#do wish its satire was a little more fully realized

[of-fear-and-love]

Rock Hudson in Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971)

[crionic-soc]

I've spent the last year and a half kicking myself for choosing terror management theory as a framework to analyze popular diet culture, not because it doesn't work (I think it does), but because it applies so well to our current political situation that I can't sleep at night.

It's hard to stay narrowly focused on nutrition and related stuff when larger themes of neoreactionary thought and autocracy and the dismantling of democratic institutions keep intruding, over and over. It's hard to ignore the obvious immortality project staring me in the face.

[...]

I first made the connection between social hierarchy, health, and the fear of death many years ago, as a teenager, but it became really explicit to me in online arguments about body weight and health just a few years back. It was so obvious that people constructed hierarchies of "better" and "worse" people (along lines of body weight, presumed lifestyle choices, and other health indices) as a way of convincing themselves that they wouldn't ever do something as gauche as GET SICK AND DIE. A lot of this came from various alt-right types and corners.

I remember one of my twitter friends responding in the most perfect way ever to these attempts at bullying with "That's right, in this land of immortal highlanders only the weak die," or something like that. It cracked me the hell up, but it also pointed to something crucial which is a theme running through alt-right and neoreactionary ideas, a sort of ubermensch or superhuman ideal, but in the updated format of transhumanism or the technological singularity. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, it's okay, I kind of wish I didn't.)

[...]

I didn't make the connection between what I was studying/experiencing (people using body size and health to form social hierarchies that allow them to suppress the fear of death) and the weird stuff I'd run into online by accident (neoreactionary philosophy, alt right) until 2016

I had understood that there was some serious social Darwinist thinking at work underlying all forms of hierarchy and oppression, and that this was the alt right's "we hate everybody (except cishet white men) equally" stock-in-trade, but that was about all I had pieced together.

It didn't fully click until 2016, as I was taking notes on Ernest Becker's writings, watching the US election unfold, that neoreactionary, anti-democratic thought as a whole is a massive immortality project, and THIS is what it has in common w/ my topics (fat stigma,diet culture)

[...]

Whenever I say "immortality project" everyone's eyes glaze over, so let me explain a little - you could say immortality projects are humans' attempts to "leave a legacy" that endures when they are gone, or belief systems that offer the possibility of an afterlife in some form.

Becker, I guess, states that all cultural production and norms and technologies and institutions are immortality projects, because they are objects, or even ways of doing things, that get passed down from one generation to the next, that endure beyond a single human's lifespan.

The immortality projects that fascinate me, however, are the ones that create systems of inequality, and use the strategic oppression and marginalization of a group of people as the foundation upon which those who think of themselves as superior can stand and reach for eternity.

[...]

[T]his morning after I woke up from a night of twilight sleep where my brain kept gnawing on neoreactionary thought/Moldbug/Land/Thiel/Bannon/Dugin like a cud, I sat down in my thinking chair and noticed the index card sitting next to me on my bookshelf.

It says, "The gauge of a truly free society would be the extent to which it admitted its own central fear of death and questioned its system of heroic transcendence--and this is precisely what democracy is doing much of the time... The free flow of criticism, satire, art, and science is a continuous attack on the culture fiction--which is why totalitarians from Plato to Mao have to control these things, as has long been known." (Becker, Escape from Evil, p. 167)

It grabbed me is because I woke up troubled by one question: Why, in a supposedly egalitarian democratic society that is quite hierarchical and unequal, would those resting near the very top of the hierarchy (largely white, male technophiles) be the ones clamoring for more?

Why are the Thiels of the world, for one e.g., obsessed with upending the (barely functioning) democratic institutions that extend to the rest of us a tiny, imperfect modicum of liberty in favour of an explicitly autocratic vision that would have us be serfs and slaves?

Like WHY do the people who have EVERYTHING in the current system, WHY must their shitty futuristic fantasy influence an election, when there are tons of people who have more ethically defensible visions of a future with expanded rights and equality for all people?

Why do the people who have it all, who live on the bleeding edge of technological advancement, contribute in massively influential ways to our culture, who are massively financially rewarded, NEED EVEN MORE? To the point of doing away w/ enlightenment ideals and democracy itself?

It seemed impossible to understand, and then my index card reminded me: because when you can't navigate your fear of death, can't even SEE it, nothing is ever enough. You can reach the top of the existing hierarchy and at the end of it, you're still human, still going to die.

Thiel is terrified of dying, openly invests in technologies that offer immortality. The neoreactionary platform has several literal immortality mechanisms baked in: futuristic AI, the technological singularity, transhumanism. It's The Highlander all over again. Nerds.

But the current system doesn't offer as direct a path as they would like to this glorious, immortal future--even though it's the one the rest of us need (and need to fight tooth and nail to expand, given how un-egalitarian it actually is) in order to have any rights at all.

They've climbed to the top of the shitty hierarchy we currently have, that is at least democratic in name, and now demand an even less democratic, more hierarchical system. Because even though they have every systemic advantage a human can have, they're still not quite immortal.

The antidote to this is MORE democracy and egalitarianism, not less, and the hierarchical structure of our current system is what enabled these people to climb to the top and ram through their vision of an even less equal future, while others fought and died to have basic rights.

If you give people a ladder to climb to be nearer the gods, they will climb up it, realize the gods are still not near enough, then set the thing on fire until it consumes them like a pyre. This wouldn't be too much of a problem, except usually the ladder is made of other people.

I don't believe in immortality, and I don't consent to being a burnt offering. That's all.

- a transcribed Twitter thread by Michelle Allison (@fatnutritionist)

[littlemisssquiggles]

Pinehead Headcanons: Oscar the Boy in the Lonely Tower

captain-strawberrytrash replied to your post “Tia squiggles, what do you think about the Little Prince vs Dorothy...”

Hey I’m looking into the 14 Oz books right now and are we going to talk about I how Princess Ozma and Dorothy are blatantly in a Boston marriage with each other ��☺️

Squiggles Answers:

@captain-strawberrytrash

Admittedly, I actually had to look up the definition of Boston marriage. According to Wiki, a Boston marriage is described as a relationship between two women that may involve both physical and emotional intimacy.

Well, I’m not sure about the ‘physical intimacy’ but from what I know of the relationship between Princess Ozma and Dorothy Gale, they were both each other’s closest confidant. This is why I’ve been gunning for that development to be carried over into the Rosegardening Rosebuds friendship.

While I’m unsure if romance is in the cards for Ruby and Oscar (although I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t really hoping for that), one thing I’m looking forward to seeing going into the Atlas Trilogy is watching Ruby and Oscar continue to grow as close friends. I feel as if the series has been taking its sweet time to unsubtly build up these two as becoming close and very important to one another. It is also my assumption that V7 will provide the audience with more opportunities to see Ruby and Oscar develop as each other’s support.

If the theories about Ruby drawing influence from Dorothy Gale while Oscar is RWBY’s version of Princess Ozma are true then I think us Rosegardeners are in for a beautiful bond blossoming between these two young huntsmen. Ozma and Dorothy were very important to each other and I can’t wait to see that dynamic mirrored in our smaller, more honest souls.

This is especially why I’m curious to see the direction a potential Dark Domain Arc will take. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there are two ways the CRWBY Writers can take a Dark Domain standalone season that would fit perfectly since it draws reference from the source material.

If the CRWBY Writers decide to have Oscar kidnapped alone with Salem imprisoning him inside a lonely tower in the Dark Domain with Ruby daringly volunteering to lead a search party across the Dark Domain to save him then a season like that can work swimmingly since in the Lost Princess of Oz story, Princess Ozma was kidnapped and it was her best friend Dorothy who led a search party in order to rescue her.

But on the flipside, if the CRWBY Writers decide to have both Ruby and Oscar kidnapped and taken to Salem only to escape and be forced to survive the Dark World on their own then that could also work as its own season since in Glinda of Oz, both Dorothy and Princess Ozma were captured together by the wicked Queen Coo-ee-oh.

Although this squiggle meister has been vouching for a Dark Domain Arc with just the Rosebuds since V5, I feel like Oscar becoming a prisoner of Salem is more likely to happen given its stronger parallels to the Lost Fable.

As much as it would sadden me to watch Oscar be demoted to the role of dude in distress for a season, I do however love the satire of Salem imprisoning Oscar---essentially Ozma. After all, in the Lost Fable, Salem was locked away in her lonely tower by her cruel father and Ozma was the champion who saved her. Oh how the tables would turn when it’s actually Salem, the former captive to be the one to imprison her former champion in his current new life.

When I paint it like that, this really makes me love the whole Oscar the Boy in the Lonely Tower Pinehead headcanon of mine. If you wish to read more on that theory, check out my RWBY Musing #69 and #70. Besides, if Oscar is imprisoned, I feel like this could provide our precious freckled farm boy with the golden opportunity for him to start mastering control of his magic. Picture…Oscar going through a Toph Beifong moment where he learns to gain full mastery of his magical abilities while in captivity.

Plus I admittedly really dig the idea of Ruby becoming Oscar’s champion and being the caped crusader daring the battle the dangers of the Dark Domain to rescue her stolen prince. Just like Ozma.

