#nice gongs Carl…

[childoftheriver]

The boys!

[bizarrequazar]

GJ and ZZH Updates — February 5-11 (nice)

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This is part of a weekly series collecting updates from and relating to Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan.

This post is not wholly comprehensive and is intended as an overview, links provided lead to further details. Dates are in accordance with China Standard Time, the organization is chronological. My own biases on some things are reflected here. Anything I include that is not concretely known is indicated as such, and you’re welcome to do your own research and draw your own conclusions as you see fit. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or additions. :)

[Glossary of names and terms] [Masterlist of my posts about the situation with Zhang Zhehan]

02-05 → Gong Jun’s studio posted a photo of him for the Lantern Festival. Caption: “The full moon is in the sky and joy is in full swing, and the Lantern Festival will show the reunion of [The Bunny Gives the Year] Boss @ Gong Jun Simon wishes everyone a happy Lantern Festival!”

→ Kangshifu posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ Gong Jun posted a vlog from visiting Universal Studios on 01-13. Caption: “The first Vlog in 2023, just play without talking! Happy Lantern Festival everyone!” [subbed video] BGM is Happy by Pharrell Williams, Hedwig’s Theme from Harry Potter, the Jurassic Park theme song, Darlin’ (I Think About You) by Delegation, and Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas.

→ The Instagram posted a video of “Zhang Zhehan” and “Xiao Yu” shopping for shoes.

02-06 → Nothing of note.

02-07 → Bluebird posted an exposé of an email sent by Aja Romano last June in response to an article published by The China Story about Zhang Zhehan, in which Romano falsely claimed that Zhang Zhehan was cancelled by the government, that CAPA is a government organization, that Zhang Zhehan has family ties to Japan, and that the general public were in support of his cancellation. Despite her claims that she found this through “research”, all of it is blatant misinformation that has by now been disproven multiple times, including by the NRTA and MCT, CAPA, and Zhang Zhehan himself. (For those who aren’t aware or don’t remember, Romano is the “journalist�� who wrote the Vox article calling those of us talking about the deepfakes conspiracy theorists. They’ve also had a reputation of being a fandom shit-stirrer since the early 2000s.) Followups: [1] [2] [3]

→ Flora posted an exposé about edits made to Zhang Zhehan’s Wikipedia page since 813 by the user Oncamera. These edits have removed cited clarifications about 813 while adding and maintaining smears citing tabloids, as well as maintaining claims of the Instagram and stolen songs’ validity. Oncamera is known of and celebrated by whalers for her support of Zhang Sanjian. Followups: [1] [2] [3]

02-08 → #ZhangZhehan trended on Twitter.

→ Continuing from the previous day, whalers on Twitter defended Aja Romano and Oncamera, refusing to respond when questioned about why they’re supporting people who have actively contributed to slander against Zhang Zhehan.

→ BAZAAR’s director posted an unused photo from Gong Jun’s recent shoot with them.

→ New airport photos of “Zhang Zhehan” were spread, originating from Lao Ahyi who is now under the username 一串字母kk. Fan Observations: The photos show “Zhang Zhehan” alone at the terminal exit (one photo has a single person near him) despite air travel in the last month averaging at roughly 660 people at the Shanghai Pudong airport per hour, not including staff. 

02-09 → #ZhangZhehan continued to trend on Twitter.

→ Gong Jun posted a commercial for Hogan. This was reposted by both Hogan and his studio. Hogan also posted four new photo ads of Gong Jun.  (1129 kadian for all of these, they were speedy.) The first of these photos was used as a Weibo app opening screen and as Hogan’s Weibo header. Fan Observation: The first line of Gong Jun’s caption, “Modern reboot, retro revival.”, seems to be his own addition rather than a set part of the ad campaign. “Retro” (复古) here is written the same as in the title for Zhang Zhehan’s cancelled drama Retro Detective. There have recently been rumors of this drama doing reshoots—QuelleVous checked and the NRTA’s Beijing branch has not given any permits to do so, the original permit expired in November; the original casting company has no affiliations with such a project. In other words, if reshoots ARE happening, it is not on the original set and the associated persons are sketchy, ie. these rumors are likely (possibly elaborate) fabrication.

→ Kangshifu posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun. Fan Observation: The illustration includes a girl in an orange sweater and a bucket hat, a man with a buzzcut, a baseball cap, glasses, and a sweater with a star, and a man in green with hair similar to Gong Jun’s. The caption is about friendship. [x]

→ The brand’s VIP fashion show that was originally scheduled for 2022-11-23 (the one that required a purchase of 20k RMB and a submission of personal identification information) was announced to be rescheduled to 02-14, now also stipulating that electronic devices with recording functions cannot be brought inside the venue, and forbidding “forms of support” such as banners and light signs both inside and out. Additional information:   -  Some resellers refused to sell tickets, not wanting to damage their reputations due to not knowing if a fake Zhang Zhehan would show up (or not even a fake).  -  Some resellers who DID choose to sell them stipulated to potential buyers that they could not confirm if this was “the Zhang Zhehan who was in a CP with Gong Jun.” Prices also seem to have significantly lowered, with one reseller offering them for 3000 RMB.  -  The above suggests that members of the general public (ie. those not following the scam) can still tell that the whole situation is fishy and have doubts about if Zhang Zhehan is really involved.   -  I haven’t seen it myself, but there’s apparently a chatlog with the police regarding the event. It’s possible that an excuse is being sought to cancel it.   -  Chinese CPFs seem pretty much unfazed by this whole thing, this is old hat by now. [ibid.]

→ Hogan tweeted the earlier commercial and new photo ads [1] [2].

→ Gong Jun posted the Hogan photos to his Instagram. Caption: “The new look is beautiful”

02-10 → Hello Saturday’s Weibo posted three douyins [1] [2] [3] featuring Gong Jun and his Rising with the Wind co-star Zhong Chuxi for the episode that would air the following day. 

02-11 → Hello Saturday’s Weibo posted a still from the episode.

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted thirteen photos of Gong Jun from the day of Hello Saturday’s filming (2022-12-28). Caption: “Looking far away in the mist, there is a deep and long silence. Today at 19:30, boss @ Gong Jun Simon’s character Xu Si, a surprise investor, is online! #冯俊你好Saturday# We’ll see you soon 😎”

→ Hello Saturday’s Weibo posted a teaser of the episode.

→ Hogan posted a behind the scenes video (flashing lights cw) and photos (1129 kadian for both) from their new ad campaign with Gong Jun. They also later tweeted four of the photos.

→ Wonderland magazine posted pictures of the AI persona Jifeng; four of these use unreleased photos from their 2022-11-28 photoshoot with him, two of which are solo shots. (1129 kadian) They also posted a video of Jifeng with a couple seconds’ footage of Gong Jun. [Here] are just the solo photos and [here] is a cut of just Gong Jun’s shots in the video, for fellow Jifeng dislikers. Fan Observation: The video includes jellyfish for a brief moment, as well as broken mirror imagery.

→ Kangshifu posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→  Another promotional douyin for the Hello Saturday episode was posted.

→ The Instagram posted a selfie of “Zhang Zhehan” and pictures of guitar chords and Kele.

→ The Hello Saturday episode aired. [Full episode (no subs)] [GJ cut] [written summary with clips] Addition 02-18: In behind the scenes footage released of the episode, Gong Jun’s Rising with the Wind costar Zhong Chuxi asked him for advice about a knee injury she sustained while filming the drama. His first response was to ask if she had hemarthrosis, a symptom that Zhang Zhehan has had with his knee.

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted nine photos of him from the episode. Caption: “Xu Si's debut, have fun! Boss @ Gong Jun Simon reminds everyone that investment needs to be cautious!”

Additional Reading: → Flora’s daily fan news → Starting at the end of last month, whalers started buying billboards in Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Canada advertising the Deep Blue album. The images for these appear to have been directly supplied by those releasing the songs. [photos of one] → Works for the LLD Bang are still being revealed!

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This post was last edited 2023-02-18.

[yesterdaysanswers]

Disco-Test・Franz Di Cioccio (PFM)・Ciao 2001 (date unknown, but sometime in 1977)

Thanks to @quantumabyss6​ for helping me with this!

translation:

A prestige name for our appointment No. 30. Franz listened, tried to recognize and judge the usual 12 pieces. We had chosen with this criteria: some of the most popular drummers, even if the songs are not easily recognizable; it deals with Palmer, Baker and Hiseman in recent recordings; Giles in one 7 years old. Then Frampton to talk about how to get success in America; Gong and Baricentro as examples of European jazz-rock; Eddie & Hot Rods to discuss the English situation, America for the American one; Wings and Genesis among the classics. Finally, Mark-Almond, to know whether Franz was able to recognize his new violinist, Gregory Bloch. These are the answers and comments ... 

CARL PALMER - The enemy God dances with the black spirits (from the LP “Works”) 

-You really started with a difficult piece... Don't tell me it's the new EL&P… However it's not immediate music, which reaches the public, but you could say it’s rather elaborate. Who is it?

-It really is Palmer.

