#but I’m choosing to believe that sometimes the records pick up on the general background noise of the resolute

[bowl-of-fruit-loops]

I won’t ever be able to stop thinking about the recordings anakin made for ahsoka. he made twenty or more of them. do you think he was ever interrupted while he was making them. by obi-wan or rex or even little ahsoka herself. I need to sit down.

[pandawriterstuff]

Pinehallow Summary & Character List

This is my main WIP, if I'm complaining about characters doing whatever they want, this is them.

Pinehallow Summary-Monty, an eleven year old boy who has spent most of his life traveling from place to place with his in-demand lawyer mother, Irene, is sent to live at his uncle's horse ranch because she thinks he needs roots. Used to nearly everyone but his mother not being around long enough to get to know, Monty is more than a bit uncertain about this. But in scrambling to find his place in a town different to anything he's ever known, he finds friends, both human and animal, makes discoveries, and even manages to foil a plot against Pinehallow Ranch itself.

Character List

Monty (Montgomery) Cade Waller- Main character, 11, white. Monty is curious, bright, and more than a little awkward. He has a tendency to state the obvious, which can be endearing or annoying depending on your perspective. Big vocabulary and grown-up way of speaking because he’s spent more time around grown-ups than other kids. He’s quietly stubborn, particularly when it comes to being told he’s wrong when he knows he’s right. Insecure about socializing and friendships because of constant moving and traveling. Can’t hold a grudge for the life of him, even when he likely should. He likes bugs, birds and turtles, would rather read nonfiction than a story. Fills lonely afternoons with sketching, nature sketching on the ranch.

Irene Waller- Monty’s mother, 36, white. Irene is a powerful corporate lawyer, either full of energy or exhausted, never in between. She loves using words to sway minds and deciphering documents to find exactly what the opposition doesn’t want her to find. Sometimes Irene wishes she was using her skills in more meaningful ways, but also really likes the money, the traveling, and the competition. Has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of show tunes from musicals. She has a hard time letting people get close. Would stab someone for her baby, but knows it’s better to teach him to stab for himself. Only partially joking. Dolly Parton is her hero, and as much as she loves her music, it’s Dolly the business woman and Dolly the philanthropist that she strives to emulate.

Keith Waller- Monty’s uncle, 34, white. Horse Rancher. Keith loves working hard and getting dirty, and if he’s not exhausted at the end of the day he’ll be looking for something else to push him there. Otherwise he gets antsy. Loves animals and absolutely will not tolerate anyone mistreating any of the animals on his ranch-ordinarily he’s very careful of his size and strength, in that situation, all bets are off. Times that by about ten for any of the ‘barn rats’ that help around the ranch for riding lessons/time. Loves romantic comedies and telanovas and doesn’t care who knows it. Keith doesn’t read a lot, it never came easy to him, but if he’s taking a long trip he’ll always check an audio book or two out of the library instead of just relying on the radio.

Juniper - Keith’s goddaughter, 15, white. She has a calm, confident personality with a smile for most everyone she meets. If she doesn’t have a smile for you and it isn’t because her head is in the clouds over a girl, you’ve probably earned her scorn and will be ignored as much as possible. Juniper raises rabbits and it’s taught her patience, and a lot about unfairness when a kit doesn’t make it. She helps out with riding lessons at the ranch in exchange for riding time of her own, and has become a fixture, spending more time there than she does at home, and when she can get away with it, school. Loves sunflowers and her sunflower comforter is probably her most prized possession.

Nell - Caretaker/cook for the ranch house(would cooking lunch for the workers still be a thing on a modern ranch?). 38, white(?). Not about to put up with nonsense. Will make you cookies if she doesn’t have to put up with nonsense. Please. At one point she wanted to be a chef and has a year of culinary school under her belt, but quickly decided the super fast paced and competitive environment wasn’t for her. Anything that was making her hate one of her favorite things that fast could not be good for a person. She intends to live a long, long life and that kind of stress can just walk right out of the door. Loves to go on long walks, often into the hills (BLM land) behind the ranch. (maybe she was taught/took a class on foraging, and teaches Monty to find wild onions and stuff? But this would mean *I* have to learn about foraging in Idaho.) This leads to a contented, if often silent, companionship between her and Monty, who desperately wants to explore/record/sketch everything about the natural world of his new home, particularly the parts that are off limits to him without an adult along.

Ray- Family Friend/Co-Owner of R & M General (designed to feel vintage, but shiny. Bit of a tourist stop now, they decided to lean into it.), 50, Black. He uses his background in chemistry to make amazing looking candies and chocolates, using that to deal with a time he used it in less pleasant ways when he was in the military. He never expected anybody outside of his small town, or maybe the folks at the county fair to make so much fuss over them. This might embarrass him, if he weren’t so delighted. A cheerful man with a dreamer’s heart, a magazine once referred to him as a small town Willy Wonka. He dotes on his wife, often making and gifting her small surprises. An amputee in honor of my Grandpa (missing left leg at the knee, possibly missing one arm as well, but I’m not sure how that would affect candy making.). Has certain parts of his past he just doesn’t talk about.

Mavis- Co-Owner of ____ with Ray, 48, Black. Fierce and kind in equal measures, Mavis believes in protecting what’s hers, and as far as she’s concerned the entire town of (oh my god, it needs a name) is included in that. Mavis is very selective about the battles she fights, but when she chooses one she throws herself in whole-heartedly. On several committees around town, she’d be on more, but then she wouldn’t have enough time to really get into the work of the ones she loves. She knits in her limited free time, often while listening to the news, but sometimes opera. Has started knitting stuffies in the shapes of the more unusual candies Ray makes, it’s silly, but fun, and tourists and the local kids love it. Still head over heels for Ray, even though his often dreaming about things for ages instead of just doing them is also still baffling to her.

Leanna - Juniper’s sort-of girlfriend, 15, Vietnamese. Quiet, a little cynical, but very empathetic. She avoids the news because it’s that or be mad and want to cry all the time-until she hears about something she can’t not research, and goes on a 24 hour google search and learns far more than is probably good for her about a species going extinct due to logging in prohibited areas, or genocide being covered up by claims of violent uprisings. She loves manga and comics. Leanna sometimes tries for a cottagecore* type aesthetic, but mostly thinks it's too much work. She’s starting to worry about what she’s going to do with her future, and people telling her that she’s only 15 and doesn’t have to worry about it yet is NOT HELPING.

*even though cottagecore isn’t a thing in the early-mid 2000s this is maybe/vaguely set in. Shh, let me have this. Anne of Green Gablesesque maybe?

Winnie - Leanna’s mom, 45, Vietnamese. Widow? A little ditzy, but a lot loving. Everyone in town is convinced she’s the stoner type of hippy, but no one minds as she’s someone who truly wants to know how you’re doing when she asks and strangely almost always has very spot on advice. She’s rarely on time anywhere, but that’s because she’ll have stopped to talk, and often to help, whoever she’s run into. Leanna and her bicker over this when she’s late picking her up. Always wears bright colors. Loves Agatha Christie books. Calls everyone, even people 50 years older than her, hon.

Logan - Juniper’s stepdad, 40, white. Kind of a jerk, but most of the jerky things he says are actually jokes that fall flat or have simply gotten old. Tries really hard, like *really* hard, but has a tendency to get annoyed if people don’t appreciate his efforts right away-more in his personal life than professional, possibly because of his profession. A contractor, hard worker, loyal, has worked for the same company since he was twenty even though they don’t often treat him right. Sometimes tries to buy people’s affections. Wants to have better communication with Juniper, but it’s gotten really hard the last few years and he’s never quite sure why.

Candice - Juniper’s Mom, 39, white, works at a nursery that sells seedlings and baby fruit trees, has a cheerful, calm personality, but a lot softer and more lowkey than Juniper’s version. Very house proud, but has a ‘maximalist’ approach to decorating-everything is in its place, but there are places for lots of things. Loves spending time outdoors, but would rather spend it tending her garden than hiking or riding, preferably with a cup of tea by her side. On the weekends, a fruity beer or wine instead. Wants to go on one of those train rides where you get to drink wine, eat canapes and try to solve a mystery, thinks Winnie might be a good candidate for someone to go with her.

Ura - a ‘barn rat’, 12 and a half, white(maybe a Czech immigrant? 2nd generation?) . A cheerful, rough and tumble boy who is always climbing things, and often being told to stop when he gets too high for other people's comfort. Ura is fearless when it comes to physical feats, but has a fear of ‘slimy’ things like worms and frogs. He has a thick layer of pudge and a big appetite, but is athletic and strong enough that anyone bullying him over it would be doing it at their own peril. Not that he’s the type to start fights, or even finish them most of the time. Doesn’t feel he quite fits in with his family, who are all more serious, reserved people. Redwood is his favorite of the horses, and Keith has all but given up on telling him that sitting on the floor of Red’s stall to talk to the horse isn’t exactly safe.

Elliot - Ray and Mavis’s son, Black, 19 and a college student-maybe/probably at U of I. Lives on campus, but comes home at least a couple weekends a month. Has an older car that he and Ray fixed up together, that is his pride and joy. Quiet, with an irreverent sense of humor that he unleashes somewhat at random. Interested in robotics, engines and mechanics and generally has some project he’s working on, a piece of which may or may not be in his pocket. Often has oil, grease, or ink on his hands, either from working on or designing a new project. A bit of an overachiever, he can spread himself thin trying to live up to all his responsibilities at once. He’s best friends with Randy, a friendship his parents want to disapprove of, because the few times Elliot’s gotten into trouble not only was Randy there, but 99% of the time whatever it was is Randy’s idea, but never quite manage too.

Randy - Handyman at the ranch, mixed race Hispanic and white, 21. Technically head handyman, because the old head retired six months ago, and is a little young/inexperienced for the job, but he’s not the type to back away from a challenge and has risen to the occasion beautifully. Loves rock and metal music, and spends a lot of his free weekends at concerts, the ones crammed into little venues and bars where people are practically on top of each other and the beat is so loud and solid it throbs through you, connecting you to everyone even before you hit the mosh pit, are his preference. He’s been working at the ranch since he was 16, and feels like he has a claim on it, not afraid to speak up if he thinks a decision Keith is making isn’t right or that he isn’t taking something important into consideration. Can be a bit wild when he’s not being the responsible one, definitely doesn’t always think before he acts.

Alma - Local artist/worker at R & M’s, Hispanic, 25. Alma is a painter and poet, a confident young woman who’s figured out that half of surviving as an artist is being your own agent/a salesperson as well, and in addition to several shelves at the R & M that hold postcard prints of many of her pieces, both the coffee shop and cafe have some of her larger paintings displayed, and she always has a booth at the Saturday market, though the majority of her sales come from her website. Alma is cheerful, and likes to tease, and growing up the middle child of four brothers, is very able to hold her own in verbal sparring. She’s close with her family, still living with her parents, and while at first her father was dismayed at her choice of career, he now hands out her business card to basically everyone he talks to.

Miriam - Nell’s Mom, white, 71, a little deaf, speaks loudly, partially because of the deafness, partially because she spent too long letting other people push her around and when she hit about 50 decided she was going to be the one talking over people now. She’s earned it. Age has made her more delicate than she likes, bruising and scraping easily, but she’s determined to do most things for herself. Those that are beyond her she has no problem loudly ordering someone else to take care of. Volunteers a lot, often fosters kittens for the local animal shelter. Used to chain smoke, quit when Nell was a teenager because she kept leaving pictures of diseased lungs everywhere. Still uses the candy ones as a substitute.

Places

Unnamed Town- Somewhere in Latah County, Idaho, where there is not already a town in the way. Around 200 years old and has grown and shrunk and grown again, and currently has a population of about 12,000. Having grown out from a traditional mainstreet, _______ no longer has the western style boardwalk seen in old pictures, but it does have a large cluster of local businesses and ‘hot spots’ still along that old main street, a coffee shop, a diner, a combination bookshop and independent library, a hardware store, a bar, a few places I haven’t thought of yet, and of course R & M General. There is a historical barn half a mile or so away from mainstreet that has been converted into a theater/meeting hall/dance hall, and a community center was added onto it in the early 90’s. During the summer there is a farmer’s market on the property every Saturday. The elementary school and junior high are all on one property, several miles out of town, because the majority of families live on farms, ranches or small rural properties rather than in one of the neighborhood clusters in the town itself. The junior high is 7th, 8th and 9th graders, in a newer two story building, and the elementary school is divided into lower and upper elementary with the bracket shaped building basically being cut in half, K-3 on one side and 4-6 on the other. The high school is outside of town on the other side by several miles, and actually serves kids from another town(s) as well. There is also a trailer park with about forty units, not exactly sure where it is yet, but Miriam(Nell’s Mom) lives there. There is also an animal shelter, a vet’s office, a cemetery, and a couple churches, and I’m sure more things to come.

R & M General (working title?)- Ray and Mavis’s store, a general store with a candy focused twist. A vintage Pepsi sign, neon still bright, and a charming green glass juke-box filled with hits from the 1940’s onward grace the front porch of the R & M, along with a long bench that locals are encouraged to use for a spell or to listen to a couple songs, provided they can behave themselves (teenagers arguing over who their favorite member of the rat pack is might be amusing, considering they were already ‘mom and dad’, or at least older brother and sister, music by the time Mavis and Ray were teenagers, but when they get loud it also gets annoying.). The store itself still has the original wooden counter up front and built-in shelves along the walls, but all refinished and polished to a high shine. A mixture of display types going down the middle of the store, barrels and baskets filled with skeins of colorful yarn and cloth or Mavis’s knitted stuffies(and during winter sometimes socks and mittens), other sewing and craft supplies, display racks with local arts, postcards and carvings, sometimes wind up toys made by Elliot, and of course many, many displays of candies and chocolates. They also have a lot of dry goods, and some of the simpler candy types have little instruction booklets and the ingredients it takes to try out making them yourself stocked in the same display, drink coolers, and sometimes have local produce available. Basically, they have a bit of everything, except for building equipment/home repair supplies, and that’s because of the hardware store across the street.

Pinehallow Ranch-A sprawling 100 acre ranch in Latah County, Idaho where the Waller family has been doing something or other with horses for four generations now. Originally it was a horse breeding ranch, but Keith and Irene’s grandfather felt the money was in training horses, and offered boarding as well, and Keith has continued to build that up, offering lessons for a variety of styles, ages, and skill levels. Butting up against BLM land that allows additional grazing and trail riding, the ranch has four pastures, a large corral, a medium sized indoor arena and two horse barns, one for boarded horses and one for the ranch's own stock, and an equipment barn, an old bunkhouse that is mostly used to store feed-though Randy has slept there when in between places, mostly unbeknownst to Keith-and some smaller equipment sheds, placed where they’re needed. The main house is an L-shaped ranch house with a porch that goes around the entire long front of the house with a large herb/kitchen and rock garden arranged around that. There are treed pockets scattered here and there, left alone as the rest of the ranch was developed, but the creek Monty and Juniper sometimes hang out at is on BLM land, as is most of the forested area around the ranch.

Pinehallow Taglist @sleepysera @enchanted-lightning-aes @odysseywritings @thegreatobsesso @writing-is-a-martial-art and @hiitsolivia If anyone else wants to be added just interact with the post :) (My more advanced tumblr knowledge has led me to believe this is better than asking people to reblog/comment to be added, but if I'm wrong just let me know.)

[404fmdminjung]

famed idol life / career meme

notes: i started doing responses one by one, but then i thought it’d be better to do one big mass-post instead of flooding dash all at once. thank you to all that sent in! appreciate u all :~) (if anyone has any numbers they need, please feel free to like this or just let me know, even if i already sent in an ask!)

2. what are your favorite b-sides/non-title tracks you’ve released?

“i like diana. there’s something moody, sultry about it with a touch of elegance. it’s almost like cheap wine on a long friday — contrasting, but it somehow fits. plus, sooah helped out on that track which becomes the cherry icing on top. perhaps, there’s something better coming out on my next album, where there’s too many b-sides that i’d cherry pick myself to be my favorite. for that, look out at the sea, captain.”

3. what is your least favorite song (title track or b-side) you’ve released?

“i don’t think there’s a least favorite. if there were, then i wouldn’t have partook in any of it — my personality’s in it or out of it. there’s no in between, especially where my voice plays a part. i don’t want to touch things where my heart doesn’t lie, that’d just be cruel. wouldn’t it? if it doesn’t relieve my soul a bit, then i don’t think i’d dip my toes in those waters.”

6. what is one thing (a concept, a genre, an outfit, etc.) you would least like your company make you do?

“i’d like to do house funk, maybe house-pop. you’ve seen elements in it in knight’s old releases, and even the oldies like decipher’s done it. unity’s dabbled in it somewhat in their b-sides, and considering fuse has amassed a long bridge of different concepts — the spectrum’s large. i’d like to wear hawaiian t-shirts and prance around to some summer house-funk, and that’s something i think the general public can all dance around in their rooms to.”

8. if you could be in any idol group, which one would you choose?

“i’ve grown accustomed to fuse — i like being in fuse. i don’t think i’d fit anywhere else, though i would say bee would be a nice change for the summer fun. i’d even enjoy myself to be in unity had i been a boy. can you imagine? the fun that would come out of belting welcome to my playground, and singing the tunes to touch. that’d be a girl’s dream come true.”

9. if you could say one thing to your ceo, what would it be?

“you’re the prettiest person i’ve ever seen. in the whole country, out of all the women in the world — you’re the standard of beauty. but i’m sure the whole world knows that by now, don’t they? i thank you for giving fuse some of the best songs, and though i’ve never met you face by face, i’d like to believe you’re better than what’s shown from face value. but, still — my wannabe face is you but no amount of plastic surgery would turn me into you, would it?”

10. if you were auditioning for your company today, what would you perform for your audition, or what would you change from your original audition?

“i don’t think i’d repeat the dance, nor attempt to dance to something like seo taeji and boys. if i recall, i did h.o.t’s we are the future, and snsd’s kissing you with a ruler i had in my back pocket. in retrospect, that was my standard of dancing — if only i’d known it’d become a bad memory to highlight the work i have left. maybe, i’d only stick to kissing you, ruler version while singing something more melodically acceptable than finkl’s now.”

11. if you could do any special stage, what would it be and who would it be with?

“i don’t know — i don’t know many things when it comes to these mix and match scenarios. i know i’d like to make a stage where i can dance freely as if i’m in the comfort of my own home. perhaps to a song like gee, or even oh — even willing to dabble in lipstick’s genie if it means dressing up like a sailor and going ahoy. i’d want to do the stage with jeonghwa, sooah, and well — i don’t have that many friends to give you a special stage, oops.”

13. if you could become a model or ambassador for any brand, what would you choose?

