#disco hamlet

[ladycharles]

My first soundtrack album, Oh Boy! is out now! It is for a disco version of Hamlet (seriously) and I drew inspiration from ELO, David Bowie, Abba, of Montreal, Late of the Pier, Rod Stewart (yes), Bee Gees, Kate Bush and even a little Eno, Nine Inch Nails and Philip Glass (half the album is instrumental score and it's the weird half).

(If you don't wanna hear some out there instrumental score skip to track 2 😅💖)

Other streaming or buying links 👇🏼

[bloodybellycomb]

One massive, legitimate way to improve as a writer or artist or in any creative endeavor really, is to become absolutely obsessed with something and to allow yourself to be weird about it. Genuinely mean this btw.

[horatiompreg]

how this random hamlet hyperfixation feels when my other interests are splatoon and disco elysium and I also habitually use brain rot speech

[psalmsofpsychosis]

me in this corner on my knees like fellas, i'm literally begging you, please interpret things, dont just fucking swallow stories and essays and media and all kinds of fucking information without giving it two tiny winy thoughts

[scaryscarecrows]

Week five. My mother and I both got new things from the clearance rack because hey, clearance (and those dracenas did not deserve to die in Walmart's scuzzy garden department, to be honest, nothing deserves THAT) but.

She moved Hamlet like a foot to the right to make room.

He's angsting.

(I'll put him back today. I just don't think he needs to mope like this. There's still sun, dude, quit acting like she dumped you on the floor.)

So whatever Poison Ivy is, I'm the opposite. I have a black thumb. One plant has survived me, a purple viney thing named Patrick, and I'm pretty sure Patrick lives to spite me personally.

(I don't know what Patrick is. It doesn't matter. But he thrives. Little Patricklings are taking root in the flower bed near his pot.)

I like plants, understand. Well, the minimal pollen kind, because asthma. And they're supposed to be good for your mental health and shit, so with the influx of holiday ads tanking me, I got a spider plant because 'they're tough to kill'.

It's lived a day so far, so hopefully it will survive. I WANT IT TO LIVE. LIVE, LITTLE PLANT.

[bluberryfields]

Sadly, there's not enough room in the poll for the iconic Heaven disguise, but it's always worth sharing

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

Hobie's Boathouse

The S.S Anne Ark

[Headcanon Concept]

Here it is in all it's Grungy Glory. [Mentions of OCs below - Including my girl Disco-Spider Diane]

About Anne Ark:

The S.S Anne Ark is a modified wide-beam canal boat. Completely off-the-grid, and DIY'd by him, it's Hobie's pride and joy. The Anne Ark is three levels tall - a 'ground' floor, and upstairs, and a locked basement below the deck. The Anne Ark has two 'bedrooms' and one 'bathroom'. Hobie's bedroom is what was once the control room, gutted and converted and the second bedroom was once a small equipment space. Hobie has had Anne for four years, and after years of homelessness as a street kid, he happily calls it his forever home.

The Rooms:

The Living Room - [ Read more about Hobie's Living Room HERE ]

Hobie's make-shift art studio/recording booth/library/cat play area, the Living Room is where Hobie spends most of his time. It features his ratty old couch from Tower Hamlets, a ceiling mic for recording, and Hobie's pride and joy - his jukebox.

Hobie's Workshop

To the left of the jukebox is a hallway that leads to Hobie's workshop, and the staircase down to his locked basement.

Hobie's workshop if full of rubbish and metal that he'll tinker away with for hours. In fact, he made every prototype of his watch in that workshop (and there were many prototypes). Despite what one may assume, it's impeccable in there. He also keeps some gear for protests, as well as somethings he's working on for Spider-punk (barbed wire webs anyone?) OCs: Diane hardly goes in there, blessed with organic webs and cursed with technological incompetence. But sometimes he does invite people like Angel and Ale in.

Outdoor Back Deck

The 1st floor Back Deck houses the main parts of the engine. Hobie maintains and upgrades it regularly, trying out things like clean energy, and emission free designs. ________________________________________________

Behind the cat tree in the photo of the living room, there is a staircase that leads up to the second floor. The stairs open to: Hobie's Bedroom

Covered in army green shag carpet and a king size bed, Hobie's bedroom is nowhere near as put together as his workshop. I mean, the guy uses an amp as a nightstand.

There's usually clothes everywhere, thrifted or hand-made, but there's also a set of bean-bag chairs, dozens of posters, and an old busted-up (but working) TV.

His room as a large window facing his bed, what was once the main window of the boat's control room. The second floor stairs open up into his room, with a glass sliding door to the left that leads to the hallway.

Gwen's Bedroom

Gwen's bedroom is barely that - but she still appreciates it more than anything in the world. Hobie understands how important it is to have your own space when housing insecure, so he wanted her to have somewhere cozy, especially know that sometimes Gwen just wants to be alone. Most of Gwen's stuff his here, and she only keeps her clothes at the Society dorms.

The Decks

Front A hot spot Diane is known to throw raging parties after the band plays, and if you're looking for an encore, head down to Floor 1 and look up - Hobie is known to drop the red banner and play a show or two up there. Or night's off, it's a great place to have a smoke. Back The best place to be. During parties, this is dancefloor. Plus, it's a good place for snogging and looking out on the water. When not in party mode, Hobie cooks most of his food on the outdoor stove and grill. Having dinner out while watching the waves. ____________________________________________ The Colors:

Like Hobie, Anne has a whole spectrum of colors - and it's affected by a whole number of things.