-I was right. I knew he had done something with the orchestra. What about Emerson & co.? I know too many things, you would fill many pages. I know for example, of the difficulties they encountered in making this record, I know that they have not been a group for a long time; what holds them together is not the music, but the name. I find Carl a drummer essentially devoted to technique: his is not a natural charge, he does not express his own imagination, his way of thinking. According to Carl, a good drummer is someone who is faster than him.

-Palmer said he respects you very much. Do you mean that you are faster?

-I knew of his admiration for me. I think I make up for the lesser technique with vitality and imagination. I give more importance to improvisation if you want. But a mathematical calculation cannot be done.

GINGER BAKER - Don’t stop the carnival (from the LP “Eleven sides of Baker”)

-What is this thing?… don't stop the carnival… I just don't get it right. It's the kind of thing that a drummer likes to play for fun. 

-It's another big name: Ginger Baker. 

-Far from what I thought. His last thing I saw him on English TV, amid a Nigerian tribe, he was even more African there. Baker is a great example of how to graft African obsessive percussions into rock. Cream soothed me a lot, and I have always admired Ginger, one of those who helped me understand so many things about drums.

PETER FRAMPTON - Baby, I love your way (from the LP “Frampton comes alive”)

-Frampton! I know him well, we toured together in the USA, with the J. Geils Band. He is the new name of American music, perhaps because of all Americans he is the least paranoid: he plays pleasant music, he is not one of those who jumps on stage and does absurd things to show off. The songs are nice, the volumes decent. Why so successful? In America you have to have a good manager, and he has EL&P and Joe Cocker; and you have to be heard all over the place, traveling the length and breadth of the continent, and Peter has been doing it for years. It is no coincidence that he made it through a “live" one; the record was bought by the same people who saw it in concert. If he doesn't destroy himself with his own hands, he can get even bigger.

GONG - Expresso (from the LP “Gazeusei”)

-Well done. It could also be Perigeo, if you didn't have the marimbas. But they don't seem Italian to me; however the situation is European rather than American. Who is it?

-Half English and half French: the new Gong. Outside of British and American, what names do you see on the horizon?

-Well... in France I know Magma a little... and then the Germans, but it's something else entirely. I do not know…

MARK-ALMOND - One more for the road (from the LP “To the heart”)

-I've heard it before... it must be a movie soundtrack. It is Italian, the melody is typically Italian.

-Do you know the violinist?

-Wait... I know the piece [Mark’s voice arrives, editor's note] It's Mark-Almond! And then the violin is our Greg! They seemed Italian to me, and besides, the group has always had an admiration for Italians. When Bloch said he was coming to play the violin with us, they uncorked a bottle of champagne, and complimented him. The other rock violinists? Traces of Jerry Goodman have been lost, and it is necessary to see how much the Mahavishnu has left its mark. Ponty is perhaps the best right now. And then there is Mauro Pagani.

-Diplomacy?

-No, Mauro has his own value regardless of PFM. But back to Greg, he has a typically European expressiveness, he belongs to a family of classics: his father is 1st clarinet in the orchestra of Zubin Metha, his uncle is a famous violinist. He plays rock, classic, country, even jazz; in the record we're listening to, Billy Cobham is on drums.

COLOSSEUM II - Gemini and Leo (from the LP “Strange new flash”)

-I don’t know. Is this also famous? No, I don’t know. The drummer enjoys making obligatory figures.

-It’s Jon Hiseman.

-Could do much more. You see, Hiseman is a very big drummer, but he obviously doesn't have the right elements around. So why does he make these records, you ask me. Because business dictates it. In the recording world, certain rules must be taken into account. It may be that an artist has to make a record even when the time isn't right.

-Has this ever happened to PFM?

-We have our own music management, but…

WINGS - The long and winding road (from the LP “Wings over America”)

-Paul McCartney! That he remakes these pieces today is right for him. He wrote them, people expect them, Paul is a complete artist, even in the commercial sense; with the Beatles, he already knew what he had to do to please himself, but at the same time also the public. Wings? I stayed for "Band on the run". However, I must tell you that John Lennon prefaced the Beatles in the golden age; and we had long discussions on this point with Flavio Premoli.

MCDONALD & GILES - Tomorrow's people / The children of today (from the LP “McDonald & Giles”)

-I've heard it before, [after a while, editor's note] they are McDonalds and Giles. Giles is a very dry drummer, without flaws, with a particular phrasing. I did not deny that I was initially inspired by him. He was fundamental in English rock, too bad he left. King Crimson, after The Beatles, were the most interesting group on the English scene, they gave a turning point. Giles was also the only drummer who gave K.C. their trademark sound: nervous but not crude, accurate. Today the types I prefer are Chester Thompson or Lenny White, jazz with a typically rock drumming, that is capable of jazz phrasing but with a "timing" that takes you, which is rock. Time is not only "held", but it is something that breathes.

EDDIE & THE HOT RODS - Why can’t it be? (from the LP “Teenage depression”)

-But what are you making me listen to? It's old?

-No, new.

-Very bad. And what do you expect me to tell you? I don't think anything. The Reverse of the Medal is 350 times better, but I'm talking about the 70’s.

-What is the point of making these records today?

-The sense of the well-packed thing to be fed to the public. Is this punk rock? The first rule of punk is not to know how to play. In England violence is vented like this, but I would not say that they are so successful. It is the total degeneration of English music, not an important thing as some critics who eat it say. They invented a new situation for England in crisis. Making these records costs very little. It passes for alternative phenomena, and it is absurd. In Italy they would be ashamed of doing things of this kind. The Beatles have left "Yesterday" and "Eleanor Rigby": but the Bay City Rollers or the punks don't leave anything.

IL BARICENTRO - Sconcerto (from the LP “Omonimo”)

-Quite an interesting dimension. It is difficult to say if they are English, American, or Italian. There are several trained musicians in all countries. Their sound is similar to the Americans but the bass... if it weren't for some obvious release, I would have said Weather Report. They could be Germans.

-No, they are from Bari: Il Baricentro.

-It is a pleasant surprise: there are numerous influences, but it’s not wrong: it is absurd to expect a revolutionary group. But you don't hear much that they're from Bari, they could have been more personal. As for the other drummers in Italy, I would say that the really good ones don't make themselves heard: take Tullio De Piscopo, who now does things for disco. Of course, you also have to eat. And in Italy it is difficult, if some of Area have left the group to earn a living.

AMERICA - Hurricane (from the LP “Harbor”)

-Do you really think I listen to music like that? You at least do it as a job. I would never know such a song.

-It’s America. What do you think of them and America?

-Three guys with lots of great ideas. They told him: we have to make a few dollars. Is George Martin with them? The Martin of "Live and let die", I suppose, of America, I tell you that 80% is commercial music, and who is really worth it is little known: George Benson and Chick Corea are exceptions.

GENESIS - One for the vine (from the LP “Wind and wuthering”)

-They are the Genesis. I never followed much, apart from the first LPs. When someone said that "Chocolate kings" sounded like a Genesis record, I wanted to document. I listened to Peter Gabriel again and I realized that, due to a fortuitous case of nature, he and our Lanzetti have the same voice. But it is as if two people were speaking with the same tone saying very different things. Bernardo has more grit, he doesn't use falsetto badly, he's less sweet. They have very different conceptions. The leader of all, if anything, is Roger Chapman, whom few people know in Italy.

[ducktracy]

168. porky’s super service (1937)

release date: july 3rd, 1937

series: looney tunes

director: ub iwerks

starring: mel blanc (porky), elvia allman (woman)

though ub iwerks gets the director’s credit, bob clampett and chuck jones both tackled the directing duties on this one. this is ub’s last credit at warner bros, touting an interminable stint of 2 (technically 3 if you count his early involvement in porky’s badtime story) cartoons. bob clampett would be the one to inherit his unit—according to bob, when he came into work one monday morning, he found iwerks’ director’s chair empty and was told that he was the director. this will be touched on more when covering porky’s badtime story.

slapstick is galore in this final iwerks credit—porky runs a service station, but runs into trouble when he has to fix up a car and keep an eye out on a sadistic, violent baby at the same time. with chuck jones’ frustration comedy and bob clampett’s sadistic antics, both combine to make quite an amusing effort for the time period.

already, the title card greets us with some ambiance as the sounds of car horns and motors preface a jazzy rendition of “i’m hatin’ this waitin’ around”, the cartoon’s motif. already, a wise decision to preserve money as the opening of the cartoon is reduced to a few layouts and pans: an overhead view of the titular service station trucks into a vertical pan of gas prices. 

