#Sri Lankan jon

[dspd]

Thinking about Sri Lankan Jon & Polish Martin thanks @cult-of-the-eye for that hc in lieu of the TikToks talking about how terrible British food is, especially the ones poking fun at the floppy chips and curry take away bags. Especially the questions about whether it's even hot food or only lukewarm and why everything looks so fried greasy yet limp.

Thinking about how much of their post good cow conversation consists of arguing over what food tastes best like...Martin remembers how he started tearing up from the smell alone when Jon brought level 7 vindaloo for lunch. Meanwhile, Jon says he likes the crunch and firm texture of Martin's pickles but they could use some herbs when Martin makes pickles with extra dill just for Jon as a birthday present.

After they part ways with Basira, they devolve into heated bickering after Martin confesses he likes the fish n chips shop a couple blocks from the rear entrance of the Institute and Jon goes on a wild rant about how the curry chips there isn't even curry.

"It's brown gravy, Martin! Brown gravy!!" Jon is speeding up, stomping a little as little clouds of dust declare the last steps he's made. "I looked in the back once when the guy was in the bathroom and they don't even have coriander! It's paprika! They add a tiny bit of paprika to change the color!"

Martin's stuck between defending a perfectly good junk meal and agreeing because it is just brown gravy but it's delicious and he likes looking at the way Jon's ears turn red when he's pissed and ranting.

"Well," Martin hedges, fighting to keep an open, earnest face, "it definitely tastes like most curries I've tried since I've moved to London."

He works hard to keep from bursting into giggles as Jon seems to grow an inch in his indignation, turning to face him in a manner that might be menacing if he hadn't watched the man stare down a lion fifteen hours or days or whatever time ago. Jon's face is thunderous and a couple of his extra eyes have open to glare alongside his original ones.

Then he breathes and settles.

"You have no right to judge." A playful smirk plays on Jon's face as the extra eyes fade away.

Martin raises a brow.

Jon glances at the space between them and takes a small step away.

"You think cabbage water is delicious."

Jon's barks a laughs and starts running, his bulky backpack slowing him down as Martin gasps, only half affronted at the jab over his cabbage rolls, and tries to tear after him, clacking as his camping kettle clatters and clanks again the small cooking pan tied to his own backpack.

[saintbleeding]

[ID: Four digital drawings of Jon and Georgie from TMA in a late-Victorian era AU. Jon is a tall, thin British-Indian man with short, greying, curly hair and a moustache, and Georgie is a Sri Lankan woman with curly, brown hair in an elaborate updo. Jon wears a grey three-piece suit with a frock-coat and glasses, and Georgie wears a blue walking dress. In the first drawing, they are kissing, both of their faces mostly obscured by the angle. Jon’s gloved hand is on Georgie’s waist, and hers is held up in the air in surprise. In the second, they are standing at arm’s length, Jon lifting Georgie’s hand to his lips and kissing it as they make eye contact, with Georgie blushing slightly. In the third, Jon is dipping Georgie, with both his now ungloved hands at her waist. Georgie’s gloves are also gone, her hair is slightly mussed, and she has one hand on Jon’s shoulder, the other ruffling his hair. Jon grins and Georgie’s nose is scrunched mid-laughter as she blushes more intensely. In the fourth, they face each other again, Jon gazing with flushed cheeks and an expression of mild apprehension down at Georgie, who is smirking mischievously as she unties his cravat. Her hair is in even more disarray than the previous drawing. The background is light green, with a slightly darker green circle surrounding each drawing. End ID.]

well this is far too cute not to end horribly

in a shocking turn of events i have preemptively done more art for this au. this isn’t contemporaneous with the rest of the story, but i had this cute lil idea of jon n georgie sneaking off into the garden at her parents’ house and getting a little bit risque (namely, smooching a little sans gloves or hats, the scandal), and if i didn’t draw it i would keel over, so here we are <3

[strawberryqueen00]

Hell no we are not letting this OFMD finale distract from that THIS LETTER.

Had a signature from Taika Waititi. I understand the sensitivity here this issue with Taika being Jewish(and that’s not my place as someone that’s Not Jewish or in those regions to condemn him on that perspective’s behalf) but this letter is directly bastardizing the situation.

Now, when there is a major production from a major figure in this platform that did this, is when we can make the most impact. Remember our values, even when those values involve a show that is strengthening the LGBTQ community.

Because this letter tore down the strength of the movement in support of Gaza. There are going to be so many people that saw this letter and take it completely uncritically, unchallenged.

Standing up for our values means sacrificing our interests, holding accountable the things we enjoy.

And also. I don’t want to see ANYONE. Being fucking antisemitic or racist towards Taika here. That is never appropriate and absolutely inexcusable behavior. You should he ashamed if you think that’s okay even after Taika’s actions.

[Text of Letter]

October 23, 2023

Dear President Biden, We are heartened by Friday's release of the two American hostages, Judith Ranaan and her daughter Natalie Ranaan and by today's release of two Israelis, Nurit Cooper and

Yocheved Lifshitz, whose husbands remain in captivity. But our relief is tempered by our overwhelming concern that 220 innocent people,

including 30 children, remain captive by terrorists, threatened with torture and death.

They were taken by Hamas in the savage massacre of October 7, where over 1,400

Israelis were slaughtered - women raped, families burned alive, and infants beheaded. Thank you for your unshakable moral conviction, leadership, and support for the Jewish people, who have been terrorized by Hamas since the group's founding over 35 years ago, and for the Palestinians, who have also been terrorized, oppressed, and victimized

by Hamas for the last 17 years that the group has been governing Gaza. We all want the same thing: Freedom for Israelis and Palestinians to live side by side in peace. Freedom from the brutal violence spread by Hamas. And most urgently, in this

moment, freedom for the hostages. We urge everyone to not rest until all hostages are released. No hostage can be left behind. Whether American, Argentinian, Australian, Azerbaijani, Brazilian, British, Canadian, Chilean, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Eritrean, Filipino, French, German, Indian, Israeli, Italian, Kazakh, Mexican, Panamanian, Paraguayan, Peruvian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, South African, Spanish, Sri Lankan, Thai, Ukrainian,

Uzbekistani or otherwise, we need to bring them home.

Sincerely,

[Text of the names presented. This isn’t all of them, just the copy of this with Taika’s name on it)

