Orville Guitars.. a daydream I often have..

 Hi WWW :)

I often daydream about being CEO of Orville Guitars as a sub-brand of Gibson.. with a Mexican Orville factory.. filling in the £400 to £1000 price point.. but also one in Scotland to serve Europe.. before I continue; 

I want to explain something about Scotland and why it's a good place to serve Europe (Well.. once a free Scotland is back in the EU).. Scotland is a fully Westernized country, but we have had centuries of the English taking our resources and making us poorer.. so the average wage is lower in Scotland for a fully educated skilled craftsperson compared to the rest of the west.. even though Scotland has massive resources, in oil, gas and green energy, this money goes to serve the corrupt English politicians, who feed it to London and the South East of England.. for most of Scotland our standard of living is much like the Eastern Bloc countries during Russia's reign on those countries. We have good QoL vs price for value.. things are cheaper if you know where to buy.. but before this whole post gets taken up with Scottish politics.. I'll end on this one point.. Scots are born engineers..it is known the list of inventions Scots have made..

Before we continue.. Here's a relevant interjection of my another article on ESP:

My Misconceptions on ESP Guitars.. that I now think are a good idea...

Hi www

Just want this out of my head.. its just ideas and not facts .. of what I think *should* happen.. based on my misunderstanding of what *did* happen..

My thoughts..

Edwards Artists - Japan only - Building for Artists only, small elite shop, 3 to 5 people.
Edwards Professional - Japan only - Bespoke custom shop, Handmade to the customer's specs.
Edwards Engineering - Japan and US only - Limited Special Runs.
ESP - Japan, Canada, US and Mexico only - Standard models. (Explorer, Strat & Tele seem popular)
LTD - anywhere - copies of the ESP guitars and original designs.


Edwards Artists           = Fender Masterbuilt Custom Shop
Edwards Professional = No equivalent, Fender has no made-to-measure service.
Edwards Engineering  = Fender Custom Shop
ESP                             = Fender
LTD                             = Squier

suggested price points:

Edwards Artists           = £5000-£???????
Edwards Professional = £3000-4999
Edwards Engineering  = £1000-2999
ESP                             = £400-999
LTD                             = £100-399 

ESP Tele's for £400

ESP Strats for £600

ESP Explorers for £800

ESP LP's for £999

Gibson 'Made To Measure' Custom Shop

So I see Gibson are providing a 'made to measure' service.. while I commend them for such efforts, the actual service badly falls short of the £5000+ price tag.

From what I gathered this service allows the order-er to choose pickups, wood and neck shape.. that last one is important, and again yes I do commend them.. buuut for £5000, this is far too little for the money..

What if.. I want a RD Artist, but I want the R7 neck to crown the body like an SG? What if I have special requirement for the electrics? Such as push-push blower and/or series/parallel..A slightly thinner body?

Or what if I have a body shape of my own? Of course it cannot be by a rival company.. but off the top of my head.. back half of a Moderne with the front half and neck of an SG.. for £5000 I *should* be able to be a mad scientist with garish taste in guitars, should I wish to be hehe.. if I have the money.. the monster created should be down to me..

If I provide a body shape that no one owns.. Gibson should offer to be guarantor copyrighter on my behalf signing a contract of 50/50 ownership, and cannot be used again unless both agree. At the time of signing I decide if it should be shared or unique.. with an option to change my mind at a later date if I pay the admin fees. If I choose share, it gets added to list of unique body shaped by original designers, that other customers can view, inc the finished product. If another person chooses to use that body shape an additional fee is added to their bill which is then passed on to the original designer.. max £200 say..if the body shape is super popular, then Gibson *could* offer to buy out the designer's 50% share. Gibson should always enforce copyright issues, such as having an established Gibson (or Epiphone) headstock shape and headstock logo. Everything else should be fluid so long as it does not conflict with any rival companies copyrights.

--Building for Artists only, small elite shop, 3 to 5 people.

Applied to Gibson

Now if we apply the above price points to Gibson.. we get:

Gibson Made to Measure Custom Shop = £4000-£???????
Gibson Crimson Shop  = £3000 -3999
Gibson Custom Shop   = £2000-2999
Gibson                          = £1000-1999
Orville                          = £400-999
Epiphone                     = £100-399 

Gibson Made to Measure Custom Shop - US only- Bespoke custom shop, Handmade to the customer's specs.
Gibson Custom/Crimson Shop - US only - Limited Special Runs. Historically accurate and one offs.
Gibson - US only - Regular models.
Orville - Japan (for the Asian market), Europe (For EU), North America (For Canada, US and Mexico) only - Standard models. 
Epiphone - anywhere/China/Indonesia - copies of the Gibson guitars and original Epiphone designs.

NO IMPORT TAXES, SHPPING OR DUTY FEES

A NAFTA and EU no tax agreement makes it attractive for companies to have their own foreign branch making guitars inside the walled garden.. IIRC, Japan has an agreement too with the Asian market.

The smartest way to make a guitar is to make the best possible guitar you can make, highest QC for the price and slap 10% on top of the cost of the instrument..

