enforcer's slimyboy thoughts

ronnie continues to be a stinky boy who doesn't bathe. even when he is going to be on stage that night.

as my mom said when she showed this to me, dana doesn't so much seem to find him funny as in amusing vs. being embarrassed by him.

"dude, why are you filming this, and for the love of god take a shower"

good to know his sense of humor, and of hygiene, have not improved since 2008 ("i don't shower regularly" was one of his groups on myspace; what that was for has been lost to time)

Draconid lore and concepts for Meteor Falls story:

There are four "houses" of Draconids, corresponding to the four main wuxing phases; Earth is the house for the Draconid Lorekeepers and Loremaster. (Lorekeepers being religious officials and archivists and the Loremaster being the Draconid religious and political leader.) Each embodies one of the Draconid ideals and houses are inherited matrilineally. They're also identified with directional winds, given Rayquaza's whole weather motif. Represented by directional dragon kings equivalent to the IRL deities (Chinese, but exported to and also worshipped in Japan), but artistically embodied as Pokemon.

South - Latias

North - Latios

East - Flygon

West - Salamence

Center - Rayquaza, the Dragon Lord itself

Arlo's from the Metal House of the West Wind, which goes great with his canon personality. The Draconid ideal it's associated with is maintaining the harmony of nature and respect for people and Pokemon while embracing progress in technology and society.

"In Chinese Taoism and traditional Chinese medical theory and thought, some attributes of Metal are firmness, rigidity, focus, integrity, and quality. The metal person when excessive is controlling, cutoff and arrogant, set in their ways as metal can become very rigid. They are self-reliant and resilient and prefer to handle their problems alone. The metal person is also intelligent, business-oriented, and good at organization and stability. However, the metal person can also appreciate luxury and enjoy the good things in life. The metal person has strong impulses and generative powers that they can use to change and transform those who come into contact with them, just like metal can conduct electricity. The well-balanced metal person is calm, humble and honest as well as a good person with a focused mind." -- Wikipedia, Metal (wuxing)

Goes great with Arlo's arrogant pseudo-aristocrat and tech guy characterization, and how much he focuses on working alone in canon, right? Incidentally, fire, associated with love, is the element that overcomes metal. Which also allows it to be forged, i.e. changed. (Compare both Candela and Spark.)

While at Meteor Falls trying to learn more about his dragon transformation, the Loremaster guides him on a hallucinogen-fueled exploration of the story of his west wind metal house ancestors (matrilineal, so his female relatives going back throughh the generations) and what each of them did embodying the Metal Dragon. With obvious correlaries to how ultimately, Arlo is doing good re: protecting the welfare of and increasing understanding of how to work with Shadow Pokemon, even if it's by way of Team Rocket.

5 gens back, roughly 150 years before present -- Rayquaza Mulan, already discussed. Crossdressed as a man to join the Hoenn regional army fighting the Sinnohite occupation. Together with the rest of the army, got the Sinnohites out of Hoenn, but was sentenced to execution for fraud after her pregnancy was revealed. Instead of being executed, at least according to legend was transformed by divine intervention into a dragon and left behind an egg on the execution block. The executioner took home the egg, which hatched into a girl with horns and a scaly tail.

4 gens back, roughly 120 years before present -- The ancestor spirit who greets Arlo and takes him on the spiritual journey. She's even dragonier than the legends give her credit for; not only does she have horns and a tail, most of her bottom half is the tail. Her legs are shriveled and vestigial, so she uses a wheelchair because while she can slither, going around with your bottom half being a snake tail (and being fully exposed) isn't acceptable in polite Hoenn society. Hence a wheelchair and really long skirt. (This is mostly taken from the Greek mythical figure of Cecrops, the half-snake founder of Athens.) She lived during Hoenn's industrial revolution, where the soot from coal burning factories was polluting the environment and threatening wild Pokemon. So she went to Devon Corporation to campaign and do research for them to find a better energy source. Even though Devon's first president (male, of course) is credited with discovering Infinity Energy (i.e. animum; the stuff that makes Pokemon abilities and Mega Evolution go), it came from Arlo's ancestor's ancestral knowledge of the stuff from being a Draconid and her personally volunteering her dragoniness for analysis.