“GAS 3 ¢” is emblazoned proudly on the sign at the service station, but as the pan goes down, the audience (and customer) is taxed for much more than they bargained for:

STATE TAX 6 ¢

CITY TAX 4 ¢

COUNTRY TAX 7 ¢

UNEMPLOYMENT TAX 3 ¢

SOCIAL SECURITY TAX 5 ¢

FARM RELIEF TAX 2 ¢

LUXURY TAX 8 ¢

CARPET TACKS 5 ¢ 

TOTAL 43 ¢

as much of a groaner and an eye-roller the punchline is, my pun-loving self can’t get too angry about this. this was actually one of the first looney tunes cartoons i checked out on my own, and it gave me a good laugh the first time i saw it.

the titular pig himself is busy at work filling up gas, befuddled at the placement (or lack thereof) of a car’s gas valve. a question mark pops above his head to convey his plight, an iwerks staple--iwerks would even animate a scene in the oswald cartoon oh teacher (1927), where a cat uses its own question mark as a tripwire in order to steal oswald’s girlfriend from him. porky, however, isn’t that sadistic (at least, not yet)--instead, he asks the car owner where the gas goes. the car owner responds back in a german accent, “you vant to know?” “ye-ye-yes, i veh-vant to know.” the owner then addresses the audience: “hmmph. should i tell him?” this is certainly a radio catchphrase of some kind, but which it belongs to, i haven’t found. i can confirm that it’s bubbled up in a few other cartoons, at the very least.

nevertheless, the car owner/dog lifts up the entire top of the car, where a gas valve is situated inside. porky heads over to pump the gas, a closeup on the gas take reflecting an iwerks “shiver take” as the arrow eventually approaches the 10 galloon mark. when the arrow approaches 9, a little cuckoo bird pops out of the gas tank, quipping “at the sound of the gong, it will be exactly 10 gallons”--a reference to time tones being played on the radio. the bird listens, and when the “clock” strikes 10, it retreats back into its rightful place. while perhaps not the funniest gag today, it does have some clever and smooth animation.

a nice bit of character animation as porky happily flips his shiny new coin, interrupted by the sound of an approaching customer. porky fills the customer’s car with oil as per request (”oka-okeh-okeh-ok-oka-ok-ok--alright!”), thus sparking a variety of odd job gags—alerting a flat tire to a rather angry patron, who literally goes through the (car) roof in anger before tying a knot in the rubbery tire himself to fix the issue (complete with some rubbery animation, ever so common in the iwerks cartoons), and hitting the dents in another car, including a spontaneous dent in the window, causing a broken window in the aftermath via hammer. the gags aren’t gut-busting, yet they have some nice animation to them, especially character animation with porky. however, the start of the opening is slow in comparison to the second half—a part of me wonders if iwerks had more influence on the first half before clampett and jones really sunk their toes in with the rest of the cartoon.

the second half of the cartoon is marked by the sound of an angry horn—that is, an angry woman honking her horn. elvia allman lends her voice to the persnickety customer as she rather bluntly asks (demands, really) porky to fix her flat tire. porky obliges, but is caught in a caveat—don’t wake the baby.

bob clampett is responsible for our introduction to the little dickens, animating porky popping his head in the car to remark “cute little fella.” and so, we see for ourselves just how cute this little fella is as he breaks his “slumber” to stick his tongue out at our protagonist. a nice sense of comedic timing and foreboding—we already know that nothing good is going to come out of this ordeal.

as porky dutifully busies himself with the tire, junior confirms the audience’s suspicions by whacking porky over the head with his bottle. porky, rightfully disgruntled, whips his head around to find the culprit before resuming his work. as he rotates the tire, junior assets his aggression even more by putting the car in drive.

and, predictably yet amusingly so, porky is sent whirling around the back tire. he, along with the tire itself, are let loose from the car as they both catapult right into a metal pole. iwerks’ dizziness lines as porky collects himself coupled with the perfect pig-shaped dent in the pole definitely make porky’s plight more amusing than painful. carl stalling’s gentle yet sardonic rendition of “my little buckaroo” adds another layer of sweet, incongruous irony to the entire cake.

porky’s suffering has only just begun—a suspended part of the pole gives way from the impact and gives porky another good konk on the noggin. as porky once more attempts to collect himself, he realizes that he’s stuck inside the tire. thus sparks a montage of him repeatedly straining to free himself, but to no avail--the timing itself at times is a little floaty and awkward (mainly when porky’s crawling around on all fours), and the sound effects don’t feel as natural as they could be, but the facial expressions are rather appealing, and the movement is fun and rubbery. at one point, trying to free himself, porky grabs the back of his overalls and accidentally pinches himself--certainly a bob clampett gag, as porky turns defensive and looks around to see who snubbed him. 

while porky struggles, the demon baby slings his bottle at porky, hitting him square in the arse and effectively freeing him from the tire (much to porky’s vocal discomfort). the timing of porky identifying the projectile and throwing it at the ground, shooting a glare at the baby, is absolutely priceless. he finally heads over to the car to confront the little dickens, but junior is peacefully sleeping, much to our hero’s head-scratching befuddlement. as he turns his back, junior once more shoots an angry glare, signaling that the fight has only just begun.

the frustration of porky becomes much more visible (and hilarious) with this next scene as he prepares to work on the engine. just as he lifts the lid of the car, junior, rife with sadistic energy, smacks the lid right over porky’s head, trapping him inside. junior’s gleeful expression coupled with porky’s visible temperament really add a lot of flavor and feeling--as the charade continues, porky finally allows himself to rip the hood of the car off its hinges and throw it off screen. timing is succinct and snappy and allow for the jokes to hit quite well, even if it is a tad predictable.

however, the timing of the next sequence is not as snappy, and feels a bit like an odd transition between scenes, with an overall more whimsical mood as porky listens to the engine for any problems. nevertheless, junior’s attitude hasn’t changed in the slightest: he turns the ignition on, causing porky to be electrocuted (with a rather ill-fitting scream not by blanc). junior gives porky enough time to recover, honking the horn just when porky’s listening to it, sparking some rather awkward animation of porky getting punchy from the impact. while this scene doesn’t flow as well as others, it’s still rather amusing and creative--the iwerks shiver takes and inverted colors during the electrocution sequence add a nice touch of individuality.

next, porky is dutifully oiling the engine, sparking junior to press the starter. the engine mechanics kick up, porky’s snout getting stuck to the rising and falling pillars. he finally frees his snout (the scene reminding me of of w.c. squeals’ snout sticking on the ice in tashlin’s cracked ice a mere year later), only to get thrown around by the rapidly pushing pillars of the engine. rather creative as we see multiples of porky bobbing around in a blur. misfortune is still high, however, for the top of the engine closes on top of him, and all we see is bumps rising and falling in the metal above. finally, porky is shot out of the exhaust pipe, his body covered in soot, landing against the gas pump/clock hybrid from before, the cuckoo bird adding insult to injury as it gives a call after the impact. 

a rather abrupt transition as porky, now unfazed, arrives back at the car to confront his foe once more playing possum. the facial expressions and overall timing give this away as a bob clampett scene as porky shoots repeated scowls at the baby, who returns the favor with some rather snide, mocking expressions of his own behind the pig’s back. porky finally believes he’s caught junior, who’s currently stretching his face out at porky--yet, sure enough, junior goes right back to “sleep” when porky turns around, causing the pig to give a frustrated snap of resignation. that doesn’t stop our protagonist from hatching a plan--he zips around to the other end of the car, right behind junior. surely enough, junior prepares to make a face, but realizes he’s been duped. wonderfully smooth animation of junior looking around in befuddlement, you can practically see those little gears turning. finally, he whips around, spots porky, gasps, and goes right back to sleep.

regardless, they both know that junior’s been caught as they make eye contact once more. finally, junior literally rolls away and heads to the window crank, sliding the window up and getting porky’s snout caught in the process. porky spits out a stream of threats and exclamations of pain (”OWW! ouch! o-oh, leh-leh-let go! i’ll fix you! eh-eh-eh-eh-don’t do that! s-s-stop! s-stop, ya hear me!?”) while junior sneaks out of the car, shutting the door and letting the pig dangle around helpless. in the midst of porky’s rant, junior heads off and arrives back with a hose, placing it matter of factly in porky’s overalls.

suddenly, we see that the hose is connected to an air pump. junior gives the wheel a few good turn, and air shoots through the tube and right into porky’s pants. porky is finally freed from the window, but is now rocketing around in the air, laughing hysterically. mel blanc’s performance of porky’s hysterical laughter, sounding eerily similar to daffy’s trademark HOOHOO! laugh is nothing less than contagious and commendable. 

while porky flies around in the air, junior makes matters worse by donning an oil gun and shooting spurts of oil right at the pig. and they said pig’s couldn’t fly! unfortunately for junior, porky’s movements are too erratic to make for a proper target, but no matter: a simple shut off of the air will do the trick. 

porky flops to the ground, having little time to grasp his bearings as junior shoots his face full of oil. the physics of the oil are nice and rubbery, very malleable, thick, and stretchy--certainly remniscent of the mud puddles in iwerks’ previous effort, porky and gabby. as i said before, i’ve always admired the physics in iwerks’ cartoons: you feel like you could grab everything for yourself. very soft, stretchy, rubbery, easy to manipulate. 

despite porky’s demands for junior to give up the gun, the little baby from hell only squirts porky with another helping of oil, this time covering his entire body. once more, the animation and physics of the oil are to be commended. porky slips around helplessly in the now fully formed oil slick, which sends him catapulting down a rather random set of stairs in the ground (though, upon further inspection, the stairs were present in the opening layout, so it’s not as spontaneous as it could be).

junior once more attempts to target porky, but no more oil comes out of the pump. predictably yet amusingly so, the little dickens turns the gun to his own face. as he pulls the lever, a nice, hearty gush of oil covers his entire face. sweet, slippery karma. 