Orville North America (Canada, Mexico)

Colour choice would be very limited to save money. Just doing the opposite of whatever Gibson was doing.. if they do a black and a red SG Standard.. we at Orville would provide a white and blue SG Standard, this means if you didn't like the colour of the Gibsons.. buy an Orville in a colour you do like.. and if you like all the colours buy them all..
Neck shapes too.. don't like the slim taper neck? I don't either (feels super wide/thin uncomfortable).. so for the SG standard we would do a R7/MM/90s neck.. Gibson did a R7/MM/90s neck for years.. the one I know the best is on SG specials of the 90s (hence; 90s neck).. so the Orville SG Special would have the slim taper profile.. or perhaps a V profile for the weirdos out there ;) .. you know who you are!

a Melody Maker DC as an Orville entry guitar for £400

Waterslide decal + clear varnished headstock, 19 frets. one abalone dot marker on the 12th, quick drying black varnish. one colour: varnish black. wraptail. 2 Artec single coil sized HBs, 3 way switch, tone volume. (all under the scratchplate ala~ 1975 except 3 way on lower bout). Sung Il or Wilkinson hardware (would prefer 3 a side split post tuners if someone made them.. or buy a load or righty and lefty machineheads and just mix them)

a Orville SG Special for £500

Abalone Orville logo and dots. Green or Purple stain with clear quick drying varnish. 2 'Gibson Designed' HBs, usual Gibson electrics set up, 2 vol 2 tone, 3 way switch, batwing scratchplate. tailpiece and tune o'matic. Sung Il or Wilkinson hardware as above.

a Orville Les Paul Special for £599.

Abalone Orville logo and dots. Red or Orange transparent stain with clear quick drying varnish. a 'B+' mashed carved flame top, highly irregular pattern but with a medium amount of figuring. 2 'Gibson Designed' HBs, usual Gibson electrics set up, 2 vol 2 tone, 3 way switch, .tailpiece and tune o'matic. Sung Il or Wilkinson hardware as above.

a Orville SG Standard for £649

Abalone Orville & standard logo with block inlays. white binding. White or Blue poly finishes. 2 'Gibson Designed' HBs, usual Gibson electrics set up, 2 vol 2 tone, 3 way switch, side guard scratchplate.tailpiece and tune o'matic, chrome covers. Sung Il or Wilkinson hardware as above.

a Orville Les Paul Standard for £779.

Abalone Orville logo with block inlays. white binding. .Indigo or Cyan transparent poly. a 'B++' mashed carved flame cap, highly irregular pattern but with a lot of figuring. 2 'Gibson Designed' HBs, usual Gibson electrics set up, 2 vol 2 tone, 3 way switch, chrome covers. tailpiece and tune o'matic. Sung Il or Wilkinson hardware as above.

a Orville Explorer Standard for £899.

Abalone Orville logo with block inlays. 3 a-side headstock. white binding.Black- Indigo sunburst or White-Cyan sunburst transparent poly. a 'B++' mashed flame cap, highly irregular pattern but with a lot of figuring. neck that crowns the body like a SG. 2 'Gibson Designed' HBs, usual Gibson electrics set up, 2 vol 2 tone, 3 way switch, chrome covers. tailpiece and tune o'matic. Sung Il or Wilkinson hardware as above.

We wouldn't do 'Customs' at Orville.. Standard is the highest we would go. Leave that prestige for Gibson. With one exception..

a Orville RD Artist for £999.

Abalone Orville logo with block inlays & winged treble clef. white binding. .White- Indigo sunburst or Black-Cyan sunburst transparent poly.. a 'B++' mashed flame cap, highly irregular pattern but with a lot of figuring. neck that crowns the body like a SG. 2 'Gibson Designed' HBs, usual Gibson electrics set up, 2 vol 2 tone, 3 way switch, chrome covers. tailpiece and tune o'matic. Sung Il or Wilkinson hardware as above.

All fretboard would be (the cheapest hardwood) and stained black.All are R7/MM/90s necks unless otherwise stated.
Three 'ranges' 

1. The 'workhorse' guitar (Melody Maker)
2. The 'player' guitar (SG and LP, Specials and Standards)
3. The little bit more.. (Explorer Std. and RD Artist)

Europe

Poland (Mayones/Fame). Italy (EKO), German (Framus), France (Vigier), Spain (?), Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland = Hagstrom) .. or once we rejoin the EU, Scotland.

Hagstrom & EKO no longer have factories in Europe and Framus only has a small custom shop in Germany iirc.. Orville would eventually have their own factory inside the EU, but the placement of that factory could be the former site of these companies.. and to test the market, offer contracts to any current companies and see if a profit could be made. 

Orville shouldn't do body shapes that are traditionally set-necks as bolt-ons.. Gibson has plenty of bolt-ons from the 70s/80s.. maybe leave the SG's alone as far as bolt-ons are concerned. But an Orville Sonex would be fine.

I would break that down as.. £300 to make the (Sonex) guitar, £100 for retail profit to stock & sell the guitar and £40 for Gibson profit for doing pretty much nothing. So for every 10,000 (per day) guitars sold, Gibson makes £400,000 .. this also makes the guitar more affordable and so more people can buy them.

This is why, Fender are trouncing Gibson.. because Gibson is still reaching for those 'exclusive customers' and snubbing everyday blue collar money.

Slightly different line-up than above..

a Orville Sonex as an EU Orville entry guitar for £440

Waterslide decal + clear varnished headstock, 22 frets. one abalone dot marker on the 12th, quick drying black varnish. one colour: varnish black. wraptail. 2 Artec single coil sized HBs, 3 way switch, tone volume. (all under the scratchplate ala~ 1975 except 3 way on lower bout). Sung Il or Wilkinson hardware (would prefer 3 a side split post tuners if someone made them.. or buy a load or righty and lefty machineheads and just mix them)

a Orville SG Special for £500

Abalone Orville logo and dots. Green or Purple stain with clear quick drying varnish. 2 'Gibson Designed' HBs, usual Gibson electrics set up, 2 vol 2 tone, 3 way switch, batwing scratchplate. tailpiece and tune o'matic. Sung Il or Wilkinson hardware as above.

a Orville Les Paul Special for £599.

