Please note: This game has significant disparities in performance, player experience, and review scores between the PC, next-gen consoles, Xbox One, and PS4 versions. The OpenCritic team and several critics suspect that the developer, CD PROJEKT RED, intentionally sought to hide the true state of the game on Xbox One and PS4, with requirements such as only allowing pre-rendered game footage in reviews and not issuing review copies for PS4 and Xbox One versions. This notice will be taken down in February 2021.
I have finished Cyberpunk but I will not have a review up today as I could not comply with CDPR"s embargo requirement that prohibited us from using our own recorded gameplay in the review. Instead, we were told to use b-roll, which is basically trailer footage. Reviews should not be vehicles for rolling out more marketing material, so I'll put my review up when I'm able to show you the reality of the game with my own footage. I'm also disappointed that no console review code was provided to any outlet... Console games are often reviewed without their day one or even day zero patches, so Cyberpunk would not have been special in this regard. Its really lame that no reviewer can tell you how this game runs on console on the review embargo. I absolutely love this game and I think CDPR did extraordinary work, but its clearly unfinished at this point and no review relying on trailer footage alone can properly convey that.
The minimum GPU listed is a GTX 780, with GTX 1060 6GB recommended for 1080p high, RTX 2060 for 1440p ultra, and an RTX 2080 Super for 4K ultra. Then there's the ray tracing additions, with the RTX 2060 listed as the minimum for 1080p and RT medium, 3070 for 1440p and RT ultra, and 3080 for 4K RT ultra. Based on what we're seeing, it looks like those recommendations are for 30-40 fps.
Cyberpunk 2077 is the ultimate power fantasy. A video game that takes the best of modern RPG, first-person shooter, stealth, and the open world and masterfully blends it into a single product. If Skyrim and GTA V marked a before and after for their genres at the beginning of the 2010s, Cyberpunk 2077 is called to do the same from this 2020.
The game may not be perfect but given CD project Red's reputation for fixing and updating games Cyberpunk has a bright neon-lit future. It can proudly sit among its influences of Ghost in the Shell, Blade Runner and Neuromancer (as well as games like Deus Ex, System Shock) with its augmented head held high. It's been a long wait, but the end result is a massive sprawling RPG with an incredible story, heart-pounding action, solid mechanics and customisation, offering you unparalleled player choice in a deep, atmospheric world that I can't wait to plug myself back into.
Cyberpunk 2077 is a victim of bloat, but you can choose to ignore a lot of it and take in the sights. That's where Night City is at its best, and I sincerely suggest that you take your time going through it, as rushing will only lead to disappointment. Even just strolling through though though, you'll probably be left wanting more.
We could wax lyrical about how good this game is for another ten years, and we still think the conversation would be relevant - so yes, we think Cyberpunk 2077 is the game of the decade. This is an event, and a big moment in gaming, because the brilliant Cyberpunk 2077 is laying down the stepping stones for greater feats in the future.
CD Projekt RED is willing to take an even bigger risk and dare something very different, combining elements that they have proven to know well and elements which they have no previous experience in.
And it is precisely for this reason that, despite all the technical problems of the production, we cannot in any way fail to assign a vote of excellence to the work of CDPR: the defects will disappear over time, but already now Cyberpunk 2077 is a title which undoubtedly deserves a place of honor in all players' library.
Measured against the extreme expectations, Cyberpunk 2077 can't fulfill any of them. But all in all, despite the countless small weaknesses and inconsequences, with interesting characters, great story and dialogues or the freedom concerning gameplay, CD Projekt delivers a unique and great RPG that every fan of the genre needs to play.
Cyberpunk 2077 proves that the developers have improved their skills since fantastic The Witcher 3. It is an excellent action RPG that would benefit from a longer delay to polish the various issues. However, no amount of bugs can diminish the immense pleasure of exploring this world.
The era of the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X has arrived, but Cyberpunk 2077 is currently running on those next-gen platforms via backwards compatibility. A true next-gen update isn't due until sometime in 2021. That means CD Projekt Red developed a game for three platforms, and it's running on an acceptable level on just one (PC), provided you have the hardware. That is just plain ridiculous.
It's definitely feels like with Cyberpunk 2077 CD Projekt RED tried to tell a really meaningful story, while using as a backdrop truly a unique setting. And all the while the developers made sure that the game still feels approachable by all kind of people, and that it presents itself with insane graphical fidelity painting an image of an eerily realistic world of tommorow. We doubt there's too many people who don't believe in CD Projekt RED, but in case you're one of them, be warned - Cyberpunk 2077 is something that will change the way you look at the gaming industry as a whole.
This is an outstanding and highly enjoyable game, but take your time with it, do all the side missions (think of them as extensions of the main quest, in fact) and don’t rush the main storyline. You should absolutely take the earliest available opportunity to explore Night City and everything it has to offer. From the visuals to the music to the vibe, it’s a superb experience and one I am looking forward to spending a lot more time with.
Cyberpunk 2077 isn’t perfect, but it is ambitious. It marries a gripping story with a huge open world absolutely dripping with atmosphere; one in which, after fifty hours of gameplay, I still feel like I’ve only scratched its surface. Even now I’m itching to jump back in and complete yet more side jobs, not only because they’re enjoyable, but also just in case they offer V more options when it comes to ending their story.
Cyberpunk 2077 is a new masterpiece from CD Projekt RED, a huge, dense, vibrant, colorfoul and dark Sci-Fi RPG that any fan of the genre should step in. First because it will provide the sensation that the story really depends on you choices and that you have everything you need for your playstyle. Then because streets, stores, buildings, inhabitants of Night City won't get out of your head easily. You'll be happy to interact with Keanu Reeves, but the real star is this city and all it provides in terms of atmosphere, game mechanics and stories. [OpenCritic note: Gianni Molinaro separately reviewed the next-gen (10) and current-gen (4) versions. The scores have been averaged.]
Cyberpunk 2077 is the cyberpunk game of my dreams, it provides one of the most highly detailed environments I’ve ever seen, with an incredibly expansive and immersive narrative.
Cyberpunk 2077 is a great game, but it could have been an incredible game that defined a generation. Instead, it falls victim to its own ambition and the industry's constant desire to push, push, push it out. In its current state, it's not for the faint of heart, and even hardcore Cyberpunk fans may struggle to stay interested amidst all the crashes and issues. If you have yet to pick it up, wait a few months and you could very well be treated to the experience we were all hoping for at launch.
Although there still exist a lot of technical glitches, Cyberpunk 2077 stands out in terms of cyberpunk concept, story-telling, characters, level-design, combat, and so forth. It's a pleasure to spend hundreds of hours in the Night City, and I believe it would be one of the greatest open-world RPGs in the next decade.
The dark future certainly looks promising, thanks to the collective imagination of the team at CD Projekt Red, which seems to know no bounds. Cyberpunk 2077 certainly took a while to come to our hands, but be glad it’s finally here, for it is here to stay for a long time to come. And it certainly did not disappoint.
Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the greatest RPGs of the generation. We love Night City, its characters and great writing for every mission. It is also one of the best looking games out there (if your PC is powerful enough).
Cyberpunk 2077 is like an addictive, huge, impressive braindance, where the feelings are real, while sometimes you see the puppet strings. It's an ambitious RPG, where narration, decisions and dialogue are far more important than combat, wrapped around a lot of fun, but usual and not always perfect, action mechanics. Engaging and marvellous to play, Night City on high-end PCs is stunning to see and super stylish. Cyberpunk 2077 is worth the wait, because the adventure of V and Johnny Silverhand is greater than the sum of its parts.
Cyberpunk 2077 offers a great sci-fi experience in which you can get lost for hours. It is not a revolutionary title in its genre, but it brings fresh changes. Whether it's new tasks, well-written dialogues, and characters, good stylized graphics, or very pleasant controls. Decision-making constructions leave you free where you need them. Conversely, they bind you in places where it is important. Everything fits together thanks to that. And if you were afraid that Cyberpunk 2077 would be a debacle. Throw this worry behind your head. Enjoy Night City to the fullest!
I haven’t fallen in love with playing Cyberpunk 2077, but I haven’t loathed it either. Some moments have been exciting or moving, while others have just felt like stuff to do.
A stunning achievement in open world gameplay but one whose tonal inconsistencies and weak narrative undermines what could have been an all-time classic.
Groundbreaking, but not quite as much as you're hoping it is. Cyberpunk 2077 doesn't surpass its brilliant influences, but in Night City, Johnny Silverhand, and its chilling vision of hyper-capitalism, it claims territory of its own.
I fell in love with Night City, warts and all. If its many bugs can get ironed out, Cyberpunk 2077 is a potential Game of the Year candidate. Here’s hoping that CD Projekt Red can quickly push out fixes.
Cyberpunk 2077 is huge, steeped in sex, satisfying shooting, and the expansion of individual elements delights. It's one of those productions you want to get ing into to get to know its charms and enjoy every moment in Night City.
Cyberpunk 2077 is staggering, overwhelming, and even surprising at times in its spectacle. Although my first dozen hours with the game has been marred by easy-to-fix problems, Nighty City, along with all it offers and all that call it home, makes for an intoxicating escape. Here's hoping the next one hundred hours are as utterly compelling.
We're still playing Cyberpunk 2077 in order to bring you a finished review, but it's impossible to recommend picking this game up at launch on PS4 or PS4 Pro. On PS5 via backwards compatibility, there's still fun to be had - a glimpse of the game's excellent potential - but even then, it's crippled by bugs and crashing issues. There's something truly special at the core of Cyberpunk 2077, but in its current state, it's simply not good enough. So far, a colossal disappointment.
When Cyberpunk's grim setting and mix of gameplay systems land, it is a powerfully impressive experience - sprawling, dense, clever, witty, and most importantly damn good fun. Other times, it has all the charm of a moody, edgy teenager.
An ambitious, maybe over ambitious, thrilling ride that falters when it comes to execution. The developer's strength shines through the world building and production, resulting in a unique mix that is let down by a myriad list of technical and AI problems.
Ultimately, it feels like Cyberpunk 2077 is a fitting bookend for the previous generation of games and a strong starting point for current-gen. Now it's time to start innovating again.
Cyberpunk 2077 is a wild journey within an incredibly fascinating setting; some technical uncertainties destined to disappear and a partial repetitiveness limit its glory, but overall it is an adventure worthy of William Gibson himself. Cyberpunk 2077 allowed me to finally feel immersed in that pen & paper RPG I discovered in 1988, pouring rain clouding my view in a kaleidoscope of neon signs, just as I had imagined while leafing through those pages. Some may not consider it a perfect game, but I do.
I’m V and the game is Silverhand - I can’t get Cyberpunk 2077 out of my head. I’ve had it a week and played 70 hours, which is probably about as healthy as scooping out my face and replacing it with electronics, but it didn’t feel like work. Like a digital personality loaded onto a biochip, it felt like stepping into another life for a while. It’s a life I can’t wait to relive.
CD Projekt Red has created a triumphant RPG experience with Cyberpunk 2077, yet it often falters under the weight of its own ambition thanks to inconsistent writing and narrative
Too ambitious for its own good, Cyberpunk 2077 attempts to do too much and falters in its execution as a result. Despite its issues, it’s better than the sum of its parts and might be worth checking out for fans of action RPGs.
In the midst of such intense anticipation and scrutiny, it’s easy to get carried away with what Cyberpunk 2077 could have been. The final experience might be more familiar than many predicted, with plenty of elements that aren’t perfect, but it’s dripping with detail and engaging stories. With so much to see and do, Cyberpunk 2077 is the kind of RPG where you blink and hours go by, which is just what we need to finish off 2020.
Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world masterpiece that features some of the most immersive and liberating storytelling this industry has to offer. With full freedom to choose V's personality, looks, and gameplay style, Cyberpunk 2077 gives the player an unrelenting amount of control in a world that delivers dozens upon dozens of hours of high-quality content. Cyberpunk 2077 is a mammoth achievement and solidifies CD Projekt RED's place at the top of the pile.
It may not sound like it, but I enjoyed many aspects of Cyberpunk 2077. It doesn't hit the highs of The Witcher 3, but it still has a lot going for it. However, it was released in such an unfinished state that it's hard to give it a positive review. It's an 8.0 game hiding in a 4.0 game wrapper. I might change my tune in a few months, when patches have rolled out, but even when playing the best version available on the PlayStation systems, there's no getting around it: Cyberpunk 2077 might have been mocked for its delays, but it needed more of them. You'll still have fun if you pick it up now, but unless you're dying for it, it's best to wait until it's been patched and improved.
To be clear, I'd still wholly recommend this version of 3D World even without Bowser's Fury. The tweaks are small overall, and Bowser's Fury isn't going to sate the most hardcore of Mario fans looking for a brand new game, but the package as a whole is magical. If you were one of the many who missed out on this Wii U classic, fix that.
You can play a lot of 3D Mario games on your Switch. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury is just as good as any of them. It contains makes the Wii U game feel better than you remember, and the bonus campaign makes the package one of the best ports Nintendo has brought to the Switch.
Despite multiplayer now being online, it still feels superfluous, but otherwise Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury might just be one of those fabled "perfect" games.
