#Martyn's episode plays such pretty music

[fountainpenguin]

Martyn's playing so well, I'm so happy for him. He comes skidding in during Session 1 and whips up a tiny copycat base of Lizzie's tiny, stunted base... Then he immediately draws the secret task "Convince someone to burn down your base without getting called out" and expertly charms Jimmy into thinking that old dumb shack is Scar's and they're gonna make a statement by burning it... gets his task done within the first 20 minutes...

... then goes tumbling down an emotional hill, straight-up loses 27.5 hearts, and dies the first death of the season in Episode 2. skldjf Love that for him.

[whereispearlescentmoon]

This is for the two other people who are obsessed with Ghost Quartet (it’s my favorite musical please listen to it I have CHARTS FOR THIS), here is my analysis of who in the Divorce Quartet is who (note for non-GQ fans, there is a character named Pearl in the show. To lessen the confusion, I’ve color coded.):

Pearl- Rose Red. Rose as a character is someone who feels wronged and abandoned and then uses that to hurt others in every lifetime, namely Pearl (who I am assigning to Cleo). She looks to The Bear (who I’m assigning to Martyn) for help in getting her revenge, but he is uninterested in helping, which causes her final spiral, like how Martyn leaving Pearl in episode one led to her being alone for the series.

When Pearl is the Soldier, Rose manipulates her by flirting and steals her honey, then shoots her. When Pearl is Lady Usher, Rose’s manipulation of Roxie as a child and later stealing Starchild is what leads to Lady Usher’s descent into madness and her death. When Pearl is Scheherazade, Rose callously takes her last piece of stardust. When Pearl is the Victim, Rose chooses not to help her, letting her die. And through all of this, until after it’s reveled that it was all for nothing, Rose sees her actions as righteous vengeance against Pearl. There is a parallel to be made here about life series Pearl killing Cleo over and over, still bitter from Double Life.

There is also something to be said for the fact that the person who gets hurt by Rose the most, besides Pearl, is Rose in other lives. Roxie and Starchild are the most obvious examples. Rose lies to Roxie as a child, leading her to become a tortured ghost when her expectations of heaven aren’t met, and she steals Starchild from her mother, baptizing and then abandoning her. Double Life Pearl, in her effort to hurt the person who wronged her, spends the season torturing herself.

Cleo- Pearl. Besides the irony of the name, see the above. Ultimately, it’s the Astronomer who betrayed Rose Red, not Pearl, yet Rose’s anger manifests in hurting herself and Pearl. And, in Rose’s defense, Pearl did act selfishly. She started a relationship with the Astronomer, knowing that her sister loved him. And we can see this from how untrusting all of Pearl’s lives are, similar to how Cleo behaves towards her allies. The Soldier is apathetic towards the idea of dying, knowing Rose’s flirting isn’t genuine. Scheherazade knows that the story she’s giving Rose is the last piece of stardust she has, and she gives it anyways, not because she is selfless but because she wants to rest. When Lady Usher is killed by Roxie’s ghost, she still sees her as her little girl.

I mean, I feel like these lyrics could sum up Cleo and Pearl in the life series pretty well honestly:

“This has all happened before….And the dead girl leapt upon her mother//And her sister//And her daughter//And her lover//With the rage of four generations”

No matter who Cleo is to Pearl, Pearl kills her in the end. No matter who Pearl is to Rose, Rose ends up killing her.

Scott- The Astronomer. The Astronomer is, in my opinion, the real catalyst of the show, even if the focus is on Rose and Pearl. He uses Rose for her observational skills and gets close with her before ultimately choosing Pearl over her, which you could parallel to Scott choosing to ally with Cleo and ditch Pearl in DL.

However, The Astronomer, like Scott, is not truly an antagonist. He is a man, who as we can see both from the songs The Astronomer and Fathers & Sons, acknowledges his faults but can’t find it in him to get better. The Astronomer wishes he could sing and see beauty the way Rose does, but he doesn’t practice and he’s “CONFOUNDED BY MUSIC// AND BABIES AND LAUGHTER//AND STORIES AND GOODNESS//INFINITY AND LUCK//I’M CONFUSED BY THE NOTION//THAT SOMEBODY LOVES ME”. We see this in the Astronomer’s other lives too. Lord Usher says that he knows he’s a bad lover and deadbeat dad, telling The Son that he should leave and never look back. David plays the piano in the palace of the Shah even as it hurts him and even after it has been determined that humans don’t deserve music, because he is begging for forgiveness, which you could parallel to the way Scott kills himself in DL as an apology to Pearl.

Martyn-The Bear. The Bear is a character who acts solely on impulse and base desire, which fits in line with how Martyn is often characterized as someone who acts before he thinks, whether out of love or rage. Martyn ditched Pearl in the heat of the moment because he felt hurt by Cleo’s rejection, and spent the rest of the season begging for Cleo back. Instead of being honorable in the final duel with Scott and Impulse in LimL, he indulges in his bloodlust. Half the time in SL when he got guesses wrong as a yellow it was because he was goaded into guessing and couldn’t resist.

The Bear, similarly, is a creature of instinct in every life. He sends Rose on a wild goose chase just because he wants honey. As The Son he leaves his grieving family because he wants to go join a band in New York. All the Shah wants is to drink, eat, and indulge himself in mindless entertainment. The Pusher gives no consideration to the fate of the Victim when he shoves her onto the tracks, he just takes a swig of his drink and pushes.

