#narrator voice: he did not in fact sing lead on his own song

[gardenwalrus]

As George knew several more guitar chords than John or Paul, every time he showed them a new one they tried to write a song around it — and it was in this period, possibly at Upton Green, that Paul wrote one he called “In Spite of All the Danger,” a chugging and melodic country-flavoured number with a couple of extended lead guitar solos created by George. For this reason, the song was a unique deviation from the Lennon-McCartney credit: it went down as McCartney-Harrison. The tune of “In Spite of All the Danger” was entirely Paul’s, but it leaned heavily on the melody of Elvis’s “Trying to Get to You,” a song that includes the lyric “[in] spite of all that I’ve been through.” Using an existing song as inspiration for the writing of another is standard practice, but the rock and roll era was already littered with outrageous examples of plagiarism seemingly free of legal action — possibly because the song being copied was not entirely original to that composer either.

— Mark Lewisohn, Tune In (2013)

PM: And then there was Percy Phillips' place in Kensington [Liverpool] where we did 'That'll Be The Day' and 'In Spite Of All The Danger'. [...] Anyway, John did 'That'll Be The Day', which was one of our stage numbers, and George played the opening guitar notes and I harmonised with John singing lead. Then on the other side I sang the lead, I think so anyway. It was my song.* It's very similar to an Elvis song. It's me doing an Elvis. ML: Any particular Elvis song? PM: Yeah, but I'm a bit loathe to say which! "Yeah" is all I'm going to say on that. I know which one! It was one that I'd heard at scout camp when I was younger and I'd loved it. And when I came to write the first couple of songs at the age of about 14 that was one of them.

— Mark Lewisohn, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions (1988)

*Seventeen years later, without the advantage of hearing it in between times, John recalled what he could of the session: “The first thing we ever recorded was ‘That'll Be the Day, the Buddy Holly song, and one of Paul’s called ‘In Spite of All the Danger. It cost us fifteen shillings and we made it in the front room of some guy’s house that he called a recording studio. It had all the equipment, and it was a 78. And I sang both sides. I was such a bully in those days I didn’t even let Paul sing his own song. That’s the actual first recording we ever made.”

— Mark Lewisohn, Tune In (2013)

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read the Hobbit! Chapters 10 & 11

The day grew lighter and warmer as they floated along.

That'll cure the hypothermia!

Okay, I'll try to ease off on this, but only because they're almost out of the barrels.

And far away, its dark head in a torn cloud, there loomed the Mountain!

It's been looming over us this whole time, so it's nice to finally see it. Plus, as a conoisseur of mountains, I can confirm that the ones that rise up without a whole range around them tend to look the coolest.

The elf-road through the wood which the dwarves had followed on the advice of Beorn now came to a doubtful and little used end at the eastern edge of the forest; only the river offered any longer a safe way from the skirts of Mirkwood in the North to the mountain-shadowed plains beyond, and the river was guarded by the Wood-elves’ king.

Thanks for the useless help, Beorn. Dude's probably chilling by the eastern end of the road with his bear buddies, wondering why his dinner is late. Like, I legit can't even give Gandalf too much shit for being behind the times even though I'm increasingly uncertain where he's been the past few years (Gondor?), but I feel like Beorn shoulda had a clue the road was no longer usable.

At the southern end the doubled waters poured out again over high waterfalls and ran away hurriedly to unknown lands.

I assume the narration here means "unknown to Bilbo", since we know from this very text that downriver is Dorwinion; this particular river flows into the Sea of Rhun.

But men remembered little of all that, though some still sang old songs of the dwarf-kings of the Mountain, Thror and Thrain of the race of Durin, and of the coming of the Dragon, and the fall of the lords of Dale.

It's been over a hundred years, so it makes sense that no one directly remembers things, but it is a bit surprising it's falling out of memory so quickly when the ruins are right fucking there.

“Well, are you alive or are you dead?” asked Bilbo quite crossly. Perhaps he had forgotten that he had had at least one good meal more than the dwarves, and also the use of his arms and legs, not to speak of a greater allowance of air.

Bilbo, you are being a complete dick about this.

Knocking outside and calling only discovered about six dwarves that could answer.

I lied, here's my last joke: the other six can't answer because they're dead!

Dwalin and Balin were two of the most unhappy, and it was no good asking them to help.

Balin loses some points here, but he's still in the lead.

“Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror King under the Mountain!” said the dwarf in a loud voice, and he looked it, in spite of his torn clothes and draggled hood. The gold gleamed on his neck and waist; his eyes were dark and deep.

Frankly you'd think the ruined clothes would completely shatter the effect. I guess they don't get too many fakers.

“We have none,” said Thorin, and it was true enough: their knives had been taken from them by the wood-elves, and the great sword Orcrist too. Bilbo had his short sword, hidden as usual, but he said nothing about that.

Tolkien, this is what we call, "Not true." Sucks about Orcrist though. It woulda been real handy in the later chapters.

“Is this true?” asked the Master. As a matter of fact he thought it far more likely than the return of the King under the Mountain, if any such person had ever existed.

Ah, here's where the clothing problem comes into play. Still though, the Master is hardly being unrealistic even if he is wrong.

The King beneath the mountains, The King of carven stone, The lord of silver fountains Shall come into his own!

See, the Rivendell elves should have been singing a variant of this if they wanted to be nice.

The Wood-elves themselves began to wonder greatly and even to be afraid. They did not know of course how Thorin had escaped, and they began to think their king might have made a serious mistake. As for the Master he saw there was nothing else for it but to obey the general clamour, for the moment at any rate, and to pretend to believe that Thorin was what he said.

I always love it when the mob is in the right and the upper class has to bow to their whims or pay the price.

Thorin looked and walked as if his kingdom was already regained and Smaug chopped up into little pieces.

While Thorin's recalcitrance towards the Elf-King was perhaps a little over the top, this is a clear indicator of the problems that Thorin will be having shortly.

He had not forgotten the look of the Mountain, nor the thought of the dragon, and he had besides a shocking cold. For three days he sneezed and coughed, and he could not go out, and even after that his speeches at banquets were limited to “Thag you very buch.”

Funny that only the guy in the barrel is particularly suffering.

“Very well! We’ll see! No treasure will come back through Mirkwood without my having something to say in the matter. But I expect they will all come to a bad end, and serve them right!”

Only three of them, though I guess one comes to a Bag End. Still, not a very good guess your haughtiness.

“Let them go and bother Smaug, and see how he welcomes them!” he thought.

Not the smartest move by the Master, considering what the risk to the town is. Hell, it even comes to pass! This guy is the worst leader we've seen so far.

The Master and his councillors bade them farewell from the great steps of the town-hall that went down to the lake. People sang on the quays and out of windows. The white oars dipped and splashed, and off they went north up the lake on the last stage of their long journey. The only person thoroughly unhappy was Bilbo.

Honestly you'd think the little dude would expect everything would be totally hunky-dory at this point because nothing has gone wrong for him in any significant way at all. I guess worriers are gonna worry.

Here they were joined by the horses with other provisions and necessaries and the ponies for their own use that had been sent to meet them.

I wonder if they'll last any longer than the last set. Their making it to the third day is clearly mostly related to the dwarves not riding them.

Balin and Bilbo rode behind, each leading another pony heavily laden beside him; the others were some way ahead picking out a slow road, for there were no paths.

I'm not sure how I can possibly twist this into an example of Balin being the best dwarf when all the others are being useful, but that's not going to stop me. Balin for best dwarf!

Nothing moved in the waste, save the vapour and the water, and every now and again a black and ominous crow.

Corvids get a really bad rap. They deserve better. If there's crows here, then there's gotta be something worth eating, they can't just be feeding on dwarf corpses that are a hundred years old.

“That does not prove it,” said Balin, “though I don’t doubt you are right. But he might be gone away some time, or he might be lying out on the mountain-side keeping watch, and still I expect smokes and steams would come out of the gates: all the halls within must be filled with his foul reek.”

Dragon poop: literally steaming apparently.

Now strange to say Mr. Baggins had more than the others. He would often borrow Thorin’s map and gaze at it, pondering over the runes and the message of the moon-letters Elrond had read. It was he that made the dwarves begin the dangerous search on the western slopes for the secret door.

Gandalf externally: "You all can't go as a set of 13, it's very unlucky!"

Gandalf internally: "You morons need a babysitter and daddy's busy."

But at last unexpectedly they found what they were seeking. Fili and Kili and the hobbit went back one day down the valley and scrambled among the tumbled rocks at its southern corner.

Some small points to these two dudes for being around while Bilbo finds things.

They beat on it, they thrust and pushed at it, they implored it to move, they spoke fragments of broken spells of opening, and nothing stirred.

Hey wow, more dwarf magic. Been awhile! Of course, Bilbo can use it too presumably so it may not be dwarf magic specifically, but still. You just don't get dwarf oral spells in much other fantasy.

Down the same way they were able occasionally to lower one of the more active dwarves, such as Kili, to exchange such news as there was, or to take a share in the guard below, while Bofur was hauled up to the higher camp.

Hey I guess Fili does exist beyond being an extension of Kili!

“I am too fat for such fly-walks,” he said.

Fuck off Tolkien. I don't care that at the end of the paragraph you clarify that it's not true. You've gone to this well too many times!

Bilbo found sitting on the doorstep lonesome and wearisome—there was not a doorstep, of course, really, but they used to call the little grassy space between the wall and the opening the “doorstep” in fun, remembering Bilbo’s words long ago at the unexpected party in his hobbit-hole, when he said they could sit on the doorstep till they thought of something.

Will THIS be the last time?

"I might have known that something dreadful would happen to me in the end. I don’t think I could bear to see the unhappy valley of Dale again, and as for that steaming gate! ! !”

Poor Bilbo, 3 exclamation points is a sign of someone bordering on madness. Also yeah them sending him through the Front Gate is pretty rich on their part, invisibility or no.

There on the grey stone in the grass was an enormous thrush, nearly coal black, its pale yellow breast freckled with dark spots. Crack! It had caught a snail and was knocking it on the stone. Crack! Crack!

Shame they couldn't be arsed to reread the runes and had to find it solely by coincidence. These asshole dwarves don't deserve their treasure; Bilbo should get it all.

Now they all pushed together, and slowly a part of the rock-wall gave way. Long straight cracks appeared and widened. A door five feet high and three broad was outlined, and slowly without a sound swung inwards. It seemed as if darkness flowed out like a vapour from the hole in the mountain-side, and deep darkness in which nothing could be seen lay before their eyes, a yawning mouth leading in and down.

11 chapters and they've only just now reached the dungeon. It's just like every D&D campaign I've ever played!

[gloryofroses19]

The Sacred Tradition of Cinnamon and Safety

Pairing: Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw x girlfriend!reader

T/W: Allusions to sex

Sequel to Of Reunions and Sacred Traditions

The smell of cinnamon, sugar and toasting bread was a familiar one to Lieutenant Bradley Bradshaw. Those smells meant French toast which always signified safety to Bradley. As a young child, it meant that his father had safely returned from detachment. As he grew up, it became the safety of his mother’s embrace, always there to care and guide him. Now, standing in his kitchen with [y/n], he realized it could become another iteration of safety. One born out of mutual desire to care for the person you choose to spend your time with. 

“So what can I do?” [y/n] asked as she leaned on the counter admiring her boyfriend’s sculpted back. 

“This needs to be made the Bradshaw way.” Was his pointed response as he gathered the final ingredients from his spice cabinet. 

“And what way is that?“ [y/n] asked. 

“First, with music.” 

“Naturally.” [y/n] giggled at the serious tone her boyfriend adopted. It was no shock how music was one of Rooster Bradshaw’s great loves. He had a playlist for everything so his girlfriend looked forward to seeing what his music of choice for this tradition would be. 

A familiar guitar riff filled the air as Bradley watched [y/n]’s reaction. And Bradley was not disappointed when she began to sing along. 

“I love this song!”[y/n] exclaimed during the trumpet solo of “Dead Man’s Party” by Oingo Boingo. 

 “I know it’s on my [y/n]’s 80s playlist.” Grabbing [y/n]’s hands, Bradley pulled her into a twirl. 

Falling into his chest, [y/n] peered into his eyes as she swayed her body with his.“You have a playlist for me.” 

“Playlists, plural.” 

Bradley Bradshaw truly was a dream-boat. [y/n] swooned at the thoughtful gestures, big and small, that he did. The fact that he created playlists for her was no exception. 

Fearing that her words would fail her, she leaned in. Grazing her hand across his strong jaw, [y/n] pours her infatuation and hope for a future with him into the kiss. By the time [y/n] became aware of her fingers, they had already slipped under his shirt, his skin smooth and radiating heat.

Using all his willpower, Bradley separated from [y/n] and brushed his nose against hers. “That’s step six, let’s not jump the gun.” 

“Boo.” [y/n] met Bradley’s hot gaze. She knew she could talk, or rather kiss, him into skipping steps but this was meant to be a wholesome experience of sharing family traditions.

“Yes, Chef Bradshaw!” 

Laughing, Bradley twirled his girlfriend and maneuvered them to the counter. Arranged across the countertop were two bowls and the assortment of necessary ingredients. Guiding her, Bradley provided [y/n] with the instructions to make Bradshaw French toast. 

“Step four, we put it in the heated pan.” Bradley narrated as he left [y/n]’s body and moved to the oven. 

As Chaka Khan's voice filled the air, [y/n] let her curiosity get the best of her. Unlocking Bradley’s phone, she scrolled through the playlist. [y/n] smiled as she learned that the playlist’s photo was a selfie they’d taken after a paint night together. The night had started with good intentions to relax after a stressful week but it quickly digressed. 

“If I remember correctly, more paint ended up on our bodies than the canvas.” Bradley mused as he wrapped her arms around [y/n]’s hips.

“And who’s fault is that?” [y/n] wrapped her arms around his expansive back. 

“Yours!” Ignoring her offended gasp, he continued. “You said my bird looked like a plane!”

“That’s because they literally do! It’s for camouflage! You said - ” 

But [y/n] voice was muffled by Bradley’s lips.  Claiming her mouth, hungry and intense, he pulled her in. His hand pressed hard and insistent against her back, leading her chest to press against his own. She feels wonderful. His hands are everywhere, and it doesn’t matter that his mouth is already on top of hers, he wants her closer. Bradley squeezed her hips, before he lifted [y/n] up as if she were made of air. 

“I thought you said this was step six.” [y/n] murmured against Bradley’s upturned lips. “We can edit the recipe.” 

Bradley’s boyish smile had [y/n]’s fingers knotting in his hair, clutching him closer as she reconnected their lips. Parting for a rush of air, Bradley moved his attention to [y/n]’s neck placing love bites along the fresh space. Taking a deep breath to ease the pounding in her veins, she was met with the smell of something wrong. 

“It’s burning.” she gasped out. 

“What? My desire for you?” Bradley mumbled against her collarbone working on creating a hickey. Bradley had hoped to earn himself a moan or even a laugh, however, [y/n]’s scream was not of satisfaction. 

“The French toast!” 

“Oh, shit.” 

Leaning her head against the kitchen cabinet, [y/n] chuckled as her boyfriend nearly slip as he dashed to the oven. “Is all well?” 

“Yes, thankfully all is well.” Plating the first few pieces of French toast and putting them to rest next to [y/n], Bradley moved to add the next pieces. 

However, the sight when he turned back to [y/n] had him lovingly scolding her. “Patience woman! You really don’t know how to follow the rules do you?” 

With cheeks full of French toast, [y/n] could only shake her head. Swallowing, she innocently regarded her boyfriend.“I mean, not the rules that matter.” 

Bradley tried to stop the smiling forming on his face from the feelings brewing inside of him. Bradley knew that three months, one month spent apart, together was too early to be in love. But sharing this tradition with her and looking forward to seeing her, made him feel safe and grounded. A feeling  he hadn’t felt since his parents were around. 

So, tucking those feelings into his heart, he instead rolled his eyes at her and accepted her offer of a bite. 

A/N: Thank you for reading! Feel free to give me any feedback or criticism!

Taglist: @ateliefloresdaprimavera @shaded-recs @n3ssm0nique

[pochiperpe90]

Interview with the director of “They Call Me Jeeg”

Interview with director Gabriele Mainetti about the movie and the Zingaro (Luca Marinelli)

When I think back to “They call me Jeeg” I think of the Zingaro. In your film there is one of the most beautiful villains of Italian cinema of recent years, how was he born?

We wanted to create a villain that wasn't just bad. We wanted to give it a three-dimensionality, complicate it and make it fascinating and original. In my opinion, the Zingaro is a very successful character and much loved by everyone for a specific reason: because they feel him close. He is the victim of what is a bit of a contemporary neurosis, that is, the need to showcase himself. We are now victims of how many likes we get on social networks and how many views does the video we post on YouTube, and he’s interesting because when he was a kid he performed in a singing interpretation on ‘Buona Domenica’ and then he lived what many people did: he become a meteor (it means that his fame lasted very little). But it’s as if he had never accepted it and brought with him this narcissistic attitude, and he wants to become a respected and almost famous criminal, but it makes no sense, because criminals when they become so important have to live in basements, it's not that you can show off, so it's a bit of a nonsense, and that's all the madness of the Zingaro.

It was interesting, because when I met people to do the auditions they all came with - as they say in Rome - 'the nostrils of the nose widened like bulls', as the kind of bad guys who beat you. But the Zingaro is an intelligent, sophisticated character, with a talent, who can sing, elegant, who has his own aesthetic idea, he is beautiful, and therefore I needed someone who would bring me the intelligence of the character, and Marinelli although at beginning was very distant from what you saw on the screen, had made me glimpse this necessary feature.

The stakes were high. It was difficult after seeing Luca Marinelli as Cesare in Claudio Caligari's ‘Don't Be Bad’ to think that in a few months he would be back with another strong character.

I shot a year before ‘Don't be bad’ and this helped him a lot, he always recognizes it when he can. Luca was far from the peripheral element, he is a boy who grew up in a modest family, in the streets with his friends, but still he was in Prati, he wasn’t in San Basilio, in Tor Bella Monaca or Corviale. He has never experienced one of these realities, and this character must have had this reality in his blood here, and the need to redeem himself socially and find the famous 'turning point' of the criminal. I took him, took him to Tor Bella Monaca, we did a lot of tests, it was a very intense job. At the beginning there was a moment of jealousy, not because the ‘Maestro’ had taken him, but because it was released first, but it was right. At one point I said: "What do I care!", Caligari taught me so much with two films - if they say that Caligari has made little cinema, it’s the biggest bullshit that can be said, because in Caligari’s movies there is more of that cinema that in a hundred films of many morons. The fact that he saw this light inside Luca and the fact that I also saw it inside him, means that something works. I love Caligari, I love him as much as I loved ‘Don't be bad’.

