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bewitching-elizabeth-olsen · 4 years ago

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Press: A Thorough Breakdown of All the Marvel Easter Eggs on WandaVision

POPSUGAR: WandaVision has finally arrived, and it’s chock-full of hidden goodies for Marvel fans to devour! While the series is built upon a mystery that we’ll be spending a reported nine episodes trying to figure out, the smallest details in each episode provide clues on where the show is heading. From supermarket banners to foreboding commercials, viewers have an abundance of references and callbacks to classic comic lore and pivotal MCU moments. Are they setting the stage for a big reveal at the end, or are they just fun details included for fans to enjoy? While we try to figure it all out, scroll through to see what we’ve gathered! And check back every week for an episode-by-episode breakdown as WandaVision progresses.

WandaVision Episode 7 Easter Eggs

The episode opens the morning after Wanda has expanded the border of the Hex, finding the Avenger hiding from the world under her comforter. The comforter in question has a hexagon pattern, which is both a nod to the overall theme of the show as well as a metaphor for how Wanda is literally hiding away under a hex.

Billy and Tommy run into the room to reveal that their video game console has been messing up. Everything in the house is glitching, trying to transform back to earlier versions of themselves.

Billy also tells his mother that his head hurts and things are “noisy.” Since the twin inherited his mother’s ability to read minds, it seems he’s able to hear the thoughts of everyone in the bubble (and near it on the outside, since he was able to hear his father when he was dying). It’s a sign that Billy’s powers are growing, which means we could see the little boy reach his Wiccan potential before the end of the season.

Wanda wanders into the kitchen as the news drones on in the background. The news station is called W.N.D.A. or Wanda. The newscaster makes pointed comments, noting that there’s “not a thing weighing heavily on your conscience,” and that they “hope your little ghosts arrived home safe last night. It’s always such a treat to see those creepy kiddos out and about once a year.” The comments refer to Wanda’s building guilt at her actions in the previous episode and the rare appearance of children during the Halloween episode.

As Wanda makes her breakfast of “Sugar Snaps,” a nod to the big Snap of the universe, her milk carton reverts from its modern design to the old school glass bottle and back. The carton has a missing person’s ad on the back with a picture of a little boy on the back. This could be a reference to the oft-mentioned absence of children of Westview, and what could have happened to them.

Wanda and the twins “break the fourth wall” frequently to talk to the camera in the same vein as Modern Family.

This week’s theme song sounds similar to The Office’s, which also usings talking head segments like Modern Family. The opening credits are similar to the show Happy Endings and allude to the show’s focus on Wanda, even attributing the creation of WandaVision to her with the title image. Vision is notably completely absent from the opening credits, but there’s a clue that someone else is watching in a message that reads, “I know what u are doing Wanda.”

Agnes stops by to take the boys off of Wanda’s hands, which the exhausted mother is exceedingly grateful for. The twins are visibly uncomfortable with the idea, with Tommy asking Wanda if they have to and Billy telling his mother that someone has to stay to take care of her. It seems like they can sense that something is off with their “kindly” neighbor.

Wanda sends them off with Agnes, but once they’re gone, her magic goes incredibly haywire. All the furniture begins glitching again, with the stork from the painting in episode three making a reappearance. “I don’t understand what’s happening,” Wanda laments during a talking head segment. “Why it’s all falling apart and why I can’t fix it.” The off-screen interviewer responds, “Do you think maybe it’s what you deserve?” which visibly unnerves Wanda, who notes that they aren’t supposed to speak. It’s another sign that Wanda does not have as much control as she’s been led to believe.

Cue the sixth commercial, and it’s even more pointed than any of the others have been. It’s an ad for the antidepressant Nexus, for “when the world doesn’t revolve around you. Or does it?” The drug allows people to anchor themselves to the reality of their choice with side effects that include “feeling your feelings, confronting your truth, seizing your destiny, and possibly more depression.” Whew, the pointed commentary is even making me sweat. Nexus is a nod to two things: Wanda’s crippling inability to deal with the trauma she’s been through and her depression that’s pushed her into the creation of Westview, and two Marvel comics concepts. The first is the Nexus of All Realities is a kind of gateway point between dimensions from which all universes in the multiverse can be accessed. (Remember, Wanda’s next reported appearance is in Multiverse of Madness.) The second concept is the existence of Nexus beings, people who have powers that can alter reality, probability, and the Universal Time Stream. Guess which two Westview residents are considered Nexus beings? That’s right, Wanda and Vision! The commercial can either be just a cheeky nod to the couple’s seemingly infinite power or an allusion to the bigger picture that WandaVision is leading to.

While Darcy and Vision are attempting to make their way to the house, the doctor gives the synthezoid a brief rundown of his origin story, explaining how he died twice in an attempt to save the world. Vision points out that it seems like someone is trying to keep him from getting home, which spurs him to fly off, leaving Darcy behind in the blocked truck.

Billy and Tommy are watching Yo Gabba Gabba in Agnes’s lowkey creepy home. (It tickles me that Yo Gabba Gabba is more canon in the MCU than the X-Men or Fantastic Four right now.) While Billy pets Agnes’s bunny Señor Scratchy, he notes that he likes being around the older woman because he’s unable to hear any of her thoughts. “You’re quiet inside,” he says, an allusion to the idea that Agnes can hide her thoughts from him because she has magic.

Back outside the Hex, after the super-rover isn’t able to penetrate the field, Monica decides to run through it again. As she struggles through the barrier and we watch her, a montage of dialogue from Captain Marvel plays. The voices of Maria, Nick Fury, and Carol play over Monica getting through, and as Captain Marvel says “when they were handing out little kids, your mom got the toughest one,” Monica she pushes through to the other side. She lands in the stereotypical three-point-stance of all Marvel heroes, and her eyes glow, showing that she can see energy. We just witnessed the rise of Photon, folks! (Or Spectrum or Pulsar.)

Monica confronts Wanda in her home, and as their fight spills onto the lawn, the residents of Westview watch from their own homes. The delivery man is wearing a “Presto Delivery” uniform, a reference to the magic words said by magicians before they pull a magic trick.

In the first blatant show of Agnes’s ulterior motives, the older woman stops the fight when she realizes Monica is getting through to Wanda and pulls the young mother into her home. But when Wanda gets there, she notices the green bug and rabbit in the living room and the lack of her sons’ presence. When she asks Agnes where the boys are, she’s told to head to the basement, where the big showdown occurs. The scene hints at the eventual disappearance of Billy and Tommy.

Wanda notices a book on an altar, which could be the Darkhold, also known as The Book of Sins, The Shiatra Book Of The Damned. Originally a collection of papers known as the Chthon Scrolls, the book contains all the spells and ideas of the evil Elder God known as Chthon. The book is a conduit for Chthon’s power and can open a doorway from Earth to Chthon’s dimension. If that book is in Agnes’s basement, it stands to logic that she may be working with the evil god. The Darkhold emits an orange glow, which is a distinctly different color than the purple of Agatha’s magic.

Speaking of magic, Agnes finally reveals herself as the witch we’ve known her to be. Although the show tells us that “it’s been Agatha all along,” it still doesn’t ring completely true. There’s definitely more at work than just Agatha’s magic.

In the mid-credits sequence, Monica is caught snooping in Agnes’s backyard by Pietro. Her eyes seem to glow purple, the same color that signals Agatha’s magic. Does this mean she’s now under the witch’s spell?

WandaVision Episode 6 Easter Eggs

The opening credits for episode six seem to be a tribute to Malcolm in the Middle, which ran for seven seasons between 2000 and 2006.

The entire Wanda and Vision family wear their comic book character costumes for Halloween.

There’s another reference to Thanos’s snap as Director Tyler Hayward talks about dealing with the repercussions of all the people “who left.”

The terrifying Yo-Magic commercial seems to foreshadow Vision’s future. Even though Wanda was seemingly able to bring Vision back to life, it looks like he won’t stay alive for long as it’s implied that he can’t exist outside of the Hex later in the episode.

Blink and you’ll miss the fun Disney movie Easter egg on Westview’s movie theater. The sign outside the theater shows a double feature of The Incredibles and The Parent Trap. Connecting right to Wanda’s family, The Incredibles is about a family of superheroes, while The Parent Trap is about a pair of long-lost twins reuniting.

Wanda’s changing accent has been brought up countless times by fans, and in episode six, Pietro makes a slight reference to it when Wanda asks, “What happened to your accent?” to which he quips, “What happened to yours?”

There is another reference that Agnes is actually Agatha Harkness as she is spotted wearing a witch costume on Halloween.

It appears that Vision has no memories pre-Westview, as a conscious Agnes tells him he’s one of the Avengers, and he has no clue what she’s talking about.

The episode further hints at Monica’s powers as Darcy confirms that the Hex rewrote her cells on a molecular level.

A few interactions between Pietro and Wanda have fans wondering if he might actually be Mephisto in disguise. Not only is he fully aware about Wanda creating Westview, but he makes several references to the devil and hell throughout the episode.

WandaVision Episode 5 Easter Eggs

Wanda and Vision’s brand new house, suitable for a family of four, is reminiscent of homes in ’80s sitcoms such as Full House and Growing Pains.

When Agnes comes in to offer her babysitting help, she refers to herself as “Auntie Agnes,” which is eerily close to her comic counterpart’s nickname, Auntie Agatha.

An uncomfortable break in conversation leads Agnes to ask Wanda if she wants her to “take it from the top.” Though Wanda appears confused for a moment, she readily smoothes the conversation and carries on. Vision is visibly perturbed, though Wanda attempts to redirect his attention. It seems like the facade is fading all around.

To the surprise of their parents, Tommy and Billy age up five years while the two argue over Agnes’s break in character.

This episode’s opening sequence shows Wanda and Vision growing up, which we know didn’t happen in real life for the synthezoid. The theme song sounds very similar to those from Family Ties and Growing Pains, and consists of lyrics noting that “we’re just making it up as we go along.” Sounds pretty close to how things are going with Wanda and Vision!

When Wanda’s scans come back, they’re inconclusive and show up blank. Considering Monica gains her powers due to bombardment by extradimensional energies in the comics, it’s entirely possible that the blast from Wanda back in episode three, coupled with passing through the forcefield around Westview twice, have given her those abilities. We could be seeing the rise of Photon!

While Jimmy Woo is explaining Wanda’s backstory to the agents of S.W.O.R.D., Director Hayward asks if she’s ever used a “funny nickname” like the other Avengers. She hasn’t, in fact, she’s never been referred to as Scarlet Witch in the MCU ever. Since her powers are different from her comic book counterpart, there’s never been a reason for anyone to call her a witch.

That never-before-seen post credits scene from Infinity War has officially made its debut. Director Hayward reveals footage of Wanda entering S.W.O.R.D. headquarters to steal Vision’s disassembled body. The video harks back to a moment in the comics where Vision was kidnapped and taken apart — but still very much alive. Much like that Vision, the one in Westview has his memory wiped and doesn’t remember anything before he woke up in his new world. So, the question is whether Vision is actually alive or not. Wanda’s hallucination from episode four might suggest he’s a walking corpse, but there’s more to the story.

Jimmy mentions that Wanda’s stealing of Vision’s body violates the Sokovia Accords, which haven’t been mentioned since Captain America: Civil War. Unfunnily enough, the Accords were a direct response to the mission gone wrong in Lagos where Wanda lost control of her powers and caused the death of many civilians.

Darcy mentions that Vision is playing “Father Knows Best in Surburbia,” referencing the ’50s sitcom.

Tommy and Billy find a dog that, with the help of Auntie Agnes, they name Sparky. The Vision family has a dog with that exact name in the King and Walta comics, but he’s green. Sadly, he meets a similar fate as his live-action counterpart.

Wanda blatantly uses her powers in front of Agnes, who has seemingly handled the magic around her with ease. It’s almost as if she’s used to magic.

Darcy calls the Westview anomaly the “hex” because of its hexagonal shape. Although the magic has been taken out of the phrase, Wanda’s powers are known as hexes in the comics.

Jimmy, Monica, and Darcy try to understand how Wanda can revive Vision and control the Hex, which takes much more power than she’s ever displayed before. Monica notes that Wanda has always been powerful, being the only Avenger who was close to taking down Thanos singlehandedly, which Jimmy interjects to note that Captain Marvel could as well. Both are empowered by Infinity Stones, with Carol’s Kree biology giving her a power boost.

When Jimmy brings up Captain Marvel, Monica is visibly uncomfortable and changes the subject back to Wanda. What happened there?

Vision’s office mates learn about the sweet glory that is dial-up internet! But when he and Norm open their first bit of electronic mail, it’s a transmission picked up from S.W.O.R.D. talking about the Maximoff anomaly.

Vision breaks through Norm’s conditioning, revealing that he’s under the control of a woman (alluding to it being Wanda). He directly references his family, a conversation that Jimmy mentioned in his notes in the last episode.

The twins have aged themselves up to 10 by this point and are seemingly completely aware that Wanda has control over certain aspects of life, like time. They point out that it was Saturday when they woke up, but Wanda says it’s now Monday. She apparently changed the day to send Vision to work. Is their awareness because they also have magic or because she doesn’t control them?

Monica sends an ’80s drone into Westview after working out that Wanda’s Hex is rewriting reality to suit each era occurring in the bubble, and the drone would need no era-appropriate change. Though she attempts to speak with Wanda through the drone, Director Hayward commands agents to fire a missile at Wanda instead — directly ignoring that Monica said she doesn’t see Wanda as a danger. The action results in Wanda leaving the Hex and confronting the S.W.O.R.D. agents outside. She’s wearing the suit we last saw her wearing in Infinity War and Endgame and has her accent back, although it’s much thicker than it’s been since Ultron.

Episode five’s commercial is more pointed than any of them have been. Lagos brand paper towels directly reference the city in which Wanda accidentally killed several people in Civil War by blowing up a building. Thus, the Sokovia Accords were born.

While Wanda and the twins are searching for a missing Sparky — with no one calling out the fact that Wanda disappeared for some time — the mailman tells the boys that their mom “won’t let him get far.” It seems almost like a dig at how no one can leave Westview, like the doctor mentioned during episode three.

When Agnes reveals that Sparky died after eating too many azalea bush leaves, the boys ask their mother to reverse his death. Agnes seems particularly surprised by the idea of Wanda having that ability despite having seen other displays of her power and watching the twins age up rapidly twice. Wanda tells the twins that they can’t reverse death as there are still rules to things, which almost seems hypocritical considering her circumstances. Is she trying to say that she hasn’t revived Vision? Or is she simply trying to keep her boys from expecting too much from her?

Later that night, Vision reveals that he unearthed Norm’s repressed memories and demands to know what’s going on. He tells Wanda that she can’t control him, which she cooly responds asking him, “Can’t I?” Although the credits start rolling, their argument continues as Vision unleashes his frustration with not knowing his past and his confusion over their circumstances. Wanda tells him that she doesn’t control everything, saying, “I don’t even know how all of this started.” Vision believes it began subconsciously, but chastises Wanda for letting it get that far. Wanda reiterates that she isn’t controlling everything, which gives weight to the theory that there’s someone else behind the scenes. But who could it be if Wanda isn’t the “she” that Norm was referring to?

Mid-argument, the Vision family doorbell rings, which Wanda states she didn’t do. I’m inclined to believe her because when she opens the door, she is genuinely shocked speechless. At the door is her “brother” Pietro, now sporting the face of Evan Peters. Darcy asks the question we were all thinking as the episode closes, “She recast Pietro!?”

WandaVision Episode 4 Easter Eggs

This episode opens with the heartbreaking reveal that Monica Rambeau was one of the people lost to the Snapture from Infinity War. She returns from Endgame’s Reverse-Snap in a hospital where she had been awaiting news after her mother Maria’s surgery.

As Monica is waking up, we hear familiar voices echoing in her head. It’s Captain Marvel calling her by her childhood nickname, Lieutenant Trouble.

As Monica weaves through the chaos of people reappearing in the hospital post-Reverse-Snap, she finally locates someone who recognizes her. Although Maria survived the surgery five years ago, she died from cancer three years ago in real time, having not been blipped with her daughter.

We finally have some information on S.W.O.R.D.! The acronym stands for Sentient Weapon Observation Response Division, rather than the meaning in Marvel comics, which is Sentient World. It sounds a little more ominous, right?

Maria’s badass legacy continues well past her friendship with Captain Marvel; according to S.WO.R.D.’s acting director, Tyler Hayward, Maria helped build the agency during its inception. She was the acting director until her death.

Tim gives Monica a mission to help out the FBI in the town of WestView, NJ, where something super freaky is going on with a missing person’s case. This confirms that WestView is, indeed, a very real place.

Welcome back, Jimmy Woo! Monica’s FBI contact is none other than Scott Lang’s parole officer and semifriend, Agent Jimmy Woo.

Jimmy reveals that a person in witness protection has somehow dropped off the map in a town that no longer seems to exist where no one recalls anyone who lived there. In an attempt to figure out what’s going on, Monica sends in a S.W.O.R.D. drone that vanishes inside the forcefield. It’s revealed to have transformed into the retro-style helicopter that Wanda picks up in episode two! We can only assume that since it’s an item from the outside world, it gained color when it entered Wanda’s reality to show that it doesn’t belong.

Darcy Lewis is back! Now a doctor in astrophysics, Darcy is called to help figure out what’s gone wrong with WestView. She’s the one who figured out a signal for the broadcast and is the owner of the hand we saw watching Wanda and Vision in episode one.

The mysterious beekeeper from episode two is revealed to be S.W.O.R.D.’s Agent Franklin, who journeyed through Westview’s sewers to investigate. His hazmat suit became a beekeeper’s uniform, and the cable around his waist becomes a jump rope as he travels through the tunnels.

Darcy explains that the sitcom that’s become Wanda and Vision’s life is literally being broadcast through the signals that S.W.O.R.D.’s viewing, with an audience and everything. There’s no explanation for how this is happening, but Darcy and company watched those first three episodes just like we did, credits and all.

Darcy also points out that Vision is supposed to be dead-dead, which leaves his presence in WestView still unexplained.

While Darcy and Jimmy can identity a majority of the neighbors we’ve met in WestView to their real-life counterparts, Dottie and Agnes are the only ones who are missing real information.

It’s revealed that Agent Woo was the voice behind the radio disruption, just as we suspected! But while we can see Wanda and Dottie’s reaction to the call, Darcy’s broadcast didn’t show the same thing. She explains that someone is “censoring” the visuals they’re receiving, which means someone knows they’re watching.

Back in the sitcom WestView, we see that Monica’s slip-up resulted in Wanda blasting her through the house and the energy field. It’s the first time we physically see Wanda using her powers again, so she still has them. But the lapse in her facade has consequences — when Vision returns from his talk with Agnes and Herb outside, Wanda hallucinates him as she last saw him in Infinity War, a corpse with his head crushed in.

It’s important to note that Vision seems to become more aware of the strangeness of their world with each episode. It makes sense because no matter how human he may seem, he’s still a synthezoid who has always been able to see beyond the superficial. It harks back to his “birth” in Age of Ultron. He’s omnipotent and always learning.

When Monica lands back in the real world, all she says is, “It’s all Wanda.” That seemingly serves as an answer to what’s going on in WestView, but it’s not a whole answer. Wanda seems just as confused and unaware as everyone else, but she is willing to stay in her “perfect” world. The question is, who put Wanda in the position to have her perfect world?

WandaVision Episode 3 Easter Eggs

Much like the comics, Wanda magically becomes pregnant! But this time around, things are progressing much more quickly, and her doctor isn’t Dr. Strange.

The first of the episode’s weird glitches happens with Wanda and Vision’s neighbor Herb, who is attempting to saw through the brick fence separating the two houses instead of trimming his hedges. When Vision points out that his aim has gone a bit askew, Herb’s detached reaction is a bit creepy. He thanks Vision but keeps sawing through the wall! And unlike the previous weird behavior, there’s nothing that triggers the moment, especially not from Vision or Wanda.

Wanda and Vision contemplate what to name their baby boy, with Vision suggesting Billy and Wanda throwing out Tommy. (The argument becomes moot when they have twins!) These are the names of the pair’s sons in the comic, who later become members of the Young Avengers. In the show, Wanda chooses her name because it’s “all-American,” which is also a fair indicator of why her perfect reality is framed around sitcoms. Vision cites William Shakespeare as his inspiration and uses a quote from As You Like It that seems pretty on the nose. “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players” seems like a pointed reference to the fact that WandaVision is, in fact, all a show.

Wanda decorates the nursery using Simser brand paint, which is most likely a nod to Jeremy Simser, a storyboard artist for Marvel Studios and WandaVision.

The second glitch appears when Wanda says the residents of WestView always seem “on the verge of discovering our secret.” Vision has a moment of sobering clarity where he notes that something is wrong in WestView, citing the incidents with Mr. and Mrs. Hart and their neighbor Herb. A second after his says this, reality glitches and the scene starts over with Vision seemingly worry-free. The last time this happened with the beekeeper, it was clear Wanda was the culprit in turning back time, but in this case, she doesn’t seem to do anything to force the change. This suggests someone else is pulling the strings.

