#I really loved that P-40 it was gorgeous I've never seen a P-40 not in USAAF colors and this Australian one crashed in Papua New Guinea

[feralnumberfive]

A Kittyhawk, a rafter of Turkeys, an Albatross, a Texan, two Stearman, and a Silver Star walk into a bar....

[inspiteallthedanger]

Re: GB reception in mainstream storytelling...agreed, it's so so fascinating how people come to such vastly different conclusions from that one scene. I was talking to my (boomer) mum about this the other day and she also merely saw it as Paul being uncomfy bc he couldn't relate to George's spiritual enlightenment or whatever and I was just sat there like??? Have we been watching the same documentary???

But I'm quite convinced that a lot of the way the general public talks about JP has to do with the with the mythologisation of both John and Paul as people, and the Beatles as a whole. Bc my mum has NO qualms whatsoever speculating about Mick and Keith shagging or how she thinks Joni Mitchell is obviously queer, but as soon as anyone tries to talk about JP it's all "Not *them*😱😱😱" it's very interesting imo, how people don't really perceive them as real people anymore but as Symbols or whatever (I wonder if that shift occurred around Anthology and I can't help but think about what the JP conversation would like if the Beatles hadn't become such a Myth TM)

I agree that we're heading towards the whole "poor John pining for his straight bestie for 10 years" theme, though, and I personally think that's even worse than what we've had until now (bc I've seen it being used as a way to shut down any further conversation)

Thanks for this really interesting ask, I love hearing what people think about all of this.

Weirdly your mum isn’t wrong, but neither are we, I don’t think. The issue is how they presented themselves and also people coming at J&P from the wrong angle. I’ll cut it for length, but essentially, i agree.

I do think that why that scene goes from, “Oh, why Paul” to “God you can cut this tension with a knife” is a lot to do with George and the spiritual thing. Partly because Paul’s trying to deal with two separate tensions (and he’s not capable of handling even one). Which John knows, and I think that’s why he’s amused rather than anything else. Note that John sort of vacillates between helping Paul out to dropping him in it. But when it gets really bad he starts a sing along and Paul does a sort of relieved little nod in John’s direction. It’s telling that Paul is a little blindsided by George suddenly piping up. Paul seems to feel he’s on pretty safe territory joking with John about the spiritual learning stuff. But then John is like… “I don’t like the way you’re dismissing it all because it suggests that everything that happened there was invalid”.

So, anyway, your mum’s reading isn’t a non-valid reading of the scene. I just don’t think it explains why John’s reacting like he is. The things he brings up are what make Paul really squirm. And what he brings up kind of isn’t related to spiritual stuff.

I think you’re probably right about why people are so… uncomfortable. But. Also. The Stones especially (and I think Joni too, although I know less about her) did deliberately portray themselves as ambiguously queer. The Beatles did not. That was never their imagine. So, it does feel like you’re putting something on them that they didn’t want people to know. John obviously less so, but the majority of that comes after the split.

Totally agree with the new narrative being worse somehow. Although I’d love if you could expand on the it being used to shut down conversation point.

From my perspective this is coming from the way society views sex and power as totally interlinked. While everyone was convinced that John was the leader of the band creatively and personally, it was fine to say Paul pined over him. Because who wouldn’t? Now because of the last 40 years of extra Macca content, topped off with GB, people are switching that up. People think Macca’s the genius and gorgeous and cool. So, like, who wouldn’t love him? Add to that, the hit John’s reputation has taken recently it’s easy to see how you end up with: John was a liar and unfairly took all the credit, and he just couldn’t handle that Paul didn’t want him and quit the band.

Like. For whatever reason, people can’t seem to realise that the problem (and the magic) is that these weirdos were both obsessed with each other. They both thought the other was centre and controller of the universe. Partly because, for whatever reason, those stories aren’t told. We don’t have loads of focus of how often they were close. I’m not sure if that was because there was some sense that telling it like it was, was too revealing? Or if it was more that Paul and John instinctively didn’t want to talk about it? Especially when setting up the narratives post-Beatles (in Lennon Remembers and the Anthology).

It’s why I’m looking forward to the new book that focuses on just their relationship. It feels like we’ve always started with the perspective of the break up and applied that to the whole relationship that went before. While I think it would make more sense to look at why they fell in love and see how that explains the break up.

Using the break up narratives as a framing devise also just leads to loads of really annoying takes. Because the narrative isn’t they loved each other equally and actually that’s what made the band work as often as it was the problem, everything gets warped. John and Paul can’t just help George on a song, it’s actually a secret power play. Everything gets this weird overlay of confusion that makes both of them look bad, when actually the answer is they were weird about each other in a very specific way that’s about love and not disrespect or dislike.

Anyway. Any and all other thoughts so welcome.

[calleo-bricriu]

Me: Has drafts. Also me: Has replies already written in my head. ALSO ME: “Typing is hard...”