Abalone Orville logo and dots. Red or Orange transparent stain with clear quick drying varnish. a 'B+' mashed carved flame top, highly irregular pattern but with a medium amount of figuring. 2 'Gibson Designed' HBs, usual Gibson electrics set up, 2 vol 2 tone, 3 way switch, .tailpiece and tune o'matic. Sung Il or Wilkinson hardware as above.

a Orville SG Standard for £649

Abalone Orville & standard logo with block inlays. white binding. White or Blue poly finishes. 2 'Gibson Designed' HBs, usual Gibson electrics set up, 2 vol 2 tone, 3 way switch, side guard scratchplate.tailpiece and tune o'matic, chrome covers. Sung Il or Wilkinson hardware as above.

a Orville Les Paul Standard for £779.

Abalone Orville logo with block inlays. white binding. .Indigo or Cyan transparent poly. a 'B++' mashed carved flame cap, highly irregular pattern but with a lot of figuring. 2 'Gibson Designed' HBs, usual Gibson electrics set up, 2 vol 2 tone, 3 way switch, chrome covers. tailpiece and tune o'matic. Sung Il or Wilkinson hardware as above.

a Orville Futura 'Black Beauty' Standard for £899. (6 months, Dec to June)

Abalone Orville logo with block inlays. 3 a-side headstock. white binding. Solid black with gold hardware. 2 'Gibson Designed' HBs, usual Gibson electrics set up, 2 vol 2 tone, 3 way switch, gold covers. tailpiece and tune o'matic. Sung Il or Wilkinson hardware as above.

a Orville Moderne 'Black Beauty' Standard for £899. (6 months, July to Nov)

Abalone Orville logo with block inlays. 3 a-side headstock. white binding. Solid black with gold hardware. 2 'Gibson Designed' HBs, usual Gibson electrics set up, 2 vol 2 tone, 3 way switch, gold covers. tailpiece and tune o'matic. Sung Il or Wilkinson hardware as above.

As the North American, we wouldn't do 'Customs' at EU Orville.. Standard is the highest we would go. Leave that prestige for Gibson. With same exception as North America..

a Orville RD Artist for £999.

Abalone Orville logo with block inlays & winged treble clef. white binding. .White- Indigo sunburst or Black-Cyan sunburst transparent poly.. a 'B++' mashed flame cap, highly irregular pattern but with a lot of figuring. neck that crowns the body like a SG. 2 'Gibson Designed' HBs, usual Gibson electrics set up, 2 vol 2 tone, 3 way switch, chrome covers. tailpiece and tune o'matic. Sung Il or Wilkinson hardware as above.

All fretboard would be (the cheapest hardwood) and stained black. All are R7/MM/90s necks unless otherwise stated.

Three 'ranges' 

1. The 'workhorse' guitar (Sonex)
2. The 'player' guitar (SG and LP, Specials and Standards)
3. The little bit more.. (Futura/Moderne Std. and RD Artist)

Go Real or Go Home

I would have abalone inlays instead of MOP.. as Abalone is cheaper but still a 'real' material.. it's absurd to me that Gibson use fake plastics for inlays.. I just dropped a significant amount on that guitar, do I *really* want plastic inlays?? no way!! Orville would only have *real* organic inlays and nothing synthetic. Go real or go home.

Depending on what was cheapest, good options might be:

Abalone
Amber
Opal
Polished bone types (like non-endangered ivory from warthog tusks, also keratin)
Various types of narce (Ammolite, Pearl aka white abalone)
Malachite (Velvet Malachite, needs top layer of lacquer)
Turquoise (but only with a light coloured wood, like maple unstained)
Aragonite (but only with a light coloured wood, like maple unstained)

Buy in bulk at the start of the year.. then for the next year source whatever was the cheapest organic, non-synthetic inlay material, then announce the inlay material for the next year and so on..

If it was turquoise or aragonite then all fretboard would have to be a light unstained wood, such as maple. (but I would use varnish/gloss)

Bodies would be; the cheapest traditional and semi-traditional hardwoods that were available that year. Like the system above buying in bulk for that year. With a preference for poplar and ash.

It would be smart if I could do all this myself, and 100% of the profit coming to me.. Shaw Guitars, a factory in Mexico serving North America only and one in Scotland serving Europe.. wish I could .. but with my disabilities I could never do that..

peace

Dava

-------

R7/MM/90s neck:

For the R57 neck I have: 1st Fret: .842" Thick x 1.717" Wide 12th Fret: .949" Thick x 2.024" wide Nut Width (1.684")"

For the MM neck I have:
1st Fret: .859" Thick x 1.714" Wide 12th Fret: 1.012" Thick x 2.079" wide Nut Width (1.681")"

For the 90s neck I have:
1st Fret: .851" Thick x 1.734" Wide 12th Fret: .952" Thick x 2.098" wide Nut Width (1.687")"

My opinion: Small/Regular fingerboard width
Fat/Medium neck width
Small/Fat

--

Graph of comparisons:

Edwards Artists           = Fender Masterbuilt Custom Shop
Edwards Professional = No equivalent, Fender has no made-to-measure service.
Edwards Engineering  = Fender Custom Shop
ESP                             = Fender
LTD                             = Squier

Gibson Made to Measure Custom Shop = £4000-£???????
Gibson Crimson Shop  = £3000 -3999
Gibson Custom Shop   = £2000-2999
Gibson                          = £1000-1999
Orville                          = £400-999
Epiphone                     = £100-399 

What is the Crimson Shop just now?.. its for Custom Shop limited Editions.. but I feel it would be better to offer the current Made to Measure service (no ability to change or design your own body shapes) and call that the Crimson Shop.. and level up the M2M Custom Shop to include original customer designs as outlined above.

