#marcia barrett

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Boney M. (1976)

[jellyfishrave]

Boney M performing Daddy Cool on ZDF Pariser Charme und viel Musik, 1976.

[balsanja]

Liz Mitchell & Marcia Barrett of Boney M. with producer Frank Farian

[mitjalovse]

What are the mixtures of electronica we need to discuss right now? We struggle to maintain any semblance of continuity in these discussions here thanks to many factors present in our talks. No, I'm not shocked here, because electronic music remains a nebulous term for me at this point. Then again, I consider disco to be a part of electronica as well. Think about that – many European practicionaries of the genres were studio bound, which meant they used the latest technology for their music. Boney M, for example, show the way of this approach. Mr. Farian hired some singers, while he made the tunes in his production office. Of course, he did tap onto something as we can hear, since the European emulations of the famous American genres seem to stumble upon something intriguing.

[spilladabalia]

Concrete Jungle - Bob Marley & The Wailers play live 1979

[myvinylplaylist]

Bob Marley & The Wailers: Legend (1984)

2020 Walmart Exclusive Tri-Color Red, Yellow & Green Vinyl

Tuff Gong Records

Island Records

[electronickingdomfox]

"The New Voyages" review

This one is actually a collection of short stories by fan authors, which makes the stories seem more like episodes of the series. It has also the distinct honor of being introduced by Roddenberry and most members of the cast. The stories are generally well-written and in character.

Some spoilers ahead:

Ni Var (by Claire Gabriel; intro by Nimoy) takes the plot of "The Enemy Within", but applied to Spock and the division between his Vulcan rational part, and his human emotional part. Besides the fact that I'm not sure such division works at that biological level, the two Spocks aren't all that different really. And it's not a very novel concept, specially right after a similar plot in previous book "Spock must die". But bonus points for Kirk giving the middle finger to his own reflection.

Intersection Point (by Juanita Coulson; intro by Doohan) is one of the best stories. The Enterprise is seriously crippled while navigating through an anomaly cloud, which is quickly contracting and threatens to crush the entire ship. Anyone who enters the cloud to retrieve a crucial component of the ship, is mentally destroyed by its eldritch qualities. Great tension and difficult choices.

The Enchanted Pool (by Marcia Ericson; intro by Nichols) is an attempt to write a fairy tale with Spock thrown in the middle for good measure. A bit of purple prose, and doesn't quite work. The resolution of the mistery is ingenous, even when convoluted.

Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited (by Ruth Berman; intro by Barrett) is actually the other half of a fanfic (Visit to a Weird Planet, not published here) where Kirk, Spock and Bones end up in the real world, right in the studio where they're filming Star Trek. Here instead, we follow the actors, who appear in the Enterprise and have to improvise to avert a danger. The other story was more fun, since Kirk and co. are more clumsy and hilarious in our world (being even "attacked" by fans), while the actors are just slightly less competent than their counterparts.

The Face on the Barroom Floor (by Eleanor Arnason and Ruth Berman; intro by Takei) is a really fun story. Kirk gets into a fight in a bar while in shore leave, is detained, teams up with a ratty thief, and crashes a party, while his crew search for him frantically. In the line of TOS best comedy-adventure episodes.

The Hunting (by Doris Beetem; intro by the editors) is a bit "meh". Spock goes into a Vulcan ritual which requires to mind-meld with a wild beast, and McCoy accompanies him. When Spock goes wild in the process, the good doctor has to hunt him and give him back his sanity. There could have been a more homoerotic fight between them, as in "Amok Time".

The Winged Dreamers (by Jennifer Guttridge; intro by Kelley) is another high point. The Enterprise crew falls under the influence of some creatures that make their fantasies seem real. So real that people can actually die if imagining the wrong thing. Spock is less affected, but slowly begins to hallucinate too, and the triumvirate fall into paranoia as neither they (nor the reader) can tell what's real and what's not anymore.

