#and the power of Tom Jones obviously

[iwrotemrtambourineman]

mars attacks movie about the how power of country music and loving your grandma can and will save the world

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | The Story of O (Jaeckin, 1975)

So much of the erotic power of this movie comes from the way it evokes a sense of touch, of feeling. The feeling of one’s flesh on a leather car seat. Of glass on skin. Of robes of luxurious fabrics. Of whips on flesh. Of walls made of stone. Of leather cuffs and collars. Of pubic hair. This is a very sensual movie, directed by Just Jaeckin of Emmanuelle fame, who shoots the movie with hazy, diffused lighting that makes it sparkle like champagne, that gives the surfaces a sense of softness, and makes the chains and sweat glisten. The ambience is decadent but inviting.

As I’ve suggested above, this is a great movie when it comes to production design, including not just a BDSM mansion but a glistening, ultramodern home, and including among its terrific costumes cute hats for the ladies, an owl mask, and a leopard coat. I did find it funny that while we’re hanging out at the BDSM mansion, the ladies all have their tits out while in robes designed for… easy access, while the men all dress like they’re in a Renaissance Faire.

But I do think the performances go a long way in selling this material. As the heroine, we have Corinne Clery, who on top of being stunningly beautiful and frequently nude, sometimes with fetishistic accoutrements, has a certain openness in her presence that helps imbue the sexual activity with a sense of character arc. While the movie is obviously interested in her as an object of desire, I do think it channels her perspective on an erotic level. Opposite her for at least the first part of the movie is Udo Kier, a man who could have either tremendous sexual magnetism or none at all depending on whether he slicked back his hair (see Blood for Dracula for the latter), but plays this role with a fitting smoulder. I do think the movie loses something by switching from Kier to Anthony Steel, who I don’t think is as idiosyncratic a presence, but like in Emmanuelle, Jaeckin has a feel for the older male mentor and inquisitive younger woman relationship.

Some of this is probably “problematic”, maybe less so in espousing questionable views on the material and more so in how this would work practically in real life, but I also don’t think something exploring a fantasy needs to fully reconcile to real life. And to the movie’s credit, it does depict the characters’ emotions and performance anxiety brushing up against the rigidness of their rituals, and more importantly, it emphasizes both Clery’s consent to the proceedings and Kier’s and Steel’s respect of the trust she places in them.

This is playing on the Criterion Channel as part of a series on photography-centric cinema. The photography element here seems mostly an excuse to surround the heroine with other beautiful women, although one could argue she covets what she sees. It does at least result in highlights like a photoshoot where her subject swings a lamp while “She’s a Lady” (not the Tom Jones song) plays, and another scene where she’s fingered while on top of a pile of photographs. But I do think this movie appearing on the service represents a shift of sorts in cinephile attitudes. We spent a decade or so with people twisting themselves into knots out of some misguided sense of social justice about how any hint of sex or semblance of male gaze is objectionable, and now we have arriving on a streaming service directed at the cinephile “mainstream” and a movie that’s pure erotica without any obvious genre hooks or an unimpeachable stature. I’m cautiously interested to see how normies react to this, but I do think the fact that it’s on there is a step in the right direction.

[cantsayidont]

Some more dubious TV:

GRISELDA: Griselda Blanco, la padrina de cocaína in early '80s Miami, gets the #girlboss treatment in this six-part miniseries starring Sofía Vergara. Writers Doug Miro and Ingrid Escajeda seem to have made a close study of the 2007 film AMERICAN GANGSTER, about Frank Lucas, which is similarly structured and has a similar abundance of period detail that never feels organic or authentic. If you know anything at all about the real Griselda Blanco, it also feels pretty sanitized, and of course prettified. For contrast, there's also a 2017 Lifetime movie called COCAINE GODMOTHER, starring, improbably, Catherine-Zeta Jones, which is much more tabloid-lurid, although calling Jones' performance and accent "a broad caricature" would be giving it more credit than it deserves. Curiously, the Lifetime version is much more upfront about presenting Griselda as bisexual: Both it and the new mini indicate that Blanco's bestie, who eventually died of a drug overdose (called Carolina in the 2017 version, Carmen in the new one), was in love with her, but the new version is weirdly noncommittal about Griselda herself. Pondering the behind-the-scenes politics of that is honestly more interesting than much of what's onscreen.

MASTERS OF THE AIR: Lugubrious Apple TV+ miniseries about the USAAF 100th Bomb Group of WW2, based on the nonfiction book by Donald L. Miller and produced by Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Gary Goetzman, obviously keen to recapture the success of BAND OF BROTHERS. A heavy-handed and often tedious propaganda piece, MASTERS is basically a long-form modern version of WW2 movies like AIR FORCE or THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO, full of contrived patriotic uplift (inevitably underlined by obnoxiously syrupy orchestral scoring), lots of CGI (most of which looks like a video game), and a few more naughty words than the 1940s Production Code would have allowed. The promos suggested the show would deal with the experience of Black fighter escort pilots, which could have had some interest (especially since the 2012 movie RED TAILS did such a disastrous job of it), but the handful of Black characters don't appear until the eighth episode, and they're much more thinly drawn than the white officers who comprise the core cast. Most of the main characters are theoretically based on real people (who are shown in a brief coda in the final episode), but the show's dramatization is much less effective than a decent documentary treatment would have been, particularly since it's already reliant on sleepy voiceover narration to hold together its disparate story threads. The main consolation is that there’s a refreshing lack of distracting stunt casting; I didn’t recognize anyone in the cast, which is for the best with this kind of thing. A show for your dad or grandpa who only watches WW2 documentaries.

STAR TREK: PRODIGY: I only barely struggled through the first four five episodes of this animated STAR TREK spinoff, and the kindest thing I can say about it is that I'm not even remotely adjacent to the target audience. The animation and character designs caused me physical pain, and overall it feels like what we would get all the time if STAR TREK became another of the many properties absorbed by the evil power of the Mouse. One shudders to think.

[theveriest]

A couple of weeks ago I asked about people’s favorite book or books they read this year. Between Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and discord, I have a list of 123 books in no particular order that my friends and family loved this year. If it was a series then I listed the first book. Each star is an additional recommendation. I haven’t read all of these, they may or may not reflect my personal opinions, though my favorite books are on the list too. The most recommended books were How Far The Light Reaches by Sabrina Imbler, one or all of the Murderbot books by Martha Wells, and Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki, because if there’s one thing my friends have in common across platforms, it’s that you’re all nerds (affectionate). Enjoy, and I hope you find your new favorite book!

Reformatory by Tananarive Due

Not My Father’s Son by Alan Cumming

Jesus and John Wayne by Kristen Kobes de Mez

The Soul Of An Octopus by Sy Montgomery

Rough Sleepers by Tracy Kidder

The Going To Bed Book by Sandra Boynton

My Hijacking by Martha Hodes

Longhand by Andy Hamilton

Babel by RF Kuang*

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff*

Lies We Sing To The Sea by Sarah Underwood

The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart

Dress Coded by Carrie Firestone

I Lost My Tooth! by Mo Willems

The Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho

How Far The Light Reaches by Sabrina Imbler**

Radiant Fugitives by Nawaaz Ahmed

Solito: A Memoir by Javier Zamora

The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece by Tom Hanks

These Precious Days by Ann Patchett*

I’m Stuck by Julia Mills

Entangled Life by Martin Sheldrake

Iris by Eden Finley

Hot Vampire Next Door by Nikki St. Crowe

Devil of Dublin by BB Easton

Tied by Carian Cole

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld*

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

From Blood And Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Where I End by Sophie White

Wool by Hugh Howey

The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix E. Harrow

Yellowface by RF Kuang

Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas

North Woods by Daniel Mason

After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin*

The Fragile Threads of Power by VE Schwab

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison

Call Your Daughter Home by Deb Spera

The English Understand Wool by Helen Dewitt

Preserving Food Without Freezing or Canning by The Gardeners & Farmers of Terre Vivante

How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz

Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Love In The Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson

Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli

The Wicked Bargain by Gabe Cole Novoa*

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

Welcome to Night Vale by Jeffrey Cranor and Joseph Fink

The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas

The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontornvat

Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman

Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Prophet by Sin Blache and Helen MacDonald*

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki**

System Collapse by Martha Wells***

The Brutish Museums by Dan Hicks

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine*

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

A Psalm For The Wild Built by Becky Chambers*

Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

The Lazarus Heist by Geoff White

The September House by Carissa Orlando*

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

Mistletoe and Mishigas by MA Wardell

A Restless Truth by Freya Marske

The Last Smile In Sunder City by Luke Arnold

The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes by Zoe Playden

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Manywhere by Morgan Thomas

Shit Cassandra Saw by Gwen E. Kirby

Loot by Tania James

The Art Thief by Michael Finkel

Grave Expectations by Alice Bell

Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail by Ashley Herring Blake

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske

Kiss Her Once For Me by Alison Cochrun

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

All Systems Read by Martha Wells

The Once and Future Sex by Eleanor Janega

Mort by Terry Pratchett

Into The Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner*

The Door by Magda Szabo

Fluids by May Leitz

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Lieut. John Irving, R.N. of H.M.S. "Terror" in Sir John Franklin's last expedition to the Arctic regions a memorial sketch with letters

