#Like to that its just fiction and chill but like yes the vibe changes within faction

[maipareshaan]

Honestly it does make sense, like there is a difference between jokes and stuff.

[flodaya]

What did you think of wtfock s3?? I just found your blog we share a lot of similar opinions on the skam remakes and stuff so i just wanted to know what u thought if it lol

about two months ago I made an elaborate post about what I think went wrong with wtfock (you can read it here) but I was told to “wait until the end of the season“ which I did, but my opinion didn’t change, I’d actually like to add a few points (as always this is my personal opinion, i am not forcing anyone to agree)

I want to start off by saying the aspects about s3 that I actually liked because that is what we’re taught in school, isn’t it? start of with some positive aspects 

I really liked that we got to see robbe move into the flat share, and the found family trope is really well done in this remake

Senne is (so far) my favorite William, and he was an absolute mood this entire season

the sander actor was good, and, although I think he is pretty much a copy of even, I still really liked his personality and his vibe

milan would be my favorite eskild remake if I closed both my eyes during two whole clips, the one where milan tries to kiss robbe, and the samsung add- sorry I meant the prank they pulled on moyo

for my negative criticism

1. writing, pacing, and characterization

they rushed sander and robbe’s development to a point where it just didn’t feel believable to me anymore. they met way later than other evaks, had less conversations on screen, and kissed earlier only to be separated again. they shoved a whole month of getting to know each other into less than 10 days

another rushed part was the redemption arc of the boy squad, jens was homophobic one second and absolutely chill with robbe coming out as gay the next (what a bicon……). even worse was moyo’s arc. it’s one thing to badly write his arc and redeem him within one clip (I’m not even going to get into moyo getting one of the most important lines of the season „minutt for minutt“ and how undeserved and meaningless it felt that way) it’s another that the writers chose to make one of your very few poc the most homophobic one

I’m not really getting into the whole britt discussion, I’m just saying that the writers making her into the stereotypical crazy ex-girlfriend is just boring, predictable, overdone, and lacks depth and layers. and half the fandom falling for that trope and calling her a b*tch just shows their true colors…. misogyny at its finest

their structure of the weeks doesn’t make much sense imo, wtfock stans love the fact that „not everything important happens on a friday“, I personally didn’t like it, it only made weekly episodes feel very jumpy and often made the ending of an episode unsatisfactory (most weeks I’ve watched not clip by clip but as a whole episode, so I know). and yes it’s realistic that not everything happens on fridays, but skam is fictional, the realism argument isn’t applicable to every single aspect of a fictional story (read more about the realism discussion here if you’re interested, @inmyarmswrappedin had some amazing and very valid points to add)

so i’ve only watched s1 and 2 shortly before s3 started but I’ve heard a lot about the „sleepover clips“ in s2 and I too thought the idea of splitting up clips into multiple ones throughout the day/night to make it even more “real time“ was very intriguing, only in s3 they took it to a whole new level to a point where it was simply unenjoyable for me, clips often just cut away only for you to be placed into a moment 10 minutes later. They also often used this technique for drama and shock value, most notably when robbe tired to have sex with noor, they made the viewer believe he went through only to reveal a few minutes later that he didn’t, that also meant they left out his immediate reaction and how he felt in that moment which brings me to my next point

2. robbe’s pov and social media

these are really self explanatory, from start to finish I never felt really connected to robbe, he feels very much like a blank slate of a character, I don’t know anything about him, his hobbies, his passions, his dreams, anything really. I honestly know more about sander than robbe after this season. I also didn’t knew what was going on inside robbe’s head half the time, which was probably due to a combination of the writing and the acting

we weren’t in his pov for a surprisingly large amount of time, we often followed other characters and saw scenes without robbe even present

the social media side was just a complete let-down in my opinion, but maybe I’m just spoiled by Druck and Skam españa

4. lgbt+ representation

like I said in my previously linked post, I will not argue about this point, but I hate the gay bashing, I think it was completely unnecessary and done solely to shock their audience. they didn’t address it properly at all. there was absolutely no lesson to be learned from it, it was just one of the many horrible traumatic things robbe and sander went through but did it really change them or make an impact on their story? no. it was brought up a couple of times, but more often than not it was only in relation to zoë’s sexual assault storyline which makes the whole thing even worse imo, because it seems like they only included the gay bashing to keep talking about a plot from the previous season

like I’ve mentioned before, I technically like milan but there are two clips in which he is written like a predatory gay as a joke. I have no idea who thought the prank they pulled on moyo was a good idea…. also, they once again bring up the out-dated and extremely toxic stereotype that all homophobes are just secretly gay, can we kill that misconception already? all it does is hurt the lgbt+ community. when we constantly perpetuate that homphobes are just secretly gay themselves, it invalidates that there are simply homophobic cishet assholes out there who hate us for no reason

robbe’s whole internalized homophobia arc was very much all over the place and not very consistent. one moment he is rather boldly flirting with sander and in the next he is calling sander a slur and accusing him of sexual assault……. yeah I still don’t know how anyone is over that. sure sometimes we say things we didn’t mean but tbh if someone called me a d*ke and accused me of sexually assaulting them I would not forgive them a few days later (not to mention robbe didn’t even really apologize!?), and I certainly wouldn’t want to date them. robbe has tainted their first very important moment together

wtfock really misinterpreted the pool metaphor, it was supposed to represent rebirth and cleansing yourself of past lies, no Isak ever went back to denying their sexuality after that first kiss, it’s supposed to be a metaphor and not an excuse to show boys getting naked

sexualizing gay teenagers…. I’m sorry but the shower scene is soft core porn. I’m all for showing the sexual aspect of a gay teen romance because fuck yes we can have sex just like straight teenagers, but there is a way to portray teenagers having sex appropriately and then there is showing naked boys in a shower moaning and very explicitly grinding etc (I feel wrong even writing this tbh); honestly I’d rather have another paint scene a la skamfr which at least was meant in a artistic way than whatever wtfock writers came up with

