#i will run over those 2 guys with a truck though (ep 8)

[p1x1x]

[booasaur]

Hey! I was wondering if you could tell me rape trigger warnings for desenfrenadas or point out anyone who’s documented it please? I was watching but had to stop after that Vera backstory, but sexual violence seems pretty prevalent throughout so far and I remember the start where Marcela is all beat up and the bad guys have been threatening her from the start, so will the show go there? I’d like to skip those scenes if so.

Sorry, I don’t know anybody who has, and if you’ve gotten that far, you’ve probably seen most of it, Vera’s backstory was the worst of it to me, but there are a couple of scenes left, with Marcela and Joshua, where it’s their same dynamic as earlier except ramped up, on both their ends, but it feels like Marcela’s more doing it to put on a show and yeah, it feels pretty icky. The beaten up Marcela in the flashforward at the beginning isn’t actually from that, it’s just Joshua being “regular” violent (not that that makes it better), but let me see if I can put together a list:

I’m not really sure what to include and what not to, so I’ll err on the side of going with more, but not all of it is at the same level of awful. I italicized the most egregious cases, to me.

Ep 1:

34:55 Marcela’s gone up to talk to Sapo to go easy on them but he says Joshua’s made a deal where Marcela has to sleep with him, Marcela pretends to go along, Sapo starts being aggressive, she hits him with a bottle - 35:28 There’s a brief cut to another scene - 35:50 The scene continues with Marcela in the aftermath of hitting Sapo and running off

Ep 2:

1:20 Male truck driver is nasty and propositions Marcela when she’s just walking by, scene ending at 1:41

Ep 3:

5:47 Joshua and Marcela’s sex turns kinda rough, though still consensual, scene ending at 6:11

25:06 Marcela calls Joshua, Sapo answers and is his creepy self and threatens Marcela using Mike, if she doesn’t return, with the call ending at 25:45

30:35 The guy Vera connected with on the app and who met up with her again carries drunk Vera out, lies to her when she says she needs to tell Ro and Carly she’s leaving, then outside tries too hurry her into sex and then attempts to try to rape her, as she tries hard to fight him off. 32:10 Marcela shows up with a gun and forces him away. She beats him up and that scene is the last in the ep.

Ep 4:

00:19 Vera, now in her hotel room, flashbacks a couple of times to the attempted rape, the second scene ending at 0:51

2:26 Vera sobs in the shower, scene going into the credits at 2:47

13:50 Rocio yells at Vera in the car for what happened the previous night (not cool, Ro!), Vera has a bit of a breakdown, Marcela and Carly calm her down at 14:40

 Ep 5:

1:03 A flashback with young Vera, like 6 or 7 years old, at a party, that the ep started with turns into a nightmare when suddenly the guy who tried to rape her is there and creepily saying gross things to her young self, she wakes up at 1:11

32:10 Vera in bed, flashback again to young Vera at the party, this old guy, in his 40s or 50s, a friend of her parents, who seems nice takes her up to her bedroom and tucks her in, asks her if she likes tickling, we don’t see anything explicit but hear a zipper. Throughout this scene, we jump back to current Vera in bed, unable to keep her eyes closed, staring emptily. The scene ends at 34:40.

Ep 7:

5:35 Gas station guy leers at Vera stretching, it’s a couple of seconds long, nobody notices and nothing happens

Ep 8:

27:00 Marcela’s back at their home with Joshua, he’s just very physically aggressive, it seems as if Marcela is into it too but once they start to have sex she turns her face away, scene ends at 28:43

35:08 Last scene of the ep, Carly’s sister calls her and starts yelling at her, eventually Carly realizes the guy she’d send explicit nudes and videos to released a video with her, including the toy dolphin she used, and it’s all over the Internet. There are references throughout Ep 9, including dolphin noises, but it’s also just genuinely frustrating and heartbreaking to watch, Carly is understandably very hurt and embarrassed.

Ep 9:

7:24 Joshua’s brought Marcela breakfast in bed, she brings up Mike again, he thinks she’s ungrateful and smashes the whole tray into the wall, she smacks him, they continue to bicker, he gets physically aggressive with her again, she pretends to seduce him, then knees him in the stomach, he laughs it off, scene ends at 8:54

13:19 Marcela and Joshua playing around on the bed, roughly, but it seems like teasing with Marcela on top until Joshua manhandles her down and it’s not so light-hearted anymore. Marcela hits him and escapes from the bed, the scene ends at 14:45 with him not particularly angry still on the bed, Marcela on the dresser.

