#I think we're talking about a whole year or more here

[originalleftist]

And, I would add, we're not talking about something in the distant past. There are plenty of people who venerate horrible things the US did in the 18th and 19th century too, but we're not talking about that.

This is shit the US did in living memory. There are people sitting in Congress who were kids when Japanese internment happened- not many, any more, but probably a dozen or so, at least, old enough to remember it.

And other shit is even more recent. Oh, you think the US won't invade Panama for the canal? Or other countries? You think it's just "a distraction"?

The US literally invaded Panama in 1989.

Granted, I don't think we've done outright annexation of anywhere since pre-WW2, but still- this shit is not that old.

Gay marriage being illegal is within the last 20 years. Marital r*pe being legal? "Sodomy" being a crime in various states? 30 years or so.

Women not being able to get credit cards or legal abortions? Interracial marriage being illegal in a bunch of states? States with "sodomy" bans? Segregation? Your grandparents remember those days. So do lots of people in government, and some of them want those days back.

No fault divorce wasn't legal ANYWHERE in the US until 1969 (the year of the first Moon landing), or in the whole US until 1985.

And to be clear, this is not (though some will claim otherwise) because the US is a specially evil country. It's not. This shit can happen anywhere. HAS happened pretty much everywhere, at one time or another.

And one of the surest things you can do to make it happen again is fooling yourself that it can't happen here and now. History, sadly, is not a straight line of ever-greater progress.

A reminder to the "the American government wouldn't..." crowd. They have. They have made their own internment camps before. They have rounded up innocent citizens and immigrants before. The victims of which are still alive to this day and trying to share their stories with the world, they have been trying to warn us for a long time. George Takei (as seen above) is a famous example of this. He has written about his experiences time and time again, even publishing a book talking about his time in these camps. He may be famous now, but at the time he was just another kid forced from his home. To this day he still firmly dedicates himself to trying to educate and inform people, trying to spread awareness with his platform. The American Government can and will do terrible things. Do not let anyone convince you otherwise.

[abbysimsfun]

Sims In Bloom: Generation 2 Pt. 138 (Ash In Captivity)

Ash Landgraab woke inside a small wooden shack. He was still wearing his winter clothes, but a warm sunshine was setting outside the small windows. His head hurt, but he thought he made out palm trees below clear blue sky. Did he smell the ocean?

He remembered being taken by a man in a hood and sunglasses, but the man stuck him with something sharp...and then he woke up here. Outside, he heard the voice of the man who grabbed him, his words muffled as he spoke to someone on the phone.

"How much longer are we supposed to wait? If we can't get back, who knows what we'll even make it back to? The longer we're here-"

The man grumbled, sticking the phone in his pocket as the door to the shack swung open. Ash kept his face forward to mask his fear, making note of the items in the room. An old fridge that smelled like rotting food, a few books, a camper's portable bed, and an old Grimophone.

Catching the boy's eyes glance toward the music player, the man sneered. Did he know what it could do? "It's broken. Don't even think about trying to play music. If you make so much as a sound-"

"You'll do what? Kidnap me?"

"Worse." The man sneered with a shake of his head. "You Landgraabs are all the same. Smart mouths, no sense. What moron convinced your family to let security take vacation during the Easter break? We'd never have gotten close to you, otherwise."

Ash frowned. "I...my Nan said it was a nice idea! How do you know Conrad, anyway? What other Landgraabs do you know?"

Ash's captor laughed. "So many questions! I don't have time for any of them. I need to go get someone; you stay here. If you try to leave, the whole place will blow. And if it doesn't, there will be two men with big guns guarding the door. Their orders are to shoot if you try to escape."

"You said on the phone you don't even know what we're waiting for. Who were you talking to?"

"It's rude to listen to people's phone calls."

"It's rude to talk about people behind their backs!"

The man clenched his fist with a glower. "If you weren't worth more alive then dead..."

He stopped himself, pulling out his phone again. The door slammed shut behind him, and he made a show of loudly turning a skeleton key to lock it behind him. "No bull, kid. Remember, men with guns will be here any second now."

(There is Landgraab in Ash, guys. It's not advisable to talk to your kidnapper like this at nine years old, but just because Ash doesn't talk to everyone this way doesn't mean he doesn't have that instinct when faced with someone rude! He's been raised - by the Landgraabs - believing he's special and his kidnapper all but confirms it.)

Ash slid under the covers in the small bed, waiting until he heard the man swim to an outrigger canoe in crystalline water, parked next to tall black rocks. He could definitely smell the ocean, but it didn't smell anything like the sea in Brindleton Bay.

When the man and his canoe disappeared behind the rocks under the rapidly setting sun, Ash moved quickly. He was familiar with Grimophones because they still had Bella Goth's from the time his parents' learned to make ambrosia. He knew Lavender loved dancing to music playing from the old machine, but he also knew it could be used to summon someone who didn't need unlocked doors to move around.

He'd never used it to call the Grim Reaper before, but he moved close, speaking quietly into the black and gold painted horn. "Excuse me, Mr. Grim Reaper, sir. I could really use your help if you're free right now."

He waited a few long, agonizing moments before the Grim Reaper appeared in the corner. "Ash Landgraab? I was just spending time with dear Bella! What are you doing in Sulani?"

"I...I'm not sure. Someone took me and I woke up here."

"Took you?" Grim peeled back in shock. "Are you hurt?"

"My head hurts and I'm hungry, but I'm okay I think...You're like a courier, right? Can you get a message to my parents to tell them where I am? The man said he had to go get someone and that more men were coming soon, and he said they'd have guns. I'm scared!"

Grim's hollow black face still emanated sympathy for the boy. "Will your parents have time to reach you? It's a long flight to Sulani..."

"My grandparents have a really fast jet," he offered nervously.

Grim nodded. "I'll do everything I can to get them here as fast as possible. When the men come, just try to stay calm."

Ash nodded in agreement as Grim disappeared in another puff of black smoke. His stomach grumbled, but he didn't want to eat whatever might be turning inside the fridge.

Grim reappeared moments later, but he hadn't landed in Brindleton Bay or San Myshuno. He stood before Felix, Lilith, Rafa, and Melissa outside the abandoned ship. Lilith grinned excitedly. "Oh wow! That's not just cosplay; you're the Grim Reaper!"

Felix cleared his throat. He'd avoided Grim for over a century, having taken somewhat personal their last unfortunate meeting on the day of Felix' death. "Hello, Grim. You're not here to reap someone's soul tonight, are you? We're quite enjoying our vacation."

"Speak for yourself," interjected Rafa. "You really won't give up no matter how many times I tell you I won't cooperate with you and Conrad."

"It really is in your best interests-"

Melissa stepped forward with a frown. "He said no. Can't you just leave him alone?"

"I can, most certainly. But Conrad's an officer of the law and I'm not so sure he can."

Grim shook his head, his deep, echoed voice reverberating over their own. "I'm not here to reap any souls no matter how much your bickering tempts me. I'm here for Conrad's stepson, Ash Landgraab."

"He's just a boy!" argued Felix. "You can't be serious."

"I'm not here for his soul; Ash asked for my help. He's been kidnapped, and they're keeping him on an island not far from here. His parents don't even know yet that he's missing. They'll find out soon."

Rafa shot a look at the hooded reaper before them. "You're really the Grim Reaper?"

Felix nodded, remembering his death as though it were yesterday. "Trust me, it's him."

"I don't trust you!" argued Rafa.

"Enough! Time is the only thing that matters and that boy is running out. The people who took him didn't fly him to Sulani on a commercial airline. When Ash called me through an old Grimophone in the shack where they're keeping him, I went back in time to find him."

Rafa's eyes bulged. "Seriously, what the hell is with you people?!"

"It's only a few hours difference. Just a little earlier today. But that just means it'll take his family a little longer to get here and he said there would be men with guns. You could help him before they even know he's gone."

"What men with guns?"

"I'd imagine they're connected to the same group of hitmen responsible for too many of my visits out here."

"So, you're saying a kid was taken by a time traveler and brought to hitmen in Sulani? Why would someone do that?"

"He told you why," Lilith said carefully. "The kid's a Landgraab."

Melissa's face fell. "Like the company? So they took Conrad's stepson for ransom money?"

The Grim Reaper shrugged. "I don't know anything else, other than to note he was headed to the tiki bar when I saw him on my way over here. He looked frustrated - maybe they were supposed to travel to a different time and place but something went wrong."

"What do you mean 'wrong'?"

He shrugged again. "I've been around a long time; I know plenty that can go wrong with time travel. If his kidnapper figures out what went wrong, they could be gone to who knows where, and who knows when, before his family has a chance to look for him."

Felix and Lilith stepped forward eagerly. "We're in," said Lilith. "I haven't met Ash's parents yet, but Felix owes them his life and I owe them for Felix."

Rafa grumbled, as good-hearted Melissa glanced at him cautiously. "You want to help them, don't you...Rafa, it's dangerous!"

"I have to, Mel. If I don't help Conrad's stepson and he knows I was asked, what would he owe me anymore?" ->

<- Previous Chapter | Gen 2 Start | Gen 2.1 Summary

Gen 1 Start | Gen 1 Summary

NOTE: Time travel?! Blame the new rewards event and the inherent weirdness of The Sims, but just like embracing my gameplay (mistakes and all!) and turning it into storyline, in keeping with the tradition of baking rewards events into the plot, we're going there and this is the gateway!

