#did i mention carlton's my favorite?

[ecargmura]

Dandadan Episode 1 Review - Ghosts Vs Aliens

October is considered the spooky season, so Dandadan is perfect for the vibes. It’s a good mix of comedy and horror that you don’t get too often in anime. The animation quality was super unique and I really like what was presented!

The story is about two people named Momo Ayase and Ken Takakura, commonly known as Okarun. Momo is a girl who likes guys like her celebrity crush Ken Takakura (an olden day Japanese actor, sort of like Clint Eastwood), but she has a good heart when she defends Okarun from bullies in his class. However, Okarun believed she likes occult things like UFOs and extraterrestrial phenomena. While Momo does believe in the occult, she doesn’t believe in aliens but in ghosts. However, Okarun doesn’t believe in ghosts, so the two decide to challenge the other to see which supernatural existence actually exists by going to occult hotspots. Little do they know that both exist.

The premiere was super quirky in the sense that we get character building first from Momo and Okarun and then all the action and supernatural stuff happens at the end. I like that, honestly! It’s nice to learn who these two are. Momo has extremely high standards in men due to her ideal type being her celeb crush, but still has a good heart in that she defends Okarun and also hates people insulting her grandmother. Okarun may seem meek, but he does come around at the end saying that he wants to protect Momo as she was the one who stood up for him when no one else did.

Now for the action and supernatural part…that was crazy. Man, it’s nice to see a supernatural show where both ghosts and aliens exist. I feel like this story is one where they explore the existence of other paranormal creatures and not stick to a specific type. I like that! Though, it was sort of scary seeing these creatures move around! The Turbo Granny was by far the scene-stealer. Who’d ever think that you’d actually meet a lewd granny in a tunnel saying that she’d let you suck her t*ts in exchange for your balls. Then, there are very creepy aliens wanting to r*pe females because their species cannot reproduce. They even have a grotesque form underneath their default form. However, it was interesting that the person who believed in aliens got entangled with the ghost and the person who doesn’t believe in aliens got entangled with them.

I really like the animation! It’s really floppy in the sense that the characters are always moving around. I haven’t really watched a Science Saru anime, but if this is what they produce, I should reconsider and start watching more of their stuff. Even for mundane stuff like Momo walking towards Okarun is fluid in movement. The action scenes were also well animated in that it goes really fast. This anime feels like a roller coaster in a sense in that it slows in the beginning and then goes fast after a certain point. If the premiere is this good, I do wonder what will transpire for the rest of the show.

I love the music! The OST was amazing and I loved the opening! Creepy Nuts had a hit song with the Mashle opening in Winter, but I think they hit another home run. The song for this show is a lot different from the Mashle dance, but it’s really good and hits the vibes of the show! My favorite part is Momo doing the shimmy with Okarun and another guy doing the Carlton in the back. The ending song is good too! Though, I do wonder who that cat is…

The voice acting cast was really good! Like I mentioned in my Blue Box review that Jump title animes usually cast new faces for their animes at times, but like Demon Slayer, Dandadan uses a plethora of big names for their production. The only “new face” in the cast list is Shion Wakayama. Well, I wouldn’t call her a new face, but more of a rising star in the sense that I’ve seen her in other stuff before this. I usually associate with her with soft-spoken girls because of her roles in The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses and Pokemon Paldean Winds where she played characters who are reserved. This is the first time I’ve seen her with a more ‘boyish’ and talkative role. I actually like this voice she’s using for Momo! It feels natural and there’s so much emotion. Natsuki Hanae voices Okarun. Given his track record, Hane never has a bad role. I honestly think this role is perfect for him because of the amount of screaming. If you watch Demon Slayer and seen how many times Tanjiro screams, then you know Okarun is perfect for Hanae.

There are super big names in this anime too. The one role that shocked me the most was Mayumi Tanaka as Turbo Granny. The one and only Mayumi Tanaka is known for her roles as Krillin from Dragon Ball and Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece. Yes, Turbo Granny and Luffy are voiced by the same person. I remembered an episode where Luffy didn’t want to give his balls to the Amazoness Tribe and now Tanaka is playing a granny ghost that bites others’ balls. Luffy would be shocked to see this like how he was shocked with how Robin got Franky to join the Strawhats. The aliens Momo encounter are all voiced by Kazuya Nakai. If you’re a One Piece fan, he’s the fan-favorite Roronoa Zoro. Yes. It’s hilarious how Luffy and Zoro are playing roles completely different from their One Piece roles and even their usual roles! It’s really nice to see that even at the prime of their career, they try new things! Another surprise was Nana Mizuki as Momo’s grandmother. Another One Piece voice actress in this anime! Mizuki voiced Hiyori from the Wano arc. Momo’s grandma isn’t seen much, so I can’t wait to see what sort of person she is later on.

The English dub cast is crazy too! Momo and Okarun are voiced by Abby Trott and AJ Beckles, who are both good rising stars in the English dubbing world. However, the name that shocked me the most was Kari Wahlgren as Momo’s grandma. Wahlgren is a union voice actress, meaning that she doesn’t appear in anime all that often nowadays with the last time I’ve heard her in anime was in Durarara as Celty. It’s crazy how she made her big anime comeback in a big show like this! If you like English dub, then this is one you shouldn’t miss out on!

I honestly can’t wait for what happens next. Will Okarun get his balls back? The fact that the plot progression is due to his missing balls is funny in itself. I hope he can get them back… If Momo has psychic powers, what will Okarun have? I want to know! What are your thoughts about the premiere?

[juleworm]

hello!! given that it is the first weekend in june, i'd like to go through everything that i read in the month of may and say if i would or would not recommend it and why. lets go !!

in chronological order of reading:

king of pride - ana huang: YES absolutely! god i loved this book. more specifically, yes i would recommend it if you like opposites attract in romance and dating, or if you like income gap relationships ( he's a billionaire, she's a struggling author ), and yes if you like incredibly hot and well written spicy scenes between characters. i honestly can't even think of a no unless you literally just hate spicy romance as a genre; even then i still think this book deserves a chance for your time. i absolutely adore this book.

2. den of vipers - k.a. knight: yes if you miss reading self-insert on wattpad and like pick me fmcs. the vipers themselves do have a lot of good character behind them, but as far as the fmc...i just really didn't like her. i did finish the entire book hoping that it would get better towards the end, but in my opinion the ending was one of the worse parts of the book and throughout it all it felt very predictable. would i generally recommend this? no. but it's definitely a hit or miss book. you'll either really like it, or not like it at all.

3. does it hurt? - h.d. carlton: yes yes yes yes yes. this was my favorite read of the month of may. i'd recommend it even more if you like witty and funny fmcs; it's sort of a dark romance version of grumpy x sunshine. it has a lot of spice and it's very creative if that makes sense? it's not just boring vanilla missionary, that's for sure. the mmcs character is phenomenal and both of them each have very full character arcs. but i wouldn't recommend it if mentions of incest and domestic abuse trigger you, or if body horror and gore triggers you.

4. never lie - freida mcfadden: yes if you're new to thrillers and want something easy to digest. definitely not if you're not new to thrillers and have read some absolutely breathtaking ones that kept you up at night. to me it had a rather predictable storyline, a twist that falls flat, and characters with absolutely zero depth or anywhere near a completed arc. i really did not like this book at all. also yes if you like a quick read; this didn't take me very long to get through.

5 + 6. there are no saints / there is no devil [ sinner's duet ] - sophie lark: yes if you like a "beginner" dark romance that doesn't stray too far into depravity, but still has a very dominant and demanding mmc. no if you've read things by h.d. carlton or other dark romance authors and that's your expectation level. this might come off as boring to you. however as this was a bit tame for me storyline wise, the spicy scenes were amazing and i did like that they were both artists. i feel like usually billionaires are business-oriented but it was cool to see a wealthy and famous artist. also yes if you like mentor romance dynamics.

7. iced out - veronica eden: yes if you like boys who are very clearly written by women ( in a good way! ). the mmc is perfectly balanced; he's as hot and dominant as he is cute and sweet and nice and thoughtful. he's pretty much the picturesque model citizen for what a girl typically would want in a perfectly healthy romantic relationship. there's very little drama between characters, which i personally liked. but no if parental death or familial death or grief/loss are triggers for you. for a more in-depth response, i did a spoiler free book review here!

if you do read any of these let me know! i'd love to see how our opinions differ :))

[filmnoirfoundation]

ASK EDDIE returns Thursday, September 21, 7:00 PM PT to our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/filmnoirfoundation/live

FNF prez Eddie Muller responds to film noir fan questions fielded by the Foundation's Director of Communications Anne Hockens. In this episode, we discuss Eddie’s short story “Doc’s Oscar”, the essential Italian noirs and film museums, the disreputable noir characters of wholesome TV icons, memorable bell tower scenes, and more. We wind up the show with a discussion of our favorite film noir openings. On the cat front, Charlotte and Emily are too tired to participate.

Want your question answered in a future episode? We solicit questions from our email subscribers in our monthly newsletters. Sign up for free at https://www.filmnoirfoundation.org/signup.html

Everyone who signs up on our email list and contributes $20 or more to the Film Noir Foundation receives the digital version of NOIR CITY Magazine for a year. Donate here: https://www.filmnoirfoundation.org/contribute.html

Can’t join us on Thursday? No problem! A recording will be up on our YouTube channel, @NoirCity, on Friday, September 22: https://www.youtube.com/user/NoirCitySF

Note: Eddie will not be able to answer questions posted during the livestream nor ones left on our social media accounts

This week's questions:

In a recent episode, Eddie highly recommended the film ROSAURA AT 10 O’CLOCK [ROSAURA A LA 10]. Is it possible for ROSAURA to be restored by the Foundation and made available through Flicker Alley?

Michael, Post Falls, Idaho

Just read your short story, "Doc's Oscar", in the JEWISH NOIR VOLUME 1. Can you give us a little background on its origin? When did you write it?

Jay and Connie, Ann Arbor, MI

I'm planning a trip to Italy.  Please recommend your essential Italian crime/noir films.  Also, I hope to visit a museum dedicated to cinema. Any ideas

Steve in Mississippi

Have you read “Somewhere in the Night: Film Noir and the American City” written by Nicholas Christopher? 

Sean Land O Lakes, FL

For me one of the biggest surprises of seeing familiar actors in Film Noir was seeing Raymond Burr as the heavy. What other later-known actors are the biggest surprises for someone getting into Film Noir.

Carlton, Atlanta, GA

Why does Eddie sometimes use the alias "Eddy von Mueller" for some of his Blu-Ray commentary tracks?

David

The late-'60s and the '70's are thought of as the time of the great neo-noir films, but what about offerings designed to play at drive-in theaters or so-called grindhouses? I'm also curious about regional films or filmmakers since that era was rich with localized film production. Are you aware of any that could fall under the mantle of film noir?

Kathy and Michael, Rockford, Illinois

In the past Eddie has mentioned certain movies that he considers to be more “message pictures” than full blown noir for him. I would love to hear you both talk about what the difference for you is between movies like NO WAY OUT, CROSSFIRE, FORCE OF EVIL etc. and movies that have tinges of Noir but fall into the Message Picture category and maybe some examples of those and why they don’t make the cut. Thanks!

Nathanael from New Braunfels, Texas

I recently watched the Douglas Sirk 1951 film noir, THUNDER ON THE HILL, and noted the similarities between the bell tower scene in that movie with the great bell tower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 VERTIGO.  Are there other films noir that include a bell tower scene?  And, more generally, what other films noir have great staircase scenes? 

Cliff in Fort Collins

Wondering if you know anything about scenes cut from THE MAN I LOVE DVD. The film is listed as being 96 minutes long, but the DVD version is only 90 minutes.

Michael, Chicago, IL

My question is about some very difficult to find Alan Ladd titles, specifically, CHICAGO DEADLINE with Donna Reed and SAIGON. Are these Alan Ladd films tied up in litigation or bound in some type of financial dispute? Is there any hope for their release in the US?  

Don

Openings.  I have always been fascinated by the first 90 seconds of noir films and I’d just like to pay tribute to my favorite openings and listen as you add in yours as well.

Chuck

[vol-carnage]

I posted 3,406 times in 2022

That's 860 more posts than 2021!