TLDR wtfock wanted to be different, and I guess they accomplished that with a lot of very questionable choices. after watching the whole season i can with absolute certainty say this was my least favorite isak season. skam isn’t about showing the absolute worst thing that can ever happen to you, skam is about hope and friendship and love and growth, at least to me it is about that. isak’s season made me accept i’m not straight and it encouraged me to come out to my family this year, i doubt wtfock would have had the same impact on me, i’m quite certain it would have had the opposite effect

[greatchaosgentlemen]

I think that its great to enjoy the characters and the stories that are told within the Skamverse. Discovered the OG in 2017 and was like whoah this shit is really  cool. Coming from the UK we already had the tales of Skins (great show check it out for British teenage life) but Skam is like life Monday-Friday and then Skins is more like the intense crazy weekend experience. Sorry if no one gets that analogy.

But basically I just think sure it is fine to comment on the shows and say what your liking and what you most definitely don't. It’s all art and I feel like we should all expect and accept that. But just don't stress out too much guys, sometimes I see so much anger and like i don't know if you guys are actually that angry irl but I don't know i hope not because that shit must be so bad. Skamverse is great but hey remember that these are just fictional characters and we shouldn't be loosing ourselves to them and forget to live our own lives. and of course some versions are better than others with their storytelling, acting, cinematography, score, representation etc. and some are just cringy af. Don't know if that to do with translations (shoutout to all the translators out there, Skam is one big reason that I've gotten in other language films and tv, you all do such an amazing job so thanks). But i just want to say I hope that we all remember that we can be the change and work towards creating the right dialogue in which any tom, dick and harry can feel happy and discover an art form (film, tv, book, poem etc) where they feel represented. 

just basically im just like saying A LOT MORE RESPECT NEEDS TO BE GIVEN PARTICUARLY TO THE ACTORS because some of y’all are T-H-I-R-S-T-Y and it ain’t cute. and like there's a difference being critiquing and being annoyed or being angry and expressing that normally; whereas some of you are just really dam rude to people. 

basically i think we all should just be happy that such a good show exists, and take all the positive and negatives that come from living at such a time where the Skamverse exists ( albeit this time is weird because CORONA !!!! Hope that everyone is safe and is practicing social distancing. We will eventually defeat this). We are all so talented and no matter what I want to reinforce that belief that truly you are loved no matter what your race, skin colour, sexuality, belief in religion, whether you forgot when your uni assignment was due and thought you had a weekend but actually it was due on the Friday so you had to spend 12 hours in the library (whoops just me ?!), thoughts on climate change (im just saying that to be inclusive because the science is there and if you don't believe that well im sorry your being ridiculous and i think you should be concerned about mother nature and that we should be fighting the 1% who truly control everything, your academic prowess and a million more things that frankly i can't be bothered to write down but the intention is there

and heck if you want to vent your frustrations just let them out of course because they shouldn't be bottled in, in my opinion. go and talk to someone irl and say how ridiculous you think this thing is that you think happen. or if you don't feel like you have one then hell message me because i LOVE to talk and in particular at this point in the world i got all the time in the world. personally i also like making my own retellings and writings of the Skam stories where i make it better (hahah ;)) and if you want to do that then heck do that and ill be more than happy to read it 

basically those are just some thoughts i had and because my fingers are beginning to hurt im just going to list what im feeling about the shows 

sidenote - i think capitalism sucks and that money and views have to be taken into account by companies etc because i really think all of the four og stories should just be told automatically by all versions. let them stories and actors shine babyyyy

skam usa - bro like being a fellow english speaker yours is the one i can follow obviously the easiest so why are you just so kinda i don't know different and blah. is skam really just an european thing ? i don't know but i think an argument could be made 

skam og - nei vilde. what a ride and what a vibe. your basically iron man and have spewed the Skamverse. in my opinion great actors and great stories, in particular for me my first introduction to someone who follows Islam. also your soundtrack is smashing. though who is perfect ya know and obviously would have loved for you to have continue up to graduation 

skam france - oooo la la la. i do like the french language so its cool to help me learn and stuff but i really feel like you guys have got hit with a lot of bts drama and rules and order so i just don't know. your original seasons i don't know yet. still its only a story so i mean it is what it is. but like also people around this cast need to be a hella more respective of the actors *sips tea*

skam espana- hola amigos. you the edgy one that got everyone on their toes. I like that and i tip my hat to you. just i don't know sometimes i feel it sometimes i don't. shout out for so far being the only wlw representation (don't know if that's the right acronym, so please don't hate me. but i hope that women found some positives there) and with norando i like totally get it with the story told there but still i love to love and just like sad to miss out on the on screen growth of the relationship but still its cool

skam italia - ciao bella - some of you is hot some of you is not. i think the story is good but i don't know i just want more italian flavour. still thats from a foreigner view and in fact maybe it is very italian. hopefully your season 4 will be good, exciting with all this Netflix additions ooooo 

druck - danke- you cool bro just going powering on through. like your a bit of juggernaut really and im like whoah. actually do like a lot of your vibe and stylistic choices. its tres cool. also very exciting about this new season etc that has broken, really vibing a possible skins similarity with the set up. fingers crossed 

skam nl - eskild you crossover legend - ticking all my boxes just so sad for your premature closure. didn't know much about netherlands so cool to experience language and culture. maybe you'll come back to the skamverse again like Hawkeye as he buggered off for first of infinity war. sending you good vibes 

wtfock- yes yes yes. not going to lie so far you are my favourite.overall good vibes and everything. hopefully its good vibes and the proper belgian kids like it. just good stuff and so innovative to discuss lockdown and everything. exciting times and exciting for season 4 when it drops 

basically all of this came from one beer so yolo, still out here living my best life and one day hoping that the UK gets a Skam version. so many ideas so many possibilities

and like if ive offended anyone then i am sorry wasn't my intention. just writing down my thoughts and im sure you will get over it because were all amazing. Just keep it chill and honestly like i wont give any negative stuff the time of day anyway so don't waste your time heheh *sips tea* 

also most importantly i am very sorry for my grammar and punctuation and everything. honestly i am just being lazy and cannot be bothered to go over and rectify it. also sorry for making a very confusing message that probably really doesn't make sense at all. haha 

still alt er love everyone 

*renegades away from the computer*

[popwasabi]

Top 5: Jazz, Taiko Drums, and Hurdy Gurdies. My Favorite TV Intros.