[autumnwhistles]

Introducing Last Life SMP: The Unofficial Musical

“There is an old, old tale to be told

Of green like the spruce, of crimson and gold.”

[Full song list and links under the cut]

NOTE: AUDITIONS ARE OPEN UNTIL NOV 20TH!!!! If you're interested, please check out the #auditions and #info tags for more information.

Those are the first lines sung (...kind of) in a musical adaption of the Last Life SMP I’ve decided to talk myself to write, for... some reason. Please note this is not an actual play and never will be (rights and crediting issues, for one thing, the CCs deserve to take credit for the storyline they’ve made), but I will record, put it together, and upload songs to Youtube in a playlist. Most of the plot is from Last Life itself, and is stated in the songs, so it should be easy enough to follow. There will also be the relevant plot in the description of each song.

My aim is to tell a coherent story through songs (which, because I can’t hold myself back, I’ve planned 45 of...), meaning that I can’t just jump perspectives continuously and chronicle events. This means that some of the CC’s characters are going to have a bigger role than others, though I do want to honour everyone involved, so I’d appreciate any ideas on doing this (especially for Tango and Skizz). However, so far:

It mainly follows Martyn (especially due to his lore, he had the easiest storyline to adapt into a narrative setting, and to me at least was the main character of that season), partially following Scott as the winner as well. They do foil each other quite well this season, which is a bonus – though I am going to be stretching this for the sake of Cohesion^TM.

Important events and important exposition are given to us by the Chorus, keeping the storyline in tact while shifting focuses (Joel going Red, for example). The Chorus are actually Watchers observing the events, which is hinted in the opening song (they sing a lot of references to Martyn’s Last Life teaser, for instance).

This means that Watchers and Listeners are technically canon (especially since we’re following Martyn’s lore), but the names aren’t going to be stated so things can be interpreted differently for people who don’t keep track of/aren’t fans of that. 

Memories of 3rd Life are also canon, as they are in the series.

This follows the headcanon (and out-of-universe truth) that 3rd Life took place in Spring and Last Life in Autumn, so if there are references to that in songs (which they are), that’s why.

Also, though I’ve tried to keep everything as faithful to the events of Last Life as possible (except one confrontation/song that doesn’t happen, to resolve various things), but I do tweak some minor chronological aspects (eg when alliances were established) and omit some things  again for cohesion, and also to help establish information early on.

Progress-wise first song is nearly finished, though I do still need to record it. I have pretty concrete ideas for others, and some I don’t really know yet, but hopefully they’ll be coming out at a steady, if slow, pace. I am somewhat a novice at music production (as in recording and putting tracks together) though, so help with that would be appreciated.

*if you’re not convinced, watch the start of his session 8 until 1:57, he canonically hallucinates his friends and this is due to a sinister entity only he can hear speaking to him and commanding him to follow it even somewhat despite his will, manipulated by promises of bringing back these dead friends. And all this is in his episodes. Main character behaviour, guys. Main character behaviour.

Full song list:

Part 1:

1. Overture/Middle of Nowhere: We’re introduced to the Last Life world by the Chorus as players spawn in. Martyn seems to hear something, but brushes it off.

2. Corners of the World: Through Martyn’s perspective we’re introduced to players and their alliances. He meets Scott and Pearl and chats to them for a while, before heading with them to spawn.

3. “Tales: Record 13″/”The Boogeyman”: At spawn, Grian narrates his experience with BDubs’ Boogeyman curse, and all around the map the players express what they’ve heard about the Boogeyman curse themselves.

4. “A(ha)lliances”: The Southlands ally, making a-ha jokes, and Pearl and Scott solidify their alliance via Pearl gifting Scott a life.

5. “The Table Song 1″: Now some time into the series, the Chorus updates us on the alliances that have formed: the Fairy Fort, Team BEST, Magical Mountain, Scott and Pearl, and the Southlands. It also chronicles the journey of the Enchanting Table, now in Magical Mountain, and the Southlands’ trip to enchant which ends with Scar’s Boogeyman kill.

6. “Our Will Be Done (Precursor 1)”: Martyn hears a mysterious voice speaking to him for the first time, telling him to give Ren some Nether Wart. He does so.

7. “Debts (potentially an instrumental)”: Martyn extinguishes Ren’s burning tower and Ren tells him of his alliance and pledge to Lizzie, reminding him of his time in 3rd Life.

8. “In Spring We Met”: After returning to the Southlands, Martyn thinks about the conflicting loyalties he feels between the Southlands and the remaining ties he feels to Ren, despite it being a new life. As he falls asleep, the voice whispers to him about betraying the Southlands and forming an alliance with Ren to suit its own goals.

9. “Green, Crimson, Gold”: Joel is now Red after an unlucky session, and news of a Red name spreads throughout the server.

10. “The Table Song 2″*: The journey of the Enchanting Table is further chronicled, coming into Scott and Pearl’s possession, who then sell it to Lizzie for a life each, putting Scott up to the same number of lives as Martyn, 4.

11. “Their Dubious Game”: Scott wonders about how trustworthy the rules of the game actually are, prompted by the forced isolation of Red names this time due to their nature contradicting his experiences in 3rd Life with Jimmy, while Martyn, breaching the border with the Southlands, hesitantly wonders the same thing. 

