I just tried to go into advanced/layers.bml, and boy was I surprised!



pulling a livejournal already, guys? Really?

edit: wow, thanks for broadcasting.

VOICE: sounds like a forty year-old chainsmoker
EARS: the right one may never recover
NECK: no amount of yoga will ever ease the crick out of it
SUNDRIES: can't put any pressure on my left elbow after bodyslamming skinny hipster bitches out of the way, and my waist is black and blue from the guardrail my hips kept colliding with as I danced my face off (despite the crowd attempting to rush the stage)

ALL SOUVENIRS OF AN ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE NIGHT. You know how after a really good show you keep listening to the artist's album, rocking out and chasing the high of a live performance, trying to recreate the set list in your head? I've been in that zone for the past 22 hours since the thunderheist show, and surprisingly the tracks I keep going back to aren't by the headliners, but the supporting act!

I'm about a million years late to the meme on the halifax scene, and I'm kind of kicking myself for it - but fuckdamn Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees are good!! I hadn't heard of them until last night, when Luke told me they apparently weren't that great, and Chantal told me she outright hated them; so naturally I wasn't expecting that much. MAYBE THAT'S WHY I WALKED AWAY SO IMPRESSED, though I think it's more because sometimes people seriously underestimate my love for dancepunk. I was enthralled the entire set long, so much so that it was almost worth the wait for them to set up (seriously, they took forfuckingever to get on stage and played for an hour, though I won't fault them for the latter.)

Style-wise RJATTB could be considered Halifax's answer to Broken Social Scene, stripped down to a few core members from various genre-spanning local acts, and substituting like three extra drummers for one fucking ingenious DJ supporting a full-fledged band. The result is that same "tidal wave of sound" effect BSS is so famous for, only tighter and more polished, with synth (a delightful bonus, when applied correctly)! But as opposed to a lot of electronic acts that can become easily overpowered by the techno sound, the presence of live musicians rocking the hell out, led by an outstanding frontwoman (Rebekkah Higgs, or should I say, "Ruby Jean") - gives the act organic integrity that seperates a live show from a dj's set.

I was originally quite blown away by the first track they played, an electrodance cover of Cold-Hearted Snake, but this one was like... love at first listen. Kind of retro-poppy, but the layering of vocals on the track gives some much-needed body and depth to Rebekkah Higg's considerably twee voice. Plus the synth pulls back at all the right times to highlight some amazing harmonics from the guitar, of all things.

Speaking of the guitar, let me wax poetic for a little longer about how fucking awesome their guitarist was, he was like some kind of legend up there. I'm pretty sure this song is how I almost gave myself whiplash, I was headbanging so hard. true fact my enjoyment of this song could only have been enhanced by a powerslide or two.

IF I HAVE NOT THOROUGHLY CONVINCED YOU I wholeheartedly encourage you to give a few more of their songs a listen:
☞ Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees; "You Don't Miss Me" (recommended!)
☞ Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees; "Best Of All"

As an added bonus, I've uploaded their album in a .rar file. I hate to cut an awesome independent band's royalties and all, but unless you can make it to one of their shows it is nigh impossible to get your hands on. Though I will say if you can find a way to procure it legally, please do so!!


OKAY OKAY now I'm for real going to talk about the headliner.... but adslgkjaflgkja Thunderheist were just so awesome, I can barely do anything except keysmash in inarticulate glee!! Let me just say I have never seen so tiny a person work a stage area so expertly by themselves, but Isis completely OWNED it. She jumped around, she strut her stuff, she shook it out and reigned it back in again; I was completely floored by her stage presence and her enthusiasm as a performer. No lie by the end of it she was just as sweaty as the crowd, and we had been dancing for three hours by that point! I was so impressed that every time she propped her foot up on the speaker (which was right in front of my face btw, luke was like sprawled all over it by the end) I had to respectfully refrain myself from putting my sweaty hands on her (admittedly really fierce) burnt orange suede booties.

If you haven't been paying attention (though HOW COULD YOU NOT, i mean HONESTLY) Thunderheist are a really fuckin ballin hip-hop duo from Canada and Nigeria, by way of Toronto. Their frontwoman is Isis, their DJ is GrahamZilla, and combined they are probably the most concentrated badass I have ever witnessed in person at this juncture in my (not terribly brief) life. They will probably be remembered among most music bloggers as the band whose breakout song's video featured a hot girl jerking some cock (SFW). Anybody who knows me will recognize this as the song I have been obsessed with for about.... six months? Yeah, about that.

This is a sample of what is likely going to be their latest single. It's a little more soulful than a lot of the stuff on the album (which is a little bit more of a schizophrenic fusion of electro-noise/dancehall and classic hip-hop); but this track really highlights Isis's rich, smoky vocals and Graham's talent for exploiting dissonance to make for an emotionally captivating, and yet still utterly danceable, track.

