#* discourse / kash .

[ungraceds]

*/     𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧     𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫     for     f     /  m /   nb     .

"   you   aren't   actually   leaving   with   that   guy   ,   are   you   ?   "

[misfitwashere]

December 2, 2024 

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

DEC 3

Last night, Jane Mayer of the New Yorker reported that Trump’s choice for secretary of defense, Fox News Channel weekend host Pete Hegseth, had been forced to leave previous leadership positions at the advocacy groups Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America because of serious allegations of “financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety, and personal misconduct.”

Under his direction, Veterans for Freedom ran up huge debt for what appears to have been inappropriate expenses; the group’s donors squeezed Hegseth out of his job and then shuttered the organization. He moved to Concerned Veterans for America.

A whistleblower for Concerned Veterans for America reported that Hegseth was repeatedly so drunk at events that he had to be carried out, and that he once tried to join dancers on stage at a strip club to which he brought his work team. Their report said that Hegseth and other members of his team divided the female staffers in the organization into “party girls” and “not party girls” and sexually pursued them, leading to allegations of sexual assault. Another complaint said that at a bar in the early hours of May 29, 2015, Hegseth began to chant drunkenly: “Kill All Muslims! Kill All Muslims!”

An email from one of the whistleblowers to Hegseth’s successor at Concerned Veterans for America said that “[a]mong the staff, the disgust for Pete was pretty high.” The letter detailed Hegseth’s “history of alcohol abuse” and said he had “treated the organization funds like they were a personal expense account—for partying, drinking, and using CVA events as little more than opportunities to ‘hook up’ with women on the road.”

By 2016, Hegseth was out at Concerned Veterans for America but had joined the Fox News Channel as a contributor. It was during this period that he appeared in October 2017 as a speaker at the California Federation of Republican Women’s convention, where he allegedly sexually assaulted a woman.

Also last night, President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden after repeatedly saying that he would not.

Trump-appointed Special Counsel David Weiss charged Hunter Biden on firearms and tax charges, but as former U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance made clear in her Civil Discourse, Hunter Biden would not have been charged if he had been anyone other than the president’s son. He was charged with possession of a firearm by someone who is addicted to illegal drugs, a charge that prosecutors do not usually bring. Biden owned a gun for eleven days and apparently lied on the paperwork for it by saying he was not a drug addict when he was, in fact, in the throes of addiction.

The other charges stem from Hunter Biden’s failure, while dealing with addiction, to pay about $1.4 million in federal income taxes, which he has since paid in full plus interest and penalties. Vance explains that the government usually handles cases like his with administrative or civil penalties rather than criminal prosecution, as it did in the case of Trump henchman Roger Stone, with whom the government reached a settlement in 2022 for more than $2 million in unpaid income taxes, interest, and penalties without criminal charges.

But President Biden’s pardon covers not just those charges, but also “those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.” The pardon’s sweeping scope offers an explanation for why Biden issued it after saying he would not.

Ron Filipkowski of MeidasTouch notes that Biden’s pardon came after Trump’s announcement that he wants to place conspiracy theorist Kash Patel at the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Filipkowski studies right-wing media and points out that Patel’s many appearances there suggest he is obsessed with Hunter Biden, especially the story of his laptop, which Patel insists shows that Hunter and Joe Biden engaged in crimes with Ukraine and China.

House Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-KY) spent two years investigating these allegations and turned up nothing—although Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia used the opportunity to display pictures of Hunter Biden naked on national media—yet Patel insists that the Department of Justice should focus on Hunter Biden as soon as a Trump loyalist is back in charge.

Notably, Trump’s people, including former lawyer Rudy Giuliani and his ally Lev Parnas, spent more than a year trying to promote false testimony against Hunter Biden by their Ukrainian allies. Earlier this year, in the documentary From Russia with Lev, produced by Rachel Maddow, Parnas publicly apologized to Hunter Biden for his role in the scheme.

As legal commentator Asha Rangappa noted: “People criticizing the Hunter Biden pardon need to recognize: For the 1st time, the FBI and Justice Department could literally fabricate evidence, or collaborate with a foreign government to ‘find’ evidence of a ‘crime,’ with zero accountability. That’s why the pardon goes back to 2014.”

And yet, much of American media today has been consumed not with the story that Trump has appointed a deeply problematic candidate to run what could be considered the nation’s most important department, overseeing about 3 million personnel and managing a budget of more than $800 billion, or with the reality that Biden’s distrust of our legal system under Trump is a profound warning for all of us.

Instead, they have focused on President Biden’s pardon of his son, many of them condemning what they say is Biden’s rejection of the rule of law.

Some have suggested that Biden’s pardoning his son will now give Trump license to pardon anyone he wants, apparently forgetting that in his first term, Trump pardoned his daughter Ivanka’s father-in-law, Charles Kushner, who pleaded guilty to federal charges of tax evasion, campaign finance offenses, and witness tampering and whom Trump has now tapped to become the U.S. ambassador to France.

Trump also pardoned for various crimes men who were associated with the ties between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Russian operatives working to elect Trump. Those included his former national security advisor Michael Flynn, former campaign manager Paul Manafort, and former allies Roger Stone and Steve Bannon. Those pardons, which suggested Trump was rewarding henchmen, received a fraction of the attention lavished on Biden’s pardon of his son.

In today’s news coverage, the exercise of the presidential pardon—which traditionally gets very little attention—has entirely outweighed the dangerous nominations of an incoming president, which will have profound influence on the American people. This imbalance reflects a longstanding and classic power dynamic in which Republicans set the terms of public debate, excusing their own objectionable behavior while constantly attacking Democrats in a fiery display that attracts media attention but distorts reality.

The degree to which the media endorsed that abusive power dynamic today does not bode well for its accurate reporting during Trump’s upcoming term. It also leaves the public badly informed about matters that are important for understanding modern politics.

Among other stories that received less attention than Biden’s pardon of his son was that today right-wing activist Dinesh D’Souza publicly apologized to a man depicted in D’Souza’s film 2000 Mules. That film claimed the 2020 presidential election was stolen, and Trump used it to push the Big Lie that he was the true winner of that election, a lie that by 2023 close to 70% of Republicans believed.

While he continued to stand by the lie, D’Souza admitted that the film’s claim that the “mules” shown delivering ballots to dropboxes had been located through geolocation of their cell data was false. Earlier this year, after a man depicted in the film sued, the publisher of the film and the book on which it was based withdrew the book and the film from its platforms and issued a sweeping apology.

On X, D’Souza’s own comment about Biden’s pardon pointedly illustrated the partisan double standard: “No one is above the law—except my son Hunter!” he wrote above a picture of Biden and his son. This prompted progressive journalist Brian Tyler Cohen to reply: “You were literally pardoned by Trump.” Cohen was right: Trump pardoned D’Souza in 2018 after his conviction for committing campaign finance violations.

Another important story today was that the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) announced that on January 20, 2025, it will stop posting content on X. EFJ’s president, Maja Sever, explained that the organization could not “continue to participate in the social network feed of a man who proclaims the death of the media and therefore of journalists.” General secretary Ricardo Gutiérrez noted the “threat to democracy and freedom of expression posed by the cooperation between the president of the most powerful country in the world, Donald J. Trump, and the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, who is also the owner of social network X.”