Ep 10:

14:25 I guess at this point this level of Joshua and Marcela bickering is mild for them, although Joshua still gets in a facegrab and slapping Marcela’s butt, scene ends at 14:35

20:16 Joshua asks Marcela if she’s okay and when she doesn’t answer immediately, grabs her neck to turn her around, the conversation going back to “normal” at 20:39 for a bit until when Marcela asks him to run away together, and gets mad when he refuses and says he has no balls, at which he says he’ll prove he does and tries to initiate sex, increasingly aggressively, hard enough to leave bruises, while Marcela tries to push him away, until finally the combination of that and another stripper calling from outside the dressing room gets him to stop., scene ends at 21:54

29:30 Joshua questions Marcela on where she got the ring from, increasingly hostile, then straight up shoving her against the wall and when she finally breaks free and gets mad and starts throwing things at his feet, he slaps her, knocking her down, scene ends at 30:43

31:04 Well, the next scene is basically the other trio watching the strip joint’s exit, waiting for Marcela to come out, and she does, and in her viewpoint we see her and Joshua walking, him still being very rough with her, both basically physically fighting on their short walk to the car, ending at 31:29

34:06 Joshua realizes who the girls are and gets mad at Marcela and attacks her, throws her into the car, until at 34:22 Vera stops him

[razberryyum]

A Gintama episode a day keeps the ending away…Episode 123

Episode Title: Always Keep A Screwdriver In Your Heart

MY 19 FAVORITE MOMENTS IN EPISODE 123 (manga chap 192):

LOVE THIS EPISODE SO MUCH!!!  

1) If Hijikata and Shinpachi would’ve just switched places, the seating arrangement would’ve been perfect.

2) They ordered 10 plates of meat for 6 people, which I thought was weird, but what’s even weirder is how do the screwdrivers expel their waste after such a hearty meal? It’s questions like that that keep me up at night. 

3) In the manga, Gintoki actually grabbed his crotch to remind everyone why the hunt was important in the first place, so I kinda missed that from the episode.

4) Ok, not a favorite moment per se but more like wtf: those two figures in the doorway were so freaking weird and creepy almost. The guy looks like he has one of those kabuki masks on and then that thing on his shoulder, I couldn’t figure out if it was a kid or a monkey, but they both sounded DRUNK. It was odd enough to actually distract me from the scene.

5) Zura managed to escape from prison even though he was handicapped in his screwdriver form. Man deserves to be free.

6) Gin-chan looked so good as a truck driver. And I loved that he was smoking a cigarette. Gave him one more thing in common with Hijikata. 

7) I almost wish they could have stayed as drivers since they had a steady income and most likely were having regular meals since they could afford them.

8) I don’t even understand why. And the anime team were the ones who came up with all the weird Sacchan stuff as she was looking for the aliens.

9) Hijikata’s “O” pleasure face. Bless the anime team for coming up with this bar scene.

10) Gin-chan being brutal to Sacchan as usual, though she probably enjoyed it as usual as well.

11) Sacchan looking good even after being run over. She really was the MVP of the episode, heck, of the arc considering she found the location the aliens. 

12) That’s Gintoki’s crotch and it looked magical. It kinda looked more vaginal than penile or even screwdriveral. 

13) Just another magical crotch shot.

14) I couldn’t stop laughing cuz it basically looked like Gintoki was forking the ship to death, causing it to explode. We even got to see the moment of his climax ffs. They took away the crotch grab and yet the anime team thought THIS was ok to show. Lmao.

15) I wondered the same thing but thankfully everything was back to normal the next time we seem them. 

16) Something the anime team came up with to fill in the extra minutes of the episode at the end. Basically Gintoki offering a glass-half-full look to Kagura’s concerns about cicadas and mosquitoes.

17) Yeah, they really should have continued driving that truck. This made me so sad.

18) Rudeass mosquitoes.

19) I love that Gintoki had no glass-half-full counter to Kagura’s feelings about Madao.

SHIPS TALLY:

Gintoki x Hijikata: so much flirting!

Okita x Kagura: a couple that beats up Zura together, stays together.

Kondou x Otae: I was so glad he was still thinking of Tae-chan even though it looked like he was ready to move on to Princess Phillips. This moment was not in the manga. 

Zura x Elizabeth: they are a unit, forever together.

Gintoki x Sacchan: I never thought it would be her boobs that turned into screwdrivers...don’t know how that would work with Gin-chan unless they actually became hex sockets. And every time I get to this scene, I picture it both ways. I need to go wash my eyes and brain now. 

Hijikata x Okita: that whole scene, the way it was lit and the fact that Sougo bought him a drink, smacked of romance of the one night stand variety. 

Kondou x Zura: they teamed up and were so in sync. 

Kondou x Princess Phillips: She was cute! And their heads fit together. That’s probably how the people of Planet Screw reproduces. 

Hijikata x Zura: it was nice of Hijikata to offer Zura a nice, last meal.

Okita x Zura: even though Sougo was much meaner in the anime...he only ordered raw meat in the manga, but in the ep he ordered TAINTED raw meat...it was still sweet that he was feeding Zura (with an assist from Hijikata). 

