#also i just LOVE how the Rs sound in songs like that

[suppenzeit]

i dont know too much about control. but sankarin tango really slaps

[thisisxli]

𝐖𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧.. - 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐬𝐮𝐤𝐢 𝐁𝐚𝐤𝐮𝐠𝐨𝐮 𝐱 𝐈𝐳𝐮𝐤𝐮 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐲𝐚

Rs: Katsuki Bakugou x Izuku Midoriya

Warnings: angst, mentions of war

Tags: fluff, romantically implied relationship, small slow burn

wc: 0.6k

recommended song: (also best recommended if start at 2:00)

a/n: inspired by the bkdk tiktoks. Credits to @qpqsu and @xanchuu on tiktok

Was it casual when you ran off to save me from the sludge monster? Even after I told you to kill yourself? Why did you do it?

I hate how you're always trying to catch up to me. Or is it me that's trying to catch up to you? Deku.

Was it casual when you went to save me again for the league of villains and put your life on the line? Sometimes when I really start to think about what had occurred, a part of me wishes it was you whose hand I took.

When did you get so strong?

Was it casual when you fully entrusted me to knowing your big secret with All Might?

To think I was the reason why All Might retired has me spiraling. To think someone like you became All Might's star pupil, someone who has always chased me and was beneath my feet. Why you? Why did it have to especially be you?

Why did it seem like you were looking down on me? Or was I just weaker than you?

Was it casual for you to stay beside me all this time even after bullying you all these years?

I'm always losing to you, Deku.

Despite everyone reaching for you, was it casual for my hand to be reaching yours? I always opposed you and tried to show my superiority over yours. And yet, I always lost. Why was that?

After entering U.A, absolutely nothing went as I thought it would. I always spent my days trying to figure out your strengths and weaknesses. And to see you sacrifice yourself for the sake of others? You almost look like a villain, for gods sake.

Don't use up all your energy yet, Izuku. We still gotta fight for the number one spot, remember?

Was it casual to keep the same old All Might card we got when we were kids?

I feel better around you.

Was it casual when your name was one of the last few words that came out of my mouth before I died to Shigiraki?

"Gotta win. . . Right, Izuku?"

Was it casual when you said, "All Might was my hero, but you were actually the one in my life"?

Izuku?

Was it casual when our feelings became one? You complete me, Izuku.

Was it casual for me to admit to have thought of a future together and proceed to lower my walls when I realized it couldn't be achieved anymore?

"Just how have I been treating you till now, Izuku? I guess I just thought.. We would be competing with each other for awhile.. And I'd be at your feet for the rest.. Of our lives.."

As much as I hated to sound so brittle around you, it hurt. It really hurt to know that I would end up as number one, not you.

Was it casual for us to go back to everything as if nothing happened? You're not smiling anymore.

Was it casual to tell you that I wanted you at arms-length? I don't want you going anywhere, Izuku. Stay by my side.

Was it casual for me to catch feelings for you in the end?

"I love you, Izuku," I choke out, clutching onto the diploma in my grasp. Izuku quickly turns back to me with a shocked expression, his lively eyes staring right into my own. He takes off his cap, his hair slightly falling down to frame his face. "Kacchan," he breathes, blinking at me.

"Look-" I immediately regret the confession and start to feel heat rise to my cheeks, "never mind, forget anything I said." I huff when I turn, the feeling of rejection settles in my gut just before having the sudden surprise of my wrist getting pulled back by a calloused and scarred hand. I turn to see Izuku who held a sincere smile. "I love you too, Katsuki."

a/n: not my favorite ship but I had to, sorry not sorry. I hope you enjoyed, reblogs and notes are much appreciated.

[foxes-that-run]

You are in Love

This song has a new light after Say don’t go, she wanted him to say I love you and he didn’t, she’s searching for signs in silence

The 1989 Liner notes make a poem that tells the story of one single couple, which we all know is Harry Styles and Taylor. In September/October 2014 Taylor did a lot of 1989 media while heart broken minimising the relationship.

Taylor has said 'You are in Love' is about Jack and Lena. Neither Jack, who worked on the song or Lena knew that before this. Where, arms crossed, Taylors talks about crying and said the relationship she wrote 1989 (and it's 81 uses of the word 'love') about was infatuation. After Say Don’t Go, makes sense, she was hanging out for an I love you that seemed to come after the album.

In an Elle Interview she said she had been in love but was disappointed and that happily ever after wasn't real, but would be beautiful and mundane. She said the lyrics were things Lena had told her. (OK, weird chats between Lena and Taylor about burnt toast and the chains Jack doesn't wear.) In her Rolling Stone interview in the same time she sounded sad, RS said jaded:

In summary, like writing Clean in London closing the book (but leaving out that Style was written 2 weeks later) there is some self-preservation in discussing inspiration. It's Taylor's art, sharing vulnerability and her choice how it's presented.

I think this narrative also worked against them in long run, HS wrote Fools Gold about his hurt about it at the time. A lot of fans view that the relationship was less significant to them than their later (very recent) work indicates.

Playing live

You are In Love only made it on the setlist for 28 shows on the 1989 World Tour (at 54 Mins) and not at all on the Rep Tour. It was played at the 4 August 2023 Eras show.

When was it written / Working with Jack

In October 2014 Jack said to the Hollywood Reporter that it was the fourth song they wrote together. Jack's quote calls it "you were in love" I wonder if it was an error or the song was retrospective at one point. We haven't seen original lyrics for it. Jack said they were 5,000 miles apart when they wrote Out of the Woods and referred to a cancelled show in September 15, Taylor was in Cape Town, Australia and NZ in October - November so it was likely then, with YAIL after. Sweeter than Fiction was first mentioned 30 August and released October 2013. So we know it was written between September - November 2013. Taylor likely recorded the vocals in January 2014 when she was in LA. My guess is September 2013 after Harry and Taylor saw each other at the VMAs.

Lyrics

[Verse 1] One look, dark room Meant just for you Time moved too fast, you play it back Buttons on a coat, lighthearted joke No proof, not much, but you saw enough Small talk, he drives Coffee at midnight The light reflects the chain on your neck He says, "Look up" And your shoulders brush No proof, one touch, but you felt enough

The open sounds like remembering a moment, rather than in it, playing it back. This and the line of "Meant just for you" reminds me song Harry wrote for One Direction If I could fly about wishing he was with TS and sharing his vulnerability only with her.

Taking off a coat is also referenced in Style. "The lights are off, he's taking off his coat". This post has photos of You are in Love/haylor

Another Style reference with Coffee at Midnight "Midnight/ You come and pick me up, no headlights”

'No proof, one touch' is one of my favorite lines, it captures wanting to keep a part of their time together just for them and also how strong their connection is.

[Chorus] You can hear it in the silence (Silence), silence (Silence), you You can feel it on the way home (Way home), way home (Way home), you You can see it with the lights out (Lights out), lights out (Lights out) You are in love, true love You are in love

The song is about the feeling that love is something you feel rather than being told. It is silent, private and unseen. The open includes a reference to way home, home being an important concept of safety in HS and TS's songs.

