misfiled as "Keet, Electric" @ElectricKeet@awoo.space

If you're not already familiar with the concept of the "cat piano", then a late CW:

CW: Frank discussions of the simultaneous abuse of hypothetical animals and all-too-real music.

Having been warned, may I now recommend a viewing of this delightful eight-minute rumination on the subject by Adam Neely?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I1pEbiYSCw

Ah, good, we'll hear back from Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield about the appeals process in thirty days. And then, "if" we need to move to the next level of appeals, that'll take another sixty days.

I think I found the mental health crisis in this country. It's in all the people who think this is a reasonable state of affairs.

Zenkoku Koukou Soccer Senshuken – 6|4 – Some fun compositions, but the sound is mediocre and the distorted guitar doesn't work well.

Zenkoku Juudan Ultra Shinri Game – 7|1 – Cheerfully vapid with lush instruments, but I can't find a non-buggy rip or gameplay sample.

• Sometimes emulation of a game's sound driver fails, perhaps in referencing the wrong sample data or omitting necessary hardware commands.

'96 Zenkoku Koukou Soccer Senshuken – 8|6: Clear sound, quality samples, energetic feel-good themes with recurring motifs. Could easily be mistaken for long-lost Wii Sports tracks.

Zenkoku Koukou Soccer Senshuken 2 – 5|5: Middling sound, though I like how the track "Practice Makes Perfect" has a few intentionally (I hope?) off notes near the loop point – narrative through musical elements!

The old flat-panel TV that my wife and I were using in our bedroom has broken in the weirdest ways. It suddenly started refusing to switch to 50Hz mode, and now it displays input – not the menus, just the input – with what looks like an 80% teal overlay. This happens on both HDMI inputs (the third broke some time ago), and I've tested with three different sources. Tested the cable, too. Even did a factory reset. It's just... busted.

Technology and I have not been getting along well lately.

Zero: The Kamikaze Squirrel – 5|4: Hooray, it's adequate! Often muddy and crowded.

• Here's where we encounter our first "unavailable" soundtrack – Zero 4 Champ RR-Z, which has had neither a music data rip nor any clean recordings that I can find conveniently. Gameplay videos show it to be on par with its predecessor, up next.

Zero 4 Champ RR – 6|5: Varied styles, solid composition, fairly decent sound quality.

Tool-assisted speedrun of Super Metroid, item collection 0%, console verified.

Just... let that soak in.

http://tasvideos.org/3628M.html

Today started pretty rough, but it got better with a little help from my friends. I'm seriously thankful for all of you.

Also, there was Thai food. Never underestimate the morale-boosting power of Thai food. *grin*

Zombies Ate My Neighbors – 7|3: Surprisingly dynamic and full of Danny-Elfman-esque character, but some atrocious sound engineering. Well worth listening to... once.

Zig Zag Cat – 6|5: Nicely varied in tone with some compelling tracks, but several clunkers and some muddiness.

Zico Soccer – 7|4: Actually pretty nifty except for where it's ruined by terrible crowd noises baked into the in-game tracks.

Yes, we're going in reverse alphabetical order.

Zootto Mahjong – 6|5: Cheerful, decently polished, but unambitious.

Zoop – 7|5: Decent jazzy composition hampered a bit by mediocre engineering.

Zool – 6|4: This also nails the goofy theme and does it reasonably well, but it feels sloppy in a couple glaring ways; samples used outside natural ranges, iffy volume balance, no attenuation for higher pitches, stuff like that.

Each soundtrack will now get two numbers to go along with my comments, styled like "P|Q". P is the music's peak awesomeness, and Q is how far it falls down.

For example, an 8|3 might mean excellent themes that suffer for crap samples, or perhaps that some tracks deserve a replay while others deserve to be skipped. The new numbers will help explain the comments, and vice-versa!

Conveniently, a modified repost follows.

Ah, I was wondering when the cessation of my regular TMS sessions would catch up with me.

It's not an all-at-once thing, of course. It's a slide from "maybe I can handle things" to "maybe I can handle things if shit stops going wrong" to "why the fuck am I crying about having to make a phone call".

Please don't make a big deal of it, but if I'm a little out of sorts in the near future... well, here's why.

I found out how to get rid of the irregular lag and random pauses I was getting from my wireless XBone controller!

All it took was a USB cable. *sigh*

(Yes, in reverse alphabetical order.)

Zootto Mahjong – 6: Cheerful, decently polished, but unambitious.

Zoop – 7: Decent jazzy composition hampered by mediocre engineering (sound driver, samples, all that), not unlike....

Zool – 6: This also nails the theme and does it reasonably well, but it feels sloppy in a couple glaring ways; samples used outside natural ranges, iffy volume balance, no attenuation for higher pitches, stuff like that. Almost got a 7.

10 Transcendent: Even non-SNES-fans should listen.
9 Seminal: Quality in all ways, phenomenal in many.
8 Excellent: Adding to my portable music player.
7 Memorable: Some aspect is particularly good.
6 Competent: Well-executed, nothing outstanding.
5 Mediocre: Does the job, gets the paycheck.
4 Disappointing: Not pablum, but not quite appetising.
3 Questionable: Inferior effort? Bad port?
2 Annoying: Listening through is a struggle.
1 Broken: How did this get published?