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what does the phrase el oh el mean - win
The Reply to my philosophical puzzle #1, and the NEXT game's HINT!
first step : many of the replies i received seems to go toward there is no possible "Single" fact about right or wrong in philosophies, and to life itself. but for this alone i have already made a theory and DESTROYED it few years ago, but i will not tackle it here since it needs its own time. so for now, i will definitely tell you all that there is only 1 universal truth in everything in existence. many others also asked what is a "perfect" response to this little puzzle ... So here is my answer : its the response that goes according to the core natural design of the phrase in question, while trying to cover most if not "All" possibilities in existence that revolve around it. [will explain a bit further]. second step : due to many confused answers i read, i would like to explain how this phrase works to begin with in its deepest philosophical meaning. i saw from people's replies that they "Think" this whole thing means that ANYTHING could be inserted here and "Force" fit it with the shallow meaning of the phrase... but the truth is, no you CANNOT force it on anything, because we are not aiming to do mere "Expressions" here, but rather... we are going to prove the universal "FACT" inside it. So now lets properly ANALYZE the phrase philosophically together : |LESS IS MORE| as we can see here, the phrase is going in the "opposite" direction of its each original meaning of the words... so the *natural* way to decrypt this phrase is by starting on its "own" wave. thus, to start this philosophical decryption process, we will start from "last to start" algorithm... meaning, we must seek something that "Adds" *MORE* of "something" , and that thing must end up in *LESS* as result... and from "THAT" outcome, the REAL "more" will get out. [because the "2" elements in the phrase here actually RESULT in a "3rd" and final outcome, which we been seeking from the beginning when we said this phrase]. [this is why i REPEAT, its a 3 element equation, not 2 like all people seems to believe]. so if anyone does NOT EXACTLY follow that analogy, then it does NOT fit with the root concept of the phrase, and immediately flags their thoughts as "false". third step : now its time to give my own practical meaning of the phrase in a bit of detail, following the rules i stated above. if you consider yourself having "less" of anything in life [whether by choice or not], it means you are tied to various limits, which means you are/become surrounded by many "rules" or "restraints" in general, and such restrictions are in fact NOT limiting you like it "Seem" to you, but rather.. its "enriching" your life. there are 2 possible paths it can enrich your life with depending on the situation : so if you are having *more* of RULES, then it give you *less* freedom, but-- it will also offer you "concepts", "designs", "systems", filled of various different "Details" which plants a lot of "ideas", "purposes" and "goals" into your life, and makes you capable of feeling "life" in your soul, and a powerful "passion" that drives you to go forward!. —or— if you are having *more* "Restraints", it will give you *less* freedom too, but this time will put you through an "empty space", and that will have a bit 2 different possible benefits... : #1-as you step into this emptiness, will find the gates of new knowledge and understandings, which allow you to store more of "Everything" you will encounter, and *value* everything in life according to a 0-100 scale. [unlike if you value something while you are on 50-100 scale or more, because you will have "less space" to actually handle all the "data" coming from what you encounter in life, and thus end up *not* appreciating /valuing things properly, and it reflects back negatively on you]. #2-it puts you into the UNKNOWN, and creates a sense of VAST MYSTERY, which pushes your "imagination" to its limits, creating "endless possibilities" as a result... thus opening new gates for powerful art and creativity with everything you can observe in this universe. [NOTE : both of those paths, and benefits can be fused together flawlessly, and in certain situations, one could benefit from all sides at once]. so by following these paths, you will find out all the details you missed before, including your OWN life's weaknesses, strong points, purposes..etc, and possibly all your surroundings' too [depends on you]. and with all this knowledge as your "Weapons", the truth of the universe itself will reveal itself upon you, which will allow you to live your life as best as possible, and make the most out of it. ***FINAL CONCLUSION*** : "less is more" means you have to understand the world's "Balance" system, to adapt and always remember to make sure you EMPTY 1 side, to FILL it later from another, thus you keep the stability of your soul, mind and your very own consciousness, and ultimately continue the universe's meaningful philosophical order. PS : all people who said "Cringe" or "no single facts in philosophy" i suggest you all go for a self re-check, you people have stinking shallow mind and souls... my philosophy is the "UNIVERSAL" type, and the term "Subjective" means NOTHING in my world. [if you STILL not convinced and disagree of anything i said in this post, i congratulate you because it means you didn't understand a SINGLE WORD from what i said. please enjoy an empty pathetic life]. ———————————————————————————————————————————— *many people has put their heart and soul in their replies, and some of them were "very close" to the truth , while others tried their best to be DICKHEADS and speak with a brain of a cockroach. i list them below. honorable beautiful mentions : -kevinj933 -Riku_Wayfinder -djciao -PrimaCora -Portraiture -0x0321 -facundoen -Bashfluff -jigeno -XxSyLissxX -hunter141072 -RegularPhoto7575 -Prince90000 -Akshat0812 -PEN_FTW Disgusting horrible mentions : -verbanon -wolfdog410 -The-Dovah -ElAutistico -abbaj1 -DeusVult57 -Lightningvolt1 -McMaster2000 -lalalaladididi -Deroni76 -Nitan17 -IFearDaHammar -arktulius -zXiviaNz ———————————————————————————————————————————— finally : i would like to give a fair thank you for all the people who contributed in this little philosophy game, and ESPECIALLY to those who defended/supported me in the comments, you are all wonderful, i will keep on my path, to adventure and continue meeting beautiful people that is actually caring, loving and giving back. and since a lot of effort was pushed from all of you, i decided its good enough not to leave without a hint of the game i will start on next week... here is the moment you all been waiting for !! : "another boney stick legs?... oh, but at least its not with adults this time"
Breaking Down Hilaria's New York Times Interview: a Line-by-Line Journalistic Analysis
For those who missed it (maybe because you live in Spain? I hear they don't have TVs there so maybe they don't have the internet either) Katie Rosman of the New York Times published her magnum opus this morning: The Hilaria Baldwin Story: ‘I’m Living My Life’ For those who don't know, most journalists have so-called 'beats,' which is the term to describe the topics they cover. (Some journalists work the 'crime beat,' for instance; others the 'Trump beat.' You get the idea.) Katie Rosman writes on a variety of topics, but she has madean artform out of what I like to call 'The Good-Life Grift' beat. For her most recent masterpiece, Rosman spoke to Hilaria Baldwin for 80 minutes. Hilaria was wearing a sentient accessory deployed to garner sympathy points cuddling and nursing her infant son throughout the interview. Let's break the article down, shall we? From the top:
"It’s very surreal," said Ms. Baldwin who said she had been called Hilaria by family members for most of her life.
Oh really? Curious thing, though: nobody in her family spoke up to corroborate this factoid. Or confirm anything else she says, for that matter. I'll have more to say about sourcing and attribution and what inferences we can make from how certain things are phrased throughout the article. Stick around, won't ya?
"There is not something I’m doing wrong, and I think there is a difference between hiding and creating a boundary."
That boundary we see taking shape before our very own eyes is the boundary that separates reality from fantasy.
She didn’t know that ¡Hola! magazine, for which she has twice posed for the cover and which has written some 20 items about her on its English-language website so far this year, repeatedly reported inaccurately that she was a Spaniard because she said she didn’t read articles about herself.
I'd give this line an Italian chef's kiss but we're talking about a Spanish woman here so I need to focus! Very offensive to cross-apply national stereotypes like that. Much like Hilaria, I do not approve of cultural appropriation. I respect the beauty of diversity.
"brain fart"
a memoir, by Alec Baldwin
As for the C.A.A. bio, she can only assume the agency used unverified information from the internet to write a sloppy bio. “I rarely at all work with C.A.A. now,” she said. “It was very disappointing.”
Damn if it turns out that Hilaria supplied that bio herself I hope CAA drags her ass.
A spokesman for C.A.A. declined to comment
Ok maybe later I guess. The higher-ups are currently chilling off their yatchs in St. Barths. Not in the mood to be reached for comment thx
"Today we have an opportunity to clarify for people who have been confused in some ways by people misrepresenting me.”
You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means.
"One of the most important places to start is this idea of boundaries,” said Ms. Baldwin, who invites social media followers into her home life with Mr. Baldwin and their five fair-haired young children by routinely sharing images like her underwear-clad workout routines, innumerable pregnancy selfies and the sponsored diaper-ad videos of her infant son.
The shade in this article is so strong Hilaria might never feel the sun on her skin again, not even if she moves to Spain.
But when it comes to her parents, well, she even left them out of her 2012 wedding announcement.
Ok sure but like how did The New York Times wedding desk let her get away with this? I continue to have many questions.
"Where does something stop being your story and start being someone else’s?"
[raises hand] I know! I know! It's when you stop telling people your real life story and start telling them a bonkers fantasy version of it instead.
the unfortunate cucumber moment
Shout out to my second favorite Guns n' Roses album consisting entirely of Axl singing cover songs ever!
"We’re all bored and it’s just seemed so strange to me that no one had ever come out and said it, especially for someone who gets so much media attention,” said [@lenibriscoe], who was granted anonymity by The New York Times because she said she was scared that Mr. Baldwin, who agreed to take an anger management course in 2019 in order to dispose of charges after a fight with a man over a parking spot and has been arrested, escorted from a plane and suspended from a job as an MSNBC host, all in the last decade, would punch her.
Give Katie Rosman a Pulitzer. NOW.
(A spokeswoman for Mr. Baldwin declined to comment.)
Did... did you just read what I read? Did Alec just flat-out refuse to take part in his beloved esposa's flailing attempt at image rehabilitation? Watch. This. Space.
Periodistas on the other side of the Atlantic weighed in too, with El Mundo, the widely read Spanish newspaper, writing: “Hilaria Baldwin confesses that she was not born in Spain and her name is not real.”
Now that you mention it, we still don't have an answer for whether Hillary ever legally change her name to Hilaria.
Ms. Baldwin said she made her Boston heritage clear to her husband when they met at a vegan restaurant in 2011.
Ok so this is where we need to pause for a second and do a little deep dive, because this is the fourth version I've heard for far about their first meeting. Allow me take you on a journey through time (and through the concept of truth): In 2012, Hilaria told The New York Times that she was standing near the restaurant door when Alec walked over and chatted her up. That's version number one. Also in 2012, Hilaria painted a more detailed—and decidedly more cosmic—picture to The Daily Beast of the moment her fate entwined with Alec's for the first time. There our young lithe heroine was, all yoga poses and namastes, communing with the universe in the middle of a crowded restaurant: The moment before I saw him, I said to my girlfriends, "Universe, I have an announcement to make. I’m ready to meet someone and fall in love." Hilaria's conversation with the heavens was abruptly interrupted by one of said girlfriends. (Rude!) Bailaria tapped Hilaria on the shoulder and said, "¡Amiga! Look over there! Alec Baldwin can't stop staring at you!" Admittedly, it was a weird thing for her friend to say. Surely Bailaria knew that Hilaria had grown up without a TV. She had no idea who this AH-lake BALLED-you-in was. These days, Hilaria and Bailaria are no longer on speaking terms. In 2014 the paper of record revisited the glorious tale of "The Time Alec Met Hilaria." Once again, it had been adapted. Now the story was that their courtship began "when she winked at him in a downtown vegetarian restaurant." In Hilaria's defense, she wasn't actually winking at the famous movie-screen star she didn't recognize because she didn't own a TV. Her eyes just happen to twitch a lot when she's talking to the universe. Finally, today, thanks to a very recent interview with our plucky heroine, we've been gifted a brand-new meet-cute reboot starring Alec and Hilaria Baldwin. It's been a tough year for the movie industry, so I hope this one does well at the box office. In this new version, the tiny, crowded restaurant off of Irving Place has been resized to be as big as the Grand Canyon. In the bigger, better Pure Food and Wine where we lay our scene, our fair but lonely hero shouts into the void, Who are you? I must know you! I must know you! And right when he was about to give up all hope, an echoing sound in the dark cold night made its way to him: I'm from Boston! Goodness! Glad you're still with me. As for Alec and Hilaria? Surely it must be difficult for them to juggle so many different versions of a single moment in time. Maybe Hilaria can work on consolidating them all, like she did with her two names. At least all these versions take place in the same trendy restaurant, so points for consistency there. Whatever happened to that hot spot? Oh. Moving on...
Mr. Thomas and Dr. Hayward declined to comment.
Damn mom and pops that's ICE COLD 🥶🥶🥶
She declined to explain in detail how frequently they traveled there or how long they stayed. “I think it would be maddening to do such a tight time line of everything. You know, sometimes there was school involved. Sometimes it was vacation."
You know how it is. One day you find a great deal on a family-package vacation to Spain on Expedia, and once you arrive in Barthelona for your week-long stay you have to make a decision. Should we take the kids to see the sights or should we enroll them in the local school?
Ms. Baldwin’s older brother, Jeremy, moved to Mallorca, a Spanish island in the Mediterranean.
Note the careful phrasing here. It doesn't say, "according to Hilaria." Relatedly, the article never quotes the brother, but also doesn't say that he declined to comment. Safe to assume big bro Jeremy spoke to the paper on background.
"My family, this is where they’ve decided to spend their lives,” she said. “I guarantee you they are going to live there and they are going to die there."
Mom and dad, let this be a lesson. This is what you get when you stop playing along with your daughter's ridiculous scam: a death threat.
"Who is to say what you’re allowed to absorb and not absorb growing up? This has been a part of my whole life,” she said, “and I can’t make it go away just because some people don’t understand it.”
Gurl, I get it. I went through a slutty phase after my last breakup and in the process I absorbed a pesky little thing called HPV. For the life of me I can't make it go away. I'm sure it's the same with Spanish fever.
"There is a reason this conversation is happening right now,” she said. “These are important conversations to have. But as people are able to come out as different parts of themselves and how they identify and have people listen, I think that’s extremely important.”
This bitch went there. Like, really went there. Hand over my heart, Hillary Hayward Thomas, Queen of the Andal[usian]s, really came out here and unleashed the if men can identify as women then how come Rachel Dolezal can't identify as Black? defense. And now, for my closing observation [drumroll🥁🥁]
Mr. Baldwin, as well, suggests our attention span is limited. “And, as is often the case in a society such as the US is right now, the ravenous appetite for scandal will consume someone else,” he commented on her Instagram feed.