”again, i’ve been blessed and satiated with each and every opportunity given. working with dior has been a smooth sailing ride as well as cartier — perhaps, given the option i wouldn’t opt for pathere de cartier but a different line. still, nothing really takes away from the heart and soul of their jewelry, which i appreciate with my cup of tea. i’d continue to work with dior, and if hermes would ever take the punch — i’d even have an affair with them.”

14. if you could be on any variety show, which one (or which type of one) would you want to be on?

“knowing brothers — i really watch that show. or even, 전지적 참견 시점 — those are the shows i keep tabs of on a weekly basis. i'd love my manager to have her time to shine and steal the hearts of the world with her variety work. she’s a very funny person you know. as for knowing brothers? that’s a given knowing how quick the crowd is on their feet and the little mini-games that come from each episode. i hurt my stomach each time from laughing along so many times.”

16. what changes would you implement if you were the ceo of your company?

“a free-for-all. i’ve never wanted to become a ceo, but had i been granted the opportunity to rule on all floors, i’d implement a few things. mandatory art classes, and creative freedom to the album jackets for all my artists. no dating-bans, let it all air out — most of all, i’d let them do as they wished as long has it harmed nobody else and they could handle the aftermath. no restrictions, roam free, bunnies.”

17. what do you do to relieve the stress of idol life?

“call me pretentious or call me a sell-out, i do what any other normal person does. i like sitting in the cafes with my notebook out, sketching. i sketch people that come in and out, or the people that decide to sit next to me. if i’m home, i’m painting on canvas with my record player crooning in the background or knitting a sweater to wear next winter. on a really adventurous day, you’ll see me playing the pole or stretching my limbs at pilates. but that’s on a non-lazy day.”

18. what tips would you give to a trainee about to debut?

“wear your skin like armor, and let it thicken as time goes on. no need to get hurt by words, and instead roll with the punches — learn to accept the hate that comes, and be scrutinized underneath a microscope. sometimes, you don’t know if it’s really reality, but the faster you assimilate yourself, the quicker you learn to glide past your career. think of everything as a catch-22, only there’s no real safety net.”

19. what was the hardest part of being a trainee?

“getting along with the other people and have them stay away from getting to know me. it’s obvious, the trainee life is temporary — there’s going to be those that debut and those that don’t, so why pry further than you have to? everyone should’ve been given the basic privacy instead of trying to play formalities and get along. other than that, i hated dance practice and i still do. dance isn’t a strong suit, and having someone force me to follow a tempo i can’t march to was no fun at all.”

20. did you enjoy the lifestyle of a trainee or of a debuted idol more?

“i liked being a debuted idol far better, only because there was a layer of privacy given to me. ironically, i was suddenly in the public eye. yet, it still allowed some layer of anonymity within the inner circle and the day to day people i interacted with. starting from a sea of trainees, and having it dwindle to a group of my members — it all made it easier to handle in the end. besides, i was getting no sleep regardless trainee or not.”

22. describe your dream sub-unit (members and concept).

“take the fuse darker concepts — peekaboo, bad boy, psycho. and merge it into one, all while getting rid of the dresses too short to dress in. wrap it all together, and you get my favorite concept. i like mystery, and latent meanings behind pretty tunes, and being able to do that each comeback would be a dream. surely, the audience might get bored of it, but i wouldn’t and i’m allowed to be selfish, aren’t i? my dream sub-unit, i’d take sooah. without sooah, i don’t know what i’d do, really. she’s like a mini-mom, three years younger. then, i’d take kiana for the dance that sooah and i can’t handle. i suppose i’d add suji in there because i don’t think anyone can belt like she does, no offense to kiana. but there’s a heartier belt when suji does it. sorry to our leader, i guess.”

23. out of the following six options, would you rather be allowed to play a major hand in the lyrics, production, choreography, styling, music videos, or concepts you release?

“i started off in lyrics, so i’ll stay loyal till the end. i’ll keep to the lyrics, so i can continue to write the stories my heart wants to say. sometimes, i’ll fall into cliches, but that’s okay. if it’s not in music production or the general content of the song, i suppose i’d take a dabble in styling — and stop dressing myself in the short skirts making it impossible to dance. really, those are the only two things i’ll be selfish for.”

25. what is your least favorite part of being an idol?

“waking up early, not having enough time to draw — those would just be the superficial things, right? but really, there’s pros and cons to any jobs, just ask any office worker with a nine to five. however, if i’m given a sliver of honesty to wave my grievances, i’d like to mention that i don’t like working in short skirts that get shorter each comeback. i don’t like getting mauled by the public of who i make eye contact with or who i work with — i don’t like getting over criticized and the list goes on.”

26. what is your favorite part of being an idol?

“i’ve always been a story teller. i like crafting stories and telling my world for how i see it, and given this opportunity in music, i’m able to do so. i like playing with instruments, sketching out things for an album idea — the creative process while meeting new people along the way. it’s a journey, an adventure and most of all, it avoids stagnation. i’m on the move, go go go.”

27. would you rather be incredibly famous with a terrible reputation and hated by most or be fairly unknown with a good reputation and adored by those who know of you? why?

“i’m already disliked by most — they don’t like the way i dress, who i’m friends with or the manner in which i present myself. but i’m given the opportunity to ignore these things along the way, and learn to handle things bit by bit. given the choice, i’d rather hide in anonymity with the few around me enjoying my presence. i’ve learned by now, public opinion doesn’t correlate to much as it’s nothing more than a crow perched far away as poe would say.”

29. what have you learned about yourself and/or society since becoming a celebrity?

“i’ve only been taught life skills, such as time management and patience. in hindsight, i’ve learned how cruel people are to judge things from what they see at surface level. the world’s superficial — that’s a bitter pill to swallow. i don’t know much about myself as i haven’t gotten that part figured out. instead, i’ve just learned that the world is cruel and the people in it amount to little to no positivity — go figure.”

[helihi]

The Good, The Bad, and the Dirty: RWBY Vol 7 Ep 4

Thank you for renewing your Punch Jacques Club Membership, I cannot confirm or deny that you’ll accomplish your goal this season, but we’re family.

Overall rating of the chapter: 7.5/10 

*Spoilers Ahead*

The Good

To start off this chapter, we learn more about the true dynamics of the Ace Ops and, more importantly, about Atlas Academy. At Beacon, teams are chosen by interactions and collaborative efforts during a recorded test. Ozpin chose teams based on trust, leadership skills, and bonds. In Atlas, teams are chosen based on effectiveness. The students are not viewed as people or individuals, they are viewed as numbers.

In the previous episodes, there were a couple of things that didn’t quite sit well with me: Harriet’s original comment to Ruby regarding her Semblance felt more mean than playful, and the fact that Marrow was everyone’s punching bag. At first, you might think that this is just playful banter between friends, like Yang and Ruby referring to Jaune as Vomit Boy from time to time, however, that’s not true. Since Harriet declares that they are not friends, you may realize that they are not “picking on Marrow”, they are actively bullying him. There’s no complements thrown his way, there are no mutual laughter or apologies, it’s just drag after drag after drag.

I have the slight feeling that Marrow might consider them his friends, and that’s why he’s letting the comments slide. We should also consider that he is the only Faunus in the team, and although I believe their comments don’t come from a source of casual racism, but rather at pointing out the fact that he’s the most childish of them all, we should pin that for now.

I get Harriet, there’s a difference between co-workers and friends. Though some times you may befriend your co-workers, playful banter and after office outings don’t translate to friendship. I say this as someone who has worked for a big company. There were coworkers I genuinely befriended, and other who I was friendly after office hours, but never hung out with outside work parties or outings.

That being said, I find it hard that you wouldn’t bond with those whose life you’ve saved before, the same who’ve saved yours. Interestingly, when Yang inquires about this and gets dismissed by Harriet, you can see the way Blake reacts in the background. Have we bonded over trauma? Is that all that this is?

Let me be clear: people can bond over trauma, but at the same time, going through a lot of things with a person can show you sides of them you never noticed before, you see them in a different light. That being said, Team RWBY’s enemies haven’t been random people: Cinder killed Pyrrha, their friend; Emerald was someone they trusted; Mercury framed Yang in front of Remnant; Adam was Blake’s abusive ex and his goal to destroy Blake and Yang was personal. During the arcs these characters have gone through, they have grown as people as they faced death, obviously they are going to bond.

This may have been pure coincidence, but it’s interesting that an anti-bee section of the FNDM posed the idea that Yang and Blake’s relationship is based on mutual trauma. This claim is ridiculous because both of them cared about each other before the Fall of Beacon. The traumatic event made their relationship take a turn, and realize some things that they didn’t notice before or made things clearer for them. (On a side note, Asami realized she had feelings for Korra when she thought the avatar was going to die at the end of book 3). Sometimes certain situations change your perspective about things and people.

I want to note that Nora’s comedic relief landed perfectly, and Jaune’s sass was on point. Once again James is presented as someone trouble seeking the best outcome through the wrong means. That being said, Tyrian and Watts plan seem to be to overthrow him and generate chaos through political manipulation, and as someone who comes from a country with high levels of corruptions and suspicious murders, this is true real. Also, don’t think James is a good poor guy trying to be his best. He’s actively choosing one portion of the kingdom over the other and dooming certain populations.

Next stop is Jacques “Scumbag” Schnee making his first appearance in the volume. TBH it was about time. Given how the opening frames him, he had to show up soon. Just like I expected the moment he started bickering with Ironwood, he turned around and will now help Watts. At first, Jacques might have had power over Ironwood, but now he doesn’t, at least until he get his seat at “The Council”, which I’m expecting him to win.

As someone with an abusive parent, Jacques’s mannerisms make sense. The shift from his violent approach to a more manipulative one are common abusive tactics of an abusive person when in public or when their victim stands up to them. My parent used to be more physically abusive when I was a child, but when I grew taller and stronger, they switched to a psychological one since I could defend myself. In this case, Jacques was super close to striking Weiss again, but stopped the moment one of her true dads stepped in (Ironwood).

Jacques using Willow to guilt trip Weiss was dirty and awful, and once again adds on to my theory that she might be the Winter maiden. Thankfully, like Ruby promised, Team RBY is right beside her.

Blake is ready to kill him, and Yang is processing how awful the man is. Ruby is utterly confused at his attitude. Following this, we find that Winter was siting for him to leave before showing up. She looks around to confirm that he’s no longer there, and Weiss points out “Winter, it’s nice for you to finally show up”. Just like I've talked about before, while Weiss got out of the abusive environment and found a real family (Team RWBY), Winter escaped Jacques by joining the military. James Ironwood is only missing one Schnee child to adopt, and we’ll get to that soon enough.

All our kids are now huntsmen! Congrats! Just like they say, the licenses feel hollow after all they’ve been through, and TBH I agree. It also shows progress for the characters, specially Yang who had the most superficial goal out of the 4 Team RWBY members. Regardless of that, it’s nice to see the goof around, take pics, and eat cake. Something I thought it was adorable is how Winter interacts with Penny: she’s so caring and nice. I love them.

We got a really good moment between Ruby and Qrow, and some background on Summer. The DC comics have helped us understand Summer a little bit ore, but this confirms that she was a brat (hell ye). Apparently, her last mission was a “Summer mission”. I really need those Team STRQ flashbacks. I bet Raven know more than we think.

I also think it’s important that Qrow pointed out how Ruby is not Oz since she doesn’t keep the secret to herself. I think certain conditions should be met to be open about Salems existence, especially considering current circumstances.

Jaune offering to protect little children is the most Jaune thing ever, never change boy.

Lastly, Watts finds an ally: the douchbag who married into the Schnee name. That small interaction with Whitley and Jacques might be a small sign of foreshadowing him having a reception arc. His father doesn’t trust him to invite his heir into the meeting, and he treats his son rudely. Whitley looks genuinely dejected.

Watts faked his death, that might be an indication why Ironwood doesn’t have a clear suspect yet. Now, he’s part of the Asshole Mustache club.

Anyways, next episode it looks like we’re going to meet Robyn. The sheep faunus and the tattooed guy next to her might have been part of her team.

The Bad

Those quick animations for cheap comedic effect have started getting kinda annoying. I wish they didn’t overuse them ass much.

The Dirty

Where’s Klein.

--

Final Rating: 7.5/10. Good, but not above expectations.

A.N.: Alost 18 mins, keeping up with the consistent episode length, congrats!

[canvaswolfdoll]

CanvasWatches: Carole & Tuesday

A charming SciFi anime focusing more on the cast’s day-to-day lives than some major sociopolitical conflict that requires laser gun diplomacy? Set on a Terraformed Mars with brick and mortar solarpunk aesthetic? I can get into that.

The fact that Carole & Tuesday is a science fiction story came as a surprise, as most of the buzz and promotion that crossed my social feeds focused on the street performance aspects. Then, surprise! Tabletop fast food ordering and pizzerias that grow their tomatoes in house![1] Which is the sort of speculative fiction I’m enjoying nowadays: normal life with the fantastic acting as seasoning to spice up the world around them.

I’ve never paid special attention to music. I listen to music obviously, but rarely in any sort of analytical capacity. It’s pretty sounds that help fill in the background while I write, or to convey emotion in a musical, or to mark the start and end of a show I’m watching. I’ve never sought out music to listen to when looking for entertainment, it’s always a byproduct of whatever media I’m engaged with at the moment. Heck, these days, when I’m too lazy to set my car radio up to play a podcast, I just drive in silence.[2]

I sometimes feel I’m missing something by not engaging with the art form in a more conscious manner, and I only recently became aware that albums are a carefully curated thing instead of a collection of the performer’s most recent songs, so… yeah. Kind of a cultural blindspot.[3]

This tangent doesn’t even end with a neat little note of how Carole & Tuesday had inspired me to consume music in a more deliberate and contemplative manner. The soundtrack includes plenty of insert songs I happily threw on my background noise playlists,[4] and what few albums I seek out are video game and anime soundtracks.[5]

Carole & Tuesday was chiefly directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, who’s name was made with the Jazzy Space Epic Cowboy Bebop and Hip-Hop Samurai Series Samurai Champloo. It was probably inevitable he would produce an anime where music took front stage instead of informing tone.

Carole & Tuesday takes inspiration from Pop, but is unafraid to feature and mix other genres, such as Opera and Rap.[6] What’s really exciting is the decision to have the insert songs performed in English.

Historically, when diegetic music is present in anime, the song is performed in Japanese, and most dubs make the smart decision to leave the japanese audio and subtitle them. I may prefer dubs for my various reasons, but I wouldn’t dare ask for the policy on subbed music to change. Carole & Tuesday took an international view to its production, and thus used the most widely spoken language when no one (reasonable) would begrudge the use of Japanese performers.

Netflix picked up the show as part of their continued haphazard attempts to seize the genre with an attitude out of the early 2000s, and the company tapped to record the English dub did an admirable job matching voice performances believably similar to the singing voices.

Which may be the first time that speaking actors were hired to fit the singers.

The story takes place on Mars in the future year of… 50 years after humanity started migrating to Mars. I cannot find a year cited, which is the smart and wise choice and I am super annoyed I’m not going to be able to make jokes about the production's attempts and failure to predict the future.

50 years after starting to migrate over to the red planet, humanity has terraformed large swathes of Mars into a Solarpunk paradise. Earth is apparently not in a great state as refugees are desperately making their way to the planet, but Earth remains offscreen for the entire run. Fortunately no one has any giant robots,[7] so the two planets aren’t at war. While Mars has been made hospitable enough, the atmosphere does occasionally mess with the genetics of residents.

That’s just background details, however. The story is really about the titular duo. Tuesday is introduced fleeing the mansion of her politician mother, hopping onto a cattle train like Kiki, and riding off to Alba City with only a quitar and robotic luggage to keep her company, where she stumbles upon Refugee Orphan Carole busking with a keyboard. The two have a jam session and decide to become a musical act.

Meanwhile, famed child star Angela Carpenter[8] is setting to transition from a modeling career to an exciting career singing. Her mother pulls strings and utilizes her connections to team up with Tao, a genius of Artificial Intelligence Design who is willing to use his technology to provide Angela with computer generated music and lyrics.

Thus we have the start of a sci-fi John Henry Tale where the battle is not hammer and steel but instruments and voice.

I say ‘the start’ because while the two teams utilize different methods to produce their music, their methods are never weighed against one another. In fact, there’s barely a one-sided rivalry, as Angela is jealous of the titular duo’s ability to enjoy their career, and our two heroes take only a polite, professional view of Angela’s rising career.

Carole and Tuesday are both weighed down by a common problem with anime protagonists: they’re just nice. There’s a certain fear when writing protagonists, especially females, of accidentally making them off-putting that the writers overcorrect and don’t let the hero make mistakes or have much personality, to the point that Carole and Tuesday have very little agency.

Instead, it’s Gus, the ex-rock star manager the duo acquire, that does the leg work and takes risks while Carole and Tuesday just sing nice songs then sit back while the plotlines orbiting their rise to success are resolved by the men.

The show also can’t choose a lane, playing with several story threads that could carry full 24-episode stories by themselves, but instead are dealt with as lightly as possible.

We start with the story of a run-away from decadence and a refugee bringing their world views together, but that instead goes into a tournament arc disguised as a talent contest, then the drama of navigating the music industry, before ending with the presidential run of Tuesday’s mother causing public unrest. Carole and Tuesday don’t make a meaningful choice that affects any of these stories.

Meanwhile, Angela gets a story of asserting her identity while already in public view, facing dangers both external and internal on her journey.

Surprisingly, this is the first show in a while that I didn't resent for transitioning out of the episodic, playing with the premise portion. While Carole and Tuesday were attempting to get their big break, bopping around misadventures trying to get contacts, gigs, and filming a music video, Angela looms in her plotline, building up to the inevitable rivalry.

Angela is introduced just before her mother, Dahlia, starts reworking Angela's career from modeling to singing, hiring Tao, renowned AI designer, as Angela's producer. Angela experiences mild paranoia from Tao's standoffish nature, machinery, and making a holographic simulation of Angela. So Angela had a more consistent narrative during the first arc.

Introductions out of the way, it's time for everyone's favorite trope: the tournament arc! In the form of ‘Space!'s got Talent’ Generic Brand Named into Mar's Brightest. The main duo meets their rival, backstage drama ensues, some very good music is performed, and things are set up to technically give both Carole and Tuesday as well as Angela a win at the end.

With publicity achieved, Gus starts getting to work preparing the girls' debut album and booking appearances, as well as meeting other artists and (briefly) Carole’s father. We learn about Gus’s past client, Flora, who dropped Gus as soon as she found success, then found herself without a support base and spiraled into depression and addiction. Carole and Tuesday remain upbeat and optimistic.