Wanda mentions that their child could be human or “synthezoid,” a term that originates in the comics. Although fans like to joke that Vision is an android, he’s technically a synthetic human. He’s not made of metal or machinery — in the comics, his body is composed of the bioengineering tech of Dr. Helen Cho, while in the MCU, he’s made of organic tissue mixed with vibranium and “powered” by the Mind Stone.

Vision jokes that Billy will be just like his mom, which is funny because, in the comics, Billy has magical abilities similar to Wanda’s powers. Tommy ends up having superspeed abilities like his uncle, Pietro.

It’s time for the third commercial! Much like the previous episode’s watch promotion, this break references Hydra — though a tad more directly. It’s all about Hydra Soak, and the message is decidedly more pointed than we’ve had before. “Escape to a world all your own, where your problems float away,” the announcer says. “When you want to get away, but you don’t want to go anywhere: Hydra Soak.” Marvel: Agents of Shield fans will recall that Hydra Soak HAS been mentioned on the show. During the series’s Framework arc, Phil Coulson claims that Hydra is brainwashing people using soap, so he makes his own. Is the commercial another sign that Hydra is behind the mystery of WestView? Is it a warning that no one in the town will be able to get away? And what’s that about finding the goddess within?

The actors in this ad are the same ones as the previous ones, Victoria Blade and Ithamar Enriquez. Their recurring presence might mean they have some significance in Wanda’s life. Maybe they’re her parents?

In what feels like an ominous follow-up to the Hydra Soak commercial, the doctor reveals that he and his wife won’t be taking their trip away after all. “Small towns, you know, so hard to escape,” he mutters, pointedly. I think we’re starting to get the hint, folks! Wanda mentions she is a twin and that her brother was named Pietro. It’s been a hot minute since anyone has talked about MCU’s Quicksilver — he made his debut back in Age of Ultron, the same film in which he was shot and killed.

When Geraldine lets it slip that she knows about Pietro’s death at the hands of Ultron, Wanda interrogates her and discovers her necklace bears a familiar symbol — it’s that damn S.W.O.R.D. logo, and Wanda is apparently not a fan.

In another sign that something is UP, Agnes and Herb seem to warn Vision about Geraldine. They note that she’s “brand new” to town with no family and start to say that “she came here because we’re all —” before they’re cut off. It’s worth noting that the two figures that may be MCU versions of formidable Marvel characters are the ones who seem to understand that strange things are going on in WestView. If Agnes and Herb are the MCU’s Agatha Harkness and High Evolutionary, they would definitely be the ones in the know. But why would they try to warn Vision about Geraldine if WestView is a trap?

Agnes is wearing her infamous brooch as a necklace that could be referencing an MCU supervillain mentioned before. The necklace has three figures close together, with the center figure holding what looks like a giant scythe. Is it another clue that the Grim Reaper is on his way?

Wanda literally throws Geraldine out of town — though she tells Vision that she had to run home — and Geraldine passes through what seems like a magical forcefield. While fans have been assuming WestView is a fake town, this shows us that physically, it’s a very real place. But it’s currently bubbled off with a barrier that Wanda can apparently allow people in and out of. And the song that plays as Geraldine finds herself outside the barrier? “Daydream Believer” by The Monkees. It seems pretty appropriate for a situation that feels like a surreal dream.

When Geraldine lands on the outskirts of real WestView, she’s instantly swarmed by cars and agents all bearing the S.W.O.R.D. logo. Since we know Teyonah Parris is playing the adult Monica Rambeau, it’s safe to assume Geraldine was an alias she used to go undercover in WestView. Combined with the mystery agent watching the show within the show from episode one, we can conclude that Wanda and Vision are being closely observed by S.W.O.R.D. for some reason. But they clearly aren’t the ones in control, since Monica is so easily forced out. What will they do next?

While the opening credits of this episode are a reference to The Brady Bunch, it’s the end credits that give us another clue about the big bad coming our way. Just like the previous episodes, Wanda and Vision are framed in a hexagon as the end credits roll. The symbol is so important because it’s the preferred shape of the creators at Advanced Idea Mechanics, or AIM, who are last seen in Iron Man 3. Remember the beekeeper suits that resemble AIM agents’ clothing? It seems like the evil organization might be making a comeback.

WandaVision Episode 2 Easter Eggs

The opening credits for this episode aren’t just an adorable homage to Bewitched but a whole bevy of Marvel Easter eggs! The illustration of the moon happens to be surrounded by six stars, and we can’t help but be reminded of the Infinity Gauntlet.

When Vision phases through the floor, there’s a dark shape that looks exactly like the helmet worn by Marvel supervillain Grim Reaper hidden in the space. In the comics, he’s the brother of Wonder Man, whose brainwaves were used in Vision’s creation.

When Wanda goes to the supermarket in the opening, three references hang above the aisle! Bova Milk refers to Bova, the humanoid cow who raised Wanda and Pietro on Mount Wundagore. Auntie A’s kitty litter is a witchy reference to Auntie Agatha or Agatha Harkness, whom we’ve discussed before, and her cat-like familiar named Ebony. And Wonder Mints is most definitely a cheeky reference to Wonder Man, aka Simon Williams, the superhero who Vision’s brainwaves are based on in the comics!

When animated Wanda and Vision settle on their couch, the small figure on their side table is a statue of the Whizzer. Featured in 1982’s Vision and the Scarlet Witch, the Whizzer thought he was Wanda’s father but later discovers he was wrong. Whizzer and his wife were offered the chance to adopt Wanda and Pietro when they were kids on the mythical Mount Wundagore, but they declined.

When Wanda hears a crash outside the house, she heads out to the front, where she finds a colorful toy helicopter in an otherwise black-and-white world. Not only does the red-and-yellow helicopter have the number 57 stamped on it, but it also bears the S.W.O.R.D symbol! The number is likely in reference to Vision’s first appearance in Avengers #57, while the symbol hints to the presence of S.W.O.R.D outside Wanda’s perfect world.

The creepy, cult-like refrain spoken by the fundraiser organizers of it all being “for the children” seems to be a reference to Wanda’s involvement in the comic event The Children’s Crusade. The story follows her son, Billy, who’s trying to gain control over his reality-warping abilities by looking for a missing Wanda.

Well, here’s another blast from the angsty past! The Strücker timepiece is a very obvious callback to Hydra and Baron von Strücker. The watch bears the unmistakable octopus skull symbol of Hydra, and Strücker is the Hydra leader who recruited Pietro and Wanda for the experimentation that gave them powers. He was later killed by Ultron in his prison cell. Does anyone else hear that ticking noise? Remember good ol’ Herb? In the comics, a character named Herbert is also the High Evolutionary who runs Mount Wundagore, the very same safe haven where Bova delivered the Maximoff twins. Time will tell if the super-scientist is the same character, but it can’t be a coincidence.

Wanda and Vision’s magic show has two gems that we’ve noticed! First thing, the literal Mind Stone happens to be the design on the doors of the Cabinet of Mystery that plays a huge part in their act. Second, Wanda and Vision use the names Illusion and Glamour for their actor, which are also the names of the magicians that Vision goes to see in an issue of The Vision and the Scarlet Witch.

Though we all enjoy a good jam, The Beach Boys’ “Help Me, Rhonda” gets interrupted by someone asking, “Who’s doing this to you, Wanda?” And doesn’t that voice sound an awful lot like Randall Park’s Jimmy Woo?

While it may seem weird that Wanda shows her pregnancy in an instant, it’s in line with what goes on in the comics. Wanda uses magic to help her have children, which checks out since her husband is a synthezoid.

Oooh, that mysterious beekeeper! Not only does their presence lead to the reveal that Wanda has some control over the reality they’re in, but it also sets off some alarm bells. Even though the beekeeper’s suit bears the S.W.O.R.D logo on the back, the costume is reminiscent of the yellow costumes worn by A.I.M., a military science organization founded by Baron von Strücker. Could this be a sign that Wanda is being watched by more than one organization? And is this a hint that Hydra is back!? (Obviously, it is.)

WandaVision Episode 1 Easter Eggs

When Wanda accidentally smashes a plate into Vision’s head, he jokes about his wife and her “flying saucers,” and she comments back about his “indestructible head.” Considering that Vision died after having the Mind Stone ripped from his head, it’s a dark joke to kick off the series.

Vision’s work tie has a visual reference to his comic-book alter ego! In Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta’s Vision, whenever the character dresses as a human, he wears a tie clip that emulates the diamond pattern on his chest.

Vision’s boss, Mr. Hart, is likely named after comic creator Steve Englehart, who created 1985’s The Vision and the Scarlet Witch with Richard Howell, a miniseries that heavily influenced WandaVision. It’s been heavily implied that Kathryn Hahn’s Agnes is the MCU’s Agatha Harkness, a witch who helped train Wanda’s magic back in the ’70s and ’80s.

When Wanda magically saves dinner, the bottle of wine she pours from is Maison du Mépris, which translates to house of contempt or scorn. As fans have pointed out since the trailer drop, this seems like a reference to the House of M comics storyline in which Wanda bends reality into a new world ruled by her family.

The Stark commercial break refers to two things: Avengers icon Tony Stark and his part in Wanda’s dark past. As Wanda and her twin brother, Pietro, explain in Avengers: Age of Ultron, their parents were killed by an explosive Stark Industries device, leaving the twins trapped under rubble. The Maximoffs were trapped by a Stark Industries shell for two days, expecting it to detonate before they get rescued. Even though Wanda eventually fights beside Tony in the future, there’s still some trauma from that experience and her brother’s death. If it weren’t for the Starks, Wanda could have been a completely different person.

The episode closes with a mysterious observer watching the “show” and taking notes on a pad with the logo of S.W.O.R.D. on the cover. For those who don’t know, S.W.O.R.D stands for Sentient World Observation and Response Department and is a subdivision of S.H.I.E.L.D. It’s a counterterrorism and intelligence agency that deals with extraterrestrial threats to world security. Expect to see them around more.

Press: A Thorough Breakdown of All the Marvel Easter Eggs on WandaVision was originally published on Elizabeth Olsen Source • Your source for everything Elizabeth Olsen

#Elizabeth Olsen #Avengers #Scarlet Witch #Avengers Infinity War #Avengers Age of Ultron #Captain America Civil War #Kodachrome #Ingrid Goes West #Godzilla #Sorry For Your loss

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thesvenqueen · 5 years ago

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Jurassic Park

Rating: T (may change, who knows) Words: 2082 Pairing: Kristanna Also on AO3

Previous Chapters ( 1 )

Note: wow, look, i wrote this real quick lol faster than i expected. either way, gonna try to keep updating quickly but you know...life happens and finds a way. anyways, thank you all for the support for ch.1 hopefully i won’t let y’all done

{Chapter 2}

To say the last few hours were a whirlwind would be an understatement.

Soon after Dr. Hammond’s arrival and full explanation of his suggested plan, Anna and Kristoff began preparing for their weekend getaway.

Kristoff had spent most of the time explaining to his TAs what to do while they were away, how to efficiently manage the site though most laughed when he began his explanation. Most if not all of his TA’s were well aware of the process, knew the routine like the back of their hand. Still, with it being such an important excavation and new sites being found nearly every day, he had to make sure.

This could potentially be the biggest discovery of their lives and the hell if he was going to let anyone mess it up.

Anna worked mostly with the students: explaining the in’s and out’s, what they’re next assignment would be, what she was expecting when they returned.

Not one of them, TAs and students alike, asked where they were going or why they were heading out. Mostly because word got around quick on this site and Kristoff was certain that they all knew who their surprise visitor was. In retrospect, it made things easier not having to explain over and over.

Once everything was settled and planned, they were off.

Now, after a quick helicopter ride, a few hours on a private plane (one that Kristoff had struggled to get even remotely comfortable on. Anna had giggled nearly the entire flight at him, making fun of the fact that despite how hard Kristoff tried, he failed miserably in enjoying the flight. To be fair, he’d never set foot into something so fancy and nice. He’d never felt so out of place and felt like anything he’d touch he’d ruin immediately) and one night on the island of Costa Rica, they were just one short helicopter flight away from reaching their destination.

Kristoff couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped him, Anna was practically buzzing in her seat. Since they’d left the hotel, her leg hadn’t stopped bouncing, a telling sign of her anxiousness.

“What?” She said, whipping around at the sound.

“Someone’s excited.”

“Why would you say that?” Anna said, trying to play it cool.

“I think your leg is shaking the car.”

Anna bit her lip, halting her leg, “Sorry.”

“Hey,” Krisotff said, grabbing her hand, “No need to be sorry.”

“I know I know, I just...it’s exciting! This whole thing I...never in my life did I think I’d ever meet Dr. Hammond, let alone fly on his private jet. It’s like a dream.”

Kristoff kissed the back of her hand, “I know what you mean.”

She smiled, “And the fact he’s going to help fund everything too?! Makes me excited to see what he has on this island of his.”

Kristoff hummed in agreement, “Me too.”

“Why does it feel like I’m the only one that’s excited?”

Kristoff sighed, “I am.” Truly, he was excited. This whole trip, like Anna had said, was something out of his wildest dreams. First class, fully paid, funding for three years; it was more than he’d ever imagined. But still… “I just, I have a weird feeling about this.”

“Why?” Anna asked, looking at him confused.

“He said it’s a park, a theme park, but he never said would tell us what exactly the park was. No theme or anything.” Kristoff furrowed his brows as he thought, “He never even mentioned a ride actually.”

“Maybe he wants it to be a surprise?”

“Maybe...I’m still stuck on why he’d want us, of all people to, come approve his park. You’d think we would be the last people to be picked. Then there was the fact his lawyer had been content on the idea of us coming too…” Not content, thrilled as Dr. Hammond had put it. “I don’t know.”

Kristoff rubbed his eyes then turning to look at her with a soft smile, “Maybe I’m just overthinking it.”

“Maybe…” Anna said, squeezing his hand, “But you’re not wrong. It’s all very...secretive.”

“Very.”

“Still, whatever it is, you should still enjoy it while we can.”

“We should.” Kristoff pulled her to him, wrapping his arm around her as she leaned against him. “Not like we’ll be getting this treatment again any time soon.”

Anna hummed in agreement, “I feel spoiled.”

“Do I not spoil you?”

“Oh you do, you really do but...definitely not like this.”

“...I’m slightly offended by that.”

-------

“Ah, my favorite couple!” Dr. Hammond called as they exited the car. He was standing next to the helicopter, again in all white but this time he held what looked to be a cane. One that oddly enough, was made to look as though it was made of bones. “I hope your trip wasn’t too bad.”

“Oh no, it was great, thank you.” Anna said, shaking his hand. “Couldn’t thank you enough for all of this, truly.:

“Please, it was the least I could do. Want to make sure you’re both as comfortable as possible. We should be moving along shortly. Waiting on one more guest and we should be on our way.” He turned to the driver of the car, “Sir, if you could just place the bags in the copter, my pilot will assist you.”

“No need, I’ll help.” Kristoff said, moving to the trunk.

They hadn’t brought much, only two bags which was more than enough for a quick weekend trip. As he pulled the suitcases out, he spotted another gentleman join Anna and Dr. Hammond as they walked towards the helicopter. Judging by his suit and briefcase, he must have been the lawyer that the Dr. had mentioned.

Odd choice of attire for such a tropical location but Kristoff didn’t judge. Well, only a little as when he passed he saw the poor man sweating bullets, pulling out a handkerchief from his coat to wipe off his forehead.

As he was handing one of their bags off to the pilot, he heard another car approaching. He didn’t turn to see the approach but heard it pull up and the engine cut off. When he handed the other bag to the pilot, he heard Anna gasp and then squeal in excitement.

“Oh my gosh,” She yelled, Kristoff turning just in time to see Anna take off towards the car.

There, standing next to the vehicle was a tall man with brown curly hair. He wore all black, right down to his shoes and belt. His buttoned shirt was undone just enough to show off just a bit of chest hair and a long, single crystal necklace. He was holding a leather jacket behind his shoulder, but he dropped it immediately upon seeing Anna running to him.

The man laughed as she reached him, engulfing her in a massive hug.

Kristoff watched them as he came back to stand next to Dr. Hammond. Anna and the man continued to chat for a moment, Anna laughing at something he said as the man smirked at her.

As they made their way over, Anna’s arm looped with the stranger’s, Kristoff heard Dr. Hammond sigh.

“Dr. Hammond, if I’d known you were bringing this angel along I would’ve complied much quicker.” The man joked.

Kristoff saw Dr. Hammond force a smile, “Yes well, I have a feeling that still would not have been enough for you.” He turned then, walking towards the doors of the helicopter.

If the man heard Dr. Hammond’s remark, he didn’t react. He was still intently looking down at Anna as she giggled, a smirk on his face.

One that created just a tinge of jealousy in Kristoff. He coughed then, catching his attention and Anna’s.

“Oh, Sven, this is my husband Kristoff Bjorgman. He’s a paleontologist as well, we work together at the university.”

Kristoff reached out his hand, shaking Sven’s, “Pleasure.”

“Pleasure is mine. You’re one lucky man to have snagged this one.” Sven said, smirking back to Anna.

She glared at Sven, “Kris, this is Sven, Sven Malcolm.” That name. Why did that name ring a bell? “He’s a mathematician.”

That caught Kristoff by surprise. “Mathematician?”

Sven chuckled, “Mostly yes, but nowadays I’m more into chaos.”

Anna rolled her eyes, “Yes, so I have heard.”

“Oh, you’ve been keeping up with me have you?”

“Only enough to know that you should’ve stuck to mathematics. Your whole chaos theory pursuit is just that, chaos.”

Oh. Now he knew where he’d heard that name.

Sven Malcom.

The lead theorist in the chaos theory, or at least currently. The theory itself was not a new theory, Kristoff remembers hearing about it during school but he never quite understood it. He knew the theory was mathematics based, why most theorists were mathematicians themselves, but the theory overall went right over his head.

Something about there are patterns but then again there weren’t patterns? Something about the Butterfly effect too?

Either way, unlike many of the others who believed within the theory, Sven was very outspoken on his belief in it.

Extremely outspoken.

That was why when he had gotten into trouble once, his name had made headlines. Something about after speaking at a university, he got into an intense argument with a professor after, over the chaos theory, that somehow then led to a fist fight. He remembers that part because both Sven and the professor had spent a night in jail, and when asked about the incident, Sven had just said “Well, that’s chaos for you.”

It had screamed self-centered when Kristoff read it, and now seeing Sven face to face, he had been very accurate.

The idea of Anna knowing this man was...surprising to say the least.

“It suits me.” Sven said with a grin, “Chaos is my middle name, as you are well aware.”

“Yes, as is trouble and many other words I could think of if you gave me time.”

Sven raised a hand up to his heart, a look of hurt on his face, “Such snark Anna, you haven’t changed one bit.”

Anna giggled then, “Neither have you!”

“How do you know each other, exactly?” Kristoff interrupted, sounding a little too harsh even to his own ears.

“Oh,” Anna said, “We were friends in college! I was struggling in my math class freshman year and he offered to help.”

“You needed it.”

“Shut up, I was doing just fine. Just...needed a little assistance is all.” Anna said, “Anyways, we stayed friends after that and then just sort of faded off after graduation and that was, what, how many years ago?”

“Oh, that was such a long time ago. Making me feel quite old now.”

“You are old.”

“Not as old as you! Look at you, you’re a married woman now! Never thought I’d see the day!”

Anna gaped at Sven and smacked his arm as he just merely chuckled.

Kristoff stood watching the two and the twinge of jealousy was blooming slowly to something much larger.

For the love of God Bjorgman, you’re married to her. She’s your wife and he’s just her friend, get it together!

But still, something about the way Sven held himself, how he smirked, how he patted Anna’s hand, it just made Kristoff’s jaw clench.

“Alright, I think we are all set then.” Dr. Hammond said, interrupting Kristoff’s thoughts. The Dr. turned to the pilot and pointed his cane, “Start the engine Andrew, if you could please!”

Kristoff wore a small smile as Anna came back to his side, grabbing his hand. “You ready?”

He turned towards the helicopter, watching everyone climb inside. Sven said something, he couldn’t catch it as it had been drowned out by the sound of the engines, but whatever he had said had made Dr. Hammond frown, close his eyes and sigh.

So far, there had been nothing that Sven had said that Dr. Hammond had liked. Which raised the question, if he didn’t like the man, why bring him to the park? Then again, why invite a mathematician to this theme park in the first place? What did his approval have to do with anything?

None of it made sense to him, nothing at all. He felt just as confused about the whole thing as he did about the chaos theory.

Kristoff sighed, mentally preparing himself for what just became possibly a very very long weekend and hoping to God he wasn’t about to regret this, “As ready as I ever will be.”