Folks, remember earlier on when the article mentioned that "a spokeswoman for Mr. Baldwin declined to comment"? This quote right here is the only time we hear from Mr. Hilaria Baldwin on the subject of his wife's questionable Spanish roots. The indefatigable Katie Rosman had to search through Alec's tweets to find any statement whatsoever of his that she could quote. That's like a Michelin-starred chef having to rummage through the garbage to find ingredients for his next concoction. Maybe Alec's conspicuous absence from his wife side in this very trying moment for her means nothing. (I mean if my husband left me to fend for myself during an extremely difficult moment I would be none too pleased, but hey.) Or maybe, just maybe, the fact that the old Alec can't come to the phone right now is a hint that he's got one foot out the door.
chinese culture issues w/ non-chinese nctzens + taeyong performing in the smtown concert
first off, happy new year! i hope everyone has a great 2021! i didn't want to make 2 posts about this so please bear with the incredibly long rant. so lucas/basically all of wayv except kun are being bashed (once again) for something that is normal in chinese culture. for the people who don't know this thread explains the details the best. as someone who is chinese/taiwanese-american but raised in a very chinese/taiwanese family, i was always called "little fat cutie"/ "little piggy" in chinese by my family as a way of endearment. being called fat doesn't mean it's an insult (unless it's directed in that manner). being called "fat" is a way to say "wow! you're well feed" which is basically saying "wow, look at the money you have!". the phrase that lucas used can't be translated into literal english ("you're as fat as a pig!") the correct english translation is actually "you're as fluffy as a bear". also in this video of ten showing off the merch he designed, he shows off his design for kun, which is a pig/boar(?). i saw a lot of people attacking ten on twitter (surprise surprise) for his drawing which isn't even offensive? pigs are seen as cute in china and boars are seen as strong beings, thus ten drawing kun as these animals (animal? it looked more like a boar to me so idk). side note: xiaojun sent a bubble message that said something like "hey piggy" in chinese but it's really supposed to mean "hey cutie" in english. definitely not as big of an issue but antis did not hesitate to add that onto their list of things to hate about wayv then the so called "colorist remarks" kun mentioned. something that non-chinese speakers, or any non-asian related language speakers fail to understand is that not everything can be translated perfectly/literally into english. sometimes i even struggle to translate something into english because i have to think of the right phrasing to make it make sense IN ENGLISH. to those western fans who keep pushing your western culture onto chinese/asian fans need to stop. you have your culture, we have ours, there's no need to attack artists for literally doing something that is apart of their culture. it is not hard to look up "what does ___ mean in english" or even better, ask someone who actually speaks the language/is apart of the culture instead of going online to be like "oh no, __ did ___, that's not ok!" when you're literally not apart of the culture. unfortunately, a lot of weishennies can't speak fluent english so being able to educate people about these issues is out of the picture. for the ones that can, are always the ones drowned out by non-chinese fans that are like "stop defending you're artists for __". if western fans are pushing the "you should learn __ culture" agenda, then you should also follow it too, the world doesn't revolve around western culture. sighif it's not your culture, then it's not your business going onto taeyong performing during the smtown live concert. i, as long as many nctzens love taeyong's stage presence and his overall performance, but to see him on stage and being in pain was infuriating. since the stages were prerecorded (most likely around dec 20 since ty was supposedly last seen doing a schedule on dec 21 and the announcement for his hiatus was a few days later), i was a little wary when thinking whether or not ty was going to perform. having a herniated disk is extremely painful (even my mom, who has one too said that he's incredibly strong for dancing the way he does while having a herniated disk). after the punch stage, i was full on expecting to see no ty for the rest of the stages and i was fine with that. then superm came on to perform 100 and there ty was. the more he performed, the more i could notice his pain, especially during 100 and even him doing the ment. if his condition deteriorated to the point he's limping/not giving his all on stage, then sm's really pushed him too far. at some point, i wouldn't be surprised if his disk eventually ruptures, which means he'll have to get surgery and probably won't ever be able to perform again (let's hope it doesn't get to that point cough cough sm cough cough) i genuinely found it hard to watch nct/superm's stages seeing how obviously uncomfortable ty was. i love seeing ty perform, but he should've been resting and his hiatus should've been announced earlier in the month so he can properly rest. tl;dr - take english translations of any asian language with a grain of salt because not everything can be translated perfectly into english. if you don't understand something about a culture, ask around and find someone from that culture to explain it to you. finally, sm should properly let ty rest before he permanently damages his body
63 Overlooked/Underrated Pop Songs From 2020 (with write-ups)
Over the month of December I posted two songs per day in the Daily Discussion threads (one single and one album track (mostly)) that I felt went unnoticed by most people but would potentially be enjoyed, and this is a compilation of those write-ups. There’s a definite pop focus but I picked these tracks with an ear for diversity of sound/artistry so there’s quite a few different things going on here and some picks that might make you roll your eyes, but I think there’s something for everyone! Here is a Spotify playlist that compiles all the songs but a walkthrough of the playlist is below. FFO = "For Fans Of"
This an excellent example of using music to further storytelling: it begins with this almost old-western sounding piano line that slowly climbs as Chappell describes her small-town dreams, which are abruptly cut off by sparse, pulsing synths as she describes her apprehensions, only for the thrilling full arrangement to kick in once she overcomes her fears during the chorus. And all of this slaps, of course, the production on this track is fantastic and there’s even two triumphant electric guitar solos!
Ruth B.’s first foray into r&b the song is strikingly minimalist, it’s mostly just a drum beat with some sparse piano chords and Ruth’s ghostly voice lilting gently. It’s a total vibe that fits the melancholy air she’s going for and helps put the focus on the melody, which is packed with unassuming hooks and a lot of simple but memorable lines.
On the off-chance that any of you are into dudes you might relate to this track, which is a sun kissed synthpop ode to boy craziness. It’s a short song (only about two and a half minutes long) but it does exactly what it sets out to do, which is provide a nice little jolt of gayness to your day. The synth pads and sleepy melody are easy on the ears, Bronze brings a bit of steaminess to the track with his coy delivery, and if you can hold back from shouting out “BOYS!” with the chorus then you’re a stronger person than I am.
There’s a fairly straightforward pop song here but tv room choses to drown the song in reverb and synths that sound like they were taken from a video game loading screen to create this wall of music that you can just bash your head against, but like, in a fun way. It’s almost hypnotic, there’s something so soothing about putting this on and just hearing him repeat that sticky chorus over and over as the bass pounds in your ears.
“Trap based r&b with some jazzy inflection” has become iyla’s signature style and it’s never sounded so good, the plunking synths and surprisingly complex vocal arrangement really give this track a unique feeling. iyla does double duty rapping the verses and singing the chorus and she nails both parts, she’s got this way of having both poise and swag that’s really fun to listen to; she gets an assist from legendary rapper Method Man who provides a great counterpoint to iyla’s portions. As usual iyla is serving visuals as well and the opulent video is super #aesthetic and really elevates the song.
Driven by a piano and backed by trumpets, drums, and strings, there’s an old school feel to this song (appropriate seeing as the lyrics reference artists like Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye) that really captures the vibe that they’re going for. The frontman is hollering at the top of his lungs–it turns out the top of his lungs is a very high place because the notes he hits are very impressive–and you can hear the other two pouring their hearts out through their instruments as well. As someone who’s maybe had an experience with a breakup or two, this song gets it.
It feels like we’re having a big revival of ‘90s/‘00s culture right now and if you were waiting for the nostalgia machine to churn out some cheesy boy band songs, here you go. Mimicking Max Martin produced bubblegum pop sound that was driving the kids wild at the turn of the millenium, “cover girl” sounds like it was ripped straight from the soundtrack of a guilty pleasure teen romance movie. The “it’s all about you girl” lyrics are vapid in the most charming way and the boys nail the vocal delivery and instrumentation as well.
All of the collaborations Ally has released this year were varying degrees of good but “All Night” was one of the first and still probably the best. Ally sounds great and the production here really slaps, the heavy prechorus that builds into that drop that just makes you want to jump all over the room… they aren’t lying when they say they’ll keep you dancing all night.
And the award for best use of a sound effect in a pop song in 2020 goes to: the bubble popping sound effect in this song. Like a fizzy soda pop this song is sugary and incredibly addictive, one of those pop songs that decides that it doesn’t need anything other than hooks, killer melodies, and a bomb chorus. It’s repetitive enough that it’s easy to listen to but it’s paced very well so it never feels boring, plus there are all sorts of little quirks to the production that give it character.
I associate VINCINT with his huge vocal range and flamboyant pop stylings, and both are on full display here. “Save Myself” is a high energy electropop that’s got a thumping house beat and some nice verses but really, it’s all about that chorus. The song just explodes as he lifts his voice (hitting some very impressive notes) to boldly declare the title of the song, with a nice little falsetto hook thrown in there for good measure. It’s a big, no holds barred, unapologetic anthem of a track with a positive message too: it’s okay to want other people, but at the end of the day you can always count on yourself.
A super cute little track based around shimmering synths, it’s a bright and girlish song with a hook of this song that’s incessantly catchy regardless of language. The title/hook of the song (roughly translated) means “You Don’t Want To Love Me” and the track is easy to get a grasp on even if you don’t understand the lyrics thanks to Alba’s clear voice and emotive performance. A chief example of “if this song were by a bigger artist it would be a hit.”
The key to understanding bounce music is fairly simple: it’s just fun! There’s a brief moment of “huh?” but if you surrender to it you’ll be bopping your head, stomping your feet, and shaking your ass. Freedia obviously knows how to turn the party and she’s in top form here, oozing charisma as she barks out those classic Freedia bars; Kesha’s more melodic chorus is a nice counterpoint (especially once they start singing together). This is just such a happy, uplifting track about how queer people will always come out on top and everyone else can just deal with it!
nelward is known for his rather unusual off-the-wall production but on his latest EP he toned it down for a more subdued synthpop sound that highlights the bones of his songwriting and lyrical finesse. His lyrics twist together metaphors, strange turns of phrase, and personal anecdotes that both dance around and cut straight to the hard truths that his songs are about. There’s a nice contrast between his rougher voice on the heavier verses (which are candid explorations of something that sounds like depression) and Adron’s clear voice on the chorus (which encourages us to “smash thru” the things holding us back), and and when paired with the cool synth pads it results in a very “cleansing” track that’s uplifting despite the darker subject matter.
So technically this came out four years ago but the album it’s on only came out this year and really it’s a timeless song so I’m mentioning it because it slaps. It’s over-the-top cloying yet also weirdly dark and aggressively horny; in other words, a perfect homage to long dead bubblegum dance genre. Eurodance beats and sugary, heavily autotuned vocals give it that classic ‘90s sound but she still makes it feel relevant with a strong melody and deceptively clever lyrics. This is tooth rotting.
A combination r&b/dance pop song, this song has an amazing chorus that’ll get you bopping your head… but the bopping becomes a little bit unsettling when you really start to listen to the story she tells in the lyrics about the dangers and toxicity of Japan’s idol system. Over a hypnotic dance groove she strips back the glamor of the music industry and paints a picture of a city where everyone is lonely and everything is fake; it feels very poignant.
You might recognize pop/r&b girl WOLFTYLA from being one of the vocalists featured on the K/DA mini album dropped earlier this year, but her solo music is really good as well. A cut from her debut EP, “Candy” is that flirty, girly kind of pop-r&b that I eat up like… well like candy. Timbaland did the production on this track so you know it’s good, a veritable candy store of synths, beats, and quirky little hooks with an old school flair that satisfies the nostalgia sweet tooth, and they cooked up an ear worm of a chorus too!
“Lucifer Waiting” is something of a reggaeton/rock combo that layers grimy guitars and drums over a reggaeton beat, but mere description can’t capture the wild energy of this track. It’s got a freaky sound that pairs well with the lyrics that are full of fun, witchy imagery as she describes the evil that manifests around us in our lives; evil that we ultimately overcome through our inner strength. Angelica wails her way through the track like she’s having an exorcism herself, and the way she just attacks the song vocally is really cool.
DEQN SUE’s trademark is quirky pop with unusual lyrics and while usually this manifests itself in her going crazy and over the top, she goes in the exact opposite direction here to interesting results. With the sparse, repetitive strings here’s a focused intensity to this song that feels almost trance-like, and it helps sell the “stalker with a crush” vibe she’s going for. If someone staring at you for an uncomfortably long period of time had a sound, it might sound something like this.
“Almost Home” is yet another song that romanticizes being young and free but it treats the subject with a more tender touch that I appreciate, quiet car rides home at night like the one she describes were a truly sacred experience and she completely does them justice. Hearing her croon the chorus of this song as that toy piano tinkles in the background is so incredibly calming, it always makes me feel like somehow everything is gonna be okay.
Jessie is known for her raw, powerful vocals but she makes her voice like the edge of a knife here, a taut razor wire that’s hanging in the air ready to slice you to ribbons if you dare to cross her or try to take what’s hers. The gentle, contemplative vibe of the music and her performance contrasts with the overtly violent lyrics in a really interesting way, she feels so singular and self assured in her mission. The animated music video, which features conquistador lookalikes slaughtering the man Jessie loves, adds another layer of meaning to the song by transforming it into a critique of colonialism.
Just like the single cover art “Honeymoon Fades” is a silky and a tad smoky, a jazzy little number that ’s very laid back and perfect to vibe along with. R&B is a sound that suits Sabrina very well (I don’t think she’s a powerhouse but her tone is lovely) and she’s really feeling herself and the lyrics here, this is another great step in her musical growth.
This song feels like it should be in a promo for some edgy Pretty Little Liars-esque young adult show, and that’s a compliment! It’s got a sense of personal drama to it, a catchy chorus that’s poetically “deep,” and we all love that ’10s rock-tinged-but-radio-friendly-indie sound. The syncopated rap verse in the middle is a fresh addition to the old formula though, and I really like the lyrics. The theme of clinging to “pretty lies” out of fear of what would come after change is very relatable, and the music video they shot in the empty streets of LA under lockdown gives the song an extra ominous vibe.
Tayla Parx toys around with traditional notions of genre and structure to create songs that sometimes feel a bit like a collection of parts, but these parts are so good and they’re strung together so well that it just works. “Fixerupper” is a particularly noticeable example of this: there’s a stark contrast between the verses (which rely almost entirely on percussion and staccato lines), the prechorus (which is centered around strings and a smooth vocal line), and the actual chorus (which falls somewhere in the middle) but they work together beautifully. The lyrics, which see her warning a lover that she’s going to need some help reaching her potential, are very nice too.
“I Believe In Santa” kicks off with a traditional sounding choral section that feels a little bit scary and then with a maniacal laugh the trap drums kick in and suddenly she’s (vaguely threateningly) rapping about the magic of Christmas. Part of what makes the song so good is the way that it avoids typical Christmas music cliches: despite the incredibly festive lyrics the production is fairly straightforward trap-pop, and it’s good production too. And then there’s the music video, which features Jojo Siwa decked out in Party City couture and breakdancing with Santa!
I’m always a sucker for a mid-tempo r&b ballad with strings but “Pretend,” a confessional song about Queen Naija’s troubled relationship with love, is a particularly nice one. There’s actually a pretty hefty backstory to this song and its music video considering the somewhat troubled past Queen has had, but even without knowing all the details you can really hear that this song is coming from something real. The lyrics and the pain in her voice are genuine, and on top of that she sounds so beautiful and the song flows smooth as water.
“Don’t Kill The Wave” captures a great combo of rap and disco because it’s about one thing that both genres can agree on: grooving out. Bouncy synths position Ric as a dance floor mc who won’t tolerate anyone disrupting the flow of the vibe, and it sounds so fresh and fun I doubt there’ll be much argument. He’s got a lot of insistently catchy one-liners in there and the chorus is a lot of fun to sing along to, if we could still have parties like the one depicted in the video this would probably go off at one of them.
Teamarr really goes in with the lyrics of this song, they’re rambling but she paints such a painful picture of being insecure that I find myself relating despite how intensely personal the song feels. The chaotic behavior she describes is reflected in the unpredictable production, which full of speaker pounding bass that throws some extra power behind her keening voice. It’s harsh but it suits the confessional style that she’s going for, and it feels very current.
Alex Newell’s voice was just made to wail over pounding dance production and no matter how many times he releases some variation of this song I’ll keep listening to it. I think this is one of his finest tracks yet, it’s a sassy kiss-off track that’s in-your-face enough to be a bop yet also short enough to have a ton of replay value. The beat is catchy, there’s that dolphin whistle flute that I enjoy, and Alex’s voice is as thrilling as ever.