Ranging from black and white to full on rainbow (on one rare occasion - now THAT was trippy), Anne Ark changes color the moment Hobie, or someone else, steps on board.

Sometimes, it can even adopt the art style of those inside - running watercolor when Gwen is upset, or going full harsh-shadow when Noir comes aboard.

Every person has a different color, ranging from yellow for people like Percy and Sacha or pink for Angel.

The Cats:

(pictured are Moto (left), and Pierogi (right)) [Read more about The BoatCats HERE] Other cats he has are: Acid & Viper (siblings), Creampuff (named by Diane) _______________________________________________

FAQ:

What's in Hobie's locked basement?

I don't know. He won't tell me. But it's something that means a lot to him. The basement spans the entirety of the lower-level of the boat.

How many cats does Hobie own?

If you ask, he'll say he doesn't own any. They're free to come and go as they please, and none of them have collars. All of his cats are adopted street cats - either too old, or too weak, or those who just wanted to live with him.

But if you ask Diane, she'll say 5. He's been mentioning bringing aboard a 6th.

Does Diane live on the houseboat?

No. Diane has her own Barbie Dreamhouse - a.k.a an all pink apartment back home in 1294's Harlem. She divides most of her time either there, or at the Black Panther Chapter House she was raised in a block or two away. She rarely stays with Hobie (maybe once or twice a month), and since Hobie messes up her throw pillows and always takes something from her closet, he hardly stays with her either.

Does Gwen live on the houseboat?

Mostly, yes. She has a dorm back at Society, and she sleeps there about 3 days a week. But the rest (including all weekends) is at the houseboat. Does Hobie sail/fish?

Yes, he does both.

What are Hobie's favorite colors?

He hates consistency. But Green, Pink, and Orange.

____________________________________

Yeahhhhh so that's the houseboat. Whenever I mention Diane being on the boat, it's this I'm seeing :) And I just added in the favorite colors thing because why not

Welcome to my incredibly detailed mind palace of Hobie's house boat that does even look anything like the actual concept art lol

Stay as long as you like. Take your shoes off, make yourself comfortable. Hobie's grilling out back and Diane's making the Kool-Aid (sweet as hell for no reason smh).

Now per usual, take this photo of Hobie, and if the police ask about a boat or sumn tell em u aint seen shit ok

Bye.

_______________________ OCs mentioned:

Disco-Spider Diane @mothmothmothmothmothmoth 's Sacha

@thewolfsoul 's Percy

@onmyownside1 's Angel

@spidey-bie 's Ansi

@suchholydebauchery 's Asa

anon's Alejandro

(i think that all I mentioned lol)

[slavghoul]

Interview from Upset Magazine 6/2023

Words: Steven Loftin

Like an apparition manifesting within a dense fog, it was through radio static that Swedish rockers Ghost were formed. In the kindergarten he attended as a young boy, Tobias Forge found himself enamoured with the music crackling through the little toy speakers. From this point forward, he began picking apart the notes and melodies - his journey toward the lore and canon coming into focus as he sat, trying to figure out how this black magic could be summoned.

While it would be many years before he would don his garb as Papa Emeritus, the essence of what his future would sound like was being set through his exposure to a wide variety of music. If any proof were needed, just look to the impressive list of covers Ghost have put their ghastly mark upon, including 2016's 'Popestar' EP, which included the band's takes on Echo & The Bunnymen ('Nocturnal Me') and Simian Mobile Disco ('I Believe').

Ghost's latest EP is another covers bonanza. A five-piece offering of Tobias's backstory, 'Phantomime' plays out like a Greatest Hits radio playlist - a fitting throwback to Tobias' first dalliances with music. Of course, when a group more aligned to the metal/hard rock community bust out covers, including Genesis and Tina Turner, eyebrows are raised. To this reaction, Tobias scoffs. "In 1991, Genesis was one of the biggest bands on the planet! That was a huge hit. In the mid-80s, when I had an older teenage brother who rented every VHS movie that came out, of course, we saw the fucking Thunderdome, and that was a huge hit, and it's still being played on Swedish radio. It's an evergreen; it's not an eclectic choice at all," he declares. "I grew up listening to Stranglers because my brother liked them. What else do we have, Iron Maiden - I mean, are you kidding? I'm a metalhead!"

Originally conceived during the sessions for their fifth album, last year's 'Impera', there were two folders on his computer's desktop: one named 'Impera', the other simply 'Covers'. As the ideas for 'Impera' grew, Tobias would enter his usual routine of working on a cover or two. "At any point, when you lose a little wind in writing your own things, it's quite nice to say, 'Today let's go in and work on the covers'; you can choose anything you want, you can work on absolutely anything you want. And you don't have to finish it, you don't have to release it, you don't have to do anything, but just continue working."

He likens it to the freedom of being a theatre owner who, instead of trying to pen the next greatest Broadway phenomenon, opts to have a go at something already timeless and perfected.

"Maybe you're like, 'Okay, so this fall we're just going to do a reinterpretation of Hamlet instead, that's going to be fine, and that keeps everyone working, and that keeps a project moving along! And I find a similar thing with working on covers. So as I was writing "Impera', the covers folder was also growing exponentially and at a point. I had this idea that was going to be a full-length album."