Super Mario 3D World remains one of the better linear Mario games, and anyone playing it for the first time is in for an absolute treat. Add to that the curious bonus adventure that is Bowser's Fury and you've got a package that provides great value for money. It isn't without its flaws, but most of these (online multiplayer, repetitive missions in Bowser's Fury) relate to the new additions; the main game itself remains as pure and perfect as it was seven years ago. Had it just been Super Mario 3D World on its own, we'd be thoroughly recommending it anyway; Bowser's Fury is just the cherry on top.
Bowser’s Fury is a short experience – it’ll take a competent player a couple of hours to see all it has to offer, and a few hours more to drive it all the way to 100% completion – but it’s completely worthwhile. It has some great surprises, which is why I talk about it in such generalized terms. Bowser’s Fury would’ve made a great download-only, budget-price stand-alone – so as a bonus included with an already excellent game, its value can’t really be overstated.
This is one of the best platforms in history, and its expansion is by no means a minor content, since at some times it shines with more personality than the original title. In short, an indispensable pack has played the video game on Wii U or not, and one of the most essential works of your Nintendo Switch.
Although Super Mario 3D World is only an implementation for Nintendo Switch, it has not lost any of its charm and ingenuity. The loving optimization for the benefit of the gaming experience, as well as the bonus adventure Bowser's Fury, are convincing across the board and promise fun for up to four players. Even some questionable level designs can hardly tarnish the overall picture.
Super Mario Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury is a package that offers two different ways to experience one of the best 3D Mario adventure, making it ideal for the franchise’s 35th anniversary celebration. There is no doubt that the game is a two-way diversion, able to preserve elements of the past and paint majestic novelties around it, as Bowser Jr. does with his paintbrush in the new and fascinating Bowser’s Fury.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury is an explosive pack. 3D World returns with an improved pace, while retaining the stellar gameplay that characterized it when it first launched, and of course being still as hilarious as it was back then. Bowser's Fury takes the lesson a step further, creating a small and dense open world that will put you to the test with a sense of urgency unlike any other Super Mario game. The result, needless to say, is pure, unadulterated joy.
This package combines tried-and-true gameplay and level design with unique concepts (plus an all-new game) to earn its place among the elite games in the franchise
It´s not one, but two great platformers for Nintendo Switch. One of the greatest Wii U games (with improvement such as online multiplayer and photo mode) and a new Mario 3D game, not as big and ambitious as previous games, but equally fun and full of surprises.
Super Mario 3D World is an excellent game so if you still haven't played it or simply want it on Switch, this will make a wonderful addition to your gaming library. Oh, and you also get a fantastic bonus game with Bowser's Fury so how could you go wrong?
Super Mario 3D World shows why Mario is an ageless franchise, with the seven-year-old game providing fresh fun and a delightful experience. Bowser's Fury is the exact opposite, showing just how exciting and experimental the series can be.
Super Mario 3D is a great game to play solo or with friends and shows off some of Nintendo's best level design yet, while Bowser's Fury is an inventive take on the Mario formula that's more generous with its content than it ought to be. Both games make for a fantastic bundle and should be checked out by fans and non-fans alike.
Overall, this is a fantastic collection of Super Mario games. From the focused and demanding Super Mario 3D World to the more experimental, though still very well executed, open world take for Bowser’s Fury. Both games have a lot to offer and will keep you very busy unlocking their innermost secrets.
Bowser's Fury is much more than just a bonus . Despite it is relatively short, it still feels like a fully fleshed Mario jump and run. Packed with the great main game including the long missed online co-op mode Super Mario 3D World + Bowers's Fury is a must have for every Switch user.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury for Nintendo Switch effectively handles two important tasks: introducing new players to the classic game that came from the Wii U, as well as pleasing hungry fans with new great content. Definitely a must-play for all Super Mario fans!
Thans to its many clever tweaks, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury give the player many reasons to enjoy a great 3D platformer, now a little bit faster, and with friends around the globe online. Let's not forget Bowser's Fury, a tiny open world adventure which rightfully mixes gameplays from the Wii U and Switch episodes, and delivers a strong experience with a twist.
Quirky, creative, and constant good fun, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury blends Mario gameplay old and new with great success, creating a title that feels worthy of his 35th birthday celebrations.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury offers much more than your regular Switch port with a brand new adventure that packs between 5 and 8 hours of great new original content. I loved my time spent in this new open world of Bowser's Fury and going through 3D World a second time sure was a blast. Hopefully, this new package gives the game the second life that it truly deserves.
Simple and immediate, beautiful to see and fun even in multiplayer, Super Mario 3D World is the "what if" of the history of Super Mario. But with obvious limitations compared to Super Mario Odyssey and the other chapters in 3D. Bowser's Fury tries to beat new paths, without avoiding a few slips.
One of the best modern Super Mario titles is made that little bit better and accompanied by a brand-new game that bends the formula in new and exciting ways.
If you've never played 3D World before or haven't touched it since the Wii U days, this is well worth the price of admission. Prospects get a little tougher if you're not interested in going through 3D World, because while Bowser's Fury is amazing, it's still approximately less than 10 hours of gameplay even if you do everything. But no matter what: Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury might be one of the strongest Mario games available on Switch. The base game is fun and varied, while Bowser's Fury offers a distinctive, inventive, and superb open-world 3D Mario experience.
Super Mario 3D World is an incredible and underplayed Wii U adventure that's now available on Switch. But Bowser’s Fury steals the show with its exciting and fresh take on a 3D Mario game.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury is a fantastic package that showcases what makes Nintendo games so special. Super Mario 3D World is just as good as when it released, and Bower's Fury is a surprisingly good standalone adventure that paves the way for the future of Mario.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury is a delightful double act. Super Mario 3D World holds up well, and offers a unique multiplayer experience that works particularly well on Switch. Its opening worlds are designed to cater for that varied audience, while the second half injects some much needed difficulty and is best played solo. Bowser’s Fury is experimental in nature, and offers something completely different with a fully open world housing plenty of Shines to collect at a rapid pace. While neither quite reaches the dizzying heights of Super Mario Galaxy or Odyssey, it is a double dose of Mario doing things differently, and a fitting finale to Super Mario’s 35th anniversary.
Near-perfect platforming, gorgeous visuals and a joy-filled soundtrack make Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury one of the best Mario titles of all time, and an essential purchase for all Switch owners.
Ultimately, Super Mario 3D World, in this package, is the best that game has ever been, with the increased speed and ease of multiplayer access making it far more enticing than ever before. Bowser’s Fury, meanwhile, is essentially the Super Mario Odyssey DLC that never was. It feels like Odyssey’s level and game design sensibilities, but placed in the Super Mario 3D World game engine, with all of the power-ups and quirks that game has to make something truly unique. Putting both of these games in one package is the best decision that Nintendo has made in a long while, as Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury is one of the best Mario offerings available on Nintendo Switch, which is lofty praise given the existence of Super Mario Maker 2. Now it just needs the option to play again, but as Luigi.
I can't really recommend Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury enough. Whether you've played the original game before or not, the addition of online multiplayer is a big win, while Bowser's Fury is a testament to just how pure a Mario game can be while still feeling fresh and exciting. Put simply; this is an essential game for Mario fans.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury is both a welcome return for a platforming classic and a novel expansion of what made the game so special back on the Wii U. There's a solid chance that millions of players missed out on its excellence back in 2013, so now is the perfect time to take it for a spin.
The real star of the show, however, was Bowser’s Fury, which innovates on the foundations laid by previous 3D titles, to provide some of the most enjoyable, open-world platforming I’ve had the pleasure of playing. This is a must-buy for Switch owners and Mario fans alike and is sure to tide you over the next couple of months.
As the title itself indicates, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury proves to be more than just the re-proposal in Nintendo Switch sauce of an exclusive Wii U not particularly lucky: the idea of inserting for once a completely new extra is very appreciable, and you find the ideas inside Bowser's Fury are not lacking at all. While the difference in tone and gameplay between the two games is quite right, the overall superiority of Super Mario 3D World over the new adventure is also evident, which ends up being an appendix or little more. The effect is that of a very solid pairing, which once again celebrates the undisputed supremacy of the Great N in the platforming field.
Super Mario 3D World has aged quite well. It is still a very enjoyable adventure, updated in its rhythm and different enough from Super Mario Odyssey for those who came to Switch without going through Wii U to discover it. The big surprise is Bowser's Fury, which transcends the concept of simple DLC and adds mechanics and novelties of epic dimensions.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury is an excellent case for why Nintendo should be porting more Wii U games to the Switch. With its improved presentation and the convenience of the Switch, this is definitely the optimal way to play Super Mario 3D World, even without much in the way of new features. Bowser’s Fury is also an excellent open-world Mario mini-adventure, which is probably worth the price of admission on its own. Admittedly, the multiplayer features some camera issues, particularly in Bowser’s Fury. However, that should not stop Mario fans of all ages from checking out Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury, especially if they missed out on this much loved platformer the first time around.
Super Mario 3D World may not have had much added to it aside from an online function that is limited to only saving progress for the host, but it didn't necessarily need much else. Nintendo successfully found a way to evolve the 2D classics without going open world, and the result is one of the most consistently fresh and enjoyable games around, which, despite lacking the challenge of the NES games, has something for just about everyone. The bonus Bowser's Fury solo adventure is an absolute delight with a brilliant core idea that adds a crazy tension to Mario platforming, but it is hard to present a case for purchasing this pack just to play it. Whilst full of great content, it is too short-lived to feel worth the asking price, and really needs a standalone purchase option. When taking both games into account for those that have not played the original Wii U title, though, this is a cracking bundle of Mario goodness that encapsulates what everyone knows and still loves about the moustachioed hero after an enduring thirty-five years.
Bowser's Fury offers some great new ideas and is much more than a simple DLC. It's a great Mario game in its own right, with enough to entice those who played 3D World before with a wholly new and compelling experience, as well as offering one of the most epic showdowns in Nintendo history. Bowser's Fury is a great take on 3D Mario and finally makes Bowser the menacing villain he deserves to be. The game's only flaw is that it left me wishing there was more of it.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury is the Wii U port that Switch owners have been waiting for. Besides the inclusion of online multiplayer, 3D World is the same good game that players already experienced on the Wii U, and fans of the series who missed it the first time around will enjoy its hybridization of 2D and 3D Mario gameplay. But the highlight of the package is Bowser's Fury, a scaled-down but surprisingly robust mini 3D Mario game that actually takes some chances.
Glyph brings together the simplest form of platforms and puzzles in one package. It is an entertaining experience that shines for its simplicity. Although it falls short in scope, it fulfills the most important thing: is fun to play.
Even with the Bowser’s Fury miss, the content is worth it. If you want one of the best and most versatile multiplayer experiences to date for the Nintendo Switch, online or offline, go with Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury.
I don’t think Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury annoys me as much as it did on the Wii U, since the Switch already has the best Mario ever made on it; and I do think there is fun to be had with these games, even though I find them to be fairly frustrating. I would still recommend them if you enjoyed the originals, or maybe wanted to play them with younger gamers. Even though I might not go back to it very often, I don’t regret the time spent with it.
Bowser’s Fury works just fine as an added bonus packaged with an under-appreciated platforming gem from the Wii U era. If you’ve never played 3D World before, this is a great chance to catch up on a fresh take on 3D Mario design. If you’re mainly interested in Bowser’s Fury, though, maybe wait until the strong ideas get expanded into a full, standalone game.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury might include the same game that was on the Wii U but it's also a title that needs to be experienced by everyone who owns a Nintendo Switch.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury is essentially the same game on Switch that some of you may have experienced on Wii U. While there’s no denying that the new hardware can’t keep up with the game’s ambitions at times, this bundle is at its core another fantastic Mario experience.