3 gens back, roughly 90 years before present -- Will probably be omitted from Arlo's spirit journey, since I am NOT getting into anything remotely close to Japan's role in WWII. The point is to just connect his stuff with Team Rocket to history and give him some respect for his mom. He's still never going to reconcile with her because she was 110% in the wrong for disowning him, but acknowledging that she actually did some pretty good stuff with Silph Co.

2 gens back, roughly 60 years before present (Arlo's grandma, who he's met, but not since being sentient; last time he saw any of the Hoenn folks was his great-grandmother's funeral when he was about 6.) -- Worked for Devon developing the Scanner. This allowed for the first scientific surveys of Pokemon in Hoenn's deep ocean and the implementation of protected zones, including the discovery that Relicanth wasn't actually extinct. (She didn't personally do it, but she developed the tech to make it possible.)

1 gen back (Arlo's mom) -- Left Hoenn to work for Silph Co. in Kanto. Successfully campaigned with her union for Silph employees to get maternity leave and the ability to work from home, which they didn't previously have. She was one of the first employees to work from home over the Internet during the process of forming what would become Arlo in 1997-98.

Point is, Arlo embodies the spirit of the Metal Dragon just as much as his ancestors. Silph Co. and Devon aren't exactly morally squeaky-clean either, but there's still good work to be done there in research and development to embrace progress and technology while respecting and protecting the welfare of people and Pokemon alike.

Dragons, to the Draconids, are all about being auspicious creatures that maintain balance and harmony. (See Rayquaza's whole deal with balancing Groudon and Kyogre when they fight.) As such, doing that and doing things that protect human and Pokemon welfare is an auspicious and dragony thing to do. Everyone is considered to have a personal "dragon spirit" within them which essentially serves as their conscience and gives them an affinity for fields connected with their elemental house. In Arlo's case, technology.

Religiously speaking, physical dragon transformation and being able to channel dragon energy is a sign that you are in the most harmonious place for you, such that your dragon spirit can emerge. And being creatures of harmony and auspiciousness, dragon spirits should be considerate enough to not transform you in a way that would be dangerous, hence giving a worldbuilt answer for why Arlo isn't going to be visibly nonhuman in any way that would show on his sprite and interfere with him doing Team Go Rocket stuff. Despite his mom disowning him and despite him working for Team Rocket, Arlo is in no way betraying his family by being a trans animum tech guy; he's doing exactly what the generations of crusading, gender non-conforming women before him have.

And also, Rayquaza is genderless and Shelgon's whole thing is that it grows wings out of a fervent desire to have them. It's well-accepted that some people's dragon spirits are a different gender than their human vessels appear to be, so transitioning better aligns you with your dragon and reminds your fellows that gender isn't a rigid state either. The five phases, astrologically speaking, aren't "elements"; they're changes. Each of them feeds into one another. Gender transition is just another part of that. (Also, the house of metal is associated with the Bagon evolution line because of Bagon and Shelgon's metallic shells, and I've seen at least one interpretation of Salamence as a trans allegory.)

This of course provides a major contrast with the prevailing religious view of animum courtesy of those damned Sinnohites, who perceive animum as Arceus' sacred energy that it and it alone can control and understand, and messing with it as things man was not meant to know and disrespectful. Whereas Draconids have been naturally harnessing Pokemon's "energy" via Mega Evolution, and have been aware of how the lines between humans and Pokemon can get blurry where animum is involved, since time immemorial, so working with the likes of Silph or Devon to instigate reform and maintain Pokemon welfare isn't seen as a conflict of interest at all.

Shadow Pokemon aura, for Arlo, and for Cipher's Shadow Pokemon, is dysphoria embodied. And the way out of dysphoria is to change. To evolve. What makes a Shadow Pokemon, and what makes a raid boss or Mega Evolution, are the same thing. And that's in turn the same thing as what powers Dragon-type moves and ultimately, turns folks into dragons. Arlo's completed his arc. He's found his place in the Pokemon world and morally, and (save that he'd really like to get bottom surgery) overcome his dysphoria, both of the gender and RSD varieties. And now he's reconciled with his dad in person and with the concept of his mom, even though he's got every right to never want to talk to her again in person.

The swirling energy within him has stabilized and can be channeled. What was dysphoric becomes euphoric. With enough concentration and support from his loved ones, and internal satisfaction, what was his dark Shadow Pokemon aura becomes dragon energy, Infinity Energy.

And such, he comes out of his metallic shell and evolves, or Mega Evolves as the case may be.