Charge say £100 for a consultation* and if the customer asks for a .. idk other companies body shape then of course that should be a hard 'no'.. but if they want like my.. dream RD Artist.. to shift the neck so it crowns the body like a SG and pretty much nothing else special design wise, I would say £4000 is fair (its not really.. hehe.. £4000 for a guitar is crazy! flip £2000 for a guitar is crazy.. but I understand this is Gibson we are talking about here.. would I ever?.. maybe if I came into some money, as a special present.. something extra special)  I digress .. the idea should *not* be how can we empty this person's wallet.. the minimum price should be £4000 and including all parts, labour, time.. an extra 10% should be added to the price. Breakdown like this: £4000 + research/translation to design time (at £50/h max 10h) + special materials (full priced + 10%).. the labour hours should be covered by the initial £4000 for the guitar, but if the customer asks for intricate work (requests hand painted Paisley instead of stencilized.. asks for zirconia inlayed into the body etc) .. then £50/h with no max, but an estimate of time given before work starts so the customer has an estimate of the final cost.. the final price cannot be more than 10%  of the estimate. If the request is a pain in the rear, Gibson should just say 'no' and lose the sale. Overcharging people at these prices.. I would say is not something Gibson should endanger themselves.. unless the customer gave them the full 'I've got megabucks' go ahead.

*(which if everything falls through you get back as a voucher to buy a Gibson Guitar. no cash refunds)

-------------------

Updated 29/July/2022 for European content.

Netflix's Ratched.. A Review

 Hi WWW

At first I was put off with the premise, gleamed only from the promo shot, which I thought would simply be a psychotic nurse.. but I took a chance.. and this wasn't that.

It's a Hitchcockian-Capraesque series, laid out like a film in series form. It put me in mind of Arsenic and Old Lace.. but much more predominantly, it put me in mind of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents..' which was an anthology series very much in the vein of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, but with a non-supernatural (iirc) and instead psychological slant.

With the Hitchcockian-Capraesque theme being so strong, I couldn't help but think by the fifth episode 'I wish they had done this as an anthology.. a modern 'Hitchcock Presents.. but by the showrunner for this.. Ryan Murphy Presents.. with Sarah Paulson etal~ doing a AHS (set cast but changing roles).. one film serialized as a series'.

Now back to Ratched..The main and real star of this show was wardrobe/continuity director/Prop Department.. lighting ranged from 6 out of 10 to 9 out of 10, same for cinematography,, direction was OK.. ranging from 5 to 9 out of 10, couple of shaky camera moments that were off putting. Makeup was excellent and very on piste for how stylized this show is.

And to be clear.. this show's stylization is *excellent*.

Sarah Paulson, gave solid competent performances, and even in one moment moved me. Finn Wittrock.. was competent, although.. I note he didn't have much in the way of dialogue that could show his acting to any degree. Cynthia Nixon, I enjoyed her performances less so. Aside from Ms. Paulson.. the real surprise was Charlie Carver, who delivered a solid performance each and every time he was on screen, without exception.. I would award him my 'best in cast' if it wasn't for Ms.Paulson. Judy Davis.. as a villain had her moments, but the overall performance, I was less impressed with. Sharon Stone, while I want to say she did well, I felt she was only middle road 5/10.. not quite 'phoning it in' but.. not great, her death scene was her stand out moment.  I actually have a 'worst in cast' to award this time.. Jon Jon Briones.. I felt like he was new to acting..which he is not.. even having been in AHS..he couldn't cut this level of production and it showed. Vincent D'Onofrio had some good moments but also a few shaky ones. Notable & special mention to Alice Englert who acquitted herself admirably.. outshining many of the main cast. 

Music was.. very Hitchcockian.. at a few points I just expected it to burst out into the Alfred Hitchcock presents theme..

The script.. erm.. the first episode drags on without anything much happening.. after that it's all slow boil.. a 'slow boil thriller' to coin a phrase. The ending was.. wow that was a bad ending..  however with it having a second series order from netflix I guess.. also I don't know the book it's based on so.. I guess all that remains is to wait and see.  

With Alfred Hitchcock sadly no longer with us.. and no one .. except perhaps M.Night Shyamalan, but he is much to much of a butterfly mind to keep consistency..  that he enjoys changing projects often..  so with no suitable alternatives for modern Hitchcockian adventures.. 

This team on Ratched have came the closest to the great Aghast-arama himself, since he himself was alive. I would enjoy to see this team go on together.. perhaps even doing remakes of Hitchcock's (now) public domain films and TV..

peace

Dava

A Narnian Food Review.. or Turkish Delight (inc Fry's)

 Hi Internet!

The White Witch stylee: Would you like some Turkish Delight?

I recently bought 15 x 3 Fry's Turkish Delight Lemon (limited edition).. and this set me down a path of thoughts I'll share with you if you are kind enough to read..

Now.. I'm not new to Turkish Delight.. in fact in my late teens/early twenties I went through a period of buying *real* Turkish Delight in fancy boxes..it was the 90s and my aunt would buy it for me on my behalf from a place in Glasgow..

I tried many different types of Turkish Delight, and I am now wondering why Fry's hasn't done this and much much more besides.. like why not do classic flavors we can't get anymore because sugary drinks from they days are banned now.. we get saccharine filled versions which taste rubbish..but Gels don't have the same sugar tax.. so why not bring back the flavor of all the tastes we are missing? Orange.. Red Kola.. Passion Fruit but also more trad flavors.. and so the review:

Fry's Rose Turkish Delight:

Decent but slightly pedestrian, the rose tones are there, but the higher tones are muted. This means no bad thing as it lets the sugar of the gel come out. overall a great TD.. the flavors mix well. This because the chocolate is also sweet.. so if the rose was full strength it would be *too much*.

