Behind the song “Be Kind, Rewind”

February 6, 2026February 6, 2026 ~ Melissa Bianco ~ Leave a comment

This one was a fun one to write. If you remember anything about the 80s it’s the phrase, “Be Kind, Rewind” at the video store on the videotapes. Having worked at a Video Store back in the 90s, I definitely appreciated when people took the time to rewind their videos; otherwise, we’d have to do it. (Otherwise, customers would complain.)

So needless to say, I couldn’t resist using it for not one but THREE reasons:

Very 80s phrase
The THINK acronym (more on that in a bit)
Gee, it sure would be nice if people were nicer (i.e. Kind) AND thought about things before they post on the internets (i.e. Rewind)

Okay, so it’s not super deep, but I really did like the focus of the song, which was: “Hey, before you post that post — do you reeeeeeeally need to?” (Reeeeallly?) I’ve many-a-time been mid-mad-fingertype when I just stopped myself and said, “Will this change anything? You may feel better for the moment, but is there any nutritional value to what you just said? Like….at all?)

And that’s where the song idea came from. Modern problem with an 80’s reference and musical vibe. I was definitely channeling “across the frequency” on this one! Old and new! I thought I was being super clever.

Ok, back to THINK — and I’ve had to use this a few times on myself because I will cop to the fact that I have gotten into ridiculous arguments with strangers that bore zero fruit and just got me so frustrated, I decided social media was just not worth it. Too much vitriol. And, thus, I left for several years. Now I just don’t feed the trolls. And, really, does anyone sleep better knowing how I personally feel about things?

I want to entertain, not debate. So the acronym goes like this: (there are variations I’ve noticed, but this is the one I remember):

Before you speak (post) is it:

T – True
H – Helpful
I – Inspiring
N – Necessary
K – Kind

Actually, that was something I learned when I was working in hospice and in that environment especially, those are words to live by. People have enough on their plate, they don’t need us/me/you adding to it.

So that’s it. The whole kit and caboodle. I went with the 80s catchy pop tune vibe , a nice amuse bouche from Marathon Girl which was pretty hard rock / hard hitting. So this is a nice palate cleanser. But, again, in the vibe of The Go-Go’s — strong message in the lyrics packaged in a fun, catchy pop tune. (See what they did there? That’s using the noggin’!)

Fun Fact:

I have not one but TWO videos going out today for this release. The first is the Official Lyric Video (I do that with all my releases), but the second is the Official Music Video. Through trial and error, and many head bangs on my desk, I conceptualized and executed my own storytelling cinematic video. I think it turned out pretty well for my first stab at it.

Let’s just say, SkyNet? Not today. Still, I discovered many many tools at my disposal and only used one (reversing footage) in the music video. It was soooo fun – until I ran out of free credits. It took a good while to make it happen and I WISH I’d saved some of the AI “imagining” bloopers – some were pretty hysterical.

All the ways you can see the same thing:

https://hyperfollow.com/melissabianco

Ok bye.

Across the Frequency

January 30, 2026 ~ Melissa Bianco ~ Leave a comment

After I got into the groove with my Chance of a Lifetime album (BTW, all those songs have Lyric Videos on YouTube now!) , I got it in my head that I really like doing this writing thing! I can just write a song to tell a story! Bite-sized, just like me!

So after some thought I decided, “I’m gonna write me an 80s-inspired album!”

I wanted a good cross-section of songs from 80s ballads to new wave to — duhhhh — rock. And so I plotted it out. After a few weeks of writing, I had my ten songs.

I’ve been doling out the songs, one per week, for the last three weeks. And, it’s been FUN! I have learned so much about writing (the first few singles I did – don’t listen, they’re terrible – were kind of random and meandery), licensing, distribution, and how to format YouTube videos and why it’s good to have consistency, etc. etc. etc.. But that’s a topic for another day once I’ve learned more. For me, it’s about getting what’s in my head into a song. So that’s what I’ll focus on.