I admit I was almost upset when at the press conference at the Quattro Fontane, here in Rome, Marinelli arrived in plain clothes, not dressed as the Zingaro …

He is very shy, very reserved, he’s exactly the opposite of his character. Paradoxically in life Santamaria is the Zingaro, and Enzo is Luca Marinelli …

The nice thing about the Zingaro is that we discover his character and his past little by little, when we think that the character has been defined and yet, not really. I loved his unexpected obsession with Italian singers, four queens of the Eighties: Loredana Bertè, Gianna Nannini, Nada and Anna Oxa …

We actually had an Italian singer in mind but we were unable to involve him, we thought of replacing him with another singer but we continued to find only women and we said to ourselves "but she doesn't have the power of this one", and in the end the idea: "but why don't we take several, as if he was an expert?", and this thing was born a lot with Luca, especially the musical choice, we went there, we evaluated them, we discovered which ones we could use - because you know music always has a cost ... I am a lover of all four singers put in the film, TOTAL, which should probably lead me to question myself about my sexual orientation, right now I continue to heterosexualize everything, but I love them, a lot, and I loved Anna Oxa when I was little, Berté despite now looking like Mickey Rourke is always super, great, she always has a crazy voice.

Since we met the Zingaro, with some of my friends, we greet each other with: «C’è una ragione che cresce in me»

To think that someone posted to me on the Internet: "If I started singing such a shitty song, it means that the film is really beautiful!", and I replied to him: "But how dare you saying that “Un’emozione da poco” is a shitty song, you are a shit!».

What was it like shooting the scene in which Luca Marinelli, in a shady club, sings and dances in a sequined jacket, shirtless, with just a glove, with his hair back, with high-heeled boots and tight pants, the song by Anna Oxa?

Luca did it I think 15 times. In the end, the voice was right, Luca has a very strong voice, he is very resistant, he never loses control. I made him do it a lot of times, because he wanted to make it perfect and I kept following him. I have told it through many fields. We have thought about it a lot.

Look, the Zingaro was a very difficult character. The look, how to throw his hair, how to dress him, how he had to sing, how he had to perform, which tattoos… is the character we have thought about the most. Then if you notice he is clearly a quote from David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust, especially in the final part.

Another thing that I liked so much about your film is that there are no good and bad characters. Bad guys are never just bad guys. And it’s precisely the weaknesses of the characters that make them close to us, the Zingaro who sings at the top of his voice “Non sono una signora” in the car with friends as if he was at the stadium, Enzo who eats the usual cream pudding in an atmosphere of extreme desolation in front of the TV, Alessia fixed with a single DVD, a cartoon for children. “They call me Jeeg” is a film about superheroes who are real people, who are so real that at different moments in the film we identified with a different protagonist of the three.

Thank you so much because this thing you say, is not easy. Usually the emotional vehicles are always one or two, three is tough. It all depends on how the writing is set up. The character is the most important thing in the film, because it’s the emotional vehicle of the viewer. In America they had already tried it in some films. Super didn’t have super powers but he was a sort of vigilant who disguised himself and went to do good, he was a loser in an American town who clashes with this boss, microboss of the underworld, and must kill the Evil. The Manichean vision between Good and Evil, which is very American, still makes me laugh.

This attempt to mix what I call the ‘Pasolini element’ with the ‘fantastic element’, which I had already tried in my short films ‘Tiger Boy’ and ‘Basette’, comes naturally to me. You know, I was lucky enough to have done the American school, I was part of the University in New York, my grandmother lived the first years of her life in New Jersey, I have relatives in New Jersey, my sister lives in America, I have a very "happy" relationship with America, the American system is total crazy, but I understand their cinema, and I understand their fictions, and I understand why we digest some things and we don't digest others, I know how we work. For me, the only way to get to the suspension of disbelief was to tell characters that are as real as possible, then hook on to a very strong experience. Because if you are so passionate about him, you can't not believe him when he has super power, but he has to react to super power as anyone would react. They are really well written.

This thing here makes me laugh ... No one has ever focused on this thing. This guy falls from the top floor and runs away! Escape! What the fuck are you running away for? He wasn't hurt but he runs away, he has to run away because he's afraid, he goes back home and if he has to, he can't think about it yet, he doesn't think about it yet, but it's typical of someone who doesn't want to have responsibility. Then when he gets angry that he punches the wall, he still struggles, and when he becomes aware of the fact that he has super powers, since he is a criminal, what does he do? He rob an ATM, to buy more yogurt. That's where the stuff works. If, on the other hand, you made him fall from the top floor and then say: "Damn, I’m so strong!", he would jump again, climb up, smash his head, gut, takes his cocaine, it seemed, you know ... but what are we talking about.

The 80s songs, Buona Domenica, YouTube, superheroes, the Roman suburbs, the Olympic stadium ... the mix of elements that are part of the story of “They call me Jeeg” could be very risky, but the way it’s narrated makes this a winning combination. You tell things you know without judging them.

Exactly. Many kids call me and tell me: «Ah, but how did you do it, but how did you do it», «How it should be done» I replied: «Guys, you should talk about things that concern you!». You have to talk about the things that belong to you, and try to insert them into what the cinematographic genre is, that genre has its codes, if you want to do an even more extreme operation, but I don't recommend it, you have to completely subvert them. But you have to make it work for what you are doing. I am an admirer, for example, of Puglielli's ‘Dorme’, it's a WONDERFUL film; he recounted the frustration of his height, which is actually a shortness. We must start from the things we know, from our frailties. Unfortunately, the American superheroes, especially the Marvel ones, lately, are all plastic. I always ask myself, a question that always arises spontaneously, but how the fuck do they put all that spandex stuff on? How do they get into it? Do they all oil themselves first? It looks like a wetsuit ... I find it really ridiculous. In fact, it's not that I don't like superhero movies, I like Batman, because he still has a great internal conflict and everything, but here I need characters with great fragility. My favorite superhero movie is The Guardians of the Galaxy, because I know five ramshackle people who have the responsibility of saving the world. And they manage to do it, how? Because they establish a true relationship between them, which is that of friendship, and realizing that they love each other, they understand that they can also love others and say to each other "Oh well, let's save these assholes", it's fantastic, it's fantastic, it's beautiful. I can empathize with them. Certainly with Superman I can’t, I can’t succeed.

In the days I watched “They call me Jeeg” I had arrived at the third episode of Jessica Jones, the Netflix series in which the protagonist takes the opposite path of Enzo, from superheroine to 'normal' person, investigator with somewhat special powers. What do you think of recent series or movies that have a superhero at the center?

I saw the first two episodes but it bored me a bit. Deadpool is just the answer to this clean cinema, with him farting, getting sodomized by his partner and he's nice, but he didn't convince me too much, because he is in reaction to the plastic of these super heroes, and therefore he mocks everyone. But I don't give a damn about that either. I want the story of a person, I want the story of a character, that's the thing that excites me. I saw Daredevil and I didn't mind, it wasn't bad.

The background of Rome in “They Call Me Jeeg” is an important component. Are there any Italian films set in recent years, in the capital, that you care most about? I think of Romanzo Criminale, The great beauty, Don't be bad, Suburra.

They are very different films. Sorrentino has such a unique look that one cannot fail to recognize it. Formally it’s indisputable. Sometimes, from a content point of view, there are some things that I probably can't grasp, and I don't know if it's my limit; I like to get excited, the staging excites me, but I don't know, I love ‘La dolce vita’, I love Fellini, I love ‘Otto e mezzo’, that distorted and grotesque vision that he had ... but there is no comparison, that would be nonsense.

“Don’t be bad” is certainly the one that excited me the most. Who wants to make a certain type of cinema, social cinema, committed cinema, should study this ability of Caligari (but how much has he been criticized? Because yes, "Masterpiece" and that and that, but everyone criticizes a lot of it, because they are infamous ‘rosiconi’ → jealous people in the Roman dialect). What Caligari teaches is that he puts you next to a character with extreme problems but makes him feel like a friend, makes you understand that he is like you and allows you to identify. He has a deep friendship which is that between Cesare and Vittorio, he has a love story, the character of Cesare, as well as that of Vittorio, even the drug itself is experienced as fun at the beginning, as a sort of pact of love between the two of them, then you understand many things, that is something that is a great lesson in cinema, it’s a lesson in profound cinema, of cinema that interests me, cinema that excites you.

Romanzo Criminale is a very successful genre operation, which has highlighted the possibility of tackling the genre when it was thought to be banned; when I had this subject in 2010 I used to shoot like a jerk for all the productions and they said to me that: "Don't have to do this thing, because it doesn't make sense, genre cinema isn’t liked in Italy, it doesn't work, it's a waste of time, among other things, we don't have the skills to organize it», and instead Romanzo Criminale, then the series, then Gomorra the series, Suburra, now they make Suburra the series, is telling the opposite. Fortunately there is a Romanzo Criminale, fortunately there is ‘The Great Beauty’ who won the Oscar, fortunately there is ‘Don't be bad’.

DUDEMAG

Just wanted to translate this old interview for the non-italian’s fans ^^ (sorry for my English)  

[elmidol]

To Feel Your Touch Again

Come Darkened Starlight Part One Lullaby of Your Soul

Read on Ao3

Summary: Time does not end and the galaxy moves on, transitioning into a new era. There are songs that steal you from sleep, and a voice that whispers a promise to lead you astray from the balance that took so long to achieve. More than anything, there is him. There is Kylo and there is you. Thus begins the new chapter of rancor and tooke.

Come darkened starlight

I’ll lead you astray

Into the shadow of legends.

Come darkened starlight

There’s still much to say

Of the soul you joined together.

 Whisper dim starlight

I’ll find you astray

With all your pain

And past horrors.

Weep not dull starlight

As this is the way

Releasing fear and destruction.

 Silence my starlight

I’ve shown you the way

To capture a sun

And all systems.

Lead on oh starlight

And soon you’ll find prey

And reap a tale of tragedy.

 Come darkened starlight

I’ll lead you astray

Into the shadow of legends.

Come darkened starlight

There’s still much to say

Of the soul you joined together.

 Come Darkened Starlight

 Part One: Lullaby of Your Soul

 Chapter One: To Feel Your Touch Again

 When all the horrors that had been endured pursued your subconscious concentration, you would sing yourself awake. The first time that this had occurred, you had spent the day trying to remember the song as well as where you had heard it before—if you had ever heard it. On this latest occurrence, you knew without question that the song had been composed on the spot. You pressed the tips of your fingers to the sensitive flesh underneath your tired eyes. If you sang aloud in your sleep, no one had commented on it. Kylo had always been known to stare at your slumbering form for as long as you could remember. Such behavior had increased subsequent to your second death. The action was reciprocated; you hated when he was away, when you could not wake to him there in bed with you.

 That frustration would have been in full bloom had Trudgen not been laying beside you, his back in your direction. His night terrors had lessened in number. He never did sing, not where you could hear. You blinked whilst tracing his silhouette with your eyes alone. His body shifted subtly with his breaths. The low hum of the ship reminded you that this was not the Night Buzzard. Trudgen’s presence stemmed from a mutual need for comfort from nightmares and the fact that you were on a mission together.

 Ranooke, the akk dog that had adopted Kylo and you, slunk into the room. He walked the circumference of the room then exited. This served as enough of a disturbance that Trudgen finally stirred. “Hmm.”

 You shifted upwards, your hands dragging the blankets along with you to ward off the coolness offered by space. The stale ship air caused Trugen to cough into a fist as he, too, readjusted his position. He spoke then, his voice rumbling more than usual given the dryness in his throat. Trudgen asked you if you had had the nightmare again. The nightmare. It was the one that made you sing most frequently. Sometimes it sang back. Though Trudgen and Kylo knew of this particular nightmare, only Kylo knew of the singing. You thought back to the blend of voices—yours and an incorporeal one that you could never place.

 “No, it was a different one. It wasn’t so bad.” This was the truth. Had Kylo been present, you would have elaborated. Instead he was in a different section of the ship, more than likely engaged in communications with the emissary that had been sent to request his presence. By engaged, of course, you imagined he stared at the man, who would be fumbling with his words as he attempted to discern if Kylo Ren was irritated by him or not.

 You smiled at the thought and, keeping the blanket wrapped around your body, rose from the bed. Trudgen followed suit. He reached for his helmet, the only piece of his armor that he had previously removed before taking a nap with you, and tugged it on. The Knights of Ren had not changed their armor in favor of other attire since first embarking on diplomatic missions with Kylo Ren, who still had yet to take an official title different from Supreme Leader. Rey, on the other hand, had obtained the title Viceroy on behalf of her home planet. She, too, was present for the current mission. You took comfort in the familiar sight of Trudgen’s armor and masked face as he rounded the bed and reached the door first. It parted for him, however he stepped aside to instead allow you to leave the quarters.

 In the corridor, Ranooke spun in a circle. He had grown since the final battle, and you wondered if he would achieve the size of a landspeeder like some did. You ran a hand along his head when walking past then heard his footsteps fall in line behind you along with Trudgen’s. You felt as though you were floating. Stumbling in your next step, you felt your cheeks heat up and did what you could to recover quickly. Trudgen did not comment, just as you never did when he would wake up in a sweat that soaked the bedsheets.

 The scent of baked goods filtered into the air as you walked farther away from the quarters that you had been sharing with Kylo and Trudgen. Ap’lek, Cardo, and Vicrul took another of the quarters; and Rey, Kuruk, and Ushar had taken the last. Being on alternating sleep schedules prevented the beds from being shared in any manner that would have left one feeling uncomfortable. Presently, though, all were awake and gathered together in the conference room along with the emissary.

 Kylo’s gaze landed on you, his eyes pinching slightly. His vision was known to falter when he pushed himself too hard, although this did not impede him as it had in the past. He adjusted more easily than he sometimes gave himself credit for. You traced the pair of scars on his face that ran perpendicular to one another, creating a cross. He was so beautiful to you, and you felt your fingers twitch as a longing to touch him arose. Later you would. Later, when he would allow himself to be fully vulnerable, when the two of you, one soul as two individuals, were alone together. A thrum of contentment filtered through the bond that you shared, and you knew that he felt it as well.

 Three baskets of baked goods were spread around the table along with drinks. Millicent sat curled up in Ap’lek’s lap. She touched noses with Ranooke, who then moved past in favor of taking a seat to Kylo’s left. You sat on his right, the blanket that you had brought along draped across your lap and pooling at your feet and his. You hummed in contentment. Hummed then began to sing.

 At times, it was not only nightmares that would prompt you to sing yourself awake. The lucid dreams gave you pause when you woke up singing in your head.

 Kylo’s arms, secure around you, tugged you backwards. You sighed heavily and twisted around to bury your face into his chest. Inhaling his scent, you worked through what had happened and what hadn’t. Unconscious, you had properly remembered the sleeping arrangements as well as the presence of Millicent and Ranooke. The baked goods were fictitious; there were only ration bars and other MREs. The scars on Kylo’s face had been correct, as had his visual impairment. The blanket had been wrong. So, too, had the armor worn by the Knights of Ren. Their helmets had not changed, however their armor had been altered in the wake of new planets discovered in wild space.

 “Is Rey a viceroy?” you asked in a quiet voice when you realized that you could not properly remember if that had been true or false.

 “Acting emissary,” Kylo said in reply as he trailed his fingers down the length of your spine. You arched forward. The warmth of his body flooded into yours. Instead of melting into it like you wanted to, you shoved your heels against the mattress and scooted upwards. Your fingers raked along your scalp, albeit gently and without leaving marks.

 Starlight filtered into the room from the wide viewport to your left. You looked to the sea of darkness that was dotted by stars. A memory stirred, the memory of your second death mingled with details from your first. You had peered down into the water to observe life while you had been there, dead yet in a land between. The war over your soul, within your soul, had prevented you from transitioning into full death. And then you had made a choice. While pondering and weighing your options, you had tumbled through darkness.

 Perhaps that was the voice that sang to you, you thought. The darkness and the light both soothing you in their own way. Comforting you, luring you towards one side instead of maintaining balance.

 You reached for Kylo and stroked a hand through his hair, felt the softness of his curls. He, likewise, drew his hand away from the center of his body. It was not you that he had reached for. Instead, he touched a music player that you brought along most places. The song that filled the silence of the room stilled your breath. There it was, that familiar rhythm. There were no lyrics to this song, and so you had in your sleep provided them some.

 “I had a nightmare within a dream.” The confession was unnecessary, however you enjoyed talking with him too much to refrain from continuing. “I keep singing, keeping narrating even as I do. I feel so much when I do.” You paused, swallowing thickly. Once, during a similar conversation, Kylo had revealed that you sang to him in his dreams as well, that you had done so on occasion ever since you had sung to him on the day Leia had been murdered.

 The lapse into silence offered you a moment’s reprieve from the nervousness that had slipped past your guard. You willed away thoughts of Leia’s passing while hoping that your feelings on the matter had not slipped through the bond. If it had, Kylo displayed no noticeable signs. He picked up a datapad that had been sitting beside the music player along with a pair of glasses that he only wore when alone. This need for assistance, this vulnerability, was not one he was yet ready to share with the galaxy at large. More often than not one of the Knights of Ren would take whatever material needed to be read and do so aloud. Or else Kylo would order that the other party do so themselves. On days when his eyesight was not an issue, he still would not read the material so as to prevent drawing more attention when it was.

 You observed him in your peripheral. In truth, you rather liked how he looked with his glasses on. Kylo turned his head a fraction to meet your gaze, and you sucked your lips into your mouth to conceal the nervous grin that had started to form upon being caught.

 “What was the nightmare?” He seemed to already know that it had not been the nightmare, which was a comfort. You threaded your fingers together then pulled them apart. He began to silently read the text on the datapad without pushing you to speak. He already knew that you would, that you merely required another moment to gather your thoughts. It was equally an excuse for you to observe him in his glasses, the light catching the corners. His amber eyes were forever beautiful to you.

 After a time, you slid your right hand underneath your pillow to withdraw one of your many electronic pets. You thumbed the power button to wake the creature and began to play a minigame on the device while you described the nightmare.

 In the nightmare, you had danced on a bed of bones that did not pierce your flesh. Where the blood pouring down those skeletal remains came from, you hadn’t known. Familiarity had nagged at you, as though you were meant to know whose bones they were. Thus your subconscious mind had started to work through that riddle, listing off names of people you had lost over the course of the long war. It had not been any of them though. Flesh and clothing had started to materialize on the remnants until you danced upon the corpses of those you had killed. And so you had started to sing.