12. “Northern Lament”: Below Magical Mountain, Joel fumes at being distrusted by everyone and isolated purely due to his Red name. Above, Scar muses about being isolated and distrusted for the opposite reason, because of how many lives he has.

13. “A(ha)alliances (Reprise)”: Time passes, and Martyn grows closer to the Southlands. However, he’s still meeting up with Ren who offers to introduce him to Lizzie and the rest of the Fairy Fort, potentially considering a betrayal. The Voice prompts him to accept this, as they can be useful in its plan.

14. “unnamed Wither theme (Instrumental)”: Grian informs the Southlands that Scott and Pearl are in possession of a Wither Skull, expressing his desire to retrieve it. Martyn, Impulse and Mumbo go, Martyn however intending to eventually destroy it because of how unprepared everyone is for a Wither fight.

15. Unnamed Song: After they’re found out by Scott and Impulse and Mumbo flee, Scott informs Martyn that Grian also has a Wither Skull, Martyn immediately gives the skull back, and the two talk about their distrust of Grian and his desire to bring complete chaos to the server. However, that night (post-song) the Voice informs him that its goal is to watch the server burn.

16. “The Table Song 3″: The Chorus further chronicles the Enchanting Table’s journey, now in the Fairy Fort, where two members – Ren and BigB – are chosen as the Boogeyman. Team BEST visits and Bdubs gives a life to Lizzie in exchange, giving enchanting to everyone free of charge. Ren manages to kill a member of Team BEST, Skizz, but BigB has not gotten a kill yet, and the session is nearly over. He catches sight of his closest ally Cleo by the side of Ren’s pit trap.

17. “Green, Crimson, Gold (Reprise)”: Cleo, now Yellow, arrives at Scott and Pearl’s base informing them of BigB’s Boogeyman kill on her, wanting to cut TIES. Scott and Pearl accept (song intro). Meanwhile, Joel is getting desperate for allies, now hunting for Yellows to convert to Red with him. Hearing about Grian’s wither skull, he goes to the Nether, where Grian and Mumbo are building a Ghost farm, and shoots Grian off the edge, turning him Red. BDubs, fighting in the Nether, falls and turns Red too. When heading to Scott and Pearl’s base, a Yellow Cleo is killed by Joel’s trap. 

18. “Friends”: The Southlands are informed of Grian’s death, and, now Red, Grian is to be exiled from the Southlands. He desperately tries to kill Mumbo as Impulse and Jimmy arrive, asking if they can still be friends, while Scott and Pearl mourn the loss of a friendship with Cleo, and Martyn is introduced to the rest of the Shadow Alliance under the gaze of the Moon, giving Ren a life.

Part 2:

1. “Walls”: Grian has been exiled from the Southlands, the stone wall he built separating them. In the Snow Fort, Etho and BDubs build a wall to keep them separate until he can gain a life again. Cleo, wanting vengeance on BigB, meets Scott on the other side of his wall, Scott giving her some sugarcane. Post-song, Grian, Joel and Cleo express their desire to gain lives back from Scar. 

2. “Their Will”: Martyn relays the aims of the Voice, which he now interprets as the Moon, to the rest of the Shadow Alliance, who agree with it.

3. “Die For Me”: In a Shadow Alliance meeting, Martyn asks if there’s anything recent he should know about the Fairy Fort. They tell him the Fairy Fort has burned down at the hands of Cleo, relaying the tale as a flashback (with mainly Cleo singing). 

4. “Promises”/“Coal Mine”: Martyn chases Jimmy, who’s stolen his life in the Southlands life-passing ritual, spurred on by the Voice. He lies to Jimmy, telling him they can run away from the Southlands together if he gives him back his life. Jimmy expresses his worry about potentially being the first out again in the process, as this has happened before and he is very vulnerable as a Yellow, and agrees. Martyn runs back with his life straight after.

5. “The Table Song 4”: Since there are only three of them now, the three remaining Southlanders spend the day together, including sneaking around Team BEST’s snow fort looking for the Enchanting Table and finding a secret entrance. They are caught but let go due to some lies of Martyn’s about their aim, telling them he was simply looking for Ender Pearls.

6. “Unnamed Wither Theme (Song: Precursor)”: During the day, the Southlanders meet Scott, Martyn bringing up the danger of Grian’s Wither Skull as he’s now Red, and they decide to look for it. As Martyn is called away to a Shadow Alliance Meeting, Impulse manages to find it, and entrusts it to Scott. Scott gives it to the Fairy Fort for safekeeping.

7. Unnamed Song: Cleo, now Yellow again, visits Scott and officially joins their alliance. Scott expresses his desire to simply protect his allies and simply live a quiet life in these games, though violence is necessary as a means to this end as he knows the chaos that will ensue.

8. “Tales: The Wizard On The Mountain”: a Yellow Grian rejoins the Southlands, telling them (especially Martyn, as he did not know when this happened due to his absences) how he got a life back from Scar, who’s now Yellow himself. (And yes Grian gets songs where he’s relaying events to others instead of ones of them happening to him because he’s a Watcher hehe, he’s not involved in the action songs he watches)

9. “The Trial of Timmy”: The Southlands hold a trial for Jimmy about whether he should be exiled or stay in. They will anonymously vote their verdict in a book, Grian campaigning for Jimmy to leave, while the others, minus Martyn, campaign for him to stay. When it is time for them to vote, Martyn votes him in.