Sever added: “The social media site X has become the preferred vector for conspiracy theories, racism, far-right ideas and misogynistic rhetoric. X is a platform that no longer serves the public interest at all, but the special ideological and financial interests of its owner and his political allies.”

Indeed, the extraordinary growth of the Bluesky social media site as the right wing has taken over X is turning X into another right-wing echo chamber. It was there that Representative Comer turned to post his reaction to Biden’s pardon, using it to resurrect the claims he could not substantiate in two years of searching from the head of the Oversight Committee.

“Joe Biden lies for a living,” he wrote. “He lied about not talking to his son about his shady business dealings. He lied when he said his family didn’t take in [money] from China & Russia. He lied when he said he wouldn’t pardon Hunter.” And then, after stating claims his own hearings had proved false, Comer got to the heart of the matter: “Joining [Sean Hannity] at [the Fox News Channel] TONIGHT 9pm. Tune in!”

—

[utilitycaster]

Any passionate hot-takes or thoughts on The Legend of Vox Machina animated series? Anything you didn't like or thought could've been handled better or didn't grip you as much as you thought it might? Anything you thought they did really well that the fandom doesn't agree with you on?

Hi anon, I would recommend you check the "tlovm" and "tlovm spoilers" tags on my blog if you want any detailed analysis because it's been like 6-7 months since I watched it. Overall I liked it a lot. Based on a quick skim of those tags myself, and what I remembered offhand:

I am, on the whole, extremely in favor of the adaptational changes made. I think the writer's room understood the challenges of adapting something so long and extensive into the small chunk of time they had, and the choices (notably: the party split, the Osysa scene being much more confrontational/Kash and Zahra being less friendly, Grog's plot, and moving the Feywild to pre-Umbrasyl with all the implications that has for Vex's plot) were well done. One of my only small complaints is that while I get why the Kamaljiori scene was drastically changed for the sake of the adaptation, I do prefer both the puzzle of the original campaign and the fact that he wasn't killed.

In an interesting parallel to some of the ongoing Campaign 3 discussions, I think I diverged from a segment of the fandom in being strongly in favor of Vex's plot. This is honestly not specific to TLOVM; I watched Campaign 1 after it aired but the discourse surrounding Vex has always been tricky. The thing about Vex is the thing about all of Laura's characters, as others have said: for some reason, she tends to be treated as the self-insert player of the fandom. For Vex, I think this is also muddied by the fact that her most obvious "negative" trait, her issues with money, has been accepted for what it is, namely, the result of a life of poverty. However, perhaps because it was more compressed and obvious in TLOVM vs the more spread-out over time nature of C1, people really didn't like how much Vex cares about the opinions of Vax, Percy, and especially her father. I think a lot of people really wish Vex were Vax But A Woman, to be honest (though often those people do not like Vax...there's a whole other thing about how few people in the fandom manage to actually like both twins as individuals; either people love one and hate the other or are those "omg TWINNIES! and then one dies? and one lives? the MOST tragedy of tragedies" weirdos whom I have to assume actual twins would probably find kind of creepy), and TLOVM definitely brought those ones out.

[ungraceds]

doesn't   bother   disgusing   his   amusement   at   her   predicament   ,   finding   the   whole   situation   bizarre   and   ,   frankly   , stupid   .   "   and   what   do   i   get   out   of   this –   besides   a   wasted   saturday   night ?   "   admittedly   ,   has   nothing   better   to   do   with   his   evening   but   alas   ...   isn't   the   type   to   do   a   kind   deed   for   anybody   ,   least   of   all   with   nothing   out   of   it   .   "   you're   feelin'   mighty   confident   that   this   whole   charade   is   gonna   work   .   m'sure   he's   smart   enough   to   see   through   it   .   "

❝ because he won't leave . ❞ sigh is exasperated as it passes brims , as if she's explained this countless times already and is tired of repeating the same words . ❝ look , i'm not asking for you to give me a limb . just go with me tonight , so he thinks i've found someone else and will get the message that it's over . ❞

[yourreddancer]

Heather Cox Richardson 12.2.24

Last night, Jane Mayer of the New Yorker reported that Trump’s choice for secretary of defense, Fox News Channel weekend host Pete Hegseth, had been forced to leave previous leadership positions at the advocacy groups Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America because of serious allegations of “financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety, and personal misconduct.”

Under his direction, Veterans for Freedom ran up huge debt for what appears to have been inappropriate expenses; the group’s donors squeezed Hegseth out of his job and then shuttered the organization. He moved to Concerned Veterans for America.

A whistleblower for Concerned Veterans for America reported that Hegseth was repeatedly so drunk at events that he had to be carried out, and that he once tried to join dancers on stage at a strip club to which he brought his work team. Their report said that Hegseth and other members of his team divided the female staffers in the organization into “party girls” and “not party girls” and sexually pursued them, leading to allegations of sexual assault. Another complaint said that at a bar in the early hours of May 29, 2015, Hegseth began to chant drunkenly: “Kill All Muslims! Kill All Muslims!”

An email from one of the whistleblowers to Hegseth’s successor at Concerned Veterans for America said that “[a]mong the staff, the disgust for Pete was pretty high.” The letter detailed Hegseth’s “history of alcohol abuse” and said he had “treated the organization funds like they were a personal expense account—for partying, drinking, and using CVA events as little more than opportunities to ‘hook up’ with women on the road.”

By 2016, Hegseth was out at Concerned Veterans for America but had joined the Fox News Channel as a contributor. It was during this period that he appeared in October 2017 as a speaker at the California Federation of Republican Women’s convention, where he allegedly sexually assaulted a woman.

Also last night, President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden after repeatedly saying that he would not.

Trump-appointed Special Counsel David Weiss charged Hunter Biden on firearms and tax charges, but as former U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance made clear in her Civil Discourse, Hunter Biden would not have been charged if he had been anyone other than the president’s son. He was charged with possession of a firearm by someone who is addicted to illegal drugs, a charge that prosecutors do not usually bring. Biden owned a gun for eleven days and apparently lied on the paperwork for it by saying he was not a drug addict when he was, in fact, in the throes of addiction.

The other charges stem from Hunter Biden’s failure, while dealing with addiction, to pay about $1.4 million in federal income taxes, which he has since paid in full plus interest and penalties. Vance explains that the government usually handles cases like his with administrative or civil penalties rather than criminal prosecution, as it did in the case of Trump henchman Roger Stone, with whom the government reached a settlement in 2022 for more than $2 million in unpaid income taxes, interest, and penalties without criminal charges.

But President Biden’s pardon covers not just those charges, but also “those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.” The pardon’s sweeping scope offers an explanation for why Biden issued it after saying he would not.

Ron Filipkowski of MeidasTouch notes that Biden’s pardon came after Trump’s announcement that he wants to place conspiracy theorist Kash Patel at the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Filipkowski studies right-wing media and points out that Patel’s many appearances there suggest he is obsessed with Hunter Biden, especially the story of his laptop, which Patel insists shows that Hunter and Joe Biden engaged in crimes with Ukraine and China.

House Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-KY) spent two years investigating these allegations and turned up nothing—although Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia used the opportunity to display pictures of Hunter Biden naked on national media—(WHY WASN'T SHE CHARGED WITH REVENGE PORN???)   yet Patel insists that the Department of Justice should focus on Hunter Biden as soon as a Trump loyalist is back in charge.

Notably, Trump’s people, including former lawyer Rudy Giuliani and his ally Lev Parnas, spent more than a year trying to promote false testimony against Hunter Biden by their Ukrainian allies. Earlier this year, in the documentary From Russia with Lev, produced by Rachel Maddow, Parnas publicly apologized to Hunter Biden for his role in the scheme.

As legal commentator Asha Rangappa noted: “People criticizing the Hunter Biden pardon need to recognize: For the 1st time, the FBI and Justice Department could literally fabricate evidence, or collaborate with a foreign government to ‘find’ evidence of a ‘crime,’ with zero accountability. That’s why the pardon goes back to 2014.”

And yet, much of American media today has been consumed not with the story that Trump has appointed a deeply problematic candidate to run what could be considered the nation’s most important department, overseeing about 3 million personnel and managing a budget of more than $800 billion, or with the reality that Biden’s distrust of our legal system under Trump is a profound warning for all of us.

Instead, they have focused on President Biden’s pardon of his son, many of them condemning what they say is Biden’s rejection of the rule of law.

Some have suggested that Biden’s pardoning his son will now give Trump license to pardon anyone he wants, apparently forgetting that in his first term, Trump pardoned his daughter Ivanka’s father-in-law, Charles Kushner, who pleaded guilty to federal charges of tax evasion, campaign finance offenses, and witness tampering and whom Trump has now tapped to become the U.S. ambassador to France.

Trump also pardoned for various crimes men who were associated with the ties between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Russian operatives working to elect Trump. Those included his former national security advisor Michael Flynn, former campaign manager Paul Manafort, and former allies Roger Stone and Steve Bannon. Those pardons, which suggested Trump was rewarding henchmen, received a fraction of the attention lavished on Biden’s pardon of his son.

In today’s news coverage, the exercise of the presidential pardon—which traditionally gets very little attention—has entirely outweighed the dangerous nominations of an incoming president, which will have profound influence on the American people. This imbalance reflects a longstanding and classic power dynamic in which Republicans set the terms of public debate, excusing their own objectionable behavior while constantly attacking Democrats in a fiery display that attracts media attention but distorts reality.

The degree to which the media endorsed that abusive power dynamic today does not bode well for its accurate reporting during Trump’s upcoming term. It also leaves the public badly informed about matters that are important for understanding modern politics.

Among other stories that received less attention than Biden’s pardon of his son was that today right-wing activist Dinesh D’Souza publicly apologized to a man depicted in D’Souza’s film 2000 Mules. That film claimed the 2020 presidential election was stolen, and Trump used it to push the Big Lie that he was the true winner of that election, a lie that by 2023 close to 70% of Republicans believed.

While he continued to stand by the lie, D’Souza admitted that the film’s claim that the “mules” shown delivering ballots to dropboxes had been located through geolocation of their cell data was false. Earlier this year, after a man depicted in the film sued, the publisher of the film and the book on which it was based withdrew the book and the film from its platforms and issued a sweeping apology.

On X, D’Souza’s own comment about Biden’s pardon pointedly illustrated the partisan double standard: “No one is above the law—except my son Hunter!” he wrote above a picture of Biden and his son. This prompted progressive journalist Brian Tyler Cohen to reply: “You were literally pardoned by Trump.” Cohen was right: Trump pardoned D’Souza in 2018 after his conviction for committing campaign finance violations.

Another important story today was that the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) announced that on January 20, 2025, it will stop posting content on X. EFJ’s president, Maja Sever, explained that the organization could not “continue to participate in the social network feed of a man who proclaims the death of the media and therefore of journalists.” General secretary Ricardo Gutiérrez noted the “threat to democracy and freedom of expression posed by the cooperation between the president of the most powerful country in the world, Donald J. Trump, and the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, who is also the owner of social network X.”

Sever added: “The social media site X has become the preferred vector for conspiracy theories, racism, far-right ideas and misogynistic rhetoric. X is a platform that no longer serves the public interest at all, but the special ideological and financial interests of its owner and his political allies.”

Indeed, the extraordinary growth of the Bluesky social media site as the right wing has taken over X is turning X into another right-wing echo chamber. It was there that Representative Comer turned to post his reaction to Biden’s pardon, using it to resurrect the claims he could not substantiate in two years of searching from the head of the Oversight Committee.

“Joe Biden lies for a living,” he wrote. “He lied about not talking to his son about his shady business dealings. He lied when he said his family didn’t take in [money] from China & Russia. He lied when he said he wouldn’t pardon Hunter.” And then, after stating claims his own hearings had proved false, Comer got to the heart of the matter: “Joining [Sean Hannity] at [the Fox News Channel] TONIGHT 9pm. Tune in!”

[indigoire]

Character assassination this, character assassination that, where were y'all when my girl Vex was being portrayed as a huge bitch all season one? It's called "adaptation" and "adding character conflict".

Spoilers for both seasons of TLoVM under the cut:

Like obviously Vex being cold to Keyleth for the majority of the first season was leading up to Keyleth's sacrifice in the final two episodes, and plays into the reversed dynamic this season where Vax is the clingy one. But suddenly it's all "Zahra would never act like that! Kash is the real asshole!" Neither of them were the real antagonists, they played that role in order to show the powers of the vestige.

Things change in adaptation and just IMAGINE if we didn't have a season three to fall back on, we'd have had to streamline even more than we have already. I think they're doing a great job of taking episodes that play out over the course of hours and whittling them down to twenty-something minutes.

The beauty of this adaptation is we have the streams to fall back on, where they can be as nuanced with these characters as they please. But I think the animated adaptation is doing a damn fine job of honing what was a VERY chaotic arc into something somewhat streamlined and understandable.

Also it's not just Zahra and Kash getting the "character assassination" accusations but if I have to delve into the discourse even more than I already have I'll be here all night

[darkmaga-returns]

12/2 ASTROLABE LINKS:

THEO VON VS KEURIG

BABY BARRON

MELANIA & BARRON WERE DEBANKED

VAGRANT OF WIRES ON POWER

BERNIE SUPPORTS DOGE VS THE DOD

KATHY HOCHUL VS ILLEGALS

BOSTON MAYOR BACKS DOWN FROM TOM HOMAN

TRUMP TRANSITION TEAM ISN'T USING FBI FOR BACKGROUND CHECKS

KASH PATEL'S BACKGROUND

KASH PATEL AT THE FBI HQ ON HIS FIRST DAY

KASH PATEL / SHAWN RYAN CLIP

PIZZA HUT GARAGE

PIZZA HUT GLOBALISM

HUNTER'S PARDON TIMING

HUNTER BIDEN ADVANCING A CIA PROJECT IN UKRAINE

WIFEJAK MEME EXAMPLES

ORIGIN OF WIFEJAK

HARRY BERGERON'S PERFECT TAKE ON WIFEJAK DISCOURSE

TRUE HETEROSEXUALITY

SHITTY WIFEJAK TAKE #1

SHITTY WIFEJAK TAKE #2

THE HUMAN EMBODIMENT OF WIFEJAK

[ungraceds]

has   been   awake   for   over   an   hour   ,   eyes   closed   and   comforted   by   the   warmth   of   cruz's   body   beside   him   ...   reminiscent   of   all   the   times   that   he   slept   over   and   inevitably   left   once   the   sun   came   up   .   it's   a   nice   alternative   to   the   rock   hard   concrete   that   he   slept   on   last   night   --   though   ,   still   knows   that   it's   what   he   deserved   for   what   he   let   transpire   ,   and   all   the   lies   he   spun   just   to   avoid   talking   about   his   feelings   .   a   smirk   inches   across   his   lips   when   homme   is   shifting   towards   him   ,   closer   ,   arm   draped   over   his   waist   tightening   ,   "   mhm   .   been   listening   to   you   snore   ..   you're   cute   when   you're   dreaming   about   me   .   "   jests   ,   voice   still   riddled   with   sleep   .   head   turns   to   place   a   kiss   onto   the   top   of   his   head   ,   fingers   trailing   distracting   patterns   along   bare   batch   of   skin   just   below   the   hem   of   his   shirt   .   there's   a   weight   there   ,   still   wedged   between   them   ,   and   as   much   as   he'd   love   to   avoid   it   ,   knows   that   he   can't   .   "   you   wanna   talk   about   it   ?   "

he isn't sure how much time has passed, only that he's drifted in and out of sleep multiple times, feels comfort each times he does as kash is still there, solid and warm beside him. thinks that if they could stay like this, just the two of them in his room forever, all of his problems would have the potential to float away. eyes blink, sleepy smile settling into place as he turns onto his side, buries himself as far as he possibly can against the other male. " are you awake ? " whispers lowly, hopes he is. hopes they can talk now some of the heaviness has had time to ease. hopes to kiss a few more apologizes against his lips. hope. so much hope, all placed in one person. / @ungraceds

[savefilescomng12]

Watch Ash Kash viral video on reddit and Twitter

Watch Ash Kash viral video on reddit and Twitter 

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Watch Ash Kash viral video on reddit 

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Watch Ash Kash viral video on reddit and Twitter 

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Watch Ash Kash viral video on  Twitter 

As we celebrate the creativity and ingenuity behind viral content like the Ash Kash video, it is essential to consider the ethical implications of our online interactions. Content creators, brands, and platforms alike must navigate a delicate balance between entertainment value and ethical responsibility, ensuring that viral content does not perpetuate harmful stereotypes or misinformation. Moreover, users must approach viral content with a critical eye, interrogating the underlying messages and motives behind the memes.The Ash Kash viral video represents more than just a fleeting internet trend; it embodies the transformative power of digital culture to unite, inspire, and entertain. As we reflect on the impact of this viral sensation, we are reminded of the ever-evolving nature of online discourse and the profound influence it wields over our lives. Whether sparking conversations about consumer products or fostering a sense of global community, viral content like Ash Kash continues to shape the way we experience and engage with the world around us. Source link Read the full article

[xgoldendays]

To preface I’m not directing this at anyone on here specifically. I’ve just seen so much discourse over the past twelve hours that I feel compelled to write another speech because I am, in fact, a gallavich apologist and I can’t sit by and not say anything. Take from this what you will, I’m not here to argue with anyone. I’m here to state my opinion. 

First thing, I’m not going to make apologies for the things they said to each other. Mickey’s comment about Ian’s bipolar was out of line and Ian saying Frank is worse than Terry was out of pocket. It didn’t make sense for them to say that and I frankly wish they hadn’t BUT when people are angry, we all say things we don’t mean. That’s not an excuse but when you want to hurt someone, make them feel low, sometimes people go for the jugular and I think in their case, they know the other can handle it. To say they wish they never met each other? They both know that’s not true. They know that’s not how they actually feel and it’s petty arguing for the sake of arguing that I blame on the writing. 

I think what’s really being nitpicked at here is that Ian somehow loves Mickey less than Mickey loves Ian and as I always say, I’m a Mickey stan at heart - we know this - but to say that Ian doesn’t love Mickey the same is just not true. I’d be lying and I know a bunch of people will agree with me - if I said that my exes or past people in my life haven’t affected me. Everyone I’ve come in contact with that’s been in my life for an extended period of time, good or bad, sticks with me. You don’t forget the people that changed you. I hate that Kash and Ned were made out to seem like valid relationships and not Ian being taken advantage of by older men but like it or not, those men had a big impact on him. He can’t just forget about the past. He has trauma that goes undealt with and those times in his life have stuck with him. They take up some space in his heart because he was just a kid. He was just a kid who thought those men cared about him. I think it’s harmful to blame Ian for being changed by those events and for him to carry that with him. 

87% is just a number. It’s a random number. Ian pulled that number literally out of nowhere. You can’t put a figure on love or how much you love someone. It’s been made clear time and time again that Ian loves Mickey. Mickey is the only man truly in Ian’s heart. He takes up a huge part of that space and while I understand Mickey is hurt by the fact that part isn’t 100%, I think the whole point of the episode is that he learns to accept it. Whether they argue or fight or do stupid things, they both know that the man they married is the man they want to be with. 

Even more so, Ian was NOT going to cheat on Mickey at keg zone. It was literally just a parallel to Ian’s old life. To the mistakes he made in the past. They both had to face parts of their past that are ugly and harmful so they can see that they’re better for it now. They’ve moved past the people they used to be. Their relationship is far from perfect but when push comes to shove, they would never actually act on something that would hurt the other person that deeply. It might not have been presented in a way that’s easy to absorb or even completely clear without a good amount of thinking but being shown these little glimpses into their thought process, shows that in the end, they always end up thinking about the other. They always have each other in mind.

What it boils down to is that not everyone loves the same way. We don’t all show our love in the same way. How Ian shows it and how Mickey shows it are two different things. It doesn’t mean they love each other more or less than the other. It just doesn’t. It means they have to find out what work best for them, what lines of communication works best for them and they’re trying. They’re attempting to get there. I don’t think that’s a crime. It’s not going to be the way everyone wants it to be. It won’t be cute and adorable all the time. But they’re married, they’re together. They want to be together and they’re making the effort to try new things together. A number is just a number. It means nothing. They love each other so much. They don’t want to be with anyone else. That should be enough. 

Also that mutual i love you should have been the tell all.

[gallavich-rules]

Going back to the first time Ian and Mickey hooked up, I remember being confused how they knew they were into each other. But then I thought some more and came up with this.

I think Mickey knew he had some kind of attraction towards Ian even back in S1. Like he was so fixated on going after him that he had to spell out his name on the wall.

Mickey has threatened many ppl it he’s ever shown the same kind of fixation. When Kev robbed him and took his gun, he didn’t go out of his way just to beat him up. He even seemed to let it go at Yev’s Christening party.

Another person who wrongs him was Kash for getting him locked up in juvie. He could have tried to go after him in S2, but he never did.

The only person he really only went to great lengths to “fuck over” was Ian. And the fact that he was hyperfixated on him is telling in that he just gravitated towards him in a way that he never really did with other ppl.

