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decodamalion · 4 years ago

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Crossover Part 2

This idea was given to me by @bamboozled-boi. I hope you like this! Its only the start of something Spicy!

Characters from: Malion Series on Wattpad and Extraordinary

Characters: Cal, Taylor, Varitran, Kaylum and Anthony

This is in no way a part of the canon to either story. I wouldn't know where the logic would begin to connect these 2 universes seamlessly.

This is a very slow paced story because it's out of the point of view of someone who can live until he's 700 years old so just a warning!

Crossover: Infectious Magic Part 2

Cal's face fell into a frown. He looked at Taylor who shook her head.

"Don't you dare." She whispered to him.

"What else am I supposed to do? These people arent going to do anything to Earth. They don't have the means to get back like we do. We could just-"

"I'll have to stop you there, Cal." I growled, "You seem to be painfully unaware that I can hear better than those with your short, round ears. If it is a fight you wish to persue, I will fight to the death to defend those I care for." I glared at him, one of my shaking purple hands hovering over my medallion and swirling with deep violet and crimson magic. These Earthians would become corpses if they tried their hand in combat with me. I would make sure of that. To my surprise, his gaze softened. I furrowed my brows, confused.

"Oh... oh god, what was I thinking...?" Cal mumbled. Taylor turned to him and glared at him.

"Damn right 'What was I thinking'. They're sentient. They have relationships and family and feelings! They're like us but weirder!" Taylor started to glow, a certain unbridled fury in her gaze as she stared at Cal.

"He didn't mean that. He can get impatient quickly." She growled. I returned to my civil posture, keeping my hand wavering over my medallion.

"If you lie, I will not hesitate." I hissed.

"You're not like Lindsay, right? You can't read minds..." Cal mocked. I narrowed my eyes.

"I may not be able to read your thoughts, but you would certainly fear me if you read mine and knew how many lives I've taken." I growled.

"Oh..." Taylor started, surprised, "Oh." The determination in fer voice made Cal's eyes meet hers. They exchanged a nod.

"You yell at us that killing innocent people is not worth our cause, yet here you are openly admitting to have slaughtered tens of people." Taylor said, her eyes and fists beginning to glow a bright crimson.

"You would be surprised if you heard how many thoudands of horrid people no longer exist on Gaia, Taylor." I muttered. My skin took on a similar hue as Taylor's fists as a shield was cast around my body when I muttered the Osrocan word. She glared at me and threw a punch to the center of my chest. I was thrown back into the guards behind me, who caught me and allowed a swift recovery.

"The more you keep this up, the more I distrust you!" I growled as she threw punch after punch at my shield.

"Cal!" She yelled as bright silver clouds formed swirls in the sky as Cal's eyes went completely orange. As a bright orange bolt of lightning shot down and avoided Taylor completely, it broke through my barrier and obliterated one side of my torso. I let out a shriek and frantically whispered my healing word as I pushed my hand into the shredded mess that had become my lower abdomen. Taylor's fist pounded against my face. When she paused, I gasped and whispered a return. My mangled self appeared in the Braakshen ruins. The plaza was how The Huntress and I had left it not long ago. I spent far too long healing my wounds and being drained of power and energy. I wholly underestimated them...

When my energy had returned and I realised that the plague had made its way to my elbows, I returned to the castle, the cuts and wounds given to me by the Eartheans still raw, I lugged myself into the throne room and bowed before the Queen.

"Queen Malion..."

"Vari... What happened to you?" She asked, rushing off of the elevated throne and cradeling my face in one of her gloved hands.

"I failed you, my Queen. There are 2 beings from Earth that have come searching for Endoran Amethysts. They made an attempt on my life in order to retrieve what I would become. As a result..." I explained, revealing the increased and increasing height of the plague.

She pressed her forehead against mine and stood, extending a hand out to help me to my feet. I allowed a chuckle when she looked up at me, obviously forgetting how much taller than her I was. She was a bit shorter than shoulder height by a few centimeters. She gently took the few braids I had made on my way to Ramir. She ran her fingers from top to bottom only starting when my hair had faded from black to white. I didn't want to cut the black away... it was too much of a reminder to let go of.

"Nervous?"

"Too much so..." I admitted, "I thought they might relieve our efforts to find the cure. Head Scout Laidon figured they might have. It does not surprise me that his young soul did not think ahead." I muttered. The Queen gave me a scolding glare.

