Do you remember those “chi chi chi chia!” Chia Pet TV ads? With the hair blossoming out of a clay figurine? Mine was probably the alligator. Proudly purchased at Walgreens. 😉 Seen here: the Chia Pet kitten my heart missed out on.

Growing my music catalogue the length of here into deep space like a Chia Pet on adrenaline has been a lifelong goal I was unable to act on. Piano cover songs, dance, film scores, and whatever the future may hold, it’s a lot. I needed people willing to provide attention for much of it that I wouldn’t get elsewhere.

All of my CinematNIC Music and Lucky Pineapple Films, and select releases as Animationsaurus!, are now at home in comfy slippers on RouteNote.

Luckily, Spider-Man showed up in my window and came to my rescue. All right, RouteNote did. A UK based music distributor out in Cornwall, everything is now moved over, ready to rumble. You won’t find any swanky Dr. Evil lairs and slick looking henchmen, nor sharks with laser beams on their heads beneath living rooms. That’s OK. I needed people who get stuff done, who have business savvy with expected human manners. A good music distributor is lock and leave: you upload, get it accepted, voila, you’re in stores. Your focus is back on making the work.

Is RouteNote cool? Uncool? Shhh! It’s both, or neither. You are whoever you want to be. You can be that trendsetter on TikTok, or you can be like me, leaving your music up to the everyday people playing tastemakers of TikTok to tinker with. You can appear in a bikini, or a wool turtleneck sweater covering everything but your eyes. No one forces you to be anyone you feel uncomfortable being.

This is a unique selling point in 2026, where you’ll find many open to all and invite only music distributors want that person who is a social media star over working musician, or want a narrowed down choice of PR images. Some DIY music distributors refuse to take on piano and/or classical music, not caring that the genre brings in income, because it won’t fit the image they want to sell.

Let’s have real world examples from types of situations people find themselves in, in the ladder of the fame game, on camera, off, writer, musician, actress, model, anyone aspiring to be anything:

RouteNote isn’t going to care if one day I use a pink wig for a fast food run, or that I eat fast food, because good heavens, of course said in a 1950’s tone, how dare a lady eat food with calories? That I told a dad joke falling flat over breakfast with friends when I’m female and have no children, so why am I telling goofy dad jokes? I can ask someone out without that person being picture perfect for a staged PR campaign trailed by Backgrid, as I pretend I don’t notice the photographers I made follow me around West Hollywood. That I live and am a whole person away from work. That my work has freedom to be wonky, incredibly beautiful, honest to who I was as a youth, a new adult person overnight, or whatever direction I pull it. That in one day I can release a 19th century romantic era piano piece out of a Central European royal listening session and a dance instrumental blasted on speakers at spinning classes near you. I can have social media and post all night, or I could hide from it in the rural of the ruralest Australian Outback log cabins, living so off the grid, the mailman can’t find me.

The beauty of music is things work best when people aren’t told what to do. Ironically, that is what everyone does now: try to earn a quick buck telling musicians what to do and limiting them from moving forward. When the lab rat cage breaks free, soon you’re out of the room, then the building. The sky becomes the limit. You rise and rise until you go to outer space. And that is where I shall be with more and more music releases. “Aim for the moon, and you rank amongst the stars,” as a poster at my school used to say. 🌙🚀⭐ You and I, all of us, the secret that people don’t want you to know is this:

We are all destined to be stars.

Find yourself a company that welcomes everyone, not only a select handful of those they choose, to be stars. For me, RouteNote is that company. They aren’t holding up a velvet rope to let in some people, and another VIP room at the club, where only a select handfuls get attention. You standing there watching, “Hey, I’m one of the ‘beautiful people’ attracting more people to this nightclub, and I can’t get near the VIP room?” Or you’re left outside wondering why you will never be let in until you get thyself a giant limo like The Mask?

No. Anyone’s star power is allowed to shine here!

As we are on the topic of a largely female cast and story? A million girls would kill for the $100 million budget wasted on this movie, making at least ten $10 million movies directed by women, or a whopping one hundred $1 million budgeted films directed by women with actual value. How about one thousand $100,000 budget films directed by women who have stories to tell?

Did anyone ask Emily Blunt what movies she might direct? Sign me up to see her acting in her own work.

Toy Story, Shrek, Indiana Jones to name a few, all carry sequels fine.

The Devil Wears Prada has little in common with the first film at all away from the title. The cast and crew had to do what they were told for a delicious payday. You know this sequel was made for packing audiences in, duped thinking it might be a fun evening.

Do you like business meetings? You’ll love this movie. It’s largely music-free, business meetings in slow motion and people talking about them later.

The Sex and the City films were nothing like the show in quality. They were entertaining. I didn’t walk into them finding myself an unwilling participant in a corporate meeting masked as cinema.

Because that is what this is. A corporate meeting. You sit like a phantom, watching higher ups communicate their disdain for Miranda Priestly’s horrifying overspending.

Nor are these entertaining big business, Wall Street themes.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 is an ad for Vogue. Runway can lose money into the sewers of NYC as we speak, but we must “protect Runway,” whoops, Vogue, because it is an institution. No one else may run Runway, sneeze ACH-OOO Vogue, because it is an institution. Vogue is an insti–are you brainwashed yet?

Brainwashing you on that is the plot. Enjoy it.

When I talked with a gentleman years ago in the know, a question I asked was why jobs got cut but Vogue remained. He, of the media world, knew THE Vogue budgets from being an editor.