But…y’know, that’s only one way to look at it.

We all saw Salem create her flying Beringels at the end of V6. We know there is a definite chance she could be sending those beasts to kidnap Oscar due to his status as Ozma’s current vessel.

So we know Oscar has a target on his back at the moment. However there is also the chance that the Beringels may kidnap Ruby too. After all, in the original Wizard of Oz tale, the Wicked Witch of the West sent her flying monkeys to kidnap Dorothy. It is my opinion that Ruby and Oscar both share inspiration from Dorothy Gale indicating the possibility of them both being kidnapped.

Not to mention that let’s not forget that Salem targeted Ruby since V4. My money is mostly banking on the idea of both Ruby and Oscar will be captured together and taken to Salem at some point during the Fall of Atlas. I still stand by my theory that Atlas will be another kingdom to be conquered by Salem and her forces.

My theory is that Atlas will fall but will be saved due to aid from Vacuo or perhaps Mantle. However Ruby and Oscar will be unaware of this since they would be taken during Atlas’ Fall. So the two will be forced to survive the Dark Lands under the belief that their friends could all potentially be dead. However Ruby tries to remain optimistic for both of their sakes. That’s what I’m hoping for. But we shall see how things go.

Either one of these possibilities can work. Whether we get Oscar the Boy in the Lonely Tower or Rosebuds in the Dark Lands or some obscure mixture of the two, I’m fully on board for either concept especially if it leads to deepening the bond Ruby and Oscar share.

Bonuses if either concept provides the catalyst to make these two realize their true feelings for one another. That could be lovely.

But for now, I’m mostly just super excited to see how the Rosebud friendship grows. Thus far, the CRWBY Writers have handled Ruby and Oscar’s relationship well enough. Hoping to see what’s next to come for them going forward to V7.

More Squiggles’ RWBY Content

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

[ramajmedia]

Jim Carrey's 10 Best Movies, According To Rotten Tomatoes

Despite being one of the biggest movie stars in the world with countless box office hits, Jim Carrey is a pretty divisive actor. Some fans appreciate his knack for rubbery expressive comedy, but others criticize this performing style as overacting.

While he was once possibly the most bankable star in the world, his status has dropped in the past few years and he hasn’t really starred in a major hit since 2008’s Yes Man. Still, he’s left behind a very impressive body of work and there’s every chance his star could rise again. So, here are Jim Carrey’s 10 Best Movies, According To Rotten Tomatoes.

RELATED: Jim Carrey’s 10 Most Hilarious Characters, Ranked

10 Man on the Moon (63%)

It was a dream come true when Jim Carrey was cast to play one of his idols, comedy legend Andy Kaufman, in a biopic. Directed by the great Milos Forman, this biopic plays around with the rules a lot.

There are dramatic moments and it follows a familiar formula, but there’s also a lot of Kaufman-esque comic trickery at play. As a recent Netflix documentary can attest to, Carrey went a little cuckoo on the set as he refused to break character for the entire shoot, even when the cameras weren’t rolling. But it’s hard to deny that Kaufman himself would’ve been proud.

9 Dumb and Dumber (67%)

This road comedy by the Farrelly brothers should never have gotten a sequel. The original stands perfectly on its own as one of the funniest movies ever made and no sequel could live up to that (especially the trainwreck we were eventually served in 2014).

Few comedies have a gag rate this rapid and even fewer have such a high rate of gags actually landing. Everything in the screenplay for Dumb and Dumber is carefully considered to deliver an infinitely funny moviegoing experience: the plot as a whole is funny, the individual scenes stand alone as funny, and each of those scenes is filled with hysterical one-liners and wordplay. Frankly, in terms of laughs, Dumb and Dumber is up there with Airplane! and The Naked Gun.

8 I Love You, Phillip Morris (71%)

This real-life story of con artist Steven Jay Russell has a darker sense of humor than Jim Carrey’s fans are used to, and it’s got a lot more dramatic elements than his usual work, but it’s still a lot of fun. Russell went to prison, fell in love with a fellow inmate named Phillip Morris (who, here, is played by Ewan McGregor), and when Morris was released, he broke out of prison a whopping four times just to be with him.

It’s a delightful story with more complex acting than Carrey is usually given the chance to do. Critic Steve Persall described it perfectly: “Catch Me If You Can mashed up with Brokeback Mountain if Mel Brooks directed.”

7 Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (72%)

Jim Carrey found Count Olaf, the lead antagonist role in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, to be the perfect part for him to play. He loves character work, and Olaf isn’t just an eccentric character on his own – he’s a bad actor who disguises himself as other people.

RELATED: The 10 Best Episodes Of Netflix's A Series Of Unfortunate Events

So, Carrey got to play a bunch of different characters who were being played by another character. He was eager to do a sequel to the movie, and he never likes to do sequels, but unfortunately, due to its unusually dark tone for a kids’ movie, it didn’t perform so well at the box office.

6 The Mask (77%)

The movie that made Jim Carrey’s career was a comic book movie, but not the kind of comic book movie that now floods theaters every couple of weeks. The Mask is about an ordinary man who is granted extraordinary powers, sure, but he doesn’t use them to save the world. The Mask is more like The Nutty Professor than Spider-Man, and obviously, a slapstick-based Jerry Lewis-esque role is right in Carrey’s wheelhouse, so it’s a brilliant movie.

On a side-note, Carrey isn’t the only A-list star whose career began with The Mask. You’ll also see a young Cameron Diaz make her starring debut in the film.

5 Horton Hears a Who! (79%)

This animated adaptation of the Dr. Seuss classic (funnily enough, the first-ever fully animated feature-length adaptation of the author’s work) takes the gloss of CG animation but gives it the whimsy of the iconic illustrations from Seuss’ work. Jim Carrey voices the titular elephant, who realizes that a tiny civilization lives on a speck of dust on top of a flower and will do anything to protect them.

Steve Carell plays the mayor of this civilization, while Seth Rogen lends his voice to Horton’s mouse sidekick, the aptly named Morton. It’s a heartwarming movie that tells us that even the smallest people matter.

4 Liar Liar (81%)

Jim Carrey loves high-concept movies that he can dig his teeth into. A prime example of this is Liar Liar, in which he plays a lawyer who, thanks to his son’s birthday wish, is unable to lie for 24 hours. This led to hilarious scenes like Carrey rattling off a comprehensive list of offenses he’d just committed to a cop who pulled him over and beating himself up in a men’s room to get out of court.

But ultimately, the movie carries a strong message. You shouldn’t lie to your kids – or anyone, for that matter – and Fletcher learns that the hard way in this movie. It’s far from a flawless movie, but fans of Carrey will definitely get their fill.

3 Peggy Sue Got Married (85%)

Directed by The Godfather’s Francis Ford Coppola, Peggy Sue Got Married stars Kathleen Turner as a woman in her 40s who is ready to divorce her husband, Charlie, played by Nicolas Cage and is filled with regret about how her life has played out.

Then, she gets the opportunity to go back in time and start all over again. She can prevent herself from ever marrying Charlie in the first place. That is, until she finds herself charmed by him all over again. Jim Carrey plays a minor role as Walter Getz, and since the movie came out almost a decade before Carrey became a star, he’s virtually unrecognizable.

2 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (93%)

Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman has made a career out of taking something we can all relate to, like the feeling of despair and hopelessness after a relationship, and spin it into something cinematic, like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Jim Carrey stars as Joel, a guy who falls head over heels in love with a girl, played by Kate Winslet, who breaks his heart.

RELATED: Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind: 10 Quotes That Can Never Be Erased From Our Memories

Unable to get her out of his head, he hires a company to get her out of his head using experimental new technology. Naturally, it goes wrong and he ends up trapped in his own memories. It’s very strange, but also very powerful.

1 The Truman Show (94%)

This trippy work of social science fiction could easily be an episode of Black Mirror. Jim Carrey plays Truman Burbank, a regular guy who has never left his small town and lives a quiet existence. He starts to notice unusual things about his life and soon realizes that there are cameras on him at all times, broadcasting his every move to a world filled with adoring viewers.

When he discovers the truth and tries to escape, the director of the show becomes mad with power and would rather kill him than see him leave town and experience the real world. His fans all rally behind him. It’s very satirical, yet also very moving stuff.

NEXT: Cate Blanchett's 10 Best Movies, According To Rotten Tomatoes

source https://screenrant.com/jim-carrey-best-movies-rotten-tomatoes/

[all-the-kookies-fall]

A THEORY: Linear Timeline of reputation

This is going to be a very long read; but it may just include unlocking the 15 Taylor's from the LWYMMD MV so read on if you dare…

 (OK it totally includes the theory, please read and tell me what you think!)