"Don't critizise him for something he can't help. You're nearly 300 anyway. Don't make such a fuss."

"I'm 252 years old, My Lady. I'm not 'nearly 300'. Far from it." I chuckled. She gave a smile then retreated back to the throne.

"Have you come up with a plan to deal with these people?" She asked. I nodded.

"It's taken me a few hours to recuperate after that attack. Long enough to come up with something decent." I muttered, "I should get going. I will be bringing Laidon with me. His staff holds immense power. He may be able to help me. Bringing one of the Gods is probably a bad idea. I wouldn't want to pull them away from their research." I explained. The Queen nodded.

"He's in the Barracks. He said he would be training. You'll be most likely to find Leutenant Martin with him too. His speed could come in handy." She suggested and I responded with a nod before using my return word to appear next to Kaylum as he struck a leather-bound training stand.

"Wah! Ugh - I mean- Good evening, Commander Hue." Kaylum said with a haphazard Orsocan greeting. I noticed Anthony's chuckle as he gave me a nod. I returned it and turned to face Kaylum, who had collected his staff and donned his helm after sweeping dark curls from his sweat misted face.

"Commander, What's the plan? I got your message." He said after giving Anthony a... specific glance I couldn't place the emotion of.

"Sir Martin, you and I will head to Ramir. They're probably heading for Karmaro right now. We'll take the portal there. Kaylum. How strong are you? Can you wraith with both of us?" I asked. He grinned and looped an arm around my legs, just below my ass and did the same with Anthony, carrying us in each arm. He managed to keep both of us up, despite my squirming and... admittedly terrified, high-pitched protesting. Both Anthony and Kaylum suppressed fits of laughter as I cleared my throat, having just been placed back onto the ground.

"Good.... please give me a warning next time you do that, Head Scout Laidon." I muttered, feeling my embarrassed redness fade to it's normal charamel colour as I turned away to collect myself.

"Please, when I do that, could you wrap your arms around Anthony's back and my waist when I sling you both over my shoulders? It just helps with the weight." I nodded and returned to the Castle. I had to prepare. I needed the shards with me.

I entered my quarters and locked the door behind me. I knew it was dangerous to have these on my person, but I needed some way to get ahead. I headed to the bookshelf and took out a book with a bland leather cover. The Secerets of Sorcery was its title. It was ironic... but it worked. I opened the book and found six shards. Two small red ones that looked nearly identical, two golden shards of similar size, both jagged and raw, one royal blue triangular shard that was speckled with sky blue and a perfectly cut black gem of similar size to the blue one. All of which were small. All of which had spots in my medallion. I opened the locket and placed them each in the openings one by one. When I closed the locket, I felt the heat from the new power through the gold and when I put it on, everything went black.

Part 3 coming soon

Something to make you feel better, @bamboozled-boi?

#malion #oc #extraordinary #fiction #my writing #writing #write #writer #crossover #Cal #writers #tw wounds #lightning #lightning tw

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misterbitches · 4 years ago

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Hello! @flootweed replying to the post from before. the long format was killing me. why does tumblr look like this...

I haven’t watched episode 8 yet...or have I? If it’s the most recent one. No.

Is the hornbill a bird? It probably is but I have a terrible memory and I’m dumb so. I skipped the last few weeks because I’m scawwed. How are you liking it? I did see someone say that the hornbill makes sense (without knowing what it is...at all) bc heart transplant patients only live like 5-15 years after but someone in those comments pointed out that he was so young when he got his and that’s pretty rare so he has a higher likelihood of survival. Frankly, this is the only way I will proceed. Since when did shows ever care about the heart transplant health? Never and it needs to stay that way!

What did we think of ep 6? LMAO. I need opinions! And omg it makes me feel special when I can point things out to people because I so...rarely get to LOL. Editing is like one of my favorite things ever so I can be super particular about it but I try to do the thing you do when you’re supposed to see if it works within its context. I’d like to go in with scissors and glue but alas.

THe mic covering....the rustling....it’s like guys...please. Ironically the audio today wasn’t great. I don’t know why. IDK if you watch c-dramas but I am not even sure what’s worse between them because they dub their dramas. But actually no it’s best to have the dubbing because even tho it is painful they have to put a lot of effort into it. LOL.