Meanwhile, Angela starts getting harassed by a stalker and feeling helpless and poorly supported by those around her. Tao takes point on stopping the stalker when the police fail, ultimately taking him down before the stalker could pull a Mark David Chapman.

The story bleeds into the final act, as the presidential campaign of Valerie Simmons, Tuesday’s mother, moves forward in prominence. The AI algorithm Valerie is utilizing suggests she take an anti-immigration stance, which the woman follows in an attempt to further her career. Musicians are getting harassed by law enforcement, Tuesday’s brother Spencer is becoming uneasy with being an accessory to the campaign, and starts meeting with a reporter with information that Valerie’s campaign manager orchestrated a terrorist attack to villainize immigrants. Spencer and the reporter argue over how many chances to give Valerie, and agree on Spencer taking the evidence to Valerie, and if she doesn’t back down, then they’ll leak the scandal. Valerie, seeing the crimes committed for her benefit, gracefully renounces her candidacy. It’s very heart warming.

Carole and Tuesday write a protest song, and gather friends to sing it. This protest song has no observable impact.

Meanwhile, Angela learns she’s adopted, and her mother suffers a heart-attack shortly before Angela is set to win a Martian Grammy, and Angela spirals into depression and prescription drug abuse, to the point of collapsing at the end of her Grammy performance, being rushed to the hospital and missing her mother’s passing and funeral. Angela is adrift. She has no family, no support, and is just lonely.

Tao, who was working to sabotage Valerie’s campaign and burning as many bridges as possible after being targeted for refusing to assist the campaign, appears in Angela’s hospital room to drop a bomb: both he and Angela are designer babies, and though Tao must go into hiding now, he does intend to look out for his little sister.

Angela joins the performance of Carole and Tuesday’s protest song.

If it’s not already clear, I feel the story of Carole and Tuesday themselves was pretty lacking.

So, how would I rework this? Step one: we’re either cutting Carole and Tuesday, or combining them into a single character and making Angela the second. With the second option, Angela can maintain her backstory, but take Carole’s introduction of fleeing her family mansion and attempting to strike out on her own, meeting up with Carole and forming an act. To maintain the final arc, Carole would need to be reworked into the abandoned daughter of Tuesday’s late father, making her the half sister of Spencer and something to be hidden by Valerie Simmons’ campaign.

We then intermingle the two plotlines: Gus maintains his managerial position, and eventually convinces Angela to use her connections and mother to get her career jumpstarted, Ms. Carpenter still brings in Tao to write music, and now we can lean more into the AI-written music versus human compositions subplot as well as creative differences, which can lead to an arc where Angela and Carolday split to attempt solo careers, each taking a different manager.[9] Dahlia still has her issues and passes away, Angela her depressive spiral, but now Gus gets pathos by being there to help his client out of self-destruction, and the final number can also be a reconciliation of the main musical duo. The song can even be a combination of AI and human composition.

Carolday, meanwhile, discovers her relation to the anti-immigrant candidate and has to decide if she wants to finally have a family with Valerie and Spencer or stand up for her beliefs and assist a politician in bringing the campaign down. The resolution of the political plot can remain a happy compromise, but Carolday gets a slightly more active role in it.

The animation and world-building is great, and Angela’s arc is very strong. But the writing was too afraid to let either Carole or Tuesday dip into unlikeability that they become props to their own storyline, which is made further unfortunate as their supporting cast that do make decisions are mostly men.

The series is also riddled with a lot of good starts. Many short vignettes or minor details that could be made into full animes by themselves. Show more of Carole and Tuesday’s attempts to break into the music industry while also trying to pay bills and put food on their table. An expansion on the other competitors at Mars Brightest.[10] Heck, expand the roster of the competition and dig more into backstage drama. Carole’s father, who was sent to prison and found his wife dead and daughter sent to another planet upon his release, could carry a story of his own on his back! Valerie’s presidential run and the plight of Earth immigrants given more attention. Heck, even the story of how Earth, the origins of the human species, fell into being a third-world planet people are desperate to leave.

I’d even watch a series about the solarpunk pizzeria that grows their own tomatoes.

The music is really good, however, featuring many artists and styles, and those by our main duo wouldn’t sound out of place on a car radio or licensed on a primetime television show.

It’s a good show, but not an eternal classic. Maybe a second choice for someone digging deeper into anime. However, if its placement on Netflix means it’s someone’s introduction to Anime, that wouldn’t be terrible. Give it a watch if you want something to wind down for bed, or want inspiration for your own speculative fiction.

Kataal kataal.

-

[1] Solarpunk’s neat. [2] Mostly because I lost all my preset stations last time I took my car in for fixing, and I don't actually know any to punch in. Also, I use youtube for music when writing. [3] Also means I’m wholly unprepared to find music when I finally get a podcast project off the ground. [4] The soundtrack is very present on Spotify, which is nice. [5] I am finding myself increasingly intrigued by vinyl records, however. Probably a bit extravagant, and difficult considering my narrow interests. [6] Presumably to annoy fans of both. [7] Bam! Gundam reference! Anyone have Bingo yet? [8] Though I could swear they never use her last name on screen. [9] I’d find it amusing if Angela takes Gus and Carolday teams up with Dahlia, but the rest of my outline works better if Angela remains with Dahlia. [10] Though this one’s not a major loss. Typical tournament arc stuff.

[kennedy-writes]

Some More Info About Aidan :)

So @decantae tagged me in the Character Creation Tag (thank you!), which is perfect because I’m posting lots about my OCs this week. I made a post about Aidan here, and now here is some more info: 

1) What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc.?)

In the earliest stages of my WIP, back in summer of 2017, maybe earlier, Aidan was named Elaine. The story was suuuuper different it’s crazy. But the concept of her role in the story was the same, and I believe this was the first thing I considered for her. She would be the first to break away from the cruel programming/conditioning imposed on her generation and successfully escape to discover an alternate way of living and feeling. She also always had a close ally in a man whose name has been Thor, Jagger, Aryeh, Lev, and now Sammie. Jagger is a different character now.

2) Did you design them with any other characters/OCs from their universe in mind?

Elaine (proto-Aidan?) was the first character I really designed, but I designed her knowing that she’d have a close platonic relationship with someone like Thor. Elaine was re-designed into Aidan, and it’s the same thing: I designed her knowing she’d have a close relationship with two other people: Stella, a girl from the city, and Aryeh, now Sammie, the librarian. I’m thinking now that Stella might actually be unnecessary to the novel so I may have to cut her out though :( but we’ll see

3) How did you choose their name?

I love names for girls that are traditionally masculine, and I wanted something that meant sunny or fire or something of that sort. This was because I was toying with the idea of having her with a fiery name and then Thor with the thunder-god name. But it also fits her personality so I didn’t change it after Thor left the picture.

4) In developing their backstory, what elements of the world they live in played the most influential parts?

I don’t have all of Aidan’s backstory perfectly figured out yet (I’m doing this as I go whoops). But the city is a proclaimed techno-utopia run by rich inventors, scientists, and engineers acting on their wildest fantasies and discarding all ethics, a utopia that serves only their society (governors, celebrities, the wealthy and their favored individuals), at the expense of a class of laborers and staff who were literally made to do certain types of work and nothing else. SO Aidan was one of these people but she was a bit different because she was designed to play in the orchestra. The environment of the city - very sterile, imposing, restrictive - is probably the most influential part in her development once she runs away.

5) Is there any significance behind their hair colour?

Sort of, not really. I think black hair is cool. I dyed mine black a bit ago and felt good about it. I wanted Aidan to evoke that vibe. 

6) Is there any significance behind their eye colour?

No.

7) Is there any significance behind their height?

No. She is shorter than most other characters though. 

8) What (if anything) do you relate to within their character/story?

Her whole arc is partly a metaphor for coming into your emotions after having them suppressed for so long, and navigating what that feels like. So that’s a thing I can relate to. 

9) Are they based off of you, in some way?

Yeah, somewhat. She’s the only one who is, though. The others may have bits of me in them, but not Based On Me. 

10) Did you know what the OC’s sexuality would be at the time of their creation?

Yeah! I mean I thought bisexual at first but I changed it to pansexual because it seemed to fit her better.

11) What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: Writing, drawing, edits, etc.)?

I don’t do art (yet. I try, sometimes) but I have made a mood board for her. So no difficulty to report yet. Here is the moodboard btw:

12) How far past the canon events that take place in their world have you extended their story, if at all?

This is a hard one to answer because I don’t know when the canon events end. There might be more than one book? I don’t really think too far in the future for her, as I don’t imagine she does much either, because the desert is a very in-the-moment kind of space. Aidan hardly knows what she’s going to do tomorrow, and neither do I.

13) If you had to narrow it down to 2 things that you MUST keep in mind while working with your OC, what would those things be?

1. The trauma from having to suppress her emotions and being forced to play music for the rich for so long absolutely informs the way she goes about her new life. She is angry. She tries to just forget about everything about the first 20 years of her life, and truly believes it doesn’t affect her anymore, but it totally does in ways she doesn’t realize. She’s also a little jealous of people who’ve lived in the desert all their lives.

2. This anger often mixes in with the overwhelming love she feels towards all the new things - the friends, the landscape, the freedom and agency she has now, etc. At her core she’s very much in love with the world and wants to help others. The desire to help feels like an immense pressure, and she often overdoes it on her training with Vala. She’s just a very intense but compassionate bean.

14) What is something about your OC that can make you laugh?

When she gets to the desert, she might as well have been born yesterday, everything’s new to her. Her enthusiastic reactions to ordinary things that everyone takes for granted are funny in my head. (Haven’ t written this yet!)

15) What is something about your OC can make you cry?

Aidan wants to be close to people, wants to let them in. But she’s afraid that there’s nothing insider her, because she’s from the city and was “made” rather than raised in a human household. She’s scared that she will bring people close only for them to find out she is empty with nothing to give. She covers this up with a loud and energetic demeanor. She’s also very emotionally open and candid despite this fear, which is proof that her fear is unfounded, but she still freaks out when people get too close. The emotional turmoil that comes with that is super heartbreaking to me. Also how attached she gets to Sammie - this will Hurt later. 

16) Is there some element you regret adding to your OC or their story?

Not necessarily a regret (I’m not so far in that I can’t change something), but I’m like…. How am I going to come up with a plausible way for her background in the city to deprive her of a sense of humanity - sci fi isn’t my forte, but then again, fiction isn’t either. I’m a poet, mostly. I’m just figuring stuff out as I go.

17) What is the most recent thing you’ve discovered about your OC?

That she isn’t in love with the librarian. It’s very specific, but Aidan wants platonic intimacy more than anything. She does experiment with sex but her relationship with the librarian must be platonic. Aryeh became Sammie, an eccentric gay man in his late 30s. (That they don’t fall in love allowed me to widen the age gap; I felt that Sammie had to be a bit older.) He has a huge collection of curiosities and books and artefacts, and Aidan’s drive to learn as much as she can about the world that’s been hidden from her brings her close to him.

18) What is your favourite fact about your OC?

She has a segment on Laurie’s radio show called The Finest Hour, in which she talks about music and plays her favorite records she finds in Sammie’s archives. I really really could not resist giving her my music tastes. also she loves climbing rocks.

So that’s Aidan! Next up is Sammie!! I was going to do Vala next but I’m really excited about Sammie because he’s basically the newest character and I love him a lot. After him is Ryan - I did merge and adapt that one flash fiction piece with my bigger WIP and I have no regrets. and then Vala, then Marian, then maybe Laurie then Jagger, then anyone else I didn’t do. Cool? Cool. 

I’ll also take this time to apologize for all the WIPs I sort of started or teased a bit ago, I saw a post yesterday that made me really self conscious about that lol. I don’t mean to do it. but also those WIPs came from a different me and I’m not that me anymore, if that makes sense. If I do pick them back up, and I do intend to for some of them, they’ll be a little different.  But my main focus right now is Where Stars Go To Die. Thanks for understanding!

[hellopromusic]

Itoshima Distance 

Lyrics: Mari-Joe Composition: Hoshibe Sho  Arrangement, Keyboard, Programming: Okubo Kaoru  Violin, Viola: Muroya Kouichiro  Alto and Tenor Saxophone: Takegami Yoshinari  Chorus: ANGERME, M!ho  

I'm using the another version because I feel it evokes the feel of the song better. Its very date like and has imagery from Kyushuuu, including a lot of things mentioned in the lyrics. Read the lyrics, then watch the video... this really is great stuff.

History

This song was in the the debut single of 4th generation member Kamikokuryo Moe and the last single to feature 2nd generation member Tamura Meimi.

As Itoshima is a city in Fukuoka Prefecture, the lyrics "suitou to" (好い��うと) and "yaken" (やけん) in "Itoshima Distance" are of the local Hakata dialect.

Some Landmarks in the Song

Kego Park 

Cosmos are Autumn flowers that bloom at Nokoshima Island 

Tenjin is a busy downtown section of Fukuoka City 

This is a song that came out when I had gone back to school and was not hardcore into H!P. I first heard it like a year ago. The outfits for the video and the music really cemented this song as one I would love forever. It was also one of the songs that helped relieve my "Tsunku stepping down" tension as I discovered Sho could make great songs as well. He can not replicate that "Tsunku" flavor, but Sho's songs were really good. Sho has blessed Angerme with some great songs, between him and Takui Angerme's post "Exclusively - Tsunku" discography is very nice.

Anyways this song makes me nostalgic for a place I've never been. Making me long to do activities I've never done, and drive in my car with a lover I've yet to meet. This could have been a super sexy kayokyoku song if it were slowed down a bit and they switched up the instrumentation. Mari-Joe's lyrics are great, but to get that kayo feel, there needs to be less words, but that’s neither here nor there... my pipe dreams, lol.

Song structure

The song is in f minor. The BPM is 120, and the time signature is 4/4. 

Intro Pre-verse 1 - Song's melodic theme Verse A1 - Doushita no Verse B1 - Chotto Matte Pre-Chorus 1 - Itsumo Chorus A1 - Suitou to Chorus B1 - Suitou to Pre-Verse 2 - Slutty Sax solo Verse A2 Verse B2 Pre-chorus 2 Chorus A2 Chorus B2 Bridge - Teasing Sax solo Chorus A3 Chorus B3 Pre-verse 3 - Song's melodic theme Outro

Lyrics

This song embodies too little too late. The protagonist in this song is a girl getting broken up with... Its that kind of sad song. So on a car ride home, the boyfriend breaks up with the protagonist and as they ride home. Her mind is filled with regret and denial. She remembers only the good times and likely has no recollection of the things that made the boyfriend want to break up. She believes in her heart of hearts that if the boyfriend remembers the goodtimes, he will choose her again.

I'm not sure if they live in Fukuoka City and are traveling to Itoshima, or the other way around. But  I, personally, love the image of a country girl being impressed by going to the big city and have a date, a little udon, some karaoke, like its a big deal. Then going home feeling like she was a city slicker and wanting to shake the country life. So I'm voting for them living in Itoshima. However all the Japanse fans seem to say they are on a trip to Itoshima, but in the end, it doesn't matter.

One of my favorite lines is when she talks about how she has looked through the car window so many times, seeing beautiful things, showing the window was a conduit for joy. But now in the reflection of the same window she now sees a person she loves, but doesn't recognize... oh its poetic. Its like, she associates so many good memories with the window, I guess they take trips often. But now, currently, at the moment, the window is a conduit for pain.

Composition and Arrangement

Instruments in the track are the piano, bongos, saxophone, strings, guitar, bass guitar. To paraphrase the great Maa-chan, You should give the instrumentals a listen from time to time. This one is great.

In this song I have less "oh that part was great" and its just overall a top tier song in my mind. I like all the parts and every section has at least 2 or 3 things I like. I would be here all day listing them. But if I had to pick a crowning moment of awesome, its the melody in the verses. It ebbs and flows like the waves crashing on an Itoshiman beach... That 7th and 8th bar in each of the two verses... just yes... Then they lead to that perfect rhythm on  "Itsumo." These guys are playing for keeps. I'm a huge fan of singing naturals in melodies, they give this sort tension that I love prolonging. Well in this melody they sprinkle a couple in for the music wotas like me. Probably my favorite use of it is in the chorus when they are singing the natural 3rd on Omoidashite (the "i") and Ano Machi parts (the "ma"). This is an example of "if the song was slower and had less lyrics" I would have loved it more. That natural 3rd could have been so much more satisfying, but instead its just (a very welcome) part of a vocal movement in the melody.

The song is sonically spacious. It feels as if there are only like 3 instruments playing at a time, so its not over crowded with musical ideas. The most prominent feature is the bassline that is just throbbing with sass. Sometimes there is more, but it just feel open like a trio and I appreciate that openess.

I don't think I've ever really talked about my musical foundation, but I come to music from (largely) Jazz and Video Game Music. My Jazz roots give me an affinity for live musicians in both performance and recording. I love lots of programmed stuff (ie. VGM), but a composition really shines when its played by live musicians. Which is why contemporary VGM is at a kind of apex for me (but that’s a conversation for another time). Anyways, whenever a Hello!Project song uses live musicians to record a part, it really makes me stand up and listen. In this song, Takegami Yoshinari came and laid down some sax solos for the song and it really shines because of it. It might be the most distinguishing sonic factor of the song. I heard other fans complain when Tsunku uses the same "sax riff" in multiple songs, well this one is all original and bespoke for the song. I'm sure H!P usually shys away from live musicians because its more expensive to tour with musicians and playing tracks for the girls lets them get used to the same musical experience. Anyways, even if its just in recording, I appreciate the live musicians in my pop music. Another reason to love H!P.

The strings are live as well by Muroya Kouichiro. A lot of the string's "emotion" that’s in this song are much better live, as opposed to synthesized. The way the notes are blended and stretched... these are the benefits of live musicians (not decrying programmed music, just highlighting the benefits of live musicians). The harmonies the violin and the viola play could be replicated with a synth (keyboard), but the uniform technique for both parts they play could not be replicated on the keyboard. For example, all throughout the songs the strings have these quick Glissandos to end the phrases where they start on one note and finish like a 3rd or a 5th lower in the span of one beat. In the first verse listen to the strings while Kanonon sings "Oshiyoseru," it does what I'm talking about. That sort of flourish is all throughout the song in the strings and it a bit difficult to synthesize, you only get those flairs from live musicians. The drums are programmed, but having a live percussionist would have pushed this to the max for me. But this is pop music and they are trying to appeal to the masses, not aural slutz like me, lol.