WCIF Shack Build? Lost Cave on the Sims 4 Gallery by ApollArtemisLuna. I thought it would be this cave-looking lot with big boulders, but when I placed it there were no boulders. If I read German I might have known this only looked like this in the screenshot because it was placed inside the Forgotten Grotto, presumably with TOOL. So I pivoted from Plan A and surveyed the lot I got. Definitely still fit the vibe of the location and -voila!- a Grimophone was included by the creator!

Ash definitely knows what a Grimophone is and what it can do since Heather and Conrad still have Bella's (it's theirs now, really), and the plot sprouted from the gallery build. I can't stress enough how much I love the Gallery and how it inspires my creativity in ways trying to build my own lots wouldn't do! Thank you builders!

[iwasbored777]

I've been reading posts about GUN and I know they're going to be so bad in the fourth movie. Because not only is it possible that Rockwell, you know the openly xenophobic agent, will be the leader, but we're also going to have the Metal Sonics. When GUN sees alien threats built from the image of the alien they hate the most and can't chase, it's going to be the perfect excuse to want to capture Sonic and also Tails and Knuckles for sure. Not only that, with Amy in the movie it's going to get worse! If she really can travel through time with her chaos energy, I have no doubt that GUN will want to capture her too so they don't get this insane trump card. I dare say that a Team Heroes X GUN conflict is kind of inevitable.

Thanks for this ask cuz I feel so honoured to shame GUN for everything they've done. That previous post about Shadow wasn't enough, they did so many terrible things and I can't believe I didn't write this before your ask.

I can barely list all the worst things they did but I'll try and I'll answer to your other stuff so I hope you're ready and I hope you don't mind this whole analysis 😅 but I really wanted to talk more about GUN and since you clearly hate/dislike them just as much as I do (and many feel the same way) I really want to complain about them to someone who'll listen:

They were the ones that sent Robotnik in the first place. At least at the beginning he was just doing his job.

They knew that Gerald was Ivo's grandfather and alive all these years but they chose to not tell Ivo and let him think that he has no family his entire life. They used him because he was a genius and wanted him to make all those inventions for them and when they thought that he died they just acted as if he never existed.

They hired one of their agents to seduce Sonic's aunt, propose to her, and plan the whole wedding so that they would capture Sonic (I'm sorry I'm trying to stay serious but what the hell is wrong with GUN?! I don't know if I should cry or laugh and this is only the beginning). Poor Rachel too! They didn't care about anyone whether it was humans or aliens. I kinda wasn't happy that Rachel couldn't stay mad, what they did to her was horrible.

They captured Sonic and Tails. Tails was injured when they captured him and they didn't do anything about it, they simply put him and Sonic in cages after they tased Sonic to make sure he's unconscious too, they arrested Tom too when he tried to defend his son. This scene always breaks me, poor babies 😢

They found Shadow when he landed on Earth, kidnapped him, held him in a cryo pod and were doing experiments on him. (Gee, I wonder why Tom and Maddie didn't trust GUN with Sonic and kept Sonic hidden in their house instead after the first movie).

They were responsible for the death of a child, Maria (Walters did try to protect her and Shadow but when others killed her he mistreated Shadow. He definitely had more sympathy for Maria, she was a human child after all.) This moment right here physically hurts me cuz not only that they don't seem to care about the child they just killed but also they're surrounding Shadow and Gerald with weapons as if Shadow and Gerald were the ones who did something terrible here... They didn't care about the child they just killed, they only wanted to capture Shadow, that was their priority and Maria was just a collateral damage.

Right after they killed Maria they threw Gerald, her grandfather who loved her, in jail for 50 years and forced him to make Eclipse Cannon, that can destroy the planet. He went crazy because of all that and WHO WOULDN'T?!

They froze Shadow for 50 years (would definitely stay frozen way longer if he didn't escape) because they just didn't know what to do with him and kept him awake and fully aware of what they were doing to him during the process. I'll once again remind y'all of Walters' comment that Shadow was "too valuable to destroy", because Shadow was property to them and not a young living being with feelings and trauma that they gave him. His face here breaks my heart... Look how helpless he was here...

I added as many examples of how terrible GUN is as I can remember but if there are more you can always add them in the comments. I could easily add every scene and every screenshot with GUN cuz even at their better moments, they're still really bad, but I tried to pick the most important parts.

As for Rockwell, yeah she's gonna be a handful. She's definitely worse than Walters. At least he realized in his last moments that you can trust some aliens, but she isn't going to be easy to convince. They'll probably be even worse from now on and they probably didn't learn their lesson after Shadow. They better not hurt my baby girl Amy or the Colorful Bunch. I have some theories but I'd rather wait and see what's next.

Amy was hiding her identity here from Metal Sonic but I'm not sure if she doesn't want GUN to find her either cuz she's not hiding from Sonic, she let him see her.

Either way, it's not going to be easy for our alien kids and GUN gave me no reason to trust them so far. It says a lot that Robotnik and Stone were WAY more likeable to me than GUN. I hope GUN will leave Shadow alone and if they can't, I hope he'll kick GUN's butts again.

[jokeroutsubs]

[ENG SUB] JokerOutSubs x RADIOaktivno collab: Joker Out – Souvenir Pop (19.11.2024)

Audio + CC link here

On the 19th of November 2024, Bojan and Kris were guests of the RADIOaktivno podcast (Facebook, YouTube) with Boštjan Najžar to present and discuss every song from their new album, ‘Souvenir Pop’. This is our fifth collaboration with RADIOaktivno, as we also provided English subtitles for the following videos: ‘Umazane misli’ album presentation, 'Demoni’ album presentation, 'Gola' single presentation, and 'Šta bih ja' single presentation. Check them out if you havent yet!

Once again, many thanks to Boštjan from our team!

Credits: Transcript, review and subtitles by a member of JokerOutSubs, translation by @chaosofsmarty and TT katysmusic77, proofread by @flowerlotus8 and IG Gboleyn123.

Transcript below the cut 👇

‘Muzika za decu’

We're Joker Out and you're listening to RADIOaktivno.

Host: We heard 'Muzika za decu', a song by Joker Out from the album 'Souvenir Pop'. Kris in Bojan, welcome to RADIOaktivno, after about two years.

Kris: Hi, thank you for the invite.

Bojan: Hi, well it's nice to be back.

It's become a tradition of sorts, every two years we meet around Halloween, before November.

Bojan: Absolutely, we've been in your studio twice so far. That was, I believe, Nace's first interview as a new band member. Today it's just Kris and I, but we're also in a new environment, in Ljubljana.

Kris: It's also indicative of the fact that we always release new albums in autumn, so... Yeah, we had one... we released the first one in October, the second one at the end of August, the start of September, and this one in November.

So you're very fond of autumn.

Kris: I think we just... the first one began this cycle. It happened in autumn by chance, and then we adapted the others accordingly.

Bojan: We messed up, because we basically ruined all of our summers with working on the album, instead of swimming in the sea.

Don't you want a holiday?

Bojan: No, we don't want a holiday, "ew!"

'Demoni' was the latest album. Have the demons chased you away now, or have you chased them away?

Bojan: Darn, sometimes we manage to chase them away, sometimes they chase us away, but I'd say that we picked a good name for the album 'Demoni'. When we talked about what would encapsulate everything the best, everything that happened and all the songs, I see that we already thought very well about the future as well.

Did you look into the crystal ball or read cards?

Bojan: Apparently the crystal ball, but we could easily name this album 'Demoni 2'.

Kris: I was thinking, the second��� I mean, this album should be called Pandemonium, so that it would...

Bojan: Pandemonium, yes.

Kris: So that it'd be a logical continuation of the second one.

But this time, your album is titled 'Souvenir Pop'.

Kris: Yes, 'Souvenir Pop' is basically... for a long time, we couldn't find a suitable album title. We had all sorts of limitations, mostly only and exclusively in our heads. We wanted a title that somehow in a very punctual, short sentence, in a word or two, encapsulates our whole experience, from Eurovision onwards. And the optimum scenario was that the word or expression would be understandable in all three languages which appear on the album. And then 'Souvenir Pop' came to mind. And maybe now, Bojči can explain the message behind it.

Bojan: Right, I mean, we saw and experienced a lot of things, we were in a lot of new places, we met a lot of new people, we tried a lot of new food. To summarise, a lot of new things, which is hard to take home with you, right. Luckily, we also created a lot of beautiful memories for ourselves there and those were our souvenirs. In principle, I always liked to bring home or receive a magnet from a trip, so I would say that this sentiment of bringing something home from abroad is very dear to my heart. And bringing home memories, bringing ideas for the songs, makes it even more special. And I think we experienced something like this for the first time, this big accumulation of new feelings away from home, so this 'Souvenir Pop' blended together nicely with all the music that appears on the album.

Did you buy yourself a souvenir in each place, or a magnet to put on the fridge?

Bojan: Absolutely, in each place. And I always buy... five of them, like: for me, for my parents, for grandmothers, for...

And you, Kris, did you bring a souvenir from each concert city?

Kris: We mostly... I did bring a souvenir, but actually not because I was shopping for them, but because we received a whole lot of souvenirs from our fans, all sorts of bracelets, plushies, local, for example... they love to bring us sweets or local desserts because they know we have a sweet tooth, so... I brought home all sorts of stuff and that's basically also a part of 'Souvenir Pop', definitely.

We started our conversation with the song 'Muzika za decu' ('Music for Children'), but your music isn't just for children.