It was not long ago when most streaming sites began offering a “skip intro” option for TV show content. Hell, it seemed some intros to the Netflix, Hulu and Prime content began intentionally making their original openers short and sweet so that viewers could get all the info they needed as quickly as possible.

These were welcome changes for most binge watchers who sometimes watch entire seasons of their favorite shows within a day’s time not wanting to waste time on seeing the same names on the opening credits over and over again.

(Yes, God damn it! I’m a slave to the stream!!)

Though this has been convenient for myself more than a few times I for one enjoy the artistic quality of a good TV show opener. It’s part music video, part amalgamation of everything stylistically and tonally you need to know about a series and a truly great opener can hook a fan to a show for life.

There are many shows, no matter how many times I watch them, I’ll never skip the intro too because they sum up everything I love about the series in a single 30 second to minute and a half long video and hey some of those songs really do “slap” as the kids say.

So, let’s talk a little bit about some of my favorite intros and why I love them so much in this week’s top 5.

Note: This isn’t just a discussion of the music used but the opening credits and imagery used to accompany it.

5. Cowboy Bebop

There’s a long list of truly great anime openers out there from the Karaoke-friendly J-pop tunes of “Neon Genesis Evangelion’s” “Cruel Angel’s Thesis” to the classic 80s vibes of Akira Toriyama’s “Dragon Ball” and “Dragon Ball Z.” But only one anime is going to make the cut for this list and that’s “Tank!” from the 90s classic “Cowboy Bebop.” It’s truly unique in the anime landscape as its one of the few that features Jazz and an opening that doesn’t overly rely on the tropes of more traditional anime drawing its influence instead from 60s and 70s spy movies and aesthetics. Fans of “Archer” will likely notice similar motifs in that shows own opening and Bebop’s “Tank!” is all about exuding this “cool” vibe of its show’s primary characters the fun and often dangerous missions they get involved in. It’s a hip, unique take that stands out distinctly in its genre and a truly un-skippable tune during a binge watch.

 4. Star Trek: The Next Generation

I think the first time I truly fell in love with a TV opener was watching the show I gained my namesake from.

Yes, I’m named after Wesley Crusher.

I know, I know.

Anyways, there’s something special about this intro and it’s not just its nostalgia or classic Star Trek vibes but the hopeful adventurousness of the music’s tone. “Star Trek” has always been about an optimist’s view of the future, a world where people of multiple creeds, backgrounds, races, species in this case come together not to fight but to explore the furthest reaches of the cosmos.

The music always got me in the mood to watch Captain Picard, Data, and Riker to go do there thing whether it was as banal as negotiating a dispute in the neutral zone, fun and often weird times on the holodeck, or taking on the dreaded borg. The music accompanied by the venerable Patrick Stewart’s brilliant voiceover and the sprawling, albeit dated, graphics of space helped make TNG iconic and I’ll never consider skipping it on a binge watch.

 3. Penny Dreadful

Though it’s later seasons never held up nearly as well as its first I became instantly hooked on Showtime’s “Penny Dreadful” largely because of Abel Korseniowski’s brilliant score, particularly the intro he wrote for the show.

Korseniowski’s use of classical and gothic tunes helped bring viewers back to horror’s more Victorian roots in the best of ways with an opener that felt touching, somber, emotional and chilling all at once. The images splashing across the screen of various classic monsters, arachnids, and ghouls as the haunting soundtrack played immediately drew me into the story in the same way the young Dr. Frankenstein in the show could not look away from the horrors uncovered in the narrative. It perfectly captures the ghoulish, dramatic charm of the show and though its later storylines don’t hold up as well it’s another intro that is undeniably un-skippable.

 2. Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009)

Bear McCreary is probably my favorite composer of all-time and his work on the Battlestar Galactica reboot is a big reason why.

Though he wasn’t the initial composer on the two-episode mini-series in 2003, the themes, motifs and tones he took from Richard Gibbs work he quickly made his own and created a unique outlier in the science fiction music landscape that has defined his style ever since. The opener is a big reason why his work resonates so much with me because it captures much of the these unique tones and styles not just of the music but of the series’ story itself.

It begins slow like the opening crawl to a great mythical odydessy and tale of survival as we see the last days of civilization play out across the screen. As spaceships begin to caravan across the screen we get a sense of the desperation of the story’s heroes and the stakes they are up against and as it begins to close that’s when the percussion goes into full gear. The use of taiko drums in the soundtrack is brilliant and none more so than this opener as its speeds through frenetically the events of the episode giving us only passing glimpses of the action that is about to take place. It might feel like a spoiler for the narrative but it gave each episode that extra jolt before stepping back into the story and I enjoyed it every single time.

 1. Black Sails

I knew I was going to love “Black Sails” the minute the opening credits began.