[Verse 2] Morning, his place Burnt toast, Sunday You keep his shirt, he keeps his word And for once, you let go Of your fears and your ghosts One step, not much, but it said enough You kiss on sidewalks You fight and you talk One night, he wakes Strange look on his face Pauses, then says "You're my best friend" And you knew what it was, he is in love

As per Say don’t go, she’s searching for signs of I love you in silence

The mundane aspects of life are romanticized, letting her guard and past worries go. There is a similar idea in New Years Day where cleaning up after a party and in Keep Driving where mundane mornings are romanticized as here. "Maple syrup, coffee / Pancakes for two /Hash brown, egg yolk /I will always love you"

Taylor said she had not experienced being her lovers best friend at that time, to me the best friend line sounds exactly like 18 year old HS.

Taylor has worn a few shirts of Harry's, like the one at the top in the 1989 polaroids and these two. Harry also referred to this in From the Dining Table "I see you gave him my old t-shirt / More of what was once mine" Harry also wrote on Olivia “she’s lying in bed with my tshirt on”

[Bridge] And so it goes You two are dancing in a snow globe, 'round and 'round And he keeps a picture of you in his office downtown And you understand now Why they lost their minds and fought the wars And why I've spent my whole life trying to put it into words

Harry also refers to a picture of Taylor in Sunflower Vol 6 "I've got your face hung up high in the gallery" it is not a literal gallery or office downtown, but a metaphor for showing everyone she is his person.

In Wonderland, Taylor also talks about loosing their minds "And in the end, in Wonderland, we both went mad". On Midnights a romantic struggle is called a war in The Great War. Here she is saying that the relationship was challenging, but the love made it worthwhile.

Taylor uses the imagery of dancing in a snow globe and fishbowl again in the Lover Video, which also references Harry. The imagery is that they are under the microscope, unable to escape being on display but being in that together here and in Lover is beautiful.

[Breakdown] 'Cause you can hear it in the silence You can feel it on the way home You can see it with the lights out You are in love, true love You are in love

Taylor is telling herself it’s love he’s not saying. Before say don’t go this song never had that element to me, but the silence is a bit :( now

The song closes with a warm idea that this love is present away in private quiet moments and that is what makes it a true love.

You are in love had a Taymoji pack:

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

Evanescence, ‘Fallen’ | The Album Story

RS: Listening back, it is striking just how bold and ambitious it is for a debut album. Not many bands come out with a full choir and string section on their first album. Did you have to fight for those elements at all?

AMY: “You know, it helps when you have something that you really want to do that you’re gonna fight for. But that you have the ability to do. If I had a crazy idea of Gregorian chants or an all-boys choir, something that I couldn’t actually make happen, it would be a lot harder, because we’re gonna spend all this money on finding somebody to create the sound and then find the team. At least with choirs, specifically, in high school I was the choir president. I loved choir, I was  inspired by a lot of that old Celtic and Latin hymn stuff. And I took Latin. So I was like ‘I’ll write it, I’ll do everything, all you gotta do is help me put together a small team of vocalists, it’s not gonna be that expensive’. We can make this happen. I think just having the moxie, or whatever it is, to go ‘I’ll put this all together, all you have to do is just trust me artistically’. It’s still a fight. It was harder to fight for real strings, because that’s just expensive. That’s just something that cost a whole lot of money. But to me, that was so key to what our sound was. The whole idea was that it was if a heavy band with riff-driven, pop hooks could get in a head-on collision with a dark film score. If it didn’t have that film score part of it, it would have felt like so much was missing. I do remember having a discussion with the label about ways we can make it sound real with pads and stuff – they’re better than they used to be. But I just always said ‘No, whatever it is, we’re on the hook for it. In the end, I promise we’ll get the money paid back. We have to have real strings. It has to be real’. And then we ended up with David Campbell who is one of the absolute best in the industry for that, and we’ve had a lifelong, career-long partnership now that I’m so grateful for.”

RS: The ‘Bring Me To Life’ demo was the first taste people got of this reissue. It’s remarkable how fully formed that track already was even at that early stage.

AMY: “There’s probably 10 demos of that song. The label had fixated on it and decided it was going to be the single we were going to focus on. So it was just constantly changing, we felt like we were in this demo forever. But they all happened over the course of just a couple of years. So the very first demo, before the chorus was what it was, I don’t even know where that is. I don’t even have that. It started without the rap but also the ‘Wake me up inside’ part wasn’t there. It was the verses and the chorus was like…I could sing it for you but that’s not going to translate into your magazine. But the one you heard that’s on there was sort of in the middle. That wasn’t the last one.”

RS: It is still the song we know, it just needs a few tweaks. It’s interesting to be able to see the process behind that.

AMY: “I always remembered that little sample in the beginning that became the piano part. That was always still in my head because we listened to it so many times before making the song. We wanted the piano so it would be like a film score starting out.”

RS: How big a role did your cinematic influences play in creating the album?

AMY: “We were really inspired by film and would go to the movies all the time. Part of that is just the age we were in high school. But it also felt like research – ‘Donnie Darko’, ‘Edward Scissorhands’. It was like I was really learning from it. My favourite part about film was the music, not so much the soundtracks, that’s great too, but the score is what makes you know how to feel. There is a whole sub story going on underneath. You are feeling things that are deeper than just the words and actions of the characters. So that’s when I started getting really inspired. I wanted to be in a band, but I would really like to score film and was going to school for that when we got signed.”

RS: ‘Everybody’s Fool’ is a track you have discussed a lot in the past. It seems to express some frustrations around the idea of fame and success but, again, it was written so early in your career. Once you found that success, did the song take on any new meaning for you?

AMY: “At the time, I was the teenager, a big sister, and my siblings were younger in elementary school. My two little sisters, who are very close in age, were in their boyband and pop girl moment. I was like ‘Oh my god, you guys are totally dumb. Listen to real music, I’ll show it to you’. I was always trying to influence them with Green Day, and Nirvana songs that didn’t have horrible things in the imagery. But at the same time, like they were going through this time where it was not just about the stars but school cliques and what you look like seemed like a really big focus. Who liked you, all that stuff, everybody goes through that. I think what I really wanted to say was that what I respect is authenticity. That should be the thing that we’re trying to win, not the beauty contest. Just be yourself. But then, strangely, soon after I found myself in the spotlight really fast in a really big way where you are on a stage for people to just look at you and talk about you like an object and that was hard. That was a weird time for me, because I was really young and really never bought into all that. But when it’s happening to you on a really large scale, you can’t just tune it out and leave the cafeteria. You have to actually face it – ‘There’s my career, how do I be the most of myself and show all the parts of myself that I really want to be seen and not be misunderstood?’ I just felt really misunderstood. But I think the lesson really is that you have to keep on, look at yourself, look at your real friends and the people around you that really know you. Remember who you are apart from it. It’s always been good for me to take breaks from this. I don’t think I need to anymore the way that I did. I know who I am. I know we’re gonna be here. But it was always important for me to step away and go ‘I’m not Amy Lee. I’m just Amy still’. I still have hold of my identity which is ever changing. It still has room to grow. I’m not stuck as that album cover picture forever, even though that is still a perception in probably millions of people’s minds. So you just have to give yourself the freedom to keep growing.”

RS: In terms of what may come next from you, how has looking back and reflecting on your early days affected how you want to move forward?  