Plus in that S10 trailer, Mickey says that Ian was hard to NOT notice, that he was tall and a redhead. Even then as a kid Mickey just saw him out of the crowd.

The thing is that Mickey didn’t really know Ian was attracted to him too, so Mickey just treated him like he would anyone else albeit more intensely (like going after him with a baseball bat for a whole day and spray painting his name)

It wasn’t until Ian went over to his place with the tire iron that Mickey realized that Ian was gay too, cause he was on top of him. I’m p sure he noticed Ian was attracted to him (through his eyes and his hard on).

Anyways that’s my discourse, anyone can feel free to add on if they want or whatever.

[freddiefiction]

What a weird take. She may have been less vocal about it when her parents were still alive, but (especially recently) she’s been very open about her brother’s sexuality.

I think Kash also was behind the downplaying of Freddie’s sexuality and childhood. I am pretty sure Jim Beach works for her too.

I don’t think Kash had any role in the film since she was barely there in it herself. And I am not sure that she is Jim Beach’s client. He manages Freddie’s estate and the income generated from the royalties - both of which belong to Mary.

Kash is probably in contact with Jim Beach since they appeared at Freddie’s birthday celebrations in Montreux together (with Phoebe), though I am not sure of their working relationship.

Kash has never denied that Freddie was gay. She has always maintained that he was, and in the Final Act, also acknowledged Jim.

[americankimchi]

critical role for the fandom ask meme?

the first character i ever fell in love with: vax “in the darkness i say. FUCK.” ildan. also the escapade in i want to say like episode 4 or 5 when he and scanlan go undercover to throw a bucket of shit on an illithid and it fucking WORKED like...... when i say i fell in love right then and there,,,

a character that i used to love/like, but now do not: veth lmao yikes. also kash bc i have never seen anyone character assassinate their own character but i guess there’s a first time for everything

a ship that i used to love/like, but now do not: anything with caleb in it sans shadowgast bc i can and will carry this torch into the grave, beauyasha, fs in chat for percildan, molly ships in general, beaujester if only bc it makes me very bitter

my ultimate favorite character™: VAX’ILDAN LASTNAME I CARE YOU BITCH

prettiest character: vax’ildan and no i will not be taking questions at this time

my most hated character: sips tea. t*berius.

my OTP: vaxmore i’ll never fucking forget you

my NOTP: v/xleth..... cute concept, abyssmal execution. also w/dojest bc nah. kash/hra bc u cannot go from calling someone ur sister and then turn around and say that ur in a relationship like..... bro............ also widomauk bc it was cute at the beginning and then you couldn’t go two steps into fandom without knocking into a widomauk post/fic on ao3 and yeah. tiring.

favorite episode: when will anything make me feel the way 52/kill box made me feel...... oh the adrenaline in 79/thordak before the hiatus + vax’s lack of brain cells turned the fandom space into a warzone lololo

saddest death: idk man they were all kinda dramatically entertaining. i guess the saddest death was my interest in season 2 AYYYYYYYYY

favorite season: season 1 stans RISE

least favorite season: there’s only two right now so by elimination.....

character that everyone else in the fandom loves, but i hate: do people actually like veth anymore bc if they do then veth

my ‘you’re piece of trash, but you’re still a fave’ fave: can i answer vax for this one too bc honestly,,, if i can’t then uhhhh i guess essek

my ‘beautiful cinnamon roll who deserves better than this’ fave: pike bc the entire fandom slept on her. OH AND GROG TOO LIKE CAN WE PLEASE PUT SOME RESPECT ON THIS MAN. also jester bc she went from potentially interesting character to fodder for shipping discourse which....... rip lmao

my ‘this ship is wrong, nasty, and makes me want to cleanse my soul, but i still love it’ ship: god what even fits for this prompt. nothing comes to mind so im skippin this one lol.....

my ‘they’re kind of cute, and i lowkey ship them, but i’m not too invested’ ship: fjorester. can’t think of any other ships that i like but don’t really engage with.... fjord ships in general i guess hfgjkdhjfgkd i’m just really tired thinking about cr2 shipping in general

[tectonicduck]

what did you mean by your last post? no one is saying Mickey didn’t like Ian

Okay I’m not particularly eloquent but I’m going to try to explain and hopefully make sense and not piss anyone off.

I watched the first 5 seasons live as they aired, but my primary fandom at the time was Glee (lol) so I wasn’t involved in any discourse that might still be shaping OG hardcore fans’ interpretations.

As a “casual” viewer it was pretty clear to me that we were to blame Terry for everything he did to Mickey. Mickey is the victim and is going along with what his dad wants for everyone’s safety. I wish we would have gotten more from his perspective, but that part is pretty clear. We see how alone he is, how his own sister has no idea what happened, how miserable he looks with Svetlana. The fact that Ian is taking it personally doesn’t mean that the audience has that same interpretation.

I go sort of feral when people try to blame either of these teenage boys for the actions of adults (like, it’s also not Ian’s fault that Kash shot Mickey, jfc). Mickey is doing what he has to so his father doesn’t literally murder him.

But I think over time the fandom has overcompensated for some earlier fandom bullshit, and now act like EVERYTHING Mickey did S1-3a was for Ian’s sake. I guess it just makes me sad that we can’t be proud of Mickey for being brave and kissing Ian because yes, Ian challenged him to, but also because he WANTED to and that was a big step for him in his coming out journey.

Even though they’re both closeted, Mickey is taking more of a risk, but it’s because he wants to? Because he’s a gay kid with feelings? Who maybe needs an extra nudge but wants to kiss the boy he likes?

The idea that everything that Mickey is doing pre 3x06 is completely selfless is really insulting to him as a character and just doesn’t sit right with me.

I have a lot of more thoughts about how that leads people to romanticize Mickey not wanting to take Ian to a doctor in S4/5 (which I also do not blame him for and totally understand in the narrative!) but I’m not trying to get beat up today so. 🙈

[ungraceds]

