Found a ukulele at the thrift store today for only $7.
The nut is missing but it sounds nice and plays surprisingly in tune, considering. (The way it is now, the first fret is acting like the nut, so I have to play everything a half step up.) And replacement nuts are cheap, so I think I got a pretty darn good deal. It's got a pretty emerald green color, too.
I've taken chances on broken instruments before, and it's always been rewarding, so...
I couldn't take a good picture of the label inside with my phone, so it's hard to read, but it's just some generic quality assurance about the craftsmanship and the wood. It says it's made in China, and I couldn't find much info about the brand, although apparently "nene" means "goose" in Hawaiian, which explains the logo.
I've never actually owned a ukulele that stays in tune before. The only one I've ever had before was given to me for my birthday (pretty sure anyway), and it didn't have good intonation, especially when the neck started warping.
So basically I haven't had a functioning ukulele for twenty years, despite how much I like ukulele. That's what happens when you're poor.
I've always wanted to stumble on a quirky instrument at a thrift store or antique shop. So while I had picked out a pineapple shaped ukulele to eventually get online (and I do still want it), this is right down my alley. It's like... a "me" instrument, if that makes sense- it "fits in" with all the other misfits in my collection.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
We've learned just the other day that German folklore has what's essentially a winged jackalope, called a "wolpertinger".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolpertinger
Frankly, I think if you say "How are you?" to someone expecting them to say "And how are you?" back, you're not legitimately interested in how they're feeling, you want someone to ask you how you feel.
I find it very irritating when someone asks me how I am, tbh. I don't like having that expectation thrust upon me. I don't like sharing my feelings out of the blue, anyway. Maybe I'm just anti-social, I dunno.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
I'm not usually one to speculate about upcoming movies, but this one's kind of a big deal to me.
So you probably know that I'm a huge Who Framed Roger Rabbit? fan, and I spend a lot of time thinking about how other Western animation works relate to it, so most of my thoughts concern that.
Right off the bat the trailer throws a wrench in my headcanon (not that I was especially married to it). I had always assumed that, in-universe, Warner Bros. bought out Acme sometime in the '80s, around the same time WB trademarked the Acme Corporation as a cartoon prop company in real life. (Yes, they did that. Doesn't stop some people outside of WB from using the name, though.)
But apparently in Coyote vs. Acme, it's the other way around. Which kinda makes my brain hurt. Like, what does this imply about Acme products appearing in Looney Tunes, going back to the '40s? Did Acme somehow get BIGGER than Warner Bros. during a decades long partnership? When did the buyout occur?
I'm assuming WB and Acme were separate entities at some point. (Of course, it almost doesn't matter now that Paramount is going to own WB, which is probably gonna happen in this movie's universe as well.)
Another concern is what they might do to potentially contradict the existence of Marvin Acme. I'm imagining some big oil painting with the words "Our Founder" under it somewhere in the movie.
Now admittedly it doesn't seem as though WFRR ever actually explicitly stated Marvin Acme started the company. Just that he owns it. I guess I always just assumed he was the founder- but maybe he's second generation?
Now I totally don't blame the writers of Coyote vs. Acme for missing this, but the basic premise of suing Acme for faulty products has actually been done before.
There's a scene in the Tiny Toons episode "K-ACME TV" where Calamity Coyote sues Acme for "negligence and faulty workmanship". Sounds pretty similar, doesn't it?
I also wonder who this "Bobbo Acme" is. I assume he's supposed to be the president of Acme in 1991. Obviously there's no relation to Marvin, so maybe he changed his name when he took over the company. It seems fitting to have a toon running the company, though.
Obviously nobody expects the screenwriters of Coyote vs. Acme to have watched every single episode of Tiny Toon Adventures. It's kind of a blink-and-you'll-miss-it segment, and I forgot about it until I rewatched it not too long ago. But I'm not the only one to notice the similarity.
And it does make you wonder how Wile E. somehow never heard of the lawsuit.
On a related note, there's a very obscure book called Coyote Capers released a year earlier in 1990 that references another president of the Acme Corporation, a fellow named "I.M. Ritch"- and with a name like that, I assume he's also a toon.
