I'm looking to try out the Boss IR-2 but I don't think it comes with its own power supply.
Rig will just be my guitar->Boss IR-2->headphones. If I am only running one pedal, would a cheap 9V power supply be fine? I don't really want to spend too much if I am only using the Boss IR-2 in the set up.
Got a cheap 9V power supply from a friend. Below is the link to the pedal power supply:
Donner DPA-1 Guitar Pedal Power Supply Adapter 9V DC 1A Tip Negative 5 Way Daisy Chain Cables for Guitar Effect Pedal : Amazon.ca: Musical Instruments, Stage & Studio
If I decide to get more pedals in the future, I will look into a much better one with multiple isolated outlets. But for now, will be running one pedal. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you!

I'm looking for recommendations for a portable audio interface that connects to an iPhone (Lightning), and can be powered by a mobile device so I don't have to carry around a separate power supply to use it. It's for guitar practice and recording on mobile only, so it'll be used with mobile apps. For connections, I only need 1 instrument input, an amp output and a headphone jack.
Of portable interfaces, I looked at the following: * The latest iRig products can be directly powered by a Lightning iPhone, but iRigs appear to have latency issues and their outer casing is cheap weightless plastic, which would slip on a surface and make it vulnerable to cracking if it falls. * The Apogee Jam products don't have amp output, plus they use micro USB not USB-C, which is unfortunate for the price. * ZOOM ASM-22 seems great for my purpose, but apparently requires a separate power source to be used with mobile devices, which undercuts portability and efficiency. * Focusrite Scarlett Solo is the largest size I'd consider for portability, but apparently it also can't be powered by mobile devices. * PreSonus AudioBox Go uses USB-C and is bus-powered, but has poor reviews on the gain signal and the cheap plastic built.
If you've used or know of portable alternatives please post them.

henlu I'm ID123 and im finding low key moots
about me: ako ung mostly brown outfit tas naka spacebuns nuon sa library tas nakaglasses paminsan tas tumatambay sa 2nd floor
i really like brown, orange and green. i also love ukay
i like reading too pero i'm still nangangapa with study habits T_T
I LOVE ALT ROCK, CLASSIC ROCK, JAZZ and occasional RNB pero idk need ko magbrush up ulit since matagal na ako nagdedetox sa music for personal reasons
I OWN 4 GUITARS. and may know ako na studio malapit sa SM cherry mura lang
about u: gentle and di judgemental natrauma na ako sa naging nakilala ko nuon sa ibang course wahahhahah pero just trying my luck
or mahilig magbasa pero not necessarily geek... ung saks lang and may alam sa accounting heheheh
or efas walang vices
or mahilig sa musical instruments na pangbanda
and lastly MABAIT HUHUHUHUHUHUHU
ayernnssss if may DC rin sa BENILDE ANTIPOLO kenne ask for add?? 🥹🥹🥹
THANK UUUU
Note: I AM SHY HUHU

After doing a few weeks worth of research and debating back and forth between handhelds I finally pulled the trigger on a LEGO.
I am beyond thrilled with my purchase. I was worried about all the things, the weight, the drivers, the fan noise, the speakers, etc.
All of these issues seem completely overblown in posts and videos. In reality it’s very easy to hold, the fans aren’t that loud, the speakers are good enough and I don’t mind outdated drivers or side loading newer ones if deemed necessary.(though I haven’t seen a need to, yet)
It has not only met, but exceeded all of my expectations.
I don’t play a lot of “AAA” games (I guess Diablo 4 would prob be the closest right now) and I have a decent gaming rig, so more often than not I use it as a remote streaming device. I gotta say the WiFi on this thing is VERY stable. Better than my MacBook Air m1. Response time/latency feels almost native. And that screen, boy oh boy that screen.
The few games I do play on it directly seem to run well enough, not as good as the gaming PC but def serviceable.
Just wanted to share some thoughts. If anyone else is on the fence about the GO, just pull the trigger, totally worth it !

I have not seen any reviews comparing these two speakers against each other. I have had the UBL for a while and I like it a lot, but wanted to see if there was something better. I've heard good things about the WB and wanted to give it a try. I hope this post might help someone else thinking about these two speakers. I used the UBL with 4.3 firmware and the WB with 2.11 firmware. After testing them against each other, I have decided that I like the UBL better.
I test both outside and inside, near and far, with different genres of music (jazz, instrumental guitar, synthwave, lofi, rock, indie pop). I am judging for bass, clarity, fullness, overall sound.
Bass: Depends on the volume. At volumes above 40% or so, the WB is better. It is WAY deeper. It resonates and carries well, but not as well as the UBL. At low volumes (under 30% and especially lower), the UBL is hands down better. At middle volumes, even though the WB has DEEPER bass, its just not as audible to my ears, and I feel it lacks a little in the midbass, so at times the UBL can sound as if it has better bass. My verdict is that for quiet listening, the UBL is better, but for volumes above 40% or so, the WB is much better. There is something about the UBL that makes the bass resonate and carry over a distance better. Especially outside, the UBL had more audible bass (to me) for a lot of songs, both far and near.
Clarity: In general, the WB sounds like it has better clarity to me. This is probably due to it having separate tweeters. It sounds more crisp and detailed. However, I've compared the UBL to other speakers and it also has good detail and clarity, I just think that the WB is better.
Fullness: The WB sounds thin. The low bass is present and the highs are present, but something is lacking in the middle, especially the lower middle (I wish the WB had an EQ!). The UBL just sounds fuller. I feel like I can hear more of the frequency range and it sounds better (warmer?)
Overall: I really liked the clarity of the WB and the low bass which was showcased in certain bass heavy songs (synth and lofi). Even though it has the UBL beat in those categories, it is not far and away better (except at louder volumes). The UBL has a fuller more pleasing sound (to me) and the WB CAN NOT compare to it at low volumes (under 30%). The UBL is just an extremely good speaker at low volumes and outside.

This is my last Depeche Mode ranking, so I'm going to thanks and say goodbye to all of you who liked these lists. See you, space cowboys!

1. Now This Is Fun

Ironic, since to me it wasn't that fun. Too fragmented and I don't like the uncoordinated sound and voice. Said this, I have to admit that even for being the tenth worst Depeche song for me, it isn't that bad.

1. Lovetheme

I know that putting an instrumental here is unfair, but I make the rules here. To be honest, this instrumental might be very relaxing in a good moment, but most of the time it's a boring interlude. They managed to do better instrumentals, but there's even a worse one, just continue to read…

1. What's Your Name Often considered one of their worst songs ever, this gay anthem (no offense, read the lyrics) is at best a guilty pleasure, at the worst a terribly poppy song. It's not the worst just because it's pretty energetic.
   
2. Slowblow
   

And this is the worst one. Apart from the name that seems like a dirty nickname, the song IS slow, so this is pretty much a pain since it comes after a lot of other instrumentals. By the way, the songs listed here still aren't that bad or outrageous, but from the next position there are songs that I almost can't stand.

1. Black Day

Ugh. This song actually exist? Why? It's short, repetitive, and it barely has any meaning. Some of Depeche Mode's worst tracks at least have the excuse of being an experiment, but this doesn't. At least it's short.

1. The Child Inside

This tune is like a “what if Depeche Mode didn't like instruments”. As you can imagine, this song barely has any melody, and that makes the song very boring. Still better than making the melody something insufferable, like the next positions.

1. Told You So

This might be a very controversial opinion, since I often see it being called one of the best, but, for me, it's a big mess. Every, dammit, sound, is trying to overcome the other. I don't want beef with anyone, but really, I don't like this.

1. I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead

An early and worse version of Told You So. As I already said, the name is deceitful, and the melody is straight out from a low quality party song.

1. My Little Universe

I have to admit, that even if everything about the song is unsatisfying, from the verses to the chorus, from the intro to the build-up, the lyrics are very neat. That's the only saving quality that doesn't put it in the first position, other than being shorter than the actual worst.

1. Pipeline

You either love or hate this one, and you can easily guess what I think about it. An experiment? I get it, but why is it so long and boring? This track desperately drags on for the length of six, damned minutes, making this one of the longest in their catalogue. And their worst.

1. Cover Me

Spirit is very hated, but rarely I've seen this song being insulted; if you listen to it, you can imagine why. A country-rock ballad, tender and haunting enough to make me emotional.

1. Here Is The House

If there's a Depeche Mode song that screams 80s loudly, that's it. Danceable, catchy and funky. And one of the few that isn't depressing.

1. Mercy In You

I don't know what to say about this one, apart from being the most tripping and raw Depeche Mode song ever.

1. Suffer Well

Usually debuts are pretty much experiments to becoming better, but the best track that Dave has written is his first one. This track isn't only great, but also hits me at home.

1. Home

Martin’s marriage life wasn't very easy during the SOFAD and Ultra era, also because of his alcohol addiction, and this song is probably one of the most intimate depictions of the feeling of fault and desperation. And don't forget the strings, those, WONDERFUL, strings.

1. Peace

Powerful vocals and majestic sound, this song doesn't get enough recognition. Martin considers it his best tune by lyrics, and I gotta say that it is one of his best works. The live version is something incredible.

1. Ghosts Again

We can call this character development: how the sound has changed, the writing improved and the voice trained. It's a long journey, and this might be the testament of the greatness of Depeche Mode; however, that's not the end.

1. Enjoy The Silence

I think that there's not a better way to start the top 3 if not with the hit that made Depeche Mode famous in the world. Their most cohesive work, sums up everything that made them what they are.

1. Precious

If Home was the “I can't be helped” of Martin, this is the “I'm sorry, my kids”. This, from the first note to the last, is a roller coaster of bitter and sweet emotions.

1. Walking In My Shoes

And that's the best. It's not emotional like Precious, but this is the song that I listen to when I’m on the ground. The piano, the guitar, the voice, and the lyrics, are marvelous at least. Not only Martin’s, but also my favorite. My favourite song, ever.

I've seen a lot of people in this sub reddit say they find songwriting difficult so I thought I'd contribute with some advice I found helpful years ago. I'm essentially going to copy a blog I wrote years ago and hope that someone finds it useful. Obviously this isn't the only way to do it, but this might help some people get started.
When you listen to bands like The Beatles, it’s easy to believe that songwriting is a difficult process. Although equally, when you listen to the average popular radio station, where every song repeats the same couple of words over and over again, you might think the opposite – it’s very easy.
Well, I’m going to let you in on a little secret… I don’t think good songwriting, in many genres, is very hard at all. I’m not claiming I’m an amazing songwriter or that your heroes aren’t great artists. But many people have a belief that songwriting is more difficult than, say, writing an article. It isn’t. I genuinely believe anyone with a little musical background can do it.
You could argue that, in order to write a song, you need a basic understanding of music, how to structure a song and knowledge of the English language to write lyrics. But, really, most popular songs are often structured in the same way and have very simple chord sequences – and yes, this includes most Indie, rock, metal, R&B, rap and dance music. How poetic a song is, lyrically, very much depends on the artist.
If you are interested in my particular songwriting process to help you get started, I’ve tried to put together my thoughts and internal process when it comes to songwriting. And honestly, some of it is just knowing what to do to get you started…and then practice…
What do you need to write a song?
Forget guitar solos, drums and basslines at the beginning – those are bells and whistles that are added later. For the time being, you just need to know that, for a very basic song, you need an understanding of:

• English
• Chords
• Song structures

Doesn’t sound that hard, does it? Well, it’s a little more complicated than that. Firstly, once they have a grasp of these, creative people often start bending these rules, making songwriting SEEM complicated. Secondly, armed with an understanding of the above, songwriters need the following to get started:

• Inspiration
• A story to tell

Many average songwriters have these covered – but that doesn’t mean their audience will connect with it. The more savvy songwriters understand that in order the make people listen to their songs, they also need to focus on two things, which are just as important to good songwriting:

• A hook (or memorable repetition on a theme)
• Tension building and release of that tension

These 4 guiding lights of songwriting fuse together during the creative process. The inspiration will inform the hook, which, in turn, will steer the story in a certain direction and the tension building will come as a natural progression from that. Therefore, when writing a song, in my opinion, you should go in this order.
Inspiration

• Hook
• Story
• Structure
• Tension building and adding instruments

When you lay it out in simple terms like this suddenly songwriting doesn’t seem as daunting, does it? I’ll take you through each one. Remember, the golden rule for songwriting with all of these points, record your ideas so you don’t forget them. Ideas are fleeting…

• Inspiration

It’s hard to talk about this one because inspiration is such a visceral feeling. I admit that, initially, my inspiration to write songs came from something horrific that happened to me. It helped, no doubt. But, I since learned that anything can give me inspiration. And I’ll be honest, you can make your own.
Some people think they just aren’t the creative type and therefore can’t get inspired. I know a lot of musicians who can copy guitar riffs, drum beats, bass lines or vocals brilliantly, but they don’t feel like ‘they have anything to say so can’t write their own music’. Bullshit.
There are 100 ways to start a song. Many come from humming a tune, thinking of a catchy lyric, playing a guitar sequence or a mixture of these.
What do you do if you don’t have any inspiration? Just think ‘what do I want to sing about?’ Once you have a topic in mind we’ll move to step two and help you find some inspiration via the hook. You can make your own…
Hook
The ‘hook’ is a theme that will be memorable to your audience. But it’s more than that – it’s the core of your song. This will, probably, end up as your chorus. Therefore, although this isn’t a ‘rule’ as such, you’ll find it easier to write your hook first. There are a million ways to find a hook, but my preferred method is:

• Think of a topic
• Find a catchy line, related to that topic
• Try it with some melodies
• Mix together different versions of the melody and lyrics to see what works naturally

For example, for one of my songs, ‘Slow Down‘ I wanted to write about how people would be much happier if they slowed down a little. I noticed a book with the subtitle ‘The Things You Only See When You Slow Down’. This easily went with a natural melody I had in my mind, and, voilà, I had a hook. I then tried this with several chord sequences and tried several different incarnations of the lyrics before I settled on the one that fitted best. See, not that hard…
You can also add another, none lyrical, hook to your song later – guitar riffs and basslines can be memorable, for example. Remember, if you want your song to be remembered, use your secondary hooks in several places, such as the intro, before the 2nd verse and in the outro.
Story
Once you have a hook, it’s time to build your story around it. This is arguably the most arduous, but also the most interesting and creative, part of songwriting. Generally, it means writing two verses that fit with the chorus and other hooks you just wrote (musically and lyrically). It’s really important to ensure that the whole song flows naturally together, so you’ll have to do a lot of testing. But, with the hook completed, you are half way there already.
To use the same example above, for ‘Slow Down‘ I used the metaphor of a train to represents society relentlessly going too fast. As in poetry, try keeping it vague but meaningful. If you struggle with rhymes, it’s easy to look them up these days, but always make sure they sound natural in context. Musically, this song is a good example of how simplicity can work because it’s the same three chords throughout the song, except for the bridge and outro.
Structure
People who are very creative or very into music care about structure. No-one else does. Therefore, it’s a good idea to have a template to work to for your basic songs and stretch these rules once you’ve written some. Generally, it goes – intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus.
You can play around with this, but the template is there for you to use. It allows for repetition (in order to stick in people’s heads) and will also speed up your songwriting process because it’s one less thing to think about. Remember, you can always change the structure later if you want it to be a bit different – it’s not that hard to switch around.
Tension building and other instruments
OK, so now you have your basic song, it’s time to finish up with tension building and adding instruments. There are a few principles to remember and you will be ok at this point…

• Think about your audience
• If you want to make your chorus sound bigger, make what comes before it sound smaller
• Don’t let every instrument play in every section
• Add stops and breaks to add tension
• Consider adding vocal harmonies in important places

Can anyone be a songwriter?
In all honesty, like with most things in life, songwriting is just practice. Sure, some people will find it easier than others and some people have more natural moments of inspiration, but I honestly believe anyone can do it if they want to. So, if you are musically inclined, why not try some of my above ideas and see if they work for you?

My trusty ATH-M50s are peeling apart in the headband. This seems to be a very common issue with Audio-Technica headphones after several years, so I want to go to a different brand. They're otherwise fine, but I have some rewards points to spend and would like a new pair to last me another decade of casual instrument use.
I will only be using these when quietly playing my instruments (guitar, bass, electronic drums, and piano), monitoring instruments and vocals while recording, and listening back to music recordings. I will not be using these for anything else. They'll literally stay on top of my electronic drum set for years to come.
It's important that these have the following:

• Decent length cable for recording (6'+)
• Sturdy enough to stay on while drumming and last another decade
• Neutral tuning for music production
• Under $200
  • Maybe there's a used listing for a model that I'm not considering because it's out of my budget when new? If there's anything under $200 used that's a much better value, I'll definitely consider it as well.
• Low enough impedance to not need a separate headphone amp to function and can be used directly into my instruments
• Must be available on Guitar Center's website because I'm using rewards for this purchase
• I'm not partial to closed back or open back headphones. I've only ever used closed back headphones, so maybe open backs would be nice to experience. But more importantly, this specification should match my use case.

Here's my short list in order:

1. beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO-80
2. Sony MDR-7506
3. AKG K371
4. Sennheiser HD 280 Pro

Which of these should I go for? Or is there anything else you'd recommend?

"I played major league baseball for parts of 10 years, and I played in the magnificent city of New York, and as a child in St. Croix that was beyond dreams. Yes, I am a happy man." -- Horace Clarke
The worst stretch of Yankee baseball since the Highlander days, the mid 60s to the mid 70s, is remembered by those who lived through it as the Horace Clarke Era. Unfairly or not, the bespectacled switch-hitting middle infielder from the U.S. Virgin Islands came to symbolize all that was wrong with the Yankees in those sad years.
Horace Meredith Clarke grew up on the island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He was just the fifth player from the U.S. Virgin Islands to play in the majors, and the first Yankee. His father had grown up playing cricket, and because there were no youth baseball leagues on the island, young Horace played softball. He said he didn't see his first baseball game until around age 13, when he saw some U.S. Navy sailors playing.

“We were poor kids in St. Croix. We played on a field which was right on the ocean and had no fences. We couldn’t afford baseballs. So the coach made the lefthanded batters hit righthanded and the righthanded batters hit lefthanded. This was so they couldn’t hit the ball so far. It saved us from losing the baseballs in the ocean.”

Clarke was spotted by a Yankee scout in the Caribbean and assigned to the lowest run of the Yankee farm system -- the Kearney Yankees in Class D ball. Imagine being an 18-year-old kid from St. Croix in the Caribbean, and arriving in Kearney, Nebraska in the spring of 1958. The culture shock must have been overwhelming. Maybe not surprisingly, Clarke hit a disappointing .225/.322/.283 in 187 at-bats. He said the biggest adjustment wasn't the cold weather, but night games played under the lights, something he'd never done before.
The following year Horace was in the Florida State League, and he thrived in the warmer weather, hitting .293/.375/.366 in 571 at-bats. He also stole 34 bases that year. The year after that, he was back up north, playing for Fargo in the Northern League, and hit .307/.389/.369 in 537 at-bats. The following year was Amarillo in the Texas League, where he hit .300/.364/.429.
Then the next three years in the International League, where he hit .281/.345/.352 in 1,494 at-bats while playing shortstop and second base.
But despite Clarke's promise, he was blocked by Bobby Richardson. By the time Clarke had reached Triple-A at age 24 in 1963, the 27-year-old Richardson had already been a four-time All-Star, a two-time Gold Glove winner, and had won three World Series rings... plus the MVP for the 1960 World Series, the only time in baseball history a player for the losing team won the award!
But the Yankees knew Richardson was planning on retiring, so they kept Clarke waiting in the wings. He opened the year with the Toledo Mud Hens, then the Yankees' Triple-A team, and then after a month he finally got the call to the show.
Fifty-nine years ago today, on May 13, 1965, Clarke was sent up to the plate in the 7th inning as a pinch hitter to make his major league debut in a game the Yankees were losing, 4-1, to the Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park.
Clarke, facing Dave Morehead, beat out an infield single. It was a promising beginning. But, as if scripted to be symbolic of his career, Clarke's success was short-lived as the next batter bounced into a fielder's choice. Forced out at second base, Clarke watched the rest of the game from the dugout. The next day he'd get the start and go 0-for-4.
Hitting .250/.298/.269 at the end of June as a utility infielder, Clarke was sent back down to Toledo for two months to get more regular playing time. It helped. When he returned on September 3 -- coincidentally, also against the Red Sox -- he went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Overall that month, Clarke hit .273/.298/.327, and for the season, .262/.298/.299 in 115 plate appearances. But the Yankees, the reigning A.L. champions for the past five seasons, finished a shocking 77-85, all the way in sixth place.
That off-season, Phil Linz -- the harmonica playing utility infielder -- was traded to the Phillies, opening up a roster spot for Clarke. Richardson, though only 31, had told the Yankees he would retire at the end of the 1966 season, and the Yankees wanted him to mentor Clarke as his successor.
Clarke started just seven games over the first half, but a series of injuries forced him into regular service. Over the second half, he played almost every day, hitting .276/.334/.404 in 300 plate appearances. He was mostly used at shortstop, where his defense wasn't great, but in 16 games at second base he looked good enough that the Yankees were confident he could be a regular there. Yankee fans were no doubt a little sad when Richardson officially announced to the press on August 31 that it was his last season, but at least we knew who would be playing second base the following year.
Indeed, second base was the least of the Yankees' problems. New York finished dead last at 70-89 in 1966, the team's worst performance since 1925, as injuries fell Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Elston Howard, and Whitey Ford.
Entering 1967 as the starting second baseman, Clarke hit a solid .272/.321/.316 (94 OPS+) in 633 plate appearances while leading the league in fielding percentage, assists, and range factor as a second baseman. He also stole 21 bases in 25 tries, a second-best .840 SB%. His 3.7 bWAR that year was better than any season Richardson ever had -- his career high was 3.2 bWAR in 1962.
The following year, the Yankees finished 83-79 -- above .500 for the first time in four seasons -- but a whopping 34.5 games out. Clarke had one of the worst years of his career, hitting .230/.258/.254 (60 OPS+) as he played through injuries all year.
He rebounded in 1969 to .285/.339/.467 (101 OPS+), with 33 stolen bases. It was, statistically, the best season of his career (3.9 bWAR). But once again the Yankees were terrible -- 28.5 games out.
In 1970, Clarke again disappointed, hitting .251/.286/.309 (68 OPS+). The Yankees won 93 games that year, but it amounted to naught as the Orioles ran away with the pennant, going 108-54 to win it by 15 games. In fact, it was pretty much over by July, with the Yankees 7 games out at the All-Star break.
It was around this time that Yankee fans began focusing their frustration on Clarke. One New York sportswriter routinely referred to him as "Horrible Horace". Miscast as a leadoff man -- he had a career .308 OBP -- and criticized for "bailing out" on double plays, manager Ralph Houk years later offered a tepid defense of his second baseman:

“I know I got a lot of criticism for playing Horace Clarke as much as I did, but he was a lot better ballplayer than anyone gave him credit for. He did a lot of things good but nothing great, and that was his problem. Besides, I didn’t have anyone else.”

The lack of a replacement was certainly an issue. In 1971, there was talk in The Sporting News about a prospect named Fred Frazier being the heir apparent to Clarke at second base. That year, Frazier hit a disappointing .261/.316/.313 in Triple-A; the next year, .216/.302/.281. The year after that, he was in the Orioles organization. He never made it out of the minors.
In fact, Clarke was the only constant in the Yankee infield in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Yankees during the, ahem, Horace Clarke Era had holes everywhere, with a revolving door at first base, third base, and shortstop. For five years, from 1967 to 1971, Clarke was the Opening Day starter at second base; during that same stretch, there were five different third basemen, five different third basemen, and three different shortstops. Between 1967 and 1973, he started 1,017 games at second base, or 90% of all Yankee games.
But that, explained Yankees PR man Marty Appel, was kind of the problem. "Fans especially didn’t like the second baseman, the beleaguered Horace Clarke, whose major flaw seemed to be longevity. It wasn’t his fault that no one better came along, and he was a better player than the fans gave him credit for. But because he was out there, year after year, he came to stand for this disappointing run by the club."

"I always did my best. I always played as hard as I could. I never was concerned about how the fans reacted to me." -- Horace Clarke

The following year Clarke hit .250/.321/.318 in 696 plate appearances, but the Yankees again were out of it, finishing 82-80 in 1971.
Yankee fans had been miserable since 1965, but frustration with the team in general -- and Clarke in particular -- reached a boiling point in 1972. It had been seven years since the Yankees had been in the post-season, and 1972 was the first year the Yankees had the playoffs within our grasp since winning the pennant in 1964. (The "closest and latest" the Yankees had been since the 1965 season was 9 games out of 1st place on September 8, 1970.)
On September 12, 1972, the Yankees were a half-game out of 1st place at 74-64, with 17 games left to go in the season. The Red Sox were in 1st at 73-62, the Orioles tied with New York at 74-64, and the Tigers a half-game behind at 73-64. Over the rest of the season, the Yankees went a heartbreaking 5-12, while the Tigers won 13 out of 19 to win the A.L. East.
There was plenty of blame to go around for that collapse, but Yankee fans were particularly irate at Clarke, who hit .225/.267/.296 during those final 17 games.
To his credit, Clarke never complained about the boos from fans or the criticism in the press. As quoted by Dick Young in the New York Daily News in 1972:

"Sure, I would feel bad when I saw in the papers that, 'the Yankees can never win the pennant with that guy at second base.' But why get mad. I figure that's his opinion, and he's entitled to it. I must have been able to do something. Don't tell me a ballplayer can fool a manager for seven years."