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

Raven the Pirate Princess by Jeremy Whitley

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

The Fiancée Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

Slewfoot by Brom

The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr

500 Miles From You by Jenny Colgan

O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker

The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell

The Secret Lives of Country Gentleman by KJ Charles

A Line In The World by Dorthe Nors

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Glitter and Concrete by Elyssa Maxx Goodman

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

Tender Is The Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

The Tragic Menagerie by Lydia Zinovieva-Annibal (translated by Jane Costlow)

The 100 Years Of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

Twisted Love by Ana Huang

Precise Oaths by Paige E. Ewing

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

A Dead Djinn In Cairo by P. Djeli Clark

[doubledyke]

1, 18, 25?? 👉👈

the character everyone gets wrong:

everyone is entitled to their interpretations of a character - that's what makes fandom tomfoolery fun. to avoid sounding too repetitive i'll go with eddy's brother. we have pretty limited knowledge about him since a lot of what eddy said about him were lies. rather than writing him off as entirely evil, i think it's interesting to think about why he is the way he is. i've recommended it before but death of an artist by eddbedandeddy is a short read but i think this backstory concept for bro is really interesting. it's not canon of course (except in my mind), but i digress. i think it's always good to use a little bit of brain power when forming opinions about challenging characters rather than labelling them BAD moving on. he's obviously an abusive dick don't get me wrong. but i think understanding bro is an important part of understanding eddy.

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...:

eddy's gender rebellion!!! he's such a queen. people act like edd is the more feminine of the two because what, he does chores? he likes to clean? okay sis.... eddy literally has a fucking vanity in his room. he's got a walk-in closet packed to the brim with clothes he never wears, is a tom jones fanatic, and regularly checks his nails when he's bored. i could go on for paragraphs about this topic. idk man i always think about when rolf called him "half man half woman ed boy" and even though i have no clue what the hell he meant by that, it spoke to me.

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing:

i complain a lot, it's kind of my thing. so i can't really pinpoint any complaints aside from my own that annoy me. if i had to pick an oldie, i'd say people who think that ed would be left by the wayside if edd and eddy were an item. the show is essentially about edd and eddy's turbulent relationship, ed kind of takes a back seat in the show a lot of the time anyway. but i love ed and even though i don't talk about him much, he has a special place in my heart. edd and eddy need ed and without getting too deep into it here, they'd be inseparable for life imo. like i hc them all living together as adults because they are so codependent. but in a good way, i swear!!

[ingravinoveritas]

That Shirley Bassey song feels strangely right and more powerful reading the lyrics from a male perspective discussing the love for another man. I enjoy M and D's chemistry/friendship and ship them more light heartedly/playfully but I do think there is for sure a lot of love and an obvious attraction between them. It kind of broke my heart reading the lyrics and imagining it from M's perspective.

Oh, Anon. When I tell you my heart hurt and I got emotional reading those lyrics--no exaggeration. Not, like, “Italian widow wailing in the streets” emotional, mind you...but rather incredibly wistful and sad at the thought of those lyrics from Michael’s perspective toward David.

I do ship Michael and David (obviously), but in more of an exploring possibilities/thinking about what could be between them, rather than blindly making absolute proclamations (such as, “Michael and David are together and that’s that and anyone who says otherwise is wrong and stupid”). I’ve also always tried to form discussions around what Michael and David themselves have put out there about their relationship (and after four years, there’s a LOT).

So thinking about the Shirley Bassey song as a vehicle for Michael’s feelings, a few things come to mind. One is that so many iconic female singers (Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, Cher, Diana Ross, etc. etc.) have huge queer followings because historically, the songs they sang were about pining over men, and so that queer/gay audience could relate far more to them than to songs sung by male artists (especially because, as we saw with Tom Jones, lyrics were often even changed to keep the song from being perceived as gay or lesbian, depending on the singer). Thus, it makes perfect sense for Michael to see himself more in Shirley’s version of the song than Tom’s.

That being said, I also don’t think Michael’s feelings for David are unrequited or one-sided. For him, the song may not resonate in the sense of being unable to have the man he loves, but rather in being unable to have him exactly the way he wants. If there is an arrangement with David/Georgia, it may be that seeing David with Georgia in the way the song describes makes Michael feel an incredible pang of jealousy and longing--of wishing he could have David not just in secret, but out in the open like that.

The other possibility is that he added it just because he is unhappy in his current situation (which is heartbreaking enough on its own), and because he misses David terribly right now. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Michael is counting down the days til he leaves Australia and can see him again...

[twistedpolaris]

Lego marvel avengers blitzwinger

Please ignore the salty review of that number 5 rating, he clearly only plays PS4 versions. I definitely recommend getting it if you love these lego games and want a real lego game on the go. This Lego version is one of the most closest it has been to its console counterpart ever. In March, three sets were released based on the Marvel Studios film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2. In 2017, one set based on the All New All Different Marvel was released while two sets based on the Avengers Assemble were released. Then it would be even a more truer version of a lego handheld game. LEGO Marvel's Avengers was also released on January 26, 2016. Play as the most powerful Super Heroes in their. DLC is only for the console versions (The season pass is only 10 bucks, not even that expensive). LEGO Marvel's Avengers features characters and storylines from Marvel’s The Avengers, the sequel Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, and more. All we need now is for them to acualy add DLC to the handheld versions. However they are acualy being nice this time and are adding 15 exclusives levels not available even on the PS4 just for the vita! that's awesome. This all-new sequel features a completely original branching storyline, inspired by a diverse roster of comics from the Marvel Universe. LEGO DUPLO Super Heroes Lab 10921 Marvel Avengers Superheroes Construction Toy and Educational Playset for Toddlers, New 2020 (30 Pieces) 4.8 out of 5 stars 2,857 23.99 23.

Director: Jon Burton Stars: Tom Kane, Sally Clawson, Dan Donovan, John Armstrong. TBA Hub Areas: New York City Asgard The X-Mansion Wakanda Blue Area of the Moon West. Fans can build, battle and brawl from Indys entanglements with snakes to his dashing boulder run. LEGO Marvel Superheroes 3: Invasion is a Video Game released in 2020.

LEGO, the LEGO logo, the Minifigure, DUPLO, LEGENDS OF CHIMA, NINJAGO, BIONICLE, MINDSTORMS and MIXELS are trademarks and copyrights of the LEGO Group. Must be 18 years or older to purchase online. The Levels are ok, but obviously the level design on the PS4 is much better as these levels feel a bit shorter? they always do on the handheld versions. LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 is an all-new, original epic adventure that brings together iconic Marvel Super Heroes and Super Villains from different eras and realities. Jones escapades through the jungles of South America to the mountaintops of India. LEGO System A/S, DK-7190 Billund, Denmark. The Audio in this game is ripped straight out from the movies really. Lego game play consists of the same thing though, build this, collect that, solve this, etc. For one its open world!!! And its a legit open world! not a small one either! Draw distance is a little poor but it had to be like that for the open world to fit. For one its open world!!! And its a legit open world! not a small one either! Draw This is one of the best handheld vita games to date. This is one of the best handheld vita games to date.

[trashmouththeorist]

mcu peter sucks, im sorry

in terms of the spider-men/women/pigs, i don’t really have a favourite. however, i do have a LEAST favourite, and that is the MCU Peter Parker portrayed by Tom Holland.

The integrity of Spider-Man comes from that fact that he is a working-class hero, fights for the little guy, and his origin story.

and all that was destroyed once the MCU got involved.

why did they not use his origin story? does oscorp exist? harry osborn?? what?? who tf is ned? why does he have powers? why does this movie suck so much? Why are there zero stakes?