AMY: “I think it’s always a positive thing to remember your roots, even if it just means you’re going to branch really, really far away for them and do stuff that you’ve never done. I think you have to know who you are and know where you’ve been, because this is just the next chapter in that story. I’ve been doing that all year to where I just kind of never want to hear it again. Not really, but it’s definitely a little bit of what I said before about recognising those innocent moments where I’m not trying to be ahead of somebody’s criticism or anything. Write something without feeling any fear. That’s really sweet. I don’t know how I could recreate that. It’s hard to say because I dearly, dearly love our band, my guys and now Emma (Anzai, bassist). I’m most interested to hear what her new dynamic brings into the situation when we get together. I’ve wanted to be in a band with her for a really long time and it just finally worked out.”

[zot3-flopped]

so the youtube critic i like to watch just said this about ttpd:

saying how one song is 5 minutes when she could've gotten the point across in half that time

emdless strings of metaphors that just fall flat

the writing quality makes it hard to feel bad for taylor in the middle of this heartbreak because they come across as self owns: you said normal girls are boring, why are you not gone in the morning; taylor what is not clicking

taylor hasn't taken the time to sonically or conceptually to find a new sound

it sounds uninspired and done before

she is closing those gaps that she has due to time by copying her peers homework: but daddy i love him-ariana grande, imgonnagethim back- olivia rodrigo, phoebe bridgers with a lot of the song titles, florida-ripping of lana, again and again. He is not shocked that at some point in one of her songs she is paranoid that her peers will come for her and he said how he isn't shocked considering what she puts out and how she is lacking so much in ideas and sounds

the albums stinks cause it is sloppy in terms of songwriting and execution

they don't feel like songs, they feel like taylor is just spilling tea

saying that the lyric about the heroin but with an e lyric is essentially coming from matty himself and it makes sense why this lyric alone is wittier than most of taylor's attempts at word play in this record, he should get song writing credits for that

saying how she tries so hard to make connections work for her fans that she forgets that being subtle works as well considerng that she capitalized the letters KIM in thank you aimee.

so as much as she says everything is working against her, the biggest threat to her public image is her: she wants this already doomed from the start rs to work, despite how big of a pr mess it is, she wants her haters to be mad but only it ending up with her releasing her most narcissistic songs to date: if you wanted me dead, you ould vejust said. I was gentle till the circus life made me mean. Along with the lyrics about an asylum. And something that made him laugh: so tell me everything is not about me, but what if it is.

the production is bad and she needs to stop with jack, feel like midnights leftovers but worse. They make them sound dated at impact

my boy only breaks his favorite toys- so many clunky choruses, packing it with so much verbiage that there is no way it can be stuck in someones mind

so long london, constant tension without any release, goes nowhere

florida reads like a bad tourism ad

i can fix him- saying how she can handle a dangerous man but rhe album clearly goes against that and the song doesn't show how silly and futile this mindset is

loml is his favorite while easy

and that it isn't good to base an album only about finding clues about who what song is about cause it can get messy and dated quickly

....he doesn't give it a score which speaks for itself, he only does that when he really hates it but he wears a red shirt which means it could be around hm below O to 2 out of 10. he barely had anything nice to say which he usually does with albums that are 2/10. ano he could only list one song of 31 as his favorite.

the review is funny so i will leave the link here, sorry if my spelling is bad or something makes no sense, i'm not native and worked with captions on the video as well (he made another one for the second part of the album, i can write down the main points as well later if people are interested, he is a rather smart critic in my opinion)

Link: https://youtu.be/Sz9DgY6NAcY?si=UhRnlR558Qeyh81V

Whoa, he really didn't like it! Everyone is saying that she needs to ditch Jack, but now that Joe has gone, she also needs another lyricist on board to curb her worst excesses. That line about heroin/heroine does sound like something Matty Healy would write.

[sophaeros]

i just HAVE to talk to someone about this but what do we think about the song scared….? do you think it’s about julian? or maybe albert wrote it about himself?? either way, the way you hear julian’s voice towards the end make me go insane!

I FUCKING LOVEEEE SCARED IT'S SO GOOD IT DRIVES ME INSANE i always read it as directed towards julian but directed to himself is CRAZY.

You know that something inside of you Still plays a part in what I do Always, I'm here for you

this always reminds me of this les inrockuptibles 2020 quote

"I'll tell you something," says Fab. "When I played the first Machinegum stuff to Nick (Valensi - editor's note), he put his finger on something. He said, 'I'll never be able to listen to your music, or the music of any of us, without thinking about how I could have influenced it.'"

which makes me SICK to my STOMACH. and then this verse

I think that if we were all we had That's more than most people ever have Anyway, oh anyway, you can stay here

makes me think of this 2023 albert interview with the guardian

“Yeah, I knew very quickly,” he says. “There was something very special about all of us together, even early on. The universe moved when we were all together in a certain way. Like a Rubik’s Cube that gets unlocked. You either find it or you don’t. I always felt that was unique.”

LIKE. ok i said i read it as directed to julian but i think it could also be kinda wrapped up in the band too which makes sense bc to me their relationship is always gonna be intertwined w that of the band. if that makes sense.

anyway lyrically this song destroys me like what the fuck is "so close we played it as if we cared" LIKE WHY WOULD YOU SAY THATTTTTTT IM GONNA FALL TO MY KNEES......i wish we had official lyrics for julian's lines at the end (he sounds soo fucking gorgeous btw so sad hes so buried in the mix) it sounds to me like "don't push me away / [they'll/don't] get it wrong" (less sure about that second line) which is AGONISING. WHAT DID HE MEAN BY THIS.

also can i just say im so in love w the chorus and ending kicking in. so ethereal and perfect

ok ANYWAY tinhatting time. honestly it's soo hard to piece together any kind of timeline or characterisation of their rs bc theyre not really as blatant about it as some other rpf ships..not counting one way trigger. also im not smart enough to have a concrete analysis of this song. i kinda read it as like, something something the strokes staying together and not branching out despite them clearly being really dysfunctional?? like being afraid to break whatever kind of shaky balance they'd managed to find. and the song is kind of a love letter to them in light of that. but also this is a very shaky interpretation ok idk what im talking about

albert was the first to do solo stuff outside of the strokes and they urhh well theyve been supportive of one another's side projects but at the beginning.......rock & folk april 2011 ->

Nick: "We never made this much money as for the FIOE tour. When we were recording, Albert tried to make us listen to some of his solo project. I think he was disappointed by our reaction and he never talked about it again. Nikolai kept his secret. For Little Joy, I was with Fab in LA when they were writing and recording the album. I played the drums for them.”

theres a lot of push and pull in this song..you can also narrow your focus from the strokes generally to just albert and julian (bc tbh a lot of strokes/adjacent songs can be read both ways and in fact i think a lot of the time theyre best read as being about both the band and albert/julian's relationship simultaneously)

IDK this post is so long but idk if im saying anything. it kinda reads like a very tender song to an ex lover. something like no matter the status of our relationship you still have me and i still love you. i want you to stay close to me no matter what. i want you to realise you could be so much more than what you are now. yknow.