Disclaimer: Gintama is not only about shipping. Gintama is hilarious, clever, exciting, poignant, heart-breaking, loving, brilliant, and just completely unbelievably amazing.  It is only due to Sorachi-sama’s immense generosity that I am able enjoy Gintama on an extra another level, the shippy level, and I am forever grateful for that. GINTAMA IS LIFE AND LOVE.

5/3/2019

[sonatanotwo]

SO! Imma talk more about Flame Out... More coherently this time. XDb

Yeah, I like... re-read my original post and realized a bunch of my typing wasn’t even really readable... in my defense, it was 4am and I was on a rather old and slow tablet. XDDD

Oops.

ANYHOO. Let’s try this again. :D With caps and stuff this time. 8Db

I am still all GOSH THIS EPISODE. And still all super OMG SEE? I KNEW IT. I said Virgil was a giant, lovable, cute, dork. So adorkable, my gosh. (I also have never really gone into detail, but I kinda headcanoned Virgil could get shy and stuff around like girls he likes and such. I never spoke much of it since I didn’t really have much in the way of evidence WHY I thought he might act that way... WELL. THANK YOU, EPISODE. I feel like this really could be a thing now. XDDD)

Boy, his brothers must not have paid any attention ever to his bookshelves if he has books and even an action figure of Kip. XDa

So, of course, I’m wondering when/how Virgil found out about Kip. Did Kip know Jeff? Seemed like it, given him noting Virgil looked like their Dad (Which I’m like OMG YES, to. People say Scott looks like Jeff, but my gosh, look at Virgil and Jeff in TOS. There is even more resemblance there, eyebrows, set of the eyes, nose, cheeks (chin and dimples are then more what Scott got.) Gosh, I can’t wait to see what TAG! Jeff will look like.) in a way that seemed more than just knowing a little about Jeff to feel Virgil was ‘a chip off the old block.’ (Man, this ep was so chock full of oldish and very American sayings. XD)

Did Jeff introduce Virgil to the guy’s existence? =Oa

BUT yeah, as I tried to type, but mangled... It’s exciting and interesting that it seems like Virgil had influence on him doing what he does well beyond simply his father. Obviously Kip was a huge one! And someone who does more what Virgil does than what, from what we can tell, Jeff probably did. Jeff’s about technology and space, but Virgil is definitely more mechanical, engineering and stuff like fires and explosives etc. *chinhands*

Man, it could potentially even fit together nicely... If it was even older teen Virgil who found out about him... if he still went to college in Denver... I mean, Colorado is still VERY the westerny. (I lived an hour south of Denver for 7 years. XD So, yeah. XD) LMao Maybe that’s where he got the action figure. XDa Man, I wonder where Kip was meant to be from... it was definitely a southern accent---don’t think quite Texas... at least, not some parts of it. (...Oh, his actor was a UK one. GOSH. I wouldn’t have guessed THAT. XD Same person who’s played the balloon Dad and Dr. Peck XD)

ANYHOO.

Side note... did anyone notice Grandma when she descends into the seating area?

LOOK AT HER, smoothing her hair. XDDD Man, I missed Grandma. <3

I flailed a lot about Virg being ambidextrous, so I won’t flail much again. Just a little. <3

...TANGENT TIME.

It’s always interesting to see how things have been moved or outright changed. I keep wondering if they have a second Tracy Island or are they able to film where they display the house for the tour? o.Oa THINGS I WONDER when I see changes. ( But yeah. Look at the shelves here:

Then here’s in EOS:

Then this old shot from the website, where clearly it was a WIP or something, cause books are falling off and backwards. lol

Just... interesting. XD From what I can see, it was the same setup as EOS in season 2 as well, but yeah. The books have changed in S3 and that one statue on the top there has gone completely MIA. (Also can actually JUST make out the spine of one of the books! =O Bottom shelf, far left... It appears to say “Catching Fire” ...which could possibly be Hunger Games reference, since I gather that’s the name of book 2? lolol I’m sure all those books are references. lmao)

Also that one statue over near the pool table?

I was pretttty sure it was Mozart.

WELL.

NOT ANYMORE. Thiiiiink it MIGHT be Aristotle? Bye Mozart. ;A; The other statue is gone too. Sadness. And yeah, these books have been changed up too. I wonder why. =Oa Well. If it isn’t a secondary set anyways. 

In fact that whole side is a bit different (other than being shot at a different angle XD)

ANYHOOOOOOOOOO... wow that really was a heck of a tangent.

Uh.

Where was I. 

RIGHT.

Oh gosh, Virgil, you are too cute. That look he’s giving, Scott, gosh. XD That’s a pleading look if I ever saw one.

I just love how it looks like Gordon is plotting Virgil’s utter DOOM...

...Then doesn’t actually do anything, since Virgil is embarrassing himself without any help what-so-ever. XD Poor, poor Virgil. He must have been kicking himself. (The “I’m meant to be helping you!” line definitely suggests it. lol)

BUT I JUST. It’s so strange even in a way to see Virg just... absolutely freeze up.