now, junior is just as covered as porky is, and begins to wail. porky’s nods of satisfaction are a hilarious detail--as is his surprise when he notices the persnickety mother approaching. junior points at porky, who doesn’t appear all that blameless as he now holds the oil gun, attempting to hide it behind his back coyly.

the mother gives porky a good lecture about how he ought to be ashamed of himself, all the while disposing of her child like a rag doll and putting him in the back seat of the car. elvia allman’s speech is drowned out by the wails of junior, however, prompting the mother to give an eerily polite “quiet, junior, when mother’s talking.” the timing of the next joke is spot on: as junior continues to bawl, the mother smacks him right in the face. the way the smack sound effect even cuts off and the total silence of junior combine to make a great payoff, though the joke IS rather dark and not the most ethical. still, wonderful timing and execution on that one.

comedic timing is still rife as the mother, now oddly subdued, ponders “now... where was i? oh yes. I’M GOING TO REPORT THIS TO THE AUTHORITIES!” in the midst of her “it’s getting so that you can’t trust anybody anymore” ranting and raving, junior, who’s seldom learned his lesson, reaches for a nearby gas hose and ties it around the car tire. 

porky is left to his own devices as the mother and her hell child roll off into the distance. however, junior leaves one final impact: all three gas pumps are sucked out of their respective places and dragged behind the car. even more insult to injury, the entire service station collapses on top of the unlucky pig. a VERY creative close as the “PORKY’S SUPER SERVICE” sign lands right on top of porky, his disgruntled, oily self popping out right in the middle. who needs a drum when you have a wooden sign?

and thus wraps up ub iwerks’ directorial reign at warner bros. while his cartoons aren’t my favorite, i’ve certainly come to appreciate them much more, for their individuality (such as the shiver takes, visible reactions such as question marks and dizziness lines, and so forth) and rubbery animation. i definitely feel that this is his stronger effort out of his 2 pieces--it has a lovely score, the animation is fun and rubbery, and again, bob clampett’s sadistic energy coupled with chuck jones’ frustration comedy make for a delightful combination. porky is SUPER appealing in the iwerks cartoons as well in the design compartment--lots of really great expressions to freeze frame on. this cartoon is a winner for me--i say watch it! it’s not the most exciting porky cartoon by any means, and it still has its weaknesses: the beginning half is rather slow, there are a few timing issues, etc, but it’s still rather enjoyable overall. i almost wish iwerks had stayed longer, just to see what his other cartoons would have been like. thankfully, though, bob clampett took his place, sparking the reign of my personal favorite director.

so, overall, give it a watch!

link!

[scandinaviandesigncenter-shop]

Product: (scandinaviandesigncenter.shop/search?q=gong) Partners: (scandinaviandesigncenter.shop/pages/professional-partners) Chat: (scandinaviandesigncenter.shop?chat) Gong is een klassieke hanglamp met veel mooie details die bijdragen aan een verfijnde stijl. De platte lampenkap van gepolijst metaal geeft de ruimte karakter. Een klassieke lampenkap die we hebben verfijnd en vereenvoudigd. Strak gestript maar toch verrassend met zijn gesublimeerde accentkleur. Gong est un suspendant classique avec de nombreux détails agréables contribuant à un style sophistiqué. L'abat-jour plat en métal poli ajoute du caractère à la pièce. Un abat-jour classique que nous avons affiné et simplifié. Il est épuré mais surprend toujours par sa couleur d'accentuation sous-jacente. Gong is a classical pendant with many nice details contributing to a sophisticated style. The flat polished metal shade adds character to the room. A classic lamp shade which we have refined and simplified. Stripped clean but still surprises with its sub-played accent color. Gong ist eine klassische Pendelleuchte mit vielen schönen Details, die zu einem anspruchsvollen Stil beitragen. Der flache, polierte Metallschirm bringt Charakter in den Raum. Ein klassischer Lampenschirm, den wir verfeinert und vereinfacht haben. Er ist schlicht gehalten, überrascht aber dennoch mit seiner unterspielten Akzentfarbe. Design: Carl & Carl (bij Tilburg, Netherlands) https://www.instagram.com/p/CN2dyEpjrFt/?igshid=9b5wgb13r3s1

[bathtimeradio]

Ep 4.1 - Personality Types (MBTI)

Playlist:

The Utopia Strong - Brainsurgeons 

[Extraversion] Carl Stone - Baroo

Blanco Brown - The Git Up

Omar Souleyman - Layle

Black Midi - Ded Sheeran

[Introversion] Grouper - Breathing

Blanck Mass - Death Drop

Carl Stetson - Spindrift

Deli Girls - I'd Rather Die

[Sensing] Orbital - Tiny Foldable Cities

Battles - A Loop So Nice...

OOIOO - Grow Sound Tree

Autechre - Clipper

Buckethead - Big Sur Moon

[Intuition] Gong - I’ve bin stone before…

Caravan - In the Land of Grey & Pink

Van Der Graaf Generator - The Plague of Lighthouse Keepers

[Thinking] French Affair - My Heart Goes Boom (La Di Da Da)

La Bouche - Be My Lover

Black Legend - You See The Trouble With Me

Aquagen - Hard to Say I'm Sorry

[Feeling] Inca Ore - Shine On From The Heaven Above

Gil Scott-Heron & Makaya McCraven - I'm New Here

Turnstile - I Wanna Be Blind (ft. Mall Grab)

Tom Smith & Don Fleming - Dizzy

[Judging] Wesley Willis - I Wupped Batman's Ass

Wesley Willis - I Whooped Spiderman's Ass

Wesley Willis - Rocked Saddam Hussein's Ass

Aleksi Perala - UK74R1406080

Aleksi Perala - UK74R1406070

Aleksi Perala - UKMH51900048

[Perceiving] Earl Sweatshirt - Burgundy

Modest Mouse - Out of Gas

Lauryn Hill - Forgive Them Father

[findmyhouse]

EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER (1970): 9/10

(Originally posted on 12 April, 2016)

If you’ve ever paid attention to my posts, you probably know that I’m a big fan of progressive rock music, and one of the most defining exponents of this genre was Emerson, Lake & Palmer, a British supergroup from the 1970s known for its elaborate stage antics and its distinctive sound. In combining melodies and structures from classical music with rock & roll energy and instrumentation, they successfully brought together the European and North-American traditions of Western music and created a completely unique kind of music. The driving force behind the band, keyboard legend Keith Emerson (nicknamed the Hendrix of the Hammond Organ), passed away just one month ago, and as a great admirer of his work, I thought it appropriate to pay tribute to him with some more pseudo-intellectual ramblings. Who doesn’t love those?

Keith Emerson originally rose to fame as keyboard player of The Nice, which can be seen as a "proto-ELP" of sorts. It was an innovative rock band characterized by the prevalence of Emerson’s keyboards and his bizarre antics on stage. Live performances of The Nice contained lengthy, virtuosic organ solos in which Emerson would stab knives into his instrument to hold down notes, or jump over his organ to play Bach’s Toccata & Fugue in D Minor… while standing behind the instrument.

While The Nice’s sound already contained a prototype of the rock/jazz/classical fusion that would become ELP’s trademark, Emerson envisioned a far more ambitious project and left the band in 1970 before forming a new group with singer/guitarist Greg Lake and drummer Carl Palmer. Greg Lake had been an unknown until he provided lead vocals and bass guitar for King Crimson’s widely acclaimed 1969 debut album In The Court Of The Crimson King. His unique voice contributed to the celestial atmosphere of that album and would become a staple in ELP’s sound. Carl Palmer on the other hand had previously made a name for himself as drummer in Arthur Brown’s band, and later in the hard rock band Atomic Rooster. Aside from his skills at beating the hell out of his drum kit, he would also become known for his extensive arsenal of additional percussion, including a set of timpanis, tubular bells, two giant gongs and a bell that he could play with his mouth. The trio quickly acquired a record contract and kick-started their career by firing three cannons on stage at the Isle Of Wight Festival in August, 1970. Two months later, they released their first, eponymous, album, with which they wanted to smack their audience in the face and show them all that they were capable of at once.

The album starts off right away with an example of the kind of rock/classical fusion the band would become known for: “The Barbarian”. It’s a cover of Béla Bartók’s “Allegro Barbaro” which is a piano solo piece, but you know you’re in for something of an entirely different nature when you first hear the ominous fuzzy bass notes that open the album. Bartók’s original piece has been transformed into a roaring apocalyptic tune, dominated by Emerson’s furious organ barrage that more than compensates for the absence of guitars, before giving way to the relatively quiet piano-driven midsection, which follows the original more closely. But the tension keeps building up until the introduction is reprised again, and afterwards the song ends with a “call-and-answer” duel between the screaming organ and Palmer’s impeccable drum blasts.

Too rough for you? Don’t worry, cause the boys try to create a number of different moods on this album, and the next song couldn’t be more different from its predecessor. “Take A Pebble” starts off as a beautiful piano ballad on which Greg Lake gets to shine with his heavenly vocals. However, the song is extended to no less than twelve minutes with some acoustic guitar plucking by Lake and a prolonged piano improvisation from Emerson. This might be one of the best showcases of Emerson’s amazing keyboard talent: for several minutes, he plays the same eight-note ostinato with his left hand while playing masterful licks with his right hand, seamlessly varying between classically influenced chops and typically jazzy note sequences.