Right? @ Aey! It’s just weird if they would show us more about what he’s done instead of saying he’s done sth bad and not even explaining that....like you could even do some shitty exposition. I think if he is to be a true villain then we really need to be privvy. All the warnings make it seem like he’s a fuckin’ serial killer so when we get the scene of him at home it’s like....actually this is really serious? Maybe his pain is like...for a reason. Althought you won’t even TELL US WHAT HE’S DONE WRONG BESIDES BE JUST FUCKING WEIRD AND ANNOYING! So from what we have it’s just a realllllllll fucked up sad person lol. god i forgot about the dinner! and i totally agree. he really needs them to succeed. i like your theory because it would make the scene where he like blocks the twitter user make more sense. he also says they dont really know each other etc so it’s realllllyyyyy probable that he just sees it as a way out. if not then we shall pretend u wrote it :)

god yea i wouldnt say it is art but i also guess we technically have to since it is technically. in the way that technically performance artists are artists but mostly i uh technically ignore them. Also one of my fav BLs is called the best twins. If you do not know what it is I will not elaborate further.t

i want to know more abt poli sci majors lmao but they sound DRAMATIC/ hopefully most ppl in ur cohort arent losers!

hahahha i understand. there was just a thing on twitter about DSA and then the day before about reading discourse. the same thiings. over. and over. and over. and over. we are our own worst enemies but also our own best friends? but i hate tankies and that wont change. but hasan’s a decent guy. he said sth abt black ppl during biden’s primaries in GA or whatever and i was like chill. but he’s insecure and has adhd which means ur more open to being wrong and changing otherwise u will suffocate and die.

and totally about hiding fuck ups. i’ve tried really hard bc of organizing IRL to like...be honest, question, etc but also like...approach it naturally? because if you’re trying to be perfect and so worried you’ll fuck up you don’t realize that puts more stress on you, makes you seem like a robot, and could potentially not make you realize the mistkaes you made. also if we’re privileged in certain spaces there is just no possible way we won’t get something wrong. im light and i know that honestly any way to speak up on colorism is going to be difficult and that’s a space where i have power so i just have to figure it out. we should be uncomfortable because we have to sit with unpleasant feelings and sort through our own whatever. that just makes the next time even better and people can trust u more. i think some people sweat it sooo much or maybe they think their personal life and what theyve been through is more the norm? on the other hand people can be sf reactionary in the worst way and idk what their issue is. there was also a user who said sth very inch arresting about tankies which i thoroughly enjoyed (how like violent lefitsts or tankies / ppl who are like ooh a gun whatever just want to be violent in another space so they have shit tendencies from jump and nothing of substance which i think i agree with tbh fo ra lottttt of ppl. like their anger is actually like “no im about to beat that ass” instead of what we actually want to get done)

sort of in the same vein re: taking it easy...we coudl all be more understanding too. to slow it down like you mentioned about not being privvy to fucking eveyrthing and saying anything on our mind. i saw this person talk about y2k which was a huge deal while happening bc it was the turn of the millenium (bruh were u even alive?) but this twitter user grew up in a super super SUPER religious household and was like why do ppl make jokes about Y2K it was insanely traumatizing? though my first instinct was confused ive tried hard to like look more before i judge especially thanks to a friend of mine. turns out that with the further reading the more we found out he was just really traumatized; it was very common in religious households to be afraid of 2000. so we could have come at him with no understanding and he could have thought that everyone had the same experience with that year that he did. his feelings sit precedent though but i think it was just very hard for him to fathom.

i didnt reply bc he didnt need that and what could i have said? he’ll see what the truth is with exposure and unfortunately this was something he really did go through.

and that’s what makes most people think others could be over the top. because it sounded ridiculous but then it was this huge traumatic thing that we could have never known about. so maybe when someone sounds like actually crazy they have an explanation? of course some ppl are just batshit or annoying but that’s anywhere not just leftists it’ just means more i guess when a ~~librul is annoyed~ but it can be easy to want to make fun of ppl too. lmao. basically what i am saying is the internet? especially twitter? for leftists? in this economy? bitch it’s the wild west out here.

i am 29! idk if i said it or not. i am OLD u probably werent even born in the year i was talking about wah. i know not old-old or old at all but compared to you i’m due for a colonoscopy.