House of Metal. House of Salamence. Gojin / Aorun, Dragon King of the West smiles upon him.

Arlo didn't previously canonically have a middle name, and his last name prior to him legally changing his name so he could get married was unknown. But after coming back from Meteor Falls, he has something to take as his middle name, his final incarnation being Arlo Kinzoryu Carmine.

Arlo - canon name; my backstory for it is that he got it from a book of baby names in Orre and liked how it sounded. Not everything is deep and symbolic.

Kinzoryu - combo of Japanese (Romanized) "kinzokyu" (metal) and "ryu" (dragon), which I'm hopefully not completely butchering?

Carmine - a deep, bright red color originally derived from crushed up insect scales. Chosen by Arlo as his pseudonym during his Pokemon journey, evoking both original Kanto Pokemon Master and Arlo's gender inspiration Red and his affinity for bugs and reptiles.

Sources:

https://gamerant.com/pokemon-the-salamence-evolution-trans-allegory/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_astrology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_(wuxing)

https://kirstengroot.com/en/five-phases-wuxing-and-the-japanese-lunar-calendar/

https://elementaljapan.com/2019/01/19/gogyo-in-contemporary-japan/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_dragon

Various Pokemon R/S/E/OR/AS lore from Bulbapedia

One of my favorite fun facts which is completely true is that herpetology is literally the study of creepy-crawlies. The "herp" in "herpetology", "reptile", and "serpent" all ultimately stem from the same root, or seemingly, two Proto-Indo-European roots for "to creep or crawl" that seem to have merged over time. In medieval bestiaries and up until the 19th century, "reptile" and "serpent" get used to refer to all manner of creeping and crawling critters, including things we wouldn't deem reptiles today like scorpions and snails, and "serpents" aren't necessarily snakes. This is why herpetology includes both reptiles and amphibians -- until the 18th century, they were classed together, because both medieval classifiers and Linnaeus got them confused. And we've stuck together ever since because they have enough ecological similarities that they're useful for answering the same biological questions and as collaborators. (For example, some amphibian diseases including ranavirus and chytrid fungus can also hitch rides on, if not infect, reptile scales if they live in the same water and soil.)

I've also seen "herpetile" as a historical construction from "herpeton", which I'm not sure if that's from conflation with "reptile" or if "reptile" ultimately descends from it. Honestly, given their incredibly similar sounds and connotations, I'm not wholly convinced that the two different PIE roots EtymOnline cites (*rep- for "reptile" and *serp- for "creeping / crawling" which became serpent and herpeton) aren't variants of the same thing in the first place.

All this goes to say that I find both the childish construct of referring to reptiles, amphibians, and arthropods alike as "creepy-crawlies" and the reptile keeper construct "herptile" hilarious, since they're unknowingly reduplicating a deep linguistic tradition.

I consider myself relatively unique in the world of herpfolk (either in the sense of folk who enjoy reptiles and amphibians or folk who are reptiles or amphibians. I am both.) in that most herpfolk are herpetology or herpetoculture and those domains...don't really get along. I'm not nearly as involved in either world as I used to be since moving into primarily doing teaching, especially not the culture side, but I'm pretty familiar with both. This was because baby me could and would take and learn about anything involving herps that would have me, and wasn't even aware that those were vastly culturally different domains. I'd like to think this gives me a unique perspective which is valuable for teaching purposes.

I'm also distinct from most Internet reptile aficionados in that I actually have professional experience in the field. Useless trivia that I was the youngest person to ever get a scholarship for membership and conference attendance from the Society For The Study Of Reptiles and Amphibians. I've been going to professional conferences since 2014. I literally fucking teach herpetology classes and have since 2017. So it takes every ounce of restraint I have to just stick to rattling behind my back and not strike at folks on Flight Rising who insist that the entire notion of "reptiles" is cladistically unsound and also snakes don't exist so folks should only use the term "venom clade". I have never heard any actual biologist do that. Even folks who study phylogenetics and I'm confident know more about venom cladistics than someone whose main experience is Tumblr and owning a ball python. Because it's not helpful except for pedantry and "ooh, look at me, I know the word venom clade", and no one fucking cares.

...how does that even work?

Kasandaria. You do not HAVE feet. Walk it off, or slither as the case may be.

A case study of edgy bands using cool typography without thinking about tech encoding...

