#like I’ve watched the muppet movie… twice?? I could sing you back like most of the songs

[chewwytwee]

Btw I saw Wonka today. Pleasantly surprised it was a musical, but was not surprised it ended up being a middling children’s heist movie. The Rold Dahl production company fucking carried the movie on its back lmao the only really enjoyable things were the fleeting moments of wonder that the original was over saturated with.

The music was anywhere from passable to kind of catchy (although I don’t think I could sing you back any of the songs at ALL). The lyrics were actually decently fun and well written, but none of the musical scenes (besides the opening number) have any kind of interesting or very musical feeling staging or blocking.

[ahnsael]

This is going to probably come as a surprise to some of you (even those younger than I), but...before I came home and listened to a few different performances of this today, I had heard this song exactly twice.

Both times were at work. The first time, I heard Roger Daltrey belt out what I thought was “rain on me” (I didn’t know it was Daltrey at the time) and I loved it, but our Sirius radio is based in our surveillance room upstairs, and by the time I got up there, the song was over and it wasn’t being displayed on the radio screen anymore.

This morning, I heard it for the second time. And this time, I made it up to Surveillance in time to see “Who” it was (The Who), and the name of the song (”Love Reign O’er Me,” not “Rain On Me” like I had tried to look up before).

I’m not what you call a fan of The Who. I mean, I did already have Baba O’Riley, Pinball Wizard, and Won’t Get Fooled Again downloaded. They have good music, and it may behoove me to look into them more. It’s just that I’m not familiar with their wider body of work.

Obviously, the version I heard at work wasn’t this live track, but this original album version:

I absolutely love the sound of this song. I’m not much into love these days (other than brotherly/fellow-human love -- I don’t know that I’m meant for the romantic kind and I may be kind of okay with that), but I love music with emotion. Not just screaming for the sake of screaming, but real sounds of joy, sorrow, anguish, etc. It’s why:

Pearl Jam’s Black ("All the love gone bad turned my world to black; tattooed all I see, all that I am, all that I'll be" -- that part gets the tears flowing, and that makes this next line full of tears for me when I sing along partly because it reminds me of the fiancee who dumped me) -- “I know someday you'll have a beautiful life, I know you'll be a sun in somebody else's sky but WHY?” -- I need the “do-do-doot-doot-do-do-do”s that follow just to let me be lost in the emotion)

 R.E.M.’s Everybody Hurts (I mean, the message in the song is good -- 'Cause everybody hurts, take comfort in your friends” is literally what keeps me alive sometimes, but...that moment in the video linked in this paragraph -- all these links are to YouTube, I’m not trying to sell anything -- where everyone just gets out of their cars and starts walking together...it’s a great metaphor for how we all have to lift each other up, and sometimes we have to do so in unconventional ways. Because to care about each other is to help each other get to where we’re going. It may be a traffic jam in the video, but it has a deeper meaning to me, given the song’s context -- even though the movie came several years later, the moment when Michael Stipe starts visually singing “Hold on,” it reminds me now of the “It’s not your fault” scene in Good Will Hunting, which will also set me off into sob-land)

Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah (”And love is not a victory march, it's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah” -- by the way, if you’re familiar with Buckley’s version but have not heard original writer Leonard Cohen’s version, NEVER listen to Leonard Cohen’s version -- it will only let you down in comparison)

I’m not gonna lie, one is Roger Williams’ (a usually-comedic country star from my childhood) One Dyin’ and a Buryin’ -- which is pretty self-explanatory if you listen to it...I’m not there, and I hope never to be there, but...I was there once and failed, but...this song brings back a LOT of memories of not only my one attempt at one dyin’ and a buryin’, but things earlier in life [when I listened to Roger Miller more often because he was one of bio-dad’s favorites], but lest you think Roger Miller is doom and gloom he’s not for the most part -- check out You Can’t Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd and Chug-A-Lug [two different songs, same video] or Do-Wacka-Do or In the Summertime or Kansas City Star to know he wasn’t all about being a downer)