-on the ‘who tf is ned’ point, to clarify, i know who he is. ned leeds, the abusive husband of betty brant. then they make this OOC Ned date this OOC Betty. Huh?

where did ben go? why is stark here? why does he like stark? why didn’t he make his own suit? 

why is he everything spider-man is not?

the writers obviously noticed the problem, because in nwh, they rapidly back-pedaled to him being poor, making his own suits, and not having a billionaire on speed-dial to bail him out of his problems despite the billionaire still being a manipulative jackass and treating him like shit, while representing everything he stands against.

also, i did NOT like the idea of ‘mj’ being a collective spider-man gf term and just changing up the name. zendaya could’ve been mary-jane watson. michelle jones just...

i don’t even care about the fact she’s not a comic character - it’s just the fact they made her mj instead? when mary-jane is mj? idk i just didn’t like that. there are SO many comic characters he could’ve fallen in love with. it didn’t need to be this oc mj. i know people hate sam raimi mj, but she was still cool with sexist writing. comic mary-jane is such a badass. why did they not replicate that? why not ask zendaya to play original mary-jane? ‘cus she’s not white? that shit ain’t a ‘homage’ to the og mj, it’s just awful.

irondad as a concept needs to die already. please. im so done. peter is manipulated and ignored - CONSTANTLY - by Tony. that’s not acting like a father, it’s acting like a jackass. and he HAS  parental figure - aunt May. and he had a father figure - uncle Ben. irondad is creepy and reeks of grooming.

plus, they stole a bunch of concepts (for nwh too, but im not specifically talking about that) from miles morales and itsv. they copied the spider-men meeting each other, and copied miles’ personality for mcu peter. and somehow, miles is STILL more likeable. i miss the days when you could scroll through the peter parker tag without seeing tom holland and r*bert d*wney jr.

but also, literally every other spider-man would’ve been team cap. plus, andrew also said so. they’re working-class heroes. to argue against that is to be wrong. i don’t blame tom!peter for being manipulated and blackmailed. i blame the writers for being assholes, and most importantly, robert downey jr for his 15 million dollar profit off of 8 minutes of mediocre (at best) acting. -(also, saying - he’s such a good actor, he’s tony in real life! - literally makes him a bad actor with no range. someone reviewed dolittle, saying that it was so bad that it seemed like rdj was trying to sabotage his own movie. and i agree.) peter was manipulated and misinformed into being team tony. there is no variation of spider-man that would EVER be team iron-man. unless they’re fckign crazy.

also, tom holland said that if peter parker could bring anyone back from the dead, it would be tony st*rk. no btich.

also howard stark was really hot i just feel like saying that

tobey’s and andrew’s are actually ACCURATE spider-men, and the mcu needs to take notes.

this quickly turned into a tony hate post, but he is the root of mcu peter’s main issues, so.

anyways, stan miles morales

a true icon.

[jerryb2]

I mean….you all knew this was coming ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ : the Star Wars Art of one Mr. Drew Struzan. 

And look, the man has done so much and has such a diverse portfolio that Star Wars is only one very small part of his career. If you want to explore some of his other works, then might I suggest that you check out his website. 

As for me here, we’ll be sticking strictly to his SW art. Now, with that out of the way, here we go…

*cracks knuckles*

I have to admit that before I really started to dig into this, I didn’t realize just how many Bantam Era (and beyond) Star Wars books this man has illustrated. Nearly 50 titles, ranging from novels to comics, short stories & even an RPG supplement. 🤯 

And so, after much consideration, I decided to just pull all the titles that feature his art off my bookshelf and take a few pics for you guys:

First off, I just want to point out that I don’t have every book he’s ever illustrated. Some of them are just harder than hard to find, are hilariously expensive, or I just don’t have an edition that features his art prominently - you’ll see what I mean. Right off the bat though, you can see that he was really hitting his stride in the mid-90′s, with all but a handful of these coming out between ‘94 & ‘99. One of the highlights from this time for me, is The Callista Trilogy.

I just want to stress that The Callista Trilogy is a highlight for me only because of its gorgeous cover art. 🤣 Other than that, this book series needs to go lay down. 

Anyway, the designs are all really striking and even after all these years, absolutely iconic. And you can really see Struzan’s distinct visual style at play here; not a painting in the same vein as something from Dave Doorman, and not a simple trace. Rather, something that is stylized in a very particular, very subtle way, almost to the point where it appears photo-realistic at first glance. Beautiful.

Next up is this trio of trilogies (good use of words, me), collected in these Science Fiction Book Club (SFBC) hardcovers: 

Once again, these covers are just striking, particularly The Black Fleet Crisis. This is actually what I was referring to when I said that I don’t always have the best editions for a Drew Struzan appreciation post. 😅 

Because these are hardcover collections of paperback books, we actually miss out on a good bit of the art. For these SFBC special editions, the publisher just took all three and basically photoshopped the best bits of each one together. The one that suffers the most here is obviously The Corellian Trilogy, where they didn’t even try to blend everything together, and instead just separated everything into columns. I don’t personally mind it (and I do love having the hardcover editions of these books) but if you want to see the covers as they were originally intended, just pickup those mass market paperbacks. 🙂

There’s a lot more to get through, so I’ll just hit the highlights here; even though he didn’t illustrate The Thrawn Trilogy (that was Tom Jung, who I personally think did an okay-ish job at best), he did an absolutely amazing job with the follow-up, The Hand of Thrawn Duology in ‘98 & ‘99:

I’ve always loved these covers. And narratively speaking, they really do serve as one last hurrah on the Bantam Era. Oh, and also please note, Mara Jade on the cover of Vision of the Future, just as Zahn originally described her. ❤❤❤

If you step back and look at Struzan’s work as a whole, it’s all incredibly unified. I bring this up here because even though some of these are books relatively ‘meh’ worthy, Struzan maintained a level of quality that belied the mediocrity contained within. And also to say that he was definitely busy, particularly in 1994:

That’s right - all of these released in ‘94, within a few months of one another. These covers man… *chef’s kiss*

And look I’m sorry, I just can’t help myself: The Crystal Star was a hilarious joke until we all realized they were serious about it. 😳

Alright, that’s a little on the harsh side; it’s not nearly as bad as most make it out to be, and Waru as a source for unlimited power (citation needed 👀😉) isn’t any more ridiculous than the 50 other post-Palpy, hair-brained Imperial schemes that everybody else cooked up, so I guess it fits. And besides, I really wanna be nice to Vonda McIntyre here, but this book was just so so boring. 😴

*clears throat* Moving on, here we have a couple Barnes & Noble hardcover collections of The Jedi Prince Series:

The same thing applies here; cover art photoshopped from across 6 different YA novels to get these. They don’t look bad, far from it. But rather this series has some things that people would rather forget about, namely a supposed son of Palpatine (spoiler: he wasn’t) named Triclops who had - wait for it - 3 eyes. 

Like Tien. From DBZ. Yep. 🤦‍♂️

Moving further down the list, we have yet another pair of iconic cover designs, being I, Jedi (the only Star Wars novel written in the first person, and an appropriate riff on Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot - yes ladies & gentlemen, that is as clever as Star Wars gets) and The New Rebellion.

Classics, no doubt….but for reals, did anybody else ever wonder why the X-Wing on the cover of I, Jedi is missing an S-Foil? Or how that one slipped through??? 👀

Ah, at last we arrive at what is arguably Struzan’s most famous work; the covers for Shadows of the Empire & The Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition.

It’s hard to overstate just how important Shadows of the Empire really was for Star Wars as a brand. In an era where SW books were already extremely popular, the Shadows of the Empire Multimedia Project basically served as a breakout hit and reignited interest in SW media across the board. This was in no small part due to the striking imagery captured on its cover - are you seeing a pattern here?

This success actually renewed Lucas’ interest in a theatrical re-release of the OT in 1997….which of course, feature more beautiful art from Drew Struzan:

These are my OG Special Edition VHS tapes from back in the day. I watched these so damn much as a kid. In fact, they’re basically the whole reason that I’m here, annoying the shit out of everybody today. 😁

After the Bantam Era concluded & the Star Wars publishing license went to Del Rey, Struzan did progressively fewer pieces for SW media. Here we see his contribution for the latter half of the Last of the Jedi YA series, and his kick-ass cover art for the Darth Maul comic: 

And when I say that Struzan did progressively fewer pieces for Star Wars, I am of course omitting his turn as the poster artist for the freaking Prequel Trilogy: 

Say what you will about the films, but these poster designs are nothing short of genius. 

Look guys, it would be pretty easy for me to downplay Struzan’s Star Wars portfolio as just one small part of his incredible career. But my dudes, this is literally just the tip of the iceberg. The man has been a professional illustrator for over 50 years, and his art has delighted and inspired generations. From Star Wars to Indian Jones, and from Back to the Future to Blade Runner - Drew Struzan has played an integral part in shaping popular culture. 

Here’s to you, sir. 🍻

[sevenkittensinatrenchcoat]

Macavity Family AU: Misto Does Some Magic and Has Some Babies

Misto’s gender is Magical (he/him)

Part 5: The Magical Mister Mistoffelees and His Seven Magical Kittens

No one was exactly sure of anything when it came to Mistoffelees. He was believed to be a tom and never argued with this belief, but, unlike with most kittens, his parents couldn’t tell. The circumstances around his birth, his powers, which were apparent almost immediately, and his androgynous form made some cats wonder if he was even a cat at all. That was quite rude of them.

From what Alonzo could tell, Misto definitely took after his side of the family, being black and white. But, instead of being black and white in spots and patches like his father and grandmother, he was white only at his chest, paws, and the tip of his tail. His paws and tail didn’t always appear white, for some reason, and even the white patch on his chest grew and shrank at random. When his white spotting was at its maximum, he resembled a tiny Bustopher Jones. When Misto first saw Bustopher, he noticed the similarities immediately and started following him around everywhere until Munkustrap intervened.

It was Munkustrap who raised Mistoffelees. His parents weren’t quite ready to raise a kitten, but Munkustrap was more than ready. Though he was more restrained sexually than Tugger, his younger brother, at least two pregnant queens suspected that at least one of their kittens was his, and even if they weren’t, he’d look after them as if they were his own anyway. Munk adored kittens.

