u/ageofodds

1. I've been listening to Meg Lui's new album a bit. I'll admit I'm a bit underwhelmed. The singles are all great, and the topic of screen addiction is top of mind for me so I appreciate anthems like Gone Girl and Instant Validation to inspire me!

However, the rest of the song-writing feels a bit lacklustre. Sometimes Sufjan's production is actually so much more interesting than the song that it feels distracting. Take the Suf's interludes at around the minute mark on RoadKill which are so full of energy and flourishes it actually feels disjointed from the rest of the song's trudging riff.

On Instant Validation, at first I disappointed as the Sufjan song credit felt unearned: obviously the production is all his, but I guess I was hoping for more of his voice. Then I had the strong feeling that this must have been a song-writing collab, as the line "All these waves of hysteria / washing over pains of America" seems like 100% a Suf line, both in lyrics and melody – he must have wrote it!

But then I had the second realization that this is eerily similar to Greenday's American Idiot: "And can you hear the sound of hysteria / The subliminal mindfuck America" Homage? Unconscious inspiration? I feel it must be one of the two.

Anyways, can anyone direct me to learn more about Sufjan's level of involvement in this project or how he got connected with Lui? Curious to learn more!

2. Has anyone listened to Phoebe Bridger's new album Lost Weekend? Damn if it isn't incredible: haunting, catchy, dense, hard to pin down... But I also can't help but hear a lot of Carrie & Lowell inspirations. The most explicit example I can think of is how "Still Standing" drops out into an atmospheric chorus of "oohs," VERY much like the ending of "Death with Dignity" and others. It also is a song that reflects on the recent loss of her father, again a la Carrie

Hi all,

We've had our Bolt EUV 2023 for about a year now and I love everything about it. However, it's also getting to the stage where we may need to start family planning for a third child. In this case, I don't think the EUV will cut it — we're already pretty cramped, usually with a stroller in the trunk and sometimes a labrador in the passenger seat well!

I'm looking ahead about 2 years and wondering what kind of family sized car we should get. I really don't think we can go back to ICE, though I may consider a plug-in hybrid if that was the most cost effecient.

As far as EVs go though, it seems like the Kia EV9 is the best bet for a family sized EV and reviews look very strong! Price isn't even exorbitant. So, this leaves me with a few questions:

1. Does anyone else have experiences with the EV9 as a family / reliable / enjoyable car, especially for someone accustomed to the Bolt life? (I would love to retain the SuperCruise and One-Pedal driving features)? Or is a van the superior way to go for three young kids?
2. Financially speaking, is there any reason to think family-sized EV prices will be cheaper/ models will be better in two years time? Maybe some new models or tech will lower the price or is it likely the opposite with wars and tariffs increasing the price? We live in BC, Canada for context. We could buy now with our finances, but couldn't own it outright and would have to finance. We would buy used.
3. How well do Bolts retain value generally speaking? I've kept it in good shape in terms of cleaning, but we bought for 30K CAD (21,177 USD) with 17K km (10563 mi) on it. We now are at almost 60K km (37282 mi) and are hoping we could still get at least 25K CAD for it (17,647 USD). Does that seem reasonable?

Thank-you!