Jessica Biel

Jessica Elbaum

Jessica Seinfeld

Jill Littman

Jimmy Carr

Jody Gerson

Joe Hipps

Joe Quinn

Joe Russo

Joe Tippett

Joel Fields

Joey King

John Landgraf

John Slattery

Jon Bernthal

Jon Glickman

Jon Hamm

Jon Harmon Feldman

Jon Liebman

Jon Watts

Jon Weinbach

Jonathan Baruch

Jonathan Groff

Jonathan Marc Sherman

Jonathan Ross

Jonathan Steinberg

Jonathan Tisch

Jonathan Tropper

Jordan Peele

Josh Brolin

Josh Charles

Josh Dallas

Josh Goldstine

Josh Greenstein

Josh Grode

Josh Singer

Judd Apatow

Judge Judy Sheindlin

Julia Fox

Julia Garner

Julia Lester

Julianna Margulies

Julie Greenwald

Julie Rudd

Julie Singer

Juliette Lewis

Jullian Morris

Justin Theroux

Justin Timberlake

KJ Steinberg

Karen Pollock

Karlie Kloss

Katy Perry

Kelley Lynch

Kevin Kane

Kevin Zegers

Kirsten Dunst

Kitao Sakurai

Kristen Schaal

Kristin Chenoweth

Lana Del Rey

Laura Benanti

Laura Dern

Laura Pradelska

Lauren Schuker Blum

Laurence Mark

Laurie David

Lea Michele

Lee Eisenberg

Leo Pearlman

Leslie Siebert

Liev Schreiber

Limor Gott

Lina Esco

Liz Garbus

Lizanne Rosenstein

Lizzie Tisch

Lorraine Schwartz

Lynn Harris

Lyor Cohen

Madonna

Mandana Dayani

Mara Buxbaum

Marc Webb

Marco Perego

Maria Dizzia

Mark Feuerstein

Mark Foster

Mark Scheinberg

Mark Shedletsky

Martin Short

Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Mary McCormack

Mathew Rosengart

Matt Geller

Matt Lucas

Matt Miller

Matthew Bronfman

Matthew Hiltzik

Matthew Weiner

Matti Leshem

Max Mutchnik

Maya Lasry

Meaghan Oppenheimer

Melissa Zukerman

Melissa rudderman

Michael Aloni

Michael Ellenberg

Michael Green

Michael Rapino

Neil Blair

Neil Druckmann

Neil Paris

Nicola Peltz

Nicole Avant

Nina Jacobson

Noa Kirel

Noa Tishby

Noah Oppenheim

Noah Schnapp

Noreena Hertz

Octavia Spencer

Odeya Rush

Olivia Wilde

Oran Zegman

Orlando Bloom

Pasha Kovalev

Pattie LuPone

Patty Jenkins

Paul Haas

Paul Pflug

Paul & Julie Rudd

Peter Baynham

Peter Traugott

Rachel Douglas

Rachel Riley

Rafi Marmor

Ram Bergman

Raphael Margulies

Rebecca Angelo

Rebecca Mall

Regina Spektor

Reinaldo Marcus Green

Rich Statter

Richard Jenkins

Richard Kind

Rick Hoffman

Rick Rosen

Rita Ora

Rob Rinder

Robert Newman

Roger Birnbaum

Roger Green

Rosie O’Donnell

Ross Duffer

Ryan Feldman

Sacha Baron Cohen

Sam Levinson

Sam Trammell

Sara Berman

Sara Foster

Sarah Baker

Sarah Bremner

Sarah Cooper

Sarah Paulson

Sarah Treem

Scott Braun

Scott Braun

Scott Neustadter

Scott Tenley

Sean Combs

Sean Levy

Seth Meyers

Seth Oster

Shannon Watts

Shari Redstone

Sharon Jackson

Sharon Stone

Shauna Perlman

Shawn Levy

Sheila Nevins

Shira Haas

Simon Sebag Montefiore

Simon Tikhman

Skylar Astin

Stacey Snider

Stephen Fry

Steve Agee

Steve Rifkind

Sting & Trudie Styler

Susanna Felleman

Susie Arons

Taika Waititi

Thomas Kail

Tiffany Haddish

Todd Lieberman

Todd Moscowitz

Todd Waldman

Tom Freston

Tom Werner

Tomer Capone

Tracy Ann Oberman

Trudie Styler

Tyler Henry

Tyler James Williams

Tyler Perry

Vanessa Bayer

Veronica Grazer

Veronica Smiley

Whitney Wolfe Herd

Will Ferrell

Will Graham

Yamanieka Saunders

Yariv Milchan

Ynon Kreiz

Zack Snyder

Zoe Saldana

[are-they-z]

Supporters of #NoHostageLeftBehind Open Letter to Joe Biden - Part 1/2

The letter consists of lies, no mention of Palestinian genocides, and a call for ceasefire.

Read the full letter:

Dear President Biden,

We are heartened by Friday's release of the two American hostages, Judith Ranaan and her daughter Natalie Ranaan [Raanan] and by today's release of two Israelis, Nurit Cooper and Yocheved Lifshitz, whose husbands remain in captivity.

But our relief is tempered by our overwhelming concern that 220 innocent people, including 30 children, remain captive by terrorists, threatened with torture and death. They were taken by Hamas in the savage massacre of October 7, where over 1,400 Israelis were slaughtered—women raped, families burned alive, and infants beheaded.

Thank you for your unshakable moral conviction, leadership, and support for the Jewish people, who have been terrorized by Hamas since the group's founding over 35 years ago, and for the Palestinians, who have also been terrorized, oppressed, and victimized by Hamas for the last 17 years that the group has been governing Gaza.

We all want the same thing: Freedom for Israelis and Palestinians to live side by side in peace. Freedom from the brutal violence spread by Hamas. And most urgently, in this moment, freedom for the hostages.

We urge everyone to not rest until all hostages are released. No hostage can be left behind. Whether American, Argentinian, Australian, Azerbaijani, Brazilian, British, Canadian, Chilean, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Eritrean, Filipino, French, German, Indian, Israeli, Italian, Kazakh, Mexican, Panamanian, Paraguayan, Peruvian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, South African, Spanish, Sri Lankan, Thai, Ukrainian, Uzbekistani or otherwise, we need to bring them home.

Supporters:

Adam & Jackie Sandler

Amy Schumer

Aaron Sorkin

Barry Diller

Behati Prinsloo

Bella Thorne

Ben Stiller

Bob Odenkirk

Bobbi Brown

Bradley Cooper

Brett Gelman

Chris Rock

Constance Wu

Courteney Cox

David Alan Grier

David Chang

David Geffen

David Oyelowo

Diane Von Furstenberg

Eli Roth

Emma Seligman

Eric Andre

Ewan McGregor

Gal Gadot

Gwyneth Paltrow

Harvey Keitel

Isla Fisher

Jack Black

James Brolin

Jason Blum

Jason Sudeikis

Jeff Goldblum

Jerry Seinfeld

Jesse Plemons

Jessica Biel

Jessica Seinfeld

Joey King

John Slattery

Jon Hamm

Jordan Peele

Josh Brolin

Judd Apatow

Judge Judy Sheindlin

Julia Garner

Julianna Margulies

Julie Rudd

Justin Theroux

Justin Timberlake

Karlie Kloss

Katy Perry

Kirsten Dunst

Lana Del Rey

Laura Dern

Liev Schreiber

Madonna

Martin Short

Michelle Williams

Mila Kunis

Nicola Peltz

Noa Tishby

Olivia Wilde

Orlando Bloom

Paul & Julie Rudd

Richard Jenkins

Rita Ora

Ross Duffer

Sacha Baron Cohen

Sam Levinson

Sarah Paulson

Sean Combs

Shira Haas

Sting & Trudie Styler

Taika Waititi

Thomas Kail

Tiffany Haddish

Tyler Perry

Will Ferrell

Andy Cohen

Alex Edelman

Amy Sherman Palladino

Aubrey Plaza

Barry Levinson

Billy Crystal

Brad Falchuk

Brian Grazer

Bridget Everett

Brooke Shields

Chelsea Handler

Chloe Fineman

Chris Jericho

Colleen Camp

David Schwimmer

Dawn Porter

Dean Cain

Debra Messing

Elisabeth Shue

Erin Foster

Eugene Levy

Gene Stupinski

Gina Gershon

Guy Oseary

Henry Winkler

Holland Taylor

James Corden

Jason Reitman

Jessica Elbaum

Jimmy Carr

Jonathan Ross

Josh Charles

Juliette Lewis

Kristen Schaal

Kristin Chenoweth

Lea Michele

Mark Foster

Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Matthew Weiner

Michael Rappaport

Molly Shannon

Noah Schnapp

Pattie LuPone

Regina Spektor

Sara Foster

Sarah Cooper

Scott Braun

Seth Meyers

Sharon Stone

Zack Snyder

Zoey Deutch

Zosia Mamet

Zoe Saldana

Alex Aja

Aaron Bay-Schuck

Amy Chozick

Aron Coleite

Adam Goodman

Alan Grubman

Adam Levine

Allan Loeb

Amy Pascal

Angela Robinson

Antonio Campos

Anthony Russo

Alexandra Shiva

Andrew Singer

Alison Statter

Alona Tal

Ali Wentworth

Ari Dayan

Ari Greenburg

Arik Kneller

Ashley Levinson

Asif Satchu

Barbara Hershey

Barry Rosenstein

Beau Flynn

Ben Turner

Ben Winston

Ben Younger

Blair Kohan

Bobby Kotick

Brad Slater

Bradley Fischer

Bruna Papandrea

Cameron Curtis

Casey Neistat

Cazzie David

Charles Roven

Chris Fischer

Christian Carino

Cindi Berger

Claire Coffee

Craig Silverstein

Dan Aloni

Dan Rosenweig

Dana Goldberg

Dana Klein

Danny Strong

Daniel Palladino

Danielle Bernstein

Danny Cohen

Daphne Kastner

David Bernad

David Baddiel

David Ellison

David Gilmour &

Polly Sampson

David Goodman

David Joseph

David Kohan

David Lowery

Deborah Lee Furness

Deborah Snyder

Donny Deutsch

Doug Liman

Douglas Chabbott

Eddy Kitsis

Edgar Ramirez

Elizabeth Himelstein

Embeth Davidtz

Emmanuelle Chriqui

Erik Feig

Evan Jonigkeit

Evan Winiker

Francis Benhamou

Francis Lawrence

Fred Raskin

[welcometogrouchland]

i am once again requesting jon in a sari on any tma art request post (if you would like to do it ofc 💜)

*rings my little service bell at the food counter* one handsome fella for table 5?