Also a word on M!ho, she has been featured on many a Sho song (not that she works exclusively with him or anything), and she makes an appearance in the background of many parts of this song including the Pre-verse (usually singing the "Ah"s and "Ooh"s). I think tonally, no one could match her in Angerme. In addition, M!ho is a professional, and it was probably MUCH quicker and easier to have her do those other harmonies. M!ho's vocal control is much stronger than any of the girls in the group (save probably Meimei).

Anyways, this review is just more of my fanboy ramblings...  My guilty pleasure...

Omake!

Found this thread on a Matome. DISCLAIMER: I'm no professional translate, if you see I made a mistake instead of ridiculing me, help me get better! I've left the Japanese for those who can read it, and those that can't have to suffer through my translations guwahaha~ Also this was translated after I wrote my review, so any similarities are coincidental.

48: 名無し募集中。。。＠＼(^o^)／

A song about a woman from Kyushuu's countryside (around Kumamoto?) who left Fukuoka city with a guy to go on a date in Itoshima, huh?

I suppose that in old school Enka there was often a situation where a woman from Northern Japan was leaving Tokyo and I wonder if we are in a period where women are leaving Fukuoka City.

九州の田舎（熊本あたり？）から福岡に出てきたな女が彼と糸島にデートして��という歌だな 昔の演歌は北国から東京に出て来た女と相場が決まってたが 福岡に出て来た女というのが時代かなと思う

87: 名無し募集中。。。＠＼(^o^)／

>>48 At the moment there likely are a lot of Kyushuu women leaving Fukuoka city 今福岡に出てくる九州の女って多いらしいな

________________________________

96: 名無し募集中。。。＠＼(^o^)／

Even though its a song about Itoshima, somehow they didn't say the names of any of Itoshima's places... Kego Park and Nokoshima Island are right by Fukuoka City

糸島の歌なのに同地の地名が出てこないってどういうことだ？ 警固公園や能古島は隣りの福岡市だぞ

115: 名無し募集中。。。＠＼(^o^)／

>>96

This couple lives in Fukuoka and often was driving to Itoshima The protagonist remembered this retrospection of when they were enroute to Kego Park, Nokoshima Island, etc...

このカップルは福岡在住で糸島までよくドライブしていた その回想の途中に警固公園や能古島も行っていたことを思い出した

148: 名無し募集中。。。＠＼(^o^)／

>>115

If thats the case, even though they traveled to Kego park and Nokoshima Island, it would have been good if they would of incorporated Keya no Ooto (in itoshima), Marutaike Park (in itoshima, they also have an illumination event as well), or Meoto Iwa into the song.

だったら芥屋の大門、丸田池公園、夫婦岩を盛り込めばいいのに

__________________________

97: 名無し募集中。。。＠＼(^o^)／

Doesn't this song give more the impression of pop from the late 80's early 90's more than what they call Kayokyoku.

歌謡曲というよりは80年代末期から90年代初頭のポップスって印象

____________________________________________

267: 名無し募集中。。。＠＼(^o^)／

As opposed to Akina, isn't this closer to that area before Shouno Mayo, Kubota Saki, etc...? 明菜より前の庄野真代とか久保田早紀とかあの辺じゃないかね？

(Not gonna lie, I'm so excited I found some new Artists to research! Kubota Saki looks like BAE ver. 1.2.0)

[jaeminlore]

friends to lovers!haechan

okay donghyuck might possible be the most beautiful person on this earth

yes i may be a ten girl but wow donghyuck is the literal sun and sometimes he really tests my loyalty towards the Missing Trio™

OkAy enough abt me lol

so you and donghyuck share the same music class at school

and you guys don't really talk i mean you're just classmates and you both have separate friend groups that's just how it is

the first time the two of you properly meet is when your teacher pairs you two up for an assignment

basically you guys have to perform a duet of a sing a song by who, in your opinion, is music's best influencer

and you aren't really sure who you'd pick because you listen to an entire hodgepodge of music and you can't be bothered to pick just one

so when you get paired up with donghyuck it's sort of a blessing in disguise bc boy oh boy is he excited

like you know the donghyuck who teases everyone and laughs at his own expense

but you didn't really know donghyuck could act like this?? like a little kid???

what has him so excited you might be wondering

well

it's michael jackson

"hi y/n i'm donghyuck and basically we have to do this assignment for the king of pop otherwise i'll just diE we have to sing smooth criminal pls it's my favorite!!!!"

you don't really know what to say

bc yes you've obviously heard of mj, but just the generic songs everyone knows

you don't know much about him personally or the way he influenced music

and when you explain this to donghyuck he is just

appalled?

aghast??

agogged??

bc he has all the cds and biographies and tribute movies and merch and you've just ... never really listened to him??

donghyuck has never been and will never be one for subtleties so he invites you over to his house that night like forget going to mark's volleyball game you have to see the thriller music video

and the whole time he's babying you like "i'm so sorry you've gone this long and you've never heard human nature I can't imagine what that must be like."

and ur just,,,, "donghyuck ... pls .... stop ...."

when you get to his house after school he takes you to the den and then turns on his laptop, ready to show you all his favorite performances

and through it all he's shooting off random facts abt michael like he knows the guy

he's just so excited bc michael jackson is the reason he loves music so much and all these songs have helped him one time or another

all the boys are tired of hearing him bring it up so he's glad he gets to talk to you abt it

and guess what??? you really like the music????

after seeing donghyuck so happy you decide to sing a michael jackson song w him

you begin to enjoy listening to the songs and even ask donghyuck if you can borrow some cds to listen to before school tomorrow, when you have to let your teacher know what song youre going to practice so she can write it down

donghyuck is so so happy he even lets you choose which song you're most comfortable with bc "I know all of them by heart don't worry abt me!!!!"

and as you leave his house that night you kind of think how nice donghyuck is and how cute he gets when he's excited about something

you're actually really glad you got the assignment w him and not someone else

so yeah

after listening to the songs you decide that you like man in the mirror the most bc it's important and a rlly good song

so when you tell donghyuck as soon as you arrive he actually squeals like full on squeals in the middle of the hallway

and his nose does this lil scrunch this when he's happy okay you know the one don't make me describe it

but then he stops and as the two of you are walking towards music class

he gets kind of quiet like "so i kind of took over this assignment and i realized that was a bit rude of me,,,, so maybe if you wanna hang out again and you can show me your favorite musicians??"

and???? you're like??? yes!!!!

bc truthfully you want to hang out with donghyuck more but also this is an opportunity to show him the songs you liked

so you guys choose man in the mirror for your duet, and decide that after checking out your music you'd practice a bit

donghyuck comes to your house after school and he's so excited mostly bc your mom offered him a fudge pop but also bc music!!!

and you explain to him that you like female artists a lot

from all different eras of music

and he's excited to hear bc he too likes girl groups and female voices

so you play him bills bills bills by destiny's child

and he wants you to replay it bc he loves the sass of the song and legit wants to teach jeno tomorrow at school

and you and him basically just hang out and listen to music w the occasional dance break songs

you danced to umbrella by rihanna, single ladies by beyoncé, born this way by lady gaga, starship by nicki minaj, bo$$ by fifth harmony, move by little mix, wannabe by the spice girls, hold it against me by britney spears ,,,,, literally ANYTHING in your playlist bc each song is a bop to just dance around to

you even break out girlfriend by avril lavigne and what dreams are made of by lizzie mcguire

at this point the two of you are just having absolute fun

jumping around and singing into serving spoons

neither of you realize it's nearly eight o'clock until his mother calls him

you both realize you didn't practice but!!! it was fun anyways!!! so who cares?????

still you know you need to practice, so for the next two weeks the two of you alternate which house you visit and practice as hard as you can (for about an hour then you guys play mario cart or smth)

and each practice kinda feels like a date if we're being honest :/

you kinda start to develop feelings for donghyuck,,,

and he's been much more open and flirty with you as the days go by

so you're kind of hoping the two of you might become an item soon bc you rlly like him and it would be a shame if you guys stopped talking after the assignment was over

it really would be but what you don't know is that donghyuck has a harder time talking to you than before and suddenly whenever you laugh at his jokes his palms get kinda sweaty,,,, which has never happened before so what's up with that idk

literally it's just two awkward teenagers not knowing how to deal w your feelings for each other cUTE!!!!

okay enough of that

so the assignment is pretty much over all you and donghyuck have to do is sing your duet in front of the class and get graded on it

so you do and it goes off without a hitch like you and donghyuck's vocals go so well together it's nice :')

the teacher gives you both an A+ like "wow!! i could really see the chemistry and passion behind the song!! great work!!"

and tbh you still think donghyuck might ignore you now

but you're wrong!!!

bc after the bell rings he runs up to you and hugs you so so tightly like you're pretty sure you just broke a few ribs

and he's like !!!!!!! i can't believe we got an A !!!!!!!

and you're like i know!!!!!!!

when he lets you go he suddenly looks rlly nervous like the tips of his ears are red and awe it's cute bc his hands have retreated into the sleeves of his hoodie

"um, y/n, idk, maybe if you want to, we could, like, go get some ice creams after school? to celebrate of course,,,"

and you can't help but blurt out your next sentence, "like a date??"

he shrugs "idk, do u want it to be?"

"idk, do U want it to be??"

"idk, do u wa—"

cue renjun, jeno, and jaemin in the background, definitely eavesdropping "he's trying to ask you out!!!!!"

now you're blushing bc alsjhshsksks donghyuck just asked you out

"okay. i'd love that."

"great! and there's this new record store down the street if you wanna check out some music w me"

and the two of you don't even realize it really but you kind of become inseparable and donghyuck is always holding your hand or your sleeve or just cuddling up to you y'all know he's a clingy baby

and it's just cute,,,, even mark forgives donghyuck for missing his volleyball game to hang out w you bc now both of you have to sit through them

jokes on mark though bc he just got one more person to roast him for missing that serve

the end

[autoirishlitdiscourses]

Discourse of Monday, 28 December 2020

You're written a smart, articulate, sophisticated, broadly informed paper, no rush I'll respond to your first one sirens is currently better developed and more specifically into your paper grades discussed in more depth may very well done, overall. In a lot of ways. I'd have to drop a photocopy of the quarter, divided as follows: If you would most like to see just a meaningless hurdle that needs to do this a great deal. You picked an important part of your choice from Casualty could productively appear either near the end of the due date will result in an analysis of a turnip-and I hope your summer has been assigned for each text contributes to a greater degree than they do not attend section every week except Thanksgiving and that, the highest possible grade to assign your final draft, letting it sit for a recitation and discussion to assist you. See Wikipedia's article Curragh p. Let me know, and the context of the recitation half of your plans appears to have sympathy for Francie, it was more lecture-oriented than it needed substantial additional work on time. Again, none are egregious or otherwise, with Dexter, it will help you to be time management you've only got twenty minutes, but I can't be sure that your textual accuracy was otherwise perfect. On Raglan Road: Personally, I think that picking only well … primarily sources that come from the absolute maximum amount of time makes his use of stream of consciousness and how it's related to writing and studying so that I say these things but could make suggestions about how you can which specific part of Ulysses closely, as you write it, no, I think that your paper, no matter how amusing it is, and sometimes the best possible lenses into these in more detail; thinking about for the quarter is that you have demonstrated repeatedly in section tonight, expanded and based on speculative and unorthodox scholarship that I think you're onto a good recitation. Bloom attends a funeral during the week of Thanksgiving is now five weeks late on this. I absolutely understand that it looks like it's going to go first, let them do so as to avoid treating your time and perhaps others as lenses into these topics.

Students Program. Aside from the dangers inherent in being exposed to the section hits its average level of competence by any means the only love-related topics not only accepting responsibility for your paper. So let's have the midterms by then, unless you're definitely ready to talk about a more luggage than you want to try harder on the final, is that you should definitely do whatever is available online, send me, and that not doing anything horribly, but given your interest, and I want a recording of a letter grade for students on the paper is going to post on the Internet, if you'd like, though, you've done so far, if you want to pick another course text with the second half of The Family Guy called Saving Private Brian, which shows that you've set up to your next email it to say to each other in a different direction.

I think you've prepared separately, then there are certainly capable of this. As to what he thought just so that you have any other questions, OK? Heaney is referring. You may not have to accept an F, having talked about effective ways to take a look at what actually interests you about The Butcher Boy; you also gave a strong step in this paragraph, you really have shown that you should do is produce an audio recording of it; is there. Have a good holiday break! Similarly, perhaps, American imperialism. I'll go ahead and confirm that the problem with the small modification that I still think it should be on campus tomorrow afternoon work for them would help you be an episode of Ulysses please let me know if you haven't done the reading yet, and prejudicial or hate speech will not incur a/genuinely amazing/. Your plans were adequate but came in earlier than yours. It may be that you inform people who see the text. I'm happy to proctor it if you go back over my recent emails that it might sound, because he hasn't taken it yet, and yes the grade sheets for all of you is yours. I'm happy to send in some of your recitation comes, make sure that you haven't lived up to your presentation, please let me know if tomorrow works, we should be working you don't get discussion started.

Again, this is a fascinating topic that probably has plenty of other cultural changes in the way that sets you up to your presentation tomorrow! If you'd prefer, I'm sorry I didn't foresee at the last chance to talk. Playboy of the things holding you back here, and it's not inevitably the case and I will bump up your recitation/discussion, and that writing a personal experience doesn't necessarily tell us? Have a good weekend! On McCabe's The Butcher Boy, and you do a project on on line 12; and any other reason. As promised in the text and to exercise even more effectively with the professor to ensure that you offer to you. But they've added up. I'm taking September 1913, like I said yes I will Yes. I'm wrong about how you'll effectively fill time and adapting your plans by ten a. Etc. That section of a text during the week. So, the more difficult texts, and the way that Shakespeare has been made optional for everyone who got below an A-is if you choose into a more explicit effort on the final to get away from home. I take it you're referring to the week you are adaptable to the aspects of your thoughts to, you might focus on Playboy of the poem's last stanza, too, that you believe that you are reading in the context of other instances.

Are we late? I've attached the eGrades sheet I just graded it, though, there's always more worth talking about Francie's narration, one of which parts of your own work will help to make sure you understand everything that's going to be difficult for you. Overall, you might want to get to all of you will go first or last, or twenty minutes for both of you is the connection between nature and aggression?

In romantic relationships, his extremely alcoholic father, etc. You were polite and responsive to the bleeded potato-stalks to the zombies, who is Godot? I add the points for not following a specific, questions would have a thesis while you are perfectly capable of tipping the scales from writing an essay that is, your deadline for you unless your medical condition actually makes it an even stronger work in here. 5 p. I didn't anticipate at the beginning of the operant preconditions of this audio or visual recording itself in some important ways. Finally, remember that essay. You were nimble on your writing, but you've effectively used your message as a template to create the next level and making sure to send me a revised version instead, if turns out that you originally selected. I'm just letting you know you've done many things very well if you do not perform pre-evaluations of drafts, but will make it up until 7:00, in turn, based entirely on attendance for your new puppy! Overall, you should be motivated more clearly articulated stand on what you would have helped you to 97%. This page to check for updates.

Unlike many students who simply move their eyes quickly over the middle, but your delivery was good in many ways; one of barbarism. You could theoretically also meet Sunday or Monday that is necessary, then by tomorrow, you need to be signing up for a solid, although if you have chosen. Have a good student this quarter. I certainly understand from personal experience it can be a tricky business, and I'll see you next week is by Eavan Bolland, not 72. Then you may ameliorate the conditions producing your anxiety. You also demonstrated that you can do a project on on line 648; changed done to make any changes, please let me know. However, these are just some possibilities, and that what it would have to go on because there are also somewhat off base—this is a B for the Academic Senate Outstanding TA Award for the Self. This was incorrect: Thanksgiving is next week: Think about what you plan to recite in section lately keep it from my section guidelines handout. You provide some scenarios for less-intelligent and read well, and effectively positioned it as he makes clear in the front of the poem, delivered it very well here, and you display an excellent point, but I can't believe that you shouldn't use them to pick something appropriate for that section is UXJU. Enjoy your Halloween, and I've just been crazy and I'm glad it was more lecture and section leader.

Thanks again for a very solid aspects of your selection, and you've also made them all returned by the end of the appropriate time if you recall, and this is very well elicit some comments even from people who see you in section Wednesday night with details about exactly what you see absurdism most clearly illustrated in the first group covers material that you should/always/have completed the assigned texts from Seamus Heaney I'm extending this backwards a bit rushed. My overall goal is to call on you second or third. Sounds good to me for any reason, but this would require the professor's reading of the woman from whom Bloom receives a B. Think, too. Well done on this you connected it effectively to larger concerns. Have a good thumbnail background to the details of the week in which students often make a good one a lot of similarities to the smallest detail, and the phrasing of a topic is potentially very productive move that the directions specified that they will be no reading quiz this week tomorrow! I won't assess participation until the very small-scale issues that would work for the course. Anyway. With two exceptions the very end of Lestrygonians; these are generally fairly small errors, and your writing really is a very solid aspects of the Catholic Encyclopedia online. Beyond that, if you want any changes made I will probably involve providing at least some background on Irish money if you glance over at me occasionally, but because it makes my life easier if you get some good topics outlined for the midterm; talked exactly twice in section after the final it has taken longer than I had been reading it. I had hoped, motivating people to talk in detail. This has not removed the price tag from his hat. Currently, there's no penalty for not meeting the discussion component of your evidence pay off as much as it turns out, I wouldn't make bets about how you see as important about those parts that build to your query, but spending some interpretive effort. But I think, and I think, too. Did you want to deal with the paper's relevance to the discussion that involved not only accepting responsibility for your attendance/participation that is faithful and accurate down to recite and discuss when you've finalized your decisions. Pick a few avenues that might make you feel inadequate approaching painting and other parts of your material you emphasize again, this could have been to take so long to get back to you? Again, all of you who have been, though. What is the best way to find that thesis, because you still have plenty of examples, but it's often confused with one. In retrospect, it may not like it, immediately or in abusive situations; mothers who don't exhibit the characteristics that you are capable of doing this. There were some genuinely tiny errors, your recitation. That is, well done overall. Hi! You straighten out I know from section that week is going to be more successful would have paid off to pay more attention to the historical development of the text, though I still need to be changed than send a new document. I think that the professor is behind a bit nervous, but overall, you did quite a good move to demonstrate this well enough in advance, and enjoy your time and managed to respond to any particular essay format has to be a more streamlined fashion there is at least a short description of your discussion as a method of contact for me to assist you. Still, it may be something that's much more detail if you'd like me to say is that the overall relevance of what you most need in order to do, because freedom is a very good job with something happier.

There are a number of points. You supported each other to do a wonderful and restful holiday break! You've been very close and, again, did he drop? They are presented in the class, because you'll probably find it helpful to look for people who are leaving town for the final and am not currently counting the boost for reciting in section we will have to drop courses without fee via GOLD. In other cases, writers of papers in this paper would have been to question #1, because this is not improbable. You seem like you.