“Knife-Edge” is much more straight-forward, as it actually has a verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus structure (more or less). The instrumentation is also much closer to conventional rock music, despite the fact that Emerson’s organ is once again the dominant instrument. The main melody is borrowed from Janáček’s Sinfonietta, but it’s presented in such a way that it becomes its own thing entirely. It rocks!

Now, while the first three tracks perfectly capture the trio’s strength as a group, the next three tracks are rather meant to display the individual talents of each musician. If you’re an Emerson fan, you’re in luck because he’s the only band member that’s present on the first two parts of “The Three Fates”. This starts off as a purely classical composition, beginning with an introduction on organ before moving to another beautiful piano passage, less ethereal than the one on “Take A Pebble”, but more complex and engaging. While the piece shows influence from composers such as Chopin and Ravel, Emerson refrains from directly quoting other compositions, plus he again incorporates chromatic jazz scales to avoid it sounding too monotonous. Then, in the final part, Lake and Palmer finally join in to bring the piece to a chaotic ending.

“Tank” puts Palmer in the spotlight, but it’s sadly not as interesting as what came before. The focus of the song is his drum solo, which he uses in part to show off his aforementioned percussion set, but for the most part it’s just an erratic collection of kicks and snares without much rhyme or reason. The song was mainly meant for live performances where the effect could indeed be impressive, but its inclusion on this album is a little pointless. Still, the track is saved by the catchy, jazzy keyboard solos that bookend it.

Finally, “Lucky Man” is an acoustic folksy song written by Lake when he was twelve years old. It’s probably the most normal song on the album. Emerson doesn’t show up at all until the last minute when he throws in a solo with his newly acquired Moog Synthesizer. It doesn’t fit with the rest of the song at all but it gives a pretty hilarious effect. “Lucky Man” was the band’s first single and its most well-known song to this day, which is unfortunate because it does not represent the band’s style very well. I even happened to hear it on the radio the day after Keith Emerson’s death, and the station was nice enough to cut out the synth solo in its entirety, thus completely removing his contribution to the song. Maybe it was meant to be symbolic?...

In all, the album as a whole feels a little unfocused, but the individual songs are just so strong, man. All of these weird rhythms and song structures will probably take some time to get used to, and I realize that many may shake their head at the prospect of listening to a twelve-minute song (look out, by the way: “Take A Pebble” is far from the longest track ELP ever recorded…), but if you allow it to sink in you can’t help but be enthralled by it in the end. At the very least you have to acknowledge the talent and the ambition of the musicians and songwriters at work.

Best song: THE BARBARIAN

[white-manz-whore]

sunday august 18th, 2019

???

I feel like I write about the same shit but thats okay. when I went on my first break I saw Brandon and  carl. they were both about to start their shift. carl being the nice guy that he is, he started talking to me. it was just small talk at first, like how's your day going, how was your saturday .... stuff like that. keep in mind that Brandon is standing pretty close near by and y'all know I forget how to act around him. I was clearly acting strange around carl and I think he was picking up on it. he then started telling me about how his mom wasn’t doing well. (we’ve talked about his mom and her illness before). 

for starters, I don’t know how to comfort people. so I was already uncomfortable because of that, and then when we add Brandon to the mix its just a big ol’ mess. I felt really bad because I didn’t know how to respond so my DUMB INSENSITIVE ASS just said, well I'll be in the break room. 

it wasn’t exactly that but I did smile and told carl I'd be in the break room. Brandon witnessed all thisss. *cringeeee*

anyways when it gets to be time for my lunch I see carl again, this time he’s alone. I apologize to him for acting really strange earlier. he said that it was okay and he assumed it was because Brandon was around. Im so glad he understood because I felt terrible. I asked more about his mother and how she was doing. 

fast forward to me working again. I was at self checkout thinking as I usually do to pass the time. I was determined that today was gong to be the day that I ask Brandon if he has a girlfriend (if I spotted him alone). and if he doesn’t have one then I'll ask for his number. I was practicing what I was going to say to him over and over again. I was so fricken determined. this stemmed from the fact that Gabriel asked for my number earlier that day. honestly if I'm getting numbers from customers I could only imagine was Brandon’s fine ass deals with on the daily. basically I needed to snatch him before anyone else does oops. (like I mentioned also, theres a new girl that low-key looks like me).

I still regret giving Gabriel my number. I feel like a douche for not responding to his text but yeah. I hope I never see him at Walmart again because that will just be too awkward. honestly I don’t know why I even gave him my number. he’s not even my type. after this happened I just kept thinking about Brandon. Brandon is THE definition of my type. 

anyways when im going to my last break all the stocking young guys were about to go on their lunch (including Brandon). it was a giant group and they were all headed for the break room door. they were coming in from the left and I was coming in from the right. and basically if I didn’t stop to let them go first we all would have run into each other. also its not that I expect every guy in the world to hold the door for me or let me go first but it would have been NICE. chivalry is dead folks oops. it wasn’t until this older guy in the back of the group stopped and told me to go ahead. 

walmart vocabulary key: stocking guys - (I'm going to call them CAP 2 guys from now on its just easier, its just the title they give hold for stocking things, kind of like how im a cashier. people who stock things are from CAP 2).

so when I got off work all the CAP 2 guys were going on their last break. I didn’t realize it until after I went outside. they all chill outside the store on their break and im usually not outside so I never notice. but obviously I had to go out to my car. I felt very awkward walking to my car because it felt like everyone was staring at me (probably like 10 guys were out there). UPDATE: carl did mention that he saw walk to my car that night. and I also know that he was with Brandon .

[dailymusingsofamedic]

25th May 2020 - Orff

Carl Orff (1895-1982)

Gisei, Das Opfer (1913) https://open.spotify.com/album/74d2v19w4fuI8aPcRkVi99?si=MqdFYt9VRIuezbY-YEqMGg

‘O’ is another letter that doesn’t have huge amounts to offer in terms of composers. I’ve chosen Orff because I’m genuinely intrigued to see what else this composer has put out apart from Carmina Burana. I wonder if Orff suspected that his magnum opus would be used in every single ‘dramatic’ moment in reality TV for the intellectually challenged from now until presumably the end of time. You’ve all heard Camrina Burana, but what else did Orff do? I’ve chosen a fairly early work of his, written at just 18 years of age. It’s a story of a Japanese calligraphy teacher who kills one of his pupils, but not the right one, and his parents are sad, basically. Apparently heavily influenced (perhaps pillaged) from Debussy, it was not performed until 2010. Also, Orf is a viral skin infection passed to humans by infected sheep and goats, colloquially known as scabby mouth in the farming community. And who said I couldn’t get music and medicine into the same blog?

Get ready, this is a long one!

Above - do we think this might me set in Japan?

1.       Vorspiel: introduction. A very quiet and tender opening by the eerie female voices. Also with some windy noises. A few lines spread around the woodwind, and then things begin to get a bit more exciting with the introduction of the tune in the cello part (maybe viola). I think the choir are humming. I don’t know about Debussy, but the section from 1:35 sounds exactly like Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloe. Not quite as nice though. I mean, there’s no denying this overture is nice to listen to, and quite interesting, but it doesn’t sound new. Interesting trombone solo with wind machine. Aren’t they synonymous? Ehhhhh. 3:35 is a shock. Is this where the boy gets killed? No idea.

2.       Vorspiel: No demo yama. Right, so this is still the overture. The section with strings harp and female voices from about 0:56 is really cool, atmospheric. 1:36 sounds a bit ominous again, with tremolos, then some brass, then hahaha that tuba solo at the end is cracking me up. Firstly, is that all people think tubas can do. Plod plod bitch. Secondly, what happens to the sound at the end of the last note?? Is it a weird vibrato? Is it running out of air? It sounds like such a wispy sound considering the instrument it’s coming from.

3.       Vorspiel: Die Gottheit nahm das Opfer am. This means ‘the deity accepted the sacrifice’. That seems like a big plot point considering we’re still apparently in the overture. Or as google translate calls it: foreplay. Scary baritone and interesting textures with the brass in the next section, both muted and un-. Oh the singing sounds German, at least he used a real language in this opera. The accompaniment sounds like accompaniment, and by that I mean, I feel like there should be some singing over the top a lot of the time when there isn’t. Lots of lovely tuba. Ooooh 2:24 could be more in tune I think…it does sound quite high to be fair. Actually, the rest of the singing so far has been pretty good. Lots of hard Ts. 3:35 is a really interesting section, it’s very grand but then diminishes into being pretty scary again very well.

4.      Vorspiel: Dann…tiefste Nacht. Then deepest night. 0:13 onwards all feels a bit familiar as well, from other composers works. I have to say it doesn’t sounds very ‘deepest night’. The last movement did more. I had a heart attack at 1:21. There’s lots of variation over the next few minutes. I’d love to see what’s meant to be happening on stage. Without that, it does feel a little disjointed. The little harp scale up to 3:55 brings us to a really lovely section actually. That harmony’s interesting, as is the instrumentation. Laughed again at 5:05. How else would we know we were in japan if not for some exposed gong/tamtam notes? It’s tuned for the singer to come in at least! “Doot Doot Doot” is fun. Then the shit hits the fan.  The orchestral accompaniment does sounds at times a little like a concerto for orchestra, with solos from bassoon, tuba, double basses. It’s nicely written. Again the end of this part feels like I need to be watching something alongside it. The texture at the end is fantastic. I don’t know what’s playing but I like it.