Although most people probably associate the banjo with American bluegrass/folk/country, the instrument actually has its roots in West Africa, which is what Bebe is referencing here as she offers advice on how to “play” her. It’s a tangy Afrobeat dance track that gets especially cool towards the end when the vocals drop out and it just starts to vibe.
There’s some clear Kpop influence in the video but the song itself is distinct from that style, despite the maximalist production it feels fairly subdued (without sacrificing on having an incredibly catchy chorus). The song sounds so chirpy and her voice is very sweet, but there’s understated drama to the story described in the lyric that grant a slight air of bittersweetness which prevents it from being too cloying. It also comes with one of my favorite music videos of the year!
“And the inevitable heat death of the universe / plays out in the background / of our lives” goes the instantly memorable chorus, the centerpiece of this brassy rock track from indie band Sister Species. The horns and percussion that are insistent and honestly a bit claustrophobic at times, as if they’re the looming heat death that’s slowly closing in, and it’s both evocative and a treat for the ears. The lyrics are strong and I like the theme of not letting the inevitability of demise prevent us from being there for each other; it’s fatalistic and life-affirming at the same time.
A flip on Sidney Gish’s “Imposter Syndrome, the original is already a pretty great song but russelbuck tears it apart and reassembles it into a piece of ear candy by shortening the length and leaning into utter chaos. The angst of the original song is twisted into pure mania, a cartoon battleground of crashing electronic beats and cartoon sound effects that Gish’s voice dances through gleefully. It’s the kind of song that makes my teeth vibrate and sets my hair on edge, if that makes sense, but I think that's just what I needed this year.
The smooth r&b groove with jazz stylings over the top makes for some really wonderful sounds and there’s something just so natural about the flow of the melody and the lyrics; everything is just as if it were meant to be. At the center of it all we have IV Jay’s warm, smoky voice, which is the perfect vessel for the song. It’s a subtly sad song as she muses over whether or not to leave some scrub, and by extension whether she’ll ever find love, but it’s that Sunday afternoon chill-out kind of sad that’s more just idle self-reflection than anything else.
I love Remi Wolf’s music because she’s just a lightning bolt of energy, she’s not scared to be loud and a little bit weird because she’s got the charm and the catchiness to make it all work. Everything about this track is so colorful, from the production to Remi’s delivery to the silly little story the lyrics spell out. She sounds so sassy when she delivers that deliriously fun “hello hello hello” hook, scooping the word upwards as if she’s mocking this man for thinking he’s pulling one over on her. It’s just a blast to listen to and the EP it comes from is nonstop fun as well, definitely keep your eye on her.
Blending psych-pop with rock and even a hint of disco, this cut from Ambar Lucid’s fantastic debut album conjures up hypnotic swirls of music built out of thrumming guitar strings and skittering drum beats that explode into one of the best choruses of the year. There’s a grimy, almost “witchy” air around this track as Ambar croons about how she’s so overflowing with power that no one can ever hope to contain her, and her defiant refrain on the chorus is instantly memorable and has kept me coming back to this track time and time again.
When Paradise Killer was released earlier this year to rave reviews many critics specifically praised its soundtrack, and rightfully so because it’s an incredible collection of synthwave music that really elevate the otherworldly aesthetic of the game. This is the only song on the soundtrack with lyrics, but it’s a real doozy. Sounding “futuristic” in that delightfully ‘80s way, this almost city-pop tune a highly stylized banger from start to finish. The lyrics vaguely relate to the story of the game but mostly they’re just cool-sounding nonsense that heighten the mood as you drink in the slick grooves, sassy vocals, and (naturally) that saxophone solo.
A quirky little tune that blends medieval sounding folk with, of all things, doo-wop, “I Don’t Want To Know” really stood out on this album for its catchy melody and quirky lyrics. It’s equal parts petty and self-pitying and the blend is actually kind of hilarious, Jessica clearly and fun writing in Bradamante’s brash voice because she went all out with the melodramatic wordplay. I promise you, this will be the only song I talk about this month where the lead instrument is a mandolin.
Powderpaint were one of my favorite discoveries of the year and I’m not going to stop screaming into the internet void to tell people to check out their self-titled EP because it’s nonstop fun and a great collection of queer anthems. “’80s synthpop” is kinda becoming played out in the pop scene but they manage to make it sound exciting again with a hefty dose of energy and fresh lyrical themes. “Constellation” is a great example of this, the melodies in this song are wonderful and play off of the intricate synth work beautifully, plus the song climaxes in a spoken word/rapped bridge which is a rallying call to arms to defy toxic relationships/societal norms and instead Powderpaint in their constellation of fabulously liberated folks.
A soft, string driven track with a gorgeous melody, the lyrics are so romantic and Alina’s voice is so velvety and it just melts me. Though it isn’t quite explicit there’s clearly painful background to the lyrics and the longing in her voice feels rather pointed, and so it’s as if this love is helping her to rise above it all. A great opener for a great album.
This is a chill little track that sounds slightly funky and really pretty (the dude’s tender, slightly rough vocals are very pleasant to listen to) but it gets bonus points from me for the lyrical content. A love song AND a song about sea monsters? It’s like a Venn diagram of my interests. I’ve seen people compare it to The Gorillaz and I’m not a fan so I can’t comment on that but I’ll trust the YouTube comments.
This song is a plea from Sondre to a lover to, of all things, abandon him because they’re too good for him. There’s no real poetic language in this song but the straightforwardness of the lyrics is effective in a different way because it makes him sound so… resigned. He sighs his way through the lyrics, his voice even giving out in the middle of some lines as if he can’t bear to go on. But then partway through the song there’s a shift and we start getting some major chords and heartier vocals and it feels like the song ends on a strangely warm and hopeful note? Perhaps we’re meant to believe that his plea has been rejected and this person has decided to stay with him.
With 404 Not Found FEMM found the perfect balance between their forward thinking electro pop and a new hip-hop sound, and this track was my favorite. It’s a dark ode to hedonism and grabbing everything you can; it sounds like something a super villain would release. With scary piano chords that tinkle ominously over the track and feel slightly out of synch with the hard trap beats and their low/heavy rapping, it feels like the song is falling apart as you listen to it.
“Please Be Nice” is an impassioned plea for people to be nicer to each other on the internet, and it’s as truthful as it is hilarious. The clanking, stuttering, almost industrial production (was this recorded using a broken computer?) is a wall of noise that feels surprisingly great to listen to, and the chorus is unexpectedly great to sing along with. Sometimes after a long day I listen to this and just scream “I’M A PERSON PLEASE BE NICE” and it makes me feel so much better.
“Farewell Wanderlust” is a song about falling into… not even mediocrity but just apathetic complacency, a song about losing the fire that once motivated you but not really having enough comfort in your life to fill the void that it left behind. Both of the vocalists do an incredible job here, flitting effortlessly between thunderous wails and searing whispers (cleverly matched to the instrumentation, which switches between a cappella/solo piano/full orchestra), and they fill every syllable with meaning. The pacing of the track is great and there are plenty of memorable one liners on the way to a harrowing conclusion.
Been in a very nostalgic mood lately and it made me think about this song, which is about friendships that remain close to the heart even when you aren’t that close anymore. It’s a heartfelt ode to friendship with a thrumming bassline for a pulse; it starts slow and low but by the end it achieves liftoff. Haiku Hands’s sing-songy spoken word style lends itself to ballads just as well as it does dance tracks and it really brings out the simple honesty and vulnerability in the lyrics, especially in the second verse.
You can always count on a Bollywood film to deliver a great song or two and this one definitely stuck out for me because it’s a lovely guitar driven ballad with a gorgeous (insidiously catchy) melody. The lyrics are in Hindi but the gist of them is “love is love” and while the song works beautifully in the context of the film, I think the message is clear enough to be appreciated by anyone. More gay Bollywood ballads please!
While Adam Lambert’s new album Velvet (blended the electropop sounds of his earlier works with a more mature funk/soul sound) has plenty of ballads and high energy, high belting tracks. the track that most sticks out for me is one of the most subdued. With those stuttering trap drums and the more low-key melodic vibe of the song, “On The Moon” almost feels like an r&b track and it’s a surprisingly good fit for Adam. He sings with a breathy tone that makes his voice sound particularly silky, and he really brings the heat to this steamy sex jam that uses space imagery to convey his desire.
Half of the songs on Colour Vision had featured artists on them and all of them were dropped as singles so I was worried that the solo tracks might be lackluster or something but NOPE they’re some of the best on a very strong album. “SOS” is a low-key song but when you pay attention to what’s happening in the production it’s surprisingly maximalist; it feels super fresh and polished. The star of the track is MAX’s voice though, he plays it coy at the start of the song (his performance is very tender, he almost sounds breathless with wonder) but by the end he’s slamming those falsetto notes like he’s Mariah.
It doesn’t surprise me at all to know that Sam Smith co-wrote this track because it has their fingerprints all over it, and when their brand of melancholy blue-eyed soul meets Cam’s story driven country stylings the result is a gut wrenchingly sad song. Cam places herself into the shoes of a woman who’s watching someone she’s in love with get married to someone else and she doesn’t pull a single punch, perfectly capturing the complex emotions of the situation. During the chorus she promises “one day I’ll be happier for you” but you can just hear it in her voice that there’s no comfort in the thought.
The fact that the only videos I can find of this song on YouTube are uploaded by EDM channels that use pictures of anime waifus in their videos should tell you everything you need to know, but like, in a good way! Producer AIKA and singer TOFIE have worked together several times before and their sounds always mesh well, but “Superstar” is probably their best collaboration yet. The track is around five minutes long but they make great use of all of that time, TOFIE’s sugary voice keening over AIKA’s all encompassing ear candy beats just feels so good to listen to, and that house drop is to die for.
A synthpop song with funky, thumping production that tells the story of a broken relationship, and the lyrics do a great job of creating a fully fleshed out situation that feels grounded in truth. He airs out his grievances to his distant partner but as the song wears on it becomes clear that perhaps his own interest isn’t the healthiest either, which brings us to a satisfying climax on the bridge. I like his vocals on this track, he’s got an interesting singing voice that’s not afraid to get weird or ugly and you can tell he’s really feeling the things he’s singing about.
This song tells a very silly story but Linus commits to the bit and finds all of the different shades of the situation, managing to highlight the adventure and comedy inherent to being stuck on the moon while also touching upon some genuine pathos. It’s an impressive bit of storytelling (even if the lyrics are a bit clunky at times) but it’s also a really fun pop song as well, his melodies are very “in your face” and the chirpy (almost calypso?) beats feel great to the ear.
This song is LITERALLY just Tank and the Bangas getting together with PJ Morton to complain about airport security confiscating liquids. The silliness works though, Tank is a gifted vocalist/lyricist who can make anything interesting (she definitely proved that with this one) and PJ Morton sounds great, so it’s nice to hear them just having fun together in this spacey funk/soul track.
Angela Muñoz’s songwriting is at its core very old-school but Adrian Younge’s production is very futuristic and when the two sounds come together the results feel very forwards thinking. It’s like she’s a lounge singer on a UFO, crooning an old standard about love as they whizz through the cosmos. Angela gives a great performance that ensures that the spacey synths and cavernous drums never distract from her soulful voice.
Musical supergroup LVCRFT tapped a lot of names for this album but probably the most surprising inclusion was drag queen Morgan McMichaels, who pops up on this electro pop track to drop some fun rap verses. Their somewhat unusual delivery and memorable lyrics (which reference a lot of horror movie cliches) give this track a nice flavor to pair with that catchy chorus and spoooooky dance production.
CHIKA’s rapid fire flow is impressive and she’s a very intelligent lyricist, but more than that she’s got a ton of heart and soul that really comes through in her music. Take “On My Way” for instance, which is a tender ode to a girl back home she misses while she’s on tour. The strings and “adult contemporary” production give the track a very sappy, romantic feel, but her feelings seem so genuine that it never becomes cloying; it’s refreshing to hear a song that offers up this kind of vulnerability.
This kind of melodramatic vaudevillian emo pop-rock has such a specific vibe that’s hard to describe (“edgy” falls short of its full appeal) but if you know, you know. And IDKHOWBUTTHEYFOUNDME know. They capture the smooth talking musicality of old school crooners in the song but then apply it to maniacal lyrics in which they describe an abject desire to hurt themselves in order to impress a distant paramour. It’s both troubling and a little bit sexy, which is a great combo.
It's not exceptionally common for a song on a commercial album to try to be funny, but hearing Ingrid's self-deprecating descriptions of the increasingly bad decisions she makes in an attempt to get over her ex manages to get at least a quirk of the mouth from me. She hired a string quartet to play on this song to make it sound more “classy” as an ironic contrast to the decidedly unclassy lyrics, but despite how plainspoken they are there’s still some great storytelling and wit in them (especially when delivered with Ingrid's brassy country twang).
Have you ever been listening to a song from the ‘00s/’10s where a girl tries to say something about a guy by putting down another woman and thought to yourself “wow this is a bop, but I wish there wasn’t so much internalized misogyny?” Well Marisa Maino has got you covered with “Hot,” in which she spends three and a half minutes singing about how cool her loser ex’s new girlfriend is. It’s a pretty funny song and a nice spin on an old formula, which does wonders to make the throwback ’00s pop-rock sound feel fresh again. She’s got a pretty nice voice too, very lively.
RILEY is a fantastic storyteller, honest about the darker side of life in “the hood” while still illuminating the brighter parts. Adding to the nostalgic tint is the throwback hip-hop/r&b sound she uses, which always sounds good but suits her voice particularly well. BJ the Chicago Kid is another nice addition, and their chemistry brings the track up another level. It's not the type of music I expected Amber Riley to release (I assumed she'd do ballads) but it's pretty great.
Olivia O’Brien released a lot of great songs this year, I don’t know what they put in her water but she provided a steady stream of bold, melody focused ‘00s flavored synthpop that all hit right; “Was It All In My Head?” in particular stood out thanks to the addition of some electric guitar, which was a nice touch that gave the song some extra meat on its bones. Vaguely self-pitying songs and songs about trifling boys are basically Olivia’s “thing” at this point so she feels right on this track; it’s catchy, fun, and relatable… textbook Olivia at this point.
This feels like the most firmly r&b thing CHANMINA has released (most of her music leans towards either pop or rap) and it fits her gritty voice well, as well as her brand of being moody/sexy. One thing that I like about her music is that the tone and intention is very clear even if you can’t understand the lyrics, and she drops enough f-bombs during the chorus that you can kinda get the gist of what’s happening here. The honeyed beats are nice to listen too regardless.
GWSN have a very futuristic dance-pop sound, but they fuse it here with jazzy piano/guitar and it’s such a sleek, stylish blend. It creates such a dreamy atmosphere, and the melody soars and dances as if it’s the titular aerialist flying through the universe. Adding to this is the way that the vocalists dance around each other and throw in sneaky little harmonies and ad libs means that the song is constantly full of delights! Really hope this group gets some more attention soon. Hope you all enjoyed and found something you liked. Also if you want more here’s the post I did for this series last year! Once again, I encourage all of you to embark on similar projects of your own, it's really fun to share!
[OC] Taco Tuesdays have eaten into LeBron’s productivity and I have the data to prove it.