omg i hope u can get vaxxed soon! are you wfh rn? i hope ur also not in a bad state as in state state not state as in ur being :| bleh what a fucking time. it sucks that you have to fucking do work. well unless u like school. which i hope u do. i just assume everyone hates it cos i did lmao

was it the lindsay ellis drama? that bitch is dumb. if there was other drama oh wait the drama i was referring to it all happened on the same day. idk book twitter that well but i saw something from someone who was abt that shit and wowie! the american people are not that.....intelligent to put it lightly.

i’ll get better. ppl tell me they miss me and im like aw. i have insanellllyyy bad insomnia and a lot of stuff happened this year HOWEVER I SLEPT FOR TWO DAYS FOR 8 HOURS AT A REASONABLE TIME. im a new woman. anyways you too! i hope ur not too burnt out with school. we just dont know when the burnout is or we just dont know we are burnt out until we are. the panaramiciccici hit and all the things i was ignoring kind of just fell on me and sooo much happened at once. and frankly it’s hard to take care of ourselves. lord.

Like if you aren’t interested in expanding on the issue in a way that hasn’t been done before all you gotta do it like… spread resources and donate if you can. I dont see the point in having to say something about every issue especially if you (not at you specifically just in general) aren’t immediately impacted by the issue. Like is the 14 yr old white marxist named sarah on twitter really gonna have meaningful insight on anti-asian violence ?

this is part of why i cannot telecommunicate. i dont want to do shit on the internet. i am able bodied so i know that this time has been of such ease for other people. but mentally i just can’t. i don’t have a comment on hand like that and i hvae no desire to engage with ppl that way. i am a super super super solitary person but thats bc it’s MY time so when it’s like all this effort with other people i dont ever want to be alone. it’s the same with the way i approach filmmaking. it isnt a sole thing so i hate it not together. that’s part of how u can get so sucked in and repeat doom scrolling. i was in this webinar last may after [redacted] and this black woman prof said “read with a community and talk” because otherwise she said we are torturing ourselves. you can’t carry that weight all on your own. unfortunately i hate zoom, discord, slack, signal, whatsapp, facetime. you name it this panera has made it evi.. L

you make a really excellent point. i think the young young gen zers are really really just interesting because it’s like this whole new world for them with leftist politics and they just can’t grasp the horrors of the world and the kind of freedom being a leftist can bring. and so many people don’t grow out of it. those people so happen to be the “least productive” in terms of how much time they spend IRL withe these issues. naturally, younger kids are gonna have a harder time. they are not as mobile as well so the internet becomes this place. but then it’s this echo chamber. and many times just things posted without sources. and social media NEEDS that to exist.

i think of the irony of leftist kids on tik tok and while i am happy it’s reaching them it’s just....different. very different. the growth of social media is so good but also so fucking sad, it’s too much! i think the point about not writing everything is major. even i have to do this which is part of the disappearing.y ou need to detach and make sure your head is on straight again. but when you think eveyrone has to be privvy to every thought and you can’t just sit back....which twitter and social media doesn’t encourage. you have to join in. that’s often why when i have something to say it is dense because i don’t feel like repeating it. ever. lmao ust ever. i cant pay attn. social media is a fucking minefield for my brain u can get so lost in it and absorb it but once u start talking you may not be able to stop.

i think a big part of that is it not being a leisurely thing but sort of just in our lives always. this sounds like a grandpa rant but ykwim. We dont have to see the same thing over and over again. And eventually it gets sincerely diluted or its diluted bc of capitalism or whatever. Or if theyre very young or maybe they don’t have like the greatest way of sharing the knowledge? then it can be butchered. I hope this is making sense...i’m talking beyoond the boring surface-level milquetoast shit. i see really ahistorical stuff on there from leftists (like this thing about NK + africa and it being a beneficial rship as opposed to a um not beneficial one. and it isn’t. beneficial but this young black girl was talking abt it and noname rtd and i was like it’s just too complex. there’s no good/bad here just bc it’s not america. dont get me started on this.)

but Lol that was kinda off topic but I think what I meant in my last reply about not turning off the voice in my head is about when I consume media, not necessarily when I’m online talking about. Even if I have criticism for something, I’m usually pretty chill when consuming fandom content bc I think being serious online all the time is kinda boring. Like sometimes I’m analyzing theme and shit but really most of the time im memeing.

exactly.........gotta laugh. thats why sometimes im like i cant think lmao. unfrotunately i have been ARGUING with ppl on the internet for rly no reason when i could have replied to ur very nice fun wholesome message. i love torture. i miss memes.