10. “Our Will Be Done (Precursor 2)”: The Voice is angry at Martyn, asking him why he’s still attached to the Southlands when he wishes to join the Shadow, appearing to him and telling him a demonstration is in order... “Lights extinguish/Begin the Slaughter/Our Will Be Done!”

11. “Unnamed Wither Theme (Instrumental 2)”: Grian manages to gather the three Wither Skulls he needs with the help of Impulse, who wants to stay loyal to his allies and feels regret for taking it with Scott. Martyn, though not active, does not try to stop him, and distracts Team BEST while the other two take it. 

12. “Red, Crimson, Gold (Reprise 2)”: As Grian is distracted by this aim, the other members of the South fall to boogeymen, of which there are six of this session, due to the Voice’s promise. Impulse falls to Yellow at Scott’s hands, and Mumbo and Jimmy both become Red, along with many other players on the server, including Lizzie and once more, Joel.

13. “Friends (Reprise)”: Returning to the Southlands after their mission, Grian, Martyn and Impulse find the South blown up by Mumbo: mourning the loss of the alliance, they mournfully burn the walls in commemoration. Grian and Martyn muse on each other’s untrustworthiness, Impulse remaining loyal to both, as the allyship between Scott, Pearl and Cleo strengthens. Far away, Etho, with Bdubs once again on the other side of the wall, discovers the missing Wither Skull, suspecting the Southlands.

14. Unnamed Song: Martyn and Grian, now the last two Southland members after Impulse is shot by Mumbo in the Nether and becomes Red, mentally comment about their distrust of the other person and about there being something off about them, Martyn due to the Voice’s seeming hatred of Grian and Grian’s apparent apathy to everything apart from causing bloodshed, Grian because he senses something around Martyn (Watcher powers heh) and his relative absence from the Southlands when they were still around, though he does express a wish to protect their last remaining threads of alliance. They express none of this aloud. 

15. “When Will You Learn?, Parts 1 and 2”: Heading back to the Southlands, Grian and Martyn meet Jimmy and Mumbo, who attack them. Grian kills them both, to Martyn’s shock, and shocked himself, tries to defend these actions. All of a sudden, the Voice appears again and a Boogeyman curse strikes Martyn. Prompted by the Voice (seeming to have a specific hatred of Grian) and by vengeance for Mumbo and Jimmy, Martyn immediately moves to kill Grian. He succeeds, but the kill is attributed to Joel, who has sniped him. Exhausted, Martyn managed to kill Tango. When called to another Shadow meeting, he returns to his empty Southlands tower instead.

16. “Unnamed Wither Song (Proper)”: The Wither is raised by Grian and Impulse in Team BEST’s base. Etho wants to run, but Bdubs attacks it, giving him the courage to attack too – however, Bdubs loses a life to it, turning Red once more. The remaining Greens and Yellows flock to fight it as the Reds join in, trying to kill the other players. The Wither is defeated by Etho; Impulse falls to Scott’s hand, dying permanently; Bdubs takes Lizzie’s final life as he was promised a life in exchange for killing a Red; he is shot by Grian as he runs to Etho to inform him of this.

17. Unnamed Song: In the aftermath, Etho mourns BDubs’ death, while Ren mourns his failure to protect his Shadow Queen, even if she was Red.

18. Unnamed Song (and the only one not following ‘canon’ events): With Impulse’s death as a catalyst, Martyn seeks out a Red Grian, proposing a temporary truce for him to explain what's going on. They confront each other about their various actions against the Southlands, and their apparent detachment from it, and talk about their suspicions that the other person knows more than they seem about the nature of the games – as the Voice tries to stop Martyn from inquiring further. Grian says he experiences this alongside his friends as a decision when prompted by Martyn stating he never cared in the first place. He wonders if Martyn would understand the situation due to his position; however, he does not know what Grian is talking about and distrusts him. Angry, Grian leaves, calling Martyn nothing but a follower. Angry, the voices swell around Martyn and he falls asleep.

19. “Our Will Be Done”: Waking up all alone, Martyn hallucinates his friends, before they are revealed as fake, the Voice in their places. He snaps at it, finally asking why they’re doing this. Why are they speaking to him? Why are they hell-bent on killing Grian? What did he mean? Why does he have to follow it when he wants to do the opposite of what they tell him? Who are they – why should he do anything they say? However, they pacify him, promising that if he does what they say, they will bring Impulse, Mumbo and Jimmy back. Martyn concedes.

20. “Scott’s Elegy”: Scott, cursed as the Boogeyman once more makes a decision to surrender himself to the curse instead, as he doesn’t want to kill any more allies with so few lives left in the game.

21. Unnamed Sad Martyn Song: Martyn thinks on Scott’s decision, thinking about what he’d once wanted, everything that’s now impossible as he’s pushed around by the Voices with not enough willpower to say no: he wishes to make choices but cannot, and thinks about Grian’s words. 

22. “Our Will Be Done (Reprise)”: In a meeting of the Greens and Yellows, the Voice tells Martyn to place an End Crystal in the centre as a test for Scott: if he blows it up, he passes, if he doesn’t, he fails. Scott chooses not to, and as Scott turns Red, the voices talking to Martyn become loud and angry, commanding him to kill Scott for disobeying them, yet again promising him the Southlands back if he does. While walking around, Martyn loses his first life to a trap at Grian’s hands.