[midianarchist]

there's something so beautiful about early doujin music (and other mediums)'s culture. just a bunch of otaku who love video games and music and decide to get together and create, even with what limited resources they had. all the same synths, the same equipment, the super midi-sounding instruments. seeing certain artists appear on others' works, going "oh! it's that guy!", or seeing the links page on archived websites with everyone's banners. and the limited home-printed cd-rs with the printed out readme file.

don't even get me started on the extras that come with some albums. god that's my favorite thing in the world. seeing all the art and shit and checking out the midi files in ableton and putting my own instruments in. or just like the random stuff they include sometimes. a neruge album i ripped recently included a few recordings of him just singing for some reason.

i also really love hearing the way arrangers from different circles use certain songs from soundtracks. it's so interesting just hearing how everyone interprets (it took me 10 tries to spell that word) themes, what parts they draw from them, and especially what variations they make. that's also why i love image albums.

and all the influences and varying genres!!! omg!!!!! from one game soundtrack you can get eurodance remixes, classical and new age type shit or denpa or techno!!! how cool!!!! anyone can find any doujin music that they love, no matter their favorite genre.

i just love doujin music. sorry if i sound a little geeky or pretentious here but i'm feeling ways. music is cool

listen to this song btw it's gorgeous

and sorry for the wall of text

[terry-perry]

Can I request either a Dad!Miguel O’Hara or Dad!Moon Knight where they’re singing luna de xelajú with their partner (the reader) and/or their daughter? thank you and I love your writing ❤️

Love this song!

Italicized lyrics - Marcy singing

Bold lyrics - Jake singing

Bold and italicized lyrics - Both singing

You woke up later than intended. It had been a long night as you had done plenty of online work until 2 in the morning. You wanted to spend a good chunk of hours not looking at a screen. Now that some of those hours were spent sleeping, it was time for food. Before that, however, you reached over to your husband's side of the bed. Unfortunately, it was empty.

"Aww," you whined softly. You must've slept longer than intended.

You slowly lifted your head off the pillow to listen for an idea of where he could be. The sound you were met with was unexpected as you heard two guitars strumming in melody.

They were at it again, you realized with a smile.

You slipped out of bed and made your way out of the bedroom. The music grew louder as you walked down the hall. You could hear Marcy's soft singing, almost like she was whispering. She had such a lovely voice. You and your husband wished she showed it off more.

You hoped these little sessions would do just the thing to help her come out of her shell, at least a little.

You entered the kitchen and, sure enough, your husband and daughter were seated at the table, continuing to play and sing together.

"Luna de Xelajú que supistes alumbrar,"

Marcy was getting better with her Spanish. You had Jake to thank for mastering the language. He was the side of your husband who spoke it, and he found the best way to teach her. He fueled his lessons with her love for music and taught her about songs he thought she'd enjoy.

The song they were currently playing together came with a sad love story involving a romance forced to end. The singer could only plead to the moon and wish for their love to return somehow. It was beautiful and tragic. Marcy loved it right away.

"En mis noches de pena por una morena de dulce mirar,"

"Luna de Xelajú me diste inspiración,"

"La canción que hoy te canto regada con llanto de mi corazón,"

Through Jake, she was able to discover a wide variety of music by Latin artists. He also showed her how to properly perform their songs by pronouncing them in a proper accent. He told her about the importance of rolling her rs and the tilde, among other things that made her sound almost like a native Spanish speaker.

"En mi vida no habrá, más cariño que tu mi amor,"

He never had doubts about her picking up the language. Not only was it in her blood but he knew once she put her mind to something, nothing could stop her from achieving her goals. He saw that in the way she mastered the guitar in only a few months and then added singing to the mix. It was just the confidence she needed a little more work on.

"Luna que me alumbro en mis noches de amor,"

You leaned against the archway and enjoyed the last few moments of the song with a soft smile. No matter what side of your husband was interacting with your daughter, they were always such a great source of strength and comfort to you as you were to them. Each special bond was hard to replicate. You were just happy Marcy could have one with each of them.

"Hoy consuelas la pena,"

"Por una morena que me abandono."

You gave a little applause for their performance. They, at last, acknowledged your presence by grinning at you in appreciation before Marcy turned back to Jake.

"¿Cómo estaba ese papi?" She casually asked her father how she did after the song was finished.

Jake chuckled warmly and leaned over to kiss the top of her head.

"Mucho mejor mi luna. ¡Bien hecho!"

[tayloralisonswift]

Ah that’s really interesting! I’ve heard some others say they thought Joe with the Albatross too, and I can definitely see how, but this is kind of what I heard with Matty:

“And when that sky rains fire on you / And you're persona non grata / I'll tell you how I've been there too / And that none of it matters” Very much sounds like when he started receiving backlash, she connected it to her own “cancellation” (which she kind of already did with the snakes/vipers motif) and how it’ll pass (probably, also, in desperation to him there). If memory serves me correctly, large scale hatred towards Joe never really occurred while they were together, it was mainly people hiding on anon in inboxes who felt like he “took her from them.” I could see this interpreted as more of his depression rather than criticism, but see that as more unlikely with the next lyrics

“Wise men once read fake news / And they believed it / Jackals raised their hackles / You couldn't conceive it / You were sleeping soundly / When they dragged you from your bed / And I tried to warn you about them” Let’s be real, Taylor believed (and probably still does) that a lot of what people were upset about was “fake news.” In all fairness, that can be true with the admittedly unfair terms being leveled like N*zi (which Jewish fans kindly asked to stop undermining when talking about an edgelord). But obviously at other times, he just straight up made bad choices and awful “jokes,” but she’s seeing it as “Omg they’re compiling stuff against you… People are believing it…. I tried telling you they can get crazy, so please don’t leave me…. I know you didn’t ask for this just by being with me.” She wants to swoop in, save him, be the Albatross, to confidently say he chose this life with her. I don’t see how the fake news comparison or this section of lines would really apply to joe during their rs!

Other running lines with people warning him about her, people saying he’s in terrible danger. Matty never kept his contempt for what *comes with* Taylor a secret. He said it in 2016 when people asked why the fling fell through and he said as an up and coming artist he didn’t know if he could handle being defined by being her bf. To throw himself back into that position (with only exacerbated success on Taylor’s part), surely people in his inner circle told him not to. It’s also not a secret that lots of people in his artistic circle have shaded her before and probably didn’t think it was a good idea. With Joe, his mom didn’t know who she was and told them to go on a walk on their first meeting, not understanding that she couldn’t. I don’t think there’d be the same level of will they won’t they with him. Liquor anoints you, I think, is also just another major motif with him and his known (past?) substance use. Rose by any other name is a scandal? “Scandal does funny things to pride but brings lovers closer” ….

Finally, I think it’s safe to say that in a way, Taylor IS the death he chose. Deserved or not, dating her put his recent shortcomings after a major comeback and spurt of popularity on blast, and semi permanently (maybe permanently) altered what the perception of him is to the world, regardless of his own work or art. It used to be “Matty Healy, British bad boy, controversial but kinda hot lead singer of pop rock band the 1975” and now it’s “Matty Healy, racist rat ex boyfriend of Taylor Swift, the Smallest Man Who Ever Lived”

I’d be curious to hear what your take on all of this is, and what your thoughts would be after doing a listen through from this perspective 👀

after listening again, the song does make more sense in this reading! however, i still don’t like it :/ very sorry !

but i like the album now in general, and that’s a major victory for all ttpd-loving followers !!

[queen-rainy-love]

Pt. 4

Parfait and Rockstar practice on stage in front of Gumball and Cherry. They cheer them on and says they love pop and rock. The two thanks them and RS suggests to take a break, Parfait agrees. They let GB and CHR join. They go through RS’s albums & discs and play on of his discs on those turnables. One song plays, and GB and CHR hears RS singing, but another voice came along singing along with a smooth & harmonious voice. They asks who that voice is, and RS looks angry, he shuts it off, saying it’s nobody. He just says it’s someone who retired from rock and electronic music. Parfait and RS are gonna practice once again and Parfait asks if that voice was MC, RS doesnt answer; he just plays his guitar.