The scratchy, aggravating yet hypnotic tunes of the hurdy gurdy playing over the creepy, blackness of the ocean gave the series an immediate dark and unique tone I wasn’t immediately expecting when I began watching the series. I had heard bits and pieces about the show’s plot; a sort of prequel to “Treasure Island” and an edgier take on the prototypical Pirate story is all I knew about it going in but the opener lets you know pretty much immediately this isn’t your typical tale of swashbuckling buccaneers. Like a twisted sea shanty mixed together with a pirate themed rock bank, “Black Sails” intro is dare I say a banger that has you howling along to the righteous vocals of music in the most epic of ways.

But the music truly captures the tone and theme of the story in more subtle ways as well. Like an itch you can’t scratch the music tell it’s viewer and listener of a rage lingering deep beneath the surface of the waves of its main characters, one that’s barely being contained as the music hits these powerful offbeat notes between the electric guitar play and the offkey piano drops. As the series progresses you begin to understand more who and what it’s describing it makes the series that much more memorable.

It didn’t surprise me in the least that Bear McCreary was the man behind the brilliance of this piece and it makes each episodes’ opening a must watch.

 So, what are your favorite intros? What music paired with a unique and captivating opening title crawl captured your imagination and emotions the most? Let’s hear it!

Me in my car to any of these songs. All the time...

[amcnh]

Cub Sport

If their story was a film, it would forever be my favorite. It has all my ideal elements: slow burn romance, music, travel and gay leads. Tim Nelson and Sam “Bolan” Netterfield met at school. Bolan’s mother recalls her son coming home one day and telling her he met a boy who played the piano really well and that he wanted to learn to play like him. Tim and Bolan became fast friends. They started spending more and more time together and eventually playing music together. The group – since 2013, called Cub Sport – took off. Buzzy EPs turned into hit singles turned into a highly anticipated debut album. Cub Sport, made up of, yes, Tim and Bolan but also bassist Zoe Davis and drummer Dan Puusaari, was officially a successful project. The band was together a lot, recording and touring and promoting, and Tim and Bolan were spending pretty much all their time together. Both admit now that, at the level they could have clocked or allowed it, they realized quite early on in their friendship that they were in love with each other, but, both raised in super religious environments, were not willing or ready to address that let alone their gayness. While on tour in America during 2016, however, things unsaid finally were spoken. They describe it all much better, and it makes me swoon, so here are some quotes:

Tim to OUT Magazine:

“I went on a writing trip in the middle of 2015 for about a month and I missed Bolan (Sam) so much. I started to recognise that I was in love with him, but I had a lot of fear and denial to work through. In the middle of 2016, we went on a two-month overseas tour. Being away from the reminders and restrictions of normal life back home was really instrumental in us feeling like we had the freedom to explore and pursue what had been building between us.

The Orlando attack happened while we were on tour in the U.S. and it was not only a reminder of how fleeting our time on earth can be, but a big wakeup call that if we just embraced who we really were we could also try to help inspire and encourage young queer people facing the same internal battles we were both experiencing. We went to Pride festival in Denver around the same time and the atmosphere was really supportive and beautiful.”

Bolan to The Guardian, discussing the impact Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life had on his relationship with Tim:

“I think I had buried so deeply within me what I really wanted that it took me seeing it play out in fiction to actually have the clarity and perspective to look at my own situation and give me strength to realise that life is too short not to follow… I think I realised early in the book I was drawing direct correlation with those characters and with myself, then seeing one character die really shook me. I was suddenly hit with the notion that if Tim was to die, how could I have not said something. I realised I had to put everything on the line and I was willing to potentially jeopardise and lose our friendship to get everything that I suddenly realised I wanted and needed.”

On the final night of their American tour in that summer of 2016, after a long night of partying and celebrating, Bolan, as told to The Guardian, finally addressed his feelings to Tim. He recalled saying, “’I don’t want this to ruin our friendship but I want to be with you, I love you and I want to be with you forever,’ and then Tim started to cry and said, ‘So do I.’” It’s adorable and happy and lovely. Bolan, in an interview with triple j about their relationship, said, “We fell in love over the course of about eight years.” That’s some fucking cinematic shit.

They’ve been so generous in sharing the personal details of their story. It influences their sophomore record BATS that they self-released this year (we’re getting to that), but it also is a generous, helpful decision to be so open. This year in Australia’s clusterfuck of a marriage equality “debate,” a lot of queer kids were left confused and isolated and scared. To see Bolan and Tim happy and proud, as they’ve said, meant a lot to their young fans. Beyond the adorable story of it all, it’s been for good.

Now, the record. BATS, sonically, is a shift from Cub Sport’s previous work. Tim, the lyricist and vocalist for the group, cites A Seat At The Table and Blonde as huge inspiration for the project. Content wise, the record documents their romance. To Notion, Tim said, “It more-or-less follows my personal journey from the moment I admitted to myself that I was gay, to coming to terms with being in love with my best friend/bandmate Bolan (Sam), finally acknowledging the situation a year later and to then coming out and getting together.” He further told Music-News, “Bolan’s and my story rolls out over this list of songs, more-or-less in this order – ‘Chasin’,’ ‘Look After Me’, ‘Crush,’ ‘Solo III,’ ‘Bats,’ ‘Give It To Me (Like You Mean It),’ ‘O Lord’ and ‘Banyo Blue.’” And if you read the lyrics to those tracks, the details – starkly honest and evocative – are all there.

“Chasin’” was the song Tim wrote after returning from his trips to Los Angeles and London to write, when he realized his feelings for Bolan. He said he wrote it without fully understanding what it was saying at the time. Now, it’s clear. It’s a song about fear and confusion. “I’m trying to be honest and live deliberately. Is it delusional to think that I can do this? Time always makes me doubt what’s coming out me.” To Notion, Tim said, “Sam had heard ‘Chasin’’ in its original demo form for about nine months before we actually had the conversation. He said he already knew what it was about so I guess that helped inform him that what he was feeling was reciprocated, even though I hadn’t had the courage to say it out loud in words.”