[image ID: a digital drawing of Jonathan sims from the Magnus archives. He is a thin brown skinned man with black greying hair that is fluffy and reaches almost to his shoulders. He has facial hair, pockmark scars on his face and arms, a burn scar on his hand, and stab wound scar on his abdomen. He is wearing a kandyan sari. The sari is a shiny magenta colour, and underneath he wears a yellow crop top with pink accents and trim. He is standing with his face in side profile, his right hand holding his left arm in front of his stomach. The background is a pink square on a peach background. End Image ID]

[radiosandrecordings]

“Oh I should. update my BB fic” I think, over a month after posting the first chapter 

suddenly i have written two paragraphs, it is nearing 3 on a school night, and i’m knee deep in the wikipedia page for polish cuisine 

[samisadeangirl]

Get to Know the Blogger

I wasn’t tagged by anyone specifically, but @peach-coke included “and everyone who wants to do this” on theirs, so here we are:

Name: Sam

Sign: Leo

Height: 5′3″

Birthday: August 16th

Time: EST

Favorite band/artists: For classic rock, it would be either Led Zeppelin or Metallica. For modern hard rock, it’s Shinedown.

Last movie: Despicable Me 2 on Netflix

Last show: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

When I created this blog: November 2017 IIRC

What I post: Fan fiction (Wincest), occasional smackdowns of Hellers and other trolls, reblogs of pretty fan art and fan edits

Last thing I googled: Types of sensation play for a BDSM fic I’m working on

Other blogs: None

Do I get asks: Sometimes but not very often (sniff)

Following: Currently 283, but quite a few are inactive now

Average hours of sleep: 4 - 5 during the week, which is something I’m trying to work on (I’m a night owl)

Instruments: None really; I used to play piano and clarinet as a kid, but that was decades ago

What I’m wearing: Nightie and robe (WFH FTW!)

Dream job: Full-time writer (imagine if we could make a living from writing fanfic?), maybe something like book reviewer where I’d get paid to read all day?

Dream trip: Greece, particularly to visit Mycenaean & Minoan archaeological sites

Nationality: American (ethnicity: Sri Lankan, specifically Singhalese/Tamil)

Favorite songs: Carry On My Wayward Son by Kansas (duh), Atlas Falls by Shinedown, Nothing Else Matters by Metallica, Ramble On by Led Zeppelin, Wrong Side of Heaven Righteous Side of Hell by Five Finger Death Punch, Blaze of Glory by Jon Bon Jovi

Last book I read: Crowbones by Anne Bishop

3 fiction universes I’d live in: Hmm, tough choices . . . Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Jurassic World: Dominion (sorry not SPN because I’d just end up dead)

Tagging: @missjackil, @nancylou444, @jaytwo, @jerk-bitch-67, @aoifelaufeyson, @alexa-alcantara, @deanscarlett, @wif-san, @holding-out-for-hea, @eisforeidolon, @canonerarecsonly if you feel like playing

[iamthehelperdog]

For @radiosandrecordings 's adorable fic Rewrite the Rule Book for the @tmabigbang !

ID: [A digital painting of two people standing in front of a pink and white background.

On the left is Martin, a tall, fat Black and Polish man with medium brown skin. He has short red hair, freckles, stubble, and a pierced ear. He is wearing a periwinkle, yellow, and pink sweater and dark green slacks. His fingers are intertwined with Jon's.

Jon is a short and thin Sri Lankan man with dark brown skin. He has long, curly black hair, gold-rimmed glasses, stubble, and multiple ear piercings. He is wearing a dark green turtleneck and light blue pants. His hair is tied back with a pale yellow hair tie. He has an arm wrapped around Martin's waist.

Martin and Jon are standing very close together. They are looking lovingly at each other with their mouths slightly open.] End ID.

[cantbetoolemony]

unlisted/hard to find sorted viddies

now cook it ads i knead my dough sausage shake hot potatoes avocado-phobia

ben’s vlogs

lost and hungry snapchat stories 1 2 3 4 black chicken mushroom coffee kefir at home buying indian sweets making tofu

lost + hungry (some of these were decently glitchy when i watched so shoot me a msg if theyre Not glitchy for you or if you know how to resolve it) the Rules get involved here we go travelling to nyc coming to la scouting for meet ups officially lost and hungry incl. today show clip

today show lost+hungry la tacos austin brisket clam chowder bit of an intro vid “sorted teams up w today” eating tour of new orleans taste test clam chowder chicken and waffles

intros  mike jamie ben barry jon

bloopers celebrate out of the city 9 tips to make ur food better brothers riedell 5 ingredient chocolate cake

hidden recipe vids (most of these are from around 2012) vegan falafel balls (barry and ben) cinnamon beaver tails (ben and mike, barry has a Moment) fluffy strawberry mousse (barry, ben, and jon) secret veggie pasta bake (ben and jamie) creamy mushroom polenta (barry and ben) posh beans on toast (ben and jamie) vegetarian bean burgers (barry, ben, and jamie) pumpkin and pecan pie (barry, ben, and jamie) mediterranean halloumi and vegetables (ben and jamie) honeycomb with chocolate (barry and ben, jamie cameo) moroccan chicken tagine (barry and jon) beef in black bean (ben and jamie) spaghetti bolognaise (barry, ben, and jamie) chicken and mango curry (ben and jamie) greek salmon parcels (barry, ben, and jamie) indian salmon hash (barry and ben) poached salmon n watercress sauce (ben and jamie) breakfast muffins (barry, ben, and jamie) courgette and tarragon rosti with chicken (barry and ben) apple and ham eggs benny (ben, jamie, and mike) lemon zebra shortbread (barry and ben) stuffed chicken ballotine (ben and jamie) cosmo fool (barry, ben, and jamie) bbq cola steak (barry, ben, and jamie) “guilt free” banana crumble (ben and jamie) churros w chocolate coffee sauce (barry and ben) lemon meringue pie (barry and ben) mushroom and bacon canneloni (barry, ben, and jamie) salmon courgette linguini (ben and jamie) miso steak salad (barry and ben) bloody mary soup (ben and jamie) sticky maple duck (barry and ben)

other this ones an update but also mike sings a little handyman barry that you didnt know you needed an entry to a yt competition w great discussion of sorted’s origins cookware promo (barry ben and mike bants) nyc meet up announcement live recipe lab going deep with james ask jamie anything ask ben anything ask mike anything cooking gap 1 2 3 how to not make a cooking show 5 gadgets no one needs 2 electric boogaloo golf gets sorted uptown dunk (dough.... doughdoughdough) goodwood revival 

hard to find/not fully unlisted do u wanna build a snowman big night in - going solo  (this is the first in a series, the rest can only be watched with membership) big night in - livestream (hefty few hours) intro to chocolate series (discussion of mike’s travel curse) grilled podcast (aka first dates with mike, no need to be a member, about an hour long each) grilled 2.0 (gotta be a member for most of them, but you can listen to jamie’s) the @ the table series

aftertaste videos (this will be a .... long time til its complete) fridgecam q&a (after the caramel oaty bars vid) mike’s interview w the genie from aladdin (after the disney battle) chef’s table, maroon edition charlie mcdonnel grilled going out for taiwanese vlog 3 sauces for pizza chefs table w mike sri lankan hoppers jamie and mike make marmalade anatomy of a cow (jamie) fried chicken bounty bar samosas  garlic bread fried eggs james testing avo egg cups granola w ben perfect smoothie  more marshmallows better mashed potatoes british scones perfect pancakes ben’s cheesy challenge franken-donut  speccy fridge cam dating horror stories chefs houses electric shock cupcake decorating

on other channels halloween makeup (this isnt hidden at all, but i feel like some people would miss it by virtue of it not being on the sorted channel 😔 ) another makeup viddy sdkfj the infamous YEHAW video (watch it. you need to.) “one sortedfood guy and his piano”  well. mikes in it technically not quite a ted talk but man its close blindfold chocolate test chancellors teachers band (MIKE ! playing! music!) beginners get sorted book trailer vidcon 2011 backstage barry and jamie exhibiting some gd behaviour w the youtube button mike and rob singing i suppose? (i think mike is like, back up but idk im bad w voices)

there are a few videos with someone w negative aspects and from what i can tell things that surfaced were after these videos came out but ig thats the necessary disclaimer as to why they might be unlisted 1 2 3

[roberthunter62]

Amame by Juanes.