[English Football] How a youtube channel revolutionised fan engagement while turning one of England's biggest clubs into a laughing stock
Apologies for the delay in getting this one out. I had a spell of writer's block which I fixed with some cricket writing earlier this week. Welcome to the English Football Hobbydrama series, a deep dive into some of the petty feuds, arguments, drama, and shithousery in the Home of Footballtm. The first six episodes covered Nottingham Forest's 21st century woes, the dickpic that consigned Notts County to the non-league, a reignited rivalry between Derby County and Leeds United, Stoke City's legendary shithouse era, the English Golden Generation of the 00s descending into farce, and Wimbledon FC's controversial relocation to Milton Keynes. A Scottish Football spin-off also explored the story of Rangers' liquidation. Today we have the first instalment focusing on one of the 'big clubs' of the Premier League, I have generally focused this series on clubs which don't have worldwide fame and fanbases, but the drama is just too spicy to ignore. Welcome to the wild ride of Arsenal Fan TV Background - The Establishment Club Arsenal long enjoyed a reputation as a staid yet respectable club, part of the furniture in the First Division. They are the long serving top flight club, being continuously in that division since the end of the First World War. Arsenal is also the record FA Cup winner, winning it 14 times (and being the current holders), along with being London's most successful club in terms of time spent in the top flight and domestic trophies in a sport where clubs from Northern England have historically punched above their geographic weight. After 'glory years' in the 1930s the club tottered along in the top flight, generally able to finish in the top-half most years and enjoy frequent cup success, but generally not winning the League title often. Arsenal won six titles from 1930-48 (a period including six years of no official league football), and then won the title only twice between 1948 and 1989. During this period Arsenal were widely seen as the 'good guys', a classy club who represented a slightly moralistic and small-C conservative way of going about things, playing fairly and treating others well without being unduly worried about winning titles. The headlines of 1950s-80s English football belonged to drama merchants such as Leeds United, Liverpool, and Brian Clough's two East Midland clubs, not to the rather quiet perennial First Division participants from North London. All this changed in the later 1980s, with Arsenal winning the 1989 and 1991 League titles under George Graham, with the 1989 title being decided in a legendary final-day match against title contenders Liverpool. Suddenly Arsenal were in the limelight as they achieved things like the 1993 FA Cup/League Cup double or winning the 1994 European Cup Winner's Cup. Graham left in 1995, embroiled in a bribery scandal, while his successor lasted less than a year. Arsenal's 1996 managerial appointment would define the club for a generation. The aptly named Arsene Wenger was a mercurial aesthete of the game with strong views on how football should be played. He strongly advocated for attractive and attacking football in a league where the more old-fashioned playing styles popular in England still dominated, and he signed a substantial number of players from his native France as Arsenal became one of the first teams to have a substantial playing contingent not from the four British 'Home Nations' or the Republic of Ireland. Wenger's Arsenal is remembered for the 'Invincible' season of 2003-04, when Arsenal became the first club ever to go unbeaten in a 38 game season (the only previous 'Invincible' season, that of Preston North End in 1888-89, was in a smaller league with a 22 game season). They had won two League titles (those of 1998 and 2002) before this legendary season, as well as three FA Cups and two League Cups and being the losing finalists of the 2000 UEFA Cup, but this was definitely Arsenal's peak achievement under Wenger. Arsenal won the 2005 FA Cup and became the first London team to reach a Champion's League final in 2006 (losing to Barcelona), but generally the flurry of honours under Wenger slowed. By 2012 Arsenal had not won a trophy since the 2005 FA Cup and many fans started to feel the magic was dying off. Fortunately for them, they were to gain a legendary platform to air their views Enter Robbie Robbie Lyle had worked in media as a presenter on BBC radio specialising in reggae music but now found himself working as a surveyor. In late 2012 he, and a cameraman, set up a youtube channel called ArsenalFanTV, pioneering the concept of fan-led football punditry. When interviewed in a Vice piece some years later Robbie explained his concept
We’ve all had enough of the so-called pundits, most of whom aren’t even at the games. So I started my own channel to hear from the real fans, with real opinions. That was my aim with the site.
Robbie's idea was simple, but infectious. Give fans a platform for banter, rants, and hot takes, and the content would essentially create itself. Football punditry had long sought to maintain a light-hearted approach with a lot of banter in order to appeal to a generally young and male audience, but nobody had yet proposed to essentially set up a camera crew outside the ground for any supporter to say their piece and have it broadcast. In the channel's early days it acquired an eclectic stable of presenters and contributors, all of whom had their own 'gimmick'
Mr DT - contributor known for usually wearing a snapback and his anti-Wenger rants
Troopz - Best known for speaking in a strong 'Multicultural London English' accent
Claude - Older man known for aggressive rants about Arsene Wenger and the club's performance generally
TY - Always wearing a large amount of Arsenal merchandise, often willing to defend the club's management
The differing views on the club created a good dynamic for generating youtube drama. See this compilation of Ty and Claude as Ty tends towards optimism while Claude maintains a pessimistic outlook epitomised by his catchphrase 'it's time to go'. For the first few years Robbie's concept ticked over, with his microphone becoming a standard feature at a certain spot near the Arsenal ground after matches, ready for fans to deliver the latest hot takes, but it wasn't until 2016 that things really took off. It's Time To Go Arsenal finished second in the 2015-16 Premier League, but the trophy drought since Wenger's success days had started to bite. The 2016-17 season was worse for Arsenal on the pitch as they failed to finish in the top four places (important for qualification to European competitions), but it was also the season that ArsenalFanTV gained real notoriety and exposure in the mainstream media. DT from ArsenalFanTV started flying these banners at matches, drawing attention to the section of the Arsenal fanbase who wanted to part with Arsene Wenger, in contrast to those such as Ty who wanted him to stay. After a promising enough start to the 2016-17 season, results flagged and Arsenal appeared on course for their first finish outside the top four since the 1990s. Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville criticised the atmosphere around ArsenalFanTV in February 2017, the first major pundit to directly address the channel and what they perceived as a sensationalist drive towards rants which attracted views. A piece the following week in the Guardian asked whether these channels really did appeal towards supporters of those clubs, or perhaps gained popularity through notoriety and a steady stream of car-crash moments and on-screen drama. The strongest ranters, such as Troopz, lent themselves so easily to compilation videos highlighting only the hottest of their takes, and people from fanbases sought to get on in the action. ArsenalFanTV-inspired imitator created viral videos such as this of a Manchester United supporter. 2017 went from bad to worse as Arsenal Fan TV took part in a video collaboration with the tabloid paper The Sun. Any sort of work with The Sun is, to put it mildly, contentious amongst football supporters. In the wake of the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster when a combination of poor policing and a dangerously unsafe ground lead to a crush which killed 96 Liverpool supporters the Sun had printed various falsehoods about Liverpool supporters at the match, and it has been subject to a boycott ever since by supporters of both Merseyside clubs and to a lesser extent those supporters of other English clubs who sympathised with Liverpool's plight. In all fairness to Robbie, he deleted the video and apologised, but more high-profile drama and scandal was to come. Arsenal actually won the 2017 FA Cup final, their first piece of silverware since 2014. Had Wenger turned a corner, and finally won over the fans spewing hot takes over the internet? Of course not, things were only just starting for ArsenalFanTV The players get involved Hector Bellerin, the Spanish fullback, became the first Arsenal player to speak openly. He was the first ever Premier League player invited to speak at the Oxford Union, the debating society of Oxford University with a strong track record in attracting speakers from the highest avenues of public life for its members. Bellerin essentially questioned whether the youtubers were real fans and suggested that, although players have long learnt to avoid social media, they were making money from resentment and failure at Arsenal. At about this point, many supporters of other clubs asked 'what failure?'. Arsenal had won an FA Cup the season before Bellerin's comments, regularly qualified for European competitions, and won a huge array of domestic titles within the living memory of most supporters. The 'resentment' became perceived as one grounded in entitlement and a failure to appreciate blessings that the majority of English clubs do not have. Clubs wax and wane, and there are formerly successful clubs in far worse straits than Arsenal (such as Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday, and Derby County) yet it was not those clubs who gained notoriety through a youtube channel aimed at allowing fans to air their views and grievances. Nonetheless, the show continued throughout 2017-18, a season which saw Arsenal once again qualify for the less prestigious Europa League rather than the Champion's League. In August 2018, the channel rebranded to AFTV, with the club seeming no longer willing to allow the channel to occupy the space it did and use the Arsenal name in full. The last two seasons The Europa League wasn't so bad for Arsenal. They made it to the final, as the world enjoyed the irony of two London clubs being forced to play their final in Azerbaijan owing to that country's greater willingness to pay backhanders to UEFA. It wasn't so good for AFTV. A contributor, Lee Gunner, talked about donations made and profiting over an Arsenal loss when his microphone had been left on over half time. Lee was removed from the channel and never appeared again, but the episode did little to dispel suspicions that the channel was a grift. This period also saw an interesting story where AFTV influenced the club. Striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang developed a close relationship with Troopz from AFTV, appearing on the show several times and inviting Troopz to watch games in an executive box at the ground until Arsenal's hierarchy put a stop to this. Granit Xhaka had been stripped of the captaincy after telling fans to 'fuck off' for booing him in a home draw to Crystal Palace, with Aubayemang being his replacement, a decision which rankled with fans owing to his connections to AFTV which had been perceived as having a vendetta against Xhaka. A blog piece accused Robbie Lyle of profiting from Arsenal fans' toxicity, interestingly accusing fans who believed in a media vendetta against Arsenal for being too London-centric, journalism in the UK is highly centred on upper-middle class Londoners who naturally write about clubs they are more likely to support, such as Arsenal, Chelsea, or Tottenham Hotspur. At the backend of 2019, Robbie had a police escort out of Goodison Park, not to protect him from Everton fans, but from Arsenal fans angered by his presence. It probably didn't help matters that one of Robbie's biggest defenders was Piers Morgan, a man almost universally reviled in Britain for his unscrupulous time as a tabloid newspaper editor. Even with COVID, could 2020 gives us a bit more drama? Of course it could. The lack of fans outside grounds reduced the amount of hot fan takes on offer from AFTV, but Claude was sacked from the channel in the summer of 2020 for referring to Korean footballer Heung-Min Son as a 'DVD' during a game against Tottenham Hotspur, this is apparently a slur in some parts of London for East Asian people who are stereotypically associated with selling bootleg films at markets. Given Arsenal's status as possibly one of the most cosmopolitan fanbases in Britain (a consequence of playing in Britain's most multiracial area) and Robbie Lyle's admirable work talking about racism in football, for a longstanding contributor to leave on such terms was perhaps more sad than anything. Conclusion What have we learnt from this? AFTV has changed the game of fan engagement in the era of social media. We all have opinions, and the more colourful ones definitely do well with online algorithms that promote the divisive 'hot takes', causing an arms race of extreme views as channels and presenters seek to outdo each other. Personally? I find it difficult to feel too much sympathy for supporters of a club that remains one of the big players and has given their fans more in the last three years than my own club has achieved in the last generation. But we are all passionate about our clubs, and for better or worse, AFTV pioneered giving fans a viral platform.
DisclaimerI want to thank everyone for the gilds, replies and suggestions. I just do not have time to reply to everyone, but I am reading everything. I am not sure how much bigger the thread can be, I already typed this but it vanished so I think I'm at the limit. I will try to keep updating, but I don't expect the thread to be up top for much longer and will likely vanish soon, so if you need anything save it. Yes, it's hard, it sucks, it's depressing. It is something we all have to do if you want to see this virus go. Everyone knows the deal, too many think they're the exception but no one is. However, staying home is hard so maybe I can help at least one or two people with some incentives. I'll try to give links to some things that can help cure the boredom, and some support if you need it. Most of this might be obvious to some, some might not even have internet and of course, money is a big issue, so I'll try to give some suggestions: For streaming and on demand things such as Netflix et al, don't forget you can subscribe for free for your first month. This goes for most things in the list. If you are worried about putting in your payment details and forgetting to cancel a month later, don't worry! You can sign up and immediately cancel and you still get your free month! For people who don't have a smart TV, you can buy a cheap Amazon Fire TV stick or a Roku box. The Fire stick can go as low as £20 often for 1080p. It will drop to £30 for 4k. I picked up a 4k Roku device for £18 on Amazon once. It's fast and snappy. currently it's going for £33 for the 4k version. Having both, there is little difference between the devices. NowTV also do their own roku powered device. Subscription based streaming sites that all offer 2-4 weeks free for first timers
Netflix *According to comments the second month is free.
Amazon Prime You can either get Amazon video on its own, or take prime with other benefits. I strongly urge those who use Amazon for buying off their store front to use [https://smile.amazon.co.uk/] as there is literally no difference except everything you buy amazon donates to a charity of your choice.
