#I will take you on a fantastical journey of my artistic growth over the past 10 years | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

d-criss-news · 3 years ago

Text

Actor And Producer Darren Criss Reveals His Creative Process

The producer, singer and actor talks his approach to songwriting, discovering his sound and how he’s ready for the next chapter.

We don’t know about you, but we’re currently experiencing the Bank Holiday blues. With the realisation that our days of summer maybe coming to an end were in need of uplifting sounds and singer-songwriter Darren Criss is keeping the energy going with his fun-filled EP “Masquerade”. Between the slick alt-pop productions and high-octane energy, the artist puts his theatrical abilities and prowess at the forefront of the EP. Laced with serene dance floor-ready melodies, the actor and musician instantly gets the party going on the project, kicking it off with “f*kn around”.

“The dirty secret is that every song is character-driven,” the artist revealed when discussing the project. “I just chose wording that could perhaps aid people into understanding this exploration of genre, this self-aware exploration of genre a little more. For those people that only know me as an actor, I’m trying to guide them into this notion of music and songs being a form of acting.”

No newcomer to the scene, the artist has spent the past decade gracing our screens in the cult favourite Glee and the thrilling Assassination of Versace: American Crime Story. Wanting to continue his musical journey in the form of producing and writing, we caught up with the multi-faceted artist talking his growth over the years, staying creative in a pandemic and how he’s ready for the next chapter.

Check out the interview below now…

Hey Darren, how are you? How has this past year been for you? It’s a strange question to answer because everybody’s answer is so much more complicated than what you can say in a quick easy tight polite answer. You know, I’m well, as well as one could be given the situation. I feel, you know, luckier than most. Even with the music that I just put out there’s still more that I’d like to do, but I got to do even more than I thought I’d be able to. So that tends to be kind of the theme of the past year and a half. I feel like I’ve been so consumed by working on so many things for so long, that not a lot of people outside of my inner circle know about that. You know, it’s been a lot of high output but seemingly low visibility. So now finally getting to put out some of these things and talk about them… tipped scale of visibility versus output is hopefully having a chance to even out for a bit, to where the amount of work I’ve put in can somehow match that people you know may or may not know about what I’m doing. You know, I’ve been really busy. I’m the kind of guy where if you give me a white canvas it’s a more…I wouldn’t say stressful, but I’m more likely to fill up a blank canvas immediately with as much shit as possible – I guess that is more stressful than having only a few places to fit things in, and I usually keep pretty busy. Ironically when I’m really busy, that’s when I can get stuff done. Like you know that phrase ‘if you want something done ask the busiest person in the room’, and I think there’s a degree of truth to that because you know, the chaos kind of begets chaos, and productivity begets productivity, and in a lack of anything else to do it was like ‘I wanna do all these things!’ and then it gets really crammed, so it’s nice to be kind of simmering down from this overwhelming call to arms to get as many things done as I could with this new unprecedented free time that I had. So, in short, I guess, am well if you wanna use that! I feel, I’m just relieved that a lot of this stuff can exist somewhere outside of my head but it’s a complicated answer, I’ve been able to do a lot more than I thought I’d be able to.

With everything that happened last year, was your creativity affected? The time that it yielded is the kind of time that a lot of creative people fantasise about. Of course, we would have all preferred it in a very different way when you say ‘if only I had time to sit down and work on this’. I think we all have; I say creative people but we all say, ‘if only I had time to paint the kitchen, learn a language, get in shape’, you know do something different that requires a bit of time and focus. We were all given that golden ticket, of course take that with a massive grain of salt, I’m fully aware of the price with which that came, of course if we had the choice, I don’t think any of us would have wanted it to happen the way it did. But none the less, for those of us who did take the time to focus, to hopefully be productive and proactive with the situation we were thrown into, it was creatively beneficial to finally get to address things that had been sitting kind of on deck and dormant in my mind, and it was just a matter of having the time to give them any attention. One of the joys of jumping between acting and music is there is a battle of time commitment, because neither one is a thing you can do casually. If you’re acting in something, there’s a great degree of scheduling that really eats up a large chunk of your day. While I’m in an acting project, I’m writing stuff and playing music but the actual logistics of producing music is as time consuming as the acting. I am envious of people that can kind of just show up, sing a song and leave. I, unfortunately, am not that kind of person. Writing a song is only a small piece of putting music out. Production really does take a large part of my emotional and intellectual efforts, and I really dive in head on. And that’s not even mentioning the promotional side of it. So, it really does take a lot of time to dive into those things, and I was finally given that. If anything, it was hard to decide what part of my musical menu that I wanted to serve up. It just came to a matter of what felt right at the time, what seemed fun. I kind of wanted to put out something that was positive and fun, and unapologetically so. And something that really showed up for a side of me that I felt like hadn’t been represented in the past. The musician side, and unfortunately, we haven’t been able to perform these very much. We’ve done little videos here and there. Stuff that really showed my roots as a musician, a garage rock guy, a guy that really likes getting in the weeds of production. In the past I’ve put up things that are a little more analogue, singer-songwritey, and this is more me as a producer and a musician.

How did you first get into music, what sparked the interest? Well, I’ve been playing music my whole life, and not casually either. It’s such a massive part of my identity, and that’s one of the main driving forces of me wanting to put out as much music as I possibly can. These five songs on this EP are a small part of a much larger body of work that I’m dying to get out whenever I can. When you’re a songwriter, or just in general a creative person, you have more ideas back logged than your body can execute. This is only a small part of a much larger puzzle, and a lot of these songs, the ones that I’ve put out and the ones I’m still trying to put out, are ghosts that have been haunting me however many years., some more than a decade, some more than two decades. The reason I mention this is because I’m trying to illustrate how pivotal music and making music has been throughout my life. I started playing violin when I was 5, and that was a big part of my cultural education, learning how to play an instrument that is so dynamic and requires a pretty specific ear and technical ability. Now I’m not saying I was fantastic at the violin, but I think the training that I had on it from 5 until my late teens really shaped the way that I would create music and think about music, certainly as a writer and a producer, but with just how I would jump between other instruments as well, because the violin was such a great touchstone for me to end up taking up the piano or guitar, or drums, or other instruments that would really formulate how I create music. Between being the orchestra nerd kid that played a lot of music throughout my young life, and also being the guy that would play in bands, its just been such a huge part of my life. As I’ve gotten older and gotten to understand this other version of myself that exists in more of a public view, that has little to do with that I know, I have started to notice that person, that avatar of myself, isn’t necessarily associated with music. And that was troubling to me, so I wanted to rectify that.”

And now you’ve just dropped your EP, talk us through your mindset going into the project? If I was just a recording artist, and that’s all I did, I’d like to think that I’d have a much larger body of work to show for. I feel like a lot of songwriters feel this way. There is just simply too much music…now I’m not gonna say it’s all fantastic, there’s a reason you have to triage the ones that you think are the best at the time, and there are many songs that I feel would be outdated, they feel very of the time 10 years ago. But you’re always trying to put your best foot forward with the pile you have lurking behind you. So, it is a hard thing to decide which thing you want to put out. Killing your darlings is always a hard thing, figuring out which ones to really focus on is difficult and it usually comes down to who you decide to collaborate with – right before the pandemic was one of the most tumultuous times of my career where I was producing and acting in a show for Netflix, and I was also kind of show running, acting, writing music for, editing, doing everything for this other show I created called ‘Royalties’ on another platform. I was doing both at the same time, and one of the things that made this possible was the people that I would collaborate with. A young man by the name of CJ Baron who I produced and wrote this EP with, he’s sort of the midwife that I chose out of working on Royalties because we had a lot of great songs together. I keep referring to myself as a producer, but I do it from a much more cerebral space, whereas he is a much better technical producer than I am. We really shared a lot in common, so by the time I realised that I wanted to make a piece of music you have to decide ‘who do I want to go down this yellow brick road with?’ And when I decide with CJ, that kind of already hinted at the kind of music that I would put out because he has his own fingerprint, and so I thought there’s something that I have that might mesh well with that fingerprint, so that kind of helps the decision process along of what songs am I gonna put out. But in another world CJ wasn’t interested, so then I think ‘Okay let me try and produce an album with this person’, and that person would reveal a different selection of songs. I’m very open to seeing what the universe is allowing and pushing towards, and I kind of follow that northern star to figure out what songs I’m gonna put out. But the mindset was always ‘put something out’, on a completely pragmatic level. What did I want to have to show for if whenever we got out of this crazy, new age of ‘what does this pandemic mean? We have time to do stuff, when it’s over what do I want to sit there and say that I accomplished?’ And at the very least I needed to put out a few songs, so that was really my mindset – no excuses, this is the time that you used to hope for, and so what are you gonna do if you’ve got the golden ticket, you’ve won the time lottery – so don’t fuck it up Darren! That was my mindset.

You describe them as character-driven singles, why is this? The dirty secret is that every song is character-driven, I just chose wording that could perhaps aid people into understanding this exploration of genre, this self-aware exploration of genre a little more. For those people that only know me as an actor, I’m trying to guide them into this notion of music and songs being a form of acting. The number one question I always get it ‘which one do you prefer?’ and I always say they are the same to me. When I’m an actor I treat characters, characterisation of my voice and body, characterisation of how I deliver words like a piece of music. You’re scoring it the same way, there’s cadence, dynamics, volume, nuance, all kind of things that can make ‘a piece of music’ unique to a person. And that’s how I treat dialogue and characterisation. The other side of that coin is I treat music like I’m acting, like each song has its own character when you’re playing live or recording in a booth. You are donning the proverbial mask of that character and what it requires. I really wanted to keep people into this idea that at the end of the day, it’s all performative and all part of a narrative that don’t necessarily have to do with each other and the way that if you ask Alexa to play a ‘Jack Nicholson playlist’ it would be very disjointed. It would be like okay The Shining, that’s a vibe, and then it would go to As Good As It Gets, and that’s a completely different vibe. They wouldn’t necessarily be on the same playlist, but they are distinctly and undeniably Jack Nicholson. So I always thought that it was a bit of a double standard that actors can do this but in music, you know, I’m proud of this but it’s also very annoying – a lot of my songs would probably not playlist together on the same genres because you have more jazz songs, like a trip hop chill tune that might end up in the back of a Starbucks, but that wouldn’t necessarily go on the same playlist as a tune like ‘I Can’t Dance’, which is a crazy song because it doesn’t even sound like me, I’m literally putting on a different voice, I’m singing like two different people putting on an affectation. There’s a lot of things that are very different but uniquely and distinctly me. The word masquerade is a celebration of a lot of different masks, and in theatre we talk about ‘The Masque’, and how each Masque has it’s own style, history and culture, and I really love the genre, and I love Masques, and I love things that make them interesting, and celebrating things that make them unique, and really trying to maximise their effectiveness as a genre with whatever tools I have as an artist, so that’s really what I’m trying to go for, this whole character driven idea is – it’s all a masquerade.

It very much has a fun-filled vibe to it, was this your intention and why? I’m not gonna sit here and pretend I sat in a studio saying ‘Hey lets not have fun!’, especially during a time that was as fraught with a lot of troubled times. This EP was recorded during very troubling times, so I think I’d be delusional to think that whatever joy is in this EP was not some kind of reaction to that, trying to offer something positive is definitely my MO in life in general, so that’s always gonna bleed its way onto my records. Like it or not. The intention is to record things that can be effective. If the vibe you feel is fun, great. If you feel any vibe at all, whatever the fuck that means, that’s a win for me. If that happens to be the word ‘fun’ then awesome, there’s a lot shittier adjectives that can be derived from this body of work so I will absolutely take it. My intentions are again to try and honour the songs. When you write something it has its own magnetic pull, it has it’s own gravitational pull that you have to kind of follow. If a song sounds a certain way, you want the lyrics to feel the same way that it sounds, and you want the production to feel the way that it vibes for lack of a better word. All songs have different body types and dressing it up and knowing how to tailor it to accentuate the things that make it fun or sexy is really sort of a strange alchemy. It’s not up to me how people experience it, but that’s what makes it fun. Once you put something out into the world it’s up to other people to use their own adjectives of the suit you tailor. I’m always excited when it leaves my head and becomes somebody else’s experience. So hey, if it’s fun – great!

What do you want people to take away from the project? Obviously, I hope people enjoy themselves. Any musician or artist would hope that there’s some kind of memorable experience to be had from it. If I was talking about what I hope people take away from it, that doesn’t have to do with the music itself, I hope that every time I put out music it’s me broadcasting this notion that this is something that I do, and that this is a big part of my identity. I think the songs themselves and what they’re about and how they feel are less of an insight into my identity as the notion of me putting out music is, because I feel like for any artist your journey is a constant negotiation between how you see yourself and how you would like to be seen, and how audiences are willing to see you. And you know, sometimes that balance is not always even. Sometimes the way they see you isn’t the way you see yourself, and sometimes the way you see yourself isn’t the same as the way they see you, so you want to be somewhere in the middle. And ‘Masquerade’ is a huge step forward for me to try and represent who I am and what I’m about to folks who might not see that. So that’s the biggest goal I think with any release but particularly this one.

Who would you cite as your inspirations? I’m one of those people that, when I say that everything inspires me, I’m not trying to be cute. It’s a problem. It’s an actual scourge on my life, where I find everything interesting. I find everything inspirational. It’s such a core belief that I have that there is inspiration to be derived from every walk of life. Stuff like from a lawn chair to a Bach cantata, there are so many things that can be interesting and incorporated into some creative output. It’s just all about how you look at it and how you can perceive and understand where it comes from. There are so many things that are inspiring to me. Of course, this is the massive macro answer that you weren’t looking for, you’re probably looking for ‘what artist are you inspired by?’ I think I’m just inspired by people who are really genuine to themselves, and this is an ironic answer considering that I actually try to be as many different people as possible. It’s a strange thing that actors are celebrated for not being anything like themselves professionally. And musical artists are separated for being as close to themselves and putting their souls as close to the chopping block as possible. I think I’ve really found my niche as a storyteller. I’m envious of some of the great troubadours of history, that can put their souls out on the record for us and put their own personal experience into things. Leonard Cohen and Joanie Mitchell, and Carole King, more modern people like Taylor Swift who really can just bare their souls for us. I really admire them because that’s not a muscle I have. And when you’re an artist I think ‘Okay so what muscle do I have?’, and I think ‘Okay I’m like a playwright, I can make each story for these songs and try and bring them to life with as much accessible ability and reality, and as much truth as I can convey, that’s not to say they’re disingenuine, they’re born from a genuine idea but they’re supported by my background as an actor. Baring myself isn’t something that comes as naturally for me, I really admire those people and I try and perhaps emulate a lot of their song writing in whatever limited way that I can. Genres are inspiring to me, lets talk about song writing, and then there’s producing which are two different things to me, because when I hear music I hear chords, I hear melody, I don’t listen to the snare sample, but I always hear the bare bones and then I think about production. So as far as producing is concerned I think it’s really important to know all genres and to listen to what makes each one interesting and respecting those genres, and then when you are producing something yourself, and then taking from each thing by knowing why and how they work within that genre, so again to use a song like ‘I Can’t Dance’ which is a nod to late 70s/early 80s, somewhere between disco and new wave, I’m employing the things that make those genres fun, to me at least, and trying to smoosh them together in a way that sounds cohesive. So…everything is inspiring to me, it’s hard. But each song has a different source of inspiration, but they don’t transfer between all songs.