The Killers’ All These Things That I've Done (mostly the line “I got soul, but I'm not a soldier” but also “you’ve gotta help me out” because I NEED that sometimes, plus the fact that this song played on the jumbo-tron a lot in Universal CityWalk in my homeless days when I worked at Universal but also literally LIVED at Universal [without Universal’s knowledge -- I just hid at night to find a place to sleep] and I spent a lot of time getting cheap food (cheap for a theme park shopping area, at least) from a restaurant at the part of CityWalk that they called CityEats, and would watch the Jumbo-Tron while I ate -- so it kind of reminds me of those days which opens up a whole other can of worms -- not mention “all the things that I’ve done” in my life which, some of which 40 years later, still bug the heck out of me)

or even Pharell Williams’ Happy (”Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth” has always confused me into tears because while I feel HIS joy, I cannot feel it myself, but I do believe that happiness is the truth -- not enough to clap along -- but I just don’t know how to get there, but I do love it when other people, even complete strangers, get there, because it give me hope that it IS possible, unless everyone who claims to be truly happy is lying, but that’s statistically unlikely -- the video also makes me realize how much I simply CANNOT dance -- I can groove, but not dance, and there is a BIG difference -- I can move to a beat [and I can actually keep the beat in the Country Bear Jamboree on the rare times I clap along, unlike a lot of the white-person crowd], I got no moves; I could probably learn moves if they were choreographed for me and the choreographer worked with me on things but this is literally what kept me from trying out for the 1989 revival of the Mickey Mouse Club in my early teens, even though I wanted to be part of that more than anything I’ve ever wanted, before or since -- but at least I got to work at Disneyland, and that may have led to even better memories than I might have had if I’d gone for the show).

...are all songs that can bring me to tears (sorry for the tangents in that list).

And don’t even get me STARTED on Disney songs like Reflection from Mulan or I Will Go Sailing No More from Toy Story. Heck, even Kermit the Frog singing It’s Not Easy Being Green or the Rainbow Connection Finale from The Muppet Movie can set me off.

I don’t always do well at “keep believing.” “Keep pretending,” I’m better at (in real life but not on tumblr). I don’t even know WHAT I set out to do.

For for the lovers, the dreamers, and you, I hope you get there. I hope I get there, too, but...to me it’s more important that YOU get there, because you probably have better odds than I do, and will probably do more with it than I would.

[sunnysynthsunshine]

7th Comedy Monologue

“Hey my Cheese bags I’m back from my adventure in 1985”

“No joke if you look it up

the timeframe of days for each month this year

are the exact same as they were in 1985”

So all this “80s revival stuff” with Duran Duran and Depeche Mode touring, Petshop Boys releasing a new album, a new generation falling in love with Queen and She-Ra while the world is being messed up by a tyrannical iron lady and a talking tangerine makes a bit of sense doesn’t it?”

Even though I was born in the 2000s I’ve always loved most of the media from that decade, the gothic and upbeat synthesizer music,the cheaply made but entertaining cartoons,the video games,the basic but stylish fashion,the musicals and John Hughes films,the mix of music genres in the charts,Goth,Synth,Punk,2 Tone,Post-Punk,New Wave,Glam Metal,Alternative,Shoegaze,Hip Hop,Electronica

I was watching Saved by the Bell  before Netflix even existed

Then again a lot of the shows from then were also being revived back in my day

Dal Winton was presenting game shows, Pingu replaced the scary walrus monsters with rap music, I watched or had VHS tapes of the Muppet show, Noddy, Postman Pat and Scooby Doo.

Scooby-Doo! Now that’s a show that never gets old because it never changes, anyone regardless of what generation they’re from would be able to tell you

“Oh Yeah, I remember Scooby Doo”

When you think about it Scooby Doo is quite philosophical

we are all just a gang going on our own adventures

that and the first few live-action movies are modern masterpieces

I was just browsing Twitter or Tumblr or literally anywhere on the internet only to see that screencaps were taken from the live action Scooby Doo interviews had turned into memes

*ahem*

Well,I was auditioning for the role of Velma, I could sense from the way Matthew Lillard just fully encompassed the role of Shaggy, it felt like he was Shaggy, he was our saviour as he felt his spiritual energy increase, that’s when I knew we were working with a legend