Bojan: Yes, no, I mean, this song is sort of a... a playful, silly approach to our music, I would say. Actually, the word 'deca' (children) refers to basically everyone, who dares to be a child, not just to physical children. Although at the end, we hear real children, but that's more for, what can I say, because of... Yeah, for the added special effect, and because it fills our hearts when we hear children singing, which we also heard a lot of on these trips, because people are constantly sending us videos of their children, nephews, grandchildren, of children singing in primary school or kindergarten. Especially since 'Carpe Diem', it became much, much more frequent. So yeah, this album, and all the music of course, is for the people who let themselves be... who let themselves relax, listen, think. We touch on a lot of topics here, so I believe it's worth a listen.

'Šta bih ja' will be next.

Bojan: 'Šta bih ja', yes. That was the first single which was created during our journey in London and it was obviously a clear mental response to the new environment, to the feeling of being a foreigner for the first time, so yeah, a sort of Balkan rock 'n' roll melody.

‘Šta bih ja’

'Šta bih ja' and Joker Out on the show RADIOaktivno. If you look back on your journey to Liverpool, if I were to draw the line, I would say it was very successful.

Kris: I mean, I doubt anyone thinks that it wasn't successful. We're more than satisfied with what we got out of Eurovision. From the very start, our goal was to gain an audience from abroad, mostly in Europe, and we succeeded in doing so. And also, whatever happened with the result at Eurovision didn't really stop us or kill our spirits at the time. Basically, right after Eurovision, I believe two weeks after, we were already flying to Dublin for the first two concerts abroad. So we had a lot of drive back then and that drive still keeps us moving forward, basically. And I think that you can feel that drive at the start of the album, in the first couple of songs.

Could you then say that it's not necessary to win, to be successful later? That Eurovision on its own can be good promotion?

Bojan: Absolutely, you absolutely don't have to win to gain success. In our own way, we won, because we, as Kris said, achieved our goal, right. What I'm trying to say is, you win when you achieve a goal. It'd be difficult to get a better outcome, if we're completely honest with ourselves. Now, the result could probably be better, it could also be worse, right, at the end of the day we weren't last, which is also fine. But... But what happened as a result of that is... it doesn't have a value, well, it's impossible to evaluate it, because... Many people who had a way better result didn't manage to achieve what we did. And we went there to get that, so right at the beginning... even during Eurovision, I actually had a segment where I was asking the contestants, would they rather achieve 21st or 22nd place, and later be successful, or win Eurovision, and then it's all up to fate. And most of them answered that they would rather achieve a lower place and then continue their music career. Like a prophet.

Kris: Bojan the prophet.

Bojan: Prophet.

Yeah, maybe it's better to hear "five points" than "twelve points".

Bojan: I don't know, I mean... I don't know if we even heard "five points", to be honest. I believe we heard "three points" at some point, but...

Kris: No, our 12 points... We got them from Serbia. We... Serbia was the only country who gave us 12 points. But I'll say it like this, our... Our victorious moment happened during the semi-final, when we got through. They dragged it out for so long, they announced us last. It was really tense, but because of that, the joy when they announced us as finalists was even greater. And honestly, I... For me, that was the main euphoric moment during Eurovision and I don't need anything more than that.

I think that happened because you were so modest and authentic.

Bojan: Yes, we actually were ourselves. We... Except maybe a bit more pink than usual, if we... with hand on heart.

Was it planned?

Bojan: Well, I don't know, when we started talking about the style for Eurovision, Damir Ponorelii, who was our designer, had this idea of The Garden of Eden as the theme for the costumes. And it seemed very fitting to us all, we liked what he outlined, and I think it fit well, it blended really well with the song. It also blended well with us, with our easygoingness. It added a lot to it. If we came there dressed maybe a bit more seriously, a bit more uptight, our performance probably wouldn't have looked the way it did. It can quicky pull you into an unwanted over-seriousness, you know, so I think it was a very good move, going with the open, relaxed, happy colours, which added a layer of ease to everything.

Coming up is probably your biggest hit so far, 'Carpe Diem'.

Kris: Yes, 'Carpe Diem', I don't think I need to use many words here. It's the song with which this album began, with which... without which this album wouldn't have been possible. And as much as I might cringe sometimes when I hear it, because I've heard it so many times, I'm glad it's on the album.

‘Carpe Diem’

'Souvenir Pop' from the band Joker Out, Kris and Bojan are on the show RADIOaktivno. Now that Eurovision is over... You made quite a few acquaintances during that time, or a lot of acquaintances.

Bojan: A lot of acquaintances. To me, actually, the biggest, most heartwarming thing, is the fact that in this year and a half on the tours, so many performers whom we met at Eurovision joined us on stage. And I'd almost dare say that this has never happened before, performers hanging out like this after Eurovision, especially on stage. So the fact that we managed to get, in practically every country we went to, a performer from that country on stage with us, who was with us that year at Eurovision, and play their song with them, was amazing, both for us and for the crowd. So, we've made very beautiful friendships, and we keep in touch often, and I think that every time we go to a country where we know someone, we get in touch and meet up.

What kind of process do you use to pick musicians to collaborate with?

Kris: We really didn't collaborate much in that sense with musicians, all there was, was the performance on stage. And for the stage and backstage, it goes without saying that some primal friendship energy has to exist. The performer you want to collaborate with has to intrigue you enough musically, creatively, that you want to make something new together with them, even if it's just one performance of a pre-existing song on stage in front of an audience. And honestly, at Eurovision, it turned out there's actually a lot of people with whom we wanted to share that experience. Especially those who appeared with us the most, like for example Käärijä, Gustaph, last year's Belgian representative, there's plenty of others, but those are the ones I can think of now.

Bojan, do you speak any Finnish yet?

Bojan: Very little. I'd say "ei", that's "no" in Finnish.

Although there was a lot of talk about your collaboration, or your friendship, with the Finnish representative back then at Eurovision.

Bojan: Yeah, that was... That was very very wide-spread. One can say I've never experienced going so viral before in my life. It was, it was interesting, it's definitely... It was definitely interesting to follow along, because the two of us, I'd say, offered quite a lot of material. But, I don't know, Jere and... Jere, Jere and I really clicked amazingly and I saw him a lot this year, too, I was in Finland quite a few times. We even went on holiday together recently, so... It's truly a beautiful friendship that happens rarely, I think, after high school.

I have to point out another collaboration, which isn't from Eurovision, and that's the collaboration with Elvis Costello and the wonderful duet.

Kris: Yes, that was the most unexpected collaboration that came out of this whole story, and it's actually not even connected to Eurovision. We, of course, already knew Elvis before it, and also idolised him to a degree. And then it turned out that our previous bassist Martin's godfather, who is an Englishman from Liverpool, is a good friend of Elvis's, and had, in the past, when we were releasing our music, at the start of our careers, shown him our songs and sort of laid the groundwork for the entire thing, for this collaboration. And after the release of the 'Demoni' album, which also included, of course, 'Novi val', Elvis listened to it and sort of initiated it himself, that... that he finds it a beautiful song and he'd try making an English version of it, or writing an English version of it. And then, when he'd written this English version, he got so into it that he wanted to actually record that version with us and that's how 'New Wave' happened.

I also saw the video, when you sing with him live, I think it was in Oslo.

Kris: Yes, that was the cherry on top of this absolutely unbelievable story, well, I'll put it this way. We had a tour of the Nordic countries last September, and it just so happened that a day before our show in Oslo, Elvis had his solo performance in the Oslo Opera, which is a magnificent building, I think newly constructed. Yeah, pretty new. And we wrote that we'd like to come see him, if nothing else, and he immediately replied: "No, you won't come and watch, you'll come and perform." So we suddenly, two hours after we found out that he was there, found ourselves at the soundcheck, on stage at the Oslo opera. I was playing his acoustic guitar, some Martin acoustic...

Bojan: 77 years.

Kris: No, before that, before World War Two. I... honestly it was quite... I felt sick to be holding such a guitar in my hands, but it was the right moment for something like that to happen.

Stephanie. Who's that, Bojan?

Bojan: Stephanie, that's... that's a muse. That's... Everyone will find their Stephanie, I think, in the story. It's, how would you say, I sort of experienced this song as the love of my life, who I met and lost in the same night.

'Stephanie'

'Stephanie' from the band Joker Out. How are you being received by the audience across European stages? Given that most don't speak the Slovenian language, and you sing in Slovenian, Serbian, English.

Bojan: Yeah, it seems quite unbelievable that time and time again, when we step on stage, people sing in... Now I'll say perfect Slovenian, because when there's a crowd of people singing together, these micro-mistakes get lost and it actually sounds like they're singing in perfect Slovenian. Which can confuse you a bit sometimes, because you're really in a place where no one speaks a word of Slovenian, generally, but you feel like you're at home. So... they react wonderfully. I think it's very specific, since they don't speak Slovenian, they put a great deal of time into really learning the lyrics by heart. While doing that, they of course translated them and learnt their meanings and they actually wait for the concert, to finally be able to spill out all this knowledge that they've accumulated through time. And it's an incredible outpouring of energy. It's very loud, it's very intense. I don't know, it's the feeling like how after COVID, we all suddenly started going out, attending all possible concerts, because... because the soul and body demanded that we finally let loose. That's the feeling at the concerts. Like they've been locked in a cage and they came and just spilled all of that out of themselves.

After all, you've even recorded the noise at concerts. Though the loudest ended up being Stožice.

Bojan: Yeah, we measured the noise level for the song 'Sunny Side of London', because in the chorus, there's a part where the audience screams. So we deemed it fitting to take a noise-level meter and measure how loud the audiences were across Europe. And we actually breached the limit of, I'd say, safe noise level in multiple cases, where I then actually told the audience to cover their ears while they're screaming because of how loud it got. It went, I don't know, past 120 dB, or how much was it, 130 (dB). So yeah, an interesting little project.