I don’t want to bore my Facebook friends with details they maybe don’t care about so I thought to myself, “Well, uh, you dolt, that’s what you have your own website for! Sheesh!”

So here we are!

The Album is called Across the Frequency (comes out April 10th! But I’m releasing singles under separate covers because making covers for each song is kinda fun) and like I said, it’s 80s inspired. Mostly I wrote about time back then, but I have a modern song or two but with an 80s sound. So it kind of crosses the timeline a bit. I felt the title worked nicely.

Here’s the album cover that I’m really excited about.

I wanted to go for the 1980s vibe, but not the crazy colors and pop kind of covers like Queen’s Hot Space or Talking Heads’ Remain in Light or Elvis Costello and the Attractions’ Imperial Bedroom. No, I wanted more simple like The Cars’ Candy-O (some of my single covers will give that vibe, I hope.)

But the image above was born of me wanting a Frank Frazetta style cover without the girl in the metal bikini riding a tiger. So I thought, ok, lose the girl, keep the cat. Panthers are cool. So if you look, his musculature is exaggerated in style. And I wanted old world meets new. Which Frank also did. So you see the Barbarian kind of style and his futuristic style. I wanted to combine the two in a very subtle way.

Note the hanging vines and foliage around the sides and ground (old) and then the cosmos in the background (future) — hence, across the frequency. And, if you’re paying attention, there’s a little easter egg with the frequency symbol near the panther.

I’m fairly positive that I’m the only one who cared about all these details, but at the end of the day it looked just plain COOL and — to me — very 80s.

So far a few singles have been released — I release one per week on Fridays:

Raised on Radio (YouTube Lyric Video)

This super silly fun (assume 80s in everything I write about style) pop song is about growing up as a kid in the 80s with the iconic games and toys and just hanging out with friends. It’s really not meant to be deep. There’s also a reference to Generation X, which I am apparently a member. Forgotten Generation? I guess. Remember this song. This album has a purpose in each song. 🙂

Refuse to Lose (YouTube Lyric Video)

Now this one is a wonderfully classic anthem rock song. Simple message, hard rocking beats, and lots of heart. I wrote this for my husband who struggles with MS and never ever gives up, no matter what he does. So I wrote this in maybe five minutes. There are some fun battle / sports references. It all counts, I’m sure. Look, I kept it simple, ok? Sometimes I’m really not that deep. Anywho, along with this hard rock anthem song – I went with a male vocal. It’s only one of two times I went with a male vocal on this album. The second one will make sense, too, when you hear it.

Marathon Girl (YouTube Lyric Video)

This is another rock song, hard-hitting, great beat. It’s about running. Sometimes we think if we keep moving enough, those things we don’t want to deal with will go away, but they don’t. While I didn’t write this about me, I do feel that way back then, I’ve done a little running in my day. Emotionally. Situationally. You name it. This one probably will ring a bit true for all of us.

….and that’s where we leave it, as of today.

Next week, I think I’ll do a post for the next song on the list. It gives me an opportunity to go a bit deeper. (And I don’t spam my Facebook friends.)

(All my links are down below via this one DistroKid one if you want to support me on this crazy journey I’m on.)

DistroKid: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/melissabianco/across-the-frequency

Coming Home

December 25, 2025 ~ Melissa Bianco ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been in a reflective mood lately. After many years in the game industry, I’ve reached a place where I can turn my experiences as a developer into something creative and uniquely personal.

I ended up shaping some of those thoughts into a small music project — less a release and more a way of saying thank you. A love letter of sorts to City of Heroes.

If you’re curious, it lives here.

https://melissabianco.bandcamp.com/album/chance-of-a-lifetime

City of Heroes Homecoming

April 27, 2024 ~ Melissa Bianco ~ Leave a comment

It’s been over 12 years since I worked on City of Heroes, but when asked to do an interview with PC Gamer, I jumped at the chance to give the game and its incredible fans and devs some major props and wish them great success with their server licensed by NCsoft.