In my defense, I’m in the home stretch of closing on a house and have to start actually working out and executing the steps to get all my shit packed up and moved from this place--I still have shit from when we bought the house in 2004 that STILL ISN’T UNPACKED, it’s mostly old computer games and I’ll probably just leave it to be finally trashed, but there’s like 5 huge boxes of it in the closet.

The house in question is an amazing little thing built in 1879 and the most work I’ll have to do on it:

1. Wait for squirrel in the garage soffits to have her babies grow up and leave, then seal the hole.

2. Strip the goddamned white paint off of all the interior wood trim; it’s the original wood trim, there’s a place for parlor doors (though they’re long gone). I just...the original woodwork is gorgeous, the exterior facing parts of the doors still have it, they’d a deep mahogany with wonderful grain. They’re the original doors from 1879 that have just been fitted with more modern deadbolts but still have the original knobs with skeleton key holes (long since blocked off because security).

3. P A I N T. I hate neutrals. I hate neutrals and, of course, when people flip a house they try to paint it in neutrals so it has a broader appeal and so potential buyers can more easily see their stuff in there, but the only thing worse than rental beige is rental tan. Gotta get some damn color in there. It might not be a big old Victorian house but it’s a Victorian house. The interior and exterior should be as obnoxiously bright as possible.

4. Get the roof redone because I know I have the money for it not, I don’t know that I’ll have it in 5-7 years.

5. Consider residing; it has white vinyl, and vinyl can be painted but it doesn’t last terribly long. Might just have it painted though. I don’t want a boring ass white house when the big rental next door is bright blue. Another roof situation, I have the money now.

6. Fix the garage door opener; it works but the chain is off the track so it doesn’t actually lift the door. 7. Probably replace the furnace and water heater; there’s nothing wrong with them but they are  from 1996, and new ones would be way more efficient.

8. Uh...furniture. All I’m taking with me is the stuff in my office and the bed I sleep in. Probably gonna need more than that.

9. Make the call on whether I want to have an electrician put in 220 volt stuff for an electric dryer or be okay with using the as feed up to that little room. Probably will just use the gas feed as it’s there. Discovered the unplugged thing on the floor in that room goes to underfloor heating meant to be used in the winter as it’s just a 3 season porch so it gets cold.

10. Be forever amazed that the original electrical wiring is still present (though largely spliced into modern wiring save for the light coming down from the ceiling in the closet--you can see the original, still insulated cord clearly--and into dining room which will be probably filled with reptiles, AND that it works and has been inspected by an actual electrician and deemed safe. 100amp breaker, but that’s not so bad, it’s a 150 breaker here and nothing ever blows.

11. ...smoke alarms and a CO alarm, as there are none, which is fine, nobody has been living there for the two-ish years the guy was rennovating it.

12. Fix the one glass pane that’s missing in the bedroom; storm window is still present and not broken/cracked but one really should have double panes windows here.

13. Oh yeah, and curtains.

14. Getting the second door that’s painted shut opened back up, the stupid white paint stripped form it, and getting a modern deadbolt put in so it’s a usable, safe door to be able to open. It’s the side door to what was the parlor and is now the living room.

15. Possibly look at where the parlor door was after having the paint stripped and see if the pockets are still present; if they are, see about getting replica doors to match the existing ones put in. Who wouldn’t want to be able to dramatically open parlor doors or tell someone to step into their parlor?

Now you get pics I took while I was there for the home inspection!

The new LED lightbulb put into a fixture from 1879:

Big kitchen, fuckton of storage, two flour bins by the stove; I love flour bins, the house I grew up in had them as did my grandparents’ houses. As long as you clean them out thoroughly when they’re empty they’re great!

📷

The exterior of the side parlor door that's painted shut.

The front door (the interior side is painted white). Original knob and skeleton key lock from when the house was built.

This house survived being a cheap, rundown student rental for nearly 40 years and it still has so much of its original stuff.

The stairs to the basement and crawlspace that looks like something out of a horror movie, so naturally I love it.

This is directly inside the crawlspace. It's absolutely perfect for storing potatoes, root vegetables, and squash--and for putting jars of stuff to ferment. It's a good 10 degrees colder than the rest of the area and is meant to be used for exactly what I just mentioned. I love that it's still there.

Also here's the entrance to the crawlspace.

...and the crawlspace. The tiny 'basement' is just a room with a few shelves I need to replace as they were using untreated plywood in the metal frame and most of it is moldy or starting to rot because untreated. Otherwise all that's in there is the furnace and water heater. The furnace has some open drain ports and I may put a humidifier down there to run 24/7 because it is, as most basements that aren't fully finished around here, a bit damp.

TL;DR: I may be largely MIA or not as quick to respond as I usually am because I’ll be legit running around like a lunatic moving all my stuff, setting up my new old house (MINE, ONLY MINE, no ex, no other people, JUST. ME. I loved living alone before I got married, and always thought I’d be happier still living alone even while married, which may be a sign that it was a bad decision, but I really just like living alone with a bunch of animals.