An Introduction:

I've been a casual fan of Taylor Swift since she started. Loved all her radio singles, listened to her albums (at my leisure upon release), and admired her platform and brand image. I guess I became a huge fan after 1989, but around the release of reputation, I realized just how much this woman's music has been there throughout my life and decided to fully stan her. As I fell down the rabbit hole of  learning everything I could about TS as an artist, I became completely enamored with her wits & charms. However, the more I learned to love about her, the more I could feel just a slight inauthenticity; I was constantly thinking of the hypocrisy of how she "never names who her songs about" yet she created this scavenger hunt with her liner notes that seemed to point in an obvious direction of one of her "ex-boyfriends." It didn't align with how she presented herself in every other aspect. Then, I felldowntherabbithole for real and found all of the incredibly documented and organized realm of the Kaylor's, and everything was literally in screaming color.

reputation made even more sense with fresh Kaylor eyes and once I read this Taylor Swift quote: 

reputation, in my mind, is an album that is very linear in it’s timeline. Meaning that it kind of starts out where I was when I first started making the record. The album ends more where I am now in my life. So this is more towards the end of the album, it’s called ‘Call It What You Want.’

my mind became OBSESSED with cracking this code. I had combed through all the kaylor blogs and while I had read everything I could, I still couldn't place it within any timeline. Then, Delicate came out and the code started to crack; I could peek inside and make sense of something, but was still unsure what it was. I put together a loose concept which had some plot holes, but it was when I remembered to revisit the 15 Taylor theory that everything completely revealed itself.

  I would like to start with a disclaimer: I have never, ever actively participated more than lurking or even posted anything on Tumblr. I would like to fully acknowledge that there is a huge, fat chance none of this makes sense to anyone but me, but my husband was really getting fed up with me talking about it and I just needed to share. THANK YOUS to the Kaylor blogs I frequented with incredible analysis and POV of Tay in the media and her music-  @all-my-possessions​ @howyougetthenerd​  @jennyboom21 @karlitakloss​ @kaydar​ @kaylorrepdetective​ @larrienation​ @out-of-the-klosset​ @paradisekisses  @tallcurlygirl​ @taytaysbeard​ @that-curly-haired-lesbian @thoseflashinggreeneyes​ @whaler13bg​ to name a few. (Sorry, tumblr is not letting me tag a few of you.)

 A lot of the information I am providing is not new and connects the dots from the amazing posts from this community. I tried as best as I could to cite all relevant posts - you can definitely let me know if I've made any errors. Please feel free to edit//contribute//comment because I have a feeling that a more seasoned eye would be able to expound on so many more clues and easter eggs!

Let the Games Begin!

Overall Concept/Themes

There are truly some insightful analysis of the overarching themes and concepts of the album already. Secrecy, partners in crime, forbidden love… In general there's a complex theme of Duality to the album; conflicting feelings, Brand vs Self, bad vs good, truth vs reputation etc. I think it's most important to note is that any analysis that views these tracks differently than listed below, can still be correct. Our Queen is a lyrical master plus there's that added layer of intentional dualities in her story telling; there's always at least 3 different meanings to her songs and that's one of the reasons we admire her wordsmith ways.

 The Timeline!!!

 …Ready For It?  - So It Goes… 2012* - 2014

This has long been inferred in every side of the fandom to indicate this is Part 1 of the Story, implied by the ellipses as the beginning and end of the track names. All the timelines I've previously read started at either the introduction of  1989 or even later beginning with 2016/2017 events, but it didn't make sense applied to the album as a whole. Once Delicate MV came out, I began to notice that all of the nods to RED in all these MV's were not just for nostalgia. She is literally telling us that this part of the story was about the end of RED era leading into 1989 - not quite 1989 era just yet. ;)

*2012 is an estimate based on the beginning of the Delicate video; it's possible that TS & KK met before Swiftgron was officially over but who will ever know? Karlie's buzz cut was December 2011 (x). The first half of the album is difficult to theorize specific dates within this period because we really have no idea when KK & TS met.

LWYMMD - New Year's Day 2014 - 2017 (NYD)

I gotta tell you - immediately after reading this, go watch LWYMMD. It was (is?) literally hiding there in plain sight; it's a GENIUS video walking you through EXACTLY what she did (you could say from a satirical standpoint more how the media/GP thought she did) to prepare for this era! When she refers to the "Old Taylor," she's using the term in the exact way her fans have been using: to refer to Country Taylor. She is officially Pop; Look What We Made Her Do when RED, a pop-country album, "a patchwork of songs," didn't win the Grammy. She went full POP princess. This post in particular helped me remember that these songs are not fresh in regards to her life even though they are brand new to us. Part 2 of the story more clearly follows the events of the 1989 era through just before rep's release.

Track by Track // 15 Taylors

…Ready For It?  Intro

I believe this is an introduction of what's to come, an overview of the story. Yes, she's definitely asking herself if she's ready to come out of the closet (x/x), if Karlie is ready to glass closet (x), is her beard ready for the consequences(x), and most specifically, are we, her fans, the GP, are we ready for her to come out and live her truth unapologetically? It's her laying the groundwork to prepare for 1989; her literally coming up with the concept for the whole era which is why we see the references to her 1989 MV's in the glass room. This post  cites the connection to the Dykes on Bikes; are we ready to accept Taylor to not only come out, but be a strong voice and activist of the LGBTQ+ community?

End Game April 2013 - June 2014

I KNOW Taylor is singing to KK about them first meeting - and I KNOW we think they just met before VSFS 2013 (even though there are rumors that say they met sooner…) But, hear me out because this lines up way too easily with the information we get from the MV (x/x). Remind yourself… Who opened for Taylor's RED tour? That’s right, our favorite ginger. It's a nice additional nod with the callback of Everything Has Changed duet with Ed Sheeran. Miami (shoutout to my hometown even though I have no inkling to its significance) tour dates were 04/10/13, London was  02/01/14 (Did she really show us their first  NYE together?!), and Tokyo was 06/01/14.

Irrelevant now but important for later (LWYMMD): And I bury hatchets, but I keep maps of where I put ‘em. This post highlights a cool interpretation of the line that applies to this whole post!

I’ve been doing some digging to try and somehow link Miami in this mix, and this is pure speculation but I feel like Future represents her bearding with Harry Styles. Karlie’s “buzz cut” was in December 2012, and shortly thereafter she was in Miami for a photo shoot. 1/4/12 marks the official break up of Haylor in the US Virgin Islands… it’s a stretch and I’m totally grasping at straws but they are geographically close and it’s all I got for now.

   "Me, I was a robber first time that (s)he saw me…"

I Did Something Bad early 2013

So, I have to admit… IDSB and DBM were the two songs I was having the most trouble placing within the linear timeline; my initial thought was this must have been a metaphor for her confessing her "sins" a.k.a. bearding, to Karlie when they first started dating. This was the song that clicked once I looked through the lenses of the 15 Taylors and reaffirmed my thoughts with the visuals of this Taylor on the cross in LWYMMD. In digging a little deeper, I found a Vanity Fair article - one of the only cover stories found online about TS during 2013. I'm not as confident about my perspective on the linear timeline with this track, however I feel like it's a good start especially considering the next holy church track.

In regards to the "light me up" lyric, and clear visual reference in the …RFI MV as well as the crucifixion of Taylor in LWYMMD, I thought this answer she gave the   73 Questions With Taylor Swift | Vogue video was also interesting to note. The question was what is the one thing she wishes she would have known at age 19 (8:03)?

"Hey, you're going to date just like a normal 20-something should be allowed to, but you're going to be a national lightning rod for slut-shaming."

I'll leave this quote from the April 2013 Vanity Fair interview right here:

"But nobody calls them the kinds of names that get thrown at Swift. “They’re ‘playboys,’ ” Swift says wryly. “They’re ‘having fun.’ ”

By the way, in the Vanity Fair article there's an "authorized source" giving insight to what "really happened" to Haylor aka probably lies.

 Every lie I tell them, they tell me three

Don't Blame Me early - mid 2014

I can really only hypothesize through the lyrics and the Taylor line up that this may be a reference to how the RED "media" circus (as quoted from the VF article cited above) literally made her do crazy things - maybe how her past experiences had caused her to react a certain way in an undefined relationship, maybe how the media circus in general had her guarding her heart, and of course the religious context of the song leads me to believe of course it is connected in that aspect to the confessing of her actions in the previous track. Big Sur trip also falls within this timeline. (x/x/x) 

I once was poison ivy, but now I'm your daisy…

Delicate 2013 - 2014

I think this one has so many beautiful analysis with the music video that syncs perfectly with this time line with no need for additional explanation, and I think it's especially apparent why this Taylor represents TraKK 5 in the line up. (x/x)

It's interesting that Fearless Taylor and Red Taylor were the ones actually fighting on Taylor Mountain in the LWYMMD MV; this may be a reference to her insecurities and headspace during the RED media circus//break up anxieties fighting contrasting to her want to just dance in her best dress Fearless with KK with no inhibitions.

Dancing in my best dress, fearless 

LWYMMD End of 2014

Has anyone noticed the crows in the beginning? It literally hit me as I was finishing this post - a group of crows is called a murder.

We see her Driving a new Maserati (well, car with significant meaning) down a dead end street and then crashes into the pole. (x) She literally killed the "Old Taylor" to get the Grammy - as well as set up clever disguises as red herrings* so that we missed the most obvious clue that this is about the release of 1989. I think even cleverer, how she walks away from the crash unscathed at the end of the MV to imply she rose up from the dead, she does it all the time (with each era release). (x/x/x/x)

*Red herring: something, especially a clue, that is or is intended to be misleading or distracting. In reference to the post regarding hatchets in End Game, she's definitely sending us on the hunt… remember that post above I asked you to note?