One of the most unappetizing developments in the NBA is LeBron James’ recent obsession with Taco Tuesdays. And I’m not talking about the broader issue of cultural appropriation or his sad attempt to trademark the phrase. I’m talking about how the King’s curious obsession with eating tacos on Tuesdays, has led to him eating Ls on the box score. Almost every culture has a kind of taco. The Greeks have gyros. The French have crepes. Italians have calzones. Americans have Taco Bell. Folding dough around a medley of meat and veggies is a food concept as old as time. And while everyone enjoys tacos, some of us are more fanatic than others… Enter El Reye, LeBron James. <LeBron James Taco Tuesday Video> The man’s awkward passion for Taco Tuesday tends to evoke mixed reactions: anywhere between smiling at the heartwarming dad vibes and a literal whole-body cringe. And I won’t deny, as a proper Houstonian who takes his tacos very seriously, I was suspicious when I first heard grumblings of the Ohio-native’s weekly affair. So, I looked to the numbers to see if there is more to this meat-and-cheese filled story.
“It’s just like Taco Tuesdays. It’s a (expletive) thing.”
Before biting into the data, I needed to pinpoint the origins of James’ taco-bsession (taco-obsession, hehe). After an exhaustive multi-minute googling sesh, the earliest observance I could find is this Instagram story from August 2018. Just a few weeks later we got further confirmation of LeBron’s enthusiasm for weekday alliteration-themed occasions during a post-practice Q&A. His fervent response to the media’s questions about his “White Boy Wednesdays” playlist gave it all away:
“It’s a universal thing, right?’’ he asked reporters, with a smile. “It’s just like taco Tuesdays. It’s a (expletive) thing.”
It’s a (expletive) thing. Profound words with profound implications. It’s at this point we can confidently presume Taco Tuesday is a staple in the James house. His videos would increase in frequency and social media buzz throughout the 2018-19 season before reaching a zeitgeist level of furor with this May ‘19 insta-story. Thus, we can split LeBron’s career is into two distinct periods:
Pre-Taco Tuesday Era: 2003-04 – 2017-18 seasons
Taco Tuesday Era: 2018-19 – 2019-20 seasons
With a reliable taco timeline established, it’s time to count the beans.
The Taco-nalysis
I began by compiling LeBron’s career game logs (the population) and identifying the day of the week each game was played on. Next, I pulled in his Season Averages (the control group) and selected the following 10 stat categories to get a comprehensive picture of his performance: Game Score, Points, Field Goal %, 3-Point %, Free Throw %, Total Rebounds, Assists, Steals, Blocks, and Turnovers. For each of these stats, I compared his average performance for each day of the week to his overall average for the corresponding season. Example: for the 2003-04 NBA season, LeBron averaged 20.9 Points per game. On Sundays that season, he averaged 26.6 Points per game. So, for Sunday during the ‘03-04 season, LeBron had a Points per game variance of +27.3%. This calculation is repeated for each day of the week for each of the 10 stat categories for each of LeBron’s seasons in the league. <Example of Analysis> A 5% variance threshold was used to clearly delineate between good and bad performances. Meaning, daily stat averages greater than +5% of the season average are considered “Positive” (green), variances less than -5% are considered “Negative” (red) and variances within those bounds are considered “Neutral” (yellow). This threshold divided the data points into the three stratums equally.
Pre-Taco Tuesday Era
This analysis examined 1,050 total data points from the period before LeBron discovered tacos (10 stats x 7 days per week x 15 seasons) and found an unambiguous trend: The King played better on Tuesdays. <Pre-Taco Tuesday Era - % of Variances by Day of Week> Since LeBron entered the league, his Tuesday night performances had registered the lowest rate of Negative variances and the highest rate of Positive variances. Meaning, Tuesday is the day he was least likely to perform worse than his season average, and the day he was most likely to perform better than his season average. When looking at the stat variances cumulatively, his Tuesday performance stands out even more! <Pre-Taco Tuesday Era - Cumulative Avg Stat Variances by Day of Week> Tuesdays had a Total Average Variance of 2.4%. Meaning, in the pre-Taco Tuesday era, LeBron posted an average stat line +2.4% better than his season average on Tuesday nights. And with LeBron being undoubtedly the best player on his teams, we’d expect that Tuesday performance bump to be reflected in the Win/Loss column… It was. <Pre Taco-Tuesday Era - Win % by Day of Week> He came out victorious in 71% of his Tuesday outings in the pre-Taco Tuesday era - more than 4% better than his overall win rate for the same period. This is where things get bleak. LeBron-stans, now would be the time to log off.
Oh, How the Tacos have Turned
Everyone thought LeBron’s biggest weakness was his hairline. Turns out, it’s tacos. Prior to his weekly taco tradition, LeBron’s Tuesday performance had the lowest rate of negative variances and the highest rate of positive variances. In the first two seasons of the Taco Tuesday era, James’ sacred day saw an +11% uptick in negative variances and a -17% drop in positive variances. <Taco Tuesday Era - % of Variances by Day of Week> Looking at the stats in aggregate we get an even better sense for his drop in Tuesday performance. LeBron is suddenly performing notably worse than his season average in most of the key stats! A complete reversal of the trend from the days before his taco titillations. <Taco Tuesday Era - Cumulative Avg Stat Variances by Day of Week> Suffice it to say, LeBron’s average Tuesday performance has fallen flatter than Casa Ole’s® velveeta-covered tostada. For those of you residing outside the great state of Texas, allow this trip advisor review to enlighten you on our state’s worst Mexican chain. <Casa Ole Review> Similar to how Montezuma’s revenge transforms local cuisines into violent bowel movements, we’d expect LeBron’s shitty Tuesday performance to translate to the Win/Loss column… it did. <Taco Tuesday Era - Win % by Day of Week> Since the weekday shenanigans began, LeBron’s Tuesday Win % has lagged his overall Win % by -2%. To put all these numbers into perspective, here’s a few Taco-mparisons for you to consider.
It’s becoming difficult to separate LeBron’s on-court performance from his escalating taco mania. Whether he’s sending taco trucks to the California firefighters, leading the Staples Center in an arena-wide taco chant, or his recent feature on Migos’ Taco Tuesday track – LeBron has progressively made the Latin street food a part of his identity. <Taco Tuesday track> After examining 17 seasons of data the findings are clear: LeBron James’ Tuesday performance has gotten measurably worse since his Taco Tuesday antics began. So, what does this mean for LeBron and the Lakers? Well, in the short run, they don’t have too much to worry about. The NBA curiously scheduled no Tuesday night matchups for the Lakers in the bubble restart. I don’t mean to stoke the nba conspiracy flames but if that sus pattern holds for the playoff schedule, we’ll need an official response from Adam Silver. <Lakers Bubble Schedule> Note: the authorcontacted thethe NBA League Office for comment but they did not respond prior to posting on reddit. Looking past the current season, however, should Jeanie Buss and the Lakers consider intervening? On the one hand, LeBron should face the mariachi music and acknowledge the way he’s let down his teammates, coaches and fans these past two taco-slowed seasons. On the other hand, despite his Tuesday distraction and the performance decline it’s wrought, LeBron had an MVP-caliber season and led his team to the #1 seed in the Western conference. What his teammates, coaches and fans deserve most is an unencumbered LeBron. An on-court LeBron who’s fully present every time he suits up; undistracted by the allure of alliteration themed dinner nights. And, an off-court LeBron who can freely indulge his primal taco impulses each and every Tuesday night. A LeBron so fully self-actualized it’d make Michael stop crying. Thus, the data offers but one solution: Taco Load Management Frank Vogel should rest LeBron on Tuesday nights so he can pursue his conflicting passions uninhibited. You can check out the formatted write-up and all my research here! All the graphs are summarized in this imgur album
As follows are my explanations for each layer's topics: Giant Step
Keiichi Suzuki - One of the composers for the first two MOTHER games. He also provided backing vocals and instrumentation for several of the tracks on the vocal album.
Hip Tanaka - Another one of the composers for the first two games. He has created iconic sound effects for several classic Nintendo games.
Shogo Sakai - The composer of MOTHER 3. If you're a Smash or Kirby fan, odds are you've heard his arrangements.
The Beatles - This topic could fill up its own iceberg! Shigesato Itoi is notoriously a big fan of the Beatles, whose influence can be felt throughout the MOTHER franchise. Examples include the Dungeon Man's yellow submarine and "Megaton Walks"'s sampling of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)". When it comes to this franchise, it's hard to tell whether or not something is a deliberate Beatles reference.
The Beach Boys - This rock band also has had a sizeable impact on the series' music, with perhaps the most notorious example being "DEIRDREEEEEEE". According to an interview with Suzuki and Tanaka, one which is referenced frequently by the iceberg, Smiley Smile's percussion techniques are stated to have massively influenced Suzuki's compositions.
Classical music - The usage of classical music in all three games, much like with the Beatles, could warrant a separate iceberg. Instances include the music for the Mr./Lord Passion fights, the Onett trumpeter, and M1's game over music seemingly homaging the Moonlight Sonata.
"OK desu ka?" - Itoi can be heard asking "OK desu ka?" ("Is this OK?") when selecting OK on the naming menu. This clip was recorded by Tanaka without Itoi's knowledge.
Pollyanna - One of the franchise's most recognizable songs. It appears in all three games.
Runaway Five : Blues Brothers - This is more obvious in the Japanese version, in which Lucky and Nice's clothes are black.
Snowman - As with Pollyanna, this popular melody appears in each game.
Sound Battle combos - In MOTHER 3, it is possible to land consecutive hits if you press A in time with the beat.
Lilliput Steps
Alien leitmotifs - There doesn't seem a consistent name for these two. In EarthBound's soundtrack, a distinct theremin-like riff and a distinct drumbeat can be heard in various songs, oftentimes those associated with Giygas's influence. The former leitmotif actually reappears in MOTHER 3.
"Beat It" - Michael Jackson's hit is referenced by "Natural Killer Cyborg".
"Boris' Cocktail" sampling - The song samples both the American national anthem and the Little Rascals theme.
Catherine Warwick - For fans, she is the most famous of the vocal album singers. Warwick provided vocals for "Pollyanna" and "Wisdom of the World", among quite a few other songs. She is currently believed to have become a music teacher.
"Dallas Rag" - "Humoresque of a Little Dog" sounds near-identical to this piece by the Dallas String Band.
DCMC : AC/DC - The band's name could also be a reference to Run-DMC.
Diamond Dog - The Sanctuary Guardian is a blatant reference to David Bowie's Diamond Dogs.
"Good Morning" variations - The waking up music in EarthBound has variants for Winters, Moonside, and Scaraba.
Grateful Dead Valley - This is the Japanese name of Peaceful Rest Valley.
"Johnny B. Goode" - Chuck Berry's hit is spoofed by the Hippie battle music.
M3 leitmotifs - MOTHER 3 has several leitmotifs that develop and intersect over the course of the game. A chart organizing these leitmotifs can be found here.
"Mr. Batty Twist" - This popular battle theme both parodies the 60's Batman theme and potentially references "The Phantom of the Opera" by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Super Mario Belch - A snippet of the Ground Theme from SMB1 can be heard in "Battle Against Belch".
"Tequila" - The famous Champs song is homaged by "Battle Against a Weak Opponent".
"The Water's Great" variation - MOTHER 3's final dungeon has a unique variant of the hot spring theme.
"Your Name, Please" sampling - This track samples "The Liberty Bell" as heard in Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Milky Well
20th Century Fox - The film studio's fanfare is seemingly parodied in "Isn't This Such a Utopia?!"
"Barren Factory" - This haunting track can be heard if you revisit the Clayman Factory late in Chapter 7.
Flying Man theme origin - While portions of the Flying Man theme can be heard in EarthBound's soundtrack, it actually originates from Beginnings's vocal album.
Hiroshi Kanazu - One of the lesser-known composers for EarthBound.
Jaws Theme - "Formidable Foe", the Oh-So-Snake's battle music, pays tribute to John Williams's infamous theme.
M1 songs in M2 - Several songs from the first game are remixed or quoted in the second. "Battle with a Dangerous Foe" becomes "Sanctuary Guardian". "Monkey Cave" is quoted in "Hi Hi Hi". The topic could make for a smaller iceberg.
M.D. Seeger - That name is a pseudonym for Shigeru Miyamoto, whose wailing guitar can be heard on "The War Against Giygas!" screen.
The Moonriders - Keiichi Suzuki's rock band. I highly recommend giving them a listen. Two of my favorites are "青空のマリー" and "グルーピーに気をつけろ".
My Bloody Valentine - The band that pioneered shoegazing was credited by Tanaka with influencing the "flickering" quality of EarthBound's soundtrack.
Nirvana inspired "Porky Means Business!" - Specifically the track's percussion. Kurt Cobain significantly affected Tanaka's life as a musician.
"Onett's Arcade" sampling - Sound effects from arcade games Xevious and Sheriff can be heard.
Prince - Tanaka cites the late virtuoso's blending of genres as an influence on EarthBound.
Randy Newman - The singer-songwriter was discussed early into the production of Beginnings. Tanaka recalls wanting to incorporate Newman's distinctly American chord progressions and arrangements.
Rock Lobster - The fan-translated name of this MOTHER 3 enemy is a tribute to The B-52s.
SMAP - The most successful boy band in Japanese history. The band members' names appear as "Don't Care" options in MOTHER 2. Additionally, Takuya Kimura starred in magazine ads and TV commercials for the game.
"Spooky..." - A sound effect that plays during various plot points in EarthBound, typically when something foreboding is said.
Toshiyuki Ueno - The other lesser-known EarthBound composer.
"Unsettling Preserve" - If you revisit the Sunshine Forest after the time skip, you can hear this song.
Unused M2 cave theme - This would be lower on the iceberg were it not so infamous. The nightmarish arrangement of Beginnings's "Underground Theme".
"Won't Get Fooled Again" - The Who song is paid homage to by "The Sky Runner" (and by extension, "The Submarine".)
Rainy Circle
Akiko Yano - Sometimes referred to as "Japan's Kate Bush", this musician is good friends with Shigesato Itoi. She sang a song written by Itoi entitled "Furimukeba Kaeru", which became the inspiration for Save Frogs.
"Baby Elephant Walk" - This Henry Mancini tune was written for the film Hatari! and is alluded to by "Mischievous Blues".
Burt Bacharach - The Summers theme was stated by Itoi to be an homage to the legendary songwriter.
"El Bimbo" - The hotel theme is a reference to Paul Mauriat's arrangement of "El Bimbo".
Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Itoi confirmed during an EarthBound stream in 2013 that Frank Fly's name is derived from that of the 80's band.
Frank Zappa's MOTHER concert - This sadly never happened, but Tanaka stated that he would have loved to see Zappa perform his songs.
Giant Steps - Giant Step, the first Your Sanctuary location, could be a nod to John Coltrane's album.
Godzilla March - The introduction to Akira Ifukube's iconic march is quoted note-for-note in "Enter the Pigmasks!"
"Is Anyone There?" - After Chapter 4, this track plays inside the Twins' House. Nobody's home, Lucas. :(
Jeb "Million" Milne - The lead singer of "The Paradise Line" on the vocal album. He was in a band called "Blazer Blazer" and went on to found Witzend, a music venue in Los Angeles. Milne unfortunately passed away in 2013.
"Libertango" - Tango composer Astor Piazzolla's song is pastiched by "And El Mariachi".
"Mambo Gozón" - This song by Tito Puente, the "King of Latin Music", is referenced by "Mambo de Battle".
Spın̈al Tap sign - In the English localization of EarthBound, a Fresh Breeze Movement sign in Onett implores, "Don't break the wind of change." This is a nod from Marcus Lindblom to Break Like the Wind, an album by the fictional band Spın̈al Tap.