< copying music from computer to phone

< recently acquired CD of Slipknot album (excellent) ".5 - The Grey Chapter". As windows media player, and I, am wont to do, I named the folder after its album title, including the period.

< baffling issue -- windows media player thinks the files are already synced. I can see them when I open my phone in Explorer. However, they are not displaying in my phone's file system or my music player app.

< turns out Android hides any file or folder whose name starts with a period, which Windows doesn't. Renamed the album folder to just "The Grey Chapter" and sure enough, my files reappeared.

"Notice. Persons trying to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot."

-- Mark Twain, preface to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

(Demons are of course cool and edgy and I feel a connection to that and their symbolism, hence that being my main nonhuman ID along with "snake", but a lot of it is some RSD nonsense. Okay fine, I'm an evil demon. Doesn't mean I can't be a good person, or at least not an asshole. So the nonhuman bits usually coincide with RSD bits. Sometimes it works to turn it into cathartic edge, sometimes it doesn't. But it isn't voluntary so. It just kinda happens. RSD -> demon time, although sometimes Demon Time happens of its own accord and is fine and chill. Being a snake is intrinsic to me. Being a demon was thrust upon me, but I think it works on me. Will eat something, take a nap, and maybe do some Slipknot and/or Sanity Is For The Weak scored grinding to see if I can get myself feeling less nasty.)

My mom didn't quite get it when I tried to explain my frustrations to her. It's just...if you are taking your social media bullshit to Neocities, what's the point of being on Neocities at all? I would expect people who literally say that they're better than that to be. "Everything has a political component" and "people need spaces to take a break from politics for their well-being" are takes that can and should coexist. At no point did I say I was apolitical. I'm not. I just do my Leftist Work (teaching and science and shit) offline and go online for a break. It's like, that's a different sentence. And "in a world where some people can't live without pain, no one deserves a moment of peace" is just depression talking. That's not a reasoned take.

I just...I want to be more social online, damn it. Getting past my tragic backstory and all that. But I guess that if it's anything but a forum about pretty dragons and pretty OCs, then there is no space for me.

Fuck aesthetics, fuck Neocities leftists, fuck anything ending in -core, fuck nostalgia, fuck groupchats and social media, and fuck the misery fandom.

Despair is not productive. Despair is not virtuous. Despair is not cool. Despair is not "edgy". If you're in a pit, maybe try to get help out rather than dragging others down with you and calling them bad leftists for practicing self-care.

Sorry, I can't be a good person seeing as I am a literal demon from hell. The serpent (me) is a liar, best not believe anything he says. You wouldn't want to wind up knowing good and evil, and how it's okay to just like things.

Appreciate that the bank in my hometown sprang for actual Dum Dums and not the gross generic lollipops most places have in their baskets.

I read through "no one deserves a moment of peace" guy's blog, by the way. They're pretty clearly just depressed and taking it out on everyone else as a "controversial take". Like, obviously they don't know that this sort of online activism junk is a major RSD / suicidal ideation trigger for me personally, but "you don't deserve rest" -> "you deserve to be miserable, especially if you were born into privilege" -> "kill yourself".

I've been telling my students this for years: it doesn't matter if it's "for a good cause", getting people to do what you want via guilt or fear isn't advocacy, it's bullying.

Also in response to a different Neocities comment on the same thread, I fail to see how "antagonizing apolitical people" is useful? Sure, it reaffirms the tribal loyalty of people who already agree with you, but how does turning folks who might otherwise be swayed against you and giving your enemies fodder (because you're being mean) accomplish anything?

Like, no reconciliation with fascists unless you're burying the hatchet in their heads, but I can't see how that doesn't just turn off people who might otherwise be against you. Someone who's presently apolitical can be coaxed into being helpful, or at least not hurting. If you're mean to them, they have an incentive to go against you even if they agree with your ideals because you were mean to them.

I just don't see how it accomplishes anything besides making anyone less your-specific-flavor-of-lefty than you feel bad and reaffirming tribal loyalty for your specific flavor. Which seems like the opposite of solidarity and what all the legitimately interesting Marxist resources on this person's site are trying to say.

So, we need to commit class suicide and get down and dirty with manual laborers and understand shared struggle, but anyone less outwardly lefty than you should be antagonized for "ignoring the problem" if they want to not talk about politics for a bit? I'm sure that isn't what they were trying to say, but I am really having trouble parsing the notion of "antagonizing apolitical people can be politically useful".

