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having-a-hyperfixate · 3 years ago

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Secret Reports

Gonna just edit this thing and put line breaks as I get more of them.

I’m also working on the rest of the completion, and will probably wander off in the middle of this to do Another Day, which will probably have its own post. I fully expect that to be sheer madness.

#1 So is it just me or is Mr H writing these reports to channel how extremely stressed he is. Cuz like. Mood. *gestures vaguely at blog* *gestures at this post specifically*

I. Hold up. Skeezy McFuckwad and Joshua did what resulting in which now. Excuse me. EXPLAIN!??! Joshua had a sneaky Game running with Skeezy that directly lead to Hazuki ordering Skeezy to destroy Shinjuku??? Is that what I am reading. Or possibly the order was already in the works, and then there was the Game, which ultimately just pushed that forward?? You can’t just say shit like that and not give details ffffffff.

#2 Mr H having about as much contempt for Shinjuku rules as I do I feel seen haha. Bogus indeed. I can’t remember if I said it in one of my other posts, of if it was in a group chat, but I made a comment somewhere how this ruleset doesn’t seem to work with the stated purpose of the whole Reaper’s Game system. Sweet validation.

#3 Not much to say except that if I had read this entire report when I actually got it, I would have been much more alarmed by all of the Replays Rindo has to do after that. I got it partway through week 3 but decided not to read it until I beat the game and then BAM it has this lovely tidbit about potentially being able to destroy the UG and RG.

#4 So, the business that the fandom refers to as the Long Game is known in universe by the higher-ups and Shibuya’s impurification, because it didn’t get ‘purified’ like Shinjuku (I object to that term but ok).

“The hierarchical freeze presumably stems from opposition to the impurification”

Skeezy wasn’t reprimanded when he arrived in Shibuya “possibly because most Higher Plane denizens still oppose Shibuya’s impurification”

ExcUSE ME. I. WHAT. In one of the secret reports for the first game, Mr H says something about the way things turned out be an ‘ideal parallel world’ according to the Angels. I guess he only meant the ones who didn’t want the city destroyed holy shit. That most of them didn’t want Joshua to change his mind and STILL DON’T is so massively fucked up I can’t. Dear Higher Plane, what the actual, ever loving fuck.

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#5 One hundred and four Games under Shiba. That’s… so. many. teams. Holy shit. And the teams we knew had seen at LEAST 30 teams go. And the three teams we saw weren’t small. So many people…

Also, “Minamimoto seems to be plotting something” is the funnies thing I’ve read in ages OF COURSE HE IS that’s what he DOES. XD That was some mood whiplash.

#6 I was so hung up on the lack of entry fee for so long you don’t even know. Like. Those were so important in the first one it was baffling to me that Shinjuku rules didn’t have anything similar. And then eventually I just decided that the whole Game wasn’t being run correctly and Shiba was clearly after something other than driving the improvement that’s supposed to be the point.

I would like more explanation on this ‘Rindo’s stagnation makes him perfect for time travel thing’. I kind of understand how his reactions being consistent would be helpful in being able to control where the timeline goes (also I just realized this further confirms that Angels remember the other timelines glad I wasn’t imagining that the Prime days are a blur), but what does he mean about being able to maintain abnormally high levels of imagination? (It might tell me later so don’t say anything lol)

“I can only hope I’m not overthinking things.” Oh, you aren’t. If I’m understanding everything correctly, Skeezy actually had two proxies. And poor Rindo managed to end up being proxy for both sides at the same time which is. A mess.

#7 Well, finally we know how Coco managed to get her hands on a taboo sigil. Plagiarism. Lmao. That at least makes sense and I can worry less about her being Something Else. I would like a word with whoever didn’t clean that up from Udagawa long enough for her to copy it though. That’s hilarious. Interesting that Mr H thinks it wasn’t a perfect recreation though, that something in him got changed. Once again, please elaborate. Please. *headdesk* What prompted Coco to just. Copy a taboo sigil though. Cuz that seems. Unusual.

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#8 Ok there’s a lot to unpack in this one. Namely, more Shinjuku rules. I would love to know if these are long standing rules or relatively recent. Cuz like. Did Shinjuku’s Game ever run in a way that would drive the kind of improvement that’s supposed to be the overall goal? Or has it always, or at least for a while now, been basically a meat grinder? The players that don’t clear that minimum bar probably just get erased outright, I would think. Actually, I’m confused. If normally, one team would get to leave and one team would be erased, wouldn’t that normally keep the average pretty level, so the Game would basically go on forever? Otherwise what do you do with all the other teams that are between first and last? I’m confused. It can’t be normal for teams to keep asking for more rounds. And what if the winning team says ‘everyone gets to go home’?

“The Conductor has yet to contact the Composer” and “it is possible he is unaware of the Higher Plane’s purification protocol.” I don’t know why, but I get the feeling these are important.

#9 These secret reports are really driving at the whole ‘Rindo just goes with it’ thing, aren’t they. Like, that was his thing, right? He has trouble making definitive decisions? So his arc culminates in that moment in Udagawa where he tells Hazuki that he’s going to take the risk and go back one more time, where he’s making that decision purely for his own sake. And here Mr H seems to be saying that prodding Rindo down the road to character growth is going to be a lot harder than it was with Neku back in the day. Which makes sense, I think. Confronting someone with the concept that other people have value is a lot less complicated than trying to get them to not only make a firm decision, but to choose something that is purely because it’s what they want and need, not because someone else thinks they should.

It’s a little alarming that this report implies that if the pin wasn’t absorbing the Dissonance caused by the Replays, the UG and RG would already be having a bad time. Yikes. This is the report for day 2 of the second week. We haven’t even gotten into the crazy time travel yet.

Aaaaand #10 is for completing the social network, so I have to actually go do Another Day. I want to read these in order; it is much less confusing that way.

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#10 I really shouldn’t read these late at night with a possible migraine coming on, they’re already confusing enough. The bits that made sense: Uzuki was acting Conductor damn girl. (Did she have to deal with Joshua and was he in Dignified Mode or Being a Shit Mode because that’s possibly an oof.) I had assumed Shiba was Shinjuku’s Conductor and then just kinda took over after they moved in but apparently not? And RIP the actual Conductor, apparently. Weird that so many Reapers made it but the Conductor, who by all rights should have, didn’t.

I am slightly concerned by the fact that there’s standard procedure for obliterating a district. That’s. Alarming.

I don’t think page 4 is continuing the thought on page 3. Fucking. Stop that. Don’t just say a thing and then start talking about something else I would like EXPLANATIONS. UGH. “Almost” he says. I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that almost is a big deal, so why don’t you tell me about it.

Four cases where a district got into trouble before a final decision on whether to reset or not was made. And one was the last game. I wonder if that means whatever was wrong that made Joshua want to destroy it, or if the ‘imbalance’ was all the madness that happened after he agreed to one final Game with Kitaniji and the left the UG. Cuz in one of the first set of secret reports, it says that with the Composer absent, the UG is starting to fall apart as the rules are no longer valid, or something like that. I would definitely call that an imbalance.

#11 All I care about in this report is that Mr H wants to have a digital art bonding party with Kaie and that is so random why are you writing this down you absolute goober. The first page of this report is like ‘everyone is getting depressed’ and then just a wild left turn into dork-town. Lmao what.

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#12 I don’t think Mr H knows at this point (you get this report for W2D5’s Boss Noise) that the Ruinbringers are all Reapers. He’s gonna be mad. He does know what Shoka is up to though. He’s worried. Aw.

#13 It didn’t occur to me until this report hit me in the face with it, but they’ve set up a fantastic contrast between the two people Rindo knows from online. One is. not great, let’s say, because I did not take the reveal of Motoi’s true self well. The other is Shoka, and she’s a real friend. I now see what you did there. One relationship that’s a farce and one that really, really isn’t.

#14 Me, out loud, at 1:30 in the damn a.m.: WAIT. HOLD THE FUCK UP.

If getting Tsugumi out of Mr Mew required an Angel, how in the hell did Shiki manage to…? What. I’m very confused.

Also damn, saving Tsugumi was so important that Shinjuku’s Conductor died for it. Did he know what she could do, the whole visions thing? Or maybe that something was wrong with Shiba and it would take someone like her to potentially stop him in the future?

I still would like to now how the hell Tsugumi got her hands on Mr Mew. Especially since its apparently the ORIGINAL Mr Mew and she seems to have had him during the inversion? What.

#15 So… Inversions don’t always happen when a region is purified. I’m trying to wrap my brain around what a ‘complete loss of character’ in and area that’s had an Inversion could mean. Like… I think I get it, but my brain won’t make words, let alone sentences. Like when you go into a hotel room, and it doesn’t feel like a home, as opposed to when you go to a friend or family’s house, and it does? Kinda like that but it’s the whole district that’s just… blank? That’s kinda creepy.

If there are so many who think a ‘regular purification’ isn’t enough, the a) what does that even look like, b) is that what Joshua was going to do to Shibuya and c) is there an intermediate step between ‘normal’ and Inversion? I have been staring at this report for literally 15 minutes now.

#16 “I wonder how [Shiba] will feel about all this after he is allowed to return to his former self.” Yuuuuuup. I still Do Not Like him, but dude was borderline mind controlled so like. Yeah. And I did get to kill him once, so. As long as he minds his business and isn’t a total dick from here on, whatever. It all just sucks.

*facepalm* Well at least we got to being suspicious of Replay eventually. Why did it take you this long Mr H. Though I do wonder what Rindo would have been able to do without the interference. He had to have some kind of latent skill for the pin to react to him, right? I’m now going in circles mentally trying to puzzle out if Replay is like, a leveled up version of whatever Rindo would have naturally had, and regardless, where exactly it came from. Because the only time I can think of when anyone had a chance to mess with the pin was when he didn’t catch it in the prologue. And I’m pretty sure it was Joshua who picked it up. Aaagh I’m giving myself a headache.

I find it hard to believe skeezy would just yeet a random time travel pin out into the world. That seems both dumb as fuck and inefficient.

#17 “Some of them who know what I am occasionally try to contact me.” Lol so Kariya DOES know who Mr H is, I take it. Alright.

I’m having some kind of emotion that Wildkat still exists in a way for the Reapers, and that some of them still go there.

I just imagined Uzuki texting him like ‘plz make the Composer fucking do something kthx’ and I’ve got the giggles now oh dear

#18 HA! I was right! Minamimoto WASN’T in control when he attacked us! ‘Distortions within himself’ though, that’s concerning. Does that have to do with how he’s come back from the dead twice now? And how Coco’s copy of the sigil was apparently imperfect?

#19 I was about to say ‘who would target him for his abilities?’ and then my brain turned back on because duh. Shiba and them were looking hard for Neku, to the point that they flooded the RG with Player Pins in the hopes that he would pick one up and get sucked into the Game. A thing that occurred to me last night at 3:30 in the morning because I am a disaster: Mr H says that Minamimoto ‘seems different’. Neku says much the same thing after he comes back. So… Neku’s ability to Scan all the way down to someone’s Soul is potentially close to as sensitive as Mr H’s long distance ability. Which is a little insane. On top of the fact that he can use basically every psych imaginable no problem, survived a pact with a Composer for a full week, while said Composer was using crazy light beams which probably should have melted Neku from the feedback, and then almost singlehandedly defeated the Conductor while somehow inventing four-way fusion attacks. Kid is mad powerful. And he’s just a human. Like, the OG secret reports say that people always become dramatically stronger when they become Reapers. Reaper!Neku would be unstoppable.

“This would be much simpler if I could sit down and talk with him.” Okay, I laughed out loud. Like, loudly.

So… Shinjuku’s Composer… basically had his Conductor assassinated by skeezy. And because skeezy was messing with Shiba’s head, he could prompt Shiba to take the Reapers to Shibuya afterwards, to start doing it there too? Hazuki ordered Shinjuku’s purification so… Oh dear. I might have a few bones to pick with him.

OH NO. OOOOOH. OH NOOOO. SHINJUKU’S CONDUCTOR. HE WAS TSUGUMI’S BROTHER OH MY GOD. That is fucking tragic what the fuck. What the FUCK. Okay several things make sense now but OH MY GOD FUCKING HELL I WAS NOT READY FOR THAT. Shiki fixing Mr Mew allowed Tsugumi to free herself because her brother had already done part of the work, I take it? Along with us getting the Noise out of there? No wonder the Conductor stayed, he had to go get his sister… Shit, man.

…… Did Coco steal Mr Mew and take him to Shinjuku?????

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#21 isn’t very interesting, just a rehash of stuff we already knew.

#22 Okay Haz IS Shinjuku’s Composer. What. Why? I’m. So confused. Why would he intercede on our behalf, and why NOW? He was happy to throw his own city away, but stepped in to stop skeezy in Shibuya? And then tried to put it back together, and when Rindo was miserable he came to try to understand why. And then cajoled Rindo into having a breakthrough in his Character Development to boot.

Mr H says he has an idea why Haz did all this. And then doesn’t fucking say it because OF COURSE. *headdesk* That gets really old really fast, game.

I’m now running through The Last Day’’ to get the final two reports and this entire section with Haz is somehow even more confusing with context. God damn it Nomura.

#23 Even after he said we were on our on this time, he forced the Soul Pulvis to reform as Pheonix Cantus to make it easier for us to fight? Bro. What. Are all Composers just… walking contradictions? Aiya.

Shoutout to emotional support Joshua at the end there lol. I remember half-hysterically thinking ‘what are you just here for moral support?’ but ok. And I mean, it did work, Neku did manage to do the thing, so. *sigh* Speaking of, it is ABSOLUTELY INSANE that Neku manage to sync with the entire city without his brain melting. Remember at the beginning of the first game when he scans for the first time and has a massive sensory overload? Look at my boy, all grown up.