You’ve also wrote for animated series and for Glee, is the process different for producing? “This is actually a very good question. I think this ties into what I was saying before about writing for narrative is something of a calling that I think I’ve realised more recently is kind of where I can plant my feet more easily than any other type of song writing. I was mentioning the people that can bare their souls, some people have a really good ability of putting themselves out there but also writing as a satirist of character that he creates. The person that is a master of this is Randy Newman, he’s one of the greatest American songwriters of the 20th century. He has an amazing ability to create these scenarios or create first person accounts of people that aren’t actually him, but he can contextualise with his literal voice, his song writing voice, and make those their own sort of satirical version of himself. There’s a lot of layers going on there, but I’ve always thought of him as really excellent. He’s like a playwright with music, he’s writing musicals, I mean he’s won Oscars for writing music for narrative! That’s something that I’d really like to do – from a technical standpoint it’s actually very liberating because when you’re writing music with your name on it, you’re the artist, then there’s this sort of weird expectation that you’re trying to service which is why I like this idea of putting the mask on and separating the songs from my own personal experience, because I need to separate myself from my own experience of the music you’re hearing, at least on the surface. My big break was A Very Potter Musical, that I feel to this day are my biggest hits because I don’t really have hits, but as far as the songs that people know that strangers know of songs that I’ve written, they were songs that were written for characters. It’s a bit like painting by numbers. If you just write a song from scratch about anything, it’s like the canvas I’m talking about again. You can do anything, or go anywhere, and that’s overwhelming. Having parameters, knowing where the gates are, is extremely helpful, knowing when the deadline is, knowing how long your party can go for. It means you can maximise the space you know you have. When you write for narrative you go ‘this is the character’, ‘this is how they speak’ – so you already have your lyrical information there – ‘this is how they talk’, ‘this is the singer, the singer has a great range that goes from this note to this note’, ‘in this scene we need the character to go from point A to point B, and we want it to be a song that sounds like X’, so you create all these amazing little ingredients, and I look at artists like a service industry, I really enjoy servicing what the person or the experience requires. When I have a menu of ‘we want this, this, this’, it’s like okay great I’ve got you! A three-and-a-half-minute song that sounds like this song, but has to be in this key and has to be a duet, I really thrive on that. And it’s probably one of my more favourite versions of song writing. And usually there’s a deadline, so I can get it done! Because I need to get it done for production. I really enjoy coming back to writing for narrative, because I did that for Royalties with CJ, and when I realised how much I enjoyed doing that and how productive I was when I was writing for a narrative, that’s when I got into the idea of ‘I need to stop trying to bare my own soul in music’. I think if I treat it like I’m writing for a character, not only can I get it done faster but I feel like I can make things stronger. So that’s when I decided that’s what I’m gonna do for this next EP. Writing for other shows and characters is what helped me realise my strengths as a songwriter.”

What is next for you? What are you most excited for? “As I mentioned I think productivity begets productivity, and that’s exactly what happened with this EP. Even if the pandemic hadn’t happened and I didn’t have the time, I think I would have been just as emboldened from working on Royalties with CJ and it got me very excited about working on music and how much joy that gives me. Any artist will say the same answer, but I think by the time stuff comes out artists are already over it because they’ve been living with it for a year and a half, and in my case over a decade with these songs, so I’m always ready to move on and go to the next thing. Everything is a stepping stone, so I’m very happy that this EP is out, I think it’s a great representation of a lot of stuff that’s been unaddressed for far too long. I just wanna get going, it gets me excited about keeping the ball rolling as a songwriter or as a producer, I just don’t want this to be like ‘This is the thing I did during the pandemic’, I want to keep it going and be more proactive about keeping time aside for it, because that’s the name of the game. When you’re acting or doing music, you have to balance it with time, and this pandemic has shown me how much I enjoy spending time on music, so I’m gonna carry that on. But of course, as soon as I say that, that’s when something unexpected and something too juicy that I can’t keep my hands off it happens on the acting side. One learns to be pretty flexible, because as soon as I say one thing something else will happen, and that’s been the narrative for the past decade of my life. I hope to just keep going. I’ve been this lucky for this long so I’m not gonna pretend like I’m going to keep being this lucky. If I get to act great, if I get to do music great. I can’t believe I’m in a position where its like ‘oh if the acting thing doesn’t work out, I’ll just do music!’ or the other way around, it’s a highly privileged list of options, and I’m fully aware of that. So as long as I can have one or the other to fall back on, I will always be excited about option. It’s not always up to me, so we’ll see. Everything that I’ve put out is just a way for me to renew my lease with my ability to show up for myself as well as people that I don’t knows ability to be interested in what I have to do next. But I won’t flatter myself, I’m not gonna say that lease is forever, so I’m just trying to put in the time and work to keep it at the very least somewhat interesting.”

Photography - Amanda Demme

#darren criss #wonderland magazine #masquerade ep #press #sept 2021

49 notes · View notes

jayjaysocks · 5 years ago

Text

Listing my favorite animes (because I’m jumping on the bandwagon)

❗️⚠️ *spoilers!! (Duh)* ❗️⚠️

5. Deadman Wonderland

I was really really sad when I found out this anime got cancelled. The music was fantastic, the animation was really good, and the voice acting was incredible. Even the fucking dubbed version (I loved the voice they chose for Senji. God he was hilarious). I binged this show so fucking fast it wasn’t even funny. I loved watching the characters go through their own struggles and grow as people in the very small amount of episodes provided. There was a lot of development within the snippet that we actually saw, and I was thoroughly impressed with how well it was done. I wanted to scream or something when I found out there wouldn’t be a second season.

Sigh. Oh well. At least we got some of the manga��s masterpiece translated into a show, even if we were missing some fucking awesome characters.

4. Guilty Crown

Ugh, don’t even get me started. This anime was beautiful and I got so invested so freaking quickly. I literally go back every few years to rewatch it because I get ship starved.

Shu and Inori’s story was so beautifully done; between Shu uncovering his courage and Inori’s journey of self-discovery, I was continuously awe-struck and filled with feelings—I mean, I had never felt such raw emotion while watching something and I was completely blown away by the affect it had on me. Anger, hatred, sadness, it was all there (even for the main character lmao) and it was one of the first times I had ever felt a ship so heavily that I literally cried at the end. It was one of the very first Animes I’d ever seen and was one of the reasons I got such a taste for them. Thanks for throwing me down that rabbit hole, GC.

3. Soul Eater

This was literally the first Anime I’d ever seen, and my god I couldn’t have asked for a better starter. What I like about this one is that it’s style is so unique and different. It’s very punk and grunge, something I admired and appreciated in a genre that is normally the opposite (like Guilty Crown, for example). Also the fight scenes were badass, like holy shit just look at that gif ??? Freaking amazing.

I loved the way the show transitioned from light hearted to intense and adrenaline pumping so effortlessly. That can be said about a lot of shows, but this one went from *haha cute show* to *holy shit, like they’re actually gonna die ohmygod howaretheygoingtosurvivethis* so smoothly I was genuinely surprised. They made one of the main villains actually cool and each character had their own beautifully done arc. I loved and adored how the show solidified and expanded on the different friendships/relationships that were involved—specifically Soul and Maka’s (also, holy shit, Stein’s arc? Fucking prime, dude). There was a lot of growth in each and every friendship (CRONA!!!), and that really pushed the viewer to invest in the individual characters.

I am fucking delighted that this was my first anime, and (though the ending was a little anticlimactic) it remains one of my top favorites to this day. It set the bar pretty fucking high, and for that I am extremely greatful.

No one asked for Soul Eater: Not! It is the unspoken sin of the Soul Eater world (then again, it is called Soul Eater: Not!)

2. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

If you have been following me for a while, then you are no stranger to my love of FMAB. Some of my most popular posts are about this anime, and for good reason.

Unfortunately, I was late to the party. I actually didn’t watch this until last year, but got invested really damn quick. I have a tendency to be extremely picky about the animes that I watch/like (which is why NONE of these shows are that recent), to the point that I will literally research them before I start watching (a bad habit, do not copy me). I have an incomparably hard time finishing a show when I start, because I get bored really quickly, but this was an exception. I started watching and I just... didn’t stop. I spent a straight week watching FMAB, gobbling it up during any small amount free time I could manage, and finished it before I even knew what happened. I wasn’t picky about it, I didn’t research it, I just dove right in and gosh, I was not disappointed.

The subtle romance that was alluded throughout the entire show was super cute, the devotion the brothers had for each other was to die for, and the struggles that each person went through was more than moving. I never once found myself bored while watching, and that’s saying a lot for my adhd ass. I was invested in each and every second of that damn anime and I was never, ever left underwhelmed. That probably had to do with the fact that every. Single. Character. Had a purpose. I’m not even kidding. Every single person contributed to the big fight at the end and that alone is fucking fantastic.

Not to mention ALL the women, every female character, was a badass bitch. None of them were reduced to sex appeal or romantic subplot, they all had real feelings, real arcs and real, unadulterated badassery that I thoroughly admired and appreciated. I could watch this anime over and over again every single month and I wouldn’t get bored. Between the emotional struggle, self discovery, and personal development of each character, I promise you will not see a lack of plot or meaning here. The more you watch, the more you discover and that is not a lie. There are so many layers to its story, which only makes me wish I had watched this sooner.

There is nothing I have to offer in the ways of criticism, and for that I couldn’t be happier. Thank you, Hiromu Arakawa, for such an incredible piece of art. You deserve every bit of love that this manga/anime gets. You go girl.

1. Cowboy Bepop

Holy shit holy shit holy shit this anime is so fucking good and it has been my favorite for so damn long. I have been watching anime for years, and while some of the shows in my list have moved around, this one has yet to be bumped down from the top (and I doubt it ever will). There’s a reason it became such a cult classic.

For starters, the animation. I mean, just look at Spike and the way they animate his fighting (yes I am aware that this gif is from the movie, but that still doesn’t change my point). The sequences in the show/film have been reused in many other shows and for good reason. It’s good, incredible, actually and they make him look so badass with just a few hand movements. I was consistently impressed with the way the fight scenes were portrayed and wasn’t ever left underwhelmed or disappointed (or, for that matter, feeling like they completely over exaggerated/overcompensated the scene with huge close-ups and tons of debris and lights). I loved watching this and my heart was always pounding with every intense interaction. I didn’t feel bored during any of the episodes and always found myself laughing when they cracked a joke—pretty much all of their funny lines hit and that’s saying something, dude.

The show, while having a lighthearted surface, has a heavy meaning that you don’t see at first glance. It’s about dealing with grief and loss, and how the characters themselves accomplished that in different ways. The most prominent quote is the biggest indication of its moral “you’re gonna carry that weight”. Basically: ‘You’ve gotta pick up your baggage, because the world moves on, with or without you’. Or ‘You’re going to carry that weight whether you like it or not, because life keeps going’. When I figured out the show’s actual message, while staring at my ceiling in the long hours of the night, I almost cried. This realization brought something entirely different to the table, a new understanding of the show’s characters and overall essence.

The main characters, all of them, had depth. They had real, palpable depth, and even if you didn’t want to care you found yourself seriously interested in their lives. Each of them had relatively shitty pasts. Faye with her lost memories, Spike with Julia and the people who fucked him over, Jet with his old flame and the ISSP, Ed and her/his father... throughout the entire show we got to see how all of them dealt with these things, whether they wanted to continue on with life or not. The way they portrayed it was engaging, because the characters individual, contrasting journeys weren’t repetitive or one note. The beauty that the show holds so achinging close to its core, the layers of grief that the characters are wrapped in so delicately is almost suffocatingly real—because they’re all different. It’s something you discover when you think on the subject in a deeper light, which is another reason why I enjoy it so much. It has both a surface story and a deeper one. You can either take the show at face value or choose to understand the underlying moral.

This show inspired my very first, thoroughly fleshed out OC, and continues to inspire me to this day. It has contributed to my own personal growth, and has helped push me to continue my art and writing. It is beautifully written, beautifully executed and even though some of the episodes seem like filler, it has never disappointed me. I rewatch it all the time because there’s something so infinitely refreshing about the beauty of this anime, whether it be the way we watch the characters develop or the overall moral it portrays. This show has given us a message that is essentially timeless, it can be ‘carried’ through generation after generation, and still have the same impact—something I absolutely fucking adore.

I owe so much to this anime, including my very own artistic development. I discovered it during a really shitty time in my life and I couldn’t have asked for better timing. I will never tire of the bittersweet message or the thoroughly fucking fantastic animation. Everyone who contributed to this masterpiece deserves love, because it’s seriously fucking gold.

