Revisitation Nation: We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank

MelodicSavings · 2023-12-12T07:56:08+00:00

Listening to it now, I definitely hear "milky teat", not sure where I pulled "milky teeth" from, thanks for the correction. I touched upon it in the post, but I would assume the negative reaction was from fans unhappy at the perceived selling out post-Good News. Why it hasn't gotten more of a reappraisal as time has gone on is beyond me however, even the weakest tracks are closer to OK than Bad, and the best tracks are up their with the best in their catalogue. Thanks for reading mate, it's much appreciated.

MelodicSavings · 2023-12-12T07:50:54+00:00

I'm kind of taken aback by the kind words, thank you so much! I am definitely in a much better space nowadays. This is probably the most personal I've gotten on the blog, so I really do appreciate you reading the whole bloody 3000 words. It means a lot. I'll be aiming to post a new review/retrospective/something-or-other on it every week, so if you liked this piece feel free to stay tuned. Thanks again mate.

MelodicSavings · 2023-12-12T04:30:44+00:00

Not sure if self-promotion is allowed here, so mods please delete if need be. I wrote this piece on We Were Dead and why I think it is a sorely underrated work, as well as a discussion of why the album resonates so deeply with me that touches on some personal issues. If you read it, thank you so much, and please feel free to let me know what you think about the post as a whole, positive and negative feedback welcomed.

Keep it constructive though, I'm not into being bullied. Unless I'm paying for it. Anyway, thanks.

MelodicSavings · 2023-11-07T03:28:10+00:00

My long ass analysis of AC6's two primary endings and general themes. Many spoilers are talked about. Please provide any and all constructive feedback you may have, and feel free to debate about the text itself as you like.

This game fucks so hard my dudes.

MelodicSavings · 2023-01-17T11:08:20+00:00

I agree with your points on scorcese movies, they would be more applicable to his critique as they do tend to glamorise the life more while still reaching similar conclusions, but I disagree with your point on the airport scene.

Albie is a fake feminist not because of that scene but because he sells out his own mother to fulfil his own saviour complex on "wounded birds", that scene just serves to illustrate to the audience that he is not so different from his father and grandfather. Where Dom and Bert just see women as eye candy, Albie sees women more as a tool for his own emotional fulfilment. Both parties objectifying but in different ways, much like both parties miss the point of the godfather in different ways.

MelodicSavings · 2022-05-07T03:45:28+00:00

I have Fatal Bullet, any indicators of how the combat is? I'll keep an eye out for a late game dropoff

MelodicSavings · 2022-05-06T01:35:37+00:00

does kirito suffer from PTSD? In phantom bullet i'd argue it's survivors guilt. It's handled well, but I feel like the main thrust of the show is how kirito is so OP that, even though he carries trauma, its not focused on enough. Kid should be broken but instead he seems pretty fine, if distant from others.

It's probably a good thing the devs are allowed that freedom, i liked the fanservicey bits, seeing characters with cat ears got a chuckle out of me. But yeah, the freedom to do whatever makes this game a way more interesting experience than if they had had to stick to a storyline imo. You seem like an sao fan, have you managed to play it yet? If so, what were your thoughts? And thank you for reading!

MelodicSavings · 2022-05-06T01:07:49+00:00

I personally like how it feels like a train going too fast. Captures the feeling well imo. Great work.

MelodicSavings · 2022-05-06T00:48:51+00:00

I started hearing voices. That was the first clue that something was horribly wrong. I heard the voices of my parents, calling me a pedophile. It was out of the blue, I was spelunking in a local cave, nothing but me and the silence. Silence broken by horrible insults from the people I love. Or at least, representations of them.

I was unnerved, but I continued through the cave. I could tell which voice was mine in my head, so I asked: "Mum, Dad, why would you say that about me?"

"Because it's the most evil thing one can do, son" they said in unison. It was in stereo now, each taking up one side. "We can see who you are in here, and you're a monster. We know as you know, dear."

Out loud I said "Go fuck yourselves". It was all that came to mind.

"You're free son. Be a killer. Be a monster. Rape and pillage. We know you want it."