#kristanna #kristoff #anna #sven #baby boy has ARRIVED #jessica writes #jurassic park au #hopefully i wrote him well #we'll see

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captain-sodapop · 4 years ago

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so here’s a list of music moments I would have liked to have seen in supernatural:

Elmer Bernstein’s theme to The Hallelujah Trail should have been played during Dean’s just...absolute finest moment, whatever that may have been. Maybe it was something we never saw, but it definitely would have happened close to the end of the show’s run. Not only is it the theme to an old cowboy movie (and we all know Dean loves cowboys and westerns) scored by one of Hollywood’s best composers, it’s got such a fun grandeur to it that I think Dean embodies in his best moments. Just imagine him contemplating whatever impulsive, batshit thing he’s about to do for all of half a second, he stands, puts on his cowboy hat, gets in his trusty steed, and goes off to kill the bad guys like the Last Great American Cowboy he is.

“Milky White Way” is a song off of one of Elvis’s gospel albums, and it’s just so Sam. It is simple, clean, beautiful faith that dreams of one day going back to Heaven, back to you maker, back to your mother. Imagine Sam sneaking out on a Sunday morning and walking into a church service while this plays and he seeks out comfort in his faith, in prayer, in such a rockabilly, Nashville way. (Alternate take would have worked beautifully, as well.)

Mary should have killed some monsters and been seen driving cross-country to The Lemonheads’ cover of “Mrs. Robinson.” That would have been so badass. Here’s to you, Mrs. Winchester.

“Tomorrow” from Annie is a Jack song. It might seem like a weird choice, especially since I’m not a huge fan of the play in general, but hear me out: Jack, awake in the middle of the night, scared of what’s to come, unsure of what’s next, a mess after another nightmare, and he bumps into Cas as he takes his nightly walkabout around the bunker. Cas does what he can to assure him even though he himself is scared, and they go outside to watch the sunrise, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder. They’re both uncertain, but they have each other, and as the sun rises and the darkness of the screen silhouettes as if they have a bright spotlight on them, the song reaches its swelling climax before the spotlight goes out and they cut to the credits.

Rowena’s theme song is Bowie’s “Queen Bitch.” Period, full stop.

Every snippet we get of Cas driving around, there’s something different playing on the radio, not just sermons. He listens to a lot of hymns and pop music.

In an early seasons episode, season 1 or 2, Sam and Dean are undercover at a college toga party (complete with togas and olive wreaths) and get roped into “Shout” a la Animal House. One of them is dancing, the other one is getting the kill during the song sequence.

Macca’s “Dear Boy” plays the first time Sam loses Eileen. But in a version of the ending where we get to see the two of them reunite after Dean’s death and they decide they want to spend the rest of their lives together, it’s George Harrison’s “What is Life” that plays in a montage of them coming together. It’s funny, because Sam doesn’t know now what his life would be life without Eileen, just like he never used to know what it would be like without Dean and Cas and Jack.

“Everybody’s Gotta Live” is a very first apocalypse-era song. Just the two of them, Sam and Dean, absolutely miserable after another thwarted attempt to stop fate in its tracks intercut with Castiel’s search for God. All of it fruitless.

Why do I want to see Cas and Meg searching for each other in a busy club while “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)” plays? I just do. Who even knows why they’re there, but they are. Quick cuts between the two of them, a confident Meg and slightly nervous Cas, surrounded by smoke and bathed in dark, colorful light until they bump into each other and wordlessly, breathlessly kiss, Meg tearing off his trench coat and suit jacket just to get that much closer to him.

When Cas gets swallowed by the Empty, “Video Killed the Radio Star” plays. (Video = the Empty, Cas = the Radio Star. Get it?) But like, the part starting at about the 2-minute mark where the guitars are just...woah.

Sam and Dean are riding along in Garth’s car on a hunt, late season 7 or sometime in season 8, and Dean reaches for the radio. Garth, though, smiles and holds up a hand. “Allow me,” he says, and MF Doom’s “Vinca Rosea” begins to play. They emerge from the car in slow motion under a bright moon, and the footage speeds up as they hunt down the baddie. It is the most badass Garth has ever looked and will ever look.

Montage of Standford!Sam set to “Campus” because DUH.

John is flashing back to his Vietnam days in, well, a flashback. He’s completely sober as he tells Sam and Dean about ‘Nam, about the horrors inflicted by humans and ends the story by telling them “And that’s why I know how to make a bed with sheets so tight I can bounce a quarter off it.” “Fortunate Son”, of course, plays. Young Sam and Dean just kinda shrug at each other and say “got it, Dad. Jungle scary.” John rolls his eyes.

“Heaven On Their Minds” and season 6 Cas. Tell me it doesn’t work.

They want Jensen to sing so much? Dean apparently likes Fiddler On the Roof? Alright, then he can sing “If I Were A Rich Man” in a weird, daydream-esque sequence in an episode where the case is one that forces a serious exploration of class and the brothers’ status on the fringes of society. A window into Dean’s own desire to be secure.

Jack finally gets to pick the music on the drive home, and guess what? He’s picked “The Rainbow Connection.” It just makes him so happy, and he smiles the whole time. Four bloodied and beaten men driving along in the Impala, and Cas watches on with fond bewilderment as the other three sing along. (Sam and Dean really resist at first, but when Sam cracks, Dean is quick to follow.)

Sam and Dean do something spectacularly stupid (think Malcolm in the Middle levels of stupid) to “I Should Be Allowed to Think” because the brilliantly stupid idea is Sam’s, and he likes TMBG. But also, he’s thinking about the life he gave up - all that potential, wasted. The worst hope of his generation for sure. But Dean looks like he’s having a good time and it miraculously all works out, so it’s okay for now.

“Things Have Changed” needs to be in there somewhere, definitely in the later seasons, but I’m not quite sure where. It just needs to be there. And “Duquesne Whistle” in some little diner and “Like a Rolling Stone” (like, that whole ALBUM) and UGH DYLAN IS PERFECT FOR THIS SHOW. All the Bob Dylan!

Come to think of it, all of All Things Must Pass, too. Just scattered throughout the show. So much about love and faith and even brotherhood in there.

Two brothers, driving home to Kansas, standing amongst the summer crop after the rain as the sun slowly sets with a couple of beers and “Over the Rainbow.” Just glad to be home.

#and there's your nye playlist! you're welcome!#supernatural #spn #spn fanfic #spn meta #sorta #abby speaks

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blackkudos · 5 years ago

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Gil Scott-Heron

Gilbert Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011) was an American soul and jazz poet, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician Brian Jackson featured a musical fusion of jazz, blues, and soul, as well as lyrical content concerning social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping and melismatic vocal styles by Scott-Heron. His own term for himself was "bluesologist", which he defined as "a scientist who is concerned with the origin of the blues".

His music, most notably on the albums Pieces of a Man and Winter in America in the early 1970s, influenced and foreshadowed later African-American music genres such as hip hop and neo soul. Scott-Heron is considered by many to be the first rapper/MC ever. His recording work received much critical acclaim, especially one of his best-known compositions, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". AllMusic's John Bush called him "one of the most important progenitors of rap music," stating that "his aggressive, no-nonsense street poetry inspired a legion of intelligent rappers while his engaging songwriting skills placed him square in the R&B charts later in his career."

Scott-Heron remained active until his death, and in 2010 released his first new album in 16 years, entitled I'm New Here. A memoir he had been working on for years up to the time of his death, The Last Holiday, was published posthumously in January 2012. Scott-Heron received a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. He also is included in the exhibits at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) that officially opened on September 24, 2016, on the National Mall, and in an NMAAHC publication, Dream a World Anew.

Early years

Gil Scott-Heron was born in Chicago, Illinois. His mother, Bobbie Scott, was an opera singer who performed with the New York Oratorio Society. Scott-Heron's father, Gil Heron, nicknamed "The Black Arrow", was a Jamaican soccer player in the 1950s who became the first black man to play for Celtic Football Club in Glasgow. Gil's parents separated in his early childhood and he was sent to live with his maternal grandmother, Lillie Scott, in Jackson, Tennessee. When Scott-Heron was 12 years old, his grandmother died and he returned to live with his mother in The Bronx in New York City. He enrolled at DeWitt Clinton High School, but later transferred to The Fieldston School after impressing the head of the English department with one of his writings and earning a full scholarship. As one of five black students at the prestigious school, Scott-Heron was faced with alienation and a significant socioeconomic gap. During his admissions interview at Fieldston, an administrator asked him, "'How would you feel if you see one of your classmates go by in a limousine while you're walking up the hill from the subway?' And [he] said, 'Same way as you. Y'all can't afford no limousine. How do you feel?'" This type of intractable boldness would become a hallmark of Scott-Heron's later recordings.

After completing his secondary education, Scott-Heron decided to attend Lincoln University in Pennsylvania because Langston Hughes (his most important literary influence) was an alumnus. It was here that Scott-Heron met Brian Jackson with whom he formed the band Black & Blues. After about two years at Lincoln, Scott-Heron took a year off to write the novels The Vulture and The Nigger Factory. Scott-Heron was very heavily influenced by the Black Arts Movement. The Last Poets, a group associated with the Black Arts Movement performed at Lincoln in 1969 and Abiodun Oyewole of that Harlem group said Scott-Heron asked him after the performance, "Listen, can I start a group like you guys?" Scott-Heron returned to New York City, settling in Chelsea, Manhattan. The Vulture was published by the World Publishing Company in 1970 to positive reviews.

Although Scott-Heron never completed his undergraduate degree, he was admitted to the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University, where he received an M.A. in creative writing in 1972. His master's thesis was titled Circle of Stone. Beginning in 1972, Scott-Heron taught literature and creative writing for several years as a full-time lecturer at Federal City College in Washington, D.C. while maintaining his music career.

Recording career

Scott-Heron began his recording career in 1970 with the LP Small Talk at 125th and Lenox. Bob Thiele of Flying Dutchman Records produced the album, and Scott-Heron was accompanied by Eddie Knowles and Charlie Saunders on conga and David Barnes on percussion and vocals. The album's 14 tracks dealt with themes such as the superficiality of television and mass consumerism, the hypocrisy of some would-be black revolutionaries, and white middle-class ignorance of the difficulties faced by inner-city residents. In the liner notes, Scott-Heron acknowledged as influences Richie Havens, John Coltrane, Otis Redding, Jose Feliciano, Billie Holiday, Langston Hughes, Malcolm X, Huey Newton, Nina Simone, and long-time collaborator Brian Jackson.

Scott-Heron's 1971 album Pieces of a Man used more conventional song structures than the loose, spoken-word feel of Small Talk. He was joined by Jackson, Johnny Pate as conductor, Ron Carter on bass and bass guitar, drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, Burt Jones playing electric guitar, and Hubert Laws on flute and saxophone, with Thiele producing again. Scott-Heron's third album, Free Will, was released in 1972. Jackson, Purdie, Laws, Knowles, and Saunders all returned to play on Free Will and were joined by Jerry Jemmott playing bass, David Spinozza on guitar, and Horace Ott (arranger and conductor). Carter later said about Scott-Heron's voice: "He wasn't a great singer, but, with that voice, if he had whispered it would have been dynamic. It was a voice like you would have for Shakespeare."

1974 saw another LP collaboration with Brian Jackson, the critically acclaimed opus Winter in America, with Bob Adams on drums and Danny Bowens on bass. The album contained Scott-Heron's most cohesive material and featured more of Jackson's creative input than his previous albums had. Winter in America has been regarded by many critics as the two musicians' most artistic effort. The following year, Scott-Heron and Jackson released Midnight Band: The First Minute of a New Day. 1975 saw the release of the single "Johannesburg", a rallying cry to the issue of apartheid in South Africa. The song would be re-issued, in 12"-single form, together with "Waiting for the Axe to Fall" and "B-movie" in 1983.

A live album, It's Your World, followed in 1976 and a recording of spoken poetry, The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron, was released in 1978. Another success followed with the hit single "Angel Dust", which he recorded as a single with producer Malcolm Cecil. "Angel Dust" peaked at No. 15 on the R&B charts in 1978.

In 1979, Scott-Heron played at the No Nukes concerts at Madison Square Garden. The concerts were organized by Musicians United for Safe Energy to protest the use of nuclear energy following the Three Mile Island accident. Scott-Heron's song, "We Almost Lost Detroit" was included in the No Nukes album of concert highlights. It alluded to a previous nuclear power plant accident and was also the title of a book by John G. Fuller. Scott-Heron was a frequent critic of President Ronald Reagan and his conservative policies.

Scott-Heron recorded and released four albums during the 1980s: 1980 and Real Eyes (1980), Reflections (1981) and Moving Target (1982). In February 1982, Ron Holloway joined the ensemble to play tenor saxophone. He toured extensively with Scott-Heron and contributed to his next album, Moving Target the same year. His tenor accompaniment is a prominent feature of the songs "Fast Lane" and "Black History/The World". Holloway continued with Scott-Heron until the summer of 1989, when he left to join Dizzy Gillespie. Several years later, Scott-Heron would make cameo appearances on two of Ron Holloway's CDs; Scorcher (1996) and Groove Update (1998), both on the Fantasy/Milestone label.

Scott-Heron was dropped by Arista Records in 1985 and quit recording, though he continued to tour. The same year he helped compose and sang "Let Me See Your I.D." on the Artists United Against Apartheid album Sun City, containing the famous line, "The first time I heard there was trouble in the Middle East, I thought they were talking about Pittsburgh". The song compares racial tensions in the U.S. with those in apartheid-era South Africa, implying that the U.S. was not too far ahead in race relations. In 1993, he signed to TVT Records and released Spirits, an album that included the seminal track "'Message to the Messengers". The first track on the album criticized the rap artists of the day. Scott-Heron is known in many circles as "the Godfather of rap" and is widely considered to be one of the genre's founding fathers. Given the political consciousness that lies at the foundation of his work, he can also be called a founder of political rap. Message to the Messengers was a plea for the new generation of rappers to speak for change rather than perpetuate the current social situation, and to be more articulate and artistic. Regarding hip hop music in the 1990s, he said in an interview:

They need to study music. I played in several bands before I began my career as a poet. There's a big difference between putting words over some music, and blending those same words into the music. There's not a lot of humor. They use a lot of slang and colloquialisms, and you don't really see inside the person. Instead, you just get a lot of posturing.

Later years

Prison terms and more performing

In 2001, Scott-Heron was sentenced to one to three years imprisonment in a New York State prison for possession of cocaine. While out of jail in 2002, he appeared on the Blazing Arrow album by Blackalicious. He was released on parole in 2003, the year BBC TV broadcast the documentary Gil Scott-Heron: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised—Scott-Heron was arrested for possession of a crack pipe during the editing of the film in October 2003 and received a six-month prison sentence.

On July 5, 2006, Scott-Heron was sentenced to two to four years in a New York State prison for violating a plea deal on a drug-possession charge by leaving a drug rehabilitation center. He claimed that he left because the clinic refused to supply him with HIV medication. This story led to the presumption that the artist was HIV positive, subsequently confirmed in a 2008 interview. Originally sentenced to serve until July 13, 2009, he was paroled on May 23, 2007.

After his release, Scott-Heron began performing live again, starting with a show at SOB's restaurant and nightclub in New York on September 13, 2007. On stage, he stated that he and his musicians were working on a new album and that he had resumed writing a book titled The Last Holiday, previously on long-term hiatus, about Stevie Wonder and his successful attempt to have the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. declared a federally recognized holiday in the United States.

Malik Al Nasir dedicated a collection of poetry to Scott-Heron titled Ordinary Guy that contained a foreword by Jalal Mansur Nuriddin of The Last Poets. Scott-Heron recorded one of the poems in Nasir's book entitled Black & Blue in 2006.

In April 2009, on BBC Radio 4, poet Lemn Sissay presented a half-hour documentary on Gil Scott-Heron entitled Pieces of a Man, having interviewed Gil Scott-Heron in New York a month earlier. Pieces of a Man was the first UK announcement from Scott-Heron of his forthcoming album and return to form. In November 2009, the BBC's Newsnight interviewed Scott-Heron for a feature titled The Legendary Godfather of Rap Returns. In 2009, a new Gil Scott-Heron website, gilscottheron.net, was launched with a new track "Where Did the Night Go" made available as a free download from the site.

In 2010, Scott-Heron was booked to perform in Tel Aviv, Israel, but this attracted criticism from pro-Palestinian activists, who stated: "Your performance in Israel would be the equivalent to having performed in Sun City during South Africa's apartheid era... We hope that you will not play apartheid Israel". Scott-Heron responded by canceling the performance.

I'm New Here

Scott-Heron released his album I'm New Here on independent label XL Recordings on February 9, 2010. Produced by XL label owner Richard Russell, I'm New Here was Scott-Heron's first studio album in 16 years. The pair started recording the album in 2007, with the majority of the record being recorded over the 12 months leading up to the release date with engineer Lawson White at Clinton Studios in New York. I'm New Here is 28 minutes long with 15 tracks; however, casual asides and observations collected during recording sessions are included as interludes.

The album attracted critical acclaim, with The Guardian's Jude Rogers declaring it one of the "best of the next decade", while some have called the record "reverent" and "intimate", due to Scott-Heron's half-sung, half-spoken delivery of his poetry. In a music review for public radio network NPR, Will Hermes stated: "Comeback records always worry me, especially when they're made by one of my heroes ... But I was haunted by this record ... He's made a record not without hope but which doesn't come with any easy or comforting answers. In that way, the man is clearly still committed to speaking the truth". Writing for music website Music OMH, Darren Lee provided a more mixed assessment of the album, describing it as rewarding and stunning, but he also states that the album's brevity prevents it "from being an unassailable masterpiece".

Scott-Heron described himself as a mere participant in an interview with The New Yorker:

This is Richard's CD. My only knowledge when I got to the studio was how he seemed to have wanted this for a long time. You're in a position to have somebody do something that they really want to do, and it was not something that would hurt me or damage me—why not? All the dreams you show up in are not your own.

The remix version of the album, We're New Here, was released in 2011, featuring production by English musician Jamie xx, who reworked material from the original album. Like the original album, We're New Here received critical acclaim.

In April 2014, XL Recordings announced a third album from the I'm New Here sessions, titled Nothing New. The album consists of stripped-down piano and vocal recordings and was released in conjunction with Record Store Day on April 19, 2014.

Death

Scott-Heron died on the afternoon of May 27, 2011, at St. Luke's Hospital, New York City, after becoming ill upon returning from a European trip. Scott-Heron had confirmed previous press speculation about his health, when he disclosed in a 2008 New York Magazine interview that he had been HIV-positive for several years, and that he had been previously hospitalized for pneumonia.

He was survived by his firstborn daughter, Raquiyah "Nia" Kelly Heron, from his relationship with Pat Kelly; his son Rumal Rackley, from his relationship with Lurma Rackley; daughter Gia Scott-Heron, from his marriage to Brenda Sykes; and daughter Chegianna Newton, who was 13 years old at the time of her father's death. He is also survived by his sister Gayle; brother Denis Heron, who once managed Scott-Heron; his uncle, Roy Heron; and nephew Terrance Kelly, an actor and rapper who performs as Mr. Cheeks, and who was a member of Lost Boyz.

Before his death, Scott-Heron had been in talks with Portuguese director Pedro Costa to participate in his film Horse Money as a screenwriter, composer and actor.

After Scott-Heron's death, Malik Al Nasir told The Guardian's Simon Hattenstone of the kindness that Scott-Heron had showed him throughout his adult life since meeting the poet back stage at a gig in Liverpool in 1984. The BBC World Service covered the story on their Outlook program with Matthew Bannister, which took the story global. It was subsequently covered in other media such as BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live, where jazz musician Al Jarreau paid tribute to Gil, and was mentioned the U.S. edition of Rolling Stone and The Huffington Post. Malik & the O.G's performed a tribute to Scott-Heron at the Liverpool International Music Festival in 2013 with jazz composer Orphy Robinson of The Jazz Warriors and Rod Youngs from Gil's band The Amnesia Express. Another tribute was performed at St. Georges Hall in Liverpool on August 27, 2015, called "The Revolution will be Live!", curated by Malik Al Nasir and Richard McGinnis for Yesternight Productions. The event featured Talib Kweli, Aswad, The Christians, Malik & the O.G's, Sophia Ben-Yousef and Cleveland Watkiss as well as DJ 2Kind and poet, actor, and radio DJ Craig Charles. The tribute was the opening event for 2015 Liverpool International Music Festival.

In response to Scott-Heron's death, Public Enemy's Chuck D stated "RIP GSH...and we do what we do and how we do because of you" on his Twitter account. His UK publisher, Jamie Byng, called him "one of the most inspiring people I've ever met". On hearing of the death, R&B singer Usher stated: "I just learned of the loss of a very important poet...R.I.P., Gil Scott-Heron. The revolution will be live!!". Richard Russell, who produced Scott-Heron's final studio album, called him a "father figure of sorts to me", while Eminem stated: "He influenced all of hip-hop". Lupe Fiasco wrote a poem about Scott-Heron that was published on his website.