With COVID restrictions meaning the original producer for 'Impera' was stuck in the US, Tobias had to source a replacement. It would be Klas Åhlund who stepped up to the plate. But, on one condition. "He was pretty upfront. He was like. Yeah, I only want to make the record; I don't want to work on covers," Tobias remembers "Fine, fine, fine, that's fine." he shrugs. "So, after the 'Impera' recording was done, I felt as if making a completely different, whole record again: I didn't have time for that. I didn't have the energy for that. But once I trimmed down the number of songs to only these five to make a very rocky record, it loosened up the screws a little bit for me in terms of like, "Okay, so now I know what the EP is going to be - it's going to be a full, full-throttle rock one."

Ditching some rumoured softer covers, including U2, Misfits, and Motörhead. 'Phantomime is instead a delectable slice of Ghost doing what Ghost do best: creating theatrically big rock. It's Tobias's mark upon some bonafide classics, including Iron Maiden's 'Phantom of the Opera' which feels as befitting to Ghost as it does seeing Papa Emeritus kick the bucket ready for his next iteration. While the focus was on creating this small dose of Tobias's musical DNA, it also served another purpose; to simply be "not very complicated." The project began with the mindset of "we can make this recording loosely - quick but stress-free - as opposed to making a record which is your hard fifth record that needs to live up to certain standards. So it was just a very inspired, very simple recording, actually."

After the complexities of 'Impera' which wound up requiring two studios simultaneously running in parallel "to be able to work efficiently" - Ghost was morphing into a taxing experience for the band leader, "It was just a bigger thing [and] way more stressful."

Deciding to strip that covers folder down to the five tracks, by all accounts, 'Phantomime was a measured and reserved effort. "It ended up being me, an engineer, and an occasional musician coming in and doing something. It was so much looser, so much more mentally Feng Shui," he smiles, relief glowing in his voice. "And I think that that reflected a little bit on the two different records. They're meant to be related - they are definitely related - they were made roughly in the same time, but they're completely different things."

'Phantomime' plays out like a ghoulish social commentary. Starting with a searing rendition of Televison's 'See No Evil, the journey traverses the scourge of Televangelism (Genesis' Jesus He Knows Me') with a delightfully-fitting NSFW video, the instant gratification humans require to feel (The Stranglers' Hanging Around"); the pull back into cruel reality (Phantom Of The Opera"), and the resulting undying hope from a degraded society (Tina Turner's 'We Don't Need Another Hero"). Each offering is bolstered with Ghost's dramatic, theatric rock licks and Tobias's powerhouse vocals.

With 'Phantomime' in the bag and the European leg of the 'Impera' tour imminent (Tobias is currently holed up in preparation), the idea of reflecting on how he came to go from a young boy listening to the static sounds of pop hits on the radio to orchestrating not only a feverishly adored band and its lore but finding the capacity to embrace his inner music nerd, couldn't be more timely. Tobias's relationship with music has always been one of intrigue. He's a pop songwriter with the ambition and ideas of a stadium rock band, which, in essence, explains perfectly why Ghost can sit in a unique, exponentially growing and expanding space.

"My earliest inclination of wanting to transform into something else was definitely Twisted Sister," he recalls. "You know, "I Want To Rock' and 'We're Not Going To Take It' - that was a huge record in 1984, and in 1984, I was three years old," he says. "My brother was 16, so everything that was going on pop-culturally amongst teenagers was happening in my home."

It was thanks to his brother that much of Tobias's relationship with music was formed. He's introduced him to various giants of the time, like tectonic plates being pushed around, impacting and shaping his musical landscape. Translating for young Tobias the attitude of punk at the time, as well as everything else that was 'in', he remembers, "When I was a kid, and he was supposed to babysit me, as a pacifier he would put me in front of [Sex Pistols mockumentary film] 'The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle"," he laughs. "And then when that was over, he would just switch to [X-rated cartoon] Fritz the Cat. And I loved that stuff, of course. That was as much [about] the expression and the attitude. Of course, I loved the songs, but it was also filtered or combined with big songs for me." Those big songs ("Men At Work 'Down Under'," he initially cites, "those sort of songs still have a unique place in my in my writing") would eventually entwine with his darker side that he'd explore as he grew older. "Whilst my whole adolescence was completely in the name of extreme metal, I always had a very soft spot for Top 40 rock and pop radio always," Tobias explains. "And I've listened to that all my life. So it's almost equal portions of Venom as it is anything. that was on the radio."

Also, witnessing shock and glam-rock bands explode intrigued Tobias. He became swept away in the idea that not only could you push a boundary to its absolute limits with convictions and over-the-top grandiosity, but you could do so with songs that quantifiably bop. But, as time has gone onto prove, it wasn't pop music that enamoured Tobias enough that he wanted to become a pop star. It's the mythology and mystery that has become his calling card.

Tobias remained an enigma under the disguise of an evolving form of the iconic Papa Emeritus (now in his fourth incarnation) until 2017, after a lawsuit from a previous iteration of his backing band's rotating cast, the Nameless Ghouls. Visual and video components to releases are often hoovered up by the fandom, stripped apart for meaning and potential. Instagram posts are referred to as a '[Message From The Clergy]" (a phrase later claimed for 2022's Best Of playlist), and lest it is forgotten, the Ghost 'Grucifix' - the prominent crucifix deconstructed into Tobias's gothic 'G' logo - which ties together the vision, religious imagery and satire that would become a core part of the Ghost experience.