isn't   good   with   conflict   ..   unless   said   conflict   consists   of   using   fists   to   talk   and   driving   point   home   ,   then   ...   well   ,   that   he   can   do   .   but   this   ?   being   vulnerable   ,   admitting   his   wrongs   --   witnessing   the   aftermath   of   mess   created   by   own   hands   ?   it   left   him   wanting   to   crawl   out   of   his   skin   ,   drop   to   his   knees   blubbering   with   apologies   ,   time   travel   back   to   that   stupid   bar   and   take   it   all   back   .   anything   to   take   that   devastated   ,   broken   glint   out   of   his   eyes   .   there's   a   small   lift   to   the   corner   of   his   lips   ,   "   nah   ,   you   saw   what   you   saw   ...   can't   fault   yourself   for   thinking   that   ,   especially   since   i   didn't   deny   it   .   "   sniffs   ,   tilting   chin   a   little   higher   ,   "   i   thought   maybe   you'd   be   better   off   believing   it   ...   i   don't   know   .   i'm   not   good   at   this   shit   ,   cruz   .   but   i   want   to   be   you   --   for   you   .   "   if   any   of   his   siblings   could   hear   him   ,   they'd   be   clowning   him   for   days   .   isn't   soft   ,   never   has   been   ...   except   when   it   comes   to   one   hazel   -   eyed   man   who   also   drives   him   fucking   crazy   .   "   yeah   ?   join   the   club   ,   baby   .   you   drive   me   insane   .   "   thumbs   stroke   cheek   bones   ,   eyes   boring   into   his   to   ensure   that   point   is   conveyed   ..   that   he   hears   him   ,   "   there's   nobody   else   .   there's   never   gonna   be   anybody   else   .   "   and   there   never   really   was   ,   even   before   he   came   back   to   town   .   filled   his   time   with   others   ,   sure   ,   but   it   was   all   to   fill   a   void   ,   a   distraction   ,   a   means   to   convince   himself   that   heart   wasn't   promised   to   another   a   long   time   ago   .   "   you're   not   him   .   "   knows   what   he   was   gonna   say   ,   because   of   course   he   does   ,   and   he's   shaking   his   head   ,   "   you're   good   --   you're   so   fuckin'   good   .   there's   nothing   to   forgive   ,   but   if   you   need   to   hear   it   ,   then   i   forgive   you   .   okay   ?   i   forgive   you   .   it's   okay   .   "   presses   a   kiss   to   his   forehead   ,   lips   lingering   before   he's   pulling   back   and   homme   is   falling   into   his   arms   .   embraces   him   like   second   nature   ,   but   really   ,   he's   just   terrified   that   any   second   ,   he's   gonna   change   his   mind   .   arms   fall   to   wrap   tightly around  his   waist   ,   tugging   him   closer   until   he's   sure   that   he   can   feel   the   unsteady   racing   of   heart   against   his   chest   ,   and   he's   pressing   another   kiss   to   the   side   of   his   head   as   hot   breath   paints   his   neck   .   "   of   course   i   believe   you   .   cruz   ,   i   --   "   love   you   .   pulls   back   ,   palm   lifting   to   grip   his   jaw   as   thumb   tilts   his   chin   until   their   eyes   clash   again   ,   "   i'm   sorry   "   presses   apology   to   his   cheek   ,   and   then   ducks   ,   to   the   other   ,   "   i'm   so sorry   "   and   again   ,   to   his   jaw   ,   "   i'm   so   --   "   lips   brush   along   the   curvature   ,   stopping   to   hover   over   his   lips   ,   "   fucking   sorry   "   and   he's   cementing   it   with   a   soft   press   of   his   lips   to his .

the air feels so delicate, like at any moment it could cave in and burry them both, leave them with zero oxygen. he's listening — he is. is pushing down every inner demon that threatens to twist kash's words, that tries to convince him everything between them is a lie. deep down cruz knows it's just his insecurities, his self-destructive tendencies rearing their ugly head. neither of which he wants to let ruin this. the night they had spent together felt like such a big turning point, the start of a new chapter for them, one where letting their feelings known was okay. felt safe, not so scary. he doesn't want to take any amount of steps backwards, doesn't want to stumble all the way back to square one. this is what he wants. kash is who he wants, has been for the longest time. you're the only good thing i've done. the words set of a familiar spark in him, trigger a warmth to spread throughout his chest. make him want to drop all defences, kiss him and get so lost in it that last night seizes to exist in his mind. but he can't, not yet. needs kash to know that he really is sorry, that no amount of reasons excuse what he did. homme continues and he feels stupid, realizes he'd jumped to conclusion, projected something onto him that wasn't true. his stomach twists at the idea of it, of judging him like that. of assuming the worst. " you— " head shakes, more apologise threatening to fall from his lips. " shit, " mumbles, " — i shouldn't have — i just i saw her all over you and it drove me crazy. you drive me crazy. the thought of anyone else with you makes me feel crazy. " still can't string his words together in a fully coherent way, struggling to articulate himself in a form that makes any sense. then kash touches him, a gentle kind of touch that makes him want to crumble. makes him want to fall to his knees. does as prompted and looks at him, finally, shaky breath exhaled. " but i hit you, " whispers in response, reaching out to wrap digits around kash's wrist. " it doesn't matter if you told me to do it, don't you get that ? it was wrong. i-i don't want to be that person, i don't want to be like . . . " prolonged pause, can't say like his father because his dad had never physically hurt him. he found other ways to do it. with words, mental torture. " it's just not who i want to be. i'm sorry, " reiterates it, is so deeply tempted to let their lips touch but he doesn't want to seem like he thinks he can make it go away with a kiss. instead stumbles closer, buries his face in the crook of kash's neck, arms moving to wrap tightly around him, hold him as close as he can get, guide him further inside. because he doesn't want him to leave. could never want that. " i'm sorry, " says it again, " i'm sorry. you're the last person i would ever want to hurt, you have to believe me. " because i love you.

[grimelords]

I’ve finished my September playlist, only almost a month later. It’s got everything, The Weeknd, desert psychedelica from Niger, and Australian yodelling from 1941. What more could you want!

listen here

and if you’re interested, sign up for my tinyletter to get these playlists delivered to your inbox here

XO / The Host / Initiation - The Weeknd: First of all Trilogy is a masterpiece. The Weeknd is a legend forever for this alone. Back when he was an anonymous character and before he tried to pivot to being a proper pop star and started beliving his own bullshit. This trio of songs for me is one of the highlights of the whole thing because this is where things really take a turn and it serves as a nice flipside to earlier songs like Glass Table Girls (even quoting some of the lyrics from it in a very cool reprise). Where most of the songs from House Of Balloons are about his own descent into this hedonistic life, by the time you get to Echoes Of Silence he lives there comfortably, and he's turned from cool,  dark and tormented to coldly evil and calculating. He's the master of the dark palace and he's drawing this woman in. The chorus of XO is straight up cult language 'all we ever do is love, open up your mind you can find the love'. She's broke and addicted trying to escape her life and he offers her this community. Which is where Initation comes in and things get really dark. This song feels like the real truth of those stories you hear of Drake flying instagram models around and it's a masterpiece of the dark underside of the drugs money and models bragging you're used to.

Sociopath (feat. Kash Doll) - Pusha T: Get a load of this new Pusha song where he's got Rodney Dangerfield ghostwriting for him. I got a bitch that'll master your card.. my wife ova hea!! Also the funny gritted teeth way he says it cracks me up. He also says boop bop be boop bop. There's so many good moments in this very silly song from a man that is normally terrifyingly serious.

Ice Cream - Muscles: I suddenly remembered this song the other day and I'm so glad I did. A good example of how you can get so much feeling out of music that has no relation at all to the lyrics. In the right mood this song makes me so emotional and I can't even pin down why. The way he sings 'ice cream is going to save the day' somehow just makes the urban alienation of the verse even more pointed. It's such a silly little dance song and that's what's so strong about it. It's dancing at night and unsuccessfully trying to forget what happened today.

Running - Gil Scott Heron & Jamie xx: It’s extremely strange that this remix album ever happened, thinking back on it. Stranger still that a Gil Scott Heron song got remixed by Jamie xx and then remixed again by 40 and turned into a Drake song in I’ll Take Care Of U and all three versions rock. Anyway, this song and this whole album remain fantastic - it still sounds futuristic in a way where nobody else really followed Jamie’s sound, everything else went a different direction so this an In Colour feel more and more unique to me as time goes on.