 Then of course another hint to the timeline is in the lyrics and MV (look at the date of the tweet...)

I've got a list of names and yours is in red underlined 

So It Goes… October/November 2014

This was definitely the most challenging to figure out, but there's definitely two clear ideas that are represented here - the linear timeline alludes to the HOT KINKY SEX our girls probably had after VSFS '14 (x/x/x) and the death of her 'innocence.' Coincidentally, I had read Slaughterhouse Five for the first time earlier last year and lurking around the Reddit TS  community where they spent so much time trying to figure out how they could circle this back to Vonnegut. Unluckily for them, it is the most heteronormative//homophobic community where even Kaylor posts are censored/deleted/ridiculed etc so they weren't ever going to get it. This song represents a toxic relationship with CH in their eyes, and I can see that perspective… another Salute to the American Queen of Wordplay.

 Anyway, here is a quote from a NY Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/books/review/and-so-it-goes.html)

That is, the constant repetition of “So it goes” makes readers ask themselves about the meaning of death (or its lack of meaning) and the incalculable human costs of war.

The 2009 VMA's Taylor is the epitome of everything her art, brand and music spoke to prior to 1989; and with the Pop princess she was no longer the relatable girl next door. She had gone full big-city, celebrity friends, glitz and glam - feeling so Gatsby for that whole year. With 1989, represented by the LWYMMD music video, that image was shattered, it was the death of her reputation but the true beginning of laying the groundwork for her and KK's future and she truly felt alive. 

Not to mention a song about kinky sex is a huge step away from that image.

So it goes...

And so it goes, now Part 1 of our story is done.

Gorgeous Met Ball 2015

Part 2 moves into the 1989 era starting with the Met Gala. (x/x) I read a great analysis using the lyrics to prove why this song is not about someone you just met because of the intense conflicting feelings. (I have scoured Tumblr to find it and link it but can't rediscover it… sorry I explained I've been a noob and a lurker and I never liked or reblogged anything, I'll update with a link if I ever find it again!) That made me reevaluate my original thoughts of this track being Enchanted 2.0 and representing her meeting Karlie for the first time. This was the first public event Kaylor attended together; it must have been strong conflicting feelings of joy & giddiness of the relationship quickly overtaken by nerves, fear, and anger that she would be found out and/or couldn’t show any outward PDA towards KK at the event. I would imagine there was a lot of drinking that night to cope, thus the “drunk” perspective.

 PS she probably didn’t go home alone that night (DING)😉

 'Cause you're so gorgeous it actually hurts

Getaway Car May - August 2016

There are great analysis looking at this song from two main POV's- 1. the bearding CH-TH circus(x/x) and 2. a reflection of Swiftgron in hindsight (x). For the sake of the timeline/15 taylor line up, it was too coincidental that this was the Taylor snapping at the beards in I <3 TS shirts and  from that perspective, fits perfectly into the linear timeline. It is suspect  that TS went against her management in anger of how the "break up" with CH unfolded, and so it would make sense to be a little apologetic towards TH -- the one beard aftermath she may have regretted but that is just pure speculation.

And a circus ain't a love story, and now we're both sorry

  *I JUST NOTICED! She POPS HER LEG for the 7th boyfriend in line - AKA CH. She is SO EXTRA!

King of My Heart August 2016

The below quote and Taylor line up don't need further explanation. 

"I think it’s very interesting when people talk about their love stories. Like when you guys blog about, “my and my husband, me and my boyfriend” or just anyone talking about how they fell in love. 

There seem to be these very definitive phases. It doesn’t matter how long that phase lasts. There seems to be a moment where you know it transitioned to the next phase. People will be like, “Oh my God, we were friends for six years and there was this moment and we knew and then it changed. Then there was a moment and it got even deeper. Then there was a moment and we knew” or like “I saw this person and there was this moment and we knew.” Everyone has a different story with how they connect with someone else and what i find interesting is the moment where it switches. You always hope that switch is going to move forward and not backwards because it can happen either way. I always wanted to structure the song where each individual section of the song sounded like a move forward in the relationship but still being listenable. So I wanted the verse to seem like it’s own phase of a relationship, the pre-chorus to sound like it’s own phase of a relationship, and the chorus to sound like it’s own phase of a relationship. I wanted them to all have their own identity but seem like they were getting deeper and more fast paced as the song went on. So finally I was able to achieve that in a song.”

 Here’s a couple of my favorite analysis regarding this song. (x/x)

 Up on the roof with a school girl crush

 Dancing With Our Hands Tied Mid - End 2016

This analysis  really explains the lyrics and matches the allusion of the Zombie Taylor to make it seem like it is a hindsight song about Swiftgron; however Out of the Woods is the last MV of 1989 era released the end of 2015 (aside from New Romantics your video) and this can perhaps be expressing the death of Taylor’s 1989 reputation after the slew of public feuds. It can also be interpreted as a hindsight song in regards to Kissgate in 12/2014(x/x); how she had found herself coming into 1989, but was a zombie version of that because she had to beard with CH and TH and it perhaps made her feel dead inside. Maybe she’s implying that she would have just taken the fall from grace then put herself through another (particularly long and grueling) fake relationship.

I had a bad feeling

Dress October 2016

Not only is Dress pretty frequently analysed, it's also the most obvious and blatant within the theory.  I thought it was very cute that this was represented by the Ballerina in the line up as a not so subtle nod to Karlie. October 2016 was the infamous Golden Tattoos at Drake's birthday party. (x/x/x)  

Made your mark on me, a golden tattoo. 

Sorry I couldn’t help myself with this gif :P

TIWWCHNT November 2016

Originally, I thought this was the easiest one- yes, the Snake Queen is sipping and serving tea on her infamous feuds however it just didn't fit in the more transparent timeline of the second half. There's been a few posts that hint the track may be a slight diss to her fans. Once it hit me she was alluding to herself as our (the fans) American *dream* Queen, I realized: this song is not a slight diss - it is harshly directed to us, all of us. Hear me out: Just like KOMH is about a love that reflects back on different periods in life, this track also calls to a couple different conflicts with the relationship of TS and her fans. She's never enough for either aspect of the fandom.

I thought it was curious that she would have the "ET TU BRUTE" (x)  as a reference to Kanye because let's be honest, she probably never trusted him after 2009 and rightfully so. "Et tu, Brute?" is a Shakespeare reference and a phrase that is now used to describe a friend stabbing you in the back. This would be more applicable to us, her fans. V1:

It was so nice throwing big parties

Jumping to the pool from the balcony

Everyone swimming in a champagne sea

And there are no rules when you show up here

Bass beat rattling the chandelier

Feeling so Gatsby for that whole year

This easily refers to 12/2014 - Kissgate. Feeling so gatsby for that whole year; throwing big parties. She had to close the gate before she was outed prematurely by the fans watching her during the concert.  We were the last ones she ever expected having to protect herself from; she had been so open, glass-closeting, but the fans took it too far and crossed the line of her privacy. She was surprised by the network that had expanded to track her every move. A couple years pass, V2:

It was so nice being friends again

There I was giving you a second chance

Think back to the election of 2016; Taylor being back in the media and more open again with her life wasn't enough at this point. America had reached a boiling point and everyone had to pick a side; even Taylor's most dedicated fans were constantly expressing their disappointment at her so she changed her priorities and went into hiding.

 As @paradisekisses once posted, “Not everything is about Kanye.”

 Salute to you, our American Queen of Red Herrings

 Because you break them, I had to take them away.

Call It What You Want End of 2016

The lyrics all harken to 1989 (x) and this is when her reputation has never been worse (again), but she’s stronger this time and it didn’t break her as much as post RED era. Not to mention, she’s madly in love and found her end game so nothing else really matters to her; her priorities have been shifted and she knows what truly matters in her life. 

Call her what you want, she is Karlie's Partner in Crime.  it's an obvious call to the gold cage, hostage to my feelings; she will jail herself once more with this ((hopefully)) last beard and that will be the official death of  (2.0? 6.0?) Old Taylor. The best part is the BTS video showing how much fun she was actually having in the gold cage. There are beautiful analysis of this song (x/x/x/x/x)   , and to me it's just the most real/pure love song. Love isn't just about all the good times, it's how your partner and you navigate the bad. Sometimes the worst moments in life show us just how strong our relationships are and bring us closer together.

Karlie what you want, call her what you want to (I can't unhear this in the background now <3)

New Year's Day January 1, 2017

This Taylor is hidden from us because she will probably never be as open with the GP, media, or her fans ever again. Who knows what to come in the future, but she actively tells us "don't read the last page" and to "hold onto the memories." Ugh, this is making me tear up --  I just officially joined the fandom!! Don’t tell me this is it already... (x/x/x) 

This post highlighted the importance of the sunshine necklace with Taylor's obvious sarcasm in the BTS in saying “It’s really important to wear subtle jewelry in music videos, I’ve learned.” (If anyone can forward the gif I’d love to add it to the post :))

Sidenote: technically, isn't this another closet she's in during the rep era?