From Johnny to Juanes. Johns, Jons, Juans, Joans, Ivans, Johans; Joanas Joannes, Ivanas.

Jon Measham - where art thou?

My cousin John, who I met when both he and I were older and then he died far too young

John Anthony - a name that conjures an early childhood friendship. I don’t remember much, he was strong and loud. 

Jan Pettersen - Norwegian businessman in Jerez of languid style 

Joan Vila, married to Silvia, Olga’s “Cousin”. “Why” and “How” come to mind.

Angels’ father, deceased, was called Joan.

Joan Aiyer, mother of Geeta, Wolverhampton born, German teacher, married a Sri Lankan.

Joana, known as Juanita, Francisco’s cousin, wild into her seventies, mother of Jonatan, now an Australian immigrant and possibly future citizen, who was married to Joan, man of unclear means and large debts, poor health and eventual demise.

Both the Ivans I have met were Spanish.

John Fordyce, a man who runs a distillery; John Critchley and John Chapman are in the wine business.

Joan Mateu was our lawyer in the whole sad saga of Max and Gina and the recovery of our relationship with Mini-J

Juanes: Elena had this CD back in the early 2000′s, very much Colombian stadium pop-rock and no doubt mega-hit successful in Miami - there are some pretty massive hits on the disc. Great intro, runs out of steam a little bit, but there is always room in the world for pop music. 

[dspd]

There's something so satisfying about the idea of short, south asian king Jonathon Sims. By which I mean he looks like he should be a background character in a Bollywood movie, working in a Sri Lankan call center while the main character is running out of work to meet her two decades older prince charming who just happens to have a blooming business in California and whisks her away to a 3,000 sq. ft house in the hills. Meanwhile background character Jon is somehow tangled up in computer cords and panicking as his flailing pulls all the server cords out of their sockets and the 2nd love interest's 3 hour wait time just jumped to 15 and he sobs and smashes his flip phone again the table as the music swells and the end credits start up.

[necarion]

Other language forms for the name John:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_forms_for_the_name_John

Ohan (Armenian)

Yahya (Turkish)

Chon

Dzon, Džon (Congolese, Serbian)

Ean (Manx)

Eóin (Irish)

Evan (Welsh)

Giăng (Vietnamese, Protestant[1])

Giannina (Italian)

Gioan (Vietnamese, Catholic[2])

Gioann (West-Lombard)

Giovanni, Gianni (Italian)

Giuàn (Emiliano-Romagnolo)

Gion

Gjoni or Gjin (Albanian)

Hans (Dutch, German, Swedish from Johannes)

Hannes (German from Johannes)

Hannu (Finnish)

Hoani (Māori) [3]

Hone (Māori) [4]

Honza (Czech)

Hovanes or Hovannes (Armenian)

Ian (English)

Iain (Scottish Gaelic—common form, though Ian is used in English)

Ianto (Welsh)

Ibane (Basque)

Ifan (Welsh)

Ioan (Romanian, Welsh)

Ioane (Samoan)

Ioannis (Greek)

Ion (Romanian)

Ionel (Romanian)

Ieuan (Welsh)

Ivan (Bulgarian, Croatian, Russian, Ukrainian and other Slavic language nations)

Ivanko (Ukrainian)

Ivo (Croatian and some other Slavic language nations)

Jaan (Estonian)

Jack (nickname for John; not traditionally a name in itself)

Jan (Catalan, Czech, Dutch, Polish, Norwegian)

Ján (Slovak)

Jani (Finnish)

Janez (Slovene)

Jānis (Latvian)

Janko (Slovak, Hungarian)

Janek (Czech)

Janne (Finnish)

János (Hungarian)

Jăvan (Chuvash)

Jean (French)

Jens (Danish)

Jhon (Colombian)

Jhonas (Hebrew)

Joan (Catalan)

Jóannes (Faroese)

João (Portuguese)

Johan (Japanese, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, German, Faroese, Afrikaans)

Johann (Germanic: German, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish)

Jóhann (Icelandic, Faroese)

Johannes (Germanic: German, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch)

Jóhannes (Icelandic)

Jon (Basque, Norwegian)

ジョン (Japanese)

Jón

Jonas (Lithuanian, Germanic: German, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch)

Jovan (Serbian)

Juan (Spanish, Filipino, Manx)

Juhan (Estonian)

Juhani (Finnish)

Jöns (Swedish)[5]

Nelu (Romanian)

Seán (Irish Seán, after the French Jean)

Shane (Anglicised form of Seán)

Shaun (American form of Sean)

Shawn (Anglicised form of Seán)

Sheik (Arabic)

Siôn (Welsh)

Sione (Tongan)

Soane (Tongan)

ᏣᏂ (Cherokee) in Cherokee syllabary

Xoán (Galician)

Yahya (حنّا or يوحنّا in Arabic, Turkish, Persian for the baptist)

Yan (Indonesian)

Yanka (Belarusian)

Yann (Breton)

Yiannis (Greek)

Vanya (Russian)

Yohannan (Malayalam)

Yohannes (Ethiopian)

Yohan, Yohanes (Indonesian, Malaysian)

Yohan (Sinhalese, Sri Lankan)

Yohanni (Makhuwa)

요한 (Korean)

Yonnachan (Malayalam)

Youhanna (Arabic, Persian (for John the apostle))

Youhannon (Malayalam)

約翰 [zh] (Chinese in Traditional Chinese characters, Protestant translation)

若望 [zh] (Chinese in Traditional Chinese characters, Catholic Church translation)

強 (Chinese in Traditional Chinese characters, colloquial transliteration based on English; literally "strong")

Zane

Am I funny yet?

[balarouge]

The sound of Toronto right now: this music is setting the tone in 2020 - NOW Magazine

As Toronto grows and gets more expensive, there’s angst about displacement of DIY communities and spaces for creativity to flourish. But we’re still thriving. Globe-trotting sounds are meeting on the dance floor, toxicity is being worked out through rockstar swagger, disco is returning to its radical roots.

Here are eight snapshots of artists pushing the scene forward and more to watch in 2020. The music they’re making is strong, vibrant and diverse – the whole world in one city’s music scene.

The sound: Dance music for rule-breakers

Bambii is part of the lifeblood of Toronto’s dance music scene. She’s a leader in the collective of cool, queer and diasporic DJs who are working to make the city’s dance music culture reflective of their realities.

Committed to Black women and queer folk from the very beginning, she’s turned her biannual party, JERK, into an institution. Known internationally for genre-defying sets, she’s left a string of sweaty dance floors from Berlin to Ho Chi Minh City. But in 2020, she’s stepping away from touring as a DJ to focus on releasing her own music.

Bambii calls her recently released debut single, Nitevision, a “future dancehall” track, which is interesting – considering she was adamant at the outset of her career about not being labelled a dancehall DJ. Being Caribbean, she was concerned she would be pigeonholed by narrow-minded categorization. 

“I’m at a place now where I understand Caribbean music and diasporic music to be so vast in terms of something to reference or to be inspired by,” she says. “It’s just so rich. I no longer feel like I’m being put in a box.”

As a song and as a music video, Nitevision is an ode to Black women �� to people Bambii admires, to her friends, to her community. It’s an ode to the dance floor as a conduit for powerful feminine energy. 

“It just felt like it was the most sincere point I could make, coming out as a producer.” 

And it’s just the beginning. She plans on dropping several singles this year. She says the songs will sound like her DJ sets. So expect more future dancehall, but also high tempo house, ballroom, Jersey club and reggaeton. She even hints at some songs using her own vocals. 

Like the city she’s from, Bambii is perpetually evolving – she’s never settled on just one thing. 

“The real Toronto, to me, just sounds like everything – which is what’s cool about it.”

Bambii has been in the party scene for years and the idea to produce came to her four years ago, but it took some time to conquer the intimidation of producing and get comfortable putting out her own music. But she also felt DJing no longer allowed her to express everything she needed to say and represent everyone she needed to represent. Her work has an overarching intention to reclaim Black women’s stories, and to counteract the narratives that are imposed on them. 