246 notes · View notes

shemakesmusic-uk · 4 years ago

Photo

youtube

Texan-born, Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter and TikTok personality Allison Ponthier makes a splash with 'Cowboy' – it's the enthralling first taste of her upcoming EP. Finding a path away from her conservative upbringing, queer singer-songwriter Allison Ponthier is another artist making country music her own. Taking references from Kacey Musgraves and Orville Peck, Ponthier's take on the genre is high camp and features a kaleidoscopic visual world too. Growing a huge following on TikTok, 'Cowboy' marks the start of a whole new chapter for Ponthier with her debut release with Interscope and Polydor. The track itself references her move from the bible belt to New York City and her journey accepting her sexuality. Warm and inviting 'Cowboy' is cinematic pop with some real heart-on-sleeve confessional songwriting. Complete with a masterful music video that runs like a mini-movie complete with impressive special effects, on reflection, cinematic is an understatement. The video itself is a striking and exciting introduction to this new artist, “I probably watch movies more than I listen to music,” Ponthier says of the video. The clip, directed by Jordan Bahat (Christine and the Queens) adds a whole new cosmic energy to the track and aims to amplify the lyrics' detailed storytelling. As she unveils more of her forthcoming debut EP, Ponthier explains what we can expect from her; “a lot of my songs are about being uncomfortable in your own skin but getting to know yourself better, figuring out who you really are.” [via the Line Of Best Fit]

youtube

Miley Cyrus has shared the full video for 'Angels Like You'. The pop rebel returned in 2020 with her excellent album Plastic Hearts, a series of superb empowerment anthems. Album highlight 'Angels Like You' has received the video treatment, shot at the Superbowl in front of an audience of fully vaccinated healthcare workers. Miley has also provided a note for the video describing her feelings of gratitude to these workers. [via Clash]

youtube

LA punk four-piece The Paranoyds have dropped a new video for track 'Egg Salad', taken from their album Carnage Bargain which is out now on Suicide Squeeze. The video's director Nicole Stunwyck comments "The video presents the glitzy & glamorous world of a teenage girl who, after accidentally catching a beauty pageant on TV, dreams of her rise to stardom & subsequent downfall... It’s not a commentary on anything but an experimental depiction of my own personal fascination for young tragic starlets alà Valley of The Dolls."

youtube

Noga Erez and collaborative partner ROUSSO have shared a fifth compelling new single from forthcoming album KIDS which is set for release on March 26 via City Slang. 'Story' is a snappy, addictive song about how couples relationships are always a relationship between two people’s past and present. "Everyone brings their past experiences to the relationship even if things are great" Erez comments. "Sometimes past situations come in and take over." As with the album's previous singles 'Story' is brought to life with a captivating video, starring Erez and ROUSSO, who also provides vocals on the track. "ROUSSO is my partner in music as well as my partner in life" she explains. "This is the first time we tell a story about our relationship in a song and video. It’s a song about a couple fighting and how, in that situation, sometimes what you hear the other person say is not what they actually said. The making of this video was a 10-day couples therapy session for us. As we rehearsed the pretend fighting and martial arts moves we knew that, at times, one of us would get punched just a little too hard. It was so intense and interesting to live in this world, where our relationship comes alive in the most physical way."

youtube

After announcing Detritus with lead outing 'Stories' last month, Sarah Neufeld has unveiled the album's second single 'With Love and Blindness'. Neufeld says of the song and Jason Last-directed video, "The video for 'With Love and Blindness' came together through a long-time collaboration between myself and videographer Jason Last. I knew that Jason and I would work together again on some visual aspect for my third solo release, and it so happened that before I even began recording the album, we were presented with the opportunity to do a mini residence on Corsica with Providenza; an amazing collective with a farm, cultural laboratory, festival and residency program." She continues, "I was doing a short solo tour in Europe in the summer of 2019 in order to re-work some of the pieces from the dance collaboration to begin to find a shape for the album that was to be recorded in the Fall. In the middle of that tour, Jason and I travelled to Corsica for several days (graced once again with a suitcase containing Esteban Cortazar’s unique and beautiful creations). Besides performing in Providenza’s outdoor amphitheater, we were immersed in nature, literally staying in a treehouse perched on the side of a mountain, overlooking the dramatic coastline." Neufeld adds, "I found that the pulse of the landscape resonated with the essence of the music, especially "With Love and Blindness"; a sense of rawness, of sensuality, of a strange gravity intensified by the hypnotic summer heat and the general otherworldliness of the place." [via the Line Of Best Fit]

youtube

Molly Burman was brought up around music. At every family event, every party, the soundtrack would resonate with her, providing an education in itself. Both parents were gigging musicians, and she always wanted to follow in their footsteps, to use performance as a means of self-expression. Lockdown brought the time and space to bring these ideas into focus, and she's working to unveil a series of one off singles. Her debut single proper 'Fool Me With Flattery' is out now, a blissfully melodic piece of indie pop with some whip-smart lyricism. There's a tongue in cheek element to her sound that is fantastically endearing, matched by the subtle lo-fi elements of her bedroom pop confection. She comments: "I wrote the song after a long day of feeling overlooked and ignored by some of the guys in my life. I was fed up, angry and used the stereotype of a mansplaining misogynist to let it all out. This song is for anyone who feels belittled and like they’re being made to shrink themselves; be as big as you possibly can, and don’t let anyone fool you with flattery." The video is a hilarious showcase for Molly's offbeat sense of humour. [via Clash]

youtube

Punk provocateurs Pussy Riot have unveiled their latest song 'Panic Attack', as well as a music video that features a hologram of singer Nadya Tolokonnikova. This is the final release from Pussy Riot’s new Panic Attack EP, a collection of three linked songs that, for now, can only be streamed as separate singles. The title track features punk guitars underneath a tinkling music box melody, as Tolokonnikova turns anxiety into a sports cheer. “Gimme an A,” she says, “Gimme a T/ Gimme a T/ Gimme an A/ Gimme a C/ Gimme a K/ Okay? Okay.” While upbeat and seemingly cheerful, the synth-punk song comes out of the trauma she experienced in a Russian prison camp. As she explained in a statement, “After serving 2 years in a labor camp, I’m still struggling with mental health issues. Trauma, fear and insecurity never fully go away, causing depression episodes and deep anxiety. ‘PANIC ATTACK’ was born as the result of me staring at the wall for 24 hours in the middle of the pandemic, feeling 100% helpless. I was trying to write something uplifting to encourage people to get through the tough times. But I was just failing and failing. Magically, at the second I allowed myself to be honest and write about despair I was experiencing, I wrote the track in like a half an hour. Depression is a plague of the 21st century, and it tells me that there’s something broken in the way we treat each other. The video ‘PANIC ATTACK’ reflects on objectification of human beings, loneliness, disconnection from the environment that causes us to feel small and powerless. And it’s us who caused it with our own hands – that’s why in the end of the video I’m fighting with my own clone.” The music video for 'Panic Attack' was directed by Asad J. Malik. He used 106 cameras to capture all angles of Tolokonnikova, then converted that information into a photoreal hologram. Afterwards, Tokyo-based creative technologist Ruben Fro built out landscapes reminiscent of video games through which the virtual Tolokonnikova could frolic. But as the visuals progress, those idyllic settings give way to a hellscape, and the singer faces off against a clone of herself. [via Consequence of Sound]

youtube

The wait is finally over. BLACKPINK’s Rosé shines like the star she is with her official solo debut. On Friday, she released two solo songs on her debut single album titled R, 'On the Ground' and 'Gone.' With its deep lyrics, angelic bridge, and Rosé’s high note at the end, 'On the Ground' is an exemplary song for her solo debut. Add the fact that Rosé is credited as a writer for the song, and one can really tell how much time she spent perfecting it for release. The accompanying music video, meanwhile, expands the story of life and growth. Rosé starts off looking lost and trying to find herself amidst all the wildness of life; she eventually encounters past and present versions of herself while searching for answers and purpose. By the end, she finds herself and her path forward, and one can’t help but smile as she sings an explosive outro. [via Teen Vogue]

youtube

On Ellise's latest alt-pop concoction the rising pop star gets gothic as 'Feeling Something Bad...' transforms a crush into an obsession. An expert at catastrophising everyday experiences, the LA-based artist has arrived fully formed with not only a consistent and cohesive sound but a striking visual identity too. That's even more clear when you press play on the accompanying video for her latest infectiously catchy track. With the clip directed by Joakim Carlsson we get to see Ellise in her absolute element as she brings "Feeling Something Bad..." to life in a macabre world of its own. “I just love dramatising little everyday feelings in life, so this is my big dramatic ‘I have a crush on you’ song,” Ellise explains – it's a song she wrote about a boy she barely knew. [via the Line Of Best Fit]

youtube

With President Biden determined to get the majority of American adults vaccinated by summer, bands are earnestly beginning to look forward to the return of live music. Purity Ring are the latest to announce 2021 tour dates, which they’ve shared alongside the video for their track 'sinew'. The song comes from WOMB, the synth-pop duo’s first album in five years that was released just before the pandemic struck. Directed by Toby Stretch, the clip brings back the abstract graphics and costumes that featured in the 'stardew' music video, continuing the enigmatic story of the domed bicyclist and their sun-headed sidecar companion. [via Consequence of Sound]

youtube

Australian Pop Princess, Peach PRC releases the official music video for her debut single 'Josh'. Peach PRC comments on the official 'Josh' visuals, “The music video was inspired by growing up watching the same five infomercials, morning news channels and old movies on my little pink box tv when I was a kid and couldn’t sleep on a school night. The idea was to have “josh” feel just as harassed the more he tries to call. Every creative step along the way was entirely my vision, from writing the music video script, to the lyrics and everything in between. I’m so happy and hope all the girls, gays and theys who dated “josh” will sing along.”

#videos of the week #allison ponthier #miley cyrus #the paranoyds #noga erez #sarah neufeld #molly burman #pussy riot #rose #ellise #purity ring #peach prc

10 notes · View notes

bombshellsandbluebells · 4 years ago

Note

Why do you stan Emori so much? I’m someone who has never really grown to like her, so I genuinely just want to know. I find a lot of her characteristics already done in other characters, or wholly unlikeable. I truly can’t see how taking her out of the story would change much of anything - Murphy’s arc could be aided along by someone else easily. So: This is your chance to use CANON (a lot of pro-Emori stuff I see is headcanon) to explain to my why I should like Emori.

Hey, anon! Alright, just letting you know, you ASKED for a long answer haha. :)

First, I just want to say that Emori clicks with me, but if you don’t find her interesting or don’t connect with her, really no matter what I say, it’s probably not going to change your opinion and that’s totally fine! Some characters REALLY click with you and others just don’t for whatever reason. So I’m not necessarily going at this like “here’s why you SHOULD like Emori” but more “here is why I personally like Emori, whether you vibe with that or not”

I agree that you can take her out of the story without it changing much, but I’d also argue that’s really the case for MOST of The 100 cast, the Griffins and Blakes and some other key players aside. At its heart, The 100 really is an ensemble show. It’s about how this particular world and the societies and the fight for survival affects different people and how they respond to it and the struggle between different groups and different beliefs and different people.

The point of MOST of the characters existing in this series isn’t that they fulfill an important role in the plot, but that they each show a new perspective of what it means to live in the harsh, cruel world of the show. Obviously plot points are developed around these characters, but the truth is you could remove most of the supporting cast and rewrite plot points to work without them.

So the biggest thing that Emori does for the show isn’t that it can’t function on a plot level without her, but she adds a new, unique perspective of what it means to live in this world and society and be affected by it. Emori’s perspective IS unique to this show (aside from the smaller other mutated characters who introduce the concept of societal prejudices but don’t really get the room to develop or connect with the audience). She’s on the lowest ring of society. She’s an outcast not because of anything she’s done, but because of societal prejudices and hatred. She’s part of just yet another group out there fighting for survival in this world. Her mutation is also a direct result of the bombs and the lingering radiation, giving another example of how that setup has affected this world and the people in it. So while, yes, she could ultimately be removed from the show without breaking the plot, you lose that perspective and worldbuilding. You lose that additional example of how this world affects the people in it. You lose that story.

I like Emori because she’s interesting.

That’s really it. She’s a unique character. She has a unique backstory within the show compared to the other supporting characters. It was just FUN to get to know more about her and her life and how she has survived in this world.

Emori was born into a cruel world and immediately shown cruelty and hatred for something she couldn’t control. Her world labeled her worthless, her society rejected her, and Emori turned harsh and selfish and ruthless and mean in response. Emori has to fight, steal, and kill for every single scrap of survival because on one else thinks she deserves anything - even the right to live. The only reason Emori lived as long as she did was because SHE fought for herself and did anything she had to to survive.

I just think that makes such an interesting character and story. I just love watching how she approaches what happens to her and how she responds. I love that her world told her she’s worthless and deserved to die and Emori said fuck you, no I’m not, and fought to live anyways.

I feel like a lot of people who don’t like her say it’s because she’s mean or does bad things or isn’t a perfect saint or is a bad influence or whatever and I just want to be like YES, EXACTLY. I like that she’s flawed. I like that she’s so mistrusting of the world because she’s been burned that she looks out for herself and her two people and would screw over anyone she had to. It’s way more fun to have a character like that - who has believable, understandable reasons to be like that - than a character who only exists to be the Moral Voice of Reason or isn’t allowed to actually have flaws. (Like there is a reason that Rubicon and Gimme Shelter will forever be my favorite Emori episodes. She is ruthless!!! And brilliant!!! And she will kill a man to survive.)

I think broken characters who have painful pasts and unhealed emotional wounds and fears and make questionable or outright bad choices are so much more interesting to watch and so much easier to connect to because THAT’S the human experience, baby. I might not be killing and stealing and conning people, but I sure have insecurities and fears caused by past experiences and can understand that.

I love, love, love that Emori is a con artist! Like that’s the coolest thing ever!!! She’s a brilliant manipulator and she knows how to play people. In Rubicon, she takes advantage of the fact that she looks weak and pretty and small and plays the damsel in distress to con a group of men. In Gimme Shelter, she uses the fact that her past experiences and Clarke’s contrasting privilege make her feel guilty. She’s BRILLIANT! She can use a knife and she can fight, but the way she’s made it this far in the world is by using her brain. I love that!!

I love that she manipulates and cons the audience alongside Jaha’s Merry Band of Men in Rubicon. Like she gets introduced to both the audience and the characters as this damsel in distress victim who needs help and is so harmless and then just flips the switch on us!!! Pysch!!! It was a TRAP the whole time!! Like, that’s just so fun and badass?? I love it. I love her introduction into this series so much.

I love her early aesthetic. The blue dresses are nice but she comes into this series looking like a desert pirate bandit and that’s fucking fantastic and fun! I love it so much! I kind of miss it to be honest.

I love that she’s sassy and has a sense of humor despite how cruel the world has been to her. I love that she manages to find joy in things still. I love that she is loyal as HELL to the people she’s decided to care about and that finding acceptance and a place to belong in Spacekru allowed her to grow enough to care for an entire group of people and want to protect them.

Which speaking of, I love her journey through this series as a whole so much. She starts off so untrusting of other people and so unwilling to try to join community (she’s so against going to try and join Skaikru at first) and eventually she finds her place and learns to love her family so MUCH. She grows so much more open with people and so much more trusting and kind as the series goes on because she finds a place that accepts her for what she is and lets her belong and she cherishes it and it changes her so much. I loved her growth through s5 and later seasons, going from someone who trusted ONE PERSON in the world and would let everyone else burned because she was scared of them hurting her to being willing to give up immortality to save her family AND others.