His musical ambition and education colliding in the middle of his Venn diagram between dark metal and pop magic is thanks to the likes of the aforementioned Twisted Sister and W.A.S.P., as well as his teen years in the black metal community. "Their first record was also a huge impact in Swedish media," Tobias remembers. "There was this big sort of Satanic panic thing going on at the time in the fall of 1984. Where you had essentially all those things happening. You had Mötley Crüe 'Shout At The Devil', which came out a year earlier, and they were there because they toured with Iron Maiden in 1984, so there was a lot of focus on these shock-rock bands. I saw that as a kid, and I was immediately blown away - it was the coolest thing I've ever seen. And I think that that was the trigger that made me identify as that is how I want to express myself."

Decoding the songs he'd hear also became an integral part of that expression. "That was the only thing I did for years before I started writing my own songs." Recalling his time in kindergarten, they had a piano and guitar, which Tobias became infatuated with. Instead of playing with the other children, he would find himself enraptured, listening to the radio or flipping over whichever cassette happened to be loaded at the time. He would then imitate the sounds he was soaking up. "A lot of those early beginnings of how to learn and how I've learned how to understand music filters through everything I do now," he explains.

The early records he'd find himself trying to unpack included KISS 'Alive' and Pink Floyd's 'Piper At The Gates Of Dawn' - disparate matches, but undoubtedly Ghost fuel with hard rock melodies and psychedelic tendencies. "I had the first and the second Pink Floyd on a double LP that was called 'A Nice Pair'. And that's the shit that I sat and listened to and played guitar to," he says proudly. "That's weird music, that's really weird chord sequences and melodies that sort of went nowhere. And, that coloured me a lot in my vision of this is how you write a pop song. Of course, I knew more conventional writing as well. But I figured that this resonates with me, and I want to write more like that."

Tobias is the first to admit that the influence his musical exposure has had on him isn't the most straightforward. "For all the years that I was in bands, up until Ghost, basically when I was in bands not doing well, I got a lot of, I wouldn't say stick, but it was always like, 'You write weird songs, there's something weird about them, and it will never really become anything because it has that sort of weirdness to it".

As he grew, the songs he'd heard reflected this inherent strangeness he'd constructed. Before the days of mass formulaic pop factories, the music emanating from the radio abided by the strictest rule of needing to at least be approachable, but within these confines, artists of the 70s and 80s would push the envelope as far as they could. Citing Nik Kershaw's 'The Riddle' as one example, "Holy shit, if you would have taken that song and taken it to a chord structure masterclass amongst pop writers now who want to write songs for Miley Cyrus or The Weeknd or any of that sort of level they would say, no, no, no, no, that this will never work. It's too strange. It's too weird. You can't do that; it doesn't have the normal chord progression.

"There are a lot of songs from the 80s that are like that," he reckons, "compared to the now, more informative way of writing, the 80s was braver actually, and it worked well. And those songs are evergreens in a way that a lot of the top radio shit from seven years ago is forgotten, and that's the stuff that I grew up with when I started playing the guitar."

Having made that inner sanctum, he would enter kindergarten a reality, one where he can explore those recesses of his mind shaken by the musical earthquakes he experienced; now, he's matured and deeply entrenched in the reality. "Throughout the modern day of pop writing, I know a few professional pop songwriters, and we continue having these conversations because in pop," he says, "where some of them work prolifically on really high releases, they're like, it's strange how the business wants everything to be so informative. Everybody wants a weird song, but still, all the big songs are usually very, very formatted [and] very, very simple."

While unpacking the songs he'd heard back in the 80s offered Tobias a chance to comprehend what makes a good song, it, more importantly, helped him to set out doing it on his own. When digging into crafting a new Ghost number, Tobias explains that "each new song is a little bit like virgin territory with its own riddle to be solved, and is always a combination of the horror of maybe not solving the puzzle, with the thrill when you do. And it's never easy because each new song needs something new. And so you constantly need to feed your ability with knowledge about how other things are."

Breaking it down into a figurative example, he likens it to being like a detective. "I'm assuming that part of being a great detective is to constantly have an open mind, but also constantly learning about human behaviour and wha people do. If you just had 100 forensic classes, but you know nothing about people and how they live their lives, it's gonna be hard to solve crimes." The same rings true for writers who have to read to improve and further understand language, while comedians pull from real-life experiences - music is no different. Tobias's early days of stripping down songs to their basic parts and then rebuilding them have remained a constant endeavour. "But that's how you write songs as well; you go and absorb new things."

The covers process, as mentioned, is a release for Tobias. When things are stuck when trying to piece together a new chapter for the Ghost bible, a cover offers up a chance for something lighter. "Working on covers can be equally euphoric," he confirms, "because it's fun to understand a song whereas, on the other hand, it can be almost demoralising because you're like, I can't believe that this song is so much better than anything that I've written! And it's so much easier. It's so simple."

"I find myself overcomplicating things often, but you might not hear the complicated detour that I took to end up at the more understandable, straighter version that ended up being the actual recording," he continues. "That's a never-ending struggle because that's how it's supposed to be. It's not like you write the one song. I don't think I know anyone or know of anyone who's content with the idea of having written one huge song. And then you know, okay, that's nirvana for you. You don't write the one song the same way that if you're a comedian, it's not like, 'Oh, I just told the funniest joke. So now I'm done".