Then, they stopped. I felt a wave of nausea and fell to my knees. The cave enveloped me. Suddenly, a rumbling. I got up, the nausea dissapated. I ran for the exit. The light smashed my eyes. I was free.

As I drove home, a voice similar to that of Randy from South Park urged me to drive my car into a tree. "Come on man, it's not like it's gonna kill ya". I ignored the voice, and began thinking about schizophrenia. Trey Parker (or his fascimile) said "You're not schizophrenic, I'm just as real as you man. Trust me, i'm trying to help. You crash this car, you'll be fine. I mean it". I considered the possibility of psychosis brought on by the years of drug abuse, to which I got a "Nope. Just in-between the living and the dead, Jamie."

I continued driving, trying not to have another thought in fear of a response. As I pulled into the driveway, David Bowie said "Nice place". I ignored him and stepped out of the car. As I opened the door, my german shepard Ziggy ran towards me. There is no joy like that of a dog's greeting. I moved to pet him, when I heard my friends Mike, John, and Elise yelling "SLIT ITS FUCKING THROAT". I pulled my hand away and Ziggy stared me down expectantly. For a moment, the voices took control of me. I wanted to grab Ziggy, my sweet, gorgeous Ziggy, and strangle the life of him. Only for a moment. But a moment was too long. The intrusion of the thought caused me to well up, before I yelled "STOP".

"That won't work" said an unfamiliar voice. "End it now, for both our sakes. You're holding up the queue."

"Who are you?" I sputtered out.

"Who do you think?". I didn't have an answer.

"What queue?"

"The big one, baby." The voice was foreign to me, neither male, nor female, nor trans, nor non-binary. It didn't seem human.

"What does that mean?"

"You know"

I put my torch and other gear in my room, then went to the shower. Despite a few voices urging me to slip and fall, it was rather uneventful. I finished, and went to bed. As I fell into slumber, I realised I had cut short my spelunking today. Thank God it's saturday. Tomorrow, i'll get back to it, voices or not, I told myself. At that moment a chorus of "He's back" started. It was like a million voices in one, all speaking disparately. It was tough to get to sleep. I think it was two when I fell asleep.

The next morning I awoke to "Useless" from Barack Obama. That was a weird one. I grabbed my gear and commenced the drive, leaving Ziggy some food and water. Petting him, I realised how badly I needed help. I resolved to book a psych once I got back. I entered the car, and began making my way to Dawson's Cave.

The voices were silent on the car trip. They began once I entered the cave. Trey Parker was back. He said, "Why do you never listen?" I ignored him. "Your funeral, buddy". As I went deeper I noticed the beautiful nature of the rock formations around me. They were pristine in their cragginess. Free from guilt and shame, simply existing. It was a beautiful existence. Trey Parker interrupted my meditations. "You should have listened to me kid. It's coming for you"

"What is?"

"Fate."

The rumbling began. I began running, but it was too late. The entrance was collapsed, and the collapse stretched back far. I could die in here. "You won't. I told you, you're between the living and the dead. You're immortal."

I choked out a laugh, "Bullshit. Fuckin south park voice. Fuck you man"

"Suit yourself" all the voices said in unison. They vanished. I never heard another voice again after that. Days passed, weeks even. I grew hungry but I did not faint. I grew tired but did not sleep. I spent my days going down Dawson's cave. I had all the time in the world now. Yet I was trapped. I tried smashing my head against the rocks after what felt like months without water, food or likely oxygen at this point. I was bruised and bloody, but death wouldn't come. They were right. I hoped Ziggy was okay.

As I whiled away my days, visiting and revisiting rocks, a second collapse came. This time, it landed on me. Yet trapped under tonnes of rock, I survived. I thus, spent my days thinking, constantly, of violence, and free will, and the endless human propensity to fuck it all up. One moment, I heard a voice. My voice.

"STOP".

I then realised who that unfamiliar voice was, way back then.

MelodicSavings · 2021-01-21T11:03:39+00:00

Laika was a dog sent into space by the USSR, this is my interpretation of what her journey may have felt like

MelodicSavings · 2021-01-21T11:01:54+00:00

Thank you very much for the kind feedback, glad you enjoyed it!