I am trying to assume good faith. I just don't know what the good faith version of that is, or where they're getting it from.

the enforcer has been [un]dead since 2014; this is mr. goated talking

hold onto your fucking falling in reverse cowboy hats this is some real slime shit

i am not a zoomer

i am not a zillennial

fuck generational culture

nostalgia is poison

generations are not real

fuck your aesthetic

fuck your nostalgia

fuck your movement

fuck neocities leftists

fuck the indie web

fuck yourself

fuck me

suck my dick because unlike you i accept how useless i am

let's try accomplishing some shit in real life

nothing ending in -core invented after 2010 is real and no one who buys into it is worth listening to

I didn't really stop wanting to fucking kill myself 24/7, prompted by "in a world where no one lives without pain, you don't deserve to be happy" and "you should feel bad for living in the US empire" along with personal dysphoria and past emotional abuse, until 2022. RSD is still a major issue for me, and predominant online political stuff is still a major trigger for that.

So I have some real issues with being told that I'm an enemy of the revolution (as if there's any real "unity" among Neocities Leftists) for having the gall to want to not be miserable.

Despair is not a virtue.

Perhaps I should stop trying to socialize on Neocities. "In a world where no one lives without pain, no one deserves a moment of peace"...and how is me being miserable supposed to help anybody else? Despair isn't productive and it's not like I can effectively organize while I am [redacted] years old living in a suburban hellscape and my main concern is getting out of the US so I can actually use my skills to teach somewhere that isn't terrible.

I'm fucking majoring in special ed. Pretty sure that's more productive than whining on your fucking blog, whether it's literally on Tumblr or not.

Let me have my fucking website without making it a "movement", and perhaps any form of "activism" based on "you should feel bad" is just bullying with extra steps. Save callouts for folks who have shown bad faith, not who are just trying and need a fucking break. And I hit my comment limit on Neocities yesterday so I can't defend myself. Least one of them I could email to explain myself.

I am not by any means a gamer. I got the gaming laptop because it was the best option for futureproof specs for all 4 years of uni and USB ports.

the old desktop, if you're curious, was a Dell Optiplex 780, originally Windows 7. was my main computer from 2016 until 2021 when I needed a laptop for uni. was rescued from my dad's old office when they upgraded and were gonna throw out a bunch of them

Linux update: installed mint on old desktop. works fine. pleasantly surprised that it responds to windows key shortcuts but disappointed at lack of scroll wheel press to rapid scroll. sims 2 did not work via either wine directly or lutris, which is what I expected. will try Photoshop / office / flash player in wine tomorrow. seriously considering dual booting future frivolity laptop between mint and win7 for games

the vision is that after I move, I get a new, less sexy windows box for work stuff requiring win11 and a smaller laptop and use my current, a model year 2021 gaming laptop I got for when I entered university, on Linux mint for my personal stuff. best option methinks since I need windows and a new laptop for work but don't want 11 near my personal files, and have wanted to try Linux for a while

Per a quick surface googling, the six of swords is apparently associated with travelling away from danger and the star is a generically positive omen, so I guess that's actually thematically appropriate. If the universe did want to send me a message, I guess that's a good one.

Not sure what the divinatory meaning is if you just find a tarot card face down out in the wild...anyway, given the two random tarot cards that I found loose in bins at the local consignment store that consolidates Amazon returns and stuff, my reading for the day is the 6 of swords (face down) and the star (upright).

encountered a gross out toy line featuring what seemed to be vomiting dinosaurs, which immediately sparked the question "wait, can / could dinosaurs vomit?"

I'm frankly delighted to find that the answer is yes. Not only can dinosaurs vomit, fossils have been found! There's a specific term for it: bromalites for fossil digestive materials in general and regurgalites / regurgaliths for vomit specifically.

https://doi.org/10.2110%2Fpalo.2019.099

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp82jle12j7o (not about dinosaurs but still neat)

I don't find bodily fluids inherently funny by themselves, but this is hilarious. It's the intersection of "hehe bodily secretions" with Science.

Now, the same toyline mentioning dinosaur boogers probably isn't biologically accurate. From the very limited and ultimately unsuccessful because the data just isn't there I did on if reptiles can have allergies, I learned that at least in modern reptiles, their snot equivalent is dry.