While Tobias is one for wanting to keep the ball rolling and on a constant endeavour to continue his musical evolution, he knows there's a limit. Every release of Ghost must have a purpose. Nodding to the 60s method of firing singles out on all fronts, eventually compiling them for a full-length release, Tobias acknowledges his relationship with his fans is based on a more long-term understanding. "That's not how we do things; we make an album, and off of that album, there are singles - it's a 70s/80s thinking. And I don't want to refrain from that - I don't want too many singles to be these autonomous little creatures."

But the world is different now. It's a Wild West where being in the masses' consciousness is key, so things may have to change for him. Admitting that right now, he knows he's post-release of Ghost's last canon entry, 'Impera', which arrived back in 2022, and while 'Phantomime' is a reasonable enough bridge, sooner or later, he's going to have to play the game of ensuring Ghost ramp up. Earlier this year, Ghost collaborated with Def Leppard's Joe Elliott on a re-release of 'Impera' cut 'Spillways' which, while a fantastic addition to their arsenal, adds to the same notion Tobias is fearful of. "I'm slowly preparing for making a new record that's going to come out in 2024, which is way too long for the current contemporary music climate; you need to be ever-present," the last phrase hanging in the air ominously.

That doesn't mean he has to lower his standards, however. No Ghost release will exist just for content's sake. Everything must have its place. He even reckons a 14-track album is "a lot of music", and he still sees an album as being "22 minutes of music per side" - true to form, currently, no standard issue of any Ghost album breaches 12 tracks. He's even ready to aim for the likes of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles by swiftly lobbing a couple of spicy takes out. "Look, man, I don't even think that 'Exile on Main Street' is that good. Not even the fucking White album is that great - break it up! Both of those records would have been better if they were trimmed down to singular records."

That pop mind breaking through; Tobias is someone who knows that music is entertainment. Certainly, a medium which often leads to more bulky connotations, but it must entertain. It's why he doesn't pay any mind to those naysayers that yearn for Ghost to be more metal or to follow a different path. This is Tobias's game; we're just privy to the sermon. These days the floodgates are open and, when compared to previous decades, as Tobias remembers it, "you had to buy your own records. Whatever additional music you got, that wasn't maybe heard on the TV or the radio, when you took something from someone else, was usually a choice, so music styles could in some way be a little bit more insular back then just because you weren't subjected to as much." He mentions his beloved death metal as being a signifier of the changes happening. "Back in the day, when I was starting listening to extreme metal, that was completely embraced by a certain little subculture or group of mostly teenagers and 20-somethings. Whereas in the 2000s, when Vice started doing black metal reporting, all of a sudden you have indie personalities who were fans of Darkthrone, and so, obviously, what ended up that turned into this fusion, which was a positive and very natural thing."

This cultural shift is another reason Ghost's space is widening and its success growing. "Nowadays, people are a little bit more open," he admits. But, with this comes issues. "As time has progressed, metal and hard rock, as well as most genres that have been around for a while, [they've] gone from this youth culture to a conservative institution because so many of the fans are now aged." The passage of time waits for no one. But, more presciently for culture, it also means our understanding of what is 'good' and what should be where is moulded differently to when we were younger. "Unfortunately, that happens to most people regardless of who you were when you were 20," Tobias reckons, "or your ideals when you're like 40/50/60 years old. Your brain starts morphing into a slightly more conservative, slightly more nostalgic... You don't want things to change."

Tobias is the first to hold his hands up and admit the same has happened to him. He yearns for 1984 and even 1990-94. He would even be happy with 1987, back to those days with the crackling radio and a childlike spirit. "That would be so much cooler. I loved that way more than in this day and age. But I can't sit around and mope about that because it's not a problem that it's not 1987."

'Phantomime' is proof nostalgia can be a useful tool. It fuels with passion, and Ghost is Tobias's Neverland. "There's such a debate about what we are and why that is." Ghost are a band that, thanks to Tobias's musical education, transcend time. They exist on their own plain and with the evergreen, timeless sounds of yesteryear echoing around Tobias's head, long may Papa reign with his gloved melodic iron fist.

[ladycharles]

Oh Boy track by track part 2 - Hands (Hamlet context dump incoming)

"Oh Boy" the play is a twisted disco version of Hamlet that unfolds in small town Ontario, and so "Hands" is a track that is about my impression of Claudius, in this case renamed Colonel Uncle Arvin by Kosta, the playwright.

Arvin/Claudius is portrayed as a military man, his kingdom a disco bar (Colonel Uncle Arvin's Family Style Restaurant and Dancehall) in small town Ontario rather than all of Denmark. He is deeply inhibited, brutish, scheming, and prone to emotional outbursts that he barely masks with a deep cynicism.

This song was composed for his entrance - a dance solo. He is a limbering, awkwardly masculine dancer and so I wanted the track to feature an uneven rhythm despite the rigid 4/4 of disco - hence the chorus bassline actually comes in before the drums instead of being locked in, creating a sense of pulling against the beat as if to wrest control of the rhythm like the feelings of anger and anxiety driving him.

And so the lyrics too follow the theme of his internal conflict. I know anxiety and panic, and the song recounts the feelings of being controlled by anxiety, the "commotion" being the loss of control of a meltdown or panic attack.

Men like Arvin do not wear their emotions on their sleeve, so I couldn't make it direct. Instead I tried to write as the older, more inhibited generations do - using poetic language to obscure the meaning. This is the realm of "feeling like a shadow/drifting like a leaf*" not "I spend my waking hours haunting my own life/I made the one I love start crying tonight**"

The track was mixed and edited by Mark Plati, who produced David Bowie's Earthling and Toy albums and who I actually saw play guitar for him when I was 13 and had the luck of seeing Bowie in Toronto. He is an incredibly talented musical mind and much like Erin Tonkon did to my other tracks he worked some magic to where it really came alive compares to my rough mix. It's amazing being able to have these experienced and brilliant hands on deck, and I learned a lot from both of them.

