#BUT. i started crying just from watching the more than blue trailer on netflix so i am not emotionally intact enough for that atp

[qilingxiong]

there comes a point in every actor obsession where you scroll down their mydramalist page for something to watch and suddenly it's not nearly long enough

[sunsetcurvesoldout]

Jatp tag game

Thank you @willexx for the tag!

Favorite Character: Reggie Peters <3

Character You Relate To Most: Reggie

Top 3 Songs: Now or Never, Bright, All eyes on me (it’s so hard to choose honestly I love each and every song)

Fav Episode: Finally Free (episode 6)

Most Iconic Lines: “I wish I had a puppy! A hamster? Pizza?” | “I wish I couldn’t see you” | “That was a gift” | “That was me” “No it wasn’t” “Yes it was” | “I’m swimming!”

Best Moment: That part in stand tall where Alex does his solo, then Reggie does his, and then Reggie goes “stand taaaaaall” then Julie goes “stand taaall” then Luke goes “stand taall” that harmony there oooh *chefs kiss* also when Reggie starts that off with his high note I get chills everytime his Range!

Moment that made you cry the most: that moment in unsaid Emily where you see the red and blue lights and then Luke walks in and puts his hands on his head

Moment that made you SQEEEE the most: that part in Perfect Harmony where Julie looks up at Luke with such love in her eyes and Luke looks down at her and he does his little eyebrow scrunch

Favorite ship: aahhh! juke or willex. Both ships are just so cute I can’t choose

How and why you started the show: I opened Netflix one day, I think the show had been out for like three days already, and it started playing the trailer. I remember it played clips from the edge of great performance, I saw Julie in her butterfly outfit and heard her sing!! And then there was three cute boys! I was like man I gotta watch this!

Why I Love The Show: It just felt so real, funny cause it’s a show with ghosts, but compared to the other kids shows nowadays that seem so fake? Idk if that’s the word but like those cookie cutter shows that feel so scripted. This show just felt different, the acting was so good I forgot I was watching a tv show (if that makes sense?) and I love love LOVE that they we’re actually playing the instruments and singing. The music is SOO good!! there is so much more that I love about it but I don’t want to make the post even longer than it actually it lol. This is just a show I can come back to when I’m feeling down and I know it will give me some comfort.

Tagging: @hollywoodpostclub @trevor-wilson-covington @alexmercermolina @sonsetcurve @sam-i-am612

[punchdrunkdoc]

The King: Eternal Monarch

What follows is a stream-of-consciousness, spoiler-filled bunch of thoughts and theories about TKEM, which I can’t stop obsessing over. I knew it was a mistake to start this show instead of waiting to binge it! It’s the first K-drama I’ve watched in ‘real time’ and the wait between episodes is KILLING ME!!

Overall, though, I’m really enjoying this show. It’s right up my alley (which is why I couldn’t wait to start watching it): magical realism, parallel worlds, time travel, a dashing King and a capable, no-nonsense heroine. The plot is really intriguing and there have been some great twists and genuinely heart-pounding sequences so far. It’s also GORGEOUS to look at and there’s a great streak of humour.

I admit I found the romance a bit lacking at the start. It felt a little rushed, to be honest. I could see why Gon would be instantly smitten with Tae-eul - she’s been in his head for 25 years and when he finally found her, she was smart, spunky and treated him in a refreshingly frank and ‘real’ way - so different from all the fawning adoration he was used to in Corea.

So the fact that it was Tae-eul who was the first to say ‘I love you’ was a little jarring and it seemed to come out of the blue. But I went back and binged just their scenes together for all 12 episodes, and I could see the connection better. 

She comes to realise that fate has dropped this guy in her lap - this amazing, smart, funny, handsome, rich, cool guy - and she also has the sense that it can’t end well between them. So, at first she retreats from him; when she’s in Corea the first time, she keeps asking to see her ID badge - the pretence for her being there and the only thing stopping her from leaving. It’s clear that she’s trying to protect herself. She doesn’t want to get too close to this guy when there is no future. So she leaves without giving him a sense that she returns his feelings in any deep way.

But then she can’t get him out of her head, and has weeks to think about how she left things with him and how she might never see him again (he did go off to battle after all). When he finally returns, and she sees him just standing there in her yard…she decides to go all in. “It is better to have loved and lost…” as the saying goes.

And I like that this is where the show chose to go. It’s not a story about will they/won’t they. It won’t end with them declaring their love. They’ve already done that. This is a show about two people who desperately WANT to be together - and are really great together - but the universe is trying to tear them apart. And I’ve really enjoyed the scenes of them attempting to have a normal life - they’re so easy and natural together and the show has done such a good job, with relatively little screentime, of showing how well they work as a couple. They make each other laugh, they’re impressed by each other, and they can confide and support one another.

And that’s why these last few episodes have been so heartbreaking.

Lets talk about that scene in the bamboo forest, when they briefly reconnected. Tae-eul absolutely broke my heart in this moment. I do wish the show did a better job of conveying how much time passes between Gon’s visits - is it weeks, months?? - but even without a definite timescale, the actress absolutely sold that it had been a significant period of time and she missed him so, so much. It was beautifully done. And it did nothing to advance the plot - it was just a tiny moment to show how much these two love and miss each other. I’m glad the writers have remembered that this show is about the characters as much as its about the Lee Lim/murdering dopplegangers plot.

And then what about this:

When I first saw it, I assumed Gon was crying with grief over his uncle. And I thought it was a nice way of calling back the conversation between PM Koo and Court Lady Noh - that Gon would never cry in front of Koo, proving that she is not the woman for him. But here he is shedding tears with Tae-eul, and bringing her flowers from across the universe.

But now that we know this is Gon from the future, his words and his tears have much, much more poignancy. It’s turned a sad scene into a gut-wrenching one. This felt very much like a last goodbye: bringing her the flowers he never brought, finally being able to tell her how much he loved her, and sharing one final kiss.

So what the hell has happened to this Gon? It appears that he loses Tae-eul at some point…either through her death or some other permanent separation. And why is he in that particular coat? I think it’s his wedding outfit (worn ‘at the most glorious moment’). We know he tends to get ahead of himself - she hasn’t agreed to marry him, but he’s already declared that she is the future Queen, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s already got the royal tailors working on his outfit!

But that brings me to the awful theory that he is marrying PM Koo in the future, which is why he feels the need to have a final moment of closure with Tae-eul. We know Koo has her eye on the crown, and its possible she blackmails him into marriage e.g. by threatening to expose the parallel world.

The other heartbreaking moment in this last episode was the photograph scene. Gon has already worked out that they can’t keep using the gateway between the worlds. Each time they do, time stops for longer and longer (I love that he is a mathematician, and his logical brain figures this stuff out so quickly. Its refreshing to have a lead who knows almost as much as the audience does and you’re not constantly waiting for him to catch up and clue in).  

So during this latest time-freeze, he can’t help but cry. It a lovely juxtaposition with the first time he’s with a motionless Tae-eul. Back then, he was full of wonder at the beauty of the moment. Now, it’s just a reminder that their time together is limited.

Each moment they share together is now touched with bittersweetness and an air of melancholy and its bloody PAINFUL to watch. The angst in this show is tearing my heart out!!

This moment was a bit lighter, and I’m glad they’ve moved their relationship forward in this way. It was a bit ridiculous that they’re in love, finally together in the same world, they both know time is running out…and yet they’re still being so platonic! C’mon, I know this is a k-drama (which are super-PG)…but this was starting to stretch my credulity!

And…wild baseless theory coming up…could she be pregnant as a result?? The doctor made a point of saying she was on antibiotics (which stops birth control working) and there’s a tiny snippet in the trailer where she says ‘I think I’m-‘. So, my mind couldn’t help but go there! Because this show doesn’t have enough angst!!

(Extremely wild, baseless theory number 2…could yo-yo boy be their child? He belongs to both worlds, which would make sense if his parent were from both worlds too…and he has that connection with Luna…

No. I don’t like this theory at all, because he’s obviously not been raised with his parents which means a super-sad ending is coming. And he seems a bit more like a God-like character than a mortal boy, so I’m probably waaaay off track, and I really hope I am).

My last point (and, boy did this get long!) is that I struggle to see how the show can possibly tie everything up in just 4 episodes. We have Lee Lim’s plan that has barely come into play, all the dopplegangers to sort out, Shin-Jae’s background to explore, Lady Noh’s background (!), PM Koo’s ambitions, who saved 8-year old Gon, and of course, how Gon and Tae-eul will resolve their star-crossed lovers thing.

It’s either going to end tragically, or there’ll be loose ends…or they might be setting up a season 2. If that’s the case I’ll be PISSED! One of the reasons I became addicted to K-dramas is how they (usually) tell a complete story in 1 season. There’s a clear, satisfying ending and it doesn’t get dragged out for multiple years. 

There’s also the risk that there won’t BE a season 2. I gather the show is popular on Netflix, but I see things on twitter about it not doing well in South Korea. For such a lavish, expensive show, is a second season even guaranteed?

UGH, I need to have a happy ending guys!

[allthingsfangirl101]

More Than Friends–Dylan O’Brien

Requested by AnsleyRose

"Oh!" Tyler yelled, making us all jump. I looked over and laughed when I saw he was already wasted. "I almost forgot. Before he left, Dylan gave me his present for you."

My heart sank when he reminded me that my best friend wasn't even at my birthday party. When Dylan called to tell me he was stuck in Virginia filming American Assassin and couldn't get away, I tried to act like it didn't bother me, but it did.

I cleared my throat as I took the present out of Tyler's hand and slowly opened it. I sucked in a breath when I tossed the wrapping paper aside to see a blue velvet box. I hesitated before slowly opening it. When I did, my heart jumped into my throat.

"Oh my gosh," I said under my breath, my eyes watering.

"What is it?" Holland asked eagerly.

"It's a locket," I said, my voice getting caught in my throat.

"A locket?" Shelley asked softly.

"I can't believe. . . We saw this at a table at the farmer's market three months ago. When I saw it I. . . I told him that my grandmother used to have one just like it until it was stolen. I can't believe he went back and bought it."

"Wow," Tyler Hoechlin said under his breath.

"That's crazy," Dylan Spraberry said as he chuckled.

"Not that crazy," Posey scoffed. Everyone looked at him with wide eyes.

"What do you mean?" I stuttered, looking around at everyone's nervous faces.

"Come on," Tyler P. laughed. "Does it really surprise you that he did something so extreme? For you?"

"I don't. . ." I stuttered.

"I mean, we all know that he's been in lo. . ."

Before he could finish his sentence, Hoechlin elbowed him hard in his side. "What?" Posey said through his teeth. His eyes widened when he saw the way everyone was looking at him. He slowly looked at me, his eyes just getting bigger. "Oh shit."

"Wait, Dylan's. . ." I stuttered, not able to finish my thought.

"No," Hoechlin jumped in. "He's drunk. You know what Posey's like when he gets drunk. He says things without thinking."