Since Virgil like... so rarely loses his cool. Man... I wonder how he’ll react to seeing Jeff again. =Oa

Man, does Kip not board aircraft much? Most do have wheels, Kip. Even the GDF flyers do. XDa Taxi-ing is a thing they do. lololol Though I suppose TB2′s are sorta hidden...ish.

Poor Virg. YOU KNOW, this might be the first time a note about Virgil that was in the annual might’ve actually sorta been a thing. =Oa It said sometimes he forgot his own strength... We’ve really never seen it used in any way, making it seem like a bit of out-of-date marketing. (Especially since being an artist and piano player, Virg is pretty good at being gentle. ^.^) But a distracted Virgil can seemingly cause some problems lolol

Gosh, I laugh at Gordon’s line still all ‘I’m not messing with them, they’re messing with me!’ lolol

And Virgil finally pulls himself together. \o/

I just really like how Kip’s leaning on TB2′s dash there to look out the windshield.

...I also really like how Kip’s stubble looks...

Like, gosh, this season so far has had some really nice new character models.

AND THEN KIP JUST PULLS OUT SOME OLD SCHOOL TNT. lmaoooo

Remember, Virg is their demolition specialist... he uses explosives, but he doesn’t just carry around random sticks of TNT. lolol AND they just kinda ran away from a HUGE explosion and gas. And. Kip had this. On him.

...

Yeah.

I’m with Virgil here.

AND YOU CAN JUST SEE IT IN HIS FACE. I look up to you and I trust you...

But those are sticks of dynamite right there and they could have exploded earlier.

CONFLICTED FEELINGS HERE.

Ugh, can I just side note that the animators are doing so amazing in general this season so far? Just all the faces and emotions Virgil goes through in this sequence alone. GOSH.

Aww Virg. He wants to do the thing.

“I’m meant to be helping you...” ...Yeah, he’s feelin’ bad for being a wee bit useless earlier, I think. 

AND...

That face. ;A; He doesn’t want to say it and seems to be guilty for thinking it. I mean, and Virgil knows better cause I mean... GRANDMA and all. BUT STILL, he feels like he should still. ;A;a

Ugh this isn’t nearly all the faces he even makes. SO many feels.

“By not getting blown up?”

He’s still totally thinking about the dynamite.

:>

ANYTHING. My heart. 

My heart, guys. Just. Look at this sweetheart. Look how lovely and everything he is. I knew what I was talking about all this time!

GRANDMA! ...you know, I have a feeling she really might be the Grandma type who’d go and whip out baby photos. She is so unbothered at embarrassing her grandsons. XDDDD I do so love her.

OKAY. TIME FOR ANOTHER MOMENT OF ANIMATION APPRECIATION. RUNS. They’ve been animating them REALLY well so far this season too. Sometimes we’ve seen Virgil’s run be a litttle, uh, stiff. But his run down to the seating area earlier and this... Very nice. +o+b

You can really feel the weight and all the motion has such nice follow through and stuff. Just. Hrrrg. It’s good guys.

Oh my goodness, eyes. VIRGIL. ;A;

Of course, Kip’s fine and Virgil assumes the pose he borrowed from his puppet counterpart. X3b

OKAY, ANOTHER THING ABOUT THIS SEASON... animation errors have been so few and far between... they’ve got John in the loop and their IR insignia’s are properly glowing.

A+ Also some very nice texturing and stuff on the truck.

Nothing really. Just it was a nice cap. *chinhands*

Oh Grandma, your boys oh so love you. Virgil’s face. ahahaha but he’s asking. XD

And Gordon’s backing him up. Aww Gordo. <3 Like I said, I love my Big Brotp, but these two have a place in my heart too. ^.^

“Just do us a favour? Leave the dynamite at home.”

He was really thinking about that. XD

This is a dinner I wish we could see. lololol

Is this my longest episode post ever? ...it might be. It won’t surprise me if it is.

UM.

CONGRATS IF YOU MADE IT THIS FAR. :DDD

SO. Now to wait for who knows how long. o.o; I’m kinda wondering if they’ll break the season into three parts... 9/9/8 (or 9/8/9) It would make the waits between possibly smaller... I guess we’ll see. =Oa Hopefully won’t be too long, especially with their teaser. lol

I’m on the fence about who it is, except no, I REALLY don’t think it’s Kyrano. It’s all in the accents... Kayo and the Hood are decidedly from the UK so I rather doubt Kyrano would have a decidedly American one. lol That just would seem... odd. Part of me is wondering if it’s Jeff, but obviously it’s a bit... not rich enough to seem quite like Jeff, although it is pretty heavily radio distorted, but still. Erf. It also might be a bit TOO accented compared to the boys... ANYHOO, I guess we’ll see, anyways.