3 posts created (0%)

3,403 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@redrobemerle

@warrior-of-the-runes

@masteroffoolhardyplans

@fredersen

@cupric-solution

I tagged 1,810 of my posts in 2022

Only 47% of my posts had no tags

#spn - 423 posts

#castiel - 288 posts

#dean winchester - 278 posts

#psych - 229 posts

#destiel - 203 posts

#shawn spencer - 184 posts

#carlton lassiter - 155 posts

#mass effect - 132 posts

#burton guster - 125 posts

#final fantasy - 112 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#pinky ring is one i got when i was like 12 and thats the only finger it fits it was from when i went to the black hills and mount rushmore

My Top Posts in 2022:

#3

1 and 28!

1: Unholy by Sam Smith

Im only slightly cringe at myself for this being my number one listen lol i think it slaps

28: Read my Mind by The Killers

This one is from my Shawn/Lassie from Psych playlist its very good and when i was in my psych hyperfixation i woke up with this one in my head like everyday, im surprised its not higher

1 note - Posted November 30, 2022

#2

favorite movies of the 2010s?

Bold of u to assume i know when movies came out

I googled for each year and grabbed some that are fave movies from the years but dont count this as an exhaustive/concrete list. And not every year has some and 18 has 2 w h o o p s

Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again - 2018

A favorite movie especially for me and my mom we watch this (and the 1st) all the time

Venom - 2018

I was actually debating watching this one and Let There Be Carnage tonight. Big big fave. Last time i was sick for a couple days i just had it autoplaying

Baby Driver -2017

Despite certain cast members i love this movie and it was a big fave the year it came out i still can sing the majority of the sound track.

Strange Magic -2015

LITERALLY SUCH A GOOD MOVIE IN MY TOP 10 ITS SO AMAZING I WISH IT DIDN’T GET OVERLOOKED WHEN IT CAME OUT AND CONTINUES TO BE OVERLOOKED TO THIS DAY. IF YOU LIKE JUKEBOX MUSICALS/ANIMATED MOVIES PLEASE WATCH IT.

Wreck it Ralph -2012

I like a lot of disney movies but wreck it ralph is still one i watch regularly

Megamind -2010

Its Megamind.

Also my all time fave movies are Big Eden (2000) and Mulan (1998)

Also honorable mention to tv show Psych because its my special interest and was active in the 2010s but it did have a movie out in 2017 (Psych: The Movie) (but its not one of my faves BUT DONT TELL ANYONE I SAID THAT)

1 note - Posted July 6, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I TOLD MY WORK FAM THAT IM GONNA START TRANSITIONING AND IM A BOY AND THEY WERE SO COOL AND SUPPORTIVE AND IM LIVING

I dont know how to update my about me on my blog anymore um so ill pin this or something

MY NAME IS SHAWN. I USE HE/HIM.

13 notes - Posted November 4, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[pureimaginefic]

Trivia

Vicki’s father James was at first an elitist snob who Vicki couldn’t stand

Lisa is named after a girl I went to school with who was a complete bitch

Vicki of course comes from Victoria “Posh Spice” Addams who I hardcore shipped with Brian when I was little, note their last names also being similar.

Incidentally Emily was loosely inspired by Emma “Baby Spice” Bunton

I gave Kevin, Howie, AJ, and Nick a case of SORAS (Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome) to roughly the same as Brian so the high school plotline and the boys’ birth years made sense without being weird (IRL Nick would’ve been 12 and AJ would’ve been 13/14 if Neilson and Adam were to actually exist)

The boys’ names were supposed to be temporary placeholders so I could remember who’s kid belonged to whom until I could think of new ones…that didn’t happen

The boys’ middle names were inspired by my love of horror movies,

Bradley (Jason Voorhees; Friday the 13th)

Neilson (Freddy Krueger; Nightmare on Elm Street)

Kyle (Michael Myers; Halloween)

Harry (Dracula)

Adam’s middle name was originally Jackson as I believed that the killer of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Leatherface’s, real name was Jack (John), turns out it’s Thomas Hewitt, therefore Adam has no ties to any kind of scary movie, which I guess is okay considering he’s scary enough as a person

As far as I know the name “Neilson” IS real I only came up with it because I couldn’t think of another boys’ name that started with an N, completely forgetting the name Nathan existed

Natalie’s last name comes from a guy I was friends with in high school

Mr. Wexler was also the name of the school’s principal in the show “Even Stevens” let’s just say I decided to borrow it

Coach Reinhart’s name comes from my childhood best friend’s maternal grandfather, affectionately known as “Poppy Reinhart”

Forever Your Girl, Pomp & Circumstance, and The Winchester Saga went through NUMEROUS rewrites before their final versions were released

Harry is an amalgamation of Carlton from Fresh Prince, Fez from That 70’s Show, and Steve Urkel from Family Matters

The Winchester Saga has lead to some confusion with people thinking it has something to do with the TV show Supernatural, it doesn’t I was just trying to think of an elite, powerful, snooty sounding last name. I DID create characters named Sam and Dean as a fun Easter egg but they don’t hunt the supernatural, just criminals

The characters Rachel, Chandler, and Joey were NOT done on purpose, I didn’t realize I did it until much later and yes, Friends IS one of my favorite shows 

Incase you didn’t know, Bradley and Neilson are best friends (yes I’m aware of how much I have them refer to each other as such) their relationship is modeled after Brian and Nick’s during the early days of BSB when they were super close

Bradley, Neilson, and Natalie’s friendship was inspired by Shawn, Corey, and Topanga on Boy Meets World

Kevin’s departure from BSB is included in the series with it being mentioned that he’s either in Boston or New York working on movies

Brian’s Christian, good boy persona made me want to make Bradley a snarky, sarcastic, rebellious metalhead  

Neilson is just Nick during his Now or Never era

Mr. Mooney is a faceless character, meaning he’s only mentioned in passing and never actually makes appearances

“Backstreet Manor” as it’s called is big enough to include (at least) 10 bedrooms, an in-home recording studio, a game room, Harry’s lab, and an in-ground pool

While Natalie has a friendly relationship with Kyle and Harry, and is best friends with Bradley, she and Adam have an acrimonious relationship 

Bradley’s car “Christine” a 2008 Ford Mustang convertible gets it’s name from the Stephen King novel of the same name

[1d1195]

Omg yeah it was pi day yesterday! Completely forgot about that lol math is just hard and you’re one in the lucky ones who actually GET IT which is honestly amazing! I feel like as long as you don’t make any kids cry you’re good lol

AND MY BESTIE IS A GOOD SINGER?!??? I shouldn’t even be surprised bc of course you would be good! Idk why but that just makes me smile! I fear that the universe made you be shy in front of people because you would have been too powerful lol bc being good at math, being THE SWEETEST PERSON EVER, being a great writer and being able to sing??? YOU WOULD BE TOO POWERFUL!

Love that you just wanna look at Harry while driving, ICONIC! I get the scent thing! You definitely seem the type to like very natural or just overall comforting smells that don’t overpower but who knows scents can be very tricky! I love this specific Christmas candle that’s sold only in target and it’s smells so good! If by next holiday season I remember to look up the name I’ll let you know bc I think you would like it!

You know what’s wild, Harry’s 2019 SNL performance is what pushed me into this fandom! Was a casual listener before! Something about him using brass instruments for his live performances and showcasing them just did something to me plus HE LOOKED SO HOT HE HAD ME FEELING THINGS😵‍💫🫨 and omg you’re literally so kind! And music theory could honestly be your vibe! Music and just anything creative in general is just so important to me, I agree that I think I would die too lol aside from 1D did you have any artists that you would consider to be your top picks without question?

ALSOOOOOO toothpaste WAS SO GOOD! IVE NEVER WANTED TO BE AT THE DENTIST MORE TGAN EVER!! Like ahhh so so good and cute! Him taking her in on a short notice was so nice! But my girl was stressed and I love how immediately Harry was there to ground her and clam her down a bit! Their chemistry is just so good lol I would love to read more of them when inspiration hits! also I just love how you treat all your anons! Hope that this does make 🐱 feel a bit better!

Hope you’re having a lovely weekend bestie!!!-💜

I think if a kid cried because of me I would quit 😭

HAHAHA there are a lot of things I think I was slighted on because I would be too powerful. I can't imagine what my life would be like if I drank water regularly and/or worked out properly.

I have Harry all over my apartment (calendar, laptop background, and I hid him in one of our photo collages of our friends and family--technically it's a pick of 1D but still) and he's all over my classroom. So he's never too far from my sight. Poor bf thinks I'm crazy but I like to tell him I've known Harry longer than I've known him 😂 tbh idk how I've kept a bf this long when my heart belongs to Harry.

OOOH Def keep the candle in mind next holiday season! I LOVE Target so I will be first in line to get it 😂

He was so cute in 2019. I was just looking at 2018 pics of him and it's weird that was SIX years ago but that might be my favorite version of him 💕

As for another artist? Hmm...right now probs Noah Kahan; when I was young I LOVED Hilary Duff (her name was Sam in A Cinderella Story and made out with Chad Michael Murray so I ALWAYS wanted to be her (still do--she's so pretty and perfect)) I don't think I'm a diehard fan of any artist in particular--I'm def the popular song by a band/musician by and large. Maybe The Goo Goo Dolls or Vanessa Carlton. I think I could write an entire series of stories based on their music. I also like music my parents listened to more than anything on pop radio tbh. I think it's under the umbrella of classic rock/rock in general (John Mellencamp, Queen, The Eagles, Bruce Springsteen, I'm sure you get the vibe). I've def mentioned I'm not really all that musical and I don't do deep dives into most musicians or bands. I'm ashamed to say I only vaguely understand the lore of Fleetwood Mac/Stevie Nicks and I feel like that's sacrilegious where Harry is such a big fan hehehe

Anyway, I know you went through an emo phase and obviously we LOVE Paramore but what other musicians do you like?

Very glad you liked Toothpaste! I hated the dentist growing up. I'm less scared now but MC is ME. I've had a LOT of dental work done over the years and I think in scale of health my priorities are (1) Mental (2) Dental (3) Physical. I could never be a doctor but I think i could do pretty good as a dentist. Last time I went to the dentist I was thinking about how scared I used to be and how much I hated it but I thought about how nice it would be if Harry was my dentist 🥰 So there will be more to it, but yes, I wanted to make my sweet 🐱-anon happy 💕

I hope you don't mind, I'm going to tag 🎶 because music talks are our specialty and I feel like I've never mentioned this to her! 💕

Thanks for your message bestie, it's so good to talk to you. Hope you get to relax a little this weekend! 💕

xoxo

[raointean]

Just finished "Bel-Air" (2022) and LOVED it!

I loved that it didn't try to be the original, but instead went a completely different direction while still remaining true to the soul and intentions of the original.

More detailed analysis and spoilers under the cut.

Not only was the premise of the show the same, but the premise for most of the characters was the same.

Will, of course, an unapologetically Black kid from West Philly who got in a fight and was sent to live with his auntie and uncle in Bel Air

Carlton, a black kid surrounded by mostly white kids and because of that, has either lost touch with his culture or was never connected to it in the first place

Uncle Phil, Will's rich surrogate father uncle who has lost touch with the Black community after having been in a position of power for so long (although this version of Uncle Phil is definitely more out of touch than in the original)

Aunt Viv, a woman who set aside some of her dreams for the sake of her family (she changed the most from all the characters, but I think it works)

Hillary, a charismatic but not academically minded young woman being pushed out of the nest and trying to have it all

Ashley, the little cousin trying to figure out who she is and being a little rebellious in doing so

Geoffrey, the hired help who's more like family

Lisa, the spunky love interest

Jazz, the annoying friend

And then they took a lot of these characters and went TOTALLY different directions with them.

Will actually stayed pretty much the same as in the original, just rode the struggle bus a bit longer

In the original, Carlton dealt with being "racially isolated" (I don’t know if there's an actual word for that) by being the best student, son, and brother he could be and was unapologetically himself (except for that one episode lol) It really wasn't much of an issue. In "Bel-Air", Carlton struggles a LOT. He suffers from pretty severe anxiety, struggles with the pressure to be perfect, does drugs to cope with it, and puts up with his racist "friends'" bullshit. This Carlton is an exploration of what could have happened. I love both Carltons equally for different reasons and I'll fight anyone who disses them.

(Sorry for the rant, Carlton is my favorite character in both shows)

Uncle Phil is more ambitious and frankly, more selfish than in the original. His character development is just *chef's kiss* beautiful though.

Aunt Viv, again, is very different from her 90's counterpart(s) but is a fantastically complex character. Instead of just seeing her as "Mom", we see her as a woman with hopes, dreams, needs, and insecurities. (I loved her too)

Hillary is a LOT more capable (not that that's saying much) and instead of wanting to stay at home and live off of daddy's money forever, she's looking for her own way forward on her own terms

Ashley is also very different. She's queer (obviously) and not as naïve which is fitting as children, girls especially, enter the political world much sooner nowadays thanks to social media

Geoffrey... damn! 007 is right. Instead of a goofy butler he's a sexy "say the word and he's dead, Sir" kinda guy! Really hope we get to see his son next season.

I'm not a huge Lisa fan but she was definitely more sympathetic and real in this version

I like Jazz a lot better in this version. He's more charismatic than he is annoying and honestly, I really ship him and Hillary now.

What I hope we see in season 2

I want Carlton to have an anxiety relapse now that he's trying to quit (because I love angst). Maybe he starts the drugs up again and his family finds out. Maybe he takes it too far and accidentally OD's (which would be another nice callback to the original). Whatever happens, he and his parents need to talk about all the pressure they've been putting him under.

I want to see what happens with Hillary and Ivy and the influencer house. They set it up pretty blatantly so I'm not too worried about it.

Phil dealing with being a house-husband for a little while. I literally can't think of a SINGLE TIME I've seen that on TV

I wanna see Ashley come out. I don't think it would be a really big thing because everyone's cool with it, but it would be cool

I also want to see her first romance so I can live vicariously through her

Hillary and Jazz are going to have to tell Phil about their relationship eventually and I think that would be a perfect time for a callback (AAAGGGHHHHH)

[theawkwardterrier]

The Real Heroes

Steggy Week 2k22, day 4 Prompt: Trope or genre

Summary: Cass has a favorite comic book hero. A companion to my fic Out of the Frying Pan from Steggy Week 2018.

AO3 link here. Thanks to @steggyfanevents for organizing!

Cass watches Dad’s hands very carefully, holding out her own finger and closing one eye, trying to make sure he is matching the top of the poster to the straight line of the ceiling.

“Okay,” she finally says. “Right there.”

He steps back after he’s taped it and comes to rest a hand on her shoulder. “Does it look like you wanted?”

Cass beams. “It looks perfect. Everyone at the meeting is going to be very jealous.”

“That’s—Wait, the meeting?”

“Yes.” She lifts her chin. “The meeting of the Girl Fridays. We’re going to schedule one every other week after school: first when the new issue comes out so we can read it together and give our reactions, and then another two weeks after, when it’ll have had time to sink in so we can have a better discussion. I had the idea first, so I am the president.”

Her father looks down at her. He puts his hands in his pockets and pretends not to smile, but Cass can see. “And this is a…fan club?”

Cass pushes up her glasses. She crosses her arms. “Dad,” she says, very seriously, “this is a lifestyle.”

She saw other kids reading comics long before she tried them out herself. There was always a group that went to the newsstand together for the latest issue of Mr. Mysterious or Captain America, taking them out at recess or sitting with them on the street corners, even hiding them under the desk during class. (She’d had to keep herself from clearing her throat loudly to remind them that they were meant to be listening to the teacher.)

It wasn’t that she thought it was a thing only boys were allowed. She knows that there aren’t rules about what she’s supposed to like or do or be and what she isn’t; if she hadn't already realized that for herself, she’d be reminded by the memory of Mom raising her eyebrow mildly when Cassie had mentioned that her teacher only ever chose boys to be the line leader or to present when they did group work and when Cass asked why, the answer she got was that that there were certain students who were “better suited” to those jobs, and how that had changed after Mom was the one to bring her to her classroom the next day. Comics just never seemed that interesting to her - they all went to the library with Dad whenever they wanted so she always had as many books as she could read, and there wasn’t anything much special about the flimsy, brightly colored pamphlets with their silly storylines and dramatically written-out sound effects.

But then Karen Carlton came over to babysit while Mom and Dad had a date night, and when she was wrestling Annie and Ben into bed - well, wrestling Annie; Ben usually just got himself into his PJs, brushed his teeth, and read for fifteen minutes before turning out his light - Cass might have done a very tiny little bit of snooping. And in her bag, behind two kind of school-looking notebooks, there was Girl Friday issue #14.

She only got a chance to read the first few pages, where it goes from a normal day at school for average teenager Francie Day to Francie having to put on her mystical disguising deerstalker so she could investigate the latest mysterious happenings in Springville as Girl Friday. By the time Karen got down the stairs and exhaustedly told her that her extra half hour was up and it was bedtime for her too, Cass was sitting innocently on the other side of the room with a copy of Five Children and It - carefully turned right side up, of course, because Cass knows how not to get caught - and issue #14 was back just where it had been before.

The next day, she’d started searching through the newsstands and drugstores in the neighborhood until she had every issue. She never missed another one.

“—And that's how Francie realizes that her new neighbor, the friendly Dr. Crayshur, is actually the Creature Catcher, who's been luring all the animals in town into her basement to do experiments on them!"

Mom looks down at Cass and raises a soft eyebrow as they cross the street. It had been a little surprise when she turned up at the door instead of Dad when it was time to come home from playing with Nancy Freeman, but a nice surprise. She'd been able to tell Mom all about how the teacher hadn't done anything when Harry Grady was pulling on Nancy's braids, so Cass had checked out a library book under his name and then made sure not to return it on time; everyone know that Miss Weathers in the library was the nicest person in the school until you didn't treat her books right. Even after debating with Mom about whether that had been the right choice for how to do things - Mom would probably call it a lecture, but Cass is actually an expert on Mom's real lectures - there was still plenty of time to fill her in on the plot of issue #20, which had just been released two days ago.

"Well," Mom says thoughtfully, "I suppose one can't fault her investigative skills. But I do wonder, darling, if you might turn your devotion to someone else - someone real, perhaps?"

The idea almost stops Cass's feet. "Like who?" she demands.

"Oh, there's Mrs. Roosevelt, for example, or the poet Gwendolyn Brooks, or Lucille Ball, or Althea Gibson, or even your aunt Angie - it's taken quite a lot of hard work for her to get to the place that she is today."

While she's thinking, Cass squints at Mom's hand where it's wrapped around hers, her deep pink polish shiny, her grip firm enough to hold on tight and safe without hurting. Then she says slowly, "Well, I guess I can be interested in them too. But it isn't as if they have comic books written about them, you know."

"True enough, although I'm certain your father could draw some for you if you wanted. But then how about Captain America? After all, he was a real hero during the war, and there are certainly enough comic books about him.

This time, Cassie doesn't even need to think. "Mom. Captain America is boring. And everyone knows that none of his best stuff could ever be real."

There was never a day when Mom's office building was really empty, but Saturday was probably the closest it came. They'd gone over and had dinner at their usual table in the kitchen because Mom couldn't get home, Cass mostly talking about what might happen in issue #23 coming out soon, and then Mom wanted Dad's help with some work, so Cass and Ben and Annie got to have some fun, running around in the downstairs gym and coloring on a million sheets of paper while Mom's secretary Maria watched them.

Even when it got late and Annie and Ben started falling asleep, Cass had been sure she could stay awake, reading by herself until it was time to go home. She was sure she was awake - really! - except that she did get a little startled and made a "huh?!" sound when Dad lifted her out of the chair. Her head dropped back against his neck as he carried her in one arm, Annie in the other, out of the office while Mom, holding Ben, said good night to Maria and locked up.

No one talks most of the way back to the car, and Cass would probably have actually fallen asleep, except that suddenly Mom says, so quiet that Cass almost doesn’t hear it through her drowsy, muffled brain, "Do you ever regret that none of the children know who you were and what you did, and that perhaps they never will?"

"What I did which time?" Cass can feel the even rise and fall of Dad's breathing, the rumble of his voice in her own body.

"Oh, either, I suppose. But certainly your slightly more believable - or at least verifiable - exploits to begin with.”

“I guess I hadn’t really thought about it,” Dad says after a minute. “Maybe I will talk about it someday, but I didn’t do any of it to be recognized or admired, even by them. Did you?”

Slowly Mom replies, “No, there was a need and I had the skills, and that’s been the story ever since. But it’s…I appreciate, sometimes, the way that the things I’ve done show them what they can do, that they see my work and even if they don’t understand it now, they get some sense of what it could mean for them, how open the possibilities of their own futures can be. It isn't the reason, precisely, but my life and choices have cleared a path for them, or at least let them see that the path is there. ”

Dad makes an understanding sort of sound. His footsteps pause for a moment, and Cass knows that he’s letting Mom go first through the door. “For my part, I guess I think about how I’ve made the world better for them. And maybe they won't know exactly how or that I was the one doing it, maybe they won't realize for a second that things might have been different otherwise, but it’s enough for me to have that, just to remember that for myself.”

“Even if they never know about any of it - Azzano, or New York, or, of course, your most daring starring role?” Cass can hear the smile in Mom’s voice now, just before she begins to hum that song she sometimes sings when she’s teasing Dad - Cass remembers that the words are something about “strong and brave” and “carry the flag shore to shore,” but mostly she remembers that it makes Dad roll his eyes and smile too.

“Not sure you exactly have a place to talk with that, Betty,” Dad says, and the matching smile is in his voice already. Cass must be sleepier than she thought if her ears aren't working - Betty isn’t Mom’s name, after all.

“I neither participated in that, nor authorized it, as you well know,” Mom says in her boss voice, nudging Dad with her elbow. He laughs, readjusts Cass so she’s held tighter. Cass can hear Mom doing the same for Ben so she can find the keys which means that they must be getting close to the car. She’s glad. The car is new, and nice as these things go, but she just wants it to bring them home soon. She wants to be in her bed now, snuggled underneath her favorite blanket, with the door closed but the hall light on, feeling so cozy and safe…

“I suppose it’s a good thing that it doesn’t bother you,” Mom says from somewhere in the front seat. “Because I don’t know that even the truth would allow you to unseat a certain comic book detective in Cassandra’s mind.”

Dad laughs again. Even his voice seems to make a sort of shrug. “If I was going to be shown up by someone, Girl Friday is at least one I don’t mind losing to.”

In the back, her cheek against the window and Ben warm beside her, Cassie smiles. Finally starting to understand, she thinks. I’ll work on them more tomorrow.

She’ll figure out the exact details of that plan when she wakes up.

[mermaidsirennikita]

Top 5 favorite grouchy heroes?

Derek Craven--Dreaming of You, Lisa Kleypas. Obviously. He is an important man, and he is very busy, and he doesn't have time to be followed around by a curious author, especially if he wants to kiss her all the time, and frankly, she's causing him a lot of trouble, so--there!!!

Marcus Marsden, Earl of Westcliff--It Happened One Autumn, Lisa Kleypas. The NERVE!!!! Of tHAT GIRL!!! Playing rounders in her UNDERWEAR on hIS PROPERTY. (Bitch.)

James Blackmore, Duke of Valkirk--After Dark with The Duke, Julie Anne Long. A man who is very judgmental of the Hot Young Opera Singer staying at the same boarding house as him. Until he hurts her feelings and she's actually very sad and he guesses he'll make it up to her by teaching her Italian. Except... she is hot. And asks him to translate things like "I want to fuck you" (totally innocently, not a joke). HOW SHALL HE MANAGE???

Carlton "Cutter" Morley--Seducing A Stranger/A Dark and Stormy Knight, Kerrigan Byrne. This bitch ran around in everyone else's book in a whole fucking series being like "wow, propriety" and "YOU NEED A PERMIT FOR THAT" and then suuuuuuddenly he gets horny during one of his masked vigilante outings (as you do) and fucks some girl in a pleasure garden, and whoops he gets called to a crime scene a couple months later and it's her fiance's murder and she's holding the knife. But no worries, dude, she can't be hanged because she's PREGNANT WITH YOUR CHILD. This makes him very embarrassed and grouchy. All the criminals he's tried to arrest in the past (heroes of past books, friends of his now) laugh at him. He is a Sad And Grouchy Man and I love him with all my heart.

Edward de Raaf--The Raven Prince, Elizabeth Hoyt. Lmao this guy. He's so big and ugly~ and Mr. Rochester-shaped, a sad earl who is but a recluse and very grouchy and snappy until he hires a pretty widow to be his secretary. But he's so horned up over she, a woman he could never marry (because she is barren, again I must laugh) that he goes to a brothel to relieve his urges. Who is this woman in the mask who reminds him of the widow he's in love with? Let's dismiss the obvious physical similarities, he's too backed up and grouchy. DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT.

Honorable mentions: Simon Pearson, the Duke of Leighton (Eleven Scandals to Start to Win A Duke's Heart by Sarah MacLean, a classic grouchy duke who must sit here consumed with lust for the rest of the evening), Rhys Winterborne (Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas, HE COULD BE YOUR BIT O' ROUGH LADIES, DON'T FUCK WITH HIM), Alexander Moncrieffe, Duke of Falconbridge (What I Did For A Duke by Julie Anne Long, I just don't think he's grouchy enough with his heroine to count, but he is very grouchy), Maximus Batten, Duke of Wakefield (Duke of Midnight by Elizabeth Hoyt, he's the grouchiest asshole ever in everyone else's book but in his own book he's frankly just insane so Edward got the jump), Dorian Blackwell (The Highwayman, Kerrigan Byrne, honestly very grouchy about his boner but mostly Full of Secret Pain and Trying To Seem Like A Smooth Criminal), Kev Merripen (Seduce Me At Sunrise, Lisa Kleypas, full of boner-hatred and self loathing).

[soundsof71]

That album ask! Steely Dan's "The Royal Scam" :^)

Stellar choice! Somewhat lost in the shadow of the 2x Platinum album after this, Aja (1977), The Royal Scam (1976) is a hidden gem in their catalog. 

Following the departure of founding guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter for The Doobie Brothers (Skunk didn’t dig the news that SD was getting off the road to be a studio band), they brought in my absolute fave of the 70s studio guitar wizards, Larry Carlton (Joni Mitchell, The Crusaders, etc etc). Jazz, rock, funk -- he could do it all. (And still does! He toured like crazy, pre-pandemic, and is probably itching to get back on the road as soon as it’s safe.)

Steely Dan also brought in Bernard Purdie for the heavy lifting on drums (every track but one), making this simultaneously Steely Dan’s rockingest and their swingin’-est outing to date, maybe ever. Love, love, love it.

the first song from this album I heard: Kid Charlemagne

do I own the album?: Used to! This falls in the category of “schlepped around on vinyl for years, bought on CD at some point, but am now fine with Spotify." No disrespect, but I’ve tried to lighten my load. 

my favorite song: Kid Charlemagne. I love everything about this song, but since I mentioned Larry Carlton up top, guitar nerds should feel free to jump ahead to 2:18 and feast on Larry’s chops for the next 50 seconds. The nerds already know this solo, and I promise it’s been too long since you rolled around in it. 

The rest of y’all need to hear the whole thing again, because once more, it’s been too long, I just know it.

And seriously, there’s a whole corner of YouTube devoted to teaching this solo, linked here. It’s not the fieriest or the flashiest, but it sure is sweet. The dude up top asking if it’s the best guitar solo ever isn’t wrong to ask, even if the answer is “No, but that doesn’t mean it’s not sweet.” 

my least favorite song: “Haitian Divorce”. This was the biggest off the album in the UK, but no, sorry. The rest of this record is razor sharp, and this one doesn’t measure up.

a song I didn’t like at first, but now do:  n/a. This album revealed itself pretty fully from the beginning, and it’s stayed pretty darn amazing the whole time.

a song I used to like, but now don’t: See above.

my favorite lyric: Well now THIS is embarrassing! My favorite lyric on this album is my favorite in their entire discography, and looking it up just now to make sure I didn’t misquote it, I discover that I misheard it!!!!

What I THOUGHT was my favorite lyric, from “Kid Charlemagne”, and in the entire Steely Dan discography, was

Did you feel like Jesus? Did you realize that you were Italian in their eyes?

Which is awesome! Because, having grown up in an Italian household, of COURSE I was taught that Jesus was Italian! LOL The tale was that the family was Italian all the way back to Adam and Eve, since of course those two were Italian too. (Whatever you say, Nana. LOL)

With the joke being that Kid Charlemagne is neither Jesus nor Italian, but the character still carries the weight of inappropriate expectations. 

And really, as hard as it might be to be mistaken for Jesus, I can’t possibly imagine the burden faced by any man who is taken for Italian. The standards for cooking, singing, dancing, fashion, lovemaking, and swearing are more than any non-Italian could hope to bear. LOL 

EXCEPT THAT THAT’S NOT THE LINE.

The line is, “you were a CHAMPION in their eyes”.  What the fuck? Kinda the same point I guess, but with all the poetry removed. LOL So now I hate ALL the lyrics on this album. LOL You know what, fuck you guys. (Unsteelies your dan.) LOL

overall rating out of 10: 8.8 Definitely way up there, but woulda been higher with my lyrics. LOL

So, how about you, my friend? What’s your story with this one?

[archeo-starwars]

I have a question I have been trying to answer. Do you know if there is any mention of fiction in universe? I know there is mythology and storytelling, but the mythology is more of a religious artifact and the storytelling tends to be in either a mythic tradition or fables. I’m kinda fascinated by the in universe implications of not having recreational fiction.

I assure you, there is in-universe fiction created for enjoyment, like (holo)books, holodramas, holofilms or even (holo)theater or opera performances  that aren’t stricly historical, mythological or religious in nature.

Sadly,  we know little to none of its true content as the sources mention usually just titles and maybe an authors what makes difficult to tell for sure what kind of stories were popular in galaxy far, far away (and the fact that we rarely see “normal” daily life of people, as in, life that is not overshadow by war(s) and great tragedies does not help at all. Especially with the whole imperial propaganda seen in plenty of holodramas). Still, here comes some of examples that could fall into “recreational fiction” category:

Holonews like this:

Quest for Quasar

Fans Don't Like Ottekvar

BALDERDASH, ADARLON - Although the entertainment industry is abuzz with the casting choice of Harlan Ottekvar for the role of Lord Baltharog in Myris Pictures' big budget Quest for Quasar adaptation, a small but vocal undercurrent of devoted fans have taken to the HoloNet to criticize the decision.

"According to the original sourcebook, Baltharog is 1.89 meters tall. Ottekvar is only 1.84 meters, maybe 1.86 in boots. Do they expect us to overlook this?" said Groz "QuasarKing327" Niclari on his public HoloNet infocache. Niclari hosts the largest fan-run Quasar infocache, and has collected nearly 1.5 million signatures in his online petition to have Ottekvar replaced. The height discrepancy is only one contentious issue (though some fans are quick to point out that the 1.89 meters came from a spin-off source, and thus is not canon). "Ottekvar is just too famous. Whenever I see his face, I think SuperKnight: The Awakening, or Webb Tenger: PeaceBuster, not Baltharog." Ottekvar himself is unphased by the outcry. "C'mon guys. It's only a holo," he said.

Quest for Quasar, directed by Mryis' proprietary HoloMaker 4.0, opens next summer. (x)

or this holonews:

Holo Critics Preemptively Bemoan Summer Season

CORE WORLDS NODE - At a gathering of the most influential media critics, Core World Critics Association President Jaysa Namoor began lambasting the holomedia industry on the upcoming summer season. "Some readers say I've been writing the same review for the past five years. Well, that's because Adarlon keeps pumping out the same holo for the past five years," said Namoor, eliciting applause from her colleagues. Her tirade included the usual attack against "cardboard characterization, offensive liquid-based humor, bone-numbing full sim effects, and juvenile anthropocentric plots." Not having seen the holos, she nonetheless panned the anticipated summer titles Cataclysm Prism 4, Whelping Day, Split Infinitive, Lightspeed Lightweight, Tenta-kill 5, Another Idiot's Array 2, Crimson Empire III and A Google of Gornts.

another holonews had this little commercial picture with the best-selling reading around 23BBY (promoted just before Attack of the Clones, which makes sense why people wrote about Dooku in-universe)

“Medstar I” book mentioned this:

Den took another sip. "If you don't mind my saying, you seem rather-unusual for a droid. How did you come to be assigned here?" At first it seemed that the droid was not going to re-ply. Then he said, " 'I am cast upon the winds of space and time, like a planetesimal spun eternally between suns.'" Now Den was shocked. "Kai Konnik," he said. "Beach of Stars. Winner of the Galaxis Award for best novel last year, if I'm not-" "Two years ago," I-Five corrected him. Den stared at him. "You have an impressive knowledge of literature for a droid." "Not really. My memory banks are programmed with more than two hundred thousand novels, holo-plays, poems, and-" "I wasn't talking about memory," Den said. "Most protocol droids have the capacity to store that much in-formation. And most droids, if asked to quote from a particular work, can access it as easily as you just did. But," he continued, leaning forward, "I've never met any kind of droid yet who could use the material meta-phorically. Which is what you were doing."

Millenium Falcon book mentioned children(?) show:

"Amelia, do you remember little Lando?" Three years old and all but a clone of his father, he was holding a toy dragon and dressed in the same outfit worn by Lando Senior. "Hi, Lando," she said, going over to him. "Is that the dragon from Castle Creep?" The toddler nodded shyly. "Perystal." "I watch that show, too! Is Perystal your favorite toy?" "I have a Prince Gothik." "Wow. I used to have a stuffed tauntaun."

and Insider 199′s short story give us the steamy Zeltron novel(s):

This ones I couldn’t check with original sources, but let’s trust wookiepedia:

The Adventures of Shane Carlton of the Rebel Alliance was a romance novel telling the story of Shane Carlton, a fictional member of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. It was widely inaccurate and exaggerated. There was a copy of the novel in the Imperial Data Processing Facility on Tazan. (x)

or

Captain Rygaen's Ploy was a holofilm where Rollo Morsai, under the working name "Jona Reeten," played a tramp freighter captain. (x)

or

Juo Deltar Faces Gamblor the Terrible was a holovid of the Jedi Action genre. It focused on Juo Deltar, a scoundrel-type adventurer and Jedi, fighting Gamblor, a Hutt Sith Acolyte.

During the Clone Wars, the Zabrak Jedi Knight Nek Lawsirk borrowed it from Hedrett Holovid, a holovid shop located in Hedrett, on Cularin.(x)

I’m pretty sure further research would bring more examples, but like you can see, people of galaxy far, far away have and enjoy recreational fiction in various shapes. So it’s less not having such fiction (holodramas are in itself the best argument for that) and more that sources do not focus that much on this aspect. Which makes sense, since most stories focus on Jedi or Sith who either don’t pay much attention to “normal life” or don’t have time or opportunity to do so.

[papermoonloveslucy]

THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER

March 27, 1950

"The Man Who Came To Dinner” was a presentation of Lux Radio Theatre, broadcast on CBS Radio on March  27, 1950.

The Man Who Came to Dinner is a comedy in three by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. It debuted on October 16, 1939, at the Music Box Theatre in New York City, where it ran until 1941, closing after 739 performances. It then enjoyed a number of New York and London revivals. 

The play was adapted for a 1942 feature film, scripted by Philip G. Epstein and Julius J. Epstein and directed by William Keighley. The film featured Monty Woolley, Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, Billie Burke, Jimmy Durante, Mary Wickes and Richard Travis. 

“The Man Who Came to Dinner” was previously presented on radio by Philip Morris Playhouse on July 10, 1942. Monty Woolley, who played the leading role in the film version, starred in the adaptation. It was broadcast again by Theatre Guild on the Air on ABC Radio November 17, 1946 starring Fred Allen. In 1949, “The Man Who Came to Dinner” was produced on “The Hotpoint Holiday Hour” starring Charles Boyer, Jack Benny, Gene Kelly, Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and Rosalind Russell. 

On October 13, 1954, a 60-minute adaptation was aired on the CBS Television series “The Best of Broadway.”  A “Hallmark Hall of Fame” production was broadcast n November 29, 1972 starring Orson Welles, Lee Remick (Maggie Cutler), Joan Collins (Lorraine Sheldon), Don Knotts (Dr. Bradley), and Marty Feldman (Banjo). The 2000 Broadway revival was broadcast by PBS on October 7, 2000, three days after the New York production closed, and was also released on DVD.

Synopsis ~ The story is set in the small town of Mesalia, Ohio in the weeks leading to Christmas in the late 1930s. The outlandish radio wit Sheridan Whiteside is invited to dine at the house of the well-to-do factory owner Ernest Stanley and his family. But before Whiteside can enter the house, he slips on a patch of ice outside the Stanleys' front door and injures his hip. Confined to the Stanleys' home in a wheelchair, Whiteside and his retinue of show business friends turn the Stanley home upside down!  But is he really injured? 

This adaptation was written by S.H. Barnett. The characters eliminated for this adaptation include Richard Stanley, John, Mrs. Dexter, and Mrs. McCutcheon.

The show is hosted by William Keighley, who directed the 1942 film adaptation.

Lux Radio Theatre (1935-55) was a radio anthology series that adapted Broadway plays during its first two seasons before it began adapting films (”Lux Presents Hollywood”). These hour-long radio programs were performed live before studio audiences in Los Angeles. The series became the most popular dramatic anthology series on radio, broadcast for more than 20 years and continued on television as the Lux Video Theatre through most of the 1950s. The primary sponsor of the show was Unilever through its Lux Soap brand.

CAST

Lucille Ball (Maggie Cutler) was born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’ due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. “My Favorite Husband” eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband, Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful, allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show” during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon.

Clifton Webb (Sheridan Whiteside) had appeared with Lucille Ball in the 1946 film The Dark Corner. He was nominated for three Oscars. Webb had played the role of Sheridan Whiteside on stage for two years.

Eleanor Audley (Mrs. Stanley) appeared in several episodes of Lucille Ball’s “My Favorite Husband” as mother-in-law Letitia Cooper. Audley was first seen with Lucille Ball as Mrs. Spaulding, the first owner of the Ricardo’s Westport home in “Lucy Wants to Move to the Country” (ILL S6;E15). She returned to play one of the garden club judges in “Lucy Raises Tulips” (ILL S6;E26). Audley appeared one last time with Lucille Ball in a “Lucy Saves Milton Berle” (TLS S4;E13) in 1965.

Ruth Perrott (Sarah) played Katie the maid on Lucille Ball’s radio show “My Favorite Husband.” On “I Love Lucy” she played Mrs. Pomerantz in “Pioneer Women” (ILL S1;E25), was one of the member of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League in “Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3), and played a nurse when “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” (ILL S2;E16).

Betty Lou Gerson is best remembered as the voice of Cruella De Ville in the original Disney film One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961).

Stephen Dunn had appeared with Lucille Ball in Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949). 

John Milton Kennedy (Announcer)

‘DINNER’ TRIVIA

The same date as this radio adaptation (March 27, 1950), original star Monty Wooley arrived in Vancouver to perform in the play. 

This broadcast aired the day after the “My Favorite Husband” episode “Liz’s Radio Script” also starring Lucille and Ruth Perrott. 

Lucille Ball’s good friend and frequent co-star Mary Wickes was typecast as a nurse due to her breakthrough role as Nurse Preen in the Broadway, film, and television versions of The Man Who Came To Dinner.’  She does not play Nurse Preen in this adaptation. The character is given the first name Geraldine. 

Lucille Ball previously appeared on “Lux Radio Theatre” for a November 10, 1947 adaptation of her film The Dark Corner (1946). 

The first commercial talks about how Lux soap is gentle on stockings, like those worn by Betty Grable in Wabash Avenue. 

The second commercial (between acts two and three) interviews actress Joan Miller, talking about the Warners picture Stage Fright, and how Lux helped keep the costumes looking great. 

In the post show interviews, Clifton Webb promotes his next film Cheaper By The Dozen.

The final Lux commercial talks about how movie star Hedy Lamarr uses Lux. 

The program presents a special address from president of the Red Cross, General George C. Marshall.  The American Red Cross was mentioned on “My Favorite Husband” and Red Cross posters were frequently scene decorating the sets on “I Love Lucy.”

The ending of radio’s “My Favorite Husband” episode “Mother-in-Law” (November 4, 1949) starring Lucille Ball is identical to the ending of The Man Who Came To Dinner.

In “Lucy and Viv Reminisce” (TLS S6;E16) on January 1, 1968, while nursing Lucy, who has a broken leg, Viv slips and also breaks her leg. She says she feels just like a female version of The Man Who Came To Dinner.

“Vivian Sues Lucy” (TLS S1;E10) on December 3, 1962 also has a plot that resembles The Man Who Came To Dinner. Viv injures herself due to Lucy’s careless housekeeping, and is bedridden. Lucy goes out of her way to cater to her every whim, so that she won’t sue! 

Although the play is fictional, it draws on real life figures and events for its inspiration. 

Sheridan Whiteside was modeled on Alexander Woollcott.

Beverly Carlton was modeled on Noël Coward.

Banjo was modeled on Harpo Marx, and there is a dialogue reference to his brothers Groucho and Chico. When Sheridan Whiteside talks to Banjo on the phone, he asks him, "How are Wackko and Sloppo?"

Professor Metz was based on Dr. Gustav Eckstein of Cincinnati (with cockroaches substituted for canaries), and Lorraine Sheldon was modeled after Gertrude Lawrence.

The character of Harriet Sedley, the alias of Harriet Stanley, is an homage to Lizzie Borden. The popular jump-rope rhyme immortalizing Borden is parodied in the play.

Radio critic Dick Diespecker was not exactly enthusiastic about this adaptation. 

The announcer reminds viewers that next week “Lux Radio Theatre” will present “Come To the Stable” starring Loretta Young and Hugh Marlowe

The announcer promotes Lucille Ball’s new picture Fancy Pants starring Bob Hope. 

[luci-cunt]

@petalsfloating​ ilysm akjsdfajsdlfkjasdlk

#i want details#i am a fann#please how did mycroft and irene get together#how did sherlock and watson meet#is carrie realllly a babey do they have le qualifications huh#please no pressure but i would like to seee

ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE!!!! <333

(also @moonsandstarsaregay if you have anything to add on feel free <33)

Ok so #1: How did Mycroft and Irene get together? 

asldkfja;sljfal;sdkfj this one’s funny because Moony and I haven’t really thought about how they got together XDD, it was probably something like Mycroft going “oh my god you’re gorgeous please let me feed you expensive food and kiss u” and Irene going “abso-fucking-lutely” BUTT!!! the way they get engaged,,,,, now that’s a story!!!

I’ll give u a snippet from the plot outline: 

[More happens but later on Mycroft wisens up and runs through the rain to stand, dripping, on Sherlock’s doorstep asking for Irene.]

“Irene Adler,” Mycroft said softly, her voice shook as she said it, and it was like watching rain fall up seeing this woman so fragile as she watched Irene through her wet, ruined hair. “When I look at you I feel more than I’ve ever felt in my entire life, I hate it sometimes, because I think it’s going to kill me,” she took a long breath, setting her jaw as her eyes shone with emotion. “But hell is a heaven compared to what life would be like without you.” 

“Yes,” Irene said, tears streaking down her face as she reached out for Mycroft and kissed her frantically. It seemed like an odd response, at least until Mycroft broke from the kiss to curse. 

“Jesus fucking christ woman I didn’t even pull out the ring yet,” she hissed, and Irene laughed though her sob and threw herself into Mycroft’s arms. 

#1: Is Carrie really a baby?

In the figurative sense of the word? yes. In the physical sense of the word? No akjdssadflkajsd, he’s actually older than Watson!

For context, Carrie, Bill, Watson, and Kent had all been in foster care for a while before they got dumped into a boys home where they all met and became really quick friends. Carlton Watson--a local police chief--helped out at the home enough that he and the boys started getting close, and then when the ppl running the home found out Bill was a “girl” (because he’s transitioned but hasn’t had surgery) they were going to send him to a girls home and in order to avoid that Carlton adopts Bill, but he can’t just leave the other boys so he adopts them all. Their actual ages go: Kent, then Carrie and Bill, and then Watson, but the fam acts like Kent and Watson are the oldest. 

Also Carrie and Bill always get called the “twins” because their birthdays are like 3 days apart and they make it “twin week.” Also they’re the closest of the brothers and just akjd;flakjsdf perfect I love them so much. 

“Do they have le qualifications?” alksdjf;lajsdflkajsd absolutely. 

Carrie doesn’t like confrontation, at all--he had a special spot under the stairs he used to hide in when he was growing up anytime the boys started fighting. He also jsut really wants everyone to get along. He and Bill share an apartment with some roommates because both of them had a hard time moving out of Carlton’s place. He became a cop because his brothers (except Watson) and dad did and he wanted to work with them more. aajsd;lkfajlsdk there’s more but this is so long I love him he’s babey.

Here’s a snippet (also this is technically the begining of Sherlock and Watson’s 2nd meeting!): 

he got a text from Bill. Dinner.  Bill always phrased questions like that, rarely using question marks. It was something he’d picked up from Kent and Carlton--though, which one of them got it from the other was debatable. Carrie was the only one aside from Watson himself who had actual manners, and his text came through a few minutes after Bill’s. Dinner? Bill wants Chinese but I want pizza. Thoughts? 

Before Watson could answer however, another text came through. Please say pizza? Ask Kent, I don’t care. Watson tapped out, filling his coffee maker with water and flicking it on. He poked his head in his fridge, but the contents were abysmal, so he stuck a bagel in the toaster and called it good as his phone rang again. Kent said to ask you :( Because of course he did. A text from Bill came through. If u say yes to pizza its favoritism and Ill hate u forever. Carrie’s: pleeeeaaaseee came through at the same time, along with a string of emojis.    Instead of answering Watson called Kent. “What do you want?” Kent answered, picking up on the third ring like he always did. “Pizza or Chinese?” Watson asked. “I’m working Watty,” Kent said, with an exhausted sounding sigh. Watson just waited, and he heard another sigh before the sound of Kent opening the door to his office to yell for Bill and Carrie to stop bothering Watson and get back to work. “There,” he said, back on the phone. “Thanks, are you still working the DeMain case?” Watson asked, pouring his finished coffee into a mug and singing his fingers on the toasted bagel. “Yeah, it’s mostly just paperwork at this point.” “Make the twins do it.” “I’m not--what do you want? What--yeah it’s Watty wh--what?” Kent’s tone suddenly went up four octaves in surprise and Watson furrowed his brow. Before he could get a word in though Kent was back on the line. “Jonathan Watson do you have something to tell me?” he said sharply, and Watson blinked, freezing where he was about to bite into the bagel. “What?” Watson managed. “Do we get to go to the reception at least!?” Carrie’s muffled voice came over the line, which only proved to further confuse Watson. “Watty there’s a nutjob here for you claiming to be your husband,” Bill’s voice suddenly piped in, and Watson swore colorfully. “This had better be some asshole I need to have committed because if this is how I’m finding out--” Kent threatened, and Watson tipped his head back and muttered more curses at the ceiling. “No--no, I’m not--Jesus--relax, ok, I’m not married or getting married,” Watson said, rubbing his eyes in exasperation.

#3: How did Sherlock and Watson meet? 

At a crime scene askdjf;lasjdf;lkj Watson was hired to steal Sherlock’s job but instead he helped solve the case and then Sherlock fell in love and moved from Portland to Seattle so he could work with him more kajs;dlfkjalsdfj

Here’s a snippet: 

[WARNING: non-graphic mentions of suicide]

Before he could really look into it, however, the front door slammed open. “Remarkable how you didn’t even think to call me--” a man said as he sauntered in. “You’re giving me the impression you don’t like me.” The man’s grin was feral looking, a bit unsettling. He was tall--though shorter than Watson by almost a full foot--and lanky. Seemingly all long, sharp limbs that somehow managed to fall exactly where he seemed to want them. He was wearing a haphazard version of the clean suits, with the actual jumpsuit only half on and a pair of gloves. His longer brown hair was tied back and he didn’t have a mask on. Watson knew in a moment this must be Sherlock, and he was already annoyed by the man simply by his blatant disrespect of sterile crime scenes. He looked like a TV show detective, it was infuriating. “Montez! Baby! Give me the details, who’s our lady?” the man said with a sloppy grin as he crossed the room with his arms out. “What was it this time? Pills? No--don’t answer that I can see it,” he said, frowning a little as he examined the woman’s body, lingering for a moment on the slipper that had fallen off. “See, funny story, I actually didn’t call you because I don’t want you here,” Montez said with a scowl Watson could see even behind her mask. “You just keep getting funnier Montez,” Sherlock said, cocking his head and then following some invisible trail to the bathroom, where Watson was still standing. Watson went back to looking at the iPad. The doctor who’d prescribed the pills appeared to be legit, and the pharmacy was too--just down the street actually. He was scrolling through the other crime scenes to check for pills as well when suddenly Sherlock stopped in front of him. “You--” the man said, narrowing his eyes on Watson. “--are new…” “They called him in to disprove your crack-pipe theory,” Montez said, and Watson suppressed a sigh. “Really?” Sherlock said, his smile was not the reaction Watson expected. “And what are you looking up Mr. Job-Stealer?” He asked, standing on his toes to look over the top of the iPad. Watson jerked it out of view without thinking, but that just made Sherlock’s grin widen. “Oh! That’s something new--look Montez he doesn’t think your people can do basic detective work,” Sherlock said, before patting Watson’s shoulder. “Don’t worry you’re not wrong but--” “What?” Montez asked, and Watson really did sigh then. “I’m not--” Watson started, but Sherlock was spinning around. “I’ll make this easy for you Mr. Job-Stealer,” Sherlock said. “Doctor,” Watson said through gritted teeth. “Doctor Watson.”    “She did kill herself doctor Job-Stealer, I’m sure you’ve come to that conclusion, I’m sure you all have--I’d honestly be worried if you didn’t,” he started rambling, and Watson scowled as he went back to the iPad, only half listening as the man continued. “As you can see this room is what one might call the dictionary’s definition of a depressed woman’s home. The curtain’s drawn--no natural light, a dying plant that must have only recently stopped getting regular water, the mess around the corners, like she only had the energy to clean up the center--” Watson frowned as he realized another connection. All the suicide victims had been taking the same antidepressents, prescribed by different doctors, but, they were all getting their prescriptions from the same pharmacy down the street. “--and there’s the disaster of a kitchen, I’m sure the fridge was emptier than heaven, and--” Watson was so busy double checking his findings that he didn’t notice Sherlock slowly coming back over with his head cocked and a curious expression on his sharp face. “--there’s the matter of the slipper, I’m sure of course you found the pills in the bathroom, you can see the scuff marks from where she dragged her feet as she got… closer to the… couch as the drugs kicked… in--Doctor what are you so interested in?” Watson’s head snapped up and he blinked out of his thoughts. “Ah--” he said, but Sherlock stole the iPad, scrolling through the page and flipping through the other’s Watson had been looking at as his eyes widened, and then he looked up at Watson. “You--” Sherlock started, “Are the sexiest man I’ve ever laid eyes on, please explain and tell the cops to catch up,” he said, and then he was gone. Watson blinked, his brain reeling as he tried to comprehend exactly what just happened. “The fuck was that?” Montez asked, and Watson fumbled to come up with a response. “I--uhm--I don’t--” he managed. Thankfully the detective didn’t seem to be actually paying him any attention, instead leaning out the doorway of the apartment to yell something at Sherlock. When that didn’t get her anywhere she turned back to Watson. “Where is he going?” she asked, and Watson just flipped the iPad around to show the pharmacy’s address. 

[levelstory]

Music Reflection II, Early 2000s' was a Trip

Well, it has been a hot minute since I wrote a music reflection post. Last time, I talked about various songs from my childhood from the likes of Britney Spears to Stevie Brock. Now I am back to tackle some more music from my most formative years that will make you question how my music taste ever escaped cringy pop music from the Top 40. Coincidentally, all of these tracks are from the early 2000s’ so no 90s’ music here today. Here we go…

Miracles Happen by Myra

This song is the anthem ofThe Princess Diaries. That movie was one of my most watched VHS tapes next to the first Harry Potter film. It is the movie that sparked my interest in film soundtracks, and one of the most recognizable and memorable songs from the album was easily Myra's Miracles Happen. 

It can be easy to forget how much work was once put into acquiring music in an age where most music is available instantaneously. As a kid, my ear was always turned toward the music in any given film and when I got to an age (around 9-10) when I realized these tracks were sold in one package known as the film soundtrack, I made a point to get my hands on a copy. The Princess Diaries is the first soundtrack I remember owning outside of soundtracks from Disney films. 

My most stark memories with this soundtrack are playing it in my bedroom at my old house. Toward the end of our time living there, my family painted my bedroom a light pink and I got a desk that had a CD rack built-in (this was a big feature at the time). My boombox sat on the large desktop against the wall and I can remember listening to The Princess Diaries soundtrack on repeat. There are a lot of great tracks on the album but Miracles Happen is the true star and the true representation of the movie. 

Before I talk about the track further, I just want to point out that this movie is great. We could talk about its problems, which it has many, but it remains funny, heartwarming, and a joy to watch from start to finish. This movie introduced me to Anne Hathaway and she just shines. Plus, Julie Andrews is in the movie and she steals the show! I know my opinion is partially influenced by nostalgia goggles but hey...just let me have this!

Back to Miracles Happen. What is easily the strongest aspect of the song is the chorus. It is so catchy and fun to listen to. The verses are enjoyable enough, but they feel a bit detached from what makes the song so good. The bridge is pretty lackluster. As discussed a bit in my first reflection, way too many songs struggle with their bridges. Look, I get it...but still. The only shining light is that the bridge at least transitions into a tune that sounds similar to the chorus which is pretty great. 

The lyrics are fairly generic which is par for the course. They say a bunch of random things like "we found the missing pieces" and "nothing should ever bring you down", lyrics that have little to no emotional attachment to anything beyond it is a thing people say in this context. But all things considered, it is still a really fun song to listen to.

It Happens Every Time by Dream Street

Dream Street is one of those boy bands that flew pretty far beneath the radar for most people. Their first album released in 2000 and I distinctly remember the marketing campaign on television playing over and over again so that they were drilled into our brains. I guess it worked because I really wanted this album as a ten-year-old.

My friends and I loved Dream Street. I had their poster hanging on my bedroom wall (their album booklet unfolded into the poster). We made up dance routines to their songs. We even blasted the music through my friend’s house and somehow her parents never became angry with us. My most shameful confession about Dream Street is that we used to try and find their phone numbers to call them. Unaware that phone books are limited to local numbers, we would call random numbers to see if Chris or Jesse were home to talk. They weren't, and people were annoyed by our calls. 

One thing people probably don't know is that Jesse McCartney's music career began with Dream Street. I'm proud to say that he was my favorite from the group at the time, and vocally he is the strongest of the group. His voice had not matured yet so it is always fun listening to his performance with his young voice!

It Happens Every Time was their big single and the song most used in TV adverts, accompanied by the music video. What got me thinking about the song and the group recently is due to some unfortunate events. I learned back in July that one of the members, Chris, died in June due to complications with COVID-19. He would have been 35 this year. Chris was often looked at as the Justin Timberlake of Dream Street. He had the fancy frost tipped hair and swagger to him that the other members couldn't compete with. After the group disbanded, he never found success in the same way he did with Dream Street. He died too young and too soon. After his death, I started relistening to Dream Street and it was this relisten that encouraged me to write another Music Reflection. 

As with Stevie Brock from the first installment of Music Reflections, Dream Street's songs mostly center on their lust for girls in a way that is pretty uncomfortable looking back. These boys range in age from 11-13 if I am not mistaken, and their songs deal with mature themes that predate their young years. Not to mention that society has young boys singing about these ideas that they can't help their actions when they lust for a girl or they can't control themselves because a girl has them wrapped around her finger. Our culture normalizes this idea that men are vulnerable to female woes and that they can't help themselves. It is always a bit gross hearing young boys sing about it, especially before they’ve even hit puberty (i.e. Justin Bieber).*

It Happens Every Time is a song about...a song. It follows a boy who hears a "silly little love song" every time he sees this girl or thinks of her. This plane of existence, a magic place where angels sing all around them, is known as Dream Street (name drop!). Admittedly, this song is probably the tamest when it comes to the themes I mentioned in the previous paragraph. 

Now I won't lie, this song is a bop. I'm still unsure if that is the nostalgia talking or not...I will have to dig deeper some other time. But damn I'd be lying if I said I don't enjoy this song. It is so catchy. The boys sing really well for their age. I am a sucker for listening to little Jesse McCartney belt his heart out. Jesse is the highlight of this song, getting a nice solo line toward the end of the second chorus followed by the entire bridge and some overlapping vocals in the final chorus before ending the song. He just sounds so good and I will admit to feeling a small sense of pride listening to him. I was there before his solo career and entry into Radio Disney hits and commercials all over ABC Family. Sometimes it feels like Dream Street is still so unknown that I can keep my memories of them all to myself. Though their time was short-lived, they stayed with me and so has this song.

Ordinary Day by Vanessa Carlton

Earlier, I talked about how difficult it was to acquire music before the internet. In the case of a song in a movie, there was a good chance that the song you liked would be on the soundtrack, provided a soundtrack was even released. Songs on the radio were difficult because you had to buy an entire album when you just liked one song, or make sure you had a blank tape ready to record when the song came on. Then there were songs you heard while out and about with no context. Those were the worst because you had to try and memorize the song and hope you found it somewhere, someday. That was kind of what happened to me with Vanessa Carlton.

It was her song A Thousand Miles that really gripped me as a 12-year-old. I loved it so much and heard it everywhere I went but never knew who sang the song or where I could get a copy. Eventually, I heard the song on the radio and bought her album...and ended up only listening to the three tracks I liked. One of the tracks, and my favorite of those three, is Ordinary Day. 

If my memory is correct, this song was never as popular as A Thousand Miles on the radio, but it was super popular on the internet. This album came out around the time I first started using the internet and discovered movie montages. I don't mean montages used in movies but montages made by fans on Windows Movie Maker, cut together with a somewhat fitting song. If you were a teenager obsessing over Disney or Harry Potter or...something, you know the songs that people generally gravitated towards with these videos (the band Trading Yesterday were a staple of these montages). Ordinary Day was a movie montage song (every time I listen to this song it reminds me of an Aladdin montage it played over (which I sadly can't find)). 

I decided to watch the music video for this song as I was writing this and boy is it a product of the early 2000s. Can we all just agree that the early 2000s were equivalent to that awkward stage of everyone's lives that we try not to think about? This music video is so clumsy and confusing. There are so many close up shots on Carlton and strange shots of people making out. Who thought this was a good idea?

But back to the song. One thing I appreciate about this song is how it builds itself up. The beginning piano is very nice but then it builds up with orchestration and I love it. I'm sorry I can't talk about it more but I won't embarrass myself with lack of musical instrumental lingo and knowledge.

The lyrics of the song are...ehh? The song is basically about seeing more in the ordinary and how the narrator is shown from an "ordinary boy." It isn't terrible but like the music video, a product of the early 2000s. 

I unapologetically love this song. Yes it is corny and it isn't as musically sophisticated as I would like, but it always makes me smile when I listen to it. I can remember listening to the song on my headphones on long car rides and with friends. It is just a song that makes me feel happy and gives me no reason to feel otherwise. 

All I Can Do by Jump5

Well...I'm surprised it took me this long to arrive at Jump5. What is there to say about this Christian pop sensation? Quite a bit actually. I was only obsessed with them for a good chunk of my early teens. Reflecting on that time of my life is strange because in hindsight, it was such a short period but it always feels like it lasted much longer. 

Everyone has that one band that they really connect with as a teenager that basically shapes their entire life and...well, yeah, that band for me is Jump5. I'm not kidding, I could write an entire book about how this band shaped my entire life (and believe me, I am working on it!). As much as I'd like to talk about all of that, we only have a short amount of time so let's talk about this song. 

As with Ordinary Day, this song reeks of the early 2000s. However, unlike Ordinary Day, the music video is much more successful in its execution. I couldn't believe myself when rewatching it...it is actually pretty darn good as far as music videos tend to be. 

Choosing what Jump5 song to talk about was pretty difficult because there are so many in their arsenal that I can talk about for long periods of time and connect to life experiences. But All I Can Do seems to be a special one because I'm almost certain it was the first track I ever heard from the group. As with Dream Street, Jump5 had a big TV marketing campaign for their second album, All the Time in the World (in which All I Can Do is the first track). It was their TV advert that put them on the radar for me. I vividly remember seeing the commercial at Christmas time. It was the first Christmas spent at our new house and I can remember watching the TV with my gifts and snow falling outside. At this point, seeing pop bands advertised on TV was nothing new. There were always new groups trying to make it big as other pop acts had before them. But other than my memory of seeing this commercial, it otherwise didn't leave a big impact on me. I wouldn't start listening to Jump5 until a few months later after getting into Radio Disney. And even after I got into Jump5, All I Can Do was never one of their songs that I gravitated towards. 

I wanted to talk about this song because of how well it represents Jump5 as a group. All I Can Do is their quintessential track, packed with energy and fun lyrics. But the track is also a representation of the group's core aesthetic of disguising "Christian values" as a pop song about a crush. For anyone who grew up on a Christian media diet (as I did voluntarily as a teenager), this is nothing out of the ordinary for this type of entertainment. In fact, it is basically a meme at this point. All I Can Do may be the least overt example of this from Jump5's library, but it is still an example nonetheless.

“It's like I got nothing to do but think about you,” (you being God), "I've got all the time in the world," (implying that time does not matter because in God you have everlasting life), "if you look at my heart, you'll know from the start," (meaning God knows your true heart and He knows from the start). I could go on but I think you see my point. There isn't anything inherently bad about this example and it is fairly harmless, but this isn't always the case when it comes to Christian entertainment.

Another trend from the late 90s' and early 2000s' was a pop group being a mix of both guys and girls but the guys rarely sang (A*Teens is another example that might come to mind). This song is dominated by the girls who share most of the song equally. The guys are hardly ever heard at all except when Chris gets his time to shine echoing the song's title over and over. It is easy to forget about them but alas, they are there.

Jump5 were known for their dance routines that they performed alongside their songs. They would often do cartwheels, flips, and very technical dance routines that blew many other pop acts out of the water. They also performed these routines live on tour, not just in their music videos. This dance routine is a really memorable one, showing the group doing a train-like dance which I remember performing with a friend. It is a lot of fun and I won't let anyone tell me otherwise! It was a lot of fun revisiting this track.

Is It Saturday Yet? by Nick Carter

Well here we are, at the final song, and boy is this choice...let's go with interesting. Nick Carter, known for his Backstreet Boy fame, recorded his own solo album after the group disbanded. What we got was Now or Never which is only ever remembered by the song Help Me, and even that is pretty forgettable. All that said, I owned this album and listened to it quite a bit as a tween. My most specific memory with the album is listening to it on a long car ride to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Is It Saturday Yet? is the seventh track on the album and out of the five tracks I liked, this was probably at the bottom. 

So why talk about it if it was my least favorite track? Well friends, this track is so bizarre that I question its existence on a frequent basis. It is insane how often this song gets stuck in my head and won't leave. 

The song seems to be about a disengaged teenager being raised by Jerry Springer and video games (video games got a low blow for warping kids brains back in the day. They still get blamed today but it isn't to the same extent) who just can't wait for Saturday to come so he can be rid of his responsibilities. The lyrics are...dumb. They are clearly trying to make a point but the song is so ridiculous that it is white noise. And why is it that Nick and Aaron Carter always have to reference each other in their songs? It was cute at first when Aaron did it in his classic track Oh Aaron, but now it is just old. 

"Is it Saturday yet? Cause I wanna get up. Is it Saturday yet? It just feels like a Saturday. Maybe it's a Saturday." Those are the lyrics in the chorus. It is a song so devoid of meaning and so lazy to its very core. It contains lazy rhymes and brutal instrumentals. This song is the reason so many people describe pop music as empty trash. Like, don't get me wrong, a lot of music on the radio is pop trash and is clearly put together by big corporate higher-ups to make a quick buck on teenage stars locked in a contract. But some of that music is meaningful and deserves to be recognized. This song, however, deserves to die a painful death. It is just terrible. 

And yet, despite all of this, the song somehow still appeals to me. I still listen to it. I still find joy out of it even though it is just awful in every possible way. I think that speaks to the whole point of these reflections on the music I listened to when I was younger. 

Is It Saturday Yet? may be the worst of the bunch, but a lot of music cranked out back in the day was mindless entertainment. As much as it bothers me, I won't lie and say there is no place for music like this because there is. Sometimes when I am driving, I get so sick of the music I normally listen to ("good" music) and I just want music from my childhood that won't make me think but will just allow me to bake in nostalgic goodness. 

Revisiting these songs was fun, but I know there are more I want to talk about in the future! Stay tuned! What are some songs you listened to in the early 2000s’ that make you feel super nostalgic today? Let me know in the comments!

* It should also be noted that the band broke up because of a lawsuit in which the majority of the parents of the band alleged that the underage band members were "exposed to booze, women, and pornography."

[tic-of-the-tac]

The Ultimate In-Depth Analysis of Carlton Burke from the FNAF Novels (PART ONE)

(This took me a really long time to make, so I hope you enjoy it! I was inspired to write this by sn0ji’s in-depth John analysis post, so thanks, sn0ji! Also, I do discuss POTENTIAL TRIGGERS in this, including, but not necessarily limited to, SEXUAL ASSAULT and MANY FORMS OF VIOLENCE, so read at your own risk. And I know what you’re thinking: Cara, what on earth does Carlton have anything to do with sexual assault? Well, prepare to have your mind blown, and not just based on that fact, because I go into SO much detail in this essay and I mention little events and details from the books that NO ONE has EVER talked about before. It’s in so much detail that I had to make a Part 2 for it, so be sure to check that out! So sit back, relax, and enjoy my in-depth analysis of Carlton Burke!)

People know Carlton for his most obvious character trait: his humor. This is the trait that either makes you love him on at least his surface level or overlook him completely. The first group LOVES his humor. It is their favorite thing about him. While most will just like him for the jokes, some people in this group will even dive deeper into his personality and appreciate him even more. (I’m in this group.) The second group chooses to overlook Carlton because his sense of humor and surface-level personality can often come off as immature. However, calling Carlton immature based on these facts alone is completely ignoring his entire character ark and deeper personality which motivates him to put the safety and happiness of others before himself.

In The Silver Eyes, people will notice his humor, but they won’t notice the other subtle details of his personality that Kira and Scott took the time to mention throughout the book. The first action he is described as doing when Charlie enters the diner is thinking of his words carefully before he speaks them. That is not an easy task for most people, and it takes a level of maturity that is often overlooked to avoid acting on impulse. Also, when the boys split up from the girls (and John) after visiting Freddy’s on the second night, Carlton is the one that looks back at the girls, smiles at them genuinely, and waves over his shoulder. This moment is probably one of the most overlooked small moments in the book series, but it is probably one of my favorites, and it took me a couple rereads to catch. It shows that Carlton is a genuine and sweet person who will go out of his way to be friendly to others and make them smile. While people may see his prank-pulling as ignorance to other people’s emotions, it is quite the opposite. Carlton has shown that when it is time to be serious, he is VERY serious. His speech about Michael during the ceremony is super emotional and a sweet testament to his childhood best friend. However, he also sprinkled in some humor not because he is constantly a jokester, but because he doesn’t want to make people more upset than they already are given the tragic circumstances. He is trying to make them feel better. The number one motivation that pushes him forward in life is making people smile and laugh, which in turn is making them happier than they are. (I can honestly relate to that on a personal level because this is the one thing that keeps me going too, which is why I appreciate and adore his character so much.) The pranks he pulls make him happy, and he is hoping to make people laugh by doing them. He does not have ill intentions by telling jokes and pulling pranks. His humor allows him to push through his grief as well as help others push through theirs, which is very honorable and admirable for him to do. It is not immature of him at all. He also tends to use humor when he is terrified, in attempts to calm himself. He’s not just saying jokes for the heck of it, he’s hoping to make the best out of any dangerous or scary situation. (I relate to that too, as I tend to crack more jokes when I am nervous.) It may not be the brightest idea to crack jokes in front of someone who could literally kill him with the tap of a finger, but he is doing what his brain has trained himself to do his entire life when dealing with a bad situation. Not to mention he has a severe concussion (I know that the book says that it’s mild but let’s get real here, being unconscious for HOURS is a REALLY bad sign), so he’s not thinking clearly. He’s acting on impulse because his brain is physically not working properly. Anything that he says from Chapter 9 onward is not an entirely accurate representation of his overall character. It does, however, give us a good insight into how he deals with physical pain and the effect his pain may have on others. He keeps telling people that he’s fine even though he’s CLEARLY NOT FINE, and he constantly apologizes for the way he is acting even though it is NOT HIS FAULT. Even through pain and terror his genuineness shines through. Also, even though he is not thinking clearly, he is able to focus his anger and pain to stand up to the person that killed his best friend, nearly killed him, and is still threatening him and his friends. That is very courageous of him and it is an action worthy of audience applause. He doesn’t let his anger and pain out on his friends, but he is not afraid to show it either, which shows a sense of control in his life, even when he is not thinking clearly. Having this control shows maturity. In The Silver Eyes alone, Carlton proves that there is more to him than meets the eye.

Carlton is not in The Twisted Ones, but there is something worth mentioning about what he is doing during the events of the book. He is studying acting in New York City. Coming from someone who also wants to study acting in New York City, I know that you cannot be some ordinary idiot to get into a college in NYC. It takes a lot of time and effort to apply, and to get into many NYC acting colleges, you need to be smart as well as good at acting. Carlton got into a college in NY, showing that he’s no idiot and he is willing to put in time and effort to achieve what he wants. Not to mention, during all of this, he is dealing with the grief of his parents separating a lot better than most people. (He certainly handled it better than I did when my parents got divorced.) These actions are very mature of him, showing that even in The Twisted Ones, Carlton is a deep, complex character that is more than just dumb comic relief.

Lastly, there’s The Fourth Closet. This book is the most obvious example of Carlton being more than what he appears. In the first scene Carlton appears in, John, who has been in a constant depressed state for the past six months, smiles genuinely when Carlton races downstairs to greet him for the first time in almost two years, while only faking a smile when reuniting with Jessica and Marla. To John, Carlton is a joy to have around. Not to mention the condition of Clay’s house dramatically improves when Carlton comes home. It shows that people find Carlton as someone who makes them happy and they want to have around. Later, Carlton shows genuine concern for his father when he ends up in the hospital and also when they find a sick Charlie. He really cares about other people and wants to make sure they’re okay. While Carlton is VERY intrigued by Not-Charlie’s appearance (and people use this as reasoning to dismiss him as a dumb jokester), he is TERRIFIED of her. He likes to look at her, sure, but when she presses up against him, strokes his face, and tries to kiss him, he repeatedly tells her NO and tries to get away from her. Carlton is not a dumb, horny teenage boy; he is a victim of a downplayed sexual assault attempt, and it is overlooked because he’s a boy, she’s a robot, and he showed interest in her appearance before and after the attack. It is also overlooked because people think of it as just a way to lure him in to kill him, but the text specifically mentions that she “leaned in for a kiss” and ALSO KISSES JOHN WITHOUT HIS CONSENT (meaning yes, John is a victim of sexual assault). (And yes, kissing someone without consent can be considered sexual assault. I did my research before writing this.) Carlton is not completely innocent because staring at Not-Charlie like he does could actually be considered sexual harassment, but showing interest in her does not warrant her to approach him with sexual intentions because he did not give consent. Immediately after, he is unsure how to feel about it. He is still extremely fascinated by her appearance, but he didn’t want to be anything more than frenemies, and the fact that she tried to push it further terrified him. He is essentially thinking, “Isn’t this what I wanted? I thought she was hot, but I didn’t really want her to approach me like that.” These mixed emotions confuse him, and he shows this confusion when he meets up with Marla and sees Not-Charlie on the TV. Again, it’s not him being just a dumb, horny teenager. Then, he is the one to point out that Not-Charlie, in one of her alternate forms, looks like Circus Baby. No one else was able to make that connection. If he is really an idiot as people claim, he wouldn’t have been the one to make this connection. Instead, he shows that he is actually smart, insightful, and observant. (This is actually the third time he showed these traits; the first time was in The Silver Eyes when he observed Dave’s personality, and the second time was in the same book when he found the security camera above the back room door and made the GENIUS decision to slowly make his way across the floor to get in view of the security camera, which ended up saving his life.) Carlton and Marla’s mission from this point on is to save Jessica and hopefully find the missing children. When Carlton and Marla are in the mirror maze and being pursued by Funtime Freddy, Carlton steps in front of Marla, shields her, and keeps her calm on several occasions, showing that he is protective of the people he cares about. Once they find Jessica and most of the missing children, Carlton makes the courageous and mature decision to give his earpiece, the only defense he has, to Jessica and go out on his own to rescue the last missing child. This is the most courageous decision made by any character in the entire book series. TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2.

[johannesviii]

Top 15 Personal Favorite Hit Songs from 2002

13 to 14 years old. Most of the year was pretty good. Summer was great. But in September I arrived in 2nd (local equivalent of 10th grade), so I was 14 in a class of mostly 15/16 years old students, and I looked so out of place that inevitably, bad shit started to happen very quickly.