Years later, Thurman Munson said his adversarial relationship with the media was based on how Horace Clarke was treated.
In 1973, the 34-year-old Clarke hit .263/.317/.308 (80 OPS+), his defense was no longer among the league leaders, and the Yankees were once again double-digit games behind by Labor Day.
It was finally time to move on. That off season, the Yankees acquired 23-year-old utility infielder Jim Mason from the Texas Rangers and installed him as the starting shortstop for the upcoming 1974 season; Gene Michael, the Yankees' on-again, off-again shortstop since 1968, was moved to second base; and Clarke to the bench. It wasn't exactly an earth-shattering move -- Mason was coming off a season in which he hit .206/.273/.290, and Michael .225/.270/.278. If anything, the two represented a substantial downgrade from Clarke's numbers. (By bWAR the previous season, Clarke was still the best option of the three, 0.6 compared to Mason's -0.7 and Michael's -0.9.)
After hitting .234/.294/.255 in 53 plate appearances as a pinch hitter and spot starter, on May 31, 1974, the Yankees finally ended the Horace Clarke Era by selling his contract to the San Diego Padres along with minor league pitcher Lowell Palmer for $25,000. At the time of the deal, Clarke was still the Yankees' best option at second base as Mason was hitting .214/.287/.307 and Michael a putrid .134/.224/.179!
Six weeks later, the Yankees tried to address their second base problem again by acquiring former All-Star Sandy Alomar from the Angels. Alomar, who fathered major leaguers Sandy Jr. and Roberto, played for the Yankees for the next two and a half seasons, hitting .248/.287/.302... again, worse than Horace's career average of .256/.308/.313.
And yet getting rid of Horace Clarke immediately turned around the Yankees' fortunes. With Horace, the Yankees were 23-27, the worst record in the American League; without him, a second-best 66-46. New York finished 89-73, just two games behind the Baltimore Orioles.
The Yankees finally found a solution to the second base problem on December 11, 1975, trading previously forgotten Yankee Doc Medich to the Pirates for Dock Ellis, Ken Brett, and a 20-year-old prospect named Willie Randolph.
Meanwhile, Clarke went to San Diego and hit .189/.255/.200 in 99 plate appearances. He was released at the end of the season and retired. He was a frequent attendee at Yankee Old Timers' Games, and promoted baseball in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He died at age 81 on August 5, 2020, from complications due to Alzheimer's disease.
The Clarke Side

• Horace's nickname was "Hoss". Yankee play-by-play man Bill White loved to draw out the "s" sound.
  
• Clarke had a reputation of being timid on double plays -- the team's pitchers thought he was apt to hold onto the ball and hop aside rather than try to get off a throw if it meant getting barreled over by the runner. (And in those days, runners came in hard -- just ask Willie Randolph!) Yankee pitchers complained to the press about it, and fans started watching for such plays. Any time the 175-pound Clarke didn't complete a double play, the boo birds came out. To be fair, despite his reputation as being afraid of contact, Clarke led the league in double plays turned as a second baseman in 1969 and again in 1971, and finished in the top five every year he was a regular.
  
• Clarke was the last Yankee to live within walking distance of Yankee Stadium, at the Grand Concourse Hotel. His commute to work was a three-block walk... which could be a problem sometimes. Sportswriter Dick Young reported Clarke had an awkward moment when a fan, "this kid, maybe 11 or 12," walked up and asked: "Hey Hoss, how come you can't make the double play?" Clarke replied: "Well, we can't all be stars. I guess I'm just a lousy ballplayer."
  
• Clarke had an unusual batting stance, a throwback to the Deadball Era. He stood with his legs far apart and he choked up high on the bat. Not surprisingly, he had just 27 home runs in 5,243 career plate appearances... but apparently all of them were of the over-the-fence variety.
  
• The first of those 27 home runs was a grand slam! It was off Floyd Weaver of the Cleveland Indians on September 21, 1965. The two-out grand slam in the 4th inning helped power the Yankees to a 9-4 win.
  
• And Clarke's second career home run? Another grand slam! It came on July 16, 1966. Clarke came up with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the 10th of a 5-5 game. Clarke crushed Jack Aker's offering to deep right to clear the bases and give the Yankees a 9-5 lead; Pedro Ramos pitched a perfect 9th to preserve the victory. Whitey Ford, who had entered the game in the 9th inning in relief, got the win. Clarke's first and second home runs were the only grand slams of his career!
  
• Aker was later Clarke's teammate with the Yankees from 1969 to 1972, and the sinkerballing reliever was one of the pitchers who criticized Horace about bailing out on double plays.
  
• Long before John Olerud made it cool, Horace sometimes wore a batting helmet while playing the field. He never explained why; some speculated it was because he'd once been hit in the head by a thrown ball.
  
• Clarke said he grew up listening to Yankee games on the radio, and Phil Rizzuto -- a similarly undersized infielder -- was his favorite player. Horace was 11 years old when the Scooter won the A.L. MVP in 1950.
  
• Mickey Mantle, his knees shot, moved to first base for the final two years of his career. Clarke, the regular second baseman both of those seasons, said that Mantle told him to get every ball he could. Horace led the league in range factor as a second baseman both of those seasons.
  
• The Sporting News reported on March 14, 1970, that Clarke had a "novel twist" during salary negotiations for the upcoming 1970 season. He told the Yankees he'd take less money in salary if they helped him secure a $1 million loan for a construction project in the Virgin Islands. Sportswriter Dick Young speculated: "It's a very simple gimmick. First you get the Yankees to lend you $1 million for an investment. You bank it at seven percent. That brings in $70,000 a year. Then you negotiate your contract with the independent feeling that you don't have to play baseball for a living." Clarke and the Yankees eventually agreed on a more conventional contract at $32,000 -- and no loan.
  
• Check out Horace Clarke's leadoff single on Opening Day in 1970, called by Phil Rizzuto! #23 playing first base for the Yankees is not Don Mattingly, but previously forgotten Yankee John Ellis.
  
• Clarke set the major league career record -- since tied by Joe Mauer -- of most no-hitters broken up in the 9th inning. Both players did it three times in their career... but Clarke did it three times in the same season! He had 9th inning singles to break up no-no's by Kansas City's Jim Rooker on June 4, 1970, Boston's Sonny Siebert on June 19, 1970, and Detroit's Joe Niekro on July 2, 1970. No other hitter has broken up more than two no-hitters in the 9th inning in his career, according to the book Baseball's No-Hit Wonders by Dirk Lammers, but Clarke amazingly did it three times in 24 games spread over 28 days. Mauer's 9th inning heartbreakers came over a six-year stretch.
  
• Clarke went 5-for-6 with an RBI in the second game of a doubleheader on April 19, 1970 -- and had 11 other games where he had four hits. In terms of fantasy scoring, his best day was either May 21, 1969, when he went 4-for-6 with three runs scored and three stolen bases, or July 22, 1971, when he was 4-for-5 with three runs scored and three RBIs.
  
• Clarke was involved in one of the most surreal moments of baseball history on the final day of the 1971 season. The Yankees were playing the Washington Senators -- not the original Senators, who had moved to Minnesota to become the Twins in 1961, but the expansion team founded that same year to replace them. Rangers owner Bob Short, who had bought the team three years earlier, announced he was moving the team to Arlington, Texas, to become the Rangers. (Coincidentally, in 1957, Short had bought the Minneapolis Lakers and, three years later, moved them to Los Angeles.) The final home game of the Senators at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., was on September 30, 1971 against the Yankees. The game was tied, 5-5, but the soon-to-be Rangers scored a pair in the bottom of the 8th to take a 7-5 lead. In the top of the 9th, Felipe Alou and Bobby Murcer grounded out to bring up Horace Clarke. Before he could get to the plate, however, a fan ran onto the field and pulled up first base, prompting hundreds more fans to run onto the field in search of their own souvenirs. Clarke and the Senators ran off the field and the umpires called it a forfeit in favor of the Yankees.
  
• Horace wore #20 all 10 seasons he was with the Yankees. It was never a particularly popular number before him, as the only player who wore it more than a few seasons was Tiny Bonham (1940-1946). Bucky Dent wore #20 from 1977 to 1982, and previously forgotten Yankee Bobby Meacham from 1983 to 1988. Another previously forgotten Yankee, Mike Stanley, wore it from 1992 to 1995, then Jorge Posada had it until Stanley returned in 1997 and reclaimed it. After Stanley left the Yankees, he asked Posada to take it back, saying that number should belong to a catcher. And now it always will, as it was retired for Posada in 2015.
  
• His obituary in The New York Times noted that among major leaguers from the Virgin Islands -- "a relatively small roster" -- Clarke still holds the records for games played, hits, runs, RBIs, and stolen bases.
  
• After he retired, Clarke helped promote youth baseball in the U.S. Virgin Islands. One of the players he mentored was Jerry Browne, who played 10 years in the majors between 1986 and 1995 with the Rangers, Indians, A's, and Marlins. In his SABR biography, Browne credits Clarke with teaching him baseball fundamentals.
  
• According to the book Where Have All Our Yankees Gone? by Brian Jensen, Clarke played a uniquely Caribbean instrument called "the vibes." "The vibes is like a xylophone, marimba-related type sound. It's a keyboard-type related instrument." Clarke said he played the instrument during his Yankee days, but -- unlike Bernie Williams, who frequently strummed on his guitar in the clubhouse -- only during the off-season. "When I was with the Yankees, ya know, the instrument that I had, the vibes, I was doing it, ya know, but never in the clubhouse, though. Once you are in the clubhouse, it is all work, ya know. That was never so much allowed. I had the instrument all the years that I was a Yankee but I was involved with baseball. That was my full time and I didn't have full time to play music but, ya know, in the off-season I would have a vibe and try to learn a song by hearing from a tape or a record and that's what it was." After retiring, Clarke played the instrument with a local band called Out of Nowhere.
  
• Of the 15 major leaguers to have been born in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the only other Yankee was Elrod Hendricks, a backup catcher for the Bombers from 1976 to 1977. Jabari Blash, born in St. Thomas, gets an honorable mention for the three months he spent as a Yankee during the 2017-2018 off-season. Blash was acquired from the Padres for Chase Headley on December 12, then traded to the Angels for a PTBNL or cash considerations. I guess we got the cash, because apparently no player was ever named.
  
• There's a Horace Clarke High School in Jamaica, but it's not named after the Yankee. It's named after the Horace Clarke who was a member of parliament in Jamaica from 1972 to 2002.
  
• Also not him: Horace Clarke, a teenager shot and seriously wounded by a Blackfeet Indian named Owl Child on August 17, 1869. Clarke's father, Malcolm, was killed in the same attack, which was purportedly revenge for Malcolm Clarke having attacked him two years earlier... which Malcolm claimed he'd done because Owl Child had stolen horses from him... which Owl Child said he'd done in revenge for yet an earlier dispute. The pursuit of Owl Child resulted in a massacre of at least 170 people, mostly elderly men, women, and children. As for Owl Child, he escaped to Canada and was never seen again.
  

"I remember the first game I played in Yankee Stadium in 1965. There were more than 40,000 people in the stands. I had just come from my country where there are 30,000 people in the entire country. That was some adjustment." -- Horace Clarke

Overall, Horace Clarke hit .257/.309/.315 in 5,144 plate appearances as a Yankee. His numbers aren't quite as bad as they appear, as he played during one of the lowest offense eras since deadball... an 84 OPS+. That ranks him ahead of fondly-remembered Yankees like Shelley Duncan (81 OPS+), Rick Cerone (80 OPS+), Miguel Cairo (80 OPS+), Bucky Dent (72 OPS+), and... Bobby Richardson (77 OPS+). And while many complained about his defense, his defensive metrics -- such as we have for his era -- indicate he was at least an average defender. He led the league in range factor three times, in fielding percentage once, in assists six times, and in double plays twice.
People tend to think about Clarke -- if they think about him at all -- as either a terrible player, representative of the teams he played on, or a good player who was wasted on bad teams. The truth is somewhere in the middle. As sportswriter Maury Allen said, he was "an average big-leaguer on below-average Yankee teams."
And in fact, Clarke's 16.0 career bWAR as a Yankee is twice as much value as the player he replaced, Bobby Richardson (8.0 bWAR). But Richardson was a fan favorite, while Clarke was scorned. But of course... Richardson won three rings. And Yankee fans love a winner!

"New York is New York. You don’t win, you’re going to hear about it. I was in the middle." -- Horace Clarke

Had Clarke come along a few years earlier and been part of the early 1960s dynasty, he might be remembered fondly as a scrappy infielder, a Tony Kubek or a Bucky Dent or a Scott Brosius -- a good but not great player who had some memorable moments.
Instead, Horace Clarke defines an era of futility.

Hello friends. I am looking for a cool individual who’s looking for a new place to live. The location is a house in southeast Aurora. I am looking for someone who possibly works from home and needs the additional bedroom as office space / work space. Your rooms has the biggest bedroom with a walk in closet and are on the main floor. Your bathroom is right outside your bedroom. My rooms are in the basement. We would share the kitchen, living room with wood burning fireplace and back porch. The laundry is downstairs which has my maker studio which I do some of my work from. There is a 2 car garage but with my work equipment we can’t park cars inside and I need access to driveway to load equipment. However, plenty of storage for bikes / sports equipment with an air compressor for tires.
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Rent is $1250 includes water.
We will split all other utilities. Power, Internet & Trash
Message me here and let’s connect to see if we match.