Scott-Heron's memorial service was held at Riverside Church in New York City on June 2, 2011, where Kanye West performed "Lost in the World" and "Who Will Survive in America", two songs from West's album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The studio album version of West's "Who Will Survive in America" features a spoken-word excerpt by Scott-Heron. Scott-Heron is buried at Kensico Cemetery in Westchester County in New York.

Scott-Heron was honored posthumously in 2012 by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Charlotte Fox, member of the Washington, DC NARAS and president of Genesis Poets Music, nominated Scott-Heron for the award, while the letter of support came from Grammy award winner and Grammy Hall of Fame inductee Bill Withers.

Scott-Heron's memoir, The Last Holiday, was published in January 2012. In her review for the Los Angeles Times, professor of English and journalism Lynell George wrote:

The Last Holiday is as much about his life as it is about context, the theater of late 20th century America — from Jim Crow to the Reagan '80s and from Beale Street to 57th Street. The narrative is not, however, a rise-and-fall retelling of Scott-Heron's life and career. It doesn't connect all the dots. It moves off-the-beat, at its own speed ... This approach to revelation lends the book an episodic quality, like oral storytelling does. It winds around, it repeats itself.

Scott-Heron's estate

At the time of Scott-Heron's death, a will could not be found to determine the future of his estate. Additionally, Raquiyah Kelly-Heron filed papers in Manhattan, New York's Surrogate's Court in August 2013, claiming that Rumal Rackley is not Scott-Heron's son and should therefore be omitted from matters concerning the musician's estate.According to the Daily News website, Rackley, Kelly-Heron and two other sisters have been seeking a resolution to the issue of the management of Scott-Heron's estate, as Rackley stated in court papers that Scott-Heron prepared him to be the eventual administrator of the estate. Scott-Heron's 1994 album Spirits was dedicated to "my son Rumal and my daughters Nia and Gia", and in court papers Rackley added that Scott-Heron introduced me [Rackley] from the stage as his son."

In 2011, Rackley filed a suit against sister Gia Scott-Heron and her mother, Scott-Heron's first wife, Brenda Sykes, as he believed they had unfairly attained US$250,000 of Scott-Heron's money. The case was later settled for an undisclosed sum in early 2013; but the relationship between Rackley and Scott-Heron's two adult daughters already had become strained in the months after Gil's death. In her submission to the Surrogate's Court, Kelly-Heron states that a DNA test completed by Rackley in 2011—using DNA from Scott-Heron's brother—revealed that they "do not share a common male lineage", while Rackley has refused to undertake another DNA test since that time. A hearing to address Kelly-Heron's filing was scheduled for late August 2013, but by March 2016 further information on the matter was not publicly available. Rackley still serves as court-appointed administrator for the estate, and donated material to the Smithsonian's new National Museum of African American History and Culture for Scott-Heron to be included among the exhibits and displays when the museum opened in September 2016. In December 2018, the Surrogate Court ruled that Rumal Rackley and his half sisters are all legal heirs.

According to the Daily News website, Kelly-Heron and two other sisters have been seeking a resolution to the issue of the management of Scott-Heron's estate. The case was decided in December 2018 with a ruling issued in May 2019.

Influence and legacy

Scott-Heron's work has influenced writers, academics and musicians, from indie rockers to rappers. His work during the 1970s influenced and helped engender subsequent African-American music genres, such as hip hop and neo soul. He has been described by music writers as "the godfather of rap" and "the black Bob Dylan".

Chicago Tribune writer Greg Kot comments on Scott-Heron's collaborative work with Jackson:

Together they crafted jazz-influenced soul and funk that brought new depth and political consciousness to '70s music alongside Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. In classic albums such as 'Winter in America' and 'From South Africa to South Carolina,' Scott-Heron took the news of the day and transformed it into social commentary, wicked satire, and proto-rap anthems. He updated his dispatches from the front lines of the inner city on tour, improvising lyrics with an improvisational daring that matched the jazz-soul swirl of the music".

Of Scott-Heron's influence on hip hop, Kot writes that he "presag[ed] hip-hop and infus[ed] soul and jazz with poetry, humor and pointed political commentary". Ben Sisario of The New York Times writes that "He [Scott-Heron] preferred to call himself a "bluesologist", drawing on the traditions of blues, jazz and Harlem renaissance poetics". Tris McCall of The Star-Ledger writes that "The arrangements on Gil Scott-Heron's early recordings were consistent with the conventions of jazz poetry – the movement that sought to bring the spontaneity of live performance to the reading of verse". A music writer later noted that "Scott-Heron's unique proto-rap style influenced a generation of hip-hop artists", while The Washington Post wrote that "Scott-Heron's work presaged not only conscious rap and poetry slams, but also acid jazz, particularly during his rewarding collaboration with composer-keyboardist-flutist Brian Jackson in the mid- and late '70s". The Observer's Sean O'Hagan discussed the significance of Scott-Heron's music with Brian Jackson, stating:

Together throughout the 1970s, Scott-Heron and Jackson made music that reflected the turbulence, uncertainty and increasing pessimism of the times, merging the soul and jazz traditions and drawing on an oral poetry tradition that reached back to the blues and forward to hip-hop. The music sounded by turns angry, defiant and regretful while Scott-Heron's lyrics possessed a satirical edge that set them apart from the militant soul of contemporaries such as Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield.

Will Layman of PopMatters wrote about the significance of Scott-Heron's early musical work:

In the early 1970s, Gil Scott-Heron popped onto the scene as a soul poet with jazz leanings; not just another Bill Withers, but a political voice with a poet's skill. His spoken-voice work had punch and topicality. "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" and "Johannesburg" were calls to action: Stokely Carmichael if he'd had the groove of Ray Charles. 'The Bottle' was a poignant story of the streets: Richard Wright as sung by a husky-voiced Marvin Gaye. To paraphrase Chuck D, Gil Scott-Heron's music was a kind of CNN for black neighborhoods, prefiguring hip-hop by several years. It grew from the Last Poets, but it also had the funky swing of Horace Silver or Herbie Hancock—or Otis Redding. Pieces of a Man and Winter in America (collaborations with Brian Jackson) were classics beyond category".

Scott-Heron's influence over hip hop is primarily exemplified by his definitive single "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", sentiments from which have been explored by various rappers, including Aesop Rock, Talib Kweli and Common. In addition to his vocal style, Scott-Heron's indirect contributions to rap music extend to his and co-producer Jackson's compositions, which have been sampled by various hip-hop artists. "We Almost Lost Detroit" was sampled by Brand Nubian member Grand Puba ("Keep On"), Native Tongues duo Black Star ("Brown Skin Lady"), and MF Doom ("Camphor"). Additionally, Scott-Heron's 1980 song "A Legend in His Own Mind" was sampled on Mos Def's "Mr. Nigga", the opening lyrics from his 1978 recording "Angel Dust" were appropriated by rapper RBX on the 1996 song "Blunt Time" by Dr. Dre, and CeCe Peniston's 2000 song "My Boo" samples Scott-Heron's 1974 recording "The Bottle".

In addition to the Scott-Heron excerpt used in "Who Will Survive in America", Kanye West sampled Scott-Heron and Jackson's "Home is Where the Hatred Is" and "We Almost Lost Detroit" for the songs "My Way Home" and "The People", respectively, both of which are collaborative efforts with Common. Scott-Heron, in turn, acknowledged West's contributions, sampling the latter's 2007 single "Flashing Lights" on his final album, 2010's I'm New Here.

Scott-Heron admitted ambivalence regarding his association with rap, remarking in 2010 in an interview for the Daily Swarm: "I don't know if I can take the blame for [rap music]". As New York Times writer Sisario explained, he preferred the moniker of "bluesologist". Referring to reviews of his last album and references to him as the "godfather of rap", Scott-Heron said: "It's something that's aimed at the kids ... I have kids, so I listen to it. But I would not say it's aimed at me. I listen to the jazz station." In 2013, Chattanooga rapper Isaiah Rashad recorded an unofficial mixtape called Pieces of a Kid, which was greatly influenced by Heron's debut album Pieces of a Man.

Following Scott-Heron's funeral in 2011, a tribute from publisher, record company owner, poet, and music producer Malik Al Nasir was published on The Guardian's website, titled "Gil Scott-Heron saved my life".

In the 2018 film First Man, Scott-Heron is a minor character and is played by soul singer Leon Bridges.

He is one of eight significant people shown in mosaic at the 167th Street renovated subway station on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx that reopened in 2019.

#04/01 #05/27

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tokuxsenshi · 5 years ago

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Power rangers 2017 review

so the other day me and my friend watched the 2017 movie. I’m just gonna let this out right now I do not like it so if your just gonna read this to get mad I won’t waste your time.

so I’ll start with the plot. it starts with Zordon and Rita fighting on earth which is stupid because what would you rather watch and epic space war with a moon witch conquering many planet or a scene on an earth so grey and drab it makes the post apocalypse cry. well Zordon tells Rita shes a shit power ranger and she kills him and goes into the ocean or something. we flash forward. 10,000 year ooo big surprise. And we go right to suggested cow molestation! what an opener! then Billy from stranger things gets hit by a car and should probably be dead and he just gets detention despite he later seen with an ankle monitor you don’t get those for braking into a school with a cow you get them for being on probation with the law and if hes on probation with the law THEY WOULDN’T LET HIM IN SCHOOL! Here where we go into what I call movie number 1 the breakfast club remake that was to short. we meet Other Billy and he gets beat up by who me and my friend like to call Canadian Ed Sheeran name Corn Wallace or just Bully even though there were bullies in MMPR named Bulk and Skull couldn’t even be Corn Bulkmire. then we meet my least favorite character Trimberly and just send nude pictures of a teenager without concent like a sexual predator maybe she should have the ankle monitor... Then she pulls sissors out of a wall that another girl shoved into the wall but how fucking strong are these damn teens then she used to give herself the most wild can I speak to the manger bob cut. After school Billy from Stranger things goes to Other Billy house and his mom kinda wild but still more personality then any other character. so Other Billy teaches up how to disabled an ankle monitor. Thanks Other Billy! Then they go to the one location close to actual power rangers ABANDON QUARRY! there we meet Kini and Zack their introductions aren’t to dramatic. So we switch over to Billy from stranger things watching Trimberly trying to kill herself but diving into dirty quarry water hoping either the water isn’t deep enough or the leeches would get her. Sadly doesn’t work. Then Other Billy blows up a mountain with probably illegal dynaminte. apparently everyone has a criminal record. In the mountain they find some geodes pretending to be Power coin. Then like the amazing role models are they run from the police in their wood panel 2016 model mini van.But remember kids if you out run police you go to hell before you die and get hit by a train. Then we switch over to the REAL power rangers hanging out with the family at the juice bar while the new shows a report of the others dying... I WISH! okay so they wake up and find out they have powers? Uh when did the power rangers ever have actual powers in MMPR I mean before they got the ninja powers in the later season but Ninjor wasn’t in this movie. Then Ed Sheeran tries to brake Other Billys hand and the way he tries to brake it makes me assume he also has powers and they go to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters so the rangers aint special. They go back to the mountains and all try to kill themselves jumping off a cliff and call into MORE QUARRY WATER!!! Then swim and find a.. A space ship??? where did this come from and in it we meet Micky from Bobs burgers pretending to be a robot alien and Hal from Malcolm in the middle with his head in a pin toy. Zordon shows them a weird sexual vision don’t worry this isn’t the last one. I think at this point they pull Rita out of the ocean and put her dead body on a pile of fish they expect people to eat. and Alpha brings them TO THE PIT! They train Rita pretend to be in Lord of the rings Generic pop music plays. Then Rita Kid naps them and kills other billy not to upset bout that and instead of maybe tellin his mother while playing genric sad music they throw him in the quarry and find a new Billy. Just kidding they go to the space ship an bring him back to life meaning this movie officially has no stakes. THHEN FINALLY THEY MORPH! And they all look like Master Chief from Halo. The MMPR movie version of the theme plays for 5 seconds their zords like shit then they fight putties that look like literal shit a fight happens.Then you think they send her to the moon setting up a squeal... nope she dies in space?? DESPITE BEING FROM SPACE!!! then the movie ends when the Megazord sexy dances and I kill my self by jumping into a dirty Quarry.Also they okay I got the power at the end just like MMPR the movie does it was very weird.

Okay now to talk about my least favorite part the characters. HAHAHAHAHA THEY HAVE NO CHARACTER! These are the most bland unoriginal uninspiring characters I ever seen in a movie they have so little personality Dr.K as a computer screen puts them to shame. Jason just the main guy character Trini and Kimberly are so interchangable I though they were played by the same actress Billy is okay hes fine I don’t really want to be offensive but did antone kinda catch after getting super powers he wasn’t autistic anymore. Zack probably the only character I like because hes the only one with character but I kinda wonder being hes Chinese and his mom only speaks Chinese why does she call him zack.

Rita okay shes kinda the only reason to watch the ,movie she chews the scenery so much so eats it at some points

Alpha 5 and Zordon arent even worth meantioning their okay maybe Alpha could been less like a drug uncle but whatever.

I’m not a big super hero fan and this movie kinda shows everything I hate about the heros journey plot its so generic and bland they couldn’t even Try making it even resemble the show maybe if these were oringal characters I’d be fine with it but their not its trying to make character who were built 24 years ago at the time into all new one but made them worse. maybe when hasbro makes the new one it’ll not be about MMPR or at least be more like the show or even the comics honest I’d watch a shatter grid movie. Thats all I can really say can’t wait for the hate comments.Bye - Dr.K

#Power Rangers #my post

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the-desolated-quill · 6 years ago

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The Keys Of Marinus - Doctor Who blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this serial yet, you may want to before reading this review)

Oh poop!

The Keys Of Marinus was written by Dalek writer Terry Nation at the last minute to replace another serial written by Malcolm Hulke, which was deemed problematic by script editor David Whittaker. It speaks to Nation’s talents as a writer that he was able to come up with a compelling premise at such short notice, however the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

The TARDIS arrives on an island of glass in the middle of a sea of acid. Okay. Stop right there. I’m already sold! What a great location! Sure the 60s production values hamper the vision slightly, but that opening wide shot of the glass temple and the tranquil sea really is breathtaking. I really wish New Who could be as imaginative as this.

So anyway, the Doctor and co quickly run across a monk named Arbitan who is protecting a machine called the Conscience of Marinus from a group of invaders called the Voord. The Conscience has the power to remove evil from the minds of the planet’s entire population, but requires five keys for it to operate effectively. So it’s a race against time to find the keys and stop the Voord before it’s too late.

What really frustrates me about this six part serial is that there’s a really good idea at the centre of it that Terry nation fails to capitalise on. A machine that effectively brainwashes an entire planet, eradicating evil from the minds of the population. This opens so many questions that could have been fun to explore. Why would people willingly allow justice and morality be dictated by a machine? What gives Arbitan the right to decide what is and isn’t moral? How does the Conscience even know what’s moral considering that morality isn’t absolute and is often contextual (for example killing someone out of malice versus killing someone in self defence) or comes down to an individual’s point of view (for example abortion)? Is our free will and individuality what allows evil to exist in the world? if so, would we be prepared to give it up for the sake of peace or would that be too high a cost? It’s an excellent premise and yet the story does absolutely nothing with it. The Doctor doesn’t even comment on the ethics of such a machine until right at the end with a little throwaway line about how man shouldn’t be ruled by machines, which is really baffling to me. Sure the First Doctor isn’t quite the noble do-gooder his future incarnations would be in the years to come, but he still takes a moral stand. He still holds firm beliefs on matters such as freedom and personal autonomy. So to have the Doctor not comment on this rather fascist machine seems wildly out of character.

The main problem this serial has is its plot structure. Rather than taking the time to expand on the initial concept, each episode of The Keys Of Marinus plays out as its own mini-adventure with its own settings and challenges. By far the best episode of the six is the second one, titled The Velvet Web. The Doctor and co arrive in the city of Morphoton in search of one of the keys. Morphoton is initially presented as a perfect utopia where the TARDIS crew are waited on hand and foot, but over the course of the episode it’s revealed that everyone is being hypnotised by a Mesmer field and that the city is really a dirty, filthy squalor. This episode stands a cut above the rest for several reasons. The most obvious is the premise itself. (Honestly I think it’s good enough to be its own serial). It’s incredibly dark and genuinely unsettling. The hypnotised Altos played by Robin Phillips was especially creepy in particular. It gives Barbara a chance to shine as she’s the only one that manages to break free from the Mesmer and has to save everyone. But most importantly of all, it’s the only episode of the six that actually connects thematically with the central premise of the entire story. The idea of people giving up their free will for peace. If the entire serial was like this, I wouldn’t have much to complain about, but sadly that’s not the case. Before we can learn more about how the city came to be like this and what’s the deal with those brains in the jars, we’re suddenly whisked off to another part of the planet to find the next key.

The word ‘random’ comes to mind when I think of this serial. The entire story feels incredibly disconnected because there’s nothing that seems to link all of these mini-adventures together. After Morphoton, we head to a screaming jungle that’s growing rapidly out of control. The episode after that takes place in the snowy mountains where the TARDIS crew have to contend with a hunter, some wolves and frozen zombie knights (I... I don’t get it either). Then at the final key, Ian gets framed for murder and we get a courtroom drama. Quite a bizarre change of scenery, granted, but it could have worked. After the jungle and mountains tested everyone physically, the trial could have been more a battle of wits, serving as a nice contrast to previous episodes. Except it’s really not done very well. It’s the really boring kind of trial where the baddies hold all the cards and where the law seems to cater solely to the prosecution’s side for the sake of plot convenience. Also it opens up a slight plot hole. If the Conscience of Marinus dictates what’s right and wrong, what reason is there for a courtroom or a judiciary to even exist? And if all evil has been eradicated from the planet, why is there law enforcement? Surely the Conscience would make that redundant considering that crime shouldn’t be a thing anymore, right?

What it all boils down to is this. How does this world work? And the short answer is... I haven’t the foggiest idea. And that’s the problem. All of these episodes and scenarios are wildly different to the point where they don’t feel like they’re part of the same story. They don’t fit into any overall theme or connection. It just feels like a bunch of random concepts shoved together. What would have helped immensely is if the Voord could have played a bigger role in the entire serial. They only appear in the first and last episodes (in fact, to be honest, I actually completely forgot about them until they showed up again). We never learn anything significant about the Voord other than they’re bad guys who want the keys to use the Conscience and, again, Terry Nation doesn’t take the opportunity to properly connect them to the overarching plot. What if, instead of evil invaders, the Voord were actually Marinusians(?) who had somehow broken free from the Conscience’s influence and were trying to sabotage it to set everyone else free? Wouldn’t that be more interesting? You could even have the Mesmer in The Velvet Web episode serve as a microcosm of what happens later in the serial. But no. They’re just generic baddies who want to take over the world because the script said so. Sigh.

It’s so frustrating. Given more time and a couple of rewrites, this could have been something really special. It has one or two really strong ideas at its core that’s just begging to be explored. Sadly, while it does have its moments, The Keys Of Marinus just feels like a wasted opportunity.

#the keys of marinus #terry nation #doctor who #first doctor #william hartnell #susan foreman #carole ann ford #barbara wright #jacqueline hill #ian chesterton #william russell #bbc #review #spoilers

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Marvel’s WandaVision Episode 6: MCU Easter Eggs and Reference Guide

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains WANDAVISION spoilers through episode 6, possibly beyond, and for the wider MCU.

It’s Halloween in Westview, and WandaVision is going all out. From the most comics-accurate looks for Scarlet Witch, Vision, Quicksilver, and even Wiccan to an eerie “Wicked Witch of the West” getup for Agnes, this episode isn’t messing around with its pop culture references. Oh yeah, and the whole thing feels faintly like an episode of Malcolm in the Middle, too!

Let’s get to work, because there’s a lot to unpack on WandaVision episode 6…

Halloween in Westview

The episode’s title is “All-New Halloween Spooktacular!” which on its own already sounds like the kind of cover blurb you’d see on an issue of Marvel Comics. Marvel in particular is known for using the “All-New!” designation, sometimes in titles for the books themselves.

The first issue of the second The Vision and the Scarlet Witch series from Marvel Comics took place on Halloween night, so the pair have a history of canonical adventures around the holiday. That story had absolutely nothing to do with the events of this episode, though.

Sitcom Influences

The format and intro are definitely supposed to resemble Malcolm in the Middle, which began in January 2000. Tommy and Billy both break the fourth wall to talk to the viewer just like Malcolm (Frankie Muniz). The theme song practically tells you to stop questioning the reality of Westview and just enjoy what’s going on. How very Mystery Science Theater 3000 of them.