#24 Holy shit world building on how exactly people come back to life without everyone freaking out. I never thought I would see the day.

I still have so many questions but that was always going to be the case. The first game had so many things it left open as well. Agh. Time to start wearing new holes in my brain overthinking things.

#let's liveblog: neo twewy #neo twewy spoilers #secret reports

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comradelup · 4 years ago

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Hey bruh can we get an epic infodump about that BOTW au, because I am HERE for some self indulgent content, hit this niche Zelda/TAZ fan audience with that tasty au over here

i just woke up so this might not be too legible but :3333 also obviously spoilers for botw for ppl who haven’t played it and don’t wanna be spoiled

(most of it is under the cut though because WOW this got long akdnajfnsjf)

okay so taako is link and lup is zelda. instead of being a princess and knight they’re a king and queen co-ruling faerun. there isn’t really a king rhoam figure in this? like they don’t have a parent/guardian they pops up in the memories, it’s just them ruling the kingdom. when the prophecy came, they knew one of them was the royal with the goddess’ blood in them and the other would be the hero with the darkness sealing weapon. obviously both of them would have the same blood or whatever since they’re twins, but it comes down to who can properly wield the magic. as it turns out, lup is the magic twin and taako is the weapon wielding twin. their enemy, usually ganon, is instead the hunger.

there is still an old civilization of ppl with ancient technology, though i don’t really have a name for them, so i��ll keep calling them sheikah. BUT, there is a modern day group of people dedicating themselves to learning all they can about the sheikah technology in order to prepare for the return of the hunger. they are the institute of past research and exploration, IPRE for short. it is made up by the rest of the seven birds, among a few others.

the champions are davenport, merle, magnus, and barry. lucretia is kinda how she was in TSC canon, just sorta tagging along to write everything down, but that changes once they make the grand relics. speaking of, the light of creation replaces the master sword in this instance. it has the power to fight off the hunger, as well as take the shape of any weapon taako can imagine. that’s how we get the flaming raging poisoning sword of doom and the krebstar. but lup and barry, ever the scientists, are like “is there any way to… break the light into pieces? so more people get super powerful weapons against the apocalypse?” so they do

some of the relics are different, though. the philosopher’s stone doesn’t change things, but it changes itself, keeping that weapon-changing property of the original light. obviously, since it’s a seventh of what it used to be, it isn’t as powerful. but it’s still pretty damn powerful compared to the rest of the weapons in the world. the gaia sash is different too, adding healing on top of the plant magic. the animus bell basically makes undead armies instead of the soul switching magic from canon. basically, the relics’ powers are altered to better fit a combat situation. also they’re the gifts given to taako after the divine beasts (replacing urbosa’s fury/daruk’s protection/etc) so they would need a more combative/practical use. the healing part of the gaia sash is basically this au’s mipha’s grace akfnajfnsj

one relic in particular is interesting, and that’s the phoenix fire gauntlet. with lup’s struggle to unlock her powers, she created the gauntlet as a sort of conductor for magic energy. she’s incredibly proficient in normal magic (esp evocation) but this goddess magic is tricky to unlock, and it’s super frustrating. the other stuff came so easy to her, so why is this hard? unfortunately, the gauntlet didn’t help with that :-(

lucretia and her relic are also interesting in this au. as i mentioned in the ficlet i posted, she intended to use the bulwark staff to protect the champions, and she couldn’t, so she blames herself for everything that happened. obviously, it’s not her fault and i make myself sad thinking about her being sad T_T but as a result of this, plus a bit of good ol paranoia, she uses the bulwark staff to create a big bubble shield around phandalin (this au’s kakariko villiage) the rest of the IPRE live here (basically the BOB, so killian, carey, johann, etc)

i won’t go too into detail for the rest of the story, as it’s fairly similar to botw canon other than that, but some things to note are this: the divine beasts are different, so as to suit the champions better. magnus and merle have a bear and owl, respectively, but idk what’s for barry and davenport (definitely open to suggestions akdnajdns). also, the yiga clan is called the shadow brethren, because i love me a good amnesty reference. it’s leader is kalen, and he’s an actual threat to taako, unlike kogha. i’d imagine the brethren tie to magnus’ divine beast because kalen ties to his storyline. also, the gauntlet basically becomes the bow of light in this au, aka what taako uses to defeat the hunger once and for all

other characters to note are:

kravitz and the raven queen, basically purah and symin in the hateno ancient tech lab. they’re a mother and son duo, with TRQ living through the calamity and kravitz being born afterwards

lucas and maureen are in robbie and jerrin’s place as another mother-son duo in the same position as krav + TRQ; maureen lived through the calamity and lucas was born after

(everyone is basically human in this, or at least has human lifespans, so 100 years is definitely a long time for someone to live through. maureen and TRQ developed magic to prevent them from aging all those years. lucretia was the first volunteer to use this magic, but it kinda failed and instead only slowed down her aging. that’s why she’s her older self when taako wakes up.)

the goddess hylia is instead istus. not much changes there, she’s just the goddess everyone references akdnakdjs

yknow the characters that help link get to the divine beasts in canon? like sidon, riju, etc? they’re replaced by other characters depending on what relic taako is going after, and it correlates to canon. so when he’s going after davenport’s divine beast/the oculus, he meets angus. when going after the owl/gaia sash, he meets hurley and sloane. so on and so forth. though he DEFINITELY meets julia in refuge and she DEFINITELY does NOT have a crush on the hero of legend who piloted the bear divine beast 100 years ago ;)))))

differently from botw canon, taako actually develops a strong relationship with lucretia, who is pretty much impa with a different backstory. as he gets his memories back he realizes he had six incredibly close best friends and now five of them are gone, so he kinda gravitates to her when he’s with her

one more thing to note is that after taako defeats the hunger and lup is free, she combines the relics into the light and uses it to bring the dead champions back because FUCK death separating this family. lup “phantasmal and resplendent” adventurezone would never allow it. if her brother gets brought back from the dead, so do her friends and her husband, thank you very much

and that’s… basically it! i could go more in depth with the taakitz/blupjeans side of things, but this is long enough akfnskfnskfn but if anyone wants to know anything else i’m always open to talking about it :D

#i didn’t even get into the angst…#balance #botw au #ask #anon #honestly? tysm for letting me dump about this au i’m more or less always thinking about it skfnsjfjs #also this took me like an hour to write. i’m now fully awake

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agentofship · 5 years ago

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My rewatch AoS 1x11 to 1X15

I am very late for the rewatch so I thought I’d keep doing my rewatch review in blocks of five episodes (or whatever seems relevant). So here we go. With TAHITI, we're starting to get a glimpse of what the rest show is going to be since from that moment on. Except for Yes Men (who still gives an important moment information about May at the end) who really should have been in the first part of the season, every episode will be connected in a more or less big way to the main plot of the season. Like Yes Men who's completely independent or Seeds whose main plot doesn't seem linked until the end when we learn that Iain Quinn was linked to it, this first part of 1B makes the transition between the happy Bus days and the darker tone of the last seven episodes that will continue on in season two. So here's a few thoughts about separate episode: The Magical Place I absolutely love that first scene with the team working together perfectly, each using their own talent, it was perfect. Still love it when people call Fitz "sir" in season one, it's just so funny since he's so tiny 😄 May is really smart in that episode. Everyone did exactly as she had planned without even having to tell them (because she knew FitzSimmons and Ward would help Skye escape) and thus also remaining in Hand's good graces. Agent Skye mini May is adorable! But she really is as smart and ressourceful as May, she just needs to be trained in combat and badassness now! I know it's a very unpopular opinion but Raina annoys the crap out of me with her too sweet smiles and exaggeratedly sexy voice. I mean she's obviously really at getting in men's heads, including Coulson but I just find her… annoying. She gets more interesting after she turns, too bad she didn't last longer after that. Love the Coulson rescue mission, again that was some very good team work. And love the reunion scene, although I know at least Skye wanted a group hug. Love May's side smile and "Nice Jacket". "Bet there's no flower dresses where she's going!" "Amen to that, sister." Love that :D "Disengage bracelet" Coulson's dorkiness really is one of his most endearing traits. Seeds First of all, a big thank you for giving us enough FitzSimmons content for hundreds of FitzSimmons Academy Era fics. Love that FitzSimmons scene where they present each other's work mirroring the scene in the Pilot when they introduce each other, it's adorable. Also love the way their speech is so well rehearsed, it's perfectly flawing between them and I bet even that joke Fitz does was written on paper. "Potential can sometimes be dangerous…" Oh Fitz, you're going to remember that one quite bitterly in a few years. FitzSimmons are so proud of their Academy and being such stars there. I love their competition with Ward and Simmons' "Did you have one of these in ops? Did not think so." Yep, cannot imagine Ops having something so fun! SciTech would have definitely been more my kind of place (except for the fact that I didn't study science at all :p) "My room was just like that." We know it's a lie but it's cute, it's Fitz's slightly awkward way of trying to connect. We know he has trouble making first contact and it looks like he's also kind of thrilled of being someone's hero or even a father figure of sorts. Coulson saying "You're talking, it's weird" is the best. That's some pretty dangerous info we're getting on Skye. They really took their time giving us bits of information all through the first season to focus on it in season two. Love the little robot on the bar at the boiler room, never noticed that before, need to include it in a future fic, it's adorable! Too bad Donnie ended up as he did, he really wasn't a bad person and deserved a redemption arc. Again, May is such a freaking badass. And all this without a single superpower! T.R.A.C.K.S Although there will be some criticizing, keep in mind that this episode still remains one of my favorite episodes of the season and the show as a whole. Love the plot, the humor, the action, the different POVs and that's also some top notch drama at the end. So, first of all, the accents. Even I, a person who only some distant italian relatives, can tell that Ward's one is awful. But at least, he's not supposed to be Italian so that's understandable. But that conductor sounds like a mix between Mario and Jen speaking pretend Italian in IT Crowd (hilarious episode by the way, you should look it up if you haven't :D) Then, that train. You should read @valentinaonthemoon‘s post here about it if you haven't because she points out all that is wrong with the train and its route. But seriously, it's so weird. It's all too big and pretty. I have never seen a restaurant carriage with actual cute little wooden tables and chairs and actual room to walk between the table. And what the hell about the actual bed? I've taken a night train to Venice once, even first class wasn't close to looking like that! Anyway, now moving on to all the good parts. May is the definition of badass in this episode. First casually walking on a moving train and then taking of all the bad guys with the knife they stabbed her in the shoulder with. And I also love the little Philinda moment where she lets him help her but didn't let Ward. Love Fitz summing up every cliche Europeans have about Americans "They have some good shows. Lots of nice teeth." and "Someplace affordable with big portions." His pretend relationship and real friendship with Skye is very very sweet in this. I love all the teasing but also the way he insists she takes the gun and tells her to be careful. Jemma is, once again, very heroic in this. Once more, she takes the conscious decision to sacrifice herself for his friends and Fitz in particular. Of course, that grenade wouldn't have killed them but she didn't know that. So really, during the pod scene, when Fitz is faced with the reality that only one can hope to make it to the surface, his decision is easy. And I think it's not only because he loves her and couldn't bear to live without her anyway, but also because she did twice already and he thinks that's it's his turn now. He's just less lucky about the consequences it has on him. (And ironically, Ward provoked it instead of being here to save the day… but I digress). I love Fitz's reaction after Jemma falls. He doesn't run to her because he's stunned and frozen at the idea that she might be dead. His sigh of relief when Skye tells him she's alive is everything. And also the line about her little face is adorable, especially since I only learned recently that it was ad libed by Iain! I didn't remember how heartbreaking Skye was when she tries to call for help and has no voice left at all. For a moment, she must have thought she was going to die all alone in that scary dark room. I mean, I never was really worried because they weren't going to kill her off but still, that's gut wrenching :s But Jemma for the win though! She's not even a medical doctor and so many people are alive thanks to her! And well, of course, THAT HUG! I mean all of FitzSimmons hugs are wonderful but this one is just… I love how it parallels the one from 4x21 where they don't talk and he just has to reach for her shoulder for her to finally let go and cry in his arms. At first, she doesn't fully hug him because she's afraid of putting blood on him (which is very Jemma-like of her) but then she lets go and he doesn't need to say a thing because it's his presence that comforts her the most. Also, FZZT was the moment he realized his feelings had changed for the first time but this feels important too. This is the first of many hugs and the moment their relationship becomes more physical (not in the sexual sense of the word, just physical). As much as I like to imagine they spent their Academy days falling asleep in the same bed every week, I feel like until now, their friendship was very intellectual with only quick very tame physical displays of affection like the touch of a hand or shoulder. Even that kiss on the cheek seemed something wild in the way he reacted and she hesitated before doing it. After that, we'll see more hugs and more daring touches, culminating into the pod scene. (and then regressing and slowly progressing again in season two B and and three) Because being on the field had taught them how hard things could be and they're like each other comfort blanket for a time, thus the need to be physically closer. T.A.H.I.T.I I love how FitzSimmons are sitting so close together on that couch. I think they both need the comfort of each other's presence because they are the only constant in their ever changing world. They really should have let Ward blame himself here. The way May beat the crap out of Iain Quinn was very satisfying. Love Coulson's progression about Tahiti. "Turned out not so magical" and in the next episode it'll be "It sucked". Well, at least he got to see the real, beautiful Tahiti 😞 Awww Trip. I didn't like him all that much the first time. I mean I found him okay and all but only on the second rewatch that I grew to like him. Other than the fact that he could actually get "Witches weekly's most charming award", he really is just a genuine nice, easy going, good guy. Too bad it made him the perfect candidate for shock value death 😞 Love, love, love that scene with FitzSimmons looking through the files. It's stunning and blue light definitely suits Fitz. I also love him during the mission. We know he's kind of scared and he still doesn't like being on the field but he's brave and funny and adorable. "Not afraid, not yet…" "To certain horrible death? Absolutely" Classical sassy Fitz! One thing that had always bothered me during this mission: Couldn't they use non lethal weaponry to "attack" the base. I mean they're protecting a shady secret but they're still (mostly) agents of SHIELD. And they'd been left to die and be buried under all that rock. I get that Coulson wanted the truth and to save Skye but still … I absolutely love the way they decided to handle the Kree reveal. Make Coulson look terrified and let us imagine all the most horrible things and then only in the end the horrible mutilated corpse. Feels a lot like what Hydra did to Skye's mother by the way and very, very evil :s Yes Men I enjoyed this one more than I thought I would despite it not being the strongest episode and it has a lot to do with Sif being a badass. So, first of all, with all the super advanced technology they have, would an Asgardian really be impressed by a bike?!! Skye saying: "I must look awful". Honestly, makeup department guys? They did a really good job when she was close to death but now she doesn't even look a little pale. She doesn't a little circle under eyes and doesn't even look tired at all. And look at her hair! That's not the hair of someone who had been forbidden to leave her bed for days! Fury is already missing, it's getting serious! Sif is so freaking badass and really aces the super hero landing! Also, she's so extra, like she casually throws a car to provide cover. I love her connection with May and I would totally watch a spin off of them kicking ass together. I like the phrase about people being dangerous when they are controlled and how it's another hint at May's backstory. Okay, so I love Sif throwing a car during the fight scene and I love Coulson calling Sif "your ladyship" but seriously, didn't SHIELD have enough women fighters? Honestly! Jemma is totally right about being mad at Coulson about wanting to know more about GH325. Coulson has a good reason for keeping it in house but he should just tell them for god's sake! At this point, we can see that he's still struggling between the whole following the rules and doing things his way because he no longer trusts SHIELD completely. "Ward is not the man you knew. He will not hesitate to kill you." "He might try but he wont." Yep, yep, yep, you don't know how right you were, May! "Because yes, I am that good!" Fitz was cocky and cute there but really not that wasn't a smart move telling Coulson about Lorelei without knowing if he'd been swayed as well. Libido does take a bit of his genius away :p "He's always getting knocked out, isn't he?" Mmmhhh … okay but how freakishly strong is Coulson if he can knock him out with only one punch? "You were saying?" Honestly, they should have copied that collar to use for all the villains and their long boring speeches. And finally dun, dun, dun! They really did a good job making us paranoid and making us think May could be the villain.

