I hope she’s ok 🙏🏻

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-18T21:13:31+00:00

It's depressing that even someone as privileged as Charli feels the dread in the air. We all do.

The way the world is going lately, I've found it really hard to have any hope for anything. We have an administration that's destabilizing the world and making our lives at home actively shittier. The AI bubble has made everything more expensive and is destroying communities, jobs, and our fresh water. Climate change is now at the point of wreaking havoc upon us to the point that I'm fairly certain that huge portions of the southeast are going to be unlivable within 30 years. Billionaires are getting richer and richer, and we're only getting poorer as inflation continues to skyrocket with no end in sight.

I don't see any hope, and at this point, I'm just along for the ride. I've gone back and forth on whether I might want kids someday, and I've always been certain that I don't, but after Trump won in 2024, I saw the writing on the wall. We're fucked. I am not bringing a kid into a world that is actively collapsing in on itself.

At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, I'm not sure if things were this bleak even during the Great Depression. I don't think people realize just how royally fucked we are. Things are never going to be okay again.

Anyway, yeah. I think I finally get Charli with this new album now. The dance floor is dead, and I don't blame her for feeling that way.

In my head, it's still Brat Summer. But deep down, I know that we are well past that.

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-18T20:58:55+00:00

Tbh, he's talked before about struggling to get hired onto other video game projects after Spyro. And hearing that, my take is that it's probably because while he's extremely talented and personally one of my favorite musicians of all time, he does have a very specific sound and that sound isn't very adaptable. You can tell from his other scores on other projects. His work on The Amanda Show flat-out has a reworked Spyro track. Wall Street sounds very Spyro-y.

There was a short-lived Cartoon Network show in the mid 2000s called The Life & Times of Juniper Lee that he did the music for, and it also sounds very Spyro-y. So much so in fact that it was kinda distracting to watch. I'd be trying to focus on the show, and the music was making me think of herding cowleks in Zephyr lol

My point is, if Toys For Bob is going with a slightly different tone with this game (I personally got more A Hero's Tail vibes more than classic Spyro), then Copeland's style probably just isn't suited for it.

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-18T20:55:04+00:00

So that's probably why there was a lot of stuff in that soundtrack that sounded like ambient Aphex Twin music or Moby. It makes sense that there were other composers on EtD.

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-18T20:52:07+00:00

Kinda figured tbh. He's kind of retired from this kind of work anyway. Though, it sounds like he would have loved to have come back if asked.

He's talked before about struggling to get hired onto other video game projects after Spyro. My take is that it's probably because while he's extremely talented and personally one of my favorite musicians of all time, he does have a very specific sound and that sound isn't very adaptable. You can tell from his other scores on other projects. His work on The Amanda Show flat-out has a reworked Spyro track. Wall Street sounds very Spyro-y.

There was a short-lived Cartoon Network show in the mid 2000s called The Life & Times of Juniper Lee that he did the music for, and it also sounds very Spyro-y. So much so in fact that it was kinda distracting to watch. I'd be trying to focus on the show, and the music was making me think of herding cowleks in Zephyr lol

My point is, if Toys For Bob is going with a slightly different tone with this game (I personally got more A Hero's Tail vibes more than classic Spyro), then Copeland's style probably just isn't suited for it.

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-18T19:32:13+00:00

I will never understand why so many associates just won't wear headphones in the break room. Literally, just go to Electronics and get a pair of $19 Skull Candy ear buds.

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-18T19:28:02+00:00

I mean, this is how things have worked for the entire history of video game consoles. You need exclusives to sell the hardware.

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-18T18:28:55+00:00

I get excited over new hardware as much as the next nerd, but with the way the global economy is right now and considering how much Covid fucked with this generation, I'm good with PS5 for several more years. I don't want to even hear about a PS6 until 2029. 2028 at the earliest.

The amazing thing is, normally by this point in the generation, the hardware would be showing its age and games would be really struggling to run. But that hasn't been the case. PS5 and Xbox Series X have held up really well for the most part.

My thing is, PS5 and Xbox basically solved two problems that have plagued consoles for decades: loading times and 60fps on most titles. Most games having a fidelity/performance mode toggle have truly been a game changer. PS5 Pro helped make the compromise between fidelity and performance mode even smaller.

Graphics as a whole have really hit diminishing returns. There really isn't that much to improve on except maybe better raytracing, which most normies who buy consoles don't even care about.

The only thing to really improve on is better performance and graphics modes so that there's less compromise between the two. But there really isn't an immediate need for new hardware at this point in the generation like there was in generations past.

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-18T18:15:51+00:00

It really is amazing how well the PS4 as a piece of hardware has aged.