Though Alonzo was a stray, Munkustrap found Mistoffelees a home. Tugger’s humans liked cats considered “unusual”. Tugger was unusually difficult. A cat with magical powers would fit right in. He brought the kitten right to their doorstep. Tugger and Misto didn’t exactly get along at first, but it didn’t lead to any sort of turf war the humans could notice.

Though no one intended to lie about who Misto’s parents were, he didn’t really seem to understand that Alonzo and Cassandra were his father and mother. He didn’t have a mother, because kittens with mothers were raised by their mothers. It was the rule. Kittens that didn’t have mothers were raised by their fathers. That was also the rule. So, Misto was pretty sure that Munkustrap was his father and that he didn’t have a mother and everyone was being really weird about it, for some reason.

Munk told Alonzo and Cassandra not to take it personally. Raising Misto, he’d come to understand some of his quirks. He had rules for how the world worked and even if the rule obviously didn’t apply to his situation, he’d stubbornly stick to it. Forcing him to break his rules upset him and when he was upset, he sometimes lost control of his magic. When the seasons changing meant that Misto’s bedtime was when it was still dark outside, Munk’s den caught fire.

When Misto reached the age where cats began mating, or at least trying to, he seemed to have no interest in any of the queens. All of his friends were queens, with his best friends being Munkustrap’s daughters, Electra and Victoria. Electra had a bit of a crush on him, but it went nowhere. Misto’s interests were dancing, and he was one of the best dancers the tribe had ever seen, and magic. He spent all his time practicing. There were a few exceptions, such as when Bustopher came to visit, as he still couldn’t resist following him around, but he mostly kept to himself.

Only a handful of toms knew that Misto wasn’t as averse to mating as he seemed. He lacked the anatomy one would expect a tom to have. Instead, he mated and got pregnant like a queen. Tugger, who mated with Misto frequently, found this ambiguity fascinating and asked why Misto agreed with those who called him a tom. Misto said that it’s because he was. He could magically alter his body if he wanted to, but he preferred to have a tom’s identity with a queen’s body. He had no interest in changing. Perhaps he wasn’t fully a tom, but he certainly wasn’t a queen. Misto was just Misto (he/him). Tugger, who could never stick to one of two options in most situations, and who valued being able to do as he pleased, fell completely in love with Misto then and there.

Not long before his second Jellicle Ball, Misto had a litter of seven kittens. Most litters came from multiple fathers, and this one was no exception, but Misto never revealed who the fathers were. Tugger knew that some of them had to be his.

When Misto, even younger than Cassandra was when she had him, had this enormous litter, Munkustrap adopted all of them. Jenny also adopted all of them. They shared custody and didn’t tell most of the tribe whose kittens they were, not wanting cats who didn’t understand the complexity of Misto’s character to see him as a queen because he gave birth.

Alonzo and Cassandra knew that they had grandchildren. Cats grow up and reproduce so fast that this wasn’t at all awkward for them. The fact that their son was the one to give birth was a bit of a surprise, but Misto surprised them all the time, so this very quickly became just another Thing That Happened.

[safflowerseason]

succession 3.07

fewer thoughts on this episode, a nuanced exploration of Kendall’s exquisitely miserable existence at the moment while simultaneously teeing up the action for the last two episodes. 

- Lorene Scafaria, who directed Hustlers, directed this episode and I think she did an excellent job excavating all the different levels and secret nooks and crannies of Kendall’s party. 

- Kendall ends the episode in a baddddddd place (more incredibly moving work from Jeremy Strong)...I don’t know why this feels worse than where he was at the end of S1/beginning of S2 when Kendall was literally responsible for a man’s death, but in some ways it does?

- I liked the few moments of the three major Roy siblings bantering with each other; we haven’t seen much of just the three of them together this season, and getting to see (for just a few seconds) them playing with each other, engaging in what passes for affectionate teasing amongst the Roy family, was nice. there is a particular kind of spark that Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, and Kieran Culkin have got as a threesome. The casting chemistry on this show! 

- I continue to find it equally hilarious and sad how desperate Kendall is to convince Rava that he’s happy. He needs her to find him impressive, to still see him as the biggest person in the room. And she’s just...not having it. 

- That being said, it’s been surprisingly nice seeing how Kendall and Naomi’s relationship has evolved over the course of the season. Jeremy Strong and Annabelle Dexter Jones have infused that relationship with a lot of meaning, specifically Naomi’s surprisingly tender care for Kendall. He clearly needs her desperately right now. 

- Sarah Snook looked gorgeous in that particular shade of green. I applaud the costuming decision here - she looked like she was on her way to some corporate benefit or cocktail party, not a sinful birthday rave full of trendy influencers and movie stars, and therefore out of place. 

- out of everyone’s arc so far this season, I am most interested to see where Roman, Tom, and Greg finish the season. Roman because he’s clearly flying too close to the sun for this hot streak with his dad to last until the end of the season, and I’m intrigued by what it would look like for Roman to be actually iced out by Logan in a way that he hasn’t experienced yet (unlike Kendall and Shiv); Tom because we’ve seen him start to imagine a world beyond the Roys ; and Greg because he needs to experience some actual fucking consequences. 

- I’ve seen the idea circulating that Willa’s defense of Connor and his embarrassing dad jacket is proof that she really does care for him. While I think it’s obviously clear that Willa does have kind of begrudging fondness for Connor, I think what she really gets out of their relationship is the comparatively small amount of social power she accrues as his “girlfriend”, which enables her to do things like bitch out service staff. 

- Kendall, the woke feminist king, forbids his cousin from asking out a woman. *eye roll forever* (I did enjoy Greg and Comfry’s little romance this episode). 

- the show has made it very clear to the audience that Logan’s relationship with Kerry has become something inappropriate, and I just truly hope the writers actually do something with this development--ie, make sure it explodes in Logan’s face somehow--rather than let it fizzle. 

- two episodes without Gerri, two episodes with Roman at his most sociopathic. As ever, can’t wait to see where Gerri falls within all the finale action. She’s got more skin in the game now! 

[ao3feed-petermj]

by spicysagittarius

"What're you...what're you watching?"

"The Little Mermaid." She deadpanned. This made him laugh harder. "No, uh, I don't know. I was gonna invite Harry over, but I decided not to. I don't know."

"Sure, sure." Peter coughed. "But what are you watching, though? The video."

Michelle grinned. "Wanna come see?"

***

Or, in which Peter catches MJ watching porn and she invites him to join her.

Words: 3362, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 2 of the explicit adventures of peter & michelle

Fandoms: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/M

Characters: Michelle Jones, Peter Parker

Relationships: Michelle Jones/Peter Parker

Additional Tags: Explicit Sexual Content, Explicit Language, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, literally no plot, but i'm never one for plots, Smut, Praise Kink, Cunnilingus, Sex Toys, Dirty Talk, obviously, it isn't a spicysag fic without dirty talk, Size Kink, peter is PACKING, and michelle has no problem with that, Power Imbalance, Porn, a few mentions of group sex, Dom/sub, Overstimulation, Vaginal Sex, overuse of the word cock, lol

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

So, looking back at the MCU, I thought I’d just reflect on my experiences with the franchise (just for fun):

1) I never understood the Zendaya-MJ controversy when I first heard of it. I mean, I knew that there were some people going off about how Marvel cast a black actress for a traditionally white character but for me, I didn’t understand the controversy since I thought Zendaya was a great pick for the role. She’s a real life MJ, being a fashion model/actress/singer/social media icon. I could totally see her pull the part off. But then, of course, the MCU went a different direction with their take on MJ but still, I thought she was a great pick as the female lead of the Spider-Man franchise.

2) No joke, I understood the Endgame time travel mechanics from the first viewing. It really wasn’t that hard to understand and I thought it was kinda funny that some people replied to my posts, angry that I was trying to help people get the concept. 

3) I fully admit that I was on the anti-Finn Jones train when I heard his casting. I wanted an Asian actor in the role, although I would’ve preferred an actual Asian superhero get the spotlight (like Shang-Chi, Silk, or Amadeus Cho). That said, I would’ve been fine with Finn’s interpretation of the character if it was good. And...it wasn’t. Which leads to my next point:

4) I might be a huge MCU fanboy but there are several movies and shows I dislike. Iron Fist is still the worst MCU property I’ve ever seen and it actually ranks up as one of the worst shows I’ve seen. The Defenders sucked. Inhumans sucked. I love Agents of SHIELD but I hated season 3 with a passion. For the movies, I definitely disliked Iron Man 2 and Thor 2. Age of Ultron didn’t age well. Civil War, while still good, is overrated in my opinion (the Zemo plot and the Sokovian Accords plot should’ve been their own movies). 

5) I hated the MCU for at least two weeks when the Ghost Rider spin-off series was cancelled. Just...ugh. At least give me one season of the show! 