“ i think the people who get the least enjoyment out of that are those so obsessed with getting upset with anyone thinking outside of their lines as if it equates to them “ EXACTLYYYYY

kekekekeke im glad u got it. it’s like with conservatives throwing around snowflake. now im beginning to question who the real complainers are.

LMAO exactlyyyy. i posted a screenshot of this writer from twitter saying that exact thing. Like first of all, I’m...an adult? and if you are as well uh? i’m sorry for you but are we 12? But how is it affecting u this viscerally? And if it does why dont u...do...research? pihgofuaipoajghou but honestly everything u said. we’re trained to go into it with nothing. i was only around ur age when i started to get more serious about this stuff but you’re like lightyears ahead of where i was at 21. did i say this but i’m in iww and literally i can tell u in 2016 i did not think 2019 me would be in a union bc i told my friend in a train station that we don’t need unions. i was 23...but the thing is i didnt know what i was talking about. at all. and i knew i didnt know and she knew i didnt know and now i am the clown.

also yes at critical engagement. i had to learn so much through experience and this is tuff that i coudlnt be shielded from. there’s an empathy you kinda have to develop and this understanding that you move through the world as this person who is “nowhere and everywhere; nothing and everything” so i’ve always had to think about things differently just to survive. that’s also what can drag a lot of people towards it like theres so many black kpop fans bc i think a lot of the pain in SK can be mirrored (sort of) through our history. and theres currently a history now but it had to be forged. uh what was my point oh yea however i wouldnt have been able to move further if i didnt have my background to go off of bc i knew something was off when i started getting into all these things (ill give u a hint) but if i had no prior knowledge and didnt have to think about it then the critical approach is either stale or stupid.

i had to research but i dont understand how ppl are so bold with little to no research and understanding? thhey just inherently know with also like ZERO experience in what they need experience in. engaging critically means “how i see the world” with dashes of trying to be open adn understanding or whatever. actually that’s another thing like being afraid of criticizing things bc theyre foreign to you so u give it a pass (like we discussed) but it doesnt hAVE TO BEEEE JUST REAAAAAD and then take all the info ur teensy brain and apply it. be a normal human being and dont be fucking rude and racist. thats it! u can complain abt literally anything without being a dick.

as we start with LW and end with LW.....what do we think (i asked this already) omg please share wbl thoughts i THINK i know what ur talking about. well it could be two things; their rship when they came back and the physicality and then pei shou yi. i almost dont even want to use my brain to fucking look at that. i think wbl can get away with more bc of visual~*~*~* reasons (like literally, the look of the show. there’s more space to get lost in the frames. many thai dramas are a lot more literal? this isn’t the right word but it’s very heavily character focused particularly bc of $ i think) though good production also underscores flaws so i am also wrong. but like do u know what i mean? u have to kinda focus on it? or maybe it’s just cos like.....ur so used to it in thai bl idek. i’ve seen tw bl ofc.

look i swear i will justify this forever bc there are some things we miss right but if u feel like someone’s a bad actor....theyre bad. it’s about tone movement etc etc etc and since most thai bl productions have 0 interest in that....well. they take these newbies and put them in these situations. we dont understand thai but if we see them and we’re like “wow this is really bad” then they’re bad lmao. IDC i will never be like cos idk what theyre saying NO WHY HE LOOK LIKE A ROBOT???????? DOES HE EMOTE? why is he CRYING WITH NO TEARS? and it’s not even a total requisite to cry with tears(i mean for me it is) but it’s just like what is happening on ur face right now young man????????

painful.

the inflection stuff is very valid ooh good point tho but that’s only a part of the piece. plus we get used to the way they communicate. like the ppl from sotus were prtty bad. i dont like that show but thats an ex of ppl liing the actors and the person i thought was better other ppl dont think that? well apparently hes a shitty guy but. um. so when theres decent acting its so glaring.

although i must say even tho i dont care for 2gether anymore and would never like to be reminded about its existence (only bc i just cringe lol) i honestly....didnt think bright was a bad actor? but people keep saying he is and i am much more inclined to believe them than myself. though i am not often dickmatized that could have been it. until he opened his mouth and ruined it and then i stopped paying attn.