“When I think about what inspires me or encourages me, it’s people suspended in joy and dance,” she says. “It’s what spaces feel like when there’s a majority of women in them, a majority of Black women.” KELSEY ADAMS

More Artists To Watch

Demiyah Pérez 

A student of Intersessions DJ workshops led by Chippy Nonstop, Demiyah Pérez spent 2019 pivoting from being every Toronto DJ’s favourite dancer to a purveyor of sounds in her own right. Her sets, a high-energy mix of dancehall, reggae, house and hip-hop, cater to dancers who aren’t ashamed to leave it all on the floor. Last May, she helped launched Ahlie, a party series designed to create common ground between queer and straight people who love dancehall and bashment culture. 

The brainchild of DJs Hangaëlle, Minzi Roberta and Kiga, Kuruza is a collective and a monthly party. Already the go-to Afro dance music party in the city, Kuruza settled into its new home at the Drake Underground late last year. Think African pop music, gqom, baile funk, Afrohouse, soca and dancehall. You can also catch them on underground radio station ISO Radio, where they spotlight different DJs and provide a glimpse into their events.

Sofia Fly 

DJ/producer/rapper Sofia Fly's 2019 EP, Rosé, is a reflection of her trans Latina identity set to nebulous house and ballroom beats. Her inspired downtempo remixes of pop faves like Kehlani and Shakira to indie rap darlings like Princess Nokia prove she knows how to parse a song down to its core. Her live sets are opulently layered, genre-jumping feats, from hip-hop to disco to deep house.

Shan Vincent de Paul

The sound: Grimy flows and globetrotting beats

Shan Vincent de Paul’s ruthless collaborations with fellow Tamil musician Yanchan on Mrithangam Raps scored more than half a million views last summer. Fans ate up the video series in which Vincent de Paul’s staccato rhymes chase the percussion from Yanchan’s mrithangam (or mridangam), an Indian drum commonly used at Hindu weddings and Carnatic ensembles.

“It was an authentic bridge between the classic South Asian sound and modern rap,” says Vincent de Paul about the genre fusion that brought him back around to his Tamil roots.

Outkast, Hieroglyphics, Pharoahe Monch and their contemporaries are primary influences on the Sri Lankan-born, Brampton-raised refugee artist who has been grinding out music since 2005, first with Soliva Spit Society, then as half of experimental duo Magnolius and finally alongside the collective sideways.

“I never want to classify myself as a Tamil rapper,” says Vincent de Paul, about why he didn’t tap into his heritage until recently. “I want to compete with the best of them. [And] I always had this fear that if I was going to be speaking about our story, it’s going to be falling on deaf ears.”

His first two solo albums, Saviours (2016) and Trigger Happy Heartbreak (2017), scored with U.S.-based music blogs like Okayplayer and Afropunk. But as Tory Lanez, Drake or the Weeknd will tell you, homegrown love is hard to find.

He went beast mode on tracks like Die Iconic, unleashed bangers like Bitch Go and Warning Shot and lifted spirits with the refugee anthem Out Alive. But for years, Canada slept on him.

“The art I’m making is undeniable,” says Vincent de Paul, letting out his frustration about being ignored by the industry he once catered to. “I can out-rap 99 per cent of the people in this country. I’ll put that on my life. Canada has some of the best artists in the world, but our industry is a high school shitshow.”

Vincent de Paul eventually found support within the South Asian community, who were thrilled to find a brown rapper whose rhymes are tight. And then he hooked up with Yanchan. Their Mrithangam Raps paved the way for an upcoming tour through India in February and a collab LP called IYAAA dropping March 27. And in early summer Vincent de Paul will release his third solo album, Made In Jaffna.

“Now I don’t give a fuck about the Canadian industry,” he says. “Because I have all these other people that are legit supporting me and uplifting me.

“Now the Canadian industry is outnumbered.” RADHEYAN SIMONPILLAI

If you’ve seen their name in red stencil all over the streets of Toronto and wondered what the fuc Fuctape might mean, it’s an anonymous Toronto collective with over 30 members. None of them are identified, but listen to their album and scattered singles – all up on YouTube – and there are a few you might recognize. It’s somewhere between the give-no-fucks energy of early Brockhampton and Odd Future with the way-too-online pranksterism of Death Grips, with some other electronic and indie rock pastiche in the mix. 

Swagger Rite

The first song on Swagger Rite’s The Swagged Out Pedestrian, released late last year on Sony, is called Mosh Pit – and that’s the vibe throughout the spare and bone-rattling trap of the five-song EP. The Jane and Weston rapper’s single In Love With The K was a viral hit on WorldStarHipHop and attracted Drake collaborator BlocBoy JB for a new version. His energy is infectious, and you can already see it starting to spread beyond Toronto. 

Jon Vinyl

Jon Vinyl has a pretty good friend in his corner: pop sensation Shawn Mendes. The young R&B singer/songwriter got a shout-out from his old Pickering high school pal on Instagram last year for his Nostalgia EP, and the music stood up to the sudden influx of rabid Mendies (is that what his stans are called?). His upcoming single Moments (out January 31), produced by fellow Torontonian GOVI, shows his star potential – timeless smooth soul meets 2020 pop hooks. 

Nyssa calls her music “repurposed rock.” 

With her bleached-blond hair, intense eyes and undeniable swagger, she’s seven decades of rock star energy channelled into one person. You can hear it all in her electro-glam pop songs: outlaw country, 60s Motown, singer/songwriter folk, pulsing 80s pop and plenty of old rock and roll. 

But there’s one thing missing: guitars. 

“I’m not saying I’ll never use guitars. I mean, I love guitars,” says Nyssa. “But I want to challenge myself, and this kind of music is usually so guitar-driven, part of the challenge is to find that energy somewhere else. I want to take all the things I love and then break all the moulds so you hear them in a different way.” 

As a solo artist, Nyssa has an EP, Champion Of Love, and a handful of singles to her name. But she’s a long-time veteran of the local rock scene. She fronted the girl group/rockabilly-indebted band the Superstitions (later Modern Superstitions) starting when she was 15 years old. 

She’s been through the record-label wringer and is now purposefully independent and self-sufficient. She produces all her music herself, and even her powerful and intense live shows are 100 per cent solo – though she cherishes the visceral communal experience of live music. 

One collaboration Nyssa does have on the way is with Meg Remy of U.S. Girls, who co-produced her cover of Ann-Margret’s psychedelic Lee Hazlewood collaboration It’s A Nice World To Visit (But Not To Live In). That will appear on an upcoming vinyl box set from local label Fuzzed and Buzzed and also on Nyssa’s otherwise self-produced debut album, Girls Like Me, which she plans to release sometime this year. The songs, all primarily beat- and lyric-driven, tell the stories of female outcasts at odds with the modern world. 

Nyssa is long-time regular and now co-organizer at Dan Burke’s annual Death To T.O. Halloween shows, where local musicians dress up and play full sets as other bands. She’s channelled Rod Stewart, INXS, Robert Palmer, Mick Jagger and Elvis. This year, for a special Valentine’s Day edition, she’ll perform as Meatloaf. She always chooses artists she wants to “become a little bit,” and it’s inspired her own music, but she won’t forget the baggage that comes with it. 

“In rock and roll we still have all these very out-of-date male archetypes of excess. Just pure appetite,” she says. “And there are obviously a lot of troubling stories.”

“So I would like to take the good and the fun and the no-holds-barred sexuality and take away all of the uh…” she pauses for a second, searching for the right word and then lets out a bemused laugh, “...horrible bullshit.” RICHARD TRAPUNSKI

Nyssa plays (as Meatloaf) at Death To T.O. On Valentine’s Day on February 14 at Lee’s Palace.��

More Artists To Watch

Jesse Crowe launched Praises to focus on more personal inner questions about gender expression and health than they could tackle in their main project, Beliefs. But with the recent Hand Drawn Dracula release of the addictive three-song EP Three – co-produced by their Beliefs collaborator Josh Korody – it’s overtaken that shoegaze band as the project to watch. The songs are stark and dramatic, minimalist and heavy, with a voice that makes you stop dead in your tracks. After recuperating from cancer surgery, Crowe will return to the stage this year and finish the follow-up to their 2018 debut album In This Year: Ten Of Swords.

Praises plays the Monarch Tavern on March 27. 