Hmmm. Interesting. (Also, I can't believe I finished this so quickly with the amount of stuff I'm working on. I'm posting it now since I am interested on where this goes next!)

*The scene picks up with Parfait and Rockstar practicing on the concert stage. They were practicing one song and doing some choreography. In front of the stage stood Gumball and Cherry, who were cheering them on.*

Cherry: Woo! That looks so cool!

Gumball: Yeah! Pop and Rock work so well! You should collab more!

Parfait: OMW! Thank you so much! And thanks to you two for helping us set up practice here!

Rockstar: Thanks, little rockers! *looks at Parfait* We've been working hard for three hours. How about we take a break?

Parfait: Yeah! *looks over at Gumball and Cherry* Do you two want to join us?

Gumball and Cherry: Yeah!

*As the group sat down on the stage, Gumball played some of Rockstar's albums on the turntables, almost blaring out the speakers. Everyone was enjoying it...until one certain song came on.*

Rockstar: *picks up on what the song is* We can skip that one.

*Before anyone could change it, Rockstar's singing started playing and was followed by another voice that the trio had never heard before. It was smooth and harmonious. They just couldn't skip this song.*

Cherry: Oh, wow! It's so pretty! Like a violin!

Gumball: It sounds so familiar! Who is this Cookie? Do we know them?

Parfait: Yeah! Who is that, Rock...*looks over at Rockstar, who looks angry* star? *Rockstar stormed over to the turntables and angrily shuts it off.* R-Rockstar! What was that about?!

Rockstar: It's nothing. And that Cookie is nobody.

Cherry: *concerned* W-what do you mean?

Rockstar: He's just a Cookie who's retired from rock and electronic. He's nobody. *storms off to center stage*

Parfait: Um...*looks at Cherry and Gumball* Can you two go check on the decorations for me?

Gumball: Yeah...we can do that. Come on Cherry. *both leave*

*Parfait took a deep breath before walking over to Rockstar, who had just picked up his guitar and started tuning it. She stopped short and thought about what to say.*

Parfait: (From what I gathered from their interaction, Toothpaste's reaction, and Rockstar turning off his own music...it has to be-) Was that Mint Choco singing in that song? *Rockstar didn't reply and just kept playing with his guitar. Parfait sighed before pushing again.* You two were good enough friends to make a song together. So what happened? Please tell me.

Rockstar:...That was the last time he ever sung...That's all I'll say.

[youareinlovees]

I don’t think Taylor thinks marriage is a cringe social construct at all, that seems like projection tbh. I think she’s very much into the idea of marriage itself she’s just not into the materialism or societal pressures that surround it. Like what she said about Paper Rings and how if you actually love someone and want to marry them you wouldn’t care at all what your ring looks like or how big it is. Or Laura’s monologue in Bejeweled about a proposal being a woman’s greatest accomplishment. Her criticism seems to be much more society’s view of women in relation to marriage, not marriage itself. Making vows, promising to be with someone else forever is an idea she very much seems to want it’s been all over the music since the beginning and even moreso in a personal way since Joe entered the picture. She purposefully wrote a wedding song and a song about literally getting married meant to sound like a wedding band, I don’t think you do that if you actually think marriage is cringe.

I think her criticism is more than just ~we live in a society~ though, she’s also exploring the reasons why people get married. So it’s more about relationship dynamics / the meaning of marriage itself and less about outside perception.

Also, I wouldn’t necessarily say Lover and earlier albums are entirely reflective of her current attitudes, I think she’s definitely changed between now and then. The only reason I don’t think all that conflicts with the #theory is because imo they had a reason or two that was kinda unique to ~their rs which made it the right decision.

[brettyimages]

Record review post ✨

Me and my family have a massive record collection and at the start of the pandemic I started trying to listen to everything and do reviews in a bid to get rid of CDs I owned that I had grown out of to make room for more. I used to type proper reviews at funeral-wave.blogspot.com but it became too much like work so now I’m just listening and rating. My scale is: ‘this is my favourite song’, perfect, great, good, average, bad, terrible, ‘this is the worst song of all time’ Below is what I’ve listened to and rated recently, if you read this come fight me on it xo

Kerrang! Does Green Day’s American Idiot - 3/10 I wanted this before it became a reality and like, be careful what you wish for. The problem is that American Idiot is such a classic that any covers that stay faithful to the original are like karaoke versions, and any that try to do something different are much worse.  Highlights: none - there is not a single song here that I would be interested in listening to again.  Lowlights: Falling In Reverse’s cover of She’s a Rebel - which was actually my favourite right up until Ronnie Radke announced that they were going to put in a breakdown. The Defiled’s Wake Me Up When September Ends, which also was ruined by the breakdown. There were a few others that I thought were bad, but these two were terrible.  I am donating this. 

Green Day - American Idiot - 9/10 One of my favourite albums of all time and one that means the most to me. Came out at a crucial point in my life and informed the person I was going to be. That said, I feel weird not rating it a 10, but when I look at how I rated the individual songs, every one is ‘great’ but not enough of them are ‘perfect’.  Highlights: She’s A Rebel, Homecoming, St. Jimmy. Those are the three that I think are perfect records. Lowlights: none - the other 10 songs are great.  I listened to the album on vinyl and I had to adjust my turntable’s pitch to get it to sound right. It could be a crappy pressing because I got it on sale in HMV just before they jacked all of their vinyl prices way up because they realised everyone was buying records again. I also have a CD copy from Christmas 2004 - obviously I’m keeping both. 

My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade - 7/10 I feel controversial with that score but it’s my least favourite My Chem album, I find it a bit pompous and Queen-like and I haaaate Queen. Half of the songs are great, half just good, with one standout. When TBP came out I was more into AFI and Fueled By Ramen - I always loved MCR but they were never my favourite band of any album era. I have this on CD in the white slipcase, and when I opened it, my ticket for the Black Parade tour fell out. I wasn’t particularly impressed by them on this tour, it was an arena show and they seemed tired and going through the motions.  Highlight: House Of Wolves is the one for me. When I’m asked what my favourite MCR songs are, this is the only one from this era that makes the cut. Lowlights: none as such - they’re all above average, but the ones I like least are the ones with the squealing guitar solos and orchestral pieces. MCR were always at their best for me as a scrappy punk band. 

#163 - mix CD. 7/10 This mix is vaguely Halloween/spooky themed - songs with a threatening aura, horror punk and goth bands, that kind of thing. It’s probably from about 2014 or 2015, and mostly ranges from good-great. I used to download a lot so I backed up my music to CD-Rs and they form part of my record collection.  Highlight: Radio by Alkaline Trio is my favourite of this bunch.  Lowlights: Demonic Rake by Chantal Claret (electroclash/YYYs vibes) and Be My Baby by Frank Iero (Ronettes cover but done in a more JAMC meets Bright Eyes style). They’re the only two that I wouldn’t be bothered about hearing again. 