An example of Plati's work with Bowie - check out the explosion of the chorus, what a dynamic track. Loved this one in my youth.

*Move On - Bowie

**Spiteful Intervention - of Montreal

[gravityismyarchnemesis]

spotlight on hamlet: to be or not to be that is the question

spotlight turns off

faint music is heard in the distance as lights are seen flashing in hamlet’s window

cuts to hamlet face down on the ground, led lights in his room set to disco caramelldancen blasting through the room

[notasfilosoficas]

“Nadie nos advirtió que extrañar es el costo que tienen los buenos momentos”

Mario Benedetti 

Fue un escritor, poeta, dramaturgo y periodista uruguayo, nacido en Paso de los Toros en mayo de 1920.

Fue hijo de Brenno Benedetti y Matilde Farrugia, quienes lo bautizaron con el nombre de Mario Orlando Hardy Hamlet Brenno Benedetti Farrugia.

Vivió en Paso de los Toros los primeros tres años de su vida, y cambió de residencia a Tacuarembó por asuntos de negocios de su familia.

Estudió de manera incompleta hasta la secundaria en 1935 en donde abandonó la misma por problemas económicos, continuando de manera libre.

A los 14 años trabajó en una empresa de repuestos para automóviles, y posteriormente se desempeñó en múltiples oficios para ganarse la vida.

En 1946, se casó con Luz Lopez Alegre, con quien permanecería casado hasta el fallecimiento de ella en el 2006.

En 1944, dirigió una revista literaria y publicó un libro de ensayos integrados. En 1945 se unió al equipo de redacción de un semanario en dónde permaneció hasta 1974, año en que fue clausurado por el gobierno de Juan María Bordaberry quien fuera presidente constitucional de 1972 a 1973 y dictador de 1973 a 1976.

A partir de 1950, se convirtió en uno de los miembros del consejo de redacción de una de las revistas mas destacadas de la época, y en 1964 trabajó como crítico de teatro, y en una pagina literaria semanal de un diario.

Por su posición política y tras el golpe de estado de 1973, Benedetti abandonó Uruguay exiliándose en Buenos Aires Argentina y posteriormente a Perú en donde fue detenido, deportado y amnistiado para luego instalarse en Cuba de agosto de 1975 a fines de 1979. Un año después residió en Madrid España y posteriormente en la Isla de Mallorca.

Es durante su exilio que publica dos de sus mejores poemarios; Poemas de Otros en 1974 y La casa de ladrillo en 1977, ese mismo año, publica una de sus novelas más conocidas; Primavera con una esquina rota.

En 1985, Benedetti regresa a Uruguay, en donde es nombrado miembro del consejo editor de un nuevo semanario dando continuidad al proyecto interrumpido en 1974.

A lo largo de su vida Benedetti recibió múltiples reconocimientos y distinciones, incluyendo un doctorado Honoris Causa por la Universidad de Alicante.

Su extensa obra abarcó géneros narrativos, dramáticos y poéticos. Fue autor de ensayos y el Cantante Joan Manuel Serrat musicalizó varios de sus poemas en el disco “El sur también existe”.

Mario Benedetti fallece en mayo de 2009 en su casa de Montevideo a los 88 años de edad. Fue sepultado en el panteón Nacional de Montevideo reuniendo a cientos de ciudadanos, personalidades y amigos del escritor.

Fuente Wikipedia.

[the-star-rigel]

something in the static by @bonerot19

on the American tragedy, rivers, parents that loved you up until the time they couldn’t save you, friendship, Hamlet, the seemingly unending darkness at the end of the tunnel and then, nevertheless, the light.

nodus tollens definition, Eunoia / Sisyphus, Andrew Bird / THE NIGHT BEFORE I LEAVE HOME, Elisa Gonzalez / After the Movie, Marie Howe + Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan, Ilya Repin / The Great Gatsby, Francis Scott Fitzgerald / Grief Lessons: Four Plays by Euripides, Anne Carson + Van Gogh Never Watched The World Burn, Aja Trier / A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara / @/bitsbyt3s on Twitter / An American Tragedy (1931) movie poster / Rivers, Nicolás Guilén + Ophelia, John Everett Millais / Funeral for Unreturned Ashes, Travis Chi Wing Lau / Homesick, Noah Kahan / “The world is a beautiful place,” Lawrence Ferlinghetti + Hamlet’s ‘Antic Disposition’, Reviews Rangs and Rambles / The Holdovers (2023) / Nothing Changes, Hadestown / Another Day, @/lesley-oldaker on devianart / Some days of wine and pastry, Samiya Bashir / First Light Last, Paul Mariani / Poster by Despair, Inc. / My Own Private Idaho, @bellamysgriffin / Disco Elysium / @catadromously / Dead Stars, Ada Limón + phot from pexels by cottonbro studio / The View Between Villages (Extended Version), Noah Kahan /@catadromously / An Incomplete List Of Platonic Soulmates, Molly Burford / énouement definition, eunoia

[horatiompreg]

I hope I get more hamlet friends so I can start yammering about the backstory I made up for horatio by psychoanalysing the 2 whole lines he gets in the play (and stealing writing from hit game disco elysium) and also his relation to the ghost

[independentartistbuzz]

Lady Charles Explores New Heights with "Oh Boy!" Soundtrack

Lady Charles latest release "Oh Boy!" is a disco driven soundtrack. As the first theatrical soundtrack that they have composed, the project is a bold venture into new territory, yet it feels entirely natural.