#aos rewatch #agentofshiprewatch #team earth aos #earth vs space #aos 1x11 #aos 1X12 #aos 1x13 #aos 1X14 #aos 1x15

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utopianparadoxist · 6 years ago

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Marvus Xoloto: Lord of Blood?

Alright all the weird intense Rage stuff aside, here’s some Classpect talk.

So long story short, Marvus feels like our legit Lord. Like, the verb Command is right there. I’ve written about why I see Command as the key verb for Lord, Muse before, but to recap/add on to the idea:

Command comes up with Caliborn like, a lot. Its also the name of the little arrows that connect every page of Homestuck. Every Command is a sort of direct attempt at mind control to the characters, as Hussie frames it--whether delivered by Exiles, the audience, or “The Author” himself.

The Muse seems inclined to wield that power through inspiration--once given a compelling enough idea, an actor can do nothing but work in relation to it, an artist can do nothing but work on it, as though they were possessed or enslaved.

The Lord seems to wield it through sheer dominance, or charisma--like a King who’s will cannot be denied. I’m sure I don’t need to explain how that relates to Marvus. Y’all know.

So let’s cover why I think he’s a Lord of Blood specifically.

PSYCHE.

I lied there’s a little more Lord stuff to go. So with Boldir, I guessed that just like our apparent Muse had a spiral in a place important to her, so might our Lord. Initially, with Marvus, I didn’t see anything and figured it was bullshit.

Imagine my surprise when I took another look at the Church. Now, to be fair, this spiral was always there, so its not exactly unique to Marvus. Chahut brought us here first, after all.

But it’s notable that Marvus brought us here because he was somehow aware it provided metaphysical safety. It’s “Hallowed ground, bizznatch.” That could be simple religious belief, but Marvus is a little too aware of the nature of reality for me to buy that. He’s aware of the rules of PSpace in a way Chahut isn’t, and the spiral is one of the rules. So it feels somewhat significant.

I also guessed that, since Boldir’s sign actually features the spiral, the sign of our potential Lord might well feature it as well. This was how I initially arrived to my guess of Lord of Blood. The sign of the “Taskmaster” felt fitting to someone who seemed like the ringmaster of a circus, and it still feels somewhat accurate here.

Now I can add this nugget: This is also one of a few purple signs that feature a crucifix or cross in the design. Given that a crucifix figures prominently in his path, that also feels notable.

Even so, this is all pretty circumstantial and quite likely bullshit. Like I said before, Marvus seems to showcase a mastery of many Aspects, and so its difficult to really be sure I’ve got him pinned down, especially based on some hazy symbolism stuff we aren’t sure is relevant.

Even so, lets get to his Blood imagery, which I feel is pretty strongly emphasized in this route--more than any other Aspect, barring Rage. And into why I think its through Blood that he carries his most definitive command over other people.

There’s a couple outright references to Blood early on, describing his effect on everyone around him. His very nature creates conflict, as the overzealous loving passion of his fans meets the violent restriction of his bodyguards.

(Note: “Violence” here isn’t just force applied to hurt someone, but the denial of choice: Society saying no to the free spirited desires of the individual. It’s bondage, where Breath is flight.

This more abstract and cerebral take on violence is the one Kankri is more concerned with, but we see it with Karkat too--he knows all too well what happens to someone “outside” the norms of restriction, not just wrt blood color but with his desires and inclinations as well.)

These are classic Blood themes, all coming to the fore simultaneously.

Passion and commitment meet societal restriction, and the violence through which restriction is enforced. Blood flows in the wake of that conflict.

We see the conflict distilled during the concert. References to physical agony and mortal suffering are made, both of which are significant Blood ideas--the most recent example being Tyzias’ famous quote: “there’s so mmmmuch suffering.”

Though to be fair, that might have at least something to do with Zebruh. Blood may be associated with physical bondage and suffering, but Doom is quite literally the suffering Aspect, so its something of an area of overlap--Likely born at least partly from their close association on the Aspect wheel.

And the MSPA Reader of course falls into the romantic, committed, relationship-focused side of Blood--willing to do anything at all to share a connection with him.

The two ideas fuse at the height of his performance, as it makes the MSPA Reader keenly aware of their physical suffering and subjects them to enormous violence and agony, whilst paradoxically keeping them spellbound to the mortal plane where they’re experiencing it. Violence, suffering, commitment, relationship.

Later, the MSPA Reader directly takes on Blood’s violent enforcer position, punching out teens desperate to establish a relationship with Marvus.

And Marvus doesn’t just absently invite these dynamics. He’s keenly aware of both the commitment to a relationship with him his fans experience, and the social obligation he would be subjected to as a result of it, unless the performance is violent enough.

He’s also deeply cognizant of the social restrictions imposed on Purplebloods as a caste, and the various forms of literal and institutional violence through which they’re enforced.

As well as the revolutionary implications of subverting or questioning those restrictions. In other words, Marvus has a deep understanding of the social glue that holds Alternia, a vertical structure held together by repression imposed from top to bottom, with blood spilled through brutality the whole way down.

But of course, understanding doesn’t make a Lord. Command does.

I’ve long said that Paradox Space is a place born of the wills of the individual, and it could be said that what the classes describe, more than anything, is the means by which a Hero most effectively applies their will to reality to achieve any given desired result.

This is what makes Lords and Muses so powerful--they shine at understanding the capabilities and inclinations of everyone around them, and more than anything, controlling and directing the other to achieve their own desired result. A Page might inspire others to serve them and rise to Kingship through their devoted teamwork, but to a Lord this innocence is unnecessary:

Be it freely given, manipulated or coerced, a Lord is supremely talented at dominating, and getting others to give them exactly what they want. When Marvus’ presence suggests silence, the silence is absolute among all blood castes. When Marvus wants his audience ready to turn up, they are so fucking ready. His every request is undeniable, and his will is others’ command.

What makes him scary is that he knows how to use that power. What he does with the Player’s execution is actually pretty clever--he pulls off a small magic trick, simply pretending to stab them. The illusion would fall apart under the most cursory scrutiny, but Marvus knows that doesn’t matter, because he’s working his real magic on the audience.

Marvus knows exactly how his stage will be segmented, and all he needs to do is kickstart a cascade of violent euphoria amongst the lowbloods, who by their structural disadvantage are too far away to tell the difference. (Interesting that the tealbloods are singled out as the rough origin point, considering their Mind association and how vulnerable Terezi was to Gamzee’s Rage-y predation.)

Even any highbloods who figured out what he’s up to are screwed, trapped by their own lucky blood closest to the stage and under his net, where they must fight if they want to get out alive. But nobody does. Once the climactic bloodbath is finished, nobody survives.

Which Marvus expected would happen. He told us so earlier. If Marvus isn’t literally massacring his fans with every performance he gives, he’s doing it during enough of them that it doesn’t feel much like hyperbole. And he does it effortlessly, through a simple understanding of how to move the crowd the way he wants to, like the ringmaster of a circus or the conductor of an orchestra.

This is one hells of powerful clown--frightfully intelligent and ruthless when he deems it necessary, even under the niceguy suave wokeness. Joey’s going to have a powerful ally on her side if they team up. Though I can’t help but worry that the old Purpleblood capriciousness might have him turn on us if the circumstances are right. Or, his ruthless pragmatism could make him end up feeling like a bit of a Vriska.

Probably both are gonna happen. Oh well. Anyway that’s why I see him as a Lord, and one of Blood specifically. Don’t hold me to it because frankly, if I’m really honest, there’s only one train of thought with Marvus that I’m really committed to:

He’s really hot and I’ve been the naughtiest, so frankly he can--

[USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST]

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#Homestuck #Hiveswap #Hiveswap Friendsim #Marvus Xoloto #Marvus #Lord of Blood #Lord #Blood #Classpects #Spirals #My MSPA Analysis

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homespork-review · 5 years ago

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Homespork Act 2: The Racism of the Conductor’s Baton (Part 3)

BRIGHT: Also, the prompts in John’s head are back and are making increasingly strident demands. Namely, they want John to follow Nannasprite to the cookies. John isn’t too keen on this idea. He’s so not-keen on it that he fails to notice Rose whacking him in the head with a box. Frustrated by his lack of compliance, the voice devolves into insults. I’m not sure why the Wayward Vagabond is so insistent on this? It’s not like he can eat the cookies.

On the whole this is a really good sequence, I think. It lays out some basic background information for the reader and John, and it’s paced pretty well.

Back in the future, an agitated slip of the finger causes a cupboard door to open in the Wayward Vagabond’s hideout. Out fall a few tins of food and a heavy tome of HUMAN ETIQUETTE.

Rose has updated her GameFAQs walkthrough with the new information from Nannasprite. We’re getting something of a motif here: Cut-aways to the Wayward Vagabond are followed by a walkthrough update. It’s a nice little pattern.

Rose also speculates on the prototyping process and on why the prototypings of other players worldwide have not affected John’s foes, and comes to the conclusion that each client/server pair -- or daisy chain -- spawns its own copy of the Incipisphere, or ‘session’. She’s also caught up in rewriting her work. Couldn’t the reader go somewhere else? Or somewhen else?

Why yes, the reader can. Namely the reader can jump back to Rose’s birthday, where she’s having a conversation with GG.

This conversation reinforces that there’s something funny about GG. She asks about John’s present the moment Rose opens it, and Rose isn’t surprised by this. GG also knows without being told that Rose’s dead pet is a male cat, and she’s been working on her birthday present for John for years.

Finally, she asks what Rose would say if GG told her she knew a game that could bring said cat back to life.

TT: If someone told me that, I would regard the remark with a great deal of skepticism. TT: If that someone was you, on the other hand, then I would have to ask preemptively: TT: Is that someone you? GG: yes that someone is me!!!!!!!! GG: i just thought you might find it interesting TT: So what is this game?

Whatever strange abilities GG has, Rose is familiar with her knowing things she shouldn’t, and trusts her even when she makes claims that sound impossible.

CHEL: Note, also, that here GG is the one who brings up the game, while in an early convo with John set chronologically after this one she asked “lol! whats sburb?” This is not an inconsistency. Again, it comes up later. We end up saying that a lot. Sorry.

BRIGHT: Also: Rose knows John well enough to guess that he was wearing a disguise when he talked to her earlier -- but still interprets his gift of knitting needles and yarn as a subtle jab at her habit of making analytical comments, much as her mother. GG points out that he probably didn’t mean it that way. Later, Rose says she’ll make him a gift with strong sentimental value as a dig at him, but admits she doesn’t really mean it that way when GG points it out. Then again, this takes place some months before the comic starts, and may show how Rose and John’s relationship has evolved.

Back in Dave’s home, the sun is beating down. Meteors pepper the city, and smoke is rising. Dave captchalogues his katana, and sets out in search of his brother’s copy of the game.

Dave elaborates a little on the concept of irony that he and his brother live by. His brother is awesome, apparently. Dave can only hope to one day reach those heights of irony.

The puppet theme from earlier continues, with puppets strewn around the living room where Bro lives and sleeps. Among them are a Mr. T puppet, which is wearing a leather thong and handcuffed to a pantsless Chuck Norris puppet. What makes it a little disturbing is that this is just lying out in the living room, which Dave presumably goes into all the time. Dave’s narration here sounds a lot like he’s trying to convince himself that these things are totally cool, no, really. He can’t see Lil Cal anywhere, though...