Cindy Lee

Patrick Flegel, formerly of the short-lived but influential Calgary post-punk band Women, calls Cindy Lee the culmination of a lifelong exploration of guitar, queer identity and gender expression. The songs on the upcoming album What’s Tonight To Eternity (out February 14) are ethereal in the literal sense, exorcising ghostly echoes of the Supremes, Patsy Cline and Karen Carpenter – pop’s uncanny valley. 

Scott Hardware

After a stint in Berlin, electronic art-pop artist Scot Hardware has spent the last few years back in Toronto making his new sophomore album Engel (Telephone Explosion), and he’ll release it on April 3 before another extended jaunt in Europe. Inspired by Wim Wenders’s film Wings Of Desire, it’s an eclectic and uncategorizable piano-and-strings-speckled meditation on queerness, shame, death and the afterlife. 

Scott Hardware plays at the Boat on January 30. 

The sound: Soft sounds for the comedown

Ziibiwan is an electronic musician, but they don’t make music for the club.

“[Musician/artist] Melody McKiver explained it nicely: [my music] is what you play after the club when you’re like, ‘I’ve had too many gin and tonics and I need to chill out,’” Ziibiwan says with a smile. 

While living in foster care, music was a release for Ziibiwan. They played piano and guitar, and later experimented with electronic music through a digital audio work station. They covered Radiohead and Foo Fighters songs, and were enamoured with whatever was playing on BET. But it wasn’t until they moved to Jane and Finch that Ziibiwan made their own music. 

“I was working at Loblaws on St. Clair West, doing the graveyard shift, and I would commute from Jane and Finch. I was on my laptop most of the time and I would record everything,” Ziibiwan says about the making of their 2016 debut EP Time Limits, a collection of beat-centric songs that evoke textured imagery.

“There were a lot of problems going on in my life then, and I felt like the land was giving me something. Not just the land but the cultures around me at Jane and Finch,” continues the musician, who’s currently living in Hamilton to care for their family. “It was one of the most beautiful experiences I’ve had in my life.”

Following the EP’s release, Ziibiwan, who also performs as DJ Nimkiiwitch, opened for acts like A Tribe Called Red, played at Venus Fest and composed scores for two short animated films by Amanda Strong. Next month, Ziibiwan and McKiver will perform their original score for the play God’s Lake as it tours throughout British Columbia. This week at the Music Gallery, Ziibiwan will celebrate the release of their new album, Giizis. 

Ziibiwan describes Giizis as more soft and introspective than their previous music, and it will feature their voice for the first time. For Ziibiwan, Giizis – an Anishinaabemowin word they define as, “the moon, the sun and the eastern direction, which is all kind of a new beginning” – is the start of a new and more intimate creative chapter. 

“I want to introduce this version of who I am to people because people don’t really know me beyond making beats,” they explain. 

“My friend once said that we don’t have to always be performative with [our] Indigeneity and we also don’t always have to protest in our music. That’s what most Native rap is. It’s always they, they, they and us. It’s always plural and not really introspective at all. 

“We deserve our own music.” LAURA STANLEY

Ziibiwan plays an album release show on Saturday (January 25) at the Music Gallery at 918 Bathurst with Phèdre and Melody McKiver.

More Artists To Watch

Xuan Ye

Interdisciplinary artist Xuan Ye approaches sound manipulation with boundless curiosity. The improvised electronic pieces on her debut LP xi xi 息息 (out now via Halocline Trance) shudder, whine, whisper and shout. The detailed sonic layers force you to drop everything, breathe and listen. 

Xuan Ye performs as part of Convergence Theory on Saturday (January 25) at the Victory Social Club.

Astro Mega

Listening to Astro Mega’s (aka Jermaine Clarke) extensive catalogue of songs feels like slipping into a warm bath while a party happens on the other side of the door. His 80s- and 90s-hip-hop-inspired beats are muted and chill, often with a collage of sampled voices. Listen to 97’ Kobe from his recent LP GodBodyDevine if you want a vivid memory of playing NBA Live 97 in somebody’s basement.

BisonBison is a new multi-genre collaborative project between electronic producers Dani Ramez (Spookyfish) and Chad Skinner (Snowday) with producer and drummer Brad Weber (Caribou), multi-instrumentalist Sinéad Bermingham and vocalist Sophia Alexandra. On their upcoming debut album Hover (due out February 7), they meld the gentle sensibilities of folk with disquieted electronics in hypnotic convergence.

BisonBison play a release party on February 1 at the Garrison with ANZOLA and Kira May.

Luna Li

The sound: The all-ages scene grows up

As a teenager, Hannah Bussiere Kim straddled two worlds. Her mother ran a music school in Roncesvalles, and she trained in classical piano and violin, taking Royal Conservatory exams and performing at recitals. On weekends, though, she was at DIY shows at now-shuttered all-ages venues like D-Beatstro and the Central. 

She left Toronto to study violin at McGill, but dropped out after one semester. She wanted to start her own band. 

In 2015, she started a garage rock group, Veins, which morphed into her solo project Luna Li two years later. 

“When I was first starting out, I thought, ‘Rock and roll is cool, the violin is not,’” says the 23-year-old. “It took me a long time to figure out how to incorporate my classical background into Luna Li.” 

On her debut full-length, to be self-released this spring, she combines swelling psychedelic guitar and chiming keys with soulful orchestral arrangements of violin, harp and cello. She enlisted her brother, Lucas Kim, to play the cello and her producer, Braden Sauder, for drums. Everything else she plays herself. And she’s putting new parts of herself into the songs, too. 

“Many of my older songs were crafted out of poems or were vague in meaning,” says Bussiere Kim. “A lot of [the new ones] deal with mental health, loneliness and friendship. They’re more direct and clear, and vulnerable.”

She’s also inspired by a new wave of Asian American female musicians like Japanese Breakfast, Jay Som and Mitski. “I’m half-Korean and that kind of representation – of actually going to shows and seeing people who look like me – was key,” she says. “When I was in high school, I never saw a band fronted by an Asian person.”

Last fall, Luna Li played festivals almost every weekend with her live band – Sauder, Hallie Switzer, Charise Aragoza and Sabrina Carrizo Sztainbok – and landed big opening slots for bands like Hollerado. 

She’s still involved in the tight-knit all-ages scene from her high school days. It’s just all grown up now. 

In addition to Luna Li, she plays guitar in the psych band Mother Tongues (also with Aragoza) and drums in the art pop group Tange, which is made up of ex-Pins & Needles members Deanna Petcoff and her Luna Li bandmate, Carrizo Sztainbok. Meanwhile, her boyfriend Jacob Switzer plays in indie rock group Goodbye Honolulu. 

In 2020, she plans to focus on Luna Li and tour in the spring when the album is out. And hopefully, many of those shows can be all-ages. 

“It’s hard to do all-ages shows because so many DIY spaces have shut down,” says Bussiere Kim. “But it’s really important that everyone feels welcome at my shows, and that includes young people.”  SAMANTHA EDWARDS

More Artists To Watch

Goodbye Honolulu

While they were still in high school, Jacob Switzer, Emmett S. Webb, Max Bornstein and Fox Martindale started Goodbye Honolulu and the label Fried Records as a home for their music and their friends in the all-ages scene. The garage rock band has a penchant for punchy riffs and gang vocals, and it’s taking them beyond the city. Next month, they’re supporting the Beaches on their cross-country tour and then heading down south to play SXSW.

Goodbye Honolulu opens for the Beaches at Danforth Music Hall on February 28 and February 29.  

This year brings good news for longtime fans of Sam Bielanski’s grunge-pop project. After two EPs, countless Toronto shows and playing in Pretty Matty’s live band, Pony’s finally releasing their debut full-length this year. On the woozy first single Limerence, Bielanksi sings about the crushing feeling of unrequited love. Fittingly, this February she’s playing the emo-themed tribute night Taking Back Valentine’s Day (February 14 at Junction City Music Hall) in a Paramore cover band.

Moscow Apartment

In the three years since Brighid Fry and Pascale Padilla formed their indie folk-rock band Moscow Apartment, they’ve released their debut self-titled EP, won a Canadian Folk Music Award and toured across the country – all before they graduated high school. This spring, the teenagers are releasing their sophomore EP and playing shows during March Break (they’re still in high school, after all), while being outspoken advocates for the all-ages scene and climate justice.

Moscow Apartment plays the Paradise Theatre on January 30.

The sound: Disco reconnected to its roots

A half century after the heyday of disco, Tush is helping the genre stay alive. 