“I don’t know,” he said, how it bled money that any other magazine would get it cancelled entirely.

No one may bring Runway forward with the times! NO ONE!!!!

Vogue does have value. It will survive centuries with change.

The solution, this film says, is avoid selling Runway to a businessman apt for turning consumerism gold into diamonds when you can sell it to someone else who doesn’t care how much money you waste on a dying magazine. A new owner who will be drained of finances in no time, when you see Miranda’s spending left and right.

Billionaires are “bad.” Wanting to be one is “bad.” Giving yourself a makeover is “bad.” Until you sell the magazine to a brainless new billionaire letting you spend as you please. Those billionaires are “good.”

I might see how the film works the “billionares=bad” angle, were it billionaires should donate more to charity or serve the greater good. No, all they want is billionaires dumping their money fuelling the fire to keep a dying magazine alive at full spending.

“So Nicole, skip it or watch on Disney+?”

Oh, my.

I lean skip it. I can watch all kinds of fluff.

Viewing this made me exhausted. I felt like I was reading city council meetings minutes.

Some excellent films survive on one clever Matilda-can-do-magic twist. How to Make a Killing seems determined to deliver one surprise after another. Every time I thought I knew where the story was heading, it tricked me and veered somewhere else more fascinating. That’s one of my favourite qualities in a film: keep me guessing, screenwriter(s).

One of the things I appreciated most is that nobody in this story, outside of the uncle, pretends to be a good person. So many films built around morally questionable characters still pause every so often to reassure the audience that someone has a heart of gold after all doing cute little do gooder things. Here, the characters are refreshingly unapologetic 24/7. They’re self-interested, opportunistic, awful, rotten, and perfectly willing to make terrible decisions looking out for number one. Rather than making the film unpleasant, it actually makes it far more entertaining. I can meet nice people every day. Show me your worst.

Despite the murder at the centre of the story, much of the setup feels surprisingly grounded. Strip away the criminal element, and the situations themselves aren’t especially far fetched, OK, and with it, plenty you might find in the New York crime news. That touch of realism helps sell everything else the film asks the audience to accept in surrealism.

Glen “one N in the first name” Powell is also excellent here. His performance reminded me of the great dark comedies and caper films of the 1960’s, those weird movies that shouldn’t exist, but hey, they do, looking at you, North by Northwest. There’s a confidence and rhythm to his performance that feels like a home run modern take on that era without becoming an imitation.

I had a great time with it on HBO Max expecting a meh movie, and it’s a film I would happily watch again.

My great uncle, born about sometime in the 1920’s, not the Illinois based guy the other one on the East Coast, loved Ally McBeal. He used instant messenger, e-mail, and a flip phone. Sometimes, people thought I was IMing, that is texting over instant for you younger folks, people my age. I was, not always. My great uncle was checking in on me. He was a worrywart. Or he might be complaining about something.

A cool kid thing he did was be a super fan of Ally McBeal. Seeing Calista Flockhart at a restaurant once when he took me out in junior high made him extra happy for the rest of the night. About the year 2000-2001 when that happened. As you might expect, he got up and asked Calista for an autograph. I’m just kidding about the second half, he would never do that. What was he going to do with an autograph unless it were on a paycheck? 😂 I knew her from The Birdcage. How he spotted her face in person, I will never know. She looked like any relatively attractive, very thin lady to junior high me.

My younger self believed he wanted Ally for the legal drama. He was a serious corporate exec! Would he follow this show if not?

Ally won Emmy awards. It had to be really good?

🙄

The year 2026. Freshly turned 39 year old me, hoping for a straight up legal drama I could use, or maybe a Lifetime-esque night soap, bring it on. OK, I’ll do a She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. No, Ally McBeal is all along live action Family Guy in the courtroom. I thought maybe a short bit. No, it’s sort of 90’s/Y2K stale men vs. women, “yuppie” professional chitchat with Family Guy daydreaming segments.

Be silly. Be serious. Be romcom. Be indulgent night soap that makes no sense. Be an obsolete 90’s corporate drama for young women. PICK ONE. This show doesn’t.

The one genre Ally never, two episodes in, attacks is horror. Please, someone invite the Scream guy in because seeing the paralegal’s head balloon all episode, each episode, in a legal drama was weird.

“And Melrose Place is from 1992 and still deliciously bats*** crazy addictive,” a Reddit user says on a discussion how outdated Ally is.

“I find if I skip through all the scenes with Ally, it’s pretty great.”

“I got really excited when it first went on streaming about a decade ago and I found it unwatchable...I was wondering how I used to think this was the best show ever.”

Ally makes all women look catty and weird, putting down other women when they can. In episode one, her ex’s current wife confronts her at her apartment because Ally joined the firm. Ally paces outside the vicinity of her fake workplace, filmed at the real 14 Beacon Street in Boston, yelling at old people. The crazy female stereotype appealing to female viewers, uh, no. Ally looks down on the paralegal and seemingly all women. She will not stop digging into other people’s business. Nothing about Ally is a likable character. You understand why her ex dumped Ally, going to Michigan when he could have remained at Harvard Law.

I’ll go with that guy and dump this show. LOL.

The pancakes were, “I’ll be back for more.” The cinnamon is so good, the fruit atop you can add from the platter just right. The pancakes without syrup could be from any high end restaurant with the right spin. At home with my carry out, I added a special gourmet cherry pecan syrup for a kick. I felt like someone whipped this up for me on call.