 Kylo did not ask you which song you had sung. His lips formed soundlessly around the syllables, which caused your heart to race. You bit down on your bottom lip, worked your teeth back and forth on it. Your fingers made quick work of the minigame and next in feeding the electronic pet. He would not sing; if you were lucky, however, he might hum the tune. You held your breath in anticipation, curled your toes.

 I buried his ashes down by the brook,

And into the meadow I strayed.

I built up my house out where he would look,

Where in my childhood I played.

 I carried her with me through the world

And among the stars I would dance.

My parents did watch my life unfurl,

And gave to me every best chance.

 I--

 And that was when you had woken up. It was where Kylo’s lips ceased in their movements. He set aside the datapad and stroked your cheek with the tips of his bare fingers. You shuddered at their warmth, at the contact that was unimpeded by gloves, which he nearly always wore. “A song of Naboo,” he said, his voice low, husky. He set the palm of his hand to your cheek, and you leaned into his touch.

 “Is that what it was?” you asked. His eyes pinched in the corners, and you narrowed yours in return at his teasing. You knew what that expression meant: any song from you was a song of Naboo. That had been your birth planet, a planet that no longer existed. You carried it with you in your heart, as did all other surviving Naboolians. “I danced on the bodies of my enemies.” He nodded, and you knew what he was thinking: I burned mine, tooke. “Maybe it wasn’t such a bad nightmare?” Not when you compared it to others.

 Kylo leaned his face nearer to yours. Tilting back your head, you succeeded in fogging his glasses with your breath, which made you chuckle. Kylo’s lips parted and he sighed then whispered your name.

 He was working to steady himself. Now that he, like you, had found balance, killing impacted him differently. It would be far too easy to fall into old habits, historic behaviors. There were multiple reasons for the current mission, some not entirely political. When it came to the creatures terrorizing the planet’s people—behemoths that were resistant to the Force—that was not a matter that Rey or Kylo felt rested with any political allegiances, though some of the senators disagreed. The same flaws that had infiltrated the New Republic and the Empire as well as the Old Republic; greed, manipulation, a lack of action. Kylo Ren, as leader of the alliances that had formed under the Order of Ren, rejected those flaws and took matters into his own hands. That was why the planet had contacted him directly. It was why few had questioned his position of authority.

 A time would come where that would happen and on a more open front. In the meanwhile, he focused on what had always been his goal: ruling the galaxy and bringing order. Not through tyranny as he might once have. Although intimidating others did hold an allure, offer him temporary amusement.

 Another reason that the mission was taking place stemmed from the fact that several species of local fauna were similar to creatures that had been native to Naboo. You wanted to know more, wanted to learn if perhaps there had once been travellers from Naboo to this planet in wild space. It gave you hope, and you were only too pleased to cling to that.

 Kylo pulled off his glasses and began to clean the condensation off their surface. “Sorry.” You glanced at the chrono on the wall. The journey to the planet was long, namely due to the fact that resources were being conserved as best they could be. Finn would join on a different ship if the mission had not ended by the time he wrapped up his current duties with Lando and Jannah. Poe and Rose were together on a separate mission; they would rest, however, as they had been deployed numerous times in the past month and the strain had begun to show physical signs. “Are Kuruk and Vicrul still self-isolating?” They had been doing so quite often. When it came to Kuruk, that behavior was normal. For Vicrul, it was newer, the same as it was with Trudgen.

 Pausing in his movements, Kylo tilted his head. You knew that he reached out with the Force to brush against the Knights’ presence and locate them. “Together.” You nodded, watched as he replaced the glasses on the bedside table. He passed the datapad to you, scrolling then pointing. You read the passage with a frown.

 More information on the Force-resistant creatures had been released, though much of it was speculation. Kylo had told you how he had killed the Zillo Beast, however that had only been one. There were multiple creatures in this case and they had been observed in pairs. While they were resistant to the Force, they actively sought out its users. Other creatures from different planets had been known to behave as such.

 “You will stay behind with Vicrul, Cardo, and Ap’lek.” A scowl broke across your face. “There will be multiple expeditions into their territory. Three parties will form.” You huffed, working through what he was not saying. Rey would lead the third group. Her group and Kylo’s would go while you remained behind to learn what you could about the creatures similar to those that had been on Naboo. “An LDS may be necessary.” The minute amount of agitation that had begun to build dissipated. Your mouth formed a small oh of understanding. “Some younglings may join Rey in training once this mission ends.”

 “On the planet, or will they leave with her?” His gaze flickered to the door before returning to your face. He shook his head almost imperceptibly. It was either unknown or undecided. That part was political. You wrinkled your nose and moved on from the matter. “You’re leaving Ranooke with me, aren’t you?”

 “Yes.”

 Relief flooded through you. You did not want to think of Ranooke facing any of those creatures any more than you wanted to think of Kylo doing so. Millicent would remain aboard the ship. Her presence was due to the feline having snuck aboard—or that was the story that Ap’lek told, which you were struggling to believe given the frequency with which this occurred. Then again, you thought, it did make sense to you. She had lost her former home, her former master. And she had been made to travel often when she had been in Hux’s care. You felt your stomach roil at the name, and you shoved it away.

 You curled your body against Kylo’s. He wound his arms around you, pulling you back down so that you could lay together for a little while longer. The back to back missions had taken him away from you for nearly a month. A mere two days together before this mission had come up. You were glad to be there with him, to be in his arms, to feel his touch. You buried your face into the crook of his neck, breathing a sigh of relief.

 This moment of peace in time, you would embrace it for all it was worth.

[passionate-reply]

This time on Great Albums, we tackle a slightly more obscure artist, but one who’s near and dear to my heart: Frank “Fad Gadget” Tovey, the very first artist signed to Mute Records, and the one behind MUTE 002. Find out what’s so great about him by watching my video, or reading the transcript that follows after the break.

Welcome to Passionate Reply, and welcome to Great Albums! Today, I’m going to be digging into the work of Frank Tovey, better known as “Fad Gadget.” While Tovey was the very first artist signed to Daniel Miller’s Mute Records, his legacy doesn’t seem to be remembered quite as strongly as many of his labelmates. He never achieved the heights of pop stardom that Depeche Mode did, and despite being a daring and experimental artist in his own right, he doesn’t have quite as prominent a cult following as, say, Einstürzende Neubauten. Fad Gadget may not be for everybody, but he’ll always be an important artist to me. As a teenager, he helped me bridge the gap between listening almost exclusively to mainstream synth-pop, and becoming much more interested in underground styles like industrial. And my first love was this album, Tovey’s third: Under the Flag.

Tovey’s first 7” release, featuring the tracks “Back to Nature” and “The Box,” was released on Mute Records in 1979, as MUTE 002, second only to Daniel Miller’s own “Warm Leatherette.” His early singles, as well as his debut album, Fireside Favourites, stuck to a similar sonic template as “Warm Leatherette”: sharp, punkish assaults on common decency, propelled by a harsh synthesised pulse or two. But for his second LP, 1981’s Incontinent, Tovey went in a different direction. He maintained his bile, and impatience with the societal status quo ante, but assumed the guise of a Medieval fool, and incorporated a substantially larger proportion of traditional instruments into his sound.

Music: “Blind Eyes”

For his follow-up to Incontinent, Tovey would straddle the line between gritty, industrial synth lashings and that counter-cultural dark cabaret. And sometimes, he’d even do it within the same track, as on the fearful “The Sheep Look Up.”

Music: “The Sheep Look Up”

On “The Sheep Look Up,” a sparse, piano-driven intro unfurls to reveal a menacing electronic undercurrent. But the piano doesn’t depart from the track--in fact, it keeps up with the pace just fine. As jarring as the synth’s entry feels initially, it’s never the only source of tension in the track. Like a lot of great electronic music, Under the Flag approaches technology with nuance. While it’s one figure in the album’s bleak, dystopian landscape, it’s far from the only one. The lyrics of “The Sheep Look Up” are much more concerned with criticizing mob mentality and mass outrage--not to mention the role of governments in stoking that outrage, peddling jingoistic nationalism and seething hatred of perceived enemies of the state. In a lot of ways, this is a tale as old as time, and one that’s as likely to be told alongside a lute as it is a synthesiser. Sometimes, tradition itself is the target of Tovey’s ire, as on the track “Plainsong”:

Music: “Plainsong”

“Plainsong” is named after one of the earliest forms of music in the Western tradition: the monophonic, Latin-language chants used by the Church in the Early Middle Ages, also called “plainchant.” The track sonically embodies the wearying effect of simplistic, repetitive chanting, with its choir of distorted voices that repeat the main chorus, and refuse to stay in tune or rhythm. The title would seem to lead us to interpret “Plainsong” as an indictment of religious indoctrination, in particular, but I think it can also be read more broadly. Aside from that title, the lyrics don’t actually mention religion in any concrete sense, which makes me inclined to interpret it as also applying to all the other ways society uses music and rhyme to instill its values into people. Who among us wasn’t raised with insipid sayings like “blood is thicker than water” or “curiosity killed the cat,” that reinforce social norms and squash independence of spirit? Religion, like technology, is only one of modern society’s countless rotten pillars. While Tovey doesn’t single out religion in “Plainsong,” he is clear about the victims of such brainwashing being “young ears.” Childhood is invoked several times on Under the Flag, but features most prominently on “Love Parasite.”

Music: “Love Parasite”

The titular “Love Parasite” is, of course, a human infant--though it’s insidiously portrayed as something monstrous. Those of us who dislike children might be inclined to read “Love Parasite” as a brutally honest portrayal of parenthood as a miserable, soul-sucking experience, and hence as a rebuttal of the societal expectation that everyone ought to have children. While I do like that interpretation, I think it’s also important to remember that the “Love Parasite” is a human being, too. The fact that so many unwanted and unloved humans are brought into this world to begin with produces a tremendous resource for those institutions like church and state to exploit. It’s precisely this relationship between vulnerable people and the apparatus of government that defines the narrative of the album’s title track.

Music: “Under the Flag I”

The title track of Under the Flag is actually split into two parts. The first half of it appears as the opening track, and the second half closes out the album. That makes it even more tempting to parse it as a summation of the album’s themes than a title track normally is! Rather than distilling the overarching ideas of the album in a more abstract way, the “Under the Flag” tracks drill down to the level of an individual, struggling to make his way in society. He’s one of those unwanted children who grows up without a stable home life, and ends up working for the government and trying to make a difference in the world...but failing. By giving us this singular protagonist, Tovey centers his focus on human suffering at the most relatable and personal level possible. And with the final line of “Under the Flag II,” and hence, the entire album, he asks us, quite pointedly, “Under what flag?”

Ultimately, “under what flag?” is the central question proposed by the album. It also seems to be the question being asked by its striking sleeve design, featuring a photo of Tovey by the famed Anton Corbijn. The first thing we notice is its bold, black-and-white colour scheme--perhaps a nod to the idea of black-and-white, good-vs.-evil style thinking, often favoured by demagogues and others who seek to mobilize the masses. But after a second or two, we quickly realize that while Tovey is a flesh and blood man, the flag he seems to be holding up is merely painted on the wall behind him. It’s an image that perfectly epitomizes the contrast between the arbitrary, superficial nature of concepts like nations, and the painfully real human suffering that they can cause. Throughout the album, Tovey pits these abstract notions of communal well-being against the plight of the individuals they victimize--as on “Scapegoat,” a track centered around the perspective of the one person who’s saddled with the blame of a whole society.

Music: “Scapegoat”

After the release of Under the Flag, Tovey went on to release one more album under the name Fad Gadget: 1984’s Gag. He then released several albums as Frank Tovey throughout the remainder of the 1980s, first heading in a more synth-pop direction, and ultimately ending up releasing a full album of folk music, 1989’s Tyranny and the Hired Hand. While perhaps initially perplexing, I’ve always thought it was a natural move for Tovey. He was clearly interested in the exploitation of the underclass, and the expression of their fundamental humanity. And those themes are truly timeless.

Music: “Sixteen Tons”

Sadly, Tovey wouldn’t get a chance to re-emerge in the 21st Century, as many of his contemporaries did. He died in 2002, aged just 45, due to a congenital heart defect, while fresh off of releasing a new greatest hits compilation and supporting Mute labelmates Depeche Mode on tour. I can so easily imagine Tovey thriving in the present day, with the rediscovery of so much underground 80s synth in the 00s, and the impact that that had on electronic music--not to mention how he would react to our era’s tumultuous politics. To me, he’ll always be the artist I’d bring back around for one last release if I could.

At any rate, my favourite song on Under the Flag is “For Whom the Bells Toll.” Admittedly, this is a somewhat sentimental pick for me, since it was one of the first Fad Gadget songs I heard and really liked. It’s got clattering mechanical percussion, harsh, textural synth swipes, and, boldly enough, no actual bells. In the context of the album, it stands out for being a bit straightforward, thematically, with a narrator simply pining after a lost love--presumably one who’s deceased, given the title. But what I think really sets it apart is its less-than-conventional vocals. Besides some singing, and a bit of background yipping and howling, we also hear some disgusting, dry retching noises, and even a very hi hat-like sneeze. It’s one of the most memorable instances of Tovey’s artistic preoccupation with our lowliest bodily functions, which, considering the scope of his career, is quite impressive. That’s everything I’ve got today--thanks for listening!

Music: “For Whom the Bells Toll”

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 270: Harry Potter Rules

Previously on BnHA: Present Mic punched Ujiko in the face! It was awesome. I’m thinking about getting a tattoo of it. Meanwhile Endeavor saved Mirko’s life by setting her on fire (reason #15 why I will never become a superhero), and Aizawa did some sexy Spider-Man poses for our viewing pleasure while fighting the rest of these Noumus which are still annoyingly refusing to die. Anyway but back to Present Mic, the undisputed MVP of this chapter. Because you see, in addition to the punching, he also used his Loud Voice attack (literally the actual attack name; Horikoshi will steal all of my jokes and leave me with nothing) to smash open Tomura’s Noumutank! Which I really thought was going to immediately lead to Everyone Dying, but apparently I was wrong! Anyways so yeah, right now Tomura’s just lying down all heart-stopped and not-breathing. Which seems very anticlimactic, BUT I JUST HAVE THE CRAZIEST FEELING that maybe, just maybe, the super powerful villain lad who just spent the last three arcs slowly upgrading his bad self just in time to wage war on the world as the story reaches its climax, might not actually be dead though.

Today on BnHA: DON’T MIND THAT OMINOUS ORGAN MUSIC PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND, IT’S NOTHING, IGNORE IT. Ahem. So first of all, as some of the bolder among us dared to speculate, Tomura is not, in fact, dead. He’s still very much kicking it with his nipple-less pecs and truffula tree hair, putzing around in his mental landscape filled with crumbled buildings and disembodied Theatrical Gesture Hands. For some reason he doesn’t have shoes or a shirt in his mental landscape, which was a very interesting choice on Horikoshi’s part, but we will speak no more of it. Anyway so to sum things up, Tomura’s family is all “TENKO WE LOVE YOU” and he’s all “oh hey” and then AFO fucking appears and he’s all “COME HERE MY BOY” which is exactly as creepy as you would expect, and for some fucking reason TOMURA ACTUALLY DOES COME HERE. And lol it turns out Ujiko gave him AFO. Like the quirk. Yes, that quirk. So long story short, Tomura is about to be possessed by AFO’s evil soul or some shit, and to put the cherry on top, fucking Deku out of fucking nowhere, MILES AWAY, is all “HE’S COMING.” Because of course he can sense it, because AFOFA IS REAL, AND FUCK ME THIS IS ALL HAPPENING TOO FAST, FUCK.

I know this chapter has been out since like 1pm, but I’m not getting to read it until 5 hours later because for once in my life I was trying to be responsible and actually get some work done on a Friday. I thought this might lead to less oh-god-I-still-have-to-get-that-done anxiety hovering over my weekend, but instead it just led to oh-god-I-have-to-get-the-chapter-recap-done anxiety hovering over my now! anyways so this might be a bit rushed lol

(ETA: yeah turns out this wasn’t exactly the kind of chapter you could just read quickly and get on with your life lmao. so, then!)

what a nice panel of Present Mic taking out the trash

you heard ‘em fellas. the doctor is secured. good job everyone we did it, manga over, congratulations. now to cut away to a two-page spread of Dark Shadow comically smothering Dabi’s flames with a giant stock pot lid, and that’ll be that! what a wonderful, extremely short and strangely underwhelming arc in which we haven’t even seen the actual main characters do anything yet. but I guess we don’t need them since the main bad guy is lying dead on the floor! everything is just so fucking dead and secured!! do you think if I keep repeating it enough Horikoshi will finally be like “okay geez I get it” and reveal his hand already

Mic is now ordering Ujiko to power down the Noumu, which again, I’m sure he will definitely do without a fuss since after all the good guys have clearly won the day

OH SHIT OH FUCK

rip X-Less. gonna just take a moment here to imprint your beautiful face onto my memory before it turns into a pile of ash. your face, I mean. not my memory. well my memory more or less already is a pile of ash but that’s neither here nor there ANYWAYS

:’)

what are these little sound effects. I think that’s supposed to be a buzzing noise?? anyways whatever it is PLEASE STOP IT, I AM NOT HAVING A NICE TIME SO STOP

ffff Horikoshi sure has done an excellent job of setting the mood in such a way that all of these panels of X-Less doing incredibly mild things are sending my stress levels through the roof. like is anyone else reading his lines more or less like “WELP, TIME FOR ME TO DIE, ANY SECOND NOW, WE’RE REALLY DOING THIS, THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING, HERE IT COMES”

(ETA: when is this poor sweet innocent man going to fucking die already.)

LET’S CUT BACK TO MIC ESCAPING THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY

I have the clearest mental image of Horikoshi standing by with a walkie talkie in one hand and one of those remote bomb detonation clicky switch thingies in the other, patiently waiting to receive the go-ahead once all of the important characters have gotten to safety

anyway so now Ujiko is talking again

no fear everyone this is just the beginning of his verbal noumu deactivation sequence. nothing to worry about. everything is fine

yes for some reason his code phrase to put all the noumus back to sleep involves going into rambling detail about his work researching quirk singularities and shit. it’s fine. it’s not a big deal. code phrases are just like that sometimes all right

just ignore the increasingly panicked look in Mic’s eye as he slowly realizes he was way too fucking keen to just leave the “dead” Tomura back there with his laser-eyed hero buddy. anyway so let’s continue learning all about the Quirk Illuminati or whatever the fuck

okay so... he faked his own death? 70 years ago, at age 50 or thereabouts? I mean, that’s interesting and all I guess. not saying I wouldn’t be thrilled to spend the rest of this chapter learning all about Ujiko’s boring evil life. I don’t need to say it because it’s implied on account of Ujiko sucks and is the worst. so yeah can we get a move on though

oh shit?!?