Thank you, Harvey Randall, for the wonderfully touching piece!

PC Gamer Article

I’m a YouTuber! (ish)

April 25, 2024 ~ Melissa Bianco ~ Leave a comment

Well not really. My cat, Remi, is the famous one.

Until recently, I’d posted a total of 3 videos in my entire life on YouTube, but I thought it would be fun to capture my adorable Russian Blue cat, Remi (short for Remington Steele – points if you get the reference), and his life in video. And, frankly, whatever else strikes my fancy. I likely don’t have nearly enough motivation to make money at it, but I’m enjoying myself and figuring it out as I go.

So if you want to check out my YouTube Shorts, you can find my channel (that has been in existence for years) here:

https://www.youtube.com/@miskela

The Books of 2024

April 25, 2024April 25, 2024 ~ Melissa Bianco ~ Leave a comment

Another year, so many more books to read! So here we go!

Never Lie by Frieda McFadden

I gotta be honest. I know she’s written a lot of books, and this was recommended as a “must read”, but I hated it. Not to insult myself, but her writing is too casual (like mine generally is) for such a dark theme. Not to give anything away, but the complete personality shift of the main character blew my attention completely out of the book. I only finished it because I’m a checkboxer.

The Institute by Stephen King

Did I think maybe this had some kind of connection to the Fallout series? Maybe. Did it? No. But Stephen King knows how to write and after I’d read Fairy Tale and thoroughly enjoyed it, I had started a new book (A Prayer for Owen Meany — I’m halfway through it and it feels like I’ve been reading it my entire adult life) but decided it was moving too slowly so I picked this up instead. Pretty good story. Kept me guessing. And he knows how to turn a phrase. Finished it quickly.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

I thought I had this book all figured out. It kept coming up as a recommendation, so I was like, “I dunno…the last one was kind of a dud…” but I persevered and went for it. I wasn’t on the edge of my seat, like I expected to be. I thought Mrs. Danvers was going to have a much larger role in the story than she did, and I was totally wrong on how I thought it would end. Also, a few plot points that were cleaned up a bit too neatly for my tastes, but it could be my “modern-day-woman” thinking attributing to a book written many decades ago. Daphne really knows how to illustrate a character’s mood, though. She was masterful.

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

I just started this and I have absolutely no idea what it’s about other than I think Matt Damon starred as Mr. Ripley in a movie a decade or so ago. So wish me luck! Stay tuned to off-the-cuff commentary once I’m done.

The Books of 2023

January 15, 2023February 6, 2024 ~ Melissa Bianco ~ Leave a comment

I may have mentioned this during my other blog posts about reading challenges and how I felt that I really didn’t savor the books I was reading because I was on such a deadline. I was constantly checking the progress percentage and felt rushed to get through one book so I could hop on to another.

So this year, I learned. I evolved. I made different arrangements.

Now I’m just recording the books as I read them within the calendar year of 2023. Smart, eh? I thought so! So if you’re curious what I’m reading, read on!

A Wrinkle in Time (Madeline L’Engle)

I’m fairly certain that I read this book in elementary school, but as usual, I’ve been revisiting books from my youth to see if there are any insights that may be different since I’ve matured. If the book was a school assignment, I likely read it only as deeply as I needed to so that I didn’t fail a quiz or enough to write a book report or answer a question in class. So this book, I’m happy to say, was a nice throwback. I’d been reading a lot of bummer stories and so I wanted another palate cleanser. This fit the bill. I am fairly certain I never saw any Christian undertones when I read the book originally, but I sure saw them this time around! I mean, when your author quotes the Bible, it’s a dead giveaway. So that was refreshing! And it was a very creative and provocative story. (Can I just say, I’m also really glad I haven’t watched the recent movie? Fairly certain whatever spiritual values imparted in the book were in some way woke-ified in the movie.)

Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck)

Unsure how this one fell into my thinking, but it just crawled in there as something I wanted to re-read. Same reasons as above. Had I changed at all since I’d read it before? I’m probably wiser. More appreciative of a good relationship story. And, yes, I was thinking about the ending the whole time because while I’d forgotten many other pieces of the story, the ending was crystal clear many years later.

Go Tell the Bees That I Have Gone (Diana Gabaldon)

This is the 9th book in the series, if you don’t include all the other spin-off books, and I was glad to see Brianna and family BACK in the past. Honestly, I’m writing this so long after I read the book – and after reading several other books – I can barely remember what happened. Leading up to great conflict. I bet that happened. And I’m sure Claire made mention of her amber-colored eyes and crazy hair. She does that a lot.

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz (Erik Larson)

I’ve read several other Erik Larson books and, while sometimes they feel like a bit of a history book, that IS the point. There is plenty of data gathered from journals, articles, etc. to fill the pages of this dramatization of people and a specific time during World War II. Churchill was quite a character, that’s all I’ll say, and I am always happy to be pulled into “everyday life” when reading about truly tragic and historic events. I always would wonder, “How could they let that happen?” And then you realize, oh. That’s how. I see it now.

Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)

WHAT an intriguing read! Making books illegal and chasing down readers of books like dogs. Bradbury had some kind of imagination! And then lighting everything on fire! My gosh, how did he come up with these things?? Great read, though. It was on my list of “I keep hearing about this. I should read it.”

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)

Another book that I’d heard the name over and over, but finally sat down to read. Excellent book about the a young girl growing up at the turn of the century. I don’t know why, but I love books like these. She was POOR and did what she had to, but I love the evolution of the story and her family. Definitely a great read.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Truman Capote)

Okay, I admit it, Holly Golightly was not my favorite character. I didn’t “get” her. I had a hard time getting into this one. I get it. It’s famous. Maybe I just have no taste.

On the Road (Jack Kerouac)

This was a million page slog of, I don’t even know what the purpose of this book is. I did hear “hipster” before this last decade in use, so that was new. But it was just meandering and the characters were meh. I was excited about “Route 66” thinking it would play some major role. It didn’t.

Fairy Tale (Stephen King)

Ok, oddly, I didn’t have any idea what this book would be about – and Stephen King – he’s a horror author right?? So imagine my surprise and delight when I read this book. Creative, chivalrous, and made me shed a few tears along the way. What a refreshing book after On the Road. Highly recommend.

Timeline (Michael Crichton)

This one I started, stopped, picked it up again, stopped. I couldn’t get into it from the get-go, but then tried again. Unfortunately for Mr. Crichton, I also listen to Audiobooks while I walk each day and I’d just finished listening to The Book Thief (Mark Zusak) and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (John Boyne) and even thought Chrichton is a best-selling author it felt the opposite of storytelling – it felt like a “play by play” which is unfair, but the writing was so cut-and-dry compared to the eloquence of Zusak I was once again slogging through it.

Bridge of Clay (Markus Zusak)

Just started this one. Stay tuned. So far, though, it’s like train-of-thought and I’m struggling a bit to keep engaged. High hopes, though. He’s one of my favorite authors. Several weeks later…

Ok I stuck with it and got through. This book felt different than his other books and really the way he formed his sentences and jumped all over the place took a while to get used to. But then when I finally latched on, I was carried along right to the end. I can’t say I loved it as I’ve loved his other books, but I was moved by it and that’s as important as anything.

Silo (Hugh Howey)

I began watching the show, didn’t get past the second or third episode. But I’m well into the first book, Wool, and it’s already veered off from the television series so I like that I have no expectations. I’m only 27% of the way through – I’m guessing – the trilogy, but so far super hooked and engaged.