Mind-Sifter (by Shirley Maiewski; intro by Shatner) drags a bit at the beginning, when Kirk wakes up in a sanatory, his mind almost destroyed. It gets more interesting once Spock and McCoy start a quest to search for him. Great interactions between these two, reminiscent of "The Tholian Web".

After the eight stories there's still a little poem about Spock and Leila.

Spirk Meter: 10/10*. Not all stories are equally slashy, but the parts which do, are slashy in spades.

Ni Var has Kirk worrying about Spock all the time, and "human Spock" wondering if what he feels for the Captain is friendship... or love (something which happens too in one of Roddenberry's story concepts for a movie, around this time).

Intersection Point has a clear parallel between the anguish of a female crewmember, after a man (obviously her boyfriend) loses his mind in the anomaly, and Kirk agonizing once Spock has to enter the same anomaly.

The Enchanted Pool, where Spock refuses to kiss a beautiful female time and time again. Even when the woman assures him it's the only way to break a spell and escape. Even when Spock is doing far more dangerous things ALL THE TIME to solve problems. Of course, he considers the kiss a total waste of time once it doesn't work.

The Face on the Barroom Floor: Kirk is invited to a bar by McCoy and Sulu, who have found three women to pass the time, one for each. What does Kirk do? He gets out the bar two seconds later, puts on a samurai costume, and goes instead to a bar full of muscular, rowdy men, to get thrashed by them. Of course.

The Winged Dreamers has Spock wishing to stay on a planet with Kirk, just the two of them, for ever and ever. McCoy totally gets what's going on.

And I thought that Mind-Sifter would be about the love between a (quite unproffesional) nurse, and her mentally unstable patient, Kirk. But oh man, where do I even begin!? For starters, we have Kirk using his mind link with Spock to cry for help, across the galaxy and several centuries. And later he's concerned about how much can Spock read into his mind. Then we have McCoy informing the nurse that no, Kirk can't stay with her, because his love is his career and his... (trails off, having said too much). Gallant Spock carries an unconscious Kirk in his arms, and tells the nurse that, no matter how much she loves him, Kirk DOES NOT love her back (bitch!). If that wasn't enough, there's a lenghty conversation at the end, where Kirk almost melts in love and appreciation for Spock, and the Vulcan blushes at his own emotional display.

*A 10 in this scale is the most obvious spirk moments in TOS. Think of the back massage, "You make me believe in miracles", or "Amok Time" for example.

[asexual-juliet]

OUTSIDERS MUSICAL COSTUME REFERENCE: SarahGrace Mariani as Marcia

[costume masterpost here]

Costume: Patterned jumper dress over light green turtleneck

Jumper dress pattern recreated below:

SarahGrace wears a green cardigan in Tulsa ‘67!

Jewelry/accessories: Silver earrings, silver bracelet on right wrist, hair barrette on the back of her head

Makeup: Blue-green eyeshadow

Shoes: Brown character shoes

putting my own drawing under the cut as a secondary source :)

[the-hottest-band-tournament]

Round Two

Bob Marley and the Wailers

Defeated opponents: Max Webster

Formed in: 1963

Genres: Reggae, ska, rocksteady

Lineup: Bob Marley – lead vocal, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar

Aston "Family Man" Barrett – bass, piano, guitar, percussion

Carlton Barrett – drums, percussion

Carlton "Santa" Davis – drums

Tyrone Downie – keyboards, backing vocal

Alvin Patterson – percussion

Junior Marvin – lead guitar, backing vocal

Earl Lindo – keyboards

Al Anderson – lead guitar

I Threes (Rita Marley, Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt) – backing vocals

Albums from the 80s:

Uprising (1980)

Confrontation (1983)

Legend (1984)

Rebel Music (1986)

Propaganda: 