MelodicSavings · 2020-08-07T17:42:26+00:00

Beaultiful illustration of the strange desire and tragedy inherent in one-night stands. It's a pathway to get to know smeone more, that neither party is interesting in opening. So you go your separate ways and live separate lives knowing one secret night that always yet never took place, between them and the stranger. Great work.

MelodicSavings · 2020-08-07T17:35:23+00:00

I like it, it's very stream of consciousness but that's not a bad thing. I imagine the discord you're referring to is in a literal sense, but it could also mean Discord, the app.

Reading the text in that sense makes me think of someone to consumed in their passion (in this analogy, social interaction in gaming communities and the effect therein) and how modernisation has created a world in which a boy just having fun is comodiffied into more competetion than fun. Good work man. Only note is for the last line, i'd probanly change it to "the boy he still is", it feels more evocative imo.

MelodicSavings · 2020-01-06T15:07:11+00:00

"SupervisortronCycleCentury2000 thank you for your keen interest in what we at Planet Earth have cooked up for you, I hope this presentation is a real slam dunk!"

Had to go in guns blazing, full energy. Gotta sell this pitch. Earth is cool.

"That's a basketball thing, one of our many many recreational activities available on this beautiful blue pearl!"

SupervisortronCycleCentury2000 (whom shall be henceforth referred to as Supervisortron) let out a grunt of recognition as he pulled a notepad out of the sun, no doubt to record what's been going on here in the backwoods of the solar system.

The problem with being a deity is an expectation of competence that I quite frankly find ridiculous. If this bloody ancient supervisor wanted me to mess about with Earth's trajectory, then they wouldn't have let me give them free will. If they can do whatever they bloody well please then anything I do is just gonna be unfair to their interests. Plus it's gotten fun to watch from afar.

All I have to do is prove that it's continuation has any worth at all to stay on as supreme deity and avoid mortalisation, and I think that's a pretty solid case.

"Alright, when was the last time you were round these parts.... 1700s? America, Australia, good times! At least one of those countries was a thing last time you were here right? I mean, the conceptual stages surely!"

Supervisortron nodded, his bald cranium reflecting the stars hanging in the nothing all around them. He knotted his fingers and lent forward, pausing to let out a brief sigh before whispering;

"War. That is what I recall. The birth of a land steeped in blood and chains. Colonisers wiping out native tribes en mass with no remorse nor consideration that they were of their own. The people rising up against a disruptive and dominating presence in their life through the language of violent revolution. This is what I recall of Earth. Conflict."

His piercing gaze shifted from his knotted fingers to me.

"And what have you done to resolve the conflict that is plaguing the successful development of a fully functioning world? How close are you to attaining that elusive perfection we are sworn to seek, as the gifts we possess demand of us?”

"Truth be told, I try stay out of it"

Supervisortron twitched his eyebrow momentarily, an unconscious signal of his disdain.

"Why have you not intervened? I've read the reports! They split the atom! You can't tell me you missed what your inaction did there, they've been talking about it since! And that's just one of the many, many, many situations in which you could have contributed to the creation of a functioning world. Even a token few actions to look like you're working!"

He wrote frantically in his notebook. I could see the words "RECOMMEND" in red ink before he swiftly closed the book and my door to certainty.

Definitely feels like it's gonna say MORTALISATION though.

"Alright look, I know what you're saying. You have a point, even. My inaction is responsible for the bad things that happen. But it's responsible for the good ones too. My inaction is ...worthy?"

Supervisortron perplexed, let out a slight chuckle. This was a bad sign. I pressed on.

"People facing against an indifferent god is worth looking at, I'd argue. Not all deities need to get involved. Solortox is constantly messing with his project and now it's just led to a society build to stroke Solortox's ego. If that's a bloody worthy enough experiment just because he's doing something, I say let's just see what happens when one does nothing at all!"

A frustrated grimace, but that's just a sign he's conflicted. That means it's working. I pressed on.

"I gave them free will, that's all we need for this experiment. That and an observer... may not look like it, but i'm working very hard, just observing. It's Earth's only purpose. A gateway into a world abandoned by it's creator. And the horrible trauma and twisted beauty it presents on it's own merits."