SO YEAH. Uh. tl;dr? I LIKED THIS EP A LOT AND VIRG IS ADORBS. 8Db

(Boy, I hope this’ll actually post and not error or something...)

[tsqdance]

Starting with the chillwave movement and French touch acts and artists in the late 2000′s, music with a decidedly 80′s influence has been in vogue for the better part of a decade now. Proto-synthwave acts like Anoraak, Justice, and M83 helped start and continued to stoke the fires of the 80′s revival. By the early 2010′s, acts like Com Truise and Mitch Murder began perfecting and popularizing 80′s influenced electronic sounds, and some offshoots of those movements followed with a deadset intention on perfectly emulating those neon 80′s vibes. Outrun differed from synthwave, chillwave, and vaporwave in that the intent seemed to be to recreate those specific sounds utilizing equipment and techniques from that bygone era. Acts like Betamaxx, Lazerhawk, and Miami Nights 1984 created landmark albums and EPs that led to a steady increase in the internet’s thirst for the sounds of yesteryear. Today, we have artists like Carpenter Brut, Gunship, and Power Glove doing things like releasing physical albums, playing at music festivals, and soundtracking apps and major video games. As a result, though, the outrun synthwave movement has also become saturated with people that want to emulate the sound of the 80′s, so it’s become a bit more difficult to find those diamonds. One such absolute precious stone in that rough is Jim Govoni’s project Botnit. Having been a huge fan of his intricate melodies and incredibly punchy and polished work for quite some time, I felt like Jim’s work was a best kept secret that is severely underrated. Having truly considered his work among the best that the entire genre has to offer, I was elated when he agreed to an interview. The resultant conversations that followed were way too long to post, so I’ll stick with just the highlights of my interview with Jim Govoni (Botnit).

1. What is the story behind the moniker "Botnit"?

It doesn't mean anything as a matter of fact. When I first started making tunes, it was under the name "Bill vs. the World", which was really cheesy electronic tunes with secretly-recorded audio of my friend Bill yelling at video games played over it, honestly: https://billvstheworld.bandcamp.com/ When I started making serious music, this didn't really work out, so I needed a better name. My friend (who later put out synthwave tunes under the name Roburai) and I were regulars at a gym at the time, and developed a fairly strong micro-language. I worked in a few from my past playing video games with my younger sister. The video game Tekken 2 had a fighter named Baek Doo San, this somehow transformed into Nit San Face for short, and when it transferred to Roburai chats, the 'nit' part became a suffix to other words, like Beentnit, Fartnit, and Botnit was just one of those. When it was time to pick a name, he recommended to just take Botnit, so I did.

2. How would you describe your own music?

Tough question, I think emotion is a big part of music, when it lacks it, I sort of sit there and wonder what the hell the point is. I can remember back in 2012 when I started making serious synthwave, that I wanted to be able to make tunes with feelings, to allow a person feel a certain way about a song, without having to force-feed them vocals as instructions on how they should feel. My only real goal was to have a nice little package of 10 songs, or 8 in the case of State of the Art, and have it all sound like it was made by the same guy at the same time, which was difficult as the albums ranged from 6 months to a year and a half in completion time. Obviously you change a little bit over time, so it's tricky. I think all it takes to make evocative music is to let the synths do the talking for you, so that's what I do. I don't crush you with heavily compressed Drumulator kicks and bass arps and upside down crosses, because it's been done already by many copycats and phonies, quite frankly. At the time I started, Mitch Murder was one of the few artists to put lots of old samples in their tunes, and I took a cue from him, speaking of copycats.

3. What are your greatest influences (artists, experiences, weather, etc.)?

Musically Mitch's "Current Events" and Betamaxx's "Interface" were giant influences, as well as MPM Soundtracks, who made some synthwave that has yet to be surpassed in my own opinion (Summer of '84, original, NOT the Flashworx remix). Like a lot of people back then, the movie "Drive" definitely set something in motion for me, but I think it was more about an aesthetic than the two big tunes that came from that film. Almost more important, I used to work at a video arcade in the late 90's, and those experiences shaped a good number of tunes ('Hi-Score', 'Arcade Cowboy', 'I'm Somebody Tonight')

4.  What is your opinion on the ever-changing structure of independent music?

This could go on forever, but all I will say as a main point is that I like how social media helps people get exposure. Bandcamp helped me incredibly, as did soundcloud. But a big problem is that whoever promotes themselves the most wins, they get the most plays, they get the most attention, because they self-promote. I don't self-promote really unless like, I'm trying to raise 100 buyers for a vinyl release for it to be manufactured, and I'll post twice about it. There's a few synthwavers, including one I have met in person, who I feel makes supremely inferior music to me, if I'm to be honest. The guy's very nice, but I think his synthwave is objectively bad - though he has 20 times the followers because he promotes the shit out of himself, nonstop each day, so you can either have 100,000 people come across your music and 2,000 like it, or 1500 people come across you music and 900 people like it, I think I'd take the latter. But it just sort of seems like connections, pay to play (promote), and "what's hot" will always be king. At least in independent music also, you can be successful and not have to look like a model also. It's not a coincidence that somehow the most popular singers all don't look like weathered clock tower keepers, but that is another topic for another time. :-)

