Citrus Service

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Strawberry Switchblade (1985) and Peel Sessions (1967 - 2004)

Once again, YouTube has decided to throw me something different. And that thing is, the pop duo Strawberry Switchblade!

A Cute and amazing duo. Just look at them dance with there cute outfits in this music video that took me down this rabbit-hole:

Strawberry Switchblade - Since Yesterday (1985)

I really dig their style in clothing and music, it's really charming.

From there, I got recommended and introduced to Peel Sessions. Which are music sessions recorded for the John Peel show on the BBC 1 radio, from 1967 to 2004. They are a great way to discover some great bands and music! The sessions included many bands, who recorded their music live for the show; from what I understood, the method for the show rose from Musicians' union rules that forbade how much music could be played from vinyl records.

"John's show had to air a large amount of non-recorded music. This meant that he was only allowed a certain amount of 'needle time' (referring to 'stylus-on-vinyl' time - the time allotted to playing records on air) due to Musicians' Union rules."

Check out this blog; for more reading on John Peel. There are so many sessions - way too many, perhaps - however, my favorite Peel sessions so far (in no particular order) are:

Xmal Deutschland - Peel Session 1985

Strawberry Switchblade - Peel Session 1985

Curve - Peel Session 1991

New Order - Peel Session 1981

Links:

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Alan Wake (2012)

This game is about Night Springs, and... Coffee thermoses.

My friend has been trying to get me into the Alan Wake sphere for a while, but I kept on ignoring him. Then, one day, I got this music video recommend to me on YouTube, and the results were astonishing.

Overnight, I became obsessed with the song, the lyrics, and the universe of Alan Wake. I came running to my friend pleading: "Why didn't you show me this music video sooner?!" his reply was that, it would have been kind of a spoiler to the first game. To me, the performance made me want to try out this series, and maybe other Remedy games in the future.

I couldn't take my eyes off of this 1972 Chevrolet Impala. It tickles my fancy.

Well met, Mr. Wake.

It's always great; whenever I find one of the Night Springs episodes.

I vibe with this dude.

The game is filled with some stunning vistas, which were depicting some otherwise mundane pieces of infrastructure, intertwined with the mountainous nature of Bright Falls; a logging camp deep in the woods, an abandoned mineshaft cutting through the rocky terrain, a railroad carried across the valley by an deck truss (under-truss) bridge, the mesmerizing mechanism of a swing-bridge, the junkyards filled with 40s cars, the crazy metal concert in that one farm, and many more...

Standee Wake! Stop this insolent mockery, immediately!

Loved shining my flashlight around the environment, it really drew me into the world of the game in an immersive way.

Great music choices in this game; my favorites were Poe - Haunted and Roy Orbison - In Dreams.

Oh and the weirdest coincident ever, I finished the game after it had received an update, which changed the credits song from the legendary David Bowie - Space Oddity! with a song called Strange Moons by Petri Alanko. The new song does capture the essence of the ending pretty well, I'd say. Speaking of the ending...

Sadly, the gameplay gets pretty stale very early on in the game also, I didn't like the ending, I thought it was a let down. I'm however, still in the market for more Alan Wake, who knows when I'll get to the second game though. Sweet dreams, everyone.

Links:

Sunday, February 9, 2025

H.M.S. Defiant (1962)

Also Known as "Damn the Defiant!" in the U.S.

I'm back to my shenanigans of watching classic naval war films, after a long hiatus. I don't have much to say though; it is a film based on the 1958 Mutiny novel, not to be confused with the Mutiny on the Bounty's real incident, and films of 1935, and 1962.

While reading the Wikipedia page for the film– I came across this passage, and wanted to shed a light on it.

" In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther wrote: "The perennially popular topic of wooden ships and iron men, of eighteenth-century square-riggers, naval martinets and mutineers is handled with the kind of graphic splendor that should set a million boyish hearts aflame ... [Y]ou will know that you've sat through a picture that does not make much psychological sense but has the rich and rosy luster of a blood-drenched seafaring romance. ... So, if you're for naval roistering, here is your cup of rum."

This film had a couple of nice frigates and a ship of the line. As usual, I'll share my favorite screenshots.

Links:

Saturday, January 11, 2025

Little Armory (2015)

Illustration by カロ

Little Armory is a product line of 1/12 scale plastic kit military-style models and figures, by the Tomytec Co. With kits ranging from pistols, and rifles, to grenades, and anti-tank weapons.

Illustration by samaru

However, the main thing that drew me in the first place was their advertisements, aka anime girls with guns. With beautiful illustrations by some of the best military artists in the business. I'll try my best to credit them.

Illustration by daito

From what I can tell, this series has been around as far back as 2015 - 2016. According to the official site, Little Armory also has a novel and manga. I couldn't find either with a quick search so, I'm thinking this has got to be some really niche stuff (at least for a non-Japanese audience).