WHOSE NARRATION IS THAT IN THE BOXES TOMURA IS THAT YOU OH GOD OH GOD

also, comparing AFO’s smile to a buddha’s really sent an actual shudder of disgust down my spine for some reason lmao. I personally would have steered that comparison in a different area, maybe less to buddhas and more to Norman Bates from Psycho, but to each their own

oh shit wait up

okay but this is actually a pretty big revelation though, isn’t it? because it’s been hinted for a while now that AFO and Ujiko had some method of duplicating quirks (the fact that all the Noumu share the same regeneration quirk was the biggest clue, but there was also John-chan’s quirk, as well as Hood’s Muscular-esque quirk), but as far as I can recall, this is the first time we’ve had it confirmed. though to be fair I wasn’t joking when I said my memory really has been shit lately sob

anyway so for real though, can you really call it a BnHA chapter if you’re not spending a good chunk of it being hopelessly confused over the ownership of some ambiguous thought bubbles. WHO IS THIS. I do seriously feel like it’s Tomura, because he’s the wrathful one, but another hallmark of a typical BnHA chapter is me constantly questioning everything I know as I muddle my way through

(ETA: yeah I’m pretty sure it was him. still impressive how vague it is though! it could also potentially be Ujiko, Mic, or even Deku. hopefully Caleb’s translation on Sunday can shed some more light on this. though he wasn’t really helpful last time this happened lol.)

SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON

didn’t... you just... say that “preservation” was your quirk?? what do you mean that you wanted it?? CAN YOU JUST FINISH YOUR SENTENCES LIKE A NORMAL PERSON

anyway so here’s a summary of this chapter thus far

present mic: okay goodbye forever x-less

x-less: what a strange thing to say! :) also is it just me or is this machine fucking staring at me

present mic: turn the noumu off please

ujiko: seventy years ago... society... singularity... he’d be 120 years old now...

??: [REPULSIVE FEELING EW WHO’S TOUCHING ME]

ujiko: all for one has the smile of an angel...

??: [SON OF A BITCH I’M SO FUCKING WRATHFUL]

ujiko: my quirk... preservation... the truth is... my quirk... preservation... the truth is... my quirk...

all caught up?? grand. also btw is anyone else super disturbed by the fact that Ujiko recognizes Mic as being “Kurogiri’s friend”, like holy shit though? how would he know that. I can’t think of any implications of this that aren’t super disturbing tbh

anyways back to -- LOL WHAT THE

Horikoshi Kouhei: [furiously scribbling notes to himself at 3am] BUT WHAT IF THE FOLDING CITY FROM “INCEPTION” HAD MORE GIANT HANDS

jesus christ. is this like some mental representation of what shit is currently like in Tomura’s mind? lots of crumbly destruction and traffic lights and the house his father built (isn’t it? I feel like it looks familiar), and SO MANY HANDS, HE JUST LOVES HIS HANDS

anyway so at this point it’s a coin toss whether or not anything in this fucking chapter is ever going to make any kind of fucking sense! but here I am voluntarily along for the ride while Gene Wilder sings that creepy boat song right in my ear!

DSFKLDSJ

ACCURATE REPRESENTATION OF SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN FLOATING IN A JAR FOR THREE MONTHS TBH. that is some luscious quarantine hair

SDFLKJSDLFKJSLKFDHLKSDJFLKJLKSDJL:FKJSDL:KJ

(ETA: that Tomura in the top left may be my new favorite panel. look at him. all he is is a nose and chin and ~*~HAIR~*~.)

HANAAAAAA AHHHHHH OH MY LORD OH MY LORD! OKAY I’M FINALLY PAYING ATTENTION NOW FOR REAL! NO MORE JOKES! EVERYBODY SHHHH!!!

FFFFFFFFFF

“LOOK AT ME I’M A MAIN CHARACTER I CAN HAVE STRANGE VISIONS AND TALK TO DEAD PEOPLE IN MY DREAMS, SOUND LIKE ANYBODY ELSE YOU KNOW?” TOMURA SHUT UP I DON’T HAVE TIME TO ANALYZE THIS SCENE THEMATICALLY RIGHT NOW I’M TOO BUSY BEING SAD ABOUT YOUR DEAD SISTER WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY CALCULATING THE ODDS OF THIS SOMEHOW BEING FORESHADOWING FOR HER NOT REALLY BEING DEAD. OH GOD, OH FUCK YOU GUYS, I’M FREAKING OUT

WHAT KIND OF YOUNGER BROTHER DOESN’T CALL HIS OLDER SISTER “NEECHAN” TOMURA WHAT KIND OF ANIME CHARACTER ARE YOU

AT THIS POINT HIS HAIR IS ITS OWN INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER WITH THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS WOW

HORIKOSHI PLEASE STOP SHAKING THIS CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE OF SIBLING FEELS SO VIGOROUSLY I AM SO TERRIBLY AFRAID OH GOD

“BY THE WAY TENKO I JUST HAVE TO SAY, YOUR MAN BOOBS ARE SERIOUSLY IMPRESSIVE AND YOU SHOULD BE VERY PROUD.” YES HANA I WAS JUST GOING TO SAY. HOW ASTUTE OF YOU TO POINT THAT OUT. BOY HAS BEEN HITTING THAT BOWFLEX

WTAF IS HIS HAIR THOUGH SERIOUSLY??!

IS IT JUST ME OR IS THIS DIALOGUE BUBBLE ACTUALLY COMING FROM THE HAIR ITSELF. TOMURA. TOMURA BLINK TWICE IF YOU ARE IN DANGER

SJJKJSKJSW

TENKO IT’S ME YOUR GIANT MOM I’M BEHIND YOU HONEY TURN AROUND AND LOOK HELLO HI I LOVE YOU DO YOU STILL WANT TO BE A HERO

ffff why is he so pretty all the time lately

you are very handsome with your billowy hair and ken doll abs, you. sure are having a lot of trippy visions for a dead guy too there

HEY!!!!

WHO SAID YOU WERE ALLOWED -- DO YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST -- ffffffffff I need to be alone with my thoughts for a few minutes fuck

okay well. but since it is getting late I guess we’ll just pack these feelings up real quick and put them inside a box and neatly label it “feelings I have about Tomura having a vision of his mom and immediately turning back into his innocent little boy self in said vision as soon as he sees her.” not too sure about the contents of this box yet but I will have to explore them thoroughly at a later date

oh hey it’s this asshole

“THAT WAS TWENTY YEARS AGO, DAD.” jesus Kotaro. get over it

and also guess what, if you go and get Tomura all riled up so he wakes up grumpy and disintegrates the first hapless guy he sees, I will hold you solely responsible for that poor man’s death. I’m just warning you now

oh my

I remember this conversation going a bit differently the last time, but hey

LOOOOOOL

HIGH FIVE. PUT ‘ER THERE

WHY WOULD YOU LOOK SO SURPRISED LOL DID YOU NOT JUST TURN TOWARDS HIM WITH A SINISTER MURDER FACE LIKE TWO SECONDS AGO. LIKE WTF DID YOU THINK WAS GONNA HAPPEN

OH NO OH SHIT

FUCK ME, GUESS IT WOULDN’T BE A DRAMATIC BNHA DREAM SEQUENCE IF THIS ASSHOLE DIDN’T MAKE AN APPEARANCE AT SOME POINT OR OTHER NOW WOULD IT

-- HOLY SHIT?!

RECORD SCRATCH, FREEZE FRAME??

holy shit. holy shit. holy shit. holy shit. holy shit. holy shit

holy shit. fuck

...okay so

is this implying that AFO has been Noumufied? but that doesn’t make any sense, does it? he already had multiple quirks. what other advantages could there be to him becoming a Noumu. well whatever I’m just typing out all of my thoughts real fast for the time being and I’ll try to make sense of them later

or is it because he sees Kurogiri as a father figure? and AFO also?

or is he using Kurogiri’s quirk????? IS HE SOMEHOW WARPING INTO TOMURA’S DREAMS

because that third one, to me, is what this panel most looks like? Tomura says he looks like Kuro, but he doesn’t though. Kuro has a very distinctive face which this is very much lacking. instead it looks to me much more like one of Kurogiri’s portals, with AFO’s buddhaesque smile sticking out. so yeah. I got nothin’. except, again, fuck

(ETA: yeah I obviously have more thoughts about this now, but we’ll get to those in a bit.)

...

.......

-- !!!!!!!!!!LKJLK!JLKJ

oh shit oh shit oh shit 

OH SHIT

NO BABY NO DON’T DO IT

GASP

THEY’RE TRYING TO SAVE HIM AHHHH

I HAVE LIKE TEN THOUSAND THOUGHTS IN MY BRAIN RIGHT NOW YET SOMEHOW MY MIND IS ALSO STRANGELY BLANK?? I DON’T EVEN KNOW?? I’LL JUST KEEP READING

KOTARO ARE YOU TRYING TO HELP HIM OR ARE YOU PULLING HIM TOWARD AFO??

OH HE’S PUSHING HIM BACK!! OH SHIT IT’S A WHOLE FAMILY EFFORT

THEY’RE TRYING TO SAVE HIM AFO IS GOING TO TAKE HIM OVER AND THEY’RE TRYING TO PROTECT HIM OH GOD OH JESUS

BABY TENKO EYES OH MY GOD HE LOOKS SO MUCH LIKE DEKU THAT I THOUGHT IT WAS DEKU FOR A MOMENT

NO TENKO!!!

FUCK -- DOES HE NOT CARE? HE ACTUALLY UNDERSTANDS WHAT’S ABOUT TO HAPPEN BUT HE DOESN’T CARE?? IS HE TRULY SO PROFOUNDLY MISERABLE THAT HE’D GO AHEAD AND ACCEPT THIS FATE WILLINGLY

NO SOUNDS. NO WORDS. YOU COULD HEAR A PIN DROP IN MY ROOM RIGHT NOW

except that I have the most incredible, chilling, disturbing, electrifying feeling that my mental soundtrack is about to start blaring AFO’s theme from the anime on full blast...!

LOOOOOL SOB OH FUCKK

THE MOST TERRIFYING, DRAMATIC KIP UP YOU’VE EVER SEEN IN YOUR LIFE!! THIS IS IT, IT’S BEEN REAL FRIENDS, THIS IS WHERE WE DIE

-- ARE YOU REALLY, TRULY, GENUINELY SHITTING ME RIGHT NOW

NOW OF ALL TIMES IS WHEN WE FINALLY CUT TO THE TRIO, I’M CAN’T, I’M FUCK

AND THAT’S THE END AHHHHH

holy shit holy shit holy shit. wow

okay so. I don’t really have any sort of neat and tidy way to wrap up this hot mess of a recap lol. so, just... have a whole mess of all of my stupid whirling thoughts

those first four pages really did nothing to brace me at all lol

okay, so. here’s my understanding of all this, I guess. basically we’re going full Harry Potter rules here. AFO horcruxed his quirk, and from the looks of it, a piece of his soul (perhaps even the main piece) along with it. he then passed it on to Ujiko to implant into Tomura

horcrux!AFO then wakes up, and takes over Tomura. so then my understanding is that he’s going to be possessed by him. and I also got the impression that he’s fully aware of that, but just doesn’t care at this point. he knew his family was trying to warn him, but he didn’t care. and that look in his eyes when he disintegrated them just seemed so fucking resigned to me, though. jesus

but now the more interesting thing! so we can liken Tomura to the resurrected Voldemort from book 5 and onward, reborn after transferring his power into a new vessel. which would go a long way toward explaining how AFO was able to sense what was happening from all the way in Tartarus; because if we liken it to Voldemort and his horcruxes, it would mean that he still has a connection to them (similar to the connection between Voldemort’s mind and Harry’s)

but so now comes the really interesting thing -- what does this then imply about the connection between AFO and Deku? because you’ll recall that AFO alluded to a similar mental connection back when Deku first activated SIXQUIRKS. and now we have Deku somehow being magically aware of AFO’s sudden resurgent presence in this chapter. but why?? if the reason AFO and Tomura share a psychic link is because of a shared quirk, why would Deku also be experiencing the same link? the answer is, he wouldn’t -- unless he, too, had the same shared quirk

in other words, I think All for One for All is fucking confirmed you guys. I can’t think of any explanation for this other than that OFA is also a horcrux quirk. a little piece of AFO broken off and embedded in his brother, and then passed along through the generations. and now residing within Deku

anyway. so that’s a hell of a lot to ponder lol. I guess we can at least be grateful for the fact that we’re not waiting two weeks for chapter 271 like Hori originally planned. can you fucking imagine. what a fucking asshole lol

[kevinvoiceofdesertbluffs]

177 - Bloody Laws, Bloody Claws: The Murder of Frank Chen

Well, the episode title immediately answers my previous question. All the mentions in the previous episodes did indeed lead into its own episode!

I am also livetyping this as I listen to the episode - a return to roots, if you will. Logistical reasons, mostly, and I think that always has the potential to get some interesting commentary going on. So, let us dive in deep, into the case of Frank Chen, a long overdrawn court case, and a five-headed dragon.

This is... this is just fantastic, right away. So, not the usual radio show - this is Cecil’s previously mentioned true crime podcast! The final episode, that is. And he sings his own opening tune, oh yes.

SO MANY EPISODES, CECIL DO YOU NOT GET ENOUGH RADIO?

Ok, yeah, he gets a lot more money on the podcast, and he is passionate... makes sense.

It’s true alright, you GOTTA have a Twitch channel if you wanna podcast in this day and age. Cecil, being 19, should actually know that. For shame.

All the way in 2012... I forget the actual timeline. Was- was the Hiram McDaniels storyline seriously all the way back in 2012? Or has this happened before that whole shabbang?

FruitBox sounds like my kinda subscription service.

Dragon law - law involving dragons, unfortunately, not law of dragons. That’d be much more interesting. Not much precedence in that area, I’m afraid. Not like that’s a good legal system, anyways.

Cecil, don’t get scammed by your podcast producer/manager. Hey, wait, he said there’s money in podcasting, but he’s not been paid yet? Cecil, get your priorities straight. Well, at least he’s pursuing his passions. And he’s getting some sweet gigs! Like a 60-city talk, with puppets, and voice acting!

Carlos is the best. What a fricking sweetheart, I love it. Hehe, my tortoise... Also, he brought him lunch all the way to a court room? And, why does Carlos’ voice sound so much better than Cecil’s? I’m gonna guess it’s either a stylistic choice, or Cecil the character has something impeding him, or Cecil the actor had mic issues while recording.

Ah, sponsors are always great segments.

Oh, oh! Judge verdict!

So, while the wea- uhm, unrelated song, plays (it’s fine but kinda eh), let us talk about the meta of this episode. It’s very obviously a light jab at podcasting, and it’s pretty funny I gotta say. From the sponsors, to the unrelated song, which is a Night Vale staple, to the multimedia and social interaction side... Aaaand I’ve just made it unfunny, amazing.

Ok, unrelated song is over!

Honestly, if all judge verdicts were magic shows, I’d go to all of them. They’re public!

I love the fact Cecil is, indeed, narrating everything out loud, as it happens, to the dismay of everyone around him. Amazing stuff.

By the by - who won? Go listen to the episode if you wanna know!

Ok... I kinda... kinda have to talk about it, actually. Under the spoiler read more it goes!

So, the Chen family won. And the city of Night Vale, and the police, have to pay damages. The payment is, drumroll... one living Frank Chen!

They. They have to resurrect someone! This is so gonna come back.

This was a pretty enjoyable episode! Podcasts are nice, and while it is in no way a conclusion-

Ok, at the end, Megan says “Bloody Laws, Bloody Claws” instead of “Night Vale”. Alright, this might be a more regular segment. I’m excited.

Uhm, not sure what else to say! Livetyping one, good podcast, good episode, good podcast episode.

Have a spooky November, and happy belated Halloween!

[nosunsetsjustsilence]

The Manics and Gender Identity, Part 1

There is a lot to unpack in Nicky and Richey’s early lyrics pertaining to gender, particularly in terms of identifying with women. Richey approaches the subject — as he is wont to do — with regard to the exploitation and degradation of the female image, while Nicky’s attitude is more inquisitive and casual. Both use lyrics to express their own personal “What if?”

Make no mistake: I’m not claiming that either Nicky or Richey is/was non-cis or trans or anything other than curious. But it’s clear from their personal lyric struggles and hard-won lifestyle choices that this was a different time they were living in. In the 1990s, gender identity was not a topic with any kind of mainstream recognition, at least beyond those who wanted a “sex change” or girls who were considered “one of the boys”. I think it’s fascinating, at least from my perspective, to go back and examine the themes of gender dysphoria, identity, and frustration in lyrics written before any of it was part of popular conversation, and in a way that emphasized the then absolute cultural disconnect between desire and society.

Also, it’s important to note that both Nicky and Richey have presented gender in ways that don’t have anything to do with lyrics. Nicky is comfortable in traditionally female clothing and wears dresses on and off stage; both band members wore makeup and feathers on a regular basis. I’ve tried to write about gender in terms of lyrics only, but at times I do take examples from visual media.

Finally, keep in mind that yours truly is non-binary, and the discussion will hopefully not reek of a cis person watching queer men from behind bars in a zoo.

Special thanks to @sinisterrouge for vetting this before I posted <3

Little Baby Nothing

Although Richey seemed to find comfort in claiming that his lyrics were about the larger world — in the case of Little Baby Nothing, feminism and the way women are perceived in media — a closer look usually reveals a personal stake. When I discussed the meaning of this song previously, I emphasized that the “Little baby nothing” in question is clearly Richey himself, writing in the first person and deconstructing his own image to align with a kind of mindless female groupie used for sex.

My mind is dead, everybody loves me Wants a slice of me Hopelessly passive and compatible Need to belong, oh the roads are scary Hold me in your arms I wanna be your only possession

Richey often refers to himself as a “slut” and a “prostitute” and uses self-referential porn star imagery in his lyrics (So Dead: “You need a fix I’m your prostitute”, Yes: “there’s no lust in this coma even for a fifty”), aligning the industries of pornography and music performance in very vivid ways most often pertaining to exploitation. Appropriately, singing pivotal stanzas on this track is none other than Traci Lords, arguably most famous (especially in the early 90s) for an underage porn scandal.  