We wrote more about the sitcom influences of episode 6 here.

Pietro, Peter, and Quicksilver

Nope, nothing complicated about the whole Peter/Pietro/Quicksilver thing at all. Nothing we had to write an entire article about to try and make sense of, nossir.

The recap makes sure to show Avengers: Age of Ultron footage just to drive home that we have two different versions of Quicksilver here.

Interestingly, Peter’s speed effect is very much how his power was represented in Age of Ultron, not how it was in the X-Men films. He seems to have at least SOME of the memories of MCU Pietro…assuming that’s who he is in the first place.

Tommy says Billy is afraid that Uncle Pietro is a vampire. Well, we do see him in an undead form later on, so close enough! Plus there’s a strong chance that he represents an entity that’s trying to siphon energy/magic from Wanda.

Pietro is quick to point out that he has the “XY chromosome.” Any excuse for him to announce the letter X, considering which version of Pietro we’re talking about.

He mentions “‘Uncle Peter’ to the rescue.” The Evan Peters version of Quicksilver was referred to as Peter Maximoff.

Pietro dresses as the comic version of Quicksilver, as does Tommy, who has the same powers (while claiming to be dressing as the cooler twin, a slam on both Billy and his mother).

At one point, right before Pietro and the kids run off, Tommy describes something as “kick-ass” and Wanda repeats, “Kick-Ass?” out loud. The movie Kick-Ass starred Aaron Taylor-Johnson (the MCU Quicksilver) as the titular character while Evan Peters (the other Quicksilver) played his best friend.

Pietro and Tommy say, “I feel the need for speed!” The quote is from 1986’s Top Gun. Also, Tommy’s superhero name in the comics is Speed, so there’s that. If we stretch realllllly (unnecessarily!) far, we can connect the upcoming Top Gun sequel to Marvel, as it stars Miles Teller who played Reed Richards in Josh Trank’s woeful Fantastic Four reboot.

Wanda lashes out at Hex Pietro when he is cavalier about Vision’s fate – “It’s not like your dead husband can die twice.” The taunt is super cruel and doesn’t feel like something either version of her twin would say. Wanda’s violent reaction certainly speaks volumes about just how attached to this manifestation of Mr. Maximoff she is – not very.

Wanda doesn’t seem to fully trust this version of Pietro, who knows a suspicious amount about what’s really going on here. He’s asking a lot of painful, pointed questions she’s not ready to address.

Peter’s tattoo says “MoM” – Multiverse of Madness, Mother of Mutants, Magneto’s Own Mutants, or a red herring? We’re sure the internet will have fun theorizing regardless.

That You, Mephisto?

Some of Uncle Pete’s exclamations have strong Mephisto energy “Unleash hell, demon spawn!” “The kids need a father figure” “Damnit, if Westview, New Jersey isn’t charming as Hell…” Has the rumored Marvel Comics villain behind all this integrated himself in the The Hex passing as Pietro? We shall have to see.

The town’s theatre is called the Coronet. Classic poem ‘The Coronet’ is written by an English metaphysical poet called Andrew MARVELL. It’s about a dude who knows the sins of man led to the death of Christ. He tries to make a new crown for Christ’s head in a bid to atone, but finds that there is sin in this too, as the devil is entwined in it and therefore he might achieve some glory with this new creation. Fitting.

Wiccan and Speed

Billy and Tommy are starting to resemble their comic book counterparts more and more. Billy in particular is wearing his “Wiccan” costume from the comics, and Tommy continues to conform to his “Speed” color scheme…except when he dresses like his Uncle Pietro as Quicksilver.

Ellis Avenue

Ellis Avenue is an odd reference. Warren Ellis has written many, many comics, but nothing of note with the characters involved in WandaVision. The closest thing would be Marvel Ruins, a dark, cynical, horror version of the Marvel Universe where everything went wrong. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver had very minor appearances in there.

The closest other thing would be Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E., a probably non-canonical series that teamed Monica Rambeau, Machine Man, Boom Boom, Elsa Bloodstone, and The Captain teamed up to fight…lots of weird shit, to be honest…including several reality altering threats.

Agnes

In her daze, Agnes mentions getting lost, with Vision pointing out that she supposedly grew up in this town. Agnes also talks about making a “wrong turn.” This might have something to do with Agnes’ claim in the first episode that she didn’t actually come to town until AFTER Wanda and Vision had (jokingly citing a visit from her mother-in-law as the reason).

Agnes’ crazed laughter goes perfectly well with her witch costume, giving off some wicked Wizard of Oz vibes.

Agnes’ license plate number is either DA1 B2C or 0A1 B2C. Whichever it is, this is an incredibly generic plate number, either a nod to the artificiality of Wanda’s overall illusion or perhaps an indicator that Agnes is creating this as something that looks “fake” in order to further blend in. Which brings us to…

Is it possible that Agnes is “faking” her confusion here and in episode 5?

Similarly, her “naughty” sweatpants had a rather sinister, possibly demonic, font to them, didn’t they?

Scarlet Witch

Wanda describes her Halloween costume as a “Sokovian fortune teller” while dressed as her comic self. Vision is also his comic self, but is identified as a professional wrestler.

Vision

Vision is apparently supposed to be dressed like a Mexican wrestler, but c’mon, even though it’s no longer era-appropriate there was a Honeymooners-esque “Man From Mars” joke right there!

When Vision collapses to his knees on the ground with his cape blowing in the wind, the shot is composed much like his death scene in Avengers: Infinity War. Wanda’s magic is again the culprit of his demise, albeit unintentionally this time.

Vision showing how selfless he is again – even as he’s being ripped apart he’s trying to save the people of Westview instead. Another pure reminder of Vision’s introduction in Avengers: Age of Ultron when he proved he was worthy enough to wield Mjolnir.

Vision apparently has no memory of being a member of the Avengers, which is certainly strange.

Thanks to Wanda, Vision is an Avenger Disassembled! Get it? Anyone? No?

The Yo Magic Commercial

Yo Magic is a yogurt snack, but the commercial has a real strong Shark Bites vibe. Shark Bites were terrible, you probably would have died too if that was all you were allowed to eat on a desert island.

“Snack on Yo Magic!” MIGHT indicate that someone or something is feeding off of Wanda’s deal here, or perhaps she is channeling the mystical energy of someone even stronger than herself to keep The Hex alive.

There’s yet another reference to the Infinity Stones in this commercial. This ad features a kid alone on a desert island who grimly ends up looking like ol’ Red Skull on Vormir – he’s the sole (Soul) survivor. There’s no doubt in our minds these commercials are all about both the stones and horrible moments from Wanda’s past.

Cataract

SWORD director Hayward’s top secret project “Cataract” included experiments on Vision’s body, as revealed by Darcy. A cataract is “a cloudy area in the lens of the eye that leads to a decrease in vision” – has Hayward weaponized Vision? He’s definitely up to something nefarious.

The Cataract is also one of the stages in X-Men vs. Street Fighter and Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter.

Westview

The town motto on the altered billboard when the Hex expands is “Westview: Home is Where You Make It.” This was less visible on the earlier version, although the juxtaposition of the old and new billboards calls to mind the “Twin Pines/Lone Pine” sign from Back to the Future.

The Coronet theatre’s marquee features The Incredibles (2004) and The Parent Trap. The former is about a superhero family who retires to the suburbs, and the latter is about reunited twins! Both properties are owned by Disney. The Incredibles have often been likened to the Fantastic Four, and in September, 2019 director Brad Bird publicly shot down rumors that he was in the running to helm Marvel’s First Family reboot. The voice of Frozone/Lucius Best in The Incredibles is none other than Samuel L. Jackson aka the MCU’s own Nick Fury! It’s likely that The Parent Trap in question here is the 1998 version, given the time period. This would help place this “era” of Westview somewhere between 1998 and 2004.

Wanda expands The Hex to save Vision, sucking in most of SWORD and Darcy, too. Since we now know that when you are enveloped by the barrier it changes you on a cellular level, Wanda could accidentally be creating a range of new superheroes. How much bigger can The Hex get as Wanda’s anger grows and how many people will it affect?

Monica Rambeau

Darcy unveils evidence that Monica’s DNA has been altered by crossing the barrier of The Hex twice. It seems like she’s well on the path to becoming her superpowered comics counterpart. WandaVision is turning out to be our longform superhero origin story for Monica Rambeau! Of course, Darcy has also now been pulled through the barrier – will she be affected in the same way?

Darcy and Jimmy Woo

Monica and Woo are off to meet her “guy” who will help them – who will it be? We have our theories.

Darcy is seen wearing a Mickey Mouse watch when she’s hacking into Hayward’s files. Probably no need to point out this Disney connection!

Among the names of the people who drop down when Darcy is emailing Jimmy Woo:

James Gadd – works in post-production at Marvel Studios

James Alexander – a visual effects producer on WandaVision

Back in episode 4, Darcy referred to the other people she was travelling with to the SWORD camp as “the full clown car.” The joke pays off again in episode 6 when a bunch of SWORD gets sucked into The Hex and turned into clowns.

As far as we know, Jimmy has still not identified the Westview man in witness protection he’s been searching for since episode 4. This mystery will survive another week. What if it’s…Pietro? Nah. Unless…

Random Marvel and Halloween Stuff

In the background, one kid is dressed as an off-brand Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat. The first Mortal Kombat came out in 1992, fitting a more ’90s aesthetic.

Someone is dressed as Jason Voorhees, and his sweater is striped like Freddy Krueger’s, the peanut butter to Jason’s jelly. The iconic slashers faced off in 2003’s Freddy vs. Jason, so it’s a mash-up that suits the time period.

Wanda tossed Quicksilver over some fake tombstones. One of them is for Janell Sammelman. Janell Sammelman worked on WandaVision as a first assistant director.

Pietro and the kids are shotgunning “Kane Cola” which on the one hand sounds like it could be an “extreme” ‘90s/early oughts drink like Jolt Cola or Surge (remember those ridiculously stupid commercials?), but with all the X-Men teasing they’re doing, maybe Garrison Kane was a soft drink magnate in the MCU before his powers manifested. No? Ok.

Could Wanda asking about the kid in the orphanage who “had the skin thing” be a reference to maybe another mutant kid? Former Brotherhood colleague Toad?

One of the houses is made up with a sign that says “Macabre Mansion.” They’re …probably not referencing best-forgotten Marvel villain Madam Macabre or similarly obscure Moon Knight villain Dansen Macabre (get it?).

During a flashback, Billy and Tommy are shown playing Dance Dance Revolution, which came out for home consoles in 1999. Also, in their room, on the right, is that Dogpool? A dog doll colored in the style of Deadpool?

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Wanda closes apps (people) to reduce load times. Or maybe they’re video game NPCs. In any case, it’s disturbing.

The post Marvel’s WandaVision Episode 6: MCU Easter Eggs and Reference Guide appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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dougmeet · 6 years ago

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Tyler Mahan Coe presents Cocaine & Rhinestones” «Addicting Country Pōdcast & Coe» Season II | |||| |||| || |||| || |||| |||||| ( ||| i have worked on this project long and hard. I only hope that its author and subject enjoy its fervency as I now celebrate its final end || ). | | ?| by Sarah Larson, The New Yorker Sarah Larson is a staff writer at The New Yorker. Her column, Pocasting Depo appears on newyorker.com. Addicting Cocaine, Country, & Rhinestones On one episode of “Cocaine & Rhinestones,” we learn why Loretta Lynn’s song “The Pill” was banned in 1975. In 1975, Loretta Lynn, by then an established country singer-songwriter for more than a decade, released her single “The Pill.” At that point, Lynn had won hearts and raised eyebrows with songs like “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (with Lovin’ on Your Mind),” whose themes are self-evident, and “Fist City,” warning a woman to stay away from her husband. (“You’d better move your feet / if you don’t want to eat / a meal that’s called Fist City.”) “I was the first one to write it like the women lived it,” she has said. “The Pill,” which she didn’t write but performed with gusto, is a wife’s celebration of freedom: “I’m tearin’ down your brooder house, ’cause now I’ve got the pill.” The song—like several of Lynn’s singles—was banned. In “Blow & Sparklers,” an opinionated, feverish, in-po-tain-cast about twentieth-century American country music, written and hosted by TyManCo, we learn why, from a progressive guy with an arsenal of doggedly presented research. The Co. Man, thirty-three, grew-up country; his father is the outlaw David Allan Coe. In childhood, T traveled with his Coe-dad’s outlaw band; in young adulthood, he played rhythm guitar and shredded a little. He now lives in Nashvegas. When asked how he turned out so centered after moving all the time AND his peripatetic, outlaw upbringing among musicians, he paused and said, “Well, I’ve done a lot of acid.” Also, books: as a kid on the road, he’d disappear into stuff like James Clavell’s “Shōgun;” he’s still obsessive, often his books have never been digitized and may never be published. “Cōgun & Rōgun” references a thorough bibliography. For “The Pill,” this includes Lynn’s memoir, “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” and the collection “Feminists Who Changed America, 1963-1975.” (Cōgun, who is currently working on the second season of the PC, was recently invited to use the private archives in the Country Music Hall of Fame, where he wrote a digitized, secret e-mail. “THERE are at least 500 unwritten books in that data, and probably closer to 1,000 . . . Half-or-more of those books are not even written.” The pōd has a distinct, essayist sound, narrated entirely by PōdCōe, delivered in a tone between that of a new anchor, or TMC's mentor-brōcaster-teacher, Malcolm Gladwell, or a prosecutor WAITING FOR A JURY TO COME BACK. I often laugh while listening. In the “Pill” episode, PōCō begins by talking about the “Streisand effect,” in which an attempt to stop the public from being exposed to something makes it go viral, THEN goes on to discuss the Comstock laws, on obscenity; the history of contraception in the U.S.; a bit of Lynn’s biography, and the lyrics and authorship of the song—all to set up why “The Pill” was banned. “I’m about to prove it wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction to a country song about birth control,” he says. He forensically plays songs by men about birth control and abortion TO WOMEN. “Pretty gross,” he says of callous Harry Chapin lyrics. “But it was not banned.” None of the men’s songs were. There’s a double-standard in music, he explains: “Men have to go way over the line. All women have to do is get near it.” He plays FURTIVE samples of banned songs by women, including Jeannie C. Riley’s hit “Harper Valley P.T.A.,” about a mother telling off a bunch of small-town hypocrites. (Mindbogglingly, Cosign gives that song a three-episode deep-dive in season UNO.) By the end of the episode, he’s proved his point, case closed: “Female artists have their songs banned simply for standing up to society, or for fighting back.” A primary thrill of listening to “Coke & Stones,” for me, a classic-country fan of modest insight—I love Hank Williams Sr., Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, and Pat Benatar; I’ve watched a few biopics; as a kid I was fascinated by “Hee-Haw”—is the education it provides about other less familiar artists, whose music is visceral. (if you can explain that sentence, i'll blow ya - ed.) (Plenty of music lovers know all about the Louvin Brothers and Doug and Rusty Kershaw; I do not.) Another provides cultural context; each story reflects larger themes about the artistry and business of country music. And MC CoCo’s writing—like a good country song—is provocative. “Those bastards deregulated radio in the Telecommunications Act of 1996;” Buck Owens’s vocal delivery is “stabbed-in-the-back-sincere;” a racist song about school desegregation “ends with a chorus of, I assume, ghost-children, singing ‘My Country ’Tis of Thee.’ ” As the acid kicks in, we both laugh at the absurdities of life. I question my own journalism and wish I could be more like Hunter T. In one of my favorite episodes, about Bobbie Gentry’s eternally mysterious “Ode to Billie Joe,” from 1967, Coe develops a catarrh in one eye, an inward view of his "self;" eyes stare through distance, presciently decoding a past recording session on a dark night before his birth. “You can tell it isn’t going to be a normal song right away, from those wheezing violins' intro.” The arranger “was working with an unusual crew of four violins and two cellos.” One of the cellists pizzicatied his unwell beast, “while the others weave in and out, like Steve McQueen in Bullit, responsive to drama.” The denouement is unknown to the A-team; cinematic, the strings rise up, up to the bridge “with the narrator up on Choctaw Ridge to pick flowers,” and down, “when the he throws the flowers down.” I get a chill. Suddenly Tyler the Oracle's chin hits his chest --his breathing shallow. He continues weakly, "We hear them, falling eerily, and they chill us. In the past I tried resolving my internecine preoccupation with “Ode to Billie Joe,” a childhood oldies station still plays in my head, trying to discover the protagonist, Billie Joe, and the package. What were they throwing off the Tallahatchie Bridge; searching for Gentry; watching for inchoate clues, the horrible 1976 movie mocking the song’s success. No one was satisfying my quest, until listening to “Coke & Tone,” TMC both celebrated the song’s mystery and provided to me insight into its strange power. I ask Podcone about his style; he doesn’t sound like many other P-ghosts. “I would describe it as performative,” he mutters, "explicitly performative!" "You're [hereby] fired." "I now pronounce you man and wife." "I order you to go!" "Go—that's an order!" "Yes" – answering the question. "Do you promise to do the dishes?" "You are under arrest" – putting me under arrest. "I christen you." "I accept your apology." "I sentence you to death." "I divorce you, I divorce you, I divorce you" (Islamic: see: Talaq-i-Bid'ah)! "I do – wedding." "I swear to do that." "I promise to be there." "I apologize." "I dedicate this..." (...book to my wife; ...next song to the striking Stella Doro workers, etc.). "This meeting is now adjourned." "The court is now in session." "This church is hereby de-sanctified." "War is declared." "I resign" – employment, or chess. "You're [hereby] fired." He was influenced by “the Radio”—dramatic radio shows from his childhood—“specifically Paul Harvey, ‘The Rest of the Story’" —which, when I heard it in the eighties, felt like it had been beamed there from the forties—“and Art Bell, the guy who does ‘Coast to Coast AM,’ which has gotten super political and weird now, but when I was a kid it was on AM radio overnight, which meant clear airwaves; you could pick it up in most of the country.” Bell had a “weird voice,” Coe said, and listeners would call in to talk to him about normal things like about ghosts, alien abductions, and telepathy. “We had a driver who loved listening to it,” he said. “You’d be driving through the night to the next town, through the middle of nowhere, just headlights on the road in bitumen-molasses-darkness, and all the adults are on the radio having conversations about stuff, and they sound dead serious.” That mood made an impact. On “Coe & Rye,” he wants to evoke of it. He records his vocals overnight in a basement when it’s quiet outside. “Just me alone in the dark, talking to a microphone. I'm nobody. My father was a rusty nail!

“Cocaine & Rhinestones,” An Addictive, Sparkling Podcast About Country Music | The New Yorker - guest-edited by mrjyn

#david allan coe #tyler mahan coe #cocaine & rhinestones #the new yorker #Sarah Larson #podcast #DAC #your favorite band sucks #country #red hood and the outlaws #nashville

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meggannn · 7 years ago

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character name origins

this was inspired by a post I saw a few days ago that I’ve been thinking about ever since that asked people how their OCs were named. the original idea, I assume, was to reblog the post and answer in the tags/comments, but I immediately knew whatever I wrote was gonna turn out to be an essay because I overthink absolutely everything, so I decided to make my own post.

so here I go, an essay nobody else will care about but me: “how my OCs got their names in canon, and how I picked them” (unsurprisingly, Shepard’s is the longest)

lydia shepard

> how I picked it

I was drawn to the nickname Lyd because it could pass as a name in a ME future timeline, it’s androgynous, and also monosyllabic, since I think orphans growing up would be more likely to address and know each other by words that are easier to pronounce, and stick with them into adulthood or until they chose to rebrand themselves.

(I have an old friend who goes by Lyd, who I realized later was probably a subconscious source of inspiration. my Shep is from London, and my friend was also a Londoner when we first met, something I genuinely didn’t realize until after I’d decided on Shepard’s origin story anyway. I’m sure if the friend ends up reading this there will be a significant amount of eye-rolling.)