6) So, Spider-Man is not just my favorite Marvel superhero, but my all-time favorite superhero. Among the 3 live-action takes on the character, I’m gonna say that Tom’s take is my favorite. I know that might sound sacrilegious to some people but for me, I just enjoyed the Holland-era movies more than the past two. For the Maguire trilogy, obvious issues with Spider-Man 3 aside, the first Spider-Man didn’t age that well for me (and this is coming from someone who grew up with the Tobey Maguire movies). And I was always iffy on the Andrew Garfield movies. 

7) I actually had no idea the Avengers was happening back in 2012. Let me paint the picture; I was going into my freshman year of undergrad so for the past year, all I was focused on was school and work. I watched Iron Man 1 and 2 and the Hulk 2008 movie but I didn’t really think much of them, I just thought they were good movies. So one day, my friends say, “Hey, let’s go watch the Avengers in theaters!” I didn’t want to say that I had no idea what they were talking about so I just went along with them. So imagine my surprise when I saw Iron Man working together with all the other Avengers for the first time. I literally missed ALL the marketing and hype for this movie because I was so focused on school and work. But honestly, I’m glad I did since that made for a unique theater experience. 

8) Similar to point 7, I had no idea Daredevil was a thing on Netflix. I went into it blind and finished the show in one day. Fucking amazing series and I was hyped the whole time. Also, I kept thinking that HYDRA was involved with Fisk and the Hand for some reason. 

9) As far as actual moviegoing experiences, Far From Home was the worst. I loved the movie but I wish that I wasn’t sitting next to these Hot Topic-wearing fools who smelled like crap. One guy just straight up smelled like burnt plastic.

10) For the longest time, it was a running joke in my family that I was the one person who liked Thor 1. All I did was defend the movie because none of my cousins liked it and because of that, I got labeled a Thor super-fan. Obviously, it was all jokes, but I distinctly remember this one night, we were all watching Thor in the living room because one of my cousins had never seen it. We get to the scene where Jane Foster accidentally runs into Thor after he’s stripped of his power and my eldest cousin turns to the group and says, “Alright, here’s (my name) favorite superhero movie. Get ready.”  

That’s it for now. I’m thinking of turning this into a series as I do have a lot more to share. I just didn’t want to make this post too long. 

[mst3kproject]

Menace from Outer Space

 With that for a title, we can only be looking at one of two things: this is either a Star Man movie or an installment of Rocky Jones, Space Ranger!  I’d ask you to guess but I’m sure you all recognize the Orbit Jet up there, so without further ado, Menace from Outer Space.

Little Bobby thought he was gonna get a comet named after him, but a closer look at the approaching object reveals a missile of some sort, headed straight for Earth!  Vena determines that it could only have been launched from Fornax, an incredibly hot moon of Jupiter where it was thought nothing could live.  Rocky and the gang immediately set out for Fornax to ask them if they can please stop shooting at us, but when they arrive, they learn that they are not the first Earthlings to land here.  The wicked Professor Cardos crashed his own rocket here eight years ago, and he plans to use the power of Fornax’ unique crystals to conquer the galaxy!

The opening of Menace from Outer Space had me groaning.  I’ve seen enough movies about comets or asteroids about to strike the Earth to have a good idea what was coming, and I did not want to see 1956’s version of Armageddon.  Imagine my relief when the meteor turned out to be a missile, which came down and blew up and the whole thing was over and done with inside of five minutes!  I kind of want to apologize to the writers of Rocky Jones, Space Ranger!  I should have had more faith in you guys.

The rest of the movie has everything a MSTie could want from our old friend Rocky Jones.  The technobabble is completely meaningless when it’s not just dead wrong, the aliens are white guys in stupid costumes, the special effects are delightfully hokey, and the fight scenes are as clumsy and stilted as anything with William Shatner in it!  Even Cleolanta makes a cameo appearance, just when I was resigned to not seeing her again. The plot goes through a number of the twists typical of the series, with multiple bad guys making and breaking alliances against the heroes.  It’s pretty involving, and you honestly do want to keep watching and see what happens next.

Traditions are good, so I shall keep one up by talking about the science that appears in this storyline.  One of the most breathtakingly stupid lines comes very early in the movie, when Professor Newton announces that the object he’s spotted can’t be a comet, because it’s making a wooshing noise and “there’s no sound associated with a comet or meteor”.  Uh… professor?  There’s no sound in space, period, on account of the vacuum.  Tom Servo’s head would have exploded.

Then there’s the moon Fornax, which is presented as a bizarre and glittering landscape of crystal pyramids and weird, hourglass-shaped monuments.  There doesn’t seem to be any plant life, which leaves me wondering what the Fornacians eat.  Perhaps they don’t need food, since Professor Newton describes the life of the moon as being based on crystals.  Earth’s scientists had believed that nothing could live in such heat, but crystals, the professor says, can grow, and “growth is life!”  This leads to a bit of a disappointment, as I was hoping we’d get to see something weird and alien like the Horta from Star Trek or the crystal-based organisms of The Monolith Monsters.  But no, the Fornacians are merely people in vaguely Arabian costumes.  I probably should have known better.

Although the moon is described as far too hot for life, with a reference to thousands of degrees, when the Orbit Jet lands there the crew climbs out in their shirtsleeves and likens the weather to a nice day on Palm Beach.  So… what happened to the inhospitable heat?  When King Zorovac visits Earth with Rocky, he never comments on the cold – or on the fact that Earth’s gravity is said to be half that of Fornax’.  The high gravity makes landing and taking off on the moon difficult, but otherwise doesn’t seem to affect anything the humans try to do there. It’s like the writers couldn’t be bothered with their own plot point.

Well… there is that nasty little scene where the guys tease Vena about gaining weight, but that doesn’t count.

The other weird thing about the high gravity is that it implies some very odd things about Fornax itself.  Let’s say Fornax is the biggest moon in the solar system – that would make it the size of Ganymede, a real-life moon of Jupiter, which has a radius of 2600 km.  The surface gravity of Ganymede is about fourteen percent of Earth’s.  In order to make it twice Earth’s, the moon would need a mass about a third that of our home planet, which doesn’t sound like much until you consider that it’s thirteen times Ganymede’s real-life mass and would require a density of nearly ten grams per cubic centimetre.  Such a moon would have to be made almost out of pure lead! And that still wouldn’t have the weird gravitational effects further out in space…

The writers, of course, did not do that math (I can barely believe I did that math). It seems they were just assigning their fictional moon traits willy-nilly, without worrying about whether it was astrophysically possible or even internally consistent.  So it’s actually kind of interesting that Jupiter does, in fact, have a hot little moon!  That, of course, is Io, which has been squashed and stretched by Jupiter’s gravity until its insides spill out in the form of sulfurous volcanoes. The writers of Menace from Outer Space couldn’t have known that, since the volcanism of Io wasn’t discovered until 1979, when astronomer Linda Morabito noticed a volcanic plume in one of the Voyager I photos.  A neat coincidence, though.

As for the people of this curious world – the standard trope would have the inhabitants of a hot planet be belligerent and impulsive (fiery, if you will), so it’s kind of nice that the Fornacians are very much the opposite of this.  They’re presented as valuing reason and careful in their judgment.  Cardos has told the king of Fornax about Earth, but when given the opportunity Zorovac would rather see for himself.  His un-named queen clearly knows what kind of movie she’s in, because she actually listens to children who come to her with information relevant to the plot.  Princess Vollica is a quick study in English and quite resourceful, even though she’s no more than eight years old.  Their missile, we learn, was not actually an attack, but a misguided attempt at communication!

Despite the title being Menace from Outer Space, the real menace in the storyline is the very earthly Professor Cardos. He has told the Fornacians that Earthlings will come to them speaking sweet words about friendship and trade, only to conquer and enslave when Zorovac has his guard down.  I think we’re supposed to be angry that he would say such things, but considering human history, it’s not as if he’s lying. When Zorovac insists on making up his own mind about what Rocky and co have to say, Cardos turns instead to some more reliably evil allies.  This seems to imply that the greatest threat to humans in the entire universe is ourselves, which… again, history makes that seem reasonable.

Menace from Outer Space does do one thing neither of the MST3K installments of Rocky Jones, Space Ranger! did, which is to give us a bit of an idea what some of the characters besides Rocky and Winky actually do.  We still don’t find out exactly how Bobby joined this team but it seems he is a child prodigy and an invaluable assistant to Professor Newton.  When they’re figuring out what they can and can’t take to Fornax with them, Newton argues that Bobby is ‘worth more than his weight in equipment’, and there are bits where he rattles off some rather intense technobabble that Winky is shown as unable to keep up with.  At the same time, the writers never forget that Bobby is only about twelve and while Rocky and Winky joke about his ‘romance’ with Princess Vollica, the friendship between the two children is clearly nothing of the sort.

Vena, too, does a little better in Menace. She’s shown to be a skilled mathematician, and capable of taking over as Rocky’s navigator if Winky is out of commission.  It’s clearly not that she isn’t intelligent, it’s just that her bubbly personality makes her come across as a ditz.  If this were used in the plot, by having the villains underestimate her, I would want to think that it was an intentional attempt to make the audience examine our prejudices about women, but sadly it never is.  Rather, I get the impression that the writers didn’t know what to do with Vena. She makes her one contribution early on when she determines the missile’s origin, and then spends much of the rest of the movie as a hostage.