5. Does making music pay the bills? Is it more of a dedicated hobby?

Definitely a hobby at this point, I never really had aspirations of it becoming a career, as I started making music when I was 33 years old, and already had a career. I put out albums in 2013, 2014 and 2017, and I haven't actually made any new music since August 2017, and don't really have any plans to make more right now. (I think retiring in 2015 really hurt me). Every now and then I think about breaking the keyboard back out, but I haven't yet, as I don't have such a desire to anymore. I like making the tunes, but it's so unbelievably time-consuming. You could work for 3 hours on tunes and come away with nothing. I simply can't afford that at this point in my life. As for paying the bills, I lucked out this year as a very well-known Twitch streamer started playing my tunes on his streams, and they were added to some Spotify playlist based on him. Revenue from that allowed me to buy a new computer this year after about 9 months of saving botnit money. So I can't stress enough if you're an artist, get your tunes on Spotify/General Digital Distribution if you want anyone to really hear it. Bandcamp is dead, they just don't know it yet.

6. What do you do for a living, and do you like it?

Some of my coworkers know my artist name and look it up from time to time, so I will be careful here. I work as a network engineer a major New England university. Do I like it? I like it when the internet works, less so when it does not. There's a pretty good work/life balance in higher education, a workplace not driven by profits and corporate greed is a great thing, but it's tough - Early in my career we were rolling out wireless internet to buildings that never had it before, like dormitories, or adding it all over a building instead of centrally locating it in a student lounge or something. We were like white knights bringing freedom of wireless computing to people. Fast forward 10 years, and people are upset when they can't watch 4K netflix on their 3 wireless devices simultaneously, and only pulling down moderately awesome speeds that beat anything they could get at home. Wireless went from a privilege to a commodity, like water and electricity, your sewer bill, and some of that shine will never really come back. Some days I wish I ran a taco truck, or was a winemaker or something, but that's no cake life either. Most people don't love their jobs, but you find something you're good at, and you just try to do good work.

7. What are some other things you enjoy about life besides art?

Video games, definitely a part of my DNA, retrogames specifically, Genesis, PlayStation 1, Dreamcast. 90's arcade games (it's somewhat of a secret that I'm actually much more of a fan of the 90's than the 80's). I spend a lot of my time around video games, though it's waned in the last few years as I move on with my life and there's other things that need to be done instead. Sometimes I think I'm less of a video game fan and more of a nostalgia fan. I like dining out, when a new restaurant in my city opens up, I like checking it out, having a fancy cocktail. I like wine a lot, going to Napa Valley on my honeymoon was a great experience, and someplace I can see retiring someday (I'm 38 years old, Jesus). I used to like running, 5k's mostly, but have done a 10k and a half marathon, though I don't run anywhere near what I used to these days. We cook a lot, and go to the Boston Ballet about 3 or 4 times a year, which is a wholly expensive experience overall, but my wife enjoys it very much, and I dig it too, it's a fun night out. I think sometimes I don't enjoy enough about life than I should. I'm approaching middle age now and I've never been out of North America, not that I've had a real desire to, but I need to spend more time enjoying little things that might not register as a real event if a day were to be summed up, just something to be happy about.

8. As a known music fan, what are some of best musical experiences you have had with other people's music?

I don't think I ever told this story, but I used to be a focus group game tester for Harmonix here in Boston. I was a fan of their first music video game FreQuency for the PlayStation 2, and before Amplitude came out, I was Harmonix's forums moderator, so they would occasionally bring me in to test new games. I playtested Amplitude, 2 Karaoke Revolution games, an Eye Toy game also for PS2, and Rock Band 1, all before they were released to the public. I went to the Guitar Hero and Rock Band release parties in Boston, that was a hell of a time. I applied to be a game tester when Guitar Hero 1 was in production, but didn't get the job (the pay was terrible anyway, sour grapes). A lot of the bonus songs in those games were Harmonix employees, so meeting them was really cool, and going to all their concerts in the mid-2000's was a unique thing, special slice of life, something that you can really only do in your early 20's. I even helped a bit with Guitar Hero II forum moderation (I'm listed in the Thank You's in the game credits). Synthwave wise, I can remember being on the third date with my future wife, and playing her Mitch Murder's "In the News" to demonstrate what kind of music I liked. And before that, riding the train to Boston listening to Betamaxx's "Senior Year '84" and "Contra", wondering how the hell me made such cool tunes, and not thinking I would ever make anything like that.

9. Also, what are some of the most memorable moments for you in your own musical journey?

Too many to list, but I'll try: Being a fan of New Retro Wave and them picking my album for album of the week twice, back when they actually answered my emails (though it was 2013, so it might have been the only synthwave release that week :-)) There was a little synthwave meetup in 2015 with Marko Maric, Protector 101 and myself, hell of a fun time. I've seen Com Truise and Toro y Moi live in the last couple years, both big influences, DJ Tiesto and Paul Oakenfold in 2000 and 2001 respectively, though I don't fancy live music so much. Seeing Maniac Synth's music video for Hi-Score was mindblowing to me, and super awesome. Related strictly to my music, I'm pretty selective about a song making it to an album - there's no more than 10 tunes per album, and I want there to be no fillers. For this to happen, there has to be a point in making a tunes where it just clicks, you get an idea to try something, and either by mistake or on purpose, you play it back, hearing this tune for the first time, and you're just smiling stupidly because you realize you just made a new album track. It's an intoxicating high actually. Oddly enough I'm far enough removed from my early pre-Vivid Memories tunes from early 2013 that I'm already nostalgic about it when I listen back. I remember time alone in my apartment when I could bang out 1 song a week, music production was all new, and how somehow synthwave was just more relevant back then.

10. Ever have anything particularly weird happen while touring or playing shows (if applicable)?

I've never played live, I don't really have the setup. I could just get up there and play mp3's and push buttons and bob around like an idiot, I guess. There's a guy in San Francisco who runs a club that's asked me to come out and play so many times I feel bad, but it's 3,000 miles away and maybe I should try it in Boston first. :-)

If you enjoyed getting to know Jim better or already enjoy his work, click HERE to be one of the final 13 people (at the time of this post) to reserve your vinyl copy of a limited pressing of only 100 copies of his 2013 full-length “Vivid Memories”. It’s only $15.99, which is a steal for a wonderful piece of visual art and arguably one of outrun synthwave’s most polished and melodic releases to date. Check out my favorite deep cut from the album, “Innovation“, if you need convincing.

[counttotwenty]

Bullet Points: You Gotta Trust Me

Murder Most Foul-part 4 (parts 1-3 can be found here, here and here) Bullet points are encapsulated scene analysis from the top of each act to the bottom. (each act is bookended by a commercial break)

1. The Robin 2.0 storyline is a really well-drawn counterpoint to the current Captain Charming dynamic. David sees Killian as a “lying thieving pirate” because that what he needs him to be right now. Regina sees Robin 2.0 as a sweet soul who would regret killing Nottingham because that’s what she wants him to be.

The really interesting thing though is that each of them is projecting personality traits they feel they themselves lack onto the other person. David is choosing to see Killian as an immoral pirate capable of doing whatever is necessary to achieve a goal. He knows that he’s not that kind of person himself so he needs to find those traits externally. Whether or not Killian is still that person is irrelevant because the bottom line is David’s view isn’t about Killian. It’s about David.

Regina wants to see Robin 2.0 as a kind-hearted, well meaning person who would never kill in cold blood. She wants him to be above reproach and not willing to take shortcuts because those are the parts of her own personality that trouble her. Again, it isn’t about Robin. It’s about Regina.

BOING!!! BOING!!! BOING!!!!

So in addition to being about how we define ourselves this story is also about how we define others. And why. Which is in and of itself an even more fascinating question. And viewed through this lens the Dark Swan storyline takes on a whole new dimension.

2. “Trust me. Someday ... you would.”

I’m gonna give Regina the benefit of the doubt here (I know! It surprised me too) and say that she’s speaking from personal experience about regretting past actions.

However, regretting your past and changing is one thing (Killian) but regretting your past and continuing to make many of the same mistakes and follow many of the same patterns is a whole other thing.(Regina)

It’s why Killian’s redemption arc has been so much more complete than Regina’s. It’s the difference between truly wanting to let go of the past and wanting to hold on to giant chunks of it.

3. “I need you to promise that you’ll stop running away and trying to kill people.”

Seriously, Regina wants Robin 2.0 to be the original recipe so bad she’s starting to sound like one of those serial killer girlfriends who gets interviewed as the FBI is excavating her sweetie’s yard and claims he’s a gentle misunderstood soul and someone must have framed him by burying 18 bodies in his basement.

4. The moral of the story is that refusing to see people as who they really are, good or bad, is ultimately not productive for either party.

BOING!!!!!

5. There are two things that are perfectly clear from the opening frames of the Captain Charming scene. First and foremost, Emma looms large over everything that happens in this scene whether she’s present of not. There’s no doubt that her house is big but the way they frame it, and the camera angles they use, make it absolutely dwarf both Killian and David. It gives Emma a gigantic presence in the scene even before she arrives. 

The second thing is that Killian and David are not even close to being in sync. Not only do we hear it in their words but it’s more than evident in the blocking. David is out in front, moving hurriedly. Not stopping to think. Killian is trying to pull him back, slow him down. To no avail.

6. “Look if you’re too afraid forget about it.”