CHEL: Other puppets are the iconic Smuppets, possibly a portmanteau of “smutty puppets”, vaguely humanoid nude puppets with enormous behinds and phallic noses. There are implications that they are intended for non-PG purposes. Further implications are that the leaving of obscene material around the home has been going on for all of Dave’s life. For the record, intentionally showing pornography or sexual aids to children is classed as a form of sexual abuse. Casually leaving them lying around the house in front of kids long-term, well, the motive may not be malicious but I doubt a jury would care. It certainly counts as neglect. The popular fanfic Brainbent explored the damage this kind of thing could inflict on a kid in a realistic setting.

Also note, there is no hint of Dave having or ever having had parents, not even a photo in the background or something. The immediate assumption would most likely be that they’re dead, but Bro’s strangeness might also suggest estrangement - behaviour like that would probably result in one’s parents not talking to one anymore, though they most likely wouldn’t leave a child in a place like that if they were around. We find out the truth later, and it’s even weirder.

BRIGHT: Between one panel and the next, Lil Cal appears atop a speaker box. Dave is fine with this. Totally fine.

CHEL: For the record, this is Lil Cal:

Not something one would be very happy about finding behind one, is he?

BRIGHT: He plays a bit on the Xbox, gives Cal a fistbump, and then checks out his brother’s computer. It’s password-protected, but Dave knows the password, and Bro knows he knows it, and Dave knows this, and it’s all totally cool.

One of Bro’s websites is a puppet pornography website. Apparently this is popular enough to bring in thousands of dollars a month, and Smuppets are a multi-billion-dollar-per-year enterprise. Time for our next point:

Magic-onomics - wherein characters’ funds issue from nowhere Half-baked attempts to justify a protagonist’s mystery money can also backfire. Explanations should amount to more than “Somehow Rain had lots of money.” Giving Rain an inheritance, or explaining that she recently gave up her job at a top law firm to pursue her art, will work only where these things feel like part of the world of the novel.

Bro and Dave live in a crappy apartment in which Bro doesn’t even have his own bedroom, instead sleeping on the futon in the living room where he works. Yet they have the funds to spend on swords (not cheap) and expensive turntables. The Con Air bunny prop Dave bought for John sold in real life for almost $1,300.

And how the heck do smuppets bring in multiple billions of dollars a year? That’s a niche market, even if Bro is the only supplier. (Which he wouldn’t be — if it’s worth that much, someone else would want in on the market.)

CHEL: Even if said market is fairly disturbing. If there’s enough people who like it enough to buy it, there’ll be people comfortable with supplying it.

BRIGHT: Their income shouldn’t be anywhere near that high, even with puppet pornography adding to the revenue stream. If we grant that in this universe it is that high, then they should be living somewhere more comfortable.

HOW NOT TO WRITE A WEBCOMIC: 13

CHEL: In order for this to actually work as stated, not only would the puppets have to appeal to everyone on the planet, but there would probably have to be a lot more people on the planet than there actually are. I’m pretty sure it’s an exaggeration for humour, but considering the inconsistencies with their income status as presented, it’s still a bit shaky.

It’s also worth another count, because this is basically a handwave to mean the characters presented aesthetically as poor are still as financially secure as is necessary for writing the scenes Hussie wants to:

WHITE SBURB POSTMODERNISM: 6

If the comic was presented as a non-serious cartoon for the whole story, this would pass without comment, but when one’s trying to be dramatic and include real stakes, I think one needs to apply real stakes to everyday things too.

BRIGHT: Then again, it’s possible that their financial status is higher than the apartment would suggest, and Bro just chooses to spend his money on katanas and expensive equipment rather than upgrading. (And/or is lying to Dave about their income.) That might not be out of character given what we see of him later. But overall, this is a mess.

FAILURE ARTIST: Maybe the Smuppets is a money laundering business.

CHEL: A lot of people would read that fanfic.

The theory that the guardians knew the game was coming might explain why he chose to spend so much on swords, at least. He’d know Dave would need them. Not so much of an explanation for everything else though. Considering the weirdness that’s going on, I could imagine Bro not wanting attention drawn to it, but wouldn’t hiding weirdness be much harder in a flat than in a house set off some distance from neighbours?

For that matter, where’s John getting the money for movie memorabilia? Later reveals show the Egbert family originally came from money but they don’t seem to have that much to throw around now.

BRIGHT: Remember how Rose said earlier that she quite enjoyed Bro’s websites? I think that counts as a point for CALL CPA PLEASE…

FAILURE ARTIST: I question how pornographic the site really is. It might just literally be puppets being mashed together with no human body parts. A thirteen year old can surely see that.

BRIGHT: Fair point -- the page we see is teen-safe, at any rate.

CHEL: If it isn’t actually sexual, that possibly makes the supposed popularity level even sillier. Fetishists need constant fresh material and there are probably people who don’t have a specific puppet fetish who would ignore the puppets to look at the guy, but to keep up that level of popularity the viewers who don’t have a puppet fetish would have to keep finding it funny long after most people would think the joke had worn off. Both options say disturbing things about the world this comic is set in and their tastes in either pornography or humour. At least Veronica Chaos appears onscreen with her puppet… (Link contains no porn but you probably don’t want it on a work computer.)

For the record, I think Smuppets would actually make pretty bad sex toys. Plush is a porous material, so it would be hard to clean sticky substances out of it properly, and the phallic noses seem to be too floppy to use for penetration of a human orifice. Maybe that first point is why he brings in so much cash - the smuppets are single-use? People do use plush toys for masturbatory purposes, but usually when they can’t find anything else to use, specific fetishes for them being rare, and generally don’t use the soft parts as penetration toys.

Personally, I quite like the theory the kinkmeme brought up years ago; PlushRumps is actually an elaborate multimedia webcomic a la Homestuck itself. Now that I can see bringing in that much cash. Or possibly it just looks like this, which was made by the guy who wrote Thirty Hs (warning for eye injury and surreality): "Jumping!" (Watch on YouTube)

I could see Bro being that dude.

BRIGHT: And Dave admits, again, that he finds the puppet thing unsettling.

This is a pretty good depiction of someone trying to convince himself to be okay with something that freaks him out. He pesters John to distract himself from the puppets everywhere, and when he doesn’t get a response, he pesters Rose. And Hussie once again repeats the entire blinking pesterlog we read fifty pages ago instead of just linking back to it.

GET ON WITH IT!: 6

CHEL: Just occurred to me; why is Dave so bothered by the puppets? I can’t imagine that Bro suddenly started leaving them around when he hadn’t before - in fact, I believe a later flashback shows infant Dave using a Smuppet’s nose as a pacifier (eww, god I hope it was a freshly-made unused one). Dave really ought to be used to the things by now. Then again, now he’s reaching his teens, he’s probably old enough to start realising this is weird and creepy on a deeper level. But then that brings up the same problem we had with John; doesn’t he have any local friends he could have learned this from sooner? Though I could picture Bro not bothering to send him to school, and we do later learn there is quite possibly magic afoot in hiding the oddness of the Strider household. That’s a complicated theory and requires much more setup than we have here, though, so pin in that for later.

Also, the puppets thing counts for a point of ARE YOU TRYING TO BE FUNNY?, and Dave is in fact the reason we created that count. A kid in Dave’s situation in real life would be messed up, but so would a kid in the situations of the others (or at least the girls), and Dave’s situation seems to be taken more seriously than theirs, at least later on.

ARE YOU TRYING TO BE FUNNY?: 5

BRIGHT: Back to Rose, who’s beating John over the head with a box in a futile effort to get his attention. She eventually gives up and deploys another piece of equipment called a Punch Designix, using the Shale John collected. Since she doesn’t know what it does, she pesters John and asks him to experiment.

Unfortunately John has bigger problems to deal with: His garden is by this point overrun with imps, who are climbing on his tire swing and wearing his disguises. This is enough to snap him out of his Wayward Vagabond-induced state and get him to respond to Rose. They need to get those monsters off his pogo ride!

Fortunately, Rose is able to help by picking up the piano and dropping it on the imp. Less fortunately, the piano does not survive the experience. Neither does the imp.

The pogo ride seems fine, though.

John is reluctant to risk Nanna’s ghost cookies to go retrieve the grist, so Rose uses the pogo ride to transport it up to his room. Then she tells him to go find out what the Punch Designix does, while she works on building the house up to the gate. Apparently stairs cost a lot of grist to build. John makes a SBaHJ reference while Rose recoups the grist she used to build the catwalk earlier, sending an imp tumbling into the depths.

In the kitchen, Nannasprite has produced a lot of cookies. An imp tries to sneak one, and is blasted into grist by Nanna as a result.

John sets out on a hunt for imps and useful items, grabbing some shaving cream and his pogo ride, and launching his telescope out of the window. Amazingly, this proves relevant only a few pages later.

CHEL: Dad apparently keeps an entire cabinet filled with nothing but shaving cream. Rule of Funny, I know, but how fast does this guy’s beard grow?

BRIGHT: His living room is full of imps, who have taken a shine to the Cruxtruder and left cruxite dowels lying everywhere. Armed with hammer and shaving cream, John mounts his trusty steed and pogos his way to victory, which works amazingly well (read: works at all), until he slips on a cruxite dowel and lands flat on his back.

This is incredibly dangerous!

Acting on a polite prompt, John absconds into his Dad’s study, and Rose covers his retreat with the refrigerator, which levels up to FIVESTAR GENERAL ELECTRIC and earns 285 Boondollars.

Further extremely polite prompts ask John for a can opener. Despite the presence of two imps in the study with him, John stops to consider where to find one, while Rose takes out the imps with Dad’s safe. I don’t think that counts as HURRY UP AND DO NOTHING, though, since it’s clearly supposed to be the joke.

Back in the future, the Wayward Vagabond munches on a few pages from the etiquette book. Rose updates her GameFAQs walkthrough with a series of images of John’s house in the Medium. She does refer to Colonel Sassacre’s as racist in one of these, but it’s not really much of a rebuttal.

CHEL: She experiments with building a bit more on John’s house; ladders prove cheaper to build than stairs, albeit harder to use safely. John eventually stops contemplating can openers to examine the Punch Designix, while Rose answers Dave’s angry rant about being buried in Smuppets. I think this may be another point for ARE YOU TRYING TO BE FUNNY, because in the context of a kid ranting about his brother’s annoying hobby and his friend snarking back it’s hilarious, and it seems at this point to be presented as funny, but as discussed above the nature of Smuppets makes this rather creepy.

ARE YOU TRYING TO BE FUNNY?: 6 TG: i am enrobed in chafing, wriggling god fucking damned puppet pelvis TG: an obscenely long, coarse kermit cock is being dragged across my anguished face TT: Let's put this into perspective. You put up with the puppet prostate because you love it.

Okay, this I think could be a point for CALL CPA PLEASE. A child probably would make fun of another child’s discomfort with non-consensually being surrounded by sex toys on the grounds of not knowing better, but it’s unsettling to read.

CALL CPA PLEASE: 2

John discovers there are codes on the backs of his captchalogue cards, which can be entered into the Punch Designix to make punch cards. Punching the captchalogue card itself renders the item irremovable from it, but the punch card can, he guesses, be used to recreate the item via the Totem Lathe and Alchemiter. Before he can test this, Rose hurls a bathtub through the wall to kill some nearby imps; to be fair, when he checks his PDA, he sees he missed a message from her warning him about it. He messages her back and she says the precarious staircase up to the gate is ready. John is nervous and asks why she didn’t build straight up through the hole in his dad’s bedroom ceiling.

EB: oh come on. what's the big deal, i'll just climb up and go right through! TT: Will you? EB: yeah, why not? TT: Are you saying you've never wondered what's in there? Or why it's been kept a secret from you? EB: well, i mean yeah... TT: Then trust me. You won't be going "right on through." EB: wait, are you saying there's something, like... EB: troubling in there? TT: I don't know. EB: what do you mean? what do you see in there? TT: I can't see in there. EB: oh. TT: But I don't have a very good feeling about it. EB: pfff... EB: whatever! EB: i think i can handle a few more stupid clown paintings.

Well, that’s ominous.

Examining the destroyed safe, John finds a book about shaving, several old newspaper clippings about meteor strikes, and a much older copy of Colonel Sassacre’s book, possibly the one involved in the mysterious accident which caused Nanna’s death. Behind where the safe was, he finds an empty captchalogue card and a proud fatherly note from Dad, praising him for now being strong enough to lift the safe; presumably intended for several years in the future at least, since the safe is big enough to fit John inside it. The note further explains that John is now entitled to the contents of the safe, and provides the now-useless combination for the lock. Further sylladex shenanigans launch Sassacre’s book, killing an imp, and John heads up the stairs, but slips. As he precariously clings on, the hands and jester’s motley of something much, much bigger than the imps start to emerge from the chasm...

Cut back to Dave, still searching for the beta and/or his brother, finding only that one of Bro’s swords is missing. A brief shadowy flash takes the second sword from the wall too.

You know this drill all too well. Trouble's a brewin'.

Dave heads for the door, finding one of Bro’s “ironic” comics pinned to it. The comic in question:

Erm.

TIER: Now that is, as the folks would say, unsettling.

FAILURE ARTIST: This is another work that Hussie created pre-Homestuck and decided to add. It was part of this drawing battle on a forum.

CHEL: It took me an embarrassingly long time to realise that was supposed to be Kermit. I was seeing it as a teddy bear, with the spiral cheeks as eyes and the eyes as ears.

TIER: . . . I was “literally just now” years old when I realized that was supposed to be Kermit.

BRIGHT: Ditto!

CHEL: Me too, actually, it was after I saw it while posting it here. Before I thought it was Fozzie, drawn even worse than the rest of the comic.