"Great days and glorious victory! My name is Spifflemonk and welcome to my Letsplay! Today I am back from my medically mandated break from playing human videogames after a rather... cathartic experience with a game called Teardown. Subnautica, even among humans, is labeled as a notorious experience with... mixed reception for its sequel. A survival crafting game apparently. I have experience with those so presumably the gameplay loop should be predictable enough. So... Let's go in!"
Spiffle starts the game, going for standard Survival Mode, with aspects of food and water mechanics alongside health and oxygen. The game loads very, very fast with Spiffles overpowered computer, and the introduction sequence begins. The camera pans to the panicked sight of the payer character moving down a ladder followed by a sight of a starship above exploding.
"Oh dear... oh dear! They weren't kidding about survival! Do I even survive this or am I a ghost or something..."
The pod rattles, the screen shakes, a fire extinguisher falls from its mounting. Velocity causes the pod to dislodge a panel from a wall and it flies around the cabin. The panel flies into the player's screen, making it go black.
"Oh... well okay then. I uh... well."
Spiffles' character awakens and panics at the buttons securing him to the seat. Spiffle quickly figures out that fire in this game is in fact bad, and grabs the fire extinguisher, putting the fire out. The game's introduction plays, showing his PDA, the game's inventory UI.
"Oh! I have seen these things in real life when visiting human stations! Do all humans have these?"
Spiffle starts exploring the escape pod, noting all of the damage to the radio beacon and the wiring panel.
"Hmm... craft the repair tool... Well... For later I suppose. Now how do i-AH, the ladder!"
Spiffle clicks on the ladder and goes through the animation. The character exits and dramatically stands. Spiffle looks around. His face visibly pales as he looks in every direction, finding the only thing nearby that looks 'safe’ or like 'land' is the destroyed ship in the distance.
"Water... it's... water... everywhere! How big is this game's map!? Structural hull failure... zero human lifesigns detected. That's.. not nice. Well... Here we go!"
Spiffle jumps into the water. His mood changes, the underwater environment significantly different than above ground. The water is absolutely teeming with life and color, as Spiff swims towards a reef to stare at some coral. Spiff gets distracted and starts chasing a fish, specifically a Peeper, and grabs it.
"Oh! Good god! THAT'S how humans catch fish!? That's very... inefficient! What is this thing? Can I eat it? I know I'm supposed to take care of my food and water, so how do I eat it?"
Spiffle wanders about for a while, gathering resources and exploring his general location, eventually getting back to the pod. He had gathered up a decent amount of stuff while he was swimming around and accessed the Fabricator to see what was available.
"Ah! I see, the fabricator cooks things too. Uhm... cooked fish thing and... these transparent fish give me water bottles? Okay then! Well. Sorted for food anyway. Let's see. Copper wire, batteries. A Scanner? Does that mean I can like, scan things and tell what they are? And... Oxygen tank? Oh hell yes. I'll build that then."
Spiffle goes through the process of building a few things, checking out how the game's crafting system works, and spending more time collecting resources. He quickly realizes how much work he has to do and finally finishes making a Scanner.
"Okay then well... I can see how much time is going to be spent collecting resources so i'm going to edit all of that out and keep you all in the loop on all the fun parts instead."
Spiffle continues playing, inserting a creative, albeit mildly annoying fanciful scene transition in between resource loops. He comes to a cave looking for salt to make more equipment, when he encounters the first hostile enemy of the game: The Crashfish. He does not notice it at first, the strange sloppy noise it makes as its pod opens, the beast makes a terrible gurgly noise and charges straight at him.
"What is that noi-AH! OY! OI! OIIII what are you what are-!"
Spiffle is cut off as the fish explodes, causing him to lose half his health. He quickly surfaces and takes a breath.
"Okay then... OKAY... THAT... makes absolutely no sense from an evolutionary perspective... but okay then. Avoid those. What even was that? I can't even scan it because it was moving so fast! Gods... exploding fish."
Spiffle shakes his head and resumes his hunt for resources, eventually finding enough for a repair tool. He makes the repair of the pods' broken wiring and looks around a bit more, noting some of the details in the game.
"Hard to believe these games are over eight hundred years old! I keep getting requests to play 'them gud ol' gamez' instead of any new releases. Maybe I'll get to those eventually. I have quite the backlog though."
Spiffle quickly tabs out and shows the huge list of human made games on his list that he has been gifted or purchased himself. The list includes Space Marine, Starship Troopers, Spyro Trilogy, Crash Bandicoot, and so... so many more.
"I am also told about this thing called 'anime', whatever that is. Maybe I should look into that. Anyway..."
Spiffle shrugs for now and resumes playing, swimming around for a bit before finally deciding to use his scanner. He gets the first scan - the Acid Mushroom - and painstakingly reads the supplied article. He then goes on a scanning frenzy, scanning each thing he can find, comically chasing after various fish and objects, trying to scan them then taking an irritatingly long time to read the article aloud.
He gets to the point where he encounters his first real hostile enemy and tries to scan it. The stalker, of course, doesn't appreciate that, and attacks.
"Oooh what's this thing? Oh lovely, it's a big one. Can I scan it? The... Stalker? Oh okay is it friend-OW! NONONONO go away!"
Spiffle panics and scans it while running away from it, trying to swim backwards. He's so focused on scanning it he can't run far enough away that he gets ambushed by another Stalker nearby and manages to scan it just as he gets hit with his first Death in the game.
"Oh.... o...kay. Well... it seems things aren't as friendly as expected. I'm going to guess there's more things like that around. So... I'm just going to finish working on repairs and equipment then I'll take those things on."
Spiffle reads the article on the Stalker he scanned and spends more time collecting resources, scanning local entities and building the rest of the gear he has. Fins, high capacity O2 tank, rebreather and some more food and water which he stores in floating containers for later. He starts to explore a bit farther in search of fragments to scan and finds a Sand Shark, as well as a biome resembling a desert-like area. He encounters his first piece of the wrecked ship here.
"Oh! Hello! Pieces of wreckage! What are these for now do you suppose? Can I disassemble these for resources or-Oh! Is that a door? Oh! I'm supposed to go in here and look for things? How do I get in? Oh I can't. I need a laser cutter. Is one of those here? Need more fragments I guess..."
Spiffle gives up trying to enter and goes up for air, then returns to the floor to hunt for fragments. He eventually unlocks the Bioreactor, pieces of the Scanner room, a couple fragments of the Seaglide and Seamoth. He comes across the first cave entrance to the Mushroom Caves Biome.
"Oh... oh my. That's... deep. Good thing I unlocked the Seamoth thing. Its a miniature submarine I think. I can use that. But that's... kinda scary. I can't see the bottom. I kinda see just... purple. Mostly purple. But it scares me that I can't see the bottom."
Spiffle hangs around the cave entrance for a bit before a call for Oxygen forces him to the surface. He swims back down to the cave entrance and then hangs around a bit longer before once again resurfacing, heading for some new things to scan. It is however at this point that Spiffles exploration is cut short.
"EMERGENCY - SEISMIC READINGS SUGGEST A QUANTUM DETONATION HAS OCCURRED IN THE AURORA'S DRIVE CORE. THE CENTRAL DARK MATTER REACTOR WILL REACH A SUPERCRITICAL STATE IN -"
The computer aboard the PDA shakes Spiff out of his daze and he quickly rushes to the surface and looks at the ship.
"Wait wait wait what's that!? What's going on!? I see the ship? The Aurora! That's what its name is? Whats a Dark Matter reactor and wha-"
The computer continues its countdown muffled by Spiffs panicked squealing and he has a front-row seat to one of the most spectacular explosions in the history of gaming - the Aurora's Reactor Detonation.
It happens. The world goes dead silent for a short moment, and one can see Spiffles heart visibly stop beating. Then explosion as the Aurora lets out its magnificent blast. As the shockwave expands outwards, Spiffs skin visibly turns a paler shade of blue, and his eyes go wide. The sound of a geiger counter follows, leaving him breathless and pale as the world suddenly goes dead quiet again. The sound of the geiger counter ominously leaving him shaken even more than he already is.
"FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE - THE RADIATION SUIT HAS BEEN ADDED TO YOUR BLUEPRINTS."
Spiffle stays completely silent, bobbing in the water for a solid few minutes, staring in shocked wonder at what he just witnessed. He regains his composure for a few short moments and returns to his scanning venture, but one can easily see he isn't in the right mind after that. He returns to the seabed, at the entrance to the mushroom caves and dives again. He does this several more times, popping up to the surface, looking at the shipwreck, then diving at the entrance again. Finally, after much hesitation, he dives one last time.
"Screw it. it's just a game right?"
He smiles at the camera with a shrug and swims far below the surface, into one of the caves. As he enters the cavern his jaw drops at the sight of a massive underwater cavern filled with gigantic glowing pink mushrooms. The Mushroom caves as they are known. He spots something in the distance, entranced, forgetting his oxygen situation. He cant get far however and a terrifying shriek of some unknown entity shakes him out of his stupor.
"What in the red dawn was that noise!?"
Spiff can't finish asking his invisible audience what's going on as he strays too close to a mushroom, occupied by a Crab Snake, a gigantic sea worm. He is grabbed from behind, spun around and he visibly panics as the giant worm digs its enormous tusks into Spiffles character. Spiffle immediately freaks out, a combination of both the terrifying shriek emitted by the creature and the shock of being attacked makes poor Spiffle jump out of his seat and duck under the table.
"GOWAYGOWAYGOWAGOWAYGOWAY!!!"
The worm comes back and finishes Spiff off before his oxygen runs out. Spiff's character respawns but the footage continues, a slight whimper can be heard in the background as Spiff hides under the desk. This carries on for a few minutes, and his head very slowly appears above the desk. He gingerly puts himself back in his seat and breathes heavily for a bit. When he finally gains control, he tabs out of the game and takes a look at the wiki for Subnautica. He returns a few moments later and stares at the camera in that strange haunting glare he's become so famous for.
"WHY DO YOU STUPID DEVELOPERS NOT PUT GUNS IN THE GAME IF YOU HAVE SHIT LIKE THAT!? ARE YOU INSANE!?"
He grabs the camera and shakes it violently as he rants at it, questioning why there are guns in every other human game he has played and not THIS specific game, especially considering how there are 'giant water snake monsters that eat your face' in a game with no guns. He rants for a good minute or two then plays his outro.
TOP COMMENT: "Are you absolutely sure after Teardown, Factorio and Project ZOMBOID, you should be playing Subnautica? I mean seriously, try something less... psychologically terrifying. It's known as Thalassophobia Simulator for a reason."
_______________________________________________________________
"Great days and glorious victory! My name is Spifflemonk and I still don't understand why we have giant worm monsters but we have no guns!"
Spiffle stares at the camera with an expression that can only be summarized as 'Seriously bruh?' and resumes his last playthrough. He becomes confused at the lack of stuff in his inventory.
"Why is my... Why do I not ha-Oh right... I was eaten. When you die your inventory is wiped... I need to build more tools then."
Spiffle starts some silly music, an alien version of Benny Hill to a montage of him collecting resources, occasionally ranting at various oddities and questioning game logic. He restores all of his tools then goes hunting for a Vehicle Bay fragment so he can build the Seamoth. He continues to scan what he can, developing something of an obsession with the task, then painstakingly reading every word about it to try and understand it. It is at this point Spiffle, during his explorations finds another derelict chunk of ship near the desert region, encountering his first Sand Shark.
"What... What is this? Oh... careful Spiff. This one looks angrier than the last one you found. Wh-What in oblivion!?"
Spiffles attention is once again diverted by the appearance of a Reefback Leviathan and its signature low drone. This one appears to be a fully grown adult.
"You-you... You've got to be... You gotta be fucking kidding me. A Juhara Eelfish!? WHAT IS THAT DOING IN A HUMAN VIDEOGAME!!!??"
Spiffle squeaks in shock as he sees a creature that is an absolute spitting image of a large oceanic dwelling sea creature, which is both the games and his native homeworlds version of a Whale. The Reefback has some dissimilarities, but its close enough to the real thing that Spiffle is genuinely shocked. He quickly pauses the game, opening various wikipedia articles, then displays a full picture of both Subnautica in game Reefback, and the Juhara-Kal-Rehar, colloquially known as a Juhara Eelfish, a shockingly similar creature that lives in his homeworlds oceans.
The only difference between them is the color of the exterior chitin shell. The Reefback has a blue/purple shell, the Juhara Eelfish's chitin has a red/green shell.
"WHEN was this game made!?"
Spiff checks, the current Earth-date is the year 2886. Humanity only entered the galactic community in 2752. Subnautica was released in 2018.
"HOW.... How is that even possible!? You didn't even know the galaxy existed until only a few decades ago, yet you almost PERFECTLY matched the appearance of one of our homeworlds native species! How is this even possible!? Okay. If the name matches then I have to call bullshit."
Spiffle approaches and scans it, then reads the data article.
"A... Reefback Leviathan? Oh thank God... Now let's see... A herbivorous creature that... that likely got so large due to the fact that its predators went extinct. Well... that's... okay... A hard chitinous shell of multiple layers, a microcosm of different creatures and flora growing from its back, hence the name. Hmmm..."
Spiffle gets that cold, empty stare on his face and glares menacingly at the camera. The screen goes black, then returns, seeing Spiffle nursing a beverage of some kind while wrapped in a blanket.
"I realized something... Call it a message from the Ancestors or a Divine revelation. But I have a funny feeling this isn't going to be the last time I see a creature from the galaxy represented in human media. I hope to the Gods that doesn't happen... the concept of this situation is nothing short of terrifying. In any case, I'm sorry about that. Lets.... let's continue."
Spiffle resumes where he left off, doing his usual routine of scanning, then obsessively reading. Eventually he unlocks the Vehicle Bay, and returns home to his pod where the situation with resources is growing obscene with at least fifty floating resource containers hovering around the area.
"Alright... A Vehicle Bay... This means I can build things like the Seamoth now. This will be nice. Right, I shall for the sake of my audience skip the resource collection mechanic that's here and focus on the actual result. I shan't waste my time either though. MONTAGE!"
Spiff yells excitedly and a montage to that same odd Benny Hill type music plays out, with him collecting the resources he needs to build both machines. Most of it is already in the floating containers strewn about. With a few visits to the fabricator, he compiles the Power Cell, Titanium Ingot and Lubricant he needs to make the Vehicle Bay. He deploys it and chases it to the surface just away from the pod in the deeper end of the shallows.
"Right... Not too hard. Let's see then, how do-Ah. Get on it and... The Seamoth. Cost of two glass, one titanium ingot, a powercell, lead and lubricant. Right."
He quickly gathers and makes everything he needs for the Seamoth, then stands on the platform ready to go. He chooses the Seamoths recipe and the sequence starts. His eyes light up as drones start flying around the platform, then begin assembling atom by atom, the small, adorable minisub known as the Seamoth. It finishes the process and flops into the water with a splash.
"My gods look at this thing! It's so cute!"
Spiffle explores the sub for a little while and hops inside it, testing the controls and playing around with it a bit to see what it can do.
"Hm... Maximum Depth, 200 meters? So if I go below that does it implode or something? I need to be careful of that. OH dammit I remember! I have to make that Radiation Suit don't I? I shall do so now!"
Spiffle seems to have found a new resolve, quickly gathering resources together and making both a Seaglide and radiation suit in short order.
"Does this thing have any weapons? How do I repair-Oh... Repair tool? That makes it easier I suppose. Now... Where do I go now? Is there anything I can do?"
