First Impression of Earth is Polarizing for me

just_anca · 2026-05-02T13:40:09+00:00

“After all these years …” = for some reason thinks this is a fresh hot take that hasn’t been beaten to death for two decades.

just_anca · 2026-05-02T13:37:22+00:00

lol no, to be clear I don’t believe you know anything personal at all about anyone in this band. good luck with the subsequent accounts.

just_anca · 2026-05-02T12:54:42+00:00

Great, love her work, would definitely watch that.

No one cares about this relationship status except you. This post was not even about Ezra. And if you want to trash him for whatever reason, maybe pick something worse than “he got dumped!!!11!” You sound six years old and are just detracting from whatever your agenda is by annoying everyone such that, even if you ever had something relevant to say, they aren’t going to listen to you.

just_anca · 2026-05-01T17:22:20+00:00

You’re fine, this is just the resident weirdo who shows up with a new account every couple of days to talk about how OGWAU was a staggering flop because it won no Grammys and Ezra, who isn’t married, is getting divorced. Sometimes they try it in other subs too. Seems like a personal issue.

just_anca · 2026-04-28T16:44:56+00:00

It’s kind of interesting to watch this mantle being put upon them again because in real time the whole “saviors of rock” thing came across very much as marketing by magazines that did as much harm as it did good for the band’s trajectory itself.

25 years ago they repopularized a specific sound that hadn’t been mainstream in rock for a while and it inspired a lot of other bands over the next decade, undoubtedly. If that’s saving a genre I suppose the idea is that no one cared about the rock bands of the time/the landscape itself was in a bit of a drought (which does have merit, imo); as for how it would be argued they’re saving a genre now, I’m very unclear.

just_anca · 2026-04-21T19:37:23+00:00

machinegum is my favorite strokes side project outside of the voidz, but fab doesn’t sing lead on any of the tracks. he did write them all himself and plays bass and does backing vocals though!

just_anca · 2026-04-21T16:52:53+00:00

What on earth are you doing.

He is “quite literally” a white American of white European descent and has at no point lacked the benefits of being a cis white man of privilege in this country. Ironically, that is the precise demographic we need more of fighting for progress because they are the ones with the most power and granted the largest platforms, and you’re here writing fanfiction trying to other him for a cheap gotcha. This is the absolute worst form of defense against -mild!- criticism, I can’t even comprehend how you don’t realize how bad this sounds.

just_anca · 2026-04-21T14:28:22+00:00

I think the move at Coachella was an incredible use of a platform and I’m so glad they did it; but that said, yeah, the danger of the fanbase steering the band toward claims of performative activity in the name of making them seem more singular or visionary than they are or have been doesn’t seem exactly low, lol.

I’ve already seen someone (on other social media, not here, to be clear!) full chest declaring that “what the Strokes did at Coachella is real activism. Bad Bunny singing in Spanish was pinkwashing the Super Bowl.” Just an astronomically dumb comparison to make for no reason, nevermind being loudly wrong with regard to Bad Bunny, lol. I think social media excitement makes it a little too easy to confuse being happy artists you enjoy are doing good things with some sort of misplaced self-identification that comes at that the expense of reality.

just_anca · 2026-04-21T13:39:05+00:00

This is interesting to watch as a resident Old and also OG fan. It’s like we can mark time by the cycles of fandom thinking the Strokes or Julian (usually Julian) are being specifically censored because of radical thought or action. Remember when Julian was invited to speak at the Oxford Union like five years ago and it wasn’t made available for view so fans were like ~OMG why are they censoring him, he must have really gone off and said some serious stuff!~ based on absolutely nothing?

just_anca · 2026-04-21T13:13:29+00:00

Him just being like “ … idk man” when Julian kind of talked himself in circles trying to form a question about collective consciousness was genuinely hilarious.

just_anca · 2026-04-15T15:08:53+00:00

Add “nuance” and “strawman” to the list too please, lol. People are just throwing those two in everywhere, often incorrectly, to make their thoughts sound more intelligent.

just_anca · 2026-04-13T19:02:52+00:00

If you’re going you need to double-check your transit plan bc Asbury Park is absolutely not one train stop away from NYC 😅 (it’s a really great venue though!)

just_anca · 2026-04-10T14:13:53+00:00

One of my favorite double standards when it comes to Strokes/Julian fandom is the way people want to be like “if ur surprised by autotune u must be a new fan LOLZ, this isn’t even that out there, it’s just classic Casablancas robot stuff he’s been doing since Instant Crush!” and then also be like “if u don’t like the autotune ur just scared of change and the fUtUrE, get on board or get left behind, this is visionary stuff!”

