#i like how that song can be interpreted as like. metaphor for rusty having a religious experience and

[namethatghostling]

nobody:

me: what if after "i am the starlight" rusty got a magical-girl-esque costume change and had a fun star motif for the final race

[ceenvs3000w25]

Unit 7 Blog Post

“Where is music in nature” is both an extremely easy and difficult question to answer at the same time, upon reading this I immediately think, music is everywhere in nature! However, trying to name the specific places music occurs in nature is more difficult, as there are so many different sources to think of it almost feels infinite. The reading from Gray et al., 2001, suggested that songs could be defined as “any rhythmic repeated utterance, whether by a frog, an insect, a whale or a human being”, which agrees that nature is filled with music, in a seemingly infinite way. It would likely be uninteresting to everyone reading if I simply sat here and listed all of the different places in nature that I can think of music originating from, therefore that is not something I intend to do. Rather, I would like to think of nature’s music in a more conceptual way… How does the music of nature compare to human music, and where do we draw the line between the two?

When I try to conceptualize the music of nature in a human way, my mind immediately goes to a symphony, a complex band of many different instruments all doing their own thing, coming together to create a beautiful sound that would not sound right if even one piece was missing. This is the essence of an ecosystem and the music that each one produces. This is a concept that was also discussed by Gray et al., 2001, stating that “each creature has its own frequency, amplitude, timbre, and duration, and occupies a unique niche among the other musicians”. This is coupled with the differences in complexities between the sounds of different creatures, some animals like birds have highly complex and melodic songs, meanwhile a bullfrog is repeating the same deep croak over and over again. This is comparable to the musical composition of an actual orchestra- the sheet music for the violins is much more melodic than the sheet music for a tuba which is there to provide bass to the song.

               Now, where is nature in music? This is another equally simple and complex answer- its everywhere! Music is an art form; therefore it is filled with symbols and metaphors that reflect the natural world. This is a pretty obvious explanation of where nature is in music, however there are ways that nature is incorporated into music besides simply using nature imagery for symbols and metaphors. The reading by Sahi, 2012 discusses how central nature is to Finnish folk music. Sahi states that folk music is developed in contact with local nature, thus reflecting the nature of the area. These songs, much like many traditional cultural songs, are reflective of the world views of the people of that culture and time. This is not unique to cultural folk music, different genres in different areas can reflect the views of their people and the nature that is present around them and can be found in some of our more modern music.

               I think a good example of this in more modern music is The Tragically Hip. When I first read that the topic of this week’s unit is music and nature I instantly knew I wanted to discuss The Tragically Hip somewhere in my blog post, as I think The Tragically Hip is a great example of nature in music, and interpreting Canadian culture. One song that specifically stands out to me is ‘Wheat Kings’, this song begins with an iconic recording of a loon call and moves on to tell the story of a saskatoon nurse who was murdered in 1969, and the 17-year-old man who was wrongly convicted to life in prison. Throughout this laid-back song there are several lines that evoke imagery of the nature of the area, like “Paris of the prairies” or “all you hear are the rusty breezes pushing around the weathervane Jesus”. This is one song that will always bring me a strong nostalgic feeling for several reasons, it brings me back to sitting by the lake with friends and family, but it also brings be back to my childhood living in the prairies. The beauty of including strong natural imagery in music is that it can evoke strong feelings for a multitude of reasons in many different people.

Gray, P. M., Krause, B., Atema, J., Payne, R., Krumhansl, C., & Baptista, L. (2001). The Music of Nature and the Nature of Music. Science, 291(5501), 52–54. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.10.1126/SCIENCE.1056960

Sahi, V. (2012). Spiritual Values of Protected Areas of Europe [Workshop Proceedings #322]. 322. Ares.

[melissatreglia]

Darkiplier in 2017: An In-Depth Look (Part 4)

(Memory a little rusty? Read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 before going forward.)

"Well, I've got a news flash for you, brain trust. That's not how it works. You die, and a demon sets up shop in your old house, and it walks, and it talks, and it remembers your life... but it's not you."

- Buffy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2x07: "Lie to Me")

So, here it is: the long-awaited final installment of my Darkiplier in 2017 essay.

Remember when I said anything could happen for the remainder of 2017? Well, it basically did. The final quarter of the year brought with it an explosive finale... that is to say, a fascinating origin story.

But we'll get to that in a moment.

Prior to the events of October and following in the wake of the Darkiplier vs. Antisepticeye vid, we were given quite a few bits, bobs and teasers of the horror to come.

In the second Try Not to Smile Challenge, our favourite Youtuber remarked that "I've turned my heart into a stone-cold ice cube of death. All joy has been purged from me in every way possible, and I have no smiles left for anybody." Then he added, with his usual sardonic humour, "It's #smilenever up in this bitch." He promptly spent the remainder of the video looking like he was in agonizing pain from the human experiences he was observing (and intermittently groaning and growling from his frustrated attempts at self-restraint).

A deceptively simple game titled V appeared on Mark's channel in September, and included a seizure warning as a result of its visual style... a style reminiscent of Dark's attention-grabbing, almost painful aura. Chook and Sosig: A Case of Murder is a quirky little diversion that follows a ghost chicken and a noodly-limbed cat as they solve the mysterious death of a popular entertainer (a writer, in this case). Another strange little vid, this time an animation of Mark's Firewatch playthrough, was also released. Though the dialogue is actually taken from a game that had been played a year prior, Forrest Byrnes' lines about death lying in wait and being unable to leave are also oddly fitting.

The artistic black-and-white game I woke up next to you again. contained themes that, upon reflection, are consistent with the overall narrative of Darkiplier's character. Its story is of an attractive, enigmatic stranger (whose appearance is occasionally marred by a subtle glitch effect) seduces you, slowly drains you of your life and ambitions, until you are left an obsessive and hollow husk of yourself. Interpretations vary on what the story of "I woke up..."  means (including that it might be a metaphor for drug addiction), but the real meaning is left intentionally vague by the programmer. The being your character is faced with might very well be a soul-devouring demon, for all one knows... especially given that the "girl" in question doesn't appear in the picture you show of her to a friend.

Following the events in early October, Mark joked during his play-through of The Evil Within 2 that the force-feeding mother was "speaking in multiple voices... a clear sign that that might be Darkiplier over there. I think she turned grey when the lighting changed..." (a clear reference to the insanity the fandom was gripped by earlier in the month). In a later episode, Mark eyeballs the rather dapper villain Stefano bathed in dim, moody lighting and quips, "Friggin' Darkiplier up in here."

The rather silly nyoom vid, created to promote Mark's new merch line of holographic M shirts, features the same distorted RGB effect we've become familiar with in Dark's appearances... although this time, it's all a bit of harmless fun with Chica set to a dubstep soundtrack. In Constellation, Mark jokes to "run away!" from the 3D effect the game offers, before conjuring what he dubs a "Darkiplier teapot".

During the Emily Wants To Play Too livestream, Mark comments that the "Let Her In :)" note left on the dry erase board is "some Darkiplier-level shit," adding that everyone now knows what happened with Damien and Celine, and later jokes that the tall stranger looks "dapper... in his suit... y'know that guy's lookin' a little grey. His skin turns grey; I think it's Darkiplier." He's unable to contain his mirth, however, and giggles a bit as he talks.