Spiffle stumbles about in the blind for a few minutes, trying to figure out his next course of action beyond simply wandering aimlessly while scanning things. He gets back in the pod and fixes the radio beacon. His face visibly contorts into an expression of irritation when he hears his rescue is in 9999 hours. He resolves to come back every now and then to check the radio. He decides to gather more resources to make up for building the seamoth and comes back a bit later. He finds a radio transmission when he returns.
"RADIO: ▀▖┗▛Nine new biological subjects designated. Mode ▄▖▜▚┣: hunting/analyzing.
Sharing subject locations with other agents."
"What... in the Nine Hells was THAT!? Why was it in such an odd voice? What was that language? What were those letters!? Somethings going on here... SO now what? I have the radiation suit. i guess... go into the Aurora? Oh no, I'm not going in there unprepared! Lemme make some tools and spare batteries, then i'll go in. I need... Oh... I need more fragments is what I need."
Spiffle resumes his fragment hunt, looking around for fragments of various tools. He uses the Seamoth to traverse around.
"WHEEE!!!"
Spiff seems more than just a bit happy as he trundles around in the Seamoth, using his speed to launch himself out of the water. He splashes about a bit, testing the limits of the craft and trying to see what holes he can squeeze himself into or out of and how deep he can go.
"Okay okay. time to get to serious work. Now... I need to find... A Laser Cutter and a... STASIS RIFLE?! Wait... rifle? That means GUN! I NEED A GUN!!"
Spiffle charges forward towards the desert biome where he found the Reefback and resumes his search for things to scan. It is now he comes across a Reginald.
"What... IS this fish? Wait, let me just..."
He gets out of the Seamoth and scans it.
"Huh... Reginald. That's a... fish? It's so cute! Wait, come back friend!"
Spiffle spends an unreasonable amount of time trying to catch a Reginald. When he finally catches one he gets back in the Seamoth and heads towards the aurora, new friend in tow. He trundles over to the side of the crashed ship and scans some random stuff here and there, finding fragments to a few small items, including a few he needs such as a Powercell Charger for the Seamoth’s battery. He gets close to the front of the ship and the haunting, evil noise of Subnautica's most iconic killer suddenly echoes through the gloomy water.
"What... Was that? Is it another worm thing? Please don't let it be one of those..."
Spiffle wanders around the side for a bit longer. An ominous shadow looms in the background, catching his eye. He ignores it for the moment and simply carries on, eventually arriving at the entrance to the ship. Through the mangled steel and fire he squeezes into the front of the ship and looks around. The environment ominously rattles and his screen shakes as the ships structure isn't exactly stable. The howl of the creature in the shadows makes Spiff even more uncomfortable.
"I... Do NOT like this. I really dont."
Spiff parks the Seamoth where he can see a ramp leading up, and gets out. He is immediately accosted by Cave Crawlers and uses his knife to defend himself, poorly, but he gets rid of the three or four around him.
"WARNING: SCANS SHOW THE DIGESTIVE TRACTS OF INDIGENOUS LIFE FORMS CONTAIN HUMAN TISSUE."
Spiffs face turns an even paler shade of blue and he swallows visibly as if he's trying not to vomit.
"Yeuch... I can scan this thing and read it later. I don't want to be here any longer than I have to."
Spiff scans and follows the path to the interior, uses his fire extinguisher to put out some fires in the area and gets inside. The ship rumbles as he wanders around and gets into one of the rooms. He finds the poster of the P.R.A.W.N. Suit.
"Ooh! A poster thing? Can I take it or? I can! PRAWN Suit eh? Can I actually use that thing?"
Spiff takes the poster, scans some furniture and collects a PDA. Spiff continues down the corridor and retrieves his Propulsion Cannon from his inventory and uses it to pick up some furniture in the way.
"I am SO glad I got this thing from scanning the area before I came here. This is super useful! I wonder if it has other uses..."
He gets to the door and looks at his databank.
"Hmm... Here it is! Code for the door is 1454. Right."
Spiff moves through, repairing a door to get the Seamoth Depth Upgrade Module. He continues and clears a fire to enter the main reactor. His inner loot goblin shines through and grabs the Cyclops engine efficiency module before he starts work on repairs, scanning the breach and starting work. It doesn't take him long, but he gets issues with a Bleeder that lives in the waters. He scans one then finishes repairs. Foolishly, he uses the propulsion cannon and shoots the bleeder at one of the reactors, undoing his work. He looks at the damage he caused and repairs it.
"Well... what was I expecting... Why did I do that? It's a CANNON... why did I aim it at the reactor exactly? So stupid..."
Spiff finishes and heads to the PRAWN Bay, and looks around at the damage. He spots the prawn suits and starts scanning, grabbing a storage module upgrade from a console and starts extinguishing flames so he can scan. He runs out of fire extinguisher juice though.
"Blast! Can I still scan these if they're on fire?"
Spiff walks around, finding cheeky angles he can use and scans the debris, finding all four fragments he needs. He heads upstairs and goes through the rooms and everything he can find. He gets into the Galley and sees the Kitty in a Space Helmet Poster.
"What the- 'Keep Calm'? What in the blue balls is this? It's.... cute! What is this creature!? Can I keep this? I can!"
Spiffle excitedly grabs the poster and moves on. He goes through cabins, picks up PDAs and collects the Natural Selection 2 poster, the Prawn suit in the sea poster and the collectible arcade toy in the locked cabin. Lacking the code to the Captain's cabin, he returns to the prawn bay and tries swimming around, eventually finding a passage in the hull debris to the rest of the ship. He moves through in silence, recovers the black box data and exits the ship. He removes debris, grabs the local wildlife with the cannon and tosses them into fires or the water with glee.
"BEGONE BEAST!!! Ha! Right... uhh... where did i park? Oh, there it is. Should I go home? I wonder if there are any fragments I can use around here?"
Spiff exits, finding Liefpod 4 floating upside down on the surface of the water. He collects the PDA data and a new blueprint. Then, as he gets in the seamoth, the horrifying roar of the Reaper Leviathan suddenly sounds. Spiff is thrown into a panic, screams in terror and tries desperately to get away. The beast appears with jaw chomping and claws clawing at the poor Seamoth. The entire time Spiffle is screeching like a bird with a broken leg, his entire body now an almost ghostly white out of absolute terror.
"GOWAYGOWAYGOWAYGOWAYGODNONNONOGOWAYGOWAY!!!"
Spiffle manages to get out of its grip and in a panic charges away towards his lifepod and continues to scream, breathing hard between screams. He gets to the pod and then hides under his desk, continuing to scream. His channel outro plays.
TOP COMMENT: (This has been translated from Eridani) "I am starting to believe this whole sojourn was a very BAD idea. Do you humans have those kinds of beasts on your homeworld? How did you ever survive them?!"
RESPONSE: LOL no we never had Reapers. The only Leviathan Class creatures we have on our planet are Whales. And they're mostly peaceful plankton eaters. Mostly.
RESPONSE: (Translated from Eridani) "Seriously? I think I find it more terrifying that these creatures are made up in your minds. What kind of nightmares do you people have to be able to create this level of fiction!?"
RESPONSE: Do. Not. Ask. This is only Subnautica - we have FAR worse.
Spiffles response: "You're going to make me play these 'far worse', aren't you?"
RESPONSE: "Damn right we are! :)"
________________________________________________________
"Great days and glorious victory! My name is Spifflemnonk and welcome back to Subnautica!"
Spiffle looks visibly stronger, his usual lanky appearance now looking like he's been working out like a Gym Bro. One can see muscles on muscles and Spiff seems to have an abnormal amount of energy.
"I am now relaxed. It is now time to get eaten by giant scary sea monsters. And yes, before you ask, I have successfully finished fully soundproofing my office. And also yes, I am indeed expecting a new addition to the brood... THANKS DAMN HUMANS! You and your damn musical magic nonsense..."
Spiffle starts the game and is swimming outside the pod next to the Seamoth. The first thing he does is repair the seamoth from the damage incurred by the Reaper, and recounts what hes been up to, checking inventory and equipment. He heads to the radio and gets a new transmission.
RADIO - "This is Avery Quinn of trading ship Sunbeam. Aurora, do you read? Over.'
'Nothing but vacuum. These Alterra ships. They run low on engine grease, they send an SOS; you offer to help, they don't pick up.'
'Aurora, we're out on the far side of the system, it's going to take more than a week to reach your position, do you still need our assistance? Over.'
'I'll try them again tomorrow. Damn charter's going to have us wasting our profit margin running errands for Alterra.'
'See what the long-range scanner picks up in the meantime."
"Oh? Oh lovely! There ARE people in this game! I wonder when they will be here? Meh, I have things to build, so I'll keep an eye."
Spiffle resolves himself to start building a base, trying to find a good spot. He finds the Mushroom Forest Biome and starts gathering resources to ferry them around. He installs the Depth Module and the Storage module to the Seamoth, then builds the Moon Pool. The Mushroom Biome becomes one of his favorite spots and a close encounter with a JellyRay cements it.
"Those creatures are beautiful! Look! JellyRay! Its glowing blue and pretty! I love that! Oh... I have a new radio message. I need to listen to that then."
Spiff returns to the pod and listens to the message.
RADIO - "Aurora, this is Sunbeam again. We just picked up a massive debris field at your location.'
'I didn't know how bad... How many of you... I didn't know.'
'We are now en route to your location. We're going to bring you home. Sunbeam out.'
'What else can I say? The only time I parked a rig this big on a rock that small was in VR, and I blew it'
'Oh, it's a bad option alright, but so are all the others."
Spiff smiles and carries on working, parking the Seamoth inside after powering everything up.
"So lovely! But... Is that a win condition? I know human games by now I have played enough of them. Is that a win condition? Get rescued? I dunno..."
Spiffle carries on building for a little and gets a storage system up, spending a few in-game days transporting resources to his new base. He returned to the pod and played a new radio message, again from the Sunbeam.
RADIO - "This is Sunbeam. Y'know, Aurora, we're from a little trans-gov on the far side of Andromeda, and we have a saying there.'
'There's no bad without the good, no good without the bad.'
'Sounds like you tasted a bunch of the former, but that only means you're overdue a whole lot of the latter.'
'Might just be we're it.'
'We're scanning for somewhere to park, we'll be in touch when we find it. Sunbeam out."
"Ohh... That... that's a lovely saying! What was that uh... There's no bad without the good, no good without the bad. I like that! I think i'll have that framed on my wall! Now lets see.. i ca- I CAN GIVE THE SEAMOTH A NAME? OOHHHhh okay, okay.. I can customize the color too! I think I'll just do this..."
Spiff leaves the name as 'Seamoth' for now, changing the color to a mix of purple for the main, and blue for the trim and name color. His two favorite colors. Spiffle does a little more work, acquiring the last fragments for the Cyclops and starts gathering together the resources necessary to build it.
"Hmmm.. Cyclops... Personal large scale submarine capable of carrying other vehicles! Ooohhh I want to build that! I need to fetch the Vehicle Bay though. Im almost done moving house!"
Spiff returns and packs up the last of his resources, then gets another radio message.
RADIO - "Aurora, we're approaching the planet now, and we have a landing site for you that's... well, it's better than the alternatives.'
'We've sent you the coordinates.'
'It'll take us a couple of days to align our orbit, we should be able to establish direct contact with you during that time, then we're coming in to get you.'
'Cross your fingers the weather holds, and don't leave us waiting. Sunbeam out."
Spiffle gets a new beacon on his HUD. Sunbeam Landing Site.
"What!? Is this game over If I'm there!? Okay... well. At least it's no longer terrifying! I'll get the Seamoth and go for the beacon then. I hope it's okay... Strange... this... doesn't feel like the end, you know? But if it is then it is."
Spiff heads home, deploys the Vehicle Bay and deposits his gear and resources. He heads towards the location, occasionally squealing 'WHEEE!!' as he uses the Seamoth to jump out of the water like a dolphin. However, he miscalculates and the Seamoth jumps up, out and sustains a bit of damage as it hits a rock formation close to the surface. He gets out, repairs it and looks at the camera.
"Why no I didn't just damage my Seamoth by having too much fun. I don't know what you are talking about. Hehe."
Spiffle smirks at the camera with a glare and carries on. Eventually, he encounters the largest of the Islands in the world.
"Wh... WHAT. This has been here the whole time!? Is this an island? Who cares! LAND! Sweet land!"
Spiffle now notices the timer and hops onto the island from his Seamoth. He walks up to the landing zone and stops dead in his tracks at the sight of the massive al;ien structure known as the Quarantine Enforcement Platform. In essence, a giant alien cannon.
"What... the *beep* is THAT?"
Spiffles' editing has gotten better, his editor learning how to censor Spiffles foul language, in both English AND Eridani. He moves closer to the building, scanning the broken tablet and the Forcefield Controls.
"What is this? I mean it's clearly alien... What do the codex entries say... 'possible to reconstruct the device' Oh... hmm.. I can make more of these then. 'Matches no known technologies... functions like a lock'. Okay then so... Standard video game logic I guess. That's nice! So A purple tablet will unlock the gate there. What are those?"
Spiff moves towards the Cairns marking the way into the island, pathways leading up the mountainside. He follows them, finding a Purple Tablet in the process on one of the pathways.
"Oh! Lovely! That saves me resources and a trip I guess. This pathway keeps going though. hmm... Welp, we still have thirty minutes, so let's go."
Spiff explores the pathway, getting lost a bit before finally figuring that following the large cables is a good idea. He comes across the Teleportation Arch and scans it, in between dodging the Cave Crawlers.
"Right, let's see... Alien Arch... not much to speak of here. Maybe this thing will be useful later I guess. Likely.... Hmmm..."
Spiffle continues exploring and eventually finds himself back at the forcefield with another twenty minutes to go.
"Screw it, let's go."
Spiff activates the forcefield platform and the animation of the key being placed plays out. He moves into the building, activating both data platforms and acquiring two Ion Cubes for later, scanning everything he thinks he can scan. He enters the Moonpool in the bay and gets two more Ion Cubes, plus data on a rifle and a Doomsday Device. He ignores it for now, acquiring one more purple tablet and accessing the control room.
"Right... what's in here? Hmm... Energy Core, right. I shall scan that and... press button?"
Spiff presses the button. An animation plays where a device locks his characters hand in place, viciously stabs it with a pointy metal bit and then releases it.
"OH GODS what the hell! Why is that?! That's just nasty!"
"THE TERMINAL IS BROADCASTING A MESSAGE. TRANSLATION READS: 'Warning, infected individuals may not disable the weapon. This planet is under quarantine.'"
"Quarantine! What? Infected? I-Hold on...."
Spiffle gets his scanner out and performs a self-scan. It is only now he notices something very bad has happened.
"I-infected!? Wait, what!?"
"SELF-SCAN COMPLETE - DETECTING STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT BACTERIAL LEVELS. NO ADVERSE EFFECTS DETECTED. BE VIGILANT FOR SYMPTOMS."
"Oh brilliant! Does that mean I can't leave? I KNEW IT! Wait... weapon!? This is a weapon!?"
Spiffle panics and runs out of the facility as fast as he can and waits the last few minutes for the Sunbeam to arrive. Sure enough, it does. In the last 30 seconds, the Sunbeam plays a message.
RADIO - "Survivor, we see you!
'Man, I don't know how you held out down there.'
The sunbeams message plays, and Spiffle gasps in terror from the sound of the gun platform starting up and starting to move around.
RADIO - "We've broken atmosphere and we're descending towards the landing site.'
'Is that a building down there?! What do you mean you can't identify it?"
The weapon powers up and turns, aiming itself high at the sky.
RADIO - "Hold on, no turning back now.'
'Positions everyone, touching down in 10, 9, 8-'
The weapon charges up and a loud vicious hum can be heard echoing through the valley.
RADIO - "It's coming from the building?! Change course, set thrusters to (full)-"
The radio goes to static, the weapon fires and the Sunbeam is vaporized instantly by a massive blast of bright green light. The sunbeam disappears, its hull structure completely disintegrated. Spiffle sits in stunned silence as the platform returns to a stable position, shuts down, and everything goes quiet.
"Well... Okay then... That was... horrifying. I guess thats all we have time for! Hehe! Oh dear..."
Spiffle looks a bit defeated as he sits back in his seat.
"S-see you next time! I guess... Holy shit..."
Channel Outro plays.
TOP COMMENT: "Are you okay? You seem a little bit too disturbed by that. Its fine though, compared to what happens in the Rise Of The Ancients Mod, this is tame! Lol! I love that mod!"
Spiffles Response: "Please don't make me play that mod..."
((Authors note - due to how bastardingly huge Subnautica is, this will be a multi part series. Other Spiff stories will come inbetween. Hope you enjoy!))