And I relate so much to her story of self esteem and dealing with society’s views of you. I don’t have a disability, but that feeling of being told some part of you is flawed or undesirable is relatable, and it means SO MUCH to me that Emori was given the option to make her hand normal and she said, actually, I have no flaws. I am HAPPY with how I am and it is SOCIETY’S problem that they can’t accept it, not mine. That’s a POWERFUL moment.

Anyways, this started somewhat organized and devolved into me just listing all the things I love about Emori, but really the answer is just I think she’s interesting. I think she’s complicated and real and flawed and unique and relatable and she grows and changes in interesting ways. I think she offers a unique new perspective and story to the show. And I also just think Luisa is a fantastic actress who is so fun to watch.

If you don’t feel the same way, then, like I said, seeing why I find her a fascinating, fun character probably isn’t going to change your mind, but I love her so much and I’m so glad she got added to the show. Thanks for asking for my opinion though!

#ask #emori #emori kom spacekru #i JUST LOVE HER SO MUCH OKA #the 100

13 notes · View notes

hayingsang · 5 years ago

Text

What I read last year

Favourite book of 2019 – Robert Fitzgerald’s translation of The Aeneid. I wasn’t prepared for just how exciting this story was. Fantastic from start to end, even when you know what’s going to happen next. I also hugely enjoyed Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey, not least for her excellent introduction and its highlighting of lots of stuff to watch out for (especially all those brutal killings when Odysseus finally makes it home), and Pat Barker’s retelling of the Iliad from the point of view of Briseis, the young woman seized by Achilles to be his bed slave after her city is sacked during the siege of Troy.

Most exciting book – Eve Babitz’s Slow Days, Fast Company, her 1977 account of life in early 1970s Los Angeles. Also perhaps the most “masterly” book I’ve read in a long time – in my experience, most writing involves the writer getting it out there, usually using techniques they’ve built up over time; through SDFC’s collection of tales I felt I was reading what Babitz had decided was most appropriate for her readers to know. Extraordinary control. Loved it.

I would pair that with Patti Smith’s Just Kids, about her and Robert Mapplethorpe making themselves into artists in the very late 1960s/early 1970s New York – which feels like the total opposite of Babitz, ie Smith telling it how it was. Not particularly caring for her music – I loathed Horses as a 16-year-old – I was surprised how much I enjoyed/learned from her account of her life after she left home, struggling first to get by, then to make art, all as part of what was clearly a very special relationship.

Lara Alcock’s Mathematics Rebooted was my biggest learning experience – a wonderful journey through the elements of mathematics, beginning each chapter with something basic then taking it up past the point where most non-mathematician readers would fall off to something beyond. Every chapter I both learned something and found out what there was yet to learn.

As in 2018, I read four books in Chinese. Actually, two in “standard” Chinese and two in Cantonese. The Cantonese ones were a treat – a translation of The Little Prince and 香港語文: 聽陳蕾士嘅秘密, a collection of 20 Chinese essays and one Chinese poem translated into Cantonese. Who says it’s not a language of its own? Not the four writers who did the translations. The two others, a collection of essays from the early to mid 2000s by Chan Koonchung and a book-format edition of Being Hong Kong about various Hong Kong things (City Hall at 50, some food stuff, some Cantonese opera stuff, etc) were also worthwhile. Neither quite merit being translated into English, but both give a flavour of the things that exercise people in Hong Kong (or Chan’s case, of the things which exercised them in the early 2000s – a much more gentle set of concerns than those that bother them now).

Among the novels, Manjushree Thapa’s The Tutor of History was a standout. Set in the 1990s Nepal, it pulled off an astonishing feat of describing from scratch a society which most of us will never know. Sheila Heti’s Motherhood, a meditation mostly about whether to have a child or not, was also excellent in catching the feel of a person at a very specific and important juncture of her life.

Timothy Morton was an important discovery, especially Humankind. He tackles the question of what does it mean to be living now – in the Anthropocene, at a time when human beings are destroying many other living things and doing huge damage to much non-living stuff and comes up with some new answers – that maybe we have to take ourselves both more seriously and see ourselves as of rather less importance than we might like to think, especially when it comes to all those other living and non-things and stuff. Kind of practical in a bizarre way.

Walter Scheidel’s The Great Leveler and Francis Fukuyama’s Political Order and Political Decay are two tremendous overviews of where our societies have come from. Scheidel’s argument that throughout history, peace and economic growth have always led to ever-widening inequality poses a big challenge to the world. Fukuyama’s suggestion, continuing from The Origins of Political Order, that countries should build institutions before adding democracy points to another conclusion that merits serious thought.

Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit was my motivational book of the year. I would imagine it would be useful for anyone who has to come up with ideas and carry them through to completion.

Finally, Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish’s Siblings Without Rivalry is a terrific book about what to do when your children say they want each other to die. Like the one other great book about raising children I’ve read – Ross Gree’s The Explosive Child – it’s not about what you should get your children to do, it’s about what you should do. Gree’s single greatest point – one I think I took to heart – is that when there’s one angry person in the room, try not to make it two. Faber & Mazlish’s is don’t try to solve the problem yourself, just try and get those children to say (or even better write down) what’s bothering them about their brother/sister. Once that’s out in the open, they may even figure out what to do about it themselves. We tried it and – trust me – it worked.

The complete list

JR McNeill & Peter Engelke, The Great Acceleration

Frank Pieke, Knowing China

Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind

Susan Cain, Quiet

Ray Dalio, Principles

Lara Alcock, Mathematics Rebooted

Rebecca Solnit, A Field Guide to Getting Lost

Leo Goodstadt, A City Mismanaged

Timothy Morton, Being Ecological

Pat Barker, The Ghost Road

Martin Rees, Our Final Hour

Tyler Cowen, Stubborn Attachments

Timothy Morton, The Ecological Thought

Manjushree Thapa, The Tutor of History

John McPhee, Draft No. 4

Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish, Siblings Without Rivalry

Dante, The Divine Comedy

Lionel Shriver, We Need to Talk About Kevin

Joyce Carol Oates, Carthage

Zadie Smith, White Teeth

Xi Xi, My City

Eve Babitz, Slow Days, Fast Company

Various, Being HK

Nigel Collett, A Death in Hong Kong

Xi Xi, A Girl Like Me

Virgil, The Aeneid

James Scott, Against the Grain

Karl Popper, All Life Is Problem Solving

Ursula Le Guin, The Tombs of Atuan

Ursula Le Guin, No Time to Spare

Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit

Franklin Foer, World Without Mind

Ursula Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness

Confucius/Simon Leys, The Analects of Confucius

Sheila Heti, Motherhood

Bill Burnett & Dave Evans, Designing Your Life

Ian Stewart, Nature’s Numbers

Mike Michalowicz, Clockwork

Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch

Matthew Walker, Why We Sleep

Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark

Philip K Dick, Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said

Peter Adamson, Classical Philosophy

Machiavelli, The Prince

Mary Clarke & Clement Crisp, How to Enjoy Ballet

Cas Mudde & Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser, Populism

Charles Lindblom, The Market System

AL Kennedy, Looking for the Possible Dance

Mario Vargas Llosa, The Bad Girl

Shen Fu, Six Records of a Floating Life

Han Kang, The Vegetarian

Mikel Dunham, Buddha’s Warriors

Yoko Ogawa, Hotel Iris

Elaine Feinstein, It Goes With the Territory

Homer/Emily Wilson, The Odyssey

Richard McGregor, Xi Jinping: The Backlash

Shiona Airlie, Scottish Mandarin

Jeannette Ng, Under the Pendulum Sky

Otessa Moshfegh, My Year of Rest and Relaxation

陳冠中, 我這一代香港人

Muriel Spark, Reality and Dreams

Muriel Spark, The Driver’s Seat

Mary Beard, Women and Power

Lauren Groff, Fates and Furies

Carlo Rovelli, Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

Anne Carson, The Beauty of the Husband

Francis Fukuyama, Political Order and Political Decay

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 小王子 (The Little Prince in Cantonese)

Pat Barker, The Silence of the Girls

Joan Didion, The Last Thing He Wanted

Walter Scheidel, The Great Leveler

Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism

Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem

Svetlana Alexievich, The Unwomanly Face of War

Marguerite Duras, Blue Eyes, Black Hair

Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation

Chuang Tsu, The Book of Chuang Tsu

Cathleen Schine, The Weissmans of Westport

Patti Smith, Just Kids

Timothy Morton, Humankind

Various, 香港語文: 聽陳蕾士嘅秘密

Edna O’Brien, Time and Tide

2 notes · View notes

onestowatch · 5 years ago

Text

AYLØ Is the Rapping & Singing Extraordinaire Making Nigeria Proud With ‘dnt’dlt’ [Q&A]

One of Nigeria’s finest rising talents, AYLØ is a rapping and singing extraordinaire who isn’t confined to a single genre. Instead, he produces an intriguing fusion of alternative R&B, neo soul, hip hop, and afropop that has earned him worldwide recognition. Following his fantastic 2017 album, Insert Project Name, AYLØ is back at it again with yet another genre-bending record titled dnt’dlt.

The slow-burning opening track, “I listen to you...” already gives us a satiable taste of AYLØ’s eclectic sound because his soothing choruses are accompanied by irresistible rap verses. Co-produced by Le Mav and Odunsi The Engine, “Paris!” is all about appreciating beauty within and silencing our minds from external distractions. AYLØ isn’t afraid to serve as an advocate for female empowerment as he vouches for confidence in femininity in the soulful “Sassy.”

youtube

dnt’dlt takes a complete turn with “Pretty Mama!” as the tempo picks up to a refreshing beat layered with hip hop elements throughout. What AYLØ credits as his favorite song on dnt’dlt, “Indo Smkn” is drenched with rich lyricism and atmospheric instrumentals. The progressive record even incorporates Chinese in “xozhu,” which is amplified by a heart rate monitor effect.

“City on Lights!” and “Nintendo” are both stellar examples of AYLØ’s musical versatility as they vary in electronics and tone. On the other hand, “IMWTWOTF” is more of a creative piece that focuses on instrumentals with limited morphed dialogue. The moody closing track, “Alive and Breathing!” perfectly concludes dnt’dlt as AYLØ raps about his troublesome past and realizes a bright future is within his reach.

Don’t delay and check out AYLØ’s dnt’dlt below:

In celebration of his new music, we recently chatted with AYLØ about his musical upbringing, his continual growth, and of course, dnt’dlt.

OTW: R&B, neo-soul, hip hop… You can do it all! How did you first get involved in music?

AYLØ: I think I wrote my first country type song when I was seven. My mum bought my brother and I some guitars. Locally made and toy-like, but still I loved it. Couldn't play, [but] made noises that irritated my mother, I’m sure. Didn't stop and I think from then on though I just never stopped writing songs.

OTW: Your new mixtape, dnt’dlt, is an expansive collection of ten tracks that you thoughtfully curated for this highly anticipated project. What does this release mean to you?

AYLØ: It's like a journey back to self, you know. You can kind of lose yourself over time and not even realize it. Change, growth, depression, denial, acceptance... we go through a lot as humans. So for me, this more importantly isn't the end but sort of a beginning. But I wanted to show the whole story of my experiments over time in a nice package.

OTW: Since you’ve released them as singles, your fans have been so obsessed with “Paris!” and “Sassy.” Do you have a favorite song on the mixtape?

AYLØ: “Indo Smkn.”

OTW: Can you describe your creative process for dnt’dlt?

AYLØ: A lot of deleting firstly. About five times. Whole demo packs (projects). A lot of arrogance. Constantly working on music every day. Sleeping on the floor in my friend’s booth. A lot of traveling. A lot of cancelled shows in a row. Seven. Every aspect entirely worth the thoughts they provoke. And my music is more meditative. By this, I mean I never know what I'm going to write about but it’s always expressive of where I'm at and what I'm feeling. So round that all up in 12 months and you have my project.

OTW: How have you grown since releasing Insert Project Name in 2017?

AYLØ: I have another project after this one for this year. That's back to back. Other cool stuff I can't just give away... you gotta stay tuned amen.

OTW: If you could collaborate with anyone in the music industry, who would you pick?

AYLØ: Burna Boy.

OTW: Who are your Ones To Watch?

AYLØ: As God is my witness I only really be watching documentaries but watch out for MOJO. He's an indigenous Nigerian artist. A lot of talent there.

#dnt dlt #AYLØ #aylo #rap #soul #hip hop #interview #album reviews

5 notes · View notes

shadowlinecomics · 6 years ago

Text

Hail to the Queens!

(crossposted from Kurtis J. Wiebe’s website)

THIS IS ME NOW

It was early 2012 when the core concept of Rat Queens came together. I’d been in contact with Roc Upchurch after meeting him randomly on a street corner over the weekend of NYCC in 2011. I’d seen his work on Vescell and was inspired by it. He was making art in a way I’d never seen in a comic series.

While he finished Vescell, we emailed several times, batting around ideas. We’d attempted a small pitch on a concept that I’d originally worked on with Owen Gieni (who, in a strange twist, became a later Rat Queens artist), it was called Goblinettes, and it ultimately didn’t float. Didn’t seem like there was much interest in a story about a three-piece all girl goblin punk band that sang about love and getting along.

We went back to the ideas phase. We both knew we wanted to work on fantasy. And we both knew we wanted to try something fresh with a genre we loved.

I sat and thought on it awhile. I asked myself all kinds of questions. What did I love about fantasy? What was ridiculous? What was annoying and outdated?

It wasn’t a new thing for me to have female leads in my stories; Debris, The Intrepids, Beautiful Creatures and even Peter Panzerfaust, while predominantly male, had women that are, to date, my favourite I’ve written.

Having four female leads wasn’t the novel idea, in my opinion. What I wanted to do was have a fantasy adventure story where being a woman wasn’t a thing. And in so many of the fantasy books I’d read, it almost always certainly was.

We did a call and I laid out the idea that I’d come up with in the worst way possible: It’s Lord of the Rings meets Sex in the City. We both laughed. It was a terrible mash, but we both knew what it meant.

That’s where it started. Where it would land, how it would end, we had no idea. Our best guess was five issues and a good looking trade collection.

Rat Queens #1 came out on September 25th, 2013. Five and a half years ago, now.

On that day, my life changed.

Within months, Rat Queens became the most successful project I’d ever worked on. Both in sales and in the acclaim it garnered from an industry, a community that had become so important to me. It was the highlight of success after years of personal struggles that had nearly sapped me of hope and strength.