although honestly i’m so much more critical than i could be positive. i have ben stumped for the last day about how i wasnt mad at his acting in the show. is it me? is it him? who’s......the wrong one.....(me)

oh shit they have been denied? i haven’t been paying attn to whats been going on recently. i just got into it on MDL because of snowdrop. sometimes i literally cannot engage bc ill just be like alright well im black so this power button in my head is going off when ppl talk abt that shit. back in the day when kpop jawns were saying some real outta pocket anti black shit (now everyone is slick with it) it’d always be THEY DONT HAVE GOOGLE THEYVE NEVER SEEN A BLACK PERSON but really it’s like no...maybe they are just racist? that’s ok too.

also the past 2 weeks have been um atrocious bc how fucking easily people fell into the pit of white supremacy and started to turn their ire towards black people and making a competition between our groups just like they wanted. it’s not about the women who are dead anymore, who were sex workers, their womanhood, being asian, being poor anymore. it’s about how much black people get attention and why people only pay attn to us. i am not feeling very generous this week for ppl to excuse that hsit.

on a lighter note, ppl say that abt the whole husband and wife thing. i dont know how to explain how angry that shit makes me but maybe it’s because i do not want to think of my body in relation to a fucking penis at all hours of the day. if bls could kindly not do that it would be nice lmao

yes there are a lot of those. who are only there to gawk lmao. and just idk worship bc of the cult of personality thing bc of how weird and open they have to be as actors. some of the others are people who /think/ theyre really smart (i think im asmart but i also think i am very dumb and i have adhd to prove that MEDICALLY!!!) but are actually not? or their observations arent great? or idk if they are they arent interesting? but i think well..........we have more refined palettes :P

jk also theres just different personalities. you and i mesh more bc we have a lot of the same beliefs and are coming from the same place. that makes it easier to understand as well. i really try to remember that but some people are really weird so. again just...the perception of certain things even down to acting skills. but i also dont like.......believe this genre can really do anything at all. on one hand i want them to do it right bc it’s a piece of work so they should. be proud of it. cos most things arent advancing us bc representation and culturalism are a lie bla bla. it’s just that when the depictions are negative or not done well it adds to the problem as opposed to the things that are well done are fairly benign and can’t really pull us back (perf example is the black panther film. i woudl definitely not say it was transgressive as a literal work but visually it’s just stunning. and it’s sad that it’s stunning and surprising but still with basically an all black cast of mostly dark people abd like what it means in the zeitgeist yes. it’s also just a good movie. but it’s still imperialist prop and unfortunately and this is fucking pathetic to say it “opened eyes” in other countries where they hate black ppl and ignore their own racialized minorities HENNYWAYSSSS a better ex is moonlight except moonlight isnt mainstream and is indie tho...still thru a funnel of capital bc a24 but who cares bleed the fuckers dry is my motto. my point is moonlight is both a great work and doesnt bring any failures to the table and its existence helps in ways outside of art but they arent the defining things giving us material advancement sooooo i mean it’s complex (this is my conclusion to everything um guys it’s complex)

er i had one more point in conjunction to above. oh yea so i like dont need all these extra things to make it progressive. like people really want more women in the show and i am honestly like i really dont. i dont want them to actively do this. if they cant do it naturally then let someone else do it. i am not asking for more bc i dont want it from them. when something comes along i embrace it but i do not see why women should be represented when the genre RELIES on patriarchy. there is no complete satisfying existence for the women in these series. i dont want it. i dont ask people to show us~*~* or respect~* like fuck no the people who make it make it and hopefully more will make it in the future but i will not beg bc THEY DONT WANT TO DO IT SO WOULD FORCING IT MAKE IT BETTER? just fucking leave them out entirely. that’s the answer if theyre gonna make nasty female characters then those bitches can geaux. we have other plcaes to be. booked. and. BUSY!

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dustedmagazine · 5 years ago

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Thiago Nassif — Mente (Gearbox Records)

Mente by Thiago Nassif

Mente is flush with electric guitar riffs with heavy effects, combining synthetic and organic elements, be it oversaturated wah-wah effect or singed, lo-gain distortions. The sculpted guitar parts often build the shape of each song. At first, the elemental funky songs sound stark and skinny, but many separate parts congregate around the guitar adding subtle layers of melodic sensibility and texture.