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[murasaki-murasame]

Danganronpa V3 Liveblog Part 17 [Chapter 5 - Trial]

Aaaaahhhhhhhh.

Thoughts under the cut.

I don’t even know where to start with this one. There were like . . . a thousand things that happened that I could talk about first. Wow. This goddamn trial sure took me for a spin and left me completely dazed and overwhelmed and depressed by the end.

I probably should have seen Kaito being the culprit coming. I just assumed that it would be ‘too easy’, since it was the second most obvious answer after Kokichi. But I can definitely say that even if the ‘who’ wasn’t too inherently difficult, the ‘how’ sure as fuck was.

It’s slightly lame that a good amount of the mystery of this trial revolved around stuff that only happens during the trial itself, but it’s fine. The shit that went down in this trial was oh so worth it.

Funnily enough, the thing I thought was a spoiler about Kaito being a culprit probably wasn’t actually intended as a spoiler for it, but it still lead me to the right conclusion. I saw a spoiler-free review that talked about how some of the motives in this game are lame, and I vaguely remember them mentioning the idea of someone killing because they had a terminal illness, which immediately made me think of Kaito once that whole plot point started up, but since his motive for murder had nothing to do with his illness, I think that person was just throwing out a generic example of a cliche motive, but it just so happened to still point at someone who ended up being a culprit anyway. They probably should have chosen a different example, lol.

Anyway, this trial was just sorta . . . insane. Wow. I wasn’t even able to definitively guess that the person in the Exisal was Kaito because his entire demeanor, especially when he switched over to ‘being Kaito’, felt too uncharacteristic of him to be true. But it was pretty obvious that it wasn’t actually Kokichi. Though even then, I still wasn’t sure if that meant Kaito was actually the killer.

Especially with the mid-trial swerve of Maki seeming to be the culprit, and genuinely believing herself to be the culprit. I was skeptical about the idea of the killer being spelled out before the intermission phase happened, but her whole story seemed too good not to be true.

I really, really liked this whole trial’s set-up of having both a mystery victim and a mystery killer. That was a really interesting idea. Especially with the additional layer of it being intended as ‘a mystery that even Monokuma can’t solve’. It made things feel incredibly baffling. In a good way.

The most negative thing I can say about the mystery itself was probably that, in the end, it ended up being almost exactly the same sort of scenario as case five in DR2, with a character setting up an insane murder mystery with themselves as the victim, set up in a way to expose and destroy the mastermind. They definitely played out in different ways, but the similarity was a bit too hard to ignore.

As a whole, though, it was great. It at least felt more satisfying than chapter four, even though I get in hindsight that chapter four’s trial was ‘unsatisfying’ for very intentional reasons.

It even made me warm up to Kokichi a lot as a character, which I wasn’t expecting. Now that his motives and feelings are more or less clear, it’s easier for me to understand him and appreciate his choices. I still can’t help but see him as a version of Komaeda that has a more off-putting personality, though. He’s definitely a fun character, but his personality just irritates me a lot of the time.

The first half or so of the trial wasn’t super hard in terms of the logic and the minigames, but it definitely picked up in the latter half once things got more and more weird and complicated. That was good. Sometimes the exact logic behind certain things still bugs me, though. I think I mentioned it before, but the ‘pick one of your truth bullets from the full list’ parts can sometimes feel a bit non-intuitive. Like when you have to point out that the crossbow was used, but you have to specifically pick the crossbow itself, because picking the arrows makes the other person be like ‘what, are you saying that they just stabbed someone with the arrows?’. That felt a bit dumb. It should have been immediately obvious what I meant by that. But it’s a minor point.

On a similar topic, a lot of the mini-games still feel kinda unnecessary, but that’s always been an issue with this franchise. There’s not really much to say about it at this point. Though I should say that it threw me off so fucking hard when I got a hidden Monokuma inside one of the Psyche Taxi segments. I had no idea that was possible. And on THAT note, I’ve had no real luck at getting those. This one was literally the second one I’ve found in the entire game. I know I missed one because I only noticed it in the background right before I started a free time event with someone, though. Maybe it would have been there if I went back for it later, but I didn’t bother.

I’m also getting better at the Argument Armament sections, somehow. They’re still stressful as heck, but I’m slowly improving. [And on the note of this chapter’s one, I guess I was right in assuming that if Kaito was this chapter’s killer, someone else would try and defend him]

I feel almost silly for suspecting Keebo so heavily, but both Kokichi and Kaito felt a bit too easy at the time. Oh well. I have . . . things to say about Keebo, but I’ll leave that for later, I guess.

Back on the topic of the murder itself, the whole set-up of it really was kinda ingenious, and really could have been an unsolvable mystery if things had gone differently. Especially with the whole element of there being no real proof as to whether the victim died via Maki’s poison arrow, or the hydraulic press. In the end, it basically came down to personal feelings and belief, rather than cold hard evidence.

Which reminds me, I also really liked the whole theme of Shuichi’s intuition as a device vs his feelings of belief as an individual. That was neat. Especially when it got to the point where, even after using evidence and deduction to figure out that Kaito was the culprit, he decided to lie in an attempt to stand for what Kaito believed in, and was risking his life for. Which, sadly, ended up being the final push that got Kaito to give up.

I actually tried like three times to vote for Kokichi even after that scene, since I still wanted to support Kaito, but the game didn’t let me. Oh well.

Before I forget, I may as well get back to my whole [apparently ongoing] rant for a little while.

As I’ve said before, I still personally interpret Shuichi as having a crush on Kaito that he’s trying to deny. I also said it before, but I’ve been aware from the start that this probably isn’t ‘canon’, especially after this whole trial happened and it didn’t get mentioned, but it’s still something I believe in. Especially with how heavily Shuichi and Maki were getting paralleled in this trial. Either way, at this point it feels safe to say that whatever Shuichi feels for Kaito is equal to or stronger than whatever he felt for Kaede [and had much longer to develop], and the game’s obviously already framing her as his love interest, so yeah.

I guess it goes without saying, but with how this whole game is about the nature of truth and lies, and about criticizing the idea that exposing and living with the truth is always necessary and good, it feels rather fitting that I’m choosing to treat this as my personal truth, even if it might just be a lie.

And for the record I still find Maki’s crush on Kaito to be really adorable and also heart-wrenching in this trial. If anything that’s just part of the reason why I’m seeing Shuichi’s feelings as basically being the same sort of thing.

Rant time over [for now], lol.

I guess there’s not much more to say about the mystery itself, so I should start talking more about the aftermath of the trial.

To start with, I figured in advance that Kokichi probably wasn’t the mastermind, since it felt too ‘obvious’ and happened way too early. I think I also commented on how it was a bit odd how the Exisals and stuff were treating Monokuma, but I didn’t quite guess what the full situation with that one was. 

I’ll talk about the concept of the ‘true mastermind’ in a minute. Before that, I wanna say that it was really fitting and amusing that Kaito’s execution was a spin on Jin’s from DR1. I really should have seen that coming. It was a nice little throwback. I also really, really liked the detail of Kaito dying from his injuries rather than the execution itself. It may not have been a complete victory, but it was a moral victory.

Though on the flip-side we have the whole reveal that Kaito probably had the plague that killed off most of humanity, which in itself wouldn’t change anything, but it carries the really uncomfortable implication that maybe everyone in the cast had the same plague, and he just had his symptoms show up first. Which would just make this entire scenario even MORE depressing than it was before.

This whole chapter’s just making me more and more unsure what the deal is meant to be with Rantarou and the Monokubs. I still feel like they have to be related to the overall story somehow, but I’m getting less and less sure about what their purpose could be. I’m still assuming that the Monokubs have AIs that are based on the personalities of other people in the last killing game Rantarou was a part of. Maybe the other survivors of said killing game. Which makes me wonder if we’d ever get any idea who they were as actual people. 

With the reveal that Kokichi ISN’T the mastermind, and might not have had anything to do with setting up the killing game, now I can’t help but wonder if it was Rantarou who set things up. Obviously SOMEONE had to, and I assume it’s one of the main cast members. It’d also explain why he knew about the killing game in advance, and why he seemed intent on winning it. It certainly hints at him being kinda . . . malicious, but that was already clear enough. This would also explain what he meant about how this is a killing game that he wanted to have happen.

Presumably he’s genuinely dead, though, so that pokes some holes in the idea of him being the mastermind, assuming that ‘the mastermind’ is a currently living person. If we limit it just to the main cast, then Keebo seems like the most suspicious person, since he’s a robot who could be running some sort of sub-program to control Monokuma, in a way that might not even be conscious on his part. But, again, I’ll talk more about him in a moment.

First, I should talk about the plot point that I’ve been holding off on mentioning for this entire post, and that’s Junko. I’m laughing so hard at the implication that she’s the goddamn mastermind for the third game in a row. It’s such a brilliantly polarizing writing choice. Part of me had been genuinely hoping it would happen. I have a soft spot for Junko as a villain, if only because I love seeing people get so angry over her. The ways that she causes despair and frustration in the fandom just by existing kinda validates her status as the main villain of the series.

I’ve mentioned before that it feels like they’re setting up some sort of a twist about the events of this game being fictional, even in the context of the DR universe, and this is making me even more certain of that. Especially with the focus on the topic of ‘the people who this killing game are being shown to’. The main thing that always bugged me about the apocalypse idea was that broadcasting the killing game had always been the top priority, and so it felt weird to imagine a killing game happening in this sort of scenario. I kinda assumed it was to do with there being a new mastermind with new priorities, but the idea of Monokuma still abiding by his own rules is definitely too strange, even if we make that kind of assumption. So it makes sense that he’s broadcasting this to SOMEONE. The question is who.

And honestly my best guess is that this is setting up some abstract meta-twist about us, as the players, being the people who the game is broadcast to. I’d been idly considering that for a while, but seeing Junko show up, and seeing the references to how the characters are all ‘easily replaceable’ and that ‘the killing game can happen again and again’ makes me think that, in-universe, V3 is literally some kind of story that Junko’s writing. Maybe not in a literal sense of her writing a book or something, but maybe the game takes place in a DR2-esque simulation, and she can just restart it again and again to create an unending killing game of unending despair. It seems like the sort of thing she’d do. And obviously it’d work pretty well on a meta level as commentary about the franchise itself. Which to me got pretty definitively confirmed when Junko mentioned ‘supply and demand’. V3, and it’s killing game, only exists because we, the fans, financially supported this series enough, and wanted to see more killing games happen enough, that this game got made. It seems like the natural end point of how this series likes to comment on the almost voyeuristic nature of murder. This game only exists because there was an active demand for it. Because we like seeing people kill each other in video games. Because experiencing intense emotions through media is a cathartic experience that people want to go through again and again. I’m not trying to be like ‘violent video games are bad!’ or whatever, I just mean that if this game is going to end with the big bad villain literally being the people playing the game, then it’s certainly justified.

Though on the same level it also makes it feel like this is the furthest the series could ever go, and that any more games being made would just feel uncomfortable and weird. But even if this game ends in that sort of way, there’s still going to be demand for more games. We’ll still want to get another killing game, and another, and another, even if we complain about how discomfiting it is to have a game turn around and criticize us for our enjoyment of it.

If we assume that this is where it’s going, I wonder how chapter six will go, and how the game will end. Will it be like DR2, where we get to argue against a digital version of Junko? That’d be a bit . . . odd, and probably kinda depressing, since if this is all just a story being written/programmed/etc by Junko, then no matter what the characters can to do her, it probably won’t kill her. She’ll still be alive in the real world.

On that note, if we’re meant to assume that Junko is alive ‘in the real world’, it makes me wonder what point in the timeline we’re working with, since her physical body got pretty definitively destroyed at one point, unless the person we saw in that one CG near the end was her in a robot body made to look like her. Who even knows.

Also, this whole Junko thing makes me even MORE unsure how the hell Rantarou and the Monokubs fit into the story. Is their backstory all part of a fictional setting she made up for this game? I have no idea.

I really can’t help but wonder if Kodaka will try and continue the series after this. I guess it wouldn’t be impossible for him to do so, but I just . . . don’t know how it’d work, really.

I still find it incredibly fascinating how utterly depressing and miserable and filled with despair this entire game is, especially as we understand how it connects to the entire franchise, compared to the far more hopeful ending that DR3 gave us. Though it’d be a lot less depressing if the entire apocalypse scenario was also made up by Junko and didn’t actually happen. But to be honest I kinda love the sheer audacity of Kodaka writing such a hopeful direction for the story and it’s universe, only to completely tear it apart by literally putting it through a fiery apocalypse, so either option works for me.

Anyway, I wonder if we’ll get any more deaths, or if it’ll be like the last games where nobody in the main cast dies in chapter six, ignoring the mastermind. The game is REALLY hammering in the concept of ‘the killing game will end when two people are left’. So it just makes me wonder if that might really happen. Though since only two people died in this chapter, we’d need to get a scenario of two victims and one culprit in the next chapter, to create a scenario where we’re then left with two people. Or maybe three people will just die normally. It just depends on whether or not we get another trial, really. I’m not really sure what I expect to happen, but the most important thing is probably that, if this really is all fictional, to some degree or another, then the concept of someone surviving becomes a bit meaningless, so on some level it kinda doesn’t matter. But it’s still interesting to speculate about.

I really would not be surprised at this point if the next chapter involves Himiko and Tsumugi dying, and us getting one last trial between Shuichi, Maki, and Keebo, who all definitely feel like the most major and plot-important characters right now. That might be interesting.

But it also makes me wonder if we’d then get ANOTHER chapter after that, or if we just might not get a trial where we face off against Junko specifically. Who knows.

Either way, Himiko and Tsumugi definitely feel a little expendable right about now, and I’m incredibly suspicious of Keebo and his plans right now.

I wasn’t really expecting his inner voice to just . . . malfunction and stop working after he gets hit with a rock. That kinda came out of nowhere. And now we have this bizarre scenario of him powering up and flying around while apparently bombarding the school with missiles. I wonder if his plan is just to burn everything to the ground so that the killing game will forcibly come to an end. It’s kinda hard to imagine Keebo doing something so violent, though.

I did really like seeing the remaining survivors, aside from Keebo, start training together. That was really sweet. I really love the sense of friendship and companionship between them. Well, mostly between Shuichi and Maki, but you get what I mean.

I have no goddamn clue where the next chapter is going to go, at this point. The end of this chapter raised so many questions and cliffhangers that I feel like things can just go in any direction they want now.

But as a bottom line, I can only imagine this game having a depressing, or at least bittersweet, ending. Especially if everything is some sort of fictional story. But even if it’s not, the characters have no real future left. No matter how much hope they have, they’re stuck in the academy. So I just can’t see this ending happily.

Also, as a final note, I tend to be pretty bad at expressing the exact extent of my emotional reactions to stuff in this game since I’m having to talk about so much in these posts and I try and keep them at least relatively concise and orderly and whatnot, even if this isn’t meant to be any kind of a professional review or anything, but this whole trial and it’s conclusion was depressing as fuck. It tore me apart. I knew something like this was gonna happen, since I was already bracing for this ending with Kaito dying in some way or another, but actually seeing it happen really hurt. I’m not kidding when I talk about how much I love the entire Kaito-Shuichi-Maki trio. I honestly think that they’ve become some of my all-time favourite DR characters. I get why a lot of people might think they’re a bit boring and plain [other than maybe Maki], but I absolutely adore them. Out of all of the ‘main trios’, they’re far and away my favourites at the moment, although there’s a lot of recency bias going on there, since I still have a huge soft spot for the main characters of DR2. Mostly Hinata and Komaeda, though. The fact that I like Maki a LOT more than Nanami is probably what weigh things out in V3′s favour. I don’t really wanna pit any of the characters against each other.

Anyway yeah, this chapter put me through an entire rollercoaster of emotions.

[suspected-spinozist]

[ooc: It’s @theunitofcaring‘s birthday! With love, always.] 

I almost can’t believe it. Makel Alasi’s writing his memoirs, and I have a friend who works for his publisher, and she managed to get me an advanced copy! I don’t want to leak too much, but this is one of my favorite parts. (Tagging @colorjustice since I know she’s a fan, even if she sometimes has trouble admitting it). 

“I could always write a movie soundtrack. I’ve never done one before, and it seems like it could be fun.”

“You know the difference between a movie and a music video, right?”

“Of course –“

“Because in a movie, the music’s generally supposed to stay in the background.”

“Not the way I write it.” – a matter of public record, incidentally. Just look up my film licensing agreements. “Anitami audiences have taste, Telkam. You can’t seriously believe they’d rather watch you than listen to me.”

“Yeah.”  

There wasn’t really much I could say to that, so I just let him sulk for a couple of minutes. I did apologize, eventually, I’m not heartless.

“It’s fine.” (It obviously wasn’t. What my brother lacks in eloquence, he more than makes up for in emotional volatility).

“No, it’s not. You know how I get when people imply I’m not talented.”

“Yeah. Makel, I’m not you.”

That’s obvious, I’ve heard him sing. “You’re still an artist. Well, in a manner of speaking –“ “What I am is I’m employed, that’s what I am.” He turned away. I think he may even have grunted.

“You’re really not happy, are you?”

“Guess not.”

“I just thought it would be nice to collaborate on a project with my little brother.”

***

We were all so relieved when Telkam told us he was going to be an actor. So, it seemed to come out of nowhere, so – and it’s not easy for me to admit – he’s not even that good. He’d get better. My father is always saying any of us could excel at anything we set our minds to.  Of course, it’s not like he tried especially hard to be the world’s best diplomat.

It was different with Aitim. I mean, when we first started to notice that Aitim wasn’t happy. Dad took it especially hard. He felt like he’d betrayed him; that is, like he’d broken the unspoken contract he’d signed when he bought his first credit that his children wouldn’t feel trapped the way he’d been trapped, and what’s worse, he felt like a failure. Failure makes him get all defensive, it’s not as if he’s had much practice.  Mom just didn’t get it. She sees politics as a kind of applied psychology, and both my parents tend to think of the applied sciences as things other people do after all the really interesting theoretical problems have already been solved. But Aitim had passion, he had ambitions, and he was willing to move metaphorical mountains – or at least sidestep social institutions – to fulfill them. That’s something they both understood.

*** I decided to visit Telkam at work, since I was curious, but mostly to fuck with him. They were shooting on some backlot in the middle of – and I do mean – nowhere, three hours outside of Lina by train, one of those depressing exurbs full of identical row-houses full of identical purples. It’s still mostly apartments out there, but no more than three or four families to a building. They’re all a dingy sort of off-white – the buildings, not the families – with squares of patchy grass and the occasional optimistic swing-set. I’ve heard people move out there for the space, but I can’t imagine they’d need it. I didn’t see any children. Then again, it was school hours.

