big fan of Road Warrior for most of my life, and I had been anticipating a new Mad Max for about as long as the internet rumors were circulating. Still, I went into this mostly blind without obsessing over pre-release media and production info/rumors as hyped movie fans tend to do these days. All I wanted was more Mad Max with post-apoc car chases and that would have been totally fine. What I got was way beyond anything I could have imagined. Everything was cranked to 11 with wacky ridiculousness yet somehow still manages to make sense within the world. The action and cinematogrophy puts modern CGI- and shakycam-laden filmmaking practices to shame. I shed tears while watching just because it was so damn good. It grabbed me in a way that no other spectacle-driven movie of this century has done. Whether that be action, superheroes, sci fi or epic fantasy. Go see it just for this guy if nothing else:

My dad used to buy a certain model of Sansa mp3 players which are basically the greatest MP3 player ever created. The sad thing is that now, that particular model is rare and so valuable that you might get stuck paying a lot for one. They have newer models, like on Amazon, and some of them aren't TOO pricy. I don't know if they take Micro SD though. Only thing I know that takes micro SD and plays mp3 is smartphone.

Dat Bass!!!

When that 2nd tune hit I got full body chills. I've been waiting since 2012 and this sounds great. That overworld remix at the end killed me. This is gonna be awesome.

The S1 piano roll is solid. Very intelligently designed all around. The draw curve selection process can get convoluted but I don't see any logical way around that. I dislike how they have the tab at the end of the note that you click for deletion. It's a cool idea but I don't think it's as effective when you're trying to run around quickly entering notes and resizing whatever needs resizing. Also the batch MIDI editing isn't that strong. In Cubase I have macros that quantize entire sections with different offset values (like if I want my kick drum to be looser than my hihat) with a single command. I can very easily change relatively velocities of the entire sequence with a single easy to reach function, I can transpose the entire sequence to the key of the song or whatever information is in my chord track, set up complex legato rules that automatically create legato transitions of my entire sequence with one click (very useful for orchestral programming). Something else that's really cool is that you can set a MIDI/instrument track to follow the chord track (cubase has a chord track that lets you enter the entire chord progression of your song) and so whatever you play will be locked to the chords that are set (or the relative scales, there are tons of input transforming options). So what you can do is enable QWERTY input (cubase lets you use your typing keyboard to record MIDI input) and just play any random keys and it'll be in key to the music. All this stuff coupled with the completely programmable MIDI function editor makes it really tough for S1 to compete with Cubase right now. But who knows, S1 4 might bring it closer. And to this day there is no piano roll that even comes close to the Cubase Drum Editor. S1 and Reaper try but they fall short in the most simple and frustrating ways...

Alright - after bulking for 3 months I've gone from 162 to about 180 on the scale. Granted at least 5 lbs of that is water weight I'm sure. My lifts all went up and I'm pleased with my visual progress, namely on my arms and pecs. But now it's time for a cut again, since I only gain fat in my abdomen and nowhere else. Thankfully since I was eating ~3k a day for awhile I should be able to start the cut at a gentle 2100 a day ( + 20 min of cardio minimum) and then reduce from there.

Right... but it's a cult. Cults often expend resources, even when resources are scarce, in the course of ritual & to heighten the "experience" - I suppose it might even add legitimacy to seemingly-superfluous things (like flamethrowing guitarists) that they are intentionally done with the knowledge that scarce resources will be consumed in the process. If there's no cost to the pomp & circumstance, it might seem hollow? If you watch movies looking for anything that might be anachronistic or implausible, I personally think you should focus on the bigger-ticket stuff that's integral to the plot. In this case, I think I've provided an adequate potential explanation that jives with anthropological understandings of cults... instead of a human sacrifice, it's like a gasoline sacrifice... an ostentatious showing of power meant to intimidate partly because of the resources it consumes. You also see this type of display in nature, usually as part of sexual selection... And on that note, I do think the guitar (especially in light of its pyrotechnic ejaculations AND eventual fate) is a pretty transparent phallic symbol... So the guitar is a wang that shoots fire... a wasteful, insane, indulgent display of masculinity and blind rage. I don't think that's a stretch, given the emphasis on what happens to it (one of the 3D effects, too!) in the end... I'd love to get into a lengthy discussion about the ways the film could be interpreted as "feminist" - I put the word in quotes only because, along with "feminism", it tends to get interpreted at least two different ways. Anyone have thoughts on that topic?

Great nylon sound

Sweet. can't wait to finally \m/ \m/ to this whole album