Boyfriend (Repeat) - Confidence Man: I’m in love with this album. It’s the closest I’ve found so far to the level of absolute fun in dance music since Duck Sauce’s album. I love the the attitude of her lyrics, which carries through the whole album. I love when her Australian accent peeks out for a second on a few words. I love his rebuttals that almost but not quite put it over the edge into a comedy song. I love the big fading out leadup to the drop near the end where a huge throat singing drone just swallows the whole song for a second.

Ever Again (Soulwax Remix) - Robyn: Extremely hot remix alert!! Thankyou to Zan Rowe's Monthly Mixtape playlist for putting my onto this.Sometimes all you need is one ferociously hot bassline to make a life complete.

$50 Million - !!!: !!!’s new album has one of the best covers I’ve seen recently, I advise you to check it out. It’s interesting to be so far into your career (this is their 8th album since 2001) and still be writing songs about selling out, a concept which has largely disappeared from music discourse since musicians started making no money post napster. I vaguely remember the turning point being when Kimya Dawson, after blowing up via the Juno soundtrack, turned down a coke ad for a ludicrous amount and the blogosphere at the time turned on her and said she should have taken the money because she was living in a van at the time. Nobody gives a fuck about selling out anymore because bands make more from tshirts than streams so you’ve got to act like a brand just to make a living. Anyway I’ve gotten off track. This song rocks, especially for the breakdown near the end.

Tipped Hat - The Paper Scissors: A song I haven’t heard in over ten years that suddenly popped into my head the other day. I love the way this guy’s voice sounds, just completely committing to sounding like a hand puppet. I’ve been playing bass a lot more recently and so have developed the worst man habit of becoming more sensitive to and pointing out extremely hot basslines to people, so I’d be derelict in my duty to not share this one.

Heimsdalgate Like A Promethian Curse - of Montreal: I love this song about literally pleading with your brain to come good. Here’s a good quote about this album “I went through this chemical depression, and that's when I was writing a lot of the songs for Hissing Fauna. They're all songs about that experience. And I was experiencing it in the moment that I was writing the songs, and sort of asking myself: What the hell is going on? Why are you all of a sudden totally paranoid and plagued by these anxieties? And why is everything so distorted and confusing and fucked up? My lifestyle hadn't changed that much. And then I realized, well, there's something going on inside of me that I don't have control over, and then you realize how vulnerable you are to these things, these elements that you can't understand, or unless you go on medication and get it under control. It's like you're being betrayed by your body.” Something I really admire about this album is that the lyrics reflect black metal levels of mental anguish, he was absolutely going through it the worst anyone can go through it “I'd gotten to that point where nothing was working. I was borderline suicidal, and my relationship with my girlfriend had totally eroded and she'd gone back to Norway with our daughter and everything was totally fucked, and I was just like, What can I do? "The Past Is a Grotesque Animal" is about that.” But the music is one hundred percent committedly twee and I really admire the effect that that split mood gives. “The lyrics tell the story of what was really going on and the music sort of represents this other emotion that I wish existed. The music was really happy because I wanted to make something that would lift my spirits.”

Jesus Rabbit - Guerilla Toss: I love the wobbly weird bass sound in this weirdo UFO cult song. I love the bleepy bloop melody that runs through it and I love how fundamentally unstable the whole song sounds, like it’s made out of paperclips and foil and papier mache.

Suburbia - Press Club: I can’t believe I didn’t know about Press Club for so long. I only found out about them this performance https://youtu.be/bCmtc-T5Unk which I’m shocked to learn has less than 5k views considering it’s one of the very best TV performances I’ve ever seen.

Come For Me - Sunflower Bean: I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about this song before and I’m probably going to say the exact same thing but who cares! This song fuckin rocks. I love how assured it is, like “if you’re gonna fuck me then stop fucking around and fuck me already.” It also feels so musically similar to I Can Hardly Make You Mine by Cults to me, which is a great excuse for me to listen to that song every single time I listen to this song.

Thousands - Club Night: This Club Night album is really really good. It's like a really nice middleground between midwest emo and Cymbals Eat Guitars. The way this song blows up halfway through with 'what if we want it!!' is so good. This whole band feels like they're from 2009 but in a good way, the tail end of indie and twee with these prog or postrock structures where the songs just go and go, and you can just get completely lost in it.

Cemetary - Brutus: The first thing you've got to know about Brutus is the drummer is also the singer. Normally who plays what is not really important but in this case I think it's very important because it makes the drums a lead instrument more than they normally would be. When she's not singing my focus is still on the drums because they're linked and I absolutely love it. This song is great and every song I've heard of theirs is just as good, I love Brutus and they're one of the best new bands I've found recently. Someone in the youtube comments said 'there's something really special about hearing a song for the first time and just knowing you're going to listen to it hundreds of times in your life.'

Enter By The Narrow Gates / Spirit Narrative - Circle Takes The Square: I think that I think of Circle Takes The Square as a household name just because they have such an outsized importance in my own life when they're definitely not at all. They're legendary for making The screamo (good kind) album in As The Roots Undo and then taking 8 years to make a followup, which is this album Decompositions, but I don't really know if they're well known outside of like, people who have opinions about what were the hottest music blogspots in 2010. I chose both of these because you can't really have one without the other, the whole album basically runs as one long piece of music and so this just kind of jarringly ends at the end of Spirit Narrative, sorry about that please listen to the entire album. Because of the status As The Roots Undo enjoys I feel like this album was kind of ignored, or overshadowed by the reputation it was trying to live up to, almost exactly like The Avalanches with Since I Left You and Wildflower, when just like Wildflower it's a more expansive, developed take on the original sound that trades some of the rawness for a more polished and considered approach and comes out arguably better than the orginal. I feel like I have so much to say about this album but I don't really know where to begin, just listen to it.

Vitrification Of Blood (Pt. 1) - Blood Incantation: I am by no means a metal scholar, but I know that when the word 'blood' is in both the song title AND the band name that means it's good metal. I love this song, and this whole album is great. It's very 'classic' death metal but there's touches (beyond the extreme length) of psychedelica as well that puts it on another level you can just get lost in. The way the guitar goes to space at 3:40, and again properly into orbit at 6:50 is just magical. The more I listen to this band the more I understand those guys who only listen to metal, there's a whole ecosystem in here and it's really got everything you need.

Out Of Line - Gesaffelstein: This whole song is basically intended as an intro for Pursuit on the album but it’s so powerful just on its own. I love imbuing weirdo lyrics like ‘a bitter sunken love in a bleach blonde submarine’ with such ominous power through the commanding delivery. I love the way the big grunting vocals on the offbeat build to sound like a summoning ritual. I love making a big processed bell the centrepiece of your extremely evil sounding song. It’s sort of a shame that Gessaffelstein has never really gone back to the vision of his first album and has spent his time since diluting it down for guest production on Weeknd songs and the like because it feels like there’s still so much more to get out of this sound. That he hasn’t gone back and dug deeper makes Aleph stand out more and more as a singular masterpiece as time goes on.  