Introduced in early 2025, one year and a half later, I’m rediscovering Denny’s. As a kid, it was where I didn’t know what to do with the ordering around the bacon and sausage problem. Got myself basics: the burger and fries when I ate beef, or eggs. My great aunt always said/says eggs are safe. She is the guru on all things nutritional and approved.

When I quit meat, the sausage and bacon thing was around. For people who eat eggs, Denny’s presently solved that problem with a two eggs breakfast, so their vegan pals or mostly vegan can eat with them, and the meat eaters are happy. It took a while, me asking corporate I feel some ages ago woth all of you, my “egging on” ;) Denny’s in person why they didn’t have an eggless slam. As I got my meat free burger and fries, classic.

It’s here. 🤤😋🙀❤️

Forgot to photograph it with all the fun eating it. Will try next time, or videoing it.

Thank you, Denny’s, it’s never too late!

Seeing her name pop up on this series kind of took me aback because I am always surprised when someone you least expect lands a juicy major speaking role. There is so much competition with too many people in line for acting talent. Good for her! Mean it. ❤️

Now, the review. Pop quiz.

How do you feel about Gossip Girl, the original on The CW?

1. I hated it.

2. I loved it / liked it.

The Season looked at the HBO Gossip Girl reboot, said, “We can do that,” and made their own Hong Kong set Gossip Girl for adults. Same beats, dialogue, delivery, acting style, gazes, camera cuts, focus shots on the city, aspirational designer wardrobe in a general trying to please every viewer way, sets, furniture, window views, sex/drugs/cheating, hotel plots, money, the Gossip Girl entirety, basic backstabbing, jail(!!!!), lady catfights through stuff that does not really matter, secrets(!), classism, with a scattered curse word now and then The CW never permitted.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and what probably counts is I felt like I was reviewing Gossip Girl: Hong Kong. Of this and the HBO remake, The Season feels like part of the official Gossip Girl universe. And no, I don’t think that is a coincidence.

Visually, The Season appeals to me more because Hong Kong looks fantastic. They filmed on location, and no, it is not all set on a ship, what I thought I was in for. A full six episodes on a boat without leaving looked dreadful. When they stepped off the ship and plots went into Gossip Girl land, all was a warm familiar in a passably entertaining late night soap you watch for comfort.

Jessie Mei Li, the lead playing female character Cola, is actually super pretty as her/their normal self on the Wikipedia photo whenever that was taken. Whoever gave her/them that Lord Farquaad hair don’t bob-bangs combo should be arrested by the fashion police. Have to say what you’re thinking.

Cola is kind of like the Jenny character, the outsider who did not grow up with money until she did, literally outside of Hong Kong in America. You will see why on the series.

Everyone else on the show is so sleazy. You wonder if anyone is a good person. Cola herself isn’t that great as the series rolls on. That nice seeming head maid is out for herself. Guess they have that in common with Gossip Girl.

Hong Kong is a destination I could see myself in, and watching this show was for me, being a dog in a moving car staring at the window. I’d watch it again to see Hong Kong cinematically.

The Season is great because you can pause it and return to it, not feeling lost. The plots are easy to follow, and the plots guessable. That’s OK. We don’t need Meryl Streep on the nightly.

Check it out on Disney+ in the USA.

It had to be good, 9/10-10/10 good for the value, for me to want it. So I chose Arturia.

My first criteria in choosing a MIDI keyboard I put on a credit card was it had to be priced low-ish enough that it is “affordable,” good riddance because $300 USD is plenty of money for many musicians and music students, and not so bad, it might make me feel like MIDI controller a lo pobre about to break. Funny enough, the Peruvian-Chilean dish doesn’t make you feel bad, but you know what I refer to. That feeling of, “I got this, and it’s overpriced junk about to fall apart on me, aesthetically hideous, a visual reminder I only got this because I couldn’t afford what I wanted” every one of us has had at one point when our parents refused to buy what we wanted.

Budgeting for anything is a big deal to me. People buy from people. And women are rarely, if ever, marketed to in music software and production tools.

When I go out, either someone else I see out and about or I personally get asked about something. Or people online. What I’m wearing. Makeup. Cute workout clothes. My hair products. Other people’s outfits, computers, hair products. You see these patterns of psychological analysis from centuries, people buy when they see real, normal people, good looking, average, plain but normal, everyday people using things.

Using a $3,000 MIDI device and bragging about it online when I can make music just fine, fingers crossed, someday that Best Original Score Oscar winner we all dream of, on a pretty basic but cool MIDI keyboard felt like two different paths in the fork in the road. I wear cheap makeup, my main fancy items are accessories because my outfits showcase me when I dress up, I am quite often in Victoria’s Secret PINK head to toe apart from wearing my own graphic tees or local business graphic tees sometimes, so I felt the moral thing to do was be that person who can change the world. Post it online. Write in this diary entry. Share with you friends. Putting out the little change you want to see online doesn’t require you to be today’s biggest A-list star. It might be me, or you.

And in my knowing, music marketing targets a largely almost exclusively music nerd-dom male buyer’s world, with this push for younger men to throw everything on credit cards with money they do not have. Heartbreaking that so many people consistently buy the latest fad, or they’ll own who knows how many MIDI keyboards reviewing all of them online, or posting about them on socials for everyone to have a shared fun moment as they try not to remember that credit card debt.