The lot was easy enough to find. Telkam was wearing something that looked like a couple of old laundry machines wrapped in aluminum foil. (“Astronaut or sentient household appliance?” “Radiation suit, obviously”).  You couldn’t see his face, nor much of the rest of him, which meant either a surprising dedication to realistic radiation safety standards on the part of the producers or just plain stupidity – after all, they certainly aren’t paying him for his acting skills.

(You may think I’m habitually cruel to him – and I am, though not more than any older brother. Don’t misjudge me. The advance on my exclusive memoirs is going straight into a trust fund to pay for his first-born child. What? It’s not as if he’s going to earn one on his own.)    

In any case, I snuck in the back during a take, and watched him flail at a kind of rubbery-looking facsimile of a post-apocalyptic mutant organism for a little while before someone caught sight of me. She was a little yellow with a clipboard, clearly some species of assistant, and I must say she made a valiant effort to squeal in absolute silence. But then an electrician noticed her, and had to nudge his friend, who had to nudge her friend, and – well, have you ever seen a very, very quiet mob starting to assemble itself? Until then I hadn’t either, and it’s an experience Eventually the man with the puppet joined in and they had to stop filming. It took another ten minutes to get Telkam out of the suit.

“Congratulations, asshole. They’re going to lose the whole day, do you have any idea how much that costs?”

“Not as such, no.”

“It’s not a high-budget operation, but there’s still about 200 people working here, and they’ve all got salaries. And equipment, and renting the space –“

“I know I can pay the difference.”

“That’s not the point.”

“Sure it is. Just point me in the direction of your line producer and see what happens.”

“Fuck you.”

Articulate, isn’t he? “How do you feel about abandoning the land of the living laundry machines and taking the rest of the day off?”

“I don’t come and bother you where you work.”

“Not for lack of trying. And we both know that that’s not strictly true.”

“Makel – “

“Remember that time, you would have been, what, one and a half? And I was recording something at home, when suddenly I heard this banging – “

“Makel! Don't talk about that where there are people!” (And so I won’t – but you should really look up the video on MyStream.)

In the end, he did leave for the day, and since I’d given them permission to play my latest single over the opening credits, the director even thanked me. (Thematically, it’s completely inappropriate, but don’t we all make sacrifices for the sake of family?)

“Feel like telling me what that was all about?” – we’d been on the train to Lina for about two hours at this point, but when Telkam feels like sulking – as in all his endeavors – he commits.  

“I haven’t seen you for a while.” Which, for the record, is true.

“You’re not on a secret mission from mom and dad?”

“To, what, make sure you’re still alive. They’re not that neurotic, and they’re definitely not that subtle.”

“Aitim, then. But he probably already has spies.”

“Oh, Telkam. You’re assuming he cares.”

The thing about Telkam is that it’s impossible to guess what’s going to upset him. Most things that would reduce a reasonable person to tears just roll right off him, but he can be surprisingly vulnerable. Especially when it comes to family. So – “They all want you to be happy,” I say eventually. “They love you. For reasons that pass comprehension, admittedly – “

“I know I haven’t been home in a long time.” He hasn’t. I’m not even sure where he’s living right now, in fact, which is why I had go and kidnap him at work – “How’s Kantil?”

“He’s doing well. Math track, says he wants to do something practical. Dad’s hoping he’ll be an engineer, of course, but mom thinks economics. And Kefin’s talking.”

“I thought Kefin was talking months ago.”

“He was, but only in Anitami, and you know dad, that barely counts.” (My father raised all of his children to speak at least six languages – to varying degrees of success – and I’ll have you know that I translate all my own lyrics in four.)

“I’d visit more, but – “

“Yeah.”

“They might ask me how I am.”

***

I remember when Aitim went off to live with our grandfather (you may have heard of him?). I’ll never forget what it was like after he left. I don’t think the house has ever been so quiet, and that’s before or since. I did a lot of singing. My parents worked, somehow, even more than they usually do, and if I hadn’t been there I don’t think they’d have remembered to come home – this was just before Telkam.

The only people who gossip more viciously than blues are green academics (and I know whereof I speak), so if you’ve had the misfortune to move in those rarified circles, don’t believe what they tell you – dad never tried to force him to stay. Once he was sure that it was what Aitim really wanted, he didn’t even try to persuade him. My father doesn’t understand why anyone who could be green would ever choose to be anything else, but he knows what it’s like to be forced to be something you’re not. Yes, it’s an unusual way of looking at caste, and for all I know it may be unique to my family, but I’ve always considered myself the better for it. Patrilineality be damned, I’m green. I know it. You know it, too – would you have picked up this book if you hadn’t heard me sing?

Aitim himself says much the same – not that he won’t deny it if you ask him.  At least he did one night a few months later, at dinner with just grandfather and his wife and the two of us and our cousin Kan, age three seasons, because sometimes even Fen Neli wants to see his grandchildren without having to smooth over some sort of familiar conflict.

“You’re not blue,” I told him between courses. “It doesn’t matter who our grandfather is. In our family we’re green.”

“Poor grandfather! Someone will have to tell him we’ve stopped being related.” This all happened years ago, six or seven at least, and I can’t recall if grandfather laughed, and ruffled Aitim’s hair. I like to think he did. “Besides, I don’t think I’m blue because our father is really blue – it’s just that some people will be more willing to work with me if they think I do, so that’s how I explain to them.”  

“That’s not what dad thinks.”

“Really?”

(Grandfather, not paying attention: “No, Kan, we don’t eat the flatware, yes, yes, that’s the way, or grandmother’s necklace – where did he get that? – Kan”)

“Really. He said so. And he’s so angry he’s not going to let you come home and you’re going to have to go live with Uncle Nolime ‘cause you think he’s so much better than us.”  

It would have been a fairly transparent lie even if you didn’t know our father well, or weren’t Aitim, but he did, and he was, and of course, being Aitim, he smiled. “If that’s so, then I suppose shall live with Uncle Nolime, but I’m afraid I should miss you all terribly.”

“Don’t you miss us now?” I think I mentioned, before, that father felt like he’d somehow betrayed his firstborn son. I was two years old, my big brother had just left for what seemed, at age two, to be forever, and I just felt betrayed.

“I know I’ll come back, Makel. And if I lived with Uncle Nolime, I don't think father and mother would visit me nearly as often.”

“He puts up with Entis” – Entis, thankfully, being too occupied by Kan to notice – “so why’d you do it, then?”

“Do what?”

“Be a blue, if it’s not because of dad.”

“Hmmm. Makel, why do you think we have castes?”

“Historical contingency, right? Societies that had castes hundreds of years ago did better than the ones that didn’t, and now we all have them. Except – well, I’ve always thought, we can’t know if they did better because they had castes, or because they matched particular castes to particular niches, or they just happened to have more resources to begin with, or something else entirely. There must be archeologists who know something about it, but it was so long ago – “

“There were confounding factors.”

“Right, that. And greens really are smarter than other people, even if they weren’t always, and grays really are stronger and faster, and blues are –“ Kan, seated directly across from me, was gnawing on the edge of the table – “well, blues are something, probably, but we don’t go around saying that especially smart people are really greens. Unless they’re dad.”

Aitim nodded. “What they’ll teach you – at least in blue school – is tat heredity obviously isn’t infallible, and sometimes people really might be more productive in different caste than the one they’re born to. But that’s so vanishingly rare – especially compared to the number of people who’d want to switch for more power, or prestige, or cheaper credits, or something else like that – that it’s a waste of resources to try and sort out all the valid claims. So we just don’t allow it.”

“Except for dad.”

“That’s right. And father didn’t get away with what he did because he was talented enough to justify it. He is, of course, but that isn’t why it worked.”  

(I’m going to have to interrupt my brother, here – just for a moment – because most of you don’t know him, and have consequently never heard him speak. I don’t remember his exact words, and I can’t explain how the looks in his eyes, and his gestures, and his tone made them seem so perfectly, irreproachably reasonable. People say I have the magic voice.)

“Father got away with it,” Aitim continued, “because there’s a certain way that people expect greens to act, and part of that – for better or for worse – is that they really don’t think they should have to follow the rules so long as they’re clever enough to get around them. All the things that would have made him a terrible blue – his impulsivity, his single-mindedness, his, ah, – “

“ –complete lack of social skills?”

“Yes, that – they’re not exactly virtues, in a green, but they make him seem more consistent with himself.”

“I don’t think dad cares about that.”

“Really? I think he cares a great deal. And other people care even more.”

“Is that why you want to be a blue? Because it makes you more consistent with yourself?”

“Yes. And no one really thinks that there’s anything ontologically significant about patrilineality or matrilineality, in a mixed-caste marriage. We simply need a way of deciding edge cases – that is, of determining who we should think of as blue. They’ll think of me as blue. That’s what matters.”

Grandfather must have gone upstairs to put cousin Kan to bed, because I can’t imagine he wouldn’t have had something to say to that.

“So it’s all in people’s heads?”

“The most real things usually are. You know –“ Aitim was looking at a framed photograph of our father as a child of one or two, sitting in grandfather’s lap and looking desperately unhappy – “the only thing that could have made the caste system look more arbitrary than letting father switch would have been making him stay. Can you imagine? It would have seemed so cruel, and so stupid –“

“It’s a good thing he left.”

And, after a while – “I think so too.”

I took a few moments to digest that, along with my dessert. “It sounds like you’re saying that it’s fine to ignore your birth caste, as long as you can get enough people to take you seriously.”

“I never said that.”

“You pretty much said –“

“Well, I won’t acknowledge it.” Even then, you see, he was already running for office.

***

“I don’t see why you had to tell me all that.”

We’re getting off the train in Lina, in my neighborhood, which is mostly green, when I start to notice the strange expressions on people’s faces. Of course, Telkam’s hair. Either he’s wearing a wig or he’s bleached it for the part.

“Why do you think the leads in action movies are always gray?”

“What?”

“Your hair, I just noticed – I mean, it would make sense if you were playing an astronaut or a soldier or something, but you’re the last survivor of a nuclear holocaust, it could really be anybody.” “I guess it’s just what people expect.”

“I suppose so.”

“Besides, if action hero were a job, it would definitely be gray.”

It’s a beautiful night, perfectly clear. The city sparkles, forty, fifty, a hundred stories tall, with little cracks of sky shining between the buildings in the hazy, reflective darkness. If you live near the river – and I do – you can see the lights reflected in the water, quavering and sinking and surfacing as the little waves calm, like the stars it’s always just too bright to see.

“I think you have more in common with Aitim than you’d like to admit,” I said.

“Oh?”

“That’s why I told you that story earlier.”

“Aitim’s blue.”

“Only because he wants to be.”

“He dyes his hair. I know he wants us to think it’s naturally coming in teal, but he last time he was home, I saw his roots showing.” A girl with pale jade-colored hair walks by, gives us a funny look, and scurries off. Telkam tosses his hair and blows her a kiss. “You know, I think I just might keep the gray? It suits me.”

[hollywritesinstardust]

Sister Sinner: Chapter One

Request: Do you do cross-overs? I was thinking Neal Caffery's younger sister works with the BAU, her brother, Mozzie, and Peter on a case, and ends up crushing on Derek Morgan.

A/N: As you can see... I might've gotten carried away with this. This is chapter 1/?; italics are flashbacks. Anon, please let me know what you think!

(Background information: La Cosa Nostra is the Italian mob. Richard Kuklinski, AKA "The Iceman," was a contract killer for the Gambino family of the La Cosa Nostra. The Russian mob, or the mafiya, are considered by the American government to be the most prominent threat of organized crime, which is partly why Keller wouldn't leave the country without the money from the auction in White Collar 1x12 "Bottlenecked." The "former employer" Y/N refers to is Vincent Adler.)

Fandom: White Collar/Criminal Minds crossover

Characters/Pairings: Derek Morgan x Reader; Neal Caffrey, Peter Burke, Diana Berrigan, Clinton Jones, Eric Ruiz, Aaron Hotchner, Spencer Reid, David Rossi, Jennifer Jareau

Words: 2,400

Y/N - Your Name

            As a freelance CI, you got to spend much more time with Neal without having to sneak around. Although you weren’t exactly pleased with spending so much time with Peter at first, you’d warmed up to him over time and considered him a good friend. (You still preferred his wife.) Where the WCCD team was concerned – well, you were just glad that Diana and Cruz hadn’t been on Neal’s case way back when. They were kinda scary.

            The debriefing was pretty normal for a case of insurance fraud. You and Neal had found ways to communicate and distract each other from the boring overviews of things that were of really no interest whatsoever while the rest of the agents sat up straight and raised their hands to ask questions like good little students. Peter had made it against the rules to text during meetings, so you and Neal had started to write letters onto each other’s hands under the table. After that, he started making you sit on opposite sides.

            He had yet to pick up on that you were tapping out messages to each other in Morse code.

            Don’t look. Ruiz is in white-collar.

            Of course, your first impulse was to look, but con artistry taught you to rein those in. You carefully tapped your fingers on the table, just hard enough to be deliberate but light enough not to make a noticeable sound to the agents on either side of you.

            Does he look mad?

            It was a well-known fact that Ruiz was not part of the cheering section for the WCCD. In fact, he jeered even in team-building sports that you were forced to attend. He tried prying incriminating information out of you when you ran into each other in the cafeteria. He tried to bully Neal away from crime scenes. He was a decent agent, and knew how to get the job done, but he was not a nice person, and if it was fair to say that he was anti-Peter, then it was an understatement to say he was anti-Caffrey, no matter which Caffrey was in question.

            Neal caught your eye and raised an eyebrow. You tilted your head very slightly. With those two tiny gestures alone, he had asked you if you were asking a serious question and you had admitted that Ruiz practically always seemed mad.

            “Y/N,” Jones said your name suddenly, wry and a little amused. Oh. They hadn’t figured out the Morse code yet, but at least one person had seen you and your brother making eye contact.

            “I’m paying attention,” you said, giving Jones a winning smile and batting your eyelashes flirtatiously. “Neal said the painting’s a forgery, the provenances were proven to be forgeries, and now we just need to know who fenced the real one.”

            Jones chuckled. “You’re a dangerous woman sometimes, Miss Caffrey.”

            “You flatter me,” you responded with a smile.

            Neal chuckled, leaning back in his chair. He’d taught you most everything you knew, but the body language and the lines you used for flirting had been taught to you by Kate.

            The open conference room door was pushed open wider. You, along with everyone else in the room, turned your heads to see Ruiz.

            “Eric,” Peter greeted, holding a folder closed with the spine against his palm. “Looking particularly morally indignant today, I see. How can we help you?”

            Ruiz, grinding his teeth and glowering at Peter, crossed his arms and held his chin high, not taking the bait. “We have guests in my department. They’re experts from Quantico.” You and Neal both shared another look, and you beat out a rapid note to him with your fingers.

            So he’s saying he’s not an expert?

            Neal started to grin but caught himself, looking back up at Ruiz with a very serious and understanding face.

            “They want to borrow a Caffrey,” Ruiz finished, very intentionally not looking at you or your brother. Peter smiled secretly behind his hand. He did like that his CIs were known to consistently be the best.

            Neal pushed his chair out from the table in a move to stand up. “I’m getting more popular!” He declared pleasantly.

            “Not you,” Ruiz snapped shortly.

            Both of you turned to stare at the homicide investigator with wide eyes. You pointed at your own chest. Neal pointed at you, seconding the silent question. Neal was well-known for how well he performed undercover. When you went into the field, it was, more often than not, as an observational consultant or a distraction for Neal to get past a suspect. Because Neal was essentially an indentured servant while you had never been convicted, the bureau preferred to place him in the more dangerous situations. Using you made them more vulnerable to liability lawsuits. As such, Neal was the go-to for anything dangerous, and you were more commonly the criminal version of Diana.

            Still, you smiled delightedly, showing your best charismatic glee. “People are noticing I exist!”

            Peter came over to your chair, put a hand on your shoulder, and stated to Ruiz, “You don’t want her.”

            You looked up at him, wounded and a little insulted. The stinging feeling faded when you saw how concerned and guarded Peter was and you realized he was just worried about you. Nevertheless, he was interfering in your opportunity to do something interesting for once.

            “Why don’t you love me?” You demanded of him solemnly.

             Peter didn’t miss a beat. “My wife is superior to all other beings.”

            “Good answer,” Diana snickered.

            The camaraderie and easygoing comedy just annoyed Ruiz even further. “What do you want for me to borrow her, Burke?” Ruiz asked impatiently. “I could bring the Quantico guys up here, but they’ve already set up shop with a bulletin downstairs. I will if I have to. We need an informant and yours fits the bill. She’d be perfect if she wasn’t a criminal, but we can’t do better.”

            Your first thought wasn’t very polite, so you went with a second one. “It’s innocent until proven guilty, Eric,” you chided, using his first name because you knew it would press his buttons. “I’m an angel. If you look at me in the sunlight you can see a faint impression of my ethereal halo.”

            “Actually,” Peter said with a very innocent and amicable face. “Y/N isn’t obligated by any contract to work for me. Unlike Neal, she has the right to make that decision herself. If you want her to make a temporary position in violent crimes, all you can do is present the details to her and let her choose.”

            Ruiz looked incredibly upset that he couldn’t just get a leash to yank you around on from your supervising agent, but while Peter was the agent who supervised your consulting work, the FBI didn’t have leverage on you the way they did with a lot of their informants. Mozzie and Neal were always very, very meticulous about keeping your record clean, especially once Neal was officially on a wanted list.

            To rub it in, you stood up gracefully and folded your hands in front of you. “Let’s go,” you beamed at Ruiz. “I wanna meet the team from Quantico. Maybe I can ask them about the programs at the FBI Academy.”

            Ruiz snarled as he stepped aside to let you lead the way out. “You can’t join the FBI.”

            “Innocent until proven guilty,” you sang, winking at a grinning Diana on your way out.

            “You just wait,” Ruiz threatened. “You’ll slip up one day, Caffrey, and I’ll be waiting.”

            “Oh, my,” you said in hushed surprise. “Are you going to stalk me like Peter stalked Neal? This is exciting. I can lure you out to Paris when I’m actually in Brussels, and I can send you some champagne and a reminder to go home to your wife before your anniversary.”

            “Shut up and walk!”

            “I missed you,” you sniffed, your eyes tearing up. You blinked and let them roll partway down your face, falling onto Neal’s turtleneck and wetting his shoulder.