23. “Boogie Boogie On The Dance Floor”: The Chorus informs us that it is the last day. Pearl is chosen as the Boogeyman, rigging a TNT trap on a disco floor, turning Ren’s red. The others quickly fall to the Reds, including Cleo.

24. “Martyn’s Stand”: Now left as the last Yellow, Martyn decides he is tired of hiding, deciding make a last stand against everyone. At first humming the start of “In Spring We Met” as a comfort, he heads to a mountain and pouring lava down the sides as a beacon for the Reds. However, though he puts up a good fight, he doesn’t manage to take any of them down before dying himself, marking the server entirely Red. 

25. “Battle Royale”: With the Reds having turned on each other, the four survivors – Pearl, Scott, Ren and Martyn – agree to a Battle Royale to decide the victor. Pearl dies early on, prompting Scott to grieve and resolve to win this fight, no matter what it takes. Martyn eventually falls to his own End Crystal. Only Scott and Ren are left, and they fight to the voices of dead players telling them to play the game. After a long fight, Scott manages to kill Ren, partially due to a zombie which he interprets as the world maybe doing something after all for his defiance. He is crowned the winner. However, the Voice does not like this, the Chorus supporting this, and Scott is stricken dead with heavenly lightning.

26. “Plainly Spoken [Epilogue]”: All is silence, and yet Martyn opens his eyes once more, to the Voice and the Chorus, now joined as they are the same entity, informing him how disappointed they are in him, and that he is heading closer and closer to the light. As he asks questions, he is cut off, and they say he will forget all that has happened with them as he and everyone else moves into the next game. Up above, the land is now in the state it was at the start of “Middle of Nowhere”, and they are revealed to be those that run the death loop. 

*This may be later excluded due to not adding much at the moment.

[moonlight-fan2008]

Part 2 of 3 of the music of Moonlight (episodes version)

Music featured in Episode 8: 12:04 AM (in order of appearance)

Drowning by the stereophonics (plays in the beginning when Shepherds gets taking to the execution chamber)

To Hell With The Devil by Jim Bianco (featured in the middle of the episode when Mick goes to see the sleezy producer’s house)

Keep my love by deep love (featured in the middle of the episode when Shepherd visits Drake)

Dark as love by Lucious redhead (featured in the middle of the episode when Beth goes snooping around Mick’s office)

Together by the Kin (featured at the end when Beth and Mick have their rooftop talk)

Together is also my one of my favorite songs of all time

Music featured in Episode 9: Fleur de Lis (in order of appearance)

Dead end street by Varano (featured in the beginning of the episode when Beth and Mick are stalking “Morgan”)

“I own her Mister St.John” ugh I don’t condone murder but I kinda wished the wife was able to at least seriously injure her husband

Look after you by the Fray (featured at the end of the episode when Morgan reveals she’s Coraline all along)

Music featured in Episode 10: Sleeping Beauty (in order of appearance)

I can’t find the song Josef was listening to when he has that party at Mick’s place after he has the murder attempt and IMDb doesn’t seem to have it either (this is like the middle of the episode)

Aurora by LAPUSH (featured at the end when Beth and Mick part ways in New York and we see flashbacks of Josef and Sarah)

Music featured in Episode 11: Live lasts forever (in order of appearance)

I’m unable to find the song at the beginning when Mick is working out to. According to IMDb I think it might be Here Comes The Pain by Paul Trudeau but it’s not on YouTube but I’m like 85% sure it’s that

Looking Back by ANGER MANAGEMENT (at the beginning of the episode when Josh is assaulted in the parking garage)

Calling You by Blue October (featured in the beginning/middle of the episode when Beth and Josh sleep together)

Los duenos de la Discoteca by JHOSY & BABY Q (heard in the middle just before the father daughter dance ) (I’m pretty sure it’s the song we only hear a snippet of it before they go to the father-daughter dance)

Las mananitas by Martyn Laight (just a brief snippet heard in the background of the father daughter dance in the middle of the episode. Then I’m pretty sure it’s re-used again for the end of the episode when Mick is raiding the bar)

Give me that thing by RENE BRIZUELA (heard in the middle when the police come to arrest Tejada at his daughters birthday)

Subterfuge by Adam Hamilton (featured towards the end of the episode when Mick goes to kill Tajda)

Used IMDb for this episode Shazam did not like a lot of these songs and couldn’t find them. I looked them up on YouTube to make sure they were the right song. I think I got them in the right spots

Will post the 3rd part sometime later idk when though.I’ve got some things to do later today and all day tomorrow. Might not be able to finish this until maybe next weekend.

[returntosaturn271995]

Sunday, August 20th: Hurricane Hillary (Chil-ary)

I've had a very romantic morning to myself. Hurricane Hillary (as of 11:41 am when I'm writing this) is a consistent drizzle at this point. I woke up to grey light, my white comforter, and the light tapping of rain on my window. Deep breaths, fresh smells (although some of that is due to the dew-scented pura pods Hannah bought). Martyn and I agreed "motorbiking" in the middle of a category 4 hurricane probs wasn't the move, but he may come over to keep me company while Hannah is in Mexico and Makenna is in Burbank.

I refreshed Blue's food and water and she was very sweet to me. Her little face and voice make her seem like such a sweet girlie cat. It really amps the aesthetic vibe of the house. Even Lumos is coming for cuddles.