On “Look After Me,” Tim is sensing something. “There’s something in the way you look at me like I’ve never done wrong.” It’s visceral – that, “I think maybe he feels this way because I see this look in his eyes, but am I just seeing things because I want to see things or am I seeing the truth?” It’s a rhythmic, interior processing.

“Crush” sees that post-tour, mid-celebration conversation when they first opened up to each other. “And you whisper to me 'Why are you crying?’ I think it's from the years of trying to try and push you from me. I didn't know who I was meant to be. Did I crush you with the things I wouldn't say? Did I hurt you on the way? How am I so lucky that you waited for me.” We’re there, hearing and seeing this moment. It’s a lot.

“Solo III” is, indeed, inspired by Frank Ocean’s songs on Blonde. “We keep blazin', playing ‘Solo,’ and now we've got our song. And I believe in me and you. We make each other strong. And here it is, my first love song. It didn't even take that long. Now I'm not laying solo.” This marks a first – them, honest and together, celebrating their love and its newness. To Junkee, Tim shared the importance Blonde and “Solo” played in their relationship: “That album came out pretty soon after [we got together] and for the first few times, every time we got to ‘Solo’ I would cry. I was like, ‘I can’t believe I get to have what we’ve got.’ It immediately became our song, but the lyrics didn’t match up with our situation at all, and so I wanted to take from that and make it out own. And I think the melody’s just different enough that we could get away with using it.” Tim asks, “Oh, what did I do, do I deserve you?” This line’s a reminder that, yeah, we’re getting the timeline of their relationship, but Tim is writing these songs. We’re getting his feelings on what’s going on here – the disbelief, the joy.

“Bats,” if you’re a fan of the pair’s Snapchats, makes total sense. For the unacquainted, Tim clarified to Music-News: “The house we were living in when I recorded BATS was just up the hill from a creek that had a huge colony of bats living along its banks. Bolan and I would walk our dogs down there each evening and watch the bats fill the sky (usually soundtracked by Frank Ocean – ‘White Ferrari’ playing off my phone). I’d often put it on my Snapchat story and one day someone from Texas replied and said that they’d see the same thing there. It inspired the opening lyrics of the song ‘Bats.’ ‘Bats in the sky, it looks like Texas. I like this time because it reminds us we can be anywhere, that doesn’t change us, nothing can change us now.’ ‘Bats’ the song felt like it really represented the vibe/story of the album which is why we decided to make it the title track. There was always something exciting and emotive about seeing thousands of bats fill the sky and I wanted that visual to represent the collection of songs.” The lyrics refer to “Solo” and Tim’s overseas writing trips again, saying, “I've been on flights. I've seen some sights, but I didn't feel it. Just there to write. If I fly again, it won't be solo 'cause that got me so low.” “Bats” is a quiet, peaceful celebration of their togetherness and inseparability. He says, “You’re the reason that I keep on tryin.”

The next song on their timeline is the record’s most chilled track. Co-written and featuring vocals from Sarah Blasko (an eternal favorite of mine), “Give It To Me (Like You Mean It)” is a flat-out love song. An adoration song, even. “I like that light on your face. You are my favourite place.” “I could just watch you move. Everything you do just makes me…” It could be cringe, but, fuck, it isn’t. It’s really rather beautiful.

“O Lord” is the first single they chose to bring out ahead of BATS. It was a brave choice seeing as the first thirty-seven seconds are Tim and Bolan harmonizing without any instruments, but it was also a way of announcing, “Hey, things are a bit different now.” The visuals for the track are as stunning as the song, showing Tim and Bolan embracing in some muted neony, pastelish colors. This is their “radical softness.” This is the Solange influence. Tim told The FADER, “This video challenges everything I grew up believing about masculinity, beauty and homosexuality — it's super liberating to create this video and feel free from judgment, both internally and externally.” Lyrically, this marks a step away from the portrayal of the new, intense love. Tim says, “I was free to be my true self, I was finally in a relationship with the love of my life and I had full love and support from my friends and family, but what I didn’t expect was the realisation that when you get everything you’ve ever wanted you suddenly have everything to lose. This song ended up being my way of grappling with those feelings.” To the world, as a return, as an inviting in, as a reinvention of sound and style, “O Lord” really fucking works.

“Banyo Blue,” the final track on the standard version of BATS, leaves us with the most updated glimpse into their relationship. This is them settled. This is, “Yeah, the world is really intense and not wonderful, but, here, with each other and choosing each other, we’re gonna be good.” Tim asks, “Can we be a story throughout the ages?” He says, “I write about you. I could go on for pages,” and “I just kind of feel like I have found my light. The rest’s not perfect, but it’s fine when you’re tight.” Here, this love that they have so damn graciously shared with us and painstakingly and beautifully documented for us, is good. It’s ongoing and it’s committed. The confusion and shame of the past is gone, and shit’s still bad elsewhere, but in this honesty and in this sharing, they’re gonna be okay. (Since the recording of BATS, Tim and Bolan got engaged and are getting married next year, a thing they can now legally do because Australia just legalized marriage equality [s/o to queer Australians dragged through that dehumanizing process, btw])  I’m emotional.

Now, I gush. The details of Tim and Bolan’s story make the record a living, immersive, gripping experience. It’s truly the shit great films and novels are made of. If you don’t know what every song’s about, it’s still a moving work. In an essay he penned for The Line Of Best Fit, Tim said, “For me, getting to a place where I could really connect with myself and write, unguarded, from the heart has been a journey that has taken me over a decade.” I truly love their past material. Their first full-length album This Is Our Vice is a record I still listen to every week, without skipping a song. The songwriting is clever and the lyrics are insightful. But, here with BATS and (again) the brave decision to share their story and illuminate the details of each song, there’s something else happening. It’s, as they dubbed, truly some “radical softness.” Tim said, “BATS is a product of queer love and I hope it can be a comfort and encouragement for the LGBTQI community and our allies during this time.” It is.

