About 3-4 years ago I joined a band and a month after I joined we went on some video podcast. Play a few songs, do an interview, something I've never done before but it seemed like it'd be fun.

I wasn't able to really get a word in during the interviews (stuttering/speech impediment/anxiety issues ran wild) but I was able to speak up whenever the host went around and asked us what our favorite instrument/gear brands were. Weird question, but alright buddy.

I've always been a fan of cheaper gear. You don't need all sorts of expensive shit to get the sound you want. So when he asked my answer was "Squier" and the dude just started laughing. Because who possibly would prefer one of the cheaper brands??? (Keep in mind this douche had a whole wall of the absolute worst looking collection of custom shop BC Rich guitars you've ever seen.)

Eventually he backed down once I started arguing with him about it, but his immediate elitist attitude really struck a cord in me because I see that shit all over the internet in music communities. "Oh you only like Squiers/Epiphones/Harley Bentons because you can't afford BIG BOY guitars like a $5,000 Gibson".

Fuck right off with that shit. Why would I pay thousands of dollars for a guitar when I can get something that works amazingly for me for just a few hundred dollars? The extra money I save by not dropping 4 figures on a guitar or amp goes towards paying my bills, feeding my kids, just trying to fucking live and exist.

At this point I've had to sell 99% of my music gear after over a decade of following the gear chase. I only have a "cheap" acoustic I bought several years ago for $350 and it's the best guitar I've ever had. I love my little busted neck Hummingbird to death.

I'm much happier now than I was when I had a huge assortment of pedals and guitars to choose from. The Gear Chase is designed to make you want to spend more and more money in an endless pursuit of finding that "perfect" piece of gear. Guitar companies, partnered youtubers, influencers, and all sorts of advertisement campaigns are purposefully trying to misguide you into thinking you NEED their product. It's marketing and capitalism at work and so many musicians fall for it every time. I fell for it for years before I got completely fed up with it.

Go out and gig with your Squier Bullet Strat and a cheap amp you found at a pawn shop, fuck anyone that gives you shit for it. Go ahead and record with whatever you have at your disposal. Put out an album that's comprised of Voice Memos you recorded on your phone with just an acoustic and your voice.

Pluto in the 10th house - Destiny’s Child

Pluto in the 10th can have the sense of being ‘marked’ in some form. The 10th house is the parent axis, and she inherits the mark as the daughter of Hades with unspeakable responsibilities from a place that cannot be seen. It’s been ‘me against the world’ since she can remember, and may have lacked the role models or positive attention to prove that goodness and benevolence exists. She learns as a child that wolves are out there, and that it’s not safe for her and it’s no place for her. So she makes herself invisible, walks with her head down, blunts her ears to authority and teachers, and compiles the evidence that confirm her belief that the world is bad. This may also relate to her own preoccupation of being a bad person with no real purpose in life. But deep inside the ambition, drive, and insight that she has a path of great destiny stirs inner forces like a cauldron. She is absolutely made for power. The ability to hypnotise superiors, take admirable risks, and strike sharp strategy with intuition at the right moment can make her the formidable force that no one saw coming. She may even be quiet or withdrawn until she walks through the corporate doors, turns her heels to spikes, and command the floor in a ceremony of her sovereign rule. It may not seem natural until she is in action because it can feel like she doesn’t have it in her. She may hesitate walking the footsteps of the woman she knows she is capable of being, it may seem easier to fail at something that doesn’t matter. The end product is a mystery, but she knows in herself that she is working toward something magnificent. 

The job description is written by the underworld pen with Pluto in the 10th. Most of the demand occurs out of sight with success acknowledged by the satisfaction of soul rather than promotion or pay rise. To be successful in the role, she must do the inner work and make the transformations necessary to her destiny. Pluto is in hiding, so colleagues and the public are shielded from her secret struggles and relentless external and internal labour and devotion. The calling may be for professions that people judge, disrespect, or refuse to understand. Abuses of power can occur as a response to abuses of power committed against her, and also the inability to control power when she has it because it can be intoxicating. Forced termination of job can be brutally wounding and even traumatic, possibly because it was unexpected or seemed controlled by fate. She may be called to leave her position under no concrete concern but the void, numbness, or lack of satisfaction that eats away at her every day she is not on the path of her destiny. It’s important that she focuses only on her own path and restricts comparing her progress with other people - she is making headway in a place that does not use time. She may have grown up without rules or boundaries, so evading social expectations and conditioning comes naturally. It’s also possible that she was exposed to strict discipline that was even threatening and frightening, and the fear of punishment for not doing what is expected, or wrong can linger obstructively. In whatever way she responds to this, no parent or person alive can provide her with the kind acknowledgment and gratification she longs for. Only she can hear the appraisals from very deep and eternal realms within herself. Strangers may have misconceptions about her, feel intimidated or hostile and pleasantly surprised when they meet somebody different.  

He has Marfan Syndrome, which is a rare connective tissue condition that gives him bizarrely elongated limbs and allows him to do unnatural things with his body, and he’s built quite a resume for himself appearing in horror movies

Like Doug Jones, he also appeared as three of the ghosts in Crimson Peak:

But you may have also seen him as The Crooked Man in The Conjuring 2:

Eddie’s leper in IT:

The Nina monster in all three REC movies:

Set, the God of Death in The Mummy (2017):

The titular creature in Mama:

He did motion capture work for the Xenomorph in Alien: Covenant:

And he most recently appeared in Insidious: The Last Key and the Slender Man movie!!