I could sit this one out. Or I could post this review because maybe you’re LGBTQ, female, old as the dust on this earth, in first grade, a single everyday Old Navy dad raising kids on his own who doesn’t feel cool, or somehow feeling left out of the marketing because I have been there and am, in fact, there in the dark hole of feeling like I am not the intended audience. My motto of keep something, use it with passion, isn’t the message consumerism wants us to have. They don’t want some gal composing on the floor or the park in workout clothes like me with some brands because they can have a conservatory trained lady who is in all of the right social circles and looks like their concept of what women in music look like, who scores subdued, “quaint” work, and that’s fine.

Arturia boldly made this keyboard in turquoise and pink, meaning someone there, at least one person on the team, cares about people having fun with composition and music production.

Brights speak to me a lot mentally. Your mental health is the most important thing you can own. I code my laptops and tech gear in brights. My flip phone that’s my primary device is neon pink. For me, this little thing boosts my mental health so much, I become more productive. So thank you to Arturia, whoever made this decision, because you have made me happy and certainly, countless people who are using this device.

It’s (most likely) class complaint! 🤩

What is a class compliant MIDI controller? That means you pop it in, without anything, no drivers, nothing special, and can input notes into your DAW.

I’m not talking about the extended controls and mapping. The basics.

My laptops I work on are:

• 2022 M1 13” MacBook Air

• 2013 11” MacBook Air, upgraded inside like new

• late 2008 aluminum 13” MacBook, upgraded inside like new, purchased in February 2009

I popped this in. The Arturia MIDI worked instantly on all of my laptops, and I was wowed when my first born child, my first ever Apple computer, the late 2008, ran it splendidly in Logic Pro.

With the installers, everything worked great in the 2013 and 2022 MacBook Airs for the special feature buttons.

It comes with the Arturia Lab Pro plugin and many virtual instruments!

A major selling point to me as someone who dipped in the Arturia synth pool with their cheap plugins and really loved what they had to offer. Synths in every category of music, every instrument, sounding like you could make a blockbuster movie right now with them or a dance tune. Outstanding.

While you’re at it, browse the additional $5+ synth packs because they are so genre specific, it’s like you don’t need to work very hard to sound impressive. The synths enhance whatever you have going from your originality.

You can program the drum pad buttons any shades of the rainbow.

Mine went kawaii, with musical notes as my picks.

Physical touching and visuals review.

Before the item arrived, dropping it and breaking it was my fear. Semi weighted keys? How heavy would they be?

The “semi weighted” keys feel really lightweight and springy. Not junk, lightweight. Might weighted keys be preferable? Sure, the good news is this is so light and portable. I don’t have to worry about the keys going sour because it was immobile.

The side of the device feels like a mock lightweight ceramic. I was expecting plastic throughout.

The shade of pink in real life is comparable to a lighter SMEG pastel pink kettle or toaster. You see those a lot in videos and movies. Barbie has pink SMEG at the start of her Dream House journey in 202'3’s Barbie. I absolutely love it. Everyone around me who saw it thinks it is the cutest thing ever. You wonder why this shade is a seasonal product and not a permanent option. If the new Arturia 37 mini key came in something not basic black or white, like a pastel from Candy Land, I would love it. Because I am so wired to be productive when I see happy things. Right now, the 25 key MiniLab is the only available bright item. For who knows how much longer. You are never too old or young, the wrong gender, the wrong person, to love a good yellow, orange, pink, bright blue, or lilac. I dont understand the lack of choices. The Roland GoKEY in aqua seems to be the exception to the “composing must be visually dull” rule.

Someone said online how the drum pads feel like “rubbish.” I disagree, they seem fine with me.

Would I pound out the plastic keys on this? No, never, but they don’t feel like they are going to break on me if used responsibly for the sole purpose of recording music on my computer and rehearsing ideas in my head before I record them.

“Should I get 49 or 61 keys?”

I felt the 61 keys were worth the extra smidge of money. With 61, I can make quick edits for the missing extra low or extra high octave. Octave jumping drama from the 19th century is my dream whenever I am able to compose it, and you can’t go wrong. Maybe for a more travel setup where you want enough room, I would get a 49, or if you want to take it around campus or the park. The 61 can go outside fine, but 49 feels a little lighter and transportable, probably? Or if you have money to burn, get all of them while the collectible brights last? Because you’ll never know when you are in the mood?

People say get the 49 for producing hip hop beats and dance music. Hip hop really uses lots of classical elements, so I wouldn’t listen to that much. Do whatever feels right. I don’t regret the 61 keys as my purchase.

With those people online reviewing every piece of tech gear that ever comes out, take that with a grain of salt. They aren’t going to say anything bad. They are going to worship the ground people walk on because they want more free stuff, or say something extra mean to scare you from purchasing an item because meanness brings in clickbait, clickbait brings in ad revenue.

The Arturia keyboard isn’t the most perfect MIDI controller ever that will please people because you dumped money on it. It’s cute, not fancy, does the job it says, and is a very decent quality for the price. I am a very satisfied customer. Looking at it and using it brings joy to me. Joy isn’t going to come from spending more money. You cannot fabricate joy in a lab.

Joy is what makes your creative outcomes improve. You are hungry getting to work on something, or that idea flew to you, and you have to jot it down. Happiness brings that faster and better.

Read my experience with Guitar Center placing an order for this item in a prior post.

What appealed to me:

• Store pickups! A relief in this time period.

• I heard about price matching.

• Returns sounded easier for me.