I felt like I finally belonged.

And it was good for a while. We always struggled to get the series out on its monthly schedule (I have many thoughts about the industry’s demand on artists, but that’s for another time), but we were creating something we loved and the fans loved in returned. It was the best a creator could ask for.

Since then, it’s been a long and difficult journey. The years following September 25th, 2013 have been a trail through the highest mountains and the darkest caves.

I had a daughter.

I moved seven times. (Yes. Seven.)

I began new comic series’.

I finished several others.

It’s no secret Rat Queens has had its share of controversies. They took a heavy toll, bringing me back to a dark place I thought I’d escaped when this Rat Queens journey began.

You can read about my brush with suicide in the summer of 2016 here: https://kurtiswiebe.com/2016/10/28/this-side-of-suicide/

Even then, I kept creating new stories with these four women throughout it all. But, I have to be honest, it was getting more difficult with each new iteration. Each new artistic team that came on.

At the end of the day, I had to step back and ask myself some familiar questions: What did I love about fantasy? What was ridiculous? What was annoying and outdated?

This past summer of 2018, I found that I didn’t have the answers I used to. Or maybe I’d already answered them and somehow lost myself along the way.

In that reflection I realized that I’d been burned out on the one thing that once gave me joy and provided for my family.

I was terrified.

And then I knew: it was time to move on.

That fear only grew, but it was the seed to plant a new foundation. I’d wrapped up so much of my identity in Rat Queens; my worth, my voice, and world-view.

Five years is a long time. We all grow and change, day to day, and over the span of five years, I’ve faced many shifts to my status quo.

Those changes excite me, I want to write about them. While that doesn’t mean the Rat Queens can’t be part of the equation, it means that I want to commit the next span of years to these new perspectives that have deeply informed my life.

So, I’m saying goodbye to Rat Queens. For now, and the foreseeable future.

THE NEXT CHAPTER

Rat Queens is still popular. I know fans love these characters, and I’ve always been interested to see what other people would bring to the table with this large cast of characters. There are still a hundred stories that could be told with Betty, Hannah, Braga, Dee and Violet.

With that said, I’m passing on the torch to a new team, a group of amazing creators who will carry on the legacy of the Rat Queens in an exciting and new direction.

Ryan Ferrier, who has lettered the series since we came back in 2017, will be taking over writing duties. He was absolutely the first choice for me. We share a similar sense of humour and he’s been living with these characters for over a year now. If you haven’t read any of Ryan’s work, I HIGHLY recommend D4ve. It was my first foray into his work, and it’s genius and funny and heartfelt and great.

Our new line artist, Priscilla Petraites, is someone I’ve been watching for years. She has emailed me every year since 2014, always sending me her new portfolio, to show her progress and growth as an artist. I’ve always had an interest in working with her, but could never find the right concept for the collaboration. When I decided to move on from Rat Queens, Priscilla was an obvious choice. And the heavens aligned, schedules collided and Rat Queens is now her baby.

Marco Lesko and Priscilla had worked together on several other projects as a team before coming on to Rat Queens. I’d seen their work together and bringing Marco onto Rat Queens as our colourist made absolute sense. They have an artistic chemistry that drips off the page, and I can’t wait to see them craft their take on the world of Rat Queens.

This new team will be taking over in April, 2019, with their one shot: Rat Queens Swamp Romp, before jumping into their full-time duties with issue 16 in June.

So. What’s next? And what about current Rat Queens artist, Owen Gieni?

In the past few years, Owen has become like a brother to me. He’s been around through the toughest of times and has always been an honest and stalwart friend. Through our long conversations over the years, we’ve discussed hundreds of theories and philosophies, and even more stories and worlds.

It’s time we did something with them.

2019 is about change. About taking a risk, in art and in life.

Together, Owen and I are founding a creative company; Beast and Bone Studios.

We’re going to be creating a pile of new art, comics and otherwise. We’re finally going to get a start on a series we’ve been talking about since summer of 2017. Plus a few others we’ve been hashing out in the last few months. I cannot wait.

First, I want to thank Jim Valentino, the man who saw something unique in this little series. He backed me through everything, and has supported my decisions, both creatively and professionally, and it’s been a fantastic journey. I call him my second dad for a reason!

And finally, I want to thank every single person out there who’s supported Rat Queens, and more directly, supported me through the past five years. It has never been unappreciated, and the kindness you’ve shown through emails and messages has saved me more than you can know. I will be forever grateful for the fans and to the five Queens who made my current life possible.

Here’s to you, Violet, Dee, Hannah, Braga and Betty.Especially you, Betty. You know you’ve always been my favourite.

Much love,Kurtis Wiebe

PS: Here’s your first look at Ryan, Priscilla and Marco’s Rat Queens!

#rat queens #shadowline comics #kurtis j wiebe #ryan ferrier #owen gieni #priscilla petraites #marco lesko

41 notes · View notes

youngartsblog · 6 years ago

Text

Artistic Themes

This is a list of four common artistic themes that I wish to pursue, or feel that I am already pursuing, in my art.

1. Narrative-

I have always enjoyed a piece of art that suggests a story line and allows the viewer to fill in the blanks themselves. I want my work to trigger imagination and emotion that is unique and personal to each viewer. I love storytelling, whether visual or verbal, and a good story is something that transcends cultural differences. When a piece of art is able to transport me to the setting it takes place in, makes me emotionally involved, or makes my mind come up with theories for the actions and reasonings of the characters, I find it particularly powerful. It's like a good book, but one you can read simply by looking at a painting. I feel that this theme of art is particularly popular, maybe because it can be so easily combined with other themes to help make a point. Through the past few years, I have found that the reaction I value most from my viewers is an emotional one. Narrative helps lead the viewer in the right direction. Comics are narrative, but I definitely prefer to leave an element of mystery and imagination to my work, so that it becomes unique and personal to each person that views it.

2. Fantasy/Surrealism-

This theme is one that I've started to try hard to portray in my work, and hopefully it'll become easier the longer I do it. I feel that the "loosening" of my mind I have begun to accomplish experimentally in the past couple years has really helped this. One way I might encourage its growth is maybe I could sit down and challenge myself to sketch out fantastical or nonsensical things for a certain amount of time each day. I believe creativity is inherent in everyone, but using it effectively is a learned skill. A couple artists who used this theme that I am very inspired by are Remedios Varo, Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte, and Frida Kahlo. I enjoy surrealism because it is very intriguing to be able to take a break from real life and explore a new world. The only aspects of the world are what the artist shows you, but your own brain can still fill in the gaps and imagine more fantastic images just off the side of the frame. It is an incredibly freeing genre of art, and one that not many people get right. There has to be just the right amount of information and just the right amount of mystery to allow for individual reactions.

3. Social Commentary/Discursive-

I combined these two themes because I feel that they can highly overlap in a lot of ways. I want to get more involved in social commentary, but I feel that there's a very thin line between that and propaganda. If I just boldly state my opinion without any reasoning or discussion involved, the work is more likely to alienate those that need to see it most. If, however, the work is more discursive, and leads the viewer down the path I want them to examine, and the journey becomes one of self-discovery. Each viewer becomes responsible for their own reaction and what they learn. I've found in my life that the only way to change someone is to give them the tools to change themselves. And even then, it may not work. Some people just never want to own up to their mistakes and ignorance. There's nothing you can do about it so you just have to move on and keep pushing yourself to be better. Some themes I want to pursue in this category are immigration, gender, sexuality, wealth/class systems, and maybe parenthood. These are pretty broad and have lots of different nuances which will be fun to explore.

4. Ritual-

Over the past few years of my life I have only shed rituals and spiritualism from my life. I have highly scientific-based beliefs and ideals, but I still have a view of the world that feels that ritual and spiritualism can still exist even without a god to devote it to. The human condition itself is a unique experience that is shared among all of us, and deserves to be celebrated and shared. This doesn't need some sort of promised afterlife to be worthwhile. If anything, the ephemerality of life makes it more precious and valuable, and more worthy of celebration than the imagined promise of postmortem rewards for acts on Earth that matter little in the grand scheme of things. I do follow many rituals that I find great value in. The ritual of spending time with friends, partaking in drugs and alcohol, being in relationships, having pets, creating art, etc.. I think one way I could put more ritual into my art would be to express my beliefs more clearly, which is a sort of New-Age spiritualism which believes that all life is controlled and created by the physics of electrons and protons. So, in a way it does have an overarching "plan".

2 notes · View notes

readingsanctuary · 6 years ago

Text

I started the month in a really bad reading slump, so my main goal for the month was to get over that. Thankfully I successfully revived my love and enthusiasm for reading, and managed to have a really successful reading month. I’ve never read so many books in a month before in my entire life, and I’m feeling really good about it. I picked up what I felt like, and that meant I read a lot of graphic novels.

The House with Chicken Legs – by Sophie Anderson

All 12-year-old Marinka wants is a friend. A real friend. Not like her house with chicken legs. Sure, the house can play games like tag and hide-and-seek, but Marinka longs for a human companion. Someone she can talk to and share secrets with.

But that’s tough when your grandmother is a Yaga, a guardian who guides the dead into the afterlife. It’s even harder when you live in a house that wanders all over the world . . . carrying you with it. Even worse, Marinka is being trained to be a Yaga. That means no school, no parties–and no playmates that stick around for more than a day.

So when Marinka stumbles across the chance to make a real friend, she breaks all the rules . . . with devastating consequences. Her beloved grandmother mysteriously disappears, and it’s up to Marinka to find her–even if it means making a dangerous journey to the afterlife.

With a mix of whimsy, humor, and adventure, this debut novel will wrap itself around your heart and never let go.

This was such a quick, enjoyable read, and an interesting twist on the Baba Yaga story. It’s such a whimsical story, I loved all the interesting details that were woven throughout the book. I was quickly absorbed by Marinka’s life, and invested in her story. There are some really interesting themes explored throughout, and Marinka’s reactions always felt really genuine. I loved watching her character develop and grow throughout the story as she came to terms with her situation, and explored her identity. I can see why this book was released to so much praise, I’m just so glad I picked it up.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Their Fractured Light – by Amie Kaufman & Megan Spooner

A year ago, Flynn Cormac and Jubilee Chase made the now-infamous Avon Broadcast, calling on the galaxy to witness LaRoux Industries’ corruption. A year before that, Tarver Merendsen and Lilac LaRoux were the only survivors of the Icarus shipwreck, forced to live a double life after their rescue.

Now, at the center of the galaxy on Corinth, all four are about to collide with two new players in the fight against LRI. Gideon Marchant is an underworld hacker known as the Knave of Hearts, ready to climb and abseil his way past the best security measures on the planet to expose LRI’s atrocities. Sofia Quinn, charming con artist, can work her way into any stronghold without missing a beat. When a foiled attempt to infiltrate LRI Headquarters forces them into a fragile alliance, it’s impossible to know who’s playing whom–and whether they can ever learn to trust each other. With their lives, loves, and loyalties at stake, only by joining forces with the Icarus survivors and Avon’s protectors do they stand a chance of taking down the most powerful corporation in the galaxy—before LRI’s secrets destroy them all. The New York Times best-selling Starbound trilogy comes to a close with this dazzling final installment about the power of courage and hope in humanity’s darkest hour.

This book took me so long to read, it just seemed to go on forever. I know that this is mostly because of my reading slump which hit right as I was reading this book, but I also feel like a lot of this book was about moving the characters towards a meeting point where they could then go on and finish the story. It almost feels like it could have been two books in that sense. One following Sophia and Gideon, and then a final book following all the characters once they meet.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Before She Ignites – by Jodi Meadows

Before

Mira Minkoba is the Hopebearer. Since the day she was born, she’s been told she’s special. Important. Perfect. She’s known across the Fallen Isles not just for her beauty, but for the Mira Treaty named after her, a peace agreement which united the seven islands against their enemies on the mainland.

But Mira has never felt as perfect as everyone says. She counts compulsively. She struggles with crippling anxiety. And she’s far too interested in dragons for a girl of her station.

After

Then Mira discovers an explosive secret that challenges everything she and the Treaty stand for. Betrayed by the very people she spent her life serving, Mira is sentenced to the Pit–the deadliest prison in the Fallen Isles. There, a cruel guard would do anything to discover the secret she would die to protect.

No longer beholden to those who betrayed her, Mira must learn to survive on her own and unearth the dark truths about the Fallen Isles–and herself–before her very world begins to collapse.

Why aren’t more people talking about this book? It’s just so good, I loved every minute of it. I’m actually kind of mad that I don’t have the second book ready to start right away, but I will be pre-ordering that very soon. There is so much that I like about this book, firstly, this book has actual dragons in it!

Rating: 5 Stars

Bruja Born – by Zoraida Cordova

Three sisters. One spell. Countless dead.

Lula Mortiz feels like an outsider. Her sister’s newfound Encantrix powers have wounded her in ways that Lula’s bruja healing powers can’t fix, and she longs for the comfort her family once brought her. Thank the Deos for Maks, her sweet, steady boyfriend who sees the beauty within her and brings light to her life.

Then a bus crash turns Lula’s world upside down. Her classmates are all dead, including Maks. But Lula was born to heal, to fix. She can bring Maks back, even if it means seeking help from her sisters and defying Death herself. But magic that defies the laws of the deos is dangerous. Unpredictable. And when the dust settles, Maks isn’t the only one who’s been brought back…

This was everything I hoped it would be. I really enjoyed seeing more of the world in this book. I really love the magic system and the world building. I was worried about whether I would enjoy Lula’s perspective as much as I did Alex’s, but I needn’t have worried. This book was fantastic, and I already can’t wait for the next one.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – by

A brand new edition of this essential companion to the Harry Potter stories, with a new foreword from J.K. Rowling (writing as Newt Scamander), and 6 new beasts!

A set textbook at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry since publication, Newt Scamander’s masterpiece has entertained wizarding families through the generations. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is an indispensable introduction to the magical beasts of the wizarding world. Scamander’s years of travel and research have created a tome of unparalleled importance. Some of the beasts will be familiar to readers of the Harry Potter books – the Hippogriff, the Basilisk, the Hungarian Horntail…Others will surprise even the most ardent amateur Magizoologist. Dip in to discover the curious habits of magical beasts across five continents…

I borrowed the audiobook from my local library, and I really enjoyed it. I wasn’t sure if this book could work well as an audiobook, but it really does. It’s narrated excellently by Eddie Redmayne, who is in character as Newt Scamander for the entire book. The whole thing is just really well done.