Sega Rally 2 HD Texture Pack R.R

As a kid growing up, I still remember my birthday where I got my Dreamcast and Sonic Adventure, and Speed Devils. This would forever be one of my favorite systems of all time. I have been using emulation for 12+ years....back when in order to play a library of 10 or so DC games, you needed 5 different emulators. Well look where we are now with DC emulation. Flycast has been so kind to provide us with the ability to dump and load custom textures.
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Saddly, There are very, VERY few DC texture packs, and I can understand as the graphics in DC games tend to be brighter colors, less realistic, and more cartoony/arcade type graphics which was its charm. I have decided to change this. I will have a few projects going at once, and every day i will release updated packs for the games I am currently working on. This is my very first pack ever. Everything is set, you simply make a folder called Textures, (only if one dose not exist here \flycast\data\Textures), Extract the folder in my archive in to this Textures folder, I have the original img for every one i remade in the folder. the names are the same except the original file has 'OR" before the name ( NEW: 123abc.png / OLD: BKP123abc.png)
NOTE:Leaving "BKP" files shouldn't effect anything, as they are not the named files that the game is looking to pull, so you can leave them there, or delete them, as they are just for refrence and will bened up in future updates.,.
TIPS TO MAKE SURE THINGS RUN PERFECTLY.

• PIXEL BUFFER SIZE- Setting this higher allows for larger resolution textures (up scaled or from a pack) to load in faster, simply put.
• Dial Back GFX Settings- REMEMBER, You set your settings to run the textures at their native resolutions, so while the more textures I swap out, the more you might see some Performance dips, PICK THE RIGHT PACK FOR YOU. I am now making 3 pakcs for every game, ALL 3 willl ALWAYS be at teh same level of compleation as the others, jsut easier to run with smaller res images.
• GFX API- This is the fix to like 80% of any issues with a game. If you are playing and things seem a bit wierd, just change the API. With my hardware my go to, is VULKAN, and OPENGL. You might get OPENGL and DX11 working best for you. I just use whatever one I am not using if a game acts up, and that helps things most opf the time, Give this a try with ANY issues in games, INCLUDING slowdowns.
• PICK THE RIGHT PACK- If you are like me, Yopu have your Internal Res set to 5X, and are in 4K on a nice big, expensive, 32in monitor. I ALSO game on a Retroid Pocket 4 PRO. It hit me, "We do NOT need the resolution I use on something like my RP4, even on my 17 in laptop screen... and the storage limitations of portable systems are usually more strict. Why don't I make packs geared more for the RP4 type players? THIS WAY, more users can enjoy the packs for their specific setup." So I looked in to how I can do this while NOT giving up to much in the quality end, and I came to this conclusion. Three packs per game, HQ, MQ, and LQ. This way, Even on a RP4 type device, I can enjoy the packs, with out effecting performance, and on the tiny screen, it STILL looks just as good. So, IF your having issues running my packs, try the next step down. I didnt just take every file and compresse it. I did it per Resolution grouping, bringing larger textures down more, and smaller textures very little. This way, The fine details should still be vivid in the smaller packs. I hope this helps more users enjoy my hard work, and now.... I want to thank you for enjoying these packs. Anything I can do better, PLEASE let me know.

UPDATE FOR DIFFERENT REQUIREMENT PACKS....
Low Powered Devices, Low Storage Situations, Or Just Smaller Screens...
UPDATE*. Today I realized, I got my new 32 in 4k g7 neo samsung oddessy monitor, and i needed MORE. More resolution. More pixels, just MORE. So I decided, "not everybodys devices can handle MORE", so I decided to make 3 resource levels of packs for potatos thru Gaming Rigs. I am going to go thru the packs I currently have, and make 3 different packs for every game. They will all be updated in sync, so one "Quality level" will always have the same textures across the board, but this way, users on low end/mobile devices can enjoy the packs as well! You dont need reolutions this high on small screens, and thoes devices might have trouble loading in textures that are bigger then needed on a tiny screen, so I took all the textures, and compressed them depending on their size.. I did this seperate, So its not like I just said "take all textures, and cut them in half." No. Then the smaller, already acceptable textures would lose quality, so Depending on the original sizes, every files was changed independently. Keeping the best image overal, while making it easier to load, and take less space ondeviecs with smaller storages, as some of these packs get very large.. so watch for these updates over the next couple days in all the games. Now, Every pack will have 3 characters you must remove from the packs after uncompression. Just edlt the "_LQ", "_MQ", or the "_HQ" from the end of the packs inorder for flycast to see the pack,This is simply a sorting method for me and users that have multiple versions in case you wanted to test multiple packs this way they can be sorted and organized better.\*
HQ- This will be the standard you have known to come to love from me. Now I might use some slghtly higher res textures then I currently do, but as long as my 2070 mobile can play it, Then That is my goal for the HQ packs. Best image, largest size packs, and most resources needed but tthese are ment for users playing on large 1080/4k devices with a little more horsepower under the hood then the average emulator. Usually, if your device tends to play games at 3-5x resolution, using these packs SHOULDN'T make things to much harder for anydevice already playing on that level, worst case is you maybe bump the Internal Resolution down a step or so, and go from there. JUST REMEMBER, if you have any issues, try one of the other 2 pack versions, MQ or LQ.... I would try things like making sure you have your render buffer size is as large sas you can get, and remember, the new textures are what is taking the most resources to load. some times, relaoding a level or Giving 'er the good ole "Savestate,Loadstate" to reload, I find some levels, Just wait a few moments for everything to not only render NORMALLY, but then get replaced, then enjoy your gaming.
MQ- In these packs, Anybody on a laptop, or similar set up will be more than happy and might not even NOTICE the difference between HQ and MQ packs. This is not to say this wont look good on a 85in screen, all my packs, even MQ and LQ versions, are specially designed to give you the most prestine and sharp image you can get, while at times, just toneing it down becuase many users are not on large 4k displays playing in 4k, so if that is not how you enjoy your gaming, now these packs will help you get the perfect mix of quality, size, and performance based on your specific setup. You do not need anything crazy to run these, and can be used in any set up and will not fail to impress!
LQ- Now do NOT let the tiny size, Lower resolutions, and name "LQ" Fool you. There is NOTHING "Low Quality" about these packs. You still get the upscales you have come to love, and the new, much larger images have been toned down a little bit is all. This is PERFECT if you are on a portable device, or even smaller screen laptops! These are much smaller in both size, and resolution, but STILL looks great on thoes devices, and even on large screens, this is STILL a great looking pack, just now people with less then perfect setups can now enjoy Flycast HD Texture packs.
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\NEW\***,I PAY EXTRA SO ALL MY LATEST RELEASES ARE NOW ALWAYS MAX SPEED,NO WAIT TIMES BEFORE DOWNLOAD, AND NO WAIT TIME FOR GB LIMIT REACHED, EVEN FOR NON PREMIUM USERS ON FILE HOST SITE. I PAY PER GB SO PLEASE, DOWNLOAD SMART TO KEEP MY COSTS DOWN. *NEW\**
LINKS: Sonic Adventure Upscale Pack HQ R.R v .50
Sonic UPSCALE PACK SCREENSHOT COMP ALBUM
\NOTES\**
This is my 3rd and final take on this game. It is just to overwhealming to do it the way I do other packs. There is not a game I have come across with near this many textures, so using my newest AI upscale model, I reupscaled everything, and then start the replacement one level/area at a time.
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Years ago when I first got in to private torrent sites, before I opened my own, I had a small movement called the Rom Revival, where we made perfect and complete rom packs for every console... and made Retro Arch type packs for the older systems... and over the years, I have continued to keep these packs and torrents avaiable on my own tracker to keep allowing the public to be able to access any and every rom they could ever want, without having to go google, digging around the sketchy, very slow sites to be able to download what ever rom one at a time. So I feel this is he best time, to bring back the ROM REVIVAL, and now implement the DREAMCAST HD TEXTURE PACK part of the project. So look out for my R.R tag, and keep up with all my hard work as the texture packs start to roll out.
ONE LAST BIT HERE.... These packs, are done out of my love for the Dreamcast, and all of you guys. There is no other reason to do this.. I see the community is lacking in this content, NO BODY ELSE IS DOING WHAT I AM DOING, and for others that love this system like I do, well, This is for you. NOW, If you would like to buy me a cup of coffee, or a pack of smokes, check out my Donation options here!. There is an option to get YOUR pack pick moved up to the next pack as well as other options, so if you want a pack done fast, or maybe you just want to say THANKS for all my hard work, ncheck it out here please and thanks guys!