Also I've never seen a house that has an attic only accessible from the outside and using a ladder but that's what we have here; there's a big panel that I thought was just a vent that's really a...door.

The back yard is huge, already fenced, has a fire pit, has no fucking grass either, it's all native wild plants with some grape vines in a few areas; big mature ones too.

The front yard also has no grass, which, again, great, I'd planned to tear out any lawn at the house I got anyway. Front yard is still a bit bare so I may just coat it with clover. The only thing I'll have to mow is the boulevard and I can do that with a manual mower or be the extra strange neighbor and use a scythe--and yes I have one, I took it from my grandpa's barn after he died. They also planted a ton of ferns in the front yard for some reason, but I like ferns so they can stay. Oh and there's an entire workshop behind the garage which means I still will have an inside place to keep making wands.

[riversonfire]

HUTAZONE Album Review bc I can

01 // HUTAZONE - of course it starts sexy with his vocals an a smooth r&b beat to match. love it already. THEN he raps and it. is. fantastic. it's what I call "aggressive" rap lol. it's a prelude track and lasts under 2 mins but it's a fave. welcome to my zone indeed 🔥

02 // YA - tbh the music video for this song is what puts it over the top. the song itself is good, very up tempo, fits in very well with the other songs on my workout music playlist lol, but the music video is lit. he includes the lyrics "introducing redman tour" and I was just lmao. I really was never fond of his blond hair but for his huta look, it goes perfectly and yes, *sigh* it's grown on me. anyway, please do watch the mv and steam the song 💙

03 // 너도? 나도! (Feat. 소연 of (여자)아이들) - as someone who's not familiar with g(idle), hearing soyeon on this track (albeit very briefly) was interesting. she has what all good rappers have- a distinctive voice/sound. overall, this is probably the song I like the least but hey, that's just me.

04 // 아무렇지 않은 척 - as I suspected after hearing the audio snippet for the album, I love this song. even before looking up the lyrics, you can feel the angst in this track. it's super easy to listen to. it reminds me of "beautiful pain" only because of the recurring pain theme lol. look up the lyrics, you'll know what I mean :P

05 // 꿈인가 봐요 (Duet. 육성재 of 비투비) - anyone who's seen/heard the video of sungjae and minhyuk singing "doll" together from the I will your melody series way back when, knows how great the two of them sounded together. this song is no exception. the chorus is SO gorgeous and dreamy. it's a true duet too, not just a pop up of sungjae's voice here and there. I not so secretly hope to see them perform this song on stage together someday ;__;

06 // 낙화(落花) (Interlude) - um. this might be my favorite track on the album?? it's 1:40 long but omg it's so musically nuanced and complex. it starts quietly, calmly and gradually builds to a desperately beautiful crescendo that quickly dissipates. it's rather hypnotizing. it also reminds me of how brother act was put together to tell a story and feel like a play, because the rest of the songs from this point on feel more like minhyuk and less like huta if that makes sense.

07 // Fallin' - the 2nd cheeriest song of the bunch! but it isn't really my style so I don't have much to say about it :(

08 // ALL DAY (Korean Ver.) - well the original japanese version is my favorite minhyuk song of all time so why would this be any different? but I've read the translations of both versions aaannnddd yeahhhhh. this version is the g rated one lol.

09 // Purple Rain (Feat. CHEEZE) - ah, an oldie but a goodie (if you want to consider this song old lol). my one track mind is reminded of hyunsik singing along to this in one of his vlives ^^

10 // 오늘 밤에 (With Melody) - this is the cheeriest song on the album :) being the sweetheart that he is, he wrote this for the fandom <3 it describes his relationship with melodies. lyrics here.

11 // Waiting For You - this one feels like one of the more meaningful songs since it's the last track and it expresses the sentiment of "still waiting for you" as his enlistment date draws closer. the final lyrics are "I have to let you go now" and I just want to cry my eyes out 😭 in the same way fans will wait for him, he too waits for the time when he's reunited with us again. we literally just said farewell to changsub I'm not ready to let him go :((((((((

of the three album cover pics minhyuk posted today, the one I included here is my favorite bc it perfectly portrays the nature of this album. it's both huta and minhyuk. HUTAZONE establishes him as a true all around artist- composer, lyricist, rapper, vocalist, dancer, visual. I'm always sad when people mention btob's composer line and only include hyunsik and ilhoon. minhyuk may not be as prolific as ilsik in terms of number of songs he's made for the group, but he is equally as talented.

he's got three weeks left, y'all. and he's spending two of those weeks promoting "YA" and the album. his two night solo concert takes place three days before his enlistment date. and he even said in his LieV that he's doing all this for the fans so please, let's give minhyuk all our love and support 💙💙💙