The vid ...Bonbon Loves You... offers an unsettling description of its events, where the bunny-shaped demonic imaginary friend provides his constant companionship... for a price. "You can never escape! You'll never need to escape! YOU'LL ALWAYS HAVE A FRIEND FOREVER!!" Prison Island likewise has a chilling description of its own, of a mystery that's been covered up and that "something terrible has been going on in the shadows and it's come back to haunt you..." The title for the vid of the game Deathlike Awakening also warns us "Don't move... don't breathe..."

There was also the short song “The Man With No Shadow”, a brief acoustic piece which had strange and surreal lyrics in honour of the solar eclipse.

My personal favourite of these teasers, however, has to be the easter egg contained in the finale of Mark's Popgoes play-through. Mark appears distracted as he hears a disturbance in his IRL vicinity, and he removes his headphones to stare out to his left (presumably where the door is). A voice that sounds similar to Wilford Warfstache declares offscreen, "Don't you worry!" Another voice, sounding suspiciously like Darkiplier Himself sneers in a somewhat muted rejoinder, "I'll get you." Mark stands motionless as the webcam view briefly warps, before the recording continues as if absolutely nothing happened.

But of course, this all pales in comparison to Who Killed Markiplier?, the four-part miniseries Mark created on a limited budget that's arguably his magnum opus. There's a reason it took me more than a year to write this part of the essay, and this taut 43-minute film is the reason why. It made me love characters I'd never met before, and even though I had a sickening feeling in my stomach as to their fates. Even knowing the monster Damien would become, and how broken William's psyche would be... I was still woefully unprepared for the onslaught of emotion I felt by the finale.

WKM has been analysed from every angle by the fandom at large, so I'm going to focus on providing a brief recap here.

We, as the viewpoint character of the District Attorney, are invited to Markiplier Manor for poker night. We're greeted by the Colonel and hand our invitation over to the Butler, before having a brief conversation with Damien, the newly-elected mayor. The chef warns us to stay out of his kitchen as the butler offers us a drink. Markiplier (well, this universe's version of him, anyway) descends the staircase and the night of drunken revelry begins.

The following morning, we're offered a seltzer with cocaine as a hangover aid by the butler (cocaine was a fairly common ingredient in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including in children's cough medicine), and Damien greets us. We wander aimlessly around the house, and are startled by the falling body of the newly deceased Markiplier. The detective, who'd also been invited the night before, proceeds to question the party-goers and examine the body. The mayor enters the scene and, showing his capabilities as a calming influence, asks for any information that can be gleaned. Damien then exits, ostensibly to talk to the Colonel, and clearly more disturbed by the events than he's previously let on.

The DA is drafted in as the detective's partner, and we overhear an argument between the Mayor and the Colonel. Damien angrily storms out, and we take the opportunity to discuss the matter with the Colonel. He promptly tells us a story about what he thinks happened, laying it on rather thick in the process and leaving no question as to his hostility towards their deceased host.  

The Butler leads us down into the wine cellar, before having a nervous breakdown about a broken bottle in the middle of the otherwise pristine floor. We go back up the stairs an are confronted by the Chef who, after some tough talk, offers some recorded (FNAF-style) footage of Markiplier and the Detective discussing the house's employees some nights prior. We then exit the house, and talk to Damien some more about his confrontation with the Colonel. Damien feels lost amid these events at the moment and has retreated to ponder matters for himself. We're soon called back in by the Detective to discover that Mark's body has now vanished.

The cast of characters reconvene in the room where the body was to discuss this turn of events, and the Colonel points out that there's a "storm" coming. The Butler and the Chef resolve to lock the building down, with no one getting in or out, until the matter is resolved. The Detective takes us up, down and around the inside of the house until we eventually get to the master bedroom.

The bedroom is a mess, but we find three pictures of Mark, Damien, the Colonel... and Mark's ex-wife, Celine. The Colonel talks with us about his relationship with Damien (which is more positive than his relationship with Mark). Damien briefly pops in looking for the Colonel, but just misses him... twice. Damien then pulls us aside, saying that he'd "stake [his] life" on the Colonel's innocence, and that he suspects that there's  another "guest" in the house no one knows about.

There's a sudden round of gunfire, and we rush in with Damien to find that the Detective and the Colonel are at a standoff. Then Celine barges in.

Everyone quickly catches her up on the events that have occurred thus far, and Celine points out that the lightning strikes indicate something supernatural is afoot. Celine proposes a séance to talk with the deceased Mark. After Damien reaches out in concern for her dabbling in witchcraft and she rebuffs him, Celine takes us with her to a quieter room where she reads the tarot and reveals that there are "dark forces" at work inside the manor. Her magickal influence enables us to go through time, seeing alternate events and getting a hint of what's to come.

But the answers we find aren't enough to satisfy her, and she grows angry with us, demanding that we "go back" into our visions. Damien and the Detective interrupt, with Damien putting a stop to the séance and the Detective dragging us away as Damien and Celine argue. The Detective shows the picture we've drawn to the Butler and the Chef, and it's revealed that the Groundskeeper (who hasn't set foot inside the house in over a decade) might know something.

Damien goes with Celine back into the séance room, while the Butler goes to find the Colonel. We, the Detective and the Chef go to talk to the Groundskeeper. The Groundskeeper resolves not to go in the house unless there's one specific "incident, one manifestation" that comes to pass.

There's a flash of light and the sound of thunder, and everyone rushes back into the house to reveal that Damien is gone and Celine is now possessed by a demon... the demon who's been lurking in the house the entire time, and who's aura is a familiar red and blue hue.

Most of the group decides to exit the house while they still can, with the exceptions of the Detective, the Colonel and the DA (ie. us). The Detective and the Colonel vanish and we're pulled into a darker, shadow version of the house that seems frozen in time and is echoing with the voices of those who fled. The demon of the house releases us from its grip, and we stumble upon the Detective's study... replete with the papers and evidence we weren't privy to before. The Colonel happens upon us in the study and becomes furious, thinking the Detective framed he and his friends.

The two are in a standoff once again, before the Colonel's gun goes off twice... purely by accident. One shot hits Abe. The other hits the DA (us) and we fall over the banister and crash to the floor.

In the space between life and death, we see the images of Damien and Celine. She's glowing red, and he's a soft blue. "Damien" is angry and lost, blaming Mark for what happened. "Celine" concurs, also blaming Mark for the events that transpired... and together they hatch a plan to release themselves from the void and back into the world. (All the while, a deep and demonic voice mockingly echoes their words, as if they are mere puppets.)

Damien then says these fateful words:

"Honestly, I don't know what the fuck is going on. But I know that I trust Celine. And if you trust us... just let me in. We can fix this. Together."

Celine then adds:

"I won't force this on you. You have a choice here. Just know this is the only way that you can escape."

And because we, the DA, have no real choice in the matter (as if death is a choice!), we agree. The images of Damien and Celine recede as we're driven back to our body. We get up, confused and disoriented with the daylight streaming in, and find the Colonel holding onto Damien's cane like a security blanket during a vigil near our body. And we watch, with growing horror and sadness, as the Colonel's mental state deteriorates. He hobbles away, calling out to the friends who will not and cannot answer him, leaving Damien's cane behind.

We reach out to the cane, with a small feminine hand which changes form into a man's larger hand. Our perspective tilts and it appears to be Damien in the mirror, looking bedraggled and exhausted as he contemplates his cane. He cracks his (broken from the fall) neck and we're thrown into the mirror, it cracking with the force and he storms away, leaving us behind without looking back.