Besides all of these languages that you now have in your repertoire, is there any that's a challenge? A song in a second, third, fourth language?

Kris: Yes, we played around with the idea of having another foreign language on it quite a lot, a Romance one, I know Bojan is good at Spanish, in particular. But that's really something that'd be more of a one time experiment than a regular creative channel. We didn't manage to do it this time, we were so focused on these ten songs on the album, and in the languages in which they were created, that there wasn't... that we didn't find the time for anything else, but... Maybe at some point, there's something completely different coming.

Now that there's so many concerts behind you, did your creativity suffer for it?

Kris: Yes, it did, it did. Mostly due to so little time between concerts and creating. Immediately after the concerts, we went into the studio, or our rehearsal space, to create music, and then we immediately went back on tour. And that's how the story went for a full year and a half. I think that... far from any of us thinking that we're releasing a bad album or something like that, but there'd probably be more material if we took more time to create. And maybe we'd decide to put only ten songs on the album anyway, but as it was, I think that we really squeezed out the maximum, when it comes to new music, from this year and a half, with what tour scheduling allowed us.

Bojan, is there any time, then, to sit down in peace and create, or do any ideas pop up on the way, on a bus, in a van?

Bojan: Generally, these stories happen parallel to everything that's happening. I wouldn't say they're actively being embodied in that time, but yeah, it's only after you're able to move away from a concert, a bit, that what comes up in your head starts taking shape. And it'll be good to have some free time, well, next year with the start of the year, when these New Year's concerts end, and before the beginning of probably the next, March or April tour.

Is the creative process the same as it was before, or has it changed?

Bojan: I'm not sure. Generally, there's always new versions forming, some conglomerates of creating. On this album, we jumped a lot from instrument to instrument, too, so it all ended up being more similar to a laboratory, or a sandbox, where the formulas, toys and such are interchangeable, right. I don't know. The band is the same, the producer is the same, so generally there's not a lot of difference. Except for the fact we've actually abandoned the rigid system of only playing the instrument you play. For example, Jan reached for many kinds of keyboards, a lot. Nace also spent some time focusing more on, I'd say, more synthesised bass, or production itself, and then post-production on the computer, and so on. There was a lot of jumping around.

'Ako toga više neće biti' will be next.

Kris: Yeah, that's basically a song which caught me unawares. With the final version, I...

Bojan: Surprised.

Kris: Surprised. It surprised me a lot. I'm very, very happy with the final version and I think that it's definitely one of the best songs on the album.

'Ako toga više neće biti'

'Souvenir Pop' is an album by Joker Out, completely fresh, which we're introducing today on the show RADIOaktivno. Bojan, the lyrics are in Slovene, English, Serbian. How do you decide the language of the lyrics?

Bojan: I don't decide, the songs usually get created in a certain language and I prefer if they stay in the language in which they were created. Because the story usually starts writing itself with the music, or music sparks a thought process, which awakens a story. And then rearranging that is usually not the most honest thing in the world, at least to me. So the music dictates the language. But I would say that having more languages on the album, is really a result of us spending this year... of me spending this year and a half thinking in these three languages a lot. Not just being in touch with them, but... when you spend a long time with a language, you start to think in this language as well. And... So I would say that the order of the songs on the album is also a very, well, healthy presentation of our thought process during this time.

Do you record at home or abroad?

Kris: Well, half and half. For this album... We recorded half of it in Hamburg, in Clouds Hill studio, where we also recorded 'Carpe Diem' two years ago, and the other half... and that doesn't mean that we made half of the songs there and the other half here, but let's say that 75% of the framework was created there, and the rest was finished in Ljubljana, because we ran out of time there.

There are ten songs on the album.

Kris: Ten songs, yes, for the third time. A third album with ten songs already. In our head, that's a minimum for an album, apparently. I know that we all wish to put out an album with more than ten songs one day, but we need more time and more of a creative break for that, for sure.

The cover of the album shows you lying in bed. Bojan, you're facing the wrong direction.

Bojan: Yes, this picture was created on... on the morning of the final, I think, or... Right? On the morning of the Eurovision final, when we were recording a promotional video. And even then, it...it was giving off energy, it was calling out for… I remember we were looking at the picture even then, and we said: "Darn, this looks like something that this album could become eventually." And I think it encapsulates very well... Just like the name 'Souvenir Pop', this picture also encapsulates the fact that we lived together for a year and a half very well. And that we were kind of squeezed in a small place for the first time. First of all, none of us had our own comfort zone, instead, we shared our comfort zone. We had to really adapt for the first time. And... yeah, it's a very honest picture. This picture came to life by chance, it wasn't created as a planned photoshoot or anything like that, and... and for that reason, I think it's suited for this album.

Kris, it looks like you're on a postage stamp.

Kris: Yes, that's because we are on a postage stamp. We look at this album, and we want the listeners to look at it like that as well, as our parcel from abroad. It's our... Our message home from abroad, in a way. This is our diary, our inner thoughts, that weren't in the public eye most of the time, and it's basically like a check-up: "Look, this is what's going on with us.We're here, listen."

After all, if you look at the stamp closely, you can tell where you come from.

Kris: Yeah, I mean, definitely. I think the whole photo illustrates where we come from, because the whole album is also intertwined with this idea of homesickeness and with the sense of belonging to our places. And because of that, we... visually, it seemed appropriate that this should be reflected on the album cover.

The chicken on the stamp appears to be running somewhere.

Bojan: Oh, this chicken. This chicken is actually... This chicken is actually our logotype, that ended up very distorted, for the sake of looking lika a stamp, and it can actually be mistaken for our Slovenian chicken, if you look at it quickly.

Kris: I only noticed this now.

Bojan: So really, this logotype is a win-win situation.

Two in one.

Bojan: Exactly. We killed two birds with one stamp.

'Bluza' will be next.

Bojan: 'Bluza' will be next. A song that came out as the third single from this album. Fourth, I'm sorry, fourth single from this album. And I have to say, it's my first time experiencing that groups of elderly people are sending me videos from weddings, baptisms or afterparties where, instead of 'Cesarica', they sing 'Bluza' at the end. It's an interesting song. So yeah, it appears to be a song for a late evening or an early morning.

‘Bluza’

Joker Out, Kris and Bojan are with me on the show RADIOaktivno, 'Souvenir Pop' is the album we're introducing. On the 22nd of November, you start the promotional tour.

Kris: Yes, on the 22nd of November, we'll be back on the concert stage, in our local Cvetličarna, to be exact. We've thought a lot about how... because we haven't been in Slovenia a lot for about ten months, and we thought about what would be the most effective way, for us personally and for our fans, to return to concert stages on our home ground. And of course we thought about all the possibilities, but in the end we came to the conclusion that we really enjoy doing smaller gigs. And that the first album we introduced, called 'Umazane Misli', we introduced at Cvetličarna, which was quite a historic achievement for us at the time and we actually still look back at this event with fond memories. So we wanted to recreate that for the third album, so we decided to have two gigs in Ljubljana's Cvetličarna again to present the third album.

And then other Balkan capitals, and then Maribor on the 6th of December.

Kris: Yeah, we're basically heading on some kind of regional tour across... more or less across countries in the former Yugoslavia. After the two concerts in Cvetličarna, we're heading to Novi Sad and Belgrade, after that we're going to Skopje, and yeah, like you already said, Maribor and finally in Vienna.

Bojan, you already mentioned earlier that you'll head around Europe in spring.

Bojan: Yes, most probably. That was the plan when we last talked with our booking agent. Next summer, we hope to play at as many festivals as possible, which take place during summer. And then we'll adjust the time around it for our own tours. I expect that in March or April, we'll be heading to at least a few European countries, and then, when the summer ends, there are two possible scenarios. One is to visit countries in Europe which weren't a part of... either the first cycle, or the festival cycle. And we'll definitely be spending more time in Slovenia than we did this year, that is, on Slovenian concert stages.

Is there also any demand outside of Europe?

Bojan: Yes, we've been asked to play outside of Europe. We were invited twice to tour across Australia, which would consist of three or four dates, a one week tour. Unfortunately we didn't decide to do it at the time, because timewise, it wasn't compatible with the creation of the new album and with other concerts. Maybe if there's still enough interest next year, and if our schedule will allow it, maybe we'll fly to Australia next year. That would be really nice. We also had a concert booked in New York, which we also couldn't do at the time, because it just all happened too fast for us to be able to get working visas, so we also had to skip that one. But you never know, right? The future might have something planned for us.

'Lips' will be next.

Bojan: 'Lips'. 'Ustnice' (in Slovenian). Yeah, and this is probably... I would say, the most, what can I say, the most distinct song on the album, a song on its own. In fact, it almost works as some kind of a movie trailer, music for a movie trailer. A dramatic, dark song with a slightly different sound.

'Lips'

Joker Out, Kris and Bojan are with me. How "friendly" are Joker Out with artificial intelligence (AI)?

Kris: I honestly doubt that any of us actually uses artificial intelligence. I maybe used it when I had to translate something, but nowadays it's already, as far as I know, if you just type some text in Google Translate, AI translates it for you. But that's it, as far as that's concerned. I think we all avoid it a little bit because we don't really understand it, nor do we want to really, so it doesn't take over our lives, and mostly so it doesn't take over our artistic creation.

Bojan: Yes, I'll just confirm what Kris said. We don't really embody people who would play with AI too much. For now, I think it also doesn't really contribute a lot to our creative process, and concerning the personal usage, it frightens me more than it delights me, so I give it a wide berth.