Above - Cut the vorspiel, I’m ready for the main event. Also, if you look closely you can see the TV I’m thinking of buying. 

5.       Oper: introduction. Ok so we’re into the actual opera now. Well, nearly, we’ve finished foreplay anyway. Nice controlled accelerando, and the clarinet part’s pretty cool, before we’re back to the first section. I like this so far. A great introduction to the meat of the work.

6.       Oper: Wollt ihr Ruhe halten. Or as my other half often says to me when they’ve run out of my favourite dim sum at Ping Pong: ‘Do you want to keep calm?’. Solo violin pretending to be a butterfly (Schmetterling) isn’t very nice. I’ve never heard a butterfly sound like that. The duet from 1:15 is lovely, however brief.

7.       Oper: Sakura! Sakura! I’m hoping this is how star of Rupaul’s Drag Race Season 12; Rock M Sakura got her name, but I feel like the reference may be a little niche. Starts off with the waily woman from the last movement. Now she’s wailing ‘Sakura’ though. Who is Sakura? I feel like actually this could do with a little more accompaniment than just harp. The singer is a little overpowering at times, although her pianos are really soft and well done.

Above - life imitating art.

8.       Oper: Ist’s erlaubt? It’s allowed. What’s allowed? A synopsis would really ameliorate my listening experience I’m sure, but that’s effort, and I can’t read, type, and listen at the same time. Another excellent tuba demonstration at 0:25. There’s a nice cough at 0:59. Is this a live recording? Maybe this is the only time it’s ever been performed. Are trombone chords every in tune? Not according to 1:53 of this. 2:33 all gets a bit exciting briefly. The string entry at 3:15 is very inaccurate. That must be the violas. More out of tune trombone at 4:03. I feel like the orchestra are maybe sight-reading because they know this isn’t going to be a roaring success…Again 5:00 onwards is very directionless. All jokes aside, the tamtam playing is great, and the sound is dampened at exactly the right time. It’s really effective. At 6:02 what is happening? Is that two tubas? Or a tuba and something else being badly played, out of tune on top. I can’t tell, but it’s bad. HA that dramatic ending is then followed by one solitary note on the tamtam which sounds very much like an accident.

9.       Oper: Sei nicht mehr Traurig. Don’t be sad any more. Or, what Alex says to me 2 weeks after we went out for that dim sum-less meal. Interesting harmony. Quite waily again though.

10.       Oper: Oh! Bauerngeischter. Oh! Peasant hunt!!! That is not what I was expecting. Oh wait, it’s actually Bauerngesichter – peasant faces, much better. Fanfare central. Maybe it is a peasant hunt too? Bassoon trills are fun. I have absolutely no clue what that is 0:38. If anyone could enlighten me, I would be very grateful. Is it a contrabassoon played high? I honestly have no clue; it could even be stringed at a push. Beefy last note though. I mostly spend the rest of this movement wondering what that instrument was. I can’t find the bloody instrumentation anywhere. Snapped out of my stupor by laughing at the random extra tuba note at 3:11. HERE IT IS AGAIN at 3:46. So weird, so out of tune in the higher portions. That’s why it’s on its own I think.

Above - Orf; why you should wash your hands at the petting zoo!!

11.       Oper: Hinter uns lag die Stadt. The city was behind us. If you listen carefully at 0:02 you can hear the tuba player stick his hand in a crisp packet. Nice combination of the bass, and high register of the harp, I like that quite a lot. It’s more interesting than the bass and tuba duet afterwards. 2:00 is straight out of Daphnis again for 2 seconds. The trombone chord at 3:22 is eventually in tune, but it doesn’t start that way.

12.       Oper: Ihr wart doch heut’ beim Mahl des Bonzen? If you had given me 1,000 goes at guessing this translation, I would never have come out with the correct answer: You were eating the fat cat today? This seems to be a rather rude question judging by the bloke’s reaction. This baritone bit is quite recitative-y, I just wish I could understand what they were saying. From 2:00, the orchestral parts are exciting, if a little forced. 2:50, we see this weird tuba vibe again. And the chord at 3:06 is actually really nice, as Roxxxy Andrews would say: thick and juicy. String entry at 3:30 is very messy again. Another heart attack at 4:48. So screechy. More of the same until the end.

13.       Oper: Entlasst nun eure Schuler, Genzo. Now release your students Genzo. Heard across the country in March, when money-grabbing boarding schools tried to keep their students during the pandemic for ‘safety’ reasons. More tuba. 0:14 – what is this person playing at. The entry of this mysterious companion of the half decent tuba sounds like they flutter-tongue that entry. I often joke “Oh I could do a better job” but in this case, I think I actually could. IS it just a low horn? I can’t tell. Lots of to-and-fro between a couple of the men now, but I don’t know what about. One sounds much angrier than the other. I assume the calligrapher is the friendly sounding one, but that’s a very stereotypical assumption.

14.       Oper: Hm! Seltsam! Hm! Strange! You’re telling me. Nice little bit of spoken word. It’s actually nicer than hearing them belting all the time. There’s a glass harmonium or some glasses being played at 0:50, sounds quite cool. Probably not worth the expense of renting one. Christ, calm down at 1:08. They briefly switch to English at 1:53, but ‘can shoe size’ doesn’t make much sense, or is at least very cryptic. Someone undoes their Velcro shoe at 3:09, maybe that’s what it’s referring to. 3:34 is nice, and I get the Debussy vibes here. Again at 4:00.

15.       Oper: Macht auf! Macht auf! Open Up! X2. Orff does love whacking two very low instruments next to each other and just hoping they can play in tune. Spoiler alert, they can’t. I like the dramatic knocking on the door. Just sing, love, it’s louder. The lady sounds worried about something. If only I knew what. 2:09 is fun. The chord at 3:23 sounds exactly like what you would hear in a film set in Transylvania when the camera pans to Dracula’s house. More shit low playing at several more points in the next section. 4:50 to the end is great actually.

16.       Oper: Die Sonne sinkt! The sun is setting (I assume, I didn’t actually look that one up). The tuba and miscellaneous other instrument’s last hurrah before a random piano plays 3 chords, someone coughs and the strings forget to come in; all before 1:00. Why is there now a piano? Wouldn’t the harp have done the same job? The end is quite simple, but it sounds nice. Although the last chord is uncomfortable and sounds very unfinished. Deliberately I’m sure.

Overall – 6/10. Well that was a couple of hours of my life I will never get back. I’m perhaps being harsh because opera obviously isn’t meant to be just heard, and with the right staging, and acting and me being able to understand the plot, it might be a nice little work. A lot of the problems I have with this are actually with the playing rather than the writing, although many of the tuning issues may be attributable to weird instrumentation. Either way, it’s certainly got areas of interest, but there’s lots of weak parts too. It’s not going to be accompanying the talentless droves on the X-Factor any time soon, put it that way.

Below is what Orff intended for his music, in its purest form:

[torentialtribute]

Fabian Schar celebrates winning Goal of the Month for February after stunner against Burnley

& # 39; It's special for me … & # 39;

Fabian Schar celebrates the winning goal of the month of February after a stunner against Burnley

Fabian Schar scored a stunning attack when Newcastle won at home with 2-0 from Burnley

Schar & # 39; s 30-yard missile chopped off the post on the way to the upper right

Luke Augustus for MailOnline

Published: 15:01 GMT, 8 March 2019 | Updated: 15:01 GMT, 8 March 2019

Newcastle United Fabian Schar that has all changed after claiming the goal of the month in February. The 27-year-old won the prize after his thunderbolt against Burnley when the Magpies won 2-0.

Schar scored the opening goal of the game with a 30-yard rocket that hit the post on its way down the top corner at 24 minutes.

The defender became the first Newcastle player to win the Premier League prize – a moment that he will never forget.

& # 39; It is special for me & # 39 ;, he said after collecting the gong.

& # 39; I have never won such a trophy and it will probably be my last, but it's nice to score a goal like this.

& # 39; After the game I saw the video and you heard it when he hit the post. These goals always look good.

& # 39; You do not think too much about things. I just want what you think, and everything goes well in these five or ten seconds.

& # 39; I love the fans. I saw some video's of the fans, a video of Alan Shearer [celebrating]. It is really nice to see how people get so crazy.

& # 39; I love the Newcastle fans and all the people in the stadium, so it's crazy to get that goal when you play at home & # 39;

Anyone connected to Newcastle would like the Swiss International to repeat his antics on

Schar & # 39; s strike was chosen as the winner after the Carling website and the Carling Tap app. Saturday when they receive Everton in St. James's Park

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[radthursdays]

#RadThursdays Roundup 10/12/2017

A picture of a poem written by a 3rd grader in green and blue colored pencil on paper. The poem's title is "The true feminine". "I am not sugar and spice and everything nice. I am music, I am art. I am a story. I am a church bell, gonging out wrongs and rights and normal nights. I was baby. I am child. I will be mother. I don't mind being considered beautiful, I do not allow that to be my definition. I am a rich pie strong with knowledge. I will not be eaten." Source.