Something like that although Matthew isn’t too fond of the memes himself specifically the ones where his spiritual connections are described more like demon possession rituals

*ahem*

“Being Shaggy has led me down a path of death and destruction. I’ve killed many mortals in hope of replicating 1% of Shaggy’s being, by the end of filming I hope to become one with him”

In which Matthew responded with

*deadpan voice*

This is wrong

I mean I might also have inspirations where I feel like I can philosophically connect with them, in their performing style and personality but that’s where I draw the line

Personality?  That’s a tricky subject

You could say some people have consistent personalities

People said Freddie Mercury and David Bowie were party animals who were incredible on stage with their charisma, creativity and charm but other sources have said they were relaxed, laid back people who were shy when being interviewed.

That could just be the contrast between their onstage and offstage personas but not all of us have that, even if we are all  just actors in a play, hoping each day goes the right way

Some of us are punk, even if we don’t explicitly say that we are, or have the stereotypical style associated with it,a lot of us just try to be ourselves,some of us can enjoy reality shows and horror movies at the same time,some of us can enjoy One Direction and Gorillaz,some of us can love fashion but also love memes, Theatre, and 1980s aesthetics

I’d say I’m the same but sometimes my personality is all over the place

I can go from being cheerful, relaxed and happy to being dazed and clumsy or cynical or entranced and hyper-fixated to Pessimistic and Cold to Quiet and Timid to Mellow and Loud   what personality traits you associate with me, however, is up to your own conclusion

call me any internet subculture stereotype and I’d be able to tell you about how I either, unfortunately, was the stereotype or I hung around people who were those stereotypes

if you said I was someone who watched Cbbc and citv you’d be right

if you said I was a classic rock enthusiast years ago and now you’d be right

if you said I used to be a cringy anime enthusiast  you’d be right

if you said I was one of those theatre kids who watched Disney sitcoms you’d be right

if you said I was one of those meme posters who referenced movies like Shrek and bee movie you’d be right

Another thing punks did was and sometimes still do was creating fanzines, magazines related to their favourite band or tv show or their own opinions on what’s going in the world, nowadays you could say social media has replaced that, but publications like the Daily Mirror, The Sun and TMZ still have a presence on there,I’d say fanzines should have a revival.

The BAFTA’s also happened recently and I wasn’t impressed, then again when are awards shows anything other than beauty pageants for films anyway?

Some films deserved their awards, but some films barely got a mention, Paddington 2 wasn’t included in there or in any of the other film awards this year and Stan and Ollie got nothing…

A darn shame because that film was so well made, it felt authentic, while Stan and Ollie also have a bit of a universal following, there are still some people who probably don’t know who they are!

Before Walliams and Lucas, Before the Two Ronnies, Before Richie and Eddie

There was…Laurel and Hardy

Two moustached blokes, who in the 20s and 50s would just try to delight audiences the best way they could, through slapstick and laughter, without them, most of the world’s double acts wouldn’t exist and even Spongebob wouldn’t exist

Yep, you heard me right, all those misadventures Spongebob and Patrick would have, they were loosely based on the adventures of Laurel and Hardy, except instead of it being about a tall British man and a fat American it was about an anthropomorphic sponge and a dumb but caring starfish.

Speaking of Spongebob, there was some sad news involving Spongebob not too long ago

The creator of Spongebob, Stephen Hillenburg…had passed away from ALS

I know, it’s awful,stupid motor neuron diseases and stupid Adam Levine too,for those who don’t know there was an episode of Spongebob called Band Geeks where they ended the episode with the cast playing a song called Sweet Victory over a Superbowl type of event, for the actual super bowl Spongebob fans around the world petitioned for that song to be played in tribute for Stephen,however we got Adam Levine singing a different song instead….what a letdown

If it wasn’t for SpongeBob I and some of the rest of the new generation, wouldn’t know half the old music or old films we know now.