Fry's Lemon Turkish Delight:

Gentle lemon tones with strong lime undertones. Lime is very well balanced with the chocolate..could use more of lemon kick otherwise. Thinking this should not be a limited edition but a regular standard flavor.

The following are from memory in the 90s .. soo.. make of that what you will..

Rose Turkish Delight:

At first I hated it.. but after three squares.. this is what started me on that journey. Strong almost overpowering rose. Ate the whole box of 20 squares.

Lemon Turkish Delight:

Very strong lemon. I had to lick the powder to get used to the strength of the lemon. Became a firm favorite of the boxes.

Orange Turkish Delight:

Only tried one square as this was not my box.. at that time I gotten into the stronger lemon, but it was OK.

Apple Turkish Delight:

Surprised myself by not liking this.. had a slight bitter taste that put me off, ended up just giving the rest of the box to my aunt after 3 squares. She seemed to like it.

Grapefruit Turkish Delight:

Nope. Sour turkish delight is not my thing.

Lavender Turkish Delight:

TBH.. for a second the taste was so strong I thought it made me blind for a split second. But that's just  my imagination. Gave me pains in my right ear for.. some reason. The strongest turkish delight I've ever eaten.. and by then I was used to strong turkish delight.

Eucalyptus Turkish Delight:

Surprisingly not bad.. I kept telling people it was like eating a small block of Vosene shampoo. Wasn't my box, so I only had one square.. but yeah not bad. Cleaned out my sinuses too.

Mint Turkish Delight:

Was OK.. just a mildly mint flavor. Tasted like pretty much any mint confectionery.

Cola Turkish Delight:

Loved this so much ate the whole box of 20 squares so quickly.. by the end of the box I hated it. Box normally lasted me a day to 2 days.. ate this in around an hour and a half.

Lime Turkish Delight:

This was the first sour one I tried.. not a fan. The undertones of the Fry's Lemon has a *much* better lime flavor. Lime could definitely be a proper flavor if done right.

and other flavors.. but I can't remember.

Suggestions for Frys..

Early 80s Pepsi Turkish Delight

Had some retro 80s Pepsi when I lived in the states. Loved it.. taste of my childhood.

Red Kola

Dandelion and Burdock

super sad about Dandelion and Burdock.. tastes awful with saccharin,., needs real sugar to taste right.

Quatro

Besides cola (Pepsi and Coke) and Irn Bru.. for ages this was my favorite drink. (Passion fruit based drink with grapefruit orange and pineapple <3 <3 )

Cream Soda

Old Style Cordial

Any old flavor that got gimped with saccharin and/or sugar tax*.

Thanks for reading :

peace

Dava

------------

Gimped:

Tizer

Vimto

Dr Pepper

Lilt

7UP

Cherry Pepsi (Although Cherry Coke is not gimped and might be a good TD)

Actresses with beautiful eyes..

Hi www

Randomly want to share this...

BLUE:

Alexandra DAddario 

Notes:

Ice grey blue. Looks like ice sheet cracking. Stunning.

AMBER:

Ana De Armas

Notes:

In certain lights looks *perfect* amber.. with very few brown deviations (although these are not brown but dark mocha). in other lights all mocha. undercolour of olive green. Speckles. Regardless of deviations.. she has the most amazing amber eyes I've ever seen.

LILAC

Elizabeth Taylor

Notes:

Heavy blue devations. Required perfect lighting to show properly. When shown properly stunning.. not quite purple, but very strong lilac overtones.


JADE


Antonia Thomas

(Updated with better pic.  09/July/2023)

Antonia has a mix of amber/grey with an under-colour of deep jade. 

Fun fact.. people of non-caucasian ethnicities.. Jade is the most highly prized eye colour, I once heard of a legend of a King who gave a sizable portion of his Kingdom as a dowery to meet/marry a woman with jade eyes. This isn't an endorsement of sexism.. I only mention it as this mentality is very alive in the minds of non-white ethnic values/peoples/cultures... Jade eyes are meant to 'glow' which Ms. Thomas doesn't have.. but her eyes are her jewels none-the-less with having a combination of three rare eye colours.. Amber/Grey/Jade. 

Grey Slate

N/A haven't found suitable actress yet.

Will come back and up date.

09/July/2023 .. still haven't found a actress with stunning grey eyes.

---------------------------------------------------

(original pic of Ms. Thomas)

Lodge 49 .. a Review

Hi www

Randomly begun watching 'Lodge 49' on Amazon.. what did I think?

This had all the makings of a left-field Breaking Bad for the 2020's..but for some weird reason, someone is determined to make it into a sitcom.

This show should have been dark, except Wyatt Russell.. the darker his setting the brighter his optimism would have shone.

Why keep the ethereal at arms length?*

Why do we have to endure 'Super Sales'.. Super Sales is fluff.. annoying fluff at that. This is a wannabe sitcom section.. no.. this show should have been gritty like Breaking Bad.. AMC who made both shows.. seems to inadvertently/unintentionally.. used similar directors.. even using the same (expensive) cinematography on both shows..why on earth are they wasting this talent on a weird sitcom..this show so badly *wants* to be Breaking Bad meets As Above, So Below (movie 2014).. it *wants* to be dark and epic..If there is to be a season 3.. the producers/writers need to lean into that.

The main cast are talented actors/actresses.. everything is right there! Except the dialogue.. that is a 'friends wannabe show'.. plot points are great! dialogue doesn't fit the plot points..

AMC have a good habit of finding and nurturing hit shows.. and yet again they have all the ingredients here.. but one element too many..