I use AI to help me plan interviews and usually it also gives me answers to the question about which are the most popular songs of a certain artist. What do you think, which five songs did it list for you?

Bojan: Oh, probably... I'd say 'Carpe Diem', 'Umazane misli', 'Gola', 'Vse kar vem', and... and something else. Maybe 'Demoni'?

I'll also ask Kris.

Kris: Yes, certainly 'Carpe Diem', 'Umazane misli' for sure, and I would for sure say 'Demoni', and then my mind comes to a stop. Maybe... yeah... Maybe 'Katrina' is also an option, and 'Novi val'.

The Microsoft Copilot listed the following: 'Carpe Diem', 'Demoni', 'Umazane misli', 'Sunny Side of London' and 'Plastika'.

Kris: I get it all, except for 'Sunny Side of London'.

Bojan: Yes, me too. Me too. Maybe the keyword 'London' matched with all the Google searches for London and that's how it got "a billion" streams. No, I don't know, I would then probably also agree. Those are definitely songs that work the best at our concerts... Oh, I totally forgot 'Plastika'. And 'Sunny Side of London' is a bit, I would say, artificial unintelligence.

Yeah, you know, it's often wrong. If I were to ask who are the members of a certain band, it lists totally incorrect ones.

Bojan: Really? Well, yeah. Well... we probably shouldn't count on it 100% just yet, right.

The next one will be 'Mesto duhov'.

Kris: That's actually a song which was also created in London and it was primarily in English for quite some time, but then we decided we would actually rather have it in Slovenian language. And that's how a song was created about the feeling of alienation upon returning home.

Bojan: I would jump in here. It's not actually a song about the alienation when coming home, but it's more a feeling of a very clear pessimism when returning home, which was new to me. That is, the atmosphere has changed completely, that people increasingly talk about the reality and the approach of a war. Young people very honestly and clearly show a certain fear, unease. And it's actually the only, and also the first, entirely pessimistic song that I've ever written, because I feel like... That sometimes you basically have to... sometimes you have to put in a song exactly what you're feeling, that is, it's not always, we don't always feel like we will... that the new wave will manage to swim, and sometimes you have a feeling that... that everything will go to (beep), right, and that's that song.

I see you just self-censored.

Bojan: Yes, I self-censored just in case.

I wouldn't do it.

Bojan: Well, there you go, then it's good that I did it.

‘Mesto duhov’

Joker Out, album 'Souvenir Pop', Kris and Bojan are with me. How do you see the Slovenian music scene now, with so much international experience? Where are we, compared to other countries?

Bojan: We actually have, I would say, the most blossoming live music scene, gosh, maybe in the world. Everyone we talked to from abroad, from whichever country, and told them that in Slovenia, in almost every village, there's a concert every week on a professional stage, with professional lighting, sound system, with security service, with a backstage, and so on and so on, they couldn't believe it. They couldn't believe that in such a small country a person can constantly perform. When we told them that we had about 30, 40 gigs across all of Slovenia... that's science fiction. That... People have around four, five gigs, and even those are constantly in the same venues, the same recurring events. So yeah, that's a complete luxury we have here. And I'm very glad, because we have a lot of great artists, new young artists, a lot of bands, solo artists... So I'd say that we have a phenomenal music scene.

Kris: I definitely agree with everything Bojan said. I think that... maybe just to add something, which is basically a confirmation of what Bojan said, this quality of the Slovenian music scene, not just on a local, but also at an international level, that after we got fans from abroad, there are a lot of other Slovenian young artists who gained fans from abroad, I noticed. And it means that a certain Slovenian cultural influence, not just ours but in general, spilled abroad as well. And actually I find that very encouraging, and I also see that in the last year and a half, a lot more of our musical peers are also thinking about possibly making it... at least in the area of the former Yugoslavia, if not in broader Europe. That's an excellent boost and a great confirmation from the outside word.

AI also answered the question about which bands are the most similar to you. What do you think?

Bojan: Worldwide?

Yes, it basically listed bands from Europe and Slovenia. To narrow it down.

Bojan: Yes, then I would say somebody like Siddharta maybe made it to the list, Arctic Monkeys, and that's... I don't know if it listed Big Foot Mama from Slovenian ones. Unless it listed like, somebody completely different, like...

Kris: Maroon 5.

Bojan: It put Selena Gomez for us, and...

No, it didn't go that low.

Bojan: Enrique Iglesias. I don't know, who was it?

Kris: Yeah, good question, how much it's actually... But I would say that, I know that, for example, when you look at a certain artist on Spotify, at the bottom there's a segment that says: "Others also listened to," and it shows you icons of various artists. And with us, the Spotify algorithms, or with any other Slovenian artist, detect... If it's a Slovenian artist, it will be listed below. So, the first two kind of make sense. I don't know, I guess MRFY will also appear with us, and Big Foot or Siddharta. And then it'll start to throw out Modrijani, Dejan Vunjak and all that.

Bojan: Everybody.

Kris: That's because the algorithm conglomerates everything, like, this is Slovenia, two million people listened to this, it doesn't matter if there's a border, it's the same taste in music and you can listen to that. So I wouldn't be surprised if there are also artists like that on the AI list.

There were five of them, LPS, then Sudden Lights from Latvia, Siddharta, MRFY, and Buč Kesidi from Serbia.

Bojan: Oh, good, nice collection. We saw Sudden Lights when we played in Latvia, they came to our concert. We saw LPS multiple times, they were also our supporting act in Czechia and they played a fantastic show. They are also... The crowd responded really well to their performance too. Siddharta, okay, it was kind of obvious. MRFY... I don't know how similar we are, but right, let's say we have the same producer, so maybe AI detected something with regards to that. Who was the last one? Right, Buč Kesidi. Yeah, and Buč Kesidi are good friends of ours. I wouldn't say we're that similar, but we absolutely really like their music, so there's that.

Kris: It must have detected that they acted in our last music video.

Second to last will be 'Sonce'.

Bojan: Yes, 'Sonce' is... 'Sonce' is a song that was created very much as my sort of direct reaction to the current situation in Palestine. At first glance, or at first listen, one might think that it's a love song, but it's not. It's actually a story of a son who speaks to his mother after his death. Jan wrote a wonderful piano arrangement, so the song is actually, I'd say, very specific, only piano and vocals. Difficult to listen to, it doesn't have a recurring chorus. It really comes and goes more like a story than a song. By structure, too.

'Sonce'

Kris and Bojan, to conclude this conversation, more information about you online, on all social channels, social media.

Kris: Yes, these days there's so much info about everyone, but especially about those of us that are more exposed, entirely too much online. So, if you want to know where I was born, how old I am and such, you can find it all on Wikipedia. But otherwise, if you want to keep up with more serious stuff, like concert locations, when new music is coming out, where you can buy some of our... an item of clothing or a CD, it can all be found on our website www.jokeroutband.com. But otherwise, we're currently also using a completely new platform called Openstage, which is meant for our biggest, most enthusiastic fans. And it's essentially a platform where you sign up with your email or phone number and the city in which you go... you live, or in which you attend concerts. And in exchange for that data we offer very special, let's say... Exclusive pre-listens, the option of buying tickets before they're released to the general public, various interesting things, and at the same time, our listeners help show us where they are in Europe and where we could perform.

Is the album out in only digital form or is there a physical version too?

Bojan: The album is of course also released in physical form. Although for the vinyl release there's a bit of a wait, because these days, the printing of the vinyl is more, I'd say, a luxury than the norm, and the wait for the print is truly long. But CDs are coming. CDs are coming. Quicker than the vinyls.

So there'll definitely be something the fans can hold in their hands.

Bojan: Absolutely, absolutely. It's nice to hold music in your hand, too.

The album is completely fresh. The tour is coming up, like we've mentioned. Will there be some rest afterwards or none?

Kris: There will be, and we're all very grateful for it. We have a collective break in January and February. A part of the band are even going on holiday together for a while, but I hope we'll be able to really disconnect ourselves this time. Because even now, in the year and a half since Eurovision, we had time to go on holiday, a short one, a week, two weeks, but never really had the time to disconnect our brains, which is actually the thing we need most, and we really, really hope that's coming in January and February.

Is it hard to disconnect from music?

Bojan: It is, yes. It was practically impossible to disconnect from music. Even now, when two shorter, I'd say, holiday breaks happened, it actually wasn't a holiday in the real sense of the word, because the album was finishing up and whole nights were being spent... The team that was in Slovenia, was in the studio in Slovenia, and those of us who weren't in Slovenia, we just stayed up all night, listening over the phone and gave our reviews of the mixing, the mastering and so on. So it was a very... it was a very hectic holiday, really.

Any other single from the album?

Kris: Yes. Actually, five songs from this album have already been released as singles. There's probably going to be another. We've just released the new album, and we're actually waiting to see which of the unreleased songs gets the most popular. And maybe we'll decide based on that which one will be next and when, but definitely not before next year.

To finish this conversation and the presentation of 'Souvenir Pop', another song, 'Everybody's Waiting'.

Bojan: 'Everybody's Waiting', a song that came out in February of this year, during the time we were in London. It's a song that speaks about experiencing and overcoming an internal crisis, about the feeling of always having to shine. I'd say a song that I very much like to return to as a listener of our music, which I don't listen to a lot, right, because it might be a bit weird. Or not, I don't know. But I really like coming back to this song. It calms me, I really like the arrangement, I really like how the song sounds and I really like the song.

Some musicians listen to their own music in their cars, and then get upset about finding so many mistakes.

