#gangster!beatles

[blondieeu]

═╬ blondieeu . attack on titan ⌕ masterlist リ

✘ smut

➜ REINER BRAUN Ꮺ

georgia peach

➜ MIKASA ACKERMAN Ꮺ

kiss

➜ JEAN KIRSCHTIEN Ꮺ

next to you

➜ ERWIN SMITH Ꮺ

beatles ✘

➜ ONYANKOPON KODE Ꮺ

still in love ✘

➜ CONNIE ❝CONSTANCE❞ SPRINGER Ꮺ

inspo

car sex ✘ , love letter

resentment ✘ , sleepover

merry christmas ✘ , slow wine ✘

➜ GANGSTER! CONNIE ❝CONSTANCE❞ SPRINGER Ꮺ

been away ✘ , gangsta ✘

➜ EREN YEAGER Ꮺ

stretch you out ✘

soap ✘ , overtime ✘

b.i.m.b.o ✘ , lowkey ✘

➜ ARMIN ARLERT Ꮺ

pilot ✘

blondieeu xx

[m1ssunderstanding]

Get Back Rewatch 55 Years On: Day 14

Who is this talking to Ringo? Press? A boy scruff? Someone who wants their project produced by Apple? He tries George too.

Again, I love the "freak-out" as John calls it. They really could've had so much fun together under different circumstances. (Different being neither of them ever dated John) But John's so sweet saying, "Id like it to be part of her new LP. Our new LP."

I wonder what Robert Fraser thought of the beard.

Why are we playing 20 Flight Rock now, Paul? It's just overlayed over a montage to change "scenes", but I wonder what the real context was.

Billy. What a little ray of sunshine honestly.

"So what should we do that's fun? Besides work?" I feel like every day, John has a little adorable quote, and this is today's. Words to live by.

I don't remember if Get Back includes the "Oh Darling" version where John's answering back between lines in conversation with the lyrics. I sincerely hope so. Peter Jackson was probably like "well I can only include so much homosexuality before people have too many questions."

Ringo, you smooth criminal. I love that he just has this trick he learned as a teenager that the Beatles were all impressed by, back when Ringo was the scary gangster with the car and the beard, and he still does it for them like ten years later. It's so endearing.

Another cute John and Yoko moment: "It's just that screaming all the way." "Poor John." "Yes, it's so terrible." She's teasing him and being sweet to him at the same time. Cuties.

George asks Paul where his Rickenbacker is. "Isn't that one much better?" And Paul makes up some shit about the Hoffner being lighter. You nostalgic little bitch. Poor baby.

John's little guilty look at the camera when he's almost just taken something on film. It's cute. He looks like a naughty kid. But it's kind of a cool moment. It shows just how relaxed and natural he is. He's not performing for or worried about the cameras at all. What we're seeing of him today is just him. You know? Idk I think it's nice.

What's with the little pigeon noises in the middle of a recording, guys? They're so weird smh

Poor Glyn. He's just trying to do his job and he has to deal with fucking Leopold and Leob over here. He gives them some instruction. There's a look between the two of them. And then it's all, "Don't interrupt" "Hey son" "Stahhs when" "Hey" "they're recording. We're bloody Stahhs you know." "Look fuckface. Don't comment." "The cheek." The impenetrable wall of Lennon and McCartney, folks.

"Well, we'll have to do it sitting down. Or we get too excited." It's heartbreaking to me how obvious it is that they're still just having the absolute time of their lives together and that, as John put it, "the minutes are crumbling away."

Literally what the hell is with Dennis smacking Paul's ass (as like a 'good job, your band wants to put your song out as the single' I guess) and nobody reacting? Linda would've been like "ope, time to find a new head of Apple films." (Dave Spinoza on RAM, anyone?) He really does look so proud of himself, though. Happy for you, baby.

Oh, right, that's what Robert thinks. Paul looks like his working class fantasy. (DH Lawrence. Victorian Miner.)

And I'm just going to add this, since Peter Jackson REFUSES. Paul: Can't afford to mess around here, you know. Then

[bambi-kinos]

excerpts from the McLennon server (hamburg part 1)

This is Part One of an ongoing conversation in the McLennon server about John and Paul in Hamburg. Part Two is here: https://www.tumblr.com/bambi-kinos/718388247258136576/excerpts-from-the-mclennon-server-hamburg-part-2

In Part One of the Hamburg Conversation, we discuss why John and Paul ended up being so close after their stint in Hamburg during 1960, since this was the period where the Exis ostracized Paul and John and Stuart were up each other’s asses a lot.

***

Leggy「little love of mine」 — 02/27/2023 4:10 PM alright beatle babes big fucking thunks time

1960 kinda sucked for Paul, Hamburg was the big thing and John was busy hanging out with Stuart and the Exis and was super teenagery about it. Paul felt abandoned and was super teenagery about it. There were a lot of sex workers, beer, and amphetamine pills going around. Gangsters roamed about, mostly not giving a shit about the Beatles tbh. They re-discovered girls. Paul gets deported.

Then we hit 1961 and this is happening: https://twitter.com/BeatlesArchive2/status/1630289665323589632?s=20

Leggy「little love of mine」 — 02/27/2023 4:19 PM Stuart stayed with Astrid and John seemed to be okay with this whereas he went to extreme lengths to separate Paul from his dad upon returning to Liverpool (which was a good thing), Paris happened, Stuart and Paul had a fistfight on stage where John de facto chose Paul by not disciplining him over the fight. What changed

Personally I think Hamburg changed how John viewed Paul. He got to see Paul in an adult context for the first time. I legit don't think John saw Paul as anything other than another friend -- that's not because of Rule 10, that's something I really believe. John simply didn't take Paul seriously until they got to Hamburg. They were friends and they had a tight bond thanks to Mary/Julia's passing, I don't doubt for a second that their friendship was already very close. John knew Paul was attractive but I don't think he fully put together what that meant until later. Hamburg slowly transmuted that into something else for John, he saw Paul in a brand new context and watched him flourish into a young adult away from the childhood context of Liverpool. And that lead him somewhere else.

Stuart didn't have prospects in Liverpool, his application to be a TA had already been rejected so he was ready to move on. John was able to respect that and let Stu go....because he figured out what he wanted. So he pursued Paul and very heavily too.

louiselux — 02/27/2023 4:33 PM Paul said that they felt somehow they were headed for big things, but i wonder when that feeling coalesced for them? Maybe beyond all the teen psychodrama, the side effect of Hamburg was getting technically good for the first time, and that’s when that feeling happened, like a mutual sense growing of ‘this man can take me places’

Leggy「little love of mine」 — 02/27/2023 4:34 PM ohhh i like this

louiselux — 02/27/2023 4:38 PM You know, them getting to know all these other bands and maybe realising that Lennon/McCartney together was a different better creature

Leggy「little love of mine」 — 02/27/2023 4:40 PM Especially since they were experimenting with the songwriting at that point. Not a whole lot but they were doing it, that was a way for them to distinguish themselves from the other bands. They were trying to find their niche and the Lennon/McCartney thing started clicking into place.

louiselux — 02/27/2023 4:41 PM Also very much YES to your point about Paul becoming a hot adult man rather than cute boy baby

Leggy「little love of mine」 — 02/27/2023 4:42 PM So you take the hypercharged atmosphere of Hamburg, put that with them starting to push themselves creatively and not just do cover songs....

louiselux — 02/27/2023 4:42 PM And Paul growing shoulders and forearm hair

Leggy「little love of mine」 — 02/27/2023 4:47 PM Maybe they also set their flirting pattern in Hamburg -- John being an ass, Paul being cold in response to get John's attention, making each other jealous on purpose etc. Even if they didn't realize what they were doing in the moment.

I'm fascinated at how much of a slow motion thing it all was, this attraction between them. It wasn't sudden, it was a long burning thing. They spent that first trip getting with women, boozing, going pro, there's the psychodrama going on in the background and John's very intense no matter what.... And when it all finally ended John sought out Paul in Liverpool....

louiselux — 02/27/2023 5:09 PM It's clear that they excited each other in various ways ever since they first met, but it seems like it did take a while to click into place. With Stu, I really get the sense that John had met someone he thought of as his equal at that time, in adulthood and sensibilities, and that he didn't consider Paul an equal in that way. So maybe that is the thing we are tracking here, the realisation that Paul is like...The One? Over those Hamburg years

Leggy「little love of mine」 — 02/27/2023 5:19 PM yeah! I think that's it exactly :ogeyes: Stuart was loved and lovable to John but Paul had a special impact

mynamesbetty — 02/27/2023 6:53 PM John had his blinders on to everything but success as a musician - he'd failed out of art school and couldn't hold down a regular job, so he made music his life

Before Hamburg Paul had prospects to continue in school and go to university, and he was still living at home and listening to his father (where John had stopped caring what Mimi said and may have moved out into the flat on Gambier Terrace by this point

In Hamburg, Paul starves and stinks and plays 6-8 hours a night, just like John, putting his all into the group and mach schau and living in squalor for the music

Where Stu was never that enthusiastic about the group, John had to convince him to buy an instrument and join, and when he met Astrid it was a done deal

So John can let go of someone who's already letting go of him because it's obvious what's happening and Stu is going to be happier an an artist, and they're good enough friends to accept this

But he looks at Paul, who's working just as hard as he is to make the Beatles a success, and something clicks for him

Leggy「little love of mine」 — 02/27/2023 7:14 PM something clicks for him...

Morrigan — 02/27/2023 9:18 PM I, too, find this time fascinating. I agree that while he was drawn to him and attracted to him (maybe even subconsciously), John didn’t see Paul as an equal adult quote yet. Two years difference can feel quite big at that age.  But then I also find it fascinating that John said they were both horrible to Stu in Hamburg. I wouldn’t put it past John to have played them against each other, especially after Stu got with Astrid

Misery — 02/27/2023 9:27 PM Trying to see which one of them would stick it out through his behaviour maybe

mynamesbetty — 02/27/2023 9:32 PM Always hiding his soft mushy center under a hard layer of nasty humor and bad behavior

Leggy「little love of mine」 — 02/27/2023 9:32 PM John absolutely played them off each other. He was a jerk to both of them in Hamburg and would team up with the other one, peak frat bro honestly.

mynamesbetty — 02/27/2023 9:32 PM King John sits on his throne and says "which one of you loves me more?"

Leggy「little love of mine」 — 02/27/2023 9:33 PM 😂 but also 😭

Misery — 02/27/2023 9:33 PM Mhm mhm mhm

This exactly

VeggieRavioli — 02/27/2023 9:37 PM Tony Sheridan quote RE: J&P in Hamburg that’s relevant here

Leggy「little love of mine」 — 02/27/2023 9:39 PM They were like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle: they needed each other and fitted together.

pain

It was very menacing for me to hear the Liverpool accent when it was aggressive, especially when it was John. He was so caustic, and though he never scared me he could cut you down with a couple of words and a glance, and did. We got on OK because he had a bit of respect for me - I'd been on the telly - but we never got close. He was full of complexes, and to compensate for that he had a big ego. He was the intellectual and extrovert driving force, the natural leader. Paul was very talented, a frisky kind of guy, completely extrovert. His whole life was the show.

interesting that he characterizes both of them as extroverted

VeggieRavioli — 02/27/2023 9:49 PM there's another quote in my head that I can't find, about how the interplay between John and Paul was the epicenter of the Beatles' mach shau-ing in Hamburg

Hamburg is where they truly tapped into their onstage chemistry. They might not have been songwriting during this time - too exhausted and overworked for that obv - but it's where they realized how their partnership could electrify an entire room, not just their music and their singing

mynamesbetty — 02/27/2023 9:52 PM Lesley-Ann Jones, The Search for John Lennon, on John's motivations for having Stu in the band - she's harsher on him than I would be but I can't say she's completely wrong

But John can't needle and bitch about Paul's musicianship to make himself feel better because Paul is just as good and maybe ever more talented than John, so he stops complaining where Paul is concerned and starts thinking about what they can accomplish together

Morrigan — 02/27/2023 9:54 PM It’s truly fascinating how evident that was to so many people I think the whole Stu situation was majorly messy…teenagers or young adults in over their heads..ego, sexuality, hormones and messy emotions running rampant all of the place …add to that drugs and alcohol. It must’ve been fascinating to watch from afar though

VeggieRavioli — 02/27/2023 9:57 PM I don't agree with the latter part of this passage tbh, John didn't need any propping up in terms of having his ability recognized versus Paul's

mynamesbetty — 02/27/2023 9:58 PM Yeah, that part I disagree with from our outside perspective, but John was always insecure about his abilities as a musician

Morrigan — 02/27/2023 9:59 PM Yeah I also disagree on that part

Leggy「little love of mine」 — 02/27/2023 10:01 PM John respected that core of iron, the fact that he couldn't maneuver Paul endlessly fascinated him. I still don't know how to judge John's feelings about his own musicianship, I guess that's where the competitive aspect comes in, but it is fascinating that he decided to prioritize the health of the band over his personal feelings about Paul's abilities.

mynamesbetty — 02/27/2023 10:02 PM John's nascent case of imposter syndrome couldn't stand up to the blazing pillar of self confidence that was eighteen year old stinky rat boy Paul McCartney

VeggieRavioli — 02/27/2023 10:06 PM but the part about Stu entrancing the chicks is dead on lol — of all the Beatles, was Stu the first to provoke an on-sight orgasm out of the audience?? We will never know

louiselux — 02/28/2023 3:12 AM He’s gonna ride that stinky rat boy all the way to the top!

louiselux — 02/28/2023 3:30 AM John seemed to be very incisive about people’s musical abilities in general, but seemed to get stuck when assessing his own.

alfenbalf — 02/28/2023 3:54 AM Tony Sheridan giving off big "I'm from Norfolk" energy here. Baby, John has the softest, gentlest Liverpool accent ever

I love Klaus

louiselux — 02/28/2023 4:14 AM Ha! That explains it - John's accent is the softest

Leggy「little love of mine」 — 02/28/2023 8:22 PM John had the classic "mildly clever kid trapped in the american school system" problem where he was able to coast on his natural gifts for years and then struggled to respond to situations that challenged his abilities. And then he has the help/hindrance of being with Paul and Paul is able to challenge him, and get his skill levels up, but Paul was also a crutch for him in a lot of ways so John didn't learn how to deal with challenges on his own. Most people wouldn't in his situation.

People like John benefit immensely from mentorships preferably from a young age. Hence the proliferation of masterful artists during the Renaissance. In ideal circumstances John would have been apprenticed to someone as eclectic as he was who could educate him and grow his talents. His real talent lay in the fact that he was able to self teach everything he needed to know.

He really was a natural leader.

mynamesbetty — 02/28/2023 8:25 PM That rich old lady (or man) to support him while he focused on his art never materialized so he pulled his socks up and did it all himself

[denimbex1986]

'Steven Zaillian’s choice in what he chooses to write comes down to two simple questions, as he explains: “Is it interesting to me? Do I think I could do it well?” And in the case of Netflix’s “Ripley,” his eight-part adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” the answer to both was yes. But Zaillian — who often pens meaty tales of men in morally gray areas, including “Gangs of New York,” “American Gangster,” “Awakenings” and the one that earned him an Oscar in 1994, “Schindler’s List” — didn’t stop with sole screenwriter credit on “Ripley.” He’s its director and an executive producer too. Zaillian spoke with The Envelope via Zoom about taking on the equally gray-area Tom Ripley in stark black-and-white … and one splash of red.

What drew you to Patricia Highsmith’s books in the first place?

I gravitate to things that have a kind of timelessness to them. Even if “Ripley” does take place in 1955 or 1960 or whatever, it’s a timeless story.

Timeless, though the details might not work in today’s world.

At one point, a company I was talking to said, “Yeah, we’d love to make it as long as you make it in the present day.” I said, “I can’t. This story will not work with cellphones and all that stuff.” That’s the reason to keep it in the period. It’s a great period: pre-Beatles, pre-Italy being overrun with tourists. But we’re always going to have these kinds of people in our lives.

Anthony Minghella‘s 1999 sun-splashed film “The Talented Mr. Ripley” is almost a diametrically opposed version from what you’re doing on Netflix. Was that intentional?

It wasn’t a conscious effort to do that. It was a conscious effort to capture what I imagined it would look like when I first read the book. I just couldn’t see this story in color, and I didn’t feel that it was a fashion show or a happy, like you said, sunny postcard look. In the book, [Highsmith] spends a good 50 pages describing his life in New York. It felt important for me to establish this guy who’s really just a petty criminal, and I had enough time to do that.

It’s almost a shame to spend so much time in Italy and not see it in color.

Go back to neorealist films — they’re in black-and-white. “La Dolce Vita” is black-and-white and pretty Italian. Those were the looks of Italy I had in mind.

So had you thought of shooting in—

Film? No. I’m not sure in this day and age what the point is of doing that when you can shoot digitally and have that look like film. But we were careful while shooting; no color monitors on the set. We recorded in color but never looked at it in color.

Though there is that moment when the cat walks through blood and leaves behind red marks. Why single that out?

You’re in the editing room for a year, and you’re playing with things. I said one day, “Know what? Maybe it’d be fun to have the cat paws be the only shot that’s in color.” There’s no hidden meaning. I found it fun.

You directed, wrote and executive produced, which you also did in 2016’s “The Night of.” What’s beneficial about having your hands in so many pies?

The biggest benefit of directing something I’ve written is, whether it turns out good or not, it’s what I intended. I don’t write any differently. I’m one of those people who can’t write it unless I can see it in my mind. So I’ve kind of already seen the movie by the time I’m done writing the script. I’m lucky I can do both.

What made Andrew Scott your Ripley?

I’d only seen him in a few things — “Sherlock,” “Fleabag” and a movie called “Locke,” where he was just a voice on the phone. He created quite a character with just his voice. I was making something where we were going to be with somebody who’s on their own a lot. He has to somehow bring the audience in and have them experience things as he’s experiencing them.

He’s 47, though; the character in Highsmith’s books is in his 20s. Scott isn’t playing mid-20s, right?

When I cast him, he was 41. I felt the characters should all be about the same age — Dickie and Marge and Tom — and around 35 felt good. If you’re 35 and you’re a trust-fund kid, I can see your parents getting pretty concerned about your future. With Tom, I felt he’s this desperate con-man character, so he needed more history behind him than a 25-year-old would have.

And did you have other actors in mind?

He was the first choice. One and only.

You mentioned including a splash of color for fun. Was including John Malkovich, who played Ripley in 2003’s “Ripley’s Game,” also for fun?

He plays a character who’s not even in “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” and I found a use for that character in the story and wanted to — if we ever do any more of them — to establish this character in the first one. I told that to John, like, “Can you see that this would be fun and cool?” And he said, “Let’s do it.” He was just delightful.

So will you make another of Highsmith’s Ripley novels?

If [executives] asked me that now, the answer would be no. Will enough time go by where I recover and think about it? Yeah. And if I did it, [Malkovich] would definitely be in it. I want him in it.

What makes Tom Ripley so endlessly fascinating?

Con men are interesting characters and make for good drama. But Tom is much more than that. The total of who he is makes him such an enduring character. He’s such a complex and distinctive character. He’s one of the few characters that does bad things that we want to see anyway.'

[singeratlarge]

SUNDAY MATINEE MUSIC VIDEO “Dancin’ by the River (Tex-Mex Garage Mix)” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L14-hl4IEss — The lyrics came from a dream: I saw a clear summer day with a water baptism happening at Pine Creek, a scenic waterway that flows southward through north central Pennsylvania (and shown in this video). There was a romantic undercurrent between a man and a woman, visibly in love and grateful to be getting baptized. Surrounding them was a group of happy people having a festival—kind of like a Grateful Dead concert (minus certain substances). 

This spicy jangly-guitar pop track was inspired by early Beatles, vintage Chicano rock’n’roll, Mexican gangster films, Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman,” and The Everly Brothers’s cover of "Lucille." On a cosmic jukebox it would play next to Richie Valens, Neil Diamond, and The Monkees ("Little Bit Me Little Bit You")—in fact, Davy Jones said it should be “top of the pops.” This recording (mixed by Tim Breon) has gotten airplay around the world and features the drum work of Bill Matlack, Jr. + vocals & percussion by evinrude a.k.a. Kevin Spyker. The song has been in my live set for years, including with Paul Farnham and The Gypsy Lizards, and the band October (with Ron Davis and Chris Haggerty). 

#texmex #garagerock #pinecreek #pennsylvania #appalachia #baptism #beatles #chicano #rocknroll #mexican #royorbison #prettywoman #everlybrothers #lucille #richievalens #neildiamond #monkees #davyjones #johnnyjblair #timbreon #billmatlack #evinrude #kevinspyker #paulfarnham #rondavis #chrishaggerty #victorvalverde #october #singersongwriter #singeratlarge

[miki-kaname]

History of my Usernames

Ever since I started social media ten years ago, I went through different usernames. Many of them were flat out embarrassing and others were too long.

Beatdoor909: My very first username, and my god its bad. I came up with it back in high school. Combining two of my favorite bands I was listening back then: The Beatles and The Doors. Everyone thought I was swearing in spanish, it almost does sound like ****. I used it on some accounts, including here, but rarely brought it up. I still use it as my PSN name (as beatdoor69), mostly because I feared that erasing it would corrupt my saved files? I don't want to risk it.

The Quiet One: Possibly the second name I use for Tumblr. It was a nickname I had back in high school by several teachers, because I was very quiet. But if I remember, I misspelled it here, but didn't bother changing it. I don't know how long I kept it.

Little Silence: A name given by cool people back in high school, it was my gangster name. I reused it in my senior year as my blues name (I took guitar classes), until I used it here as my second username. I must've kept it for a few years.

Pro-Hunter-Lapis-Lazuli: This name was made once I started taking Tumblr more seriously. Based on two fandoms I love (Pro Hunter (Hunter x Hunter) and Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe)), it represents what my blog was back then. It grabbed people's attention.

Pro-Hunter-Sailor-Lapis: I updated the name in 2019 or 2020 after watching Sailor Moon. I still didn't like how long it was.

Sailor-Lapis: After a mental breakdown in 2021 that resulted in me having a falling out with someone, I shorten it and it became my main name until just a few months ago. I killed off the name in 2023 here and several months later on Instagram. It is now just a distance memory.

Amiisbestgirl: I created an anime side blog here in response to a terrible mental meltdown I had in 2021. It was a temporary username that I only kept for about a few months (or maybe a year, I can't remember).

AyanamiTomoe: Created in 2022, it was basically my main username for my anime blog. Made because I wanted people to not call me sailor-lapis anymore. If you guessed, named after my two favorites at the time (Rei Ayanami and Hotaru Tomoe).

Miki-Kaname: My current one. Made several months after being expose to Madoka Magica. Name after my two most favorite girls in PMMM (Sayaka Miki and Madoka Kaname), this is the name I'm really happy with today.

[ariel-seagull-wings]

FICTIONAL CHARACTER ASK: JOHNNY FIAMA

Asked by @princesssarisa

@moonbeamelf @fragglesesamemuppetz2 @softlytowardthesun @themousefromfantasyland @angelixgutz @amalthea9

Favorite Thing About Them: His passion for a period in music history and genre that is not really popular in modern times. He doesn't care that is not a trend, he sings crooner music and dresses in a rat pack style gangster suit because that is what he loves and identifies with, and that is a nice message of encouragement that the character presents in a subtle way.

Least Favorite Thing About Them: He can be arrogant and frequently force himself into other people's spaces, even trying to force other people to eat his mother's spagetthi when they just don't want to or can't at the moment.

Three Things I Have In Common With Them:

* I love pasta;

* I enjoy the melody of the song Goldfinger;

* I probably would get nervous in awe when meeting an idol;

Three Things I Don't Have In Common With Them:

* I'm not italian american;

* I don't have a monkey working for me as my security guard;

* I'm not a crooner singer;

Favorite Line:

This exchange he has with Clifford and Sal Minella about his Tony Bennet fanboy memorabilia:

"Johnny Fiama: Oh, Clifford! I'm so glad you stopped in. Listen, in honor of Tony being on the show, I thought I'd bring in a few of my collectibles from home.

Clifford: You brought in all this yourself?

Johnny Fiama: Oh, you better believe it, kid.  

Sal Minella: I got the last one here, Johnny.

Johnny Fiama: Oh, thank you, Sal. Listen, put it over there, huh, pal?

Sal Minella: Okay.

Johnny Fiama: Great. Look, Clifford, I got every album Tony Bennett ever made, including this very rare, Sergeant Tony's Lonely Hearts Club Gang, which, by the way, came out a week before the one with those other guys.

Clifford: The Beatles?...

Johnny Fiama: Whatever. Anyway, look, I got the Tony Bennett lunchbox, huh? And then, and then I got the Tony Bennett action figure with kung-fu grip. And then, I got a full case of his canned pasta, Rig-a-Tony Bennett!

Sal Minella: You want I should open a can, Johnny?

Johnny Fiama: Sal. Is it New Year's?

Sal Minella: No. Sorry, Johnny."

These line he says when playing the role of Prince John in the comic Muppet Robin Hood:

"Look, boys, I really don't care what he does to Marian, but this whole thing makes me look bad, and you know I hate to look bad."

"Now that I think about it, I could really go for some cookies right now! Can we get some cookies here?"

brOTP: Clifford, Big Mean Carl, Dr. Phill van Neuter, Seymour the Elephant, Pepe the King Prawn, Spamela Hamderson, Bobo the Bear, Rowlf the Dog.

OTP: Sal Minella, Dr. Teeth.

nOTP: Clarissa, the lady who hates his music style and who sitted with Johnny Fiama in a dinner table because Sal Minella forced her.

Random Headcanon: He only imitates the fashion of gangsters that he saw on movies, but he isn't really in the mob.

Unpopular Opinion: He is a great Muppet character who is specially fitting to play antagonistic roles (like Prince John in the comic Muppet Robin Hood) and should be considered an important member of the gang just like Bobo the Bear and Pepe the King Prawn have becomed.

Song I Associate With Them:

The Year of the Chick

We Hardly Heard Ya

Shaking the Blues Away

Favorite Picture of Them:

[agentnico]

My Most Anticipated Movies of 2024

Here we are - Christmas behind us and right at the precipice of the end of the year with 2024 ready to rock and rumble. So naturally as per usual this time of year I do all my film-related Top 10 lists, with the first up My Most Anticipated Movies of 2024. An interesting aspect of 2024 is that it is in fact bare bones when it comes to superhero flicks with both Marvel and DC taking a little break as they reorganise that respective cinematic universes, with the only major flicks of that genre being Deadpool 3 and the Joker sequel. As such, I’m really hoping we will get some stand out releases from the indie and more niche market, so looking forward to those surprises down the line, as for now here are the movies on my radar who I see having potential at being the stand outs in 2024…

10) KUNG FU PANDA 4 - Jack Black’s Po the Dragon Warrior is back for another round of hijinks. DreamWorks animation sequels recently have been nothing short of superb, with the genuinely laugh-out-loud hilarious Croods 2 and then the fantastic Puss in Boots: The Last Wish that had no right to be THAT good! Like honestly, how the hell was Puss in Boots 2 so awesome!? From the striking and ambitious animation style, to the soundtrack and one hell of a title track with “Fearless Hero”, to the narrative itself tackling surprisingly mature themes and honest depictions of panic attacks - Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a masterpiece! There, I said it. As such really high hopes now for DreamWorks’ other projects, with Kung Fu Panda always a reliable series, yet I must say the trailer was a tad underwhelming hence why it’s so low on the list. Still though, the previous 3 have been solid so no reason for this one not to. Let’s give this panda some love!

9) THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE - Director Guy Ritchie has been on a real hot-streak lately, delivering quality after quality. 2019’s The Gentlemen is one of the coolest gangster flicks in recent memory, 2015’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E was an entertaining action espionage caper with some great humorous banter, and this year’s The Covenant was one of the more underrated surprises, delivering a tense and realistic pulse pounding war thriller that was so out of character for Ritchie, yet honestly delivered such an edge of your seat experience. Then there’s that Aladdin remake with a blue Will Smith. Look, everyone’s gotta pay the bills, but nonetheless Guy Ritchie really is hitting the mark non-stop, so really looking forward to this World War II based action spy film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. Love the title alone. Also Henry Cavill’s in the lead and that guy’s simply cool.

8) ARGYLLE - So much so that this is the second film on the list featuring Henry Cavill in the lead. What a cast - John Cena, Sam Rockwell, Dua Lipa, Bryce Dallas Howard, Samuel L. Jackson, Sofia Boutella and Bryan Cranston. Talk about an ensemble! This comes to us from Matthew Vaughn who made those Kingsman movies, and one could argue that this looks and feels like a Kingsman movie. Wouldn’t even be surprised if at the film’s end there will be a twist connecting it to that franchise Cloverfield-style. Looks like a good time though, as long as they brush up on their special effects, as that CGI cat is Garfield-level bad!

7) BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE - When a music biopic is done right then it is SO right! Taron Egerton rocked as Elton John in Rocketman, and Baz Luhrmann visual frenetic style paired really well with the crazy life of Presley in 2022’s Elvis. And who can of course forget the incredible tale of Dewey Cox, as he walked hard through his drug-filled Bob Dylan-stealing life where absolutely nothing bad happened to him. I’m of course kidding, but if you’ve never seen Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story then you’re missing out on of the funniest music biopic satires ever. That movie is hilarious and the Beatles scene alone is worth the price of admission. Anyway, in regards to One Love, the trailers for this Bob Marley biopic have actually been really intriguing. Kingsley Ben-Adir seems to be impersonating the famous reggae singer really well and the movie itself seems to offer a powerful depiction of Marley’s journey behind his revolutionary music. At the very least I’m going to enjoy listening to “Buffalo Soldier” on the big screen, and that’s gotta count for something.

6) FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA - One of the stand-outs of George Miller’s absolute batshit insane wasteland hit Mad Max: Fury Road was Charlize Theron’s headstrong Furiosa. Well Theron is not returning and instead Anya Taylor-Joy takes on the role as a younger version of the character. I am always hesitant with prequel stories as I always wonder what’s the point of them, however Miller’s Fury Road was visually incredible with some outstanding action sequences, and additionally the trailer for Furiosa features an unhinged Chris Hemsworth, and for those of you who’ve seen Bad Times at the El Royale you’ll know the guy can play insane really well.

5) DRIVE AWAY DOLLS - The Coen Brothers are behind some of the most thrilling crime capers in film history, yet recently they temporarily parted ways to focus on their own projects. Joel went on to direct a truly spectacular Shakespeare adaptation of Tragedy of Macbeth that gave Roman Polanski’s original a run for its money, and now Ethan Coen has got his first solo directorial outing with Drive Away Dolls. It’s a queer roadtrip buddy comedy about two friends whose spontaneous trip to Tallahassee is undermined by a gang of amateur criminals. Should be a fun time at the movies with hopefully some of the Coens’ signature wit, and the supporting cast featuring Pedro Pascal and Matt Damon simply sounds delightful.

4) MICKEY 17 - Bong Joon-Ho’s highly anticipated science fiction film starring Robert Pattinson. Not much is known about this however Joon-Ho is fresh of winning an Oscar for Best Picture for his incredible Parasite, and Pattinson has really proven in the last decade that he’s a very talented actor, and that the quicker we forget about his Twilight times the better. Look, it’s a movie that is made by a very talented group of people, so I’m really rooting for this one to be a hit.

3) DEADPOOL 3 - One of the few superhero flicks of 2024, and the only one I really care about, as, well, it’s fricking Deadpool! The first two were awesome, and we have Ryan Reynolds back in this one, this time with the highly anticipated return of Wolverine himself - Hugh Jackman. Again, there are reasons to be worried, as the MCU’s Multiverse saga has been very underwhelming and this film is posed to be at the centre of this cinematic plot line. Additionally, due to the writer’s strike earlier in 2023 Ryan Reynolds was not allowed to improvise on set, and I feel like Deadpool thrives of the ad-libbing and actors being allowed to act in the moment, so take that away and what do we have? Fingers crossed the team know what they are doing and I’m still really looking forward to it, yet Deadpool 3 has a lot to prove come it’s summer release day.

2) MAXXXINE - The final entry is Ty West’s horror trilogy X. Following the only survivor of the bloody incidents of X, Maxine continues her journey towards fame to be an actress in 1980s Los Angeles. Both X and Pearl really reinvigorated the horror genre as they both took inspiration from the old yet managed to blend in something new, as such making this third installment one of my most anticipated this year. In fact, I don’t enjoy horror films that much, so when one gets me so invested it really proves a point that it is something truly special.

1)THE LORD OF THE RINGS: WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM - Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy are my favourite set of films ever. So of course anything to do with Lord of the Rings gets my blood pumping. Amazon Prime’s recent Rings of Power show was an absolute slap to the dick, and was such a disservice to the fans, however War of the Rohirrim sounds more promising. The prequel will be an anime adaptation of Tolkien's world and will take inspiration from the look and feel of Peter Jackson's original trilogy, with Miranda Otto returning to narrate, and as you may recall Otto played Eowyn, the daughter of Theoden, in the original trilogy. The film is directed by anime industry heavyweight Kenji Kamiyama, known for his work on Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Blade Runner: Black Lotus, promising excitement for both Tolkien and anime fans with his impressive track record. It sounds like The War of the Rohirrim will be worth the wait at least because at Annecy Film Festival in June 2023, an exclusive first look was screened and the first reactions are very positive. And look, it is a new Lord of the Rings movie that will be playing in cinemas! I am very afraid but also very excited!

[obey-moi]

Angels and demons can live centuries, millennia even. There’s no arguing about that. Even Solomon has lived hundreds on hundreds of years.

Another fact is that both races also have visited the human world (demons more often than angels, if I’m assuming correct).

What I would LOVE to see is what the characters got up to during the decades, what styles they would wear in order to blend into the human world, stuff like that.

(Keep in mind this all comes from a Very American POV of history, which is not to discredit or forget other events around the world. I’ll even cover Belphegor’s whereabouts despite being grounded in the attic for a while. I just want to keep this light-hearted, yeah?)

Like. 50’s gangster/beatnik bs, of course. I’m sure many of us have written plenty of 50’s AU fics. Not much I can say here. I’m sure Asmo adored Mod back then, as well as the little well-known Marilyn Monroe, and was incredibly heartbroken over the deaths of James Dean and Buddy Holly. Satan fell in love with “Catcher in the Rye” and is just behind most riots and protests in general, here and in the future. Belphie gets more and more interested in the developments between America’s and Russia’s space race.

Then the 60’s, Belphie REALLY getting behind the hippie movement, where more teens and young adults became disillusioned with the status quo and stopped working, started living in vans, and taking crazy drugs. That must have been a groovy time for Bels. Not to mention Asmo is probably one of the biggest inciters of the free love movement. Without that 57 brother duo, The Beatles, The Monkeys, all those bands might not have ever existed. Mammon gets super inspired by Oceans 11 and tries to get his brothers in on a heist plan (Lucifer shuts that down QUICK).

And when they hit the 70’s?? Leviathan discovering PONG?? Lucifer going with Diavolo to a fucking discotheque wearing those silken half-open button-downs and flared pants??? (I’M GOING CRAZY. I’M GONNA TURN INTO A BUG. I think I just want to see those two wearing silk shirts with all the sexual tension between them of the covers of gay romance novels). On the other end of the subgenre scale, Satan gets into punk and blasts The Clash and The Ramones on Lucifer’s record player 24/7 in an act of defiance.

Then in the 80’s, Mammon got up to terrible corpo-schemes, going crazy over the stock exchange. And Beel. Ohhhh god Beel is going crazy keeping up with the Fast Food development. He’s running around, going from one fast food joint to another like a strained addict who needs his next McRib fix. Asmo? Oh honey, he is WORKING. He is SERVING. He is becoming a TRENDSETTER, an ICON. The clothes, the hair, the makeup, the colours and prints and fabrics, the whole god damned EVERYTHING. Prince? Madonna? Jane Fonda? Uplifting and inspiring each other (or at least their stylists). Although, if you ever find photos of Asmo in his 80’s era, no you didn’t. (Mammon keeps entire photo albums of all his bro’s in the decades in secret. Claims it’s for blackmail or to sell to fans.) The NES comes out and it all goes downhill for Levi.

I could go into more decades, but I wanna hear from Y’ALL! I wanna read what era events or trends you can see the characters getting into and influencing/being influenced by. Please, share your thoughts!

[notgrungybitchin]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you for the tag @theoldmixer !!!

How many works do you have on ao3? 10

What's your total ao3 word count? 26,197

What fandoms do you write for?

Currently only The Beatles. In the past Boardwalk Empire. I also wrote some Good Omens fic that I never published way back in 2011

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Great and Powerful (Boardwalk Empire, Charlie/Meyer)

I Don't Care Too Much (The Beatles, John/Paul)

Was I So Unwise (The Beatles, John/Paul)

A Cup of Kindness (Boardwalk Empire, Margaret/Arnold)

All The Odds Are In My Favor (Boardwalk Empire, Margaret/Arnold)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes! There might be a few times I forget to, especially on old fics, but I always try to. They genuinely make my day and keep me motivated, so I want to say thank you!

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably I'm No Good at Aiming (Boardwalk Empire, Benny/Meyer) I was a lot more committed to pure angst writing in Boardwalk fandom because the show was so dark. Now that I'm into rpf I still love angst, but I always try to give them a happy ending. (I realize that my Boardwalk fic was also partly gangster rpf, but I guess I wasn't as attached to happy endings because gangsters? Or maybe I've just gone soft.)

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably I Don't Care Too Much. It's a very sweet and hopeful ending.

Do you get hate on fics?

I haven't yet thankfully. Although when I get a comment from that one troll that pops up on Mclennon fic every so often, I'll know I've made it!

Do you write smut?

I didn't until I got into The Beatles and J/P! I used to be a little uncomfortable writing it, and usually just had a steamy makeout session or fade to black. But something about those two idiots just gave me the bug and now I plan on including smut in all my fic.

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I never did, though I had an idea for an overly complex Star Wars/Boardwalk Empire AU back in the day.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don't think so.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No but I think it would be fun!

What's your all-time favorite ship?

John Lennon/Paul McCartney. It's infected my brain and taken over my soul. And it's the only thing to get me back into writing after years AND to get me writing smut.

What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I have some fun Good Omens ficlets that I never published because they are just dialogue. I just doubt I'll ever get around to them again.

What are your writing strengths?

I always find it way easier to write dialogue than anything else. Sometimes my very early drafts just look like scripts with no description added yet.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I think it comes out okay, and I've gotten better at it, but I find writing descriptions and internal monologues difficult. I often get frustrated trying to get my characters from points A to B. I always get bored writing anything but action and dialogue. I used to think I would like to be a screenwriter for this reason.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I wrote some lines in Yiddish for Boardwalk Empire fic, but I always ran them by my Yiddish-speaking friend to make sure they made sense. I also had a few French lines in I Don't Care Too Much, but they were mostly spoken by non-French speaking characters so I worried less about them. I don't think I'd try writing more than a few lines without a native speaker's input though.

First fandom you wrote for?

Good Omens! I wrote some fluffy Aziraphale/Crowly ficlets but I never published them.

Favorite fic you've written?

I think probably Was I So Unwise. It holds a special place in my heart as my first fic in eight years. It's for last year's Beatles Secret Santa, which I associate with the first time I really joined the community of the Beatles fandom, and it's hurt/comfort, one of my favorite subgenres!

I'll tag @aquarianshift, @goatsandgangsters, @meyerlansky, and @muzaktomyears if you want to!

[septembersghost]

me listening to Elvis: this music is so wholesome and fun and nice why did people have a problem with it? me listening to Steamroller Blues: they let him sing this on the radio? 😳

ASFASHSDHSDKGLJHS

he's only singing about sharing his love for the rhythm and blues, whatever do you mean? 😌😏

the funny thing about that song, which is a much later one from him, is it was originally written by james taylor as a parody: "[He] had heard one too many pretentious white blues bands and wrote 'Steamroller' to mock them." but something about the vocal of the cover sells it.

a lot of subversiveness in old music was subtext (especially like anywhere from the 20s-60s), but it was still enough for certain people to get mad about. then with elvis, add in the forbidden wiggling (how dare! there should not be suggestion of rhythm onstage! what if it conjures...sexiness?! 😱), the pervasive idea of some level of sinfulness that was associated with rock and roll, and the underlying racism towards r&b that extended to anyone presenting it to a mass audience, and you get, well, trouble.

on the personal side of this, my maternal grandparents were both teachers and very faithful people, so despite their deep love of music (and musical theatre of the day) and living in california, they were quite conservative about what was acceptable. my mom was a child when elvis' career first took off, but a teenager when he made his comeback, and she wasn't allowed to listen to/watch him, because, you know, hips and rock music! she wasn't allowed to listen to the beatles (that shaggy hair!), and though they listened to the radio, they disapproved of artists like frank's "lifestyle" (they kind of saw him as a gangster lmao), marilyn was scandalous, and so on. they did let her listen to the beach boys, because they were so nice and clean cut (hilarious irony given what was going on behind-the-scenes, and what's more is elvis' faith and overall personal beliefs probably would've been something they'd have liked). my grandpa had an incredible baritone and was offered a record contract when he was young, after he came back from wwii, but turned it down because he believed his voice should only be used in church to uplift the lord. my mom was asked to do a screen test in highschool and they wouldn't allow it. i think all the time about how different their lives might have been (i wouldn't exist to comment, but that's not a great loss to the universe lol). my mom actually shocked me this christmas when she told me she couldn't remember them ever listening to secular holiday music growing up. this wasn't true by the time i was a kid! i loved my grandparents very much and was lucky to grow up so close to them and know them well, some of my favorite memories are watching old films and listening to music with them, and maybe it was because i was a grandchild so they could be more open, but my grandpa in particular always wanted to know what i was reading or listening to, and i shared so much with him. i vividly remember playing the phantom cast recording for him and how he enjoyed it, how he even listened to 'n sync with me (he especially liked their acapella rendition of o holy night). so much of my appreciation for musical theatre and classic cinema started with them, it just stretched far beyond what they tended to gravitate towards.

meanwhile, my paternal grandmother was a total sponge for the culture, she loved all types of music, movies, and theatre, and they were in brooklyn so closer to that nyc melting pot and broadway. she worked for composer frank loesser for a while, she met a young barbra streisand, she loved frank and bing and tony bennett, all the crooners of the day, she at least liked elvis' ballads, she enjoyed the romantic comedies and the noir. so my dad had all that growing up, and then he was a huge beatles fan. my dad introduced my mom to sinatra's and streisand's work and they jointly passed that on to me, while she gave me the beach boys and fleetwood mac and carole king and the carpenters and james taylor, and he gave me things like the hits of the beatles and elvis and was my introduction to interest in marilyn. i'd hear whitney and mariah and celine with my mom, and reba and the judds and george strait with my dad. but somehow the old things really stuck and are what i ended up expanding on my own (and it probably says something about me psychologically that i held onto the things i could bond over with my dad because we are such different people, whereas my mom and i are alike and she often ends up loving everything i love anyway). i'm always grateful for those early sparks of passion and seeds that i got to water and cultivate and let blossom in my own love of various art.

tl;dr this reply got so away from me but yes, in hindsight and given the many boundaries that have come down in art and expression today, it's hard to imagine why certain seemingly innocuous things were considered so spicy back in the day. and while the culture is ever-changing, those foundations and what was beautifully created and impactfully shifted as time went by still has a powerful presence and ties into so much that continues to exist, and that's part of why much of that music and many of those films are evergreen to me.

[cellarfulofnose]

a taste of honey

Short ficlet from the Hamburg days. Ringo, pre-Beatles, is intimidating but sweet. part 1 of 2

"Oi, it's him again," George said in a low voice.

Paul frowned and leaned in closer. They'd been playing going on three hours now, and George's words were garbled noise to Paul's ringing ears. Well, all right--they'd been on stage going on three hours, but they hadn't been playing much just now. As the last patrons either trickled out in search of someplace to shack up, or fell asleep in their seats, there hadn't been much of an audience to play to. So they vamped twelve-bar blues. Improvised a little, fucked around. Paul didn't mind. He wasn't tired, exactly; it'd be ages before he could fall asleep, even without any pills, but he felt out of it somehow. Not all there. Like a waking dream. So even if his hearing hadn't been blown to hell, he might not have understood what George was saying.

George stepped closer and tried again. "He's here." He stood facing Paul upstage, his back to the pit, but he gave a pointed glance and a slight nod to the side, as if to gesture over his shoulder without being seen.

"Who's here?" Paul squinted out at the audience (for lack of a better word). The place looked empty. He shielded his eyes against the garish stage lights. For a while, the room was washed in a green glow as his eyes adjusted to the dark. But once they sharpened, Paul saw, unmistakable--him.

John had joined them by now, peering hawkishly out at the dark for whatever it was that had caught their attention. Paul knew he'd never get a good look from this distance, no matter the light, so he ducked his head and muttered, "It's Ringo."

Bearded, heavy-eyed, and pissed as a newt, he had sunk onto a settee at the back of the room and didn't appear eager to move. God, even in his drunken splay and pink-flamingo suit, he looked dangerous, every bit the gangster. He almost seemed to glint, as if he'd got a blade hidden somewhere. Paul swallowed.

"Better play well, lads," John said, his voice dancing, too light not to be a front, "or Richard the Lionheart here'll have our heads off."

Paul turned to shush him, but a heavy groan and a creak of furniture from the back of the room made him spin to attention. Shit, Ringo was headed their way. Shit, shit, shit. Paul glanced at the other three, who were all rooted to their spots. Pete had stopped playing, though he was probably safe behind his drum kit, it was the guitars who were exposed, he'd nab them first, they were done for, this was all John's bloody fault--

Ringo struck a match against the edge of the stage and lit his cigarette in one fluid swipe. He didn't give them so much as a glance, but turned around--wobbled a bit--and began to lumber back to his seat, puffing smoke like a locomotive.

The group seemed to sigh with relief. But John, apparently chasing some sort of adrenaline fix now that the prellies had worn off, called out to Ringo's back, "Any requests, Herr Sailor?"

Ringo answered, true to his craft, without missing a beat. "Three--" He interrupted himself straight out of the gate with a hair-raising hiccup. "Three-thirty Blues," he finished, and dropped onto the settee, legs spread, arms back, smoking indulgently. His voice was something of a wonder to Paul. It wasn't deep, mind--there were times when he would've said it was a high voice--but it had this roughness to it. His accent wasn't even as thick as George's, but there was no mistake. This was a boy who...

No, Paul corrected himself; boy, nothing. This was a man. A man who'd ask you a question once and expect an answer and not be keen to repeat himself. And he'd asked them for Three-thirty Blues.

John looked at Paul. Paul looked at George, and they launched into Three-thirty Blues.

John didn't know this one. They hadn't practiced it. But he was a class above the rest at following their lead, and it wasn't exactly Mozart anyway. It was blues, for God's sake; one-four-five, Bob's your uncle. Even so, Paul began to sweat as the solo approached. This was the make-or-break, quintessential section of the song. If they fucked this, it was a thumbs-down from Caesar and they were goners all.

But George, the Boy Wonder, rang it out perfectly, note-for-note. Their savior. Paul flashed him a big grin to garnish John's attaboy, Georgie. It really did sound good. Paul could've sung, only this tune didn't have any words. He turned out to see if their audience was enjoying it as much as he was.

Ringo's face was blotted by smoke. As the cloud thinned, Paul could see him frowning thoughtfully up at the stage. He wasn't looking at them, though, but almost above them. Paul's spirits sank a bit. He clearly wasn't focused, though Paul tried not to let it get to him. The less he focused on them, the less likely he was to knock their teeth in. And the man was nearly blind-drunk, after all. Looked like he was having trouble just keeping his eyes open.

When his eyes fell shut at last, Paul was sure they were about to watch Ringo pass out. But instead, his mouth dropped open in a gasp and he launched forward with a ferocious sneeze. And another-and-another, right on top of each other, aimed at the ground between his legs. Smoke drifted through the room.

Paul jumped so badly he lost the beat. Not only was it sudden, they were loud; and not like a frightened shout, either, like John, but like rolling, growling thunder. Hurricanes, indeed. Christ.

(That was probably how he punched, too, Paul caught himself thinking. One-two-three before you could get your hands up. Guaranteed fatal. He tried not to shiver.)

"Gesundheit," John called proudly to the back of the room, determined never to use English when mocking German would do.

Paul felt strange that John had acknowledged Ringo's sneezing that way, but true, it wasn't easy--or possible--to ignore. Maybe even from across the street. In any case, even a blessing sounded like a provocation coming from John.

But Ringo still didn't rise to anger. He dipped his head in a modest bow and lifted his cigarette, like Gatsby toasting Nick Carraway. It was a gesture of acknowledgement, a thank-you, but it looked like an explanation, almost penitent: sorry, mate. It's them that do it. Whatever the cause, he leaned back with a sniff and continued smoking, looking like he hadn't a care in the world.

Paul shook his head, but he was still dizzy. It must have been almost time for their set to end. He was dying to get out of there, to get some rest and a drink, and yet...

The song crawled to an awkward end, and Ringo broke out in laughter. Paul's heart only dropped for a second--it wasn't cruel or mocking, he realized, but but boisterous, joyful laughter.

It was applause.

At that realization, Paul's head swelled with pride, and he bent smartly in half with a sweeping bow. Standing back up almost made him lose his vision, he was so dizzy. He knocked into George and Ringo started laughing and hiccuping all over again, but Paul didn't mind. All right, they'd made it. They'd played to live another day.

George seemed too giddy to complain, either, all teeth as far as the eye could see. Stuart wasn't smiling, but even he couldn't ruin Paul's mood tonight. He could have kept playing forever--but that marked the end of their set.

Over John's theatrical Thank yous, Ringo called, "Another one!" No threat behind it. Just an invitation. He was so cavalier about it, his confidence as plain as the nose on his face (and what a fucking nose it was, Paul couldn't help noticing. Downright regal.) You know you want to.

Stuart, who apparently didn't want to, shrugged off his bass and left. Pete looked ready to die, but he held up his drumsticks. Paul and George looked at John.

They all looked at Ringo.

Paul scooped up Stuart's bass and slung it over his shoulder. He shook out his hair, cleared his throat, and began to pluck out Rebel Rouser.

[nokingsonlyfooles]

Today's longform content will be a reblog! Let's talk about how capitalism and copyright strangle originality!

I'm not ready to go full-manifesto yet, so let's confine this to the originality problem.

Human beings have always loved to tell stories. We especially love never-ending stories where we get to see our fictional friends go through all kinds of situations. Just look at how many variations we made of "trickster gets in over his head, and gets out again" before we ever dreamed of writing each tale down and selling them.

We now have collections of Coyote, Anansi and Robin Hood stories that, taken as a whole, look very much like a modern franchise or IP - including continuity errors and strikingly different takes on the characters and their situations. Aw, but we know ol' Robin when we see him - and if the "fandom" disagreed to strongly with the latest tale, the storyteller was standing right there on their level, free to be criticized or killed with a good-sized rock. Then someone else could take a turn.

This lateral structure - where the rules are established by mutual consent, and if we don't agree with the guy calling the shots, we punch them and it hurts - is still visible on playgrounds and around RPG tables today. But the big stories, the cultural touchstones, the "Intellectual Properties" worth buying, are subjected to a rigid top-down hierarchy, a profit-based selection model, and a "protection" system that can prevent even the people who came up with the original from us telling more of that story ever again.

Of course we want more Foster's. We loved Foster's! We didn't want it to end in the first place! But if it wasn't making enough money for the people producing and broadcasting it, and/or if the people who made the original were ready to make something else, what could we do? Fanfiction and fan animation are not impossible, but you can't offer them to a major production company, or sell them and buy food. And if your work starts to look a little too popular or legit, like it might threaten profits from the resale of the original, say hello to your takedown notice! The image of Bloo that exists in your memory and brain does not belong to you, because we lost our damn minds and decided ideas were property.

You can't just draw a mischievous little dome-shape with eyeballs and allow it to continue Bloo's adventures however you imagine. You can't re-tell any of his original adventures with your own spin either. Hamlet can reappear on stage nightly, with a rotating cast, set-design, and endless variations on the theme. Do you imagine Hamlet as a musical animated feature with lions in Africa? Wow! So creative! Have an Oscar or two!

But, wait! Wait-wait-wait! Doesn't copyright force you to go make a story of your own, with a trickster dissimilar enough not to get hit with a takedown? It's all well and good that Hamlet can hold up to endless reinterpretation, but if all we did was remake Hamlet, we'd never have Foster's!

What's that? Oh, no! It's Capitalism! With monopolization, corporatism, artificial scarcity, and a steel chair!

Even an original from an established creator has to run a gauntlet to get produced. 16 original ideas get gunned down like gangsters in the street, to say nothing of the infinite worlds imagined by more obscure creators (ahem) that don't even have the apparent financial viability to stagger their way up to Netflix and be killed.

This is not a process motivated by quality. A long crawl on their hands and knees over broken glass is standard for new creators, even the ones who go on to make billions. The Beatles got rejected by a record label on their way up because guitar groups were "on the way out." Nevermind that as soon as they dropped a little acid and earned a little clout, they were unlike any "guitar group" that came before. Guillermo del Toro relates the process of making his second film, and the first one that made it big, as "having a beautiful daughter and watching her arms get cut off." Mimic, as imagined, didn't look profitable, so the studio with the production rights tore it up until it did. We relate these stories as parables of tenacity, somehow ignoring the evidence that the system that produces and markets the stories we see has no idea what talent looks like.

New things, truly new and ground-breaking things, can only be compared to the things that came before them. If they don't fit into some existing standard, they'll be forced to fit. How else are we supposed to market and manufacture them?

"What's that thing?"

"It's a better mousetrap."

"What? Like a cat? Here, kitty-kitty. Here, kitty! Ow! Son of a gun, this is the worst cat I've ever seen!"

"No, no, it's a machine, it..."

"Hello, production? Yeah, can we get a couple dozen of these, but cover them in fur, give them some ears and a cute li'l bell, and get rid of this painful metal bit right here? And get me a couple focus groups, I think mostly ladies. Ladies love a kitty..."

"Wait! It won't WORK if you..."

"Listen, pal, I'm agreeing to produce your shitty cat, but if we can't get the major pet stores interested, I'm afraid you'll have to cover the costs and take a walk."

"Is there anyone else I can take this to?"

"Hmm, a few, but I promise they'll all tell you the same. Time is money, pal, what do you wanna do?"

"I guess if you let me talk to..."

"Swell. Sign over your rights on the dotted line right there and we'll get started."

Oddly enough, when you insist that an original look as much like the things that came before it as possible, it doesn't do very well. Or seem very original. But it makes success seem really difficult, and scarce, and it keeps new creators desperate, pliable, and cheap.

Coincidentally, it makes remakes, reboots and reimaginings look like a much safer investment. Intellectual Property is a cash cow offering exclusive ownership, and it takes a long time for everyone to notice the milk's started tasting a little off. As long as the corporation that wants to hire you is big enough to afford the the cow, chances are, they'll treat your creativity just like any other product. Your brain is the factory, and the best thing it can do is endless, industrialized repetition. Moo.

But, is that why we liked Foster's and wanted more of it? Because it was so consistent and samey? I thought we liked it because it was one of those rare, new, innovative things that made it through the process with most of its originality intact. We'd never seen anything like that before! We didn't know what was gonna happen next! With a shiny new interpretation, even tired old narrative tropes can be exciting.

"Wow, that's a cool trickster character."

"Thanks. I made him out of a child's imagination."

The endless repetition of reboots and remakes wouldn't be quite so repetitive if they didn't come off a corporate-owned assembly line. But the freeform chaos that claims stories from the public domain just isn't as controllable, or profitable. Who's getting the money off the rights to Hamlet? What? Nobody? Quick! Put that in a new package and copyright the shit out of it!

Ah. There. That's better. Well, better for the corporations.

Not for the creators. Or the stories. Or you.

Nice going, Capitalism and Copyright. Another case solved.

fucking constant reboot remake reboot remake reboot remake reboot remake!!!!!!!!!! the tv has only been around for like a century you literally cannot be out of ideas already

[tavolgisvist]

What'd I say

Q: Let's go back for a minute and talk about all the early influences on the Beatles. What would you say had the greatest effect on the group? Was it Liverpool? The Cavern? Hamburg? Did Hamburg really improve the playing?" JOHN: "Oh, amazingly. Because before that we'd only been playing bits and pieces, but in Hamburg we had to play for hours and hours on end. Every song lasted 20 minutes and had 20 solos in it. We'd be playing eight or ten hours a night. And that's what improved the playing. Also, the Germans like heavy rock, so you have to keep rocking all the time, and that's how we got stomping. That's how it developed. That made the sound. Because we developed a sound by playing hours and hours and hours together." Q: "You all must have found yourself playing in some unbelievably bad conditions." JOHN: "Yeah, but it was still rather thrilling when you went onstage. A little frightening because it wasn't a dancehall, and all these people were sitting down, expecting something. And then they would tell us to 'mak show' (make a show). After the first night they said, 'You were terrible. You have to make a show -- Mak show!' So I put my guitar down and I did Gene Vincent all night. You know -- banging and lying on the floor and throwing the mike about and pretending I had a bad leg. They're all doing it now -- lying on the floor and banging the guitar and kicking things and just doing all that jazz. "Then they moved us to another club, which was larger and where they danced. Paul would be doing 'What'd I say' for an hour and a half. And these gangsters would come in -- the local mafia. They'd send a crate of champagne onstage... this imitation German champagne, and we had to drink it or they'd kill us. They'd say, 'Drink it and then do What'd I Say.' We'd have to do this other show, whatever time of night. If they came in at five in the morning and we'd been playing for seven hours, they'd give us a crate of champagne and we were supposed to carry on. We'd get pills off the waiters then, to keep awake. That's how all that started. "I used to be so pissed I'd be lying on the florr behind the piano, drunk, while the rest of the group was playing. I'd just be onstage fast asleep. Some of the shows, I went on just in me underpants. I'd go on in underpants with a toilet seat 'round me neck, and all sorts of gear on. Out of me fucking mind!"

(John Lennon, September 5th, 1971, St. Regis Hotel in New York City, interview with Peter McCabe and Robert Schonfeld)

Q: When Ringo joined the band, that must have interrupted your emerging career on drums. A: Yeah, I was completely redundant. We loved Ringo so much. He was our favorite drummer in Liverpool, and when he joined the band, it was an explosion: Every song sounded new and fresh. He could pass what we felt was the true test for drummers, which was to be able to play “What’d I Say” — the cymbal work and the toms.

(Paul McCartney, interview with Robert L. Doerschuk for Drum!Magazine, 2005)

Also

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this week (#185):

2 by French director Christian Vincent:

🍿 Haute Cuisine is a charming drama about a female chef who was appointed as the personal 'cuisinier' to the president of the Republic. Supposedly it is based on the real-live story of François Mitterrand's private cook.

Like many other 'Food Porn' movies, this is a mouth-watering, touristy story where lushly-photographed meals being prepared with love and emotions. I don't understand is why this film is never mentioned with other fancy and feel-good morsels (Like 'Babette's Feast', 'Tampopo', 'Big night', 'Chef', 'Eat drink man woman', 'Jiro dreams of sushi', and dozen others). Maybe because it's not egalitarian enough?

9/10 from me [But then I actually cooked for Mitterrand myself in 1982, when he came to Denmark for a state visit, and I worked as a cook at the restaurant of the Danish Parliament. Nothing as sumptuous though!].

🍿 "You were on morphine. That's why you thought I was beautiful..."

Courted is a light courtroom drama, starring my serious Danish crush Sidse Babett Knudsen in an lovely French role. It tells of a strict and dour judge, ruling over a murder trial, who falls for a woman juror, whom he had met years ago. It's surprisingly endearing, and I don't blame him for being enchanted with her.

🍿

My first 5 films from British poet Terence Davies:

🍿 Children, his sad debut film from 1976, a haunting auto-biographical retelling of (his own) wretched childhood. A lonely, unloved boy, severely bullied at his Catholic school, and suffering quietly at home with a silent mother and an abusive father. All the disclosures are offered piecewise and delicately, that he's gay, that his father is dying, that he never got over any of the abuses. Best discovery of the week!

🍿 "Pray, Father, give me your blessing.."

Madonna and Child (1980) is slow, contemplative and dark painting of a depressed middle age Catholic, deeply religious closeted gay man, who works in the city, takes care of his elderly mother, and cruised at night for sex. Lonely and conflicted, melancholic and unhappy, he goes to mass regularly, and confesses of all his sins, except that he's attempting to get his dick tattooed. The dark night of the soul, indeed. 9/10.

🍿 Death and Transfiguration is the 3rd part of his alter-ego Robert Tucker trilogy. Even though it was made in 1983, the young man is now on his death bed, old, speechless, alone and again in the care of the nuns. It's a devastating conclusion to a life of this unhappy, gentle boy who lived his whole life in pain and concealment, between the church and the flesh. It opens with Doris Day singing 'It all depends on you' as he buries his beloved mother, and it only grows sadder from there. 10/10.

🍿 "...And then the journey home, tired. Cocoa and toast... And happiness unlimited..."

Of Time and the City felt like watching a movie of Lou Reed's 'Perfect Day', like a James Joyce moving poem but for Liverpool, not Dublin. This is Terence Davies only documentary, about the city of his birth during the 20th century. It opened with a moving recitation of 'The land of lost content', and it combined a magnificent collection of archival clips with glorious choices of musical scores. Together they created a very personal and highly emotional masterpiece, one of the best nostalgic documentaries I ever saw. For people who only knew of Liverpool as the home of The Beatles, it was a eye-opener: Their impact and music were featured for a brief moment only. 10/10!

🍿 Passing Time was the last film he completed before his death in 2023. A short poem he wrote and read, a single image of a rural countryside, and a piece of music composed for the occasion.

🍿

The Wild Goose Lake (2019), my first intense neo-noir thriller by Chinese auteur Diao Yinan. Caught in a turf war between gangs of motorcycle thieves, a gangster is running for his life, and has to use an abused "bathing beauty", a hooker who looks similar to Faye Wong from Chungking Express. It's a fresh look at the genre, full of rain-soaked dingy alleys, gritty and un-glamorized parts of Wuhan, slow-burning suspense and nocturnal aesthetics. 8/10.

How I miss wondering aimlessly in those night markets and street dances where hundreds of people are gathered as their Saturday entertainment!

🍿

Swept Away X 2:

🍿 Lina Wertmüller's controversial Swept away, (which obviously was a major inspiration to Ruben Östlund's 'Triangle of Sadness'.)

A political & sexual fantasy of a man and a woman stranded on a Mediterranean desert island. She's rich, spoiled and entitled, he's a simple Sicilian communist. She treats him contemptuously when he's just a deckhand on her yacht, and he turns the tables and abuses her in any way he can, once they find themselves alone in the wilderness. It started raw and didactic, with motifs of class warfare between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, and then it turned into a whirlwind of sexual violence and misogyny. But it ended tenderly romantic, as they eventually come to love each other in a deep sadomasochistic way. 8/10. [*Female Director*]

🍿 Generally I don't watch re-makes, but the 2002 Madonna/Guy Ritchie remake got 5% score on Rotten Tomatoes, so that was intriguing. It is considered to be 'one of the worst films ever made', and maybe it wasn't exactly that, but like most all remakes, I still couldn't see the point in making it. They flattened the power dynamics, nullified the politics of the original, and drained the sexual heat, so it remained as boring as a music video. The only interesting angle was using Giancarlo Giannini's actual son to play the wild fisherman. But as much as he looked like his father, he wasn't such a captivating actor. 2/10.

🍿

My 5th film by Nicole Holofcener, Friends with Money. Four long-time friends, Catherine Keener (of course), Jennifer Aniston, Joan Cusack and Frances McDormand deal with Santa Monica's lifestyle issues. All are well-to-do except of Jennifer Aniston, who makes poor life choices, and so she has to work as a cleaning lady. But all have marital and upper-middle-class problems. And none of the men in this story are appealing. I watched it because of this screenshot. A pleasant 7/10. [*Female Director*]

🍿

Pee Wee Herman X 2:

🍿 Paul Reubens, The Man Behind the Bowtie is a new mini documentary about Pee Wee Herman (but not the expected Disney job). A thin, adoring 31-min. bio, which is better than no bio.

🍿 "Pete. Take a look at these breasts."

School, Girls and You! is a ridiculous satire of 1950's Public Service Announcements about puritanical sex education. Pre-Pee Wee Paul Reubens plays Bad Boy Pete. It ends with a cartoon penis singing about jerking of.

🍿

The Vulture article with a photo of this beautiful woman, caused me to watch the original Twister for the first time in 30 years. Yes, it had excitable young Philip Seymour Hoffman and Tár director Todd Field, and the Original 'Got Milk' guy [Still the best Michael Bay's film] as storm-chasers. It also re-played Morricone's beautiful 'Love Affair' theme at a crucial moment. But boy! I simply can't stand 'Hollywood blockbusters', spectacularly loud, dumb and over-zealously fast. "Mass" entertainment with lots of action, fake scientific explanations, and dialogue lines like "Watch out! It’s coming straight at us! C’mon! Lets go!" Etc. 2/10. ♻️.

🍿

Another batch of shorts:

🍿 The phone call won the Oscars in 2013. It retold the story of Sydney Pollack's 'The Slender Thread'. A suicide hot line worker is recieving a phone call from a man who had taken a bunch of pills and she tries to talk him into disclosing his address so that he can be saved. Sally Hawkins plays the Sidney Poitier's role, and Jim Broadbent's voice plays the despondent Anne Bancroft. It was perfectly emotional and well done (until the very disappointing final scene!) 7/10.

🍿 The silent child is another British Oscar winner (from 2017). It tells a quietly tragic little story about a 4-year old deaf girl whose well-to-do and busy parents ignore her special needs. (Screenshot Above). Heartbreaking.

🍿 "...Have you not seen 'The city of God', for Christ's sake?!..."

The crush is a cute Irish short, nominated in 2009, about a 8-year-old boy who's infatuated with his teacher, and challenges her fiance to a duel.

🍿 Pentecost, another Irish nomination about a boy, from 2012. He is an alter boy and he's obsessed with football.

🍿 First time that I heard of Gale Henry, a female silent film slapstick comedian of the Chaplin-Keaton mold. She starred in over 230 gag-filled films, but directed only one: The detectress. This "Big trouble in Chinatown" from 1919 involved a search for a secret formula for eyeglasses that will "allow chop suey eaters to see what they're eating". All the racist Chinese stereotypes you can imagine: Opium dens, cat dishes, derogatory names and characters, long braids. Not great. [*Female Director*]

🍿 Olla is a young Eastern European mail-order "bride" who moves to live with a middle age French dude in his boring suburban house, after meeting online. Debut work by a Greek-French woman, it's unexpectedly perplexing. Contains some unusual sexual scenes. 5/10. [*Female Director*]

🍿 Noah, an interesting disjointed short, made by some Canadian students as a class project in 2013. An early entry in the growing 'Screenlife' genre, where the events of the story unfold entirely on screens. Teenagers with short attention span seek love in today's heartless desert. Too young for me to really enjoy, but very well made.

🍿 My first Star Trek node, William Shatner Lent Me His Hairpiece (1996). A cheap fan fiction "un-true" story about Kirk's Love Rug, "baldly" going where no one has gone before. This is exactly how I imagine the real franchise plays, only with much bigger budgets.

🍿

Simone de Beauvoir X 3:

🍿 Slow down (לאט יותר) was an important Israeli short, Based on a short story by Simone de Beauvoir and winner of the 1967 Venice Festival. An old woman argues with her husband, and after a day or two of anger, they reconciles. The whole movie is told in voice-over, as she meditates about their life together, about aging and love.

(It perfectly captured the sounds and looks of my own childhood.)

🍿 Simone de Beauvoir rarely gave interviews, but in 1975 she talked at length in Why I'm a feminist, a terrific conversation with a young journalist, who's as sharp and curious as she was. Highly recommended for people interested in genre issues.

🍿 I didn't realize that while living with J-P Sartre, de Beauvoir had both Claude Lanzmann and Nelson Algren as long-term partners. The man with the golden arm is based on a novel by Algren. My 7th by Otto Preminger, it was the most disappointing of the lot. It was bold of him to tackle the serious and un-cool topic of substance abuse in 1955, but his treatment was as serious as the amateur drummer Frank Sinatra in this role, which means not very good. Best part was Saul Bass's jazzy title sequence. 2/10.

🍿

(My complete movie list is here).

[singeratlarge]

SUNDAY MATINEE MUSIC VIDEO “Dancin’ by the River (Tex-Mex Garage Mix)” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L14-hl4IEss — The lyrics came from a dream: I saw a clear summer day with a water baptism happening at Pine Creek, a scenic waterway that flows from mid-state New York down into central Pennsylvania (shown in this video). There was a romantic undercurrent between a man and a woman, visibly in love and grateful to be getting baptized. Surrounding them was a group of happy people having a festival—kind of like a Grateful Dead concert (minus certain substances).

This spicy jangly-guitar pop track was inspired by early Beatles, vintage Chicano rock’n’roll, Mexican gangster films, Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman,” and The Everly Brothers’s cover of "Lucille." On a cosmic jukebox it would play next to Richie Valens, Neil Diamond, and The Monkees ("Little Bit Me Little Bit You")—in fact, Davy Jones said it should be “top of the pops.” This recording (mixed by Tim Breon) has gotten airplay around the world and features the drum work of Bill Matlack, Jr. + vocals & percussion by evinrude a.k.a. Kevin Spyker. The song has been in my live set for years, including with Paul Farnham and The Gypsy Lizards, and the band October (with Ron Davis and Chris Haggerty).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L14-hl4IEss

#texmex #garagerock #pinecreek #pennsylvania #appalachia #baptism #beatles #chicano #rocknroll #mexican #royorbison #prettywoman #everlybrothers #lucille #richievalens #neildiamond #monkees #davyjones #johnnyjblair #timbreon #billmatlack #evinrude #kevinspyker #paulfarnham #rondavis #chrishaggerty #victorvalverde #october #singersongwriter #singeratlarge