T. Rex items - Another reference added in the English version. Two weapons' names were changed to the T-rex's bat and the Zip gun, alluding to the rock band T. Rex and their album Bolan's Zip Gun.
Taeko Ohnuki - The singer of the Love Theme on the MOTHER3+ album. Apparently an influential figure in the city pop genre.
"Unsettling Opponent" in M3 - An arrangement of "Battle Against an Unsettling Opponent" appears in MOTHER 3 under the title "Lucky's Room".
Why Tanaka and Suzuki left - Neither musician was available to work full-time on the third game. Tanaka had since become the President of Creatures, Inc., and Suzuki, who was never a formal member at Nintendo, was focusing on composing for various films and albums. Thus, Itoi chose Sakai to compose 3.
Magnet Hill
Ana's Tadaima. Album - According to the Encyclopedia MOTHER, Ana was gifted a copy of Akiko Yano's album Tadaima. by Yoshie, her penpal in Japan. Even though she doesn't understand Japanese, Ana often listens to the record after coming home from school.
"Cave of the Tail" theory - There is a fan theory positing that the music heard in the God's Tail caves is actually Maria trying and failing to remember the Eight Melodies. I like to think that this is the case.
The Chieftains - Tanaka described this traditional Irish band's music as heartrending in a MOTHER-like way.
Eikichi Yazawa - The rock and roller's autobiography How to be BIG is one of Teddy's favorite items, even though he can't read Japanese. Furthermore, Yazawa's song "Traveling Bus" is the namesake of the Runaway Five's tour bus in MOTHER 2.
"Formidable Foes" - Many battle songs in MOTHER 3 have variations with more difficult Sound Battle beats. This is an unused variation of the aforementioned "Formidable Foe".
"Knit Cap Man" - A Moonriders song with lyrics written by Itoi. M3's Item Guy is a reference to the tune.
Louis Philippe - "Louis Philippe" is the pseudonym for French singer-songwriter Philippe Auclair, who provided lead vocals for "Flying Man". In his native country, he's famous for being a football [soccer] journalist.
"Mambo No. 5" dog - In the Japanese version, a dog in Toto howls, "Ooooh... Mambo!" This is a nod to Pérez Prado's "Mambo No. 5", which is known informally in Japan as the "Ooh-Mambo song". Please note that M2 predates the Lou Bega song you are likely more familiar with.
"Memory of Siren" - This track plays in the Twins’ House before the time skip. Placed lower than "Is Anyone There?" due to not being accessible through MOTHER 3's Sound Player.
People's Instinctive Travels - People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm is A Tribe Called Quest's debut album. Hip Tanaka stated that EarthBound's soundtrack shares a secret with the album. I'm guessing it's the fact that both "Luck of Lucien" and "Cross Over Space and Time" sample "La Marseillaise" (as heard in "All You Need is Love"). Tanaka also cited the hip hop group's music as influencing the game's battle and dungeon music.
Return to Forever - A jazz fusion band founded by pianist Chick Corea. Tanaka was deeply influenced by the band's chord progressions and voicings, as well as their drum and bass coordination.
Shimmy Zmizz : Jimmy Smith - The name of DCMC's keyboardist is a nod to real-life jazz organist Jimmy Smith.
Song Cycle - Van Dyke Parks's 1967 album features, according to Keiichi Suzuki, "American humor, a hazy sound, and a touch of Ray Bradbury." The album's style was key to Suzuki's approach in composing Beginnings.
"Stretching" - "Battle Against an Unsettling Opponent" has been compared to the opening of "Stretching" by the Jazz Messengers.
Take Away / The Lure of Salvage - The debut solo album of XTC's Andy Partridge outsold all other XTC albums in Japan. It should come as little surprise, then, that Suzuki claimed the record's experimentation with dub as being present in the games.
Tessie theme is cut off - You do not hear the full version of "Tessie!" while traveling on the monster's back. A permanent loop that would play after Tessie departs goes unheard. There are a few other songs like this in EarthBound.
The two Jeremys - On the vocal album, there are two choirboys named Jeremy. Jeremy Budd is the lead singer on "All That I Needed (Was You)"; Jeremy Holland-Smith sang "Bein' Friends" alongside Warwick. I'm not sure if these two were selected coincidentally or as a joke. Anyway, Budd continues to sing religious and classical music, while Holland-Smith has conducted for various plays and films (such as Sing).
"You Make Me Feel Brand New" - "Blessing (Skinhead's Recommendation)" is said to pay homage to this song by the Stylistics.
Pink Cloud
8:30 - A live album by the jazz fusion band Weather Report. Tanaka noted Joe Zawinul's keyboard tones and techniques on the album to be reminiscent of MOTHER, as well as the band's use of dissonance and percussion instrumentation.
Consequences - A 1977 concept album by Godley & Creme, showcasing the rock duo's "Gizmotron" invention. When connected to a guitar, the effects device would rub the instrument's strings to create synthesizer-like sounds. The usage of the Gizmotron in Consequences impacted Suzuki's usage of vibrato in EarthBound's soundtrack.
Dalaam theme origin - The melody of "The Traveller Can Hear the Song" originates from Keiichi Suzuki's 1991 song "Words, Colours, Noises, and Booms".
Jagatara - Saxophonist Masami Shinoda and trombonist Yoichi Murata from the funk rock band Jagatara provided instrumentation for "Fallin' Love, and".
Killing Time - This experimental jam band also provided instrumentation for "Fallin' Love, and". Unlike with Jagatara, every band member lent their talents.
Lalo Rodríguez - The work of this salsa musician influenced Fourside's theme and the Photo-Man's theme.
"Life’s an Inner Turn Radius" - "Uchiwa-sa da yo, Jinsei wa" in Japanese, the name of the limousine music is a parody of Takashi Hosokawa's enka hit, "Naniwabushi da yo, Jinsei wa" ("Life’s a Sob Story").
Linda Hennrick - Brought in early during the production process of Beginnings, she's the lyricist for the vocal album. Aside from that, she has written lyrics for several Japanese commercials, TV shows, and films.
Michael Nyman - A composer and musicologist known for his minimalist music and film scores. He is responsible for the arrangement of "Eight Melodies" on the vocal album. Tanaka is a big fan of Nyman and purportedly buys every album he has done work for.
Miklós Rózsa - A prolific film and concert composer who contributed to the Golden Age of Hollywood. Suzuki made note of Rózsa's chilling score for The Lost Weekend. Fun Fact: Lloyd thinks of Ben-Hur music when he practices the pommel horse in gym class.
"Official" names for M2 songs - As with countless other games of its era, many of EarthBound's tracks do not have official titles. Fans have had to come up with their own names for them. However, a physical soundtrack released in 1994 provides titles for some of the tracks. Threed's theme is called "One Day For Sure" and what we call "Giygas is Wounded!" is entitled "Please Disappear", for instance.
Pink Cloud - The sixth Your Sanctuary location receives its name from a Japanese 80's rock band. I assume more Japanese players caught this reference.
Scha Dara Parr - A Japanese hip hop trio best known for their hit "Kon'ya wa Boogie Back". Their song is referenced by the sign outside the Chaos Theater in MOTHER 2.
Sleng Teng riddim - Around the 0:24 second mark in "Battle Against a Mobile Foe", the Sleng Teng riddim can be heard. I'm not familiar with reggae or dub, so there may be many other riddims in the MOTHER games.
Sly and Robbie influenced the Pyramid theme - Specifically Robbie Shakespeare's bass playing, according to Tanaka.
"Sound of Siren" is a play on words - It's a play on "The Sound of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkel. This is more obvious in Japanese, as "siren" ("サイレン") is one character off from "silence" ("サイレンス").
Stackridge - Tanaka stated that the band's British tastes, evocative of the Beatles, impacted the games' music.
"Sūdara-bushi" - The Japanese names of the Wooly Shambler ("Suisui") and Wild n' Wooly Shambler ("Sūdararatta") enemies allude to this 60's dance craze composed by the Crazy Cats.
Lumine Hall
Blockbuster WOW! - It is speculated that the "WOW!" voice clip that plays after confirming all options for a new game is taken from a 1992 Blockbuster commercial.
Blood & Chocolate inspired box art - In a round table discussion from 2018, Itoi disclosed that the iconic red box art of MOTHER is an homage to the album cover of Elvis Costello's Blood & Chocolate. Not sure why he waited until relatively recently to mention that.
"Bluegrass Mall Trolling" - As I mentioned earlier, much of EarthBound's music lacks official titles. "Bluegrass Mall Trolling" is an old and obscure fan name for "Humoresque of a Little Dog" (which is often referred to by the much more popular fan name "Buy Somethin', Will Ya!")
DCMC "Giygas Theme" - A rather unnerving unused song that's sometimes called the "Giygas Theme" by fans. It's actually DCMC's OJ saying, "One, Two, Three, Five!"
Origin of café jukebox music - Inside the Dur-T Café, there is a jukebox that will randomly play one of five songs when paid. It is said that these songs are carryovers from the canceled 64DD game, although I cannot find a quote to support this. "Fairies (Neckbeard's Recommendation)" does sound markedly similar to the original Tazmily Village theme, for what it's worth. We do know that Shogo Sakai wrote "White (Owner's Recommendation)" for Snowcap Mountain before being informed of the recurring Snowman theme.
Pigmask Theme was the main M3 theme - The theme of the Pigmask Army was written by Sakai early into development, back during the 64DD days, and was intended to be the main theme of the game. According to Itoi, it was decided in the December of 2005 that "an extremely important scene" needed a different song to better convey what the developers intended. So the Love Theme was composed late into MOTHER 3's development.
"Ragtime Osohe" references "Nada Sōsō" - Most famously recorded by Rimi Natsukawa in 2001, "Nada Sōsō" ("Great Tears Are Spilling" in Okinawan) is a song about remembering a loved one who has passed away. In MOTHER 3's Japanese script, the ghostly pianist references the song in the last line of "Ragtime Osohe".
"Saikai" inspired Fassad's mouse - "Saikai" ("Reunion") is a 1960 song performed by jazz singer Kazuko Matsuo. In it, the singer expresses her love for a prisoner decried as a bad person by the public. The relationship between Fassad and his pet mouse was inspired by the song, according to Itoi.
"Seaside Bound" influenced M2's climax - The Tigers were one of many 60's Japanese bands that arose in response to the Beatles. They were successful enough to star in multiple films, one of which being 1968's The Tigers: The World is Waiting For Us. During the film's climax (starts at the 23:00 mark in this video), band member Julie is held captive by an alien princess in her UFO. Knowing that powerful musical sound waves disrupt the spaceship, Julie turns towards the audience and requests them to join in the band's performance of "Seaside Bound". It was this audience participation that inspired the player's role in defeating Giygas.
Stay Awake - Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films is a "MOTHER-like" album Tanaka often listened to during the production of EarthBound. As one might expect, it is an eclectic collection of classic Disney songs covered by various artists.
Unused "Popular Music Club" sign - There is unused text in EarthBound seemingly meant for a "members needed" sign. The sign goes on to list several different musicians, such as Björk and the aforementioned Takashi Hosokawa, and welcomes fans of their music to join the "Popular Music Club". I'm guessing that the joke is that these are more niche acts?
Fire Spring
EarthBound 64 concert - Following the cancellation of the 64DD entry, a chamber concert was held in secret for the game's staff. Conducted by Shogo Sakai himself, it featured several songs from the canceled game. Unfortunately, this concert will most likely remain as lost media.
Unidentified Giygas sampling - Giygas's battle music uses a few of EarthBound's 173 samples. (You can hear them starting around 0:28 in this video.) To my knowledge, there is not a general consensus as to the origins of these samples, but please correct me if I am wrong. I have a hunch that the wailing noise in "Giygas is Fatally Wounded" might be Miyamoto's guitar. I have also seen someone say that "Giygas Disintegrates" samples Dinosaur Jr.'s "Poledo", but I can't be sure.
Voices in Giygas tracks - Just by looking in the comments section on YouTube videos, it is evident that several fans claim to hear voices in Giygas's battle music. As for myself, that distinct rhythm featured in "Giygas's Intimidation" reminds me of the phrase, "Get me out of here now."
Itoi's Late Night Keyboard - In the interview constantly referenced by this iceberg, Tanaka says that, in addition to influencing EarthBound's soundtrack, My Bloody Valentine influenced Giygas and something called "Itoi's Late Night Keyboard". Your guess is as good as mine.
Eight Melodies taken from Close Encounters theme - A personal theory of mine. Itoi is a known fan of Steven Spielberg, who directed (alongside several other famous films) Close Encounters of the Third Kind. If you've seen that film, the parallels to EarthBound Beginnings should be obvious: the protagonists are drawn to a towering landform surrounded by paranormal activity. Both works conclude with humans interacting with alien life through music. The Close Encounters theme's main musical phrase sounds similar to the first of the Eight Melodies and shares the exact same number of notes. I'm not sure if this potential musical reference has been confirmed somewhere, but I would not be surprised to find out that such is the case.
Every Runaway Five song is a reference - Every song associated with the Runaway Five [probably] pays tribute to a preexisting song.
"Dead-End Chaos Theater" references "Sweet Home Chicago".
"Runaway Five's Final Performance" references "The Changeling".
"Runaway Five Left the Building!" references "Lady Madonna" and/or "Rubber Biscuit".
"Runaway Five on the Move!" references "Hey Hey, My My".
The horn riff heard in several Runaway Five songs (like "The Daily Show" and "Runaway Five to the Rescue!") references "Shake a Tail Feather".
A big thanks to the 2055 of you who took a moment to complete the recent golf 2020 census. This is a tremendous response and should provide a reasonable sample size among active users of this sub. Caveat: while my IRL work has a lot to do with digital media and numbers, I am no data scientist or Excel whiz, so I'm sure this isn't quite as good as it could be, but it's all I have time to do with now! So without further ado, here are the results (and I have made the data available here if anyone wants to take a peek or slice and dice it for themselves). You can view natively in your browser, or simply click the 'download' button in the top right. I might edit this later with some more findings, but that's enough for now! I'll be really interested to know what you think. What results surprise you? What results were you sure of? Please post and discuss your feedback! 1. How old are you? The average age of golf is 30.01 years. It's also the most common age selected in the census with 144 of you identifying as exactly 30 years old, 135 of you identifying as 31 and 134 identifying as 28 years. The oldest respondent is 72 (and has a handicap of 5). The youngest respondent was 13, which is the minimum age to have a reddit account, which is why I cut it off there. The two 13-year-olds identify as being off 12 and 6 handicaps. Just 108 of the sample size are teenagers, representing a mere of 5.26% of respondents. 2. What is your gender? A whopping 98.2% of us identify as male and just 1.1% female. I knew this sub was heavily skewed to men, but that's a LOT more than I expected. 3. What is your relationship status? 41.9% of this sub is married, 29.7% are in a relationship and 27.5% are single. The average handicap of married golfers is 17.0, single 17.5 while golfers in a relationship are 18.4, suggesting this latter category is prioriting other matters in life :) 0.8% of married golfers and 1.1% of both single and golfers in relationship are better than scratch players 4. Where do you live? 79.7% of you live in the United States Canada is second with 8.1% and the UK third with 4.4%. The top 10 is:
Country
Count
USA
1637
Canada
166
UK
90
Australia
27
Sweden
26
Ireland
23
New Zealand
11
Norway
10
Germany
8
Netherlands/Denmark/Finland
7
There are single representatives from Antigua, the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Georgia, Greece, Grenada, Iceland, Italy, Mexico, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Romania and Thailand. 5. In which US state do you live? Here is where the Americans among us live:
State
Count
California
171
Texas
108
New York
88
Illinois
69
Pennsylvania
63
Massachusetts/Ohio
62
Georgia
69
Florida/Michigan
58
Virginia
56
Minnesota
54
The states with the fewest golfers are Delaware and Montana (2 each) while Vermont and Wyoming each have 4 representatives on golf according to this census. 6. What is your current handicap? (rounded to the nearest whole number) According to this census, the average handicap or golf is slightly lower than 17.5 (slightly lower as there are 20 players who identify as better than scratch, but were counted as 0 for the purposes of this average). 7. Recently,my handicap has been... 1262 (61.35%) of you have been reducing your handicaps lately - well done! 8.81% of you need to stop the recent rise in your handicap 29.84% of you are remaining relatively unchanged/consistent 8. My status as a golfer is... The vast majority of us (96.15%) are amateur players/weekend hackers while there are at least 8 current professionals among us, 3 former pros and 68 aspiring pros 9. What would you say is your preferred brand of club? I appreciate this question didn't suit everyone, as putters are different to irons as wedges are different to drivers - you might like a brand in one club, but loathe it in another. Without wanting to make this survey too in-depth, I think the below table is a decent snapshot of golf's preferred club brands (and really sorry I forgot about the PXG crew!)