What’s more, in the lyrics booklet for Generation Terrorists, there is a quotation or excerpt included for each song. The following corresponds to Little Baby Nothing:

“The male chromosome is an incomplete female chromosome. In other words the male is a walking abortion; aborted at the gene stage. To be male is to be deficient, emotionally limited; maleness is a deficiency disease and males are emotional cripples.” -Valerie Solanos.

Ninety percent of what the Manics said and did in their early years was intended to be shocking and/or ironic. Of course they were trying to incite anger and riots, the questioning of institutions, and a teardown of normalcy. But the fact that Richey later used part of this radical statement as the title to one of his songs (“Of Walking Abortion”, natch) proves that he took it somewhat seriously, even if only in the most simple sense — that part of him resented his own maleness.

Life Becoming a Landslide

This is another song I’ve previously discussed, mostly in the arena of Nicky and Richey individualizing their distinctive voices into lines that can clearly be attributed to one or the other. In a song about nature vs nurture and the plastic confines of greater humanity cracking down on who or what someone is really supposed to be, we have:

Life becoming a landslide Ice freezing nature dead Life becoming a landslide I don’t wanna be a man

As far as writing style goes, Nicky was always fairly straightforward. Richey loves to convolute his message with proper nouns and alternating verb cases and a lack of a subject just to throw  people off, but here’s Nicky, my boy, just saying, “Dude. Being a man sucks. I don’t like this.”

He could mean that being human in general sucks. But, since his attitude towards women leads me to believe he would not abbreviate humanity in this way, and given his and Richey’s track record with gender and Nicky’s well-documented gender presentation, I think it’s clear the lyric means that he doesn’t want to be male. Because he feels it doesn’t suit him, for whatever reason. And that nature failed by making him a man instead of a woman.

Yes

‘Yes’ is an incredible song. Its major-chord melody juxtaposed against Richey’s raw portrait of degradation is truly a thing to behold. The theme? Being used, prostitution both literal and metaphorical (“For sale? dumb cunt’s same dumb questions”), exploitation in the name of capitalism (“In these plagued streets of pity you can buy anything”), and reaching the lowest possible point of existence (“Purgatory’s circle, drowning here, someone will always say yes”). But the chorus — the chorus boasts one of the rawest images of sexual violence the band has ever used:

He’s a boy, you want a girl so tear off his cock Tie his hair in bunches, fuck him, call him Rita if you want

Wow. Okay. Where to begin? The implication here is that gender, along with everything else, is mutable if you have enough money and power to abuse people. However, it appears the change would be made not to entertain others, but to appeal to a specific person, sexually (“fuck him”). The “you” in question is clearly attracted to women, so the narrator offering to mutilate himself to please them can be seen as a last-ditch act of desperation. (“It feels like this massive defeat,” said a friend. “You can make him a woman to pleasure someone, but what’s left to change after that?”)

Richey wrote most of the song; “Rita”, obviously, is the name used for an alternative female identity. But who would Rita be? Richey seems to be wondering. Would she still be me? And would the change even be worth the affections of whomever he’s speaking to? If the means are so drastic (and difficult to picture without experiencing secondhand pain), that answer would usually be “no”. But the song is called “Yes”. I would say yes to anything at this point, Richey is saying, even the most extreme sexual violence imaginable, if that’s what you wanted.

4st 7lb

This is an extreme example of Richey using world issues to examine his own nature. Although anorexic himself, Richey writes “4st 7lb” from the point of view of an obsessive young girl admiring thin models. There could be multiple reasons for this, not the least of which is that when a person fails to fit the “classic” case of an eating disorder, they are often ignored. So, Richey says, you need me to be a teenage girl? I can do that. 

(Note that in 1994, when this song was written, any eating disorder demographic outside the “white girl who loves fashion too much” model did not exist by medical standards and was usually subject to ridicule.)

Karen says I’ve reached my target weight Kate and Emma and Kristin know it’s fake Problem is diet’s not a big enough word I wanna be so skinny that I rot from view

Embodying the anorexic female stereotype allows Richey to criticize both the world and himself; by creating a parody of a young girl with an eating disorder, he creates commentary on how ridiculous and counter-intuitive her thought process actually is. The song is brutal and often focuses on nudity and sexual imagery, as it has been suggested in studies that eating disorders occur in those who are trying to annihilate their own puberty. Though Richey was well into his 20s when he wrote this, he often expressed a loathing of aging and the entire concept of adulthood.

Stomach collapsed at five Lift up my skirt my sex is gone Naked and lovely and 5 stone 2 May I bud and never flower My vision’s getting blurred But I can see my ribs and I feel fine My hands are trembling stalks And I can feel my breasts are sinking

Ultimately, “4st 7lb” hits hard as both an experiment in identity and a vicious satire of the rich white girl eating disorder cliché. Although the lyrics do not express a desire to become female, they do indicate that Richey feels everything might be easier and fit more neatly into a box if he were a girl.

[Coming in Part 2: The Girl Who Wanted to be God, Tsunami, Born a Girl, and Pretention/Repulsion.]

[thesimonkshow]

My thoughts on Folklore

This is about to be a long ass Taylor Swift post, so strap in for the ride.

I along with many others were going about their business (looking at Adam Driver gifs) before my phone alerted me to the notification that Taylor Swift was releasing her eighth studio album Folklore the very next day. Chaos everywhere, my sleep schedule went out the window as I went into the Swifties tag to see how everyone else was dealing with this news. So I eagerly awaited 2PM (Australian time) for the album to drop and after a few listens (sleep got the better of me through my first listen due to my previous sleep schedule), I eventually picked out some album highlights.

The 1 - I love how freely she’s cussing on the album (a point that will be reitriated throughout), and I know Gossip tabloids and casuals will be shooketh because they’d think Taylor & Mr. Alwyn have ‘broken up’ due to Taylor’s personable lyrics but this gave me Better Man vibes. Remember when the Bridge said ‘You might have bern The One if you were a Better Man’ and this is basically that without the angsty fire.

Cardigan - I LOVE how Alternative Folk fits Taylor’s voice, it sounds like she’s telling us a story and we are entrapsed by her. It also works perfectly with the love triangle songs, which I had to understand a bit through a few listens.

The Last Great American Dynasty - The moment I saw this track, I knew it would be epic. I pictured her taking the piss out of the Trump family, but what I got was an awesome song about the woman who owned Taylor’s Rhode Island house and the antics she got up to. I love the descriptors she used when describing the weddings and the party’s Rebekah & Bill had and especially the bridge of antics Rebekah got up to later in her time. The ‘And then it was bought by me.’ Part of the bridge, I love a good twist!

Exile - OH MY LORD. When I saw Skinny Love Bon Iver on this album, I knew this would be something and low and behold it was. The concept of the man in exile in her intro caught my attention but seeing it up close and personal was amazing. The vocals interlaced with each other was perfection, especially as Taylor responds to Bon Iver. I really connected it to the struggles of Seth Rollins in the latter half of 2019, how he seemed to be exiled from the WWE, how his initial opponent Kevin Owens was having his flaws disregarded to drag Seth down, the ‘Always Keep Fighting’ shirt that he wore (raising money for mental health chairties) adding insult to injury for Seth, who had even briefly deactivated his twitter to clear his headspace following attacks/death threats from a fellow wrestler’s fan base. ‘I gave you every sign’ rings true here, the man was struggling and no one seemed to care.

My Tears Ricochet - My WWE ass was happy to see another Wrestler reference after The Man. So this was an interesting look, but I got another story that intrigued me, a man having been involved in a tumultous connection with the songs narrator showing up to her funeral to save face. Listeners drew parraells with the recent Masters drbarkle with Scott Borchetta, head of Big Machine Records with whom Taylor was once signed to, and I have to say it’s a good perspective to take.

Mirrorball - This one took a while but I ended up loving the fact she could sing from a Mirrorball’s perspective and still make an epic song. I loved the part about always fitting in with the crowd because at functions/discos where mirrorballs are used, the lights will change to fit the mood and being a reflective surface, Mirrorballs will reflect the colour change.

Seven - This was a nice ditty about a past friend Taylor once had. I really loved the line ‘Please picture me in the weeds before I learned Civility’ it gives a more sophisticated parraell to Never Grow Up.

August - This is the second in the love triangle songs, and I loved the storytelling aspect as Taylor paints the picture of an affair that Summer Nights would quake in it’s boots if it heard about it. She sweeps up the adience in the Mistresses POV, showcasing the sweetness of love and the sting of toxcisity.

This is me trying - Where are those who said Taylor Swift plays the victim in her songs? Because this is for them. Taylor states in this her regrets of wasted potential, broken relationships etc. at the end of the day no matter how many awards she has, records she breaks, or money she possesses, Taylor Alison Swift is a human being, and we should give her boundries to grow and flourish.

Illicit Affairs - This track title also intrigued me, and whilst it does what the title says, and discusses the highs and lows of the secret passions of mismatched lovers, the second verse & bridge stood out to me the most. The way Taylor’s voice went up on him in the line ‘Leave the perfume on the shelf that you picked out just for him.’ Drew my attention as she later did the same thing on the word high, this had to mean something. And given that we don’t know the narrators gender, this could also be a song about a closeted gay man who’s found love but is struggling to accept this relationship. Whereas the bridge reminded me a lot of the Adam & Hannah breakup in Season 4 of Girls in the episode Sit In where Hannah denounces Adam’s nickname of kid, which he had called her by since the first season, with the episode before that showing her heartbroken that Adam has gotten a new girlfriend behind her back and thus turns into a mess locked in her apartment for a day and two nights. it was a heartbreaking part of the show, one that shifted it into a new era for better or for worse, and the entirety of this reasonated with me.

Invisible String - Around this point was where melotonin kicked in for me on my first listen, so I’ve heard this less than the other songs, but I love how it discusses her relationship with Joe & how for better or for worse, he is hers. It continued the theme with them on Lover of not having a great picturesque love, but having ups and downs like any couple.

Mad Woman - The calmer sister of The Man, she won’t throw big production and actions around, she can take you down with words alone. The track stings brutally as Taylor takes down sexism as it exists in our world today, and even sadly paints a visual of how it must have been for women back in the day fighting for equal rights. ‘Does a scorpion sting when fighging back?’ Line was annother connection, as I was reminded of Vanessa Ives from Penny Dreadful and how the animal symbology that stuck with her was a scorpion, used to great effect in the Season 2 finale in a confrontation with Lucifer’s makeshift doll of her. The chorus line ‘And you’ll poke the bear till her claws come out, and you’ll find something to wrap your noose around’ stuck with me on my listens, and really shows how men will strike and then run away saying ‘it’s a joke, she’s hysterical’ etc. the part about women loving to hunt witches also reminded me of a Doctor Who episode called ‘The Witchers’ and also reminded some listeners of how Demi Lovato took Scooter Braun’s side in the Licencing debarkle, in fact in the first part of the bridge, the song also has a double meaning. It’s also about the state of affairs following Taylor’s songs being stolen from her. The part in the bridge about the wives knowing about their Spinster husbands having affairs and not wanting to show their anger for fear of being outcast like the titular woman is angsty but so lyrically genius.

Epiphany - I had to listen to this a couple of times but once I realised what it was about, I was in shock. This is about her Grandfather Dean who she mentioned in the intro who fought in a war. The song paints the war setting with the helmet, the flesh wound and the rifle within the first few words, and I especially loved the line ‘And some things we don’t speak of.’ because it talked about how some soldiers develop PTSD from their experiences, yet don’t want to discuss them for fear of being perceived as weak. Also the outro beat sounds like a radar scanning for a plane, and the beat of the drum sounds like bombs exploding, really adds to the War theme.

Betty - This is the final track in the love triangle story as it tells the story of James as he fights to earn back Betty’s love after he has an affair with Inez. The eventual pitfalls of Illicit Affairs have come for Inez which causes her to tell Betty of their affair, which is a nice link. This songs gives a classic Greese/Christine/Cheesy 80s Film meets Trixie Mattel vibe which I loved. I also loved the callbacks to August & Cardigan, along with the casual F bomb droppings.

Peace - This is another sweet love song for Joe which calls back to Cruel Summer, Cornelia Street & Dancing With Our Hands Tied as Taylor struggles with the connection she has established with Joe, and contemplates escaping, but eventually knows she’ll stay. How the entire world will be on them, but she’ll be by his side through it all. Similar to Invisible String but different all at once and a perfect penultimate track to lead to the last song.

Hoax - The sweetness brings us to the double edged sword of a closing track. Giving a shattering realisation that love can be tricky at times, the references to Call It What You Want ‘I am ash from your fire’, The Archer ‘You know the hero died so what’s the movie for?’ & ... So It Goes ‘You knew you won so what’s the point of keeping score’. Taylor loves Joe so much that when they fight it’s as painful as when she became Pop Culture Enemy #1 back in 2016. But no matter what, she says herself ‘Don’t want no other shade of blue but you. No other sadness in this world would do’ relationships are always painful, there is no happy endings all round, but there is still love to be found.

All in all this is an incredible album & @taylorswift you have created magic and I hope you know that myself & all the Swifties are so proud of you for flexing your writing skill and crafting such a stunning album.

[roadtohell]

@mynamesdrstuff​ thank you ur brain is so big, i had like 10 moments of revelation while writing this

A Labour of Love- or, How to Write a Song That Makes Me Want to Lie Facedown On The Floor

Four decades separates the respective rises of singer-songwriters Hozier and Bruce Springsteen, nearly as large as the gap between the worlds in which their public images reside. According to popular myth, the former is the tall, near-ethereal Bog Man, half in this life and half in the next, who rose from a fae-inhabited woodland after 1000 years of slumber to find he was able only to mourn his lost love through song; the other is the Boss, a hardy yet compassionate working-class hero permanently streaked with the blood and sweat of a marathon shift, toiling endlessly alongside the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, hard-rocking, earth-quaking, booty-shaking, Viagra-taking*, love-making, legendary E Street Band. The domains of fen and factory may appear to be irreconcilable, but in reality the musicians have many things in common:

Broadly speaking, they both create wildly variable mixes of folk and rock, often with particularly strong Irish and African-American influences.

Their lyrics are poetic and commonly reflect on social issues with a progressive voice.

Songs about romantic relationships typically portray them as complex and difficult but remain respectful, sometimes near worshipful, of women.

Their characters yearn, long, pine and crave more often than not.

They both really like to use religious imagery.

They enjoy and return notable amounts of wlw love.

Representative of many of these are Hozier’s “Work Song” and Springsteen’s “Maria’s Bed”, two songs with close thematic parallels. Each is ostensibly told from the perspective of an exhausted labourer who dreams of returning to his lover. In a twist, however, “Work Song” is a melancholic love story, while the upbeat “Maria’s Bed” is a subtle tale of death; the opposing moods are complex reflections of these underlying narratives. These songs have Hozier and Springsteen skilfully intertwine the concepts of love, death, freedom and spirituality, creating two deeply moving portrayals of desire** that never fail to eviscerate the listener after 10pm.

Though the songs differ in overall lyrical structure, the similarities in narrative are evident from the first few lines:

Boys, workin' on empty / Is that the kinda way to face the burning heat? / I just think about my baby / I'm so full of love I could barely eat

Been on a barbed wire highway forty days and nights / I ain’t complaining, it’s my job and it suits me right / I got a sweet soul fever rushing round my head / I’m gonna sleep tonight in Maria’s bed

The audience can gather that each character works in a harsh environment where they are exposed to the elements. Their work is likely in manual labour, but the details are skimmed over because the narrators don’t particularly want to think about the details. Pushed to their limits, each instead copes by preoccupying himself with thoughts of his lover, though it makes him literally lovesick.

I’d never want once from the cherry tree / ‘Cause my baby’s sweet as can be / She gives me toothaches just from kissing me

She gives me candy-stick kisses ‘neath a wolf-dog moon / A sweet breath and she’ll take you, mister, to the upper room

The worker recalls his lover’s kisses as being vibrantly sweet, sweeter than nature. So, too, is her company- in contrast to the grim situation he is currently in, she is something to be savoured. Sugar cravings, an innate biological compulsion, come to mind; his hankering for her is likewise deep-seated and out of his control.

The reason for such devotion, the narrator reveals, is that she saved his life at a time when he had already resigned himself to death. He believes he was undeserving of such a deed; Hozier describes “three days on a drunken sin… she never asked me once about the wrong I did,” while Springsteen’s character recounts being “burned by angels, sold wings of lead / then I fell in the roses and sweet salvation of Maria’s bed”. In other words, his state of ruin was at least partially self-made, and her care seemed completely inexplicable. He eagerly returns her love, perhaps feeling that it’s the least he owes- but he still doesn’t quite understand where it came from.

True to both songwriters’ styles, these lines are direct allusions to the idea of redemption in Christianity: God sheltering a faithful person from the literally hellish consequences of their wrongdoing, through no merit of their own. However, the worker is notably dismissive of traditional doctrine:

My babe would never fret none / About what my hands and my body done / If the Lord don’t forgive me / I’d still have my baby and my babe would have me

I’ve been out in the desert, yeah, doing my time / Searching through the dust for fool’s gold, looking for a sign / Holy man says “hold on, brother, there’s a light up ahead” / Ain’t nothing like the light that shines on me in Maria’s bed

His faith rests not in God but on his lover; she is his religion now. Her act of grace already gave him a new, better life- he doesn’t need biblical promises when her love is tantamount to anything heaven might offer. This implication conveys a staggering depth of feeling, particularly to a religiously raised listener. Spirituality is, at its core, emotional; combined with the values and customs of religion, it is a force that can exert incredible influence over a person. The worker doesn’t reject spirituality itself- it’s an intrinsic part of him- but he has put all that power in the hands of the one he adores. It may make him vulnerable to her (that’s love!), but he is certain that she will give him the strength he needs.

Theological redemption also has close ties with death, as its benefits aren’t meant to be reaped on earth. Instead, the love, glory and freedom that are promised are relegated to the afterlife. Historically, the presumed ecstasy of achieving this gave death a sexual connotation; after all, if a lover could take the spiritual place of God, then perhaps sex could take the role of death as a gateway to paradise, far away from a life of pain. Work Song embraces this analogy, explicitly linking spiritual fulfilment to the pleasure of sexual intimacy:

When I was kissing on my baby / And she put her love down, soft and sweet / In the low lamplight, I was free / Heaven and hell were words to me

The equally suggestive Maria’s Bed allows the audience to draw similar conclusions, but it accomplishes this using a far less serious method: regular mentions of the titular bed, wink-wink-nudge-nudge. Yet this light-hearted sauciness is something of a misdirection. It’s easy to gloss over the song’s references to water, but they are strong hints that support an alternative reading: Maria is not a woman, but a river***. The story, from this perspective, then becomes much more sombre- the worker is a dying or suicidal man who wishes to have his body laid at the bottom of a river that provided for him in life, and whose real desire is for the peace he hopes to find there in death.