Dave is fairly mellow about the comic as compared to his reaction to the puppets, but thinks that he “[doesn’t] need to see this shit right now”. It looks like something a kid his age would either draw themselves or like (I know I would have loved it), but having things like this pasted randomly about your house would definitely be unsettling even so. He understands it as further irony, and thinks Bro is trying to annoy him with it as “some weird gauntlet he's throwing down to see if you will "GET IT"”.

Worse than the comics, however, is what’s in the kitchen. Weapons are piled up on every counter and the sink is full of fireworks. Dave considers this “awesome”, the implication again being that this has been normal for his whole life. He’s really lucky he’s a cartoon character, there’s no way a real kid would still be alive here. When he turns on the blender, a green puppet in it is shredded to pieces, releasing fake blood; inside the eye socket of a Jigsaw puppet on top of the microwave is a webcam, broadcasting the incident. Okay, again, we need to consider how “pornographic” PlushRumps actually is to determine whether this is a problem. Videos of a kid shredding a puppet are harmless in and of themselves. If it’s actually being marketed as fetish material… ew. Dave appears just as unsettled by this as I am, enough so to behead the cam-puppet, so the implications aren’t good.

More Smuppets spill out of the microwave, and then we go back into fucking sylladex shenanigans as Dave tries to collect every dangerous object in the room

GET ON WITH IT!: 7

Distracted by same, Dave fails to notice a silhouetted figure which is presumably his brother appearing briefly behind him, dropping Cal on the stovetop, and disappearing. Dave’s expression doesn’t change on seeing it but he literally leaps a foot in the air. Poor kid, that is freaky. We also discover why Dave had juice in his closet way back; Bro uses the fridge as storage space for swords instead of comestibles, and cherry bombs in the icemaker.

… Okay, where does Bro keep his own food? Both humorously and actually abusive/neglectful guardians still require energy intake, you know. There are later hints that Bro himself is someone’s puppet, but only in the figurative sense.

TIER: Dude probably has spots around the apartment to stash stuff, like how Dave has apple juice hidden away in his closet.

Figuring out how seriously we're supposed to be taking things can get tricky, especially with the Big Thing way later on in the comic putting earlier events in a new light upon rereading (well, mostly just stuff related to Dave).

CHEL: And if we are supposed to take it seriously, how the fuck is Dave alive? A real kid in this situation wouldn’t have lived long enough to be traumatised.

#homespork #homestuck #homestuck meta #homestuck reread #homestuck review #let's read homestuck #literary critique #sporking

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wanukilppari · 6 years ago

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Under the light of Jupiter

Blame this amazing piece of art from @carpediemingdork for inspiriting me to write this one shot

It takes 11.86 years for Jupiter to travel around the sun.

It gave her anger almost twelve years to cool down, to mourn, to heal the wounds left from his betrayal. And the most importantly, she had had almost twelve years to prepare.

But of course, when the day actually came, she forgot to keep eye on the calendar.

”Hello, Magica. Missed me?”

The cold shiver ran down her spine as Magica was forced to meet the golden eyes of a man standing over her. The smile he gave at her was almost gentle, seducing, as if he was looking at his lover after years of separation, a thought that send new shiver through Magica’s body.

“Gladstone Gander” Magica spat his name out like it was venom on her tongue. “You gormless, black-hearted maggot. How?”

Opposite on their purpose, the insults only made the goose smirk grew wider and he cleaned closer, allowing Magica to see clearly all those luck and protection bringing symbols waved on his deep green cravat with thin golden strings.

“Oh, come on now, Sparky. I’m sure your already figured it out.” Gladstone purred then moved his gaze higher, to look at something behind her. “After all, despite all his charm, Green Bean here wasn’t exactly subtle on his task getting closer to you through that little niece of yours”

Magica fought against the itch to turn her head and check the green glad duckling who had fainted almost immediately after catching the amulet that had once been this man’s prison. She had indeed suspected there had been something off in that boy, but it had been easy to forget when the kid had two identical brothers to cause mayhem around the mansion with the girls. But she would have never even imagined that one of her favourite rival’s great nephews would have worked with Gander.

“You got you stupid body back, so leave us alone!” The boy’s angry voice quaked and Magica saw a figure of white and green -much brighter than the cloth around the goose’s neck and the magical clover brooch, newly secured over his heart- move at the edge of her sight.

“Yes, Get lost. You manky tosser!”

Gladstone’s low chuckle filled the room and he straightened his back, at last taking the golden knob of his walking stick away under Magica’s beak. Hitting the cane against the wooden flooring, the area around him cracked like a glass, and a familiar symbol appeared under him. Something Magica had hoped to see never again.

“Oh, Love. You hurt my feelings” Gander’s words were like velvet as the toxic green mist started to creak from the cracks and floated towards the two ducks with alarming speed.

The boy let out a terrified gasp, and without truly thinking about her actions, Magica spun around to shield the youngling from the magical attack with her body. Without her amulet, she had little to nothing power to fight against the dark magic her former student had embraced, leaving Magica to feel herself powerless and angry. But the gods knew she wasn’t going to let little thing like that to stop her from doing her everything to protect others from corrupted magic.

But instead of bringing them harm, Gladstone’s spell bend and started to circulate them, creating a dome around the ducks to prevent them from escaping or harming the dark sorcerer as he moved towards the windows to gaze the night sky and Jupiter on its highest peak. “I just came back.”

More about the AU under the cut

Magica:

-One of the riches persons in the world -Origin of her wealth comes from Midas Touch, but she hardly ever uses it anymore because found it boring. -Scrooge and Magica are rivals and enjoy challenging each other. -They aren’t trying to kill each other and are more like kind of friends. -Magica is a collector of magical items and is known to travel all around the world to find them. -The huge majority of Magica’s magic comes from an amulet she carries always with her. It’s a family heirloom -The rumours say that she once had apprentice/possible lover who disappeared mysteriously around 12 years ago.

Scrooge:

-Richest Duck in the world (87% of the time) -Recently started to fix his relationship with his nephews after breakup caused by Della’s disappearance on space -Doesn’t understand why he’s letting his (favourite) rival’s niece to hang out with his housekeeper’s granddaughter. Especially when they are in his mansion… -In his opinion, magic is cheating and isn’t afraid to accuse Magica for using it. -The relationship with his great nephews is a bit rocky, thanks for him losing their mother. -Often trying to get his great nephews to come on adventure with him with various results.

Lena De Spell:

-Magica’s niece who has lived with her aunt since forever -Her father, Poe De Spell, disappeared mysteriously when she was little. -Ratface is her raven nanny/pet. Suspiciously intelligent and protective towards Lena. -When she was younger, Lena claimed he could talk. -Was often babysat by Mrs Beakley as kid when Magica was on her “business trips”. Befriended with Webby during those times. -Magica is trying to teach her magic, but Lena isn’t that interested

Louie:

-Youngest triplet of the Duck family -Quite a charmer -According to the medical records his egg was broken at the early state of brooding. -No one really knows how he survived. All they know is that Della disappeared with him for couple hours and returned with healthy egg. -Very invested in becoming friends with Webby and Lena

Gladstone Gander:

-Has an unnaturally good luck -No one has seen him in years -Rumours say he messed with dark magic -His “symbol” is the triple distelfink

Other things:

-The Della mystery is pretty much replaced by the Poe mystery -Donald and the triplets’ lives are pretty much the same, expect the boys knew about Della -Magica doesn’t know that Gladstone is related to the Ducks -Scrooge and Magica are both taking the kids with them on adventures, though Magica uses the trips as an excuse to teach Lena some magic -Lena has a different magical amulet/conductor pretty much every week, but she “loses” them “by accident” pretty fast, much to Magica’s dismay. -Gladstone keeps calling Lena Minima

#magica de spell #gladstone gander #Louie Duck #the shadow war #magicstone #kinda #at least in the past #evilsorcerer!Glastone #role swap au #Magica is a rich business woman in this one #but also a sorcerer #lena and magica actually related #ducktales 2017 #ducktales #also posted in AO3 #ducktales au #au #fic #fanfic

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thekingofgear · 6 years ago

Photo

(Photo by Chris Lee)

A few weeks ago, the New York Philharmonic gave two performances of Jonny Greenwood’s live score to There Will Be Blood. Mary Chun performed the ondes martenot part. Before the second performance, I met with Mary at Lincoln Center to discuss playing the score and the ondes martenot more broadly.

Chun is a San Francisco-based conductor and music director who’s renowned worldwide for her work in Opera and New Music. She’s collaborated with composers including John Adams and Olivier Messiaen, and given many key premiers of their works. With Earplay, she’s championed the chamber works of contemporary composers including Tristan Murail, Thomas Adès, and Krzysztof Penderecki. She’s directed musicals too, perhaps most notably in bringing Broadway plays like Man of La Mancha and Avenue Q to China. And on the ondes martenot, she’s performed early electronic works such as André Jolivet's Incantation and Ives’s Fourth Symphony, and served as a key interpreter of Messiaen’s works in the United States. Mary was also the cover conductor and one of the 3 ondistes in the 2003 San Francisco Opera’s production of Saint François d’Assise, the only production of Messiaen’s only opera in this country.

I wanted ask you about your approach to this score. Did you know the movie and score before you were approached?

Mary Chun: I have to confess that I was ignorant of it. I knew that Jonny was working a lot with ondes martenot. I got the music, I just sort of studied it, and I said, you know, this is very ondes-friendly. [Jonny] wrote really, really well for the ondes and wrote the best kind of expression that the ondes is good for.

How was that expression written into the score?

M: It was notated, like going from nothing and growing over a long period of time. And in fact there were bracketed dynamics, because they did the recording for the soundtrack – they had one set of dynamics that were very loud, but for live screening, it says in the score use the bracketed dynamics for live screening. So we can replicate the relationship with the dialogue and sound effects to the orchestra. So we’re playing softer dynamics than the soundtrack was recorded at. I was really curious about that as a musician, because of course if you crescendo to a double forte, you’re playing with a certain force and feeling, and certain molecules are vibrating differently to play really loud. But you have to subdue that: your whole scale drops down and everything about your performance also flattens out a little bit.

How does working with a movie over your head compare to an opera like Messiaen’s Saint François d'Assise, where you’re in the pit?

M: It’s pretty different, because if you’re playing opera or symphony you are the main event, you are what people are there for. If you’re playing movie soundtracks live – I do a lot, because I play synthesizers also, I just did a few harry potters this year – you’re basically backing up the film, and especially with Jonny’s score, where he really underpinned the unspoken emotions of the scene.

Do you just do live scoring, or have you played on soundtracks as well?

M: Both. Playing on soundtracks is actually fun, because you can play with full expression. They [compress] it in post production later. But doing it here, it’s sort of like you have to be really aware not to get too energetic.

That’s such a let down, in a way.

M: It is a little bit, because I can see the double sets of dynamics, I can see where it says piano to double forte. For the rest off the orchestra it was more of a challenge, because they’re used to playing acoustic more of the time, and for me-

Did you just turn it down a little?

M: No I didn’t. I thought about just putting the maximum volume lower, but I didn’t because I wanted to have that headroom. Probably the loudest you heard me was my mezzo forte.

A photo of the stage at the David Geffen Hall, from what is probably the intermission of the second New York Philharmonic performance of There WIll Be Blood (tonylee333).

How did you adjust your instrument for this hall in particular?

M: It took me a couple of hours to get set, my ears to set, to figure out how I could hear it correctly to how other people could hear it. It was tricky. It’s an interesting acoustic, the Geffen hall… You notice I have all of my speakers together because partly it’s a space issue and partly because the performance is not “spatially-designed”. That is, the sound of the ondes is only needed to appear from one single location.

When did you actually get your ondes martenot?

M: ’85

So you have one of the very last transistor models, I imagine?

M: Yeah yeah, it’s like 385. When I bought my instrument, I was on a waiting list for Palme, and then they closed…

But it’s great that you have three originals diffusers that still work.

M: But I’m very, very fussy about how my instruments go out, how they come back, and I oversee everything physically. It went by a crate, by air freight. I felt confident, because I personally knew the person who built the crate. On my instrument, the only thing that’s been touched... I was really worried about the plugs: handmade French, just little tongues… you can’t replace those. So I had a technician friend who’s really big on sound design change them to RCA plugs, so I have RCA plugs. Oh, and I have a tuner. I only have my one single ondes from 1985. I didn’t really want to go further than what I had, because I was disappointed with the one I own, because I was trained on [a vacuum tube model]. It was so rich, so alive, it really had a heart-beat.

A sixth-generation vacuum tube ondes Martenot from 1960 (photo by Andrew Garton).

I know that, if they work anymore, those have an amazing sound, right?

M: That’s why I fell in love with the instrument. When I first learned, I was young and stupid, I was assistant conductor to an orchestra in California, and we were doing a big Messiaen cycle, and my conductor, Kent Nagano, just says “Mary, I want you to play the ondes martenot solo in Turangalîla next year. I didn’t really know what that was. I mean, I loved Messiaen’s music, but-

So you just picked it up from that?

M: Well, because I was playing everything in the orchestra, I was playing keyboards, I was playing organ, I was playing harpsichord… I mean, I just didn’t say no to anything. you know, you’re just a starting musician and you don’t say no to anything. Plus it’s really interesting, it’s super interesting! So I said yes, I will play the ondes solo, and I saw a picture and said this looks like a keyboard… but of course when it came, it was not anything like that.