To let down millions of fans like that makes me sick

Honestly, I was a bit sick a few weeks ago, I’ve been sick before and hospitalized twice but this particular moment of sickness was odd

It was like any other night, I was trying to get some sleep and lucid dream, but then it happened, the shivers, the shakes the trembling aches,

Out of nowhere, I felt like an ice-cube stuck in a microwave, It was too cold but it was too warm, I eventually got to sleep but when I got up the next morning I felt sick again, sorry for disclosing those details but it was like the exorcist…

Usually, when I’m sick watching documentaries, Kitchen Nightmares or 90s films weirdly cheers me up

Speaking of films, Rocketman the Elton John movie is out and it actually looks good

It’s being directed by the guy who was the replacement director for Bo Rhap and if it ends up being brilliant I won’t be surprised, the trailer gave off Velvet Goldmine vibes, the style of composed cinematography and I’m sounding like Film Twitter, Isle of Dogs was a good film…oh wait it wasn’t acknowledged much by the award shows either.

Another amazing film I recently watched was Rocky Horror…I know I’ve mentioned it before but that was when I only knew the sequel and some of the soundtrack,

It was amazing, it was brilliant, it was fantastic, it was out of this world,

ah! Rocky Horror was splendid

I definitely now understand why it’s still going strong to this day

It’s that hybrid of rock and roll, optimistic nihilism and soft aesthetics

That just works for me, another thing I’ve remembered was that Richard O’ Brien played the dad in Phineas and Ferb, well that explains that part of me liked that cartoon for the music and some of the characters but other characters did my head in like that Isabel character

“Hey, Phineas what ya dooing?”

“How about you let me finish my invention and you mind your own business”

Oof that’s too harsh…but considering aspects of the marvel Phineas and Ferb crossover were surprisingly a bit sexist at times outdated for the show that is usually quite progressive in its representation and characters…it’s probably accurate

Another person who hasn’t changed but is also often harsh, Piers Morgan, a little tweety bird told me he had a mysterious illness, good riddance I’d say, he’s the new Noel Edmonds, the presenter who used to be ok but now is unbearable…because he never shuts up

Thankfully though he’s “taking a break” from GMB that will rest our eardrums

Russell Brand has also been in the tabloids again, even though he’s more focused on his Buddhist spiritual recovery enlightening, looking back he wasn’t as bad as people described him, yeah at times he was a bit too over the top,but he was and is quite an ok bloke, but I’d say temporarily banning tickling is a bit of a stretch,

when you think about the number of people who disrespect our literal and figurative personal space on a daily basis, it kinda makes a bit of sense,

whether your sensory sensitive or not, I’m sure you hate it, when people are too touchy at times

although years ago I would’ve been a bit of an ignorant hypocrite about that

Hating it when crowds of kids would chase me like how the paparazzi chase their next gossip target, yet often annoyingly running up to people to talk to or entertain them.

I really need to learn to enjoy loneliness more because I get some of my best ideas when alone, but emotionally I feel a lot better when around others, a bit of an Ambivert really,

I’m sorry I can be a bit all over the place, I’m trying to make my energy more manageable

as that lucid dreaming thing has been misused at times,

I shouldn’t let myself be controlled…

by anyone or anything..no overthinking, no overworking,

treat the world as your stage, start your first act, motivated and ready, take your recharging interval breaks and then move on for your second act

fancy that me an ex-drama student making that metaphor when my current course  involves digitally drawing art, editing audio and sitting at a computer for most of the day

But then again just because someone shows good charisma that doesn’t always mean their a good person.

Ted Bundy, one of America's most notorious serial killers used charisma and charm in his court cases, and with the amount of fangirls giving him fanmail it was like the Beatles fandom but for people with Stockholm syndrome,and now with Netflix’s documentary and Troy from High School Musical in an upcoming film about him, that seems to be repeating itself…

*Alien voice* Ted Bundy the 1960s called they want your fangirls back!

One show I know you probably haven’t heard of is The Boondocks, a south park esque cartoon with an anime esque art style, referencing the social commentary of African American culture and media, celebrating some aspects while critiquing others, through the lenses of a socialist boy named Huey Freeman, his rapper wannabe brother Riley and their activist grandad Robert.

This show was quite revolutionary,it referenced the issue of each episode quite well, even though it only lasted 4 seasons, however, because the show is quite American, apart from the animation which is done in Korea,The Boondocks is not well known in the UK, which is a shame because it is a really good show that still holds up…however, it does fall under one mousetrap that most other adult cartoons fall into….

Because of the references to violence,innuendo and other dark subject matter sometimes referenced in a satirically humorous way,some audiences  would just watch the show because it’s offensive thinking that the show was made just to be offensive..instead of what the show was actually made for..which was to give social commentary on the issues relevant to African American communities in America.

I had watched this show years ago, it only just came back on my radar, because the creator Aaron McGruder, who based the show off his webcomic of the same name, had recently made a new issue.

There’s a difference between being satirical and being offensive

Your either making fun of something bad that a system or people are doing to make people aware of how stupid and sad the world can be at times,subjectively making fun of a stereotype, or your an arse who thinks they’re a comedian when they waste their time on social media, thinking they’re amazing and funny when they’re holding up the line at Mcdonald’s and the only people laughing at their jokes are gammon and people who found Bernard Manning funny

“Oh Wait”

I know sometimes I have unpopular opinions such as how my views of someone dip depending on their views of Kanye West

and sometimes I can be a bit snarky, and I hate and love stuff in equal amounts, but we need a bit of that don’t we, if we bottle it all up we explode like volcanos, but if we overshare too much, we crash like out of control cars

It’s all about moderation, salt is a tasty condiment but eat too much of it and your arteries will get clogged,

A few days back it was the day Mark Ashton passed away, for those who don’t know,he was an LGBT activist in the 80s,he volunteered with organizations such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament,he and the other activists helped to support the miners during the miner strike, creating the LGSM Alliance,Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners,there was a film made about them too, called Pride,but what some people don’t know is that….Mark Ashton was Northern Irish…he was one of us..he was the Marsha P Johnson of our time..if we were a bit like Mark Ashton this country would be a slightly more accepting place, why don’t we give love!

Let’s move on, plant more flowers in our garden..I know I sound like a hippie but it’s true, our Celtic Summerland is being used as a cesspool for Nuclear Waste

Oi! use your own bins, not the place we’re living in, pick up your rubbish and clean up your own mess…

The 80s were telling us something with all those protect and survive adverts, yes some of us were prepared as the older generation made us alert, others couldn’t recognize that a lot of innocent people were getting hurt.

When we say we want a 1980s comeback we want the music, clothes, games and  films,

but Nope

while we have some of that the 1980s revival we get is the one that involves Nuclear Danger and the ghost of Margaret Thatcher

All these TV and Film revivals, some are cool others are just unnecessary  Do we really need a Snow White sequel? No, we don’t but we did get one even if it was unofficial

Back in 2007 a French animation company made a sequel to Snow White which was also a bit like Shrek in how it satirised the fairy tale tropes, how Prince Charming feels like he is objectified while he ends up doing the same thing to the female characters, quite a tosser but that’s the point of the parody to point out the flaws with fairy tale logic, and to put the likes of Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella in more realistic scenarios.

…it’s strange, weird but brilliant too

The English dub had quite a few familiar faces doing the character voices

Stephen Fry as the narrator, Morwenna Banks, Simon Greenall and another British actor

Rik someone...

Ah! I remember his name now, he was in many successful sitcoms in the 80s and 90s,he was a legend, he knew how to keep people laughing, whether they were children, adults, teenagers,

in television, theatre, film or music

quite an eclectic range of talent

Although

I’m a new fan, I might adore his work, but I had just learnt his name 2 years ago, whereas, with other fans, they have created their own work, such as Charlie Brooker and Simon Pegg… some were able to meet him…lucky...

Some encounters were quite interesting, I had heard someone’s nan got to meet him in the 90s but she got his name wrong so she ended up saying

“‘oh hello can I have your autograph please Mr mayo?’

Well that happened, she probably still got that autograph,...

And somewhere up there, Rik Mayall is thinking of us, he, Stephen Hillenburg and David Bowie are probably chatting away

Let’s make the lord of misrule proud