Yesterday and Friday both ended up being great nights. Sam brought rose wine because I mentioned I liked it and added the new Dua Lipa and other Indie artists to the playlist for me. The hotel he booked was called Sonder in "The" OC (an inside joke now because I hadn't realized I had been referencing it like the TV show for years now). For the Miami Vice theme, I ended up wearing a tropical dress and some '90s-looking shades, and a bright red lip that ended up playfully on Sam's lips before the night was over. Damning evidence. We danced stupidly on the front of the boat and hung out with a very-drunk Kelli (her pink wig was askew) and a slightly less drunk Joe.

His friends are very fratty, but they were inviting and Sam seemed one of the more good-natured there. Or maybe that was for my benefit? We ended the night by smoking a joint on the beach, ordering some pizza, and crashing out to an episode of Friends while he rubbed my neck.

The next morning, Kelli and Joe weren't able to make it to brunch due to collegiate levels of hungoverness. We packed up the room and found an alarming amount of other people's items while looking for Sam's flip-flop. We grabbed coffee at Laguna Beach Cafe (my chai tea was delicious), where they offered things like raw milk for an extra four dollars and had pictures of pro-skim borders covering the walls. Too So-Cal to quit.

I charged my phone in the car and played Indie music as the sky slowly turned grey. As much as everyone was supposed to prep for a hurricane, there were still people camped out at the beach and bobbing around the cliffs because Californians truly don't give a fuck.

We picked up Sam's friend Parker and went to his friend Tyler's place for a home-cooked brunch. It was amazing. Maple sausage, scrambled eggs, buttered toast, and bacon. We hung out and chatted until about 1:30 before heading back home.

We made a pit stop in Encinitas for Lobster Rolls at Lobster West (I ended up grabbing a crab one and Sam went for shrimp). Buttery brioche bun and amazing fresh crab with lemon, I am definitely going back. We walked along the cliffside admiring the kind of expensive houses the weird-rich buy before heading back to the car.

All in all it's been a pretty wonderful weekend. We'll see what else the storm blows into town.

[crystallineirises]

Succession 4.3: Connor’s Wedding Liveblog

I’ve never done one of these before AYE

I turned my phone OFF for this. Not silent, OFF

HERE WE GO

“dramatic music playing” no shit you know what show this is

KERRY LOOKS FLY

yeah he likes you *eyebrow raise*

Those letters are pretty cool 

NO THE GERRI SLANDER OH SHIT

SO WILL YOU GIVE HER THE HEADS UP

NICER 

“you were close” WELP is that what the kids are calling it

GIVE. HER THE WORD. TODAY.

*lively music*

Shiv in black is a mood

Tom is Joan Rivers this season i’m living

GREGGING

GREGLETS

GREGGIES

Willaaaaaaa a princess hoe is life ugh love her

I can’t believe the Togan girlies are winning i’m so thrilled for them

OH SHIT CYD TOO

Karolina watch your ass 

DAMN Karolina said fuck my work wife

THEME SONG

my comment about Gerri blowing these fools away with hat!pistol really would be justified 

DAMN I’m glad I switched to the Ted Lasso side as far as romantic ships for this season cause we ain’t winning over here

GOLF CART RICH BITCH

Omg is that Laurie

babygurl is STRESSED

TOM LOOKIN SINISTER

MARTYN

GERRI KNOWS

SHE CANT GO TO EUROPE RUDE

WHY

DICPICGATE

SHE IS FUMING

I’M GOOD

The I’M GOOD heard around the WORLD

OH NO THE TEARS 

OOOOOOH this was bruuuutaaaallll

This poor wedding planner lol that’s gonna be me in two weeks

BEING CUNTY

ARE YOU BEING A CUNT

Kendall looking sharp AF go bitch go

Sup Julie you’re an icon too 

Every assistant level person on this show is an icon

Gerri’s like let me get wasted it’s about go down go DOWN 

Roman why’s your hair so fucked lol i know we’ve talked about it but like wow

What if that was Gerri texting him pictures of her pussy lol

This bitch ain’t sick stop lol

Wait

Wut

OH 

OH FUCK

guess it’s not 9/11 part 2 guess it’s just an old man being an old man lol

Oh it’s Grey’s Anatomy all of a sudden

ON THE GROUND

ON THE FLOOR

TONIGHT WE GON GET IT ON THE FLOOR

his poor sad voice BABYGIRL

YOU DID A GOOD JOB

my heart feels all PANICKED

wow no one thought to start looking for Shiv Jess would never let this happen

SHIVY HONEY

this camera work is beautiful 

I CAN’T HAVE THAT

Sarah Snook’s shaking hands just won her an Emmy

Not to be rude but does this mean Gerri is saved

lovely good plane people

JESS my other baby girl

KEN GO INSIDE WE DON’T LIKE KEN BY WATER

OH wow pilots saying no 

“he’s flying the plane, son” LOL

we were really thinking we’d have to wait around all season for this NO BITCH THIS iS LIVE

Damn

*pours one out*

I just literally poured seltzer water on my carpet

Damn Kerry I sure hope you got that baby though 

GASP

CONNOR

the framing of this shot is gorgeous 

HENEVEREVENLIKEDMEEEEEEEEEEEE

i never got the CHANCE to make him proud of ME

Weddings are just really not good for these people

i wonder how fuckin rich they just got dude lol

oh Roman is the babiest babygirl bad day for Roman all around

And Gerri can’t even comfort him or NOTHIN 

SQUAD

Karolina is that bitch and i’m so about it put her high up in the Kerry/Jess administration

okay $100 bucks says Kerry murdered him

KAROLINA SAID GET OUT LEAVE RIGHT NOW 

Gerri > POTUS as it should be 

DELETE THE LOGISTICS

oh TOM I LOST MY PROTECTOR Togan was real AF for these three episodes

GASP Gerri 

Oh Karolina tryna make up now I don’t know about that 

“are you just with me for money” you...but...like...