We found an old vacuum tube ondes that was owned by Ronnie Montrose, from Gamma. Ronnie was very interested as a guitarist, like Jonny Greenwood, in all these electronic instruments, so he bought one from Bernie Krause in LA, the sound effects guy. it didn’t really work when he bought it, but he tinkered with it, and actually improved it, stabilized it a little bit. So he brought it over to me and say “I’m going to lend [it] to the orchestra for the year, you can practice and learn it. Here’s the manual.” It was a little, typewritten thing, like five pages, that just described the buttons, the ring, the switches, the speakers.

So did you teach yourself?

M: Yeah, I taught myself. But then later, when I had fallen in love with the instrument, because that sound was so warm, the vacuum tubes were so warm, but it was so particular because it had to heat up for a certain amount of time to get tuned, and then if was on too long, it would go the other way, as you go up the keyboard it would roll down tritones.

We kept doing the Messiaen cycles, and then the Messiaens came to America and we worked with them, Olivier and Yvonne, and Jeanne Loriod. I became her interpreter, because I had worked in Lyon for a long time, and she gave me some master lessons, because we were playing Saint Francis together. She had heard about me, and I was so terrified to play for her, because I’m, you know, self-taught and she’s, you know, the Master. She only corrected a couple things about my technique, and the rest of it she said “no, you’re doing a great job.”

That was the US premier of Saint Francis, right?

M: It was the US premier of some scenes, you know it’s three and a half hours. Later I did do the whole thing at the San Francisco opera. I was the associate conductor as well as one of the ondists, where I played with Genevieve [Grenier] and Jean [Laurendeau].

Were you running back and forth?

M: We had two associate [conductors] and myself, so I was [conducting] a lot of stage rehearsals, when we didn’t have the orchestra. But then when we had the orchestra again the director was conducting.

A photo from the San Francisco Opera’s 2003 production of Saint François d’Assise (photo by Friedman).

You’re a conductor and an ondes player – do you think that if people want to learn it, they should learn something else too? I know [Jean] Laurendeau plays clarinet and ondes martenot. Is it an instrument best for multi-instrumentalists?

M: You know, it’s not at all keyboard-like, the sensation of playing. So when players take to it really well, because of the the fingering, the pitch identification first and the breath later, – you know, Geneviève, she’s a flutiest, and Jean is a clarinetist, and they took to it very well. I’ve had had violin friends come to my house, and they seem to manage it ok… but any of my keyboard friends are just whaaa? They just can’t deal with it.

Do you have any advice for young people who might want to pick up the ondes? Because you picked it up in such an usual way…

M: I was required to because I had an assignment to play it!

But you kept going!

M: Oh, because I fell in love with the instrument… I could not continue living if I did not have my own ondes. And if you have that passion go for it, get one, teach yourself or go to Paris! I mean, it’s an instrument, so people do this all the time – “oh, I want to learn to play the guitar, I’m going to buy a guitar…”

But there’s no rank and file musicians that play ondes martenot. There’s either people who specialize, or people who’ve never heard of it. There’s not ondes martenot in every home like guitar.

M: Not yet!

Not yet!

M: You know, Martenot himself had this idea – like you know how at one time in the US there were pianos in every house? He wanted to do that in France, because he made little ondes martenot – there’s still people in this country and in France who say “oh, I have this thing in the garage, this thing in the basement” – I was playing in Atlanta several years ago, and someone called the Atlanta Symphony and said “can I talk to your ondes martenot player, because we might have one?” he had the keyboard body, but no other parts. He didn’t have the speakers, he didn’t have the cables – it was an ondes made for US electricity.

#There Will Be Blood #ondes Martenot #Jonny Greenwood #Mary Chun #New York Philharmonic #Olivier Messiaen #Ronnie Montrose #ondes Musicales

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matilda-taylor · 7 years ago

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surprise . mattie + addison

There was a chill in the air. That was an odd sensation for a supposedly summer’s day but being in the midst of hurricane season meant the weather could throw a tantrum at any moment and throw off a whole damn week of sunshine. She didn’t care for the sunshine anyway. She preferred days like today- rainy, stormy, cloudy, windy, chilly- it almost felt like fall if you closed your eyes. With an imagination as vivid as Matilda’s she could even pretend, just for a moment, that she was back in Ireland.

The train ride from Philadelphia to Boston was a whopping six hours but that was surely better than the possibility of getting stuck in traffic on the megabus. Traffic was a sore spot for Mattie, she’d discovered recently that it is entirely possible to get road rage from the passenger’s seat. Since the car accident back when she was 14 she’d refused to get a license. Losing your mother to the carelessness of a drunk driver was enough to scar any teen for life but then add on the fact that she’d nearly died in said accident and it was a whole other story. She’d been put into a medically induced coma after that for nearly a month which was pretty rare but she had a lot of healing to do both internally and externally. Moving in with her father and step mother hadn’t been ideal. While she’d loved him very very much, her relationship with Addison was strained on its best days. Since his death they’d barely spoken, barely seen one another, caught up on major holidays and birthdays they were civil and friendly but... the blonde had been very much a part of her Dad and it hurt her heart to be reminded that at age twenty she was orphaned. Going back to Brookline was something she hadn’t done since Henry had been laid to rest and that in itself had her nervous.

When she’d joined connections she was in Ireland. She knew she was coming back to the states and thought it couldn’t hurt to look and see what was out there. A month had gone by and she hadn’t found anyone of interest and literally the day she considered leaving the site for good, MistressHadley lit up her inbox with a message that had intrigued her. From that day on they’d spoken every day... it had been six months and they were finally meeting face to face. Miss Hadley never pushed her for photos of her face, she never pushed to cam- Mattie had weird phobias about what she put out on the internet and the woman seemed to understand completely. With the woman’s birthday nearing and the fact that they were both finally sharing a coast, they’d mutually agreed that ‘Taylor’ would take the train up and stay the weekend. School was out until Fall semester anyway.

Matilda smoothed her hands down the unwrinkled material of the dark floral dress for the umpteenth time and took a deep steadying breath as the conductor announced that they’d be pulling into the station. Dark eyes glanced up and a single digit pushed those red rimmed glasses up the bridge of her nose. The butterflies swarmed in her stomach in a frenzied dance as the train pulled to a complete stop with a hiss and whine. Grabbing her overnight bag, she slung it over her shoulder and headed to the exit. Black and white lowtop converse found solid ground and she breathed a little easier. As she made her way up the stairs, hidden in a crowd of people, dark eyes found that rose held between slender digits. Biting down gently into her lower lip, she allowed her gaze to travel up and her breath hitched at the sight of the woman in the plaid top and three inch stilettos... Addison.

It took her a moment for the shock to settle but she had to think quick on her feet. Ripping the glasses from her face, she shoved them into a small pocket of her bag and zipped it closed. Swallowing hard, she watched her step mother for a long silent moment, how had this actually happened to her?! Of all the fucking people in the world, this woman was the woman she’d been submitting to and crushing on? This was the woman she’d been getting to know on such a personal level? It was hard to wrap her mind around but as time ticked by and the place began to empty of the passengers from Philadelphia she could see the woman’s face fall ever so slightly, she could see her demeanor shift. Addison had always been good at putting up a front but after living with her for so many years Mattie could read the subtle shifts that no one should have been able to and just as the woman turned away she made a decision.

Mattie went to walk past her as if she were heading out to get a cab and bumped into her gently. “Sorry, god I’m clumsy, I-” She looked up and her worried expression morphed into a somewhat surprised smile as dark eyes gazed up. “What’re you doing here? I was just about to-” The younger girl gestured to the door that led out to the cabs. “I was gonna surprise you.” Mattie shook her head some. “For your birthday.” Finally taking a moment to breathe she let out an almost shy laugh and tucked a few strands behind her ear. “Oh!...-oh, god... you must be waiting on someone. Fuck... I should have called.” As that espresso stare finally settled on green she stopped rambling, a silence settling between them... she offered that lopsided smile. “Hey Addi... happy birthday.”

#addison #para01

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betweenthetimeandsound · 3 years ago

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Three Minutes to Eternity: My ESC 250 (#120-111)

#120: Iveta Mukuchyan -- Lovewave (Armenia 2016)

“Without even a single warning I’m not who I was before A chain reaction with no returning Now watch me craving for more”

Lovewave is definitely experimental in more ways than one—not only in how the song builds up with the jet take off, but also with the mix of Armenian elements and artpop. A contemplation on the ecstasy of love and how much it opens up a person, the lyrics bring out the sensation too, in an unorthodox structure including a spoken word beginning and a lack of a proper chorus.

And then we have that staging—if we're judging these only on presentation, this is one of the, if not the, best ones ever. A mix of fire, camera angles (which actually makes it more enjoyable for the audience at home, as it adds to the sensation which the live audience wouldn't otherwise get) and holograms bring up the intensity with Iveta at the center—she owns the stage as an absolute showstopper.

Personal ranking: 3rd/42 Actual ranking: 7th/26 GF in Stockholm

#119: Gina G -- Ooh, Aah, Just a Little Bit (United Kingdom 1996)

“Like a child, but it's more than a phase Could act the angel, but it wouldn't be true”

When the eighth-place song does better commercially than the winner of its year, then things have gotten really wrong in Eurovision. By the 1996 contest, most of the songs were low-energy, with some New Age and/or Celtic influences in between. While it doesn't mean it was bad, it did mean it didn't configure well with the pop charts.

And Ooh, Aah, Just a Little Bit was that song; it stormed through the charts and got nominated for a Grammy for Best Dance Recording. While it's an ordinary dance track, it still induces a jolt of energy and it's just so bubbly and fun. The harp and strings, while very slight, add some nice touches to the song too. Sure, Gina misses a few notes here and there, but I was too busy dancing to notice it, as well as staring at that pretty dress (which was supposed to be for Cher, but it was scrapped!)

However, those vocals also cost the UK a bit, as they placed 3rd in the pre-qualifying round, but dropped to eighth on the night. Considering the state of Eurovision during the time, this might be the song that triggered the televote.

Personal ranking: 4th/23 Actual ranking: 8th/23 in Oslo

#118: Şebnem Paker - Beşinci Mevsim (Turkey 1996)

"Kapandı son kapım, vuruldum bilmeden, Sakın o sen misin giden, Soyundu dallarım, delindi gökyüzü, Kaçıncı sonbahar bugün,”

“My last door has closed, I have been hit without knowing, Are you leaving me My branches are naked, my sky is darker Which autumn is today?”

The opening lines, along with the violin solo, set the stage for this gloomy, melancholic song from Sebnem Paker (the first of two, actually!) I like the autumnal feeling of this, as if one could walk across a boulevard on an overcast day, thinking about what has gone wrong in a relationship. The accordion especially helps here; I keep thinking of a street scene in Paris here. I also like humming this on my spare time; it could work out as an "on hold" tone for the telephone. It's actually quite relaxing.

An interesting thing is despite getting a better result ten years earlier, Beşinci Mevsim scored more points for Turkey in the 100% jury era, with 59 points. And Sebnem would go on to improve on that the following year. While I do look highly on that one like others (and it will eventually come soon) I’d like to think of her first entry as an underrated masterpiece.

Personal ranking: 3rd/23 Actual ranking: 12th/23 in Oslo

#117: Danijela Martinovic -- Neka mi ne Svane (Croatia 1998)

“Neka mi ne svane Nek’ me nema, nek’ me ne bude Neka me bez tebe ne probude”

“May the dawn never rise May I disappear, may I cease to exist May I not wake up without you”

One eccentricity about 1998 is that it begins and ends on a similar note--they can't stop the dawn! Ne zori, zoro (#163) does so through a dim, melancholic note by going through the struggles of a man on the edge, whereas Neka mi ne svane does so through a dainty, yet no less sad, melody about loss.

The way Daniejla sings this line is a highlight with the song, as she vocalizes each syllable with her sweet voice. She mourns for a lost love, desiring for him to come back and refusing to live on. I also love the orchestration; it adds to the magical feel and creates a sense of grandeur. And with a single swipe of hand, one of the most effective gimmicks in Eurovision history as she removes her dark cloak to reveal a white gown.

Apparently, to some commenters, this is the best Balkan Ballad ever. While I find it really beautiful, considering none of Zejlko Joksimovic's compositions are on this list yet, it's doesn't hold much of a candle for what is too come.

Personal ranking: 3rd/25 Actual ranking: 5th/25 in Birmingham

Final Impressions on Croatia: A comment on all their entries describes Croatia at Eurovision as the "reverse of character development"; in the 1990s, they were quite strong, with a number of entries that could've won in their year. They had a good streak in the 2000s, though their last top-ten was in 2001, before basically torpedoing in the 2010s. It's quite sad to see a potential powerhouse withering like that.

But weren't those really good entries, really good? And if it weren't for the Slovak jury giving those points in Kvalificacija za Millstreet...

#116: Pierre Rapsat -- Judy et cie (Belgium 1976)

"Sous ton rimmel et tes bijoux Tu pries Sainte Marilyn Monroe D’être une poupée, un beau joujou Tout feu, tout flamme Enfin la femme”

“Under your mascara and jewelry, You pray to saint Marilyn Monroe To become a doll, a beautiful toy. All fire, all flames, A woman at last...”

Have you ever been one of those kids who was rejected from everything in school and had no friends? Reading the lyrics to “Judy et cie” reminds me of that, as everyone else was so cool with their friends and status, and Judy just wants to feel accepted . With my spin, it feels like it get dark at the end, because Judy becomes so desperate to get attention, she turns to either selling herself to others or doing drugs.

Combined with Pierre’s composition, it just works so well. Not unlike with Somewhere in Europe (#126), it feels like a Billy Joel song with its instrumentation and depth. Relistening to the orchestration, it really works in conveying the overall feeling. We feel that loneliness and hope for better things for Judy, though we know that won’t ever come to light for her.