@anaserhall

[ladysqueakinpip]

All the OC questions with the selkie fam, which includes the 3 bros, Irena, and Anneliese, and also the boys mom if she's developed enough

HECK Y’ALL KNOW HOW TO DELIVER

*these asks are from this post in case anyone wants to either send more or reblog the original 

unfortunately i’m going to skip their mom for now just because she’s not developed enough :’c

1. Do any of your OCs have a speech impediment?

elian: nope! but megan suggested he sound congested all the time because of the ridiculous sounds weddell seals make

abbe: none

roland: none

irena: none

anneliese: none

2. Do any of your OCs have a physical disability?

elian: already answered! 

abbe: none

roland: none; im suddenly considering giving him bad eyesight though #glasses_roland2017

irena: none

anneliese: none

3. What is your OCs favorite band if they have one? (i’m answering this assuming they have access to the broad variety of music we have) 

elian: i feel like he would like the sound of bands like fall out boy, daft punk, imagine dragons etc. but he would like the lyrics of twenty one pilots more because he relates to them the most 

abbe: bryan adams?? phil collins?? elton john?? someone like that. 

roland: i’m torn because i want roland to be an edgelord but i also want him to be a quiet shy baby so why not both? i think he would like Gorillaz. sometimes laid back and chill and other times a little edgier. also in with the type of kids i feel like he would hang out with. 

irena: something a little older from when she was a teenager. probably a female artist. why are gwen stefani or celine dion sticking out to me?

anneliese: SHE’S THE 12 YEAR OLD GIRL WHOS OBSESSED WITH BOYBANDS like one direction and 5 seconds of summer. i feel like she would also love softer female artists like regina spektor

4. Does your OC have anything they take pride in? (like an award or collection?)

elian: *vibrates excitedly* spoilers

abbe: mostly how he’s been given the ability to… move on? his mom is still trapped in their family’s past tragedies and roland and elian are dragged down with that as well, but abbe’s been the one to grow and rebuild the house and get married and now he’s gonna be a dad soon. he’s proud he’s been able to continue the legacy. 

roland: he’s really proud of the things relating to his equestrian hobbies. he’s just starting out in the horse-breeding business but he has one or two really nice mares and im sure he has another one he’s training for the royal guard. he’s also the best rider in his family because its like all he does lol. 

irena: she was able to get out from under the shadow of her mother. irena and her mom don’t really like each other and her mom was always disappointed that she decided to become a knight instead of trying to climb the social ladder. they kind of stopped talking. ironically enough, irena ended up basically being adopted into a Duke’s family and though it’s super petty and very vengeful i think irena’s also proud of how she became everything her mother wanted in her own way and without her mom’s help. she likes to think of her mom being salty and jealous. 

anneliese: her reputation! she had to essentially rebuild it from the ground up after her dad did naughty scandalous things but she’s proven herself to the people who serve her. 

5. Does your OC have a favorite film? (answering like they live in modern times)

elian: he likes superhero movies, like the marvel movies. i haven’t actually seen a lot of these so i can’t pick the one that’s his favorite but i have a feeling it’s like captain america or spiderman. he wont stop making jokes about how roland is emo peter parker. 

abbe: already answered!

roland: black beauty he strikes me as the type who would like psychological thrillers like the shining or inception. movies that have lots of deep layers and summaries you stay up late reading until you’re too scared to go to bed. 

irena: she would like things with very traditional elaborate fight scenes and dynamic relationships and cool props and swords and armor and epic battles so basically she’s a lord of the rings fan. 

anneliese: literally the only thing coming to my mind are the twilight movies. the fault in our stars. ya’know stuff like that. i think she would be a big sucker for the princess bride. 

6. How tall is your OC?

elian: 5′1″

abbe: 5′7″

roland: 5′6″

irena: 5′2″

anneliese: 5′0″

7. Does your OC have any celebrity crushes? (answering like they live in modern times) 

elian: i don’t think he really follows celebrities he cares more about the quality of the movies they make. 

abbe: maybe he had one when he was younger but now that he’s married and has a kid on the way he doesn’t have time for these kinds of trivial things he has to focus on the #wife. 

roland: the actresses who are a little older but very #classic. julie andrews. judy garland. he might also like modern stars like anne hathaway or emma stone. one of those two. 

irena: what if she was a david bowie fan i feel bad not immediately saying her husband dwayne the rock johnson

anneliese: nick jonas. justin timberlake. orlando bloom. every boy from one direction. you get my drift. 

8. Do you ship any 2 of your OCs?

elian: ANNELIESE

abbe: his beautiful loving delicate sensitive understanding wife rosalie k thanks bye

roland: his super big crush on lady jeannine harpers kills me everyday

irena: dwayne the rock johnson

anneliese: ELIAN

9. How would you describe your OCs fashion taste?

elian: bold. he likes things that make him feel adventurous like big hats with feathers or sturdy boots. he’s upper class so he’s still gotta look nice but he goes for that “i’m a rich guy who’s never been camping in my life but i went out and bought all this super nice fancy camping gear so people will think i’m professional when i’m not” look. 

abbe: very presentable, always On Point™. he’s gotta dress to impress, so all his clothes are neatly pressed and he tries not to wrinkle them up too much or get them dirty. he tends to trade in neutral colors like white and black for things a little brighter to liven up the house a bit. he’s still young. let abbe be Free™.

roland: he’s a big emo hot topic baby and the only thing he’ll wear is black.

irena: sleek shiny new armor that’s hand-crafted with details carved into the breastplate and shoulder pieces. regal deep colors and clean polished boots. 

anneliese: PINK. big poofy dresses. less of a focus on patterns and more of a focus on teeny cutesy details. 