Wear you like a necklace…

And I will hold on to you...

I had so much fun putting this together and being inspired by all the amazing perspectives the Kaylor fandom has been churning! Hope you like it :) Let me know your thoughts!

[dweemeister]

Pyaasa (1957, India)

When a print of Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa arrived at the Mumbai offices of Ultra Media & Entertainment (a film distribution and production company), the incomplete negative had almost completely melted. One of the most popular and acclaimed landmarks of Hindi cinema (“Bollywood” to many of you) needed immediate restoration. Several months of clean-up ensued, and the restorationists submitted the newly-cleaned print to the 2015 Venice International Film Festival. Pyaasa now has a second life for cinephiles who want to explore more of Bollywood – although, for the very fact that Pyaasa feels like a socially and thematically subversive work for its time, it is not recommended for beginners. As Guru Dutt’s first film after starring in and directing Mr. & Mrs. ‘55 (1955), Pyaasa is a magnificent feat of artistry and certainly Dutt’s most cinematic movie that he had made by that juncture in his career.

Vijay (Dutt) is a struggling poet uninterested in composing the treacly love poems that publishers and the public are demanding. “You call this gibberish ‘poetry?’” asks one prospective publisher, “You must write poems about love.” Against the wishes of his mother (Leela Mishra), he avoids living at home, lest he subject to the demeaning insults from his brothers. One evening, Vijay is wandering the streets when he hears a prostitute named Gulabo (Waheeda Rehman) singing his poetry. He follows, but she pushes him away when she realizes he has no money. Gulabo will, after reading a paper dropped from Vijay’s pocket, deduce that the person she just banished is the poet whose works she is enamored with. Further bitterness and disappointment follow Vijay when he learns his ex-girlfriend Meena (Mala Sinha) has married a hotshot publisher, Mr. Ghosh (Rehman; no relation to Waheeda Rehman). Vijay will begin work for Ghosh as a servant, leading to a finale flushed with bitter lyricism. The film also stars Johnny Walker as Abdul Sattar, a massage oil salesman who serves as comic relief.

Having gone through two previous Guru Dutt films in chronological order, my initial experiences with the Bollywood superstar included the swashbuckling spectacle of Baaz (1953) and the social satire of Mr. & Mrs. ‘55 (1955). Those two films allowed me to see the trajectory of Dutt’s directorial and developing aesthetic senses. Thematically, there is little in those previous films that could have prepared me – or frequent moviegoers in India in 1957, really – for what Pyaasa brings. The film is primarily capturing the travails of a struggling poet who composes poetry unmarketable to the masses. His words tell not of sweeping romances or witticisms, but commentaries on how cruel and destitute the world can be – heartbreak, injustice. Some of his poetry is social protest; these words seeping into the film’s soundtrack as lyrics (more on this later). For Vijay, his poetry serves to cleanse his soul of cynicism; anyone who purports to enjoy his poetry is celebrated, but he is not focused on numbers and mass popularity (although a decent paycheck might help). Yet there are still moments of the romantic in Vijay, at least from the past. In a flashback from his college days just over twenty minutes in – this scene is poorly edited, and it was not until several minutes afterwards did I realize it was a flashback – he recites this:

When I walk, even my shadow lags behind. When you walk, the universe keeps pace. When I stop, clouds of misery gather. When you stop, spring’s radiance is outshone.

That is the extent we ever hear of Vijay’s romantic poetry. 1950s Bollywood films certainly approached topics of materialism, but none to the extent and serrated cutting edge of Pyaasa. Pyaasa never reaches Satyajit Ray-levels of despondent, soul-crushing resolutions; however, this movie is more willing than most working in Hindi-language cinema at the time to avoid a glossy or compromised ending. Credit to Dutt for overruling screenwriter Abrar Alvi – who lobbied for a compromised ending – for the film’s fearless final twenty minutes. Perhaps Vijay’s decisions in the closing stages are not the most enlightened or practical, but make sense given the character’s tenacity and Dutt’s desire for an unconventional finish.

Most remarkable about Alvi’s screenplay to Pyaasa is how Gulabo is treated. No matter where movies were produced in the 1950s – the United States, Europe, across Asia, and elsewhere – the depiction of prostitutes and sex workers was a lot to be desired. As great as the following two movies both released in 1957 are, Pyaasa treats Gulabo with more dignity than Nights of Cabiria (a film that, upon seeing it six years ago, helped me recognize some personally regressive attitudes towards sex workers and learn more about the topic) does with its titular character. The tendency, even now, is to morally punish a sex worker character in a film, to demean them for their sexual expression, or to portray them as tragic figures suffering through unimaginable conditions of abuse or poverty. None of these apply to Gulabo – always in control of her situation, comprehending almost fully what she wants most in life, and subordinate to no one. Her actions throughout Pyaasa are out of love for Vijay and Vijay’s work, but there is no sense of “belonging” to a man or a romantic ideal of fixing a broken soul. A broken Vijay does not deserve the familial, financial, and mental turmoil that he is struggling through, so Gulabo selflessly helps Vijay from the desperate depths of his own mind.

In a twist, Dutt and Alvi – in a certain way of looking at it without spoiling the film – take the main character out of the film about a half-hour before the conclusion. We see Vijay’s brothers attempting to soothe their pain over their mother’s recent death (unbeknownst to Vijay) with illicit payments from Ghosh. Ghosh – a publishing executive seeking to expunge any inconveniences of his pocketbook or his twisted conscience, has a dastardly plot to help only himself. Vijay, though separated from the narrative for several resolving scenes of Pyaasa, is disgusted with what he has seen and heard from his family, his employer, and probably countless others in the past. In the film’s final musical number, Vijay recites/sings:

This world of palaces, of kingdoms, this world of power, The enemies of humanity, this world of rituals, These men who crave wealth as their way of life, For what will it profit a man if he gains the world?

The returns diminish; a desire to acquire more feeds upon itself, destroying the moral groundings of all. Though Guru Dutt and Abrar Alvi probably did not have Buddhism on their minds, Vijay’s answer – articulated with the light illuminating his figure while facing the camera – to all he has seen is a weary enlightenment. In these final scenes, Vijay appears as if he has ascended to a higher plane of existence, knowledge, and perhaps spirituality.

Cinematographer V.K. Murthy (a Dutt regular, having shot Mr. & Mrs. ‘55 and 1959′s Kaagaz Ke Phool) improves upon his previous collaborations with Dutt here. Murthy is the most important person that makes Pyaasa – by some distance – the most aesthetically enthralling movie that Dutt had directed by this point. Whether dealing with flashbacks, fantasies, or reality (or even surrealistic touches to reality, which is something that is unexpected, but contributes to the feeling Vijay is not entirely present in the corporeal world), Murthy provides gorgeous deeply-staged shots with dollied close-ups that, in less-assured hands, might come off as corny but instead heighten the dramatic stakes. But Murthy is not helped by editor Y.G. Chawhan, who handles scene transitions poorly and bungles the first hour’s flashback by not properly announcing that it is a flashback.

As an actor, this is Dutt’s most trying performance. After playing romantic leads Mr. & Mrs. ‘55 and Baaz, this performance in Pyaasa is worlds apart from his past. By the midpoint, Vijay sees nothing but the corruption of the world and is doing little to improve his situation. Vijay is Dutt’s least dynamic protagonist I have encountered thus far, but that does not devalue his character’s suffering and that inimitable way Dutt broods and listens or observes to other characters. Dutt’s character suffers silently; his performance is never labored, but enriched by his naturalistic acting. Waheeda Rehman, appearing in one of her first films as a leading actress (the role of Gulabo was originally intended for Madhubala), is stunning – her charm prevents Pyaasa’s existential and anti-materialistic themes from landing with a thud that might have excited some European auteurs at the time. Her appearance is undermined by the lengthy flashback that takes her out of the film’s first hour after one hell of an introduction.

Pyaasa includes a spellbinding musical score from composer S.D. Burman and lyricist Sahir Ludhiyanvi. But considering that the songs are built around Vijay’s poetry and the plot concerns his struggles, Burman’s music is secondary to Ludihyanvi’s lyrics – Ludihyanvi himself was primarily a poet who wrote in Hindi and Urdu. There are fewer musically spellbinding back-and-forths like “Udhar Tum Haseen Ho” in Mr. & Mrs. ‘55. For Pyaasa, poetry recital serves as musical performance for the film’s most interesting songs. Waheeda Rehman’s one hell of an introduction in “Jane Kya Tune Kahi” – where Gulabo (Waheeda Rehman was dubbed by Geeta Dutt) recites Vijay’s poetry back to him without knowing the fellow in front of her was the author – sets everything forward. This alluring misunderstanding of a song introduces the romantic tensions early, eliminating any annoying teases that might distract from the film’s larger themes. The climactic “Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaye To” defines the film, with its stunning, poetic lyrics, and is as context-dependent as original songs can be in cinema. Layers of meaning also sung earlier in “Jane Woh Kaise Log The” (behind the aforementioned song, it serves as the second-best poetry recital as performance) are expanded upon.