Inspired by Brazilian visual art, notably Hélio Oiticica’s Parangoles, Nassif creates song forms defined by texture and primordial movement on Mente. He explains his approach to writing Mente as trying to create a “painting you can wear,” an attempt to generate sounds that “grab, push or displace you.” The guttural funk creates a gravitating tension; guitar riffs and textures, inhibiting sub bass, and colorful and palpable synths develop a sound with an oddly captivating push and pull, devoid of the clear metered markings a drum kit often settles on. A wide cast of percussion is deployed, as are drum machines, but outside of a few emphatic moments, a typical drum kit is mostly absent.

Tallying more than 20 collaborators on Mente, with many names from Rio’s underground, maybe the most notable is co-producer and no wave legend, Arto Lindsay. Lindsay has a long history of producing Brazilian musicians, from Tom Zé, Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso among others, but in this case, he returns a favor to Nassif as he helped produce Lindsay’s last solo album, Cuidado Madame. The relationship the two have is built from a fascination with Brazilian songwriting stemming from Tropicália, and a pop-friendly embrace of avant sounds and noise. Nassif creates a heavy guitar sound through his line of effects and loopers, with some overdubs too, Lindsay likely pulled at parts here and there in production. His influence is in conversation with Nassif’s artistic intent.

But the long list of collaborators contributes to Mente’s subtle body of character. “Voz Única Foto Sem Calcinha” which features fellow Brazilian songwriter Ana Frango Elétrico on vocals, is punctuated by cuica, a Brazilian friction drum, fizzing guitar sounds. A lazy sort of samba to start, Elétrico’s vocals enter and all other instrumentation automatically trails and accents her melodic contours. Ricardo Dias Gomes contributes on synths, clavichord, and the piano. His piano parts for “Pele De Leopardo” and “Rijo Jórra Já” add a light and lush bossa feel to the song, while his part on “Cor” is a simple but thunderous, an effective counterweight to the overly distorted guitar riff.

Mente, a Portugeuse homonym meaning either “mind” or “you lied,” is a comment on Brazil’s post-truth political landscape. To that effect, lyrically Nassif’s leaned into deceptive wordplay and musically he’s created a hand-crafted, complicated mass that exposes different elements with additional listens.

Ian Forsythe

#thiago nassif #mente #gearbox #ian forsythe #albumreview #dusted magazine #arto lindsay #Ana Frango Elétrico #Ricardo Dias Gomes #brazil #tropicalia #rio de janeiro #guitar

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dormouse-iii · 5 years ago

Text

Organs of the Circus

Calliope is a very old name that would later belong to an instrument that wouldn’t exist for centuries after its creation. It was a beautifully crafted tool often used in entertainment mainly the Traveling Circus although originally meant to replace church bells.

It’s very light and up beat sounding and is usually played on those speakers at either Disneyland, or the fair, or other huge theme parks. It was invented in the U.S in 1850 by A.S. Denny and later patented in 1855 by Joshua C. Stoddard. An article on Mechanical Music Digest quotes the Player Piano Treasury has a description of the instrument by Harvey Roehl.

“…The first instrument consisted of 15 whistles, of graduated sizes, attached in a row to the top of a small steam boiler. A long cylinder with pins of different shapes driven into it ran the length of the boiler. The pins were so arranged that when the cylinder revolved, they pressed the valves and blew the whistles in proper sequence. The different shapes enabled the operator to play notes of varying length. Later, Stoddard replaced the cylinder with a keyboard. Wires running from the keys to the valves enabled the operator to play the instrument like a piano.”

It was a large cylinder “clockwork music box” with large and usually bronze whistles coming from the top and upper panel into the lower panel where the boiler is. The first design used pins to push steam through the pipes to play different notes and keys; they were later replaced with a piano keyboard and wires instead with the frame becoming a more modern looking upright piano instead of a cylinder for playability. Some people called it the Steam Organ as some were often mounted to steam boats and looked like smaller organs that operated on steam.

Some might confuse Calliopes with Fairground Organs (Sometimes called Band Organs) which are entirely separate. The main difference being that Fairground Organs never used steam and were always more mechanical and automatic. Those used in dance halls and ballrooms were dubbed “Dance Organs” which were quitter que to being played inside.