Colonialism and Racism

Uprooting Colonialism: The Limitations Of Indigenous Peoples’ Day: "So yes, it is important to remove these offensive names from our everyday geographies, end holidays, and remove monuments that celebrate slavery, colonialism, and genocide. But addressing public representations that glorify colonial and racial violence is not enough, we must also end ongoing acts of colonial and racial violence for these representational measures to have any kind of lasting social significance. If the statue of Columbus and the genocide celebration of Thanksgiving are gone, there is still a myriad of other acts of colonial violence happening every single day that need to be addressed. Rectification with colonialism can only be achieved through decolonization. Rectification with racism can only be achieved through the abolishment of white supremacy as a structuring institution and social system, not only as a practice of individual bigotry. Rectification with heteropatriarchy can also only be achieved through abolition."

Unnatural Selection: How Racism Warps Scientific Truths: "Science has been studied by people around the world for millennia. When we talk of science today, we often discuss peer-reviewed research conducted by university professors or scientists at huge national agencies. There is an assumption that scientific truths are not only strongly supported by evidence, but also largely unbiased, nonpartisan, and universal. As with all aspects of Western society, however, science is deeply tainted with the legacies of colonialism and racism. Despite its contributions, Western science has viciously exploited marginalized communities through forced experimentation and worked to discredit non-Western scientific thought. Its truth comes with an asterisk."

Seeing White: The painful ways the world teaches race and color. "Critic Saidiya Hartman examines Rankin’s need to substitute himself and his family for slaves. Hartman concludes, 'Empathy in important respects confounds Rankin’s efforts to identify with the enslaved because in making the slave’s suffering his own, Rankin begins to feel for himself rather than for those whom this exercise in imagination presumably is designed to reach…. The object of identification threatens to disappear.'"

A black woman wearing a white suit, black high heels, and chandelier earrings stares intently into the camera while lounging on a large couch that's draped in a fur blanket and a naked white man lying face down. A city skyline can be seen from the room's floor-length windows. From a fall ad campaign for Suistudio, a company that makes suits for women, that's gone viral due to its use of naked men as background imagery as "a gender-swapped take on men’s fashion photography that has long used naked women as dehumanized props for seemingly powerful men." Source.

Milo’s Mail

Alt-White: How the Breitbart Machine Laundered Racist Hate: A yuuuuge collection of leaked emails from Milo Yiannopoulos and friends at Breitbart reveal how close-knit they are with white supremacists.

We Warned You About Milo And You’re Still Not Listening: "'Who’d have guessed,' Young writes with breathless incredulity, 'that there was video of Yiannopoulos singing "America the beautiful" in a karaoke bar to an audience in which some people gave Nazi salutes? Or that he used Holocaust-themed Internet passwords such as "kristallnacht"?' Anyone. Anyone could’ve guessed that. The Buzzfeed article did not reveal anything about Yiannopoulos’ beliefs that armies of women, queer folks, and people of color didn’t already know. It merely put faces, names, and words to events and ideas we knew existed in the abstract."

How Should the Alt-Right Be Covered?: "How should the amorphous group of racist, sexist, attention-hungry zealots known as the alt-right be covered? The issue is no longer whether to cover the alt-right, but avoiding coverage that verges on hagiography or traffics in curiosity or outrage at the expense of substance or meaningful critique. […] A lack of foresight isn’t an excuse. Even before Yiannopoulos and his fans were a political movement in their own right, they were serial harassers whose every movement didn’t need to be covered."

A black woman wearing a light tan suit, wide black belt, and black high heels stares intently into the camera while sitting on a large couch that's draped in a fur blanket and a naked white man lying below her, his face out of the frame. A city skyline can be seen from the room's floor-length window. From a fall ad campaign for Suistudio, a company that makes suits for women, that's gone viral due to its use of naked men as background imagery as "a gender-swapped take on men’s fashion photography that has long used naked women as dehumanized props for seemingly powerful men." Source.

Issues

Sex Positivism: "But what does such data on people’s search terms and porn consumption habits actually have to tell us about the nature of modern sexual desire? What secrets of contemporary sexuality lie inside web browsers, hidden (sometimes) from those closest to the user but open to those controlling the data? What are the ethics of using such data to make such extrapolations? […] How we discuss the way pornography depicts or shapes desire often neglects how it feeds off the power dynamics of society at large. Desire cannot simply be an individual truth if it is also partly constitutive of the social relations surrounding it."

How Catalonia Pulled Off Its Independence Vote from Spain Using “Pizza” Code Words and Secret Schemes: "When Catalonia voted on Sunday, October 1, ordinary voters in polling centers across the region used unconventional tactics to organize a referendum in the face of a heavy crackdown from the central Spanish government. It was a day of tension and drama, as Catalans voted for succession by 90 percent (though most 'no' voters abstained), and Spanish police reacted with force. This week, Catalan president Carles Puigdemont said he had the mandate to declare independence for the region and signed a declaration doing so — but soon after he suspended the effects of the referendum in favor of dialogue with Spanish authorities."

Toolkits

The Black Muslimah Toolkit: Compilation created and edited by Momtaza Mehri. Topics include Black/Muslim Poetics, Black/Muslim Hip-Hop Scholarship, Beauty Politics, Anti-Black Islamophobia(s), Of Mothers & Daughters, Self-care & Self-defence, Cinematic Visions, Tasbihs & Turntables: A Playlist, and more.

Anti-Capitalist Personal Budgeting/Finances: Presentation about budgeting and finances while living in capitalism by Lily Hoffman (slightly Canada-specific).

A tweet by @MsKellyMHayes says, "Seasonal reminder:" with a screenshot from a video of a Native American person flicking off the camera with the subtitle, "Fuck Christopher Columbus." Source.

Direct Action Item

Commit to captioning all your images! How to write image descriptions.

If there’s something you’d like to see in next week’s #RT, please send us a message.

In solidarity!

What is direct action? Direct action means doing things yourself instead of petitioning authorities or relying on external institutions. It means taking matters into your own hands and not waiting to be empowered, because you are already powerful. A "direct action item" is a way to put your beliefs into practice every week.

[lipwak]

VHS #321

Ray Charles concert, a documentary on a Tibetan community, PBS American Masters: Bob Marley, 2 World Trade Center documentaries and a few cuts from the Newport Jazz Festival 2002. *** Ray Charles in concert for The Miami Lighthouse for the BlindJames L.Knight Center in Miami, Florida, 19991:15, pledge breaks edited out See almost the whole thing here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL15623F203F9FF287(Not in the right order) I Got A Woman A Song For YouIt Hurts To Be In LoveGeorgia On My MindThe Good LifeYour Cheatin' Heart (https://youtu.be/gd4ZSjDBMpw) This clip.They Can’t Take That Away From Me (https://youtu.be/ADKhAqpr0TY) This clip.w/ Diane Schuur - It Had To Be You! (I program the cable box with difficulty before it starts)w/ Diane Schuur - You'd Be So Nice To Come Home ToTill There Was You/Say No MoreIf You Go AwayAll I Ever Need Is You Love In Three Quarter TimeAmerica, The Beautiful *** KHAMPAGAR/TASHI JONG Community: Sacred Dance & Daily Life in TIbetan Exile Community~45 min See the whole thing here: https://youtu.be/H0zjWX6o0PM *** American Masters: Bob Marley - Rebel Music 1&1/2 missed lots, re-record See the whole thing here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6B1E7A969C7B623D Bob, Rita, Cindy Breakspeare, Judge Not (https://youtu.be/7YoySwSx5H0), ska, Soul Rebel (https://youtu.be/okFznac7Lts), Acoustic Medley (https://youtu.be/QbJ4S1TdblM), Peter Tosh, Coxsone Dodd, Simmer Down (https://youtu.be/ybmPHD7FPcQ), Put It On (https://youtu.be/qdlZWQ-J92U), One Love, Stir It Up (https://youtu.be/n6U-TGahwvs), Burnin’ and Lootin’ (https://youtu.be/M99nzyiS830), rastafari, Rastaman Chant (https://youtu.be/jrITj4Mp88k), Haile Selassie, Duppy Conqueror (https://youtu.be/QGZo28IAv4o), Lee “Scratch” Perry, Chris Blackwell, Get Up Stand Up (https://youtu.be/32suz09pDFk), Esther Anderson, I Shot The Sheriff (https://youtu.be/nrnZSLwfzVs), Them Belly Full (https://youtu.be/S4cD8eyWpwQ), Michael Manley, Edward Seaga, Crazy Baldhead (https://youtu.be/k34boxNrqL8), Kissinger, Phillip Agee, No More Trouble (https://youtu.be/gLR7qPgHogk), Smile Jamaica concert, Is This Love (https://youtu.be/jGJFINIELik), Turn Your Lights Down Low (https://youtu.be/JdPV4yO7LKQ), War (https://youtu.be/ZCFHYyErkA0), No Woman No Cry (https://youtu.be/jGqrvn3q1oo), "One Love" Peace Concert 1978 (https://youtu.be/JVG9Tw0JMBk), herb/marijuana, his own studios at 56 Hope Road Tuff Gong, Work (https://youtu.be/Aurpu7B29Y4), cancer, Africa Unite (https://youtu.be/QMS5vKarzO0), Zimbabwe independence (https://youtu.be/OqqAwAEPnSE), collapsed in Central Park, funeral (https://youtu.be/8uhK4YVv_aw), Redemption Song (https://youtu.be/QrY9eHkXTa4) *** News 12 CT weather radar, 50s - 30s *** India documentary, Jal Mahal, painted elephants, pythons and snake charmers, Palace of the Wind, camel caravans, Pushkar camel market *** channel surfing (Greenwich Cablevision), Enron, Computer Chronicles - computers at the Olympics, 11:32 pm, Iraq turning trucks into military vehicles, abortion in Ireland referendum, US troops in Afghanistan, Lou Dobbs on CNN, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, *** 9/11 Jules and Gedeon Naudet2 hrs CBS See the whole thing here: https://youtu.be/MAHTpFhT5AU Robert DeNiro intro Tom Ridge, Dir of Homeland Security spoke in the break before the film got to that day.Robert DeNiro againSteve BuscemiRobert DeNiro closing words at Ground Zero pictures of fallen firefighters w/ George Bush words *** Newport Jazz Festival 2002 Ben Jaffe, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, 8/10/2002  (whole concert: https://youtu.be/y0HET7CVdKM) Shake It and Break It (https://youtu.be/iCogPr_hii0) This clip. Carl Denson's Tiny Universe (whole concert: https://youtu.be/sTcIz3WHc5I)Elephants featuring Fred Wesley,Roy Hargrove (https://youtu.be/gZbqYtm8x1c) This clip.unknown tune The Holmes Brothers (whole concert: https://youtu.be/3r5ak5z3_yA) Glory Glory (https://youtu.be/Hj4LQrenlVU) This clip. *** 11'09”01Trio One film from that larger film: Alejandro González Iñárritu - "Does god's light guide us or blind us ?" (https://youtu.be/zNgKoUWOBQo) This clip.

