anarchic-miscellany

[anarchic-miscellany]

@the-goddamn-plant-monster

the sequel

[anarchic-miscellany]

Didn't know what I expected from Marina's new one, but the final track having her yell "FINISH HIM!" is peak Marina, a return to "Family Jewels" era, and had me fucking cackling when I first heard it

The new album is excellent, by the way. A blend of all of the eras she's had, a myriad of beats and tempos, and great fun to boot. Closer to "Family Jewels" and "Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land" this time around

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"Let All That We Imagine Be the Light" is not as snarling as the absolutely brilliant, crash-through-the-gates triumph of "No Gods No Masters"; but it doesn't have to be and it is also in the running with that for "Most Garbage Title" in their discography.

They've called it their most optimistic album, but in true "Garbage" style the attitude is more "we're fucking old, man, we've embrace our impending deaths and encourage everybody to stop being a fucking bellend". It's fucking great. I love this. Also for a band in their 60s (and in the case of the bloody excellent Duke Erikson, fucking 70s) it's refreshing to see that they've not lost their fucking minds: they straight up just call for trans and black justice on one track.

"There's No Future in Optimism" is a belter of an opener but, par for the course, not the best track on the album. It took a few listens

"Hold" is one of the most intense, anxiety-ridden love songs I've ever heard and I love it. Pure Manson, Vig, Marker and Erikson. Excellent. God that production is immaculate and those guitars by Erikson and Marker fucking haunting. Love it.

"Chinese Fire Horse" has a riff so sick it should be quarantined, and matches that primal fury at patriarchal hypocrisy and ageism Manson's calling out. They're allowed to be angry and especially in a way which lets them just scream into a void because there is no wording to describe how fucking shit everything is. Speaking of voids...

"Have We Met (The Void)" is spectacular, spellbinding, nightmarish, self-reflective and what Garbage are all about: doubt, uncertainty, misery, confusion, and that darkest inner part of your soul becoming a part of you. FUCK this track's good. Just layered with hook after hook and riff and catchy bit, that staircase keyboard making it ominous, and that sultry smokey purr of Manson just oozing throughout. FUCK I LOVE THIS ONE. Immaculate song structure.

"Sisyphus" is a return to the promised optimism, but again in a more electronica fused "we're old and dying, but fuck it if we can save one life and help one person better themselves, that's enough" kind of way. THAT is the kind of optimism I expect from Garbage. They got their self-loathing and midlife crisis out of themselves with "No Gods No Masters", so they're at the "acceptance" part of life, and I am happy for it.

"Radical" is a grindy, industrial style throbbing pulse of a track, much akin to their 2000s output. I like it. It continues the message of the last track in a more matter-of-fact way.

"Love to Give" is a steadily rising, nicer side to Garbage, and again closer to the optimism side they were claiming the album is about. It's dense and heavily produced, and would be a great B-side to "Bleed Like Me", slower in tempo and driving.

"Get Out of My Face AKA Bad Kitty" is a highlight of the album. Marker and Erikson just MASTER coming up with riffs and little bits as good as "My Favourite Game", stripped back and sparse and spine tingling. And Vig's drums rule here. Then it climbs and ratchets up from its already rattling tempo, and we get that staccato, rapid fire Manson delivery, and it all clicks together like a clock. I love it. Again, they just layer hook upon hook here, draped in misery but with a hint of hope beneath it... then Manson launches into "OR I'LL SCREAM" and it fucks. It fucks so hard.

Speaking of FUCKING HARD! "R U HAPPY NOW" is probably my favourite on the album along with "Have We Met (The Void)". Terrifying drums start it, leading into bellowing, gutteral rage and Manson's off-the-cuff, witheringly sarcastic lyrics. It does not give a FUCK about politeness when the world is THIS fucked, she just straight up calls out everybody for their bullshit (and it's on the nose, blunt, to the point and MUCH needed), and that chorus just fucks, it fucks so hard. Fuck I love it. Then it bounces, and rocks, and rolls, and bops, it's easily one of their best. It sounds like a vengeful Goth turbo rave overseen by a woman forever out of your league

We close on "The Day That I Met God" and it gives me chills: Shirley Manson talking about her near-death experience and how amazing Tramadol is, giving her the confidence to embrace nihilism and the future, it genuinely fucking haunts me.

I'll have to ponder if I like it more than "No Gods No Masters" (that title track alone blows most things out of the water) but it still pleases me to see that Garbage are not only making music, but have neither lost their minds nor their edge. They seem like amazing, cool, nice people (that latter grows rarer and rarer...) and they make music which is 100% them.

Fucking amazing album, well done Garbage

[anarchic-miscellany]

@the-goddamn-plant-monster

Walker: Alright, give me your hair dryer.

Yelena: What are you talking about?

Walker: Don't you carry one in your purse?

Yelena: Have you ever met a human woman?