• Guitar Center is everywhere. If unable to get my horse and buggy out to one, or I’m stranded in the desert, a Guitar Center is by a nearby oasis for any drama and/or returns.

• “What happens if it’s registered to someone else? The company sends a used product sold to your brand as ‘new?’” Guitar Center’s team told me they would help me work through this issue if it happened.

• Can I get in touch with humans there? I can.

• How do those humans treat me when I ask about normal customer concerns? Do they ignore me? Move on? Call me a loser? Imply I am one? Some store and product customer service teams very often look down on you.

Overnight was fast, as promised. 🙀

I asked for a price match.

Because my website was outside of the USA, the staffer said he wouldn’t be able to match it, but he could get me overnight delivery for free for my first Guitar Center in a while purchase. So he did.

With other stores, “overnight” generally means “we mean overnight from when it ships, possibly delayed by the carrier.” I can’t speak for every time Guitar Center mails an item. My MIDI keyboard was ordered late afternoon, delivered early this morning to a local store. An e-mail flew in that my order was ready.

And the day was saved by the Powerpuff Girls, I mean, Guitar Center.

Disney bought the rights to Avatar. Pixar borrows the plot, does it better, and openly says in the lead character’s line, “Hey, this is just like Avatar!” That’s something I would do if I had Elon Musk money.

James Cameron’s Avatar is a masterpiece on its own in fairy tale lore. Hoppers makes it wildly entertaining and with stronger social messages. Mr. Cameron, going down as one of the best filmmakers of all time, did it a bit with Dances With Wolves intent. Hoppers is funny, sweet, never stopping. Give me Avatar on a plane and Hoppers for a fun party.

You know that mayor, Jerry Generazzo, has to be based on California governor Gavin Newsom. The man is said to have quietly spent $97,000 on a statue of himself, while alive, while in office.

My single complaint is the lack of hilarious mayor Jerry in the beginning, with the length of time it takes getting the lead’s activism across as a point. With the sequence failing to get signatures for her petition, I felt like I was personally boring myself with getting them in real life in slow motion.

In that moment, you might think, “This movie is too boring. Turn it off.”

And you would be making a mistake. Because it’s so lovely, and I am not going to spoil anything for you. You do not know where the movie is heading. Animated films straying from the setup formula in 2026? Who knew?

I caught this on Disney+ and regret not watching it theatrically.

Can this product go sugary sweet?

Hint, it did.

Nepotism runs deep in this household. Why cast a human actress when I can work with my real life cat, Sheila, voicing her own no budget film series, Sheila the Siamese Cat?

For Sheila’s animated visit to New Mexico, trailer below, the full movie online here, Sheila needed cute, sugary, delicious calories served in synths.

The following options were used from Evolve Nest Acoustics:

• Sheila’s March Frost (custom edit on an instrument)

• Tomorrow

• Glimmers

That’s it! Combined, we’re back in elementary school, waiting in line for that delicious ice cream sandwich. Of course, today, we’re in 2026 and paying inflation rates for those sandwiches. 😂

Enjoy the track on Spotify, reliving your ice cream loving childhood.

Certainly hit music of some sort has used it, because it can sound very Jack Antonoff at times, and everyone these days loves getting his sound, Robyn’s, EDM, a lot of his work influencing everyone else.

It is one amazing brand and product. But how weird can the U-He Zebra 3 synths product get?

Sci-fi, sure. Epic. KEWL.

Can it get spooky? Scary? Gothic horror weird? Romantic era inspired? I decided to test those limits.

Hit it, emoji ghost. 👻

Some back story, for anyone who does not know me. Were I to take a step back in time to work in any other century, I would be thrilled to work in the 19th century romantic era, the times of gothic horror. Deadly romance. Forbidden thoughts. Imagine meeting some of these authors who every studio depends on for hits from the first talkies to now. I can compose anything. Do. Have my pick? You guessed it. Sunshine happy me has a hidden side of depressing, dark, sinister music ready for that piano.

My itch was very strong, wishing that someone, anyone, might bring me on to make some thriller slash horror music again. Opportunities for that are scarce. Ask any production music library, and they will want reality television music or something quick. My usual collaborator, Paul Sutton’s next film is not ready for me to go to town scoring on my laptop. My newest no budget short concepts are all happy themes starring my cat as Sheila the Siamese Cat. Then I remembered, “I have my own gothic horror short in the making, slow motion, for several years.” Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death. Gothic horror at its finest (once upon a midnight) hour.

The trailer below contains a quick sample of the original music. Listen to the full song on Spotify! Please do. Bump up my Spotify streams to buy me some lunch.

Making the track. What could I do without the custom sounds tinkering?

I already experimented somewhat with Zebra 3’s custom sound abilities making my 1980’s princess movie music inspired Lana Del Rey cover of “Body Electric.” It was almost too easy making U-He go happy and sweet. Suspiciously easy. Could U-He have made something so simple that any of us could nail down sounds we’re after in any particular creative mood?

No, I craved something U-He had, as far as I know, never done professionally: time travel into the 19th century underworld of music notes. Not Little Women hooray tunes, or anything cute I could make.

And, could I do it without editing anything? The grab and go choice in a hurry for maybe most of you as students, composers, or music producers who don’t have much time? A fun fact I learned watching Kylie Minogue’s Netflix documentary series was how her first hit, “I Should Be So Lucky,” was recorded in less than one hour before she jetted off, London to Sydney.