What should this show be?

A gritty and dark take on the fantastical.. what Breaking Bad was to chemistry.. Lodge 49 should be to alchemy.

There's a hit show with 8 to 10 seasons sitting under all that sitcom fluff.. just waiting to transmute into its truest self.

Dava

*As Above, So Below.. why can't the characters get accidentally trapped in an underverse/Purgatory?

Final Space Season 2 Review..

Hi www

Been meaning to get round to this review for a while.

Firstly if you haven't watched the first season of Final Space.. it is touching platonic love story between a pet and their 'master'/adopted parent.. it was beautiful and wonderful.. the thought that a Pet would love their Master so much they would burn down the universe if they came to harm.

The rest of season one was enjoyable sci-fi fare with gags placed throughout.

Season 2 however.. well.. what stands out and upsets the mind is the pee party scene..so not the beautiful love letter to or from your pet that season 1 was.

Too far. Not funny. Embarrassing after I recommended season 1 to my friends. no thanks.

Why were the titles changed too? The season 1 titles were excellent.. season 2. nope.

Season 2 had some great plot points*.. however I don't remember them as; all I can remember is the pee party. I think.. in the smallest and most mildest way.. it traumatised me.

Dava

---------

*The time episode was really well done. rest was overshadowed..

Proto-Artificial Gravity

Hi www

Magnetism is the cousin of gravity.. so we as humans are very advanced in the understanding of magnetism, its a force we can easily control, so instead of outright trying to control its much beefier and wrestle-sum cousin gravity.. we should be working with the friendly cousin.. for reference I am going to term, Gravity is wild and Magnetism is tame.. and currently the present situation for humans, Gravity is like a wild animal.. but we have managed to tame Magnetism.. running electricity through coils in a magnet makes and electromagnet.. varying the current varies the strength of the magnetism..

So, if we were wearing a skintight suit made of flexible magnetic material, we would be drawn towards a magnetic force.

I am aware of centrifugal artificial gravity and am enthused about the natural way is behaves, however for situations where CAG becomes impractical, such as a space base on a solar world (planet/moon) magnetic artificial gravity would be a viable alternative.

Humans are made up of metal too.. the iron in our blood, spacefarers can experience pooling of blood in the head and face due to our hearts being used to gravity and having to work harder to pump the blood from our feet to our head, but in low or no gravity situations, this is not the case and so the blood pools in the head and face..

I suggest this is combined with 'weighted items'.. items that are corrected weighted for each solar body, take for example Mars..which has around 38% of the Earth's gravity, for items to be weighted correctly we need to fill up items with that other 62% of weight.. it should be noted that items should not contain any metals, as the magnetic artificial gravity would influence the weight of the items.. well this is all very complicated.. yes it can contain metal.. but only once much more experimenting  had been done.

Rocks of two different sized fall at the same speed. this is how Gravity behaves.
But not so much its cousin..
Magnetism will latch on to the largest polarized object, making an attracting force..
so something to watch out for there.

These are my thought so far.. one very large electromagnet underneath the core habitat of a space base, skintight suits of flexible metal, even woven tiny pockets with the metal in those pockets in a lattice of metal beads across the body.. I couldn't find which metal is the heaviest natural (non alloy) magnetic metal, but use that and just increase the current.. maybe..

hope these ideas go out into the ether.. and reach someone who can do these things or at least try them..

Dava

The Definitive Squier/Fender Stagemaster/Showmaster

Hi

I collect Stagemasters/Showmasters.. so far I have:

Squier

Squier '99  Stagemaster Vers.1 Cobalt Metallic (China)

Squier Showmaster Vers.II Black (Indonesia)

Squier 2001 Stagemaster VII Vers II Cobalt Blue Metallic (China)

Squier 2003 Stagemaster Deluxe Vers. IV ShorlineGold Metallic (Korea)

Fender

Fender 2003 'Showmaster' Strat Korean Custom Shop

That last bit bugs me.. its not a Showmaster unless its got:

Reverse headstock

Floyd Rose style bridge w/ locking nut or equiv.

Which the Korean Fender doesn't have. It's just a set neck Strat.. a good one.. but still a Strat and not a Showmaster imho. pet hate of mine there.

Also there is no  'Fender Korean Custom Shop'.. this is just a nickname these guitars have picked up.. as they are on par with Fender's Custom Shop, but due to Fender's handling of moving to Korea in the 80s.. they and all Korean Fenders or Squiers sell for bunk. no resale value.

Showmasters are great guitars.. (I won't buy a Vers. III as it has none of the good bits the others have.) I also won't buy a Vers. V as it is simply a Vers III with a fancy paint job and rebadged Squier as a Fender.. the 'SubSonic' goes for crazy money and I already have the Vers II seven string.

Kramer and Fender had a disagreement over the use of the name Stagemaster and Fender agreed to stop using that name..but there is no reason they cannot reissue Showmasters (inc all Stagemaster model features).

As a collector and fan of these models.. what would I like to see? Korean Fender Showmasters done right! Same quality and build as the previous models, but.. reverse headstock, floyd rose (flip even a Squier System One would be an improvement).. tbh I don't need the fancy tops.. any decent B grade mashed figured top would be nice.. I don't need a carved top.. keeping the set neck or even like the Vers. IV thru neck would be great!.. deep carves and a neck that crowns the body instead of it going deep into the body.. I would enjoy that.. SG style for a super strat..  coooll

Price? Originals go for around £300.. so probably double that for a new one with the above features and build quality.. £600?