Motley Crue - Red White & Crue [disc 1] 7/10 I had a big Crue phase when I was 16-18. I’ve mostly grown out of them but their music reminds me of that part of my life and I really did love a lot of this. Now I’m half-and-half on good vs great songs on this disc (the 80s disc); I don’t think any of them are bad but I wouldn’t say any of them are favourite songs anymore.  Highlights: here are the ones that fall on the ‘great’ side of the spectrum - Live Wire, Too Fast For Love, Too Young To Fall In Love, Helter Skelter, Shout At The Devil, Smokin’ In The Boys Room, You’re All I Need, Kickstart My Heart, Same Ol’ Situation (SOS), Dr. Feelgood

The Best of R&B [disc 2] 5/10 I picked this compilation up in the discount bin when I worked in a charity shop. It’s from 2004 and it scoops up all the R&B hits and stars from the previous few years and sticks them all together. I’ve not listened to disc 1 yet but I wasn’t that fond of disc 2 so if disc 1 is as bad then this will go back to the charity shop.  Highlight: No Diggity by Blackstreet ft. Dr Dre is the only great song on here but it’s the single version and not the full-length one which I think I have on another CD.  Lowlight: Sex Me Pt 1 by R. Kelly is the worst of the bad ones - that’s the one song that I’ve rated ‘terrible’ but that might as well be my review of the man. 

Olivia Rodrigo - Sour 8/10 One of the most recent albums I’ve reviewed. I bought this on cassette on eBay after good 4 u was one of my most played songs of 2021 and this review was my first time actually hearing the whole album.  Highlights: brutal and good 4 u - I think those two are perfect. The album has a diverse range of styles but these are the pop punk ones and that’s my genre.  Lowlights: none, really - I don’t think any of these songs are bad. The ones I like least are traitor, happier, favorite crime and hope ur ok, but I think those are all still good.

#64 - mix CD, November 2012. 8/10 This CD is the music I downloaded in November 2012 (10 years ago!!!) and this was a great month for me, taste-wise. It’s a real mix of stuff; the glam metal has aged the worst but the overall quality is still great.  Highlights: Hounds Of Love by Kate Bush - I’d dipped my toe in with Running Up That Hill the month before, so I was eager to find some more Kate and this is what I happened upon next.  Is That All There Is? by Cristina - a sardonic, pessimistic version of Peggy Lee’s classic, updated for the times with references to quaaludes and gay clubs.  Both are contenders for my favourite song ever.  Lowlight: Heaven by Warrant - a cheesy glam metal ballad and the only one on this CD that I wouldn’t mind never hearing again. 

#175 - mix CD. 8/10 I think this dates from 2017 because it has pop songs from that era like Green Light by Lorde and Dangerous by The xx as well as the older stuff I was into at the time.  Highlights: Uptown Top Ranking by Althea & Donna (a classic), Love by Lana Del Rey (reaffirmed my belief in Lana after being disappointed by Honeymoon), Temptation by New Order (another classic) - all perfect records. Lowlights: again, overall quality is high but here’s the ‘good’ stuff - FURB (Fuck You Right Back) by Frankee (a sassy early-00s response record), The 1975′s cover of What Makes You Beautiful (done in a sadboy indie style, not fun), Push Pull by Purity Ring (average indie pop that sounds very mid-10s now), The 1975′s cover of By Your Side (don’t love the autotune), Crimson & Clover by Tommy James & The Shondells (too long)

T. Rex - Solid Gold 7/10 Vinyl record inherited from one of my parents - a best of T. Rex that has notable omissions.  Highlight: 20th Century Boy is a perfect pop song.  Lowlights: I liked them all but the ones I liked least were New York City, Mystic Lady, Dreamy Lady, and all of side 2 aside from Telegram Sam and Solid Gold Easy Action. Basically, the big hits are the best.

Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs 9/10 This album came out when I was 14 and I had a downloaded copy before upgrading to the CD when I realised it was a great album. Every song on here rates highly and I love it as much now as I did at that age. I went to see them on this tour and it was a lovely show.  Highlights: I Will Possess Your Heart, No Sunlight, Cath, You Can Do Better Than Me, Your New Twin-Sized Bed. Everything else is great but these are perfection. 

Pride - The Motion Picture [Disc 2] 7/10 One of my favourite movies of all-time and the soundtrack plays a big part in that. There are songs on there that make me want to dance and songs that make me want to cry. Disc 2 is a mixed bag - there are all-time faves on here but also dips in quality.  Highlights: not one, not two, but three songs that I’d call my favourite songs of all-time. Two Tribes by Frankie Goes To Hollywood; Blue Monday 88 by New Order; Genius Of Love by Tom Tom Club. Honourable mention to A New England by Kirsty MacColl too - it’s also perfect. Lowlights: there are a few that don’t do anything for me, which is what drags down the overall score. All Of My Heart by ABC; Do You Wanna Funk by Sylvester; Ghosts by Japan; the three instrumental themes and the trad. Bread and Roses by Bronwen Lewis (which is heartwrenching in the context of the film but I have no interest in listening to folk music outside of that)

#121 - mix CD, May 2014 8/10 Again, not a bad month for me - overall quality is high. This is the month that I finished University but I was listening to a lot of pop from the year I was born.  Highlight: DONTTRUSTME by 3Oh!3 never fails to make me happy - it’s silly to call this one of my all-time favourite songs but I can’t help it.  Honourable mentions: Open Your Mind by USURA (90s rave-pop), Informer by Snow (90s whiteboy reggae-rap), Bound 2 by Kanye West (stupid but my favourite single of his) Lowlights: The only song from this set that I can do without is From First To Last’s 2014 re-record of Note To Self. I love the song and I get that they re-made it to celebrate their reunion, but it can’t touch the original. 

Arctic Monkeys - Tranquillity Base Hotel and Casino 6/10 I liked this album enough to immediately go out and buy it, and as an overall piece I quite like it, but when I break down the album to individual songs they’re all just ‘good’. It’s background music, I think. I have made a note to see Blade Runner after being chastised by Alex in the lyric to Star Treatment. Highlight: the only song I picked out as being better or worse than the rest is Four Out Of Five, which is the only great one here.  I won’t be getting rid of the album but I haven’t bothered with The Car after this. 

Motley Crue - Red White & Crue [disc 2] 6/10 The 90s (and a little 00s) accompaniment to the disc I mentioned above. This one isn’t as good - in fact the quality dips severely at one point.  Highlight: Planet Boom - it comes from an EP where each member was allowed to write their own thing, and this is Tommy Lee’s. It’s drum-heavy, he does a bit of rapping, and it’s so different to anything else of the band’s (although more akin to his side-projects).  Lowlight: New Tattoo is bad. The vocal is bad, the lyrics are terrible, it’s basically country music but not the good kind. Horrible.

Depeche Mode - Ultra 7/10 My favourite DM album is the one before this, but the industrial influences on here are really cool. It has its ups and downs and I never sit down and play the whole thing but I don’t hate it. The instrumentals let it down.  Highlights: Barrel Of A Gun, Home and The Bottom Line Lowlights: The Love Thieves, Freestate, Junior Painkiller

1978-1979 7/10 Not a mix CD, but a mixtape! This was actually compiled by my dad and it’s his favourite records of those two years. Overall quality falls between good and great - the post-punk years are widely regarded to be among the best for British music and that’s reflected here. There’s only one song I didn’t like. Highlights: Money by The Flying Lizards is a favourite-song contender - it’s so dispassionate and detached and I love that quality in a song.  Honourable mentions: (White Man In Hammersmith Palais) by The Clash and Teenage Kicks by The Undertones are both perfect classics.  Lowlight: Sultans Of Swing (Live) by Dire Straits. I find Dire Straits very dull, and they are even more boring on live recording. I went all the way to terrible for this.