I guess Bobbo replaced him soon afterwards. (Obviously the writers of Tiny Toons didn't know this book existed.)
...And maybe Acme Pictures specifically bought out WB, I dunno.
And on another related note, I don't think Steve Martin's character "Mr. Chairman" in Back in Action is strictly canon, since the ending of that movie revealed that it's... well, a movie, even in-universe.
I'm also hoping that Coyote vs. Acme doesn't mess with my headcanon that Acme products aren't designed to work for antagonists/villains/predators, because it's funnier that way.
And hey, the Apex company from an episode of Nickelodeon's Oh Yeah! Cartoons series ("Apex Cartoon Props & Novelties") will now be owned by Acme/WB (in-universe and irl). And this is despite them referring to Acme as "inferior products from that other company", which makes me think they've been competitors this whole time. I'll bet the owner Cletus Apex (pictured) isn't too keen on it.
Of course, Apex has appeared in all sorts of other cartoons and comics, including Looney Tunes and Disney, so it sort of doesn't matter anyway.
Am I overthinking all of this? Am I taking what's most likely just a simple gag in a trailer that may not even reflect the content of the movie itself too seriously? Of course I am. Nobody but me cares about this stuff. But it's a still a fun thought exercise.
One trope I've grown very bored of is the "last unicorn" or "last dragon" spectrum.
Magic is fading! Fairies and elves aren't seen anymore because no one believes! Dragons are all extinct!
Or else they're all in hiding.
It's used so often that I just... want a story where magic is everywhere and everyone knows it. Of course, I know that high fantasy novels do that all the time, but I have my own qualms with a lot of those too.
Similarly, I've never been all that keen on folkloric little people having vast kingdoms and armies, with the exception of fairies and elves, which have traditional roots.
To me gnomes and goblins are too earthy and cottagecore-y to be warriors and kings.
I wish there was an English translation of this story about a king of the gnomes. I'd be perfectly willing to incorporate into my personal lore, if only I could read the whole thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnome_King_Kyri%C3%AB
Picture some rooks hanging out indoors, playing a relaxing card game, and it's about to rain outside.
This EP's kinda hard to describe. It blurs the lines between, surf, lofi study beats, garage rock, shoegaze, and emo, if you care to try and categorize it.
(This started out as a collab/contest entry with someone I don't care to name, but they started putting their content behind a paywall- something that always really bugs me- so I rerecorded/rewrote all their parts. I think it's better now.)
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Picture some rooks hanging out indoors, playing a relaxing card game, and it's about to rain outside.
This EP's kinda hard to describe. It blurs the lines between, surf, lofi study beats, garage rock, shoegaze, and emo, if you care to try and categorize it.
(This started out as a collab/contest entry with someone I don't care to name, but they started putting their content behind a paywall- something that always really bugs me- so I rerecorded/rewrote all their parts. I think it's better now.)
I'm happy to say that one of my vintage guitars is working again! It was making a buzzing sound, and I couldn't use it for several years, but for reasons unknown the problem cleared up by itself.
Can't say I'm not a little perplexed and disappointed I didn't test it earlier, but I'm grateful to have it back again.
You may notice that the tone knobs are missing. For whatever reason they don't quite fit standard pots, which were replaced shortly after I got it. (At the time I was being taught guitar repair but that didn't really go anywhere, though I do have some basic maintenance skills.) All I can assume is that '60s Japanese knobs have some non-standard size.
So the knobs fell off years ago, and they're still lost in my mess of a bedroom.
The tailpiece is also off-center, so the strings don't quite line up straight with the neck, so keeping it tune is a bit of an issue. Still, it has a great tone for surf, rockabilly, and garage rock.
(Also, the neck have five screws for some reason.)
This one doesn't have a special name, sadly. Since I have no idea what the brand is, I just call it "the pointy hollow body".
I'm also getting another one repaired, and I'll be getting it back soon.
Turns out it's a Teisco-built Apollo (though some say Kawai). So now I get to call it "the Apollo". I never was completely happy with just calling it "the pointy hollow body".