Talking Heads 

Defeated opponents: Los Lobos

Formed in: 1975

Genres: New Wave 

Lineup: David Byrne- lead vocals/guitar

Chris Frantz- drums

Tina Weymouth- bass

Jerry Harrison- keyboard/guitar

Albums from the 80s: 

Remain in Light (1980)

Speaking in Tongues (1983)

Little Creatures (1985)

True Stories (1986)

Naked (1988)

Propaganda:

[frenchcurious]

Le groupe pop 'Boney M' Bobby Farrell, Maizie Williams, Marcia Barrett et Liz Mitchell avec une Mercedes-Benz 600 pullman Stretch Limousine Six-Doors 1973. - source Cars & Motorbikes Stars of the Golden era.

[schibborasso]

Boney M.

are a disco group that specialises in R&B, reggae, disco and funk, created by German record producer Frank Farian, who was the group's primary songwriter. Originally based in West Germany, the four original members of the group's official line-up were Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett from Jamaica, Maizie Williams from Montserrat, and Bobby Farrell from Aruba. The group was formed in 1976 and achieved popularity during the disco era of the late 1970s. Since the 1980s, various line-ups of the band have performed with differing personnel.

The band has sold millions of records worldwide and is known for international hits including Daddy Cool, Ma Baker, Belfast, Sunny, Rasputin and Rivers of Babylon.

[atomic-chronoscaph]

TGIF

[jellyfishrave]

Boney M performing Rasputin on ZDF Disco, 1978.

[acrossthewavesoftime]

Songs about (Northern) Ireland by Non-(Northern) Irish Artists: Worst to Best

Arising from a conversation with @cparti-mkiki on the famed Les Lacs du Connemara, I decided to make a poll in which participants may vote on the worst song about (Northern) Ireland by a non-Irish artist.

The vote contains solely songs that touch upon historical and political issues from Irish-born soldiers in the American Civil War to the Troubles to Ed Sheeran's grandparents' cross-confessional marriage.

A few caveats:

i do not mean to imply that only Irish people can have an opinion on (Northern) Irish history and politics, or can't make art relating to it; yet naturally, their voices should be heard first, taken seriously, and treated with greater weight and above all, respect.

Especially for artists with no first-hand connection to a political cause and/or historical event they write about, the slope between a genuine protest song and the commercial exploitation of current events or a political sentiment is a very slippery one. It is wit this backdrop in mind that I made this poll. None of the revenue created by any of these songs (to my knowledge at least; except perhaps in a way, Les Lacs du Connemara) directly profitted Irish people or organisations, and sometimes, rather odd and unfortnuately-phrased takes shine through in dodgy lyrics that betray an evident lack of understanding of the situation at hand.

Please note that the mere inclusion of a song on this list does not necessarily mean I think it is absolutely horrible; this is just a selection from a wider pool of possible contestants, narrowed down to fit into a Tumblr poll.

The rules:

Tumblr polls are limitted to 10 options, so I picked 9 songs fitting into the outlined cateogry that I could think of and added the tenth option of leaving your own addition in the tags.

Please vote on the song you think is the worst of the lot. The best, conversely, will be the one with the least votes.

In the poll, the songs are listed chronologically in order of their release from 1977 to 2017.

If you're unfamiliar with a song or just curious, I'll include links to them on YouTube and a lyrics page under the cut below the poll.

For the moment, I'll hold back on my opinions on (some of) the songs featured in the poll so as to not influence the results, but feel free to add your own opinions, points of critique and discussions or, if arising, corrections!