Brand
# that express it as 'favorite'
TaylorMade
532
Callaway
380
Mizuno
303
Titleist
270
Ping
218
Cobra
126
Cleveland
46
Wilson
46
Nike
39
Srixon
32
Ben Hogan
20
Adams
13
Miura
9
Dunlop
6
Bridgestone
4
MacGregor
4
Bettinardi
2
Honma
2
Vulcan
2
Obviously a lot to unpack here and there a LOT of variables. Of particular interest is the love for a now defunct golf brand (Nike) ahead of leading brands such as Srixon and Miura. Also, there is a noticeable drop-off from Ping to Cobra and an even greater one from Cobra to Cleveland. When you isolate the data to those with a 0 or better handicap, the results look like this: TaylorMade (9) Titleist (7) Callaway (3) Mizuno (3) Ping (3) Cleveland (2) Miura (1) Nike (1) 10. Do you prefer to mix or match? 19.57% prefer to match your sets while 80.43% don't mind what's in the bag, as long as it works for you. 11. What brand of ball do you primarily play?
Brand
Number who play it
Titleist
462
Whatever I find in my bag or the woods
290
Callaway
249
TaylorMade
211
Srixon
194
Bridgestone
170
Kirkland
121
Vice
119
Snell
79
Wilson
39
Nike
21
Top Flite
19
Oncore
16
Maxfli
13
Inesis
8
Volvik
8
Mizuno
7
Pinnacle
6
Noodle
3
Seed
2
Sugar
2
Slazenger
2
OtheVarious
12
12. Do you think the ball you play has a significant impact on your game? 37.59% of you think it's VERY important 19.40% of you don't think it matters at all 43.01% don't mind, as long as it's a ball by a 'leading' manufacturer 17/20 of BETTER than scratch golfers said that ball choice is critical. The only surprising thing about this is that it wasn't 20/20! The average handicap of players who suggest ball choice is very important is 14.16 (down 3+ whole points from the overall golf average) and if you include the BETTER than scratch handicappers as zero, that falls to 13.85. 13. What is your position on iron covers? 57 of you (2.77%) use iron covers 821 of you (39.97%) of you think these 57 people should be openly mocked 1176 (57.26%) of you think these 57 people should do whatever they like :) 14. Do you drink alcohol while golfing? 17.96% of you don't see any difference between a golf course and an open bar 29.60% of you drink and play some of the time 24.74% of you drink occasionally 27.70% of you never drink while golfing Of the 29 zero or better handicappers among us, 11 never drink on the course and 5 drink most of the time! 15. What is your preferred tee time? 40.55% of you enjoy gettingup at the crack of dawn for an early morning tee time 27.46% of you like a morning slot, but without the early wake-up 14.41% of you would rather play in the afternoon 13.00% of you enjoy finishing the day with twilight golf Just 4.58% of you prefer to tee off at lunchtime 16. What is your preferred way of getting around the course? 45.13% of you prefer driving 32.18% of you are card carrying members of the push cart mafia 22.69% of you mental bastards prefer to walk and carry 17. Are you a member of a club? 71.23% of golf are nomads 23.81% of us are full year members of a club 4.96% of us are members of a club for part of the year 18. Have you ever had a hole-in-one? 10.18% of you have an ace to your name 89.82% of us are still searching for that elusive milestone! 19. Who do you prefer golfing with? 76.53% of us would rather golf with our friends 12.03% most enjoy playing with family 10.37% prefer the solitude of a solo round 1.07% of you most enjoy the company of strangers 20. Hot or cold? 67.53% of you would prefer to play in roasting hot conditions 32.47% would rather play in the freezing cold 21. What is your biggest pet peeve on the course? Here's how you responded to the pre-defined answers:
Peeve
# of you who most hate this
Slow play
1051
Lack of course care
214
People who hit up on you
204
'Put me down for bogey' guy
147
People who litter
145
Bluetooth speakers
111
Unsolicited advice
93
And here are some of the best 'write in' answers!
All of the above in equal parts (this was a popular response!)
The 6-foot gimme guy
Drunk golfers (refer to question 14)
Finding out the greens have been cored
The 10 practice swings before a duff guy
Snobbery
Rule sticklers
This is technically littering, but cigarette butts and sunflower seeds
Starters who don't properly manage their time sheets
Angry players who swear, throw clubs etc.
22. What do you consider to be the best part of your game? 34.95% of you are best with an iron in your hands 31.44% of you are magicians around the green with a wedge 16.84% of you feel most at home on the greens 16.77% of you love to step on to the tee with the big dog 23. What do you consider to be the worst part of your game? 45.62% of you aren't confident with driver in hand 20.25% of you least like putting 18.55% don't strike irons well compared to the rest of your game 15.58% of you are most uncomfortable with a wedge 24. Assuming you had not achieved either, would you rather... 68.01% of you would rather play a whole round to par or better 31.99% of you would prefer to write a "1" on your score card 25. Which shot produces the most pleasure for you? An utterly PURE mid/long iron right out of the sweet spot (40.12%) Ripping a booming drive down the middle of the fairway (30.62%) Reading the break and hitting the ideal weight on a putt (11.74%) A pin-point chip/pitch to tap-in range (9.54%) Crushing a wood off the deck (4.67%) Splashing out of the sand to a few inches from the cup (2.58%) A perfectly judged bump & run (0.73%) So that's all of the questions with pre-defined answers, which was much easier for me to dissect than the qualitative answers to come! With upward of 2000 responses, I can't depict every answer, so have done my best to group them and provide some outlying humour and interesting responses. 26. Who are you picking to drain a 20-foot breaking putt to save your life? By far the most popular response was "Tiger" or a variation of it (including "2000 Sunday Tiger" or "Young Tiger" or simply just an emoji and there are so many variations of TW, Eldrick, El Tigre etc. that I am not going to tally them up - just trust me on this, he is far and away the top choice!) A lot of you would back yourself for the putt. Some because you legitimately think you will make it, others because they will feel more motivated than anyone on earth while others wouldn't consider burdening another person with that responsibility! So here's the list I've generated with everyone who had 5 or more mentions.
Tiger Woods (714) - not including the aforementioned variations of his name, so I suspect that more than half of you will have chosen TW in some way, shape or form
Myself (139)
Jordan Spieth (121)
Jack Nicklaus (83)
Phil Mickelson (82)
Dustin Johnson (76)
Rickie Fowler (62)
Justin Thomas (58)
Jason Day (49)
Kevin Kisner (31)
Bryson DeChambeau (26)
Colin Morikawa (20)
Brad Faxon (18)
Kevin Na (17) - and two said "just so he can walk it in"
Steve Stricker (16)
Rory McIlroy (15)
My dad (13)
Dennis McCarthy (12)
Anyone but myself (11)
Happy Gilmore (11)...uh oh, Happy learned how to putt!
Jesus (11)
Ben Crenshaw (10)
Brandt Snedeker (9)
Webb Simpson (9)
Matt Kuchar (8)
Ian Poulter (8)
Brooks Koepka (6)
Arnold Palmer (6)
Tommy Fleetwood (6)
Jim Furyk (6)
Jon Rahm (5) - would have been a lot more after last weekend!
Patrick Reed (5)
A special shout out to....
The 6 people who would choose my mom (clearly good putting is not hereditary)
The 3 people who said "The Club Pro Guy"
The 2 people who said Michael Phelps
The 2 who said Batman
The 1 cool cat who said Carole Baskin
The 1 who nominated Rick Shiels because he "prefers some risk"
And the wise guy who said "a robot designed for putting" (see: 2000 Tiger)
27. If you could change one rule in golf, what would it be? Another one where I made it pretty difficult to analyse and display the results! But here are a few of the top answers (in what I interpret as order of popularity), and please feel free to access the results yourself if you want to sort through them all.
Lost ball to become a drop at nearest point of relief for a one-shot penalty instead of reloading for three
All hazards/OOB to be red stakes for consistency
Be permitted to ground your club in a bunker
Relax dress codes (including allowing tour players to wear shorts)
"Gallery Balls" whereby amateurs receive a free drop for a 'lost' ball that is definitely in play
All players should receive relief from fairway divots
Any drop/penalty should just be one stroke (a LOT of you think all OB should be treated as a lateral hazard)
A certain number of mulligans per round (most said one, but some of you want up to 3 per nine!)
Actual enforcement of penalties for slow play and/or a shot clock
Be permitted to lift, clean and place on all fairways
Free relief for things like ree roots, fences etc.
Drop height... some of you want it lower (ankle) and some of you want it back to the waist!
Change number of clubs permitted in bag (interestingly, half of those who suggested this want fewer and the other half want more - there doesn't seem to be a universal consensus)
That inconsequential and accidental touches of the ball or sand should not result in a penalty
Allow rangefinders/slope in competitive play
Preferred lies within one club-length no nearer the hole on all grass and bunker sand
Flagsticks should remain in the cup 100% of the time
Overturn the ban on anchoring
Slightly bigger cups
Stymies should be permitted
While sorting through these responses, it became apparent just how difficult it is to please all golfers. On one line, someone says "Collared shirts compulsory" and on the next, someone says "Collared shirts optional!" And finally, this one tickled me... "If you are not on the green and can run to your ball and play another shot within 5 seconds, the first one shouldn't count!" 28. What is your hottest/most controversial golf take? Another one that's impossible to really depict succinctly, so here are some interesting responses, copied and pasted exactly as you wrote them!
(most) old people ruin the game (gatekeeping & arrogance towards younger generation)
"Annoying fans" are necessary to grow the sport
18 holes per game is too many
70% of people should be playing from the red tees. Move forward
Alcohol should be banned on the course
Alignment lines on balls should be banned
All private clubs should have a public day
Amateur golfers on YouTube do more for attracting new people to the sport than pros on TV
Augusta as a course/club is overhyped. If it wasn't for the exclusivity and the masters itself, it would be considered an average course
Bad golfers should be relegated to non-ideal tee times
Blades make you a better golfer because you can feel where your misses are on the face
Breaking 80 isn’t impressive if it’s not from the tips
Brooks is more annoying than Bryson
Bryson and brooks are likable, talented guys
Bryson and Patrick reed are good for the game (several dozen more Bryson takes!)
Carts should only be used by people with mobility issues
Corn Ferry far superior to European tour
Dress codes are stupid
European Tour is more difficult than the PGA Tour
Everyone cheats, somehow or some way
Fairway shots are most times harder than shots out of the rough on low quality courses
Fedex Cup should be match play
Fitting is the biggest scam going. It is a sales tool and nothing more.
Getting married ruins the promising careers of young pga pros (see Jordan, tiger, rory, rickie, DJ)
Gimmes are acceptable and should be reasonable encouraged in social (non-competitive) play
Gimmes suck and hurt your game
Glove should not be removed during putting
Golf courses are a waste of resources and land
Golf decorum means something and isn't designed to be purely elitist
golf fans are the worst fans of any sport
Golf isn’t fun to watch just to play
Handicapping is a participation trophy for bad players
Hazards should not be raked, they are hazards
Hitting Fairway Woods off the deck is far easier than off the tee
Hole in one's aren't that special
I don't like Phil Mickelson
I don't really mind slow play
I don't think you should mark your ball on the putting green for the other golfers. Putt around other balls.
I love golf but hate golfers
I'd be on tour if I was given 1 year to train, a new fitted set of clubs, and had no obligations to anything outside of golf (this respondent is a scratch player)
I'd like to see a tournament with separate tees: womens/champions/PGA, all competing for the same $/trophy
I'd rather hit a great drive and double bogey than dink my iron a few times and par
If Bryson was black people would focus on the fact that he is changing the game and advancing it rather than focusing on his minor blunders he has had and blowing them out of proportion.
If you can’t shoot under 100, you have no business being on a regulation/championship 18 hole golf course
Instead of rolling back the ball, ban the use of tees
Iron covers aren’t terrible
Irons should be labeled with loft not numbers
Leaving the pin in to putt is better than taking it out
Men can learn way more from watching the LPGA than the PGA Tour
Mulligans are stupid and you cheat yourself out of an actual score
Music being played from the cart should not be distracting during a random weekend tee time. We aren’t on tour.
No discount should be given if the greens are aerated
No one should take more than one practice swing. Just get up and hit the ball.
Nobody wants to see pros play ridiculously tough courses where the winner is -1.
Older men at golf courses prove millennial aren't the entitled generation, its the 50 to 60 old dude who is
Pace of play is less of an issue than people make it out to be in the amateur game
PGA tour broadcast juices yardages for casual fans
Players on the tour aren’t too long, it’s cool to see what they can do with the same equipment as us
Playing forward by a set of tees doesn't make you less of a man
Playing more rounds will help you improve scores faster than range sessions. Rounds are what get scored, not repeated hits off turf.
Practice swings don't work and are generally pointless
Prime tiger wouldn’t go on that run he had today against this new talent
Pro Golfers should be able to play through noise and heckling
Pro V1s are overrated and mainly used by people for placebo
Pros are playing for millions of dollars they are allowed to be entitled and whine
Pros should carry their own bags
Putters over $100 are a waste of money
Rowdy fans are alright
Ryder Cup is better than any major
Scottys are not overpriced
Scrambles are a horrible way to play golf
Shafts don't matter for most golfers
Solo golfers do not have the right of way as long as the group ahead is meeting course pace of play
Stepping on someone's putting line makes no difference
Take the driver out of the bag. You’ll shoot better.
Tee boxes based on handicap not age/gender
The British Open is more prestigious than the Masters
The top 20 LPGA players could make bank on the men's tour if they could tee off from 100 yards ahead
The US Open is a better tournament than the Masters
There are like 5 people on the subreddit qualified to give swing advice
Tiger doesn't care to win again
Unless you are a 10 handicap or better, the ball you play does not matter
US Open should only be played at public golf courses
Waiting for the group in front of you is not hard or annoying
Womens golf is more entertaining to watch
Yelling fore does nothing. You’re on a course be aware of your surroundings.
You should have to have a license to play golf. Nothing crazy just take an online class that would go over basic rules and etiquette.
29. What is the best golf course you have ever played? Have aggregated the most popular answers to the best of my ability, capped at 6+ responses.