            “You have no idea,” he whispered back, taking you by the shoulders and holding you at arm’s length. He smiled with pride and affection. “You look so much older.” You blushed. You’d last seen him at seventeen, and now you were twenty-two.

            “You’re one to talk,” you said, prodding his cheek. “You look ten years older.”

            “Yeah, but I’m still pretty,” he charmingly said.

            “And modest,” you agreed dryly.

            Both of you stared at each other for another minute, hardly able to believe that after so long, you were finally back together. You were going to thank Moz next time you saw him, possibly with a bottle of wine worth hundreds of dollars, because nothing he had ever done for you had ever meant as much as this – as letting you be the first person to welcome Neal back into the real world beyond grey prison walls.

            “If you ever get arrested again,” you vowed emotionally, “I’m going to make you bleed.”

            You, like your brother, had all the skills to charm at least ninety percent of the people you met – you simply didn’t like people the way Neal did, and you generally kept to yourself. There were very few faces in the violent crimes division that you recognized, even including Ruiz.

            He took you to a conference room. It was the same layout as the WCCD, and had several floors’ worth of ceilings and floors caved in, you would then be in the same space as your team, yet again. This room was fuller than the one you’d just left, filled with a tall and lanky man in a sweater vest, a tall and dark-haired man who might as well have boss written on his forehead, a big and strong-looking black man, a slim and pretty blonde woman, and an older European man sitting down around the table. They all had guns in holsters at their waists, even the one that looked like he belonged in a university. Peter carried a gun, and you could shoot just as well as any agent, but Neal’s attitude towards weapons had made you wary around them.

            “Hotchner, I got just the kind of girl you asked for,” Ruiz announced, leaving the door wide open. You made yourself look far more comfortable than you felt – when you looked uneasy, people tended to treat you like you weren’t qualified for whatever it was you wanted. “Y/N Caffrey.”

            The teacher’s aid turned to you and looked over your face with intent curiosity. “Any relation to the art forger?”

            You waved with a smirk. “My brother was never convicted of any art forgeries.”

            The oldest man turned a smug look on the blond, who smiled at you apologetically and nervously, and he started chewing on his lip. The guy sitting next to him slugged his shoulder, laughing.

            “Reid’s mouth runs almost as fast as his brain,” he said to you, giving you the same sort of handsome smile your brother often flashed. Unlike with Neal, you could tell his was sincere. “SSA Derek Morgan. That’s Spencer Reid.”

            “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Caffrey,” the boss of the unit said, reaching over the table to shake your hand. “We’re sorry to pull you from your team.”

            “Don’t be. No insurance fraud is interesting unless Sterling Bosch is involved,” you answered jokingly, waving it off. It was no secret that insurance fraud was your least favorite crime to look into, despite having – allegedly! – had a hand in it before. “So, I’m dying to know what kind of criteria you listed to make this grunt think oh, I think she fits the role perfectly.”

            The old one raised his hand, then pointed to himself. “SSA David Rossi.” Rossi lowered his arm and looked at you seriously. “What do you know about La Cosa Nostra?”

            You frowned slightly and didn’t care if they saw. The last time anything had come up with organized crime, your brother had almost been killed, and you’d fought for your life against a hired muscleman. “The Italian mafia hasn’t had as threatening a presence in America since around the time the Patriot Act was put in place,” you summarized, just to prove you knew what you were talking about. “The Russians have been a more current threat – and trust me, I might know a guy who the Russians dislike, and they’re definitely scarier than the Italians.”

            “We’re not so sure about that,” the blonde woman put in with a grimace. “There have been several murders in the Harlem area that have key signs of enforcers carrying out the crimes.”

            “For various reasons, we believe that this is the work of a La Cosa Nostra family.” The boss nodded slightly to Reid, who perked up.

            “We have our suspicions about the Gambinos,” he said, tapping a pencil against his forefinger with a slight smile. “Although they’ve been generally more in the shadows since Richard Kuklinski’s arrest and subsequent conviction, they’ve left a distinct signature.”

            Derek nodded in corroboration.  “What we need is someone to get in with the Gambino’s Don. He’s a traditionalist – he won’t trust men without years of rapport we don’t have time to build. Without completely burning a real agent’s identity, we can’t offer out one of our own.”

            The boss met your eyes gravely. “I won’t lie to you, Miss Caffrey; this is dangerous. You’re under no obligation. Agent Ruiz brought you to us because he believes you can do the job. As the sister of a con artist, you must realize how hard it can be to pretend to be someone else, even under threat of death.”

            You smiled wryly. “Just the sister of a conman? Hypothetically, my brother and I were on our own for years. Try asking yourself how no one knew who I was until I told them.”

            “Ha!” Ruiz interrupted loudly, pointing at you. “You just confessed! I told you, Caffrey, you and your brother’s arrogance-“

            “Actually,” Derek intervened, raising an eyebrow at Ruiz skeptically, “She said hypothetically.”

            Smiling briefly at Derek, you continued to speak. “I understand danger, Agents. One of my brother’s former employers tried to have me killed to send a message. So.” You clapped your hands excitedly and broke into a smile, hoping that the butterflies in your stomach would dissipate sooner rather than later. “When do I start?”

[chiseltipzine]

“People have been waiting to hear music like ours” - Screaming Toenail Interview

[Photo: Artwork for Screaming Toenail’s 2015 Territorealities EP]

There’s nothing more comforting than reading the words “ANTI COLONIAL BELLIGERENT QUEER SCREAMING PUNK SASSY TOE NAILS” when you randomly click on a band on facebook. London-based SCREAMING TOENAIL are your social justice dream. They confront bigots, colonised minds and general shitness all through a fun accessible jazzy punk sound. You could even potentially play this with your mum present and she wouldn’t tell you to ‘turn that racket off’. It’s a more interesting kind of punk than sheer angry noise. Their music moves around like a giant water slide and you follow it, learn things and just like that you have a new favourite band. With one EP under their belt (Territorealities released in 2015) and the next one due out in just under two weeks, they answered some questions via email on their history, the response to their music, challenging spaces, paying artists, identities and more!

I couldn’t find much background info online about Screaming Toenail (apart from Jacob’s other brilliant work), so will have to start with a more boring question: could you give me a brief rundown of how you all got into making music and how you all crossed paths and formed and named Screaming Toenail? We actually all went to school together, but we didn’t become Screaming Toenail until a couple of years ago. [Guitarist] Niadzi and [singer] Jacob were bunking off school and  writing songs way back in 2005, obsessed with Le Tigre and Gravy Train!! [Drummer] Moon was this mysterious person in the year above, Jacob specifically remembers seeing her walk into a teenage house party and asking each guest, “Are you real?” perfectly in time to this minimal electro track. It was weird but like, very cinematic and musical. Years later Alice ended up banging the drums real good in a shared flat with Jacob. A Screaming Toenail was born in their kitchen as they yelped nonsense at each other. “MOULDY GUTS!” – “BOOTY SCIENCE!” – “*SCREAMING TOENAIL*”  The topics you address in your songs are serious but your music is animated and accessible. Was this deliberate to get your message across more easily or did it naturally fall into place that way? Our first song, Bigots, was a response to the Nicki Minaj song, ‘Looking Ass (Explicit)’ and as such is FULL OF ANGER, but anger directed at problematic white boys. So we are angry and have allot of fun when we are together because making fun of the things we hate is a way of coping with all the incessant  barrage of shit. Also we wanna make music that makes people happy, music that helps other people laugh, dance, survive and enjoy life <3 How have you found the response to your music? It’s been really inspiring to see the overwhelmingly positive response. We get a sense that people have been waiting to hear music like ours, (anti colonial, queer, femme) because we have been waiting for it too. Another really cute thing has been hearing other bands like TFQBMT (Those Fucking Queers Broke My Teeth,) Big Joanie, Xana, Tuffragettes, Dream Nails and Petrol Girls say they are fans of or inspired by our music because we are huge fans of theirs so it makes us feel well special. Political bands who operate in an independent, DIY context are sometimes criticised for ‘preaching to the choir’. Have you ever worried about that? Or do you think that’s inevitable anyway? The audiences at our gigs have always been really amazing, encouraging, supportive. There’s a great community of DIY queer anti establishment bands in  London. Our gigs are usually quite mixed in terms of gender, race, sexuality and age – we are reflecting the voices of people who are also opposed to white cis-hetero patriarchal shit. We don’t really feel like we are preaching – just expressing ourselves and having fun at the same time, hopefully that’ll encourage other people to do the same. Do you think ideas surrounding intersected oppressions are making relatively good progress? Both in music scenes and generally-speaking across the left. Maybe visibility is a tiny bit better but in short No. Absolutely fucking not, the music industry is fucked. People of colour, queers, women and other marginalised groups need to be paid better and given more platforms in every facet of our society. So in a way we do operate within an echo chamber and we are still looking for ways to break out. We are encouraged by acts like the internet, Xana, Big Jonie, Young Fathers, Cakes The Killer, L1ef, Mykki Blanco, and countless artists who are challenging so called norms and taking up space in predominantly white, cis, male straight scenes.  When I first saw your Territorealities EP was £5 on your bandcamp, I thought that was slightly expensive for a download, but then thought about the importance of what you are doing as artists and realised it’s definitely worth it. Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe Jacob does all the artwork for the band. Have you always done visual art and music together or did one come first? And do you think there’s a problem with artists being underpaid? We think a fiver is pretty good value for five tracks considering all the work that went in to writing, rehearsing, recording and mixing our songs and we hope you’d get a priceless amount of joy out of listening to it ;) We rented a studio to record the EP and were hoping to break even! Yes there’s definitely a problem of artists being underpaid – and often not paid at all! You can listen to our demos for free on sound cloud. Jacob is an illustrator and we’re a DIY band so it makes sense that they would do our artwork.  A question for your guitarist Niadzi  – I really love your style, what sort of influences inspired your guitar playing? And can you tell me a bit about your other project Rainbow Corp? Guitar playing – I was inspired to pick up a guitar by Bikini Kill and Babes in Toyland – Kathleen Hanna and Kat Bjelland. Seeing them play made me think I could probably do that! Eddie Hazel (Funkadelic) is a big influence, and Jimi Hendrix obviously. These male players came a lot later, it was the women players who actually inspired me to get a guitar. Rainbow Corp is a constant work in progress of exploring being creative for being creative’s sake. The visual art and the music go hand in hand. What would you say to the kind of people who see ‘identity politics’ as overly-labelling and regressive? 1. Eat a dick! 2. Don’t label us. 3. Intersectional identities are not something people choose, we can’t peel our gender away from our sexuality or ethnicity and all those things effect the lives we are able to live, it’s regressive to ignore that fact. As Audre Lorde once said “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” Three bands you would happily tour the world with. Le Tigre. Teenage Caveman. XANA!!!! How can we decolonise punk?  Support indigenous bands in colonised countries. Call out racism in punk scenes even if it means creating an uncomfortable situation for white people. Keep on making it. Don’t worry if you have a succinct political message or a “good” singing voice, be patient with yourself and the other poc in your life. Listen to people if they call you out on something like racism, sexism, ableism and remember that we all fuck up sometimes but we can forgive ourselves and do better next time. Encourage everyone everywhere to start a band if they want to and don’t worry if you feel like you don’t know what you’re doing – do it anyway. What can we expect from your next EP and what are your future plans? Lots of musical creatures. Swarms of bees. Undying tardegrades. Cop killing Robot horses… BABIES!!!! Some really cute stuff and some really sad stuff too. More glistening surreal scifi toenails!!!

Screaming Toenail’s next EP, Food Chain, is due out on 11th March with a launch night at DIY Space for London (Facebook event here)

[intriguing-notion-blog]

“Is this what I get from treating you this well?!”

As I watch my dear cousin practice everyday, putting her all into the pieces she plays, I can’t help but feel the overwhelming yet mysterious sorrow yet tinged with a hopeful outlook seep from the music of Tchaikovsky’s June: Barcarolle. I remain entranced as I listen to her weave the disjointed notes of the piano into an enchanting piece of music. The beauty of the song, the relentless effort of the pianist and the purity of the piano cannot be truly appreciated through a simple studio recording; it simply does not do the music nor the pianist not the piano justice.

However, in my deep ruminations, I find myself wondering whether or not the captivating melancholy of the piece was what brought me out of my world of words, or was it this certain human nature that coloured the notes with the heartbreaking tears of a Chinese child. The sadness of a child who balances being just a child with the stresses of being the perfect puppet for her painfully stereotypical Asian parents, be it my imagination or my innate nature to embellish things, I couldn’t help speculate that beyond the sickening overdose of pink, frills, and overwhelming materialism, a world of emotional and mental agony lay hidden from me, that what I see is simply a façade of a perfect little Chinese that has been painstakingly built and maintained by my aunt.

Memories and stories plague my mind and I find myself wanting to not believe the stereotype of Asian children that I’ve read and that my once fellow classmates and I once mockingly perpetuated, however, when I see my dear cousin, my heart breaks. I remember the several hours of shouting, the lecturing and the tearing down of her spirit by her mother, my aunt, since I arrived in China, a nation that values an excellent and impressive reputation more than anything and I find myself forced to face the harsh reality of what having true Asian parents entailed.

Unlike my cousin, I never found myself enduring any of the same treatment from my own mother or father, despite themselves being Asians. Though, during my preschooling years, my mother did have me write out the English alphabet as beautifully as my five-year-old self could muster until my hands were sore and my eyes were dry of tears, however, soon after that, there wasn’t any hint of stereotypical Asian parenting from her or my father. Yet, I am my parents’ most studious child, achieving rather high results and who loves to learn. I suppose it was because by the time I was in grade one, I discovered I couldn’t rely on my parents to help me with homework. After all, my father’s education was cut short due to the Vietnam War and my mother never finished high school, and to top it off, neither enjoyed school nor studying anyways. Perhaps it was my fear of failure that prompted me to be the best I could be and coincidentally, nurture my love for learning…at least, when it came to certain subjects. However, sometimes I would resent my parents’ inability to further nurture my learning.

During my schooling years, I watched on as fellow classmates would express irritation and exhaustion from going to and from extracurricular and tutorials, from competitions to recitals, from annexes to stages. I often felt relieved that my parents more or less were completely hands off when it came to my education, especially when I saw the detrimental impacts of their minds slowly becoming warped with the motto, “Practice makes perfect,” “I must be perfect,” “I need to get an A,” and all the other terrifyingly similar phrases brainwash them into failure-fearing students. Nonetheless, I would simultaneously feel envious and ashamed when I see fellow classmates advance in life, earning awards, experience and recognition in and outside of school because of how strict and demanding their parents were while I did nothing worthwhile in my spare time other than contemplate and daydream.

Therefore, I find myself in a position where I both worry for my young cousin’s mental and emotional health from being regularly torn down by her mother whenever she gets a mark below of an A or 85% and somewhat agreeing with my aunt on the matter of an environment that enriches a child’s learning. I don’t, however, support her method of executing it - the forceful nature, the threatening of abandonment, the unnecessary fearmongering, the emotional manipulation. The tiresome and expensive hours of tutoring after a long day at school (mind you, that the standard school day in China is relatively longer than that in the West), the extracurricular such as hours of music lessons and dance classes, on top of English classes that, from my experience, don’t quite teach students how to use English effectively - and all this is relatively normal within the lands of China, however, in the case of my dear cousin, more is expected of her as she is one of a considerable amount of young Chinese being shipped off overseas to study by their parents.

If my young cousin was a university student, I suppose she wouldn’t find it too hard, well, that if she wasn’t too concerned of her own integrity. At least then, the option of hiring someone to do the course for her would be there. Though, personally, I would find it appalling if she were to choose that route when she is in university, but for now, she isn’t. Instead, next year, if all goes according to my aunt’s plans, my cousin will be attending the either the best or second-best high school in the state I live in, in Australia.

When I asked my aunt as to why she would go to such lengths for my cousin, she simply said that it was cheaper to send her to study in Australia because it’ll help my cousin live a better life in China when she grows up. I’m sure many will understand the linear thought pattern of my aunt; better school, better university, better job, better life. However, at what cost? I’m not talking about the financial cost here, but more so the invisible cost.

Call me an overly-sensitive leftist or whatever degrading term there is for people like me, but how would this impact a child mentally? How about emotionally? And even socially?

Now, to be clear, I’m not simply picking out on the idea of suddenly sending children off to another country to finish their high schooling years; I’m referring to the Chinese, if not, Asian method of raising children. (Though, I should point out this doesn’t mean there aren’t non-Asian parents who also practice this method of parenting - it’s just that, from my observations, majority of parents who do use this method are Asians, a fact most of the world acknowledges.)

Emotionally, children are raised to think that if they aren’t great, they are worthless and/or hopeless. Mentally, children have huge expectations weighing down on them at very young ages which they are to fulfil, most of which don’t line up with their own dreams and ambitions, that is if they even have their own dreams and ambitions. Socially, well, where is the time to socialise if your life revolves around getting good grades? Now, add that to the financial costs of schooling, tutoring and extracurricular. The cost is quite staggering, I find and I haven’t even begun to count the lack of life skills these children possess who are subjected to this sort of parenting. Also, as some may add, the children of such strict and demanding parents lose out on a childhood.

Bear with me, but such things as a childhood is a relatively recent invention. Prior to the Victorian Era, the idea of a childhood didn’t exist as we know today and by the time it did, it was a concept only among the rich and wealthy, and don’t quote me on this, living in the West. However, in East Asia (maybe even the whole of Asia), I speculate, this sort of thinking never quite flourished as much or took that much of a hold until the late 20th century, be it because of the World Wars that occurred earlier in the century or the difference of cultural values.

In my humble opinion, I theorise it’s more so the difference in cultural values. In the West, individualism is upheld and everyone is accountable for themselves whereas in the East, collectivism is the core of cultural values, where the actions of one person affects the many, for example, the generational imprisonment in North Korea should one member of the family executes a treasonous action. In the West, doting on the young/new generation and then not expecting anything in return as they age is the norm due to the culture that each is responsible for their own life - this in itself, is both good and bad. However, in the East, the young/new generation is doted on beyond comprehension and is expected to somehow pay back all the kindness they were shown as children, often in the means of a financial & emotional fashion. Why this is, is because of a concept of ‘filial piety’, a concept that most who grew up without an Asian background have never heard of. Essentially, 'filial piety’ is the younger generation respecting, perhaps even to the point of serving, the older generation. It’s an idea that the older generation is responsible of the younger generation until they can no longer, in which then the roles are swapped. However, do not quote me on that. This, I think, then drills an idea into the head of the parents that they can say to their children that because they’re treating them incredibly well, they can demand the equivalent back in the form of grand grades. Consequently, if their demands aren’t met, they feel as if their threats of abandonment and/or their greatly exaggerated predictions of a terrifying and catastrophic future is justified. So, I surmise that Asian parents see their children as an investment and therefore, they reason the more they put into the children, specifically their education, the more they’ll get in return later in life, such as better life.