Less acclaimed from Bollywood fans but appealing to yours truly (I am grounded in Western musicals) is a fantasy sequence within a flashback: “Hum Aapki Aankhon Mein”. Sung by Vijay (Mohammad Rafi dubbing Guru Dutt) and Meena (Geeta Dutt dubbing from Mala Sinha), it is a song of budding love in a setting only possible in dreams. Or a soundstage, I guess. With maybe too many smoke machines concealing their feet, Vijay and Meena dance together with a gracefulness not out of place in any place that values the transporting nature of musicals. Johnny Walker (dubbed by Rafi), who is weirdly adorable in his comic relief roles, is endearing in “Sar Jo Tera Chakraye” while trying to sell his oil massages to passers-by. With the exception of these two, almost the entire Burman-Ludhiyanvi score draws its operatic-like drama from the plot – so make sure to concentrate a bit more on the lyrics than usual for Hindi-language movies.

For some cinephiles who have not yet ventured into Bollywood but have seen Bengali films (probably Satyajit Ray’s movies), Pyaasa might be an ideal point of entry for its combination of Bollywood escapism and Bengali-inspired parallel cinema. For everyone else, Pyaasa will be an anomalous, but memorable entry into the Hindi cinema canon.

Pyaasa translates to “thirsty” in English. That might not be the most appealing title, but it reflects Vijay’s craving for a righteous, altruistic world that just does not exist. How much of Vijay was a reflection of Guru Dutt is a point of speculation – Dutt, an advocate of social justice, seems to have enjoyed more creative freedom in Pyaasa that was not apparent in his previous films. His political voice is more pronounced here than ever before, showcasing an artist displaying a mature understanding of the medium he wields. At thirty-two years of age the year of the film’s release, Guru Dutt shows a confidence that belies his youth. It results perhaps not in a call to action, but to show us a response by a man so completely dedicated to his craft.

My rating: 9.5/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found here.

[boomer0803-blog]

Reflection

My choice of theme for the chapbook was Agenst da Grane. I am fully aware its spelled incorrectly, but I’m confident whoever reads this chapbook will be sharp enough to understand why. Like most writers starting out, I wanted to write about that which I am familiar with. And throughout my life, the feeling of not blending into my surroundings has accompanied me nearly everywhere. When people would describe me, their accounts would be so different, I became convinced I had no intrinsic or immutable personality traits; the person I was depended entirely on who I was with. However, the one thing people’s assessments of me have had in common was that they all identified a tendency to do exactly the opposite of what I was expected to. In other words, I like to flip the script. My parents complain that I’m lazy and lack ambition, while my teachers have told me my ideas are too ambitious and often end up sounding convoluted. Whether I’m ambitious or lazy, I’ll probably never know. What I do know, however, is that in both scenarios I somehow fail to live up to somebody’s expectation of how I should be acting. The way I conduct myself is antithetical to how others would have me do it. So without a fixed identity to ground me, my whole existence has been anchored by the perception of me as a sort of renegade (of the most unromantic kind). Thus, my chapbook focuses on themes, characters, and ideas that don’t follow convention. Each piece is centered around somebody or something that shatters a narrative or breaks free of rigid classification. My chapbook views around ordinary events from the perspective of those who can’t acclimatize to their environments. Whether it's going off to war or hitting a game-winning shot, neatly fitting into one’s circumstances just doesn’t happen. Using a variety of contexts, Agenst the Grane aims to explore the different ways in which one can refuse or simply struggle to conform, celebrating the importance of individual decision making.

Throughout high school, criticism of my writing has often been about how verbose or convoluted I sound. My teachers and peers alike have told me I have ordinary ideas wrapped up in excessively fancy diction. “It doesn’t mean your ideas are good, you just know a lot of big words”, those who have read my work have often exclaimed. This year, I feel as if I have learned to ‘trim the fat’ off my writing, getting to the crux of the matter with greater efficiency. Because so much of creative writing tends to be about one’s subjective experiences, the writer has to be able to take complex feelings and articulate them in a way that will be intelligible to others. Writer’s Craft has helped in this area, providing me with a space to have others read my work so that I know which elements of my writing are good and which parts are less successful. All the editing and re-editing has paid off, as I now have a clearer idea of what is integral to a reader’s enjoyment of a written piece. The biggest improvement I have seen over the year is in my ability to be more economical with my diction, without compromising the integrity of my descriptiveness.

The piece I am most proud of from this year is my short fiction The Pied Piper of Butterfield. I challenged myself by picking a genre I had never attempted to write before and was quite pleased with the result. Good satire, as I quickly learned, is not exactly a walk in the park to achieve. Yet, after dozens of hours, I felt as if I had fully executed what I had intended to do. With most of my other work this year, I felt dissatisfied with the end result, wishing I could’ve had more time to continue improving it. When the short fiction was due, however, I felt as if there was little I could still add on to it. The story struck the right balance between being humourous and having a pointed message. The plot was woven successfully into the story’s bigger political framework. Sarantha Stardust’s escapades elevated the way in which the political themes were communicated rather than distracting from them. My initial goal was to satirize contemporary neo-Marxists, a goal that I feel was accomplished successfully. Additionally, I am pleased with the way I criticized the ideology. Rather than just explicitly stating what it is about the radical Left I find so objectionable, I tried to reveal my opinions by using my wit.

I believe that a mark of 89 truthfully reflects the quality of my summative. My pieces were well thought out, had a coherent theme, and I revised all them several times before the submission I will send in about 30 minutes. To be completely honest, the reason I say 89 rather than a 90 is because I’ve always been uncomfortable valuing myself or my work too highly; 90 is a threshold that at least to me, indicates stellar work. Also, I realize there is always room for improvement and all my pieces would benefit from more time spent editing them. As I mentioned in the “biography”, I think people are incapable of being honest about themselves or their abilities, so I’m sorry if 89 is too high or too low. The works that I think reflect the 89 I give myself are Two Playing Fields, A World Apart, What Kanye West Proved About America and Ballad of a Hapless Cowboy. In the first poem, I believe I effectively communicated the confusion of a young man grappling with what the future has in store for him. The lines Yesterday his fingers cultivated life/turning seed to sustenance,/tomorrow his green thumbs will be trained/ to revel in trigger happy butchery. illustrate the challenges of adapting to a lifestyle with expectations so vastly different from one’s previous experiences. By juxtaposing how farming produces life, while war diminishes it, I strove to show how that character will struggle to fit into an environment that undermines his dedication to seeing things flourish. In my blog about Kanye West, I successfully used the conventions of a blog by writing in a conversational style, alluding to cultural phenomena in a way that would serve to heighten the reader’s enjoyment. For example: “Whether you choose to see his move as crazy or courageous or perhaps both, the Stronger rapper made a bold move when he chose to visit the entertainment industry’s arch nemesis: Donald Trump.” In this line, I alluded to a song my audience would most likely be familiar with, while also referencing Hollywood's dislike of Trump in a way that would be more entertaining to read. Finally, in my ballad, I used a humourous approach to showcase how one luckless cowboy couldn’t find a place that accepted him no matter how hard he tried. The piece offered a nice respite from the dourness of the rest of the chapbook, while still adhering to the overarching theme of standing out. 

[stacks-reviews]

Must Reads Part 10

Happy Friday! This week we have wooden dolls, exorcism, glass hearts and girls made of snow, and more!

--Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust (9/5/17) “At sixteen, Mina’s mother is dead, her magician father is vicious, and her silent heart has never beat with love for anyone - has never beat at all, in fact, but she’d always thought that fact normal. She never guessed that her father cut out her heart and replaced it with one of glass. When she moves to Whitespring Castle and sees its king for the first time, Mina forms a plan: win the king’s heart with her beauty, become queen, and finally know love. The only catch is that she’ll have to become a stepmother. Fifteen-year-old Lynet looks just like her late mother, and one day she discovers why: a magician created her out of snow in the dead queen’s image, at her father’s order. But despite being the dead queen made flesh, Lynet would rather be like her fierce and regal stepmother, Mina. She gets her wish when her father makes Lynet queen of the southern territories, displacing Mina. Now Mina is starting to look at Lynet with something like hatred, and Lynet must decide what to do - and who to be - to win back the only mother she’s ever known...or else defeat her once and for all. Entwining the stories of both Lynet and Mina in the past and present, Girls Made of Snow and Glass traces the relationship of two young women doomed to be rivals from the start. Only one can win all, while the other must lose everything - unless both can find a way to reshape themselves and their story.”

I have been putting this one off for a while. I wanted to find the perfect moment to mention it but its release date will be here before we know so why delay any longer. This is probably my most anticipated release for this year, aside from the reasons why October and November are going to kick ass. I first came across the title in April and I still periodically look it up just to read the description. I’ve been checking the arcs at my work every day hoping that it would be there.

I love everything about this. A girl with a glass heart and one made entirely out of snow. Both dangerous and also so fragile. I can’t help but feel like they will destroy themselves in their rivalry. Though I am really hoping for a more happy end. Through their love for each other to make themselves fully human. I want them to love each other. I imagine this will be hard for Mina because even though she gains the kings love that doesn’t mean her heart still isn’t made of glass. I want them to support each other by the end. I want Mina to not be a villain by the end. I’m just so excited for this book.