The Poll:

Belfast (I, English version) – Marcia Barrett/Boney M. (1977) Lyrics

Belfast (II, German version) – Gilla (1977) Lyrics

Les Lacs du Connemara – Michel Sardou (1981) Lyrics

The House of Orange – Stan Rogers (1984) Lyrics

It's a Hard Life Wherever You Go – Nanci Griffith (1989) Lyrics

La Ballade Nord Irlandaise – Pierre Manuel Séchan aka Renaud (1991) Lyrics

Ireland – Garth Brooks (1995) Lyrics

Belfast to Boston – James Taylor (2002) Lyrics

Nancy Mulligan – Ed Sheeran (2017) Lyrics

[popentertainment-moviereviews]

TRAP (2024)

Starring Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills, Alison Pill, Jonathan Langdon, Mark Bacolcol, Marnie McPhail, Kid Cudi, Russ, Marcia Bennett, Vanessa Smythe, Lochlan Miller, Steve Boyle, David D'Lancy Wilson, James Gomez, Nadine Hyatt, Michael Brown, Hailey Summer, Olivia Barrett, Allison Ference and M. Night Shyamalan.

Screenplay by M. Night Shyamalan.

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan.

Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. 105 minutes. Rated PG-13.

It’s been a long time since anyone expected anything even approaching realism in a film by M. Night Shyamalan, but even for him, his latest film Trap rides upon a head-scratching number of coincidences and unrealistic plot points.

Even the basic premise of the film makes little sense. The FBI picks up on the fact that a vicious serial killer known as the Butcher will be going to a pop concert by a huge new teen superstar, and they decide to use the show – with its thousands of innocent bystanders, mostly young girls and their mothers – as a trap to capture the guy. Once the show starts, no one can leave the venue until they are interrogated by the law.

First things first – how do they know that this killer, who they have no name for or description of – will be at this show? (Towards the end of the film, the film does sort of explain away why they believe this, but honestly it kind of feels like a scriptwriter’s cop out.)

However, if they do truly believe he will be there, how is this trap supposed to work? There are about 3,000 adult men in the concert. They have no idea what he looks like, who he is, why he is there. All they know for sure is that he is very good at appearing normal and avoiding capture. Are they really planning on having in-depth interrogations of all the guys in the place before allowing anyone to leave? That would take hours or days. And even if they did that, how would they really know who was the murderer?

Then, when the actual killer recognizes the increased police presence, in another extremely unlikely plot point, he is able to get a stranger who he has just met – perhaps the most indiscreet merchandise worker in the world, to tell him exactly what the police plan is. Hell, the guy even gives him the secret password for employees to be able to move around the venue undisturbed by police. Now is that good luck, or just lazy writing?

That is not even touching on the super whopper of a coincidence in which a character (played by Shyamalan himself) essentially gives the killer the opportunity to possibly escape from the supposedly “unescapable” trap.

So, let’s face it, Trap will strain your credibility mercilessly. You won’t buy most of what it is selling. Which is not to say it’s necessarily a bad film. It does have some very good parts mixed in and a truly fantastic performance by Josh Hartnett as the normal goofy suburban father who is hiding the heart of a killer.

You just really won’t buy the story for a second. But, okay, allowing Shyamalan his premise, what does work?

Well, as noted before, Harnett continues his stealthy comeback with a terrific performance in the lead role. Hartnett is onscreen almost the entire running time of Trap, and even when what his character is saying or doing doesn’t make total sense, he sells it.

Also surprisingly good is the director’s daughter, Saleka Shyamalan, as pop star Lady Raven. When you hear of the casting it reeks of nepo-baby casting, particularly so quickly after he co-produced her sister’s debut film The Watchers. In the early scenes, it feels like Lady Raven is going to be a one-note character observed from afar, but as things move on and she becomes more integral to the plot, Saleka does surprisingly well. Even the music, which was written and performed by the actress, is better than you may expect.

The film also has a strong claustrophobic vibe, taking place almost entirely in one stadium.

Also, while you can see the ending coming from a mile away, for a change M. Night Shyamalan doesn’t try to leave things off with one last huge twist that makes the things that happened before even more ridiculous than they could be. The ability to finally let an ending happen organically may be Shyamalan’s biggest filmmaking Improvement in Trap.

Jay S. Jacobs

Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: August 2, 2024.

[spilladabalia]

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Kinky Reggae