Pebble Beach (17)
Chambers Bay (16)
Half-Moon Bay (15)
Torrey Pines (13)
Whistling Straits (12)
TPC Scottsdale (11)
Bethpage Black (10)
Arcadia Bluffs (9)
Wolf Creek (9)
Tobacco Road (8)
Sypglass (8)
Pinehurst #2 (7)
Pasatiempo (6)
TPC Sawgrass (6)
30. What is your bucket list course that you are yet to play? Again, a lot of variations here which made it tough for me to sort the data, but have done my best to sample a Top 10. I was very surprised to see Augusta behind St Andrews and so far behind Pebble but I suppose people subconsciously don't vote for courses they have no legitimate way of ever playing. I'd be interested to see these results if I re-phrased the question to "You have a free, no questions asked tee time anywhere in the world, name your club..."
Pebble Beach (433)
St Andrews (200)
Augusta (193)
Bandon Dunes (119)
Pinehurst #2 (61)
TPC Sawgrass (49)
Bethpage Black (35)
Torrey Pines (22)
Whistling Straits (22)
Wolf Creek (21)
31. What is the ONE thing golf administrators ought to do to encourage more people (particularly young people) to play the sport? This was a genuinely encouraging list of 2000+ results to read though. We often read about the 'doom & gloom' aspects of the future of our sport, but there is a vibrant and dedicated golf community out there thinking of ways to perpetuate interest in the sport and keep the flame lit for the next generation. Again, here's a sampling of what I would consider to be the most popular responses.
Make the game less cost prohibitive (this is a big one - everything from clubs to green fees to beers)
Open 'masterclasses' or free clinics from pros at ranges and local clubs (another big one)
Shorter courses (9 or 12 hole)
Heavily discounted beers for 18+ players
More facilities like Top Golf
A greater focus on 9-hole game, tee times, handicap structure etc.
All clubs should have a dedicated youth program
Allow interest free payment plans for things like memberships, clubs etc.
Alter rules to make it less elite/proper ie. mulligans, preferred lies etc.
Allow kids (U15) to play free (and rent clubs free), or at heavily reduced rates
Alternate course routing that allows you to come off whenever you like, not necessarily play 18
Kids play free with a paying adult (ensuring pace of play is maintained)
Relax the dress code and 'traditional' golf culture ie. be far less elitist
Twilight 9-hole beer leagues, aimed at young professionals looking for something to do after work
Carving out tee time blocks for 'beginners' so they don't feel pressured
Similarly, these blocks might be "free for all" in terms of attire, etiquette etc. so if a 14-year-old shows up in a hoodie, carrying 18 clubs and wants to have two mulligans from every tee, it's completely fine!
Introduce golf to public schools through gym/PE classes
More tech in carts and ability to connect bluetooth (with limited volume)
Change the nomenclature of "women's" tees to "beginner" or "forward" tees
Close the course one day a month for beginners, with teaching pros on the course and range
Pace of play is important, but if newbies feel intimidated they will never come back
Encourage mini games within a round for kids ie. straightest shot, nearest to pin etc.
Engage with local community/government to identify talented (possibly minority) athletes who would otherwise have no access to golf and get clubs in their hand
Decrease the emphasis on score - make it FUN and about the process, not the end result
More social events BEYOND golf in local clubs to build the golfing community rapport
Improve the professional tour TV and online products
32. What is the best tip, or piece of advice you have ever received that's improved your game? This one is just too crazy to aggregate, so please view all responses (in column AG) here :) But I will list EVERY bit of advice provided by our scratch or better players.
Only hit shots you know you can hit
Just keep playing
Don't think, just do
If you chunk chips, focus on using you left (right handed) hand more than your right
Focus on the next shot
Get a lesson
You're not good enough to get mad
Slow tempo always creates a better shot
Tempo tempo tempo! 90% of my bad swings are rushing at the top and hands getting ahead of my body
Hammer the nail
You don't control the outcome, focus on the process
Bowed left wrist
Being mad is ok, being negative is not
Ask quetions of people who are better than you
Focus on the shot you have now, not the one you just hit
Swing on a plane
Eliminate the double cross
Play your game
Before all else, hit the center of the face
Aim small, miss small
Care less
Slow Down
Learn how to properly manage the course
The only shot that matters is the next
Rotation is the wrong word, you're not supposed to rotate
Relax your grip
Accelerate THROUGH the ball - let the ball simply get in the way of your club head’s swing path
33. If you had the attention of EVERY SINGLE PLAYER in the world for 10 whole seconds, what would you say? Again, too much for me to break down, so you can see all responses here in column AH, but here are some of my favorites and some of the more popular ones!
Fix your ball mark
Hurry the fuck up
One practice swing is enough
Leave the flag in
Pick up your fucking trash
Have more fun on the course - it's a game after all
Enjoy this game while we can - it's truly a privilege
Accommodate the new as when you are gone, they are all that are left to carry the game
Grip it and rip it
Focus on contact before power
Sam Snead's win record is B.S.
Thank you for making me feel like I'm not the only person obsessed with this game
If you love golf, take new people golfing
Be considerate to players of all skill levels and work to grow the game not alienate newcomers
Keep your tempo up through the chip shot
Yelling "FORE" could save someone's life (including tour players)
FORE RIGHT
Your ego doesn't exist, let it go
Don't be a dick, treat the game/courses right, and if you're going to suck, suck at a faster pace
There's always someone worse than you
You don't practice enough to get that mad
You aren’t as good as you think and that's okay
Go get fitted, it will pay for itself many times over in the long run
Be ready to hit your shot before it's your turn
You hit the ball 15 yards shorter than you think you do
At your best as a pro, you’ll never be half as good as Tiger's peak
Mashed potatoes
It's our job to grow the game.
Baba booey
Jim Nantz, please come do the color commentary for one my rounds
Take some damn lessons and stop buying $500 drivers
Stop giving yourself gimmies, put the ball in the hole
Smell the roses, enjoy the views
Golf is hard
All of you sandbaggers are going to hell
Hurry the fuck up, and stop spending a minute perfectly adjusting the line on that 15 footer for bogey
It's our job to grow the game
ONE FUCKING PRACTICE SWING
Thanks again for your input! I might edit this later with some more findings, but that's enough for now!
The number 369 is a key number for which I have kept an eye out since the beginning of my gematria study. Many people are familiar with the Nikola Tesla quote:
"If only you knew the magnificence of the numbers 3, 6 and 9, you would have a key to the universe"
There are entire branches of perhaps dubious 'alternative mathematics' investigating conceptualizations surrounding these numbers (re. 'Vortex mathematics' etc.). I've not delved too deeply into these, and simply take 3,6 and 9 (and thus 369 ) as a 'cultural touchstone' - starting points from which to begin an investigation ( just as we might take 911, or 42, or 666, for example - which are numbers I treat as given to us as gateways into the labyrinth; pop-culture keys that might lead us to the Holy Grail, for all we know...). Again:
"If only you knew the magnificence of the numbers 3, 6 and 9, you would have a key to the universe"
What are the odds then, that in the prime number cipher (which I deem to be perhaps primary, in the English schema), we have:
"Humanity" = 369 primes
Hu.man Mighty.man
"The Mighty" = 369 primes
... and not forgetting the system of mnemonics that may encode that Humanity (ostensibly 'created in the image of god'):
"The Alphabet Code" = 369 primes
However, this article not about 369, but about the number just beneath it, 368.
"New Normal" = 368 primes
You might ask, are we being degraded, or is this a countdown? In this context of 369 as 'humanity', is it a 'good' or 'bad' thing to descend numerically? Do we get 'closer to god' by going towards infinity, or instead, towards the Monad, 1? Either way...
"Humanity" = 369 primes
.... "New Normal" = 368 primes
I definitely see an aspect of mockery here - in one sense, the people of the world are being corralled like beasts. Some might choose to view this degradation as representative of a necessary stage in an initiation ritual (ie. 'break them down to build them up').
... .. .. . [ "The Medical Mask" = 368 primes ] [ "A Social Distance" = 1,911 squares ]
And all the above, ostensibly, with the goal of the...
"illuminated" = 368 primes
... .. initiate ascending into the order of the ...
"Secret Circle" = 368 primes
... .. and join with those privy to an occult...
"Universe" = 368 primes
So, in the above, the notion of degradation is one perspective, but not necessarily the totality of the situation. Via the de-facto standard numerological Rule of Colel (aka. the off-by-one rule), we might view the numbers 368 and 369 as quantum-entangled (being adjacent in the number line), this rule enabling a semantic leeway for those that we hypothesize have hand-constructed many orthodox spellings. From a Biblical perspective, all of the animals went onto the archive two-by-two, and this I read as potentially cluing us in as to how concepts might be encoded in the archive that is the hypothetical gematria-based language lexicon. We might wonder if the number line (say, from 1 to 1000 and then repeating), has been used as a huge bookshelf, with sequentially numbered shelves or cabinets into which are placed thematic or archetypal domains, based on some logic as yet unknown to us. Perhaps indeed 369 represents the concept of the totality of 'humanity'. It is a nice number, with each of it's digits being spaced three apart, and being multiples of three. It is a number strongly reflecting the trinity, the faceted nature of the geometry of the triangle, and esoterically might be linked to the 'holy family' of father, mother, child - which we might argue is the the foundational religious prototype for society and civilization. Three things is also a threesome... and that too takes us to Brave New Worlds.
"If only you knew the magnificence of the numbers 3, 6 and 9, you would have a key to the universe"
The Monad is One ( ie. Neo ), who completes the World.
For the Imperial Beginner The ultimate purpose of this post reflects the above. This is a meandering discussion about - and list of ways that one might begin to approach - gematria studies. It is a tutorial for total noobs (ie. beginning summers seeking mathematic boons) that require a starter-set of lenses through which to read the spells of the world. This is a shop of free sunglasses: filters to overlay upon the matrix code. Ultimately, I will simply list a set of presumptions one might make about intent, when examining the numeric spectrum of alphabetic constructions.
"Open the Door" = "Imperial Beginner" = 1981 squares
... which is why the world is currently beset by a pox. Lenses and Prisms. Described as simply as possible, gematria is the esoteric art of presuming that numeric values are associated with letters in the alphabet and that words thus encode numeric totals. Based on this foundation, the numeric values of spells are compared with other spells, and if two spells share a numeric value (or perhaps more than one value, if multiple ciphers are in use) then some sort of relationship is perhaps implied between them (beyond any obvious connection we might make without regards to numbers). Who is responsible for setting these associations up in the first place is open for debate, presuming evidence can be shown - in whatever form - for what appear to be intentional relationships. If I show you two words...
Sun, Hot
... or...
Rain, Wet
... few would deny an obvious relationship exists, and that these associations might be shared, in some form or other, by other people. We might say these concepts are somehow bound to eachother upon the Web of Wyrd. Semantics (ie. meaning) is of course a fluid thing (...or if it is not, then it appears to be so - due to the human inability to transfer emotions, thoughts and conceptualizations directly, mind-to-mind and perfectly). Either way, in the same way 'Water' is 'Wet', and 'Light' has a large chance of implying 'Heat', we might associate a numerical value (analogous to a frequency, or a frequency spectrum) with every spell, and find that perhaps, some work has been undertaken to connectcertain notions to others - in an occult form - within the dictionary, The Mind Map: I mostly view the study of gematria as a scientific investigation into a crystal gem that contains a freeze-frame of a mind. Before you can read the Holy Book of your society-maintaining Faith, you must understand the meaning of the words. Thus the Dictionary is the core grimoire of any speaking and writing civilization. The Dictionary is a mind-map of ideas. It is a list of names (spells) that invoke a specific thing, idea, or action, or relationship, which we can string together to build messages to others. I believe more strongly every day that the formalization of the spellings of languages have been opportunities taken - to encode a set of sub-channel semantic associations between words, and also that, regardless of this hypothesized intervention or lack thereof, that there are people that observe these relationships for their own reasons.
"Crafted News" = "World of Lies" = 1234 jewish-latin-agrippa
... which you might view as mocking misdirection - an overlay and veil that occults..
"Great Knowledge" = "What is in a name?" = 1234 jewish-latin-agrippa
.... ( "The Spells of Eden" = 1234 trigonal )
... .. ( "Code of Culture" = 1234 trigonal )
... .. ( "Culture of Code" = 1234 trigonal )
Or you might read the above as representative of the fact that there is no objective truth (but that nonetheless perhaps, some seeding of constructed 'catch-phrases' has occurred, leaving intriguing false trails). Nonetheless, as I wrote in a recent post, in a World of Lies there is only Fiat Truth, and many might go with the flow that it presents and provides. What is the Canon of those running a World of Lies? From whence the rules?
"What rules?" = 1234 english-extended
There may indeed exist cults operating under the presumption that gematria-based divination is actually a form of interacting with God, and ritually obey the prescription of the Logos within the Dictionary. For all we know, they could be right (write? rite?)
"According to the Code" = 1234 trigonal
... .. ( "Culture of Code" = 1234 trigonal )
... .. .. ( "My Call of Duty" = 1234 jewish-latin-agrippa )
ie. Walk the path. Climb the stairs. Ascend the mountain. Know that you must descend again to attain the One. I have linked to this clip... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTF2Mqr5i9c ... multiple times in recent months, and what I imply by doing so, is that Superman (the next generation being initiated) is conducting an inquiry and discussion with a technological 'mind map' of his father, Jor El (noting 'El' means 'deity'). I read this scene as a fanciful interpretation of Clarke Kent working on Kabbalistic interpretation of the Monolith of Language, the Logos of his 'Father' (be it God, or an Ancestor). He is playing with spells, like I do all day here. Superman's flight represents a mental leap. Liquid thought. Yet he is a man of steel, he is irrefutable. Numbers do not lie. Superman does not exist. Neither do numbers. Yet Superman and numbers can teach us things. They are abstractions, myths, that have practical use. Gematria as a gem ( a holographic data-store ): Each new spell (ie. word or phrase) is a newly-shaped prism through which to examine an hypothesized white light of Truth found in the Black Box (which are Black Books... that is, Occult Books) Each spell reflects some aspect of the contents of Pandora's box, and viewing the contents through the lenses of different spells, trying to formulate the shape, meaning and intent of the Thing inside, might be viewed as a form of gem-cutting. We slice and dice through the crystal matrix to figure out the abstract information-containing geometry within. Gematria as a mind-model ( a semantic map of 'consciousness' ): If you managed to petrify a human brain in such a way that the semantic associations, or mental mind map of the consciousness within could be captured, and the result be analyzed or interrogated as fixed mathematical functions (perhaps by pulsing light beams through it's core, and examining the fractured and splintered light reflected through it's crystal folds), then you have one of the ways I approach gematria study. A mind-gem, as it appears in much mythology (look up the headstone of the python, in African myth, or the gem of lucifer, the Emerald tablets, etc. etc.)
"The Splintering of the Tongues" = 1234 jewish-latin-agrippa
... ( "The Tower of Babylon" = 666 primes )
In the sci-fi movie Arrival about the study of an alien language, we are told that the language is geometric and "without time". This might be hint as to the nature of tense within the hypothetical mind map. The structure is frozen, and unchanging. It is no longer evolving (excluding new slang terminology being injected into modern parlance). Thus we might find the correct decoding procedures by using only infinitive forms (ie. "to run" rather than "run" on it's own). We might find, for example, that the numeric cipher results of past tense form of words are irrelevant. Queries and Statements: Presuming a mind-gem exists in the alphabet-and-lexicon system, an archive containing... something - the question arises - how to query the system?. How do we ask it things? Or does it simply tell us things? Single words and their numeric frequency spectrums compared against other words might reveal 'geometric planes' of meaning that may be extracted (see Semantic Field) (*) To begin with a new system, with no map or instructions to the system, we might just ask it to ...