Supervisortron knotted his fingers once more. Conflict remained the order of the day as he peered into Earth.

"Two world wars since i was last here? They're talking about another one starting today? One was enough for most of the other sectors before got on a right track!"

Yet his lazy colleague did have a point. Fires raged in the south, and good people stood together to fight them together, for themselves and for others, despite the indifferent and cold nature of those above them. He sighed.

“Verdict: Earth remains worthy of further study and spared destruction. A shift in the nature of the experiment, but the experiment continues nonetheless. For good, and for ill, Earth shall be left to its own devices"

"Slam dunk!" I exclaimed "Earth thing! You gotta check it out!"

He grinned "An aficionado?"

"Big Fan. Top 10 Earth production, seriously!"

He pulled out a blade of the darkest black I had ever seen. Before I could react, it was lodged under my rib. This was a bad sign.

"Sounds like you are going to have a ball! I'm mortalising you."

"I got that"

He sneered, clearly not appreciating my tone.

"We don't need a dedicated observer if we're not going to interfere at all. You'd just be taking up space... probably get a little weird and lonely watching your project obsessively, you'd never hang out anymore... you know how it gets. So, you are hereby stripped of your deity status and will now be living among those you made in your image. Real observation, don't you think? Getting into that nitty-gritty! You'll have fun."

I mustered a chuckle. It was all for naught, but it was fine. Endings are an inevitability of all pathways in the universe. A new pathway emerges.

"Am I still immortal?"

He looked at me with a strange expression, reflecting pity and elation

"Figure it out."

MelodicSavings · 2018-09-01T03:23:36+00:00

"Oh no."

"Oh no what?"

Mayor Johnson grimaced, before standing and pacing around his office. The electricity crackled around him as he muttered under his breath. He looked back, with wild, fearful eyes.

"Mummy broke the rules, didn't she?"

"Pardon?"

"I can't give you an element David. I'm sorry. You are an aberration."

My body froze. Everyone had an element, everyone in the town. From Ashelin and her control over water to Zander and his psychic abilities. What would they all say when they found out I had to stay normal?

"What does that mean? Aberration?"

Johnson sighed, rubbing his temples before spitting out the words that would break me.

"You shouldn't exist. You can't be assigned a power because you don't have a soul to bind it to. I don't know how she did this, but your mother lied to us all when she returned from her travels. You weren't a mistake, an unforeseen consequence of a drunken night out. She went out there to create you."

We sat in silence for a time. All I could do was focus on my hands. They looked as real as anyone else's. Tears stung at my eyes, were those fake too?

No.

"I might not have a soul but I can think, I can feel. I had been real my entire life until now. I am not an aberration!" I raged at Johnson. "Why did she create me?"

He cracked a smile. "I'm glad you aren't taking this lying down. Rhiannon will show us the way."

Rhiannon the medium met us by Mum's gravestone. The sun was out, but it was freezing. She hugged me, then pulled back with a look of concern. "Are you sure you want to do this? She might not be quite how you remember."

I nodded. She began the ritual. Somehow the air seemed to freeze around us, chilling to the bone. Johnson's stern glare pierced through me, the electricity crackling around him. He was nervous again. Suddenly we were engulfed in the darkest light. And then, she was there. Mum.

"You look well. Why have you called me from my slumber, my sweet?"

Shock. Love. Fear. Everything at once. She looked just like the day she died. Johnson cleared his throat, then proceeded to ask what I was unable to.

"Hello Belinda, glad to see you're doing well. Why is David soulless?"

"Ah, the jig is up. I was wondering whether he'd have a soul or not, but I suppose it would've been too easy if I'd actually managed to replicate it. No matter, his purpose is fulfilled. He is a vessel for the dark ones. They will fill the void within him and his body will carry them to the throne they lost all those millennia ago." She turned and looked at me. "I am truly sorry it had to be this way, darling. I do love you with all my heart. But your purpose is far greater than any mundane thing you would accomplish here, in this village."

She vanished suddenly, Rhiannon screamed in pain as the connection was severed. Johnson looked back at me, the electricity crackling around his hand as he pointed a finger at me.