Kamane Tarhanin - Mdou Moctar: Turning to Mdou Moctar after the new Tinariwen album kind of disappointed me, with all it’s big name guests nothing really hit me. I love this song though and I think a big part of it is the sort of loping, 6/4 rhythm that combined with the drone gives it this feeling of endlessly tumbling over itself in place, especially as the guitar heats up.

Achabiba - Fatou Seidi Ghali: I know very little about Fatou Seidi Ghali except that I saw she was supporting Sarah Louise at a show. From some googling it turns out that she’s the leader of a Nigerois band called Les Filles de Illeghadad who you can probably look forward to seeing on next month’s playlist. I also learned that the demonym for someone from Niger is Nigerien or to minimise confusion with Nigeria, Nigerois (said in a french way). They play a sort of desert psych in the realm of Mdou Mocter or Tinariwen, but this song (also the only solo song she has on spotify) shows her acoustic side. I love the swirling melody over the drone as the hand percussion keeps it in place and I love the very delicate vocals, but a probably unintentional thing I love a lot about this recording is the unmistakable iphone locking sound near the very start that instantly removes so much of the mystic exoticism that these sorts of artists are often written about with and places it firmly in the same sprawling modern world we all live in.

Floating Rhododendron - Sarah Louise: I love Sarah Louise. She’s a phenomenal guitarist and has such a big love for traditional folk music with her side project House And Land, but unlike everyone else in the genre is also very interested in pushing guitar forward to new and strange places. Her latest album was super experimental layered electric guitars and voice that still managed to maintain the deep connection to nature that runs through all her work. I would also highly recommend following her on instagram because her passion runs over. She’s regularly just out in the woods somewhere explaining how wonderful a particular mushroom is.  This song one of the first ones I ever heard from her, and it’s back when she was just doing very beautiful 12 string acoustic work, but she recently added it to spotify and it’s a very nice reminder of where she came from and how far she’s gone in such a short time.

Lark - Angel Olsen: The new Angel Olsen is absolutely great. I love how much she is just completely going for it on this album, absolutely unleashing. Taken against earlier songs of hers I’ve loved like White Fire, where the majesty was in her quiet power and the ability to absolutely command silence with a whisper quiet song, this song feels like the direct inverse, an about-turn into all the gigantic majesty of swirling strings and top of your lungs vocals - going all out and leaving nothing on the table. The way this song blows up about three different times until by the end you’re caught in this gigantic swirling maelstrom of screaming sound is just out of this world.

Door - Caroline Polachek: Caroline Polachek’s brain is huge. When I first heard the chorus of this song I couldn't believe it. Are you allowed to have a chant that runs in a spiral like this be the chorus of your pop song? Is that allowed?

North, South, East And West - The Church: The Church feel like they don't get enough respect. They don't seem to be in the same league as Cold Chisel and The Angels and all the other dad rock Australian bands from that era for some reason. They're very good though and I've been really getting into this whole album and this song specifically lately. Maybe what's working against them is just how much his voice sounds like Bono's in this song but surely that was a boon at the time!

Western Questions - Timber Timbre: This has become one of my new favourite songs to sing. The way the words fit together is my favourite kind of poetics where they just sound incredible, phonetically, and can mean anything you like for large chunks. Like “the gelatinous walls of the seeds that seldom remain / while the bulls are  browsing needles through computer casinos / honour the name”. Especially “bulls are browsing needles through computer casinos” is just extremely nice to say. I love the character of this song and am yet to completely understand what it’s saying other than personifying some worldwide blackpilled spirit of nihilist evil. What I love is the experience of all encompassing evil in this song, like a worldwide conspiracy connecting everything together that makes it all make sense. It doesn’t make you happier but it makes it make sense. I also love the finality of the big fill near the end that ushers in the outro riff that ties everything up.

Cold Cold World - Blaze Foley: I got heavily into a country music thing this month and spent a bit of time trying to find ‘real’ country, which of course turns out not to exist at all. The entirety of country music is built on a false nostalgia for an imagined time long past when things were real, some unspecified time in the collective consciousness between cowboy times and coal mine times. I don’t say this to say ‘country music is a fraud’ but that it’s built on a foundation of myth and that’s what’s so good about it. It’s constantly reframing the past as it relates to the present and is energised by the friction between them. Blaze Foley is a good example of this in the modern era because he seems to exist more as a myth than a man. He had three studio albums, the master tapes of which all disappeared through various means (lost, stolen, seized by the DEA) and so the majority of his surviving material is live recordings or long-lost studio recordings that resurfaced decades after his death when his fame and mythology already preceded him. He also thankfully lives up to the myth, he was truly a great artist and it’s a shame more of him hasn’t survived.

Where The Golden Wattle Blooms / Why Did The Blue Skies Turn Grey  - Shirley Thoms: Further to what I was saying about country music before, Australian country is a whole other thing. Transferring the myth and the mythmaking to a new location adds another layer of abstraction. Shirley Thoms was the first female solo act to record country music in Australia in 1941 and was most notable for her yodelling of which she is damn fine. This is a great song and a good a starting point as any in trying to trace the origin of country music in Australia. That it's so english in its identity, so evidently imitating an american style (which is in turn imitating a german yodel) is just more good evidence that nothing is 'real' and traditions of the past and future are malleable at all times.

Talkin’ Karate Blues - Townes Van Zandt: Townes Van Zandt is widely regarded as a songwriter’s songwriter and one of the best country songwriters to ever live, but like a lot of great country songwriters also has one or two songs like this - strange comedy songs about learning karate and getting your arm ripped off.

Strange Tourist - Gareth Liddiard: This album is a masterpiece on the level of Ys and it feels criminally underlistened in my opinion. Luckily in the last week or so some renegade has done up the wiki article on it to a couple of thousand words so that's a start. Because this is a song I've listened to one million times and love a lot, it's hard for me to write about it in a general way so instead I'm going to talk about something very specific and new that I've only begun to appreciate recently. The way he uses the vowels of the japanese words to create these assonant runs in lines like "Koda Kumi sang a coda pink as sarin gas / I took a trip to Nagasaki in a rented Mitsubishi / Then went camping in the Jukai under Mount Fuji" and "They found him frozen in a hollow in Aokigahara forest where them harakiri weirdos go" is really something, and a nice illustration of the two sides of Liddiard's songwriting: densely technical poetics in a song about living with a housemate who was a real freak.

I Dream A Highway - GIllian Welch: I’m not even going to go into the lyrics of this because it’s such an out of this world perfect song but I’m going to say this: it’s really something that this song goes for nearly 15 minutes, sits on the same three chords the whole time and never ever feels long. This song is longer than Emily by Joanna Newsom but doesn’t feel like an epic of the same scale at all. It’s just a mournful slow ode to change and decay that goes on forever and could keeping going on for twice as long if it wanted to.

Deep Water - The Middle East: The way the vocals in the verses are delivered, trailing off and mumbling bits and pieces is somehow magical, like it’s more interested in communicating the gist and the feeling than the actual words. You can just pick whatever part of it you like. Petrol stations and a copper mine, the kind of place I think I could die. This song also has two minutes of silence at the end for album reasons so enjoy that.

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