When people describe Rocky Jones, Space Ranger! as a proto-Star Trek, they’re mostly speaking in terms of the plot, which involves exploring space and meeting very human-like aliens who all speak English.  This isn’t entirely fair.  While obviously not as progressive as Star Trek tried to be, Rocky Jones is smarter than I think it’s given credit for.  The politics of the no-win situation in Crash of Moons, or Cardos disguising his own imperial ambitions by projecting them onto his enemies, is actually pretty weighty for a half-hour tv show.  The acting may be bad, the science wrong, and the gender roles dated, but Rocky Jones, Space Ranger! does a good job of giving the audience food for thought.

[brittsekland]

Interview with Topper Headon, February 1980.

Turn off your mind, lie back on the couch and relax. We're going to have an association test. What do you think of when I say the Clash? Running battles with the grey forces of government? Three cord supercharged thrashes vilifying unemployment and public housing vegetation? Seething hordes of punks dancing themselves into a frenzy? Wrong. Times have changed. Punk is now locked as firmly into the past as hippies were in the sixties. Safety pins and bondage trousers are as passe as headbands and peace signs. The bands that characterized an era have disappeared. The Sex Pistols destroyed themselves, the Damned are a self-parody, which leaves the Clash. After an impressive first album and a fair second effort, their third a double recaptures the drive and energy of the first. The Clash have esestablished them-selves as the most talented band to emerge from the much vaunted new wave.

Their lastest album, London Calling, displays considerable evolution since early days of the band. The songs are more reflective and melodic. Songwriters Joe Strummer and Mick Jones contribute heavily but to a large extent the dexterity and adaptbility of drummer Topper Headon has enabled the Clash to develop their musicality. Topper is, perhaps, the most accomplished musician of the four-man band. His early training with a variety of different music forms from traditional jazz to soul, has provided a firm foundation for Strummer and Jones. Topper provides the matrix from which the rest of the band work. Topper believes the Clash have survived because they have staying power, because they haven't been afraid of changing and because they weren't hesitant to branch out when they grew tired of playing frenetic chords. "We've remained true to what we originally believed in," declares Topper. " We still enjoy playing our own songs. We're not going through any set patterns. The basic idea has been to remain true to what we believe in and not allow ourselves to be dictated to by the industry and become CBS puppets." They've done a deft job of staying ahead of big business machines. "We refuse to do Top of the Pops for example, even when the single came in at 29. CBS started to put pressure on us to do it. They tell us we won't have a hit single, and we say, so what? Who needs it? We wanted our double album to go out for £5 when everybody else's albums go out for a lot more. We had to fight battles to get a cheap record out. Obviously that's not in record company interests. They told us it was impossible. Maybe that's why we've stayed together; we keep setting ourselves impossible tasks. It gives us drive. Even on tour, the Clash are determined to keep prices down which certainly affects the bands take home pay. But money isn't what they want most. "What we want is for the kids to be able to see us," Topper says. Their attitude to irrates businessmen. "If anybody does something like sneak a video of us on television, we'd split up. And CBS know we mean business. We owe them so much money they can't afford for that to happen." The Clash are a refreshing contrast to the kind of bands that do anything to get their name on the dotted line. From the beginning it's been a complete turnaround from the usual state of affairs that exist between band and record company. The companies have been chasing the Clash. Topper joined the Clash between their first and second albums. Previously he was playing with a soul band that regularly toured Germany and British airforce bases. Regularly earning £50 weekly, Headon took a cut in pay to work with the Clash. "I knew at once that it was the gig I'd been looking for. Everything came quite naturally. By the time Topper joined the Clash, he was beginning to think he'd never pass an audition. Not many bands were signed before the British punk explosion. "They'd form a band for somebody from out-of-work musicians who had been thrown out of other bands. They knew the ropes, so they wouldn't kick up a fuss because they knew they were dispensable. Every time I went along for an audition, I was constantly beaten by drummers who had played for name bands and had 'experience'. It just went on and on like that." Topper had been playing drums since he was 13. Drumming was a habit he picked up when he had a broken leg which halted a promising football career. His dad spotted a second-hand kit in the local paper and bought it. By 14 Headon was regularly playing with a traditional jazz band. "For some reason bands were always short of drummers..." As far as tutoring, Topper never got past the introduction in the books. Paradiddles and triple paradiddles were as far as he got. Eventually Headon bought a Premier kit: "At that time it was the cheapest pro kit you could get. You could go into any music store and get one. Everyone stocked spares and fittings. That was one of the reasons why I bought a Premier. I'm still sold on silver kits because they look great under the lights." A few days before his first tour with the Clash he took possession of a silver Pearl kit, which he still uses. After a bit of chopping and changing of toms, he's wound up with a 24" x 17" bass drum, 14" x 10" top tom tom, 16" x 10" and 18" x 10" floor toms, and a Ludwig Black Beauty snare drum. All the cymbals are Zildjian - two pairs of 15" Heavy Rock hi hats, a 16" crash, an 18" crash, a 21" Rock ride, a 19" Rock crash, and a 20" Rock crash, plus a little Zildjian splash cymbal attachted to the top of the bass drum which he claims is driving the rest of the band mad. All the stands are Premier Lokfast Trilok stands. "I go for a real solid kit," claims Topper, "that's why I chose Pearl and Premier. They're really solid and serviceable, no frills on them. You get a good feeling when you sit behind them because they're so workmanlike. You think, 'Great, I ain't gonna knock these over.' I use rubber mats to secure the kit on the riser." "Although I have the kit basically the same most of the time, I do like to change it around occasionally. If I started to use wooden blocks on the riser then I'd be stuck with one position, and that can be limiting." When it became evident that the Clash were here to stay, Topper got the chance of a new kit, which he tried but didn't rate as much. However, he did take Pearl up on the offer of a recover and recon. He expects to have his present kit for at least another five or six years, providing it dosen't get dropped or broken. Another complaint from Topper is lack of service and spares outside London: "We've got a flight case which is like a miniature drum shop, it carries everything down to cymbal felts and spare lugs for the bass drum. We always take it with us on the road and keep it stocked up. "I begin a tour with everything I conceivably need, and gradually I get rid of things I don't need, so the kit gets smaller as the tour goes on. Once the hi hat busted, the spring went right inside, and it was impossible to fix up. It was a Saturday night when we discovered it, and we had a show on Sunday. Luckily, we were able to borrow a high hat stand from the support band." Topper is a man dedicated to acoustic drums. He regards synthisized drums as irrelevant: "They were alright for two weeks, then the novelty wore off. Personally I'm exploring different areas, like percussion. I even use finger cymbals on one track of London Calling. But thats the way to go - into acoustic percussion. There's so much scope there that I don't know why synthisized drums were invented in the first place." Miking up for a gig is a lot similar to miking up for the studio. Topper uses two overhead cymbal mikes, and two mikes for the double hi hat set up he uses. The toms are all miked from the top, and the snare drum is miked from beneath. He keeps both heads on and never keeps anything inside the shells. Topper uses very little damping live. What damping there is, is usually on the bass drum, and always external. All damping is with gaffer tape. Topper prefers AKG mikes, but on tour they vary depending on which PA hire company is being used. "I can go into the studio and get a good drum sound in an hour," continues Topper. Listen to the latest LP London Calling and you'll hear what he means. "The first time I went into the studio I was pretty green but I learnt from it. For London Calling I went straight in and knew exactly what to do. Everybody goes into the studio much more relaxed now. I use AKG mikes and everything is miked from the top except for the snare. Again I use double heads to get the boom sound, and I use room mikes to pick up the spillage, to make it sound more live without going over the top. The set up is exactly the same as I have live, really, except I don't use a bit of damping." The biggest problem with putting out the new album were recording costs. The Clash figure that the longer they spent in the studio, the more it would cost, the more money CBS would have to put up, and consequently they'd have a greater hold over the band. The Clash even put up some of the money themselves. Eventually they had the tape and told CBS: "You can have it if you meet our conditions." Topper admits that there are some mistakes on the album, and more than a few drum errors. That's the price to pay for the energy captured on the vinyl. London Calling was recorded in a month, with Guy Stevens producing. That's how it's going to be in the future, Topper maintains. The second album, Give Em Enough Rope, was not as successful as either the first or the third records, and Topper blames producer Sandy Pearlman for this. "He made it quite dull," Topper says. "He was a dull person to work with. We wanted a producer, CBS gave us a list of producers and his name was on the top. We listened to stuff he'd done with heavy metal bands, and we thought it was rubbish, but it was the production we were interested in. We wanted to get a good sound, and one complaint against the first album was that it sounded too thin. So we wanted some production that would stand up to time. So we got Pearlman. But he took so long to do it, with his perfectionism, that the prevalent feeling in the studio by the time he'd finished was boredom. When I think about recording that album I cringe." Problems don't end in the recording studio for the Clash. For a good few years now they've had constant trouble with local councils who insist on banning their gigs for fear of trouble. The whole surge of reaction against punk bands from "The Establishment" began with the infamous Sex Pistols. The daily newspapers portrayed the Clash as wreckers of society. "We're still getting that sort of prejudice," explains Topper. "We've had 16 gigs booked at various Mecca places, and then about 12 pulled out. You have to completely re-route the tour." The Hammersmith Palais cancelled a concert there because they said there were too many mirrors in the place to safely allow Clash fans in. "But our fans don't smash things anymore. They do if they're told what to do, like sit down in this seat and be a good boy. That's why out of all the gigs on our British tour only have two seats in them." Harassment from local villages takes other forms. The obligatory visit from the fire inspector often results in strict demands being laid down: "He says take that backdrop down, so we take the backdrop down, and he says erect more crash barriers, so we put up more crash barriers, he says this stage has to be rebuilt here, and you need more security. We just laugh at him and do anything he wants. Nothing can stop us playing. But they make life difficult." As time progresses, however, the Clash are becoming more acceptable, though not more respectable, Topper hopes. He makes the point that the Clash have to pay for all the damage that's caused, so why should they promote vandalism? Surprisingly, Topper found that the audiences in America weren't so much different to the British fans. The punk thing is really only just beginning to happen across the pond: "They're still into safety pins," declares Topper. "It's the same as the White Riot tour here, when there were about 300 or 400 fans dancing down the front with the rest there out of curiosity. But we sold out 25 of our 28 gigs there, and that was in 3,000 and 4,000 seater auditoriums. The States is so big. LA was just a load of old hippies lazing around getting stoned in the sun. I liked Chicago best, with all the blues clubs. But we should do well over there because the USA has all the same problems as Britain except they're magnified. They have all the slums and the poverty and more of a racial problem too." Highlighting social problems is one of the bands strong points. They should have plenty to write about in America. The Clash are political, and very definitely anti-National Front. Topper's favourite drummers come from America, such as Harvey Mason and Steve Gadd. His favourite British drummer is Terry Williams, who plays for Rockpile. Musically, his tastes are strictly black; James Brown, Otis Redding and lots of reggae, particularly the Mighty Diamonds. America looks tripe for the Clash. They've toured there twice and soon they should start to take off now that punk has spread. The Americans have been fairly slow catching on to what the 76' British New Wave was all about - perhaps they've been too wealthy for too long. With a new recession biting home, maybe the Clash will take on new relevance to downtrodden, unemployed kids in America. Topper himself represents a new establishment of musicians in Britain that once would have been unthinkable. Two years ago the Clash were vilified as not being "real" musicians. Their drive, talent and staying power has proved the cynics wrong. In general, the Clash have proved themselves to be dedicated professonials with firm ideals at heart. In particular, Topper Headon spearheads the drumming new wave with a forceful and accomplished style that can't be dismissed.