"Things that are usually true," I said under my breath. I looked down at the locket, my eyes filling with tears. "Dylan loves me?" I said too soft for anyone else to hear.

"Hey, Y/N?" I looked up to see Holland watching me closely. "Random question for you," she said, clearing her throat, "do you have feelings for Dylan?"

That question bounced around my brain as I thought about mine and Dylan's relationship.

Dylan and I have always been close. We've been best friends since before he was famous. When he moved to LA, I came with him. I went to hair school while Dylan started filming Teen Wolf. In season 2, he got me a job doing the hair and make up for the entire cast.

Ever since I moved to LA, things have changed. Over the seasons, I've noticed Dylan doesn't go out on the weekends as much. Instead, he stays at home with me. We order a pizza and stay up late watching whatever show we were binging on Netflix.

I asked him why he wasn't going out with the Teen Wolf cast or Maze Runner boys and he laughed.

"I love the guys," he laughed after the tenth time of him spending a weekend with me and not the guys. "But they can be a group of assholes. And sometimes I just want a lazy Saturday night with my best friend."

The night he said that I started to really think about our relationship since I moved to LA with him. We were living together, we spent any free time we had together, and we were closer than before.

"Yes," I finally said. "I think I am."

                       * * * * *

I sat on my bed, nervously bouncing my leg as I looked down at my phone. I wasn't entirely sure what I was waiting for, but I waited. I sighed when I noticed my hands starting to shake. I tossed my phone onto my bed and stood up, starting to nervously pace across my room. I jumped when my phone started ringing. I hesitated before answering it.

"Hey," I said, trying not to sound as nervous as I was.

"Hey, you. How was your birthday? Sorry I couldn't call you yesterday on your actual birthday. We went and filmed one of the scenes in the cabin and we didn't have any service. I would've called you. I swear."

"I trust you," I laughed. I cleared my throat as I reached up and started to fiddle with the locket he gave me.

"Did Tyler give you my present?" He asked. Before I could give him an answer he started rambling. "Maybe I should've given the present to someone who wasn't guilty of always getting drunk at every party. Like Holland. She would've been the better choice. Shit, I should've given it to her."

"Dylan," I cut him off. "Don't worry. Even in his drunken state, Tyler remembered to give me your present."

"Good," he said, letting out a sigh of relief and a soft laugh.

"Dyl," I said, my voice getting caught in my throat as tears formed.

"Y/N? Are you okay? I didn't mean to make you cry. I thought. . ."

"No," I said quickly with a small giggle. "I love it! I mean. . . I can't believe you went back and bought this for me. Dylan, I can't believe you would do something like this for me."

"Really?" He asked, sounding a little weird. "Well," he cleared his throat, "of course I would do something like this for you, Y/N. You're. . . You're my best friend."

"I know," I stuttered. "It's just. . . No one has ever done something like this for me."

"Well," Dylan said, clearing his throat again. "You deserve it."

Silence fell between the two of us, a newfound awkward tension now part of our relationship. And I hated it.

"I gotta go," Dylan said, his voice soft. "We're filming another scene and I have to get down to the costume trailer and. . . I'll call you later."

"Dylan, wait."

My heart dropped into my stomach when he hung up. I slowly pulled my phone away from my ear, tears streaming down my cheeks. I sat on the end of my bed, a sob getting stuck in my throat.

The next few days were hell. Dylan didn't call me like usual. He wouldn't even text me back. Something was going on but I had no idea what it was. There was this tension between the two of us and I didn't know how to get rid of it.

I reorganized the makeup counter for the fifth time today. I didn't acknowledge it when the trailer door opened.

"You okay?"

I looked up at the mirror to see Holland standing in the doorway. I sighed as I turned around and leaned against the counter.

"This whole "Dylan and I not talking" thing is killing me," I said, my voice breaking. She sighed as she walked into the trailer and closed the door.

"This is just temporary," she said gently. "You guys will get passed it once he is no longer all the way in Virginia."

"I don't think the distance is what's going on with us," I sighed as I leaned back against the counter. "We've been apart before. It's just this time. . ."

"Honey," she sighed. "What if there isn't anything going on with you two? I mean, all of this started to happen after Tyler let it slip how Dylan feels about you. And when you realized that you might. . ."

"I do have feelings for Dylan," I cut her off. Her eyes widened when my words hit her.

"Really?" She said excitedly.

"We've been friends since we were kids. He's always been there for me, willing to rush to my side whenever I needed him. Why did it take me so long to realize that every time he stayed up late talking to me, every time he ditched the guys to be with me, every time he sat and held me after a breakup, meant so much more?"

Holland laughed as she wrapped her arms around me. "Y/N, sometimes people don't realize these things."

I broke the hug and immediately wrapped my arms around myself. "What if. . . What if something happens and I lose him?"

"You're not going to lose him, Y/N," she sighed. Just then there was a knock at the trailer door. We turned around to see Tyler standing in the doorway.

"Dylan's back."

We followed him out of the trailer but the second I saw Dylan, my heart dropped. He was standing there, introducing a beautiful woman to the cast. I ignored the looks from Tyler and Holland as I turned on my heel and walked quickly back to the makeup trailer.

                       * * * * *

All day I waited in the makeup trailer for Dylan to come see me but he never did. The longer I waited, the more my heart sank into my stomach.

I looked down and started fiddling with the locket. I sucked in a breath when I just now noticed that the locket opens. I quickly took it off and opened it. When I saw the picture inside the locket, a sob got stuck in my throat.

"Let me guess, you didn't know it opened."

I turned around to see Dylan standing in the doorway with a soft smile on his face. He looked down at the locket in my hand before looking back up at me. Another sob got stuck in my throat as I ran over to him, instantly jumping into his arms. He laughed as he caught me, wrapping his arms around me.

The picture in the locket was the picture our parents took the very first day we met. I was riding my bike when I fell. Dylan's parents unpacked their truck while he played with a basketball. When he saw me fall, he ran across the street and helped me up. He made sure I was okay and hugged me while I cried.

My parents rushed to me and his parents ran across the street. As he calmed me down, our parents talked. My mom invited them over for dinner and before dessert, Dylan and I took that picture.

"That's my favorite picture we've ever taken," he whispered, his arms still wrapped around me. "Whenever I'm away and I start to miss you, I find this picture and it always makes me smile."

I pulled out of the hug, tears still slowly streaming down my cheeks. Before I could think it through, I grabbed his face and pressed my lips to his. I quickly pulled away from him before he could start to kiss me back.

"I'm sorry," I stuttered, slowly letting go of his face. "I shouldn't have. . . I was just. . . Tyler told me. . . Well, he thinks. . . At least everyone else thinks. . . I have terrible timing. You are dating a new girl and I just. . ."

Dylan cut me off by pulling me into his chest and pressing his lips to mine. I moaned into the kiss as I started moving my lips in sync with his.

When we finally broke the kiss, both of us were out of breath. He leaned back, a smile on his face.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too," I said with a small chuckle. His smile widened as he pulled me into him and pressed his lips back to mine.

"Wait," I said, breaking the kiss. "I thought you were with that woman I saw you with earlier. . ."

Dylan laughed as he shook his head. "That woman is Shiva. She plays Annika. She's visiting her boyfriend who's filming a few stages over."

"Oh," I said, my cheeks burning. I looked down at our feet, trying to hide my blush.

"Were you jealous?" He teased as he used his finger to make me look up at him.

"Maybe," I said under my breath.

He smirked as he slowly leaned towards me, his lips hovering next to mine and his breath hitting my face.

"Good."

[dherzogblog]

songs/20

Happy Holidays Everyone! I started making these yearly playlists in 2001 as an attempt to connect with friends in the wake of 911. It was just before the dawn of ITunes, and way before social media. We were not in touch like we are today. I burned dozens of individual cd’s one at a time, printed up customized jewel case covers and snail mailed them all out. It was an annual month-long labor of love. Over the past few years, streaming music has made it much easier and faster to compile and distribute, and frankly much more fun. I still look forward to putting the playlist and blog together and sharing it with all of you. Particularly this year as it gives me a chance to connect with so many friends I haven’t seen in quite some time. It was a tremendously challenging year for all of us. I was grateful to have had my family here in LA the entire time, we remain healthy and well. The west coast Herzogs know just how lucky we have been. The next year will not be without its own challenges, but I'm hopeful we are able to move past this pandemic and the exhausting events of the past 4. More than that, I look forward to seeing each and every one of you in 2021. Until then, be safe, be well, and be good to one another. Enjoy the music.

ox peace, dh

Los Angeles CA. December 2020

Khruangbin - Time (You And I) Don’t ask me to pronounce the name of this eclectic trio from Texas, but this dubby disco tune had me returning to its chilled out groove often during the last few decidedly “un-chill” months. Dreamy and funky, the groove takes me back to NYC’s early 80′s club scene and Ze Records releases from the likes of Kid Creole and Coati Mundi.

Anderson .Paak- Lockdown Scenes from the front, June 2020

.

Bill Withers (1938-2020)- Use Me The legendary Bill Withers left the playing field at the top of his game in the early 80′s, hardly heard from again. And while he didn't pass from Covid, his healing pop hymn Lean On Me seemed to be everywhere as people found music to help them cope with the challenges of the pandemic. Withers left behind a legendary and enduring group of hit songs that moved easily from soul to folk to pop, not to mention the subtle rolling funk of this one.

Black Pumas- Fire Strong debut from an unlikely Austin duo that garnerd both buzz and grammy nods. The critics are calling it “psychedelic soul”. Not quite sure that nails it, but like the artists coming up next, they’re carving out new ground while drawing inspiration from classic sources.

Gabe Lee- Babylon

Marcus King- Wildflowers and Wine

Charley Crockett- Welcome to Hard Times

Three artists that are literally changing the face of Country and Americana music. Soulful, authentic and diverse, reaching back for inspiration but always looking forward. If you like this sort of stuff they are all worth checking out. Each album is filled with quality songs.

Low Cut Connie_ Private Lives Philly’s Low Cut Connie are back at it with a double album that plays like the soundtrack to a boozy night at your favorite bar. Sweaty, funky and not a little bit messy. If Peter Wolf and Bruce had a kid it would be this blue eyed soul boy. Adam Weiner grew up in the shadow of the Jersey shore and can't help but have a bit of that E Street hustle.

Willie Nile- New York at Night One of New York’s beloved adopted  son’s dropped this love letter right into the jaws of a battered metropolis driven to its knees by the pandemic. It was heartbreaking to listen as the “city that never sleeps” came to a full stop. Somehow I still found myself coming back to it, imagining night’s ahead, when NYC is back on its feet and I’m roaming its streets. Looking for music, a beer, or maybe just a slice, and fueled by the irreplaceable energy and promise of the greatest city on earth.

The Long Ryders- Down to The Well Americana pioneers the Long Ryders reunited last year for a surprisingly solid album. This single sounds like it could have been recorded during their 80′s heyday featuring their trademark Byrds like jangle and harmonies, but the lyrics mark this song as unmistakably 2020.