--The Apprentice Witch by James Nicol “Arianwyn has flunked her witch’s assessment: She’s doomed. Declared an apprentice and sent to the town of Lull is disgrace, she may never become a real witch - much to the glee of her arch-rival, Gimma. But remote Lull is not as boring as it seems. Strange things are sighted in the woods, a dangerous infestation of hex creeps throughout the town, and a mysterious magical visitor arrives with his eye on her. With every spirit banished, creature helped, and spell cast, Arianwyn starts to get the hang of being witch - even if she’s only an apprentice. But the worst still lies ahead. For a sinister darkness has begun to haunt her spells, and there may be more at stake than just her pride...for Arianwyn and the entire world.”

I came across this title a day after I saw Kiki’s Delivery Service in theaters back in July. So I felt an immediate connection between them. Except for this book having a save the world kind of ending. There is a preview up on Goodreads. It starts with Arianwyn going in for her assessment exam. In this world witches are a part of life. Towns and villages can request for one to take up residence there, mainly to defend against spirits. They even reference a war that might be about to happen or is already underway that witches are fighting in. The preview ends with Arianwyn about to fail her assessment. Which is a shame because I want to know about the town Lull and who she might be apprenticed to. But I think my main attraction to it currently remains at how much it makes me think of Kiki’s Delivery Service.

--The Bone Snatcher by Charlotte Sadler “Sophie Seacove is a storyteller. She tells stories of what the world would be like if madness hadn’t take over. If her parents hadn’t sold her off as a servant to pay for their stupid vacation. If she wasn’t now trapped in a decaying mansion filled with creepy people and surrounded by ravenous sea monsters. The mansion has plenty of stories, too: About fantastical machines, and the tragic inventor who created them. About his highly suspicious death. And about the Monster Box, a mysterious object hidden in the house that just might hold the key to escaping this horrible place - and to reuniting Sophie with her family. But not everyone wants Sophie to have the Monster Box, and as she gets closer to finding it, she finds herself unspooling years-old secrets - and dodging dangerous attacks. Sophie needs to use her brains, her brawn, and her unbreakable nature if she wants to make it off this wretched island...and live to tell this story.”

I actually refound this title while going through my long list of ‘want to read’ on Goodreads. Read through the preview and I’m in love. Sophie was sold by her parents but not to go on a vacation. They sold her because they were going to start a new life on the New Continent across the sea. Why they sold her aside from that, I don’t know. It could be because Sophie enjoys the view of the sea while everyone else is afraid of it because of all the strange and terrifying creatures that live in it. In one scene in the preview, the sea itself almost seems conscious. As it drives to take Sophie with it while she crosses an ever smaller tidal path to reach the mansion. A tentacle tries to drag her down, hooks on the seabed try to keep her in place, and the waves keep trying to drown her. Even undead sailors are rumored to live in the sea, waiting to take children who wandered after dark. It stops before Sophie reaches the mansion. I’m curious to see what kind of ‘weird’ people that she will be living with. And as much as I want Sophie to escape to New Continent to get revenge on her parents, I hope she realizes that she is already where she belongs. Or at least that’s the kind of message I’m expecting to read from this.

--My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix “A heartwarming story of friendship and demonic possession. The year is 1988. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fourth grade. But after an evening of skinny-dipping goes disastrously wrong, Gretchen begins to act...different. She’s moody. She’s irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she’s nearby. Abby’s investigation leads her to some startling discoveries - and by the time their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, the fate of Abby and Gretchen will be determined by a single question: Is their friendship powerful enough to beat the devil?...Blends teen angst, adolescent drama, unspeakable horrors, and a mix of ‘80′s pop songs into a pulse-pounding supernatural thriller.”

Was drawn to this title because of the cover of the paperback. It looks like a 1980′s horror movie poster. I don’t watch a lot of horror movies because I am a chicken; unless it’s an old horror movie that’s great because it’s just that terrible, but I do read a lot of scary-ish books. Though sometimes not once it gets dark outside. Depends on the book. Anyway. My Best Friend’s Exorcism is supposed to be satirical to the genre and maybe even more specifically to the film The Exorcism. From what I’ve seen and heard of it so far, this is more of a tale of friendship but it still has a lot of gore and horror to it. 

--Vassa in the Night by Sarah Porter “In the enchanted kingdom of Brooklyn, the fashionable people put on cute shoes, go to parties in warehouses, drink on rooftops at sunset, and tell themselves they’ve arrived. A whole lot of Brooklyn is like that now - but not Vassa’s working-class neighborhood. In Vassa’s neighborhood, where she lives with her stepmother and bickering stepsisters, one might stumble onto magic, but stumbling away again could become an issue. Babs Yagg, the owner of the local convenience store, has a policy of beheading shoplifters - and sometimes innocent shoppers as well. So when Vassa’s stepsister sends her out for light bulbs in the middle of the night, she knows it could easily become a suicide mission. But Vassa has a bit of luck hidden in her pocket, a gift from her dead mother. Erg is a touch-talking wooden doll with sticky fingers, a bottomless stomach, and a ferocious cunning. With Erg’s help, Vassa just might be able to break the witch’s curse and free her Brooklyn neighborhood. But Bab’s won’t be playing fair...”

This is based off the Russian fairytale Vasilisa the Beautiful. I’m really interested in Erg. I just enjoy the idea of a little wooden doll, small enough to fit in your pocket, yet strong enough to help resolve your problems. I know Erg is supposed to help Vassa and keep her safe. Yet I hope Vassa won’t rely on Erg too much. I want to see Vassa solve some of the challenges herself. It sounds really good and strange.

[libraryoferana]

I’d like to welcome back author Robert Eggleton. Hi Alex. Thanks for inviting me back to your great book blog to update you about my debut novel.

Please recap briefly about your book: Rarity from the Hollow is adult literary fiction with a science fiction backdrop. In a nutshell, it is the story of victimization to empowerment taking readers from tragedy to comedy and satire, including political allegory that predicted the rise of Donald Trump to political power long before he became a household name. Lacy Dawn is a most unlikely saviour of the universe, genetically manipulated for millennia, who builds a team of zany characters to resolve an imminent threat to economic structures, one that could destroy all life – a longstanding feud between the political ideologies of extreme capitalism and democratic socialism.

What has changed since you last visited? Tell us your news! The biggest news item is that the final edition of Rarity from the Hollow was released to Amazon on December 5, 2016. When I last visited with you, my novel was being circulated as an Advance Review Copy (ARC), gathering praise and criticism by independent book reviewers and critics. One book critic had already compared the writing style to Kurt Vonnegut. https://electricrev.net/2014/08/12/a-universe-on-the-edge/ Another, a Retired Editor of Reader’s Digest, found that it was the most enjoyable science fiction novel that he had read in several years. http://warriorpatient.com/blog/2015/05/18/58/ After you interviewed me, Rarity from the Hollow was awarded Gold Medals by Awesome Indies http://awesomeindies.net/ai-approved-review-of-rarity-from-the-holly-by-robert-eggleton/ and Readers’ Favorite https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/rarity-from-the-hollow. A Bulgaria critic named Rarity from the Hollow as one of the best five books of 2015, along with Revival by Stephen King and The Martian by Andy Weir. http://codices.info/2015/12/top-5-for-2015-ventsi/. The ARC received twenty-six five star and forty-three four star reviews by independent book blogger on Amazon. Since release of the final edition, after its political allegory became much more obvious with the election of Donald Trump, a few reviewers took a second look at the novel and have upgraded their findings and ratings.

On January 6, 2017, the first of the final edition was published, five stars. The closing lines were: “…Brilliant satires such as this are genius works of literature in the same class as Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm.’ I can picture American Lit professors sometime in the distant future placing this masterpiece on their reading list.” https://marcha2014.wordpress.com/2017/01/06/5-stars-for-rarity-from-the-hollowby-robert-eggleton/ On February17, 2017, Dan’l Danehy-Oakes, a critic whose book reviews often appear in the New York Review of Science Fiction, published his review, five stars: “…I know this all sounds pretty whack, and it is, but it’s also quite moving. Lacy Dawn and her supporting cast – even Brownie, the dog – are some of the most engaging characters I’ve run across in a novel in some time….” http://sturgeonslawyer.livejournal.com/ On March 8, 2017, the 93rd book review was published by a book blogger, five stars: https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/RCL7S5MDYE791?ref_=glimp_1rv_cl

I’m continuing to promote Rarity from the Hollow by submitting articles and guest posts, participating in interviews, just about anything that I can think of to get the word out about the novel. As you are aware, author proceeds support the prevention of child maltreatment, so especially since the Trump administration has proposed budget cuts in domestic programs, I believe that any money that I can raise is important and will help a great nonprofit agency. http://www.childhswv.org/

Since the final edition of my debut novel was finally released, I’ve also gone back to work on the next Lacy Dawn Adventure, Ivy. One of my poems won first place in an international competition last year and I’ve submitted another to an online poetry magazine. I’m putting finishing touches on a short story that I plan to submit to a magazine before the deadline on April 15, 2017. Things have been “hopping,: Thanks for the great question.