Damien, if that was indeed him at all, is not the man we knew. Not anymore. He's long gone. What remains is made of demonic energy and rage; the demon of the house won. That being is now the one we call Darkiplier.

To lighten the lugubrious mood of the mini-series, Mark simultaneously released four "Jim News" shorts, featuring the Jims wandering through the house in an attempt at investigative reporting (ie. Mark goofing off on set, between takes). The legit bop that is "Fly Like a Butterfly" is another form of relief, that features in its music video scenes from Markiplier Manor and, of course, the handsome as always Darkiplier adorned with massive butterfly wings.

Hints at the expanded universe were also laid during Mark's play-throughs of Doki Doki Literature Club, specifically in the descriptions, which featured poetry based on the lives of the characters in Who Killed Markiplier?. Part 1 features a poem of Wilford Warfstache (hinting at his transformation from the Colonel), the District Attorney in Part 2, the alternate Markiplier in Parts 3 through 5... and what may be the Detective in Part 6 (though Monika's trapping the player in her world and the thumbnail of Sayori with a cracked/broken neck are both reminiscent of Darkiplier).

Likewise, Mark in the description of Party Hard Tycoon hopes to "party hard and hope no murderers show up!" In The Silent House, he says "this house is nothing but pain and suffering and also it can't talk..." The setting of The Sexy Brutale involves time travel to stop a murder at a gathering in a luxurious home. Sleeping Dawn's thumbnail is a dead body with a toe tag of "Y/N" (the typical reader insert fic's notation to insert your name, and the same notation provided on the invitation for the DA).

Markiplier also jokes that the channel isn't real and about being a paid actor during the 7th episode of his Slime Rancher Let's Play. In the otherwise adorable platform game I may die!, he plays a character whose house is surrounded by an empty void... that he promptly falls into.

Arguably however, the linchpin among the latter portion of the year’s hints is the HD Renovation of Spooky's Jumpscare Mansion, where a familiar resonant and echoing voice narrates:

"For as long as you can remember, legends have been told about the derelict mansion upon the hill that casts a blanket of darkness over the town. The history of the house itself is virtually unknown, and even the town’s oldest residents cannot remember the mansion’s origin. Being an avid history enthusiast, you embark up the mountain to visit the manor. Hoping to shed some light on the backstory of this crumbling fortress of darkness."

Sounds familiar, in more ways than one, doesn’t it?

But it doesn't even end there.

Only a few short weeks after the release of the final chapter of Who Killed Markiplier?, Mark released his Van Vlogs. One of these, the World's First Pop-Up Haunted House vlog, hinted that there was something more going on in the beginning, with some ominous music and the static on the van's TV growing louder. What was hinted at finally came to fruition in November. Another van video was released, titled Don't remember. In it, the viewer character has dozed off in the empty van and is woken in the dead of night.

A deep voice faintly says "Do you remember? I said we were going to do great things together. Go back to sleep."

Of course, it was Damien who had hoped that the prospect of working with the DA (the viewer character from Who Killed Markiplier?) would mean great things for the city he was elected to represent. In DoomVR, Mark finds himself trapped between life and death, before reviving and going forth to battle demons. Something which, in light of the events of WKM, doesn't seem too far-fetched now. Additionally, the ending to Part 5 of FNAF's Pizzeria Simulator spells out the words "S-A-V-E H-I-M". In light of possibilities yet to come, it could mean we have to try to save Damien himself.

But that is, as they say, a story for another time.

The description of the finale for Unforgiving: A Northern Hymn asks "Is it the end we really want? Is there a way to prevent the inevitable?" The ending, of course, is a leap of faith followed by the disappointing reality of having been deceived by a demonic trickster, and forced to live through the same events over and over again. It is a revelation reminiscent of the muddled timeline throughout the origin stories of Wilford Warfstache and Darkiplier, two characters who were born years before on the channel, but whose origins did not come to light until the events of Who Killed Markiplier?.

But, I believe, Mark saved the best for last with two sadly coincidental questions on the light-hearted game Would You Rather?. Two days before the end of the year episode 11 of this game was released and, among the game's queries, two particularly heart-wrenching questions were asked.

The first was "Would you rather lose your mind or lose your significant other?" Many have pointed out that both happened to Wilford Warfstache, having lost his mind in the wake of the bloodbath of Who Killed Markiplier? along with his beloved Celine becoming merged with Damien and the demonic entity to become Darkiplier. Mark answers, after weighing the cost of both options, that he’d rather lose his mind than someone he loves.

The second, which he leaves for us, is "Would you rather be stalked by a ghost for the rest of your life, or be stalked by a demon for three days then die?" Of course, the latter actually happened in Who Killed Markiplier?. After the first three episodes, released from October 10th to the 12th, our character (the DA) was shot and fell from a banister on Friday the 13th.

Like in Who Killed Markiplier? itself, we’re left with a question that’s difficult to answer. The biggest of the all the questions anyone can conceive being simply this:

So, what happens now?

[murdocsagaypirate]

Murdoc and 2D’s G-Mix #9

as if 2Doc wasn’t confirmed enough already

Good fucking lord they are so consistent with parallel themes, the characterization MUST be so intentional. I fucking applaud who ever must be on this TEAM of people for that. All of this is practically undeniably parallel with VERY established characterize which, I feel like, makes it undeniable the further characterization presented in these songs are fucking canon. this shit is canon. it's killing me.  Keep in mind this will be more reflective of past lore then current. Idk exactly when this came out, but it was after Murdoc went to Jail and before TNN if I’m not mistaken. 

2D

Frankie Knuckles - Your Love

When I'm with you I believe that your love is true When we love you turn me out, you know what to do Visions really blow my mind fantasizing all the time When your body's next to me, I begin to sweat When we touch I lose control, now you know what's next Fantasizing all the time, move your body next to mine Well, I need your love x 3 Don't make me wait too long Oh, I need your touch Don't make me wait for your love I can't let go  x12

Damn dude who you think 2D’s thinkn of when he picked this song... hmmmmmm.......... i still can’t fucking beleive 2Doc is real. 

Magazine -Shot By Both Sides I don’t understand this song and there are no Genius annotations to help me out. >:/ I feel like “the crowd” is an import part of the song meaning, but if I interpret it as talking about a single person (Murdoc) and not a group I can start to make sense of it. He “wormed” his way into someone's heart. “You live and learn, you have no choice”

Kevin Morby -  I Have Been to the Mountain He’s pleading with someone to open up. He’s seen the worst and the best with him, but now he feels like he can’t see him at all. 

The Human League - Being Boiled  Oh damn dude, this song is about Buddhism and Animal Exploitation (something 2D would care about as a vegetarian). :.) I’m so fucking glad that still keep that in mind for 2D. 

Whitney - No Woman “Catch my breath on the coast” gotta love those potential PB refs. “No Woman” as in “I don’t have a partner”. 

I've been sleeping alone I've been going through a change I might never be sure I'm just walking in a haze I'm not ready to turn

The Jam - Going Underground He hates fame and doesn’t need riches. He’s happy with just being treated well. He want to just make music and be “underground”, not actually popular on such a mass scale... Yeah you’re past that point buddy sorry. This is great to compare with the actual Gorillaz song that would come out after this G-Mix “Magic City”. Very similar theme.  