Zebra 3 turned out to be really cool after I laid down a reworked piano tune of my own. I mixed a free orchestral kit, pretty basic outside of mainly strings and a few more choices, with some wind FX I edited, and parts played on the following U-He Zebra 3 instruments:

• Bass Pointer

• Arcology Skyline

• Belletje FM

• Hollow Worlds

• Lead Like Nothing Else

• Ehlerrium

• Pulsating Waves

Suddenly, the track became the perfect soundtrack for me, the red eyed evil version of me as The Mistress of the Red Death with my ghost friends, to create some havoc against Prince Alexander Prospero.

A while ago, I was that flute person who insisted I would only work with an orchestra when I was older. I am now fully a convert to the dark side of strangeness that can be pulled off from the unexpected.

Want to make your head spin? Wikipedia says that French feature was based on the 2010 French short, Majorité Opprimée, posted on YouTube. Don’t knock YouTube as a choice akin to film festivals, friends. The director of that short had Netflix offer her the French language feature opportunity from YouTube success.

How do they all stack? Ladies First has the weakest opening. It’s dull, and the setup is necessary. Could be a bit brisker. What Women Want, the Mel Gibson version, dove right into comedic things well and became sort of a dramatic Lifetime movie by the end. Against the Mel one, the Chinese remake was a lot more romantic, not at all crude. What Men Want, I can’t remember anything that happened in it today.

Ladies First becomes the Western version I liked the most after it gets rolling. Seeing Sacha Baron Cohen in his normal being was wonderful. I love his normal acting delivery when he isn’t Borat and Ali G. Calm and reserved.

Meeting anyone who works with film or fashion, the talks of how men’s wardrobes are versus women’s is our chitchat. How can I make things work for my dream on camera film characters? Give me some tips on how to make fit and fabric work on me, because I’m so tired of this? Help me with my shoes? I want shoes I can run in that aren’t flats? How can I look classy because all of the clothes on the market nearly are working against my healthy body shape with little ruffles and weird stuff?

So when I saw all the men in the movie dressed like women, their open V-necks, getting fitted for the male take on bras, the absurdity of it all, my smile grew softly. This was all those conversations put to the test in a film.

Ladies First had some missed chances for further dipping into the comedic male culture swapping. The strides away from What Women Want (2000) to the new 2026 one were pretty good. I’m still recovering from how badly that movie soured halfway in. If it is on TV at a hotel or some public place, I flip the channel around that mark so I don’t have to watch someone tell Mel Gibson with ESP she keeps looking at his crotch, and that quiet music works overtime hiding the plot going on spring break.

Ladies First all a little silly sometimes, very fun, when you meet people like Pigeon Man. A bit frisky at the plastic surgeon’s clinic. Nothing feels rough like What Women Want #1. Not bad, Netflix.

I relaxed with this movie surrounded by pet fur and plush bedding. Highly recommended for a cozy, sleepy night. The cats enjoyed seeing the cat on camera, true story, and one tried to catch it!

Where do you go after the Oscar? Who knows. Mr. Fraser here did not disappear into taking money for the sake of it.

Rental Family is a solid drama with a little silly. His character pretends to be someone else for cash to make things operate smoothly in the family relationship. There is no climax to the movie. It is a series of events leading to each other. He becomes a “father” to a young girl, lying to her. How long can he keep it up? Can you disobey orders to make other clients happy? How should all of these clients be treated?

Enjoy the scenery on the tour. The film gravitates towards beautiful simplicity in Japanese backdrops.

I enjoyed this plenty, saving it in my Disney+ faves viewing area. Rental Family is a great watch for tired nights when you want something relaxing.

I didn’t come to this film for Lanthimos though, or for Emma Stone, his frequent collaborator. Seeing her transform herself from the tiny everyday gal I saw in person into this very loud, dramatic being is really powerful.

But no, I came for Jesse Plemons, an actor I find endlessly compelling on camera and might I add, with hate mail from Kirsten Dunst surely to follow *JOKE, a sexiness in how he carries himself on screen pre-Bugonia. He has an “everyday” quality that somehow translates into something more magnetic once he’s in motion. It’s not about conventional attractiveness like a Chris Hemsworth or old 1950’s Hollywood look. No, it’s about presence. The way he moves, the way he listens, the way he speaks. He’s got whatever that star power is supposed to have. Austin Powers mojo.

And notably, his voice never slips into that upspeak pattern that’s become so common. There’s a realness to him that feels increasingly rare as men all imitate YouTubers selling skin cream in informercial question marks.

Here, even styled scruffily, this is one of his best performances. His acting is so natural it almost disappears, as you feel less like you’re watching a performance and more like you’ve run into him on the street and fallen into conversation.

Aidan Delbis is also a standout, especially in a first major role. There’s a quiet confidence there that holds its own in a film that could easily swallow a newcomer whole.

The film itself is… absurd. Intentionally so. It leans into that Lanthimos tone of controlled strangeness, where everything feels slightly off-centre. Visually, it’s presented in a square aspect ratio, which I have mixed feelings about. As someone who has made no-budget films in that format to evoke the rugged texture of old film strips, I understand the choice. But here, it feels more like a stylistic constraint than a necessity. I found myself wanting a wider frame—more room to see the full basement, more space for the actors’ faces to breathe.

That said, the editing is fabulous. Sharp, deliberate, and full of snappy snap good rhythm. Whatever alchemy brought this film together, the direction is confident and packed with detail. It held my attention completely. I didn’t get bored once, which, for a film this oh WEIRD, is no small achievement.