Do you self-edit? If so why is that the case? Do you believe a book suffers without being professionally edited? Maybe some writers can self-edit, but I’m terrible at it. I tend to read what I intended to write rather than what was actually written. One of my pet peeves is finding typos in emails and posts, such as on Facebook, that I’ve sent. My wife will sometimes look over stuff that I’ve written, but I’ve been so prolific that she’s often not available. For something like a novel, I would never submit it for publication without a “professional” edit. That doesn’t mean I have the money to pay for one, so I’m not sure what I’ll do if Dog Horn Publishing, my traditional small press, doesn’t survive in the marketplace. Rarity from the Hollow was first edited by a friend, an English teacher, and then professionally edited by the editor of one press, the Acquisitions Editor for the University of Michigan’s Library system, and then by two affiliates of Dog Horn Publishing. So far, nobody has commented on any editing issues or typos with the final edition of Rarity from the Hollow. I got lucky. I’ve never paid for anything to do with publication of my novel, including its free editing.   

Do you think indie/self-published authors are viewed differently to traditionally published authors? Why do you think this might be? Prejudice against indie/self published authors used to be a lot worse. A book blogger recently published my take on the history of this controversy: “I Found God in Cyberspace.” https://gottawritenetwork.wordpress.com/2016/10/25/i-found-god-in-cyberspace-by-robert-eggleton/comment-page-1/#comment-755

Some well-known authors, including Stephen King, have more recently turned to self-publishing. https://www.bookworks.com/2015/06/why-stephen-king-j-k-rowling-joe-konrath-and-others-are-switching-to-indie-publishing-at-least-on-some-of-their-books/ However, for authors with little name recognition, this emergence of the traditionally published authors into self-publishing is not particularly encouraging. There have been a few self-published books that have sold well. Perhaps because he’s also a children’s psychotherapist, my personal hero is James Redfield, author of The Celestine Prophesy. He sold the first 100,000 copies of his book out of the trunk of his car before it was picked up by a traditional publisher.

I believe that there are good and bad books self and traditionally published. I can’t think of any right off the top, but it used to be common to find typos in books long before self-publishing was available. I feel that the biggest advantage that traditionally published book have over self-published books is the advertising. While not true about small presses which seem to be going down faster than seals in an oil slick, some traditional book are marketed by high salaried publicists who buy reviews printed in popular magazines.

What are your opinions about authors commenting on reviews? How important are reviews? In general, I think that it’s bad form for an author to publicly comment on a book review. As long as it’s done politely as part of a thank you note, I don’t see anything wrong with a private comment by an author about a book review. Of course, book bloggers moderate comments if submitted to their sites rather than by private email, so making an author’s comment would entirely be at the discretion of the book blogger. Competency as a book blogger or as an author, of course, varies. So does ethics. In my opinion, the skill is in the pitch for a book review, as written and as read. In my opinion, some book reviewers are so busy, perhaps overwhelmed by requests, that they may not fully read pitches and may prefer cookie-cutter type novels with which they are already familiar. Others look for those books which fall outside of mainstream releases. Online, I’ve met several wonderful people who have contributed to the promotion of Rarity from the Hollow. I’ve also met a couple who I now wish that I’d never pitched for a book review. In any case, reviews are critical to the potential success of the author and the book blogger, neither of whom are likely to make much money by their contributions to the World of Books.  

When buying a book do you read the reviews? Yes, I always read every review that is available before I buy a book.

What are your reviews on authors reviewing other authors? Perhaps more traditional than full reviews, authors writing blurbs about books have been a standard. Again, this question addresses ethics. I suspect that there are some authors and editors who primarily review books as a strategy to sell their own books or services. Of course, authors trading glowing reviews with other authors would be unethical. So are friend reviews, or, in my opinion, sharing posts on social media simply because of friendships instead of the merits of the posts. While it’s a World Wide Web, our participation on it always involves ethics. But, it’s so hard to compete simply by writing a good book. Many, if not most, traditional publishers definitely have the upper hand, so I’m a little lenient in this consideration. You know the old saying: “What’s fair for the goose is fair for the gander.”

Looking back what do you wish you’d known when you started writing? Looking back, I’m glad that I didn’t know then what I’ve learned since. I was a total novice, and to some extent, that remains true today. If I would have realized that the odds of having a good book ever appear in a book store, much less than 1%, I may have been too disheartened to have written Rarity from the Hollow. I’m very proud of my accomplishment. Especially so by two book review findings that it may outlive me: “…I would even say it could be read in a college setting both for the craft itself and its unique brand of storytelling….” http://tabbyafae.com/rarity-hollow-robert-eggleton/

Do you have any unpublished novels under the bed/in a folder anywhere which you thought were awesome at the time, but now will never see the light of day? No, I don’t have any unpublished novels that fit that description, but I have several short stories that are so dated now that they seem silly. Rarity from the Hollow was my first attempt to write a novel.

How have you progressed as a writer since you started? Technically, I’m somewhat more highly skilled in word processing, and that’s very important to writing. Most of the short stories that I just mentioned were written on a manual typewriter. I’m struggling with the craft of writing and not fully sure if my motivations to change style would be a progression or a regression of my craft. Part of me wants to remain semi avant garde and hope for a niche, while part of me wants to meet more mainstream expectations. It kind of feels like back in junior high when one struggles with wanting to both be unique but to also fit in with the crowd.

What are your views on authors offering free books? It’s a modern marketing strategy that supposedly can be used to build rank on Amazon if done through that company, but I suspect that most recipients of free books never read them or remain loyal to their authors. That’s a guess. I’ve thought about trying it on Goodreads, but since my writing doesn’t fit mainstream expectations I’ve been hesitant. Plus, many of the authors there seem to be much younger – kind of a social club – and, I may not have similar youthful interests or knowledge.

What are your plans for the future? When will we see your next book?  Tell us about it. The next full-length Lacy Dawn Adventure is Ivy. It’s been ready for editing for quite a while but I’ve delayed for a couple of reasons: (1) I’m still promoting Rarity from the Hollow to build improved name recognition; (2) I’m now retired on a low fixed-income, unsure about whether my traditional small press will survive to publish Ivy without me incurring expenses, but even more unsure about the actual costs of self-publishing given my poor skills in technology. Ivy is the story about a unique alien invasion of Earth and asks the question: How far will a child go to save a parent from drug addiction?

Give us a bit of information about your primary character(s). Lacy Dawn is an empowered victim predestined for millennia to save the universe. A good way to get to know her would be to check out a character interview by Lisa the Robot Girl. It’s very funny, and deadly serious: https://coldhandboyack.wordpress.com/2017/03/02/rarity-from-the-hollow-on-lisa-burton-radio/

Blurb

Lacy Dawn’s father relives the Gulf War, her mother’s teeth are rotting out, and her best friend is murdered by the meanest daddy on Earth. Life in the hollow is hard. She has one advantage — an android was inserted into her life and is working with her to cure her parents. But, he wants something in exchange. It’s up to her to save the Universe. Lacy Dawn doesn’t mind saving the universe, but her family and friends come first.

Rarity from the Hollow is adult literary science fiction filled with tragedy, comedy and satire. A Children’s Story. For Adults.

“The most enjoyable science fiction novel I have read in years.”

—Temple Emmet Williams, Author, former editor for Reader’s Digest

“Quirky, profane, disturbing… In the space between a few lines we go from hardscrabble realism to pure sci-fi/fantasy. It’s quite a trip.”

Evelyn Somers, The Missouri Review

“…a hillbilly version of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy…what I would have thought impossible; taken serious subjects like poverty, ignorance, abuse…tongue-in-cheek humor without trivializing them…profound…a funny book that most sci-fi fans will thoroughly enjoy.” — Awesome Indies (Gold Medal)

“…sneaks up you and, before you know it, you are either laughing like crazy or crying in despair, but the one thing you won’t be is unmoved…a brilliant writer.” —Readers’ Favorite (Gold Medal)

“Rarity from the Hollow is an original and interesting story of a backwoods girl who saves the Universe in her fashion. Not for the prudish.” —Piers Anthony, New York Times bestselling author

“…Good satire is hard to find and science fiction satire is even harder to find.” — The Baryon Review

Supporting Information

Purchase links:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/robert-eggleton/rarity-from-the-hollow/paperback/product-22910478.html

http://www.amazon.com/Rarity-Hollow-Robert-Eggleton-ebook/dp/B017REIA44

http://www.doghornpublishing.com/wordpress/books/rarity-from-the-hollow 

Public Author Contacts:

http://www.lacydawnadventures.com

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32993259-rarity-from-the-hollow

https://www.facebook.com/Lacy-Dawn-Adventures-573354432693864/

https://twitter.com/roberteggleton1

https://plus.google.com/b/108662084126982201049/108662084126982201049/posts

https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-eggleton-909b154b?trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile_pic

                    Returning Author – Robert Eggleton – science fiction I’d like to welcome back author Robert Eggleton. Hi Alex. Thanks for inviting me back to your great book blog to update you about my debut novel.