Rating: 4 Stars

Giant Days: volume 4

It’s springtime at Sheffield University — the flowers are blooming, the birds are singing, and fast-pals Susan, Esther and Daisy continue to survive their freshman year of college. Susan is barely dealing with her recent breakup with McGraw, Esther is considering dropping out of school, and Daisy is trying to keep everyone and everything from falling apart! Combined with house-hunting, indie film festivals, and online dating, can the girls make it to second year?

The Eisner Award-nominated series from John Allison (Bad Machinery, Scary Go Round) with artist Max Sarin delivers another delightful slice-of-life adventure in Giant Days Volume 4. Collects issues 13-16.

This was a birthday gift from my auntie, and I was so excited that I read it that same day. I loved it just as much as the previous volumes. It’s highly entertaining, and I definitely consider this to be one of my favourite graphic novel series.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Giant Days – by Non Pratt

Based on the hit graphic-novel series from BOOM! Studios, the publisher behind Lumberjanes, Giant Days follows the hilarious and heartfelt misadventures of three university first-years: Daisy, the innocent home-schooled girl; Susan, the sardonic wit; and Esther, the vivacious drama queen. While the girls seem very different, they become fast friends during their first week of university. And it’s a good thing they do, because in the giant adventure that is college, a friend who has your back is key–something Daisy discovers when she gets a little too involved in her extracurricular club, the Yogic Brethren of Zoise. When she starts acting strange and life around campus gets even stranger (missing students, secret handshakes, monogrammed robes everywhere . . .), Esther and Susan decide it’s up to them to investigate the weirdness and save their friend.

I really enjoyed this book, and was so happy when it lived up to the awesomeness of the comics. Non Pratt has done a fantastic job of writing something that can stand alone from the comics, while matching the tone of the comics, and making subtle nods to the source material.

My Review

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Giant Days: volume 5

Going off to university is always a time of change and growth, but for Esther, Susan, and Daisy, things are about to get a little weird.

Their freshman year is finally coming to a close and Daisy, Susan, and Esther say goodbye to Catterick Hall forever. Literally forever. It’s being bulldozed and re-purposed as a luxury dorm next semester. But as one door closes, another opens and between end of semester hookups, music festivals, and moving into their first home together, the life experiences are just getting started.

Written by Eisner Award nominee John Allison (Bad Machinery, Scary Go Round) and illustrated by Max Sarin, Giant Days Volume 5 finishes off freshman year in style, collecting issues #17-20 of the Eisner and Harvey Award-nominated series.

I’ve already said how much I love this series, and this volume changes nothing. It’s great. I love that they are showing the passage of time, and allowing the characters to move forward and progress through life. I’m really looking forward to finding out what the girls will get up to in their second year of university.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Ms Marvel: volume 9 – by G. Willow Wilson, Nico Leon

Kamala Khan has vanished! But where has she gone, and why? Jersey City still has a need for heroes, and in the wake of Ms. Marvel’s disappearance, dozens have begun stepping up to the plate. The city’s newest super hero Red Dagger and even ordinary citizens attempt to carry on the brave fight in Kamala’s honor. Somehow, Ms. Marvel is nowhere…but also everywhere at once! Absent but not forgotten, Ms. Marvel has forged a heroic legacy to be proud of. But when an old enemy re-emerges, will anyone be powerful enough to truly carry the Ms. Marvel legacy – except Kamala herself?

COLLECTING: MS. MARVEL 25-30

This is another of my favourite ongoing graphic novel series’, and one of the only Marvel titles that I’m interested in keeping up with. I really enjoyed this volume. I liked that they focused on Kamala’s friends, and how they cope without her while also covering for the missing Ms Marvel. It was a lot of fun, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Rating: 4 Stars

Ancient Magus Bride volumes 2,3,4,5

Great power comes at a price…

Chise Hatori’s life has recently undergone shocking change. As a sleigh beggy–a person capable of generating and wielding tremendous magical power–she has transformed from an unwanted child to a magician’s apprentice who has been introduced to fae royalty. But Chise’s newly discovered abilities also mean a cruel fate awaits her.

I’m really enjoying this manga series, the anime is a pretty faithful adaptation so far, so no surprises, but I love the art, and I’m really enjoying reading the source material. I especially loved all the tiny details and explanations that weren’t in the anime, that really add to the story. I loved the anime, but I feel like I’m getting to know the characters and the world a bit better in this format, and I really like that. I love the magic, and the large, interesting world that’s being set out in these books. Also, I really like the bonus content in the collected volumes, it makes me so happy.

Ratings: 4 – 4.5 Stars

Sorry this post is a month late, I don’t know why I didn’t post it sooner, it’s been ready for a while. I’ve been such a mess this past month, I need to be more organised.

Want to chat, about books or anything else, here are some other places you can find me:

Twitter @reading_escape

Instagram: @readingsanctuary

Goodreads

Tumblr

August Reading Wrap Up I started the month in a really bad reading slump, so my main goal for the month was to get over that.

#book blog #book blogger #book recommendations #Book Review #bookish #books #bookworm #reading wrap up #Review #YA #ya books #young adult #young adult books

1 note · View note

musicmixtapes · 6 years ago

Text

August 15th, 2018 Mix

Happy Thursday! I hope you enjoy this mix, I had a lot of fun curating a wide variety of songs that span over several different genres. Spotify Mix 1. Changes by Langhorne Slim - This songs moving acoustic sound and light hearted sound really correlates with the meaning behind it, the flowing feeling of life changing and the confusion of stepping into a new phase of life and being in the dark, but being ready for it at the same time. I think that this song really emotes the way that people grow apart during important shifts in life and how there is both beauty and sadness in this, it can be viewed as both because it represents growth and maturity. 2. Peach Scone by Hobo Johnson - Quite possibly the weirdest mix of musical genres in a song that is very strange but so much fun to listen to and very easy to sing along to also. Johnson combined a conversational spoken poetry and letter style message to someone he is in love with unrequitedly and adds a really cool guitar rhythm and beat to the back to turn it to a funny song. It makes you think about a first love or crush that you've had and for some reason can't let go of. I definitely never thought I would be into a song like this but the easy going vibe to it and the reoccurrence of the "maybe it's the thought of not being so alone" adds such a powerful to the center of the song. 3. The Record Player Song by Daisy the Great - The harmonies in this song immediately attracted me to this niche little artsy indie song that describes the ways that girls with a certain aesthetic try to portray themselves as being elusive and musically inclined, but in all reality are just misunderstood and a little self centered who don't really understand themselves. I think its so important that there is a song that pretty much outlines the "manic pixie dream girl" trope while validating that there is an issue with categorizing girls into one big lump even though they too are confused with their identity. 4. I Can't Tell What The Time Is Telling Me by And The Kids - I was so surprised to discover this perfect blend of rock and pop and that it was a sound that wasn't overplayed at all, mostly because, well, this band is pretty low key on the alternative rock scene. The musicians' proficiency is equivalent to the song's meaning which is always really cool to see with young bands. The essence of the song combines a person searching for deeper meaning with the current generation and the problems that lie within it concerning poverty and the epidemic sweeping the country; but it also talks about caring about someone while being unsure if they reciprocate feelings, smaller topics embedded within a bigger issue. 5. Bad Girls by M.I.A - This was a fun choice for me because I am in love with the show "The Mindy Project" and this song reoccurs in several of the episode when the main character, Mindy, is going to work and doing something that exemplifies strong female power, which we always love to see. I think that MIA the artist always adds a badass female persona to her music and opens up the possibility that not just male hip hop artists can be badass and have that gangsta style in their music. The beat along with the synth sounds is really catchy and great to pump up a night or a morning workout. 6. Art School Wannabe by Sorority Noise - I think the title basically sums up what the song is all about: basically the trope of having a tortured artist life and having to realize that maybe suffering doesn't always have to occur as much as artists think it needs to in order to create "good" art. I like the fact that a post punk garage rock band can laugh at their own perceived artist persona and that maybe life is a combination of highs and lows and the happiness can be portrayed within music too and can make enjoyable content as well. From a review of the song, a critic compared the song to the expression, "You can wear black on the outside and still be happy on the inside" which describes it quite well. 7. Hannah Hunt (cover) by I'm With Her - I am pretty sure I included the original song by Vampire Weekend in a past music mixtape, but my mom played this version in the car one day last week and I completely fell for this one. Something about the female take on this male to female love song made me think of it in a completely new light and the use of the mandolin and violin as well as the acoustic guitar completely transformed the song from a "feels" indie slow song to a folky indie song that breathes new life into it. The mandolin solo in the middle of the song combined with the violin solo made me feel l was kind of in the middle of an empty field listening to it. 8. This Is The Last Time by The National - Completely not acoustic or uplifting, in comparison this song is all about something ending and not wanting it to, but knowing it needs to because it is unhealthy and addictive. The National has come to my attention more and more recently because of their ability to include so many pieces of a band and make such simple sound at the same time, with such precise musical technicality. Berninger is such a proficient songwriter and is able to put a name and metaphor to feelings about relationships that us mere mortals are not always able to do. I think it's interesting that he has said in the past that he is very influenced by the writings of great poet Walt Whitman, as his influence is very clear in The National's song lyrics. 9. Table For One by AWOLNATION - This song comes from AWOLNATION's most recent album that was released a few months ago called "Here Come The Runts" which includes a lot of rock heavy ballads with very different storylines all centering around feeling like the smallest person in a group and being an underdog all the time, which I think is very relatable to a large demographic. I liked this song in particular because of the large swell of the chorus and it's sound shift in comparison to the very chill verses. The song's meaning is not that hard to understand from just listening to it once or twice, being that a summer love occurred and now one half of the equation is done with it, leaving the speaker at a "table for one". 10. Lady Grinning Soul by David Bowie - This romantically styled piano ballad is the last track off of Bowie's iconic album from his persona's Aladdin Sane perspective, which is a lot of people's favorite and has since then turned into kind of a cult classic in terms of music. The title, of all things, perplexed me the most and upon further inspection I discovered that a "lady grinning soul" refers to the feminine characteristics of a man's persona, which is so modern and ground breaking, especially for 1973 when this song was released. Bowie often talks about having a fantastical and idealized romantic obsession with people which didn't always pan out to be releastic, which totally correlates to the eclectic sounds of his music. 11. The Little Things That Give You Away by U2 - Taken from a commenter on Genius Lyrics this song is about: "Bono surviving an accident; a car accident it seems. He’s leaving clues all along the album about “a near death experience” that he has stated having no much long ago." This made me definitely think about the song in a different light and added much more depth to it for me. It has a classic U2 original sound that only the voice of Bono can give to a song, especially the deep writing that is focused in on a specific experience but can translate to much bigger world issues at hand, in this instance, communication and the trouble with people not being able to speak to each other normally. 12. Smoke Signals by Phoebe Bridgers - I could totally see this song being written as a poem first, being primarily that it follows like a storyline entirely and tells about a person reaching out constantly to the speaker in several ways in metaphor of a smoke signal on a beach. Bridgers voice is so soft and beautiful and makes you lean into the meaning of the song and listen carefully to every word there. I'd also like to point out the main use just of the bass guitar, a very quite additional guitar and the swell of string group that swells during the chorus which adds a very cinematic experience to the listener. She later revealed in an interview that this song was written to an ex lover and about their relationship and the complexities of it which is very heartfelt and personal. 13. Wes Anderson by Alex Lahey - Titled as the iconic director of our time who comes out with quirky adventure and life stories, Lahey created her one Andersonian love story within this song and brings us through a journey of her own with someone and the small things that one does with a lover can be the most special just because it's with that person who is held to such a high importance in our live's at the time. This song is just very simply written and laid out, not having to figure out that much to enjoy it because it's clear and concise about being a love song and it doesn't need to do anything more than that to be good and appreciated. 14. Big Sis by SALES - Very much reminded me of the beginning of Sonia Richardson's "Ruin Your Night" except instead of swelling and becoming a rock song, it was content with remaining a bedroom pop/dream pop style of song which I really liked hearing. I think the meaning behind the song can head in a few different directions but I heard it as being with someone who isn't content with themselves because they are trying too hard to be like someone else, most like their "big sis" which is well understood due to the repetition of that line which is pretty crucial to the song. But I think that the minimalistic style of song that is becoming popular in the indie world is really likeable. 15. Gap in the Clouds by Yellow Days - A singer and bedroom producer, artist Yellow Days came out with this song when he was only seventeen years old which is in itself impressive, but the fact that the music is so soulful and vintage sounding made me appreciate his youth behind the song even more. The artist explained about the song that, "It's about being in a depressed state for so long that your sky is full of clouds, but then that special someone makes a gap in those clouds and they can light up your world again" which is so beautifully put because it definitely describes love's ability to influence such a diverse range of music, even from someone with so little years on the earth. 16. Two Slow Dancers by Mitski - This track was released just a few days ago and I was so excited about more new music from Mitski, an amazing artist who is coming more and more popular on the alternative scene, having toured with Lorde on and off throughout the past year and doing shows on her own as well. This song lives and breathes nostalgia and the feeling of being young and slow dancing in a school gymnasium and wanting to recreate that feeling with a new love no matter what age you are. The feeling of being the only people in the whole world while in a dinghy school dance is so special, and as older people trying to stay the same is so difficult and sad. Needless to say, Mitski got it perfect. 17. 4am by girl in red - If a song were to correlate to anxiety and the overwhelming feelings one gets while trying to fall asleep, this would surely be that song because it's exactly what it is. Another great example of a young artist who is breaking onto the bedroom indie pop scene, girl in red describes how the feeling of thinking too much can cloud judgment and create this bedtime hysteria and creating an insomnia nightmare in such a short song. Songs like this are so good to listen to in order to gain the insight that music doesn't need to be seven minutes long to give a deep meaning into someone's emotions and thoughts. 18. Feeling Whitney by Post Malone - I'm not going to lie, when my little brother first put this song on in the car, I did not expect much from it because of his pension for heavy rap music that breaks the bass stereo system, but I was completely taken aback and completely shameful at my snap judgment just because of the artist that had created this song. Malone's completely unabashed story of his drug addiction and the struggle to try to find good influences who could help him get through a hard time in his life tugged at my heart strings so hard. The really interesting chord progressions totally impressed me along with his super folk inspired voice which rivals sounds that come from The Lumineers and Mumford and Sons. I would like to hear more of this from him for sure. 19. Someone Great by LCD Soundsystem - At first, I was convinced this song was about losing someone that the speaker was in love with but didn't appreciate fully and now wasn't able to talk to. In fact, it definitely could be perceived as a multifaceted song in terms of meaning, pertaining to losing someone and how everything that happens in life is colored gray by the loss of that person because it can't be shared with that person anymore. Upon research and reading I found out that this is actually about the death of James Murphy's therapist of all people, and then all of the details of the song really clicked into place for me and reached new levels of love for this track. I think it's so important to write about losing people that aren't just family members or loved ones, maybe just people you grow to care for platonically or professionally. 20. Los Ageless by St. Vincent - I have featured St. Vincent many times on my mixes by now because she deserves that and more at all times in her musical career. I believe that she has released this track as a single recently, as I have heard it a couple times on the radio recently and it has become one of my favorite car bops to dance in my seat to and then realize that the person in the car next to me is looking at me singing and dancing in the car. But although it is very much a dance electronic song, it still goes to the regular depths of meaning that all of St. Vincent's songs have, as it's about the complete juxtaposition from her other favorite city to talk about (New York). The you in the song can refer to losing a lover, a friend, a place, youth, fame, money, etc... I love this because the interpretation is left up to the listener. Thanks for tuning in, see you next week! Julia

2 notes · View notes

karamacdonaldphotography · 4 years ago

Text

Lost And Found Inspiration

jerry uelsmann

11 June 1934 (age 86 years), Detroit, Michigan, United States

Jerry Uelsmann received his B.F.A. degree at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1957 and his M.S. and M.F.A. at Indiana University in 1960. He began teaching photography at the University of Florida in Gainesville in 1960. He became a graduate research professor of art at the university in 1974, and is now retired from teaching. He lives in Gainesville, Florida. Uelsmann received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1967 and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1972. He is a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, a founding member of The Society of Photographic Education and a former trustee of the Friends of Photography. Uelsmann’s work has been exhibited in more than 100 individual shows in the United States and abroad over the past thirty years. His photographs are in the permanent collections of many museums worldwide.