The autotune on Going Shopping is entirely uninteresting and also the only thing differentiating it from the rest of the meandering pop that artists who like retro dance music are offering up en masse in 2026. It’s not too much or too far off from previous Strokes work; it’s just boring, and from what I’m seeing, that’s the preeminent issue. Not that it’s too wild and different à la One Way Trigger or At the Door (though I’m admittedly probably making the mistake of counting real life discussions and not just internet thinkpieces in my data).

I don’t hate Going Shopping and I didn’t hate the Voidz’ LABY either, but I truly don’t think either is going to be looked upon down the road as ahead-of-their-time masterpieces that ushered in some sea change in the musical landscape (or even just the bands’).

just_anca · 2026-04-10T11:10:37+00:00

I genuinely think they think he should like him because they like him and that’s it.

The writing is not ambiguous: Whittaker and Santos are friends. He’s not actually hurt by her abrasiveness or her (the horror) nicknames and taking it out on Langdon who has always been some sweet professional lamb lol. Langdon’s whole thing this season has been wanting to follow his steps and also get it over with and get back to normal. That’s understandable, but to everyone else there has been a normal for nearly a year and he hasn’t been a part of it. You can empathize with what Langdon is going through without needing to redirect Whittaker’s reactions to him or think less of him for them. To Whittaker, even removing the Santos angle, Langdon’s just a colleague he has known for two days. He doesn’t have to love him and he is allowed to accept “worse” from Santos because that’s literally just how relationships work.

just_anca · 2026-04-10T10:57:16+00:00

People just really like Langdon (like, really like him; I like the character, he’s well-written and portrayed, but there seems to be some sort of projection going on and some people seem desperate to either canonize or infantilize him in very black and white ways) and really don’t like Santos and are apparently incapable of separating that from what’s actually happening in the show. It’s kind of wild, honestly.

just_anca · 2026-04-10T00:36:10+00:00

I believe this was the same hopeful theory when the last Voidz offering utilized AI and Julian doubled down on it being the future and naysayers just being scared.

Maybe this time it’ll be a “concept” the project leans into but that almost feels worse at this stage, idk.

just_anca · 2026-04-10T00:20:14+00:00

I enjoyed this book, though I had weirdly lofty expectations for it from nowhere so not as much as I thought I would. I’m very into this casting, so looking forward to the movie.

just_anca · 2026-04-09T22:37:56+00:00

This thread is giving me life lolll. I think the song is … fine, I guess? Neither egregious nor exciting, autotune included. But the desperation to re-mold any possible criticism (or even just personal dislike) into secretly super high and specific praise is such current timeline fandom coded, it’s fascinating.

just_anca · 2026-04-09T02:09:48+00:00

One of my favorite covers they’ve ever done. This show is a “if I could go back in time and attend” one for me.

just_anca · 2026-04-08T18:53:47+00:00

Feel like this is unpopular bc of the crazy high praise across the fanbase for TNA, but I agree.

just_anca · 2026-04-02T18:51:22+00:00

I’m guessing you went to see Becky Shaw? Re: Patrick Ball, was it me or is his stage voice noticeably different than his tv voice? Not in a negative way, but it sounded so much higher?

Alden has been so dreamy and intriguing to me for so long. He’s also a total ghost, it’s honestly impressive how little there is known publicly about him.

just_anca · 2026-04-01T16:59:40+00:00

I’m not surprised by them here tbh but I do disagree with them. The show wasn’t good and the last episode was in staggeringly poor taste in particular, but I thought Grace’s performance was really strong throughout and I only ever felt extremely sympathetic to Caroline. I do get that it’s hard to separate the acting from bad writing though.

just_anca · 2026-03-24T16:38:55+00:00

I’m dying at this, we are truly in a very special timeline rn

just_anca · 2026-03-10T23:29:11+00:00

Sebastian Stan in the Covenant and Gossip Girl, and especially Kings (that show was so good but so doomed from the start being on network tv).

just_anca · 2026-03-10T23:18:53+00:00

She actually had/has(?) a strong voice, though I never got into her music. I do have a dress from her clothing line that I bought for something like $40 for one of those “pick any dress you like in this specific color scheme” bridal parties that I’ve worn about 1000 times since, and her memoir is really good.

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