The Fairground Organ used either a crank similar to a music box or strips of data called music rolls in a music book. They were designed to be played without an actual performer and are keyboard less. For the most part electronic nowadays or completely replaced with standard speaker sound systems were a grand addition to the Fairgrounds themselves with their own Fair Organ Preservation Society.

They were essentially large elegantly designed jukeboxes that sometimes came with animatronic puppet bands and other instruments like wooden whistles and xylophones for further entertainment making them rather large, the world’s largest being the Wurlitzer Model 164 Band Organ according to organ historian Stephen Bicknell.

One of the most popular and decorative being The Moriter aka The Emperor which was almost as big as a pipe organ.

“The Mortier is a fascinating beast: where the fairground organ is tarty like a can-can girl the Mortier takes you straight into the world of Maigret and Edith Piaf.”

There are a few odd exceptions of the Fairground Organ’s punch card reading ability mixed with the keys and design of the Calliope. Although they are rare, some Calliopes used rolls too such as the CA-43 Tangley Calliaphone Calliope one of the last calliopes to be manufactured in the modern age that is even equipped with SD midi compatibility.

Named after the ancient Greek goddess of music and poetry, it was often held on a pedestal just as high as a tribute to her. The Chief of Muses, Calliope, (also spelled Kalliope) goddesses of music, song, and dance whose name means “beautiful voice”.

She is the daughter of Zeus and the Titan goddess Mnemosyne being the oldest of the younger muses as well as the wisest and most assertive sister making her the leader. She is often referred to as The Muse of Epic Poetry, normally depicted with a tablet or scroll in hand.

Calliope was also the goddess of eloquence and would appear before mortal kings as they were infants to glaze their lips in honey. This was so that whenever they spoke, their voice and words would be almost as beautiful as hers.

Greek myths tell stories of her marriage Thracian king Oeagrus and their wedding in Pimpleia given them their children; Orpheus and Linus. Orpheus was and heroic bard in most Greek mythology, and his brother Linus the creator of rhythm and melody.

Of course no beauty comes without flaws. You see, the ancient Greeks would spell Calliope’s name two ways; C-A-L-L-I-O-P-E and K-A-L-I-O-P-E (sometimes spelled with two l’s) this created a split in musical communities about how it should be spelled and pronounced.

· Kal-e-ohp

· Kal-e-ohp-ee

· K-all-e-ohp

· K-all-e-ohp-ee

Or even the Calliaphone as suggested by Norman Baker, one of the world’s last Calliope builders.

“Reedy's Mirror” a magazine or paper company that’s name was later changed to “The Mirror” in its revival in the 1920s tried to settle the pronunciation debate with a section from poem that spelled it in a very rare fashion and pronounced them both ways.

It was called “The Kallyope Yell” (Spelled K-A-L-L-Y-O-P-E) and is a poem written by Vachel Lindsay in November of 1913. Vachel was a very famous poet for his time with his first book ‘Where Is Aladdin’s Lamp’ in 1904. Despite his parents hostility towards his work he still made many a classic poem.

I am the Gutter Dream,

Tune-maker, born of steam,

Tooting joy, tooting hope.

I am the Kallyope,

Car called the Kallyope.

Willy willy willy wah hoo!

Although it was an almost magically constructed machine it was often difficult to maintain. The older generation of Calliopes, widely known as steam organs, were very difficult to maintain due to the issues with moisture and travel. A Calliope player would have to clean and polish each part before and after a performance, god forbid it rains.

Eventually a newer generation of Calliopes were made to accommodate the nomad lifestyle of the instrument. First, the new age were called Air Calliopes as the name suggests these Calliopes used compressed air as opposed to steam. These were more portable as well as easier to maintain and durable however, no new technology is flawless.

While yes, the Air Calliope was far easier to set up, move, and fix; they were far quieter. Older generation Calliopes and Fairground Organs could be heard miles away all around the midway, from the boardwalk to the forest. These newer ones were not only quieter but also mostly run on either helium or gas both of which were more costly than the old boiler was; both were very costly at the time and even more so now. The few Fairground Organs and Calliopes that survived years of war, transport, tear, and wear are both expensive and delicate.

What used to be a staple of entertainment and fun is as ghostly as the wail the organ pipes themselves, fading into the memories and sounds of the great Carnival its self.

+o+

#Circus Circus!#Calliope #Kalliope #music #carnival music #circus music #vintage #facts #clown history #instruments #mythology #research

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