[yesterdaysanswers]

translation:

The New Guide

2/14/1971

Emerson pulls the sheet

One of the most talked about supergroups, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, who made their debut on the Isle of Wight, were guests at the Brussels Theatre 140 last weekend. The stage looked like an instrument store: a singing installation with 32 sound boxes, 2 hammond organs, a grand piano, an electric piano, the drum set with a dozen cymbals, two life-sized gongs and much more. The willing audience was able to view all this quietly, because the concert started half an hour late.

As the three musicians entered the stage, Keith Emerson's latest gadget was added: his Moog Synthesizer, a device with numerous buttons, from which he elicited the strangest sounds electronically; the device is also equipped with a separate shelf for remote control and a small keyboard for playing melodies.

The part before the break (over an hour) was filled with the most prestigious work of the group: Pictures at an Exhibition. This is based on Moussorgsky's piano composition «The Painting Exhibition», of which Ravel also wrote a beautiful orchestration. Not much remained of Moussorgsky, unless the «Promenade», the connecting theme between the different paintings, which Emerson performed very broadly and solemnly on his large hammond organ. The fill-in pieces, however, were very uneven in quality, from the tacky mimicking of a jet taking off on the Synthesizer to the moving solo piece by singer Greg Lake, who accompanied him extremely classically on the acoustic guitar. Unfortunately, the emphasis was too much on the art and flying work of Keith Emerson, who only had a few sparse moments to say something musically, despite his virtuosity.

The second part was almost entirely filmed by the R.T.B.-team of Pop Shop (the broadcast probably follows one of the following Thursdays, R.T.B., 6:20 pm). E.L. & P. started with the hard Barbarian (from the LP) for a slightly more numerous audience - during the break several spectators slipped in, still taking place on the steps of the aisles. Lake's fuzz bass supported Emerson's piano explorations, who now derive much less from Bach, but find more inspiration from more modern Eastern European composers such as Bartok and Moussorgsky. In Take a Pebble, it was the turn of ex-King Crimson vocalist-bassist Greg Lake, who like the other two constantly lashed out cinemas with cameramen, and instead of the serious middle section with acoustic guitar he played "Old Blue" by the Byrds! In his piano improvisations, Emerson included a piece of Marseillaise, and some other popular tunes, with which he made the audience laugh. The aggressive Knife Edge gave the organist a chance to dig up his three-year-old knife trick: first he thrust the stabbing weapons into the keys of the groaning organ and then threw them at the Leslie speakers, where they didn't get stuck.

It was also quite cheap to go back to the Nice showpiece Rondo for the closing song, for which the large organ was first pushed aside to give “the master” the opportunity to perform his gymnastics exercises: they once again dug around with the smaller organ, Emerson played it in every possible posture and “variation”, until he finally even lay under his organ. In all these acrobatics, the cameramen sometimes had to hurry to avoid the swinging instrument. After this drummer Carl Palmer (ex-Atomic Rooster, ex-Thunderbirds) got the chance to demonstrate his fantastic technique in a (too) long solo: he is very fast and precise, and has a good left hand, which many other drummers can envy.

Most spectators eagerly swallowed this spectacle and begged for an encore, and that became Nut Rocker from Bee Bumble and the Stingers, a bit of humor and youth sentiment, which was actually welcome after so many futuristic sounds.

* * *

The circus element still does it in rock music: the audience really ate out of the hand of Keith Emerson, who already flew from one instrument to another like a boosted devil, but who, during his ego trips, seems to lose sense of proportion. The relationships are lost, not only because he wrongly outshines the other musicians of his group, but also because he loses himself in meaningless virtuosity and because he uses his electronic equipment far too abundantly and without good taste (or are they the devices that use him?). The whole performance had little human left, it was full of cold machinations and leaves an aggressive impression, except for a few fragments of Greg Lake.

[yesterdaysanswers]

translation:

9-2-1971

Emerson, Lake and Palmer, at Theater 140

One foot in the past, the other in the future

Impressive concert by the English trio in front of a large audience

The direction of the Theatre 140 refused the world, Saturday evening, on the occasion of the first concert in Belgium of "Emerson, Lake and Palmer", English trio composed of the organist Keith Emerson, former leader of "Nice", the ex-guitarist of the "King Crimson", Greg Lake, and Carl Palmer, former drummer of the "Atomic Rooster".

The first, we knew him for having seen him at work in this same "140" and during the festival of Amougies. The mystery remained for the two acolytes. They did not disappoint.

In a disheveled first part, the group indulged in a re-creation of the famous "Tables of an exhibition", by Moussorgsky. While amputating the work of half of his paintings, he nevertheless kept as leitmotif the "Promenade", of which he offers a version sung by Lake.

If we except the melodic theme, the work has nothing in common with the original. As usual, Emerson works hard, giving the movements a rhythm of frantic galloping, supported by fifty speakers whose volume power reaches 5,000 watts (1,000 more than the "Black Sabbath") !!!

The Moog

The organist, moreover, wields a sound generator called "Moog synthesizer" (named after its inventor Robert Moog) which should, in the short term, explode the traditional canons of composition. The machine resembles a switchboard, and emits electronic sounds obtained through use and play on frequencies. The result is an explosive mixture of deflagrations, stridences and sound reverberations that border on the world of science fiction. Emerson uses it with an astounding relaxation if one thinks that the machine, whose value approaches 500,000 Belgian francs, has only just been perfected and that few musicians have a copy of it. However, let us quote Georges Harrison and Walter Carlos.

Impressive contrast that this sound of anticipation grafted onto a “mature” work.

It is undoubtedly the main merit of Keith Emerson to have known how to create an original musical universe, since we know his diligence in assimilating works of "veterans", such as Bach, Sibélius, Rachmaninoff by "working" them in a contemporary tone, a mix of jazz and "heavy" rock.

The second part, on the other hand, was more focused on local works. E., L. and P. started "Take a Pebble", a composition by Lake (taken from their last album), soft, warm, almost tender, in which the singer proved that it was better than the qualification of "making -valoir” which have been criticized by some critics, and that in any case, his voice surpassed that of Lee Jackson, the former partner of Nice.

With flange down

It didn't take long to wait for Emerson's show. There is, in any performance of the English musician, a cinema side which amuses the first time, but ends up annoying the diligent observer in the long term since the gymnastics of the recital hardly increases the talent, which is great, virtuoso.

Emerson therefore took advantage of "Knife Edge" to give the measure of his athleticism ... His guinea pig organ, he shakes it, pats it, whispers crazy words in his ear, treats his brain, makes him stand up the notes on the head, overlaps it to finally sink under him before stabbing him, rage, with infinite delicacy! But the instrument has seen others and continues unperturbed, making its complaints about a star toy ...

The happening had the pleasure to please the subjugated public, and Emerson concluded on a climax, if I dare say, with "Nut Rocker", that it served admirably at the same time as Palmer went there, too , a long solo of drums and gongs.

Despite their penchant for technical virtuosity and overly intellectual coldness, Emerson Lake and Palmer gave the assurance, Saturday evening, that they behaved like instrumentalists capable of inventing a personal sound, often riddled with dazzling beauties.

André DROSSART.