After min maxing for a while and getting a bit bored of that I decided to go for a cliche party group and build a pack of minstrels while trying to give them a bit of a lore friendly back story. Planning for a redemption Durge run (because music makes me happy). Also trying to get them all in on the action. So far I have;
Durge - White Dragonborn Lore bard 10 / GOOlock 2 - party(band) leader, striker with Eldritch Blast, controller, Hunger of Hadar addict and user of cutting words the Durge woke up having lost his memory but after seeing a guitar in his personal effects figured he must have been some sort of musician, really into death metal. Playing into the tadpole in his head he made a pact to make his (p)act a knockout to inspire fear into any who listen. So insulted was he by Alfira’s singing that he had to knock her out, and then kill a Dragonborn bard who sung so poorly a song of his childhood.
Shadowheart - Life cleric 6 / Valour Bard 6 - firstly a use for Valour Bard and combined with the on heal gear can use its bardic inspiration and healing spells to buff and heal plus have double attacks. Her instrument is no instrument as she was the lead vocalist in her Sharist choir, and always got called on to patch up the participants after a nightsong feast.
Gale - Divination Wizard 6 / Lore Bard 6 - Little known about Gale is that he was second guitarist of a band during university, but with that hairstyle, beard and earring how could he not be in a band? Sure a sorcerer is probably more optimal, but Gale is a wizard (plus this gives him 6th level spells).
Lae’zel - Battlemaster 7 / Swords Bard 5 - Leader of the Glee Club in her crèche Lae’zel is all singing, all dancing and all killing. She plays a flute she received at band camp.
Astarion - Thief 4 / Swords Bard 6 / Fighter 2 - deadly with a couple of hand crossbows to fling darts of death like a machine gun by day, charming with a violin by day. His answer to any question of how many arrows is the correct number is Yes.
Karlach - Beserker 5 / Swords Bard 5 / Paladin (oath of vengeance) 2 - a drummer who just likes to bash things but in her case she just loses her mind going into a fit of rage.
Wyll - Bladelock 6 / Swords Bard 6 - after drifting away from his patron he stopped getting new powers, but he still brags about his prowess to anyone who will listen. Single handed attacks to build arcane acuity and control spells with the arcane scoundrel ring or just flinging in a fireball. Plays a lyre because that seems an appropriately courtly instrument.
Any ideas on better level splits or other mixes to try in my band of merry people? Mostly will run with Durge and Shadowheart and then mix up the others to have a front liner and a ranged character depending on where the mood takes me.

I know that the title sounds ridiculous and that many will say that 16 is still very young. But for some reason it doesn't feel like it. I feel like I'm just constantly trying to catch up with time. I don't have anything that I'm passionate about. Sometimes I'll get intrested in something, daydream about becoming some great next thing , and then the flame just burns out. I'm so jealous of people who have a passion that they can stick to. I know many people around me who have something like this, and I feel like I'm behind them because I don't. In fact, many people in my class are very accomplished people. Two girls in my girls do ballet and dance in a theatre. Another girl in my class does competitive dancing. A guy from my class plays football and is also a math genius. Another plays tennis and travels a lot. I have a few people in my class who draw. Some sing and play instruments. A girl from a higher class that I'm acquaintances with plays in theatre. Another girl that I know, was awarded last year by our city as the most accomplished student. She was also the school president last year, was a part of the debates team, and a part of youth city council.
I could probably list more but I think you get it. Everyone around me is so accomplished, has something that they are passionate about while I feel like I have nothing. Whenever I find something that I think must be it, I end up losing intrest after awhile.
I took swimming classes for about 7 years. ( wasn't really something that I was passionate about. It's my parents that signed up ). I have tried learning a new language but always end up quitting for some reason. Currently I can only my native and English.
I used to draw a lot back when I was like 10/11 and watched a lot of tutorials on yt but nothing ever came out of it. I kind of stopped being intrested in it and now I'll draw something once every few months.
I also wanted to write my own book. ( I kind of still want to tbh ). But I feel like I can never form a good enough idea. In terms of writing, I also songwrite sometimes. I don't do it super often. And I'm more often than not dissatisfied with what I write.
Took guitar classes for about 2 years. I quit as the classes focused mainly on playing classical music. While I just wanted to know enough to be able to play the songs that I like. Right now, I barely play. I go through phases when I play guitar non stop for a few weeks , put it down and then won't even touch it for the next few monts. Not to mention my playing is extremely mediocre.
I used to sing too. I was in the church choir from when I was 8 up to when I was 10. I started taking singing classes when I was in 5th grade and resigned this year. It was a hard decision but next year I'll be starting the IB program. And I know from my teachers , and people in classes above me how hard it can be. I'll be taking chemistry, biology and english for HL and math , native and psycholoy for SL. And unfortunately with chemistry, I've heard that the two teachers we have are not the best at teaching. Which means that I'll have to study a lot on my own. This year I already struggled with trying to with mingling singing with all my school work and other responsibilities. And at the end decided that it's just not possible for me.
I was in the debates team this year. We managed to get second place in a national tournament. Unfortunately, I also won't continue next year. This was extremely time consuming and caused me a lot of stress. And next year I want to focus mainly on my studies. Maybe I'll take part in some single competitions but I'm not too sure about it yet.
Everything that I do just seems to ends after sometime. And it just frustrates me so much. I always wanted to be an accomplished person. When I was little, I used to be a " performer ", that's what my family memebrs always tell me. I would sing, dance, recite poems and make my own plays for them too watch. I remember some of them joking that I'm going to be a star. From people in my elementary I heard similiar things.
Nowdays I just hear that I used to be more out there. That I don't sing anymore. That I'm not as loud as I used to be. Sometimes I think that the reason why I can't get into anything is because my true passion is just trying to impress other people.
After I graduate, I'd like to study medicine to become a psychiatrist. My dream univeristy is Oxford. Which I know sounds ridiculous, knowing that I don't have the money to pay for the tution. I've heard of something called a full ride scholarship. Which apparently covers all the school expenses. But I've also heard that it's almost impossible to get. And that you really need to stand out to be able to get it. So as much as I want it, I know that it's probably not possible for me.
Right now, I'm trying to learn japanese. And I've also been thinking recently of learning how to figure skate. I'm not thinking of signing up to any class, I just want to try it on my own so I won't have anything obligations. I'm hoping that this time it'll work
I know this post is all over the place probably but I just wanted to say everything that's on my mind.

This is long and confusing, so I will try my best to keep things chronological and concise. I think I need to tell someone my story, because I hope it will help someone somehow. Maybe it will help me. Maybe it will help a stranger. Maybe it will die in the history of the internet and live on after I am gone. If anything, I have this saved on my computer so maybe if I am struck down with dementia someone can read this to me a la The Notebook (I think that was the plot…I don’t remember). This is assuming I make it to old age and want to remember my personal journey. I don’t know. If you get through this post and want to comment, okay. But if your comment is ‘go tell this to a therapist’, know that your concern is truly appreciated and think of this as me practicing what to say and how to say it.
This is not a “woe is me” story. I am realistic enough to look back and think I had somethings good, but I am also honest enough with myself to know I have seen some crazy shit.
NOTE: My memory of the following has a lot of holes, but I think I have most of the ages/years down, well enough. Hopefully you, the reader, can follow along well enough.
FOR REFERENCE:

• My mom’s children from oldest to youngest: sister #1, brother #1, ME, brother #2 (eight years later would come sister #2 and brother #3)
• My grandma’s children from oldest to youngest: uncle, aunt, MY MOM
• Ruth: my best friend, the youngest of 3 kids (had two older brothers)

BACKSTORY: FIRST MEMORIES TO JUNIOR HIGH
I grew up poor, in a sense. We grew up in a rural “city” notorious for violence (drugs, prostitution, murders, etc.). My mom was a young, single parent and was a stripper up until I was 4yo (obviously I did not know that is what she was doing for work; I just knew she wasn’t home some nights and we would stay with my grandmother). I remember living with a constant fear that she would die. I had three siblings (an older sister, an older brother, and a younger brother—the older brother lived with his father most of the time).
Just before I turned four, my mom was arrested and I lived with my grandmother (maternal, obviously) for about four years, along with my older sister and younger brother. To this day it is still unclear why my mom was arrested, but I have 90% of the story. My mom’s older brother killed a man. (There is no disputing this; he called his mom [my grandma] and my mom and they met him after the murder.) Some people in the family said that my mom drove the victim’s car, hid it, and burned it; some people say my mom burned the getaway car my uncle drove. My mom said she refused to testify in court. (About what? I don’t know. No one in my family likes to talk about it.) Regardless, my mom was sentenced to eight years in prison (she would only serve 3 or 4 years), so I, along with my older sister and younger brother, would live with my grandma and step-grandfather (who was ~15 years younger than my grandma). My grandma would not take us to visit our mother until two years into her sentence. (My mom said that my grandma wanted her to confess to the murder because ‘a woman with children would get a lighter sentence’ and that my grandma ‘did not want to lose her only son’. I don’t know if this is true, but my grandmother wasted every last dime trying to get her son out, which would never happen.) My grandma’s house was a dilapidated trailer: there was no AC/heating, there were holes in the floor covered with plywood, and the walls in the shower were covered in duct tape. I was too little to be embarrassed by the squalor we lived in, but when I think back on it now, I understand why I never had friends over. (Our town was small, and my friends’ parents probably wouldn’t feel comfortable sending their children over, understandably.)
Despite everything, I had a happy few years there. I LOVED my grandma and grandpa, and being so young, I eventually forgot about my mom. My grandma read cheap paperbacks all the time, so I got into reading. We didn’t have money for books and at the time my county didn’t even have a bookstore, but I would save the fifty cents I got for snack money everyday and order books from the paper Scholastic magazines I got from school. (I didn’t even know to be embarrassed handing the teacher my order form and paying for $13 of books with a plastic bag of nickels and dimes.) To this day, I think reading saved my life. It gave me a world to escape into.
My grandma had a dark past. She was from a different state and one of five kids. (Two brothers died in a house fire when they were kids, one sister was hit and killed by a car as a teenager, and the other sister was sent to live in a mental institution as a teenager.) My grandma refused to talk about her family, and I had never met them. (All this information would come to light years after her death, and I would eventually meet her “crazy” sister once—I was nine and she came to my grandma’s house and showed me a dead baby bird she had in a coin wallet she kept in her purse, and I believe she is dead now.) My grandma was an alcoholic and homewrecker, by all accounts, and would disappear for months, sometimes years at a time, while her own children were growing up.. She had three children and the father of those children is debatable. My uncle (the one who killed a guy) would rape his sisters (this is confirmed), and when my grandma found out she sent him to a boy’s facility (think juvie). It has been hinted that after this my grandma would pimp out her preteen daughter at bars to older men (this is my aunt—-the middle child—who was pretty distant, understandably, in my younger years).
~~~~~~~~~~~Writing interrupted. My mom just called me to see what I was doing. I lied and said I was working on my book (isn’t this Reddit post a book, though? Where’s the lie?) in a ‘not now’ manner, and she quickly got off the phone. I refuse to tell her happy Mother’s Day. Now let’s get back to the story.
This backstory of my grandma’s was obviously unknown to me as a child. I had seen her drink twice in my years with her. I thought she was fucking Mother Theresa. She took us (her grandkids) to a Pentecostal church faithfully and had a seemingly good relationship with the ‘brothers and sisters’ of the church. I hated church as a kid and am the only one to have never been baptized. My grandma, however, was not Pentecostal. She wore pants, cussed, all that jazz, and she never enforced the religion on us. But we had to go to church, and if I spent the entire sermon reading a Junie B. Jones book, she would not correct me. She asked us if we wanted to be baptized and when I said ‘no’ it was no big deal. (To this day, I am not sure why we went to church. I think she wants a spiritual relationship with God and some type of exposure to the atmosphere for us. But sometimes we would go five times a week and I hated it.)
When I was about 7yo I started to feel ‘embarrassed’ about my home life. I wouldn’t say I was bullied, but no one wanted to play with me. I wasn’t the ‘stinky kid’ and I wasn’t the ‘weird kid’, but I was definitely the ‘smart kid’ and I still think that it alienated me. I had one friend, who I had made in Pre-K, but she even seemed to be gravitating towards the ‘popular crowd’. (Cliques start young, huh?) Luckily, when I was 8yo a new girl came to my school. She had been home-schooled and came from a Pentecostal family but had moved to town and was living with her mom and two brothers while her parents went through a nasty divorce (that would drag out for eight years.) Let’s call her ‘Ruth’. At the time, my only friend started hanging out with Ruth at recess. I was jealous that I was left alone and hate Ruth whole-heartedly. Ruth, as it turned out, was jealous of me and hated me too. Needless to say, after two months of mean-mugging each other we became the best of friends. If reading saved my life, Ruth was this reason I was alive in the first place.
INTERMISSION: ABOUT RUTH
Thinking back on it now, Ruth was the first love of my life. Her father was an extremely wealthy businessman who lived in a big city two hours away from our town (I would only meet him three times). Her mother was a teacher who was renting a house in our town and although there were financial struggles throughout the divorce, Ruth’s mom was solidly middle-class. (I remember going to her house for the first time, complete with a ‘breakfast room’, four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a pool, a ‘dining room’ lined with encyclopedias, they had a COMPUTER with INTERNET, she even had a horse!—It was all so fancy for my hick brain.) Ruth could also say words like ‘slut’ and ‘ho’ and ‘freak (in place of FUCK)’, which were cuss words at my house. Her mom would just always say “Ruth MIDDLE-NAME, I rebuke that in the name of Jesus” and Ruth would laugh it off.
Needless to say, Ruth’s house was the tits and I would ride the school bus home with her every Friday afternoon and stay until her mom dropped me off after Sunday morning service. But Ruth definitely lacked a lot of things.
Ruth’s mom was weird. She was an ‘older mom’ and had a nice house that was never clean and she never cooked. Her kids lived off take-out, frozen pizzas, and TV dinners—-which was cool as hell to 8yo me. She was not there much, spending most of her time at Women’s Church Conferences or working. Her mother was a religious-nut. I say that with caution because she is a lovely and important figure in my life, but I would wake up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water and her mother would always be convulsing on the living room floor, speaking in tongues, praying. This was typical behavior. I think her mom let me hang out with her because I, too, ‘grew up Pentecostal’....but we know that’s not really the case, huh? Obviously two 8yo girls don’t sit around and talk about God all day. Ruth believed in her faith, but she NEVER asked if I believed in it or tried to convert me. We were happy and accepting of one another.
Ruth had two older brothers, one who was ~6 years older and another that was ~3 years older. The oldest was mean, and Ruth and him fought like cats and dogs. And I am talking they would draw blood. Ruth’s oldest brother definitely gave off I-am-going-to-be-atheist-to-piss-off-my-mom and brooding-dark-may-grow-up-to-be-a-criminal-vibes. His mom constantly said he was possessed by a demon and needed to turn to God. I remember that, although I was not scared of him, he seemed uncomfortable around me from the beginning. He did not speak with me much and spent most of his time in his room playing video games. He was obsessed with guns and knives and the back of his bedroom door was obliterated from him getting angry and taking it out on the door with his knives. It was strange because his mom kept trophies from his younger years for all the statewide Bible Competitions he won. (He knew the bible better than anyone I have ever met.) It was all a big red flag, looking back. But, for the most part, when I was around he disappeared. He was in high school when I first started coming around and would move out in a couple of years. The other brother, the middle child who I will call ‘David’, was awesome. He spent most of his time building computers in his room, but would smile and say hi to me in the hall when I was over. He had a Mitch Hedberg sense of humor. He wasn’t super attractive, but he was cute and all the girls at church thought so too. (My grandma did not go to their church, but I attended Sunday morning service with Ruth thousands of times and knew their youth group pretty well.) In high school, he would have a lucrative side-hustle fixing people’s computers, iPods, and smartphones and would buy Ruth and I candy and snacks all the time. Remember, we are talking 2002-2010 era, and he had the ‘emo’ hair, skateboarded, and was a nerdy-comedian type who could build computers—he had it going on. He was my first childhood crush, but he definitely saw Ruth and I as adoring and annoying little sisters.
Ruth herself was not very interested when it came to schoolwork. She definitely was not the homeschool-child-prodigy stereotype. But she knew how to play multiple musical instruments and was an insanely talented artist. Over the course of our friendship I developed a love for art and music—she made me into a creative person when I had always been a very analytical person. (Today, I am a fairly skilled artist and I play guitar.) But I had an effect on her too. I was a very clean person and cleaning had always been a coping mechanism for me. (My grandma always said ‘Being poor is no excuse for being dirty’.) In the early days I would go to Ruth’s messy house and I would convince her we should clean her room ‘for fun’. I didn’t like messy places, but I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so I would explain to her that cleaning was something I liked. I got her hooked on cleaning, because we would end up detailing the disgusting kitchen ‘for fun’ every weekend and she started keeping her room in meticulous order, although the rest of her family lived like slobs. (And yes, dear reader, cleaning and joking around with her are some of my favorite memories. I remember detailing the inside of the kitchen fridge with her in vivid memory.) I also got her hooked on reading and interested in schoolwork. Needless to say, she gave me the confidence to be more creative and I taught her how to put a little bit more structure in her artsy-chaotic world. I was feeling true happiness.
~~~~~Writing NOTE: There are some events/details in here which bleed into the next section but seemed best placed here. The next section will pick up when I am 8/9yo and my mom is released from prison.