The Speedways- Kisses Are History UK power pop outfit reach back to the the 60′s on this sweet slice of retro pop perfection.

Billie Joe Armstrong- That Thing You Do

In the early days of the pandemic we had all our kids (+ a significant other) at our house for a few months. It worked out great and we were luckier than most. The biggest issue was keeping enough food, weed and wine around.  There were some great nights with amazing meals, followed by gathering around the TV together. We re-watched The Sopranos, binged Billy On The Street, and revisited some of our favorite movies. One night we went back to a old family favorite, Tom Hanks’ underrated love letter to the one hit wonders of the post Beatles era, That Thing You Do!  I’ve seen the movie several times and it never fails to please. A true feel good film and a perfect Kodak snapshot capturing a simpler time in American pop culture. 

While we watch the unlikely chart topper’s The Oneders  fizzle as fast as they rose to fame, its not really the point. The movie is really an old fashioned love story. Playing like a perfect hit song you can listen to over and over, full of both hooks and heart. I always thought the title track, written by Fountains Of Wayne leader Adam Schlesinger  (who we lost to Covid), brilliantly captured the British Invasion sound every group wanted after The Beatles stormed America. Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong must agree. During the pandemic he cut an album’s worth of cool covers including a faithful version of this one.

Gerard Way (W/Judith Hill - Here Comes the End A tale of discovering music in 2020:  Heard this on a Netflix trailer for the series The Umbrella Factory. Turns out it is performed by Gerard Way (My Chemical Romance) who also writes the comic book the series is based on. (got all that?) He’s joined on this searing garage/psych rave up by the talented and versatile Judith Hill doing her best Merry Clayton.

Hinds- Spanish Bombs I’ve been following this Madrid based, all female outfit of punky garage rockers for a few years now. I think they are pretty great. This track, recorded for a Joe Strummer tribute bursts with an unbridled joy the stone faced and politically minded Clash could never muster. I bet Joe would love it though

The Secret Sisters- Hand Over My Heart Have enjoyed their harmonies for some time now. This one gives me vague Wilson Phillips vibes and I don’t really mind. 

Tame Impala- Breathe Deeper I know I’m supposed to like this guy, all the cool kids do, I’ve even seen the band at Coachella. Over the years very little of the music has stuck to me, but the pandemic offered a bit more free time to dig into this funky dubby, chilled out jam, and it stuck with me. Not to mention that 2020 was all about deep breaths.

Ledisi (feat.Corey Henry)- What Kind of Love Is That Ledisi is back with some slinky, sultry R&B and jazzy vocals

Dinner Party- FreezeTag An R&B/Jazz collective featuring Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper, 9th Wonder and Kamasi Washington use sweet soul on heartbreaking and all too familiar tale..

Toots and The Maytals- Time Tough  I’ve written an awful lot about my love for Reggae over the years. Right after Bob Marley kicked the door down for me, Toots showed me around the house. Ska, rock steady, and roots. He was true reggae royalty and sadly we lost him to Covid, just after he released what would be his last album. Check my Toots tribute blog and playlist.

Mungo’s Hi Fi- The Beat Goes SKA! These clever UK roots reggae collective never fail to surprise. This kitschy Sonny & Cher cover managed to make me smile every time I heard it. No mean feat in 2020

Stone Foundation (feat. Durand Jones)- Hold on To Love Frequent collaborators with Paul Weller  (he appears on a track on the album), Stone Foundation are back with another batch of their UK soul revival stylings. This one features Durand Jones ( of Durand Jones & The Indications) on vocals and some great reggae style horns at the top.

The Pretenders- You Can’t Hurt A Fool Can’t resist a good torch song, especially sung by the smokey voiced Chrissie Hynde. Was kind of shocked at how many good songs were on this album.

Shelby Lynne_ Don’t Even Believe in Love Sultry country soul and one of her strongest albums in awhile.

Jaime Wyatt- Neon Cross Outlaw country has a new bad girl. And in case you didn’t think she was serious, she enlisted producer Shooter Jennings (and his mom Jessi Colter on one track) to help make her point. 

Daniel Donato- Justice 25 year old guitar prodigy call his music “cosmic country”.  Ok, now I’m listening. You should be too.

The Jayhawks- This Forgotten Town 30 plus + after their debut this Twin Cities alt country group led by founding member Gary Louris continue to deliver. They find their inner Neil Young on this one.

Lucero- Time To Go Home God I wish I was in a bar right now listening to this, even if I might be crying in my beer.

John Prine (1946 -2020)- Lake Marie We lost so many this year, but this one really stung. A true American songwriting treasure, who was still making great music against all odds right up to his untimely passing. His songs are known for their simplicity, and economy of words. but this one goes against the grain. I’m still not exactly certain what it’s about. Sorrowful and haunting, yet somehow uplifting and redemptive. I heard him perform it live here in Los Angeles a just over a year ago and it has stuck in my head ever since. There is surely a place in heaven for the great John Prine.  He sang about it on his final studio album in 2018. Ironically it became the last song on his last record.

Thanks for making it this far....

***Play the entire songs/20 Spotify playlist HERE!***

[darknessismynewfriend]

I'm Going To Scream

It's like the world is slamming representations and signs of him in my face

Everywhere I turn I see a sign of the military

Specifically the Marines

Of Brazil

Engagement

Or marriage

Even at moments voodoo

I see guys that look alarmingly like him but also not quite

Constantly

People randomly bring him up to me

When if asked they say they don't normally talk about him they just felt like bringing him up to me

I asked if normally he's talked about in my group of friends and they say they don't really talk about him ever and yet with me they always seem to bring him up

I wear beautiful gold and diamond rings

Three of them

One is a pearl

But people only ever seem to comment on my silver metal bracelet with a marbled pink stone with a white flower in the center

By all intents and purposes it's not nearly as pretty as the gold, diamonds and pearl

And yet it's the only thing that people comment on

It's a bracelet he gave me

I purposely avoid listening to the radio to prevent myself from hearing our song come on even though it's not a popular song

My alarm clock went off the other day and was on the radio setting of a popular in-trend music station

The song that finally woke me up was our song

Once again it wasn't super popular when it came out

Obviously I freaked out and immediately shut it off

I was watching a trailer on Netflix for To All The Boys I Ever Loved

A show I had been avoiding seeing even the trailer for, for no particular reason

Other than it seemed like it had the possibility of being cheesy

A minute or two into the trailer a familiar set of chords start to play but I didn't notice because I was too enraptured in the plot of the trailer

It seemed like a surprisingly good story

I was mildly regretting not having watched it sooner

However a nagging at the back of my head started to get louder

There was something familiar

Then I noticed the song when the chorus got loud enough instead of the talking being the focus

I instantly screamed "oh my God!" several times in fear as my throat started to close and the overwhelming need to cry started to override everything else as I physically yanked my earphones from my head

I was having a panic attack one day and I tried to go down a side area of a building at school to hide and cry alone

I first went down the right and saw a beautiful mural with jungle around the edges of the wall and pretty heart shaped red flowers all over with the sky in the center, pretty and blue, with a big red heart with a banner

My first thought was that the mural was pretty

I then saw the banner and wondered what it said

I looked and it read "Engagement Center"

It stung to see, dredging up memories, so I turned in a bit of a fury and decided to go down the left side of the building

As I did so I was thinking to myself that there is no way there could be something triggering on this side of the building with these offices, that would just be too cruel I was thinking in delirious amusement

I stopped in front of the offices similar to the ones I had just left and slowly with caution turned my head

It read "Veterans Center"

The next day I was walking into school having mostly forgotten about what happened that previous day or at least trying to ignore it

And as I'm heading to class two Marines walk right past me

Obviously this made me freeze up for a few seconds in cold fear of yet again the memories dredging up

How unfair that the day after I got one of my biggest signs I get yet another one

I really wish I was making this up

When all of this started I had no idea how much would keep slamming into me

I had been watching a TV show called Married With Children in an attempt to keep my mind off of him

It's an old show from the late nineties that definitely should have absolutely nothing and no one that would remind me of him

But instead on one of the first episodes I watched the daughter who is very much the stereotype for a dumb slut

Went to an audition for a part in a show and was failing at getting the role and ended up talking about her family that was very odd

The producers found it interesting, lied to her saying they're going in a different direction and made the TV show using her family as the premise

She only finding out about this when she was watching the "New show" with her family and it started to depict them all rather unflatteringly

They asked how she described herself and she said she was a Harvard graduate, did everything in the house, only one with sense and was the main breadwinner

But instead the producers having paid attention to how she was in the interview depicted her accurately so when she came out on the show she walked down from the stairs dressed in skimpy clothing asking her father for some money for her and her guests to go to the mall because they got hungry

Seconds later a line of men, one from each branch of the military, walked down the stairs after her

The very first one being a Marine

I'm positive, I know those camo's, I've sadly memorized them by now

He even had the audacity to even look like him

I thought that would be the only instance of something reminding me of him happening and that it wouldn't happen again

But clearly I was wrong

More instances keep popping up every day

I see commercials for the military all the time either asking to enlist or for you to send food or money out

I randomly have been meeting way more and seeing way more people in the military

I watch a TV show that should have absolutely nothing to do with the military and yet for some reason, suddenly in said show, they are going to be feeding their US Marines or helping feed their US Military

Or by chance on one of the cooking shows like Diners Drive Ins and Dives one of the owners or cooks or patrons that they talked to by chance managed to be an ex marine or an ex military veteran

I watch a written TV show that is about drama or action and somehow a Marine character specifically manages to be in the show

Several times

In several different shows

A friend recently told me how he likes me, has liked me for a long time. And wants to possibly date me

This made me conflicted on even the idea but then again I did have a crush on this person for two and a half years

The next day when my alarm clock woke me up three songs came on that I associate with him

Granted not our song but three songs that I strongly associate with moments that revolve around him

They came on in a row

One after the other

When the first one came on, I said it was nothing

Pure chance

The second one that came on I said it was a coincidence

That it didn't matter

By the third I had no choice but to accept it was probably the universe purposely slamming me in the face because three is a pattern

For the first time in months since he broke up with me I recently tried to listen to the radio

I have been avoiding it because of the chance of our song possibly coming on but I figured time had passed and it was probably extremely unlikely it would even come on since it wasn't very popular

The second song that came on it was ours

Unsurprisingly I freaked out and switched stations

I met someone recently who is amazing and she is a great friend already we relate a lot to each other and are just in general very similar

She after I told her a little bit about him took a couple of seconds and suddenly yelled out his name

I didn't realize it but I hadn't said his name up until that point

So when she yelled, it startled me

She then told me that she knew him, that she had talked to him quite a bit last year

That he seemed very sardonic and sarcastic and had a dry sense of humor but that after a while he started to seem a little happier and he would often talk about how he had gotten a girlfriend he really liked

What are the chances that a new friend that I was connecting very well with apparently knew him already

I go on YouTube and I watch videos and randomly I get notifications for Brazilian recipes for desserts made by a real Brazilian

I never look up anything Brazilian on YouTube or even the Internet in general and yet for some reason that was being shot into my feed

I watch a video about cheating exes and the guy who starts talking says that he came from Brazil

I watch Marvel's Cloak-and-Dagger thinking it's a superhero show that seems to have nothing to do with anything that could remind me of him but then it turns out that it's a show based in New Orleans with a heavy voodoo theme

That's not even counting the large amount of times that I've seen things revolving around engagement or marriage whether it be an engagement show or a show about a married couple or a show about wedding dresses

For some reason more than normal it seems like they are predominant

[theladylabyrinth]

Come Away With Me

So, this is my first ever fan fiction, and it is a rea person fic. I know they are controversial and a lot of people find them uncomfortable, so if you don’t like it, please feel free to keep scrolling. I personally enjoy imagining the healthy and joyful relationship that these two have in my own way.

Huge shout out to @paperlesscrown for beta‘ing and encouraging me to write this idea, and to @jandjsalmon for beta’ing for me as well (the queen of editing!) I wouldn’t have done this if it hadn’t been for you two!

“We can walk it back later. We can and we will.” Lili delivered the line as she wiped a very real tear from her cheek. Cole had been eating lunch at craft services after finishing up his scenes for the day, and he was waiting for Lili to finish up as well so they could head home together.

However, he had gotten distracted from his sandwich when he heard the broken sound of Lili’s voice as Betty, speaking to KJ as Archie. His heart broke as he watched her swipe at her red-rimmed eyes and tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. When the director finally called “cut” on the scene, she took a deep, shaky breath and KJ gave her a bear hug and said something that made her laugh before walking off to head back to his trailer. Cole smiled a little to see his girlfriend’s spirits lifted, even momentarily. He stayed back for a moment to let her collect herself before walking softly to her and offering a hand to lead her back to her trailer.

They walked in silence, Cole knowing that Lili would need the time and fresh air to separate herself from the heartbreak her character was experiencing. When they got to her trailer door, he went inside with her and sat on her couch and scrolled instagram while she changed and washed her face, only speaking when she started collecting her things in her bag to go home.

“Hey Lil, you doing ok?”

“Yeah…Yeah, I am,” she said with a somewhat-forced smile, much less bright than the usual 100-watt grin reserved just for him. “It’s just that this episode has taken so much out of me. I’m just ready to get home and rest ASAP.”

They still had several days left of filming that episode, so Cole was a little worried. Even the table read had had a few cast members dabbing at their eyes. But he knew that Lili’s anxiety had been worse since the Teen Choice Awards. The time on the red carpet, on stage, and the exposure at the airport as they headed back to Vancouver right away had taken a lot of energy out of her. To be filming this challenging episode right away couldn’t be easy on her, but he hoped that some relaxing and Netflix plus a good night’s sleep would help her get back to herself.

Cole stayed quiet on the way home and even as they entered their apartment, giving her her space. Lili dropped her things, immediately heading to the bathroom. He heard the bath water start to run and he put the kettle on and got down a mug and a bag of her favorite tea. A half hour later, Lili emerged from the bathroom wearing her favorite white button down that he’d worn at Coachella along with light blue panties that he could just barely see the edges of underneath his shirt. Her hair was in a messy bun and her soft skin was pink and splotchy from the hot water. She smelled of chamomile and lavender. He smiled as he handed her the mug of tea and pulled back the throw on the couch for her to snuggle into him. He had queued up Stranger Things, and as she nestled into his side, she murmured a soft “thank you”. He kissed the top of her head in response and draped his arm over her waist as she sipped the perfectly cooled tea.

No sooner than she’d finished the mug and set it on the coffee table, he heard her soft breaths even out and he knew she was out for the night. He gently extricated himself from underneath her, and turned to lift her off the couch bridal-style and deposited her into their bed. She had hardly stirred even with all his awkward movements, and he hoped that this deep sleep would help her to wake up feeling refreshed and ready to start over.

Cole had the next day off and he’d spent it at home, doing his best to recover from his own anxiety after the Teen Choice Awards. He took a walk to take a few pictures around Vancouver and played video games, and even called his brother to catch up.

He had felt a little better that morning since Lili had woken up with a smile and left for work with her usual pep back in her step. She seemed more herself and he hoped her scheduled scenes for the day would be less taxing than yesterday’s. He knew she had a night shoot that evening so he didn’t wait up for her. After hitting a bar down the street with friends, he crashed in their bed and sleep found him quickly, for which he was thankful because he had to be on set bright and early.

However, his dreams of sleep were crushed a few hours later when he awoke to see that the clock read 4 am. More alarming, however, was the sound of quiet sobbing coming from the living room.

Cole flung his legs out of bed and padded softly into the living room where he saw his beautiful girlfriend on the patio with the throw from the couch wrapped around her, her small frame shaking slightly as she sobbed and hiccupped into her folded arms.

Cole knew better than to ask what was wrong. He knew she had had to shoot late into the night and may have only been home for a hour or two. He quietly took his place next to her on the floor of the balcony and asked, “Which scene?”

Lili lifted her head and smeared her sleeve across her eye. He noticed that she hadn’t even bothered to wash off her Betty make up before leaving set - something he had never seen Lili forget to do. After a few moments of silence between them, punctuated only by her breath catching on its way in and out of her body, she whispered, “the bus stop.”

Cole nodded his understanding and wrapped his arm around her shoulder to pull her into his chest. He had seen her rehearse that scene and even then his heart had wrenched at her pain. He knew her acting was phenomenal, but he also knew that the emotions she portrayed on screen came from a very real place inside her, as he was the one who saw the aftermath of every scene, including the most difficult.

He thought several months back to when they filmed episode one and, more specifically, her scene with KJ where Betty confronted Archie about his feelings for her. Cole and Lili had just begun to get to know each other then, but when he had come across her sobbing in Betty’s pink homecoming dress behind one of the set props, he sat down by her and wordlessly let her sink into him and cry until she was done, and then he walked her back to her trailer, using every quirky joke he had to try and bring a smile back to her face on the way.

A moist feeling on his chest brought him back to the present, and he realized that Lili’s tears had slowly soaked through the sweatshirt he’d worn to bed. Only when the cool night air hit the wet spot and gave him a chill did he realize that Lili was shivering behind her sobs, and he gently helped her to her feet and into the bathroom to help her get ready for bed. He sat dozing outside the door while she showered, and brushed her hair silently when she came out wearing his t shirt from that day with her favorite sleep pants. She climbed into bed with him and, with a shaky breath, she let sleep consume her instantly. As he watched her face slip into a peaceful expression, he realized that that was the first time he had seen her calm and happy in days. And it was then that he knew he had to do something to take her away from this when it was over.

The last scene either Lili or Cole had to film for the episode was their scene together at Pop’s. As he sat across from her and spoke his lines, he knew the anguish he saw on Betty’s face was actually Lili’s. She had thrown herself into this episode so passionately, and even as his heart swelled with pride for her incredible talent, it also ached for her. Between takes, his mind wandered to the backseat of his Jeep where his red suitcase sat full of both of their most comfortable clothes to last them the weekend. He had had to sneak it out while Lili was still asleep that morning, and hid it underneath the blue woven blanket he kept in the back. One last time before filming again, his mind ticked through all the reservations he’d made to make sure that everything this weekend would run smoothly and be a balm to Lili’s anxiety.

A while after filming, he emerged (de-juggified) from his trailer to meet Lili and as he walked toward her across the parking lot where their trailers sat, he was grateful that he’d planned their little surprise getaway. Her feet dragged the ground and her normally glowing face was sunken and marred by heavy bags under her eyes. When she met him he slung her bag off her shoulder and onto his in one fluid motion, and took the brunt of her weight as she sunk into him. He turned them both in the direction of the Jeep, and as he opened her door for her to climb in, she finally spoke in a small, tired voice.

“Can we please go to Taco Bell for dinner? I really need a soft taco. And one of your famous Baja blast margaritas.”

Cole smirked sheepishly and responded, “Taco Bell sounds great, but we’ll have to save the margaritas for another time. I may be quite the scoundrel but I don’t drive with open containers in the car.”

Lili’s brow furrowed in confusion. “What the hell are you talking about? We’re just going home…aren’t we?”

Cole thought about how to spring the news on her as he put the Jeep in drive and turned around to back out of his parking spot. He hadn’t really gotten to that part in his plans, so he decided to just come out with it. “Well, actually, we’re going to Whistler. You’ve just been so exhausted this week with filming this episode and I thought it seemed like you could use an escape from the Couv for a while. If you don’t feel up to traveling though, I totally understand. I can call and cancel everything, though all I really reserved was the hotel and dinner because I wanted you to be able to deci-“

Cole’s nervous rambling was cut off when Lili choked out a sob next to him. He slammed the brakes on his coast through the parking lot but before he could start apologizing, Lili mustered up the last of her energy to lunge across the gearshift to give him a salty, tearful kiss. She leaned back to her seat and wiped tears from her eyes as she grinned stupidly.

Cole sat frozen in the driver’s seat with a confused but optimistic smile. “So the vacation was a good idea?” he tried tentatively after a few breaths.

“Yes, Cole, this is the sweetest, most considerate thing anyone’s ever done for me! Thank you so much, seriously, you have no idea how badly I need to leave Vancouver right now. But we have to stop at the apartment so I can pack - I don’t have anything! I don’t have any clothes or my moisturizer, I-“

Now it was Cole’s turn to cut Lili off with a soft, smiling kiss. “Don’t worry, love. Everything has been taken care of. I promise. Do you trust me?”

“Absolutely,” Lili replied with a smile and one final overjoyed tear.

“Good.” Cole smirked confidently and took off once again, his destination plugged into Google Maps, and his hand on the thigh of the sweet blonde next to him who drifted off to a peaceful sleep before they hit the interstate.

[ramenfallsbutnotudon]

Riverdale Raw Thoughts

Binge watched Riverdale last night as my Netflix membership for the month was expiring. (Not renewing again until early November to watch S2 The Crown and other stuff I’m waiting on) - Like I literally stayed up from 9 pm to 6 pm this morning watching the show straight and then went to bed and woke up at noon.

Cheesy dialogue aside, it was pretty great for what it was.

But it suffered from the same thing Scream Queens did - interesting core plot, but cheesy cringy writing and too many pop culture references to pander to their target audience demographic (I’m assuming 18-34)

Wishy-washy social commentary: 

FP Jones ain’t shit but Jughead has a cute beenie and is sensitive so he’s a-okay.

 Alice Cooper grew up on the “wrong side of the tracks” but married well so now she’s determined to keep south side trash out by joining the “neighborhood watch” and using her white woman hood, white feminism and ‘come-uppance’ privilage to publish edgy think pieces.

Betty Cooper has some pent up rage that is sorta overlooked because it was “for good” (doing it for the girls and trying to get revenge for Polly - and because the guy was Black, thinly veiled anti-blackness) until it isn’t overlooked but simply mentioned . Then she initally starts using Jughead and Jughead calls it out and she kind of agrees and says she has “darkness” in her - until something happens again and she decides to “let the darkness out” and be selfish and blame it on something else again.

Jughead getting dealt a piss poor hand, being okay at the South Side school (he’s a gang member - arguably gang leader or liutenant’s son...of course he’s fine jesus fucking christ Riverdale) until the trio of good show up to...talk to him and comfort him? and they realize he’s fine.

Betty making a white feminist speech about the town needing to do better because yes although her boyfriend’s dad is a Serpent he’s a good person and although her parents told her to shut her mouth she feels it’s the right thing to do. [She actually did not care about the Serpents before and her buds Veronica and Kevin  heckled them during the last drive in movie screening.but whatevs] After the speech she has no solution or propsed ways the town can “do better” and there’s this awkward silence and everyone’s favorite punching bag has to clap it up so people blindy accept that lackluster speech. (I don’t expect a teenage girl to fix the towns problems but if you wanted to tackle the issue and get people talking shouldnt’t you also have some thoughts other than people not being mean to your boyfriend?)

Jughead not having shit and the gang seeing him enter the trailer with a girl and (maybe wanting to keep a pg 13 rating) stop him before their steamy make out session leads to something more give him a jacket to become a serpent and Betty is angry that he’s trying to survive and embracing the gang life that he’s essentially grown up around and will be surrounded by until he comes of age.

Archie’s dad’s forhead. my god. not social commentary but damn it bugged me.

Archie and his hottie teacher banging without impuity and her being allowed to quietly leave after obviously being a predator and dangerous person. (did they ever give her back her gun??? IS that what Alice uses when Hal breaks back in? Did Hal ever mention he stole the evidence to the sheriff even after it came to light FP was innocent?)

Archie wanting the pussy cat’s to use his song so he manipulates one of the band members (Valerie), dates her, uses their connections, ignores her, and when she dumps him and tells him why he isn’t shit he somehow doesn’t get it.

Valerie being acceptable to date because she has blue eyes and light skin but she’s rarely heard from when she’s no longer helping archie’s ‘music career’ but simply dating him.

Archie playing along with Cheryl’s crazy ass family “for his music” as an excuse to be selfish.

Archie trying to be a tortured soul when his dad point blank asked him why he’s lying if he wants music that’s cool it’s just unstable; someone else (Veronica I think?) kind of saying why are you being like this no one is making you choose between Football and music; someone bringing up he was only music when he was banging his hottie teacher; the football team heckles him once but they seen he’s Troy Bolton & they accepted him - everyone fucking accepted him but himself like christ and he spent the whole season searching for validation of his self worth in women and girls.

Just Archie I mean christ lmfao. You don’t like Betty, You make out with Veronica, you decide your really into your hottie music teacher and manipulate her into music lessons (although she manipulated the hell out of him as well), when your dad starts getting a boner for her you try to cut contact with her short, people find out, you decide the pussy cats are your answer, they explain they are black and because of the culture they have had to fight hard and they can’t have a white man just step in and run shit, archie the white man steps in and runs shit, archie breaks them up, Archie says he can’t perform alone and manipulates Valerie playing on her insecurities to leave the band, archie decides “he was wrong” and Veronica decides to help him, he ditches Veronica because he looked within himself and realized he wasn’t shit, he patronizes jughead and only resumes their rocky friendship because he wanted him to keep the secret about him banging their hottie teacher, he’s semi jealous that jughead is dating Betty, archie then really wants Veronica and wants to make sure Betty isn’t jealous. He keeps playing the hero...something which probably got his dad killed at the end - If there’s a s2 I haven’t seen it yet)

Veronica Lodge is hella famous by name and it’s a small town everyone knows who she is and she even points out that she expected more people to talk to her and acknowledge her divine presence but Kevin is like “lol you got overshadowed by another rich person’s death” /s but... Ethel Muggs truly has no fucking idea who she is? No incling? No rumors? Is she really that much of a rock-dweller?

The whole incest baby thing....the josef mengele joke...the fact that Jason and Cheryl were twins.....the eugenics joke when Cheryl’s face says them damn well know they practice eugenics and ethic breeding and need to keep up the “blossom apperance” (Her dad’s red wigs, using Archie as a stand-in for Jason...but I digress -  just touch on the topic to sound edgy and draw controversy but leave it shallow eh?)

The whole “lol let’s ship our pregnant daughter away to a literal convent in 2017 because I was shipped to a convent in the late 80′s early 90′s- but why is she mad at me I love her I’d never do anything to hurt her like ambushing her and having her dragged away against her will as an underage expecting teenager lol”

Hyping big bad black football player up to fuck shit up at Archie’s party and in reality he kinda did...nothing? lmao  (a la Jughead’s aminous V.O. about “no one expected what happened at that party” or some shit )

The whole “the sins of the father don’t or shouldn’t reflect on the daughter” but Veronica gets away scott free essentially and Cheryl literally loses everything because I mean fuck those Blossoms amirite lololol /S

Archie looked like Jason, got his number initially before retiring it (lol kind of insensitive to have his doppleganger become team captain for plot purposes later on ) and the Blossoms essentially used him because he mirrored Jason at the tapping ceremony.

The name Hermione Lodge lmfao she’s not old enough for the HP book reading mom boom.

Hermione Lodge and Hiram Lodge’s intials on that stupid fucking bag.

Veronica being rich and intelligent but her morals making her real fucking dumb. (I wanna go home but I also wanna coddle everyone my daddy hurt but I still wanna be rich lol but I’m implicating my mom and she’s literally begging and pleading me to stop and having crying fits but lol justice and my chanel bags hahaha and I’m gonna go clubbing and shopping even though my mom is working as a waitress and flirting with her old hs boyfriend to secure a job so we can continue to float and not drown and not be taken down by the families my dad hurt lololol omg archie is a hot prince harry hipster ginger amirite lololol the met gala lalala rich girl things new york lol)

The whole plot demand that Veronica win the impromptu HBIC dance off when big red Cheryl actually killed that shit and Veronica danced like a fucking robot.

ARCHIE HURT HIS HAND PLAYING FOOTBALL AND CRACKING THICK ICE WITH HIS BARE BLOODY KNUCKLES HOW DOES THE GINGER WONDER STILL HAVE USE OF THAT HAND ? The body heals but it’s never the same after repeated exposed trama’s to the same area in a short period of time.

.....I’ve ranted enough about this and I didn’t even mean to.

The last two episodes seemed to have been steamrolled for the sake up tying up loose ends to create a cliffhanger for another season.

Again, good for what it was....but... I truly enjoyed that the real villian was capitalism. Good job millenials.

 (not sarcasm. Capitlaism destroyed Jughead’s future a la his father FP and Fred Andrews - The Coopers and the Blossoms - Josie McCoy’s mom - “Criminal” capitalism Hiram Lodge ruining his associates lives, the small town not working for everyone -  Archie’s mom moving (after seperation), Jughead’s mom moving, Veronica’s mom moving back because she can survive in their economy on the nest money Hiram left....) etc etc

These small cosy “uppercrust white” town just isn’t safe anymore.

I mean have you seen that new negro mayor? That wealthy latina woman and her daughter?That negro coach and his star player son?

Remember - without Capitalism there is no social inequality, systematic racism, white supremacy, classism, etc etc

(also my personal issues with one of the actors colored this a bit biased....but on how things went it was cool.)

Also our culture has a real hardon for the 1950s eh? I know it’s based on the Archie Comics but Stranger Things, 13 Reasons Why...other media where we’re going for the small town america aesthetic and “traditional values” and sprinkling in some social issues and people of color for kicks.

On to season 2 I guess lol.

Don’t put too much stock into my raw thoughts, I just think shows (especially in our current political climate and reality) should commit to what they really want.

[cupcakeshakesnake]

Watching The Pilot for the first time

Series 10, here we go.

-The first episode of Series 10.  So we could say this is the...  PILOT episode

-I’m sorry. That joke doesn’t work, I know.

---Spoilers ahead!---

-Ooh, is this Bill’s theme? I like it?

-TARDIS!!

-Why is it out of order though...

-Oh my god he has a photo of River Song on his desk ;-;

-And oh god is that Susan

Sonic screwdrivers! Did he keep all his sonic screwdrivers after all this time?

-The guitar again!

-Two minutes in and I’m already losing track of the dialogue

-Fifty years... So the Doctor’s been laying low again, has he?

-”Poetry, physics, same thing.”  You know what, I bet he didn’t even get hired through the normal procedure, he just walked in one day telling everyone he was the new professor, or even an old professor who left and decided to return, and he just bullshitted his way through any and all obstacles he came across during his stay

-”How is it the same?”  “Because of the rhymes.”  Let’s see,  poetry  physics  Yep, doesn’t rhyme.

-Oh Doctor...

-”I don’t care who’s dying, never ever be late, I’m very particular about time.”  Says the guy who was twelve years late when he said five minutes once.

-”Doctor what?”

-*cue changed intro logo DOCTOR WHAT*

-Okay, the intro visuals seem to have changed a little, but the melody sounds unchanged.

-OH SHIT IT’S MOFFAT

The inside of his coat is blue now?

AKA the pain of frame-by-frame or stopmotion animation

-Is Moffat trying to get us scared of slowmotion

-I feel like the students are very confused as to what to take notes of

-”Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, in means life.”  I thought your granddaughter made that up?

-BILL BE QUIET WHEN YOU’RE SNEAKING

-SNEAKING IS SUPPOSED TO BE QUIET

-There we go.

-WHAT THE

-NOPE

-I don’t like background music, it says jumpscare music

-It’s scary music

-Thank goodness, no jumpscares

-SCARY MUSIC AGAIN

-WHAT THE FUCK

-WHAT THE FUCK

-WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK

-MOFFAT’S NOT TRYING TO GET US SCARED OF SLOW MOTION, HE’S TRYING TO GET US SCARED OF PUDDLES

-Aw, she gave him a Christmas present

Look at those poor paper crowns trying to hold all that hair omygosh

-”With some people you can smell the wind in their clothes”  I guess it’s supposed to be more philosophical, but for me that reminds me of how people have the cold air around them when they just came in from outside.

-R.I.P. Bill’s mom.

-”But if someone’s gone, do pictures really help?”  That glace he makes at the photos on his desk.  At his wife and granddaughter.  That, is just heartbreaking.

Hey, Moffat, do you have a heart, because you’re breaking mine with fictional photographs

the FUCK

-So the Doctor, took a picture of the mother, of a student that he is currently teaching, back when said student wasn’t even born?

-Eyyy he’s using the rug

-But did he really tilt the Tardis himself to put a rug under it?  I mean, it’s incredibly light compared to its actual size, but it’s still a phone box. Sure, if someone ran at full speed and slammed their body against it that might give it a good jolt or even make it fall over but...

-There’s something deeply unsettling about that girl’s stare

WHOA BITCH

-REMIND ME TO NEVER STEP IN EVERY PUDDLE THAT I SEE EVER AGAIN

-Well the Doctor certainly knows how to escape silently...

His clothes are blue now!

-You’re blue now! That’s my attack!

-Cue Twelfth Doctor theme, woohoo!

-”Why do you run like that?”  “Like what?”  “Like a penguin with its ass on fire.”  “Ergonomics.”  Human factors and ergonomics (commonly referred to as HF&E), also known as comfort design, functional design, and systems,[1 is the practice of designing products, systems, or processes to take proper account of the interaction between them and the people who use them. (Source: Wikipedia)

-PAHAHAJHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA

-BEST LINE TEN OUTTA TEN

-I’VE BEEN LAUGHING FOR THIRTY SECONDS NOW

-Ahahahahaha hah ahahaha ha ha

-Brilliant.

What’s with the burn marks on the ground

-”Do you know any scifi?”  “Bitch, I AM scifi.”

-Possession usually has to do with fantasy or horror, not scifi...

-”There’s this thing on Netflix. Lizards in people’s brains.”  First Pokemon, now Netflix. BBC REALLY doesn’t care.

-What’s the show though, it sounds interesting.

-” So, you meet a girl with a discolored iris and your first thought is she might have a lizard in her brain? I can see I'm going to have to up my game.“

-Doctor Who dialogue just gets better and better

-Actually, you can sorta see your face the ‘right way’ if you align two mirrors together so they’re perpendicular. The middle line might stand out, but you’re looking at your face the way anyone else sees it. The elevator in my apartment building has three reflective sides, so I can see my ‘right’ face quite often. I just have to stare at a corner of said elevator.

-They’re finally getting to the burn marks, thank you.

-”Tutorial's over, take the night off. It's all cancelled. Go and be a proper student. Texts, snogging, a vegan wrap.” How does any of that make me a proper student

-”Oh, it's just some freak optical effect. I'm bored already.”  Like hell you are

SHIT

-IT’S NOT FUNNY LAPIS

-oh shit she’s alone in the flat

You could’ve gone to the kitchen and grabbed a knife

-But then, an umbrella is bigger and easier to wield and is great at deflecting water, so, not bad I guess

-Well I’m still getting myself a knife

-That’s it, I’m sitting in front of the monitor with a kitchen knife in my hand

-WHOA BITCH

DON’T BLINK.

-oh shit

-OH SHIT

-OH SHIT

-DON’T SAY HELLO TO YOUR POSSESSED GHOST FRIEND

-OH GOD THIS IS MIDNIGHT ALL OVER AGAIN

IT’S MIDNIGHT AND WATERS OF MARS ALL OVER AGAIN

-WHOA HIT

-shit shit shit shit SHIT

-EYY BIGGER ON THE INSIDE MOMENT

-EYY THE BIT FROM THE TRAILER

“Well, that’s a first...”

-So the Tardis does have a bathroom. After all these years. After FIFTY-FOUR years, the BBC finally gives us the answer no one really asked for but everybody kind of wanted anyway.

-”Human alert, do you want me to repel her?”

-”Oh, my God! This isn't just a room, is it?”  “No, it's not just a room.”  “This is a lift!”  “...wELL oKAY tHeN”

-”It’s bigger on the inside than it is on the outside!”  “Heh-hey! We got there!”

-HahAhahahaha

-”Well, first you have to imagine a very big box fitting inside a very small box. Then you have to make one. It's the second part people normally get stuck on.”

-Of course, one could always scumple the big box and stuff it inside the small box, but then, the big box wouldn’t be big anymore, would it?

-”If it had work to do, why would it lie around in a puddle?”  “I don't know. Maybe it's a student?”  So it’s too afraid of life and consequences and generally overwhelmed by the looming weight of its duties to get itself to do anything?

-Wait, is the the room Bill followed them into earlier?

-RUN

-IT’S A BANSHEE AS WELL AS A MIDNIGHT CREATURE AND A WATER MONSTER

ah yes the three primary colors (not to mention Misty from Pokemon)

-You’re escaping from a water monster and you went to a beach, good idea, 10/10.

-”Have we traveled in time?”  “No, we traveled to Australia.”  That’s also a first.

-Bill, you can’t just drink from the bathroom sink!

-”Can I ask you a personal question?”  “No!”  “Can I anyway?”  “...Yes.”

-”If you're from another planet, why would you name your box in English? Those initials wouldn't work in any other language!”  THANK YOU BILL  THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BRINGING THAT UP

-Well, that wasn’t exactly a shark, but thanks for proving the point, Heather.

-”Hunger looks very like evil from the wrong end of the cutlery. Or do you think that your bacon sandwich loves you back?“  In case you’re trying to start a vegan argument with this, no offense but your broccoli doesn’t love you back either.

-So that’s why the episode is titled ‘The Pilot’.

-Also, now that Bill’s found a puddle here, they better rUN THE FUCK AWAY.

wHAT THE FUCK

-Nope nope nope nope nope

Heyyy it’s the old sonic!

-The Fourth Doctor’s sonic, to be precise.

-Soooo did BBC make some new props for this episode or did they keep all the screwdrivers from the sixties and on

-”Hey John, while you’re throwing out those old props, would you mind putting these sonic screwdrivers in the recycle bin?”  “Nah, let’s keep them, they don’t take up a lot of space. Besides, we might need them again some decades later.”  “Good point.”

-OH SHIT THEY RAN INTO A BUNCH OF DALEKS

-ON PURPOSE

-Twelve: “We’ve got this annoying creature on our tail, let’s try to shake it off by running through a ton of Daleks.”  Ten: “What went wrong with you”  Eleven: “What happened to me”

WHAT

-THEY’RE FIGHTING DALEKS??

-Yep, it’s not going well for those lot

-”EXTERMINATE!”  “Exterminate!”  “EXTERMINATE!”  “Exterminate!”  yeah you two do that and be friends while we run away thank you

-It’s like the Doctor isn’t even taking the Daleks seriously anymore

-”YOU ARE AN ENEMY OF THE DALEKS!”  “lol what else would i be”

-Daleks have stormtrooper level aim now. gg BBC, gg

Tbh that’s even freakier than a normal dalek eyestalk

-BANSHEE, MIDNIGHT MONSTER, WATER CREATURE AND DALEK

-MOFFAT’S HAVING THE TIME OF HIS LIFE ISN’T HE

-Oh wait, this is only the first episode, does that mean  Moffat hasn’t even started yet

-Is he planning to give heart attacks to all of us

-”The last thing she said to me. She promised she wouldn't leave without me.”  And now my heart’s breaking

-shit shit shit shit shit

Ehhh it’s okay Moffat, I didn’t need that heart anyway lol

-”That's the Doctor for you. Never notices the tears.“  Never acknowledges his own tears either...

-”Yeah, because I think you're going to wipe my memory. I'm not stupid, you know. That's the trouble with you. You don't think anyone's ever seen a movie. I know what a mind-wipe looks like!“  THANK YOU BILL

-”Imagine, just imagine how it would feel if someone did this to you.“  They just HAD to put Clara’s theme in there, didn’t they?

-All slowed down and more tragic

-And they HAD to make the Doctor sound like he’s holding back tears

-*distant crying noises*

“Shut up.”

“You shut up as well.”

-Someone fucking end me

-Come to my house and stop my sinful hands

-I am allowed too much power

-*ahem* Anyway

-Did the Doctor just leave for a hundred years to mull this over and come back to the present

-”It means, what the hell.”  That’s a first, AGAIN.

-I love that theme at the end!

-Oh boy I can’t wait for more episodes, they all look so exciting--

nOOO

iS THAt john simm

-WhAT tEh FUcK

[sexpoleandmma]

Moonlight and Nurturing Black Men

I know this is even more scattered than my last post, but I had to get it out and put some distance before I attempt to hone it down into something more. There’s three different threads I want to follow, but each one is important, each one here. —————– 

I’ve watched Moonlight twice in the theaters in two days--the weekend it was released. Something about it, my chest was tight the whole time. Nothing good can come of this in the sort of black world Chiron lives in. I fear at each moment for Chiron. I want to jump through the screen and hold him. Tell him he is safe and loved because he expects the opposite of that. When he experiences tenderness, the tenderness that shouldn’t be there, I am afraid that it will be snatched away at any moment. Suddenly, it will all go away. That, to me, is the tension of the movie. That the fleeting goodness might disappear. 

 And yet, every small bit of the movie brought me a fullness. Small moments of joy. One of James Baldwin’s friends once said that Baldwin was like Dostoevsky. “He is not a pessimist. He layers darkness upon darkness, pain, sadness, then he blasts you with light.” Moonlight could be in that company. The blast of light. That particular blast of light reminded me of another, perhaps more timely, piece. Frank Ocean’s Blond. Frank Ocean helped the writer, Nicholas Britell, visualize the scenes, the script. How? Channel Orange. However, I think Blond is a far better musical representation of Moonlight. In fact, one song could fully represent the movie: Frank Ocean’s “Ivy”:

 I thought I was dreaming 

 When you said you loved me

 It started from nothing 

I had no chance to prepare 

Couldn’t see you coming 

And we started from nothing

 I could hate you now 

It’s alright to hate me now 

We both know that deep down 

The feeling still deep down is good 

 I love the quiet intensity of the movie. It kept me tight, wound up, both optimistic and terrified. I’d been thinking about the movie for a bit. It spoke to sexual fluidity, yes, but more to toxic masculinity–specifically toxic black masculinity. This is where, I believe, Frank Ocean, steps in. Our contemporary R&B artists tend to avoid emotion unless the emotion is lust or anger. This is where Frank Ocean stands apart. He sings almost exclusively about vulnerability. No. No. No. Black men do not talk about being young, innocent, and definitely not vulnerable. However, he does so in a way that wrenches the heart. In the same way, Moonlight does. I think it is because I want black men to be vulnerable and true to themselves, but I also fear the backlash for that.

Arm around my shoulder so I could tell how much I meant to you…

meant it sincere back then 

We had time to kill back then 

You ain’t a kid no more

We’ll never be those kids again

I am saying very little about sexuality in Moonlight because I know many people can dismantle it far better than I can, and this, this, moment of driving down the road listening to Blond brought tears down my cheeks as scenes from the movie flashed in front of me like a trailer. Layers of darkness. A blast of light. Moonlight is Blond. A blast of light in deep blue-black night. Moments to breathe. I have every intention to chew this over more, say more but for now, I have tears in my eyes and both pain and joy in my heart. What is it that I feel has not been said about Moonlight? I think it is encapsulated by Mahershala Ali’s short explanation about why Juan resonates with Chiron. To be an outcast. To feel adrift in the world. Juan feels it–albeit in a different way–and when he sees a young black boy, as young as he was when he realized he was an outsider, he can’t help but to step in. God knows, we miss our elder brothers/fathers to walk us through. It is a moment that makes us hold our breath, a father, a father who will love him and protect him from all of the things that destroy little black boys. Yes, Juan is the local drug dealer, but he loves Chiron fiercely (and wants more for him). I was heartbroken that Juan had such a small role, though powerful. He was a spectre behind Chiron, in a way that his biological father that we never hear of is not. The movie is definitely geared to black men, and I am very willing to play the back. However, it still made me turn inside out as it unfolded. It still made me quiet. I still cannot form words. Maybe it is because I see the pain my cousins and students struggle with all of this and I can’t help. Maybe it is because I want them to step into that blinding light that is self-acceptance. I don’t know. I’ve been working on this over the last two or three days, revisiting the notes I wrote months ago and feeling woefully ill-prepared to discuss this movie. I knew I was bursting, but no way of explaining it. 

Last night, I had a long nightmare, the majority of it operated as my typical nightmares–some type of post apocalyptic world in strange things hunt and devour people. I fell. There was a giant tan and speckled crocodile snapping its jaws at me. I screamed “Daddy, save me!” and he appeared and forced it to retreat. Throughout the dream, the crocodile reappears and every time my daddy saves me. In most of my dreams, I am leading some type of resistance, protecting people, killing creatures, but–here, when I am cornered, I call for him. I don’t call for anyone in my dreams. I take whatever comes and if I cannot beat it, I push past it. But last night, I woke up crying for my father when it seemed, for once in the dream, he wouldn’t come. My close friends know that in my dreams, I take care of it. No help. Nobody. It didn’t help that it is very soon the 20th anniversary of my father’s death. How is this related? Because Chiron has been going through the world alone. Then there’s Juan. Juan is his first (and perhaps only protector). What I am saying is that Chiron probably relied on Juan in his absence the way I relied on my father. And that is a conversation we’re not having. Being protected. By our fathers. By our big brothers and uncles and cousins. 

No, we aren’t talking about this. This movie is as much about discovering one’s sexuality as it is about discovering one’s need for nurturing. Nurturing and sex overlap, but are not the same thing. Men, especially black men, are told that physical touch only comes through fucking or fighting. And in this contemporary moment, “Netflix and Chill” is code for sex. Not to be physically close to someone, not to cuddle with someone, but to get that nut because to have sex is the only way most people get the physical attention they so desperately need. I was once told that people are starving. Starving to be touched, touch deprived in fact. Hold me. Let me feel you breathe, let me feel warm and safe. 

But I am a woman, so they allow it. The thing is, do they do that for their boys? And what is the trauma of not having that from their father? I asked one of the most nurturing black men I know, and he said as a child, he always wanted to bring joy. “I was the hugger of the family. I had to fight back against being bullied as a pansy, but I couldn’t stop. I could see what people needed. When to smile, when to hug. I was naive, but no one hurt me. I just knew I wasn’t acting like the black man I was expected to be.” My father, my uncle, my cousin, they all touched. They were nurturers, the kind that they say doesn’t exist in black men. My mentor, my baba, I could go to his house when he wasn’t there and sleep in his bed. Get that nurturing I so desperately needed. But then again, I was a girl. 

This is why Chiron is so thirsty. He’s thirsty for physical love outside of sex. When Juan holds him in the water, teaching him to float, teaching him to swim, it has power. No one has touched Chiron except to abuse him. When we see Chiron held so tenderly by Juan, that idea of the binary of fighting or fucking explodes. Chiron needs this. He’s silent in his starvation for love–conserve energy, don’t waste it, don’t drink too much water, you’re dehydrated, take it easy, slow now–and ekes by. He knows that maybe sex isn’t what he wants. He wants the feeling of love through nurturing in a way that black men are not allowed to know. Hold me. Let me feel you breathe, let me feel warm and safe. 

Moonlight offer resilience and healing for black men. But it comes at a cost. You must eschew all false masculinity to get the necessary healing. This movie is not for the uninitiated. This is thick, frightening, sweet, dangerous, healing. It is asking to hold you, “I got you”, it says. It is Juan holding Chiron in the water, swearing to not let anything bad happen to him. It’s trying to hold us, and god knows we’re so starved, we should let it. I am struggling with this. This, sadly, is the best I can do. Hold me. Let me feel you breathe, let me feel warm and safe.

[joneswilliam72]

Meet Halt and Catch Fire composer & former member of Tangerine Dream, Paul Haslinger.

I caught up with Emmy-nominated composer,  and former member of the classic German electronic band Tangerine Dream, Paul Haslinger, for a chat on composing challenges, his career, what makes a great score, what it was like composing for Netflix's much-lauded Mötley Crüe movie The Dirt,  and more, as it relates to his latest project, "Halt and Catch Fire Volume 2 – Original Television Series Soundtrack", which can be ordered here courtesy of Lakeshore Records.

Paul Haslinger.

Tangerine Dream in Minneapolis, MN in 1986. Paul Haslinger is pictured in the middle with Edgar Froese. Source: welt.de

Haslinger is an LA-based, Austrian composer and electronic musician known for his involvement with legendary German group Tangerine Dream from 1986 till 1990, as well as his extensive work for film, television, and video game scores. During the 1990s, he also released a few solo albums (three under his own name and one as Coma Virus) that explored various ethnic influences as well as industrial, dark ambient, and triphop. He has collaborated with Nona Hendryx, Jon Hassell, Lustmord, Fennesz, and many others. 

Haslinger began scoring short films in the late '90s, in addition to programming and arranging film scores by Graeme Revell, including The Siege, Pitch Black, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Starting with 2000 HBO film Cheaters, Haslinger scored several films by director John Stockwell, including Crazy/Beautiful and Blue Crush.

He began scoring video games with 2005's Far Cry Instincts for Ubisoft Entertainment. Haslinger's music for the Showtime series Sleeper Cell was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2007. Other notable soundtracks Haslinger has composed include Shoot 'Em Up (2007), Death Race (2008), Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009), The Three Musketeers (2011), Underworld: Awakening (2012), Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016), The Dirt (2019) and Halt and Catch Fire.

Halt and Catch Fire—the AMC Studios series that ran for four seasons – captures the rise of the PC era in the early 1980s, focused on four main characters attempting to innovate against the changing backdrop of technology and Texas’ Silicon Prairie. The series was created and is executive produced by showrunners Christopher Cantwell and Christopher C. Rogers.

Catch "Halt and Catch Fire Volume 2 – Original Television Series Soundtrack" out now, courtesy of those most-excellent purveyors of always spectacular film music, Lakeshore Records; also enjoy the exclusive track – titled "Dreamers and Misfits" – that The 405 premiered from it embedded below the interview here. 

HALT AND CATCH FIRE Season 1 trailer.

Hello Paul and welcome to The 405! To start things off, I was hoping we could get an idea of what your creative process as a composer looks like when you start a project.

I usually start by looking for creative sparks - could be a new sound, a conceptual idea, a script, some footage I see… or a combination thereof. Once there is a spark, there is usually fire and then you just need to make sure the wind does't blow it out.

Very true. On a somewhat related question, your approach. What are the main things that a great score needs to do?

Functionally speaking, score supports story. And a big part of that is to not get in the way of story. I find most projects over-scored. Music should have its moments to shine, but it should be content at other times to stay extremely simple and understated if that's what supports the picture the best.

I agree. The best is not distracting. It does not snap you out of suspending your disbelief with the movie itself. You still forget you're watching a movie – if it's a good one.

Pivoting just a bit, you have quite the variety of film genres under your "composed by" belt too. Do you consider one genre easier to score than another? Why or why not?

Not really. So far, I've found ways under any circumstances to have some musical fun – it doesn't really matter to me which particular country we're in, or where we're driving. One of the absolute perks of writing for film and TV is specifically the fact that you are not beholden to a particular style. You can try as many different things as you like. For someone who gets bored quickly, this is quite a gift. It also bears the risk of getting lost on occasion, a price I'm happy to pay.

That seems to be the consensus among many of the composers I've put that question to. I admire your adaptability there too Paul, I'd imagine it's key in helping keep things interesting.

Does your time in Tangerine Dream influence your approach as a composer? Why or why not?

 It certainly was my start in film scoring and it laid the foundation for many things that came after.

Tangerine Dream at the time was understood as an alternative to traditional film scoring and it's a principle I kept applying in my work after leaving the band. On the other hand, Tangerine Dream was asked for the same type of alternate score over and over again. Leaving the band allowed me to cast my net wider, to keep exploring and discovering.

Interesting. Did your time in Tangerine Dream color your approach to Halt and Catch Fire with it being an '80s period series? What else initially attracted you to it?

At the start, it was obviously just a project that seemed like a good fit, a great chance to have some fun. Once I began working on the show, it became clear very quickly that this was not just an opportunity to revisit some '80s music, but that the writing, the cast, the whole crew, was one of those lucky coincidences where the right elements come together at the right time. One of the best teamwork experiences I ever had, it really fuelled everybody to work extra-hard and come up with something special.

That's fantastic. I remember really enjoying the series when it first came out. That kind of atmosphere really bleeds over into the final cut. What were the challenges like on scoring it?

There was great mutual respect between all creatives on the show, and the biggest challenges were typically the ones I set for myself, wanting my work to match the quality of the material I was scoring. The show's creators, Christ Cantwell and Chris Rogers, are both huge music fans, so we would regularly geek out on all aspects of sound, mix and general sonic architecture of the show. We definitely kept challenging each other, in the best and most creative ways.

Cool! A twist on a question I usually ask, what films, scores, composers and musicians would you say most molded you as a composer and musician?

If you're asking who inspired me, that's a ridiculously long list…

Yeah, it's a big question.

I am not sure if anybody "molded" me –

Substitute "influenced."

I see myself in a long chain of musicians and music history, where certain composers and events always influenced and inspired the next generation – it's a fluid structure with no hard delineations.

Absolutely.

Picking a few favorite composers of recent times (and with a spotlight on film), I would mention Bernard Herrmann, Ennio Morricone, Georges Delerue, Jerry Fielding, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Warren Ellis, Arvo Pärt, Edgard Varése.

Cast of HALT AND CATCH FIRE. Source:AMC

One title you scored that jumped out at me because I consider the film a bit of a guilty pleasure is 2007's Shoot ‘Em Up. The film is pretty brilliant, high-octane, action movie satire and the "bullet ballet" moniker for it was very fitting. I'm curious, what were the unique challenges with that as a project?

It was a tricky project, for sure. They had tried a variety of music approaches and found that they wanted a more modern approach than the usual Hollywood orchestral score. The film had some edge and they wanted the music to reflect that.

Absolutely. That scene with Motörhead’s “Ace of Spades” absolutely embodied that edge, musically-speaking, as an example.

My approach was to go into a studio here in LA and to form a band for the project (Justin Meldal-Johnson of Beck and NIN fame was musical director).

Nice.