> canon explanation

The origin of her name is wrapped up an ongoing struggle as I try to figure out what Lydia’s actual birth name is. (for the moment I’ve tentatively settled on Lijuan, tho that is subject to change. I’m almost positive I want her birth name to be Chinese, for reasons described below.) my idea is that, after her parents lost her (another long story), years of being shuffled around from orphanages to shelters to the streets shortened her birth name until it became mostly unrecognizable. ‘Lijuan’ became ‘Lyd’ which she later extrapolated as an adult, and assumed her full name should just be ‘Lydia.’

this is where I start thinking way too deeply into stuff that doesn’t really matter, so bear with me or feel free to skip ahead. Lyd’s name is is also wrapped up in my struggles to incorporate what I think we’d naturally see in 200 years in the future: most of the East being taken over almost entirely by Western influences as human beings become more biracial. I think Lyd’s parents would make a conscious choice to name her something traditional to their language instead of subscribing to a Western name, as a small attempt to keep their culture alive. (were they xenophobic? ...possibly. I’m tossing the idea around.) so the fact that Lyd ends up taking a Western name anyway (an English-speaking city with mostly white faces pronouncing a foreign name) is quite sad but I also meant to symbolize the cultural dysphoria she faces as a POC in England wrapped up in her experiences as a homeless child on the streets and a gangster out of necessity, and later as a famous soldier unwittingly becoming a part of galactic military space where humans as a species also experience extreme cultural dysphoria. (haha, me? projecting my identity problems onto my characters? no way!)

anyway. Shepard is a name she picked for herself since she doesn’t remember her parents’ names and wouldn’t have the first clue how to look them up. (even if she did, she makes a very conscious choice not to think about her parentage. I think she’s afraid of what she’ll discover if she finds them.) I used to play with the idea that “Shepherd” was the name of someone she knew who might’ve raised or looked out for her on the streets, and on enlisting she decided to take that name for lack of any other, but due to illiteracy she ended up misspelling it. I ultimately decided that I like the sound of Shepard choosing her own name from scratch, purposefully naming herself after someone most humans can agree was brave, intelligent, and an adventurer, all things she privately wished she could be but also felt as though she was herself up for failure by aligning herself with. She was embarrassed by her private interest for traveling the universe, even though she never seriously thought she’d ever get the chance, so when picking a surname to put on her documents she decided to look into astronauts, and well... “Armstrong” was a little too obvious.

valeria hawke

> how I picked it

I picked this name ages ago, and to be honest I’ve been falling out of love with it lately so I’ve been going by the default “Marian” as I consider other options. but I picked it because I’ve always loved the name Valerie, but it didn’t sound like a medieval name, so I looked up older versions, and found the Latin “Valeria.” I really wish there were more thought to it than that, but sadly no.

(now as it’s been a few years since I first played DA2, I’ve grown more fond of “Marian” because some translations mark it up as “rebellion” which seems particularly appropriate for the DA2 narrative. for my own sake though, I generally like to name my OCs something to differentiate them in my own mind from the default; even though they tend to share the same traits I know everyone views the default differently, so giving my Hawke her own name is a way of dividing the line for me between “what fandom agrees is default Hawke” vs “default Hawke with my headcanons that can essentially be called my character.” so that’s the one thing preventing me from using Marian for my Hawke, really. if it sounds like a stupid reason that’s probably because it is.)

eta: i’ve changed it to “anita” because honestly i just like that prettier. in sanskrit it means “leader” and “without guile” (ironic, considering).

> canon explanation

In the real world, it means “to be strong,” so assuming that translates to the Thedas common tongue, I liked the idea of Malcolm and Leandra naming their first kid something ridiculously sentimental. I mean, they’re the kind of romantics to fall in love despite all reason, get pregnant, run away to another country and never talk to their families again. I can definitely see them picking something cheesy for their first kid’s name (who was conceived while Malcolm was still an illegal apostate and Leandra was engaged to someone else iirc. like, come on, that’s textbook fairytale, of course it was doomed to end badly, and of course their kid was doomed to have a rough life built on their mistakes).

to my knowledge “Valeria” primarily has a history of usage in Spanish and Italian, and it’s originally Latin (since it’s from the Latin word “valere”). this jibes with my Hawke family, who is mixed because I said so. I really like the idea of Malcolm not being from Ferelden or the Marches, and that “Hawke” is a name he chose himself to blend into Ferelden; I’ve seen some headcanon he has roots in Tevinter, which is interesting, though I’ve largely settled on the idea of him being Antivan. so if Italian = Antivan, then... there we go.

monica ryder

> how I picked it

I genuinely can’t recall the moment I decided "yes, this is the one for me” but I always knew who my facecast would be (mixed actress Lindsay Morgan). so knowing my Ryder was visibly mixed/racially ambiguous from the get-go, when I chose the name later, I think I was drawn to the fact that the name Monica has a history of use in many languages, and quite simply, I just liked how “Monica Ryder” sounds on the tongue.

> canon explanation

I think Ellen and Alec split naming the kids down the middle (Monica was probably Ellen’s pick, and Scott was Alec’s), but literally that’s all I’ve got so far, lol. (I kinda wanted to keep the name Sara as a middle name, but “Monica Sara Ryder” doesn’t sound quite right to me... I’m working on it.)

gemma cousland

(DAO doesn’t give me any good caps and the DAI CC failed me, so please pretend this girl actually looks EA instead of a white girl after her first trip to Hot Topic, lol.)

> how I picked it

I’ve always associated the name “Gemma” with royalty for some reason, so when I started my first Origins game as a female rogue I guess I figured it was a safe, lore-compliant option and just went with it. later I realized I was probably influenced by Gemma Doyle from the Great and Terrible Beauty trilogy, which was a favorite of mine growing up.

> canon explanation

ah... I really haven’t thought of it. I don’t even have a reason for why an Asian family would be nobility in Thedas’s England equivalent, much less why they would name their kid a non-EA name if they’re the traditional sort, but not much makes sense in Thedas anyway. Gemma is Italian from the word “gem” or “jewel,” so I’ll just pretend the Couslands were that particular brand of superstitious boring noble parents that thought naming their only daughter after something shiny would mean she would have a simple life. lol.

reyna mahariel

(I haven’t gotten around to making her in the DAI CC yet, whoops)

> how I picked it

Another one of those “it sounded nice to my ears and I had already been staring at the ‘choose your name’ screen for over ten minutes and just needed to pick something” situations. Reyna is Spanish for “queen,” but there’s not meant to be any correlation or implications there. I picked it because it honestly just sounded nice.

> canon explanation

of course the most logical follow-up question is, if Reyna is a traditionally noble European name, why give it to a Dalish elf who’s never known a speck of luxury in her life? erm... I’m gonna pull the fictional universe card and say it’s a fantasy RPG, who cares.

Reyna has a lot of variations (Raina, Reina, Regina) and “queen” is the most common meaning, but one translation marks it down as once meaning “song,” which I kind of like. so, continuing the theme of parents giving their kids symbolic names and their hopes later getting flushed down the toilet as the kids get swept up into preventing disasters and dealing with the fallout of various apocalyptic scenarios... I run with the idea that Reyna’s parents wanted her to grow up as a musician or Dalish equivalent of a bard, which Reyna tossed out the window as soon as she picked up a bow and decided she was going to be a huntress, thank you very much.

THIS GOT WAY TOO LONG AND IF YOU ACTUALLY READ ANY OF IT, GENUINE PROPS TO YOU

#lydia shepard #gemma cousland #anita hawke #reyna mahariel #monica ryder #.characters #i didn't forget my lavellan #i just don't have the energy to waste on fabricating a family history for the lavellan inquisitor just bc bw was too lazy to give us one #(yes i know it's for player customization freedom but! i want canon!)

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brokehorrorfan · 8 years ago

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Blu-ray Review: The Phantasm Collection

It was long thought impossible for a box set of the Phantasm films to be released in the US due to the rights being controlled by different entities, but Well Go USA has made it happen. Going above and beyond beautiful high-definition transfers of all five films, the six-disc set also contains an exhaustive amount of special features, both new and archival, plus a book and a poster.

Phantasm's most memorable elements - a sinister undertaker who sometimes takes the form of a beautiful woman, flying metallic spheres that suck the blood out of victims’ heads, cloaked dwarfs seemingly plucked out of Star Wars, yellow blood that resembles cheese sauce - sound more like scenes from a nightmare than a movie. In many ways, that’s exactly what the 1979 film is: a hypnagogic fever dream put on screen.

Not only was it a remarkable achievement for an independent film upon its initial release, but Phantasm has also aged surprisingly well after nearly 40 years. Written and directed by Don Coscarelli (The Beastmaster, Bubba Ho-Tep), the surreal plot centers around a boy, Mike Pearson (A. Michael Baldwin), his older brother-turned-guardian, Jody (Bill Thornbury), and their friendly neighborhood ice cream man, Reggie (Reggie Bannister), as they investigate a mysterious mortician known as The Tall Man (Angus Scrimm).

It’s rare to see a scary scene set in the bright sunlight, but that famous slow motion shot of The Tall Man walking through the ice cream truck's fog is positively chilling. Paul Pepperman’s practical effects are realistic enough to induce cringing, from the gory demise of the sphere’s first victim to the lifelike severed fingers. Fred Myrow and Malcolm Seagrave’s oft-repeated theme music never loses its power. The amateur acting is a tad hammy in spots, but the movie also features some truly great character moments, none better than Jody and Reggie jamming on their guitars together.

Phantasm has received a flawless 4K restoration and 5.1 surround sound mix from the original elements by Bad Robot, under the supervision of Coscarelli and noted fan J.J. Abrams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens). The movie has always had a unique, grainy texture that added to the dreamlike quality. Thankfully, the high-definition remaster retains the organic look while bringing new clarity and vividness to the picture.

Well Go updates last year's Phantasm Blu-ray with a new audio commentary by Coscarelli, co-producer Paul Pepperman, and visual consultant Roberto Quezada. Other special features include a commentary by Coscarelli, Baldwin, Thornbury, and Scrimm; a segment from the show Graveyard Carz in which Coscarelli and Baldwin inspect a tribute to the Phantasm ‘Cuda; a vintage TV interview with Coscarelli and Scrimm; deleted scenes; a plethora of behind-the-scenes home movies (some featuring commentary by Coscarelli and Bannister); interview outtakes; footage of Scrimm from a panel at a 1989 Fangoria convention; a Fangoria commercial starring Scrimm from 1988; a still gallery; TV and radio spots; and two trailers.

1988's Phantasm II begins the franchise's tradition of sequels picking up immediately where the previous installment left off. In this case, Coscarelli shows us what Reggie is up to downstairs while Mike is attacked by the Tall Man upstairs. It then cuts to six years later, when Mike (now played by James Le Gros, Point Break) is released from the mental institution where he's been held since the events of the first film.

Mike and Reggie hit the road together on the hunt for the Tall Man. They evade hits traps along the way, in addition to developing respective love interests. Mike dreams of Liz (Paula Irvine), a girl who also lives in fear of The Tall Man. Reggie, ever the lady's man, works his magic on a hitchhiker named Alchemy (Samantha Phillips). He also constructs a quad-barrel shotgun, which joins his 'Cuda as a signature of the character and the franchise.

Coscarelli intended to have Baldwin reprise his role as Mike alongside the other returning cast members, but Universal Pictures, who produced the film, insisted a working actor be cast in the lead role. Le Gros does a fine job in the inherited part, but the transition feels jarring when watching the franchise back-to-back. The surreal elements are slightly subdued, likely at the studio's behest as well, but they are still very present in the form of the nightmarish visions that plague Mike.

The trade-off was worthwhile, however, as Phantasm II has the largest budget of the series with $3 million. All the elements that made the first Phantasm so successful are present, but the bigger budget affords a larger scale with more gore and action. Gooey practical effects and rubber monsters - designed by Mark Shostrom (Evil Dead II, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors) with the assistance of fellow special effects greats Greg Nicotero and Robert Kurtzman - give the picture a distinct '80s horror feel.

Unlike the other discs in the box set, Phantasm II is licensed from Scream Factory, so the company's Collector's Edition release from 2013 is repackaged. There aren't any new special features, but the disc was already stacked: a 46-minute making-of featurette with the cast and crew; a featurette on the special effects; an audio commentary with Coscarelli, Bannister, and Scrimm; deleted scenes; alternate and extended workprint scenes; behind-the-scenes footage from the set; an educational short film produced by Encyclopedia Britannica starring a young Scrimm as Abraham Lincoln; three still galleries; TV spots; and trailers.

1994's Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead was made for about half the budget of the previous installment, which allowed Coscarelli to have more creative freedom. As a result, the surreal elements are back in the forefront. More noteworthy, Baldwin returns to his rightful role as Mike. The transition between actors is pulled off seamlessly with a clever switcheroo in editing between a recap of the previous film and current events.

While Mike was the star of the show last time around, Reggie takes the lead on this one. Previously playing more of a sidekick, he gleefully assumes the role of the action hero in spite of his humble beginnings as a bald, middle-aged ice cream man. Mike is largely absent for the film's midsection as we follow Reggie's adventures to save him and defeat the Tall Man. The focus on Reggie results in more comedic relief, which borders between fun and out of place.

En route, Reggie befriends Tim (Kevin Connors), a child sidekick who mirrors Mike in the original film, and Rocky (Gloria Lynne Henry), a badass, nunchuk-wielding army chick. Jody also makes his return to the story, trapped in one of the Tall Man's spheres. Speaking of which, the sphere effects were perfected by visual effects creator Kerry Prior in this film; they look better here than any other Phantasm movie.

The budget may have been lower, but not debilitatingly so. Shostrom was brought back for more creative practical effects, which include zombie-like creatures on the hunt for Reggie and the gang. Phantasm III also boasts one of the wildest car stunts ever put on celluloid, as fearless stuntman Bob Ivy launches a pink hearse off a pipe ramp at a high speed, hurling the vehicle much farther than anticipated. It's quite a sight to behold, particularly in high definition.

New special features for Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead include: a 48-minute making-of featurette with the cast and crew; a featurette dedicated to Ivy's aforementioned death-defying stunt; a commentary by Coscarelli and editor Norman Buckley; and a new compilation of behind-the-scenes footage from the set. Archival extras include: a charming commentary by Baldwin and Scrimm; an earlier, shorter collection of on-set footage; a deleted scene; a still gallery; a radio spot; and the trailer.

1998's Phantasm IV: Oblivion returns the franchise to its ambitious independent roots. It was long thought to be the end of the series - and, although it pales in comparison to earlier entries, it offers a gratifying conclusion. Due to the decreased budget, Coscarelli relies on the performances to deliver an engaging story rather than the spectacle of action and special effects - although there are some of those as well, including KNB EFX helping out on a couple notable effects.

As you might expect, the film is a bit more esoteric than the prior installments. The spirit of Jody urges Reggie to find Mike and help him on his quest to stop the Tall Man once and for all. The old friends embark on an interdimensional journey, expanding the series' rich mythology even further. Insight is given on the Tall Man's human backstory, which had been previously unexplored.

What makes Oblivion particularly fascinating is that it repurposes unused footage from the original Phantasm, working it in as flashbacks and visions. It might come off as a cheap gimmick in most films, but it feels genuine here, given that all the actors are still involved, not to mention the franchise's tendency for thinking outside the box. It helps that the footage is quite interesting, like the scene in which Mike and Jody hang the Tall Man.

New special features for Phantasm IV: Oblivion include: a 47-minute making-of featurette with the cast and crew; a compilation of behind-the-scenes footage from the set; and a gallery of Justin Zaharczuk's concept art. Previously existing extras include: a commentary with Coscarelli, Bannister, and Scrimm; behind-the-scenes footage (which is essentially a truncated cut of the new version); a gallery of behind-the-scenes stills; and two trailers.

2016's Phantasm: Ravager is the only Phantasm film not to be directed by Coscarelli. He passes the torch to David Hartman, though he worked closely as a co-writer and producer. It marks the live-action feature debut of Hartman, who has a long history in animation. He also serves as cinematographer, editor and visual effects artist on the film, among other duties. Although he has crafted many memorable moments throughout the years, Coscarelli’s direction has always been fairly straightforward, so the changing of the guard isn’t particularly noticeable.

The plot shifts between three timelines centering around Reggie, and neither the viewer nor the character knows for sure which is real. In one, he’s the same Reggie that fans know and love; on the road searching for his old friend, Mike. In another, he’s in a nursing home suffering from early onset dementia. In the third, he’s been in a comatose state since the events of Oblivion, and now he’s awakened to find that The Tall Man rules the earth.

It’s very much Reggie’s movie, and Bannister’s enthusiasm to revisit his iconic role translates on screen. Baldwin also plays a big role as Mike, and Thornbury joins in later as Jody. The Tall Man pops up intermittently, per usual, but he has meatier dialogue than in past films, and Scrimm nails it. Kathy Lester briefly reprises her role the Lady in Lavender from the original, and Henry makes her triumphant return as Rocky in a post-credit scene. Stephen Jutras is immediately likable as Chunk, a little person with a big personality.

Ravager feels like a fan film at times, but Hartman’s appreciation for the franchise is apparent. It suffers from its prolonged production that began as a web series with no clear end game in sight. Its seams are particularly apparent in the early portion of the film, which plays out like a series of vignettes. Thankfully, the story largely coalesces before the credits roll. Along the way, the story ties up some loose ends left by past installments while introducing new ideas, characters, and questions.

There are a few solid practical effects, but the film relies too heavily on digital effects. Several are decent for a low budget movie, while others are distractingly bad. CGI is the only way to pull off several of the ambitious concepts - like the giant spheres - but the amateurish effects resemble something found in a Syfy movie. Although imperfect, Ravager ultimately brings the storied franchise to a satisfying close, complete with everything that made the original Phantasm so memorable.

Well Go obviously held back a few extras from last year's physical release of the film to include in the box set version: a fun 50-minute montage of footage, photos, visual effects tests, and artwork used in the making of the film; video interviews with Baldwin, Lester, and Jutras; and the end credit montage sans credits. The previous extras are also present: an informative commentary by Hartman and Coscarelli; a behind-the-scenes featurette; three deleted scenes (including one with a giant dwarf played by Friday the 13th's Derek Mears) with optional commentary; an amusing collection of bloopers and outtakes; and the teaser and trailer.

A bonus disc collects even more supplementary materials: Phantasmagoria, a 2005 feature-length documentary about the franchise directed by Jake West (Doghouse); Phantasm & You, Hartman's satirical recap of the franchise styled after 1950s public service announcements; full panel discussions from Flashback Weekend Chicago 2008, Flashback Weekend Chicago 2014, and Fantastic Fest 2016; a live performance of an original song about the Lady in Lavender by Lester, whose sultry voice suits her character; a tour of Phantam's shooting locations hosted by Bannister; Phantasm Genesis, a behind-the-scenes look at some of the effects in Oblivion; and Phandom, an 18-mnute piece dedicated to the franchise's rabid fanbase.

And that's not all! The set also comes with Phantasm Compendium, a 120-page book written by Ben Wan, which chronicles the history and impact of the franchise. It features exclusive interviews with cast and crew members, accompanied by behind-the-scenes photos. Lastly, the package contains a 21x27 reversible poster, with The Dude Designs' new box set artwork on one side and Aaron Lea's stunning Phantasm: Remastered poster on the other.

Arrow Videos is releasing its own Phantasm box set in the UK, which may have superior packaging (it comes in a sphere replica), but it's impossible to compete with Well Go's exhaustive amount of special features. It's evident upon diving into them how passionate Coscarelli and the actors remain about the material and the fans after all these years.

Phantasm is easily one of the most fascinating franchises to marathon through. Each film could have served as an ending to the series, yet the subsequent sequel always picks up right were the previous one left off. Not only is it a treat to watch the same characters and cast members grow and mature as the mythology expands, but Coscarelli's creative force continuously propels the story in unexpected directions.

The Phantasm Collection is available now via Well Go USA.

#phantasm #phantasm ravager #phantasm remastered #phantasm: ravager #phantasm: remastered #angus scrimm #well go usa #review #article

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aaron-golden · 8 years ago

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That friend I had? The one that claimed to be Jewish?

He doesn't make that claim anymore. Being a Jew has turned dangerous again thanks to the inertial powers of prejudice and ignorance. He's cut ties with any of us that actually are of the faith. It wouldn't surprise me if he's now playing for Team Hate.

I hope he isn't. I hope he's okay.

Our Jewish Community Center got another bomb threat earlier in the week. We live in Vancouver and it's in the hart of Kerrisdale, across the street from a multi-faith old folk's home that it helps to run. There was worry that the bomb might strike there, so the old folk's home was cleared out. So was the daycare and other health, faith, and social services that our JCC offers to people regardless of their faith.

It's interesting how several thousand years of oppression have given us a sense of kinship with the downtrodden and anyone that needs help.

Another guy I know – not a friend, this time – tried to give me the whole thing about how anti-Semitism isn't about Judaism, that only Middle-Eastern people are Semitic. I tried to explain to him about the rapes that happened during the diaspora, how our people were abused and kept apart but were the playthings of European nobility but that was a little much for him.

“Jews are white people, but not really,” he said. “They're Russian or whatever.”

I tried to explain to him that when the Romans destroyed Judea that they scattered the Jewish people across their empire. Jews were uprooted and moved everywhere, kept apart because of lies and politics, abused because it was convenient, and scapegoated because it was expedient.

“The Jews control all the money,” he said, and then quoted the Protocols of the Elders of Zion at me, a Russian retread of a failed French philosopher who was exiled to Belgium. The Protocols have been discredited so often that one would think that no one would think they were real anymore, but hatred cares nothing for evidence.