Fender could do a made to order build lots.. they offer it for £600 (£670 with hardcase) when 1000 people order one, paying upfront, only then does the order go to the factory, Fender skim 10% off the top for basically doing nothing :D.. and people get their guitars. If the order hasn't filled within 12 months.. the people who still have it on order and have paid get their money back.. and if Fender feel nice throw in a Fender hat and free set of strings as a commiseration the order didn't get filled.

Fender wouldn't need to worry if the quality was too high either.. this whole cycle might take ? to 18 months.. depending on how quickly the order was filled and how quickly the factory makes the guitars and how quickly they got shipped.

This means this style of guitar can have much higher build quality without being a direct threat to Fender's american guitars.. as people are impatient.. they will get fed up and buy another Fender while waiting to release the tension of waiting on this one hehe 

Dava

My Misconceptions on ESP Guitars.. that I now think are a good idea...

Hi www

Just want this out of my head.. its just ideas and not facts .. of what I think *should* happen.. based on my misunderstanding of what *did* happen..

My thoughts..

Edwards Artists - Japan only - Building for Artists only, small elite shop, 3 to 5 people.
Edwards Professional - Japan only - Bespoke custom shop, Handmade to the customer's specs.
Edwards Engineering - Japan and US only - Limited Special Runs.
ESP - Japan, Canada, US and Mexico only - Standard models. (Explorer, Strat & Tele seem popular)
LTD - anywhere - copies of the ESP guitars and original designs.


Edwards Artists           = Fender Masterbuilt Custom Shop
Edwards Professional = No equivalent, Fender has no made-to-measure service.
Edwards Engineering  = Fender Custom Shop
ESP                             = Fender
LTD                             = Squier

suggested price points:

Edwards Artists           = £5000-£???????
Edwards Professional = £3000-4999
Edwards Engineering  = £1000-2999
ESP                             = £400-999
LTD                             = £100-399 

ESP Tele's for £400

ESP Strats for £600

ESP Explorers for £800

ESP LP's for £999

Dava

---

UPDATE: 11/Oct/2020

So I see Gibson are providing a 'made to measure' service.. while I commend them for such efforts, the actual service badly falls short of the £5000+ price tag.

From what I gathered this service allows the orderer to choose pickups, wood and neck shape.. that last one is important, and again yes I do commend them.. buuut for £5000, this is far too little for the money..

What if.. I want a RD Artist, but I want the R7 neck to crown the body like an SG? What if I have special requirement for the electrics? Such as push-push blower and/or series/parallel..A slightly thinner body?

Or what if I have a body shape of my own? Of course it cannot be by a rival company.. but off the top of my head.. back half of a Moderne with the front half and neck of an SG.. for £5000 I *should* be able to be a mad scientist with garish taste in guitars, should I wish to be hehe.. if I have the money.. the monster created should be down to me..

If I provide a body shape that no one owns.. Gibson should offer to be guarantor copyrighter on my behalf signing a contract of 50/50 ownership, and cannot be used again unless both agree. At the time of signing I decide if it should be shared or unique.. with an option to change my mind at a later date if I pay the admin fees. If I choose share, it gets added to list of unique body shaped by original designers, that other customers can view, inc the finished product. If another person chooses to use that body shape an additional fee is added to their bill which is then passed on to the original designer.. max £200 say..if the body shape is super popular, then Gibson *could* offer to buy out the designer's 50% share. Gibson should always enforce copyright issues, such as having an established Gibson (or Epiphone) headstock shape and headstock logo. Everything else should be fluid so long as it does not conflict with any rival companies copyrights.

Game View Perspectives.. my thoughts..

Hi

It's often bugged me that while First and Third person are clearly defined what they are..


First Person: through the eyes of the controllable player.
Second Person: over the shoulder of the controllable player.
Third Person: The entire body of the controllable player is shown.
Fourth Person: hovering above at distance and at a 45 degree angle.
Birds Eye: Like old Zelda SuperNES games. greater than 45 degrees.
Isomorphic view: Like birds eye except with some lesser 3D missing. almost 100% 2D.
Paper Map view: top down, 2D.
Side Scrolling: Old NES games like Mario.

Here's some games (off the top of my head) so you get the idea I am trying to convey..

Games

First Person:
Bioshock series
Fallout 3 onwards (also Third Person)
Call of Duty series

Second Person:
Dead Space
Resident Evil 4
Metro series
Mass Effect series

Third Person:
GTA series
Just Cause series
DC Universe Online (also Fourth Person)
World of Warcraft (also Fourth Person)
Fallout 3 onwards (also First Person)

Fourth Person:
DC Universe Online (also Third Person)
World of Warcraft (also Third Person)

Birds Eye:
Old Zelda SuperNES
Old Final Fantasy SuperNES
Breath of Fire series
The Sims series
Bomberman series

Isomorphic:
Sim City
Roller-coaster Tycoon

Paper Map:
Pac-Man series

Side Scrolling:
Old Mario
Old Megaman
Old Sonic


Those are my thoughts.. it really annoyed me when reviews would refer to second person shooters as third person.. as I had coined it my head over 15 years ago as second person.

Dava

The Red Elephant in the room.. (NF Marvel)

Hi

I'm Dava .. I enjoy sharing ideas, even just to get them out of my head.. and a section of my brain's processing power goes to thinking about Marvel Movies and TV.. the MCU.

Netflix + MCU was a diluted cocktail.. great shows of course! But the involvement with the *actual* MCU was.. pretty much non-existent. Not just that.. Hulu and ABC too.. Disney & Marvel seem to have had an aversion to involving these programmes in the wider MCU..

Well .. we know now know why.. Disney+. And y'know what.. that's fine but.. because they sold these shows as MCU.. they can NEVER recast the characters and can NEVER use them again.. unless they act quickly, let me explain..