We recorded a lot of material, some of it to picture, other parts just as free track developments. I then pre-mixed and went on writing the score based on these recordings, adding new parts. It was the first time I worked in this open, modular style (cycles of writing - recording - arranging) and have stuck with it ever since. It combines my knowledge of working in studios producing records, with writing for the specific purposes of film.

Monica Bellucci and Clive Owen in 2007’s SHOOT ‘EM UP. Source:YouTube

Fascinating how a movie like Shoot 'Em Up would help you find and refine that new way of working.

You've also scored great movies like The Dirt. What were the challenges like on that when much of the main music is Mötley Crüe level legendary? Does that put an interesting kind of pressure on a composer?

The Dirt was a lot of fun, in part, again, because we had a great team working on it. Knowing there would be a lot of featured and on-camera MC music, it was clear the score would function as a supplement, or glue, if you will, tying the story together and keeping the energy going in moments that did not feature any songs. It was a lot of fun, despite some of the gory details.

Interesting. Yeah, it's getting a lot of very justified praise. Our last question Paul, what's next for you?

I am finishing a new album project with Peter Baumann (ex-Tangerine Dream, like myself) which we hope to release later this year.

Wonderful.

I am also starting to work on the film Monster Hunter, which will reunite me with [director and writer] Paul W.S. Anderson and Milla Jovovich. Monster Hunter is based on the computer game of the same name. Set for release in early 2020, it will be larger than life and a great opportunity to come up with more musical monster madness.

  Follow Paul on Twitter and Instagram. Like his page on Facebook too!

”Dreamers and Misfits” from “HALT AND CATCH FIRE, Volume 2 – Original Television Series Soundtrack.

THE DIRT (2019) trailer.

SHOOT ‘EM UP (2007) trailer.

from The 405 http://bit.ly/2I768VU

[hot-craving]

Welcome back to my long delayed review of Season 7 episode 3 of Pretty Little Liars, please forgive thankfully Netflix has the episodes for us to enjoy at least through the summer time.  I honestly thought I had done this review.

So lets begin.

This episode seems to start in the middle of a sentence, you know like we missed something and here we are.  Hanna is looking at a ring in a box, a big shiny engagement ring when she hears Aria she puts it on but hides her hands.  Aria notices only that Hanna had burn marks on her back.  That is some serious A.D.-NESS, leaving physical evidence.  Of course we all know that happened when AD had Hanna locked up in her unmentionables.

Emily then sends out sent out some texts letting everyone know that Alison is worse than she was before and Emily sees Mary arguing with Elliott, that actually happened last week, right how oddd. hmmm.  They meet up to discuss this new turn of events, and get no where really they decide to split up with Spencer separating from the group while Aria remembers the night that Alison married Elliot and wishes she hadn’t married them.

Over at the hospital Alison attacks Elliot when he comes in her room.  Despite a really good fight he is able to use a syringe to knock her out again and strap her down to the bed.  In an even more disgusting move he puts a muzzle on her like a dang dog.  I don’t know who thinks up this stuff but it Bat S**t crazy to do this to her in this tv show, very much uncalled for.  :(:( I will not show a picture of this stupidity.

A filler scene follows with Hanna deciding what happened to her alone was way more traumatic then all of them in the dollhouse and Emily misreading the interaction with her and Sabrina.  Like I said filler scenes.

Over at Toby’s Spencer runs into Yvonne only to find out that she is engaged to Toby and doesn’t want him running off to help Spencer this particular night, especially.  Spencer pretends to be excited but when she turns away she seems very upset.

The girls make contact with Elliot’s superior at the hospital and threaten to sue him if he is aware of Alison’s mistreatment.  When they are taken to her room the find she looks fit as a fiddle and her papers say she is being treated properly.  Emily is of course shocked to hear this as Elliot looks suspiciously at them all.  He is getting away with it at least at this point of the game.

Spencer confronts Toby about something happening with he and Hanna, he said it was just a kiss but when asked to clarify if it meant more he doesn’t reply.  they are interrupted by a call from her brother, Jason DeLaurentis.  I believe she was seeking help for Alison if I recall from last episode.

The group meets up to recap all that has happened including why Jason cannot get Alison out of the hospital right away since he is out of the country.  They decided to meet up at Alison’s house to break into that secret bench by Elliot’s bed, because of course breaking and entering is on their to do list, right.  I mean since Toby isn’t around being the only cop they know, okie dokie.  While looking for a key Emily finds something in Spencer’s bag that she simply takes with her as she goes off to work, suddenly, since she was on the team to go do the B & E, she Now has to go off to work?  Is anyone paying attention on this show?

  Outside Spencer and Hanna discuss Caleb and Jordan while the littlest member of the crew does the actual dirty work inside.  Poor Aria left alone inside while her two buddies bicker over one man, lol. She tries her best to take pictures of everything she finds in the special locked bench by the bed, while outside the girls stall Elliot. He is so cocky in the light of day with his pretty little lies!! Elliot sees Aria as she comes to get in the car from around the back of the house and glares.

After finding a receipt in some of things that Aria was able to get pictures of she and Hanna decide to go see if his family can tell them anything about him, in a round about way, of course.  Hanna isn’t excited to go but we know its because she already broke up with Jordan and hasn’t told anyone.

Then we get another filler scene, where we see Emily at work, she tries to contact Toby by phone then she notices Sabrina has come to sit at at table across the room.

In other news, Aria and Hanna are lost with only a map in the middle of no where with no cell service. I have heard stories, I write sarcastically, of the old days where people used maps for directions, in this case Hanna can’t believe Lucas even has a map LOL!

Okay so Hanna has a B*tch fit on Aria and I am noticing something, not only are her boobs bigger like (boob job) but her lips look plumper too, lol.  Random I know but the little fit didn’t quite seem like it was real, it didn’t hold my attention at all.  Why not just tell her bestie she broke up with Jordan, Aria had just confessed to breaking it off with Liam, Ugh these girls!! This drama for the sake of drama to have more episodes to reach a certain number is not a good thing.

Back at the Radley, asylum turned ritzy hotel/bar.  Can we just discuss that for a moment, how does a person get a permit to make a Loony Bin where many children and people died into  a hotel, a place were people sleep.  Anyone heard of Ghosts??

Moving on, Emily embarrasses herself in front of Sabrina telling her how wonderful of a person she really happens to be, all the while really letting her know she doesn’t understand the art of being subtle but, even though she had a rocky start with the lies last season she can be a better person.  Unexpectantly, Sabrina’s date shows up and asks Emily, who is the actual new bartender, to get her a drink.  Emily cringes as she agrees to get the drink.

Looks like Hanna and Aria landed in Amishland.  Aria suggest talking to the owner in order to get him to be open to questions while Hanna wonders off and finds a little girl playing with dolls.  YES dolls of course this shows is about Dolls!! The little girl, Eliza tells them she knew Charlotte, of course doesn’t every doll playing young girl in fifty miles know charlotte/cece/charles? She tells Aria she got her dolls from Charlotte who used to play with her.  The girl mentions, in an effort to infuse some realism in this show, isn’t suppose to have dolls with faces, because that would be weird HA, it is some Amish thing. Eliza runs off when her father calls and he arrives to tell the girls its time to go. You know its time to go when the one scene with actual help in it has just played but the one person who has nothing to do with anything, shares the secret, moving on.

Emily has a chance to talk to Sabrina again when she makes an excuse to come over saying she wants a drink, but in reality she wants them to start over. It seems the girl with her at lunch was her ex-girlfriend.  Emily agrees to start fresh with her but I don’t know why with all the secrets in her life. Just more filler drama, we know the love of her life is long dead, but she is doing her best I suppose.

As they are leaving the little Amish shop of horrors, Hanna sees the cattle prod that Elliot or AD or whoever does things to people in this show but do not have the NERVE to show their faces used on her. Hanna has flashbacks for a few seconds so she can tell Aria little to nothing about what she went through.  She really just looks like she will cry or throw up or maybe both.

The final count down happens in this scene with Spencer and Caleb.  They go on about how they met, the things they like about each other and how they were falling for each other but for me it never quite clicked with them. This whole thing started when Caleb had fancy clothes, from his rich mom, do you recall?  Spencer says she loves him  and wants to be first with him but she thinks he just likes her.   Like with all of that they both still want to be with other people, OR I just think they belong with others, not sure at this point.  Its early season 7 after all.

Across town we see Toby and Yvonne (Kara Royster)having their family celebration for their engagement.  I never could see these two together.  Although its interesting they put Toby in this series with to MultiEthnic actresses.  Yes Troian is very multiEthnic too!!

I realize that is neither here nor there but something I noticed. I also noticed even though they had shown Yvonne as some big wig hot shot why wasn’t there a big to do engagement party not a hoe down at the trailer like an outside barbeque.  Unless I am remember things ahead of myself.  It has been a while since I watched the episodes.

So Emily arrives at the celebration to give him the papers she had taken from Spencer’s bag.  She apologizes but insists that Alison still needs his help, even if she is the murderer, they still have to find AD.  Toby reluctantly agrees.

Emily goes to Spencer after leaving Toby and they decide the drug Alison is being given is to drive her crazy, it causes among other symptoms, hallucinations. They also figure out the latex Elliot was making was for the masks, the Hanna mask and based on some blue contact lenses the Wildon mask from when Alison thought she saw him last season.

We see Alison waking up with Elliot beside her bed, its sooooo melodramatic he says, “Change of Plans.” Cue dramatic music. Its like some retro momentary hint of another tv show or move maybe a bit film Noir?  No it didn’t work for me how about you?

The girls are suddenly put in the loop as to something happening with Elliot and Alison by a pin drop?  They think its Alison cuing them in on what is going on that very minute.  We see Alison in the car with Elliot, as she pretends to be dozing but I got an idea he knows she is not.  It seems he is still up to no good.

Back at the trailer home of Toby and Yvonne, who is currently wearing a purple short gown even though Toby is working on Alison’s case. Suddenly Yvonne puts on her pouty jealous face that does nothing for her looks. She tries to get him to go inside with a kiss but he blows her off and she returns alone to the trailer.  Toby then finds out that Elliot is not the person he is pretending to be.

On the road again we see the girls following the pin drop and Elliot with Alison. Its the final minutes my heart is pounding LOL so exciting.  Elliot hits a bump in the road and Alison takes the opportunity to reach out and hit him.  She jumps from the car and starts running from the direction they had come from.  He chases her and ends up in front of the Liars car, CRASH!  Alison had run off in the other direction. Elliots faces crashes through the windshield, YIKES, ugh.

Alison comes back to see him through the windshield Whoa what a final scene, right?

Quite a gory end to this little mess of an episode.  Not one of my favorites by far with too much happening at times and not enough explanations at others.  Oh and where was Fritz and Mona?   Well have a read and leave some comments lets relive this baby, till next time!!

                PLL S07 Episode 3 The Devil She Married Welcome back to my long delayed review of Season 7 episode 3 of Pretty Little Liars,