Amazon channels. I believe you can get all these individually but Amazon offers them as channels bound to your prime account, and they are again either free for a couple weeks (again, take them, cancel instantly) or very cheap. I recently subscribed to Starzplay for £1 for 3 months. It has some good shows on it like Fringe, doom patrol. It also has channels like Curiosity stream and shudder
If you have not subscribed to the any of the above, you can get a few months of free TV by signing up and cancelling instantly. I suggest waiting at least 5 minutes just to let it go through the system. Some tips for Now TV. IF you already have a subscription, I've noticed you can get it cheaper by cancelling. When you cancel they will beg you to stay. Select "I can not afford it this month" and they should beg again, telling you what shows they have. If you say you still want to cancel, they'll beg one last time and offer you the subscription for cheaper. This won't work every month, but I've noticed they'll always offer it the first time, then again after a couple months. If you're subscribed to both films and entertainment do the most expensive one as it may not work both times (but it might!). You can also pick up passes from storefronts a lot cheaper sometimes, before I could pick one up on Amazon for £3 but, they seem to have cracked down on it. If you shop around (or if anyone knows of a legitimate store please let me know) you might be able to pick it up cheaper. Lastly, check their website and under your account they should have an "offers for you" section. Completely free TV
If you do have a smart TV and/or device, there are some good free streaming apps. One I really love is called PlutoTV. I know this is on both Roku and the fire stick, as well as Ps4/Ps5 and xbox. Pluto offers a bunch of live channels and now an on demand section, all for free. It has adverts but they are actually short (shorter than regular TV and fewer of them). Some of the channels are just streaming certain shows like Mythbusters 24/7 or Dog the bounty hunter, but it has a lot of old movie channels as well as 24/7 kickboxing and MMA. It also has a 24/7 poker channel I quite like. Another one I like is Rakuten Viki however, I haven't watched it for a while as my fire stick is only 1080p and I have too many other devices attached. I believe it is on Roku but you have to jump through some hoops and have an account. The last I checked on the fire stick you did not. Viki offers a metric ton of Asian shows, mainly from Japan and South Korea but it does have chinese, Malaysian etc. It has subtitles. Some Japanese shows are hysterical, albeit weird. Roku also do their own channels with free shows if you own a device. For those who don't have a smart TV or a Streaming device, you can set up your own computer as a dedicated streaming device with Plex. It's been a while since I used it but I believe it now also offers free movies and TV. Anime If you are into Anime there is
The first 2 are free to watch, or offer premium without ads which you can have a trial with. Crunchyroll is the better of the two with more original choice for Japanese voice and subs, while Funimation has more Dubs. I don't believe HiDive is free to watch but you do get a 2 week trial. These are more exclusives than the previous two. PC Centric software If you are a gamer or like Audiobooks or anything that uses computers for things like music making, programming or graphic design
Humble Bundle offers, as per the name, bundles. A long running site that got bought out by IGN. It offers both single items and bundles you can buy individually/as a pack while also offering a separate monthly subscription for around £8-9. The subscription gives you 12 games on average per month. That's the simplest explanation but it changes somewhat as sometimes you get to pick 10 out of 14 games, or get all 12. Humble bundle offers more than just games though. Every Tuesday they bring a new bundle of games, while Thursday (I "think) a new bundle of books. They very often have books from the Black Library giving you a ton of Warhammer books. Sometimes it's standard E-books, other times it's audiobooks. A few times a year they do bundles for graphic design, a typical bundle would include programs like Paintshop Pro Corel Painter etc, They usually go for £0.76 for tier 1 up to around £18 for tier 3, which would include 4-6 full titles with 10+ addons. They also often have Music making bundles or video editing software as well as Programming or video game development. The bundles change often, they usually have around 11 bundles at a time that last for 20 days. Sometimes it's trash but they do often have some very good deals. Fanatical offers the same as humble bundle except usually not as high quality, but sometimes they do have some incredible deals, and they are very very cheap. Both humble and fanatical are safe, trusted and been around a long time, and they are NOT grey market key sites. They work with the publishers and developers. You can buy games both old and new for a lot cheaper than you would most other places. Unless it states otherwise, keys are usually for steam. **BOTH HB and Fanatical (HB much more common) offer free games fairly often. The catch is linking your steam account to them (at least HB). It is safe however. IndieGala is another site like above. Except, these are much much lower quality. However, they offer a metric ton of free games. Quality is low but it is legitimate, and a lot of free stuff. Game Store Fronts
Steam This one is so obvious I didn't add it, but apparently many want me to. It is the best out there, and you can find almost everything, with fantastic deals.
Greenmangaming offers games cheaply. Again, not a grey market site (which are legal but unethical) and they sometimes do bundles.
GoG (Good old games) is a DRM free site run by CDPR, the makers of the Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk. They offer you games quite cheap and not needing DRM (such as Steam, Uplay etc which is less invasive versions of dodgy DRM from the olden days).
Epic Games Despite the controversy whether you care about their rivalry with valve, they offer free games ever week. Without ever having bought anything I have gained over 170 games. literally. Good games for the most part. They often give you £10 coupons as well.
Twitch Everyone knows twitch, but if you don't, it's a streaming service for watching gamers and girls with low cut tops accidentally bending over in front of the game. However, if you're signed up to prime, you get free games each month (and randomly between the set bunch).
Playstation Store Currently has January sales. Currently the free games for PS+ are for PS4: Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Greedfall. For the Ps5 it is Maneater
Games with GoldBleed 2 and the King of Fighters XIII is available until Janurary 15th whilst little Nightmares is available until January 31st.
Gaming Subscriptions Like the TV versions, you can sign up to these for a free trial (or very cheap). If you do sign up to only one at a time, it should keep you busy for a few months
Xbox Game Pass You can do this on both/either an Xbox or PC. If you sign up to the regular one, you can get a month (maybe three!) for £1. After you have done that, you can sign up to the premium version for 3 months at £1 a month. Most people know game pass, but you can download a large selection of games for free. The premium version gives you games with gold, allowing you to keep the games forever (but can only play with a subscription)
Ubisoft+ I'm not 100% sure if you get a trial or not. This allows a large collection of Ubisoft titles to play for £12.99 a month. Quite expensive but good if you like Ubisoft titles I guess.
EA Play EA's version. Goes by a ton of names I think, EA Access, EA Play, Origin Access etc etc. There's a couple of versions of this, and it is across all platforms (PS4/5, Xbox, PC) but not sure about the switch. I "think" the premium allows you to play on all platforms, while the cheaper one on a single platform, but I may be mistaken.
PS Now a once terrible service that is now actually very good. Allows you to download some Ps4 games to your PS4/5 and lets you stream a massive amount of Ps2/3/4 to your PC or playstation.
There's more like nvidia's service but you need the Shield device which is quite expensive. I'll leave it at that. Audiobooks & Ebooks
Audible Not sure what the current deal is but if you are a prime member you can sign up for a trial and get a free Audiobook each month for 3 months. Some warhammer books are 48 hours long, 3 of those gives you a good 100+ hours of listening!
Comixology Another Amazon company, but lets you download some free comics I believe.
Sign LanguageBSL here No experience myself, suggested by n21brown and asked for a few times. Didn't know SL was so popular! Listed as "Pay what you can"
BBC's Bitesizehere is apparently good for home learning. Again, no personal experience.
If you need some spare change Okay, I don't generally bother with it, but maybe some of this could be useful to you. These are NOT a quick way to make a fortune. These are small things you can do over time for a bit of pocket change
If you have prime you can get a FREE FIVE POUND GIFT CARD by literally just streaming a song from Amazon music (which is included in prime) here is the detailsAccording to the comments it's only for select people, but it's worth trying If the link doesn't work for you just google "Amazon £5 coupon music"
Now, these sorts of sites have been around for years, I haven't used any other than talkInsights which I must have signed up to 10-15 years ago. Basically they send you surveys and you answer them. They are confidential and don't ask for personal details in the survey. You need 2000 points and you get £20. During the pandemic they've slowed down but I probably get around £40 a year. Not much I know, but it's an email followed by a quick survey ticking boxes. Depending on your answer sometimes you get screened out, I'm not telling you to lie but just be consistent with your answers and you should be able to work out how to not get screened. Some emails are only worth 20 points, others 200. It's slow to get to the 2000 but very quick to just answer a few questions.
Apparently beermoneyuk is a good sub to make some pocket change with.
There is also matched betting. I have never done this, I don't have the patience but from what I've read, it's legitimate, it works and you can make a fair amount of cash from it so long as you do it correctly, and there's a ton of guides. I mention this because people stuck at home could get into it and as long as you're careful (I.E not entering in the wrong numbers) it's risk free AND it pisses off the betting shops. It seems people in comments have had success with it. Disclaimer A couple have complained about gambling. This arguably is not gambling. If you are susceptible to addiction do not do it. However, it's argued that there is no fun or buzz in this, and it's a very tedious and time consuming thing. Others argue you can't make the same money anymore (People were making thousands, now only hundreds if that). It's risk free providing you know what you're doing, the risks are user error, such as entering the wrong numbers. Someone pointed out that due to the lockdown, bets could potentially be cancelled due to sport stopping. So use on a side of caution. We're (mainly) adults so I'll leave it up just because this doesn't have the excitement of regular gambling.
Microsoft Rewards This is an easy way to make pocket change doing very little. Most people have a MS account. The rewards program offers you numerous ways to grab points, by playing free to play games, answering small questions (you don't even need to answer most of the time, just open the link and shut it) and by using bing and searching on it. I've gotten 20k points JUST by answering questions over a couple months. There are many rewards but you can grab a £5 gift card for 6k for example, or a month of game pass (and AFAIK you can make points playing the games)
Google rewards Someone mentioned this in the comments. I have not used it, so can not give any input on it. Sounds similar to TalkInsights which I linked. Google states "Complete short surveys while standing in line, or waiting for a subway. Get rewarded with Google Play or PayPal credit for each one you complete. Topics include everything from opinion polls, to hotel reviews, to merchant satisfaction surveys. We’ll notify you when a survey is waiting."
That's it for now. I will try to update as I go along. A long post but I hope that it can help some of you with finding something good to do that's free, cheap or a bargain. I do suggest getting prime, especially since you get free music, free delivery, free TV and music and free video games each month. In fact, there's a ton of perks and I feel I've gotten way over the cost investment. Hope it helps someone at least PartTimeCrazy said if you bought an Apple product you get 3 free months of Apple Arcade and Apple TV free for a year fakehunted is upset I didn't mention wanking. Tesco have 225 sheets of Tissue for £0.75! tale_lost suggested Project Gutenberg for a collection of free E-Books Learning Language Unfortunately, I don't have time to check every link listed so I will link the comments: TogtogtogGives a lot of links for Spanish
Board & Tabletop games Corporal_Anaesthetic has made a list of Board games ilyemco suggested these HEALTH I'm not a doctor! But if you're a smoker, something I strongly suggest is to quit. I struggled for years but in the first lockdown I quit, technically. I haven't had a cigarette since, however, I do that silly thing millennials do. I vape, but, it made quitting extremely easy. I would not have been able to do it if it wasn't for 88Vape They sell extremely cheap liquids at £1 each. You can find these in B&M but you can pick up 25 for £20 or buy your own mix. Vitamin D deficiency has been said to be a big problem for the virus. I'd suggest (again, not a doctor!) that you pick some up. Tesco do a 3 for 2 deal. So you can pick up 270 tablets for £7. If you are vulnerable you MIGHT be able to phone tesco and get put on their delivery saver list (currently it's paused but phoning may help. At the very least they might give you a priority slot. I did this for my mum, we didn't shop at Tesco but I phoned for her, and they put her on with no hassle, so she can always get a delivery. HELP & ADVICE The lockdown Rules. Reasons to leave home include:
Work or volunteering where it is "unreasonable" to work from home. This includes work in someone else's home, such as that carried out by social workers, nannies, cleaners and tradespeople
Education, training, childcare and medical appointments and emergencies
Exercise outdoors (limited to once a day). This includes meeting one other person from another household in an open public space to exercise
Shopping for essentials such as food and medicine
Communal religious worship
Meeting your support or childcare bubble. Children can also move between separated parents Activities related to moving house
I want to add, if you are in danger you are also allowed (and must!) to get away from the situation for some reason, BBC seems to have missed this very important thing (or I am blind)
FOR THOSE SHIELDING YOU CAN CONTACT THEROYAL VOLUNTARY SERVICE. These people helped my mother with picking up her medicine from the chemist. They were very helpful and went out their way to keep in touch and do it immediately. (It's the only experience I have with them though) _riotingpacifist wanted these links added, but I simply just don't have the time to vet and check all the suggestions here, so I will link as is:
Krita Arguably the best in my opinion. It has a load of options, brushes and a decent UI. It works fantastic with a tablet.
Gimp This is a decent program but last I used, the UI was a pain, and it isn't so user friendly while misses features, but it works, and it is possible to do some incredible creations on it.
Medibang Paint This is slightly geared towards Comics and Manga. I really enjoy using this with my drawing Tablet. As far as I know, it also for regular tablets for Android/Ipad and is free.
You can pick up a drawing tablet on Amazon quite cheap these days! Small ones that are just a black slate such as the wacom ones are good but takes some practice to get use to, but very worth it if you can't afford a dedicated drawing tablet with a screen. Office suit software A couple of free applications for word processing, spreadsheets etc.
LibreOfficeThis has most the average user would need to write their own books or to work from home. There's not a huge amount of difference between the two I'm linking (since I last used anyway) so it's more for preference.
Open Office You can pick this up here and again, like above it's just preference.