Got on my dead man’s suit and smiling skull ring / Lucky graveyard boots and a song to sing / I keep my heart in my work, my troubles in my head / And I keep my soul in Maria’s bed

This darker interpretation arguably makes more sense than the face-value love story, as it resolves some figures of speech that otherwise seem out of place. Even so, the more obvious reading is no less meaningful****; in fact, the coexistence of these narratives is what makes Maria’s Bed an almost perfect thematic inverse to Work Song.

When my time comes around / Lay me gently in the cold dark earth / No grave can hold my body down / I’ll crawl home to her

Hozier uses the finality of death to illustrate the strength of a man’s desire for love- his narrator embraces his own passing as he is certain not even the most permanent of barriers can keep him from his lover. Springsteen, through the personification of the river, uses the language of romance to demonstrate how fervently a man might desire death- his narrator embraces his demise because it offers a reprieve from life, just like a lover would.

All that said, no amount of lyrical analysis will reveal the clearest point of contrast the songs have: their music.

Work Song primarily draws from blues and folk music, both of which have roots in historical work songs used to coordinate physical tasks as well as boost morale. Reflecting this musical heritage, instrumentation is fairly simple, with the steady rhythm of claps and piano chords punctuating hard. It is slow and heartfelt, almost mournful; though there’s no mention of time frame, the audience has the sense that the worker still has a long way to go before he can return to his lover.  This notion comes largely from the song’s circular structure. By ending with the same music it opened with, its story is also implied to finish at its beginning: with the men hard at work in the “burning heat”, and no true relief in sight. This is furthered by having little development over the course of the song- though iterations of the chorus are more intense than the verses, the arrangements underlying both sections barely change. The worker, it seems, is never quite far enough from his reality of hard labour, and never close enough to home.

On the other hand, Maria’s Bed is relentlessly optimistic, driven by a strong forward momentum. Where most modern songs have their choruses as their most powerful feature, here the wordless refrain (“hey hey, la la la li li li li”) acts more like a transition between verses, keeping the story moving. The jaunty fiddles that fade out are quite different to the introductory guitar and organ, suggesting the worker’s situation has developed for the better. In addition, the orchestration builds continually, only briefly pulling back before the music culminates in an extended musical outro. Many of the instruments work in counterpoint, each additional layer contributing to an air of an unrestrained joy that is further spurred on by Springsteen’s high hums and whoops. The linear musical direction and overall impression of good cowboy fun results in the feeling that, unlike the singer of Work Song, the narrator is already on his way to his heart’s desire- though, in light of the lyrics, what this actually means is somewhat ambiguous. Are those final echoes him moving out of earshot… or his ghost ascending to the “upper room” of heaven?

We may not know for sure how either of these stories end, but we can feel the aching hope for something better. This longing is an emotional line that runs all the way through both Springsteen and Hozier’s work, though it never seems to get old. Combined with explorations of love, faith, life, death- that’s why we return to their music again and again; they are experts at playing on old motifs and universal themes in new and creative ways, their crafted melodies and narratives touching wild and industrial hearts alike.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* I am legally obligated to include all these adjectives.

** Maria’s Bed seems to be sadly obscure even among fans; the one and only online forum discussion I have seen about the song refers to it as “not that deep”. Having written this whole essay- if Springsteen himself said that to me, I’d laugh in his face.

*** A random internet comment I can’t find anymore backs me up on this. It even specified that it was about the Santa Maria River in California, as quoted “from Bruce”. Obviously an infallible source 😊

**** It’s important that “[drinking] the cool clear waters” can totally be the description of oral sex you thought it was.

[riathenowheregirl]

Gold Dust Women: My Favorite Witchy Singers

Okay, before you burn me alive with “Where’s this certain artist?!” or “Why is this certain artist not here?!” or “Who even uses Tumblr these days?”, uhmmm me bish?? It’s my safe zone. Okay, the last question was a joke. 

Can I just say that the amazing women on this list are artists I listen to all the time. They’re my favorites, so chill (I’m open for suggestions tho). This is not Rolling Stone or Billboard magazine, it’s just ya girl’s good ol’ tumblr blog. Also, I’m not saying that all of them are literal w i t c h e s, it’s just that they portray the same aesthetic through their art and music. 

Alright, now that’s settled, let’s start.

1. STEVIE NICKS 

Do I even need to explain this? Stevie is undoubtedly the Etheral Queen of them all, the Pioneer, the O.G. Supreme whose lyrical soul and spellbinding voice echoes from the distant past to the inevitable future. Everything about her oozes with witchcraft and magic starting from her iconic top hat, to her millions of intricately made shawls, down to her platform boots. Only Stevie Nicks could pull off such Not-of-this-Era outfits and she has been doing it CONSISTENTLY. She’s in a timeline of her OWN. If you listen to her music, you would notice that every song of hers is poetry, like she’s telling a story or conjuring the unknown. She’s every witchy woman’s icon and that’s a fact.

Stevie is an untouchable yet gracious legend, we’ll always be a part of her sisterhood until the day of earth’s decay. Forever the Queen of Rock N’ Roll. 

Current Favorite Stevie Lyrics:  “ You can fly swinging from your trapeze, scaring all the people...but you'll never scare me.”  |   “Once in a million years a lady like her rises. Oh no, Rhiannon, you cry, but she's gone and your life knows no answer.”

Notice how I used the word “current”? Because it always changes depending on the state my life. Here’s a more detailed post on why I love her.   

2. KATE BUSH 

“Heathcliff, it's me, I'm Cathy, I've come home, I'm so cold! Let me in through your window!”

The eccentric beauty, Kate Bush made a genius, artistic move by writing a song about the book, Wuthering Heights, written by Emily Brontë in the 1800′s. Mind you, she was only 18 when she wrote and was the first song written by a female artist that landed on top the charts. Her voice is almost as distinctive as Stevie Nicks. While Stevie’s more nasal, commanding, wailing rock n’ roll goddess, Kate’s voice was high-pitched, alarming, ghostly, queer, and fairy-like. Everything about her is Performance Art. This is a woman who is not afraid to express herself.

For starters, you might think her music is strange and weird. Trust me, I felt the same way when I first heard her songs. But then, it began to grow on me leaving floral patterns on its path. 

Favorite Kate Bush Lyrics:  “Do you want to feel how it feels? Do you want to know that it doesn't hurt me? Do you want to hear about the deal that I'm making? You, it's you and me.”

3. FLORENCE WELCH 

This one is as obvious as Stevie Nicks. Florence Welch from the band, Florence + the Machine, is a poetess, a screaming banshee, and a full-pledged Sister of the Moon. She even started a witch coven during middle school. From her red carpet looks to her everyday outfits on Instagram, Florence vibrates powerful witch energy. Not to mention she has a song called “Which Witch” and that haunting music video for Big God with levitating women. Flo is not a woman to trifle with, I’ll tell you that. 

Photos courtesy of @lillieeiger

In all her songs, Florence will bind you with magic and it’ll leave you breathless. If Stevie’s songs are poetry, hers are spells you could sing out loud. Also, if you haven’t seen her house tour, go check it now! 

Favorite Florence Welch Lyrics: “'Cause I am done with my graceless heart so tonight I'm gonna cut it out and then restart.”  |  “And in a moment of joy and fury I threw myself in the balcony like my grandmother so many years before me.”

4. LANA DEL REY

Remember when Lana used witchcraft to hex Donald Trump? It was all over the news and Twitter went wild. She was later quoted saying, “I really do believe that words are one of the last forms of magic and I’m a bit of a mystic at heart.” Oh, and she also did a collab with Stevie. 

We. Stan. Forever.

There was even a time that I MEMORIZED the monologue in the music video for Ride. ALL OF IT, HUNNY. 

Lana’s hypnotizing vocals together with her sixties baby doll dresses and Priscilla Presley hair is enough to convince me that she’s not of this era. She has a deep understanding of the beauty of past generation and the looming sadness and nostalgia that comes with it. Whenever I listen to her music, I imagine myself as a rockstar’s muse who is involved with the mafia but then I decided to leave him while taking his gun and convertible. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Favorite Lana Del Rey Lyrics: “Well, my boyfriend's in the band. He plays guitar while I sing Lou Reed. I've got feathers in my hair, I get down to Beat poetry. And my jazz collection's rare, I can play most anything.”

5. LORDE 

David Bowie didn’t call her the “future of music” for nothing. Just two albums under her belt, Lorde already proved that she will one day become a legend herself. Her music narrates an unparalleled interpretation of the anguish and fleeting charm of our youth. She knows what we’re feeling because she’s been there herself and is on the road to healing just like us. 

I think the message she’s trying to say is that we’re constantly losing grip on our innocence, and that life is often wicked so we need to accept that, grit our teeth, get on with it, and make art. She can also see color when she hears music. 

In my opinion, Lorde is one of the greatest artists of my generation. 

Favorite Lorde Lyrics: “The truth is I am a toy that people enjoy till all of the tricks don't work anymore, and then they are bored of me.”  |   “That slow burn wait while it gets dark, bruising the sun, I feel grown up with you in your car. I know it's dumb.” 

6. FKA TWIGS

Honestly, FKA Twigs is literally art in living form, a celestial angel that nobody can easily decipher. This woman has more talent in her fingertips than I could ever have in a lifetime. She somehow reminds me of a young Kate Bush; fearless, experimental, with an intoxicating voice. She never stops reinventing herself and it’s beautiful.

In FKA Twigs’ world, there are no limits, just endless galaxies. She pours her whole being in all of her songs and it shows. She’s not for the faint of heart, let me tell you that. 

Favorite FKA Twigs Lyrics:  “And I don't want to have to share our love. I try but I get overwhelmed. All wrapped in cellophane, the feelings that we had.” 

7. SKOTT 

I say this all the time, but I cannot write without Skott’s music blasting on my earphones. She grew up in a “forest commune run by outcast folk musicians” and was not exposed to contemporary music until her teen years. You would notice it in her songs. 

It’s hard to explain why, but listen to Skott’s music when there’s thunder and rain outside, then you’ll know why this woman is witchy. I kind of want her to be more popular and known, but then again, I also want to keep her to myself. Scratch that, LISTEN TO SKOTT’S MUSIC NOW. 

Start with Glitter & Gloss. 

Favorite Skott Lyrics: “Like an empty canvas, hear me cry. Like a masterpiece, I'm in your eyes. Now your colors are in front of me, we're a picture-perfect oddity.”

8. FIRST AID KIT 

I fell in love with this sister duo when I first heard their song, Emmylou, while browsing YouTube. It’s one of those moments of instant magic. Klara and Johanna Söderberg are a coven of their own. I would describe their music as “Woodland Folk laced with runes and wild flowers”. 

Their voices compliment each other so much that it reminded me of Simon & Garfunkel (they even performed their own version of America in front of Paul Simon!!!). First Aid Kit has this Woodstock seventies vibe, and you know me, I live for that sh*t. 

Favorite First Aid Kit Lyrics: “ When I run through the deep dark forest long, after this begun, where the sun would set, the trees were dead and the rivers were none. And I hope for a trace to lead me back home from this place, but there was no sound there was only me, and my disgrace.”

9. ZOLA JESUS

Zola Jesus’ music deserves to be played with an orchestra inside an abandoned castle in Transylvania while it gently rains and you’re wearing a white nightgown as you roam its empty halls. Is that too much?

 Not at all. 

Like Skott, I listen to Zola whenever I’m having writer’s block. If I ever finish my book, I’m gonna have to thank them. 

Favorite Zola Jesus Lyrics: “I'm on my bed, my bed of stones, but in the end of the night we'll rest our bones, so don't you worry. Just rest your head cause in the end of the night we'll be together again.”

10. ZELLA DAY 

Photo Credits to Harper Smith

I LOVE ZELLA DAY’S MUSIC OH MY GOODNESS. My favorite songs of her are Sweet Ophelia, Hypnotic, Man on the Moon, and Hunnie Pie. ESPECIALLY HUNNIE PIE. I cry whenever I hear that song. It’s just so pure, calming, and beautiful. 

Her music belong in the psychedelic era. 

People labeled her as the “happier version of Lana Del Rey” but I think she’s in a league of her own. She deserves more recognition, honestly! 

Favorite Zella Day Lyrics: “The older we get there's an ocean of people in places we've chosen and you know how mama keeps saying “we've gotta stop the games we're playing””. 

Hope you guys approve of my list! I really like sharing stuff that I love! Feel free to message me for more suggestions, I’d really appreciate to know more witchy artists out there. We’re all in a huge coven of sisterhood. 

Thanks for reading!

Love, 

Ria  🌙

P.S.

Please follow my blog!!! THANK YOU  🔮

[dukereviewsmovies]

Duke's Holiday Reviews: The Nightmare Before Christmas

Hello, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome To Duke's Holiday Reviews...

Yes, I'm Back With Reviews For The Holiday Season, And What Better Way To Make Up For Not Having Alot Of Halloween Reviews This Year Than The Halloween Christmas Hybrid That Is The Nightmare Before Christmas...

No Synopsis For This Review Let's Dive Into The Nightmare Before Christmas...

After We Get A Brief Introduction From A Narrator (Who Is In No Way Patrick Stewart) Before We Cut To Our First Song...

And Who Doesn't Sing Or Play This Song Every Halloween?

It's A Great Song And I Honestly Love It...

As Sally (Voiced By Delia Deetz From Beetlejuice) Escapes The Clutches Of Her Creator, Dr. Finkelstien (Voiced By Uncle Lewis From Christmas Vacation) Jack (Voiced By Jerry From Fright Night) Manages To Escape His Horde Of Fans So He Can Sulk In The Graveyard About How Everything Is The Same Every Halloween, Which Leads To Our Next Song...

And It's Another Good Song...

It Let's The Audience How Jack Feels As He Sings While Also Showing Us What Powers He Has As Both A Skeleton And As The Pumpkin King...

Watching The Entire Scene, Sally Grabs Some Deadly Night Shade Before Returning To Dr. Finkelstien For Repairs While Jack Walks Endlessly Through The Forest With His Ghost Dog, Zero...

The Next Day, The Mayor (Voiced By Otho! From Beetlejuice) Discovers That Jack Is Gone As Jack Himself Discovers A Row Of Doors For Different Holidays, Eventually Jack Becomes Interested In A Door Shaped Like A Christmas Tree...

Opening It Jack Falls In It And Travels To Christmas Town Where We Get Our Next Song...

And What Can I Honestly Say About This Song?

It's A Good Song And Like This Is Halloween It's A Song You Only Think About At Christmas...

With The Mayor Sounding A Red Alert For All Of Halloweentown, It's Quickly Called Off When Jack Returns In Something That The Penguin From Batman Returns Would Most Likely Drive...

Calling For A Town Meeting That Night, Sally Deals With Finkelstien Early By Placing The Deadly Nightshade Into His Soup, Masking It With Frog's Breath Which Puts Him To Sleep So She Can Go To The Meeting...

There, Jack Tells The People Of Halloween About Christmas Town...

And It's Ok...

While It's A Good Song, It's Not One Of My Favorites So...

The Next Morning, Finkelstien Locks Sally Up For Knocking Him Out As Jack Arrives To Borrow Equipment For Him To Begin Some Experiments On Christmas...

Escaping Her Chambers In Finkelstien's Laboratory, Sally Gives Jack A Present Only To Have A Vision After Picking A Flower Which Shows Her That Jack's Vision Of Christmas Will Only Lead To His Death And Destruction...

The Next Morning Leads Us To Our Next Song...

(Start At 0:22)

And Again It's Just Ok...

It's An Interesting Song, But Again It's Not One Of My Favorites When It Comes To This Movie...

Jack Gives Everyone A Task To Do For Christmas But The Biggest Task He Leaves To Zombie Trick Or Treaters, Lock Shock And Barrel (Ps. One Of Them Is Voiced By Pee Wee Herman)

Who He Gives The Task Of Bringing Santa Claus To Him On The Condition That They Don't Tell Their Boss, Oogie Boogie Which They Agree (As They Cross Their Fingers Behind Their Backs)..

This Leads Us To Our Next Song...

And, It's A Good Song...

I Love How They Say They're Going To Do All These Things To Santa Once They Have Him Only To See Them Not Do Anything When The Time Comes...

As Jack Hires Sally To Make His Santa Claus Outfit, She Tells Jack About Her Vision, But He Is Too Focused On Christmas To Listen To Anything Sally Has To Say...

Anyway, It Leads Into Our Next Song...

And, What Can I Say About This Song?

It's Basically The Song Everyone Thinks Of When They Think Of This Movie...

And It's A Great Song Because That's What The Filmmakers Were Doing When They Were Making This Movie: Making A Christmas Classic...

With Santa Claus Captured, Lock Shock And Barrel Take Santa To See Jack As He's Being Fitted In His Santa Claus Costume Only To Take Him To See Our Villain Of The Movie, Oogie Boogie Afterward, Which Leads To Our Next Song...

And It's Quickly Become One Of The Great Disney Villain Songs (Even Though I Don't Really See Oogie Boogie As A Disney Villain But His Own Separate Entity)

The Song Is Well Written And Is Very Well Sung By Ken Page, Who Honestly Owns This Role As Much As Sarandon Is Jack...

Everyone Celebrates Jack Prepares To Take Off But Sally Creates A Fog With Some Fog Juice Which Almost Ruins Jack's Flight...

But With Zero's Nose Shining Bright, Jack Pulls The Sleigh Through Which Leads Sally To Hope That Her Vision Doesn't Come True As She Sings Our Next Song....

And This Is Probably The Only Song In The Film I Don't Like...

It's Dull, It's Dreary And It Slows Down The Film To The Point I Just Want To See Jack Start Delivering Toys...

And Speaking Of Jack Delivering Toys, He Does Just That And..,It Doesn't Go The Way He Wanted...

In Fact, It Scares The Kids And Adults So Much It Leads To The Police Bringing In The Military To Stop Jack...

This Leads Sally To Try To Get Santa Out Of Oogie Boogie's Lair Only To Get Kidnapped Herself As Jack Gets Blown Out Of The Sky By The Military...

As Everything Starts To Calm In The Mortal Realm, Zero Finds Jack Which Leads To Our Next Song...

Managing To Return To Halloweentown In Time To Save Sally And Santa From Oogie, It Leads To A Final Battle Between Jack And Oogie Which Ends With Jack Tearing Oogie's Sack Body Off Causing His Bugs To Be Destroyed..,

Though Tell You The Truth, I Kind Of Prefer One Of The Alternate Endings To Oogie Over This One...