Set against the backdrop of a twisted, humorous adaptation of Hamlet, "Oh Boy!" immerses the listener in a vibrant world where 70's disco grooves meets modern indie rock and electronica.

From the exhilarating title track "Oh Boy!" to the funky pulse of "Goncharov" and the high-energy "Hands," Lady Charles manages to capture the play’s chaotic blend of rebellion, identity, and youthful angst.

Speaking about the significance of the project, Lady Charles shares:

“Oh Boy! is a very special record for me, because I have always wanted to make music for theatre and cinema. I love the synergy of different art forms, and the challenge of being creative while working in service of a narrative. It's the first soundtrack I composed, and it gave me the opportunity to explore disco both for pop song structure and instrumental score."

This passion is evident in every track, with the album acting as both a standalone work of art and an integral part of the play.

One of the standout aspects of Oh Boy! is how Lady Charles brings such an eclectic mix of sounds into a cohesive whole.

Tracks like "Cherry Chapstick" tell captivating stories through infectious pop melodies. "Child of the Night" introduces a powerful fusion of indie rock and disco that feels both cinematic and anthemic.

Disco, as a genre, became a surprising creative catalyst for Lady Charles:

“I wasn’t expecting a genre that someone else picked to bring out such extremes in my work,” they noted. “It felt like such a natural, personal statement - I think I managed to find myself in the disco heat and make a worthy sequel to Manic Pixie Dream World.”

In a time dominated by single releases, they have created "Oh Boy!" as a complete journey with the album shifting from manic disco beats to dreamy ambient stretches, constantly evolving while maintaining a unified aesthetic.

This approach makes it an engaging listen, where dramatic highs meet reflective lows in a way that mirrors the emotional complexity of adolescence.

Working with esteemed engineers Erin Tonkon and Mark Plati further brings the project to new heights.

Their collaboration brought out the best in Lady Charles’s voice and musical arrangements, which results in an adventurous sound.

Overall, "Oh Boy!" is a creative fusion of theater and music that allows Lady Charles to explore new sounds, share personal truths, and create an album that feels larger than life.

Stay current with Lady Charles here:

Website / Facebook / Instagram / Spotify / Soundcloud / YouTube Music

[revacholianpizzaagenda]

Okay sorry I told myself the nerd slapfights do not matter, if the professional translation skipped a one-off mention of a new nation it doesn't really matter, if instead of a Seraise swordsman it says seraphim's ensign it doesn't really matter, if it doesn't align with the Hamlet quote the Dros quote the Luiga quote the Measurehead deep lore it doesn't really matter, if it calls the ICP the CoPo the discerning Disco fan can sort it out from context etc etc etc. Nerd slapfights. Nothing but respect for a professional translator who self-evidently was handed this cactus of a text without the means to know or check anything about Elysium and did what they could on that front, and many great things otherwise.

But what's clawing at Nilsen, what's at the core of his conflict, is that the communists were prey. Not "beasts" like that translation says. The point is they were slaughtered. When Zigi gets beaten up, he's prey, he's a victim who can't fight back. Nilsen slaughtered thousands in turn to fight back. A weapon of mass destruction would be terrible but hey at least they would not be prey anymore.

That's game, hunted animal.

Translating it as beast would work in other contexts but here it thoroughly changes the meaning. "Beautiful beast, communism loves you" means a very different thing; "[too bad about the WMD] and at least this way we are no longer beasts" just doesn't connect.

All this to say, just a heads up that that's not what the text is saying, in a rather central aspect of its whole rather central discourse on the slide from communism to nihilism.

[insanepoll]

WELCOME TO THE INSANE CHARACTER TOURNAMENT

Here's where your favourite insane characters will battle to the death for the first spot! More below the "keep reading" line.

Pre-match rounds start April 12th at 1PM (EDT)! Each round will have 24h to vote. For propaganda, you can go ahead and submit it in the askbox or through normal submissions. If you want to post your own propaganda, be sure to tag me so I can reblog it! I hope to see y'all there!!!

Round 1-A matches:

Alex Kralie (Marble Hornets) VS The Antagonist (Hatred (2015))

Drusilla (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) VS Hisoka (Hunter x Hunter)

Tokishige Usami (Golden Kamuy) VS Enerjak (Sonic the Hedgehog)

Harry Du Bois (Disco Elysium) VS Evan (EverymanHYBRID)

Azula (ATLA) VS Knock Knock (Phantom Spirits (2002))

Eric Cartman (South Park) VS Wade Wilson / Deadpool (Marvel)

Orochimaru (Naruto) VS WINNER PRE-MATCH I

Sasuke Uchiha (Naruto Shippuden) VS Delirium (Sandman)

Castiel (Supernatural) VS Simon Keyes (Ace Attorney Investigations 2)

Opal Koboi (Artemis Fowl) VS Bibble (Barbie Fairytopia)

Hamlet (The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark) VS The Observer (TribeTwelve)

Misty Quigley (Yellowjackets) VS Lestat de Lioncourt (Interview with the Vampire)

Will Graham (NBC Hannibal) VS Shou Tucker (FMA)

Ophelia (The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark) VS Starscream (Transformers)