There is one moment I didn’t like, ugh, a brief scene involving suicide that feels inserted for shock, perhaps even a punchline. It doesn’t land. Suicide isn’t funny, it’s never going to be funny, it never was, get real, and it isn’t light material. Having known people in my youth who made that choice, and having seen the impact ripple through everyone around them, it’s a note that feels out of place in an otherwise carefully constructed film.

By the end, though, the film offers a kind of sideways redemption, like, you know, a wink rather than a resolution. If you’ve seen Emma Stone in TV’s The Curse, you’ll recognise the tone. It’s that particular flavour she gravitates toward: unsettling, self-aware, just a little bit playful in its discomfort all around.

What’s perhaps most surprising is that Bugonia found its way into the Academy conversation at all. This isn’t their usual language. It’s too odd, too slippery, too uninterested in neat conclusions. The Academy wants things like a Lincoln biopic. Bugonia serves up experimental hamburgers made from alien moon cheese at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.

But that’s also what makes it worth watching. It’s weird. It’s intriguing. It doesn’t behave, like you and me are prone to. And sometimes, that’s exactly the point.

The drum was gift via a friend, purchased from 1 to 1 Music in Belfast. Not sponsored. Find them online: https://www.1to1music.co.uk

For anyone with allergies or eco friendly concerns, the elaborately designed drum is made of vegan goatskin. Beater included.

I am a celebratory vampire in Sinners now. 😉

To get to anything interesting, you sit through one entire hour of every movie you’ve ever seen thrown together. This isn’t the fault of the wonderful director known as Paul Feig, cast, or crew. The book.

When we do arrive at the twists and turns, you get annoyed with how simplistic the film was. When adapting the film, why couldn’t the director take creative energy into doing whatever he wanted?

A sequel is in the works. 🥶 Save us all. This movie cost $35 million. Think on that. For a $1-5 million film, I would probably be thrilled seeing that happen again. This movie doesn’t have anything that looks like it costs that much. Really polished sets and wonderful directing and visuals, fair, but $35 million of it?

What I liked: Amanda Seyfried’s acting, the valuable social messages on how difficult it is for the formerly incarcerated to rejoin the real world, the camp, the twists, the creepy almost horror plot that was very “I want to be Quentin Tarantino today, mom, please!” by the Willy Wonka blueberry girl giving us her unique prissy spin on Mr. Tarantino anything.

What I disliked: Sydney Sweeney boxed into playing the public interpretation of herself with wearing wardrobe you expect and another nude scene that adds nothing to the movie with that lead dude who won’t take off his clothes in equality, the first hour.

What’s real acting? That you reverse this. Make Amanda the temptress and Sydney the boss’ wife. Now that’s a movie I wish to see and never will.

Oh that guy, he’s sooooo plugged in to trends, extra current, sharp eyed on fads like the best of them. People assume these fellows have their fingertips on the latest of the latest of all that matters in their respective fields.

When girls and women say, “I don’t like this,” the reaction is different. Suddenly, it’s a problem. To everyone, and it hurts me most when it’s from women telling me to back down for saying I disliked the VFX in one particular scene, or I hated some part of a lecture but loved everything else.

I wish I were joking when I say in reality, I have been insulted for expressing the same views on good or bad VFX that established male directors do, but yeah, for things like saying I had a preference for one edible condiment over another on sandwiches. It’s all that is in this world.

I’m not allowed to state my views on anything. Because to know about anything makes me dangerous to someone’s ego. Control. Forcing me into the box of being a teenager forever because, I remember this so well, the year adults quit thinking I was capable of my own views was the summer I turned 18.

And for someone like me, whose ambitions live squarely inside film and music, that pressure isn’t small. My opinions aren’t a hobby. They’re part of the grand scheme of things. Men who want to be the top of the game in film and/or music get asked about it. They’re awesome. A “he’s so intellectual” think piece gets written up about them in The Atlantic. I used to try online. Silenced and told to provide apologies.

To silence that isn’t done to quiet my voice. It’s to strip away the very thing that builds it. Me. My ambition. A mannequin placed in the dressing room instead of a person designing the garment. I’m going to be 39 in about three months and dealing with the same nonsense I experienced from my teenage years. No, scratch that. Childhood. I was told by teachers and whoever else of the adult universe “not to say that.” As boys got away with rudeness or disrupting the class. The kid who hit me with a piece of wood once at recess was innocent. I got in trouble and not believed for hitting her back with the big wooden plank, and a very uncalled for insulting my elementary self could’ve won a lawsuit over if I had more legal knowledge. Here’s a hint: it infringed on some first amendment basic rights.

Because the expectation becomes clear: if you want to exist comfortably, say nothing at all remotely human. I don’t mean intelligent. Human. Say nothing negative or positive. Say nothing that might mean your brain is active.

I remember being in school, asking if a topic would be on the exam. Something specific about the constitution. I was told to “stop asking stupid questions.” A boy asked how long the test would be, and the teacher smiled, answered warmly, gave him lots of time. Joked around. Me, I was stupid.

Having agency over your own basic views one might think you should have about your chosen field is you picking out today’s breakfast. It’s foundational for the rest of your day. Your life. Your work.

I’m done feeling I look stupid so I can please people operating on 19th century sexism. And for whoever doesn’t relate to this, may you be born again a girl and have a chat by the time you’re my age in your next life.