This Ending Reveals Oogie To Be Finkelstien Who Hates Jack Because Of The Fact That Sally Loves Him Over Finkelstien, I Felt It Made More Sense And It Would Have Been A Better Explanation For Oogie's Comeback In Kingdom Hearts Rather Than "Oh, Maleficent Brought Him Back"...

With Jack Giving Santa His Hat Back, He Takes Off As Jack And Sally Are Saved By The Mayor With Help From Lock Shock And Barrel...

Also If They Became Good Guys At The End Of This, Why Did They Become Bad Guys Again In Kingdom Hearts?

Anyway, Everyone Celebrates Jack's Return As It Starts Snowing On Halloweentown Which Leads To One Final Song Between Jack And Sally Which Leads The 2 To Admit They Like Each Other As Our Movie Ends...

And That's The Nightmare Before Christmas And What Can Honestly Be Said About It That Hasn't Already Been Said.,.

The Songs Are Great, The Characters And Sets Are Well Made, And I Honestly Love It, So, I Can't Say This Enough But See It Now If You Haven't...

Surprise Review Later This Week, But Till Then, This Is Duke, Signing Off...

[wisdomrays]

HOW DO WE DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE DESİRE TO EMULATE AND ENVY?: Part 2

The Goal is the Drink of Eternity

Tanafus is used in the verse And to that (blessing of Paradise), then, let all those who aspire (to things of high value), aspire as if in a race (with each other) (Mutaffifin 83:26). It refers to admiring a maturity of character displayed by another person, striving to attain the same virtue, and to working as if in a race with others for a lofty purpose. This verse encourages people, who compete with one another to the point of ruining each other for the benefits of this world, to race instead for eternal bliss and to taste from the drink of eternity.

The race for eternity and good work does not allow room for a competition in which uncontrolled admiration or envy is possible. Every contestant is expected to break his or her own record, as they are responsible for accomplishing the level of perfection determined solely for them. In this race, everyone is an escort for each other, for everyone is a member of the collective body.

In the race for eternity, once assigned works are fulfilled, rewards are shared and deposited to everyone’s account. In Bediuzzaman’s most fitting description, serving God is like carrying and protecting a huge and heavy treasure. So, the more people with strong arms join the company, the more those who carry the treasure on their shoulders must be pleased. Far from envying the strength of the helping hands, they must welcome their contribution and applaud them with love. Approaching these people in rivalry will push away sincerity from the work, and the expected result cannot be achieved.

True believers never envy, nor do they stroll within the territories of admiration which borders envy, but they race for good. They see each other as cordial assistants and everyone works to carry out a task they are assigned, or anything they are capable of doing. For instance, in the good work of teaching about God, one person can recite the Qur’an beautifully and soften hearts; another one can sing a religious song and enthuse the audience, paving the way for a third one, who can deliver a speech with wisdom. The task is apportioned, everyone performs his own share, and at the end everyone wins. From the beginning, it is not clear who to credit with this work which is not based on one person. Everyone participates and assumes responsibility. They make the best of what they can, and the end result, which belongs to all, is something more than one person can achieve. The Qur’an encourages such a race, saying, “Strive, then, together as if competing in good works” (Maedah 5:48).

To Set an Example and to Encourage

In such a race for good work, it is virtuous to give one’s charity openly to stimulate feelings of benevolence. At a time when people are troubled by slackening, indifference, and hopelessness, open charity can stir them to take part in good work with generosity.

“Giving alms secretly is more virtuous than giving them openly. For the person who wishes others to follow him it is virtuous to give them openly” said the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. When a person who intends to direct his or her friends’ attention to the hereafter performs charity openly, he or she has no intention other than motivating them to engage in good work. By giving the prescribed alms (zakat), which is obligatory in Islam, openly, he or she both obeys the divine rule and reminds others of this duty.

The Holy Qur’an praises those who fulfill the need of any person without delay and encourages believers to run to do charity: “Those who spend their wealth night and day, secretly and in public, their reward is with their Lord, and they will have no fear, nor will they grieve” (Baqara 2:274).

It is reported that this verse was revealed to praise Abu Bakr, may God be pleased with him, the first caliph of Islam, who gave forty thousand dinars all in one day, ten thousand of which he gave at night, ten thousand during the day, ten thousand in secret, and ten thousand openly. Likewise, Ali, may God be pleased with him, also shared his only four dirhams of silver with the poor, giving each dirham either during the day, at night, openly, or secretly. Even though the verse might be indicating these two noble Companions of the Prophet, the ruling of the word of God is universal. Hamdi Yazir of Elmali interprets this verse as defining the types of alms, namely, obligatory (fard), necessary (wajib), and supererogatory (nafila) alms. A time may come when it will be necessary to donate all of one’s property for one’s religion and country, and in such a time of collective mobilization, it will be better to perform it openly to encourage others. Those of us who are in a position to guide our society especially should give in charity most of our property in order to teach people to make a sacrifice for the sake of sublime truths, and doing this openly is absolutely better and we may even consider it a duty.

Yet with a Handful of Dates

The Companions of the Prophet are the greatest examples of charity. Abdullah ibn Masud narrates that when the verse about alms-giving was revealed, all of them quickly went out to find something to give in the way of God: “Some of us worked as porters to earn yet a little. We carried things on our back in the marketplace, and once we were paid we hastened to the Prophet to join in the company of ‘givers.’”

One day, our Blessed Prophet called on his Companions for charity. It was either because he was going to send a contingent to somewhere and he needed equipment, or he was going to feed the poor coming from the desert and see to their needs. Responding to this call, Abdurrahman ibn Awf raised his voice with the valor he always displayed: “O Messenger of God! I have four thousand dirhams. Please accept them.” The Prophet was very pleased, and he prayed for him. After hearing the Prophet’s words of encouragement and seeing the great sacrifices of the generous ones, everyone wished to participate in this race for good work. The wealthy ones gave high amounts, while those with limited means looked for things to donate. Abu Aqil was one of those poor Muslims of Medina; he possessed nothing to give other than two handfuls of dates. But he had to have his name on the list of the “contestants” in good work. So, he spared a handful of dates for his family and gave the rest in charity.

Seeking God’s pleasure is a lofty aim, reaching for it by teaching about God is a holy mission, and racing for this cause without competing is very good work. Those people who are focused on God’s pleasure stay far away from envy and uncontrolled admiration. They are content with their lot and they carry on with the race as far as prevailing conditions allow them. They are not people of desires and misgivings; they do not seek refuge in excuses like “if I had the means, if I were able to….” They do whatever they can with all the means God has provided them with, and in this way they offer thanks in return for the blessings they are granted, and this is in fact an invitation to further blessings. They avoid admiration, just as they avoid leading others to it. Since God’s pleasure is their goal, when necessary they can retreat two steps or move forward one step. They may present their own achievements as if they were accomplished with the help of or completely by others, if this is what they think more proper for God’s pleasure. For them, only the fulfillment of duty matters; who did it is so insignificant as to not be worth mentioning. As long as the spoken words are sublime truths, then it does not matter who is articulating them. Once the truth is victorious, then it is the same whether one’s name is listed or not among the victors. For they are sailors on a ship whose captain is the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Once his ship docks at the land of peace, then everyone on board will step off onto the shores of salvation.

[notesofarichlycolorednight]

OBC Hadestown Recording Review by a Non-Professional that you didn’t ask for

Alt. click-bait title: THEMES! THEMES! THEMES!

so i just listened to the Hadestown OBCR

so as practice, i’m going to do this review (i have a lot to say if you hadn’t noticed) like a sandwich--positives, mixed, neutral, negatives, more positives

and yes, I compare it to the NY version. it would be Impossible for me not to, considering that’s all I had for years. but I did listen to it with an open mind and wide-eyed excitement

YAS QUEEN

Amber Grey and Patrick Page, lovely as always

I’m glad they introduced Hades in “Road To Hell” also that Hermes is like...is there another god? oh yeah, ME!

Eva Noblezada was AMAZING and I love her Eurydice

Reeve Carney sounds like an wide-eyed, naive, optimistic musician and it’s Wonderful

the overall themes and a more cohesive story--like there were of course themes threaded thru the NY recording, but the themes were much stronger in this version

Hermes being Orpheus’s mentor, rather than just the narrator and occasionally interacting with Orpheus bc he can? the exchange between them reads less like “I’m kind of picking on your bc you’re an artist” and more like “yikes, bro, you messed up. and bc I’m your mentor, and the god of Travelers, I’mma help you out a little”

oh yes, LOVE LOVE LOVE “Wedding Song” and oh, I LOVED that he sang his song in this version (hope to see what happens on stage some day ;_;)

the OBC version of “Livin’ it Up on Top” is still fun as always and I love they included the joke “to hell and back”

Orpheus’s lyrics in “All I’ve Ever Known” are So. Soft. our soft, poor boy Orpheus

Reeve and Eva’s voices fit together really well and I’m cry

“A Gathering Storm” is just Gorgeous storytelling right there, mmhmm. And oh shit, the “It’s not supposed to be like this” damn. And Eurydice’s “bring the world back into tune” Love it.

oh dude, the doubt in “Epic II” mirroring Orpheus’s later doubt poetictheater.jpeg

the lead in from “Epic II” to “Chant” always Great. And oh man, loved more of the storytelling and Eurydice’s lyrics in “Chant” okay but the juxtaposition of Hermes telling Orpheus telling him to look up while the Chorus chants to keep your head low oh jeez. And Eva sounds Great in “Chant” like DAMN

shaken, not stirred

Andre De Shields, sorry bro.

intellectual: I think his performance was great and the way he portrays Hermes fits really well with the style and aesthetic of Hadestown.

emotional: unfortunately, I don’t like his voice. and yes, I’m definitely biased for NY Hermes, but this is like a personal preference type thing. his voice is like the opposite of a stim for me... :\ which is unfortunate, because I did enjoy his performance

“Road To Hell” is before “Any Way The Wind Blows”

intellectual: it definitely fits this version, and I really liked hearing more about Eurydice and understanding her struggles and why falling in love with Orpheus is such a big thing for her

emotional: but I kinda liked the order in the NY version. it kinda felt like a preface to the story itself, and like even tho Hermes is the narrator, beginning with a song the Fates sing, it shows who’s truly in charge (they DO in fact control the speed at which lobsters die)

tho if I’m being honest, “Livin’ it Up on Top” doesn’t quite have that kick the NY version has. idk if instruments or missing or there isn’t enough ppl singing, but there’s just something missing, which takes a little of the fun out of it

It again feels like something is missing from “Way Down Hadestown” :\

intellectual: I guess I understand why they gave Orpheus’s lyrics to the Fates and Hermes (bc like how would he know what it’s like down there, truly?)

emotional: but I also didn’t like it bc as I’ll talk abt a lot in a min, it really takes away from Reeve’s performance

I’m actually super disappointed that Reeve/Orephus wasn’t featured as much as in the NY recording. his voice is almost completely drowned out almost entirely through “Wait For Me.”

intellectual: I quite enjoyed that the rest of the cast acted as the stones echoing back his song, and that it fit with and strengthened the overall themes and plot of the musical. I’m glad that this version has a more cohesive story and stronger themes

emotional: but it was no longer about Orpheus and his journey, and I think they could’ve kept the themes while also featuring Reeve’s voice. esp in such an Iconic song for Orpheus like “Wait For Me”

“If It’s True” I was tempted to put this in the negatives section bc I feel like it really takes away from Orpheus’s story (get ready to here a lot of repetition sorry not sorry fam). but there are some things I liked abt it.

intellectual: I liked that in the OBC version, that it was more abt the theme they’d introduced abt the workers’/chorus’s struggle and Hades’s struggle to keep them nameless, so to speak. I also did like that they show Orpheus’s worldview change. and fucking finally gave Reeve a chance to shine (kinda, with interjections from Hermes and the Chorus)

emotional: but I do think they went abt it the wrong way, bc I liked that it addressed just Orpheus and his feelings of what’s gone on (specifically Eurydice belonging to Hades) in the NY version, and I didn’t like that in the OBC version that it Was more abt the themes. I also felt like it got a little preachy. Like that’s not what I thought the original “If It’s True” was abt yo. I get it fits with the overall theme and message they want to get across, but I don’t think their execution was that Great :\ I also really liked that in the NY version, him just being sad is what moved both Persephone and the Chorus

“Wait For Me (Reprise)” is the same as with “Wait For Me”

intellectual: I’m not saying  that the new, stronger themes are bad or anything--like I’ve said, I Loved that they strengthened the themes and made the musical more cohesive overall.

emotional:

(+): Okay but also I really Love Eurydice singing what Orpheus sang in “Wait For me”

(-): Reeve’s voice is often drowned out and it’s no longer about his and Eurydice’s story as much (it’s in the very first song! “brother, thus, begins the tale of ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE”). I really do think they could have gone about it in a way that highlights Reeve as Orpheus AND keeps with the theme and the message they wanted to get across by including the Chorus. I mean look! Look! Reeve stands off to the side or isn’t singing for like ALMOST THE WHOLE SONG DUDE. he gets 36 measly seconds singing in this song, I timed it. it’s a 3 mins and 12 second song. and most of those seconds are spent singing the song with the chorus (I do not, however, really count the times Hermes is speaking bc those lines are Great and when Eurydice is singing at the end, but Still!). like I said, I’m so glad they have Eurydice singing his song back to him, but I Really Do Think they could have composed it so it was still Orpheus’s song (with Hermes, and Eurydice at the end, keep that of course!), but held those stronger themes.

“Doubt Comes In” ...like at this point, are you even surprised?

intellectual: strong themes. great. okay.

emotional:

(+):  I Loved Eurydice’s part in this, encouraging Orpheus even tho he can’t hear her. I also did love that they added in Orpheus’s thoughts--pique drama, I LOVED it

(-): third verse, same as the first (and second): Reeve just wasn’t featured as much as I would have liked him to be! the Fates get the lines Orpheus used to sing! when Orpheus sang, “where are you? where are you now?” the first time more steady and sing-song-y, the second time more desperate (but still beautiful holy shit Damon Daunno was Amazing) as he starts to go out of his mind,,, i felt that and i’m incredibly disappointed (and angry lbr) that they took those lines away from Orpheus.

not really a point, but this needs its own bullet point: it just does Reeve a huge disservice, bc he’s a Great Orpheus. I Loved his Orpheus, but the fact that he’s taken out of so much of the story he’s the protagonist in detracts severely from his performance, and it’s a damn shame

I did really liked that they made the “la la la” more complicated in “Epic III” and when Persephone and Hades danced, and how it was softer, but I also liked how powerful the “la la la” crescendo as Hermes, Persephone (I believe) and the Chorus joined in along with the instruments was in the NY version so,,, ¯\_( : \ )_/¯

I don’t think they changed any of the lyrics for “Road To Hell (Reprise)” (they added stuff, sure) but it sounded and felt different, and I’m upset that it wasn’t the same as the NY. it’s in this section tho, bc it was still good (think I like the NY version just slightly better, but I do like the OBC version too, but for different reasons)

neutral(ish)

the change of characters who says/sings lines isn’t my fave, but it’s not bad either and, based on the theme and more cohesive storyline, it makes sense

I’m trying to decide if Patrick Page’s descent from a higher vocal range into a lower one is a stylistic choice, but I don’t feel one particular way about it or another (except for the fact that it didn’t sound like him I questioned if it was at first)...tho the bass drops for “Hey Little Songbird” so maybe it was a stylistic choice and if so, Brilliant! (but it will stay in this spot since I can’t tell if that was intentional)

I’m a little surprised they didn’t give Eurydice her spot light in “Why We Build the Wall” but it’s not like it changes the story much. I think I just liked that she stood out, and with those lyrics, bc it’s dramatic irony--we know her mistake but she doesn’t yet realize that it is a mistake she’s made

“Word to the Wise” it was good. not great. I liked NY version better, but I think I mildly like NY Fates better bc they sang in a very harsh and solid way. like in some parts the OBC Fates do too, but not in the songs where it matters (to me)

the changes made to the Epics. I liked the more story-telling aspect of them, but I also didn’t quite love the changes. but the songs themselves were still p great, so (it’s here, rather in the mixed section) bc I don’t particularly feel as strong one way or another abt the NY Epics compared to the OBC Epics

Once again, I feel like smth is missing from “Word to the Wise” :\ like some kind of instrument to really push it into extraordinary, to hold it up. But the Fates were a little better at being brutal so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ i guess

hard no, babe

that being said, regarding first point in the neutral section, I didn’t like that they took away (even) more of Orpheus’s lines because it then removes (even) more of his voice, when he’s HALF THE FEATURE OF THE STORY. I know it’s really about two love stories (and like I said before, it does strengthen the themes and overall storyline), but the main focus was Orpheus and Eurydice !!!

the sound of the train whistle. mmm, I’ll pass. it’s so dinky. bring back the NY train!