Bill Cipher (Gravity Falls) VS WINNER PRE-MATCH II

The Narrator (Fight Club) VS Gamzee Makara (Homestuck)

Round 1-B matches:

Dabi (My Hero Academia) VS Shinobu Sensui (Yu Yu Hakusho)

The entire cast of Blaseball (Blaseball) VS Trexel Geistman (Stellar Firma)

Seo Moon-jo (Strangers from Hell) VS Sammy Lawrence (Bendy and the Ink Machine)

Sebastian Morgenstern (The Shadowhunter Chronicles) VS GIR (Invader Zim)

Aerion Targaryen (A Song of Ice and Fire) VS Lucille Bluth (Arrested Development)

Dottore (Genshin Impact) VS Helena (Orphan Black)

GLaDOS (Portal (Game Series)) VS WINNER PRE-MATCH III

Dr. Franken Stein (Soul Eater) VS Tyrian Callows (RWBY)

Samarie (Fear and Hunger 2: Termina) VS Mahito (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Cersei Lannister (A Song of Ice and Fire) VS Lee Dongsik (Beyond Evil)

Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader (Star Wars) VS Rebecca Bunch (Crazy Ex-girlfriend)

John Kramer (Saw) VS The Mad Hatter (Alice in Wonderland)

Light Yagami (Death Note) VS Komaeda Nagito (Danganronpa 2)

The Master (Doctor Who) VS Simon Laurent (Infinity Train)

Gollum (Lord of the Rings) VS WINNER PRE-MATCH IV

Roman Roy (Succession) VS Jack (The Shining)

Round 1-C matches:

Jinx (Arcane) VS Niki Sanders / Jessica Sanders (Heroes)

Micolash, Host of the Nightmare (Bloodborne) VS Professor Henry Hidgens (Hatchetfield)

Victor Frankenstein (Frankenstein) VS Cicero (Skyrim)

Renfield (Dracula) VS Dr. Gregory House (House MD)

Tim Drake (DC) VS Ultra Violet (Lego Ninjago)

Donatello Hamato (ROTTMNT) VS Spamton G. Spamton (Deltarune)

The Ice King (Adventure Time) VS WINNER PRE-MATCH V

Villanelle (Killing Eve) VS Kira Yoshikage (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure)

Max (Sam and Max) VS Loki (The Mechanisms)

Darcy (Amphibia) VS Cheryl Tunt (Archer)

Harrowhark Nonagesimus (The Locked Tomb) VS Dr. Baxter Stockman (TMNT 2003)

Izzy (Total Drama) VS Alfred Drevis (Mad Father)

Michael Distortion (The Magnus Archives) VS Vegas Theerapanyakul (Kinnporsche)

Doomguy (Doom) VS Gabriel Agreste (Miraculous)

Ben Chang (Community) VS WINNER PRE-MATCH VI

Fëanor (The Silmarillion) VS Ryuki (AI: The Somnium Files)

Round 1-D matches:

Eliot Cardale / Eli Ever (Villains Duology) VS Knives Millions (Trigun)

Denji (Chainsaw Man) VS Bubby (Half Life: VR but the AI is Self Aware)

Tsukishima Hajime (Golden Kamuy) VS Alucard (Hellsing Ultimate)

Hannibal Lecter (NBC Hannibal) VS Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights)

Johnny C. (Johnny The Homicidal Maniac) VS Leopold Fitz (Marvel)

Midori (Your Turn To Die) VS Ken Kaneki (Tokyo Ghoul)

Pugsley Addams (The Addams Family) VS WINNER PRE-MATCH VII

Billy Lenz (Black Christmas (1974)) VS Grell Sutcliff (Black Butler)

Goro Akechi (Persona 5) VS Fintan Pyren (Keeper of the Lost Cities)

Galahad (The Mechanisms) VS Alexander Hilbert (Wolf 359)

Armand (Interview with the Vampire) VS Spinel (Steven Universe)

Jīn Guāngyáo (Mo Dao Zu Shi (The Untamed)) VS Himiko Toga (My Hero Academia)

Morgana Pendragon (BBC Merlin) VS Nikolai Gogol (Bungo Stray Dogs)

Harley Quinn (DC) VS Xue Yang (Mo Dao Zu Shi (The Untamed))

Eren Jaeger (Attack on Titan) VS WINNER PRE-MATCH VIII

Chat Blanc (Miraculous) VS Volo (Pokemon Legends Arceus)

But first, we'll have the pre-match rounds that will determine if any of the following characters that almost didn't survive the cut will manage to secure a spot in the competition! They are as follows:

PRE-MATCH I: Caleb (Blood (1997)) VS Tuco Salamanca (Better Call Saul)

PRE-MATCH II: Pinkie Pie (My Little Pony) VS Amy Kirio (Mairimashita! Iruma-kun)

PRE-MATCH III: Magic Man (Adventure Time) VS Mindbender (GI Joe Renegades)

PRE-MATCH IV: Jevil (Deltarune) VS Midari Ikishima (Kakegurui)

PRE-MATCH V: Dennis Reynolds (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) VS Eddie Gluskin (Outlast)

PRE-MATCH VI: Vanilla Ice (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure) VS Roberto (Futurama)

PRE-MATCH VII: Jonathan Crane / The Scarecrow (DC) VS Annie Wilkes (Misery)

PRE-MATCH VIII: Ben Linus (Lost) VS Kristoph Gavin (Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney)