#during which their music fundamentally changed me and my view of popular music

[rillabrooke]

I've spent my whole day listening to concerts - for far, two paul simon concerts and I'm currently listening to the simon & garfunkel live at lincoln center 1967 - and i can't help but sit in shock at how good these two are at performing.

being a recording artist and being a peformer are two separate careers imo, and that's why so many musical careers fail. but simon & garfunkel? they nailed both. their recordings are really good obviously, but what cemented them as my favorite artists was their concert in central park 1981 in which they sound just as good or better than the recordings.

it helps that they (specifically paul) can afford the best musicians, back up singers, etc. but it's also evident that they surround themselves with good artists. ladysmith black mambazo was a performance group first and a recording group second. paul found the jessy dixon singers through a performance.

but even then, they hold their own. the concert I'm listening to rn (lincoln center 1967) is just them and an acoustic guitar. and it's better than some recordings.

[missellafitz]

Ella Fitzgerald & Frank Sinatra: Voices of America

Inside Ella and Sinatra’s remarkable similarities and essential divergences

Most fans of American jazz and pop vocalists would agree that Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra were the undisputed champs of their era. But in 1959, both at the height of their artistic prowess, Sinatra ceded the top spot, admitting, “Ella Fitzgerald is the only performer with whom I’ve ever worked who made me nervous. Because I try to work up to what she does. You know, try to pull myself up to that height, because I believe she is the greatest popular singer in the world, barring none—male or female.” The feeling was mutual, and they duetted on several high-profile occasions. Fitzgerald adored Sinatra, deeply respected his talent and, given her natural humility, would never have claimed superiority.

The career arcs of these two giants were eerily similar, beginning with their rough-and-tumble adolescences. Fitzgerald was born in Newport News, Va., in 1917 but raised in Yonkers, as the crow flies about 15 miles north of Sinatra’s hometown, Hoboken, N.J. Sinatra, born in 1915, was expelled from high school due to misbehavior. Fitzgerald was early on an excellent student, but she began cutting class following her mother’s death in 1932 and was eventually sent to an orphanage and a reform school. He got his big break on Major Bowes’ Amateur Hour radio show in 1935. In November of ’34, Fitzgerald had ignited her career by winning top Amateur Night honors at Harlem’s Apollo Theater, famously aborting her planned hoofer routine when the preceding dance act proved too polished. Instead she sang, choosing Hoagy Carmichael’s “Judy,” whose lyric included the prescient notion “In a hundred ways/You’ll be shouting her praise.”

Before simultaneously launching solo careers in 1942, both were band singers, Sinatra with Harry James then Tommy Dorsey, Fitzgerald with Chick Webb’s hard-swinging orchestra, which she fronted after Webb’s death in 1939. In the wake of correspondingly serious lulls in the early 1950s, both navigated resurgences that lifted them to iconic heights, precipitated by strategic label changes: Sinatra moved from Columbia to Capitol; Fitzgerald transitioned from Decca to producer Norman Granz’s newly minted Verve. Both fought for good songs and, despite plenty of dross in their enormous catalogs, remain the definitive interpreters of the Great American Songbook. They continued to perform into their 70s. Their deaths, like their births, arrived less than two years apart. Fitzgerald passed first, in 1996, due to prolonged complications from diabetes. Sinatra succumbed to a heart attack in May of ’98.

Yet despite the remarkable parallels, Fitzgerald and Sinatra were fundamentally different as singers and as public figures. He sang for, and about, himself; she sang for others. As the New York Times noted in its Fitzgerald obituary, “Where [Billie] Holiday and Frank Sinatra lived out the dramas they sang about, Miss Fitzgerald, viewing them from afar, seemed to understand and forgive all.” Sinatra’s life was an open book; hers was, by and large, a blank page. Her life, though fraught with hardships and heartache, existed almost exclusively for the music and the joy of satisfying listeners. And despite incomparable success—she was the first African-American woman to win a Grammy, and has more performances in the Grammy Hall of Fame than any other female artist—Fitzgerald forever maintained a demure, often self-effacing modesty, coupled with a shyness propelled by a constant fear of appearing inarticulate.Ella Fitzgerald, c. 1935 (c/o Universal)

During a celebrity-packed salute at New York’s Basin Street East in 1954, she acknowledged a slew of accolades by quietly stating, “To know that you love me for my singing is too much for me. Forgive me if I don’t have all the words. Maybe I can sing it and you’ll understand.” Three and a half decades later, when accepting the Society of Singers’ inaugural lifetime achievement award, named in her honor, she softly observed, “I don’t want to say the wrong thing, which I always do; but I think I do better when I sing.” We remember Sinatra—to whom she presented the Society’s second annual “Ella” award—as much for the fisticuffs and high-flying revelry as for the Voice. Fitzgerald we revere exclusively for the immensity of her musical skills and the intrinsic, altruistic warmth that helped define them.

[browzerhistory]

anyways Personally i don't think it's possible to meaningfully separate the self from the body/world and thinking of them as independent entities can create serious issues in later lines of thinking.

i say this as someone who has several 'selves' (system) but all of us have been undeniably changed by our body and the environment it's in. we wouldn't be who we are now without the very specific conditions and events that shaped our bodies and personalities.

it can be argued whether someone is more predisposed towards certain traits and activities from birth, but even then, the way you're raised and how much access you're given to those activities, as well as how much you're allowed to express those traits, matter deeply in shaping the person you are.

it's why i struggle with "what if you were born a different sex/richer or poorer/in a different country/etc.?" type questions bc the answer you'll get from me is inevitably "the person in those circumstances would be so fundamentally different and unrecognizable when compared to me that i don't think it'd be fair to say they would still be me." you know?

take a relatively small example, like if my parents decided to enroll me in a different kindergarten than the one they did. i would never have swapped schools in elementary, which kicked off my anxiety disorder hardcore but also made me gain wonderful friends who i wouldn't trade for the world, and unique experiences that shape the way i adapt to situations today.

or say i went to physical (heavily masked) school during the 2020 school year instead of taking online courses. i probably wouldn't have fully split into a system and i wouldn't have missed my best friend's last year of attending the same school as me before moving away. but i also wouldn't have rediscovered one of my oldest, most beloved special interests, nor would i have met the short lived but wonderful community online that helped me realize i was trans.

what i'm trying to get at is that the popular concept of the Self or the Soul as this immutable, eternal force that drives a person's actions and is predetermined before they're born really doesn't line up with reality. not only in the context of how much your environment changes you, but how much you can change you. humans are creatures of habit, sure, but you can make and break habits with relative ease most of the time.

(i started crossing my z's in third grade because i thought it looked cool. i stopped listening to an artist i used to adore because he said some shit things and i've barely missed his music. lately i've been making an effort not to step on certain floor tiles in the hall just because. i know most things aren't this minor or easy to change, but it's just an example.)

as far as theories on the self go, mine is a pretty easy one to spiral on. especially since, before i started thinking harder about it, i thought there was this Special Thing that made me Me and no one could take it away, so when i considered the possibility of my me-ness not being inherent to my existence, it freaked me out.

but as i thought about it more, i found the thought really... comforting, somehow? maybe it's because i'm trans and a system but the idea that there's the True You you have to want to be (and if you're not then something is wrong with you) feels really restricting. people are always changing, even moment to moment. it's not a bad thing to be constantly changing, that's just what being alive is like.

which brings me to another point (that i probably should've made earlier but whatevs) that also lines up pretty well with my political views: nobody is doomed to be a bad person forever, even if they've done bad things in the past. (i could make a whole other essay on the ways punitive justice just Doesn't work and how annoying it is to see in leftist spaces all the time, but i'll breeze past it for the sake of this post not becoming a novella.) my point here is that while yes, vengeance and punishment for harmful actions does feel great and can very occasionally help, the sustainable and humane way to approach harm is through restorative justice and rehabilitation (for lack of a better word).

nobody is born evil and nobody is doomed to be evil and hurt everyone forever. this is true both in the sense of restorative justice, where the person who did the harmful action(s) can be trusted and expected to change their behavior, and in the more personal "you are not bound to suffering for all your life" sense. if you break your arm, do you set the bone or cut the whole limb off?

the concept of the self, when wielded as a tell-all unchanging revelation of a person's "true nature of violence/harm" can be and is used against already marginalized and oppressed groups to justify that oppression. this is a more political gripe, sure, but it's one of the reasons i think my theory holds up better. saying "people can't change if they've done bad things..." is a very good way to get people to accept "...so anyone who does a bad thing should be locked up forever/socially isolated/killed/etc."

idk. it's probably a Capitalism thing - something something making a product of yourself and products have to be consistent - but the attachment to a One True Self really grinds my gears in a way that i haven't been able to put into words until recently.

i understand the desire to have something that makes you fundamentally You no matter what, but the way i see it, it'd take one tiny change in your past to turn you into a completely different person. that doesn't mean you're not real or that nothing you do matters, it just means the world is as much a part of you as you are of it. it's worth thinking about sometimes.

(also please talk to me about this more i could go on for hours about the idea of the self and our relationships to our bodyminds and etc)

[sanstropfremir]

So I have opinions on the other stages but like most of us I can’t stop thinking about the SF9 stage. Hanya said it really well in her response but I think we have to break up the members into the ones who tried to emulate Taemin’s androgyny and those who just flat out didn’t try. So in order I’d put it Taeyang, Jaeyoon, Zuho. Those three stood out to me the most as really pushing into more feminine ways of carrying themselves and dancing especially Jaeyoon-like where did that man come from it was very unexpected. Then Chani and Inseong were both more neutral. I can’t put Chani in the first category mostly because of the contrast between his dancing and style with the female dancers that made it obvious that he was still trying to be more masculine despite having certain moves that definitely lend to a feline style like all the hip movements(whether consciously or unconsciously). And last Hwiyoung, Youngbin, and Dawon. I think this is the distinction that some people were making with “sexy” and “Taemin sexy”. Like everyone just associates him with sexiness but opening your shirt to show off your abs doesn’t fit with Taemin’s usual sensuality. Taemin seems to be more focused on movement (throwback to your post on his dancing style) so in order to emulate him there a certain attitude and way in which you carry yourself through movement is necessary. Also youngbin’s rap part did not fit with the concept either-it was too energetic and chill (too much swagger?). Like the way he moved compared to say Zuho was more in line with his usual stuff rather than fitting the way he moved to the stage and song. It’s also interesting to see that the outfits seem to also keep in line with this. Zuho and Taeyang have their midsections showing in a way that’s more common in women’s fashion then in men’s, Chani and Inseong are almost completely covered (so neither in one direction or the other) and Hwiyoung has his arms bared to show off his manly, manly biceps. And of course there’s Dawon. It’s fascinating to compare the members with the more revealing outfits. Like they all have their midsections uncovered but to be more feminine it’s only just a crop top and to be more masculine you open the shirt up completely. It makes sense. Also I’ve been obsessed with Jaeyoon and I can’t exactly pinpoint why he stood out so much especially when Taeyang is RIGHT THERE (though I don’t really think Taeyang got a solo scene but rather was center on the group dances which kind of dilutes his parts). Like his outfit is pretty plain but I love the cutout and the fact that he has long sleeves but they aren’t mesh. It’s simple but effective. I kept thinking this was the Hetero man’s Move especially during Youngbin and Dawson’s parts.

ok this took a really long time because honestly i changed what i was writing about like four times in the middle of the process and i changed my mind like four times because this is a very complicated topic and i could not settle on what the best way to come at it was. tbh i dont think i did the best job even though this is over a thousand words but i have no clue how to make this any more coherent without re-reading all of my flatmate and i's gender theory books and that's just way too much. but here we go.

EDIT: here is hanya’s post about the stage for reference!

where i'm at right now is that i think we are overlaying taemin’s current gender antics with what the actual move was. move has transformed along with taemin, and as such we look back at it with the understanding of what it becomes, but if we take a moment to forget that context, well... let me show you. here’s the 171019 comeback stage. and the 171027. and the 171029. now, here’s the 190223 stage from sketchbook. and from almost a year later, at the 2019 mbc music festival. and now here’s it from a month ago on the tiktok stage. it’s changed a significant amount not only in how he performs it, but in how the costumes and his body affect what it looks like. the cutoff muscle shirt of october 2017 absolutely has a different connotation than the lace back and velvet princess glove and the diamonds of december 2019.

i still do believe that sf9’s cover is missing a huge dimension because it comes from a fundamental non-understanding of what people who present even the slightest bit outside of the gender binary go through, i don’t think they were wrong in interpreting it as ‘man doing non-aggressive but seductive dance moves’ because on the surface, that’s what it is. taemin has actually spent a significant portion of his solo career doing what you described as traditionally 'masculine' dressing; he did famously rip his shirt off for the first non-music show performance of danger, after all. what we associate as 'taemin sensuality' is relatively new for him, it's more prominently a post-want mannerism because pre-move (and for a lot of move itself) he was very focussed on being perceived as masculine.

if we look at sf9's costumes individually, the breakdown looks like this:

chani - skinny trouser, chiffon shirt, and a cropped wrap suit jacket with a tie back

dawon - straight leg trouser, open silk shirt

jaeyoon - asymmetric open shoulder mock turtleneck, wide leg trouser

taeyang - wide leg trouser, faux leather open shoulder crop top

inseong - silk/silk blend shirt, cropped asymmetric suit jacket with a crossover back, tailored trouser

hwiyoung - sleeveless mock neck faux leather vest, straight leg cargo pant

youngbin - mock neck asymmetric crop top with a mesh underlayer, wide leg trouser

zuho - skinny trouser, mock neck crop top, cropped suit jacket with a pointed front

taemin has worn most of these looks. cropped wrap jacket? ngda beyond live velvet suit. open silk shirt? the move album cover. asymmetric shoulder cutout? several want performances. the only exception is that he doesn’t often wear non-skinny trousers, but even then he did for his beauty and the beast moment with the jinro frog. and sleeveless was the whole costume concept for move in the first place. even youngbin’s look is very similar to this outfit from the offsick concert series. but silhouette is only one factor of a complete costume design - you have to take into account the performer’s body, and how that silhouette is perceived on that body. it’s interesting that you specify that hwiyoung’s biceps are ‘manly’ and grouped him in with the more ‘masculine’ of the sf9 members; as i showed at the beginning of this, taemin was at his most physically muscular for move promotions. hwiyoung has just as pretty a face as taemin, but we perceive him differently in this outfit because his body is categorized as more masculine because his muscles are bigger. and this is fundamentally a gender essentialist argument because bigger muscles are not actually ‘more masculine,’ muscles don’t have gender they’re just how humans move around. it’s just our societally impressed gender binary that makes us think that.

another costume point i want to make is how you describe chani and inseong as being completely covered so ‘neither one direction or the other,’ which i would like to break down a bit. for starters, jaeyoon is also essentially fully covered, but you perceived him as being one of the more androgynous ones over chani or inseong. why? because his silhouette was more form-fitted? because there was an uncommon area of skin showing? chani has a tightly fit silhouette as well, and you can see a fair amount of his skin because his shirt is chiffon. why is a suit neutral but something cut to follow the contour of a body not? the fact of the matter is, the suit is the most symbolically gendered garment in the world; it is loaded with western colonial and patriarchal implications. we just view it as 'neutral' because we’ve been normalized to see it as neutral. now neither of the suits chani or inseong are wearing are traditionally cut, and chani’s especially is quite subversive in its construction, but taemin is no stranger to using the implications of a suit for move, here’s the stage from 171105. grey double breasted pinstripe suits were the most popular style for businessmen in the postwar west, and still maintain a prominent indicator of class and power to this day.

you are correct in pointing out that the movements and mannerisms of the members don’t all match the same level, but i want to specifically talk about the intro moment with chani, because you mention him as trying to be more masculine, which i very much disagree with. chani actually does the best at retaining the body neutrality of the original choreo because the original choreo as a stand alone isn’t that seductive or ‘feminine.’ yea he doesn’t have the attitude down pat but the guy’s 20 and is clearly not as comfortable with being this kind of sexy. the reason why you’re perceiving him to be more ‘masculine’ in his movements is because the backup dancers are frankly, being pretty aggressively sexual in a feminine coded way around him. of course he’s gonna look out of place! part of what gives move its uniqueness is that the backup dancers are doing the exact same choreo as taemin, at the exact same intensity. not an altered version where they slut drop behind him.

like i said at the very beginning, i think taemin’s been tipped into the ‘feminine’ category under false assumptions, so it’s doing a bit of skewing of the responses to this stage. if i were to make a very reductivist diagram, i think a lot of responses have been (taemin) <- neutral -> masculine, with the implication that taemin is the feminine analogue, but in reality what taemin is and is aiming for is feminine -> (taemin) <- masculine. because we have been socialized to see things in such an aggressive binary, it can be very difficult to pick out what a true neutral is.

[the-busy-ghost]

If you don't mind answering, what are some things that you really, really wish you'd see more of in depictions of medieval Scotland/Early Modern Scotland?

I absolutely don’t mind answering, thank you for asking! 

I’m told there are some better quality novels than there are tv shows and films, so there are some aspects that have been done in good novels (though I’m not so familiar with them). There are so many things though that could be done on screen:

- Chiefly I spend a lot of my time wishing that there was more attention paid to the actual geographical make-up of Scotland and its regional variety, e.t.c beyond just splitting everything into Highland/Lowland, or just portraying everyone as being part of a Clan in the Highland sense, or just sticking everyone in Edinburgh as if that was the only place where anything happened. Orkney was very different to Galloway, and the Borders were very different to the Western Isles, and Ross was different to Aberdeenshire. 

Now if this was true for the sixteenth century, it is even MORE true for the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries. Between the early Middle Ages and the end of the thirteenth century, Scotland was settled by a lot of different cultures- so in the twelfth century for example, much of the country (the traditional heartland of ‘Scotia’ north of the Forth) may have spoken Gaelic but Lothian had been settled by speakers of Old English some centuries ago and their language became Scots in time, and spread north of the Forth into Fife, Angus, Aberdeenshire and elsewhere so that by the sixteenth century it was much more widely spoken and the language of government. The south-west, especially the area around the Clyde and Glasgow was a British kingdom for a long time, speaking a language not dissimilar to Old Welsh- this kingdom had (sort of) disappeared by the mid-twelfth century but the language took a while to completely disappear. Up in Orkney, Shetland, and Caithness, rather like in Iceland and the Faroes, Norse settlers had taken over and Norse culture has still left traces there today. From the fourteenth century, Scots began to take over in the Northern Isles but there was still a very clear Norse background in the sixteenth century. Meanwhile in the Western Isles, the Norse newcomers did not manage to erase Gaelic so completely as they did in the Northern Isles, but they did leave their mark on the Hebrides, to the extent that the inhabitants in the Western Isles in the in the twelfth century were descendants of both cultures- they are sometimes called Gall-Ghàidheil in Gaelic, meaning ‘foreigner Gael’. Then over the course of the twelfth century more new immigrants moved in. The ranks of the nobility were swelled by Norman, Breton, and other French settlers- unlike England, there was no ‘Norman Conquest’, and the process was more gradual, but although the French language never had the same power in Scotland as it did in thirteenth century England, these settlers left their mark on the feudal system and other aspects of Scottish society, and in turn they too were affected by the cultures they encountered in Scotland. Other smaller pockets of immigration existed- immigrants from Flanders and the Netherlands, for example, were instrumental to developing Scottish towns and improving agriculture. In the east coast burghs of Fife and Lothian you can still see some architectural elements that may have been the result of trade with the Dutch- crow-stepped gables and red pantiles for example. 

Although most of these cultures have altered and changed by the sixteenth century, the fact remains that the cultural backdrop to fourteenth or fifteenth century Scotland was a real mix- Gaelic, English, French, Norse, Flemish, British- and, perhaps, whatever it was that the elusive Picts left behind beyond their wonderful stone monuments. I have perhaps oversimplified things here but the point is that mediaeval and early modern Scotland was not a cultural monolith- something which both Scottish and foreign film-makers would do well to remember. 

There are also changes to these regions across the years- Orkney going from being a Norwegian/Danish territory to becoming part of the Scottish kingdom, or the borders which had some of the best farmland and richest abbeys in the country in the thirteenth century becoming a very militarised and rather lawless zone after the Wars of Independence. I think it would be really interesting to see that portrayed on screen.  

- Ok so that was the fundamental thing, apologies for the rant. But to go with that, more understanding of the landscape and architecture. In all fairness most tv shows and films involving Scotland, no matter how bad they are, at least have some lovely panning shots of the Highlands but there’s more to the country than Glencoe- you could really work with views like the sun on the sea from the Carrick coast or the beautiful if ruinous religious architecture- like the abbeys of Melrose or Arbroath or somewhere like Elgin Cathedral or Rosslyn Chapel or Inchmahome Priory. 

- Costuming! Again this fits into the regional thing a bit, but it’s also more general. It’s a quibble I have with almost any medieval media but especially when it comes to Scotland people get really lazy with the costuming and just slap some shortbread tin stuff together rather than putting any thought into it. 

- More traditional music! A surprising number of ballads and songs that are still popular among folk singers today are thought to have their roots in early modern if not mediaeval Scotland. And again the musical heritage of Scotland is varied depending on the culture it comes from. 

- More properly developed female characters. Even though half the historical films made about Scotland are about Mary Queen of Scots, there are almost no good depictions of historical Scotswomen- and that’s NOT because there aren’t any interesting women in Scottish history before the modern period! There are lots of fascinating women’s stories from mediaeval and early modern Scotland, and although we are often frustrated by a lack of sources, we know they were there. More importantly, even if every woman was not a Certified Bad-Ass, as a whole women in Scottish history are not invisible and we can often see them in the records, whether operating in domestic, business, religious, or political contexts. Oddly, in their quest to show how Uniquely Misogynistic and Evil the Scottish nobility were to Mary Queen of Scots or Margaret Tudor or whoever, film-makers often end up ignoring women’s stories and therefore perpetuating the sexist view of history they claim to hate. (Though, yes mediaeval and early modern Scotland WAS misogynistic- but show me a country that wasn’t. Also it was misogynistic in a slightly different way to some other countries). I could list off dozens of interesting Scotswomen who lived before 1603- even though we sometimes can’t tell that much about their inner lives from the surviving sources, it’s obvious they were of some importance. And again it fits back into the cultural variety thing, because that was not limited to Lowland, Scots-speaking noblewomen. 

- More art and literature and architecture and education and music and EVERYTHING. Scotland lost a LOT during the Reformation and due to Anglo-Scottish warfare (that’s what happens when the main centre of your kingdom is near to a border). But we know that, though it was sometimes an out of the way place, Scotland could be just as heavily tied into European cultural trends as any other northern country. And there are some beautiful surviving cultural artefacts that hint at a more vibrant past- both produced in Scotland (in the Gaelic and Scots-speaking environments) and imported from abroad. 

- Equally on that note, more focus on its connections to countries other than England.  Scotland had three universities by 1500, and yet many Scottish students still went to study abroad, especially in France, but also in England, the Low Countries, Italy, and elsewhere. An Italian humanist taught at the Abbey of Kinloss away up in Moray in the sixteenth century, and Scottish thinkers were in touch with other great minds of the day. Scots also fought abroad (see mercenaries in Sweden, or James IV’s support given to his uncle the king of Denmark, or the Garde Écossaise), and traded heavily across the North Sea (there were multiple Scots merchant colonies on the continent, not least at Veere). Scotland’s relations with Norway, Denmark, the Low Countries, the Papacy, Ireland (both as part of the kingdom of England and with individual Irish families), and other countries could be almost as important as its relationships with France and England. The eternal triangle of Scotland, England, and France, was not actually always the story- there were occasions when England and France played very little role in Scotland’s foreign affairs, let alone its domestic history.

- In particular an acknowledgement of the high quality of Scots poetry in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries wouldn’t go amiss. 

- This is one which applies to all mediaeval media- but a more varied and interesting depiction of mediaeval religion would be good. In Scotland, this was also linked to the way people saw their own history- any sixteenth century Scot would have known some of the native saints, and anyone half-educated might have heard the names of David I and St Margaret and Columba, and known where the great abbeys in the kingdom came from. 

- Actually a basic knowledge of Scottish history and legends beyond a few famous names. For example family was important in noble society- just because the stereotypical The Clans Are Gathering model is massively inaccurate, doesn’t mean that noble families in Scotland didn’t care about ancestry and kinship. But it would be great if tv shows and movies could actually think about how to portray that- and it really shows how little some of these scriptwriters know about their characters when they’re supposedly obsessed with the honour of the clan but the only piece of their country’s history they know is the name William Wallace. If you’re portraying the Douglases- even the earls of Angus who weren’t directly descended from him- the legacy of Sir James Douglas would have been a source of some pride. For actual ‘clans’, you could be dealing with some of the clans in the west of Scotland who, like some families in Ireland, claimed descent from Niall of the Nine Hostages. Some family histories got warped along the way- the Stewarts, for example, seem to have forgotten that they were descended from a Breton named Flaald by the fifteenth century and instead latched onto a story involving a character named Fleance (the one who later appears in Macbeth). As for legends- you could have a lot of fun with the different kinds of fairy belief that existed in Scotland, from the Borders (where it inspired ballads like Tam Lin) to the Highlands, or you could bring up legendary figures that are shared with other countries like King Arthur or Fionn Mac Cumhaill or Robin Hood or Hector of Troy. Sometimes the legends even cross over into real life- Thomas the Rhymer, hero of ballads and fairytales, seems to have been based on a real person who lived in the reign of Alexander III; while stories about William Wallace and Robert Bruce often became folk tales in the tradition of other greenwood outlaws like Robin Hood. 

I think it’s pretty evident that my main issues with depictions of mediaeval and early modern Scotland on tv and film are largely because it’s so utterly unlike anything I see in the historical record. I’d love to list specific details and characters I’d like to see portrayed on screen, but before we even get to that point, the whole Generic Portrait of Scotland needs to change, because it doesn’t currently feel very realistic or interesting. All I really want is for the same level of research to be done with regard to Scotland as is done for England or France or any other country- England is often portrayed inaccurately, but there’s still at least 200% more effort put in than for Scotland.

On that note though, James I’s career (or at least the early fifteenth century as a whole) has been ripe for a television adaptation for years. Also I’m personally fascinated by ordinary rural life, patterns of agriculture and landholding, e.t.c. so even just an ordinary story set in an early sixteenth century fermtoun would be cool. But I don’t really think these stories would make any sense to people if Scotland was just portrayed the way it usually is - a generic country with no culture beyond a few scraps of tartan and alcohol and Anglophobia.

Thank you for the opportunity to rant, and apologies for the screed! I couldn’t express my enthusiasm very concisely I’m afraid. I genuinely don’t mind if there’s some inaccuracies to portrayals of Scotland, but now all portrayals are exactly the same and almost wholly inaccurate so it gets frustrating.

[beevean]

Sonic and speed: are we misunderstanding them?

This article was originally written in Spanish by @latin-dr-robotnik​ on his blog - you can read it here!

Today on SHP, I’d like to bring attention to a topic that I keep noticing being discussed everywhere (especially now during quarantine), and that somehow worries me: are we misunderstanding Sonic and his characteristic speed?

During these last few weeks there has been a new, relatively unusual explosion of videos and comments on the Internet regarding Sonic and, relevant for today, what is the best game or the best level. The simplest reason has to be the lockdown we’re going through, and which is leaving us with more time to play or think about those games we want to play, or never will. On the other hand, the most cynical side of me believes that this boom of Sonic-related content is because Game Apologist’s video about S3&K and Sonic in general was so popular, it sparked the “interest” of other creators (the video itself is great, and I elaborated my opinions on it here). Whatever the case, there is a greater discussion about Sonic going on right now, and I feel like it’s not directed where it should be.

Before starting: there are a bunch of videos that helped me shape a good part of the opinions I’m going to explain today. You don’t need to watch all of them, and they’re not mandatory to fully understand this article, but if after reading it you’re left wanting for more, or you’d like to hear different options, I’d recommend you watch these:

1.     Sonic and Speed (Errant Signal)

2.     The First Levels of Sonic Games (Super Bunnyhop)

3.     SONIC the HEDGEHOG: How Level Design Can Break a Game (Broken Base Gaming)

4.     How Sonic Mania Makes a Level (RelaxAlax)

5.     City Escape is Peak Sonic Game Design (ZoomZike)

6.     Lost Valley Is Not Peak Sonic Game Design (ZoomZike)

What is the problem?

In a series as big and ever-changing as Sonic’s, there is a wide repertory of formulas and possible answers to the question “how to design a game?”. In some cases we’re still looking for an answer, in others we’re looking for alternatives (I talked not too long ago about the accessibility of Sonic Mania and 2D Sonic in general – Spanish only!), and most of the time, the answer has already been given in the past.

This looking for answers in the past has taken us in many directions, like constantly looking back to Sonic Adventure to solve the great enigma that is 3D Sonic; but I’d add that the recent retrospectives about Sonic and its first 2D games have raised some criticism and questions that, while valid, end up muddling a formula that has proven itself to be effective and crucial in the design of everything related to Sonic.

What really worried me is the criticism about Sonic’s speed and the levels that are considered “slow”, and we’re going to delve into this.

The basic Principles of Sonic

Speed. Platforming. Exploration. These are Sonic’s basic Principles and have always been, from its beginning until today. These three concepts are at the core of not just the level design, but the games themselves as well. The best levels in the series know how to balance these aspects, and the best games are those that can keep a balanced flow, preventing the game from going too fast, and losing its exciting component along the way, or from going too slow and becoming boring, causing the player to lose interest. Naturally, in these games there have to be all sorts  of levels: faster, more relaxed, more open and more labyrinthine, all coexisting in harmony and without going too far in one direction. Ignoring these Principles puts the quality of the levels at risk, and even our understanding of the character.

I would have put my own examples here, but just before starting to write this section I got some wonderful ones from Beevean. If you don’t remember her, she helped a lot with the article about the music of Classic Sonic, and I already warned her that if she kept posting examples this good, I would have had no choice but to feature her again. The discussion started from this post, and she says:

If you approach Sonic thinking its only characteristic is “gotta go fast”, the game you’re gonna get is Advance 2. The very flat, boring, “there’s no way to put normal obstacles in these levels so we’re gonna throw bottomless pits at the player until they get sick of them” Advance 2.

Some fast levels can be awful - Stardust Speedway is a disaster from a level design standpoint and the whole level seems to work against you. Some slow levels can be super fun - you rarely run in Lava Reef and you spend most of the time dodging obstables, but that doesn’t stop it from being one of the most beloved levels in S3&K. There’s no arbitrary reason that separates “good” levels from “bad” levels, it’s an amalgamation of many factors - plus of course your personal enjoyment.

And in her tags (because we both include more information in our tags than in our posts) she adds:

The levels that are widely considered bad usually put too much focus on one of the factors you mentioned.

Marble Zone is too slow and linear.

Luminous Forest is too fast and linear.

The Doom and Lost Impact are too labyrinthine.

And so on.

My personal example is Sonic Mania and its progression during the mid-game, from Flying Battery to Mirage Saloon:

Flying Battery is a long level, filled to the brim with speed and emotions, especially during Act 2. After beating the boss, the player is likely going to feeling exhausted after being thrown left and right, and so…

The following level is Press Garden. Act 1 is a relatively closed and relaxed level, but still moving at a reasonable pace. If the player is familiar with the level they can finish it quickly, but they still can take their time appreciating the view of the printing and the machinery of the zone. Act 2 enhances this, with an absolutely lovely view and an active but still relaxed flow…

Then there’s Stardust Speedway, which is divided into two completely opposite acts. Act 1 is a relatively fast level, but very relaxed and almost a Zen-like experience when the player lets himself be carried away by the starry night sky, and with a relative absence of lights or discomfort on the screen (enemies and obstacles aside). Act 2 is the other way around, a largely colorful, explosive, fast level (to the point that I, anything but a speedrunner, managed to finish the level in 31 seconds, 2:10 minutes if you include the fight with Metal Sonic), culminating in one of the longest, most intense bosses in the game that marks the halfway point of the adventure…

After such an exciting journey, the next level is Hydrocity, once again split in half with a calmer, more exploration-oriented Act 1, and an Act 2 that, similarly to the original level, is one of the most adrenaline-filled water levels in the series. The boss is intense as well, but verging on being tedious and not nearly as fast as the level itself…

And finally, Mirage Saloon. Every version of Act 1, regardless of the quality, are there to set up Act 2, a largely open, fast-paced level.

In short, the Mania experience is made of peaks and valleys of emotions and adrenaline, keeping the game to a reasonable pace and with a good dose of speed, exploration and platforming. The player can break the flow anytime to look for Giant Rings and other hidden goodies, and that doesn’t ruin the charm of the level. In the same way, the faster levels require the player to be familiar with them and to know how to platform to get the best results, without giving you free speed like it’s not worth it (looking at you, Advance 2).

Even the worst levels have the chance to redeem themselves, like for example Labyrinth Zone in the “Misfit Pack” Mania mod.

 Breaking the Principles.

When a level or a game breaks the balance for too long, it might become too easy (the infamous “hold right to win”), too boring (the most common argument against Sonic 1 because of levels like Marble Zone and Labyrinth Zone), or too obtuse (the criticism against Sonic CD). The key word is “for too long”, as Beevean already explained how levels that prioritize one thing over the others can still be considered good stages by the majority of the fandom (example: Lava Reef, and I’d add Spring Yard and Final Egg).

As I said before, Mania shows us how there are levels that prioritize certain aspects, but only for a few minutes at a time. Mirage Saloon Act 1 for Sonic and Tails may be a slow, boring level, but it’s only 3 minutes long in a game that lasts 2-4 hours. Same goes for Carnival Night Act 2, a long, tedious level, but that is still a 4-9 minutes long interval before getting back on track with Ice Cap and Launch Base.

3D Sonic is a much more complicated situation, as every game has its pros and cons. Adventure 1 is one of the games that experiments the most with the Principles in a 3D plane, but it breaks the flow of the stages with the plot and hubs worlds to explore (which are pretty divisive even to this day; for the record, on this blog we’re pro hubs). Adventure 2 gets rid of the time-wasting hubs but each character focuses on one Principle at the time: Sonic and Shadow focus almost exclusively on speed with some platforming, Tails and Eggman on action and platforming, and Knuckles and Rouge are all about exploration (and RNG…). Sonic Unleashed does pretty much the same, just reintroducing the hub worlds, while Sonic Generations is at its core a balanced mix of speed, platforming and exploring (plus a much smaller hub between levels), and… well, I think I made myself clear. 3D Sonic is a mess of ideas that orbit around the fundamental Principles, but that for some reason are never kept consistent between games.

Going back to utterly breaking the Principles, there’s one level above all that destroys every one of those extremes, never taking the middle road and without worrying at all about what players might think of it. This level is…

Eggmanland

If Sonic Mania is a clear example of a relatively balanced flow, in its mid-game at least, Eggmanland may be the biggest example of what happens when each and every one of the Principles is taken to its extremes. Let me explain:

Speed: Eggmanland can be both too fast for the player to react, between QTE and super quick jumps that may lead to your death if you’re not fast enough (and you rarely will), or too slow of a slog to navigate (the long Werehog sections).

Platforming: Eggmanland can have too much tricky precision platforming, made even harder due to a lack of a drop shade (the second Werehog section is infamous for this), or it can throw stretches where you do almost nothing but hold X and maybe go through a QTE, which if failed lead to your death once again; at worst you have to wait, which sends us back to our previous point.

Exploration: Eggmanland can be a giant, confusing labyrinth (there is no shortage of stories of player getting lost in this behemoth of a level), and at the same time it can have some long linear room to room progression, separated by doors about as fast as Big the Cat.

I should say that, despite all of this, I love Eggmanland a lot, and same goes for Beevean; but this is something that has to do with what we mentioned before, personal preference. From a technical standpoint, and according to many players, Eggmanland is an absolute nightmare.

Are we misunderstanding Sonic?

Going back to the central topic of this article, I believe that I put enough emphasis on the importance of balance in Sonic, so let’s go back to the previous question: what is the problem?

In short, I disagree with the voices that call for redirecting Sonic towards “fast”, adrenaline-filled stages. These people, with their own retrospective, are doing some sort of revisionism with Sonic levels, automatically branding levels that aren’t as fast as others as “bad”. We’re ignoring the true value of platforming and exploring the levels, and the perception of the character is at risk.

Like Beevean said, looking at Sonic just as “gotta go fast” is, plain and simple, absurd. Sonic is much more than this restless teenager that, just like that movie with the bus, if he doesn’t run at speeds higher than 90 mph his heart will stop. Yes, going fast is a big part of his initial appealing and his way of life (“My stories only end when I stop running”); but when Sonic’s speed is brought up in these discussions, the rest of what makes the character is left outside: how much he admires nature and how much he likes to take a rest every now and then before the next adventure. Sonic OVA, Sonic Adventure, Sonic X and even Sonic Lost World’s ending show that Sonic is not just speed, but also rest, curiosity, exploration. There are even cases where the journey and the friends and memories made along the way are much more important than the destiny itself (Sonic Heroes, Sonic Unleashed), and on several occasions it’s been shown as an actual weakness of the character the fact that he would act recklessly and under the influence of the fateful “gotta go fast”. This aspect of Sonic’s attitude might probably be product of the aggressive marketing campaigns this character endured (ever since the Genesis “Blast Processing”), but it doesn’t tell the whole story, and it’s unacceptable to enforce this line of thought over everything we know about the character.

And to end this long section where I was hinting at one of the most important points of one of the most thoughtful games of the series, let’s not forget that Sonic is pretty aware that everything has a beginning and an end, because that’s the Nature’s way of things and we have to live life at its fullest, for it is finite. Running at top speed is just one of many ways Sonic lives his life, and his eyes will forever be filled, not so much with speed, but with curiosity.

Conclusions

To recap this long article, let’s remember that

Speed, Platforming and Exploration are the three basic Sonic Principles. The momentum in the games comes from the interaction between these elements.

Speed is not something that’s delivered for the sake of being delivered: it usually is a reward or an incentive to keep the player interested, engaged and excited for what’s to come.

Breaking the Principles impacts the experience of the game in many aspects… unless you’re Eggmanland and you’re breaking every single Principle in one level anyway.

To narrow Sonic down to just “speed” is to ignore everything else that this character represents. “Gotta go fast” is a facet of his design and personality, but not the only one.

Starting from this, we can sit down and discuss about “good” and “bad” levels in the series all day long, but I don’t think it’s necessary. Now that we’re about to discover what’s next for the series, I believe it’s important to clarify what Sonic represents in every stage, so that with some luck we can see better consistency and quality in his future adventures.

Speaking of this last point, I just remembered The Geek Critique’s series of Sonic retrospectives, another series of videos that inspired me and I found enlightening. Do you guys remember the videos I linked to at the beginning? Well, it’s time for you to watch them :P (if you want to, of course)

(I’d like to thank Beevean again for suggesting the best examples I could have needed. Seriously, she helped much more than it looks)

What do you guys think? What is the ideal Sonic level, and why? Do you agree that Sonic is much more than a speedy blue hedgehog? In the meantime, we’re hopefully going to see each other very soon. See you next time!

I feel this theme is strangely fitting to conclude this article, lol

~

After the Spanish article was posted, I reblogged with this:

To add something more, I was chatting with a friend of mine who pointed out that, for all the talk in the fandom that we want to see less linear levels, most of the fan favorites are pretty linear - Ice Cap, Speed Highway, City Escape, Rooftop Run… I told him that yeah, linearity isn’t a synonym of bad level design because linear levels can still be enjoyable: with these particular cases, what makes them different from a random Lost Valley is that they have other elements that make them stand out (snowboarding, running down a skyscraper, skateboarding through San Francisco, climbing the Big Ben…). Plus they have something to compensate for the linearity, like fluid platforming.

In the case of Ice Cap and Speed Highway, there’s also a contrast between their halves: IC Act 1 is cramped and heavy on platforming, while Act 2 is much faster and without many obstacles, almost as a reward; Speed Highway starts out as fast and exhiliarating, with little platforming getting in the way of running, but the At Dawn section is a short open space, to let the player catch their breath, to the point that even the music and the aesthetic are much more relaxed. So, as you said, the balance is kept, and when you add a memorable setting and music, you have a great level in your hands.

Thank you @latin-dr-robotnik​ for giving me the permission to post this! I just had to translate this fascinating article to share it with everyone :>

[sorenthestoryteller]

March 7th, 2020 – In Which Soren Tackles how Trusting in God Leads to Happiness and Thankfully Not a Life of Being a Moral Busybody

Trust in the Lord, and do good;     dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.  Delight yourself in the Lord,     and he will give you the desires of your heart.

- Psalm 37:3-4

               One thing to note is that there is a good debate among translators about how verse three should read “cultivate faithfulness” which makes more sense. The way it is as printed “befriend faithfulness” is…an interesting choice of words but ultimately, I think cultivation is easier to understand.

              Fidelity, especially to faith and to a God who rarely is tangible in the ways we would want, takes time to grow.

              Cultivating faithfulness is akin to spiritual formations and practicing spiritual disciplines. It requires months and years to develop the patterns that lead to growth and deepening in faith. This ties in directly with the next verse.

              Verse four is one of the most misunderstood verses, except perhaps the arrogant Evangelical appropriation of 1 Chronicle 7:14, along with the verses used to justify warmongering and the death penalty.

              The mistake people make is focusing on the second part of verse four rather than the first half. This is used by those who follow the Santa Clause idea of God, that by doing good you have good things happen, and good boys and girls will always get what they want. This is a transaction-based relationship that misses the entire point of both the Old and New Testaments.

              Thinking of God as someone we do transactions with and that doing good things means good things will always happen to us is a childish theology. People who subscribe to this are some of those most likely to lose their faith as soon as something traumatic or bad happens.

              There are many aspects of theology I have been reexamining in recent years but ultimately the idea of Scripture is to present how God wants to reconcile with His children. All of it returns to spending time with God, opening ourselves up to the possibilities we need fundamental changes, and meditating on what it means to love and be loved.

              Delighting in the Lord is a strange but beautiful way of saying spending time with God. I think most people cannot conceive of prayer or church services as containing delight. I think this is because most people do not know there is a multitude of ways to spend time with God and make a connection, besides a multitude of ways to have church services that matter to their congregation.

              This may seem like an oxymoron for some, but educational programs in the church should teach critical thinking skills. Paradoxical as some might think it, my taking philosophy courses during my under-grad years helped to give me the framework for rebuilding my faith once the small SBC view got cracked and shattered by the trauma of simply living in the world.

              I do not think it is popular to acknowledge that anybody who lives in the real world will eventually have their faith challenged and have a crisis that will demolish their current worldviews. These are learning moments we should not shy away from; these are opportunities for us to re-examine grace so that we can find and experience the deeper depths of Love that God has for us.

              It is frustrating that pain goes hand in hand with growth, but that is how it happens.

              For anyone who knows the pain I am talking about, there were a few books that helped me in putting my faith and life back together.

 1.) “Traveling Mercies” - Anne Lamott

2.) “Blue Like Jazz” – Donald Miller

3. “Velvet Elvis” – Rob Bell

                 So, how does putting your faith back together lead to the idea of God giving us the desires of our hearts?

              Cultivating and growing faith leads to us desiring what is not simply good, but the best. Sometimes the best requires us to sacrifice short-term desires and wants for something bigger and better.

              God is not a moral busybody.

              He does not want us miserable for its own sake.

              There is a misconception that sexuality, creativity, and the like are somehow not good. That these are things we should not pursue or want or desire. There has been so much damage done to people due to the abuse of purity culture in Evangelical circles.

              Discerning the will of God is somehow both more simple and more complicated than we take for granted. But the effort to find that will is seeking to do things that not only please God but involve us living up to the potential He places in our soul.

              Nothing God created is bad.

              Evil is simply something good that has been twisted into a form beyond recognition.

              Reaching a place where we want to love God more, will result in our goals aligning with Him (especially in ways we never thought possible), putting out gifts into practice and this all coalesce into a joy we have never known.

               I have found this true in my life.

              When I began my faith journey and was later called to ministry, it led to places and joy I never knew was possible. Playing music, writing, and opportunities to help those who felt they were beyond hope… that was not what I would have thought of as joy, but growing up means we must put aside what we think is good to claim the best for our lives.

[toho-literature]

Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red: Pages 163-167 - ZUN Interview

Introduction to "Touhou" Game Design

To accompany this spin-off, along with the upcoming release of Phantasmagoria of Flower View, the kannushi of fantasy, ZUN, will reveal the inner workings of his mind. The goal of this interview was to have ZUN talk about his gaming history and his stance on game systems, as well as to express the concept behind his new game Phantasmagoria of Flower View.

The Philosophy of Establishing the Foundation for a Game World

Interviewer: Today, we will be asking ZUN about the philosophy at the heart of his games. First, may I ask when the first time you played a game was?

ZUN: It was when I was in kindergarten. My parents placed a table arcade machine in their cafe to lighten up the atmosphere. That kindled my interest in games, and during elementary school, the Famicom came out and we bought one right away. When I got a new game, I'd play them with my friends inside and out. But normally I would go outside and catch bugs and stuff, too. I was a normal countryside kid, after all.

Interviewer: What games from back then left an impression on you?

ZUN: Super Mario Bros. left the biggest impression on me. Before then, games didn't scroll, and there were still many games with black backgrounds. But in Super Mario Bros., if you went underground, there was an underground world. If you went above the clouds, there was a world up there, too. All the different places you could go in itself surprised me, and the fact that the music also changed with the setting was impressive. The next impact was from... Street Fighter 2. It was almost like a second revolution. Everyone would play the game, so it was a way to fight without physically hurting each other. The play control was incredible, too. I would put in up to 10,000 yen in a day sometimes. That made my allowance disappear in a flash. (laugh)

Interviewer: In both of these games, what points about the game's system or quality were important?

ZUN: Those games were revolutionary because they had things like different systems from games before them, creating new atmospheres within themselves. Later, people would say stuff like "that game engine was revolutionary" or "the characters had a lot of appeal", but at the time, no one really thought about the individual aspects because they were too busy playing. Games don't become hits because of those kinds of reasons. The systems in those games weren't just the pinnacle of all the games made up to that point, there was also a decisive difference. If I had to put it into words, I would say they "created a new world". Though it's a little different from the usual meaning, let's just go with that. Now to speak about my thoughts on game design, about establishing the foundation for a world. I try to design my games to exist in their own world. At the base of everything is the game world, and I structure the game's genre and system upon that, from which the pictures and music flow. One can feel this establishment as they play the game, so I believe. That's why the game's quality as it is called is just one part of the game, so if you get too obsessed about that, I'm afraid it will lose all meaning as a video game. A lot of people say "the true nature of a game is it's quality, and quality and setting are different things", however, I don't think that they are exclusive concepts, and that they should be thought of as one. If you look at Xevious or Space Invaders, it is obvious that even at that time, games weren't mere collections of symbols. Even the very first video game was only about bouncing a ball back and forth, but even though it was a brand-new way to play it, it was still called Pong. So, the way I see it, this was a "world" that just happened to have nothing but ping-pong. However, even with that theory, if it's not interesting, it probably can't be considered a success. On the other hand, only focusing on the basics isn't interesting either, so it is important to be able to connect both aspects to make a fun game. Based on experience, being able to fine-tune a game's quality or system is unmistakably engaging, but I think that games without that extra coat of paint are mistaken as "genuine". Before it can be played as a game, I think it is very important for it to have its own setting.

Interviewer: Now, when you say "creating a world", that comes with very broad implications, so I imagine there will be many different approaches to establishing a world.

ZUN: Please think of the quality of a setting and how well it is established as different things. For example, take sci-fi worlds or retro worlds. How well they are liked relates to the quality of how the setting is established. On the other side, how well the music and the backgrounds match the setting, how the game controls feel, even up to entering a name for a high score, those are aspects relating to the quality of a certain setting. The way I see it, however you decide to establish a world, you need to decide it on based on the design of the created world. During the establishment of a game, particularly when making characters for the so-called world creation, people make the mistake of saying "This won't have any effect on the game", but even among these same people there are those who say "Because this character is in the game, I hate it." This claim is proof enough that even characters can influence a game. If it truly didn't matter, then the game would be playable no matter what the setting is. This means that the "hate" that is felt is proportional to how much influence the aspect has on the game. Conversely, I admit that there are bad games with well-designed worlds. In Battle Garegga (*1), there was a very charismatic last boss called Black Heart. That is a good example of how a game's design can really make a character appealing. Before his boss appearance, you would see a bunch of smaller Black Hearts come out and do stuff. That was very important.

Interviewer: Is creating a world the same as giving meaning to every individual element in the game?

ZUN: For that, I'd like to talk about CAVE, who have always done a great job in creating their worlds. In Progear (*2), the look of the game changes as time passes from morning to evening, then to night, and when you start the second loop, it's morning again. A simple thing like the flow of time gives a real feeling of "progression". There is a similar effect in Guwange (*3), where it goes from the white color scheme in the town, to the darkness of Hell at the end. The stages flow smoothly, and in addition, it starts out in summer, and goes to fall, winter, and spring. The look of the game's stages have meaning. The player gets absorbed into the world of these kinds of games. In Darius Gaiden too, even though it seems like the most attention was given to its quality, I think the reason for its popularity was the world inside it. The fact is, I was influenced by Darius Gaiden when I made the Touhou games.

Interviewer: Can you give any specific examples of this influence?

ZUN: In Darius Gaiden, there would be boss battles as long as 2/3rds of the stage, and the bosses would have personalities. Another characteristic is that the game would be organized solely to keep things exciting during the middle. Until then, when talking about games, people would only say things like "stage 3 was fun, stage 4 was...", but in Darius Gaiden, there was Octopus and Great Thing, and people could call bosses by name when they talked about the game. It meant that these game symbols were becoming something else. This "change" of turning symbols into characters made its way into Touhou, too. So, the first point of influence is making the games heavily favor boss battles, the second is the "Spell Card" system that tied characters to specific attack patterns, and the third is the result of making bosses no more than mere game symbols obsolete.

Interviewer: So when creating a unique world for a game, it's fundamentally impossible to create something like Touhou with more than one person?

ZUN: That's my opinion. In games where there are many people working on it, even in a best-case scenario, only a few people are working on the game design. As the game nears completion, they have to pull double duty, working on other tasks in addition to design. It's definitely the hardest phase of making a game. For my latest game, Phantasmagoria of Flower View, while I had to ask a few people for help, I was the only one working on it, so it was still largely a solo effort. I think it was best for the game. For Phantasmagoria of Flower View, the theme I made was "enjoyable while playing and after playing". Usually, you may think "playing is fun", and it's exciting to do so, but if playing is all there is, then it's unexpectedly not fun. Music that is enjoyable, an enjoyable world, setting, and characters, and the entire atmosphere. If everything doesn't have that feel-good quality, then it feels bad. To sum it up, if you only focus how it feels to play the game, you won't see anything else.

The Attitude of Doujin Developers Not Focusing on Sales and Continuing to Make Games They Like

ZUN: I would like to say that even if a game doesn't sell very well, it can still be a good game. Making a game sell is a different story, though.

Interviewer: You think that doujin developers are not trying to make their games sell?

ZUN: There's no effort whatsoever. They believe that since they're small outfits, there's no obligation to do so. They'll go on making their own thing, never accepting or even seeking criticism of any kind. As an extension, they won't even care about publicizing their games. No advertising or anything to draw attention to new releases, not even on their own website.

Interviewer: So those developers purposefully isolate themselves?

ZUN: There are instances where they are just so busy it's hard for them to find time to handle PR, but otherwise, I would say yes. However, while it's natural to get inspiration from other works, if you get too caught in being worried what other people will think of your game, that's going to do nothing but hurt your productivity. Of course, I think that in the case of businesses, not caring about a game's reception is a real issue. They should be proactive in getting opinions through people who fill out surveys, fan sites, and other sources.

Interviewer: But in the case of doujin developers, it's better not to do that?

ZUN: Doujin developers are basically mini-businesses, so they should still act like businesses, and always be looking ahead. I think that consumers demand too much from doujin creators, things that are not doujin-like. When you compare the differences between businesses and doujin developers, too many requests and criticisms can wear down on the creator, so the market atrophies as a result. However, in the case of Touhou, its scope is still widening, and there are as many people playing it as there are playing commercial games, so it's gotten to the point where I can't ignore the fans even if I try. That's why those the production side should not be so aloof. That's my general mindset, although I get the feeling I've been a bit cold towards my fans recently. (laugh)

Interviewer: By the way, what programs do you use in the development of the Touhou games?

ZUN: I don't use the software or programs that most doujin developers generally use when I make my games. On my computer, I use my own version of DOS-V, and my development environment is a compiler, Visual Studio. For pictures, it's generally Photoshop, and for music I use Cubase SX, but not Prouse. It was a lot harder for doujin developers to make games 10 years ago. No matter what you made, it took a lot of blood, sweat, and effort. I don't like my expression when I exert a lot of effort so I don't do it very often. (laugh)

Interviewer: Do you have any advice for people who want to make games?

ZUN: I think that people who want to work for a game company and those who want to make games should receive separate advice. First, to those who want to work for a game company, the ratio of people who want to work for a company versus the number who are actually hired is incredibly large, so to stand out, it's important to hone and improve your unique qualities. I presented Touhou to demonstrate mine, but that was because I had to put a considerable amount of effort into it. Also, there are a lot of people who want to work for a game company who go to college or technical school, but because they feel the gap between what they want to do and the regular office work they actually do, almost all of them quit. That may be because they didn't want to make games, just work for a game company. To those who want to make games, you might want to exclusively study that field, but I recommend you go to college and get a regular education. If you can adapt to your surroundings then, you can improve yourself as a person.

Pursuing the Feel-Good Quality for Phantasmagoria of Flower View

Interviewer: The theme for Phantasmagoria of Flower View seems to be very cheerful, being about flowers (laugh). How would you describe it?

ZUN: It's something I've always wanted to make. Phantasmagoria of Flower View is a game I made with the notion of something that you can play casually and still have fun. I would like to think that even those who didn't like the moderately serious settings of the previous games still enjoyed them, but on the other hand, I realize you can't please everyone. The response to the trial version has been positive, though, so I'm actually a little confused. (laugh)

Interviewer: So the music is enjoyable as well?

ZUN: While it's not like the music hasn't been suited for its stages up to now, there were considerable limits. But this time, there is nothing resembling progression within a stage and the only thing that flows is the background. It felt good and because of that reason, I thought I could compose some really beautiful songs. As a song repeats during a game, it gets stuck in your head. By doing away with any forced mid-stage dialog, I didn't have to think about arranging the music around them.

Interviewer: How does the story feel?

ZUN: There are a few tense, interesting parts to it, but it's still a little long so I'm presently fine-tuning it (laugh). This time, each character will have their own ending, so with repeated playthroughs, you can learn all kinds of things about the characters as well as their relationships. If you play through it once, you won't get the whole picture, just as the characters themselves don't fully understand the events that unfold by the end, but that's just another Touhou-like thing about the game.

Interviewer: A versus shmup was unexpected. What was your intention?

ZUN: While I wasn't planning on making a game this year, it's Touhou's 10th anniversary so I thought really, really hard about it. A lot of people are playing the Touhou games now, so I wanted to do something that would get everyone excited... so I intended for this to be a fan-service game and make it like Twinkle Star Sprites. Maybe the people who play Touhou haven't played Twinkle Star, maybe they have. I don't think I'm trying to "compete" with it though. For example, people can only eat so much, so restaurants have to compete with each other by creating their own unique aspects. However, the same isn't true in the case of games. Instead, the thought process is that by creating something good, regardless of source, then everyone who is interested in those kinds of games will also be drawn in. Among shmups, this doesn't necessarily steal a share of the customers, and instead, it's called respect. This kind of synergy increases the whole shmup scene by another level. That's what I'm aiming for.

Interviewer: Finally, I'd like to ask about where you place this book, Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red.

ZUN: This book and the game, Shoot the Bullet have a mutual influence on each other, and I wanted to make something that would give people who already know about Touhou even greater enjoyment. That's why the story of this book is a bunch of interesting news articles about all kinds of things. While I don't think there are THAT many people who play the games, I wanted to give anyone familiar with the series and in-depth, up-close look at it. So I guess I didn't make this book for newbies, but for people who have had at least some experience with it. But if by accident someone new does read this book... they might be surprised. (laugh)

(*1) 1996 Released by Eighting Mechanic brothers challenge a federation in this vertically-scrolling shmup. The player controls a fighter plane.

(*2) 2001 Released by Capcom Young children fight tyranny in propeller-driven planes in this horizontally-scrolling shmup.

(*3) 1999 Released by CAVE Set at the end of the Muromachi period, a trio of shikigami users face a trial in this vertically-scrolling shmup.

(*4) 1994 Released by Taito A horizonally-scrolling shmup, the side story to the original game released by the same company in 1986. Famous for its bosses based around an aquatic creature motif.

(*5) 1995 Released by ADK A very unusual versus-style shmup. On July 28th, 2005, SNK Playmore released a remake called Twinkle Star Sprites ~La Petite Princesse~ for the PlayStation 2.

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

I have complicated feelings towards Cates’ Venom run.

On a fundamental level I refuse to financially support it. Not because of anything to do with him but because I just cannot bring myself to support a Venom anti-hero solo book. Venom should be a Spider-Man villain and nothing more.

You also have the issue of his outright ignoring a lot of established history for Venom.

But this is where things get complicated.

Because he’s a million miles from the first guy to ignore established lore around the symbiotes or their hosts and arbitrarily insert new contradictory stuff. He’s not even one of a select group. The symbiotes are consistent in their inconsistency if anything and Cates in trying to make a lot of those inconsistencies reconcile is actually better than most.

Yet it’s not even that he’s ignoring old continuity. It’s that the new continuity he’s supplanting it with is...good.

That’s the harsh truth of the matter.

He’s reconstructed Eddie Brock in the mode of ‘Venom the solo anti-hero protagonist’* as a more compelling and workable character for the long term future.

His backstory for Brock is immensely more effective than his Lethal Protector backstory because it actually goes all in on Venom being an anti-hero, of being sympathetic and genuinely wanting to protect the innocent. The Lethal Protector backstory was kind of half-hearted in that regard probably because Michelinie didn’t actually agree with making Venom that in the first place.

Cates though, whom I’m willing to bet was a child of the 90s, clearly has a fondness for that era.** More importantly though he is a talented writer who I think recognizes the weaknesses in those stories.

The end result is something that carries a lot of the spirit of those 1990s stories but has better craftsmanship behind them.

I think this is most evident in his revised backstory for the symbiotes compared to Bendis’.

Bendis doesn’t like the symbiotes. Not really. He resisted doing Venom in USM for a while. At best he grew a fondness for his take  on the symbiotes but held little love for what they were during the height of their popularity in the 1990s.

I can understand that. I was a child of the 1990s and even I have mixed feelings towards that stuff.

Bendis’ backstory for the symbiotes I think sought to smooth over their rougher edges, to present them as nice creatures and essentially recontextualized the symbiotes as fans had come to know and love them as mutants to the real symbiotes.

Cates though his origin, whilst still changing how you viewed the symbiotes, changing how you look at them, is tonally and spiritually far more in keeping with how they had come to be defined.

When you think about it the symbiotes as a species was an invention of the 1990s. Yes we figured of course there must be other creatures like the Venom symbiote out there in the universe, but we never saw another one until Carnage showed up. By that point the teeth and tongue look for Venom had also become iconic.

Essentially all symbiotes thereafter modelled their looks and behaviours upon Venom and Carnage.

Which meant there was this very much 1990s, ‘gnarly’ heavy metal element to them. Carnage himself is a heavy metal kind of character, and was before he ever got his symbiote. We see him listening to heavy metal, the climax of his debut story takes place at a heavy metal concert. Maximum Carnage introduces Carnage’s lover Shriek who (from her name, costume and powers) clearly evoked elements of certain heavy metal bands like Kiss.***

When you look at the stuff with Knull, the symbiote dragon, the Vietnam symbiote soldiers, the cult of Carnage (another Manson reference perhaps), a lot of this stuff arguably would be at home on the cover of heavy metal albums.

Cates gets  the symbiotes in this sense. He gets them arguably better than anyone before or since him because he isn’t randomly adding in new elements to them, but has a plan.

Which is why I’ve decided to actually check out...Absolute Carnage.

I cannot promise to cover it on this blog issue by issue...but I will try my best to read it.

P.S. my musical knowledge is laughable so if I’m wrong on anything above or below please do inform me.

*As opposed to Eddie Brock in the mdoes of ‘Venom the villain antagonist to Spidey’, ‘Toxin the villain antagonist to Agent Venom’, ‘Toxin the anti-heroic member of a team of antagonists to Carnage’, ‘Anti-Venom the solo anti-hero protagonist’ or ‘Anti-Venom the anti-hero guest star’

**The fact that he also has committed himself to a Thanos story speaks to this. Thanos fans tend to be children of the 1970s when he debuted and had his first big story, children of the 2010s when he was relevant again due to movies or of the 1990s when he had his most iconic outing in Infinity Gauntlet.

***Carnage, Shriek and their ‘children’ (Demogoblin, Doppelganger and Carrion) during Maximum Carnage were also probably influenced by the cult of the Manson family who themselves were vaguely (in a non-creepy way) influential upon another arguably heavy metal bands like Marilyn Manson and Guns n’ roses who were big in the 1990s.

[ai-da-ice]

[mu-mo] Da-iCE “Kumo wo Nuketa Aozora” Release Special Feature: Common Words Made Unique by Combining Together

──Was the song “Kumo wo Nuketa Aozora” created with a specific theme in mind? Sota: When we decided to release a new single, we all talked and decided upon the concept of creating a song that could be used at a wedding. So this was the song we created from that idea.

── It appears that Sota-san, Taiki-san, and Yudai-san were all involved in working on the lyrics, the first time they’ve done so for a single title song. Sota: The lyrics were originally planned to be entirely what I wrote on my own, but I considered brushing it up along the way.  However, because there wasn’t much time to complete it after the track was decided on and I thought it would be too risky with only one person managing it, I brought Taiki-kun into the process, and Taiki-kun also included Yudai-kun in brushing it up, and the three of us rewrote what I’d come up with. Because the theme of the song was centered on weddings, I first decided on the title “Kumo wo Nuketa Aozora (Blue Sky Through the Clouds)” and began writing from there. When I first listened to the instrumental track, I thought it was an optimistic ballad with a bright tone, so I wanted to make as optimistic of lyrics as possible.

──Where there any unexpected parts when Taiki-san and Yudai-san joined in？ Sota: I didn’t want to change the first three lines of the hook when we talked about it at first, but Yudai-kun explained to me why it would be good to change the 3rd line, and how we could take the song a step further from there. I actually did go ahead and change the lyrics, and personally I think it was good that I did so, because it changed it meaningfully. When I start thinking that I don’t want to change a part, aren’t I just giving up on it? Although I had decided at the time to keep it as it was unless better ideas came out, better lyrics did come out in our discussion, and there was no sense in keeping the concept fixed just for the sake of it. I feel if you have doubts, you’re always better off pursuing it further.

──By the way, what kind of lyrics were in the 3rd line? Sota: Now it’s “shadowed heart illuminated by light,” but initially it was “treating a shadowed heart carefully”.  “A shadowed heart” has a slightly negative image, and when it comes to “treating carefully,” you could be talking about yourself or your loved one, so it’s difficult to pin down exactly who you’re singing the line to. By changing it to brighter phrasing like “illuminated by light,” it made it more fitting to anyone you’re singing to, and the negative image is lessened and brightened up.

──What did everyone else think of this song? Yudai: I was recruited to take a look at this composition with lyrics from various writers,  and I was very interested to see the kinds of words and phrases used, like the curtain imagery related to “morning” and “waking up”. In the central melody, there are lyrics like “your sleepy words when you wake up,” which ties them all together in a unified direction. That melody in the song has a view of the world that matches with the words and also agrees with the one who receives it. Just like Sota, I also responded to the words and curtain imagery that emerged to represent morning, and I think that part of the song is strong. The song’s choreography is also linked to that imagery, and I think those phrases are the most drama-like in the song.

Taiki: I thought the theme Sota first came up with was very interesting. The “blue sky” and “clouds” are old and long-used phrases, but I don’t think anyone has ever used anything quite like “Blue Sky Through the Clouds” before. They’re common words in our language, but made unique by how this phrase combines them together.

Hayate: As soon as I heard this song, the image of everyone crying and smiling when we perform it live was clear in my mind. Although they will be happy tears, I think I’ll probably shed some tears of my own when I’m dancing to it. I liked it straight from the intro.

Toru: Personally, when I first listened to the song, there was a strong sense of sadness and grief, but when the mild lyrics came, my impression of the song changed to what it is now. Gently, it became brighter. The choreography as well will strike you as being tearful if you’re focused only on the dance, but the choreo also becomes more profound. I think the choreography represents all the strength and determination a man pulls together when he enters into marriage.

──So, was there anything in particular you kept in mind since this would be your last single to wrap up the 5th anniversary year？ Sota: When first deciding the theme, since this was our last single of our 5th anniversary year, we also took into account our many fan requests for a Da-iCE "heartwarming, not broken hearted ballad". Because we haven't been singing any of our standard Da-iCE-ish broken hearted ballads recently, we decided to go along with this plan. However, because there have been no songs like "Kumo wo Nuketa Aozora" so far, it was good to be able to put one together. Because it was the last single of the 5th anniversary year, we did think of wrapping it up on a bright note, but just because it’s the 5th anniversary didn’t mean we wanted to to put something in the lyrics to shout out to the fact that it’s our 5th anniversary when we wrote it.

── The coupling song “Refrain” is a different kind of ballad song from the title single, so what kind of impression did it leave on you when you first heard it？

Yudai: I thought it was a really good song. It was heartrending, and at the time I thought that kind of dramatic feeling was very Da-iCE-like (laughs). Sota: This song was actually something we recorded 4 years ago. The same lyricist who wrote “REASON” gave it to us. Although we didn’t decide upon a release date, we decided to complete recording it in the summer of 2014 because we knew we wanted to release it someday. Then, before we knew it, 4 years had already passed…

──Did your voice change from how it was 4 years ago？Did this cause any particular problems？ Yudai: I think the fundamentals of how we sing and our vocal habits didn’t change very much, but I think our nuances, phrasings, etc were a bit younger then compared to now. Our voices themselves… Sota: We’re more polished now. Yudai: Yes, I feel the same. But I don’t want to belittle myself from before. Even listening to it now, on one hand I wonder about who I was at that time and why he’s singing opposite to how I would sing it now, there were moments then that could only exist then, and work I was doing then that only effected me at that time, and what I was able to come up with then or now all comes to down to timing.

──This release also includes the acoustic version of “Kono Kyoku no Sei,” which was originally released in 2015. Please tell us how you decided to do the arrangement. Sota: Starting from the beginning of the year, we tried to sing songs from our past through acoustic or bossa nova versions, but this time we chose “Kono Kyoku no Sei” because it’s one of our most popular live songs, and we chose to arrange it in such a way that everyone would be able to enjoy it even more during our lives.

──The acoustic version features the voices of all five members, but will you also be singing [the regular version] live as five？ Sota: I like that idea, it’s fresh. Until now, there hasn’t been much singing and dancing utilizing all five of us, so I would like to do that kind of thing, and I would like to listen to the performers’ voices on upper paced songs, too. The firepower of the five of us on a dance track would burn down the house.

──But have you two [Hayate and Toru] expressed an interest in singing? Hayate: If I have the opportunity to……(laughs).But I always think when I watch the two vocals that I don’t feel like I can dance while singing like them (laughs). Toru: I enjoyed recording “Kono Kyoku no Sei.” If there’s a demand for me to sing it live, then I will (laughs). Since we perform only what those who listen actually want to hear, I will respond if there’s a demand for it!

──Please tell us what you view as a major point of change when looking back over the past five years, since it’s your fifth anniversary. Sota: I wonder if the catchphrase “Facial Deviation Value of 75” that was associated with us from when we made our major debut was a major point of change (laughs) [basically, “xx deviation value” was a trending way to rank yourself a few years ago in Japan, so it was used as a way to market Da-iCE as a very visually strong boy group]. It may have been good for getting our name out there, we don’t deny that, but at the time, I was really shocked by it. During our indies era, we made as little use of our visuals as possible, and we did not create anything in which our faces would appear such as goods or album photos. We wanted everyone to look at our abilities, to see us not only by our appearance but also because of our music and dance, and we committed to that quite thoroughly. So when we reached our major debut, I was struck by the change and growing need to show our faces all the time. Personally, I was very surprised, so I wonder if that counts as a major point of change for me. Yudai: I started thinking that I didn’t want to go outside at all, at the time. I started hiding my face whenever I was out walking (laughs). Hayate: It was really very surprising. I really wasn’t expecting to be marketed that way (laughs). Sota: Right, right, when I was shown media material before debut, I saw “Facial Deviation Value of 75” written in the small print and asked “What is this?”, I was told “It’s OK, that part won’t appear to the public.” So I checked out my cellphone in the dressing room the day we debuted and something like “Facial Deviation Value of 75 Da-iCE’s Debut” was written and published on the net news (laughs). But there were all those chances for us to be asked about it on TV, and there are so many things to say about being the “Facial Deviation Value of 75 group” whether good or bad, it was almost like a punchline for us. And those around us thought it was a good punchline.

Yudai: But being one of the parties involved in this……(laughs). Sota: As an involved party, we can’t help but feel overvalued…I couldn’t help but laugh when discussion of “company comparison” started, though (laughs). Hayate: At that time, we were constantly using the “Oh, the whole Facial Deviation Value of 75 thing is connected to the company…” excuse (laughs).

Yudai: There was also stuff like“Masochistic Broken Hearted Love Songs to Weep and Cry Hysterically to " Everyone:（Bursts out laughing） Sota: Because of “Mou Ichido Dake”. Yudai: It’s a very good ballad. Sota: When I saw the net news on release day, the phrase “Hysterical crying broken hearted song” appeared, and it was used as a catchphrases even though it had never been shown to us. We couldn’t imagine that song going together with that phrase—it was quite a nice ballad, so we were really surprised by that. Hayate: Originally, the title of that song was different. Sota: "to the lastman" was the original title, and for the sake of making it more marketable and easy to spread, it was decided the title “Mou Ichido Dake” would be a better fit. Taiki: We were trying to build up our fan support at the time.

──Do you have any other impressions？ Taiki: Other than that!? I think we hit on the best points just now (laughs).

──I suppose so（laughs）. Then please tell us what you would like to do in the future. Yudai: We haven’t had any super energetic types of songs in a while, so I’d like to do something danceable. Because the songs we’ve been producing now are mostly ballads, I want to work on something even more upbeat, while still having our ballads on the side menu, of course. Sota: I guess it’s because recently we haven’t been producing any upbeat kinds of songs that our audience enjoys just listening to, like “Everybody,” “Paradive,” or “Hush Hush”. Taiki: The crazy kinds (laughs).

──Since Da-iCE is currently on tour, please share your thoughts about your remaining performances. Yudai: We’re already at the halfway point, and it feels like it came too quickly. There are usually very few other live performances we do while touring, but this year we also came out for school festivals and have been recording new songs. While I think we’ve had more exposure to opportunities to perform music than usual, we can still deliver our tour performances well and at a greater level, and we’re having fun while doing it. I want to keep on speeding forward from here. Sota: As far as the tour is concerned, we wanted to try new things this time, so I will reflect on each performance and steadily increase the quality each time I perform based on what I learned. It would make me happy if people came to see us again to witness how we grew in such a short period of time.

​

​[trans credit: ai-da-ice]

[mademoisellempala-blog]

In the past weeks and months I have been thinking a lot in the midst of entering a new age. I have been hesitant to write this mostly for the reason because I don’t see myself in a place of wisdom yet to be able to share profound things I have learned throughout my short life on this planet. But it is through recent conversations and events that I have felt the need to write about something that is so vital to life itself and my journey for this whole year. I have realised to have reached an age where I’m asking myself more questions about life, its meaning and purpose overall since I’m still figuring out all this while taking each day at a time. We all go through life lessons and circumstances that strengthens or weakens us but most importantly what I figured is how we decide to go on about them. Making decisions and having the possibility of choice is a powerful tool I am learning to use in order to build and shape a life that I really want for myself and I consider worth living. In this regard there are many different aspects of life I learned which are crucial.

Live with integrity and conviction

I have learned that conviction or strong beliefs in something is important to live a full and purposeful life. When you know what you stand for and what you believe in, it is easier to go through life because you won’t be drifting where the wind takes you. Conviction helps you to stand firm to your beliefs and stay true to yourself. In a world of many information and noises, it can be difficult to know what one stands for because one doesn’t want to offend others with an opinion that appear critical in the eyes of an other. But we cannot go through life trying to shape our beliefs depending on who is in front of us and change our views to please others. I realised about myself that I grew up being a people’s pleaser and was doing just that and at some point realised I didn’t know who I was or what I even stand for because I didn’t want to be disliked, so I changed with my surroundings and environment. I believe that having core beliefs of what is right and wrong are fundamental to live a life of integrity that should first of all please you. Because without integrity, compromise of your own values will become common. So every day I try to live full of conviction in what I believe no matter if someone agrees with it or not. And yes, the emphasis is on try, because it’s something that needs to be developed innit?

What you consume, you become

This is something I learned to appreciate and accept throughout the past year. It’s a great realisation that my view of the world can be dramatically shaped by what I consume. Be it opinions of people, news, movies, shows, music, social media or vibes. Being informed and up-to-dated about what happens in the world is not only important but I find a necessity to live because political, societal and economic events affect our everyday life whether we like it or not. At the same time, the news is ever more negatively loaded with pessimism and end-of-the-world thoughts. If that’s the only thing I consumed, my world would be shaped by hopelessness and despair. The same goes for the other things we consume on a daily basis; this is to say that the more things we watch, read, or talk about are filled with hope and expectation, that’s when our perspective on this world can change drastically. When I catch myself reacting a certain way to a situation, I think of what I have been filling my spirit with during the day or in the past weeks because it turns out that it is those things that manifest. What comes out of you, words and behavior, is the result of what is inside of you. Therefore, I am not just concerned about what I say or how I behave but most importantly with what is inside of me since ultimately it is that what is going to come out of me. Being filled with hatred, anger and comparison is not going to bring out love, patience and peace – it’s just as simple as that. There is this popular saying from commercials that say “start your day right” and there is so much truth in it because the first things one does in the morning determine the course of the day. Taking time in the morning to relax, pray or meditate for a few minutes instead of rushing to my phone and check the newest posts on social media and news-outlets has had a tremendous impact in going with a positive mindset into the day.

Know the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’

Not too long ago I have started to become more critical about what I do as my choice of studies, professions and other activities. I want to be sure that I’m doing things for the right reasons with no ulterior motives. I don’t want to be doing things just for the sake of doing them or ‘because that is what everybody else is doing’ or because of long traditions that say ‘this is the way we have always been doing things’. In the journey of discovering my purpose, I want to have purpose in everything I do that contributes to my growth and the person I am. However, this is not to say that I have my life is completely planned out and I’m not ready for spontaneous nonsense because these are also part of living in the moment. I guess what I’m trying to say is not to settle for less than what I know is out there for me and be critical of my decisions to not pursue things (degrees, jobs, careers, activities etc.) for the wrong reason. It is how, especially this year, I started things and found myself quitting on them because I afterwards realized that it didn’t bring me peace since the reason behind me doing them were not the right ones.  

Set boundaries

This is something I’m still learning every day to set boundaries of what I can/should/want to tolerate because I feel there are people out there who don’t respect boundaries or whatsoever. So, having conviction of what you want in your life and don’t want is key to not accept everything that makes you uncomfortable. Drawing the line is for you and not against another human being because you’re the one living in your reality and knows best what you can take in and what you cannot accept. Now I have decided what I want and everything that isn’t it, I say ‘no’ to them.

Not everyone can have a seat on your table

As painful and hurting as it can be, it is true that with life moving on, not everyone can move with us into our future. Sometimes we try to hold on to friendships because we’ve been friends for so long and grew up together, but ways go apart and life directions do too. Therefore, it’s fine when the seats at your table consists of only a few numbers of people who love and support you in your decisions and dreams. Not everyone can understand your dreams and thus will not be supportive and it’s ok because the few people who are left will always be more than enough. I’m not a fan of Drake’s lyrics saying “no new friends…” because it’s a narrow and unhealthy way of viewing the world and relationships because true friendship is not defined by the number of years you’ve known each other but the quality of time when you spend with the people. And truly quality doesn’t come in numbers..

Make a decision

Decisions, decisions. Indecision is a peace killer… It is important to make decisions just for the sake of peace. If you don’t sort the trap of indecision you will live in constant imprisonment to your own indecision. Often times I find myself in situations where I seem not to be able to make a concrete decision between choices. I figured I have put myself in such situations and created them even though deep down I exactly knew what I wanted. And that initial feeling is most of the times the one we lean towards to. Because a lot of times we are making up stuff and creating room for indecision and call them options. Having options is a luxury and nothing bad but pretending to have options that are overwhelming and take away your peace, is surely not the best option neither.

Travel alone at least once

This year I had the dream to travel solo around the East Coast of the USA. It was the first time I travelled alone for a longer period of time where I could just do what me, myself and I desired to with no consideration or regard for someone else. And it was AWESOME! Travelling by yourself is one of the greatest growing experience a person can have because you learn more about yourself by spending time with you and rely on only you and no other person. I enjoyed going to parks and read a book while lying on fresh-cut grass with marvelous city views. I loved waking up when I felt like it and start the day off by having brunch or breakfast, or just eat a fruit on my way to a museum to then have amazing lunch from the food truck afterwards. Taking walks in big cities not knowing where I was going was very adventurous. I love doing nothing in pretty Cafés and enjoy my solitude (not loneliness because there is a big difference), I loved going out for dinner at restaurants I discovered around the corner when going for a walk and attending poetry nights in the mind-blowing city of New York. It’s the most refreshing and deliberating feeling since you are the only person you have to spend time with for the rest of your life; so you might as well like spending time with yourself, right?

Document your journey

Now this is just for those of us who want to grow personally and see change in our character. Although we as humans are naturally made to continually evolve and grow, some are comfortable staying the same, which is fine because everyone makes their own decisions, right? At the beginning of the year I started to document my journey weekly, sometimes daily or monthly to affirm myself of my growth. It’s also a nice way of keeping track of what one has experienced and can always go back and read about it because I tend to forget quickly what I did even two days ago haha. It helps remember different experiences that happened and reminisce back. Anyways, I find it helpful to see that I’m not the same person today I was a few months ago and that I have gotten to a different place mentally and spiritually.

Enjoy the journey of becoming

I’m learning this patiently every day that it is not about the destination of where I want to be in life but the journey to that is as important as the goal. Having this mindset also shifts the way I perceive happiness, disappointments, good news and defeat. It becomes relative when I’m aware that individual incidents don’t determine my path or the person I am.

Don’t do it alone

Life is not meant to be lived alone no matter if it’s a happy life or a life filled with hardships. I may be more of an introvert person who enjoyyy her alone time more than group hang sessions. But I don’t take them for granted neither – because friendships are precious, and we should cherish the once who are strengthening us in life. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness but strength because one acknowledges the limits of one’s power. Living in a western-cultured society that puts the individual in the centre of success and defeat implies that everything that I have ever achieved is because of me, myself and I. But in reality, no human being can ‘make it’ with their own effort since from the moment we are born and in our infant ages our simple survival depends on the people who nourish, protect, and take care of us.

Be more self-reflective

I guess this post is a way for me to reflect on what I have learned especially this past year and take it to where I want to progress in life. I try to be more critical of my views and perspective while also not being too hard on myself when I don’t figure something out right away. I am more open to correction and new learning experiences because I will never reach a level of complete knowledge. I’m still learning to be more empathetic toward others and understand their point of view by accepting the reality of opposing views.

Surround yourself with positivity

This! This is so crucial for when you want to live a positive-filled life. One need to like what one does, and one needs to have a positive environment. That’s why choosing the right people in your circle and what you consume, as mentioned above, are essential if you want to have a positive world surrounding you.

Soo this ended up being more than I actually wanted to write but if you’ve made it to the end, kudos to you & thank youuu!

xx

    TWENTY-FIVE In the past weeks and months I have been thinking a lot in the midst of entering a new age.

[junker-town]

Fighting in the Age of Loneliness, supercut edition: A conversation with Felix and Jon

Secret Base is re-releasing our MMA documentary series as a single cut. Here’s a talk between its creators, Felix Biederman and Jon Bois.

Secret Base now has one million subscribers on YouTube. It’s a big moment for us, and it’s a testament to all the ambition, creativity and years of hard work put in by our team: Alex Rubenstein, Clara Morris, Graham MacAree, Jiazhen Zhang, Joe Ali, Jon Bois, Kofie Yeboah, Mike Das, Phil Pasternak, Ryan Simmons, Seth Rosenthal, and Will Buikema.

Out of appreciation for our viewers, we’ve decided to re-release our 2018 documentary series, Fighting in the Age of Loneliness, as a single two-hour video. Jon spent years working with Felix Biederman of Chapo Trap House fame to tell a story of mixed martial arts, sketchy business dealings, power-hungry families, the fading of American empire, and the refuge offered to us by our weird, stupid, beloved bloodsport.

Jon and Felix also took the occasion to have a long talk about what the project means to us two years later. It was a free-flowing conversation that sort of went where it went. We hope you enjoy.

Jon: I’ve been on the internet making all kinds of different shit for a really long time, and two years down the road, Fighting in the Age of Loneliness is one of the things i’m very proudest of. One reason it was such an interesting experience for me is that tonally, it’s just so different from other things I tend to make. It’s fundamentally a bittersweet story and it refuses to forecast a happy ending. It’s honest until it hurts.

I know you grew up watching MMA, and you’d wanted to make a large-scale MMA project for quite some time. Was there a specific point at which it stopped being merely a fun Saturday night for you, and you started to notice the erosion of the things that made it so special? Did it go hand-in-hand with you growing up and beginning to see the world for what it is? I’d be really interested to hear how and when you arrived at this place.

Felix: First of all, I want to say that FITAOL is the sort of thing I have dreamed of making since before I ever knew I’d work in media. It was a distant glimmer and I would never have been able to do it with anyone else. The way it looked and felt outpaced even what I had imagined something like it would feel like as a kid.

As for MMA, I didn’t notice the decline until I was in my early- to mid-twenties. Maybe there’s something to be said about the final parts of your childhood now dying around that time nowadays as opposed to earlier. I definitely became more prone to noticing seedier, more depressing, hollow aspects of things I enjoyed, but it was something more than that. There are tons of things I love that I now see the darker aspects of, but I’ve never gone from full obsessive mania to not touching it like [I have with MMA]. Or at least not as an adult. I knew everything, every fight, every event, who left which training camp, whose manager is an asshole, etc. I didn’t go from that to not watching instantly, though.

I think the moment my enjoyment declined too much for me to love it was 2016. I had more responsibilities and worked a ton that year, but to put it bluntly, I developed a life. I don’t think I really had one as a 22-year-old, and suddenly it felt like I had been dropped one from the sky. That’s never gotten in the way of me getting obsessive about things and drawing a singular focus, but in this case I had started missing fights I never would have and not really missing them. There was nothing drawing me back. If you can maintain an interest, hobby, obsession, or mania in a time of new meaning and excitement, there’s something at the core of it that’s radiating out to you on a very deep level. MMA did not have that for me anymore. I felt like that core had been hollowed out and it took me a while to figure out why.

Jon: You know, I think there’s something singular and special about that age you’re talking about, somewhere around like 20. A lot of parts of your life and things you always believed kinda melt off and float away. At the same time, the “rest of your life” – maybe not in everyone’s case, but in mine and by the sound of it yours – hasn’t started yet. So you’re left in this sort of twilight where you’re just sort of there, trying to make it day to day and clinging to whatever resonates with you. Despite all the confusion and indirection, while I’m glad I’m no longer there, I do get very nostalgic about it. It was this age of time-wasting, aimlessness and stupidity, and at the time it never dawned on me that I should cherish it, that it’s something I’d never experience again.

That was a time I thought about a lot as I started reviewing your script, actually. In most of the chapters you slotted in an interlude that painted a picture of the sorts of people this resonated with. People who were forgotten and rudderless in one way or another, and took refuge in a thing that was so unique and tasteless and off-the-path that it could feel like it was theirs. That was the case with me. Although my appreciation of MMA was much more casual than yours, it picked me like a lock. I was just like, so much of the shit I thought I was supposed to care about doesn’t make sense to me. But this does, perfectly.

We’ve talked about this a little before, but the thing about this I’m proudest of is its determination to try and capture that lonely, disjointed, forgotten feeling that countless people around our age experienced (and still do!), but is virtually never talked about. I mean, this isn’t new. Every previous generation has 900 million pieces of media documenting what it was like to be them. While each one is no more or less important than the next, each is different and shaped by different conditions. I don’t know if you wanna venture a guess. Do you think future generations are in for more of what we were in for, but worse? Can you imagine a realistic possibility that things will get better?

Felix: When I think about coming generations, I think about what Jarvis Cocker says in “Common People”: “you’ll never watch your life slide out of view.”

It’s a gut-wrenching line in a song that’s musically upbeat. It hits at something very deep emotionally with me that I could never put into words. That’s exactly it: peoples’ lives just fall out of the collective field of vision. They’re forced to live at the periphery of everyone’s vision. They’re UberEats guys or they wipe down the aisles at CVS every 15 minutes, or they’re the saving someone else’s place in line for a COVID test.

The next generations will have a few carefully-doled-out seven-figure futures, and then a fleeting and tenuous middle class that is only defined as economic “freedom from” and not “freedom to.” Your purchasing power is shit compared to your parents, you’re going to live like a bug in a major city or in a new construction monstrosity that’s built to collapse on itself, and you have fewer family and friends every year.

Your dream of having someone you love and somebody that loves you, much less bringing someone new into this world, seems like more of a distant fantasy every day. But you’re the person ordering the food on the delivery app. You’re the guy who those CVS workers make way for when you sadly waddle down the aisle. Aren’t you glad you’re not those people who you only ever see in the corner of your eye? And that’s where everyone else will be: increasingly invisible. They’ll leave your food at your doorstep and be penalized at work if you make eye contact with them. They’ll bring you pallets of agribusiness-grown chemical bullshit that makes you feel sick and fucking miserable all the time. Your greatest fear on that middle class iceberg will be drifting off and becoming someone who does not exist to people like you, and it will keep you in line.

I don’t know how that changes. I don’t think anyone currently holding federal office gives a shit about those people or even putting their finger in the dam to momentarily pause the constant degradation and pain most people in this country feel that you never hear about. I don’t know what the path out is.

Jon: I don’t know either. I’m an optimist by choice because being that way makes me happier and motivates me to make whatever infinitesimal speck of difference i can make. It’s like religion. I can’t justify it, I can’t tell you you should be, it’s just the way i choose to be. One thing i’m fairly sure of is that if it gets better, it’ll happen over a long, long span of time, in increments usually too small to collectively celebrate, and so slowly that neither of us will ever really see it. It’ll be as imperceptible as Jarvis Cocker described. The small, illusory prize of seeing Bernie lose, for instance, is the fantasy that we were THIS close to getting on the right course, that we’re only a few breaks away from pulling the switch and rolling down another track.

And since it happens so slowly, we can’t let ourselves be driven to agony. I mean, we can, but we’ve only got one of these lives. We have to have things that make us happy, even if the avenues toward those things grow narrower, and even though the very nature of community crumbles and sends us seeping between the floorboards looking for it.

I remember during the aughts, when I was first trying to work my way into sports media, the popular line among the cool kids was that things like sports are a distraction that monopolizes peoples’ attention and energy that otherwise would go into enacting real political change. But things like sports are the fucking point! MMA, or learning how to play the lap steel, or thrift fashion, or Counter-Strike, or Scrubs fan fiction, or whatever in the world it is for you. That’s what you’re fighting for, if you’re fighting. Every hour you get to spend in that world is your victory against all this. Maybe it is the bread-and-circus shit that every guy on an aughts forum with a name like TheChortlingAtheist or whatever said it was. Maybe it is. But what exactly would we ask? Can you blame them? What the fuck else would you suggest, annoying guy i remember?

Felix: That’s exactly it. There’s this thing that happens when people get monkeys as pets: they go insane from a lack of enrichment and play (as well as not being around other monkeys). They never learn how to be a monkey. They’re just naked and vulnerable to the world because all they can do is hit the button or make the face that makes their owner give them food. That’s all their life is and it’s fucking miserable and terrifying. Sports isn’t the thing you strip away and then find meaning. It’s part of the palette we color our lives with. It’s the only way left we have to describe certain things.

I think it’s interesting, that for however highly Americans poll on the military on paper, the military feels it absolutely must have this massive presence at American sporting events. That for all the polling, no American recognizes someone from the joint chiefs of staff or the ranks of SEAL Team Six like they do someone from the NFL or NBA. I think people reflexively say they worship the military in this country, but they clearly don’t seem to believe we have any war heroes. We haven’t made any of them celebrities in a long time. We fundamentally don’t believe our wars are heroic. Our actions show we think our athletes are. That’s the thing actually giving our lives enrichment and color.

How to channel that, I don’t know. Maybe our Napoleon is at Michigan or Clemson right now. If we ever have a highly transformational single ruler who washes out the old, it will be an athlete.

Jon: RIGHT! It’s in sports where we find some of the most pure, honest expressions of humanity. To borrow one of my favorite lines of yours from the series, nothing about it lies to you. It’s so intensely expressive in ways people can almost never achieve even when we script it. I think about this moment a lot:

Looking at this, you’d never know the Astros would win the next game and go to the World Series for the first time ever. A stadium full of people is losing their shit, Pujols hits a ball 700 miles, and in an instant, the entire place sounds like a shopping mall. There’s no lesson in it, there’s no narrative arc, there’s nothing being sold, no message sent. It’s just 50,000 people having their hearts ripped out. You’ll never see a more essentially human moment. Give me times like those over every TV show i’ve ever seen.

I’d love to say the military’s days of polling high are numbered, that younger people are beginning to see things for what they are. But hell, however old you are, odds are that either Vietnam or Iraq shaped your upbringing and understanding of the world in some way, and apparently that’s failed to sufficiently register. Once again, everything progresses so slowly and silently that maybe it’s just a foregone conclusion that most of us come to accept it.

I gotta reference the Civilization games here. The start of a Civ game is a hell of a time. You’re exploring the world, discovering things, introducing new technologies, building all over the place. then you start waging war as a colonizing piece of shit, and that’s a great time. After a healthy amount of that, Brazil invades and burns down half your cities, and you spend the next 700 years plotting revenge. And one day you strike back and take that revenge, and it’s so satisfying. It feels like it should be good times from there on out, but to your surprise, the late game is incredibly dull and lifeless. All you’re doing is researching how to build fighter jets and bombers. You hunker down, and you stop giving a shit about whether all your cities have enough food. All you’re doing is selecting a stealth bomber, scrolling across the map, bombing Barcelona. Then you scroll back to Philadelphia, select another bomber, bomb Barcelona again. This is all you’re doing now. You don’t even know why you’re playing anymore. You just keep doing it because that’s all there is to do.

Then sometimes you’ll scroll around and notice some ancient unit you forgot you had. Like a spearman or something you left on a far-flung part of the map in 400 A.D. and forgot about. You could disband the unit, but you don’t. You could send him to bum-rush a helicopter unit and get destroyed, but you don’t. Because you care about him. He’s all that’s left about what you once loved about all this, back when you at least thought you knew why you were doing what you were doing.

Felix: I think we’re headed in this strange fragmented direction none of us can quite place. Very few people want to admit that this is the end, the beginning of an imperial unraveling. I see all these debates over whether China is communist or not, whether they’re the fucking Third Reich or something ridiculous, or they’re the saviors of humanity. They all miss this very basic fact: China overcoming mass poverty on a scale we’ve never seen, China modernizing on the timeline and scale that it has, is the only generational human accomplishment of the last 30 years. That’s it. That’s the only thing anyone actually remembers in one thousand years if we’re still here.

They’re the only nation that has done anything at all. The United States, European Union, India, no one has any equivalent accomplishments. Oh, uninterrupted peace in Europe? Shut up! No one gives a fuck! You’d have to dig deep for something one one-hundredth as impressive.

In America, though, you never hear about it. You never hear about how they’re fucking spitting in each other’s mouths at water parks while we’re toiling in the slush. And you know what? I don’t care if more people died than what they said. I know nations lie, blah blah blah. The simple fact is that we’re squirming around in the mud while they are living in the present and that’s an unmistakable fact. Sorry. We may have the capability to kill some people and knock some governments over still, but we’re done. We’re revealed as pathetic. No one is actually afraid of us. So what happens next?

The one thing working in the military’s favor is that they’re the only institution with the resources and manpower to assume control and/or fight current oligarchical powers if it came to that, but I don’t know if the military will have the same emotional powers in people’s minds then. It may leave a different taste in people’s mouths if there start to be falls of Saigon every day. Maybe that happens under a Mike Lindell presidency in 12 years. We’re dragged kicking and screaming out of the world. We never acknowledged our time was up. That’s certainly the direction we’re heading in as Biden drools out something approximating “we’re going to restore global leadership.”

MyPillow / YouTube

Jon: In high school I was annoyed by this dude I knew who liked to go on about how America was in a state of decline. He was also a guy who signed his homework as Tyler Durden, but 20 years down the road, can you argue with him? I’m glad we talked about Hurricane Katrina in the series, because that wasn’t an aberration. It’s all Katrina. Sometimes it manifests loudly, like it does with this pandemic, but most of the time it happens completely silently. Someone sitting in Rikers for years without a trial. A $45,000 medical bill sitting on a kitchen counter. Whatever we collectively thought this was is long gone if it was ever here at all.

I’m watching an NFL game at the moment and it feels just like 1996. Aside from flipping on an old movie, sports might be the only thing that can do that for me. The material realities of our world completely evaporate there. Colin Kaepernick was blackballed from the league in his prime and the league’s owners knew they would never have to admit why. The moment it seemed like NBA players were on the precipice of the most radical labor action we’d seen in ages, it was whittled down to something compatible. Granted, they are stenciling END RACISM behind the end zones now. But it just dries up here, and a consequence of that is that we get this world that sort of exists outside of time. It’s our constant. It’s like you said: that’s where our heroes are, that’s what captures our imagination.

There’s no prescription I feel qualified to offer for any of this. Fighting in the Age of Loneliness doesn’t really either! We ended it with, keep fighting, keep putting one foot in front of the other, the only way out is through. But ultimately, a lot of this project’s ambitions lied in simply acknowledging the feeling of living in a time that we argue is unquestionably an era of American decline. Nobody wants to try to tell that story, and understandably so. It wasn’t us because we’re so smart or insightful or brave or whatever the hell. We just got a chance to try to tell it through Google Earth, iMovie, and inconsistent audio leveling on YouTube, the world’s most prestigious and important platform. As with any project that’s a couple years old, I’ll sometimes see something and wish I’d done it better or cleaner. That’s inevitable. But damn if it isn’t one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever worked on. It was fantastic to be able to make this with you, man. Maybe we’ll do it again someday.

Felix: Every day I have to remind myself that we did this. It doesn’t seem like something I really got to do because it’s so completely our own. I could not have written this with anyone else. Whatever happens, whether we’re just the next Turks or Brits, sad crusts of a water pie, a former imperial core driven insane by the frontier we created, whether we live in a Chinese century or the next power is some unexpected axis, or maybe even something good happens, I hope we can do this again.

[anyasmith]

music cultures and economics assignment

opinion piece: is pop music original?

whenever i hear a song for the first time first, i naturally assume it is original and fresh from the artists’ mind. but how can this really be the case? with more than 97 million songs in the world, surely, it’s unlikely that each song is truly original. how could they not have been influenced by others that came before? how can they be unique without any crossovers and links to other songs? how can they all be truly original in structure, lyric and concept?

as a music rep in my old school, i often helped out in music classes, supporting children learning the blues, rhythm and witnessing fist-hand their experiences with new instruments and genres. one particular session left a lasting impression on my mind. we were teaching a series of lessons investigating the 4 main chord of pop music today, specifically how the songs in the charts can easily be mashed up. we watched a youtube video by the axis of awesome which has a medley of 36 songs, featuring songs from artists such as rhianna and train, all over the same 4 chords; C, G, Am, F. the aim of the lesson was to get the children to consider the question ‘is pop music too basic?’. by the end of the lesson, i too, was asking the same question! just by repeating the 4 chords, the axis of awesome could play a myriad of tracks, suggesting songs cannot be as original as i had first thought.

adorno’s belief on structure supports the idea that pop songs are not original. he believed that every pop song all followed the same basic song formula, and this is what made them standardised. being able to merge (or mash-up) popular songs together over only 4 chords, shows the underlying structure of the pieces are the same and therefore not original. adorno also believed that listeners were largely unaware of the similarity between the songs, engendering a feeling of security and reassured as nothing was unexpected. this could suggest why there are so many songs with the same basic structure and why they can all fit into one another so cleanly.

i am inclined to agree with adorno regarding music making listeners feel secure. i remember clearly an experience i had during a concert that i played in. a guest musician, roland taylor, was performing a new piece he recently had written. the concert which was being held in a church and had followed, until the point of taylor’s performance, a familiar ‘churchy’ style with uplifting melodies and haunting instrumental sections. taylor performed and the audience began to look a little bewildered and confused. taylor describes his style as ‘post-minimalist’, a style that was unfamiliar to the audience and as a result they are not keen. there was none of the expected rhythms and reassuring nuance which they had been enjoying. at the time, i thought it was definitely an original piece but having recently looked at taylor’s bio, i see that even he, with his extraordinary compositions, lists specific artists, early music, jazz and bach as being among his influences suggesting that even music which is nothing like we have previously experienced must have its roots in what has come before.

music for many is a creative outlet. whether its lyrics from the heart or a solo flute sighing its way through the piece, music is often a way for an artist to release their feelings. mac miller, for example, poured his heart out in the album ‘circles’. this was released after he died but shows how he was feeling before he passed and the thoughts he had at that point in his life. the song ‘good news’ especially shows how he was feeling at the time before his death and sounds like a cry for help. surely this is original as it’s his own thoughts and from his own experiences? i like this album as i can relate to some of the lyrics and makes me think about what others feel. however, i question whether this means that the piece becomes unoriginal as the listeners may begin to be influenced to feel the same emotion as the songwriter and therefore making the song standardised? i don’t fully believe this is the case as the song allows us to feel the emotions the artists want us to evoke. it also allows us to connect on a different level with the artist, with each listener creates their own unique connection according to their own feelings and circumstances.  

different genres of music have different standard structures that set them apart from each other, but which keeps them musically indifferent within their own genre. for example, blues music typically has the same features of 12-bar blues and a walking bass whilst rock music typically features an electric guitar and male vocals. adorno believed that popular music contains certain elements such as a verse or chorus which can be changed without affecting the piece. he believed that even if the chords behind the basic structure of the verse are different or the different rock riff is changed, for example, the overall piece is structurally the same and therefore standardised.

new improvements in technology have fuelled franchising and turned music into a product. music has developed quickly over a short space of time and now can be accessed by a larger demographic. music, today, is distributed on a mass scale on sites such as spotify and apple music, enabling music to be found at the drop of a hat. this easy access has allowed music production to be accelerated. technology has also been created to cater to our specific taste and preferences. for example, i frequently listen to rex orange county and as a result, apple music creates playlists for me with work by similar artists so i can discover more music in that style, which i will likely enjoy. while such services could be deemed useful, they accelerate the rate of music distribution and thus, arguably, eliminating the need for originality.

adorno believes that mass-production is yet another reason why music has become unoriginal and standardised. ‘new’ music is often heard by many different people before it ends up as a product, producer, record label etc. this process can lead to the originality of the artist to become lost, as often the process of producing the song can change the fundamental originality of it in order to turn it into a marketable product. creativity and new concepts become obsolete.

adorno believes that although such “industrial” music production and distribution is making music standardised, the product is still individualistic in certain social aspects, such as lady gaga’s whacky fashion choices. lady gaga is a well-known figure within the music industry and has produced 6 albums all in different genres. while she maybe creatively exploring the different genres, i can’t help but feel like it’s a clever marketing ploy used to reach a larger demographic and therefore earning more royalties. this supports the argument that music is now a product which can be standardised rather than an artform used to express originality of thought and talent.

so, I am left with the question: is popular music original?  i agree with adorno’s view that pop music is unoriginal due to its similar structure. the fact that axis of awesome found 36 songs (and probably plenty more now) that fit so cleanly with one another, cannot just be down to a fluke. there must be a basic song formula that they all follow they are unoriginal. i also agree that mass-production, aided by advancements in technology, is increasing unoriginality within the music industry as music becomes more as a marketable good seeking for the new markets and demographics. however, music is full of raw emotions shared by the artist to the listener. the individual element and personalisation of such outpouring certainly cannot be standardised and with hundreds of new genres that are completely different from one another that ‘popular music’ had become so broad, it’s hard to standardise. i personally don’t believe we will ever know if all music is truly original, but let’s hope that at least some of is!

word count: 1,362

academic piece: to what extent is pop music standardised?

pop music, according to shuker 2013, “defies precise, straightforward definition [since] the criteria for what counts as popular, and their application to specific musical styles and genres, are open to considerable debate” (shuker 2013, p. 5).  for the purpose of this essay, the definition of popular music is ‘music that is ‘popular’ in the sense of being ‘of the people’, i.e., music that belongs to ordinary people and expresses their interests and concerns (wall, 2013 p. 175).

whilst it is difficult to state with absolute certainty whether popular music is standardised or not and indeed there are several credible arguments for both sides of the debate, it can be argued that, to a large extent, pop music is standardised as it broadly follows the same basic song formula. theodor w. adorno is a german philosopher, musicologist and composer best known for his critical theory of society and states “best known is the rule that the chorus consists of thirty-two bars and that the range is limited to one octave and one note.” (1941) this suggests that every song has been written based on this statement and using the same formula. if this is true, it may be one explanation as to why pop music is so commonly listened to; the listener is comforted by the repeated structure and enjoys the familiarity of the songs. adorno further supports this idea when he says, “the listener can supply the "framework" automatically, since it is a mere musical automatism itself” (1941). this shows that not only is pop music standardised within the same structure but the listener. although it could be conversely be argued that pop music can’t be standardised as there are so many sub-genres of music. adorno counters his hypothesis in his essay ‘on popular music’ where he states that the listeners, regardless of the song, still stays “openly connected with the underlying scheme”, which is the basic pop formula. therefore, ‘the listeners always feel on the safe ground’ as they are familiar with the structure and the basic formula that makes up popular music.

another argument which gives weight to the idea of pop music being standardised is pseudo-individualisation. pseudo-individualisation directly translates to the ‘illusion of choice’ and is “the standardization of cultural production and of audience reaction to contemporary culture.” (o’brien and szeman, 2017, p 120). adorno states that “by pseudo-individualisation we mean endowing cultural mass production with the halo of free choice or open market on the basis of standardisation itself." (1941) this suggests that artists now are referred to as cultural goods and therefore standardised as they become a product. hains reinforces this idea when he states that “sameness is disguised by product design and marketing techniques which present the illusion of freedom and choice” (2018), meaning that disguising the artist through marketing and production design makes the listener forget that the music is standardised, so the music becomes a product rather than a creative concept and the artists are tuned into idols rather than individuals. a clear example of pseudo-individualisation is with benny goodman and guy lombardo, both are mentioned by name in adorno’s ‘on popular music’. he says, “the listener is quickly able to distinguish the types of music and even the performing band, this in spite of the fundamental identity of the material and the great similarity of the presentations apart from their emphasized distinguishing trademarks.” (1941). suggesting that while both artists have different genres, “swing and sweet” (adorno, 1941), and their music is perceived as different, they are in fact, formulaic and therefore are standardised which is the reason as to why they became popular.

there are many further examples of adorno’s concept of standardisation, one such being the songs of a UK girl band little mix who rose to fame after winning the x-factor television programme in 2011 and have now sold over 50 million albums worldwide. their hit song ‘shout out to my ex’ is a clear example of standardisation.  it sounds undeniably similar to ‘ugly heart’ by G.R.L. this similarity has been commented on by both music critics and fans alike who highlighted that the melody and harmony of the chorus in both songs sound almost identical. the very public controversy which ensued prompted little mix during an interview with Qmusic (a belgian radio station) to state “rvery song is going to have a similar chord sequence, slightly similar lyrics and melodied- it happens all the time.” (corner, l. 2016, digital spy report). such well known examples support adorno’s theory that elements of a popular song can be interchangeable and included in another. plagiarism is also a good example of standardisation. plagiarism is when you take other people’s work and use it as your own and has happened a lot within in the music industry. an example is that of the estate of marvin gaye who successfully sued robin thicke and pharrell williams for $5million following the release of the song ‘blurred lines’ because they stated, the track copied marvin gaye’s song ‘got to give it up’ (savage, 2018, bbcReport). such examples show clearly that adorno’s theory of standardisation and pseudo-individualisation do occur frequently in popular music.

when considering adorno’s research, it is important to remember that there are many criticisms of his work which should be considered. adorno has been criticised for the way in which he writes, as his style isn’t easily comprehensible. adorno is aware of this and has stated he does it on purpose because he wants people to interpret his work in their own way and to defy identity thinking. (fagan, n.d). another limitation is temporal validity. adorno’s ‘on popular music’ was written in 1941 when technology wasn’t an influencing factor in regard to releasing music. technology has advanced significantly since 1940s and has accelerated the release of new music. in the 1940s, radio was perceived as the most popular way of listening to music. today, more than 89% of people stream music online (IPPI, 2019). music nowadays is easier to find, it reaches a wider range of people and has sparked the creation of new genres. according to the guardian, there are currently in excess of “1,264 genres that make modern music” (2014) implying that music is now becoming less standardised due to the wider range of genres making up the current ‘pop music’ culture. A further result of technological advances is the increase in production of music which could also suggest why there are so many sub genres of music. adorno disputes mass production being a cause of standardisation stating, “the production of popular music can be called 'industrial' only in its promotion and distribution, whereas the act of producing a song-hit still remains in a handicraft stage” and that it is "still 'individualistic' in its social mode of production." (1941).  this suggests that pop music is original when presented to the public due to different chords and melody but isn’t original when it come to the generic basis of the song itself.  

while adorno’s research lacks in temporal activity and is considered by many to be extreme and opinionated, we must take into account that so far, his research has stayed relevant and still applies to popular culture. also, even though there are many different styles of genres of music, they still largely follow the same structure and include many of the same elements such as verse, chorus or instrumental section.

in conclusion, popular music can be seen to be standardised as it follows the same basic song structure and turns music into a product which can be standardised (pseudo-individualisation). while we must take into account adorno’s research lacks in temporal validity and the new advances of technology may change things, standardisation is apparent within the music culture today.

word count: 1,288

bibliography:

adorno, t (1941) ‘on popular music’ available at: http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/SWA/On_popular_music_1.shtml (accessed 19 november 2020)

corner, l. ‘little ,ix respond to GRL comparisons on new single: “stop trying to get publicity”’ digital spy, 24 october 2016 available at: https://www.digitalspy.com/music/a811967/little-mix-respond-to-grl-comparisons-on-new-single-shout-out-to-my-ex/ (accessed 29 november 2020)

fagan, a. (no date) theodor adorno available at: https://iep.utm.edu/adorno/#H6 (accessed on 25 november 2020)

fitzpatrick, r. ‘from charred death to deep filthstep: the 1,264 genres that make modern music’. The guardian, 4 september 2014 available at: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/sep/04/-sp-from-charred-death-to-deep-filthstep-the-1264-genres-that-make-modern-music (accessed 25 november 2020)

hains, s. (2018) adorno and pseudo-Individualisation available at: http://samhains.com/blog/mcc/2018/06/16/adorno-pseudo-individualization.html (accessed 25 november 2020)

IFPI (2019). music listening report 2019. available at: https://www.ifpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Music-Listening-2019-1.pdf (accessed on 1 october 2020)

o’brien, s. and szeman, s. (2017) popular culture: a user’s guide, page 120

savage, m. ‘blurred lines: marvin Ggaye’s family keeps $5m payout’. bbc news, 22 march 2018 available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-43497970  (accessed on 25 november 2020)

shuker, r. (2013) popular music page 5 wall, t. (2013) studying popular music culture page 175

overall word count:2,650

-04/12/20

[flashhdtv]

Korean drama(18 again)engsub ep.6 Full Episodes

Watch 18 Again Season 1 Episode 6-10 1–2–3–4–5–1–7–8–9–10 Full Episode 18 Again Temporada 1 Capítulo 6 Sub English / Español 2020 ➤ http://flashserieshd.dplaytv.net/series/377956/1/6 VISIT HERE ➤➤ http://flashserieshd.dplaytv.net/series/377956/1/6

Tells the story of a husband named Hong Dae Young who is on the verge of divorce but finds himself back in his body when he was at the prime of his life 18 years ago. He ends up changing his name to Go Woo Young when he becomes 18- years-old again. Meanwhile, his wife Jung Da Jung joins the workforce as an anchorwoman later on in life after raising their 18-year-old twins.

🎬 18 Again Season 1 Episode 6 Online Free 🎬

Title : 18 Again Episode Title : Episode 6 Release Date : 06 Oct 2020 Runtime : 65 minutes Genres : Comedy , Fantasy , Romance Networks : jTBC

18 Again

Jung Da Jung is married to 37-year-old Hong Dae Young. They have have 18-year-old son and daughter. Jung Da Jung works hard as a rookie announcer and she has a warm heart. She becomes completely fed up with her husband and is unable to deal with him anymore. Hong Dae Young got fired from his job and he is looked down upon by his family. Jung Da Jung hands him divorce papers.

Meanwhile, Hong Dae Young looks at himself as an ordinary jobless middle-aged man. He regrets his life. At that moment, his body changes into that of an 18-year-old year old person, while his mind is still that of his 37-year-old self. Back in his teenage days, Hong Dae Young was an excellent basketball player and also popular. Now, with his regained 18-year-old body, he changes his name to Go Woo Young and begins to live a new life.

Show Info

Network: Korea, Republic of jTBC (2020 - now) Schedule: Mondays, Tuesdays at 21:30 (90 min) Status: Running Language: Korean Show Type: Scripted Genres: Comedy Fantasy Romance Episodes ordered: 16 episodes

With dozens of films genre being released each year, a typical one that gets overlooked by the more popular ones (action, drama, comedy, animation, etc.) is the subgenre category of religious movie. These films (sometimes called “faith-based” features) usually center around the struggles and ideas of a person (or groups) identity of a religious faith, which is, more or less, has a profound event or obstacle to overcome. While not entirely, the most commonplace religious type movies focus on the religion of Christianity, sometimes venturing back into the past in cinematic retelling classic biblical tales, including famed epic films like Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur (the original 1959 version) to some more modern endeavors from Hollywood like Risen, The Young Messiah, and Paul, Apostle of Christ. Other Christian “faith” films finds a more contemporary setting to tell its story, with some being “based on a true-life account” like the movies Unconditional, Heaven is Real, Unbroken, I Can Only Imagine, Indivisible, and Miracles from Heaven, while others might find inspiration from literary novels / fictionalized narratives like The Shack, Overcomer, War Room, and Same Kind of Different as Me. Regardless, whether finding inspiration from true life, references from the bible, or originality, these movies usually speaks on a person’s faith and the inner struggle he or she has within or one society’s views, spreading a message of belief and the understand of one’s belief. Now, after the success of 2018’s I Can Only Imagine, directors Andrew and Jon Erwin (the Erwin Brothers) and Lionsgate studios release the 2020 faith-based film / music biopic feature I Still Believe. Does the film walk a fine line between its religious aspects and cinematic entertainment or does the movie get entangled in its own faith-based preaching?

THE STORY

Its 1999 and Jeremy Camp (K.J. Apa) is a young and aspiring musician who would like nothing more than to honor his God through the power of music. Leaving his Indiana home for the warmer climate of California and a college education, Jeremy soon comes across one Melissa Henning (Britt Robertson), a fellow college student that he takes notices in the audience at a local concert. Falling for cupid’s arrow immediately, he introduces himself to her and quickly discovers that she is attracted to him too. However, Melissa holds back from forming a budding relationship as she fears it will create an awkward situation between Jeremy and their mutual friend, Jean-Luc (Nathan Parson), a fellow musician and who also has feeling for Melissa. Still, Jeremy is relentless in his pursuit of her until they eventually find themselves in a loving dating relationship. However, their youthful courtship with each other comes to a halt when life-threating news of Melissa having cancer takes center stage. The diagnosis does nothing to deter Jeremey’s love for her and the couple eventually marries shortly thereafter. Howsoever, they soon find themselves walking a fine line between a life together and suffering by her illness; with Jeremy questioning his faith in music, himself, and with God himself.

THE GOOD / THE BAD

Sorry if this sounds a bit familiar pieces from my review of I Can Only Imagine, but it definitely says what I feel about these films. While I am a devout Christian (not a crazy zealot or anything like that) for my bases of religion and my outlook beliefs in life, I’m not a huge fan of the “faith-based” feature films. That’s not to say that they’re bad or that I find them deplorable to the other more popular movie genres out there, but sometimes they can a bit preachy and corny / honky in their religious overtones and overall dramatic direction. Personally, I like the more biblical tales that Hollywood as put over, with Cecil B. Demile’s The Ten Commandments and William Wyler’s Ben-Hur; both of have proven to stand the test of time within filmmaking. Of course, Hollywood’s recent trend of put out more “remakes” movies puts an overcast on those biblical epics with 2014’s Exodus: Gods and Kings and 2016’s Ben-Hur; both of which failed to capture a sense of cinematic integrity and had a messy religious outlook in its zeal aspect. Of late, however, Hollywood as retreated more into contemporary pieces, finding narratives that are, more or less, set in a more “modern” day and age to their Christian-faithful based features. As I mentioned above, some have found success in their literary forms (being based on a book and adapted to the big screen), but most derive their inspiration from true life accounts, translating into something that’s meant to strike a chord (with moviegoers) due to its “based on a true story” aspect and nuances. Again, some are good (as I liked Unbroken and The Shack), while others kind of become a bit too preachy and let the religious overtures hamper the film, making them less-than desirable to mainstream audiences or even members of their own faiths. Thus, these religious-esque films can sometimes be problematic in their final presentation for both its viewers and in the film itself; sometimes making the movie feel like a TV channel movie rather than a theatrical feature film. This brings me around to talking about I Still Believe, a 2020 motion picture release of the Christian religious faith-based genre. As almost customary, Hollywood usually puts out two (maybe three) films of this variety movies within their yearly theatrical release lineup, with the releases usually being around spring time and / or fall respectfully. I didn’t hear much when this movie was first announced (probably got buried underneath all the popular movies news on the newsfeed). My first actual glimpse of the movie was when the film’s movie trailer was released, which looked somewhat interesting to me. Yes, it looked the movie was gonna be the typical “faith-based” vibe, but it was going to be directed by the Erwin Brothers, who directed I Can Only Imagine (a film that I did like). Plus, the trailer for I Still Believe premiered for quite some time, so I kept on seeing it a lot of time when I went to my local movie theater. You can kind of say that it was a bit “engrained in my brain”. Thus, I was a bit keen on seeing it. Fortunately, I was able to see it before the COVID-19 outbreak closed the movie theaters down (saw it during its opening night), but, due to work scheduling, I haven’t had the time to do my review for it…. until now. And what did I think of it? Well, it was pretty “meh”. While its heart is definitely in the right place and quite sincere, I Still Believe is a bit too preachy and unbalanced within its narrative execution and character developments. The religious message is clearly there, but takes too many detours and not focusing on certain aspects that weigh the feature’s presentation. As mentioned, I Still Believe is directed by the Erwin Brothers (Andrew and Jon), whose previous directorial works include such films like Moms’ Night Out, Woodlawn, and I Can Only Imagine. Given their affinity attraction religious based Christian movies, the Erwin Brothers seem like a suitable choice in bringing Jeremy Camp’s story to a cinematic representation; approaching the material with a certain type of gentleness and sincerity to the proceedings. Much like I Can Only Imagine, the Erwin Brothers shape the feature around the life of a popular Christian singer; presenting his humble beginnings and all the trials and tribulations that he must face along the way, while musical songs / performance taking importance into account of the film’s narrative story progression. That’s not to say that the movie isn’t without its heavier moments, with the Erwin, who (again) are familiar with religious overtones themes in their endeavors, frame I Still Believe compelling messages of love, loss, and redemption, which (as always) are quite fundamental to watch and experience through tragedy. This even speaks to the film’s script, which was penned by Erwin brothers playing double duty on the project, that has plenty of heartfelt dramatic moments that will certainly tug on the heartstrings of some viewers out there as well as provide to be quite an engaging tale of going through tragedy and hardship and finding a redemption arc to get out of it. This is especially made abundantly clear when dealing with a fatal illness that’s similar to what Melissa undergoes in the film, which is quite universal and reflective in everyone’s world, with the Erwin Brothers painting the painful journey that Melissa takes along with Jeremy by her side, who must learn to cope with pain of a loved one. There is a “double edge” sword to the film’s script, but I’ll mention that below. Suffice to say, the movie settles quickly into the familiar pattern of a religious faith-based feature that, while not exactly polished or original, can be quite the “comfort food” to some; projecting a wholesome message of faith, hope, and love. Personally, I didn’t know of Jeremy Camp and the story of he and Melissa Henning, so it was quite a poignant journey that was invested unfolding throughout the film’s proceedings. As a side-note, the movie is a bit a “tear jerker”, so for those who prone to crying during these dramatic heartfelt movies….get your tissues out. In terms of presentation, I Still Believe meets the industry standard of a religious faith-based motion pictures. Of course, theatrical endeavors like these don’t really have big budged production money to invest in the film’s creation. Thus, filmmakers have to spend their money wisely in bringing their cinematic tales to life on the silver screen. To that effect, the Erwin Brothers smartly utilized this knowledge in the movie’s creation; budgeting the various aspects of the background and genetic theatrical make-up that feel appropriate and genuine in the film’s narrative. So, all the various “behind the scenes” team / areas that I usually mention (i.e. production designs, set decorations, costumes, and cinematography, etc.) are all relatively good as I really don’t have much to complain (whether good or bad) about them. Again, they meet the industry standard for a faith-based movie. Additionally, the musical song parts are pretty good as well. As mentioned, I really didn’t know anything about Jeremy Camp, so I couldn’t say what songs of his were good, but the songs that are presented in the film were pretty decent enough to certain highlight points throughout the movie. Though they are somewhat short (assuming not the whole song is being played), but still effectively good and nice to listen to. Might have to check out a few of the real songs one day. Lastly, the film’s score, which was done by John Debney, fits perfect with this movie; projecting the right amount of heartfelt tenderness in some scenes and inspirational melodies of enlightenment in others. Unfortunately, not all is found to be pure and religiously cinematic in the movie as I Still Believe gets weighed down with several major points of criticism and execution in the feature. How so? For starters, the movie feels a bit incomplete in Jeremy Camp’s journey. What’s presented works (somewhat), but it doesn’t hold up, especially because the Erwin Brothers have a difficult time in nailing down the right narrative path for the film to take. Of course, the thread of Jeremy and Melissa are the main central focus (and justly so), but pretty much everything else gets completely pushed aside, including Jeremy’s musical career rise to stardom and many of the various characters and their importance (more on that below). This also causes the film to have a certain pacing issues throughout the movie, with I Still Believe runtime of 116 minutes (one hour and fifty-six minutes) feeling longer than it should be, especially with how much narrative that the Erwin Brothers skip out on (i.e. several plot chunks / fragments are left unanswered or missing). Additionally, even if a viewer doesn’t know of Jeremy Camp’s story, I Still Believe does, for better or worse, follow a fairly predictable path that’s quite customary for faith-based movie. Without even reading anything about the real lives of Jeremy and Melissa prior to seeing the feature, it’s quite clearly as to where the story is heading and what will ultimately play out (i.e. plot beats and theatrical narrative act progression). Basically, if you’ve seeing one or two Christian faith-based film, you’ll know what to expect from I Still Believe. Thus, the Erwin Brothers don’t really try to creatively do something different with the film…. instead they reinforce the idealisms of Christian and of faith in a formulaic narrative way that becomes quite conventional and almost a bit lazy. There is also the movie’s dialogue and script handling, which does become problematic in the movie’s execution, which is hampered by some wooden / forced dialogue at certain scenes (becoming very preachy and cheesy at times) as well as the feeling of the movie’s story being rather incomplete. There’s a stopping point where the Erwin Brothers settle on, but I felt that there could’ve more added, including more expansion on his music career and several other characters. Then there is the notion of the film being quite secular in its appeal, which is quite understandable, but relies too heavy on its religious thematic messages that can be a bit “off-putting” for some. It didn’t bother me as much, but after seeing several other faith-based movies prior to this (i.e. I Can Only Imagine, Overcomer, Indivisible, etc.), this particular movie doesn’t really rise to Cursed in Love and falls prey to being rather generic and flat for most of its runtime. As you can imagine, I Still Believe, while certainly sincere and meaningful in its storytelling, struggles to find a happy balance in its narrative and execution presentation; proving to be difficult in conveying the whole “big picture” of its message and Jeremey Camp’s journey. The cast in I Still Believe is a mixed bag. To me, none of the acting talents are relatively bad (some are better than others…. I admit), but their characterizations and / or involvement in the film’s story is problematic to say the least. Leading the film’s narrative are two protagonist characters of Jeremy Camp and Melissa Henning, who are played by the young talents of K.J. Apa and Britt Robertson respectfully. Of the two, Apa, known for his roles in Riverdale, The Last Summer, and The Hate U Give, is the better equipped in character development and performance as the young and aspiring musical talent of Jeremy Camp. From the get-go, Apa has a likeable charm / swagger to him, which make his portrayal of Jeremy immediately endearing from onset to conclusion. All the scenes he does are well-represented (be it character-based or dramatic) and certainly sells the journey that Jeremy undergoes in the movie. Plus, Apa can also sing, which does lend credence to many of the scene’s musical performance. For Robertson, known for her roles in Tomorrowland, Ask Me Anything, and The Space Between Us, she gets hampered by some of the film’s wooden / cheesy dialogue. True, Robertson’s performance is well-placed and well-mannered in projecting a sense of youthful and dewy-eyed admiration in Mellissa, especially since the hardships here character undergoes in the feature, but it’s hard to get passed the cringeworthy dialogue written for her. Thus, Robertson’s Melissa ends up being the weaker of the two. That being said, both Apa and Robertson do have good on-screen chemistry with each other, which certainly does sell the likeable / loving young relationship of Jeremy and Melissa. In more supporting roles, seasoned talents like actor Gary Sinise (Forest Gump and Apollo 13) and musician singer Shania Twain play Jeremey’s parents, Tom and Terry Camp. While both Sinise and Twain are suitable for their roles as a sort of small town / Midwest couple vibe, their characters are little more than window dressing for the feature’s story. Their screen presence / star power lends weigh to the project, but that’s pretty much it; offering up a few nuggets to bolster a few particular scenes here and there, which is disappointing. Everyone else, including actor Nathan Parsons (General Hospital and Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water) as musical talent and mutual friend to both Jeremy and Melissa, Jean-Luc Lajoie, young actor Reuben Dodd (The Bridge and Teachers) as Jeremy’s handicapped younger brother, Joshua Camp, and his other younger brother, Jared Camp (though I can’t find out who played him the movie), are relatively made up in smaller minor roles that, while acted fine, are reduced to little more than just underdeveloped caricatures in the film, which is a shame and disappointing.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The power of faith, love, and affinity for music take center stage in Jeremy Camp’s life story in the movie I Still Believe. Directors Andrew and Jon Erwin (the Erwin Brothers) examine the life and times of Jeremy Camp’s life story; pin-pointing his early life with his relationship Melissa Henning as they battle hardships and their enduring love for one another through difficult times. While the movie’s intent and thematic message of a person’s faith through trouble times is indeed palpable as well as the likeable musical performances, the film certainly struggles to find a cinematic footing in its execution, including a sluggish pace, fragmented pieces, predicable plot beats, too preachy / cheesy dialogue moments, over utilized religious overtones, and mismanagement of many of its secondary /supporting characters. To me, this movie was somewhere between okay and “meh”. It was definitely a Christian faith-based movie endeavor (from start to finish) and definitely had its moments, but it just failed to resonate with me; struggling to find a proper balance in its undertaking. Personally, despite the story, it could’ve been better. Thus, my recommendation for this movie is an “iffy choice” at best as some will like (nothing wrong with that), while others will not and dismiss it altogether. Whatever your stance on religious faith-based flicks, I Still Believe stands as more of a cautionary tale of sorts; demonstrating how a poignant and heartfelt story of real-life drama can be problematic when translating it to a cinematic endeavor. For me, I believe in Jeremy Camp’s story / message, but not so much the feature.

[stupendousbananatiger]

EP 12 | You Knock on My Door (Sen Çal Kapımı) 12.Bölüm/Episode 12 [ENGSUB] FOX Türkiye

Watch You Knock on My Door (Sen Çal Kapımı) Season 1 Episode 12 1–2–3–4–5–1–7–8–9–10 Full Episode You Knock on My Door (Sen Çal Kapımı) Temporada 1 Capítulo 12 Sub English / Español 2020 ➤ http://watchepisode.online-tvs.com/series/383383/1/12 VISIT HERE ➤➤ http://watchepisode.online-tvs.com/series/383383/1/12

Finally in the end Serkan made his declaration of love. Now it is Eda's turn. But it is not going to be easy to obtain Eda's declaration. Serkan waits patiently in order to hear that Eda is in love with him. Now we also have to deal with keeping this a secret from the families. Since Eda's aunt learned about the engagement agreement, she cannot tell her that she and Serkan and now a real couple in love. With Eda's insistence, Serkan agrees to keep this a secret. But they and their relationship is going to go through many adventures while they keep this secret.

🎬 You Knock on My Door (Sen Çal Kapımı) Episode 12 Online Free 🎬

Title : You Knock on My Door Episode Title : Episode 12 Release Date : 30 Sep 2020 Runtime : 120 minutes Genres : Comedy , Drama , Romance Networks : FOX Türkiye

You Knock on My Door (Sen Çal Kapımı)

Eda, who ties all her hopes to her education, confronts Serkan Bolat, who cuts off her international education scholarship and leaves her with high school diploma. Serkan Bolat offers Eda to give her scholarship back if she pretends to be his fiance for two months. Although Eda rejects the offer of this man as she hates him, she has to accept it when the conditions change. While pretending to be engaged, Serkan and Eda begin to experience a passionate, challenging relationship that will make them forget all they know right. Because love is difficult. And that's why it's amazing.

Show Info

Network: Turkey FOX Türkiye (2020 - now) Schedule: Wednesdays at 20:00 (120 min) Status: Running Language: Turkish Show Type: Scripted Genres: Drama Comedy Romance

With dozens of films genre being released each year, a typical one that gets overlooked by the more popular ones (action, drama, comedy, animation, etc.) is the subgenre category of religious movie. These films (sometimes called “faith-based” features) usually center around the struggles and ideas of a person (or groups) identity of a religious faith, which is, more or less, has a profound event or obstacle to overcome. While not entirely, the most commonplace religious type movies focus on the religion of Christianity, sometimes venturing back into the past in cinematic retelling classic biblical tales, including famed epic films like Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur (the original 1959 version) to some more modern endeavors from Hollywood like Risen, The Young Messiah, and Paul, Apostle of Christ. Other Christian “faith” films finds a more contemporary setting to tell its story, with some being “based on a true-life account” like the movies Unconditional, Heaven is Real, Unbroken, I Can Only Imagine, Indivisible, and Miracles from Heaven, while others might find inspiration from literary novels / fictionalized narratives like The Shack, Overcomer, War Room, and Same Kind of Different as Me. Regardless, whether finding inspiration from true life, references from the bible, or originality, these movies usually speaks on a person’s faith and the inner struggle he or she has within or one society’s views, spreading a message of belief and the understand of one’s belief. Now, after the success of 2018’s I Can Only Imagine, directors Andrew and Jon Erwin (the Erwin Brothers) and Lionsgate studios release the 2020 faith-based film / music biopic feature I Still Believe. Does the film walk a fine line between its religious aspects and cinematic entertainment or does the movie get entangled in its own faith-based preaching?

THE STORY

Its 1999 and Jeremy Camp (K.J. Apa) is a young and aspiring musician who would like nothing more than to honor his God through the power of music. Leaving his Indiana home for the warmer climate of California and a college education, Jeremy soon comes across one Melissa Henning (Britt Robertson), a fellow college student that he takes notices in the audience at a local concert. Falling for cupid’s arrow immediately, he introduces himself to her and quickly discovers that she is attracted to him too. However, Melissa holds back from forming a budding relationship as she fears it will create an awkward situation between Jeremy and their mutual friend, Jean-Luc (Nathan Parson), a fellow musician and who also has feeling for Melissa. Still, Jeremy is relentless in his pursuit of her until they eventually find themselves in a loving dating relationship. However, their youthful courtship with each other comes to a halt when life-threating news of Melissa having cancer takes center stage. The diagnosis does nothing to deter Jeremey’s love for her and the couple eventually marries shortly thereafter. Howsoever, they soon find themselves walking a fine line between a life together and suffering by her illness; with Jeremy questioning his faith in music, himself, and with God himself.

THE GOOD / THE BAD

Sorry if this sounds a bit familiar pieces from my review of I Can Only Imagine, but it definitely says what I feel about these films. While I am a devout Christian (not a crazy zealot or anything like that) for my bases of religion and my outlook beliefs in life, I’m not a huge fan of the “faith-based” feature films. That’s not to say that they’re bad or that I find them deplorable to the other more popular movie genres out there, but sometimes they can a bit preachy and corny / honky in their religious overtones and overall dramatic direction. Personally, I like the more biblical tales that Hollywood as put over, with Cecil B. Demile’s The Ten Commandments and William Wyler’s Ben-Hur; both of have proven to stand the test of time within filmmaking. Of course, Hollywood’s recent trend of put out more “remakes” movies puts an overcast on those biblical epics with 2014’s Exodus: Gods and Kings and 2016’s Ben-Hur; both of which failed to capture a sense of cinematic integrity and had a messy religious outlook in its zeal aspect. Of late, however, Hollywood as retreated more into contemporary pieces, finding narratives that are, more or less, set in a more “modern” day and age to their Christian-faithful based features. As I mentioned above, some have found success in their literary forms (being based on a book and adapted to the big screen), but most derive their inspiration from true life accounts, translating into something that’s meant to strike a chord (with moviegoers) due to its “based on a true story” aspect and nuances. Again, some are good (as I liked Unbroken and The Shack), while others kind of become a bit too preachy and let the religious overtures hamper the film, making them less-than desirable to mainstream audiences or even members of their own faiths. Thus, these religious-esque films can sometimes be problematic in their final presentation for both its viewers and in the film itself; sometimes making the movie feel like a TV channel movie rather than a theatrical feature film. This brings me around to talking about I Still Believe, a 2020 motion picture release of the Christian religious faith-based genre. As almost customary, Hollywood usually puts out two (maybe three) films of this variety movies within their yearly theatrical release lineup, with the releases usually being around spring time and / or fall respectfully. I didn’t hear much when this movie was first announced (probably got buried underneath all the popular movies news on the newsfeed). My first actual glimpse of the movie was when the film’s movie trailer was released, which looked somewhat interesting to me. Yes, it looked the movie was gonna be the typical “faith-based” vibe, but it was going to be directed by the Erwin Brothers, who directed I Can Only Imagine (a film that I did like). Plus, the trailer for I Still Believe premiered for quite some time, so I kept on seeing it a lot of time when I went to my local movie theater. You can kind of say that it was a bit “engrained in my brain”. Thus, I was a bit keen on seeing it. Fortunately, I was able to see it before the COVID-19 outbreak closed the movie theaters down (saw it during its opening night), but, due to work scheduling, I haven’t had the time to do my review for it…. until now. And what did I think of it? Well, it was pretty “meh”. While its heart is definitely in the right place and quite sincere, I Still Believe is a bit too preachy and unbalanced within its narrative execution and character developments. The religious message is clearly there, but takes too many detours and not focusing on certain aspects that weigh the feature’s presentation. As mentioned, I Still Believe is directed by the Erwin Brothers (Andrew and Jon), whose previous directorial works include such films like Moms’ Night Out, Woodlawn, and I Can Only Imagine. Given their affinity attraction religious based Christian movies, the Erwin Brothers seem like a suitable choice in bringing Jeremy Camp’s story to a cinematic representation; approaching the material with a certain type of gentleness and sincerity to the proceedings. Much like I Can Only Imagine, the Erwin Brothers shape the feature around the life of a popular Christian singer; presenting his humble beginnings and all the trials and tribulations that he must face along the way, while musical songs / performance taking importance into account of the film’s narrative story progression. That’s not to say that the movie isn’t without its heavier moments, with the Erwin, who (again) are familiar with religious overtones themes in their endeavors, frame I Still Believe compelling messages of love, loss, and redemption, which (as always) are quite fundamental to watch and experience through tragedy. This even speaks to the film’s script, which was penned by Erwin brothers playing double duty on the project, that has plenty of heartfelt dramatic moments that will certainly tug on the heartstrings of some viewers out there as well as provide to be quite an engaging tale of going through tragedy and hardship and finding a redemption arc to get out of it. This is especially made abundantly clear when dealing with a fatal illness that’s similar to what Melissa undergoes in the film, which is quite universal and reflective in everyone’s world, with the Erwin Brothers painting the painful journey that Melissa takes along with Jeremy by her side, who must learn to cope with pain of a loved one. There is a “double edge” sword to the film’s script, but I’ll mention that below. Suffice to say, the movie settles quickly into the familiar pattern of a religious faith-based feature that, while not exactly polished or original, can be quite the “comfort food” to some; projecting a wholesome message of faith, hope, and love. Personally, I didn’t know of Jeremy Camp and the story of he and Melissa Henning, so it was quite a poignant journey that was invested unfolding throughout the film’s proceedings. As a side-note, the movie is a bit a “tear jerker”, so for those who prone to crying during these dramatic heartfelt movies….get your tissues out. In terms of presentation, I Still Believe meets the industry standard of a religious faith-based motion pictures. Of course, theatrical endeavors like these don’t really have big budged production money to invest in the film’s creation. Thus, filmmakers have to spend their money wisely in bringing their cinematic tales to life on the silver screen. To that effect, the Erwin Brothers smartly utilized this knowledge in the movie’s creation; budgeting the various aspects of the background and genetic theatrical make-up that feel appropriate and genuine in the film’s narrative. So, all the various “behind the scenes” team / areas that I usually mention (i.e. production designs, set decorations, costumes, and cinematography, etc.) are all relatively good as I really don’t have much to complain (whether good or bad) about them. Again, they meet the industry standard for a faith-based movie. Additionally, the musical song parts are pretty good as well. As mentioned, I really didn’t know anything about Jeremy Camp, so I couldn’t say what songs of his were good, but the songs that are presented in the film were pretty decent enough to certain highlight points throughout the movie. Though they are somewhat short (assuming not the whole song is being played), but still effectively good and nice to listen to. Might have to check out a few of the real songs one day. Lastly, the film’s score, which was done by John Debney, fits perfect with this movie; projecting the right amount of heartfelt tenderness in some scenes and inspirational melodies of enlightenment in others. Unfortunately, not all is found to be pure and religiously cinematic in the movie as I Still Believe gets weighed down with several major points of criticism and execution in the feature. How so? For starters, the movie feels a bit incomplete in Jeremy Camp’s journey. What’s presented works (somewhat), but it doesn’t hold up, especially because the Erwin Brothers have a difficult time in nailing down the right narrative path for the film to take. Of course, the thread of Jeremy and Melissa are the main central focus (and justly so), but pretty much everything else gets completely pushed aside, including Jeremy’s musical career rise to stardom and many of the various characters and their importance (more on that below). This also causes the film to have a certain pacing issues throughout the movie, with I Still Believe runtime of 116 minutes (one hour and fifty-six minutes) feeling longer than it should be, especially with how much narrative that the Erwin Brothers skip out on (i.e. several plot chunks / fragments are left unanswered or missing). Additionally, even if a viewer doesn’t know of Jeremy Camp’s story, I Still Believe does, for better or worse, follow a fairly predictable path that’s quite customary for faith-based movie. Without even reading anything about the real lives of Jeremy and Melissa prior to seeing the feature, it’s quite clearly as to where the story is heading and what will ultimately play out (i.e. plot beats and theatrical narrative act progression). Basically, if you’ve seeing one or two Christian faith-based film, you’ll know what to expect from I Still Believe. Thus, the Erwin Brothers don’t really try to creatively do something different with the film…. instead they reinforce the idealisms of Christian and of faith in a formulaic narrative way that becomes quite conventional and almost a bit lazy. There is also the movie’s dialogue and script handling, which does become problematic in the movie’s execution, which is hampered by some wooden / forced dialogue at certain scenes (becoming very preachy and cheesy at times) as well as the feeling of the movie’s story being rather incomplete. There’s a stopping point where the Erwin Brothers settle on, but I felt that there could’ve more added, including more expansion on his music career and several other characters. Then there is the notion of the film being quite secular in its appeal, which is quite understandable, but relies too heavy on its religious thematic messages that can be a bit “off-putting” for some. It didn’t bother me as much, but after seeing several other faith-based movies prior to this (i.e. I Can Only Imagine, Overcomer, Indivisible, etc.), this particular movie doesn’t really rise to Cursed in Love and falls prey to being rather generic and flat for most of its runtime. As you can imagine, I Still Believe, while certainly sincere and meaningful in its storytelling, struggles to find a happy balance in its narrative and execution presentation; proving to be difficult in conveying the whole “big picture” of its message and Jeremey Camp’s journey. The cast in I Still Believe is a mixed bag. To me, none of the acting talents are relatively bad (some are better than others…. I admit), but their characterizations and / or involvement in the film’s story is problematic to say the least. Leading the film’s narrative are two protagonist characters of Jeremy Camp and Melissa Henning, who are played by the young talents of K.J. Apa and Britt Robertson respectfully. Of the two, Apa, known for his roles in Riverdale, The Last Summer, and The Hate U Give, is the better equipped in character development and performance as the young and aspiring musical talent of Jeremy Camp. From the get-go, Apa has a likeable charm / swagger to him, which make his portrayal of Jeremy immediately endearing from onset to conclusion. All the scenes he does are well-represented (be it character-based or dramatic) and certainly sells the journey that Jeremy undergoes in the movie. Plus, Apa can also sing, which does lend credence to many of the scene’s musical performance. For Robertson, known for her roles in Tomorrowland, Ask Me Anything, and The Space Between Us, she gets hampered by some of the film’s wooden / cheesy dialogue. True, Robertson’s performance is well-placed and well-mannered in projecting a sense of youthful and dewy-eyed admiration in Mellissa, especially since the hardships here character undergoes in the feature, but it’s hard to get passed the cringeworthy dialogue written for her. Thus, Robertson’s Melissa ends up being the weaker of the two. That being said, both Apa and Robertson do have good on-screen chemistry with each other, which certainly does sell the likeable / loving young relationship of Jeremy and Melissa. In more supporting roles, seasoned talents like actor Gary Sinise (Forest Gump and Apollo 13) and musician singer Shania Twain play Jeremey’s parents, Tom and Terry Camp. While both Sinise and Twain are suitable for their roles as a sort of small town / Midwest couple vibe, their characters are little more than window dressing for the feature’s story. Their screen presence / star power lends weigh to the project, but that’s pretty much it; offering up a few nuggets to bolster a few particular scenes here and there, which is disappointing. Everyone else, including actor Nathan Parsons (General Hospital and Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water) as musical talent and mutual friend to both Jeremy and Melissa, Jean-Luc Lajoie, young actor Reuben Dodd (The Bridge and Teachers) as Jeremy’s handicapped younger brother, Joshua Camp, and his other younger brother, Jared Camp (though I can’t find out who played him the movie), are relatively made up in smaller minor roles that, while acted fine, are reduced to little more than just underdeveloped caricatures in the film, which is a shame and disappointing.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The power of faith, love, and affinity for music take center stage in Jeremy Camp’s life story in the movie I Still Believe. Directors Andrew and Jon Erwin (the Erwin Brothers) examine the life and times of Jeremy Camp’s life story; pin-pointing his early life with his relationship Melissa Henning as they battle hardships and their enduring love for one another through difficult times. While the movie’s intent and thematic message of a person’s faith through trouble times is indeed palpable as well as the likeable musical performances, the film certainly struggles to find a cinematic footing in its execution, including a sluggish pace, fragmented pieces, predicable plot beats, too preachy / cheesy dialogue moments, over utilized religious overtones, and mismanagement of many of its secondary /supporting characters. To me, this movie was somewhere between okay and “meh”. It was definitely a Christian faith-based movie endeavor (from start to finish) and definitely had its moments, but it just failed to resonate with me; struggling to find a proper balance in its undertaking. Personally, despite the story, it could’ve been better. Thus, my recommendation for this movie is an “iffy choice” at best as some will like (nothing wrong with that), while others will not and dismiss it altogether. Whatever your stance on religious faith-based flicks, I Still Believe stands as more of a cautionary tale of sorts; demonstrating how a poignant and heartfelt story of real-life drama can be problematic when translating it to a cinematic endeavor. For me, I believe in Jeremy Camp’s story / message, but not so much the feature.