McKay's Disc #10 (that is actually two discs) -- Slipknot - .5: The Gray Chapter (2014)

Roadrunner

Along with Linkin Park, Korn, and of course Falling In Reverse, Slipknot is one of the bands that rewired my brain in 2019. I won't say it "saved my life" -- no work of media or other person saved you; you saved yourself and they helped -- but it definitely provided me with some much needed catharsis and just some damned nice songs. Slipknot is huge for a reason, in that their work is just really well constructed and they've got impressive range. The only other band I've seen that's equally good at conveying emotionality through every aspect of a song's setup is Wristmeetrazor, which really captures the oppressive feeling of absolute loathing for everyone including yourself. And that emotionality is the strength here, where we've got the righteous and burning fury of Custer, the disappointed nihilism of The One That Kills The Least, and the epic vibes of The Devil In I (one of my favorite songs of all time), The Negative One, and If Rain Is What You Want.

It really captures the vibe of rage born of disappointment stemming from living in a broken and corrupted world. Like the old saying goes, "every pessimist (or possibly nihilist) is a disappointed optimist". And also it's got some really fun screaming and guitar work which is fun to play video games to or scream along to. Slipknot is just always a lovely time, which is why I've ended up acquiring all but their very first album just via picking up ones I see at used CD stores without really specifically looking. Also, they seem to be legitimately nice people, especially where their kids are involved. Look at / listen to anything where Corey and/or Clown talk about Vended or the boys interact with kids while wearing their silly little masks; it's adorable.

see, how I know astrology is bullshit is that if there were anything to it, I, a Sagittarius, wouldn't suck as hard at ultimate bullseye as I do

defend yourself with what you can find

McKay's Disc #9 (that is actually two discs) -- The Hard And The Heavy, Vol. 1 (Compilation, 1999)

Redline Records

Assessment-wise, compilation CDs typically create more work than they remove, but they're useful as historical snapshots and typically make for enjoyable listening experiences. This one is no exception. It's a two disc set, one of which (The Hard) is nominally more hard rock focused and the other (The Heavy) is nominally more metal. In practice, the distinction is pretty arbitrary. For example, Powerman 5000 is sorted into The Hard despite very stylistically similar big bro Rob Zombie being on The Heavy. Anyway, they are both fun, and make for a neat historical tour of the peak of grimy rap-elements nu metal, which I really enjoy. I think it's neat and tends to have really fun mixing elements.

I legitimately love electronic and rap elements in my metal / post-hardcore if they're well executed. Part of why Fashionably Late frustrates me so much is that it could have been good if not for...Ronnie. Ultimately, there's more intersection between those things than anyone in the metal fanbase wants to admit. There were rock / metal songs with rap interludes and vice versa when Ronnie was LITERALLY shitting in Pampers, and synonymous-with-dubstep Skrillex came out of scenemo-metalcore From First To Last and his breakdowns make it very clear. Plus the whole space of "industrial" and its dark and grimy metal and electronic happily interweaving, just ask the likes of Pitch Shifter or Celldweller.

TLDR, nu metal and genre fusions are good and are valid as metal; you guys are just mean. Anyway, if you like late 90s nu / rap / industrial metal or are curious about getting into it, I think this comp provides a nice summary.

situations is so cool; i wish ronnie was real

weird little guys doing weird little things

McKay's Disc #8 (that is actually 3 discs) -- The Early November - The Mother, The Mechanic, and The Path

Drive Thru Records

The Mechanic is a pretty standard lighter-end-of-emo album, somewhat reminiscent of a lighter version of Hawthorne Heights. I'll probably assess The Early November's work further since they seem relevant to my mission, although the album itself was, while pleasant, standard and didn't really scratch my itch. However, this is a 3-disc combo concept album set, with 3 albums all with different styles revolving around the same core arc about family and aging and whatnot. The Mechanic being the "heaviest" and most standard of them, The Mother being mostly acoustic, and The Path being an odd audio drama of sorts about a guy talking to his therapist. An interesting exploration of the band's range and I think they were all pretty well-executed musically, although it wasn't my style and I was rather confused about the point of The Path. The ending very much felt like it was invalidating the protagonist's trauma or implying the whole thing wasn't real, which felt like it came out of nowhere.