The way Reeve says/sings some of his lines (not all of ‘em tho) could use some work? doesn’t sound great. didn’t love it. idk if it was a stylistic choice on the director’s part or Reeve’s own choices in how he wanted to play Orpheus, but I didn’t agree with them. I think he uses his falsetto a little too much for some lines. And let me tell you, was very afraid they were going to do that three-voice thing (like in the concept album) when Orpheus meets Eurydice. glad they didn’t, but I also didn’t really think they needed it at all

I’m actually uber disappointed they took out the old radio sound for Hermes in “Wait For Me.” I just really liked it man.

ngl, I. was. Heartbroken. when they’d changed the lyrics to Epic III (which is why it’s in this section :\). Esp like I CANNOT BELIEVE THEY CHANGED “where is the man, WITH HIS HAT IN HIS HANDS, who stands in the garden, with nothing to lose” (emphasis mine). like, again, i understand the changes were made to keep with the themes introduced, BUT can you Imagine. holding the whole world in your arms (when Hades gets the girl) compared to holding something so small and insignificant (BEFORE Hades gets the girl). COME ON! it’s like the perfect juxtaposition AND I thought it made Hades much more human AND it still keeps with the themes. (tho I am glad they kept that part at all bc when I realized how much of “Epic III” they changed, I was worried they’d taken that part out too. it’s in this section tho bc the changes are unforgivable overall)

Come Home With Me I and II (Reprise) !!! I’m extremely sad they changed the lyrics so much. Admittedly, I do like the first “Come Home With Me” introducing his song that will bring spring back. But the changes are too unforgivable for me to put it in the mixed section. I really liked Orpheus’s proposal in “Come Home With Me II” in the NY version and that repetition of “say I do, I came all the way just to ask you to” and then the Fates step in and are like, “Mmm, sorry boo, she belongs to Hades now” and the song ending with Eurydice saying “I do” but with a totally different meaning. like okay, the OBC version fits more with the theme, and I’m glad they still kinda included it in “Papers” (I do actually like the way it’s composed in “Papers” if I’m being honest, the “I did. I do.” just,,, hits me) but it’s too unforgivable to put in the mixed section. OH GOD and. esp,,, okay Listen. HOW could they take out “are you always this confident?” // “when I look at you I am” and then later hearing Hades sing, “Orpheus the undersigned SHALL NOT LOOK BEHIND // SHE’S OUT OF SIGHT and he’s out of his mind” LIKE COME ON MAN that was Perfect AND YOU TOOK IT OUT ???

the Fates in their “Way Down Hadestown (Reprise)” I Loved the NY bc they Tore into Eurydice (I love my girl, but that song is a Bop and they are Ruthless). the way they sang, it was harsh and cutting. in the OBCR...not so much. It’s too sing-songy and embellished (is the best way I can explain it), and I was disappointed bc it was one of my fave songs in the NY version. not to mention, I Did Not Like Eurydice’s lyric changes. and I know that it strengthens the themes, and I did actually like that they showed Eurydice losing herself as she worked (esp bc it adds more to “Flowers” and again strengthens the thread linking the songs), but I disliked it as a whole enough that it can’t be saved to be moved into the mixed section

OH NO I. CANNOT. BELIEVE. THEY CHANGED “YOU’RE EARLY” // “I MISSED YOU” TO “IT’S YOU” // “IT’S ME” // “ORPHEUS” // “EURYDICE” FUCK YOUR THEMES but for real, I think keeping “you’re early” // “I missed you” would’ve have kept with the theme way more than what they changed it to bc 1) they’re referencing smth the two litchrally just said to each other. and 2) THAT’S WHAT PERSEPHONE AND HADES SAID TO EACH OTHER WHEN HE CAME TO GET HER FROM HADESTOWN AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SHOW. it’s a theme that’s introduced in the beginning of the musical--“it’s a tale from long ago”--bc Persephone and Hades’s relationship was SUPPOSED to mirror Orpheus and Eurydice right? there’s the fact that Orpheus’s song is what Hades heard long ago like ??? a HUGE Point of Orpheus and Eurydice’s love story was to remind Persephone and Hades about the love they shared when they first met (“wait for me?” // “I will”). and gosh darn it, it still would’ve fit the themes if they had stuck with “you’re early” // “I missed you” bc of that!

SPEAKING OF I CAN’T BELIEVE THEY TOOK OUT PERSEPHONE’S LYRICS IN “CHANT (REPRISE)” LIKE WHAT like it worked so well !!! (esp bc I’ve read reviews of the show, with Hades and Persephone circling Orpheus and Eurydice as they’re dueling and switching the direction they walk when the chorus makes that “kch” noise like poetictheater.jpeg) it was such a good juxtaposition between what Hades thinks Persephone wants and what Persephone actually wants (I do like that “Chant (Reprise)” is more complicated composition-wise, but not enough to move it into the mixed section). ALSO “He said we’d build ‘em up // And then the walls would set us free” // “Is it true, what he said?” // “He said we’d soldier on // And then the war would bring us peace.” I thought that got across the message quite well in the NY version, esp since they were echoing Orpheus’s “if it’s true.” they’re also just Great lines and I Cannot Believe they took them out 

YAS QUEEN

I’m a HOE for singing in the round, and the beauty of Orpheus’s “la la la la” joined in by the chorus in “Wait For Me” got me like. OKAY AND THE LYRIC ADDITIONS I LITERALLY CANNOT IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL AND POETIC AND GOOD WHEN ORPHEUS SANG “I HEAR THE ROCKS AND STONE, ECHOING MY SONG, I’M COMING”

I mean,,, how can you Not like “Our Lady of the Underground.” I also really enjoyed the more jazzy feel. Like it was already jazzy, but it’s even more jazzy in this version, to me

if you couldn’t tell, I loved Reeve and his Orpheus

“Papers” is Great and idk why but I Love “everything and everyone in Hadestown, I own.”

oh shit dude, Orpheus’s song being something from long ago that he like picked up on bc Greek mythology be like that and then HADES RECOGNIZING THE SONG. THAT. WAS. BRILLIANT.

“Flowers” felt like it fit much better in this version, with the themes being stronger and all that. also could actually hear it clearly, so that could be why bc I’m pretty sure they didn’t change a single lyric lol. still Loved it

the lyric additions to “Wait For Me” I’M SCREAM SO GOOD (even tho I’ve mentioned this before lmao)

“How Long” was. so. good. I just really enjoyed the exchange between Persephone and Hades in this song

DUDE I JUST REALIZED “NOW I SING A DIFFERENT SONG” FROM THE ONE ORPHEUS REMINDS HADES OF BRILLIANT

“Oh, it’s about me?” that made me laugh out loud. Oh god Also the repetition of lyrics in “All I’ve Ever Known” in “Epic III” to show that Orpheus and Eurydice’s love mirrors Persephone and Hades’s? poetictheater.jpeg

“Promises” omg. I actually liked this one better than NY “Promises” sorry not sorry. don’t get me wrong, Eurydice has every right to tell Orpheus off since he made all those promises he couldn’t keep in the NY “Promises” but in OBC “Promises” it feels more mutual. it feels softer. rather than Eurydice going, “you done messed up A-A-Ron” it’s more like Orpheus going, “I done fucked up and I’m sorry.” Orpheus is more self-aware and I liked that.

dudes, I’m extremely happy they added Eurydice back in for “We Raise Our Cups” it really rounds everything out. And it’s just a really good epilogue song. (I’m curious to see if Reeve is out on stage for this or if he stays backstage)

Final thoughts: the stronger themes were Great. don’t get me wrong. okay. I liked that about this version. but I feel like by trying to be too In With The Times(TM) they lost some of the heart of the story, which ultimately detracted from Reeve’s performance as Orpheus.

sometimes I really think a story can be just a story about two people (or two love stories), and the themes and messages will find their way in naturally. it doesn’t need to be this big thing about everyone all of a sudden. at the very least, bc it’s obvious the themes and messages are stronger in the OBC version, it does take some work and planning, but I felt like they were trying just a tad too hard and ended up being too heavy-handed.

I thought the themes and message they were originally trying to get across got across just find in the NY composition (specifically for “Wait For Me (Reprise)” bc the themes are definitely stronger throughout the overall musical in the OBCR composition)

now, I’m not saying don’t include messages in your art, that’s what art is for! But I think they could have either kept it about how it was in the NY version, because there were still messages (just a little more lucid and not as strong) OR they could have composed it some way that kept the stronger themes and messages AND kept the importance and presence of Orpheus’s role, and Orpheus and Eurydice’s story.

for me, Orpheus, esp OBC and Reeve’s Orpheus, doesn’t strike me as the guy to start a revolution and lead the Chorus thru hell. Like when the Fates say, “who are you to think that you can hold your head up higher than your fellow man?” I honestly get confused bc,,, he... doesn’t think that though? He just loves Eurydice and wants to save her from Hadestown. and maybe that’s actually the point? that Orpheus wasn’t ready for the pressure suddenly put on him to not just lead Eurydice out but also all of Hades’s workers, so doubt came in. but then what was with “If It’s True?” which, as I said, did start to sound pretty preachy? not to mention, the one time their themes and messages aren’t clear

anyway, long story long, the way I see Orpheus is his voice just does That. it doesn’t have to have some secret, overarching message for his songs to influence and move people. in the original “If It’s True” he sang about his loss and it was emotional enough to move Hades’s workers. to me Orpheus’s gift, his music, his voice is about emotion. and I think of Coco in that respect: “de la Cruz was a nobody, but when he sang, people listened” paired with, “I didn’t write it for the world, I wrote it for Coco” yet “Remember Me” (and all his songs) still resonated and moved people

so anyway, here’s my Hadestown hot take: Reeve wasn’t nominated for a Tony because the new composition underutilized him as Orpheus

no i don’t take criticism

[fly-pow-bye]

Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Brainlord”

Written by: Jake Goldman

Written & Storyboarded by: John Martinez, Andy Cung

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

Should have done the noodle dance.

This episode starts with Townsville under attack by a monster. If the Narrator was here, this could be an opening of an original episode. It's not just any monster either, but it's Gothra, a monster that first appeared in Bucketboy. Giving the reboot some credit; the original never really had a recurring monster in their rogue’s gallery, the reboot introduced two of them. For this episode, they add something else to this potential beloved villain other than his looks: vocal cords!

Gothra: Roooooar. Once I destroy you poser humans, you will finally understand how sad and empty life is!

Honestly, the monotone and yet loud roar would have been just fine, but they really wanted to show off that Gothra is a goth. At least he has a personality, and he will hammer in with every line he says.

Also like the original, the Powerpuff Girls show up to beat the stuffing out of him. Blossom tells him that they're going to turn his frown upside-down. Smiles are a goth's worst enemy...I think that's what she were going for?

Unfortunately, the Reboot Puffs show their usual failure here, as, of course, this leads to a Monster Punch, Girls Down. Womp, womp. Not even a minute into the episode, this even including the opening theme song, this living pun manages to punch the Powerpuff Girls into a crater, them completely helpless from the wrath of a goth moth.

One of two things can happen from this: the Reboot Puffs get up and use a different strategy than just rushing in and punching him, or they stay helpless before someone else gets to save them from their peril. If you picked the former, welcome to the reboot. Before Gothra can crush the Reboot Puffs like his dreams, get it, goth, he gets blasted by this episode's knight in shining armor.

In comes Brainlord, a superhero that can shoot lasers out of his gigantic brain, wearing a costume with white and purple stripes and a big purple cape. Using his almighty brain power, Gothra explodes in an explosion of justice. As in, the cloud even spells and whispers the word "justice."

The Powerpuff Girls awaken to see their savior, and before you can say "Major Competition", which is not exactly what this episode is ripping off but I wouldn't blame anyone for assuming at this point, we get to hear his origin story.

He was the hero of a planet called Braintopia, beating up the bad guys, and rescuing the overly large brained people. Unfortunately, the Braintopians had a custom to keep their heads super shiny, which blinded them all from a meteor bigger than their entire planet. He survived, not because he was chosen to be put in a rocket before the big cataclysmic event, but because he was in another galaxy to get his car washed.

In other words: Superman’s origin story, except with jokes!

The Powerpuff Girls didn't find it funny, though. In fact, they found this origin story so sad that they get tissues, and Buttercup outright says that this is the saddest origin story she's ever heard. Even sadder than Bliss's origin story, apparently! Yes, it is pretty sad to know that all of his friends and family are dead, but why show this? Is it a joke on how the Powerpuff Girls are saddened by this silly story? Is this just a way for them to force a tear jerker moment? It's not working.

After hearing that sad, sad story that they really wanted to let you know is sad, Blossom decides to offer this total stranger dinner at the Powerpuff home. I mean, he's a fellow superhero, and he just saved them from that 90's Hot Topic customer! What could possibly go wrong?

To be fair to Blossom, there is no hint that something is up other than this person's costume looking a little similar to a certain arch-nemesis. They can drag this on until a big reveal in Act 2, but they don’t wait that long.

Brainlord: Yes, see you tonight...

Discount Jojo: (changes face back to his own) ...for your doom! Hahahahahaha!

...they just reveal immediately that Brainlord is actually Discount Jojo in disguise. There is a point to this: it's to make this episode a Discount Jojo-focused episode where he gets to live along with his arch-enemies. It's just like Not So Secret Service or Quarantine, and those episodes were so good that I was overjoyed to see another one of...I can't even complete that sentence.

Even in the Brainlord costume, his voice is just Roger L. Jackson doing a different voice. There are a few times where he goes a little too close to the Jojo voice, and that actually works in this episode's favor.

His main plan is to infiltrate the Powerpuff Girls' home, earn their trust, enter the Professor's lab, and blow up the Professor's black hole machine with a bomb. This is all shown with pen and crayon drawings. I kind of like this, actually, it reminds me of that other arch-nemesis.

The first thing Brainlord does at the dinner table is ask where the Professor's latest invention is, as he claims he was a minor celebrity on his formerly existing home planet. The Professor decides to show him exactly that, though it turns out he invented something else since the black hole machine: spaghetti and meatballs a la Utonium! He is not too thrilled about this, until he decides to take a bite.

We then get the "Buttercup really liking Jojo's waffles" scene from Not So Secret Service, except instead of stock footage, it's a bunch of random scenes where Jojo is happy. It is better. After that glorious dinner, the Powerpuff Girls decide to sing him a song teaching him all about the place they live. Wait, could this be some much needed worldbuilding?

The Puffs: Welcome to Townsville, Brainlord!

We hope you're not plain bored!

Too late! They then sing the many different reasons why Townsville is great. They mention that the beach should be checked out, how the mall is neat...and that's it. No, not the song, but that's the only two reasons we get to hear, as they instantly skip to number 487, which just says that’s the end of the song. Missed opportunities all around, I'd say.

What gives this "overly long song" joke far less of an impact is that Brainlord was not even phased by the length. In fact, he was so charmed by this song and dance, that he asks for an encore! Before we can get a song about the 487 reasons why Citiesville sucks, Brainlord says that this song was such a blast, reminding himself that he had a Powerpuff-destroying scheme to do! He asks to go to the little Brainlord's room.

Brainlord turns his face back into Jojo, and he tells himself that while the Powerpuff Girls being such great hosts almost makes him not want to, he wants to go through with this plan anyway.

The Professor really had to step the security down from the one he once had, because the only thing between dastardly villains and Chemical X, dangerous transmogrification rays, and black hole machines is a security question. Specifically, it asks what the Powerpuff Girls' favorite thing is. Jojo, using the utmost of his genius, decides to make a perfectly reasonable guess.

Discount Jojo: The Powerpuff Girls' favorite thing is...being destroyed by Mojo!

Obviously, that wasn't the answer, and if he gets the question wrong again, the lab goes into total lockdown. Suddenly, Bubbles shows up, and Jojo has to put on his Brainlord face. He puts on a facade that he's just thinking about his home planet and how much he misses it. Bubbles tells him he can stay at their house, and maybe they can show him their favorite things! Brainlord responds by evilly laughing, but Bubbles doesn't pay it any mind. In fact, the scene just changes immediately after he laughs; we couldn't even get a joke out of Bubbles' obliviousness.

The next day, we get montage #1, where Brainlord goes to a carnival. There's really no jokes here, it's just Brainlord and the Reboot Puffs having fun on all the rides. It's very pedestrian; I would have loved to see them enjoying these rides and games in a superhero way, like, say, Brainlord attempting to use his brain lasers on the bottle game. Maybe they were worried about copying Despicable Me...but when has that stopped them?

After all that fun, the Powerpuff Girls suddenly start talking about how family is so important to them. Oh, and Buttercup says this.

Buttercup: Yes, blood is thicker than water, blood rules!

I get it, like related by blood, but I can't say I didn't enjoy how they just shoved in the phrase "blood rules" into at least one episode. Bubbles ends this family talk by saying family is their favorite thing, and Brainlord suddenly runs off to the Powerpuff home.

Thanks to Bubbles' big mouth, Discount now knows the secret password and gets it right the second time, giving him full access to the lab and that black hole machine. Using a stick of dynamite with a timer on it, he's going to destroy the people that gave him entertainment, because he is a bad ape!

While cheering, Bubbles calls down to Brainlord that they're going out for ice cream! Wow, the Powerpuff Girls are just having the best day of their lives, and Jojo doesn't want to miss out on any of it!

We get another montage that has the same purpose as the carnival one, with most of the same problems. The only difference is that we get scenes where Jojo has to keep extending the clock because he just doesn't want the fun to end.

Well, okay, I guess there is a scene where Brainlord gets his fingernails painted. Oh, that Discount, while he's learned a few more jokes, he's still finding some way to do something feminine.

In the end, the Powerpuff Girls offer this scrapbook of all the times they had. This is the part where Jojo finally decides that maybe the Powerpuff Girls aren't worth destroying after all. I mean, being with the Utoniums has been a total blast for him! After saying something along the lines of that, Brainlord suddenly realizes he may have forgot something.

It's here that the episode finally figures that there has to be some sort of problem that isn't caused by a one-joke moth, as the bomb explodes, causing the black hole generator to make a black hole. They don't seem to think about how this black hole generator suddenly activated or got destroyed, though that might have taken a backseat to them holding on to a door frame to save their own lives.

The black hole generator can only stop if someone goes in the vortex and blows it up. The Professor also happened to be carrying a bunch of dynamite just for this purpose. That's just something he carries around. You know what they say, better to have it and not need it than vice versa.

Blossom: I'll go!

So Blossom decides to let go, not realizing that everyone was holding her leg. Thanks to Blossom's mistake, everyone goes into the vortex and ends up floating around in the vastness of outer space. Discount and Sitcom Dad die, and eventually, the Reboot Puffs stopped thinking. Oh wow, I guess there really was a satisfactory finale for this series!

No, I'm just kidding, of course it's Brainlord that ends up taking the dynamite and sacrificing himself. For all the Powerpuff Girls knew, their family friend just had the time of their lives, and is now going to suffer what is most likely a painful death...or is that really the case?

There is a slight twist to this, and I usually don't spoil the twists, but I have to talk about this one. Right before Brainlord lets go, Bubbles drops this bombshell.

Brainlord: Remember me!

Bubbles: We will, thanks, Mojo!

Brainlord: Yes, and never for, wait, you knew?!

Outside of this one little scene, nothing is made of this sudden revelation that Bubbles knew this whole time. It feels more like something they just threw in in the last minute to give the episode some sort of a big twist.

Some may also ask how Bubbles knew Brainlord was Jojo. Honestly, with his constant yelling of his plans throughout the episode, the Powerpuff Girls would have to be deaf to not figure it was probably him. If that was the case, why did they not do anything to stop this from happening? Whatever.

Oh, and that black hole just leads to a dumpster. This reboot sure loves putting their characters in the garbage; feels like a hidden message.

Does the title fit?

Name of a character, and one that doesn't even use his brains.

How does it stack up?

Out of all of the "Mojo Jojo has to live with his arch-enemies" episodes, this is probably the least worst one, but it's still not anywhere near mediocre. While Not So Secret Service couldn't find a plot and stick to it, Quarantine was just horrendous, this one's just mostly boring.

I debated on giving this a really low Neutral or a really high Disgusted. I wouldn't lie and say the montages weren't charming, if they were a bit too pedestrian to my taste, but that’s really all this episode has. Sorry, Brainlord.

Next, it can't be worse than Foodfight!, can it?

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