OK for a minute there I flashed back to every cheesey After School Special I saw as a kid.

David is obviously lashing out here. Everyone knows that. But it’s interesting that he’s lashing out in opposition to the one thing he always believed about his father--that Robert was weak. And in this moment he desperately wants to believe he isn’t the same. So he adopts a take no prisoners/leave no stone unturned bravado and when he feels it being challenged he lashes out at Killian as the one who is weak and scared.

I’ma give you some leeway here because I know you’re in a spiral David but bullying and taunting isn’t a good look on anyone.

7. Killian makes an effort to get through to David by asking if he’d really be willing to steal from his daughter but David is having none of it. He pivots the conversation right back to Killian and to the Hook-like personality traits he needs right now. Not really from Killian--but from himself.

It’s much easier for David to be the ‘screw the rules’ guy his plan requires if he pictures Captain Hook standing beside him as opposed to Killian Jones.

8. “C’mon buddy, it’s just me here.”

This was perhaps the lowest blow David took all episode. It implies that Killian is faking being a changed man in front of other people but that he can be himself in front of David.

Not cool.

9. In the moment after David asks for the key to the shed Killian has a decision to make

Killian, who has time and again proven to be one of the most self-aware characters on the show, as well as the one most truly committed to making changes and becoming a better man. Killian, who above all things wants to protect Emma and do what’s best for her.

In that moment he puts his own needs and goals (getting David’s blessing) aside and goes all in for Emma. Because keeping David from doing something colossally stupid is what she would want.

So he hands over the key.

Not happily but he does.

It’s a really powerful moment that shows he will always strive to place Emma’s needs above his own.

Beautiful.

10. “So, you finally grew a spine.”

The difference between Rumple and David/Regina is that in this moment he sees Robert for who he really is. He sees the changes. Whether or not they fit what he wants or needs to believe about the man doesn’t matter. 

11. It’s interesting that Robert, in both his conversation with Ruth and here with Rumple, talks about wanting to find James and apologize and set things right but not specifically about reuniting them as one big happy family.

Deep down he clearly understands that what he did isn’t something that can easily be reversed. It’s just something that needs to be faced.

The irony is that later in the ep no character would understand what Hook did and why he did it more so than Robert. But we’ll get to that when that scene arrives.

12. So Robert needs to go to the Land Built from Temptation to find James.

In other words--the man who is claiming to have changed needs to face a strong temptation to go back to his old ways--and resist it--in order to attempt to make amends for something he did in the past.

BOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!!!

13. “Someday, may we all be reunited with our sons.”

I’d almost feel bad for Rumple in that moment if this scene didn’t do such a great job of highlighting the stark contrast between him and Robert.

Robert is willing to do anything and give up everything to reach his son. Rumple may want his son back just as badly but he’s not willing to relinquish his power to make it happen.

14. “Emma’s here. Hurry up.”

As code words go, that one was kinda weak. LOL

15. Fascinating that at no point do we get to see Emma framed against the entirety of the gigantic house in the way we saw David and Killian.

Pssst that’s because for the purposes of this scene the house represents Emma’s presence.

GREAT SHOT FRAMING!!

16. She came back for life jackets. The things that keep you afloat in an emergency situation.

Heh. I see you, show.

17. When Emma mentions her super power it does something VERY important. It guarantees that everything Killian says for the remainder of their scene together is the truth. Because it shows that she’s in the mood to call him on it if it isn’t.

18. “I’m a bit out of sorts.” “I thought you were gonna die.” He’s not shining her on or just trying to distract her. He’s confiding his deepest feelings to her. He’s showing her a part of his heart and soul. 

Really well done moment. 

When he sees David skulk out of the shed, pilfered loot in hand, he hangs his head and sighs audibly. He isn’t happy about what’s going on, he isn’t even willingly on board, but he’s going to go through with it for her. No matter where it leads.

19. “I didn’t want to let you in the shed without sharing them.”

Again, he’s telling the truth. And first and foremost, he’s proving that whatever he’s up to with David isn’t about David. It’s about his love for her.

This exchange is so subtly drawn it’s easy to overlook the powerful deeper meaning but in its own way this moment means more than the proposal ultimately will.

20. And then the moment is sealed by the swirling camera of love. It encapsulates just the two of them, framed against their home. 

As a couple they are solid. Tight as a drum. Whatever comes down the pike they’ll be able to handle it. They are a cohesive unit bound together by a deep and abiding love and respect for each other.

Sigh. 

And BOING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

21. My only qualm with this scene--and it’s a teeny tiny nitpick--is how did Emma not notice David’s truck when she pulled up?

22. And just in case Killian’s moment of decision wasn’t clear enough, when he and David are headed back to the truck the blocking has completely changed. They’re walking side by side. Killian verbalizes that “it didn’t feel good” yet at the same time we see he’s made a decision to help David.

Well done!

Next up-Are You Sure We’re Doing This Right?