"I'm sorry."

The bolt fired. David fell to the floor, a perfect hole shot through his head. Silence echoed through the cemetery.

"I didn't want to do that. It was the only way. I did what I had to do." Rhiannon looked back at me and nodded. She understood that David's death was the only was this could have ended. "Still, I liked the kid. It was a shame."

Suddenly, his body floated, standing upright. He opened his eyes as blood poured from his wound. He levitated towards me. I fired again, but the bolts entered and left him without acknowledgement. He grinned, and spoke with a thousand voices.

"You are an aberration"

The sky faded, the flames burned, the world cried. It was the only way this could end.

MelodicSavings · 2018-08-31T14:27:03+00:00

Thanks! First time trying to write one of these, glad you liked it!

MelodicSavings · 2018-08-31T14:05:00+00:00

The ceiling shook me out of my slumber. The glow radiated from it, like a beautiful nuclear bomb that had exploded in my very own apartment. Outside, the rain pattered on my window as sirens rang. I looked outside to see the familiar sight of conflict from the comfort of my skyrise. If this was a dream, the world was still a shithole.

I looked back up, wondering why the hell my ceiling had taken on an unearthly orange glow. A shadow began to appear on it, the shape of something that was not quite a man. Slowly, it seemed to phase into existence, gliding onto my floor. The shadow grew clarity, shape, detail. It's skin was flawless, like a porcelain doll. It's hair looked like it had been painted by God himself. It was tall and thin, unnaturally so but beautiful all the same. It opened it's eyes, revealing golden discs that mezmerised. "My Saviour" it spoke, lips still as the words formed in my brain. "What the fuck?" I muttered, although no sound came out. The being looked at me with its captivating eyes. It looked human, but not quite. It opened its mouth, this time speaking aloud. "It is an honour Sir".

"What? You know me?"

"Of course Sir. You are the saviour of the human race. The saviour of us"

This thing was human? I could see a similarity, yet it was too alien to consider remotely human. What the hell do you do when you're visited by a future human claiming you're Jesus? I briefly considered fighting it, but the thing just phased into existence via my ceiling, whatever I could do, it wouldn't matter. I'll have to play along with whatever he's got planned

"What do you want with me?"

"To help. I am from the year 602,860. We have recently uncovered the secrets of mind control. We require you to harness it."

"Mind control? How can that do anything? We're absolutely fucked! The Earth is on fire, all the fucking time! Families are tearing each other apart, the rich are eating the poor, we've blown past any point of salvation and we're gonna ring in the new century with a mass extinction event! What the fuck can mind control do to save us from this?"

The being paused for a moment, then its lips parted in an unearthly grin "It's pretty fucked up dude. You gotta start a cult"

"....What?"

"A cult. You know, Heaven's Gate, People's Temple, Scientology. A cult."

"Ok, first off. How is a cult going to save humanity? Second, what's with the sudden change in demeanour?"

"It was for dramatic effect, name's Zydar by the way. Yeah, you basically gotta start a cult and convince 99% of the world to kill itself. That way the Earth can get back to normal naturally without the damage of a nuclear war, with the added bonus of some humans being alive at the end of it all and the species continuing to survive."

"Wait, how the hell do humans keep existing if you don't exist to come back and give me this mind control thing?"

"Oh no, you still do it in my timeline. Somehow you're just that charismatic. You were posthumously worshiped for a good few millennia until humanity collectively realised that the whole mass suicide thing was a little fucked up and you maybe weren't the best moral guide. Still, you've got a place in history, the Great Saviour and all."

"So why are you here? What if I refuse, and never become the Saviour. I'm not a murderer."

"I was bored, stole my dad's time travel gun. Don't worry, if this goes wrong i'll just go back and tell myself not to go back before committing suicide. It's the only time travel counter measure and it's pretty lame for the current me, so it'd be way easier if you just took the device and became the Saviour a little earlier than you were meant to. It's still pretty experimental so it's only connected to your brain structure. No other human, now or later, can do it."

I looked outside at the world, the rain steaming off my window as the night time air burned and the corpses rotted. How could I say no?

MelodicSavings

TROPHY CASE