Music Making I'm going to direct to matthewharris806 for some links as all the programs I've used like Reason are expensive, or cheaper stuff in bundles such as Magix software. Games development D_Dad_Default gives some links for that here
Skyrefuge. The CEO we never asked for that showed up one day to reorganize the company, made us all prove "what we bring to the organization." He is also our editor in chief, micromanager, tax expert, social media manager, psychologist, lead researcher, recording engineer and proofreader
He showed up 30 days ago. There are so many posts. This is a TINY subset of his responses, I'm not going to comment on them all. This person literally posts all day every day and night. I am so sorry you guys have been subjected to somebody so completely removed from how to properly socially interact with people. The level of narcissism is something I have never seen on reddit before. I will never cheat on you guys with /wallstreetbets again! I'm so sorry you had to deal with this. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I'm just unusually good at Internet-based digging (I've been doing it for 25 years). I'm the one friends come to when they're dating someone new, etc." - yeah, we nipped that in the bud earlier. have several seats. "I figured people here would value the amount of unique info I dig up, but I guess if I accidentally discover any info that would force them to adjust the model of Hilaria that's already solidified inside their brains, they'd prefer to not hear anything new at all." - value you lmao "Here's one where I dug up some first-person comments from people who knew her as Hillary, that had never been reported before." - nope, we had all that on DCUM. "Yes, Alec donating $1M does reduce his wealth by less than $1M. But it reduces his wealth by more than not donating anything would. If wealth-maximization was his only goal, he'd donate $0." -- thank god we have you to explain the complicated math that is tax brackets and writeoffs. "Alec donates millions to non-profits (via the foundation) every year, since long before Hilaria (it was just "the ABF" until recently). I've looked at their IRS filings, and it seems to be a legitimate, well-operated foundation, not doing anything shady for tax purposes." - We know how much he donates. It's online. We didn't need the IRS filings, clearly. "I gave *you* the link to the clearinghouse, I have the link to the clearinghouse, and neither of us (nor anyone else on this site) checked it! So we both have first-hand experience showing that "giving someone the link to something" doesn't mean a damn thing. Anyone can send an email about anything to the NYT requesting a correction, the fact that they did so is not indicative of anything." "I somewhat believe Flat_Slide_5680 did actually speak to someone at the registrar's office, but given the sloppiness with details and repeated mistakes in their posts, I agree with you that the likely scenario is that they just never gave the correct name to the registrar to look up, and so "we couldn't find a person who doesn't exist" isn't positive proof of anything." - WHAT THE FUCK?! You do NOT get to come in my subreddit and act like you are the editor of the damn Wall Street Journal berating an intern. "In your original post, you say she was under "Hilaria Lynn Thomas". Here you say it was "Hilaria Haywood-Thomas". And the latter is definitely not, nor has it ever been, her last name! Not improving my confidence in your credibility here." - See above. "Forgive me if I still have more trust in the New York Times over an anonymous Reddit user, but we're going to need better receipts from you than that." -We? Who is we?? Are we turning something in? When is it due? "Since you don't believe me, let's see what the Linguistic Society has to say on the matter:" -my god you are insufferable "You should have been following all my comments more closely. ;-)". - No shit, you would have been banned a month ago. "Making a charitable donation reduces the amount of your income subject to tax, it doesn't stand in as an alternative to paying tax. And it doesn't carry over. In order to "not owe taxes", you would need to donate 100% of your income, and keep $0 for yourself. Even then, there's nothing that would carry over to the next year." - here we go again. "See my comment here for more details on how a tax-deduction actually works." - bye felicia "No, nothing is weird about that at all. Your lack-of-understanding is making you see conspiracy where it doesn't exist." - No wonder you aren't a member of any other subbreddit. "But I do appreciate that you recognize (unlike so many others here) that her social-media influencer antics are not at all unusual for that field, and not the reason why Hilaria is a story." -I appreciate that you recognize you will never see the inside of this subreddit ever again. "The Tax Map Parcel ID is 0300150000100001014 and the unofficial address is 361 Town Ln, Amagansett, NY, in case anyone can search a more-private MLS database or something like that. Where are my real-estate wonks?" - My god, what do you need the real estate listing for. Do you want me to do a title search too? How about a notarized copy of the deed? "Before the sub devolved into a den filled with simple-minded dehumanizing Hilaria-haters, we used to get great info like this from people who knew the human Hilaria. Unfortunately that's mostly dried up, probably at least in part because people find this place too gross to associate themselves with it." - BITCH YOU GOT HERE 4 WEEKS AGO When asked about how recording a podcast works we are treated to this: "My experience was ~20 years ago, so hopefully enough knowledge would have trickled out by now, especially as recording techniques have continued to evolve and become democratized, that nothing that was surprising then would be particularly surprising anymore. But back then (especially in the rock/metal world I was in), everyone liked to envision the whole band rocking out together, and the engineer would just hit "record". No, in most cases, each guy sits alone and records his instrument all by himself (or maybe even one guy records both guitar and bass, but two guys get credited; especially the the "bass player" has great hair for the band photo, but kinda sucks at playing bass). Similarly, if the guitar part for a verse gets recorded, no need to play the whole song through, just copy and paste that part for the next verse. And then of course run auto-tune to correct the pitches of everything. So all stuff that was hardly "secret", even back then, but things people generally avoided learning about. Once upon a time I was peripherally involved in the music industry, so that's what really opened my eyes to "things are not as they seem". Sitting in a recording studio while an album is being recorded makes you realize "the fans have NO idea what really goes on in here". And more than that, I learned that most fans don't want to know the truth about their favorite band, because if they did, it really doesn't take much effort to see the various subterfuges going on behind the curtain. Unfortunately I was out of that biz before the explosion of the Influencer Economy, so like you, I wish I had more direct insight into that particular domain. I've always tried to pick up whatever factual information people would publicly reveal, but while I've read endorsement deals and recording contracts in the music biz, I've never seen one in this domain." - Sorry your shitty 80's hair band didn't get signed. Sounds like that autotune was working pretty hard. And once again, check yourself. Butch walker is a good friend of mine, he bought my friend's recording studio in atlanta. He has a book called Drinking With Strangers. You can learn from that. In the meantime, the question was about a podcast. "Beware, checaco3 claims all sorts of things that we have no evidence for. They claimed 5 days ago to have a screenshot of a website where Hilaria's parents said they "were able to move to Spain AND start their business with a Generous Donation From HABF Foundation", but thus far have failed to produce said screenshot. I don't think it's malicious, it seems to just be a mis-remembering/mis-interpretation of different things that they saw." -FAILED TO PRODUCE A SCREENSHOT? is there some reason they are required to give you one?? malicious? dude, you have serious issues. and a lot of nerve "We are on the same team! That's why I'm giving you the links to archive.org, to help you figure out how to find the evidence that Hilaria's parents were able to move to Spain AND start their business with a Generous Donation From HABF Foundation. And I really want to see the screenshot you have, because that would be some really good evidence of shadiness that hasn't been exposed yet! Is there anything I can do to help you find it? Do you need help searching your computer's drive?"-Nobody is required to give you dick so stop asking. "But you had a screenshot, so them changing their website wouldn't matter. Did your computer die or something?" -what is your problem? "Their website has changed formats over the years, but the content appears to have largely remained the same. You can use archive.org to find the evidence you're looking for in the old versions." -When did we hire a project manager in this sub?? "Here's an August 2020 version that looks just like the current website, but you can go back all the way to 2014 if you need to. https://web.archive.org/web/20200803124231/https://internationalintegrators.org/". -is there some reason you are assigning work to my redditors? "Since you research charities to gauge their quality, you surely must be familiar with IRS 990 forms?" -Is this how you talk to people in real life? No wonder you work in computer hardware. Nobody wants to deal with listening to you. "BTW, have you found that screenshot yet showing Hilaria's parents were able to move to Spain AND start their business with a Generous Donation From HABF Foundation? I'll help you shout that news from the rooftops if you can find it again." -Bring this up one more time. I dare you. "For this theory to have any legs, I think you need to show evidence of a school transfer at some point. I don't believe we have that?" -I am so sorry you guys, I will never leave this sub alone again. "It's all explained here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2350777/Twitter-time-bug-Alec-Baldwins-wifes-funeral-tweets-led-actor-unleashing-homophobic-rant.html" "I'm not blaming you for getting it wrong or anything; being aware of the original (wrong) story and but not the later correction is a totally normal thing, I was just taking your post as an opportunity to make people more aware of the correction." - I'm going to make you aware of what a dick you are by getting you banned from DCUM too. "Where in the article does it say that the horse rescue charges $1500 a month. It explicitly says the opposite, that the $1500/month is for horses that are NOT part of the horse rescue" "Horse owners who pay to keep their animals at the barn make their checks out to “Alexander Baldwin III,” not to the incorporated, non-profit Amagansett Horse Rescue." "There may very well be something untoward happening here! But misunderstanding the facts uncovered so far will only make that more difficult to uncover, not easier!" - STOP SPEAKING TO MY REDDITORS LIKE THEY ARE FIVE. "Your understanding is incorrect. Non-profit schools charge tuition to students. Non-profit hospitals charge bills to patients. A non-profit stable charging rent for horse stalls would be completely legal and within the scope of a non-profit." - here we go again. "But on top of that, it's not even clear that the non-profit is charging rent for horse stalls! The article makes it clear that there is both a non-profit, AHR, and a for-profit business, both being run at the same facility. The only evidence they offered of money being paid was to the for-profit side of the operation (the $1500 checks to Alexander Baldwin). The didn't have any record of money being paid to the non-profit (which, again, even if it was, that would be ok!)". - Dear God, where did I go wrong? What sin did I commit in my past life that of all the redditors in the world, I'm stuck with THIS one. "But simply assuming "any foundation is suspect" is far more lazy and incorrect than assuming "anyone with a Spanish accent is Spanish". It's really not hard to look at individual cases and determine what the truth is, there's no value added by being broadly cynical." - Well, you are the expert when it comes to not adding any value to something. "The implication the Post is trying to make is that the year's-rent was not a good-faith request from the landlord, but rather, a request that he knew would be impossible for Jan to meet; a way to terminate her lease while giving the landlord plausible deniability: "no, I didn't terminate the lease, she could have renewed for as long as she liked!" - We don't need you explaining a Post article to us. And besides that was reported everywhere. "But yes, that in itself is a story that doesn't really make sense, because generally, it would be the landlord's job to do the property maintenance, not the tenant (Jan), so simply swapping tenants wouldn't necessarily improve anything at the property." - WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO? "If someone half-interested comes to this subreddit to learn about Hilaria, they'll see it dominated by these meme-posts, and rightly say "huh, yeah, those ladies on The View and Hilaria and Alec were right, this *is* just a big pile-on; I doubt she actually did anything bad..." -She became a meme. That was the point. That went right over your 50 year old bald head. "Diluting the sub dilutes the message of the unique bad thing Hilaria actually did." -Go start your own damn sub then. "Without more detail, I don't yet see anything absolutely damning in regard to the non-profit relationships, though certainly the lack of transparency is concerning. It's interesting that the Post apparently saw an IRS 990 form for AHR, but don't provide it for the reader, and I can't find a public version." -Why on EARTH would the Post publish an IRS form. "That's where critical-thinking skills come in, which should be active for all media consumption. Caveat emptor and all that. "This thing that's being presented to me, how could its presentation diverge from reality, and what could be the motivations behind that divergence?" -After I deleted your post for containing politics, you actually said because what you said about Trump was true that didn't count as political. Then insulted me by saying "now I know why the post was removed. You didn't understand that "And for social media influencers in particular, it barely takes any critical-thinking at all! All you have to ask is "how do I, as a random nobody, use social media? Do I post an accidental, uncurated view of my life?" I think the answer is "hell no" for almost everybody, so it's insane to even use that as a starting assumption for people with huge followings." "I think the thing is that people don't want to know that it's not real. Every single time I point out that Hilaria's photos are intentionally ridiculous because she wants to make money, I get downvoted to hell. I don't remember if I saw this reference here somewhere, but it's like professional wrestling: it's more entertaining to people (both in a want-to-be-the-face, and a hate-the-heel way) if they can maintain the illusion that it's all real." "There is no evidence that Sarma was friends with Hilaria." - Except for the PICTURES I HAVE OF THEM TOGETHER. "It looks like II was started ~2013, after the move to Spain. It's a super-small "business", I would guess that the parents are the only employees, and that it's just a structured way for them to "keep busy" in their retirement. It probably makes very little money (their "retreats" are very infrequent, and small), but it lets them putter around as much or little as they like, and feel like they're making a difference in the world." "Where have you seen her say December 2010? Everything I recall seeing, they've both been consistent and specific, it was February 18, 2011 (they say it was an unusually warm day, and I've fact-checked that, and