Thankfully, it was a damn good year for hits. They say music never sounds better than when you are a teenager, as if that was a bad thing - but maybe they’re right? So yeah, nostalgia is in full force there. This year was so good for music, in fact, that this is a top 15 instead of 10. It was already super difficult to keep only 10 songs before I even looked at the French year-end list, and then I just gave up.

Disclaimers:

Keep in mind I’m using both the year-end top 100 lists from the US and from France while making these top 10 things. There’s songs in English that charted in my country way higher than they did in their home countries, or even earlier or later, so that might get surprising at times.

Of course there will be stuff in French. We suck. I know. It’s my list. Deal with it.

My musical tastes have always been terrible and I’m not a critic, just a listener and an idiot.

I have sound to color synesthesia which justifies nothing but might explain why I have trouble describing some songs in other terms than visual ones.

This list originally had SIX horribly painful cuts so I decided to do some damage control and make it a top 15. There’s still a whole bunch of honorable mentions, though.

Heaven remix (DJ Sammy) - [Insert here rant about Johannes liking overproduced dance garbage full of colors and lights]

Move b█tch (Ludacris) - Just a ton of fun to sing along that chorus.

Whenever Wherever (Shakira) - I claim overplay, but that is still legendary.

How You Remind Me (Nickelback) - Nobody’s gonna disagree if I say they’re a terrible band, but you gotta admit, their first hit was pretty great.

The Middle (Jimmy Eat World) - In a year full of fantastic earworms, some had to stay out of the list.

Can’t Fight the Moonlight (LeAnn Rimes) - Just re-read the previous statement.

Get the Party Started (Pink) - More on that later.

Inch’Allah (MC Solaar) - Not his best song by a mile (obviously; I mean, the guy who wrote a song about making Satan explode into antimatter can’t really top that because nobody can) but still very nice.

Cleanin’ Out My Closet (Eminem) - Yeah, the rethread of The Real Slim Shady is on the list and not this. What can I say, I told you I had bad taste.

Just Like a Pill (Pink) - The last cut from the list. I just really, really liked Pink, can you tell?

This is when I started to listen to the radio A LOT in my room, because my access to the family computer was restricted and radio was basically the only media I still had 100% access to and full control of. Which might explain why I suddenly liked a ton of pop music. Or maybe that year was simply really good. I guess it’s a mix of both.

Also, I still didn’t have a key to the appartment, but I was a lot less supervised when I was outside, and I would sometimes sneak out to go the library or to the disc store.

So... here’s some of the first singles I ever bought, for the record, and also because I think it’s fun to see all of them together.

They’re all on this list, just to clarify.

15 - I’m Gonna Getcha Good (Shania Twain)

US: Not on the list / FR: #67

Well, that was quick. So yeah, I loved this song. The accent meant I couldn’t understand half of the lyrics, but it was still a ton of fun and a delight every time it was on the radio.

14 - Wherever You Will Go (The Calling)

US: #5 / FR: #53

I didn’t love this song that much at the time and only put it on one tape, but it really grew on my over the years. Yeah, it’s your standard 2000s pop-rock song, objectively, but I don’t know. It didn’t have to go that hard with its metaphors. I mean the guy is ready to follow that person into hell and turn back time if necessary. I really don’t know. It shouldn’t work so well but it does for me. Maybe it’s because I’m very literal-minded.

13 - Le Chemin (Kyo ft. Sita)

US: Not on the list / FR: #55

Basically: A Ma Place by Axel Bauer & Zazie from the previous honorable mentions of 2001, except with half the amount of Hetero Drama(tm) and a pop-rock flavour to make it more palatable.

The first hit of a band it would very quickly be super cool to hate in my country (and I do mean very quickly, like a year or so) because everyone (including me, mind you) thought their lyrics were a bit too cringy even for pop-rock songs.

Doesn’t mean I didn’t buy the album and listened the shit out of it for like two years, though. The saddest part is that my favorite single from it by far, Je Cours (”I Run”), isn’t elligible for any list. Dammit.

12 - Murder On The Dancefloor (Sophie Ellis-Bextor)

US: Not on the list / FR: #26

This was a huge hit in Europe and somehow I thought it had reached the US, but apparently it didn’t. That’s a shame.

Also, overplay didn’t manage to kill it for me and that’s impressive.

11 - Complicated (Avril Lavigne)

US: #11 / FR: #83

Loved it, bought the single, loved it even more, and then one of my uncles sent me the album for christmas, and all was nice and good in the world.

For the record, I thought Sk8er Boi was one of the worst songs on the album (my favorite was My World), and I still dislike this particular song to this day, so this is why it’s nowhere to be found here.

10 - Don’t Let Me Get Me (Pink)

US: #36 / FR: Not on the list

You already know that because of the honorable mentions, but yeah, I loved Pink. This was the second album I decided I had to save money for months to acquire instead of just a single and which my parents would probably find acceptable. And this song is the best and it kicks some serious ass, on top of being full of self-loathing and extremely relatable at the time ("everyday I fight a war against the mirror, can't take the person staring back at me"? "I wanna be somebody else"?? Big, big dysphoria mood right there).

No regrets, baby.

9 - Hands Clean (Alanis Morissette)

US: #95 / FR: Not on the list

In just about every list I’ve made so far, there’s one song which makes me think “if I had better taste, this would be much higher”. This is one of these songs. Still love it, still put it on a tape and burned it on a cd. I found the cd in question again yesterday while making this list and it contains, in that exact order: Visage, Evanescence, Kyo, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Talk Talk, Scatman John, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Shania Twain, INXS, Freur, Alizée, Linkin Park and this exact song by Alanis Morissette. It’s a great little time-capsule of my debatable tastes.

8 - Die Another Day (Madonna)

US: Not on the list / FR: #86

This has the same kind of weird, disjointed beat as Music, but it sounds much more aggressive and sinister. This dropped right when I started to have real problems at school, so it’s a bit difficult for me to listen to it nowadays without having unpleasant flashbacks at the same time, which is why it’s so low on the list even though I listened to it on a loop back in the day. It might be a subpar James Bond theme, and might have dumb lyrics (god the Sigmund Freud line sdfghjhgfdfg), but on its own? It’s great.

Also I loved the music video. My mother, obviously, hated it, which only made me like it more, because, I mean, obviously it did. That’s how it works when you’re 14.

Speaking of which.

7 - Without Me (Eminem)

US: #21 / FR: #11

By that point, it was becoming pretty clear that I would never be able to buy the music I wanted if my parents disapproved of it, so I had to be sneaky and buy every, uh “debatable” single with a second more acceptable single to hide the first one. The one I bought alongside this one was a cover of Désenchantée, sung by Kate Ryan.

Success.

It is, in fact, less good than The Real Slim Shady, and I could only understand about one third of the lyrics, but still. I listened to it a loooooot. Because I actually had that single and not the other one which it was basically referencing to the point of self-parody. And just like the other one, I obviously don’t endorse all the lyrics, and the beat is great.

6 - All the Things She Said (Tatu)

US: Not on the list / FR: #12

Just like Die Another Day this one is a bit difficult to listen to nowadays for me but it’s a monster of a hit nonetheless. Have to say, though: I listened to Not Gonna Get Us even more, which means THAT one is even more linked to bad memories, to the point of basically being unlistenable because it triggers a literal fight-or-flight response with me. Not kidding in the slightest. Still love it though.

5 - J’ai Demandé à la Lune (Indochine)

US: Not on the list / FR: #4

This is one of my least favorite hit songs from Indochine. It’s still #5 on a list where I had to keep 15 entries instead of 10. This is because almost no other song I really really like from them will ever be elligible for these lists and if I can’t put a single Indochine song somewhere, especially from the Paradize album, I will have to punch a wall, dammit.

So here. Have the one in which the guy asks the moon if his significant other still loves him and where the moon answers “dude it’s not my problem”.

I love them and Paradize is an absolute monster of an album which rightfully made them relevant again, from new wave sensations of the 80s to favorite mainstream band for every young French punk/goth kid ever in the 2000s. This is not a diss, by the way, considering I was very clearly in that core demographic. Especially if you look at the top three I made for that year (and for the next one but let’s not get ahead of ourselves).

4 - A Thousand Miles (Vanessa Carlton)

US: #6 / FR: #51

Yeah yeah, you knew this was coming when you saw that pic of the first singles I bought, and you can start laughing now. I know it’s basically a meme now (and a good one, mind you), but sometimes, songs are remembered for more than one reason, and you have to admit that one is still great on its own. I listened to it SO. MUCH. Especially before everything started to go wrong for me that year, so basically this is the sound of “how things should have been”, and it’s so pleasant and nice to listen to it even today. It’s no longer on my mp3 player, but, no joke, I think it stayed on it from the day I bought my first mp3 player to something like 2017. Is it an indicator of quality or yet another indicator of my debatable taste? Probably both.

In any other year, there would be a clear #1 either towering above the other songs or just slightly ahead of the rest. 2002 was so good I can’t, for the life of me, decide which of these next three songs is the best one, even subjectively, in a “hey I like this one a little bit more” kind of way.

So I’m ranking the top 3 according to the lengths I went to to listen to each of these songs at the time.

Let’s go.

3 - C’est Une Belle Journée (Mylène Farmer)

US: Not on the list / FR: #46

This is what I’d call the Last Great Mylène Farmer Song. Oh she was still making music, pretty great music, in fact, after that. She’s still making decent stuff nowadays, from time to time. But in my opinion, it’s all downhill from there.

Still. This kickstarted my obsession with her at the time, because someone (I still have no idea who that was) was foolish enough to buy me the cd for Christmas. This is also why it’s #3 and not higher; I didn’t have to work at all to listen to it.

So... This is a song about killing yourself, disguised as a bouncy energetic pop tune. And it works horribly well. It’s very vaguely sinister but if you don’t listen to it very closely, it’s nearly impossible to notice what it’s actually about (translation here), and it charted super high and for a super long time without any controversy in its wake.

As I said: all downhill from there, because... how do you even top this?

2 - Lose Yourself (Eminem)

US: #63 / FR: Not on the list

You probably guessed this was coming. I’m not sure what the consensus for the “best Eminem hit song” is nowadays, but that one has to be pretty high on the list. And it’s also kind of a meme because of the spaghetti line, I know, but still, quality, man. The most important thing about it in the context of this list is that it was juuuuust slow enough to allow me to understand most of the important parts with my still-limited English, and I loved the little story it told. I remember trying to put it on a tape for days and waiting for it to pop up on the radio and instantly pressing Record after the first note.

And of course I wanted to see 8 Mile and I couldn’t, but a few months later, the local book/dvd/music store, which had screens broadcasting scenes from new stuff they were selling, had a screen with a few battle rap scenes from 8 Mile on it, and once I noticed I stood in front of the screen for a long time in silent admiration. What can I say, I was an angry little thing, and seeing angry people fighting each other in ways where no-one gets hurt was very satisfying and cathartic.

1 - In the End (Linkin Park)

US: #7 / FR: Not on the list

The music video had hilariously bad cgi even at the time, just to clarify. But yeah, that sound right there had the perfect balance of color, energy, sadness and anger to be the hit of the year for me back then. And I could understand nearly all the lyrics! I. Loved it. The local library had Hybrid Theory and I listened to it so. MUCH (my favorite song on it was actually One Step Closer (singing CAUSE I’M ONE-STEP-CLOSER-TO-THE-EDGE, ANDI’MABOUTTOBREAK felt great) and I thought Crawling was a bit embarrassing). Thank god that library didn’t have fines if you returned your stuff after the due date because I had to wait until I was able to make a copy of it first. The “parents-proof” “”cryptic”” label I wrote on said copy wasn’t particularly cryptic, though, and I’m gonna share it with you right now because that’s kind of funny.

So what do you do when you’re 14, pretty sure you understood the whole song, are finally able to listen to the whole album, burn it on a cd, and listen to it way too often? You write down the lyrics, painstakingly, with a fountain pen, in a small notebook where you try to write down the lyrics of every single song you love & can understand entirely. That’s what you do. Of course.

When I stopped doing that in 2007, there were two notebooks like that. I lost one of them, apparently, but the one I was able to find already had 63 songs in it. I finally had my own internet access later that year and I could find all the lyrics I wanted whenever I wanted, and I stopped doing that once and for all.

But it helped me get a lot better with English, so in the end, it doesn’t even matter.

So yeah, In the End?

Loved it and loved that band. I still do.

Next up: wow, “all edge no point”, uh?