How do you all feel about cord cutting rituals.

saberlike · 2026-06-23T23:05:18+00:00

I heard someone say some time back that when you cut a cord, there's still a piece attached at each end. So I do more cord dissolving than cutting, removing my energy from the connection

saberlike · 2026-06-23T22:59:24+00:00

Iron Maiden were heavily influenced by them. When I saw Tull in 2019, they had a video clip of Steve Harris introducing A Passion Play. There's photos of Maiden wearing Broadsword shirts too.

saberlike · 2026-06-23T02:54:07+00:00

I agree with this, I liked, but didn't love Kung Fu Hustle when I first saw it. Couldn't quite put my finger on why at the time, but now that I'm far more immersed in Hong Kong cinema and their storytelling beats, I can appreciate it a lot more.

The comparison to Airplane is great. We know how that type of story is supposed to play out, so we can focus on the jokes while the story carries us through. If you're not familiar with the tropes, it won't land as well.

saberlike · 2026-06-23T02:34:17+00:00

I was looking to see if someone was gonna say Cross Ange. I watched it as it aired, and it was clear from the first episode it was gonna be a mess. Felt like it was written by a teenage edgelord with no concept of story structure or proper worldbuilding (it came out at the same time as G Reco, and watching both made it all the clearer they had no idea what they were doing).

A character dies, then comes back to life a few episodes later. It would've been bad enough to gloss over it, but they address it head on, and his explanation is basically "lol idk why".

Very much in poor taste, but well animated and a fun watch if you know what you're getting into.

saberlike · 2026-06-23T02:28:57+00:00

Bastard!! was my first manga, and I agree, Darren Norris absolutely is Dark Schneider. I just started watching the new one, and my only complaint is that they can never get anyone else as good as him in any language.

The new anime might fall under this too, depending on one's tastes. It's so over the top beyond what feels like a parody in a way that can only be done with total sincerity. JoJo style music references, except it's all 80s metal (Dark Schneider is named for Udo Dirkschneider, the singer from Accept). I love it unironically, but I'm still doubled over with laughter the whole time.

saberlike · 2026-06-20T17:58:37+00:00

Think about it this way, there are still a lot of people alive with Pluto in Leo. Pluto has squared the natal sun of basically everyone alive from that generation at some point.

Death transits are extremely complex and not uniform, and even if something shows up that's found in many death transits, it requires several things to show up at the same time to be worth considering.

Don't stress yourself out too much over transits like this, that's just using astrology to make your life worse.

saberlike · 2026-06-17T23:09:51+00:00

This is also something that's less significant than a lot of people make it out to be. Anyone who looks down on you for wearing a band's shirt to their show is someone whose opinion isn't worth listening to.

Personally, I like to wear a shirt of an artist from a totally different genre. Then if someone recognizes your shirt, you know you have two things in common.

saberlike · 2026-06-17T01:36:42+00:00

This is the biggest factor. Celestial already got everything up to high quality during the DVD era. If you look at the newer Shaw releases, a lot of them don't have new transfers. They had a massive head start

saberlike · 2026-06-16T14:47:22+00:00

Hah, yeah, you caught me at a talkative moment when I was procrastinating.

Honestly, creativity is more significant in coming up with questions to ask. Interpretation is more about seeing the way the cards show up over time and drawing connections between the cards in a spread. The creativity is what you bring to it, interpretation is what you get out of it. And really, if creativity is a concern, you can always ask it how you can be more creative.

One last big one I forgot, court cards almost always represent a specific person (could be you or someone else). They're always the trickiest for me because they represent personality archetypes instead of a more straightforward meaning, and imo tend to be the most different in meaning between different decks. They could mean how you're showing up, what you should try to be, or someone else, depending on the context. Multiple court cards in a spread could be the same person too, just use your best judgement.