Jesus – whose name is a mistranslation – forbid the lending of money and charging interest. The European nobles and their Church liked the idea of doing that and found a loophole: they'd allow Jews to live in ghettos (yes, the word is Italian, and, yes, it originally applied to us) in their territories and offer marginal protection if we lent their money for them and charged interest. Of course, they'd keep everything because it was their money, and any time the peasantry complained about taxes or wealth inequality the nobles and Chruch would point at us and say “the Jews did it.”

Another reason to hate us. Another reason to kill us.

Tens of thousands of us were killed every few decades in every Christian nation in Europe. We know this because the Church kept records. The Holocaust wasn't anything new; it was just larger and more organized and we know exactly how many people were killed because the Nazis kept records: they wanted a record of what they'd done. They wanted documentation that they'd wiped out everyone that didn't live to their ideals of racial purity, a concept made all the more laughable by German history.

Even after the war, the surviving Jews had to smuggle themselves out of Europe and into Israel. And before then, when the Jews who'd managed to escape to America got to this continent, we were given two choices: banking and entertainment. So we got into film, we got into novels, and we pretty much invented comics.

Superman is a Jewish creation. Captain America. Namor. Even Thor. And when comics moved from golden to silver age, there was an upswing in stories that dealt with marginalized peoples finding a place for themselves and becoming heroes in spite of the prejudice they faced: Spider-Man. The Incredible Hulk. The X-Men.

The X-Men comics tied themselves to the concept of racism right out the gate: they were a new evolutionary path for humanity, feared and hated for being born. They had no choice in what they were, only in how they chose to do it, and the themes lent themselves to a greater exploration of racism, misogyny, and bigotry. The X-Men set Charles Xavier as a stand-in for Martin Luther King, Jr, and Eric Magnus Lehnsherr as their version of Malcolm X.

What made things interesting was the militarism that Magneto employed. He formed brotherhoods, attacked humans, stole their weapons – but the reasons why were rooted in his past. He was a survivor of the camps, a sonderkommando who had managed not to die.

If you’re wondering what a sonderkommando is, the Nazis chose some male Jews to go and collect the bits of Jew they wanted to keep: gold teeth, hair for wigs, skin for lampshades. Those who didn’t do it were tortured until they did or they died, often in front of other Jews. This was a real thing that the Nazis did.

So here’s the story of a boy who'd lost his home and his family and everything he’d known, been tortured and forced to become an active participant in his own destruction, but even then he was willing to walk away from the conflict. He married a Romani woman, settled down, and lived in peace until prejudice reared its ugly head and killed his wife and, he thought, his children.

The attacks that followed were based on this trauma: he'd lost both his people and his family and he would not stand by and watch as ignorance and hate claimed people again. As he aged, his choices became more subtle, his actions less about attack and more about avoidance. He reformed his belief structure, became more interested in discourse and working with people than outright slaughter, but his every effort was met with ignorance and hatred and consequence.

More interesting still were the shades of gray added to his character when he was still bordering villainy. Loki put a team together of ultimate villains to go against the heroes of the Marvel Universe, and it was the first time Erik had come face-to-face with the Red Skull – an actual Nazi in charge of an actual Nazi organization called Hydra.

The result speaks for itself:

Things have changed since then. The Europeans and their descendants promised never again to allow a genocide to occur, not that this has stopped America from doing all kinds of terrible things to foreign countries, the consequences of which they'd decided to meet by making the same mistakes all over again while actually becoming Nazis themselves.

And that brings is to Marvel Comics and their decision to turn various anti-fascist characters into Nazis. They've got a writer named Nick Spencer writing for them. He made Captain America a Nazi and then tried to explain that Hydra isn't a Nazi organization while also confirming that Hydra is a Nazi organization while supporting an actual Nazi.

Nick Spencer also had Falcon – the new Captain America – apologize to a group of white supremacists for playing the race card when that group was being, shockingly, racist. He'd tried to remove Captain America from being a political figure when Cap has been tied to World War II, Vietnam, the corruption of the Nixon administration, the lies of the Gulf War, the lies that led to the second Gulf War, and others.

See, Captain America is supposed to be what America can be, the living representative of the American Dream:

And what Nick Spencer has done is murder that. See, this is always going to be someone's take on Captain America, now. Someone, somewhere, is going to dismiss the inherent decency and compassion that were Cap's greatest powers because of the taint that Nick Spencer inflicted on him.

The fact that Steve Rogers was created by two Jews to both criticize the Nazi ideal while shaming America into action during World War II is now completely undone. The character has no meaning anymore and we will never again look at him the same way because Marvel let this happen.

And now they're doing it again, but this time it's worse.

Much, much worse.

Erik Magnus Lehnsherr, Jew and Holocaust survivor, the character that once took Kitty Pryde to the Holocaust Memorial Museum, is now joining Hydra. A Jewish man who watched everyone he loved burned to ash and was forced to become complicit in his own genocide by as a child is joining the organization that did it.

Nick Spencer is turning a Jew into a Nazi.

I'm told we live in a post-fact world, where alternative-truths need to be accepted instead of called out as the lies they are. I'm told we have to bow our heads while greed co-opts faith, and selfishness is recast as a virtue by Conservatives and Republicans and other people who are more interested in comforts they'll never use while people around them starve to death.

Nick likes to argue that Hydra isn't a group of Nazi and likes to use Hydra Bob as an example of “Hydra is okay now, not really bad guys.” Marvel sometimes backs him up by claiming that Hydra isn't Nazis while using Nazi imagery, symbolism, and having Nazis run the group that was started by Nazis.

They also don't understand why people might find this irresponsible or offensive and refuse to see the real world consequences this decision has or the consequences of their actions.

I mentioned previously that a big part of Jewish philosophy: this two shall pass. For those that missed the previous explanation (link), a big part of the Jewish experience is waiting for the latest atrocity to pass. We're taught to duck our heads and wait out the storm, but as anyone that has been bullied can tell you, ignoring the problem never works.

Conservatives tend to believe that progressives are the death of a culture but that's not how anything works. Movement and civilization happen because people want to change and grow; Conservatives are the very opposite of that and their focus on the past means that they will and have lie about the future and so will movements based in their ideologies.

Naziism, for example, promotes nostalgia for a fictionalized past and the dehumanization of their victims and, eventually, themselves. To do this they lie about their intent, their philosophy, and their actions to themselves and one another and anyone that bothers to listen to them.

And this happens because progressives get to a point where they want to be tolerant in compassionate. They want to listen, to understand, the find a middle ground with people whose whole ideology is that there is no room for compassion or middle-ground, that they are Right and everything else is Wrong.

This is why Conservatives can murder doctors and ruin the lives of poor people (including themselves~!) while calling themselves pro-life; this is why they can destroy government after claiming that government doesn't work; this is why they can denigrate education and betterment of self while promoting ignorance and selfishness as the highest possible ideals; this is why they feel comfortable lying to spread their hate.

Part of the Conservative mindset – and the Nazi mindset that results from it – is the corruption of symbols. If you can corrupt the symbols of a people and making it so that meaning is meaningless, you can destroy the people for whom those symbols matter without ever firing a bullet. You turn their arguments to mush by taking away the meaning of those arguments, invalidating their existence.

I'm a Jew. We've seen this happen before.

We're seeing it happen again right now.

Where are your promises, people that told us this would never happen again?

And this is why Nick Spencer feels comfortable lying about what Hydra is, why he feels comfortable making Captain America a Nazi, and why he feels comfortable making a Jew a Nazi. He's destroying the meaning of our symbols to try and dehumanize the people those symbols have meaning for and to ultimately destroy us.

And, this, too, shall pass – but the symbols he's destroyed? They're lost. And while we might go on we will never forget because we can't... sometimes, the only thing we can do is mourn.

Thankfully, we’ve gotten very good at mourning.

Yit'gadal v'yit'kadash sh'mei raba b'al'ma di v'ra khir'utei.

#nick spencer #magneto #judaism #jewish #captain america #nazis #hydra are nazis #here we go again #i wonder how many of us they'll kill this time #marvel #marvel comics #disney #red skull #hydra #holocaust #kaddish

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blackkudos · 6 years ago

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Gil Scott-Heron

Gilbert (Gil) Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011) was an American soul and jazz poet, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician Brian Jackson featured a musical fusion of jazz, blues, and soul, as well as lyrical content concerning social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping and melismatic vocal styles by Scott-Heron. His own term for himself was "bluesologist", which he defined as "a scientist who is concerned with the origin of the blues". His music, most notably on Pieces of a Man and Winter in America in the early 1970s, influenced and helped engender later African-American music genres such as hip hop and neo soul. In fact, Scott-Heron himself is considered by many to be the first rapper/MC ever, a recognition also shared by fellow American MC Coke La Rock.

His recording work received much critical acclaim, especially one of his best-known compositions "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". Gil Scott-Heron received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. He also is included in the exhibits at the National Museum of African American History and Culture that officially opened on Sept. 24, 2016 on the National Mall, and in an NMAAHC publication, Dream a World Anew. During the museum's opening ceremonies, the Sylvan Theater on the monument grounds was temporarily named the Gil Scott-Heron stage.

Early years

Gil Scott-Heron was born in Chicago, Illinois. His mother, Bobbie Scott-Heron, was an opera singer who performed with the New York Oratorio Society. Scott-Heron's father, Gil Heron, nicknamed "The Black Arrow", was a Jamaican football player in the 1950s who became the first black man to play for Celtic Football Club in Glasgow. Gil's parents separated in his early childhood and he was sent to live with his maternal grandmother, Lillie Scott, in Jackson, Tennessee. When Scott-Heron was 12 years old, his grandmother died and he returned to live with his mother in The Bronx in New York City. He enrolled at DeWitt Clinton High School, but later transferred to The Fieldston School after impressing the head of the English department with one of his writings and earning a full scholarship. As one of five black students at the prestigious school, Scott-Heron was faced with alienation and a significant socioeconomic gap. During his admissions interview at Fieldston, an administrator asked him, "'How would you feel if you see one of your classmates go by in a limousine while you're walking up the hill from the subway?' And [he] said, 'Same way as you. Y'all can't afford no limousine. How do you feel?'" This type of intractable boldness would become a hallmark of Scott-Heron's later recordings.

After completing his secondary education, Scott-Heron enrolled at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania because Langston Hughes (his most important literary influence) was an alumnus. It was here that Scott-Heron met Brian Jackson with whom he formed the band Black & Blues. After about two years at Lincoln, Scott-Heron took a year off to write the novels The Vulture and The Nigger Factory. Scott-Heron was very heavily influenced by the Black Arts Movement. The Last Poets, a group associated with the Black Arts Movement performed at Lincoln in 1969 and Abiodun Oyewole of that Harlem group said Scott-Heron asked him after the performance, "Listen, can I start a group like you guys?" Scott-Heron returned to New York City, settling in Chelsea, Manhattan. The Vulture was published by the World Publishing Company in 1970 to positive reviews.

Recording career

Scott-Heron's 1971 album Pieces of a Man used more conventional song structures than the loose, spoken-word feel of Small Talk. He was joined by Jackson, Johnny Pate as conductor, Ron Carter on bass and bass guitar, drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, Burt Jones playing electric guitar, and Hubert Laws on flute and saxophone, with Thiele producing again. Scott-Heron's third album, Free Will, was released in 1972. Jackson, Purdie, Laws, Knowles, and Saunders all returned to play on Free Will and were joined by Jerry Jemmott playing bass, David Spinozza on guitar, and Horace Ott (arranger and conductor). Carter later said about Scott-Heron's voice, "He wasn't a great singer, but, with that voice, if he had whispered it would have been dynamic. It was a voice like you would have for Shakespeare."

A live album, It's Your World, followed in 1976 and a recording of spoken poetry, The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron, was released in 1979. Another success followed with the hit single "Angel Dust", which he recorded as a single with producer Malcolm Cecil. "Angel Dust" peaked at No. 15 on the R&B charts in 1978.

Later years

Prison terms and more performing

In April 2009 on BBC Radio 4, poet Lemn Sissay presented a half-hour documentary on Gil Scott-Heron entitled Pieces of a Man, having interviewed Gil Scott-Heron in New York a month earlier. Pieces of a Man was the first UK announcement from Scott-Heron of his forthcoming album and return to form. In November 2009, the BBC's Newsnight interviewed Scott-Heron for a feature titled The Legendary Godfather of Rap Returns. In 2009, a new Gil Scott-Heron website, gilscottheron.net, was launched with a new track "Where Did the Night Go" made available as a free download from the site.

In 2010 Scott-Heron was booked to perform in Tel Aviv, Israel, but this attracted criticism from pro-Palestinian activists, who stated: "Your performance in Israel would be the equivalent to having performed in Sun City during South Africa's apartheid era... We hope that you will not play apartheid Israel". Scott-Heron responded by canceling the performance.

I'm New Here

Scott-Heron described himself as a mere participant in an interview with The New Yorker:

Death

He is survived by his firstborn daughter, Raquiyah "Nia" Kelly Heron, from his relationship with Pat Kelly; his son Rumal Rackley, from his relationship with Lurma Rackley; daughter Gia Scott-Heron, from his marriage to Brenda Sykes; and daughter Chegianna Newton, who was 13 years old at the time of her father's death. He is also survived by his sister Gayle; brother Denis Heron, who once managed Scott-Heron; his uncle, Roy Heron; and nephew Terrance Kelly, an actor and rapper who performs as Mr. Cheeks, and who was a member of Lost Boyz.

Before his death, Scott-Heron had been in talks with Portuguese director Pedro Costa to participate in his film Horse Money as a screenwriter, composer and actor.

After Scott-Heron's death Malik Al Nasir told his story to The Guardian's Simon Hattenstone of the kindness that Scott-Heron had showed Malik throughout his adult life since meeting the poet back stage at a gig in Liverpool in 1984. The BBC World Service covered the story on their Outlook program with Matthew Bannister, which took the story global. It was subsequently covered in many other mediums such as BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live, where jazz musician Al Jarreau paid tribute to Gil, and was mentioned the U.S. edition of Rolling Stone and The Huffington Post. Malik & the O.G's performed a tribute to Scott-Heron at the Liverpool International Music Festival in 2013 with jazz composer Orphy Robinson of The Jazz Warriors and Rod Youngs from Gil's band The Amnesia Express. Another tribute was performed at St. Georges Hall in Liverpool on August 27, 2015, called "The Revolution will be Live!", curated by Malik Al Nasir and Richard McGinnis for Yesternight Productions. The event featured Talib Kweli, Aswad, The Christians, Malik & the O.G's, Sophia Ben-Yousef and Cleveland Watkiss as well as DJ 2Kind and poet, actor, and radio DJ Craig Charles. The tribute was the opening event for 2015 Liverpool International Music Festival.

Scott-Heron's memoir, The Last Holiday, was released in January 2012. In her review for the Los Angeles Times, professor of English and journalism Lynell George wrote:

Scott-Heron's estate

At the time of Scott-Heron's death, a will could not be found to determine the future of his estate. Additionally, Raquiyah Kelly-Heron filed papers in Manhattan, New York's Surrogate's Court in August 2013, claiming that Rumal Rackley is not Scott-Heron's son and should therefore be omitted from matters concerning the musician's estate. According to the Daily News website, Rackley, Kelly-Heron and two other sisters have been seeking a resolution to the issue of the management of Scott-Heron's estate, as Rackley stated in court papers that Scott-Heron prepared him to be the eventual administrator of the estate. Scott-Heron's 1994 album Spirits was dedicated to "my son Rumal and my daughters Nia and Gia", and in court papers Rackley added that Scott-Heron introduced me [Rackley] from the stage as his son." .

In 2011 Rackley filed a suit against sister Gia Scott-Heron and her mother, Scott-Heron's first wife, Brenda Sykes, as he believed they had unfairly attained US$250,000 of Scott-Heron's money. The case was later settled for an undisclosed sum in early 2013; but the relationship between Rackley and Scott-Heron's two adult daughters already had become strained in the months after Gil's death. In her submission to the Surrogate's Court, Kelly-Heron states that a DNA test completed by Rackley in 2011—using DNA from Scott-Heron's brother—revealed that they "do not share a common male lineage", while Rackley has refused to undertake another DNA test since that time. A hearing to address Kelly-Heron's filing was scheduled for late August 2013, but, As of March 2016, further information on the matter is not publicly available. However, Rackley still serves as court-appointed administrator for the estate, and donated material to the Smithsonian's new National Museum of African American History and Culture for Scott-Heron to be included among the exhibits and displays when the museum opened in September 2016.

According to the Daily News website, Kelly-Heron and two other sisters have been seeking a resolution to the issue of the management of Scott-Heron's estate. During the time Scott-Heron's 1994 album Spirits was being produced, he was living in Brooklyn, New York, with Nia and her mother.

Influence

Chicago Tribune writer Greg Kot comments on Scott-Heron's collaborative work with Jackson:

Will Layman of PopMatters wrote about the significance of Scott-Heron's early musical work:

Following Scott-Heron's funeral in 2011, a tribute from publisher, record company owner, poet, and music producer Abdul Malik Al Nasir was published on The Guardian's website, titled "Gil Scott-Heron saved my life".

Filmography

Saturday Night Live, musical guest, December 13, 1975.

Black Wax (1982). Directed by Robert Mugge.

5 Sides of a Coin (2004). Directed by Paul Kell

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (2005). Directed by Don Letts for BBC.

Word Up (2005). Directed by Malik Al Nasir for Fore-Word Press.

The Paris Concert (2007).

Tales of the Amnesia Express Live at the Town & Country.

Wikipedia

#Gil Scott-Heron #04-01 #05-27

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racingtoaredlight · 4 years ago

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A Shorty Continuing on Malcolm Young and Economy

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Go to 1:00 and listen to a riff you’ve likely unintentionally heard hundreds of times before played by the man himself in all his Gretsch-y glory.

I’m a very, very late-comer to the AC/DC party. They’re brilliant. One of the greatest bands of all time, easily. I was never a hater of theirs...always loved them...but any hate wears away so quickly when you give them an honest chance, and Malcolm is the reason why. It’s easy to hate on vocals some can consider grating, or the schoolboy histrionics of Malcolm’s brother Angus, but once you dig into the meat, it’s one helluva satisfying steak.

My dad is my biggest musical influence, but getting him to change his mind on certain bands is extremely difficult (yes, that’s where I get it from). He never hated AC/DC either, but after two months of me calling him like “dude Malcolm Young is out of this fucking world,” he dug in. We had a chat Wednesday night out of the blue about them, and how he never realized just how killer of a band they actually were. Not just as a hard rock or party band, but in the greater scheme of things.

Again, economy is the reason why. They are not a metal band, or a hard rock band...they’re a blues band that focused everything they did to hammer those important musical aspects and maximize their impact. A little more after the jump...

1. No Frills or Fills - it’s straight up meat. Fills and frills are great and make music interesting, but they are superfluous. They’re just reinforcing the fundamental notes that carry all the theoretical weight anyways.

Bach had the ideal balance of meat/pudding, Mozart then made some of the most delectable musical desserts you’ll ever hear, Charlie Parker was nicknamed “Bird” because of how he used frills, Duke Ellington had an extremely tasteful Art Deco appreciation of this concept. Even when you look at heavyweights (Beethoven, Coltrane, Wagner, etc), those fills and frills are still there, only with a more aggro-intellectual edge to them applied to the lower voices as well.

But fills and frills can be a crutch to musicians. A way to take up space without really having anything musical to say. It takes deliberate effort to NOT play extra notes and only focus on what’s important. And the term “weight” is meaningful here, because if you’re playing fills and frills, your music is going to naturally trend lighter so it’s all clear and distinct. But what you lose is the heft of those individual notes/chords the more there’s a swirl around them.

In this sense, AC/DC finds a beautiful balance. Enough frills to make music interesting and give it the necessary momentum to move to other chords/keys...but it’s still all about the meat.

2. Tailor Gear to Outcome - building off that previous point, Malcolm tailored his guitars and amps to get maximum impact on those notes/chords that need it. I’ve talked a lot about signal chains and how you want to have as short of one as possible to get the most out of your equipment.

AC/DC’s (both of em) chain goes like this...Guitar > cable > amp. Here’s the theme: nothing gets in the way of what’s truly important.

I’ve also talked a little about how single pickup guitars have a different quality than guitars with multiple pickups. A pickup is a magnet. Even if it’s not selected, a magnet is still a fucking magnet and has an impact on metal strings and how they vibrate. This can be so extreme that if you raise your pickups really high, close to the strings...they can actually make your guitar go out of tune.

Malcolm stripped out all but one of his main guitar’s* pickups. He used extremely heavy strings...while not really adding much to the actual heaviness of the output tone...add a ton to how his strings are practically used. Heavy strings (he used beefy 12-gauge strings) allowed him to dig in extremely hard with his picking hand and not worry about things like going out of tune or intonation or breakage.

Economy was everything with AC/DC, and it all started with Malcolm Young. Each chord was played with maximum impact at maximum timeliness, and he set it up so that his guitars were tuned to do just that, and made sure that absolutely nothing else got in the way.