The project, which started as a seven-piece live disco band called Mainline in 2015, now consists of just two core members: vocalist Kamilah Apong and bassist Jamie Kidd. 

While their music draws from funk and soul and follows the four-to-the-floor beat typified by disco, they’re more than a vintage throwback.

“Disco is such a loaded term,” says Apong, who previously played in the band Unbuttoned. “For us, it means thinking about how music was made in the origins of [the genre] and keeping to those practices, which was experimentation and [that it was] so much of a social, cultural music.

“Black women were such a huge cultural connection, and disco is deeply ingrained in Black and queer communities.”

Naming Universal Togetherness Band and the Brothers Johnson as some early influences, Tush released an EP, Do You Feel Excited?, in 2018. Their latest single, Don’t Be Afraid, is an atmospheric slow burn propelled by Apong’s gospel-style vocals exhorting us to love defiantly. This summer, they’re planning on releasing their first full-length album.

“What we strive for is depth in the music, lyrics and themes that you don’t find in what most people think of as disco – like more of the later, whitewashed, commercial stuff,” Kidd explains. “We’re making lyric-based dance music that incorporates live instrumentation and more contemporary electronic techniques.”

Tush are a versatile band, and they’ve performed in grand ballrooms like the Palais Royale, rock clubs like the Baby G and underground warehouse parties. Recently, in order to tour more freely and take on gigs at intimate clubs, they’ve distilled their seven-piece live band into a live PA trio that includes Alexa Belgrave on keys. 

Kidd, a veteran of Toronto’s electronic scene who co-founded long-running event promoters Box of Kittens and puts on their popular Sunday Afternoon Social parties, has witnessed the gradual loss of the city’s live music venues, especially those accommodating of dance music.  But his genuine love for the local scene and all the talent in it encourages him to continue on. 

“Something I’ve always strived for is authenticity and doing it for the right reasons,” he says. “With Tush, we’re just doing what we feel most connected to.”

Apong agrees, adding that there’s strong support for contemporary disco in the city. “Everyone dances, no one’s trying to flex or look cool,” she says. “When we throw our own shows, our people show up.” MICHELLE DA SILVA

More Artists To Watch

Born Ryan Anthony Robinson, R. Flex is a queer Black singer, electronic producer and cabaret performer blending R&B and dance music. A backing vocalist in Tush’s seven-piece live band, R. Flex released their own EP, In & Out, in 2018, and since performed in Glad Day’s Black Power Cabaret and at Queer Pop: LGBTQ+ Music & Arts Festival. 

Catch R. Flex singing covers as part of Just Like A Pill on January 31.

The DJ, producer, composer and keyboardist born James Harris has been releasing music spanning disco, funk, deep house, dub and jazz since his 2017 debut EP, Memoirs. When he’s not performing or creating visuals for the electronic monthly Astral Projections, he’s co-running Cosmic Resonance, Toronto’s most exciting progressive jazz-fusion electronic label.

Babygirl 

One of Toronto’s hardest-working DJs, Katie Lavoie is a fixture on the queer dance party circuit. Catch her spinning everything from Hi-NRG to juke house, pop bangers and big gay anthems at her monthly residency Freak Like Me at the Black Eagle, and on her ISO Radio show Therapeutic Hotness. Babygirl is also part of the team at Intersessions, which teaches women and LGBTQ-identifying folks how to DJ.

Babygirl plays Freak Like Me with Chippy Nonstop and Karim Olen Ash this Friday (January 24) at the Black Eagle.

The sound: Exploding the “Canadian sound”

Haniely Pableo is a cardiac nurse by day, rapper by night. As Han Han, she sings and raps in Tagalog and Cebuano, challenging notions of what makes music “sound” Canadian. 

Hip-hop once seemed like an unlikely career for Pableo, but she’s driven by a desire to overthrow patriarchal-racist-exploitative systems. She enjoys creating positive change through challenging conversations, like one she recently had with a man in Tanzania. 

“He said that his daughter could go to school and get educated all she wants but when she’s home, she needs to respect and serve her husband,” she recalls. “I argued with him – wouldn’t he want his daughter to be treated like an equal by the husband, [not] a servant? We went on and on.

“I [have] a lot of conversations like this when I travel or go home to the Philippines.”

Her passion for changing the narrative first collided with Toronto’s arts and music scene in 2006, when she immigrated to Canada and took a poetry workshop. After years of performing around the city as part of the collectives Santa Guerrilla and PSL (Poetry is our Second Language), she released her self-titled debut album in 2014. On her upcoming second album, URDUJA, she delves even deeper. 

“Each song is different, but [it’s] mostly about the complexities of being a woman,” she explains. “How to be strong. How to be vulnerable. That you can’t always be fierce.” 

Inspired by her late grandmother, she named the album after the folkloric Filipino warrior princess revered for power and leadership.

“She’s the opposite of the stereotype that we have today – that Filipina women have to be submissive and happy. That’s what I want to manifest on the album, that we’re more complex. We can be angry, sad, happy, confident and all those emotions exist on an equal spectrum.” 

Pableo, who will play a Venus Fest-presented release show with fellow Filipina-Canadian acts Charise Aragoza and sketch comedy troupe Tita Collective, hopes it also challenges the idea that there’s such a thing as a unified Canadian sound. 

“We’re missing out on a lot of talent and creativity [when] we stick to a narrow-minded view on what Canadian music is and is not. It’s not progressive or empowering to those communities who are always neglected and ignored,” she argues. “Canada always prides itself [on] diversity and multiculturalism, so it should follow naturally that the music scene reflects those values.”

Pableo acknowledges a growing celebration of diverse Canadian music and cites acts like Maylee Todd as important trailblazers. But she’s committed to making her music until she’s just one of many. 

“My hope is that Filipino-Canadian music and talent [become] appreciated, recognized and respected. That’s my personal goal. That’s why I’m still here.”  CHAKA V. GRIER

Han Han plays an URDUJA release show at Lula Lounge on January 30. 

More Artists To Watch

Honest, empowering lyrics. Self-love and body positivity. A voice that blows the roof off. No, it’s not Lizzo. It’s LU KALA. The Congolese-Canadian singer is known for her flaming orange hair and songs like DCMO (Don’t Count Me Out) that you want to cry and dance to. She’s worked behind the scenes as a songwriter, and now she’s preparing to release her debut album. Its first single, Body Knew, will be out next month.

Duo Elizabeth Rodriguez and Magdelys Savigne released their lush debut, Sombras, in 2019. OKAN's vocal- and percussion-driven tracks evoke their homeland yet also reflect the vibrant Cuban-Canadian community. On their album artwork they’re in full Latin garb, perched regally against a snow-covered landscape – the perfect illustration of their sound. This summer they’ll release their sophomore album, Espiral, and tour through North America and India.

Amaka Queenette

In the summer of 2018, Amaka Queenette quietly released her astute and far-too-brief Vacant EP. At just 19, the Nigerian-born singer’s lyrics and voice hold the composure of someone twice her age. Soulful and elegant, she moves between jazz, R&B and gospel with ease while singing about isolation and soul-searching. This spring she’ll release a visual EP, Fleeting, Inconsequential.

The sound: Heavy psych from the depths

Paul Ciuk laments the lack of meaningful connections in Toronto’s music scene. 

“The sense of community we have here is totally broken,” explains the drummer for proto-metal quartet Häxan. 

In the band’s experience, power dynamics are often unbalanced and musicians are reluctant to help others unless it helps themselves. But Häxan has seen that there’s an alternative – they’re proof of how supportive a small but dedicated community can be, especially if they have a space to congregate. 

Though some of the friendships in Häxan span decades, the real genesis of the band happened at now shuttered Kensington Market metal venue Coalition. In 2015, with only a theatre degree in her performance arsenal, vocalist Kayley Bomben (also one of Coalition’s founding bartenders/promoters/managers) made the leap to front a Germs cover band with guitarist Paul Colosimo and bassist Eric Brauer for a one-off covers night. 

“Coalition acted like a big tent because you could see all different kinds of metal there,” Brauer explains. “It was a pivotal venue for us to be able to work out the band dynamic,” Bomben agrees. 

Häxan matured from punk cover band to Stooges-inspired grunge act and slowly conjured the fiery intensity of the psychedelic metal they play now. After finalizing their lineup with Ciuk, they quickly slipped into a heavy vintage groove. 