Disc 7 -- Tribulation - The Formulas Of Death

Invictus Productions

Described as gothic / black metal by Wikipedia, although at least on the album I have, it seems to have a faster and more thrashy structure albeit with black metal type vocals. Reminds me somewhat of a darker and harder version of classic Trivium, and seems more structurally interesting musically than a lot of pure thrash metal. Not my specific style so not a priority to assess, but does appeal to the demon in me. Not really suitable for playlist use becaues the individual songs are far too long, but fun as an album.

Disc 6 (assessed yesterday but forgot to post) -- Powerman 5000 - Tonight The Stars Revolt

DreamWorks

My history with Powerman 5000 is that I found When Worlds Collide in 2019, and liked it because it reminded me of my me lore. In 2025, I found its home album (wasn't specifically looking, but picked it up because I recognized the name). Grimy, campy, and loosely concept-y "industrial metal" (in a very vague sense; compare the spoken word / pseudo-rap vocals and overall vibes of Korn or some early Slipknot) from Rob Zombie's little brother. A fun time and works in ways that some other intentionally campy / storytelling-focused bands including Schoolyard Heroes and Wednesday 13 haven't for me, but not really my main style so by no means a priority to assess.

Hey virtu.pet fanbase -- what the fuck does "overrendered" even mean? I'm staying out of the Island debate, being extremely white, but show me a reason for that word other than "I don't like it therefore it's stylistically bad".

friendly scallions, as opposed to all those aggressive ones (like the ones from veggie tales)

Disc 4 -- Beauty to Ashes - Reproduce The Common Practice (2002)

Pluto Records

Tiny emo / hardcore band with this album and an EP as their only output. Compared to other bands I'm familiar with including Thrice and Thursday by journalistic sources, but described as more old school hardcore than them. I can agree with that; it's an interesting "missing link" between your more metalcore / post-hardcore bands from the 05-06 wave and 90s / very early 00s "emotional hardcore". First band from this stack of CDs I've really liked, so of course they broke up in 2005.

so apparently disabling recommended videos in freetube means that playlists don't...playlist, which isn't very helpful for my use cases. I just wanted to get rid of all the disgusting clickbait recommendations that show up because no matter how many channels I block there are always More

scrolling through book of ages; they have really been on the wall with updates lately! anyway, my beloved cobra dude March Pet finally has context, and I want these other designs so bad

would love hissi pet styles that looked like designs 1 and 3, and I still think cobra legs guy would be a fun Quiggle outfit or color

https://bookofages.jellyneo.net/history/scrapped-pets/

so the march pets refer to march 2001

Disc 4 (probably last of tonight because I have a headache) -- Alien Ant Farm - TruANT (2003)

DreamWorks

Yet another alt-metal / nu metal hybrid, with some punkier elements. More intentionally absurd than its peers; best known (including by me) for their memetic cover of Smooth Criminal. Per Wikipedia, affiliated with Papa Roach, and that's what their sound reminds me of: a somewhat lighter and worse version of Papa Roach. They don't really contain much of the elements of nu metal I like, nor are their other elements especially interesting. Save S.S. Recognize, the songs on the album I have are kind of mediocre. Fine, but nothing exceptional. Also per Wikipedia, they apparently have a bad habit including recently of doing bad things to fans, so I won't be keeping this disc or exploring this band further.

Disc 3 -- Images Of Eden - Rebuilding The Ruins (2011)

Nightmare Records

Self-describe as a classic metal / hard rock hybrid with progressive elements. Have an adorable Web 1.0 website that's more informative than most modern band websites. Seem to be pretty small. I can definitely see their classic metal inspiration; compare early Trivium. Don't really have the speed and aggression I look for, but good guitar work and overall well-executed. Don't consider them a priority to assess, but would pick up another CD I encountered. Probably keeping this one in the collection for if I am ever in the mood for this sort of thing.

Disc 2 -- Fuel - Something Like Human (2000)

550 Music

A pretty standard album from a pretty standard band belonging to the late 90s / early 2000s boom in post-grunge / metal hybrids. Compare Godsmack, Shinedown, early Three Days Grace, and Seether, i.e. the genre colloquially known with varying degrees of affection as "dad rock" or "butt rock". (Even though given the age of most dads in 2025, it would be equally accurate to call much of Scenemo Canon "dad rock".) I don't think there's ever been a band in this genre that has fully passed assessment with used store CDs to get into "I want to check out the rest of their work" as opposed to "there are a couple of fun songs on here and if I found another one for 99 cents, I'd buy it", but it's still a genre I have some affection for.