[onestowatch]

The Best of 2020 | Staff Picks

We made it! 2020 is finally coming to an end (hopefully not along with the world). You’ve finally mastered your TikTok algorithm and only get served the hits. You’ve mastered the perfect rotation for your Zoom backgrounds. You’ve broken the Guinness World Record for consecutive hours doom-scrolling. You’ve finished reading White Fragility and have made the pledge to be a better ally. This year is going down in the history books as one of the toughest in our generation due to the tragic losses of life due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to COVID-19, the entire music industry has come to a stand still and a lot of our colleagues have lost their jobs and the future of our industry is going to look very different. As sobering as this year has been, we’ve all had to take a long look at ourselves and make a decision about who we wanted to be.

But there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel and 2021 is already starting to look up. As usual, music is one of the things that always helps us get through tough times and 2020 was no different. We honestly may have needed it even more this year. As we try to put the tragedies of 2020 behind us, and look forward to the return of live music, being outside, and seeing our loved ones in person, our staff would like to share our favorite things that helped us survive this year and some of the things we’re excited to hear more of in 2021.

Max Polo

Song That Best Describes Your 2020: Bea Miller, Aminè - “FEEL SOMETHING DIFFERENT”

Most Underrated Artist of 2020: 박혜진 Park Hye Jin

Best Breakout Artist of 2020: Doja Cat. From first seeing her at Echo Park Rising in 2014, it’s been a long time coming

Best Music Video of 2020: KennyHoopla - “how will i rest in peace if i’m buried by a highway?//“

Biggest Artist Crush of 2020: Carly Rae Jepsen, this year and every year.

Favorite 2020 Distraction: Video games without a doubt. Between crafting my own island paradise on Animal Crossing to exploring the gorgeous world of Genshin Impact, 2020 would not have been bearable without a digital escape.

Artist you’re most looking forward to seeing live in 2021/2022: My Chemical Romance, fingers crossed 🤞🏽

Favorite 2020 trend: TikTok finally entering the mainstream.

Artist to Watch in 2021: Keep an eye on Holly Humberstone, María Isabel, and spill tab.

Favorite Song of 2020: ZICO - “Any Song”

Favorite Album of 2020: Gus Dapperton - Orca

Favorite Artist of 2020: Jean Dawson

New Year's Resolution?: Check Facebook comments less.

Green Lee

Song That Best Describes Your 2020: Soulja Boy - “Kiss Me Thru The Phone”

Most Underrated Artist of 2020: Su Lee

Best Breakout Artist of 2020: Giveon / BENEE

Best Music Video of 2020: DJ Khaled x Drake - “POPSTAR”

Biggest Artist Crush of 2020: Peggy Gou

Favorite 2020 Distraction: Computer Games & Anime. It’s like I’m 19 again!!!

Artist you’re most looking forward to seeing live in 2021/2022: Duckwrth. I need to see SuperGood in action.

Favorite 2020 Trend: Non-teens dropping their ego and hopping on the TikTok train (me included)

Artist to Watch in 2021: spill tab / blxst / Ambré

Favorite Song of 2020: No Rome ft. Bearface - “1:45AM”

Favorite Album of 2020: Duckwrth - SuperGood

Favorite Artist of 2020: keshi

New Year's Resolution?: Huh?

Paige MacDonald

Song That Best Describes Your 2020: Flor - “Dancing Around” (not being biased)… the accuracy of the lyrics is too on point.

Most Underrated Artist of 2020: Zachary Knowles

Best Breakout Artist of 2020: Tate McRae

Best Music Video of 2020: Conan Gray - “Heather”

Biggest Artist Crush of 2020: The bass player in Flor… Obviously

Favorite 2020 Distraction: Ugh….. Ashamedly…….TikTok

Artist you’re most looking forward to seeing live in 2021/2022: Turnover… because they make everything better and after the year we just had… need to stand in the middle of the crowd and have a good cry/scream.

Favorite 2020 trend: Work from home clothes AKA sweats every single day

Artist to Watch in 2021: Oh… that’s a hard one to narrow down but I’d say Zachary Knowles (again) and 1990nowhere.

Favorite Song of 2020: Zachary Knowles - “Super Sad Songs’

Favorite Album of 2020: MisterWives - SUPERBLOOM

Favorite Artist of 2020: Conan Gray

New Year's Resolution?: More time for myself AWAY FROM A SCREEN and less postmates

Malcolm J. Gray

Song That Best Describes Your 2020: N.E.R.D. - “Love Bomb”

Most Underrated Artist of 2020: Joesef

Best Breakout Artist of 2020: Blxst

Best Music Video of 2020: Disclosure - “My High” featuring Amine & slowthai

Favorite 2020 Distraction:  “Focus on Yourself King” TikTok Videos

Artist you’re most looking forward to seeing live in 2021/2022:  

Favorite 2020 trend: Calling people you care about

Artist to Watch in 2021: Fana Hues

Favorite Song of 2020: Saint Lyor - “Big Facts”

Favorite Album of 2020: Yves Tumor - Heaven To a Tortured Mind

Favorite Artist of 2020: Arlo Parks

New Year's Resolution?: Ideate less, Execute more

David O’ Connor

Song That Best Describes Your 2020: Chiild - “Hands Off Me"

Most Underrated Artist of 2020: KennyHoopla

Best Breakout Artist of 2020: Jack Harlow

Best Music Video of 2020: Lil Baby - “The Bigger Picture"

Biggest Artist Crush of 2020: CHLOBOCOP

Favorite 2020 Distraction: ruthless optimism besting calculated cyncism

Artist you’re most looking forward to seeing live in 2021/2022: fuck, yes...