it's true!)". - How long have you been unemployed for? "Ah, a link to a set of links...how it makes my heart sing". "I should have searched to find that thread myself, but Reddit's search is such shit it discourages me from even trying"- "I'm pretty sure from all my research that she was never technically an "owner" of Yoga Vida, that was one of her lies, but for the purposes of self-certifying, I think that's irrelevant. She was enough of a player in YV despite not being an "owner"- Sign that information up for kindergarten, because it's 5 years old. Lmao how much time did you waste on that? "You're sure going to have to show where you came up with that "she was his yoga teacher first" thing, because that just ain't true as far as what anyone has uncovered until now. It was also more like sometime in 2009 (maybe as late as the beginning of 2010, when Yoga Vida launched) that "Hilaria" was born." -Nobody has to show you anything, GTFO. "I'd say just edit your original post to add the El Mundo article (or replace the OE). Then newcomers will see the original source without having to dig into the comments, and there won't be two separate discussion threads." - Well, you wont have to worry about that anymore now, will you? "In a better-run sub, we'd have a stickied post with a constantly updated list of references, but..." I DO. OKAY BYE. "First day on the Internet? Here's how you make a link: https://www.yourtango.com/2020339461/who-sarma-melngailis" "The entirety of evidence that Sarma and Hilaria knew each other comes from a single, anonymous post on DCUM, and it's just repeated on yourtango.com. That DCUM post also says "the article mentions the people who ponied up money to get Sarma out of trouble. Alec kicked in $100k on Hilaria's request", but the referenced NYPost article mentions no such thing." "In other words, that's really not a credible source." "I mostly agree the vision of The Birth Of Hilaria that you lay out here, I just think that using the word "con" to describe all that renders the word meaningless. I mean, women discover they get extra attention and affirmation when wearing low-cut tops and a push-up bra. Is that a "con" too? And I strongly disagree that a "long con" doesn't require a specific end goal. Look at the Wikipedia entry for "con" (which includes a section on "long con"). None of the language in that whole entry is remotely close to describing Hilaria's life or actions." :And the "restauranteur fraudster-friend offered to set her up with Alec Baldwin" is one of the most non-sensical unsupported bits of wisdom that gets thrown around here. The only way involving Melngailis in Hilaria's story makes any sense is if Hilaria diverts a bunch of Alec's money to Melngailis, which if that happened, then I would definitely agree at least that part of it (but still not the Spanish part) was a long con!" "Believe what you like, but just keep in mind that all successful detectives, from Sherlock Holmes on down, keep their emotions out of the way, because they make it harder to determine what is truth. No human in history was ever 100% anything (good, evil, liar, truthful), so reducing Alec (or anyone) to such a simple, one-dimensional caricature takes us further from truth rather than closer to it." -Sir, this is a Wendy's. "No idea, she hasn't responded to my query yet. Official reason was "No Politics", but there weren't any politics in the post or happening in the comments. She was of the "Alec gave money to Hilaria's parents" camp, so I don't know if she just didn't like having that view challenged? Aw, shucks, you're making me blush. But I really appreciate it, especially since McNasty420 took down my deeply-researched RANA post today for no discernible reason, so that was making me feel like my work was a big waste of time. But maybe it's better that way, because yes, I'm sure my employer would appreciate me spending more of my skills on them rather than on this!" -Employer lol. So check this out. I removed it because it said Trump steals money from his foundation and this guy didn't consider that political because: "My statement about Trump's foundation wasn't a "theory", and more importantly, not any sort of value-judgement. I now understand that you weren't aware of how non-controversial my mention of Trump was". You are such a DICK. Where do you get the nerve to talk to people like that? "Oh, yeah, I wasn't arguing your point or anything! I'd just had more time to look into his ancestry and wanted to write down some actual numbers." That theory isn't possible, because she invented the Spanish persona long before she met Alec. That's a key fact to know for anyone trying to figure out the 'why' of it. It had zero to do with Alec, and was almost surely her own creation with no particular goal in mind (which the OP seems to understand)." Oh, ok, awesome! Where's your screenshot? -What are you doing? Why do you need this? How? You can't just say stuff like that without backing it up! "Hilaria is definitely connected to Spain" is a lie that you created this whole subreddit to expose, so let's not just take her place as people who claim untrue things! And I'm saying none of what you're saying is true. You might have read something like that here, but that was from people who didn't know what they were talking about. There was no "generous donation to the parents in 2012" from ABF. No, I'm saying that people here misinterpreted the RANA donation to be a donation to International Integrators (and then repeated it 'til it became conventional wisdom), but it's really not at all. Unless there was some *other* donation to II that has been found somewhere? -RANA is a side project under the umbrella of International Integrators now please STFU about it OMG, and then did you hear where she said she lies to her kids that the wheels on the bus are broken, because she's sick of singing "The Wheels on the Bus"? Or that she hides the fact that she's going to be gone for a day or two from them? Oh wait, those were lies other moms reported telling their kids. It's all part of a regular segment called "Momfessions"! The whole point is to show that it's a fairly normal thing for parents to do. Pretending Hilaria is the only one who lies to her kids is weird, and completely ignores all the other parents who nod along and laugh in the audience. -Thank you, 50 year old guy with no kids. Erm, his donations were definitely NOT funneled to family members; where did you get that from? Perhaps actually read my post! Also, yes, he gets a tax deduction for charitable donations, but so does every US taxpayer. -WE KNOW. JESUS. I'd like to say it's something about living the last four years in the US, when "the truth" seemed to matter less than it ever has before. Creating even awareness of the oft-repeated lies, much less consequences for them, felt like trying to push a pile of air up a hill. So when this opportunity came along at the end of 2020 to expose lies and establish truths, at a sweet-spot big enough where a significant number of people were paying attention, but small enough that I could play a personal role, where that pile of air transformed into something solid that I could definitively poke holes through, it felt like something I had to participate in. -FULL STOP. WHEN THIS OPPORTUNITY CAME ALONG? ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT MY SUBREDDIT?? PLAYING A PERSONAL ROLE? YOU ACT LIKE I HIRED YOU TO BLESS US WITH YOUR PRECIOUS GOOGLE SEARCHING ABILITIES. THE OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU TO EXPOSE LIES? AT THE END OF 2020? DUDE, THE LIES WERE ALREADY UNCOVERED. HENCE THE MEDIA FIRESTORM. But that can only be at most a part of the answer, since I felt exactly the same obsession in 2016, when doing crowd-sourced investigation of the real-time cheating of Rob Young / MarathonManUK), a man who had claimed to run 365 marathons in a year, with 0 training, and then was caught (accidentally, by a fan) in the middle of the night riding on/in his support RV while he was claiming a world-record pace for a run across the US. So for me, there's definitely a Sherlock Holmes factor. Just something about the investigatory process of discovering facts and organizing them to reveal lies, particularly when the lie is so bold, unusual, and created for mystifying reasons. -WE HAD ALREADY BROKEN THE STORY DIPSHIT. n contrast to many here, the small lies that are pedestrian, banal, and created for obvious reasons (the presentation of herself as someone more-accomplished / put-together / knowledgeable than she actually is, in order to make money) hold no interest for me, since there is nothing unique to her there. Everyone who has ever attempted to make money from their personal brand has presented an embellished version of themselves, but almost no one has trapped themselves 24/7 for a decade walking through their life on such a high-wire of a lie as Hilaria has, while leaving the truth so discoverable far below the entire time. Thank you! Finally an NYU post, that, while still lacking-in-receipts, at least comes from someone with a posting history that provides significant credibility, and written with a level of detail that provides trustworthiness on its own, but also matches all known facts from independent sources. -STOP. JUST STOP. Didn't we go through this already? Yes, charitable donations lessen your tax burden. But they also lessen your wealth! Here is the itemized list of $1.4M in donations the ABF made in 2014. If he had *not* made those donations, yes, his tax bill would have been higher, but he would have had more money left in his bank account to spend on a yacht or whatever for himself. So lessening his tax burden cannot be his "entire goal". -for the 50th time, we know how taxes work. It *has* made donations to the RANA foundation (approx. $70k total, I believe), which Hilaria's parents advertised on their website, but that's not "money to Hilaria's parents" (as people here often say), and I don't even see an obvious connection between the RANA foundation and the Hayward/Thomases. -IT'S LISTED AS A PROJECT ON THEIR WEBSITE DIPSHIT It looks like it's this, a $369 dedicated paella grill. -this adds that "value" you provide to this sub you were talking about. Ha. Yep, I'm of a similar age/era, and while I still have a FB account, I've never followed a single celebrity, brand, or even a business, and am rather baffled by people who do. -YET I'M 100% STALKING ALEC BALDWIN'S LIFE Did you click my links on the bottom? By what rationale do you make the claim that she "brought things to an entirely different level"? I linked to a picture of a naked mom taking a piss with her baby on her lap, showing off her toenails, and taking a selfie all at the same time! And it took me 2 minutes to find that. In your original post, you say she was under "Hilaria Lynn Thomas". Here you say it was "Hilaria Haywood-Thomas". And the latter is definitely not, nor has it ever been, her last name! Not improving my confidence in your credibility here. -REMINDER. YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO SKIN IN THIS GAME. YOU SHOWED UP HERE ONE DAY AFTER THE STORY FINALLY STOPPED TRENDING AND TRIED TO REGULATE SHIT. NOBODY NEEDS TO HAVE "CREDIBILITY" WITH YOU. YOU ARE A BYSTANDER. "As much as I'd like solid confirmation either way, this is most definitely not it. It's the first post from a brand-new account, and the details given make no sense." "There is absolutely nothing unique about Alec and Hilaria here. Here's a random list I found in 2 seconds" If I had kids If you know nothing about language immersion, see what the Linguistic Society has to say on the matter. The hard part is making sure they have enough natural exposure to both languages. Most of the time, one of the two languages you want them to learn will be "more important" somehow, and the trick is to provide enough opportunities for them to use the "less important" one in a way that isn't forced or artificial. The best way, if you can manage it, is to put children in situations where only the "less important" language is used so that there is no temptation to mix languages or revert to the "more important" language. It doesn't say that he was also working in that period. Do you have that from another source? "I graduated from a prestigious university (in my field), but don't have any cap-and-gown photos because I had no interest in attending the graduation ceremony." -PLEASE, I'M DYING. I CAN'T WAIT TO FIND OUT WHAT SCHOOL THIS WAS THAT PREPARED YOU FOR YOUR ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER IN COMPUTER HARDWARE. " Have you attempted to try the online version I suggested to perhaps get something in writing? https://secure.studentclearinghouse.org/vslandingui/mosiac-landing-page" "But if you spoke with NYU, and they told you straight up they have no record of her being a student, why are you even considering far-more-tenuous absence-of-evidence evidence like this?" Your lack-of-understanding is making you see conspiracy where it doesn't exist. "Notability" is a requirement for a Wikipedia page to continue existing, and it's decided by other Wikipedia editors. But I do appreciate that you recognize (unlike so many others here) that her social-media influencer antics are not at all unusual for that field, and not the reason why Hilaria is a story. Um, those requirements are from St. Patrick Cathedral in Fort Worth, Texas. Ugh, not very pleasant to see all those grouped together in an easily digestible list, but thank you! First, this definitely isn't evidence that she's a hypocrite. That would require her to be a major player in the operation at Yoga Vida, which, just like extensive time in Spain, seems to be something she wanted people to believe, rather than something that's actually true. Then, the plaintiffs allege that the instructors conspired to export YV's client database, which they were not authorized to do, and sent a mass email to that list of clients. I have no idea how meritorious such a lawsuit is There have been a lot of people in this sub over the last couple weeks questioning "how did she get away with this for so long?? People on the Internet have been talking about it for at least 5 years! Why wasn't it a story until now?!" The non-answer answer is "because the right series of events hadn't happened until now". Essentially, the story hadn't bubbled up to enough influential and listened-to people until now, so it had very little spread. Part of the process for a story to bubble up to the next level of influence is for that level to have trust in the lower-level source. - YES, PLEASE EXPLAIN MY OWN STORY BACK TO ME THAT IS AT THE TOP OF THIS SUBREDDIT. "Yeah, obviously even if I *had* the power to make this Reddit sub a repository of impeccably-sourced content, I know it wouldn't actually make a damn difference. But, I had to give it a shot anyway." -COME AGAIN?? YOU MEAN PEOPLE DIDN'T APPRECIATE YOU SHOWING UP OUT OF THE BLUE WAY AFTER THE STORY HAD RAN, ACTING LIKE AN OVERBEARING MANAGER WHO BERATES THEM FOR NOT DOCUMENTING THEIR "WORK" THE WAY YOU WANT IT DONE? THEY DIDN'T LIKE BEING GIVEN ASSIGNMENTS WITH DEADLINES? I'M SHOCKED THAT DIDN'T WORK OUT FOR YOU. This is Reddit, douchebag, not Time Magazine. And the story had already run. Everywhere. You showed up afterward, barked a bunch of demands at people, and are now complaining that my subreddit is unorganized and you "tried" to fix it but couldn't? "Really it's just a nostalgic rant missing the "good old days" of this sub (like 5 days ago) when it was genuinely producing a high density of quality, original information that uncovered a lot of truth." --THEN LEAVE FINALLY "Yeah, now this is the kind of quality-content I came here for!" -Reddit? "I actually have Google Doc filled with links, mostly organized as a timeline of Hilaria's whole life. I've been trying to decide whether I should open it to crowd-sourced contributions, but it still feels a bit messy/incomplete for me to do that just yet." - AND IT'S SAFE TO SAY AFTER TONIGHT, YOU NEVER WILL. AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, HE APPARENTLY INVENTED NAPSTER!! "I was one of the first people in the world to host downloadable audio files on a website (from a dorm-room server), so I was long familiar with the music side of it. Once Spotify et al finally came along and revealed that "hey, if you make it easy, most people don't actually want to steal stuff" that really changed a lot in that world, a bit similar to what the changing business models have done for the software world." Here is his "Manifesto": https://www.reddit.com/HilariaBaldwin/comments/kp71jo/this_sub_has_begun_playing_right_into_hilarias/