Clearly the best part of the night was when Isis dove like, headfirst into the crowd and started surfing. Luke had read about some of the earlier shows in the tour so we were prepared for it, but then when she made it back to the stage Graham took off his headphones and looked like he really wanted to..... So me and about ten other people in the front row started egging him on like, "C'MERE", and so of course he came barrelling right at us. I thought it was pretty hardcore when Ruby Jean came down into the crowd and joined the moshpit, but Thunderheist definitely won the night in terms of showmanship. I have never seen a couple of "professionals" enjoy themselves so thoroughly.

For your added enjoyment, have some more Thunderheist. If you like what you see here their album is out now on Big Dada records, I'm sure your local HMV can stock it if they're not carrying it already:
☞ Thunderheist; "Bubblegum" - RECOMMENDED, fast-paced rap/dance/grime - think Lady Sovereign, minus the whole chav thing.
☞ Thunderheist; "Space Cowboy" - heavily disco-influenced rap! (perfect for white people like me)
☞ Thunderheist; "LBG (Little Booty Girl)" - more bass-heavy gangsta rap than any of the above, easily one of my favourites

sdlsdkjgklf oh god WHY IS THIS POST SO HUGE. Enjoy the music everybody, I am going to go do some much-needed neck exercises, maybe some ass-shaking for good measure.

gokudera gokudera gokudera

SO YOU WANT TO ESCAPE FROM CORE 2, HUH. well I can tell you how to do that. No word of a lie I got so fed up with how unattractive the core 2 layouts looked that I spent three hours fiddling with existing livejournal layouts until giving up, resorting to a tutorial, and figuring out how to do it myself.

thefulcrum put up an AMAZING tutorial livejournal-side, here, for porting their Mixit layouts over. Luckily, it's pretty translatable to the other styles as well! This site is like a goldmine for existing livejournal styles, but there is a downside: in order to install it exactly like thefulcrum suggests, you have to go in there and manually edit the css print function with the existing stylesheet you want. Which, if you don't know what to look for, can be a pain in the ass. IF YOU WANT TO BE AMBITIOUS (and you can), generally the rule of thumb is to go until you get to some variant of:

function print_stylesheet() {
"""

and erase the pseudo-css until you get roughly to

""";

print_custom_control_strip_css();
}

Remembering, of course, to keep everything up to and including """ still in tact, and only deleting the variable-recall css. Replace this with the hardcoded CSS you want from a custom layout community, in a layout relating to your code of choice. Then you just finish the install as per normal, following the layout-maker's instructions for proper installation AFTER you finish following the tutorial's instructions.

Like I said, a pain in the ass, but the results are worth it. However I have figured out that you can bypass the editing process for smooth sailing (which is great, because smooth sailing is an utter pill to edit).

( Quick n Dirty smooth sailing hijack guide )

There are some bugs; namely, dw puts the memories category twice in your menu, but that's easy enough to get rid of. Just fiddle around with your customizations and you should find something that works. SO FAR I only know that this method works with Smooth Sailing, as I tested it out at evoker earlier this evening. Kind of ghetto but whatever, you kids aren't fussy.

EDIT: I fine-tuned a version of the smooth sailing core script, here. This includes a fix for getting usernames to show up on yours friendspage, which is a glitch that occurred when the variable name was switched in development. You can use this with thefulcrum's tutorial and not have to do the fine-editing yourself, just look for the massive BOX OF DOOM for where to paste your css.

I'll probably end up uploading updated scripts for the other designs as well. eventually. maybe. if i can be bothered.

newsflash: this layout is fug. I was attempting to shanghai some of the livejournal styles ala the great inksome migration of 2008, but alas! Old tactics aren't working on this high-tech battlefield.

Until dw gets some nice themes I probably won't be using this much. Which is just as well, I kind of have a full week ahead of me:

➛ free comic book day at strange adventures saturday morning!
➛ thunderheist show at the paragon club saturday night
➛ work on monday 9-5 (ohhh the bux♥)
➛ filming tuesday 11-3 for an independent film in dartmouth. i've been scouted as an extra because i "look like an art-school student". finally, an outlet for my awkward and eclectic charm!
➛ trying desperately to lose some more weight come ON body!!
➛ coordinating the toronto trip & anime north? maybe? maybe??
➛ and, of course, scraping together my papers and assignments for my profs (even though school ended like... last week)

I'll let everybody know how that pans out :|b In the meantime, let's share and care alike! Ask me a question about myself or my life or whatever, and I'll respond as truthfully as is comfortably possible. In turn I'll ask you a question, and you can answer it, and we shall continue ad infinitum! This is a great way to get to know everyone.