As always, if you know of an event that's not listed here, feel free to share it (with a link) in the comments. Feedback on events you've attended or plan to attend is welcome.
*Free (or no admission/cover)
--Recurring Event
Noteworthy: May 13-19 is American Craft Beer Week. May 16 is National Barbecue Day.
Weekend & Multi-Day Events
May 13-19 Dallas is Lit (Literary Festival) at multiple Oak Cliff venues
May 16-19 DSO: Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini at the Meyerson
May 17-18 Dallas Black Dance Theatre Spring Celebration at Wyly Theatre
May 17-19 Wildflower! Music and Arts Festival at Galatyn Park Urban Center, Richardson
May 17-19 Main Street Fest - A Craft Brew Experience at Historic Downtown Grapevine
May 17-25 Now THAT’s What I Call TV Improv 90s Sitcom at Stomping Ground Comedy
May 18-19 Black Heritage Celebration at the Dallas Arboretum
Through May 27 Scarborough Renaissance Festival, Waxahachie
Through May 18 Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer at Bishop Arts Theater Ctr
Through May 25 Echo Theatre: Beyond the Yellow Wallpaper at the Bath House Cultural Center
Through Jun 9 Hamilton at Winspear Opera House
May 17-June 1 Teatro Dallas: Cloud Tectonics at the Latino Cultural Center
*May 11- May 24 Women in Art – A Joyful Journey Exhibition at Art on Main
*Through May 19 The Art of Embroidery from India to the World at NorthPark Center
*Through June 28 Central Library Staff Art Exhibit at Dallas Public Library Central Branch
Monday, May 13
Dallas Mavericks vs. OKC Thunder: Playoffs Round 2 Game 4 at AAC
Dallas Stars vs. Colorado Avalanche Watch Party at Shark Club Sports Bar and Grill
Texas Rangers vs. vs. Cleveland Guardians at Globe Life Field, Arlington
British Film Institute Book Club Presents: Mean Streets at Texas Theatre
“Spider Mondays” The Amazing Spider-Man 2 on 35MM at Texas Theatre
Augustana: Something Beautiful Tour with Valley Boy at Club Dada
*Ryan Glenn at Truck Yard Dallas
*Music Bingo at Guitars and Growlers, Richardson
*Songwriter's Open Mic Hosted by Justin Collins at Dan's Silverleaf, Denton
*Poor David’s Pub Virtual Open Mic on Facebook Live
Tuesday, May 14
Texas Rangers vs. vs. Cleveland Guardians at Globe Life Field, Arlington
*10-Year Destination Master Plan Community Town Hall - West/South Dallas at West Dallas Multipurpose Center
Dallas Winds Concert: In This Circle at the Meyerson Symphony Center
*--Free Rooftop Movie: Easy A at Sundown at Granada
The Variety Show with The Lost Boy Presents at Arts Mission Oak Cliff
Jimmy Gnecco of Ours at Opening Bell Coffee
Qveen Herby at House of Blues
*Book Presentation: An Evening with Andrés Neuman at The Wild Detectives
*Book Signing and Discussion - Jannese Torres: Financially Lit at Interabang Books
*--W.O.W. (Words Over Wine) Poetry Open Mic at Chocolate Secrets
*Just Dance Series - Salsa Lessons at Harwood Park
*Indian Cultural Heritage Foundation Dance performance at Pleasant Grove Branch Library
Wednesday, May 15
Dallas Stars vs. Colorado Avalanche: Round 2 Game 5 At American Airlines Center
Texas Rangers vs. vs. Cleveland Guardians at Globe Life Field, Arlington
Dallas Wings vs. Chicago Sky at College Park Center, Arlington
10-Year Destination Master Plan Community Town Hall - North Dallas at Prism Center
Dallas Architecture Forum Presents: Brian MacKay-Lyons at Dallas Museum of Art
*--Salsa Night/Beginner’s Lessons at Vidorra Dallas
Transformers: 40th Anniversary Event at Texas Theatre
*Nerd Night: Old School Video Games at Celestial Beerworks
*Pat Peterson at The Kitchen Cafe
Swingin' at the Sons at Sons of Hermann Hall
Piano Men: An Elton John & Billy Joel Tribute at Sky Blu Rooftop
Daniel Sloss: Can't at The Majestic
*--Improv Jam at Dallas Comedy Club
Part One Tribe - A $7.77 Show at Deep Ellum Art Co.
3-course Beer Pairing Dinner at Windmills, The Colony
Thursday, May 16
10-Year Destination Master Plan Community Town Hall - East Dallas at Harry Stone Rec Center
Dallas Zoo After Dark Wild Canvas at the Dallas Zoo
*Bombshell Dance Project Performance at Dallas Museum of Art
*Kaleta Doolin in Conversation on Feminist Art History at Dallas Museum of Art
Maifest at the Brewery at Community Beer Co.
Analog Art Show at Flea the Scene
Sip & Paint at Aloft Dallas Downtown
Murder Mystery 3-Course Dinner at Bourbon and Banter
*PNC Patio Sessions - Pretty Boy Aaron at Sammons Park
*Books Signing and Discussion - Noah Gittel, Baseball: The Movie at Interabang Books
The Rhinestone Teardrops Tour at Three Links
Michelle Wolf: It's Great to Be Here at House of Blues
David Slater and Veronica Williams at Sammons Center for the Arts
*Adult Coloring at Mountain Creek Branch Library
HipHop & Healing at Highland Hills Branch Library
Master Gardeners: Taking the Mystery Out of Plant Propagation at Lakewood Branch Library
59th Academy of Country Music Awards at Ford Center at The Star, Frisco
Friday, May 17
Texas Rangers vs. Los Angeles Angels at Globe Life Field
*‘til Midnight at the Nasher Sculpture Center
*--DJ Binosaur at Vector Brewing
Backyard Concert: Meridian Brothers and Elkin Pautt at The Wild Detectives
*Booker T. Washington HSPVA Singer-Songwriters at Opening Bell Coffee
Cinéwilde Presents: The Matrix at Texas Theatre
Larry g(ee) EP Release with Dezi 5 and Cozy Campos at The Kessler
Girls' Night Out Stand-up Comedy Showcase at Dallas Comedy Club
Nimesh Patel: Fast and Loose Tour at the Majestic Theatre
The Reverent Few / Joe Blow / The Brandon Callies Band at The Double Wide
Chap Stick (Cheap Trick Tribute) at Sundown at Granada
*Trey Gonzalez at The Rustic
Dallas Poetry Slam 30th Anniversary Showcase at Oak Cliff Assembly
Aaron Aryanpur Live at the Oak Cliff Cultural Center
Saturday, May 18
Texas Rangers vs. Los Angeles Angels at Globe Life Field
Dallas Wings vs. Chicago Sky at College Park Center, Arlington
Ultimate Frisbee Dallas Legion vs. Houston HAVOC at Jesuit Dallas
*Cycling: Group Ride at Community Beer Co.
Morning Bird Walk at Trinity River Audubon Center
*AAPI Heritage & Dragon Boat Festival at the Bath House Cultural Center
Art Talk: Laure de Margerie at the Nasher Sculpture Center
Discover Downtown Dallas Movie Series: Sweet Home Alabama at Harwood Park
9th Anniversary Brewery Fest at Texas Ale Project
*Pawty on the Patio with Golden Retriever Rescue at On Rotation
*Asian Am., Native Hawaiian, & Pacific Islander Heritage Celebration at AT&T Discovery District
*AAPI Family Weekend at Sammons Park (Dallas Arts District)
Hope Starts Here 5K at Klyde Warren Park
Deep Ellum Wine Walk: Rosé Olé at Discover Deep Ellum
*Conversation and Party: Colombe Schneck and Merrit Tierce at The Wild Detectives
*Art Exhibitions Opening Event at Ro2 Art
*Analog Art Show at Flea the Scene
6th Annual Adult Science Fair at Celestial Beerworks
Andrea Gonzalez Caballero Spanish Guitar Concert at Kalita Humphreys Theater
Pepe Aguilar at American Airlines Center
Sunday, May 19
Texas Rangers vs. Los Angeles Angels at Globe Life Field
Dallas Jackals vs. Seattle Seawolves at Choctaw Stadium, Arlington
State Fair Records: Songwriters Round on The Green at The Kessler
*En Plein Air Painting Demonstration at the Dallas Museum of Art
Dilbeck Architecture Conservancy Homes Tour at University Park
K Pop Music Bingo Brunch at the Sweet Tooth Hotel
Abducted By The 80's at House of Blues
Paint and Sip at Peticolas Brewing
Turtle Creek Chorale: Pages at Northaven United Methodist Church
*Cars for CASA Car Show at Rockwall Courthouse, Rockwall