Favorite 2020 trend: asking your neighbors kids how to find rare gear in Witcher 3

Artist to Watch in 2021: again&again

Favorite Song of 2020: Arlo Parks - "Eugene"

Favorite Album of 2020: Kota the Friend - Lyrics to Go, Vol. 1

Favorite Artist of 2020: Reo Cragun

New Year's Resolution?: vaccinate before ya date  

Joey Legittino

Song That Best Describes Your 2020: "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" - R.E.M

Most Underrated Artist of 2020: badmonsham

Best Breakout Artist of 2020: Gracie Abrams

Best Music Video of 2020: MGK ft. Halsey - “Forget Me Too”

Biggest Artist Crush of 2020: still Kailee Morgue

Favorite 2020 Distraction: Tik Tok

Artist you’re most looking forward to seeing live in 2021/2022: Rage Against the Machine

Favorite 2020 trend: Aliens

Artist to Watch in 2021: Morray

Favorite Song of 2020: Hans Williams - “Body on My Shoulders”

Favorite Album of 2020: Babyjake - Don't Give Me Problems Give Me Wine

Favorite Artist of 2020: Fiji Blue

New Year's Resolution?: Do better than last year

Alexa Schoenfold

Song That Best Describes Your 2020: D’Angelo - “The Charade”

Most Underrated Artist of 2020: Joy Oladokun

Best Breakout Artist of 2020: BENEE, Jean Dawson

Best Music Video of 2020: Loathe - “Two-Way Mirror”

Biggest Artist Crush of 2020: Tom Misch, MGK

Favorite 2020 Distraction: Nature (...and FaceTime)

Artist you’re most looking forward to seeing live in 2021/2022: Thundercat

Favorite 2020 trend: Giving a sh!t about other people

Artist to Watch in 2021: Q, Zach Bryan

Favorite Song of 2020: Jazmine Sullivan - “Lost One”

Favorite Album of 2020: The Avalanches - We Will Always Love You

Favorite Artist of 2020: SAULT. (Also... Miley.)

New Year's Resolution?: Show up with kindness. Stay connected to those that matter most. Finally get a normal bedtime.

Jessica Thomas

Song That Best Describes Your 2020: Ashnikko - “Working Bitch”

Most Underrated Artist of 2020: KILLBOY (not for long)  

Best Breakout Artist of 2020: Remi Wolf  

Best Music Video of 2020: ROSALÍA & Travis Scott - “TKN”

Biggest Artist Crush of 2020: Luna Aura  

Favorite 2020 Distraction: Slightly insensitive 2020 / COVID internet memes that drag me at my core…  

Artist you’re most looking forward to seeing live in 2021/2022: Jacob Collier 

Favorite 2020 trend: TO GO COCKTAILS  

Artist to Watch in 2021: Avenue Beat  

Favorite Song of 2020: spill tab - “Calvaire”  

Favorite Album of 2020: Gracie Abrams - minor

Favorite Artist of 2020: mazie

New Year's Resolution?: Stop falling asleep in my clothes & achieve homeostasis.  

Yasmin Damoui

Song That Best Describes Your 2020: Role Model - "going out"

Most Underrated Artist of 2020: CHIIILD

Best Breakout Artist of 2020: BENEE

Best Music Video of 2020: Channel Tres - "Weedman"

Biggest Artist Crush of 2020: Omar Apollo (every year)

Favorite 2020 Distraction: Eating KIVA gummies and listening to anything by LEISURE or Polo & Pan

Artist you’re most looking forward to seeing live in 2021/2022: Usher in Vegas

Favorite 2020 trend: LOTS of unexpected artist collaborations

Artist to Watch in 2021: Tycho Jones, spill tab, Payday, Hojean, Royal & The Serpent, Abby Sage, mehro (sorry I cheated - there's so many!)

Favorite Song of 2020: SAULT - "Wildfires"

Favorite Album of 2020: Holly Humberstone - Falling Asleep At The Wheel

Favorite Artist of 2020: Verzache

New Year's Resolution?: Continue practicing gratitude for all the amazing blessings we took for granted pre-COVID

Alec Wing

Most Underrated Artist of 2020: Vegyn

Best Breakout Artist of 2020: Caroline Rose

Best Music Video of 2020: Moses Sumney - “Cut Me”

Biggest Artist Crush of 2020: Lianne La Havas

Favorite 2020 Distraction: Surprisingly evocative dreams

Artist you’re most looking forward to seeing live in 2021/2022: D’Angelo (fingers crossed)

Favorite 2020 trend: Checking in on loved ones more consistently

Artist to Watch in 2021: Athletic Progression

Favorite Song of 2020: Gorillaz - “Simplicity”

Favorite Album of 2020: Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters

New Year's Resolution?: To come up with something new

Tyler Borland

Song That Best Describes Your 2020: Curtis Waters - “Pity Party”

Most Underrated Artist of 2020: Elroy

Best Breakout Artist of 2020: Teezo Touchdown for sure!

Best Music Video of 2020: This is a tough one, but probably the slowthai "feeling away" video or "Power Freaks" by Jean Dawson

Biggest Artist Crush of 2020: Jorja Smith

Favorite 2020 Distraction: I've gotten super into Curb Your Enthusiasm

Artist you’re most looking forward to seeing live in 2021/2022: Oh man I miss concerts... probably ericdoa, BIGBABYGUCCI, and Kevin Kazi

Favorite 2020 trend: Verzuz has been so entertaining. Not sure if it's a trend, but definitely one of my favorite things to come out of this year.

Artist to Watch in 2021: Elroy, 18veno, Hollow Sinatra

Favorite Song of 2020: Tycho Jones - "Don't Be Afraid"

Favorite Album of 2020: brakence - punk2

Favorite Artist of 2020: brakence, Kenny Mason, BIGBABYGUCCI, Jean Dawson

New Year's Resolution?: Finish college and get a full time music gig

Maddy Quach

Song That Best Describes Your 2020: Antonio Williams and Kerry McCoy - "Changes"

Most Underrated Artist of 2020: Issy Wood. She's just signed to Mark Ronson's Zelig Records & I'm so excited to see what comes of it.

Best Breakout Artist of 2020: glaive

Best Music Video of 2020: slowthai - “nhs"

Biggest Artist Crush of 2020: Freddie Gibbs this year and also every other year.

Favorite 2020 Distraction: Hand-sewing clothes!

Artist you’re most looking forward to seeing live in 2021/2022: YG, Grimes, Sharon Van Etten. I'm buying tickets to anything and everything next year.

Favorite 2020 trend: That one month at the beginning of quarantine when everyone was drawing carrots and bananas on their Instagram stories. What was that...

Artist to Watch in 2021: ICECOLDBISHOP, CoachDaGhost

Favorite Song of 2020: This one goes to "Empty Beach" by Coco (although Hotboii's "Don't Need Time" is a close second).

Favorite Album of 2020: Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters

Favorite Artist of 2020: Flo Milli

New Year's Resolution?: Celebrate my accomplishments more.

Rachael Jansky

Song That Best Describes Your 2020: Benee, Gus Dapperton - “supalonely” (the pandemic really has me missing all the homies :()

Most Underrated Artist of 2020: Q

Best Breakout Artist of 2020: CHIKA - forever grateful I didn’t scroll past her Tiny Desk on my Twitter feed

Best Music Video of 2020: Amine - “Compensating”

Biggest Artist Crush of 2020: Halsey. My answer will never not be Halsey.

Favorite 2020 Distraction: Love Island, but the UK version ONLY

Artist you’re most looking forward to seeing live in 2021/2022: Rico Nasty!!!!

Favorite 2020 trend: allllll the Clubhouse drama

Artist to Watch in 2021: Sally Boy

Favorite Song of 2020: Charlie Burg - “Lancaster Nights”

Favorite Album of 2020: Glass Animals - Dreamland (you literally melt into their music, perfect escape from the shit show of a year we’ve had)

Favorite Artist of 2020: Dominic Fike

New Year's Resolution?: Graduate college, land my first big girl job, and have fewer existential crises :’)

Jimmy Smith

Song That Best Describes Your 2020: “Brave Faces, Everyone” - Spanish Love Songs

Most Underrated Artist of 2020: POORSTACY

Best Breakout Artist of 2020: KennyHoopla

Best Music Video of 2020: Code Orange - “Swallowing The Rabbit Whole”

Favorite 2020 Distraction: Daydreaming about 2021. Oh and lots of TikTok

Artist you’re most looking forward to seeing live in 2021/2022: Every Time I Die

Favorite 2020 trend: Pop-punk revival

Artist to Watch in 2021: nothing,nowhere.

Favorite Song of 2020: The Dirty Nil - Doom Boy

Favorite Album of 2020: The Used - Heartwork

Favorite Artist of 2020: Travis Barker

New Year's Resolution?: Don’t take live music for granted

Jenna Singer

Song That Best Describes Your 2020: bulow and duckwrth - “sad and bored”

Most Underrated Artist of 2020: Jean Dawson

Best Breakout Artist of 2020: glaive

Best Music Video of 2020: idk but “Thick and Thin” – Lany got me through some shit

Biggest Artist Crush of 2020: Justin Bieber

Favorite 2020 Distraction: Cooking

Artist you’re most looking forward to seeing live in 2020/2021: Billie Eilish

Favorite 2020 trend: hyperpop

Artist to Watch in 2021: Huron John

Favorite Song of 2020: Still Woozy - “Window”

Favorite Album of 2020: LANY - mama’s boy

Favorite Artist of 2020: can’t give that away sorry

New Year's Resolution?: less time on social media