putting this here mostly because this has been sitting on my mind lately and i want to write something shorter than a medium article but can't fit it over on hive.

i want to talk about guilty gear strive for a second, and how i think it's done a really good job keeping the spirit of the characters right even with less moves in their kit (at the moment). this is especially pertinent because of the new dlc character sin kiske, who i've heard people call "boneless/flavorless" in the context of his movelist. i yelled about this on my last fighting friday stream a bit, but now that i've had some time to marinate on it i can phrase my points more eloquently & use sin himself as an example of this "keeping the spirit" stuff.

dear chosters,

i've been turning one of my weird brain habits around in my head for a while (months? years?) and have yet to reach an understanding i am satisfied with so i am crowdsourcing ideas

so, genuinely: does anyone else feel very anxious whenever they have anything planned later in the day, even if that thing is something you want to do? like, all throughout the day you can't stop thinking about thing you have to do, and can't possibly sit and relax for a while even if it's hours away?

i feel like i've heard people express things like this before, but not a lot of people have delved into why their brains might do that or ways to cope with it, and that's what i'm interested in. even if you don't have a solution, i like theory crafting about brain habits, so i'm open to ideas in general.

i'm worried the answer may just be 'yeah that happens, you just have to learn to live with the anxiety' (which i guess is most of life anyways)

AKA: One of Several Forthcoming Attempts to Make Music Cohost a Thing

Ah, Christmas music, that perpetual and somewhat pointless ritual of the music industry: recorded in July, shopped around in November to music publications that aren't doing year-end lists (so, none of them), seldom heard again except by people with questionable taste -- like me! The mp3 blog ecosystem (RIP) particularly thrived on Christmas music, being a reliable stream of standalone songs with novelty appeal. I'm not the only one feeling a little nostalgia for that¹ era; why not revive one of its traditions?

So! Throughout December, ideally once per day but we'll see about that, I'll be posting one of that is hopefully new to you and definitely noteworthy to me, with a blurb and a link to stream. What you will hear will include the following and more:

• Pure moods!
• Dick jokes!
• Bernard Sumner!
• The cheesiest pop instincts in existence!
• Did I say more?

Feel free to post along! These will be tagged #christmas music advent calendar.

1. well, not completely -- people tend to forget how much everyone haaaated the Hype Machine and the incentive to pander to it, as well as some of the grosser shit. but that's another post.

### Hey is this thing on

Hey is this thing on