Junior A - Sleep Machine “Lots of love miss satellite“ workn in a song with that satellite metaphor like they so often use for Murdoc being just out of reach. ;)  As has been VERY fucking established by now, he wants him to let him in. He wants to know “are you like me?” (like in Tranz, look it that) are you suffering like me. He explains he wants the good with the bad. he asks if it will be better this time around. This verse below is what he believes Murdoc is DOING, not what he wants him to do, other lyrics state otherwise. 

So black out So black in Wash my love Off your skin Keep out the light Don't let it in Don't let it inside

Murdoc

Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized Holy shit did Murdoc just straight up write this. XD 

Sometimes I try to do things And it just doesn't work out the way I wanted to And I get real frustrated And I'm like, I try hard to do it And I'm like, take my time And it doesn't work out the way I wanted to It's like, I concentrate on real hard but it doesn't work out And everything I do and everything I try it never turns out It's like, I need time to figure these things out There's always someone there going, 'Hey, Mike You know, we've been noticing You've been having a lot of problems lately ''You know, you should, maybe, get away And like, maybe you should talk about it, you'll feel a lot better' And I go, 'No, it's okay, you know I'll figure it out Just leave me alone I'll figure it out You know I'll just work it out myself' And they go, 'Well you know if you want to talk about it I'll be here you know and you'll probably feel a lot better If you talked about it, so why don't you talk about it' I go, 'No, I don't want to I'm okay, I'll figure it out myself' And they just keep bugging me and they just keep bugging me And it builds up inside 

I mean. It’s kind of evidence this was still his attitude at this point. ... No wonder 2D's pissed at him not changing fast enough. 

Akon - Locked Up ft. Styles P My dude got locked up and nobody will help him out. :(

Soundgarden- Rusty Dudes gonna get out of a situation he feels trapped in. 

The Clash - Jail Guitar Door

Let me tell you 'bout Wayne and his deals of cocaine A little more every day Holding for a friend till the band do well Then the D.E.A. locked him away

An' I'll tell you 'bout Pete, didn't want no fame Gave all his money away "Well there's something wrong, it'll be good for you, son" And so they certified him insane

And then there's Keith, waiting for trial Twenty-five thousand bail If he goes down you won't hear his sound But his friends carry on anyway Fuck 'em!

Ahem. First ones, if that first verse is about Murdoc. ..Makes me wonder if he was actually smuggling knowingly. Replace “cocaine” with souls... >_>  Seconds ones 2D... Doesn’t want fame, giving his money away echo’s the sentiment on 2D’s track “Going Underground” Murdoc’s friends do certainly just carry on without him at this point in time. Same theme coming up in Folsom Prison.

Sam Cooke - Chain Gang its about a chain gang. which is a bunch of prisons forced to do hard labor. They are tired. and wanna break the chains (dude why wasn’t Break the Chair by Fleetwood Mac on here. Do you not fucking like Fleetwood Mac, Murdoc?? Fuck you.)

Black Flag - Police Story FUCK THE POLICE.

Tom - Walts - Fish in the Jailhouse um... they’re serving fish in the jailhouse?

Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak   ... There is gonna be a Jailbreak...... I frankly don’t think that’s gonna happen in lore though... Murdoc is a celebrity he can’t fucking get away with that... who knows, maybe it will be important for him to do so for some reason, and they clear his name after the fact. 

Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Dude’s depressed because he’s in jail and everyone keeps living their lives without him. :( But in the last paragraph, he talks about moving on with his life with a lot of intent to get away from the prison quickly. He wanna be better. :((

The Zombies - Care of Cell 44 It’s a song/letter addressed to someone in prison and how much the writer can’t wait for him to get out of jail and come back and then they’ll “kiss and makeup”... Considering Murdoc’s the one in jail I suppose we’re expected to flip perspective and see this as something Murdoc wishes would be said to him. :..((((

Bob Dylan - Hurricane  About a black man getting blamed for a murder he didn’t commit because of racism. Probably meant to go along with the themes of Humanz and not.. Murdoc. Probably more of a Russel song (his mixes usually have some songs about racism) but it kept with the jail theme he had. Plus Murdoc wrote a lot of Humaz I’m sure he gives a shit about institutional racism too. He supports BLM, women, and the environment!! :..)

Summary:  2D misses Murdoc, there are hints of it being sexual (actually extremely overt hints in this one), he wishes he’d open up more, they’ve been through a lot, he’s lonely, he doesn’t like fame, yada yada yada, we know. Murdoc doesn’t want to be in jail, misses the band, wishes someone would help him and care about him, and is a guarded asshole and knows he’s a guarded asshole.

[old1ddude]

Living With Pink

Since @seasurfacefullofclouds did a lovely review on ‘Harry Styles’ (post) after living with it for more than a year - I felt inspired to write up my own observations and opinions.  

For the sake of brevity and the fact that it seems to irritate certain haters - I will refer to Harry’s album as “PINK” throughout.

Melody!  There are ten good, fully developed melodies in an era where a four note hook combined with a bass loop is thought to constitute a song.  Really, there are more than ten, Sign of the Times has three distinct melodies, seamlessly woven together.  (On an intellectual level, I understand that some people don’t think melody is the most important element of music.  On a gut level, I just don’t get it.  Melody is it for me.)  I’ve listened to PINK straight through hundreds of times.  The  beauty and quality present in every song, nearly every moment never fails to impress.  I’ve never really been an album guy, because, even among my favorite artists, at least half of the songs seem there just to take up space.  (I used to make mix tapes, back in the day.)  With PINK, I feel that every song has real merit and is fully worthy of it’s place.    Harry’s voice (which I have always really loved - even X-Factor era) and vocal technique have reached a superlative level.  I think Harry is at absolutely peak performance, and it’s a beautiful thing to behold.  The instrumentation and arrangements are breathtaking.  Even the angry Kiwi has deep beauty and avoids shrill, unpleasant sounds, often found in hard rock.  For those who are willing to look below the surface, PINK’s honesty, vulnerability and frankness are noteworthy.  I feel that Harry is speaking directly to me and the album is providing a window into his soul - into his humanity.  PINK grapples with internal conflicts omnipresent in the human condition, good and evil, love and hate, selfishness and sacrifice.  I am very confident that PINK will sound just as good 20, or 30 years from now - it won’t ever become stale, or sound dated.  Some wished for a more cohesive album, but for me, the variety makes it really hard to grow bored of PINK.  I was infatuated with the album from the start.  As time goes on, my love for it only deepens.

This ended up getting pretty long - track by track under the cut.

Meet Me in the Hallway was a bit dreary to me at first.  Now I find myself absorbed in it.  The aching and longing, the vulnerability, the pain - it all feels so close, honest and real.  The repetition of  “gotta get better” is slightly irritating to my ear - for that reason, I will occasionally skip the track.  I do wonder, however, if that irritation was intentional - meant to provoke some unease in the listener.  The guitar part on this song is achingly beautiful, as is Harry’s voice.

Sign of the Times is a masterpiece by any measure.  Sea pointed out how difficult it is to sing this song in a way to do it any justice.  Precious few artists could pull it off.  Every time I hear it, the song transports me - it lifts me out of myself.  The rich, full sound and deft combination of three distinct melodies is no small feat.  Guitar slides, strings, gospel choirs - it could so easily be overblown, or too grandiose, but it strike the perfect balance.  The song moves at a stately sixty beats per minute.  I would imagine this is very close to Harry’s resting heart rate.  There is nothing rushed - every moment is given it’s full due.  Also, I am of the old fashioned belief that art should be beautiful.  Every second of SotT is achingly beautiful and I love it.

Carolina is great fun and incredibly clever.  May artists try to be “edgy,” or “cool” by referencing drugs.  Carolina recreates in music what I imagine it would feel like to be high on coke.  (I’ve been around people who were jacked up before.)  The manic “la la la la la la la la’s,” the fuzzy sensation, “she feels so good!”  If you listen carefully, Harry sings it as if he is in a slight haze - king of nuance, as always.  The metaphor is nothing short of brilliant - “get’s into parties without invitation” -  “she feels so good.”  Layers of sound, particularly on the second verse, are extraordinary.  This song gives you the same kind of sugar rush a hit pop song can deliver, but backs it up with plenty of vitamins and protein, so you don’t get that “sugar low” and grow tired of it.  

Two Ghosts has some of the most compelling word images - “Fridge light washes this room white,” for one.  It’s a deceptively simple, easy to sing song, but a lot of artist would turn out a boring rendition.  The album version is lovely, but the performance he did, just Harry and his guitar, was breathtaking.  Once again, we have deep vulnerability and profound honesty.  I do wish he had done the vocal “ooo’s” on the album version.  We’ve all seen how hyper aware Harry is of his surroundings.  He stared right at the camera trying to snag a sneaky snap.  He spots people, way up in the nosebleed seats, trying to leave early and gently chastises them.  He’s too finely tuned of an instrument to handle fireworks easily.  I believe he is much more aware of all his senses than the average person.  Touch, taste, sight, sound - he sculpts and paints with his music.

Sweet Creature is a song I will often skip back and repeat as once through just isn’t enough.  It’s not a sugary, or fairy tale version of love, but honest, vulnerable, real.  “Runnin through the garden, oh when nothing bothered us,” paints such a beautiful picture.  “Sweet Creature” is such and odd phrase and yet conveys such warmth and deep connection for Louis another person.  Harry’s voice brings an incredible warmth to this song - a warmth utterly unique to his quite distinctive voice.  Again, it takes great artistry to impart such feeling on a relatively simple song, like this.  The guitar part is certainly inspired by the Beatles’ Blackbird, but any similarity ends there, in my opinion.  For my ear, Sweet Creature is a better song - it moves me in a way Blackbird never could.

Only Angel sets up a beautiful dichotomy.  The angelic, SotT inspired, into and outro envelop the hard rock interior.  The contrast intentionally reinforces the song’s story.  Harry’s voice doesn’t quite have the anger, or hardness one might expect at on a first listen - the warmth in his voice was very intentional.  The angel (which is Harry himself) is also a devil between the sheets.  Mother (authority figure) doesn’t approve of how the angel presents “herself.”  Harry loves attention and the stage, but hates fame.  He’s good and kind, but also has a dirty side.  (I could go on and on, but I’ve  written on my OA interpretation extensively, ages ago.)  A plus for using a flawed angel as a metaphor for himself - brilliant.  The melody is catchy as hell - it’s a “bop” and great fun to hear, but there’s so much meat it’s almost ridiculous.  The sound is rich and beautiful throughout and I love that he brings back the angelic sound to close it out.

Kiwi has so little movement in the melody, yet it works beautifully - somehow, it’s still a great melody and hard to get out of your head.  The instrumentation is angry and hard, yet rich, full and pleasant to the ear.  Harry’s voice has just the right amount of anger and derision.  “She” is Simon Cowell.  She tempts the boys with fame and fortune, but she’s hollow inside.  It’s an angry song, but it feels so good, joyful even, to hear it.  Harry’s stage performance reveals how cathartic it is to finally tell Simon what he thinks of him - in front of a massive audience.  I love Kiwi so much, I’ve made the most raucous chorus into a ringtone on my phone.  “Oh I think she said, “I’m having your baby” [heyyyy] “it’s none of your business” [hoooo......]  Harry has such a great, raspy rock voice - it really isn’t fair.

Ever Since New York sounds like some combination of Bruce Springsteen and the Statler Brothers.  The accompaniment is beautiful and rich with a really great, solid melody.  Harry’s vocalization suggests someone who is TIRED and DONE with the situation.  “Tell me something, tell me something new.  Don’t know nothing, just pretend you do...” is sung as a plea - a plea devoid of any hope of being answered.  Harry is vulnerable, broken and through putting up a front, or playing games.

Woman has been compared to Elton John’s Bennie and the Jets a lot - way too much, in my opinion.  There are similarities in the structure of the song, but Woman has a completely different sound.  I like a lot of John’s music, but when he sings “B-B-B-Bennie” he squeaks like a rusty hinge.  Harry sings “W-W-W-Woman” in a different key and melody (and with a deep, pleasant vocal.)  “Selfish I know...”  It’s one of the best jealousy songs I’ve ever heard.  He knows he’s selfish - knows it’s wrong, but can’t help his feelings.  I love Harry’s unflinching look at the darker side of human nature and wholly realistic view of his own failings.  Woman has a very good melody and those little “la-la la-la la-la la-la’s” give it just the zest in needs.

From the Dining Table might just be too honest.  While the artistry was immediately apparent, I was a little slow to warm up to this song, because it’s a bit depressing.  He sings about masturbating as a distraction to his pain and loneliness (and some said the album wasn’t honest enough!)  This song is pure vulnerability.  It’s arranged with such simplicity and great restraint.  (Harry understands the beauty of restraint, you can hear it in If I Could Fly.)  This is another song which must be sung with great artistry, to prevent it being dull.  The addition of strings and lovely female harmonies (”maybe one day you’ll call me...”) is a master stroke.  I am perplexed as to why he didn’t have Sarah and Clair sing the harmonies on tour.  Beautiful, beautiful song, but it is still a bit depressing - as it was meant to be.  Harry loves angst and drama.

Speaking of restraint, Harry has a habit of doing just enough, but never too much (nuance again.)  He changes vocal inflection and flavor with ease, but never adds gratuitous vocal embellishment.  Harry is quite capable of singing runs and all sorts of vocal gymnastics, but chooses a simple, restrained beauty.  (Sometimes, less is more.)  He maintains this restrained discipline in the accompaniment, as well.  PINK is a rock album, but also so much more.  In ten, or twenty years it will still sound fresh - and I think more people will realize what a masterpiece it truly is.

[uberoll-oystercrackers]

“You live in my dream state Relocate my fantasy I stay in reality You live in my dream state Anytime I count sheep That's the only time we make up, make up You exist behind my eyelids, my eyelids Now I don't wanna wake up 20/20, 20/20 vision Cupid hit me, Cupid hit me with precision, I Wonder if you look both ways When you cross my mind, I said, I said I'm sick of, sick of, sick of, sick of chasing You're the one that's always running through my daydreams, I I can only see your face when I close my eyes Can I get a kiss? And can you make it last forever? I said I'm 'bout to go to war And I don't know if I'ma see you again Can I get a kiss? (Can I?) And can you make it last forever? (Can you?) I said I'm 'bout to go to war (I'm 'bout to) And I don't know if I'ma see you again I said, okay, okay, okay, okie dokie, my infatuation Is translatin' to another form of what you call it? (Love) Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, I ain't met you I've been looking, stop the waiting 'fore I stop the chasing, like a alcoholic You don't understand me, what the fuck do you mean? It's them rose tinted cheeks, yeah it's them dirt-colored eyes Sugar honey iced tea, bumblebee on the scene Yeah I'd give up my bakery to have a piece of your pie 20/20, 20/20 vision Cupid hit me, cupid hit me with precision, I Wonder if you look both ways When you cross my mind, I said, I said I'm sick of, sick of, sick of, sick of chasing You're the one that's always running through my daydreams, I I can only see your face when I close my eyes Can I get a kiss? (Can I get a kiss?) And can you make it last forever? (Make it last forever) I said I'm 'bout to go to war ('Bout to go to war) I don't know if I'ma see you again (See you again) Can I get a kiss? (Can I?) And can you make it last forever? (Can you?) I said I'm 'bout to go to war ('Bout to) And I don't know if I'ma see you again”

---

Haven’t done a Donut Soundtrack post in a while, but I’ve been listening to this track a bit and got big Larsadie feels about it so here it goes.

While some of the lyrics could def be from Sadie’s perspective, I interpret this pretty much entirely from Lars’. The first verse is safe to take pretty literally: Lars would only pursue his affections for Sadie “in his dreams”. Whether he sees their romance as unattainable because of his self-esteem/anxiety (I’m no good), or because of his extended stay in space (is coming home even a possibility), Lars would prefer to keep his feelings for Sadie as repressed as possible. If dreams, or fantasies, are the only places he can be with her, then he might find himself pulling further and further away from reality. It also lends itself to how thoroughly he stepped into his role as captain: this life in space is literally as far as he can get away from life as he previously knew it, and all of the baggage that came with.

“I wonder if you look both ways before you cross my mind,” - does Sadie even have an inkling that he loves her? There’s little evidence to support Sadie has anything to work with in that regard. It may remain a source of anxious contention within Lars himself.

The chorus is certainly the biggest ringer for Larsadie feels imo; Lars is actually gaining battle and tactics experience while hiding out with the Off Colors. Many fans have speculated how it may be difficult, if not impossible, for Lars to return to his old life even if he does make it back to earth. Between his death and his opportunities to unleash his skills as well as discover new talents, how can he take his place back at home again? Perhaps that place no longer exists- his biggest fear. If Lars got one chance to talk to her, be it in person or over a communicator, the “kiss” may be literal or metaphorical. A (we can only hope, tentative,) final goodbye. Like his inability to define his place in the cosmos, he cannot decide whether to take his place at her side... he’s still going to war (helping Steven with White Diamond), but can the kiss be forever anyway? Of course, no war pauses itself for any one man.

“You don't understand me, what the fuck do you mean?” this is just a big Lars Barriga mood so!

“Yeah I'd give up my bakery to have a piece of your pie,” many fans, particularly Larsadie fans, have headcanoned about Lars coming home and fulfilling his love of baking by opening his own bake shop. Others have included the Off Colors as helpers- how cute would that be? If he had the chance to come home, and chase a dream, he may pass up the opportunity entirely if it meant he couldn’t become close with Sadie again. While I’m sure the song meant this in a more adult context, the pie will stand for Sadie’s time in this interpretation. Can he become important and consistent enough in her life to be the biggest slice in her pie?

I know this one may not be as well explained as my other Donut Soundtrack posts, but I’m a lil rusty and I still like this song a lot for them regardless.

[village-skeptic]

There are just so many damn things to pull out of this image, and some subsequent Googling to legitimate my initial knee-jerk reaction of "oh hello, William Faulkner" just seemed to bring into sharp relief a lot of interesting connections. These ended more as scattered remarks than as a full proper essay, but it still got long, ‘cause I don’t know any other way to be! 

So: thoughts about the symbolic aesthetics of this image; class, trash, and “timelessness”; a constellation of classic literature, film, TV, and pop music connections; and ideas about Jughead Jones in S2, below the cut. 

@lessoleilscouchants knows her Faulkner much better than I do, and so encapsulated brilliantly a lot of what I was going to say in her own observations about this aesthetic: “a semi-tragic narrative of class warfare, dead yellow grass, weighty history, bare feet on broken steps, useless resistance against the paths set out for them, and a general sense of doom.” I want to also add a theme from Faulkner's short story "Barn Burning": a son agonizing over whether he should remain loyal to his father in the face of that man's repeated crimes. The choice is complicated by the fact that his father's acts of destruction are clearly a form of protest against the family's place in the profoundly inequitable structure of their society. Hellllooooo FP, Jughead, and South Side Serpent feels! (Although I certainly hope that FP does not suffer Ab Snopes’ fate.)

I got to "Barn Burning" from this really great essay about the material culture of trash and waste in Faulkner's work. Jumping back to the campy elements of Riverdale, it certainly made me think about the ways in which we are all “trash” for this “trash show” - but it also made me move more broadly from the materiality of "trash" to remember that Faulkner's Snopeses are generally considered one of the most famous examples of "white trash" in American literature. (I am scare-quoting this term to be clear that I’m not just throwing it out there, but rather am bringing it up to analyze it.) Despite Jughead calling himself "a damaged loner outsider from the wrong side of the tracks" and Cheryl calling him "a hobo," I'm pretty sure that up to this point, no one on Riverdale has actually used a term that would seem to present itself very naturally: "trailer trash." (Again, not just throwing this term out there!)

This absence is interesting, especially considering the (seemingly increasing) importance of FP's trailer as a physical location where important plot points happen (*ahem*), and as a general shorthand for characterizing conflicts between FP and Jughead, the South Side and the North Side, and the issue of class within Riverdale generally.

And so now we get this beautifully composed image, which is just full of elements of entropy and decay and trash, in all the varied and loaded meanings of that term. I’m going to repost for scrolling convenience - many thanks to @musingmola for the original image of the tweet, and @jandjsalmon‘s close-ups.

There's the trailer itself, with discoloration of the siding - the old and tilting antenna - the bars on one set of windows (but not both) - the blue tarp on the roof at top left. As we know, this is a decaying and neglected home, both literally and metaphorically.

We have the selection of objects outside the trailer, which seem to have just accumulated there over time - there's that breakdown of order, the rejection of social rules about keeping a neat house. The objects SEEM random - an old hand mower, a washtub, the various scrap metal parts behind Jughead, the garden gnome - and there, too, we have that postmodern fascination with evocative fragmentation, with the potential in trash and pieces.

A quick note on "trailer trash," considered now as an identity category rather than as the actual physical objects surrounding the trailer. Although obviously non-white people can and do live in trailers, "trailer trash" is pretty much interchangeable with "white trash." And "white trash" is first and foremost a distancing term that lays down boundaries to try to contain problematic whiteness - whiteness that is poor, disorderly, violent, ungovernable; whiteness that threatens to disrupt and undermine the typical racialized social hierarchies. (This is not my insight - people like Annalee Newitz and John Hartigan, Jr., and most recently Nancy Isenberg have written much more thoroughly about the history, connotations and function of the term.)

Let’s go for the loudest detail first: that white tank top is such a loaded symbol in this context, you guys. It's SO loaded. We all know what the awful colloquial term for a shirt like that is. I don't totally buy the full explanation for the origins of the term here, but the observation that classic films (like Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire) cemented its symbolic association with violent, unstable, and I would add a sexualized working-class masculinity, is apt. 

(So: RAS commenting on the "timelessness" of this shot? Check. Possibly Jughead reaching into his own store of classic film symbology? Also check. I can’t find the promo image of Jughead in that weird jacket right now, but I want to point out that this isn’t the first Brando aesthetic nod we've gotten for S2. I STILL need to know who the fuck Stefano is!) 

That bandaged hand is straight-up evidence of previous violence; that wary look and the tense posture implies the promise of more to come, as needed. I am NOT, of course, suggesting the connotations of the shirt as an explanation for that injured hand in this case! Just observing on the general aura of trouble. 

Furthermore. This kid normally lives in layers of clothing, and now we've got him down to that ever-so-symbolic sleeveless top, sitting resignedly outside his family home? Way to underscore the idea that the circumstances of Season 2 are going to strip down all those layers, and make Jughead grapple with who he is, where he comes from, where his loyalties lie, what he's afraid of being underneath it all, etc. 

Jughead's fascination with writing and film, particularly auteur film - I'm now thinking about that as a layer of cultural armor against being called "white trash." Like, I don't think it's feigned or anything - but it certainly has the happy side-effect of being a way to forestall those accusations of a lack of culture. He's not TRASH; he's a WEIRDO. He's on the fringes, but that gives him the power of insight that you lack. (I should also point out here that @foresightfromforsythe has been doing this Jughead-as-trash-king analysis piece by piece for months now. Whoever runs that account is brilliant.)

The idea of concealing or revealing your fears about who you are and what you've inherited from your parents, got me thinking about another one of my beloved TV shows, in which the main character creates a new identity that allows him to escape the childhood wounds inflicted by poverty, a troubled, alcoholic father/son relationship, and repeated maternal rejection. And I realized that nearly any time that Don Draper is getting touch with his inner Dick Whitman, white sleeveless undershirts come into play in EXACTLY the same ways I've been talking about above.

Dick Whitman and his “Uncle” Mack:

Dick Whitman in the moments leading up to the creation of Don Draper:

And then I got lost in considering the fact that Don Draper's father's name is ACTUALLY ARCHIE; the whole Betty connection; and that in one memorable episode, Don Draper hallucinates about sleeping with a character played by Madchen Amick and then strangling her to death. I don't think that any of that is actually all that useful in reading this image or the direction of Season 2 - I'm not arguing that Jughead is Don Draper - but it sure was fun to think about.  

Of course, the connection to Mad Men also gets us to some of the criticism leveled at that show - that it was more in love with its own aesthetic than with exploring the historical issues of the period, and particularly the racial tensions of the 1960s. I'm not going to rehash that debate here, but I *will* observe that Riverdale also loves its aesthetic and has also received some criticism about needing to make its non-white characters more fully realized. There's always the possibility that Season 2 is going to do the "Civil War" storyline in a way that centers mood and aesthetic, which, like, clearly I HOPE IT DOES, but there are ways to do that with more and less heft, you know? I know I'm going to love it one way or the other - for me, it's honestly enough for this show to be Teen Peaks/Maple Syrup Murder Hour, without necessarily saying that it must also be Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. But it's going to be interesting to see just how seriously the showrunners decide to engage with this theme.  

Because of course, a predilection for surface-level engagement is another interpretation of the image. For everything that I've just said about trailer trash above, God knows that there is also a certain type of undeniable (and undeniably comfortable) cultural capital in the melancholy aesthetic of rusty metal and decaying trailers and lithe young white men showing off their defined biceps in sleeveless T-shirts. (CS himself also seems to love to play with and remix this aesthetic in his photography and personal aesthetic.) It's the minor-key version of Americana. We might call it, as Everlast does, "White Trash Beautiful."  

(Please note: this is the potential departure point for a whole other Current Events meta on the cultural politics of nostalgia and the romanticization of an idealized version of the white working class, which - in short: please make smart and savvy choices, RAS!)

Anyway, now that I've gone and broken the seal on musical connections here, it's time to say that I probably could have just copy/pasted the lyrics to Modest Mouse's "Trailer Trash" here and been done with it. (Here's a great little essay on this song at Pop Matters.) 

The ephemeral "trash" of plastic forks and paper plates; the "short love and a long divorce"; calling the people you love "fakes" when they try to compare their trauma with yours, and then realizing that you need them anyway and apologizing as best you can: is there anything more 1x10 Jughead than this? It'll be interesting to see whether it turns out to be S2 Jughead as well. 

[waitingonadoctor]

Doctor Who Panel - Ottawa Comic Con 2017

I haven’t made a post here for a long time but this is the most fandom thing I’ve done in a while and wanted to share. I attended the DW Panel and we had Peter Capaldi, Alex Kingston and Jenna Coleman in Ottawa which was great because we never get anyone and certainly not a current Doctor. They were all wonderful and I really enjoyed the event. Here are some of the highlights (I say highlights but this is basically the whole thing) 

Q: Peter Capaldi (PC) what do you look for in a partner? PC: longevity 

Q: Fave monsters? PC: Likes the Daleks but his long time fave are the Zarbi from the episode “The Web Planet” Alex Kingston (AK): When she was young, she liked the Cybermen but now its the Silence (she never actually said the name, she acted like she couldn’t remember it and Jenna ended up being the one to say it) Jenna Coleman (JC): She also likes the Silence. She finds the scariest monsters are the ones which never have to run but move slowly

Q: Fave Dalek scene? JC: When she was a Dalek ("Asylum of the Daleks") CP: When they were shrunk and put into a Dalek (someone from the crowd shouted rusty, “Into the Dalek”) AK: When she killed a Dalek (”The Big Bang”)

Q: Fave emotional scene without giving away any spoilers? JC: The diner scene. It was shot over two days as they shot some of it in the diner and the rest in the studio. She didn’t think the parts shot in the studio were meant to be emotional, when she enters her Tardis. But Peter was there when he didn’t have to, in his own clothes, and seeing him there made her emotional AK: Saying good bye to David, getting the ‘piss off’ (her words) from Matt, and for Peter it was hard for both of them to hold back their emotions but still be able to show it to the audience, of knowing what was in store for each other without the other knowing.   

Q: Jenna asked what it felt like dying JC: She read in the script a raven was meant to fly at her, but she didn’t know what to expect on set and whether they would actually get a raven which would be made to fly at her. So when that didn’t actually happen she was so relieved she kept forgetting to actually die. 

Q: Choose a show or movie for Doctor Who to do a crossover PC: Game of thrones, because the Doctor can definitely take down the white walkers AK: Lord of the Rings, and the Doctor to face the Orcs JC: The Thick of it (so Pc vs PC lol)

Q: If they could choose a name for the Doctor what would it be JC: Bob  PC: Doesn’t believe the Doctor’s name can be understood by humans, so it isn’t a word AK: When she was shooting the scene where River Song whispers the Doctor's name, the first take she whispered the name Shaniqua (lol) and caused an NG. She kept changing the name every time they shot the scene but wouldn’t say the other names 

Q: Fave line? PC: I’m the Doctor AK: Hello sweetie  JC: Chin boy, show me the stars and Run you clever boy (They got into a discussion led by PC, that Steven Moffat likes to notice peoples different quirks and bring it into the script. So it’s not a trait of the Doctor but the actor e.g. like how he runs funny. 

Q: PC why does Doctor who appeal to young people today especially with an episode like "Thin Ice"? PC: (I loved how he answered this question and I’m not going to do it justice but here goes) There are a lot of things going on in the world right now which are bad, terrible and crazy. And it’s up to writers to put across a message about the times we live in. The Doctor sees things from a different perspective from all of time and space, to see what’s truly good and what’s truly bad. It’s in the Doctor’s character and we all have to keep saying it

Q: Do they have any input into how their character is written? JC: The script is fluid during filming and Moffat can put a joke she said before hand into the script AK: Likes how Moffat writes characters to be unique, so they have their own speech pattern. You can see a line without naming a character, but you can still picture exactly who would say it PC: Even though he doesn’t change the lines they can interpret and deliver the lines differently from how they are written in the script

Q: Fave episode? JC: Vincent and the Doctor, likes she get to meet such influential people from the past AK: Also really loved Vincent and the Doctor, and that the Doctor was able to take him into the future and show him how people admired his genius and talent (honestly one of my fave scenes also) PC:  Frontier in Space (To him only six people cheered after he said this so jokingly wondered if we are all really Doctor Who fans in the audience) 

Just some things I took note of

JC knew for a year she was leaving the show. They had already decided that Clara could not return to Earth, so she was happy with the ending

AK told us David Tennant loves playing cards. And him and Catherine Tate played a game between takes which she joined, to name a band from the last letter of the previous band named. They all got so into it they were more into the game than the actual scenes

Alex was asked if she would do a show with John Barrowman as River Song and Captain Jack Harkness. She walked over to Peter and covered his ears by placing his head against her stomach and covering the other with her hand, and whispered yes into the microphone.  

They are all for the next Doctor being a girl, PC added a woman as well. If they could choose an actress to be the Doctor AK choose Frances de la Tour, PC choose Melissa McCarthy, and JC declined to answer sort of hinting she could be in the running (the host added because the Doctor can choose a face he has known i.e. like PC)

AK says she can’t have a fave Doctor because it’s the same person but he is like a snake which sheds its skin (loved the metaphor), but River Song enjoys that the different Doctors come in different shapes and sizes ;)

PC told us his punk rock band was called Dream Boys (was very embarrassed by this admission) and his stage outfit was a white shirt and a bow tie. So he has always loved bow ties

The fave character AK has played is Lady Macbeth. She never grew up believing she would be on tv as Britain doesn’t have Hollywood like America. So hoped to make it in theater 

PC was asked what it was like being a side character on DW before becoming the Doctor. He gave a funny excerpt of how he sneaked into the Tardis and played with the console because he thought it would be his one and only chance in the cheapest toga ever made (thankfully it wasn’t)

[lyricanalysis]

the *real* brallon song

so this is a song called always by panic at the disco off of vices & virtues, right? now we’re gonna save the chorus for the end. LET’S ALSO just make it known that i am a brallon stan and have an intense dislike for ryan but LET’S ALSO just make it known that this is not going to be ryan hate (???). i’m just interpreting the lyrics from the way that i see it.

setting the time and all. v&v was written, as a lot of people know, right after the big panic split and after jon and ryan left the band and most importantly (my fave) dallon joined the band. so for this theory of mine to work, we have to establish that from my perspective, brendon was 110% in love with ryan. the way that that relationship has always come across to me is that it was really (and i mean extremely) one-sided in the fact that brendon fell head over heels for ryan and ryan never really felt anything in return besides using brendon for some great sex. which, ya know, whatever. SO ANYWAY, that’s just the mindset i have for writing this out.

we’ve got the first verse of the song:

When the world gets too heavy

Put it on my back

I'll be your levy

You are taking me apart

Like bad glue

On a get well card

now i totally see this song as brendon writing it for dallon 100%.

so there is a live stream that dallon did at one point where he said that before he joined panic, he essentially watched the death of his own band. he saw it reach a level and he had no idea how to get it farther and knew that that was essentially the end of his band and that made him depressed, like guys, he actually said depressed himself. (also, i’m not even saying suicidal or anything but like, for this to work like major depressed, my poor old man). so this first verse is brendon talking to dallon when they first met.

i’m just going with logic that when dallon tried out for the band it was already known to brendon that he used to have his own band that had failed cause, ya know, resumes and shit. so brendon will come in knowing that and honestly, i’m sure without even asking, brendon knew how hard that was because he probably had fears of that happening to panic and it’s hard to see that shit happen. he’d probably assume that dallon had taken it hard (especially since dallon even said that if panic hadn’t worked out then he was going to give up on music altogether).

so brendon, when they first met, tells his new band member that hey, you’re having a hard time but let me deal with it. i don’t like seeing you get upset. which is really kinda adorable but i’m picturing this as the very beginning of their friendship and neither knows a lot about the other.

moving on, second verse:

I'm a fly that's trapped

In a web

But I'm thinking that

My spider's dead

Lonely, lonely little life

I could kid myself

In thinking that I'm fine

this verse has literally nothing to do with dallon except that it’s backstory for the next verse. so going with the one-sided theory, brendon took the “breakup” with ryan hard. (now, i’ll talk about it in a different song analysis if i do it but basically brendon confessed his love for ryan and ryan said never ever will i love you and queue sad music).

it’s pretty blatant though. brendon is the fly who’s caught in ryan (the spiders) web. but of course, the spider died (ryden is dead). the spider died when ryan left the band because basically, ryan strung brendon along, let him do his stage gay (prolly slept together) and all this and he let brendon believe that sooooomething might happen but then at the end, it was never going to. so brendon’s upset over it and probably feels alone because after a rough breakup, who doesn’t? we all lie to ourselves and say that we’re just fucking fine without them but we all know that we’re looking through old messages and thinking of what could have been if only we’d just done this one thing differently.

third verse:

That I'm skin and bone

Just a king and a rusty throne

Oh, the castle's under siege

But the sign outside says, "Leave me alone."

my brallon heart goes pitter-patter here. the first line is just brendon’s description of himself, essentially. he stopped caring about himself after ryan left. ‘what’s the point’ sort of mindset. he let himself go because there’s no reason, he’s skin and bone and there’s nothing left without him, woe is me. it’s really angsty god damn.

my sister and i argued over this meaning for a long time but the metaphor is the castle is panic at the disco as a band and the throne is ryden, right? so the castle being under siege is dallon joining the band. a new guy coming in and wanting to do different things (i wholeheartedly believe that dallon had a HUGE influence at least musically on v&v because it’s all got that steampunk-esque, old-timer, brobecks feel). brendon is sitting on this rusty throne of what he wants to retain because he misses ryan and he’s holding on tight to this past relationship because it’s all that he has left. he doesn’t want to leave which is why the sign outside says leave me alone. dallon came in and is probably trying to help him move on, start fresh, get over it (and love dallon but, ya know). dallon brought new hope but because brendon was still being angsty, he didn’t want to let go of old panic just yet.

chorus:

It was always you

Falling for me

Now there's always time

Calling for me

I'm the light blinking at the end of the road

Blink back to let me know

AND NOW IT GETS A LIL GAY OKAY. so i feel like this comes after everything else. brendon has accepted that panic is changing and ryan is gone and it was because dallon. (dallon was the one who fell first). that’s why it was from brendon’s perspective. dallon fell for brendon because brendon was emotionally unavailable, still pining after ryan and not accepting the death of that one. but he’s starting to realize that he can’t get it anymore and now all there is is time for him to move on.

and my favorite part of all. ryan was one-sided and it tore brendon up (to what extent, nobody can be sure but i’m trying hella hard not to think about it). brendon knows well enough that he couldn’t do that again so he’s asking dallon with this song if dallon has feelings. ‘blink back to let me know’ because i can’t do this again unless you feel the same.

thank you and have a nice day.