Paint-by-Numbers: Seaside Port

December 3, 2022 ~ Melissa Bianco ~ Leave a comment

Okay, this one was tougher. I think it was a different company since the style is so different, but when I started making progress on it, this one my husband was actually interested in. I’m like, “Wait. You didn’t like the other two?” Little too abstract for him I guess.

Anyway, I blitzed through this one in maybe two weeks? After work and on weekends? I wish I could do these myself (i.e. paint and draw in real life), but for now, this checks the boxes of my personality:

Checkbox (i.e. one color at a time)
Paint
End result = something creative

My only concern is that, at some point, I’m gonna run out of wall space. Wonder what people do with their paintings then???

Note that this kind of painting pre-colors the background for you. So you can already see what it’s going to be. I’m still trying to decide if I like that. I think there were actually 24 colors, but while I was pasting these in and getting lost, I omitted a few thinking they were dupes. Typically the painting just has some really nuanced colors.

My only frustration on capturing these is that I typically paint at night and am always wanting to take a picture the SECOND I’m done a color. So you can’t see these in natural light. The glow on the right side is actually one of those “natural light” lamps for places like Alaska and stuff where it can be dark 23 hours a day. It’s supposed to help your mood, but it also pinch-hits for “natural daylight for a picture” if needs be. (Just not very well.)

Final Thoughts

My husband LOVED this one. I was very proud of it. I will most likely frame it and put it up somewhere. The blocks of painting color were far smaller and required one of my smallest brushes in places. Let me just say those magnified glasses with the light? Best purchase I ever made.

Lookit me, I’m an artist! I can do blue!

Actually, I was pretty excited when I saw this color. Didn’t have much of a role in the painting tho.

New color – that was nice to break up the blue.

This took a while because there was so much brown, but painting so close – I wasn’t seeing it like I can in these.

Finally. Some greenish yellow. Like snot. That’s nice.

Behold! We have sky! (I wonder if I forgot to take a pic of a few colors.)

And some light tan shenanigans. I wish I knew the “real” name of these colors. For me, they’re just “22, 21, 20, 19, 18, etc.”

Completely lost my place at this point, but who cares, this is starting to look like a real pro-fesh-un-al painting!

I dunno, pick a color. More detail. Always good.

Ok this one was obvious. That BRIGHT spot of yellow. Bazinga!

Back to stumped again. But it’s coming along nicely, no?

And we are done! I even got all artisty again and signed it! I realize most people do their last name, but whatever. At least I got the date right.

Paint-by-Numbers – The Next One!

September 18, 2022 ~ Melissa Bianco ~ Leave a comment

Well, I did it again. After AGES and now that we’re in the new place and my office is set up, I figured I’d take on wrapping up the paint-by-numbers that I had started before we moved. I’d only gotten two colors into it, so it was no big deal.

I decided to do the sister painting of the original I had done. I liked the style and vibe and it was kind of neat to have them as a set.

No great reason WHY I decided to paint the same picture but slightly different other than, like I said, I liked the art style. Very modern. Colorful. Vibrant. And reminds me of Europe. Or a Simon and Garfunkel song.

Some tips I’ve learned:

I’m left-handed, so painting right to left is much easier and keeps me from dragging my hand through paint
Painting in spurts in various sections (like bottom or top) to let the paint dry
I know they say paint the large sections first, but I simply HAVE to start at the highest color number (like 21 or 24) and paint my way down – I mean, I MUST do it this way. It is known.
I let the paint sit for a good year before reopening it up and the acrylic got pretty clumpy and dry so adding a bit of water and swooshing a bit helped loosen it up again
The brushes they give you are meh. I bought a nice selection of varying sizes (for large swaths of color vs. small meticulous work) and the ones I have purchased have ridges, so they’re actually easier to hold in my hand
Even after I got my eye surgery and no longer need to wear trifocals, I STILL wear the glasses with the light AND with the magnification lenses, it makes those teeny tiny numbers pop, especially if you can’t decide if it’s a 5 or a 6
Paint seems to apply to canvas left to right better than it does up and down or diagonally
For really teensy spots, I dab-dab-dab rather than try dragging the brush — I have much more control that way
Buy an easel! I had bought one and it was simply too small for the 16 x 20 canvases I was purchasing so I got an extra wide easel and now my framed canvases don’t hang over or I don’t see weird edges where the canvas ran out of wood
If you have one, painting on a raising/lowering desk is a DREAM. This one is new since I didn’t have a desk like this before, but I found a) it’s nice if you don’t feel like sitting anymore and b) it’s nice if you don’t feel like standing anymore and c) it’s nice if you need to scooch down to the bottom of the painting or tippy toe up to the top – it just makes accessing everything easier
Don’t get sloppy towards the end — I get it it’s nearly done, but that’s not the time to start going over lines or NOT going over lines (so they don’t show)
You may need to do a few coats to make sure the numbers don’t show – especially on those lighter colors
Sign your work! I get it, we’re just acrylic colorists, not actual painters, but it’s kind of a big deal and these things can take a good week or two to complete so it’s worth noting your hard effort with your name and the year!

Enjoy!!

The basics. I always start with black first, then the second color.

Green! Impossible to tell what it is right now though.

Adding baby poo yellow or pea green, I don’t know

Nice shadow, Mel. Still just looks like nothing

Starting to see that bench now and a smidge of the couple

I don’t even know at this point, but nearly done!

Cherry Blossom Festival and Hike to the Cross

April 23, 2022April 23, 2022 ~ Melissa Bianco ~ 1 Comment

This was a fun day. My daughter sent over a link to a local festival so I decided to call my cousin-in-law up and head on over to check it out. One thing I love about Idaho is that there is never a shortage of festivals, no matter how grand or simple. So I thought this would be fun. Discovered it was also a bit educational (they have a radio station you can listen to where they give you information as you’re driving through the orchard and signs aplenty to pass on tidbits of trivia and information!)

The title of the festival did not disappoint! We paid $15 to drive through, we’re allowed to stop and pull over at the beginning to take a picture, and then we just followed the vehicle in front of us to see all of the blossoms. They didn’t just have cherries, but also apple, and – soon – peach! I will definitely be back to see what kind of peach action they have in a few weeks.

Once we were done driving through and picking up some goodies at the store at the end of the tour (think dried cherries, dried cherries covered in yoghurt, dried cherries in dark or milk chocolate) and then some donuts (how can you pass up donuts?) and we were off! Michaela asked if I wanted to go for a drive so we tootled around a bit and then as we approached Marsing, I saw the cross on the hill. Can I just say how wonderful it is to see when people decide to honor Jesus in a really big way?

No idea if this is private property or if it’s a local hot spot or if there is some backstory somewhere on the internets, but I decided to check caution at the door (I twisted my ankle BADLY a month or so ago and so it’s very tender) and suggest we walk to the top so I can get a closer look.

The walk was basically nearly straight up so I had the fun reminder of how desperately out of shape I am, but we made it to the top. The one time, I’m grateful for the “winds of Idaho”.

Love that cross against the blue sky. A ways away yet.

So after a few minutes we made it to the top. We’re not entirely sure what the picture below is for. Maybe for a gathering of people?

Just a covered area with a few crosses in the wall

Wandered around a bit, caught my breath, and then headed to the tippy top of the hill. No twisted ankles, no heart attacks, no embarrassing throw ups.

And then we made our way around again. And this is my favorite shot.

Purple graffiti, but I don’t care. Reminds me of royal colors.

And then I turned around and we could see the whole valley. It was worth the walk and the huffing and puffing for sure. So pretty. I am so grateful for the beautiful sky. Idaho has some of the most beautiful skies I’ve ever seen.

And then we wandered down and I realized it’s more treacherous going to down than it is coming up. One small slip (no re-twisting of ankles, thank goodness) and then we were back at the car and ready for food. 🙂

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