#60 - mix CD, September 2012 Vol 2 8/10 The month I moved in with my best friend at Uni and again, a fantastic month for my taste in new discoveries - a lot of these are still on heavy rotation in my playlists a decade on.  Highlights: Age Of Consent by New Order always springs to mind immediately if I’m asked to name my favourite song. Fuck & Run by Liz Phair absolutely devastates me.  Honourable mentions: He’s A Rebel by The Crystals, Cute Without The ‘E’ by Taking Back Sunday Lowlights: there’s nothing below average here, but the stuff that’s just ‘good’ has dated - Outlines by All Time Low, The A Team by Ed Sheeran and Carry On by fun.

Rihanna - Loud 7/10 I had shunned pop music to be a full-time emo girl in high school but Rated R roped me back in and Loud was a good follow-up. I didn’t buy this album right away though, I picked it up second hand a bit later after having a downloaded copy for a while.  Highlights: What’s My Name? and Man Down are both perfect pop songs with Rihanna embracing her Bajan roots. Lowlights: the last two songs - Skin and Love The Way You Lie (Pt II). I really hated the first Love The Way You Lie and the way it glorified an abusive relationship, and this sequel is just as bad. 

[museenkuss]

Wait how do you pronounce your name?

ahhhh hi! For context, Marie is a petname but while I was referring to my given name, the same thing applies here (they're similar). To my ear, english speakers sound like they're speaking around marbles when they pronounce it - probably because German is a "harsher"/embroidered language, with clear "a"s and "r"s (although I myself swallow all my rs, but I do my VERY best when introducing myself). But most notable is, I think, the emphasis. [Ma]ry vs. Ma[rie]

Anyways, I just listened to about 9 songs called Marie to see if I could give you a good example and idk. Many songs called Marie out there. This one has a clear Marie, I think (there's also one by an iconic lesbian country singer but man, i couldn't subject you to that euro-country stuff. I'm not a fan of the extreme 80s pop either, but well.)

Also, "Marie, Marie, I was never as in love with you as you are with yourself" spoke to me personally. at around 1:03 I think, "Ihr Name war Marie" <- that's perfect.

Fun fact: I really liked this other one but it’s Austrian and you can TELL. Completely different pronounciation, but the vintage sound was cute and I felt obliged to share something that wasn't Berlin faux yuppie 80s drug pop.

[lastchancevillagegreen]

Saturday, 8 April 2023:

Good Shave Baby Bird (no label, self released) (released in November 2022)

The UK is able to mail out of country once again (a ban was enforced in November just as this album was being released by Stephen Jones) which means this album finally lands in the US. 

Stephen Jones, the abbreviated version, mind you, is the man once upon a time known as Baby Bird (not to be confused with the band Babybird which was also Jones only with a band), a master of lo-fi and the Bedroom Sound.  From 1995 to 1997 he released self released five albums that were the pinnacle of lo-fi (discounting another master of lo-fi Guided By Voices who reigned prominent in the 90s for this record lover): I Was Born A Man, Bad Shave, Fatherhood, The Happiest Man In The World and Dying Happy. This was before the internet exploded and I bought at least two of these five lo-fi jewels through chat rooms for exorbitant prices. I paid $80 for Bad Shave to be shipped from Paris, France, wondering if I would actually see it arrive, after all Paypal didn’t exist and debit cards had not yet been birthed.  I sent a money order (I was King of the Money Orders in the 1990s) off in hopes it would pay off and of course, it did.  Before the internet, people didn’t rip you off and they followed through because a record collector was a record collector was a record collector (insert eye rolling whistling emoji here).

Today, the internet destroys lives and it enhances lives (see A Tale of Two Cities) and for Stephen Jones, he can actually almost make good money on the music he makes in his bedroom by going directly to those fans who love his music.  No longer relying on kind hearted collectors in Paris, France I can dial up Stephen on bandcamp, tell him what I want, send him the money through the magic of the modern world and presto chango it arrives in my mailbox!  What could be simpler?  For fans it is a heaven that actually exists, for musicians like Stephen it is a never ending job.  Not only must he write the music, record it, produce it and mix it (maybe) he must also design the damn digipaks, put them together, buy an endless supply of CD-Rs (and in some instances actual pressed silver CDs), have plenty of packing envelopes, go to the post office, mail this stuff (and spend a fortune on postage for the entire world, because he has a generous supply of fans worldwide).  For the likes of Mr Jones this is a never ending job.  Remember when you wanted to be a musician?  It sounded so perfect: make records, sell records, drink too much, drug to much, have too much sex and live in Heaven.  But the internet giveth and the internet taketh away.  Today’s musician must endlessly bust his tired exhausted imagination especially if he is a self contained industry like Stephen Jones is. 

And then he has fairweather fans such as myself who don’t buy everything he puts out.  And trust me, this guy never stops. He’s like a never sleeping shark, he must be glued to his social media and laptop.  He sends out 40 tweets/messages a day and he must put out an album a month.  In 50 years when virtually everyone reading this tumblr is dead and gone, who will tend to Stephen’s discography page?  How messed up and full of errors will it become?

Good Shave is a companion album to his 1995 Bad Shave album. The songs, according to our man, come from the same grab bag from which he chose to compile Bad Shave from: all demos, all lo-fi, all composed and performed and sung by himself.  No one else is reissuing these albums so Stephen might as well make his house payment and his daughter’s tuition however he can.  I do not begrudge the man one thin dime.  I just can’t buy everything he does.  (Today I counted 303 releases on his bandcamp page!  75 rows of four albums plus one row of three albums.  The man is a machine.)

Above you see the cover and the back cover.  Below, check out the gatefold taken in two shots.  The first shot is the left hand side of the digipak as it would appear when it is opened up.  The second photo is of the inlay tray on the right sans the CD which would normally sit in said inlay tray.

The next photo is of the CD itself.  Keep in mind this is a CD-R which means in about a decade or less, if it is like my Dylan bootlegs that came out on CD-R, they will stop working and I’ll have nothing left but the memory of this music.  Isn’t modern life full of miracles?

I am going to be on those people who foul up poor Stephen’s discog page because he included a bonus CD with Good Shave.  It is obviously not his work since the title is Not Stephen.  If I recall correctly, a fan made an album of covers and sent it to Stephen who liked it so much he included it as a bonus disc here.  At least I think that’s how the story goes. 

Below you will find photos of the original Bad Shave album from the cover to the gatefold to the back.  Remember, this once lived in Paris, France, a place I can only dream of. 