(Of course, now I want the 12-string version...)
EDIT: I've been told by Japanese guitar experts that both this and the "Charlie Brown" guitar are actually built by a company called Fujigen Gakki. Seems likely that the Charlie Brown never had a brand name to begin with, which I had suspected.
Also the neck pickup of the Apollo appears to have been replaced at some point.
I had the most terrifying nightmare recently. I was standing outside my house, and I saw dozens of satellites falling from the sky, crashing down on nearby buildings. I came to the conclusion that some foreign power- the Russians, the Iranians, I wasn't sure which- had caused all the satellites in the entire atmosphere to fall down. And civilization was about to end, and everyone was about to die.
I ran to tell my mom about it, and then I woke up gasping, my heart pounding.
Guess that's kinda how I feel about the state of the world right now...
So today my grandma on my dad's side died, and I'm not sure how to feel.
She was always kind of distant, and very fussy, so we never really felt any sort of real attachment to her.
What I feel most sad about is that she was really the only thing that held together Dad's side of the family, and I'm not sure if they're ever going to really get along again. Dad was always a bit of a black sheep, and his sister was the favorite, while his brother had a successful career.
In the late 2010s it seemed like they were always getting on each other's nerves, and I suspect they stopped liking me and my brother for reasons I can't imagine, though I never knew for sure... but they always were eager to please and accommodate our grandma.
Things changed when the Covid-19 pandemic came along in 2020, and the usual Thanksgiving get-together was canceled. Christmas and birthdays didn't happen either, and that continued into the next year as the pandemic dragged on. Then grandma broke her hip and had to be hospitalized, and eventually sent to an old folks home. Family get-togethers were basically impossible even as the pandemic faded.
So now that she's gone I'm not sure if my dad and my aunts, uncle, and younger cousins have any reason to ever visit each other at all, much less invite us. Hanging out with my aunts and my uncle at grandma's house are some of my happiest memories, but grandma was merely the person who owned the house and not a close friend, and the visits and get-togethers were slowly degrading and diminishing over the past fifteen years.
I don't think it's ever going to happen again. I'm not even sure if I'll be invited to the funeral, and if I am, it might be the final time I see those relatives.
It sort of felt unreal. I started crying almost as soon as it started, and I'm not entirely sure why considering my brother didn't cry. I suppose it was the anxiety anticipating the event, the emotional baggage, and the pretty music being played by a guy with a nice voice and playing a nice acoustic guitar had something to do with it.
I was asked to be a pallbearer, which I thought was only something that would happen at the burial I couldn't attend, so I was thrown for a loop. The casket was heavier than I expected and the handle pinched my fingers, and I was having flashbacks to the opening scene in Mouse Hunt where Nathan Lane accidentally loses his grip on his father's casket and it falls down, making the body fall into the sewer.
Thankfully nothing went awry irl.
The service and the reception afterward mentioned things about her life I had never heard of and displayed photos of her I had never seen, and it just emphasized how little I knew about her, and how disconnected I feel to that side of the family.
Once I got home I felt like I woke up from a dream. I'm just glad it's over.
So there is a silver lining. One of my aunts said she'd like to see us again. So maybe family get-togethers are a possibility again. My dad tells me they were staying home for the holidays because of Grandma's illness, which I suspected as much.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
A couple of my oldest rock songs. "The Brokenhearted Song" is an homage to Bon Jovi, with lyrics written circa 2002 in middle school. "Good and Wrong", meanwhile, is based around the second riff I ever wrote.
Cover art. Since I couldn't hire a pro photographer to make the cover for me, I opted for another photo collage using stock images. I like to think that some '80s metalhead teen was so desperate to be part of his favorite band, he badly inserted himself into it by cutting up a picture of himself and photos from magazines and sticking it on the 45 sleeve.
A couple of my oldest rock songs. "The Brokenhearted Song" is an homage to Bon Jovi, with lyrics written circa 2002 in middle school. "Good and Wrong", meanwhile, is based around the second riff I ever wrote.