/r/QOTSA Official Band of the Week 41: SMASHING PUMPKINS
One of the best things about catching a show at a small venue like a bar or club is that you get to see bands on their way up. You never know when you could catch the next QotSA or Pearl Jam or Arcade Fire or Beatles before they make it big. Another really cool thing is that often the people that go to these shows share a taste in music with you. You can get into some really interesting conversations. I totally have tons of great memories of speaking with fellow fans I will almost certainly never meet again. It is amazing to bond over a shared love of music. You just never know what will happen. Hmm. I wonder if there is a box of chocolates in this conversation somewhere. Today we’re going to talk about a band that was fatefully formed in part through one of those conversations in a bar after seeing a show. They have had a tumultuous history and more than their fair share of ego. Yes indeed, this week’s band is Smashing Pumpkins. About Them Wait, is it The Smashing Pumpkins or just Smashing Pumpkins? Fuck me, not this debate again. Turns out it does not matter, and both are used by the band interchangeably. On the covers of Gish and Siamese Dream and Zeitgeist they use just Smashing Pumpkins; on Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and Machina/The Machines of God and Oceania they go by THE Smashing Pumpkins. Glad that bit of trivia will not lead to someone going Ackshually… in the comments. I hope. Now where was I? Oh right. In a bar, seeing a band. D’arcy Wretzky grew up in South Haven, Michigan. She was a musical kid who learned multiple instruments. Her interests included horseback riding (insert your crazy horse girl joke here) and gymnastics. In high school, she taught herself to play guitar on easy mode bass. She got into Punk and Post-Punk and joined a number of cover bands. She got so deep into music that after high school she left America to go to France to join a band. The band she wanted to join had completely imploded before she even got there, so she presumably bought a beret, ate a few baguettes and booked it back home. Instead of going to Michigan she decided to move to Chicago to hang out with friends. She spent her summer clubbing and seeing shows. It was at one of these concerts that she ran into Billy Corgan. Corgan thought that the band that had performed - called The Dan Reed Network - stunk. D’arcy disagreed and the two got into an argument. PSST KIDS...this is what is known in literature as Foreshadowing. Long story short, Corgan was interested in Wretzky and her fierce opinions. He recruited her into the band that he and James Iha had just founded. Billy Corgan grew up in Linkin Park Lincoln Park in Chicago. His parents divorced when he was very young. His father, an amateur musician, promptly got married to a flight attendant and Corgan and his little brother went to live with them. Corgan would later recount that his stepmother was abusive to him and his brother. When his dad and stepmother separated, Corgan lived with the abusive stepmom. Corgan picked up the guitar in high school and taught himself how to play. He formed and joined a number of high school bands. When it came time to go to college, he decided instead to try music full time. Corgan was a huge rock fan and found that the Chicago area was all about the Blues. He packed his bags and went to Florida in the mid-80s and formed a band called The Marked. When this project fell apart, he came back home to live with his father and got employment in a record store. James Iha, who shares a haircut with the X-Man Rogue, also grew up in Chicago. Unlike Wretzky and Corgan, he did not leave the state or the country to form a band. He learned to play guitar as a kid and showed particular aptitude for the instrument. At age 19 he was playing in a Chicago area band named Snake Train when he met Corgan at the record store. Corgan convinced Iha to quit his band and form a new one with him. Their early efforts were shit less than impressive. The duo dressed in paisley and used a drum machine in small club shows. Iha was clearly the better guitarist so Corgan played bass. The paisley duo were all goth and sadness in a way that the late 80’s seemed to epitomize. Think The Cure but with less hairspray. If you think that this band was not commercially viable, you are right. It was at about this time that Corgan, tired of playing bass, met Wretzky at the concert and invited her to join the band. He shifted to rhythm guitar and let the gymnast horse girl pound the low end. The one missing element was percussion. That guy Drum Machine was super-steady and reliable and always ready to go, but he just had no creative ability. The band needed another member who would actually carry his own weight. Jimmy Chamberlin was born in Joliet, Illinois in ‘64 as one of 6 kids. His father and older brothers had an interest in Jazz, and naturally he grew inclined towards music. Chamberlin began drumming at 9, and started learning various styles. He focused on Jazz, and got pretty damn good at it. Chamberlin left home at age 15, and began touring with a few local bands. Despite actually turning a profit, his old man pressured him going into college. It was an act that pushed the two apart. Despite his dad's insistence, he continued to tour with local show band JP and the Cats for three years. Wearied by the tour schedule, however, he made the swap to a more practical career: construction, with his brother-in-law. And then, one night on the town, he saw three AWFUL people with a drum machine. No, seriously. He called them atrocious. But, he also respected Corgan’s drive and passion. So, in one of the best decisions of his life, he picked up the sticks again and began drumming for the band. Chamberlin changed the Pumpkin’s sound to something more upbeat and less cringy. By 1989 they had a single on a local compilation album. They then released a song on the legendary Sub Pop label. Then they got a record deal. Their first full album, Gish, was produced by Butch Vig of Garbage fame. Vig would go on to produce a number of albums by little known bands like Nirvana and Foo Fighters. The band were poised on the cusp of success, and Corgan knew that this album was their big chance. So, did he just work in a clear partnership with his bandmates? Fuck no. Remember I made that ego comment? Here it comes. Corgan turned obsessive. Not, like, I have to check that the door is locked three times obsessive...like, we’re gonna do this over and over and over again and FUCK IT GIVE ME THE GUITAR I’LL DO IT obessive. He played and re-played tracks by Iha and Wretzky that did not meet his standards. Recording sessions took 30 days - and for a bit more foreshadowing, this was the quickest album they ever laid down. Corgan said that recording the album gave him a nervous breakdown. Wretzky wondered how the band survived. One thing was clear: Corgan cemented himself as the driver of this particular yellow submarine, and everyone else just had a ticket to ride. He wrote all of the songs on Gish. And truthfully, the album didn’t suck. It captured the grunge sound of the day and mixed it with super slick Vig production, trippy feedback, and crisp, clean guitar tones. It was ahead of its time. Songs like I Am One and Tritessa and Rhinoceros showed amazing potential. The album was a modest hit and they were able to tour behind it. They opened for Red Hot Chili Peppers and Guns N’ Roses. This gave them critical experience playing to massive audiences in huge venues. Since Gish was a success, and Butch Vig had produced Nirvana’s Nevermind, they knew that they had to get him to produce their next effort. But they also knew that their last trip into the studio had almost destroyed them. There was absolutely intense pressure to be successful, and an overwhelming sense that this was their moment to seize. No big deal, right? Corgan tried to confront his demons post-nervous breakdown. He started seeing a therapist. In an attempt to achieve some sort of catharsis, he poured everything into his songwriting. He showed these early efforts to Vig and got all kinds of praise. But then there was the heroin. Nope, not with Rogue or the centaur or with Corgan himself. It was Chamberlin. Turns out, hanging out with the Chili Peppers and Axl in the early 90’s was a bigger gateway drug than all those ads about marijuana told me pot would be. I guess when you welcome Dani California to the Jungle and meet Mr. Brownstone Under The Bridge you lose Patience and want instead to Suck My Kiss in the November Rain. Or something. Bottom line is, Smashing Pumpkins had to go out to the desert to get away from everyone (read: Chamberlin’s heroin dealer) to record Siamese Dream. I guess Drum Machine was not available or unwilling to try a reunion. If you think that things improved in the recording process this time, you would be mistaken. This was Gish II: Electric Boogaloo, only this time it took them four months instead of 30 days. Corgan’s perfectionism caused Wretzky to lock herself in the bathroom and sob. Iha would turtle up and not say anything. Corgan would overdub both of their parts, but he still needed Chamberlin to do the drum tracks. We know from our very own QotSA that you can find drugs in the desert. Chamberlin found a dealer and was back on the heroin, but the drum tracks were not done. Allegedly, Vig and Corgan forced Chamberlin to redo the drums on Cherub Rock so many times that his hands were bleeding on the final take. Corgan turned suicidal during the recording process and by the post-recording descriptions, the others weren’t far behind. The band did manage to convince Chamberlin to go into rehab. And when all was said and done, Siamese Dream was a masterpiece. Many consider it their best effort, and think of it as the first post-grunge record. Tracks like Cherub Rock and Rocket and Today and Disarm are amazing and propelled the band from an opener to a headliner. Riding on the coattails of Siamese Dream, an energized and invigorated Corgan set to work immediately. He wrote 56 songs in ‘95. F I F T Y S I X. Christ. The band wasted no time getting these going. Heading into the studio with producers Flood and Alan Moulder, they began assembling Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. The ambitious project would be a double album of 28 songs. The band released it in October of 1995. Looking back on it, it seems absurd - 56 songs written in the span of less than 10 months, and then twenty-fucking-eight of them strung into a double album. Time called it “the band’s most ambitious work yet”. The biggest change with these sessions lay in the production. Vig had brought out the best in Corgan, but Flood and Moulder wanted to bring out the best in the band. The band practiced and rehearsed songs together, workshopping them on the go. The result was that Iha and Wretzky and Chamberlin had a much greater contribution to the recording process than ever before. Corgan did not overdub parts, and for the first time every member was part of the creative process. And holy fuck did it pay off. Cantaloupe Sally and the Big Depression immediately jumped to #1 on the Billboard 200. It was a true monster of a record. It was certified platinum 10 times in the US and became the best selling album of the decade. It was nominated for seven Grammys and took home Best Hard Rock Performance on the wings of a certain butterfly. Standout tracks are of course Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Zero, and the more mellow Tonight, Tonight and 1979. Trust me - it is worth your time. In 1996, they launched a world-wide tour in support of Honeydew Carla and the Chunky Remorse . Corgan’s iconic look emerged during this tour - a shaved head, a shirt that said “Zero”, and silver pants. They were EVERYWHERE - constant rotations on MTV, Simpsons cameos, and considerable merch sales made them hard to miss. However, the tour was not without sorrow. In a show at Dublin a fan was literally crushed to death by a Mosh pit - something that made Corgan truly furious. He maintained that “moshing’s time had come and gone” - though the management obviously disagreed, since the rest of the tour continued to have open floors. But the worst was yet to come. In July of 1996, the touring keyboardist Jonathon Melvoin OD’d on heroin, with Chamberlin damn near following him to the grave. Not soon after, Chamberlin was arrested on drug possession charges. Trying to save a bit of face, they fired the disgraced drummer and hired Matt Walker to fill in. The tour for Watermelon Sandra and the Discomfort of Large Intensity came to a close in late 1997, with the band in a very different place than where they started. So with this incredible and universal success, you would expect that the Pumpkins would stick to this everyone-contributing recording style. Corgan had other ideas. With their follow up album Adore, he decided to take control once again. It is easy to understand why he did. Chamberlin was out and the band were struggling with interpersonal problems (i.e., Corgan’s massive ego). He also decided to move the sound away from the band’s signature guitar driven style to something more centred in electronica. He hired a new producer, Brad Wood, to helm this album along with Flood and himself. The end result was an album just as divisive as, say, 5150 by Van Halen or Heaven and Hell by Black Sabbath or Kid A by Radiohead. When a band changes a key member or their core sound, it is bound to be controversial. Evolving your sound is one thing; abandoning it is either really bold or really dumb. Adore split the fan base and got mediocre reviews, despite modest hit songs like Ava Adore and Perfect. Instead of another massive tour, fans got a scaled back one. But it is absolutely worth it to note that the Pumpkins did do a complete solid on the US leg of the tour: they donated 100% of their profits to local charities. So even if the album was disappointing, that gesture alone is pretty fucking cool. Immediately after the band had a meeting to make some critical decisions. They decided that the next album project would be their last as a group, and that in order to do it right, they needed Chamberlin back. The concept for this work, called Machina, was to be about a rock star named Ego Zero who channeled the voice of god and had a band called Ghost Children. It was supposed to be a double album but the studio either thought that concept was dumber than a bag of hammers or were still angry about the shitty sales for Adore. Either way, they vetoed the double album, so it was split in two. Corgan (presumably still in his space pants and zero t-shirt) produced the album (shocker) with Flood. The first release was Machina/The Machines of God. It came out in February 2000, 21 years ago. It ended up being a much more guitar driven album, with tracks like The Everlasting Gaze and Stand Inside Your Love being the most remarkable. Of course, if you long for what might have been, then the almost 10 minute odyssey of Glass and the Ghost Children is the song for you. It ended up being their worst selling record. Wretzky had become increasingly disconnected with the band to the point where very little of her bass work actually showed up in the Machina sessions (read: overdubbed by Corgan). She wanted to try acting instead of music. So she upped and quit. She was arrested for possession of crack shortly after leaving the band. Corgan told people she was fired for being a mean-spirited drug addict. She was replaced on the tour with Melissa Auf der Maur, former bassist for Hole. Wretzky’s post-Pumpkins career never took off. She moved back to a Michigan farm to raise horses and was arrested when the rogue equines broke into a farmer’s market and ate vegetables. She was then caught driving drunk. She was replaced on the tour with Melissa Auf der Maur, who also played bass for