[bettsfic]

in celebration of the hayden christensen renaissance i’m watching a movie called virgin territory (recommended to me by @volturialice) and. i simply can’t believe it’s a real thing that exists. it’s a kinkmeme prompt in early 00s movie form. first of all, the amazon prime description begins with “hayden christensen of JUMPER stars as a charming scoundrel...” right. jumper. definitely his most famous movie. mhm.

the premise is thus: lorenzo (hayden) is on the run from the law for reasons i wasn't paying attention to and hides out as a gardener in a convent where all the nuns fuck him. then the girl he's in love with goes into hiding at the same convent. 

it received a 1.9 on letterboxd and a 23% on rotten tomatoes. here we gooooo

they manage to get around hayden’s inability to do an accent by making him pretend to be mute

so he has almost no lines, he’s just the center of a number of montages where he does hard labor and drenches himself in water

oh, and there are horse stunts

two nuns make out with his bare stomach while he’s unconscious

shortly after, those same two nuns fuck him in a bathtub

there is an erotic cow milking scene

tits and asses. tits and asses.

the soundtrack is full of vaguely electronica early 00s kasabian-esque knockoffs (if you don’t know who kasabian is, keep it that way)

when i say this is softcore porn, it is not in any way hyperbole

two other nuns fuck lorenzo and then two more nuns get jealous and demand he fuck them also

tim roth is the bad guy, a casting that probably took up most of the budget

there are like 30 main characters and i have less than zero idea what’s going on

two women assess the penises of a dozen men, again for reasons i cannot discern

several of the men dogpile the man with the smallest penis

a lady gives a guy a handjob in the woods but he comes too fast and she gets angry?? i don’t understand how any of this is relevant to what i think might be the plot

uh oh, lorenzo’s love interest exposes him for being a fraud and the head nun kicks him out of the convent

oh no hayden has lines again

more tits and asses

the head nun has been referred to as having “unparalleled lust and randiness”

the love interest has left the convent and invited lorenzo to be her bodyguard 

the love confession is happening over what sounds like a franz ferdinand or arcade fire song, as if this movie isn’t 2007 enough

tim roth pushes lorenzo into a fountain. he is wet again for the 1000th time this movie

he is now wet and in a dungeon 

tim roth keeps wiggling around like a little kid who needs to pee and holding his sword like a cigarette

the love interest agrees to marry tim roth in exchange for letting lorenzo out of the dungeon!! ashamed to say i am really getting into this

the other three dozen plotlines have disappeared

i guess without them this movie would just be 2 hours of hayden fucking nuns so the director had to put in some filler, a move i do not agree with

lorenzo has been let out of the dungeon. he is now wet *and* filthy

i was wrong, shazam has informed me the song i thought was by franz ferdinand is actually “don’t you” by micah p. hinson but it sounds like every single indie rock song released between 2005-2009

the love interest has paid off a fake priest to delay the wedding while she tries to figure out a solution. A+ shakespeare move

lorenzo punches two guys at once and when he says “that hurt” he remembers to un-rhotic his Rs for the first time the entire film

he has stolen a sword and intends to interrupt the wedding!!

the fake priest is filibustering the wedding by interrogating tim roth on his bathing habits

btw the fake priest has the greasy side swoop hairstyle that plagued my adolescence and which has triggered my fight or flight response

a russian guy who is not lorenzo interrupts the wedding?? with a gun????

poor hayden has had to sprint an entire fucking marathon in this movie

lorenzo has arrived and despite having a sword he is kickboxing his way into this wedding

he stops the russian guy from killing tim roth and flips a coin to determine who does get to kill him

final sword fight. tim roth says “aww shit” and falls into a well

lorenzo gets the girl. the russian with the gun gets a different girl. the guy who came too fast in the woods gets his girl.

the fake priest throws rose petals over all 4 main couples who are making out around a fountain

the guy with the tiny penis is also there and making out with somebody

“TENDER” BY BLUR IS THE END CREDITS SONG that’s where their stunt budget went i guess

somehow i forgot that this was based on the decameron?? how???

hayden gets fourth billing even though he carried this entire circus act. there is no justice in this world

okay final thoughts: i didn’t hate it even a little bit?? people who gave it a bad review are fucking snobs, this was a DELIGHT. 100/10 recommend, just don’t watch it with your parents.

[harrisonarchive]

George Harrison and Ringo Starr working on “Octopus’s Garden” in the studio, January 1969. Photo by Mal Evans or Tony Bramwell, for The Beatles Book monthly.

A look at some Harrison-Starkey musical collaborations.

“This next song is called ‘It Don’t Come Easy.’ I wrote this song with the one and only George Harrison.” - Ringo Starr, VH1 Storytellers (1998)

“So George taught me C, which was so damn hard. That’s how [‘Photograph’] started. I love the sentiment of ‘Photograph.’ When we did The Concert For George, I told the audience that ‘Photograph’ now has a different meaning just because of the fact that George has left.” - Ringo Starr, liner notes, Photograph: The Very Best of Ringo Starr (2007)

"George wrote that one. I was watching a lot of TV then [1981], as he writes in one of the lyrics in the song. Also I was probably going insane too. George thought this song would be good for me. It’s a song I knew he’d never do. So it gave George some freedom and it was a bit looser than something that he would do for himself." - ibid

“When Ringo asked [George]… to compose guitar music for a new song, ‘King of Broken Hearts,’ George put his own heart into it. One reviewer would later describe his beautiful slide-guitar work as ‘sharing a little of his soul… [a] moving musical statement [that] spoke of the musician’s inner peace.’ George sent the tape off by mail. Ringo took the package to his recording studio and sat with his hands behind his head, listening to an unexpected poetry of notes. 'You’re killing me, George,' he mumbled. 'You’ve got me crying, you bugger.’” - Here Comes The Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison (2006)

Ringo Starr: "'Never Without You,' the tribute track to George - or the love track. I don't really like the tribute - you know, the word 'tribute.' It's just to let George know we loved him." [...] Q: "You mentioned 'Never Without You.' That's the next song we're going to hear from Ringo Rama. You said, not a tribute. What did you say?" RS: "It's just with love." Q: "With love for George." RS: "Yeah. [...] [The 2002 Concert for George] helped with the closure, I felt, that we all sort of... we had this focus of the show, but we could hang out with each other and, you know, deal with the loss of George, who, you know, I still miss." Q" "The song 'Never Without You' didn't really start out purely about George, did it?" RS: "Well, it started out just as a band. And then I thought, wow, this would be great, after the first verse, that we were brothers through it all. It just became natural that it was about the Beatles, in a way. And, of course, George had just left us then. It was like four months after he died. And so then I thought, oh, that would be great. I can say this about George. Then, oh, well, I can say this about John. Oh, and I can say this about Harry Nilsson. And so it just got too cluttered and too crazy. So I had to stop everything and say, 'Now, where are we going? Okay. This is just for George. And that way, I - you know, I could use some of his lines in the song itself, never - you know, 'within you, without you' is his line. Sometimes you just go mad and you've got to stop and look at what you do and then you do it right. And I think the song says everything that I ever want to say." Q: "Why was it so easy for you to write with George on classics like 'It Don't Come Easy' and 'Photograph' so soon after the Beatles split?" RS: "Well, you know, George was my good friend. And I was very good at two verses and a chorus. And then I would take it over to George's and he'd finish 'Photograph.' And he finished 'It Don't Come Easy.' And also, you know, I'm not the best guitarist in the world. I have to admit that. I might be a great drummer, but I'm not the best guitarist. And so he would put in all these chords that made me sound like a genius and tie the song up. [...] So George was always great. We always had a lot of fun in the studio, you know." - Ringo Rama Radio Hour, 25 March 2003

“['Never Without You’] is all about George. The song is still very poignant for me, and I tried not to do it on the last tour, but I had to do it because it’s a beautiful song and expresses what I felt for the man. […] He had just gone and I wanted to express my love for him.” - Ringo Starr, liner notes, Photograph: The Very Best of Ringo Starr (2007) (x)