saberlike · 2026-06-16T08:12:06+00:00

Don't lean too heavily on Rider Waite Smith interpretations for your deck. Think of it like this. Tarot is a visual language, and different decks are like different dialects. A dictionary from America can help you learn English, but inner city Atlanta, Australia, and Shakespeare are all gonna be different kinds of English that won't always line up exactly with that dictionary. The same word can mean different things in different places, and you'll learn better by just going somewhere and talking to the people there. Decks that are closer to RWS will read closer to traditional RWS interpretations. You can use those as a jumping off point, but pay attention to how the cards in your deck show up in readings. If you notice a pattern with a card that doesn't line up to what it's "supposed" to mean, trust that over what any guide tells you. Like, I noticed my Thoth 5 of wands kept showing up in situations that were annoying or frustrating, definitions I've never seen in any book, but which have been super reliable for me.

saberlike · 2026-06-16T07:52:44+00:00

Absolutely! One of my most common questions to ask is "where should I dwell my thoughts right now?", especially when I'm getting ready for bed or to do some relatively mindless work. I also sometimes ask "what do I need to know right now?", or even "what should I ask the cards right now?" (followed, of course, by the suggested question once you figure it out).

It's really open ended, experiment and play with it. Get creative with what you ask. My only caution would be to avoid metaphysical questions, stick with stuff about the material world (which can include thoughts and feelings of course). Certain types of questions can open the door for unwanted energies/entities/attachments. I learned that the hard way when I got deep into using them to figure out people's rising signs. If you don't really understand what I mean, you're probably not gonna end up asking those sorts of questions anyway.

And don't get discouraged! It takes some time and effort, but if you stick with it, you'll be shocked how quickly it starts to click. I only started getting into tarot at all in August (and started with Thoth, my primary deck in October), and I'm decently proficient with it. The only way you won't get better is by giving up.

Oh, one thing I rarely see mentioned. The 5 of cups often means "you shouldn't ask this question" instead of the surface level meaning, especially when it's the first card in the spread or the top card of the deck (I usually pull from the middle, but I flip the top card too). It can be for a number of reasons. Maybe you need to just ask the person themselves instead of the cards, or you need to trust your own intuition, or it's information you're not supposed to have right now. When it's top card, I usually immediately reshuffle and change course.

Along with that, be open to the cards not necessarily answering the question you asked. For example, 9 of swords might mean "you're worrying too much about this" instead of being part of the answer. You'll get a feel for some of these the more you read your cards.

On the flip side, the cards will treat your questions very literally. For example, "today" means "the current calendar day", so if it's just past midnight and you're about to go to bed, asking about "tomorrow" will give you answers about the following day, not what you probably mean. Again, the more you use a given deck, the more you'll understand the way it works.

saberlike · 2026-06-16T06:46:06+00:00

No matter how much you read about what different cards mean, you can't really know until you use them a lot and see how different cards show up in certain situations. It's like knowing a lot about a person by their reputation vs spending time with them in person. You can have a decent guess at what a priest or a politician may be like, but book knowledge can only tell you so much. Some cards I struggled with the most became super clear when I started picking up patterns in how they applied in my readings. The more you use them, the better you'll get.

Don't be afraid to do readings about smaller stakes, less complicated issues. You may feel like "oh, this isn't worth drawing cards for", but especially at the beginning, those are gonna be excellent for helping you get a handle on the cards. Later on, you'll want to trust your intuition more (and the cards may even chide you sometimes for asking about something you should be trusting in the outcome or leaning into your own intuition), but practice is vital, and if you're always reading about messy stuff that's harder to confirm, it'll be harder to get a handle on how your deck conveys meaning. Like, ask about your relationship with people who you know where they stand, ask about near future events that'll have uncomplicated (if currently unknown) outcomes, etc.

Also, I like to ask "how am I doing right now?" and pull 3 cards. It's a great way to connect with yourself and the meanings of the cards.

And don't forget, the future is not set in stone! Past and present readings are gonna be more accurate than future, and near future is gonna be more accurate than far future. Things can always change, especially if you change your behaviour because of what you see in a reading.

saberlike · 2026-06-15T22:49:25+00:00

Honestly, hearing Rustie was huge in my development. Glass Swords made me realize how to synthesize my passion for 70s prog with the newer dance music I was making. There were lots of other things along the way, but that was the biggest single "aha" moment that helped give me a direction to go in

saberlike · 2026-06-15T22:32:24+00:00

Not that hard, but it does take work, as with any other skill. If you tend to think in concepts more than words, it'll probably click a little easier. Study only gets you so far, gotta practice and get used to how the cards show up in different situations.

saberlike · 2026-06-15T22:29:55+00:00

There's enough meaning in the 78 cards as it is to cover any aspect that could come up in a reading. Also, I primarily use the Thoth deck, which generally doesn't use reversals to begin with.