Reagan’s with tweaks lol

How do they know already wow did Greg fuck that up 

THAT THE DANCE YOU LIKE SHIV STAY SWINGING

ooook oooooh they’re alone in a room 

Just kidding Roman’s outside now 

CONTROLLL TO GET WHAT I WANT 

GANG IS BACK 

OH HE WANTED HER TO HOLD HIM SO BADLY DAMN us Roman/Gerri babies is suffering 

These strings are going crazy hell yeah scoring

lol everyone with their handshakes

PRESS PRESS PRESS PRESS PRESS LOGANS DONT NEED MORE PRESS

WE INTEND TO BE THERE BAM

Roman said yeaaaah i know it’s stupid, i just gotta SEEEE it for MYSELFFF

[gammagoop]

more details for all my dedicated readers

skizz has worked like 200 different jobs, so it's a running gag that if anyone needs help with something they'll ask skizz, no matter what it is

^ skizz gives grian, joel, and jimmy advice for their bakery endeavors

there needs to be some kind of allegory for them killing each other in the canon -- maybe everyone's really into weekly dodgeball or something

mumbo never actually appears in the show, but is brought up a lot by grian. he often says things like "i miss mumbo" or "i wish mumbo were here". not everyone is convinced that 'mumbo' is actually a real person. scar swears he's met mumbo before, but that's honestly just more evidence that he doesn't exist

almost everyone in this au lives on the same apartment building, rather than separate houses, so the next few bullets will be about that

obviously cleo, bdubs, and scar all live together. etho doesn't live in the building but his living situation is never shown on-screen. he's just shown arriving at the complex

pearl and bigb are roommates and live next door to cleo

grian and jimmy are also roommates. joel used to live there too but moved in with lizzie a little while after they started dating

^ jimmy plans a goodbye party when joel moves out and grian helps him set up for it. jimmy is like teary-eyed “we’re gonna miss you joel! goodbye!” and then joel is like “okay” and walks to his new apartment across the hall

im not sure if skizz, impulse, and tango would all live in that same building as well, but if they do it's on a different floor. they don't all live together but they live very close to each other

scott and martyn are roommates

ren doesn't live in the complex, but is often crashing at various people's places. sometimes he'll mention that he's been staying with his friend 'doc'

grian would make most sense as landlord since he owns the limlife server but i dont think that makes sense narratively so maybe its just never mentioned

ok back to the non-living situation points

scott and cleo are the most openly queer characters, though lizzie being bi is mentioned once or twice. even though etho and joel dated, they're both usually included amongst the heteros

various other related-mcyts show up for specials. oli in specific initiates a musical episode

there's a valentines day special in which bdubs and scar try to set etho up on dates so he can find a new partner (etho is not very invested in this mission)

^ the rest of the side plots are pretty chill. joel and lizzie go on a fun date, cleo enjoys some alone time, some of the other folks organize a platonic valentines celebration

^^ bigb brings cookies, grian asks him if he wants to be part of the bakery coalition, but bigb tells him no because baking is just a fun hobby for him

^^ the episode ends with most of them at the party. bdubs and scar show up looking tired and worn , presumably the etho dates went pretty badly

scott and jimmy have a very on-and-off relationship that's mostly dictated by scott. for a lot of the show it's played for a joke, but there is a more serious plotline in which jimmy sets a boundary against it. scott hadn't been messing with him maliciously, of course, but there was a lack of communication between them-- especially because jimmy didn't quite know how uncomfortable he'd been. they come to an understanding that leaves them as mostly just good friends

in terms of jobs, we've established that cleo is a zumba instructor and TIES work in IT. but for the others:

^ pearl is a cleaning lady, of course, and makes good money doing it

^ bdubs works in retail but hates it. scar is a door-to-door insurance salesman but has dreams of working in a theme park (disney)

^ joel and jimmy are coworkers (outside of the bakery) but im not 100% on what they would do

i think that's all i have for now! if you want more from this au, check out this drawing cloud did! :D

limited life 90s sitcom au

[iaincblog]

Music for New Times

Sometimes marginal music communities do RnD for the culture industry as some commentators have suggested. The Belville Three in Detroit develop techno and within a decade or so capital has invested in global superclub brands and star DJs.

A musical ecology like that one uses ideas from a number of sources. Besides content ideas there is the technique of DJing, the large sound systems, the crowd management including H&S, security etc. All these different areas combine to make substantial investments deliver a return.

There can be other examples of musical ecologies .It has been suggested that the modern mind suffers in various ways because modern labour markets make people feel worthless. Big pharma develops pills to make them feel better and it is also suggested that they rig the diagnostic categories to favour their solutions in effect creating a market with peoples’ unease. An English Prof at Stanford suggests that the this system leaves something out concerning the content of peoples’ lives. Art moves into the vacant space - she cites various artists who illustrate her theory.