A fascination with the occult didn’t hurt, either. Their name is a reference to a 1922 silent film that explores how superstition wrongly linked mental illness to witchcraft. “When we think of people as evil because they’re different, that leads to a lot of horrible things,” Bomben says. 

Their debut album, set to be released this spring, furthers the fascination. It’s named Aradia, after a tome of Italian folklore that positions witchcraft against hierarchy and oppression. (The first single, Baba Yaga, just dropped on Bandcamp.)

The album was produced by Alia O’Brien of Badge Époque Ensemble and Blood Ceremony, who knows a thing or two about how pagan rituals and witchy vibes should sound. Häxan credit that connection to Fuzzed and Buzzed. The local label took a chance on them early, putting them on last year’s half-cover/half-original Altar Box 7" compilation where the band first collaborated with O’Brien. 

“Nobody has ever done anything like this for any of our other bands before,” Colosimo says. Bomben agrees, pinpointing the key to thriving in the city’s metal scene. “You really have to find the people who are willing to help each other out.” MICHAEL RANCIC

More Artists To Watch

Look out for this mysterious project to make waves later this year. More within the psychedelic camp than metal, ROY still bring plenty of heaviness – biting, raw guitar lines rendered through a thick cloud of analog tape haze. But they temper that weight with dreamy keyboard-conjured paisley sublimities. Think the schoolhouse rock of Darlene Shrugg, or the dense psychedelic tapestries of Tony Price.

Rough Spells

Häxan’s Fuzzed and Buzzed labelmates occupy similar psychedelic and doomy territory and also have a full-length ready. They match Häxan’s occult metal intensity with stellar vocal harmonies and incisive lyrics. Their most recent single, Grise Fiord, is named for Canada’s most northerly community and a site of forced Inuit relocation in the 50s. All proceeds from the track go to It Starts With Us, an organization that honours the memory of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Two-Spirit and Trans people.

Erythrite Throne

Mysterious figure Wyrm has completely thrown themselves into the dark and dank atmospherics of dungeon synth, a black-metal-adjacent style that emerged in the 80s. They’ve released a ridiculously prolific amount of music in little over a year under the Erythrite Throne moniker: 18 albums on Bandcamp starting in 2018, including one on January 1 of this year. Don’t be overwhelmed: their mostly instrumental music is moody and wholly engrossing. Start with The Blind Hag’s Lair. 

This content was originally published here.

[aconissa]

Hi! How would you rank the Hamlets you've seen so far? (Either by actor or production)

Oooh okay here’s a rough ranking:

Hamlet at the Old Vic in London in 2004 (watched as a recording at the V&A archive) with Ben Whishaw as Hamlet, Rory Kinnear as Laertes: notable for Hamlet being student-aged (which I prefer), Whishaw’s Hamlet being my favourite ever, and a great dynamic between Hamlet and Horatio 

Hamlet at the Almeida in London in 2017 (watched live on stage) with Andrew Scott as Hamlet, Jessica Brown-Findlay as Ophelia: notable for having the best Ophelia I’ve ever seen, a phenomenal and very unique performance from Scott, and fantastic production design (simple, which I much prefer)

Hamlet at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2016 (watched a live screening in London as it played on stage) with Paapa Essiedu as Hamlet: notable for Hamlet being young and Essiedu being absolutely breathtaking as him, also a fabulous Ophelia, and I loved the West African influence on the production which also had an almost entirely non-white cast (primarily black but with Hiran Abeysekera, who is Sri Lankan, as Horatio)

Hamlet film by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2009 (watched as a film) with David Tennant as Hamlet, Patrick Stewart as Claudius & Ghost of King Hamlet: notable for David Tennant’s extraordinary performance (unsurprising), fantastic acting across the board, and a moving and highly affection relationship between Hamlet & Horatio

Hamlet at the Barbican in London in 2015 (watched live on stage) with Benedict Cumberbatch as Hamlet, Ciarán Hinds as Claudius: notable for Cumberbatch’s Hamlet which carried the show (although Hinds was also excellent, as was Anastasia Hille as Gertrude and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as Laertes), a fantastic score by Jon Hopkins, and while the production design was overly lavish for the first half it was then filled with dirt to create a desolate landscape within the existing set during the second half, which worked very well

Hamlet by the Bell Shakespeare Company in Melbourne in 2003 (watched live on stage): I was 7 when I saw this so I don’t remember it clearly, but it had a brilliant effect with the ghost of Hamlet’s father, where he appeared walking along a wall with water running down it

I’m fairly certain that’s all the versions of Hamlet that I’ve seen. I’ve yet to watch more than a few scenes of the Kenneth Branagh and Maxine Peake productions, though I fully intend to. I also hope to someday find a recording of the 2009 Hamlet with Jude Law as Hamlet and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Ophelia, because it sounds amazing. If anyone has questions about any of the productions listed above, feel free to ask!

[welcometogrouchland]

[ID: A digital fanart comic of The Magnus Archives. In it, Jon is a Sri Lankan man with brown skin and shoulder length black hair. He is wearing a teal jacket with a What The Ghost shirt and black trousers. Daisy is a white woman with black hair in a ponytail, wearing a white shirt and police vest. Martin is a Polish/Argentinian man with tanned skin and short brown hair and glasses, wearing a maroon hoodie and navy t-shirt. Basira is an Arab woman with brown skin and long black hair, wearing a brown jacket and teal turtle neck. Melanie is a Chinese woman with long bleach blond hair and black roots, wearing a black dress with translucent sleeves. Tim is a Malay man with tanned skin, and messy short black hair, wearing a white t-shirt and blue jacket.

On the first page, the first panel shows Jon talking on the phone, with illegible speech bubbles. Daisy takes notice of this. She enters a room containing the other assistants, and says "Someone ought to tell Sims to be a bit quieter when he's arguing with his..." the next speech bubble is over an image of the assistants looking up in surprise "girlfriend or whatever". Girlfriend is underlined.

Melanie responds "No that's-" but is cut off by Martin's larger, spiky speech bubble of "Girlfriend?? Daisy? Huh? What?". Basira interjects that "Wait does Jon have a girlfriend?" before Melanie slams her hand on the side of the panel she's in, yelling "He doesn't have a girlfriend! He was probably calling Georgie." She is visibly flushed.

Daisy looks frustrated and asks "Who's Georgie?". Melanie, now sweating, says "She's... She gave him a place to stay. They're just friends." Daisy's mouth has been erased for comic emphasis, and her eyebrows are a V shape. In the next panel she is more relaxed, saying "Oh. Yeah that makes more sense. Can't imagine he's taken right now." Basira is standing beside her, and Tim has appeared distantly behind them.

Tim then says "I mean..." and Daisy takes notice. He follows up with "He actually is, y'know. Somehow." All four assistants appear in the panel's corner with bulging eyes, exclaiming "What?!" in unison. Now Tim scratches the back of his neck, looking at Basira and saying "I thought you guys knew by now." Martin appears looming over him, with a spiked speech bubble saying "Know what, Tim?" Basira looks horrified as Tim gestures towards her and says "That you two are... you know." In a spiked speech bubble she then yells "What are you-" before cutting herself off and her face going blank, adding "Wait." She then looks annoyed, saying "Tim that... That was a lie Jon told you." Tim responds "...What?" and Basira says "Me and Jon never dated. He lied to cover up the fact that I was giving him evidence."

In the final page, Tim is alone in a box staring blankly ahead. As his co-workers say "...Tim? Tim are you alright?" "Tim?" and "Tim? Tim speak to us", the box he's in shatters like broken glass, leaving him standing in a white void. Still staring ahead, he simply says "I'm going to kill him." End ID]

Thoughts that occasionally plague my brain: we never see anyone actually tell Tim Jon and Basira aren't dating, ergo, I should make a very long comic about the dumbest way that could've happened <3 (also big thanks to Oran @radiosandrecordings for helping me w/ the ID)

[radiosandrecordings]

It was like a year ago I read it but the TMA fic that haunts me the most is the one that said Jon’s grandmother was NI catholic and hated Georgie because she was protestant like I’m sorry what. Also the implication that she moved to England to escape the troubles... bro that’s where they keep the English!! Don’t be surprised when they’re there what?? Like I have to assume it wasn’t a northern Irish person writing it because that fact would occur to them so why did someone decide “yeah new HC Jon’s grandmother was big into sectarianism”