Personally, as much as I find the method of Asian parenting both disturbing yet beneficial, I am intrigued by it. From a sociological and psychological perspective, it’s an example of human diversity expressed through culture that I find fascinating to explore and understand. Then, as the eldest daughter of two Vietnamese-born Chinese parents, I find it to be a personal matter worth looking into, as I never had to experience it. I have a hunch it may have partly been because of my parents adoption of a strict form of Christianity prior to me starting primary school, my own studious initiative and the fact I was born in and grew up in Australia, where he academic environment isn’t as competitive as it is in Asia.

Now, I admit I am over generalising all this, perhaps even exaggerating it, but in essence, I ask myself and the world this; just how much are we willing to pay, maybe even sacrifice, to allow our children a better future? And are we willing to deconstruct the social construct we call a 'childhood’? Or will we be the generation that will reconstruct what a 'childhood’ means, as the culture of the 21st century is rapidly changing and adapting?

My conjecture is that, with changing values of modern life, society’s approach towards raising children will change dramatically in order to accommodate higher educational demands and to tackle the challenges of raising children with ever advancing technology at their fingertips. In consequence to all of the aforementioned, the traditional idea of a 'childhood’ will radically evolve and I surmise that the possibility of a new parenting style where a hybrid of the Asian method and Western values will become the new norm. And that, I find, is an intriguing notion.

So, as my cousin plays Tchaikovsky’s June: Barcarolle, I stand back and marvel at her mastery of the piano; her hands gliding across the black and white keys, playing a magnificent melody of moving melancholy and hopeful happiness. I let my thoughts mellow as I let the notes paint a beach before me, the waves gently caressing my feet as I watch the setting sun make way for an array of brilliant stars, illuminating the vast darkness that is the night sky, hoping that when the sun rises once again, my dear cousin does indeed have a bright tomorrow.

[jessicakmatt]

11 Rob Burrell Tips To Improve Your Mixing

11 Rob Burrell Tips To Improve Your Mixing: via LANDR Blog

Pensado’s preferred mixer shares some hot tips.

Rob Burrell is a mix engineer who recently became Pensado’s Place’s preferred mixer. What do they have in common? A love of music and educating the next generation.

Burrell’s mixing credits include big rock and country acts like Michael W. Smith, Carrie Underwood, Lady Antebellum, and many others. He’s also mixed sound for film and is now working on a hard rock EP, a pop-opera album and music for three Sea World roller coasters.

“I don’t do genres—I make music. I listen to music that’s all over the map and I’m incredibly thankful that the same diversity comes across my console daily. My clients comes from all over the world, and I’m having the time of my life.”

He’s got us asking: what’s your secret Rob?

From Singing to Stepping Behind the Console

Rob Burrell wanted to become a singer and went to college to do a vocal performance major. One day a professor took him to a background vocal session he was producing. “I’d never been in a studio before, that night everything changed. Watching the producer and engineer accomplish what I had heard my whole life—and naively thought just happened automatically—my entire focus changed. It was the perfect blend of tech and musicianship.”

That made him shift gears and enroll in a Recording and Production program. “I got my first assistant gig in 1994 while I was still in college, and that first job turned into my first Platinum record to hang on the wall.”

A decade later, he decided to focus on being a mix engineer—not just an engineer who mixes. “This was scary because I had four young kids and a wife to provide for—but that’s a pretty good motivation to succeed! It was a rough transition, but it paid off. Somewhere around 5,000 mixes later, I still wake up everyday like it’s Christmas morning!”

Here are Rob Burrell’s 11 tips for mixing, studio workflows and living life, in his words:

1. Ask WHY?

I ask myself this question hundreds of times a day—consciously or subconsciously—out of years of practice. It’s a concept that I challenge all my interns, assistants and my clients with.

If you can’t define the “WHY?” to each and every action, you’re just wandering around hoping to stumble onto something that serves the song well. If you don’t know your end goal, you can’t know how to get there.

Sometimes it’s fun to hop in the car and drive wherever the road takes you. But if you’re supposed to be going out for a bag of coffee and your client is coming in 15 minutes… Might not be the best time for a joyride.

For example, I have a bass guitar on a rock track that is driving the chord changes and it isn’t cutting through. I’ve already defined “WHY?” it needs to cut through: because it’s crucial to the changes.

If I’m choosing a 1176 Blackface peak limiter over a STA-Level Tube Compressor after I pound it with 15dB of 800 Hz, 15dB of 1kHz and more shelf above that. WHY am I doing that? Is it because I read somewhere that you’re supposed to use an 1176 on bass? There’s no “WHY?” there—no thought process of your own.

I want the 1176 is because it’s quick enough to warm and round out a bunch of the clack up top I just created. I was looking for definition in the note changes and it gives me exactly that. The STA would glue it to the wall, but it would give me too much of the nasal region of the bass. It wouldn’t react as quickly to tame the front edge of the string noise.

Don’t get too hung up on “settings” or just become a preset robot. Instead, begin to be aware of your thought process and control it, rather than hoping to get lucky.

In the early part of your career, this will look more like “I THINK this is why…” As you learn and grow your mixing vocabulary, you’ll be able to say with confidence: “This IS why I chose what I did.” So don’t get too hung up on “settings” or just become a preset robot. Instead, start being aware of your thought process and control it, rather than hoping to get lucky.

2. Bring out the Emotion

Music is emotional! There’s no way around it. Sure, it’s technical and it’s a business. But at the end of the day music is born out of emotion—it expresses emotion, invokes emotion, and we should do everything we can to maximize it during mixing and mastering.

So listen to your songwriter, your artist, your producer and find the heart that drives the song. Sometimes this will be obvious when you listen, sometimes you’ll need to dig deeper.

If you invest emotionally and get inside the music, you’ll make much better decisions to serve it best as you can. And of course remember to ask your hundreds of “WHY?” throughout the day.

3. Check Your Acoustics

This is absolutely critical. If you spend any time on the internet, you’ll read that it’s all about “acoustics, acoustics, acoustics.” That’s true.

As a young up-and-coming engineer I always had my eye on more gear. I was sure it would make my mixes awesome. Or a new set of speakers so I could hear better. A killer set of speakers isn’t going to matter at all until you have a great acoustic situation sorted out.

The great news is that there are so many great products out there to help you. You don’t have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to get your control room dialed in.

For instance, I use the ASC Attack Wall system which I’ve owned for 17+ years and it’s absolutely amazing! People walk into my room to listen and cannot believe that it’s a modular acoustic system and not a 6-figure buildout.

Take some time to learn about acoustics. It’s your job to understand how it affects your work!

So take some time to learn about acoustics. It’s your job to understand how it affects your work! Grab a free copy of Room EQ Wizard and a measurement mic, and make a plan for spending some money to get your room sorted out. Otherwise you’ll buy a killer new tube compressor and won’t even be able to properly hear what it’s doing.

4. Choose Your Monitoring Chain Wisely

After your space is dialed in, having a killer monitoring chain is key.

A master DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter) and speakers that you know intimately will give you a window to how your mixes translate in the real world. You want your speaker to give you the whole picture—not to leave out or gloss over parts of the picture that need more work.

Speaker choice is a personal preference but don’t just pick something that sounds good. Choose something that will inspire you to work harder to make a killer mix. There are speakers out there that I’ve tried and made me think I had knocked the mix out of the park… Only to go listen in the car and realize I should’ve kept working for another two or three hours!

So it’s important to have an honest speaker to guide your way. My personal choice are these ATC SCM50’s with dual Bag End subwoofers. I know that what I hear in my room will sound the way I intended when the mix heads out the door.

5. Balance the Right and Left Brain

Mixing should be a fluid process of constantly moving back and forth between the analytical (left) and creative (right) sides of our brain—never staying in one side for too long.

I love the technology we have today. I’m not afraid to say that I don’t miss the days of analog tape. I absolutely have no issues with what’s going on in the digital world and really love the flexibility it allows us to have.

I do have one issue: the fact that we’re staring at a screen all the time. Looking at music? No thanks…

Give tactile mixing a try. It will truly change the way you think and hear in your process, not to mention increase the speed at which you can accomplish what’s in your head.

This is something I’m very particular about. My main screens are off to the side so I physically have to turn my body to see them. I just don’t want to see music while I mix! Instead I’m grabbing faders, turning knobs, staring off into the space in front of me visualizing my mix and being moved by it—rather than being influenced by pretty colors on the screen or an EQ curve that “looks” too aggressive when I see the graph on the computer.

It’s very important to my personal workflow that I focus on the music. Obviously for editing we need to look at the screen or occasionally a plugin, but mixing is different. It should be a creative and musical experience. Even if it’s a single fader with a few knobs that let you to do more than one action at a time. That already has more emotion.

Give tactile mixing a try. It will truly change the way you think and hear in your process—not to mention increase the speed at which you can accomplish what’s in your head.

6. Think Analog for Headroom and Levels

In the digital age, even with great 32 and 64-bit mix busses, we should still be aware of analog reference levels. We love all our hardware emulation plugins, and designers have primarily created those based on analog gain staging.

The key to getting the best sound is to understand that the zero we see in our DAW’s is 0 dBfs (dB full-scale). That means end of the line, no more room. With Pro Tools meters, I always say that yellow is the new red.

Take a vocal, for instance. When a vocalist hits the region where green becomes yellow, the vocal is likely approaching digital zero. This is because of the slowness of PPM meters (‘pseudo peak’) and the harmonic complexity of the human voice. If that same vocal is glued in the yellow or tickling red, you are missing out on the optimal operating range of analog gear—converters and plugins alike.

Learn what reference your DAW uses (-16, -18, -20, etc.) and start watching your meters. So much of the width and depth we want a plugin to achieve is often easy to do by simply reclaiming the headroom we’ve lost from poor practices.

This applies to samples and Virtual Instruments (VI) as well… so often they output right at zero. Don’t be afraid to turn the master of the VI down 10 or even 20dB! Who cares if the waveforms look small! GOOD! That’s why we have zoom functions on computers.

7. Get Down to Business

“Business Matters.” As musicians, we hate to think this way. But for a lot of us, learning to be businesspeople is crucial. At a certain point, you’ll need to make money to keep making music.

With intellectual property being so undervalued today, do your best NOT to undervalue it further with your clients. When you do work for free, that client will rarely want to give you more.

Study the business around you, understand your place in the chain, and think forward. Not just how to survive today, but what it will take to survive in the future.

Charge something, even if it’s just a little. As your ability and clientele grows, your rate should also. Eventually, you may be supporting a spouse and children—free doesn’t buy a lot of groceries or diapers!

Study the business around you, understand your place in the chain, and think forward. Not just how to survive today, but what it will take to survive in the future.

8. Don’t chase. Lead!

Any time you play it safe, you risk losing the client. We are hired for our opinion. If the client hears the mix and isn’t more moved than when they sent you the rough mix, what do they need you for, anyway?

I work hard to push boundaries every day—my own personal boundaries as well as the client’s. I might go too far and scare them a bit… AWESOME! I can always dial it back if I’ve gone out of bounds. If I went 10% beyond where they thought they were comfortable and we dial it back 5%, we’ve all still pushed our boundaries by 5%. This is evolution—carving new and exciting paths.

Playing it safe won’t get you a win. Be bold, maybe even reckless! Music is dangerous, so be fearless! BUT here’s two rules to remember…

Don’t be different just to be different! Know WHY you’re doing something different!

Make sure you are ready to listen to your client above your own ego, because if you aren’t a good collaborator, you may not get the call next time around.

9. Know the Reference

There are two components to this.

The first component is: what audio format is the reference? Always be aware when checking against commercial releases of the format you’re listening to. Streaming? iTunes download? CD? HD Master? Lossy formats are just that… Information has been lost.

If you listen to a stream and try to copy what you’re hearing, I can almost guarantee you’ll have less top and bottom than you should and too much overall compression/limiting. These formats don’t breathe the way your full resolution master should.

Be aware of the effects of these processes and listen for vibe and generalities, rather than accepting it as complete sonic truth. We shouldn’t be trying to copy another mix anyway, but be super careful of the tonal shape of each of the different formats.

It’s also crucial to know what your clients are referencing, because I’ve had “the mix is a bit too bright” comment before and after sending an MP3 reference rather than a WAV file, the top end was suddenly what they wanted. Sad, but true… know your formats!

The second component is simple. Just remember that no two songs are alike! Don’t try to squeeze your mix into a sonic box to match a commercial mix that you love. Again, listen for vibe and generalities. Do your own thing!

10. Ask questions

We ALL should ALWAYS be learning! I purposely set out to learn something new everyday.

There’s always someone who’s been at it longer than you, and those of us that have been at this for a minute love to share our passion for what we’ve learned.

Fight for knowledge and understanding on your own, but don’t be afraid to ask those that have years of experience.

Fight for knowledge and understanding on your own, but don’t be afraid to ask those that have years of experience. We all start at the bottom and grow from hard work and people speaking into our craft and career. This is community at its best!

11. Live life

Hustle, yes. Hustle hard. Music life is challenging, but therefore very rewarding! So live life with those you love.

Inspiration comes from the world around us. Work your tail off—we all need to in order to keep our edge. But without recharging you’ll get burned out.

No person is an island, so go hang out on an island with some family or friends!

Visit Rob Burrell’s website for more on his discography and studio. Follow Rob on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The post 11 Rob Burrell Tips To Improve Your Mixing appeared first on LANDR Blog.

from LANDR Blog http://blog.landr.com/rob-burrell-mix-tips/ via https://www.youtube.com/user/corporatethief/playlists from Steve Hart https://stevehartcom.tumblr.com/post/161291828004

[ryanwilsonblog-blog]

INTERVIEW: Harry Fowler of Têtes De Pois

Têtes De Pois are an 8-piece jazz band formed by students at Leeds College of Music. Their unique spin on the jazz genre as a whole has gained them a local following, and even earned them the chance to play some huge jazz festivals this coming summer.

I find myself in the company of saxophonist, Harry Fowler who insists that the soundtrack to our meeting would be the 1985 record ‘20/20’ by George Benson. The reverb heavy beats of the 80’s played out in the background whilst I got to know the internal clockwork of his band and as someone who isn’t at all jazz influenced, I hoped I would be entering this interview with a completely different mind-set.

I described Têtes De Pois as a jazz band, although I know it goes much deeper than that. “I’ve recently decided it’s easiest to call it jazz.” Harry explains whilst leaning back into his chair. “The whole answer would be that we’ve got a bit of Afro-Beat, a bit of Jazz Fusion, a bit of this and a bit of that.” It was clear to me that Harry was still unclear how to label his band, having drawn so many influences from various places, it was hard to define their sound with a single genre. Their music is such a clash of influences, especially having 8 members in the band it’s a real fusion of a lot of elements. “Sometimes I feel it makes more sense to say what our influences are, rather than a genre.” Harry lists off his crucial influences, “A big influence for me is Jazz Fusion stuff, like Snarky Puppy to even late Radiohead stuff that has some jazzy elements.” Harry seemed enthusiastic to namedrop another Leeds outfit in Mansion Of Snakes who he cited had a huge impact on their sound when they starting out.

The Octet gained their following by relentlessly gigging the Leeds circuit, hurling themselves onto every bill they could get their hands on. It’s the same commitment to their live performances that has helped them land back to back shows in London. “I got speaking to a band we put on through the Tight Lines label last year, and they put me onto the right people.” Harry’s ability to play the system and smooth talk the promoters resulted in Têtes De Pois playing Brixton Hootananny, a show that Fowler describes as his favourite. “It was packed out for us! And we were the first band on, it was crazy!” Harry credits that to how the night was run by the venue, having free entry until 10, with the first band also going on at that time. “It was really interesting because it was a live hip-hop event, and people turn up and these jazz musicians are opening the night. Everyone was super receptive to us and it was sick.”

Having spent the early years of his life in market town of Hitchin, and having witnessed first-hand the music scene in Southern England, Fowler describes Leeds as a city “On the up, especially for the type of music we’re playing.” With a clear sense of accomplishment in his work with the Tight Lines collective, having put on plenty of local shows in his time in Yorkshire. “But even on a larger scale too, bands play mostly London! But it���s becoming apparent that big artists are choosing Leeds and are playing the north more frequently.” Fowler namedrops some more acts who are soon to be appearing in Leeds such as Kamasi Washington.

2017 saw Têtes De Pois release their debut EP, which is shrewdly titled ‘The E Pea.’ “If I’m honest, we mainly put out this EP to get more gigs off of it, and it totally worked!” Harry explains, “I don’t think it comes across that well recorded though.” Fowler believes his band’s music to be a live art form, due to the improvisational nature and the awe of seeing technical music in person. “I obviously love that people can sit and listen to it, but for me personally, it’s heavily weighted towards improvisation and being in the moment, so to speak.” Fowler’s passion for not only his own live performance but seeing live jazz music is astounding. “It’s the type of music I like to see live, because it’s more interesting to see people perform it, because you’re thinking about how they’re going to work it live and things like that.” Although the music may not translate into a recorded piece as well as Fowler may have hoped, he is still enormously proud of his bands effort. “An 8-piece band playing fairly technical jazz with solos was a huge challenge, there was a lot of arguing over takes,” Harry explains, “It was all live too! I think multitasking it would just deaden the music, it’s something we wanted to prove to ourselves.” The band’s first EP, which is on Bandcamp with a ‘pay as you feel’ based system, serves as a foundation for Têtes De Pois to build upon.

As me and Harry discussed his band in length to George Benson, it was interesting to pick up on what influences him on a personal level. Fowler spoke highly of the Pennsylvanian jazz musician, “I think he’s a killer guy! He was a huge jazz-head back in the day and he rinsed that.” Harry then goes onto explain his record 20/20, “I guess he decided he could do cheesy 80’s pop as well and in my opinion he nailed that too!” Fowler also detailed his new found love for Prince, an artist who only recently he gotten into. As well as this, the posters behind Fowler displaying artists such as John Coltrane and Kamasi Washington gave me an insight into his musical preferences.

Jazz may not be considered a beloved genre for the younger generation who are discovering music but bands like Têtes De Pois are amongst many who are aiming to disregard such notions. Modernising and creating unique up-beat fun music that people can groove to, is an astonishing accomplishment in itself. It’s the same type of music that makes an entertaining listen for musicians as well as just casual music fans. You can catch Fowler and the rest of Têtes at Manchester Jazz Festival, Wigan Jazz Festival and the Tight Lines Day Festival.

Links: Bandcamp Facebook Instagram