10. Does your OC have any special talents?

elian: lmao i’ve never talk about this before but i sort of headcanon he’s alright at. fishing. it’s dangerous for him to swim and when his dad was around he was in the same situation. as selkies they still had a strong draw towards the water so instead of fishing as seals they would bond with each other by going to the shore or out on a boat and just have some quiet fishing time. :’) but anyway because of all that elian is much better at using a fishing rod than other selkies are. 

abbe: he seems like a really average family-man kinda guy so i want him to have some talent that’s just so obscure and ridiculous and totally unexpected. he can juggle with his knees. he has this 6th sense that tells him when it’s going to rain. i’m confirming all this for canon immediately. 

roland: he sort of gives me the “intellectual” kind of vibes in a good way and in a bad way. he was probably very good at school/his studies and for some reason history is really sticking out to me the most! while roland and elian don’t really get along i kinda headcanon roland had to tutor elian a lot when they were working through their school books together. 

irena: she can play an instrument, i know that much! i haven’t decided what she plays, but i’m thinking some type of fictional string instrument. she teaches elian how to play some instruments, too, because we all know that poor child is bored out of his mind. 

anneliese: she loves the whole wide world and reads a lot as a weird form of escapism? reading is her way of connecting to all the people and all the places in the world and it exercises her imagination. she’s probably a SUPER FAST reader and i bet she has a scary-big vocabulary for a girl as young as herself haha. 

11. Is your OC really bad at something?

elian: already answered!

abbe: SELF CARE abbe will work himself to the bone and push down all of his personal feelings and hurt to put his family first. i don’t think he wants to be that way but he was kind of forced into that mindset after he had to immediately step up to his dad’s position and then get married on top of that like he had so many big life-altering changes thrown at him within a years time poor boy didn’t even have time to grieve or adequately manage his emotional state. 

roland: being an individual haha. more like being openly opinionated and voicing those opinions. he “aaron burr”s the heck outta life with his “don’t let them know what you’re against or what you’re for” attitude. he doesn’t want to give anyone a reason to start drama with him. 

irena: already answered! 

anneliese: already answered! 

12. Does your OC have both of their parents?

abbe, roland, and elian lost their dad 3 years before the story starts. for a good time after that their mom was not…. entirely there emotionally either so abbe is basically New Dad™. 

irena: yes

anneliese: her dad is… kind of in prison?? so like he’s there but not there ya know. and who knows about her mom i’ll talk about that in the next question. anyway her aunt and uncle took her into the family and are basically her new mom and dad congrats anneliese. 

13. Does your OC know their parents?

elian: yes

abbe: yes

roland: yes

irena: yes, but she lost contact with her mother years before the story starts and she’s totally uninterested in rekindling the relationship

anneliese: she knows her dad but i haven’t fully decided who her mother is or what happened to her so for now??? my answer is who knows. 

14. Does your OC have any siblings?

abbe, roland and elian are all brothers! they don’t have any other siblings haha. 

irena: none

anneliese: none but she did have a cousin! they were really close when they were little, almost like siblings. the cousin was the old heiress to the estate but she got a bad illness or disease or something like people did back in the good ol’ days and died. now anneliese is the heiress. 

15. Do any of your OCs have pets?

elian: already answered!

abbe: none

roland: already answered!

irena: she might have a nice riding horse but other than that i doubt she has time for her own pet. 

anneliese: i haven’t thought about it but she does seem like an animal kind of girl. if she does i can see her having a super fluffy kitty. 

16. Do you have any nonhuman OCs?

17. Do you have any OCs you haven’t posted about?

18. How would you describe your OCs nature in one word?

elian: righteous 

abbe: altruistic

roland: distant

irena: meticulous

anneliese: dreamy

19. Who is your youngest OC? (i’m combining this question with the other one and just saying their ages) 

elian: 13 yrs

abbe: 21 yrs

roland: 16 yrs

irena: 33 yrs

anneliese: 12 yrs

20. Who is your oldest OC?

21. What race is your OC?

they’re all selkies!

22. Would your OC like you?

elian: he would like some things about me, then find other things completely infuriating. 

abbe: he’d probably think i was a little too casual and maybe a bit weird, but he wouldn’t hate me either! 

roland: i think we’d be cool. 

irena: we could have a couple really nice conversations. 

anneliese: she would! 

[jazzworldquest-blog]