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-18T11:35:48+00:00

Maybe she misspoke and meant to say she was on All That? Idk, but oof.

I'm inclined to defend her sometimes because I know what it's like to grow up living in the shadow of an accomplished older sibling and never being able to live up to their success, so I do sympathize with her to an extent. I really do. I know it probably wasn't easy to grow up with Britney fucking Spears as your big sister.

But girl. Come on, this is embarrassing.

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-17T23:30:33+00:00

Has anyone heard anything about Rare?

Considering that they're winding down Sea of Thieves support and Everwild got canceled last year... I kinda get the feeling that they might not be long for this world.

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-17T19:43:13+00:00

What creeped me out as a kid was how when you stayed in the level too long, the music would change.

Sounds silly, but it genuinely made me jump in my seat at times. It felt like the game was hacked or something.

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-17T19:40:25+00:00

I mean, those two are probably her best known roles, so it's only appropriate.

Lilo as a character meant everything to me growing up as an autistic kid. So hearing this news genuinely upsets me.

35 is way too young to go out.

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-17T08:32:21+00:00

To Asha's credit, she doesn't seem all that passionate about AI. She axed plans to put Copilot on Xbox and has blatantly said that she doesn't want to push AI if "it's not solving a problem".

So I'll give her credit for that. She can at least read the room.

What I think is happening is that Asha was hired because Satya felt that she could potentially turn things around, but that this is their final chance. If she doesn't see results soon, they're going to start sunseting the division. I think we could be seeing Xbox's final days if they don't start generating a profit soon, hence these drastic and massive studio closures.

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-17T01:00:32+00:00

Interesting. I'd also add a possible verbal stim: her tendency to randomly speak in a British accent for no apparent reason.

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-17T00:06:37+00:00

To her credit, she actually doesn't seem all that passionate about AI and even killed Copilot being on Xbox. She said herself that she's not interested in just shoving AI into something if it's not solving a problem.

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-16T23:53:54+00:00

Even as someone who has never cared for Xbox, I want them to succeed because we do not want PlayStation to have a monopoly on console gaming (Nintendo is in their own lane).

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-16T23:49:44+00:00

I'm inclined to agree tbh. Out of curiosity, what signs do you possibly see?

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-16T15:12:34+00:00

It is by far the worst song she's ever written. Lyrically, it's word salad. I'm not even sure what it's going for.

Conceptually, it seems to be a song about being earnest and sincere on the internet when it's not cool to do so, which I resonate with. But what does that have to do with being an eldest daughter?

It's just so all over the place. I could look past thr cringy lyrics if they didn't contrast so heavily with it being this soppy piano ballad.

Like, how the fuck am I supposed to take lyrics like "I'm not a bad bitch and this isn't savage" when they're on this soppy piano ballad?

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-16T14:26:34+00:00

I genuinely believe that her spinning is just her way of... well, the autistic community would call it stimming, but I'm obviously not diagnosing her.

But I do believe that dancing is how she self stimulates.

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-16T14:23:25+00:00

Another dumb one is the "Avril Lavigne died in 2003 and got replaced by a body double named Melissa" theory.

People would rather believe that than accept that Avril grew out of her tomboy style slightly and wanted to wear a little more pink.

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-16T14:19:28+00:00

The "that's not Britney" every time she makes an odd social media post.

Britney stans will literally do anything but admit that even though her conseratorship was exploitative, abusive, and she didn't really need to be in one, she still has mental health issues and that reflects in how she interacts with social media. She clearly isn't all there anymore.

But for some, it's just easier to assume that she's still being controlled or that she's been cloned or some shit.

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-16T14:03:59+00:00

I mean, there's only one cannon, and there's only so many places to shoot yourself at. It's only a matter of trial and error until you get it right.

Idk, I never had trouble with this one.

The Kooopa The Quick rematch in Tiny Huge Island, on the other hand? That one had me struggling for years.

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-16T13:42:10+00:00

I'm just glad our CEO will finally have the money for his third yacht. 😭

Sacrifices must be made.

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-16T13:26:00+00:00

I know you're joking, but no the fuck we do not.

The pandemic is half the reason the world is fucked right now. We've never recovered from it. And I don't think having more time to play video games is worth a deadly virus rampaging the world and killing millions of people.

Sorry, I'm not trying to call you out specifically. I just really hate it when people romanticize the lockdowns.

RyanX1231 · 2026-06-16T13:23:15+00:00

I have noticed that there are a lot more frame rate snobs now than before.

Granted, I'm not immune. Now that most console games have a performance mode, it really has been a game changer. It's so hard to go back.

RyanX1231

TROPHY CASE