Bojan: Yeah, that... That's not me. I'm not that kind of musician.

'Everybody's Waiting' to finish it off. Bojan and Kris, thank you for being guests of the show RADIOaktivno, I wish you success and busyness going forward.

Bojan: Yes, thank you very much for this truly nice and in-depth interview.

Kris: Thank you. See you when the fourth album is out.

Definitely. November in two years.

Kris: Yeah, no, it'd be in December, right, the only autumn month that's not yet... yes.

'Everybody's Waiting'

We are Joker Out and you're listening to RADIOaktivno.

[useless-catalanfacts]

Re the ask about whether pro-Catalan/independence supporters tend to be left-wing, weirdly I've had Spaniards try to convince me that pro-Catalanism/independence is a right-wing movement, but they've never been able to take that further than a bald assertion -- it sounds more like a thought-terminating cliché, and it doesn't square with anything I've seen as an outsider.

Depends on who you ask, Catalans are stereotyped in opposite ways. Speaking Catalan or having a Catalan accent makes us "villagers", "poor and uneducated", and "stupid farmers" until it's the left wing who wants to criticize us, then Catalan makes us "bourgeois" and "never worked a day in their life" and "Catalonia was a flat land with nothing until Spanish people arrived and worked to build it". Catalan is "basically dead", "nobody even speaks it anymore", "it's only spoken by elderly people in villages and everyone else hates it and hates to be associated with it" but when it's more convenient it's "all-powerful", "if you don't speak Catalan they mistreat you", "everyone speaks Catalan all the time just to exclude Spanish speakers". Catalan independence is a "radical anti-capitalist extremist movement full of terrorists" and often gets mixed with "anarchist terrorists" until the person who wants to criticize it would think that's cool, then it's a "right-wing movement based on greed". Everything always has two completely opposite stereotypes, which allows them to criticize without having to actually listen to our experiences or what we have to say, they can decide simply based on their prejudiced beliefs.

They right-wing stereotype is a newer one, it started gaining popularity about 15 years ago at most and lots of Spanish nationalists have been obsessed with it since, even going as far as trying to fund a right-wing Catalan independence movement into existence. It's very strange because it comes out of nowhere, they're just obsessed with wanting it to become true because that would make their argument easy. Catalan people have always (for centuries) been stereotyped as greedy merchants (think the Jewish stereotype, in Spain many of the "jokes" that in English are "a Jewish man does x" in Spanish they're exactly the same word by word but with a Catalan instead; in fact in the 1900s in Spain there was a significant movement of antisemitic Spanish "intellectuals" who argued that Catalan people are "racially Semites") and this stereotyped is deeply believed in by many people in Spain. Thus, it's very easy to wave off pro-independence concerns with "ah see but it's just that they're being greedy! The whole point of independence is that they're secretly rich and don't want to share!". This is an easy way to make Spanish people not need to listen and rethink their prejudices, because holding on to the prejudices is seen as somehow "sticking it to the power", and it breaks leftist solidarity.

An example of how this belief manifests is some of the tweets posted by the Spanish actress Karla Sofía Gascón (the main actress in Emilia Pérez movie):

Translation from Spanish:

1. I'm following the NASA press conference. There's water in Mars. Wow! Luckily NASA aren't Catalans, they would have kept it to themselves.

2. They invited a Catalan pro-independence man to a wedding and he ended up eating alone in a corner, he couldn't stand seeing food be shared with all the guests.

She was literally tweeting about imagined hypothetical horrible Catalan people she imagined. These people aren't real, this didn't happen, she just wanted to talk shit of Catalan people based on stereotypes. (There's another tweet by her calling Catalan independentists Nazi rats and saying she hopes we all die or rot in prison, which is not directly the stereotype we're talking about here but it goes to show where these beliefs end up taking the person who has them).

These aren't unusual and the only reason I'm pulling them out as examples is because she's a famous person and I think it's a better example than random people, but this is a widely-held belief in Spain. It doesn't make sense to paint a whole culture like this, and if we were to look for any clues I think we would find all the opposite, solidarity has always been very important in Catalan culture (like in most cultures throughout history!).

[shefightslikeagirl]

Stages Through the Ages

An Asylum History Post by @shefightslikeagirl

Fun title, huh?

For this month's hit of nostalgia, I thought it might be fun to take a look at EA's different stage setups. If you're a theater nerd like me, you'll probably enjoy this.

"We would spend an hour or two before every show setting up the stage. It was like setting up for company to arrive in every city we went to and it was very personal. Most of the stage props were handmade by Em and then in later years 2009-2011 we would all spend a week at her place hand making every single prop and stage feature (the original massive handmade clock)."

— Veronica Varlow, 2025

As always, if you notice I'm wrong about something, missing information, or need some more context, hit up the askbox.

2001 - 2006: Rock n' Roll

Throughout the Enchant Era and in the very earliest days of the Opheliac Era, EA was backed by a "traditional" band with the standard concert set up. She had microphones, instruments, and other equipment onstage; that was it. Her aesthetic focus was on her costumes, not the band.

It wasn't until the first Opheliac show that her new band, The Bloody Crumpets, had costumes of their own. Stage dressings did start popping up around this time, but they were sparse, and that trend would continue for a time.

(surprise appearance by Inkydust in the red shirt!)

2007: Shadows on the Wall

The true beginning of the Opheliac Touring Era (a terrible name that I will never use again) was in 2007 at Germany's Wave Gotik Treffen.

Again, we're not seeing a lot on the stage. Some ribbons, some gorgeous costumes, some "suicidal girls"... But not much else.

However, as the Summer Festival Tour continued, things started to come together.

Tollwood, June 2007

We see Suffer, some ribbons, and some balloons at Tollwood Festival, which followed a month after WGT. And then: Teapots! Canes! Red Pointe Shoes! More props, more set dressings.

Underworld, Camden, 2007

Frankfurt, 2007

Amphi Festival, 2007

But things really kicked off at the end of 2007, when EA's first headlined tour began: The Asylum Tour.

The stage design EA and I crafted together at my house within a few days before the start of each tour. It was really fun to paint and decorate tea sets, dolls and realizing the big shadow screens! 

— Vecona, 2019

Fittingly, this is when the Asylum started taking shape. The original stage design was an EA-Vecona collab, and later on a lot of the Bloody Crumpets would come to help craft props, scenic, and costumes.

Early Stage Sketches, from an eBay listing (left) and the EA Wikia (right)

Crafting photos, 2006 or 2007, Vecona

The shadowscreen that we all came to know and love debuted on December 5, 2007, in Essen, Germany.

This was the simplest version of the shadowscreen, which I'll refer to as "v1." It was a simple fabric scrim with a glitter border, easy to transport and set-up in different venues. Most of the pictures make it hard to see the border detail, but it shows up very well in video.

Vienna, 2007

Back to Essen! At this concert, Emilie's 1841 electric keyboard debuted with a lot more flair. It was covered in fabric, jewels, and props, becoming the icon it was always meant to be.

Essen, 2007 (this is the best angle and quality I can find)

Sometimes the whole thing liked to fall apart, but it was pretty, so we won't judge it.

The look of the keyboard varied slightly venue to venue, since the props were set "fresh" every time. The different fabrics appears to have been a sewn-together drape that attached at the top.

The Asylum Tour was very short, but was quickly followed by The Plague Tour and The Gate Tour. The vibe of her shows only advanced as time went on and I fully intended to continue talking about them here, but...

I've run out of images allowed per post. I suppose I'll have to continue this in a part 2! Drop a reply or a reblog to let me know what you think and if you'd like to see more of these!

[parasolemn]

jesus christ im so fucking tired of people hating on jean vicquemare for literally no reason... pardon me bc im gonna go on a rant about this

he's quite literally one of THE most important characters to the story, he's the bridge between current harry and harry before he drank the amnesia potion, having been one of the closest people to harry for at LEAST two years... y'all r always saying "b-but he only has 10 minutes of screen time!!! how can he be important?" as if the damn game wouldn't have even happened if the necromancer wasn't there, and he's there for even LESS time than jean 😭

so like, excuse me for being fucking interested in what's going on between him and harry I guess??? there's just enough vaguely hinted in the game to be interested in what's going on there, like in EDC passives that show him at the radiant conglomerate of magic talking to the other witches about harry, the stuff you can talk to him about in-person when he's wildshaped outside the cottage,,,, he's literally just. A Sad Man. who cares about his partner. you guys will find literally any reason to hate on him lmfao. also I'm sorry but he's more interesting to me than the tarot card maker and the cat's owner and literally everyone else you guys keep going on about lmfao, sorry I forgot their names that's how much I literally do not gaf about them

alsooo like. ppl are always going on abt what he does and calling him a bad person for it, but like . everything he does is completely fucking reasonable for his situation???

if I was just trying to help my best friend be a better person and he fucking turned around and BROKE my favourite cauldron over it in front of our whole club and (basically) told all of us to screw off?? after two YEARS of what is practically psychological abuse??? i think i'd snap and leave him there as well. it's not HIS fault harry chose to break his broom and his spellbook and trade his wand for the potion. they're both grownass men lmfao. you guys would say "prioritise your mental health!!!" if this was happening IRL but i guess it's different here.

and YES he CAN leave harry behind in the alps AGAIN if kim gets turned into a frog in the tribunal. but like. if we're going by theoretical scenarios. then wouldn't that make harry a bad person too? you can call kim a big nerd and make him really upset if you fail the cottage check, be hostile to the hardie familiars for literally no reason, you can STEAL THE FIVE GUARDIAN GEMS FROM THE CAT... but y'all aren't ready for that conversation I guess lmfao. also see it from jean's perspective too, if my slacker partner said he'd found the culprit who put the cat in the tree and it was the last necromancer left in the alps and the pheromones from the only known magic-less man who came from a different fucking world made him do it I probably wouldn't believe him either lol

btw he's the only queercoded character in the game (yes i know about Judit, you can be queer and in a straight relationship ffs) so y'all are just finding reasons to be homophobic lmfaoooooo 😐

my pookieee <3

[chronicangel]

I think what this person is getting caught up on is "American" as a demonym for living people.