Personal ranking: 1st/18 Actual ranking: 8th/18 in Den Haag

Final Impressions on 1976: 1976 feels like a filler year, and at the same time, it's quite good song-wise. The production feels a bit bland; we don't have anything interesting, though the changing stage was definitely a neat innovation. The songs are solid; the top two are among the highest-scoring songs by percentage, but there's a mix of boppy and dark. More of the sullen songs makes my top 250.

#115: Anna Maria Jopek -- Ale Jestem (Poland 1997)

“Trzeba żyć naprawdę, żeby oszukać czas, Trzeba żyć najpiękniej, żyje się tylko raz, Trzeba żyć w zachwycie: marzyć, kochać i śnić, Trzeba czas oszukać, żeby naprawdę żyć,”

“You must truly live, to fool the time, You must beautifully live, you live only once You must live in admiration: love, imagine and dream You must fool the time, to save true life”

Around 100 entries ago, I told you about Sama, one of Poland's most eccentric entries. And now we have another Polish entry here, though this is the end of their journey.

Watching Ale Jestem's live performance, one first is immersed into the orchestration, with the variant colors springs to life on the Point Theatre stage. The following three minutes remains folkloric but a bit delicate, the pre-chorus (shown in the lyrics) build up to quite the crescendos as it feels like dancing through a meadow of flowers. Anna Maria keeps up with the sweet vocals, and she has a bit of a mischievous gaze towards the audience!

Both poetic and strong, Ale Jestem relishes in one’s existence, while imploring us we have to make the most of what we’ve got. The instrumentation makes this the ultimate spring song; the strings add a wall of sound that pulls you in (if it's a bit "messy", it's because it's in 12/8 time, though it gets easy to adjust!). It inspires joy and life, and it’s just all kinds of beautiful.

Personal ranking: 7th/25 Actual ranking: 11th/25 in Dublin

#114: Evridiki -- Teriazoume (Cyprus 1992)

“Σου δίνω τα χείλη μου, και μέσα στην ύλη μου Με κάθε κύτταρο μου σε τυλίγω”

“I give you my lips, and into my existence With every cell of mine I wrap you”

Terry Wogan famously warned the audience that Evridiki's performance will "smolder your television set". While it may not have made your TV (or these days, laptop or phone) melt until it functions with a melted screen, Teriazoume is so sensual!

It definitely lit a spark in the dull 1992 field, which didn’t exactly translate to points, though it has won my heart. From the way Evridiki moves to the way the microphone stand shakes, you’re on a wire as she tries to seduce you. (I've actually spent quite a bit of time trying to learn the handography in the bridge) The strings also add to that feeling with their sudden starts and stops--at one point, the audience clapped before the song was over!

George Theopanous (the songwriter as well as the conductor) does a good job in using imagery in the lyrics to accompany the melody, and the result is akin to a strip tease with beautiful silk clothes and lacy underwear. And in my opinion, this has more sex appeal in two seconds than Fuego has in three minutes. You can't change my mind.

Personal ranking: 3rd/23 Actual ranking: 11th/23 in Malmo

#113: Monica Aspelund -- Lapponia (Finland 1977)

“Tuo neito noita on, hän luo voimalla kohtalon Hän vailla on seuraa ja lohduttamaton Ja siksi loihtii hän noituen, hän luo voimalla loitsujen Hän tavalla Seidan näin miehen kutsua saa”

“That girl is a witch, she creates with the power of destiny She’s without company and consolation And that’s why she conjures witching, she creates with the power of spells In the way of Seita she can beckon a man”

Apparently, Monica disowned the Finnish lyrics of Lapponia because they mentioned witches, which is a pity because it tells a fantastic story! (And in other linguistic fun, the song was meant to be performed in Swedish, but the language rule prevented Monica from doing so. It would take another thirteen years for a Finnish entry to be performed in Swedish. In addition, there was a Dutch version only used for a commercial)

The instrumental is bright and enjoyable despite the cold land of Lapponia, and Monica’s vocals sings clearly and with joy. The clapping is enough to get one up and going, and it nullifies the repetitiveness of the "nananas". And of course, her high note at the bridge absolutely nailed it!

Along with a solid result, Lapponia got Finland’s first top score (and only one until 2006--see #140 for that), but it certainly deserved more. (Why did It's Nice to Be in Love Again have to complete the top three?)

Personal ranking: 3rd/18 Actual ranking: 10th/18 in London

#112: Anna Vissi -- Everything (Greece 2006)

“I can hear my heart breaking as I open the door I can feel the tears on my face burn like fire...”

I've honestly wavered between this and another Greek personal runner-up for this one. Both of them are fantastic, but neither would've challenged my winners of their respective years. After watching both of their performances, I turned to my gut, and this lost out.

The contrast between Anna’s questioning of the relationship and desire to get back together plays well into the lyrics, even though they don’t necessarily stand out. That doesn’t compare with the music and Anna’s performance on the night, which was an intense experience. Compared to Mono i agapi (#239) twenty-four years earlier, Anna is a but rougher on the edges, but still gives her all on the stage.

Everything about her makes her look like a rock-star; the Jean-Paul Gaultier ensemble goes down as one of my all-time favorite performance outfits, and the crowd singing along is a highlight of the 2006 contest. The climax featured an awesome knee-drop at the end, and you could see how much vocal control she had. That’s how you do a minimally-staged performance!

Personal ranking: 2nd/37 Actual ranking: 9th/24 GF in Athens

#111: Boaz Maauda -- The Fire in Your Eyes (Israel 2008)

“נפשי מייחלת לתפילת הלב החם”

“My soul is longing for the warm heart's prayer”

Also known as the other good Israeli Eurovision entry from the 2000s, The Fire in Your Eyes stands out as one of the more serious, yet beautiful songs from the class of 2008, which goes up and down in terms of quality.

Who would've thought that Dana International could write such a song? It’s so beautiful, with good use of Eastern elements to add a sense of mysticism and melancholy to it. I also like the clear vocal lines from Boaz (albeit with a crack at the end); his talent show pedigree really shows here. And the staging was quite pretty, though the backing vocalists' dancing does feel a bit jarring compared to the minimalistic lighting.

Ultimately, the lyrics stand out the most to me. They're really sweet and calm, with a serenity in the longing. I like the added touches of Yemenite Hebrew in the introduction, which adds more substance to the song.

Personal ranking: 5th/43 Actual ranking: 9th/25 GF in Belgrade

#eurovision #eurovision song contest #esc top 250 #esc 250 #esc armenia #esc united kingdom #esc turkey #esc croatia #esc belgium #esc poland #esc cyprus #esc finland #esc greece #esc israel #vintage eurovision #three minutes to eternity

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iratusmagus · 7 years ago

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All of this is incredibly well put, and thought out. I’m sure you can hear the ‘but’ lingering in ther air. I actually agree with this post, however I feel it’d be irresponsible of me not to point out some things I couldn’t help but notice, some which are another nail in the coffin; others which might defend or explain the decision.

My initial reaction to this was “beluga”. As in the whale. Some similarities are the white color, the soft/rounded general body shape. That said I dunno why she’s not more sizable as if she was based off that some blubber would make sense. Also those eyes are a startlingly bright blue. So aside from her actual body the other thing that makes me think aquatic is the environment being depicted. I’m seeing sea anemone, coral, seaweed; the works. I could very much imagine such a dragon living in an underwater cave away from the others, or perhaps in a colony of similarly aquatic dragons. The final thing which points me to water is that Toothless and most other dragons LOVE fish of various kinds. It seems to be a primary food source for many of them. I would assume this is likely the case for “light fury” as well and would explain such a deep connection with the waters in which she might live.

Now let’s take that water theme and push to the next step. Toothless is a night fury and what goes along with the night? The moon. The conductor of the tides and everpresent in the night’s sky. The moon’s long association with the feminine and with the sea might be what inspired this dragon’s design. If so can we PLEASE call her Moon’s Wrath? Or moon fury? Pretty please? This also might point to a more mystical nature, maybe she has a chilling breath or some other distinct ability that marks her as unique, perhaps even within her species.

Now a counter point is that this pairing is ironically against Norse tradition. See the moon is represented in a masculine way, with the moon god Mani. His sister Sol or Sunna in High German is the sun. This breaks with HTTYD’s longstanding relationship with pseudo-Nordic tradition. Then again, they are clearly more based on “Horny Helmet” Vikings than actual Vikings so this isn’t a very strong point.

As an aside I would also like to point out that the relationship with the books is tenuous at best as literally ALL of the characters are liberally altered in the movies, point and case is Fishlegs who is a bit of a nerdy type like in the books, but is a very large fellow completely unlike in the books. If Toothless was more like his literary counterpart he’d be the size of a small dog, think around Yorkshire Terrier size. This brings to mind that the pseudo-biology of the books is almost entirely irrelevant to the movies and the tv show which go by their own rules. I mean, the dragons actual TALK in the books. If the movies are so liberal with their source material how much more so are they going to be than with their inspirations from the real world?

All of that aside, I dont think this was the best choice for her. Is she pretty? Definitely. Did she need to be? I’m not so sure. Depending on what kind of role she plays in the greater scheme of things I might get really annoyed by this design choice. My last thought was perhaps she’s younger and that’s why she’s smaller but I don’t buy that anymore than you do. Honestly I don’t mind a “softer” design if it was explained by very different hunting techniques or habits. It’d be very interesting to see if she is actually an albino of the species and have that be woven into the story somehow.

I still would rather have a big ole gal that Toothless can just pester if I’m being completely honest.

Hey what’s up, that HTTYD 3 poster got me fucked up

So this official poster has been released for How To Train Your Dragon 3 and it has left me with… opinions.

My first initial reaction was excitement! Oh hell yeah HTTYD 3 is coming out! I adored the first two! But then i saw…

SIIIIIGGGGGGGHHHHHHH I knew immediately that this was most likely a female night fury and fuck yeah shit fuck it is which is so disappointing. I could write a huge essay on how female characters are portrayed in media. I could write a massive blog about smurfette syndrome and how female characters are always just a pink, soft version of their male counterparts, or how female animal or anthro characters still have to fall into society’s beauty standards so we do crazy things like give ducks tits or large eyelashes.

I COULD talk about why these things occur, and how this is a worrying reflection of how society views human females, that males are the default and females are the other… but I’m not going to do that TODAY.

Hi my name is India and not only do I have an animation degree, but I also have a degree in animal and veterinary science.

This design doesn’t just insult me as an animator. This design insults me as a scientist.

Let’s begin.

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communiteabooks-onlinestore-blog · 7 years ago

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Masaru Emoto & Our Spiritual Enlightenment