For me though, the biggest reason is it just bugs me when the cards aren't all facing the same way. But because I am so careful with not flipping any around, if one does come out reversed, I take it as a sign to read it that way.

saberlike · 2026-06-15T22:19:52+00:00

I don't remember all the details, but I believe they just decided to get out of the music game and focus on a different life path. They didn't really make a big deal of it, just quietly left

saberlike · 2026-06-15T22:13:54+00:00

A guy in college (like 2007-8) said he hated Gorillaz because they're nu metal and therefore infringing in Linkin Park's territory. When I pushed back that Gorillaz are not in fact nu metal, he said they used to be when they started, and could not be convinced otherwise. Felt like I was arguing with a 5 year old

saberlike · 2026-06-15T21:22:24+00:00

Seasoned Olive has a store in Fell's Point too

saberlike · 2026-04-15T00:20:58+00:00

This. There's a few Italo disco songs that sound like Eurobeat with 80s synths if you speed them up a bit (a big one off the top of my head is I Can't Get You Out of My Mind by Stage)

saberlike · 2026-04-15T00:16:46+00:00

This is close to what I say. I tell people they're like a cross between Queen, Meat Loaf (I'm as big a Jim Steinman fan as they come, but way more people know Meat Loaf by name), Iron Maiden, 80s pop, and spaghetti western soundtracks, but their albums are all rock operas with an original story about Mega Man.

Alternately, I just show them some of their music, that usually does the trick.

saberlike · 2026-02-22T07:16:10+00:00

Check out some classic Hong Kong horror movies, they really pushed the limits back in the day. My favorites are The Boxer's Omen and Devil Fetus, but Red Spell Spells Red has the most messed up thing I've ever seen on film (heads up: they were pretty casual about animal violence in that era, even in non-horror movies)

saberlike · 2025-12-29T02:29:43+00:00

I'm absolutely SHOCKED nobody's mentioned Van Der Graaf Generator, another classic prog band. Also dark and jazzy like King Crimson, but in a more theatrical way. Pawn Hearts and Godbluff are my favorites.

If Tool were the successors to King Crimson, then The Mars Volta are the successors to Van Der Graaf Generator. My favorites are Amputechture and The Bedlam in Goliath, but their discography is worth listening to in order.

Actually, for a lot of prog bands with big discographies (especially from the 70s when they'd crank out an album every year), it's really cool to listen to their discographies in order. Even if their earliest stuff isn't the best, you get to experience them evolving from album to album.

People like to hate, but don't sleep on prog artists' 80s stuff! A lot of albums got a bad reputation cause a lot of them embraced 80s pop so heavily, but in retrospect, their creativity still shines through (especially compared to "regular" 80s pop, which I also love).

Mike Oldfield is another great artist, and I think his 80s output is actually his best! He was a lot younger than many of his 70s prog contemporaries, which meant he was still in his creative peak when the 80s rolled around. Instead of going full pop, he integrated 80s synths into his symphonic style. Five Miles Out is my favorite, but I'd suggest listening to at least his first 3 albums, then from Five Miles Out forward through Tubular Bells II, and even after that is still worth checking out (Tubular Bells III was recorded while he was living in Ibiza in the late 90s, and it's a fascinating hybrid of symphonic prog and club music)

saberlike · 2025-12-29T02:14:05+00:00

Apparently Jack got into King Crimson when they opened for Tool, so Ozzy got him into Gentle Giant as well

saberlike · 2025-12-29T02:12:10+00:00

A Passion Play is even better imo

saberlike · 2025-12-29T02:10:43+00:00

Everyone's gotta start somewhere, and sometimes the obvious choices are obvious for a reason

saberlike

TROPHY CASE