If I can’t say what I think about a film, a piece of music, a reptile’s beauty, or something small like how my sandwich was today, I’m not in control of anything. That’s what many want from me. Maybe from you. And that’s not a position I’m willing to be in anymore.

xoxo,

Nic

Everything I felt, researching this movie starring lovely Jennifer Love Hewitt dressed as her 2000’s Audrey Hepburn goals in a script beneath her, and-

Amazon gave me the gold mine. A reviewer said however I felt about this movie, in adult vocab. Hit it. Reviewer out.

When the movie tells you how her youth serum is made, my brain went there. “Oh, this is the direction Shell is taking. A-ha.”

Eye the lipstick in the poster, and tell me you don’t see the whole plot in one image.

Kaia Gerber is in this, playing Kaia Gerber, after a stint on American Horror Story’s spin-off series playing ghost Kaia Gerber. As Shell goes from juicy sci-fi glam to one dimensional monster attacks, Kaia Gerber plays monster Kaia Gerber. One might suppose from the marketing which monster she becomes. You kind of wonder what she’s doing in this movie. Surely, somewhere out there is a good role for her. With her present acting jobs, nothing sticks out to me for her being right for the parts physically or otherwise. But hey, when your mom is Cindy Crawford, and you’re pretty, I guess the world opens doors it doesn’t for those other actresses. Ms. Gerber to me seems better playing, oh, an influencer in a horror movie getting eaten by werewolves, because she may know that universe fairly enough and could base her performance on her true run ins of that crowd.

Here’s a hint. 🦞

The music is trendy and cool in that 1980’s inspiration. As a fellow working film composer who doesn’t want to undervalue someone’s work, I will say what I say, it’s quite catchy, crafted by talent, something out of possibly a 1980’s set murder mystery in Malibu, surrounded by Barbie blonde surfers, set in Spring Breakers neon visually, and no, it doesn’t go with this movie. I was sitting there watching this movie, trying to score this in my head, feeling the alignment being off. Because the right music makes a movie so much better. It’s about the shoe fitting. Are you putting a Louboutin heel on Bigfoot? No, Bigfoot needs possibly an eco friendly, giant sized, earthy brand moccasin with room for his toes. One size does not fit all.

Do I recommend it? Well, watch the first half straight on for a good viewing, skip around the latter scenes to get the idea.

There was that time everyone started hair extensions, so I had some weirdo types feeling my head because all women use them. Who cares if women do? Part two, I don’t. Don’t touch my head in line at the store. I don’t know you.

In the early 2010’s, everyone was getting eyelash drops from dermatologists and plastic surgeons for eyelash growth. In actuality, these drops were some form of glaucoma drops. I couldn’t go to the supermarket without strangers in any state asking me if I used Latisse or its imposter eyelash serums whenever I wore basic mascara. Things got “hairy” when a lady, that time a family member made me go to a nail salon in NYC, ran up screaming in Russian and touching my eyelashes without my consent. Her boss and I had a moment on the unsanitary issue and other problems. I’m not talking wearing fake eyelash strips here. My actual eyelashes, with basic mascara. My answer then was always, “I’m a 23 year old female specimen of the human race. Why should I look bald like Uncle Fester?”

Then there was the “all work ever made by anyone who isn’t a corporation or giant studio is AI” trend.

And now, it’s trickled down to innocent journalists.

Posting a screenshot of this Yahoo! slash People article comment makes me worry the poster is going to enjoy the attention from it. For authenticity, I am leaving it up.

No, Patch. What were you reading in mass media before AI apps?

When I was growing up in the Y2K times seeing grownup, “fancy” magazines all use the em dash — or en dash –, it was like you threw ice cold water at me. These little lines clarified points so well. They looked good. Sophisticated.

I began using them in my freelance journalism as teen and early 20’s me.

People who barely knew me, seeing my freelance writing’s basic style, started making fun of me for it in fake writing online. Whenever they impersonated my pen names online, they got hooked on em dashes. Folks, pen names aren’t real people. Scrubbed the web of those weird fake comments. The maturity level on some people frightens me. Seems the em dashes frightened them, in the times of MySpace.

Quite some years now since butterfly clips were on their first round of popularity today, using em dashes as I did frightens me because everyone insults you that it’s AI with passion they could use volunteering for soup kitchens or learning new skills. My plan is laying low until people accept that AI is fine when you use it for good things, and no, not all people loving the em dash and its dashy cousins are worshipping the Kardashians, who once had a store named Dash, or using AI. We’re almost fearing the VCR right now.

Or as the young people say, go touch grass. As someone who has, grass is itchy and dirt prone, potentially chock full of gnats. For your first time existing in the outside world away from a smartphone or tech device, be warned, you may get bitten by insects.

Hey, Merriam Webster knows how to use these dashes! 💡

“Like commas and parentheses, em dashes set off extra information, such as examples, explanatory or descriptive phrases, or supplemental facts. Like a colon, an em dash introduces a clause that explains or expands upon something that precedes it.An em dash can mark an abrupt change or break in the structure of a sentence… “Mabel the Cat was delighted with the assortment of pastries the new bakery featured, but Harry the Dog—he felt otherwise, for the bakery did not offer cheese Danishes at all.”

An em dash can indicate interrupted speech or a speaker’s confusion or hesitation… “Of course you have a point,” Mabel murmured. “That is—I suppose it is concerning.”

The en dash is the least loved of all… It is most often used between numbers, dates, or other notations to signify “(up) to and including ‘The bakery will be closed August 1–August 31.’”

– Merriam-Webster.com, click that link for more learning fun!