Journey to the Night, hands in the nest (2006)

key successes of this image manipulation is although these two separate images have been merged they have a common theme. the theme of the nest with the egg shows growth and new life. As well as the tree, conveys themes of growth and blossoming life.

stephen mcmennamy

He was born in Marietta Georgia, but his formative years took place in jungles of Southeast Asia. In high-school, he quickly realised that he wasn’t going to follow in the engineering footsteps of his father and grandfather. pursuing to the Savannah College of Art and Design where he spent some time exploring fine art, but ultimately he decided to explore the world of fine advertising. this brought him back to Atlanta where he entered the Creative Circus as a designer, but exited an art director. I’m almost done, stick with me. cut to my first real ad job where I was lucky enough to work for Jerry Cronin. he taught me some good stuff, valuable lessons were learned and here I am, all these years later, still enjoying the advertising ride.

Cigarette and the Factory

key successes in this image manipulation is still two images merged images they are still two separate images. They have just been lined up to fit together, the cigarette with the factory. The two images haven’t been blended together but still has the appearance of them as a manipulated image.

erik johansson

April 1985 (age 35 years), Götene, Sweden

Erik Johansson is a Swedish-born artist based in Prague who creates surreal images by recombining photographs and other materials. He captures ideas by combining images in new ways to create what looks like a real photograph, yet with logical inconsistencies to impart an effect of surrealism.

“I think growing up on the Swedish countryside had a big impact on my visual style. A lot of the environments in my photos are captured near places I know, around my parents’ home with wide open landscapes and small red houses. Inspiration is everywhere and once you learn the tools.”

Lifetime (2017)

key successes in this image manipulation is how he prefers the objects to look "normal," which provides a counterpoint to their fantastic surroundings. Which is exactly whats going on here. The clock is surrounded by a concrete looking barrier which looks to have an eroding look to it which is exactly what these waves would be doing if this were reality.

Looking for Stars (2019)

key successes in this image manipulation is how well its warped the reality, the stars are lost from the sky and are in fact on the ground along with a fallen moon. The image is shot at night and it strengthens his image more, it would make no sense for the man to be out during the day looking for the stars. This is a new project I've been working on for a while. “I used around 100 led balls that I placed out around the model and moved around to create the effect of the stars on the ground and giving light on the grass around them. I moved the lights back and shot several exposures all the way to the hill on the right side”

dariusz klimczak

1976 (age 45 years) , Sieradz, Poland

Creating photographic work that takes the form of photomontages which are heavily influenced by surrealism. Klimczak captures his work most often in black and white square format film but occasionally works in colour. Throughout his work, there are symbols and artifacts found within the images that further provoke the viewers to think about the body of work. Klimczak strives to create a universal language that can be understood worldwide through his visual art, aiming to make viewers consider the significance of each image or simply to make them smile.

Analog (2012)

key successes in this image manipulation is to bring a surreal concept to life. Taking inspiration from Salvador Dali, Dariusz combines landscapes and objects in unusual ways to convey his ideas or represent more significant messages. This image is composed of a landscape with desert ground from lack of water. To create this image, I think the photographer photographed the landscape and then took multiple images of landline phones at different angle with slightly different lighting before combining the images to achieve this result. I really enjoy how the phones are buried under the sand as if to give the idea that they had been there through many sand storms - long time.

#lost and found

0 notes

emmetohboy · 4 years ago

Text

Favorites: The 2020 Conundrum

Illustration credit: Orkenoy

I’ve heard it from numerous colleagues, friends and family members. The sentiment along the lines of "...can't end soon enough." or " Worst year ever." I don't disagree. Along with virtually everyone I know, this year has meant personal loss, crippling angst and the missing of loved ones. But do I wish 2020 had not happened? Along with the uncertainty and hardship, would I wish away everything else that the years has brought? I don't know.

I'm not one to pontificate what the pandemic has taught us or accelerated or revealed. But I am interested in drawing it as a frame around the creative work that was generated in the context of it. At the close of 2016 I hoped that the lemon of the new political environment might bare the lemonade of generational creative output. That may or may not have been the case. We’ll have to wait longer to assess that from a more objective distance. But the last 10 months have been a concentrated, intensely focused, if not simply harrowing time. Has the pressure been so intense, in such a short period, that we graduated from lemonade to forging cultural carbon into diamonds at an unprecedented speed? Are these gems be so luminous, that they will one day be viewed as heirlooms? Was the pain of 2020 worth its blessings?

Listen

Released right at the onset of quarantine was my absolute favorite record of 2020. Waxahatchie's St.Cloud is a stunner first track to last. Some hook you instantly ("Can't Do Much"), and others slowly worm their way into your soul ("Witches"). Several year-end best lists included the latest from Lucinda Williams, Katie Crutchfield's musical hero. I disagree with its inclusion, finding the tracks a little flimsy and familiar. Katie's St. Cloud, however, is as close to prime Lucinda as anyone has gotten in quite some time.

Termed "Hip-Hop's first pandemic masterpiece by Exclaim magazine, Oddisee's Odd Cure brought a lot of joy this year. A tidy mix of R&B tinged hip-hop intertwined with calls to friends and family, the record has broad appeal and a narrative that only 2020 could supply.

The Remote Tiny Desk concert Oddisee performed with his band, mostly present, is fantastic.

Every year I can count on being introduced to one or two new artist via the New Music Mix that Apple Music serves me every Friday. This year I was pulled in to the track "Safe in Sound" by Orlando Weeks. I dropped it into a growing playlist that I have for background music while working. Each time it came up on shuffle it begged to be replayed. Eventually I tapped the entire record and googled Mr. Weeks. He is not a new artist to me at all. The former frontman for the U.K. band the Maccabees had ventured into a solo career. And it is so strikingly different from the Maccabees record I love, 2007's Colour it In, that it is no surprise I didn't recognize him. Weeks’ A Quickening is transformative and almost spiritual at times. He contemplates fatherhood ("Milk Breath") and community ("St. Thomas") and an aging seafarer’s relation to the elements that surround him ("Moon Opera"), in such ways that the record works in prioritizing what is important during difficult, if not odd times.

I came late to Natalie LaFourcade and I’m a little angry at ignorantly depriving myself of this joyful talent for so long. She is a prolific dynamo. 2020 brought Un Canto por Mexico Vol.1. And so as the tile suggest, there will be another volume on its heels. Natalia had similarly released the wonderful Musas as two volumes spread over 2017-18. These three records along with 2015's Hasta la Raiz have supplanted the Trio Los Panchos records I played for cooking accompaniment.

One of the most creative and infectious records I heard all year was Buscabulla's Regresa. The husband and wife outfit returned from New York to their native Puerto Rico following the tragedy of hurricane Maria. The environment made for joyful and melancholic results musically.

Buscabulla’s remote performance for NPRs Tiny Desk, from the back of their car at the beach in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico makes me smile the entire 13 minutes. Here’s to the resourcefulness of creativity.

I've been a fan of White Denim for some time. They are also quite prolific, generating new records almost yearly since 2009. So who could have blamed them after releasing Side Effects in 2019 if they had taken 2020 lying down. Not James Petralli and Michael Hunter. When faced with Austin Texas' pending stay at home order, the band wrote and recorded the entire record in thirty days. World as a Waiting Room is among the band's best.

2017 Juno award winner William Prince is a huge star in Canada and should be stateside as well. His voice is as unique and warm as any I can recall. And his songwriting is as earnest, if not as clever as fellow Canadian Ron Sexsmith. "Wasted" is an unintentional anthem for 2020.

I am hooked Frazey Ford's vocal delivery. There is a Van Morrison quality to it, so nonchalant to almost be conversational. It as if the lyrics might be different every time she sings the song. U kin B the Sun is laden with grooves and a casual coolness that always set me down lakeside on a summer day.

Circles feels like it was released a lifetime ago. The loss of Mac Miller was devastating and his partnership with Jon Brion is was one the most visionary collaborations of all time. This record feels timeless.

Lianne LaHavas is one of the most talented musicians alive. This year’s self-titled release is as close to a Sade record as we've had in a while.

Its great to see local acts get such national acclaim. Even better when they demonstrate creative growth. DEHD's Flower of Devotion expands the bands previously bare bones approach to music making with lovely Cocteau Twins-esque shimmer.

Orkenoy in the daytime.

Speaking of things local, I have been rooting for Orkenoy since finding out the Humboldt Park brewery was in the works back in 2019. What a journey it has been for the folks behind it all. Brewing equipment, transported from a distance, tumbles off of the truck as it nears its new home. It was damaged but not irreparable. It was nothing compared to what was to come. We may have hit the tipping point on craft breweries, but can you imagine readying your passion project for the world and the world snaps back with a global pandemic. They admirably soldiered on.

Turns out they are not just another brewery. They bill themselves as a "creative enclave operating as a brewery, kitchen and synergetic haunt for local artists." Their offerings, from brews to food, are a delicious blend of the rare and traditional, Norwegian Smørrebrøds and French Farmhouse, to new and experimental. Their branding is charming and narrative. We've taken carry out of cocktails and beers. Both were fantastic. Very recently Orkenoy has added even more allure to their footprint in the Kimball Arts Center by stringing lights from their facade to the elevated Bloomingdale Trail. As the nights have grown to their longest, my morning runs begin in darkness. So when I came upon the illuminated Orkenoy early one morning last week my path became a bit merrier. I was also struck by how much the scene reminded me of Van Gogh's Cafe Terrace at Night.

Orkenoy at pre-dawn run.

Lulu Miller has worked as a producer for Radiolab and is a co-creator of the NPR show Invisibilia. Her book Why Fish Don't Exist was my favorite read of 2020. Told in Miller's quirky voice, the pages navigate herculean scientific achievements, our country's racial history, murder and ultimately love. While this may all sound a frantic lot, Miller weaves it together tersely and with self-deprecating humor.

One of my favorite books of years' past is Michael Pollen's lesser known, Second Nature. It was in my initial reading of this that I learned from Pollen about Aldo Leopold's Sand County Almanac. I purchased a copy and thumbed through it when I finished Second Nature. A recent interest had me recall the work, so I set about our house to find it. It's a short book and so it took me a couple of looks to locate it behind thicker, stacked volumes on our bedroom bookshelf. I've been immersed in it ever since. I'm intentionally taking small bites, savoring every page, even highlighted passages—something I haven't done probably since reading Pollen. Leopold was an American philosopher and naturalist long associated with the University of Wisconsin. His writing is keenly observational, almost poetic. As he winds through the seasons on his Wisconsin farm, he introduces us to the behaviors of migrating geese, defensive plover and elusive trout among other inhabitants. Leopold is almost always alone with these creatures and his thoughts, save occasionally his dog. And while I wish I had a printing that contained the forward by Barbara Kingsolver, Leopold's original forward from 1948 suits me just fine.

Aldo Leopold

"...the opportunity to see geese is more important than television., and the chance to find a pasque-flower is a right as inalienable as free speech...But wherever the truth may lie, this much is crystal-clear: our bigger-and-better society is now like a hypochondriac, so obsessed with its own economic health as to have lost the capacity to stay healthy. The whole world is so greedy for more bathtubs that it has lost the stability necessary to build them, or even turn off the tap. Nothing could be more salutary at this stage than a little healthy contempt for a plethora of material blessings."

0 notes

mediamonkey29 · 7 years ago

Text

Album Review: “Witness” by Katy Perry

Katy Perry’s latest album “Witness” was released on June 9, 2017 and it was accompanied by a three day live stream event on YouTube, which captured every single moment of Katy Perry’s life in a house outfitted with cameras, and culminated in a concert for fans where Katy performed songs from her album. “Witness” received a mixed bag of critical reviews with a lot being on the less favourable side, however, I disagree with the critics. There is a certain expectation for Perry to continue to release hit songs that are widely marketed on Top 40 radio, but an artist has to keep progressing and “Witness” is evidence of Katy’s musical progression and life journey. Katy’s fans (the amazing Katycats) seemingly agreed by making this yet another #1 album, debuting with 180,000 sales plus streaming on the Billboard 200. Read on for a track-by-track review of the album.

1. Witness

The album kicks off with the title track and the simple introduction is accompanied with a heavier bass beat, which ensures that the focus is on Katy’s vocals and her lyrics. In a world where we’re all pretty much staring at screens 24/7, Katy’s message about being a witness in life and with each other is a much needed reminder that we need to create actual connections. The chorus is one that draws you in and is one that always gets me to sing along (which does make it harder when you’re trying to write a review…).