Okay, this is honestly very interesting, because it's definitely got the 80s synths and structure, and some vaguely disco / reggae-ish elements, but in terms of the guitar work and vocal deliveries, on some of their edgier / sadder thematically songs, it's not dissimilar from edgier / grungier 90s stuff and some of the very early emocore I've assessed. I'm not sure if that's a coincidence or not. Either way, I would recommend this album if you want something unique that no one in your circles is likely to have heard of.

Parts Per Million - Don't Go

Parts Per Million - Reflections

If you'd like to listen yourself, here's my Web Archive upload. Will also send the disc on to my local public library since it's not really my style.

Parts Per Million - Self Titled Album (1997)

Assessing the latest load of CDs I got from McKay's. Live blogging coming as warranted.

First disc -- Parts Per Million - Self Titled Album (1997)

SweetP Records

'Tis too bad that I have "search engines fuck off" on every website I control, because I think this may be the only record anywhere online that this band, album, or label exist. They don't have especially edgy cover art, and 1997 is before most of the genres I like really get going, but I purchased this specifically because I couldn't find literally anything about it. Listening to the first track, it seems to be some manner of disco / rock hybrid with some very 80s-sounding synths. Not my usual style, but it's funky and pretty enjoyable and well-produced. I think I'll probably upload it to Web Archive just so there's record of its existence.

But hey, it's historical FIR information no one else has. To whom it may concern, TDIMIY I will keep in my collection. The other FIR albums go to the public library. Popular Monster (2024) I intend to physically destroy, preferably with fire, and film myself doing. It gets what it deserves. And good news is that I can burn the whole booklet since it contains nothing of use. TBH, I am probably not keeping the booklets for the ones I am not keeping after they're scanned since they frankly aren't very interesting. All the Ronnie nonsense was in the songs and other sources, I guess.

The Popular Monster (2024) liner notes do not contain acknowledgments at all. The only interesting thing in there is that every song has "Ronnie Radke Music (BMI)" listed in the credits, so gods help us, he thinks he's a production company now. Each song has a vaguely cute graphical two-page spread, although most are just video screencaps and the inserts for Bad Guy and Trigger Warning are exactly as bad as you'd think they would be. Honestly, I'm not sure if this really WARRANTS being scanned seeing as it contains literally nothing but graphics and lyrics, but I'm a historian so...

I expected PM2024 to contain nothing of use, since the album doesn't, but I'm disappointed in the rest of the FIR liner note booklets. Well, that's roughly 100 dollars I'll never get back. At least I got good quality files.

The cover with Ronnie's face is reversible (no pun intended) with the other side having the standard post-2020 FIR emblem. Likewise, it is a separate page from the booklet. I'm wondering if this is for the benefit of consumers and/or CD stores who don't want to have Ronnie's mugshot facing outward.

Even the homoeroticism that has been arguably their defining element since day 1 (and in the absence of Ronnie's voice and hair, is all they really have left) is half-assed these days.

Anyway, here's your other Periodic Ronnie Updates. He's presently on tour in Europe / doing some festivals, so here's some half-assed homoeroticism with Luke. Seriously, it's like he's giving an air kiss to his grandma. You want to know the problem with current FIR? This. This is the problem.

And an addition to the collection of videos that summarize to "Ronnie blatantly stimming". To quote my mother, "someone get this man a wiggle disc."

Apparently all the FIR band members had "fuck you" lists of random pet peeves in the Coming Home liner notes, although Ronnie's is of course the longest. Thus far, that's been the most interesting thing in any of them. I thought they'd be more useful lore-wise than they turned out to be; there's some vaguely interesting Ronnie pictures but mostly the text is just standard band stuff.

You know, "call X for a good time" isn't very helpful without a phone number.

The Early November - The Mother, The Mechanic, and the Path

one of the discs I got at McKay's. I suspect based on its description that this band is on the lighter end of "emo" (as in, the border between emo and indie pop with debatable [post]hardcore influence) which doesn't generally resonate with me, but that's a really neat concept.

this morning's critter parts shift is the standard feathered wings replacing my arms, which is unusual for me. not sure if Zapdos, mildly different Hissi, some manner of weird Escape the Fate creature, or a secret fourth thing. I am just a little wingaling snek

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