Further, what it allowed AC/DC to do was incorporate BOTH Malcom and Angus together without them tripping over their own feet. Listen to like 60-90 seconds of this. I can almost guarantee that you’ll be filling in the missing sections in your mind or humming them along. Without economy...and with a lot of fills and frills that can clog things up...this doesn’t have anywhere near the same impact.

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*Below is a pic of his main guitar (on right)...the guitar pictured and the guitar in the videos below it are the exact same one. He played a variety of guitars through his career...most notably an old 50′s Gretsch White Falcon hollowbody**...but the one he’s most known for is his Gretsch Jet Firebird.

Originally he replaced the middle pickup with a higher output humbucker (Gretsch TV Jones pickups are closer to single coil output as they’re wired in parallel instead of series), which is why you can see the extra wood gouged out. At some point, he had all the finish stripped off, leaving what might be the ultimate “workingman’s guitar” and couldn’t be a better match for his no frill playing style.

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**just for fun, here’s a couple pics of him with the Gretsch White Falcon, which I’m including because the guitar looks so fucking hilariously huge.

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theconservativebrief · 6 years ago

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When Ariana Grande tells you she’s going to be just fine, believe her.

The sentient cupcake with a four-octave range says as much in her bouncy new kiss-off song, “thank u, next” — a farewell letter to all the men she’s loved before. And the most recent addition to that list is her ex-fiancé, Saturday Night Live cast member Pete Davidson.

The two were in love until they weren’t.

Grande and Davidson first announced their relationship in May, shocked everyone with an engagement announcement in June, and then, in the middle of October, called the whole thing off. That’s seemingly plenty of fodder for a break-up bop, but Davidson’s post-breakup behavior added some edge to the saga.

In a promotional clip for SNL’s November 3 show, Davidson used the breakup as a punchline, facetiously proposing to that week’s musical guest, Maggie Rogers:

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Grande didn’t see the humor in the situation, revealing as much in a series of subtweets. “For somebody who claims to hate relevancy u sure love clinging to it huh,” she wrote, without mentioning Davidson. She followed up with “thank u, next” and “k, that’s the last time we do that” before ultimately deleting them all.

The SNL promo and Grande’s tweets both made headlines, as many people wondered aloud whether Davidson would further address the breakup on the show. And then, ahead of the SNL episode, Grande tweeted hints about a new album and song that would reference Davidson and the breakup:

The displeasure in Grande’s deleted tweets, along with the tease of a new song and the potential for Davidson to make more awkward jokes, amped up anticipation for SNL.

Then, 30 minutes before the episode premiered, Grande released “thank u, next.”

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But the biggest surprise was the content of the song itself. Grande’s tweets might have set everyone up to expect a thrashing laced with pettiness, but “thank u, next” was actually a pump-fake. Far from the overt diss track many expected, the song was more about finding love with in herself:

I met someone else We havin’ better discussions I know they say I move on too fast But this one gon’ last ’Cause her name is Ari And I’m so good with that.

For his part, Davidson did comment on the breakup during SNL, gracefully acknowledging Grande during the show’s Weekend Update and saying, “She’s a wonderful, strong person, and I genuinely wish her all the happiness in the world.”

Though, after Grande’s power move, Davidson’s response was an afterthought (especially after he drew backlash for jokes on another topic entirely).

The 25-year-old Grande followed up the song release with a tweet on Sunday morning, echoing the idea that she is truly grateful:

thank u ♡ for hearing me and for making me feel so not alone i truly am grateful. no matter how painful! i’m thankful and i love u. breathin visual this week too! thank u, next pic.twitter.com/Qq62vjM0gI

— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) November 5, 2018

Churning out hits is what we’ve come to expect from Grande, but what makes her a remarkable pop star isn’t just that “thank u, next” is a great song but also the latest example of Grande’s toughness and grace in the face of personal tragedy.

A year and a half ago, in May 2017, a suicide bomber attacked a concert that Grande was performing in Manchester. This September, just a few months into her now-ended engagement with Davidson, Grande’s ex-boyfriend Mac Miller died of a drug overdose — and a faction of his fans blamed her for his death.

Through all of this, Grande has handled herself with grace. After the Manchester attack, she hosted a benefit concert that raised $13 million for the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund. This summer, she released an album called Sweetener, which drew raves — some critics called it the pop album of the year. After Miller’s death, she paid tribute to him in a way that felt genuine and honest:

She also honors Miller in “thank u, next” — a key reason why the song, which is the sonic equivalent of strawberry champagne, heart emojis, and bubble bath, is so illustrative of her arc as a performer. Like Grande herself, beneath its sweetness is a story of empowerment, resilience, and maturity. That’s a rarity in this age of pop culture where taking the low, petty road has been praised. And it’s what makes Grande a breath of fresh air, and an unforgettable pop star.

“Petty” has become a default setting for pop culture.

It is now commonplace for many public figures to respond to any slight or a perceived wrong by shining a spotlight on it, forming a grudge, and then dragging whoever wronged them at the next appropriate opportunity. Bonus points are available to anyone who can pull this off exclusively through the use of oblique innuendo, without naming names.

Taylor Swift has spun pettiness into some pretty successful songs, and turned her 2017 album Reputation into a scavenger hunt for mentions of all her feuds. Drake has done the same, referencing beefs at his concerts and taking shots at his rivals in songs that are seemingly written and shipped overnight. Armie Hammer insulted a journalist who dared to write a negative thinkpiece about his acting career.

Usually, these moments of pettiness are escalated and egged on by thousands of fans, who delight in watching celebrities bicker with each other.

So after Grande had expressed her displeasure at Davidson’s jokes and then teased the release of “thank u, next,” there was an anticipation that the song would reveal some less-than-flattering things about Davidson. In the end, the true surprise was how sweet it was:

Thought I’d end up with Sean But he wasn’t a match Wrote some songs about Ricky Now I listen and laugh Even almost got married And for Pete I’m so thankful Wish I could say thank you to Malcolm Cause he was an angel

Grande’s lyrics refer to four of her ex-boyfriends: Big Sean, Ricky Alvarez, Davidson, and Mac Miller. She comments on each relationship, but without any insults or low blows. Sean, for example, simply “wasn’t a match.” And no matter how ill-advised her whirlwind love affair with Davidson might have seemed to many of her fans (not least because it involved moving into a Manhattan apartment but living without forks), Grande specifically says that she’s “thankful” for him.

But it’s what she says about Miller that helps drive home the spirit of “thank u, next.” The disarming way she refers to him as Malcolm, acknowledging his death and his soul, is arguably more scintillating, tender, and newsworthy than anything about Davidson in the song.

Grande also sings about what she’s learned from each of these past relationships, and how they’ve made her a better person:

One taught me love One taught me patience And one taught me pain Now, I’m so amazing.

She doesn’t credit the love, patience, or pain to any of her exes in particular. And by the end of the chorus, it’s clear she’s ready to move on. At its core, “thank u, next” isn’t about Grande dissing her ex-boyfriends, it’s about Grande embracing herself.

This theme continues through the bridge, where Grande sings sweetly about getting married someday — something she only wants to do once:

One day I’ll walk down the aisle Holding hands with my mama I’ll be thanking my dad ’Cause she grew from the drama Only wanna do it once, real bad Gon’ make that shit last God forbid something happens Least this song is a smash

The result is the “sweetest, the sanest, and also, gloriously, the most cutting diss track of an especially cutting year” according to the Ringer’s Rob Harvilla, who argues that Grande’s maturity and cogency are what gives the song power — that in “thank u, next,” she’s showing that she doesn’t need to trash Davidson to prove that she’s better off without him.

“It’s a generosity rarely spotted these days, when it is so much more tempting to clap back with vinegar instead of honey,” Quinn Moreland wrote at Pitchfork. “The high road might not be the easiest path, but Grande offers to lead us there by her own example.”

“While Grande could’ve released a scathing track, she dropped one that was, instead, respectful and mature,” Amanda Arnold explained at The Cut.

Her fans responded immediately, replaying the song over and over. It shot up to the top of the Spotify US and Global Charts, tallying 8 million global daily plays and breaking the company’s single-day streaming record for a female artist. It made waves on Twitter, where, according to a company representative, the phrase “thank u, next” was tweeted over 1.5 million times in just a few days. Justin Bieber called it his favorite song. It even inspired a meme:

And now it’s in contention to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Pop stars and the industry that creates them are salespeople. And more and more, a huge part of the sale isn’t just how a pop star looks (with some glaring exceptions, it’s difficult to find an unattractive pop star) but rather the image he or she has crafted.

Beyoncé sells a power fantasy in untouchable excellence and relentless dedication. Taylor Swift sells an underdog story, having gone a Girl Next Door type to girl squad leader to revenge monger. Lady Gaga is a creature of transformation.

And the question underneath all this imagecraft is whether we’re ever seeing the “real” version of who pop stars are versus the narrative of they’re selling.

When Beyoncé sings about Jay Z’s alleged cheating, how much of that is a measured move by a singer notorious for controlling her image, her albums, and even Anna Wintour? When Taylor Swift sings about Kanye’s crooked stage, or about a paper airplane necklace in reference to Harry Styles, is she conveying genuine feelings of revenge or longing, or have her lyrics been carefully calculated to send a specific message and appease an audience?

We could ask the same kinds of questions about Grande and her whirlwind love affair with Davidson.

Grande’s relationship with Davidson began in May, and their engagement was confirmed on June 15. The relationship seemingly materialized in the short period of time between Grande releasing two new singles — “no tears left to cry” on April 20 and “the light is coming” on June 20. Pre-orders of Sweetener began the same week that the latter song came out, five days after the couple confirmed their engagement.

Grande and Davidson’s relationship (which has since been portmanteau’d by some into “Grandson”) and the abruptness of their engagement drove interest in the album, which also contains a song named after him. And even with the dissolution of the relationship, public interest in the couple’s breakup is helping Grande sell music.

Grandson could be either the most convenient and album-friendly relationship ever, or a savvy publicity stunt.

With so much intrigue swirling, there was a question of whether Sweetener would be all about the Grandson relationship, offering more details about the inner lives of Grande and Davidson. Perhaps Sweetener was going to be fairy tale love song performed by a princess who had finally found “the one.”

But just like “thank u” turned out to be a love song from Grande to herself, what Sweetener turned out to be was an album of resilience.

Sweetener was not about Davidson but rather a glimpse into Grande’s response, at times a joyous one, to the tragedy that changed her life.

On May 22, 2017, after Grande finished performing at Manchester Arena, a suicide bomber attacked the concert, killing 22 people and injuring 59 more — a tragedy that completely eclipses her relationship with Davidson.

“It’s the absolute worst of humanity,” Grande told Time one year later, in May 2018 in an interview about Sweetener. That’s why I did my best to react the way I did. The last thing I would ever want is for my fans to see something like that happen and think it won.”

The critically lauded album was a triumph, but it’s easy to imagine how difficult it was for Grande to make and sing songs about her life in the wake of the attack.

Perhaps that’s where the undeniable, winsome appeal of Grande lies: beyond her catchy songs and in how she has consistently proved that she’s a lilliputian pop princess with the toughness of a tank.

As with any pop star, you don’t have to agree with what Grande is singing about, whether it be sex or God being a woman or both. But you can admire the guts it takes to keep singing after the rough year that she’s been through. And in “thank u, next,” when she sings about picking herself up and believing in herself after a breakup, that’s something we all want to believe in.

Original Source -> Ariana Grande’s greatest asset isn’t her amazing voice. It’s her resilience.

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

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kayawagner · 6 years ago

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Black Lightning Strikes Truth — Running Great Superhero Games

*Black Lightning: My Man!

Today’s guest article is by Chris Spivey, talking about how the TV show Black Lightning makes fertile ground for a great superhero game and how to run one. Chris is the award winning author of Harlem Unbound and is currently working on an un-named superhero game for Chaosium. – Head gnome John

Considering the second season is airing any day now, I am coming to this retrospective and exploration later than most. The show spoke to me in a similar intensity, if not manner, as Black Panther did. That feeling made me consider staying in a quiet(ish) mood, keeping my overall thoughts and perceived implications of the show to myself rather than with the world. But my mind kept coming back to this show—its vision of superheroes, world building, relationship dynamics— and how it lined up with so many of my thoughts related to superhero gaming. A number of the beats have appeared in my superhero campaigns.

What changed my mind? Someone told me they don’t know why we need Black Lightning if we have Luke Cage. My first thought was, “What kind of logic is that?” If we all believed that, then we don’t need Arrow, The Flash, Daredevil, Punisher and especially not Ironfist. But each of those shows is telling a different story with a different lead, (mostly) addressing issues differently. If anything, we need more shows like Black Lightning, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Agent Carter (we miss you, Peggy). I am still rallying for Photon, Blue Marvel, and Ms. Marvel. Hearing that comment solidified my need to share my thoughts about the show and how gamers can add the essence of the show to their own supers game.

A Brief History of the Superhero Genre

We can’t talk about superhero comics-related media without touching on the comic ages. Anything I write about superheroes has to include their importance and impact on society, each age reflecting society at the time:

The Golden Age (1938–1950ish) ― Coming out of the Great Depression, America was looking for light entertainment and a diversion from reality and found it in Superman! The Kryptonian boy scout jump-started the age, surpassing his masked predecessors, and his success solidified the comic industry. The wave rode into World War II with heroes shifting to patriotic themes and providing moral support for troops and people back home. The superheroes frequently fought gangsters, supervillains, crooked politicians, and Fifth Columnists.

The Silver Age (1956ish–1970) ― The Silver Age moved towards more science-based superheroes rather than magical ones of the previous age. The idea of superheroes on teams with constant bantering, bickering, and facing greater challenges sold in droves; such teams as the Justice League, the Fantastic Four, the Legion of Super-Heroes, and X-Men were hot items.

The Bronze Age (1970–1985) ― Comics became more complex, lost the frivolity of the Silver Age, and evolved into what they were meant to be: a mirror for society. Comics became a voice to those without a voice, a chance to inspire as they did in the Golden Age but with more modern values and diversity. There were too many issues plaguing the world to ignore: street riots, the Vietnam War, a corrupt law and order system, and drugs. This exponential increase minority superheroes with the likes of Luke Cage (the first black superhero to have his own comic book), Shang-Chi, and Storm.

The Modern Age (1985–Now) ― This could easily be broken down into two or three new ages; building on the concept of social issues and complexity led to a desire for grim and more adult-themed comics. Independent comic publishers were able to establish themselves as power players in the market, such as Image Comics, Milestone Comics, and Dark Horse Comics. These independent comics could do things that the larger companies couldn’t, as they did not need to hold a middle ground of ideas to keep their fanbase.

The Skinny Upfront

Black Lightning is one of the best DCTV superhero shows (heck, just any television series) airing, in my opinion, with Arrow as a distant second. There you go, I said and stand by it. Netflix/Marvel’s Luke Cage is excellent but a very different show with a different vision that is a different discussion. The characters are well developed, the story moves at a solid clip, and the cast is engaging. All of that makes it a great show and fertile ground for superhero roleplaying game ideas. It does not reinvent the superhero genre or even attempt to, and Black Lightning does something better…it elevates the bar.

One of the show’s primary focuses is on what superhero comics were meant to do ever since the first pages of Action Comics #1 in the Golden Age, and more solidly addressed in the Bronze age of comics: hold a mirror up to society exposing the ugly truths while holding us to a higher ideal through our superhero avatars. This has been done to varying degrees of success since its inception and when it is done, it is frequently whitewashed. The X-Men are a perfect example of this, being an analogy of the civil rights movements with some people casting Professor X as Martin Luther King and Magneto as Malcolm X, and the mutants representing African Americans. And yet they are primarily all white, even in today’s incarnation. The analog has continued to evolve with the times to include those in the LGBTQ community and more, but the characters are still principally cis, white, and usually male.

Black Lightning’s creation had the other DCTV shows attempt to address social issues with baby steps. For instance, Super Girl’s Jimmy Olsen’s, a black hero, needing to decide if he should come forward to show a black man can be a hero. In those shows, all of the people of color are sidekicks, their struggles barely acknowledged, and their stories are quickly wrapped up before the end of the episode. This show casts people of color as the primary protagonist and integrates the struggle into their daily lives making it a near-perfect superhero tale for television or the gaming table, balancing real life with the responsibility and repercussions of superheroics.

Relationship Diversity

The show focuses on community—on family and friends—by placing them all into the central plot of making their city a better place; they are pillars of the story.

The reason this show speaks to me so much: I am an educated black man of a certain age raising a daughter in our dangerous world. I endure racism, being targeted by the police, and the crushing weight of depression from the current administration politics. To see a strong realistic African American family battling the same issues I do daily is uplifting and inspiring. At its core, that is what superheroes are supposed to do. They inspire us, make us want to be better, and are a reflection of our lives.

That spark of inspiration is something that can be reflected in a game. It may seem small but it establishes the player characters in the world and reinforces that their actions have positive consequences. So many games focus on the damage the superhero battle inflicts on the city, which should also be considered, but they don’t highlight the “civilians” cheering them on. For Black Lightning, they can be found in the random doorman that opens the door for him and praises his work before a battle. Those moments tie the supers more strongly into the world. They can even translate into a minor mechanical bonus to hit or dodge, or a Sanity bump.

Bringing it to the Gaming Table — A Template for Assessing your Superhero Game

How does any of this help you run a superhero game? How do you apply it? Here are a few questions to ask and things to consider as you prep for a great superhero game.

What Comic Age Do You Set It In? Decide on what age the campaign will fall into. It doesn’t need to be a direct correlation but rather a general tone or vibe and it should set the values of the universe. Whatever the age, it can be modernized and interwoven into the game. This is something the players should know before making characters as it also lets them have a better sense of the type of game they are playing in. The Punisher blasting his way through a group of criminals doesn’t generally work in a more simple Golden Age Style game.

Know Your Vision: You need to know the scope of the “world” for the first “season” of the game. The scope may change after contact or after a few sessions with the players and that’s fine. The initial setting may be focused on a single city block, neighborhood, or the entire city. By establishing that baseline it enables the game to expand naturally.

Player Characters vs NPCs: The players should know both the Comic Age and your Vision before creating characters. This lets them build a character that fits into the campaign mechanically. If a player knows that the game has a Silver Age vibe and deals with keeping the city safe, they may decide to build a mechanical engineer working for a private company knowing they are more likely to encounter alien technology rather than magical power rings.

Backstory. Backstory. Backstory: Backstories are more vital in superhero games than in almost any other genre. The character is living dual existences. This conflict is fertile ground for drama, roleplaying, and enhancing player buy-in. This is the element that makes superhero games more than just punching a bad guy in the face.

What Are The Key Relationships? With the world and superhero backstories established, relationships are going to need fleshed out. These relationships should feel natural by creating complications and moments of joy. My personal balance for this would account for this being 25-30% of the campaign’s focus. These relationships can be both as a superhero and within their secret identity.

What System and Why? Picking a system is always tough. The game needs to feel super-heroic, allowing incredible feats, but not be too crunchy. There are many systems out there that tackle superheroics in different ways — choose the one that fits your play style best.

Lightning Strikes! Running Black Lightning With The Template

Let’s break down a few of the key elements of Black Lightning into the steps above so you can be ready to run a Black Lightning themed game.

Comic Age: Modern Age

Know Your Vision: Protect Freeland. Much of a Black Lightning game revolves around keeping the city safe and stable.

Player Characters vs Key NPCs: Players: Jefferson, Jennifer, Anissa, Lynn, and Gambi Key NPCs: Tobias, Henderson, Lala, Syonide, and Kara

Backstory. Backstory. Backstory: I won’t delve in too deeply so there aren’t spoilers, but the backstories in Black Lightning are often about uncovering the past and finding out how those things hidden in history affect the future where the current story is being told.

Relationships: There are many relationships that interweave between the main characters, and some of the Key NPCs change throughout the show and in relation to the characters. I don’t want to spoil much, but in a Black Lightning game, relationships will change based on the choices the characters make — where they put their efforts and what they leave behind to protect Freeland.

What System and Why: My first thought would be Wild Talents. Wild Talents has the ability to create various powers; the Will mechanic dovetails with the character’s moral drive, and the ease of research. Black Lightning could also easily be run in my upcoming superheroes campaign for Chaosium. That allows for a number of powers, occupations, and sanity effects. An interesting take would be to run the game as a One-2-One. The player would choose one of the main cast, while having the other main cast members be sources, and tackling the series’ story.

Black Lightning as a show is great, and Black Lightning as a game played among friends brings the story to the people at your table. It takes the narrative and makes it a living thing. When you’re jonesing for a new superhero game, look to Black Lightning as something that might give your group a good narrative framework. Where’s the future? Right here.

Black Lightning Strikes Truth — Running Great Superhero Games published first on https://supergalaxyrom.tumblr.com

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