2. Hey Hey Hey

Always one to create power anthems, Katy Perry continues the trend with the song “Hey Hey Hey”. The song is catchy and could be a potential single off of the album. Lyrically, it is filled with descriptive juxtapositions that highlight the multiple layers in any individual’s personality, as well as the true strength that one possesses that the external world doesn’t always realize. Katy. Another strong song and even stronger message.

3. Roulette

This is quickly becoming a fan favourite. There is a throwback vibe with the percussive beats and the overall vibe of the song is fun but edgy as well. The lyrical flow and imagery created all comes together and creates a pretty great song.

4. Swish Swish (featuring Nicki Minaj)

This was one of the singles that have been released from this album and it is the one that the media has focused on the most. It is a response to Taylor Swift and her “Bad Blood” but Katy also said it is applicable to anyone that tries to tear you down in life. The track features Nicki Minaj, who always brings it when she features on a song, and this was no exception. The beat is strong and makes it a great song to play at the clubs, and I think Katy’s vocals shine. I thought this would be a bigger hit on the radios.

5. Déjà Vu

This is another track that is infused with the electronic sound that is currently taking over Top 40 radio. My only critique is that by the 5th track, the beats are starting to meld together and the songs are sounding very similar. This track doesn’t stand out as much for me but one of Katy Perry’s strengths is her use of creative descriptors to get her message across and this song is another example.

6. Power

I love this song. The Jack Garratt produced song, begins with a strong drum solo that just gets you hyped and this is the kind of empowerment track that I absolutely love from Katy. If you’re going to name your track “Power”, you better back it up with strong lyrical content that makes you feel empowered and Katy does just that. You can’t help but feel like an absolute boss when you’re listening (or singing along) to this track.

“The song is about taking back your power if you feel like you aren’t treated the way you should be because we’ve got that power.”

7. Mind Maze

Lyrically, I love this song. It’s about the struggle that goes on within the mind when we’re navigating the world. I’m not a fan of the vocal effects on the chorus of this track that create a very synthetic sound and masks the power and vulnerability that could have elevated this track. However, the overall track is pretty good and like I said, I love the lyrics and the message conveyed in the song.

8. Miss You More

This track is so vulnerable and you can just feel the lyrics in your heart. Katy’s voice is able to convey emotions so well and this is the perfect example of her often overlooked vocal abilities. Songs like this don’t always get heard on the radio but it is the type of song that just makes you slow down and listen. Great track.

9. Chained to the Rhythm (featuring Skip Marley)

This is one of my favourite songs on “Witness”. This song was the first single released from “Witness” and relayed the “purposeful pop” message that Perry wanted to convey. Many speculated that the entire album would be political, however, that has not been the case. This track and “Bigger Than Me” are the only tracks that are a response to the election results (Katy was a Hillary supporter and appeared at numerous Clinton campaign events). This song is more reminiscent of the sound that we are used to hearing from Katy and it stands out musically from the rest of the album. That is to say, it’s not as cohesive sonically with the overall album, but it is still one of my favourite songs and I’m glad that it was included. The track features Skip Marley, the grandson of Bob Marley, who does a fantastic job with his verse.

10. Tsunami

Katy loves her double entendres and (sometimes) subtle messages in songs that aren’t so in your face. This track is packed full of them and it’s also an indication of Katy’s growth and liberation. The way that the song is sang is reminiscent of ocean waves, which is absolutely perfect for this song. This is another great song.

11. Bon Appétit (featuring Migos)

As we already discussed, Katy loves double entendres and this track is no exception. This is a little more lyrically in your face, than the previous track “Tsunami”. It has a great beat and it’s catchy. You can’t help but sing along/dance along to this track. The track features Migos and is continuing with the current Top 40 trend of combining pop and rap.

12. Bigger Than Me

This is another one of my favourite tracks. Billboard stated that this track was inspired by the 2016 presidential election, specifically Hillary Clinton’s loss. However, don’t think that this is a political track. The lyrics convey a message of struggle in one’s self-evolution in life and in striving to find their purpose. The beats are strong, the production is perfect and Katy’s vocals shine. I love this song and I think it is very underrated.

13. Save as Draft

“Save as Draft” is another song that is filled with vulnerability and you can hear it in Perry’s vocals. She has stated that this is one of the harder songs for her to perform on her Witness World Tour. One of my favourite parts of the song is when she says “So I take a deep breath…” and she pauses for breath and you feel that tension and emotion building up, then it continues with “and I save as draft”. You can feel the emotions are still raw and this song is very personal to Katy. She shines in songs like this and “Save as Draft” is no exception.

14. Pendulum

Turn this track all the way up. I love, love, love this song. So much so that I had to listen to it in full once and then repeat to write the review because it is so hard for me not to join in when this song gets playing. The song has a gospel inspired feel to it with a full choir and the production is perfect. I love the uplifting message as well, which is one of those inspirational, you’re going to be okay, kinds of songs that immediately lifts you up from any kind of bad mood. Katy does not currently sing this song on the Witness World Tour and #JusticeForPendulum is a thing. I, for one, hope that she includes it in one of her two Toronto stops…please.

15. Into Me You See

“Into Me You See” is a play on the word intimacy and it is about a relationship in which Perry��s partner broke down the walls and the guard that she had put up. This created an evolution for her where she is more willing to show her vulnerable side and her true self. This is a really powerful and personal song that shows a lot of strength. It’s not easy to put yourself on display like this and through the Witness World Wide live stream and this album, we know that Katy is no longer afraid to be as vulnerable, although she does have her insecurities (what human being doesn’t?). It’s a very stripped back song and wraps up the standard version of the album perfectly.

16. Dance with the Devil (Target Special Edition Track)

Katy Perry described this track as her battle with alcohol, which got bad during her depression. It’s another glimpse into the personal life of Katy and her vulnerability on full display. The sound is a more electronic inspired, edgy, darker track, which reflects the lyrics of the track very well. It’s a really well produced song and hopefully will be released on Spotify so that fans who can’t get a hold of the Target special edition can listen too.

17. Act My Age (Target Special Edition Track)

Another song that I absolutely love and I wish it would’ve made the standard version of the album. This song could easily be a radio single because it is an anthem. I love it. The production, the sound, the lyrics. It’s all amazing. It’s a shame that most people won’t hear the song unless they can get their hands on the Target Special edition. This is one of my favourites from “Witness”.

Final Thoughts

The progression of the album from “Witness” to “Into Me You See” is a look into the personal life of Katy Perry and her evolution over the past few years, since the release of her previous album “Prism”. The album is packed with a few strong radio singles but it seems like this was more of an artist adventure for Perry and one that I was glad to witness.

Overall, I think Katy does a great job of showing her musical progression and a more vulnerable side to her, with songs like Save as Draft, Miss You More and Into Me You See. It’s not easy being vulnerable on a daily basis and it must be even harder to do it in front of millions of people watching, but Katy has managed to do so and released an album that, in my opinion, should have received a better critical reception. The focus was placed on “rivalries” that the media continues to perpetuate and place all their attention on, rather than giving the album a fair chance. Is the album filled with big hits like “California Gurls” and “Teenage Dream”, no. But if you have heard Katy’s entire catalogue, and not just the released singles, you know that she has always written and recorded songs with more depth to them, such as Lost, Pearl, and By the Grace of God. This is just an album with less frills and more depth. I predict another album in the future that carries forth in this direction, and what many seem to overlook is that Katy has the voice to do an album with more depth. I look forward to the future but in the meantime, I will be enjoying the “Witness” era and I hope you’ll take a listen to the album and judge for yourself.

You can purchase “Witness” on iTunes or stream it on Spotify, and you can also catch Katy on her “Witness” tour (Click here for dates and tickets). I will be going to her concert tonight and tomorrow night, so check back here for the full review.

2 notes · View notes

8-bit-dreamland · 6 years ago

Text

December 2018 “Album of the Month” Mike Shinoda “Post Traumatic”

Review By Melissa Wilke of genreisdead.com

Original Link: https://genreisdead.com/album-review-mike-shinoda-post-traumatic/

“Catharsis (from Greek κάθαρσις katharsis meaning “purification” or “cleansing”) is the purification and purgation of emotions—particularly pity and fear—through art or any extreme change in emotion that results in renewal and restoration.”

This definition of the psychological concept of “Catharsis” (as defined by Europe’s first rock star Aristotle) perfectly describes Mike Shinoda’s new solo album Post Traumatic. As the title suggests, the record’s central theme is Shinoda’s very personal post traumatic experience after the tragic death of his bandmate, Linkin Park’s lead singer, Chester Bennington. The 16 tracks on the record describe Shinoda’s journey from a place of utter despair to the beginning of a new chapter in his life. It makes sense that Post Traumatic is the first release under Mike Shinoda’s own name after recording as Fort Minor for over a decade. Post Traumatic describes an act of extreme personal growth. A rebirth.

The album’s first track is fittingly called “Place To Start.” In the lyrics of the song, Shinoda asks “Did somebody else define me?/ Can I put the past behind me?” – an indication of the inner emotional turmoil. But fast forward, a day before the release of Post Traumatic, Mike has answered these questions himself. The melancholic track is a great opener to the record. It gives the listener the chance to emotionally prepare for this journey.

“Place To Start” is followed by the tracks “Over Again” and “Watching As I Fall,” two songs that channel the anger Shinoda has felt during the aftermath of Bennington’s death. The lyrics are very straight-forward, so it gives the listener a good impression of how hard it can be to pick up the pieces after a tragedy. All three songs were already released on the Post Traumatic EP on January 25th.

One of the best songs on Post Traumatic is the incredibly heartbreaking “Nothing Makes Sense Anymore.” The lyrics describe the despair any person who has lost someone dear to them can perfectly relate to. Shinoda himself annotated the first verse, “I used to know where the bottom was/Somewhere far under the ocean waves,” on Genius.com:

“When a loved one passes away, many people, myself included, describe the feeling as ‘being lost at sea.’ There’s a feeling of lack of direction and lack of control.

Part of making the Post Traumatic album was an attempt to find direction and regain control of my creative and personal life.”

After the first four tracks all related to Chester Bennington’s passing, Mike Shinoda almost breaks down the fourth wall with the next tune “About You.” In it, he sings about the fear that no matter which songs he’s going to release in the future, they will automatically be interpreted as creative outlets to deal with the death of his bandmate. If the listener actually listens to the lyrics, it will cause him to realize that this song is the beginning of a new chapter and they have to adapt their approach of the next tracks accordingly. The song is a radio-friendly hip-hop number featuring the great vocals of blackbear.

“Promises I Can’t Keep” describes another moment of uncertainty of what the future might hold, but “Crossing The Line,” the first single of Post Traumatic, is the epiphany. The turning point in which Shinoda makes the decision to actively shape his own future. Alone, without his Linkin Park bandmates:

“Here, “Crossing A Line” means deciding to do something that is risky. Starting a solo project from the ground up, as opposed to using an existing platform (Linkin Park or Fort Minor) will inevitably be more work, harder to do, and may not agree with everyone. But I realized that it was the right thing for me.” (genius.com)

The following half of Post Traumatic has a more diverse sound to it. The variety in style demonstrates Shinoda’s talent and affinity to all genres of music. While the first half of the album is incredibly precious due to its emotional content, it’s the second half that intrigues me more. The lyrics are still raw and show emotional depth, but the music is more hopeful, almost inviting to see the world from a different, better, angle now. It shows what we can expect from the artist “Mike Shinoda” in the future and especially what he has to offer. I think many of the songs will surprise the audience.

“Ghosts” is an infectious danceable and uplifting tune. Its video was released last week and features the funny characters “Boris” and “Miss Oatmeal,” a statement to show that it’s important to laugh again after the months of grief.

“Ghosts” is followed by two incredibly strong tracks which feature some great artists. “Make It Up As I Go” features guest vocals by Illinois singer and songwriter K.Flay. Her voice has a very unique sound to it. It’s somewhat gritty and rough, which immediately captured my attention. Its beat is again very danceable and radio friendly. I can see myself dancing to this on a warm summer night with a big glass of Caipirinha.

“Lift Off,” featuring Chino Moreno and Machine Gun Kelly, starts with a precious melody played on the piano, but then Shinoda starts rapping and the melody is joined by a beat. The way his vocals enter the song causes an amazing clash of styles. The combination of the piano and the rough rap parts makes the song’s sound so interesting. It’s reminiscent of Jay-Z’s “Empire State Of Mind” and we all know how that one ended.

“IOU” is one of the hardest tracks on Post Traumatic. The song displays Shinoda’s skills as a rap lyricist:

“Friends like “Mike I don’t know who you are lately” But pride and hate has made nay-sayers mistake me For wasting brain space on ratings they gave me I don’t need your respect, I got history I’m 81 Reagan with that nonsense, miss me Father like Francis, Anakin or John Misty Not to be touched, sucker Tell ‘em take an I.O.U!”

While “IOU” isn’t very accessible, it’s quite refreshing because of this very reason. All in all, Post Traumatic, is strikingly radio friendly, so a little roughness feels good.

The album continues with two absolute bangers. “Running From My Shadow” featuring Grandson is definitely one of the top tracks on it. Grandson’s verse is the special ingredient, giving the track some more spice. The song is followed by “World’s On Fire”, an atmospheric track directed at the person who gives Shinoda the support he needs to go on when the rest of his world comes crashing down.

Surprisingly the album’s closer “Can’t Hear You Now” seems somewhat bland after all the stand out tunes. It’s really not more than a nice pop tune which doesn’t fit the lyrics at all. The lyrics suggest a state of empowerment:

“Scared of what I didn’t want, scared of what I wanted at Thought that I was finished, but I hardly had begun in fact I’ma beast, I’ma monster, a savage And any other metaphor, the culture can imagine And I gotta caption for anybody asking That is “I’m feeling fucking fantastic”

The music sadly lacks the strength of the song’s message, but with all the great tunes on Post Traumatic this doesn’t really matter at all. The album is a journey and I really hope that all the kids out there listen to it front to back at least once. You just have to experience it in full to really get to the depth of it.

Unfortunately, the album has one weakness: its sheer length. Many of the songs deal with heavy personal topics which is amazing, but listening to all 16 tracks is very draining. Maybe though that is exactly what Shinoda wanted. Grief is not easy. Grief is a long process and even though the record ends on a hopeful note, Shinoda’s journey is far from over. It would almost feel wrong to get a perfectly assembled 12-track album. Go out, buy the record, listen to it with your friends or alone on your headphones. But listen to it and go through all the emotions. It’s exhausting but also the best feeling ever.

#mike shinoda #linkin park #hip-hop #alternative

0 notes