As far as music is concerned, we might well have an ecology where alienated and marginalised young people use music as some sort of emotional tool to provide content missing from their work and non-work lives. You can get this far and then take an optimistic or pessimistic turn. Pessimism says it is the system maintaining and reproducing itself. Optimism starts with the thought that art promises something better and indeed may do more.

Different social ecologies will use music in different ways.

If the avant garde does RnD for the culture industry is it only servicing a cycle of fashion? In the Fashion System Barthes provides a model of fashion change. In Anglosaxon terms his model is that fashion doesn’t concern attributes but the only the values of attributes. Take skirts - these entities have attributes including length. The values of that attribute include short, long, medium, ankle length etc. Barthes model says that modifying these values in a systematic way is a method of signalling social prestige.

This Barthes Fashion Semiotics makes no claims to progress. There are simply  ever lasting modifications , early adopters, the mass, late adopters etc. Pop music can easily be fitted into this ecology. There is always something hot and new - just read the current NME.

Andy Powell producer of the first two Kate Bush albums was at the same college as Ian MacDonald who amongst other things wrote Revolution in the Head about the Beatles, a biography of Shostakovitch and articles about Laura Nyro and Nick Drake.

When Andrew Keeling was writing his book about the Court of the Crimson King he asked me for some research given I knew one of the musicians just before the album was made, a different Ian Macdonald. To avoid confusion lets call the Rev in Head one Imac.

I considered the long first chapter of Rev in Hd and decided I disagreed with a key element. Imac argues that the Beatles career is more than part of a fashion system - the classic pop model. There was genuine progress. I think many people would agree that there was serious  progress from album to album. To parody Imac he saw that the Beatles lost the plot when they plugged into the US avant garde particularly in the Apple phase.

From this distance it is easy to frame a counter - in terms of pop development along the series of Beatles albums.Then King Crimson from 1968 picked up many different sets of ideas including some of the avant garde and put them into albums.  King Crimson were obviously harnessing tremendous momentum as Ian Macdonald went from thirty quid gigs at the Middle Earth to global touring in about a year.

Apple is a complicated case. A coincidence made me think of this recently. James Taylor was the first artist signed to Apple and I found a wonderful half hour interview where he reflects on the whole experience. By chance in the nest day or so I went to a concert recording of the BBC Singers performing works of another Apple artist - John Taverner. I think a proper appraisal would have to consider a lot of fantastic content including Taylor and Taverner plus not least the film of the Beatles playing live on the roof.

The Beatles lost their manager and were looking for an alternative way and so Apple was formed. There were also increasing personal tensions. I think it is over simple to see Yoko as bringing the poison of the  US avant garde into the Beatles development and stopping it with modern foolishness. She was I agree a major carrier and developer of the avant garde ideas of John Cage and his circle.

Imac’s career is covered in Nick Kent’s autobiography. He and Imac formed part of a new journalistic era at NME which in simple terms was based on more serious writing and longer articles. This era was replaced by punk and especially T Parsons and J Birchell who in the spirit of punk despatched their elder brothers pretty quick and took over. There is a good film on Amazon Prime which looks at the whole development of serious journalism about rock in the 1970s - the NME tale is part of this.

The narrative  of progress gets much harder to map in the 70s, but arguably in doesn't disappear - considering Steeley Dan John Martyn Television  Little Feat Hall n Oates D Bowie etc  - but it certainly becomes more complicated.

Punk has to be fitted in obviously. I think this has to include France and Situationist ideas,  and both UK and the complex US story from News York Dolls and Patti Smith to Lydia Lunch and No Wave. Not for this article. Nor a consideration of Simon Reynolds’ detailed account of UK post punk in his big yellow book. Then there is the recent Goldsmiths reappraisal of post-punk as well. I think onemight get a narrative of progress up to the mid 80s and the financialisation of culture. Perhaps the Smiths are the last gasp of pop progress?

The pop fashion cycle based on Barthes semiotics doesn't go away - because there are always new generations of teenagers seeking to be different and they want new values for existing attributes.

When the Stones brought out their much praised blues album I went back and looked at their career. There is an interesting multi episode film biography on Amazon Prime. Their great period is seen as the Mick Taylor era from the Hyde Park Concert where KC broke through to his still mysterious decision to leave in the mid 70s. (Incidentally there is a narrative of progress to weave around the succession of Clapton Beck Page Green and Taylor. Compare live Beck with live Clapton these days.)

Ronnie Wood gave the Stones a new foundation on which to work and some decent albums resulted but this was followed by Jagger-Richards warfare in the 1980s which impacted the group output as solo projects became priorities..

It seems to me that financialisation took over the Sones music ecology. They became a cash generating global brand monetising a great back catalogue and using the Situationist idea of the grand spectacle. In the 80s and 90s Stones touring represented a new level of spectacle - lots of new technologies had to come together and large financial investment was need. It was genuinely new, there was a lot of risk and it must have worked. When B Wyman left they brought in Miles’bass player Darryl Jones - must have cheered Charlie up!.  Jones was in Miles comeback band in the early 80s - he went on to be in Sting’s band before joining the Stones.

The upshot of the Jagger-Richards wars was that they realised they had a fantastic creative base. Some insight into this is available through Godard’s film of them making Sympathy for the Devil just before B Jones left.Many of us have been in bands which have trashed their core creativity but various people mistakenly thinking we were the magic and we could go it alone. The Stones nearly fell down the same hole.  Did this keep progress on track?