When you make a contract with someone your goods have to be accurate.. these shows were not MCU and so this breaks the contract.. however I imagine that it's *very* hard to prove such a thing has happened in this context.. however if Disney/Marvel, recast and ignored all the backstory of those characters.. then Hulu ABC and Netflix have a case against them.

What would I suggest Disney/Marvel do?

Give each show a farewell movie.. with the exception of the NF Marvel which I would like to see expanded.. have a Daredevil Disney+ Movie with Charlie Cox et~al Jessica Jones Movie with Kristen Ritter et~al and a (Mike Colter/Finn Jones) Heroes for Hire movie.. then finally a Defenders Movie.

And if these characters should ever be used again for *anything*.. movies or TV.. it's the same actor, same running story.

There would be an easy way for Disney/Marvel to do all this.. we took a break from NF Marvel.. but that doesn't need to mean the characters did.. we could start with the snap, placing the last scene we saw of Daredevil at the same time as the snap..

I haven't mentioned Punisher.. which I'll come to now.. he was somewhat even isolated from even the NF Marvel shows.. would it be great if instead of a farewell movie.. Disney/Marvel did one off Disney+ movie per year for the Bernthal Punisher?

Whilst is it is reported that the MCU is 'going more galactic' which I am very enthused to see.. NF Marvel was more street level heroes.. in fact now I think about it.. I might enjoy a Disney+ movie a year for the NF Marvel characters.. from each of the ones mentioned.

Potentially unpopular opinion but.. Cloak and Dagger/Runaways was not of the same high quality as the NF Marvel shows.. it's not that the shows were bad, they had good stories and good acting.. just not enough money was spent on their production.

NF was spending a fortune on the NF Marvel shows.. two weeks after the shows were cancelled.. NF announced they *suddenly* had $200 million they found down the side of the couch.. draw your own conclusions.. Disney doesn't need to pay Disney for licencing fees.. so the money could be spent on the show and not to another party.

Imagine the power Marvel would/will/could give its writers should they have access to ALL Marvel characters.. but not just some slim shadow puppet, but characters who have their movies in living flesh and bone that fans already know..

February 2021 the IP embargo for Marvel ends..

but as early as October 2020 Disney/Marvel could go into talks with Charlie Cox et~al..

I know Disney+ is designed for mass appeal.. however imho The NF Netflix, while a little raunchy, isn't R-18 or R.. but should be rated around R-15.. keeping it open for teen/adult viewing, while giving more adult offering for evening time chill..

I hope your enjoyed this rather long post and my thoughts made you think also.

Dava

Thoughts on villians (non traditional) and a Tammy & Phoenixperson spin off

My Original on Reddit:

Hi

I hope it's okay to share a few ideas I have had for a long time..

Firstly.. who really.. I mean really can challenge Rick?.. pretty much no-one and isn't that part of the point of the show.. isn't introducing a character that *could* challenge him only devaluing the show as a whole?.. well tbh yes. And Rick himself said that he ends up partying with half the people who try to kill him.. we are in morally ambiguous territory, but there are more non traditional 'villains' that could play a bigger part.. of course we have 'evil Morty'.

What happens after Evil Morty's story arc? My first thought is Cthulhu (ka-thoo-loo) from the initial credits.. I would leave it to the writers to create the backstory themselves, anything I would suggest would be trite and hacky.

Tammy & Phoenixperson

Every show that has this level of success has a spin off, not to mention the level of pressure on the core team must be great. I suggest a second team bringing an 'off season' second show. This would alleviate the core team's (Rick and Morty) pressure, giving more time to create a new season without so many crazy fans.. giving fans their fix for R&M without the direct need for the core team to be there at every stage.

How would that work Dava?

Well.. I imagine, the second team waits until the core team has their scripts finalized and recorded and then the second team starts writing their scripts and recording.

Plot?.. I imagine, a diametrically opposed 'anti-villain'.. that Tammy believes she is *actually* protecting reality from Rick Sanchez, but is willing to employ *any and all* methods to end him. We wouldn't need to see them in each other episodes except for a massive crossover finale .. mentions of of the affects of what Tammy and Phoenix do should be felt, and vice versa, I feel this would add an extra layer of easter egg hunting to both shows.

Isn't this a traditional villain situation?

You could argue that and would have some points of the debate on your side.. however the central theme would be very much about Tammy's heroics.. imagine her like the opposite to Rick in philosophy.. she is T-Total, she believes in the oneness of everything*, that actions not only have consequences but create a greater plan of existence.. to her and the people she helps, she is *truly* the hero of her story.

Not to mention.. well.. I'm all about men's rights, 3rd gen feminists are breaking the balance that 2nd gen feminists (70s/80s) set up.. but I also enjoy gender equality. It might be nice to have a strong female lead opposing Rick. She's not as smart (nothing to do with gender, just that's the point of the show... Rick is the smartest creature alive) but is resourceful, determined, resilient (hard to kill) and convinced she is righteous.

The premise would be she would travelling around with Phoenixperson looking for powerful enough artifacts that could kill 'The Rick'.. while trying to find such artifacts she ends up helping the locals solve their problems in morally ambiguous ways. To her 'kill the bad guys = save the day' as an opposite to Rick's; he'll probably be partying with them later.

What do people think? trite? mundane? A necessary evil?*

Dava

*(if you haven't played the game 'Everything'.. recommended. Being read poetry while being shown the entire universe is super chilled)

* (see what I did there?.. Tammy's theme) no evil for evil's sake.. but smaller evil to overcome greater evils. Also.. the core team can continue working as they did.. incorporating the last season of T&PP into their next season if they wish as easter eggs. But who am I to tell any writers who happen across this post how to suck easter eggs.. they know.