Hole. Technically, Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music (real subtle with the title there, Billy) was released. Sort of. Only 25 copies ever made. These were given to prominent fans and to a local radio station to be released free online. So the only versions made available were digital rips of the vinyl record. The entire process was a big ‘fuck you, we out’ to the record label. The band called it quits, and dropped the proverbial mic. There are still plans to reunite the two halves of the Machina project, and to re-release it, but it has not happened yet. After the break up, Iha dropped a solo album and then ended up playing guitar in A Perfect Circle. Unlike Wretzky, he had continued success. But Corgan was at loose ends. He had lost the two artists he consistently overdubbed. What ever was he to do? Reunite with Chamberlin, of course. Together, the two of them former the ‘super’group Zwan, which turned out to be the Zima of bands. They only ever released one album and broke up in 2003. The project left Corgan frustrated and perhaps longing for what he had left behind. He channelled some of those emotions into a lackluster 2005 solo album called The Future Embrace. Even he knew it was not good. So the day after it dropped, Corgan put out full-page ads in Chicago’s biggest newspapers, proclaiming a reunion. Corgan’s Trademark Ego also reared its head, stating, “I want my band back.” Somehow, Chamberlin agreed to come back, too, showing no hard feelings for that Zwan debacle. Iha was busy with A Perfect Circle and Auf der Maur had just started a solo career, so both declined. Wretzky was too busy galloping in a field also declined. Or was never asked. Depends on who is telling the story. Maybe the interpretations of that event have been colored by someone calling her a mean-spirited drug addict. But despite this, the two-person reunion went ahead. In 2007 the band played for the first time in seven years to a crowd in Paris, and unveiled the replacements new touring members: Jeff Schroeder on guitar, Ginger Reyes on bass, and Lisa Harriton on keyboard. Just one month later, they released a new single, Tarantula. These reconstituted unsmashed gourds released the band’s 7th album, Zeitgeist, that year. Expectations were high, but the product was again lackluster. No one liked the new lineup and fans who wanted something more like their original sound were disappointed. To make things worse, Chamberlin noped right out of the group. Apparently, he felt as if he no longer really had much of a say in the direction of the band, stating “I can no longer commit all of my energy into something that I don't fully possess." Go figure. I guess some of the other band members were a bit controlling at times?. Since this iteration of the Pumpkins did not work out, Corgan tried forming a tribute band called “Spirits in the Sky”. This group was dedicated to Norman Greenbaum Sky Saxon of The Seeds. This was significant because the tribute band introduced Corgan to 19 year old drummer Mike Byrne. Sorry Mr. Drum Machine, you were good in the early days, but Corgan clearly required real people to boss around complete his band now. And so, when Corgan changed projects, he brought Byrne to the smashed unsmashed Smashing Pumpkins. The new two-man line up got down to work, and FAST. Corgan was still about as ambitious as a highschool dropout in the 1970s with an interest in computer programming. The group announced that they were going to release a 44-track concept album called Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, and that they would put it out track by track for free on the internet. They dropped the first track, A Song for a Son on December 9th, 2009. Then their current bassist, Ginger Reyes, also dipped out of the band. Yep, I’m starting to notice a trend here. Luckily, the group had a bassist in reserve. Their touring bassist, Nicole Florentino, moved up and took on the axe full time. The newly unsmashed smashed unsmashed Smashing Pumpkins were back in gear. 2010 was a massive world tour year for the band. The demands of touring forced the band to reconsider their plan for 44 free singles. The concept for Teargarden was summarily dropped. Instead, they decided to release a full length LP entitled Oceania. My guess? I think the record label got a little bit pissed off at the complete unprofitability of a 44-track free virtual album. In order to mollify the label, the band’s entire discography was remastered and reissued, including cut demos and unreleased material. Even better, Oceania was actually pretty good. Many critics hailed it as a step in the right direction for Corgan and the boiz. This thing is a rather mature mixture of Gish-y garage distortion and gushing, emotional ballads. Quasar is an acid trip of heavy riffage. Pale Horse is a sprawling, rich tune of loss and longing. Overall, it’s a great LP, and definitely deserving of your attention. After touring in support of Oceania (and after slapping out a live album real quick), the band looked towards the studio once more. They signed a new record deal for two more albums, Monuments to an Elegy and Day for Night. However, as with all new Smashing Pumpkins content, this announcement was quickly followed by a myriad of line up changes. Byrne left, and so did Florentino. Back to square one. Corgan pulled in some of his musical connections, and managed to get Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe to join in on drums. Bass players are optional, and so, the band got down to recording. The result was 2014’s Monuments to an Elegy. It was rather spectacularly decent. Not amazing, mind you, but decent. Highlights include the thoroughly cronchy guitar riffage of One and All, the hypnotic synth line of Monuments, and the poetic lyricism on Being Beige. The synth pop hooks would define the new direction of the band. But synthesizers were not what the fans - or the critics - wanted from the Pumpkins. Corgan was pissed. He thought the album would be revered but it fell flat. Even the tour, where he replaced Lee with Brad Wilk from Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave on drums and Mark Stoermer of The Killers on bass, failed to generate the buzz the original lineup of the band had once had. He was fed up, and even though he’d already written like 60 songs worth of material for Day For Night (which, let’s face it, The Tragically Hip had already released years ago) was completely forgotten. What had become clear to everyone (except maybe Corgan himself) is that even though he was an amazing songwriter and gifted lyricist, the complex alchemy of the original lineup was what had refined and distilled his musical visions into amazing songs. Alone, he was very good, but together, the Pumpkins were amazing. Fate soon intervened, and old heroin addicts friends returned. When Wilk was unavailable for a show, Chamberlin lent the Pumpkins his drumming talents. Before he knew it, he was back full time and was touring with the band once again. Corgan was excited, and stated that he and Chamberlin would return to the studio after the tour in order to record something new. It was just the gift that Corgan needed. Speaking of gifts, in 2016, James Iha decided to give a present to everyone else for his birthday. He decided to join the Smashing Pumpkins on stage for the first time in 16 years. This led to a few more performances, and soon, there were hints of the possibility of a full reunion. These glimmers of hope coalesced into something more, something like light. A light that was shiny. And bright. Oh. So. Bright. In February of 2018, it was announced founding members Iha and Chamberlin were not just back in the band, but that they’d be recording another album that would be produced by the one and only Rick Rubin. Oh, and to top it off, there would be a massive tour focused on playing material from the band’s first 5 albums. Oh yeah. Everything was coming up Pumpkins. The astute ones among you may notice a distinct lack of Wretzky in the above paragraph. Well, there was still a world of bad blood on either side of that particular debate, and in the end she never returned to the group. According to Wretzky, she was offered a contract to re-join the band, but Corgan went and cancelled the deal soon after. According to Corgan, he reached out multiple times but was turned down by Wretzky in each and every case. So it wasn't quite the original four. But 75% ain't half bad, and fans were loving it. The boys were back and selling out venues. The band replaced Gretzky Wretzky with Jack Bates, the son of Joy Division bassist Peter Hook. After the tour, they clocked in some serious studio time with the bearded-begetter-of-bops himself, Rick Rubin. Singles started coming out, and in 2018, the band’s 10th LP was released. Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun. is a relatively itty bitty, 8-track 30 minute “LP”. Fun fact: Corgan sees it as a double EP of sorts. Critics were a little puzzled by it. No one thought it was flat out bad, but review called it an “absolute maelstrom of inconsequential material”. At the same time, other reviewers called it a step back on track. Look, fans were just happy to get some new material with most of the band back in place. It is important to note that there is still to this day a strong contingent of Wretzky supporters that want her back in the band, and say it is just not the same without her. Cough Nick Oliveri Cough. Anyway, the double-EP / half-LP / tiny music songs from the Corgan gift shop still has a few bangers. Knights of Malta is a straight bop. Sadly, this song is NOT a Maltese cover of Knights of Cydonia. I know. I was also disappointed. Silvery Sometimes is a catchy-as-fuck guitar rock song that is as graceful as it is confident. Solara is a full dosage of that classic, fiery, nihilistic sludge rock that we’ve all come to know and love from the band. After Shiny and Oh So Bright released, the band toured for most of 2019. Then, of course, a certain pandemic rolled in. If you think that Corgan wouldn’t take all that time at home to write a FUCK LOAD of music, than you’d be more than a little bit wrong. Corgan hit the studio hard, and this time, he was after a contemporary, modern sound that the Pumpkins had never tried before - because, you know, changing their sound has really gone over so well. That brings us to their most recent effort, Cyr. This Corgan-produced double LP was released back at the end of November 2020 and sports an 80s synth-pop aesthetic. Apparently if the Strokes and Muse do it, everyone’s gotta do it. Unfortunately, the Pumpkins didn't quite stick the landing in the same way that the Strokes did, or even in the batshit crack fueled nostalgia trip way that Muse did. Instead, reviews of this record have been rather…mixed. The bulk of this whopping 20-track double album doesn't leave all that much of an impression on you for the first listen. Still, if you’re a fan, there’s plenty of good stuff to go around. Cyr, Anno Satana, and The Colour Of Love are some of the most compelling tracks that the Pumpkins have put out in recent years. So here’s the deal: despite my many shots at Corgan’s ego, and his clearly controlling tendencies, Smashing Pumpkins have made some great albums with killer tracks. Sure, they’ve had lots of drama, but so have QotSA. The Pumpkins are worth your time, even if you only focus on their first five records. Check them out. Or at least go see a local band in a bar -- when all this COVID shit is over, I mean. FFS stay home right now. Links to QOTSA Pumpkins guitarist James Iha and our resident vampire, Troy Van Leeuwen, have both been members of the band A Perfect Circle. Queens of the Stone Age toured with Smashing Pumpkins in 1999 with Homme and the boys as the opening act. At the time, Homme said: “"I've known Billy here and there as an acquaintance for a couple of years since the Kyuss days...Just as we were about to go onstage in Chicago at the Double Door he just came back and was like, 'Do you want to go on tour?’ He said something to me to the effect of, 'We weren't going to take anyone, but then I got your record and I know you'll make it easy,'...I'm a real big fan of [the Pumpkins' 1991 full-length debut] Gish and ... Siamese Dream…” Both the Pumpkins and Qotsa have toured together a number of times, including in 2008. Corgan has praised Qotsa, saying: “If all you hear is pop and all you see are perfect performances and everybody smiling, to actually see a band invoke a darker spirit on stage and conjure it right in front of you in a mass of power you can’t explain, that is quite rare to that audience. No band in the past 15 years has come along and figured out how to do that. Most of the bands you can point to that have been successful that still do that, like Queens of the Stone Age, they’re coming from an earlier generation of power and an earlier language, even though they’re having contemporary success. There are some flashes, like a Royal Blood or something, where they’re trying to figure that power out, but they’re dealing with an audience that is so predisposed to pop.” Their Music Siva Rhinoceros Try, Try, Try Cherub Rock Perfect 1979 Bullet with Butterfly Wings The Everlasting Gaze Thirty-Three Today Tonight, Tonight Disarm Rocket Ava Adore I Am One Drum + Fife Zero Solara Tarantula Show Them Some Love /SmashingPumpkins - almost fifteen thousand subscribers. Previous Posts Band of the Week #1-25 The Jimi Hendrix Experience Black Flag Alain Johannes Pixies Truckfighters Melvins Muse Stone Temple Pilots Black Sabbath Baroness Black Rebel Motorcycle Club The Black Angels The Black Keys The Beatles, Part One The Beatles, Part Two
The next on the list is “Mail Online” with over 53 million unique visitors every month. It’s a British based online news portal which is also growing at a very fast pace. According to some other list websites, Mail Online is the fastest-growing news portals in the North Asia region. The websites I get most of my news and analysis from are (in alphabetical order): * The BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/) * The Economist (http://www.economist.com The BBC News website still remains comfortably ahead of the Mail Online in terms of UK online visitors, according to research compiled for Press Gazette. The UKOM/Nielsen data is based on a survey Measures under consideration include a £5bn grant for leaseholders and £2bn levy on developers The health secretary, Matt Hancock, sets out new measures for travellers, including a £1,750 hotel The 25 best music websites. As music journalism increasingly finds its niche online, Elisa Bray sifts through the plethora of emerging and established websites to pick the very best London, England, United Kingdom About Website The best of the BBC, with the latest news and sport headlines, weather, TV & radio highlights and much more from across the whole of BBC Online. Get the latest news, features, analysis and debate plus audio and video content from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. ASOS (standing for “as seen on screen”) was founded in 2000 and now sells over 350 brands to 200 countries. Quickly becoming the go-to destination for twenty-somethings keen to get their hands Fark describes itself as a news aggregator and an edited social networking news site. Fark is a collection of strange and weird news, including offbeat and unusual stories from around the globe. Read about kangaroos goaded into fighting clowns, undertakers who raise money by offering free limo rides, chickens who adopt puppies, and much more. In our opinion, these are some of the best independent news sources: Tortoise www.tortoisemedia.com Founded in 2019 by James Harding, the former Times editor and BBC News Director, Tortoise is a membership-based title that specialises in what it calls ‘slow news’. London, England, United Kingdom RSS Feed - huffingtonpost.co.uk/feeds/i.. + Follow RSS Site - huffingtonpost.co.uk About Site - HuffPost is the original internet newspaper, founded in 2005. Now we have newsrooms and editions in 15 countries. We're truly global, but still feel local. In the UK we do relevant breaking news, powerful original journalism, and we report on the real lives of our
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