'begin'
... or, to do so at the....
'beginning'
... which might be to ask a gematria calculator to return all the words in the lexicon (via dictionary files, or custom, hand-entered lists of spells) that closely match the above triggering spells. Example, see: /GeometersOfHistory/wiki/spellcomponents/beginning We note that the Hebrew word for 'Beginning' sums to 911. See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrB6V6Ba14Y It could be that those topics or knowledge domains that are core to the system will be numerically keyed to match spells that act as 'passwords', such as "begin", or "show me" or "abracadabra", and thus be immediately provided by such as query. The resulting listings being further course markers along the way into the great web of wyrd. Alternatively, perhaps there are formal mechanisms that have been built in to enable a form of question and answer capability. A made up example - in searching for such mechanisms, it would be interesting if a question spell like:
"what is 'sad'?"
... ended up sharing numbers with
"depression"
... or...
"melancholy"
There is the problem in English, that without the 'question mark' (?) there is sometimes ambiguity as to whether a spell is indeed a question.
"Are you happy?" = "You are happy" ( ie. these are totally equivalent, numerically )
In order to communicate with an 'alien', you have to first build up a shared lexicon. See Arrival If there is indeed a formal Q&A mechanism built into the gematria system, then that implies a certain grammatical form might be required (such as, for example, prefixing your query topic with "tell me [XYZ]", etc.), or the use of other orthodox, but as yet unknown, spell augmentations Otherwise, this ambiguity surrounding queries is actually a particular clue as to how to think about the system as a whole in the first place: how exactly is 'information' to be extracted from this apparently free-form, yet intriguingly-connected semantic network? Imagine that the lexicon archive is an instruction set for Adam and Eve, new and naive humans in the Garden of Eden (or perhaps an instruction set for the Gods, that they were not meant to mess with). What if the system is 'reflective' in the following sense: what if the following is the mechanism of query (making use of the discovery of shared gematria values, and thus implied relationships being extracted). We might wonder how many names of foods or food ingredients appear with matching numerology to the word...
'eaten'
... or perhaps...
'it is eaten'
If we calculate...
'my drink'
... we see that it sums to 303 in primes, which matches...
'the language'.
... as well as (for interest sake, in terms of metaphorical application)...
'virus' ( and 'the viral' )
We also know that "magic" and "name" sum to 33 in the basic alphabetic cipher, and the dictionary of a language is made of nought but spelled-out names for things. We might then - given the hunt for 'my drink' in the Garden of Eden, and for the purposes of experimentation - work with the assumption that the entirety of the alphabet lexicon contains one primary overarching kernel of knowledge that leads the practitioner to the waters of Fountain of Youth, aka. the Elixir of Life - the Soma of the Gods. We then find and examine other spells that sum to 303 (or permutations of that number) in key ciphers, and ponder how these associations might lead us closer to the center of the Labyrinth. We might try other forms of 'query spell', such as:
'my drink is'
... which is the same as...
'is my drink'
The above has the value 393 in primes, which matches 'survive'. Of course you have to drink at least water to survive. We see also that "accountancy" sums to 393 in the same prime number cipher, while "count" sums to 393 in the jewish-latin-agrippa cipher. This connects the notion of the 'drink', with 'the language', and also 'counting' (and survival), and since we are examining the notion of a 'numeric language', the latter two, combined, strengthen the possibility that the 'numeric language' might point us to 'the drink' (and who knows what else) for whomever the alphabet lexicon was originally designed for - mankind or otherwise. There is also the obvious implication that "Accountancy" (393) is a wise profession to take up, if you want to "Survive" (393), and that you have to be able to perform an "Accurate" (393) "Count" (393) if you want to succeed at "Accountancy" (393). The crystal ball that is the alphabet code might well contain heady secrets - though it might just be a collection of simple common sense.
"Speed" = "A Risk" = 22 in reduction
...and the number 22 is known in basic numerology as the 'master builder number'.
"Patience" = 223 jewish-latin-agrippa
.. ( "The Law" = 223 primes )
... so says the "Preacher" = 223 primes Where does the Preacher hold his sermons?
"Preacher" = 242 jewish-latin-agrippa
... "The Garden" = 242 primes
The above series of extractions and calculation can be seen as crawling along certain branches of the tree of words - navigating the interrelations across the web of wyrd - jumping from one semantic field to the others via association of meaning. The ease with which this can be done depends on the level of intentional design of alphabetic archive, but also on the ability of a person to conceive of these mental linkages. ... We've looked at simple word association, and query mechanisms... ... So what about statements? Might be there an anthropomorphism involved here? Is the Logos archive an 'I am'? What is the 'identity' of the system? ...And in a potentially timeless/tenseless language, is there nonetheless a calendar to be observed (even if only ritually)? When I reveal to you that, in the square number cipher, we have:
"I am the Eschaton" = 2021 squares
... or if we enable a contraction (ie. a Bene Gesserit 'Shortening of the Way'), we have this very year:
"I'm the Eschaton" = 2020 squares
The word 'Eschaton' means 'End of the World', or the 'End of Time'. The Apocalypse, which means, the 'Unveiling'. The 'Revelation'. If one views the gematria crystal as a copy of the mind of God, then here perhaps you have a statement, straight from the horses mouth, that (if God goes by the Gregorian Calendar) we might be living in interesting times.
Certainly, even if the gematria crystal is not the mind of God, or some priestly faction's idea of such things, then there might be those that ritually decide, based on gematria-as-Canon, to make 2020 AD(d) into some sort of Apocalypse... even if that simply means publishing a new artwork during the current year (perhaps having a theme to do with eyes or sunglasses, or binoculars). Regardless, my point being we do not necessarily know off-hand the correct way to 'query the system', so to speak. In terms of infinitive forms, that fact that....
... is telling. ie. 'to know' appears, perhaps as a signpost, informing us that using the infinitive form of the verb might provide 'truer' values of the semantic of 'knowledge'. I derive the importance of 322 from many things, but primarily it's the notion that 'counting' is the core of the entire enterprise of gematria. We are counting up the letters. We might be counting the fates of mankind, for all we know. Mathematics and Geometry are perhaps self-reflectively given tribute within the mathematical and geometric structure of the gem of words. One of my key presumptions about the alphabet code is that the core concepts at play in the implementation act as keys to the system, providing us numbers to begin with. So... "Writings" = 2021 squares Most people will only see the Revelation next year. You are an early bird (that is, bard). ie. the instruments of writing: the pen, the quill, the ink, the paper, the parchment, the papyrus, the letter, the number, the word. These are all perhaps to be seen as key spells. Gateways to the paths of the monolith. Ultimately, it's just a presumption of mine, but I think a strong case can be made for it.
"Writings" = "Elixir of Life" = 388 primes
... which sounds promising. Tempting, you might say. We might say, that given the ever-elusive Elixir of Life - the very Food of the Gods - is tied numerically to 'Writings', and so too, to the number 388, that the concepts are intriguingly tied (via prime numbers, no less) and that perhaps the number 388 is worth keeping an eye out for. Oh, look!
It looks like this is going to be fun. What is it? What might the totality of a gematria-based lexicon represent? The following represent various ways the hypothetical knowledge to be found within gematria has been viewed or described by myself and others. Opinions about what sort of Ultimate Truth might be found within - and also how it might be used by practitioners - lie on a wide spectrum. It could be (from grandest notions to least, descending):
The true expression of the Logos, an encoded form of the mind of God ( 'I create as I speak' ), that we might poetically view as a 'crystal ball' or headstone gem.
A corrupted, broken down version of the above - a cracked gem of divine origin, perhaps with some interesting forbidden secrets still discoverable, but containing misleading flaws and misalignment, and thus false reflections. It might contain intentionally man-made intrusions, for good or for ill.
A work of the devil, a great deception, corruption and inversion of the above divine Logos. A gateway to hell.
The magum opus of a great sage or sect of sages. A slowly-crafted handiwork, containing a numerically-indexed library of semantic association, perhaps with a different set of beliefs and intentions underlying the on-the-face lexicon. Perhaps it is an attempt to emulate God, by creating a world with words.
Some sort of man-made archive of knowledge, partial and biased with regards to topic and themes. A dewey decimal system for concepts and ideas.
Words are the Weapons of the Mage (leave the melee and armed combat to the cretins. Magic is the ability to effect change in the world. Words command others). Alphabet and lexicon as instrument of control and empire. Shared lexicon, shared mindset.
A system of mnemonics, focused on certain core knowledge domains (perhaps to do with agriculture, or timekeeping, or some other foundational technologies and cultural keystones of civilization). Ways to remember the key activities during certain seasons, or to record the mechanism for calculating the times of eclipses.
Some few key words have been designed or constructed by authorities, paying tribute to some key notion or other, perhaps memorial, or political, but these are scattered injections into a random evolved structure with no inherent meaning.
A tool for overcoming writers block (if you are writing a Halloween story, see here).
Enough intentionally-crafted connections exist to create false trails that lead nowhere. ie. Gematria is a tool of distraction and time-wasting.
All of language (as well as the encoded numeric schema) is a gigantic sex joke. Biological wordplay (I put much stock in this thesis myself, actually, which is not to say it cannot simultaneously contain acknowledgments of important practical realities).
It's all a bunch of coincidences and stretching of metaphors.
Certain concepts might act as literary metaphors for the totality of the occult matrix code of gematria, or that which is to be found within it, as it's vessel:
The Matrix code itself (ie. that from The Matrix movies)
In the purview of archetypal institutionalized wizardry, the role of the wizard (or druid, or sage, or priest) is that of a Mentor, a Guide, a Healer, a Sage, an Historian, an Advisor to Kings and perhaps Elector of them. They are Craftsmen of Belief, designers and architects of Religions. Founders and Maintainers of Societal order. The wizard is generally not active in a 'martial' sense, but may act as a Military strategist and intelligence agent, and craftsman of illusions and deceptions. The wizard is foremost, associated with Magic - that is, effecting change in the world through the medium of Spells. In my mind, that means that in today's apparently-not-very-magical world, the Real Magic is spelling. The real magic is injecting words into minds. Given that, there can be no greater magic than calculated spelling. And this possibility of perspective is one reason I feel confident that numeric integration (ie. gematria) is present in the lexicon our modern languages, paying tribute to an old legacy of alphanumeric encoding. Peruse an old Bible Concordance, with an eye to the mindset of the people that felt obliged to create it. Those people were meticulous tabulators... and they got up to other occult tricks too, I bet. Given mankind's visible predilection and fetishism for the esoteric, for mystery, and for domination, and the vast variety of pursuits that our species has endeavoured upon, I argue that it is more likely that at least some intentional spell-construction (ie. enciphering) has occurred in the languages of the world, as opposed to having never occurred. And moreover, those languages of which we are loudly assured no such things could have occurred - having no legacy of such practices - are perhaps the most suspect. Why do we have such canon catch-phrases as:
This guy did the math.
Anagrams and Swizzling wordplays Examine words for evidence of anagrams being a construction tactic, as well as slight consonant and vowel shifts being used to derive related spells:
word - worð - worth
ie. ponder this in terms of your worth being how true you are to your word. The word 'worth' is the word 'throw' backwards, since 'th' can be viewed as a cryptic covering of the single letter, ð, and thus 'th' might remain in it's original order as a particle, even though the rest of the letters get reversed.
worth - worð .. @ .. ðrow -- throw
Common sense: If it is of worth, do not throw it away. If you are in the guild of the spear-hunters of your tribe, your worth is your throw. Consonantal roots:
worth - WRT - (w)RT - RT - root (by) rote writ(e) worth - WRT ( .. with regards to / with respect to ) worth WRT write - rite - right ( ritualized correction )
"Correct" = 321 jewish-latin-agrippa
.. "Society" = 321 primes
"Correct" = 321 jewish-latin-agrippa
.. .. "In the Beginning" = 321 jewish-latin-agrippa
.
"Correct" = 321 jewish-latin-agrippa
... ( "The ABC" = 123 reverse alphabetic )
WORK IN PROGRESSION. TODO:
metaphor and allegory (which topics are 'foundational', and which are abstract veils?)
basic numerology (without alphabetic context)
numeric deities ( eg. three: 3, 'trilogy', 'trinity', 'three-headed dragon', 'god with three names' )
mathematical properties and relationships anthropomorphized
consonantal roots and drift. Vowel shift ( transforming/translating words)
oh my god; omg. The extended version of OMG (oh my god/gosh/goodness).But, you may be asking, doesn't extending an acronym in text talk defeat its purpose? Yes, yes it does. Jefe: I have put many beautiful piñatas in the storeroom, each of them filled with little surprises. El Guapo: Many piñatas? Jefe: Oh yes, many! El Guapo: Would you say I have a plethora of piñatas? Jefe: A what? El Guapo: A plethora. Jefe: Oh yes, you have a plethora. El Guapo: Jefe, what is a plethora? Jefe: Why, El Guapo? El Guapo: Well, you told me I have a plethora. ALLAHU Akbar is an Arabic phrase that has become well known throughout the world. But what does this ancient religious call mean? Here is all you need to know about the Islamic declaration of faith… "Where does the word nutmeg come from?" asks Kevin McDay and others. In previous Knowledges, we've examined several possible answers, including that nutmeg is 1940s cockney rhyming slang for leg ¡Tenía que ser el Chavo del Ocho! (It had to be El Chavo del Ocho!): fíjate! (I'm telling you 4x): is a phrase that Chilindrina uses every time she's gossiping or even to solidify any formulated deceptive phrase. ¡Ay, Chavo, lo que tienes de bruto, lo tienes de bruto! (Oh, Chavo, what you have in stupid, you have in stupid!) : La Chilindrina and Quico (though he rarely does it) tells The term " Elohim " means “supreme one” or “mighty one.” It is not only used of the one true God but is also used on occasion to refer to human rulers, judges, and even angels. If you saw one exhibiting supreme rule and expressed mighty power, the word you would use would be Elohim. The expression is originally nautical, meaning "adrift", as in "el barco iba al garete", but it is usually used to mean "a lo loco" (literally, "like a madman"; with no course). Al revés de los cristianos - Literally, "The reverse way to Christians." Old Spanish expression from the times of the Moorish kings. Equates to the English "Reverse Byzantine" expression, and used to refer to something that does not make sense. The Hebrew phrase mazel tov (also spelled mazal tov, or mazel tof) literally translated means “good luck.” In practice, mazel tov is usually said to mean “Congratulations!” One can expect to hear people shout “mazel tov” at Jewish weddings just after the groom breaks the glass, at brit milah (bris) ceremonies, and at bar/bat mitzvahs. Mazel tov is an appropriate response to any As to the phrase's meaning, to 'rest on your laurels' isn't considered at all a praiseworthy strategy - it suggests a decline into laziness and lack of application. That's not the original meaning. When 'rest on your laurels' or, as it was initially, 'repose on your laurels' was coined it was invariably part of a valedictory speech for some old soldier or retiring official. An early example of (Oh) never mind. Let’s say someone doesn’t understand an idea you’re trying to explain. If you’ve explained it over and over and want to stop, just say “oh, never mind.” You can now talk about something else! You can also use “never mind” to mean “it doesn’t matter” or “just forget it.” In these situations, say it with a smile and positive tone, though. Otherwise
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