[later]

Walker: Hey, do you carry a hair dryer in your purse?

Ava: Of course, I'm not an animal.

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RIP Jonathan Joss. Fucking hell

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@the-goddamn-plant-monster

thunderbolts as union headlines !

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@the-goddamn-plant-monster

(walks out of movie theater covered in blood) i mean it was fine i guess

[anarchic-miscellany]

@the-goddamn-plant-monster

random thunderbolts headcanons but its annoying things

bucky: "doesnt want anything" and then stares at other ppls fries like a sad cat

john: asks for advice and gets genuinely upset when the rest give the advice he didnt want

yelena: doesnt use the last of ANYTHING (sheet of toilet paper, cookie from a pack) because she doesnt feel like changing it/throwing the packaging out

alexei: talks in movie theaters/during movie night

ava: does not pay back and waits until the rest just forgets

bob: spamtexts like fucking CRAZY

[anarchic-miscellany]

@the-goddamn-plant-monster

thunderbolts tweets (dont let them get twt)

[anarchic-miscellany]

Is this anything?

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It's taken so long for Marvel to release a good film, I'd forgotten what it was like ("Guardians 3" was alright, I know!)

Part two because I’m obsessed with them

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To my immense surprise, "Thunderbolts*" was good: it took risks, it took swings, it had characters, they had arcs, it was about stuff and Wyatt Russell continues his "play his dad from the 80s" arc began in "Overlord" - this time playing Jack Burton from all time favourite "Big Trouble in Little China". Geraldine Viswanathan continues to be Gen Z Stanley Tucci: the best thing of whatever she is in

[anarchic-miscellany]

@theweddingknellsproject

[anarchic-miscellany]

The most Sparks answers around. I am convinced that these men are performance art. I never want them to break the truth if they are shitposting or just this strange

The article is below if you don't want to click the link.

Russell Mael: ‘Describe myself in three words? One handsome dude’

The Sparks singer on shoplifting red liquorice as a child, a head-to-head with Godzilla, and underselling his life story

Rosanna Greenstreet

Sat 24 May 2025 10.00 BST

Born in California, Russell Mael, 76, and his brother, Ron, first recorded under the names the Urban Renewal Project and Halfnelson, before becoming Sparks in 1972. Two years later, they relocated to London and had a hit with their song This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us. More recently, they composed a radio opera, The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman, collaborated with Franz Ferdinand in supergroup FFS, and released a film, Annette, which won five César awards in 2022. Their 28th studio album is Mad! and their tour comes to the UK in June. Mael lives in California.

What was your most embarrassing moment? Signing away the rights to my life story to a major motion-picture company for a sum that I have since been told was way below the market rate.

What is the trait you most deplore in others? People not remembering who I am.

Describe yourself in three words One handsome dude.

What would your superpower be? The first pop singer capable of going head-to-head with Godzilla.

What do you most dislike about your appearance? Too damn muscular.

If you could bring something extinct back to life, what would you choose? The 1956 Ford Thunderbird.

Who would play you in the film of your life? Cate Blanchett.

What is your most unappealing habit? Not wanting to wear brand-new shoes outside for fear they will get dirty and won’t be brand-new any more.

What did you want to be when you were growing up? A pearl diver in Japan.

What is the worst thing anyone’s said to you? Is that the final mix?

What is your guiltiest pleasure? Watching way too many K-dramas.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse? “Dichotomy” and “ratatouille”.

What is the worst job you’ve ever done? Shucking oysters one summer in Nice.

If you could edit your past, what would you change? That Sparks predates the Beatles and it’s kind of all too obvious where they got a lot of their inspiration.

If not yourself, who would you most like to be? The Japanese sumo wrestler Takayasu.

How often do you have sex? Monday through Friday, four to six times daily. Then I spend Saturday and Sunday prepping for the next week.

What is the closest you’ve come to death? Watching Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal.

What do you consider your greatest achievement? Watching all of Fellini’s movies one summer.

What has been your closest brush with the law? Stealing red liquorice at the local candy shop in third grade. I asked myself: “Is it worth leading a life of crime at eight years old?” I responded: “Yes, it’s red liquorice, for God’s sake.”

What keeps you awake at night? The morality of stealing that red liquorice.

Would you rather have more sex, money or fame? Yes.

What happens when we die? You have to go to the end of the line.

[anarchic-miscellany]

New Sparks album today (they wrote a proper Sparks-esque song about their love of the I045 highway in California, fucking legends), new Garbage album partially written on painkillers at the end of the month, and new Marina album at the start of next month, both preordered. This year's musical stars aligned solely for me. ("Mad!", the aforementioned Sparks album, is fucking great)

[anarchic-miscellany]

@theweddingknellsproject Number 3 is Ruby

CBS Ghosts + text posts

[anarchic-miscellany]

@theweddingknellsproject

Ghosts CBS + Tweets/Textposts pt. 2

pt. 1