When referring to a group of people as Americans without additional qualifiers (e.g. South American), most of the time we're talking about USAmericans because that is just the demonym that the US uses. (And like, we're not exactly spoiled for choice. What else would we do? Statesians? Uniters? Bleh.) When we talk about our nationalities, we typically refer to ourselves by demonym—Irish, Brazilian, Pakistani, Kiwi, etc. Sometimes we refer to ourselves by a demonym based on city, state, or territory, too—New Yorker, Parisian, Quebecois, Masshole (I'm KIDDING).

It's only occasionally that broader continental labels like European or African come up (except for you, Australia), and I think it's also less and less common the larger and more diverse a continent is—for example, I hear European by itself way more often than I hear just African or just Asian. And all of them almost always come with some additional context. Eastern European, South Asian, North African, and... well, okay, Middle Eastern is kind of a complicated thing on its own in the first place, but still. And even then, all of those are united continents all clumped together by a combination of geography, history, and culture (again, except for you, Australia).

If you tell someone, "I'm European," it's all going to be in the same general geographic region regardless of which country you specify or whether you specify a country at all. Which is not to say that Europe isn't wonderfully geographically and culturally diverse, I just mean that if you get me a map the size of a piece of printer paper, I can cover all of Europe with like, one finger. Maybe two, since I've got baby hands. But covering both North and South America would take a whole baby hand. (My baby hands, not infant hands. It'd probably take both of those. Maybe more than one baby, even.) Saying, "I'm American," to refer to all of North, Central, and South America gives you even less information than just saying, "I'm European," does, and that'll usually already net you questions about which country (or city or area, depending on the asker's familiarity) you're from.

All that being said, the reason that we use American as a term to refer to North, Central, and South America sometimes is because of things like history and culture (and even a little bit of geography). "Wait, didn't you just say that continents are united by those things, these are different continents!" I hear you yelling at your computer, and yes, I did say that, but when we're not talking about currently living human people, the degree of specificity that we need to use varies significantly more depending on context.

For example, when we're talking about indigenous Americans, that can refer to the 574 tribes currently federally recognized in the United States. Or maybe it's referring to the Mesoamericans who were the dominant cultural indigenous group in the Americas for over 3000 years, including when North America welcomed (I am using this term facetiously) its first European settlers in the late 15th and early 16th centuries—only, wait, Mesoamerica doesn't overlap with the US at all, it spans Central Mexico down to Costa Rica. And, I mean, the first indigenous people that Columbus and his crew ran into and promptly fucked over were in the Bahamas (which is, for those keeping score, not in the US). And maybe they've changed the curriculum since I was a lass, but personally speaking, when we learned about American history in school, my teachers always started with the Aztecs (Mexico), the Incas (Peru and Chile), and the Mayans (Mesoamerica).

And if we're talking about American politics, yes, obviously the United States has our own nightmare going on, but there is still a whole continent over here (two of them!), and occasionally, we interact with each other. Once we're at the point of trying to build a wall at the border and tossing out tariffs at any country they'll stick to, like, "Mexican American" is a different term that means a different thing in addition to just being kind of a mouthful (and yes, okay, in writing it would be Mexican-American, but sometimes people do this thing where we go outside and we talk to other people out loud with our mouth parts), and "North American" will only work as long as we stick to bullying our two immediate neighbors. Which... seems unlikely, considering.

So we have the term American, which means people who live in the United States or hail from the United States or some combination thereof. And then we have the term American, which means someone or something who at some point did something important in North, South, or Central America. And the former is useful for grumbling online or self-identifying where you are or are not from, and the latter is useful for talking about broad historical and cultural movements. Like, if you take an American History class, even in the US, it doesn't generally start in 1776 (or 1607, or 1492, pick your favorite). Not to say that most of it won't be about the US, we're pretty self-important like that, but part of that self-importance is also wanting to act like we're older and cooler than we are.

And you might be saying, "Well, the Aztecs, Incas, and Mayans are dead, so they're probably not participating in Tumblr polls, and I doubt the President of the United States is on here either." Which, wrong, I stole his shoelaces. But moving past that, it still doesn't really hurt anybody to be more specific, does it? I mean, it certainly doesn't hurt the people descended from those ancient American populations we tried so hard to destroy and failed, thank G-d. It doesn't hurt USAmericans, who could stand to get our inflated senses of self-importance checked and remember that the US does not encompass even most of the Americas, so maybe we can share our toys (or our demonyms, as the case may be). It doesn't hurt the people making Tumblr polls, who have limited options for answers and need to be as specific as possible to make sure dumb dumbs online know what they're talking about.

So like, yeah, we know what people mean when they say "Americans" 99% of the time, because 99% of the time it's the US, and 99% of the time we deserved it. But like, really, why not be more specific? Why not acknowledge that there's more to America than the United States, much as we try to pretend otherwise? If it's helpful, think of "USAmerican" the way you would think of "East Asian," or maybe try to treat it as like a South African vs. Southern African thing, if that makes more sense.

Of course, I'm pretty confident sandersstudies already knows all this, and that taking a screenshot of a dictionary was just a faster and easier way to explain than writing all of this out, so I'm not trying to like, counter her or educate her or anything. But since anon felt the need to be so insanely snarky, I thought maybe they'd like to know.

USAmerican is not a word

- A Brazilian

(We don’t call ourselves American)

Just because you don’t, or don’t know someone who does, doesn’t mean that it’s not in common use. Also, it never hurts just to be extra-specific, even if USAmerican is effectively a synonym for American to most.

[zalizam516]

I think I've come to a conclusion

Non-sharing until I get able to pay a therapist

(but I'll clarify a few things later okie)

[beneathsilverstars]

i keep adding things to this one post and then realizing they'd make more sense as a separate post. so here's how the party explained what happened in dagger ending au to bonnie:

Siffrin was very sad and worried about everyone leaving, because he was alone before he met us and he didn't want to be alone again. But he didn't talk about it because we all had plans that seemed very important, and he didn't want to get in the way, and he didn't want to admit that he didn't have anything else to do. It sounds pretty silly when you put it like that, but the rest of us were nervous to admit how much we cared about each other, too! Sometimes it's hard to tell someone how important they are to you, if you don't know whether you're important to them.

During the quest it was okay, because Siffrin knew we would stay together until Vaugarde was saved. But getting to Dormont meant the quest was almost over, and they got so upset at the idea of everyone leaving, that they didn't really care about what they were doing. Why did it matter what happened to them, when they were going to be sad and alone tomorrow either way? So they weren't very careful while they were training, and they got hurt. Luckily Odile saw, and Mirabelle healed them right up.

Now, he's really glad that we all decided to stay together longer! But he might still feel worried for a while, because it's hard to believe that everyone isn't leaving, after he's been dreading it for so long. And sometimes when you're sad for a long time, your brain just tries to keep being sad even when there isn't any reason to be. But if we keep reminding him that we love him just as much as he loves us, it'll start to stick in his brain better! We might also need to remind him to be careful and take care of himself, because that can be hard to remember when you're sad. And while he practices that, we can help take care of him, too!

[moonchild-in-blue]

Massive thank you to you and everyone else who calls out how shitty it is to get mad at peoples interpretations. Sleep tokens music is romantic. Its also toxic. These statements can coexist. Its not your business if someone plays bloodsport or vore or hell even atlantic at their wedding. Youre not them, you dont know what the music means to them. If you see a weird take just roll your eyes and move on, its not a big deal. Absolutely sick and fucking tired of all these "why are you calling this romantic/sexy? Youre stupid and a terrible person!" takes like fucking relax. Media literacy is important yes. Respecting that this music is dark and personal to vessel is also important. Same goes for respecting how people relate to the music in dark ways. But as long as people are not saying things directly to vessel or fans about how their individual trauma is sexy then just chill out and respect peoples different interpretations. It sucks that i cant talk about how i view certain songs without being called horrible things and having really fucked up vitriol aimed at me. Yall need to grow the fuck up and get over yourselves. Im not thinking of your personal shit when i call a certain song romantic/sexy, i dont even know you, sometimes im thinking of my own trauma actually lol. Lets all discuss this music maturely where we respect each other and what each of us as individuals bring to the table for interpretation, stop making this fandom toxic as hell for anyone who doesnt agree 100% with your own interpretation. (Also the whole "youre not allowed to say this song is romantic/sexy" thing is very dismissive of some peoples trauma in itself, it ignores how messy someones feelings toward their abusers/toxic partners can be. Pretty fucked up to call a trauma survivor stupid or a terrible person because a song reminds them of their positive feelings towards someone who hurt them) Anyways yeah, just tired of people being so harsh because they refuse to see other peoples perspectives. I genuinely think one of the most toxic aspects of this fandom is the vitriol over different interpretations, people act like outright children at times with it im ngl, especially with more sexual discussions. It also feels infantilizing towards vessel at times, hes a grown adult who put romantic/sexy elements in his music and he doesnt need people trying to protect him from those themes. Im rambling but this stuff pisses me off so much, this fandom needs to do better

Context post for the clueless ones - regarding my tags/replies

Here's the thing - I've been in fandoms for many, many, MANY years. This type of discussion isn't anything new nor unique to Sleep Token, but it sure does make a comeback quite often. It's tiring to keep repeating the same things over and over, but that's what fandom is all about isn't it?