Does anyone remember that documentary What the Bleep Do We Know!?? The film that brought quantum mechanics, and human consciousness into mainstream society. A commercial interest in physics exploded in the newly evolved social mediasphere and it took all the Millennials with it. I really enjoyed it, the film, as did everyone my age that went through the “Rabbit Hole,” but there was one aspect of the film that really intrigued me: a brief interjection of commentary discussing the writings and experiments of Masaru Emoto. Now, for those of you whom are unaware Masaru Emoto is the author of The Secret Life of Water, Hidden Messages in Water, The Shape of Love, and other fantastic books. Emoto believed that water was, essentially, a blueprint for our reality. The frequencies and vibrations of our world could be channeled and enhanced by water, and that water is a conduit of energy. The idea is…OK, take The Law of Attraction, for example, and the concept that our thoughts affect our reality, now consider for a moment that there might be a scientific, physical explanation of the idea that our thoughts are capable of affecting water through vibrations, and that because everything is made up of water molecules that water might be a conductor of thought which allows for the manipulation of reality. Are we all on the same page? Because if not I will be explaining it further momentarily. Masaru Emoto is most commonly known for doing vibration experiments with ice crystals. When you freeze, and then unfreeze water there are very, very brief moments before thawing when the water creates crystalloid shapes. Masaru Emoto thought to photograph these crystals, and he applied the idea that different non-physical variables might affect the crystals, for example: different types of music playing, speaking with both negative and positive intention and tone, writings, etc., basically what I’m talking about the is epitome of New Age bullshit, you know, how our feely feelings affect our surroundings, but when perceived from a scientific perspective. I suppose that another way of putting it is to say that I have reached the point in this blog where if the GOP cannot kill it, or eat it, and it cannot be explained metaphorically somewhere between Jonah and the Whale and Noah’s Ark then it’s quite possible that I have become a dangerous liability to the illusive American standard. Masaru Emoto discovered that when being expressed positive thoughts or intentions in the form of positive verbal, auditory, and written stimuli it would affect the vibrations and frequencies traveling between ‘the source’ and the water crystals, and they would form stunningly beautiful crystalloid shapes, and when expressed negatively the water crystals would appear misshapen and deformed. As a result Emoto discovered that our positive thoughts affected water in a very real way through measurable vibrations and frequencies that travel through all things, and he therefore began to express urgently how important positive thoughts are, and when you consider that the human body is made up of more than 70% water you might rethink the way that you live your life. See, for me, these concepts provide so much more insight, and a more logical framework for the genesis of our existence, and the development of our reality. And to be completely honest I do not understand how anyone could possibly disagree with it. The physics of quantum mechanics, the conception of spiritual evolution, and at the concentration of human connection can be expressed collectively by the discoveries of Masaru Emoto, and, as far as I’m concerned, where the three of these concepts meet we find a pinnacle understanding of our humanism. I read Emoto’s books and found so many profound connections between the most difficult political, spiritual, and relationship questions that have challenged a belief that I had always felt, and yet I could never quite explain, and not just between one idea and another, but Masaru’s writings offered insight to various connections between ideas that I never even considered might connect. Religion is deeply personal for the majority of the people on the planet, in one way or another, even atheism is responsible for strong stigmas regarding religious, or spiritual ideas for some of us. As far as my own beliefs I cannot deny that my upbringing was a case study of spiritual ADD: my parents were both raised with strict religious contexts: my father’s family was devout in Southern Baptist, which, from the 1950’s through the 70’s, you know, “the severity of American religious idealism,” especially among Southern Baptists, was pretty scary. My mom went to an all-girl Catholic school for twelve years. And as a result of their childhoods my father, being an intellectual, but not much of a humanist, now considers himself agnostic, while my mother spent years looking for spiritual enlightenment, and stumbled upon a religion called Eckankar, which is a young western philosophy similar to Hinduism that has adopted also a variety of other eastern philosophies, and I have attended many of the religions Sunday services. My mother gave me the option as a child to either attend service or to spend the time studying different religions—more often than not I took her up on the study. Throughout my years of practice it became quite clear to me that the two most prominent problems within our religious purview also happen to be the same two reasons why many religions still exist today, and exactly as they did centuries ago: stigmas and money. Modern religious institutions have created stigmas against their religious counterparts, which has been both sustainable, and dangerous. For example, according to the Qur’an anyone who follows the teachings of a religious text is not, technically, what some Muslims might consider, an ‘infidel’ and, for those of you whom are unaware, religious texts include the Torah and the Bible, as well as others, it would appear that a sect of Islamic 'believers' simply disregarded that creed, but no more so, and inasmuch the way that Christians tend to ignore much of their own doctrine—many people form a belief on baseless hearsay. Masaru Emoto and his writings—his books—have helped me develop many ideas, within our belief systems, that others are taught not to accept, or that they have been disallowed the means to see through various stigmas and dogma. It would seem that the unusual aspects of my upbringing have made it easier for me to distance myself from the manipulation of emotional reactions when necessary. For example: I was reading a copy of Indigo Sun Magazine many years ago, I picked it up while working at Borders Books, Music, and Café, and came across an article in which the author describes sitting with a group of people discussing the different ideals and perceptions that shadow God, and in the middle of the discussion someone said, “Oh! I get it, so God is like water and we are like fish.” The author goes on to describe how no one among them seemed to understand how profound a realization that was. It simply went over their heads, or the idea did not fit into the systems that they have created for themselves because of their religions. But, think about it for a moment, "God is like Water and We are like Fish." As a foundation, the principles itself, when developing ideas from that particular foundation, the places you are capable of reaching, I mean, it’s astounding where that one idea can take you. And, of course there are obvious similarities between this sudden burst of spiritual clarity and what Masaru Emoto was writing, but there is a deeply-rooted hidden concept within this spiritual understanding that exists as well, and it’s an idea worth expanding upon, and that I urge you to develop on your own. I have gone on to develop my own understandings surrounding spiritual enlightenment over the years. But whenever I’m asked about my own ideas I share one or both of the following: “God is not the Creator but instead the Act of Creation,” and, again: “God is like Water, and We are like Fish,” because I do recognize how deeply profound they are, and how uniquely they can be interpreted, they also fit comfortably within the dogma of any belief system that YOU might presently accept, because thinking of your belief system in ways that you have not yet considered can be paramount to perceiving the world around you in a way that might be less threatening. For years, even since developing, what I thought, would be an open-minded all-inclusive system of ideals I realized that I still had my own stigmas, of which included the belief that my ‘pillars’ listed in the paragraph above were antithetical to those of Christian or Muslim doctrine, until I was sitting in a café in Salt Lake City one evening talking about religion with a friend of mine. We stayed there until 4 in the morning discussing different ideas and belief systems. My friend was raised Mormon and when I mentioned that “God was like Water and that We are like Fish,” and, then went on to suggest that “I don’t believe God to exist as a personified being, but rather as a collective,” he agreed with me completely. I asked him, “Well, I thought you were a Christian?” to which he responded, “I am.” “So, then how can you believe God to exist as anything other than as a personified being?” his response was that- “That idea is not mutually exclusive to Christian Doctrine.” And, aside from accepting Jesus as the Son of God, he was absolutely right. We have a very basic, and limited understanding of our own spirituality, because we have collectively refused to understand it, as a result most of us would immediately reject the idea that God could have a ‘Son’ while not actually existing in the image of man. Allow yourself to imagine, for a moment, the idea that we may not be created in the physical image of God, but rather the emotional image; what would that look like? And how would that connect with, not only, other belief systems, but other aspects of our humanity? Science, Politics, Relationships, etc. I thought about Masaru Emoto and the differences that we establish between creating a narrative and developing a belief, and recognized that my stigmas regardless of their foundation were the inherent problem. At its root we do not understand religion and spirituality beyond a narrative, a collection of stories that we’ve been told in order to perceive certain ideals or feelings in a way that we are able to make sense of. Unfortunately, when applied, those stories don’t exactly mesh with other narratives that we tell ourselves as humans. Unless we strip that narrative to the fundamental connections, but not just between us and our belief systems, but the belief systems of others, and of our scientific and political communities. Once we allow ourselves not to force our connections, beliefs systems, and stigmas but to recognize-, to be conscious of how the connections exist around us, just as Masaru Emoto has done with the simplicity of the harmony between nature and our humanity, we’re capable of recognizing the simplicity of our own connections and we’re left with the freedom of our perceptions, which are influenced by both our physical understanding of our world, and our emotional. Masaru Emoto helped me to bridge the gaps that, before reading his books, seemed much too far to connect.

Visit My Page: Communitea Books

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rinasitorus · 7 years ago

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An Interview with Eugene Izotov

Perfection doesn’t exist, because your idea of perfection is constantly evolving. It is impossible, but you can try to get closer every time.” Eugene Izotov is the first Soviet-born musician in history to hold a principal wind position in any major American symphony orchestra. Appointed by Michael Tilson Thomas in 2014, Izotov is currently the principal oboist of the San Francisco Symphony. Primephonic’s Rina Sitorus chatted with him about oboe playing, instrument envy and ‘ perfection’ in classical music.

Why the oboe? It is still the same question I ask everyday (laughs). My father and uncle are musicians: my dad a violinist, my uncle a pianist. Growing up, they didn’t want me to become a musician because according to them it would be too hard for me. Yet when I was 4 or 5 years old, I started showing what they called the symptoms of becoming a musician, I was good with rhythm, I would sing in tune, and so on. When they saw that I was really interested, even from such a young age, they said, okay maybe he will become a musician, but not as a string or piano player, maybe he can choose something easy like a wind instrument.

So they took me to Gnessin School of Music in Moscow. I remember vividly, hearing the sound of an oboe for the first time felt like a lightning strike. It was so beautiful and magical. And when I looked at it, I just felt the need to posses it. I said right then and there that I wanted to play the oboe. Well they said, oboe, how hard can it be (chuckles)? So with my father's blessing I could become a wind player.

Was that also the time that you decided to play music for the rest of your life?

Ever since I can remember, I never considered doing anything else but music. I didn’t even understand why people would choose other professions if they could be musicians. Later as I grew up and found out about the world and other things outside music, it became a decision that I need to re-affirm. I’ve been a professional musician for 25 years. In the end, it comes back to the realization that music is something which gives me a continuous purpose in life in a way nothing else does.

What was your greatest challenge when you just started? In which way has it changed throughout the years?

I guess the biggest challenge was to really prove to myself that I have the talent to make it and how to realize it. As a kid, you would play in front of your parents and they would say it was wonderful, no matter what. But when you get to do the actual training next to other talented students, you’ll learn that the world is full of these talented people.

Throughout the years, the biggest challenge I’m facing has changed very drastically. Obviously I’ve enjoyed a successful career so far, so seemingly I have what it takes. Now my point of reference is the word ‘perfection’. As you grow older, you learn more about the music. You learn about the sound, the nature of orchestra playing, the demand of the composers, etc. So, perfection doesn’t exist, because your idea of perfection is constantly evolving. It is impossible, but you can try to get closer every time.

What is your reflection on the idea that the tradition in classical music is all about perfection?

I’ve noticed that there are some conductors and individual musicians who believe that they have found the key to the truth. They believe it gives them some kind of artistic superiority, if you will, and all they do is showcase it. I think it is a wrong way to refer to the word ‘tradition’. Tradition to me is when you know where you are coming from, you learn it, you allow it to become a part of you, then you build on it and you continue. When tradition becomes a process of creating and recreating the same thing over and over again, it becomes an artistic inflexibility. You will basically do the same thing every single time. That contradicts my identity as a musician.

Some of my most joyful experience as a musician is in searching for something I haven't found before. And I am so happy that I'm playing in the San Francisco Symphony, because I think the city of San Francisco itself is based on searching and being open minded. It's scary sometimes because you don't know what you’ll find, but at least you're not afraid to look.

You know, finding the truth is irrelevant because it's not the purpose of music. People come to feel something, not to be told of something. People come to experience something – it is not a lecture or anything like it.

If it is not about finding the key to the truth as you put it, what is the most important thing in music to you?

There are two most important things in music: one is how you feel during a performance, and the other is what stays with you after a performance. It can’t ever be the same, people come to be part of a performance, be as performers or as audience, this relationship is recreated every single time and it can’t be the same all the time.

What stays with you after a performance?

It depends on the performance. For example, with 9/11, the orchestra was playing Shostakovich’s Symphony No 11. It was amazing how the music of Shostakovich about an series of actual events from a hundred years ago, could precisely express what we needed to hear in 2001. It gave us the opportunity to come together, to feel the anger and to support each other. The feeling was so powerful and it stays with me.

You wrote about the American Dream on your Facebook status in July. How important was it for you to make it in the US at that time? Was there an ‘or else’ scenario?

Yes, I had to make it. When I came to the US in 1990, Russian wind playing was not at the same level as strings or piano. Growing up, I was really impressed when I heard American wind playing. I wanted to learn to play like that. That was my main reason artistically to continue my education in the US.

And as for the or else scenario, I’m actually from the Soviet Union. At that time, there was a mandatory military draft: there was a war in Chechnya. If I hadn’t come here, I would have to go to war. A scary alternative. I would much rather make music than make war obviously.

As an oboe player, do you have instrument envy?

Are you kidding me? All the time! (laughs). I have clarinet envy, piano envy, voice envy. I sometimes just steal their pieces. I’m aware of my instrument’s abilities as well as its limitations.

My biggest instrument envy is the human voice. That is just the world’s greatest instrument. You see, one of the best advantages of playing in the best orchestras is that you get to sit next to the best musicians. I’ve learned so much from the greatest singers.

Could you be more concrete of what an oboe player can learn from singers?

When we are playing, we always have the same problem, not all of us, but we can't hear ourselves from the audience seats. Rehearsals are first done in a pretty private setting. The singers get to sit near me, sometimes next to me. Because with a lot of operatic writing (especially for oboe clarinet flute), sopranos start the line, the oboe continues, and then it goes back to the soprano. It is a dialogue which needs to be closely rehearsed. Then in the theater, we’ll be separated. It is then I will hear how the voice sounds when it travels, while I’m playing. Sometimes we musicians are so obsessive about what we are doing on stage that we forget that there is a distance between the stage and the seats of the audience.

So, I get to see how the voice is carried and interacts with music. How it changes its resonance, its smoothness, its personality, and its power. I’ve learned how to imitate that from singers. It has been serving me really well in oboe playing. Some of the best compliments I get is that my playing is vocal, that I can emulate the sound of a singer. It is the most valuable compliment for me.

Which repertoire do you feel most identified with?

Prior to moving to the US I had never heard anything from Mahler. Now you can’t go to any major city without hearing Mahler’s music being performed somewhere. I moved to the US on July 7. Then I found out that July 7 was Mahler��s birthday. I heard Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 during one of the most horrible moments of my life. In order to continue my study and stay in the US, I had to pass the English exam which I had failed once. I had one chance left. The music gave me so much hope that I felt as long as I could be near it, I could get to anything. Then I passed the exam and I could stay. The music of Mahler has always played a big part in my life. I'm not saying that I don't like anything else, but since then the fire has always been burning inside of me.

What are your upcoming projects?

The symphony is one big continuous project for me. And generally speaking, if I'm not playing, then I’m teaching. In the summer time, next to teaching at San Francisco Conservatory, I’m also with the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo Japan. I’ve been going there for 16 years. It was the last creation of Leonard Bernstein, such a pity he could only stand up there for one summer before he passed away. Since then it has become a really important international music center. I also teach in the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. I will also play concertos and featured solos. The music director of the Pacific Music Festival and a good friend of mine, conductor Valery Gergiev, has asked me to do 6 or 7 performances throughout Japan with the PMF Orchestra.

What about solo recordings?

I’ve had a pretty busy past few years. I really need one summer where I can devote my time to solo recording. I would really love to do it. One thing I notice from my OboeSolo channel on Youtube is that every time I publish something, I will get up to 3000 hits in two, three days. I can’t imagine selling 5000 CDs in such a short time. So when I make a new commercial recording, it remains to be seen in which format, because the technology changes so rapidly these days.

The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra recently released the Schumann Symphonies 1-4, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas.

Schumann’s music is very dear to me – there is such a genuine and even fragile tenderness in his writing, it has always touched me since the first time I heard “Dichterliebe” when I was a child. Also, Schumann’s language is very open and melodic, which speaks closely to my Russian heart. I was very happy to be a part of our Schumann Symphonic Cycle – it gave us a completely different set of challenges from repertoire like Mahler, Strauss, and Copland. I think these recordings demonstrate a special kind of vitality and versatility of the San Francisco Symphony. We certainly enjoy the great triumphant moments – they are always exciting to play, but to me it has been even more remarkable to be a part of performances where the orchestra had the courage to expand its dynamic range, particularly playing in softer dynamics, and to create intimate and almost haunting moments of quiet.

Eugene Izotov in conversation with Primephonic's Rina Sitorus

Foto by: Corry Weaver

#San Francisco Symphony Warner Classics R. Schumann: Symphonies Nos. 1-4

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