USA: Tony Adamo Was Out Jazz Zone Mad

 "Tony Adamo’s song-poems celebrate his own exodus from the Moloch madness of Western civilization and his initiation into a deeper experience of meaning via the jazz life." —Kirpal Gordon Kirpal Gordon, adjunct associate professor of writing studies at Hofstra University, and Benny Gottwald, composer, arranger who works with spoken word artists, discuss Tony Adamo's Was Out Jazz Zone Mad. Gordon's prose poetry, fiction, journalism, alternate lyrics to the Great American Songbook and book/music reviews have been widely published. In 2011 he formed Giant Steps Press, a writer's cooperative. Kirpal Gordon: As a bassist, composer and arranger who has worked with spoken word artists and vocalists, what did you make of the blend that Tony Adamo and his band created in his latest release from Ropeadope Records, Was Out Jazz Zone Mad? The first thing that jumps out to me is its jazz-funk- blues direction driven by that Hammond B3 organ and guitar. Benny Gottwald: I was immediately hit by the power of that B3; Roger Smith and Mike LeDonne are not messing around! Another voice that jumps out to me, as a bassist, is Mike Clark’s superb drumming. He threw me for a loop! First, he comes in with feel-good swing pockets on tunes like “Birth of the Cool” only to contrast that with his highly syncopated funk grooves in “Fly, Jump, or Die.” Clark speaks to the diverse and capable krewe at play on this record. Sticking with “Birth of the Cool,” I was also highly impressed by Adamo’s layering of references to the jazz canon; on that track, most obviously named in honor of Miles, the cat talks about taking “giant steps ‘round midnight.” He’s got the energies of three greats—Mingus, Miles, and Trane—all intermingled in one big mind of a song, and if you listen closely, you can hear the band comping on the changes to “Giant Steps.” You gotta dig that layering of influence, all compounding together, balancing out the musical and lyrical blend. Kirpal Gordon: I hear you on the layering and the blend in “Birth of the Cool.” Tony Adamo is like a gone scat-singer improvising in and out of the song form. He bends-mends-soars-roars syllables of whack-a-doodle wonder, incredulity, and well-being on the chronic. He’s got that jazz DJ love of the tradition, but now Hometown’s a blues shouter as well! He sang some on Tony Adamo & the New York Crew, an earlier CD, but he really stretches out with this band underneath him. You’re so right about the rhythm section, especially on the opening track, “Rain Man.” With Mike Clark working that drum kit, Adamo locks into that funky jazz feeling; it’s risky, too. The band is particularly steady and strong, throwing him invitations to further his flow on two vocal tributes—“B.B. King Blues,” a blues shuffle, and “Boogaloo the Funky Beat,” reminiscent of James Brown—and Adamo lifts off. He croons and then he rhymes, then sings some more; after musical solos, he improvs on the artists that he roll-calls to mind before returning to the head. It’s a joyous dexterity: vocalese hoo-doo meets the jazz tribute poem; spoken word spontaneity bursts into song. He’s gone to the Gil Scott-Heron School of Crossover Crossroads, and the band is with him working deep grooves that he slides his syllables through. The trick with funk is to keep it greasy and not let the riff wear out its welcome. The best example of the ensemble keeping its many parts well-oiled is in the laid-back “Too Funky to Flush” (check “Stormy Monday”), Adamo’s shout out to the Big Easy, its ettoufee and its clave, its blues wisdom and its Congo Square drumming. Let’s just say: smiles are guaranteed. Benny Gottwald: Yes, “Too Funky to Flush” indeed had “black magic dancing in my veins.” I was immediately impressed by how such a lyrically evocative tribute to Nola could chill out on the axis of a smooth 6/8 feel. Talk about juxtaposition, especially when they hit the stop-time; that B3 keeps it real while Adamo paints a Big Easy portrait, letting the tune begin to cook just like mother’s gumbo. “Too Funky to Flush” is, of course, not the only tune where Adamo takes the sounds he’s heard in the street and throws them into the mix of a song. “Boogaloo the Funky Beat” does this big time. Yeah, one could couch it as a tip-of-the-hat to James Brown, but that funk won’t stay on the couch for very long; it’s a get-up-and-groove kind of vibe. Tony Adamo really is the chef on this record for sure, some lyrical spoken word benedictions here and some lofty crooning there. He tells us as much: “mixin’ it up now, home-cookin', rice, and beans with a cold beer on the side.” Kirpal Gordon: Hey, Adamo is a force of nature. Now if we’re talking favorite track, I lean toward his tribute to Leon Thomas, “General T.” The band morphs out of guitar-organ funk blues to music that stuns and steps listeners into another dimension. Reverend Adamo marries his praise shouts to the spooky, trippy, atmospheric sound that drums, trumpet, bass, alto saxophone, and piano lay down. Talk about a taste of Wayne Shorter’s “Iris” from the mid-Sixties Miles Davis Quintet: The band’s got tentacles reaching into space; they touch many stars. They comp, roll, weave, crescendo and wrap within and without Adamo’s recollections of Leon Thomas at the Village Vanguard. He describes General T’s approach as “Keepin’ his words zip-locked fresh,” but the same could be said of Adamo, whose power of jazz wit-ness never fails or stales. Benny Gottwald: Adamo put me back in the Vanguard with General T himself. The Reverend is marrying musical elements left and right with unlikely beauty. Check the B3’s left hand on “I’m Out the Door,” giving hard swing and talking up a storm with the drummer—Joey DeFrancesco and Billy Hart would be proud! One listen to that track and I am sitting in the studio while Bobby Hutcherson plays his last record, enjoying the view while the cats come out to play chorus by chorus. If you had to get my favorite track on this record, it might just be that one. Kirpal Gordon: Taken all together, his tales and regales on these tracks celebrate his love of this musical art form. He’s acknowledging, much like Walt Whitman did on opera, that funk-jazz-blues is a manifestation of his muse. And like our national bard’s “Song of Myself,” Adamo’s song-poems celebrate his own exodus from the Moloch madness of Western civilization and his initiation into a deeper experience of meaning via the jazz life. No wonder he’s enthusiastic. He’s escaped the asylum. It’s all there on the final track, “Fly, Jump or Die.” Adamo mixes tales of his Bronx neighborhood jumping from building to building eight stories high with observations on how a tenor saxophonist flies, jumps or dies their way through a solo followed by a guitar solo that flies, jumps and re-births his theme. A smart end to a new direction from Adamo and krewe. Personnel Mike Clark: drums; Donald Harrison: saxophone; Bill Summers: percussion; Lenny White: drums; Michael Wolff: piano; Richie Goods: bass; Tim Ouimette: trumpet; Mike LeDonne: organ; Jack Wilkins: guitar; Delbert Bump: organ; Elias Lucero: guitar; Roger Smith: keyboards; Kyron Kirby: drums: Wayne Delacruz: Hammond Organ, Chris Pimentel: guitar. https://news.allaboutjazz.com/kirpal-gordon-and-benny-gottwald-review-tony-adamos-was-out-jazz-zone-mad-ropeadope-records.php

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