Someone needs to say something, and I am not one to shy away from uncomfortable conversations like these. Something something, build your own community, be the change you wanna see, etc etc.

I've said pretty much everything I wanna say already under that post, but for the sake of clarity, and because I can't keep my mouth shut apparently -

Under the cut for length - you know the drill:

Music is art. And art is subjective. Meaning, each individual will have their own personal connection and interpretation of a given piece of art, which in this case is Sleep Token's music.

Did Vessel write the songs with a certain intent or meaning? Most likely yes! It's not hard to connect the dots and guess what events/emotions might've transpired and served as inspiration for them (accuracy to personal life is irrelevant and none of our business, but it's also no rocket science to understand what's been said).

Can we establish a base meaning for any given song, or better, can we have a general consensus of what a song is about based on its lyrics and themes? Absolutely! Not every song is like that, but we can all agree there's a lot of recurring themes of past relationships and mental health struggles.

Is it wrong to diminish the songs to one basic element (eg. the sexual undertones) and/or completely disregard the bigger, more important theme? I'd say it is.

Giving Atlantic as an example (which as a lot of you know, is my most favourite song of them and very dear to me): this one has some very blatant references to suicide and depression. Regardless of whether it is based on irl events or not (none of our business!!!), it is extremely heavy and emotionally charged. I find it incredibly disrespectful when people say random stuff during the rituals when he plays this one.

Or for example, how certain people reduce Sleep Token to "baby making metal", instead of acknowledging the insane (insane!) variety of genres and the profound lyricism they present.

Should we limit our views, and by extension, those of others, to surface-level interpretation, without allowing room for different views and interpretations, either fictional lore based or not? ABSOLUTELY NOT.

Vessel himself said to "not restrict ourselves to labels or genres because music transcends it all" (paraphrasing here). It's literally their whole thing. It's very hypocritical to be shouting from the rooftops about "media literacy" and assuming people are stupid or idiots for not understanding the basic, surface-level meaning of a song, when Vessel himself constantly writes in metaphors and half-truths.

I've touched on this a lifetime ago on one of my analysis, but if you *actually* look at the lyrics, you'll realise Vessel hardly ever says what he means. There's always something else behind his words, something he purposefully keeps hidden. It really sneaks upon you sometimes! I'm over a year in and I still find something new everyday on their music. That man has a way to weave in a hundred and one statements under a single sentence, that is just truly beautiful to study.

Is, say, The Love You Want, about a man (Vessel) mourning the fact that his love isn't reciprocated? Yeah! Is it about someone who, despite knowing they can never receive from their lover the attention and affection and care they want, will stay by their side anyways? It is!

Is it about bitterness, spiteful accusations aimed at the one person who should love you fully? Or a reflection of how little self-regard the singer has, so much that they are willingly and actively choosing to stay in a sinking one-sided relationship, because the alternative is too painful to bare? Can you flip the switch and see it as someone who is obsessively pursuing another person, and painting themselves as a victim? All of this, yes!

You can even eliminate the romantic aspect all together and apply it to a relationship with the self (past or future, or an alter ego), or a parental figure. The options are endless. There isn't one universal truth when it comes to music, and as such, all of these takes are 100% correct.

Many statements can be true at the same time - it doesn't make one more true or correct than the other. Simply different. The way we connect with music is very much dictated by our own life experiences, and no two people have lived the exact same life.

Can you prefer a certain way to look at a song, or completely disagree with certain takes? Absolutely! I know I sure as hell do! That's normal and expected and part of the fun in being in a community such as ours. More people means more ways to look at a song - isn't that just wonderful?!

Now, this is very obvious for most of us, but some people, especially in the younger rage, have been taught to look at things in a very black and white way. Not to be that person, but the truth is that the rise in awareness of social issues and "pc-ness", is slowly starting to eliminate the possibility of things being flawed and nuanced.

If you're wrong, you're awful. If you're right, you're obnoxious. Made a mistake? Get cancelled. Grow from your mistakes, but not like that. Learn from your actions, but change your whole personality in a day otherwise you're problematic.

You know what I mean.

Life isn't black and white. Art isn't black and white. Music isn't black and white. What may seem like a toxic, dark, obsessive depiction of a relationship to you, might translate to the deepest and most truest of loves to me. I can acknowledge something is Not Right, while still drawing my own conclusions.

Is Blood Sport a sad af song? Yeah! Definitely not the first thing I'd think of when in a happy relationship. But maybe that's the point. And maybe I do. And that's okay, and none of anyone's business. "Okay but The Apparition isn't a good example of a healthy and romantic-" TO YOU! Maybe that's what love looks like to me! Maybe I just happen to be into it! And what about it?

Maybe to me love comes with all the ugly sides too. The violence, the despair, the self-doubt. Who are you to dictate what I can or can't think? I highly doubt Vessel would go 🗣️ "WRONG! NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! >:::(", so why would you?

You can, and should, discuss the songs with others! Maybe some people do genuinely need a fresh pair of eyes to help them get to the juicy core of the songs - that's why we're here! To discuss, and exchange ideas! You can, and should, call people out when their engagement with the music is being harmful to others (joking and laughing during Missing Limbs? No bueno. Speculating about Vessel's personal life? VERY no bueno. Choosing a potentially weird song to walk down the aisle? None of your business + not your wedding + you weren't even invited + none of your business. Notice how I've been repeating that. Notice again).

You shouldn't, however, shame and ridicule others for having different views from you.

I think, rather than engaging in pointless discussions and start accusing people of being this or that, we should all exercise a little "don't like? scroll past". Is it harming you or others? No? Then scroll past! Is it an awful, truly horrendous take about something you're really passionate about? Okay! Disgusting! Scroll past! Good for them! 👍

Also - keep an open mind. We're all doing this living businesse for the first time, no one holds all the answers to everything. It's okay to change your mind. It's okay to say the wrong thing and backtrack. It's okay to make a mistake and learn and grow.

You know what's not okay? Being a dick to others because the thing you like is being misinterpreted. It's hard, I know!!! You can block people! You can scroll past! You can look at pictures of your favourite vessel and cleanse your brain!!!! I know I do!!!!!

And this is a last afterthought but - you don't get to complain about the fandom you're in if you're doing nothing to change that. I see many, maaaaany of you bitch about this and that, while having 0 engagement aside from the bitching. Like?? Maybe if you spent more time reblogging cool art or gifs and less time whining about literally everything, this would be a much more pleasant space!! And I DO get to be a little petty here because I sure do try my best to make this a fun and nice community. I am allowed a little bitching 😌

Anyways, tl/dr: don't be a dick; don't like - don't engage; keep an open mind; gaze upon the vessels. Peace and love yall 💙💫

[thegreatyin]

And thus, with the passing of 24 hours, Caeru's ambition truly comes to an end. Major Nemesis spoilers below the cut- we're talking endgame ambition business here. Mostly on a character RP front.

The Doomed Scientist made quite a few... choice decisions, in the end. Killing Cups once and for all, recording his story as one of grief-

And sparing what little remained of Mr Mirrors, leaving it free to roam Parabola as it sees fit.

Some of them, he can explain. Others, he's still left to feel... discontent.

Cups needed to die. That much was certain from the start. It was a tyrant, as all Masters are, and complicit in the bargaining and eventual destruction of four (potentially five) cities, as all Masters are. It was an obstacle. A murderer. A petty monster that felt no remorse even on its deathbed, and it went out of its way to ruin multiple lives just because it felt owed its own sick and twisted idea of revenge.

It killed his first love. It looked him in the eyes and he knew what it had done and he knew from the start it was going to die.

Perhaps, in the end, it knew too. And yet it still pleaded, and wanted to live, and-

It made a bargain.

A bargain Caeru didn't take.

Not because he didn't want to. Gods, he wanted to. He wanted it. He wanted it more than anything else in the world. To have Greylu back, to give him the gift of life, of love, to show him the wonders of the Neath and the beauty of the correspondence and all of the people Caeru has met and loved and found home with along the way-

But. He couldn't.

Because Cups was a monster. And no matter what, it deserved to die. And he could not, in good conscience, allow it to live.

Even if sparing it meant everything he's ever wanted.

So he's left here, now. With a bloodied traveling coat, and a bloodsoaked knife, and a favor finally fulfilled.

And nothing to live for. No resurrected lover, no charming visits to Helicon, no slow dances in the living room, no memories to rebuild and lives to live and he won't live again-

Nothing. All he has is a coat born of obligation, not to his love, but to people he's never even met. To lives he's never even touched. To a paramour, still alive, with hair of rose-pink, who doesn't even remember her own brother's existence.

Cups didn't die for Caeru's sake. Cups died for the sake of all who wanted it dead. For the revenger's court, and the ghost screaming in his ear, and the reckoning that will not be postponed indefinitely.

And Caeru, who acted as a tool to carry out their wills? Who all but betrayed his own lover, just to satisfy a cause he never knew existed?

All Caeru is left with, is regret. Regret-

-And grief.

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

OH THEYRE GONNA GIVE HIM THERAPY

[united-under-skyfall]

.

[neverendingford]

.

[bam-monsterhospital]

"I like villains better than heroes"

Best case scenario? You've only come across poorly written or boring takes on heroes.

That's the best case scenario. It's all downhill from there.